Breaking point

Another horrible Sunday on the London Transport network. As if a normal 4 hour journey is not enough, everything had to go wrong today.

1st journey was too good to be true. Trains arrived when I got to stations, ran for the bus and caught it. Was only 2 mins late for choir practice.

2nd journey was a disaster before I could get on the bus. Road was jam-packed and the bus could not even get to the bus stop. Took about 30 mins just to travel the distance of 3 bus stops. Missed the jubilee line and only got home at 2pm.

3rd journey. This is always the most depressing. Trains and buses are always packed with people on the home bound journey, after a day of shopping and other miscellaneous activities, and every step I take takes me further from home. In any case the bus was going to take 8mins. When it finally arrived of course it was packed and every stop took an eternity. Halfway through the journey, the driver announced that it was the last stop and everyone has to get off. The next bus was going to take 11 mins, so I decided to walk the rest of the way in the freezing cold.

4th and final journey. Another 11 min wait for the bus, but it was all as fine as it could be until Stratford. To my horror the jubilee line was closed. Reason - person under train at canning town. So I head to the DLR station, 9 mins was the wait. Grrr. And a longer journey home.

Fed up! I need this car, been putting it off for 3 years now and from the looks of it it's not going to happen. Or I need a new church, as much as i love this one. When will it go past breaking point and snap?

is that alright?

(in a british accent)

it's amazing how the brits always manage to talk their way out of anything. 

last night i was telling d about a conversation in the office. my brit boss was on the phone with the bankers. he was about to reject a transaction. he starts off really friendly, "you alright? have you fallen off the roof yet?" (no idea what that means but it was friendly banter). and then he goes on to qualify how he has not been as close to the deal as his colleagues (i.e. juniors) but in the nutshell it is pretty rubbish deal. after about a minute spent breaking the bad news, he goes, "is that alright?" as if nothing bad happened. poor banker on the phone had no choice but to agree. of course i've heard this many times before, usually after you've been given some negative feedback, or some complicated task, but never quite thought about the power of these magic words. 

today, it was my turn to get tricked. i was trying to arrange a temporary blackberry for when i work in singapore later in the year. but somehow, the conversation deteriorated very quickly, and the subject became getting a permanent device. the flattery begins... you work so hard anywya, always in the office waiting for emails, logging in from home, a bb would be good for you, you can reply emails from home, work harder, clear emails on your way to work, etc etc.... IS THAT ALRIGHT? and what could i say. 

magic words, those. only if said in a brit accent. i need to learn. for now, goodbye life. up until now, i could completely erase everything work related as i walked through the main doors. walking through the doors again the next morning everything would suddenly come rushing back to me, just minutes before i plonk myself in front of my computer and open my inbox. i guess that's no more to be. owell.

the black trousers of memories

on the first work day of the new year, i woke up, thinking i would start the new year afresh, bright and early without rushing to work. 

of course that didn't happen. i was sleepy and tired, and late as usual. at a loss of what to wear, as usual, i reach for the my faithful black trousers that has lasted me so many years... maybe it was a new year thing that causes one to become more sentimental, all these thought about being one year older, another year away from family, etc etc...

so the story of the black trousers began back in 2007. I was about to embark on my first internship at IE Singapore , and the night before I was to start, for some reason I decided that i needed a pair of black work trousers. It was a Sunday night and mummy was out of town on a mission trip. So Daddy took on  Mummy's usual role, and we went to Robinson's centre point on a mission. Only problem was they were all really expensive (at that time), but I really didn't want to spend $60 on a pair of trousers, but Daddy was ever-supportive, and the ever-patient passive shopper. He hung around the ladies section while i looked (as he usually does when he's out with 4 ladies, haha).... and then he made his comments and gave his opinion. We bought it in the end because he said this was a good pair of trousers which would last a long time, and he was right of course. It has since lasted me 2 internships and almost 4 years of work. I would reach for it every couple of weeks without a second thought. but this time i thought of this little simple incident and I missed my daddy. He put down what he was doing on a sunday night after dinner, went down with me to town, and spent a fortune (for someone whose lunch budget was something like $20 a week) on a whim of his daughter who thought she was to embark of a career which turned out not to be. 

it all sounds very trivial now but it's amazing the little things we remember and the acts of love in them. hope my dear family is off to a great start to 2013!    

first world problem for a mountain tortoise

i'm on invisalign aligner number 15, yay! only 10 more to go, by right. 

Dr R did say to get an electric toothbrush at the beginning, but i have never had one in my life and have always considered them an extravagance. however i have in recent months been bought over by the promises of whiter and cleaner teeth on the boxes of these devices, so after comparing and comparing toothbrushes online, finally decided to get one from boots when it was 50% + 15% off, haha. i love deals, have i said that already? 

ok, so the toothbrush arrives a few days later, and i eager tear it open and set it up. alas, it requires an initial charge of 24 hrs and we were going to paris the next day... another 3 day delay then (i was hoping to have perfectly white and shiny teeth 2 weeks from the time i placed my order, just as Philips promised). 

back from paris and it's time for a first brush. i did what i thought was right - i squeeze some toothpaste on, hit the "on" button, and bring the brush to my mouth. But scarcely was the toothbrush halfway to my mouth when all the toothpaste flew away from the brush, literally. i tried a 2nd time, and again the toothpaste just couldnt make it to my teeth. Exasperated, i shout out to the husband (who had used electric toothbrushes in his previous life before meeting me) and he starting laughing and laughing.... 

apparently i was supposed to put the toothbrush, with toothpaste on, in my mouth first, before i hit the "on" button.

how on earth was i to know something like that!!! 

anyhow, onward to white shiny teeth! :) or i will call on your money back guarantee and ask for my money back! 

The eleventh day of the eleventh month, at the eleventh hour

A nation falls silent for 2 whole minutes.

Normally I'm sitting at my desk at work, waiting for the tannoy (what i learnt is known as the PA system in singapore) signal to signal the beginning and the end. No one moves or types on the keyboard as a mark of respect. It's a moment of poignant remembrance, for the fallen of the world wars but also more recent conflicts. I know singapore was a big story of WW2 and I recall my paternal grandfather telling us stories of the war. It felt real then. Now, in this country, war is still real. Every couple of weeks the news carry reports of another young soldier killed in the conflict, in a bid to secure the freedom of another country.

This year, today, we specifically remember how the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taketh away. May we find the courage to say, Blessed be the name of the Lord. He will make all things beautiful in His time. Amen.