Own Time Own Target

Fall For You
Secondhand Serenade



The best thing about tonight's that we're not fighting
Could it be that we have been this way before
I know you don't think that I am trying
I know you're wearing thin down to the core

But hold your breath
Because tonight will be the night that I will fall for you
Over again
Don't make me change my mind
Or I won't live to see another day
I swear it's true
Because a girl like you is impossible to find
You're impossible to find

This is not what I intended
I always swore to you I'd never fall apart
You always thought that I was stronger
I may have failed
But I have loved you from the start
Ohhhh

But hold your breath
Because tonight will be the night that I will fall for you
Over again
Don't make me change my mind
Or I won't live to see another day
I swear it's true
Because a girl like you is impossible to find
It's impossible

So breathe in so deep
Breathe me in
I'm yours to keep
And hold onto your words
'Cause talk is cheap
And remember me tonight
When you're asleep

Because tonight will be the night that I will fall for you
Over again
Don't make me change my mind
Or I won't live to see another day
I swear it's true
Because a girl like you is impossible to find

Tonight will be the night that I will fall for you
Over again
Don't make me change my mind
Or I won't live to see another day
I swear it's true
Because a girl like you is impossible to find
You're impossible to find


Love the song and the hook, hate the video

Labels: to Listen

Worked almost 2 weeks to prepare material for budget and forecast presentation to the president

And only after all had been printed, made into presentation files, and ppt presentation, that the most school girl of all errors showed up on the screen.

instead of total of subtotals and % against each budgets, i had total % of sub-total %. not once, but for all the countries.

H O R R O R S

The MD and other directors were aghast, but know me enough that this is totally out of character for me, and highly atypical of my work, and quickly agreed with me that it is a minor error in the formula when cutting and pasting into the presentation slide.

The President simply nodded. (I was almost grateful that I work for the very understated Japanese instead of the more vocal Americans or Europeans, surely i would have been roasted on the pits)

I gritted my teeth and went through the presentation was given a chance to do a quick change during lunch break.


Now that the dust had settled... i wonder if the error (or the miss in picking it up earlier) was indeed just an error, or an indication of something deeper?

Perhaps i've lost the respect for the endless meetings which goes in circle and back to square 1?


Damage control is the easy part,

Soul searching is way harder.


how did an error in the formula become so complicated?

Labels: to Work

I blew my whole pay cheque from my 1st temp contract during my 1st uni vacation on an antique watch, about S$1400 IIRC.

When I graduated, my parents bought me a Rolex.

Then I bought a watch for myself every Christmas in the first few years of working life. Well, just a swatch, but one with date and 3 hands.

I've since stopped that indulgence but it doesnt diminish the pleasure of receiving a watch as a gift or giving them as gifts.

I bought hubby a watch for our engagement, and he's still wearing it.

Got this from my dad last week (with a black leather band, brown is so yucky).


I like the over-sized man watch

I like the weight

and i have been staring at my wrist ever so often since.


Thanks Dad. :)

Labels: to Shop Buy

Received a call from my workshop re the accident which is practically no update.

i.e. both insurers confirmed receipt of report made by me, and the accused's insurer is still waiting for accused to make report.

Conclusion: nothing doing since until HE makes a report, his insurer accepts blame and give go-ahead to for repair, I'm still driving around with a scratched bumper

:(

am wondering if i should go check out quotes for polishing (must guarantee to remove all scratches) and then private settlement with the accused to move things along.

BUT THEN it pisses me off to have to do all the running around for something which is not my fault.

ARGH!

Labels: to Drive

Oh I am so in danger of being a suaku-never-goes-anywhere...

but fret not!

Here's a short review of a new place i've checked out and i have an invite to go for Sunday brunch at mezza9 next week!

Parents had a dinner party to go to, so we didnt have home-cooked meal courtesy of the grandparents of my kids.

and since we were near Jelita and the kids LOVE the child-sized trolleys, we decided to check out the available food venues in Jelita Shopping Center.

1. O'Brien's
2. Friends@Jelita

We decided on Friends@Jelita becos they held opened the door and invited us in (not that O'Briens didnt but they didnt have a door, haha), and was most forthright (er, yeah, we have kids here) when we asked if they were children-friendly seeing their glass and classy deco

We were offered sparkling water which we declined. Just water, thanks.

And our dinner choices:

1. Caesa Salad
topped with shredded egg, parmesan shave & croutons, bacon vinaigrette

2. kids' set of Fish & Chip + Vanila ice cream + Apple juice
nicely fried breaded cod fish, NOT fish fingers! Very classy for tiny tots.

3. kids set of Hawaiian Pizza + Vanila ice cream + Orange juice
practically ham, pineapple and cheese on prata, since the base was that thin

4. Squid Ink Pasta
Not pasta made with squid ink, but pasta with squid ink cream sauce and perfectly executed squid pieces that were melt in the mouth tender, no chewing required. YUM.
They had asked very nicely if we were sharing and for our permission to change our red napkins to black. classy.

5. Beef Tenderloin - medium rare
served with roasted garlic potato & grilled vegetables. Nicely done.

6. Chilean Melot

7. HoeGarden

The surprise was since we had ordered ala carte mains for the adults, the kids' sets (complete with juice and ice cream) were FREE! nice...

Total just over $100 including +++ I guess it is ok for once-a-month outing with kids.

They have other promotions going on throughout the week with various credit cards deals, but I spied one with $2 oysters?

I'll be back.

:)

Labels: to Eat Drink Party

Hated the proper original version of PDF converter, it's too long and too troublesome to fire up.

Found a nifty FREE little prog called CutePDF which is not only FREE, it has no tell-tale watermarks and no sneaky popup web ads!


The most painless process ever!

1. Download and Install
1.1 cutepdf.exe at 1.54MB and
1.2 PS2PDF converter (GPL Ghostscript 8.15 recommended) at 5.01MB

(if you download only the CutePDF and run it, it will automatically search for a PS2PDF converter and asks if you want to download one since it is needed to run, say yes and it will download it and continue with installation, idiot proof)

2. Open the file which you want to convert to PDF

3. Go to File/ Print and select CutePDF.

4. It will prompt you for the location to save the PDF file to (you can change the name and location). You will be sent back to your original document without it pompously presuming that you want to fire up the reader to read it.

5. Viola! In colors too!

Love it Love it Love it

despite the cutesy name.

Gonna install in my lappie too.

Labels: geek stuff

Must have gone crazy and attempted my first Sudoku (free on Today newspaper) last night.

difficulty level : 2 out of 5

took me about 45min to complete

yay.

but no kick leh?

should have slept earlier or played wii fit instead

am going to check the solution on today's Today, and shall resist all temptation to attempt today's Today Sudoku.

i know there is no temptation since no kick, but the competitive devil in me just want to know that i can solve it.

ARGH.

have been going through a bit of rambling thought processes, some to nowhere, and some, to minor pit stops on way to some kind of conclusions, and dare i hope? to an epiphany or understanding of an essence of me.

could be the aching joints and bones, and tiredness staring back at me in the mirror

and the dawning understanding that there is no way to turn back the clock. Perhaps to slow it down, to delay its effects, or even to deceive the general audience, but no way to stop the clock.

is this midlife crisis?

but i take comfort that even now, i can still wonder "what do i want to be (when i grow up/ older" and the enlivening thought that i am still UNDONE.

Labels: to wonder

OK, 2 years 7 months after getting my license and 1 year 8 months after getting my own car, i've met with my first car accident.

The Accident

Was a dark and drizzly night, on my way home after work. Came out of PIE (towards Changi) exit towards upper serangoon. Kept left all the way on the connecting road turning into upper serangoon (just outside St Andrew Village), passed the bus bay, passed woodsville close, red light at pedestrian crossing, cars come to a stop and so did, waiting for the lights to turn green. A road i've travelled many hundreds of times.

BAM!

What the....

Hit the hazard lights, put the car on park and hand brake, got out to check. So did the driver behind me, a malay men in his late 30s with a cigarette in 1 hand.

The cars were less 1 cm apart after he's applied his brake AFTER hitting my car.

I got into my car and rolled it forward.

No dents. that's good.

he was still smoking away, "anything?"

i squated down to examine the rear bumper. Too dark to see, even lighted by his feeble headlights of a old nissan with SBR plates. ARGH

"so how?"

i examine the bumper closer. running my fingers over the wet surface.

"sorry ah, mdm, raining lah"

i touched unevenness, and i shone my mini torchlight on it. Scratches. Lines. Across the the whole bumper. I looked back at his front bumper. His bumper had left its exact lined imaged on my rear bumper.

I showed them to him.

He came closer and and traced the lines i showed him.

Now it was time for me to ask him "so how?"

He closed the cover of the rear license plate light, hoping I havent seen him doing so. I did.

"We have to report insurance, you know?"

"Must report insurance?" His eyes went wide.

"Yeah, the new laws what"

"Er, you check with workshop first then I pay you how?"

"Sure, I'll let you know. Please give me your IC"

He handed it over, and i took down the details- Name, IC Number, even his address.

He gave me his handphone numbers, I called him to verify that it worked.


I got home, and I told E "my car kenna bang"

His first reaction (after registeriing the fact that i was standing in front of him unscath, i hope) was "Who bang who?"

I rolled my eyes. Doesnt "kenna" already means "being done something by"? "People bang me lah"

"How bad is it?"

"No dents, just scratches on the rear bumper"

We went down to check again, making sure that all the lights and the reverse sensors worked. They did.

We agreed that E will call the chap to negotiate since Malay men give more respect to men, i think.

I didnt sleep well that night.


The Negotiation & Reporting

Went back to my usual service center Nissan @ Lok Yang.

They were really professional about it.

Took pictures and churned out a quote in a jifty.

$362.12 for Respray rear bumper, renew rear license plate lamp cover and realign rear bumper, AFTER discount, including GST. 1 full day job, may have to leave the car in the workshop for a night if the weather dont let up. 2 days loss of use.

Discussed with E to charge 2 days loss of use at $80 per day since taxi-fare from home to office is already $30+ 1 way.

E called him and called me back in less than 3 minutes, cant be good news.

"He was already shocked when I told him the repair charges, no need even to mention the loss of use"

The nissan guy smiled and gave me more forms to fill, and he will file the report with my insurance company, which is nissan's official insurer.

But I had to drive the car home cos he told me "Nobody will repair until the other party's insurance company agree to pay"

The steps being:

- i file my report and claim with my insurance company, informing them that i wish claim against the other party.
- Wait for him to file his report with his insurance company
- His insurance company will send a surveyor to take photo of my car (I will have to send the car to the workshop for that, to take photo...)
- Wait for his insurance company to agree with the claim, negotiate if necessary.
- Send the car for repair.
- If claim loss of use with car rental, must pay upfront for the car rental an submit car rental invoice. If claim taxi, cash basis.

ARGH.

At least I still get to drive in the mean time.


Other People

Told some colleagues about the accident, and their 1st question was "WHO BANG WHO?"

Goodness, my car get a hit from the back and "WHO BANGED WHO"?

Maybe you reverse and bang pp mah

Wah lao, see me no up. MAJOR ROLL EYES

Maybe you reverse from car park lot and other pp bang into you mah.

ARGGHHHH.

Whats the other party's plate number?

Why?

Buy 4D

i give up.

Labels: to Drive