Effects of the economic downturn

How do you know times are bad? When the crime rates shoot thru the roof.

A couple of weeks before I left for Singapore, I received a letter from my apartment management informing that a number of apartments were broken into. Those burglaries happened during the day when most people were not at home.

Then when I came back on Monday, I saw another letter informing that one of the residents was robbed at gunpoint by two African Americans in broad daylight. Luckily the resident was not hurt after he surrendered his valuables.

Then today, I received an email about two armed robberies that happened in Chinatown over the weekend. Apparently 10 men (Hispanics/Asians) robbed Tan Tan restaurant including the customers during lunch time on Saturday. The other robbery happened at Kim Son Restarant during a wedding. Of course, the guests were not spared.

Both restaurants are big and have cops/security guards constantly on patrol. Yet, nothing could stop the robbers. In fact, the two guards at Tan Tan restaurant were locked up in the restroom by the robbers. Although I do not frequent these two restaurants, the fact that I am always around the area where these two restaurants are situated makes me feel extremely vunerable. These crimes are happening too close to home!

Free Facial and Massage

Mum passed me some vouchers for a free facial and back massage which she received from Beauty Credit. She and my sis had gone for one free session of the facial each and they were definitely not impressed. In fact, my mum warned me not to expect too much and be prepared for the hard selling afterward.

I booked myself an appointment with the beauty salon yesterday. Perhaps I had set my expectations really low for the facial, I tot my beautician did a pretty good job.

But the masseuse was terrible! Instead of making me more relax, her style of massage made me felt as if I was in a rush. It was very stressful! Her strokes were hard and fast. It did not follow any pattern. She even pulled the bed suddenly away from the wall when she wanted to stand on that side of the bed without any warning. I felt like as if I'm a piece of meat lying on the bed for her to anyhow cut and slice.


The worse of all, I woke today with my ribs aching!

V-Day

I can't seem to remember how we celebrated our first V-Day after marriage. I checked the blog and couldn't find any entry on it. I figured it must be a nondescript affair since even Tim couldn't recall what we did.

How did we celebrate our 2nd V-Day this year?

We had Katong laksa for lunch. Then we spent the whole afternoon at the Premiere "supervising" Blackie and PW with the cleaning of THEIR new flat.

Finally, we had dinner with Tim's parents, his sis and her fiance at Shoduko (a Jap marche).

Triple date! How romantic!

Oh yes! Alvin proposed to Tiff on Friday the 13th. ha.

Congrats Alvin and Tiff on your engagement!

Long haul flight

The flight from SFO to HK takes 14 hours. I’ve slept, woken, eaten and slept, woken, eaten and I am still not in Hong Kong. 5 hours more to go and I still have the layover and the flight to Singapore. This is absolutely torturous!

I am blogging to keep me occupied cos I really can’t sleep no more. United is not exactly the best airline ever. There is no personal monitor and from my seat I cant even see the projector screen. Let’s not even talk about the food. Good thing I had a bowl of beef udon at the SFO airport. Considering that I was at the international terminal, there is not much selection of food to choose from.

How I wish Tim is here. He will definitely have downloaded some dramas or movies to watch on the plane.
I brought a book along, but left it in my hand carry in the overhead cabin which I can’t reach. Hmmm…

I’ve pored over every single page of the United magazine – even the section of food and beverage available in flight. One particular entry caught my eyes. It is on the places to visit in Singapore and I discover some interesting places/facts I did not know existed. Will blog abt it another time.

Long Service Anniversary

Just the other day during a chat with my partner, we talked about despite having been with the organization for slightly over six years, I have never received any service award. Now that I am quitting the Houston office to go back to Singapore, my number of years of service will probably have to recount again. Perhaps, I will never even get any recognition for the years of “hard work” I put in maybe even after possibly10 years with the company.

Then I received an email two days ago from the HR. Apparently, some enhancements have been made to the service award program which includes a change in the years of service calculation. Under the new calculation, service years now include the time spent with a non-US firm.

With this change, my number of service years was changed and now I get to celebrate a milestone anniversary by selecting a gift.

I have not seen the list of gifts I can choose from. Nay, I don’t think it is gonna be something very attractive, it is probably gonna be some clock, diary, mug, t-shirt with the EY logo but at least it is still some form of recognition. Of course, the most practical would be to give me $$.

Packing up IV

5 more hours before I need to leave for the airport!

I'm finally done with packing. Well, almost. I will be done after I finish packing the hand luggage.

Good thing I have a colleague who just lives in the next block. I got her bf to help put the two (hopefully within weight limit) luggage in my car.

I will be home in less than 36 hours!

Singapore here I come!

p/s: I managed to squeeze the tripod in the luggage but not poker chips. Maybe next time, Wen.

Packing up III

I went to Target and got an electronic bathroom scale. I couldn't find the model I returned a month ago.

Damn this new scale. It wouldn't allow me to weigh the luggage without giving me either error msg or ridiculous low numbers. I tried so many times till my hands and back are aching. Now I can't be sure if the luggage are above the limit or I can stuff more things in.

I'm pissed.

Packing up II

I finally started packing....I think I should be able to finish by Wed evening.

Now I am thinking, should I bring my extremely heavy roller blades back. It's been donkey years since I last bladed. I wonder if I still know how to do it.

Some other interesting finds:

1. Tim's eastpak waist pouch
He totally forgot abt this pouch until I asked if he wanted it back. I was hoping he would say he doesn't want it then I can keep the S$15 I found inside. heh. But he wouldn't give me that S$15! hmph!

2. Wen's Texas Hold'em poker chips
Wen had asked me to help him bring the chips back if I got the space. I thought since the chips wouldn't take up much space, I might as well bring them back. I found the plastic bag of chips under some office supplies at the lowest shelf of the cupboard. As I tried to pull the bag out while aquatting down, I almost fell. The chips are so heavy! I originally thought they must be at least 1kg and found out later that they are between 3 to 5kg! No wonder Wen did not bring them back in the first place.

3. Forks and Spoons
Mum told me about a month ago to bring the forks and spoons I brought from S'pore back home. I tot she was crazy. Can't she just buy them in Singapoe? But I guess it makes sense since each piece costs $3. So by bringing 4 pairs back, I'm helping her saves a whopping S$24! Confirm auntie @ work. ha.

4. Camera tripod
Think I might have the space to bring back the tripod which YR gave to Tim when he left Houston.

5. 2 pairs of Lee Hwa Earrings and a Lee Hwa ring
I don't even remember I have those earrings here in Houston. As for the ring, it brought back so many memories. I used to wear it everyday and stopped only after I got the wedding band.

Time to sleep. Let's see what interesting things I will find tomorrow.

Packing up

Looking at the mountain-high pile of books, files and clothes, I simply cannot bring myself to start packing. It just looks too daunting. Trying to pack the luggage for relocation back to Singapore is not gonna be easy. I should try to start and finish most by today as I am only left with four evenings to complete it.

Procrastination is in my blood. I would rather blog about packing up than to get started on it. Time to kick this bad habit away.