gastroentritis.

doc dun let me go home.
say nausea n vomiting r some of the early signs of h1n1. ;(
the rest of the set have left last night. n no matter how much a pleaded with doc, he dun even let me passenger back. SobZ*

n i had to go thru so much trouble cos the idiot doc gave me a very vague medical advice.
esp when the company needed specifics like how many days mc he giving me n wat to do next.

his words were jus "advised not to work/fly til symptoms settle"

wtf!?

the best part? it was the 29jul when he saw me but he put 28jul on both letter n med report.

SMARTEST DOCTOR!!!

N he must insist tt i dun go onboard last night cos in case i do have the h1n1 virus i spread to others n his reputation kena.

wat reputation?!?!? ask u to fax me new report with amended date also refuse!
knn yr reputation is shit to me ready when u wrote the wrong date all over my prescriptions n report yo!!
Wat were u?? high on weed or something?????

%$&*&&%())()(%@###!

i jus wannnna go home... ;_(

dunno anyone here.

endurance...

i've added the charity ad thingy for this little girl Charmaine.
A huge movement has been going on raising funds for her to go to the US for her cancer treatment which will increase her chances of survival from 10% to at least 40%.

im sadly reminded of my grandma who passed away from stomach cancer close to 2 years back liao.
n now down with this gastric discomfort for 2 days, im wondering if this is the discomfort my granny felt all day everyday for the last 2-3 years of her life.

being sick is way no fun n i wondered if the physical discomfort ever goes away in the terminally ill even with their loved ones perpetually around them.

I guess the meaning of endurance goes way deeper here.

Anyway, u all can help too by clicking on tt ad box. maybe find out more bout it n u can make yr donations.

loves* ;)

i hate gastric.

i will die for a bowl of nice steaming hot porridge with century egg n pork bits now
i had to make do with plain boiled salmon(very fishy lei!) n spinach.

i dunno wats it w my tummy these days.

since i started a clear diet of fruits n bread 2 weeks ago.. i have been plagued with stomach upsets n gastric.
not tt i jus eat fruits n veg all day la.
only when i overseas.

but when in sg the chap chye rice n dry fishball meepok n yong tau foo did spice up my energy levels quite abit.

this nausea n acid thing in my tum started 2 days ago when i ingested some tuna sandwich n plain salad once i checked into london.
i suspect its the bloody raw onions which caused the acid overdose.

sigh.
can someone jus pls take this horrible nausea away!?!?!
i cant wait to touch down back in sg n see the doc.

maybe my body jus rejects healthy food.

n im feeling sick sick sick.
wat with the weekend coming.

oh gosh........ someone jus make this go away pls.
its how sad to b sick overseas alone.
*whimper*

work work work work

yeah. i feel like i've been working a hell lot.
i dunno why. but i jus feel very washed out.

n the most annoying thing is, washed out ppl r supposed to lose weight naturally n drastically.
But the opposite happens to me. -__-

So on top of feeling washed out, i've gotta heave my 57.8kg ass to the gym at least twice weekly so my self esteem does not plummet to nothingness.

the only thing motivating me now is hearing stories of colleagues n friends who have bought their own apartments, whether private or HDB.
N the thought of earning more n more n more so tt i can buy myself a roof over my head is pretty enticing.

I guess at 28, we r reaching tt stage in life huh.

Choices. Choices Choices.

Such big commitments would also mean tt i can't go jobless next year liao.
But i cant take it anymore liao. really really.

looking forward to the time i can sleep in london.
sleeeeeeeepppp.... so divine. sigh.

anti climax!

Harry Potter n the half blood prince had a super anti climatic ending la.
the rest of the show was pretty much okie...
though as sketchy as my memory of the book.
(i always read n forget. watch movie n forget anyways)

N my June credit card bomb greeted me once i stepped into home.
OMgOd~
*slaps self*

2009 drags on.
its barely august....
if not for the little things in life.... like breakfasts with boyfriend who haven't brushed their teeth. n build-a-bears from girlfriends.....
life really seems hard to get thru sometimes..

So sleeeeeeepy.........
nights!

Slob Redux~

Since i arrived in Dxb,
i haven't showered for 1.5 days.
Haven't brushed my teeth as well for tt long.
Haven't combed my hair for longer.
Consumed only 3 litres of h2o
n slept only 15 hrs.

i stepped out for a total of 13 mins to the super mart to get supplies.
N ate a total of 2 meals.

But i did chop a hell lota garlic n onions.
Washed n trimmed shitloads of fats of a pack of chicken thighs.
N learnt tt onion n mushroom omelette cannot be mixed together n fried same time.
(must fry the onions til slight brown first then pour in the egg!!!!) i think.
at least from experimentation.

Im forcing myself to go to the gym now.
I emptied out the ashtray (which contains 15 stubs n 5 plum pits)
N posted this blog post.

I think it best to not face it for somemore time still.

What's really going on???

for those who haven't been following me since strange-n-beautiful days, u'd know i dun question my blogs posts with questions.

but wat's been really going on?
nothing really..
but lots under the surface..


really...

when im here... with the keyboard, i no longer like to say wat i tot about.
i could very much bitch bout the china bus driver i encountered 2 days ago on 190 to town..

but i lost the gist for that. (tt was gonna be another story actually... with actual Chinese words! ;D)

im not happy im not happy.. im not happy...
i mourn n cry my heart out to my best fren in london. once he pick up the phone, when he jus came back....
i sorta feel bad for him tt he gotta picture my tear stained face in contrast to that "woman in orgasm" face tt he's so accustomed to whenever he comes back to sg...

i complain to my bf n sort of cry to him bout wat im unhappy about...

i puke n complain to my poor dustbin bout my stomach disorders.... (after home concoctions of choya, vodka n green tea. Wat??!? no go zouk then drink wat?!?!?)

but it doesn't empty out my angst.

The fact is, im tired of my life , My job. the dead end thing tt not happening with wats supposed to be happening in my age group. n the fact is tt... i have chose it.

i puked in the waste bin feeling sorry for myself tt im not one of my girlfriends preparing for a house tt need renovation, for a wedding tt needs preparation.

but i know tt's not wat i need in the first place.

a long time ago, i pictured my life to be
- i get married at 26, bloody happy at 28, have kid before 30 (so as to reduce risk of watever reproductive cancers) n live happily ever after


OR at least
- i get married before 30. have kid before 35, have own business or help out in hub's one before 40 n live happily after as a semi tai tai. with a couple of Christian Louboutins or 2 .

- the above, or at least if hubs no make it... at least have the means to go for laser n watever loser aesthetics procedure so tt i look like a semi tai tai.


all else fails...


i rather jus make my own money n look like a SINGLE TAI TAI.
like wTF.

anyway at the mo' i hate all semi tai tais n wat my good guy frenz are making the women of their moment to be out to......

cos watever pple think i m. "high maintenance" or watever, i never made my man pay for my extra extravagances.
i work for wat i have. n i never sponged. neither have any of them made me feel tt i deserved them on their account ( loserish la) or have i ever been offered.

so really. im not high maintenance.
nor have any men offered to provide for me. IN ANY BLOODY WAY.

it would be nice.
but it never blooody happened.

so really. shoot me. for bitching bout women who have men paying for their every way.
cos all the way since i was 17, i work for every dollar tt provided for wat i am now.

Fingers X-ed

is it so hard to score an interview these days?
bloody darn hell..........

Call me!! email me!! Call me! CaaAAaaaLLL meeeeeee!!!

How bout a shot of Whiskey?? ;)

When the mega ex returned to sg, it was a Golden opportunity to visit my furry first love...

Awwwww. He was just as excited as i was!
I can't believe it whenever it seems like he never forgets me... ;_)

With his pink snow nose n sharp face.......
N heavily gold lashed eyes....
He's my love!!!

See how goo goo gaga my loving face is???
N it's after a bad day!

Wristle wrestle...

Tail wag.

He is a big boy now.. at 4 years old.
Always wondered if he understands wat it feels like to have "split up" parents.
Sigh.

See.... those of u reading this n considering getting dog with yr bf or gf please think properly hor.
*heart aches*

Sitting outside Carls' Jr at Far East Plaza
Whiskey is such a good boy! n always has been.
:)

Playing with the colour accent function in my new Ixus 85.
So GOLDEN my Golden!!!!! YeeHEee!! ;D

Sigh... i miss my baby furboy whenever i see this pic...

OMG, i used to b a pretty good writer! (不要脸！！！）

So im working on updating my resume now la to apply from a communications job with one of the IR.

N i stumbled onto this folder i created eons ago which contains all versions of my CVs n application letters.

I can't believe that i used to come up with such a good load of bull when i was so fresh outta school with zero corporate experience.
I guess the terminology learnt in school were still fresh in my head then ;D

But the best i think i have ever written was this particular complaint letter bout a certain florist which i wonder still exists today or not man. ;D

Never one to write for others, i've always been secretive bout my essays n projects cos i always felt embarrassed bout putting my personal thoughts out there for people to read, judge n scrutinise.

Having just finished a module in Services Marketing n not to mention the very inspiring lecturer we had (who sadly have passed on the last i've heard), i included some theory from wat i learnt in school into the complaint letter n forwarded it to ALL my un course mates back in NTU then.

N one of them forwarded it to my then lecturer. hohohoho~ ;D

By then it was my last semester n i always wondered if my complaint letter was ever used as a example of the "intangible aspects of a service being consistent with the tangible aspects" subject. ;p

Attached below is the letter, word for word!:

"Hi everybody! :)

So how did everyone’s Valentine’s Day turn out?

Well we all know the sheer power of the Word-Of-Mouth communication and the harm it can do to a person, or an entity when the information carried is negative. My main purpose for writing this email is to tell everyone about MY Valentine’s day disaster, caused by a particular florist, or rather, a flowers and hamper shop.

As most of my friends in constant contact with me will know, my boyfriend is currently overseas studying so obviously he could not be with me. However, sweet and thoughtful as he always is, he recognises the significance of presenting flowers to his girlfriend especially on Valentine’s Day. Personally, any flowers would be good for me; after all it’s the thought that counts, right? :)

Okay, it was much to my surprise and utter delight when the flowers was delivered to my workplace in the evening around 8, yes it was right on time, but boy, was I surprised by the condition they were in. One of the red roses (never mind that the invoice said it was supposed to be pink) was drooping and the rest were in pretty bad condition with wilty, black edges. The “lush foliage” as described in the website which I later checked out, were more or less half dead and were soggy and drooping as well. It also looked as if it had been lying under a pile of other bouquets and hampers the entire day because it was pretty flat and limp and lifeless. My friends who saw them were rather embarrassed to point out the obvious flaws to me at first, but had to because it was really that bad!!

Nonetheless, I was delighted and smiling because it was a nice and extremely thoughtful and sweet act on the part of my boyfriend. Anyway, it’s really the thought that counts, who cares whether it’s a single rose, a dozen or whether it had to be perfect right??

Wrong. It was right because the entire evening when I was hugging and carrying the flowers I did not expect a worm to be in it. YES! A live wriggly hairy caterpillar, or worm, whatever it was, it came from inside the wrapping paper.
Alright, for some of you reading this, you might think, ‘it’s just a worm, no big deal.’ Well maybe for some of you out there who have an obsessive fear of lizards, snakes, cockroaches, whatever bugs, you would understand the point I’m getting at.

It was wrong, all wrong. Who would expect a bouquet of dying roses with dying foliage with worms crawling around on Valentine’s Day of all days? To this point, I maintain that I do not blame my boyfriend for the bad choice of florist because
1) The website looks really professional and even pledges that “Confetti is an established flower and hamper company in Singapore. In operation for the last 15 years, Confetti is reputed for well-conceived arrangements and floral designs that leave valued and lasting impressions.”

2) He called up the company all the way from London and this guy actually assured him that their flowers and the design he chose would be very nice.

However, this guy actually called my boyfriend up on a second occasion and said that an additional $20 is needed because of the demands in capacity for V-day. Never mind, if the flowers are going to turn out perfect, if not just nice, it’s worth it right?

Fast forward to the service recovery process. Never mind that I left the flowers on top of a bin in Orchard Road, I could not bear to touch it after discovering the worm. I called up this florist company and the fellow who spoke to my boyfriend told me that the flowers, the design my bf chose is supposed to be like that. I asked him, “Are you sure it’s supposed to be like that? With the leaves looking like kang kong and all?” His reply to me was that he is new to the company and was sceptical himself when he saw the condition of the flowers. However, the poor guy claimed that his colleagues who were with this company longer than him claimed that it was supposed to be like this. That the design I chose is supposed to be like this. Never mind the design!! The inner me was screaming, what I was referring to was the condition of the flowers!
His explanation was too bizarre for me to accept, I did not know that flowers were supposed to be like that, I had received and sent flowers several times before, and none of them had ever turned out like this.

Next, about 30 minutes after, my boyfriend called up, at 4 am in the morning in London, this same guy picked up the phone again. This time, he explained that some customers were understanding enough to accept that V-day is a super peak period for flowers and gifts companies, and whether we could also understand that they are unable to provide 100% perfect service and quality? That they had already hired extra help and were sorry for the poor condition of the flowers. Our stand remains that
1) V-day is a busy period for nearly every florist in the world, but we still see gorgeous if not, moderate pretty bouquets on the streets
2) They asked for an extra charge to cope with the extra orders during peak period and my bf was more than willing to pay that for quality
3) This guy himself claimed that he saw the bouquet and also thought it was in a sorry state, so why still deliver it?
4) We are generally very unfussy and forgiving people but this is really the pits. We could just accept bad foliage but nice perky fresh roses, or maybe the other way round, in fact, I was happy with the already bad shape the bouquet was in, however, the worm just completed the entire experience. I suppose even the most tolerant of customers would have a limit somewhere.

To the company who I’m also sending this email to:
The guy who handled our complaints seemed sincere enough in his apologies and was reasonable enough when my bf said he was going to withhold the payment on this transaction, but only when my bf had to impress upon him how pissed off we really were. He actually offered to send a replacement bouquet but not only does he not understand that I would not want to go near any bouquets for a long time, the action would and could not make up for the initial failure in service. It was Valentine’s Day yesterday, not today, not tomorrow and I don’t want the flowers anymore.


More importantly, you are not just doing the business of selling flowers and delivering promptly, you are also selling an experience and sending regards on behalf of the sender. Clearly you guys at Confetti understand this because you do claim that in your website under the “About Us” hyperlink. Maybe this whole process would be eliminated if the guy who inspected the flowers before the delivery could just do the simple act of replacing it with a new one?
To put simply, the intangible aspects have to be consistent with the quality of the tangible aspects in order to provide excellent service. In your case, it’s probably the other way round.

To my friends who are reading this:
Sorry for the long email, but for those of you who have had crappy valentines, maybe this would serve to amuse you. :) And of course guys, if any of you intend to order flowers for your girlfriends off the net you would know which website/company you can/should not waste your time browsing. Thank You!

Regards, Dorinn
15th February 2003
Saturday"

Post note:
Oh mi gosh, i did a quick google search n the company in question actually still exists after all these years lor.
Guess word of mouth is NOT tt effective back then when blogs r not prevalent.

They r lucky cos i was a mere student then. With no blog.
I seriously think customers in this day n age r very much less forgiving n definitely more demanding than 6 years ago.
I wonder if the bosses r the same n if they remember a very pissed off marketing student who sent them this exact complaint letter n CC-ed it to the entire marketing student population of NTU as well. HAHAHA.

Too bad my old ibook crashed n their replies to my letter were contained in there.
i remembered quite well the person who replied did say something bout my seeing an innate need to highlight their service lapse to many others.
I guess they din really see a need to placate a lowly student then. Until they realised wat i did. *wry smile*

Im sure many of my course mates who i still keep in touch with, still remember my evil deed n the above letter, which shows that it served its purpose. Oh well.

BACK TO WRITING MY CV!

Hokkaido trip Day 6 & 7

We had lotsa ice cream on Day 6

Soda, melon, lavender, kiwi...
u can get up to SEVEN different swirls of flavours in one single cone!!

We went to the town of Otaru for coffee.
Where u paid a little more to keep the coffee cups as souvenirs
Of cos keep kitty cups la.
i like wat! ;p

Otaru also has alot of stores selling musical boxes!
N glass blowing.... n intricate stuffs..

Think our best lunch so far during the tour.

hugeass scallops.
BBQ-ing in their own juices n butter...

Big shell

Big shell!
If its as wide as my fat face, it's Big lar!

Big shell fan

big shell eyes...

Can't remember wat this place is in Otaru also..
jus stop to take photo only after lunch
some scenic canal with oil lamps on the sidewalk.

Went to temple of the Fox spirit..

Where u rinse before u pray..

Fortunately for us there was some kinda carnival (aka pasar malam) outside the temple.


It's children wonderland as even cotton candy is sold in a wide variety of cartoon/manga wrappers!

Those stick balloon thingys r like damn hot, everybody bought them!!

Little japanese girls playing tikam.
Just pay 400 yen n they get a spade to scoop up colourful balls from the water..

"like tt also fun meh?? -__-" i asked my sister..

More tikam games as the kids choose the balloon they want n r given a hooked stick n they fish it out from the water.

Expensive candies
3 for 1000yen. (SGD15)

..............................................

Sapporro Tower as we go back to Sapporo Town...

I chew on a Green tes mochi with red bean filling..
yum yum~

Dinner of kobe beef
i had a thin slice n its good!!!

6 groups from our tour ordered live abalones
they were cooked live in a hotpot in sake.
it's damn 'jek ark' la to see these dudes squirming around in the heat of the pan. ;(

i took a video on my dad's camcorder n mum was not amused n told me to imagine if one of my kids got pulled away to get cooked.

Hokkaido only camembert cheese flavoured Collons!
..................................................................

We had half a day before boarding the plane on Day 7 n so were brought to a outlet shopping place near Chitose airport.

Bought nothing cos was outta yen n dad specifically told me not to use my credit cards.

Try these fried potato chips!

Apparently they were released as limited edition the previous year n each buyer had to q damn long at the airport for it n were limited only to 3 boxes only.

This marks the end of my Hokkaido trip n i brought home a pretty chocolate brown Porter Japan bag for the boyfriend for his birthday n a 1.5 kg tube of spare lard coating my waist.
Argh*

Hokkaido trip Day 4 & 5

Sorry i left off for so long but m here to continue with my Hokkaido trip entries!

Day 4 started with a trip to some boring fort in Hakodate.
The night before we went to see the top 3 night view thingy but weather was bad n it was so foggy we couldn't see past the ledge of the cliff.

Some really old cherry blossom tree.. which stills blossoms though it looks bloody rotten.

Family pic!

After tt it was a looong drive out to Izuya or something chocolate factory n we stopped at this place for lunch.

Fish. Sea urchins in the foreground.

Hugeass alaskan crabs... n expensive too

N 01 lonely pufferfish...
Think for display only la...
he looks sad n diseased...

More kitties!

N then positively our worst meal ever for the whole trip...

jus veg n cube of tofu n some measly prawns n 1 person gets some NOT very yummy half a hairy crab.

pfft* ;@

But we did buy a couple slices of their very premium rock melon to try.
Going at at least 3800 yen (approx 57 SGD) per whole melon, we got 2 slices of melon at 6SGD PER SLICE.

But quite power la. sweet n mega juicy lor.
definitely not worth 60 bucks per ball though.

To the famous choc wafer factory next.
not many photos taken of its palace like exterior cos i was grumpy n tired by the end of the day..
this is some room where ppl go in to learn to make choc confectionery or something.

The very pretty clock tower which puts on a really good show every hour!

Getting my lavender fix...
*oooosahhhh*

Flower power!!

..............................................................................................................

DAY 5

Cheese, pizza n iced milk factory..

Grape, sweet corn, pumpkin, Asparagus(?!?), cheese flavoured ice creams!

Cheese of the world!!
Tempted to buy the yummy creamy cheese cakes back but shelf life of only 3 days n expanding bellies kept us in check.

Weighing, packing, pressing, sealing freshly made butter into their individual cartons.

Next up
Farm Tomita in Furano
As if we haven't had enough ice cream to induce 'lao sai', we were brought to Farm Tomita for some lavender ice cream...
also got rock melon ice cream.
too full of ice cream to try le la.

Expensive rock melons.
it says "1 slice 300 yen, 2 slices 550 yen"

tt's approx S$4.50 to S$8.25 respectively...

Map of farm Tomita.
Note the rainbow parts!

Rainbow!

Unfortunately, lavender only harvests during the month of July n we were a month early...
There was a green house where we saw a patch of full grown lavender flowers though..

Nearly rainbow-ish?

Cutting, moulding, packing, sealing lavender soaps...

The stages of lavender flavoured soaps

Bottling lavender essential oil..


Check out my dad dad's tummy!! Whoop! ;D

Me n my first soda pop bottle
Happened to b lavender flavoured!

Everyday got scallops for meal.
Lunch!

Kitty break!!!!
*hugs*

We stopped at some cafe where they filmed some car commercial, GTO? GTR???
Dunno la.. i was so sleepy n can't really b bothered..
EVERYDAY wake up at 6 am SG time can!?!?
nothing like a holiday at all lor.

Check out the view of the mountains behind..
like the marbling of kobe beef my dad says..

Next to some ice palace place..

Where it's so cold, at least -20 degrees celsius , tt a wet towel goes in n comes out stiff as shit.

Some chamber tt measures at -41 degrees celsius when u push a button..

N picture gallery of those who survived the cold chamber....
half naked...

Another kitty break before the day ends!! ;D
....................................................................

Smoke n bed time for me in Milan, my current location.
Morrow gonna go to Fox town (some outlet mall) for the first time.
Ferregamo pumps! please dun b too expensive even though we r too early for summer sale which only starts 4jul!