Voting

Since I don't get to vote for the elections, I want to exercise my rights before it gets rusty. I suggest we change the design of this blog. Can?

I officially vote to change it. Hahaha...

Change lah... polka dots are just not right you know... it's sooo.... 80s. We are in the new millennium... we must advance... and nobody should know that we are from Cre***nt!

I have no authority to edit the site so it's all up to our Monkey Chairman to do something about it. I pay you with peanuts can? :p

Days of Being Wild

Here's a tribute to CGS'89:

• Meeting at the Newtown busstop every morning for bus 111
• Chasing after buses
• Painting of NPCC room
• RODs
• Pulau Ubin Hikes
• Pulau Ubin Camp
• NPCC parade
• Hairnets and pins
• Braiding of hair and some of us who dun have long enough hair to braid...
• Sabo-ing the NPCC recruits
• Climbing into NPCC room through the window
• Queenstown boys (eeek)
• Hwa Chong Boys (eeek)
• Getting reprimanded by principal for being rowdy
• West coast park playground
• Bukit Merah Macdonald
• Marina Square
• Picnic at Marina Bay
• Cramming for exams at Holland Village Burger King and KFC
• One whip potato and 19 buns
• Birthdays at one of our houses
• Maggi mee in one big pot
• Daring each other to explore haunted house
• Trading dirty jokes and haunted stories
• Copying homeworks and last minute homeworks
• Chinese spellings (hate that!)
• Home Economics and Rock Buns
• Sleeping on the Basketball court
• Late for morning assembly and sneaking in through the back gate
• Meiyu and her high pitch voice
• Ann and her "bee-hive" orange hairdo
• Fengyu and her short short fringe
• Xiuzhen and her wombat pace
• Xuet and her heaps of secret admirers

Anymore to add?

Happy belated Birthday 33!

So nearly half of our group are 33 this year already right? Wow! If our average lifespan is around 70 then we have hit our middle age already wor!!!

I know the thought of this will make some of us rush to the department stores and get more anti-aging cream (side look at Lina).

Well, Happy belated Birthday 33! How long have we known each other? hmm.... need more than both my hands to count.

Isn't it amazing to think back and recall all the things we've been through together? How we met, certain key events, NPCC, fight and quarrels, NPCC, birthdays and gatherings, NPCC, Pulau Ubin hikes, Rollerskatings, Haunted houses, NPCC... Come to think of it, there were alot of funny NPCC things to recall. The bunch of us really got into alot of troubles then.

I guess friendships forged under such trials tend to withstand time huh. Although some of us might be busy with life and seldom kept in touch, it's alright to go and do your own thing. At the end of the day there was always that bond, that level of easiness when we met up again. Afterall, we had watched each other grew up, before the days of makeups (side look at Lina), babies and husbands.

Next will be to wait for the other half of the group to catch up and join the middle age club... woohoo!

33 turned 33

Corny, but 33 had turned 33. Waited for 33 years! :)

So, birthdays come birthdays go. When we were much younger, birthdays were something we all looked forward to. Birthday-ee hoping for surprises; birthday-friends collaborating for surprises. We fought sometimes, synchronizing dates, times, location, presents, even costs of presents! We fought for we wanted to accomodate. We fought for we wanted the best. We fought and we forgot. We fought and we reminiscence as years go by.

We fought less now. We matured. We understand the differences and the priorities.

Anyway, thank you for all the well wishes. I know somewhere you'd sent me the wishes. On a different time-zone probably. Or some sent subconciously too. :) Thank you!

--- wisdom of life ---

Dear Diary

Dear Diary,

Yesterday the weather was very cold. And we got hail! Yes my very first sighting of hail. Apparently it's quite a common occurrence here during winter but for a Singapore girl like me it was a fascinating experience.

I remember a few years back the weather in Singapore got to a point when it was pretty cold (for Singapore's standards la). At one point a chunk of ice fell from the sky and landed on some Bishan coffeeshop roof. It was such a phenomenon then and caused quite a commotion. Of cause by the time someone reported it to the TV station and the reporters arrived, the chunk had already melted down to just a dot. Everyone was talking about it, the TV stations reported it, Chinese newspaper splash it across their front page and the coffeeshop had very good business for the next few weeks.

But there I was, standing inside a laundrette and watching tiny 5mm bits of icicles falling from the sky. I remember I was drying my laundry when it started to rain...and it got louder and louder. The pelting of the raindrop became almost like tiny marbles dropping and I looked out and saw tiny chips of ice bouncing off the pavements. It did not occur to me it was hail then... My first thought was: "Who is tossing all these white stuffs around?" Heheehehe... idiot

Then my dear Chris enlightened me that it's hail. I was so excited... very suagu right. I even wanted to go outside and collect a handful... Luckily Chris stopped me and made me realise how stupid that idea was. Anyway, it lasted for about half an hour and by the time it stoppped, the streets were slippery from all the melted frost. What an experience!

10:05am
24/07/06 (Monday)
Winter - Rainy and Cloudy

The Window, The Window, The 7th Storey Window

Wanted to write about my first major incident in this role. But since I'd promised about the window, and also Shuet still doesn't know what I do, I guess I'll stick to the window.

The window.

Does it remind you of the song we used to sing? :) ................ *drifted*

Well back to reality. Firstly, if you're considering buying a property from F**E*** (whom one of our dear friend has been slogging there for more than a DECADE), well, DON'T!!!

I was considered lucky not to have major crack across the center of the living room, or water tank bust and that sort of luck. 5 years (alright, I've pushed my luck for 5 yrs now), and one fine day.... well actually not that fine.. it was a rainy day.. a heavy rainy day.... in fact it rained heavily for days!!... while I was home alone, lying next to the window enjoying the moody-grey weather, I found a big stain on the window sill on the floor! The stain looked so old that it has been there forever!

I've traced the window sills round and couldn't find any leaks. Amazing. I contacted the management committee. Just like visiting public hospitals, I've took a queue number and waited for 21 days. They are really kind to advise me to place a piece of cloth there on rainy day. I'm so glad! :)

Finally, the ah-nei (will be called AN from here) came with the supervisor. I left them pretty much alone, sneakily monitoring them from far. If you remember, my windows have 2 sections. There's a big middle slab at the waist level that seperates the top window piece with the bottom glass piece (cannot open). The stain btw is on the bottom piece. I saw the AN patching up the top window... hmm.....................................

Well, I was told to monitor on the next rainy day. So I waited... and waited... Finally after 2 months similar rain came again, blowing the same direction of course only by 0.5 degrees! And ta-da!!! I have another pool on the sills! :)

This time round 2 ANs came with another supervisor. The supervisor climbed out of the window (yeeks) alone checking everywhere. Then comes the real patching part. One AN climbs out, with a rope on his waist, tying to the other AN. ** picture it **

So what happens? -- monitor for the next rain of course... duh...............

TV vs Dvd Player

We bought a new dvd player! Finally can catch all the movies that I have been dying to rent. Right?

WRONG!!!!

Yes, another one of my many new discoveries in life here.... some televisions were manufactured before dvds were ever invented. ARRRGGGG!!!

When we were shopping for a television a couple of weeks back, Chris' boss(very nice man) was kind enough to offer us his old television. It was a Sony...enough said. We were ecstatic...no need to buy a tv...can save money...somemore the tv was a big one with remote control still working. After lugging the bloody heavy, big thing back, we couldn't wait to sit in front of our fire place and watch tv programmes.

However, as Murphy(Murphy's Law) will say...all thing that can go wrong, will go wrong.

The house have NO...I repeat...NO TV OUTLETS!!! What kind of people use to stay here?! Anyway, no worries...we bought a portable satellite dish... so at least we can see something despite it being blurry. On good days we can even pick up channels from Fiji!

Then the remote control for no apparent reason...ceased to work.... ok.... nevermind, can still use manual tuning. Next, the television started to give us funny colours... ok... at least still got visual. We were determined to make this work.

Finally we bought a dvd yesterday. There was a big electrical goods sale and we got our dvd for only $49! After happily unpacking the dvd player and reading the instruction manual carefully...we were all ready to plug it in and play. And we found out that our big wonderful Sony has no AV input outlet... (damn you Murphy!). It dawned upon us slowly that this freaking television was manufactured more than 20 years ago.... before technology jumps on the super highway and give us dvds and vcds...whatever.

So we are back to blurry channels and faulty remote control. Hmm...might have to buy a tv afterall...

San's Toilet Bowls

Hi hi B3,

hehehe this is quite funny... :) but i'm glad you're "enjoying" the process... things will stable down abit... either it gets matured (most things fixed) or u get used to it.. or probably u'd deviced some optimal way of handling it.. whatever the case, it happens.. it'll be really fun to sit at your backyard (if u have) next time chatting with Chris "remember the last time that stupid microwave over cannnot stand on the table??" hehehe

it happens to everyone.. i'm very "fortunate" that these are still happening to me, in case u wonder!! hahah remmeber i have 3 toilet bowls in my place?? YES 3 toilet bowls for 2 bedroom-unit.. what was the architect thinking???? anyway out of the 3, 2 cannot flush properly.. yes yes, if u do big buiness u may need to stand in the toilet flushing 3 times, sometimes u need to take the shower hose and spray... well, we'd installed a small toilet bowl hose next to it now.. everytime finish business can use that to further hose the bowl..;) oh, btw, there's 1 that flushes very well, and that's the one at the laundry area where i'd placed all my mops, pails etc... *snore*...

and now, the toilet bowl in my bedroom broke down..its so upsetting to know, plumber skills varies with the type of house u stayed in!!!! the plumber just get skillful-er when they step into a fenced up place? The same plumber charges $40 per visit for 3 room HDB flat, but $120 per visit for my place... btw, size for size, i dun think my place is any bigger than a 3 room flat... anyway he came once and replaced a part (ok there are 2 parts) and it stopped leaking... but soon after he left, it leaks again.. when u call him back it seems as if it is your fault and he is doing u a favour... what has the world turn to be?? oh, of course the leak is so slow unless u stand next to the bowl and stare for 5mins u wouldn't notice..... UNTIL your PUB bill comes.... :(

so i'm here with 3 physical toilet bowls, 1 cannot be used due to mops and pails in the way, 1 is leaking so i turned off altogether... heng i have 1 left.... i just hope we dun eat the wrong thing together... :) :) anyone have good toilet bowl brands to recommend?

oh, btw if u complain your next day to the dairy, I'll feed you with my leaking window experience..;)

rgds,
san

PS: so are you more comforted?? hehehe

Noreen's Rainy Day

Dear Diary,

Last night the gas heater broke down. The rain was pounding outside and it was freezing cold. We have no heat but plenty of gas. So it was between a choice of breathing in gas and die or opening the windows and freezing to death. Not much of a choice huh...

The "wardrobe" advertise in the paper for our place turn out to be just two cupboard. One with door that cannot be closed. Everytime we want to close it, we have to open the drawers below to "pin" the door close.

The kitchen sink clogged up again. It's only 1 feet by 0.8 feet...not a very big sink. I have do my dishes in batches...wash the utensils first, the plates later and the pots last. The pots are the most challenging cos it cannot fit into the small sink...so I have actually develope some good maneuvering skills...might help in my driving.

Speaking of driving...I have to find another driving instructor now that I have moved to another suburb. Apparently driving instructors are pretty much tagged to their neighbourhood. They don't like to travel far...ironic isn't it since they are the ones who teach driving.

The stove is burning well. The oven is not though. i suspect the gas outlet is clogged but I'm not keen to find out. Last thing we need is more gas in the house. So no roast meat or baking cookies on our menus for now.

We bought our new microwave! The kitchen table top could not hold its weight though. When we placed it on the table... the middle sunk down. So the door of the microwaved could not be open fully due to the uneven surface. We cut out styrofoams for the base to prop it up...aren't we innovative...

The toilet tap has developed the habit of spitting out oil blobs when we keep it running for too long. Must be some plumbing lubricant that got trapped in the pipe when the landlord was fixing it. It's not huge blobs...just tiny speckles that is barely noticeable unless u decided to gurgle ur mouth with the water. I found out about it when I did just that...gurgle and taste oil....yuck! I think I swallowed some too. Guess it's good way of building up my immune system. Might keep me warm too if I stand near a flame...with all the oil in my stomach. Or it probably can help in my bowel system with all the lubricant in my systems...hahaha (sick joke)

Chris manage to fixed up our washing machine in the toilet...that's my man! But our first attempt at washing turn out to be a disaster cos the water pipe was not screwed on tight enough. Imagine being assaulted by high powered jets of cold water. Took me an hour to get the toilet back in order...by then I decided to wash the toilet anyway...make full use of the water.

We took our laundry to the laundrette to have it spin dry. It was rainny and we could not hang it out to dry. (Note: Never let a man in charge of laundry) Chris selected high heat spinning inorder to speed up the process. We have alot of mini sweaters and long johns now...can probably passed it to Sheryl and Glenn when they visit.

Well, life's great so far....not a dull moment. I remember when I first came people told me I'll be so bored with nothing to do here...who are they kidding? I wonder what's in store for me next.

9:55am17/07/06 (Monday)Winter - Rainny and Cloudy