a friend once commented i look like a certain singer and on the same note, he turned to another person in the same room and said, this singer is famous not for her looks but for her voice.
the same friend went to a toilet in a pub once and came out saying, "beng, u look nicer than the girl in the picture in the washroom. U beat her hands down.". i went in to the toilet (to pee and not because i wanna check out the girl in the poster) and saw a poster of an average looking girl in an awkward pose.
the same friend (i think) also said, " your chest is your best asset."
i can live without 'compliments' and by the way for the record, my smooth ass is my best asset.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Monday, March 12, 2007
"Nothing is forever, NOW is FOREVER"
Aptly put...by Only One.
I don't know how long I would be out here in Beijing. Together with Mum's life, I have surrendered mine to the Lord. Leaving it to HIM to plan and see me through.
With that I am living my life as if I would be gone tomorrow. And anything I do, whether at work or with friends or even just chilling out in my Beijing apartment is a joy. There are no more what IFs. I only live for NOW.
And I am thankful to him for NOW (which equates FOREVER)
Thanks to Oclouds who said,"The Lord's mercies are new each day."
So I wake up praying for a healthy, peaceful and happy day and I go to bed thanking him for granting me 'that' day. Whatever 'that' day turns out to be. Coz, without HIM, I may not have 'that' day.
I don't know how long I would be out here in Beijing. Together with Mum's life, I have surrendered mine to the Lord. Leaving it to HIM to plan and see me through.
With that I am living my life as if I would be gone tomorrow. And anything I do, whether at work or with friends or even just chilling out in my Beijing apartment is a joy. There are no more what IFs. I only live for NOW.
And I am thankful to him for NOW (which equates FOREVER)
Thanks to Oclouds who said,"The Lord's mercies are new each day."
So I wake up praying for a healthy, peaceful and happy day and I go to bed thanking him for granting me 'that' day. Whatever 'that' day turns out to be. Coz, without HIM, I may not have 'that' day.
Its ALL about filling templates
I term it an exceptional day when I log in to my office mail and hey...hey...hey...there is no email asking me to fill up ANYTHING. Isn't it AMAZING?
Sometimes I think life in XXX is ALL about filling up Templates. Fill fill here, fill fill there, fill here, fill there, fill fill everywhere. Every other day, we would be asked to fill up a template on the thoughts on a particular event and if we are supporting. If we say NO, we have to explain why. If we say YES, a few weeks later, there would be another template for us to fill in info on our performance. If its good, :-). If the numbers are low, we have another template to fill on how we think the event can be improved. And God Bless U if the particular initiative cut across all events and its carried out throughout the year! I'm SO not kidding. They chased you for an update every other (few) week!
Then there are those templates where u are asked to fill up at the start of the financial year. They assured u u can fill up info that is tentative. Oh oh oh...don't be 'tricked'! They chased you for update a few months later and yes, yes, yes, you have to explain HOW you didn't execute the initiative you put up as TENTATIVE.
The trick is to be as succinct as ever in filling up templates BUT the setback is....they think you are not doing enough work or the event is not relevant to your market. Solution - send me more templates to fill to find out WHY!
And and and...different teams can be asking u for info on different aspects of the same event!
And and and...people come and go...SO, different officer from the same team can ask you for an update on the same topic at different times of the year!
And and and...I suspect they FILE the templates after I sent out and they lock the cupboards and throw away the keys. Why? Because at the planning exercise before the new FY, they ask you for your views on the same events/activities in which you have filled up tonnes of templates on!
Surely I would be an expert in something when I leave this place.
We will, we will, ROCK YOU!
Sometimes I think life in XXX is ALL about filling up Templates. Fill fill here, fill fill there, fill here, fill there, fill fill everywhere. Every other day, we would be asked to fill up a template on the thoughts on a particular event and if we are supporting. If we say NO, we have to explain why. If we say YES, a few weeks later, there would be another template for us to fill in info on our performance. If its good, :-). If the numbers are low, we have another template to fill on how we think the event can be improved. And God Bless U if the particular initiative cut across all events and its carried out throughout the year! I'm SO not kidding. They chased you for an update every other (few) week!
Then there are those templates where u are asked to fill up at the start of the financial year. They assured u u can fill up info that is tentative. Oh oh oh...don't be 'tricked'! They chased you for update a few months later and yes, yes, yes, you have to explain HOW you didn't execute the initiative you put up as TENTATIVE.
The trick is to be as succinct as ever in filling up templates BUT the setback is....they think you are not doing enough work or the event is not relevant to your market. Solution - send me more templates to fill to find out WHY!
And and and...different teams can be asking u for info on different aspects of the same event!
And and and...people come and go...SO, different officer from the same team can ask you for an update on the same topic at different times of the year!
And and and...I suspect they FILE the templates after I sent out and they lock the cupboards and throw away the keys. Why? Because at the planning exercise before the new FY, they ask you for your views on the same events/activities in which you have filled up tonnes of templates on!
Surely I would be an expert in something when I leave this place.
We will, we will, ROCK YOU!
It only happens here....
This is a country where your title is more important than your name. So its always CEO Liu, Director Chen, Manager Lee etc etc. (Now you know why he's Chairman Mao). Never Mr Liu, Mr Chen or Mr Lee.
My AD title is '处 长 ' in Chinese (pronounced 'Chu Zhang'), so I am "Xu Chu" in short or Director Koh. So whenever I go, I hear "Xu Chu, Xu Chu" which to me sounds like "Virgin Koh, Virgin Koh". Why? Because the word "Virgin" is "处 女 " (pronounced "Chu Nu") in Chinese. I am not complaining of course.
This is also a country where everyone wants to be associated with whichever big boy u mentioned. Particularly so with this contact of ours. I remember attending a meeting with him and boy, whichever name I brought up, he had had lunch or dinner with him and recently too. Just when I thought he had exhausted all forms of association, this contact said, "Oh, CEO XX?! I know him. My mum and him were childhood friends."
If not for having to live up to my "Virgin Koh" title, I was once so close to saying, "As for Chairman XX whom....ahem... I SLEPT with LAST NITE...."; knowing fully well this is one association he can't beat me to it (unless he's gay which he won't admit even if he is, being a Chinese).
So u see, Mimosa Koh B H? Who's that? Its Virgin Koh oops I mean Director Koh here.
My AD title is '处 长 ' in Chinese (pronounced 'Chu Zhang'), so I am "Xu Chu" in short or Director Koh. So whenever I go, I hear "Xu Chu, Xu Chu" which to me sounds like "Virgin Koh, Virgin Koh". Why? Because the word "Virgin" is "处 女 " (pronounced "Chu Nu") in Chinese. I am not complaining of course.
This is also a country where everyone wants to be associated with whichever big boy u mentioned. Particularly so with this contact of ours. I remember attending a meeting with him and boy, whichever name I brought up, he had had lunch or dinner with him and recently too. Just when I thought he had exhausted all forms of association, this contact said, "Oh, CEO XX?! I know him. My mum and him were childhood friends."
If not for having to live up to my "Virgin Koh" title, I was once so close to saying, "As for Chairman XX whom....ahem... I SLEPT with LAST NITE...."; knowing fully well this is one association he can't beat me to it (unless he's gay which he won't admit even if he is, being a Chinese).
So u see, Mimosa Koh B H? Who's that? Its Virgin Koh oops I mean Director Koh here.
Friday, March 09, 2007
A Testimonial of God's Grace...on a colleague
"I said I'll email how the Lord blesses me.
Last end Dec, I knocked against the sliding glass door at home. The impact was great that my mouth was numbed and thought my front teeth might have dropped. To my horror, i saw on the mirror my mouth slanted and bled, one of my front teeth bend inwards. I really didn't know what to do. Don't tell me I entered the new year with such a grandma look!! After cleaning off the blood from the inner part of my lip, I went to my room and sat down to pray. I asked the Lord for mercy and what should I do. Suddenly I heard a crack sound and again I thought my teeth had dropped. It surprised me when I saw my mouth is OK only a bit swollen on my lip. Amazingly the tooth that bend inward was also back to the original position. I didn't have to see a doctor or dental surgeon. My gum and teeth affected were tender for the first 3 weeks so didn't use my front teeth to bite. When my usual routine dental appointment was up on the 4th week, I told the dental surgeon about it. He checked and told me it's OK but just that the affected area still a bit tender. He said normally when such incident happened, the patient has to be put on aetheastic before the surgeon forces the teeth back to the original position and this has to be done quickly before the nerve is dead. He said "it's a miracle" I didn't have to go through that. He asked me to monitor my teeth for another month to see if my teeth turn black. It it turns black that means the nerve is killed and my teeth will be shaky and dropped eventually. Now already past 2 months, my front teeth still look good!
I thank God for what He has done. Truly it was Him who set my look. He cares and watches us."
Praise the LORD. Have FAITH. TRUST in HIM.
Last end Dec, I knocked against the sliding glass door at home. The impact was great that my mouth was numbed and thought my front teeth might have dropped. To my horror, i saw on the mirror my mouth slanted and bled, one of my front teeth bend inwards. I really didn't know what to do. Don't tell me I entered the new year with such a grandma look!! After cleaning off the blood from the inner part of my lip, I went to my room and sat down to pray. I asked the Lord for mercy and what should I do. Suddenly I heard a crack sound and again I thought my teeth had dropped. It surprised me when I saw my mouth is OK only a bit swollen on my lip. Amazingly the tooth that bend inward was also back to the original position. I didn't have to see a doctor or dental surgeon. My gum and teeth affected were tender for the first 3 weeks so didn't use my front teeth to bite. When my usual routine dental appointment was up on the 4th week, I told the dental surgeon about it. He checked and told me it's OK but just that the affected area still a bit tender. He said normally when such incident happened, the patient has to be put on aetheastic before the surgeon forces the teeth back to the original position and this has to be done quickly before the nerve is dead. He said "it's a miracle" I didn't have to go through that. He asked me to monitor my teeth for another month to see if my teeth turn black. It it turns black that means the nerve is killed and my teeth will be shaky and dropped eventually. Now already past 2 months, my front teeth still look good!
I thank God for what He has done. Truly it was Him who set my look. He cares and watches us."
Praise the LORD. Have FAITH. TRUST in HIM.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
These bring tears to my eyes...and turn me to the Lord further.
Mum's haemoglobin level dropped. It can't drop any further. In Jesus's name, we rebuke and reject this reading.
Colleague's father-in-law likely to suffer from nose cancer. She asked me when this whole ordeal will end. I said it may be a long journey but she won't be alone as the Lord will be with them.
Ex-colleague's mum's doctor at wits end as the 'last' anti-botics for her one surviving lung is causing her gastrics pain. I encouraged her to bring her mum for Miracle Service.
Ex-colleague's dad's doctor suspects he may be down with lung cancer. I messaged her to pray.
Colleague's neck bone is giving her alot of problems and she has to see a specialist for treatment. I messaged her saying I will pray for her.
I still don't know the Lord's plans for me. To stay or to go. Every day is so precious to me. Its as if I'm one day closer to my death. Which is the case, isn't it? :-)
I believe in HIM.
Colleague's father-in-law likely to suffer from nose cancer. She asked me when this whole ordeal will end. I said it may be a long journey but she won't be alone as the Lord will be with them.
Ex-colleague's mum's doctor at wits end as the 'last' anti-botics for her one surviving lung is causing her gastrics pain. I encouraged her to bring her mum for Miracle Service.
Ex-colleague's dad's doctor suspects he may be down with lung cancer. I messaged her to pray.
Colleague's neck bone is giving her alot of problems and she has to see a specialist for treatment. I messaged her saying I will pray for her.
I still don't know the Lord's plans for me. To stay or to go. Every day is so precious to me. Its as if I'm one day closer to my death. Which is the case, isn't it? :-)
I believe in HIM.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Why does TIS family sound SO Familiar? :-)
Except from a journalist friend's blog...
"At any one time, there would be three copies of the current issue of Workers' Party journal The Hammer lying around the flat.
It usually went like this: First Kay would spot JBJ, shirt sleeves rolled up and back-combed leonine mane streaked with grey, hawking copies of The Hammer at Raffles Place MRT station on her way to work. "80 cents for The Hammer!" he rasped, over and over again, holding up the cheaply photocopied rag. She would buy one, handing the money over to him and looking at him straight in the eye, unlike other corporate serfs streaming out of the station who would look purposefully away or pretend to be distracted. Several hours later, her dad would buy a copy from the man and his equally elderly co-worker when they migrated up north to Toa Payoh MRT station. And then her mother would arrive home with packets of food for dinner and a third copy of The Hammer, blithely unaware of the earlier transactions. "Aiyah, I see him so poor thing, how can I not buy?" she would tell Kay in Mandarin when confronted with the other two copies. It always happened. They never actually read any of the articles, long diatribes on rising living costs, unfair retrenchments and unjust detentions.
They were the family who supported the underdog. Come election time, whenever their incumbent XXX candidate went door-to-door to canvas for votes -- his minions always several floors ahead of him to prepare the residents for his arrival -- Kay, her brother and her parents would lock the door, shutter up their windows, turn off the TV and the lights, and pretend there was no one at home. Familiar with their ways, their Malay neighbours next-door would tell the XXX grassroots workers, helpfully: "Nobody at home, lah. They go on holiday." Whenever there were election rallies at the open space below their block and residents flanked the corridors and void decks to watch the campaigning, Kay's father would sometimes, cheekily, make a big show out of waving a hammer, during the smattering of polite cheering and applause at the end of a XXX speech.
Then one election year, they found out that their mother had all along been marking a tick instead of a cross, as was the rule, on her balloting slip. "But I thought on forms whenever you want something you put a tick beside it? It was like that during our school days too," she said innocently when Kay and her brother howled over her mistake, realising that Madam Tan Lee Geok had been casting spoilt votes all these years, instead of giving her vote to the opposition as she had assumed."
"At any one time, there would be three copies of the current issue of Workers' Party journal The Hammer lying around the flat.
It usually went like this: First Kay would spot JBJ, shirt sleeves rolled up and back-combed leonine mane streaked with grey, hawking copies of The Hammer at Raffles Place MRT station on her way to work. "80 cents for The Hammer!" he rasped, over and over again, holding up the cheaply photocopied rag. She would buy one, handing the money over to him and looking at him straight in the eye, unlike other corporate serfs streaming out of the station who would look purposefully away or pretend to be distracted. Several hours later, her dad would buy a copy from the man and his equally elderly co-worker when they migrated up north to Toa Payoh MRT station. And then her mother would arrive home with packets of food for dinner and a third copy of The Hammer, blithely unaware of the earlier transactions. "Aiyah, I see him so poor thing, how can I not buy?" she would tell Kay in Mandarin when confronted with the other two copies. It always happened. They never actually read any of the articles, long diatribes on rising living costs, unfair retrenchments and unjust detentions.
They were the family who supported the underdog. Come election time, whenever their incumbent XXX candidate went door-to-door to canvas for votes -- his minions always several floors ahead of him to prepare the residents for his arrival -- Kay, her brother and her parents would lock the door, shutter up their windows, turn off the TV and the lights, and pretend there was no one at home. Familiar with their ways, their Malay neighbours next-door would tell the XXX grassroots workers, helpfully: "Nobody at home, lah. They go on holiday." Whenever there were election rallies at the open space below their block and residents flanked the corridors and void decks to watch the campaigning, Kay's father would sometimes, cheekily, make a big show out of waving a hammer, during the smattering of polite cheering and applause at the end of a XXX speech.
Then one election year, they found out that their mother had all along been marking a tick instead of a cross, as was the rule, on her balloting slip. "But I thought on forms whenever you want something you put a tick beside it? It was like that during our school days too," she said innocently when Kay and her brother howled over her mistake, realising that Madam Tan Lee Geok had been casting spoilt votes all these years, instead of giving her vote to the opposition as she had assumed."
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