20 Buckets Of Water Later…

I admit that the pails or buckets I use are not large ones as I cannot lift heavy loads.

I use medium sized buckets to hold water as I did my adventure of washing my car.

Doing my own car wash is different than going to the gas station and paying $10 for a hand washed car as I sat in the car.

The 2 attendants would do a quick squirt of foam and with a sponge, deftly and quickly rub the car down.

Then they use a pressure jet to hose the car clean.

I often leave the gas station and reach home to see dirt not wiped nor tyre rims cleaned.

I know I have a spinal issue and so I turn a blind eye to it as I cannot do cleaning on my own.

But today I felt the interior needed its usual wipe down and using the same small buckets of water concept, I ventured out to wash the exterior of my own car as well.

Tired but happy, I have a cleaner car.

The rims were gingerly cleaned with sponge and scrubbed clean.

I was right. I maybe told I cannot do alot of things. But if a task was broken down to manageable loads, I think I can do it.

The mindset is to try….not to be gung ho but try, knowing self limits where going beyond will injure self.

I felt achieved today as my car is nice and clean, both interior and exterior.

But it took me 20 buckets, 20 trips to the standpipe a car lot away. (*for people like me with a compromised spine, carrying anything for short distances is a forever challenge!)

20 buckets or pails of water later….I am encouraged 😀

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Finally My Bro Is Spending Lunar New Year With Us

It has been a couple of years since my bro last spent lunar new year with us.

He has lived in Hong Kong for more than 20 years with his partner, Lizard.

Had Lizard been a decent woman that got along with mum, dad and I, we are sure bro would be able to see us more frequently.

Bro lives under the thumb of Lizard and provides 100% financial support to Lizard and her maiden family down to her siblings.

The price of love and my parents’ loss of their son. Lizard did not approve home “visa” travels to my bro often and whatever he wanted, he must fly home to be with maiden family for all festive occasions despite he living in HK perenially.

I am a woman but I have never insisted for my male partners to be with me for special occasions with my family  and they did not do so. I allowed freedom as like any child, I understood the parental love aspect.

I dislike Lizard as she is commanding and insistent that each meal we supped together must be lobster, bird’s nest and abalone. Of course I paid, not her!

Lizard thinks she is royalty but in truth she came from a struggling family and shacking up with my bro gave her and her maiden family a lease of life in luxury!

Love is blind.

Love is about who controls whom.

Love is who is dominant and who is subservient.

I prefer Love to be equal.

Love to be free will.

Love to be mutually respectful and not about financials to milk the other dry of.

In truth…..I am disillusioned about Love….romantic love, unconditional love or Phileo love is more real….

You think? Care to share your ideas on Love?

So…..It’s Saturday

I am having a lazy Saturday, lolling on the cool marble flooring of my pigeon hole.

Yup, it is a scorcher today with temperatures at 33 degrees Celcius.

Fan is whirring and Garfield is happily beside me, rather “dead” with his frozen smile! I assure you, I did not “murder” Garfield. He is inanimate. Just the way I like it 😉

Laundry was done last evening and this morning I managed to get a load of ironing done.

The news is dreadful as I sat over my newspapers with coffee and toast.

Jobless rates are up. Sigh…I know…I am one of the digits. Drats! I have hit famine again as those many interviews I went yielded no results of second interviews. It is the employers’ market I reminded self. But the POSITIVE ME wants to believe I will be offered a job next week 😉

To be out of job over the festive season is a terrible thing for anyone to go through and I pray for employers not to be mean Scrooges to chop or axe or the politer (there is really to nice term to sugar coat the same effect) term of retrenching anyone at this time.

But honestly what do businesses care?!

MNCs are fairer in compensating fully to affected staff but NOT SMEs.

The SME I previously was at, felt it was better to cheat employees of their due bonuses by removing it and getting rid of them.

Had these affected personnel been more litigious, it would have been fun to see Scorpion King being taken to task. Still I feel he will meet his downfall one fine day….when his karma is due!

More news….after digressing to the jobless situation :-D…..

Sadly an unemployed man of 7 years, living off his wife had enough of her beration that he stabbed her to death, slashed the maid who managed to escape after she tried to break up the fight, before stabbing self to death.

Before he died he emailed to government authorities of his reasons for killing and posted on Facebook!

The wrong usage of social media….the two deceased left behind a son.

Joblessness can drive one to to this state of despair. Sad 😦

Like any jobless person…I can empathise but what can one do if one has tried very hard to apply for jobs but get no offers.

Regardless of how experienced one may be or educated, undoubtedly, one needs Lady Luck!

Oh Lady Luck….calling Lady Luck…wherefore art thou?

Pushing Limits

On days like these, I feel like an 80 year old as my spine is screaming….squirt me some WD40 or lubricant as the darn joints with screws are tightening up!

Whilst I know the saying, “mind is willing, body is weak” – I epitomise it.

I have an energetic mind. It works ceaselessly and I think I can, therefore I do it.

But in truth, I cannot!! Ugh!

I cannot heave ho a trolley of groceries, much less load into my car’s trunk, soap powders of 5 kg packs, or say a carton of anything.

The last 3 days have kept me busy with job lords and the rushing about have made me extremely tired.

I know and empathise how my aged mum feels going on her own to lug groceries, standing over kitchen sink to clean fish, chop or mince pork by hand using the knife.

Thankfully I am working most times and not a housewife, else I would be bitter being unable to take care of my family.

I see able people especially young adults with maids, heavily reliant on hired help and treating them as slaves.

I am fiercely independent. Like my mum ha ha…we can use part time help but not live in help.

But on days, I wished I could have a ready cooked meal, laundry done or groceries shopped and nicely put away!

Ha! If I had a chaueffeur, a butler like Jeeves…now that would be peachy!!

Otherwise, Frankenstein would suffice with “yessss Master” ha ha now where’s my darn gargoyle to take Garfield out for a walk!

Yes…body is weak but the mind can be having a field day in the land of make believe 😉

A Young Visitor At Mum’s

Today, my mum had a very young visitor aged 8 years old.

This was the first time I met him. Polite, articulate and confident, he greeted my mum as he entered.

Mum being hard of hearing would chide him why he did not greet her! LOL! The little one was bewildered till I told him to shout louder as my mum was hard of hearing.

He greeted me too. I do not usually like kids as the ones I know are spoilt brats!

But this fella is a decent boy with a sad history.

He lived couple of doors away from mum’s unit and his parents are divorced. Custody of he and his sister were awarded to his mum and his mum slaved at a bank to make ends meet.

His uncle offered them a room of which he shared with his sister, his mum and maid (someone had to mind the kids whilst mum worked).

For a young boy, he shared his heartache of no father as his father abandoned them.

He sought comfort at my parents place and my mum would always give him a snack plate or sweeties or stuff kids like.

Today at Giant hypermarket, I was wondering why my mum bought boxes of Christmas mint candy canes.

Aaah when I saw my mum giving this boy I understood. This lad loved minty candy canes.

I am glad my mum is always kindly giving goodies to the block cleaners, Mr Postie or even the neighbors.

I feel sad for the lad as it is not nice to be abandoned as if like a dog or cat!

Marriages are not “real” but highly fragile these days unlike the older generation where they ride out the tides of time.

I am glad the little boy finds comfort in his day time pseudo grandparents a.k.a my mum and dad 🙂

What A Friday….Year Of Goat Is Coming!

The Year of the Goat officially arrives on February 19th. This is the Chinese Lunar New Year and the animal zodiac for 2015 is the Year Of The Goat.

Foreigners have preferred the Ram over the Goat so believe it or not, enterprising mascot makers have made cuddly rams instead of the uglier scrawny Billy goat 😀

Like any Singaporean Chinese, today was spent with my mum shopping for Lunar New Year goodies. She had wanted to go to the hypermarket called Giant.

I am as you all know directionally challenged but AHA I knew how to get to Turf City Grandstand.

Parking was plentiful…thankfully as we went during office hours and human traffic was either at work or having to minds kids at school.

I was taken aback at the range of Chinese, Malay cookies on display.

Love letters or Kueh Belanda, Kueh Baulu or mini sponge cake made in a process that needs no refrigeration to last beyond 15 days of the lunar new year greeted us in different shapes and sizes.

Kueh Baulu was in shapes of small balls, flowers or fish in size of a palm.

Pineapple tarts were shaped in pillows stuffed with caramelized pineapple. Others were made open faced on butter flour based, or covered totally.

Kueh Bangkit, a white cookie made of starch with coconut milk and sugar simply melts in your mouth.

Chocolates in gold coins and ingots were plentiful as we believe that it symbolises gold as in prosperity!

Yes…our feasting will begin as humans go door to door to visit relatives, married couples giving hong baos or red packets containing monies as gifts to singles.

Reunion dinner is held on New Year’s eve and it will be the usual duck, fish, roast meats etc….in my words, PIG OUT TIME!! 😀

$2 BK Fish Burger Tastes Great With Mum & Dad

I was ravenous last evening as by the time I finished my 5 marathon job interviews, I was famished.

I had no time for breakfast and lunch. By the time dinner came round, it was almost 7 pm and off I trotted off with mum and dad to a Burger King joint at ARC.

This was our maiden visit to this mall and all it housed were eateries!

Paradise for hunger pangs as I saw two sushi restaurants, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Auntie Kim’s Korean BBQ House, Soup Spoon, Salad Bowl, Hock Lam Beef Noodles.

These were not swanky restaurants but fast food type or little eateries. But the pricings ranged from $8.90 to $13.90 for meals. So it is mid range pricing, up above fast foods but lower than restaurants (some).

We unanimously decided on BK as it had been heavily advertising for their $2 BK fish burger!

I was intrigued with the cost as $2!! It seems like a steal and the way the advertisement on goggle box portrayed it, it was also unbelievable to the young lady buying it.

If it was to be served as a meal, ie with onion rings or fries and a soft fizzy drink, it would be $4.50 per set. Since I was watching calories, I decided on just the BK Fish burger and a hot tea. Cost of tea was $2.40! We laughed as it cost more than the BK Fish Burger.

To us it was the novelty of buying something so economical and had a hearty meal of laughs eating it.

Mum suggested we should do a takeaway of couple of these and pop into microwave tomorrow for a quick lunch.

We voted against it as one fish burger was good enough and it was the ambience that we enjoyed more than the meal.

Crew was friendly and the place was clean, without whining or screaming children. I liked it as we could have a conversation without shouting and the table tops were spotless!

The volume of crowd was not a lot and so, the service crew were able to cope.

To me, nothing beats eating a meal with my family. My mum being the usual generous self would not hear of me paying and she paid all $13.20 for the meal for 3.

I love my mum alot as she always spends time for me when I need her and as a typical mum would always see me as her 7 year old, immortalized at that age, forever her child and that she had to provide for me.

I am spoilt for mama’s love and I am not complaining ;-D

May God and all godly deities bless all Mums of the world!! Mums are priceless! 😀

Rough Day….Marathon 5 Venues In A Day

I have been busy…..busy, busy as a bee! Of which Chicken retorted that I am definitely not the Queen Bee!

Of course she is correct as the Queen Bee in the colony does nothing but produce baby bees! Well you know the scientific process and so I need not elaborate LOL!

I am a small busy bee and today I was literally running a marathon on 5 venues starting at 7am as I had my follow up appointment with my trusty Professor. I told him I was jobless and he smiled and me and said, you will get hired very quickly as you are experienced. If you are not hired, it is your choice of selecting and that takes time!

Wise old Professor (he is not really old, in his 60s) as he made a point. I left with a long list of prescription drugs but had no time to fill out as I was doing a marathon dash.

Yup! I am one of those who refuses drugs unless I am really ill….If I need it, I will get to the pharmacy and fill it up!

The holidays saw a drought of jobs being offered. But once this lifted and January kick start to working for all, I have been asked to attend interviews. Today I had two more and at 11am, I got another call for a second interview with the first batch that I had gone for.

Today’s pickings were especially exciting for one belonging to a European MNC. I was excited and it has been a long time since I have been excited over work 😉

So, I hope I escalate to round two for this particular company.

I have not seen so much of my Little Red Dot than what I have seen over the last month. I have been going places, learning new roads, new venues and taking in the sights.

Perhaps, it is divine intervention to make me take a step back and realize that there is a bigger world out there than working in the boondocks. All I did was bury my head and worked from dawn to night!

It took me a month to realise this, instead of beating self up over being unable to land a better job! LOL!

So, the attitude I am going to take is, fate has a job for me. The route to get this job, is not going to be an easy one. As Little Monster Girl correctly pointed out, I will have to work harder for it.

Fate is funny isn’t it and I liken it to flowers taking time to bloom. If I were to force a bloom, it means peeling the petals of the flowers and that ruins the flowers.

All good things take time to develop and like it or not, Divine Intervention is making me see this and yes, I will have to work hard to get this “job” that is destined for me.

Again, on all four paws I pray, except this time, I visualize self working….at the right job, the right fit and one that I will be relatively happy in 😉

Good nights folks! I am bushed!! Garfield awaits and he missed me all day! Yaaa right!!??? As if an inanimate fur ball will miss ME LOL!

All I have right now, is my humble Garfield imagination and one soft toy to squoosh! 😉

A Voice From The Undead….My Ex Boyfriend Speaketh

I tend to categorize my ex boyfriend as the “undead” as he cannot seem to let silence prevail. I allude to the victims of Count Dracula, whose blood once sucked becomes an “undead” stalking other victims of freshly produced blood for vampires to feed from 😉

My ex is some what famous. He is often seen in the press (both digital and print media) as he loves to be in the limelight. If he was not advertising for something, being asked to comment on something or attracting media, he would be contributing to the Forum pages.

Truth be told, I have not seen much of this Ex in the papers and I thought, ohhhh good, he is now contained by his family and leading a quiet life.

It takes a long while to get the Ex out of my system as he is toxic and I had to be cleansed….just like as if I was soaking in the Ganges River or bathing in the Rivers of Babylon LOL! 😀 Actually, it is more of trying to forget the times or things we shared doing together. It is these memories that kills most times!

I received an email from my Ex saying he is now on the way to Vietnam from USA and would be back this week! Next week he would be off to Vietnam again.

Cryptic message….but what has this got to do with me. He has a bimbo and 2 bimbii girls to be with, so who cares where he is 😉

Thankfully, this week is fast ending as it is coming Thursday. Friday will roll along and before I know it, he will disappear into the world again.

I remember once being woken up around midnight to a voice saying, ” Sorry I only read your message now” and I could swear it was his voice and being crappy woken up on a work day the next, I snapped “who’s this” and I guess he realised he must have dialled the wrong number and quickly said, ” wrong number” and clicked off!

I do not want this Ex anywhere remotely near me. Given my state of in between jobs, I do not have the energy nor the mindset to deal with him in any civil tones and if he does, I may poke his butt with a 10 foot pole! HA HA!!

I am happy that he is doing well in business in USA and other parts of the world. One thing I am sure of is that he is a great entrepreneur and is one of those chaps that can effectively sell ice to eskimos and charm the birds down from trees!

So, all I can tell self is….stay away from this ex…he spells trouble and for now, I do not need more trouble! 😦

Great New Drama Series On Goggle Box

If I did not be in the situation of looking for a job, I would be snoozing diligently whenever the clock strikes 10 pm nightly, except Saturdays and Sundays.

Given that I am now on garden leave, officially labelled “jobless” from 1 February 2015 onwards till my next employment arrives, I have the luxury of snoozing way past midnight and getting up at 7.30 am. Strange habit, I cannot sleep in as I am so used to getting up at 4.30a m and the circadian clock within me would auto detect 4.30 am and wake me up and I try to sleep a little more.

Bird is one of those that can literally sleep in till noon! She saves on breakfast on weekends and get up to have lunch! My oddly neighbor and family across the corridor from my apartment is also a family that sleeps in till 1 pm before I hear activity!

And it is not because I snoop on their arising times! But rather, the din they make as a family is enough to wake the entire block. Their iron grille gate would slam shut and their two ill bred daughters will be screaming at each other, in the most horrid decibels to the ear! If they sang well like Psy or Adam Lambert, hey, I would love to hear their voices 😉

Anyway, back to the night drama serials.

I stumbled upon Forever and The Mysteries of Laura.

Forever is a forensic pathology type series, quite like NCIS or CIS series except that the forensic expert is one from 200 years ago. He cannot die, is an immortal and whenever he is killed, he would be in water, naked.

The Mysteries of Laura is about Laura working in the same precinct as her ex husband. Ex husband is a looker and I guess he and Laura got a divorce because of his infidelity.

Laura is a grunge type woman who has no social skills, eats like a hog and sloppy too. But if she takes the effort to dress up, she is a stunner!

Laura has custody to two children and she hired an activist she arrested to baby sit her children whilst she works late. The activist dresses in black, wears black mascara and black lipstick. She is kind of like Abby in NCIS, but not as dark, alot feistier and vocal in her protests.

I finally found two great new series to watch but the trouble is, it is aired only at 10.30 pm and so once I start work, I guess I will miss out on these two programmes.

But, I will be happy for a job… *Grins*