My Multiple Personalities

I doubt anyone's noticed, but I had a bout of obsessive compulsive behavior yesterday and decided to re-organize all the post on my blog. I really like how Pat categorizes her posts on Blankanvas, and like they say, imitation is the highest form of compliment - so I've plonked all my posts since 2005 into 7 categories (for now!).

Each of categories represent a side of me - at one point, I was tempted to add category #8: The Opinionated Loudmouth / The Bitch - but that might include most of my posts, so #8's on hold for now. Here's a run-down of what each Mutiple Personality / category means, so all related posts can be found in its lil' box. The common denominator is of course, moi - whatever amuses, interests or pisses me off will appear on this blog.

• The Film Snob: Everything related to the latest movies, actors, TV series, general celeb gossip, as long as it's a movie/person that I'm digging. I can only wish that this was my life - everyday!


• The Accidental Geek: This includes posts on the latest gadgets that I'm oooh-ing over or interesting new social media tools that are useful or just plain fun. Why "accidental geek?" Well - I never started out wanting to be geeky or technical, but somehow fell into it when I wrote (yes, wrote in HTML) my first web site when I was 15, worked on Yahoo! and VMware for the past few years and tech comes quite easily to me. And I like my toys!


• The Malaysian: Ahh, I think one of the reasons why I'm this random, this confused and this contradictory is because I'm Malaysia. This category answers the big question, "What does it mean to be Malaysia?" At least, most of the time, but always from my perspective.


• The PR Girl: This is a strange label but I guess when your work consumes 12 hours of your day, your work becomes a large part of your life. So, interestingly enough, tech & social media items would fall under this category as well, along with other marketing related items that inspire and made me go, "what didn't I think of that?" I hope to one day The PR Girl will meet The Film Snob and then, I'll live happily ever after.


• The Quirky Fashionista: I love beautiful things, especially clothing & accessories that are lovingly handcrafted. Again, items that I'm ooh-ing over will appear here. While it's unlikely that I'll be checking out the runways of Milan anytime soon, I appreciate people who have their own sense of style as long as they're fierce!


• The Queen of Random: There are days when the weirdest thing will catch my attention - whether I'm complaining about microwaved frozen PB&J sandwiches or an escaped ostrich - this is my blender of random things that cross my mind.


• The Girl: This is where my inner girl lives - she cries, she vents, she swoons, she loves (oops, loved) her boybands. I guess this is my sprinkle of fairy dust section.

PS: I meant to take shots of me for each category but erm, maybe next time!

On Singapore

Singapore's been more bearable since I moved to the city center, but I was completely taken aback by this article from the Harvard Business Review titled Singapore: A Model of Judgment for the United States?

What do I think of the article? It's a load of BS -- Singapore has its plus points, but the article completely glosses over the many issues that this country faces. Read the comments for much-needed doses of reality.

Read complete article here: http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/davenport/2009/08/singapore_a_model_of_judgment.html

Chocolate by Yasmin Ahmad

Another beautiful short by Yasmin Ahmad as part of 15Malaysia, a short films project that consists of 15 short films about Malaysia directed by young Malaysian filmmakers. Chocolate has many layers, and all under 3 minutes. What really hit home is how Chocolate showed the differentiating views that my generation has on race in Malaysia, and that of a generation before.

To me, Malaysians are Malaysians. Growing up, I never saw my friends as Malay, Chinese, Indian. I never saw them as different - as far as I was concerned, they were kids just like me. It's the same today - strong characters and shared ideals were more important than the color of our skin or our "mother-tongue."

It's strange how our ancestors chose to come to Malaysia to seek a better life yet we're constantly encouraged to leave the country for "better opportunities."

Sharifah Amani's awesome, playing the subtlety to a key - I would be uncomfortable too (not to mention trying hard to stifle a laugh) if I had to buy batteries & chocolates from a half-naked guy who's wearing a food cover as headwear.

Be sure to check out the rest of the shorts from 15Malaysia, including ones by Amir Muhammad, James Lee, Ho Yuhang and more, at http://15malaysia.com/

My peeve with Singapore's public libraries

After procrastinating for two years, I've finally applied for a library card in Singapore. Now you would think that this means I can finally catch up on all my reading and not have to worry about buying books that I'll only read once, right? I wish.

One of the main reasons why it took me two years to decide on getting a library card is because as a non-Singaporean citizen / permanent resident, I have to pay $10.50 for registration and an annual membership fee of $42.80 -- which to me, is not an issue. I believe that citizens and PRs should have certain privileges. For citizens and PR, basic membership is free, premium membership (which allows the user to borrow more items) ranges from $21 - $42 a year.

But considering that I now have time on my hands, lazy coffee afternoons, and the Central Public Library was only a few bus stops away, I ponied up $53.30 and couldn't wait to check out a ton of books, afterall, my library membership entitled me to borrow 4 books and 4 magazines/AV materials for up to 21 days, which is a good number of reading materials. I headed over to the online library catalogue to search for "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger, as I've wanted to read this for quite some time and friends were telling me it was a must-read. And to my annoyance, all 6 copies (yes, you read right - only 6 copies, all editions, in the Central Library) were either On Loan or Reserved (more on this later). And here's the kicker, this was the same for all 22 branches throughout the island! Note, that "The Time Traveler's Wife" was published in 2003, we're talking about a book that's been out for 6 years, and they're all out on loan! Jesus.

So I figured, fine - I'll just put a reservation on it, no qualms about waiting a tad longer. And to my surprise, I had $1.55 once the book is in my hands and I check it out. Ridiculous! It's $1.55 per book! So not only do I have to pay an annual fee, I have to pay per book in order to wait for it to arrive to read it. What's the point of a public library if that's the case?

But you know, I was feeling generous, and decided to give Singapore another chance. I decided to check if they had other books; since starting my job in PR, I've accumulated a healthy list of books to read when I find the time - which included Gregory Maguire's Wicked, Christopher Moore's A Dirty Job, Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse Series. Don't judge my selection of books - I'm looking for easy reads. And surprise, surprise -- either I have a really common taste in books or Singapore needs to re-think and re-stock their library shelves. Seriously! Some of the older books were available, but only at the library branches in the suburbs. It's annoying that the libraries don't have a system of moving the books between branches, so that way, if you want a book but it's not available at the library closest to you, you can put in a request (for free) and tadaa, you'll have your book. What this means is that if you're willing to pay aimlessly for a public service that's meant to be free, then sure, you'll have your book!

Sigh. From looks of things, if this keeps up, I might have wasted my $53.30 and resort to buying books again from Borders. So much for trying to use local community facilities.

Selamat Tinggal and Godspeed, Yasmin

It's been 5 days but the news is still sinking in. I remember telling myself last week when Yasmin Ahmad was hospitalized that it would a huge blow especially for Malaysians to lose such a unique talent. And boom, before I knew it, I received a text message from a friend telling breaking the news to me.

On July 25, Yasmin Ahmad passed away at 11.25pm on Saturday night from massive bleeding in the brain.

Lots of beautiful goodbyes and tributes poured in for Yasmin, but my favorite has to be the one from Pete Teo, Malaysian singer-songwriter who also produced the multi-artists song, "Here In My Home." It's a letter to a friend, or as Pete calls her, a "crazy lovable cow." Sigh, it's interesting to know that Yasmin loved Okuribito (Departures), one of my favorite films this year, which also won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. A review of the movie is on my to-do list, but please catch it if you can.

For those who are unfamiliar with Yasmin Ahmad, Adoi Magazine's tribute to Yasmin Ahmad is a great place to start, as it includes links to Yasmin's works, interviews and tributes.

Another great find today is a video of Yasmin speaking at TEDxKL, an event in Kuala Lumpur in June 2009, held independently of TED, but with license and permission. The original video is from TheBackpackr.

Sepet Director Yasmin Ahmad suffered a stroke, in stable condition

News broke yesterday evening of Malaysian award-winning director Yasmin Ahmad when she was rushed to the Damansara Specialist Centre after suffering a stroke. She had to undergo brain surgery but is currently in stable condition.

The 51-year-old director is probably best known internationally for her beautifully innocent pieces on young love, such as Sepet (which still makes me home sick every time I watch it) and the ad Tan Hong Min in love. Locally, in Malaysia, Yasmin's ads are the best in the industry, telling intricately woven tales of love, aging, friendship, race and culture in less than 2 minutes.

Yasmin Ahmad is one of the reasons why I proudly call Malaysia home, even though I know it's a country not without fault and blemishes. My prayers are with you, Yasmin and your family.

For details, check out coverage from The Star (July 23 and July 24) on Yasmin Ahmad's condition, including a short press conference held after Yasmin's surgery.

Follow updates on Yasmin Ahmad's condition on Twitter by searching #yasminahmad

Yasmin's blogs: The Storyteller Part 1 and The Storyteller Part 2.

Sepet Trailer


Tan Hong Min in Love

Overheard: 8.60 what!

Overheard at Bedok bus stop.

Best enjoyed in typical loud Singlish accent.. “Where's the bus? Supposed to be every 20 minutes what. 8 o'clock, 8.20, 8.40, 8.60 what!“

Classic.

Aren't libraries supposed to be free?

In the words of Chow Yuen-Fatt in Pirates, "Welcome to Singapore." This is f-king ridiculous. You would think that PUBLIC libraries are meant to be free, right? Well - it is, if you're Singaporean or a permanent resident. If you're an international student or a foreigner working in Singapore - it's not!! It costs $42.80 per year + $10.50 registration fee just to borrow books!

Strangely, there's this clause that says that the library will charge an additional $10.50 if the membership expires for 6 months (see clause below). Huh? So does this mean that if I renew my annual membership within 6 months, I don't have to pay the additional $10.50? I'm assuming that they enforce the $10.50 charge in case us foreigners skip out of the country with their precious books. But...here's the kicker: If I left Singapore with the books, how in the world are they planning to levy the $10.50 on me? Hmm.


The registration fee of $10.50 will again be charged when a membership has expired for more than 6 months or when a member changes his status to PR before the expiration of his foreign membership. All fees paid are non-refundable.

I just did a quick check on finances and I'm soooo freakin poor. So here's the question - do I fork out $53.30 to borrow books or should I continue to buy books that I want to read when I see them? Hmm. And the library is literally one block from my workplace - I guess I can try. And Zhuang and I can always share the membership under my name :)

So to the library I will go...even though I still believe that the right to education and literature should be free, regardless of nationality.

Strange but true: I've finally found something to love about Singapore

After officially moving here for 1 year and 2 months (yes, you'll be surprised to know that I sometimes count the days), I've finally one thing that I looooove about Singapore *drumroll please* my hairdresser John from Kimage!! I love this man - he doesn't talk much (which is the way I like my hairstylists!) - all he says is, "How do you want it cut today?" And I say my magic words, "Anyway you want it."

So this is my second haircut with John, I thought I was going back for a trim and would keep the same look, at least for another month of so but lo and behold - it's a new look! Wee! Well, it's a modification of my first look - can't really too much when my hair's this short. My first look was very anime fairy, but this time round, it's asymmetrical and completely weird! One would even think that my hairstylist (or me) is mad to walk around like this. And yes - it's exactly what you think - my haircut on my right and left profile is pretty different.

Sing Carly all you want - but for S$45, I'm so in love with my hair right now - and it's the first thing in Singapore that I would actually miss. :) Check it out below. Shots aren't great, not to mention that these are shots of me 14 hours after I'm awake. Hugs & Kisses!

This is why I love Malaysia...and miss it tons.

There's just a something really right about Malaysia - an unspoken bond that connects all Malaysians. And I miss home. A lot. Sigh, wonder if I should move back to KL?

Shout out to Mark!



If you like the video, check out more stuff at the Malaysian Artistes for Unity web site. By the way, the entire video and project was made pro bono, not a single cent paid and all in the name of being Malaysian. Free and legal versions of the song and video of "Here In My Home" can be downloaded from the site. This is soooo going to be my ringtone.

Support the site! Send them lots of love!

Strength from within

Update: Poh Poh passed away 4 May 2008. Saying goodbye was one of the most difficult things I had to do in my life. But what's important was having the opportunity to say a proper goodbye and hugging her for one last time.

***

My poh poh (grandma) is one of the strongest women I know, and the very reason I am who I am today. It's been a very difficult process seeing her slowly fade away in physical health, the lung cancer slowly eating away at her once agile body. It's one of those things that you know will happen but you just refuse to think about it, and hoping that simply by willing it away, it will go away.

When my kong kong (grandpa) passed away, it was right before I started primary school. What hurts the most is that he really wanted to see me "grow up" -- his little girl leaving kindy and joining the big girls (all my girl cousins were older) and there was always a glint in his eye when he said that. He passed away a few weeks before I started primary one.

Here I am, a year after being in my first real job and a part of me wishes that my poh poh would be around to see me being happy, living my dreams, doing what I want to do. But it hurts, hurts when you know it's not going to happen and you have a very limited amount of time left to spend with someone who gave you so much and asked for nothing in return. How do you even begin to say goodbye?

MUST WATCH: This is Singapore for you...

I promise you, this will be the funniest (not to mention likely to be the lamest) video you'll see this year. Remember the William Hung audition video? Well, this is HILARIOUS. Abso-fucking-lutely hilarious.

Here's the context for the non-Singaporeans -- the Media Development Authority (MDA) is responsible for creating, encouraging and regulating (if you ask me, it's more like censoring) "creative" (very loosely used here) content in Singapore and here's the senior management of MDA -- it's true, the people in the video reaaaaally reaaaaally work for the Singaporean government. Seriously watch the whole thing - have no freakin idea how they managed to convince them to get into a Superman outfit for a public video. And if you're old, and completely uncool -- do not, ever, ever, try and rap. Which by the way...someone should tell MDA that rap was soooo 90s. PS: Singapore has a governing body for everything - even one to encourage people to get married, bonk and have kids - known as SDU (yes, the acronyms are a huge Singaporean thing as well). If you haven't guessed yet, SDU stands for Singapore/Single Desperate and Ugly - hahahahah....okay, okay, it's the Social Development Unit.



Thanks to our real superstar Farah for sending this along *air kisses*

Disgruntled workers are dangerous

Honestly. It's true - why do you think Google treats their employees so well? Why do you think every MNC out there is constantly shouting about how well they're treating their employees - note that I said shouting about it, it's not like they're doing much. A 15-day leave plan compared to the usual 14 honestly isn't anything to shout about, neither is a nursing room, or a pseudo flexi-hour work plan (employees choose to come in either at 8:00am, 8:30am or 9:00am and leave 30 mins later or earlier depending on what time they come in - how in the world is that flexi?).

So what's my point? Today - I feel like one. One semi-disgruntled worker. Why? I had my plans ruined. I was down with a stomach virus on Wednesday, had my Thursday (Deepavali public holiday) to recover and was ready and raring to go out on Friday for some much needed retail therapy and run my usual errands. Granted that I had to wake up at 9:00am this morning to do conference call with the Box.net dudes in Sunnyvale (did I mention I was supposed to be on leave today?) -- decided that I would go back to bed after.

Little did I know, trouble was already brewing to completely ruin my plans for the day. My phone was ringing off the hook (I'm using the Sony Ericsson P1i by the way - giving it a second chance and the speakers on the phone are astounding. Amazing sound considering that it's not from the Walkman portfolio) around noon and after dragging myself out of bed, I found out that one of my clients just dropped a bomb.

Sidetrack: My apartment now smells like an Indian wedding. No thanks to my very noisy Indian neighbors downstairs who are obviously celebrating Deepavali -- fireworks and briyani I can stand, but not the intoxicating smell of flowers like jasmine. Desperately trying to get rid of the smell - windows closed, satsuma on burner.

So instead of going off to get my brows and hair done, and avoiding the crazy weekend crowds at the malls and maybe catching Lars and the Real Girl -- I was stuck sitting in front of my computer for the past 4.5 hours working on a PowerPoint deck. Happy, happy, joy, joy - not. You know what annoyed me the most? The fact that I was rushing at the end coz I knew deadline was approaching but my phone kept ringing and ringing and ringing - even after I told the person on the other line to give me 15 more minutes. I'm no where near a technophobe - but I HATE phones. Honestly, I think phones are a complete invasion of privacy. If you need to reach me - email me, MSN/Yahoo me, text message me or even send me a message on Facebook but unless it's a matter of life and death - don't call me. I'm all for in-person/face-to-face communication but when people get too dial-happy, it annoys the fuck out of me.

And to top it off, Citrix is driving me up the wall because it keeps disconnecting me from the network when I'm working at home. And guess what? It only does that on my Mac! Asses. It's all a conspiracy I tell you. It's just a matter of time before I absolutely refuse to use MS Office on my Mac and switch over to iWork. Also need to find the time to convince Ben to help me port my work PC into a VM to run on Fusion on my Mac. Hmm...Ooo, speaking of Macs...

Thanks to Ben, I now have Leopard running on my MacBook! YAY! I love Spaces - who needs dual screens when you have Spaces! Wooooo... and not to mention the new Cover Flow function for browsing documents and Quick Look which lets you preview files (all docs and videos!) and seriously, I don't know how they do it - but Spotlight is the best search function on any computer. Oh wait, you can't use Spotlight on PCs - nah nah nah.

Ok - off to grab a bite, craving for cupcakes but will have to settle for some tiramisu Haagen Dazs and german sausage. Check out the guided Leopard tour if you're bored - be prepared to be amazed. I was blown away the first time I saw it.

Mac OS X Leopard Guided Tour: http://www.apple.com/macosx/guidedtour/large.html

Stupid non-English speaking country

More reasons movie-watching outside of the US sucks. I had to watch Death Proof, the first part of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez' Grindhouse separately from Planet Terror. Sucks.

Apparently distributors decided to split the movie (Grindhouse) into two separate movies because most non-English speaking countries might not understand the tradition behind the "grindhouse" double-feature and the underlying concept might be lost.

Planet Terror is only coming to Singapore in August. Arrggh! But besides Paris, Je T'aime, Death Proof is the best movie I've seen this year. Tarantino rocks and definitely did not disappoint. More to come in later posts!

The Inconvenient Truth of Online Services in Singapore

Here's how I feel - if you can't guarantee the security or the convenience, don't freakin' offer online services. It's insane how inconvenient it is to use online services here in Singapore.

Pain in the ass part 1: Singtel
Every time I try and use Singtel's My Mobile site, apparently to "manage my mobile services," I feel like tearing my hair out. First off, finding the damn site to log in. The log is is NOT on the main page. It's hidden under a tiny tab on the left called My Mobile. When you finally get there, they request that you log in not with a personal ID and password that you've created, but your phone number and identity card number (in my case, coz I'm an alien, they ask for my FIN number). Then it goes to the next page, where you're supposed to key in a series of 8-unique numbers they call the password, sent to you via SMS by Singtel. Every time you log in, you have to wait for the damn numbers via SMS. So let's count the hurdles - I haven't even started complaining about the services - 1. Login site is near impossible to find. 2. I need to either have my FIN number with me everytime I log in or memorize it. 3. I absolutely need to have my cellphone next to me while I wait for Singtel to send me the "password." Insane.

Now to the best part - I recently moved and needed to change my billing address. You would think that would be the simplest thing to do next to viewing how much you owe them bastards. Nope. I can't check my recent bill, I can't check when it's due AND I can't change my address. I can't even view my current billing address. All I can do is add on services so they can charge me for. Woohoo. That's it, after ALL that hassle of logging in, the only thing I can is edit what they call "Value Added Services." I can add on Caller ID, customized billing, etc. but I can't view my bill. Great, huh? On top of all that, the Customer Service and FAQ section sucks. So what did I end up doing? I had to call Customer Service. Ugh.

Remember - I've managed to accomplish nothing by logging in to the My Mobile site. So you ask, how do I pay my bills? Do I go to the post office and mail my hard copy check? *gasp* I could, which is probably what most Singaporeans do, but no, I'm adamant about doing things from my computer. So after screaming my head off a couple of times, I finally figured that I could pay my Singtel bill through NETS, which is my debit bank account. Sigh. And, that brings me to Part 2.

Pain in the ass part deux: DBS
I can only speak for DBS because I don't have an account with other banks. Having to keep a minimum of $500 in one account is painful enough. Where should I start? Oh, to start using online banking, you have to personally go to an ATM, put in your card and activate online banking, what DBS calls "iBanking." And, I can't use online banking immediately, I actually have to wait for DBS to send me via snail mail a Security Device that looks like this (see below). So finally, when it finally arrives, I get to log in! Weee. I actually have to carry this thing around every time I want use online banking. To log in, DBS will request for my personal userID and my PIN number. Then it brings me to the next page where I have to enter another PIN number generated by the Security Device. Sigh. Like two sets of keys and an access card is not enough to bog me down. Now I have to carry around THAT. And it doesn't even do double duty as a thumb drive! Ish.

On the bright side though, once you get in, the DBS online banking is pretty decent, it actually lets you change your mailing address, do transfers, etc. But doing transfers is another pain in the ass because you actually have to verify each and every transfer you do through a confirmation that's sent to you via (no prizes for guessing) SMS.

Online banking aside, you can't drop off checks at every ATM. Insane isn't it? Only some ATMs offer check drops. Why do I need to drop off checks you ask? Well, for some reason, even though my company has my bank account number and my pay check is electronically transmitted to my account, they still cut checks for expenses. Sigh.

My feelings? Don't shout it unless it's true. And another complain for another day - don't believe everything you hear about the "efficiency" of Singaporean public transportation or that most Singaporeans can speak English - not true. Try walking into a coffee shop at a HDB estate.

Singaporeans are world's fastest walkers. Hell no.

Most hillarious piece of news ever. Singaporeans are supposedly the world's fastest walker according to a study done by British researchers. My ass. These people S-T-R-O-L-L. New Yorkers still rule man.

CNN.com
Singapore: World's fastest walkers
May 2, 2007

LONDON, England -- Pedestrians all over the world are moving faster than a decade ago, according to scientists who have conducted a study into the pace at which people walk.

Psychologists say walking speeds have increased by an average of 10 percent in the past 10 years.

People in the greatest hurry live in Singapore, according to the study of cities in 32 countries. Following in their footsteps are residents of Copenhagen in Denmark and Madrid in Spain.

Researchers in each city found a busy street with a wide pavement that was flat, free from obstacles and sufficiently uncrowded to allow people to walk at their maximum speed.

The speed of each city's walkers was then timed by a team researchers, armed with stopwatches.

They timed how long it took 35 men and women to walk along a 60-foot (18-meter) stretch of pavement, monitoring only adults who were on their own and ignoring those conducting mobile phone conversations or struggling with shopping bags.

The results of the study, headed by British psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman, were compared with similar results from a decade ago in an experiment carried out by American psychologist Professor Robert Levine, from California State University.

Wiseman said walking speeds provided a reliable measure of the pace of life in a city.

"This simple measurement provides a significant insight into the physical and social health of a city. The pace of life in our major cities is now much quicker than before. This increase in speed will affect more people than ever, because for the first time in history the majority of the world's population are now living in urban center," Wiseman said.

Surprisingly, some of the world's biggest cities did not even make the top five. New York came in at eight, London was placed 12th on the list and Tokyo was ranked 19th.

The findings also explode the myth of the laid back Irish. Dublin topped Levine's table in 1997 and takes fifth place on the new list.

The study was carried out with the help of the British Council, which promotes cultural links in 109 countries.

Comparing the results with those compiled by Levine in the 1990s, the study showed that people were, on average, now walking 10 percent faster. Men were generally 25 percent quicker on their feet than women.

The biggest changes were found in the Far East. In Singapore, walking pace had increased by 30 percent and in Guangzhou, China, the pace was more than 20 percent quicker.

Here is a list, in order, of the cities ranked by the speeds at which people walk:

1) Singapore (Singapore)
2) Copenhagen (Denmark)
3) Madrid (Spain)
4) Guangzhou (China)
5) Dublin (Ireland)
6) Curitiba (Brazil)
7) Berlin (Germany)
8) New York (U.S.)
9) Utrecht (Netherlands)
10) Vienna (Austria)
11) Warsaw (Poland)
12) London (United Kingdom)
13) Zagreb (Croatia)
14) Prague (Czech Republic)
15) Wellington (New Zealand)
16) Paris (France)
17) Stockholm (Sweden)
18) Ljubljana (Slovenia)
19) Tokyo (Japan)
20) Ottawa (Canada)
21) Harare (Zimbabwe)
22) Sofia (Bulgaria)
23) Taipei (Taiwan)
24) Cairo (Egypt)
25) Sana (Yemen)
26) Bucharest (Romania)
27) Dubai (United Arab Emirates)
28) Damascus (Syria)
29) Amman (Jordan)
30) Bern (Switzerland)
31) Manama (Bahrain)
32) Blantyre (Malawi)

A Malaysian in Singapore: Episode 2

Yes yes, if you are counting, Episode 1 was a previous post on my initial impressions of Singapore.

Employment pass was approved in 5 days (now, THAT'S efficiency for you). Apparently MOM likes me. Noooo, not my mom, but Singapore's MOM - Ministry of Manpower (don't even get me started on how the term is politically incorrect. What's wrong with Ministry of Labor, right?). Had to rush back to start work at H&K on Beach Road. Haven't really explored much of the area around there but it's pretty neat, walking distance from City Hall MRT (Suntec City) and Bugis MRT (note to self: check out cool shops at Bugis Junction) and there are a billion things to eat around the area, there goes my resolution to lose weight. Sigh. Speaking of weight, Singapore women are surprisingly tiny. And I'm not even referring to their weight -- besides the fact that most of them are waaaaay below healthy weight, they're small people. Here I was, on my first day at work and wearing my 3-inch BCBG pumps and I'm literally towering over everyone in the elevator. Yeah, towering. I could see over everybody's heads and this included two men. Weird, huh? And seriously, I'm considered short among most of my friends. Even my sis is taller than me. Ish.

Of maids and family-friendly malls
I also found out today, from my first shopping venture on Orchard Road, that I can't jaywalk for nuts. So, my trick these days is to follow the crowd and chances are, on a Sunday, there will be throngs of Filipino and Indonesian maids jaywalking. Oh, to the uninitiated -- Singaporeans have thing about maids. Not that Malaysians don't have maids, but I feel that more Singaporeans here have maids than cars, it's no longer a want, it's a need. As for my stand on live-in maids and help -- I don't believe in it. I'm fine hiring someone to come clean your house once a week and sending laundry to the cleaners but a live-in maid? Come on! So here's the deal -- this is how a typical Singaporean household looks like: 2 young working parents (typically under 40), with 2 kids (typically one that's below 7 and another toddler) and 1-2 Filipino or Indonesian maids (the former is more expensive, speaks English and doesn't eat spicy food). I'm not kidding. Take a walk in any mall in Singapore and you'll see this curious parade of parent, parent carrying toddler and a maid holding on to a 7-year-old in one hand and pushing the stroller in the other. Especially in family-friendly malls - again, I'm NOT kidding. There are malls in Singapore that are specifically known to be family and kid-friendly, complete with indoor playgrounds and highchairs and plastic cutlery for the kids. Check out Forum or Paragon -- both malls. If you ask, that spells SCARY. Paragon's decent though, some interesting shops, ProjectShop Cafe has yummy banana caramel pie for tea. Mmmm...back to my discussion on maids on Orchard Road. Most maids are given a day off on Sunday and they swamp Orchard Road, especially Lucky Plaza. You can't miss them, find a group of dolled up, tan ladies, happily chatting away and usually in groups -- they fill almost every inch of stairs and sitting areas outside of the mall, catching up on the latest gossip. It makes a very interesting photo -- I'll post one up one of these days.

And it's official. I cannot stand the heat. I hate being sweaty and stinky, especially at freakin 8:30 in the morning! Commuting is a pain in the ass. I have to take a bus that takes 20-25 minutes to get to Orchard MRT, where I hop off at City Hall MRT after 5 mins and walk for about 15 mins to reach Shaw Tower. And btw, can anyone explain to me why Raffles Hotel's driveway is made of loose gravel? When it rains, it's disgusting. Speaking of raining - it rains almost every day in Singapore and I have yet to find an adorable umbrella. Wonder if S$29 is too much to pay for a FCUK brolli?

On a personal note, my first week at H&K was interesting. Basically pulverized my feet (need to find a good pedicurist) on the first day in my aforementioned 3-inch pumps coz I walked all the way to Suntec City to get my medical examination done for my employment pass. Finding the clinic was insane, no idea how they get any business tucked away in a faraway corner of the mall. Had to schmooze like my life depended on it the second day of work -- got home only around 12:30 am and wanted to lie in bed forever. The rest of the week was just spent figuring out who's who and what's what and desperately trying to not look lost. I need PEETS.

Quick updates from moi

• Got a haircut - love it. Messy as hell, just the way I like it.
• Watched Mukhsin - Zhuang keeps comparing it to Terrabithia. I like it. There's just something about falling in love and growing up. The last line of the movie sums it all up. A must-watch. Just bought the Gubra DVD (yes, the ORIGINAL DVD) and can't wait for to complete my "trilogy" by Mukhsin when it comes out on DVD.
• Can't wait to start work. To those in the dark, I'm starting with Hill & Knowlton in Singapore hopefully by the end of April, or when my employment pass is approved. I can feel my brain rotting sitting at home doing nothing but watching sad-ass emo bands on MTV and poor Take That (minus Robbie) attempting to cash in on old fame.

Things I need to do while I'm back home in Penang

• Visit the Cheong Fatt Tze mansion
• Take passport-sized photos for my employment pass - ugh

I miss my crab meat popiah from Penang!

Singaporeans put eggs in their popiah. No sauce. Weird.

In the land of the Singa-Pura

I find it very weird when friends ask me, "Why are you doing in Singapore?" when they see my MSN message -- well, let's see, I just came back from San Francisco about 2 weeks ago, I'm hot and bothered in Penang and I need a job -- why would I NOT be in Singapore?

I haven't really decided if I like this city yet...oops, I mean, country. Heh. But it still has my attention, I'm not bored yet and I'm still discovering some cool things about the city, so we'll see. I love the MRT -- then again, all forms of efficient transportation are friends. For some reason though, as simple as the MRT/LRT looks, I still can't figure out which is where is Singapore, my bearings are still not in place yet. Which is very strange, because it took me less than 15 minutes to figure out New York's subway system and London's Underground -- weird.

Had some good food in the past couple of days, thanks for Zhuang's brother and his wife Michelle, who has generously taken us in and given us not only a roof over our heads, but is feeding us (in extremely generous portions) and telling us lost sheep which MRT station to stop at when we go for interviews. So far, ate at Akashi near Tanglin Mall -- yummy sashimi, comparable to San Francisco's sashimi but S$150 for 16 pieces of sashimi -- phew! Had dinner at Shunjuu at Robertson Pier (oops, I mean Quay -- these Brits). Interesting, because Shunjuu served sumiyaki -- which I think translates to mean charcoal grill -- a different side of Japanese food that neither Zhuang or I have had. Besides frozen yakitori, which doesn't count. The basic idea of sumiyaki is bar food or appetizers, so servings come in two skewers per order. We had mushrooms wrapped in chicken and bacon, shrimp wrapped in bacon (I died and went to heaven, my two favorite things combined), cabbage with bean paste dip, beef, pork and chicken skin skewers. Most of the skewers were good, but definitely would not re-order the kinki fish and arc shell. Went for western food at Colbar, which reminded us of Senior Citizen's Association back home in Penang, but the food was waaaaay below standard. I would take the Senior Citizen's Association roti babi and chicken chop anytime.

Singapore aside, things that have made me raise an eyebrow since I've been back:
- Where did all these Chinese come from? I mean, I know that Penang and Singapore have always had a big Chinese population but they're now everywhere I turn. Maybe it's because it's CNY. Singapore's not as bad, even though it's 76% Chinese, but it's strange because servers in restaurants speak to you in Mandarin and we had Din Tai Fung in Paragon a couple of days back, the server couldn't even speak English! On the bright side, it's a great place to practise my Mandarin.
- What's with the abbreviations? OMG. It's everywhere. I mean, how difficult is it to spell Los Angeles Times? Damn, I know NYT and WSJ are generally accepted abbreviations but LAT? Honestly. Or ICT?
- Tights. People walking in 90F in tights. Under shorts. With tank tops.