Cookie Girl

I had a wonderful conversation with a service personnel. I didn't realise she was a year younger than me because she carried herself so well, and her thoughts were deep and insightful. We moved from talking about cookies, to people from different nations, to working in the service line, to aspirations, our generation, trouble youths and the elderly.

Volunteering since secondary school has opened up her eyes to a different side of humanity and i really respect that about her. she also knows what she wants to do after finishing poly.

wonder what i'll be doing one year from now. there's an investment/personal banker sitting behind me. she sounds like a nice person and i like the way she speaks. she helped me plug my laptop in haha. mmpf. step at a time.

The Rose.

Some say love it is a river
That drowns the tender reed.
Some say love it is a razor
That leaves your soul to bleed.
Some say love it is a hunger,
An endless aching need.
I say love it is a flower,
And you it`s only seed.

It`s the heart afraid of breaking
That never learns to dance,
It`s the dream afraid of waking
That never takes the chance.
It`s the one who won`t be taken,
Who can not seem to give,
And the soul afraid of dyin`
That never learns to live.

When the night has been too lonely
And the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only
For the lucky and the strong.
Just remember in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snow,
Lies the seed that with the sun`s love
In the spring becomes a rose.

Just remember in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snow,
Lies the seed that with the sun`s love
In the spring becomes a rose.

Some say love it is a river
That drowns the tender reed.
Some say love it is a razor
That leaves your soul to bleed.
Some say love it is a hunger,
An endless aching need.
I say love it is a flower,
And you it`s only seed.

When the night has been too lonely
And the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only
For the lucky and the strong.
Just remember in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snow,
Lies the seed that with the sun`s love
In the spring becomes a rose.

Just remember in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snow,
Lies the seed that with the sun`s love
In the spring becomes a rose

oops i stained my burberry

the girl sitting across from me at toast box has spent most of the past hour worrying about and fussing over the stain she made on her burberry bag. the dye from her pants got on the bag - which is quite a normal phenomenon.

SAD.

haha. if i were her i'd be upset too i guueess. but for now i'll just stick to carrying whatever bag that makes life easier. like my no-name backpack :)


helping out in the kopitiam has given me a greater appreciation of a few things.
1) mum & dad. who work so hard and provide for these two ungrateful brats at home.
2) mum. for being so cool about me doing many things that some other parents would be uptight about. like spending so much time out.
3) dong. for encouraging me to spend more time with fameelee at the expense of time with him. because family is important.
4) dong for being understanding, sensitive, reasonable and humble, and for teaching me to be understanding, sensitive, reasonable and humble.
5) the people who serve me in kopitiams/coffeeshops/foodcourts. such skill, diligence, energy, humility and efficiency to dish out item after item, to make cup after cup for impatient and unappreciative Singaporean customers who are so frickin spoilt by speedy machines they forget how to distinguish machine from human being. im guilty.
6) chinese from china. not all. some of them sacrifice a lot to come to singapore in attempt to carve out a better life for their families back in China. and here they are looked down on by Singaporeans who think they're so much more civilized and cultured. im guilty as well.

the environment in the coffeeshop stall has been challenging because you've really got to hit the ground running. and for someone like me who sucks at mental sums, working without a POS has been both humiliating and humbling. i get laughed at by demeaing men with swelling egos. but those problems are external. something happens, you consciously decide how to react. the more subtle one has been internal. the aunties have their share of things to grumble about from the many difficult things they have to swallow and bear. while empathizing with them as they tell their stories daily has taught me to appreciate things like those i mentioned above, i also came to the sudden realization that I also began to hold on to upsetting moments to gather my own collection of grumble stories.

i've been blessed though. despite being made to feel small and lousy at times, i think there have been listening points that will equip me for the years to come. even the generousity of lao ban niang has made me feel like i'm worth more than many sparrows.

eat. shop. internet

SINGAPORE: The top three leisure activities among Singaporeans are eating, shopping and surfing the web.

A survey of more than 600 Singaporeans on their preferred leisure activities came up in this order.

More than two-thirds - or 68 per cent - cited food or dining-out as the top leisure activity in the MasterCard Survey on Consumer Purchasing.

Shopping was next with 65 per cent votes while surfing the web was third with 60 per cent.

Interest in languages and literature as well as learning crafts made the bottom of the list of preferred activities.

Only about a fifth -- or about 20 per cent -- of those who responded liked these.
adapted from:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1173530/1/.html

confirms the suspicians about singaporeans i had today. Today was my second time in the city since i got back and as i was waiting for jonlee at somerset, i thought "surely surely surely there are other things to do other than shop!" as i realised that Singaporeans seem to just shop and not do very much else. and on the train, i overheard these 3 young ladies talking about make up and clothing and they seemed really into it man. and they looked like typical just-started-working chicks, not legally blond types whom you'd expect to shop a lot and talk about things like that. maybe given a couple more years i'll be like that too. the thought of that honestly scares me.

maybe i should keep a random-things-i-did-and-learnt list and be intentional about growing it. hmmm. maybe i will.