Loopie - Joop

it's the pineapple tarts. all their fault. and mine for making them and gobbling them down. i've been fighting a dry cough the whole week, fisherman's friend has really become my friend now - i pop them like candy. guaranteed, the laxative effect would start to show really soon. heh. but hey, better than coughing my lungs out for everyone to hear. i received a hongbao from PC this morning. i told him that i am married, there's no need for one. he still gave it to me. guess there really ain't anyone else to give hongbaos to huh? anyway, i'll return a nice hongbao for his daughter tomorrow. li shang wang lai right? bet everyone's feeling lethargic at having to return to work after a long weekend. hope everyone's surviving the week. cheers!

We're spending new year in Bermuda this time, our first here. [Last year, we went back to Singapore during chinese new year.] Obviously, there aren't very many others celebrating it, my only chinese co-worker who married a Bermudian of Portuguese descent will definitely not be celebrating it, he told me so last week. So other than the crumpled yellow dragon flag hung outside chopsticks restaurant, you wouldn't be able to tell it's the all-important chinese festival of the year... we've tried to introduce a little CNY flavour into our home - despite the lack of apparatus. behind the wii motion sensor, i've placed two clementines (no mandarin oranges here) along with a red packet (from accenture no less!) on the TV, just like how it's done in my in-laws place every year. i've tried to do some sort of "spring-cleaning" this weekend, so the house looks a little more presentable, although for sure no one's going to turn up at our house for ma

It's cold today, colder than most days. nearly couldn't pry myself out of bed. went to bed early at 10am last night because i got so comfy under the covers, i fell asleep. argh, i feel a cold coming on. did you guys watch the inauguration ceremony on tuesday? we were watching it during lunchtime in my boss (who's american)'s office. she had IT shift in the 50" flatscreen TV early in the morning and it was playing CNBC's live coverage the whole freaking day. i must admit the americans can't play a fiddle with ceremonies, the brits do it much more regally. the whole thing started and there was no end in sight even when i got to the gym at 6pm. it was still on! the obamas must have been exhausted waving and smiling for so many hours. perhaps i'm not black, nor american so obama's inauguration didn't mean as much to me as the rest of the island seems to think. (the premier spent USD75k on inauguration parties, mind you). the whole island p

In my current capacity, i'm often exposed to weird and somewhat disturbing facts. Everyday, I find out more ways i can die from preventable errors. Everyday, i tell hao-e about it, and we both pledge to stay as healthy as we can on the island. You would think that given this day and age, preventable errors should remain preventable and therefore not happen. but often i find, the biggest perpetrator are humans and trying to change people's behaviour is more onerous than moving a mountain! there are some people who try to work the system by working 2 shifts back to back. the 2nd shift counts as OT - which is principally wrong since the employee requested to work the 2nd shift and the employer didn't request for OT. but in pushing your body to work beyond the 'healthy' 8 hour limit, what kind of care are you providing during the 2nd shift? are you awake enough to know what kind of medicines are being administered? are you in the right mind to determine the ident

As you can tell by now, the blog design has changed!! (Cheers!!) AND i've added this magitzmo thing to show you when we'll be returning to singapore - it now says 27+days, not long now till katong laksa, republic mee rebus, seafood paradise, and all those yummy calories! thinking of them makes me drool all over the keyboard. almost forgot, i poured a whole cup of coffee over my desk this morning and some of it went into the power outlets under the table. gosh, the crackling noise nearly scared me half to death. thought the thing was gonna blow! i have been given some heavier responsibilities recently. i'm not sure whether i like having so much to do all of a sudden. it is afterall supposed to be easy - or at least easier here. and of course ph is still sitting on my no pay leave application. haha! see if they'll renew another year.

belated new year greetings to one and all! wishing everyone the best of health during 2009! slowly but surely, i've found that new years don't mean as much anymore. i don't know whether it is because there isn't much "atmosphere" here in bermuda, or because i'm just don't have the company here, or because i'm getting old. maybe all three. i have heard of so many people travelling to the east coast of US, some even to NYC, and not want to "drop by" and visit. i give up trying to invite/cajole/coerce/blackmail people to come. honestly, when my own family doesn't want to make the trip, how to force others right? but seriously, i do feel a bit disappointed no one has come to visit us after almost 21 months. how bad is a 2hour flight from new york? that took care of the whining bits of this piece. i was actually going to blog about something that suddenly dawned on me while i was driving the other evening. how do i know i've been here