The New Commitment

20th July 2009, Monday

As of Saturday, we are (more specifically the missus) proud owner of a 3 year old 2nd hand Ford Focus.

It hard surely been a dream come true for my wife who had been fixated with the thoughts of owning her own wheels since she got the joy of driving.
The idea of car sharing with my folks in that Geely with the off peak license plate had not been well received by her for many instances.
Now she could go wherever she wants whenever she wants.

As for me, driving had never been my forte but it would surely be a handy skill if the traffic in Singapore is reduced by 3/4.

Calling the new car "Baby", my missus picked the toddler off from the orphanage in Ubi as I took my maiden spin with Chan and Bryan after a trip to La Tendo.
Commutting from Kallang to Ang Mo Kio was pretty hectic on the CTE but just glad we were not going on the reverse direction.

Crusing on the highway significantly reduced the chore of endless waiting for a bus. It would be followed by cramping it up like sardines in a can while you tried not to caress the hair follicle of the fugly baitch who eyeballed you as if she was the fairest of them all.
Hell you can even take a sip of water on the train now without $30 fine slapping you on the face!
But when we got to the madness human rampage at Ang Mo Kio, we faced the predicament of finding the right place to park the car.

So give and take at least for now we could paint the town red till the wee hours and still do not be held ransom by the cab drivers.

The license plate nearly was cause for joy when it was a number shy on hitting the first prize in 4D on Saturday which surely would recoop the dent in our joint account.

While she had to pay for the monthly instalments with parking fee, road tax, radio tax, insurance, fuel price etc, I will devote more on mending that hole in our joint account and should not be sweating too much for now.

Nevertheless it might turn out to be a decent investment and as long as she is happy..until she came home one night saying she is buying a Maserati though...

Japanese word of the day: 責任 (Commitment) My greatest commitment these days would be ensuring I have enough juice, yogurt and chips to keep me high on calories

Work Climate 2009 Q3

15th July 2009, Wednesday

It was out of the bag that Sigeeta had tendered her resignation and would be leaving the company by next month.
Her departure would mark the end of the "Tea break" clique which got the likes of BY so perturbed a year and a half back.

When Jason left months before, Shitty Green was so alarmed that he would snag Sigeeta, a close confidante along with him, leaving the platform they were in charge of totally uncovered.
Half a year later, Shitty Green's involvement with the group was almost minimal as he relinquished his group leader role to the American Chinese guy.
With the writings on the wall, Sigeeta did eventually left as she had intended to for a long time to come.

Barring His Beautiness & HB, I am like the last few remnants of the group of staff that started off 3 years ago when I first came over.
The turnover rate in my group had been alarming including the lab manager and group leader.

I would not say it was a bad place to work in with the culture rather laid back as long as deadlines are being met while work would generally kept within the boundary of the office or the lab and wage renumeration is decent.
But as usual, people just treated here as a stepping board for something better out there and surely those who had left, had found better things...but overall happiness, it's still a myth.
Of course very few would actually made a U-turn as it would reflect badly on them but for those of us remaining, every colleague departed just made us feeling we are holding on to something that is on due time will just self decay.

The truth indeed is that my department look like a sinking ship on the outside, a less than glamorous facade which really did not deter us much except for a drop in morale.

I had been sitting on my ass in front of my work station with nothing to do for the past month, together with the rest of those on my platform.
I am sure our lack of work had been frowned upon by others but there surely was nothing to be done and we are not simply loafing around.
Our impending projects look to be on the horizon but without a definite date.
Everyone is second guessing whether either would seek a way out eventually. Beautiness would be but he had been saying so for umpteen times yet still remains. XY and HB just tied their knot recently and I could not forsee both leaving at the same time but you never know.

With this new boss, the chance to be appraised with high regards look remote but still it is not so bad as I have reap the rewards of the past few years and can actually endure some mediocracy in bonus and pay increment though still it pains when you hear how good the others are taking in.

If I ever was to leave, it would be from headhunting or introduction basis, I just do not have the patience and finesse to go through the job hunting tourney again.

Of course with the recent purchase of the car, I felt I need to top up the joint account much faster with the missus' well tied down to the car loan.
Then the thought of having a child also being brought up again and it might actually be in the pipelines, so money and job security are utmost importance for the next decade or so.

Well then again you never know what life can lead you to...I better save up every cent possible and live the moment...

Japanese word of the day: 多数の脱出(Exodus) Does not spell good when your workplace face this issue

Buying and Selling

13th July 2009, Monday

There have been a flurry of buying of I would say items of luxury in my household of late.

I had overheard from my folks that they had been contemplating on a new refrigerator since the existing Sanyo one was getting pretty run down. I supposed it had been around for more than 5 years now and I always thought it should last till the end of time.
Then of course my household greatly utilized the fridge and freezer due to our culinary preference to eat in.
The new Hitachi fridge had a really sleek chassis and with at least 3 ticks in saving electricity, it was surely a good buy. They even managed to scratch a lucky draw card which award them some vouchers that enable them to get a rice cooker for Sis' new place... Double good deal!

This weekend marked the appearance of the new iPhone 3GS which sent the entire nation into a frantic queue at the Comcenter for it.
I scorned at their "jump on the bandwagon" syndrome and made fun of them braving the drizzle and wastage of precious time....
But wait who's that familiar face in the midst of the human snake...It's my wife!?

Yes my fickle-minded missus who had been switching her target for a smart phone for ages now finally got her eye on the iPhone 3GS.
Like many Apple-idolizing fools, she was prompt to make a reservation for the the phone from Singtel, the monopolizing service provider who made full use of M1 and Starhub s' inability to struck the deal to bring in iPhone days before (though she was less an Apple-idolizer than myself)

After a 4 hours wait she finally got the phone with sheer ecstacy and came home harping about it. At $400 for a 32GB memory space smart phone, it was a decent deal I must admit.
The following day, my Sis also acquire a 16GB version for merely $188 as she was a new subscriber of Singtel.
The montly subscription of $50+ was rather reasonable which really threw those who rushed the gun (I.e. Ferris) who spent close to a thousand last year for the much inferior iPhone 3G, off the boat with a big "SUCKER!!"

However my missus was cooking one more purchase which will surely be the mother of all buys.... A CAR!
Her strong yearning for an automobile had reached the feverish threshold and what had been holding her back was my nonchalant or seemingly lack of support.
Of course for me it was about the financial side of things.
After missing out a good deal of a second hand car just 2 weeks back, she immediately fixated on another from the online car-mart and took time with her old man to check out the car.
Over the weekend, she had been enduring the difficult decision of whether to make the purchase, all this time while fiddling with her new phone.
I agreed on using the money from the joint account for the first payment which really caused a big dent in the sum we had painstakingly accumulated over the past 3 years.
But as my mom said, we should simply indulge in life sensibly when we are still young and vibrant.

After working out her budget, she finally gave the call to the agent for the deal as it looked like half her month's pay devoted to the car alone.
Of course, she had to make the first move before another prospective buyer will.

Myself the main spending I made during the weekend was around $15 on groceries with 2 boxes of pastry style biscuits as an lavish indulgence.
But I did sold a figurine for $160 (waaaayyyy below what I had wanted to sell), so it all added up nicely...

Japanese word of the day: 購買(Buying) After the car, think we had to live a very frugal life from now on... *sob* (;___;)

No Time Left for me from Now on

6th July 2009, Monday

"Sorry, love there was no time left for you from this point on.... "
That was a replica of the words my missus spewed last evening before we turned in for bed.

She had been totally decimated by her work of late, mentally and physically and what alludes her from fulfilling her dream to escape from that hell hole, she is now determined to make it happen.

I of course will render any support possible but felt I could not be the strongest cheering troop around for her, just had to endure the less amount of time spent with her like we did over the weekend.

My folks had gone to Genting for like the 800th time this year. They truly enjoyed hitting the jackpot machines in the casino in the cool Malaysian highlands and whatever makes them happy and seemingly economical enough, I felt it is good to have a monthly retreat there for them.

We began a cozy weekend with the island been doused with generous amount of rain and much cooling weather, something new for a long time, with some wine and dine at Paulaner Brauhaus.
The German restaurant at Millenia Walk is celebrating their 10th year in operation in Singapore and offering mugs of their home-brewed beer at $10 we just couldn't resist that offer.
At the end of it with sumptous food (all at $10 as well) and 2 pints of beer, I felt my digestive system could take no further punishment despite stretching it with a peach Melba which I shared with the missus.

After buying half a dozen of Premium Parfait at Marvelous Ice cream which I coerced my lady to buy, we should really be heading home straight before the ice cream just melted into a liquid mess, instead we spent a good 40 minutes in HMV where I just went rampage on buying DVD at sales price on some titles I was looking to add to my library.

Saturday was one I spent time alone after the missus made me some breakfast before leaving for a full day of wedding banquets, one the afternoon one for the evening.
While listening to Will Young's "All by Myself" and feeling a bit of self love (yikes sound really bad isn't), I was very much still awe-struck that Man United had snagged injury-prone Michael Owen from free transfer.
The Anfield legend surely would not be a fan favorite with his history but it might look like a wild card for the coming season and for such small price before the crescendo of Real Madrid throwing obscene amount of money into the transfer market one wonders did Bernard Mudoff was the one masterminding the moves with the money he swindled.

Sunday began with a nice breakfast at Swensen's as both missed the fragrant toast in the breakfast sets which gave us a poignant start to a Sunday with the rain god showing some belated aggression while Star World just feed me with a 3 hours marathon of "Seinfeld" which further making the missus hated George Costanza to the core.
While watching "The Break-up", the missus had the epiphany that the show kind of reflected our marriage when I persistently failed to reciprocate the affections she had showered. However I felt I was not as obnoxious as the Gary character reprised by Vince Vaughn or am I?
A romantic comedy surely was one for thoughts...

So I might not see more of my wife for perhaps the coming month, so less fritcion and bickering not that there was much to start with.

Japanese word of the day: 摩擦 (Friction) There's a reason why people should not spend time together 24-7...like in the prison