Why you hire professionals to paint your home….

So that you don’t end up looking like this and keep finding paint on the oddest parts of your body which you had believed to be scrubbed till paint free.

As can be seen from the paint splatters all over me we painted the walls of my home white. Boring blah white! Years ago when the Martha Stewart bug first bit I had tried talking my mother into focus walls and being creative with colour and texture. Her response was that the mortgage for our home was under her name. Point Taken!!

Despite the back breaking labour (we had to empty out all the furniture…who’s idea was it to get a large screen tv??!!…paint and when the paint dried put all the furniture back again!) we all managed to have fun. My father, sister, cousin brother and I all managed to keep our humour as my mother “supervised” and supplied us with food and drink. Here I am hard at work during the pre-painting prep…

For those of you who don’t think there’s much of a difference in re-painting walls white…well you’re right…after the first gallon of paint we weren’t always able to tell which parts we had already painted but the proof is in this pudding.

Have a great week folks!

Mehndi redemption and the MRT!

I have redeemed myself!

The awful mehndi design I did last week and could not bear to show anyone was either rubbed off (very painful process) or covered up with a much better expression of my style.

I’m not sure if my fascination with mehndi has to do with my fascination with tattoos or its more of a cultural appreciation but there’s something about seeing first the dark green on your skin and then the residual colour, which according to old-wives tales is tied to how much your spouse/in-laws will love you, which speaks to me.

The mehndi was a good way for me to relax and get my mind off a sight which really ticked me off. Those of you from the island nation are familiar with the local transportation of trains and buses and would have had to be completely deprived of your senses to not notice the added security measures which have been imposed in light of increased terrorist threats etc.

I have no desire to be blown to smithereens but after what I’ve seen i have my doubts about the efficacy of the system in place. I’ve seen racial profiling (the Bangladeshi worker is carrying a backpack and to the security personnel he looks like he could be a terrorist) and an invasion of privacy (a lady on her way to the airport was forced to open up her luggage right by the ticket gateway out of the train station). I may have left Canada but its definitely not left me as i came home and voiced my displeasure at the erosion of civil liberties and the age old debate of where do you draw the line. I have no answers to the eradication or even identification of terrorists and beyond a commentary of how i see it NOT working i have little to offer. I do however have to persist in voicing this because if everyone does stay silent that in itself ensures that things will further disintegrate.

Some may ask why bother since Singapore is a relatively safe country and this is a minor infringement. Well the answer to that lies in the fact that we have never been a country big on civil liberties – there hasn’t been a need for it with a stable government, stable economy and general apathy for politics but that’s not necessarily the situation going forth.

I think if spot checks on baggage or bulky items brought on the trains is the answer we are proposing we could perhaps think it out a little more and afford those whose privacy is being invaded (for the greater good or not) some measure of not having it so ‘public’. Racial profiling rarely works and being part of the cultural group who look the closest to our Muslim terrorist poster boys its a problem that i feel on a personal level. Once again being a multi-cultural community i hope most Singaporean’s can differentiate between a Sikh and Osama’s cousin!

Its Wednesday and yoga…may the meditation bring me to a higher plane on this issue! A good week to all…

Season of Discontent

I turn 29 in 15 days. As in the past the closer it gets to my birthday i tend to find myself contemplating where i am and the direction i would like my life to take. Usually as i take stock it is with a sense of contentment of having a life well lived and being blessed to have such wonderful opportunities and people in my life.

This year i find myself deeply rooted in a discontent thats like a low-grade fever…its not something thats hampering my day-to-day life but i can’t seem to shake it off. Maybe its the idea that 30 is only a year away but whatever it is i’ve taken stock and, while i’m not sure what i had thought my life would be at this juncture, i do have a sense of this is a good life but its not quite what i thought it would be.

On my Facebook a friend had put up that she was feeling like a “pissy pussy cat”. That about sums up how i feel these days. I hate people who whine about their lives so i shan’t put anyone through the misery of enduring that. I leave for my vacation on Friday and will be back with tons of pictures and hopefully a peace-treaty within myself. A new, or maybe just an improved, understanding of what i want from life, loads of great food, some partying, tons of shopping, and an escape from the hum-drum of daily life to spend time with my patient sis who’s been putting up with the “pissy pussy cat”.

Adios amigos…more when i return on the 12th!

To move or not to move

Vox has been a great first home for my blogging life. However its next to impossible to get any viewer feedback since you have to register with Vox in order to leave a comment. Vox also doesn’t provide some of the statistics of viewership the way WordPress does which to an attention-seeking megalomaniac like moi is quite necessary ;-p

So the time has come to contemplate a move….i’ve already set-up a preet-o.wordpress account whilst i decide whether or not to move….

Tomorrow is May Day (or as its also know ‘The International Labour day’) and a happy holiday to all!

Citibank: World class or old world

No this is not a post examining the banking ideologies. Its a good old-fashioned rant when an institution prized for its service standards fails to live up to them.

Now let me first clarify that personally i am not a full-fledged customer of Citibank (i only have my investment account with them) but both the company i work for and my sister are customers. In these last two weeks the staff at the bank have gotten on my back teeth with their outmoded and non-customer friendly approach to customer service. I can understand the need for protocol and even appreciate the red tape that banks have built so solidly into their foundation since it means that they are protecting my accounts and my money as well. What i fail to understand is why some simple administrative details and some special requests, under highly unusual circumstances, are either bungled up or dealt with with extreme rigidity. Enough of cloaked references let’s get down to actual instances:

Example One
My company recently had some account information changed. As those of you who deal with banks within the capacity of an organization know this involves signing a multitude of resolutions advising the banks that “yes we’ve thought about it and we are really, really sure and no it will never be your fault”. Thats all fine and fair since banks have enormous liabilities anyways and they do not need anymore. Now what i found unpalatable was the officer who called to tell me there was a problem with one of the signatures took her bad day out on me as she spoke to me. It was after i said i did not appreciate her tone of voice in the discussion that she managed a more civil and pleasant approach.

That was minor enough but the second instance is what put me over my already stretched threshold.

Example Two
My sister is based out of town for work for the next few months and prior to her departure she had set-up a Citibank account so that she could access her account internationally and not have to deal with carrying so  much money with her. Unfortunately she has since been pick-pocketed and asked me to help her cancel all her cards and deal with ensuring that replacement cards get to her especially the ATM card since she needs it much more than her credit cards.

The first customer service rep i spoke to was professional and helped expedite the process, or so it seemed. They sent 2 replacement credit cards to my home yesterday but no ATM card. I called them this morning and impressed upon them the urgency to the situation. She merely repeated their standard line of”7 days to replace an ATM card” and there seemed to be no record of the unusual circumstances my sister was in or request to expedite matters. I think its quite simple actually if you don’t allow your front-line staff flexibility to make certain judgments based on extenuating circumstances then don’t fault them should the customer demand to speak to someone with authority. You would think customer service departments would get a clue by now. In anycase i had sorted that one by being very clear about the purpose of my call and leaving Citibank with no doubt that there was no way i would not have the objective carried out in the manner i saw fit.

The second point of the call was to enquire why some account information we had changed a year ago was still reflecting the old information. The rep had no clue but needed to verify it with my sister before she could act on it when we had sorted it all out in the same manner a year ago. Caution i can deal with. Incompetence and fools i do not suffer lightly. If a bank cannot keep your account details up-to-date then we might be safer stuffing our money into our mattresses since interest rates in Singapore aren’t exactly terribly exciting.

Now i truly can’t wait for my trip to Hanoi. Maybe a change of environment will soothe the savage beast within.

Do you support child pornography?

If you haven’t signed the petition to add your voice to those who have taken a stand against child pornography then in my books you are supporting that vile industry and the disgusting miscreants who profit from it with your silence.

The advertisement for “light a million candles” has been playing on television for ages and when i, after a shamefully long period of putting it off, signed up there was only 1,708,858 people who had signed the petition.

 

Light a million candles

In Singapore itself we have a population of some 4 million and yet from the world over there have only been this small representative population that finds it within themselves to do something as simple as signing an online petition to use as leverage with governments who do not think of child pornography as a big issue, to put pressure on internet service providers to take some responsibility in ensuring such content does not make its way online.

It doesn’t take more than 5 minutes to sign this petition and even one child victimised is one child too many. Please give the gift of your time to lend your support for those who may not always have a voice to speak for themselves.

And so 2007 begins

A very happy new year to one and all.

I was stewing for the last couple of days thinking hard on what my first post in the new year should be. I can honestly say i did not come up with any new, revolutionary, or even earth trembling ideas. Since i could not possibly delay my first post of the year forever i thought I’d just do a nice round-up of things since my last post.

• I received some really nice feedback on my Year-in-review post all through email since Vox requires you register and be a member before you can leave a comment. For the people at Vox – please do something to allow the lazy bums out there to leave comments without registering. For the lazy bums – honestly if you can put together an email you can register and leave a comment right??!! If not please make it your new years resolution to do so ;-p
• I had a very nice and relaxing holiday in Phuket. Here’s a shot of the final sunset of 2006:

   

   

   

   

  

   

   

  Final Sunset 2006

  And here is my grandmother who by far and away took the prize for the best picture on the vacation.

   

   

   

   

  

   

   

  My grandma

  Here are some other highlights from the vacation.

   

  

  

  

  

  

  

• One peeve i had from the holiday was the airlines with which i flew: SilkAir. Those of you who hail from the Southeast Asian countries know that Silk Air is the slightly cheaper arm of Singapore Airlines. I’m a big fan of SIA and have been known to take on part-time jobs just to be able to afford the airfare for SIA to fly home to Singapore when i was living in Canada. Naturally i had high expectations from Silk air as well only to be disappointed.
  

1. Our flight out to Phuket was delayed but the ground staff failed to see the need to inform us of that until after the boarding time had passed.
   
2. The crew was lost in their own world and were chatting loudly to themselves during the flight back from Phuket.
   
3. I did not expect the personal screens and extensive game menus that come with SQ flights but on Silk Air they did not even offer us headsets for the tiny screens we were forced to pay attention to suspended from the ceiling. Now if that was the kind of service i wanted i would have paid half the airfare for a budget airline and paid the $10+ for the meal which is the only extra that Silk Air seemed to provide.
   
4. For all of you thinking to fly in relative SIA luxury please save your dollars for the actual SIA flights and give Silk Air a pass.

• Speaking of airlines this brings to mind my horrendous airline episode from last year. I had taken an Air Sahara flight to New Delhi from Singapore and my baggage was picked up by someone else upon arrival. Air Sahara did next to nothing to help me get my luggage back and did not bother to file a report with airport police on my behalf when my bag was returned by the other passenger, a Mr. Ajaib Singh who lives in Everton Park (near Singapore General Hospital), torn and missing about $700+ of its contents. I did file a police report but unfortunately since this incident occurred outside of Singapore jurisdiction not much could come of it. Air Sahara delayed the return of my bag and its remaining contents, the fax of letter of responsibility written by Mr Ajaib Singh, and when i was in their offices in New Delhi there were mice running amok within the confines of that small space! Moral of the story: Get travel insurance because the airlines you choose may not be very co-operative once they’ve taken your money off you.

An interesting new development is shaping up in the form of my nail art. I’ve been contacted to teach a class on it later in the month. I’m pretty excited and terribly nervous all at the same time. I’ve also had my arm twisted into filming a video presentation on the latest product being offered by my company. I will post more on that once the final video is available.

On that note a sayonara to one and all and have a great weekend!

Brain Drain

Many nations are facing or have been faced with the phenomenon of brain drain aka the pool of talented and highly educated citizens of your country choosing to pick up stakes and search for their fortunes on other shores. There are of course many serious economic, political and social issues related to this phenomenon but thats not what I’ll be delving into.

The ‘brain drain’ I’ll be choosing to talk about is quite literally just that…the loss of common sense and a touch of etiquette amongst the common folk of our Sunny Singapore. This is rather amusing to me since there was a “Four Million Smiles” campaign launched in conjunction with the world bank meeting to get Singaporeans (especially those in the service sector) to appear hospitable and welcoming. Well either Singaporeans have limited hard drives and there is a constant loss of data due to disk clean-ups or they are simply not programmed to be civil and pleasant without being told to do so by the government. Whatever the reasons may be it is highly disheartening to be confronted by a lack of sense and manners from the so-called ‘educated’ stratas of this country’s society.

I could launch into a discourse on the varied ways in which this is exhibited but I believe in giving everyone their due so I will focus on just one example today.

Most of us have eaten in a hawker centre at least once and should you go to a hawker centre during a particularly busy time e.g. Lau Pa Sat between 12 to 2 on a work day you will see the a mass of people trying to get seats and many empty tables with just a packet or two of tissue paper. To the uninitiated you may think that there is no problem and there is a wealth of seats to pick from. Here comes the rub: Instead of finding seats and perhaps having a friend sit there while you take turns to get your lunch people will ‘reserve’ seats by placing these packets of tissue paper on empty tables. The poor fools who decide to get their food and then look for a table are often left wandering about hoping desperately that a seat should be vacant while there is still time in their lunch hour.

Now I can excuse (to an extent) this sort of behavior in a hawker centre. There is a certain lack of finesse, shall we say, to a dining experience in a hawker centre and you excuse some behavior you may not expect in maybe a fast food restaurant.

Imagine the setting to be a casual dining restaurant like Soup Spoon which has opened a new branch in the Market Street Carpark Complex. Given the area you would expect the diners to be the office staff, lawyers, bankers, IT professionals and you would expect that there would be no such issue in that setting. WRONG!

This picture was taken at the Soup Spoon branch mentioned around 12:30pm on 31st October 2006.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tissue paper

This was not the first time AB and I had witnessed this but we lived in the hope that the behavior we noticed in the restaurant was a deviation from the norm or if it wasn’t then at least the staff and management of the restaurant would take a stand and stop this. The structure of the restaurant is such that the counter for placing your orders is right by the door as you step in and the natural inclination for most peole would be to place their orders and send someone ahead to sit and secure seats or to look for seats once the order is filled. The ‘Tissue-Paper Table Hogs’ who have yet to place an order of food in the restaurant, are by their actions, penalising people who have already purchased their meal and simply looking to actually consume the food they have bought.

“Four Million Smiles” for tourist or “more brain and less drain” in actual life?

Pathway to Heaven

Well either i am a highly irritable personality (quite possibly true) or there are just that many irritants out there in the big bad world (statistically an even higher probability than my being highly irritable).

Now yesterday was a truly crappy day (pardon my french) and i was initially going to rant about some near and not so dear ones but i held back as common sense prevailed and besides bridges could still be mended at that point. The straw that broke this camel’s back occurred on my evening commute home. AB (easy reference for the mentor, good friend dude) and I usually go home on the train together and we have separately and together noticed the phenomenon on the ‘deep sleeper’ and ‘absorbed reader’ on rather crowded trains. Now this sub-species either falls into a comatose like state upon getting a seat on the train or fails to notice the world around them so engrossed are they in their reading material. Now in a situation where you have a train full of able bodied people this presents no issue. In reality though we do coexist with the elderly, the infirm, the heavily pregnant, and the parents of small children. When we introduce them into the equation and the ‘deep sleeper’ and ‘absorbed reader’ continue with their preset pattern of behavior, there in that moment, exists the beast more commonly known as “The Ugly Singaporean”.

“The Ugly Singaporean” has its close cousin in “The Ugly American” and virtually every country exhibits some mutation on this sub-species. There are many other sides to “TUS” not resricted to public transportation but for today i will restrict my rant to the irony that played before me on my commute yesterday evening.

AB and I entered the train and moved toward our usual point of anchorage. Standing there was a lady who was deeply immersed in her Bible. Before i continue i would like to point out that this is by no means a rant against any religion since i happen to be a fan of God in all forms but rather the actions of this one person. Now the spot where we were standing can comfortably accomodate 2 people but this lady was straddling the middle and forced AB and I to be a little squished to one side since she was so deeply absorbed that she failed to register our presence by her side.

The rub comes about when a seat is vacated and she magically snaps out of her moment of worship to snag the seat. Since i consider myself able-bodied i have no issues with that. After all it is a dog eat dog world and first come first served is the general consensus on public transport. My issue lies with the fact that there was a young family (parents with a young child; the father carrying her) who were standing not more than a foot and a half away from both the bible-study lady and the vacant seat. She made no move to offer the seat to the family and upon settling herself in the seat promptly got into “absorbed reader” mode once again.

Having gone though 6 years of missionary school and having to sit through assemblies where the Christian faith and the christian way of life was expounded upon in great detail i am left to wonder if this lady truly believes her salvation to be within the pages of a book rather than her actions to others. From her choice it seems obvious what she believes her pathway to heaven is.

My question: What do you believe is your path?