She pretty meh ?

It's an annual affair. Families gather around the TV, from the 12 year old pubescent kid to the 80 year old grandfather. It's an event where everybody wants to play judge and critique. Yes, it's the Miss Singapore Universe finals on TV. I guess it's human to judge people by their looks; it's like an innate ability, an instinct to assess skin deep beauty and categorize people into the beautiful and the ugly.

Well I'm sure there were the all-too familiar comments heard around the country tonight, such as these,

"Wah, like that also can enter Miss Universe pageant ah?

and the variation

"Singapore don't have pretty girls meh ??" (yes, I'm sure you have heard those a million times before)

and the curious

"Eh, where's the 18th contestant ah? Only 17 tonight leh... her plane delayed ah?" (she happens to be a stewardess)

and from the 'experts' during the swinsuit round

"She will surely get less than 8 for that."

and from the wives testing their husbands

"Darling, if I got a slim body like her, you think how much I will get in the swimsuit round?"

and from the punters

"I told you she will win from the start,right? I always got an eye for the right horse one, I mean beauty. Should have bet with you all..."

Well, in the end, Jesicca Tan took the crown. Wasn't much of a surprise considering that she was among the prettiest in the lot. There that's me judging. Let's just hope this year they'll stitch together a better looking national costume for her at the Miss Universe pageant.

Miss Singapore at the Miss Universe Pageant 2006

Sunrise to sunset

Life has changed much with the new job. It's been only one month but it already seems like a long time. The difference between this job and the last is apparent. Here are just a few of them.

1. Work wise, the previous job involved lots of fire fighting and hands on towards production and plant maintenance, the current involves manufacturing planning from a birds eye view of the business.

2. Workng hours have extended and sometimes work creeps into weekends and after working hours. No more 5:25pm knock off time but I don't get the midnight calls either. A fair trade off?

3. Less privacy now with my boss just seated not far behind me. She just needs to lean backwards and she'll have a glimpse of my worktable. Far cry from the days sitting next to the production floor with my boss two floors above me. That means no time to read blogs or go MSN during working hours!

4. Travel time is about an hour now, one way. That's a freaking two hours of my life gone everyday, standing next to strangers. Thank God for books and morning free papers. My record in the previous company was half an hour from door to door.

5. More communication now, whether it's liasing with the local engineers, US planners or some custom experts in China. Conference calls has been a staple in the job, so has net meetings. I even had to get a phone with speaker & mute functions at home to meet the needs. A good thing that my boss believes that we should meet the people we are communicating with, so that bodes well for some overseas travels (fingers cross).

6. Size wise the company now is many times bigger than the 60 man operation in my previous job. So with big companies come many redtape, systems and policies that may be a double edge sword depending how you look at it.

7. Money wise, anything is better than being in a sinking ship, especially one that has its purse strings guarded by scrooges in another country.

8. Working culture now is set by my boss who works harder than those around her and that keeps us on our toes and hands busy on the keyboard.

9. Motivation wise, the new challenges in the job has kept me upbeat so far. Who knows the future? The old job got a bit of stale at the end as work became a repetitive cyle.

10. More sunrises, less sunsets now. So less time to jog or enjoy an early meal or catch Tyra on Channel 5 (I don't btw).

Who know's what the future holds or how I'll feel after a year in the job. Things are transient, so I'll just try my best to enjoy the surprises that each day holds.

A million tomorrows shall all pass away ...

I can't be contented with yesterdays glory
I can't live on promises winter to spring
Today is my moment, now is my story
I’ll laugh and I’ll cry and I’ll sing

Just me wallowing in yesterdays' glory; a song for the ages. Still recall that they used to teach this song in primary school, not mine, but my sister's. Was listening to Emi Fujita's version of it earlier and it struck me that beneath the Dandy, Clovers and Strawberries, the lyrics bore a timeless message, that is a call to live for the moment, to be present in the present, not past nor future.

Here is if you want the classic John Denver version.

Sofra so good

Ok, ignore the corny title. We were at Sofra, the Turkish restaurant, last night for dinner to celebrate the birthdays of two dear friends. The food, at least mine, was quite good. For the record, I had the Sofra Kebab which had eggplant and mixed lamb and beef wrapped in bread. Too bad we didn't have any belly dancers to spice up the night. I'm sure Chern Yin can provide the beat.

So here's leaving you with the photo of the two birthday celebrants.

April Showers

JB city scape and Sunset over Kranji Reservoir

Finally found some time to jog today inspite of the slight drizzle. It has been awhile since my running shoes were put to use; wouldn't want to blame the CNY distractions and longer working hours, but the excess around the waist is getting kind of worrying.

In Clementi we used to jog along the Ulu Pandan canal. Here in Yew Tee we have our own 'canal' too. It's the wide man-made drain that separates Sg. Kadut Industrial area from the Yew Tee HDB estates. The narrow track along the 'canal' takes us pass Kranji Camp and a patch of undergrowth, up to the mouth of Kranji Reservoir. Here we are usually rewarded with the sight of sunset and JB town.

*******

April showers bring May flowers,
That is what they say.
But if all the showers turned to flowers,
We’d have quite a colourful day!