7th July 2007 --- 070707

My Special day today!!! Woke up to heavy rain this am & was q worried but thankfully the wind has stopped blowing and though there's still intermittant light rain, hopefully it will clear by 1pm laters *keep fingers crossed*

M mighty excited!!! Actually woke up @ 5 plus this am but luckily can go back to sleep. Woke up again @ almost 8 with butterflies in my stomach and till now they have not settled down. Was worried that I'll have puffy eyes and pimple scars this morning but thankfully they lked q alrite *whew*

Gota go now... chauffeur's already on the way... stay tuned for more!!!

PS: Thanks to all friends for your congratulations... sorry cldn't invite everyone as we are keeping it small but your well-wishes are much appreciated. *hugz*

1 More Day to Go...

*gasp* can't believe that tomorrow is really here!!! As of this time tomorrow, i would have taken a new step in my sleepy life and status wld haf changed... *ahem* :P

Went 2 pray mummy this am; been meaning to do it for q a while already but everytime when I am off, seems like there are just so many things to do and I forget *guilty* Was pondering whether to go today being so close to the ceremony tomorow but as it is also her birthday, Dar said to just go today. Always thought it was q kewl that my parent's birthdays are 3 days apart... ha... now Dar & I too!!! But just 1 day apart hee hee. & mine is b4 his; when I was younger & had more creative juices flowing, I used to make birthday cards for Mummy; when Daddy asked how come he doesnt have, my reply would always be that I am too tired to make another one after finishing the first one. So the "benefits" of having your birthday come earlier :P Really wish Mummy is ard to witness the start of this important chapter in my life... but wherever she is, I know she is giving us her blessings.

Afterwhich we went 2 get our certs which was really crowded!!! Read in e papers that there were 772 couples who registered but the staff who attended to us told us that there are 777 couples or more! Wow!!! Coincidentally we met Dar's friend who are also having their ceremony tomorrow... and guess what? Their ceremony is just kinda across the road from ours!!! (Their's is held @ Botanical Gardens whilst ours is @ Dempsey). And whilst we were there, we saw some "strange" couples that might be getting married for the sake of getting their PR.

As of now... more or less everything is settled. Had a bit of disagreement @ the rest just now & I was kinda pissed but matter has been resolved. Now... just gota prepare all the stuff to be brought tomorrow and throw them all in2 1 bag for ez carrying. May it be a brite & sunny day tomorrow!

Getting Excited!!!

Many pp have been asking my that question esp over the past 2 weeks... n like I was telling Mangojo, not excited also let everyone ask until excited liao haha! But anyways thanks thanks thanks for everyone's concern!!! :)

Have more or less settled most stuff; went to colour my hair, permed my lashes, booked my facial for tomorrow & will be goin for mani/pedi on Fri. Invites have all gone out on my side but Dar still has to meet some frenz. Thnk the rings have arrived & they r in the process of engraving the date for us; ordered the wine (coz we feel pp wld prefer wine 2 beer) & also got the florist to go down to the rest 2 suggest about some decor. Thng is dat coz the rest is new, the furniture were still not in place when we went down. As the "tent" like thngy is yet to be fixed on the ground, we cldn't tell where the position wld be & whether it will be in an appropriate position. Thus we are still debating whether to do it indoors or outdoors. Might have the best of both worlds by having the solemnisation outside before proceeding inside for food & drinks where there's aircon. Dun want everyone to melt under the hot weather... so thoughtful rites? hee hee But that is still to be decided till we see how they have set up everything...

And we got our first present!!! *happi* *happi* from Dar's eldest bro & sis in law... was v tempted to open the prez straight away but managed to restrain myself! The presents were wrapped and put in a Precious Moments paper bag so hopefully it will be cute & nice. My fren was asking me whether I prefer red packet or gift... actually I am kinda torn in between the 2 coz I love to unwrap pressies but @ the same time money is ever more practical... well whatever it is, I will like one lah :) It's the thought that counts :)

Actually never really "feel" anything the past couple of weeks coz we were still tryin 2 settle many things & liasing w pp. But in the past couple of days, it juz somehow kinda hit me that my life will somehow be a bit different come this Sat onwards... cannot be so wilful & so self-centred anymore. Feel that Dar & I r rather different in some ways (like he has to do 1 stuff @ a time but I like to multi-task) but yet so similar in others (we both like to make fun of each other & both love 2 sleep! haha). I guess this is how couples complement each other & alg e way learn more new things about each other, appreciate each other & build a life together. Dun thnk lifestyles wld change too much in the near future; v thankful & touched that Dar is accomodating & understanding towards me & juz want me 2 b happy & comfy. So yep... m getting more excited as each day draws near... but juz a little thng dat dampened my spirits somewat:

how come no one commented on my lovely invitation without me asking huh??? The only comment I got was a "lovely card" fr TBN. SOB SOB!!! Dar & I spent q a lot of time on it wor... u all dun like, can return me to keep as souvenir haha!!! Kidding!!!

"Last Minute"... Not lors!

Arrgh!!! Almost cldn't take off this coming Fri to collect the certs coz my boss is on leave!!! As a result, she wasn't v pleased which admitedly is my fault coz I should have told her early but I didn't coz I was afraid she would ask me to clear my off all @ once but I wanted to use the off instead of leave for my hols. But she was nice enough coz I told her I really need & though I told her I could juz take half day off, she still put me as 1 day off... haha! But then I was thnkin, if I had told her that I need that day to collect my certs n run last min errands (which I can see will be a plenty!!!) she would have let me off. Oh well...

But I m not v pleased coz my colleagues have been told that my this week of leave is "last minute" which is NOT lors!!! See... I was sup to go on leave on 11th June but I asked her if I could take off instead coz I wana take leave next week. She agreed mah!!! Thing is, for some strange reason, too many pp wana take off on 9th July. Was having lunch w some of my colleagues ystd (which was mighty fun!!!) & 1 of my colleague was asking how come dat day is so hot... 什么大日子？I promptly replied "My dad's birthday!!!" haha. :P

Saga Ends...

In view of my previous post, the saga has ended rather uneventfully much to my disappointment. As GM S had taken over the case, he somehow decided that he would refund us the amount they had previously charged for the hotel & airlines, however they would give the whole refund (including the amount that they had previously agreed to give us in the form of a cheque) in the form of a voucher. Tired of dragging the whole issue any further & also as we intended to go on a short trip, Dar & I decided to just take the voucher.

However I am still not happy about the service & am still debating whether to pursue the matter any further. The TA is damn lucky coz I have so much on my platter now that I hafn't really given much thot about my further course of action. I am rather disappointed coz I was all prepared to bring the matter up to CASE and now I don't have a chance to. See, I have written to SQ to ask them to waive the charges but SQ has denied that they charged anything to us! During our conversation with GM S, he anticipated that we wanted or had written to SQ and told us that thought SQ customer service may tell us that they (SQ) did not charge the agent, but reservations side would have charged the agent. However I beg to differ as I believe that the gal who answered my emails from SQ did ask reservations side about the charges. Further to that, she did help us to call the travel but was told that they are not able to reveal anything to her as she was not the customer. I also wanted to write a letter to an even higher authority than GM S regardless of the outcome of the case to complain about Manager K but i am pretty sure that the letter would be duely intercepted and conveniently ignored. Hence I am v "buay gum guan" coz I am not satisfied to let Manager K off juz like dat!

So what do u all thnk? Shd I or shdn't I write to the boss???

Blessed Me

Received a email fr Sis Aneja last evening; had written to her giving her some updates about some of our friends & about the preps. Though her reply was short, somehow it really touched me. It read something like this:
Dear Weipei,
It's always nice to hear from you! You're always so bubbly and full of life, hadn't change much since Sec Sch days! Take care and my blessings are always with you, my dearest friend. =)

Just a couple of sentences but it really touched me & I cldn't stop thinking about her last nite. Have known her since we were 15 & the frenship just grew fr there. The crazeee sec sch days, going diff JCs, rooming together during Uni days... Most importantly, during that v difficult part of my life, she not only encouraged me, she also prayed for my mum and even aft dat, she never failed to call me constantly to check on me even though I was kinda avoiding calls fr friends. & even now, I know that I am constantly in her thoughts & prayers... how more blessed can I be? I miss the times we spent together but I am also v happy for her on the path that she has chosen to take.

M also touched that so many pp r concerned abt the preps & offering their help... special thanks to MangoJo & Tibetan Nun. I m such a disorganised & messy & huge procrastinator that all sorts of help are needed!!! Feel relieved to know that I have soooo many pairs of hands & legs & eyes & brains to depend on... thanks folks!!!

& the 2 men in my life who has showered me w so much concern & TLC; Daddy for caring & worrying abt me & always wanting the best for me & Darling for the wonderful times spent together. 1 who has done whatever he can to give me the bestest in life & for putting that smile on my face; the other for keeping that smile on my face for a long long time... indeed I can't be more blessed!!!

Do not trifle w moi!

A certain travel agent in Singapore has certainly gotten on sleepy's nerves. Not to bore everyone w a long & lengthy essay, the gist is that Dar & I tried to get a refund from the TA for the Bali trip we cancelled due to Dar's emergency eye op. We were told the refund would take about 6 months n despite the fact that the staff were rude when Dar called to enquire about the refund, we simply waited patiently. However after 6 months n no reply; I managed 2 con my way thru 2 speak to the GM n 15 min later, manager K called me back. & that was where our woes started.

As we were not satisfied w the charges imposed on us, we requested for manager K to give us a ltr stating that the charges were by the airlines & hotel & not by the co itself. However although Dar has been calling manager K every other week & having him tell Dar that he would get the letter by the following Fri, the letter never came. & everytime Dar called manager K, he would always tell Dar that the letter sent to us was already the standard letter & that he doesn't know what Dar wants! N this is despite the fact that manager K always claims to know what Dar wants before they hang up the phone!!! GRRZZZ!!! Finally after 3 months of haggling, he finally sent a letter to Dar handwriting the name of the Airlines & hotel but without intialing next to it!! Talk about professionalism!!! & the day before we received the letter, having got tired of chasing Dar to do the calling, I called to speak to him & he actually threatened me to call the police! Talk about cx service man!!!

So Dar called again to tell manager K to again ammend the letter (n Dar specifically told manager K what to write) & if the operations didn't wana issue the letter, Dar is fine that he handwrites it but he has to sign next to it. It ended up with another shouting match between the 2 of them & w Dar telling manager K that if he doesn't receive the letter by the following Wed (which is this Wed) then he would go down to the TA to make noise. Well, we received the letter on Thurs but again without the contents that we want & so we decided to pop down to the agent yesterday.

Prior to going down, Dar called the office & was told manager K was off yesterday (lucky b**tard) but the GM was ard till 5. We reached there ard 4 & was served by another admin manager who told us that GM S had left for the day. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, we told him what happened & told him to get someone to call us back ASAP. Not satisfied that we didn't get to tok to the manager, just as we were about to leave, sleepy decided to call back the office & guess what??? GM S was actually ard!!!! I knew that they were just trying to prevent us fr seeing him... smartie that I am :P so up we went 2 see GM S & whilst he was rather professional about the matter I felt that he was in a way siding w lousy manager K. When he was told manager K challenged me to call the police, he actually said that knowing manager K he must have been v agitated. Well I retorted by telling him that he should never do that in the service line.

I hope that manager K gets a big scolding but I also know that they will be bitching about what a bitchy couple we are. They must have thought that they got their last laugh by telling us GM S is not ard... well if u wana lie, please cover all ur backsides!!!

For a moment...

... last nite, sleepy forgot how to start Daddy's car!!! The ignition key was turned but I simply couldn't shift the gear from "P" to "D". Issit coz I didn't release the footbrake (aka handbrake)?? But it is already released... or maybe I didn't lock it in place the nite b4 :P Kinda rem that I gota step on the brake so as to shift the gear but I was already stepping on the brake and it still didnt work. (sidenote: for a moment was totally confused coz I was stepping on the brake pedal w my left leg n was wondering if it was correct. Coz when driving Dar's manual car, gota step on the cluth w the left leg but if u drive an auto car, ur left leg actually has nothing to "do") Was just sitting down there for a while... till I stepped on the brake harder w my rite foot and viola, the gear could be shifted!!! & just the nite before, i cldn't switch off the ignition properly. Couldn't figure out why until I realise that the gear was not shifted to "P" properly!!!

How? Getting a bit senile liao... n also getting fat. In the past, when pp commented that I m skinny, I always tell them it is coz everyday, I gota walk out/back 15 min to get 2 the MRT or home. But now, thanks to the convenience of service 175, it merely takes me 5 min to get to the bus stop to work. U will all b seeing a fat & haggard sleepy soon :P

Small World :)

Bumped into some ex sch mates of mine whilst @ Raffles City last nite. Was sup 2 meet Hwee & littlebloom but as nothing was set yet, Dar & I decided 2 go Pregos as he hadn't had his dinner yet. So happens that that grp of fren had actually asked littlebloom out as well!!! What a coincidence! Then @ Pregos, my frens met up w another JC mate of theirs; Dar saw his old cycling fren & we saw another ex sec sch mate there as well!!! So many pp @ 1 place all @ once!

Adding to that, met Dar's cx's gf e other day & found out that she actually knew 1 of the tellers fr my training branch & that her colleague is 1 of my JC frenz. Also found out that Shanster actually knows my good fren's cousin (whom I also kinda know coz my sis knows him fr way back) & Shanster & her fren actually jioed my fren to go wakeboarding together before!!!

It really is a small world afterall!!!

A FULL-filling Day

What a day!!! Started off q well as my cash officer is FINALLY back... so I say "bye bye" to my cash days and can finally sit back @ my seat!!! yippeee!!! Sat r e best working days of e week coz there's nothing much 2 do & hafing not been back @ my seat for 2 weeks, I could finally play the games on my comp (:P) n also packed up my messy drawers n the filing cabinet. Thought it would be a quiet Sat but had 2 handle this stupid case... luckily managed to settle it heh.

Dropped off my watch @ Guess before goin dwn to meet Dar for some specific shopping heh. This little crystal thngy fell of from the watch face & I've been delaying dropping it off coz I always forget to bring the warranty haha! But it'll take 1-6 weeks for it 2 be done... hopefully it wont take 6 weeks!!! Then it was off to Compass Point; grabbed some OCK upon reaching coz Dar had lunch already & I was hoping to eat the 1-4-1 pasta @ Pregos. (sidenote: for all DBS cx for month of June... 1030-1230pm) There was CnK sales but both pair of shoes that caught my eyes didn't have my size... DARN!!! Haven't bought anything during this GSS; it's like sales everywhere but nothing interesting. Oh well but can save $ hee. Whilst waiting for Dar, went 2 the lib there... alamak, it was SOOOOOOOO messy & the books were old & smelly but managed 2 find 2 rather decent books :)

Thankfully Dar didn't make me wait 2 lg... so off 2 the first shop we went. The lady was v helpful but I felt she was a bit persistant but we didn't really see anything that really caught our eye. It's like I like but he don't like or he likes but I feel not suitable. :( Dar then said he was hungry, so we went 2 the food court 4 some food b4 going off 2 e 2nd shop; we were sooooooo surprised the gal kept quiet thruout!!! No suggestions whatsoeva... wat kinda service??? But maybe she is new lah... again nothing caught our eyes... so disappointing!!! Still have 1 more shop, the cheapest of the range... wasn't expecting much but who knows... we did see something we liked!!! Yipee... 1 thing off the long long list :P Hopefully they have our sizes *crosses fingers*

Was about to go hm when Dar asked if I wanted 2 go to some sales n I was like "ok lors". The sales was q messy also so I didn't manage 2 get anything but Dar got 3 berms & his best fren who met us there got a shirt. As Dar's fren hafn't eaten, we went 2 the nearby Purvis Street for some chicken rice. We ordered half a chicken & the ngoh hiang thngy n though I didn't eat a lot, i still felt soooooooo full aft dat!!! N aft dat we still went over to Bugis for this Mango Tango drink dat Dar & his friend liked. It was really q yummilicious!!! Esp since it had real mangoes in them!!! Both Dar n I felt soooooooooo full aft dat... it's like we have been eating non-stop the whole day haha!!! Dar cldn't resisit patting my fat little tummy on the way hm :P

Also had some suggestions fr MangoJo n Dar's fren for the venue. Getting stressed out coz the date is drawing near but still no location is confirmed :( Was v happy when Dar's fren suggested Cafe DM which is where I wld really wana have it but Dar was worried about some issues... well hopefully it works out... Checked the Marina but it was super ex n we wanted 2 keep it small... well hopefully everything works out... everyone pray 4 me ok? :)

Melbourne - Torquay

My long overdue post of the last post of my Melbourne trip... so fast... it's been 6 weeks since we came back and I'm still thinking about the 2 weeks that were spend there... :)

I find Torquay a sleepy little town; it is off the Great Ocean Road and I guess most pp may not specifically drive into Torquay. Unlike the the other towns we passed along the way, there weren't so many roadside cafes/parks or as many people. They had something like a town centre and a lot of the houses we saw there were on sale. We actually planned for a day trip to Torquay; leaving early in the morning and coming back to Melbourne @ nite, but decided on an overnite stay instead so that we dun hafta rush and also so that we can have sometime to ourselves hee :) Dar's uncle actually stopped us by Bells Beach on our way to Great Ocean Road as the surf competition was on and Dar wanted to take a look, but we had to pay to get in and as we didn't wana hold everyone up, we just kinda watched from the side. A pic of us @ Bells Beach... nice! Maybe we can go back to try surfing one day heh!

Dar booked the car to be picked up @ about 1pm so we had some time in the morning, so Dar suggested we go cycling. Gosh, I haven't cycled in like a million years & the last time I was on a bike in Uni, I was screaming and everyone was like looking @ me!!! But I fig I needed some excercise after having eaten sooo much so after getting our gear and pumping air into the bicycles we set off. Jaz told Dar the route we could take to a little creek near the house. She also told us that we should cycle on the roads instead of the pavements as some pedestrains may not like us cycling on the pavement. Imagine having to cycle on the road & having to cycle upslope/downslope... scary man!!! Dar found took some shots of me...

The helmet's v ugly hor... but no choice gota wear it!! It was actually q warm & I got kinda tired and kept complaining to Dar and he found it rather amusing coz he has never seen me cycled before and I was wobbling intially! (Dar used to cycle a lot when he was in his teens... he told me how they will always gather over the wkends n cycle from places to places till they "graduated" to motocycles).

After the "morning exercise", it was off to Torquay in our nice big car! Reached there around 2pm, and it was immediately to the surf shops. It was q disappointing intially coz firstly, there weren't much sales and those stuff that I did like didn't have my sizes; they were like 2 sizes too big for me, how disappointing :( But then we spotted this factory outlet of sorts and went in, but didn't find anything but the Rip Curl factory outlet beside it awaited us! Bought lotsa stuff fr there; me bought 2 bikinis (cheap @ $20 each!), a pair of yellow board shorts & some stuff for my kids, whilst Dar bought like 5-6 shirts, a bag and dunno what else. We also bought some slippers from Reef @ $10 each. Actually I don't really need slippers but cldn't resist a pink one to match my new pink bikini haha!! By the time we finished, we were q hungry and decided to grab a quick bite @ Mc's nearby before driving to town to seek for accomodation. Who knows, by the time we filled out stomach and drove to town, it was already dark and we couldn't find the B&Bs! We were like driving around and there were no signs (we were expecting to see brite colourful signs like hotels/motels but these B&Bs only had a small tag outside the house and being dark we cldn't see it @ all!!!) and we were getting worried about having to sleep in the car! When we finally found the B&B we were looking for, we were told that they were fully booked for the nite!! Alamak!!! Luckily we managed to find another one which was slightly a bit more expensive. Whew!!! Then it was dinner @ Growlers, can I say again that the food there was fantastic??? :P Pic of sleepy @ Growlers:The next am, we decided to go for a drive. The wind was sooo sooo strong!!! Almost got blown away by the wind!!! U can imagine how strong the wind can be just looking at this pic:

check out the trees!!! The trees were all slanted in that whole area!!!

The side trip to Torquay was definitely the hilight of the trip, not only coz we bought many many stuff, we both liked the town v much, we gota spend time just the 2 of us and most importantly coz something special happened there. :)) n although Dar doesnt read my blog just wana say:

"Thanks Dar for the arrangement to Torquay & for taking such good care of me be it in Melbourne & all other times as well. We muz go back to Torquay another time ok? Wuv yew lotsa... *muaks*"

New Jobscope

FINALLY!!! Blogspot is running again! Wanted to blog over the wkend but there was something wrong with the website... well @ least to me coz Mangojo claims it was alrite on her side!!!

Was busy last couple of wks what with all the lessons but whoppeee!!! the exams are finally over!!! I think I am just as happy if not happier than my kids haha!!! Told all of them to take a break for a while and to continue lessons couple of weeks later. Just hope that they will all do reasonably well *crosses fingers*

Moi relatives were here from Hong Kong late last week. They just got married and were over in Sabah for their honeymoon and decided to pop over. Dar & I were surprised that there are actually some rather nice resorts in Sabah. My relatives told us that they enjoyed themselves very much and got a good tan as well. Dar was really nice and accompanied me in bringing them out which was really useful as he could communicate w them fluently in Cantonese. I can understand what they are saying but can't really speak Cantonese and they are not very fluent in English or Mandarin either. We brought them to Walas on Thurs nite after dinner w my other relatives and my aunt (although she is about same age as me!!!) pretty much enjoyed the place!!! We even dedicated a song to them but they didn't sing the song that we dedicated :( On Friday, we brought them to Newton for the local delicacies... but the satay wasn't very nice and I really hate the way the hawkers immediately approach you once you sit down, it is like they have marked out their territories or something.

Oh and I got new jobscope @ work. Coz we swopped alternate managers @ my branch so my boss wanted me to take over as Cheque officer so that my new alternate can work more effectively as an Alternate... whatever that means lah. I was telling Dar that my boss probably saw that I am v free @ work so give me more work to do haha!!! Good thing is that hopefully I don't hafta really cover cash anymore... but I thnk I still gota cover next 2 wks... XIANS :(

Melbourne - Nature

Due to space constraint & the ever-increasing pace of life, Singapore seemed to have lost a lot of her greenery over the years; the farms have gone, the lands are increasingly being reclaimed. Added to that, we just do not have natural sights; we do not have the Nigeria Falls or Grand Canyon in the States & Canada, the Grand Canyon, the Great Wall of China & Forbidden City in China (though manmade but very 壮观), nor the Great Barrier Reef or 12 Apostles in Aussie. Thus I'm always awed by these structures/sights when I see them. Not only that, the vast blue sky, the green pastures & the sea that seems to go on forever... wish we had more of that here...

We almost didn't make it to the 12 Apostles; the parked closed @ 530pm & we were there around 515-520pm! Glad we didn't miss it as the view was magnificent!!! Look:














& I love this pic that Dar took... it's post-card perfect isn't it? :)


Dar was commenting on the numerous parks that can be found in Aussieland; envious was he that the citizens could just lie in the park in the summer soaking in the sun or just take a leisure walk around there. Most of the parks also had BBQ pits which were electric operated & free!!! @ some parks/beaches, they also had playgrounds for the kids, how thoughtful.

Look @ the trees!!! Almost engulfing us heh

This tree behind us have the carvings of the native animals on the trunks & it is supposed to be really really old!


That's Milo before me & the hills behind me! :)

& pics of the blue blue sea & white white clouds!!! The way the sea & the sky blends... lovely lovely!

Surfer Dudes @ Bells Beach (Torquay) & a boat (dar loves taking pics of boats) we saw @ St. Kilda's on e rite...







Took this pic w my handy SE hp... see that little fig @ the bottom corner,
dat's my Dar :)



I especially like this pic which we took whilst on the way to 12 Apostles... look @ the white washes!!!

If only we had places like that... isn't it? *wistful*

Impressive Service

Sleepy has encountered some bad customer service in the past & recently; from the insensitive & clock-wood cx svc staff of the insurance co (cant rem which one haha), the infamous Sony Ericsson incident, the tassle with Citibank; to the inexperienced waitresses @ Que Pasa, the overchatty waitress who interrupted our conversation @ Crystal Jade & the rude LTA hotline officer; some of which are perhaps what we expect, some of which are totally NOT expected from the esteemed organisations. Of course, the company will definitely try to do service recovery (which in the case of LTA they didnt. A guy called me to ask me how was the service & i told him it wasn't good but he never probe more!!! Then what's the point of calling me?) but somehow in some cases, the damage has already been done. 1 of the grouses of customer service staff is that whilst consumers are quick to write in with complaints (I'm 1 of the guilty!), they are very slow in giving compliments to the good service rendered. Over the past 2 months, I've been superbly impressed by the customer service by SQ after not one but 2 incidents with them. Tis was what happened:

Incident 1
Sleepy & Dar have actually booked a tour package to Bali, flying on SQ in late Aug/early Sep last year. However as Dar had to go for an emergency eye op, we had no choice but to cancel the tour. The tour agent, took forever to get back to us regarding our cancellation charges (like almost 6 months down the road!!!) and that was after numerous angry calls to them. The guy in charge actually had the nerve to tell me that he has overlooked our case coz he was celebrating his 30th Wedding Anniversary and was thus away. DUH!!! And despite that, they actually charged us almost $400 for a trip that we did NOT even go! True lah, it was our oversight in not buying travel insurance but still... haiz! So anyways as the travel agent claimed that some of the charges were from the airline, moi then wrote in to SQ to ask for a waiver of the charges. Not only was the gal prompt and efficient in answering my queries (which were a lot as I was trying to find out more details), she even took the liberty to help us to call the agent; but the agent refused to disclose anything. Throughout the emails, she was always very prompt and kept us updated on what she was doing throught... v impressed :)

Incident 2
For our recent trip to Melbourne, we flew on SQ as well as the flight timings were most suitable for Dar's bz schedule :P Have I mentioned that he bought a huge surfboard back from Aussieland? Yep he did & it was q funny when we took the trains (both in Aussie & S'pore) coz it was sooooo long & he was occupying a lot of space haha. Yeah so anyways, as he was bz for the next couple of days, he only opened the board bag to check on his surfboard couple of days later and he found that 1 of the sides of the sideboard has cracked!!! For this trip, having learnt a lesson from the above incident, we did buy travel insurance, so we thought to try to claim from the insurance agent as we did not open up the bag @ the airport so we were afraid that it might be more difficult to claim from the airline. However, the insurance agent told Dar that it might be easier to claim from SQ instead and thus Dar called the baggage claims or something department on late Fri evening (I kept asking Dar how come they r open so late haha!) & Dar said that they were very professional and all; they did not commit to anything, just asked Dar to fill up a form, fax it to them & that an officer will be calling him shortly. That was last Fri. Guess what? Yesterday, Dar received a letter from SQ stating that they would be compensating him for the crack in the surfboard!!! Whopeee!!! We were q surprised coz no one has called Dar wrt the matter & they also didn't like ask him to take a pic of the crack of something... Aren't u impressed? We were!!! The letter was very professionally worded as well! :)

It is no wonder that SQ has such a good reputation internationally. On our flight there, we were also rather surprised that a flight attendant could remember where I was sitting (when I was returning 2 my seat from the toilet) & asked the colleague to let me in2 my seat first before serving the food! So next time, fly SQ... it is definitely & truly a greater way to fly!!!

Melbourne - Vehicle Showcase?

Tis was what greeted us when we arrived in Melbourne:

Unfortunately it was NOT our ride... thnk e interior will b super comfy... *wistful*

& @ St. Kilda Beach, we saw this:

Funky or Gaudy... U decide! But I don't think the owner actually drives it on the road... do u?

Over @ Philip Island, there was some car display show or something & the whole street was lined up w cars!!! (This is only a small stretch) There were also cars which have undergone modifications;

Of coz sleepy didnt recognise any of the car (but we saw some old versions of Nissan something when it was still Nissan's old name) but the car on e rite is q kewl rites? Reminds me of Knight Rider haha.

Dar also saw some other fancy cars that he liked...

Hmm... those were the cars we DIDN'T get to sit on... how about some cars that our butts actually touched?!! Coz we had such a huge group going to the 12 Apostles, Uncle thought of renting a big van to seat everyone. We were q lucky as the van was only booked a couple of days before the long Easter Wkend (in Aussie, they get Mon off 2!!! Lucky peeps!) & the guy said it was the last one left

That's the 12-seater Van Uncle rented from Budget... & dat's us on the rite!!! Uncle was in the driver's seat & Jaz was the one taking the pic which is why both of them are not in the pic. Van looks q big rites, but the seats are actually q small 4 my big butt haha.

4 our own "getaway" to Torquay, we intially booked for a small 1.3l manual Hyundai Getz which would have costs us about AUD50+ per day. Look what we got instead:

Tis Humongous 8-seater MPV for the same price!!! How good is that!!! Dar thinks it may be coz they don't have a Getz @ the branch we went to rent, so rather then drive the car down from another branch, they gave us whatever that had not been rented out. Which was kewl coz Dar intended to buy a surfboard & had actually requested for a car with the racks on top. The car (dun ask me what model, juz know it is a Kia & Dar sez it is not out in Singapore yet) was v nice 2 drive but drank a lot of petrol but the comfort was worth it :) More on Torquay in another posting...

Another... n Yet Another...

Shall not bore (or rather make everyone envious :P) of sleepy's trip in Melbourne for a while... n also because it takes a while to load the pics n sleepy is lazee so have decided to write a random post...

Met up w some ex-colleagues last Fri, supposedly for celebration drinks as Tibetan Nun is finally going to embark on her "secular" life! :p Congrats ya!!! V happy for her and I am sure it will be a happier path for her like those of us who have since left the organisation. Then I found out yesterday that yet another cohort mate will be tendering soon, last day being 30th June... that's 2 in such a short period of time!!! But honestly, counting back, we joined PA in Nov 2001 (correct me if i m wrg huh... old liao...) so for those still in the organisation, it means that they are 5.5 years old!!! That's lg!!! It is actually q an interesting job where you get to meet pp of various walks of life (but who may make ur life miserable), organise events (but ur wkends will be burnt), n meeting your other peers from the other constituencies (but some maybe diff to work w). Ok ok, maybe not such an interesting job, but I guess for most of us, we started off rather enthusiastic about the job, but soon start to get disillusioned as the years went by. I see some of my more capable colleagues/friends in the organisation & sometimes wonder what they are doing there.

However, I must add that it was indeed fun working on some projects. Like we had those GRC projects where we really gotta know each other n friendships were forged. Met up with another group of ex-colleagues on Sat whom we call ourselves the "SE gals". Most of us (sans Sharon... dunno how she joined us... we keep claiming it is coz we pityed her haha!), being the younger colleagues in each office @ that time, were often arrowed to work on GRC projects together. To have younger folks working together was fun as we understood how each other felt & cld bitch to each other about each office's working culture. Though we have all left the organisation (amazing hor!!!) we still keep in touch via MSN, emails and have the occasional meet-ups where we catch up on each other's life as well as the latest gossip fr PA haha.

I have only 1 last thing to add "MANGOJO!!! when will it be ur turn??? :P"

Melbourne - Native Animals... NOT

Despite not getting to see the native animals of Aussieland... we did manage to get a welcome from some other not so native animals :P

there were the sheep who were hopefully not going to slaughterland...

...the seagulls of Southbank...

...the cows on the pastures near 12 Apostles...

...the greedy black swans & its relatives @ Albert Park...

...the cocky Kookabaru @ Mt Dandenong...

n last but definitely not least... MILO!!! He's so smart & cute... & loves playing ball!!! Reminds me of my Nikkie!!! Miss u Milo!!!

Melbourne - Story of the Scones

This little incident took place on the 3rd Day when I was in Melbourne. As u all have probably heard, Dar's aunties/uncles were there as well and they injected much laughter during the 10 days we were there. This has gota be 1 of the funniest incident :)

On the 3rd day of our trip, as we were leaving Mt Dandenong (which wasn't really anything much plus it was a foggy day so we cldn't really see v far!!!) Dar's cousin, Jaz suggested that we eat scones on our way home as there was a place that sold really nice scones. So we told the aunties that we were goin to eat Scones, piled up in the car and drove to the quaint little shop. However, after parking the cars, the aunties didn't really wana eat the scones (i thnk they were more interested to go home to cook dinner!!! haha) but asked us to go ahead whilst they shopped around the shops. Of course we didn't wana do that!!! Jaz was then telling them that the scones were really v nice and then she asked:

Jaz: 你们知道"scones"是什么吗？
Aunty: 知道... JA GONG (corn) 啦!!!

@ this, Jaz, Dar & myself bursted out laughing!!! heh... they r v cute rites??? After Jaz explained to them that "scones" r like cake, they also started laughing & decided to try the "JA GONG" :P





sleepy showing off her yummylicious scones w berries jam & whipped cream...





whilst Dar's mum eyes his scones longingly...



Apparantly, Dar's cousin, Chin makes v delicious scones as well... pity we missed it... maybe next time... Hee...

sLeePy's Back!!!

M back from Melbourne!!! Did anyone miss me? :P Wanted to blogged online but somehow couldn't log in so gave up. Really enjoyed this holiday coz it is 1 of the longer holidays I have taken & THE longest taken w Dar :) Weather was nice & kewl though it was pretty cold @ nite/early mornings & in the 1st few days we were there. Luckily we stayed @ Dar's aunt's place and his cousin was soooo nice & lent me some warm clothings!!! We wanted to go Tasmania but coz it was the Easter holidays, the flights were pretty expensive & we were afraid that there will be no accomodation so we gave up the idea... another time perhaps! :)

It was also a pretty relaxing holiday coz we stayed in Melbourne through out the 10 days... goin to list dwn the places we went to b4 sleepy's memory fails her :P

Day 1 - Arrival in Melbourne @ 9am
- Lunch @ Fed Sq in the pm & a walk down South Bank followed by a quick visit to Crown Casino

Day 2 - Queen Victoria Market in the am
- Stroll around Docklands in the pm

Day 3 - Caribbean Market (opens only on Wed & Sun)
- Picnic @ foot of Mount Dandenong
- Up Mount Dandenong where we saw a Kookabara bird real close
- Scones & Tea @ "Miss Marples Tea room" --> YUMMYLICIOUS!!!
- Dinner w Bunnee @ Bimbos --> pizza was Yummz too!

Day 4 - Shopping @ Bridge Road & some Factory Outlet
--> we wasted soooo much time tryin to get to the places coz we were rather confused by the train lines

Day 5 - Great Ocean Road to the 12 Apostles with short stops @ Geelong, Torquay/Bells Beach & Lorne

Day 6 - Sorrento Pier where we wanted to go dophin-watching but operator was doing maintenance & other timings were not suitable
- St. Kilda Beach

Day 7 - Port Phillip but we didn't see the penquin parade hee
- Albert Park which is the venue for the yearly F1 race

Day 8 - Shopping @ DFO (Chesltan dunno how 2 spell & Bridge Road)
--> Dar's cousins were sooooo nice to bring us there... Thanks Jaz & Geraldine!

Day 9 - Cycling in the am
- Off to Torquay in the pm!!! Whoppeee!!! Best part of the trip 4 both Dar & myself
- Dinner @ Growlers... food was F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C!!! Really liked dat place *grinz*
- Stay over in Torquay where we almost had to spend the nite in the humongous MPV rented hee

Day 10 - Stroll on beaches in the am, followed by surfboard shopping!
- Back to Melbourne in the late pm
- Dinner Treat from Chin & her bf @ Vietnamese Rest... food was q tasty :)

Day 11 - Wanted to go Melbourne Zoo but it was 2 ex & since we only wanted to see the native animals we decided not to go in :(
- Back to Vic Market for Dar's sheepskin & some last min shopping (rather Dar shopped whilst poor sleepy waited in the HOT HOT car as we didn't want 2 pay 4 parking haha!)
- Spent rest of the pm packing & helping to wrap dumplings... q nice leh those I wrapped haha!

Day 12 - More packing in the am
- Home Sweet Home

As always, time seemed to pass too quickly & I kept telling Dar I didn't wana come back hee. Super relaxed holiday and we saved q a bit of $ as we stayed @ Dar's aunt's place. Writing all these down brought back the memories of the 10 days gone by... *wistful*... will post up the pics soon!

Inconsiderate peeps...

How irritating... sleepy has been having encounter with rude pp the past couple of days...

Incident No. 1
Was on the bus the other day alg Orchard Road and wanted to stop @ the stop infront of McDonald's House. When the doors opened, sleepy patiently waited behind the hordes of pp waiting to get down the bus. Who knows, this teenage gal actually pushed sleepy away n wanted 2 get dwn before sleepy!!! Where r her manners??? Her only redemption was that she meekly said "sorry" after sleepy gave her a hard stare :P

Incident No. 2
Was @ Mustafa Centre to change money couple of days ago... and everyone knows how narrow the lanes there are. Again, sleepy was pushed away whilst tagging alg behind Dar... and this was a little gal!!! So what did sleepy do? she juz said "So rude" loudly and walked off...

Incident No. 3
The most infuriating one of all which happened @ the underpass from Orchard MRT towards Wheelock. As sleepy was approaching the staircase just after the Tangs entrance, she noticed this fat lady carry many bags walking towards her path. Who knows the lady cut diagonally across from sleepy and squeezed between the miniscular space between sleepy and the wall!!! sleepy almost toppled over due to her many bags and mainly because of her HUMONGOUS size!!! the lady behind had to hold me to prevent me from falling. And the fatty just simply barged through even though sleep said "EXCUSE ME!!!" loudly!!! I hope she falls down or something n no one helps her! HMMPH!!!

I thnk the government should bring out the Courtesy Lion (remember the slogan... "Courtesy begins w me!" once again! Bah!