Still counting...

Geeze...time flies & a few more days it's end of year 2007. And gosh, I'm turning 30 next year!!! I still remember hoping that I could reach 30 soon so that I could put on weight naturally without having to stuff myself with food. To think that I'm now gona hit my 'dreame age' in a few more months...Oh well, there's no way to stop time so just learn to enjoy & cherish whatever time I have as a thinking being.

Christmas has just passed & as usual, I've had a fun one with my family. As 2007 is coming to an end, I'll do some stock taking & start counting on my blessings.

1. I am blessed to have a family & a big extended one with plenty of jokes, teases & laughters. I'm blessed to have a family to celebrate x'mas with.

2. I'm blessed with loving & healthy grandparents who always think for us & worry about us. They never fail to call to find out how I am when they know I'm not feeling well (partly because I never fail to call them whenever I'm on mc). Gee...I could feel an aching lump in my throat as I'm typing this...They'll always hold a special place in my heart.

3. I am blessed to have good & kind uncles & aunts who have disciplined me hard when I was young. I owed my values to them. they have also shared the parenting burden my mum faced when I was young.

4. I am blessed to have sensible cousins. They may have different perceptions from me but they have positive values. There were frustrating moments when I looked after them when they were young, with one having left her teeth mark on me for quite some time, but they brought back fond memories and they make me feel that time flies as I watch them grow.

5. I am blessed to have a sensible brother who shares the same values & has also found his other half who is a down-to-earth person. When he was first attached, somehow that motherly instinct came over me where I hope he could find a suitable gf. I'm glad he has made a better choice.

6. I am blessed to have a strong mother. I could have been one of the strangled cases if she had been emotionally weak. Her perserverence had seen her through & i wouldn't be where I am today without her. It's quite often a love-hate relationship between mothers & daughters I suppose. Though we have our difference, I know I will be there for her in times of need.

7. I am blessed to have friends. Some are warm, some are kind, some unique, some are funny, some are nuturing, some are big hearted, some are motherly, some are my mentors, some are my motivators. They have in their little ways, make a difference in my life. They make me wonder, give me ideas, make me see things from different perceptives, gave me advices, lifted my spirits, make me laugh, shared my joy...

8. I am blessed to be relatively healthy wihout any chronic illnesses (other than my weight problem). Health is wealth, I have taken my body for granted in the past & I'm not going to repeat that mistake. This reminds me to start exercising again after all the X'mas food...

9. I am blessed to have a job I enjoy doing, with nice colleagues & good bosses.Not trying to saka as my colleagues can confirm that I'm much happier this time when I went back.

10. I am blessed to have a roof over my head, not a big luxury condo but a flat which is cozy enough. I still can afford to buy the things I like, indulge in my favourite food, pamper myself with a facial or haircut & not having to worry that I may not have enough money to buy the basic necessities. I do feel guilty at times buying the 'I want' things because the money could be used to pay for the meals of the low income people. To control one's desire indeed needs a lot of 'cultivation' or perhaps having kids might have the same effect :)

11. I am blessed to have understanding in-laws. Although sometimes I wish they have better health so that I could go out with them for meals or shopping. They are not demanding & they don't really interfere much. I knowthat sometimes my MIL need someone to talk to since my FIL is a man of few words given his parkinson ailment.

12. Of course, I am blessed with a soulmate. Oh he just made me a fried egg breakfast today cos I'm having a cough & so can't take any Nutella or peanut butter jam. Sometimes he does certain funny actions which I thought were weird, funny but sweet. For instance, he said he'll go toilet for his 'business' after I leave the house so that he can give me a goodbye kiss just like any other morning.




His sunny side up which I thought is a little overcooked & dry ;p

He'll kiss me goodnite no matter how late I sleep as he's also quite a light sleeper. He'll cover me up in the middle of the night if my blanket is off (I'm a light sleeper too) & he likes to put his hand near me when he sleeps just to make sure I'm there.

He keeps watch of me whenever he's walking in front to make sure I'm within his sight...well, partly because I've the habit of being 'distracted' by other interesting sights ;p He joins me at my friends' gathering & prefers doing things together with me.

I am blessed to have someone who watches over me, dotes on me, loves me & also shares similar dreams & likings despite my messiness, occasational insecurity & unreasonableness. He does most of the housework so that I could concentrate to clear my own mess which seems a neverending task.

There are also many other blessings such as being able to travel to Japan & go to step into Disney, which is my dream destination; that both of us still have a job during the economic slowdown days, being able to get a new flat in a central location near to our parents, not having to face the trauma of a tsunami when Indonesia had an earthquake on the very day we step into Krabi & staying near the beach and being alive to appreciate all these gifts.

I'm glad that I don't take all these for granted & I will always treasure them.

I believe if you start to count all your blessings, you'll realise you really have a lot to thank for :) And yes, I'm still counting.

Cab Fare Fair?

Comfort taxi fares up from 17 Dec

COME next Monday, prepare to for out as much as 49% more in taxi fares, now that ComfortDelgro has unveiled its 'overhaul' of the current taxi fare structure.

This follows what it says was an 'in-depth review of the taxi industry to address commuters' concerns, simplify the fare structure and encourage call bookings 'to better match the demand and supply of taxis'.

Lesson learnt: Never complain too much.

City Area Surcharge
$1 to $3 from 5pm to midnight from Mon to Sat
To incentivize more cabbies to ply the Central business District during peak hours
The company noted the lack of taxis in the city at the end of office hours on weekday evenings is a frequent complaint from passengers.

Lesson learnt: Again, never complain too much.

For drivers who are afraid of paying ERP charges to enter the city and risk not getting a passenger, ComfortDelgro says it will even pay an ‘ERP rebate' to cabbies who cannot land a passenger within 15 mins of entering an ERP zone.

Now why wasn’t this introduced earlier?

Late Night Surcharge
The late night surcharge between 12am and 5:59am daily will be revised back to 50% of the metred fare - instead of the staggered 10% to 50% surcharges.

'Disappearing taxis' between 11pm to midnight? The company says no, 'given that the City Area Surcharge will be in force right till midnight, giving little reason for taxi drivers in the city to 'hide'.

Fortunately Cinderalla takes a pumpkin coach.
Well, this might also create a new scenic view for S’p – taxi queues seen at city outskirts from 11pm.

Peak Period Surcharge
Instead of the standard $2 peak period surcharge now in effect between 7am & 9.30am on weekdays & 5pm to 8pm from Mon to Sat, passengers will have to pay an added 35% of their metered fare during those hours.

Uncles & aunties, ah peks & ah ums, do schedule your medical appointment time during off peak times.

Refering to the current difficulty of getting cabs in the city during peak hours, ComfortDelgro's CEO (Taxi Business), Mr Yang Ban Seng, said: 'We think this fare revamp will better match supply and demand of taxis. Our aim is to try and ensure that more taxis will go to areas where they are needed most and at the times they are wanted most.'

'I think this fare revamp will better maintain the income & bonuses of taxi companies with the aim to ensure that this would continue until new chains of complaints begin before they do another price increase overhaul'.

Mr Nah Tua Bah, president of the Comfort Taxi Operators' Association, added:
"The higher city surcharge will act as an incentive for drivers to make that trip back into town."

Creative cabbies out there, kuedos to you who managed to earn extra income via your creative ways which has gotten quite a lot of PR coverage which eventually result in a fare revamp...or rather a fare increase. Hey, it'd be a good idea for taxi companies to engage these people instead. They might even have a greater business sense than the U grads or MBA holders in there.

And I also admired the taxi company for coming up with such a 'well-thought & in-depth' price structure which perhaps only a certain % would bother to remember the details. Thanks for setting the example for other competitors or rather, followers to follow.

Well, it's always better to have a friend than a foe or competitor right?

Sh**

Office was really quiet last week when most of my colleagues weren't around. Don't worry, we weren't the victims who had taken The chocolate cake from Prima Deli, we only took its durian cake. Most of my colleagues were happily holidaying overseas & I was also busy with the upcoming event this Sat. And all thanks to my colleague who probably has the 6th sense not to order our usual favourite chocolate cake for the birthday celebration for this round.

Now most of them are back finally & I'm more alive again with lunch time talks although the topic is on...well, shit.

I wonder how Prima's gona regain consumers' confidence after this fiasco. It's been one of my favourite brand as its cakes are soft & moist with reasonable prices & is also the 'official cake' for our office's birthday celebrations. During my sec school days, I used to patronise the shop frequently with my friends where we'd munch their chicken pies or tuna puffs after school. A couple of months back, I was also addicted to the Belgium Choc Cake (with rum),but it went off the shelf when it was certified Halal. Fortunately.

My colleagues suggested having a 1-for-1 promotion to attract customers. One even suggested giving a $2 incentive for those who eat their cakes as a show of confidence. Whatever it is, it's gonna take quite a while for people to forget. Being awarded an "A" rating for a clean & hygenic food handling facility by NEA, I wonder the standards of this certification. If it can happen to Prima Deli, who is a big player, it can happen to anyone.

Don't we sometimes rely too heavily on these so-called accreditation, certification from the 'relevant authorities' that sometimes, we don't realise that they are afterall, just procedures & a lot depends on the co. in ensuring strict adherence or sometimes, just simple personal hygiene habits of the food handlers. Apparently one of the carriers came from the place where our ancestors came from.

I see or rather, hear them everywhere. In trains, at retail outlets, stalls of food courts or other food outlets, along the streets and even childcare centres. With the spate of food scares from that place, my hubby & I have since stopped buying products, particularly food products that's MIC if we can help it. We no longer store Maling cans or pork cubes or even toothpaste.

The price to pay for turning to cheap stuff.

I'm not saying that cheap is no good but there should always be a baseline & I do believe sometimes what you pay is what you get. But having heard the scupulous things they do to earn a living, that's not gonna earn my respect for them seriously.
They have a long way to go & I shudder at the thought of them becoming the next big brother.

Of course, there are also others who are just beyond our imagination the things they do. One was blowing her that part of her 'hair' after finishing her hot spring dip; another I heard was disinfecting the gym equipment before he uses & yet, not using the towel provided by the gym whilst he uses the machine; another was blowing his socks dry after his shower in the gym.

One tip I've learnt today is never sit in front of the hawker stall that you bought your food from. One of my colleague saw an hokkien mee stall holder spitting into the bin that was placed from his wok away. He must have been trained by some shifu to be able to master the skill of spitting over the wok of hokkien mee & right into the bin. Perhaps he can consider entering into the Guiness World of Record for the world's most accurate spit-shooter.

Come to think of it, we seem to live a life full of shit. We kena the shitty work, some unlucky ones kena shitty bosses (luckily not for my dept), if we make mistakes, we get into deep shit and now, we may have eaten someone else's shit without knowing...Life is like a box of chocolate, you'll never know which one will have the shit in it.

*Pardon my language here. Too much of it during our lunch talk today.