stuff

Noel and myself will probably be going if things work out.

Agnes has gotten me numbers for a couple of JP's for our ROM. Will call once we have finalised the date and venue. Tentatively the date is either 16th or 17th june. But that is subject to availability also being weekend days.

Tomorrow will be going back to school (again!). Maybe we may be able to catch Spiderman III if there is time. Took some photos at Bahtera Track and at Green Valley. Also have yet to upload my pics from Khatib Bongsu. If necessary I may have to go back to the office tomorrow morning to get my camera. left it in my drawer. Out of sight,out of mind.

Due to having worked 2 saturdays in a row I will not be working for a few weeks now. Yayyy..... next time will be 2nd June!!

Need to change the bedding for the rabbits and maybe the hamsters as well tomorrow.

Sam Allardyce may be the new Newcastle manager next season. If what he did at Bolton is any indication, good times may lie ahead.

the suspense is killing. I still have to wait to know if we are getting the flat at Bedok and what kinda flat it is(corner/floor etc). sigh. Around a week or more to go still.

Just got more good news. We be getting a performance based bonus with our pay packet this month with regards to the amendment to public service salaries. Also my next pay increment in September. Wah.... save... save... save....

So long never write any songs. so bz writing posts, never write.

The other day went jogging and did a workout. Din realise how unfit u r until you try running again after so long. But with regular jogs and training I be back in shape in no time.

Good ting abt jogging, after that really tired and sleepy. can really sleep man.

also must make full use of gym at MND. can go after work or what before meeting my dar

Agnes just sms me we meeting at 11 am. then going to be at NUS until evening. sian sian. every weekend burn at school. "no choice. think I want,ah?" :P

just realised still have not submitted my pictures for my new AA card. wah...so long. forgot all about it.

also din bring in the boxes (read:packets) of tissues for my room from the car. maybe tml...or go and buy a packet tml.

Hasli has returned to my pitiful little blog.

everyday eat nasi briyani sure fat one.

still have 14 days leave from last year. 1 and 1/2 days off in lieu and counting. maybe clear some next month since such a bz mth (new hse, marriage preps etc)

poor agnes been so busy lately.miss her so much but what can I do but be suppportive? wish we had more quality time, but duty calls. with all the big things in our lives coming all at once, i need her the most now, but I hardly see her. our new flat is coming. need to discuss the venue and catering and JP for our ROM. then there is the health check-up that agnes feels we need. ditto the marriage preparation course. then i have yet to even formally propose yet. then there is altering of Muffy and Scruffy. looks like I have to do all of the above by myself mostly. On the bright side I get more time to myself. but what I really need now is...Agnes.

Next week, whole week AK and Von not around. go on paid holiday at Holiday Inn. hmph. some people have all the luck. such people still have the cheek to complain about being overworked and such.so many perks and privileges, still nt happy!

Ana not been well lately. dunno what is wrong. finds it hard to walk or even hold stuff. i suspect she has some spinal problem.

Nokia N95 looks good. too bad it is a Nokia phone. otherwise can consider. one must have his own principles. :P

Seletar hills now alive with many new retaurants and cafes. same too with simpang bedok. yayyy...more places to go to to eat now. since we often go Jalan Kayu for lunch and Agnes lives in Bedok. drool. reminds me i have yet to bring the office gang to simpang bedok. i figure Hasli will like it there.

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in the mind of the lion

• Man U beaten 3-0 by Milan. Just when you thought they would rise to the occasion, they flopped and they flipped out of the Champions League. At least they have the consolation of the EPL title and an FA Cup final to heal those wounds. Chelsea have in the space of a week seen both their league title and euro champion aspirations go up in flames. This nicely sets up a repeat of the historic finals in Istanbul, as once more Liverpool and AC Milan face off for the biggest prize in club football.
• Inuka is gonna be staying at the Singapore Zoo after all. My opinion on this has always been that he should stay unless his health suffers. As it is now he is as contented as any bear can be. In fact I would go so far as to say he is one of the most pampered animals at the zoo due to his star status and all the publicity that surrounds him. ACRES can suck on that.
• A while back there was this hoohaa in the media about this group of FHM (cheap plug!!) Girls Next Door contestants on the Muttons in the Morning show. The girls were dared to take off their bras in the quickest time and that they did. As it turned out a podcast of the entire thing was posted on the 98.7 website. Then all hell broke loose. As expected there was a backlash and singaporeans were dutifully disgusted by the sensationalism. In between all the brow beating and high-roading it became apparent that was was once a one off video became the centre of attention in the news. Everyone and anyone who was an authority on such things voiced their 2 cents worth. So much for being prim and proper. Having viewed the said video in question it seems like the ladies were willing participants and nothing happened that was even remotely tintillating. it was just another case of people trying to impose their moral will upon others. if only walls could talk I say. My view on almost anything topic of this nature is that people are entitled to their opinions. No one person should be allowed to distate to the rest of society what is and what is not considered sociably acceptable. The same principle applies to casinos. to gambling. to smoking. To prostitution. to taking loans. to pre-maritial sex. homosexuality. abortion. to just about any topic or issue that skirts between social acceptance and religious inclinations. but often truth and reality are hard to reconcile. We are have our own moral compasses that are defined by our beliefs and upbringing. And it is little wonder that ever so often people agree to disagree. in short, if it is within the law we should live and let live. If you do not subscribe to such things, do not watch the controversial video, do not read that sensationalisitic newspaper or magazine, do not watch that offending television show. Just because something is not your cup of tea, does not mean that everyone else has to go without.
• The bunnies went for a check up today. As it turns out they have some growing up to do before I will be able to send them again to be spayed (or neutered as the case may be). Otherwise Scruff and Muff have a clean bill of health.
• ERP gantrys to be set up and rates increased. Here we go again! I guess this is a real money spinner for all involved. You charge ERP, so motorists take alternative routes. Then those alternative routes start to get higher traffic. Then you set up ERP gantries on these alternative routes and raise ERP rates on the exisitng ones. And so it goes. But maybe the problem is that our roads are not big and designed well enough to carry the traffic for which they are designed for. Anyone who has been on the CTE and PIE at peak hours can attest how heavy traffic can get. There are so many motorists coming in from so many directions then sooner or later there is bound to be a bottle neck. As one writer to the ST forum has said in his letter; that maybe the authorities could change the order of exits and entrys to expressways so that vehicles leaving the expressway could do so without having to deal with vehicles entering the expressway. As it is now, it can be an ordeal trying to get to the left most lane to turn off with vehicles entering also from your left. How many times have I found myself missing a turn because I was unable to maneuver into the turn off. The other part of the problem are inconsiderate motorists. People who hog the lanes and yet persist in driving at a leisurely pace. People who choose to remain in the outer lane which is actually meant for overtaking. And then there are the drivers who do not consider the consequences of their sudden braking, turning and lane changes. This often results in slow traffic and accidents in some cases which only aggravate the problem even more.
• Singaporean dies from being overworked. It seems like the major killer in society these days is stress. People are so caught up in their careers, work and commitments that few of us take the time to relax and contemplate. just as many of us are no closer to happiness than when we first started out our careers. Many choose to remain single or put off starting a family because of their careers. Some of us go to work even when we are unwell. Hardly take off or leave that we are entitled to. This is a life that we as singaporeans have taken to be as part of living in a fast paced society such as ours. But all of us have to take our time-outs to rest and recuperate and to take stock of wherewe are and where we are headed to. In fact studies show a rested and contented employee are often more productive in the long run.
• not unlike the FHM girls controversy above, another bone of contention in the forum pages has been the criminalisation of homosexuality. There are those for and then there are those who are against the notion. For me personally homosexuality is a no-no and against the design of nature (read:God). But then I am also not one to stand on my high box and decree that we should jail anyone who indulges in such acts or lifestyle. I happen to know many individuals over the years who are homosexual. i must say they do have more sensibility and honour than the so-called politically correct majority. Although I do not subscribe to their lifestyle choices (whatever that entails), I do think they do have the right to choose their life partners and live happily ever after. Then there are those who pull out all these statistics and charts to show how STD's (including HIV & AIDS) infect a higher percentage of these people compared to the general heterosexual population. But really does criminalisation of homosexuality really help bring down those statistics...or does it only serve to broaden the divide between us..and them?

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home shopping

Yesterdat, after work I picked Agnes up from school, after cutting some branches for her from her plant. We then headed all the way across the island to the IKEA at Tampines. Thankfully it was not as crowded as the last few times we tried to go there. we had our dinner at their cafe. I had the spagetti meatballs and Agnes had the salmon.

We then walked around the shop. Agnes was particularly enamoured by the chandelier-like lamps. we somehow managed to find some home ideas. But no where as much as I thought we would. It may have had something to do with the fact that it was 9pm by the time we started looking around. IKEA closes at 10. So that left us about an hour to look around the mammoth store.

So basically we went through the entire upper level more or less and then rushed through the lower level. We will probably visit again soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today....

Picked up my dearie from home. her back still hurts from yesterday. Regrettably,no fault of mine. We headed over to the Courts at tampines. Unlike the IKEA trip, we managed to find lots of stuff which we could have in our new home.
Beds. Kitchen Tables. Bedroom Sets. Bathrooms. Sofas. Juicers. Ovens. Cookers....

Agnes also bought a present for her mum for Mother's Day (Mothers' Day...lol). It will be delivered closer the date to her house. She even entered into a bunch of lucky draws due to her purchase. let's wait and see if anything good comes out of it.

Then it was back to the Giant side, where we shopped for stuff. It was super crowded especially at the checkout line. Think Giant did a bad job designing the store layout. Moving around the aisles is hard at times especially with shopping carts. I am not sure how they can re-configure the position of the counters to prevent the big squeeze, especially on weekends. Maybe move the shelves back a metre or two? Or angled so that the queues do not seque into the shelves.

We then went back to the car to put the stuff. As it was, Agnes felt tired after all that walking so we headed off for dinner instead of returning to IKEA. I had wanted to go to Bedok North for dinner, but the place was packed and was thus unable to find a parking space. The place get so crowded on weekends and PH's.

So it was off to Bedok South Ave 2, near Agnes home, and just opposite to where the flats we are balloting for is. Parked at the MSCP. Seemed to have ample lots which is always a good thing. Agnes then gave me an impromptu tour of the neighbourhood. We had dinner at one of the many coffeeshops in the area. Surprisingly a number of the shop units in the neighbourhood were closed. not sure if they were unoccupied, closed for the day or if it was because of...Labour Day!

Then sent my missus home. kinda early though. Although tomorrow is a work day, I really thought we could do more since we hardly spend time 'playing'. Maybe this weekend...

.
DO LEAVE COMMENTS....

eggs in baskets

Been hard to blog ever since I finished my last ICT. I do not know why that is. Guess I lack the inspiration or have some form of writers blog...I mean ...block. That is one of the things about blogs; that they become a sort of crutch when you have something to say. Normally when I have something to say, my blog is probably the first place you hear about it. Even Agnes at times remarks that she has to find out about stuff going on in my life from my blog. It takes one to know one. And my blog is my safe refuge from everything else. In a way Agnes is privileged to be able to be able to read my blog. Her predecessor did not know of the existence of any of my blogs let alone read any of it's contents. On the flip side, having a blog also means that I tend to express myself as much here as in real life situations. So certain stuff found here may not see the light of day in my day-to-day conversations. Likewise some of the stuff Agnes and myself talk about may turn up here.

Speaking of stuff going on in my life that other people wish they knew, my mum was kinda disappointed with having to find out that we had applied for a flat at Bedok from Agnes the other day rather than from me. In her view, this was a major step or decision in my life and that I should have informed them about it. They feel kinda like I have excluded them from my life. I was intending to inform them once I got the news in mid-May. That is how I always deal with how I tell them stuff. They only found out about my last ICT a week before the actual thing. Same with my church trip. They only got to know about it a month before, although I had already paid up for it months ahead.

I guess that there is always this distance between me and my folks. I shall not elaborate too much here as it is kind of on personal in nature. Suffice to say I live in the same house with my parents yet live quite apart from the daily goings ons of the Boyd household. I am mainly in my room most of the time that I am home. We hardly ever have any decent conversations unless I approach them about something on my mind. Other than that I basically do my own thing and live my own life. No one knows what I do or where I am at any time unless I decide to divulge such info.
Noel sometimes wish he could be in my position. I sometimes wish I could be in his...

Anyway enough about me.

Or rather lets get off this sorry topic and move on to the more fun stuff:

- Agnes and myself need to get around to doing HDB LOAN ELIGIBILITY (HLE). There is still oodles of time but I rather not rush things at the last minute.

- Saw some nice diamond solitaire rings today. Got discount,can?

- Have loads of off-in-lieu to clear. Will probably clear a day maybe this Thurday. I also have 14 days of annual leave carried over from last year to clear before years end. sigh. Want to go on an overseas trip or something but Agnes in neck deep in school work. What is a good boyfriend to do??

- Bought a new portable shaver, new replacements for my electric toothbrush, some dental flossers from watson's and a cd today.

- Need to bring ole faithful sunny for servicing soon. Gonna renew his road tax in June also.

- Scruffy and Muffy also need to go get fixed sooner rather than later. We do not want little bunnies running around do we? Or do we??

- I do hope we do get our new house at Bedok. I am not sure how keen Agnes is actually. She keeps mentioning something about 5-room flats and maisonnetes. But what we applied for is a compact 4-room flat. Never the twain shall meet.
The best part of a new home is all the planning and furniture shopping. My mind keeps trying to think about what we could have and the type of furniture in our house. The most important thing I been pondering about is our Bed. Since we are gonna be spending lots of time in and on the bed, most probably we will invest in a good bed and have a nice mattress also. Other than that is the Wardrobe. There is no Lion or Witch included I think. It got me thinking how much space is enough for both of us. As it is now my own wardrobe in my room is bursting at the seams with all my clothes.
Then there is the living room. The one thing that makes or breaks a house is the living room. It is what your guest see when they are around. It is also probably where the family is found most times also. Saw some nice concepts at HDB Hub and IKEA. But gets kinda pointless for me to think about such stuff without Agnes. But she is so busy to even contemplate such matters at this point of her scholastic life.

- some say if you want something done right, go do it yourself.
guess that is what I have to do. No point waiting for others to have the time and the ability to do it. It is in my hands.

- Oops...knew that i forgot something. Forgot to buy boxes of tissue! Yesterday ran out of it. Buy next time....or cake from car....

- long time no eat choco fondue. maybe can get hida and noel in on the act and have a fondue par-tay! yah!

- watched Hills Have Eyes 2 just now. Gross man. Wes Craven at his best. One of those flicks you should watch on an empty stomach. I did not watch the first one, so have no idea how it compares. But the premise this time round is a little far fetched compared to last time. The last time it was a family that got lost. This time it was a freakin' band of marines or something. Combat fit guys armed with rifles and such. yet they get picked off one by one. predictable the 2 women survived along with the lone SNAG of the bunch. Who woulda thunk??
The much anticipated 'rape' scene somehow did not materialise. cutting floor,anyone?
rating: 3 of out 5 dismembered members

- I can't get no satisfaction,
I can't get no satisfaction.
'Cause I try and I try and I try and I try.
I can't get no, I can't get no.

- I got promoted recently. Do not know how to give the obligatory office treat. I tried the lunch method but it is hard enough to get everyone in the same place at the same time, let alone during a short 1 hour window period. One way to go is to do it after work. The other way: to order in some catering or some office delivery deal (KFC, Pizza Hut etc).

- Mothers Day is creeping up on me. But the thing is I have no idea when it is exactly. I even did an internet search on it and came back with nothing more than I started. Then there is the issue of how to spend it. To be quite honest I rather spend it with Agnes and her mum. But blood is thicker than water, so I am in all likelihood gonna spend it with my own mother. But the thing is no one at my end has said anything regarding the matter. So I am left up in the air as to what to do that day. There is always a better way...to plan it myself.... but I kid myself.

- have a new contoured pillow and triangle pillow with 3 fold mattress. Really good for watching tv on my bed (the tatami). The pillow I have yet to use. Problem is that it is slightly bigger and more rigid than normal pillows, so pillow casings are a bit of a hassle. But the cover for it is removable and washable. But it is white!


- still contemplating the details of my business. Awaiting the results of our bedok flat application. By then I can roughly gauge where i can keep my products and how much money I need to set aside. On a sidenote, I am thinking of selling off some of my old unused stuff on eBay as a means of liquidating my stuff and freeing some space in my room. Stuff like my old toys and books will surely land in the hands of someone who needs it more. This will also serve as a precursor to my online business later on down the line as I figure out how to market and ship products to my customers and make some money at the same time.

-

Male & female differences in sex:
Studies have found that men and women differ in the ways they look at sex. Generally, for men, sex is more a physical expression while women often see it in the context of a meaningful romantic relationship.

Understanding these differences is important because it helps you and your partner become sensitive to each other’s needs.

Gender differences in the effects of sex:

Male:

- Fulfills his manhood
- Satisfies his sex drive
- Enhances his love for his mate
- Reduces friction in the home
- Provides excitement

Female:

- Fulfills her womanhood
- Satisfies her sex drive
- Reassures her of being loved
- Relaxes her nervous system
- Provides a way of expressing love and commitment

Oh man! been a while since I last had a deep hug or a lingering kiss. please help!!

- Rusty is nuts! No insult to nuts, but Rusty keeps trying to get out of her tank. Why?? Is there not enough food to eat? Not enough stuff to do? Or she she just lonely? I would play with her if she would let me. But no.... she wants to come out and run about my room. And then run the risk of ending up in the belly of some overfed,pampered cat. Not a tasty proposition. no.
I guess it does add some life to my otherwise mundane existence. A cat and mouse game of one-uppance.

- The EPL title race seems all but over. Man U have a 5 point lead over their closest rivals Chelsea. in effect they have to lose twice and Chelsea have to win their 3 remaining games to overtake them. That would also render the decider at Stamford Bridge to a mere formality.

- In Champions League action, Chelsea head to Liverpool seeking to protect a slender 1-0 lead from the first leg. Man U lead Milan 3-2, and go to the San Siro. The interesting sidebar to all of this is if Pool and Milan do manage to overcome the deficit they would meet in the finals, a replay of that historic match in istanbul. But first they have to get past Chelsea and the Red devils respectively.

Less Plastic Bag Campaign

The objective of the campaign is to educate shoppers to use reusable bags instead of single-use plastic carrier bags whenever possible.
The campaign aims to reach out to two main groups of people – the shoppers and the cashiers at retail outlets. Educational materials such as standees, wobblers, posters and pamphlets are displayed at 686 participating retail outlets to raise awareness among shoppers. Cashiers are trained to ask shoppers in a polite manner if they need a plastic bag for small purchases. Reusable bags are also made available for sale at low cost by participating retailers.

So retailers have been resorting to charging 10 cents for plastic bags. The alternative is to bring your own. As with all things Singaporean, it became easier said than done. Some idiots were unhappy at having to pay for their plastic bags. others came up with the flimsy pretense that they need the plastic bags to dispose of their trash. probably the same morons who dump their stuff at the void deck or out of their window. Then there are the one who take the cake. Plastic bag shops all over singapore reported a sudden surge in the sales of plastic bags. Customers all over singapore would rather buy packets of plastic bags and consequently harm the environment, than to reduce their usage and bring their own bags.
One of those Only In Singapore moments.

- Spiderman III opens on Tuesday. Agnes, Eggy and myself will probably go that day to catch it if nothing crops up.