Just in case you have never heard of this.
[24 Nov 2011] Hong Kong!...
Once Upon A Time.
One Sunday night, I WhatsApp-ed Step around 10pm then went to bed. He went to this wedding dinner alone not knowing anyone else but turns out my long time bestest friend was seated at the same table. Step was like "I know you" to Dave not knowing Dave doesn't know who the hell he is wtf. What a coincidence.
No. This whole "the world is so small" story is not what I wanted to tell you.
Around 1am, my phone rang. My phone hardly rings past midnight and the few times it did was from office.
I got out of bed groggily cursing whoever that is but it stopped right before I got hold of it. Without looking at who called I climbed back to bed. Then there is that WhatsApp new message tone. Hmm...office helpdesk would never WhatsApp me so I'm curious.
"Joan, are you there".
One of Step's best friend in KL texted me. This is the first time he text me since I knew him 2 years back. He called me from KL at 1am then texted me? This must be something urgent.
"U know where is Step?"
"In KL kua. Why?" My reply wtf.
Turns out, he's supposed to meet up with 2 of his friends after the wedding dinner at 11 something but did not show up. It's very rare he never show up for drinking dates. That 2 friends have called this friend and all of them called Step and texted him but no reply. It's already been 2 hours and yet still no news from Step. So they called me to check if I know anything.
"You're making me worry. His last msg to me is 10.50pm (which I didn't even read coz I already slept. Plus that last msg is an image of his beer and liquor and he said Dave is making him drink wtf). "
"Okay. FK (one of this 2 friends he's supposed to meet up) is going over to his house to check on him. We'll let you know."
His friend then dragged her brother together and drove over to Step house.
Wow. I've never been more awake my entire life (at 1am I mean). I kept calling him but there was no response. He NEVER once not pick up my call or not call me back since I knew him so this is some serious shit. I was so desperate I texted Dave and asked him because he could possibly be the last person to see him.
"Did you see Step at the wedding? Was he drunk? Did you see him leave?"
"Nah he's okie. Why?"
"Nobody could get him. I'm looking for him"
"What's his address. Let me go check on him " (Awwwwwwwwww why my friend so niceeee)
"That's fine. His friend is on her way now. I'll let you know. Thanks"
He must have gotten into accident. He must have drank too much. He must have gotten drunk and yet still drive.
I was very certain he got into an accident. I panic. I was scared to death. I am pretty damn sure my fingers were shaking. Shit. I will never see him again. (Ok to be honest I thought he's dead). Then I was thinking..
I didn't tell him I love him just now.
And I wanted to cry.
I really wanted to cry. I started to imagine life without him and I wanted to cry.
What really happened is ......... he was high from the wedding dinner booze and drove home and passed out ON HIS BED while his friends are looking for him.
End of story.
You felt like punching him yet?
I can conclude that cockroach is not the scariest thing on earth. The scariest thing is getting a call at midnight and be informed that your family/loved ones are hurt or missing. That feeling is horrrrrriiiiiiiiiibleeeeeeeeee.
Anyway, it's a big slap on the face for taking things you have for granted. I make sure I tell him I love him every single day now.
Appreciate what you have, before time teaches you to appreciate what you had.
Mad For Garlic
One random Friday we decided to make a trip down to Suntec City after work to try this restaurant that XiaoJun raved about so many times. If someone can rave about one restaurant for more than 5 times then there's no reason you don't go try it out right.
Mad For Garlic, a unique restaurant that offered 40 kinds of Italian dishes with a Korean twist. The restaurant originated from Korea and it is a hit in Singapore. We were there on a Friday night and it was packed. On weekends if we do not make a reservation then we will have to sit outdoor which is not very comfortable. Some of the waiter/tress are Korean and there're also a lot of Korean customers too.
Their signature dishes: Dracula Killer, Garlic Snowing Pizza, Garlicpeno Pasta, Mushroom Risotto and Garlic Steak, which we did not manage to order all cause there's only 5 of us.
#1 The interior is as expected, full of GARLIC and wines and wine glasses. We thought it's almost like a dracula house err and the hanging wine racks right on top of our table. No actually right on top of our head.
#3 Anchovy garlic cream fondue. Which is the best we had for the night. No I mean the rest are good too but I love love love this! The bread is soft yet crunchy and when dipped into the garlic cream fondue...heavenly! But I'm thinking the next time I go I'll request them to replace all the extras (tomato and greens) with bread. Absolutely mouthwatering.
#4 Garlic bread tower. If you think this is a normal garlic bread then you're so wrong. The bread came standing with lots of garlic bits on top then the waitress will press them all down into the middle and lie it flat and cut it into pieces. Not the usual garlic bread but is really BREAD WITH GARLIC BITS you know what I mean?
#5 Garlic Snowing Pizza. Sweet garlic pizza topped with shrimps and pineapple dice. The waiter did 1 round of cheese snowing on top, but we requested for 1 more round so it's so FULL of cheese then we can barely see the fried garlic bits and shrimp on top!
#6 Mushroom risotto. Risotto cooked with spinach and mushroom topped with grilled chicken leg. Obviously I didn't try this one because it's full of mushroom and I hate risotto coz I'm super Cina like that. I hate WET rice! But I can tell they don't really like this dish coz they say it's too spicy for their liking.
#7 3 of us ordered Garlicholic Rice. Special fried rice with garlic pickles, shrimp and asparagus. We're a bit too greedy because we should have just ordered two. The entree is huge so none of us could finish it. I...don't really like this because there's just TOO MUCH garlic! There's like 40% garlic cloves in it, not the small chopped ones that we use for chinese cooking but the big cloves and many many of them! Err I'm okay with garlic but this is wayyyyyyyyyyy over.
Bill comes up to $109 for 2 starters (garlic bread tower and garlic cream fondue), 5 entrée and 5 warm water, which translates to just $22 per person for all that food!
If you're not a garlic lover, there's also a couple of other dishes you can try but very limited though. Otherwise, try this place out! I'm sure you'd love the bread garlic cream fondue! At least I do =) Which reminds me, if Joe is okay with garlic I should totally buy him a dinner here since he paid for mine like 2374623465234873459 times wtf.
Downside? I burp and fart garlic the whole night and even had a garlic pee wtf.
Mad For Garlic
3, Temasek Boulevard , #01-039,
038983, Singapore.
+65 6333 1507
Friday to Saturday 11:30am - 11:00pm
1 Year.
Today marks my 1 year anniversary in Singapore. It's been one damn year. Wow can you believe how time flies?
I wasn't actively searching for a job back then. Mid May last year I randomly sent out my resume to a company. Then within the week I went through 2 interviews with the manager and flew down the following week for the final meet up. That same week I tendered resignation and within a month I left. I didn't even serve my 2 months notice but was compensated for it. Friday was my last day in Penang, Saturday & Sunday spent moving in, and started work on Monday.
Too many things too little time. Not to mention that myriad of emotion I felt within that few weeks.
It all seem like they just happened yesterday. I still remember clearly all the faces of my closest friends who showed up in the airport to bid me last goodbye, and that last hug and tears with my 2 most treasured girls Pey Shu (that was before they knew I still go back to PG twice every year where they get sick of bidding me goodbye). I was thinking if Jes is there I would cry earlier coz she made it so much easier for me to cry wtf.
A ship in harbor is safe - but that is not what ships are built for.
All my close friends know I never liked Singapore. Otherwise, I would have looked for a job there right after I graduated just like everyone else. I've been going to Singapore pretty often since half of my family members are there but each time I go, I felt the city is so hostile and hectic. No actually I can't exactly pinpoint one specific reason why I hated it. I just know that's the last place I would choose to stay.
What a joke. Look where I am now.
So how do I feel after 1 year in Singapore. Hmm.
Well, all I can say is, you have to try it to know it. Many people told me Singapore is a terrible country to live in. Mind you, these are the people who've only been here for a couple of days or 2 weeks AT MOST. What do you know about a city you've only stayed in for 2 weeks? Peanuts. Just like how I kept saying I left my heart in SF but that is because I was there on business trips where everything is paid for and life is good. Wait till I have to look for job, and mortgage and tax. By then, I don't think SF would be half as interesting as I thought it is.
OK. I don't exactly have a list. Let me just write down whatever that pops into my mind.
1. Food sucks. Everyone would agree with me, except, maybe the Singaporeans wtf. I go to the hawker everyday not knowing what to eat and can't decide which stall is lousier. Penang won hands down. Any PG char kuay teow from random street would win even the best in Singapore. On average I spend ~$4 per meal for hawker everyday. On extremely good days (once every month?) I probably spend $10 a meal at most. Nola to be honest, I don't even have the chance to spend anything more than $5 because my colleagues are not very willing to spend more than $5 for lunch. They could spend all their money on branded bags and luxurious holidays but lunch? Even KFC would be a once-in-a-while-treat. BUT, you have more options. In one hawker, or one stretch of road, you get local, japanese, korean, indonesian, malay. You get to try different things everyday. The restaurants, on the other hand, are all star rated. You can get one satisfying yummilicious Japanese food for under $25 per person. The same amount of food and quality would probably cost RM50 in Malaysia. Especially Ramen, my dears. You can hardly find anything that is equally as good as what they have here.
2. I eat alone almost every other day. And I'm okay with it. First few times I was pretty self conscious. But it's not like when I'm back in Malaysia where everyone has a car and just a ping on msn can get everyone driving to the dinner place or even go in a car together. Here, none of my friends have a car (nobody thinks it's worth it to spend on a car). Any dinner dates or movie dates have to be planned earlier so we can meet up in the central MRT or check on buses/MRT that will bring you to the place. You can't do that every single day. On usual days you'll just fuck it lah and eat anywhere on the way home alone. It isn't weird here. Most people eat alone so you wont feel like you're the odd one out. Now I'm oblivious to my surrounding and just enjoy my bowl of not very delicious noodle wtf.
3. As everyone has heard, Kiasuland is full of self centered people. One of my friend in PG came to SG before me (he's back in PG now btw) and told me the company here sucks and everything is horrible and colleagues are boring. Which also became one of the reason I wasn't looking forward to working here. Maybe I'm just fortunate to have joined this company as my first. My colleagues are all polite and nice (sometimes TOO polite and TOO nice). I'm not born to be that nice okay. Some days I'd give anything so anyone can just say the word FUCK out loud here. Ya right, in my dream. Anything worse than "shit" is considered very vulgar. But they're all VERY VERY helpful. They would sit by me and help me go through all the things if I don't know how to do it (even until now), and if there are troublesome users they would also help me to tell them off since I'm new. I don't know how is it in other companies maybe it's true they're all kiasu there but here, where I work, I really can't feel that culture at all. People bring food to office and share around, eat lunch in big gang of 15, go places to yumcha after lunch before we go back to office, go badminton together every week and random dinners every now and then. Colleagues are a bit older than me but all below 35, I think. Difference is, they're all married with commitments so there's hardly any spontaneous after work or weekend activity like I used to have back then with all the young bachelors. That's a pity though. But I can live with that.
4. My company has 3 huge buildings, almost the size of 5 PG12. There're thousands of worker I think but the car park spaces is just the size of PG12 car park A only, and even that, it's NEVER full. Amazing huh. At first I was not used to it, it's a bit tiring to wait for buses and not to mention the time wasted on traveling. To and fro work is about 1 hour each day but only cost me $2.40. I don't have to maintain a car, pay for car petrol and pay for parking. So that saves up a lot plus..I can sleep in the bus! Some days I'm really sick of it though. I'd try to convince myself it's worth it to pay that much extra to buy the comfort of being able to drive to work or anywhere I like and spare myself from feeling nauseous every time I get on the bus (if you know me, you'd know I have serious motion sickness problem). I tore my slipper even before 1 year cause I walk 1000 steps a day wtf. I could easily use a pair of slipper for 6 years in Msia and even I throw it away also because I'm sick of the same slipper not because it koyak already you see. And when I sweat like pig waiting or run after buses , I damn wish I'm back in Malaysia where I have the comfort of the humble little Vios. Sigh. Sacrifices, people.
5. SAFETY. You can walk on the street at midnight feeling safe. People run in parks everyday. I hardly see any police/police patrol cars around but even if I actually do, they look approachable. Unlike those in Malaysia where I tensed up when I run into one even when I didn't do anything wrong because even so most of the time they'll look for trouble anyway. Need I say more? Places are generally cleaner. You hardly see people just randomly throw papers or anything on the roadside and mostly roads and buildings are a lot cleaner than how it was back in Malaysia. Mostly people just smoke in their designated smoking area so as long as I avoid those places, my hair will smell smoke free.
6. I learn not to mess with old people. Don't get me wrong. It's not like I hated them or what but old people can be really rude and ignorant and think they own the world, just because they're...well..old. If you didn't let them cut queue or anything they will stare at you and sometimes they gave you one long string of extremely vulgar words that you never hear before in your life. Other than that I think generally people are more courteous here where anyone will definitely give up their seat for the elder, the preggies and people with kids. But sometimes I find it hard to judge coz I'm not sure if that person is old enough to deserve the seat else if I let them they might feel offended coz they're actually not THAT old. You know what I mean?
7. Work is a lot tougher. Workload is reasonable and I'm still learning things. Tougher in the sense that I need to be in office at least NINE hours a day. There's no such thing as working from home and there's no such thing as taking 2 weeks leave continuously. Each month I have to do a presentation on what I've done the previous month and how much that translates to company savings or earnings. Even when I'm sick nowadays I just drag my ass to work. Each day I miss work, is a lesser chance I get to prove myself. At the beginning I was not used to it and I felt so miserable. Considering I sleep till 8 and reach work at 9 or sometimes after lunch and go home at 4.30pm last time, this is like a whole new kind of hell to me. But 6 months down the road I'm slowly getting used to it. Colleagues are all very dedicated. They really make use of the whole 9 hours and hardly anyone takes long breaks in between or curi tulang. Hmm. I wish they can hire someone who's equally lazy so I can curi tulang with together wtf.
I still have many stories and learning I'd love to share, but I shall spare you with the many boring details =)
1 year ago, I wrote I'm going to venture out and see if the grass is greener on the other side. The grass is not always green here, but I still think I made the right decision. I learn a lot, I experienced a lot more things, I'm open up to more possibilities and opportunities, I reconciled with primary & secondary mates whom I've not seen for years. So you see, my nest was very comfortable before this, and I thought I'd never be able to find someplace equally good or better. Never try never know. Progress always involve risks. You can't steal second base and keep your foot on first.
Many ask me if I plan to settle down here. I don't know if I'll change my mind few years down the road, but for now, the answer is No. Not at this point. Friends who have moved here told me it's not possible. When you're earning this currency, going back to Malaysia and getting a job in RM would never cut it. I don't know about that. But for now, I'd still choose to go back to Malaysia any day and enjoy that glorious plate of Nasi Lemak whenever I like.
Take risks: If you win, you will be happy, If you lose, you will be wise.
Mum's Birthday
I remember when I was a kid, my parents manage to get me what I really wanted or bring me to the place I love to eat for my birthday every time.
It's my mum's birthday today! And I didn't know what to get her! She's staying in Philadelphia now but I'm thinking even if she's in Singapore now I wont even know where to bring her to eat or where or what she really wants to eat. Most of the time we'll just bring her to eat something expensive which she probably won't even enjoy.
Do you? Do all of you really know what your mum REALLY wanted (as in material things)? I think the best gift for any mother is all of the kids stay happy and healthy. I guess that's what matters.
Anyway
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!
