The Unbalanced Libra..

I'm going to KL tomorrow for the regional sports meet.. For some reason, I am extremely stressed up by the competition, and I even cried 2 days ago because of the stress. That was after my training session at Delta Sports Hall .. I was totally not on form that day during the training.. And i got so upset with myself that i broke in front of K when he came to pick me up. I kept asking myself why i can't play as well as the rest of the team, why i can miss even the simplest of shots. I just didn't want to be the only one to pull the rest of the team down. Plus the fact that we're playing against Indonesia added to the pressure. Cause the Indonesians are well known for churning out excellent badminton players. Plus, my colleague in Thailand, who have been practising with the Thai team, told me that the Thai female players are really good. I guess all these made me feel very pressurized. The problem is, i am not very close to my team members. In fact, some of them i don't even know. My partner is a very good female player, and because she has more stamina than me, our strategy is that i should guard the front , and she the back. Problem is, i am not good with front shots. I am better at smashing but yet do not possess the strength to hit the ball far enough. In addition, i feel stressed standing in front with her watching my every move from behind. It makes me feel more pressurized that i have to give the perfect shot. And i'm the kind who needs to relax to play a good game. Die lah!!

Anyway, i will try give it my best shot and try not to think too much. Just enjoy myself when I'm there.

Yesterday, i went out for dinner with my colleague from Fairfax. He had flown to Singapore for a training course, as well as to do handover of my work with me. We went to Cafe Iguana for some Mexican food, then Coffee Club for my favourite mudpie. Next week was my colleague's birthday, so i sang him a birthday song over the mudpie and asked him to make a wish and blow out an imaginary candle.. haha.. He said it was the nicest thing anyone had done for him.. = )

I met Fangjie when i was walking to Coffee Club. Apparently, he has a push cart booth selling souvenirs at Clarke Quay.. interesting..

This morning, i went for a health screening session at my office. There was a weight and height analysis, blood pressure test, fat analysis and blood test. I got myself a "kuku" (inexperienced / lousy) nurse for the blood test. She poked the needle into my right arm twice.. The first time my blood couldn't flow out, so she kept pushing the needle deeper into the vein, which was totally painful! Usually, i turn away from the needle for fear that looking at me would make me freak out. But when i felt that it was taking too long, i turned and saw that the nurse had poked the needle outside of where my vein was. There was this really obvious thick one in the middle, but she chose to poke the not so obvious one instead.. sigh.. it was sheer torture for me.. = (

Nonetheless, i had free buffet lunch because of the health screening.. had fried mee siam, fruits, some sandwiches etc.. Then because we had visitors for the training course in the office, there was some tea snacks in the afternoon.. The goodie bag was also quite impressive. We had a medicine pills box (the Monday to Sunday kind), an electronic skipping rope and a battery- operated massager! Not bad right!

Met EK and S for dinner just now.. K and I are trying to persuade them to come to New Zealand with us.. We are 80% there!! = )

Last Friday, me and 3 other colleagues went to Bukit Merah CC for badminton. What started out as a simple weekly activity turned out to be another dramatic episode for me.

I had booked the court online last week, and the system did not allow me to make payment (not the first time). So i called the CC and confirmed that my entry had been booked and i could make the payment in person on Friday. I did not think much of that as it was not the first time this arrangement was made.

Me and one of my colleagues took a cab to the CC for $10 and started playing. 20 minutes later, a group of ladies arrived and claimed they had booked the same court we were playing on. A dispute started and I decided to go down to the main office to check. When i walked in, there as absolutely nobody in the office. By then, my other colleague and his wife had arrived. They had brought their baby boy along. A lady was there in the office, but she was not dressed in uniform. Apparently, she had just finished her shift at 6pm. She started to call her colleagues who had disappeared and kind of told them off for skiving on the job. She was not comfortable attending to me without her uniform, but she nonetheless did so as there was nobody around and I was getting impatient from waiting for some uniformed staff to appear.

Not long after, the other girl who booked the same court as me came downstairs to make payment. To cut the long story short, the system had cancelled both our bookings. But when we both called and asked the CC staff, they had confirmed our booking and advised us to come down personally for payment. There was no way the lady could help us. 15 minutes passed, this old man in uniform appeared, and his female colleague updated him on the situation. He started to order her around to check in the system and do stuff. I interrupted him, asking him first why he was not in the office, and secondly why he is not the one doing the checking since it is now his shift, and not his colleague's shift. The lady smiled at me, but the old man kept quiet.

The whole thing just went back and forth for 1 freaking hour, but no solution. Throughout the one hour, the old man just kept repeating to me the problem without giving me a solution. He kept saying in future, if the system doesn't allow us to pay, it means there is no booking, that we need a receipt in future, blah blah blah.. I got so pissed off at one point i raised my voice, asked him to stop telling me the whole damn problem cause i already KNOW what the problem is, and GIVE ME A SOLUTION!! I had spent $10 on my cab fare, and my colleagues had rushed down to the CC to play. Every minute was precious. Halfway through the arguement, i told the other girl to go ahead to use the court from 6-7pm, and i will try for the 7-8pm slot. I was informed the CC's badminton club had booked the court from 7-10pm, so i wanted to request for one hour to compensate for my lost time.

By then, the other uniformed staff arrived. He was like 45 minutes late for his 6pm shift. When he arrived, he too was updated. And he too, repeated to me the problem, and ordered the lady to do some checking in the system. By then, the lady was doing 45 mins of overtime. Idiots. When i asked him to stop repeating the problem, he said he was just making sure i understand the facts. So i told him i do not need to understand the facts, i just need a solution. He asked me what exactly it was i wanted. So i told him that i wanted the slot from 7-8pm. I was determined to play since i had come all the way here. After much hesitation, he called the badminton club people, who of course rejected. Because the way the stupid men asked them made it seemed as if I was the one at fault for making the wrong booking, and I am requesting them to give us one hour of the court! I was at boiling point when i hear the way they spoke to the badminton club people. I told them that they are not trying hard enough (only one phone call), that they are irresponsible to leave the office empty during peak hours (an empty office in the CC after work hours at 6pm!), and that they had completely wasted my time. And not once did the 2 men apologized to me. Only the lady did.

By this time, a lot of people had gathered inside the office for other queries. And the only person attending to all of us was the lady in plain clothes. The other 2 men disappeared halfway, going inside the office to hide (mainly from a very angry me). I was totally disgusted with their behavior by then.

Eventually, i got a refund of $10, and one hour free court booking the following Friday. Before i left, i asked the lady for the full names of her 2 colleagues. She asked me what for, and i told her i wanted to complain. And you know what her response was? She pleaded me not to, cause they were after all her colleagues. OH MY GOD! After what they did to her, she can still say that. Sigh... no wonder she gets bullied by them.. she's too nice!

I ended up having dinner with my colleague, his wife and baby. It was a good dinner, but i'm still disappointed that i missed one hour of badminton because of some stupid system error and 2 totally incompetent men!

I worked from home yesterday.. Had 2 conference calls the night before which ended past 12 midnight.. Perfect reason to give to my boss to work from home. Even though i wasn't really that tired.. haha..

During the first call, which was my bi-weekly team call, we spent 10 minutes talking about the change in daylight savings next week and how we should adjust the timing of our call for the various countries.. total waste of time..

Anyway, i've been having some cravings lately for some delicious Kuay Chup and soft and spongy Pandan Cake.. Don't know if it's because im pregnant.. Still haven't gotten my period yet!

So.. i went to look for Kuay Chup and Pandan Cake. I found them in Simei.. totally satisfied my craving! I've been having pandan cake for breakfast for the past few days, and i can't wait to have the Kuay Chup again! = )

I am eating instant cup noodles at 1219am.. Yes.. and that's because i didn't have dinner at all. Today is yet another dramatic day. K says I am like a drama queen, always attracting drama. So i kinda provide constant entertainment for him.. Sickening.. Then again, i can never understand why he said i attract drama when i never do anything at all to make my life so dramatic. Funny things just happen to me it seems. So here i shall try to analyze if i am really "attracting drama" in my life. = )

I left the office at 530pm today to head to Choa Chu Kang stadium for badminton training with my team for the KL games next week. It was the first time i trained with them, because Choa Chu Kang is simply too far for me! Even the past few competitions, i did not train with them. Nonetheless, i told myself that i need to make the sacrifices if i want to have a glorious win at the games (and not by luck or because my partner was strong) this time..

Yesterday night, i had checked on the internet on how to get from my office (Harbourfront) to the stadium. The results recommended the following:

For some reason, despite the recommendation, i ended up doing the following (Maybe that's what K mean by i like to attract drama!) :

My way was like 18 freaking stations, compared to the recommended 11 stations. I got so tired of sitting in the train i thought i would puke. = )

Then.. the North South line had to terminate at Yishun, so everyone had to get out. And who did i have to bump into but K's aunt from UK, who HAPPENED to have come to Singapore recently for a 1 month visit (how coincidental!). When i saw her, i called her by the wrong name. First blunder. Then we had the most awkward conversation all the way to Marsilling station. We even talked about the weather! She told me she was heading to her sister's home in Woodlands. So when the train stopped at Woodlands, i said bye. But she said she was getting off one more stop ahead at Marsilling cause it's nearer. She must be thinking i am rather weird, because i should know very well where her sister's home was, given that i had been there many times during Chinese New Year, and K's grandmother's wake was held there! Second blunder. I could have kicked myself. The minute she alighted, i called K to complain.

Upon reaching Choa Chu Kang after a long and painful hour or so, i headed to the bus stop to wait for bus 307. It was 625pm by then. After 5 minutes, the bus approached, but zoomed right past because it was totally packed with people. I cursed under my breath. I asked for directions to walk to the stadium, and was told it would take 15 mins. So i started to walk. 3 minutes later, my legs started to ache from the high heels + walking, so i decided to hail a cab. My goal was to reach the stadium by 7pm so at least i can play for 2 hours until 9pm. While waiting for a taxi, a young girl in school uniform walked past, and i asked her how far the stadium was. We ended up walking together and chatting as she happens to live near the stadium.

Halfway through, it started to rain. Can u imagine?! = ) Lucky got umbrella. By then i was totally pissed off. I asked myself why the heck did i come in the first place?? My legs were suffering, my gym bag was heavy from my gear and water bottle, and i was tired from the long train ride. After 10 mins of walking i finally reached the stadium.. I changed and waited for about 10 mins because there was no empty court for me to play.. sigh..

When i finally got the chance to play, it was 730pm. So i didn't stop until 9pm. I asked around to see if anyone stayed in the east. Nobody. Initially, one guy said he could drop me off at Clementi, which was on the same East West line as Eunos. But after that, he said he wanted to go for dinner. So i got a ride from another girl to Yew Tee. This time round, i did the route my research suggested. But still a very long journey.

Don't think i will do this again, unless i can get a ride to and back. Next week, the training will be at Delta, much closer to my office. At last, after my numerous attempts to get them to do so!!

Today is the 1st day of March.. 2 more months to New Zealand!!!

I just redeemed our air tickets to Auckland using my Krisflyer miles.. will be departing on 1st May at 0825am.. Somehow, this step just makes everything look even more real. It is REALLY happening! = )

There are so many things to do but so little time.. managed to prepare our packing list, searched for free accomodation in Auckland and Wellington via the couch surfing websites, searched for jobs in New Zealand and at the same time, planning for my Tokyo trip end of this month.. In addition, thinking of where to eat in Malacca next weekend and KL the weekend after!! Haha..

Think i will be overwhelmed by all the planning.. But this is a good problem to have i guess! Then again, i missed my period for this month.. not a good sign! = (

Went to see my grandma this afternoon, she was running a fever in the morning, but much better when i saw her in the afternoon.

It rained again today, which made the house seemed even more lonely without K.. = (

Next week my Singapore boss won't be around, so i will have "no government"!! Will make use of the time to plan for my trips.. hehe.. But then hoh.. got a lot of conference calls lined up next week also.. all at night one. All because of the US people.. Sianz..