Day 2 At The Racha

Went snorkelling today at 500 baht per person... only 4 participants signed up for the 1.5 hour trip. Shirlene, me, one middle-aged Asian man (most probably from China from his accent) and his cute little son with rosy cheeks (maybe about 8 years old). Couldn't take photos of the trip cos I didn't brought my digital camera in case the whole gadget got stolen while I'm in the sea (so no pics on the whole trip).

This is the daily program notice-board beside the Water Sports Station (snorkelling is usually at 2pm every weekday)

That hut is the Water Sports Station and the three towel-covered vehicles are the "ATV" (All Terrain Vehicle)

Anyway it was fun... with the very dark Thai guide called "Ming", swimming with the 4 of us in the clear blue sea at the other side of the island.

This is Ming - dunno if he is naturally dark or swim till so dark
(pic taken on our last day at Racha)

Ming brought along a big packet of bread to feed the fishes and I got my right index finger bitten (again.. the 1st was in Redang) by one of the bigger fishes while holding the whole bread in my right hand. It was nice at first... looking at the fishes nibbling off the bread bit by bit... then it became scary when there were sooo many fishes swimming around your hand that you have problems finding it... and then that "blind" fish nibbled hard on my poor finger~ After that I let go of the bread and checked my finger... there was a 2mm cut and I bled (at that time I'm so scared that other fishes would "smell" my blood and came attacking me *haha* guess I watched too many "Jaws" movies).

Err... that small red spot on my finger is the bite from the fish lor...
I know it's abit small and minor, but the main issue is "I'm bitten by a fish!"

Anyway, when it was time to return to the shore, the guide swam back first with the man and his son. The trio were still standing with the lower part of their legs still in the sea and Shirlene and me were like about 50 metres away from them (the sea was at our waist). Suddenly the man vomited a few times (orange colour somemore) into the sea!! OMG... can you imagine how gross it was?! Shirlene and I were stunned and we were like... "damn, now we're coated with the disgusting puke mixed with sea water". Well, the only comforting thing was that we weren't so near to him, so at least the puke wouldn't be so "concentrated" *yucks*. Finally both of us managed to got shore... and we didn't showed any "disgusted" expressions cos the man must have felt embarrassed (hopefully). Yeah... so that was our fun but disgusting Phuket snorkelling trip. onto

Life was so carefree here in Racha... it's all about swimming, reading and purely just relaxing...

Oh~ this is me with the two balls *ahem* which was left there for anyone

This is Shirlene... the better swimmer (but poorer Jenga player *haha*)

Ooh~ this is a sample of how we read our novels by the pool
(she's a better model than me lah *haha*)

I'm gonna try the ATV the next time I visit Racha... cool leh~

Library Lounge

This is the library lounge where people can just lie on the couch to read their novels or magazines indoor (especially when it suddenly rains cos it's just beside the pool). The books were all donated by people from all countries but there's only a handful of English books inside the library (located at the far right inside the glass panel area). There are 2 computers inside the library for all guests to use, and that's the place where I created all my Racha posts *hehe*

For dinner, we had seafood basket for two at 1,700 baht and it was nice (maybe because we were hungry since we didn't eat lunch).

We already ate the two giant prawns on the left side of the basket before we remembered to take a picture of the feast

I love the life here... you guys should come try it out, though it might be slightly expensive to some, but it's worth the money.

The Racha - Phuket

It's gonna be a 5 days 4 nights getaway trip out of Singapore... into an island resort off Phuket called "The Racha". Shirlene and me left home at 5am on 4th Oct 07 and reached Changi Airport about 15 to 20 minutes later... and there were so many foreigners (especially the darker ones) checking in at the Arrival Hall... with so many plasma TV boxes to be sent back to their countries~ (were they cheaper in Singapore?) Anyway, I managed to take some photos with Adrian's "Power Shot" digital camera and here are the fabulous pics... and pictures say a thousand words~

On the way to the jetty
(inside Merz with driver from Racha)

Here's the signboard outside the waiting lounge at the jetty
(we're too early - 2 hrs plus - for the 1st speedboat ride @ 11.30am)

The Racha Waiting Lounge

Inside the waiting lounge with Shirlene processing the check-in

The excited and "know how to enjoy life" duo...

I'm still the Jenga Champion
(too much time to spare so must find something to do)

My Challenger - Shirlene

The initial stage - not that challenging yet

Striking a pose before the defeat
(look how high the tower has become)

Shirlene: Hmm~ which one should I take?

The later stage - geting too challenging for the Challenger liao
(is that a remodel of The Eiffel Tower?)

Omg~ the Challenge has accepted her defeat *haha*
(luckily I have evidence)

The bridge to the jetty
(dun worry - there's a shuttle mini-tram for the long journey)

The entrance to Paradise @ The Racha

The reception area with friendly staff
(open concept)

The relaxing lounge viewing the clear blue sea

A view taken from the top of the resort @ Sun Deck
(that's part of the swimming pool at level 2)

General view of the villas in a green environment

View of our villa - the balcony

The door (left side) to our villa
(the smaller door leads to the backyard only accessible by the staff)

The cosy king-sized bed (with rose petals deco)

The satisfied duo

The bathtub filled with rose petals

Wana have a shower in the nature at the backyard?

View taken from the backyard into our villa

This is the view when I'm sitting on the toilet bowl doing whatever business
(feel very insecure lor but what to do *haha*)

The amazing sunset view
(makes me forget all the troubles at work and in reality)

In Loving Memory - FiFi

Today the decision is made... just as what we expected to hear from the vet, she said FiFi's pus in the mouth is getting to his bones, and it is best to let him go~

I got the devastating question from Shirlene this morning after I returned home from my IPPT - "Should we let him go?" I told her we should cos FiFi is really suffering now. We should not let him stay with us till the day he slowly passed on, just because we can't bear to let him go. Moreover, with all of us working in the day time, what if something bad happens to him and nobody is around to discover the matter in time? Wouldn't it be worse? But on the other hand, if you were to touch on the moral issue, we should not be the one to judge if he should live or die... Either way, a decision has to be made~

28th September 2007 marks the loss of our beloved rabbit - FiFi...

Let us close our eyes and spend one minute of silence to pray for FiFi to have a better life after his rebirth... here are some photos of him~

When he just came to our house

On my living room sofa

Posing with a bear on his head

Me with the chubby FiFi after his shower and blow-dry service

FiFi wearing his socks cos he injured his soles when he stamped too much

Is it time for food yet?

Waiting for Shirlene in my bedroom to give him food

Taking a last look at FiFi when he left us...

Letting Go - FiFi The Rabbit

The Dilemma:
Should we let him go? Or should we persevere?

The Situation:
He is getting weaker as the day goes by... he is no longer the fluffy rabbit we once knew, but our love for him has never been reduced. No matter how much shit or urine he left behind in the living room... no matter how dirty he messed up his urine in his cage and soiled his fur... no matter how many times I scolded him or smacked him on his butt for the nonsense that he did, we still love him and dote on him alot. Ever since he got sick, he became closer to us. He would hop into my bedroom and looked at Shirlene for food and hop back into his cage to wait for the refill when Shirlene stood up. He would loiter around us when we were cleaning his cage, which he would never come near us (except for my mum) before he got sick (cos he's abit "attitude").

Now... he has weak bowel control - he would urine anywhere in his cage except the standard urinating corner, and previously he was so well trained that he would hop back home (cage) on his own to urine at the urinating corner even if we let him out in the living room the whole day. He has become more skinny and I could see that his hind legs are getting weak. The way he usually hop is different now. He reminded me of an old skinny man who's having some problems walking properly. Just an hour ago, I was putting more food into his bowl and he hopped once inside his cage. He lost his balance and fell sideways but manged to get back up on his feet. Immediately after that, he urinated... I felt kinda sad when I saw that~ but I quickly cleaned up the mess. Can you imagine how fragile he had become...?

The Decision:
Shirlene is going to bring him to the vet this coming Friday on 28 Sept 07 cos that was the only available slot. I couldn't accompany him to the vet because I had something important to attend to. We wanted some advice from the vet... cos his situation is not getting any better after his last visit to the vet. The vet said his sickness is incurable because she had never seen such cases before. By the way, here's some info about his sickness - there had been weird mucus forming in his left pouch near his cheek inside the mouth and those had been coming out of his left ear, causing bad odour and adversely affecting his left ear and left cheek (previously swollen but now slightly sunken). The vet said we could only clean him everyday and gave him some oral antibiotics... but those could only sustained for a few months.

So if the vet were to suggest putting him to sleep, should we take up the idea? Would it be unfair to him because we're thinking the easy way out? But what if he is actually suffering in pain and still struggle to live each day because he sense our effort to make him well? Or what if he still doesn't wish to give up as yet? It would be cruel for us to end his journey just like that... it is such a hard decision to make~ How we wish someone could tell us what we should do...

Sibu Island Kelong Trip

Yeah!! I'm back from my Sibu Island Kelong trip that the gang had gone on Saturday 22/09/07!!

You must be wondering why I am so excited about coming back to Singapore? That's because... it's such a luxury to be able to shower at home~ and also to do whatever 'business' in our own toilet~ Anyway, the 2 days/1 night kelong trip was considered interesting and here are some good experiences and photos to share on the trip:

1. Two fishermen were identified with high potential in fishing. Ashburn and Devon... both had been complimented for their great skills in hooking up fishes and sotongs respectively with the same fishing rod (RM35 for the rod rental but dunno if it's on daily basis or what). By the way, all of us didn't prepare any fishing gear for the trip, so all fishes hooked were not kept for long cos there was no oxygen pump available. We also learnt that sotongs are called 'sotongs' for a good reason - they got hooked on fake baits which looked like prawns with luminous orange colour to attract their attention - no need live baits... dumb~ but good for us *hehe*

Our Great Fishermen

Fisherman Ash pulling out the hook from the poor fish

The fishes that were let go before they ran out of oxygen

See the luminous orange bait? That's the thing that gave sotong its name

2. "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime." This proverb is very true... cos all of us depended on Devon for our supper and all the sotongs that she hooked subsequently went into our stomach (about 5 from her hard work, I heard... cos I went to take a nap when it was at 4, plus one more big sotong given to Devon by one good-hearted uncle who were also hooking sotongs nearby - guess Devon is too cute to resist *haha*). So who cooked the sotongs for us? The uncles at the kelong lor~ they are the in-charge there mah, and they also cooked fried rice with sotong for us (for free! But dunno is it really free for anyone or we must thank Ping for the 'link' she had) Anyway, I also wana thank Shirlene for waking me up to taste the fresh 'sotong' supper since old age had caught up with me and I couldn't stay up the night with them *sigh*

Fisherman Devon hooking up our supper
(but she doesn't eat them *wasted*)

Clear view of our fresh supper
(the black spots on its body are the ink they forming to jet out)

The one and only group photo
(taken during our sotong supper time)

3. Recycling campaign is on-going at the kelong. All human wastes are directly deposited into the sea below the toilet hole in the cubicles. While doing your 'business', you can feel the gentle breeze from the hole and you can also see the clear blue sea if you need some 'inspirational' moments. Luckily for me, my stomach did not fail me. I heard from one friend, that her positioning was so good that she didn't even have the chance to see her products during the 'squating' *haha* By the way... we're basically feeding the fishes cos those are their food!! Talking about eating fishes... *hmm*

The natural cubicles
(forgot to take the inside view leh)

4. We also need to estimate how much water we need for our shower, cos there's no tap in the cubicle, and what we did is to carry the very heavy blue and black containers filled with water, and pour the water into the big pail inside the cubicle whenever we want to shower. Somehow we were trained not to waste water unless you carry a few containers inside your cubicle to standby 1st... but the container is damn heavy lor. Anyway, I used 1.5 containers for Day 1 shower. Day 2 showed an improvement of using only 1 container *hehe*

Before shower (the stress type) - must pour water 1st

Before shower (the smiley type) - water had been filled up

Lethal Threat

Here is a video on the recent threat to the Police Force...

and it's more lethal than any other thing...

(video recommended by Hairulnihansem)

IB Ambassador

I feel like an ambassador for my department earlier... trying to get people to join me in the new challenge. Posed the favourite phrase "Come join me" to 4 of them... only 1 told me he might consider. 2 immediately smile at me (meaning 'fat hope') and 1 had been targeted by many people already... but she still say 'no'.

Shared with them about the pros and cons of IB (abbreviation for my current department) and I realised that there were indeed more pros at my current post. For example:

1. You get to manage your own time to clear your work (no fixed time to report work and likewise for going home), but if you can't finish your outstanding work, you have to stay back really late in the office to clear them (urgent ones).


2. You learn alot more and you could feel yourself more completed as a staff in the organisation, as compared to other posts.


3. You feel more sense of achievement when you cleared the files in your cabinet, despite the heavy workload.


4. You are doing what the organisation is supposed to be doing (i.e. uphold something) instead on focusing on other non-core aspects.


5. You get to travel anywhere in Singapore to do your work, and not restricted to your workstation or limited region.


6. You have your own workstation where your stuff will not go missing (except for my sweets).


7. You learn to grow up faster and stronger with the challenging work environment, which is not a bad thing afterall, cos you can't be always staying in your comfort zone.

So with these good points, I hope my fellow colleagues can come and join me so that we can work closer together as a family. It's quite fun actually... if all friends are working in the same place. We could help each other clear our work and shout across the workstations to chit chat and joke around. It's not as bad as you think wor... cos I'm already used to the worklife now... and amazingly, it's quite enjoyable... though I do miss my ex-team mates alot~ So please come and join me k? Dun be afraid to make the change in your work~

The Truth

Had a serious talk with someone yesterday...

I was told I'm a changed person ever since I got posted to my new job. Not for the better, but worse... it was sad to know... that my temper was so bad that nobody feel like talking to me anymore... I didn't realise the change until yesterday and I apologised for it. The hectic work schedule had taken up my personal time at home and when I reached home, all I think about was to have a good rest. There was no mood for me to spend quality time with anyone cos I was so preoccupied with work in my mind.

But the hectic work schedule was last two months when I was just posted there. Like I said, I'm slowly finding time for myself and indeed I could do it... but at the expense of slower files clearance rate, which was considered normal. My department is facing serious manpower shortage... with people leaving and no-one dares to join the 'family'. Main reason being... the heavy workload and challenging time management. Actually it wasn't that bad once you are used to the workflow. I may be complaining about how much time I have for myself now compare to last time... but I did learnt alot on the in-depth work processes. If there are more people in the 'family', the workload per person would not be so much and life at work would be much easier to glide through. But... the others can't see the linkage. People only want to have an easy life~ and I wonder when will the next batch of helpers be coming in. What we can do now is just to clear whatever existing files we have, and try to keep our own morale high.

Stay FOCUSed

Recently I had been losing my focus at work...

Things that I COULD clear, did not clear~
Things that I SHOULD do, did not get it done~
Things that I USUALLY did, was unusually left undone~

Previously I would stay in office to finish my "never-ending" work till at least 8pm or 10pm.

Now? When the sun sets, the devil in me is out to play... maybe I played too much... maybe I over-relaxed myself... maybe there're other distractions that I can't define in words~

I gotta find back the focus I once had... and try to push whatever distractions right back to the end of my mind. If not sooner or later, I might be covered with tons of files (that "never-ending" work) when I open my cabinet the next moment. Hmm... now let me try to keep my fingers crossed~ and see if I can do it~ ( I mean pushing the distractions, not pushing the files away from my body when they toppled)

Show No Emotions

Juz finished watching the movie "The Invasion" at Cathy AMK Hub earlier, and heard this phrase "Show No Emotions" from it.

Hmm... how to show no emotions when humans are filled with all sorts of it? Happy, angry, sad, shocked, etc... Although sometimes we can hide how we are feeling on the surface, but deep down, we can FEEL it. Heartbeats pumping faster, sweaty palms, throat stuck with something, butterflies in the stomach, the glitters in the eyes when you saw that SOMEONE, etc.

It's hard not to show how we feel actually. When you have a liking for that special SOMEONE, you would naturally smile when you got to see him/her, or after spending some sweet moments with him/her (even though it's just a simple chat), you lose all the mood to do something when you didn't get to talk to him/her for the day, you feel energized when you heard his/her voice again, you start to do things out of your usual way just to see him/her smile (and you feel it's worth the effort).

And when you are angry... you couldn't stand the slightest sight of that NOBODY, your natural reaction was to avoid contact and keep the distance as far as possible cos he/she reminded you of your unhappy past, you feel a pinch in one corner of your heart whenever you heard someone talked about him/her.

But sad to say, sometimes, we do have to keep the emotions to ourselves. We can't be showing our anger as and when we like it (since we're not babies or small kids anymore), we can't openly express our likings for people just by saying "I LIKE YOU" unless there's some positive signs (since it may complicate things further, which did happened before), we can't be crying in the open whenever we feel sad (since we do not want people to see us as a weakling), and there are alot of things that we HUMANS can't do or show even though the desire is so strong that it's going to burst out the next minute.

Someone told me that she had to wear a "virtual mask" to hide her sadness from her unhappy childhood, so that people would see her as a cheerful and fun-loving person, cos she does not wish to spread her sorrows to them (in fact she IS a fun-loving person). But dun ever think that she's a hypocrite by wearing a "mask"... cos EVERYONE is wearing one too, somehow or rather. That is the "mask" to control how we express ourselves in front of others, and that is the special feature of a HUMAN.

However, don't doubt my actions or feelings towards YOU... cos I always treat my friends and loved ones good, although I may not have the time to show it due to my hectic work schedule~ but if I HAVE the luxury of time, I believed you would find me worthwhile to be YOUR FRIEND or even that special SOMEONE in a corner of your heart *hehe*

Hearing Problem...

I got this interesting email today... and I wana share with you guys~

Hearing Problem....

A man feared his wife wasn't hearing as well as she used to and he thought she might need a hearing aid. Not quite sure how to approach her, he called the family Doctor to discuss the problem. The Doctor told him there is a simple informal test the husband could perform to give the Doctor a better idea about her hearing loss.

Here's what you do," said the Doctor, "stand about 40 feet away from her, and in a normal conversational speaking tone, see if she hears you. If not, go to 30 feet, then 20 feet, and so on until you get a response."

That evening, the wife is in the kitchen cooking dinner, and he was in the den.
He says to himself, "I'm about 40 feet away, let's see what happens."
Then in a normal tone he asks, 'Honey, what's for dinner?" No response.
So the husband moves to closer to the kitchen, about 30 feet from his wife and repeats, "Honey, what's for dinner?" Still no response.
Next he moves into the dining room where he is about 20 feet from his wife and asks, "Honey, what's for dinner?" Again he gets no response.
So, he walks up to the kitchen door, about 10 feet away. "Honey, what's for dinner?" Again there is no response.
So he walks right up behind her."Honey, what's for dinner?"
His wife said "James, for the FIFTH time I've said, CHICKEN!"

Moral of the story:
The problem may not be with the other one as we always think, could be very much within us!

Letting Go

It's always hard to let go of someone who had always been in your mind, especially the one whom you had loved before. Few friends around me had been feeling down because they couldn't let go of the sad/happy memories they once had. It saddens me when I see my friends sad, or even wept over a bad relationship.

Recently one friend asked me... if she is weak and useless cos she couldn't control her tears when she coincidentally saw her ex-boyfriend again, and he reminded her of the disappointment and sadness over a 3 year relationship. The trauma was bad for her... and after two months of 'recuperation', she managed to move on and so-called got him out of her life (thou still left behind some debris to clear in the mind). So I replied her... that she is not weak or useless even though her tears welled up in her eyes after bumping onto him twice "accidentally" within a few hours. It's just human reaction to sadness and disappointment and nobody can simply let go of someone that easily. The same goes to me...

Well, just hope she could be happy again~

By the way, I also hope my "Bro" could get over that someone soon~ since there's no point in waiting for her anymore... Wish my "Bro" could be happy again too!

Elder

I had became the Elder in my group of "usual gang"... mainly because I'm the eldest~

So what is the role of an Elder?

Let me see...

1. Giving useful advice (during individual private consultation)
2. Maintain peace and order (when members get too noisy)
3. Late for dinner (cos too busy with work and members already started eating but can't leave before my arrival)
4. Observe (identify the potential reason why certain member suddenly became gloomy)
5. Stay Composed (need to remain calm and think of solution for member/s)
6. Talk less (cos cannot look too gossipy and spoil the Elder image)

I think that's all cos those were what I had been doing so far unless my members can come out with more roles~

By the way, to all my members... thanks for treating me like an "Elder", though the size is not that prominent in the group.