Felt so intoxicated by a dream last night. Woke up drunk….maybe it was too intense and I didn't get enough rest and I so wanted to get back to sleep again when the alarm went off. More than usual. Cos I ALWAYS want to go back to sleep after waking up. Maybe the cure to insomnia is to trick your body into thinking it's supposed to wake up for it to crave sleep instantly. You know…Murphy's Law backfiring? You're always the sleepiest when the alarm goes off. Who in the world jumps right up awake after the alarm goes off?Your alarm must be a big pail of ice water right over your head.

Anyway, dreamt that I was a teacher in a school…actually it started really weird. I was going somewhere, to school maybe, where I was assigned to teach. Then I wandered into a very special swimming pool amidst the housing estate in Singapore. It had many layers and pillars, like it was built into the void decks of our typical HDB. The kids were all swimming there and they asked me to join in and I was just wandering around the pool. It was a nice feeling, exploring around. Then later I had to go to class and I realized that those kids I played with were my students. So I was going up to the classroom with my kids. I think Di was with me. Reminiscent of our English-teaching days perhaps. Then apparently they left out 3 gay students and the rest of the class did not want them to join in. Well, just their very discriminating class monitor who was very vocal abt not letting them join in and the rest of the class kinda kept quiet in silent agreement. and I was always one for fairness so I decided to create a great performance for them to perform just so they can show off to the world what they can do and how great they can be so they shouldn't be stigmatized. Anyway, I was showing the kids what they can do and I actually did a flamenco. Then Di said I had to wrong foot in front, that traditionally it should be the other foot in front. I was like, "Did you see how fast I moved those feet regardless of which one was in front?" I never thought I could do that! And the feverish tapping sounds that emanated from the feet!! Wow!! Anyway, we decided to dance to a rocked-up version of their school song. I have the song in my head and it was a nice tune. But I can't remember it now. I think Di and I were funking up the music, making electric guitar sounds and drumbeats. I think it was partly like School of Rock. Of course we had talented musicians in our midst of students who can do up the school song for the dance. And I was also conveniently and logically (who else would I dream of?) engaged to Mr. Jay Chou, and he has a studio and he was delighted to help arrange and produce the music w my kids. I was also planning my wedding to Jay as well. It was a GREAT dream. Then the alarm went off. I set it on snooze and dreamt a little bit more, about the recording part, then the alarm went off again and I woke up feeling so drunk. Sigh….good dream. Too bad I have to work. They should qualify good dreams as an excuse to take sick leave.

Anyway, yesterday had a big meeting with HR to discuss any issues we have regarding work. Well, I have one but I can't exactly say it out. HR manager says to vocalise any suggestions but please do not make complaints. Well, what else is left to say then? My suggestion is please, let my boss do what she has to do, not pass them over when things go bad. She handle things then when it goes bad, when she has to reject them or tell them bad news, she hands them over to me. I have to make the phonecall to apologise. I have to say no to the guest. Sometimes she'll give me an hour briefing just to keep me updated on this issue she was handling and that it has come to a point where she has to tell guest "No, cannot" so she tells me how to tell him. i find that greatly annoying. Why should i explain for her mistakes?

Just feeling a tad blue, thinking abt how much I'm not earning enough to take all this shit. apparently my salary is ludicrous for a foreigner with my language skills and that the hotel is rubbing their hands with glee at how they have cheated me to work for them at slave's cost.

It's dangerous to say I have nothing to do at work, cos the boss might be reading in. So I'll say instead that all my work is done. WEll...MOST of my work is safer and more politically correct. Work is never all done is it? And saying that only brings about Murphy's wrath and then more work will descent upon me. so what I do is do personality tests....anything i can get my hands on and more. It's such a cute site with so many different cute and fun tests. What am I to do? I'm a Kermit! By the way, I updated the previous blog many times a day so you'll always find a new test to take and compare with me. I took a short IQ test and apparently I'm an idiot when it comes to Maths. So who's surprised?

You Are Kermit

Hi, ho! Lovable and friendly, you get along well with everyone you know. You're a big thinker, and sometimes you over think life's problems. Don't worry - everyone know's it's not easy being green. Just remember, time's fun when you're having flies!

Ppppp...hhhh...eeee.....wwww.....

That is one big sigh of relief. Finally the group is gone. I've had my 2 days off to recuperate and refresh....

Must say though, that there is always a blessing lurking somewhere where you cannot see, cannot expect and cannot fathom how on earth could that have happened.

I really have to thank God for being everything and so much more to me.

I expected a lot more trouble from this group. Yes, they are disorganised and they gave me a huge headache. But at least they didn't complain in other areas. Like the rooms...thought maybe they would complain and give troubles abt putting some of them in king-sized beds cos twin beds were not enough. No complaints at all. Thought they might complain abt the location of the rooms, no complaints at all. And despite warnings about I****ns being very picky people when it comes to money matters....yes, this guy gave me a nosebleed when we were first negotiating the price, but at the end when he has to pay the bill, he just signed everything. Of course I had the book in order cos I thought he might be VERY picky abt the bill, but he just took a look at it, and if he used it he will pay. no more bargaining. Wow. Thank God.

And best of all, they were all so sweet upon check-out. Said they would love to come back, sorry for all the troubles etc...and then I got the biggest tip I could ever imagine. I got USD 400 from this guy....he gave the entire team USD 1600 but he said to split it 4 ways, my banquet manager gets one portion, i get one, the rest split as deem fit. Wow...but I know hotel policy. All tips must be shared. But still....I know money isn't everything but the compliments it can bring!! Now I feel justified. :)

I'm not sure if this happens to you, but when I hear a certain album, I'm reminded of certain chapters in my life.

Like now whenever I hear raggae, I think of Korea. now before you do a double take and ask "Korea???", it's cos it was the album in my CD player when I took a trip to Korea many years back. It was the album by Christafari. and I remember how embarrassed I was when the group tour leader ask me for my discman and then proceeded to take out the disc and put it on the main speaker on the coach we were on without telling me that was what he was going to do. Imagine the horror of the passengers when they woke up from their peaceful slumber to slurs of tropical raggae right in the middle of the Korean winterland.

Anyway, this morning I dug up an old album of Jay Chou's (yes, i'm still pining for him....I pine and I whine and I wish he would bloody come find me and marry me.) It was the album with that weird "Orange mandarin flower thingy name". If it was up to me to do the translation, it will be "seven miles fragrance." qi li xiang.

Oh yes...memories. It was the album I got when I first came to Phuket. It took me back to a place back in time where I was innocent and naive and still new to the big big world out there. I miss my friend, Dian, who was with me through thick and thin over there. Even though we grew independent as time passed and when work separated us, I miss those earlier days when we were inseparable. We were both bewildered and exhilarated at the life back then. Our room in the car-park next to the housekeeping exec with the aircon  which we only got to enjoy for 2 months. I remember planning for our lessons there, sitting in the barber chair snacking away while discussing what to do for lessons next day. Watching the volleyball action from our bedroom. Gossiping abt guys. Listening to Jay Chou in that room. Walking to class, running from snakes, doing catwalks at the back of the house, playing volleyball and badminton, watching the mist shroud the mountains at the back-view of our room....I rambling but I'm suddenly so nostalgic.

I really miss Dian. I'm now here in Phuket alone. I miss this friend who took care of me through my sickness and all. Me dislocating a toe at the poolside (that was embarassing), my food poisoning episodes, my operation...I miss the friend with whom I work through the day and night during the tsunami, when our family and friends were panicking for us, we only had each other and if anything had happen to either of us during the tsunami, it would have been unbearable to go on. When i was sitting at the mountain, I was so worried for her, kept calling her but kept getting the line was always busy as the network was jammed. In the end, I couldn't take being away alone and not knowing that if anything happens, how will I find her, my only connection to home. If anything happens,I would rather be with my friend so we can face everything together. But now we are all grown up and we have to close one chapter to start the next.

Amazing what music can do to stir up memories.

Crowd control, or rather the lack of it. Not to be disrespectful or what, it's just something I noticed, or at least with the group I currently have on hand (yes, the I****n group)I realise that computer people have no skills in organising people. I'm sure their outlook express is fantastically neat with logical folders and subfolders, I'm sure their blackberry keeps them updated right to the seconds, I'm sure they can use their excel to tabulate how many stars there are in the sky at a random time, but they sure suck with handling people.

Upon the group's arrival, I found out that in actual fact there are like 10 people in the working committee, all of whom except one (the idiot) i have never met and suddenly I have to re-tell my story and plan all the activities with these people. Great....but luckily I'm good with people (chey-ba) and I tried my very very very best to accommodate them...but really...first of all, they can't even confirm who is coming and who isn't. Secondly, they have no idea what time flight they are coming until the morning itself and then it becomes a game of catch who you can at the airport and send them here...then see if you sent them to the right hotel. Great....so I had my arms and legs full trying to accommodate their guest. They suck at getting information from their pple and getting datelines met in submitting namelist and flight details.

Fine. Now it's been 2 days so now everyone is settling in fine.

NOT.

First night they checked in, their organiser actually planned dinner for them. BUt guess what, they didn't put it in their agenda so pple started going out and having dinner everywhere except where it's paid for already. I was shocked to find an empty restaurant waiting for guests. Thank goodness they are paying anyway. If not I'll have hell from my FB.

Second night, they had a dinner party at another hotel, all paid for and all arranged for. We spent years on the menu (if you remembered my whinings) and guess what, his guests actually booked tickets to go see a show in town, skipping the dinner entirely. Talk about crowd control! You can't even get your participants to go for dinner.

Then tonight they have a party with us at the hotel. We changed meeting time from 6.30 p.m to 7 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. to 8 p.m. to whoever comes, come. At 8 p.m. they were still hanging around the lobby talking and checking their computer.What is it abt their laptops that they cannot leave for a few minutes?? So there goes our plans, our welcome dance, our big surprise and our programme. And they have no emcee among their pple so the whole program is like...er...ok...what now? And they don't listen. They have people making announcement up on stage and they are pleading their hearts out to be heard but no one is bothering. THe poor girl is up on the stage going 'excuse me, excuse me' and then one table is loudly cheering away (you know our chinese dinner "yam seng!!!") and then another table starts and the poor girl was like blabbering what her announcement was. (It was abt white-water rafting and I think I can forget abt pple turning up on time tomorrow since no one could hear the time)

I have been in several group committee and I know how important it is to get your pple to move to your agenda. I'll flip if I found out my participants are booking taxis on their own to go out to town when I planned everything for them at the hotel. I can't believe they bought their own package tours to go to the islands when white-water rafting is provided for tomorrow. Don't these pple know?? Don't they inform their participants what activities they are organising??

And don't mention teambuilding yesterday. My poor guest activities manager almost screamed her guts out giving instructions to the pple abt the games(like telematch with beach volleyball and kayaking), only to have them ask if they can play tennis and jet-skiing. THanks. For all that crap when we took so long to plan for you. And then....the silly organisers did not tell us they have senior citizens mostly....why in the first place did they agree to kayaking as part of teambuilding????!! WHY???? All the wheezing and panting at the end. Thank God we didn't have to make reservation for the Bangkok Phuket Hospital.

Sigh...it's an eye-opener. I think i've stopped complaining once I've accepted the fact that these organisers suck. It's not me. It's them. Please...take my advice. Please hire an event organiser if you are a computer company planning a meeting. They are paid to take headaches like you. THere's really nothing I can do. I think they are made that way.

Now I know why they sway their heads the way they do. WHen you meet one, you take a look at them, heave a deep sigh and swaaaayyyy.

Sigh...just realise I am really wasting a lot of energy on things I cannot change. So the organiser is an idiot. Now that everyone knows abt that, I should breathe easier cos anything that goes wrong is not my fault because I have done my best to prevent it but I am only human and limited to what I can do. I just feel bad for my team cos they are the ones receiving my instructions and I cannot give them until the last minute (because of certain brainless people) and they have to rush things through at the last minute. Maybe that's why i'm so pissed off with that idiot. He does not think abt others at all, just about himself and what he wants. Just a list of what idoitic things he has done just so I'll feel better this Monday morning (after Les Bleus lost the World Cup)

1. He told us to plan for teambuilding activities on saturday 15 July but 2 days ago he sent the latest agenda which he printed to all his delegates that teambuilding is on 13th July. It's not easy to shift the entire logistics to 2 days earlier for a group of at least 150 pax.
2. He is checking in today but he sent the namelist 2 days ago. Group is at least 160 pax and we have to quick assign rooms in the space of a few hours.
3. then he changed the rooming list so everyone has a different rooming partner so we have to find the original reservation, match it with the name and find who to replace and where.
4. He wants 1 minute check-ins for his group but he did not give complete passport number so guest has to spend time filling it in. Too bad idiot.
5. Then he provided the passport number in a separate excel sheet but not in chronological order with the rooming list so he must be insane to expect us to search the names one by one for 150 people to insert the passport number.
6. He told me he needed extra 20 rooms to put in his excess guests but despite me chasing him for exact number for a week, he only gave me the numbers 2 days ago. I had to confirm the 20 rooms with another hotel and in the end it ended up a WAY smaller number so someone's gonna scream at me for booking so many rooms.
7. He does not read page 2 of the menus so he keeps sending me 10 emails a day starting from 2 weeks ago saying not enough vegetarian food dishes when it's all in the second page. (tu es fou!)
8. Now he wants me to rent 2 printers and a copy machine. I gave him the price (if you go through the hotel, you pay the service charge to the hotel for our services.) and he complain too high (stingy asshole) and has not confirmed with me yet and he is coming in today. Bon chance, monsieur.
9. He told he has 180 pax coming so we set up the entire meeting room to put 180 pax. Not easy to shift chairs and tables for 180 pax and then now it's only 150 so I have to make the team re-arrange the meeting room AGAIN.
10. THE FACT THAT HE CONFIRMS EVERYTHING SO BLOODY LATE THAT EVEN IF WE CAN DO IT, WE CAN'T DO IT WELL AND IT'S IRRITATING TO DAMAGE MY REPUTATION LIKE THAT.    

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Next piece of news. Was at Oceans department store yesterday when I met my old qik, Chai. The guy I was head over heels when i first came to Phuket. We saw each other and we chatted a bit and I realised one thing. I am over my crush on him. And I feel so sad over that. Nothing is the same, EVERYTHING CHANGES and I realise IT ONLY TAKES A MINUTE GIRL, to fall in love, to fall in love. so I PRAY that I'll NEVER FORGET that LOVE AIN'T HERE ANYMORE, BABE, and maybe I should come BACK FOR GOOD.
**Sorry there,was in for a little Take That crap.

anyway, yeah...I think I stop expecting anything when I see him. It's over. It's a relief and it's sad at the same time. Now one more crush to get over. If i can get over this, i think I will be truly happy with my boyfriend.

First of all i apologise for all that angst-ridden blogs about the I****n group organiser. Unfortunately, this is going to be one of those angst-ridden ones and more. Sorry, but there is no other place that I can rant and rave and let the whole world know how stupid some people can get and how much idiocy I am up against every day.

2 days to check-in and guess what, I've only received 1/3 of the namelist of participants. This guy is deviously or stupidly refusing to send the final numbers of participants....so basically if there is not enough food, it's his big-ass bloody fault. I have a tentative hold on the extra rooms he's asked for and it's not freakin' fair that he does not get back because if the numbers turn out to be smaller than what i have blocked, then I'm gonna kick his bloody I****n ass right back to that hole where he crawled out from and stink up the days with his existence. Because I could have sold those rooms to others who wanted one. At a higher price. And if the numbers turn out bigger than what was asked for, then too bad Mr. Idiotic Pain-in-the-Ass, we have no more rooms so you better bring some tents to pitch. Because you will not get back to me at the required 14 days before check-in. I have NEVER EVER met a single event organiser as inefficient and as idiotic as him. Sure every event must have hiccups. But you must at least have your priorities right. Yeah, sure everyone is waiting to confirm their flights. Well, good luck then if you have flights but no rooms. It was stated very clearly and re-emphasized again and again that rooming list must be received 14 days prior to check-in. Well...it's now 2 days to check-in and i'm missing the majority of the group.

And not only that, this bloody freakin Pain-in-the-hole-of-the-ass sends me 10 emails a day because he is not happy with 1 or 2 dishes in the menu. Keeps asking me to increase variety. First of all, do you know no shame? You make us bleed by asking for such ridiculous prices, making us work with such a tight budget because you are stingy as a man sweeping the floor for bread crumbs for your next meal in your 10-bedroom mansion. No wait, making your servants sweep the floor for your next meal while they get nothing. A little bit of common sense will help...like maybe if you like more food, you have to pay more? You don't want to pay then who will actually buy the food? we're not MacDonalds, we don't have our own farm. And what about the service cost? Don't our staff get paid for serving you, for washing the dishes, for cooking the food, for setting up the place???

Anyway, he is so inefficient that the whole hotel knows abt it, so we all know that if things don't go well, it's all his fault. Because he cannot make the bloody decisions. Because He cannot prioritise his work. Because he has naan for brains.

Do you ever realise how important makeup is to a lady? It beautifies but it can also destroy whatever natural good looks you have. I mean just look at Mimi from Drew Carey show and you'll get what I mean. But this morning I've had a very privileged showing of the art of putting on makeup.

I take the morning staff bus to work every day (well, days that I work. Duh!) and this morning I had to share a seat with this Thai lady. She's the typical Thai lady, all petite and dark skinned. Every morning I see her on the bus I've always wondered why she looks so peculiar. Even my friends think so. i'll explain how peculiar it can be later. Anyway, so today by chance I got to sit with her and she hasn't had her makeup on yet so she was putting it on on the bus next to me. Amazing what a little makeup pouch can contain. And what deft movements. one hand with the mirror the other deftly putting on the colours. And the movements of searching through the pouch while holding a mirror and a brush. Amazing. Usually I only take 15 min for makeup for work cos it's the usual foundation, eye shadow, mascara and blush. This lady sharpened her eye pencil, cotton-budded her face, lip-lined her lips, drew in her eyebrows, and etc and etc. I just spend the entire trip to work on the bus watching her.

Anyway, I finally realised why she looked so peculiar every morning and have come up with several makeup rules for people with dark skin.

1. It is not advisable to use very light eye makeup when you are dark-skinned. And if you do, try not to spread it too far out. Yes it lightens the eye area and brightens your eyes BUT you can also end up looking like you went swimming for a long time in the sun with the goggles on. It was a hot look in Japan for a while but not anymore. Those people look that way cos they wear protective eye wear while getting in the self-tanning booth.
2. It is not advisable to use blush powder that has a very reddish/pinkish base. Now I know why this lady next to me looks like char siew every morning. She has a roasted look to her, brown and red.....now I think of wanton mee when I think of char siew.
3. Try not to use lipstick with a brownish base to it. This lady lip-lined her lips with her eyebrow lining pencil, which was dark brown. Very peculiar choice. Are eyebrow lining pencils poisonous?

So the end effect was this lady ended up with super bright eyes that escaped the tanning process, char-siew skin on the face and very dark lips, a darker brown against the brown of her skin, which was pretty dark to begin with. She applied her makeup with such skill and such dexterity, but then it's amazing what the end product doesn't match the skill involved.

don't get me wrong, I do like this lady. i don't know her name but I like her. she was really helpful. Once when i was desperately going to miss the bus she stopped her motorbike by the road and brought me to the bus stop. I just wish I could help tell her to try different colours...

You're Hot 'n' Sexy

When you enter a room, all eyes gravitate toward you. Like a moth to a flame, people can't help but notice you. Maybe it's how you casually move through a crowd or that glow you give off when you flash that smile. You're hot and it shows. Could it be the haircut that says it all about you, the jeans that fit just right, or the casual way you saunter across a room looking confident from all angles?

You have an air about you that commands respect from men and women alike. You possess such outward strength that these people ache to be around you. When you speak, people hang on your every word. You are so full of charisma and cachet that, whether in a business or social setting, you can gauge the mood in the room and offer the right compliment or provocative statement for any scene. Do you have a secret intuition about how people work? Just maybe. And that's one of the sexiest things about you.

What Kind of Sexy Are You?
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It looks like your romantic fantasy is the Romantic Rescue

Tied up on the railroad tracks, stranded on a desert island, locked inside a castle tower — where is your hero to save you? From Indiana Jones to the fire brigade to a brilliant doctor, there's just something about a fearless and courageous man that fuels your fantasies.

Sure, there's nothing like a man in uniform — rippling muscles, sexy swagger, valiant spirit. But you know better than to hold out for a real-life Robin Hood to rescue you from the daily grind. You'll always have your dreams...and Halloween.

What's Your Romantic Fantasy?
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