Gen Powell (Ret)

I had a chance to attend a speech by General Colin Powell this afternoon, at the Moscone Convention Centre, San Francisco.

I can never thank God enough for creating this opportunity for me. I've always held this man in awe. I first knew him when I was in Sec 2. At that time, he was at the helm of the war in Iraq and because I was so interested in reading all the news about him, my general knowledge, especially on the topic of the war improved by leaps and bounds. In secondary school, the teachers wanted to force the students to read the newspapers so we had semester's tests on the happenings in Singapore & the rest of the world. I'm proud to say that I passed them with flying colours.

Today, he did not disappoint me. His speech was truly motivating, truly inspirational. He shared his experience on how he communicated with the janitors in the barracks and the hotdog seller along Park Avenue. He told stories on the vast difference from being a General whose presence was vital in the Oval room to a retired nobody, on how he now has to fly just like you & me as his 757 has been taken over by Hilary Clinton. He advised on how a good leader runs an organization successfully. He talked about Gorbachev and the role he played in the fall of the Berlin Wall and the break up of the Soviet Union (although up till today I still have doubts if this was a good move).

It's quite unfortunate that I was not able to take a picture with him. Nevertheless, I'm bringing home with me, words of wisdom, which will always be on my mind as I make decisions in my life, personal & work.

Cool toilet bowl

I was last in Seoul end 2005, beginning 2006.. not too long ago. 3 years later, they've the coolest, most hygienic toilet bowl seat I've ever seen! Just press the red button & the plastic on the seat rotates to a new sheet!

Playboy?

I came back from work a couple of days back and was surprised to see what Jilliane had doodled! What does this look like? 2 fingers? Playboy? *GASP* choy choy choy..

Oh boy, Hugh Hefner, go away!!!!!

老花眼

Baby girl broke my pair of glasses recently. I feel sad cos this pair has been with me for years! I just needed to change the lenses whenever my degree shifts. But on other hand, I'm glad to finally have a good reason to get new pair of glasses.

Since I hit 20, I've always thought myself lucky that my degree stopped increasing. Someone told me that's because I've stopped growing. Ok, that sort of makes sense.

Somehow when I reached into my late twenties, my degree began to drop. For the past years, it continued to drop steadily. Yesterday, I tested my eyes and now it's R 125, L 200. I can even do away with astigmatism in my lens. I was secretly smiling to myself, happy that perhaps one day perfect eyesight will come back to me without having to do any lasik. Can't bear the thought of being awake whilst my eyes are being cut open.

Alas, my happiness was shortlived. Just as I was about to step out of the shop, the optician told me that at my age, my degree should be stabilised. Contrary, degree dropping is an early symptom of impending 老花眼. Oh my! I went into panic mode. What should I do to combat this? She says take many breaks when using the computer, I should always put on glasses when using the computer (the multi-coated lens apparently do make a difference) and to take many breaks and to look at more greenery.

Age IS catching up.

Click to add to cart, click to check out

oooo... I haven't learnt my lesson from my online shopping spree when I was pregnant with JD!

I've just clicked my 2nd purchase from Amazon and it's USD300+ in 2 days down the drain..

Online shopping is just way too easy, way too convenient that it becomes incredibly addictive. Just click to add to cart & click to check out.

AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Damage done:(

STUPID AUSTRALIANS

Warning: do NOT read this post if you LOVE Aussies.

I loathe them. They are stupid, they are lazy. They are the dumbest people on this planet. DISCOVER WEST HOLIDAYS IS AN AUSTRALIAN COMPANY THAT NOONE SHOULD EVER BOOK TOURS WITH.

I emailed them my taxi receipt for reimbursement and told them to do the refund to my credit card.

A month later, I received an A$ cheque in my mail. I do not have an A$ bank account so I emailed them AGAIN to ask them to refund to my credit card.

After a week of no reply, I emailed them with the subject URGENT.

They finally replied and said they will only do the refund if I mail them back the cheque. I told them, that will only incur extra postage charge at my end and told them to stop the cheque instead. I mean, it's no fault of mine that they sent the cheque to me in the 1st place.

They replied, NO, they cannot stop the cheque and will not refund me if I do not return the cheque to them and they will no longer continue this discussion.

DISGUSTING.