The blue hippos
I was walking around Bugis Junction and came upon these stacks of familiar looking hippo-themed items in Watsons.
Looks familiar?
Absolutely! Refer to my post on
Turkey Turkey Nite! Those 2 items (towel rack & tissue box holder) are what I have drawn for the gift exchange! And my! They only cost a total of $4.95! I spent a total of $8.10 for my gift and got back only $4.95. To think that I got another towel rack as a result of a surplus of gifts, if not, what? Only $2.475 worth of returns!
Gosh.. Those people.. didn't the email write MINIMUM $5 for the gift item? Oh yes, the blue hippo also ain't anyhow related to Pooh Bear.
Found... and lost
We went to watch Alvin & The Chipmunks with A and HB at Plaza Singapura. Very cute show with lotsa singing and dancing. I didn't even know that the chipmunks already had albums way back in the 1960s! Their cartoon-ish looks resemble more like little boys than chipmunks. I like their look in this movie better; they looked more like rodents, or the Chip & Dale in disney's cartoon.
I used to like Alvin the best, cos he is the only one with an alphabet on his sweater. And he wears a cap. Simon looks nerdy with his pair of old-style round glasses. But he sure does look very cool with a pair of Oakley. Hehe. Now I like Theodore the most. Endearing, chubby and clumsy. He wears green too!
Hee, I googled the website and re-remembered the 3 female chipmunks - Brittany, Eleanor & Jeanette. A pity that they weren't featured in this film. Maybe a sequel!
After the show, we paid a visit to the toilets. And ta da! I found a purple-colored Samsung slider phone resting on the toilet-roll holder inside the cubicle! My first thought was that it probably belonged to the lady who just came out of the cubicle. That lady might be standing outside waiting for me to be done before retrieving her phone. But no, there was nobody waiting for me. I played with the thought of keeping the phone for myself. But alas, my conscience got the better of me and I reported the lost to the customer service counter.
That phone looks something like the one on the right.
FlashbackI lost my beloved W800i around the same time last year. It was nearing Dec (before we went to Hanoi) that the phone pouch dropped out of my pocket in one of the theatres in Orchard Cineleisure. Unlike the lady who got the phone back from me, I lost mine forever. That idiot switched off the phone minutes after finding it. I was terribly angry and upset; I paid $638 for the phone under a 2 year contract!
Anyway, Tempest and I got into a discussion that same night about whether to return lost phones or to keep it. He made a very good point about how distressed the owner could be if the finder just simply kept the phone. Especially now that phones are able to contain so much information. How not to relate to that when I just lost my phone? :-(
Now...After our dinner, I received a call from an unfamiliar number. The lady whose phone I found gave me a call to thank me. Her accent revealed that she's probably from China. She even sent me an SMS wishing me a merry christmas and having good retribution for doing a good deed. Haha.. I really hope so. Like I told Tempest, "I wish that by doing this, I won't lose my new phone now..."
Turkey Turkey Nite!
Theme: Turkey Turkey Nite
Venue: Singapore Recreational Club
Date: 18 Dec 2007, Tuesday
Time: 7.30pm
Gift exchange item: Pooh-related item.
Gift budget: $5
That's our department's Christmas dinner! Organized and entirely paid for by my boss. The country head, sector head, department heads were also invited, along with 20 odd members from System & User Support, my unit, a.k.a. SUS.
FoodFood was pretty good! Lamb chops with mint sauce, lemon fish with butter sauce, SRC's famous curry chicken, potato salad, fruit salad, fried rice, mixed vegetables, ham roll with asparagus, sweet corn, bread pudding, almond jelly with longan, pasta, chocolate log cake and of course, a nice succulent roast turkey with chestnut filling! Oh, there was the red wine too!
With such a spread, I chiong for the worthy items: lamb, fish, beef, turkey and the salads. The lamb was so-so, any possible hint of mint was probably overpowered by the thick brown sauce. Meat was tender though but not exactly very tasty. I took 3 medium-sized pieces. The fish was good! I took 3- 4 slices. The roast beef though tender, is not sweet. Maybe it lacks the accompaniment of raw salt! I took only one slice. The turkey was juicy, pretty appetizing. I took only a chunkful that my colleague cut for me. The potato salad was amazingly good. Mixed with a portion of fruit salad, it added sweetness to the chunky potatoes. I had 2 servings of that. :-)
GiftsThe theme was set to be pooh-related items. Most of us are guessing that it's because my boss likes pooh bear. She has loads of plushy pooh bears morphed in various shapes, sizes and patterns in her office. The big Pooh that was meant to be a lucky draw item was also "misappropriated" and now sits comfortably in her office. Instead, a hamper containing chocolates and other food stuffs was substituted with.
I went around Tampines Mall and Century Square scouting for a somewhat useful pooh bear item. No soft toys. No plushy handphone holders. No cups. I was telling myself not to get those. Firstly they are too common, secondly, they are not within my budget of $7 - 10. Alas! I went into Isetan and chanced upon a very pretty towel with Pooh Bear sewed on it. At $7.90, it matched my budget. Pretty common gift item too, but not so much in my dept. Heh. The biggest bargain I had though was the wrapping paper. 20 cents! And it had pooh bears on it! How much better can it get?!
A lucky draw was also conducted. The country head dipped her hand into a box filled with the names of all those who were invited to attend the party. The first name she drew was not present. The second name she drew was a guest from HR. Hehe, as guest, she decided to donate back the gift - pressure from the country head. Haha. The third name she drew was a young guy from our unit - nicknamed 'Xiao Di' (Little Brother). The second lucky draw item - the hamper - also landed in the hands of 'Xiao Mei' (Little Sister) from SUS.
Next was the gift exchange which took place in the form of 'lucky draw'. All the gifts were collected and labeled with a number. A box containing the same numbers were passed around. I collected No. 38 and this was it:
There were a surplus of gifts left uncollected. So another round of lucky draw. Hee, I was one of the more lucky ones to get hold of one of them. It was No. 37:
Hehe. Looks so similar eh? Of course, Watson's products. It must have made a pile from selling all these little gift items.
One additional thing worth noting: all those who got the surplus gifts all stayed around Buangkok!
Can't wait to get out
I had been attending interviews for the past few months. Some similarity amongst them:
1) All 3 organizations were from the banking/financial industry.
2) All 3 positions were referred to me by my ex-colleagues.
3) I went through 2 interviews at each of the 3 organizations.
4) All 3 were located in the CBD.
I was rejected by the first organization, H.
B, the second organization said they really liked me, but can't wait for me to serve a month's notice. They interviewed me for 2 contract roles on separate occasions, and I lost both to those who can start work earlier than me.
S, the third organization, replied my email yesterday saying that they are still assessing other candidates and cannot provide me with an outcome yet. They have been assessing for 2 weeks already!
Today, my ex-colleague (SB) who is working in B now sms-ed me. She told me that her boss is preparing to interview me again for a different role. Not sure what role it is. Her boss wishes to speak to me first; the Brit doesn't want to reveal much to SB either.
I really hope that I get either the one in S or B.
