Orchid

I am pleasantly surprised when I came out of my office building lift to see that they had placed pots of orhids at the lift area. It brighten the place immediately. I was not the only one surprised, I saw some people even touching the orchids etc. It seemed that many people are nicely surprised by it.

Talking about Orchids, I think I have no green fingers. Actually I quite like orchids and sitting outside the corridor of my unit are 4 pots of orchids I have over different times. The thing is, there are no flowers, only leaves ever since I bought them blooming with flowers at the time of purchase. I bought fertilizers and cut their stems etc (someone told me it would work) but still could not convince the plants to flower. I often heard that orchids are easy to manage. But hmmm, my plants are tough and disobedient indeed. :)

Natural Disasters

Today's news -- Earthquake in Java Island. Recently there seems to be an onslaught of natural disasters happening in Asia. Typhoon, Earthquake, Tsuanmi, Floods ...

Indeed, there have been quite a few earthquakes in Indonesia in the past few weeks. Really emphathize with the people living in Sumatra. It seems that they have more than their fair share of disasters and life seems so uncertain for them in the past couple of years. It must be stressful to live under such uncertainty especially worrying about the safety. Hopefully those homes destroyed will be rebuild soon.

It is often say that the reconstruction process usually takes a number of years though donors and outsiders tend to concentrate their effort in the short aftermath of the disasters. Lets hope that these people will not be forgotten and they can rebuild their lives with courage and hope.

Bazaar

The Pasar Malam (temporary night bazaar) has come to my neighbourhood! I was surprised to come back at night to see so many shops along the walkways.

I like night bazaars! Though I seldom buy from the shops there, mostly only buy food items like snacks etc from them, but I like the color and vibrancy that the night bazaar brings to the neighbourhood. Many people will be walking around and browsing through the shops.

When I was walking past last night, one store particularly stand out. Is a store crowded by mosty guys. At first I thought it was a store that probably sell guys stuff until I looked closely. Is actually a store that sell face cream. All of its sale promoters are guys and they managed to pull a number of guys to test out the face cream on their faces in public! Wow cool! Is good to break the stereotypes of the gender.

Happy Toilet School

Today was an eventful day, was nearly locked up in a room and was trying to get people's attention and knocking on the door so hard that my hand went red. Anyway I managed to get out myself after a while and a small scare. Quite a silly episode haha.

Just now on my way back home, while walking pass a primary school, one of their banners caught my attention. The Banner was about the school being a "Happy Toilet School". I did a double take to confirm I am not hallucinating in the dark night! ;>

Not a doubt, the banner clearly wrote Happy Toilet School. Wow! Certainly a new program to me. There are now many programs ongoing for different groups of people that are new to me. Apparently according to the Restroom Association's website, it is a program to inculcate Good Toilet Etiquette, Personal Hygiene Habits and Social Responsibility to the Students. Wow, what a mission! :)

Online Shopping

Wow I finally made my first online purchase of clothes this Wednesday! More of driven by my colleague. She was very eager and went around looking for online sites and found one that she like. The thing though is that a minimum purchase of 12 items and 2 items per design is needed. So she roped me in. It is actually an online retailer from Hong Kong.

It was so exciting when I looked at the website. Wow all the clothes look so reasonably priced and nice! I find it hard to differentiate whether it is the cothes that are nice or the models that are making the clothes look so nice haha. :) Was tempted to buy many designs. But restricted ourselves to the minimum purchase first as we do not know the quality. Some friends mentioned that the quality of the clothes they received were quite different from what they see online. Hoping that this online retailer will be different.

I just received a message from her that the clothes had arrived in her house by courier! Wow that is really fast! It takes only three days to arrive from Hong Kong??? Wow unbelievable! Already looking forward to seeing the parcel on Monday! :)

Jie Mei

Was the Jie Mei (Jie Mei is something like a bridemaid but much less official than that for wedding in Singapore) for my cousin wedding last weekend. It was quite a packed day as my cousin has quite a lot of activities packed on her wedding day.

There is an old Chinese saying that one should not be a Jie Mei for more than three times as it does not bode well for the person. That is why some friends did reject nicely after they have had been Jie Mei for a few times. Oh no;>........ I have exceeded my quota, like the 27 wedding dresses movie (but of course not so many times haha). Whatever the saying, I feel it is my honor to be asked to take part in others' happiness. :)

My cousin's wedding was held in Sentosa. She really did a lot of planning. I was surprised when she tailor made dresses and bought the same shoes for all the Jie Mei(s). Usually in other weddings I attended, we were given a color theme and we bought the clothes/shoes ourselves. During her dinner, there were also performances throughout the duration of the meal. I saw Bryan Wong too, he was the MC for that night. He is actually very good looking closed up. Also looked like a cheerful person. Quite a number of people took pictures with him.

It was really quite a different wedding. I hope though she enjoyed herself despite her hectic schedule.

Joyful People

Stepping out of the lift, I was greeted by a beautiful and joyous voice. Hmmm.... who is this person? From her attire, I could see that she must be one of those Tzi-chi volunteers that come to my block every month to collect recycleables. The lady was holding on to a trolley and singing merrily in a soft voice to herself. I think she must be passing her time while waiting for the other volunteers.

I went up to talk to her to ask her whether she would like the old newspaper that had been stacking up at home. While speaking to her, I felt she exuded an attractive air of joy and cheerfulness. Its really attractive. Joyfulness can be infectious. Even if I might not be feeling my best before meeting her, she had infected me with her cheer and made my day! :)

I really respect and admire people like her. Because they make the world a better place for all of us. I guess it is probaby second nature to them. Thank you, Angel of my day! :)