What a week…

Last week was a bad, bad, bad, bad week…

Firstly, my lower-left wisdom tooth was really driving me nuts. Sick and tired of the constant, dull (but sometimes sharp) pain, I called up my dentist and decided to get the bugger out once and for all. Had the surgery (a mini one but still a surgery nonetheless!) on Wednesday (25Jul) morning.

OH-MY-GOSH. That was &^#$* painful! Either my dentist is lousy or somehow I am immune to the 3 jabs of anesthesia that he poked into my gums, I could still feel pain when he stitched my wound?! Even he muttered “weird that you can feel pain at this point”

But the worst pain came like 2 hrs after the surgery when the anesthesia wore off and I was left rolling on my bed, groaning with pain. My left cheek started to swell and my face kinda looked lope-sided. And strangely, I developed blue-black bruises at my lower left check as well.

Weaken by pain and the lack of food, I, somehow caught a really, nasty flu bug and started coughing, sneezing, body aching all over and at the same time, still gripping with the maddening pain at my lower left cheek.

Was really sick during the past weekend and decided to see a doctor about my flu. The doc took a look at the antibiotics that my earlier dentist prescribed and screamed, “Why are you eating amoxicillin when you are allergic to penicillin? No wonder you are not getting well?!”

O manz, so I was munching on poison instead of medicine, no wonder my body was protesting. So the doc gave me another set of antibiotics, cough syrup, anti phlegm pills and some small little green pills to let me sleep better at night instead of coughing my lungs out.

Amid, the coughing and the aching at home, I was still watching the markets rather keenly but stock markets across the world had a minor correction last week, which means that I am not earning much this month. What the hell…

All in all, it was a really shitty week. But I am on the road to recovery. Feeling slightly better already. At least I’m no longer coughing my lungs out.

The only consolation – I passed my CFA level 1! *Yeah!* I can finally move on to level 2 next June. Think I gotta start studying sometime in Sept. O boy.

Bad morning…

Today must be the WORST morning of 2007 ( I hope!)

First, I woke up feeling as if I did not sleep at all. Somehow, my sleep was interrupted and instead of feeling fresh and well-rested, I felt as if I had been awake the whole night.

I looked into the mirror and saw my huge eye bags and dark shadows that no concealer seemed to help.

Fed-up, and late for work, I simply rushed out, looking like shit.

On the train, I was yawning at the rate of 25 times/min. I just felt so god-damn tired!

“Never mind, things will be better after my coffee” as I muttered to myself as I was getting off the shuttle bus to my office and was walking, walking, walking and suddenly…

SPAT.

I tripped and fell.

In front of a bunch of tourists from China!!!

And my right knee hurt like hell as it took almost all of my body weight when I fell. It now hurt so much that I’m wondering whether I fractured my kneecap.

Those tourists tried to help me up but I managed to get up by myself, picked up my composure, wore my heels and continued to walk in style.

Behind me, I could hear those HORRIBLE tourists laughing and commented that maybe my shoes were too big. I just wana say 2 words: BAD KARMA.

Now, I am hobbling around as I can’t bend my right leg and I seriously don’t think I can run for the next 1 week at least.

Argh. Just my unlucky day!

Banyan Tree, indeed!

Dinner on the "rocks" - a romantic setting for a couple

View of the sea from my villa

Villas

I went for a 2days-1night, super short holiday to Bintan (Indonesia) just the previous Sunday. BF and I checked into the uber Banyan Tree resort and spa, the acclaimed 6 stars resort, and I must say I am totally impressed!

The stay was rather expensive, but it worth every, freaking penny. I felt like a Javanese princess, surrounded by the lush and beautiful scenery. My villa was facing the South China Sea and the view simply took my breath away…

The service was excellent and the spa experience was mind blowing! The massage was really good, where it was done in a “spa villa” just for the two of us. It felt extremely exclusive. The spa started with a foot bath and a short foot massage at the upper floor of the villa, and once again, there was the beautiful view of the sea and the beach. Then we descended to the lower floor where we chose the type of incense and the type of massage oil to use. After that, we proceeded to a 90-minute full body massage that just melted my body. And to end it off, we had a light refreshment with fresh fruits and hot ginger tea. Hmmm… very therapeutic!

Oh, did I mention about the Jacuzzi in my villa? Just heavenly… looking at the sea, listening to the waves and soaking in a Jacuzzi, sipping champagne. Ahhhh…. That’s life.

I will definitely go for another Banyan Tree spa experience again. I’m day dreaming about my trip to Maldives already…

Property prices going crazy!

Currently, there is only one topic among Singaporeans and that is "PROPERTY".

A typical conversation will be:

"How? Got buy property or not?"

"Where got money to buy?!? It's getting crazy, even HDB flat can sell for $720,ooo. I think I should change job and be a property agent instead."

Below is an article taken from The Business Times, 6 Jul 2007. I just find this extremely entertaining. Enjoy!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Published July 6, 2007. “Business Times”

Every property agent has his day

By JAIME EE

MORNING. Wake up. Brush teeth. Practise saying, 'Sorry, we already have an offer, but if you're keen you can try and offer more' in as convincing a tone as possible. Or, if it's a very rushed day, shorten it to 'Your offer too low'.

Get dressed, go and take quick look at car - a nice new BMW financed with commissions from selling high-floor HDB flats with a view of the sea. This is not to be confused with apartments that are 'facing sea', because in this case there might be several housing estates between said apartment and actual sea. Even so, it is not wrong to advertise it as 'facing sea' because it is technically correct. But never mind. Take good look at BMW and allow yourself a well deserved smirk of satisfaction.

OK, start working. Phone starts to ring, mostly from potential buyers whose reaction to your asking prices ranges from 'How much did you say?', 'Ha?' or 'Are you crazy?!' in various languages or dialects. Ordinarily, you would embark on your smooth sales talk: 'It's facing the sea. It's only just renovated last year. The owners already have many offers so if you're keen you just have to join the queue.' Alternatively, if a successful deal was closed yesterday, there is no need to engage in smooth sales talk and a simple 'take it or leave it' will do.

Finally, one buyer says 'OK' and wants to view the place. Immediately, your suspicions arise. Is that a serious buyer or another agent trying to muscle in on your deal? Weigh the pros and cons and decide to take the safe option by not giving the caller the actual address. Instead, tell him to meet you at the nearest petrol station.

On second thoughts, play it safe and arrange to meet him in Ang Mo Kio before driving to the actual location in Tiong Bahru. During the ride, it becomes increasingly clear that the guy is a rival. No problem. You bring him to another block, give him a fake unit number and tell him to go and see the owner first while you park the car. Then you go to the real location and gloat.

Phone rings. No, it's not the guy you left at the wrong address. It's another potential buyer. Talk to him for a while and it turns out to be another agent who wants to be your co-broker. You tell him to keep his paws off in no uncertain terms. You hang up and daydream about the new sports rims you are thinking of getting for your new BMW.

Spend the afternoon dealing with unrealistic clients. Try to convince owner of fourth-floor flat in Jurong West that there is no way that having a canal in front qualifies as a waterfront view. After that, try to explain to another potential seller that being located within walking distance of a highly rated prawn noodle stall is no reason to ask for $250,000 above valuation. Remind yourself that this is why you prefer to deal with prime district properties, where all you have to say is 'District 9,10,11, near IR and Sentosa' to get clients to pull out their cheque books.

Finally, at the end of the day, you go home, park your BMW and enter your newly renovated home - another day, another one per cent downpayment cheque. Yes. Life is good for the Singapore property agent. Now, to go get those new sports rims.

If you can, please adopt a pet from SPCA

I am proud to announce that I am a member of the SPCA, in fact, I just joined the membership today and have also enclosed a GIRO form to donate to the SPCA on a monthly basis.

Why the sudden kind gesture?

All along I’m an animal lover, many of you should know that I have 7 cats at home and one of them is adopted from the SPCA! All my cats are strays and 6 of them are adopted when they were closed-eyed-hamster-look-alike kittens, which means that my family spent many days and nights, bottle-feedings the kitties, or else, they would have starved to death.

By the way, all of them have been neutered.

I was reading an acquaintance’s blog and it seems that she and her hubby had just bought a puppy. And I can’t help feeling a little sad.

There are so many cute doggies, waiting for a family to take them home and yet, most people are always more keen to BUY a new puppy instead of giving these older dogs a chance. It doesn’t help that most of the dogs being put up for adoption are NOT HDB approved, thus, if you know of anyone who is staying in a private apartment or better still, a house with a garden, please encourage them to adopt a pet instead of buying one.

There are also cats, rabbits and hamsters for adoption. So, any pet lovers who have the intention to get a pet please do consider adopting one from the SPCA instead.

Here’s the link to the animals being put up for adoption:
http://www.spca.org.sg/adoption/adoption.asp