2008

The year of 2008 is ending.

Many things have come to pass this year.  I have gotten married, delivered a baby boy, sold my apartment and moved in with my aunt.

Many more things need to come by 2009.

Right now, I am putting up in a 3 room HDB flat.  This is the first time that I had all my possession and staying in a HDB flat.  It feel so different.  Its unbelieveable.  The doggies are under stress as well.  Chewie is not eating and Noodlez is peeing all over the place.  We cant imagine what it will be like once the baby comes.

Basically, we need to move out soon.  I am looking forward to that.

2008 had been a good year.

Before I forget, I would like to thank inventors for inventing good disposable diapers.

Baby Xavier Dance moves

On Xmas eve, the mother was practicing this welcome dance.

It Baby X’s first Xmas.  We decided to park him with my in-laws so that we can have some time to rest and pack up for the move.  My Milly(aka Mother In Law) is totally in love with her grandchild.  They said that they have never seen another baby with as many facial expression as X.

Also, they are saying that he picked up the Oooo habit from me.  As shown below:

Burping a baby

This is instructed by the doctor.  No..I wasnt trying to be funny.

The real world

We live in a real world.  The landlords in this country only know one thing.. profitability.  Most of these landlords are garment related companies.  So called privatized corporation, which needs to watch their own profit margin.  Nevermind where they get their startup monies from and never mind that their assets are acquired through some legislative means from the real private sector.  They have no obligation to the citizens of the country..coz they are privatized.

Its like if I get $1,000 from you to start a business.  Ten years later, I pay you back that $1,000 with 2.5% annual interest.  But my business success has nothing to do with you.  There may be times when you even bail me out of bad investments….but I have no obligation to you as long as I pay you that $1,000.  And I did not borrow this $1,000 to start with.  I am supposed to be holding it on your behalf.

So thats the hard fact of life here.

So yesterday, I read that JTC and Premas are going to raise rental and demolish a low rental area (near Holland V) and an old flat (near Serangoon) that is housing a number of aspiring artists.  Well, I would say that why did you guys not listen to your parents and be a engineer or banker.  Oh… we are in the middle of a financial crisis.  Well, you should not have study fine arts.  There is no profit in it. This is the reality of this pore.

If I ever want a pet snake, this would be it.  But this is not a wishlist, this snake is an endangered species, I rather have it stay in its naturally habitat.

This is so cool. It will also burn a 500 size hole in the pocket. Oh well, why do I need a watch like thing for? I dun even wear watches.

Baby shower

So Baby X is now 1 month old. We had a small celebration for him at Masonic Club.

It was supposed to be a happy occasion. But its ruined by the moronic managing staff of the place.

Managing Expectation – No one can be upset when everything goes the way they expected. When I met with the manager, he told me the layout of the place on this day. He did not indicate that I would not get the layout or the entire area if I did not have the MAXIMUM capacity (140pax) of the place. If he had told me, I would have gladly paid for the minimum expediture for the entire place. What is this guy thinking? Am I operating an SMRT train? I do not want to max out to the maximum capacity of the place, it will just be cramping all my guests into a miserable space. I want a comfortable environment with a classic ambiance. Is that too much to ask for?

Attentiveness – I do not expect the world for the ‘little’ money that I am spending for a lunch reception. I do expect some attention from the manager. I arrived half an hour earlier of the starting time of the reception and he was not even there to greet me. The layout was completely different and no one knows what is going on enough to make amendments right away. I told a staff to call the manager immediately and the answer that I received was a simply ‘he is on his way’. Now this answer may be acceptable to most people, but not me. It was 20mins before my reception and I expect someone who know what the heck is going on to be attending to me immediately. So I demanded that they give me the phone number of the manager or get him on the line so that I can talk to him.

Handling a problem – The manager came in as I was telling off the staff at how I would throw the tables which is infringing on the area promised to me. He claimed that he never promised me the entire area. He also said that his capacity is 140 and he is in no wrong. Ok, that got me fuming even more. I told him that he has no idea how to run a reception or an establishment such as theirs. And I proceeded to explain to him about the two points mentioned above. Now that got him upset. He was mumbling something about he is in no wrong and started walking away. So I told him ‘Come back here. You have not excused yourself to go away and I have not given you the permission to do so.’. So in the end, he had his staff rearranged to a more satisfactory layout and started putting partitions as the event started. You can imagine the chaos.

Planning ahead – As my reception came to an end at 2.30pm, I noticed that the staff furiously started cleaning up. That was when I saw groups of guests started to sit in the some tables that were reset. For a place of hospitality, they are planning half an hour for their turnover. Its probably great for business. But its so stupid for organisation. To think that they are professions here. What a moron.

Hence, the next time you plan an event. Please avoid The Moronic Club.

Baby X video

This little thing called X

Home not Alone

Baby X is settling well back at home. Of course, he doesnt know that we are moving soon. If he knows, he is not caring very much about it.

I really do not like being at home now. There is a stranger about. Dun get me wrong, the confinement lady is nice enough. A bit absent minded and messy though. She has invaded my kitchen. Its a wet and smelly place now. I do not care much for that.

The drama with the confinement lady is that another lady is supposed to be helping us, Auntie SC. But because the baby came early and Auntie SC is helping with the wedding of her nephew, she is not able to come so she asked her neighbour, Auntie XM, to come in her stead during the first two weeks.

So Auntie XM came to help. She is totally unaware that she is supposed to be only here for the first two weeks. Apparently, Auntie SC left out this part of the information. So now, Auntie XM really wants to stay for the full month. She likes Xavier a lot and she said that she has nothing to do at home.

Sigh…hence the drama continues.

Quantum of so so

I caught a bit of the new James Bond movie. The movie is full of fast action that cut from explosive scene to scene.

It sucks as a James Bond movie. I walked out before the movie was through. This bond is just too cold, too angry and too vengeful. There is no charm. There are 2 scenes where he supposedly seduced the woman in those scenes with a one liner. Its more like the woman is seducing him and asking him to put his mission on hold for them. I would think that the Bond spirit is more than other way around.

The new concept makes a great action movie. But it failed miserably as a Bond movie. Maybe the world is no longer into the charm and suave of a gentleman spy. If that is the case, they should just retire the whole concept and make a real action movie.