Saying no to hot and spicy food
Posted on March 11, 2010 - Filed Under Health
I love spicy food that I even put chili in almost everything that I cook. That’s why I loved McDonald’s spicy mcchicken. Before, my stomach didn’t get upset for at least 8 hours after hot and spicy food intake. Now, I normally take a trip to the toilet less than an hour later. A friend told me to try colon cleansing: take more food that are high in fiber, this would serve as thermogenic fat burner, too, and Yakult or yogurt. The problem is, I’ve been so lazy to cook lately that I prefer to munch on unhealthy food. I don’t even want to prepare salad. Most of the vegetables I buy end up in the trash and I don’t want to waste food. But if this colon cleansing thing would condition my tummy to take spicy food again, then I’ll do it.
What next?
Posted on March 11, 2010 - Filed Under Blogging
Bisdak Babbles was previously my online journal mostly about my experiences in Japan. Japan is really a beautiful and interesting country. I could even write much about just the change of seasons. But since Singapore is only warm whole year round, I could not babble more about the weather except that it is so humid here. I don’t know where to take this blog to. Before, I was even planning to consider about search optimisation and trying out a free seo software. But what shall I write about? Sometimes, I consider writing about food here because there’s sure a variety of restaurants. But that would require money and I could gain more weight! Any other suggestion?
I need a bicycle
Posted on March 10, 2010 - Filed Under Lifestyle
One of the things that I had a hard time leaving in Japan was my bicycle. I no longer know what became of it. My sudden relocation to Singapore didn’t give me enough time to sell it to the bicycle shop. It helped a lot in preventing undesirable bulge in my belly, that is now becoming ever visible as my stay here in Singapore gets longer. A great fat burner, indeed. And I really miss bicycling.
We are moving to a new place on Saturday. That place is far from the grocery store and it would be hard carrying stuff home. I just hope there’s a sale on bicycles somewhere. Now, I miss those shops in Japan that sell second-hand stuff. At least I could buy a used one that’s half the price of a new one but still in very good condition. There’s a good thing about the new place, though. It’s closer to the office. I could just walk home.
I want to be an oil surveyor
Posted on March 10, 2010 - Filed Under Drama
I know someone who works as an oil surveyor. He is offshore for 6 weeks, then goes back home to the Philippines for a 6-week paid vacation. He is even given a housing and transportation allowance. The most attractive thing about his job? He is paid more than US$7,000 a month! He’s been on that job for more than 5 years already. He has a very nice car and bought a condo in Metro Manila. He spent thousands on his housewarming party and half a million pesos for his 30th birthday! Soon he’ll be on an Outer Banks vacation. He’s living a very extravagant life and I’m not even paid half of his salary. If I could, I want to be an oil surveyor! Nah, I’m still grateful for all the things I have now and I’m still happy being
a programmer. 
Jose Cuervo in a wrapper
Posted on March 8, 2010 - Filed Under Food
This came from an officemate who was sent by the company to Mexico. It’s chocolate with Jose Cuervo. I’m not fan of spirits but I love the wrapper!
Reminiscing again
Posted on March 7, 2010 - Filed Under Revelations
One of the great things the internet gave us is the easier way of finding old friends. I sometimes spend a lot of time browsing through Facebook and Friendster profiles. It’s really amazing to see photos of friends, from primary school to college, and ex-colleagues. It’s great to know that they are doing well. Yet, I feel a bit guilty of missing (again) the annual grand alumni homecoming last December. I have never attended a homecoming event since I left my highschool alma mater, as opposed to my happy-go-lucky younger brother who has 100% attendance.
After I graduated from highschool, just to piss off my brother, I told him that I will not step foot on our school until I become a manager. Unintentionally, it seems to be happening! No, no, no, I’m not a snob. I really want to meet highschool friends again, with a less introvert me. It’s just that I did have a microscopic self-esteem in highschool that I hardly talked. But I really appreciate my friends for being there. I honestly hope I could attend the homecoming in December.
There is one thing that I want to share with that school. My friends already did dental and medical mission. I, on the other hand, want to take part in the careers symposium. It was really hard choosing which path to take as we had no idea what the real-world is like. I didn’t even have something I loved doing, well except reading novels. I just wanted to take up Mechanical Engineering because my father did. We had a series of symposiums when we were seniors, and it helped me a lot.
Longing for Japanese toiletries
Posted on March 7, 2010 - Filed Under Lifestyle
Singapore has been very humid lately. This means oilier face, thus, I’m having worse acne breakout. How I wish there’s a store here in Singapore that sells Japanese toiletries. I wish I have easy access to the acne serum I used in Japan. Now, I’m shifting from one acne cream to another, and mind you, it is not easy on my budget. If facials are cheap here, I would have tried that already. How I wish they also sell 8×4 body sprays here. Those were really refreshing during summer there. There was also this shower gel that minimize sweating! The wonders of Japanese toiletries!
I don’t want to say goodbye
Posted on March 5, 2010 - Filed Under Lifestyle
I only have a week to pack my things. Yet, it’s hard to do that because our place is already up for rent, so lots of viewing have been scheduled. Oh speaking of viewing, I was really annoyed to hear from my housemate that someone opened by cabinets! We did view units that are still occupied but we didn’t do such a thing. I just hope that will never happen again, especially now I don’t have the time to iron my clothes.
When we viewed the new place, I was excited to move-in. I was mesmerized by the Ikea-showroom-feel of the house that we did not have time to think things through. Now, I realize that my room-to-be is just about 2/3 the size of my current room. Currently, that room is the The living-room plus dining-room-to-be is just as big as our current dining area. One of those entertainment centers wouldn’t fit into the living room. To cross the street to the bus stop, I have to take the overpass. Worst, we signed up for a 2-year contract!
Looking at the bright side, our kitchen will be a lot better. Our toilet/bathroom will finally have a light shade, and from CRT television to a wall-mounted LCD TV.
I don’t want to say goodbye to my current room. How I wish I did not convince my housemates to view that house!
Misleading ad and I was a fool to believe it
Posted on March 4, 2010 - Filed Under Lifestyle
Two weeks ago, I received a call from a fitness center here in Singapore. I was told that I have been granted free yoga sessions for two weeks, and that I could take along two friends at most. I was also told to bring workout clothes on my first visit. Hearing the word “free” got my full attention. Plus, I’ve been looking for a facility that offers cheap yoga classes. Why not see if yoga is really for me for no cost at all?
Little did I know that I had to summon a lot of courage to say no to another monthly expense. A sales agent tried to convince us by drawing up plans that are way cheaper than the usual price. She even took out the registration fee of S$500. The cheapest offer she presented was a 12-month gym tie-in at S$84 (including GST) per month. I almost said yes because at that time, all I had in mind was to loose weight. I was really glad financial reality sank it, was able to say no gracefully, and convinced myself to make use of the public fitness equipments at the parks instead.
Honestly, I have never tried using the treadmill. I have never even been into a gym! Before fitness centers became a norm, I thought that gyms are full of either really big guys who look like they’re taking testosterone booster or really sexy ladies who look like they just do exercises without eating anything! Gosh, I seriously need to at least step into a gym!
So what happened to the two-week trial? When we said no, the sales agent got an amnesia. We never even got the promised tour inside the facility.
Exception encounters
Posted on March 3, 2010 - Filed Under Ooopppssss, The Geek in Me
Being in software development has its ups and downs. It is really stressful when you have to complete a task in an unreasonably short time. It gets boring when you’re not allowed to access the internet and yet you’re still waiting for the next task. It’s very frustrating when you can’t figure out why a certain error, exception, or worse system crash occurs. But all these will be forgotten when you get the system working.
Why the “programmer drama”? A friend asked me to book a flight online and here’s what appeared after I filled up all the necessary details:
“UnhandledException, IndexOutOfRangeException”. These have haunted me from epson receipt printer application to web server-side application development. The developers of the Cebu Pacific website must be really busy and stressed right now.
One corny and nerdy thought came to mind. We now have medical drama in TV. Some are good (eg., House). I find some boring. But I wonder how one makes an IT-related drama? Will I enjoy the show?
Intensive scrubbing in a week
Posted on March 3, 2010 - Filed Under Singapore
I think I mentioned somewhere that we’re moving to a new apartment. Or did I posted it just in Facebook? Anyway, a housemate is pregnant so they need a bigger room (they stay in the master’s bedroom) in preparation for the baby. The married couple sort of acts as the “head” of the group, so we go wherever they go. After viewing 10 units, we finally found one that we fell in love at first sight! We’re moving in next weekend. Our home-to-be must have been newly-renovated because the interior appears very new. The appliances and furniture appear to be in very good condition, too. Actually, that unit has the best furnishings we’ve ever seen. It’s like being in an Ikea showroom.
But before we can enjoy the comforts of our home-to-be, we have to make the current apartment immaculately clean. Else, S$60 would be taken from our deposit as payment for the cleaners. The rooms and the living room are easy to clean but the kitchen and the bathrooms are far from it. The tiles used are more suitable for garage flooring. I hope we could find a very good liquid cleaner to at least make the scrubbing easier.
Been playing the waiting game
Posted on March 3, 2010 - Filed Under Singapore
I am lazy to get my employment pass (EP) to verify but I think I am P pass holder, but I was only granted 1 year pass. You could refer to the Ministry of Manpower website for more information on employment passes. According to Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA), I am eligible to apply for permanent residence. Friends and colleagues advised me to at least work for 6 months here before applying. Quite reasonable because you need either 6 months of computerized payslip or the latest income tax. So, on October 9th last year, I went to the ICA and lodged my application. I was told that the process could take 3 to 6 months. But most of my already permanent resident (PR) friends got the result in three months, through mail. If one receives a thick envelope, this means approval. Thin one means rejection.
So starting January this year, I’ve been opening the mailbox with much apprehension. It’s been like that for almost two months already. All I’ve been getting from the box are fastfood flyers, insurance quotes, apartment rental/sale ads, and mails for my housemates. I was able to talk to an immigration officer in January but was told to wait until February before renewing my work pass. February is already over, still no thin nor thick envelope from ICA. And we’re moving out in two weeks!
Longing for a 20/20 vision
Posted on March 1, 2010 - Filed Under Lifestyle
It’s been 18 years years since I’ve first worn eyeglasses. At that time, I did not want to but my vision compromised my grades. Even seating close to the chalk board didn’t help. The moment I became four-eyed, people often see me as serious, studious girl, when I was far from being one. Often quiet, but not serious. Maybe bthe reason why I don’t like swimming is because I am near-sighted. I loved to take a dip at the sea when I was still a child. Now, everything is blurry a meter away from me.
I’ve tried contact lenses. Expensive but not easy to wear. It’s not advisable for people who spend more than half of the day staring at the monitor. I prefer eyeglasses but my eye bags are getting larger through the years. It would be great to undergo a lasik surgery. Really expensive, but at least I still have years to do a thorough research while saving up for it. I even searched through lasik surgery Mexico!
In the end, it is cheaper here in Singapore, ranging from $1000 to $2000 per eye (still not cheap for me). If you have a credit card, you could even opt for an installment plan. I just hope I win the lottery!
From the sky train
Posted on February 23, 2010 - Filed Under Singapore
I’ve always wanted to take a photo of the view from the sky train at the Changi International Airport. During the Airshow, my housemate lent me his SLR so I finally took a decent photo. Here’s the view when you take the sky train from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2:
I collect trash?
Posted on February 23, 2010 - Filed Under Revelations
Do you throw away things that you think have already served their purpose? I usually don’t. I don’t like to trash envelopes even if it means crowding my drawer more. I don’t throw away custom presentation folders, one of which I got from an employer four years ago. I still use it when I carry around some important, must-not-be-folded documents. Paper bags? Yes, I’ve alloted a portion of my cabinet for them. The balikbayan box I sent from Japan had many paper bags in it. Many ads and discount coupons are placed in our mailbox but I still keep most of them until they expire, even if I only have 1% possibility of using those coupons. When I was still with Epson in Cebu, I was the one who kept the boxes of the omiyage brought by visitors from Japan. I’m pretty sure I’ve placed them in my cabinet at home but I haven’t checked if they’re still in good condition!
The word is out!
Posted on February 20, 2010 - Filed Under At work
The other day, we received an email regarding this year’s dinner and dance. The venue has already been decided, at the newly-opened Resorts World Sentosa! Which specific hotel it is, I still don’t know. But the company’s annual big event will be in May and I’m already this excited. I was lucky last year because I joined the company on the first day of April, and the confirmation of attendance was due mid-April. It was held in Hilton Singapore Hotel.
Some people my not like attending such events. Well, I honestly don’t too, but it’s one of the rare chances for me to get and dine in a five-star hotel. I’m still a female (up to know, I still can’t say I’m a woman) and I like to doll up sometimes! The problem is, I’ve put on more than six pounds since moving here in Singapore. I don’t want to wear a dress with some distracting, unwanted bulges. A friend has already resorted to diet pills with ephedra but I still want to lose weight the natural way. Three months with at least six pounds to lose. Wish me luck!
Scrambled or sunny side up?
Posted on February 19, 2010 - Filed Under Food
My family encountered a tough time when I was still a child. My father was finishing college at that time while supporting a wife, three kids, two siblings-in-law and a step-mother. We rarely had red meat dishes on the table. Most of the time, we had herring either fried or grilled for lunch and dinner, and scrambled eggs for breakfast. Not the McDonald-style, rather it was often mixed with tomatoes and onions. I don’t like tomatoes, but it’s cheaper if cooked that way. I was not even aware there’s a thing such as sunny side up!
I had enough of scrambled eggs so I had lost cravings for it for quite sometime. When I went to college, I got introduced to sunny side up in “tapsilog”. It was so new to me, tasted really good, so I ate tapsilog more than three times a week! Eggs might be rich in conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) but I think I had been taking in too much of it so I tried to get over my love of sunny-side-up. Years have passed and I’ve learned new ways in cooking eggs, I’m now back to the old habit. But it’s really hard to resist especially if eaten with pancakes. Yummy!
More than supplements
Posted on February 19, 2010 - Filed Under Family, Health
My mother is still in her mid-fifties. But she is already complaining about painful joints. In fact, when I was in my teens, she suffered a kind of arthritis that kept her bedridden for days. Thank God, she recovered from it. I didn’t know until I last came home that she had a little accident: she fell off from a habal-habal (motorcycle). My cousin told me that my mother had a painful dilemma after the accident, walking around like a 90-year old. Each step she made was clearly painful to her. She had to undergo therapy to make her walk normally again. Until now, she complains about painful joints, maybe also because she’s getting older. I want her to try out a joint supplement but I think she needs more than that. She moves around much but I think she needs to have some kind of exercise. I still need to convince her to do just that. Above all, she really needs to follow a healthy lifestyle.
keep looking »
Subscribe to BisdakBabbles