September 30, 2008
September 29, 2008
Lethal Esteem.
Have you ever come across people who have such a low self-esteem that they get so paranoid with the people around them? These are the people who get very sensitive and take everything against them. It can get pretty annoying, especially when you get “accused” for nothing.
Last Thursday, my day was already screwed by a moron, the ‘Animal Abuser’. I was on my back from the Meditation Classes. While I was in the MRT, I noticed a Malay dude staring at me in the train. He was accompanied by his Chinese friend. The first thing I noticed about him was his built and his dressing. He was a BIG built guy atleast 1.9 +metres in height, and was dressed in all black. He sported a bald style. It’s quite a popular belief that people dressed in black usually have an esteem issue. I think this guy proved me right.
My family (Sister & Mum) and myself were cracking jokes and laughing as usual throughout our journey in our mother tongue (Tamil). Being a relatively LOUD person, I think my laughter got a little blaring.
I noticed the Malay guy staring at my direction a few times, but I didn’t really bother as I brushed it off as ‘no big deal.’ After a while, two seats were available and I and my mum sat down, still talking to my sister who was standing infront of us. When the train reached Yishun MRT Station, he made his way to the door. At this moment he glanced behind at my direction and said “Aiyah. Look at her hair. Fake. Rebonded. Rebond also never rebond properly. First rebond your hair properly before you talk about others lah!” At this moment, he was doing actions with his hand, trying to make the shape of a very big hair gone wrong.
I knew this fella must have directed his weird comment to me. My first reaction was to look at my hair in the reflection and check if there were very obvious strands sticking out. Then my sister told me that she noticed him staring at me from the beginning at the train but she thought ‘he was just checking me out.’ (-_-)
He was not satisfied lor! He kept doing that until he walked off from my sight. So sad. He hurt the precious teeny weeny diamond heart of mine. I didn’t even do anything! Then I sat down and did abit of a flashback recall. Solved it. This jackass must have thought I was mocking him in Tamil. How idiotic. Don’t assume lor. If you really got a problem with your size or the way you look, go and do some make-over lah! Why assume the whole world is cracking jokes of your looks. We really have other issues to worry about. The last on my list is you or your looks! Or anything else that matters.
I kept annoying my sis and my mum, asking them if my hair really looked bad. Then my mum had to comfort me saying he probably used my hair as the topic cos he couldn’t find anything else to talk about. Great! Now the low self esteem contagious bug has infected me!
Now will you please excuse me, I need a book an appointment with my Hairstylist.
September 27, 2008
Animal Abuse
This is the first time, I am writing an article with so much of distress and sadness. I always thought Animal Abuse was an unbearable offense in Singapore, but I’ve just been proven otherwise.
On 25th September 2008 (Thursday), I was on my way to the bus-stop after work, when I witnessed something extraordinary at the car-park opposite the bus-stop. There were two ladies walking towards a yellow car and there was a stray dog 2 cars away from it. The dog was absolutely harmless as it was just lying down.
The position the dog was in
One of the lady signaled to the other to walk to the car first, when she was finding something on the floor. I noticed she picked up a brick, which was already broke into half and she flung it to the dog. I was shocked, and being the animal lover I was, my heart stopped beating for a while. Thank god, the dog was unharmed as she missed her aim. I heard the dog squeal in fright and it ran to the other side of the carpark. At this point, I was very frustrated, but I didn’t do anything as
1) I was afraid my actions during my anger would be quite disastrous.
2) Since the dog was left unharmed.
I was expecting her to drive off but she wasn’t pleased. Immediately she started finding for the brick. I was hoping that she did that to put the brick aside in the good intention of preventing someone from tripping, but I was wrong. She started walking to the dog’s direction again. This time, I felt my blood boiling and I ran to the carpark and shouted ‘Oi!’ to stop her on time.
It worked. When she noticed that someone was watching her, she tried to hurry into her car. I stood outside and gave her the most piercing stare and asked
Me : “What were you trying to do?”
Her : “Nothing. I did nothing what.”
Me : “Why did you throw the brick at the dog?”
Her : “I didn’t.”
Me : “I saw it. You threw the brick, twice at that stray.”
Her : “So? It’s my company dog, not a stray.”
Me : “Does that make a difference? Shall I lodge a complaint against you?”
Her : “Go ahead lor.”
At this point, she quickly got into her car. I couldn’t think of anything, but I definitely didn’t intend to leave the matter hanging there. I kept cool and decided to call the Police for advise. At about 6.30pm, I called the Police. I spoke to someone and told him what happened. He sounded pretty flustered over the phone and asked me why didn’t I report this earlier. I told him I didn’t know if I should have called the police. He ensured me that during cases like these, they’ll send officers down to investigate the case if I called on the spot.
The next thing he advised me to do was to walk to any police station to make a report. The report will ensure that actions were taken against her. I hung up the phone with happiness that someone could be done to protect the lives and safety of these strays. My happiness didn’t last too long.
MISTAKE NUMBER ONE : I DIDN’T TAKE DOWN THE NAME OF THIS OFFICER.
I had to go for my meditation classes after that, so by the time I got to the Woodlands Police Centre, it was already 12.30am. When the officer greeted me and asked me on what issue I came to report, he chuckled when I said ‘Animal Abuse.’
This wasn’t very much of a good start for me. I didn’t find anything humorous in this, and at the moment, I felt I was taken for a fool/ clown.
I was patiently seated as he made calls to his Investigation Officer to find out the ‘proper procedures’. After 10 – 15mins, he told me that he would be filling up a report, but they will not be sending any officers to do any investigations. At that moment, I felt that my trip to the station with the hope that something could be done was just futile.
Conversation is as follows.
Me : Why isn’t there any investigation?
He : That’s because the dog wasn’t harmed.
Me : I think the intention of the lady is very clear. The throw at the dog was missed. She attempted to hurt it TWICE. I can even provide you the details of the woman, and her car. It’s not difficult to identify her since the company she is working for is small.
He : Yes. But she missed the aim, so nothing happened to the dog. But we are going to file the report. We’ll be sending officers around to area to check on her.
Me : So are we going to wait for things to happen? And how are you going to recognize her?
There was silence before he said :-
He : We only deal with Crimes. This is going to be sent to the SPCA, and they’ll send officers to deal with the matter.
At this moment, I couldn’t help but feel that Animal Abuse wasn’t a crime. I would have appreciated if the Officer I spoke to over the phone earlier in the evening had explained this, so that I wouldn’t have troubled the officer or wasted his time.
This is the exact words of the Report the officer had typed out.
“On the above mention date, time and place while I was leaving my work place to go to my class. Subsequently while waiting for a bus at the bus stop I saw a female chinese lady about 30s taking a brick and throw it at the dog at the opposite inside the company compound. The brick misses the dog, however the female lady took the brick again and run after the dog. That is when I stopped the lady, and informed by her that it is the company’s dog. She went inside her car and just drove off. Thats all.”
I’m now very confused on what I should do. Should I just rest the matter rest? Or should I call up S.P.C.A. myself? Won’t keeping quiet let people who abuse strays get away scot free?
Some articles on Animal Abuse :-
Stop Animal Abuse http://www.spca.org.sg/stopabuse.html
Appeal for Animal Abuse from the S.P.C.A. http://www.spca.org.sg/SPCAAppeal.pdf
September 25, 2008
Picture Perfect.
For those who don’t have a Facebook account yet, kill yourself.
Kidding.
I actually got my Facebook account quite recently, about a few months back and realised it’s better then Friendster in many ways. I prefer the older version though. The best thing about this is the fact that I managed to link up with most of my Primary & Secondary Schoolmates. Those who I lost contact with once I left school.
When you first start out, Facebook can get a little complicating. Like how Ragu asked me to get him an account there but insisted I do everything for him. So I created the account for him, uploaded his pics, and even gave myself a few gifts from his account. Each time I told him to start logging in, he’d refuse saying Facebook is just too complicating. I got frustrated and told him that I’m going to delete his account if he’s not gonna utilize it and finally, he started.
If you don’t have one, you should really create an account. This is not like Friendster where the main intention is to ‘make friends.’ The logic of Facebook is to get back in contact with your old friends.
This new trend started in Facebook a few weeks back. A trend of getting to this website called Year Book Yourself, uploading your pic and getting your face framed up with looks of the 50’s – 90’s, and later uploading the done pictures to your Facebook account. It’s pretty cool lah. Since so many people were doing it, I finally got my pictures destroyed modified.
Some of the ‘best’ pics for your viewing pleasure. (For those who’s not in my Facebook account.)
The best for the last.
Of course I chanced upoun very un-glam versions, but I didn’t save it or think of uploading it anywhere cos I’m not as bold as Xiaxue to flaunt my own ugly pics! (I have to give credits to her for this one.)
Speaking about pictures, I seriously had no idea that Adobe Photoshop is such a excellent software. I only learnt it from Xiaxue. Those who catch no balls as to what I’m talking about, click here.
I’m gonna get myself Photoshop ASAP.
September 24, 2008
Finally, the time has come.
I have done it. Like finally lor. Took me so long to get it done. But I plucked my courage and just did it.
Like the Nike logo.
Did what? Did what? Hehe. I like this suspense. Stop cheating and scrolling down hoping to catch what I’m talking about. Ok fine. No biggie. Just handed my resignation letter to my boss today.
For those who don’t know what’s happening in my work life, basically I’ve been having problems with my colleagues for the past week. I actually approached my Manager last Friday to talk to him about this. He refused to look at me and just nodded and was staring at some papers at his desk. I assumed that he was busy, and told him to let me know when he was free, so that we can talk. I got another nod in response. I walked away.
And guess what? He’s been running from me ever since. The moment he senses my presence from the corner of his eyes, he disappears in a flash. I gave up, and decided to leave this place for good.
From the day I began work here, I never spoke to my Manager for more than 1 minute. I don’t know why, but he freaks out when I approach him for anything. He stammers when he speaks to me. He never looks me in the eye. Shy? I have no freakin idea.
The only logical answer I can come up with for his behavior is cause he feels “inferior” to speak with me, cos
1) I have heard him only speaking Malay, Mandarin and Hokkien very loudly.
2) I know none of the above mentioned languages.
Today I broke the record! 3 minutes! Woohoo! But wait, not 3 minutes of a fluent conversation. There were many silent breaks in between. Pathetic, I know.
I really hate the feeling of handing out the resignation letter. It just feels like asking for a break-up. You feel all nervous and clammy, wondering what in the world would be the receiver’s reaction. Today’s session was an ease, though.
Went in his office, handed him my resignation letter, hoping he’s not gonna make me sit down to bombard me with questions.
Conversation goes like this.
He : “Why?”
Me : “:) Found another job.”
He : “I hope you’re not having problems with anyone here.”
I didn’t know how to reply this one, so I just flashed my million dollar smile.
He : “So here not good lah.”
Me : “Err, not exactly. Just a little bit of a communication problem. Infact that’s why I wanted to speak with you last Friday.”
He : “Ohh.. Er. Ohh. I was busy. Er. Okay lor. I have to pass this to HR.”
Me : “Okay.”
I hope no one who ever tenders their resignation will experience a similar scenario. Just feels like all your efforts went down the drain.
There’s no ‘thank you’? There’s no ‘Please don’t leave us, our company will never be the same without you!’ There’s no one to shed a tear for me?
Ok I was just exaggerating. (In case you didn’t know.) But I expected a little more than the reaction I got lah.
Oh well, hopefully I can get a job quickly or else, mummy’s gonna start nagging. Nagging me so much that I might have to eat some Milk Rabbit Candies to kill myself. Atleast 47 candies continuously everyday. (Facts provided by Channel Newsasia)
September 23, 2008
Sanjana’s got her key to freedom.
Yes, she’s finally become an adult. Sanjana turned 21 yesterday (in human years). Didn’t take many pictures. Just a few for memories sake.
I love her so much. Especially the smell of her paws. I can never ever go one day without seeing her baby face. She’ll always be my little precious one.
Shh. She's making a wish.
Her cake.
A tribute to my sister, Dharshini.
No one else smses me with such love, care and concern by adding words like k**thi, ar*eh*le, bloody pig and useless dog at the end of every message.
No one else has been there to change my ringtones to the most horrible, loud and nauseating songs, behind my back which results in me getting humiliated in public when the song plays.
No one else stands right infront of the train (with the pose of Sir Stamford Raffles) grinning away, just before the door closes when the rest of us in the group have already got inside the train.
No one else frequently changes my phone wallpapers and screensavers with ‘vain pot’ pictures of herself while I am sleeping, and calls me the next afternoon with follow up calls on how my day had been after it had been started miraculously by staring at her ‘lucky’ face in the morning via my HP.
No one else laughs last at jokes shared by us friends. (Exposing her sotong nature in due course.)
No one else changes my Bluetooth name to ‘HawtChocoChic’ or some stupid annoying stupid name without my knowledge.
No one else makes crude jokes of my hair, eyes, toes, fingers, nails, teeth and everything else which matters.
No one else teams up with my mum and nags me at every given opportunity.
No one else nods their head whenever I speak and hear me out so well.
- (So well that she jams up when I ask her to repeat whatever I just said. She’s always dreaming and in her lala-land.)
- (So well that I realise she fell asleep with her eyes open, mouth grinning, and that I was talking to myself for the past 10-15mins)
No one else warns me about my weight gain, and feeds me with chocolates afterwards insisting that chocolates has nothing to do with weight gain.
No one else takes the best pictures of me. (One good comment, haha!)
No matter how annoying you are, you’ll be my ever precious annoying sister! Hope you lau this entry.
Dharshini & Gayathrie
Maid Abuse
Why is maid abuse getting so common nowadays? It’s getting very disturbing now. These ladies travel from their hometown to make a honest living, but nowadays it seems like we are scaring the living shit outta these people.
Two recent articles :-
“Siblings jailed for abusing maid”
I can’t find some of the articles through the archive in the Straits Times website as the older articles are moved to the ‘Interactive’ corner, where user names and passwords need to be created. In other words, needa pay to access that.
These abusers don’t understand the pain these maids go through. To come from afar and live alone with strangers isn’t something anyone would like. Verbally abusing them for no reason is already bad enough but some of them take things into their hands and abuse them physically.
I personally have a suggestion to avoid these problems in future. How about sending all maids for a compulsory martial arts training before they are assigned to any employer/s? Maybe Karate, Varma Kalai, or Judo. So if in any case, if a gatal man is waiting for his prey to appear in the form of his new maid, he’ll have a pleasant surprise.
September 17, 2008
Dog attack: Owner fined
Woman also agrees to compensate owner of badly injured terrier, bringing saga to an end.
THE scrap between two dog owners over an incident in which five rottweilers attacked a Jack Russell terrier has been resolved.
Yesterday, after about 11/2 hours of talks at the Subordinate Court, Madam Satpal Kaur, 51, who owns the rottweilers, agreed to pay an undisclosed sum to Mr David Ow, 60, the owner of the smaller dog. It took close to 10 months to close the chapter.
The terms of their agreement are confidential, except that Mr Ow will donate a part of the compensation to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Separately, Madam Kaur was fined a total of $6,000 for letting her dogs out unleashed and unmuzzled.
Her lawyer told a district court yesterday that she has since spent more than $10,000 beefing up security measures at her house to make sure that such an incident does not happen again.
After paying the fine, a sombre Madam Kaur said she was relieved the whole matter was over. She also said she was looking for someone to adopt two of her dogs which are now being kept at a pet hotel.
The saga began on the evening of Nov 26 last year. Mr Ow was walking his dog along Lengkong Tiga, in Kembangan, when a rottweiler and its four 18-month-
old offspring dashed out of their house and set upon his pet.
The attack was stopped by two police officers, who happened to be passing by in their patrol car.
The five-year-old terrier was badly injured and had to be treated at the Mount Pleasant Animal Hospital.
Though Mr Ow was not himself bitten, he fell and hurt himself while trying to protect his pet and was taken by ambulance to hospital for treatment.
It was not the first time that Madam Kaur’s dogs had been in the news.
Three months before the attack on the terrier, another neighbour, Mr Foo Seck Siong, 66, had complained to The Straits Times about the threat posed by having such aggressive dogs in the neighbourhood.
The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), which in 2006 had let the family keep all five dogs, said at the time that no complaint had been made about the dogs attacking anyone.
After the attack, the AVA investigated and found that the dogs had got out because the gate was unlocked. It ordered Madam Kaur to give away two of the dogs.
In January, she was charged in court for not leashing and muzzling the rottweilers in public. She pleaded guilty last week to six charges.
Pleading for a light fine, her lawyer, Mr Satwant Singh, said the maid had inadvertently left the gate open. He noted that rottweilers attack only when provoked and that the Jack Russell had been set upon because it would not stop barking. He noted that Mr Ow himself had not been bitten.
Mr Singh said Madam Kaur had been through a difficult time after she was compelled to give up two of the rottweilers. ‘Part of her has died after being separated from the two dogs,’ he said.
District Judge May Mesenas then suggested that Madam Kaur and Mr Ow go through mediation to resolve the issue of compensation.
Madam Kaur was fined yesterday afternoon, after a resolution was reached.
Her lawyer informed the judge that the session had helped the neighbours come to an amicable resolution. He added that his client was deeply apologetic and had taken steps to prevent a repeat incident.
When contacted, Mr Ow said: ‘I believe she has been punished enough with all the publicity. It’s only fair to let bygones be bygones.’
His dog has recovered.
By Selina Lum
selinal@sph.com.sg
*****
I’ve actually blogged on somewhat a similar topic before, here.
The article above is a perfect example on how irresponsible some owners can be; putting aside the fact the accident wasn’t deliberate (as they quoted that their maid ‘inadvertently left the gate open’).
But it all comes together on how we should be responsible individuals and be accountable for all issues related to our pets.
These kinda articles bring the other owners a bad name, and create an even frightening image of dogs. (As if Sanjana isn’t fierce looking already.)
Cheers to many more daunting night strolls with Sanjana, Gayathrie!
MagicWorld Test
Got this off an e-mail. Found the results quite true. But then again, it’s very easy to make up such quizzes. Oh well, if you wanna try, lemme know. Will forward the quiz to you.
