my neighborhood

10.22am

today im gonna be yakking about my neighbourhood, my neighbors and the surrounding areas. where I live is a pretty decent area, dotted with eateries, a couple of 24 hour supermarkets, some massage parlours, bicycle shops, pet shops etc. it has basically everything that you would need in your daily life. the folks around here are from all walks of life.

now in my condo, on our floor, there's 3 owners(including ourselves) who has furkids. there's a brown male poodle(forgot its name), a male corgie named rocky and of course our lil one, fergie. almost everybody who lives on this floor that happens to walk by, will stop and pet fergie because she's cute and rarely barks. yup, I've trained her not to simply bark because I honestly cant stand the pitch of the bark, it irritates my ears, as im sensitive to different types of sounds. the corgie however, just loves to bark for no reason. ever so often, i'd hear the owner going - "rockyyyyy" or "boyyyyyyy" and then rocky would stop. he doesn't bark continuously, just a couple of times which mind you is pretty loud and sharp! sometimes when he's on his way out for his walks, he would stop by my doorstep(if its open) and see if fergie is around. rocky is a cute corgie I gotta admit.

now my neighbors across from us, there's 2 ladies living there. a mother and daughter. each time when they open their door and I happen to be at my main door too, I can see inside their home, which is pretty cluttered and seems like in disarray. seriously I don't know how they both can live like that. ugh, I personally cant stand messiness or untidiness, but then again, its not my house/home and its none of my business how people chose to live. im just saying.

the other day, my husband thought he saw the mother carrying a pot out of her place and then going to the rubbish chute just next to our unit and throwing god knows what down. and there were tiny puddles of water on the floor trailing back to her unit. ugh. I didn't see that but my husband did and then he reported it to me. I guessed he was pissed and really put off by it and thinking how can people do such things. he said he thinks that the lady threw old soup or bones etc (which would stink up the area) down the chute and this would probably attract ants, roaches, lizards etc would be attracted to all, sigh. why oh why cant people be more civilised?

so I went to check the chute to see what was thrown inside. I couldn't find anything nor any smell at all. only found some bunch of hairs stuck at the side of the chute opening. I took a small cup of water and poured it over the hairs to "unglue" it. ugh. I don't know why I bother but hey, its my home, my new home and I don't want others to "dirty" my surrounding area! people don't realize that its a chain reaction with every action they do. people don't care honestly. oh not my problem, why do you bother..bla bla bla...  hey, its only the right thing to do ok. be civic conscious.

but seriously tho, some people have no social etiquette at all. and a bunch of hypocrites if you asked me. they wont do it in their own homes but in public, free for all. nobody cares, whose gonna complain about me? im sure that's how some people think. like in my own home country, its pretty filthy. rubbish everywhere. people just don't bother. therefore the neighborhood looks like shit. wanna try to beautify the place by sprucing it up with more trees and flowers and nice 5 foot pavement but whats the point when there's litter and rubbish everywhere? and the black crows!! omg!! its like piercing when a whole flock of them are on top of rooftops of the shoplots and trees. bird shit everywhere!! these crows are here for a reason. the open air market. when market time is over, the cleaners don't do a good job, they do a slip shod job and leave. they don't care. and then you drive by and see veggies or stale meat pieces lying on the ground and this attracts birds, rats(we have ginomours ones mind you), crows etc having a feast, daily!

ok sorry I got sidetracked. back to my neighborhood here in Singapore. overall I can say its a pretty nice area. I cant chose my neighbors unfortunately. therefore I have to live with them and put up with their crap, whatever it may be. oh you know what else, there's always a thump thump sound coming from the unit above ours. im guessing that the person walks with a heavy foot, if you know what im saying. if you live in a condo/flat, do you hear those sounds? it can get pretty annoying, don't you agree? and sometimes I can hear doors slamming from up above. footsteps going up and down. wonder what the devil is that person up to. I feel like shouting to them at times to tone it down but well, i'll just have to be a little bit more patient before I do that. hahahaha....i'll let it slide for now, since I just moved in and I don't want to stir any shit for the time being and have enemies.

well that's about it. lastly, I wanna end my blog by saying that there's a couple of parrots or parakeets that somebody has been raring and every morning, you can hear them whistle and they sound like little kids! weird sounds they would make. at first I thought it was really little kids making those sounds but then my husband told me as he was on his way out to the bus stand, he can hear the birds making those sounds. aaah...

I wish you luck with your neighbors. until my next blog...


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2.02pm

taxis

4.42pm


this morning around 7am it started to pour so heavily and I had to ring the taxi company to book a cab for my husband. after being put on hold and listening to an automated voice for about 7 minutes, a guy came on the line. I told him that I wanted to book a cab for 8.15am and he took down my home address etc and told me that they will call me back. so around 8am my husband decided to ring them up again because there weren't any sign/calls from the cab company. he was put on hold and then managed to speak to the customer service which also told him the same thing. to wait for a reply.

10 minutes later, my husband just could not wait any longer(he had a meeting to rush to) and was getting pretty fed up. at least, you know the cab company should ring us back(since they have our details, when we made those earlier calls to them) and inform us that there wasn't any cab available due to the heavy rain or for whatever reason. we did give them ample time to scout around for a cab.

long story short, my husband ended up taking public transport to work and I rung the same taxi company to cancel the booking. somehow I think these taxi companies have a lot to improve on. Singapore is such a small country and its just amazing that there are not enough cabs to go around the island. it seemed as though they have crawled into some cave and hid there, afraid to come out!

you know, when you want a taxi, there wont be any available around but when you don't want, you see a lot on the road. here in Singapore(for those foreigners reading my blog), all the taxis(from different companies) will have the standard sign flashing on top of their car, bit like the police. it will flash the words like busy, on call, (those are in red color) and if its available, they will either put the destination that these cab drivers are heading to, (probably change shift or whatever) or you will see the taxi company's phone number, all in green color. this is to let the people flagging down these taxis( or if you are at a taxi stand), so that you can see what's going on, basically.

for those of you who are reading this and live here, have you ever encountered these problems before or any other problems for that matter?  there are times when we have rung and booked a cab(but yet to get a reply from them on whether they will be sending a cab or not) and we happen to see an available cab and we hop on, we have to call back the cab company to cancel our booking. why cant they just tell us "ok we will call you back in 5 mins, max 10 to inform you if your booking was successful or not" so at least we don't have to sit around and wait for their reply, not knowing if its a yes or no. very annoying if you asked me. some people could be having an emergency or late for the airport or meeting etc but these taxi companies don't care do they?

you know, they really ought to do something about this and improvise. sometimes they can be smart but at times, kinda stupid if you asked me. its like taking 2 steps forward and 1 step back. ssheesh

another annoying thing that i wanna highlight is that OMG, some of the drivers are really bad. when i say bad i mean they dont know how to drive properly. you know how they drive? let me tell you. they would accelerate then release the accelerator, accelerate and release the accelerator on and on like that until you reach your destination...OMFG!! or they would break and accelerate, break and accelerate...many times, my mom in law,  he maid and myself would get blue in the face or feel like throwing up when this happens!! Im ok if they drive slowly but this is too much. and when that happens, I would look out the window and count the "hours" until I reach my destination. hoping that I don't embarrass myself by suddenly throwing up in the cab! oh the fear of it all!!

and all thanks to who? thanks to these lousy cab drivers(which unfortunately are the elderly uncles, more often than not). I know they want to earn a living but seriously, they should stay off the road. and mind you there were many times, I wanted to just tap on the shoulder of these "uncles" to tell them that I will take over the driving because its just that bad. I would beg!! believe you me, but so far touch wood, I've not come to that stage YET, I hope it wont!

aaah, one thing good that I can say about Singapore cabs is that they don't cheat you. it all goes by meter. and you can pay via nets card, ezlink(I think), credit card or cash. so you have options. and you can ask for your receipt if you like.

but unlike in my home country, not all taxis there go by meter. they will give you a price, you take it or leave it although sometimes you can negotiate the fare, depending on the distance. what the hell right!! and I heard that there are lots of cases whereby foreigners and tourists would get conned/cheated by these taxi drivers. really disgusting. I bet you that these drivers have been trained by the ministry of transport. any tom,dick and harry can be drivers. and by the way, you gotta pay by cash only. the taxis are pretty small compared to Singapore taxis which has more legroom and space. im not sure however, if things have changed for the better, although i would like to think so.

you know, once as i was queuing up for a taxi at the airport back in my hometown, there were 4 big and tall caucasion guys in front of me, hopping into one of these small taxis!! omg!! I was giggling to myself from what I saw. the 4 of them could barely breathe in the cab!! and as the cab sped off, I could see that the poor taxi was trying hard to withstand the weight of 4 heavy guys! hahahaha... hey these guys were also carrying their huge knapsacks ok!! so you can just imagine. too funny.

alas i know that in the end we are at the mercy of these cab companies, especially if you don't own a car. but you don't really need a car here(and cost of one is bloody high!) because the public transport system is pretty damn good compared to my country's. i seriously think they ought to learn the good stuff like this for example, from Singapore but i guess they are too proud, arrogant and stubborn to do so.

well nothing i can do about it. im a nobody. even if i voice out, so what? one voice, who cares, right?! ok, that's it then, people! take care and check in with you guys another day! until then,


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5.44pm

finally settling down

2.53pm


finally settling down properly in our new home. getting to know the surrounding area too. there's 10 units to a floor. this condo is a small set up, only ard 40 over units with different sizes.

and on my floor itself, we've got 3 units that have dogs. a very cute male corgie named rocky and then there's a brown poodle(don't know its name yet) and then there's my furkid, fergie. im not quite sure if I have shown you a pix of my lil one but nevertheless, here's some for you to see.

1) that's fergie for you on her 6th birthday last October. my sis in law bought her a lil cake to celebrate the occasion. and boy, she loved it. I had to divvy up the cake into 3-4 days, coz i don't allow her to whack all at one sitting, no way!! gotta pace it out.

2) that's the lil one when she was probably around 1-2 years old.

 

anyways, amist settling in, there's things that I forgot to buy/get. sigh then I have to run out to the shops nearby(thank god) and get it. on top of that, my husband decided to buy a bicycle, a retro one at that. hahaha...ok yes, we are going green if we can. if we can help contribute to save our planet, why not right?

you know, I've not sat on a bicycle in yonks! the last time i rode on one was when i was 17 years old!! holy cow. and i had a bloody nasty fall and after that i told myself - no more bicycles for me, phobia!! but having said that, after i saw the bike i decided why not give it another try. if i fall down, so be it. i don't mind having scrapes and bruises hahaha (call me a weirdo). so i hopped on it and rode around the vicinity of my condo, not daring to ride out on the streets, YET. time will tell if i have the guts to start riding outside the confined area. hahaha wish me luck peeps!

so besides learning how to operate the stupid washing machine(if you do recall, it "killed" my Big Bang tshirt, bah humbug!) now i have to learn how to operate the built in oven. the previous owners didn't leave me any manuals and i had to google and search online for each individual products and their manuals and get my husband to print out for me so i can "study" it. sheesh. but thankfully, i used my god given brains, and somehow managed to bake a simple pound cake and it turned out fine. next on my agenda is to learn how to use the grill. do any of you face this kinda problems at all? or is it only me?

ooh before i end im sorry but i have to say this, for all you Big Bang fans out there, if you like team leader Gdragon @ kwon ji yong, well he's gonna be performing his solo concert here in Singapore end of june(tickets are not out yet as I've been diligently checking sistic website and rung them as well but they don't seem to have any idea about it..huh? what?) as well as countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, japan(just finished i think), china etc. just to name a few. i bet you its gonna be rockin!! and then TOP @ choi seung hyun , his movie titled the alumni/commitment(international title apparently) will be coming out later part of the year, so do look out for it. and the rest of BB guys are doing their own individual things. daesung @ d'lite has just had his concert in japan and it was a sold out concert at that! these guys really know what they are doing. its simply fantastic!!

right, that's about it then folks! stay tuned for another episode of bev's blog ok. but until then, just get your Cray On!!


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3.20pm

 

cards to big bang and settling down

4.21pm

aaaahh....aigoo..alas I've moved into my new pad. everythings sorted out. now is just a matter of getting used to the place and surroundings. im still a bit lost and everything is like surreal to me.

past few days since we moved in, I've not been sleeping well. im totally exhausted as well as overwhelmed from all the unpacking and figuring out what goes where etc...just a bleeding headache! omg. im glad its over!

next on my agenda is to get myself a job. anything will do i guess. sigh..looks like there's no break for me. but hold up...did i just hear that my husband said he wanted to go on a short break. hmm...do you think what im thinking?? hahahaha  its a wait and see game. so i'll just have to wait and work will probably have to wait a lil longer. hey, any excuse to get away from finding a job...hahahahhaa yeah you know it!!

anyways, you know what guys, something awful has happened here. omg!! im still in shock over this. you see,  i was trying out the new washing machine and i didn't know it used warm/hot water for my cotton clothes(and im not certain of the settings). and i'd just bought the Big Bang tshirt  last week and wanted to have it washed before wearing it.

anyways, after the machine had done its job, i pulled out all the clothes and i saw this bits and pieces of greyish material (bit sticky and plastic-y) stucked at the side of washing machine door. not realizing what it was, i cleaned it all out and started to hang out the clothes. and then a realization dawned upon me. hey! hold up...where's my black tshirt with Big Bang Alive Tour logo? i remembered clearly that the logo was greyish color. AARRGGGHHH.....SO  it was that bits and pieces of material which i found and threw away! the tshirt is useless to me now!! my wasted money!!

im weeping inside!!! if only you knew how painful this is to me! a brand new tshirt!! that its that bloody washing machine's fault!!(ok ok deep down i know its partially my fault too but...) GRRRRRRRRrrrrr!! now i have to go and order from online coz that piece i had was the last piece in the shop(i went all around hunting)!! and its  hard to find tshirts like this one, its like trying to find a needle in a haystack! goddamnit!!!

on top of that, i thought the new package that we took for our cable tv subscription had Korean channels(by default. coz when the cable guy came to set up for us, i turned to the Korean channel and lo and behold, there it was. i was chuffed. however, my happiness was shortlived. bugger again!! i wanted to watch kbs the next day and so i switched to that channel and eh...there was a pop up that said i had to purchase the package in order to watch. holy cow. SIGH 

i asked my husband how come its like that when i could watch it the previous day. he had no answer to that but he said if i wanted Korean channels, he would have to pay for it. told me to just watch it online, whatever i wanted to see. TRIPLE SIGH  i wonder if this is a bad sign for me and Koreans. nowadays, everywhere i am, i can hear them chatting away. all these years i never really took much notice until i fell in love with Big Bang, and suddenly everywhere is Korean. from fashion to music to accessories. and by the way, once upon a time, i used to own a Korean make car by Hyundai (had it for about 6-7 years).

hey just so you know how BIG a fan i am of Big Bang's, let me share with you a secret. ummm..well since im telling the "world"(in my blog) its no longer a secret anymore. i actually sent those guys cards and friendship bands(amongst other things hahahaa...wont tell you) and on top of that, i even wrote a thank you card to the president of YG. that's how a big fan i am of BBs!! everyday i pray that i'll hear something from anyone of them but till today, nada, zilch, zero! should i give up hope? or just hold on? i don't know, jin-jja.

ok guys, thanks for stopping by. sorry for the long delay in my blog. you know I've been super busy rite and i did warn you before. just wait for my next blog. and until then..fighting!! (one of Big Bang's famous last words).

ttfn


4.48pm

p/s Gdragon, mr team leader of Big Bang will be performing his first solo concert in Singapore. i reckon its after middle of the year since his first concert in seoul only happened like on the 30 and 31 march. i read it was a rocking good show. so for all you BB fans or fans of GD, get your Cray-on!!! or should i say Michi Go!!!