time and place for everything

4.05pm

i have a question for you - have you ever seen a family out for dinner or a meal, and whilst at the table waiting for the food to arrive, they are all on their smartphones or gadgets like ipad, ipod/touch etc? you know what irritates me the most is when i look at these people, they dont realize that what they are doing is socially wrong! im sure you guys reading this would disagree with me totally but hey, its my opinion ok and im entitled to it, so there!

hey what ever happened to discussions and chatter around the table? why isnt there any communication going between the parents and kids? everyone is so busy staring into their gadgets that they dont see what is going on around them. and mind you, life would just pass these people by!

i saw on facebook couple months back, somebody sent this video about how life passes by when you are perpetually glued to your portable gadgets. in a nutshell, they gave 2 different scenarios -

1) a guy walking down the street, holding a piece of paper trying to locate a house and then comes along a nice looking girl and he stops her to ask for the direction and the girl kindly shows it to him and then fast forward to see them dating, then getting married, having kids etc.

2)a guy walking down the street, holding his phone trying to locate a house and then comes along this nice looking girl who just walks by him without noticing him and vice versa. why? because he's just too busy checking his phone to even look up to see what is going on around him or who had just walked by.

so yes, what does this tell you? and then very recently, one of my best friends put up on facebook saying that her husband has banned her and the kids too i think, to stop using the ipad after 11pm!! to me i say hear hear! bravo. 

i honestly think that these gadgets are being taken for granted and to the point where its being "abused". do you know what im trying to get across here? its really not cool. when you are at the dining table, put away your stupid gadgets, have a nice meal and do chat with your parents or spouse or kids. god gave us mouth to talk so damn it, talk! 

and you know what else, i would like to share one more story with you here. my husband came home one day and told me that one of his colleagues daughter was so damn lazy that whilst at home in her room, she whatsapped the maid (who was downstairs), to bring her a drink! oh my god! and nevermind that, if she didnt whatsapp, she would ring her own house phone! and one day her dad answered the phone(obviously this girl didnt know her dad was at home as she was busy with her gadget im assuming!) and was very surprised that his own kid who was at home, was calling the house phone! she actually wanted a glass of water to be brought up to her. and so thats how her dad found out about how utterly lazy his daughter was! of course he later gave her a severe warning and told her never to do that again and instructed the maid not to ever bring anything up to her room unless she comes down and get it herself!

so you see where im getting at? people, please for goodness sake, theres a place and time for everything!! would you die without your phone or ipad for a few minutes? would the world end if you just stopped what you were doing? im telling you, one day when your spouse/parents/kids are no longer around and you want somebody to talk to, thats when you know its too late! no more real conversation.

i know i sometimes fall into this bad habit too but when im back at my parents house, we dont bring our phones to the table. we sit down to eat and have a proper conversation like most adults do or any other human being for that matter. i mean come on, that should be the way, isnt it? i dont understand why parents these days allow this nonsense to even happen. from father to mother to kids all holding something in their hands and no one is talking. for realz ok! i have seen this many times when im out dining with my husband. and whatsmore, toddlers are given ipads to occupy themselves! OMFG! this too much if you asked me! 

tell me whats the purpose that people want to that? to show off to others around them? are they that shallow and superficial?or keeping up with the joneses perhaps? is it monkey see monkey do? why not learn the good things instead of the bad? social etiquette is very important and somehow somewhere along the way, it got lost. people behave the way they do which to me is quite sad. they think its so cool and the right thing to do. hey go ask any etiquette expert and see what they tell you. but having said that, these people dont realize that what they are doing is not right at all. there is a time and place for everything!! 


ttfn


4.43pm

renewal of malaysian passport in singapore

1.33pm

yes i know its been a while since my blog. thats coz nothing much has been happening or anything exciting to share with you guys. i dont know if you heard about another nasty incident that happened in seoul, korea recently, whereby 2 subway trains collided into each other. i think that there were around 200 people on board those trains. im not quite sure but from what i've been reading online thankfully nobody died in this accident just lots of casualties. very very sad #prayforsouthkorea. you can check more details online if you google it. 

anyways, moving along, today i decided to renew my passport as it needs 6 months validity in order to travel. it was my first time renewing it here in singapore as most of the time, i usually do it when i go back to kuala lumpur for my holidays. i did some research online and here's my very brief and straight forward version on how to go about doing it. 

that's the high comm of malaysia in singapore

right so first things first. just so you know, you dont have to make an appointment to go and do your passport. just go as early as possible if you can. i will give you guys more details as we go along. now, what you need to get in order before you go to the embassy/high commission of malaysia in singapore are -

*checklist given by the high comm of malaysia

a) your old passport
b) photocopy of your malaysian identification card(to photocopy back to back or on a single sheet, not on separate sheets)
c) photocopy of your singapore identification card(to photocopy back to back or on single sheet, not on separate sheets)
(note - if you forgot to make copies, you can do so at the embassy. there's a photocopier next to the instant photo booth and there'll be helpers there to do the photostating for you. each copy cost S$0.40 for photostating of IC)
d)your renewal form (which you can download online and to print out on a single page, back to back, not on separate sheets).

as you can see, this is how the form looks like, front and back on a single sheet of paper. just fill in the necessary bits. im afraid its all written in bahasa malaysia. if you are unsure of where/how to fill it in, dont fret, just check at the enquiry counter (there's one there).

e)exact amount of S$124.00 for a 48 page passport (i asked the lady at the counter if people have to give exact change and she said yes, no questions asked. makes me wonder why and i cant believe that they are that lazy to even give back change to people).
f) 2 current photographs with white background (35mm x 50mm). now for those of you who want to take your passport photo at the embassy, you can do so at the instant photo booth for S$7.00 and you'll get 4 photos. please keep some small change as the booth only accepts S$10, S$5 and S$2 notes. dont worry, if you are unsure of how to go about taking your photo, there'll be people there to assist you. oh yes before i forget, since its white background, please try not to wear white. try to wear a darker color so you wont "fade" into the background. a not very flattering black or dark blue jacket is provided for those who wear sleeveless or if you happen to wear white. but if you arent a germaphobe, by all means put the jacket on. hahaha. and since i wore glasses, the man told me to remove them. you have to try to make yourself as neat as possible, no hairs blocking your forehead or ears. 
g)lastly, please bring along all these documents and your originals as well for verification purpose. 

so basically thats all you need to do. thats your homework. once you've got that sorted out, you're good to go. other than that, here's a bit more information that i would like to share with you. for your info, we are only given 48 pages for the passport which is standard. kids and senior citizens above 60 years old are charged S$62.00 (all depends on the exchange rate as what i saw on the notice pasted at the counters). 

so, once you get to the high comm, make your way to the guard house to exchange your drivers license for an entry pass into the building. after you've done that, find your way into the building. then line up for your queue number (again, please make sure you have everything in order otherwise you are not given any number). once you've gotten your number, you just have to sit and wait for a while till your number is called and then you go and submit your documents (you have to surrender your old passport) and pay the person at the counter. from what i saw, there's 2 counters for taking queue numbers and there's 7 counters for passport and lastly 1 counter each for enquiry/submission/collection/visa and visa/cashier. rest is very straight forward like doing your thumb print of both thumbs, the payment. then once that's done, you'll be given a queue number and timing of when to collect your passport. 

for example, here's my queue number to pick up my passport the next day and the time to collect it. dont forget to bring this slip along with you for the collection of your passport. 


here's some helpful links for you to look into before you go off and do your passport. 

http://www.kln.gov.my/web/sgp_singapore/passport_renewal
(official website of the malaysian high commission in singapore)

http://www.transitlink.com.sg/eservice/eguide/service_idx.php
(in case you need to take the bus). i almost forgot, if you are driving or taking the bus, just go along river valley road and look out for landmarks either SPC or ESSO petrol stations. thats where jervois road is located. if you are taking the bus, please get off at the valley point bus stop. (sigh, we used to live at valley park condo at river valley road back in 2006). 

ok folks thats about it. if you need to check with me on anything, just feel free to ask. i'll try my best to answer your questions. 


ttfn

3.53pm

p/s 

i collected my new passport this afternoon. process was quite fast. here's how it went down. basically, when you get to the guard house, the security guard will ask you "what is your purpose" and you inform them that you're there to collect your passport and then  he'll give you a tag/pass with a Q number on it.(mine was 027) and you'll have to give him one of your identification cards (be it your ID or drivers license, which you'll be getting back later). then you go into the building and wait for 2.30pm when the doors will be opened for the public. (by the way, it was bloody hot coz we had to wait in the heat!) now, once they opened the doors, a guard will call out the Q numbers starting from 1 and you just wait your turn. as i said earlier, my number was 027 so i waited till the guard called out my number (just like BINGO!) and you go and line up in the queue and collect your passport. oh yes, when its your turn, you'll have to give the person at the counter your receipt (the small tiny slip of paper where a number and timing/date was printed on) coz thats how they can locate your passport in that sequence. and once that's been done, you go and return your tag/pass and get back your ID. voila! 

when it rains, it pours

10.52pm

so the saying goes - when it rains, it pours! well its true. especially what im about to tell you. its been what, almost 40 days coming soon since we the world, last heard about the missing malaysia airline plane MH370. how sad this news is. im still glued to the news be it online or on the telly or the papers and from the looks of it, the australian government is narrowing its search areas down, which is a bit of a good news instead of scouring the entire indian ocean! my god! its so vast that it goes beyond anybody's imagination, with "nothingness" all around except for the big blue and the big blue skies.  then some netcitizens/keyboard warriors too have been speculating that the plane could have landed in afghanistan. *scoffs* what next! alien abduction?? come on, get real !

ok, nevermind about this missing plane, but seems like there have been a couple more aviation mishaps besides MH. on march 26, an indonesian airline Malindo Air bound for kuala terengganu, malaysia, had to turn back to the subang airport in malaysia, after one of its engines caught fire! imagine that! and that occured when the aircraft climbed to about 7,000 feet (2,334 meters) soon after it took off in the morning. fortunately, no one was hurt and the plane landed safely on ground. best part was the entire terengganu football team were among the passangers on board this flight. apparently one of the passengers had a fright of their life when they heard an explosion when airborne, and saw that one of the plane propellers catching fire!

another mishap is from yet again, malaysia airlines mh066 bound for seoul which happened on 24th march. the plane had to make an emergency landing in hong kong, after a generator supplying normal electrical power to the aircraft failed. luckily, the plane's auxiliary power unit was able to supply the aircraft. it was an airbus a330-300. dont worry, all 271 passengers on board were fine. 

this last incident happened on 29th march when a cathay pacific plane, boeing 777 from jfk to hong kong had to divert its flight path from hong kong to zhuhai, china. this wasnt because of any malfunction to the aircraft but due to severe weather (lighting and hail storm). not only the plane was diverted to zhuhai, all the passengers on board werent allowed to disembark. from a 16 hour flight, turned into a 34 hour ordeal. all crew on board were required to rest by law. so then cx had to call in replacement crew from hong kong to zhuhai and they too ran into some obstacles whilst making their way there. my goodness. never ends does it?? 

well if you guys want to read more just google it. its all there. im just giving you the gist of it. i really dont know what is going on in this world of ours. cranky? god knows. so my dear friends, if you have to travel, i wish you the best and safe journey to wherever you are heading to. dont forget to tell your loved ones goodbye and that you love them, coz honestly, you just dont know when your time is up. hmm...its a bit like final destination, the movie dont you think so?  hahaha... and please remember,there's only 2 things in this world that we cant avoid, ever, and thats taxes and death! 

god bless and stay safe!

ttfn

11.29pm

flight MH370 missing

11.28am


its been 50 over hours now since flight mh370 has mysteriously disappeared. mh370 was to take off from the capital of malaysia, kuala lumpur to beijing, china. at this point in time(as im typing this blog), im also watching the news on telly and they are reporting that the different authorities are still gathering information from the suspected crash site (which is most likely out in the open sea , south china sea to be precise).  theres so much chaos especially in kl, where i think its the "hub" where all the news are flowing in to. thats why im not surprised if/when theres a big miscommunication in the process.

when i first heard this news on saturday morning, my heart just dropped and i still feel very uneasy over this incident as we speak. i have this strange weird feeling in the pits of my stomach. honestly, i've never really felt this way before over any other air crashes around the world (although with due respect, it was all very sad and tragic), except for one more other crash that gutted me back in 1995(will blog about that later). and my guess is the reason that im feeling this way is probably because its "closer to home" and lets not forget that i was once a cabin crew with malaysia airlines. 

i can relate to how families and friends of all the folks on board flight mh370 are probably feeling right now. so many questions left unanswered and nobody can really help them. no doubt volunteers were sent to assist them in any possible way in this trying time but lets face it, these volunteers are not in these people's shoes. sometimes i do wonder, here the volunteers are trying to "talk" and destress these poor people, but would it help much? even if they let it out and "talk" so what? right now isnt really the right time to "talk" to them as they are numb, lost, angry, in denial etc. however no one knows if this would further aggravate the situation at hand or vice versa. 

i was sent a montage of the 12 crew on board(including the captain and co pilot) and i think that i may have flown with one of the cabin crew. (wont be naming names). im surprised as to how so fast news can spread like wildfire and then the first thing im getting (from my ex batchmates) is the crew name list for that flight. then much later im sent the photos of the crew! wow! 

i have my own thoughts on this whole situation but i shall reserve my comments and see what the outcome is. at the end of the day, what we need is hard proof of the whole incident. i just hope and pray that mh370 is "safe" wherever they may be. i just remembered one of the comment made by one of the spokesperson from malaysia airlines, he said something like "....that after more than 30 hours there's a slim chance that anyone couldve survived". but lets just hope for a miracle here!!

so im dedicating this blog today to all on board of mh370. may god be with them as well as their families. please say a prayer to them for strength. on behalf of the malaysian citizens, a big thank you to those countries who are lending a helping hand and god bless everyone.

ttfn

12.31pm

another day gone by

12.42pm

hey hey whats up people! my apologies for not writing. well, i've done nothing much but scouring the net for some part time jobs, watching american horror story and not to mention my favourite kdrama series. 

and speaking of which, i highly recommend that you to watch these kdramas, if you havent already watched them or worst case, if you're bored to death on a weekend with nowhere to go and nothing better to do, then by all means feel free to just check out the first episodes of these series that i've just mentioned and tell me what you think. we can have a chat about it. hehe

well so far i've watched playful kiss, the heirs, school 2013 and boys over flowers. pretty good shows(all are mostly up to 16 episodes only). mind you, it can bring tears to your eyes too at times(like it did mine).( aigoo what to do, im  a softie at heart and a hopeless romantic). these shows are based mostly about high school kids and their lives, their ups and downs of being an adolescent- juggling family, school and part time jobs. 

somehow, you know after watching these shows, it made me reminisce back when i was in high school(in an all girls school by the way), that i've never actually faced situations like those shown in the dramas. maybe perhaps because being brought up in malaysia those days(circa 1970) was better compared to now. and also could be that life in korea is different. during my time, i never heard of bullys or pushovers. only over achievers. hahahaha but sadly i aint one of them :P

now, as for american horror story, im  watching season 3. i tell you its pretty good. will keep you glued to your seat! each season has a different theme/storyline. i say two thumbs up for this series! highly recommended. 

ah yes, we're going on another short vacation, back to our hometown. yay! i cant wait. i dont know if you heard but here in singapore or in malaysia, the weather is so bloody hot!! but thankfully, here in singapore, its slightly better because of the strong wind thats blowing throughout the day. whereas in malaysia, from what my folks have been telling me, the dams there are drying up at a rapid pace. and in some cities, there's already no water! this is serious shit people. i really hope the government there is taking drastic measures to do something like say cloud seeding. having said that, i know that they cant do much as this is to do with mother nature (never muck around with her). and on top of that, indonesia has already warned us all that the haze will be approaching soon as there's already some burning going on as we speak, over in areas of sumatera/kalimantan or god knows where! 

so i guess thats sums up my blog for today. nothing exceptionally exciting has been going on with yours truly. just the usual shit. how about you? same shit different day i guess huh?? you know you could always take a break and go for a short holiday. remember that all work and no play makes YOU a dull person! and not to mention, if you drop dead (touch wood), there's like 10,000 people eyeing your job! you are REPLACEABLE!! for realz!

ttfn


1.36pm


p/s oooh i gotta share this with you! on twitter, i have korean air following me hahahaha how awesome is that! daebak! oh by the way, here's my twitter if you wanna follow me -
@bevng1971

when push comes to shove

12.07pm

you know the meaning of - when push comes to shove? simply put, if/when faced in a difficult situation, you will take action, somehow someway. most of us as we know it, live in our own little bubble. we have our families and friends around, our secured jobs etc. but what happens when you are suddenly removed from that equation? what happens then? will you fall apart? what will you do?

take my situation for example. i have lived with my parents like forever, until i got a job as a cabin crew with our national carrier and had to move to cross country so to speak. now, the thought of being away from my parents and friends really scared me. and at that time, i was already engaged to my husband. leaving all of them behind and moving to some god forsaken place drove me nuts. how was i to cope?

thats when the saying comes in - when push comes to shove. i had no choice but to pack up and go. that was the first time being away from home. the bright side of it was that at least i would get to see my parents and hubby-to-be, a couple of times a month when we get our night stops back home. long story short, i endured it and pushed on until we were all sent back to homebase within a year, thankfully.

nevermind that, the second time was when i had to move away was when my husband got relocated to jakarta, indonesia for a couple of years. at least this round i had my husband with me but i really missed my folks. and a decade later(wow!) im here in singapore. during all this time spent away from my real home, i have learnt to do things that i never imagined that i would be doing. 

well back home, my mom usually does all the cooking and she would plan the meals or ask us what we like to eat and she'll whip it up. living on my own, i have learnt how to cook, clean, bake, handle the household and to top it off, we got a dog! mind you, i've never liked dogs before and they can sense that i dont like them either. everytime i go by a house that has dogs, they would come charging towards the gate and start barking at me. i swear the hairs on my arms would stand and i get goosebumps all over. dont ask me why. but when i had my own lil furkid, i grew to like dogs. from not knowing a single thing about them like how to take care of them, what are their likes/dislikes etc, i had to learn from scratch and  learning thru trial and error. so, this is when the meaning push comes to shove applies.

let me share with you another story. a close friend of mine has 4 kids. her husband works out of town and only comes home every fridays to sundays.  now how do you think she is coping? she has to juggle the kids ie ferrying them up and down to/fro from school, thinking of their meals, doing some household chores, making sure the house runs smoothly etc. and all this mind you, is done without the help of the husband or a maid. a million things runs thru her head daily (i can imagine) but yet somehow, everytime when we do meet up, she's always in that cheerful mood. i've asked her before, how does she do it? her reply was "bev, what do you want me to do? sit and cry?" and for that, i do salute her! so you see, somehow when push comes to shove, things will get done for sure. whether you've given it 100% or 50%, you've have do it. nobody can do it for you. most of us arent born with a silver spoon in the mouth. there's no time for us to get sick (rarely) as we cant really afford to fall ill. otherwise how? 

both my parents worked for the government(until they retired) and their salary wasnt much to shout about back then. we've had our struggles and hardships but with my mom leading us, we somehow miraculously managed to pull through and well here we are today, thanks to her. and thats why i did mention in my older blogs that she is one of the people whom i admire most in my life. 

well i hope you guys have learnt something today. think about how many times you have faced with a difficult situation and you managed to come out of it? its you who did it!(with or without any help) this only makes you a stronger person and that you believed in yourself, and therefore you can do it if you set your mind to it. there are many people, im afraid who are still living in their own safe haven, haven't  come face to face with a tough situation. (hopefully they wont). but they will never "grow" and never knowing their capabilities. sometimes staying inside your "security blanket" is not always good thing. its too comfortable and should anything go wrong, the question is what will you do then? how will you survive it? 

ok peeps, ttfn


1.01pm 

year of the horse 2014

1.35pm

wow i was just looking thru my older posts and i remembered writing about the lunar new year and explaining to you guys what it was all about and now another year has come. so how did you guys celebrate it? (for those who do celebrate it)

for me, every year i celebrate it in kuala lumpur, malaysia and up north, penang where my husband is from. my mom would do a pre-reunion dinner for us together with my family members and then after a few days spent back home, we fly off to penang island to have the real celebration there. 

its usually really fun gathering around with my husband's family members and relatives. they are indeed a bunch of jokers, from the old to the younger ones. then, friends from afar are all back too, to be with their loved ones as well. what usually happens is that most of us will have our own family dinners and then later go out we'd all go and hang out with our friends to have coffee or to a pub for a drink or two, to catch up with each other. or sometimes, we'd go to a friend's house and gamble. 

sadly, this year there wasnt any gambling at all. im not a gambler but once a year especially during the chinese new year, alot of people would be gambling in their own homes with friends or family. even though its all for fun, but we use money to play. hahaha this is an incentive to play your best coz you want to win the "pot". 

the weather up in kl was hot hot hot! even in penang! having said that, although it was hot but oddly enough, i never sweat. and since coming back to singapore, it has been pretty cooling. like from late last year, the weather here has been pretty good. even though we've got the sun shinning,  i dont have to switch on the ceiling fan (which i normally do) at all thruout the day. i read online that this is probably because of the cold winds blowing from southern china or something. well i hope it keeps on blowing and who knows one fine day, we'd get some snow even! but you know come to think of it, some part of indonesia(not up in the mountains) had some light snowfall sometime in late august 2013. strange but true! 

anyways, all the holidays are over and im so dreading it, having to look for a part time job. i may just ring my ex boss lady and see if she needs me otherwise i have to go look for something to do until end of may. oh yes, im very pleased to announce that my brother has gotten married(late last year) and will be having his wedding dinner in june, therefore yours truly has to go back for this occasion. one thats not to be missed! and i dont know if i have mentioned this to you lot, this ex boss lady is getting married in november this year and she has already given me a heads up and expects me to be at her dinner. hehehe... perhaps this year, 2014 or as the chinese folks call it, year of the horse, is a good year to get hitched. 

so to those who are indeed tying the knot in 2014, i wish you nothing but the best for your upcoming marriage and congratulations! as for the rest of the world, gong xi fa cai, kong hei fatt choy, happy lunar new year to all of you, may this gallopping year bring you much joy, fun, good health, tons of wealth and happiness! 

god bless. ttfn


2.01pm

p/s ive only had 2 "yee sangs" so far and im dying for another one!  i am hoping to buy the ready made ones sold at cold storage with fresh norwegian salmon! yummy!! fingers crossed that there's still some stock left!! selling like hot cakes ok!