fifth wheel

Yesterday officially marked my jump from being a third wheel to a fifth wheel. I've already gotten used to living with Marnie and Ingrid. Good thing I get along just fine with them. But yesterday Allen has flown to Singapore since he has already found work. So I can't consider Tish as a fellow "single" anymore here in this city. Oh well. Just have to get used to it or find myself a partner. Ha!

PAPA

It was my lolo's birthday the other day.

He's one of my favorite relatives. (I get to talk to him more than my other lolo) If I'm not mistaken he's already around 80 years old (hope I'm not making him older than what he really is!) But he's so strong. (especially evident when my lola passed away three years ago)

My mom has always gone to him to ask him about things she didn't know. From that I gained more and more respect from him. He's kind to all of us apo's.

He went with us usually whenever we go out-of-town, be it Baguio, the beach, or Tagaytay.

He's a very good role model.

I miss him.

birthday wish list

With my birthday just a few weeks away *hint, hint* let me come up with my birthday wish list. Just like a bridal registry, my list will range from the wishful-thinking to the more mundane ones. But dreaming is free right?

I'll try to keep at at 24. 24 Gifts ba? hehe.

Here it goes! In no particular order...


1. Sponsorship of at least 5 days-worth of salary so I can take leave and come home to the Philippines for a vacation. So I won't have to wait till December. (Quite a good deal cuz I would be in charge of paying for the airfare.)
2. I might as well add the airfare for that so-called vacation. Come on! JetStar Asia and Tiger Airways are going cheaper and cheaper by the minute!
3. a haircut in Tony & Guy
4. Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary Architecture (the giant book that has been my design bible for the past weeks)
5. collection of all Robert Powell's books (I already have the New Singapore House so you don't have to get that, haha)
6. a new phone (I like the Sony Ericsson T630 or the one that's half black. Forgot the model. I also like the Nokia flip-phone with the leather casing. I'm not good in remembering model numbers)
7. a bigger closet for my room
8. a meal at Outback (since someone was raving about this Chicken meal that sounds so tempting!)
9. dessert at NYDC (yum yum mudpies and cheesecakes!)
10. the chocolate banana espresso cake of cedele
11. cheesecake of Hilton Hotel
12. an MP3 player (the Sony one)
13. new pair of office shoes, brown shade
14. a nice chic black jacket for the office (that dosn't look like a blazer)
15. a gift voucher/ certificate to one full session in one of the slimming centers here (haha)
16. a boyfriend (yup, you got that right!)
17. nice site shoes (one that doesn't necessarily have to be used only at site)
18. my own TV (even if it's just 14")
19. sponsorship of one-year's worth of cable television so I would be able to have TFC!
20. a sushi buffet
21. a chocolate/ dessert buffet (yum yum!)
22. a bunch of dark M&Ms and Maltesers
23. sponsorship of shipping stuff to and fro Manila and here
24. gift voucher/ certificate for rebonding my hair (haha, I couldn't resist!)

So there. That wasn't so bad was it?

House Rules

Just to share a message my boss sent out to everyone yesterday. I posted a few comments in bold blue.


Dear Staff,

Of late, I have observed certain bad habits creeping back into the office practice during working hours. Whilst the Management allows certain latitude and flexibilty in our day to day operations on the basis that all of us are mature enough to put in a good day's work, we will not hesitate to take action against any staff members who are persistently recalcitrant in flouting the basic ground rules. I swear there's something about Singaporeans and highfalutin words. But suck in grammer (tenses et al; e.g. I did used the pen.)

To re-iterate, the following bad practices are NOT ALLOWED:

01) Surfing and down loading from the internet at any time for non work related matters (okay, okay, I'm guilty on this account. I can't help it. I do have to check my email and have chikka on most of the time. I have the disadvantage of not being able to text my family and friends easily like everyone else here -- the locals of course)

02) Constant chatting on the handphone on non work related matters (no problem with me there. I have no text-chat mates here. loser.)

03) Coming into the office late for work without a valid reason. If it is raining, we understand as there are no covered public linkways to Gateway West (ha! I've never been late to work. me, miss "early bird" awardee for two consecutive years? :P )

04) Coming into the office late from lunch. Again, if it is raining during lunch, we understand as there are no covered public linkways to Gateway West (the latest i've been back was half an hour, after i came from an audition. but no one caught me then. and, ash always sees me having my lunch in the pantry.)

05) Prompting with one another through the Apex system (our internal network). If you need to coordinate work immediately, just sit down and discuss with each other and settle the work related business (this is quite weird. going from one place to another takes time. and at least with the apex system the person reads it at their own time. so what's the diff?)

06) Personalised music at a level a tad too loud that it distracts and affects your neighbouring colleagues' work performance (I always have my earphones plugged in. So maybe I'll go deaf but at least I ain't distractign anyone)

07) Doing overtime for work that typically can be done within the normal office hours. Overtime is strictly for urgent and/or additional work that has to be executed in a constrained time frame (Ha! I'm the last person violating this, since I'm one of the first architects to leave the office. At least after reading this I feel better about not staying late usually unlike some people. Overtime is a bad bad habit! No to cramming!)

Thank you for your co-operation.

regards,
ashvin

Okay, so the verdict is that I violate 1.5 out of the 7. I'm no model employee but the ratio is not bad right? Two of my seatmates, according to them, violate half of it, hehe. I guess most of the people violate the one about coming to work late and all that.

and i'm back!

Wow, it feels like ages since I last wrote here (given the number of times a day I wrote previously, hehe) Not that I've been super busy. I guess relatively I have my plate semi-full --with the new projects I've been assigned with, my two sideline projects, and of course there's American Idol, Amazing Race, Desperate Housewives, the o.c. and One Tree Hill. Hahahah.

So what's up? Here are ten things.

1. It's less than two weeks till my folks come and visit me. Woohoo! (But of course that wait is just as long as their stay here. Sigh.)
2. It's a month a half till my sister visits me (well I'm not the main reason she's coming but a familiar face is always welcome!)
3. I posted a Sony Clie I'm selling in Bidhsot but the one who bidded the highest suddenly backesd out. Now I'm having a hard time contacting the second highest bidder. I fno progress I'll be posting it again. Sucks. I'm hoping to get my brother an MP3 player from that. (just subsidize... I'm not that generous hehe)
4. I've been assigned to two more projects (one project and one design/project; more workload but I'm not complaining yet).
5. I'm finishing my Canyon Woods design (taking too long to do the reflected ceiling plan).
6. I'm working on this commercial building located in Bulacan. The client isn't my favorite, but as long as I get paid!
7. Constantine is out. Doesn't really affect me since my favorites are Carrie, Vonzell and Bo (and they're the top three so far!)
8. Rob and Amber are still in the race, and I'm actually secretly hoping they win. (they probably didn't play fair depends how you look at it, but they didn't go against any amazing race rules!)
9. Michael Copon who plays Felix in One Tree Hill is sooo hot! Because of him I don't mind watching the show from eleven-thirty to twelve-thirty Thursday nights! (and omg! just found out he used to be a power ranger! hahahaha) I also like the new cast members, such as Karen's teacher/guy, and Payton's record store guy.
10. Mike Delfino (James Denton) in Desperate Housewives is so hot... the guy I wished lived next door!

So that's that.

And I'm hoping for a good weekend!