Killing the innocent

Just read an article in TODAY with a small red headline 'Cannibal Mum'. Yup, its exactly what the little headline says. A mother in San Antonio ate her three-week-old child's brain and some other body parts and is now claiming the devil made her do it. Now investigators are looking into whether postnatal difficulties are a contributing factor.

Poor baby. Read the first paragraph of the article and was at a loss for words. Only hope he died fast.

postscript: Only just realized that i had lots of typo errors! Oops... :P 31/7/09

Agonies of cooking beef stew

I've been trying and trying, but just can't find beef broth. Many of the beef stew recipes i'm searching call for beef broth, and all i can find is beef stock cubes, and even that is occasional! Somehow not many stores stock -- haha -- beef stock cubes. Sigh. Somehow cooking beef stew with chicken stock doesn't seem right. *scratch head*

I tried KAP, Kallang Leisuredrome -- is that the name? -- and also Great World City. No have lei... :(

Right now i just use water when i cook beef stew, and all i get seems to be beef broth instead! Sigh! So do i have to use the cooked-after beefy water and cook my beef stew with it? My goodness...

I've tried using stout as the liquid base in one memorable attempt, after dear and i watched a cooking show. Luckily he watched the show and had agreed that i should try using stout, cos the resultant taste was very different! Suffice to say that that is one recipe i will not be trying again.

Right now my very un-beef stew recipe is is to dump water in the slow cooker, beef cubes -- depending on my mood, i may not brown it especially when its in the morning on a workday! -- lots of potatos and carrots, onion then to let the slow cooker do its work. Upon returning home, i add in some plain flour. But sometimes the liquid thickens though more often than not, it doesn't. sigh... Maybe i should just add a small can of baked beans cos the tomato sauce should thicken it somewhat, right?

I'm in this quandry now cos McComick doesn't produce the beef stew seasoning anymore. sigh... Anyone with a tried-and-tested beef stew recipe?

Guilty or innocent?

Remembered my law lecturer telling us the rule of the law is that it is better to release the guilty than to imprison the innocent. Found out the quote, and the other conflicting views in the book "Death in Hyde Park"...

It is better that ten guilty persons escape than one innocent suffer.

Sir William Blackstone,

Commentaries on the Laws of England

It is better to execute a hundred innocent persons than to permit one guilty person to go free.

Vladimir Ilich Lenin

We must execute not on the guilty. Execution of the innocent will impress the masses.

Nikolai Kyrlenko,

Commissioner of Justice under Lenin

HP & the Half Blood Prince -- IMHO

Went to watch HPATHBP yesterday. Had already read that there was a scene not in the book, and had watched the previous 4 shows -- yup, i realized i didn't catch the Order of the Phoenix -- so was expecting some differences between the book and the movie.

In the end? I find the book better. I don't understand the need for the following 2:

1. Burning of The Barrows
Why was the additional scene needed? The Barrows is featured in the last book when Bill and Fleur got married, so why burn it? To show the charm that was placed on the house? In this case, the charm didn't work, right? So why burn? Just for the fun of it? sigh.

2. Parting of the water by fire
Read in the reviews about Dumbledore parting the waters of fire, rather like Charles Heston in The Ten Commandments. Hmm. The Inferi were actually kept apart from Dumbledore and Harry Potter by a ring of fire. Thought the lane created by the walls of fire was rather cheesy. Maybe this was just a special effect? Hmm.

There were the expected minor changes to the book, such as the removal of the introduction to Fleur. There was also no further elaboration of the special classes Dumbledore had with Harry. Since these introduced the other Hogwarts' founders' items, i wonder how they would show Harry knowing what the other Horcruxes were in the final movie? Also, wasn't it weird that, knowing your son was on the brink of death, Mr & Mrs Weasley didn't turn up at the hospital wing when Ron was poisoned? I suppose the film maker wanted to minimise the cast, so one way would be to cut that scene out, huh? Similarly, there was no battle between the Death Eaters and Dumbledore's Army. Too many people too and special effects would be needed? All in all, there was quite a fair bit of changes.

I don't really like the movie. The book is better though i suppose if you hadn't read the book, the movie makes some sort of sense.

Bleargh. Wasted our money. The Lord Of The Rings was better! There was one scene where i thought the director was trying to copy LOTR, when Dumbledore was at the tower prior to leaving for the cave. The long straight hair, the details on the grey robes, the wind... Rather like Gandalf The Grey, though the straight hair was more like Saruman. heehee.

Were there some cast changes? The guys looked the same, though Neville Longbottom really shot up. So tall! And somehow i never pictured Ginny Weasley being taller than Harry. And Ron being so hunky? Draco Malfoy didn't age nicely, i find. He looks so ugly now. Dame Maggie Smith looks very old, though. Who acted as the first Dumbledore? I remember he passed away after the second show. Hope Dame Maggie Smith will be able to complete the last book. Felt that Arthur and Molly Weasley looks different. I like Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix. As dear whispered, she seems to suit such roles! Or perhaps she just looks good in black make-up. haha. :P

Would i watch The Deathly Hallows when it is released? Probably, if only to see how the movie will end (lots of fights). But i won't bear high hopes on it.

Laundry stuff #2

This is an interesting article too, again on laundry. Woman's Day has reorganized their page, so i'm having fun poking around. :)

Of the 10 tips, #7 is interesting. Never thought of it that way. #8 is being practiced, but i never thought of it in terms of the smell seeping into the laundry. Just want to air it out la. :P

Laundry stuff

Used to wash clothes by hand when young. Now that i've my own home, my poor machine has to do the work. Saw this article on laundry myths before and found it again -- good for the wives out there... :)

Death At... series

I'm currently hooked on this series of detective stories by the author Robin Paige, though it is actually a collaboration of a husband-and-wife team. The stories are set in the late Victorian and early Edwardian times and starts off with the book, Death At Bishop's Keep.

I'm actually happy reading Regency romances cos i'm fascinated with the lifestyle -- though i think the authors really have to crack their brains to think of plots -- that is depicted. Sometimes some actual personages are featured, and it makes it seem more interesting.

For this series, it traces the usage of fingerprinting, ballistics etc. Its rather different from the typical romances in that there are many more scenes involving the serving class, and their behaviour is typically more different from the aristocracy. Characters like Arthur Conan Doyle -- him of Sherlock Holmes -- Rudyard Kipling, Oscar Wilde, the Prince of Wales (while Queen Victoria was still alive of course!) all add a touch of realism, though of course i don't expect it to have happened. But it makes it more interesting.

I borrowed the first and fourth in the series, cos i wasn't sure if i'll be interested in it. Turned out not too bad, so did a search and went to the Central Library and borrowed the rest, though i'm still short of one. The stories can be read independantly, though reading it in sequence is recommended cos the supporting characters are introduced along the way.

Its not as much fluff, but neither is it that much weight. However for an attention span of mine, not bad la. Can devour one book a day. :)

Children should be seen...

...and not heard!

Was unfortunate enough to board a bus with an irritating brat. I was already hoping at the bus stop that he wouldn't be taking my bus, but no such luck. Throughout the entire bus journey, all the bus could hear, other than the blast of air-con, was the brat going "Amaa! Amaa!" and guess what the mother was doing? Happily talking away to her companion.

Seriously, I think this over indulgence thing for kids is just wrong. I was wishing all along to be able to reach out and give him a tight slap. All the way right to the stop before mine. So it makes it 60 minutes of pure irritation, and "amaa! amaa!"

Why couldn't the bloody mother just give her bloody son a good hard shake and tell her brat to stop it, she's having a conversation? Is that so difficult to do? Why can't these mothers teach their kids some basic courtesy? Goodness, the brat is being an irritant, the mother lets the brat interrupt and the brat grows up thinking he has the right to interrupt conversations at any time? And all because his culture values those with a p***s so such d**kheads have the right to do what they want?

I really wonder if the bus driver turned up the fan speed in a valiant effort to drown out the "amaa! amaa!" cos after they alighted, the fan speed slowed down. But to no avail cos nothing could drown out the irritant.

Its times like these that i know i have no patience for kids. Give me a compliant and quiet child and i'll be happy. Give me such brats and i'm glad i'm childless! :P

I'm dying...

...figuratively, of course! Though i really am dying. Am i not one day closer to my death? Hmm...

Anyway... on MC today. My right knee has been aching and now has funny noises -- like a creaking sound -- whenever i bend it, which is constantly! Its so bad that i popped over to the doc at the neighbouring block, and his diagnosis? Arthritis.

GASP!!! I thought arthritis is an old person illness? But no lor, he said i'm too fat and need to diet. Prescribed me medical grade glucosamine and slimming pills and high blood pressure medication. Apparently i have HBP too. I have no idea...

I feel like horus! Much as i try to cut down his food, he still remains the same, though S8 said he seems to have lost weight. (btw, i just discovered that he will eat ice-cream wafer biscuits, the sort that i call ''ice-cream bia''. He snucked some from my bowl last night. :P) So now its my turn. Sigh. Just hope i will lose weight lor.

And guess what else the doc told me? No jogging. Err, then how? Swimming? I'll look like a beached whale lor, somemore my costume is grey! haha! But no one to swim with, and besides, i can't swim. Aqua aerobics? After the fiasco last time, i wonder. But perhaps boh pian. What else can i do? sigh.

sigh sigh sigh. I'm dying!

Hiring on merit

Know how often we are told to hire on merit? There's also a bus advert that has people in various contortions, but which spells words like ''SKILL'', ''ABILITY'' etc. Well, its a typical case of ''do what i say, don't do what i do'' over at my site.

I'm supposed to move out to HQ and we've already trained my senior sup to take over me. This means that there will be a chain of promotions, and everybody will be happy and excited and motivated (etc etc and so on and so forth) over promotions, right? WRONG! The officer in charge of my contract has inserted a spanner in the cogs, and the result is now demoralised staff. And why? ''Your senior sup has no diploma. Sorry, cannot." And that is even after CK spoke to the OIC's boss, and the OIC's boss has agreed that experience and ability to work more often than not will overwrite qualifications!

So how? Now i'll just wait for CK to settle it lor. If CG can't take over, i can't go. If i can't go, CG can't advance, then neither can A.

I wonder; does this old man have the paper qualifications too? Or is his the sort who climbed up based on experience? You know the typical old civil servant technical officer? That sort la.

Sometimes i wonder, why is it that some people are such sticklers and refuse to see the suitability of the applicant, but rather want to see the other important but not essential stuff? Given a choice, would you hire a diploma holder who can't manage staff, knows nuts about the field of work and likely will complain about lack of air-con and working hours, or would you hire someone who can manage the staff -- bearing in mind that cleaners are one hell of a special group of people! -- and is able to do the necessary work, right down to working on the cleaning work with the guys and sending emails and proper communication etc, but who has no paper qualification? Who would you want as your staff or your contractor's representative?

sigh. Now jammed again. I think, if i get a call from the stat board, i'll just jump lor. To be stuck in a line that i have no interest will really kill me.

Class gathering

We had our graduation class annual gathering today. S12 sent out the email and i arrowed S4 to arrange, since there was some ding-donging on the venue. heehee... Finally, the list came back and it was our ''full'' 9 people -- guess we'll always be one short liao. But i had doubts that one of us would make it, and true enough the one i expected didn't turn up while the other didn't turn up too. Seems that the only way to get them to be present would be to have the gathering at their homes!

The food at the hotel was so-so, and for the cost i felt it wasn't worth it. But since we had set a limit to the cost, i suppose that kind of budget, for a hotel, would be that kind of range, though S7 said Merchant Court may have been more worth it.

One of the food available was chwee kuay, and we were talking about the value of the high tea and how we weren't able to eat as much as we could previously. Then someone said that in order to cover the cost of the high tea, since chwee kuay is now 4 pieces for $1, we would have to eat quite a substantial number! (The amount per person came up to $37, so that would have been 148 pieces of chwee kuay! err...) one other suggestion would be for each of us to eat a whole cake, and another would be to eat the chicken wings. I suppose i would rather choose the cake or chicken wings rather than the chwee kuay option, though half of both would be ok too! Though i would have been too stuffed to move. heehee...

None of us are really doing QS as our main line of work, other than S2 -- who was absent. The other 2 -- S7 & S8 -- are somewhat related to the line, but not as focused as a QS would be. We have now mainly become managers or assistant managers, with staff of our own to manage, or managing people. So i suppose its progress of some sort?

S8 mentioned about having less drive now that we're older, and we agreed. Personally, i'd rather just do a fair day's worth of work and continue the next day. No more would i bia like mad. For what? Not that i'd get anything extra from that, and since i'm told my salary would only be revised next year, why burn myself out?

I wonder if that's generally the case. The younger ones have the drive, and with every year of newbies coming in, the older ones pushed up -- in terms of age of course! -- feel the effects of their age and slow down?

Its interesting to meet up, though i think i'd rather just meet up at someone's home for snacks and a chat. We'll save much more too. Afterall, think of how much of snacks and finger food we can have for $263! :) Maybe someone will think of that next time. Well, the next gathering will be during Christmas, and i wonder who will be hosting it now.

merry christmas see you!

Weird phrases

There are some weird phrases i've heard so far, the most common being ''thank you you'', which i suppose if you're told that ''thank you'' means ''xie xie'' in Mandarin, then ''thank you you'' would be the equivalent of ''xie xie ni'', right? Anyway, dear has heard ''thank you very nice'', so i suppose ''thank you you'' isn't that far off after all.

But we overheard this conversation at the coffeeshop while having dinner last night, between an angmo and a chinese aunty...

AM: Less business now, huh?
CA: Ya lor, so less people hor, all go back la. Your friend hor, also go back?
Yes, they've gone back. Where is your friend?
Go back already. But merry christmas come back.
...

That is one powerful phrase. Merry christmas come back!

Change in job scope?

CK told me this morning that Mr P, the founder/owner of the coy, wants to see me. Well, just came back from HQ after some news. Good? Bad? I'll just see how.

He started off by telling me that HR & Accounts are 2 major components of the company, to which i asked if Operations isn't important? He agreed, but said that i don't seem to be happy in Ops. Of course la! He told me he has 2 options for me; either i go to HR or Marketing, but as he was impressed with the paperwork and mgt while i was at T3, he felt HR would suit me better. He said too that he heard i was looking for jobs recently, to which i agreed and said my husband wasn't that happy about my working hours -- sorry dear! -- and when Mr P heard that, he said that being in HR would mean more stable hours. I hope so. He concluded by telling me that i will work out with the HR mgr on my job scope, and that i'm to arrange my own timing for the handong over of the site.

I discussed with CK when i came out. 1 Aug is the target date. see how.

Anyway, one of the other alarming stuff he mentioned was that when we are sometimes short of staff, they will rope in the more trusted staff. So does this mean i'm counted as a trusted staff? Or is it a hint that i can expect bombs?

Most important -- see my performance this year before talking about salary adjustment. I didn't even open my mouth about this! So see how...

sigh. Well, at least i get to change job. Job scope, that is!

''You're going to HQ''

That was what CK told me two days ago. My reply? "Ís it? I thought you all forgot about me already.'' He then spoke about the succession issue at my site, and concluded that he will need to speak to me about it, as the succession will affect how soon i can be released (macham like jail!).

That was 2 days ago. Since then, he came to site twice, but has not mentioned about this at all. So i suppose its not important?

As i told big seed last night, i'll see how. Confirmation letter? She asked me if i have it and i told her no. If i'm still at this site, i will probably throw it back in their face were they to give it to me -- anyway CG can cover me without HQ any the wiser -- but i suppose i will need it once i'm in HQ, with the boss' daughter there and all. But i won't ask for it. I'm not that hard up, and frankly i won't be taking any leave as dear can't pull himself away from his job!

I've applied for another post, amongst the many that i've sent out. Hopefully one of it will stick and i'll get a call. Anyway this time round i'm clear what i want to apply for so at least my technical knowledge won't be wasted. So anyone knows where i can apply for a maintenance post with the owner? :)

''re, le, min, ming'' and others

I have 2 mic staff who are now deployed as foremen, and i've been having 1-on-1 classes with the guy. Recently, the girl joined me and at the start, i wanted to throw up my hands in despair.

The guy is ok, though sometimes he can't pronounce certain words the way i'm used to pronouncing them or hearing them pronounced. I don't know how to teach him, because he can hear the difference when i pronounce the words, but when he pronounces them he can't hear the difference, and so he mispronounces them. But for him, its generally still acceptable -- you can hear the very obvious accent, but its comprehendable -- and i suppose he will improve with more practice.

For the girl, i have no idea what to do with her. She started by asking me to phrase a request in English, so i replied.
Please switch on le lights.
No, no! The! The! The! Not le! Please switch on the lights!
Please switch on le lights!
No, THE! Not le!
Le!
*pull hair* ok, never mind. Try this -- the lights on the right side.
Le light on le light side.
THE Light on THE Right side!
Le Light on Le Light side!
Right!
Light!
Rrrrrr-right!
Lllll-Lu-wight!

Oh my goodness! So i switched tactics. It works for the other guy, and it worked the last time with Daisuke, so i told her to try:
hen re (very hot). Kuai le (happy).
hen le. kuai le.
*gasp* hen re! kuai le!
hen le! kuai le!

Giving up, i told her to practice her re and le at home. I decided then to go through the alphabet, and when she came to ''S'', it was ''ass-suh''. Anyway, there were also lots of others, such as ''emm-muh'', ''elle-luh'', ''hey-chee''. sigh.
No, its ''ass'', not ''ass-suh''. You try? Ass. Swimming.
Ass-suh. Suimmin.
*gasp* ing! not in! Ming tian. Xia Min.
in! in! min tian! Xia Ming!

My goodness! She's MIC! And my mandarin is an E8 standard! So how can i possibly teach her to speak her own mother tongue! XM was there by then, and i asked him to explain to her how to pronounce. But in the end, his conclusion is that how she pronounces is a characteristic of her province.

That led to a discussion on my own pronunciation, and they both agreed that i speak rather like the northerners eg from Beijing, cos of my ability to speak with an ''er'' such as ''dai hui'r jian''. For MH, she pronounces it as ''dai hui er jian''.

I really don't know how to get her to speak properly, if that was how she was taught in school and if she can't even pronounce words that are in her own language. btw, she can hear it when i say re and le, but when she pronounces them, they sound alike to her.

How? Die la...

Not even a fart

The ministry called S8. But there was no call for me, except a few ''withheld'' calls, which when i picked up, was silent. S8 told me hers was a withheld number too, which means i blew it even before it started? Sigh... And not even an email, so i suppose the staff could always tell her boss that i wasn't interested. sigh sigh... :(

Why like that?

Another staff came to me yesterday and demanded to know the reason for the salary deduction and then started a complain about how her salary has always been wrong etc etc. I told her to buck up her own attendance as she's frequently late. Then after being on losing end for a while, she turned aside and started to sniffle and cry. sigh. Puh-lease! So i pointed behind her and gave her a very ai-pa kind of look and told her that i have twenty bundles of toilet rolls in the corner of the office, with each bundle having sixteen rolls, and to feel free to use it to dry her tears if she wants. Of course she stopped. My goodness! Lucky for my ''training'' with the T3 MIC cleaners. haha.

But it made me wonder why we expect an increment after confirmation. After all, we're hired to do 100%. And most of the time, we give 80% to 95%, so why expect an increment? Hmm, i should also bear that in mind. Anyway, quite pissed off with the company, so not going to bother to ask them whether it is my AL or MC or confirmation letter.

Just let me get a call please...

Not That Uneducated...

One of the tenants located in one of the blocks had a reorganisation recently, and it was only yesterday that i saw the directory while waiting for the lift.

Well, i wonder if it is an understood fact that when you see ''Basement 3'' and you have a list of tenants/rooms/etc under that heading, it is known that you have to go to Basement 3 to reach the rooms listed? Similarly, when you see that Level indicates roof walkway, you know you have to take the lift to Level 2 if you want to access the roof walkway?

Some smart person decided that we all need to be educated further. I saw, under the heading ''Basement 3'', that the amended directory states: RR ATC (take lift to Basement 3). Wow...

I guess the people who visit that place -- and this particular tenant does have a lot of visitors as they are developing engines -- must be Not That Uneducated, huh? At least they would be able to read that they have to take the lift to Basement 3 and they know how to operate the lift...

Tired

I'm tired of work. I've been coming to work slightly late recently and leaving on the dot as far as i can. The reason? I'm quite tired of being lied to, for want of a better word.

I've had to wait for my appointment letter, right up to the last week in the previous company when i thought this coy had changed its mind about employing me. After starting, it was about a week before i was given the appointment letter. Then there was the unpleasant -- to me at least -- news that i still have to go through probation -- ''no difference, right?'' -- and then the constant ''reassurances'' that the plan is to move me back to HQ. etc etc and so on and so forth.

Well, 3 months have come and gone. Checking on the salary credited in my 4th month -- this is technically my 5th month in this coy -- i told dear there was no increment. But i was told the other new manager was given one, though it wasn't as much as he expected. And Calvin told me today to do the increment for one of the supervisors. So how about me? The other manager asked me if i had asked Calvin about it. I suppose i should, huh? But that would make me so hard up. And frankly, right now i'm too disappointed in them to bother too much. I asked Calvin today and yes, i'm supposed to prompt the HR about the staff who need their confirmation letters. So am i supposed to prompt them about my own confirmation? And increment?

I give up. I'm sick and tired of working here, but i'm not exactly into looking for jobs either. Saw another post, but the closing ends in end of July. So i'll just wait to see if there are any news from the opening which closes today, and which S8 applied too, before i submit that application. Then once i'm given the green light, i'll throw in. Hope they won't look at the recent changes with too much negativity! If all else fails, i can always look for my previous unit head. Heard he was looking for me to join him -- wah, he's some dy director now! -- in the private firm he's in. If i were to join him, at least i'll get to keep current with maintenance. Instead of having to listen to the company spout empty promises.

Sometimes i feel like telling them, no need to talk so much. I'll only believe what i see.