lil’ snow white

i yearn for e passion & excitement that’s so lackin in our relationship. but then again to ask for passion n excitement when there isnt much communication in e first place seems like sthg childish. i dun wan a stagnant relationship that’s based solely on a 3-yr plan. i duno wat’s stagnant really. i can imagine a married couple, gettin their hse, givin birth to kids, raising their kids n fussin over their stuffs n period.

i duno if anyone understands. i wanna have plans. i wanna get married. i wanna get our own place. i wanna have kids. i wanna raise them n fuss over them. but i wanna have love, passion n excitement. there’s more to marriage than jus being home builders, baby factories n responsible factory managers. wat abt all e feelings n chemistry?

ok maybe i’m bein too emotional again. perhaps e only way to solve this is to detach myself emotionally frm all these.

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anw i got to noe a piece of shockin news: i was told tt this ex-colleague has liked me for quite a while.. wat!! i never knew.. n he never really showed it. i wonder if e person who told me abt it - my ceo, yes my ceo - was bullshitting or wat.. he said he was very serious!

there was a time when i thot tt colleague was quite cute, confident n somewat like e sort i wld fall for. n i almost did for a little while. but then i told myself to stop havin crushes like a bloody juvenile. bleah.. hahaha.

i really dun understand why guys dun let me noe they fancy me. esp those tt i like! damn damn! there was another one whom i fancied for a while.. we were gg out pretty often, but after a long time he still din express his feelings n somehow i was led into believin he was gay n i laughed at myself for thinkin tt he liked me! n then he only told me after i was wif xing xing for half a yr alrdy. wtf.. that was kinda stupid. why bother tellin me if u din do it when i was single?

i am soooo tempted to ask these guys why they keep so quiet. especially when they appear to be e confident ones tt i like. is it becos i look sooo cool n hot tt i will reject any guy who goes after me wahaha?!! or do i look soooo innocent tt they think i’m an angel n they needa go by e traditional way to get to noe me n take things slowly? LOL.. wateva. i’m jus so tempted to get an answer.

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today i feel i look really pretty. every now n then i see myself in e mirror n i think i look somewat different today. perhaps i put more makeup today n it covered up my koyak face hahaha. i wished someone cld see my pretty face, but there is no one. no one as in no one significant..

we were supposed to go to e pubs at nite but guess we were really tired. ended up watchin shows like e jerry springer show n cheaters lol.. the jerry springer show is like a “talk show” where problem families, couples go up e stage n talk things out. however it seems like more often than not e discussions turn into fights.. cheaters is another programme in which e crew conducts PI on cheatin partners n catches them redhanded! very interestin shows suitable for kaypo ppl like me wahaha..

this mornin we drove out to e new forest which had free roamin horses on e plains. lovely! e weather was so brilliant this wkend! side note: e new forest was NEW back in 1080, abt 1000 yrs ago! i think i’ve been lucky on all my short trips cos it’s always bright n sunny when anytime else it cld have been rainy n grey..

i din take many pics since this wasnt exactly a tour-trip haha. only e few taken on e road below:

n then i saw a donkey on e road!

i think e couple was feedin it, cos e donkey’s got its head in e car! so cute!! i got off e car n went up to it.. n since i was so up close, i gently stroke e cute lil fellow at e head.. was quite afraid it wld kick me or sthg, but it seems like they’re quite tame creatures! so cute!! looks like those rocking horsey which i wanna buy for my kid in future! i sooo wanna learn horse riding in future!

n then i got back to london, stepped into my room, n all of a sudden i felt really lonely. i was all alone in my room again. sigh.. this london trip is gettin to me.. it’s gettin too long, i’m tired n i wanna go home alrdy. *sobs*

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n then suddenly uob decided tt sthg was wrong wif their SIG UNI$, so they decided to change e entire system. beginnin 2008, they will scrap e SIG UNI$ n will credit 2 normal UNI$ for every $5 spent on e card instead of e usual 1 SIG UNI$. duno why they do that, but it seems like quite a good deal too.

at e same time, e conversion terms for miles have changed too. 1 SIG UNI$ = 4 miles, but 1 normal UNI$ = 2 miles.. however since ppl get double UNI$ under e new prog, it doesnt seem to affect anyone. except me.

by e new yr, all existing SIG UNI$ will be converted into normal UNI$. of course i redeemed all my miles before 31 Dec. i dunno how e bank will noe my krisflyer account details etc.. but heck. i searched thru e site, but somehow there wasnt any info.

apparently my krisflyer acct was inactive.. but how e hell was i supposed to noe back then? so of course e conversion was unsuccessful n all e SIG UNI$ were credited back to my acct, but were ALL converted to normal UNI$!! which means wat was worth 40,000 miles now became only 20,000 miles worth. wtf..

this is e 2nd letter. e first was an enquiry..
secret side note: if candy werent an actuary, she wished she cld be a lawyer!

and so.. candy wans, candy gets!

**WEEEET!!**

so far my experience wif such complaints or returns handling wif different companies have been pretty satisfactory. not that im some ugly singaporean or wat, but since i do quite abit of online shoppin, e chances of returning pdts r definitely higher (think clothes tt dun fit, new pdts tt give rash etc).

the US n UK companies do exceptionally well in this aspect, n this is definitely e way to go if they wanna keep their customers. savvy + fussy shoppers like me have a very high level of expectation for service, pre or post sale.. i believe companies definitely need to factor in any costs arising frm pdt exchanges or returns when doin their biz.

it’s sthg i find somewat lackin in singaporean retailers. e bigger names like M1, all e banks, Mango, Zara are still ok, but it’s more of those small shops who r all out to get ur money n dun give a damn after the money is in their hands. eg: my experience wif e bloody tour agency Gunung Raya. the only time my complaint has ever failed.

i found out that it’s very common for them to take ur deposit n LIE abt e trip being confirmed (which was wat i was told) n subsequently jus return u e money sayin tt e trip is cancelled. n when u insist that u were told e trip was confirmed, some mgr/colleague tells u “no my colleague said she did not say that.. perhaps it’s a miscommunication” n then u realised there wasnt any info given to u in writin anyway. damn those bloody companies wif no integrity.

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hmm then e elves started tellin me abt e big theories on e power of e mind n influence.. (started to sound like naggin) n then they said “maybe this sounds a bit alien to u”

WAT. wat alien.. think i never see e world before ah.. i thought. so i said “nah.. my bf tells me these kinda things all e time” heehee. perhaps e elves got upset at me for comparing a mortal to them. but it’s true wat.. xing xing IS smart ok. he’s e best. haha. but only if he wans to be.. damn..

isnt this part of a fairy tale? im quite sure i’ve read sthg liddat before when i was young. oh well..

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it was our first time stayin in a hostel, possibly our last time too. e entire buildin looked pretty dodgy, wif rooms built in a very unsystematic way. we cld imagine it to be some palace in e past, or a dungeon wif secret passages.

after e shock, xing xing decided to treat ourselves better on e trip. we decided to drown our sorrows after dinner.

unlike venice, e entire city is not at all well planned. streets sprang frm everywhere, continuing in all sorts of directions, joinin wif other roads out of e blue, n led us to nowhere. e streets were also dirty n dusty, n e air was polluted too, thanks to all e vehicles stuck in e small jams on e narrow streets. my fren pointed out tt only singaporeans will think this way.. well perhaps japanese like me too bleah..

luckily e next day we went to the Mall, away frm e filthy city of Florence. (i think im e only one who says that cos everyone says florence is so beautiful etc.. yah yah. everywhere is beautiful as long as it’s europe rite..)

after a gruelling 1hr bus ride out to e countryside n up the mountains, we finally arrived at THE MALL! yippee! below: that’s me poutin in e bus. we both ended up feelin nauseous frm e bus ride.

im seen carryin a maroon tods bag above. really chic but i din get it cos it’s too exp even at The Mall haha. n then we got back to Florence at nite.. me poutin again cos i din get e Gucci bag i wanted. ended up wif a burberry bag which is lovely as well. somehow i keep endin up wif burberry these days.. it’s not a conscious choice.. it jus happens. i jus end up wif it. HAH sounds like how i ended up wif xing xing! wahaha.

btw, my burberry bag was retailing at €1300+.. BUT! BUT!! i got it at just €300!! can u believe it??! no defects watsoever, it’s jus a leftover frm last season haha. i’m so gonna make a trip back to e outlet before i start work again haha.

n then e followin day, lucky for us again, we went on a day trip to see e Leaning Tower of Pisa! while walkin to e site, we chanced upon a small gothic church.. n beside it a bridge wif picturesque view.. check out that pic tt looks completely like a painting!! it’s unbelievable! hah..

pics frm pisa turned out really nice.. they look so good, they look like they’re photoshopped n we were superimposed! haha..

we, being big time suckers, decided to go up e leaning tower. it was €15 per pax for a short 10 min up there. so up we climbed.. it was a queer feelin cos as u climb u can feel e tower’s inclination n u feel like gravity’s pullin u frm e side haha. so at e top, e view was… well nice, but not fantastic. we concluded that we’re both “凱子” aka “菜頭”!!

n then i had ice cream before we left!

on our way back, i caused a car accident! i dashed across e road when e car din wanna let me pass even tho e green man was on. he had no choice but to jam brake n ended up wif a dent on his bumper haha! it was pretty dangerous for me, on hindsight.. but heck. he deserves it!!

it was our 1st Anniversary! we decided to have a nice dinner at a restaurant wif ambience hah. e 1st course was good. my spaghetti n xing xing’s lasagne tasted pretty good! n then.. i cant rem if it was 2 or 3 course lar.. cos after e first course we were quite full alrdy, and e rest of e food really jus sucked. my 2nd course was beef stew wif very tough beef, n xing xing had some chicken that was totally dry n hard. i was pretty sure we can cook better than that. sigh.. our meal shld’ve jus ended wif our first dish. damn..

our 2 (or 3) course meal..

the final day, we decided to explore florence, since we havent done much here in this 鬼地方. we went ard Piazza della Signoria, which is like a free outdoor museum. im sure u dunno most of e names of e statue here, but i do! cos i travel wif a knowlegeable travel partner called xiao xing n we’re both interested in these arty farty stuffs! if u’re interested too, e names r wif e pics on my multiply.

statues galore at Piazza della Signoria

n then we chanced upon Ponte Vecchio..

mirror image

have u ever seen anyone who eats an entire cup of whipped cream?
now u have..

for lunch we decided to have some chinese food since we havent had chinese food for more than a wk alrdy. we had this duck wif orange dish, but it tasted better without e orange sauce. we also ordered a beef dish which was not bad, n another tofu dish wif very cheap, lousy tofu. oh well at least it cured our crave for some oriental food haha.

our final stop’s the city’s Duomo or cathedral - Santa Maria del Fiore. below (frm left to right):

us at Santa Maria del Fiore, the East Doors of Baptistry, Chapels at the East End

the Last Judgement fresco on e dome, awaiting e arrival of e Holy Infant (at midnite on xmas)

me wif my audio guide, e very unique 24hr clock tt goes anti-clockwise n starts at 6am,
me in the Duomo.

audio guide is a must for us since we’re 知识分子. i seriously hate e idea of gg ard lookin at things n duno wth they are.. however, in order not to be 菜頭 like us, i suggest tt u bring ear phones cos most audio guides allow u to put ur ear phones in n u can save money by sharin it wif a fren.

basically, Florence has totally failed to impress me. everythin is more expensive than elsewhere in italy, n yet lousier. dirty environment, expensive things, lousy food. we will never go back to this place except to visit The Mall again..

verdict: not recommended at all unless u have e time n money n u’re stuck in italy for god-noes-why.

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