Pain ?!

Viral infection lah. The “western” doctor said after my medical check-up so I can get a medical certificate(MC). MC is a must when you are on sick leave. I paid 22 SGD : 15 SGD for the MC and 7 SGD for lozenges with instruction : “Suck one three times a day!”.

Then I went to see a Chinese (medicine) doctor for acupuncture. 35 SGD. I thought not bad. The doctor is a Chinese guy who could barely speak English. He said something about “cupping” (or was it tapping?) first and I just nod. My back was soooo stiff.

He led me to a well-lit room with a bed and pillow. I thought I should lie down:

Doc: No lah. You sit. Your feet over there.
Me: Okay. (So my back was now on him.)
Doc: Raise top , can? Up to here (pointing to my shoulders).
Me: Okay. (Ang likod lang ha.)

He went outside and he was carrying a small basin with 2 thick-glassed containers, lighter, some Chinese liniment, a scissor-like thingie with cotton it in. He then started to rub the liniment and then the glass container all over my back.

Doc: Pain?
Me: Yes.
Doc: Pain? No?
Me: Yes! (Kaloka! Ang sakit!)

He used the lighter and then rubbed my back again using those glass containers (with fire inside?!). I felt the heat. It felt good for a while. Then he was rubbing vigorously the portions of my back that hurt the most! I was squirming like crazy! This went on for about 10 minutes.

Then he told me to lie on my stomach. The back portion of my shirt was still up until my shoulders. He went out again and came back carrying pack containing needles. I felt tired from all that squirming…

I heard a click. And I knew one needle was already sticking in my back!

Doc: No pain? Can?
Me: Yes. (Sigh.)

I lost count of the clicks. I think there was a dozen or so needles in my back for 30 minutes. The doc is nice. He seemed really concerned about my back. He said he is in the clinic every Wednesday.

I went home still feeling weak. I checked on my back as I was about to go to sleep later that night. Grabe! There were 2 huge circular bruises and another one tracing my spine! My housemates said it was normal after “cupping”. Phew.

Proxy

Thanks to Joanna, I can now have access to my friendster from my laptop! She introduced me to a free web proxy. Alpha, one of our sys ad guys , said the UK office set the restriction on “Friendster” access from our laptops. And I thought this restriction was set by the regional sys ad office in Hong Kong!

Anyway, on a lazy Sunday morning, PROXY is the word of the day. I realized I’ve been living on “ proxy settings” ever since I came here. For many years, I’ve been living alone doing the same things with the same people. Now, there’s just me and my laptop. Not that I’m complaining about these proxies. These “proxies” are superb:

Pokka green tea for Gatorade
I think this is sold in Manila in cans. I love the taste of this drink especially when served chilled! The hawker centers (kinda like food courts) do not sell Gatorade and my flatmates (yes, I’m not living alone anymore!) introduced me to Pokka. It’s not very sweet and a low calorie drink too.

Mixed veggies with rice for tuna sandwich
This is a typical turo-turo meal for me. I just point and they put everything ( as in pansak galore) in a plate! I still miss tuna sandwich meals and I discovered Delifrance’s tuna sandwich recently--walnut milano bread -- yummy! But this meal is $4 more expensive than a mixed veggie meal and I’ve finally learned NOT to eat the entire serving of rice. Phew!

Amore for Dermatologica
Of course, skin care should be continued wherever I go. Finding a good and affordable spa is one of the things I immediately looked for when I came here (aside from another mobile phone and mobile line provider!) . Their skin products are not really that affordable but as they say, “Everything is expensive in Singapore lah!”.

California Fitness for Fitness First
There’s Fitness First here but Cali gym is near the office. My personal trainor is a Canadian girl named Jinny who fondly calls me a chatterbox. She said I’m her liveliest client because I don’t seem to stop chatting while sweating it out with those big machines. I told her I developed that talent ever since I left teaching and started to work in the market research industry! In the new office, I still have no one to talk to most of the time. BUT sitting in my new office is definitely less stressful than the old one.

Takashimaya in Orchard for Power Plant in Rockwell
This is just one of the malls in Orchard Road but this is where my officemate and I like to go because of Bobbi Brown. She reminds me of my best friend, Xedric. Occasionally, Xedric and I used to go to Power Plant Mall to hang out, eat, shop and people watch. There’s not much people to watch in Taka (hehehe…) so we just enjoy looking at items on sale there. Like Xed, Yee is fun to be with, very smart and loves good food and shopping! She has a British accent but I’m sure Xed can also do that! =)

Toa Payoh hawker center for Robinson’s Gale’s food court
It’s lunchtime and I still cannot bring myself to go out to eat to the hawker center across the road! This is a typical weekend morning for me. Rob’s food court is just across the road from Citiland but when I was there, my rumbling stomach usually dragged me to go out and eat. There’s spag in the fridge so I think I won’t have to go out today. Yey!!!

MRT/bus for cabs
Arghhh!!! I cannot afford to take a cab everyday now that I’m here ! The bus station and MRT station are very near the apartment building. Plus, cabs are way more expensive than bus/MRT. From here to the office, I get to pay less than $2 but by cab, I paid $10 !?! My $50 in a week's time can buy one G2000 or Dorothy Perkins blouse so why spend it on cab fare?


Ooopppssss, my housemates and officemates are great but they are not proxies for my friends because they’ve become a new set of friends aside from the Pinoys I met at the gym and belly-dancing class. There is no doubt that Happy will attend this class with me in the same way she won't have to beg me to watch Sam Milby's movie with her. =)

A Zoo in My Life

There are colorful individuals with distinct animalistic charisma who help me uncover order in my chaotic so-called life.

Feline Xedric



Cats are known for their fastidious cleanliness. So is Xedric, my best friend. I had to keep my side of our room in a graduate women’s dorm pretty clean because she develops rashes at the slightest presence of dust.

Xed has a voracious appetite for reading and watching movies. She is my ever reliable source of information of diverse topics ranging from (but not limited to) current events, movie reviews, fashion and make-up tips… to the latest gadgets already out or even coming out in the market. She has this natural ability to teach herself things that interest her. In fact, she recently learned to do some macro programming.

Like a domestic cat with no rigid collarbones that allow passage through an opening about the size of her head, Xed has no problem fitting in different crowds. People easily warm up to her. She can be very funny and feisty without losing poise.

With a catlike crepuscular nature, Xed is most productive during the evenings and early mornings. However, to maintain her exuberance, it is a must for Xed to have ample beauty sleep.

I especially admire Xed’s cat-like acute sense of balance and flexibility that propel her to overcome rare difficult moments of her life.

Sea Star Happy


Sea stars come in a variety of colors ranging from muted colors, unusual shades of green and blue.... to the vibrant hues of red and violet. So is Happy, a prominent member of my whining board since the late 90s.

The many facets of Happy’s personality are equally appealing which is why she touches the lives of very diverse individuals-----from the Pleasantville look-a-likes and think-a-likes, cultured belles, average Joes…to the gifted paranoids like me.

Happy is a risk-taker. Like a sea star that has the ability to hunt for prey larger than its mouth would allow, Happy was successful in every field she pursued. Recently, she joined the banking industry, in particular, derivatives trading. It is only a matter of time before she makes her mark in this industry as well.

I am in awe of Happy’s sea star-like abilities to revive lost trust in people and regenerate entirely different perspectives in life and in love with a single spark of hope.

Vivi Octopus


Octopuses possess soft body and eight arms. If they lose an arm, they will eventually re-grow another arm. In a similar fashion, bubbly Vivi never runs out of friends. On rare occasions, she “loses” one or more friends (actually, it’s more of she purposely cuts them off from her list) due to some actions that Vivi disapprove of (HINT: bag, fridge, ¥...heheh).

To lose weight, Vivi is so determined to strictly follow her diet, i.e. do not eat unless absolutely necessary ! Check out her friendster to see if her diet works.

Like an octopus, Vivi has very good eyesight especially for hot guys (i.e. “manongs”). An octopus cannot hear .Vivi, of course, can…and likewise not when she is bubbling away!

I marvel at Vivi’s octopus-like capabilities to camouflage her true feelings… most of the time…

TO BE CONTINUED… =)

Corporate Slaves and Vampires

The corporate world may be glamorous from a distance. BUT practically everyone here is a corporate slave (CS) no matter how elegant they look.

It is necessary that any CS knows the 2 GOLDEN RULES (GRs) and what they mean (by heart) when stepping into the grounds of the corporate world:

GR 1 : A CS must report to the office everyday on time.

Meaning: If the official office hours are 8 am to 5 pm,
1.1 A CS should be in the office on or before 8 am, but
1.2 A CS does NOT necessarily go out of the office at 5 pm.

To carry out GR 1.2 is referred to as overtime which may take hours. However, it is still expected that GR 1.1 is executed properly the following day.

GR 2 : A CS must honor work-time and break-time.

Meaning: A CS must always look preoccupied, i.e.
2.1 A CS should master the “kunot-noo” projection especially when in front of the PC during work-time ; and
2.2. Assigned break-time must be strictly followed.

A CS may violate GR 2.2 ONLY when one opts NOT to take lunch breaks and other break-times. Otherwise, GR 2.2 holds at all times.

Mastering these GRs are easy for most CS. After some time, a CS finds a niche in this world, excels in a particular field, gets elevated into the elite class of CS, and earns a new title such as:

i. Manager – an experienced CS for several years and now, either hires, manages, and/or trains new CS to develop their skills;
ii. Director – a skilled manager for several years and now, leads managers on how to effectively lead new CS in developing their skills; and/or
iii. Assist. Vice President /President/CEO - exceptional director(s) for a number years, and now, among the esteemed members of the upper echelon elite CS.

Note that those who are fresh from the training grounds called universities with exemplary performances and are referred to as the Laudes, may easily join this elite class of CS. Ditto for those who come from a generation of CS who built a firm from scratch.

Nevertheless, very few CS maintain their true persona once inside the corporate world. Through time, some CS may transform into a Corporate Vampire (CoV). CoVs thrive for recognition above anyone else, especially the ones who pose as threat to them to become an elite/upper echelon elite CS.

To date, CoVs are everywhere looking just like an ordinary or elite CS. A number of them are witty, alluring and highly skilled. After all, it is not easy to master the “art” of being a CoV. They creep into your CS life and spread negative energies around you in various ways until they suck your emotional/mental energy and worse, your sanity level.

The most common types of C0Vs are:

1. Seer Vampire (SV)

This is the friendly type of corporate vampires. An SV is gifted in befriending everyone especially the elite/upper echelon elite CS and serve as their willing “eyes and ears”. An animated story-teller, an SV can turn a boring event into a fantabulous (!) one with adlibs and often times, convoluted account of the said event that strategically puts their threat in a bad light.

A seasoned SV can easily make an issue and tickle your imagination (Think: DA WHO series of Startalk…) .

2. Celebrity Vampire (CeV)

This is the selfish type of corporate vampires. A CeV is adept in promoting oneself to the elite/upper echelon elite CS by taking the credit alone for a job well done even if it is a group effort and quickly blaming others, otherwise. Behind their backs, of course.

A veteran CeV would not allow anyone to outshine ones accomplishments so this CeV is always equipped with a counter-success story (Think: Wala ka sa lolo/lola ko hirit…)

3. Hybrid Vampire (HV)

This type is the most talented and revered among the corporate vampires. Every CoV aspires to be one as HVs are THE upper echelon CoVs. A certified HV must possess the qualities of both SV and CeV.

With the ever-changing complexity of a corporate set-up, certainly, new breed of vampires arise even as you read this piece.

PhDable and World-class

To be potentially world-class implies you have to be at least PhDable. The converse is not necessarily true. Technically, a necessary but not sufficient condition to be a PhDable is to be accepted in the doctoral program of the (Math) department (of UPD).

There are 3 types of PhDables :

You are PhDable if you have a teaching load of 10-15 units, academic load of 6-12 units, rakets even during weekends, and friends who have complete notes (including past problem sets with solutions) in the graduate subjects you are enrolled in every semester.

You are definitely PhDable if you are PhDable and know how to properly use CLEARLY, TRIVIAL and OBVIOUS in any proof.

You are super PhDable if you are definitely PhDable and have the convincing power to :
a. extend a problem set due date,
b. postpone the date of an exam, and/or
c. change a sit-down exam into a take-home exam!


Likewise, THE world-class consist of 3 types:

You are world-class if you’ve accomplished your PhD dissertation, especially your doctoral degree outside of the country on or before your 30th birthday.

You are definitely world-class if you are world-class and have published at least 2 articles in ISI publications at the time of your official graduation from the doctoral program.

You are super world-class if you are definitely world-class and recipient of “Pinakamahusay na Instructor, Assist/Assoc Professor o Professor”,“ Distinguished New (Young) Scientist of the Year”, “Best (Scientific) Publication of the Year” and/or other (academic-related)awards...

The super world-class who continue to publish in ISI publications at least once a year (or once in 2 yrs ?) belong to THE Power Group.

The Power Group can train you to be super PhDable, help you become world-class and eventually, one of them. It is easy to spot the members of the Power Group around the (Math) building. They are not intimidating and are very approachable (at least for me and my mafia) even for a stick of yosi. =)

However, being a super PhDable does not guarantee an ISI publication. You need to have the guidance of at least a definitely world-class be able to accomplish this. Some of these super PhDables refused to be world-class even if they can and they have the support of the (entire) Power Group.

Others simply cannot be world-class no matter how hard they've tried.

I am one of them…It is liberating to finally admit that I am officially part of the "others".

Buh-bye PhD.