Siao Siao Ramblings

RIP Whitney Houston

2012-02-12T11:58:00.000+08:00

Sunday today as it is waking up in a foul mood and then got a shock of my life when I got my cousin's what's app telling us that Whitney Houston has died.

Whatever anger I felt against my husband cannot compare to the news I just received on my phone!

Whitney Houston!! Who would have guessed that she'll be the next victim joining the greats in heaven?? She has been pretty quiet for long time, battling drug abuse and issues. But I mean c'mon!!!

I practically grew up listening to her songs! Although not as shocking when I got the news that MJ has died but still....who's next?

Feb 2012

2012-02-02T10:13:00.000+08:00

In a blink of an eye, we are already in Feb. First month of a new year passed just like that.

What have you achieved? Have you even started doing what you are supposed to for 2012? What about your resolutions? Have you embark on them yet?

How have your Chinese New Year been? Have you done visiting friends and family yet? Don't forget we only have till Monday to do so!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Back from Bali and HATING IT!

2012-01-29T23:15:00.002+08:00

We finally touched down on Friday after spending 4 incredible but hot days in Bali and boy am I hating being back!!!! Back to work tomorrow.......I have been depressed the moment we touched down at Changi and I'm still not over it! *!%*$

The trip, apart from the weather when we are at sea level, was great. Although close to 50% of the time was spent on the road getting from one place to another, but each time we get there, it never fails to take our breath away! We almost always start our day complaining about the heat but everyday (except 1st & last day), we will end up in a mountain somewhere with strong winds and extremely cool weather (think Genting Highlands in Dec). It was just great.

The villa we were in, wow.....speechless. Apart from the mozzies, I have no complains whatsoever. I can live with the mozzies.

The trip ended better than expected. I was apprehensive before because I have never travelled with my aunts before (Genting Highlands when you were 5 doesn't count) especially my 2nd aunt who is somewhat unique. Also we were a pretty big group of 8 pax so trying to get everyone to agree to something might be tough. But thank God, I had all the itinerary and transport arranged so all we do everyday is to get into the car and let the driver surprise us. The best decision I ever made.

The downside? Hmm....food was rather disappointing. Apart from our daily breakfast which are cooked in our villa itself, I haven't found anything worth recommending at all. Not even Babi Guling at Ibu Oka nor Bintang beer. Also, I lost my ID even before I checked-in! Ish!

I'm glad mum enjoyed herself - this trip could either make her or break her ie: she could stop traveling altogether and hate airplane rides or she will be more open to traveling from now on. If you didn't know already, I had to resort to booking and paying for the flight tickets first then tell her afterwards to make sure she'll go on this trip with us!

Verdict: Great holiday with the family which includes my 2 aunts (dad's only sisters) - great way to spend our first Chinese New Year without Grandma but she was in our thoughts throughout the trip.

We miss you Grandma.

Congratulations Lil' Sis!

2012-01-23T20:10:00.000+08:00

*Yawn*

Anlynn has yet again scored straight A's in her AS exams. For those of you, old school like me, AS is first half of A-levels. A-levels is no longer like what it used to be - one monster exam at the end of the course.

It is now a course with 2 final exams each of them accounting for 50% of the final score - AS and A2.

So yes, Anlynn's AS results were announced this morning and again straight A's. She has received conditional offers from 3 universities in UK based on her forecast results and now with this actuals, she will most likely be accepted to all of them. I'm pretty sure Anlynn will not be able to attend Sam's wedding in Melbourne in October. See term in UK starts in Sept *wink*

Congratulations Lynn! Echoing what everybody else has said - we don't want you at Sam's nor Sue's wedding!!!

Welcome Year of Dragon!

2012-01-23T20:04:00.003+08:00

First day of the year of the dragon and I have broken all traditions by not visiting my in-laws! Not on purpose.....hubby's sick. :(

Tomorrow's Bali....I hope hubby's fever will go away and he'll be fit for the trip tomorrow!!!!

The BlogShop Sucks 2nd update

2012-01-20T14:35:00.000+08:00

Good news for all you vendors out there!

On of Haji vendors have managed to file a claim with Claims Tribunal and they are going to court this month (or is it next...hmmm)!!!

For all of you out there if you still haven't got any reply from the police, you can start looking at filing with Claims Tribunal. The filing fee is S$100!

Good luck and happy new year!

Happy Lunar New Year!

2012-01-20T14:20:00.001+08:00

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! Hope the year of the dragon brings all the goodness to all.

Only a few more days to Bali =)

First day of work on 30th Jan is actually not a good day for me to start work but my boss didn't approve my leave extension by just another day. So I am seriously considering of coming back to the office on 28th Jan to look at some emails. This year is going to be tough for my industry and also personally, my budget is super high. Gotta do everything I can just to make sure it's gonna pass smoothly. No hiccups.

Cold sweat sial!

New TV

2012-01-10T15:39:00.000+08:00

Oh I knew I left something out!

Hubby got a new TV for our place! He actually bought 2: Samsung LED 40" for MIL and Samsung LED 32" for us. He claims that this is his Valentine's gift to me. Uhhh.....nice try darling.

Exactly 14 days to Bali!!! Woot!

Bored

2012-01-10T15:34:00.001+08:00

Aiyoh I'm so bored! It's 3.30pm and 3 more hours before I can leave the office. I was secretly hoping that hubby will have his departmental dinner tonight but no such luck. Only with him having to stay back for such functions can I leave on time (4.30pm) otherwise I will have to wait till he knocks off which could be anytime between 6.30pm to 8pm. He will have a dinner tomorrow though but it doesn't do anything to me - I have a telcon at 2.30pm which will jolly well drag till 4-4.30pm. SIAN!

The weather sucks too. Gloomy and raining all day. Granted it's cooling but it's not doing anything to lift up my mood especially when I'm terribly sick and tired of my job.

Am so bored and blank, I don't even know what else I can contribute here. My OPI shipment needs to arrive soon!!!

The BlogShop Singapore SUCKS - update

2012-01-05T11:08:00.000+08:00

ANOTHER Long Post Beware

Since my first post about my experience with The BlogShop Singapore in September, I have received a lot of emails and comments about my readers' own experience, many asking for updates from my end and many with a lot of unanswered questions what is happening. Since I have insider information, I have decided to write an update about what happened to me after my September post and what is currently happening within The BlogShop, as accurately as I can. I gather these information from somebody I know hence I will not take any responsibility of misinformation.

My last post, I stopped at Clarence playing with words that I wasn't able to collect my ITE stocks from FEP.

What happened after that? The story continues.....

Clarence went missing for more than a week. He was totally non-contactable by phone or SMS. He stopped replying. We all know he doesn't picks up his calls but at least he was still replying SMS-es. There was still no security deposit refunds, no sales reports, no stocks to be returned, no rental refund nor were there my sales payments - since June.

On 31st October, I decided to lodge a police report. I am not able to share anymore SMS-es cz I have deleted all that after I got all my outstanding payments and stocks. Back to the report, I made the report targeting the company and Clarence for negligence, fraud and lies. I'm not sure if I can do this but I will anyway - I will share my report here.

Just noticed that when published, my report is cropped. To read the full report, click on the image. It will open up.

I don't think this is the best report but in your report, please be as concise as possible. It is not here but in the report, there is an option to indicate who you are reporting against - put The BlogShop and Clarence Chew there. If you do not have time to visit your nearest police station, do it online. I did mine online.

I told Clarence that a report has been made against him and the company. I got an almost instant reply from him. Wow! So he's still alive! What a surprise. From there, things just sped up. He promised to return the money - cash into my account directly in a week. After a week, partial of the money was returned but he asked for another week's extension for the other half. He kept to his word. But the stocks? Where are my stocks? In September he said it will be in Far East right? No, I got so fed up, I drove to ITE West and collected it myself. It was still sitting in the store.

For those of you who are thinking of lodging a report or getting legal advice, please do so quickly. The Blogshop has ceased all their operations in Singapore. City Plaza, Haji Lane and ITE outlets are now officially closed. Far East was the first to go on 24th Oct. Based on what I know from my source, The Blogshop still has a few loose ends to tie up before they call it a day. And they are already acting to tie up those ends, many are now done so it will not be long, maybe only a matter of days now before they deregister and dissolve The Blogshop. Once that is done, no reports can get them as The Blogshop is a private limited company ie the owners do not undertake any liability, debts etc of the company. Think of the blogshop as a person - a human being. If you are suing a human being, once that person dies, who do you sue? Nobody.

At the same time, seek legal advice. My case, because of the small amount of money and I was the only person lodging the case against them, they considered that a civil case. Case closed. No action was taken. I checked CASE - not within their jurisdiction. Claims tribunal - maybe. But seek legal advice. And if you can, all of you vendors, gather and lodge the report together. You can't, agree on the the police station where you will lodge your report with (you will need to choose the location online too) so that all your reports will end up on the same table then they will have the visibility and can see the magnitude of the problem on hand - the total sum owed in total and how many people are involved. I was fighting my own "war" then so my case was weak. I am very sure Clarence knows exactly what game he has to play - delaying your payments, bounced chqs, MIA, etc are all delay tactics. He is playing with time hoping none of us will take any action because we are all waiting then, BAM! The Blogshop disappears. Clarence goes scott free.

I am one of the few lucky ones who got everything back. (Actually not everything, I found items not returned to me but later on found them in Haji's store room when my friend was helping to clear out to make way for the new owners. So check your stocks too - my bad habit, not proper inventory checks - if/when you get them back.) But those out there, good luck. I hope my posts helps and can serve as a guide or give you an idea what you can do.

All the best!

PS: All interested to lodge a report as a group, please leave a comment here so that others might see. Give a date and location so that all who sees this post can lodge on the same day and at same location (remember you can do it online and select the same location). Otherwise, you can also email me and I will consolidate.

You can reach me at anshii@nelanz.com should you not feel comfortable leaving comments here for anything at all.

Happy New Year 2012!!

2012-01-05T09:45:00.002+08:00

Happy New Year 2012 everybadeh! Hehehe

How did you welcome 2012? Have you made any New Year's resolutions? How drunk did you get?

Mine was a very quite affair. Stayed home all weekend without any alcohol. How boring is that? I'm interested to know if any of you can beat that. Leave a comment!

2 weeks to Chinese New Year - only 2 more weekends which means Bali is just around the corner! Yay!!! Holiday!!! Ooo can't wait can't wait. Ann Gie finally decided (again) to go to Bali and tickets booked. This time no turning back for her heh! But learn from her, indecisiveness is really a bad trait because she ended up paying twice of what we paid on the same budget airline before paying for luggage! She could have flown a 5* airline if not for the fact that they are sold out for the same price with 20kg check-in! Boo!

It's gonna be pay-back time in Bali for the lack of alcohol during New Year's eve. You just watch me *ggrrrr* But the excitement of the trip is really building up. I gotta pull myself back to earth - don't get overly excited and then ended up disappointed :(

Oh oh oh....Australia tickets are up! Gonna fly Emirates! But I hope the price stays for another mont, PLEASEEEEE??? I cannot buy the tickets now.....I need to keep my credit card debt free coz I need to pay for OPI - taking in new batch, in the process now and I'm gonna pay with my credit card. No no I'm not crazy. It's actually a good way to utilize your money PROVIDED you have all the cash to settle the bill in full at the end of the month.Ok in short, you get to maximise the use of your cash. A very long theory but proven and even thought in my Financial Planning course. Hmmm...let me put this as simple as I can:

Say your billing date is every 3rd of the month. Jan's expenditure will be billed on 3rd Feb then you have 2 weeks to pay up right? Think about this - what if you make a purchase on 4th Jan? It will still only appear on 3rd Feb right? Then you have 2 weeks to pay which means you only pay for something 1.5months later? Without interest!! What else do you want man for such good deal? Put your money into good use :)

4 days to 2012!

2011-12-29T13:39:00.000+08:00

What's the plan for the weekend? How are you planning to welcome the new year? We are only 4 days to the new year! How fast!

This is always the time to reflect. How did 2011 turn out for you? Has it been fruitful? Or are there things you could have done better or shouldn't do? How do you want 2012 to be? Have you thought about it?

Apart from the usual health and happiness for all around me and of course myself, I hope in 2012 I will get to leave my present job and become my own boss. For that to happen, I hope 2012 means my business will prosper although I will tone that down a little judging from the weak economic outlook for the next 2 years.

Hoping for more travels next year - 3 max I guess since the amount of annual leave I have is pathetic. No money also.....

OK but good start to the year - I'm going to Bali in Jan! Then there's a chance to go to Mumbai though this idea is getting less exciting as time passes. I can't spend too many days there so not sure if it's worth it to pay so much for the visa and then just be there for a week. A good friend's getting married. In October, there's Melbourne! My cuz is getting married so that I'm definitely going with or without the husband. Hmph!

I need to plan something for mid-year. If you don't already know, Singapore has very few public holidays and there is a long period of dry spell from May till August. And if you are in a job you hate, that feels like a century!

Anyway, let's forget that one now. I need to plan what I wanna do this weekend - how am I going to welcome 2012? Tough....this decision gets tougher as you get older...hmmm....

How was your Christmas?

2011-12-27T13:56:00.002+08:00

I can't wait for the end of the week! It's going to be another long weekend - thank God.

How was your Christmas? How did you celebrate Christmas?

It was a very lazy weekend for hubby and I. I spent S$998 on an iPhone 4S as Christmas cum Wedding Anniversary gift for hubby :( while I continue using my iPhone 3GS. He in turn gave me a Tanzanite pendant (google it in case you don't know what a Tanzanite is). He bought it 6 months ago during his business trip to Tanzania!!! Wow! Impressed.

I slept late on Friday night (4.30am) and woke up 12 hours later on Saturday. A quick and simple dinner and stayed home till 11pm or so when his friend called. Just a simple short mamak affair where we had our countdown and got home at 2.30am. Late Sunday, woke up at noon and lazed at home till dinner time. Dinner with in-laws (McDonald's) then drinking session with close friends. Just the 6 of us, no crowd, great seats followed by Lok Lok for supper at 3am! Superb!

Woke up at 9am Monday morning (holiday!). I had the cleaner over that's why I couldn't sleep in. Lunch with friends then went home right after and went over to his mum's for dinner.

End of long weekend. How depressing.....

First X Factor USA Winner

2011-12-25T14:39:00.001+08:00

Melanie Amaro is the first X Factor USA winner!!!

She's my fav since the very beginning and I'm glad she's won.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T14:38:00.000+08:00

Another Christmas!

Wishing all my friends and family a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!

Wishing all the good things for all, including myself and that 2012 will be a better year and that God will give us strength to brace the coming uncertainties in the world coming forth.

Merry Christmas

Kim Jong Il dead at 69

2011-12-19T16:35:00.000+08:00

Kim Jong Il, the dictator of North Korea has died at 69. He died apparently of a heart attack as early as Saturday but report of his death was only revealed this morning.

Sounds like CNN? =p

Yup, he's dead. Could it be the fall of dictatorship in North Korea and they open up like Soviet or China? Will Kim Jong Un rule with an iron fist like his father? Left to be seen. Hope that they will see what is going outside and not live for their own benefit only.

Abused

2011-12-15T12:02:00.001+08:00

No No, not by my hubby but my customer. Some idiot of President he is for his division. Extremely petty and totally unlike someone who is holding such an important position. Sorry to say that he will not go far because to be an achiever you must know how to move on and look beyond.

So yes we rolled your cargo, so yes you missed the Christmas sales. So what? What has happened has happened and especially when it is 3 weeks ago! Why are you still haunting me, attacking me personally with your sarcasm? I am trying my might to be patient but don't push me as I will retaliate - I promise you. Don't assume that I won't just because you are the customer. I don't give a damn. Don't you know that this company is not owned by me? I am only an employee and nothing is within my control? You can't see that I have tried my might or did you refuse to see it?

If you don't trust me nor do you think I'm helping you submit your claims why did you even bother writing to me with all your sarcastic comments? Are you getting the kick out of it or what? What an idiot.

Who are you? Shankar Nore from Olam Singapore that's who you are. Yes, sue me. I named you so what?

Jacky Cheung Updated with pictures

2011-12-15T11:51:00.001+08:00

Jacky Cheung was awesome! His showmanship was awesome! A real professional and am not sure if there will be another like him. Maybe there are and maybe they all are but this is effectively the first and only Chinese act I have seen so far.

I have seen Boyzone (TWICE!), Aerosmith, Linkin Park, Westlife and Scorpion but never a Chinese act.

Our seats were not the best but that was what was left when we booked (they actually released 500 more just 2 weeks after we bought ours). 4 shows in total. They started off with 2 then added additional 500 seats per show then added 1 more show and then another show and then finally 500 seats to those 2 additional shows. They were still all sold out within minutes! Imagine that! The crowd was awesome too and they really sang along!

But going there made me feel even older. Made me feel that age is really creeping on me. Nobody there was in their early twenties! Most of us are over 30 and quite a handful 40's, 50's, even 60's! Saw a couple of teenagers but I bet they are there because their parents made them tag along. Sad huh? Hehehe...no more rowdy crowds and I am damn sure the organizer knows this that's why our seats are numbered. No numbers when I went to Aerosmith, Boyzone, Linkin Park nor Westlife.

And the best thing? Very very few of the audience actually knew the words to his newer songs. I for one have never even heard of them! It was kinda boring but the 2nd half, the hall boomed with the crowd singing along to almost every song! Back to our era - that's the way we like it. Hehehehe...old farts!

~~I haven't got time to upload the pics yet~~. Security was terribly strict so not many pics taken. They didn't allow pics to be taken during the concert. No recording as well. But all of us tried anyways.

It's today!

2011-12-09T10:30:00.001+08:00

Leaving in awhile.....but we are currently fighting a cold war so I guess the concert experience gonna suck big time. Damn!

Tired and giving up

2011-12-04T11:54:00.001+08:00

I'm freaking tired, pissed and giving up soon. I don't know how long more I can take it, hold on any longer. Stop pushing me.....it will be no turning back once that happens.

Total disappointment and heartache.

Jacky Cheung in 5!

2011-12-04T11:50:00.001+08:00

That is 5 days for you all out there.

Yes! I am going for Jacky Cheung's concert in 5 days! Can't wait.....I didn't use to like Jacky Cheung during his hey-day because he was part of the Heavenly Kings with Leon Lai. Leon was my favourite during those days. When I was young and naive (about 20 years ago, OMG I didn't realise!), Leon was the best. Nobody, even if they are better, deep down I knew, was good enough.

But now that I am older and wiser, I will watch Jacky's concert, not Leon's. In fact, I have never been to any of Leon Lai's concert. Hmmm...oh because I was too young and too poor then. Hehehe.....

I'm sure it's gonna be good! I gave up catching it in Singapore back in August just because he would have sang more mandarin songs rather than cantonese and I am pretty sure he would have spoken in mandarin too. That totally defeats the purpose of watching a Hong Kong act.

Counting down!

PS: I didn't know Storm is in KL! Today's the last performance. Damn!

Worst Flea Ever

2011-11-25T08:15:00.001+08:00

Still trying to get over the flea I attended last weekend in KL. Signed up for 2 days flea at e@Curve (just found out about this place!) in Mutiara Damansara. Being just a few steps away from The Curve, I thought it should be good. I mean The Curve, Ikano, Ikea and e@Curve is practically 1 building right?

Thank God I didn't sign up for the whole month! They were going to have this flea every weekend till end of Dec and if you sign up for 4 weeks, you get a RM50 discount of the rental ie instead of paying RM170 for 2 days, you will pay RM120 for 2 days.

I haven't been to many fleas but trust me, this has gotta be the worst! I doubt any fleas in Singapore can top that. Assuming Anlynn did not bring any of her friends to the flea, I would end my day with only 1 customer! Yes! From 11am to 8pm only 1 customer! My sales of the day couldn't even cover my hotel. I had lots of flies and mozzies accompanying me throughout the day though. Hubby as usual was enjoying himself in our 4* hotel room and sleeping all afternoon.

I have totally no idea if the problem lies with OPI or it's just the mall. The crowd in the mall itself is extremely thin so of course the mall plays a huge part. But OPI - the very few shoppers wasn't even interested to look at the colours, at least. They practically walked past my booth without the slightest interest. Aiyah, my problem is no money. Would have mix OPI and NYX just to gauge what are Malaysians really into. Honestly, I doubt OPI works in Malaysia. Really. No thanks to brands like Elianto who are selling polishes for RM5 while OPI is RM30-35.

I'm not gonna give up until I can convince myself that OPI doesn't work in Malaysia then I will have to gear up with my NYX or any other cosmetic brands.

But no doubt, e@Curve was my worst flea ever! To think that the organizer was trying to rent me a rack in her shop in the same mall, on first floor. Eew!

I am eyeing Jaya One. Anybody familiar with the crowd in Jaya One? I am very interested with The Curve's Street Market but too bad, management doesn't allow cosmetics.

Post Malacca

2011-11-09T18:08:00.001+08:00

No time to post pics at all!

We stayed a night in Malacca at a little inn Hallmark Inn. It is not the best but it is decent after all. For the price we paid, it's alright.

What did I do? Nothing much really. Visited Jonker Street for the first time in my life. Don't be surprised but really. Nothing great....just another pasar malam. I very much prefer the day street then the night street. Less rowdy but then again the crowd was mostly due to the fact that it was a long weekend so larger crowd.

And the gem of the trip? Hard Rock is in Malacca!!!! *Nod nod nod* The shop is up and running but missing the cafe - that is still under construction.

Oh and for a non-laksa eater, man the laksa is superb! The stall is only open during the day (maybe for lunch only) and you cannot miss it - it's got the longest queue. Hubby had the Laksa while I tried the Baba Asam Laksa. Yumz! Two thumbs up (3,4,5 etc thumbs up if I have more than 2 thumbs) It is a must try if you happen to be in Malacca.

I will post the pics soon - try lah ok......

Meet again

2011-11-04T17:49:00.001+08:00

Didn't realise it has been quite a while since I last posted. Have been extremely busy myself - getting everything ready for opening of outlets in 313 Somerset and Jurong East Central. Started on 1st Nov and still trying to get everything right so I'm still spending a lot of time running around.

But TGIF!!! Yes! A long weekend - 6th is Hari Raya Haji so brought forward to 7th (Sunday to Monday) and a weekend of weddings.

A wedding dinner tomorrow and a wedding luncheon on 6th in Malacca so yes I'm going to Malacca!! I expect to stay a night there coz we can easily make it back after lunch but hubby says why not just stay for a night since Monday is a holiday anyway. Why not?

I will for the first time in my life visit Jonker Street! Well, at least that is in the plan. We'll see what happens.

*Yawn*

I'm sitting in at my desk in the office as I am writing this and waiting for hubby. I'm damn tired and damn full. I hate this feeling - feeling so damn full. Yuck.

Anyway, anybody reading this post and wants to buy NYX, E.L.F or OPI products, please visit us at Jurong East Central!!! =)

TGIF

2011-10-21T16:43:00.001+08:00

It's the weekend!!! I can't wait for hubby to finish work - we are going to have seafood buffet at Concorde Hotel tonight with another couple! Yumz yumz..self control self control.........But gosh, it's only 4.45pm! Time never crawled as slowly as today =( And it was raining all morning, just stopped an hour ago. If it hadn't would have gone out!

Looking forward to the weekend nevertheless!

Note: The 2 year old toddler from that unfortunate accident in Foshan China passed away this morning.