Making a Claim?

I brought the car to IDAC yesterday. Filled out the form and approached the counter when my number blinked. "Eh, sorry sir, we do not process AIA insured cars here. AIA doesn't use IDAC" "Huh? What? I thought every motor insurance uses IDAC for accident reporting?" "Nope, AIA doesn't. Sorry sir, we can't help you."

Ah what nonsense. Ok nvm, called up AIA and thankfully they have a authorised reporting center at Orix which is just round the corner. So I drove off in search of it. I keep seeing it on the opposite side of the road but could never get a clear way to get there. In the end it took me 5 rounds around the entire industrial estate to get to the entrance of Orix. Phhhffff.

So I sat at the counter to fill up the form again. This time there is a customer service rep to help me write down the details. All I had to do was to tell him what happened. Then came the time to indicate whether to claim insurance on the repairs or not. The rep took a look at the car and said the repairs would cost something between 2-3 thousand. So I called my dad to ask for his opinion. I told him I wanted to claim the excess (paying just $400 with the insurance company paying for the rest), but what I got was a dressing down. He literally blow his top at me. What the hell! . . .

Nevermind, since you don't want me to claim insurance. Fine, I won't. I made the report and drove over to a workshop just round the corner (haha, everything is close by) recommended by Ah Ming. He helpfully came down from his office to check in the car for me. Quote for replacing the bonnet and spray painting came to $580. Hmm ok, not too bad. So I left the car with the workshop.

Ping Pong Pang!

Bad bad bad . . . How did this shit happen again . . .

Can't really remember much. One moment I was on the filter lane to get into PIE from Macpherson. I turned my head right to check my blind spot. Next, "Stop!!!" . . . I jammed the brakes. As I hear the brakes screeched, I see the back of the lorry slowly coming towards me. It was only a few seconds, but the scene took an eternity. Damnit, I'm at the butt of the lorry . . .

It seems another lorry infront had came to a sudden stop. And the following car and lorry jammed their brakes to avoid hitting. I was next . . . but sadly I couldn't avoid a collision. My bonnet was dented. Mostly cosmetic damage. The lorry's tail bar got banged up. Other than that, not much damage. We exchanged phone numbers and personal details, took lots of pictures and went our own way. I'm not gonna go into the vivid details, because honestly I rather forget about this episode.

A Good Deed

I did a good deed today. Nothing much except I wished someone did the same for me when I was down on my luck.

It all started yesterday . . . (cue old man with bubbles forming into a thought cloud pic) hehe. I had just brought Meimei home from a wedding dinner at M Hotel and it had started to rain. As I walk along the pathway to the car, I noticed something on the floor. I went close to check it out and sure as the sun, it was a wallet. Looking like it was dropped by someone living nearby, or as I hoped. I ransacked it looking for a phone number so I could call the owner. All this while I was on the phone with Meimei telling her about my find.

Sidetrack - In the wallet: About 8 credit cards from all the banks in Singapore, 60+ dollars in cash, Driving licence, ID card, some name cards of his insurance agent, membership cards. Why would anyone need 8 credit cards?? If you have it, then you have it. Don't need so many to tell the world you have it. Phhffff.

In the end all I could find was an address. Oh . . . it's the same block as Meimei. So I went up to the 11th floor and banged on the door. But oh well, no one was home. Hmm I'll try this tomorrow night again.

Fast forward to tonight. The door was ajar as I approached. Then a lady came to the door looking suspiciously at me. "Yes? what do you want?" Damnit . . . I'm here to do a good deed and yet I'm being eyed like a criminal. "Does Mr. XXX live here?" "Yes, why are you looking for him?" (All this while she gives me the cold shoulder treatment) "I found his wallet last night. Is he in so I can pass it to him?" I pulled out the ID card and stuffed it into her face.

Now she looks stunned. "Oh! My brother dropped his wallet?? How careless of him!" Ding ding ding! Lightbulb blinking in my head . . . wait a sec, she is his sister or so she claims. She doesn't know he dropped his wallet? Hmmm is she really who she say she is? Hmmm.

"Is Mr XXX in? I'll like to pass the wallet to him personally." "No he isn't. But you can pass the wallet to me. I'm his sister." "Hmmm, but I rather pass it directly to him" This time it was my turn to eye her suspiciously. I looked at the ID picture, then stared at her, then at the address, then at the unit number. I think I was so obvious she caught it hahahah. She suddenly turned friendly and opened the grill door. She called her brother, hmm I couldn't catch her conversation, but I assume as much as she came back and told me her brother just told her about it over the phone.

Again, eyeing her with suspicion and distaste, I handled her the wallet. (Me thinking) "Oh well, this is the correct address. No sense wasting more time on this. Just get it off my hands before the owner decides to cast a bomoh spell on it. Can't be too careful with Indonesians."

She took it and first thing she went for was the cash. She was satisfied with the contents and turned to say "Hey, thanks. My brother would like to reward you with something." "Nah, it's ok. I have to go now." I walked to the elevator "No really, my brother is very thankful you brought his wallet back. Please wait." "No, it's ok. Just ask your brother to be careful next time." "Eh, do you live around here?" "No I don't live here, just came over to friend's place" "Oh does your friend live around here?" Hmmm, I getting a sense she is trying to flirt with me *Alarm bells* "Yes, my girlfriend lives around this area" "Oh ok . . ." She looks visibily disappointed. The elevator finally arrived and I scurried away.

Phew . . . why is returning a wallet so troublesome? Haiz, doesn't pay to be nice. But oh well, at least I know I did a good deed.

This is a Police Vehicle . . .

I just chanced on something very peculiar on our roads. "This is a police vehicle. Please stay clear. Thank you." reads the electronic scrolling signboard on the back windscreen of a normal SUV with normal car licence plate. Wait a second. What is this? A police car? Nope, no siren on it's top. Special car plates? Nope, normal car plates. Uniformed police? Nope, a lady in the mid-forties in the driver seat.

I've seen this twice now on PIE while on my way home at night. I seriously wonder if that is truly a police vehicle . . . Seriously, are we allowed to do that if it wasn't a police car? Searches on the web came up with nothing. So I'm still bewildered by it and yet curious at the same time. If any police officer is reading this, could you kindly enlightened me? I'll have to do a more thorough search. It's itching me, because it looks like someone is masquerading as a police car . . . I'll hold that thought till told otherwise. Next time I see it, I'll make sure to get the exact licence plate number.

Even Numbers

I just discovered another quirk. Seems I've had this all the while but never noticed (Read my other post on quirks My Little Quirks). Anyways, this one is pretty simple and you wouldn't really notice it.

Volume at Even Numbers on the Car Radio
Yes, I don't know why but I just have to put the volume at an even number. If I want to move the volume louder or softer, I do it in intervals of 2. So it'll always be at volume 8, 10, 12, 14 etc. It just irks me if it was at an odd number. My body will feel uneasy and tense. Weird? Yeah I think so too. Come to think of it, I do the same on my home radio!

Honestly I think sub-consciously I associate even numbers with roundness, warm, right. And odd numbers as pokey, out of place, wrong. Seriously weird but oh well that's how I am.

The Istana

My first ever walk into the Istana. I'm nearing the big 30 and never once did I ever thought of going into the Istana, home of our President. I must have passed it a million times but the curious part of me to explore never appeared. For those who would like to find out more about the Istana (in the comforts of home), you can go to www.Istana.gov.sg/.

So today Istana was having an open house and Meimei decided to go check it out as well. She has never been there too, though not as surprising as me, considering she wasn't born a Singaporean. She is one now though so it's free entry for her hehe. So anyways we loitered in Plaza Singapura till about 3.30pm before we finally went in.

" I really don't know how I let you talk me into this . . . " " Is there anywhere we can get water here? " " My whole back is wet and so are my armpits . . . "(Spoken) Arhmm, ok a better word would be complain. " My legs are breaking! " " Oh my eyes! my eyes! I'm going blind from the scorching sun!" (Thought) Hmm the thought part was exaggerated hehe. I still love you dear!

So we braved the hot sun, the crowds, the long winding slope, the agony and climbed our way to the Istana Main Building. It was well worth it . . . we saw our President live! Straight in the flesh! Meimei was so excited and we managed to get a picture of him! He was on his Meet-the-People sessions hehe. It's not everyday that you get to meet them in person you know. So yeah it was well worth it. We even toured the ground floor and viewed priceless artifacts from other countries. If only the guard at the stairs would look away, I would have sneak up for a private viewing heheheh.

All in all it was a pretty good day, topped off with a magnificient dinner at the Korea foodcourt stall at the Le Meridien Hotel.

Bug Attack!

It gave me a fright. I was taking my first step into my room to turn on the lights. Suddenly I felt a sharp pain on my foot and immediately jerked upwards. On came the lights and there it was, a huge beetle about 8 cm long scurring away. The pic on the right isn't doing it justice. It looks so small in a big size NTUC plastic bag.

As I hopped on one leg, I shouted and shouted for help. But no one heard me. So I screamed at the top of my voice for my dad, who then came running up the stairs with a lizard swat. It was hiding in a corner when we found it. My dad proceeded to whack the nuts out of it. Amazingly after about ten whacks ... it was still alive and cricketing away. Eventually we had to use a wooden pole to it. And it took 2 hits before it finally died.

I hope the sting wasn't poisonous . . .

Colours of the Night

Today was a slow day at the office. SAP was down due to the upgrade implementation and so basically there wasn't much to do. Most of my team were on time-off leave. But that means I have more time to tidy up loose ends and of course go meet Meimei for lunch hahaha.

The night was more interesting. It's the 2nd weekend of the Night Festival @ National Museum. The highlight of the night was the lighting display. Our National Museum turned into multi-colour from the projection of the lights.

Pretty good day, especially with the cool weather. Only problem was my constipation . . . It's been a week and still no luck. I bought a packet of prunes on the way home . . . hopefully it'll help.

Anniversary Leave . . . More to Come? Hmmmm

My company has this weird 'benefit', the Annivesary Leave. Not sure what is the attraction of having this benefit, but I guess management must be thinking, "Heh, maybe people will look away that we are trying to cut staff cost, cutting OT pay, cutting other privileges and stay in the company to enjoy their Anniversary Leave!" "Maybe NOT! . . ." Oh well since I'm getting it, I'm using it hahaha.

Meimei and I met early at 9 plus to open our first joint bank account at Standard Chartered. Then it was off to Orchard for karaoke. I sucked at singing . . . seriously. After that we were at Meimei's place for CSI season 8 marathon before we went for dinner at blk 511. We ended the day with another episode and it was time for me to go home.

Pretty good day, if you ignore that it rained the entire day. Just happy I could laze the day away with my baby hehe. Hope I can do this again soon.

Thai & a Bat Night

Went to pick up Meimei for dinner. We settled on Thai Express after deliberating for my entire trip to her office (we were discussing over handphone). We went to the outlet at Serangoon Gardens. As usual, rubbing my Meimei's palm turned out to be a charm. We found a lot just as we entered the carpark.

We had my fav 'Yam Talay Woon Sen', which is seafood salad with glass noodles. The thing I love about this simple dish is that it packs a spicy tingle that just opens up your appetite. I had 'Woon Sen Tom Yum Kang' aka crayfish with red tom yum soup and glass noodles as my main which turned out to be an expensive loser. My meimei had soft shelled crab with rice. Oh yah there was the prawn toast which taste as good as before. Overall, it was a pretty good meal, though a little more expensive on the price to shiokness ratio. Blame it on the measly crayfish haha.

Next we went off to Bishan Junction 8 to catch The Dark Knight. Wow ... this has to be the best Batman movie I've ever seen, what with it's twists and turns. It's so much more than the usual good guy beats off the bad guy, grabs the babe and walks off into the sunset plot. My my ... this Batman has a plot and a good one too. It evokes more feelings than your normal run-of-the-mill superhero movie. I was heaping praises the moment we walked out the theatre. Meimei loved it too, though she was more thrilled at the lead actor Christian Bale than anything else ... Looks like I have a new competitor!

Chilli Padi Nonya Cafe

Been a busy day today. Had a pep talk with one of my staff. My boss seems to be a little irritated by me . . . Don't know why.

As usual our food guru Lao Da brought us to a new makan place. He has such an array of good eateries that we are tempted to make him join us for dinner every week haha.

This week's new spot is at Chilli Padi Nonya Cafe on North Bridge Road opposite Bugis Junction. It's an inconspicuous little restaurant, one I would never have walked in, judging by the decor and settings. It looked like those old restaurants that sell Zhi Char in an air conditioned environment. Anyways we went in on Lao Da's recommendation and well I must say I was glad he brought us there. Their specialty is the nonya buffet which has a good spread. Well it's not The Line or Melt selection of foods but nevertheless for the price of NettSGD14.65 it was well worth the trip there.

I had several helpings and was fully satisfied. Plus Lao Da paid for it hahahaha . . . It's my turn next time! So yeah, it's a good day.

Less Time, More Posts

It seems that with my job promotion, there is lesser time or in fact no more free time during office hours to update my blog. Plus I've always been updating only if there is something significant happening. Seriously though, what we tend to forget are the simple things in life. Which is why from today I'm gonna start writing short posts about my day whenever I can. Doesn't have to be special, maybe just talk about where I had dinner or something to that effect. I'll start off now by describing my day today hehe.

Woke up at 3pm today. Yeah yeah, I was out for a midnight movie (Red Cliff) the night before and only slept at 4am. And that was only because I didn't shower at all. I just slumped into bed and doze off till this afternoon.

Anyways, I lazed around for abit, trying to get my internet connection to work but failed miserably. At 5 I went to the nearby coffeeshop for Bee Hoon Goreng Cina before rushing off to Eu Tong Seng to pick up Meimei from her facial appointment.

Had dinner at her place with her parents and sis. I really need to learn to cook like her mum. Fantastic food! So savoury, so sweet, so so so ... darn good! I should go over for dinner more often hahaha. Well it's not to say dinner at home isn't just as pleasing but well, my mum just cooks in a different way. Teochews are simpler with their cooking.

After that we play majong till midnight. I had desserts before leaving and made it back home half past 12. Showered and resting while I write this post.

Looks like it's easier to keep things simple. I'm not writing more posts just to hit a good count, but I guess I don't wanna forget the simple things in life too. Like today is just as exciting as any other day with special events. Just takes a step back to appreciate the beauty of simple things.

Anniversary

Today is our anniversary. And I only have this to give.

" Once I wish and yearn and lust,

Searching for thee I know I must,

Long has loneliness dull my trust,

To find a love I hope will last.

In midst of paper pens and stands,

There shines this light so bright and grand,

What is this so special my curiousity peak,

Could it be the guide my heart so seek?

An adventure so eagerly I embark,

One Mid-Summer Night is the start,

Determined to preserve and leave my mark,

A passion driven by cupid's dart.

A season pass in the blink of an eye,

So many memories left in my mind,

In hunger happiness and good crys,

Savouring more in our lives.

Our first year this great endeavor,

Many more ages to smooth our edges,

I thank thee for taking part,

A beginning to the end till death do us apart. "

- Pokpok, 04 July 2008

Our First Year

I felt guilty not having done more for our anniversary. I've never been one for celebrations and presents. But I know this is what my meimei wants, so no matter what next year I must!

Sugar, My Darling's Second Love

" Sugar my darling,

A cup of chocolate melting,

Tearing from the coldness,

I feel my heart fading.

Sugar my darling,

Your joy so alluring,

Sweetness in your smile,

I feel my heart wanting.

Sugar my darling,

Your sweetness so endearing,

Happiness is everything,

I feel my heart giving. "

- Pokpok, 16 June 2008

Sugar My Darling

My baby can't keep her hands off the Coffee Bean's Ice-Blended Pure Chocolate drink even though she is not supposed to be taking so much sugar. She insists that the drink is made of only cocoa, milk and ice . . . Oh well at least she is happy hehe.

Wohoo! 5 Tables Only . . . A Step Closer to my Dream!

My parents have just returned yesterday from a 2 week vacation in Portugal. I was on talking terms again with Dad and judging by the looks of his mood and manner I decided to pounce an important question to him.

"Lao Ba, I was thinking hor . . . These days it's so expensive to get married. Everything also need money. Just a wedding dinner itself cost close to 20K. My army friends were telling me they spend about 30K just to throw a dinner at a restaurant. Eh, your son pretty poor leh. So if I ever get married hor, I organise a 5 table simple dinner at a restaurant can already or not?"

*Dad looks at me, momentarily stunned by my question*

(thinking) hmm, is he in shocked? why is he looking at me blankly? this doesn't look good? should I just run off now?

Ta .. Ta .. Ta .. just at this moment, a grace-saving voice spoke: "Yah, simple dinner better. Marriage is for 2 persons what. Wedding dinner so troublesome, no need lar. Why spend so much money? See these days so many couple going in debt because of marriage. My karaoke friends were all telling me about their children borrowing money from the bank to get married. Cheh, no need lar, aiyah just simple dinner can liao."

*I blinked at Mum then at Dad* "Yah lor, I already have the burden of the flat, have to pay off for the next 30 years . . . still must spend money on the silly dinner, don't want, like that might as well don't get married better."

Dad (finally recovering of the lapse into limbo) "Ok lor, 5 tables. So long you happy can le. But you don't worry about the dinner lar. Got Ang Pow what. Plus if you don't have enough I can help you first."

(Spotting the Killer Spot) "Great thanks! Okie set liao ah, confirm liao 5 tables! Man hor, say already cannot take back one. 5 tables it is! Steady ah!"

*skips off happily to the car to go meet Meimei*

Muhahahhahahhahhahahha . . . I'm closer to my dream of marrying my perfect match. *kisses

P.S. Thanks Mum, you are truly a life saver. I knew you'll come through even though I've not discuss this with you yet. Hehehe takes your own flesh and blood to know you best. *kisses