When I am jealous of another woman, my friend subtly tells me don’t and why … …

JF :   XXX is very kind.

Me:  Yes, he is.

JF :  And very polite, too.

Me:  He is always very polite.

JF :  He is a charming man.

Me:  He is.

Me:  I am jealous of his wife.

JF :  … …

Me:  How come some women have all the luck?

JF :  He may be too polite in the bedroom.

Me:  Wahaha! Okay, I am not jealous anymore.

A blog friend has gone missing for almost a month. Although not asked to do the favor, I voluntarily help clean up the comments page of his blog every day. Persistently at least thirty to fifty spams come in every day and needless to say, they go straight into the trash bin where they rightfully belong to.

Everyone knows that everyone unwelcomes spams and nobody will read them, it is therefore baffling why spammers insist on overwhelming cyberspace denizens with countless unsolicited emails. Unless the intention is devious and malicious, ignorant spammers whose primary concern is getting their ads read should explore ways to recruit subscribers and upgrade themselves to become authorized advertisers approved by subscribers.

By the way, for some spammers out there, disguising as an interested reader of someone’s blog posts will not help because such antic is easy to spot.

How often do we get responses like: “huh?” and “what?” from service personnel when we ask them questions about some merchandise? Such responses will usually arouse an urge in me to knock their head. Instead of saying “huh?” and “what?”, why can’t they say: “Pardon me” or “Sorry, I didn’t hear what you said.”? I don’t get it.

I am tired of hearing the excuse that service level is horrendous because the staff are not properly trained in customer service. It sounds rather ridiculous to me that one needs to be trained to be polite. Does it mean that we can become super-polite if we have a bachelor degree or MBA in Courtesy?

We can’t smile and we have no idea how to be polite. Blame it on our education system. Yeah, right.

What kind of soul am I?

You are driven and ambitious – totally self motiviated to succeed
Actively working to acheive what you want, you are skillful in many areas.
You are a natural predator with strong instincts … and more than a little demanding.
You are creative, energetic, and an extremely powerful force.

An outdoors person, you like animals and relate to them better than people.
You tend to have an explosive personality, but also a good sense of humor.
People sometimes see you as arrogant or a know it all.
You tend to be a bit of a loner, though you hate to be alone.

Souls you are most compatible with: Seeker Soul and Peacemaker Soul

Click here to try test

Ja.NICE, your most unique quality is that you’re unusually Intense.

You’re wound up and have a lot going on. Others may have trouble understanding what you’re going through, but they generally find your intensity very compelling and are drawn to you. This happens even without effort on your part. Compared to others who are also intense, you are unusually quick to react when someone tries to hurt you. Only 2.1% of all test takers have this unique combination of personality strengths.

Click here to try test

First impression counts and it applies to meeting people online as well. I will usually reply a stranger’s email as long as it is a polite email. But politeness is not enough to make me keep on replying emails if no decent conversation takes place after one or two correspondence.

Classic examples of email that land up in the recycle bin are these … …

First email : “Hello, how are you?”

First reply  :  “I am fine. Thank you. Hope you too.”

Second email :  “I am a [insert occupation]“

Second reply  :  “I see. Cool.”

Third email : “So what about you?”

[Yawn and press DELETE]

~ ~

Email: “Hey Pretty, care to be friends?”

[My name is not Pretty. I think you got the wrong person. Press DELETE]

~ ~

Email: “Hello, I want to be your friend.”

[Sounds like a loser. Press DELETE]

~ ~

PS: Thanks for the email but I am sorry we can’t be friends. The problem is not you, it’s me.

My god, I turned a year older on Thursday. I still feel young though, like I have stopped growing old since a decade and a half ago.

After this birthday, I am making it official that the advertisers are my friends. Look, they are more reliable and caring than my friends. They never fail to remember my birthday and are forever kind to extend birthday offers to me. I was amused and a little sad that more advertisers remembered my birthday than my friends did. But wait a moment, I forgot that I actually have very few friends.

As on every birthday, I secretly longed for a bowl of noodles from my mother for this birthday. When I was a little girl, my mother would get up early on my birthday morning to cook me a bowl of noodles for breakfast. I wish I had told her how joyful I was waking up on my birthday and seeing a bowl of noodles waiting for me at the breakfast table. I wish I had told her how much I had enjoyed eating it. I missed that birthday present.

Buy a tee. Support Mr Brown.

Inspired by Mr Brown’s and Mr Miyagi’s Pod cast “I am a Singaporean”.

“I am a Singaporean”

My family lived in a wooden long house when I was little,

We moved into a HDB flat during the 1970s.

My parents are lowly educated,

They wanted me to learn English

For they had heard that English

Is the entry pass to a bright future.

I am supposedly bilingual

But I am not effectively bilingual.

I speak a unique language called Singlish

That bonds me with my friends and fellow citizens.

I have a bachelor degree from a local Uni,

People told me a degree

Is the ticket to a brighter future.

But when I went for a job interview,

The employer told me they hire only elites.

I found out that my degree

Is just a piece of paper that loses its worth over time,

It serves no more purpose.

I have loans

And little savings.

With every increment of age,

I would soon be perceived a liability.

I am not an elite,

I am simply not good for anybody.

At the time when the government encouraged higher productivity,

And wanted us to get married

And produce more babies,

I did not respond to their calling.

I ignored the many carrots dangling in front of me.

I have stopped listening.

I will decide my own fate,

And dictate my own destiny.

My name is Janice Tan,

But it is only a symbol

That doesn’t mean much.

Who am I? I am who?

I am a Hakka.

我是新加坡公民.

I am a Singaporean.

So say we all.

Celebrating birthday TODAY? I have some amusing birthday quotes to share.

  ~ ~ 

“Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what the hell happened.”  ~ Jennifer Yane

(PS: I heard the little voice swearing. :X )

Growing old is like being increasingly penalized for a crime you have not committed.  ~ Anthony Powell

(PS: Grr … It’s not fair!)

“No wise man ever wished to be younger.” ~ Jonathan Swift

(PS: Wise woman does. She is not as stupid as the man. )

“To think, when one is no longer young, when one is not yet old, that one is no longer young, that one is not yet old, that is perhaps something.” ~ Samuel Beckett

(PS: Woah, profound.)

“The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.”  ~ Lucille Ball

(PS: Spot on! White lie is absolutely OK.)

“To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am.” ~ Bernard Baruch

(PS: But I will scratch your face if you are 15 years younger than I am.)

~ ~ 

And now, a birthday song for the Cancerians:

“HAPPY BIRD DAY TO YOU & ME,

HAPPY BIRD DAY TO YOU & ME,

HAPPY BIRD DAY TO YOU & ME,

HAPPY BIRD DAY TO YOU & ME.”

Can online friends be real friends, or should they just remain as our imaginery friends?

I am not a person who actively seeks friends online. In fact, I was not open to the idea of making friends with online strangers until lately. My skeptism about online friends had been largely influenced by a horrifying experience one of my friends had. But to be fair, I must qualify that her motive of making online friends to start off with was more personal and slightly more complicated.

I am glad that I met some nice people online through blogging and decided to stop my skeptism and made that ‘bold’ move to meet up with them a couple of months later. Initially I was nervous, not knowing what to expect, and when we finally met face-to-face, I was relieved to find out that they are just normal people like me and everyone else. A nice meeting subsequently led to more outings and now we have become real-life friends for one another.

And I agree with one of them who commented that honesty is the key to maintaining a relationship, be it online or offline.