Lost, again

撞鬼囉！（广东腔）

又不见东西！怎么频频丢这失那儿的？

不是心不在焉啊？已经很注意了，因为年头已经掉了一副，而今年又是财物损失颇多的一年，真的有时不时在留意的，还是在不知什么时候不知哪里不知怎么掉了。。

唉！

广东人说的：真係撞鬼囉！

听说鬼门关好像过几天才开嘛！想必人间地府的官兵都是一样的素质吧？我们这儿逃‘马’， 他们那儿也难免漏鬼了吧？

i should but i'm not gonna

i should start packing cos the buyer wants to move in asap.
i should call up the insurance agent to sort out mum's policies.
i should talk to HC abt not renting out his place to #$%...
i should make another report at another station abt the burglary since the officers who came the first round were slip shod with the whole thing.
i should call up the individual companies to request for a duplicate of the documents that were stolen.
i should go check on my flat on my off days.
i should make the contractor bear some responsibility since it was his lock on the gate and it was still locked after the burglary.
i should go for the ultrascan as advised by the doc.
i should return asap to the dental surgeon as my tooth still hurts after the root canal therapy.
i should call up HR to ask for an explanation of 'not eligible'

i should but have not done and not gonna do all the above. i don't want to face anymore unpleasantness, confrontations,disappointments, things that are gonna make me feel worse than what i am now.
i just want to hide in my cocoon, bury my head in the sand, live my vapid life...

yes ...i'm an escapist.

礼拜天的噩耗

30/3 礼拜日 ：噩耗-
[Private & Confidential] ..We regret to inform you..... you are not eligible....

15/6 礼拜日 ：噩耗-
$200 vouchers disappeared from my backpack

22/6 礼拜日 ：噩耗-
drainange pipe choked with cement in new flat

13/7 礼拜日 ：噩耗-
$2000 LCD TV plus documents stolen from new flat

20/7 礼拜日 ：噩耗-
[private & confidential]...we regret to inform you....
you are not eligible.....(deja vu!)


礼拜日，感谢上帝赞美上帝最多的日子，却是我噩耗连连的日子，为什么？

One of my all time favourite song- 《歌》

罗大佑——《歌》
原诗作者是 Christina Georgina Rossetti，英国诗人Dante Gabriel Rossetti的妹妹。1928年，徐志摩将此诗翻译成中文；1974年，20岁的罗大佑 以此为词，为刘文正的电影“闪亮的日子”电影创作了《歌》，这是他第一首公开发布的创作作品，张艾嘉、孙越、林慧萍曾先后演唱。随后他又写下了《闪亮的日子》(1976)。1989年，这两首歌均收入《闪亮的日子》专辑。

When I Am Dead, My Dearest　
by　Christina Georgina Rossetti　　

When I am dead, my dearest,　　
Sing no sad songs for me;　　
Plant thou no roses at my head,　　
Nor shady cypress tree;　　
Be the green grass above me　　
With showers and dewdrops wet;　　
And if thou wilt, remember,　　
And if thou wilt,forget.　　
I shall not see the shadows,　　
I shall not feel the rain;　　
I shall not hear the nightingale　　
Sing on as if in pain;　　
And dreaming through the twilight　　
That doth not rise nor set,　　
Haply I may remember,　　
And haply I may forget.


歌　　翻译：徐志摩　　

当我死去的时候
亲爱　　
你别为我唱悲伤的歌　　
我坟上不必安插蔷薇　　
也无需浓荫的柏树　　
让盖着我的青青的草　　
淋着雨也沾着露珠　　
假如你愿意
请记着我　　
要是你甘心
忘了我　　
在悠久的坟墓中迷惘　　
阳光不升起也不消翳　　
我也许 也许我还记得你　　
我也许把你忘记　　
我再见不到地面的青荫　　
觉不到雨露的甜蜜　　
我再听不到夜莺的歌喉　　
在黑夜里倾吐悲啼　　
在悠久的坟墓中迷惘　　
阳光不升起也不消翳　　
我也许 也许我还记得你　　
我也许把你忘记

Source : http://bobov.live.spaces.com/blog/cns!950C87D6651E80AE!1456.entry

Youtube : Song sung by Tarcy Su Hui Lun (i would hv preferred Sylvia Chang's rendition)

我想，我快死了

我想，我快死了
心痛死的
两千块的电视机
还没来得及开机就被盗走
心痛死了

我想，我快死了
被风凉话冻死的
“新房子进贼哈，贵重东西不要放在这儿嘛！
只是丢了电视机，算好了！”
凉呀凉呀凉，凉死了

我想，我快死了
被刚学会飞的小鸟害死的
马马虎虎糊里糊涂的工作态度
一不留神
会遭池鱼之殃


我想，我快死了
被自以为是的老鸟吓死的
铤而走险投机取巧
一不小心
殃国害民

我想，我快死了
被隔邻不太懂鸟语的笨鸟气死的
沟通若出问题
祸可大可小
说到吐血都未必明白
气死了

我想，我快死了
被空中的霸王别机整死的
无理要求不知死活乱闯禁地
费尽精神救它无数命
着地还摆你一刀


我想，我快死了
被累死的
左看幼鸟，右防老鸟，前有霸王，后有鸟人
还得顾自己
累死了


我想，我快死了
为某家人忧心死的
麻烦事儿接二连三
忠言却逆耳
不懂好自为之
让我忧心死了

我想，我快死了
牙痛死的
牙齿裂了个缝
等不及做手术
痛死了

我想，我快死了
心理不平衡死的
物价一涨再涨薪水却下调
对比不相称
心难平


我想，我快死了
脏死的
久不见雪山湖泊
忘了啥是纯朴善良
心灵乌烟瘴气
脏死了

我想，我快死了
被刺激死的
一击再一击
翻身还没来得及
受不了刺激死了

Burgled

"what else is missing?"

"the warranty cards for ALL my appliances in the house"

" aiyah,those are documents...."

" yes, but they are very important to me, without which i won't have any warranty for ALL my appliances"

"ok, ok, Sergeant P, take note"

"so, you are not taking down the model and serial number of the tv? IF they attempt to sell it, you might be able to trace it cos the serial number is unique"

"er...ok...Sergeant P, take it down."

"so , you are not interested in taking any finger prints?"

" it's NOT that we are not interested, but there're no leads"

" what about the padlock? Surely there are fingerprints? "

" yeah, but it would have already been tampered with, so many people had touched it, including yourself, the contractor, the thieves...and anybody..."

" what about the cabinet door, they took the stuff from inside too"

"But yourself and the contractor also opened it after that"

" what about the wall? Look, the brackets that were there were dismantled and removed, surely they would have left fingerprints? and the cables...myself and the contractor did not touch those..."

" no use lah, the wall surface too rough cannot dust for prints, the cables...not likely lah"

"what about the cigarette ashes at the door step, they are new, can u get a lead from there? or the locksmiths...they are all registered aren't they? is it possible to find out if any one of them had been asked to open this lock the last two days?"

" er...madam...i don't think so...look, we will treat your case as serious as all others, rest assured we will try to find out who are the culprits...."

"so can you tell me what are you going to do?"

" sorry, we can't but there is a trend of burglary at flats in new estates, you shouldn't leave valuables in the flat if you are not moving in yet.......maybe you can check with your credit card company if they have insurance coverage on the items purchased using their cards? at least you might recover some of the losses since you do not have other insurance coverage?..."

And with that, our dear officers left, without asking questions from the contractors or workers who are working on other flats on my floor, without being very interested in fingerprints, nor look closely for possible clues left behind by the burglars who had stolen my $2K LCD TV which had barely been in my flat for more than 10days.

i would not say i have a lot of confidence that the culprits will be caught after the statement taking. The statement was not written by me but interpreted by the officer from his own understanding of what i have related which wasn't absolutely accurate like when asked if i suspected anyone and i told him whom i did but with some reservations he ended up writing on the statement that i suspected no one. i was asked to sign it with some impatience from his part.

Then when i asked to have a copy, he said i can't and i'm baffled. Why can't i have a copy of MY statement signed by ME ??? They did not seem very interested in the case too, probably because there're so many such "kucing kurak" cases everyday....but its the first time in Singapore i got burgled and the amount lost is big enough to me to break my heart. What made me madder is that the audacious thieves actually turned on my air conditioner during the break in and left it on till we discovered the theft!!!

OH!! How i would like to punch their noses when they get caught!!

蜗牛为何背着它重重的家四处流浪？ 只因盗贼猖狂，官兵懒散，只好时时把家带着以防失窃。。

'Sold'

'Sold'-- or sort of, to the guy who had called yesterday to make an offer without even having to view our place. His wife and he couldn't wait till tomorrow for the decision to be made and came down with their agent today to try to persuade us to close the deal. My entire family, especially my father was bought over by their very very sweet 7yr old daughter (potential Ms Universe /Superstar look). In fact, that was one of the key reasons my parents decided to give the deal to them, plus of course the very affable and generous character of the the buyer who increased his offer by another $3K without us even asking.

So, who can resist the two greatest temptations to men: beauty and money?

The OTP was signed.

The other family who also needed the place urgently was really very disappointed, to the point that made me feel a little guilty.....may they find a suitable place within their budget soon too.

Hot Property

Finally decided to sell it.
Expected no problem getting a buyer but didn't expect it to be such hot property. My parents hit a treasure when they got this place 21years ago, so conveniently located to so many amenities and the best school in the whole estate plus we are at the lift landing and have one of the biggest area for our room type.

Only just posted on the free listing on the HDB website in the morning and within half an hour, i received 6 calls, and by the afternoon almost 10.

2 came to view the place this evening and 1 will be coming on sunday evening. Another, straightaway offered to close the deal at my asking price which was $15K above the valuation price and even pay for all agents' commissions without even the need to view the flat. Then another one who came to view the flat in the evening with her family also offered the same terms.

Now, i have 2 very keen buyers who really looked genuinely in need of the place desperately for their kids, both in primary school. Thing is, they did not up the offer further. I didn't want to commit either and did not ask for any deposit. Afterall, it's only the first day.
My family were greedier than i thought and blamed me for not asking for $30K above the valuation price. How could they have the cheek? Ours is not even renovated and already 21years old. And we did not even bother to tidy up or repaint the flat, so it looked really quite unappealing , at least , to me. Still, there were parties interested enough. i guess God's favour is upon us.

Well, a check on the website of the history of transactions in the last 3 months of the flats around my area showed there were indeed people selling their flats at prices (25K to 30K) way above the valuation but not in my block though. i'm not sure if i should ask the two potential buyers to up their offer further cos they are already paying quite a lot after the agents' fees and GST and other miscellaneous stuff. But, else, how should i decide who to sell it to? Both have their soap opera stories and reasons that sounded pitiful...

Hmmmmm, i said i'll get back to them by Sunday, i pray i'll make the right decision by then.

Hiccups

God loves to play jokes, this is what i've concluded. Just a while ago i was thanking Him for minimal reno problems only to encounter a major 'cock-up', er i mean choke up.

Someone, either the HDB construction workers or the guys who laid the cement base for my kitchen cabinet had disposed of cement into the drainage pipe in the kitchen. You and i know the consequences; i wonder if the culprits knew, if they did and did it, then they must have really hated me, or they could possibly have been hired by 'Just for Gags' !!!

The thing is, the cement in the drainage pipe wasn't discovered when the plumber came to relocate the piping for my sink; it wasn't discovered when the kitchen cabinets were constructed; it wasn't discovered when the sink was finally mounted and most of the reno works completed.

It was only discovered when i tried to wash some stuff at the sink yesterday and the whole sink was choked.

The fact that the pipes had been relocated and the cabinets were all built in makes it very difficult to access the choke area which is below the floor. As far as the plumber and i are concerned,we are both against tearing down the cabinets to resolve the problem, but that may just have to be the last resort. Chemicals were poured in in a lame attempt to get rid of the cement chemically, steel wires were poked right in to loosen the cement, we even went to our neighbour's flat below to see if we could dismantle the pipe from their flat to clear the choke up above but alas their pipes too are well concealed behind the kitchen cabinets. The plumber was not able to say what's he gonna do, i'll just hv to wait.....patiently.

Then, on the very same day, another bloop.

Some furniture ordered a month ago from Novena Furniture was due for delivery yesterday. To my disgust, the furniture arrived short of a TV console. Nobody had called to say nor explained why it was so. When i called, i was told that the shipment had been delayed and the console would only be expected to arrive in another one to two weeks time. That, would greatly affect my plans as my TV was to arrive this weekend and to be mounted by the delivery people which means the console would have to be here in order for the tv to be positioned properly on the wall for the mount.

If i were to delay the delivery of the TV for one to two weeks, i would stand to lose a smaller LCD TV which i can only redeem when the bigger TV is delivered. If i choose not to mount the TV upon delivery, i would hv to pay for my own mounting of the TV later. All this means i have to have my console by this weekend so that i could hv my TV delivered and mounted on time.

After presenting my problem to the Novena staff, i was furious when he had the cheek to say : "aiyah! hang the tv on your husband's neck lor!"
i gave him a shelling and told him this is not the time to joke, that i was adamant to hv the console by this weekend and if Novena is unable to deliver on time, then i would hv to cancel my order and get a console from somewhere else. He said he does not have the authority to allow me to cancel my order (i've already paid up fully), and offered that i go down to select another model instead. Even if i had accepted that, the new model i were to select would also not be able to arrive by this weekend. i insisted on speaking to the manager but he claimed he's the only person around then. Finally, after a lot of shouting (on my part), he offered to lend me a console that would be similar in dimension to the one i ordered so that i could proceed with my TV mount but that's provided he can find one. He would get back to me today. Well, let's see.

Moral of the story: don't buy anything from them! A poor rotten show they've put up:--One whole month had passed since the order was placed and delivery date confirmed, yet they did not bother to inform the customer, not even on the delivery day itself when the shipment was delayed. What if i had a housewarming party planned the next day?
-Then, the stupid joke made by the staff at a time when the customer was already boiling mad!
-Next, to claim there's no management or supervisor around to handle the matter was really quite lame. Not allowing me to cancel my order when it's gonna be delayed for another one to two weeks (they couldn't even give me a date) was really unreasonable.

Now, what do i do? Wait patiently for the plumber and the Novena Furniture to get back to me.....