A Great Way to Start the New Year

Today I had a great time. I had finished a report that was a month overdue yesterday in only two hours, much faster than I expected. I celebrated with a Cornetto and went to bed at 2am this morning after a sugar high. I got up at 10 and left the house early to grab good tickets for The Chronicles of Narnia. After getting us good seats, I went to Osmose to punch two extra holes in a belt, wore it and met Diana at the Taka taxi stand. We stepped into one of her favourite shoe shops, On Pedder, and she bought a pair of Helmut Lang snakeskin heels at half price. That's Diana, forever shoe crazy. I aspire to be like this woman one day when my pay multiplies by four, haha. When my shoe collection expands beyond the current 19 pairs and when I get my own place next time, I will get a huge cabinet just to store all my beauties :)

Lunch was at the Mezzanine at Hyatt, a decadent treat from Diana. We had each a bowl of shellfish bisque with cognac and prawns and shared a roasted whole fish with herbs and olive oil as well as a lightly stir fried spinach salad with raisins and pine nuts. Absolutely delicious! The bread we had was perfect as well. I'm definitely coming back again to treat someone special. Love the atmosphere too. Utter luxury. Thank you so much Diana, you're the best!

After lunch we walked around a bit before the movie. And of course I forgave McDonald's (see earlier post "I forgave McDonald's today") by buying a cup of tea to bring in to the cinema. Narnia is a great movie, both for kids and adults. I really loved the music, scenery, battle scene and the little girl Lucy. Tilda Swinton rocks too as the White Witch. There were many emotional moments too and I teared at those. Great acting and pacing. And of course, good values such as honour, sacrifice, love and loyalty pervade and give the movie added depth. I'd give Narnia 4 stars. And since Diana says the book is good, I think I will read it. Can anyone who has the series lend it to me? This is one way to spend less, one of my New Year resolutions, hee.

Am looking forward to watching Memoirs of A Geisha with Diana and more decadent meals and shopping! Thank you dear for introducing me to Kiehl's and Mac's Lip Glass in Viva Glam 5. Now I need more money to fuel my materialistic desires (and genuine health and aesthetic NEEDS)! For now, I really should stay away from the shops and try to eat cheap lunches, at least till the ang pau money comes in. Hurry up now, Chinese New Year!

But yes, what a wonderful way to start the New Year. Tomorrow it's back to the corporate world. But at least I'll step into the office cheerful and full of optimism. I just hope that no one dampens my spirits this week. I believe I'll survive it. If anything bad happens, at least I'll have nice new clothes to wear, heh. It'll be good :)

I've forgiven McDonald's today

What is this all about? Some of you may know that I've refused to patronise McDonald's for quite a long awhile. I stopped buying anything from McDonald's since July 2004 because they refused to accept a discount coupon I used, saying it was a "printing error". In other words, McDonald's had fooled everyone who came that day with the coupons expecting to get a discount on their meals. The manager said they were recalling all the coupons and putting an ad in the papers to apologise for the "printing error". They would also issue new coupons. Well and good. I asked if McDonald's would give me a full refund for the breakfast I ordered and she said she had to leave the finance department to settle that with me. She took down my number and I got a call a few days later. They said they couldn't give me a refund but they would send me a set of new coupons with two extra complimentary coupons. I said ok and gave them my postal address. The coupons never came and after that I decided I'd boycott McDonald's because they probably didn't keep their word. Is it likely the coupons got lost in the mail? Highly unlikely. Or they could've gotten my address wrong or somebody could've forgotten to post my coupons. Anyhow I saw it as a case of neglect and I felt cheated because they never delivered what they said they would.

The reason for my McDonald's boycott largely stems from this incident, but also part of it comes from my watching Super Size Me. True, the movie is obviously biased and nobody would be so stupid as to eat McDonald's for every meal for a month. But there were things McDonald's did that I thought were quite irresponsible. McDonald's came up with "healthier" options that were in fact higher in fat and this was not made known to the public. They also refused to grant an interview to the man who made the movie, Morgan Spurlock, which denied them the chance to clear the air and basically gave him the licence to smear the name of McDonald's any way he liked. I find that very strange for an organisation so skilled in its marketing. McDonald's has also been sued for announcing that it would stop use fatty oils by a certain date but in fact did this later than the announced date. So much for all this bad publicity.

But things have since changed, at least in Singapore. I'm glad McDonald's is waking up and finally taking some responsibility. A week ago The Straits Times reported that McDonald's is going to make nutritional information of its items known in its restaurants. It's working with the Health Promotion Board to do this. This is in addition to trying to make its food healthier. It has added apples and yogurt to the menu some time ago and introduced rice burgers recently. Good on you, McDonald's! You should be taking the lead, given the fact that you're after all the king of the fast food empire. No one can fault you for serving unhealthy food, but at least you're telling your customers how healthy or unhealthy your food is. That way nobody can fault you for giving people heart attacks. And maybe you'll have the last laugh, instead of Morgan Spurlock. Hopefully the rest of the fast food chains follow suit. And hopefully there'll be less obese children in Singapore, in a few years time.

Thank you McDonald's, and for your move, I forgave you today by buying a cup of hot tea to take to see The Chronicles of Narnia. Feels good to know I'll be able to eat all the things I like on your menu again--chicken McNuggets, hot fudge sundae, fries, McChicken, filet-o-fish, lemon lime juice and of course, who could forget your very satisfying Big Breakfast? I miss all that and I can't wait to try the new things on your menu. Make sure your healthier options are tasty too, and oh, it would help if your burgers tasted less synthetic. Now, that would really establish you as true king of the fast food universe. I'm waiting to see what more magic you can do. Go on and shine!

A New Year, A New Beginning

Happy New Year! I begin the new year with high-spirited optimism, having ended 2005 on a good note. Here's what was significant for me last year:

• I started blogging. Yah I know I was quite late in jumping on the blogging bandwagon but better late than never right? I'm glad I did as I find blogging extremely therapeutic, though I really wish I could blog as and when I want to.
• I did well at work. I've been working for a year and even though things are not always rosy, I am generally pleased (and more importantly, the important people up there are pleased) with my performance.
• I strengthened and renewed old friendships. I made time for those who matter to me and that has definitely paid off. Though I didn't get many Christmas cards last year, I still got SMSes from old friends with festive greetings. And the occasional "how are you doing" SMS.
• I made a new friend :) I will not reveal her identity here but I'm looking forward to getting to know her better. She's young, cute and hip, which totally gels with my personality :)
• I visited the greatest city on earth, NEW YORK! It was a whirlwind holiday I will never forget and as mentioned in my earlier posts, I'LL BE BACK. It just felt very liberating to be out of the country alone, finding our own way and deciding what we wanted to do on our own. Not to mention the great food and shopping. New York is paradise for the uber cool, hip and forward-looking individualist. Which is not always bad. And New Yorkers are not as rude and cold as Londoners. PLUS, New York is cheaper. Ok I am gushing.
• I went on my first overseas working trip to of all places, London! Though it was quite tiring and I only had 2 hours of free time, it was a great experience. I had just started working and didn't expect to be sent overseas so quickly. I remember my comfy, plush and elegant hotel room, walking the streets in the refreshing zero degrees cold, the quaint little cafe near my hotel where I had great caesar salad with thin cheddar shavings and riding all over London in bumpy cabs.
• I probably shopped the most in 2005. This is what happens when you start working and suddenly have much more disposable income. Suddenly everything on the shelves is within your reach. Having said that, I do not regret shopping that much. I just have to remember to use everything in order to get my money's worth!
• I listen to the radio more often now thanks to the opening of Lush 99.5. This station is the coolest station I've ever listened to in my life and I will continue to listen to it for a long time. Right now I just need a little radio I can put in my office cubicle so the music can permeate my being every minute at work. It will put me in a good mood I am sure.

With 2005 gone and memories still fresh in my mind, here's my list of New Year resolutions, which I really hope to keep to:

• Keep my faith going strong. I'm glad I've grown closer to God over the past year and it's been a truly wonderful experience. He has blessed me with so many good things and insights about myself. I hope to read more Christian literature and keep up with my prayer life.
• Read more books. I am a very ill-disciplined reader when it comes to books. I never have enough time to read all my newspapers and I tend to feel newspapers are more important reading material than books. But that is not necessarily true. One way to balance this is to watch the news for a snappier update and try to read at least 4 pages of a book everyday. Hopefully this will work out. I've already started on a book a few days ago and it's very interesting so I'll keep going.
• Whatever happens in the office, don't work myself sick. I've done this at least three times last year and it wasn't a pleasant sight. I just paralysed myself, which is very silly of course. This year I am trying to be positive about every task I'm given. Easier said than done but I figured that if I don't adopt this attitude, I'll be falling sick every so often and getting depressed as a result. Sad that it took so many bouts of illness to wake me up, but then some people learn the hard way. I hope my health will be better this year, which will mean trying not to take everything so seriously and not reacting negatively once something vaguely threatening happens.
• Try out more new recipes. Last year I was too tired over the weekend to try out all the delicious recipes I cut out from Today. I hope to cook more this year and not only try Western dishes, but try to cook a complete Chinese meal all by myself. This includes steamed fish and soup. My long-term goal is to become a domestic goddess! This is going to take a long time, but I'm sure it can happen :)
• Bake more for my colleagues and friends!
• Spend less, save more. That means buying less clothes. I'll have to prevent myself from walking into the shops. Easier said than done. Already by 1pm today I have shopped and spent $34.10 on 2 pairs of socks, a top and a bag. As they say, a leopard never changes its spots. We'll see if I can.
• Clean up my room once a week. I've always been very lazy about this. I only bother to clean up when the table gets very cluttered. I should wipe the dust away during the weekends and throw away old mail.
• Exercise more regularly or more intensively. Visit the gym or maybe sign up for a yoga course. If you know of a gd inexpensive yoga class, pls let me know!

What I'd really like to do in 2006:

• Maybe take up a cake decorating course and become a famous cake artist through word of mouth, hee ;p
• Club. I have clubbed less than 5 times in my entire life and the last time I went clubbing was in 2000 to Mambo Night at Zouk. Now that the authorities have imposed smoke-free legislation on pubs and clubs, to come into effect this year, I hope to be able to behave like a teenager again.
• Participate in more interesting activities like going for the Tree Top Walk at MacRitchie instead of the normal Singaporean watch a movie, shop and eat routine.
• Try out more new food places. I hope to try one new place every month.
• Ideally, gallavant in UK and France with a friend AND go to a nearby resort. Ever since I started working, I realise how important holidays are.
• Blog more often.

Welcome 2006! I hope it'll be a great year for you and the world.