We went to The Marina Barrage and had a steamboat dinner at the 7th Storey restaurant with my in-laws. The picture above was taken with my phone camera as I have forgotten to bring along my camera. It is a night scenery of the city. It reminds me of The Bund in Shanghai.

The weekend was hectic. My Indonesian maid fell sick. She was having severe abdominal pains for many days. Our family doctor suspected appendicitis and referred her to the hospital. I spent the entire Friday afternoon at the A&E before she finally got warded. The CT scan showed that it was not appendicitis, thankfully, otherwise she would have to undergo surgery. That would have been a double whammy for me cos not only would I have to do without a helper for a month and I would have to take care of her instead. The estimated cost if she had the surgery was $4200 as she is a foreigner and hence not entitled to any government subsidy. The hospital made me pay in advance $4200 upon admission. Anyway the final diagnosis was severe UTI (urinary tract infection) and she was warded for three days and that cost me $1200. Thank God for insurance. Luckily I did get her medical insurance. Health care cost in Singapore is very expensive so make sure you are adequately covered otherwise you cannot afford to be sick. The $1200 was for two nights stay in the hospital, blood tests, urine test and a CT scan plus some antibiotics. No wonder some people say it's cheaper to just drop dead. I have spent all morning filing in insurance claims.

For me , one of the saddest things in life is to witness the process of  a dying friendship. I mentioned a few months ago about  a joint venture with some friends in business. The business was dying a slow death and to cut a long story short, it has created some riffs between us the sleeping partners and the guy running the show. We were all very close friends but for almost two years now, the friendship between us and him was slowly dying. The problem arises because he does not wish  to be forthright with us about the state of the business. We do not mind losing the investment but I think he owes us a closure to this whole messy business by giving us a lowdown on exactly where we are now.

A few months ago, he told us out of the blue that he had disposed of our business. The company is not dissolved but the business has been sold. So we kinda have like a shell company with some debts. Today he asked me to sign some documents and I told him frankly that I am not comfortable with it, just because I have no idea what is going on with the business and the company. I am open to discussion if I am able to get an update but I will not be signing anything otherwise. I think my reluctance is the final nail in the coffin of our friendship. He probably thinks that I am not sympathetic to his predicament. I know that he is struggling financially and I am not lending a hand. It feels like I am turning away a friend in need. I am so saddened by this and almost consider signing the documents just to preserve the friendship but I know that I cannot afford to be soft here.

I want to help but I need to know the situation. I do not want to be digging a bigger hole. I need to protect myself and my family from any legal implications. I hope he understands that.

I did learn a very expensive lesson from this and I want to share it with everyone and that is never ever go into business with friends nor family if you want to preserve the relationship.

I don't go anywhere without my phone so I get royally pissed when my phone doesn't work. I just switched to the Samsung Omnia about three weeks ago. I am happy with most of the phone's features but there is something wrong with the phone somewhere. In the three weeks that I have had the phone, it has switched off on me three times by itself and I could not seem to be able to turn it back on until I take out the battery and knock it a few times against the table and then put it back on. It happened again first thing in the morning today as soon as I reached my office. I tried to fiddle with the stupid battery and still nothing. I couldn't get the phone back on.  I have clients who text me orders on the phone (don't ask me why they do that, some people have a phobia when it comes to actually speaking but that is another story for another day).

So what does one do when one is desperate? I called the Samsung Customer Service hotline hoping that they are able to shed some light on this irksome problem and perhaps help me get my phone up and running. Instead the Customer Service Officer told me that he could not do much over the phone and if I could bring the phone down to their service centre. I guess it's perfectly logical that I would have to bring my phone down  but I was an irate customer trying to vent my frustration. I mean you have to understand that the phone is new and yes  sometimes there are glitches but I am fed-up. I got so irritated, frustrated, angry and I am sure I was rude and a few unpleasant words like " bloody and hell" escaped from my lips. The officer kindly reminded me not to be rude but that got me riled up even more. I almost spat out the F*** word.

I have told myself time and again that I should control my anger. I have not been  successful. I always lash out at customer service people. Just last week, I had a not so pleasant encounter, also over the phone with my mobile service provider. She was not able to help me solve my problem and she was rather abrupt when she told me that she couldn't help me. After the conversation ended, I got a text message to rate her service and I gave her the worst possible score. I felt bad but only just a little. I am nasty when it comes to dealing with customer service staff. I think I expect a lot from them since they are customer service.

The thing is I really do want to be nice. But somehow when push comes to shove, I always end up being nasty. Tell me how to be a nicer person?