Down the winding path...

Charity

2011-07-09T23:28:00.003+08:00

Since the last post on the first 3 days in Italy, I've been MIA for quite some time. I shall conveniently blame it on work and busy social schedules. Truth be told, it has also been some time since I last switched on my laptop. Somehow, I don't really feel the urge to switch on my laptop when I get home. Think it has to do with my facing the computer at work for 8h. Simply have no desire to switch on my laptop. Would much rather read a novel on my iphone. Also miss holding a real physical book in my hands..

Anw, saw a video on Mon that had me battling back tears. It was a video put together by Operation Smile. Basically, this is a group which will help children born with a lip cleft to go for a free operation, so that they can look like normal children and lead a normal life free of horrified stares and pitying glances. However, due to limited resources, this group has to screen the applicants and select only a number to go for the free operations.

The video showed the screening process in Vietnam - how many parents brought their children with the defect to the screening site, simply because they were too poor to send their children for an operation to fix it; how they were silently praying that their child's name would be called as it would mean that their child had been selected to go for the operation. The contrast was heartwrenching - how some parents looked absolutely delighted and relieved that their child's name was called, and how some parents looked absolutely devastated and disappointed. Then it focused on a child. His mum hoped that after the operation, he would be a handsome boy. It showed the mother's anxiety in the waiting room when the operation was going on. It also showed the intense emotions the mother experienced when she saw her son. She clasped the hands of the doctor and thanked the doctor, and finally, overwhelmed with emotions, she cried into the shoulders of the volunteer worker. It was really touching. One flaw though - they showed it during lunch. It thoroughly spoilt my appetite. Luckily I had finished eating before they started showing the video.

But after viewing it, it also made me glad that I volunteered a day to help with the Operation Smile mission in Batam, even if it's only for screening day. It makes me proud to be part of such a worthy cause.

Another the video, another volunteer from Riverkids came forth to share about their cause - to help females in Cambodia who are potential targets to be sold into the sex industry. It broke my heart to hear tales of how they were not able to stop some girls from being sold in time, and how later when they managed to retrieve these girls, the time (years) and effort it takes to help these girls to recover from the trauma. Luckily no video for this. I doubt that I'd be able to stop tears from falling if there's a video for this.

Heavy topics for lunch. But I'm glad that RBS is starting a charity drive. It helps to remind all of us that despite the late working hours and stress, we are blessed. There are many others who aren't as well off as us and need our help.

They also motivate me further to help if I'm able to. God bless them all.

Italy trip - Rome (Part 1)

2011-05-20T13:05:00.005+08:00

13 May 2011 (First Day)
I couldn't believe it but I worked late on the night of my flight. Worked till 8+pm and decided to take a cab home instead of taking the train as I still hadn't finished packing. Didn't even have the time and chance to spend some quality time with Zd before I flew. Sad.
Arrived in Rome with Eli on 13 May (CET). Spent one of the most horrendous long trip flights ever on Emirates. Emirates service is fantastic but somehow, I had difficulty falling asleep on the plane. Caught only 4h of sleep max. Was dead beat by the time I reached the hostel.
The hostel was called Coconuts and it really wasn't easy to find. When we finally located it, it looked like a building out of Frankestein. Cool passageways with a mouldy smell with a door that was painted an ugly green with spikes. The lift was locked so we were forced to take the stairs. Worst, we didn't even know which floor the hostel was on. No info given. So we lugged our luggage floor by floor (with me in the lead) and I was trying really hard to still my overactive imagination while I was already freaking out internally. Eli didn't help matters by saying how scary all these looked. I almost gave in to my fear and wanted to walk back down after the 5th floor though I had a feeling that the hostel was on the 7th. Stifled a scream when a lady suddenly appeared from above and asked me if I'm looking for Coconuts. Super relieved when she said it's on the 7th floor and we continued lugging our luggage up the drafty staircases. The hostel was really clean though and we had 2 double-decked beds in the room. It's an all-girls hostel and we even had an attached bathroom. Really happy with it despite its scary exterior.
We tried to adjust our bodies to CET time zone by going out for a meal and basically, walking around. Had a quick dinner at a restaurant near our hostel and we shared a plate of bruschettas and penne with bacon and cheese, in tomato sauce. Both were very good, much better than what I ever had in Singapore.
Decided to walk off the meal as it was still pretty early then. The neighbourhood near the station (where our hostel was situated) was really dirty and full of dodgy pple at nite. But as we walked further away, the dingy streets fell away and were replaced by streets which looked clean and warm. It was really pleasant strolling down these streets while the sun sets. The wind was a little cold but we were safely cocooned in our coats.
Lost our way a little but stumbled upon this really nice gelateria called Ciuri-Ciuri, where they had the best pistachio ice cream ever. It even had the pistachio nuts in the ice cream. Never thought that I'd like pistachio gelato but this was really yummy..
Crashed at 10pm in the hostel after that..

14 May 2011
We went to the Jewish Ghetto (aka Synagoga in Italian) the next morning. Asked for directions at the bus terminal and squeezed onto bus H. We didn't know how to buy a bus ticket and the bus driver replied me in Italian when I enquired about it. Was a bit scared when Eli said that Italians imposed a stiff fine for not buying bus tickets and we had already boarded the bus then. Crap. Had to ask the passengers on board as we were all packed like sardines. An old lady shook her head, indicating that she couldn't understand English. Luckily a younger lady beside her directed me to the ticket machine a few steps away. Had to squeeze my way through a few bodies to reach the ticket machine. Tickets are cheap - only € 1 per pax but I didn't have enough coins to pay for 2 and it didn't accept notes. Crap. Had to squeeze back to Eli and get some coins from her to pay for her fare. Then came the issue of validating the tickets. The nice young lady again offered her assistance in halting English sentences and actions, and even told us to alight when we reached our destination. Profoundly grateful to her. What an experience from a 10min bus ride!
Went for an English guided tour in the Jewish Ghetto and walked around the museum. It was quite enlightening and I learnt quite a fair bit. For eg. Jewish males have to cover the top of their heads as a sign of respect to God, and their rights were actually taken away from the Pope and made to live away from the Christians. They also had to attend Mass service every Sabbath. Life was already difficult then and they were treated like second/third class citizens and this was made worse when Mussolini came into power started persecuting Jewish to fulfil his dream of a superior Aryan Italian race.
Had lunch near the Ghetto after that and we decided to walk back to the hostel, so that I could call Zd and talk to him on the phone. Along the way, we passed by Santa Maria Maggiore and went in to take a look. Its exterior looked old and stately but it was really beautiful inside. Bright and colorful stained glasses and gold gilded decorations. Eli was suitably impressed. Also went into the Momumento and took some pictures but it was pretty boring inside.
Finally, we went back to the hostel after that and I could call Mr Mah. Took a nap cos I was really tired and woke up abt 30mins later to go to the train station to fetch Yujia.
It was really good to see her as it had been a really really long time since we last met. Probably abt 4-5 years. She's still as thin as ever but she has shoulder length hair now while Eli and I are sporting short hair. haha.. Had dinner together and called it a night.

15 May 2011 (Naples-Pompeii)
Took a train from Rome to Naples, then Pompeii to tour the archaeological ruins. The queue was really looong.. Heard a guy asking those in the queue if they would be interested in a guided tour in English so we decided to enquire and took up his offer as it cost only € 10 per pax. And best thing was we could skip the queue! haha.. The tour was really interesting. I saw the most beautiful mosiacs even visited a brothel. It was kinda amusing the way that the place was filled with references to the penis. We saw penis carvings outside the brothel windows and on the streets, and even saw a big penis in what was supposedly a kitchen! According to the guide, penis is a symbol of fertility and good luck. Being a superstitious Napolitean, he carried a keychain in the form of a penis and proudly showed it to us. He said he'd rub the keychain when he sees someone he doesn't like or consider evil/bad, and that he believes that action can ward away bad luck. o_O
After Pompeii, we went back to Naples and toured its museum. We visited the 'secret room' which contained erotica material. We were pretty excited and thought that this visit would be sure to 'broaden out horizons', so to speak. In the end, I saw lots of penises - in all sorts of exaggerated forms. Even the paintings also showed some ridiculously engorged ones. By the time I left the room, penises were all I saw. This was further confirmed when I thought that the arm of a statue was an engorged penis. YJ thought the same thing too - goes to show the power of brainwashing with the same subject matter for more than 10mins.

Working late...

2011-04-17T00:27:00.003+08:00

I'm depressed that I'm working at 12.27am on a Sun morning. Wish that I didn't have to do it but I guess in a sense, I asked for it. It's cos I attended a course on how to write Excel macro codes using Visual Basics. Super cool course! I was damn high on the 2 days I attended the course.

However, as the 2 days are 2 days before a reporting deadline (Mon) and I needed those 2 days to prepare mgmt accounts for >30 SPV deals, I am hence now working overtime. SAD!!

But I met this v interesting guy from Wellington Investment. Quite decent-looking and gentlemanly. Very nice guy who continued talking to me abt lotsa stuff despite knowing my marital status. He was just so friendly that I wanted to let him know first that I'm already attached and married (just in case). He didn't stop talking to me after that and we exchanged numbers/emails. So that's a plus for him too as I've met guys who stopped talking to me immediately upon learning my attached/married status. Hmph!

Oh, and I managed to dig up the fact that he's still single and unattached! Maybe hv to wait till I get to know him better before I start going thru my list of single and unattached girlfriends and see if they may be a possible match. If I'm not already married, he would be someone that I'd consider. haha..

Aye, it's Yaozong's birthday today and I went out to celebrate his bday with Youdi, Chingrong, Beng Kiat and Qiming at River View Hotel. We had ala carte buffet. The food is pretty ok. Dunno the price though. Hope it isn't too ex.. Had some embarrassing moments during the dinner when the others started asking some awkward questions but luckily the attention shifted to someone else, and I escaped the grilling.. haha.. I just tried to act cool under the intense pressure.

But the highlight was after the dinner.. Youdi, Chingrong and I came out of the ladies and were treated to a preview performance from the "Smelly Group". Laughed until like mad.. Their performance was targetted at Chingrong. It was super funny.. Too bad they refused to repeat the performance and let us tape them, but I got Yaozong to promise that they'd repeat it again for Zhongda when he's back. haha.. I'm sure he'd have a good laugh over this.

Also had a good timeout with Eli. She lost quite some weight and it's cos she recently joined a Lindy Hop dance class.. I'm so envious..

Ok, my workstation just underwent a mandatory restart. Think it' s a sign that I should go and sleep. I still have a facial tmr morning at 9.30am, followed by Jamu massage at 1pm. After that, most prob it'd be work till 4pm and I'd go jogging/brisk-walking with Qiming and Gemi unless it rains...

Good nite everyone.

TEPCO 50

2011-03-24T09:44:00.003+08:00

I've been watching and reading news re Japan's tsunami and nuclear reactors' issues since last week. Two articles I read this morning almost moved me to tears and my heart went out to this heroic group of Japanese.

'We're not running away': Fukushima worker

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_646210.html

Tepco workers offer to go to stricken atomic plant

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_646025.html

What struck me most is this team of TEPCO 50 who worked tirelessly at the expense of their lives (to stabilize the reactors) to save many others from radiation exposure. One of them is a 59 yr old man who was due to retire in 6 months. A daughter (suspected to be that of this man's) twitted that her father said that he's joining the team with a sense of mission, as the future of nuclear power generation depends on how they cope with this.

It's the selfless sacrifice of these pple that really moved me. This reminds me of a Chinese phrase 乱世出英雄. Often, ordinary pple emerge as heroes during crises simply by their courage and selflessless to save others.

It makes me sad to read of such articles and not be able to do more to help. Massive donations are not going to help with the nuclear reactor situation. It's the courage of TEPCO 50 that will help to make a difference to Japan and their neighbouring countries. Their dedication, not to their work but to the human race, (as pple in danger of radiation exposure is not restricted to just Japan), is admirable.

O'Lord, pls watch over this courageous team who are working tirelessly and selflessly to calm the reactors. Pray that you will work your miracles in this and give them the wisdom to defuse this situation. Also, give them good health and mental endurance to pull through this crisis. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Taipei, Here I come!!

2011-03-13T03:09:00.002+08:00

Yes!! I'm flying to Taipei tomorrow afternoon! Can't believe that I'm still awake at this time... Well, doing last min updates and alterations to the itinerary. Kinda stressed over it as we'd be bringing my mum, sister and cousin there. It's their first time there.

I'm so freaking tired.. My dear hb is, at this moment, sitting behind me watching Man U fighting it out against Arsenal. Not much fight there as they are alr leading by 2-0.

My draft itinerary:

13/3 - Reach Taoyuan Airport at 8.25pm. Timing is super lousy but no choice. We were cheapos and went for super cheap tix from Tiger ($320 net per pax). So estimating that we'd reach the hotel (at Ximending) at 10pm, we have to go and source for food then. I WANT AH ZONG MIAN XIAN with LOTS & LOTS OF VINEGAR!!!!

14/3 - Go to Yang Ming Shan for the Flora Expo and check out the volcano sights.. It all sounds very interesting and scenic. Hopefully we won't overstay there. Wanna go to my fav place after that - SASA!! I've been holding off my skincare purchases so that I can buy the expensive brands at super discounted prices there. Totally looking forward to it!!

After that (target 1h), we'd head to Shilin night market for some wonderful food! XXL chicken chop (Zd's fav), wanton soup, smelly toufu..

15/3 - We have to wake up super early - 5am to check out and catch the 7.10am train to Hualien. We'd be doing a day trip at Taroko Gorge and a half day trip to the coastline the following morning. Japan's 8.8 magnitude earthquake caused some concern for me as Taiwan was put on the Tsunami watch becos of this. However, according to newspapers reports, Taiwan reported minor tsunami waves. They measured 10cm high. What the freak?!?! 10cm high waves are considered minor tsunami??

16/3 - Half day coastline tour at Hualien, then catch a train back to Taipei. Will go to Danshui Fisherman's Wharf and Lao Jie before heading to Tian Wai Tian for steamboat buffet dinner. Zd and I went there last year when we went to Taipei for our wedding shoot and it was very good. They even served Haagen Daas ice cream. Yummy!

17/3 - Go to Wufen pu for shopping. Have lu rou fan for lunch and shop somemore. Go to Raohe night market for snacks/dinner. I love their hu jiao bing. It's oven baked with minced meat and can do shopping there too.

18/3 - Gotta check out but return flight is at 8pm. So we'd leave our luggage at the concierge and shop ard Ximending. Wanna go try this Tai Yi Milk King. Raving reviews. Hopefully we can go there. Mum's dying to shop at XMD after some rave reviews from an aunt on their shoes...

Ok, going to sleep now. Nitez!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-22T15:13:00.002+08:00

Ok it has been a long long time since I posted anything. Last blog entry was April 2010, so 8 months have passed since then. I've been terribly busy with wedding prep, then work and marriage life.

Yes, I'm married now - officially Mrs Mah. hehe.. Marriage life wasn't as smooth sailing as I thought. Took lotsa adjustments as both of us tried to find a rhythmn that suit both of us. We hit a rough spot barely 4 months into the marriage, but I'm really glad that we are good now and that we are happier now (at least it is to me!) than when we were before the wedding. :) And here I have always thought that the first year is supposed to be a honeymoon. Bleah. I thought I must have been deficient or sth for my marriage to start hitting rough spots at such an early stage. Apparently (according to someone) the first year is the rough one (we shall not go into the 7 year or 5 year itch yet) cos 2 pple who have never lived tgt now have to start accomodating each other and there is bound to be friction during this adjustment process.

I'm thankful that it's all ok now. Time flies... and we are going to herald a new year in 2 weeks time. Was just commenting to Zd that we have never had a quiet Christmas/eve before. They are always spent with frens. Sometimes I think that we are tired out from all the festivities when they are supposed to be breaks from work. o_0

Now that 2010 is coming to an end soon, it seems appropriate to review what I've done this year:

1. Wedding photoshoot in Taiwan - Mar 2010
2. Got Married! - 6 June 2010
3. Grade 3 CSTD Ballet Exam - 9 Nov 2010 (Passed!!)
4. Ballet recital - 3 Dec 2010
5. Taken up swimming classes :)

Things I want to do in 2011 (or later):
1. Take up pottery/art classes
2. Bring my mum on a holiday (planned a trip to Taipei in Mar 2011)
3. Weekend staycation

Luckily we can go off early today (Christmas eve) at 3pm. :) Happy! Looking forward to going back home and nua with my hb until it's time to go out to meet our frens. :)

Au revoir! Will try to update again soon! :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Regrets

2010-04-06T00:11:00.004+08:00

I like to think that I'm a forward-looking person. Rarely do I keep looking back on events that can't be changed or decisions I made - even if it's a mistake. But this time, I couldn't help but keep looking back with regrets in my heart.

I gave up sth I enjoyed doing for sth simpler. Changes include lesser work stress, a less hectic pace, lesser politics, more time for personal stuff. By and large, the job change should be sth good but my current job does not keep my adrenaline pumping. It doesn't stimulate my mind and challenge it to learn more and do more. In much simpler terms, I'm bored.

Frens in my DG said that I should be happy with it. I'm paid highly for it and I dun have to think too much and handle too much stress. I try to tell myself that too - a job's a job. I am paid well to do sth that I can handle with relative ease. If I want, I can take more initiative to learn more from others (which is wat I probably should be doing anw). But somehow, I find that I have to keep pushing myself to initiate more things and I find that I'm rapidly becoming ambivalent/nonchalent abt wat I'm doing. When things come, I take it as they come - to the point that when my colleagues think that I have spare capacity (I continue to leave the office at 6+pm while they leave after 8pm) and they look at me to help out and balance their portfolio, I do not feel anything abt it. Maybe this is wat scares me - that I am juz dispassionately doing sth - that wat keeps me going and doing it well is merely pride.

Or maybe I should remind myself of the finer points of my job. There are many others who are struggling to make ends meet while I'm holding a job that pays me well (even though I'm bored). So probably I ought not complain and juz be thankful with wat I have and count my blessings.

Back from Taiwan

2010-03-27T17:59:00.004+08:00

I'm back from Taiwan!

Went there for my wedding photoshoot.

Being cheapos, we took Cathay's $450 air tix which requires us to fly SIN-BKK-HK-TPE. Luckily the return flight only requires a transit at HK. Since the tix requires us to fly on Sat, we decided to take that up as it'd translate to at least $300 worth of savings (if we fly Eva Air) and $800 worth if we take normal Cathay fare.

Reached Taoyuan airport at 12am. We were pretty anxious as we wanted to catch the last bus to the city which cost only NT145 (SGD 5) versus taking a cab NT1450 (SGD50). Managed to catch the last bus. When we alighted at the destination bus stop, it was juz a 2mins walk to the hotel. Was still congratulating myself on planning such a smooth and cheap transpo when the concierge told me that they had cancelled my room as the bridal was not able to reach us and confirm wat time we'd be reaching (the hotel policy was to hold the rooms till 7pm on no notification of arrival time). It was 1am. Needless to say, I was pissed and worried cos I knew that most rooms were alr taken up on that day and the concierge said that all their rooms were fully booked. They called up other hotels and were informed that they had full occupancy too. S I A N Z.

We decided to leave our luggage at the hotel and go scourging for another hotel. Opened my luggage and found my body lotion all over my clothes. I'm so screwed. That wasn't really my day (night). Began a frantic tissue cleanup before I decided to juz "heck", and took my toiletries and packed into my backpack and set off into the night.

We wandered on the streets for an hour before we decided to try our luck at this building which proclaimed to have rooms in their upper floors. The receptionist replied that there are rooms available and inquired if we'd like to have the room for 2h or the whole day. o_0 Needless to say, we went for the whole day. When we stepped into the room, we could still smell smoke lingering in the air. I tried not to think abt wat went on in the room before we checked in, else I'd gross myself out and wouldn't want to slp on the bed.

Finally checked in to the original hotel the following day and the rest of the trip was ok. Photoshoot was fun though we ran into pretty bad weather on the day of the shoot. It was so cold that I had cold rash after a morning out, and it got worse progressively later in the afternoon esp at the beach. Had fever that night when we got back to the hotel (think it may be due to the constant exposure to the frigid wind).

And I LOVE THE FOOD IN TAIWAN! We ate a lot after the photoshoot - Ah Zong mee sua, XXXL chicken cutlet, hu jiao bing, smelly tofu.. So happy whenever I think abt them. haha..

Was kinda sad that we have to come back so soon. Kinda regretted booking our honeymoon trip so early - else I'd request to go back to Taipei for honeymoon. haha..

Angry

2010-01-25T22:07:00.003+08:00

Never thought that I'd jog twice in a day but this is wat I did today.

The first one - I woke up early at 6.50am (ok didn't seem so early now) and did a 1.2km on my treadmill. Was feeling tired so wasn't that keen to do more, not to mention that I didn't have alot of time left to prepare to go to work.

Second jog - I steamed with anger since lunch time today. At work, I stared at my monitor with a kind of fierce concentration to channel the violent energy churning within towards some external source. I left the office at 6.10pm becos doing up the stats accounts wasn't enough for me to expend all that energy.

I brisk-walked home in my heels instead of taking the feeder bus in an attempt to walk off the excessive energy which did not seem to have any sign of abating. In the end, I went for another short jog to work it out and paced myself faster than usual (unconsciously). Abt 2.26km as per http://www.mapmyrun.com/ in abt 15mins (usual would be 1km every 5mins - my timing is appalling, I know) though I was feeling abit lightheaded after that. But at least it managed to calm the maelstrom within to a simmering state that is easier to control.

And now, I'm tired. Going to slp it off. Tomorrow would be a better day.

Room decor

2010-01-13T00:00:00.003+08:00

Another weekend has passed. Had some fun last weekend discussing room decor with Zd. Well, he had to start my engine by starting to scour for room layout/wardrobe layout. I looked thru the layout and finally came up with a sketch on a layout that we can use - and it's sth that we are both pleased with.

Had migraine yest and left work early at 5pm. Zd went back home to bathe and drove down to my hse for dinner and to accompany me. We looked thru lotsa contemporary decor and had sorta agreed on the style that we want. Guess there would still need to be some improvisation because of budget constraints. But still, I feel excited abt it! At times, I'd think that luckily we are only doing up 1 room. Imagine the stress of going thru all the rooms, living room and dining room!

Haha.. I think I'm beginning to enjoy the wedding preparation process. =)

Sweet Surprise

2009-12-22T23:32:00.002+08:00

Had to miss ballet class today as I had to work late. Received a call from my darling and he asked where I was. He surprised me by saying that he had arrived at Funan - supposedly to pick me up after my ballet class.

I was very surprised and touched, but had to tell him that I'm still in the office. hehe.. luckily he agreed to drive down to my office to pick me up. That was supposed to be my xmas present. haha. regardless of wat he said, I still think that was a very sweet gesture. muahaha..

Makes my heart warm and happy. lalala~

My new baby!

2009-12-05T10:47:00.003+08:00

Zd and I went to collect our baby yesterday evening! I think we were super scared and stressed. haha..

Zd drove me home and we had prata for dinner. After that, I drove him home and drove back. It's the longest drive I've ever made. I was super stressed. By the time I reached home, my legs felt rubbery. My cousin's face was pale. haha.. And he asked y I drove at 80km/h. Told him cos we were on the expressway - couldn't drive too slowly. Nonetheless he tot it was scary. haha.. Truth be told, I felt the same way too. Think both of us were juz very relieved after I parked the car. haha..

Drove my cousin and I to the swimming pool this morn for a swim. Super shiok! Dun need to wait for the bus. Juz drive there, park. Done, drive back. I like! =)

Going to drive down to Zd's place later to pick him up and go to church in the evening. Need to take calming breaths before I make the long journey again. *cross fingers*

Hong Kong

2009-11-26T14:37:00.003+08:00

Yay! I'm in Hong Kong with Zd now. Came to visit his sister and his new niece who's 1 mth old. Had been busy for the past few weeks with the wedding prep. Glad that most of the impt stuff have been settled.

Juz had dim sum for brunch juz now. Super shiok! But think I have to make sure that I don't eat too much later during dinner. Have to watch my diet.

Looking forward to buying some skincare stuff in Sasa and relaxing. The weather is super good. Very cooling.. I like! =P

Ok, gotta go now. Would update again later!

I'm Engaged!

2009-10-28T23:31:00.002+08:00

Yeah, it has been a long time since i last updated.

Here are the more significant events that took place recently:

1. 23 Sep 2009 - I got engaged! My funny boy proposed opp Sydney Opera House and completely surprised me. haha.. I was totally giddy with happiness then and kept staring at my bling bling.

2. 22 Oct 2009 - my last day with Deutsche Bank. Ironically, I worked till 730pm on my last day when others usually make their rounds frm 4pm onwards.

3. 24 Oct 2009 - I did my first 10km run - Nike Human Race. Although I only ran 30% (which is my personal best) and jogged and mostly walked the rest of the way, timing was better what I had expected - approx. 1h 30+min. Darling was very sweet and jogged with me all the way although I wanted to bean him at the last 750m when he danced a jingle in front of me as I panted my way thru.

Sweetest thing he said that day: "I already ran 9.75km with you. What's 250m more?" when I bade him to run on ahead of me during the last 250m.

4. 24 Oct 2009 - Dear and I booked a photoshoot package frm Romantic Life (a Taiwan bridal co) so we would be flying to Taiwan next yr to take photos! I'm so excited!! The photos we have seen so far are good but I think I'm more excited abt the food. haha.. oops, Zd would shake his head if he sees this. =P

5. 26 Oct 2009 - My first day in RBS. So dreadful, no break in between and I so hoped for one. Oh well.. luckily I had gone a trip to Australia in Sep before this. My new colleagues are really nice and wonderful. Very helpful too. And my big boss Chris is very amiable and nice. Feel so happy and fortunate that I followed His will and made the move. haha..

6. I found khakis to accompany me on my ballet classes! Poor Andreana was not able to join cos she was down with fever and sore throat. Poor thing and she was so looking forward to it. But it's ok, think she'd be back in gd health to join us next Tue. And I think she'd be v excited to know that the ballet teacher is planning on bringing the ballet class to a local production of Swan Lake. I'm pretty excited too. Hope that the tix would be affordable.

All in all, the past 2 months have been very good for me and I feel very blessed. It's late, going to slp now. Good nite~

Happy Birthday~

2009-08-19T23:09:00.000+08:00

Celebrated my 25th birthday on Monday 17 Aug.

Before that, had a pseudo one (according to ZD). He brought me to Pulau Ubin. haha.. It was my first trip there and I was super excited.

We met at Changi Village for nasi lemak in the morning, when it started raining. -_-" Almost cancelled the trip, but as the rain wasn't very heavy, we decided to wait it out.

So we went to Pulau Ubin on a dingy boat which cost $2.50 per pax per ride, but I loved it! haha..

At Pulau Ubin, we rented a bike for $8 for the whole day though we only cycled for abt 2h+, but I figured that's still cheaper than renting a bike at East Coast park.

I hate going upslope - cos I have to dismount and push the bike up most of the time. Bah. But the sweaty feeling was shiok. Of course, I made a miscalculation and wore shorts. I was thinking of the heat, and tot that if I kept moving, I wouldn't get bitten by mosquitoes. Obviously, I was wrong - as I have 7 mosquito bites to prove it. Bleahz.

But neway, we cycled to Chek Jawa and we got lucky. Was there when the tide was ebbing and got to see some barnacles, and hermit crabs. Watched a male hermit crab trying to push a female crab into mating with a kind of horrified fascination. I sincerely hoped that the female wouldn't get raped as the male seemed very tenacious and kept following and pushing her around for abt 10mins. Luckily for her, he gave up in the end.

We moved on and took lots of pictures. haha.. Loved immersing in nature. The greenery is so calming. But I think the company also counts alot. Zd was so unbelievably romantic - pointing out all the rubbish and algae in the mangroves to me. I was so overcome by the moment. haha..

After that, think my darling boy tricked me into going to his house for dinner, cos he had planned a surprise birthday celebration for me with his family. I was super touched, cos I had joined in their birthday celebrations for one another - including his nieces', but this was the first time that they celebrated mine for me. His dad bought a very nice green tea cake from 919 Trading. Think it was quite good - very soft and spongy. =)

On the actual birthday, I received lotsa smses. Was very touched when Zd's frens also messaged me cos I didn't really expect that from them. haha.. yeah, so I was really happy. And the Mafia (or wat remained of us) bought a Bengawan Solo thousand layer cake for me! Ha.. this comes with a little story.

I bought 6 slices of thousand layer cake from the confectionary after more than 2 weeks of deliberation. Brought it to the office and put it in the fridge thinking to eat it during tea break. Imagine my initial shock which gave in swiftly to anger when I couldn't find my cake in the fridge. Someone took my WHOLE box of thousand layer cake from the fridge. That thief! The Mafians were with me then. Luckily I didn't make the offer to invite them to share with me. I had a sense of deja vu - it was the same situation back in Seattle when I bought a chocolate fudge cake and found an empty box in the fridge. So somehow, thye found my anger pretty amusing then, and thus, thought of buying me a whole slab of Bengawan Solo thousand layer cake to make up for it. They are soooo sweet. =)

After that, I went out for dinner with ZD at Imperial Treasures. We even went for a 10min massage-on-the-go at Kenko which was a fiasco, in our opinions. We juz walked around, but again, the company was good, and I had a wonderful time. hehe..

Went home and my sister bought a 1kg mango cake from Prima Deli. *shakes head* She went crazy cos it was on discount. Nonetheless, I went back home to more cake.

And guess wat, I'd be having more cake this Sat when Zd's frens celebrate my bday for me. I think I've had enough cake to last me for the rest of the yr. *grimace*

Haha, but all in all, I had a wonderful time. Happy Birthday to me!~

Ballet

2009-06-10T01:07:00.002+08:00

Ha.. I just went for my first ballet class, and even bought my first pair of ballet shoes! I was pretty excited, but we did only easy stretching which I guess was kinda expected, seeing that we r all beginners. But at the end of it, I felt pretty tired. My arm muscles are a bit achy from lifting them continuously. Haha.. But I love it!

This is how I'm going to slowly realise my dreams one by one, starting with the small ones. =)

Outing with Yujia and Eli

2009-04-25T10:24:00.003+08:00

So happy! Yujia's back from Canada for 2 short weeks.

This is wat we have done so far:
1. Met up at Bedok on Thurs (16 Apr) for BBQ stingray and a stayover at my place (only YJ).
I was quite worried when she said that she usually slps at 3-4am as I have to work the following day. o_0 But luckily we managed to tire her out. haha.. And she slept at 12+am (like me). Though she said that I talked in my slp. Crap, I muz have been too stressed from work.

2. Took leave yest (24 Apr) and went swimming with Yujia at Sg Swimming Club. Someone couldn't get up and was late. Sigh, and to think that I only slept 4+h and reached Tampines 40mins before the designated 8.30am. It was quite a lovely swim, with the exception of a few bee frights. And Yujia taught me how the frogstyle should be done properly, though I still couldn't tread water. She was very amused when I attempted to tread water, cos she said I'd look very panicked when I started to sink. haha..
We also went to the jacuzzi at the club. So cool.. it's the first time I've been to a warm jacuzzi. The 2 jacuzzi I had been to had cold water. It was pretty hot at first (37 degrees celsius) but we adjusted. So 爽.

We went to a Teochew restaurant with Yujia and her mum. Sigh, think I should try to control myself whenever I have Teochew porridge with side dishes. I think I like eating plain congee too much that I'd give in and keep eating. Argh... I overate yest. And to cap it off, after we went to meet Eli for KTV at Katong, I had Katong laksa, Thai coconut and shared a rojak with the gals. Approx. 2h later (by then, I was feeling very bloated), we went to Ichiban Sushi, where I had planned to eat only chawanmushi.
Noticed that the keyword is "planned". I ended up ordering a set with Chawanmushi, salmon sashimi and grilled saba with teriyaki sauce. Well, it looked ok, cos they didn't look alot, until I started eating the grilled saba with teriyaki sauce. It was too sweet! So I had it with rice. And before I know it, I had finished most of the rice as well too. =(

So on Sat morning, I'm feeling extremely sorry for myself for overeating. Esp when I shouldn't overeat, else I'd have indigestion and acid reflux again. Sigh.. So I'm now paying penace by not eating breakfast this morn. Let the body burn off more fats.

Ah.. but it has been a wonderful time spending time with Eli and Yujia. Suddenly realised that yest might be the last time that I'd meet up with Yujia before she flies back to Canada this Thurs. Was suddenly quite sad. Then she said that I can still meet up with her for one last time if I go swimming with her this Mon. Prob is the Sg Swimming Club is at Tanjong Rhu. Not very sure how to go back home frm there. And I still need to study. sigh..

Will see my studying progress these days. Though I'd really love to go. Ok, I better go mug now then.

Retrenchment Day

2009-03-17T23:45:00.006+08:00

I was working on sth this morn when a colleague suddenly walked over to me and said that she came over to chat becos we haven't had much chance to chat. I was like, "Huh? How come she is suddenly so friendly?" Her next sentence was, "A and B had left, so in case I'm the next to leave, I'd like to say goodbye to you first."

!!??

I was stunned and echoed, "Leave? Leave where?"

That's when I knew that the retrenchment exercise in finance had commenced.

When I confirmed with my colleague, she queried where I had been hiding for the past hr. Had to suppress a brief surge of ire before I replied that I was obviously working hard at my desk and oblivious to what had happened. Bit my tongue on the "unlike you" which would have been too catty and well.. not very nice.

It was so scary. Just a phone call and they are all gone. Just pack up and go. They don't even need to log out of their PCs. I think I was in shock for abt 3h and quacking in fear - worrying abt what I'm going to do to support the family and pay off all those loans and bills if I were to lose my job. Despite the assurance from my boss that the retrenchment exercise is over for the day, I was still reeling from the shock and couldn't really focus on my work.

There's this grad who is on her last rotation. We were supposed to swap portfolios but she has yet to show me her work processes. Now I have to take over her work (which supposedly has many issues) in addition to what I am already doing. Best part is, my boss told me that tmr we r going to hold a meeting to discuss several outstanding audit points from her portfolio that have to be closed out by the end of this month. Faint. And I still have some new product testing files from my own portfolio that I have to set up within these 2 weeks. Looks like OT is inevitable but I get abit stressed thinking abt how I'm going to plunge in and waddle thru the new portfolio while juggling my own.

Oh well.. it's still relatively better to have work to do than none. Month end is coming in 2 weeks time. Guess I'd juz take a deep breathe and try to muddle thru. Jia you!

Vietnam Trip 15 - 21 Feb 2009 (Day 1)

2009-03-16T21:36:00.008+08:00

Told myself that I'd blog abt the trip soon, but was kept occupied after I came back. Finally decided to set aside 20mins to load the pictures and blog abt my Vietnam trip before I forget the details of the trip. But cos it's too long, so I'd break it down in parts. hehe..

So we must start with the night before the trip. My darling bf forgot where he kept his passport and we were still searching for his passport at 2am. His room looked as though a tornado had passed thru it. Think we had sorta resigned to not going alr by then, though I still packed his clothes into his backpack (just in case). Just when we had really given up hope, he suddenly found his passport in his jacket. And suddenly, we are still going to Vietnam afterall! =)

I was quite worried abt this trip actually, cos we planned to go to Ho Chi Minh - Nha Trang - Da Lat - Ho Chi Minh, but we had only booked a budget hotel room for our first night there. And everything else (accomodation for the rest of the trip and day tours) were not booked. And given the control freak in me, it took tremendous control to not keep hounding Zd over the bookings. I hate doing things during the last min. But we thought that it would be cheaper to book things there and it gives us more flexibility to later plan out how we want to travel.

So we arrived in Ho Chi Ming on 15 Feb 2009 8.15am (Vietnam time). We tried to take a bus to the backpackers' area in District 1, but couldn't find it. In the end, we took a cab for which I was actually secretly relieved. And that relief became more profound when I saw the traffic and pollution as I peered out the cab window.

The most common mode of transport there is the motorbike and it takes a certain amt of courage and faith to cross Vietnam roads. Nobody minds the zebra crossing like Singapore. The vehicles are a law unto themselves. You just have to cross lane by lane and trust the motorcyclists to avoid you. So there's a lot of constant honking as pple warn one another of their presence and Zd commented that they really check their blind spots. To which I quipped, they need to do that for their own safety, given the traffic rules (or lack of) they have.

After resting at Kim's Hotel for a while, we set off to visit the Notre Dame Cathedral of HCM, then the Old Post Office. Kinda regretted walking. It was soooo long. Luckily I brought a pair of sport shoes for walking long distances. I think we have walked for at least 1.5km under the blistering sun before we finally sought shelter in a shopping centre called the Diamond Plaza.

Ravenous after walking for so long, we had our first meal in Vietnam in Diamond Plaza's food court. I had Vietnamese rice rolls with grilled pork, but was still hungry after eating 5 of those and ordered another set of Vietnamese traditional wrapped rolls - vegetables, vermicilli, prawns wrapped in rice paper. Initially I thought that they were quite refreshing with the mint leaves wrapped tgt with the rolls. But after my 6th or 7th roll, I've decided that I'm not going to eat another roll for the rest of the trip. I was just too sick of the minty flavor.

After satisfying our stomachs, we set off to our second destination - the War Remnants Museum. The museum was super damn hot and suffocating. We were sweating like pigs while inside the museum. They seriously ought to consider installing air conditioners in the museum. The fans did not help much by blowing hot air around. I felt like passing out and dehydrated after leaving the museum.

After that, we went to Pho 2000 to try the very popular Pho Bo. The heat waves sent us seeking refuge in Cafe Terrace after we had the Pho Bo. Prior to the trip, I heard ravings on Vietnam's famous drip coffee and ordered one at the cafe while Zd ordered a strawberry milkshake. I had no idea how to drink the coffee while it was dripping and it was dripping at a very slow rate. By the time it had finished dripping from the filter, the coffee was cold. Damn disappointing..

After that, we started to walk back to the hotel. Went into art reproduction shops to help our frens browse for some art pieces. It felt very touristy. haha.. After going back to the hotel to rest and shower, we took a cab to the Windows Cafe (also another much raved cafe). Alas, we didn't venture into the cafe. According to my sister's bf, they have lotsa diff rooms with diff themes and DJ in the cafe. The food was quite disappointing, not that fantastic. There were a lot of lights though. I thought that the ambience was not too bad due to the lighting but Zd found it so-so only.

Ordered latte. 2 coffees in a day. My stomach was quite jumpy after that. Caffeine overload. But I still slept like a babe after we got back to the hotel. Hehe..

Quotes of the Week

2009-03-09T00:11:00.003+08:00

Sweetest line:
"I want you to be happy. I need you to be happy. So that I can even have one shot at happiness."
From "He's Just Not That Into You" Ben Affleck to Jennifer Aniston

Funniest lines:
Guy (breakup line): I envy the guy who would end up married to you.
Gal (thinking to herself): But it could have been YOU!
From "He's Just Not That Into You"

Happy 初三

2009-01-29T00:34:00.003+08:00

I have a FANTASTIC 初三 this year!

1. I finally passed my driving test!!!!! (After failing 3 times under a private instructor 3 years ago, I picked it up again late last yr at SSDC)
2. I passed my CFA Level 1!

Yay.. so happy.. These 2 events make my 2009 CNY an extremely joyous one. =)

Happy CNY!

Happy CNY

2009-01-26T16:08:00.002+08:00

HAPPY CNY!!

This is the first day of CNY, and I spent it pigging at home and got up frm bed at 2.30pm. Oh my.. what a lovely feeling.. haha..

Would be going to Zd's hse later for dinner. His little nephew from HK (Ethan) is back. So would be going to play with him later before he flies back tmr. He's quite a cheeky boy, and he managed to get this right the first time I taught him:

Me: Who's a smelly boy?
Ethan: Gugu (ZD)

haha.. ok, I don't think Zd is very amused by this. It's all in good fun, mate. Don't think it to heart k? ;-)

Eli's Red Hair

2009-01-15T23:59:00.003+08:00

Ah.. so busy lately. Met up with dear Eli for dinner on Mon and we had my fav ramen. It was a very nice evening. We gossiped and talked alot. Really very happy. And guess wat, Eli went to dye her hair red! So havoc. I have taken a pic of her with her red hair for Yujia. haha.. It looks redder under strong light. And she was very proud of her red hair. faintz..

Went to watch Red Cliff 2 on Tue evening with ZD and his sister Peggy. I think that it is much better than the first part. Well, probably we get to see more action/results from the contest of wits. I'm also relieved that there are much lesser gory scenes this time. Red Cliff 1 has too much blood spurting and spraying ard that I felt quite sick watching those scenes. One of my female colleagues actually said that she's fine with those scenes. Didn't realise that she's such a bloodthirsty lady.. haha..

Then went for cell grp yest, and worked late today. But at Yujia's behest, here I am, putting in a blog entry just so that she can see Eli's red hair. haha.. happy now, Yok? *grinz*

Ah.. I'm sooo looking forward to the weekends. Finally can get some rest. Oh well, maybe not. Starting to feel a little stressed.. CNY is coming, then month end, then I'm flying to Ho Chi Minh. But prob is that I haven't finished planning the itinerary. Neither are the hotels booked yet. =(

Better to start bucking up. Hope that I can get some rest during the CNY. Ok, going to slp alr.. Good nite!

Night thoughts

2008-11-26T00:56:00.002+08:00

Tonight is an unusually invigorating night - with a cool night breeze wafting through my open window. It's probably going to rain later. But tonight reminded me of how much I love the night. The silence and the coolness - makes me feel calm and centered, and in a world of my own. It has been a long time since I last had such a night.

Took 2 weeks leave to study at home for the CFA which is next Sun. Finally finishing the course materials although I'm behind the target schedule that I set for myself. Well, it's to be expected, given that I've been napping and watching TV when I ought to be studying. Hehe.. *chagrined*

Of course, it would have been an enjoyable experience if not for my pesky cousin, who barges into my room every 30mins or so. Think he's too lonely and I finally locked the door against him this evening. Couldn't take it esp when I'm rushing to finish the notes.

1 more day of freedom left before I have to go back to work. I've been waking up late these days (ard 10am). Not sure if I can go back to waking up at 7am. muahaha.. Good news is that I have only 2 working days left this week. Yay.. 2 weeks sure seems to fly when one is on leave in contrast to 2 working weeks which appear to crawl.. haha..

I'm now so looking forward to Dec. Think 8 Dec is a hol and there's Christmas and New Year! After that, there's CNY in end of Jan and I'd be going to Vietnam Ho Chi Minh in Feb! Wah.. so many holidays.. I'm totally anticipating them. hehe..

Ok, I better go back to studying as much as I can before I start to nod off. It's 1.07am now. hehe.. Bonne nuit!

Pri Sch Photos

2008-11-02T21:31:00.003+08:00

The wonders of modern day technology. Downloaded these photos from my pri sch classmate's facebook account. haha..

Pri 3 class photo: I'm in the 2nd row from the top and 2nd from the right.
The guy in the same row as me but 1st from the left was my first crush, which lasted for well.. quite many years. haha.. I liked the si wen, althletic kind and he was the fastest runner in my class then. =P

Pri 6 class photo: I'm in the 2nd row. 1st gal from the left. Dunno y my face looked so black then. haha..

Latest Pri 6A class gathering at Novena Square
Look at how all of us look so different now! From the left: my form teacher Mrs Tan, Yingjie, Weilong (whom I had a brief infatuation with in sec sch. I'm so into the intelligent type), Baoyue, Alwyn, Dianliang (who's a day older than me), Royce (the class clown.. still hasn't changed), me and Shuwei.

Updates from Aug to Oct 2008

2008-11-02T20:40:00.013+08:00

It has been some time since I last blogged. Have been very busy with month ends (AGAIN!) and trying to study for CFA.

Anyway, these are what I have been doing since I last blogged:

16th - 17th Aug: Celebrated my birthday at Sentosa Beaufort with Zd. We went for our first spas and I love it! The massage was good. Then we did dinner in our room, and danced to songs in his Omniea cos he forgot to charge his Creative. *wink* He was so upset that he forgot to charge his Creative cos he had already picked some songs (I guessed), that sweet boy. Also had some wine that I picked up from Carrefour.

Aug (after my birthday): Celebrated it again with the Aug babies in Zd's OAC group of frens.

26 Sep: Went to Singapore's first F1 Practice Races. The cars were going so fast that I could barely get a shot in. It was so ridiculously humid that day that I yearned to throw myself into a swimming pool to cool off. And the noises made by the race cars were so deafening that we were glad that we bought the F1 survival kit which included ear plugs!

15th - 19th Oct: Planned a small surprise birthday celebration with the help of Sharron for Zd with our DG. Also celebrated it with Zd's OAC frens and his family.

Zd with his neice, little Jenna

Zd's niece, Jamie. So cute!!

Jamie happily attacking the chocolates and cake.

30th Oct: Did a farewell for Ignatius who is the 3rd guy to leave DB from our batch of MTs. We went to Pitstop, a games cafe.

From left: Me, Rebecca, Lizhi and Michelle (Ig's gf who also left DB)

From left: Angela, Jacinta, me, Rebecca, Lizhi, Michelle, Iris and Ig

Happy National Day

2008-08-10T19:46:00.002+08:00

Wow.. a year passed juz like that. We celebrated the 43th National Day yesterday and next week is my birthday!! Before we know it, Christmas is here again and another year has passed as we welcome 2009.

Celebrated National Day with Zd's family as we gathered tgt to celebrate his Dad's bday which falls on 8 Aug. Went to his sister's hse at Dakota (near Kallang) and caught live fireworks. But I guess I've seen quite a few fireworks displays overseas such that I no longer feel dazzled by Singapore's fireworks displays. haha.. Somehow, ours seem puny and few in comparison to those overseas. But I think the company is really impt. Heh.. watching it with Zd made it more tolerable and passably romantic with the construction cranes taking up part of the view. =P

Hmm.. some updates.. wandered into an orchid nursery this morn at Adam Road while waiting for Zd. It's right opposite the house where we go for cell grp every week but somehow, we never noticed it. Anyway, the owner very kindly took me ard and enthusiastically introduced his darlings to me. Sadly, Uncle is deaf and he told me that he has never stepped out of his house for the past 35 years becos he doesn't like to mingle with others because of his hearing difficulty (even with a hearing aid). He'd rather they go to him. Felt abit sad when I heard that. But he's a very nice person. Maybe I'd visit him next time I have to wait for Zd when we go for church. hehe..

Oh, and I juz had a haircut today and I'm kinda regretting it again (as usual). The hairdresser cut it in a kind of bob and I think it's going to take me some time to regrow my hair to shoulder length. =( I had wanted to look pretty for my bday and my cousin informed me that in his opinion, my new haircut looks like a mushroom. Bleahz.

Have been spending some time with Zd's sister discussing our new craze - a taiwanese drama serial called 命中注定我爱你, much to Zd's exasperation. Cos he thinks that it's bad enough that his sister is obsessed, but it becomes worse when his gf gets tgt with his sister to discuss it. He even tried to separate us. muahaha.. that funny boy.

I'm now looking forward to next Fri when I'd take my first hol break this year. Yay.. so excited. Have planned several activities this yr. Want to go for the treetop adventure, Macritchie Suspension Bridge and probably Pulau Ubin. haha.. Don't think I'd ever go to these places by myself. Having a bf is handy, esp one who indulges me. hehe..

Ok, that's all for now.

Happy National Day!!

Sick

2008-07-28T12:25:00.002+08:00

Sianz.. I caught the bug frm my mum/colleague and I've been sick since Fri. Latest ailment is a sore throat and coughing. Super sianz.. I hate coughing. Coughed till I can feel the nerves in my head throbbing. Argh..

Got one more day sick leave to eat the drowsy cough and running nose med so that I can get horizontal at home and not valiantly try to stay awake in the office.

Now I feel so cranky and crappy. Enough said, logging off now.

Farewell

2008-07-08T23:56:00.008+08:00

Oh ho.. It has quite some time since my last update. Here are 2 pics taken on my last day with the project team with my 2 fav pple frm the project team.

Joni and I

My fav IT guy, Dhillon, who taught me a lot abt the systems.

Today is Winnie's last day with us in DB Singapore. She'd be relocating to Hong Kong next Thurs and working in the Hong Kong office for the next few years. Admire her courage and tenacity to pursue what she wants. We (the 06 Management Trainees aka Mafians) created a video for her and had her crying in the dark meeting room. Well, she's not the only one with red eyes when I switched on the lights after the video presentation ended. I'd really miss her.. but then, Hong Kong is not so far away. Guess that we still can go and visit her when we go over to Hong Kong, and there's always reuters messaging! =)

Winnie crying after watching the video

Some funny shots

Last week in Project Team

2008-06-23T23:36:00.002+08:00

Oh man.. So tiring.. Even after the CFA, I'm still working late. But it's better, I suppose.. cos I no longer have to worry if I'm able to finish covering this chpt after I get home. I can juz rest and get ready for bed. hehe..

This week is my last week in project team. Kinda sad actually.. cos I feel that I'm really beginning to contribute and shine, but I have to leave project team and move on to GVG (Global Valuation Group) for my perm role. Many would perhaps say that I am lucky becos GVG is a v much coveted role. I'd be performing IPV (Independent Price Verification) there. It's not that I'm unhappy abt this.. It's juz tt I feel that I haven't finished learning what I wanted to learn in project team. I had wanted to pick up soft skills like prj management and more r/s management skills before I move on. Not to mention that pple are really starting to notice the work that I am doing. SIGH...

So frm next week onwards, I'd have to change my mindset and switch frm investigating ledger breaks to items like basis points, RHO, delta, rates, spreads etc. But I guess that's life. Sometimes (most of the time actually) u dun get wat u want, so u'd juz hv to make the best of wat u hv.. So I suppose tt I'd juz move on and tackle my future role with new vigor. Lucky thing for me is tt I am on pretty gd terms with my future partner. But she juz got promoted to AVP this yr so abit stressed.. haha..

Ohh.. and I'm starting a weight losing competition with my English colleague. Never dreamt tt I'd be on such friendly terms with a Caucasian and I'm still kinda stunned. I commented once that her lipgloss is pretty and she got me one as a little farewell gift. I'm surprised tt she actually remembered cos I didn't even rem much abt tt comment. Then we are gonna do a little farewell lunch this Thurs. Juz a few of us.. and she said tt she's gg to buy me my share. Oh gosh.. I was touched..

And I'd be gg to Fish & Co with the other MTs for dinner tmr as a celebration for the ending of the MT (Management Trainee) program. Hopefully I'd hv some pics that I can post here. Ahh.. but I'm having a pimple outbreak these days. It has never been this bad since my sec sch days. Bleahz.. >_<

Okok, this is a v long blog and I'm tired. Going to slp now.. Bonnuit.

Cherish

2008-06-01T22:09:00.004+08:00

Cherries 音似 Cherish. 这就是樱桃发夹的意思. 你要把它送给你一生中, 最珍惜的人.

This is the most romantic thing that I have heard during these past few days continuously.

It's quoted from a Taiwan drama serial 爱情魔发师. The male lead (明道） is my favourite actor.
He's not just great-looking, he's a great actor too. I totally adore him. Just one of his tender-looking expressions is enough to send me into a swoon.

Hehe.. I'm so crazed over this show now.. juz when I'm in the midst of preparing for my CFA exam next Sunday. >_<

Ok, so now wat I want is a Cherries hairclip too. muahaha.. I'm so 花痴. But of course, it'd have to be given by that special someone. U know who u are. It's a big enough hint. =P

I'm going to buy the set of VCDs to keep!!

Home Sweet Home

2008-05-10T01:18:00.002+08:00

I'm finally back in SG and I'm relishing the healthier food like fish soup bee hoon here now. Yay!

Went to weigh myself juz now and I regained all the weight that I painstakingly lost the past 2mths, and more. It's not fair!! It shouldn't be that easy to gain weight!!

So I'm now feeling very depressed now. Can't wait for the CFA to be over. I have planned activities like swimming, badminton, cycling etc for Zd and I for the weekends after the CFA. Ahh.. I'm determined to lose all those disgusting fats. Grr...

More rambling..

2008-05-05T00:00:00.003+08:00

Ah.. the area beside my lip is so painful. The skin started peeling a few days ago and the whole patch is so raw now tt it hurts to open my mouth too big. =(
I have applied lip moisturizer to it to moisturize it but it's still not healing and it's so red and ugly! Boo..

Haven't done much studying today at the hotel. Went out to get a Starbucks hot chocolate this afternoon and ended up spending an hour outside. I went to pick up some California Pizza cos I was abit sick of eating hotel food for the past 1.5 days. Had only 2 slices and I still have 3 slices left. Dunno how I'm gg to finish them. Too greedy.. Then went to buy some dried mangoes to bring back to Sg. As I walked past a CD shop, I heard a female singing.. she's pretty gd. Tot they r playing a CD on some female American singer. Went to enquire and realised tt it was a local. Wow.. I couldn't have guessed frm the way she sang. In the end, I bought the CD - abd SGD 10.

After having 2 slices of pizza at 6pm, I ordered Yang Zhou fried rice and chilled mango pudding from the hotel at ard 9pm. No appetite for pizza but felt hungry. It was kinda disappointing, given how much the hotel touted abt having the best chefs etc. *shrugz*

Now I'm agonizing everyday on wat to eat for my 3 meals. So terrible.. haha.. But the weird thing is I'm somehow starting to get used to this sort of lifestyle. Maybe I have high adaptability. =P

2nd Trip to Manila

2008-05-03T12:11:00.005+08:00

I'm in Manila again. Arrived on Tue evening and within 15mins of reaching the hotel room, I was out again to meet the Korean LEC and Manila team for late dinner.

Muz say tt although this is the second time tt I'm here, I still can't get used to the food here. The local food is sooo greasy.. and their dessert too sweet. Gosh.. Even their grilled fish is served with some black oily sauce. Ugh.. It's no wonder I gained 2kg the last time I was here.

I'm staying in Shangri-La this time. The room is not bad. Prefer their shower facilities to Mandarin's which had 2 taps - hot and cold and I had to adjust the water myself. Shangri-La's allowed me to adjust the temp before turning the tap. Much more convenient for me, esp when I'm shivering in cold, I have no patience to spend too much time adjusting the water temp.

Have been eating more fruits here than in SG. Well, it's becos I really have a limited variety of food choices here. Tend to avoid the local food and fast food here cos it's too oily. Would love to go back to the hotel to eat but it's too far away from the office. Oh well.. so I'd pack sandwiches and fruits from the hotel at times and bring them to the office to eat.

Tried the cabonara spaghetti from the Pizza Hut here. First time I tasted such sweet/milky spaghetti. By the time I'm into my 5th mouthful of spaghetti, I was ready to gag. Needless to say, I didn't finish it.

To make matters worse, my face is starting to peel. It's really too dry here. I brought facial wash and my moisturizer to the office so tt I can wash my face and reapply the moisturizer in the afternoon but it's still peeling. =(

Oh then I had the cheapest full body massage and manicure yesterday. Total cost was PHP 400 which converts to abt SGD 14. The massage was very relaxing although my neck and shoulders were still stiff after that (cos not much pressure was applied). The manicure was a disaster. I was in much less pain compared to the first time I did manicure. I had tot of doing french manicure but the result was so horrible tt I swear tt I have nv seen such ugly french manicure before. I think I can paint better. So I told her tt I didn't want to do pedicure anymore cos my frens were waiting for me to have dinner tgt. It was an excuse. I didn't want my toe nails to end up looking even uglier than they alr are now.

After the nails were supposedly dry, I went to change my clothes and realised tt my new nail polish were scraped for several nails. Uhh.. wat kind of nail polish did they actually use? So had to ask the lady to repair my nails for me. It was kinda of a relief actually. I seized the chance to ask her to juz paint all the nails one color and remove the offending white tips. In all, think my nails were repaired thrice. Somehow, my 2 manicure experieinces in my whole both ended in disaster. Dun think tt I wanna try it again.

After tt, I went out for steamboat with my colleague and her guy fren. I was so tired tt I juz wanna go back to the hotel and rest. But they were hungry and since I'm not the driver, I had no choice but to tag along. That was the worst steamboat tt I ever had. The soup had chopped pieces of onions/garlic floating on the surface and I hate onions and garlic!

The pig's liver was black and tasted weird. I stopped after eating one piece. Didn't want to accidentally poison myself. Their crab also tasted weird. It had some ammonia aftertaste. So I stopped after a few bites. And the guy said tt the taste is normal for their native crabs. Made me wonder wat their crabs ate since crabs are supposed to be scavangers and eat almost anything. Ugh.. The only bright spot of the dinner was the Yang Zhou fried rice. It's the only thing tt tasted remotely normal/familiar to me. Even the vegetables looked as though they had juz been pulled out frm the soil.

The worst thing tt happened tt day was tt I saw a stupid bloody RAT scuttling toward my table halfway thru the steamboat and I gave a little scream! After tt I sat for abt 5-10mins with my feet not touching the ground. Saw tt stupiud rat 3 times tt nite. I was desperate to go by the time they finished eating. ARGH... I HATE RATS!!!!

I was dead beat by the time I got into the car and back to the hotel. Too much trauma in a few short hours. Slept like a dead log.

Alrighty, gotta continue working now. Break's over. Till next time!

Updates

2008-04-16T21:58:00.002+08:00

Crap. Time really flies. I'm on leave this to study at home and b4 I know it, Wed is drawing to an end and I have only finished 4 chapters.

Some updates:
1. We bade farewell to one of my batch's MT - Michelle. She has decided to follow her heart and venture into financial planning (she's going to sell insurance for the time being). Courageous, and I think someone who knows wat she wants. Wish I can follow suit and do wat I want, but oh well..

2. 2 of my guy frens treated the whole lot of us to Lingzhi Vegetarian Restaurant at Orchard last Sat. Went to the branch at Far East Square for team lunch previously but was disappointed, so I wasn't expecting much when I went to the Orchard branch last Sat despite having heard raves abt Lingzhi. Wow! Gotta say tt their dishes (not those fake dim sum!) are really good. That dinner was v satisfying - scrumplicious and free!!

Went to St James Dragonfly room after tt. It was my first clubbing experience! Wouldn't normally have gone but it was a fren's bday and well.. it has turned into a non-smoking premise, so I agreed to go. Gotta say tt one shouldn't do this kinda thing too often. After staying in there with music blasting into my ears for hours, my ears were ringing by the time I came out. I sincerely believe tt frequent and long exposure to such environments would render one deaf at an earlier age. It was an eye-opener. The performers were pretty good. Saw Sylvester Sim! But I was more interested in this other male performer who is much more good-looking and sings pretty well. haha.. Kept sneaking glances at him. Oops..
Also saw lotsa ladies getting pretty much wasted there. Makes me wonder y they'd want to get themselves wasted tt way. Saw gals who danced like they were on drugs and trying to do all sorts of sexy dances which turned out to be a flop. Also saw a gal who didn't even realise tt she's pawing another guy or maybe she's trying to 借酒行凶。*rolls eyes* Watever happened to our moral education?

3. Found this happening website which helps me to calculate my daily calories consumption. I juz need to search and add the dishes consumed and viola! It'd show my calories consumption for those dishes. Here's the website: http://www.thedailyplate.com/users/myplate
But you know wat's the most amazing thing? A light caesar's salad actually contained 150g of fats! o_0 And to think tt I thought tt I was eating more healthily.

Ok, time to get back to my mugging.. Ganbatte!!

Elvis Presley

2008-04-08T22:23:00.002+08:00

Ohh did I mention that I've been listening to Elvis Presley's music lately? haha.. Kinda like his songs.. the rhythm is v catching.. v groovy. hehe.. And his low notes r good! There's that sexy timbre in his voice when he sings low notes.

Ok, better get on to my CFA studies. Ganbatte!

Daydreaming...

2008-04-08T14:26:00.002+08:00

Juz had a very satisfying (but v full and expensive) lunch at Pagi Sore at Far East Square. The food there is really nice.. Was there for Michelle's farewell. Now we r thinking of printing a T shirt for the whole batch of Controlling MTs. Design's kinda cheesy but well.. the bank encourages us to foster team spirit, though it's a farewell present for a leaving MT. muahaha..

Suddenly have thoughts of ditching my job and getting a job at a winery in Australia. A colleague was quite appalled when I mentioned that to her. She said that it's not as easy as I think and when I mentioned that I don't mind doing manual work, she looked stunned. But the pay would be much lower and I still hv to repay debts. =(
Wake up wake up... It's back to reality gal!

Ah.. I'm now waiting for a report to run again. Waiting waiting waiting.. *twiddling my fingers*

Blogging in the Office

2008-03-12T13:14:00.002+08:00

I'm getting kinda bored after doing reconciliations and investigating breaks for 2 straight weeks. haha.. And the reason why I'm blogging in the office now is becos I'm waiting for a colleague to come out from a meeting and go for lunch tgt, and I've decided to take a short break from reconciliations. Bleahz.

Gosh, time positively crawls here.. I'm forever glancing at the clock to see how much longer it'd take for the hour hand to hit 6pm which signals the official end of day for me. haha..

Think my short hair is getting abit boring too. I've decided to grow my hair long again. Or maybe I'm getting edgy and restless and want some change. Argh... I'm bored out of my mind.

Maybe it's time to take leave and stay at home to study for CFA. Haven't done much studying lately. Luckily it's Good Friday next week!! I juz love public holidays!!!
Although I ought to be using my free time to mug, I wanna catch the movie "August Rush" and probably "Juno". Caught the trailer for "August Rush" when Zd brought me to watch "P.S. I Love You". It seemed quite nice. Caught parts of it on SQ as well but didn't really watch it cos I was planning to watch it with Zd unless he'd rather study. Then I'd go catch it myself.

Speaking of "P.S. I Love You", it's a real sappy movie. And Zd is juz so sick. He deliberately chose that movie (to my initial surprise) to see my cry (now u know why)! And of course, I juz had to oblige him and cried buckets while watching it. I hate him. But I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. haha.. So wat does tt make me? Psycho? =p

Ahh.. I juz walked over to check out my colleague's desk. Her bag doesn't seem to be in the cupboard. Crap. Maybe she has gone off for the day. Why do I always get forgotten? I'm going for lunch now. Bye!

Celebrating Mum's Bday & Manila Trip

2008-03-10T22:49:00.017+08:00

Was told to fly to Manila on a 2 days notice. As I'd be away during Mum's bday, we celebrated her bday in advance on Sat as my flight was on Sun. Some photos taken.. hehe..

Zd sent me to the airport on Sun. Finally boarded the plane after a tearful farewell.
Stayed at Mandarin Oriental. The service at that hotel is superb! I love staying there. Couldn't resist taking pics of my hotel room. haha..

Look at the inviting bed!!! I positively gushed and drooled over the bath tub. haha..

I have also taken pictures of the Makati area (the CBD area of Manila) during my walk from the hotel to the office. It's surprisingly very much like Singapore.

Didn't do any sightseeing there as I'm there on a biz trip and when the company flies me there on such short notice, u can guess tt there are many things to finish. The earliest I left the office was 8.30pm and would return to the hotel at ard 11pm on average during my week's stay there.
The pple there r v nice and friendly. Haha.. I wouldn't mind going there again, though I still can't get used to the food there. hehe..

Ok, this is a v long blog. Would try to blog again next time. Au revoir!

27 Dresses

2008-02-09T23:43:00.000+08:00

Slept the whole day away and finally got my lazy butt out of my bed long enough to go to GV Yishun to buy tix for 27 Dresses which had only 1 showing today at 3.15pm. Didn't think that there would be a lot of pple watching movies at GV Yishun today. Tot tt pple would be still be out visiting. Imagine my dismay when I reached there at 3.15pm and saw a long queue.

As the movie has been showing for quite some time, I was worried that I won't have another opportunity to watch it if I don't catch it today so I continued queuing, all the while hoping that the pple in front of me r not gg to take their time choosing their seats and that the staff would be more efficient. By the time I went in to catch the movie, it was alr 3.40pm.

Surprisingly, it was good. I really enjoyed myself with this movie. It's a romantic comedy and talked abt a lady called Jane who had been a perfect bridesmaid for 27 weddings (hence the 27 dresses). She was holding out for her boss George who was totally oblivious to her crush on him. The disaster came when her supermodel sister Tess came along and hooked up with George and Jane found herself the organizer + bridesmaid for her sister's wedding with the man of her dreams. Along comes a cynical journalist called Kevin who wrote an article on Jane's 27 dresses but who was still waiting for her own wedding. Along the process, he fell in love with her. And of course, we all know the ending. Jane ended up with Kevin. Although the plot is pretty predictable, there were little quirks in the movie to liven things up and made it very entertaining. Not to mention that Katherine Heigl (Jane) brought the whole show to live with her superb acting. Ha.. it's great if you are looking for a lighthearted movie with some laughter along the way.

It has been a long time since I really liked a movie. And I like 27 Dresses. =)

Ladies talk

2008-02-01T12:52:00.000+08:00

Nowadays I'd cringe inwardly when I visit the Ladies in the office. Sometimes it really baffles me why ladies earning >3.5K per mth don't have good lavatory habits. Though we can conveniently blame the cleaner for not going her job properly (like not refilling toilet paper), it is still our responsibility to make sure that the toilet is good for use for the next user.

Kaoz.. sometimes I'm just so disgusted when I see sanitary pads not being shoved properly into the bins, or urine all over the place on the porcelain thrones. Really makes me wonder if they r trying to emulate men. They are so inconsiderate and don't even think to clean up after them.

Wat's the use of having expensive education when you don't even have basic hygiene habits. Urgh.. *extremely disgusted*

Grumbling...

2008-01-23T14:13:00.000+08:00

I'm blogging while I'm supposed to be working in the office. But I'm so bored.. I'm falling asleep in front my computer monitor, with my CFA textbook open in front of me. Yeah, in case y u r all wondering y my CFA textbook is open in front of me, it's cos I have nth to do. Sigh.. wat a waste of my time. I'd rather be studying at home and nap when I'm tired (like now). haha..

A few updates, I'd be flying to India in February (next mth). Tentative period of stay there would be 11 Feb to 29 Feb. It's gonna be 3 weeks there and straight after CNY. Nooooo.. I'd rather stay in Singapore. At least send me to somewhere nicer like Korea. =p

So the incessant inactivity + tasks that I hate doing (when I have things to do) has led me to actively scour for jobs now. Just went for an interview last Fri but not sure if I'd get an offer. Supposedly, they'd let me know by the end of this week but no one has called me yet. The chances of my getting an offer is getting slimmer and slimmer with each passing day. =(

I almost wanted to cry yesterday in the office when I was asked to do up an inventory of reports yesterday and I juz stared at the template in despair. *shakes head* I can tolerate shitty production work in my previous 2 rotations but this one is really beyond my limits. Not tt it's difficult. Juz tt it's really sth tt I hate to do - and I have alr done flowcharts and mappings while I'm here (things tt I really dun like to do). I can only say with conviction that CTB (Change the Bank) is not for me. Give me numbers any time, be it reconciliation or reporting, and I'd be much happier.

My state of despair drove me to Harry's yesterday after work to drink my sorrows away. Ok, I only had a beer - Erdinger (my fav brand so far). But those who know me, would know tt I dun drink much and only on few occassions. So u can imagine how depressed I was yesterday. Bah.

To top it off, heard tt the bonus won't be v good. It's so sad can.. =( Totally no motivation to work. So I have decided to take leave in the CNY week. haha..

Happy New Year

2008-01-03T22:49:00.001+08:00

It's the new year 2008!! I love new years.. maybe becos I like new beginnings. hehe.. To me, new year brings new hope.. Hopefully, this would be a great 2008 for everyone!

My New Year resolutions:
1. Lose weight - target weight shall only be known to me. hehe
2. Save lotsa money - target: $10K
3. Be more environmentally friendly and encourage others ard me to be greener.

Hmm.. guess tt's abt it. hehe..

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Senate passes gun bill in response to rampage

2007-12-20T13:16:00.000+08:00

"WASHINGTON - THE United States Congress, prodded by the deadliest shooting rampage in modern American history, passed legislation to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill."
-The Straits Times

I juz gotta shake my head when I see such news. There have been quite a few shooting rampages in US these past few months, and all becos some mentally unstable person wanna take revenge at the world b4 he kills himself.

A few questions then.. Why on earth would these pple be allowed to buy guns? For self-protection? From who? Because everyone has guns? So in order to protect themselves from mad pple, they need to have guns too?

This is like an inifinite loop (sorry.. programming term). It just goes round and round. Everyone gotta get a gun for protection, and this would also let crazy pple have access to guns legally, isn't it?

So now.. given the new bill, how r they going to screen the mentally ill pple?
One of the rampage killers was a uni boy who has been described as v quiet. Would he have been flagged as "mentally ill" during the screening?
What if the pple who owns/buys guns turn mentally unstable after tt?

Seriously, I doubt tt the bill is going to prevent such rampages from happening in future.

1. If a mentally unstable person wants to get hold of a gun, he doesn't have to buy it. He can juz get it frm a family member who left his lying carelessly ard at home. That's wat 2 kids did. They took a gun found in the hse and killed a 14 yr old bully.
2. A person can be sane when he purchased one and progressively turn mad in the later stage of his life (sounds dramatic but it does happen!) Who's to stop him from owning the gun later? Is the govt gg to monitor the mental state of civilians who already own a gun? Are they able to monitor?

I think that the best solution would be to ban guns totally from civilians. ie. no one (not even a mad person) has access to a gun.

Of course, that doesn't stop robbers frm smuggling guns or purchasing them from the black market. But I'd think that the chances of them killing lotsa pple is smaller than crazy pple out on a shoot-to-kill spree.

These are juz my token thoughts. Might not be what the Americans think is right. Perhaps their society is so unsafe/violent tt they aint ever going to feel safe w/o a gun. But then, were they ever safe even if they have one?

*shrugz* Guess they r the only ones who can answer tt.

Relaxing Sunday

2007-12-17T22:25:00.000+08:00

Hehe.. Had a rather nice and relaxing weekend. Spent my Sat lazing at home and watching Initial D anime with Zd. Think I'm' getting addicted to it.

On Sunday, he very nicely accompanied me to Parkway Parade to return the books I rented, but I rented 2 more again. OMG. That would mean another trip down 2 months later.

Anyway, we did some Christmas shopping at Parkway. Seems like a very ordinary activity but I enjoy spending time with him - juz walking ard, bantering with each other, sharing thoughts and opinions etc. Sometimes, juz seeing him lifts my spirits. haha.. I'm so hua chi..

We played pool after tt. My 2nd attempt at it. Well.. I'm quite terrible at it but I think Zd feels even sadder than me although he beat me at all 4 games we played, because he couldn't get the balls to go in the way he wanted them to. I think it's a very analytical game. It's all abt angles and pressure... Can still remember my first pool game though. Gabriel was the one who introduced it to me. Oh well.. those memories are so far away now.

Did sth more productive at nite like studying for my CFA. muahaha.. Trying to improve and upgrade myself. Guess working really gives one a new perspective to studying. It's not as boring now. hehe.. rather, it's now a nice diversion to working life. =p

Kinda like my weekends like tt.. no pressure.. do watever I want. hehe.. life is short. I'm gg to try to treasure more of what I have and create even more wonderful memories for myself. This shall be one of my new year resolutions and I shall try to blog more often. hehe..

So there, au revoir!

Life can be so fleeting..

2007-12-02T20:58:00.000+08:00

2 weeks ago, I received news during work that a fren of mine has passed away from a misadventure. Eu Jin was one of the grp of us who went to University of Washington, Seattle on the GIP programme. He was a v nice guy who had everything going for him. He had just registered his marriage earlier this year on Valentine Day and he and his wife Debbie were going to hold their customary wedding next year. He had a good paying job and he had so many plans to do so many things... It broke my heart to recall how such a nice guy whom I fondly called "Kor" in US has been taken away in his prime.

Within the same week of attending his wake, I acted as an emcee for another fren's wedding. When I saw the newly wedded couple exchange toasts, I felt a mixture of feelings - well wishes for my fren's wedded bliss, but I couldn't help thinking that Eu Jin had missed all these.

C'est la vie. This is life. Even though there are down moments, there'd be happy moments. What matters is that we have lived our life to its fullest, to the best of our ability. It also reminded me that life can be unexpectedly short and that I should do whatever I want while I still have breath in me and not plan everything for later, because one won't know when one would have to leave everything, even the best laid plans, behind and depart from this earth and one's loved ones.

So we should always treasure what we have now and strive to live happily, so that when we do have to depart, we can do so without regrets..

On Sick Leave

2007-10-22T18:04:00.000+08:00

Had a vicious attack of stomach cramps + diarrhoea this morn and afternoon. Can't say tt I regret it though I was working frm home neway.. cos at least I got to lie down on the bed when I finished my work. Though still a little prone to cramping now.. but hopefully it'd be ok tmr.

Yay.. I'd be on training this Wed. I love those SGD900 training courses.. International buffet and I love the lessons that talk abt trading and the mkt. Makes me wonder sometimes y I am looking at Pnl on a daily basis. haha.. But I know y.. cos my strength does not lie in trading. Trading requires the brain to process things happening ard u in less than a snap of a finger's time and make a decision to buy/sell within tt same timeframe. Thousands can be made or lost in juz a min's time. And my brain is not up to tt snuff yet. hehe..

Next week marks my last week in BAC STIRT (Business Area Controlling - Short term interest rate trading) before I rotate to CTB (Change the Bank) and look at change processes within the bank. Mixed feelings.. in a way, I'm relieved tt I'm finally getting out of incompetent managers who only make use of u to do work tt they dun want to do and work tt they admit in front of u is shit work. But as my dear bf has eloquently phrased it once for me, from the manager's perspective, "If u dun do, then I do meh?"

After a day's work at home today, I'm wondering if I can switch to a work-from-home job tt also pays me a salary equal or more than what I'm earning now. Yeah.. Continue dreaming, HY. This juz aint gonna happen.

The mkt's so volatile nowadays.. juz read FT and the Asian stocks have finally succumbed to the US mkt downturn and plummeted too. Apparently, London stocks were affected too. Looks like my unrealised Pnl frm my unit trusts r gonna drop too. But it's ok. I have a LT investment horizon for tt and I believe firmly tt my unit trusts r gonna make money. haha.. Trying to create multiple streams of income now. Dunno y it took me so long to finally get myself into the mkt but I'm glad tt I finally did. Need to raise more capital to look for more things to invest in. Wanna increase my NAV.

I'm blabbing. I compare the quality of my blog these days to the initial days when I started a blog and I have to say tt my current blog is sooo boring and dreary. I have to rack my brain on wat to write. But then again, in the old sch days, there were juz so much gossip and pple tt I could criticize. Now, 1/3 of my day is spent in the workplace. Wat interesting stuff can I write abt when I face the monitor almost the whole bloody day?

Shall try to find more ling gan to blog.. In the meantime, I shall go rest. The cramps are starting again..

Second Day in London

2007-09-25T22:48:00.000+08:00

We were walking along the street, moving towards our destination when we saw this cute boy, who looked to be just ard 18 yrs old, sweeping the street! Zd exclaimed the thought running thru my mind - wah.. how come London's road sweeper is so good-looking. Sometimes I really wonder if our minds are really in sync. And he was sorely tempted to take the camera and snap a pic of the handsome road sweeper to show to his frens but didn't in the end, cos I thought tt it was rude. But yeah, we were really amazed. haha..

Finally, we continued along 22 Baker Street and finally reached our destination. Wanna hazard a guess? Yes, we are now here at the Sherlock Holmes Museum!

The museum contains life-size reconstructed scenes from the Adventures of the Sherlock Holmes. Given the resounding success of Arthur Conan Doyle's prized work, it's no wonder tt an apartment was dedicated to bringing to life some of his more famous tales. See if you can recognize some of them frm the pics.

The scenes brought back recollections of some exciting adventures that I succumbed to temptation and bought the complete collection of the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, who's truly the most brilliant detective ever imagined.

After this, we proceeded to move on to "Britian at War Experience" to get a taste of what life was like for Britain during the WWII.

It was very smoky inside. Ducked into a bomb raid shelter and listen to raid alerts. Kinda cool.. In comparison, we dun seem to have such stuff in Singapore's museum..

Next, we rushed to Tower Bridge and went through lotsa coronation jewels. Not terribly fascinating to me. haha.. I was more interested in history. And truth be told, after a while, the jewels (or rather carbon copies) began to lose its appeal. Couldn't take pics there though.

Thereafter we went to Vinopolis and engaged in more stimulating and exciting event of wine tasting. Learnt how to appreciate wine. Do you know tt there r a few steps to tasting wine?
1. Appearance - hue/depth/clarity to determine the age and the acidity frm the "legs" after swirling
2. Smell - I can nv get this part right. Either my nose is blocked, or I haven't been smelling enough things to identify the ingredients of the wine.. =p
3. Taste - Full/Medium/Light? Long or short aftertaste? Good wine usually linger longer.

Had some really gd wine there and I was quite drunk on less than a glass of wine combined. My alcoholic threshold remains quite dismal.

Went to meet Rachel and Matt for dinner after tt. Had some pretty gd pasta at a restaurant by Thames River. It was a pity tt we forgot to take some pics.. otherwise can post pics of a really nice, gd-looking couple. Like Matt.. he has a great personality. I'm happy for Rachel tt she met such a nice guy. Hope tt they'd be happy tgt. =)

So tt abt ends my second day in London. It's packed full, wasn't it? I was really tired by the time I got back to the apt.

Nice Surprise at Work

2007-09-19T21:48:00.001+08:00

Was busy doing funding calculations from mid Aug till now when I received an email from my London colleague asking me to give him a call. Said he couldn't reach me at my number (but I didn't have missed calls! Think he got the wrong number).

He was going thru some issues with me, when after that he suddenly said that I had come into my own and that the work I produced for them was of "very high standards". He also thanked me for that and the hard work put in. Little things.. but they really buoyed my spirits and made me feel that at least the hard work and effort put in were not in vain. Though this may not mean promotion or salary increment, it meant alot to have someone notice the hard work put in and thank you for it.

Haha.. I guess that's enough for me. And yes.. I know I haven't completed my account of my London trip.

London Trip Day 1 - St Paul's & Museum of London

2007-09-08T01:24:00.000+08:00

Juz came back from a London-Paris-Aachen-Amsterdam-Bruddge trip abt 2 weeks ago. haha..

Proud to say tt I spent abt $3,500 for the 2 weeks trip. Guess it's becos Zd and I managed to save alot on accomodation by staying with others. Ok, more on the trip.

It's been quite an eventful trip. We had a bad start on the trip. After going thru the customs at Changi Airport, and juz as we were abt to board the planes, we discovered tt both our boarding passes were missing! And we had tot tt we had put them tgt with our passports into my bag. But somehow, we couldn't find both our boarding passes and had to rush back to the counter to get them to help us print another copy of the boarding passes.

We took a 13h flight to London. It was terrible on the plane cos I couldn't slp and kept fidgeting. And after tt, we spent abt an hr on the tube frm Heathrow to Limehouse station. Gosh.. the tube can be pretty slow at times.. Sometimes, I really hate the tpt there.. but I guess I dun mind it as much this time cos I was on holiday and not really pressed for time.

On the first day, after settling down at Zd's sister's fren's hse (ya I know, it's a really long r/s) we set off for our first destination - St Paul's Cathedral. The dome's really nice.. The architectual design is very exquisite and we climbed 252 steps to get to the top where the murals were. The worst thing was when u started climbing up the steps, u can't turn back and go back down. It's a one way traffic. And halfway thru, the steps became v narrow and winding with only the railings for u to hold onto and u could see the empty, yawning space below. I got really scared when I was climbing up.. cos I'm afraid of heights and it was making me kinda dizzy. The winding stairs didn't help either. I kept having images of how I'm gg to slip and fall down the stairs..

Haha.. after tt, we climbed another 100+ steps to reach the top of the dome. It's kinda ridiculous, considering tt I was so scared when I climbed up the 252 steps, not to mention tt an additional 100+ steps would mean tt I'm gg to have to climb down 300+ steps later to get to the ground floor. Unfortunately, there's no lift there.. only steps.. But well, we decided tt since we had alr climbed up the 252 steps.. might as well get to the top. Some things u only do once and I guess tt this is one of them. Both Zd and I were panting by the time we got to the top.

After tt, we began another dizzy winding round down the stairs to the ground floor and we rushed to the Museum of London after tt.. Museum of London is so different frm Sg's. Take a moment to remember wat u can see in Sg's museum.. Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, Jap Occupation (not sure if this is in the museum or part of Singapore Heritage), Self-dependency, Independence and the costumes of the 4 main races of Singapore. At Museum of London, however, we saw Julius Caesar, the Black Death tt descended upon London in 1665, and the Great Fire which destroyed almost the whole of London in 1666. The poor pple.. they barely survived the plague and had their homes destroyed the following yr..

We spent abt another 1.5h walking thru the museum. By then, my lower back was aching terribly and my feet were so painful that I had to continuously shift my weight from one leg to another. And on tt first day, I tried to console myself tt in return for the pain, I'm working off alot of calories. muahaha.. I know, I'm crazy..

Then we scoured ard for dinner at Wagamama. It comes highly recommended in the tourist guidebook. But personally, I think it's like lau pa sat in Singapore. The locals don't find it particularly good, but somehow, the place is highly recommended to tourists. muahaha.. Had Jap food at Wagamama, in case u are wondering wat cuisine they sell. It's a canteen concept with affordable prices. But yeah, I think it's ok. Only gd for satisfying hunger. muahaha..

After tt, I'm too tired (and my feet and back hurt too much) and so we went back home. That abt ends my first day in London. Would blog abt the other things we did in London later.. Stay tuned!

For One More Day

2007-07-12T19:28:00.000+08:00

Just finished reading Mitch Albom's third book "For One More Day". Enjoyed it very much. It's a very entertaining and in some ways, nostalgic read.

Charley Benetto is a broken man, his life destroyed by alcohol and regret. He loses his job. He leaves his family. He hits rock bottom after discovering he won't be invited to his only daughter's wedding. And he decides to take his own life.

Charley takes a midnight ride to his small hometown; his final journey. But as he staggers into his old house, he makes an astonishing discovery. His mother - who died eight years earlier - is there, and welcomes Charley home as if nothing had ever happened.

What follows is the one seemingly ordinary day so many of us yearn for: a chance to make good with a lost parent, to explain the family secrets and to seek forgiveness.

I have a newfound respect for Mitch Albom - for his ability to weave life facts into pure fiction. And he did it in such a way that is subtle (through events) and yet not so subtle that you can't catch the msg behind the events. His ending is a real twist, sth tt I totally didn't expect at all.

It's a good read, though I muz say tt "Five People You Meet in Heaven" still has the most impact on me. haha.. If you haven't read tt, you should go try it. I prefer it to "Tuesdays with Morris". *grin*

Phantom of the Opera

2007-04-14T23:15:00.000+08:00

Went to watch Phantom of the Opera today at Esplanade Theatre. Caught the matinee. At first I was quie worried that the lead singers will all be understudies, then would be damn lugi.. hehe.. Singaporean KS mentality at work. Turned out tt only the female lead is an understudy.. I've caught 3 Phantom shows so far.. the movie, a musical in London and now the world-touring musical. Muz say tt in all these 3, the Phantoms are the best performers. haha..

Think cos I've caught the musical in London, the effects did not manage to wow me though they were not bad.. but I think tt the effects of the musical I caught in London was better. The boat scene was abit disappointing.. probably cos it was v short. I love tt scene best cos I thought tt it was the most romantic scene thruout the whole musical.

This is the 3rd time I'm watching Phantom.. but I still love the song Masquerade best. I thought that it's the best song.. cos it's abt pple wearing masks.. and I thought how the Phantom suffered cos pple despised him for wat he hid behind his mask. But again, everyone wears a mask everyday, albeit an invisible one. We are all best at masquerading.. pretending to be someone we r not. The irony is tt they despise the Phantom for his disfigured appearance hidden behind his mask.. and yet they r the truly despicable ones.. for their evil nature hidden behind their 'pleasant' fascades.

And I always feel so sad when I see the Phantom softly singing Masqurade in a broken voice. It's juz so sad.. then Christine has to come at this time and return him the ring. It's like driving a knife thru his heart once more.. cos he was elated and hopeful when she came back.. but only to have his hopes cruelly dashed again when she came back to return his ring.. it was like having his love formally thrown back in his face. My heart will break for him at this pt.. haha..

Each time I come out of the theatre watching Phantom, I'd feel sad.. haha.. But given a chance, I'd catch it again.. hehe..

Ok, think I'd go rest.. kinda tired..

Differences between Love and Marriage

2007-03-13T23:12:00.000+08:00

Came across this email on the differences btw love and marriage, which I found quite funny. So I shall juz put down wat I can remember frm tt email.

1. Love is sharing a drink with 2 straws.
Marriage is, "Haven't u had enough?"

2. Love is thinking abt having children.
Marriage is abt trying to get away frm children.

3. Love is abt going to bed early.
Marriage is abt slping early.

4. Love is abt sacrificing the tv.
Marriage is abt fighting over the remote control.

5. Love is abt feeling miserable in private.
Marriage is abt quarrelling in public.

6. Love is abt whispering sweet nothing.
Marriage is abt a sweet nothing in the bank account.

In conclusion, love is blind and marriage is an eye-opener.

Haha.. This is abt all I can remember from the email. I think I especially agree with pt 2. I dun need to be married and have children and all I can think abt is getting away frm my cousin when I have to babysit him. =p

Life's Lessons #1 & 2

2007-01-16T00:51:00.000+08:00

Have been reading this book called "Life's Greatest Lessons - 20 Things that Matter". Found some quotes pretty meaningful tt I'd like to share on this blog.

Lesson #1: Success is more than making money

Success means doing the best we can with what we have.
Success is in the doing, not the getting - in the trying, not the triumph.
-Wynn Davis

Lesson #2: Life is hard.. and not always fair.

Every living person encounters unfairness and suffers the hurt and loss which come with it. It's not a question of whether they experience these things, btu how they experience them. The people who succeed in life don't escape unfairness. They just learn to accept it and manage it more constructively.

What we become depends not on conditions but on decisions. Standing up to some of the harsh realities of life requires courage.

Life is hard and not always fair. But that doesn't mean it can't be good, rewarding and enjoyable.

Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and when it comes, hold your head high, look it squarely in the eye, and say, "I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me."
-Ann Landers

Will try to blog more on the remaining meaningful stuff before I have to return the book this Sat. =P

Little Reprieve

2007-01-14T18:46:00.000+08:00

Ok. Let's see wat I have been doing over these past 2 weeks. Nth much. Juz working and slping.. and yesh, I even burnt my weekends working.

Gd news is tt this is not gg to last. Only 1 more mth end and I'm outta here. Will be transferred to another dept where I can knock off early, not later than 7.30pm.

Dunno y. But I think somehow, I'd miss IUC. Maybe cos I've been working at it for 3 mths alr and I'm finally getting the hang of it, I'm gg to be transferred out. haha.. Speaking fo this, I muz mention my understudy Clement.

This is a guy tt I really respect and probably beginning to admire. He was previously frm KPMG and slogged till a pt when he couldn't get promoted anymore becos he lacks a degree. In the end, he quit the job so tt he could focus on getting the degree. His focus is so big tt he said tt if the IUC is gg to affect his studies, he's gg to quit the job (he's only a contract staff).

Somehow, I admire him for being able to stay focused on wat his goals r. Getting a degree is gg to improve his future prospects and he's willing to do anything, including sacrificing his income juz to get tt degree he needs.

His drive really motivated me. I compared myself with him and I felt tt along the way, i've lost sight of wat my goals r. Becos most of wat I had aimed for have been achieved. And now I realized tt I lacked new goals and as a result, I've lost the drive to go forward. Or rather, I dunno where I wanna go. I'm juz following wat others want me to do. Somehow, tt's not quite right. Becos I ought to have a say on how I want my career to grow.

Haha.. Now I sound so philosophical. But actually, I'm feeling mentally v tired cos I've been sitting in front of the monitor working since 1030am, to the extent tt I've even forgone any lunch break. Ok la. Cos I wan't really hungry and I'm still freaked out by the fat gal I saw in the mirror last nite. haha..

Ok. I'm gg to go rest now. Next 2 weeks will be another 2 weeks of OT becos of analysis and year end forms. Ganbatte!!

New Year Wishes for 2 Friends

2006-12-30T11:34:00.000+08:00

This is not a v gd yr for some pple.

I have a fren whose mum was diagnosed with pancreas cancer in its final stage. She passed away 2 mths ago. Feel v sad for him. Although my mum is still with me, I can well imagine the pain if she passes away. But he's v strong. Told me tt he's ok and tt he'd get over it soon esp cos he was alr mentally prepared for it.

So my New Year wish for him is tt I hope tt the pain would lessen with time and tt he'd be ok.

Another close fren of mine is v sick now. Think she'd have be admitted to hospital v soon but she is delaying the admittance becos of work. Despite her illness, her work team leader keeps chasing her for work. So inhumane. I can see how they have prized results over the welfare of their co-workers. Has working life made themso jaded alr such tt their subordinates r merely a means to their ends?

For her, I wish tt everything will be ok and tt the hospital checkup would turn up ok (though she keeps saying tt she will TRY to find time to go).

Nothing's more impt than health. Work will always pile up but w/o health, one can't do anything, not to mention work.

So I suppose my last New Year for everyone would be to enjoy gd health and be happy for the coming New Year.

Happy New Year.

New Year Resolution

2006-12-23T22:42:00.001+08:00

Hoho.. I juz got a new hp for myself (Christmas present for myself!)and I'm so happy and relieved cos I had finally bought everything tt I need for my house. And it's all for a value package of $1100, which includes a bedframe, bedside table, 4-door wardrobe and a 5.5 feet tv console. Credit, as usual, goes to Zd who brought me to this cheap place which sells fantastic furniture.

Ok, so now I dun have to keep worrying over this. Now I only have to worry abt unpacking after yr end.

Hmm.. I wonder wat everyone is doing for Christmas. I had wanted to have a quiet Christmas with Zd but since it's his custom to join his frens for Christmas every year, I suppose tt it'd be quite unfair for me to expect him to give up his frens and spend it with me. So in the end, I decided to join in the celebration though I'd prefer to spend some quiet time alone at home. But I guess tt the desire to spend Christmas with ihm slightly outweighs the need for quiet time, so well.. And I figured tt there's still the New Year hols. I'm so positively looking forward to it though I hope fervently tt I wun be called back to work on 2 Jan (when everyone's still having hol) for the year end.

I am gg to try to rest fully for these 2 weekends cos I probably wun have much time to rest when the newyear starts. Hmm.. and now probably, I have to start planning and making resolutions for the new year though truth be told, I couldn't quite remember wat resolutions I had made at the beginning of this yr. =P Guess I'd have to write them down somewhere to remind myself. hehe..

So there.. Tell me wat ur new year resolutions r ok?

Moving In

2006-12-20T23:12:00.000+08:00

Oh gosh, I'm so stressed. There r so many things associated with moving in. Why I ever thought tt buying furniture could be fun, I have no idea. I kept having conflict with wat my mum wants. Sigh.. I still have so much things to do. Wanted to get things more organized this weekend, but it's Christmas. Sighz.. My tidy quirk is starting to kick in and I'm starting to get a mite agitated when I look at the mess ard me. *shudder*

What makes all these even more stressful is tt year end is coming ie. OT and I definitely wun have time to unpack and buy furniture then. At the same time, I still have to worry over work. Sometimes I feel like screaming out frm the sheer frustration and stress I feel over work and house stuff.

Christmas is coming.. yet I can't drum up enough enthusiasm for this festive season. I only feel the looming deadlines and the pressure of getting hold of pple to finish some work before they go for their hol breaks.

Coming back to the house, I have yet to get a wardrobe, side table and bedframe for my room. And all these also mean tt I have yet to unpack! And I juz remembered tt my new adopted desk does not have drawers.. Ah.. where am I gg to put my stuff then?

I'm so stressed...

Life's Simple Pleasures

2006-12-03T20:39:00.000+08:00

Was quite tempted to write sth abt this a few days ago but nv really got the chance.

I came back early frm work last Wed, which was a rarity, and when I reached home, I juz sat down and rested. It then began to dawn on me tt it had really been a v long time since I did sth as simple as this - coming home early and resting. For these past mths, I've been coming home late almost every nite cos I'd either be working late (which is most of the time) or I'd be out dating.

The feeling's really gd. And I even cajoled Kailin into coming to my hse for dinner, thus enabling me to eat dinner with my mum and resting at home, while simultaneously catching up with an old fren. muahaha.. This is called killing two birds with one stone. We watched 绝对 Super Star tgt. Little things tt pple may have taken for granted have suddenly become sth v precious to me.

I have also been busy looking at furniture, painting, doing stuff for the new flat. I'm beginning to look harried. As such, I had to put on some makeup when I went to meet my GIP frens yesterday evening cos I tot I looked too pale.

Special thanks go out to Zd who brought me ard looking for gd bargains. That guy's a treasure. He'd help me look out for stuff tt he thinks I'd like (tt r also cheap, of course) and let me know. Then he'd bring me to the warehouse to look at the furniture. Why no gal had snapped him up b4 tt, I dunno. Ok, I better stop inflating his ego. haha..

Neway, the pleasant feeling of relaxing after work built up and I have decided tt after moving to the new flat, I'm gg to take out more time for myself and stay at home. Even if it's juz listening to music or reading, I'd like to do tt. I need some time for myself.

I'm working again on Sunday, but this time it's at home. The feeling's different frm working in the office - more relaxed and not as tiring. haha.. Maybe it's cos in the office there's no comfort and I'd keep working and working, whereas at home, when I get tired frm staring at the monitor for too long, I can get up and walk ard, scour for biscuits, get hot chocolate or even rest a while on the bed.

I miss lazing in bed with no concept of time. I miss relaxing and doing nth or watching tv when I return frm work. Little things that are my life's simple pleasures. I'm looking forward to moving to my new flat. I'm gg to slowly create a haven for me to unwind after a hard day's work.

Wish me luck! =)

Hong Kong Trip

2006-11-25T00:33:00.000+08:00

Hoho.. I'm juz back frm a trip to HK. Ah.. I totally enjoyed my trip there though Zd complained tt I wasted my time there slping. Bleahz.. But I've decided to ignore his comments cos hols, to me, means a time to rest and relax and do watever I like. Since the hols came right on the heels of a few weeks of OT, naturally, slp is essential for recuperation. hehe..

Wahz.. HK is really a shopping paradise. Coming frm a non-shopper like me, it's really sth. Cos I turned stark raving mad when I saw the prices there. I juz went in and swooped the clothes. muahaha.. Zd said tt it's the first time I have done so much shopping in my entire life, which is true. haha..

Oh man.. the prices of the clothes at the Esprit outlets really made me high. A jacket which normally cost at least SGD100 cost only abt SGD50 there, the $100 skirts are going for abt $20. I think I spent abt $400 on Esprit clothes in HK and I bought abt 3 jackets, a few t shirts and blouses, 2 skirts and a pair of walking shoes. hoho..

I also went to Disneyland. I had gone there expecting to be done with it in half a day cos asking a 22 yr old adult to take pics with Disney characters sounds a bit lame. I was quite sure tt I had outgrown tt. Unexpectedly, I got quite high in Disneyland too. haha.. It was suddenly like being taken back to when I was young. The little things tt I used to know but had forgotten, came back when I was reliving my memories there. For instance, I remember how I used to find Donald Duck irritating cos he's juz too inquisitive for his own good. And I remember y I used to like Belle so much - she reminded me of myself. KL seconded tt opinion when we went to re-watch Beauty and the Beast in JC at the omni-theatre. Maybe it's cos both of us love to read alot. muahaha..

I had my first ride there. The first time I was kinda scared when the tram (or watever u call it) did the sharp turns cos my mind was busy wondering how it could make all those sharp turns simultaneously at such a speed w/o being thrown off-course. I'm sorry.. I know tt I shouldn't be thinking abt tt during a roller coaster ride but I couldnt' help it. haha.. And needless to say, I didn't scream. My teeth juz clamped down on my lips to keep myself frm screaming when it did all the sharp turns. But the second time was better, I kept my eyes open 98% of the time and I could even vaguely make out the course in the darkness and appreciate the lightings which created the space ambience. haha..

I also had my first merry-go-round ride there. haha.. I sound so sua gu. So many first times tt others had probbaly done lotsa times during their childhood. But it' ok. Despite my mature age, I still had a lot of fun. hehe.. Looks like I still have a child in me.

Sigh.. I really regretted not being able to go into the Cinderella castle and gg on the river cruise. Nvm. I shall leave tt for the next time I'm there. I'm definitely gg to go to HK Disneyland again. Woohoo!

Marriage

2006-11-12T21:53:00.000+08:00

Hehe.. I was looking thru Ting's blog and saw this entry. Couldn't resist copying this into my blog, which she ripped her fren's blog. muahaha..

Did You Marry The Right Person?

During one of our seminars, a woman asked a common question.
She said,"How do I know if I married the right person?"
I noticed that there was a large man sitting next toher so I said, "It depends.
Is that your husband?"
In all seriousness, she answered "How do you know?"
Let me answer this question because chances are good that it's weighing on your mind.
Here's the answer.

EVERY relationship has a cycle.
In the beginning,you fell in love with your spouse.
You anticipated their call, wanted their touch, and liked their idiosyncrasies.

Falling in love with your spouse wasn't hard.
In fact, it was acompletely natural and spontaneous experience.
You didn't have to DO anything.
That's why it's called "falling" in love...because it's happening TO YOU.

People in love sometimes say, "I was swept off myfeet."
Think about the imagery of that expression.
It implies that you were just standing there; doing nothing, and then
something came along and happened TO YOU.
Falling is love is easy.
It's a passive and spontaneous experience.

But after a few years of marriage, the euphoria of love fades.
It's the natural cycle of EVERY relationship.
Slowly but surely, phone calls become a bother (if they come at all),
touch is not always welcome (whenit happens),
and your spouse's idiosyncrasies, instead of being cute, drive you nuts.

The symptoms of this stage vary with every relationship,
but if you think about your marriage,
you will notice a dramatic difference between the initial stage
when you were in love and a much duller or even angry
subsequent stage.

At this point, you and/or your spouse might start asking,
"Did I marrythe right person?"
And as you and your spouse reflect on the euphoria of the love u once had,
you may begin to desire that experience with someone else.
This is when marriages break down.
People blame their spouse for their unhappiness and look outside
their marriage for fulfillment.

Extramarital fulfillment comes in all shapes and sizes.
Infidelity is the most obvious.
But sometimes people turn towork, church, a hobby,
a friendship, excessive TV, or abusive substances.

But the answer to this dilemma does NOT lie outside your marriage.
It lies within it.

I'm not saying that you couldn't fall in love with someone else.
Youcould.
And TEMPORARILY you'd feel better.
But you'd be in the same situation a few years later.

Because (read this carefully ):

THE KEY TO SUCCEEDING IN MARRIAGE IS NOT FINDING THE RIGHT PERSON;
IT'S LEARNING TO LOVE THE PERSON YOU FOUND.

SUSTAINING love is not a passive or spontaneousexperience.

It'll NEVER just happen to you.

You can't "find" LASTING love.
You have to "make" it day in and day out.
That's what we call "the labor of love."
Because it takes time, effort, and energy.

And most importantly, it takes WISDOM.
You have to know WHAT TO DO to make your marriage work.
Make no mistake about it.
Love is NOT a mystery.
There are specific things you can do (with or without your spouse)
to succeed with your marriage.
Just as there are physical laws of the universe(such as gravity),
there are also laws for relationships.
Just as the right diet and exercise program makes you
physically stronger,
certain habits in your relationship WILL make your
marriage stronger.

It's a direct cause and effect.
If you know and apply the laws, the results are predictable...
you can "make" love.

Love in marriage is indeed a "DECISION"... not just a feeling.

Hmm.. I agree with the opinion tt a relationship/marriage requires a lot of work, effort and time to sustain. BUT I don't quite agree that the key to succeeding in marriage is solely on learning to love the person u found. It's definitely more than tt and I think tt finding the right person to love helps a lot in loving him/her all over again in a marriage. Haha.. maybe I'm idealistic. =P

Gym

2006-10-30T22:27:00.000+08:00

Went to the gym after work today. Almost tot tt I couldn't make it cos I had to finish the analysis today and I was still in the office at 6.45pm! (I was supposed to leave the office at 6.30pm)

But in the end, I managed. Thanks to my colleague Bik Jin who helped me with 2 lines. Sighz.. Juz one more day of rest and it's mth end again, which means another 2 weeks of OT and no life. =(

Haha.. neway, I did a machine tt sorta stand and pedal. Did it for 20+mins cos I was watching tv as I was exercising. hehe.. I've decided tt it's gd to do sth distracting while exercising.. Then will unconsciously exercise more. But somehow, it didn't feel much like a workout. Maybe cos it was air-conditioned and I didn't sweat much.

After tt, I did some weights to work my arms. Wanted to work my shoulders but couldn't find a machine to do tt. Then, I found a machine to do crunches.. Cool.. I could nv do crunches cos I have no stomach muscles at all. Only stomach fats. =P Neway, then I was v happy to find tt the machine could help me do crunches much more easily. Juz as I was awkwardly trying out my first few crunches, a fitness trainer came. He intro himself and told us tt he'd give us a fixed start next time we come. Fixed start is sth like orientation where he'd teach us how to use the machines and wat they r used for. Then he gave us namecards and asked for our numbers. At first I was abit hesitant cos I didn't want someone I dunno calling my hp. But I still gave my no. in the end. Since he has so nicely volunteered and this is probably part of his job neway. It's juz tt Lizhi and I r skeptical as to whether we need to pay for his services and we r thinking tt maybe he'd try to hard-sell his services as a personal trainer to us. Haha.. we r so cynical. Before I went to get my stuff, we also did some arm exercises with dumb-bells. I juz love gyms.. they have everything.

Then Winnie went to ask abt membership at California Fitness. Wow.. it's so amazingly expensive! Ok, for me, $38 per mth is considered ex. muahaha.. I had expected the membership to be sth like 100+ per yr (I was even considering signing up) but it turned out to be 1000+ for 10mths (w/o special benefits like UOB Ladies Card). It's really gd biz. But I've decided to juz use the benefits of the UOB Ladies Card and go gym twice a mth. It's the max I can afford neway with 2 weeks of OT every mth. hehe..

And so now, I've juz finished porridge and waiting for my dear sister to get out of the showers. She takes a ridiculously long time to bathe. I could nv understand how she could spend 20-30mins in the showers. I'd take only 10-15mins max and tt's cos I have to put conditioner and rinse my hair twice. W/o this, I'd be out in 5-10mins.

So yeah, I'm now feeling sweaty and a little drowsy. Maybe it's the workout. I hope tt I've worked some fats off though I highly doubt it. muahaha..

Dinner with Weimin

2006-10-29T12:16:00.000+08:00

Went out for dinner with Weimin and Zd at Bugis Fish & Co yesterday. Had a good time talking to them. Ha.. I miss the guys so much. Too bad Lian they all not free, would have loved to see them too. Haha.. nvm. I shall wait till Dec.

Went drinking with Dear after tt. We had Hoegaarden and watched soccer match Liverpool v Aston Villa. Liverpool finally beat the once-unbeatable Aston Villa in a resounding victory of 3-1. We also played games to while time and the beer away. haha.. Had a v nice time. Dear was v nice.. He said he has to work today so he shall pei wo yesterday. hehe..

I have finally come up with a drinking 心得 - muz drink slowly then wun get drunk. haha.. Usually I drink juz a can of bottle, I'd be high alr. Last nite I had a pint but was not high. hehe.. Ok, I'm thinking too much. Even if I drink slowly, if i drink alot, I'd still get drunk. muahaha..

Ok, I'm gg to continue teaching my cousin Math. I have to restrain myself frm causing him physical harm. Patience...

Good Morning!

2006-10-26T22:27:00.000+08:00

When I called Uncle Francis to come and fetch me today, he said "Good Morning" when he picked up the phone. I was quite taken aback cos it was not as late as when I usually took his cab. It was only 8.45pm when I called him today.

I kept thinking abt it and finally asked him later when he picked me up. And he remarked tt he'd say "Good Morning" to his passengers to break the ice. Hmm.. and wat would tt mean?

He explained tt it's cos by evening pple would be tired/stressed and they wouldn't feel like talking. So he'd purposely say "Good Morning" which would usually take them by surprise and they'd ask him y he did tt which broke the ice, so to speak.

It's an interesting perspective, isn't it?

Home At Last

2006-10-25T22:18:00.002+08:00

Yay.. I'm finally back and resting at home. I know, I was supposed to be back in Sg 2 weeks. But the following Mon after I had touched down in Sg, I had to work OT, including Sat and Sun and I barely had time to rest. And I'm now busy with analysis. Think today is the first time I came home after work to rest. haha.. But another month end is starting again next mth. =(

Hehe.. I'm gg to the gym tmr. Surprising horz.. but I've decided tt I ought to lose some weight. haha.. Oh gosh, it's so stressful these days in the office. It's not juz work. Everybody seems to be having babies and getting married at the same time. Now I know y pple say tt wedding invitation cards are red bombs. I juz got one last Fri and I'd be getting another in Dec and another (or two) next yr. And when I commented tt today, my colleague asked me when it would be my turn. Faint. When I told her tt I'm still young, she said it's ok cos the generation now is getting married earlier and earlier. -_-"

By the way, I'm gg to HK next mth for a hol. Woohoo!~ It's my first time there. I'm so excited. hehe.. I've decided to go shopping and eat dim sum, and simply have a grand time there. Of course, I'd still be watching my budget. That's quite a dampener, but bo bian. When one is poor, one cannot afford to anyhow spend money. I'm lucky as it is tt I can travel now. hehe..

Ok! I wanna go slp now. I've been nodding off in front of the monitor in the afternoons during work these days. hehe.. so I decided tt I should try to slp more at nite while I have the chance (ie. dun need to OT) =P

Bonne nuit!

Last nite in London

2006-10-07T08:23:00.000+08:00

Juz abt finished packing my stuff. Left a few toiletries, coat and laptop to pack tmr morn. I dunno how I'm gg to lug 3 pcs of luggage down myself. *shakes head* But somehow, I'd have to find a way to do tt.

Hehe.. Juz to update, I caught Mamma Mia. It was quite gd and I got quite high with the music towards the end. haha.. cos it's alot of high energy dancing and singing. I like it a lot. =)

Had to present a case study to a panel of judges which comprises of DB management team. Juz when I was trying to get over my nerves, my team mate volunteered our team to go first. I almost fainted cos I hadn't memorised my speech. Had a mental block juz as I was gg to pass the presentation to my team mate. Well done. It was so painfully obvious tt I blanked out. *grimace* Otherwise, it was ok. Rebecca said tt it sounded professional. I sincerely hope so.

Neway, I finally got to take pic with my Bulgarian da shuai ge!

I was positively ecstatic. Shuai ritez? He's the tall, dark and handsome (TDH) type. I like. hehe.. I didn't know wat TDH meant in novels till I saw him. So I've decided tt I definitely prefer TDH to the blond kind. And did I mention tt his eyes look v nice when he smiles? And I almost wanted to swoon when he kissed me goodbye- on the cheek! Dun anyhow think.. He said he's a big bro to us and tt he'd watch over us frm UK. So sweet.. And he's really brilliant in finance. TDH, wicked and intelligent. He's a damn good catch. I'm soo infatuated.. ha..

Last nite in London.. feel a little sad.. We were all hugging each other and feeling a little sad. Cos some of them would be based in US and others in UK. It'd be difficult for us to meet again. I'm considering asking for a transfer to Frankfurt (Germany) when my current rotation ends. Think tt it'd be interesting. =)

Ok, think I ought to go rest a little b4 I have to wake up to go catch the flight. Have to stay awake some b4 I can slp to adjust my body alarm on the plane. haha.. And Daphne, I'd love to meet up with u too. Would contact u again. Au revoir!

Phantom of the Opera

2006-10-03T18:10:00.000+08:00

Woke up this morn and found a note frm my roomie. She said she had a family emergency and had to leave London early. Feel a little sad although I'd now have the whole apt to myself. Weirdly enough, I'd rather have her ard.

Haha.. time passes by so fast. The 5 weeks of training are almost up and I'd be returning to Singapore soon. I like London and I hope tt I'd have a chance to visit it again.

Last nite I went to watch Phantom of the Opera. It cost me 35pounds and I was seriously debating whether to go for it cos 35 pounds is v ex! SGD 105! In the end, I tot I may not be coming back again and I have been waiting to watch Phantom my whole life, so I decided to go for it. I muz say.. I didn't regret it. It's spectacular. I love it! The stage management was gd and I really enjoyed Andrew Lloyd Webbers' music. My personal fav was the monkey music box which played "Masquerade". Wish tt I could take pics inside but it's forbidden. There r several scenes tt r really breathtaking. I had initially tot tt I may be bored cos I've played the pieces b4, watched the movie b4 and bought its soundtrack. But honestly, I was once again captaivated by the music and the stage effects r nth short of magic. My fav scene is the one in which Phantom rowed the boat and brought Christine back to his underground home.

The scene was absolutely beautiful. Candles emerged everywhere and there was smoke to create a mystic feeling and the boat could glide on its own even when no one is on it. So I've decided tt it muz be a remote controlled boat. muahaha.. But aye. I love it! It's the bestest musical ever. haha..

I have Controlling drinks again tonite and I'm gonna catch Mama Mia tmr evening. Oh man, I love musicals. Each time I went for a musical, it's like having an evening of magic. hehe.. Ohh... and I had the most ex ice cream ever. I bought this cup of ice cream during interval. It's a brand tt can't be found in Sg and I tot tt I should try to experience their culture which includes eating ice cream during interval. muahaha.. Neway, it cost 3 pounds (SGD9)!! But it's ok. I didn't have time for dinner so I tot tt at least tt could fill my stomach a little since there isn't anything else at the theatre.

Hehe.. ok I have to get ready for classes. Shall try to update soon. See everyone again back in Singapore!

Update frm London

2006-09-29T06:43:00.000+08:00

Hehe.. Have been MIA again for quite some time, but I've been busy. Busy studying and holidaying. muahaha.. There r juz so many places to visit. So far, I have been to Cambridge, Hyde Park, Stonehenge, Salisbury, Roman Bath and Greenwich. Taken lotsa pics but too lazy to post them up. hehe..

I have also been to musicals! So exciting. I love musicals! I've watched Les Miserables and The Producers (comedy musical) and I'm hoping to catch Phantom and Mama Mia next week juz before I have to return to Sg.

One thing I have to comment is tt the pple here drink alcohol like water. Anytime, anywhere they can juz go for drinks. Most baffling is tt Singaporeans who come here drink like there's no tmr, esp when the drinks r free. They even drink more than the locals here. As for me, naturally, the max I'd have is a bottle of beer. But usually I'd opt for juice. I'm quite steadfast in tt. If I dun want to drink, no one can make me drink and I think tt they have given up trying to persuade me to drink. muahaha.. I dun care. Although I agree tt alot of business deals r made over drinks, I dun subscribe to the notion tt I muz drink alcohol to network. Why can't I have juice and network while others r having alcohol? It's juz a choice of beverages, isn't it? I dun see the need to damage my liver juz to follow wat the others r doing.

Sighz.. it sorta sickens me whenever I see pple trying to make themselves drunk when they r unhappy. It's so silly. I dun think tt getting drunk would make one happy/momentarily alleivate one's troubles. I've deliberately gotten myself drunk once cos I was v upset over sth. That was the first and last time, cos I've decided tt it's a stupid thing to do. In the end, all tt remained was the same heartsick and physical discomfort, not to mention tt I puked twice and I really hate puking. But humans r weird. In their attempt to shun away frm hurt, they inflict more sufferings upon themselves by drinking. Then they'd start to blubble and cry when they were trying to avoid doing tt in the first place by drinking. This world is juz full of its little ironies. *rolls eyes*

Ok, enough da dao li. Gonna hit the books before I slp. My current trainers suck. I've been doing suspense accts and t accts these past 2 days. Faint.. And my class is supposed to be advanced accting class, doing hedge accting, translation etc. So can someone tell me y I am doing basic accting now??

Cambridge and Hyde Park

2006-09-11T04:26:00.000+08:00

Went to Cambridge yesterday. Saw lotsa colleges and had a river cruise. But it was kinda a pity tt we didn't have time to walk into one of the colleges (eg. St John's College) to sightsee. Heard tt the interior is v nice. Sighz.. wat to do. We waited for one another for goodness know how long. That's the prob with big groups. Think I shall go alone or juz find one or two frens to go with me to Oxford and other places tt I'd want to go. But sorry guys, no pics this time. Cos it's too tedious and some pics dun even appear in the last upload. cmi.

Oh, and I muz specially mention the King's Cross Station. Imagine my surprise when I went to take the train and I saw a 9 and 3/4 platform with half a trolley stuck in the wall. Guess where it is frm. Yesh! It's frm Harry Potter!! I was so excited. But as we were rushing to catch the train, there wasn't time to take pic with the trolley. But I'm definitely gg to go back there again to take pic with the trolley. muahaha..

Went to Hyde Park today and enjoyed a v nice afternoon. Walked for 1h+. There's a lake there where pple row boats. So nice and leisurely.. and some pple rollerblading and playing frisbee, soccer etc. Wat struck me the most when I first entered the Park was the Speaker's Corner. Unlike Singapore's Speaker's Corner, there r pple standing on stepladders and making their opinions known to whoever stopped to listen. I've heard speeches abt the Palestinians, conviction by a Black guy tt the Bible IS the word of God, nationalism and institutions. Gosh.. this is really wat I call freedom of speech. In Singapore, I doubt anyone can go up and talk abt their conviction tt the Bible is the word of God. Think their application to speak would have been rejected when they tried to register. muahaha.. But it's a revelation definitely.

And I had KFC for lunch today! Cost me 3.29 pounds for the Colonel's meal. Supposed to be 2pc chkn, 1 large fries and 1 large drink. Had 1 pc original and 1 pc Crispy. Oh gosh, they r such misers. They gave me one small little wing (original), which was even smaller than the size of my fist, but the crispy one was pretty big. Neway, they didn't have chilli, only ketchup. The chicken tasted damn weird with ketchup. Ohh, but I think their chicken, be it original or crispy, tastes much better than Sg's. Sg's KFC ought to really QC abit. Their original chicken tasted much better.

Hehe.. aye, so tt's abt it. Gotta go slp soon. Have classroom training tmr and a paper on Friday. Oh gosh..

London scenes and Team Building Challenge

2006-09-08T05:07:00.000+08:00

Sorry tt I've been MIA. Cos I'm in London now! Will be here for training for 5 weeks. London is a really nice city. I fell in love with it as I gazed out of the window of the mini-bus tt we hired to bring us to the apt. Here r some pics.

My bedroom in London

Living room in London

Tower bridge

London Bridge

London Bridge

Thames River in the evening

I have also spent the past 3 days doing community service at Benthal Primary School. We were given 3 prjs to choose frm.
1. Repaint the walls and duplicate the children's art pieces on the walls.
2. Fence a long stretch of grassy area.
3. Transform a wasteland to an environmental area and build an emergency pathway leading frm the nursery.

In the end, I chose to work on Prj 3 cos I tot it was the most challenging and the idea of creating sth frm nth appeals to me.

Environmental Area (Before)

We worked really hard on it. For the first time in my life, I picked up equipment lie pickaxe, spades, shovels, rakes etc. and worked on the wasteland. It was tough work, esp since we hit alot of rocks during our digging, but I like it. My back was sore the following day but I didn't really mind. haha..

Working on the environmental area

Digging trenches

And finally after 2.5days of hard work, these r the fruits of our labor.

Branches for the kids

Rockery on a slope

Steps for the pathway

Impressive, isn't it? Considering tt we had accomplished all these in 2 days. Whoever designed this thingy has lousy taste. I've nv seen so many woodchips in my entire life. But it's supposed to create a wild feeling? Do u feel wild? I dun. And none of us wants to have anything to do with chips after tt. muahaha..

And here r some of my favourite pple tt I've met during this Team Building Challenge.

Moritz, Philipp and Volker

All r German guys. I like all of them. V friendly and nice pple. Moritz has been dubbed Prine William by me although the resemblance is only 30%. muahaha..

Chris and Ulrich

Chris is frm HK while Ulrich is also frm Germany. Ulrich is a lawyer and is currently in Compliance. Sounds impressive uh?

Steve, my site manager

Learnt alot frm Steve over these past 2.5 days. He really taught us alot and especially got us rethinking abt wat team work is. A really nice Welsh. I treated him like my grandfather. muahaha..

Feel kinda sad tt I won't be seeing these guys in future. But well, life has to move on. I'd be starting classroom training tmr. New challenges r coming. haha.. Au revoir!

Early Monday Nite

2006-08-21T20:54:00.000+08:00

muahaha.. I'm watching this 爆笑新人王. Some pple r so not-funny, but there r some tt are totally hilarious. Laugh until I wanna cry, esp. the judges' reactions and the commentaries. Didn't expect it to be so funny. It has been ages since I laughed at a comedy segment of Channel 8's production.

Aye, I'm back early frm work today, but still feeling kinda tired. Hmm.. dunno y, but I suddenly feel like listening to some sexy, hot music. muahaha.. so unlike me. But aye, suddenly in the mood for tt.

Did I mention tt I find pregnancy v fascinating? haha.. my colleague's in her final trimester. And today I caught her surfing the net and reading some baby stuff. Being the inquisitive person I am, I sidled to her side and read the stuff too. It's so amazing! Do u know tt babies can cry real tears in the womb when they r 30 weeks old? And tt babies dun kick alot in the last few weeks cos they r getting so big tt they can't move as freely in the womb now. I was utterly captivated but I still had to go back to work. muahaha..

Tmr's another long long day.. Tuition after work. And Wed shall be sth like tt too. I will make it thru.. I will persevere.. Sighz..

22nd Birthday

2006-08-19T20:09:00.000+08:00

Happy Birthday to me!

Ok, I'm like 2 days late putting up this post. Haha.. I'm now 22 yrs old on 17 Aug 2006. Sighz.. so old liaoz.. Nonetheless, I'm still quite happy tt I could spend my birthday in Singapore and not in London. =)Although I know tt I probably really shouldn't, but I knocked off punctually at 6pm tt day. muahaha..

I had lamb mutton and pasta on tt day. The cream sauce was supposed to be not bad, but in the end, the lamb mutton stole the limelight. I had brought my camera and had intended to take pics of the food but by the food came, I was so ravenous that I attacked the food striaghtaway and forgot all abt my gd intentions. Oops, sorry.. hehe..

My bday wish is..

to get everything tt my heart desires. muahaha.. I know, I'm greedy. So let's see.. wat r my heart's desires:

1. Do really well in work and get a big fat bonus + salary raise at the end of the yr
2. My family and all tt I care for r happy and healthy.
3. I can lose weight w/o exercising (wishful thinking. haha)
4. *secret*

Ok, suddenly realized tt my wish list is quite short. Thought I'd have alot. haha.. Wat can I say? I'm a simple woman with few desires. =p

August update

2006-08-06T11:35:00.000+08:00

This is so damn sad.. My posts have been reduced to monthly updates - "July update" and "August update". Bah.

Let's see.. there r a few impt things tt I muz update. Several impt events took place during the past 2 weeks.

25 July 2006: Urs truly officially graduated. *grinz*
29 July 2006: I attended my 1st and last grad ball.
2 August 2006: I bought my first flat!
3 August 2006: I started working on my 1st mth end.
4 August 2006: I broke my record of working late and left the office at midnite.

hehe.. impt events ritez?

Took lotsa pics for my convo ceremony and the convo ball. But I'm unable to post them up as they are still not made available to me. hehe.. So sorry, everyone.

Ah.. and I'm now enjoying a quiet Sunday for a change. Juz realized with some degree of astonishment tt this is the first break I've had since I started working. Before tt, my weekends were always occupied with tuition and dating. wahaha.. Needless to say, my weekdays were unavailable.

Due to an unexpected turn of events (eg. my student turning me over for SuperBand finals) I'm having some time alone for myself. It's really v nice. I had the foresight to rent a book yesterday when I went to City Hall to get toner for my printer. hehe.. and I'm now enjoying a quiet Sunday with a book in my hand. So nice.. well, except tt I have to stay at home with my baby cousin and he's driving me nuts with his antics. Why can't guys juz sit still and dun create trouble? It's totally mind-boggling y gals behave better than boys? =P

Nonetheless, hehe.. I shall go back to enjoy my nice quiet Sunday. hehe.. Au revoir!

July update

2006-07-22T15:57:00.000+08:00

These 2 weeks r juz a blur of activity.

Firstly, on 15 Jul (Sat) I went for my first Italian opera with Jia and Zd. We watched Mozart's Marriage of Figaro at the Esplanade. It was not too bad. Before the opera, we read the story plot and was like, wahz.. how come so complicated. haha.. But I think the story unfolded quite nicely during the opera. It was a pure Asian cast and I think Nancy Yuen, who played the role of the Countess was good. We kinda enjoyed ourselves and I went to stay over at Jia's hse after tt. hehe..

18 Jul (Tue) - I went to the airport to see Jia off. Her flight back was brought forward frm 25 Jul to 18 Jul. I woke up at 4.40am to go see tt woman off. Worse thing is I couldn't slp tt nite, so in the end, I only copped abt 5hrs of slp and I had to work! Then I went to take a bus. Apparently, the first bus had yet to reach AMK and I had to take taxi to the MRT so tt I could take 24 to Changi Airport. I told her tt I'd reach the airport at 7am cos she's gg in at ard 720. But at 7am, I was still on the bus at Simei. Faint.. Then I called her and she said she'd be gg in 15 mins and told me tt it's ok if I couldn't make it and asked me to go back. Gns. I went to buy a card for her and wanted to give her and she told me to go home. Dunno y, but it was suddenly v fast frm Simei to Changi and I reached Terminal 1 at 7.05am. I rushed to the departure hall to meet her and gave her the card. And we also took photos. But after she went in, suddenly the tears I've been trying to hold back were kinda rushing forth. And I had to hurriedly go away b4 I embarrass myself in front of her other frens. haha so cmi. I'd miss tt silly woman.

After tt, the rest of the week is juz work and work. And now, I'm back in the office on Sat so tt I can finish clearing my work. Sighz.. Even sacrificed my Zpop concert to do OT last nite. =(

It's ok. I've decided tt if I can't have everything else, I should at least ensure tt I'm financially stable = having a successful career. haha.. I know, I'm always thinking abt money. =p

Ok, I have to get back to work. Au revoir~

First week of work

2006-07-05T23:12:00.000+08:00

Yesh, I've started work and I'm so tired. Whoever thinks tt women in heels feel powerful is nuts! I only feel pain when I wear heels.

Hmm.. maybe I'd start by talking abt my colleagues. I'm assigned to the Legal Entity Controlling, which does alot of management reporting. My colleagues r mostly females. Somehow, I always end up in those 阴盛阳衰 places - sec sch girls sch, uni acctancy, and now.. sighz.. Neway, they r a bunch of v nice pple. Always cracking jokes and v helpful. Love working with them. And everyone will OT tgt and work hard tgt. Think tt's v impt to stay motivated in the job.

But I was informed of sth v sad on my first day of job. Apparently, I need to OT alot. After every mth-end, I'd have to work v hard to rush out the accts and upload the statements so as to ensure that they meet the regulatory deadlines. And I was also informed tt staying in the office to work till past midnite is the norm. Faintz.. even the 2 interns there also do tt. No wonder the pay's higher. I've been dreaming too much. Bleahz..

And now, there's World Cup semi-finals and the finals!!! But I can't watch cos I have to work the following day. =( so sad..

ok, enough laments. I have to go slp now. It's 11+pm liaoz.. I wanna slp earlier onez like 10+pm but somehow, I always end up slping late. Ok. I shall wake up later to watch France vs Portugal. I like both teams but I think France would win. haha.. and I think Portugal's goalkeeper is good! Kk, gg to slp now. Bonne nuit.

Crappy mood

2006-06-21T10:09:00.001+08:00

I'm so sianz. I have tuition and dunno how many engagements on Fri, so tiring. Ok, I'm feeling kinda crappy now cos I can feel a migraine brewing at the side of my forehead. It's an extremely unwelcome feeling to wake up to. And I'm leaving in 30min time for tuition. Sighz..

I haven't rented my convo gown either. Well done. And next week is my last week of hols b4 I start work. *crestfallen face*

Called my colleague last nite and he told me tt our salary could actually be bargained!? Now I'm so depressed.

To a dear fren who called and cried last nite: Sometimes u dun always get wat u want in life. U can do everything u can, but still feel helpless. At times like this, maybe u can only learn to accept - at least it'd make u feel slightly better. As long as u know tt u have tried ur best, maybe tt's enough. Dun think too much abt it k. Take care. By the way, u still owe me a treat to Liquids Cafe. =P

Back frm Shanghai

2006-06-18T11:45:00.000+08:00

It's been ages since I last updated. hehe.. Bo bianz.. I had been busy since I came back frm Shanghai. Ok, slacker me have decided not to play for the concert nemore. haha.. Cos I've not been attending practices. =P

Now is the World Cup fever. I wanna watch!! Even went to buy some antenna tt supposedly can receive overseas channels. But I feel so deflated each time I can't tune to the channel properly - local or overseas antenna. sighz.. and everyone in Singapore (even in Yio Chu Kang) can receive with perfect clarity. =( I'm so sad.. And tonite there are the Brazil vs Australia and France vs Korea matches. I wanna watch.. sighz.. suan le.. I ren ming le. I shall juz go and slp and wait for channel 5 to show the semi-finals. But I've started work then. Dilemma.

Heck, I'm gg for tuition now. Shall try to update again soon.

Going to Shanghai

2006-05-25T10:23:00.000+08:00

This is to inform everyone tt I'd be missing in action for some time, cos urs truly is flying to Shanghai tonite. wahaha..

So excited. But I still have so much stuff tt I haven't packed. Bah. And I still have tuition later in the afternoon, when all I wanna do is to slack at home till I have to go the airport. hehe.

Then when I'm back, it's time for results. Arghh.. I dun wantttt.. I'm in denial. I fear looking at my results and see tt it's not wat I want. Ok, though I think it's highly likely tt it's not wat I want. =( But still, I do not wish to start work feeling inferior to others and hoping fervently tt no one would ask abt my poor results. Bah.

I hate growing up. One gets terribly disillusioned and is subjected to lotsa unwelcome feelings and thoughts, not to mention having to carry an increasing load of obligations when one grows up. I have no idea y on earth I had looked forward to growing up when I was young. Muz be the damn fairy tales tt got to my head.

Nonetheless, I'm still hoping for a nice relaxing Shanghai trip, and hoping really bad tt the toilets wun be as bad as the guide said they r. *cross fingers* And Eli said she's gonna give me a massage when I'm back. Yay.. and Jia, Eli and I would go out tgt and talk abt the 'good old times'.

Alrite, back to packing. Au revoir!~

Shopping trip with Jia and Alumni Band Prac

2006-05-20T23:35:00.000+08:00

Yay.. Jia's finally back frm Canada. Miss tt crazy woman like siaoz, esp. during the hols when I couldn't find anyone to talk to. haha.. Then now, I can happily talk and gossip with her like b4. hehe..

The following she reached Sg (yesterday, we went to City Hall to shop. Manz, I forgot how much tt woman can walk. Shopped with her till my feet hurt. And we had Auntie Anne's pretzels. Yum.. Although we were both dead beat after tt, we had lotsa fun.

Then I went for Alumni band prac today. Played for 4h straight. Super exhausting. It's been so long since I had played seriously. Then felt a little cheated. Cos in the past, the alumni only had to play abt 2-3 pieces. But cos this yr is the 10th anniversary, the alumni will also be playing with the main band for quite a few pieces. So in all, we'd be playing abt 7-8 pieces and tt's almost like putting up a concert!

And now, we r gonna have 2 practices a week (brings back past memories) and we r strongly encouraged to participate in the band camp. Faintz.. It's getting so serious. But well, I guess bo bianz. If we wanna put forth a decent performance, which is like only a mth away, we have to practice lots. Haha.. suddenly kinda look forward to the concert. It's been so long..

Updates and discussion on r/s

2006-05-17T22:59:00.000+08:00

Tot I'd be bored to death this hols. But surprisingly, I found things to occupy myself these few days. haha.. Yesterday, I got Hejia to make a trip down to Raffles Place, cos I wanted to visited the banks there to enquire abt their housing loans. It was hilarious! When I told pple I wanna take up a housing loan, they all tot I'm getting married. Nayz, it's nth like tt.

Neway, I ended up making an investment in unit trusts on emerging markets which produce/sell commodities. The prices r still relatively cheap and so I decided to invest in this high growth fund (ie. high risk) since I'm only gonna do this short term neway (need the money to buy flat) so no pt gg for stable funds which would take a long time for my returns to materialize.

As for today, I had lunch with an old fren. And she told me sth tt her bf said to her, "Am I too simple or too happy for u?" He feels insecure and worries tt he can't understand her troubles and very much would like to share her burden. haha... He's so sweet. I'm so happy for my fren tt she has found a guy who loves her and really wants to share her woes and happiness. A guy who'd attempt to woo her family, knowing how impt her family's approval is to her.

Suddenly, all of us seem to be at this stage/age tt we ask ourselves, "What is love?" Is it sth dramatic/explosive? Sth tt takes u aback? I guess it varies for diff. pple. For me, it doesn't have to be sth v dramatic. I suppose, it's the little things tt he does for me everyday, to show me tt he cares, tt counts.

But I've also seen how love can be destructive. How it can cause another person to change dramatically. It'd appear tt love can cause a person to be blind too. Haha, so I guess the phrase "there r 2 sides to a coin" can apply to love too. It is a double-edged sword. Probably, we all have to learn how to love with a clear head.

Well well, such a long blog. hehe.. maybe I'd discuss on whether couples who have broken up should remain as frens in my next blog. =P

Story of a Jerk

2006-05-12T09:34:00.000+08:00

My roomie came back frm work a few days ago and told me abt this drama tt unfolded at the office and I juz felt tt I had to share this scandalous affair. Ha..

Before I begin the story, here's some background info:
A is a high-ranking executive in the co. He is a Casanova and enjoys flirting ard and making sexual innuendoes to all female staff tt I hope one day will get him sued for sexual harassment.

B is a risk analyst hired by the co. to look into the risk management matters of the co. She is not an employee of the co. According to my roomie, she is so hot tt even my roomie also drools when she sees her. Tall fair lady who looks like a model. Sharp features. Super hot bod. Ok, u get the gist.

And now I shall begin the story:
An angry lady stormed into the office a few days ago, carrying a flashcard in her hand. She stopped at A's cubicle, who happened not to be there then, and raised up the flashcard, asking everyone to read it. I dunno wat was written there becos she was backfacing my roomie and my roomie couldn't read the words, and thus I dunno wat was written. hehe.. Neway, after tt, she announced to everyone in the office tt she was A's fiancee and tt she's dumping him because he was having an affair with B (she even knows her name! I'm amazed) and tt she juz wanted everyone to know wat a jerk he was. She stormed out after tt, leaving pin-drop silence in her wake. After tt, pandenomium broke out (ok, I may be exaggerating a little abt this). The HR Manager went to grab the flashcard left on A's desk and went to look for the Chief HRO to discuss this matter, who somehow didn't notice the commotion outside his office. They even called in the co's legal advisor to discuss this matter (over wat issue we r not sure). Of course, A did not return to office tt day.

He returned to work the following day though, to our disappointment. I hope tt he gets fired, but of course, tt's my personal opinion. But neway, when someone asked him abt the incident the day before, he juz laughed it off carelessly and replied "Break then break lorz. She should know tt it's v common for guys to go astray outside."

What a JERK!! That was his fiancee i.e. someone he's engaged to marry and promise to look after and love her till death do them part and he's actually saying such stuff even before they r married??!! He's damn pathetic. I'd think tt his fiancee is much better off w/o him. And then he asked jokingly, "Who's prettier? She or B?" Idiot. Juz hate guys like tt. I'd not marry such a guy even if he's the last guy left on earth. I hope he gets STD or sth and lives the rest of his life in loneliness and misery. As for B, she's so unprofessional. How could she slp with her client and an engaged man no less? Ok, considering the jerk A was, he also probably did not divulge the fact tt he was engaged. Who knows, probably he was salivating after B and deliberately let his fiancee find out abt the affair so tt he could get rid of her and be with B. Ok, tt's our speculation. Nonetheless, the pt is he's a big jerk and guys like tt have no biz getting into r/s in the first place since they can't commit. Juz go for one nite stands lorz. Assholes.. Juz becos he has some miserable money, he tot all women would be falling over themselves to throw themselves at him. Jeez.

Post-exam

2006-05-10T14:05:00.000+08:00

Yay.. the exams r finally over. No more mugging late into the nite and wake up every morning/afternoon worrying how much I can finish covering today. I can slp anytime I want, daydream anytime I want, do watever I like. haha..

Sent Wenting off at the airport yesterday. Will miss tt gal and she was so full of anticipation and excited. haha.. I remembered the trepidation mixed with excitement when I went to Seattle. We r suddenly on an adventure to a faraway land. hehe.. Hope tt she enjoys herself tremendously there.

And now, it's time for me to start packing and moving home. But I'm slacking.. haha.. Suddenly so tired again.. hehe.. think I'd go take med then go slp. Will try to blog soon.

Injured

2006-04-30T12:38:00.000+08:00

I'm so bored.. Trying to study 306 but I was procrasinating. So i've decided to blog then get back to study again. Somehow, I always feel better after writing. Neway, this past 1 week had been terrible cos I slipped down the stairs and hurt my wrist tendon. I had to wait a while for the pain to abate some before I could pick myself up and painstakingly made my way to zd's room, which was near where I fell down. By the time I got there, I was feeling so sorry for myself and painful tt I started crying. haha.. cmi. Zd was v funny. He tot I was raped by some bangalah (He heard rumors tt 2 gals in ntu were raped by bangalahs when they went jogging) or the black cat jumped on me and I was scared witless. Then he helped me massage my wrist which was already swollen by then. There was also this super big bruise on my thigh. It's the biggest bruise I've ever seen in my life. Even my sister was amazed when she saw it. She tot it was as big as her palm, or bigger. Neway, I called my mum and in the end, it was my aunt who drove up to sch and insisted tt I go to a die da yi sheng. Faintz.. I was really scared witless at the die da yi sheng, esp. when the woman came to me with fire. I almost fainted. I know, I have a weak heart. Neway, my wrist was bandaged. This is how it looked like:

The splints were there to prevent my wrist bone frm getting dislocated and prevent me frm moving my wrist too much and injuring it further. But I was lucky in the sense tt I landed on my left side. If it had been my right wrist, it'd be a disaster as I had a paper the following week. But as it was, it was damn inconvenient. I couldn't bathe properly and had to wash my hair with one hand. It was absolutely driving me crazy! But aye, it's much better now.

I'm at my grandfather's house now and the internet connection sucks. I'm stealing someone's wireless network to log online and I kept logging in and out. oops. Probably shouldn't say tt out loud. =P

okok, I should get back to 306. I'm feeling abit guilty now. haha.. will try to update soon.

Feeling good

2006-04-17T23:30:00.000+08:00

Hmm.. I had juz gone jogging with zd. Ok, I only jogged continuously for 13min, though zd said if i jogged for 20mins and any exercise after the 20mins would burn fats. Ah.. but I juz didn't have the mental fortitude to continue. haha..

I had juz been diagnosed to have asthmatic cough. So terrible.. the continuous wheezing till it makes me sweat. I have to abstain frm lotsa nice food now. So sad.. weimin said jogging/swimming can help the condition, so I've decided to jog more now.. with additional benefits of losing fats =P

Speaking of Weimin, we celebrated his bday last nite at Holland V and the Sunday b4 last nite, we celebrated Lianwei's at Holland V too. And I drank beer on both nites. Think I'm starting to build a little resistance to alcohol. My face used to turn red after one can of beer. Think it doesn't now, though I still get drowsy but not high. haha.. but aye, I still dun really like to drink. Only drank cos the guys r drinking and didn't wanna spoil the fun. hehe..

Ahh.. I'm feeling so comfortable now. Had a nice bath after the jog. I love bathing after a good sweat. haha.. dunno y. And now I'm enjoying a mug of hot chocolate and listening to jazz while I'm studying. hehe.. this feels real good..

Sick

2006-04-05T17:16:00.000+08:00

Having little slp and drinking v little water means tt I'm sick. haha.. It's my fault. Usually when I slp v little, I'd make sure tt I drink lotsa water and eat fruits to boost my immune system. But I forgot to do these. I was juz focused on getting more slp. So I'm now down with flu and feeling v miserable abt it. I've been sneezing and blowing my nose the whole day and my throat was sore this morning (Luckily, it's better now).

Sighz.. and I'm trying to study 306 on exchange rate effects and financial instruments. Ok, I'm not tt fast. I'm still at effect of changes in exchange rates. haha.. I'm rehashing this topic. Gonna move on later. Jia you jia you!!

One more mth to exam. My last 2 papers in NTU. I'm gonna mug and mug for them. I want As!!! Hope I'm getting my drive back. haha.. ok, I'm gg back to mug liaoz. Bye!

Not enough sleep!

2006-04-01T22:53:00.001+08:00

My last 2 presentations in NTU r finally over.I really lost slp over those 2, esp. 205 (Risk Management). I worked thru the nite and slept at 830am and 730am respectively on Wed and Thurs juz for this presentation. Edited all the slides and aranged the flow and wrote out certain parts for all my members to link the slides tgt. Almost wanted to die.. somemore, I'm not even the grp leader. Aye, but it's my last presentation. Sincemy report is screwed, I suppose I have to work hard for this. Nonetheless, I'm glad it's over. My grpmate is super funny though. She's the last speaker and she ended the presentation with "it's our end" instead of "it's the end of our presentation". SHe didn't do it intentionally but the whole class burst into laughter and it lightened the tense atmosphere. Even TKE also laughed and said she believed tt we would all lead long and fruitful lives. haha..

Speaking of TKE, I really really like her a lot.. Yar, I know I'm a freak.. most of the pple in my class fear her and I like her.. haha.. But I think she's the kind who's fierce on the outside but v soft inside. Yeah, and I even took a pic with her. at the KMPG iCEE Presentation, when Hejia, Hong Hong and I went down to support Zhongda.

Aye, I still have some more photos tt I have yet to upload. Took them at Boat Quay a few weeks ago. Alrite, till next time then.

2006-03-26T13:26:00.000+08:00

Hoho.. I went for Zhang Shao Han's concert on Fri. My roomie's fren got extra tix and asked me if I wanna go. So I grabbed 2 tix and went with zd. Her live's better than I expected and her fans r totally crazy. Zd said her genre of music is not wat he likes though. He acutally fell asleep halfway thru the concert, and Angela sang only 5 songs in the concert. haha... But i suppose it's the same as how I could fall asleep halfway thru heavy rock.. haha.. baffling, I know..

Then I went to the NATAS travel fair yesterday. Bought a tour package to Shanghai. I'm gg on a graduation trip to Shanghai with Zd and Lianwei! Yeah.. I'd be visiting the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall. I've always wanted to go there and the Yue Wang Miao at Hang Zhou, but dunno y.. think the itinerary does not include Yue Wang Miao now. It's ok. I prefer the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall. I'm a history freak. But I'm also kinda prepared for the heavy heart after the visit. Cos I heard tt pple who visited it could then understand how much the Chinese hated the Jap. So I guess it should be pretty cruel and gruesome to make them hate the Jap so much after so many yrs. And most imptly, I'd get to taste the local foodfare there during the trip. I took a quick glance and saw there's dunno wat steamboat, some salted duck.. sounds yummy... hehe..

Suddenly realised tt my semester is ending soon. So fast.. I'm graduating.. Suddenly wish tt I could have some more semesters with prjs. haha... I'm demented. But aye, I've always said tt I prefer studying to working. Cos I'm accountable to myself when I'm a student. When I'm working, I have to account my actions and mistakes to my superiors. And i dun like tt. haha.. Guess I'm more cut out to be self-employed, since I dun like to be controlled by pple. =P And I'd be self-employed someday! I wanna earn millions, billions.. and I can keep on dreaming.. haha..

Okok, I better get back to my presentation slides. Bye!

Loreal e-Strats Challenge Finals

2006-03-11T11:43:00.000+08:00

It was with much trepidation tt we (zd and I) awaited the results of the E-Strat semi-finals. This round will determine if we will be gg to Paris.

The results were out early - released at 10.56pm instead of 11pm as stipulated. I almost had a heart failure when I saw tt the top team for our zone was someone else, b4 I realised tt was the MA category. Finally.. the moment is here.. We scrolled down and stared with an empty heart - our team is not the top team in our zone. Sighz..

Then, we proceeded to the ranking section. Regardless, we r still anxious to know how we did. In the end, it was to find tt we r the 2nd team in the zone!! But i muz say tt we really 输的心服口服. We lost to the Indonesia University in our SPI and biz plan. Their biz plan was the best worldwide, while ours was the second best. Aye, although we were all v disappointed tt we wun be gg to Paris, we felt somewat mollified tt we had done our best and had even managed to clinch a second worldwide for our biz plan. If only.. we were in other zones, we would be the top team and would be able to go to Paris!! haha..

Ok, it's past now. End of a chpt of wonderful memories. We were really a great team and I really enjoyed working with everyone, although it was stressful juggling the competition and sch work at the same time. But it was worth it. Thank you everyone for ur work and we shall now continue to work hard in our studies. haha.. Jia you!

Philosophical mood..

2006-03-07T19:47:00.000+08:00

Here's a continued update on Lin Zhi XUan's concert. He's real good, tt's all I can say. His live performance is mag and he's soo cute and humorous. I kinda like the guitarist too (Zhan Zhao Yuan). Both of them r extremely talented, and I did sth tt I normally wouldn't do. I actually went to buy the album tt they were playing after the concert so tt I could let them autograph it for me. Oh well, I suppose this is my final semester as a student. And I think tt everyone should have their crazy moments when they were students. =P

Sighz.. all too soon, I'd be graduating and starting work. I have no idea wat the future will bring. I do know tt I've changed a lot these past 3 yrs. I've made new frens and I've cut some away from my life. Regrets? No, I dun think so. I'm past the stage when I'd look back and said tt I regretted doing/not doing sth. Like I told a gd fren, "Life's too short for regrets. We won't know wat tmr may bring. I do not wish to live the rest of my life thinking abt 'wat if i had..'" Sometimes, it only takes one to lose sth/someone to know tt tt was sth impt to them.

All I can say for now is, although I had yet to make my first million =P, I can't think of any regrets for the past 3 yrs. I had make good my promise to myself and grasped every opportunity tt came my way. Though there were unpleasant incidents, I've accepted them as part and parcel of life - u gain some, u lose some.

Haha.. I'm suddenly so philosophical. Aye, wat matters most is to juz be myself. I guess as long as I'm happy and I have a clear conscience, nth else matters.

Hehe.. think I should go back and mug. Au revoir!

March's 1st update

2006-03-01T15:21:00.000+08:00

Wahz.. these 2 weeks have been unbelievably busy. But things aren't settling down yet. So terrible.. I still have FYP and prjs to do. Worse is, I have a risk management prj due next Fri and my grp hasn't chosen risks to write abt yet. Faintz.. we have only juz identified and r in the process of analyzing them tgt with exisiting controls. Think next week will be another exhausting week. Somemore, I have a 306 (Consolidation) presentation in the same week as the 306 quiz, and I am absolutely lost in tt module cos i haven't been studying for tt module. And blur me had missed 2 seminars cos I didn't know tt they had been shifted frm Thurs to Tue. o_0

Luckily, FYP draft is out already.. now waiting for tutor to read thru and go thru with us. Hope everything's gonna be fine!

And I'm gg to Lin Zhi Xuan's campus concert today!! I'm so lucky. I won a pair of tix to the concert in the lucky draw. hoho.. Totally unexpected.

Ok, I juz received a phone call. What's even more unexpected is my sister's A Level grades. She actually got ACC. A for her Math C and C for Physics and Chem. I think they are not too bad, considering tt she couldn't even get an A Level cert with her prelim results. haha.. But freak.. I got only B for my Math C last time. Argh.. Everyone in the whole wide world is doing better than me for Math C.. =( hehe.. but still happy for her ah. Then tt idiot asked me to help her think wat courses she can do. *rolls eyes*

Aye, then my mum's bday is coming. We bought her some bracelet with 'lucky' beads tt signify health and wealth, with nice patterns. Think she'd like it. hehe.. Think I'm gg to buy a mango cake for her bday and celebrate for her. It's been a long time since I last celebrated for my mum. I was in US last yr and didn't get to do it. So this yr, I'm gonna go back home early this week - on Fri, so tt she'd be happy. haha..

Ok, tt's all for now. Shall blog more when I have the time.

Good news + updates

2006-02-10T23:51:00.000+08:00

I've received an extremely gd piece of news today - my student, Jun Cheng, had done v well for his O Levels. He scored 4 As and his L1R4 is 12 pts. I am extremely pleased and proud of him. I had always tot tt this guy was often misunderstood by his teachers as a v bad student who can't go far in life. Maybe they r true to a certain extent. But the first time when I taught him, I knew this guy has potential. It is a matter of whether he wants to focus his attention and energy into getting sth done. I was often frustrated with him cos I tot tt he was too lazy and wasting his potential and often had to think of new ways to push him - nag, suan, inspire, motivate.

When I first taught him, it was 2 mths b4 his N Levels. After tt, I was angry to hear tt his teachers forced him to drop his A Math, cos I tot tt although he's not doing well in it at tt time, he can excel in this subj. Nonetheless, he did well for his N Levels, and I was happy for him.

He moved on to O Levels and I went to US. During the 6 mths overseas, I was touched when he talked to me online and told me tt he wants me back to teach him and asked me to return asap. When I returned, I was really surprised to see him work v hard for his O Levels. It was a v big change frm the JC I knew. The JC I knew had to be pushed and bargained with me for a shorter tuition session, but the JC I returned to, was v focused and eager to learn. Then I realised y. He wanted to learn so tt he could teach his gf. Haha.. After tt, we progressed to me teaching both him and his gf at the same time and I tot tt was a mistake. Cos both of them couldn't concentrate and since he was assured tt his gf could get equal attn frm me too, he stopped listening in class. I was frustrated and angry and I showed my displeasure. He knew cos I told him when he asked me wat I was telling his mum.

This continued, and sometimes he'd cancel lessons cos he said he wanted to study other subjs. I was worried cos I didn't know where his weaknesses were and was not able to help him. I could only try to teach him when he asked me qns and hoped tt he'd remember and do well for the exam. I know tt I'm biased and favor him over his gf. I do not deny it. Afterall, he was my student frm the first. She's an addition. Although I was unhappy tt she distracted him during tuition, I was relieved tt she pushed him to study.

Although I feel tt I did not do much to help, and he really did everything himself - I'm still v proud. haha.. He had worked v hard and come so far. His teachers were shocked with his results cos his prelim results were terrible and he didn't pay attn in class. One teacher even wondered aloud if they had marked his scripts wrongly. But the probability of 4 scripts marked wrongly is low. haha..

I'm also happy for his gf. She got 11 pts and 4 As too. But aye, I'm neutral towards her. I'm juz v v happy tt JC did well. His success reminded me - efforts can produce results, if u really try hard enough.

And now for other updates:

1. Our team got into the semi-finals of Loreal!! We e now ranked 71 internationally, 12th in the zone, and 5th in the undergrad category in the zone. We lag behind the top team by 500 SPI pts. We r uncertain if we can catch up and probably even do better but there's this little ray of hope and we r really trying hard. I really do hope tt we can go Paris and take part in the Finals. So next week will be an extremely busy week for me - I have 3 assignments due and a test. Will also be doing Loreal and the biz plan next week. And these r on top of tutorials and readings etc.

2. I was bathing one fine nite and had juz finished rinsing my hair when I suddenly felt sth tickling my calf. I looked down and was shocked to see a long piece of dark string at my foot. I instinctively stepped away and peered at it closer, wondering where it had come frm. Then I realised tt it moved and had a head and a tail. My first irrational tot was - wat a big tadpole! Then I admonished myself and reminded myself where on earth can one find a tadpole tt has a tail longer than its head. Usually tadpoles have heads bigger than their tails. This unusual creature has a forked tongue. Then the truth sank in - tt was a snake! Yes, when the unfortunate fact sinked in, I squeaked. This kinda sounded like a pretty long process but I can assure u tt human tots travel v fast and the abovementioned events took place in less than 10s.

I was totally terrified. I was trapped in a cubicle with a snake and it was in the centre of the cubicle and I hoped tt it wouldn't slither towards me and box me into a corner. I couldn't run out either cos I wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing and I didn't dare to risk any sudden movements either cos I remembered reading tt snakes strike when there r sudden movements and they feel threatened. But it was moving and I was really scared tt it'd move towards me and I knew tt I had to do sth. I switched on the water spray and hoped tt the water would sorta create a buffer btw us and remembered belatedly tt snakes can swim in water. *faintz* Luckily for me, the snake slithered away frm the water spray and into the next cubicle. Coincidentally, there's another gal bathing in the next cubicle but I supposed the snake either did not slither into her cubicle and slithered out instead, or she didn't see it, as I didn't hear frm scream emitting frm the next cubicle. I juz continued bathing quickly and kept looking down and ard to make sure tt the snake did not slither back. That muz be the scariest shower I had in my entire life!

Life in Hall

2006-02-01T17:18:00.000+08:00

Yes, I'm currently staying in hall now for my last semester. Life in hall is not bad. Kinda remind of my 6 months in Seattle, except tt I do not have to cook now - I can buy from the canteen or go out to eat, and I have a roomie.

I like the independence and needless to say, I dun have to spend my time traveling to and fro as I had to when I wasn't staying in hall. And I muz say tt this frees up a lot of time for slping and doing work.. haha.. I'd be gg back to stay at my grandfather's place. In comparison, I think I study better in sch, cos I have a desk all to myself in hall. (I really love this part) and my baby cousin is not ard to pester me or make weird noises ard me. Ok, I know I sound materialistic, but I really love the sch toilet! haha.. Cos the toilet at my grandpa's place is the squatting kind, and I really hate the squatting kind. Think I can go on and on. Of course, the drawbacks of staying in hall is extra expenses - I could have saved these expenses and eat off my mum if I'm staying at my grandfather's place. hehe..

Ok, now for CNY updates. I totally did not log online during the whole CNY weekend, despite the fact tt I can access internet via NTU dial up at my grandfather's place. I'm juz plain lazy. I also didn't do much visiting this yr. Basically, most of them juz went to visit my grandfather. haha.. then I juz stayed there and waited for them to come and give me ang baos. hoho.. The best part of CNY is the CNY goodies I took frm my great-uncle and aunt. haha.. pineapple tarts and crispy fish rolls! The pineapple tarts r heavenly. U can perpetually taste the pineapple fibres and the tarts simply melt in ur mouth - now, this is wat I call real pineapple tarts.

Then I went to lou hei last nite. We also had chilli crabs - my sister and I had one crab each. I was super full after tt and my aunt drove me back to hall. Cool.. I'm gg to have another reunion dinner with my GIP frens this Sat. So exciting.. more CNY goodies and food.. yum.. hehe, I know, I'm a glutton. =P

Ahh.. and now I'm back in hall, and juz finished rushing out my 205 assignment which I finished and submitted rite on time - 6 mins b4 the deadline. So scary.. I was afraid tt I couldn't finish the damn thing. haha.. and now, i'm slacking and waiting for dinner. Will be gg out to JP to buy ham and other groceries later. So domestic.. sounds as though I'm gg to Dong Heng to buy weekly groceries in Seattle. hehe..

I'm juz gonna enjoy my final semester. It's my last semester as a student. I shall treasure every moment of it. Id try to update soon! haha..

2nd last day of PA

2006-01-13T00:05:00.000+08:00

Aye, tmr's my last day of PA. Will be gg back to sch. So happy. Think working has its pros and cons ba. Pro is I can slack and rest after a day's work - con is tt the time is inflexible. I have to report for work, rain or shine. And I am accountable to someone else for my actions.

Studying, on the other hand, is extremely flexible. I can choose to go for class or not to go, and I am only accountable to myself for the grades I get. However, I can't rest after a day's class. After class, there r always quizzes to study, presentations to prepare, case studies to read and analyse, etc. But well, somehow, I still prefer studying. haha.. think I prefer a flexible time schedule.

Speaking of flexibility, I think I muz be the slackest intern in Amex. Ok, tt doesn't mean tt I dun do work. I take my responsilibities seriously k.. I juz stayed till 8pm the previous day to finish sth, though I could have knocked off at 5.45pm (the contracted time to knock off). Somemore, PA no OT onez.. super lugi.. and I dunno OT how many times liaoz.. But neway, when I work during PA, my table will always have fruits or some other food and these past few days, milk tea. And I'd eat while I work. haha.. And these few days, I've even plugged my ears with my mp3 player or cd player and listen to music while I work. Slack horz.. Somemore, I dun see the other perm workers there doing these. haha.. but my supervisor also nv say nething lehz.. I listen to music cos she also did tt. wahaha.. but I hope she dun give me a bad assessment for slacking. haha..

So I'm gg to have lunch with my supervisor and another colleague frm my dept. There r only 3 of us, including me. haha.. then another colleague who sits beside me will be treating me to dinner. haha.. so nice. 2 free meals. =P

Ok, so tired.. gg to slp liaoz. Oh.. some gd news to share, our grp did pretty well for Loreal E-Strat 2nd round. Our ranking jumped from 1148 to 531 (intl ranking) and we r now ranked 65th in our zone. hoho.. I hope we can continue to do well. I wanna go Paris!!

New Year updates

2006-01-07T01:24:00.000+08:00

Yay, it's another new year - new year, new beginning. I've always loved New Years cos I love having new beginnings. haha..

But this New Year is particularly meaningful, cos I'm starting a whole new chpt of my life this yr. I'm moving to new places, graduating and starting my career, etc.

Ok, so wat did I do on NY eve? I did nth. Ok, I had hoped to count down in front of the tv or with someone. In the end, I missed the countdown on tv. By the time I flicked on the tv at 12 midnite, they had finished counting down liaoz. Sighz.. I've always felt tt there's sth qi liang abt counting down alone in front of the tv, and I think I've nv felt so gan kai and lonely in my whole life at tt instant. Lotsa mixed feelings. haha..

Then I spent my NY packing stuff and bringing some stuff over to hall and I went to the Glass Bar at nite with Ting, Bibi and the twins. The finger food was nice and I think my mocktail tasted the most like alcohol although it was totally non-alcoholic and the others ordered alcohol. Weird.. Oh yar, my mocktail has this v interesting name. It's called Cinderella. wahaha.. At first, it tasted a bit bitter to me as though there's alcohol but as I drank more of it, the drink tasted better and better to me. haha.. Then so funny, there were other names with sexual innuendos like Sex on the Beach, Blow Job, etc.

Then I had the misfortune of meeting my future colleague, whom I dislike on sight. Heard some stuff abt how she will try to play office politics and stuff. So sianz.. though I've prepared myself tt there'd be office politics everywhere. Somehow, i think I've been v pampered these few yrs cos I haven't come across much office politics in my jobs, only a little or none. haha.. Plus, think there r gonna be more like her and more with brains. So sianz.. I'm juz an innocent gal who wanna lead a peaceful life. Unlike some pple who crave exciting happenings in their lives, I do not mind putting up with monotony. Juz feel so sianz at the tot of having to deal with this kinda of pple in my everyday working life. But well.. come wat may, I'd juz have to deal with them. *shrugz*

I've been v busy lately with moving hse and at work, with the mth end process, and personal, with the Loreal e-strat challenge. haha.. it's v fun and stimulating. I love it!

Today, I wore specs to work and my supervisor commented tt I looked v different - v studious. haha.. Then I was editing links for the spreadsheets when she came over. She asked me if my eyes r gonna cross frm staring at the links which r like one big cluster frm different files and spreadsheets. wahaha.. I said i'm still ok. At tt instant, I juz realised tt I can really do this kind of data crunching. wahaha.. somehow, I juz have the patience for this kinda thingy. Maybe it juz comes frm handling tuition kids and having to explain the same concept over and over again with seemingly infinite patience. haha..

Then my supervisor bought me a cup of milk tea! haha.. I know alot of pple will laugh at me for being so happy over a cheap cup of milk tea. But it's the tot tt counts. And it's the best milk tea I've ever drank. I like it - v milky. haha..

Then 2 of my modules have started classes but I'm still doing PA. This is due primarily to the screwed up hol system the sch implemented. Sighz.. it is bad enough tt I'd have to start sch straight after work - wat makes it worse is tt I'd have alot of catching up to do. SIGHZ.

ok enough ranting. It's late. I'm gg to slp liaoz.. Nitez!

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-26T23:03:00.000+08:00

Hehe.. a late Christmas entry. Well, this yr's Christmas is kinda special - cos I didn't spend it with the usual pple, ie. Yok and Eli. Yok's in Canada and Eli's always too busy for me. =( haha.. but it's ok. I still had a wonderful Christmas Eve cos Jia called me frm Canada and I had my countdown at Mt Faber with someone special. But Eli forgot to sms me this yr!! Ok, I also forgot to sms her. In fact, I think I didn't msg pple. haha.. save sms, it's v ex, ya know. =P Aye, I'm content this yr.

And now, I'm looking forward to the New Year. A New Year signifies a new beginning and it's time to make resolutions again. Can't really remember wat NY wishes I made last yr, but I'm quite positive tt they didn't come true. haha.. Will the coming NY be the same? I have no idea. Think my wishes will be quite simple this yr - but somehow, the simplest wishes r always the hardest to fulfil. haha.. So I shall aim high - I wanna be a millionaire! *close eyes and pray fervently*

haha..ok, think I better go slp now. Tmr still have to wake up early to go work. Nitez everyone! Merry Christmas!

Update

2005-12-22T22:09:00.000+08:00

It's been a long time since I last updated, and Christmas is drawing near. B4 i know it, my attachment will be over and I'd be back to sch! Time really flies..

So to update abit and make everyone envious, I had wonderful lunches last week. Following the French dinner at the Botanical Gardens by Au Jardin, I had lunch at a Jap restaurant at Fullerton and a buffet lunch at Four Seasons Hotel the following afternoon.

Then I had lotsa seafood and had my first taste of fresh raw oyster and mussle at Four Seasons. Yum.. Think I prefer mussle to oyster cos it tastes less fishy. haha.. Ate till I was v full tt day. After the Christmas lunch at Four Seasons, I went to play bowling with my superiors and had a gift exchange ceremony. haha.. so fun. Luckily I went to the bowling session. A colleague and I were intending to juz go back after lunch, but the gifts were exchanged during the bowling session. If I had not gone for it, I wouldn't have gotten my gift. hehe..

I played ok for the bowling. V long nv play liaoz.. not tt I'm an expert neway. The number of times I had played bowling can be counted on 2 hands. Think I had juz gone over one hand liaoz.. hehe.. My colleagues complained of aching arms and shoulders the following day. But I have no aches at all. Can this possibly mean tt I haven't used enough strength, which was y I had no aches?? *baffled*

But I had aches all over my body on Mon. It was not delayed reaction due to the bowling session. It was becos I was moving hse on Sunday. Yesh, so if anyone suddenly decide to send me any Christmas cards or New Year cards or watever, pls do not send it to my current address as I wun be staying here long. Merci!

And it's Thursday today again! haha.. weekends and hols.. so fun.. then next week another long weekend. I love doing intern during the festive season.. haha..

Ok, think I'd stop here for now. Will try to update again soon. Au revoir!~

E-Strat Challenge

2005-12-12T00:13:00.000+08:00

Today I met up with JG and Zd to do the Loreal E- Strat Challenge. It's damn cool.. it's sth like a biz simulation game but much more complicated than the RM one. Had a lot of fun analysing the data and discussing strategies and making biz decisions.

We were walking to Zd's hse to do it when suddenly Zd said remarked tt it's like the old times at UW. The 3 of us walking tgt side by side and with me in the middle, as usual. hehe.. only diff is tt we weren't walking in the cold winter along the Ave, but under the sweltering heat along Simei Rd. haha.. but yar, it did bring back fond memories and we chatted v happily along the way.

So fun.. I hope can win this competition, then can use the prize money to go Germany next yr and watch world cup live! I can also shun bian go visit the historical sites. so exciting!! haha.. i can juz continue dreaming. hehe.. but having aspirations is gd. *nods head* then can aim towards it and attain the goal, or fall somewhere near the stars. hehe..

Reflections

2005-12-09T22:08:00.001+08:00

I've had an extremely busy week. Have been staying later than usual till abt 7? haha.. ok, tt didn't sound v late but well.. everytime I get back home, I'd juz sorta blank out and dun wanna think nemore.

Dunno y, I've been in a self-reflective mood this whole afternoon. Went to buy Jia's bday present to walk off some of my restlessness. When i got back, I took a look at my cluttered desk and I've decided tt I've had enough. I've been v passive abt my life for the past 1 yr. Enjoying life too much, but now, I think it's time to get my life back in order. Can't go ard wandering ard w/o direction.

Many things happened during this past 1 yr. Some pple entered my life and some left. C'est la vie (That's life).

Read this somewhere b4 and it had made an impression with me:
Humans are always afraid of the unknown, fearful of the uncertainty tt lies ahead - and yet, it is the unknown and uncertainty tt allows humans to change their own destiny and forge a life for themselves.

Haha.. sounds kinda profound but I really understand this. Do u? =P

k, I'm gg back to my fyp now. Bye!

Harry Potter

2005-11-30T23:24:00.000+08:00

It is with grief and sorrow tt I have to tell everyone tt I did not pass my driving exam. It was a disaster.. Enough said. I've gotten over it.

Neway, I went to watch Harry Potter yesterday. It was rather disappointing, I guess.. Cos there were many things tt the plot mentioned but the director did not go on further to explain. For eg. the wisps of souls floating out of Lord Voldermort's wand when the magic frm his wand met with Harry Potter's.
But all in all, it was kinda entertaining.

It was kinda tired these few days. I went for 3 interviews, including today. Since I've more or less decided to go to Deutsche Bank, I went for the Big 4 interviews with the meantality to juz enjoy myself and chat with the interviewers. haha.. First time I nv prepare and dun feel nervous at all. In fact, I juz went in and crap and surprisingly, I had fun at the Deloitte's selection workshop.

But aye, now I need to get back to doing my fyp. And with tt, I shall end this entry and go and pia my fyp. Adieu!

Weekends

2005-11-28T15:20:00.000+08:00

Well.. got so many things to blog, dunno where to start. So i shall start by telling everyone tt I'm currently doing my PA at the executive floor. haha.. It's where the CFO is located and where all the stuff gets consolidated and sent to other regions. I've recently finished an assignment which was sent to New York. So cool!!

Then there's this pantry with a fridge with lotsa milk, a snack vending machine and a coffee maker. I tried the cappucino today. It's not v nice. haha.. so I've decided to stick to plain water and green tea. hehe..

Then the lift at the lobby is hands free activation onez.. so damn cool.. and their sharpener (the machine u use to sharpen a pencil) is actually automated! I was so amazed. haha.. then zd said i super sua gu.. but last time sharpener where got automated onez.. the best is tt kind u feed in and turn the wheel. The one at Amex is sth like tt but no wheel. U juz feed the pencil and it will automatically turn and sharpen the pencil.

Neway, got another piece of gd news. I've sitting on it for v long. Wanna wait till it's confirmed. Hehe.. I was studiously doing some serious hard work in Amex, when I received a job offer frm Deutsche Bank. Woohoo!~ so happy! I couldn't even be excited cos there were 3 expatriates sitting ard me. haha.. I could only whisper into my hp. But yeah, so happy. Should be gg overseas for 2mths training in Jul next yr. Not v sure where yet, maybe London. Cool!!

haha.. Ok, I shall stop here. Tmr's my driving exam. I muz hope for the best. =x