Merry Christmas

&

Happy New Year!

Someone's Older Lord, Kum Ba Yah!

Make her age gracefully and Bless her with Your Strength, Wisdom and Love.

May she soon find her happiness and true meaning of Joy.

This Christmas, I've never felt more happy! In fact I've been feeling light despite all the busy schedules and countless things to do. Be it personal or at work. I guess I have it all to Him to thank!

And I can truly say that it's really better to give than to receive. It'a personal testimony and experience. The feeling is indescribable and it has even become something that I enjoy doing so much these days.

I guess it's really the season to be giving during Christmas but of course I hope to bring this to every season and grow from there.

Probably the most enjoyable thing that I've done for the company so far. Had a blast planning for the Employee communication meeting last Friday! Though was pretty hectic with the given timeline, but at least we managed to pull it off. And Ong and I just had a blast decorating the place and trying to source for party stuff! I heard that there were still people raving all about the party today and I am glad that people had such good impression of it that at least hopefully it will stay with them throughout the journey with the company.

It does make me re-evaluate what I really want to do now and what kind of job I should be doing. As much as I like talking and communicating to people in my current job, when it comes to technical, I know I cant smoke through these people who had much more experience and have a lot of hands-on and physical images to relate to. I know i wont last long in this role and I am looking around for something more suitable. I would love to go to marketting/ sales where it's selling just 1 kind of product which does not need to be sized or anything like that. I find it more enjoyable though mundane. But of course what would be better than running a company on your own.

Wow! It's 12 more days to Christmas!!

A year has gone past and I must say a lot has happened in this past year.I'm glad to know that I have just survived another year. And I am thankful to Him for all the memories that I have of the past.

Merry Christmas Everyone.

A day out at SCM 09.

Happily engaged as personal family photographer. Nevertheless was quite a fun day despite the chaotic moments of trying to make it to send the kids for their run.

I dont understand, the extent of people's kay-pohness (curiosity, or nosey-ness more like it). Sometimes it's okay to ask certain things occassionally. But this one everyday, i get asked or commented in my actions.

One of the things that I cannot stand, is for people to comment on what I do. I dont mean that you cant tell me if what I am doing is wrong, but more of please do it constructively and dont repeat. Sometimes i just dont want to explain myself and let me do what I want. Please stop asking as I am not accountable to anyone.

It gets on my nerve when I am just putting down something and then the question abt my action comes. Cant i do something on my own without anyone raising a question? When I want to say what I am doing I will say it out. I detest asking people what happen to them or why they do certain things. Unless I am really baffled, or something that I find the person is going in a off direction. Otherwise, I am always quiet and I dont like asking people what's happening to them unless you tell me.

I believe in what you do is your life, and doesnt mean that I dont care, but I dont wish to get in your way unless you want me to. Or you are seeking for advice. Your life is your own to live and what you do, you are not accountable to me. If you have problems and want to confide in me fine, but dont think that I would go asking you if there's anything happening with you.

This is my obvious trait and truly it's not that hard to see. I dont fish/bait people into telling me. If you want to tell me, then you will, otherwise I wont beg for it.

A ball-istic time with the girls!

wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.....

A nice and light meal to start the day!

Typing away,

Away and Absorbed in the Cyber World.

What a contrast, 15 years have made.

psstt.. with the support of my loving parents, I have just recently managed to get a car. Though a second-hand, but it's something that really makes my day and even my work-stress is greatly reduced by it. Somehow I feel so blessed and truly I believe it's also God's works also. It was such a surprise that I was sort of in a shocked state on Saturday.

Actually maybe I should say that I am still halfway to owning the car cos I am still waiting for the car loan approval. But yeah if everything's well, I'll be able to collect the car tomorrow/ wednesday. so far things are looking good at this end.

*grinssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss*

I dont know why, but these few weeks or months, it's been filled with bickerings. First the bickering between Indonesia and Malaysia over their cultural heritage. Second Malaysia and Singapore over the originality of the food. Like Malaysia is claiming Hainanese Chicken Rice to be originating from there. It's a silly bicker, imo. Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, are all in the same straits. Naturally migration from one place to another is common. It is only natural that they share some common areas in the culture, language and palates. It's really silly what they are trying to do.

Next is the saga of Ris Low. It's embarassing enough that she was chosen (God knows why she's chosen, maybe it's because of the lee-perd, read, and booms). Although I dont deny that most do not have perfect diction and gramatically perfect English, but I can vouch that most speaks proper and dont try to be eS-per-Gerrrsss. We are choosing someone to represent Singapore in the Ms World contest where most knows that Singapore first language is English. At the very least choose someone who can speak properly and not an attention-seeker. It is a world event, seen by every country in the world, supposedly chosen to be the next role model that our young generation can look up to. If the crime record had been exposed earlier and she showed her repentance or at the least be humble instead of boomz-ing ard, I would think generally the public will accept her. But her defiance and self-righteousness is really intolerable and no wonder she is the number 1 public enemy on the list. As much as people around are thinking that we might be too much but a more humble defence from her would actually be better. Instead she created a further attention-seeking stance by claiming that the first runner-up had backstabbed her. It is totally a bad move and even when she graduate and move on, whereever she goes, she'll just be branded 'total bimbo', if i can add, to the max degree.

Whoa, what a week! From Sunday till Wednesday full of activities. Come Thursday I was nursing body aches and especially my backache. But well it's almost like a break from office. When I got back to office, everyone else were quite excited to hear all about the things that happened during the Bintan trip. Such a pity that I couldnt go with the rest in the coming week. I have more 'khakis' in the 2nd batch. But doesnt matter. Next 2 days in office would be a personal time for me, and it'll be time to clear some backlog.

Amazing Race was fun and very tiring. During the time when we waited for the racers to come and carry out the activities, the station masters got to bond with one another. For mine, I had the older congregation to help out and it was interesting to talk to them. They helped out a lot and we are all thankful for their help. I'm quite sure the racers had a lot of fun doing the race as well.

All the station planners and masters were all beat and on Monday I couldnt take the tiredness and just have to stay home and sleep the day off. I couldnt even attend Kenneth's wedding. Felt bad but there were also the reason tat I've not prepared anything to wear and i was really really tired. I needed the rest to recover before the teambuilding trip in Bintan.

Bintan was not that happening but it was okay. Just that in the end on the first day, when we were supposed to be doing outdoor and getting wet in the sea, it was pouring. We had to run from where we were back to the indoor venue which was like so far! I couldnt bothered with running. Then second day is always the fun day! We can choose what we want to play and play as long as possible. Played both ATV and jetski. ATV was fun since I chose to ride the motorcycle type. I looked garang on it man! While others were choosing to be clean and dry, i chose the dirty path, and went for all the puddles of muddy water. It was fun! Jetski was quite okay though I got quite bored after some time. I should have just gone for a swim in the sea!

Come Thursday on, the holiday mood still lingered for sometime and especially with Mes' visit, we were definitely in the mood for a holiday. Well though it was one busy week, but I guess it doesnt take a real holiday to feel the mood. The presence of friends and bonding time is always a holiday feeling for me.

Well the long-awaited longggg weekend is here. I am looking fwd to it but at the same I'm not too cos it's Amazing Race week! Although it'll be fun but it's like a long weekend burnt. It can mean anything. Well at least let's pray that it will not rain over the next 2 days. Otherwise the mood will probably be dampened by it. I actually dont know how things would turn out, but I supposed it's all in God's hands now.

After the amazing race which is on sunday and monday, on Tuesday, i'll be in Bintan for 2 days. The company is organising a team-building trip. There's gonna be rafting, beach games and all. I can imagine how tired it is by the time I come back on Wednesday. Just thinking of it is already making me tired.

Oh! I got myself a new iPod touch right after they announce the new generation of iPod touch! And so far i'm loving it. I decided to get this instead of the iPhone since the only difference is the 3g and the call functions. Whenever I play around with miPod (my iPod's name), I do still wish it was an iPhone though. But yeah I can safely say I am contented with this. Having a bigger memory or the iPhone would be a bonus. I am also happy that Apple gave a 20% price cut off their prices. Which means getting an iPod is now even more affordable without having to source through Funan/ Sim Lim to get 1. I know Nata was one who was jumping in her seat when I told her about this. She just bought the 2nd generation iPod just a week before the announce, before I knew that there was going to be an announcement. I got mine through the website and since it came with free engraving, I took it up and tattoo-ed it,

" I may not have an iPhone, But I've got You!"

Life has been great to me. And despite all that complaining about getting poorer, I'm still me and nothing much has changed, except that im bringing back less pay of course. But i must still thank God that I still have today and am still sufficient, with all the love in the world that I can get from the people around me. Thanks Lord!

I've been trying to stretch the thought of generating another income, and am finding ways to go around doing it. There are a lot of options and though sometime the vision gets clearer but the reality check of the principal just makes it all blur again. I guess the clearest vision is to give tuition since I do have quite a number of people seeking tuition. But to me it's tiring if I have to travel here and there for it. My place isnt exactly a great place to conduct tuition. Teaching in a centre is also not really an option as well. And definitely I want my weekends to be undisturbed by these things.

As most of you know, I've been thinking of getting a car. If i do get the car, I would probably get back to teaching as a mean of extra cash to get more income. But of course it has to be nearby and no way I'm going to woodlands to teach. I wouldnt even consider siglap or marine parade area. Just not worth on my petrol consumption. Having the car around will at least cushion the whole tiring journey. And actually i have always had a preference of being in a car rather than taking the public transport. I know i know. Im just killing our mother earth with that, but I guess i still prefer my own space and comfort. I know my way around here and there, getting shortcuts. And it is definitely more convenient.

Anyway so far this month has been pretty nice. Especially now that all of us siblings have graduated, I guess now my parents can really proudly say that their kid managed to graduate through university. To us it is possibly something that is normal, but to my parents, who did not even complete high school, seeing their children go through university is something that is unthinkable and something that they never have thought when they see us through our primary and secondary school. I can understand now why they are so proud of us.

Having been in Singapore for half my life, I am accustomed to the thought that most people around me go to university. Hence it is the normal thing for me to do likewise. Everyone can go to the university down here, but not in Indonesia. Though most Indonesians get to university easily, most just get married and have children after that. Or they help run their family business which are still run in the old fashioned ways as their fathers and grandfathers have run it. Those who are able, they will take the business further and expand it further. They also modernise the systems and the way the business is run. And actually most of these people have really great business acumen and generally are graduates from overseas university. They have seen the world outside Indonesia. They learnt and apply it to bring the business in Indonesia to another level. But of course it does not always work.

Anyway the point is that I understand why my parents even have to throw a thanksgivings party when all three of us graduated. Like the preacher said that day, he answered my question, we are forced to stop whatever we are doing and give thanks to Him. I cant remember what was the verse that we chose as a theme as I was really not informed about it at all. Although the whole thing seems elaborate and lavish, but it was not meant to be a show off thing but more of gathering around people who have cared about all of us and prayed for us and let them be the witness to how much we are so grateful and thankful to God.

Well Lord, as much as I have lots and lots of things to thank you for, let me sum it all up. Thank You and I am really grateful for everything that You've planned for me and how all these times You've influenced the decisions that I take. Being the light that guideth me all these years, being the friend whom I can always lean on. Thank you for all the trials and tribulation that you've put me into. They are great tests for me to be more patient and gain great insight of life and about our kingdom in heaven. Thanks for sending people around me, even people at work or even those reps whom I work with. You sent them to warn me and get me all prepared. I'm not saying that i'm prepared, but Lord at least You are helping me to get prepared. A big thank you and a good bear hug to You!

Life is Fragile.

It is never smooth-failing and will never be.

But if we hold on to God's hand, He will never let harm come and befall us.

Whatever or How hard the trials may be, He will always provide a way out for us.

He is reaching out His hands for us

But are you reaching your hands out to Him as well?

The midnite mushroom chicken pie

Yummy!

Another family pic in a year.

Nevertheless, thank God for all His blessings upon us throughout all our lives. Never once did He leave us to fend for ourselves. May our family be a living testimony to all others.

psstt.. another one would be coming next year.

I've just done some calculations on my salary and lifestyle check! And bleahh!!! I WANT TO RETURN MY PR now!!! the reality check just hit hard and I found myself being poor right away! Crap with all the CPF for future... as much as it's a good scheme but come on, it should be an optional kind of thing. I'm already saving up so much and I dont want to disturb that and with that 20% or more going to the CPF, i'm really poor now.. I barely have enough for myself!!! DANG!!! Because of the PR, i think i can say bye bye to my hope for owning and financing a car all by myself! AGHRHGH!! (Nat!!! Dont fall into the trap!!!).. and not only that... I may have to readjust my lifestyle! arghhh I need a pay raise! SUBSTANTIAL PAY RAISE please!!!!

Please convince me again why I took it up! I can only remember one thing being easier to get another job without the hassle of MOM! Now I'm having second thoughts! I would rather be queueing up and keep renewing my E-Pass rather than giving up that portion of pay!!!

The view from the new toy! =)

What a saddening news this morning, when suddenly all the facebook status updates has been all about the bombings of Ritz Carlton and JW Marriot in Jakarta. What more can happen in Indonesia. The idiots who initiated the bombs really have no brains or are just so deluded in their self righteousness that human sacrifices is deemed trivial to them.

It's been a few years since there is peace and then this happens in Indo. How are we ever going to move forward if we still have people like the extremist who foiled and blocked our way towards progress. How are we ever going to be perceived as a safe country or reliable?

My heart goes out to the innocents who were killed. Those who woke up this morning and thought that it was a good day and were still eating midway when the bomb exploded.

My favourite town of all, Nice. I would go back there again one day!

These are the joys of Europe.

I know, you must be thinking, food is so inevitable with me. But hey they give me joy and make me all smiles. I love good food and I guess it's a passion for me already. Though my expectation was much higher, but it wasnt utterly disappointing either. I must say that really and truly, food is the thing that can make me go all smiles and happy. The joy of eating something really good is just truly satisfying. It makes everything else worth while. I know that many people would just be able to eat anything, but to me eating is a lot of appreciating the cook, the skills, the goodness of the ingredients and also most of foremost the fundamental of cooking is the thought that counts when the cook makes the food.

I believe that food is an art. I truly am able to appreciate food more than appreciating the paintings and all the museums, and all the works put into building a church. I know that they are more mighty things, compared to food. But cooking also need a lot of creativity and thoughts and also love in order to make something yummy, delicious and something for people to go 'Ahhhh'. Other than just being able to present well, taste matters most to me. The looks can be secondary. Because once the taste has the 'oomph' factor, i tell you, the look is not important. The cover is no longer important. In fact, the taste would just get stuck in the head. I regretted not taking a picture of the kebab that I had in London. The shop was small and not a shop that I would normally go in and have lunch. None of the menu pictures actually looked appetising, the menu was in fact greasy. When my order of kebab came, one bite and it won me over! The meat was crispy and at the same time tender. The fillings was overflowing, the lemon juice lifted it to another level and most of all I was in ninth sky after that first bite. I tell you the taste is still stuck with me even after 3 weeks! In fact whenever I passed by other kebab stalls, I wondered if it would taste the same.

Anyway it's lunch time now and the thought of the kebab is making my tummy rumble! So let's stop the thoughts here before imaginations run wild!

It's been a few days since I came back, and man I've been tired everyday. And my brain is only running on intel premium 1. It's tiring and sometimes frustrating to have forgotten simple things. I guess it may still be the jetlag side effect.

Being on the holiday had been fun! It's a time of doing nothing but walking around for sightseeing, discovering new things and experiencing something different, even if it's McD or BK. And maybe because of that my brain had gone into an idle mode. When i come back, there were quite a few things to do and it was actually quite hard to get it started thinking and reacting just like before.

Anyway, the holiday was really a wow experience for me. Just seeing all that many churches and museums, trying to understand French and Italian, and all the guessing when it came to watching the Italian television shows. At times, I get these feeling that I cant believe it that I've realised my Europe trip dream. I thought it would take me a few more years. Oh well, God works in ways we cannot tell or imagine. But i admit, it wasnt easy on the pocket at all, but like I said, God works in wondrous ways, I manage to get by with it.

I'm back from the trip.

I've became darker, and to make it worse, it's not evenly tanned.

Had a blast during the trip, seeing the things that Paris and Rome has to offer. But my best stay was over in Nice at the Southern part of France. It was relaxing and the most enjoyable place! Just walk anywhere and there's bound to be things to be seen. Like there was this place where it's a wet market by day and by evening, it's the most liveliest eating place that i found in Europe so far.

Okay anyway more stories later on......

Slight cough+super congested nose (runny and blocked at the same time) = 2 days MC.

The MC had been what I wish, but now I got the extra fever along and it's making me feel worseee than when I had hoped for MC. I tot I wont be so sick to this extent. Right now, I'm super super super weak! Can I recover in 2 days???

Monday got another round of hosting.. And I just remember, NEXT FRIDAY IS MY EUROPE TRIP!!!!!!!! Havent even gotten a list of things to bring yet.

Thank god, I'm getting my passport back on Monday with the visa as well. I was beginning quite worried when I checked the status yesterday and there was nothing.

Last night, somebody told me that it would be nice if our house downstair's kopitiam have the porridge from TakPo Chinatown, aunty's beehoon with shiok chilli, Fried Oyster from the Alexandra Village market, Prawn Chang Fen from Alexander Village and Crab in Salted Egg from CCK. It would be even better if we have nice restaurants like Werner's and Sushi Tei, just around the corner.

I just laughed!! Dream on...

Wow, a whole day meeting of listening to the whole Sales div is really tiring, especially when there's lots of figures, charts and goals. I am quite amazed at the person who prepared all those slides with all the numbers and charts and graphs. I wonder how many days does it take to collate all the data! At the end of the day, I was like having slight headache which comes from trying to stay awake as well as from seeing too much numbers and figures.

But I was awake and nervous when it was nearing my turn to present my slide in front of all the directors and the head of the sales dept. He was asking question and some of them are tough ones. But of course before the presentation, he was nice enough when he saw me down the hallway and assured me that he will not give too difficult a question, and he wont be that nasty to us. He was friendly and generally he was trying to slowly expose us to this kind of meeting.

In fact I heard that it was rare that the whole setting of the meeting was this relaxed. It used to be only a few people presenting but seems that there has been a different approach and more people and more newbies are getting the exposure.

Overall, I think it's a good experience and got to learn a bit about how Sales work out amongst different dept. Got to see for once a real direction of the company and really feel what it feels to work for the company and why we need to put lots of effort into it.

Well a busy 2 weeks had just passed and I'm so relieved today that finally I'm able to relax again. It was almost a week with almost no rest. At work, had trainings to attends, because of the trainings, we had our backlog to clear. And then there are a lot of pressing matters/issues with delivery, and then had one which required me to do some sizing from scratch. Boy! It was also a new thing for me. And it was quite a number of it. And then there was the visa application and they are really troublesome, especially with all the documents.

Finally today I was done and felt so relieved at the end of the day. Finally got back to being able to go home at 530. The rest of this week, is going to be interesting. My last 2 days include me going to this Sales quarterly meeting and doing a short 2 min presentation on goals for the next 3 months in front of the dept. It'll be an interesting meeting I suppose and a good one to fill up my "free" time for that days.

Pictures from JW Marriot Jakarta.

Just cant wait for the next trip! Muahahaha...

These pictures are taken while I was visiting Grand Indonesia in Jakarta. It is a really huge mall, about twice or thrice of Vivo city. It was really nice but it was really full of posh and branded goods. So I wasnt really interested in the window shopping at all. So I checked out the upper floors to see what is their specials cafes and food places. I was really shocked to see the decor and interior. It was WOW.

The choc martini welcoming was from JW Marriot Jakarta. I have more pictures in my camera, but those have to wait till I go back to Singapore before I can upload them into the computer. I had a really nice time during this trip. Had lots of fun meeting up with new people and colleagues, as well as meeting up with friends. I really enjoyed the time that I spent over in Jakarta working too. It was a nice thing to meet up with the people who I work with. They are really nice and pretty fun to talk to. I also learnt something from my colleague. He's a project pursuit which is basically a sales guy and I learnt how to talk to customer just by hearing how he talks and managed to convince customer. All I had to do after that meeting was to put it into writing. =) I guess it was weird for the customer not hearing me to speak in Bahasa and had to listen to my colleague in full English. It was advantagous for us though as most of the time, the Indons would somehow be intimidated by English speaking rep. They just get all tongue-tied and ended up just saying 'yes.. yess.. yes..' no longer rebutting and wanting their way.

It was a nice experience overall. I'm currently back in my own hometown for the weekend. Tomorrow night, off to Jakarta for one more night before going back to Singapore. A blissful week had just passed. It'll be time to start work again.

A fountain show at GI

I wasnt ard to catch a glimpse of it though.

Grand indo foodcourt

Just look at the decor of the place! I was pretty amazed at the extent of what they do for their mall

More of the food louver at grand indo.

Yes food louver. Obviously trying to sound atas like the louvre.

I thought i had a martini waiting for me.

It was just chocolates. I am bawled over by the hotel. More nicer pics n details once i am back.

Okay okay.
Those pictures were taken during my 2 nights stay over at Putrajaya Marriot outside of KL. I was there as part of the company plant training as well as familiarization. The hotel was really good, as it was actually more of a resort. It had golf course, swimming pool, tennis court and a lot more facilities.

The training was okay and it was pretty easy-going, thus had time to really enjoy the hotel. I went to eat at the Japanese restaurant and I was lucky enough to get the buffet deal which was supposedly only on Saturdays. It was a really good one. Had all the sashimi, less sushi, and more meat and teppanyaki stuff. Tempura was okay but the beef roll and the saba fish was perfect. The chawanmushi was also fantastic since it was really like really soft silken tofu rather than egg. It was not overly saltish but very light and delicate. The oyster teppanyaki was also good. However the garlic rice was disappointing as it was tasteless and rather mushy. They had cold soba, but it was not cold enough for me, otherwise it was decent. I love the fact that they have less sushi so that we can enjoy more meat stuff. It was nice. Miso soup was also fantastic and up to my standard.

Too bad I only get to enjoy 1 night dinner. My first night, I arrived pretty late and only ordered a club sandwich to ease my hunger. And then I had to come back today as I am going to be flying to Jakarta for more business trip. I will be staying at JW Marriot too. Next time I will try a different one. After the trip, I will be off to Surabaya for a weekend with the family, before flying back again to Singapore next Monday.

It's been a nice stay and R&R period over in KL, and now it's time to move to try the one in Indonesia.

PS: Pardon the brief description of the pictures since it was done thru moblog.

Well it seems kind of a bad timing that when I am going to Europe there are these things about swine flu all over the world. What a pandemic. But of course I have no plans to cancel my travelling plans UNLESS my company puts a ban to it or if it is really red alert situation over in Europe.

For me, this kind of thing is a matter of luck and a matter of how we take care of ourselves. If our immune is good and we take extra care with regards to what we eat and drink, I'm sure that we are in a better position of not getting it.

All that swine flu news is really spreading like wild fire. True it's a dangerous thing but I guess harping over the same news over and over again is not going to help, doesnt it? Just look at how everyone is buying all the medicine for this flu. Very soon, every self-medicating person, will just take in this Tamiflu medicine for common flu as well. Isn't it even worse that the bug is going to be immune of this medicine soon? Sometimes people do not think of these impacts when they self-medicate. I believe that it is okay for self medication when it comes to general cold but for this kind of virus, isnt it best to leave it to the specialist to help us decide it? Afterall, these people spent like 10 years of their lives studying this field! Just because we feel our body, doesnt mean that we know the state at which it is functioning.

So please please take extra care of ourselves at this point of time. Take the extra vitamins, drink more water, and exercise good hygiene.

My comfy bed

Did i mention there are 6 pillows ALL to myself. With comfy pillows and quilt. Superb

The inviting pool view

View frm my hotel room

The view from the new lens..

Yay welcome to my collections! And bring it on, Europe. =)

Damn, the weather is just getting more and more extreme at the moment. In the morning it can be so bloody hot! And the next moment, it gets dark and there's thunderstorm ahead. It's no wonder that more and more people are falling sick under these conditions.

Apparently sometimes, with all the weather swings, comes mood swings too. Weather just gets so madly hot that sometimes it gets you all irritated. And damn i hate the feeling.

Well I know for sure for the whole of next week, I'm most probably just going to be staying in the office during lunch time. The weather is just too terrible and it's annoying to be sweating under my office wear.

Yayy to shorter week and a long weekend ahead. Tomorrow will be having our monthly cousin's gathering over at Faith's. Up to date, the plan to have them monthly has been pretty successful. Last month was during my bday, this month good friday and probably next month is another gathering during Elaine's birthday since it is another long weekend.

It's been great bonding time for us as well as the kids. And now Faith, Elaine, Chris and I have also started to hang out together every sunday while waiting for the kids who are all in the children choir now. And it's a good thing to be in touch with them, cos they are really a bunch of fun relatives I have.

Thanks to them, I settled fine down here. Thanks to them, that I always have family love too. That's why I guess I'm lucky to have stayed here in their midst. Guess, our family trait/characteristic of being close to one another no matter how distant the relation is, is still present in our generation.

Does cheap air tickets neccessarily means that it's going to be a cheap holiday ahead? How about lodging, travel trap places, transportation, shopping? Dont they also play a part in one's travel consideration? Or has ticket price become the main factor of going to a holiday?

Sometimes I wonder, even if we do want to travel all over the place, dont we consider how much we are going to spend? Why go to the extent of travelling all over the place over cheap tickets rather than planning ahead and spend on 1 great destination which will require long holiday period and at least time to spend and really explore the place inside out.

I am not a person who is very very keen on many many small/short holidays. I have always preferred long travel plans. I think the upcoming Europe trip has been one of the shortest amongst the long holidays I have. Places like China, Hong Kong deserves to be explored in 1 week. But ask me to go to Penang, Genting, Bangkok, Redang, Hong Kong over weekend within a year, I think it's a waste of money. Once or twice are okay but too many is just too taxing on the wallet and the time. And truly, can we learn anything at all about the place in just short 3-4 days?

I guess to me travelling is all about immersing with the culture and I really embrace them and try to adopt some of them. Most of the time these things that I adopt are generally the food, though. Like after coming back from the US, i learnt about the mexican food and tried them all out. After spending more than 2 weeks in HK and China, I also adopted their way of cooking. Basically, my Chinese cooking skills got honed while I was there home-staying at my uncle's place. In my 3 weeks in Australia, I enjoyed the country life so much so that I am having plans that one day when I can, I will migrate there and live in the country! It was much fun being close to the nature.

Well I'm sure though Europe is gonna be like a really short trip to learn about each place, at least I'm hoping to learn a little something from the European. I'm kind of pretty excited about my long upcoming break! Although it wont be like when we were in uni, where 3 months were really a bliss, I am pretty sure, the 2 weeks would be enough to get me in a high mood. But of course, I'm dreading the visa process as usual. Hopefully it's a 5 year long kind of visa.

The little imperfections make them all perfect.

Things so trivial yet so important to be embedded in the memories.

Annoying at times and disgusting,

Yet, the imperfections are needed to make it beautiful.

It's been quite sometime since we had our last gathering. Feels so surreal that most of us are out of the student phase and we are no longer having any connection with Palm Gardens anymore. (Nat, did u also feel it or is it just me?)

Well, got the invite to Lysia's celebration. And it was quite a day with all that laughter and thanks to Tony for organising silly-but-fun games. Had quite a good laugh looking at how different people pose and how gullible Lysia is. Pictures are up in facebook. Somehow I can no longer rearrange them here. They must have changed something within this blogspot.

I like Hana's house. It's spacious and I must say it's ideal. I'm setting a target to have my own place in 3 years. I have been thinking about it for quite sometime and I'm getting more and more determined of it.

Well a week after being 24, still feels the same as before. Nothing has changed significantly. It was a normal day at work and then having a combined birthday party with Chloe at her house together with my housemates and my cousins. It was simple and fun. Elaine engaged Moses to do balloon art craft for Chloe's birthday in school and thereafter invited him over to join our dinner as well. At the end, even during our party, he was still making balloons. He made a SLR for me, an aeroplane for Samuel, which Uncle John ended up carrying and playing with it, then a butterfly fairy for Claudia, a little mermaid for Chloe and a gun for Nathan. Christine got a heart shaped balloons which we ended up teasing her. Faith has got her flower!

Then my folks came over after their trip to Phillipines together with my sis who came from Batam for the weekend. She cried like a baby when she had to go back. I guess it's really that boring and maybe cos she's just been too close to home. Had a pretty tiring weekend as a result but at least i got to celebrate my birthday with them.

Last week I've just decided to go to Europe with YJ! It's exciting yet scary! And a bit of heartache too, since I'm paying on my own!!! It's coming out from my own pocket. So have been trying to save up! The visa application is also complicated. They want many documents and proofs! But I will deal with that after end of this month. This coming 2 weeks is going to be busy weeks for me. Arrghh..

Well well, time to put some life into this blog. As much as I want to blog, I dont really want to just go on and on about daily work life. Work is as usual. I'm still enjoying it and leaerning more and more about it. Learning new things about all the plant processes, applications as well as how we can help the customer or our reps to secure orders. It's been interesting interacting with different people, talking to them, getting to know them and their styles. So far, it's been good. And like I said before, I truly feel blessed to have God's guidance to this phase in life.

Nowadays, Ong and I have found that bringing our own lunch to office, is not only cost-saving but it's one of our favourite things to do in the office. We get to do our own things at our own, not that we cant normally. Just that we are more free! We can have our lunch and then go for a walk at the park, or hang around for a while in McDonald's, or we can be watching movie while eating in. We are already thinking of watching drama serials during lunch. Maybe we can bring the "Little Nyonya" disc and start watching that. Hehe.

Recently I'm having thoughts of getting new laptop for personal use. But maybe I should not entertain that thoughts. I should go and save up for my lens first. I also got my trips to consider. Nah! I will just save it up first. It actually feels good to be able to pay for all my own expenses without relying on having to ask my parents for it. All the time spent to work for it and using my own hard earned money is really sweet. And of course a lot of thoughts and considerations have to be made before we committ to spend it.

Hmm.. I must save more more. I have so many things that I wanna get and of course, I'm saving up so that I can afford paying up the installments should I decide to buy a house. I've been thinking of it for a while now. I'm getting bored of paying rentals years after years when I can use the same amount to pay for a house installments instead. For now, car is not really at the must list yet, as I've more or less found that my place is really central. Somehow the reason of getting the car would just be to satisfy my want rather than my need. Then, I had the long distance home to consider for getting the car. Right now, it's hard to justify the need other than luxury and convenience, which is not always the case.

Bah... work time.. lunch soon! XD

Well, I havent been blogging. The past few weeks had been pretty much a relaxing time for myself. Just spending bonding time with the Wii, trying out all my games, trying to find time to watch movies, celebrated Feb babies birthdays, and also time to cook and whip up new things. Recently just managed to make my first tiramisu, and it was pretty good! Have also been trying out new recipes and all.

I really like all these life after work! It's really way better than a student's life! Though student's life has lots of holidays but after school we still have lots of things to worry about. For me now, after work, dont think that much about it and it's like I have all these time to bake, to stay at home, clean the house, play my wii and just chill. I dont even need to get out of the house that often anymore. This is life!! Finally I get to enjoy such luxury! All the simple things in life, my way and my style!

Pardon me, if sometimes I refuse to go anywhere unless it's Vivo. I know it's not fair, but lets admit it, Vivo also have everything. I dont really have to go to Orchard unnecessarily. So the next time if you need to meet up with me, please just meet me at Vivo. I dont really want to go elsewhere. =)

Ta-daahhh...

I'm on MC tomorrow. Have been having a very very bad cough all weekend and it got worse yesterday when I actually couldnt sleep because I have to sit up to cough. It's almost like asthma to me, with all that wheezing and all the need for support to cough. It's actually painful to cough too cos sometime it just got too hard and becomes painful. There was one bad one that I felt like the air in my lung actually got knocked out. Even tears strolled down when tat one bad cough happened. So I took MC so that I can be spared from irritating my colleagues in the office with all my coughing. How considerate... XD

Losing a friend is often seen as something sad, something that is full of regret or something that should not happen. But in my case, I AM GLAD THAT I FINALLY LOST her. It is one decision I NEVER EVER REGRET. Not once have I ever thought of mending it nor have i ever thought of making it up. It's too much DRAMA and too much CLICHE around it. Too much, too much, just simply too much. I prefer to keep things simple. I dont want another episode of rollercoaster and all the emo.

We have all grown up and I am glad that we go our own way! It's the BEST. Simply just stay out of each other's way. Good that she chose not to say hi to each other when we see each other. Glad that she thinks this way. At least just proved the point that she's that childish. Well whatever.

I am blogging it here not because I want to publicize things, but come on, this is the place where I can totally say anything I want and the place where i do my ramblings.

Havent got much work coming in these few days. Probably everyone else is also still in CNY mode. It doesnt help to transition from merry mood to down mood. Especially when im also lethargic and still recovering from food poisoning.

I had a great weekend with my family last week. We truly had a reunion when my Bandung sister came over with her whole family. My 2 nieces had definitely grown up a lot since I last visited them 2 years ago. We had a great catching up session and of course my parents were also very happy. Especially since their youngest granddaughters are around and want to follow them around.

Our 4 days was really packed. There was eating and more eating session. We basically eat almost every 2 hours. It was really madness. Then when we are home, we would be busy playing Wii. Evryone was basically in the room watching us play.

During our reunion dinner, we had a new addition to the family from this year on. Joseph and family had joined us and I think more or less he's now our godbrother. Even his cousin, Lenny also referred him as our relatives. SO now our CNY has grown even more crowded and merrier! We might need a bigger table for all our family dinners. Oh this year we even had a smaller table for the kids alone.

It's all good and fun to have a big family. And I hope next time the bond would still be there.

In case I dont have time to say this to all... GONG XI FA CAI! Happy Niu Year!!

NAT!!!!! FIUUUUU WIIIIIITTTTTTT....


WANTED!

ELIGIBLE BACHELOR FOR MY BESTFRIEND
(the one on the right)

Criteria:
Know Japanese,
Pretty Boy,
Not Clingy kind,
Humorous and fun!
Not afraid of 'brownies' (cockroaches),
Can win over her families and relatives,
Can swoon her over with your voice or singing,
Love CASH STUDIO,
Cash load would be preferred but will not be considered as a priority for selection.

To APPLY, drop me a note at my tagboard!

Simply, a Happy Day!
Not much to think, not much to ponder
All I did was just to chill and to enjoy
To breathe in the fresh air and to get some sun
To laugh and to play
Afterall, a simple life is all I need to be happy.

First successful attempt. Looks a bit burnt but it was still alright...

Baking is really not easy! So far i can make simpler desserts like fruit crumble, banana chocolate filo, custard. But things like cookies, it's really not easy! So far after 3 attempts, finally succeeded with one batch of butter cookies. Now am attempting to make my own lady's fingers, well if i overcook it at least it'll become egg drops. But of course I hope i can succeed. So far have flunked the first batch. The mixture is also too runny, probably because of too much egg white that I put in, or the eggs were not beaten till stiff enough.

It is really not easy!! Even desserts are easierrrrr...

Superrrr tired.. superrr duper tired... and i dont know why. Just so tireddd.. and exhausted. Maybe i've been sleeping too latee. argh.. tmr's sunday!!! i need more rest...

And so many things are coming up along with CNY.

Last week highlight: Tez's Birthday at TB hut!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TEZ!

Yes yes an update.

Well these few weeks lots of emails and works have been pouring into my inbox. No more sleepy or even free time. Well now after 2 weeks, more or less get the hang of things. But of course there are also something new to discover every 2-3 days. So this week I'm able to breathe abit easier. Last week was trying to adjust myself. Trying to learn the tricks and ropes from the senior. Furthermore he was away half the week over in Vietnam for work, leaving me 'alone' to handle the work and enquries that were coming in. But thankfully there are quite a few others who were around and managed to teach me a thing or two about it.

I even had my share of staying back late for work. One of Tez's birthday, which I was supposed to be home early and cook for her birthday dinner, and another was the next day, which I willingly stayed because I wanted to clear that load and to learn it slowly and grasp it. The one on thursday, was one which I sort of was forced and just cant make myself to leave early. I felt so bad as time passed by just thinking that the birthday girl was sitting by herself sipping her tea at the coffeeshop with Ben and Jerry melting with each minute.

Fortunately, things went pretty smoothly that night. Managed to cook the dinner in 1 hour time and had a great and relaxing night, especially with the jazz at the background, the dim lighting and the lit candles.It totally felt like a weekend! And the reality hits us when it was almost 12!!! It's only thursday!!! We had fun and a good time catching up with all the going ons, all the complaints about work, and some even went on about how they slack all 2 weeks long during their holiday back to Indo. It was really a torture getting up on friday!

This pic reminds me of Dancow's ad abt how this kid had to share his small share of cakes with so many of his mates. 1 small cake to be shared by 10 of us!! XD. It was deliberate! I made desserts too.

Friday had a party hangover, not because of any booze or anything! But it was such a great night, why do we still have to work on friday!!!! Anyway friday nothing much, just stayed back a while to try to learn the extra things that were not emphasized during the training over in Chennai. Then went home for some alone time, cooked for myself some pasta and made another round of thai salad with the leftover sauce from Tez's dinner. It was a good time to be at home and quiet and just be by myself. I was quite tired after all the activities in that week. I needed the lone time.

In the weekend, I went over to Batam (finally!) and stayed there overnight with my sis. It was quite tough going around and everywhere trying to find lodging for her. Thankfully, just at the last hour, we managed to just settle with the apartment and moved everything in for her. It was pretty worrying if she still cannot find a place. I was thinking of taking urgent leave just to stay with her and get her a proper place. But things turned out well and she's now quit settled in there. I hope in this short time she will learn to stand on her own feet and be more mature. At least just be able to take care of herself. It's a good way of growing your maturity!

Okay another update tomorrow! Something good and juicy! Something that probably will make you laugh when you hear the sillyness of it.