ThE LiFe oF A bOrInG AuDiToR

One almost done, another to go!!

2008-01-24T01:42:00.000+08:00

The peak which every auditor detests is here and mine is going to stay with me till the end of April. The peak would mean more late nights, lesser sleep, darker eye rings, lesser TV time and no life. Arghhhh.. Hope it ends fast..

First engagement was M1, a 2 weeks job. Din really started off well. All my seniors left and I was the only continuity. Was quite relief after knowing boss booked another senior on the job, but only for a week. On the first mon, my senior misheard my question and told me that she tendered. I really got a shock out of my life.

Worse thing was, my new senior was double-booked. She din have the time to come down to client’s place which i understand it’s not her fault, just that I feel so helpless without her. It was as if I’m the teamleader on the job. I had to answer my assistants’ questions, liase with client and report to boss. Was super duper stress. Really can understand how seniors feel.

First week, there was 4 of us. Second week, Darren left on mon and weiqi left on thurs, so only left dian n myself. Throughout the whole engagement was alright, everyone on the team did their very best and supported me.

Then came last Saturday night, I finally broke down. I couldn’t control my emotions and started crying. I kept thinking that I din do a good job, I disappointed my boss, I’m plain stupid, I din have enough knowledge on FRS and overall, I’m not a good teamleader. All negative thoughts started to overwhelm me.

Dian was shocked to see me crying n came over to comfort me. It took me a while to calm down. Then boss came over to ask if everything’s alright. Before I started to answer, tears started to roll down again. Boss patted my head and comforted me saying that I’m doing well and everything’s going fine. It’s a total embarrassment to cry in front of boss. But I couldnt help it.

Now I’m on a new engagement. Think it’ll be as worst, only good thing is, I’m well protected by a few seniors, so prob not as stress.

On a happy note, I attended jay’s concert on fri. My first time attending concert. The atmosphere was good and all the fans were very high. Enjoyed myself totally but wasn’t very satisfied cos the whole concert seems quite short, only 2 ½ hrs. Cant get enough of him. The next time he comes, I definitely would want to see him. Hopefully it’s not another 3 yrs. That’ll be a long wait.

A Brand New Beginning..

2008-01-03T22:45:00.000+08:00

Happy new year 2008!!

Times really flies. At the blink of an eye it's already 2008. Was thinking back abt my 2007 and realised that i din really accomplish much. There wasn't anything interesting and happening in 2007. How disappointing.. =(

New year = Peak period = One year older
Arghhh.. It's not something that i actually look forward too.

My 2008 resolutions:
1) To cut down on unhealthy food and exercise more often
2) To lose weight.. a definite must
3) To apply for my CPA
4) To have a better relationship with my dad
5) To find myself a special someone to be part of my life
6) To cultivate reading habits
7) To save money for travelling
8) To get a better job
9) To drive more often

As for my wishes, I sincerly hope that my family, friends and including myself is happy and healthy always. Last but not least, i hope there is world peace.. seriously. Without that, everyone would be adversely affected. *fingers crossed*

Xmas Parties 2007

2008-01-03T15:14:00.000+08:00

Oh boy.. Have been really lagging in my blogging. It's already 2008 and here i'm still blogging about 2007 events. How slow am i.. Here's my 2007 xmas gatherings =)

Part 1

First xmas gathering was with my sec sch friends. We had a chalet at Pasir Ris, all thanks to CS's father who managed to get the room. Initially wanted to invite all 3e3 classmates over for bbq but ended up not successfully. Haha.. so we kept it within our own clique.

That's a photo of my sec sch clique. Not all are here though. Rare appearance by Esther. Haven seen her for a very very long time. Hope that she can join us more often. Hee..

Sec sch friends with their other half. Haiz.. when am i able to bring my other half to gatherings..?

As usual, we had a gift exchange session. Bought a tigger handphone pouch and candy stick as a gift. Sab got my present n i got del's - famous amos heartshape cookie. It was simply tasty.

We had a game of charade. It was full of fun and laughter. Simply enjoyed ourselves.

Part 2

On the 22nd dec, met up with the hyflux ppl at zyn's house for a xmas gathering. To save the trouble of cooking, we catered the food and bought a logcake. Food was not fantasic, just acceptable, but the company was great.

That's all of us, the Hyflux team - alumni and existing members. Hmm.. too bad that the photo is not very well taken, it's a bit dark in there.

Oh wow.. all the xmas pressies.. amazingly, the most common present items are not found in there, e.g. chocolates, photoframes and towels. I got myself a marks n spencer moisturer from wanqing. I'll definitely put it to good use.

Played bingo that night. The rule was that, the last person to bingo has to forfeit. Being not very lucky at games, myself and winghei was the first to ganna the forfeit. Our forfeit is to dance together. It was super embarrassing.

All in all.. the xmas gathering was very enjoyable. All thanks to the organisers!! =) Hopefully we will have another one next year.

Part 3
Last but not least was a xmas gathering with my jc clique. As usual, we had the gathering at Shiling's house. So paiseh.. had to trouble her mum to cook for us every year. Her mum is real good at cooking. She prepared spaghetti, chicken wings, prawns and not forgetting tzepin's nuggets. Though it was a simple xmas fare, it was yummy delicious.

Bought a 6 colour lancome eyeshadow palette for shan. The xmas present i received that night gave me a real shock. It was a gift from JY. A 90 colour eyeshadow palette from bioskin. The palette was real huge, the size is like a small laptop.. quite intimidating. It's very seldom that i put eye shadow, prob once in a blue moon. But now with the 90 colours eyeshadow, i'll try to use them more often.. hee..

Thanks to all friends who made my xmas so special n fun!!

Farewell, farewell and more farewells..

2007-12-16T17:14:00.000+08:00

Had 2 farewell gatherings for the past few weeks. Haiz.. the peak is coming soon and that spells why the increase in farewell dinners and i think there will be more farewells coming. Everyone's leaving, Peak's coming, Stress level is going up..

2nd of Dec
Farewell gathering with the the hyflux team for Jennie and Wanqing. Went for KTV, then dinner at marche. Quite a lot of ppl turned up, the new team, existing team and the alumni. But too bad that not all stayed for both activities. It would definitely be more fun to have all of them around. Still, we had fun. At work, they are my colleagues, outside work, they are my friends who we can talk abt anything n everything.

Really glad to have known them.

Din really manage to take photos with my digi cam, cos wanqing bought a real pro camera, so we jus used hers. Will have to wait for her to email me the photos.

That's jennie n myself. One of my first few ppl i know from EY. One of my favourite seniors too. Will definitely miss working with her.

We'll be having the Hyflux Team X'mas Party on 22nd Dec at Zyn's house. Very looking forward to it. Hope it'll be fun!

14th Dec
This time round was a farewell dinner with the M1 team. Our manager aka boss was the one who initiated the dinner. Though it was planned quite long ago, but the venue n time was only decided on the day we meet. My first time liasing with boss directly, very nervous indeed. Quite paiseh that it was so unplanned.

Boss booked a buffet dinner at 7pm at Orchard Hotel. Managed to reached there only at 7.30pm. Cos of the traffic and waited for me at the office.. oops! It meant to be a farewell dinner for my seniors in M1 team : Elaine, Erly and Joyce. So wasted that Elaine was sick, so cant join us.

Dinner was alright. Wasnt as awkward as i thought it would be. Luckily, there is erly n joyce there who can make conversation. Haha, think it was my first time that i talked so much to boss.

That's myself, Erly, Boss, Joyce and Dian. Missing was Elaine (ex-senior) and Darren (new assistant)

Now, I'm the only continuity left in the new team. Hopefully, i can pull through the engagement without much difficulty. Wish me luck!

A letter from parent to child..

2007-11-09T00:19:00.000+08:00

Chanced upon this letter on a TV prog. It is a letter from a parent to his child. Very meaningful and touching indeed. So friends, do take some time to read this. I'm sure it'll touch your heart just like it did to me.

当我老了

当我老了不再是原来我
请理解我对我有一点耐心

当我把菜汤洒到自己的衣服身上时
当我忘记怎样系鞋带时
请想一想当初我是如何牵着你的手教你

当我一遍又一遍地重复你早已听腻的话语
请耐心地听我说不要打断我
从你小的时候
我不断地重复那个讲过千百遍的故事直到你进入梦乡

当我需要你帮我洗澡时
请不要责备我

当我对新科技和新事物不知所措时
请不要嘲笑我
想一想当初我怎样耐心地回答你问的每个< 为什么>

当我由于双脚疲惫而无法行走的时候
请伸出你年轻有力的手挽着我
就像你小时候学习走路的时候我扶你走路一样

当我忽然忘记我们谈话的主题
请给我一些时间让我回想
其实对我来说谈论什么并不重要
只要你能在一旁听我说我就很满足

当你看着老去的我
请不要悲伤
理解我支持我
就像你刚开始学习如何生活时我对你那样

当初我引导你走上人生的路如今你陪伴我走完最后的路
给我你的爱和耐心我会报以感激的微笑
这微笑中凝结着我对你无限的爱

After reading this letter, it brought me to tears and made me reflect on my attitude towards my dad. I seriously dun hate him, just that when i talked to him, it may seem that i showed no respect for him. But deep down, i dun feel that way. I respected him, cos he no doubt did his duty as a father and i can see that he put in a lot of effort in his business, hoping to provide us with a better life.

I'm seriously ashamed of myself on how i've treated him. I really must change, if not next time i'll regret. Definitely will regret. So from now, i'll constantly remind myself to talk to him nicely.

Hope it's not too late for the change.

Dinner n Dance 2007

2007-11-04T00:57:00.000+08:00

Annual company's Dinner n Dance was on fri @ Swissotel, The Stamford. Our theme was Moulin Rouge. But many din dress to the theme. Who cares..

I dun really like this kind of functions. Cos you will have to think of what to wear, how to style your hair and a lot of things to take care of. Quite troublesome actually. For this year's dnd i din buy new dress for it. Wore a dress which was bought in JC for prom, which i ended up not wearing during that time. It was rather tight, but dun care la.. dun wanna waste money, furthermore it's not easy to buy a dress that i can fit into..

Went to Twister to style my hair cos i thought my present hairstyle was messy and i dunno what to do with it. Just had simple curls at the bottom. Just like the one which i previously had.

Took quite a lot of photos that night, cos everyone looks so different, so pretty. So must take photos with them. And my old camera disappointed me.. the battery went flat. Haiz.. so sad that it cant last for the whole night.

Here are some of the photos in my digi cam.. =)

A photo of me and my bestest buddy in EY. Huishan never fails to entertain me. Hee.. totally enjoyed her company. Without her, my stay in EY would be even more boring.

This is part of the hyflux team: Sandra, me, Wanqing n Weiqi. Went through thin n thick with them. Totally love Wanqing's dressing. She had a hairband with a netted cloth covering part of her face and she even wore black gloves. She's so cool man. Haiz.. too bad that she is leaving us soon.

That's me with my tablemates @ A1 training, Banner, Huishan and Shujun. Come to think of it, there were 6 of us at the training table. And all of them are still in EY, just that one was overseas and one came very late. So proud that the 6 of us managed to pull through the difficult times.

Took a photo with my manager a.k.a Boss. He's my boss for almost all my big jobs, M1 n Hyflux.

My M1 team. Erly, my senior, soon to be ex-senior. Elaine, my ex senior. Will definitely miss them though sometimes they bully me cos i was the most junior. They never fail to bring laughter to the team. Missing was Joyce again. Haha..

Senior Huiyi and myself. I would say she's the most caring senior i have worked with. Everytime she will ask the assistants to go home first n she herself will slog through the night. Often bullied by us..

A photo with Jennie. One of the nicest senior i've worked with. She's super patient in teaching her assistants. Simply enjoyed working with her.

Still have some other photos with the others. Will upload them when i get hold of them.

All in all.. the dnd was alright. Just eat eat eat, drink drink drink and took a lot of photos.. =)

Hari Raya house visiting..

2007-11-03T17:42:00.000+08:00

Last saturday, we had our annual hari raya house visiting. Realised that i din make it to last year's visiting, cos of my work. Luckily for this year, i dun have to work during the weekends. Haiz.. what a job. Because of work, i missed this year's new year visiting too. Can anticipate that i have to give next year's new year visiting a miss as well. Cos it will be my peak. This year round, only went to Sab's and Fir's house. Also, Razee n Fauzi din join us. Din do much actually. Did a lot of catching up, played with sab's cute cousin and ate a lot of handmade cookies. A bit paiseh to trouble their parents to prepare the food.

As usual, we went to bowling after the house visiting. It is our usual hangout activity. Only had one game, cos we planned to go somewhere more interesting.

Del suggested to go to Meritus Mandarin Observation lounge to chill out. It was my second visit there actually. First visit was several years back. My aunt brought me to the Top of M Revolving Restaurant for my birthday. As the name of the restaurant suggest, u can enjoy the dinner and revolve round the hotel at the same time to enjoy the view of the city. Cant remember the experience though, only knew that it was very high-class and expensive.

The ambience at the lounge was very good. A nice and romantic place to hang out with loved ones. Ordered drinks and sat there to chit chat. Prices was reasonable, only slightly more expensive than cafes.

That's me and del with our cocktails. Alcohol taste wasnt very strong, it tasted more like fruit juice. It would be tastier if they put more liquor. Haha..

Here are the 2 couples in our clique. Del and Fir, Cs and MingEn.

Sw n Alvin. They were trying to act gay-ish, but it was a failure. Haha..

A group photo before we left. Too bad dora and sab cant join us. But it is ok, i dun mind going back there again. Really love the place. =)

Back to serious work..

2007-10-21T00:02:00.000+08:00

Have been back to work for 2 weeks le. For the first few days, i felt really horrible, cos my heart was still in Aussie. Miss my holiday there.

Din really had a good start at work. Fell sick on the first day of work. Cannot take MC and had to work late for the entire week. Had sore throat and cough. I reckoned that it was because i screamed too much when i was on those thrill rides in the themeparks. Shall post an entry on the trip when i get hold of the photos. Hope i can still remember what i did.

For my M1 team, i got the chance to work with 2 new assistants a.k.a. A1s, the new blood in the firm. One gal n a guy. Haiz.. i'm no longer the most junior member in the team. In another words, i have to guide them and show them the ropes. Really scared that i cant do a good job and that i'm not capable of it.

Haha.. quite scared of the new guy (Mr.D). Reason: He's very smart and outspoken. He likes to ask interesting questions and i have to crack my brains to answer him. Must admit that his questions really stimulates my thinking. But still i'm scared to give him the wrong answers and he'll be thinking how come his A2 is so stupid. I don't dislike him, just slightly intimidated. Very stressed to be working with him.

On a side note, the M1 team is going to dissolve. Our senior senior, Elaine left us on fri. Felt really insecure about her leaving, that shows how much our team relied on her for the job. Two of the seniors will be out of the job as well. That means, only me left, with the 2 new assistants. Heard that boss is gonna bring in a new senior but still.. i have been on the team the longest, for a year. As such, high expectations on me to know the client well. But i'm not.. Help me!! Totally not looking forward to the finals.. Can i handle it???

That's me, Elaine, Erly and the monkey that we bought. Missing was Joyce, another pretty girl on the team.

I will miss them..

..Sianz..

2007-09-24T16:58:00.000+08:00

Here i am blogging on a mon afternoon. Reason being, i was forced to go on leave again. Alr had abt 20 days of leave. I'll be on leave for 2 more weeks. So in total ard 30 days of leave.

Alr starting to feeling sianz being on leave. Have totally lost touch with work. There is nothing much left that i wanna do. Quite sick and tired of watching drama serials. So now, i've moved on to reading story books. That's is very rare of me. Hopefully it will keep me occupied for the rest of the week.

Think prob i've been slping too much. For the past few days, I had problems getting to sleep at night. I laid on my bed at around 1plus, tossed and turned, 4 plus still cannot get to sleep. Quite disturbing. I want to sleep early, but i just cant..

Finally, i'm going away for a holiday. My next stop is to Australia-Brisbane and GoldCoast. Will be flying there this coming fri night together with del. And this time round, only the 2 of us. Lesser and lesser ppl going on holiday together. Cos difficult to set a date where everyone is free. All are either busy working or studying. Anyway, we will be there for a week. Will be back on 4th Oct.

Bored.

The quitting season..

2007-09-21T15:59:00.000+08:00

It is now the quitting season. After getting the yearly bonus and promotion, a lot of seniors have thoughts of leaving. One of them is Meiting, one of the senior for my small job. Din really connected with her cos only worked with her for 2 weeks. But i must say that she's really responsible senior.

Quite scared to hear seniors leaving, esp those who were on the job with me. Cos it would mean that they need to handover their duties. Oh no!! Still have lots to learn from them.

Organised a farewell dinner cum ktv session 2 weeks ago for Jac. A few photos to share.

Weiqi and Jac with our big farewell card n gift.. All our blessings in there.. =)

Jac and myself.. Will miss working with her. She's always bubbly and cheerful. Will also miss her distinct laughter which easily influence ppl beside her to laugh together with her. Wish her all the best in her new job.

Here's the rest of the water team, current and ex members. Lawrance, Zhu Jie and Yuanxia joined us for dinner earlier but din stay for the KTV.

It was actually a farewell session for Uncle Jon as well cos he already tendered. But when i went back office, i was shocked to still see him. Then realised that he retracted his resignation letter. Staying till next year's bonus, he said. Chey.. we even gave him a farewell card n gift on that day. A very pre-advanced farewell.. haha..

One Litre of Tears

2007-09-15T16:07:00.000+08:00

Not too sure if anyone of u watched "One Litre of Tears". Think it is quite an old jap drama but i just recently watched it during my leave. Highly recommended serial, and i dun mind watching it another time.

A totally touching and meaningful story. I was brought to tears for almost every episode. There were so many scenes that touches my heart. So many thoughts went through my mind while watching. Indeed one of the best drama i have ever watched.

It was based on a true story of a 15 yrs old girl, Aya who was diagnosed with spinocerebellar degeneration, a rare and incurable disease. With this disease, the person will gradually lose the ability to stand, walk, speak, write and move. To monitor Aya's condition, the doctor wanted Aya to keep a diary. Recorded in the diary were all Aya's feelings and the obstacles she went through. Her diaries were later being published as a book and featured as a drama serial. At the end of every episode some photos of the actual girl was displayed. Photos of her as a toddler to becoming wheelchaired and bedridden. It hurts to see those photos..

The serial showed Aya, once a cheerful, sporty and bright girl gradually being hit and tortured by the disease. It was real sad to see her changing as the days, months and years went by. No longer being able to stand, walk, speak and write. Luckily she had very dedicated and hopeful parents and family who gave her support throughout. She fighted on with the disease for 10 years, and all her sufferings ended when she was 25yrs old.

At such a young age, she was being told that she had an incurable disease. All her dreams and hopes were dashed. However, she never gave up. She still persevered her studies and lived her life to the fullest till the very end. I must say that she was a very strong, determined and courageous girl.

If i were in her shoes, i dun think i can face the disease like how she did...

...Extended leave...

2007-09-15T15:09:00.000+08:00

When we cannot go on leave, we complain. When we are forced to go on leave, we complain. When we are asked to go on leave for a long period, we still complain. I think human beings are just too difficult to satisfy. Haha.. and i am one of them.

My leave was extended till next wed, but there might be a possibility that it will be extended again, cos there wasnt any job schedule for me for the next few weeks. Went back to office on mon and was told that our team cannot start on the job. The China job postponed, and now the Singapore job also postponed. Wonder what's wrong with the client.

My admin officer said there was really nothing for me to do so asked me to go on leave. Not very willing to waste my hard earned OT leave, but no choice *sianz*. Understand it's her job, so dun wanna make things difficult for her. She also quite poor thing, need to help us plan our jobs when there isn't any available. job to start with.

As usual i slacked at home. I think usually ppl will feel refreshed going back to work after their leave. But i think for my case i will feel very tired and lazy. Haha.. the result of slacking too much, sleeping too much and watching too much drama serials.

Already had 14 days of leave and still counting.

My leave..

2007-09-08T23:38:00.000+08:00

Had 2 weeks of leave. Finally can enjoy my OT leave. My second week of leave is being forced de, cos the china job cannot start yet, so admin officer asked me to take leave. No jobs assigned to me so no choice has to go on leave. We are just like a puppet.

Really had a good rest over the 2 weeks. Slept a lot, almost 8-12hrs everyday. But still feel very tired and lethargic at times. Maybe slept too much le. Felt like my brain is no longer working. Haha.. senior called to ask about work related matters, and it sounded very unfamiliar and foreign.

On one of the days, went to east coast park to cycle and blade with my sec friends. Cycling was very tiring to the legs but relaxing. Enjoyed the breeze but not the sun. The 4 of us tried blading. All of us are beginners. At first it was quite scary. Even had difficulty standing up and moving from the shop to the skating ring. The person had to helped the 4 of us, one by one to the skating ring. Quite funny and embarrassing. At first, we only skated beside the railings but after a while, everyone got more daring and tried skating in the middle. Haha.. luckily i never fall, maybe i'm too cautious and too scared to make big moves. As for my friends, think fir fell the most times and maybe that's why he picked up the fastest.

Haha.. A photo of Dora, myself, del and fir in our skating gears. Fully protected. Dun mind trying to blade again the next time. But then again, the guards doesnt look hygienic and the skates look old. The next day, i saw a blue-black on my arm, quite big. Not too sure how i got it though.

Watched 2 hongkong drama serials. Din really enjoy as much, cos it is in cantonese and i cannot understand. So i actually needed to read the subtitles. Quite sianz.. cos in that way, i cannot multi-task while watching the serial. But still i think their plot is much better than the taiwanese idol serials and the local serials. The artistes can really act.. they are just so natural. Too bad, it is not dubbed in chinese.

As i've mentioned in my previous post, i managed to go visit the specialist. She asked me to go for a blood test and referred me to a dermatologist. Will only get the blood test result in oct, hopefully everything is alright. Then at the derm clinic, she said my problem could be due to me having sensitive skin. So she gave me ointment to bring it down. Can see slight improvement. So i'm now not as worried as before. Thanks to my friends.. =)

Sianz.. one more day to work.. alr experiencing monday blues le..

Looking forward to my next leave.. haha..

My birthday celebration!!

2007-08-28T00:19:00.000+08:00

I'm officially 23 years old. No longer young and vibrant. Haha..

First birthday celebration was with my sec sch friends. Went to Eatzi Restaurant a.k.a Jacks Place at Yishun Safra for dinner. My first time there. Not a bad place, quite a few entertainment facilities. They bought me a chocolate cake.. yummy!! cos it's my fav!! Went for bowling after dinner. I must say that everyone's bowling skills has improved. In the past, we used to help clear the "longkang".. but now.. majority had spares and strikes..

My sec sch friends and their gfs. Really appreciate them taking time out to accompany me. Glad to have known them.

On the day of my birthday itself, only went for dinner at the Bubble Tea Restaurant. Then the next day, my sweet senior bought us chocolate cakes. Though it was belated, still sincerity counts.

Met up with my jc friends on last fri. Was quite an emotional day for me. A lot of questions asked and a lot of uncertain answers. Had a sharing session regarding the problem i'm facing. Nice to know that they are concerned for me.

Will have my verdict on tues.. haiz..

Jus an update.. =)

2007-08-10T23:56:00.000+08:00

hee.. naughty me.. haven been updating my blog faithfully. There are so many things i would like to share, jus that i'm not good at putting my feelings into words.

Not exactly very busy for the past few weeks, even can afford time to watch several drama serials. Had 2 weeks of training where i was able to go off at 5.30 sharp, or even earlier than that. It can be said to be the best period of my life in EY. Guess my next training wont be any time soon.

Watched Die Hard with my colleagues during my training week. Very exciting movie with climax throughout. This show made me realised that terriorism is so real, so near us and so destructive. Haiz.. why do extremist want to resort to killing innocent ppl..

Met up with my sec sch friends early this morning @9am to watch Rush Hour 3. Haha.. very unusual for our gang to meet up so early, cos we are all not a morning person. Must thank Raymond who gotten us the free movie tickets. As usual, majority of us was late and we had to sit at the first 2 rows. Quite uncomfortable but luckily the movie was good. Very funny and entertaining.

My birthday is around the corner. Used to look forward to it during school times. But as i grew older, i jus feel that it's jus another normal day of my life. Prob because i'm old now and also i dun have a particular special one to celebrate my birthday with. Hmm.. maybe i dun even have the chance to wait till that day to come. For this year, i should be meeting up with my close friends for jus some simple dinner. No special one but luckily i have special friends around me!! Love them always!! =)

Stupid me.. have been feeling emotional these few days again. So many negative thoughts in my mind. Tried to shake it off, but it still stays. When i say i'm ok, am i really ok? I also duuno cos that's the question i've been asking myself.

Time flies..

2007-06-26T23:16:00.000+08:00

Received my promotion and bonus letter today. Have mixed feelings abt it.. feeling both excited and happy yet depressed to a certain extent. Cos during the past year, i have gained a lot and also lost a lot..

I've gained in terms of getting to know and work with nice colleagues, the accounting knowledge, the valuable working experience and not forgetting the money earned.

Lost quite a fair bit too. Like my health, sleep, time for my family, friends and myself. Money cant buy all of these. So i'm not sure if it's a good thing to get promoted. Cos i know that with the promotion, i will lose more of those.

It has been quite some time since my previous post. Friends have been msg-ing me to ask how am i and also if i managed to visit a doctor. Friends, thanks for the concern. Really appreciate, however i'm still not ready to share what i'm going through. Never even have the courage to tell my parents, afraid to make them worry. I dun want to be a burden to them and i dun wanna let them down.

Sad to say, i haven seen the doctor. Everyday, when i can go home early, i will tell myself that maybe i should just step into the clinic. But everytime, i ended up hesitating in front of the clinic and decided to just take a bus back home. So sometimes, i would rather stay in the office till late, so that i dun have the time for the negative thoughts.

On the outside, i might look strong and tough. But inside me, it is totally the opposite. I would try to be happy everyday, cos nobody knows what lies tomorrow..

.........

2007-06-04T22:42:00.000+08:00

i'm getting worried.. worried for my health.

I can sense that something is real wrong, but i just dun wanna and scared to face the reality.

Feeling undecided abt seeing a doctor. Haiz..

Rather emotional today. My tears was rolled down very easily today.. when i was waiting for the bus and also when listening to a song by Cai MinYou on campus superstar. Direct translation of the song name is "I can do it".

Hmm.. i really not sure if i can do it. Maybe it's just my fate. What to do..

Life updates.. =)

2007-06-03T22:57:00.000+08:00

hmm.. it has been a month since i last blogged. Nothing much happened during that month.

One on of the fridays, i attended AABS22 post peak chill out session at St James Power Station. It was my first time there.. quite an eyeopener cos i seldom go to such places to club/pub. Music and the drinks there were cool. Haha.. saw some of my colleagues got drunk. The feeling must be real terrible. All vomiting and dizziness. oohh.. luckily i can hold my liqour quite well, must be the dad's genes. Really wanna to go there again to chill out.

Oh yes, recently i invested in the gym membership at Fitness First. Main purpose is to lose weight of course. My second priority is to be healthier. Ever since i started working, i really feel that my health is deteriorating. All the late nights, early mornings and irregular meals. So i hope that with that exercising, i can get back my health. Also, i realised it does helped to take my mind off work, esp when attending their lessons.

They have lots of classes e.g BodyCombat, BodyStep, BodyJam, Fitball and B.U.T.T camp etc. My fav is BodyCombat. There's a lot of karate moves and i can kick and box my way through. Good way to vent my frustration at work.

Attended my first bodyjam class today. It's more of a dance class then a workout class. A lot of dance movements have been choreographed to work out the muscles while dancing. It was a total disaster for me cos it's first time "dancing". Real bad hands and legs coordination i must say. Nevertheless, it was enjoyable and fun!! Enjoyed every moment, though i know i looked totally clumsy. Gonna attend more lessons to brush up the skills. haha..

So friends remember to jio me along for gym workouts.

Finally.. its slightly off peak!!

2007-05-02T22:12:00.000+08:00

Blogging on a weekday, so rare isn't it?? Haha.. my title says it all. Actually its not really non-peak, there are still tight datelines to meet just that life now is slightly better. No more very late nights and early mornings. Well, at least i can take the train home instead of a cab.

Dunno why.. during the MRT ride back today, my emotions overcame me. People around me are either with their special/loved one or with their kids. And me, a 23 yr old gal is so alone. How nice is it to have someone there to share your joy or sorrows after work, how nice is it to have that someone to carry your heavy laptops and lending you his listening ears?? When will that someone enter my life?? Or maybe in this lifetime, i might not have the chance to meet him at all.

Read shan's post on our group blog which has been long neglected. Haha.. the last post was in Dec 06 for the purpose of organising our yearly christmas gathering. Anyway, shan posted some photos we took some time back which i cant rem exactly when was that.

All five of us. Guess how did we manage to take this photo without asking help from passersby..?? Tada.. Haha.. dun think you would have guess it, the camera was on the rubbish bin, which acted as a tripod. It was totally embarrassing, ppl looked at us, and maybe thinking what's wrong with us.. too desparate to take a group photo?? haha.. it turns out to be quite nice taken..

Met up with the girls on fridays fortnightly. Really enjoyed hanging out with them. However, sometimes, when i am with them, i just have this feeling of being so inferior. Not only, they are pretty, they are smart. At times, i will think, what brought us together since they are so so different from me. My conclusion : fate. So proud and lucky to have them as my friends. Will definitely treasure our friendship.

Cant wait to see you girls this coming fri. So paiseh.. for every gathering, i'm late without fail. haha..

Grandma's birthday!!

2007-04-28T23:59:00.000+08:00

Finally this weekend dun need to work. All thanks to our "wonderful" client who din provide us with anything to work on.

In a way, that was good for me cos i had a lunch appt with my grandma and relatives. A birthday lunch celebration for my grandma, so definitely must attend. It was a daughters affair whereby all her 5 daughters will her out for lunch. Her 6 sons will then put together some money and get her a present. How nice..

Had lunch at Kublai Khan Mongolia BBQ restaurant. It turned out to be a real disaster. Not only the food was not very nice, it was very crowded. It was filled with tour groups from Korea, China and Indonesia. Cannot believe it.. there were more than 300ppl in there. It is sorta buffet but the food there is so limited, the only thing i like is the mongolian bbq chicken with a lot of veges. Food there was rather salty and according to the waiter there, the food was catered more to the taste buds of Koreans and China ppl. Haha.. knowing that we might not be used to the food there, they specially prepared 2 dishes (prawns n vege) for us. Heard that dinner has better variety.

I thought Singaporeans are kiasu, but those ppl i saw today aren't any better. While i was queuing to get the food, i happened to see a middle age guy took out the styrofoam box to tapao food. He wasn't discreet at all, he was tapao-ing in the buffet line. Oh my goddness.. i can't believe that.

Highly not recommended cos it's more catered to tour groups.
Here are some photos we took after the lunch.

Grandma n her 5 daughters. So which one is my mum??

A photo of grandma, daughters and some of her grandchildren.

Short getaway trip to Bangkok..

2007-04-10T23:11:00.000+08:00

Back from Bangkok safe and sound. Security there isnt that good, better not talk to any strangers who approached you cos you never know where they will bring you to. Nearly deceived by them. haha..

It's always a relief to be back home cos there is no place better than home.

My 2nd visit to Bangkok after 2 years. This time round i went with del and fir. Ppl may think that it may be a little awkward to go on a trip with a couple. But i'm perfectly ok with that... haha.. had a strong feeling to find a loved one to go for holiday together too. Hmm.. wonder when will that happen..

This time round, it's more of a relaxing trip. As usual we went for shopping, ate good meals and enjoyed 2 massages.

First massage was at Samsara Spa which was near Chatuchak. Had problem finding the place and we actually walked past that spa 2 times without knowing it. Just as we were about to give up and walk to Chatuchak, Del spotted that spa. It was hiding in one of the back alley. Though the surroundings doesnt look good, the spa itself was good. The ambience in there was perfect. Dimmed lights, spacious room, good service and delicious fruits. In the massage room, there was even a personal jaccuzi. However the price was relatively steep, 1300 baht for 90mins. Highly recommended.. hee..

Haha.. that was mine first massage in my life. A bit embarrassing cos we were only wrapped in towels. The massage was really good and relaxing that i fell asleep at some point.

Went to Health Spa for our 2nd massage. It was located in the city area and it was a stand-alone builiding which was very grand looking. This time round, we tried out the traditional thai massage. The whole session was a bit funny, cos it was quite ticklish when the masseur pressed on some points. There was a lot of stretching and bending and i heard quite a lot of cracking sounds. Quite worth the money, cos it's 450baht for 2hrs.

The next day, i experienced the after effect of the thai massage. My calf muscles were seriously aching. So i think it's actually better to go for the massage on the last few days of the trip, if not, it would be difficult to shop for the whole day.. haha.

Shopping there wasnt that fantastic, only managed to get some accessories, small bags and bottoms. Very disappointed cos i only bought a pair of heels and also i din even buy any working bags.

The trip was generally good. Haha.. still in holiday mood.. dun feel like working le..

I wanna go on another trip!!!

Night Out with Credit Card Team

2007-03-19T00:07:00.000+08:00

Finally the 2 weeks engagement at the credit card company ended. Though the account assistants are nice to us, they are quite slow and ignorant of their work. They dun seem to know what they are doing, or should i say, they just follow blindly. Hahaha.. that sounds like me too..

Haha.. had quite a shock when i working in the building. On my 2nd or 3rd day there, we felt tremors which was caused by the earthquake at Sumatra. It was actually scary. Cos it is a very old building and it very looked very "lok cok". So when the building was shaking . End up all the staffs had to be evacuated, not once, but twice. It is quite an experience for all of us. Luckily we are at the 3rd level only, can you imagine if we are at ORQ?? 13 storeys down to the lobby..

Last fri, on the last of our engagement, the credit card team organised a KTV session. Not really close to all of them cos i only got to know them for 2 weeks, except for HS, my best buddy at EY. So i went along with them. Never did i know that it was my most happening KTV session.

During dinner time, all of them already quite high lei. Laughters were like non-stop. We were all very amazed at how HS behaved. She is super funny, really entertained everyone. Haha..

At K-box, we ordered alcoholic drinks instead of the usual bubble teas or soft drinks. We ordered long island tea, vodka sprite, green tea mixed with chivas. We opened a bottle of chivas, and we managed to finish it with a few hours. Can see how much we drank.

After a few drinks, i must say everyone became very high. we started to talk very loudly, laugh very loudly and stand on the sofas singing. Quite surprised at how my 2 seniors Eli and Oli behaved, a totally different person. Very serious working seniors in the morning and party like crazy youngsters at night.

The best part of the night was that my guy colleague got a bit drunk. He doesnt sing, so he just sat there drink and play finger guessing games with the seniors. He lost quite many times so he must have drank quite a fair bit. Haha.. heard that he threw up a few times and stayed in the toilet for quite a while.

Everyone really had fun. It's totally a very new experience for me. Drinking at KTV session and getting very high but definitely not drunk. It's actually nice working with a big group of people, as there will usually be gatherings after the job engagements. Looking forward to my next gathering.

Hee.. Slept at 4 in the morning, and woke up at 5 in the afternoon. Shiok man!!

Water Team Gatherings

2007-03-04T23:22:00.000+08:00

Finally the long dreaded job engagement ended. It's really sucky. All the team members also think so, they all cant wait to get out of it. Not only the client is nasty to us, the accounts is also very messy and complicated. But i really enjoyed working with my team mates. They are super cute, super funny.. Without them, i think the engagement would be a total torture.

At the end of the job, there are 4 words/phrases which i hated and they are "adjustments", "drafts", "reclass" and "tying of figures". They are never-ending =( Really a nightmare!!

The long awaited announcement was on the last day of feb. It was a relief for everyone of us, including my other EY colleagues. Life is better after the announcement, earlier dismissal time. We also had a few activites lined up.

First in line was a karaoke session at Chinatown. Cutie and Wendy came to join us. First time hear uncle and cutie sing, very funny i must say. Think the both of them also quite paiseh to sing, cos i believe they seldom go KTV with their friends. My team mates have beautiful voices and they all like to sing. Everytime during work, they will hum to the music that they are listening to. Uncle even commented that they sounded like the houseflies in the "Journey to the West" show. But after hearing them really sing, think he prob have second thoughts abt his comments, cos they sing real well.

On Friday, the last day of the job, our nice nice senior gave us, the assistants, a treat at Bugis Sakae to thank us for the hard work. Seriously, dun think there is a need though, cos they worked even harder than us.. haha.. so we decided to buy them apple strudel and starbucks in return.

Here are my water team members, short of uncle cos he's the photographer. Hmm.. it seems that we are all of the same height.. but we aren't. Really love this photo.. cos everyone is smiling so happily, and it's very well taken.

Now it's a complete team, 9 ladies and a guy. Think uncle sometimes also quite poor thing, surrounded by us, listening to all the girls talk.

On sat, Zyn senior invited us to her new house at Boon lay, it is super far away. It's sorta pre-housewarming, cos they haven't officially move in yet. Din know what to get for her so we ended up buying a nicely coloured teapot (it's more of an ornament). Her house is well furnished and i like the deco, it's so purplish (one of my fav colour). There is a sports hall just beside her house, how nice it is, so convenient. Had a poker game at her place and surprisingly, i won a few bucks.

Tml i'll be on a new job working with new ppl. I'll definitely be missing my water team members.

Sidetrack a bit.. I'm getting a new laptop tml. But is it really new or is it those that are being passed down by those resignees, that one i dun know. I only know that i shouldn't get my hopes too high on that.. Haha..

Chinese New Year!!!!

2007-02-20T01:24:00.000+08:00

Happy New Year to all!! =)

Not in a festive mood at all, cos need to work on the past few weekends, then no time to do my new year shopping. Super sianz.. But what to do.. Still have to bear with it for at least 1 more year or so.

New Year Eve

As usual, went to grandfather house for reunion dinner and we had steamboat, my fav. We had some special guests. 5 air stewardess in the making, 3 Indians, 1 Indonesian and 1 Malaysian. They are my cousin SIA's coursemates, so he politely invited them to join us for dinner. Haha.. my cousins, dad and aunty did their part in introducing them to our Chinese culture and traditions.

First day

Typical chinese family.. All dressed in shades of red.. home filled with red decorations.

First stop was to Grandfather's house, then to grandma's house. Had a photo taking session with my cute fav cousin.

Isnt he adorable?? Haven seen him for quite a long time le. Now the way he talks also quite cute and innocent. haha..

Went over to grandfather's house for dinner and mahjong session. I can't believe my luck for that night. I was the big winner. Initially we all had 40 chips each, then end up me having more than 100 chips. But we din play real money, so no point happy that i wont. haha..

Second Day

When i was a kid, i used to love the second day of new year. Reason being that we will visit a lot of houses, and collect lots of angbows. But now, it isn't as fun as it used to be. More relatives chose to go overseas to "avoid new year", granduncle passed away a few months ago, so the family are not really keen to celebrate the new year.

But still we went visiting a few granduncles and grandaunt house. So we just sat there to eat, talk, eat and talk. Quite boring actually.

Last stop for the day was at my 6th granduncle's house. Every year they will cater buffet and invite all of us there.

Think all the adults looked forward to going there, cos they will play blackjack. But for the kids, we played some boliao games like heart attack, poker and mahjong. Still, i spent most of my time eating, eating and eating.

Haiz.. holiday always passed so fast.. soon i'll be back to the dreadful work.

Working life = No life

2007-02-20T00:13:00.000+08:00

haha.. the title has been my msn nick for the past few weeks.

Super no life at all. I'm either working or sleeping, dun even have the time to watch my TV programs. No time and energy to do my new year shopping. But anyway, i still managed to get 2 tops.

Cutie's Last Day of Attachment

Last fri was the last day of our vacation trainee, an SMU undergraduate in the making. Really enjoyed working with "cutie" for the past few mths. Weird nickname right?? Thanks to jen who gave him such a nice nice nick. Really fun seeing him being bullied by jen and jac. Haha..

Went for a farewell lunch with him at bugis on thurs. Ate at a japanese restaurant, Ma Maison (not too sure abt the spelling though). The experience of dining in there wasnt exceptionally good. There wasn't much variety to choose from, the waitress made a blunder causing a majority of us ordering the wrong food and the food quality is just average.

Cutie Boon is the guy sitting on the right hand corner. He is cute, isn't he. Though he is one year older than me, i treated him as though he is younger than me. He is also very sweet, bought us 3 packs of Royce chocolates. We are not bad either, gave him a treat and a farewell card. Haha.. doesnt he look happy and glad that it was his last day, leaving the terrible job??

ZP n Shan's Birthday Celebration

Had a short break on fri night, met up with my jc friends for 2 birthday celebration. Luckily managed to go off early if will kanna scolding by them.

Pretty friends posing happily with their birthday gifts.

Hang out at coffee bean, we super not paiseh, sat there for ard 2 hrs without buying anything from there. Haha..

Did a lot of catching up, shared my lame jokes and complained a lot abt my work. Really feel good chatting with all of them.

Miss our jc days where we can go shopping in the afternoon after our classes. Haiz.. Those were the days...

The peak is here!!!

2007-01-15T00:07:00.000+08:00

Phew.. my first job engagement for year 2007 finally ended.

It was really a torture. Imagine working till 2 or 3 am and waking up again at 6 plus for work again. Only 3 hrs of sleep per day. Cannot even sleep peacefully, cos i kept dreaming about trial balance, bank statements and accruals. Hee.. work is real haunting..

How can someone be clear minded when sleep is not enough. Well.. my record for the being is working till 5.30am on a sunday. Luckily i dun have to go back work.. if not definitely cannot take it man!!

When i was on the cab on my way home at 5plus, my tears uncontrollably rolled down. Dunno is it because i'm too tired, too stressed or too relieved.. On the cab, i kept thinking back.. thinking back about the things i did for the last 2 weeks. Think the taxi driver also find it a bit weird to see me crying.. haha.

How can we not work late? The whole engagement is scheduled to be completed within 2 weeks, however the client only provided us the trial balance at the end of the first week and not all the schedules are ready. It was really bad.

Think i really did a bad job this time. Made a few blunders. The most unforgivable one would be sending the bank confirmation for the wrong company. I stupidly added a "Pte" to the name of the company. As such, the bank replied that there wasnt such company. My boss knew about it but luckily he wasn't very unhappy. But then.. it wasn't entirely my fault. Cos the bank confirmation was prepared before i joined the company.. But then i felt bad cos i din really check it before sending out. Haiz.. stupid me.

My next job in line would be at the water company. Think it would another round of waiting, waiting and waiting.

Why is it so unfair?? Even my Mobile client was telling me that it is part of the auditors job to work late. Why is this so?? Our contract stated the working hours is from 8.30 to 5.30. My parents are quite worried about my health when they see that i'm not getting enough rest. What to do.. guess i'll have to tolerate this for the next 2 or 3 months. Hopefully things will get slightly better.

Take care ppl.

Xmas Season (part 2)

2006-12-24T02:04:00.000+08:00

Attended my uncle's wedding lunch at the function of his condo.

Handsome groom and pretty bride. Think the bride is very lucky to marry my uncle. He is the Mr. Nice guy in our family, and quite well to do too. So envious of her.

Very nicely taken wedding photos. Impressed of the design and layout of the photos. They must have spent a bomb on the wedding photos and wedding gowns.

Went over to look at my 3rd grandaunt's newly bought house which initially cost $2.4m.. but they managed to buy it at 1.79m..

Another super rich relative of mine. Two living rooms.. they even have an attic which is super big. Can put close to 3 snooker tables.. ideally good for yoga classes and family activities.

4 ppl n 2 dogs living in such a big house. Effectively 3 person only, soon to be 2.. Cos their son n daughter going overseas to study. Think it is very impt to marry someone with good prospects. It is okay if they are not well to do when they are young.. at least they must have the drive and passion to keep on improving.

Had a xmas gathering with sec friends later in the evening today at JY's hse.

Ordered pizzas, KFC, turkey ham and the turkey itself. Had a hard time slicing the turkey and turkey ham. Not me of course. Must thank del and alvin for taking up that difficult task.

Din do much.. some played mahjong, scrabble and daidee.. wa.. all so intellectual.. everyone exercising their braincells. Too bad that sab, razee n fauzi couldnt join us..

JYG as usual sent us back home using his mini bus.. so nice of him.. haha

The sEaSon oF gIviNg (Part 1)

2006-12-24T00:48:00.000+08:00

Advance Merry Christmas to everyone!!

So happy that we had half day leave on fri. Super relaxed friday. Only had to attend a seminar at NTU alumni club.

Went out for a movie with colleagues after the seminar. Watched the curse of the golden flower. The story not say very nice. But the settings very grand. Haha.. think it is very funny to watch jay chou act.. especially those "gan qing xi". The audience even laughed when the focus was on him. Hmm.. he better stick to singing. The movie is a bit lame and gross.. with all the blood gushing n splashing out. But still have to commend on Gong li's acting.. she's no doubt a pro..

Met with my jc friends for a mini xmas gathering. Venue: Shiling's hse.. have been going there for xmas gathering since J1..

Bought food there. We had crystal jade, yakitori, XXL chicken and logcake. Yummy yummy!!

The person i got for gift exchange is JY.. Think i got her the last year too.

Bought her a bag that she should be able to bring it to work. As for my gift, ZP bought me a set of MAC lip gloss. Haha.. Even before i can take a closer look, the 4 lip gloss are gone. Think my other jc friends are more excited in seeing them.

Played mahjong. No surprise that i'm the overall loser. Wonder what has gotten into me. My luck or my skills?? Haiz..

Went home at ard 2.45.. was alr very tired le, still have to wait outside my house for 15mins. Not that i dun have keys, just that there was this stupid flying cockroach near to my door. Called my bro for help, then he was happily talking on the phone and not picking up my call. Haha.. so i ran here n there to avoid the flying cockroach.. tried to open the door with trembling hands when it landed at my neighbour's shoe rack. Nearly cried out when scolding my bro for ignoring me..

So tired!!

Company's dinner n dance!!

2006-12-17T21:21:00.000+08:00

Attended my first company's dinner n dance last thurs.

It wasnt particularly fun. Was a tradition in the company that all the year 1 assistants have to put up a performance and it will be sort of a competition between departments.

Din have to perform, was only involved in the backstage making props and arranging props. Din really have to dress up.. only have to be in all black.. Good for me, if not i'll have headache on what to wear. So i only wore my black shirt n pants. Think i'm prob one of the most dressed down ppl in the ballroom. Haha.. the theme for the DND was Red Carpet - glamourous!!

Ended up not winning the competition and lucky draw. Tax department was the overall winner. Haiz.. too bad that we din manage to see all the other depts perform. Nevermind.. next year can sit peacefully at the table enjoy the dinner and performance.. but provided i'm still with the company.

Did something silly during my leave. I curled my hair!!! I dun really like it at all. Looked very old n terrible. Went back to the stylist a week later to ask for rebonding. But the stylist persuaded to keep it for a few months cos it will be very damaging to my hair if i rebond..

Below are some photos with my new hairdo.. I must say that i've pretty colleagues n friends..

Bowling session at Marina Square

Oh no.. the peak period is coming. Really must enjoy my xmas n new year!!

Yippee!! On leave..

2006-12-03T17:27:00.000+08:00

Finally have 3 days break after 4 months of work..

Totally looking forward to that.

Really need to re-charge myself before the peak starts.

Company's dinner and dance is on thurs. Really dun understand why it is held on a weekday, it is not as if that we dun have to work the next day.

Currently, we are also busy moving office to One Raffles Quay. It's a new building.. hope that the interiors are better than the existing office. So exciting.. new offices.. new environment..

Hmm.. my water team mates will be going china on tues i think. Haiz.. it is a pity that i'm not going with them, cos i have got another job. Think it'll be very fun.. somemore it is winter there.
How i wish i'm going too. Nevermind la, my chance will come next year. But then the people going might all be different, considering that they all have intention of leaving. Haiz... =S

Anyway, have fun girls.. dun forget my souvenirs.. =)

Low Morale @ work

2006-11-26T23:14:00.000+08:00

Haiz.. Why is everyone leaving??

The topic of resigning always pops up in my "water team" for the last few weeks. Wendy left 2 weeks ago cos of a new job, ZJ tendering soon cos of her health and even the manager is a "going concern". Oh no!! The job is gonna be in a mess without them, not that the existing colleagues are not capable, they are just not familiar with the water company.

Like to work with my water team very much, cos everyone is so nice and fun to work with. They love to joke ard, laugh tog and sing. It really feels good working with them. But now.. they are all leaving one by one. That's very saddening.

I know that it is inevitable in this audit line, the turnover rate is very high. I guess no one can stand the long working hours, heavy workload and low pay. Why is there an unwritten rule that auditors need to work till morning and over the weekends?? It's so unfair.. The culture in audit industry should really change, if not S'pore will run out of auditors.

Had 2 farewells for Wendy, our cute pretty face senior. One with the team members only and the other with the 2 managers.

Went for the $10 KTV. Had a treat from the manager @ M Hotel (steamboat buffet). Food there was ok, though not too sure abt the pricing, but just feel that it's not worth the money. It was very much like seoul garden just that perhaps it is of much higher quality. It was actually also a birthday celebration for the manager.

2 tables. 1 with the managers and seniors, the other with the assistants (4 of us). Haha.. the topic for the dinner was totally different. We talked about everything under the sun except work, but the other table talked about work almost throughout the whole dinner. Phew!! Din sit with them, if not will certainly not enjoy the dinner and will most likely be bored to death.

Haiz.. so when will be my farewell dinner?? Is it gonna be soon?? Am i really cut out to be an auditor?? Do i really enjoy auditing??

Depressed n tired!! Seriously lacking sleep!!

Farewell dinner!!!

2006-11-05T23:12:00.000+08:00

Met up with my colleagues on sat.

Purpose?? Farewell dinner cum belated birthday celebration for KH, my supervisor. He left EY to go back to his previous company.

There were 6 of us and we met at Hooters. Quite a nice place to hang out, with all the chiobus wearing super short shorts.

Food there was good. Very huge servings. Heard that they will do something special for birthdays boys/girls. But too bad, we din get to see it cos, i think they forgot to tell the person when reserving the seats.

Moved over to TCC to get KH a slice of cake. He insisted that we shouldnt sing him any birthday songs, cos he is very 'pan dan'. He thought that it was bad luck to sing that when his birthday is alr over.

More photo shooting at TCC. Haha.. in the photos, it was commented that we all looked like his daughters. The other girls had some funny poses with KH. But too bad, i din capture those in my camera, so have to wait for the other girls to send to me.

A photo of my buddy and myself.

Had fun hanging out with them, though i only know 2 ppl out of the 5.. will upload the group photo when i get hold of them.

Harry's Night

2006-11-05T22:59:00.001+08:00

AABS outing was last friday. It is at Harry's which is inside esplanade.

Nothing interesting happened. Went there to gather around, take photos, eat and drink.

Saw a few partners and managers around. Din really dare to mingle with them. I guess my networking skills really sucks. Dun even know what to talk abt even if they approached me.

Here's a photo of my fellow colleagues.

Anyway, still must thank those organisers.. i know that it wasn't easy putting all thing things together.

Another big event coming up..... DnD!!

Pri sch gathering

2006-10-19T22:51:00.001+08:00

Met up with my pri sch friends on mon. It was nice to see some of them after exactly 10 yrs.

Let's see who was there.. Janice, Xinying, Kelly, Serene, Runyi, Jiarong, Jianfu, Lingfeng, Guanjun, Brendon, Cai Chang, Eugene(from other class). So jy, how many ppl do u actually rem out of those mentioned above? Aiya, if only i know that so many ppl are going, should have asked you along.

Janice was the one who asked me out. Initially thought it will only be the 4 of us, her, myself, yvonne and cindy. Told janice i could make it at the very last min. Only then i know some other ppl will be joining us, but not angeline and cindy. It is only when i met them, then i got to know that runyi actually called upon the others. Jy, a bit wasted that u weren't there, if not someone will be very happy that night.. haha..

Couldnt quite recognise the guys, they have changed so much. Dun think i'm able to recognise them on the streets. As for the gals, still recognisable. An amazing thing was, 2 guys can actually rem exactly cai chang's house number, after 10 yrs.

Hang out at village and spinelli to do some catching up and reminiscing about our pri sch years. It really brings back a lot of nice memories.

Had fun talking to all of them.. hope to meet up again soon. Haha.. but as usual i think it would be difficult to coordinate.

What a week!!

2006-10-08T23:19:00.000+08:00

Hmm.. realised that i haven been constantly updating my blog.

Have been real busy with my work for the past week. Waited 3 days for the clients to close their accounts for Sept. As a result, only managed to start real work on Wed night and was expected to finish all the stuffs on fri.

Already had a tuition appt on thurs but have to cancel it.

Had to miss the gathering with JC mates on fri. It was meant to be a belated bday celebration for JY and a welcome back dinner for SL. Super sian.. had to work late that night, so couldnt meet up. Very sad.. it has been more than a month since i last saw them. Wonder when will be the next time we will be meeting up. We actually had plans to meet up every fortnightly on fri. But to me, it is not a very good day to meet, cos i can foresee myself not being able to attend most of it. Reason being that most of the audit job ends on a fri and we had to pull out from the client's place back to our office almost every fri. By the time we pull out, think everyone is ready to go to bed le.. haha..

The whole of last week was filled with late nights and early mornings. Even had to work on a sat. Actually sun also need to go back too, but my senior told me there is nothing for me to do, so i can stay at home. Feel bad to leave my team in the office while i enjoyed my sun. Hee.. dad drove us to Vivocity to look ard.

It was very big indeed, but not all shops are open. Funny thing was, there were actually many ppl in the complex, but not many are actually doing their shopping there. Most of the shops are empty, only with their salesgirls ard. Nothing much to eat too, there are only coffees.

Oh yes, did i mentioned that i fell? Haha.. on a wed morning, i was in my new top and skirt, with the usual heels. Then when i alighted from the bus. One second i was on the bus, then the next, i found myself kneeling on the grd. Hee.. knelt there for quite sometime before i stood up, cos i was still in shock. No idea what happened to me. Ppl ard me tried to help by offering me tissue papers. But i was so paiseh, so i rejected them and continued my slow walk to the train stat.

It was only when i reached the stat that i saw my wound. Oh my goodness!! It was bleeding so heavily. There was this guy sitting opp me, saw my knees and walked over to offer me plasters. It was so nice of him. But still i din take it, cos i see no point in putting it over the cut, as the plasters are too small. Colleagues asked me to go see a doctor to clean the wound since it was free. Luckily i heed their advice..

Super super painful. For the whole day, i had this stinging feeling. Bathing time was even worse, took longer than before. Haiz.. how suay was i?

New phone!! =)

2006-09-16T22:08:00.000+08:00

Surprise surprise..

I have got a new phone. Bought N72 and it's pink.

No intention at all to change my cute 6111, cos it is quite new, considering i bought it in feb.

Dad's plan is alr 24 mths le and so the singtel personnel called to inform him that he could change to a new phone. Also there was this promotion whereby he could get $180 off if he purchase a 3G phone.

So dad thought of changing his phone cos he thinks that it is faulty, keep disconnecting the call esp when he is using while driving. That's what he claimed.

He end up buying Motorola V3X for $18.

On our way back, passed by another phone shop. I know that mum has always wanted a new n better phone, so i suggested to dad to buy her a phone without contract. 2 reasons for the suggestion. Firstly, he only paid $18 for a new phone and secondly, this coming mon is their 23rd wedding anniversary.

Dad immediately agreed. haha..

Mum kind of decided that she wants the exact model and colour of the phone i using. So bro suggest that i should get a new model and give mine to mum.

Thought that it was kind of bad to mum but she said she dun mind. Cos it still looks new and no point buying a phone which is exactly the same as mine.

So that's the whole story of how my new phone came about. I have no idea what are the phone features. It was just that my bro told me that it comes in pink and when i saw it, i love it.. and dad dun mind paying the $600.

Aiyo, this kind of things made me feel very guilty.. cos i know he treats me very well, but sometimes i still throw my tantrum at him. I dun want it to be like that..

I dun wanna give tuition le..

2006-09-10T22:20:00.000+08:00

I hate sunday mornings..

Not only that i need to wake up early. I need to go and give tuition.

Haiz.. i think my maths skills worsening. 6 yrs since my O levels. So many things have changed. New syallbus, new topics which i have not come across. Matrix, relative velocity, permutation and combination.. very headache ar..

The worse thing is, my student very hardworking. Every week she will practise the prelim papers from other good schools. When i was taking my Os, i just ignored those prelim papers and did only my ten year series.

So stressed.. every week bombarded by those tough and tricky questions.

1.5 hr lesson always ended 45mins later. No extra pay somemore. But what to do, it's my duty to solve those questions.

Come to think of it, i had a student last yr taking his Os. Not much problem lei. Prob was becos we practised the ten yr series most of the time. Questions there are pretty standard, easier than those prelim papers.

How i wish i can stop teaching le. But i cant leave like that..

Death..

2006-09-05T16:17:00.000+08:00

What is it like after one's death? This is the question i always ponder about when someone in my family passed away.

This time round, i lost my 4th granduncle, only 65 yrs old. He died of heart attack. It came to me as a shock cos i never hear him suffer from any illnesses. I heard that he was very health conscious. He used to practise 'qigong', go for dancing lessons, play golf and sing alot.

6 granduncles in total, now only left 1.. The rest either died of heart attack or cancer. Haiz..

It was really very unexpected for him to leave us. Nobody was at all prepared for that.

For the past few days, i went to his hse to help out. Took leave today to send him off. Though i wasnt very close to him, i thought i should pay my last respects since he was my elder and helped my dad a lot.

It is good to see that his grandchildren, my little cousins are very supportive and sensible. I was very touched when i saw them comforting their parents and grandma.

Life is indeed very fragile. One big fire and the person will be gone. Overheard a conversation from an uncle. He said, life is just like a show, if one has completed playing the role that he is being assigned to, he will then have to leave and there will be new roles coming up.

Sidetrack a bit. I want to pass some comments abt some rich ppl. My granduncle lived in private estate, so his funeral had to be set up along the roadside. 2 of his rich neighbours are so not accomodating.

One was angry that we blocked the road entrance to his hse. But what can we do? We need space to set up the tables. And it is not that it is a daily event, it is only for 3 days. Guess what he did. He took photos of the cars parked along the road and called the police to ask them issue summon. Oh my god.. cant believe that there is actually this kind of ppl on earth.

The other one is also a rich neighbour. It happened on my granduncle's last day. The person is very irritating. There was a van parked beside the person's hse, not in front the gate, mind you. Then ard noon time, the neighbour wanted to drive his car out. He horned for many many many times. It is not that the van is blocking his way out. He definitely got space to drive his car out of his hse, but he din want to. He kept on horning, horning and horning until the van shifted.

Why cant they be more understanding. It appears that they are not respecting the dead. So what if they are rich. It is not as if they wont have to go through death. So irritated by them, think all those present also felt the same.

Insurance agents..

2006-08-24T23:51:00.000+08:00

Feeling super sian, super confused..

I am caught in-between 2 agents from Prudential. One is my uni friend, chris and the other is matt whom i met at convocation.

Not close to them at all. Dunno who to trust also.

Chris was my first agent. Actually i already signed a savings policy with him but i somehow regretted. So i asked for a termination.

Then Matt comes by. He recommended me Prulink.

Chris arranged to meet me today to talk abt my policies. When i told him that i actually met up with another financial advisor, his face changed immediately. The tone he used also changed. I can understand why la, but then it is not my fault ma. I'm a consumer, so i should actually have the option of shopping around before making my decision.

Haiz.. when i told chris abt the plan matt introduced, he said until its not very good. Then when i told matt abt the plan i signed, he said it is not very suitable for me.

I think the service provided by matt is better. Well, at least he treats me as a friend instead of just one of his clients. As for chris, he is more work focused. Hmm.. when i met him just now, he din even ask me if i had dinner or want anything to drink. He immediately zoomed into the policies. My stomach was like growling when he was talking to me.

Hee.. dunno why but chris gave me the feeling that he is actually quite practical.

Oh man. Why am i caught in this shit. How to reject one of them nicely??

Going to make a decision by sun night. But how? Really unsure. Anyone to give me advice?

Bday celebration (part 2)

2006-08-20T15:52:00.000+08:00

Second celebration was with my sec friends.

Was told to get ready by 5 plus and and there will be someone picking me up. Din know where we are going at all, cos they wanted to give me a surprise.

Waited at the bus-stop. Was a bit shocked to see JYG driving a van, all my friends seated inside. Din expect the guys to come also, thought it'll only be the girls. It was a pleasant surprise to see everyone there.

A lot of food in the van. So the plan was actually to bbq at punggol park. Haha.. luckily i'm not too well-dressed. Was very 'gan dong' cos my friends prepared all the food for me. Think they really spent a lot of time preparing. Felt so bad for not helping out.

JY's bf, R also dropped by. haha. rare guest.. Thanks for coming.

The bbq turned out to be okay. Food was nice but as usual there were a lot of leftovers. The next surprise by them was that, when i get back to the pit from the toilet with dora and sab, SW was holding my bday cake. I was told that the guys's drove to JYG's hse to pick up the cake.

Simply love the cake, it is very cute. There is a pic of a pooh bear eating honey.. But too bad, that pooh bear cant be eaten. It is actually just a piece of plastic. As usual, i was given the biggest piece. How can i not get fatter with the 2 biggest piece of cake in my stomach. Haiz..

Went to bishan KTV after the bbq. Dad was away in China so i could drive his car. Not all went, CS and JYG din join us. Hee.. AL's girl-friend or girlfriend joined us. He is so secretive, din reveal their actual relationship.

Treated them to the KTV cos they very xin-ku for the whole day le. Thanks ppl for all the effort and sweat put in. hee..

Sent Sab, Dora, Del and Fir back home. Took abt an hr. It was actually not very far but it was because i missed a turn at the expressway when sending sab back, so we ended up at balestier instead of eunos.. haha.. took the rest for a ride. Luckily we managed to find our way to send Sab home safely.

Not much problem sending the rest back cos all live in hg and sengkang.. haha.. more familiar with these places.

Lesson learnt: Should open my eyes wide when dad is driving..

Really enjoyed myself. Will post up some photos when i get hold of them..

Birthday celebration (part 1)

2006-08-20T15:32:00.000+08:00

hmm.. last year at around this period of time, my mum and aunt was very busy preparing for my 21st birthday celebration.

A year just passed like that. Graduated from uni, started work, but still cant find the special someone.

This year my first celebration was with my jc clique. Not only we gathered for my bday, it was also a farewell dinner for SL. She's going to UK for a month to study. How lucky she is.

Had dinner at Genki sushi at marina sq. Only 4 turned up. Shan was tied up with her work so she couldnt join us for dinner. Was already prepared to pay the bill but JY and ZP insisted to treat me and SL. So sweet of them.

The program arranged after dinner was a mahjong session at SL's place. Haha.. we always do that.

Busy shan then came at ard 11 with a bday cake. Din really expect them to buy a cake for me. Cos it wasnt really part of our tradition to have cakes when we meet up for birthdays.

Nice mocha cake.. Ate a very big piece in the middle of the night. Haha.. alr very fat and now becoming fatter cos of the cake.

We made some improvement, took 4 hrs to finish a round. End up me losing again. Aiyo.. can someone offer to teach me mahjong..? So that i can stop the losing streak..

Think our next gathering will be in sept, when SL comes back. Girl, take care, have fun and enjoy urself..

Fireworks!!

2006-08-15T23:29:00.000+08:00

Hee.. i know i'm a bit lag in here but i just wanna blog abt the fireworks i have seen.

It is only on special occasion Singaporeans are able to see fireworks. So i think many people are very hyped up abt the the firework display. The government spent dunno how many thousands of dollars on the fireworks so definitely must go and watch.

Watched the one by team Italy on the first day of the firework display. Went there cos we had to work on sat so my senior decided that we should go and watch since we were just in that area. We stood in front of fullerton and it wasnt very crowded. The view was okay just that we were slightly blocked by the trees. As in we couldnt quite see the lower portion of the firework. But overall, i would considered it to be a good viewing point.

The last firework to celebrate national was put up by france. It was said that it would be the best out of the teams. So we decided to go and watch with my sec friends. Was there quite early to shop with dora and at that time there was already many ppl seating at the stairs outside marina sq. So kiasu ar..

Long queues at all the restaurants at esplanade. So we end up eating thai express. Agreed to meet at 6.30 but al, sw, del and fir came at only 7.30. Cos of the jam at the expressway. Understandable la..

Joined in the crowd at the viewing spot after dinner. Squeezed our way through the human wall to get to a better spot. Wasnt the best spot actually.. but dun 'hiam' la.

The fireworks was magnificant.. simply love it!! But i dun quite like squeezing in between sweaty bodies. So gross and eeky.

Wonder when will be my next time watching.

SuperBand = Mi Lu Bing!!!

2006-08-09T00:35:00.000+08:00

Yippee.. the winner is Mi Lu Bing (MLB).. the 3 young but talented boys..

Was quite disappointed that we din manage to get the tickets. I think we din send in very late ma. But still, we din get. Haiz.

Had to work on sat, so can only watch superband finals on tape. Well.. better than missing the whole thing. But i think it is still better to listen to them performing live.

Thought that it was quite expected that MLB and Souls would get into the finals, cos they have huge fan base, mostly young gals. hee..

The 4 grps performed very well for the first 2 songs. Though i am not really into J3, but i like their rendition of Xiaowei. Very pleasing to the ears.

But as for the finals performance by Soul and MLB, i think it is below their usual standard. Dunno what happened to them also, not very prepared for the finals perhaps. Soul's last song was totally in a mess. The beat was off totally at the beginning, luckily they sounded a bit better towards the end. Maybe that explained why they lost.

As for MLB, dun quite like the cutie song that the judge chose for them, it was just not their style. The song that they chosen was okay, but the judges din quite like. They should have chosen some other songs that they are more comfortable and confident in. But luckily, it din really affect the support they get from their fans.

1 year contract for them. I guess they will have a recording soon. Look forward to their CDs.

Sidetrack a bit.. i think MLB and their dads look very alike. At one glance, can tell who is whose father. Hee.. they all have the distinct features passed down from their dad.. so interesting..

Life @ work

2006-08-08T23:42:00.000+08:00

Late nights and early mornings.. this is what i have been experiencing for the past week or so.

A day after the training ends, I was being scheduled for a job. Got a shock early in the morning when my senior, F called, to ask me go down to the client's place alone, cos the rest of the engagement team were alr there. Aiyo.. the worst thing is.. i'm at all not prepared. No complete set of stationery and also never bring audit bag.

People in the team are nice. 2 seniors (wen and F), 2 A2 (Jac and Jen). The A2s showed me around client's office, tried to talked to me, and that made me feel welcomed.

Work generally was okay at the beginning. It was only last mon that i had to work OT. Think the latest that we stayed back is till midnight. So many things to clear with the clients and tight deadlines to meet. So no choice, have to stay back to finish.

Was even asked to work on weekends too. Went back to office and found quite a few ppl also working. I guess it is quite normal for them to work over the weekends. Haha.. wen wanted to watch firework so we tapao-ed our dinner, walked to fullerton to take a break from work. Nice fireworks by team Italy.

Managed to get everything done by sat night, so no need to work on Sundays, cos we need to wait for the clients to get back to us the information to work on. Yippee.. rest day for me.

Workload is slightly lighter on mon and tues cos most of the things are nearly done. Phew.. today wen wanted to wrap everything up. So case closed.

One thing i like working at client's place is that we can take taxi to work and that dun have to wake up so early.

So sian.. all the ppl in the engagement team on leave on thurs and fri. Left me alone. No idea what to do in the office also. I dun wanna work directly under the manager. Cos i think it'll be very stressful... Scared scared..

Convo photos!!

2006-07-29T16:15:00.000+08:00

As promised, here are the photos that i took at convo

Finally graduated!!

My parents, brother and grandpa. Think they are all very excited as that was the first time they attended a convocation. Grandpa was exceptionally happy, cos I am his first grandchildren to graduate from Uni.

My parents..

Dora and del are so sweet. Came all the way to find us and even bought us flowers for the 3 of us..

Went especially early to met shan and ZP to take photos with them.

I simply love this shot. We had 3 shots in total, and this was the most successful one. Thanks to Shan's dad.. Looks like those in the drama hor..

Convocation!!!

2006-07-25T23:48:00.000+08:00

After waiting for 3 years, the day finally arrived.

Went to school early in the morning with JY to take photos with shan and ZP. Cos they are from business and they had their convo in the morning. Took quite a few photos with shan dad's pro camera. Hope it turns out well. Shan, must rem to send to me hor.

Dun quite like myself in the convo gown cos i look very bulky and short in it. I took size M, and thus it was quite heavy on my shoulders. Think my shoulders gonna ache soon. The hat is even more terrible. Cant really move my head cos i scared it will either drop or shift its position.

So i sat uncomfortably in the audi for 2 hrs.

2 very good sec sch friends of mine, Dora and del came to grace the ceremony. Was so happy that they took time out to join me, Sab and JY. Not only did they come, they even bought us flowers.. so sweet of them. =)

Din take much photos with my family actually cos bro need to rush to sch for his test. A bit wasted. Most of the photos were taken indoors.. haha.. cos it was super hot outside.

Really enjoyed myself!!

Thanks family and friends who specially came down to witness the whole ceremony!!

p.s. unsuccessful attempts in uploading the photos.. will upload my convo pics soon..

Superband Recording!!!

2006-07-18T23:32:00.000+08:00

Dora joined the yahoo group of Brods and managed to get 3 tix from their sis. So she jio-ed me and del along. How can i miss this chance?? haha.. luckily fir got an extra tix last min so that he joined us too.

Went for the recording on sun. Felt very excited though it was my second time viewing a recording. The feeling was different cos i am actually going to see those groups which i have supported for the past 2 mths or so.

Stood in front of the stage for several reasons. Firstly was because Brod's sis asked us to stand there to hold the posters and join in in some parts of the songs. Secondly was because they were no more good seats available, we din want to sit at the 2nd level, cos it was too far from the stage. And also, i think the atmosphere standing near the stage was better as compared to sitting down. We had a better view too..

We waited quite long before the competition actually starts.

Finally the host appears. Oh my goddness!! Jeff and Milk was just standing in front us. First time see those artiste so close up. I must say they really put on thick makeups so that they can look good on camera.

It was so cool to see all the grps perform. Really enjoyed myself. Listening to them sing live and listening to them sing on tv is totally different. Din manage to take much photos cos being a risk averse, i scared that they will confiscate my camera, though there were quite a few fans secretly taking photos with their hps. The guys are so cool and good looking. Esp Soul, when they were dancing.. wooh..

My fav grp is still milubing!!~~

I wanna go to watch the finals. I hope we can get the tixs..

Shopping with mum..

2006-07-15T23:23:00.000+08:00

Went to orchard with mum to buy my working stuff. My objective for today's shopping was to get a new pair of shoes.

Actually i had a new pair of charles and keith shoes. But it just let me down on the first day i wore it. It was awfully torturing and so i had to give it up. So sianz.. waste my money. Luckily i bought it during sale time.

Spent quite a long time hunting for the shoes, went to several departmental stores.

Ended up buying 2 pairs.

1)Andre Valentino $83 (after disc)
It is super comfy. Made from calf leather. I bought the one in brown.

2) Antonio Club $26 (after disc)
Quite like the design so i bought. It is covered toes with a strap behind.

Dun quite mind the pricing as long as it is comfy. Hope they wont let me down like the pair from charles and keith...

First week in the office..

2006-07-15T23:05:00.000+08:00

Had our first week of training at the office. A lot of admin stuff to be done. Collected employment pass, namecards and laptops. Sad to say, the laptops are old and bulky. Arghh.. i dun wanna imagine myself carrying it to work everyday. It can be very torturing. =(

Training was okay. Quite enjoy the company of my group and lunch khakis. They are all pretty ladies and are easy to talk to.. On tues we actually had a grooming session conducted by "First Impressions". They taught us abt some 'do and don'ts' about dressing, body language and the way we speak to ppl. Quite interesting to hear those image consultants talk.

At the end of the session, they told us there is actually a one-to-one make-up consulation with the pro. Initial price was $150, but the corporate price they offered us is $48. Most of us thought that it was quite worth it so we signed up for it. Went to see the pro on thurs with HS, she told us that we are the first one from our group. The session was okay. She told us some of the things to look out for regarding skincare. Then she taught us the way to apply the foundation, eyeshadow, concealer and lipstick. Think it is quite predictable that she will ask us to buy the things that we tried on our face. So i ended up buying foundation and concealer for $162 and HS spent $260. She bought their eyeshadows which i din cos i find the colours very weird on me.

As for the following 3 days, we had to do a case study. We had to prepare those sections in the audit file and it has to be reviewed by a manager. It is just like we are in a real situation. They arranged ppl to be the seniors, clients and manager. Think they really put a lot of effort in preparing the training materials.

Tired and lack of slp!!

My 5 days in Penang

2006-07-11T23:16:00.000+08:00

Hmm.. realised that i haven been updating my blog for 1 week plus le. Anyway, i decided to pen down my training experience in Penang.

As you guys know, i am currently working in EY as an audit assistant. The company sent us, all the newbies (ard 100 ppl) for training in Penang. Dun quite like the idea cos i have no close frens there and i'll be so alone. Dun like the feeling of being lonely in a foreign land. Luckily i saw HS at the airport. She was my OG mate but we wasnt very close cos she from Grp A while i was in B.

Felt relieved to have a friend to hang out with on the first day. Her surname is very close to mine and so we were in the same coach, same department, same room, same training grp and now same workstation. Doesnt she look petite beside me??

Had some games and formed our group on the first day. We were known as the Happy Angels =). Wasnt quite close with 2 grp mates cos they are from the tax department and we our trainings were held at different places. But still we had fun working together, esp when we were brainstorming on our skit, something we had to put up on the last day of our training to show what we have learnt.

Had only 3 days of proper training. Quite lax i must say. Our schedule for the whole day was like that : breakfast, teabreak, lunch, teabreak, dinner and shopping. Haha.. how can we not grow fat like that. So much of eating and sitting..

Din do much our free & easy time. Went out for dinner, visited their shopping centres, went to a nightmarket near the beach, ate seafood, went to watch a movie (Re-cycle), shopped for tau-sa-piah and nutmeg oil.

Overall experience was okay. Din make much friends there cos most are from grp A and my grp B frens have their own cliques. Below is a photo of me and my meal khakis.

Start of work - 3rd Jul

2006-07-02T16:28:00.000+08:00

Hey ppl, i'll be away in Penang for 5 days. Leaving on Mon morning and will be back on Fri evening. Will be there for training. That doesnt sound good right?? I remember the previous batch went bangkok.. why Penang this year?? haha..

Have been away from home quite a few times this year. Was in Hk for 5 days, Taiwan for 7 days and now Penang for 5 days.

The previous few trips were for holidays unlike my Penang trip. Therefore i have a different feeling about it. Not really very very excited abt it. Cos i will be in a foreign land with unfamiliar ppl. I wonder how i can survive my 5 days. Sometimes i really wish i could stay in Singapore instead of travelling overseas.

Haven pack my luggage yet. So many restrictions like what i can and need to bring. So headache!! No idea what to wear also. Must be smart casual. How to define smart casual in the first place?

Take care my frenz, esp the two of u!! They should know who i am refering to..

Taiwan Tour Mates

2006-07-01T18:34:00.000+08:00

Above are the people i spent my 7 days in taiwan with. All them them are quite friendly and easy to get along.

Hee.. quite a few old people ar, but think they are more energetic than us. Remember that time i asked Erene (bottom 2nd from the left) how many ppl going. She said 32. Then i asked if there are a lot of youngsters like us and she said yes. Haha.. and i wondered why did she answered that.

Any familiar faces you see in there?? Not including us of course.

Medical Checkup

2006-07-01T18:09:00.000+08:00

Finally went for the pre-employment checkup. Have been procrastinating about it. But no choice le, have to go do it before i commence work, so fri was sort of the last day for me.

Wa.. Din know that a checkup can actually take so long. It took me about 1 and a half hour in total. had a urine test, blood test, eyecheck, x-rays and doctor consultation.

All the test results are out except for the x-ray report. No sugar and protein in my urine. Enough blood count. No colour blindness. Blood pressure average to slightly high. Doctor's reasoning for that is because i'm in an unfamiliar environment. Haha.. what an explanation.

Phew! My health is generally okay.

Taiwan Trip - Day 7

2006-06-29T02:59:00.000+08:00

Places visited : Store that sells the local products, Home sweet home..

Cutie boy from our tour group. Isn't he adorable? He is very obedient, never make noise during the long bus trips. Got cry sometimes la, but stop very fast. Haha.. he is very good at posing for photos. The girl in purple is his mummy. Very young and pretty mum.

Photo taken with Steven. Haha.. think i will miss his lame jokes. Del gotten his namecard, so maybe the next time when we visit taiwan again, can ask him to show us around.

My overall experience in taiwan:

Very enjoyable despite the long bus rides. Loved the scenic views cos i dun think i could ever see that in S'pore. Enjoyed the shopping there but i just cant stand the fact that motors and lorries can drive into narrow paths of the night markets. It's like, when u are doing ur shopping, you have look out for the vehicles that would zoom past you. Very dangerous and very polluted air in the city too.

Tour mates are quite friendly. Had 32 in total. Not so much of waiting for each other cos most of them are very considerate. Took a group photo at the airport, waiting for the cameraman to send to us.

How i wish i the trip could be longer.

Taipei Trip - Day 6

2006-06-29T02:11:00.000+08:00

Places visited : Martyr's Shrine, National Palace Museum, Miniature Musemum and CKS Memorial Hall (Taipei)

Reached the Martyr's Shrine at 9am, just in time to see the ceremony of changing guards. There was a huge crowd, so it very much seemed like they were performing for the audience. The guards quite poor thing, had to stand under the sun for an hour with the super thick uniform. Cannot move, cannot smile and cannot even blink their eyes.

Next on the itinerary was the National Palace Museum. It actually showcased the priceless Chinese treasures brought in to Taiwan by CKS. Very impressed by what people in the past did, with no advance technology, they could still produce very excellent works. For example, the mini engravings which was done manually, very delicate work indeed. Not allowed to take photo. Quite a few exhibitions hall. So we just rest our feet at the first level.

Yeah!! Finally visiting the Miniature Museum that i looked forward to. The works are so cute and so mini. Simply adore them!!

The last stop on the itinerary was the CKS Memorial Hall. Photos are taken from the bus. Several reasons for not getting down : Very hot, del was slping and nothing much to see.

Ended the whole tour at ard 4 plus and went back to the the hotel, the rest of the day was free and easy. Stayed at Grand Hyatt which is just beside the taipei 101. Quite a few shopping centres nearby. Very high end just like taka, so only walk one round then come out of the departmental store.

Took a taxi to Wu Fen Pu, the street which was advertised on Channel 54. It is actually a wholesale market therefore there were many shops selling clothes. Del managed to get some cheap buys. Decided to go back Hsimenting for more shopping. Quite a distance away from our hotel, about half an hr ride.

Had our dinner at 12 midnight. Most of the restaurants were closed at that time so had to settle for the mala steamboat which is opened till 7am. Accordingly to del, it is more spicy than the ones they previously tried. The locals there can really eat alot. Mountains and mountains of meat, prawns and cockles. Think we only ate one-fifth of the price we paid. It is actually not very ex, ard $17 per person.

Returned to the hotel at ard 2am and realised the things we left in the hotel was being moved. Called the operator to check if there was any room service earlier on, but they couldnt really understand what we were talking about. Del panicked and breakdown.

Slpt at 4am that day. So many things to pack into our luggage, esp for del. Hee..Unglam photo of del sitting on her luggage.

Taiwan Trip - Day 5

2006-06-29T01:33:00.000+08:00

Places Visited : Sankeng Tofu Street, Yehliu, YangMingShan Hotspring and Hsimenting (Taipei)
Del and her tofu ice-cream in the tofu street. It is actually a street that sells smelly tofu. Indeed very smelly, haha.. had to stop breathing when passing by the some foodstalls. Bought 6 almond and melon biscuits, then got 1 for free. Very tasty, highly recommended by Del's sis. Think all our tour mates bought from them.

Above are actually rock formations. Quite fascinated by what nature is capable of doing. Walked a long way under the scorching sun before the nice view appears in front of us.

This photo is taken at the lobby of the YangMingShan Hotspring resort. First time visiting a hotspring. Totally excited about it. The best thing was that there are about 10 odd hot and cold outdoor hotsprings. So we could enjoy the scenery while relaxing in the hotspring. Personally prefer the cold one. So shiok!!

In taipei, how can we not visit Hsimenting? It is a place for shopping and tasting local snacks. The 2 above stalls are the must-try items. Highly recommended by many. U can see for yourself when u are there, all the long queues. I simply lurve the bubble tea, so did del who bought 3 cups, not consecutively of course.

It's a girls paradise. A lot of things to buy from there. Fashionable hair accessories, bags, shoes, caps.. Not say very cheap though. Must know how to bargain in order to get cheap deals.

This is how our hotel room looked like. Very small compared to the other hotels we stayed in. Not much place for 3 luggages so have to put all our shopping bags on the bed. However the location is good. Just a 10mins walk to Hsimenting. Haha.. got lost when we were walking back, thanks to the locals(3 of them) who showed us the wrong direction.

Did the most shopping that day!!

Steamboat cum Mahjong

2006-06-28T17:33:00.000+08:00

My whole yesterday was spent with my JC frens.

Went to collect our academic dress at Serangoon Broadway. Decided to sign up for their photo package. It was quite expensive, close to 200bucks for an 8R photo together with 6 pieces of 3R prints. Nevertheless, i just sign up, since my family have the intention of taking the photo, so might as well. The photo quality looks not bad and they provide free make-up for the ladies and jackets for the guys. Also i get the academic dress for free!!

Dinner was at JY's hse and we had steamboat. Haha.. alr had 2 steamboats for the past few days. But it is okay la, cos i think when everyone starts work, it would be difficult to have such laid back gatherings.

Most of the food are prepared by SL. Think all of us cant make it in the kitchen, except for her, and maybe ZP perhaps. Haha.. think SL is the most experience in preparing food among the 5 of us. It must be the genes, cos her mum cooks very well. Often troubled her mum to cook for us on special occasions.

Had our after-dinner leisure which is mahjong of course. I must say that lady luck wasnt shining on my side. First time played until bankrupt. Highest loss so far : close to $40. Quite 心痛. But it is okay la, it is just a game.

Haha.. Cried on Shan's car. Several reasons for crying, definitely not because i lost money. One was because my contact lens shifted its position. Painful eyes --> teary eyes. Another was i dun feel good, because i suddenly thought of the words that was said to me by a taiwanese. It was regarding my name and my life. Then i started to think how true is it, what is going to happen to me and when will it be. Think del and dora would know what i'm saying. Will blog about this some other days.

Now busy going through my training modules. Have to finish it before i fly to Penang on mon. Arghh.. i dun like it.

Taiwan Trip - Day 4

2006-06-27T01:17:00.000+08:00

Places Visitied : Spring & Autumn Pavillion, Sun Moon Lake, Wen Wu Temple and Fengjia Night Market

Visited the gigantic statues of the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas. It was said that if you walked in the dragon's mouth and walked out from the tiger's mouth, you will be one year older. I cant remember the explanation to that actually.

This is another temple near to the pagodas. Din really get the name of it when Steven was introducing it to us.

Travelled 2 hrs before we reached the Tainan where we had our lunch. It is called 'Five Cent Driftwood House'. Really like the ambience there. On the left shows the utensils that we used and the right is the interior of the restaurant. Totally love the place and food!!

Look at the muah chee Del is eating!! It is so big, so soft and so Q. How i wish i could bring them home. Too bad that it couldnt be kept for long.

The next stop was Sun Moon Lake which is said to be the largest lake in Taiwan. Also travelled along the winding road of the mountains before reaching there. Magnificent view i must say. There is also a temple known as the Wenwu temple. Paid our respects to Confucius, Guan Gong and Yuefei.

Went shopping at Feng Jia Night Market. Quite big too but again we had too little time. Was nearly late to meet the rest of our tour mates, so we ran all the way from the inside of the market to the place that was set to meet at. It was quite a distance.. very rush indeed!!

We had mala steamboat for dinner. Del and Dora had the mala soup base but i requested for the non-mala. So my soup base is actually made from sugercane. Not bad actually. According to the both of them the mala steamboat is not very mala.. but to me, it is already very spicy. Steven say one cant take too much mala cos the person might lose his voice. A very good example here is Dora.. hee..
Really love the hotel that we had for the night. There was a big WOW when we all saw the room that we had. It was very big, there are 2 rooms in a room, european style somemore. Looked like a 'mini suite'. There are different themes for different rooms. There is japanese style, chinese style, and british style. Very nice and beautiful deco!!

Went out for late night shopping on our own. Dun quite like the fact that there are so many strays hanging ard at night. Very scary!!

Taiwan Trip - Day 3

2006-06-27T00:16:00.000+08:00

Places Visited : Hakka Village and Sin Jiao Jiang Night Market (KaoShiung)

Above photos were taken in the Hakka Village. It is said that the Hakkas has a traditional way of making durable umbrellas that's why the umbrellas u see above costs about 40 to 80 bucks. Haha.. but it is those traditional umbrellas, doubt any singaporeans would bring it out when it is raining. Think it will just be an ornament in the house.

Our next stop was the Sin Jiao Jiang Night Market. Din take any photos from there cos we were too busy shopping. The place is quite big but we were only given less 2hrs to shop. Dinner was on our own expense but we din manage to buy dinner from there, cos we were already running late. Luckily there were some small night markets near the hotel that we stayed in.

Took a taxi to Liuhe Night Market for more shopping and dinner. We tried their 'guan cai ban' which is a direct translation of 'coffin'. It is actually a french toast with some paste inside. Very delicious but very oily.

Tried their grilled meat too. Waited quite long but i think it was worth the wait. Their chicken and beef is so tender and juicy.

Bought mineral water on our way back. Find the brand (多喝水) very interesting so i just took a photo of it. Guess which belongs to who?? Quite easy to guess actually. Haha..

Taiwan Trip - Day 2

2006-06-26T23:11:00.000+08:00

Places visited: Chiufen, Nantian Temple, Taroko Gorge and Ami Aboriginal Cultural Village (Hualian)

The distance from Taipei to Chiufen is very far. Took the whole morning to reach there. We had to travel through several mountains along the winding road. Quite unbearable at times, luckily i got no car sickness. A bit tough on del and dora though.. One good thing is we could enjoy the nice scenery while travelling.

Nothing much at Chiufen actually, to think we travelled all the way up the mountain. It is actually just a street that sells food and traditional stuffs. Bought fishballs from there to eat. It was so hard that you could hit someone with it. Haha..

Above photo was taken at Taroko Gorge. Only managed to upload this photo cos the rest is still with dora. Nice view and cool weather. The water flows very rapidly and so Steven warned us never play with the water there.

At evening time, we went to the Ami Aboriginal Village to watch their performance. Dun really enjoy their performance cos they all dance so unwillingly, except for one. Cant blame them actually, cos they have been dancing non stop for the whole morning and afternoon. This is the result of having it commercialised. At times i even wonder if they are real Ami people or not..

Returned to a 5* hotel at Hualian for our buffet dinner. It was real good. Room was good too. Had 3 larger than super single bed and it was still very spacious. Too bad that there wasnt any shopping items for us to pack. Really had a good night rest there..

Taiwan Trip - Day 1

2006-06-26T17:33:00.000+08:00

Places visited : Tamshui Old Street and Shihlin Night Market..

Flew China Air this time round. More comfy, more leg space and better food. One good thing i like is that each of us had a personal TV to keep us entertained for the entire 4hrs. Before taking off and landing, the screen showed what was happening outside, just like what the pilot was viewing.. so cool!!!

This is our tour guide, Steven who kept us entertained throughout the 7 days. He wore a suit to fetch us from the airport. Looks young and is very humourous. I find him very interestinｇ. He talks in a funny way, for example, toilet = 歌厅，going toilet= 唱歌.. So at first when he told us that there is a 歌厅 at Starbucks, i literally thought that not bad ar, starbucks can also sing KTV. haha..

This is the view of Tamshui Old Street. Took a photo by the riverside. A lot of 小吃 but din get to try much cos our dinner is going to be served soon.

Had our dinner at Xiaolong Pau for dinner. Not very fantastic though. But i think better than the ones at Din Tai Feng. After the early dinner, we are all ready for shopping at the Shihlin night market, one of the largest in Taiwan.

Above is del and her bubble milk tea. In taiwan, bubble tea is a must try item. Their pearls are so Q.. The 3 of us simply love it. *very fattening though* Here are our shopping bags after 2 hrs of shopping. Quite little time given as we only managed to cover a small part of the night market. Ta pao quite a few snacks to the hotel and they are so yummy!!

This is what our hotel look like. It is actually a golf resort. Travelled about an hr from Shihlin to the hotel.

That's all for day 1. No night shopping cos the hotel is quite ulu. There are no stores nearby.

I'm back!!

2006-06-24T23:16:00.000+08:00

7 days just zoomed past like that. Am i missed by anyone while i'm away?? I bet no one..

This is my first visit to Taiwan so we (del, dora and myself) actually decided to join a tour to go around the whole country and visit those well-known places of interest. Will post the photos here when i'm free one of these days.

From this trip, i realised that there are quite a few differences between Taiwan and Singapore. For example, the driver sits on the left side of the car. And so they have a different road structure and way of traffic. Haha.. till now, i still couldnt quite figure out how to look out for the oncoming cars. All this while, i've been dashing across the road. Also, in those convenience stores like 7-11, they dun pack ur things in plastic bags. You actually have to pay a dollar for them. Not quite used to that system. Haha.. i actually waited a few secs for the store assistant to pack my things then remembered what our tour guide, Steven told us.

Besides that, taiwanese loves to bring their pets out for shopping. I always get a scare when i see there is one in a bag or walking just beside me. Most restaurants even allow pets to be brought in. A lot of strays can also be seen on the streets, very scary.

What i like about Taiwan is that there is no communication breakdown. The salepeople there are very friendly and polite. Even if we end up not buying their things, they would still say their thanks to us. Dun think i would get this kind of service here in S'pore. Besides that, food is everywhere. There are a lot of makeshift foodstalls which sells tasty 'xiao chi'. But when u wanna buy, must first make sure there is no signs of police ard. Cos they need to flee when they spot there is one coming.

I find this trip enjoyable cos we could actually see the nice scenery and have time for shopping too(not very enough though). The past few trips i had were free and easy so we only managed to shop around and din manage to go to those places of interest which i find it quite a pity.

Arghh.. How i wish i could stay there longer. By coming home, it would mean that work is gonna start soon and there are so many things for me to get it done..

Away in Taiwan!! Yipee =)

2006-06-17T23:19:00.000+08:00

In a few more hours, i'll be flying to taiwan for my 2nd grad trip. Waited very long for this day le. I bet del and dora also think that way.

Still in the midst of packing my stuff. Feeling so excited now!! Never been there before so it would be a totally new experience for me. So looking forward to it. Yeah~~

Will be away for 7 days.. doubt there will any blogging from me cos i'll be busy shopping, or rather window shopping.

Take care peeps!! See ya!!

Germs are everywhere!!

2006-06-17T14:44:00.000+08:00

Oh no!!

Aunty has been coughing, then pass the germs to mum who is now experiencing coughing, headache and fever.

Del having sore throat and down with fever.

Last few days, bro and myself down with flu.

Why is everyone falling sick? I guess it must be the late nights of soccer games, resulting in not enough rest. It could also be due to the ever-hot weather.

I dun wanna fall sick. Cos i wanna enjoy myself in Taiwan.

Hope they are feeling better.. Frenz.. try to get more rest and drink lotsa water!!

Busy stuffing myself with FOOD..

2006-06-17T00:19:00.000+08:00

Have been cooping at home watching taiwanese drama serials for the past few days. Time to take a break and meet up with frenz. So yesterday, i met with JY and Dora for a lunch buffet at KuiShinBo. Del supposed to join us too, but then last min she said she having sore throat so no point paying for the food that she couldnt really taste.

Long queues at the waiting area, luckily dora booked the table in advance. Quite like the food at the buffet. It is of much higher quality than the other buffet restaurants. They have quite a lot of variety like paper steamboat, claypots, sushi, tempura, teppanyaki, cakes and choco fondue..

Jy really cant make it at buffets but i think all of us really ate lesser than b4 le. Is it because as we grow older, we eat lesser?? A bit rubbish la. Was feeling full after finishing the paper steamboat. It is a must-try item there. I like the soup and the chicken is very tender. Yummy!! Too bad, i din take photos of it. I was busy eating you see.

After lunch, as good friends, we decided to drop by del's hse to see how she's doing. Haha.. but our main motive was to play mahjong. I think del's bro and sis so funny, keep making me laugh. Dora being the expert won 10bucks. As usual i lost a dollar. Haha, think i would have not lose that much if not for del's sis who tried to scare me in throwing out my big tiles. Del very poor thing, din manage to play much but still have to pay for her bro and sis losses.

Dad finally offered to buy us a new TV. Our old TV really tested our patience on thurs. Watched the england match halfway then suddenly blank out. No matter how hard we hit it, the image still dont come out. So irritating!! Only managed to literally hear them score 2 goals.

Went to Audio House to search for our new TV cos dad knows ppl from there so prob can get a better deal. After looking and enquiring, we set our eyes on a Phillips 42" plasma TV. After special discount and trade-in of the old TV, it costs $4500. Funny thing was, dad's transaction wasnt approved cos reached his credit card limit le. So sianz!! Have to wait for dad to put together his cash to pay for it, which is likely to be on mon. No money, no delivery!!!

Wonder when my new TV will come???

Taiwan!!

2006-06-15T15:04:00.000+08:00

I think this jun holiday, taiwan is the 'in' place to go. So many ppl are visiting the country. Many of my uni friends planned to go there for their grad trip, just like me.

Del's sis and aunt just went there.
Sw and Jyg going there on the 16th.
Del, Dora and myself will be there on the 18th.
Yun and Qian (sec sch classmates) holiday-ing there too. Not sure when.

Haha.. hope i dun see any familiar faces in the tour group. It'll be like so awkward..

Tensions at home... =(

2006-06-15T10:49:00.000+08:00

I dun feel good yesterday night. There were some tension between dad and mum. And it was all because of a faulty air-con in their room.

Dad got rather pissed off when he went into his stuffy room and found that mum let down the curtain though with the windows opened. Then he thought of slping in bro's room. But at that time, bro was talking on the phone and thought dad was only joking and sort of asked him to go out (according to dad). Then bo bian i had to give up my room, but then the already irritated dad decided to slp on the sofa instead.

Since young i know that dad has a very bad temper, luckily he tone down a lot recently. So when i see that something is gonna go wrong, i'll try to be their mediator.. haha..

Really hope that they are okay.

SuperBand!!

2006-06-13T17:24:00.000+08:00

Oh no!! JuzB is out of the competition. So disappointed~~

JuzB is one of my favourites. I support them because even though they are all malays, they could still handle the chinese songs very well. I have always look forward to the surprise that they would bring to their audience every monday. Well, i must admit that their performance yesterday wasnt their best cos they changed their lead singer. Nevertheless, i really enjoyed listening to them especially when they sang 'Kiss Goodbye'.. Think i would miss their singing.

On a happier note, Milubing is still in it. They are so young, energetic and creative. It is very entertaining to watch them performance. I think they have really shown a lot of improvement. Hope that they could stay in the competition for a longer period.

I guess now all the groups are equally good. So now the result is very much dependant on the fan base that the groups have.

Miniatures!!

2006-06-12T15:10:00.000+08:00

The black bag belongs to my dad and the grey one is my bro's newly bought bag. So cute right?? It is so mini.. it is actually a pencil case which my bro bought at the Aviva Open.

The one on the left is actually a mini shuttlecock keychain. A gift from my bro's badminton mates when he left JC.. So sweet of them.

Haha.. now then i know my bro also like mini stuffs.

Devil beside you.. Nice show!!

2006-06-11T23:25:00.000+08:00

This taiwanese tv serial is highly recommended by JY and myself. I find some settings quite similar to MVP valentine and Meteor Garden. But i like this show better. Cuter guys and girls in this show. haha..

It is a very typical love story which i think there is little chances of it happening in reality. After watching the show, really got the urge of getting into a relationship.. haha.. the couple (rainie yang and mike he) is so sweet and loving. oh my god!! But i know that it would be just a temporary feeling, cos i know being in a relationship is not as easy as thought.

These few days, i have been in front of the computer for long hours, busy watching online shows. I know that i need to rest my eyes cos i dun wanna have my eyes operated especially after listening to shan and JY's friends very gross eye operation story. But there are still a lot of shows on my watching list and i am running out of time. hee..

Tidying up my desk..

2006-06-11T17:39:00.001+08:00

After my exams ended, i just left my notes lying around on my desk. Mum nagged at me several times to tidy up my room cos she commented that she couldnt even wipe my table top. But i keep procrastinating.. hee..

This was how my desk looked like before i started packing. Took ard 2 hours to sort out my notes and file them nicely, for easy reference in the future.

Tadah.. This is the current state of my table. Not much difference actually. Just that it looks neater now and i'm all ready to pass back my friends the notes that i borrowed from them.

Sneezing all the way while typing out this entry. Must be the dust that has accumulated all this while.

A day out with Mum

2006-06-10T23:20:00.000+08:00

No gathering with friends over the weekend cos most are busy with their own stuffs. JY in Thailand busy shopping, Shan pai-tor-ing in KL, SL working, TP accompanying her sis prob, Sab's got family gathering, Del and Dor busy preparing for their exams.

So sianz.. but nevermind, still got my mum to accompany me shopping. Now is the GSS lei, how can dun go shopping. So we went Bugis tog with my 2nd aunt. Very crowded with uncles and aunties cos it is the fifteen day on the lunar calendar. Still, we managed to squeeze into the temple to pray.

There are so many things on my shopping list. Working wear, shoes, cosmetics, accessories and it goes on and on. I thought it would be easy to buy working shoes cos all i need is a pair of covered black shoe. But i'm wrong. I dun quite like most of the designs i saw and those that i fancy are not very comfy.

Think it will be worse if i shop for my working wear. Dun really know what is required of my attire, the norms and the culture of my working place like. I dun want to buy then later realise that it doesnt really suit the culture there. Also, because of my size, it is really difficult to buy clothes. So headache** why none of my weight losing plans work at all**

Haha.. think a lot of my friends dun really like to shop with me, even my mum. They always commented that i very 'ma fan'. Then i always end up not buying anything. It is not that i am fussy or what, it is just that i cant find the things that i really really want.

Tired leg muscles, not because of the shopping. Should be due to over-working of my dormant muscles during the badmintion session on fri.

Hong Kong Trip

2006-06-08T23:20:00.000+08:00

Finally have the time to upload my photos taken during my HK trip which took place 3 weeks ago(21 May). Anyway, i will just make this entry more of a photo blog rather cos i couldnt exactly my what we did and how i felt at that time. Haha.. i have used shan's entry as my reference.

Day 1 : Changi Airport, HK International Airport, Mongkok, Yau Ma Tei, Jordan and Tsim Sha Shui.

Surprisingly, we din take any photos at the departure hall. I guess maybe because it was very early in the morning (ard 5am) and also the girls are more interested in buying duty free cosmetics. Haha.. i joined in the fun and bought myself a stila lip glaze.

Our flight arrangement on Jetstar. My first time flying budget. I find the seats a little crampy and due to it being a small sized plane, it was not very stable. Luckily it only takes ard 3 hours to reach our destination.

This is actually a indicator on the airport express which shows how far away you are from your destination. As the name suggest, the ride from airport to town takes only about 40mins.

4 passengers in the back seats.. so where am i??

At the front seat of course. The taxi here can take up to 5 ppl. The front seat can accomodate 2 ppl.. interesting ar..

This was our first meal at a 'cha can ting' near our hotel. Their noodles are quite 'Q' but the soup too salty.

We were lazying around in the hotel room. It was not that we dun wanna go shopping, it was because the weather dun want us to do so. It rained throughout our stay. So spoiler.. =(

Went to Harbour City for shopping. It is where those high end boutiques are, just like Taka. Had KFC for dinner. Quite tasty i would say. They have baked rice, egg tarts and corn as their side dishes. What i like about the KFC there is that they provide gloves and wet tissues. No more dirty and oily hands. How I wish the S'pore outlets could incorporate that.

This is the night scene of HK. Too bad the photo cannot really capture the beauty of it. Our initial plan was to go to Avenue of Stars where there will be handprints of those famous artiste along the streets. But too bad, the rain spoil our plan. So we moved on to Mongkok for shopping. It is quite similar to Far East and they have a street that particularly sells sports apparel at a reasonable price.

Day 2 : Causeway Bay, Times Sq, Langham Place

This is a typical breakfast set in the cafe. Looks so appealing!!

Shopping, shopping and more shopping. Haha.. think SL was the biggest spender for that day. Let's see.. She bought a Chez bag, Toni & Guy products and cosmetics from Benefit (not selling in s'pore). As for the rest, we din buy much cos the things there not say very cheap.

This is the food court. The deco is quite similar to ours. An interesting finding is that they even have Toa Payoh chicken rice. Though i am not the one eating, it sure doesnt look nice. Right, ZP?

Day 3 : Sha Tin, Wong Tai Sin Temple, Po Lam, The Peak

Woke up extra early for the dim sum cos it was further away from our hotel. It is at Shatin, Maxim Restaurant. Yummy Yummy!! I must say that it was quite worth the trouble. The hongkongers actually have their own way of 'yum cha'. For eg. they will eat using the bowl and put their unwanted stuffs on the plate. Luckily SL taught us before we started eating. If not, we'll become a laughing stock. Haha.. at times, we even had communication breakdown with the staffs there.

Our next stop was at Wong Tai Sin Temple. It was said to be very 'ling' so we specially make a trip there to pray. Above was the view we got after 'pa shang shan' under the rain. SL conveniently sat there and so we all conveniently took photos with her one by one. haha..

Went to Po Lum for more shopping. It is located right at the end of the MTR line.

No kidding. Shan is the new owner of the 5 shoes captured above. Nice and cheap shoes i must say. Comfortable level?? Still testing..

Went up the peak via the tram. The weather is very much like genting, so cooling. Magnificent view!! A must visit place for first timers to HK.

Day 4 : Mongkok, Airport Express, Changi Airport

Went back to Mongkok for last minute shopping. Going home soon le but still had quite a lot of money left. That means that i have a shortage of souvenirs. Here are some of the stuffs i bought.

Packing our newly bought stuffs into lugguage at the Airport Express. Action have to be fast, if not the train would be arriving.

At the check-in counter. Can u see the difference between a budget airline and a normal airline?? So interesting!!

My overall HK experience : The country is very much like Singapore just that it is not as orderly and systematic, esp their traffic and signboards. Food there on the average is quite tasty. Think we would enjoy ourselves better if not because of the rain. So next time, must go HK at the right time.

PS. Can view all my photos under Visual Memories - My Photo Gallery

Jewel in the Palace.. aka Da Chang Jin

2006-06-07T23:14:00.000+08:00

Finally finished watching the 70 episodes of the korean show. I must confess initially, i do not have good impressions of korean shows. Cos in my opinion, they are slow and draggy. *no offence to fans of korean shows* I begin watching this VCD because i just finished my exam at that time and needed something to kill time.

After watching, i find myself liking this drama, though it is quite sexist. It is not as draggy as other Korean shows, there were a few climaxes which i quite enjoy watching. And i find it quite meaningful. However i still do fast forwarded some parts until the subtitles reappear.. haha..

Fav roles :

Chang Jin (CJ) -
I really admire her fighting spirit and her passion for learning. Furthermore, she is so kind hearted.. i wonder if such a person really exist.

Adopted parents -
They are quite comical. Though the wife is money-minded and very mean at times, she still show her concern for CJ

Sir Min -
He may not be those handsome type, but i find him quite charming.. with the small eyes. He is always there for CJ, standing up for her. How i wish i have a bf like him.

Actually still got many more, just that i dunno wanna bore my readers.hee..

There are a few fav scenes i wanna share.
1) The part where CJ's mum died in the cave and CJ was feeding her the wild berries she plucked. *so sad and touching*

2) All the cooking scenes.. think i prefer them to the part where CJ started to become a female doctor. Haha.. begin to like korean food after looking at those yummy dishes being presented to the royal family.

3) Madam Cui being interrogated because of her evil doings. I must say she acted very well.. i like her acting but not her role.

Lesson learnt:
Ppl with evil thoughts and actions will get their retribution one day. It is only a matter of when it will come.

Also, do not let wealth and power get the better of you!! They are important but there are other things which are more important than that.

Summon being waived!! Yeah..

2006-06-07T22:14:00.000+08:00

Received an email from the HDB today to inform me that my summon of $50 is being waived. This is my first summon received, due to parking overnight at a carpark which only allows cars with season parking to do so. Luckily shan thought me how to go about appealing, if not i will need to fork out the money from my pathetic bank acc to pay for it.. so heartpain. Think i'll be extra careful in the future.

Met my aunty yesterday and she was telling me that she was being issued summons almost everyday for the last week. She told me one encounter which i find it quite funny and unbelievable.. one afternoon, she drove on the bus lane during the closure of bus lane. Then suddenly she saw someone hiding under the overhead bridge taking photos of her act. And so, i think there will be a summon which is along the way to her letterbox.

My aunt commented that recently the government has been quite stringent with regards to parking regulations. Her reasoning is that they are trying to get back the money that was distributed to the public in the form of progress package. But well, i must say that those drivers do are at fault most of the time themselves.. Haha.. shant talk more here.. *sensitive topic.. haha..

Judgment Day.. =)

2006-06-05T17:53:00.000+08:00

Suddenly received shan's msg which read: Exams results are out, tog with honours classification..

Upon reading this, my heart started to beat very fast. I am really not prepared to get my results today cos i thought it will only be out on Fri. Actually i'm very worried about my results for 306, fearing that i would retain for one more year because of that.

Many reasons for me to think that way. Firstly, it is a killer module whereby quite a few seniors 'ta bao' and couldnt graduate. Secondly, i failed my 2 quizzes which constitutes 25%. Thirdly, as usual i din do very well for class participation. Think only JY knew that i did badly for my coursework. I dun want to tell my other friends about it cos it is really embarrassing and i din want them to share my unhappiness.

My hands were shivering and voice was shaking when JY called to tell me her results. I am not exaggerating, JY can prove that. My heart was pounding very fast.. When i saw my results, i immediately breakdown. It is not tears of sadness but JOY!! I really feel a sense of relief. Think i can sleep well tonight (for the past few weeks, i couldnt really get to slp cos i am too worried about my results)

Friends i met have asked me if i going to graduate this coming june. I will always answer them 'not sure' cos it will have to depend on my results. But now I can say that i have graduated, though with not really good grades. But i am already contented!! YEAH!!

Badminton Session..

2006-06-04T21:44:00.000+08:00

Another new member to our clique of friends. First is Fir, then Steph.. Now is CS's gf (En).. Dun really know her well for me to pass comments about her. However, from her actions and the way she talks, i can deduce that she is an easy going and fun loving person. Can see that she can gel with us quite fast. hee..

Met up with the guys today for badmintion. Haven seen them for a long time le. Think since New Year when AL left for Thailand. Heard from JYG that it is because someone is busy wooing girls that's why no time to organise outing for us. He should know who he is. *just joking only*

Anyway, the perfect pair for today's session is Del and Fir.. No other pair can beat them. Straight wins for 5 - 6 matches *applause applause* Throughout the game, En was being suaned by the guys. Her bf never protect her but also join in the fun.. *haiz.. Although i only played for a few games, my hands and legs are aching. Can see from here that i lack exercise.

After that, the guys carried on with their mahjong session. Couldnt join them cos have to accompany my parents to Compasspoint to buy things. I know it is very bad of me to say this but it is a torture to shop with my dad. He likes to go into those furniture shops to look at their prices and telling me that their cost price is much lower, how he is thinking of selling furnitures, so on and so forth..

Our initial intention is to ask him buy his shirts at G2000.. cos they having sale now. We ended up not buying anything cos he commented that he could get it at cheaper price at China. Sometimes i just couldnt stand him. Close friends of mine know that i get easily irritated by him, his speech and his actions. It is not that he is not a good dad, i also dunno why i have that reaction..

I still do love him and respect him, cos i know that he did put in effort in his career to provide for us.. Not like others who will just obsess in gambling and womanizing. Think i would have to constantly remind myself that i am blessed and fortunate to have him as my dad!!!

Sianz.. have to wake up early tml to help out at my aunt's office.

Mahjong Nite Out

2006-06-02T02:50:00.000+08:00

Mahjong Kakis: Shan, SL and JY..

Met up with the above mentioned kakis at SL's hse on Wed night night. We've planned to play mahjong thru the night. Initially i thought the plan wouldnt work out, cos i think they would be too tired to continue after a few hrs of game and would just lie on SL's bed to slp (i've experienced that b4, so in the end, only left me alone at the mahjong table *sad ar*) However, this time round, we managed to play from 1am to 6am..

Well, it is indeed a record breaking game. We have proudly used the 5 hrs to finish one round. Haha.. the reason being that during our 'nan fong', shan has amazingly won 5 to 6 games consecutively when she is the 'zhuang'.. so in the end the game cannot move on.. Because of that, she was constantly being suaned by us until she dun dare to game.. cos fear of being suaned by us again. Anyway, it is only for the fun and laughter, so hope shan wouldnt mind.

Okay la, to be fair to shan, not only her 'diao zhuang'.. all of us has that experience once.. just that shan 'diao' for a longer time.. That explains why our game lasts longer that it should. Haha.. normally others would take 2hrs to finish 1 round, but we took 5hrs!!!

The overall winner, needless to say is shan.. JY also won a bit too.. I lost 4bucks.. *haiz

I drove to SL's hse, so after the long and tiring game, i went to take my car. To my horror, i've received a summon of 50 bucks.. shan had one too. This was the first time i receive this.. so unlucky.. but i gonna send an appeal.. hope they will entertain me and give me another chance..

KTV session

2006-05-30T00:38:00.000+08:00

I feel so bad today. The reason is because i fly 2 ppl aeroplane. Believe me, it was not on purpose. Initially i have set to meet up with JY and Chris(classmate working as insurance agent) at 11am at bugis.. but then i accidentally overslept.. I din hear my alarm clock ring at 9am. So in the middle of my sleep, i received a phonecall.. it was JY. I immediately woke up when i heard her voice cos i know something is wrong.. i am very late. So no choice.. i have to give the appointment a miss.. but anyway Chris called to arrange another appointment with me.. *he wanna sell me insurance*

Anyway, i felt bad to just leave JY alone after her appointment, so i tried my best to meet her at cine asap. We met for KTV session.. together with shan and ZP.. SL couldnt join us cos she was down with fever.. caught in the rain she said.. *poor girl*

KTV session was as usual. Very long never sing with them le, cos most of the time del and dor will jio me for the k lunch.. i must say that they have good vocals, quite like their singing.. think i am the worst among them *haiz* ZP seems bored throughout the 4 hrs cos prob she seldom get in touch with chinese songs.. well at least now she knows more chinese songs than before.. haha..

Had dinner at Galilee and friends which is at cine. I think their food standard dropped quite a bit. It wasnt as tasty as before. Not much ppl during dinner hour.. so we wondered how they have managed to survive.. Our conclusion: The boss has strong support behind him.. haha

Meeting the girls again tml afternoon for dinner again. This time with SL around.

Back from Hong Kong

2006-05-28T23:42:00.000+08:00

Hmm.. have been back from HK for about 4 days le.. but due to some internet connection problems, i couldnt access the internet at all.. that explains why i'm MIA.. Let's see what i've done since i got back on wed night

Thursday (25/5)
Went for my facial appointment at bishan.. the salon is not very famous for its facial but for their eyebrow embroidery.. Anyway i just wanna give it a try. Really very tired of my face.. it is so sickkening.. tried so many products and waste so much monet le but still see no improvement.. even visited the skin centre twice and took antibotics.. when i eat them, my pimples are under control.. but once i stop medication, it is out of control... arghhh.. why cant i have a flawless skin. *haiz*

Hope their products work on me.. *fingers crossed*

Friday (26/5)
Met up with del and dor, my sec sch friends at chinatown to go down to the travel agency to pay the rest of the balance for our taiwan trip.. the ppl at the agency din quite want to entertain us cos we are not considered as 'new sales'. Thus, no one wanted to attend to us though they seem quite free to us.. even the auntie who attended to us the last time din even come forward to acknowledge us.. Singaporeans are just too practical..

Went to a korean restaurant for lunch.. good food @ reasonable price..their set lunch is below 10 bucks. haha.. the utensils they used are very much like those we see in 'Jewel in the Palace'.. metal bowls, metal chopsticks and metal spoons.. looks very stylish but difficult to use.. cos they are quite heavy actually.. their marinated meat is so YUMMY!!! wanna go back there again =)

Went to find Dor's mum at the travel agency she is working at.. haha.. she also fainted when she saw the travel bag 'HT agency' gave us.. cos it is so 'duh', so not very nice.. then she gave us the ones from her agency.. better looking then those we had..

At ard 5 plus, met up with del and fir for badminton session.. i drove my dad's car cos he is in China for business purpose.. haha.. got car now, so we decided to go Chomp Chomp for dinner.. picked up dor from her house and off we go..

hee.. mine is a new license so have some trouble parking the car.. it is so embarassing.. quite a few cars waiting for me, some uncles even came out of their cars to watch me park.. i thought it was quite idiotic of them to do so.. anyway i really felt relief when i finally manage to park in with the help of some drivers.. haha *phew*

Haiz.. i think i'll need more practising before i can drive to town.. now i got car but dunno how to drive.. so wasted!!

My first entry at Blogger

2006-05-28T23:37:00.000+08:00

Woohoo... finally got myself a personal blog. Have been wanting to get one cos i wanna pen down my memories and feelings about special events and frens in my life. Actually I have got a group blog.. however, it is not very nice of me to post my personal blogs on it.. so here I am!!!

Actually i have created a blog at xanga for the last two weeks.. but i find it not really user friendly so i have decided to just close it down and create a new one at blogger.. hope it works out well..

Hmm.. i've got mixed feelings about getting a blog. I wanna ppl to read my blog and get some updates of my life but on the other hand, i scared that those frenz mentioned in my blog might get offended by my entries..

Hee.. so should i pen down my true feelings or just write down what has happened?? *still feeling confused* i guess i'll need to use my discretion to decide what can be post and what should be kept to myself..

~~ThE LiFe oF A bOrInG AuDiToR~~