the sweetest thing

The previous post got some ppl asking questions (very perceptive you guys) so yeah, I believe that the following pictures will explain it all… Lunch date at Jaan (Equinox, Swisshotel Stanford).

Lovely view, great food at great prices. And the best dessert ever, arriving in a black box =) on a chilled plate, with the magic words written in chocolate.

I was quite stunned, so the events that followed were kinda in a blur. He popped the question (on his knees of course) with a lovely, single stalk of rose. The ring was gorgeous, just the way I liked it (we did go ring window-shopping before that). So I just nodded my head, and he put the ring on… Only moments later did I realize that I forgot to say “Yes, I’d love to”, just like the way I’ve been mentally practicing to say.

It was quite a lovely surprise, the lunch was scheduled at the last minute, so he must have rushed through with all the planning… with help from the helpful staff at Jaan, though they screwed up the instructions abit, were kind enough to execute the whole thing for him.

Didn’t get to announce it earlier ‘cos the ring had to be resized and we wanted to tell the important ppl first before announcing it to the world.

More pictures:

yes, i'd love to

absolutely... =)

The Promotion Theory

My boss’ theory on promotion: we must show that we are doing over and above what is expected of us before we can get promoted, even if we do our own job well, it’s not enough for a promotion unless we prove we can perform the work of a manager, otherwise there’s a chance tt we’ll be promoted into incompetency, not good for the company.

To explain his theory more clearly, I’ll draw this analogy. A Primary 5 kid, takes an exam. It doesn’t make any difference if he scores 1/20 or 20/20 cos he’s only doing what’s expected of him. To far exceed expectations, he should also hand in an essay on top of doing the test. And to get promoted to Primary 6, the Primary 5 kid has to already be doing P6 work right now. Even if he shows he can do his P5 work v well, it’s not enough, cos what if he can’t handle P6 work when he gets promoted?

Batam 2007

Since TJ was at Batam on course and had the weekend off, Mich (his colleague’s gf) and I decided to go Batam to pay our boys a visit. The interesting thing is tt Mich works in the same company as me too! And we have a few common friends, so had lots to talk about, esp since she’s a chatty, bubbly girl, but then next to her I feel older somehow (she’s one year younger)

We arrived abt 5pm on Saturday. This time around, we stayed at Hotel Harmoni, an ok hotel in Nagoya, close to a few seedy nightspots and some spa places. Tj had already been staying there for the past two weeks. Nothing much to tell this trip around, didn’t take many pictures too, it was quite a fun trip, lotsa oily food (I tried to hold off the chili but thankfully my tummy was ok)… we had a great seafood dinner for SGD 10 per person, went to an ang moh bar to have beer and play pool for free, then headed off to some place with a live band, but the sound system was so lousy (read: super loud) tt we decided to head off for the night.

On Sunday, we woke up for crappy hotel bfast, then went for a nice and cheap spa session. Only SGD 40 for 1 hr massage, ½ hour body scrub and ½ hr steam + Jacuzzi session. A bargain if you ask me. The place isn’t as nice as the one in holiday inn, but at that price I can’t complain much…

On the whole, a great trip, went back with a dozen of J.CO donuts. Why don’t they come over to S’pore? Not as good as Krispy Kreme, but not half bad either…

just plain suay

this continues the previous entry on the suay day tt i had on Wednesday.

woke up at 3am, super nauseous and all... ended up both puking and diarrhoea-ing... then couldn't really sleep after tt...

nauseous feeling continued in the morning. i was scheduled on for an exam (some RM thing) but i felt i was in no shape to take it, lack of sleep, sick and all, so tried calling the offices to postpone, but they told me since it was the day of the paper, there was nothing they could do abt it, and advised me to call US (the hosting org) and see wat they said. i tried, but it was like maybe 10pm there, the customer service hotline was already closed. so bo pian really had to go for the thing, if not lugi abt SGD250

decided to go see a doctor to get medicine b4 the paper @ 3.30pm tt day... ended up waiting 1 hour just to see tt doctor, feeling utterly crappy cos the aircon was super duper cold. diagnosis: gastric flu... i already had all the medicine tt he gave me, only useful thing was the MC, which wasn't bad, cos i could convert my leave to MC.

so went back, ate medicine, slept a while... totally not into studying the thing already. woke up, tried having lunch, and proceeded to puke it out 5 min later, tgt with the rest of my dinner. so i guess the stupid medicine didn't work. nauseous feeling continued, thankfully the diarrhoea stopped...

time to head down to jurong east informatics centre for the exam. took cab down, cab driver didn't really know where it was, so i ended up dropping way too early (he couldn't turn in), walked in the wrong way (i didn't see the entrance so ended up walking the really long way in). 15 min in the hot sun, feeling puky really felt like shit... plus i didn't really know where the hell the stupid entrance was... but finally i made it there...

the test centre was a dreary place, aircon was musty, it was dark, v conducive for sleeping... plus the lady didn't allow me to bring water in, cos the rules say so. i thought: huh? it's just a bottle of water, my bottle is transparent for goodness sake... so i said i was running a fever then, i needed the water... but she said no, you can come out and take ur water if u want... crap, she scared i pour the water and spoil the computer meh? so yeah, the sick feeling got worse by the minute, i tried my best to do all the questions to the best of my ability, but the questions were so crap and v confusing after a while (guess i wasn't in the best of mental state). i once took an exam in NUS when i was having severe gastric, and got C+ for tt stupid module. so yah, no surprises when i found tt i failed the exam... sucks...

walked to jurong entertainment centre to draw money from ATM (not enough money to take cab home). got on a cab... and it was a slow, jerky ride cos of the jam... finally made it home, and ran to the toilet to puke again, since i already puked out EVERYTHING, there was nothing left except to gag...

didn't dare to eat anything after tt, so it was honey water and more rest for me.

just suay i think. thinking y this year i'm having such lousy luck...

the only good thing was: i went back to the doctor tdy, got another day's MC and stronger med (which i totally didn't eat), and went back to keng... haha! still dun dare to eat too much and avoiding oily, spicy, dairy... got hokkien mee craving now!

the irony...

after wanting to fall sick for the whole of 2007 (half of it gone liao still never), i end up falling sick when i'm on leave, the day of my exam somemore... i hate the feeling of puking... and still having diarrhoea now... =(