Monday, May 28, 2007
interesting wedding
Since she’s marrying a foreigner, there were two separate wedding dinners, one in China, the other in S’pore. They held the China one first, so the pictures were on display as a slideshow during the dinner itself. The similarities were there, gathering of family members to congratulate the couple, decorating the house, taking of studio photos…
the interesting thing is this: in S’pore the couple offers tea as a sign of respect to their elders (and also for the elders to give them angbao to recuperate the “loss” associated with holding a wedding). In China however, they offer CIGARETTES instead. So there were a whole series of shots whereby the couple (more often than not the bride) would be placing a cigarette in the elder’s mouth, and she’ll be lighting it… tt kinda thing. The highlight of the pictures was that she did the exact same procedure (ciggie and all) for her mother, who totally doesn’t smoke. There was even a shot of her puffing (not sure the term, I just know tt she was blowing smoke out)…
TJ’s cousin definitely met with some resistance from her family (esp her parents) when she decided to marry this guy… but from the whole ciggie thing it is clear that her parents have given her support ultimately, which I felt v sweet.
But the wedding studio shots were still v tacky… (u shd see her hairdo in some of them. *cringes in horror*
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Ouch!
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
One year down the road…
After about half a year, I started getting used to the workings here, and learnt abt the long rivalry between a few bosses here, how they’ll make things difficult for each other, making it v difficult for us small fries. Not to mention it’s v difficult to work w my boss in the first place, a v petty guy who says one thing and preaches another, who goes arnd in circles and takes his time on things, then when it isn’t done at the end of the year, turns around and points his finger at his staff… my appraisal was totally unfair and a mess, and while at tt time of appraisal I was super motivated to prove him wrong, I’m not sure I wanna do that anymore…
Thankfully, the recent good news made it tt much easier to hang on (at least until july) but I’m starting to look out for the next better thing I wanna do with my life. With rumours of our dept expanding and AT’s coming maternity leave, it’ll certainly change the dynamics around here… Hopefully not for the worst, the period she’s gg away is the 2nd busiest time of the year…
Monday, May 14, 2007
Growing Up (and Old)
Through all my flipping, I realized a few things:
1) I look the cutest from age 0 – 7, and my mum really loved to dress chalene and I up…
2) My teenage years were awkward, plagued by acne and lousy haircuts, not to mention toot dress sense in a communist school
3) I looked best when I was 21 – 22, tt was when I was still slimmer and was growing my hair out. And non-humid weather (i.e. in Canada) really suits me…
We had such a laugh over the photos, it’s really quite amazing how much we have changed, and yes, how much we’ve grown…
Monday, May 07, 2007
Running
Finally dared to put myself on a weighing scale, and I didn’t like what I see… so the target now is to get myself more exercise, and eat better to try to shake off the weight. The reason is part vanity and mostly health. Cos like it or not we are getting older and metabolic rate is slowing down etc. Don’t wanna end up riddled with disease later on in my life… plus now tt I’m exercising more, I feel more fit and my skin seems to be improving too =)
Previous weekend was spent exercising and studying, this weekend was spent w friends, spidey (didn’t really like it), squash and tennis (ok my right arm is still aching but that was great fun, we shd do it again), wine, donuts and chit chat, shoe shopping at Queensway (bought my most expensive pair of running shoes to date, I’m so motivated to run more!), yummy dinner and tv sessions at home…
Monday, April 23, 2007
Four Ways to make a Bad Job GOOD
click here
am trying to work on no. 4 by eating healthier and exercising more.
now it's just no. 3...
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Penang
Day One
We took a night bus last wednesday, quite uneventful, pretty amazed at how I could totally knock out and sleep through like at least 3 pit stops, which just goes to show how tired I was. Arrived at the bus station around 7am, way too early to go to the hotel to check in, so we decided to grab bfast and figure out our way there... which we did, took a bus to komtar, the tallest building in penang georgetown, and pretty much where everything is centred. since all buses go to komtar, it becomes our focal point and we went there EVERYDAY. we walked to chowrasta market for bfast, and walked around abit. then i cleverly saw Jalan
we stayed at paradise sandy beach, a lovely hotel and supposedly the best in tanjung bungah
area where we stayed. check out the lovely pool.
we lazed around the poolside/beach for the afternoon, before heading to batu ferringhi night market for dinner. batu ferringhi is the most happening beach in
Day Two
The good thing about Paradise Sandy Beach, is the delifrance bistro. Our daily free buffet breakfast is at the bistro, which means fresh croissants every morning. Yum! Our agenda for the day was to head for the penang tourist centre in komtar, to get more maps and info before we head out exploring on our own. it wasn't tt easy to find, which makes it less appealing for tourists, but we got a great 1 hour introduction from this girl on attachment there, and she gave us lotsa maps and a good insight into penang. plus since it was on the 56th floor, we got to take bird's eye view pictures of penang.
We only wanted to go Penang Hill today, but since we were too early, we decided to go in search for yummy food. First stop: the best penang char koay teow @ Lorong Selamat. We walked like 20 min in the relentless penang sun, queued up a further 20 min for the fried noodles but it was well worth it (ok tj was the one queueing while I just sat and waited).
The old lady frying the char koay teow (tt's how they spell it. ) she wears safety goggles too!
After 20 min, pure bliss!
We also tried the chee cheong fun (in penang they serve it with prawn paste instead of sweet sauce) and the ice kacang. I love the ice kacang too. It had sarsi in it, and the atap chee and the giant red beans are damn soft. Yum!
We adjourned to
Swatow Lane Hawker, looks old outside, but surprisingly it's spacious and air-conditioned inside
Assam Laksa
After food, we made our way to Penang Hill by bus. It was approximately 45 min bus ride, and we stopped at Air Itam and walked to the railway. Where we took a 30 min ride up 830m to the top of penang hill. Quite a scenic ride, just that it was warm (no aircon ) and it was crowded.
Check out the railway. Super old but still does the job...
Us inside the railway
It was late so we headed off, took our first cab ride to New Lane Hawker Joint, a conglomeration of 3 coffeeshops, with lotsa yummy food to try. We had the lor bak (like fried ngoh hiang), Yong Tow Foo and Fried Oysters. Both good. The soupy yong tow foo is fresh and healthy (esp after all the artery clogging fried food) and the fried oysters… I didn’t care much for the egg, but it came with a lot of very fresh oysters! Yum yum.
Day Three
Walked way too much, decided to laze by the beach and catch some sun before we headed out. The beach wasn’t half bad, but due to the presence of jellyfish, nobody ventured to swim there, and A LOT of foreigners were just lying there sun-tanning. We took some lovely photos too!
After tt we headed off for lunch and sightseeing. Our aim today was to cover the historic sites in
Penang Clock Tower. It really is slanted, happened during WWII.
The cannons in Fort Cornwallis
But it was too much sun and not enough food (somehow there wasn’t any food place open around tt area). So we decided to head off for more food =) On our way back towards Komtar, we unexpectedly passed by Kayu Nasi Kandar (one of the best in
Recharged, we made our way to
Day Four
Our last day in
Inside Ghee Hiang
Since we were very tired from walking around that much, we decided to pamper ourselves on the last day in
We rushed back to the hotel by bus, got our stuff, grabbed a quick dinner and finally headed home… All in all, a fantastic trip with my fantastic man =)
Things I’ll remember about
The nostalgic bus system. We went everywhere by bus. Cheapest way to get around, and to experience how the people live too. Their buses are not as comfy as
View on the bus
Bus terminal at Komtar
The nice people in
Friday, April 13, 2007
Waiting for lunch and the weekend
Tt mostly means I’m quite busy at work, or too busy having fun. So yeah, planned and went for a holiday during good Friday weekend, which means I was busy clearing all my work and commitments before that. It was totally worth it, as the holiday was a good break from it all, and I’ll blog abt it in a separate post, stay tuned.
Came back from my break to find that all the work tt I was rushing like mad to churn out, was still stuck with my boss. colleague and I were pissed off at how he sat on it for so long, and made us scramble in the end like every other time. And of course tt led to some arguments along the way. Glad to say tt I stuck to my guns for some issue, and the big boss agreed w me =).
Thing I can’t stand most abt him: he preaches to us tt we shd admit our mistakes when they occur, and not try to cover them up… but then time and again his actions speaks of covering his backside and covering his mistakes… which is very dangerous cos the work we do and papers we write go all the way up to CEO, and if we get found out the ramifications can be great.
So yeah, after the storm lies a small calm, and now I’m here blogging and chatting w colleagues thru email, and planning for wat I’m gonna do in the weekend. =)
Sunday, April 01, 2007
FSRC
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Way Back Into Love
I've been living with a shadow overhead
I've been sleeping with a cloud above my bed
I've been lonely for so long
Trapped in the past, I just can't seem to move on
I've been hiding all my hopes and dreams away
Just in case I ever need `em again someday
I've been setting aside time
To clear a little space in the corners of my mind
All I wanna do is find a way back into love
I can't make it through without a way back into love
I've been watching but the stars refuse to shine
I've been searching but I just don't see the signs
I know that it's out there
There's got to be something for my soul somewhere
I've been looking for someone to shed some light
I could use some direction
And I'm open to your suggestions
All I wanna do is find a way back into love
I can't make it through without a way back into love
And if I open my heart again
I guess I'm hoping you'll be there for me in the end
There are moments when I don't know if it's real
Or if anybody feels the way I feel
I need inspiration
Not just another negotiation
All I wanna do is find a way back into love
I can't make it through without a way back into love
And if I open my heart to you
I'm hoping you'll show me what to do
And if you help me to start again
You know that I'll be there for you in the end
Monday, March 12, 2007
Czenthia Design
will put it up as a permanent link. do show some support so she'll stop bugging me to buy! haha!
http://czenthia.blogspot.com/
Sunday, March 11, 2007
just whining
It’s been a very long week. Tons of papers to finish, appendices to do and format, and got to deal with the PMSy boss. Which is actually a lot worse. I don’t mind having tons to do, bringing them back to do during the weekends (which I’m doing now) just that I’d feel a lot better if he showed that he appreciated it. And not give us attitudes like “both of you shouldn’t expect to go home at 5.30 sharp everyday, the officers can but not you… yesterday I came back after my course and did work until 8.30…” Yes, I go home on time everyday, but if times are busy (like now) I actually bring work home cos it makes a lot more sense that way. If I go home by public transport, it takes me easily an hour MORE to get home, time which could be spent doing work/resting/catching up with my family. So now, anytime I do work at home, I’ll send him the completed file from home at night, rather than save in my thumb-drive and send it to him the next morn in office.
Stressed, demoralized and to make things worse: I just got confirmed. Meaning 3 months period if I wanna resign. Arghz. Only thing tt keeps me going now is the fat bonus we’re all expecting in July. But tt’s still 4 months away…
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
guess where this is?











Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Botanic Gardens
Friday, February 16, 2007
Simplicity works best
This year in an effort to avoid the crowds tj decided to cook me a vday dinner at his bro’s place, which means his bro and dasao were automatically invited. He went to buy food in the afternoon and I arrived early evening to help.
It was a simple dinner, mushroom soup with baguette, salad with vinegarette dressing, boiled new potatoes served with herbs, sour cream and bacon bits, black pepper ribeye steak, walnut cake with baileys. Sounds like a lot, but easy to prepare (especially if you buy canned soups, premixed packets and ready walnut cake). Most importantly, it tasted great and it was fun preparing the food together. Lots of great wine and company made the dinner even more special.
Looks great doesn't it?
Monday, February 12, 2007
Memories of CNY
Even the associated “irritants” like spring-cleaning, superstitions and the recent invention of techno-CNY songs that assault your ears when out shopping for goodies, are somewhat bearable and add to the festive mood. While out shopping at Chinatown last Friday, I discovered (to tj’s amazement) that I can remember A LOT of CNY songs, even down to the lyrics! Either I remember lyrics really well, or my communist primary and secondary school background is showing it’s evil roots ;)
My family is pretty big on superstition and tradition. So while we don’t really do well on ang bao earnings (cos for our family, ang bao is just a token sum), we have tons of food (we pray like a lot of times to the different Chinese Gods) and even have a gathering i.e. gambling session.
CNY is also a time when my deceased grandmother would “visit” us, especially at night after we baked all our pineapple tarts there’ll be this characteristic smell tt will float past her room so that everyone there would know that she’s back.
Now that I’m older, part of the new year preparations fall onto me. Helping my mum buy and prepare new year goodies, some home improvement mini-projects around the house, and yes I’m still supposed to clean my room.
One week left to CNY. Let the mad rushes to cut hair, buy clothes and shoes, stock up on food and goodies, clean the house, change money to put into ang baos, wash and polish the cars etc. continue…
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Two different directions
Socially it’s great, having lotsa fun during the weekends, meeting up and catching up with a lot of friends. Lindy hop, chilling out, attending junmei’s wedding (congrats babe, really happy for you), cha’s bday (eh weijia is really sweet, don’t bully him ok?) and of course the upcoming Vday, CNY, and our 2.5 years anniversary… =)
But work wise, it’s becoming demoralizing. My pregnant colleague’s pregnancy is in danger, she’s still in her first trimester so everything’s quite dangerous, and she hasn’t been feeling well in a while (fever, no appetite i.e. puking out whatever she’s eating and she always looks pale and washed out). She had complications in her first pregnancy so naturally she’s worried. Last Friday she started to bleed quite a lot, so it was very scary cos of the risk of miscarriage. Thankfully the baby’s still fine, but she’s now on one week bedrest MC, which might be extended depending on the situation.
I really wish her well, she’s been trying hard for this baby (7 years?) and she really wants it, and when I see her suffering so much then I realize the greatness of a mother’s love and the sacrifices they’re willing to go through.
Thing is she’s been very hush hush about her pregnancy ‘cos she doesn’t wanna explain to others and I think cos she was worried that it might not be stable etc. so ppl start asking me what’s going on with her but it’s not really up to me to tell, and I don’t really like to evade other’s questions, or lie for that matter. Second thing is that my boss used to give her a lot of work but now that she’s not around he’s conveniently cc-ing me in all her stuff, which I don’t mind covering for her, but I have this feeling that she’ll be leaving the company soon, leaving me with all the work, plus my dept just took on an additional portfolio handling the affairs of another subsidiary… Before she joined my department she was very willing to quit and be a taitai and try for no. 2 already… plus she doesn’t like working with my boss…
Then yesterday out of the blue my other colleague (in the neighbouring dept, one of my lunch partners) tendered his resignation after 6 months. He was weary of this environment here and how his boss is being difficult, even controlling when she wants him to take his leave, so he was so fed up he tendered. A bit unexpected for me, my other lunch partner saw it coming but didn’t think it’ll be so soon, and she’s stressed out too cos her section is seriously shorthanded after one staff went on indefinite MC for depression, and now that he’s gone she’s gonna take over his stuff too… she really needs a break cos I can see how she always looks stressed out now…
I need a real holiday… complete with the beach, a spa/massage, good food and shopping… BKK anyone?
Monday, January 29, 2007
Empathy
I think the only way we can really empathize with another is when we have had similar experiences previously.
Watched two movies last week, Blood Diamond and Babel. Both were good, but I preferred Blood Diamond more, simply because Leo was outstanding. Without going into too much of the plot of both movies, each had something that I totally identified with. The anguish of receiving an overseas phone call from a loved one that unfortunately relayed bad news and totally not being able to do anything to alleviate his suffering. The horror of being in a terrible situation that desperately requires medical attention, but not having access to it because of red tape and the general inadequacies of that foreign country's medical system.
I never would have understood it if I watched these movies 2 months ago. But I do now.
Monday, January 22, 2007
I’ve finally lost it…
Been shopping the whole weekend, 1 hr in Chinatown on Friday, approx 1 hr in Bugis Street on Saturday and 3 hrs in City Plaza (CP) on Sunday. For those in the know, my mum sells clothes to aunties in the weekends, so she gets clothes at wholesale prices from certain shops in CP but alas, my CP trip was very much wasted.
Ok I admit, I’m a cheapskate, so I always go around hunting for cheap stuff, but cheap stuff of good quality is always harder to find, not to mention I don’t really spend much time shopping these days, just drop by, get and go, it’s never about leisurely walks arnd the shopping mall contentedly window-shopping any more. Which then makes it disappointing when I come home empty-handed.
Coupled to that, the lack of exercise and outdoorsy activities mean I’m usually stuck at home (his or mine) mostly sitting down (eating or watching tv) and my spare tyre is growing, which makes clothes even harder to find, cos on top of the cheap and good criteria, the clothing must now also be flattering. Arghz, and the number of weddings coming up also means I have to get stuff to wear for them too!
I need to get out more…
Friday, January 19, 2007
Better Together - Jack Johnson
I could put on the back of a postcard
No song that I could sing
But I can try for your heart
our dreams, and they are made out of real things
like a shoebox of photographs
with sepia-toned loving
Love is the answer
at least for most of the questions in my heart
Why are we here? And where do we go?
And how come it's so hard?
It's not always easy and
sometimes life can be deceiving
I'll tell you one thing, it's always better when we're together
Mmmm, It's always better when we're together
Yeah we'll look at the stars when we're together
Well, it's always better when we're together
Yeah it's always better when we're together
And all of these moments
just might find their way into my dreams tonight,
But I know that they’ll be gone
when the morning light sings
and brings new things
for tomorrow night you see
that they’ll be gone too,
too many things I have to do
But if all of these dreams might find their way
into my day to day scene
I'd be under the impression
i was somewhere in between
With only two,
Just me and you,
Not so many things we got to do
or places we got to be
We'll sit beneath the mango tree now,
Yeah It's always better when we're together
Mmmm, we're somewhere in between together
Well, it's always better when we're together
Yeah, it's always better when we're together
I believe in memories
they look so, so pretty when I sleep
And now when, when I wake up,
you look so pretty sleeping next to me
But there is not enough time,
There is no, no song I could sing
and there is no combination of words I could say
but I will still tell you one thing
We're better together





















