Life

Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Getting back on path

2 more months to 2009. Too many things happened in the past 10 months. Happy, frustrating and monotonous... Life went on. Along the way, I think I've already lost myself, my sense of direction, my dreams and vision. I needed to settle down and think through life all over again. Cos I've lost myself in the midst of these quick pace of life.

A few of my aunties commented that if I ever wanna get married, I must marry an angmoh, or at least someone other than an Asian. Reason being, I'm too independent and ambition for any Chinese guy. I admit, I'm very much a leader, who often leads, in the small and big things. A visionary, an idealist, a dreamer, a doer. Too many times and too many things I tend to take charge. Given a chance to give up the reign, I would also wanna depend on one who can lead my life.

Just when I thought it was time and I was ready to take on an amazing chance of my life, I realised that I couldn't move on any further. I'm frailer than I imagined. Seeing so many of the people around me having unhappy and tiring relationships, I had to admit that I'm scared. Wanting to be loved but scared to love. I rather cherish what I have now. A friend, a confidante. I know if we ever move on further from where we are now, and if it doesn't work out the way I want, I'll hate him for life. Knowing my temper, I know I would for sure hate him to the core, leaving another emotional scar. Then I will lose another good friend, a confidante. Just as I thought I've let go the past, I indeed have. But the fact is, that experience has scarred me very badly that I'm fearful of what's ahead.

I took almost 4 years to recover from the past, working non-stop, using work to immune myself, to forget the past, to disown the past relationship. For now, I know to distant myself from him, I must keep myself super occupied. He has motivated me to pursue what I've always believed and wanted to do. Be it for him or for myself, I'm going after my dreams. For myself, I wanna let the party and wild side of me out too.

I used to plan what I wanted, and here's my big plan for my next 5 years.
-Get my Masters in Taxation in 2009
-Get my Masters in Professional Accounting in 2010
-Get a car by 2010
-Becoming a CPA by 2012
-Holiday every year to Korea, USA and Europe
-Start of my cakery and cafe by 2013

With my big plans, I doubt I'll have time to spare for someone else. I wanna work, work and work, study, study and study!! Yes, I'll eventually become a studying machine for the next 2 years!

Labels: Plans

OH, i'm so in love with victorian at {/12:37 AM}

Sunday, September 28, 2008
The China Dairy Scare

The recent dairy scare caused by unethical Chinese dairy producers has resulted in much fear in consumers. Without any doubt, this has also led to the loss in confidence for any kind of products made in China.

I'm not an avid dairy consumer. I'm not affected by this dairy scare cos I don't drink milk. I think the only China dairy milk product I've ever eaten is the Rabbit Milk candy.

Last Wednesday, Lawrence and I went for lunch in a cafe. Typically, which a cafe serves tea, the milk came in a separate small jug. Yes, so we were served with our tea and milk. Not knowing that I don't take milk, Lawrence pushed the jug of milk in front of me. As a reflex, I just pushed it back to him and told him that I don't take milk, esp fresh milk.

So he poured a big dash of milk into his milk, before he could stir his tea, I just popped him a question, "Hey, you din ask them if the milk is from China?" Oh... I thought that was pretty funny to scare him and the best thing he always did was to play along with me. Haha... He gave me a traumatic look and told me "Cant be la.."

The next moment before I could make another response, he called the waiter to our table and asked,"Is this milk from China?" Gosh.. The OS I had was, "I can't believe you really asked that!" I think that the waiter must be really shocked at the question or perhaps he didn't understand the question. So he asked us to repeat the question again in Chinese. That was when both of us realised that the waiter was a Chinese national. Oh no... I felt so weird cos we were asking a China Chinese if the milk was from China. How ironic? The best of all was Lawrence repeated that question again in Mandarin. So the waiter replied that he din know where the source of the milk and assured us that he would go find out for us.

I felt so pai seh and we both couldn't stop laughing. Still Lawrence drank that tea with the unknown milk. Then the same waiter came over and served Lawrence with his beef stew and said "This is not from China." Faint... We simply burst into laughter again. Who cares if the beef is from China anot? I don't wanna know cos I doubt the beef is from China, but then Lawrence added that perhaps the butter added to his mashed potato could be from China. Funny..

From a mindless joke of mine, we did had some fun, all cos of a good company who played along. I really think that was so funny and was indeed a good laugh for the week. But then I couldn't help but wonder what was that waiter's OS when we questioned the quality of the products of his hometown. This dairy scare has also proven to us how one black sheep can destroy the reputation of a whole nation. I merely thought that China took much blood and sweat to build up the good reputation they had through the most remarkable Olympics I've seen, but yet everything is gone overnight with such terrible scandal. What a pity!!!

Labels: Dairy Scare, Lunch

OH, i'm so in love with victorian at {/11:09 PM}

Thursday, May 08, 2008
Thanksgiving

Don't really remember if I ever mention where I was working in, but I'll say it now. Last December, I was offered a contract position of 6 months as an assistant analyst in ABN AMRO Bank. If you not know what it is, it's a Netherland bank. God has indeed been very faithful in granting all the desire of my heart. Every thing I asked, He gave unconditionally. Before I graduated, I prayed very hard and specifically that I wanted a job to work in One Raffles Quay, preferably a bank, and ABN AMRO in specific. Bam.. Bingo I got the contract job after one interview, and was notified of it within 24hrs. Pay was super good as compared to other similar contract jobs and permanent jobs in other banks.

In late Feb, my boss asked if I was keen if she converts me into a permanent staff, well of course I was glad, but thereafter there was no news. Just as I was giving up since my contract was coming to an end in June, last month after a business dinner with some directors from London, out of the blue, she popped the question again. Same reply I gave but then I thought she was so busy and would surely have forgotten it a few days after.

Then 2 weeks ago, I asked her if there's a gonna be any adjustment to my pay after converting to perm and she told me no but she would check with HR. Sadly I really thought she would have forgotten until last Fri, she told me she got good news for me. They will adjust my pay but I must have another interview with the HR fine.

Things went so fast cos HR called me on Mon to arrange for an interview on Tues. During the interview, the interviewer told me she couldn't confirm immediately cos they had to submit to a proposal to the management and the conversion is subjected to management's decision. I thought this will take pretty long then.

Low and behold, they called today within 24 hrs to offer me a permanent position. I was thrilled but din express it over the phone. I signed the offer letter with will take effect this coming Fri. Having been in the bank for only 4 months, I was converted to perm staff before my contract ended. My boss waived the probation period cos she was happy with my performance. Best of all, when I read the offer letter, I got promoted to finance officer with a super nice pay increment and super luxurious benefits. Another thing good is that I am offered to apply for a platinum credit card. Wow.. I only have a normal credit card and a gold card, both supplementary ones. Finally I can get a main card, platinum somemore. Siao liao.. I must control my spending sia.

Thank God for everything. Hallelujah!!

Labels: Thanksgiving

OH, i'm so in love with victorian at {/12:43 AM}

Monday, April 07, 2008
Graduation Ceremony

4 April 2008 marked a huge milestone on my education. Though it's just a stage, not the final destination since I'm gonna do my masters, I was really glad that I could have come so far. I finally graduated.

Was super busy closing accounts before that and seriously, I felt that this day came so fast that I din prepare myself enough to enjoy the maximum of this day. Haha...

Woke up even earlier than normal days when I had to go to work on the day itself cos the ceremony was in the morning and I had to report to school at 8.15am. Sleepy I was indeed, but I was dressed for the occasion.

That's me and my grandparents before the ceremony.

Me and my folks

Here I am, quene to go on stage to receive my certificate.

My family and I after the ceremony. See that pooh? Daddy sew that graduation gown and hat onto the pooh himself. It's the one and only pooh bear in the entire universe.

See that pink bouquet of roses. Dad bought that too. So loved. It's pink pink pink... I love pink. hahahaha

Chantal and me. Too bad Sally couldn't join us cos she gotta look after baby Isabel, and Vincent was graduating in another ceremony.

After every thing in school, my family and I went to the studio to take family portraits. I'll upload them next month I guess. Stay tune.. But anyway, it was super tiring to take photos in the studio. My whole body and facial muscles were aching after that cos throughout the photography session, I had to pose and face as the photographer requested. Thank God it's all over.

More of me, my pooh and my pink roses.

Labels: Graduation Ceremony

OH, i'm so in love with victorian at {/11:54 PM}

Saturday, March 29, 2008
BEWARE!!! AVOID LONG BEACH SEAFOOD @ DEMPSHEY

I always love to blog about good food and recommend good restaurants. Guess I've never once blogged about lousy restaurants, in terms of food and service. Not that I've never been to eateries that disappoint me, but I just felt that they aren't that bad after all. But today, I strongly wanna share this with the whole world. PLEASE..... Don't ever go eat at LONG BEACH SEAFOOD RESTAURANT. I was utterly mad and disappointed with the restaurant especially the outlet at Dempshey Road.

My family used to dine at Long Beach years ago cos we all love seafood. But over the years, the standard of the food has been dropping, forcing us to go to other seafood restaurants like Jumbo and No Signboard Seafood. As agreed by most of my peers and family, the food at No Signboard Seafood and Jumbo Seafood is indeed very much better than the food at Long Beach as the standard and quality of the food at LB has been deproving.

As I pretty like to go to Dempshey, I was very attracted to the Long Beach at Dempshey and have been longing to go there, hopefully for a wonderful dining experience, despite the fact that I know that the food might be lousy.

Early this month, Aunt Alice and family dined at the Long Beach at Dempshey. Her comment was, "The food was so-so. Crab tastes weird." Huh...

Monday, my mom had a company dinner at Long Beach at IMM. Her remark was, "Was expensive. Food is very salty and oily. A lot of MSG. Horrible..!" That night, my mom came home with indigestion and felt super thirsty. The next day she went to work, she found out that her boss had a severe diarrhoea after that dinner.

Despite all poor remarks, I really still wanna try out the Long Beach at Dempshey. On wed, Anne was telling me that we were going to Dempshey on Fri, which was this evening, to celebrate Sylvia's farewell. She said that the food was ok as she dined there with her family last weekend.

The UTTER HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE at LONG BEACH DEMPSHEY BEGAN!!!!

First, the place was rather inaccessible, especially if you don't drive. The way up to the restaurant was poorly lit and uneven. I couldn't even see where I was walking. My high-heels were damaged in the cause of finding my way up to the restaurant.

Second, we made a reservation for 2 tables of 20 people at 8pm and requested for a private room also. I arrived at the restaurant at 8.05pm to see Sheena, Kel and the rest waiting outside the restaurant. They were told that our tables were not ready. They were clearing the tables. Fine.. We waited til most of our people arrived and we were all waiting outside the restaurant. Kel said that both Daff and him arrived at 7.15pm but the manager told them they couldn't enter the restaurant until 8pm. Anne arrived at 8.20pm and was a bit upset by the poor service and inefficiency of the restaurant. In the cause of waiting for our tables, we complained many times even after ordering our food before we got our tables. The super rude captain told us, "U got to wait la. No table now." I was super mad when I heard that. I was so tired and hungry lo. Guess what was the best part! As this was supposed to be a surprise party for Sylvia, the star arrived at 8.35pm when we still haven even get our tables. Argh... Stupid restaurant. Flopped our surprise plan. Then the captain rudely told us, "You wait la. We give you the tables in the common area." What the heck!!! We requested for indoor aircon dining in a function room, not al fresco dining in the common area. What nonsense was that? I was so mad that I wanna bite off that super stupid idiotic captain's head. Kel went to tell the manager off and after a long wait of 45 mins, we were finally led to our tables at 8.50pm. The moment we entered the room, the manager was saying to us, "Please take your seat, we'll serve your food slowly." SLOWLY? I immediately shot at her, "What SLOWLY? We waited more than 45 mins outside and it's almost 9pm. You still want us to wait for our food? We ordered them more than half an hour ago lo. I don't want it SLOW." She just looked so apologetic and said that she would instruct the kitchen to serve the dishes immediately.

3. Throughout the dinner, we really all agreed that the food wasn't fantastic. Super salty and oily. Had lots of MSG. Chilli crab too sweet instead of spicy. Sweet and sour pork tasted weird and looked very artificially coloured. We requested for hot Chinese tea. Instead, cold tea was served. To appease us, the manager offered us free dessert- longan, sea coconut and almond beancurd. Yucks.. The syrup tasted no different from plain water, but the longan and sea coconut were so sweet that I think they were over-soaked in heavy syrup. Almond beancurd didn't taste like almond either.

4. The captains and manager were super impatient to chase us out. Kept rushing us, insisting to serve the dessert when we were still talking and blessing Sylvia. Even before that, while we were still eating the crabs, the captain came in, wanting to clear the table. I told her off, "Can't you see we are still eating? We're still eating the crabs. Can you clear later?" She kept quiet and dropped her head and walked away. So stupid and rude.

Though the company this evening was good, we were all pretty pissed off before dinner.

Rating: (All upon 5 stars)

Location accessibility : 2 stars.

Ambience : 2 stars

Service : NEGATIVE 10 stars. (DUN EVER TRY!!!)

Food : 1.5 stars

Price : 2 stars

Overall remark: Spare yourself the agony. This restaurant I strongly discourage anyone from going there.

P.S. I was upset with the fact that we had to wait for so long. But not that I mind quening for food. I always quene for good food. My longest record was 2.5 hr. I wont even mind waiting if we din make the reservation. I was mad cos we made the reservation but our request was not taken seriously for. I am really disappointed to experience such poor service in a restaurant with decades of history.

Labels: Lousy Restaurant

OH, i'm so in love with victorian at {/2:14 AM}

Sunday, March 16, 2008
I'm always around

Sorry that I haven't been blogging since my last entry cos work was really overwhelming but yet I am really glad that I've gained recognition from my vice president and my colleagues for my effort and efficiency. Haha.. I've been too efficient these days that they have problems finding things for me to do.

Whatsoever, many things happened since I last blogged. Grandpa admitted into the hospital, my disagreement with some people whom I thought they cared for me, my shift back to Jurong West church, CNY, JC class gathering, sec school class gathering, dad getting a new job offer, my birthday etc etc etc... Too many things that I wanna share but shall share something nice today.

I'm still bursting with excitement since last night. Why? Cos I went for Jeff Chang's concert. Goodness I think it has been a long long 4 years or perhaps 3 years plus since I last attended his concert. When I was first informed abt the concert, I was like... Oh well.. Not sure if I was still so passionate about him as I used to be. But I really was stirred up at last night's concert. Haha.. Must be Kareen and my friends from the fan club. To my many friends in the fan club whom I met yesterday... yes.. I've been in existence just that I haven't been very on the ball these days.

Many thanks to Verline for helping me to buy the concert tickets. Verline, without u, I doubt I'll get good seats. Thank you so much.

Seated in the 7th row right in front of the stage.. Fantastic view but haha... a high price to pay.. Not in terms of the price of the ticket. I never minded about paying hundreds of dollars to watch a concert or musical.. To some, that seems like lots of money, but hello... I worked super hard for every single cent I've earned. So what's wrong with spend my own money to buy myself some form of pleasure. The heavy price I had to bear was with all the nagging from my folks and relatives when they knew how much i paid for the concert tickets. Pls.. Big deal? No.. Just that they never know that I've been spending such money since... JC days. Gosh.. what lavish life I've had but I love.. And I intend to escalate such life style in the next 12 months. Haha.. Sidetrack...

Back onto the main track.. I grew up listening to Jeff Chang since ..huh... primary 5? I think.. Wow.. That's a long long time. Just like Kareen said, he is like a puppy love figure to us or any girls who fantasize for prince charming. Personally, in a discussion with Sheena and Sean last Friday, I agree that often in reality, the partners we are often "stuck" with will have none of the qualities we desire. Thus I no longer fantasize or ask God of what is to come after a painful experience I had. But I had to admit that yesterday's concert brought me back to those days of fantasy. Jeff is still as charming as he used to be.

I really love the style of the concert. A victorian-design background, a few crystal chandeliers, a symphony orchestra... Gross. Quoting what suet might say, "It's so 'JO'." Yes.. it's everything I love.

Ballads after ballads Jeff sang, we were all mesmerized by his singing. Enjoyed myself pretty much as Kareen, Emerick and I sang along. Haha.. So fun squeaking with Kareen ea

ch time we saw the title of the songs to be sang on the screen or when we heard the intro of each song, attempting to guess the song titles. Brought back those dreamy love feel. Jeff has always favoured Singapore fans. That is a fact I guess many will agree. Cos he sang 2 new ballads from his new album which is to be launched in this coming April. He always sang new songs in Singapore concert. Haha.. So blessed of us.

The concert at Max Pavilion was a sold-out concert. Approximately 7000-people audience indulged in the soothing and charming voice of this Prince of Ballads. Good time really flies..Before we realised it, 2 and a half hour passed, including the encore. 2 and a half hours is really not enough cos there were many more ballads Jeff had yet to sing. We were all so hyped up that we all stood up and sang along during the encore. Haha... Guess we've gotta wait for another 2 years for Jeff's next concert.

Labels: concert, Jeff Chang

OH, i'm so in love with victorian at {/9:25 PM}

Friday, January 04, 2008
I am so so so bored!!!!

I'm so bored, I'm so bored, I'm so bored. Every department so excited about the reshuffling of seats, except my department, cos although our new seats will have the ultimate seaview, but it's rather cramp. We'll be shifting to the other end of the floor by today. Now I'm rotting in the bustling movement of other departments while waiting for the colleagues in my department to finish up the closing of accounts. Why am I rotting while the rest are so busy? Simple, cos I've finished all my work which was assigned to me for the month and everyone is simply too busy to teach me more stuff as for now. Sian.......

What have I done today when I've completed all my work for the month since yesterday?

1. I've made boxes for my department to pack their stuff.

2. I've bundled up and packed the files and documents as my SVP cum high high authority of my department asked me when was I packing the stuff and I gave a "huh" look. Next week die die liao. I'll be sitting outside his room. Bluah... Sabo......

3. I've completed the general ledger which I am to submit 2 weeks later.

4. I've configured the address book for my company email.

5. I've created an email signature.

6. I've helped Grace to find participants for her FYP.

7. I've browsered through the company intranet completely.

8. I've helped my colleague to find a mistake in the 100-over pages general ledger which caused an error in tallying a final figure in a report. And seriously, before I did this, I thought I would take forever to check the millions and millions of tiny prints, but I was wrong. The first figure I checked was the root of the error.

9. I've taken some final shots of the view outside from my window.

10. I've washed my mug in the pantry a few times to kill time.

11. I'm blogging now in front of my stupid lagging computer when my department colleagues are all rushing for time to finish their stuff while the other department people are moving their stuff to their new seats and placing their belongings and cupboards all around us, cluttering the passageway, not missing the fact that some are hagging for more space or for a better seat than the allocated ones just right beside me now, some are planning how to put their stuff on my current table that I'm at now. They really cant wait to chase us out.

What do I have to do later? Huh... Take my barang barangs and shift my butt to the new table. Plug out this stupid computer. I really don't understand why we cant just leave our computers for the people who are coming over to our seats and then use the computers at the other end. At least I'm sure those will not be as lagging as mine. Bluah....

OH, i'm so in love with victorian at {/4:17 PM}