One last post - Goodbye 2008

Yaya.... one last post to conclude year 2008...

BYE 2008 !!!!!!!!!!!! Bad things ended in 2008, no brought forward to 2009!

By the way, I don't know why I would leave my cash card at checkpoint counter last evening. I felt very "sian" when I noticed that this morning. Cos I topped up the cash card just 2 weeks ago, which is sufficient for my 4 - 5 months usage. BUT...... not to worry (although I did go through all the hassles this morning - trying to retrieve my cash card number, worked out the cash card balance, get a new cash card etc).... If you really leave your cash card at checkpoint, just bring your passport to the ICA office at checkpoint. The officer will be able to retrieve your cash card. Don't have your 16-digits cash card number on hand? Nevermind. It's not required. (But still, better record down your cash card number, precaution is better than cure.)

Happy New Year. Notwithstanding bad economy outlook, hope everybody will have a better year ahead!

Shut down

Have decided to shut this blog down.... Till then...

Toy-toy corner

This being the toys corner in my room....


Toothy and Handy...

I especially like Handy.... particularly his expression... :)

危机意识

You might have read this, since I extracted from a forwarded email.

A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day.
A small rabbit saw the crow and asked him, 'Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?'
The crow answered: 'Sure, why not.'
So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow, and rested.
All of a sudden a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story:
To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

I'm thinking of ONE person in my office. Whenever I look at her, the feeling is complicated. She's abundant. For myself, if I can have the luxury to have her, I'd be very happy as my work is less loaded (although I'm not very loaded); for company, she's totally abundant (because I can also do what she does), although she's not harmful.

At one time I was thinking, it's no good to keep one person here doing nothing. It is a back track to her career. She would have no advancement. But, she does not seem to think this way. She's very contented to be here doing nothing. She does not care about her personal growth. I really puzzled why there's such person in this world. This kind of ppl should have extinguished in our profession. Look at our line, banks are laying ppl off, more stringent rules and regulations applied, more and more disclosures requirements etc. How can one stay where he/she is forever? Won't she has the kind of 危机意识? She is old enough to know how office works. Or, at the very least, show to others that it's company's fault for not giving her enough volume perform.

To be sitting and doing nothing, if you are not sitting very high up, you must hold difficult tasks with you.

蟑螂贴

A small cockcroach appeared near my workplace this morning. My HR then passed me a cockcroach killer to paste it under my desk. I was thinking: "像蟑螂那样讨厌的人也可以这样贴一下就可以赶走，该多好....."

My MBA application

I have not checked email for a number of days. I'm very shocked to read this:

"I am pleased to inform you that your recent application for the MBA programme has been successful. An offer together with an invoice will be sent to you in due course.If you have any questions regarding the above, or about the programme in general please don't hesitate to contact us.

Regards,MBA Admissions Team"

The email dated 20/11/08.

I am surprised by their "efficiency". The closing deadline was on 16/11/08. The system must receive the application form by the date, other required documents can be submitted later. I submitted my form on 15/11/08, at 11:58pm. And I had my one referral submitted his form on 18/11/08. And the email dated 20/11/08?!?!?!?!

What shocked me is, there was no verification of my personal details, no interview, no presentation of my certificate and transcript! In the rush to submit the application, I wrote a lousy essay. The essay required 500 to 700 words, I wrote only 451 words, still submit cos it was already 11:58pm. I could not squeeze another 49 words in 2 minutes time. Seriously I did not expect the application to be successful.

Does this lesson tell me, we must go all out to try? We should not give up until the last minute? Cos you never know what you gonna get from the chocolate box.

霉到

"霉到" is a word I recently learnt from a little boy. Yeah, I feel that luck has not been with me these days. Did I step on shit? Or somebody is cursing me at my back? -_-

Job wise, SAI; 人緣, SAI; colleagues, SAI; things that I encounter these days are so SAI!

When the radio broadcasted COE for small car dropped to $2, I interpreted it as "dropped by $2". I NEVER EVER thought it would drop to $2; a difference of $2 sounds more reasonable to me.... until I read the newspaper online, I heard from 10pm news. This news really hammer my heart!!!!!!! Argh.....................

Luck ah, luck ah, please come to me!

Hainan dishes

I'm on business trip in Guangzhou City for the entire week. The first dinner I had here really surprised me. I do not expect to have Hainan dishes here in Guangzhou as I thought this is a place for cantonese. Oh... ya... talking about this, I suddenly recalled my grandma was from Guangzhou!

I don't have much knowledge about Hainan dishes, except for that few classic one. An average person will know what are those. This "Hainan Fen" is something I have no idea about it. Having said it's classic and traditional, so I ordered. This is a stir fry thing which is as good as rice. Ppl either have "fen" or rice. Very yummy!

Apart from the chicken, we also had "char siew" where they just "siew" the pork without putting any color in it. The way they "siew" is unlike the Hong Kong style, there's no burning part and still fragrant.

I did not take any picture of the food.... with the presence of my boss.... I have to behave "guai guai".... hoo....

*scratching head*

Because of certain issues between my company and this "C guy", I am almost talking the same thing to him for one or 2 weeks. No progress at all.

Yesterday, there were little bit progress. At least he gave in little bit and I was quite relieved. Today, he came out with some other ridiculous reasons which is going to create lots of hindrance to my work. Anyone with common sense knows how inefficient it is to work with soft copy, moreover it's more about vouching !!!! He thinks that I have luxury of time to do his work?

And his reason for not bring the original is because he wants to keep the original until he get paid for whatever money he put into the business venture. He somemore claimed that this is the business practice. BUSINESS PRACTICE????? MY FOOT ! I only know, that you want ppl to pay you, you must present the original receipts! I do not oppose him for keeping the original but AT LEAST, at least let me go through the documents first. Even if I want to make a copy, I'll make the copy myself, not him. Who knows whether he modified the original before he makes the copy? I've got to be skeptical right? He even proposed to pay for my trip to Beijing. Isn't it ridiculous to do that fair bit of work when the travelling time is more than sufficient to cover the work?

I'm very sicked to deal with nation C ppl. They can come with all sort of funny things especially when they've come to the crunch. 做人简单一点不行吗????????????????????????

Shifted out

On October 27, I finally shifted out the place I used to stay in the past 2 years....
I'm no longer regretful for my own decision....

Very tough job?

House is under renovation for 3 months full. When the renovation is undergoing on full time basis, I don't understand why it took so long too. Given that it takes long to deliver the work, the workdone is supposed to be satisfactory right? In fact, IT WAS NOT!

One of the unsatisfactory is this stainless steel door. Everything was fine until the door was installed, and the tiles were patched up. Is the door properly installed? The door INCLINED OUTWARDS, slightly run.

The second thing, a very exaggerating mistake! See the floor tiles and one can easily tell what was wrong. The toilet was OUT OF SHAPE by 2 inches!!! Is he blind??

Then is the painting work.

Veerla says (9:02 AM):
hahaha
Veerla says (9:02 AM):
ugly leh ur room
Terence says (9:03 AM):
they painted the wrong wall
Terence says (9:03 AM):
funny hor
Terence says (9:16 AM):
油漆佬也是亂來的
Terence says (9:17 AM):
那個豬肝紅是油外面的牆
Terence says (9:17 AM):
他油我房間
Terence says (9:17 AM):
還油錯牆壁
Terence says (9:17 AM):
爸爸要和他講油冷氣對面
Terence says (9:17 AM):
他油窗口
Terence says (9:18 AM):
雞蛋不雞蛋

乱

就这样，不由自主地觉得朋友怎么就越来越少
让我想起某友人说过的话, 类似: "朋友间的相聚, 也不知道什么时候是最后一次."
想要找人聊, 想了很久却不知道要找谁
想要找个听得懂我说什么的人, 更难
头脑闪过几个人的名, 却因为厉害关系, 电话始终没有打出去

2008 年头到现在, 有一种活了很久的感觉
活着, 活着, 都不知道为了什么而活
是我还没有适应? 还是它本来就不寻常?
问了无数次 "怎么办"
兜兜转转还是转回了原点

我已经不清楚我要的是什么了
以后的路, 该怎么走?
真的很担心我会把底线越画越粗
粗到有一天不管我做什么烂事都不可能会越界

"I've changed my mind"

When you're bound to hold to your "honour of words", how do you get yourself out of it? So long as the agreement is not signed in black and white, there is a powerful phrase: "I've changed my mind."

The merger deal was a time wasting effort. Along the way our necks were hold for the words we said during the preliminary discussion, before anything was actually signed. When we wanted to negotiate further, the replies were just: "You said that. We go according to what you said previously." or "You should hold to your honour of words." That ended the negotiation. None of us know to use this phrase, like a fool.

As advised by solicitor, "I've changed my mind" is a very easy way to get yourself out of it. And legally, you're not wrong to say that.

All about the sub-prime mess and how it began

It's a forwarded link. Pretty interesting.

http://docs.google.com/TeamPresent?docid=ddp4zq7n_0cdjsr4fn&skipauth=true

Time to save for rainy days?

The collapse of Lehman Brothers had shocked the financial market. In between of Korea and bankruptcy, Lehman chose to file for bankruptcy. They'd rather have thousands of ppl losing job rather than have the "yellow" owns the bank, because of dignity or egoism? Under the cloudy sky, who's the next to fall?

A dual currency contract is due today. With the intention of going into another one on the expiration of the old, the contract was put on hold due to the Lehman's news. I said to my banker, jokingly: "It's cloudy day, who know AIG might collapse tomorrow?" She said:" AIG is closing down." I was quite shocked when I heard this from her. All I know about is that AIG is in the urge of raising fund, yet to collapse. She didn't say more than that but merely said she'll keep me updated. She also said, casually: "If one day my ringtone becomes a "dooooo" sound then you know what's happened." Again, another whack on my face. Does it mean that my primary banker is also in a dangerous position? There seem to be some under cover bad news, the credit crunch seems to be more serious than we expected. Some good news released by the banks in the earlier period were bubbles yet to burst?

The Lehman Brother's news caused a bit of earthquarke in the markets globally though, it has positive impact on some other investment banks especially in Asia Pacific region. More deals are coming to them. To some ppl it's time to save for rainy days, holding "cash is king" principle; to some ppl, it's time to upfold their sleeve and preparing to enter the market since investments are cheap. What do you think? It goes back to the square as in how much reserve you have. That's how poor is getting poorer, the rich is getting richer under rainy days.

A stressful day..

I was hit by all the stress today. I had basic theory test today. Seriously I started to study the book about 2 or 3 weeks ago, study bit by bit. It wasn't really a last min buddha leg hugging, I was still panic over this simple test. Maybe I'm phobia over exam. Or I just do not have confidence in myself in MCQ. I do have friends who sat the test twice or even thrice for pass. So I had my heart pumping very fast for almost 3 hours today. I passed.

Later in the evening was something I do not know to handle. It was a dinner with our business partner and investors. Yes, it's not a formal dinner, pretty casual and primarily for the investors to meet up with our business partner, to clear certain doubts on the project. For this kind of dinner I really don't know to behave cos I'm nobody to anyone. If I were the investors, I'd be the one to be pleased and I'd be the one who ask questions; if I were the business partner, I'd be the one who's telling about the products and plans; If I were my boss, I'd be the one who coordinate the conversation flow. I'm none of them, so what am I doing there? It's really an uncomfortable session to me. Time to polish PR skill? Or maybe I should learn from the Chinese girl, get things started with drinks. When you do not know what to say, what to do, just bring the glass, cheers and drink. Indulgence seafood by the merlion? I don't enjoy at all.

I feel that it's tough on ladies in today's world. It seems that ladies must carry themselves well in front of ppl. In the event of representing company, ladies cannot be plain. I don't mean to be a shinning star, but ladies do need something to make themselves presentable - through dressing, make up and accessories, so-called 输人不输阵by chinese saying. All these cost money. Gentlemen don't seem to need that. All they need is a branded watch and that's it. Oh, ya, and probably a golf set and a golf membership, for big business. I do not know whether this applies to your world, but to certain extent, it applies to my world. Yes, it's shallow to some of you.

All these social and presentation skills really stress me up somehow. There's a gap between me and other ppl. A big gap for me to bridge.

To-do list

To complete by mid October: -

1. CPA status advancement
2. Apply for MBA course
3. Buy a Singapore plate car

Things have changed

As everybody's saying, I'm having a so-called "god blessed life". It is the hard work of my subsidiary pays this "god blessed life". Not just me, but every staff at holding company level. Whenever I saw my queries were answered at 10pm or 11pm, I felt very bad for making the staff work until this late hour; whenever I heard my colleague talked about the work life in my subsidiary, I felt really sad. I 何德何能 enjoy this kind of life at the expense of others. What are we all these monkeys doing in the office? We only know to drive the numbers. When the message was passed down to them that we need certain numbers to meet our target, they go all out to meet the target. When it's known that the productivity is saturated, they're still trying very hard. Once they take you as their brother, they can really die for you for anything. They are Koreans. It's the kind of spirit they're sharing, it's also the environment I'm in.

Today, I saw them fall into the trap of this shitty company, besides feeling pity for them there's nothing else I can do. As if I saw a car driving so fast to kill that person, asked the person move but he didn't want to move. They choose to believe the car is not going to kill them, the driver will jam the brake on. Too naive. The driver will not just hit and run. Before he run, he'll mamke sure he takes their wallets with them.

Too dynamic and vibrant, thing's changed so much in just 6 months time. In 6 months time, an active company can become dormant; in 6 months time, a getting married couple can break off; in 6 months time, friends can become enemy; in 6 months time, a profit making deal can become a loss. There are so many things can happen in 6 months time. 6 months only, I feel like ages.

In dilemma, I was being offered with an option and I made a decision, at my own risk. I truly hope I did not place a wrong stake this round.

Their KL trip

The trip was planned during the drinking session, I was not involved. It was said to "review" the hospitality of our KL friends, date was set on 09/08/08. I was still happily talking about the trip the week before, but I withdrew myself from the plan last minute, due to certain decisions made. Purely 鱼与熊掌不能兼得.

After they came back, it wasn't sound so fun when I first heard about their fruitful trip. The only amazed thing was they met our film director during morning exercise. That was the only drama thing I could voice "walaooooooOOOo" and nothing else. BUT, I really feel pity for not joining after the second ppl vividly told me about the trip, yeah, with pictures somemore. Saving the pictures into folder, I can only name the folder "Their KL trip" lo....... >_<

Below illustrated the "commentary".

Reviewer: This picture is a proof for fighting reputation
Me: Oh... sampai sweat somemore. Walao... still wearing mickey mouse t-shirt??
Reviewer: You notice that also. He's wearing mickey mouse watch tim!
Me: It's too obvious to show that he's just come back from HK Disneyland lo....

Reviewer: Our friend was drunk after just half cup of beer you know !!
Me: He so useless one meh?? I finally know who's the one I can win liao....
Reviewer: hahahaha... you sure win one.

Me: Who's that gal??
Reviewer: FK's 绯闻女友2号
Me: So romantic hoh... went to had night view of KL
Reviewer: ya.... he purposely brought her there
Me: Why the gal looked so familiar? FY student? Reviewer: No. Cher's Nilai's classmate. Now FK's colleague..
Me: ohh... that gal they were talking about last time...

Me: Walaooo.... can don't be so auntie??

Reviewer also commented that they're impressed by KY's performance. He's accompanied them from 7pm till the next day, which was Sunday, irregardless it's his niece 1-year birthday (the most touching part). Most importantly he bought all the bills which was considered generous. He's won the reputation I supposed? Reviewer also commented that FK impressed ppl by making reservation for table.

The other thing that the reviewer commented was how funny the couple was - I can't feel. I really wonder what "performance" that made so much fun.

I was thinking: is there anywhere else to "review" next?

有点无奈

Sigh... feeling very down... 就像小孩子吃不到糖那样... I've prepared myself for taking leave on Thursday and Friday, although there were chances that I cannot go, I still hoped and prayed until the last minute that I'd get my application approved. But... it disappointed me. Never mind, I hope for tomorrow, that I can get my leave on Friday approved...

Sometimes I just cannot do anything about this friend. While I was "immersing" myself in the down mood, out of sudden I received this sms:

"这礼拜务必出席。。。 我已招了大伙同时出现。。。 所以放飞机的行为是不被允许的。。。放者格杀勿论。。。"

"你自己讲要去的........ 难道你要放飞机??"

Yeah... I did mention that I might attend this Sunday, if I'm free. Today he had made me no way to say I might not able to go anymore. I can only admit that I really cannot do anything about him, at any time. After I aeroplaned my partner so many times, until today she still cannot do anything about me (perhaps she does not bother at all). My dearest partner... you know the tactic to deal with me now?

I look forward to the gathering... I know I'll be the laughing stock. Anyway, hope that we can have fun in that sauna stadium.

Exhausted

刚过去的周末是一个期待已久的周末。目的达成了，却没有想象中高兴。心中反而多了分罪恶感。这样的一个short trip, 仅此一次而已。

是累的。前所未有的累。累到早上晚起了一个小时。劈头第一分钟想的是要不要去上班。结果还是像赶飞机一样冲出去。早上 office 乱糟糟的景象让我觉得很不舒服。没有什么正事要办，所以就一直做着有的没有的。尝试让自己清醒一点。可是，还真的没有办法让自己潜意识里忘记自己其实很累。

整个早上都在打瞌睡。下午肚子的不适让原本就已经疲惫的我直接瘫痪。提早 20 分钟下班，巴士没有平日的拥挤, 就算是睡着了也没有被乘客的上上下下干扰. 回家的半小时后就直接躺在床上, 睡到不清不楚.

不知道是什么原因把我们搞得累得半死. 最累的应该是那个今天得 travel 来 travel 去 for site inspection 的. 过了今天, 真希望明天可以一切恢复正常.

因为上个周末没有回家, 今早就决定星期五拿假回家偷懒一天, 顺便补一补元气, 好为下一个周末的疯狂行径做准备.

Be nasty, should I?

Sometimes I'm very regretful for not being nasty. Sometimes I am just being too nice to ppl but they're not smart to appreciate.

I've heard many times from others that "auditors deserve to be scolded". When I was still in audit field, I'd say "some clients deserve to be scolded". Now, I must admit "auditors today" deserve to be scolded. Today I nearly picked fight with my company's auditor but later I merely raised my voice over the phone and later stayed calm. One thing I really hate abt my company's auditor, both audit senior and audit manager, is they LOVE to accuse me for saying something that I didn't say or simply, something not factual. This is something I cannot tolerate at all. I'll fight back like anything. There's one lesson here, never appear to be worked up even if you're. I reckon this is a very important skill to pick up which I still couldn't act so. My face and my gesture will show the world what kind of mood I'm having.

Finger pointing is not my style and I hate that. When I'm not pointing finger at anyone, I would expect others not to point finger at me as well when I'm not the one at fault. It's been twice this audit team did this to me and I really jumped on my feet. I'm very regretful for not scanning every amendments I made on the financial statement - the reviewed draft financial statement from one of our dearest big 4 professional audit firm. It's really a shame if a client whacks the financial statement in this way. It shows that the reviewers are not doing their job. It shows that the quality is not there. If I'm nasty enough, I'll email and cc every amendments and queries. But I did not. I went through everything over the phone which shows that I'm tolerate and considerate enough. I've given them big face for not for not putting them in the spot but they don't appreciate the gesture. Instead, they try to find ways to push the blame back to me said I proposed certain amendments. Very good.

Ya, don't bully my memory. I do not have good memory though, I tend to forget this and that. Too bad, when come to my profession, I remember every words I said cos I am very clear about my thinking process. I can even remember every single words I used, the arguments involved and flow of the conversations. I know exactly what I'm persistent about. My attitude towards work is, if there's mistakes, just correct it and get the work done first. It's not the time to see who's the one to blame. If there are things that are unclear, I'll seek clarifications and I will make the conclusion myself. But the so-called professionals like to push the ball to client, whatever it is, just make sure the ball is not at their court. The thing is, if you have clear conscience of what is actually going on, what is there to afraid of? Auditors have so much rights over the reporting structure, but don't abuse the rights. Like the case they hold us back earlier ago, they were obviously buying time for themselves. When things were not done just tell us it's not done and how much time they need to turnaround, don't use that kind of tactics to buy time, at the same time make it appeared as if we didn't do the thing properly. Don't take everyone like an idiot while holding the pride as professional. This is not professional at all.

I'd somehow think of how to revenge and be defensive. I recalled one occassion the audit manager wrote me a blunt email which made me very angry. I drafted my reply and showed it to my boss. She said my reply was very childish. She asked me whether I wanted to behave like them - reply them bluntly and made them angry. I suddenly came to awake and I said no. She brought me a important message - never be a mad chicken when you're agitated. So we sat down and amended the reply. I would never forget I spent half day from angry about email to drafting reply to finally sent out the reply. Ya childish enough, it's a lesson to learn.

Arghhh ! What a world !

I really feel like venting my frustrations today!

I don't understand why I always ended up staying with all these sickening ppl. I really don't understand why they like to do the laundry on the same day as I do. I only stay 4 nights in a week HELLLOOOOOOO, so I can only do laundry on Tues and Thurs. Can't they choose other day and why specifically on Tues and Thurs when there are 5 other days in a week??? And I do not understand why they have so MANY clothes to wash in just 2 days whereby they'll hang their clothes all over drying rackSSS before I step in the house from work. They know that I'll be doing laundry as I usually soak my clothes before I go out for work. So I interprete their "action" as EXTREMELY UNFRIENDLY. Even if they choose to do laundry on the same day as I do, can't they just leave me a tiny place to hang my clothes ????? Do they need to be this kiasu to do laundry before me and consume all the space before I return from work??? At first I do not really care as I think maybe that's just coincident. After observing them for 2 months over, I am very sure it's not coincident. Another thing is that, they never say hello since the day they moved in. As and when I step in the house, they'll shut their door. I do not even have chance to see their faces properly, let alone knowing who they are.

Last time my ex-housemate whose mood swing asked me to wake up earlier cos she's rushing for work every morning. I woke up at the same time almost everyday, she had no issue with that all along. Out of sudden 2 months later after I moved in, she gave me a black face one the morning and sms me later, asked me to wake up early in future as she's rushing for work every morning? To cooperate the time she usually woke up, I woke up 15 mins to 20 mins earlier, was that not early enough??? By the time I finished using the bathroom she had not waken up okay! I do not mind rushing for work, why not she woke up earlier then? Never see ppl with this cheek to request others to wake up earlier just to suit her timing.

Are they staying in jungle for too long or they simply do not know to spell CONSIDERATE??

对于我上个周末的那张臭脸和挺冲的语气，我觉得抱歉. 把气出在别人身上，给人看脸色一向不是我的作风. 我只能说那是我情绪上的失控.

不要再问我发生什么事了. 我忘了.

Business talk, eh?

I was so-called "invited" to a business talk by a friend. I asked her the nature of the talk and whether there's admission fee, she didn't talk much about it but asked me to go with open heart and make some friends. Fine, deep down my heart I expected something, just that I do not know which brand it is.

I had dinner with her before the talk. Noticably she has slimmed down, naturally I commented that she's lose some weights and she told me she's actually having a diet programme for 2 months. Some hintsight surfaced but still, she didn't tell me what programme it is. So I'd just lay back and see what could surprise me later. Stepped into the conference room, I saw something familiar. Ah.... there it is....

I do not deny the quality of the products. I also reckon it's a career for some ppl cos I saw my friend had a successful career via this platform. If you were to ask me to join the team and put effort into it, I would not want to do that, purely because I'm not willing to. I'm not willing to approach ppl like how they're approaching me now. Buying products and selling products, or rather, creating value for the products as they claim, are 2 different matter.

Surprisedly I met my ex-senior, it didn't surprise me much that he also joined this network. They're telling me that this is not those cheapo kind of thing whereby there are many professionals and influential ppl gave up their professions for it. Yes, it's factual. True also, financial freedom sounds attractive. Just "bia" for 3 years or so, eh? Sorry, not to me.

I want to get financial freedom through my own way. I want to stick with my profession even though I'm working for others at the moment, I do value it importantly. I'd gain more satisfaction if I can be successful in my own profession, or any other path that I'll choose years later. Building wealth via direct sales is against my principle.

9 out 10 of them are attacking me with the same tactic. The only goal I see them going after this career is money and nothing else. I'd like to make myself clear, the more I defense the more aggressive they are to convince me. After two lines then I tried to keep quiet cos that's the best way to keep myself out. It's pointless to tell them what I'm truly thinking as they'll put up more and more examples to make things sound constructive. After all, it's different objective we're trying to achieve in life.

Money's the root of all evils, thus I'm very careful in dealing with any issues that has to do with money. I'm just down-to-earth, my nature.

闷

The Great Singapore Sales 热得沸沸扬扬的，一直到今天才去感染一下气氛。顺便看看能不能捡到什么便宜货 （虽然我跟便宜没有什么缘分）。题外话- 突然想起她上回捡到那不可思议超便宜的裙子，RM100 以内就搞定一件裙子和鞋子的这等好事，从来就没有发生在我身上。

只是随便走进 Pxxty Fxx 看看，就加重了我原本就不是很好的心情。我在5月13日买的一双鞋子竟然是50% discount items!! 买那双鞋的时候那店员还说是 new arrival，quality 多好 blah blah blah. 一双并不怎么出奇的平底鞋却贵的咂舌，所以我想它应该是值得的 - 就是所谓贵的就是好货的心理。今天看到那50% 折扣简直让我有被骗的感觉。鸡-蛋-糕。。。。。

决定从此 boycott 这个牌子。连那 membership card 我也不想要了。

Fuel hike: 78 sen more to RM2.70 per litre

I refer to the news on Malaysiakini. Some ppl described this as "tsunami" fuel hike. Malaysians are worried. Indeed, the majority are not earning fast enough to catch up. This is really sad. I wonder how the government reached the conclusion whereby the inflation is expected to rise from 3% to 5% as a result of the fuel price increase. With 40% increase in fuel price, would the impact be so insignificant? We shall see how it affects our living pretty soon.

An earthquarke seems to be happening in Malaysia now, politically and ecnomically. Standing at the point of taxpayers, yes, ppl voice to question where the subsidy goes to? Some are throwing bad eggs at the government for poor control over the issues. Is there anything wrong with the government? Or, to be specific, our PM? Government is not the sole party to be blamed. Fuel price is not within the control of government. To increase the fuel price is a necessary action in view that the market price is booming. The government cannot afford to subsidy given the oil price has gone so high unexpectedly. Something is wrong with the world, not the government.

Apparently there are speculators in the market who stir all these troubles. If there were someone to blame, I think it would be the WTO. I would call all these speculators the robbers, rob the whole world. Are there any conflict of interest thus ppl are not doing anything to "correct" the oil price? As well as rice price.

Is there anything Malaysia government should do? Tax heavily on Petronas? Petronas should be making huge profit, should they share the profits with the poor citizens? Maybe you'd like to find out more about the major shareholders of Petronas. He's been making a lot of noises on papers previously but is now keeping quiet.

Malaysians who drive Singapore car? I personally think that it's not controversial. If you can afford a Singapore plate car, it should not be an issue whether or not you can enjoy the subsidied petrol in Malaysia. If you prepared to buy a Singapore plate car, you are also prepared to pump oil at market rate. Pumping subsidied oil will not make car owner a fortune. I thought it would really save you a fortune if you don't own a car? It's just silly to make big fuss over this. Those Singaporeans (including those half-Singaporeans) who purposely come in Malaysia to pump oil, just shut up. Don't ever think that your spending is a vast contributions to Malaysia economy. KL and Penang are doing well without the regular visit of Singaporeans. Any policy to be implemented in Malaysia has anything to do with Singapore? I doubt so. Think of the impact of all these on Malaysians who live in Malaysia, those who make a living in Singapore and would very much want to spend in Malaysia (for saving?) should not make so much noise.

Watch the attached clip you'll find all these ppl __________ (fill in the blank yourself).

左边, 右边

左边和右边常常让人觉得混淆. 这个是"左右" 延伸出来的插曲....
那天在路上.....

司机: 哪一边?
乘客A: 左边
司机: 什么???
座上的乘客突然想起此司机分不清左右这两个字....
乘客B: Left
乘客C 突然刹出一句: 青龙, 青龙

座上的乘客望向乘客C......

乘客C: 干嘛? 我真的有朋友分不清左右, 要跟他讲"青龙"和"白虎"他才听得懂.
全部人: 哈哈哈.... 这个有好笑到....

司机: 通常我们说, 驾车边, 跟车边.

S3 gathering - Sedili

Do not know whether to assess this Sedili trip as successful or not, I do hope most of the ppl were pleased. The place was real suck to me.... big thanks to those mosquitoes. I did hear that some of us quite like the beach. It was a bad memory to Zhi Xiang maybe, as he got hurt by one kind of fish (which I don't know the name) by the beach. The fish was not poisonous though, the first few hours could be suffering as the kind of pain could not be described by words. Thanks to that stupid fish, we had this unusual group photo.

As planned, we had breakfast with Cher in the morning - The "fantastic" dim sum eh. The "boss" called the night before, pre-amped me that he'd be late. By the time he reached, he'd pay for the bill. Steady eh (partly because of his lost to a bet). Never thought he could have late for more than an hour, which had exceeded our patience limit. "Out of frustration", we decided to punish him by having premium coffee at Yew's cafe.

Sedili Country Resort is as shabby as 10 years ago, but the chalet and long house are re-painted. I called it shabby as the chalet is not self-contained but only provided with the very basic facilities. Compared to Teluk Ramunia, the condition is inferior and might not be a suitable place for group gathering. The sea is still as calm as before.

We have the "Backstreet Boys". Hehe.

There we had "suan cai" and F4.

Then we had the amusing "Korean Kia".


We also had "Zhang Tian Ci" by the sea.

Now I think back, we "immersed" ourselves in the sea for so long, luckily we didn't get stung by that stupid fish. Zhi Xiang was just unlucky.



Wherever Wei Lun is, there would be "jumping photo". The jumping photo were cheerful.


They even spot jellyfish - according to Ah Fu, non-poisonous.

There's one picture I smirked at, has it come into my mind during my trip home. I picture it in mind and here I'm presenting to you my illustration in mind, real funny to me. The normal one looks like this:


Then, Jia Xian said to have a "cute" one but it turned out to be a "Hiao" one.


You're very eye-catching I must say.

Where shall we go next? Make sure no mozzy please.

By the way, "Xie Huang" gave us 9 Dim Sum vouchers which will expire in July. Fix a date, let's go dim sum together.

*For those who would like to download the pictures (Jia Xian's one have not been uploaded), you may request the link from anyone of us.... *

MSN Virus infection !

Apologise for spreading the virus and causing the inconveniences. Kindly refer to the link below to remove that stupid virus:

http://woosie-uk.blogspot.com/2008/03/img00231jpg-livemessenger-infection.html

你看到啦.... 没有啦......

这是一个专为我们这群工作不忘娱乐, 又得装模作样的人而设的 feature. Maybe I "suagu", I learnt it only yesterday.

Download at: http://www.msnshell.com/

Setting:

1. Uncheck "revival hot key"

2. Check "enable quick concealment". Select your preferable "shotcut" for concealment.

Then, by pressing that shortcut, you can hide out your MSN or "revive" your MSN using the same shortcut. It's a bit like: 你看到啦.... 没有啦...... that kind of feeling. *blink*

Your boss won't see you chit-chatting around next time.

There are some other features you might find it handy also, e.g. weather forecast, slide display picture etc. Explore yourself and have fun.

Coming outing at Sedili: Update

Not very sure how many of you still remember Sedili - A place we held our class gathering in Snr Middle Two. A total "amazing" trip. Why? Go and read our 班刊 you'll know. It's really funny if you recall how we go in and come out from the chalet, the meals we had, and the two "helicopters" by the sea.... etc... And now, we're organising an outing to Sedili, yeah. Since many of us enjoyed the fun at Teluk Ramunia, we'd like to have more ppl to share the joy.

Venue: Sedili
Date: 31/5/08 and 1/6/08
Confirmed attendance so far: 15
Departure: TBA but most probably at the petrol station along Jln Tebrau near Tebrau City, 11am

Wondering who have confirmed? There you go:

Wen Zhou, Jia Xian, Ying Xiang & gf, Kuang Yee, Xin Hao, Wei Lun, Wei Wen, Chuan Jie, Ru Jie, Zhi Xiang, Fen Yee, Xiu Hui, Shu Jian and me

Wondering who is now in KIV list? There you go:

Yiqi and James, Yao Wen and wife, Ah Fu (initially confirmed but now a KIV), Chang Feng and Feng Kai

We have 2 very sincere and serious friends, though they claimed that they're "eng", toured the place last Sunday. They've helped to booked 2 big chalet (going to book another one to cater for more ppl) - the same resort we stayed last time. I believe they have some activities in mind also (since you guys did the touring for me). Hiak hiak.

Last but not least, an email will be sent to the confirmed attendants sometime next week. Should you have special request, you may voice out also. But please.... please... please... do not play last minute aeroplane as the deposit for the chalet have been paid for. Should you change your mind or things crop up, do give a 2 days notice. Many thanks.

Sounds like I'm drafting an email eh... yeah.... my email next week will be extracted from this post then. haha. Just put up an update here to show that the trip is still ON.

Back from Melbourne

Yeah, I'm back from trip. A tiring trip maybe due to long hour flights.

Our flight was at 9:45pm, 14/05/08. My lady boss was kind enough to let me knock off earlier to avoid the mad rush to airport. I did not have good feeling about this trip, or rather, I should said I was kinda worried cos it's a family trip. I prayed it would be a safe journey. Another thing was that, I learnt the auntie who stayed opposite me passed away on our departure day. I merely checked out from the police of her death, without sending my regards to the family members as I was rushing out, plus the police was still interviewing the family. Until today, I still do not know why and how she'd gone.

Transit at Darwin, which was also where we need to get custom clearance. It was not a pleasant experience which I personally think it's a serious discrimination (I'm checking whether or not our experience were just a custom routine check and whether or not I can file a complain if it is not).

It might not be a good time for travelling to Australia during this period of time. The weather was bad as it rained every now and then. The sun set at 5pm, as a result the length of the day was short. But, our enjoyment came from supermarket. There were always things to buy everyday, thus we did not miss "visiting" Safeway, or IGA or Coles.

Initial planned itenerary:

Day 1: Melbourne city

Day 2: Great Ocean Road (it rained thus we revisited the next day on the way to Barallat)

Day 3: Barallat (didn't manage to go Goldfield and wildlife park because of rain)

Day 4: Melbourne city - Main attraction being Victoria Market

Day 5: Philip Island

Day 6: Yarra Valley (what the hell the car caused us some problem)

More updates to come later as our half-pail-professional photographers are organising the pictures. Till then.

The one and only group picture of 8 - taken at Churchhill Island Heritage Farm, Philip Island.

Labour day long weekends

It's a long long holiday which I'd been looking forward to since middle of the month. No plans and nothing much to do though. Initially there was plan for outing but due to certain unforseen circumstances it was later called-off. This friend might have been losing touch with the world overly long (until he lost the 默契 with us) thought that we were still executing the plan. "哀怨" is a new word JX put it on this friend who was such a poor thing, cheated by Zhou dai gor. I also ignored him after his second sms as I was very tensed up watching <<怪談>> - for which my mum was the culprit. (Want to know who is "哀怨"?? Join us to Sedili. I've forced him to "on" this trip. Hehe.)

Talking abt <<怪談>> , this stupid show made me cannot sleep for 3 consecutive nights (now going to be another night). Even with the nights I had wine and another night with beer, I would still wake up in the middle of the night and started to feel scare. Look, I watched this HK programme during daytime, not alone, but with my mum and bro. Yet, I was still horrified by the show till I could't have good sleep at night. I admit I'm those very timid type of person, some episodes are indeed eerie and scary.

Had early celebration of Mother's Day with my maternal relatives on Saturday night. I still remember what we had last year and I feel that it's not very far away, but it's another year. The kids have grown up, some of them have significant changes in their appearance. Some of them I even cannot recall their names...



Tun Yee called to watch Ironman. I'm such a "代鹽人" (閑人. Err... not so "xian" in a way cos I met the same group of ppl for lunch and beer before and after the movie. Indeed very 充實.) so I wanted to join. In order not to disappoint Mei Mei, this 3-year-old gal would be following. It's such a memorable experience with this naughty Fu Mei Mei in the cinema. She was perfectly fine when she was hugging and chewing a big cup of popcorn. After she finished the popcorn, she kept asking for water. After a while, she said "我肚子痛". It was when Tony was building his very first iron suite for escape okay. I was very reluctant to bring her to restroom so I asked her to sit guai guai there, and also tried to convince her that it's because she ate too much. Who knows the next moment she shouted "我要大便啦". *Faint* Out of bo bian I gave in, brought her to restroom but she didn't poo! She requested to go restroom a few times as a result of drinking water non-stop. Although she kept telling me "ultraman is fighting", then I corrected her that it's "ironman". Apparently she didn't enjoy the movie much cos after all the hassles, she fell into deep sleep on her seat, that's also when my real enjoyment came.... That's much better than what I expected it to be.

Maybe she doesn't know what it means by watching movie at her age, I can tell that she's very happy to hang out with us. She smiled and talked very soft all the way. She didn't even cry when I woke her up after the movie, and yet told me: 我看戯睡着廖. That's very cute of her.

"Ironman" received very high publicity and wonderful comments, I don't quite agree. It's not because of the disturbance from Fu Mei Mei, simply because the movie was very empty with not much contents. Some ppl even commented the fighting scence was better off than "Transformers"?! Please la... "Transformers" was so much exciting, colourful and thrilling okay. Hmm... Tony Stark is man. Haha.

Work out at office

I used to lose weight at work. But now, to the contrary, I'm gaining weight at work. If the stress level of my previous job is ranked at 9, my current job is 1 (or could be less than 1? Hiak.) Kinda boring.

Must do something at work! Stand up and do some simple exercise!

May day - Melbourne

I've been thinking of going somewhere for a short trip for quite some time, just that I dunno where to go. I really want to avoid somewhere hot. It would be good if it's a four season country. As yet, it would be best if it won't cost me a bomb.



As I saw this email in the morning few days ago, I quickly go and check whether I could grab this cheap ticket and take the advantage of Wesak holiday. Incredibly, the ticket cost me $468.32 only! So I quickly told my cousin, who apparently was the only I would msn before 8:30am. Who knows he's so ON and told me "go go go", which then pushed me further to call up my other cousin, brother and mum. Subsequently run into my boss's room and told her that I want to on leave. For the whole morning I was so busy with grabbing the tickets, over little bit guilty to say that I was not working at all for the morning. Not just the morning, in fact the whole day, cos in the later part of the day we 4 were very busy chatting in the chatroom. 史无前例.

Sis will be meeting us in Melbourne. The best part is she can also arrive in airport at almost the same timing as us, and fly back to Brisbane at the same time as we fly back to Singapore. Due to long hour flight, I can imagine how tiring it would be on the first day of arrival. Thus, we intend to laze around the city and collect some information at the information centre. In the belief that the two mothers couldn't sleep in flight, they can then rest in the hostel if they want to.

The draft itenerary will be as follow:

Day 1 - Melbourne City

Day 2 - Great Ocean Road

Day 3 - Ballarat

Day 4 - Melbourne City

Day 5 - Philips Island

Day 6 - Dandenong Ranges and Yarra Valley

Day 7 - Melbourne City & back Singapore

Frankly, I'd feel sorry for myself if I failed to grab the tickets at this cheapest ever price. In the afraid that the tickets on sale would not available should we late, we made the decision almost in half an hour which was really maddening. Except for my mum and aunt who used to be 婆婆妈妈, for which their tickets were booked few hours later, but still manage to grab at the same price. *winks*

Really looking forward to re-visiting Australia 4 years later.

Love fragrance

L'occitane lauched a new set of cherry blossom fragrance sometime ago. As I looked at the brochure I could "feel" the fragrance already. It's difficult that such design and the colour will not catch my attention.

Aiming at this set of product, especially the fragrance touch. 就是很爱香。

That's the fact

Just little bit of grumble.

It's factual that ppl do see things on surface. If you're incapables or not an expert in your field, never mind. Make sure you know to act. Act as a capable staff and you'll still be rewarded. Of course, make sure your boss sees your act. That would also mean that you can be slack at work when your boss is not around.

This made me think of one fine line concluded for relationship as I was told earlier: No matter how best a girl fit to be wife, she fails if she doesn't know to act in the presence of elders.

I've been pained by the fact but what to do? That's life.

没有重点，只是沉重

这是一篇重360公斤的post.

他和她结婚13年。他们之间的问题在13年后浮上台面。

有一天在逛街的时候，她碰见了他。身边还有一个女人。他给两个人做了简单的介绍。她也大方的没有泼妇骂街，也没有质问。回家后，她问他到底要出轨几次。他说这次他是认真的。既然东窗事发，他索性光明正大不回家。甚至在白天把这个女人大方的带回家。他没有顾及到小孩的感受，天真的以为这一切对小孩没有多大影响。殊不知亲子关系已经走样。

这样的日子过了2个月。她反复的想，深知自己进退两难。可是她再也不能给她的丈夫多一丝的包容。这样的日子对她来说是精神折磨。所以她希望长辈可以为她做主。

在家庭会议，他说出了事情的经过。他一方面不想放弃这个家，却也不想放弃这个女人。可是，如果两者只能选一样，他会选择后者。他说，即使他之前有过其他的女人，那些都是逢场作戏，他没有认真。可是这次，他是认真的。。。 因为他需要的是这样的女人。一个旺夫，在事业上可以帮得上忙的女人。

这个女人出现了以后，他突然觉得运气变好，偏财运也超旺，事业蒸蒸日上。靠这女人的关系，他在中国也分到一杯羹。所以对这个中国女人疼爱有加。他不介意花钱在这个女人身上，因为他觉得那是值得的。只要和她在一起，花掉的钱一定可以双倍赚回来。这是他的观念。两个人去中国旅游加工干的时候，算命先生告诉他这女人可以旺他30年，现在的妻子和他却是刑克。算命先生的说法更加深了他对这女人的想法，也更加认定这女人的地位。他对她说，这些东西都不是她可以给他的。所以，他要这样走下去，即使他没有把握他会不会真的因为这女人成功。她只觉得他疯了。像被人蛊惑了一样。相信一个在芽笼卖的中国女人可以旺他30年，可以帮他赚很多钱。

他说他这些年来负担太重，而她在他最辛苦的时候并没有拿钱出来帮他。家里的费用也没有帮忙负担。听他这么一说，她觉得心灰意冷。女人得工作，得照顾孩子，得看好家等丈夫回来。如果自己赚来的钱没有拿给丈夫应酬交际，或者补贴家用就是对他没有帮助。这样的说法叫女人太沉重。

没有人支持他的做法。旁听者都觉得荒谬。显然大家对中国女人没什么好感。加上她是一个背景如此复杂的女人。用脚趾头想都知道这女人要的是什么。一个正经的女人不会破坏别人的家庭；一个有本事的女人不会去芽笼卖；一个聪明的女人知道要对谁下手。是他无知吗？还是身在迷雾中什么都看不清楚？脚踏实地的过日子不行吗？说这个女人旺夫就可以不顾一切的娶她吗? 有责任感点好吗？大人的事可能签一个字就解决了，但小孩呢？影响他们的用什么来衡量？

听到这样的一个故事，我愣了一下，不知道该说些什么。所谓的爱情没有天长地久，没有随着模式的改变而升华。反之，感情随时会因为一些外来因素而生异。夫妻若没有白头偕老不算夫妻。当爱情与面包相冲时，男人都选择面包。当然，也有女人可以为面包牺牲爱情。当然，世上不乏幸福美满的家庭，白头到老的夫妻。只是，现代人对婚姻的态度太过潇洒，潇洒得说结婚就结婚，所离婚就离婚。是我保守不时髦吗？我真的没办法认同。我始终认为婚姻是责任的问题。

题外话，人说女人好骗，我说男人更好骗。用美人计就够了。古代多少君王死在美人手上？吴王夫差就是一个。阴阳相克的命运，永远逃不过那纠结。

Incredibly beautiful and touching

A gifted 5-year-old blind Korean pianist.

She will make you cry.

It's not safe!

Many will agree that it's so much safer and comfortable no matter how late it is. I, also take this for granted.

On Saturday night, my housemate was robbed in the lift of my block. She was badly injured as she fought with the robber just because she didn't want to lose her bag. Bruises are everywhere, on her back, hand, arm, waist and foot. Reached the floor where we stay, the guy snatched her bag as she walked out from the lift. She shouted so loud and nobody was lending a hand.

Heard from the opposite auntie neighbour, Kim Tian has not been a safe place. Robbery happens quite often around this area. The robbers seem to know the place well as they know where to flee. Right next to our block is multi-storey car park where it's also connected to bus stop and another residential area. A very convenient spot.

I recalled the days where I used to work late and it's spine-chilling. I could be still walking along the street at 12 plus when I had all my personal belongings, including passport and 2 cellphones, as well as laptop in one bag, carried with no vigilance. That's because I have taken the safety in Singapore for granted. Fortunate enough, nothing bad happened in the past.

This also made me recalled my nearly robbed experience in lift when I was working at Menara Pelangi. If you're in doubt, don't step into the lift; Or, if you notice the person is suspicious only after you step into the lift, look into that person's eye and talk any rubbish to that person just to buy time. Because the moment you voice, you'll shock the person who's going to do something bad on you.

Safety is not granted. Safety is about self vigilance and self protection.

MSN - New way of spreading virus

Last time MSN virus was spreaded by file. Once the computer got affected, it will send a file to all the online contact of the infected user. But, it did come with some funny message whereby one would doubt the integrity of the message.

Now, the virus was spreaded through an url. Again, copies of message are sent, but without any message. Just like the normal way where you share a link with your friends, you copy and paste the link, maybe you don't bother to explain further what it is. Once you logon the website with your MSN ID and password, you'd probably get infected.

An example:
---------------------------------
i am qss or quek says:
http://www.rkntbp.info/

----------------------------------
Example only, DUN CLICK.

Do check back with the sender what the link is about. He/she would probably answer you: Huh? What?

Devil in disguise?

This is quite creative....

旧情绵绵

How did the cyberworld work 13 years ago (that's when I started to addicted to cyberworld)? Can you recall?

10 years ago, we used to contact each other through email; for fun and hiao, we have ICQ and MIRC. Or, some web chatroom, for instances: http://www.alamak.com/. I wonder how many of us are still using these 3 mentioned channel nowadays? I don't, but they're still surviving in the cyberworld today.

Because HE told me that he met his net friend of 10 years plus ago for the first time, and pasted me his very first email which was in 1997, so I wonder if my emails with those precious net friends still sitting alright in my inbox. This Hotmail I know it will delete those old messages. To my disappointment, THEY'RE ALL GONE. So I went to check out mail account with Yahoo, the earliest email I could retrieve are those in 1999... As I read those email in the old days now, I do not know to describe what sort of feeling it is, too complicated. Some of those are quite touching, and yet amusing. To my surprise, it appears to me that friendships has been fading away over time, I don't realise it's actually be so close in the past. Or... Shall I put it this way, those friendships that I used to have in the past have been "upgraded" to another level? I'm going to paste some of the emails here... 原汁原味... haha... there we go...

---------------------------------------------------------------
From: "wong yit chie"
To: fooqc@yahoo.com
Subject: everything seem alrite here
Date: Fri, 08 Jan 1999 01:58:03 PST

yap!! that day is tingting called u de..but we only called u at the noon, not nite oh ~ so...that call not ours. me now in jb lor, not intend to take any course now lah ~~ waiting for the entrance exam lor, wey, have u nong4 tuo3 yr form liao mah? 2 FEB ohh.. dun forget.

yr brother terence ah..tat day told me that he can't understand the mail u sent to him ah ~~ abt wat buy bks de..hehe.. u better mail him to tell him again lah .. he blur blur jiang

okok..me waiting for yr mail at home lah~~ hope it won't be lost.. when we know yr condition hoh, that zixin a little bit siao liao.. she said she wana go there accompany u woh !!! aiyoh !!!!! duno she can take care of herself or not but wana go there accompany u .. duno her lah, sometimes siao siao de (Note: I laughed out when I read this part... That's Cher we all know of)

dun tou1 tou1 use pc lah.. i say liao .. read read my mail then ok liao mah .. aiyoh..wat if kena caught then how har?? i dun have $$ bail u out from police station ler !! hahahahhaha

take care ah !!!! c u !
dun cry dun cry !! dun panick !! hahaha..
i know u can take care of yrself de lah ~
rite ???

bao zhong !

yiqi
--------------------------------------------------------------
From: "wong yit chie"
To: fooqc@yahoo.com
Subject: GOT THE LETTER LIAO
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 23:56:28 PST

oh yeah ~~ yr letter finally reached my home liao.. well...but no stamp there! ee.. must be lost on the way liao.. hai wo qi guai yi xia

*cut*

if u wana stay long in klang, u all can share to buy a bicyle, it's more convenient there, did u notice that the ppl in klang ride bicyle more then car one?? hehhee.. if u have bicyle , u can ride it to anywhere u like.. when u bored..ride it & go sia sia. (Note: Hahaha.... ride bicycle?? It might be factual in 1999 but it's funny to look aback now.)
ya! got a mu chuan there, how to say where is it ler.. hm.. have u shou2 xi1 the place around SIT har? if u shou2 xi1 liao, then i can tell u the location.. or else , pilipala yi da dui, u also duno where is it~~
that's good that u now have place to stay liao, but only 2 months~ have to find another one ah , n feel so happy that u can met those sc2 de frds, hope u all can he mu gong chu ~ hu xiang bang zhu ~ zhai wai kao peng you mah ~~ hehehe..

wey, i duno should write letter back to u or not, cos i think that email is faster mah ~ n hoh, now time didn't write liao, i'm afraid my handwriting become koyak liao..hehe..
peronte gone to melaka to work again liao.. a week there oh~~ he wana us bless him safe on the way ..hahha.. he complaint y u didn't mail him ah
~ actually he very concern abt u oh ~~ ACTUALLY ALL OF US CONCERN ABT U!!!!!!!!!!!!

*cut*

hey, we dun have yr phone no. lah !! n yr add there i will tell others de ! hehe.. but u coming down to JB liao, write to u, maybe u can't get it liao lor.. hehee.. so i prefer write mail mah ~~ fast & sharp & convenient & can exercise my typing speed again ..ahhaha

ok lah, u take care there lah
c u when u back on JB !!!
wana us go to larkin bus station to WELCOME U BACK OR NOT????
hahaha..
ok bye
yiqi
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From: "Ulyssess See"
To: fooqc@yahoo.com
Subject: Kill him lah
Date:Wed, 10 Feb 1999 18:13:42 PST

Ei , if u really don like your physics lecturer...then..try to make him furious and confused..since u are leaving soon@@@@@@@@@

ei , i haven bought my NEW YEAR SHIRT leh.......u buy liao mah? dunno Jiaroti buy lioa mah...i know he had bought sth from Spore ........u want to shop in Singapore??on...Friday or what...

PERONTE DE HIAONESS (Note: Because of the book from 吴庆康 <<发骚岁月>>, we "loved" to sign our nick as such: sth DE sth)
------------------------------------------------------

From: "EngKiat Tan"
To: fooqc@yahoo.com
Subject: Guess who?
Date: Sun, 04 Apr 1999 20:53:30 PDT

Ah Bian:

Guess who? it's me......

What r u doing there? What r u doing now? The exam is over, ur "tuition" in Klang is over, everything is over just to wait for ur result, what r u doing there? Here, I'm still trying to look for something to do, any "lobang"?

Do u Know that the science 3 web site( http://jump.to/Sm3s3 ) is under construction right now? (Note: This website was later completed and launched... no longer valid now.. )

That's all. Just to say Hello! Send something to me, as to let me know that urs address is correct!

......Eric, urs friend
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: "shizuka celine"
To: *Undisclosed*
Subject: Please open this!!!
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1999 01:19:52 PDT

Dear ALL,
Okay...first of all...
I want to tell you ... i am JIAXIAN...
Maybe someone will called me Kitchi OR KIT...
Anyway...hope all of you still remember I am a humanbeing which know you all !!!
Actually...i face some probelms now...
it's already a long time ...
i haven't receive any email from my "friend" liao...
This make my life very difficult to pass...so...please ...mail me...by this add...
shixxxx_80@hotmail.com...
oohhh....you are you only one can save me from that Bo3 liao2 life...
save me....
SOS...SOS...SOS...SOS...
hahahahaha......
aiyo...
Thanks...all...
Regards Lunatic Jiaxian? Kitchi? Kit????

(Note: Would you still send an email like this? Hahaha... )
-----------------------------------------------------
From: "EngKiat Tan" To: fooqc@yahoo.com
Subject: PLEASE REST IN PEACE.....
Date: Thu, 13 May 1999 17:51:34 PDT

poor bian:

what a pity, anyway if I take photo I'll try to take for u lah
PLEASE REST IN PEACE...... (just a joke)
......Eric

>From: Foo qc
>To: EngKiat Tan
>Subject: Re: about arsenal...
>Date: Thu, 13 May 1999 06:16:58 -0700 (PDT)
>
>aiyoh eric...
>anyway, i cannot go already after asking my father..
>he doesn't let me go..
>wawawawa~~~~~~~
>eh if u going to take photo, take petit and overmars 1 4 me leh !

--- EngKiat Tan wrote:
>
> Bian:
>
> where have been ? Everyday I called, everyday u r not in. I have already buy the ticket since I can't connect u. Abba and I r going. My cousin is also going. When u see this mail, if u want to join us, u can go Nike shop to buy ticket. My ticket is $30 one, and was the yellow gate (the gate to go in the stadium). Angsana has one Nike shop but I don't know is it the same gate, because mine is from the Nike shop in Kota Raya. I'm going to Nilai on monday, and go to stadium on wednesday. I'll stay at my cousin's hostel(Jhia Jiun). U better hurry up because the ticket is very hot! If u wanna join me, please connect me. U can join me either going Nilai together with me or meeting at the big big stadium.
>
> ......Eric

(Note: Sorry Eric, I've left this matter behind... I only realised today we said to watch Arsenal game together last time. )
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Yiqi is ranked number 1. She always emailed me those long long email to cheer me up when I was alone in Klang; Eric's email surprised and touched my heart most. *hug**hug* Of cos there are some more but it's enough of sharing. Very tired already.. hehe..

Check out your old mails and let me know if I sent you guys any funny silly emails before. Hiak~

A lesson worth $40

It's a lesson worth $40 (discounted price). In less than 2 mins, the door was opened.

if you want to pick up a skill, learn to unlock door. Arghhh!!

Not something big

这种事情发生在我身上应该不算什么。

只是因为上个星期五睡到没有知觉。一个 sms 进来才发现自己睡过了不知道多少趟巴士。像赶飞机一样的匆匆忙忙的出门。头脑里想着很多东西，什么东西要带啦，keys 要带啦，还没梳头发啦 etc. 结果。。。把梳子当 keys 的就拿出门。关了房门才发现手上拿着梳子不懂要干嘛。一声 "Oh shit" 也太晚了。又再一次的把自己锁在家里。不幸中的大幸是，housemate 还在家，这次不需要 landlord 来搭救。

这样的事情已经是第4次发生了。。。 也就是说平均每3个月，这样的事件就会重演。对面的neighbour 都知道我做的这等蠢事。可是每每都没有学乖去配一把 backup keys. 那天爸爸才念一下，诅咒当下就应验了。

就是那么不以为意，星期天才想到自己没有 keys 进门。Sms 了landlord，请他帮我unlocked。因为没有任何reply, 所以就 assume 他已经帮我 unlocked 了。谁知道他竟然在这个时候 on business trip. 一走就是2个礼拜。什么时候不去 business trip 偏偏在这个时候。事情就这样演啊变的, 不知道怎么演变到对面邻居全家出动来帮忙，force open the door.

“为什么你用这个？”
“电视上都这样演的吗。。。”
“都说是演戏了咯。。。 不可以啦。。”

“去找找看有没有soft card。。 ”
“可以咩？？”
“做贼的都是这样开的。。。” *流汗*

我说：“Okay okay.... 明天叫 locksmith 来，毕竟我们都不是贼。Try 了那么久，大家都累了。”

不知道要怎么形容这样劳师动众的场面。是不好意思，加心存感激。Auntie 还问说会不会肚子饿啦，东西都被锁着有没有东西吃啦。除了感激她的贴心，也感激她告诉我一些 landlord 的八卦。似乎是住在门外的左邻右舍都知道的事，住在屋里的人却一无所知。闲在家的Auntie 道行可真高。可能不几天，我的笑话整个floor 的人都知道了。哈哈。

睡觉的时间都不够了，实在是没什么心和精力去理别人的事。

Translation tools

Due to the need to communicate with China ppl, I've been doing the translation these days. Being the only staff who has Chinese education background, ppl have been thinking I should be good in Chinese. Well, I must say there's difference between reading/writing and translation. There's also difference between daily conversation and business writing.

When I was asked to write an email in Chinese, it really took me nearly an hour for that 423 words email. I firstly structure the sentence in English and then translate it into Chinese word by word, lastly "beautify" the sentence so that it didn't look weird. For all these years, seriously this was the first time I ever write an email in Chinese. It could be difficult as there are these technical terms I don't really know what they are in Chinese. Some sentences where it's very comprehensive in English, I have no idea how to express them in Chinese.

Reading the agreement in Chinese, most of the times I don't catch the techical terms fully. Even if I do, I would not know how to explain in English. After all my brain was not trained to use English and Chinese freely.

Compared to the translation tools available online, I found out that Ms Words has this "translation tool" where you can actually tranlsate the whole passage in just a few seconds. You do not need to pay for the service (although it mentioned you need to pay for it. As you use the tool, you will know how you can avoid paying for the services. hehe) So now a more effective way is to type email in Ms Words and use this translation tool to translate. At least it save the troubles to think what are the words to use. The translation tool might not do a very good job, as in the sentence structure could be improper, so long as you modify a bit, the whole passage is presentable still.

I hope next round they'll not expect me to speak or understand Cantonese...

Crab stick cracker

(Raw material)

(Product output)

Do you know you can make cracker by using this crab stick? I only knew this today when my colleague gave me this cracker as festive gift. It is very crispy and not oily at all! You do not need to season it or coat with batter, simply tear the crab stick into pieces and deep fry just like that. So simple right? Surprised me there's no secret recipe!

Very plain life

Life has become as plain as mineral water ever since I left audit. Life is routine with lesser surprises. I woke up at 6 plus and sleep at 10pm everyday. Very healthy eh. (still awake tonight at 11 plus cos I had a "nap" at 8 plus. -_-) When I'm really bored with reading and have no idea on how to spend the extra hours at night, I sleep at 9 plus. -_-

If there's anyone who has better activities at night, please notify and I'll consider to join you. My very caring friend has suggested me to learn dancing (for some undisclosed "motives"). Anyone who wants to attend Korean language course at NUS Extention (Park Mall), kindly express your interest.... classes are available from March 3 onwards.

Some good stuffs to recommend

Product description:

Lavender Vinegar is a natural spot treatment for blemishes. Enriched with A.O.C. Lavender essential oil, a natural astringent, this concentrated vinegar will clean and tighten pores, while perfecting skin. Use sparingly with a cotton swab directly on imperfections.

Rich in naturally antiseptic A.O.C. Lavender and camphor essential oils, this deliciously scented astringent facial lotion tightens pores and regulates sebum levels. Use full strength on blemishes and diluted as a toner for oily and combination skin. It can also be used as a final hair rinse to give the hair extra shine.

My skin was pretty sensitive couple of months ago. It got blemish especially when I double cleansed my face in the evening, for unknown reason.

This brand draws my attention ever since I started using its hand cream and foot cream. As I browsed through the website I came across this product so decided to give it a try. It did deliver excellent results and no more blemish now. Strongly recommend for maintenance purpose.

I'm looking out for other products from this brand.

My dear friend, it's this perfume I used that day. I REALLY cannot "tahan" not to buy this fragrance when I tried out at airport.... I bought it without thinking twice. But to no regret. Hehe. It's already launched at international level in November 2007. Another good buy will be Burberry London. Very elegant scent. Get your anata to buy you as Valentine's gift bah.. :)

Please be careful at JB custom

An email from my friend. My friend's friend experience.



Hello, this is from my friend...he saw the guy twice.truth, no lie...pls share with ur friends.thanks.

---------------------------------------------------------
Hi guys,

Please be careful when you are taking bus back to Singapore at JB custom. There is a malay guy who is stealing wallet. He was caught red-handed few week ago. But he was run away at the end because nobody want to help the victim to catch him. Last week, I saw the malay guy again and try to follow him. I saw he keep changing his waiting line between 170 and 950 and never go up to the bus. He was try to stolen wallet when people push each others go into the bus or during queue up. I have catch his photo(not very clear but you still can see his face). Please be careful if you see him at JB custom. Maybe you can punch him first before he stole your wallet.

Please forward this email to your friends who working in Singapore and warning them.

Back from Ho Chi Min

Just came back from Ho Chi Min. A business trip at short notice - Flew off on Wednesday, but was only informed on Monday -_-". Anyway, since it's only for a few days, I don't really need much time to pack my stuffs. Work wise, it was horrible. We worked like crazy on both Monday and Tuesday, even before fly off on Wednesday, till we reached Ho Chi Min... My conclusion for working late on both Monday and Tuesday was: Woman a troublemaker - women are so indecisive and women change their minds at all times... Is that a in-born nature in women or women can do a bit of changes which will make life better?

Apart from attending the budget meeting, my only "aim" was to grab "Pet Shop". I forgot the name of the plaza where I got this product during my last visit. Surprisedly, Vietnamese doesn't really recognise this brand. The receiptionist tried to her all means to search for me, although she didn't manage to locate it. It was my cousin later told me the name of the plaza - Tax Plaza.

I'd been telling my other colleague, whom I shared my room with, how cute was "Pet Shop". Being affected by me, she aimed to grab something for her daughter. As I reached this outlet at Tax Plaza, I got very excited, just cannot "tahan" the cutiness of the goodies. Can you imagine I spent nearly 2 hours in this this cramped outlet? Me and my another colleague had almost turned the outlet upside down, searching for the bag and pouch because there were just too many choices until we didn't know which one to get. My other colleagues couldn't understand why we could immersed ourselves in the goodies so decided to dump us there.

"Pet Shop" products was quite cheap 2 years ago. I heard from local that the inflation rate in Vietnam hit 15% last year. I can barely feel the price shock as I shopped in Tax Plaza or Ben Thanh Market. It didn't stop me from shopping though. Things that I bought was not volumous but it cost me 678,000 VND still, which is equivalent to SGD67.80. Crazy eh?

There is another shopping heaven for visitors but NOT for myself. I don't like shopping at Ben Thanh market cos I don't really enjoy the fun of bargaining. Basically I don't really know to bargain and ppl always take psychological advantage over me. I know myself will kena chopped by those Vietnamese. That proved me right cos I was kena chopped this round for that one and only thing at this si ren Ben Thanh Market. There was a deep cut in my purse for the bag I bought for my mum. I paid half the price this si zhu Vietnamese girl asked for but still, it was much higher than other stalls asked for before further bargain. *!!!!!!* I then find this place a very sickening place and I really feel like cursing that si zhu girl to the hell. If I ever step in this city next time I will never ever spend a single cent at this sickening place again. It's not the money that matter, ppl who knows me well will understand that I really hate being deceived. I'd rather go shopping plaza where the price is fixed.

As I shopped with majority the aunties, my shopping style had become very auntie style as well. I even follow them buying cooker, soya sauce and chili sauce. -_- Frankly, I never expect I'd do something like this before. The price was considered very low. When my boss told me she always shopped for unecessary stuffs cos she couldn't "tahan" the price as it was too cheap to go for it. I truely understand the feeling where you cannot resist the temptation. The stainless steel cooker cost approximately SGD11.50. It was not a necessity for me but I thought it worth the price for chinese new year. My auntie colleagues who knows the market so well told me it's not available in Singapore so I also die die want to get one. Haha.


It was intially a business trip for budget meeting, coincidently Vietnam office was celebrating their new year party on Friday. It was some sort like our D&D. As our HQ office was rather small, so my boss decided to let the other staffs joining the dinner as well. They were very lucky staffs as they were there purely for shopping and dinner for 3 days, without the need to work. The message on the wall was something like "happy new year". Seeminngly the watermelon and ketupat were a must to go with the message.

Had dinner at Blue Ginger which was highly recommended by my boss. It was located at District 1 which was renowned as one of the best Vietnamese restaurant. What amazed me was this "one string" instrument this Vietnmaese girl was playing, as well as the 春联 which was in Vietnamese.

The development of Vietnam is much more rapid than I expect. I was told that the average salary per head was USD300+ which really exceeded my expectation. I don't know how true it is and I don't bother to confirm as well. I still believe a country can only do well if the government put effort in education. I cannot comment from my Vietnam office aspect as they're in leading IT industry and most of them are software/ hardware engineer. In general, those ppl in service industries still cannot speak English, even cannot understand simple English which is quite disappointing. With no offence, I also think they're quite rude. For instance, I tried to change VND in airport for SGD30 and I was like being told off by this girl as if it's a criminal offence to change VND that equivalent to SGD30 instead of SGD50 just because they don't have SGD to change me back. She refused to change for me is one thing, she yelled at me was another thing. It was such a bad image she gave to a visitor especially when she works in airport. A few times we're treated as if we owed them 100 million and yet, asked for tips somemore. I look forward to the general improvement in this area although they will take AGES to reach there.

Luxury watches - behind the scenes

George Ø says:
I am international sales for a watch component fatory.
Veerla says:
any particular brand?
George Ø says:
oh.... yes... top ones.
George Ø says:
and I just discover Bulgari also source in China... I totally lost faith in those luxurious brands.
George Ø says:
they purchase er..... USD 100, then sell USD 10000... this is madness.
Veerla says:
u mean bulgari?
George Ø says:
even jewelly...... this is insane.
Veerla says:
Gosh... is the quality there or not?
George Ø says:
yup... I recently got contact with their purchase arm in far east.
George Ø says:
quality is still there... they will inspect here once, and send to Italy and switzerland for verificatin again.
George Ø says:
but..... if I spend USD 5000 on a ring, I dont want to face the fact that it was polished in a sweat shop by some chinese kids.
Veerla says:
i tot they're manufactured in switzerland
George Ø says:
they have easy life now, they just pass orders to far east, then focus on quality and development, and final assemble. then they spend all the cash on marketing
George Ø says:
there are still die hard brands who dont want to purchase from far east, like Cartier, because their margin already crazily high.
George Ø says:
but it is a matter of time, they will come one day.
Veerla says:
i never noe that....
George Ø says:
okay..... hope it doesnt jeopradise your shopping fun next time.
Veerla says:
hahah...
Veerla says:
frankly i'm not really fans of watches
Veerla says:
watches to me is just a time piece
George Ø says:
ha.. sure it is. it just gives me a sense of fun to see ppl showing off their flash watches...which cost them USD 1000, but I know that it only worth about USD 20.
Veerla says:
yucks.... but they're very smart
Veerla says:
i reckon branding is very important nowadays
Veerla says:
ppl recognises the brand more than anything else
Veerla says:
a good brand name is equivalent to faith
George Ø says:
indeed it is.... even knowing the fact, I still gaging for branded goods.
George Ø says:
there is a textile factory close to us,, they make all these Tommy Hilfiger garmets(authentic ones).... selling by tons. not per piece.
Veerla says:
then?
George Ø says:
same story, i love the brand, and willing to pay USD 80 per piece, knowing that some one is laughing his head when it cost USD 1.0 or less.

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