Somewhere I belong

One last post - Goodbye 2008

2008-12-31T23:34:00.002+08:00

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

2008-12-22T10:06:00.001+08:00

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

Toy-toy corner

2008-12-15T13:58:00.003+08:00

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

Toothy and Handy...

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

危机意识

2008-12-15T08:43:00.003+08:00

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

2008-12-03T14:53:00.002+08:00

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

2008-11-25T15:26:00.004+08:00

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

2008-11-19T22:37:00.005+08:00

"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

2008-11-11T10:10:00.004+08:00

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

2008-11-05T10:06:00.003+08:00

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

2008-10-28T13:27:00.003+08:00

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?

2008-09-26T09:23:00.006+08:00

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

2008-09-24T23:26:00.004+08:00

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"

2008-09-22T14:43:00.003+08:00

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

2008-09-18T10:04:00.001+08:00

It's a forwarded link. Pretty interesting.

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

Time to save for rainy days?

2008-09-17T00:19:00.005+08:00

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..

2008-09-16T22:24:00.005+08:00

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

2008-09-08T09:54:00.004+08:00

To complete by mid October: -

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

Things have changed

2008-08-14T21:51:00.004+08:00

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

2008-08-12T19:45:00.011+08:00

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

2008-07-30T21:08:00.005+08:00

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

2008-07-28T23:49:00.003+08:00

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?

2008-07-03T22:02:00.006+08:00

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 !

2008-07-01T21:34:00.006+08:00

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??

2008-06-27T13:24:00.002+08:00

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?

2008-06-18T22:45:00.004+08:00

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

2008-06-17T22:47:00.004+08:00

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

2008-06-05T11:25:00.005+08:00

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

2008-06-04T20:39:00.003+08:00

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

2008-06-04T19:19:00.025+08:00

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 !

2008-06-01T23:57:00.001+08:00

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......

2008-05-28T15:29:00.006+08:00

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

2008-05-23T23:59:00.005+08:00

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

2008-05-23T21:53:00.005+08:00

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

2008-05-05T23:10:00.008+08:00

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

2008-04-30T09:26:00.003+08:00

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

2008-04-25T13:03:00.006+08:00

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

2008-04-25T12:44:00.003+08:00

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

2008-04-16T11:21:00.004+08:00

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

2008-03-25T19:12:00.003+08:00

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

2008-03-20T11:49:00.001+08:00

A gifted 5-year-old blind Korean pianist.

She will make you cry.

It's not safe!

2008-03-18T13:01:00.003+08:00

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

2008-02-29T16:37:00.003+08:00

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?

2008-02-28T22:50:00.000+08:00

This is quite creative....

旧情绵绵

2008-02-28T21:08:00.005+08:00

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
---------------------------------------------------------------

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. )
------------------------------------------------------------
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

2008-02-20T20:35:00.003+08:00

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

2008-02-19T12:59:00.014+08:00

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

2008-02-16T23:45:00.004+08:00

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

2008-02-12T22:57:00.001+08:00

(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

2008-02-11T23:06:00.001+08:00

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

2008-02-11T22:15:00.000+08:00

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

2008-02-01T14:38:00.000+08:00

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

2008-01-27T13:17:00.000+08:00

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

2008-01-19T17:20:00.000+08:00

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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It's Friday!

2008-01-18T22:33:00.000+08:00

Yeah, it's Friday!

Friday used to be the most stressful day throughout the week as it was usually the last day of audit and I used to be under stress to complete the field work and finalise the file... Used to be.... but no more today. The feeling was great. I spent my whole day on net and did a bit of research to resolve the issues my company's currently facing. Plus, everybody knocked off sharp at 5:30pm today. Because it's Friday! Hoho.

I found my new workplace a very interesting area to explore. It's totally different from city. There was at least one thing that would surprise me in a day. Always during lunch hour, my colleagues would tell me about the warehouse sales and the foods around the place. Right after the lunch, I'll follow them to the warehouse sales. It's my first time vist to the warehouse but they're not. I notice they could have visited to the same warehouse during the sales period for more than 2 times. That's amazing..... Or they would tell me this supplier of Monsoon is clearing their stocks, buy one free one and ask me if I'm interested. For the whole week, I spent my lunch hour like an auntie - shop for home products. I successfully grabbed a Hush Puppies Queen size bed linen at $15, hair mask + hair tonic + 2 hair rebuilder altogether at $58. After office hour, there's door-to-door pirated DVD seller will ring the bell somemore! I never had such experience throughout my work life in the past 4 years. Compared to town area, life is too hectic. I can't even afford to utilise one full hour lunch time but always grabbed quick lunch or skip lunch. Facing this group of ppl, I need to adjust my pace to suit them and be more patient as well.

Skype plays a part in work now. Now then I realise how wonderful this Skype is.

About my new job

2008-01-15T21:36:00.000+08:00

Thanks everybody for your concern. I'm doing well. I didn't really expect I could have received sms or call or msn from friends, checking out if I'm doing fine with my new job. Very gan dong.

I'm in commercial industry, no longer in professional field. Difference between commercial and professional is its professionalism. *craps*

1. Lesser accounting standards I need know, as in I'll need to know those that relevant to my industry and, of cos my company;
2. Work nature is more routine as every month's basically doing the same thing;
3. More adhoc assignments as business is on-going. The #1 in my priority list keeps changing as and when new issue is encountered.
4. I can proudly chase auditor for financial statements now. Haha.

The working environment is pretty friendly. The finance team is quite small, all girls. *Too bad* The only guy in my office is my CEO. The existing staffs have been telling how good my 2 bosses are. Based on my observation, my 2 bosses appear to be friendly and easy-going. They join us for lunch if they're not travelling. We're not having a stressful lunch with the presence of the bosses though. There will be no discussion about work but they're sharing all kinds of stories. I enjoy my lunch hour unlike before.

That's all I can tell at the moment. The people, the environment and the job scope seem to be a perfect match for my ideal job. I hope my luck is with me along the way. Guan Yin Ma bless me.

提防宵小

2008-01-13T14:23:00.000+08:00

昨晚一直没有什么睡意，可能因为傍晚小睡了一下。在 youtube 追看“恶作剧2吻”，突然听到一声不太寻常的声响。像是东西敲打铁门的声音。那时大概是凌晨3点。起初还不以为意，因为后面家的 uncle 有时会在半夜活动。半夜会有人到访。我不知道他是做什么的，总之不是什么不正经的事，却很有钱。尽管如此，我依然会走出房门往后窗望，只是为了确定一下心理的猜测。这次，他家的后门并没有打开。可是我依然相信事出必有因（音），所以就走向厨房往窗外望。结果，看到了2个人。2个华人，年约40 的uncle 级人马。

观察了一阵子，没有在第一时间笃定他们是贼，就因为他们是华人。而且是穿着 proper 的 uncle。可是在这种时候不用锁匙开门，不从正门入，而是在尝试撬开后门者不是贼，是什么？所以我赶快冲去告诉弟弟。他在打着PS所以也还没有睡。再叫醒父母，好让他们通知后面的邻居。妈妈看到这样的情景非常的紧张，很匆忙的就想打电话给他们。可是爸爸觉得这样会打草惊蛇，应该先报警，让警察来抓他们。从他打电话颤抖的手，我们都看得出来其实爸爸也是紧张的。铁门在那时已经被成功打开了。还剩最后一道门。

我再走回厨房，想看看情况怎样，那两个人已经不在了。还是有一阵的杂声。后来，看到路旁的一辆 Wira 飞快的奔驰而去。接着没多久，垃圾车来了。巡逻的警察车也到了。只不过那两个贼跑掉了。后面的邻居始终联络不上。

我家这个花园区每个晚上都有警察车巡逻。3点以后的 frequency 就少一点。我家后面的邻居每晚都会开着后巷的灯。加上靠近 main road，一直都有车子来来往往的，路边的车子经过都会看得到。让我不禁觉得这两个人的大胆和猖狂。另一点有 impressed 到我的是警察的办事效率。警察在报案后的5-10分钟就到了。爸爸打电话去柔警总部，弟弟在一分钟后在打去区域警局，他们已经被通知了。柔总还责怪警察没有在第一时间赶到。爸爸还得替这2个警察打去总部解释说，贼在警察来到前就已经跑掉了，而不是他们来得晚。

事后我和弟弟对整件事做了一次的分析。我们都觉得我们太早惊动父母。很显然的，妈妈并不能处变不惊。妈妈紧张到心跳加速，不知所错。不管什么事情发生，当下都应该 stay calm。警察来到之前我们还是可以做些什么。像是通知邻居，然后大家一起出来把路口封起来，有机会在把他们痛打一顿。这是所谓的守望相助的精神。可是这年头，谁跟你谈守望相助？守望相助这个词是我小学年代的词。现今的社会，华人都怕死，自私。华人都喜欢用钱来解决事情。我们的名言：可以用钱解决的事都不是坏事。比较起来，马来同胞和印度同胞反而更有互助精神。看看路边，如果一个马来人出了什么事，很快的就会有人施出援手。华人呢？看到掠夺案也最多是隔岸观火。大多人都怕惹事生非。

把电话关起来或把电话线拔掉是非常不明确的。You never know 可能那一通电话可以救你。对，我们都希望一觉好眠，可是危机意识还是要有的。我们都得留一条路 for ppl to reach us. 像这一次，如果那两个贼真的破门而入，男主人又不在家，那 auntie 和他的佣人，小孩都还不知道发生了什么事。

年关将至，这样的事应该会一直上演。我想新年前的这段期间还是尽量不要夜归比较好。我一直有这种 perception，小偷，抢匪都是异族，或者是外劳。这是我人生中第一次亲眼看见这种坏事，看到的坏人却是华人。唉，有手有脚的为什么不去做工而要抢钱？

早上被一阵嘈杂声惊醒。其实经过这一段插曲我并不能深睡。听到妈妈的 auntie 朋友说有3个人尝试破门而入她邻居的家。那时4点多。相信是同一班人。因为妈妈在事发时就已经打电话给她分布在各个区域的 auntie 朋友，叫他们提高警惕。这贼还是没有得逞。因为 auntie 通知了那家人。可是，相信他们还是会在回来。

我相信警察会加紧巡逻。我突然对警察重拾信心。因为弟弟说，如果巡逻的警察看到路旁停有车子，而车上有人，警察就会 block 那辆车了。警方已经有在做事了。

请把这个电话 save 进你的 contact 以便不时之需：柔警总部 - 07-2254499。不管你再新山哪个角落，headquater 都会在最短的时间联络区域警署。警察很快就会到。

庸人自扰

2008-01-13T01:23:00.000+08:00

爱恨一肩挑的滋味是怎样？

天下本无事，庸人自扰之。笑一笑往事随风飘。

Talk to idiot box??

2008-01-11T18:42:00.000+08:00

If somebody told you their work is to talk to idiot box... What would you think of?

The first thing that came into my mind was this telephone box. I imagined she works as a receiptionist in this telephone box.... Oh.. hahaha... which would mean she sits inside this telephone box and answers the phone call... But wait.... do we have such telephone box in Malaysia?? Obviously no....

Veerla says:wat do u work as huh?
@nnie says:talking to idiot box .. pls guess ..
@nnie says: hehe
Veerla says: talking to idiot box?
@nnie says: yup ...
@nnie says: a hint for ya
Veerla says: huh? wat kind of box?
@nnie says: erm .... black square box...
Veerla says: dunno leh
@nnie says: the thing that u r facing/looking at it now ...
Veerla says: is this black square box??
Veerla says: and how do u talk to it??
@nnie says: ha ha ... ok lah ... IT Administrator ...
Veerla says: wahhh
Veerla says: walaooo ehhhhh
Veerla says: ur hint hoh...
@nnie says: the computer ... is an idiot box
Veerla says: apa hint itu??
@nnie says: ha ha ha ...
@nnie says: ciplak hint
Veerla says: walao... i won't be able to link computer to black square box lo..
Veerla says: i'm using laptop all the while u c
@nnie says: ai yah .. laptop also a square box ...
@nnie says: it only thin n slim one ..
Veerla says: walao eh
Veerla says: hahahaha
@nnie says: cracking ur head o...
@nnie says: ngiak ngiak ...

Tell me who talk to computer?? -_-

I'm a low-blood pressure freak

2008-01-11T14:47:00.001+08:00

Whenever I suffer from dizzy spells, I know the "culprit" must be my blood pressure. It has never been this low before. The fast heartbeat was caused by a cup of coffee.

What to do when your blood pressure goes low? Drink as much water as you can!

My mouse broke into pieces

2008-01-11T00:43:00.000+08:00

Since I start working with mouse N years ago, I've never "tortured" a mouse to this extent. All of sudden, in 2 seconds, it chose to "die" in this way - wu ma fen shi. Gosh.... see the brand? Well... made in China. -_-

New work life will be commencing on 14/01/2008

2008-01-10T19:01:00.000+08:00

I've got an offer. I thought it's a dream, until I received the employment letter today. When things come too easy in a way I somehow feel insecured. I was in shit luck for about 4 years, especially last year, a damn bad year for me. I've so used to meet bad eggs in the past years, a sudden change where I suddenly have such lucks is really incredible. It's a blessing.

Anyway, it's an exciting opportunity where I think I could pursue as a career as it allows me to grow. Of cos there are challenges ahead to conquer but it's totally different from what I'd been dealing in the past. When I worked as auditor, it would be the technical knowledge that I need to enhance. Whereas in commercial industry, I believe it will be the interpersonal skills that I need to polish. When dealing with ppl becomes the centre of the work, it could be challenging. Always, it's not the job itself is difficult, but the ppl who makes the job difficult.

I'm glad that I'm now moving into management and be at corporate level. That's what I'm looking for in short-term. I'm asking no more than that at the moment before I prove my capabilities.

To conclude, life is full of surprises. Cheers.

Let's drink.

2008-01-09T23:32:00.000+08:00

Let's drink, my friend. My treat - Carlsberg's 160th Anniversary Brew. Alcohol content of 5.5%, deliver a pronounced aroma and easy-to-drink beer as it claims.

(Picture provided by Ming jie jie)

Anchor Strong, MC jie jie who urges me to try. I never see someone who would recommend others a beer and yet told her the beer taste like kerosene (or paraffin oil). An alcohol content of 8.8% and I guess it must deliver a burning sensation after drink. According to her, one should mix it with 100 plus or 7-up should he/she finds the beer too strong and taste awful. I have bought a bottle but..... don't have the guts to try. Haha.

New year. New beginning.

2008-01-02T01:15:00.000+08:00

用了5个小时，换了一个新造型。不是故意选在今天，只是想了很久，考虑了很久，参考了各方人马的意见才决定该把我这个半长不短的头发“办了”。头发，要嘛就长，不然就让它短，半长不短真的很让人头痛。就像“半桶水”一样让人无奈，处境最危险。最后还是决定把原本想留长的头发剪短。还自己一个干脆利落。毕竟自己能给予头发的营养有限，肥油倒很多。可惜，头发不吸油。

去年同一时候，当我“KaZaA” 把及腰的长发剪到耳际，也是在娴小姐的陪伴和鼓励下，海先生的肯定下，还有洲先生好奇的驱使下而对短发有信心。对，过程往往都是复杂的。人都需要别人的认同才会有信心 (去年还真的有被那“一年半载”的话吓到。让我感觉到时间的力量)。无独有偶，海先生在家发霉两个多星期需要透透气，所以娴小姐和海先生又是第一个“见识”我的新发型的人。

忘了娴小姐叫我 blog 的东西是什么了。。。。成语的正确用法吗？只是我终于明白要用什么方式加心态和海先生沟通。哈哈。要祥先生多和海先生多沟通以训练EQ是行不通的。因为祥先生只会专注的听，听累了就说想睡，对EQ没有多大的帮助。让他去GIANT 排队还钱可能比较有效。呵呵。

今晚的成语大全有：以此类推(海先生因为用错而被娴小姐纠正)，匪夷所思(娴小姐讲的，impressed 到海先生的)。海先生用对的2个成语我就不记得了。哎，我的毛病，也是一般人的通病，就是对别人犯的错比较有印象，普通好或者是有进步的地方就不当一回事。

今天我了解到原来我在没什么要求的根本下的要求是蛮严苛的。原来我在意的东西是那么的表面。可是我知道，这样肤浅的要求不会停留在2007，2008会继续燃烧。

2008年的第一天，5个小时在发廊，3个小时多的谈笑风声，3个小时的吃吃喝喝，1个小时在路上，2个小时的reading time, 其余的是睡觉时间，就这样过去了。睡觉的时间占了大部分，意味着好的开始。

End of the year..

2007-12-31T18:42:00.000+08:00

End of the year.... my only hope is all the bad lucks and shitty stuffs end at 11:59:59pm today as well.

Go Go Go GO AWAY !!!!

认知

2007-12-30T01:53:00.000+08:00

My last interview with that company was not totally absurb. At least, it has given me some insights, that is, I must prepare myself well in all aspects for the challenges to come. It will be too late if I only start preparing when the challenges have already fallen on me. A very important self-awareness. It has also inspired me what I want to achieve in my career path. 2 weeks ago I might not be able to answer when ppl asked me: "What you want to do next?" "What kind of job you want to look for?" Now, I have a very clear mindset and I can answer you with more than 10 sentences (not just, "I'm not sure" "Well, let's see how... ") if you ask me now. That is also another very important self-awareness.

I must admit there was 1 or 2 days I was quite depressed. It was when I sent out a few job applications but I didn't get any response. Normally I'd get prompt response from these agent but this round, none. I was thinking, was it really a bad time to look for job now? Or the market has turned bad unknowingly? Will I be getting what I'm expecting or will I suffer a pay cut? Yeah... when things turned out to be undesirable or it didn't fall within one's expectation, ppl get panic. A few days later, I've sorted my mind out. At this critical moment, I reckon that I must hang on there, I must 沉得住气. I can't be lowering myself to a job which I've never considered just because of the fixed income. As time goes by, I'm sure I'll be regretful of my reckless decision later. I also notice one thing, since I started working in sg, ppl have been telling me that: "Aiyah... it's just a job... why work so hard? You don't get paid to be working so hard. Try to find some less stressful and stable job where you can go back on dot, yet the same pay." I've been instilled with this mindset, it becomes that earning money is the main objective, not the self advancement. I'd never thought so when I was in EY. Now I know why I felt so lost in the past year was actually due to this wrong recognition. A feeling of "no growth" is unbearable. This is another "product" after soul-searching for 2 days.

Today, ppl asked me if I have set out my resolutions for 2008. Frankly, I don't have the habit of setting any targets or goals for myself when a new year commences. I've never told myself things like how much savings I must have, how many books I want to read in a year, what kind of car I want to own, etc. I just live day by day and my goal is very "ad-hoc". "You never have goals in life one meh?" Yeah... I've never asked for more in life. The coming 2008 I'd want to head a change, I want to set out some resolutions and do an assessment at the end of 2008, as what others do. All the achievements must be measurable. Reason for doing so is very simple - I want to be a better woman than yesterday.

An absurb job interview

2007-12-27T23:22:00.000+08:00

I was awaken by this sms at 9:30am. It's an interview invitation. But guess what, it's to be held at 11:30am. HELLOO... that's crazy. I was in JB and I really wonder who would attend this interview at short notice (for those who physically in sg). So I put it off to 2pm but it's still a mad rush cos I'd still need to do a bit of the research of the company's background and all that.

I managed to be there at 2am. I met the interviwer but don't ask me who I'd spoken to cos this interviewer didn't introduce herself. She didn't even tell me her name. Fine. A general start off would be self introduction and a description of my roles and responsibilites with my current job. Subsequently, she asked me if I'm aware of the role and responsibilities of the position that I was applying for. Again, I shouted a big "HELLOOOO" in my heart. I thought it's been clearly stated on the advertisement??? Don't tell me she doubts I've not worked with person at this level in the past?? Then, it's another question that really provoked me. She said to me that her accountants are much more experienced than me, they're also qualified accoutant. She asked me how would I see myself to lead a team like this. Then, in my heart, it shouted: Why not you promote your accountant and you hire an accountant which is cheaper then? Walaooooo.....

Seriously, the finance team consist of only 2 accountants, 1 admin staff and 1 payroll. This is a rather small team whereas my audit team could be in bigger group at times. What puzzle me was she had seen my profile, she knew my background, if she thinks that I'm less experienced than her existing accountant then why invite me for interview at this short notice???? Don't waste each other time lah, madam.

It's the first time I saw ppl invite ppl for interview via sms but not a call. In the sms, they also mentioned that they'd sms the company's address but it was me who took the initiative to ask if the company is located at this so and so building an hour before the interview. (I'd already got the address from the company's website la.... Duh.. ) It's also the first time I saw interviewer didn't even bother to do a basic self introduction. Show some respects to others la, please. Even your company was awarded "Enterprise 50" but so what? It's nothing big to me.

今年圣诞

2007-12-26T20:30:00.000+08:00

那天这位同学问我：去年圣诞怎么过？想着想着。。。 “哎呀，想这么久，一定是没人约。” 不可能啊。。。应该不是一个人的。。。。总会有人一起度过这可以是寂寞，也可以是温馨的日子。不知道是多少天后，终于让我想起，去年的圣诞是在YQ家过的。可是照片勒？没有看过照片，难怪那天变得那么容易遗忘。一旦想起，有一些特别的事也从我记忆的柜子被翻了出来。比如说，有两个人偷偷溜了出去，带了一些惊喜回来。

今年圣诞，在我盛情的邀请下，有3个人赏脸愿意和我去马六甲一趟，了我一住 A Famosa 的心愿。哈哈。其实本人真的不知道 A Famosa 离市区十万八千里远。出一个这样的状况，塞车啦，找食物啦，实在是 feel very bad about it.

奇怪的4人组合，大概只有1个人是找不到联想的。翻一翻记忆的橱，慢慢的大家也找到了一些交集。比如说，去年那两个偷跑的人当下一起在马六甲过圣诞；11 年前在四湾岛他们同睡一张床。一开始还会担心，我们这4个人到了马六甲要做什么来消遣，漫漫长路我们又该聊些什么，会不会因为不懂要讲些什么结果就一路静静的。老实说，这些担心还有些多余。可以聊的还挺多的。终归只讲一个“心”子。当然少不了爱情顾问的 consultation session。男人和女人的话题，讲都讲不完。让我了解男人的劣根性，让我们对男人失去信心，让我对因为年龄的增长而将慢慢失去的一些能力感到无奈和悲哀。我，可能在慢慢失去某些能力而不自知。

加分和扣分是几乎每天都做的 assessment，只不过多数人没有把它具体化。我想这次的交流我们都有为彼此加分。谢谢为我加分的朋友，谢谢愿意说出心里话的朋友，也谢谢这几年来一直帮我分析个案的朋友。

不能加入的朋友，敬请期待新年聚餐吧。主办人：Rolling egg. 赶快去问他详情！^_^

Gunung Pulai

2007-12-23T12:40:00.000+08:00

上一回去 Gunung Pulai，还没有爬到半山腰就下雨，所以被逼折回。今天。。 hohoho。。。
历经千辛万苦，我终于爬上山顶啦。

凉风习习，还有雾。置身在弥雾中，怎一个爽字了得？

爬完山，我们去了神庙。今天刚好是“不知道是什么”的庆典，全村的人，全古来的人都聚集在这里。因为两个安娣一直在车上讲 (就知道她们想去了)，所以就顺道去凑热闹。结果。。车刚停好，一下车就看到 tyre punctured. 难怪 steering 震到那么厉害。不过呢，暂时没有管那么多，吃饱再说。哈哈。

可怜的弟弟 (being the only guy in the car) 就得换轮胎啦。这换轮胎的动作吸引了大家的围观。其实大家只不过是对车牌有兴趣。几乎每一辆经过的车和人都会转头望一望车牌。今天我的车牌肯定是大红字。哈哈。华人啊，就是改不了赌性。。。有时候去拜拜也不过为了求财。妈妈 beh tahan, 就叫表妹蹲在车牌前当"守护神"，档着不让他们看。哈哈。

我们都是第一次换轮胎的人。没有人有经验。我的 spare tyre 还是第一天开张。还好有姨丈的拔刀相助, 还有路人甲的“指点迷津”，才不至于把 nuts 越锁越紧。

Two words to summarise: 破财。

醉言醉语

2007-12-22T00:18:00.000+08:00

- 你的世界我来过这个世界我来过 says:
accept it or not. pretty + money 是成正比的
- 你的世界我来过这个世界我来过 says:
pretty +time 也是成正比的
- 你的世界我来过这个世界我来过 says:
原来很多事情都是方程式
- 你的世界我来过这个世界我来过 says:
人生也不过是个加减乘除
Veerla says:
wahhh
Veerla says:
profound sentence !!
Veerla says:
haha
- 你的世界我来过这个世界我来过 says:
哇
- 你的世界我来过这个世界我来过 says:
原来喝多酒会变成墨水
- 你的世界我来过这个世界我来过 says:
原来人还是难得糊涂好一点
Veerla says:
ya....... 难得糊涂
- 你的世界我来过这个世界我来过 says:
在迷糊的世界也许会过的好一点
- 你的世界我来过这个世界我来过 says:
难怪那么多人把自己搞醉
- 你的世界我来过这个世界我来过 says:
虽然自己没有很会喝不过为了昏的那个目的

阿姐，你真的醉了吗？呵呵。
比昨晚好一点，没有那么多typo，讲话比较正常一点。哈。。。。。

- 你的世界我来过这个世界我来过 says:
ya. chinese. at least no typo.
- 你的世界我来过这个世界我来过 says:
coz typo . han yu ping yin. wont come out hahahaahahahahah
Veerla says:
ohh
Veerla says:
hahahahaha
- 你的世界我来过这个世界我来过 says:
华语还是有它的美丽的
Veerla says:
eh last nite u very gou li leh
Veerla says:
dunno wat u typed
- 你的世界我来过这个世界我来过 says:
hehe
- 你的世界我来过这个世界我来过 says:
coz english
- 你的世界我来过这个世界我来过 says:
keybourd run
Veerla says:
u'd better type chinese
Veerla says:
keyboard run? haha
- 你的世界我来过这个世界我来过 says:
today last nite. same 3 can
- 你的世界我来过这个世界我来过 says:
keyborad.....run and jump
- 你的世界我来过这个世界我来过 says:
my hand.....firm hahaha
- 你的世界我来过这个世界我来过 says:
不过今晚为什么那么能顶
- 你的世界我来过这个世界我来过 says:
奇怪
Veerla says:
hahahahaa
- 你的世界我来过这个世界我来过 says:
有时娱乐一下自己也是一种快乐
- 你的世界我来过这个世界我来过 says:
人生就是这样自虐自私自闭自怜自哀自恋自闭

Ah Jie, you very cute la..

恐龙周记

2007-12-21T23:09:00.000+08:00

<<恐龙周记>>，一本我每隔几年，得空就会拿出来翻一翻的书。

曾几何时，我以为台湾的男生是最有内涵的男生。就因为看了这本书。

谷拉拉写这本书的时候，她还没有结婚；如今，谷拉拉都已结婚6年了。。。时光飞逝啊。

时间过去了，我依然喜欢她的文字。。。

谷拉拉和恐龙是怎样开始的？

有一天，谷拉拉递了张爱的纸条给恐龙，写到：

“恐龙：

你愿意做我的男朋友吗？请不要怕我伤心，只要据实以答就好。

已经偷偷喜欢上你的谷拉拉”

如果你是男生，你会怎么回答呢？

.......................

恐龙回答说：

“谷拉拉：

让我来追你！

恐龙”

纸条虽然不是写给我的，可是我有被感动到。

会这样顾忌女生面子的男生应该绝种了。不愧是恐龙。呵呵。

Moody or unhappy?

2007-12-21T21:15:00.000+08:00

"Are you moody?"
"Are you alright? Heard someone said you're unhappy.."

Dunno why I've been asked these 2 questions by different ppl recently. Helloo.... Says who I'm unhappy or moody? I'm merely bored.. (I know I'm workaholic.. )

I've been telling ppl that the followings are my daily task list (when my mum is travelling):

1. I need to sweep floor
2. I need to mop floor
3. I need to cook... ("Surely not you can cook??" - Yes.. don't belittle me. *wink*)
4. I need to collect clothes

Ya... it's bored... when everyone is out for work, I'm left alone at home, it's really really bored. Especially when you know your friends are also working, I'm the only one left do-nothing in this world. So sian.... But..... when I'm doing nothing at home, I can sleep till noon time!! Yeah... don't envy me.... Hiak~ Now I can slow down my pace and "harry potter-ing", play badminton, play piano (at times), watch dvd etc... No one will ask me work or rush for deadline. I feel great......

Oh ya... I decided to move back to JB already.... As I said... to get rid as much burden as possible... *shrugs*

十年之约

2007-12-18T14:56:00.000+08:00

1996年，年终的学校假期，我们来到这里。那一年的聚会是3年高中生涯齐聚最多人的一次。在这个度假屋前，我们说过十年后再回到这里，看看还有多少人会来。。。

2007年12月15日，十年之约，迟了一年。同一个海边，风景依旧，人，也依旧。只不过人数少了。只有当年的三分之一。。。

摄于“天涯海角”。少了两个人 - 洲大哥和一粒蛋。去了哪？找度假屋去了。

个人蛮喜欢这张照片带出的感觉。象征着朋友间的bond还在；珍惜难得相聚的一刻，所以聊天到天明。可惜娴小姐还是没有把我灌醉。

打道回府前拍的全体照。

大队要看<<投名状>>。多久没有这么一大班人看戏了？很久很久了。久到没办法 recall。

<<投名状>>，我看了两次。第一次看只觉得这部戏很悲，没有流泪；第二次看，泪就不听使唤的流。

<<投名状>>, 难得的好戏。

迷路兵 <<路>>

2007-12-14T23:20:00.000+08:00

我们都该回头看看来时路
就算起风偶尔有雾模糊不了幸福

我们都该在心里数数感动的次数
谁陪你疯谁陪你笑拍拍肩一起追逐

多少爱错过了才看清楚
多少事无法弥补才认输
多少次以为找到了幸福
却发现一开始就是个错误

每一段路都是一种领悟
珍珠再夺目留不住心头热乎乎
真心的鼓舞能温暖一生的旅途

每一段路难免荆棘密布
把坚持牢牢握住不怕艰难险阻
学会去爱就不会迷路

I like this song. Simply like it.

Mind game

2007-12-11T17:33:00.000+08:00

Game to kill your time.. Have fun!

DOWNLOAD FILE

Full of lies?

2007-12-08T17:09:00.000+08:00

Sad la... What kind of world is this??
你骗我，我骗你。

爱说谎的人改不了说谎的习惯。习惯性说谎吗？

听惯谎言的人早就对狼来了的故事麻木了。懂吗？

Is life this miserable?

2007-12-06T21:24:00.000+08:00

Just happened to read this.

This is so sad... Is life really so miserable until there's really no way out but to end the life?

Sigh... I wonder if I ever disappear for 2 months, will anyone bother if I'm still alive?

Life's so unpredictable. Please cherish the ppl around you.

Extention of LWD

2007-12-06T19:58:00.000+08:00

Aiyah sian.... very moody today... dunno if that's because I didn't eat anything the whole day (apart 2 slices of breads from Coffee Toast in the morning) or because the need to extend my service (supposedly tomorrow will be my last working day). Sigh... -_-

I've thought about it carefully, I'm actually at risk by extending my last working day. Although it's said to extend for this particular engagement, other manager will also take the advantage and run to me. That's the most hatred thing. I was rather free the weeks before, but come to these few days, everybody seems to do the last minute fire fighting and I was busy like hell. Apart from clearing points with managers, I still need to clear my workstation, shred those unnecessary chicken files and papers, handover engagements and all the office admin works. Aiyah... my clients... What a good timing to turn around outstanding matters in these few days. Tao yan.

I don't wish to extend my last working day. I haunted the resource team to find someone to take over the portfolio but there's just no resources. Gosh, I cannot imagine how they're going to get through the peak period (I feel fortunate that I do not need to face the hassle). My manager has never expected me to leave before the end of the project. After all, it's actually my withdrawal which put her into this state whereby she might act as the AIC herself if there's really no resources. Thus, when she requested me to help out I really cannot bring myself to turn her down... Yeah... maybe I feel sorry for her.

As I was handing over an engagement, I recalled some bad memory.. yeah.. nothing's fair in this world. That's the upmost suay time that I met this si ren stupid bastard manager. When I thought of the unfortunate and unfair treatment I received from this manager, I find myself not just dislike but hate him. I have been thinking if I'm too petty but I must say, to forgive somebody is not easy. It's too hurting. I curse him can never be promoted to partner as he can never be a good boss.

Sigh... I'll extend only a week, at most... that's the limit I can tolerate already.

Outing - Bukit Lambak

2007-12-05T23:26:00.000+08:00

Date: 9/12/07 (Sunday)
Meeting point: 7am at Shell petrol station (Along Jln Skudai at Tmn Sri Putri)
No. of ppl: Unlimited

Agenda:
- breakfast at Kluang Station
- climbing bukit lambak
- lunch at Kluang - "botak" curry noodles (signature curry in Kluang)

Please email me or sms me to confirm attendance.

ORB

2007-12-05T22:30:00.000+08:00

As Stan came back from Cambodia, he told me he and his travel partners shot some weird photo at Red Piano. Pictures taken at Red Piano came with "white spot". Not just his camera, but applied to all the camera. It reminded me of the photos I took in within this pumpkin compartment at Buddha Park....

P/S: Info about Buddha Park - Read here.

This is the 2nd storey... which I believe it represented hell. It's the only storey with dim light., whereas the other 2 storey were just dark. I merely think it's special so I turned back to take photo.

I noted these "white spots" on my first shoot. I thought it was my finger prints on the lens so I wiped it before I took the second shoot.

Again... after wiping the lens, it didn't make much difference.... "white spots" were clearly seen.

Told Ninja about this, the picture he took also came with these "white spot". What are these? *eerie*

According to Haunted Kent, they are orb.

What is an orb?

- Orbs are believed (by many) to be ghosts in the form of balls of light.

- they travel in groups and are believed to be the human soul or life force of those that once inhabited a physical body here on earth

- they are those spirits that have willingly stayed behind because they feel bound to their previous life

- they tend to become similar to a psychotic human beings

- ghostly orbs are the most photographed anomalies caught on film by ghost hunters and are quite photogenic (when they want to be)

- they can be completely transparent or display themselves in a bright solid form

- it is theorized that ghosts prefer the form of an Orb (ball of light) because it takes less energy thus being the mode of choice among the ghosts

- it seems that ghosts tend to find it easier to take on shapes other than orbs

- it is also believed that they are able to draw on our own energy when needed

I'm not going to copy and paste the whole discussion here. If you're interested, read up Haunted Kent.

Lost and found

2007-12-05T20:27:00.000+08:00

Something happened dramatically today!

I tendered once some time in April (but I withdrew the resignation letter). During the last few days of my notice period, I lost my bao bei mechanical pen. It was just right after lunch it's gone no where. I clearly remembered I was still using it before I went to lunch. And this babi manager was sitting beside me.

It was just a mechanical pen but I really searched high and low for it. My neighbour on my right searched our work stations and my neighbour on my left searched the under desk but to no avail. The whole day I got so down and sad cos I had no clue where it could be. Then I was forced to use and get accustom to the mechanical pen supplied by my office.

Today, my last few days with my current firm, I still have some work to clear. As I typist was amending the financial statement, I saw something familiar on this particular typist's seat. I picked it up and I'm pretty sure it's my mechanical pen, although my name tag was removed. Yeah..... I very kiasi, I very scared I'll lose this mechanical pen so I sticked my name on it.

"I think this is my mechanical pen...... "

"Take it lah... I think somebody left it here."

"You know what, I've been looking for it since April. I was very sad that time. I never thought I would have get it back one day."

"Haha.. is it???"

"I've been using it since my primary school u know?? Wah... thank god... I really happy now leh."

"Hahaha... sure or not?? Since primary school?? Wah... you very sentimental eh.. "

Ya... this mechanical pen is really something I cherish because of its "time value". It's been with me for 15 years - the one and only mechanical pen I have since then. It went through my school days from secondary school to college and to university; it's also an essential stationary for my work all these years. The kind of 出生入死 feeling.

Apart from this mechanical pen, this stick eraser is also something I've been keeping for 15 years. Coincidentally, both are Papermate's products.

They are something invaluable and irreplaceable.

The funny and dramatic part of the whole thing is, I lost it when I first tendered last round; I got it back when I tendered second time. Both of which the last few days of my notice period. Aiyah... must be that babi manager took it without my knowledge and misplaced it. Nvm... it's so joyful to have it back to me. Lalalala~

D&D - What a good day

2007-12-01T15:48:00.000+08:00

Date: 30 November 2007

Venue: Ritz-Carlton Milllenia

In conjunction with this Annual Dinner and Dance, office closed at 4pm for us to prepare for the night. Sadly to say, this early release might not mean anything to some of us cos there were ppl who went directly from client's place, in working dress.

There was this "best dressed table" contest where the winning teams can walk away with attractive cash prizes:

1st Prize - $2,500 per team

2nd Prize - $1,500 per team

3rd Prize - $1,000 per team

This money comes so easy. But for ppl like us who did not form the table earlier will be sharing with some ppl that we don't know. Thus, the chances of winning the prizes is equivalent to zero. So, forget about the dressing then. Who cares to wear to the theme? Only the organisers of the event - the Recreation Club.

The ball room was nicely decorated, the VJ was great but the food was so-so. I wonder why the 2 newly joined Bangla who sat beside me was having food so different from us. Say for example, we're having small bowl of lotus leaf rice while they're having a big plate of spaghetti. While we're having plain salad with only one prawn and one scallop, theirs were spring roll with the same salad on side. Why huh? They are also staffs, same level as us.

The whole night featured heavy traffic congestion. Let me tell you why.

Ritz-Carlton is actually very near to our office. It will only take us at most 15mins to get there. It took us more than 15 mins to get a cab (JC called till his battery went flat). Traffic started to congest at Robinson road and all the way to Ritz-Carlton. Was it because the Singapore Radio Award 2007 which was held at Suntec on the same night? I don't know. The journey took us about 45 mins. We're 45 mins late for the registration.

Because we all wanted to go back JB so we said to take earlier leave at 10pm. The event was so draggy to the extent that only 3 courses of meal was served by 10pm. So we waited till 10:30pm but our stomach was not filled with food still. Ya, we should have eaten something before we went. I think it's only us who was mumbling hungry during annual dinner. Haa.

Got on the cab and went office to take our laptops and headed straight to Woodlands. On CTE, heavy traffic jam! By time we reached Woodlands checkpoint, it was already 11:45pm.

Taking 170 bus was dreadful but not the worst. We met Alan at the checkpoint. He took MRT and came out later than us can also reach checkpoint at the same time. Gosh. Checkpoint was still crowded with ppl and it's already 12am! As the bus came ppl started to lose control....

番外 - 争先恐后挤巴士

真的是不明白为什么要争先恐后的你挤我，我挤你的上巴士。比较有趣是吗？还是怕巴士跑掉？还是想趁机揩油？为了避免不必要的争执，也不想迟暗亏，我只好把laptop 抱在胸前。我几乎也是被别人推着上车的。尤其到了车门口要跨上车的那一刻最危险。后面的人还在推，还在抢着上车的那种。拜托啦，就只差那几步就可以上车了，紧张什么？？？？巴士又不会跑掉。我跨上车了，还以为安全了，谁知道。。 我的鞋！！！！我的鞋掉在地上啦！！ 人不断的上来，又没办法拿。呆站在那里5秒，然后就指着地上说：My shoes.... 望一下要上来的人，大家突然很有默契的全部停下动作，等我捡回我的鞋。回想这一幕虽然有点搞笑，可是挤巴士挤到掉鞋还真的是夸张。Alan 还说这只是小儿科，morning bus 更夸张。天啊。。我还是去 second link 好了。至少不会有这样的事发生。

Back to the topic. HL wanted to go back Batu Pahat and her friend was waiting her at the Mcdonald along the Jln Skudai. It's on my way home so I sent her there. Reaching Angsana....

JAM AGAIN !!!!

From Tampoi to Perling, such a short distance, we're caught in the jam for an hour! By the time I reached home it was already 1:30am (and HL reached home at 3am). Story didn't end it there.... The whole residential area...

BLACK OUT !!!

Traffic congestion on the road, returned home no current. What a good day!

Write for my reader

2007-11-28T21:55:00.000+08:00

Now then I know I have this silent reader.... This drunk cat commented my blog is like a food and tour advertisement and promotion. -_- Okay okay... I write something that he most likes - relationship. ^_^

Had a bit of chit chat with different ppl recently and coincidently they're all about relationship. Last Sunday I chatted with my brothers and sister. My brother said:

Bro: 有3 种女孩子要不得。年轻不定性，喜欢去喝酒的；现实的；还有就是脾气坏的。
Me: 脾气坏? 你在讲谁？
Bro: 哎呀。。。女孩子都是有脾气的嘛。。可是爸爸讲，忍一下就好了。哈哈。
Me: 女孩子怎样个现实法？
Bro: Nor... 那些出去吃东西每次装傻不给钱的。没事没事就叫男孩子去载的。有些更过分，打电话叫人出来吃东西，就是要你去给钱。哎呀，你们没有这样被对待过是不会明白的。
Sis: 哦。。你被利用过啊？难怪感触这么深。哈哈哈哈。
Me: 是咩？？有这么厚脸皮的咩？特地打电话叫别人来载？酱大牌的咩？？
Bro: 有。。。一大堆。。吊起来卖一样。那些喜欢我的每次都叫我出去，我都没有睬。我才没有酱笨。找不到我她们就找XG和DM。XG，DM 每次都应酬她们的。找不到XG她们就找DM。我只有在一大群人一起去的时候才会碰到他们。
Sis: DM排最后。。。哈。。可怜勒。。。酱她们会不会喜欢XG？反正你们长到也有点像。
Bro: 哎呀。。。DM笨笨的啦，一个电话来就特地去载人。她们喜欢我，你说她们会喜欢XG咩？ Sis: 酱她们美的吗？
Bro: Hoho... 会喜欢我的都不美的咯。。。哈哈哈。。。我已经没有 market value liao....
Sis: hahahaha..... 难怪对别人不理不睬。。。
Me：是啦。。看到美女就扑上去。。。肤浅。。
Bro: Eh..... 拒绝人也是要婉转的。。。不然会连朋友都没得做。。。
Me: 是咯。。。男孩子就是酱的。。我碰过一个，拒绝廖就没有再联络了。Aiyer... 小气鬼。这种人不联络也罢。
Bro: 他们觉得没有面子嘛。。。一些而已啦。。哎呀。。。这种人就算了吧。。可以不用理。。女生也不是一样。。。
Etc.. etc.... etc....... Above are purely for entertainment. Hehe...

My client had a long talk with me about her relationship also. She's getting married but she's secretly admiring someone. I asked her why she cannot let go since her wedding is just around the corner. She told me that anything could happen during the period before her wedding. *Gosh* Eventhough she's committed to a marriage but that doesn't mean nothing could be changed before she officially gets married. Then I recalled my another guy friend also told me the same thing sometime last week. What a world.

Then I brought this up to drunk cat, he said:" I want to be lonely driver, I don't need woman. The world is so beautiful, why go marry? Enjoy the freedom!" -_-" Fine..... Then another friend commented something more negative. He said: "True lo... marry mean wat? nothing. Nothing is forever, everything can change. There is ONLY one thing in this world never change, that is, everyday we just walking towards our day of DEATH".

Faint ~~ There he goes again....

"See, everything really worthless, just live day by day. I see open, maybe even happier. Cos to me, nothing so important... it's like.. so transient, nothing's important... "

Is it really that bad?? That's very grey and negative, isn't it?

A bit of chit chat

2007-11-28T00:08:00.000+08:00

Haven't seen LH for quite sometime. Had a bit of chit chat with him last Friday. He told me about his "near-kena-whacked" experience when he was asked to watch his friend's house on his friend's marriage day. The story begins:

On the big day, whether or not his friend aware of the risk of leaving house empty on his big day but I guess his friend probably know they're spotted. Wedding dinner held in the evening, to avoid leaving the house empty, LH was asked to watch his house while all his friend's family members were out for wedding dinner.

As LH was washing the plates after dinner, he saw one or two of the window leaf was not properly positioned. He looked out the window but didn't see anything, nor did he hear any sound.

Two days later, his friend called him. He thought his friend was calling on courtesy to thank him. Who knows his friend called to tell him that somebody actually broke into the house on his wedding day. But thank god they did not lose anything. Maybe the thief (I shall call him thief cos he's not daring, trying to do something bad in the dark) saw him when he entered in the house through backdoor and back off cos of fear. Wooden stick and brick were found at yard.

LH was telling me that he was not aware of the break in at all but he thought both him and his friend were lucky. His friend did not suffer monetary losses while he also met some petty thief thus he's untouched. It's believed that the thief was our "dearest friendly friend". He cannot imagine what would happen if he's an Indonesian or the "black".

Now then I know house got spotted on wedding day.... I thought only the ang paos during banquet.

Couch potato

2007-11-25T23:09:00.001+08:00

Oh gosh..... I've been a couch potato this weekends. I watched 6 episodes of Coffee Prince on Saturday. Then, today, I spent my evening and night watching High School Musical 2 and 200 Pounds Beauty. One is cheerful, but another is sad.

High School Musical 1 was on Channel 5 sometimes ago. That was when High School Musical 2 was about to release and that's how I learnt about .

I didn't intend to watch High School Musical 1 but was merely stunned by this song - Start of Something New. Bascially I like the musical show, their voices are just FABULOUS. So I followed through till the end of the show. It made think of my high school days where I dreamt and daringly pursued. Now, I dream, but I might not pursue...

High School Musical 2 was talking about their summer holidays. I prefer High School Musical 1 maybe because I don't like the theme. Hehe. I dun like summer basically. But Zac Efron looks better in 2nd series. (Yeah... He also participated Hairspray) The only song in High School Musical 2 that impressed me was this - You Are The Music In Me.

Then, I want to talk about 200 Pounds Beauty, which is more controversial.

Before I watched, my sister told me she cried throughout the movie. Yes, from beginning till the end as she felt very sad about this gal. Because of this guy, she lost herself. She sacrificed so many valuable things around her. She even left her dad behind. This reflects truely the cruelty of this society. Everybody likes the beauty on surface before anything - before the inner beauty is revealed.

I see how a person presents in public important. That's what I learnt from Coffee Prince. Frankly speaking, the 2 guys don't really have sharp features but the fact is, they're tall, they have good figure and they dress well! The combination of the above equal to presentable. Guys, if you're not good-looking that's fine cos guys will be looking good if they are tall and muscular. That's why guys go gymnasium. They drink protein and work out just to shape their body which will make them look great.

Then, what about gals? Gals will be looking good if they're slim and fair. The best of all is to have a pair of sparkling eyes. It's okay if you do not have the attributes, it can be mended by flawless make-up. That's why women think cosmetics worth an investment.

All of the above are back to one square - to gain confidence, to be attractive.

I read something today, coincidently. "Deep insecurity is what is ugly, not a flabby belly or chunky thighs.... Ugly is self-prophesying". Ppl easily see things they dun love about themselves; can you list down things that you do like about yourself?

<<咖啡王子一号店>>

2007-11-25T16:43:00.001+08:00

很久没有看电视剧了。有多久？快一年了吧记得上一次追的是<<宫>>。也不算追看，基本上我是 fast-forward 的看，重点式的看。故事太长了啦。

上个礼拜，突然有一种想追戏的感觉，皮痒就去买韩剧看。为什么是韩剧呢？个人觉得韩剧是最不需要用脑想的。就是笑笑，看看就算了。又有帅哥美女，赏心悦目。不用费什么力气；港剧不同。看港剧，头脑要跟着剧情一起转。坏人让人咬牙切齿，蛮费力的。当下的心情只是想不费力气的浪费时间。

想想也不知道要买什么戏，就去 Cari 看看有什么 recommendation. 强力推荐的就是这部超人气的<<咖啡王子一号店>>。没听过这出戏，不要紧。就看看是谁演。4 个人当中就只认得尹恩惠。看她在<<宫>>的表现还不错，加上是以咖啡厅作背景，所以就二话不说的去买了。

前面几集还好，看看笑笑就过了。可是越看就越看不下去，reason being 太拖了啦！昨天还是把这部戏看完了。唉。。做人要有始有终嘛。。。。呵呵。。其实非也，我是为男主角而奋斗的。哈哈。一个是充满艺术气息，声音是少有的好听；另一个身材超棒，有点像年轻时的林学长。恩。。我的确是冲着这两个男主角而来。

这部戏，看过就算。有时间才看；没时间不看也罢。

从这部戏学到了什么？高恩灿的勤奋、积极、耿直、真诚、善良、不倒翁精神？Nah..... 我比较肤浅，只看到人靠衣装，佛靠金装。看看自己的 office，穿着得体的就已经赢得别人一半的信任；随便穿的，别人就会说你不 professional；不顺眼就少跟你合作，制造一点小麻烦。有时不得不承认，外貌与穿着起着一定的作用。不漂亮的，打扮一下也会漂亮起来；不帅的，勤劳锻炼也会为自己的魅力加分。可惜这些都不是一朝一夕的。气质，靠的也是经年累月的累积。

人啊，随时都要准备好自己，随时出击。不要等到有突发状况才为那“突发状况”做短暂的努力。有时候时间不允许啊。。。

IELTS? Relax lah...

2007-11-23T20:41:00.000+08:00

IELTS - International English Language Testing System (IELTS). For those who studied in overseas before, I am sure you know what it is. I sat this test twice before. One of which was right after I graduated from Foon Yew. In the end, I didn't go overseas within 2 years time and the results lapsed. Wasted. Then, the second attempt was in year 2002, 3 months before I went further studies in Australia. It was quite stressful cos it's like 万事具备, 只欠东风. Everything's in plan, should I don't get the desire result as required by the university, I'd need to defer another semester. But heng ah, I passed.

Now it's my sister's turn to sit the paper. I know she must be very stressed regardless how much I told her it's a test, not really an examination and nothing to prepare for, except the essay. She must be crazy cos all the questions she asked me was to do with the stationaries!

Pig: I ask u hor :) IELTS use pencil to shade answer... then how about short answer and essay? Pencil or pen?

Me: I think pencil or pen also can. I remember last time I used pen. You bring both and listen to the instruction.

Pig: Oh.. Okay... thanks..

2 mins later, she sms me again....

Pig: Then can bring highlighter? Can use liquid?

Me: Walao... u bring your whole pencil case lah.... they will give you clear instruction one la.. u very funny leh

Pig: Scare mah... Heiyer.... U dun understand de la....

Me: Aiyah... relax lahhh.... u worry all about stationaries for wat??

Pig: Just scare la... Never study anything important... Here cannot online totally... bought a book and only know the format..

Me: Aiyah... relax lah.... it's not exam but a test.. nothing you can prepare except essay... don't worry too much..

Relax lah Ah Moi... just a test... I prepared only the essay lor... then read those essay aloud lor... cos the last part of the exam is "speaking". Just "practice" as you read the essay as if you're talking to yourself. Haha... Relax lah.............

Problem with Yahoo Mail again

2007-11-22T00:11:00.000+08:00

My last problem encountered with Yahoo Mail was solved...

I've been expecting an important email these days. Yeah, indeed important. Important to the extend I'd log in to Yahoo Mail first thing in the morning, followed by a few times surprise check for the rest of the day. As I did not receive any reply since then, I decided to drop another email just to follow up. I got a prompt reply from the other end but the reply really gave me a shock of my life. Kinda disappointing cos I missed out an opportunity to catch up!

The other end responded that he did reply me last week. I was very shocked to hear this. Miss C told me the email could have been ended up in spam folder......

What kind of emails sit in spam folder? It's all those email spam right? It could be those winning notifications, porn web links and some of those in alien language which I'd never understand. But the thing is, who cares to browse the spam folder?? Seriously I'd never click on that "spam" as circled in red to see what's in. Who will did that??

I did it just now. -_-" Having known that he did reply me, I seriously browsed my spam and I SAW MY LONG EXPECTED EMAIL SAT IN MY SPAM!!!! Oh my god!! Was this fated? Come on, the email had been ding-dong a few times and it's from my end to this contact, how would this particular reply (and only this particular reply from this contact) end up in spam while the others not??? I really feel like cursing this Yahoo Mail to hell!!

Come on, spam folder collects junk mails and those bo liao emails that were sent in bulk! As I browsed through the folder, I found that there were emails from headhunters also in there!!! Gosh, speechless...

I moved all the "valid" emails from known senders to my Inbox and deleted the rest. From today onwards, as I check my inbox I'll also check this stupid spam folder just in case any of my emails fall into this folder. Oh my god, I really cannot tolerate same thing to happen in future again.

Go check yours to make sure you don't miss out any important message as well.

Yahoo Mail, go die please.

符爸爸语录

2007-11-19T22:18:00.000+08:00

每个星期一都是痛苦的一天。因为得早起。
每个星期一都是符爸爸载我去 bus station。
早上起来就好象打仗一样。一堆的东西要吃。
然后，符爸爸就开始了：

“黑豆没有吃啊？”
“哦。。等一下，我吃不下。刚刚吃面包。”
“吃不下，喝汤就好。汤是精华。”
“哦。。。”
然后我就得急急忙忙的在出门的前一刻把那碗汤喝完。

“Eh.... 好了没有？迟廖。。。等一下巴士跑掉廖。。”
“哦。。。”
然后就匆匆忙忙的冲上车。

在车上，符爸爸就开始重复一些我听了不懂多少遍的话, things like：
“油炸的东西不要吃。。” “哦，我没有吃油炸的东西。。”
“要喝多多水。。就像树一样，不浇水也是会死的。。。” “哦。。。”
“吃东西不要吃太饱，吃7分饱就好。。。” “哦。。。”
“菜要多吃一点har。。。水果要吃一点har。。。” “哦。。。”
“窗口要打开，不然空气不流通。。。” “有灰尘。。。我受不了。。”
etc.... etc....

不管他说什么，我就只有“哦”的份。
哎呀，符爸爸交待的我几百年前已经听话到现在廖。。。
难道符爸爸忘记我几岁了吗？不是小孩子了。。。

Frustrated with Yahoo Mail

2007-11-15T22:47:00.001+08:00

Has anyone encountered this problem with Yahoo Mail?

My account was set to sign in automatically. Now I cannot do anything about this Yahoo Mail except for previewing my mail. Can't reply, can't sign out and can't switch back to classic mode.

Can somebody tell me how to resolve this? Arghhhh! *&^&^*#((&*$&^#@*

Regretful

2007-11-14T23:00:00.000+08:00

I'm so regretful of being so honest....

As the "news" spreaded around the office, I also started to have counsel session with managers. I've reminded myself for not getting into things too much personal, as in I merely wanted to tell my decision was solely based on health problem and I really need a long break. But then... today, with this manager, I revealed how I feel about my portfolios, how unconfidence I am to the system, how I don't like the working style of certain managers.... although it was just a bring-up, the management will quote my words, maybe. She's someone I owed, and I really feel sorry. But again, management can hardly be trusted somehow... so stupid of me..

Another session with my "beloved" manager tomorrow. Sigh... let me go without further counsel la...

Lesson to learn: never ever get into things too personal with management...

Eateries at Vientiane (Part 6) - L 'Opera

2007-11-11T12:15:00.000+08:00

L 'Opera is located at Fountain - centre of the town. A few restaurants and cafes can be found here, pricey though.

L 'Opera serves Italian food. That's the only Italian food that we had in Vientiane. Entering the restaurant, one can hear the opera music in the background. It's played continously. We went there right after the meal by the river... (horrible)

Candle lit dinner. Every table has this opera singer, down at the candle stand stated the name of the restaurant and the location.

A close up of the candle stand.

Pleasant environment.

The entree - like a crispy crepe.

Mussels in tomato sauce.

Short pasta with oyster. Only managed to finish the oyster and 30% of the pasta. Too filling.

Dessert - Tiramisu and homemade ice-cream (blueberry). The ice-cream was fantastic. It tasted like yogurt ice-cream.

Frankly speaking, the food didn't impress me much except for the entree and ice-cream. The meal cost USD36.50. Whether or not it worth the value, you judge yourself.. :)

喜喜

2007-11-11T10:03:00.000+08:00

Out of sudden, 收到这个人的SMS。我和这个羽球队的前队长从来就没有联络，SMS一来就是红色炸弹。在大家都会出席的情况下，我也去啦！

新娘子是谁？我也不知道。只是道听途说她也是打羽球的。刘小姐对这个新娘子很有意见。呵呵。哎。。。。谁叫你不采取行动？结果也就只能这样了。。。不要伤心 ok? 找我陪你喝酒去。去听我们的偶像唱歌。呵呵。

久违了，符老师。。9 年不见了。真感动，老师还记得我的名字。呵呵。老师看到我，劈头就骂我没良心。毕业后就从来没有找他喝喝茶，聊聊天。然后就开始诉说谁谁谁找过他，谁谁谁又怎么样了 etc。。。仿佛就是暗示着 - 就只是我这个没良心的。好啦好啦。。下次请你喝咖啡啦。。。看在你说我没有变(老)的份上。哈哈。

老师还是和以前一样，总是喜欢告诉我们儿子和女儿的点点滴滴。老师啊，孩子都成年了，不用再担心那么多了。

发现老师的记忆力还不是普通的好。一些我都不记得的东西他竟然还 store 在 memory 里面。惭愧啊。

曾经一起“出生入死”的4个人。。。

我们的 table 只有我们5个，50% 的人放飞机。还好有老师和司仪，乐手和偶像来充充场面。

回家的路上，接到陈先生的电话。夸张的陈先生竟然搞错日期，他还以为是礼拜天。。。哎呀。。还有一个比我更没良心的。。。哈哈。。

当当。。。。当晚的司仪兼歌手，乐手和歌手(偶像)。哈。。顺便帮林学长打广告。。。有空去去射手座就会看到他们了。

Eateries at Vientiane (Part 5) - Along the river

2007-11-10T15:23:00.000+08:00

Riverview taken from the balcony of our room.

Along the Mekong river, there are many stalls selling grilled stuffs. The place becomes quite happening since evening as locals or tourists will flow to the river for beer and snacks, while sun goes down over the river.

The establishment is Lao-style and simple. Only mat and low tables are set up. Diners will need to take off their shoes, sit crossed leg or stretch your leg on the mat.

Almost all the stalls sell the same thing. Grilled fish is the key player, it can be seen everywhere.

Sun set by the river. It's a pleasant place for chit-chat and relax.

For those who have not seen me for ages... Yeah... I fat a lot... *sob* *sob* Could somebody tell me how to lose 3 kgs in a week? If I can gain 3 kgs in a week, rightfully, it will also mean I can lose 3 kgs in a week right? Argh~

Sit down and have some beer. Dang Dang Dang Dang.... Introducing Beer Lao.... quite superior in taste. I think it tastes better than Heineken and Carlsberg. Try it if you happen to see it.

Grilled prawns.

A nightshot of the dining area. Mozzy~~ mozzy~~ it could be annoying. One shortfall of the place when come to night time. I kena a few bite. Argh~~

The meal cost 90,000 Kips in total.

Eateries at Vientiane (Part 4) - Le Silapa

2007-11-10T01:57:00.001+08:00

Le Silapa is another French-managed, double-storey restaurant, located at Thanon Sihom. Compared to Le Côte d'Azur, this restaurant is another splurge. However, it's comparatively cheaper than Le Belle Epoque. Main courses start at USD6.

We went for lunch and the restaurant offered set lunch. Set lunch comes with soup or salad, main course, dessert and coffee or tea. Set meal was relatively cheaper which cost only USD6.50. We grabbed a set lunch plus a main course.

As usual, bread and butter as entree.

I chose salad as my appetizer to start with. Lettuce, tomatoes, onion and some unknown green leaves. Not sure what the dressing was but definitely not the typical french dressing. Anyway, yummy.

White fish on rice with red wine sauce. A good match of rice and the sauce. I had some of the rice because of the sauce cos I don't eat plain rice without sauce. Hehe.

Another main course - foie gras. Delicacy in French cuisine but not my cup of tea.. I nearly puked on my first try. Sorry, I do not know to appreciate goose liver.

Dessert - Lemon sorbet (sherbet). The first try was sour. After a few dips, it tasted alright for me.

Total cost for the meal was around USD23. Foie gras cost USD14.50 which should be considered very cheap right?

Eateries at Vientiane (Part 3) - La Belle Epoque

2007-11-10T00:25:00.000+08:00

Dining at La Belle Epoque in the Settha Palace Hotel - claimed to be the classiest cafe in town. When it's said the classiest and splurgy, the price of the food is also costly...

An atmosphere of colonial elegance. It attracted many "ang mohs", and even Japanese and Korean. Price of the food starts at USD8.

No order of soup, nor salad mainly because we're not very hungry. I was still in the midst of digesting the giant sandwich I had in the morning (I managed to eat half of it only). Hence, only 2 main courses were ordered, plus Vientiane Sling as drink.

Grilled salmon with black pepper, served with papaya salad and rice. The salmon was very fresh thus it did not come with the "smell". I don't know how to describe the smell. Usually when the salmon is not so fresh it comes with a "smell", isn't it? Get what I mean? The meat was sweet and juicy. Papaya salad was also tasty. I left the rice untouched.

Mok fish in banana leave. I thought it's amok fish that we had in Cambodia but it turned out to be fish seasoned with herbs, steamed in banana leave. A local delights served with rice. Not very special to me.

A close up of the fish..

This course of meal cost USD48 in total.... the most pricey meal that we had amongst all. The bill included government tax and service charge. Apart from that, you also pay for the atmostphere and colonial dining environment.

Eateries at Vientiane (Part 2) - Le Côte d'Azur

2007-11-09T23:22:00.000+08:00

Le Côte d'Azur is a French managed restaurant located at Thanon Fa Ngum - Main street of the town, facing Mekong River. A mid-range restaurant. The only restaurant that we visited twice. One of which was day 1's dinner; another day was our last meal at Vientiane.

A pleasant atmosphere, dimmed light and nicely decorated.

Entree and starter - Crispy bread, fish soup and onion soup. Bread was baked in a traditional oven. What I meant by traditional oven was, it's oven with charcoal and fire. Not those conventional oven that works with gas or electricity. The fish soup was rich in flavour. It made me think of the oyster soup that I had at Raffles Hotel. Onion soup tasted not bad as well.

We did order salad but didn't take a photo of it. A big plate of salad with fresh vegetables, mint leave and herbs. The salad looked very attractive because of the colors - mixture of green, orange (carrot) and red (tomatoes).

White fish with various seafood in white wine sauce. Very juicy meal. The main course was like another course of soup to me. The sauce was fantastic. At the side of the plate, it was deep fried basil in batter. Incorporated local culture, this main course was served with rice. I didn't have the rice at all. The main course was too big a portion and was more than enough for me.

Another main course, I have no idea of the name. It's steak with some mushroom on top. Don't know what the sauce was but it was with a strong wine taste. The dishes was served with the battered basil, some veggie and pototoes at side. The potatoes was fantastic. Hehe. The only thing that I tried as I don't eat beef.

We had house wine for 30,000 kips each. Intended to have dessert but in the end, the food was too filling, we gave up. I cannot even finish my main course....

The meal cost 216,000 Kips in total. A treat from Ninja. Hoho.

Eateries at Vietiane (Part 1) - Nok-Noy Restaurant

2007-11-09T23:15:00.000+08:00

Started off with the budget local delights.

The first meal that we had was at this Nok-Noy Restaurant. It's a restaurant run by 3 girls. There serves traditional Laos food and it's a restaurant recommended by guide book. Prices were moderate. Main dishes starts at USD1 generally.

Lap - Laos-style salad. Strangely it's served hot. More like a mint stir-fry pork to me. The dressing was black pepper with some herbs and spices.

Stir-fry morning glory. Quite plain but tasty. Amongst all dishes, I like this most.

Fish soup. Strong lemon taste. Sour.

Spices stir-fry fish. Normal stir-fry. Sauce was special but the fish... I used to call this kind of fish kampung fish which I don't quite like though, acceptable still.

Spring roll and dragon fruit shake. Laos-style spring rolls taste similar to our "wu xiang". Quite oily... The dragon fruit shake was very sweet. Think it's mainly because of the condensed milk. Laos like to add condensed milk into the fruit shake which makes the shake very sweet, at the expense of the original taste of fruit.

This meal cost us 450 baht for 2. Because of this meal, we decided to exchange our baht to kip to minimise the exchange loss. Hehe. The restaurant converted baht at the rate of 1 Baht = 247 Kip.

** For your information, approximately 1 Baht = 282 Kip; USD1 = 9500 Kip.

Back from Thai-Laos trip

2007-11-09T21:56:00.001+08:00

Yeah.... I'm back from trip... Reached home at 12 plus... started to clean up myself, my dusty room, unpacked my stuff, crap with KY and check emails till 3am... Ended up couldn't wake up in the morning so I was an hour late for work... Not something unusual though, not as what I planned to. First thing to do when I was back office today was to give my "love letter" to HR and mentor manager. Yes... I've tendered my resignation. Hoho. That's what D-day meant.

It's a sinful and fattening trip cos I'd been eating a lot in the past few days... I've been telling around how good the food is in Laos. Miss C couldn't really believe it and want me post her some pictures for her to see herself. Alright... hehe... so I'm going to tell you guys about the food first - that's the most exiciting things to share.

Vientiane, in summary, is nothing but all about food. There are a few "wat" to tour, very few sightseeings, nothing much to buy. Sourvenirs are generally imported. Things are the same as you've seen in Vietnam or Thailand. If you're interested in antiques, there are a number of shops to shop around.

Nothing special about local food except for baguette (which is really really yummy). It's more authentic to taste baguette at local kopitiam. One should look for French food in Vientiane. It's comparatively cheaper than in Malaysia or Singapore for the same quality of food.

Itenerary of this Thai-Laos trip is summarised as follow:

Day 1 (Nov 2) - Departed at 6:30pm. Stayed over at Bangkok.
Day 2 (Nov 3) - Ayuttaya
Day 3 - 5 (Nov 4-6) - Vientiane
Day 6 (Nov 7) - Half day at Vientiane, half day at Nong Khai
Day 7 (Nov 8) - Full day at Bangkok - Grand Palace, Wat Pho and Jim Thompson. Fly back Singapore in the evening.

I'm in Vientiane

2007-11-05T20:23:00.000+08:00

I'm in Vientiane.... enjoying cheap and quality food..

Laos is really a place for food and relax. The standard of living is low. One can really "da chi da he" to the fullest and it might cost you only USD15 to 20, whereas that kind of food if you have it in Singapore or Malaysia, it will cost you maybe SGD200?

Vientiane is a small town and easy to walk around. One can really walk around without fear. One may also walk at a very slow pace. I strongly recommend you guys to come here for holiday.

Just a day or 2 will be just nice. Bring SGD200 and you'll eat till you siao... haha...

Joke

2007-10-30T00:00:00.000+08:00

There was a day partner announced to re-organise the Audit Division. The move commenced on one of the Friday. On that Friday, those groups who were affected would be busy shifting their seats to another floor. There's this Senior Manager who couldn't make it that day, so he booked 2 assistants to do the shifting for him.

Somebody passed by this Senior Manager's old seat and saw these 2 assistants were busy taking pictures. They're basically taking pictures from every angle and every corner of the seat. Being curious, this busybody approached the 2 cute assistants...

Busybody: Hey... what are you guys doing?
Assistants: The manager is asking us to help out clearing the seat and move his stuffs to his new seat.
Busybody: Then why are you both taking pictures?
Assistants: Orh... the manager asked us to take picture of his old seat cos he wants his new seat looks exactly the same as his old one......

Hahahaha.... That's so ridiculous! The story started to spread around in office and become a big laughing stock.

Can you imagine somebody took pictures and then trying to match the display of those stationaries and files to the pictures taken? I bet these 2 assistants must be those fresh graduates and very obliged to the instructions given. Take pictures and I want my new seat look exactly the same as my old seat eh? LOL. Super fei....