As promised

some pics.. esp the one with jas cooking me breakfast .. ehehehe


My team mates from all around the world!

















Jas preparing breakfast



















yummy!


















The Natural History Museum

Hang over

feel like shit!

had a nite out drinking wth ex-ey ppl.

spilled 3 glasses of wine.

woke up wth headache which is stIll ard.

puke in the Natural History Museum toilet.

now resting in a café waiting to pass time before headin to airport.

gonna feel even shittier in the plane tonite.

F#%K!!!!

sorry.. today not my day. luckily still can check email n surf

Being a messenger

that's how I feel ... esp when I'm bound to travel to London. Lets take this trip for example, the request/ orders I have been given to fulfilled:

To bring over (of course for my sis):

• Mini rice cooker
• Chinese cough medicine
• 2 long network cable
• a love letter
• a box of moon cake
• ankle guard

To bring home:

• 3 huge bottles of body shampoo (mummy's fav)
• one computer science textbook (for dav)
• DVDs (to be returned to the shop)
• a present
• a belated birthday card for mum
• few boxes of chocolates (mummy's fav too)
• 2 bottle of garnier spot cream (for joyce)
• 3 vanilla flavoured car air freshener

and I thought my bag would be lighter when i leave this city....

NOTE:

Tmrw is my mummy's birthday. A quick shout out to her (cos I wont arrive till Sun)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!

Vanilla Flavoured Car Air Freshener

Dav has been quite crazy over his vanilla flavoured car air freshener which he bought from Houston. According to him, you cant get vanilla flavour in the Msian market.... really?!?

Anyway, his, is running out and he has asked me to get some for him in London. And so my adventure begun with finding the right store to go to... It all started by going to the local supermarket like Sainsbury.. but they only sell groceries. Even went to the big ones to see if they have car air freshener.. but NO.

Ok, find... I then move on to Boots (famous pharmachy store in UK, like our guardian). Since its a pharmacy, of course they mainly sell drugs and cosmetics product. I asked the assistance in the store and he said I might find it in a bigger Boots store...

Then I asked myself... why issit so hard to find a bloody car air freshener??

Find find... emailed dav, told him that i cant find any... and he gave me some 'advise'. He managed to locate a car shop which sell car air freshener. The shop website was quite impressive. It has a store locator function and even a map. Ok.. looking good. Located the nearest store and printed out the map. I'm ready to go after work... its even in the same tube line as my office tube station. Brilliant!

On my way there.. (it takes about 20 mins tube ride, yes. its that far.. its in zone 2)... in the tube, halfway through the journey suddenly the tube stopped. For a good 30 seconds!!! My god.. normally I have no issue with space ... the fact that we're underground (ie all dark), I started thinking abt the london bombs which happened last year (or was it this yr?) and I started panicking... what is happening?? ok.. maybe abit too dramatic.. but seriously i was thinking abt all the things that could go wrong in the underground tube... save to say, I survived.. hahahaha cos the tube started moving after that... then its all back to normal.

I have to say though I went all the way to some remote town just to get the car air freshener alone. The things I would do for other ppl.... just amazes me... hahahaha (so perasan!)

blackberry

finally i may be getting one! we had a global meeting and everyone was asking for better 'tool' to manage our communications.. (ie give us pda phone or blackberry). as blackberry is being rolled-out in the HQ, my new boss has kindly agreed to give each team member one. Yipee!

however, the downfall to this is i wont be able to use it as a phone... that means i'll hv to carry 2 DEVICES everywhere i go... dont ask why... corporate policy.. need to apply for a company phone then only can get it... long long story.

so anyway, the model my company is using now is 7290 (see pic). I think this is quite an old model. tryin to find out if they are going to upgrade or not. boss has warn not to get one if there is going to be an upgrade.. might as well wait for the new model to be rolled out.

lets wait and see how long will the process takes... maybe wont even get one... since different country got different policy....

back in london town

one wk has come and gone! arrived in london last mon for meeting (lasted for a wk) and will be starting an audit this wk.

weather's been great! not too hot and not too cold. surprisingly i was taken to various new places in london for dinner (part of the meeting) and even went on a wine tasting tour in the city by the river thames.

then on friday nite, i took the train up to liverpool and spent the weekend with my younger sis (jas), who's working there now. it just occured to me we have been living apart since I went to oz for studies. That's like 9 yrs ago! Initially I only see her once a year (when I was studying in Oz) and that suddenly it changed when she started coming home twice a year (from UK) and when I joined BAT (this is my third trip to london this yr!).

Jas is living alone in a one bedroom apartment in the city centre (literally, 10 mins walk to town centre) AND she has a car. She seldom uses it cos she walks to work. Her new apartment is very comfy and nice except that it has ALOT of things. Literally ALOT. Even her store room is full! Imagine this:

• there is no space to put my toiletries in the bathroom. Jas has conquer the bathroom with 3 types of shampoo, 2 types of body wash, various face cleanser and various toothbrushes.
• there is no space to keep her own clothes. her wardrobe is tooo small. so she has clothes kept in several boxes which is currently stored in her bedroom AND her living room.
• there is no space to keep her shoes. she has a shoe rack the height of about 2 1/2 ft in the store room which is already fully stored with her shoeS. Thus, some shoes are kept on the floor by the main door.
• half the floor of her bedroom is occupied by soft toys.

The question is, how can one person accumulate so MUCH things? AMAZING.. hahahaha

So I arrived on Friday nite, 9pm and my sis is already TIRED. she has only started work in July. For those who knows my family, can u imagine, Jas being tired on a friday nite at 9pm?!? she complains that her work is very tiring and needs alot of concentration (okla, i agree. she dispenses med to ppl, of course she has to concentrate. i wouldnt want to receive wrong prescribtion!). When she's at home (in Msia), she normally would be out till 4am!!! What a change.. hahahah Anyway, we went to Chinatown (very quiet place) and had 'not-so-nice' porridge and fried udon and called it a day by watching 24 and s2 desperate housewives at home. Yes, she has the whole collection! and yes, I managed to finish watchin desperate housewives by sunday afternoon.. hahaha

Sat morning, woke up and JAS MAKES ME BREAKFAST! I even took pictures to proof it. What's the breakfast?

• Egg
• Bacon
• Sausages
• Beans
• Potato cake
• Orange juice

Ahh... what a nice sister.... i mean come one.. this is the first time I tasted my sis own cooking! hahahaha I was amazed how determined she was at cooking. I didnt even asked her. I assume we would go out get Macca's breakfast (which we always do when she comes to London). I will post the pic once I get my bum ard to attaching the wires from my camera to my laptop. And the best thing was I didnt even have to clean up after.... hahahaa (DOUBLE BONUS). I offered to clean up, but she claims that she likes to clean things up her way... so I hv cleaned up she wont be satisfied with my cleaning... fair enough... Its nice to be treated like a guest eventhough I'm family! hahahaha

So after a HUGE breakfast, we just laze ard the apartment until it was time to drive to manchester to meet up with her friends for lunch. her friends like herself are pharmacists. So conversation topic revolves around work, work and more work. Then after lunch we went apartment hunting by visiting show room. Her friend wanted to buy a place of her own, and of course my sis is thinking about it too... I have to say the apartment size is generally quite small for a hefty price. but apparently its normal according to my sis.

Next destination was Trafford Centre. A huge shopping complex in Manchester, the size of mid valley but with one floor only and much longer in length. only bought a sweater from MNG. then it was back to liverpool where we had take-away macca and i cooked instant noodle. Funny how i crave for instant noodle. and the nite ended with more desperate housewives DVDs...

Sunday morning.. breakfast was egg tart bought from Manchester Chinatown on Sat. Then we got ready to visit Liverpool Museum... which is 'not very good' compare to British Museum in London. But it was still very educational for the kids. Jas & I was quite impressed with the BUGS exhibition as they were very creative in displaying and educating the visitors. You'll have to see it yourself to understand. Then we were off to hv lunch after which it was time to head back to London. The train ride was JAM PACKED. Luckily jas managed to reserve a seat for me, if not I'll hv to stand for 4 1/2 hrs!

All in all, I had a great time (minus the train ride). Was good to see Jas and her new place.

Off and on

my timetable for the next 2 months are CRAZY!!!

anyway took some nice pics and wanted to share...

This is annie.. dav's dog. She's a funny one. Dont like dog food.. prefers human food and she's always tryin to get into the hse and sleep ard at the most inconvenient place! she's quite cute



Sunset outside Dav's hse. We were on our way to Tanjung Harapan for seafood dinner when I took this pic. Quite a nice pic considering I dont know how to twick the camera settings. :)



Grand Hyatt Singapore. The room comes with a LG flat screen tv and dvd player.. Kinda nice settings, but the room does not hv a warm feelings



The BIG shower head in Grand Hyatt. Never seen such a big shower head!!! Quite nice to bath in though... heheheh

Corporate World

While my friends are voicing out their dis-pleasure from having to endure racists remarks cos they are living in a so-called 'developed' country and we're from a 'developing' country, I am facing my own kind of challenges. The CORPORATE WORLD...

Before, life in EY was quite fun... growing up with your peers, going to parties, drinking ever so frequently, bitching & complaining about our managers, studying for professional papers, etc. Now as I've moved on to join the so-called 'commercial' industry, my outlook has definitely changed.

For a start, there's so much politics in the organisation. Everyone is looking after their own backside. Makes auditor life so much harder... its like survival of the fittest !!!! Seriously, no kidding.

I'm currently having a flu, with my eyes swollen and nose red with mucus flowing down non-stop trying to complete my review while waiting for my boss, sitting in UK to call me... What a life!

Anyway, its Dav's birthday tmrw... looking forward to a good celebration. A colleagues suggested champagne with strawberries and cream... hehehehe

Dating

Dav and I went to Ikea 2 nites ago cos he wanted to get some filling stationeries. On the way there I realised that its our first outing since we both came back (exclude all the hse visits la).. so I told him 'Hey its our first date since we came back!'. Then he turn around and said 'We still date meh???'

OMG!!! So you're saying we dont date anymore???? Why after being together for more than 2 yrs, there's no more dating?? Then how would u classify the times we go movies, shopping, dinner, meeting up with friends, etc... So those are just considered 'OUTINGS' ?

It didnt really register well with me... surely there must be some kind of definition for these rites? Lets examine the relationship cycle:

1. Get to know each other stage (become friends first)
2. Dating stage (relationship with each other abit blur now - friends / more than friends)
3. Confirm feelings for each other (start seeing each other exclusively)
4. Further enhance on relationship (ie spend more time wth each other! - same as dating?)
5. Assess whether partner is marriage potential (at this point, for those who cannot commit, pls jump back to #1)
6. If everything goes as planned, get married and have kids.
7. Work your life off for the sake of the kids life and education! hahahahahah

Quite a sad cycle, but thats the truth....

I would like to think that every outing with your loved one is a date. Then everyone wld be expected to behave in their best behaviour, showing off their best side... hahahaha not to say there is a bad side to hide, but to make it a good experience, everyone will give-in to each other...

Wats your view?

Long time no see

Past few weeks hv been quite hectic.. with all the travelling, tryin to meet up with friends in Spore, having some quality time with Dav and worse of all WORK is pilling up!

Was downloading the pics from my new camera and realise I totally failed in taking pics while I was in Spore!!! Only managed to capture some pics in Sentosa.. nothing interesting to put up.

Am really glad that Dav is back... and looking forward to our trip to Cambodia in Sept. But before that can happen, I've got some major travelling to do ... the usual, fly here fly there. But I think the worse is yet to come. Just realise I might spent 5 wks in Sydney!

Dav is back from Houston, so its kinda nice that both of us are in the same place at the same time. He also spent some time with me last week in Spore...

Nothing significant is happening. Besides the usual stress. Been reading a few of my friends' blog. Seems like everyone is so much better at writing... me just dunno wat to blog abt these days. Life is kinda mundane. Feeling tired now.. gonna sleep. ZZzzzzZZzz....

Passing of an aunt

This seems to happened when I'm overseas.

My aunt (dad's side) passed away this morning in Spore. Currently waiting for my dad to arrive in Spore to join them in the funeral ceremony. He & my other uncle drove down this morning.

New Alarm System

we had an alarm installed into our house today. took a whole day for one person to install it. drilled holes everywhere... its kinda funny to see what a clean freak my mummy is... with this kinda of 'activities' going on, a normal person would wait for everything to complete before starting on the cleaning process... but NO, my mummy, have to vacuum and mop the whole house everytime the guy walk pass.... I actually observed her after i came back from work. She actually did the vacuuming & mopping at least 4 times in the period of 20 mins!!! seriously i think she has OCD!!! hahahahha

anyway, so after all the installation done, the hard part has arrived... teaching my parents how to operate it.... its another funny story. let just say i need to repeat the steps a few times before they got the hang of it. this alarm system quite 'canggih' one... can call the mobile phone and switch off the alarm using the mobile phone.

I think my mummy abit anxious about activating the alarm cos both my dad & I will be travelling this wkend. I'm away longer than my dad, but still the initial feeling of using something unfamiliar is quite scarry. I think my dad is more worried than my mummy.... hahaha we'll see if there is any drama in the next few days.

Am off to Spore this sunday! Cant wait to meet all my friends there... gonna get a new digital camera tmrw and bring it over with me. Will keep everyone posted!

happiness

How do u measure happiness?
Based on your mood? Life achievement?
Issit something more tangible, like being able to obtain something
Or issit just something more intangiable? like you're feeling happy today

some even consider being healthy contributes to happiness

have u ever asked yourself if you're happy?
how would you interpret or define being happy?
can money buy happiness? maybe... maybe not
is being happy tied to being materialistic? sometimes
does the ability to obtain material objects allows the person to be happy?
some say yes, some say no

is there long term and short term happiness?
why do people want to be happy? what's the purpose of being happy?
has anyone thought abt that?

Wake up Steph!

was reading Cat's blog (she wrote abt the war in Lebanon) and suddently realised I've been so engrossed in MY own life... non-stop complain abt MY loss, MY suffering, MY pain...

its time to expand my horizon and thank god for all the things I have...

Thanks Cat for indirectly make me realise there's more to life than all that I've complained abt!

obstacles

been trying to recover as much as i can after the thief took majority of my gadgets!! when i say recovery, i mean try and find a replacement. Definitely no money to buy another watch AND a camera.. luckily the laptop is insured.

One thing i really dont understand is the thief's mentally... how can u steal my 02 charger & data transfer usb cable and not take the ipod with its mini speaker?!?! n it was sooo obviously convenient.. i'm sure the ipod will bring in more money than the charger. So i had to go n get a new charger and usb cable. Initially found one which only cost RM50.. so damn happy.. then only to be let down by the fact that the adapter doesnt work for O2 Atom! sigh.... so no choice but have to buy the original one.. which costs RM160!!!

Ok, thats settled. Second bit, camera & SD card. I was kinda proud that I finally have some money to buy my own camera, and now its gone. The stupid thief didnt even take the charger, battery & usb cable! I'm left with all these accesories which I dont know what to do with it. Being a lucky girl, my dad has graciously offered to buy me a new one! So now the dilemma is whether to buy the same one or get another model. If I get the same one, then I"ll have an extra set of accesories. If I get a new one.. I can opt to get a 'better' one.. hehehehe

My watch.. the only one I've worn since uni days. Imagine I have not worn a watch for the past 4 years. Then now.. its back to not wearing one. And to think that I spent so much effort looking for a particular design... sigh. Anyone wanna offer to buy me a dual time watch???

My heart is aching....

On top of all these, I have to 'endured' my non-direct reporting manager, who keeps complaining abt how slow everything works here (the manager is from Spore, go figure). Ranging from how slow it is to get me a brand new replacement laptop, how slow it takes IT to configure my new laptop to why HR sent my confirmation letter to my Singapore when I"m a Malaysia staff... sigh.. I also cant answer her.. imagine I'm an IT auditor some more... how like that?? give IT a 'Requires Attention' opinion issit.. sigh

my ranting not ending yet.... so i've just been confirmed. It was due in June.. but as my boss is so damn far away, it was delayed. Good news is I've been confirmed and my salary was revised. Bad news is I've just realised I may not be a very good auditor. In my evaluation, under weaknesses, my boss say I have not raised alot of audit points! I actually agree with him... have not been able to perform since I left EY. I realise my strength is in organising and planning. Am thinking of venturing into project management... anyone know who is hiring?!?!?

thats it all.. dowan to complain anymore..