Announcement!

Joshua proposed last night - 15 Aug 08, with the help of some friends and much money ('til I little bit heart pain). But, all these amounted to wonderful memories.

Gold or Silver?

Woohoo!

After 48 years of waiting, Singapore has finally secure a a medal in the Olympics! I literally did not work on Friday. From 2.30pm onwards, I was glued to the TV in the office. So exciting! I was screaming, groaning and cheering when I saw the semi-finals. Nail-biting to the end!







All pics from Beijing Olympics official website

2008 Beijing Olympics Game

It finally happened.

After seven years of preparation, after much pain, crisis, disaters, human rights activists marring the lead up to the games, the 2008 Beijing Olympics Game opened spectacularly. It was truly spectacular. I usually don't take much interest in the olympics, but this time, I stayed up 'til 2am to catch the repeated telecast. Half the time, I watched with my jaw drop. 15,000 performers. The visuals. Li Ning lighting the torch. The fireworks. Who would light up fireworks all over the city?! The co-ordination was just perfect. China is a maker of fireworks, but I think only they could blew up so much money in one night. Enthralled. Tonight's fireworks? Won't even be 20% of it. Haha. I was amazed. Truly spectacular.

My birthday

Tada! Finally, I'm blogging about my birthday. Haha.

First up, Hongda who shares the same birthday as me, have this annual competition on who would wish each other 'Happy Birthday' first. This year, just as I was about to press the dial button on my mobile to call him, I received his sms. He won this year. Haha. And we rather scandalously said that this is the only time that we would think of each other. Ha. Anyway, this year's birthday was nothing short of surprises. I took leave and was feeling totally blissful to find myself waking up at 10am. It's really shiok. I can't remember when was the last time I did that. I was lying in bed and texting when my mobile rang. Apparently, Joshua was let down by the door bell (it wasn't working!) and he was standing right at the doorstep of my house! He bought me big breakfast and for the fisrt time in ages, we had breakfast together.

After that, he left me to do my own things while he went home. I was quite prima donna, I went for my skincare treatment and shopped until I met Joshua in the evening. He was still empty-handed. Anyway, he brought me to the Kate Spade store at Raffles City Shopping Centre and just as we were about to leave, the salesgirl came out from the store with a huge carrier and said "This is for you". I turned and looked at Joshua. He was smiling. I was hyperventilating. Haha. I am now the proud owner of a Kate Spade bag! Woot!



I'm the proud owner of a Kate Spade bag!



The Kate Spade bag!



Roses that Joshua got for me!



A snapshot. But Joshua looks bewildered. Haha.



We definitely didn't belong to this era, but Yuhong (who shares the same birthday as me) insisted on singing this.



Yuhong, the "Rong Shu Xia" crooner.



The rare time that Joshua would sing.



Oops. Didn't edit this pic to portrait mode. Anyway, this was a gift from my godmum. It's for my earrings and I think I overloaded it.



Gold wedges that Wendy got for me! Our birthdays are only one day apart!



Peiyun bought me a range of things from Japan! Two Shiseido mascaras (not available in Singapore!), a Shu Uemura eyelash curler, a funky purple, white and yellow belt and loads of sweets and chocolates from Japan! Weet!

Perfect Cut

I was totally in love with this show. I love the theme song, the drama, and definitely Thomas Ong. Totally love it. Haha.

我知道我变漂亮了

I'm back!!!

After my modem "crashed" on me about two weeks ago, I was totally offline all the way. Anyway, the modem is up and running again but I am still having problems with the wireless. Tsk. Things just can't last nowadays.

Anyway, I am now officially a quarter century old. Will be putting up posts in the next couple of days. I've got so many things to share!

In the meantime, it's my brother's turn to use this computer. You see? We need wireless!

Back to civilisation!

Friends around me know that I can't use a camera phone due to my job requirements. So, for the last two and a half years, I've been using a NON-camera aka basic phone which is almost driving me mad. What makes things worse are that new phones just get better and I am stuck with phones with basically no functions at all. I can't record, I can't take pictures, I can't share files. When people are bluetooth-ing each other, I just watch. And then, my parents' phones are better than mine, my cousins in their primary school are using better phones. Tsk. But... M1 gave me an offer of a free phone in K660i. I took up the offer and applied for multi-sim service. Here's a look at my new phone...



I am back in civilisation!

念奴娇·赤壁怀古

昨天去看了吴宇森执导的《赤壁》，结果让我想到了高中时候所读的宋词。

《念奴娇·赤壁怀古》是苏轼所写的词。那时候我把这首词和它的题解背的滚瓜烂熟。现在？不用说，当然是忘得一干二净啦！不过，回味一下也蛮不错的。

大江东去，浪淘尽，千古风流人物。
故垒西边，人道是，三国周郎赤壁。
乱石崩云，惊涛裂岸，卷起千堆雪。
江山如画，昔日多少豪杰！

遥想公瑾当年，小乔初嫁了，雄姿英发。
羽扇纶巾，谈笑间，樯橹灰飞烟灭。
故国神游，多情应笑我，早生华发。
人生如梦，一枕还酹江月。

Does it really matter?

Hi folks!

Well, well, I haven't been updating my blog for almost three weeks, so be prepared for a long post. The past three weeks have been anything but tired. I was away on course at some camp hidden up in the hills and I was tired. But before I start on that (I have a lot of things to say on that), I want to start on my meet-up with Karen last night. The last time I saw Karen was two years ago, when she was transitting in Singapore for her return to KL for her wedding. Since then, she has been based in Adelaide and she's now doing her second undergraduate degree in pharmacy! Amazing! She's also in the Australian defence force and is otherwise known as Lieutenant Yap! Cool!

Anyway, we met last night at Marche for dinner and it was a good time catching up. There were only four of us but there were lots of laughter. A perfect end to a working week. This time, it was too bad that Karen's handsome husband could not make it. I guess, we just have to wait 'til the next trip then. Some photos from last night:



Karen with Ley Keong, they were university classmates!



Terri, myself and Karen





Alright! Now it's back to my course. For two weeks, I was cooped up in some military camp in Singapore. Seriously, I can't imagine myself working there and now I pity the NSFs who are based there. This camp is so out of the way! For ten days, my schedule was to wake up at 6am and reach the camp by 8.30am. I was tired. Really tired. I was having lessons the whole day and I couldn't leave the camp until 6pm in the evening. Perhaps the better phrase to use, I was drained out - mentally.

Oh well. Besides being tired, I had my fair share of fighting my inner demons. I had to try to control my temper and not to retort an "animal" whenever he spoke. My patience was seriously tested. Moreover, I got to to see how irresponsible some of my colleagues were. The magnitude of their irresponsibility will not be stated here due to obvious reasons. Anyway, there were some ups too. I got to see a colleague whom I got to know before we started work. We attended the same interview almost three years ago and started work one week after one another. Lots of things were said and the changes the both of us faced have been dictated by the management. Some things just seem so near yet so far...

Then there were the few officers that turned me off. They are so eager for recognition and they even count the number of times that KNN enters their office after 7pm and probably even the number of times that KNN has spoken to them. This was overheard yesterday after our lunch with the directors: KNN only spoke to the three of them. Now, the three of them happens to be myself and another two colleagues, and among all the officers present, we've worked the longest and I know that KNN recognises our ability. The thing is, does it really matter if KNN talks to you?! In that case, be more efficient and competent otherwise KNN would not have asked me about their competency. I rest my case.

How Great is Our God!

I first saw the entire video sermon of "How Great is Our God!" by Louie Giglio about two weeks ago and I was blown away. Using science and astronomy, he presented God to his audience. I was so impressed, so amazed at the magnitude of my God. Below is a snippet of the entire sermon. Youtube has the full version of it. In any case, watch this snippet and be blown away by the greatness of our God!

Moving into uncharted territory

Its been one and a half weeks since I started on my new portfolio. So far, everything seems okay and the workload is picking up. For one week, I read this book on xxx parliamentary system but I totally did not understand what the author was writing about. In the end, I just went to Wikipedia and printed out what I needed. Ha. Wikipedia helps!

Anyway, my colleague was even suggesting that I make a field trip to xxx country. I appeared keen but at the back of my mind, alarm bells were ringing! I don't want to make the trip with my boss! *Screams*

.....

Periodically, the office conduct spot checks. They check if we carry classified documents home, if we have a camera handphone, if we have a MP3 player which we did not surrender, if we have thumbdrives, etc etc. Well, today was one of those days. In fact, I haven't been checked for the last six months because I usually work late in the office. See the connection? Work late = Getting away with spot checks, which in my opinion, it shouldn't be this way. They should check those who stayed late in the office, check those who come back to work during the weekends, and check the bosses as well! Why are they exempted?!

Back to the spot check, most of us are always irritated with it because the two officers conducting the spot checks always have a lot of comments. Check your wallet, check your organiser and then exclaim "Oh, you recently bought xxx from yyy". Or see your big bag, and go "Oh, your bag is so big, so many things, so messy!". Or "why do you have an ang bao?"

I mean, what has that got to do with you? It is no wonder that they always offend people. To counter the two officers, my colleague stuffed her sanitary pads into a pouch with the words "what are you looking at? sucka" and the officer (who happens to be a male) asked, "do you mind if I take a look at this?" My colleague goes "if you don't mind", and of course the officer quickly zips it back up again. With that, my colleague stormed out. Hahaha.

Change

The only constant in life is change.

There's no doubt about that statement. But sometimes, when you are so comfortable, change is indeed difficult.

Spoke to KNN on Friday. In fact, everything started on Thursday. Before he left the office, he told me to see him the first thing in the morning on Friday and he refused to tell me what it was about. Came Friday morning, and the moment I stepped into his office, he told me to close the door. The moment he said that, I knew somehow that it was about a posting out of HQ. I was right.

I didn't have much of a choice. He only gave me 15 mins to think. He cornered me. He gave me two sections to choose from. Both of which were places that I did not want to go to, simply because - I didn't like the bosses in those two places. But I didn't have a choice. I took the one that would enable me to be the pioneer, the one that could let me set the precedence, the one that allow me to move with no senior officers clipping my wings. So, I'll be moving out of HQ, get posted to another section and be holding two portfolios - HQ work and sectional work.

On the bright side, I take heart that I could move around. I've worked here for two and a half years and I've moved sections that allow me to learn new things unlike some officers who have not moved at all. This time is something totally new to me.

New posting starts on 9 June. Wish me luck.

Accuracy of Death

Thanks to Peiyun, I had the chance to catch a preview of Accuracy of Death, starring Takeshi Kaneshiro on Tuesday. I mean, there's no reason to watch it right?! As long as it is him, no questions asked. Haha. Anyway, at first I thought this would be some morbid movie. Just look at the title - Accuracy of Death. What can you say about that? Well, the movie of course deals with death but it was peppered with some light humour and yes, there were some parts that you just burst out laughing. There were three stories adapted in the movie. They occurred at different times but when you came to the end of the show, you realise that all of them are connected. Needless to say, I enjoyed the movie, drooled over Takeshi Kaneshiro and the OST is nice as well!

I just want a holiday!

I just want to go on a holiday!

It has been a good seven, almost eight months since I went for a trip and I desperately want to go on a holiday. Friends around me know that I have been ranting about going on a holiday since end March and up 'til now, nothing is happening because of various situations. I mean, I just want to go on a holiday, why does it have to be so difficult?

First of all, I planned a trip to Hongkong with Joshua which was suppose to take place last week. Eventually, it was shot down by my mum who refused to allow me to go on a holiday with Joshua. Because she says we are not married so why should we go on a holiday together?! In other words, she is conservative or she just doesn't trust us. Ok, whatever, so we didn't make the trip.

Anyway, what got me boiling was today.

My godmother mentioned about going for a short trip to Bangkok. No doubt, I was keen. Then she said she had to check her daughter's schedule. Fine. I just don't understand why two, or rather three working adults have to adhere to a teenager's schedule. It just doesn't make sense to me. To cut the long story short, my godmother did a booking for a 4D3N trip to Bangkok today without informing me. She only smsed me after she made the reservations. Worse still was that she did not even give me any details of the trip until I called her. What happens is that I will leave Singapore on Saturday night at 9pm and come home on Tuesday afternoon. What the fish?! That means I only have two full days in Bangkok! Fine. Two full days, so be it. The worse thing was that I have to pay $510 for this trip, exclusive of insurance.

I am not going to pay $510 for such a trip! It is daylight robbery. It is more expensive than if I take Jetstar and stay in a three star hotel for four nights. It just doesn't make economical sense to me. I have the finances but I do not want to spend my money in such a manner. I don't need a four star hotel or breakfast. I can stay in a budget hotel and find my own breakfast. I want to spend my money wisely and why should I adhere to a teenager's schedule?!

I was absolutely outraged. I am not going. Full stop.

Stoned.

I have only one word to describe how these three weekends have been - tired.

Waking up early on both Saturdays and Sundays, no sleeping in at all. I am sleep deprived. Seriously sleep deprived. I wish I could just take one day leave to sleep. Sleep and 'nua' at home. I don't even want to go out, switch off the computer and mobile phone and just let me be isolated. I wish I could do that. Ha. But I know it's hard. Tsk.

Anyway, I wore a pair of 10cm heels yesterday for a wedding. It was my tallest challenge so far. I had some difficulty walking initially and I was like "why did I buy this pair of shoes"?! I walk so slowly for fear of spraining my ankle and I was so worried about falling down. No wonder its my "special function" shoes, I will only wear it when the occasion calls for it. It's not for everyday use. I might just end up hurting myself. Sigh... You just got to pay the price for being vain!

Shiroi Koibito

Shiroi Koibito

Chocolat blanc et langue de chat

I'll gladly put on 1kg for this.







Siok Hoon bought this for me when she returned from Hokkaido!

It really tastes heavenly!

Skin analysis

Courtesy of the skin clinic I go to, they gave me a free skin analysis today...

Overall, my skin has improved. No longer do I have breakouts when the time of the month is here and no longer do I have breakouts on my chin, most of the scars have cleared up as well...

But...

To my horrors of horrors, I saw something...

I have two wrinkles!!!!!!!

*starts hyperventilating*

*gasping for air*

Screams!

The anti-ageing regime begins now!

123我们都是木头人

Went for David Tao's concert last night.

It was good.

It was real good.

It was really really good.

It was my first time hearing David Tao 'live' and he almost brought the house down. He sang for three hours. It was awesome. Much better than the concert that I went in January this year. Well, I guess it can't be helped. The former was younger and the latter, older. Haha.

Anyway, this guy is an artiste who is so confident that he allows his back up vocalists to take centre stage with him. And his back up vocals can all hold their own espcially Ke Wei (from Singapore!) and Elisa. Mind you, besides singing, Elisa can play the flute, trombone and violin! Multi-talented.

Oh... Back to the concert... David Tao sang all his hits and he only limited himself to four costume changes (including encore). Not much gimmicks but it was real music and songs. And he honored God in a big way. I like! I now have an urge to buy all his albums. Mad liao.

Catching up with an old "friend"...

I finally had lunch with Mr Chua today. It was a weird experience. The last time I saw him was three years ago before he left for the US to study. At that time, I was still studying and it was like a teacher-student thing. Now, three years later, I've been working for almost two and a half years and our conversation has gone to another level. Ha.

Anyway, it was nice catching up with Mr Chua. At one point, he asked me when he taught me and well, it was 2000 to 2001, which was about seven years ago. He commented that it didn't seem too long ago to which I exclaimed, "it was seven years ago when you were in your twenties!" Haha. And he said, "you so old already uh?!" which actually meant "你长怎么大了!" Hahahahaha. It was so funny. Looking forward to more of such afternoons. Ta da.

Ramblings

I am sleep deprived...

Yes, I know Pst Tan preached that we should wake up earlier and that we don't need eight hours of sleep a day, that the recommended hours of sleep is six. But I'm sleeping less than six hours a day! I want to sleep sleep sleep but here I am blogging. Haha...

Getting restless in my job... I need to use more of my brain... I need to be challenged... A colleague who worked for nine years tendered two days after she had a promotion! She was one of those that I thought who would not be leaving. But she made it! She made the decision to leave! I congratulated her. Haha. I am very driven now. Look look look...

I finally fulfilled my building fund... Six months of sowing will not be for nothing...

I filed for tax last week and I realised that I made a few mistakes last year. Ha. And I think I need to pay tax this year... Tsk...

Lastly, I am going to David Tao's concert this Sat! Woohoo!