Back from Shanghai

What's meant to be a 3 mths posting has ended.. just after 2 weeks.. and am I glad about it!

The 2 weeks was just nightmarish! Totally drained everyday, not because of work but because of the ppl.. I'm so thankful that in Singapore, its so sheltered.. there's no need to be playing mind games and thinking so hard trying to understand the underlying meaning of things that were said, or be worried about being trapped by others' questions..

In the whole year in Singapore, I never once exercised.. in the 2 weeks in Shanghai, I went to the gym 3 times, all just because I needed an avenue to let off steam after how the ppl there cause my blood to boil..

Work aside.. wat i did most was shop.. well, being alone in Shanghai, the best way to spend my time was to shop! LoL.. I bought lots of things.. and all winter wear for that matter.. Luckily a fren was also in Shanghai on biz trip and intro me to more Singaporeans based in Shanghai.. so at least I had some company..

for now, I know I don't have to be back in Shanghai.. but I don't really know what the plans are for 2010. for a start, I'll probably be a frequent flyer to China.. but whether or not I'll eventually move there.. its too early to tell..

Posting to China

the first thing I was asked when I got to office on Monday was whether I'm keen on a short rotation to the Shanghai office.. many ppl would imagine that i would grab it straight away.. but it took me a while to rationalise and convince myself to go for it..

things that i'm worried abt:-
1. such short notice! its not like i'm going to be gone for only a week.. its estimated to be 3 mths and i was asked to leave in a couple of days time! not enough time to finish work on hand here!

2. i'm going to Shanghai without my boss! erm.. that's really daunting to me.. but i guess its time for me to learn to step out on my own?!?

3. i've to sacrifice my JLPT3 exam!!! ok, not that i'm damn well prepared for it.. but prep classes have started! sigh..

4. for there to be a need to be sent there so urgently, even the dumbest person shd be able to guess that there's loads of shit to be collected there..

5. i know boss is using this chance to test me... so i'm under damn a lot of pressure!!

6. boss really can't give me a definite date that i can come back.. he says wait till i reach there, assess the situation then decide! *faintz*

ok, enough said.. at the end of the day, i decided to challenge myself and accepted the posting.. not sure if i really know what i'm getting myself into actually.. fingers crossed and hoping for the best..

leaving on the JET PLANE on 4 Nov 09..

stay tuned for my adventures in North Asia!

Shooting Star

sitting by the beach.. I tink that thing that flew across the sky was a shooting star.. or I wished for it to be one..

as far as i can recall, i never saw a shooting star before.. that has to be the first..

and like wat everyone or at least most ppl will do.. i made a wish..

喘喘喘

最近越来越想把这里的一切放下，到一个生活步伐较慢的地方。 越来越感觉有些许喘不过来了。好怀念那虽短暂却充满欢笑的学舞日子。若能只学舞，学日语，过着轻松快乐的日子该有多棒啊！

啊！啊！啊！就在上星期因跟上司意见不合而感到非常气愤。总觉得他简直就是在崔毛求疵嘛。就因为他是上司， 我还是得恭恭敬敬地对待他，笑脸盈盈的和他“讨论”工事。过后，真是受不了了。 回到家里头就气得直骂他！大哥大嫂见我这么气，就立刻叫了家中的两颗开心果来逗我呢！幸好有他们俩逗得我笑不笼嘴！哈哈！

但是今天又碰上同样的事情。我真是受不了他。干吗就这么喜欢在骨头里挑刺嘛？真是弄得我快要喷血了！

好想把手上的东西放一边，不去理会。找个安静的地方好好想想我究竟要的是什么？是这忙碌却不开心的生活吗？但这辛辛苦苦得来的些些成绩确实好难放开呀。。。

Re-living the good ol' days

Loads of fun and laughter tdy! It was pretty much like going back to the good ol' school days.. it all began with a bdae celebration for a fren at MACDONALD! This was to fulfil the bdae wish of the bdae gal since she never held any celebration at Mac when she was a kid. A very novel idea indeed! But the sleepy me, overslept and arrived so late that they were almost done with playing games.. But I saved the day for 1 of the group by providing a MP3 player.. LoL.. oohh, and paw got her car! i wan one too.. jus for the convenience...

then we left for kallang leisure park to catch a movie.. we chose KLP because we knew that its ulu enough for us to be able to get tix upon getting there even on a sat.. aft some discussions, we settled on watching Jack Neo's latest production - Where got Ghost? I've never been a huge fan of his productions because I don't think they're worth catching at the cinemas and they are typically very lame.. but just went along with the rest.. i can't recall when was the last time i went to the movies with such a huge group! 9 of us in all! over coffee, we started chatting abt the kind of part-time jobs we had done before.. mine were so boring.. all the office-kind.. theirs were the more fun kind.. working in pubs, serving beer, mac, waiter etc.. thinking back, shd have tried those stuff then.. that was prob the only age where one could have fun in such roles.. being in KLP with such a big grp reminds me of sec sch days.. KLP was one of our fave haunts.. esp the bubble tea place that serves minced meat rice..

aft movie, they headed for dbl o.. but i din join them cos i'm jus too tired... ...

Its still BRIGHT!

I'm currently on training.. the joy of external training which is offsite.. being able to get off on time and go home while its still bright!

Everybody gives me the unbelievable look when I tell them my training is held in Sentosa! Its been a great 2 days in Sentosa.. with another 11 more days to come.. heehee.. really enjoy it when a work day ends at bout 530/6pm.. maybe one of the days, I shall go stroll down the beach to catch the sunset.. tis is wat worklife ought to be like!!

Weekend at Pulau Subar Sarat

Vincent had kindly organised this getaway to Sister Island and I happily tagged along. Everything had been taken care of - from applying for permit, logistics, food, games.. all I had to do was to bring myself there.. =)

But I had so wanted to pull out of the trip at the eleventh hour because I hadn't had proper rest over the last 2 weeks and I knew I wouldn't get much sleep out in the open. Also, there was just so much work that I ought to complete over the weekend.

I'm so glad I stuck to the plan and went ahead! I contemplated bringing work along, but thot betta and left that behind. It was a much welcome getaway from the hustle and bustle of city life! It felt so wonderful the moment the boat moved off. The sea breeze was refreshing under the sunny sky. When we got to small sis island, we were the only ones there! Our private island for the weekend. Splendid!

Perhaps being on the island made it difficult for me to feel the stress at work. As I sat at the breakwater chatting away with friends, listening to the waves gently falling against the rocks and watching the sunset.. I felt peace.. and wished the weekend would not end. Dinner was sumptuous. Really, I was only expecting something like instant noodles for dinner. I was pleasantly surprise! We had all the typical bbq food like chicken wings, sausages, nuggets, prawns, potatoes, yam, corn and for a balance diet, vegetable soup (incl. mushrooms, prawns, dofu). I was amazed by the food I/C. It was certainly a very satisfying dinner.

After night fall, we sat waiting for the fireworks since it was the national day parade preview. Albeit small, we saw the fireworks! But none of the cameras could capture that as it was too far away. Supper was durians. I was simply amazed that they even bothered to bring durians! haha! Played brainless games in the night and laughed so hard that my sides hurt.

Mozzies and the hot weather kept most of us up through the night. But that meant we could catch the sunrise, which we did, albeit slighly late. Beautiful sunrise!

Breakfast was equally great! Peanut porridge, softboiled eggs (complete with soy sauce and pepper), toast (with kaya and butter). I don't even have such a spread at home.. LoL!

Then it was time for us bid farewell and return to the concrete jungle.. but we'll be back!

TURKIYE JUNE 09

Havent blogged in a long long while... simply cos my life aint exciting enough and there's just nothing to blog abt.. *lol*

Went off for my first trip of 2009 mid-June.. to country bordered by 8 others and with a city that straddles 2 continents - the land of the Turks. Didnt have very high expectations before I left.. I really had no idea what it will be like.. only managed to do a lil reading about the country... well, you could say I was pleasantly surprised.. Shall do a short summary of the trip.. since pics are worth a thousand words, I'll leave you to enjoy the photos..

Turkey's a huge country! The distances between places are sooooo far that we spent quite a fair bit of time on the coach daily... Its also a predominantly Muslim country.. albeit not the strict kind since alcohol can be sold and consumed openly.. I was surprised by how fertile the land is.. almost everywhere is filled with all sorts of plantations.. and season after season, different kind of plants are planted one after another... amazing.. at the Grand Bazaar and the Egyptian Spice Market.. I would say about 98% of the people working there are males.. makes me wonder if the women are not allowed to work?? My knowledge of Greek Mythology has also improved after the many ancient cities that we visited to look at the ruins coupled with running commentary from our tour guide whom I thought was like a walking history textbook! The sights were really really pretty especially in Cappadocia (although my pics might not appear so because of the camera user).. but I can't say much abt the food there except that its probably an acquired taste.. weather's not as bad as I imagined it to be.. the long summer days made the pics alot more pretty with the clear blue skies and bright sunny days!

First trip I made with xuan as well.. so sweet of her to make the following collage..

We were lucky to have such fun-loving tourmates too! everyone was a photo-taking enthusiast.. snap, snap, snap.. non-stop.. result of it all? combined photos from 7 ppl.. over 6,000 shots.. it'll take me years to sort them.. hahah.. but the poor tour guide had a hard time getting us to pay attention to him instead of clicking away on our cammies..

time to plan for the next trip!!

LOOONG leave

No idea why, but despite getting sufficient sleep, I went in to work yesterday feeling so tired that I couldn't even stand up straight. Basically dragged myself through the day at work.

On the cab home at the end of the day, a thought struck me... I was toying with the idea of taking 3 months no pay leave.. and perhaps spend the entire 3 months in Japan... Just feel like going away.. think I'm feeling more and more jaded.. Did a count just now, and I have enough leave to be away the whole of Dec... even if its just a month, it sounds really tempting..

Dream, dream dream....

Part 2

Oh boy! Just what is wrong with me???? more stories of the *blurblur* me...

I booked movie tix for sat when I was going to catch the show on fri..
I knocked over the GLASS soap dish.. hit the basin.. guess what? one big chunk of the basin got chipped off!!! I didn't know the glass was so hard... ...

whatever's the virus that got me has probably got straight to my head and damaged it... =\

Nothing went right

I really don't know what was wrong.. but nothing quite went right end of last week

In trying to save my phone from dropping onto the ground, I ended up scratching myself with my own nails.. its a really bad scratch.. fren asked if was a humie or a cat.. lol.. best thing was I dropped my phone still, later on in the day.. that scratch was for nothing..

Had kinda like a sudden stomach seizure on fri just before lunch.. but thankfully it didn't last long.. Late afternoon.. realized that someone had blundered my client's transaction at work which gave me a heart attack in trying to resolve it.. then came the huge scare.. I was standing at my colleague's cubicle when suddenly everything around me started spinning! Luckily I was quick enough to hold on to something before I fell.. Managed to regain my balance and staggered back to my seat.. but my head was spinning so badly I thought I was going to die!! couldn't really fathom what was wrong.. lack of food/water/sleep??? can't be.. I've had dizzy spells before but that was way back in secondary school days and nothing this severe.. I was wondering if it was low blood pressure but I thought that was a thing of the past too since recent trips to the doctor showed that my blood pressure was back to normal.. so I napped in the office for about half an hour..

thought I would be fine after dinner.. got betta, but could still feel the light-headedness..
thought I would be fine after a nite's rest.. but I could kinda feel something moving in my head and was still feeling faint even as I just laid in bed... this is when I knew things are worse than I had thought.. can't dismiss it, so I made a trip to the doc on sat morn..

diagnosed with virus infection that affects the mid-ear fluid balance (or something along those lines) i seem to be getting all sorts of weird diagnosis recently.. mainly virus infection of all sorts.. kinda freaking myself out over what is seriously wrong with me??? I wasn't in the right state to ask more questions in relation to the infection since all I wanted to do was go home and rest my head on a pillow..

googling about it scares me though.. but at the very least, I know I need to change dietary habits.. like staying off caffeine... Zzzzzzzzzzz

Long Long Weekend =)

Looking at the no. of days of leave I have this year and also to reward myself for the hard work over the last 3 months, decided to take 2 days off and relax.. and so I did that over Mon and Tues and had a super duper long weekend.. however, what started out to be a relaxing break, turned out much otherwise.. in a good way though..

I aint too bad for someone who tried wakeboarding for the second time (the 1st time I tried was more than a yr ago!).. I could stand and lasted for quite a while.. of course I had my fair share of crashing head on into the water that really really hurts! not forgetting the arms that became so sore after the session.. After a morning of strenous exercise, I slept the rest of Sunday away.. lol

Rose at the unearthly hour of 530am on Mon to drive my bro back to camp for his reservist.. well.. he asked me to and I felt really obliged to do so because he's been such a doting bro who picks me up when I asked him to.. so bleary eyed, I took a morning drive.. got back at 7am and crashed back into bed.. bombarded with smses but I simply ignored them.. my frens were trying to reach me so that we could set off for Johor earlier.. but of course they failed.. heheh.. we were headed for Palm Resort for my first outing on the green after getting my PC.. and I sux at golf!! thankfully for the golf ball that rolls and rolls and rolls... it started pouring after we were done with hole #5.. what a thunderstorm.. drenched and miserable.. the mosquitoes came out and had their fill too.. =\ The rain lasted really long such that we didn't have time to finish the whole course.. really dead tired on the way back.. I shan't complain, since I got to nap on the car unlike the poor guy driving.. my body ached so badly, I wondered why I pay to torture myself...

Finally, a ME day to end my leave! started with a massage in the morning.. although the back hurt (prolonged hours of sitting in front of the pc resulted in stiff shoulders and bad posture resulted in backaches), I felt great after that.. could feel that all the tension had been released.. then off to get a hair trim.. i realised the hair trim took TWO HOURS only after I left the salon.. I only had 1 inch trimmed off.. and 2 hours.. lol.. not complaining because this is the salon I frequent and I think they're good (else I won't be a repeat customer).. but just wondering how they make money like that.. since the hair cut took longer than expected, I had no time to shop!! headed straight for facial.. ultimate pampering.. =p

Rejuvenated.. but wished I didn't have to go back to work!!

Most Morbid Dream

I had this ultra morbid dream 2 nites back!!! I can't remember the details, but the outcome is so clearly etched in my head!!! I dreamt that my nephew died!!!!! AHHHHHHH!!! Friends close to me know how dear my nephew is to me... I cried over his death.. and it was not mere crying in my dreams. I woke up in shock only to find that the crying was for real!!

Friends say that I must be thinking of my nephew too much.. lol.. I have not seen him in 2 weeks, which is not exactly that long.. Good thing is I was told that in real life, my nephew will be very lucky and live a long life.. the opposite of my dream =)

But I really miss him.. =\

悲しい

一週間を待っていた後、まだ通告を受け取らなかった。残念だし、悲しいし。今、何をするべきであるんですか？ぜんぜん分からない。。

期待

嘿嘿！又想用华语了。。可能很快就能将我的“blog”改为中文的吧！其实也没什么特别的原因，只是跟随着感觉而已。。

乌龟午后时发了短讯告诉我她收到好消息了，要我去查看电子邮件。。真的真的好失望啊！为什么没有那封我期待已久的电子邮件呢？？啊啊啊啊啊啊！！　

看来我期待的东西还蛮多的。。。　。。。好难过。。。

the MOST UNDERSTANDING boss

I have to say I've got the most wonderful boss I can ever ask for.. He's understanding and rolls his sleeves up to help (ie. he doesn't just sit there barking orders!) He doesn't lose his temper (at least not at me) either.. what more can I ask for? I'm really thankful for him, else I think the last 2 years in banking would have been more hellish..

So, what prompted this entry was the chat I had with my boss this afternoon.. It was actually to talk about the upcoming budgeting (yes, the most dreaded time of the year!) and he started a little on performance review.. he started with how we are benchmarked against each other.. and since I had been promoted, the expectations have of course been raised too.. he can't really decide if the promotion was good or bad either.. he said that their decision to push me so quickly was two-fold - 1) to begin with, I had been downgraded by HR when I first joined and so my bosses felt they needed to push me up quickly and 2) they think that I've grown professionally and should move-on.. When I first started, I did feel that I was kinda short-changed.. but then the promotions came a little too quickly for me to handle.. learning curves are way steeeeppp!!! back to budgeting.. after the no. was vaguely set, he asked "so how, stressed or not?"

er.. I had felt the stress from the day I got the promo letter.. and here he is asking me half a year later.. hmm.. had he not seen or felt the immense pressure I was under?? my reaction and reply was probably a little too emotional.. I was told not to be too hard on myself.. since I've only been in banking for 2 years as compared to my fellow peers who've had longer banking experience.. for himself, he prob had bout 7 years experience when he joined the team and was placed in charge of the huge account and he felt intimidated then.. so he can very well imagine the kind of fear and stress that I'm experiencing.. perhaps, the expectations the bosses have of me is not as high I make it out to be? They probably might cut me some slack for being inexperienced.. then again.. what the heck is an inexperienced person holding the rank of AVP??

I better learn to expect less from myself.. less stressful, more time to sleep, complexion will improve and I can look younger!!! ははは!!

脆弱

得知了朋友的父亲生命垂危，立即就与其他好友赶到他家去探访。。 看到了他父亲那瘦弱的身子以及那半昏迷半清醒的状态，立即让我想起了当年也是因得了癌症而离开人间的外公。。想起了当年的画面，眼泪就不由自主地涌上。。但我知道在那情况下，无论如何我都不能落泪！！ 因为他们已是多么的难过了。。

癌症病人所受的痛是你我都无法想象的。。他的父亲24小时都得注射吗啡来减轻病痛。。但也因吗啡的关系而进入了半昏迷状态。。我想起了当年外公不停的对我说他有多痛， 多难受。。但我却什么都不能做，只能眼睁睁的看着他受苦。。一天一天看着至亲的人慢慢的被病魔侵袭， 直到病魔战胜将亲人夺走，而我却什么都不能做，那种滋味可真是难受啊！！

生命或许就是如此脆弱吧！就因如此，我们每天都应该过得很充实！！ 我可是说得到，做不到。。 每天就只忙碌于工作而忽略了其余的东西。。真地认为自己太差劲了！

A new year

new year new beginning..

most extraordinary new year.. 2009 greeted me with antibiotics..

2 days later, 2009 treated me to panaco (paracetamol for fever AND pain) and topped it with a day of mc..

a further 2 days, a mouth full of ulcers and another 2 days of mc cos I'm suspected to have contracted the virus that causes HFMD..

if i develop blisters over the next 2 days, then can the doc confirm it to be HFMD and I can continue staying home for ??? (as long as it takes for all the blisters to dry)

it all started with my nephew who had HFMD.. then my bro got the virus and now me.. ..