Travelling Footie

Off to Prague on day 5

2011-11-30T14:51:00.000+08:00

So it is bye-bye Munich and hello Prague or Praha in local language.

Was also excited as it is my first cross country euro train ride! Only taken inter city trains in England and flights from Paris to Madrid. So it was a different experience. Excitement and a little nerve wrecking when all the train announcements and signages were in German and Czech! Other than that, it was a comfortable 5 hours plus ride, with comfy seats (guess it helps that it was not crowded so we had a cabin meant for 6 to ourselves) and nice view of the country side from munich to prague along the way. You can see the change in architectural designs of the 2 countries too.

The only negative thing is we will not have a chop on my passport to indicate my visit to Prague as they just conduct a simple check the passport on train but does not stamp it or there is no immigration checks at the station. Come to think of it, it's quite scary as you can just run across europe without any checks. Hmmm...

The hotel K+K hotel Fenix was easier to find this time and it was located at right smack at the main square and near the metro station. The only funny thing was it is also like a mini red light district! There are cabarets (according to guide books, the polite way to say strip clubs) just next to and opposite my hotel. So have to be careful not to come back too late! Otherwise, the hotel was way better than munich's regent hotel. More business hotel styled, more high tech, and more international tv programmes! No more just CNN as the only English channel, at least there is HBO!

Took a quick walk around the area as it was almost 5pm when we got settled down. We went to the mini Christmas market to soak in the atmosphere and bought our dinner from the street vendors. What else but more sausages! We had 2 different sausages, the Bavarian and the Czech. Also tried a cinnamon sugar coated dessert that my friend recommended me to try. It was nice. Will buy it again alternate days! Hahaha. Think I will put on weight for sure this trip!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

football fever on day 4

2011-11-30T07:40:00.002+08:00

quite some time back, it was somehow decided that if i ever travel to a city that has a major football club, i will go visit the stadium.

so since i am in munich, how can i miss the chance to visit the biggest club in germany even though i am not a bayern munich fan.

the thing of seeing the stadium on pictures or television is always not such a big deal especially for a team you do not have much feelings about. but once you are there physically, you will just get impressed and get star-struck! hahaha!

learnt a lot more about the alliance area stadium, home to both Bayern Munich and FC 1860. something i find amazing that 2 teams of the city to share their home grounds which i never thought it will work (all the protest we have against doing so for Liverpool & Everton)

after spending more than half a day at the north of munich, we went back to the city to marienplatz again for a day view of the christmas market and went to a toy museum. walking around, we realised that H&M is really big in munich. there are like at least 4 or 5 H&M within 1 street!!!

since it is our last night in munich, we decided to have a real bavarian dinner and went in search of this local restaurant that is famous for their bavarian cuisine according the locals - Augustiner Sellar which is near our hotel. the place was bursting with non-stop crowd. the food was good except a little salty (yes... even for my standard since i have high tolerance for salt!). i had traditional pork knuckle with potato dumplings, while my sis took a mix plate that has everything from sausage, suckling pig, duck, pork knuckle with sauerkraut. we shared a beef consomme with liver dumpling. clear soup was great, but the liver dumpling was not to my liking. of course we couldnt leave munich - city for oktoberfest, without drinking beer. so we had our beer with our dinner to conclude our short little trip to munich...

time to sleep as i have an earlier train to prague...

being totally tourist in day 3

2011-11-30T07:20:00.003+08:00

decided to get on those hop on/off tourist bus as it will bring us directly to some of the places that we are visiting.

so up the grayline blue bus and off we went for the grand circle which included the city center, which gave me some knowledge of some of the buildings or areas i walked past for the last 2 days. but my first hop off stop was BMW Welt and Museum. the unfortunate thing was we didnt know that the museum was closed for on monday! sigh, so we went to the gift shop, which i was supposed to help a friend get something. that too was not available. double sigh.

next stop was the olympic park built during the 1972 Munich summer olympic. the park was huge, but nothing much to see or excite us until we found the 27 seconds ride up to the olympic tower which is the highest point of munich you can get at 180+ metres. due to aesthetic view of the city, it is actually not allow to build anything above 100m. that explains the lack of high rise buildings for a major city in europe.

we went for the next stop to visit the english gardens. well, it is the biggest park area in munich, but the area that we went to (to note that it was a tourist stop on the map), it was really simply a not so well maintained park.

so when we got back to the city, we took the S-bahn (subway) to MarienPlatz, which is the main shopping district like our Orchard road and also the location for the Christmas market. it was crowded when we got there. seems like everyone got of work by 4pm as there were so many people on a weekday! we walked the whole stretch of the christmas markets, which were basically stalls repeating the christmas goodies sold. just to soak in the great atmosphere.

then we took the longest time to find hard rock cafe (yes, i still collect the pins from them) and decided to eat dinner there. don't think we are going to be tourists that are not used to the local food, coz we both decided to take the local options for dinner!

it was a long day and was really tired...

Day 2 is all about the castles

2011-11-28T05:50:00.002+08:00

being a big disney fan, i had a goal to visit all 5 disneylands. but it was only recently like a year or so ago that i realised that the iconic sleeping beauty castle of disneyland was inspired by the Neuschwanstein Castle in Munich. So since i am in Munich, how can i not go visit?

booked the day tour before departing Singapore, so i guess i was all ready!

a little "do you know" nugget - the man behind the magnificent castles is King Ludwig II is known to build castles as his hobby! how cool is that?

so we started the tour with Linderhof Castle, which was a small castle that is more of his villa. it was hidden in the valley and you really only see it when you walked right towards it! the interior was definitely more reflective as a castle with its glamour and craftmanship.

then we had a quick stop at a village called oberammergau where we did some quick shopping for souvenirs and they were known for the mural painted houses, with the famous ones of fairytales painted houses like little red riding hood and hansel & gretel.

the last stop was the highlight of Neuschwanstein Castle. the first challenge was you need to either hike up 40mins through the slope or the take a bus or horse carriage. we decided on taking the bus up, which was a great decision as the bus stopped at the marienbrucke (Mary's bridge) which is a suspension bridge with a brilliant view of the castle. then we walked downwards to the castle. the guided tour also took us up 166 steps up and down before we took a long 40mins walk down to the meeting point again. glad that the view was worth it!

by the time we got back into the city, we were tired and most shops or restaurants were closed as it was a sunday. so we grabbed some roast crispy pork buns back to the hotel for dinner...

now, its time to rest for another great outing tmr....

Guten Tag

2011-11-27T07:33:00.004+08:00

means hello in german!

yes... first blog in munich, germany... internet access in my hotel room is very unstable. well, its complimentary, so cannot complain much.

its 12:35am now. spend the morning taking a walk in the city centre as we could check in to our hotel at 2pm. when we got in, we unpacked a little, was tired after the 12 hours flight and waiting that we took a nap through the evening! that's how i spent the first night at munich! hahahaha!. might as well, since we need to be up early for our day tour to the castles of Neuschwanstein and Linderhof.

anyway, weather has been great... touched down to 0 degrees cool air! but doesn't feel that cold as london last year. maybe coz it is not snowing. love the view of the fallen autumn leaves around... took this picture at the park, see the contrast of the colours of the green grass patch covered by different coloured fallen leaves... beautiful... till the next posting... auf wiedersehen (goodbye)

The start...

2011-11-25T22:42:00.001+08:00

Blogging live at the SATS premier lounge is the start of my stylish travel of the year!

As previously blogged, was given some perks with HSBC Elite travel. So my trip started with a free limo pick-up to the airport! Woohoo! No need to call for cab, and it's free!

Now, it was also great that I get to use the lounge as my flight got delayed by 30mins... First experience for sis. But the snacks were not as good as SQ's lounge. Well, can't be choosy right?

Ok... Going to enjoy my free coke n kachang! Until the next posting...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:T3 Departure Dr,Singapore,Singapore

counting down... 3 more days

2011-11-23T01:03:00.002+08:00

3 more days....

the cough is getting slightly better... just the occasional dryness in the throat... hopefully i can sleep in peace without any cough tonight and then i can go europe healthy!

another coincidental thing happened. received 2 calls of job opportunites today. 1 from a headhunter, another from the company direct. both were referrals from 2 of my ex-bosses. so let's see where this will lead to.... :)

counting down...5

2011-11-20T21:56:00.002+08:00

yup... its counting down to the trip of the year!

5 more days...
i will be on the plane to munich
i will be heading to the cold
i will be officially getting those irritating DOA for almost 3 weeks!

woohoo...

First step to travel in style

2011-11-14T16:42:00.000+08:00

Countdown: 11 days to trip

My attempt to travel in style for this holiday starts with making use of my privileges from whatever memberships I have.

First, making use of my kris flyer points to upgrade my return flight to business class! Woohoo! Not enough to use for both trips since I am gifting my points to my sis too, but better than none right?

Just booked my free limo service to airport with HSBC's elite travelers programme. Also get to use the Kris flyer lounge upon check-in :)

Happiness level: 4/5
-Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

planning is so tiring

2011-11-08T15:18:00.002+08:00

the thought of holidaying is always fun... the actual planning... can be fun but really draining to the mind!

so with 17 days before my long awaited holiday of the year, i finally got phase 1 of the planning done!

air tickets checked

train tickets for prague, vienna and frankfurt, received and in order. so excited as it will be my first Eurorail experience including an overnight ride from vienna to frankfurt!

hotels for 4 cities all done! 3 different booking websites, 3 pre-paid, hopefully all good locations and rooms!!!

with the basics settled, must find time to do more research about where to visit, what to do, which restaurants to go etc. this trip will mark the most cities i travel in a single trip. previous record was 3 cities, 2 countries. this time it will be 4 cities, 3 countries. and english is not the main language in any of them! LOL!

will update with more prelude as and when....

Testing blogging with my iPad

2011-11-01T17:55:00.001+08:00

Someone commented that I haven't been updating my blog for a long time.
Many reasons:
- there is nothing much happening in my life which I am dragging...
- the convenience of social media postings (facebook) from blackberry and iPad that made it easier then logging on to my blog

So I decided to get the app to blog with my iPad. Well testing it now so that I might blog especially with an upcoming trip!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

a day about bosses...

2011-08-13T00:46:00.002+08:00

today (or technically yesterday since it is past 12 midnight) was a strangely coincidence that revolves around bosses?

in reality, it's the last day of work for my boss. we had an early morning skype call with the US team and it was strange that i no longer hear him taking the lead in the call as he usually does. after the call, we had a quick chit chat on skype to wish him well etc. it was then that it really occurs to me that i will no longer has a pillar of support and guidance at work from now on. my morale at work definitely not high. taking it one day at a time. will see how it goes. but the new boss will have definitely have a big shoe to fill!

in the evening, went for a movie - horrible bosses! hahaha... not taking a dig at my boss for sure! but it was quite a good show. ideas if my new boss is a horrible one! kidding!!!! not going to that extreme! LOL

day of unhappy news...

2011-07-26T16:38:00.002+08:00

today is just not the right day to receive news, coz so far the 2 news that was delivered to me ain't any good.

had an early morning meeting at 8.30am with my team. wasn't having a good vibe as my boss never sends out a meeting invite with the word MANDATORY, and not so early in the morning!
so, it happens to be a skype call with our CEO in US and the objective is to break the news that my boss is leaving. lots of uncertainty now, they will be searching for his replacement, but it is always not easy to deal with a change of boss. so not looking forward to his last day...

then in the afternoon, got the news of that a dear friend's mom is diagnosed with cancer. i can't do much, but can only offer her my prayers for aunty and support in anyway. hope she will be strong for her mom and herself.

3 cities, 3 trips, 3 terminals in 11 days

2011-07-25T01:35:00.009+08:00

havent been on such travel schedule for a while. usually if i have to travel to diff countries for work, it will most likely be a continuous trip. so this time it was a little tiring to be going in and out of singapore in 11 days. my funny schedule led me to 3 different cities via 3 difference airlines, departing from 3 different terminals and having 3 different airport meals!

jul 12 - 14

departed from T3 via singapore airlines

lunch at starbucks was quite a yummy beef pie & my usual iced shaken green tea lemonade

jul 15 - 17

what a difference a day makes! from T3 to budget terminal. from SQ to firefly!

choice of dinner was either mcd or hans, so we went for hans with limited menu choice. went for the nasi lemak with braised chicken wing option.

jul 20 - 22

going to bkk via thai airways departing from T1 this time

been talking of trying out BK's new breakfast menu, but somehow when i got to the counter, i decided to my comfort food - croissan'wich with ham! guess i will have to try it another time :)

from T3 to budget terminal

2011-07-15T17:53:00.003+08:00

this posting is exactly matching my blog name and objective...

just back from my Hong Kong work trip last night and i am going to the airport in another hour's time. this time to KL for my personal trip to catch Liverpool in action! yipee! i am really travelling for my football passion. and what a difference a day makes... from yesterday's SQ at T3 to Firefly at budget terminal. sigh... hahaha!

will be back on sunday and then off to bangkok on wed again. well, last minute work trip. This time will be my first alone trip to thailand! must start to remember how to direct the taxi drivers.

心凉了

2011-07-10T18:11:00.002+08:00

sometimes your best is not always the best...
trying your best to help yet got stabbed not once but twice!!!
disappointment? anger? i do not know how to react.
a sunday email that spoils my sunday mood...

freaking out on white!

2011-04-14T01:46:00.002+08:00

gosh... i am freaking out whenever i take time to look at my hair! during my last business trip, i spotted lots of white hair on the left side of my head! i am not in denial that age is catching up, but it is really freaky to suddenly see so many strains of it! my sister also highlighted that hotel lights always brings out the white hair. my first instinct was to pluck them. started one by one... by the time i plucked like 5, i decided to stop as it almost became an never ending task! how strange when i always think that white hair will grow from the root, but somehow, it seems like white hair just appears from root to ends! alright! must snapped out of it!

first...

2011-04-05T23:27:00.001+08:00

the first work trip of the year... (yes, didnt travel for almost 4 months) the first usage of my new passport with a new passport number to remember.. this month is going to be crazy travelling...

tired... really tired

2011-04-03T08:59:00.002+08:00

something i can't even blog about... i am just so tired of it... i hate myself for doubting... it is a feelin that brings you down... on a sunday

27 bags...

2011-03-30T13:56:00.009+08:00

i am totally amused and is still find it unbelievable after hearing this from my boss. imagine my franchisees went for our international conference in orlando and they were more concern with shopping instead of attending the conference break-out sessions that they skipped the sessions! and mind you, we are not talking about a bunch of girls here, but a whole group of guys (ok, 1 of them brought along his wife). anyway, what shocked me more was 1 of them actually bought 26 bags in total (from Cxxxh & Kxxx Sxxxx)! my goodness! craziness. i know US currency is down, these brands are cheaper in US, but 26?. They even tried to get my boss to carry it back for them because he was on business class (which has additional allowance), but he refused! is it me? i know most of us want to take opportunity during business trips for shopping or sight seeing. but shouldn't priority be work? otherwise, just extend for shopping trip? oh well... anyway, the joke of my team now is for me to target 27 bags purchase in my next conference. and my boss said he will carry for me! LOL! haha!

ho's kitchen

2011-03-25T17:54:00.002+08:00

quite proud of myself... cooked dinner for 5 days this week!

sun:
- lotus roots & peanuts soup
- stir fried beef
- stir fried xiao bai cai with mushrooms

mon:
- winter melon soup
- chicken mid wings in oyster sauce
- stir fried cai xin with fish cake

tues:
- fish ball soup with cai xin
- chicken with black bean paste

wed:
- steamed green marrow with minced pork
- stir fried cai xin with crabmeat stick & fish cake
- braised chicken drumlets

thu:
- POPEYES (went for meeting and too lazy to cook)

fri:
- corn & carrot pork ribs soup
- stir fried beef with cai xin
- egg tofu with minced pork

behaving more like a housewife now... rest day for the weekends!

asset or liability

2011-03-22T15:52:00.002+08:00

hmmm.... i haven't really put much thought about owning a property and was sort of putting it back as i can only buy an hdb when i reach 35 (yes, it is hard being a single gal in this tiny red dot). so everytime i receive a brochure or see an ad of new property launches, it will just be thrown aside.

last week, one of such brochure landed at my door and somehow i took a second look. not sure if it is the location (didnt know there was such a new property near my place), but something caught my eye and was chatting with my sis that we should just go take a look for fun. what surprise me next was me taking the next step to call the agent and arrange for the vvip preview of the showflat!

it is then i realised my restriction locations (yes, unfortunately i am so comfortable in my "atas" district that I don't think i want to move away) makes it an expensive thought. but on the other hand, it is precisely of the location that it will be a good investment.

so out of the blue, i am suddenly thrown in the frenzy of trying to find out more about buying properties, loans, freehold vs 99yr, sqft etc....

don't get so excited friends... just looking... everything i like is above a million! how? should it be my asset or end up being my liability

late night cravings

2011-03-11T01:59:00.002+08:00

staying up late is dangerous for the tummy!!!

keeping myself awake for liverpool's europa match and just kept thinking that my mouth is itching for some titbits. just ate an orange, but doesn't seems to satisfy. should i or should i not open the pack of chips?

drink water... drink water... drink water... hopefully it will fill my stomach to make me stop thinking abt the chips!

makeover

2011-03-07T15:46:00.002+08:00

when life gets monotonous, you just feels that you need to do something drastic to zest it up! that's exactly what i did! a makeover, i decided... on my blog!!!

maybe it was to attempt to get me writing again, maybe i was just bored. but i thought i could give my blog a new look and hopefully more inspiration to come here more often than the "evil" distraction from facebook...

so hope you like the new look... :)

weather against me

2011-03-03T14:25:00.001+08:00

these days, the weather seems to go against me!

it is always so hot & humid when i am working at home. so just when you think that the sun will stay that way and decide to wash your towels or jeans, the thunder will strike and rain pours the moment the washer is done!

gosh... back to hanging the towels inside.

the tale of 2 besties

2011-02-27T16:10:00.003+08:00

yesterday was quite a strange day...

after getting used to having bestie joce in singapore for the past months, it was sad to say goodbye to her again. guess was also enjoying the thought that she might be back for good, so it was harder to say bye that her previous trips home. so she finally got on a plane, to toronto this time. hope she will enjoy her stay there (not too much that she won't come home!!!)

she had her transit at hong kong and when we were skyping, it suddenly hit me that both my besties were in the same city at that moment of time!

bestie lil'c was in HK for her company's conference and was heading back home on saturday. so it was the strange tale where 1 of my besties is heading home while the other is moving out on the same day at the same airport.

no US trip

2011-01-19T00:55:00.003+08:00

sigh... official news came that only the Regional Leaders (i.e. director level and above) gets to go for the international franchisee conference this year. so no US trip this year on officially :(

and i was looking forward to orlando! guess i really got to make my own trip there to fulfil my dream of visiting all disneylands!

back into my life

2011-01-11T14:51:00.002+08:00

its just the start of 2011, but it is mixed feelings with people coming back into my life!

at the end of 2010, a long lost close friend from my poly days bumped into our other friend and decided to initiate contact again! received a facebook message from her when i was away in manchester. it was a strange feeling as it has been soooooo many years that we have lost touch, but because of the closeness we once had, it was yet so easy to talk again. when we met up during a poly gathering, there is somehow a bond, yet with a wall barrier... someone asked me if i will start being BFF with her, i just said... its up to her to initiate, coz i felt drained from trying back then...

on the happy note, i received a better facebook message this morning (yes... news come from facebook nowadays). my bestie is going to move back to Singapore for GOOD! yes! thanks for not getting her visa for another 6 months, so she decided to bring forward her plans to return for good. no more meetings once in 2 to 3 years. as this is fresh from the oven, can't post her decision in FB yet, so i am posting it on my blog. :)

sickly start

2011-01-03T14:39:00.002+08:00

started the new year not feeling very well.

1st jan 2011... woke up feeling like i caught a flu bug. body aching & feeling cold inside. but was still well enough to go out for my friend's house party

2nd jan 2011... woke up running to the toilet... LS from early morning, then in the afternoon, the tummy hurts like my intestines were tying knots! thanks to sis's hot porridge (didnt have the appetite to eat much) and downing of warm water, it got slightly better late at night.

3rd jan 2011... woke up feeling better today.

not a great start to the year. my sister thinks it is due to over feasting! but its the same every year... and i seriously ate less!!! must be the age factor too, got to admit it, the body is feeling it too!

i am a "mom"

2010-12-17T23:54:00.003+08:00

i am now officially a mom... a sponsored mom :)

have been talking about sponsoring a child from one of the 3rd world countries a couple of years back. even sent an enquiry to world vision before, but never got a reply and i never pursue further. anyway, was at vivo this afternoon and saw the booth from world vision.

guess it must be guilt of too much shopping, spending too much in the past few weeks. so i think it is a little message to me to remind me of the needy and share the christmas spirit of giving. so i have done my sponsorship of a cute Ethiopia girl called Bekelu, 5 years of age. So i am blessed to be able to share my little blessings.

i am now a devil...

2010-11-05T01:33:00.003+08:00

just a quick note to mark a milestone...

i am now an official devil... who wears (or more like carry) PRADA!

my first luxury branded bag purchase...
my first prada deerskin tote...

finally something to look forward to

2010-10-11T14:52:00.003+08:00

its settled! its back to england for holiday this year!

air ticket booked! so just need to decide and plan my itinerary and look forward to my holiday! haven't had a proper long holiday since my San Francisco trip with lil' c in 2008. Didn't get to travel in 2009 due to change in job at year end. 2010 travels are work related.

yippee yippee yeh!

bad thoughts again

2010-09-17T23:18:00.002+08:00

what would you do if your boss asked you to pass a project that you are handling to another colleague? is it because i am not efficient to get that project moving? maybe i am just thinking too much

5am... awake... 5pm... zzzz

2010-09-10T02:34:00.003+08:00

been rushing my presentation and preparing my us bosses visit next week. plus it is the first visit by my CMO!

there was so many events going on this week that i was out for a few nights too. so ended up concentrating more during the wee hours...

been sleeping at about 5am for the past 2 nights (or mornings) and waking up by 8am for meetings. i am surprised that i am still surviving!

was super tired and drained out when i came back from a meeting this late afternoon and ended up napping at 6pm! my sleep hours are all messed up!

0240am... still awake... going to force myself to sleep NOW!

it will be a great weekend!

2010-08-28T03:22:00.002+08:00

it is going to be a busy schedule for me this weekend... and it will be extended too!!!

attending a friend's son's 5th birthday party on saturday (great time to catch up), most likely to catch a movie on sun and finally taking my first leave on mon since joining popeyes!

its mommy's 60th birthday and we are going universal studios! tickets bought online so only need to pray for good weather!

i've got a feelin'... this week is gonna be a good one :)

hush hush

2010-08-25T16:47:00.002+08:00

something has been bothering me...

not a big matter, but it got me thinking about how is friendship being measured? what you gives might not be reciprocated. people that you considered as friends, do they view the same?

breakout!!!

2010-08-04T23:51:00.002+08:00

is breakout contagious!??!?!!

a couple of days after reading about a friend's outbreak on her blog, i got my major outbreak too!!! have pimples of small and large size running across nose bridge all the way to the forehead!!! i know shouldn't be touching it, but my itchy hand couldn't stop feeling those bumps!

sis thinks it is heatiness, so much go dirnk "liang teh"... hopes it gets better soon!

active

2010-07-29T19:20:00.002+08:00

is anyone still reading this? haha!

just a quick note that this blog is still active... the blogger is still alive... just tired of writing, or running out of enthusiasm to write these days. well, guess i need to find a motivation in life!

3rd time...

2010-06-29T02:57:00.002+08:00

just got an email from the hr director of my ex-brand. have only met her once since she joined after i left. so what is the email about? wanted to proach me to join them. this is the 3rd person / time that officially asked me to join them (4th if i count the casual chit chat with my previous counterpart).

so why is it disturbing me? just when i was feeling a bit low about my job (if you read previous postings), the opportunity strikes again. but when i saw the email, i wasn't excited to explore the opportunity. there i sat, thinking about the pros and cons:

pros:
- proper organisation structure / office environment
- it is a bigger brand
- proper benefits since it will be employee status and not on contract
- security / stability as an employee
- know the brand and the fun side of the brand

cons:
- working under 2 direct bosses that are not easy to deal with!
- less flexibility
- less markets to handle or work with
- the pressure to perform since they are calling me the 3rd time and they have not found a candidate since i was first asked about the job late last year. this is the biggest worry coz i can imagine the expectation if i joined them.
- only been in my current job for less than 1 year, no intention to be seen as a job hopper and i haven't really seen my achievement here yet.

so what was my decision? i rejected it for the 3rd time...

is it me?

2010-06-26T02:56:00.002+08:00

in 1 week, i wrote 2 keep in touch emails to 2 markets' marketing managers. 1 sent me the email on the day she left and i went to see the other on her last week at work.

such a coincidence? or is it simply not an easy job? but the first thing that crossed my mind - is it me? but i have always be an accomodating franchisor, think they bully me more! haha! but my boss is usually the "bad cop" so i don't think it is me. but that got me thinking deeper again.

as a franchisee, i used to firm, not demanding. confident yet not bullish, passionate and full of drive. am i expecting all the marketing managers to be like that? not that i am perfect, but i am tired of trying to convince people who doesn't really care or those who are clueless.

well, trying to think on the bright side, maybe the 2 new marketing managers are going to be up the mark & makes life easier. can only think of it positively.

is the grass always greener elsewhere?

2010-06-16T00:02:00.002+08:00

suddenly felt envious of when you see the works of others.
suddenly felt useless when you are not in control.
suddenly felt lost...

not hating it but not loving it too. need to get the passion engine running...

another long break

2010-06-12T21:04:00.002+08:00

haha... this is even a longer "blog-break" from the last. last posting 27 Apr... almost 2 months now. been reminded by lil c to start blogging again...

was it a writer's block like lil c said? or maybe there is nothing worth mentioning? when lil c said i might be jaded at work, i paused to think about it. just 6 months into the job, am i jaded alr?

don't get me wrong. i still like my job (did i use the word like instead of love?), i am still passionate about the brand. but something doesn't seem to get my motor running at the speed i would love to be. then it occurs to me that it is because i am missing to be part of the action. met my ex girls for dinner yest and was just sharing how i love that they are executing ideas that we wanted to do during my time (due to previous mgt's cost control). i think i missed that. although i am supposed to be able to bring to the tables of the franchisees all these ideas, somehow it is a lot harder. oh well, will just have to try my best.

till the next blog... (should this be my permanent sign-off? haha!)

chinese invasion

2010-04-27T11:26:00.000+08:00

i had a shock this morning when i logged into my blog today. the page was in chinese (besides my postings)! i was thinking, what happened? refresh it a few times and it was the same. then i went to blogspot main page and it was still in chinese. but i could change the language option on the home page so now it is back to english. phew!

a day of chance meetings

2010-04-24T21:35:00.002+08:00

it was supposed to be a saturday of a quick lunch and grocery shopping turned out to a chance meeting & 2 unexpected gatherings.

bumped into a secondary school friend who was back from London for holiday outside daiso. haven't seen her since she moved to london almost 10 years ago! well, of course we reconnected via FB abt 2 to 3 years back, but i haven't seen her!!! the funny thing was, she was meeting up with our sec school chinese teacher (another person that i haven't seen since i graduated!). so in the end, i sat with them at starbucks and chatted for hours!

towards the end of our chat, i bumped into my god-aunt & god-cousin who were there for their coffee. so when my friend and teacher left, i switched table! my sis and i were joking that we were supposed to be home early, but ended up staying longer than planned.

this is quite an amazing chance meetings!

MIA

2010-04-17T19:55:00.002+08:00

for the sake of SY and Rain, i am back before april is gone! lol!

not even sure if friends are coming to my blog to check if i am ever blogging again... well, to be honest, FB does take away my online time. at times, just feels that i am just doing things twice with the same pictures being loaded, especially since most of my friends who reads my blog are on my FB too... so very often that i sign in to my blogspot and then i stared at it blankly. what's there to write about? before i knew, i would sign out once again, not writing a new entry...

then moments ago (yes, sitting at home alone on a saturday night gets you thinking! lol!), i tried to recall what was the main reason i started this blog? it was meant to be my personal space to keep track on my 2 favourite things - travel and food. then with FB, it seems to just take that away. so i decided to return to my online roots... and this is the space that will be filled with my thoughts during my trail for travel (even for work) and food... and basically things that i don't want to share on FB.

so see ya soon...

what happened to February?

2010-03-02T22:56:00.002+08:00

yes... i was missing in action for so long... then i realised i skipped the whole month of february in my postings!

besides travelling for the first 2 weeks for my first popeyes conference, then there was CNY. somehow with FB, it made me more lazy to blog. so suddenly it hits me that time just flies! now it is march, and looking back, i really didn't know what i have done for the past months. hmmm... seems like it just slipped away.

oh well, anyway guess this will still be the place to let me pen my thoughts only meant for myself or my close ones... unlike FB!

seriously, now that i am into the 4th month of my new job (yes... that's how fast time has past!), but somehow i felt the most uncertain of myself at this job! maybe i was always a little confident of myself previously, i always felt that i know what i am doing at each job even when i was new to the industry. this time round, i seem to doubt myself more... less confident in the decisions i make... and even felt that i am not handling it as well as i should have. seriously if i am going to do my performance appraisal now, i think it will be a below average score! don't get me wrong, i love my job, i don't have intention to quit, but i want to make it better for myself, for my company! help! i need guidance from up there to lead me the right way! can only hope that it will get better...

hello vietnam...

2010-01-07T19:40:00.002+08:00

reached vietnam yest night... not as exciting as seoul coz i am back to the familiar heat and humidity!

then the next thing that hits me when i got into my room... there is no way that i can get free internet access at my room... even when we are on the club floor... just free internet in the club lounge. thought it was ok as i can still get internet. then surprise surprise... no FB in vietnam! thinks it is blocked like china... sadness...

so just downloading my office email and i will be running back to the room with no internet...

spot the difference

2010-01-04T23:19:00.002+08:00

the difference a day makes...

the view from my hotel room when i arrived on Sunday... the snow has basically melted... so i thought i missed the snow...

then guess what greeted me when i woke up this morning!!!! its a snow storm out there!

My first snow storm!

2010-01-04T11:08:00.001+08:00

Thot i missed the snow when i arrived in korea yest. Mother nature decided to let me experience snow today! The white blanket greeted me when i woke up! So excited! This pix is taken in the car, on my way to store visit. More updates soon

happy new year!

2010-01-01T11:46:00.002+08:00

wow... didn't realised that i haven't been been posting much on my blog!

decided that i didn't want to write any new year resolutions like previous years... seriously... how many resolutions really made it! haha!

all i want for 2010 is a year of happiness for me, my family and friends. many things had happened last year, some good, some bad. wish that there are more good things to come, and the bad as lessons learnt and things will only get better. life can only get better (fingers crossed!)

to all my friends, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

its december!

2009-12-13T01:39:00.002+08:00

ok... 12 days of december has gone, but december has always been my favourite time of the year!

what's not to like about december? most of the people i know do not have the mood to work in december. people are usually clearing leave or going for holidays (those with kids or are teachers like my sis). then it is the happiest holiday of the year - CHRISTMAS! time for catching up with friends, feasting (though bad for the waist line) and shopping for christmas presents (VERY BAD for the wallet!). maybe it is because i am a december baby, hence i have a soft spot for this month.

since a kid, i love the thought of receiving letters and cards (physical ones, not the electronic ones). until now, i still enjoy opening the letter box everyday hoping to receiving an unexpected mail. unfortunately, i get bills, mailers and junk mails most of the times. till today, i still maintain the tradition of writing christmas cards to my close friends, even though i hand it to them instead of mailing it. today, R just commented that she seems to receive the most number of cards from me! haha! just shows that the younger generation doesn't appreciate the card culture as much.

anyway, my christmas celebrations started today! the first gathering with R and HJ! we had a pot luck session at HJ's house! thanks for inviting us and the hospitality! received my first presents for the year! as usual, R and myself will open each other's presents and will have to keep HJ's present till 24th as per her tradition! hope they like the presents specially choosen for them and the cards that came along.

when i got home, i was happy to see another pressie waiting for me! and this time, it is a parcel from US! my bestie J sent both my birthday and christmas present and cards early this year! super happy with the great start to my festive season... t'is the season to be jolly!!!

oh yes... happiness continues as i am watching wild rice's christmas pantomine - beauty and the beast tomorrow! yey! never missed any of the productions since they started in 2003 with cindere-lah!

adjusting

2009-11-26T01:14:00.002+08:00

it has been more than a week at my new work place. so what have i been doing? besides store training for the first 2 days, i was pretty much left on my own (at home). was basically reading files after files off the laptop, a bit aimless too. guess it didn't help that my boss was not in town. felt a bit lost and not used to the flexible timing too.

well, today is my first day meeting up with my boss. started the day at 10.30am (told you about the flexible timing) at one of the restaurants, had a discussion with my boss and ops guy. this was followed by lunch and then went to view a site before heading for further discussion at my "office". yes... we sort of have an office now, the space sponsored by our franchisee - they cut up an area for us and fixed up 4 cubicles, some shelvings etc. it is good as we will have an official office address and a proper place for us to hold meetings when necessary. the only negative point - it is at ANG MO KIO! yes... really far for me, but thank goodness that my boss is not an office 9 to 5 kind of guy, so we are not expected to work at the office :)

so while my only 2 colleagues are so used to flexible working environment (my ops guy has been doing regional work for the longest time), my boss told me i got to get used to such work style. so it will take a while for me to get adjusted, but i will learn :)

late on day 1

2009-11-17T01:04:00.002+08:00

sigh... for the first time in my career, i was late on my first day of work!

the journey to tampines is realllllllyyyyy long... almost 1 and half hour bus ride from my home to tampines interchange. and guess what? i took another hour plus to get home. not too bad an achievement for the cab woman right? i am amazed too.

quite a short work day today too... coz my ops director was not feeling well, so he let me off early. only worked from 10.15am (yes.. supposed to be 10am and i was still late) to 5.30pm. so i managed to reach home before 7pm even with the long ride

ok... no more late start tomorrow... going to bed now... must leave the house at 7.30am to reach at 9am!

closure and a new beginning...

2009-11-14T11:54:00.004+08:00

have been lazy to update my blog for a while (i know... too much of facebooking alr)... so what has happened to me since i announced my resignation? busy with clearing my cubicle at work, busy with handover, busy with feasting, and this week... while i thought i will slack at home, i was out everyday!!!

ate so much for the past weeks, couldn't imagine the number of buffets i went, the amount of food i consumed. thank god there were many business lunches that i didnt take pictures of, otherwise, you guys were get bloated from seeing all my makan pictures! but one of my friend said i should be glad that people bothered to ask me out for farewell lunches, at least that means my PR skills is quite alright!

so here was my social calendar for the past weeks:

29 oct - Marriott Hotel, Marriott Cafe (buffet): my first farewell lunch starting with SPH

2 nov - shaw house, tonkichi restaurant (jap): it was more like my fellow resignee andy's farewell lunch

3 nov - orchard hotel, orchard cafe (buffet): lunch with my media agency

4 nov - shaw house, east ocean (chinese): dim sum lunch with BKAP

5 nov - Soup Restaurant (chinese): lunch with wayne (procomp)

5 nov - Merchant Court hotel, ellenbourgh cafe (buffet): crabs buffet with my colleagues

6 nov - ION, japanese restaurant (can't remember the name): lunch with my own team

11 nov (yes... it continues after i leave) - ION, Watami Restaurant (jap): lunch with mediacorp tv

12 nov (this truly is the final one) - Bugis junction, swensens: dinner with a group of store managers

in between, i was eating with my family and other friends! phew... i think i really need to detox for a while! like i mentioned, i didn't get much photos for some of the makan sessions. so here's just a quick collage of some pictures taken!

when will it ends?

2009-10-20T00:06:00.003+08:00

thought i can finally scream out loud that this is over... who knows there will be so many twists and turns!

shortly after i made an appointment to meet the 3 heavenly kings to tell them my final decision, i received an sms from the VP of marketing & ops of my franchisor. he just found out about my resignation and wanted to meet up for lunch. at lunch, he was asking if i was keen on working for them instead. he did not officially offer me as he wanted to find out if i was keen before he speaks to my bosses...but from what his "kah kia" told me, he saw from my body language that i seemed pretty certain of my decision to join the new place.

then the 3 heavenly kings actually thought it was a good idea to join my franchisor. this was such a surprise! it was more of a selfish reason for them as they thought that if i joined them, my bosses can ask them to let me stay and help till end of the year before joining them.

so what's my decision? well...although my current brand is definitely a much bigger brand, more established, i am not so sure about joining them now. the head would say go for it, but my heart is leaning towards the original job offer. am i confusing you? i am confused myself. just got to trust my guts and go for what i have decided alr. let's not let a little distraction gets in the way.

it should be d day

2009-10-18T19:37:00.002+08:00

it has to be... tomorrow i will reply my management of my decision... but obviously, i didnt really need to reconsider. it is more like i hope they finally accept it and allow me to inform my team and do what is necessary - TO FIND MY REPLACEMENT. of course, in my heart, it will not be easy to find someone to replace me. i am a bit thick skin lah, but i always think i am the best mah! lol! please let them accept and it will no longer be hush hush!

hush hush

2009-10-13T23:52:00.002+08:00

given my resignation letter on friday... but was told to keep it hush hush until further instructions from the 3 heavenly kings from 16th floor.

very much wanted to tell my team, to prepare them but can't...

if you asked me how i am feeling - excited, elated, hopeful, relieved, stressed out? i am also not sure... too much hush hush has given me mixed emotions... oh well... let's see how it goes...

what a month!

2009-10-09T00:21:00.002+08:00

usually when i am missing from my blog, it means there is nothing much interesting happening in my life. it is a totally opposite story for the past weeks of absence! september has been such a busy and eventful month for me!

1) realised on my calendar that i have so many friends' birthdays in september - hence many dinner plans (some belated celebrations in october!) and 1 pink party (trust LL for her theme parties). so once again, happy birthday to my dearest lil'c, ms seaweed, LL, LP, mountain tortoise, Jenny, Judy and Corina... what a list! then there is my girl - kim (1st oct), so still within the same period!

2) the perks of being a marketing manager - free tickets to all sorts of entertainment events! singapore was in the limelight in sep with F1 night race again! was invited to F1 race at the suite with food, drinks (free flow of champagne for me!) and most importantly air-con! great experience for me... then was given a last minute ticket for F1 rocks on the same day! had to give up watching no doubt at fort canning for F1. so benefitted my dear fren *wink*.

had my first experience of watching a 'live' recording of singapore idol. while others queued to grab their seats, i got ushered to my 'reserved seats'. that's the perks of being a sponsor! haha!

then there was free tickets for the gala premiere of the movie 'FAME'. really talented bunch of young actors, definitely sang well to make me wonder, why can't our singapore idols be like 15% of their talent? oh yah... the funny thing - i was sitting a row behind the singapore idols!

3) wedding of 2 of my store managers. it has been a long time since i was jie mei, emcee and co-ordinator for a wedding. although stressful in a way, it was an honour to be entrusted with such important tasks for the couple's big day! tiring event as we started the day early in the morning, rushed to the hotel after a quick change of clothes and the dinner!

4) the last and most important thing that happened in sep... i was referred for a job interview... experience a few first - an interview via skype, another session at a hotel business lounge... quite different from the usual office interviews... so what is the conclusion? i will be taking up this new job and tendering later today (9 Oct). will review more after i tender... i trust my friends here to be hush hush abt it till the dotted line is signed!

quite an exciting sep for me ya? october is going to be equally exciting (i hope)!

welcome to the 30s club!

2009-09-13T20:11:00.003+08:00

last week, my bestie finally joined the 30s club!

as she was celebrating her actual big day out of town, we postponed our celebration to this weekend.

was joking with lil'c that it was really stressful planning for her 30th birthday... first the present! what will be a present she will like? think this was a headache since the days of kfc! so finally i decided on getting a charm from juicy couture. then the store in singapore doesn't sell the charm bracelet. so while i like more than 1 charm, decided to just get 1 as well as another bracelet. shopping for her almost tempted me to get something from there! haha! anyway, was so scared that she will not like the design that i chose, had to give her the pressie earlier so that it can be exchanged within the 7 days! luckily, she was happy with it! phew! haha

so for part 2 of the celebration, the venue became the headache. lil'c wanted a yacht party for her 30th, but after much sourcing around, it wasn't that affordable!!! haha! so both xiao beng and me gave up on that plan. decided to surprise her with a overnight stay at the yacht club instead! told her we will celebrate with an overnight stay at M Hotel using my voucher. managed to kept it as a surprise all the way, though she suspected something was amiss when i insisted on meeting for lunch instead of meeting at the hotel. but she didn't guess the venue, so i hope she was happy with the place. so it was a girly party for the princess, completed with hello kitty decor, balloons and "tiaras"! after lazing in the pool in the afternoon, we were all prepared for a dinner with bbq food and a nice view of yachts. after desserts, we went back to the room and complete the girly day with face masks! haha! choose those that prevents wrinkles, anti-aging and rejuvenate youth etc! that's signs for being in the 30s club!

hope you enjoyed yourself!

counting down...

2009-09-02T22:41:00.002+08:00

to the last hours of my medical leave... sigh...

...no more waking up late
...no more day-time tv
...no more facebooking all day and night
...no more messy hair throughout the day
...no more boss-free days

another countdown - someone's big day: joining the 30's club! haha! happy birthday in advance and hope you are having a great time in bali!

ouch

2009-08-28T13:51:00.003+08:00

i scared myself looking at the mirror this morning! the bruise sort of spread (that should be good), but it seems to get bigger!

tried very hard to take pictures to capture the bruises... so here's the best i could do (forget how shabby i look at home ok. focus on the bruise!!!)

my left cheek

my right cheek

hope this gets better by sunday. dun want to go out looking like an abused person! imagine the stares i will get!

days of no verbal communication

2009-08-26T12:55:00.002+08:00

thank god for msn / sms / facebook!

what would i do without these technologies during my 10 days mc from removal of my 4 wisdom teeth? Can't open my mouth to widely and with cotton gauze stucked in my mouth, i can't really talk much... so communication is restricted to the above wonders. of course, the bad news means replying to my office emails / sms. but it is also where i received lots of well-wishes from friends and colleagues. thanks for all your concerns! its not painful... just still having the "bloody" taste in the mouth. somehow, it is still bleeding... not terribly, but still need the gauze to stop the bleeding. hopefully it will stop by today!

lil'c wanted me to post pictures of my 4 wisdom teeth. but i thought it will be really gross. firstly they returned me the teeth, still bloody (sorry for grossing anyone out) in the bag. I wanted to wash it clean and decide to listen to one of my colleague's advice and soak it in mouth wash. but i totally forgot abt it till the next morning, so the teeth went green! haha! anyway, after soaking in water for another day, it sort of got better, but i still think it is gross to post it on my blog.

so this is the third day of my mc, still eating baby food - porridge, porridge and more porridge. but this morning, i tried eating a slice of pandan chiffon cake, i actually took like 25mins to eat 1 thin slice. so i guess i will have to take it slow for the type of food i eat for now.

enjoying the fact that i get to sleep late these few days, but starting to get bored with local tv in the afternoon... yes, even with cable. so i am embarking on the journey of watching my comfort dvds starting with SATC all over again! so its season 1 for now... let's see how long it takes for me to complete the full series with the movie :)

my tooth of wisdom

2009-08-17T23:14:00.002+08:00

while chewing my vegetables (yes... vegetables) during dinner yesterday, i felt a piece of "stone". so i spit it out and realised this piece of "stone" was actually part of my tooth! its about 0.5cm, considered big to me. quickly checked if which tooth it was, if it was bleeding etc. realised it was the last tooth, no blood and no pain.

went to the dentist today and was told that the broken tooth was my wisdom tooth. apparently it was already broken, so any pressure to it would have chipped it. then the next news - i would have to remove all 4 of my wisdom teeth! given a choice to do GA or LA. being one of those who do not want to subject myself staring at my dentist while getting my tooth extracted, and not wanting to subjecting myself to the pain twice, i made a decision to do GA. as i will get 10 days of mc, i need to plan the dates properly to ensure my work and personal schedule is not badly affected.

so pray for me all - THE DAY: 24th Aug, 12.30pm. my operation (hopefully just the teeth and retain my wisdom! haha!)

therapeutic saturday

2009-08-16T00:33:00.003+08:00

had quite a therapeutic day today...

after a late night yest, woke up at 10 plus this morning by my sister. my god-sis has invited us to her place in the late afternoon for a popiah / pie tee party cum mahjong session. sounds familiar? i had an exact same itinerary last sunday! like my sis said, i will not reject a pie tee treat...

so while waiting to go out, i decided to get started on the petit puzzle i bought last week. its a disney horoscope puzzle and the design for the capricorn is using donald duck (one of my fav). so why is it petit? the puzzle pieces are so small that they gave a tiny tweezer as a tool to pick the pieces. it was quite relaxing to piece the puzzle together and as it was great that it can be finished within hours (knowing me, i will lose my enthusiasm if i had to drag myself to complete it in days).

the final product - all framed up

football season starts again today. lucky liverpool is only playing tomorrow, so i won't be getting any adrenaline rush tonight. so its a nice peaceful saturday for me...

post long weekend

2009-08-11T23:38:00.002+08:00

even if it wasn't such an eventful holiday, it feels great to not work for 3 days. go shopping on one day, mahjong another, then nua at home for the last.

going back to office was dreadful! no mood at all even though there were plenty to do. thank god i had to go for a meeting in jurong today, so i left office after lunch. of course, there was a dinner with RL and SC to look forward to! plus... my meeting ended early, so i was in time to meet RL earlier than expected and took the train down to vivo city.

dinner was great. not so much the food, but mainly the company! havent met SC for a while, so catching up over food, updating each other on our lives. it made the start of the work week easier... tmr is mid week alr! now can't wait for friday for another catching up session!

familiar faces

2009-08-04T22:48:00.002+08:00

started this year's regional conference today at pan pacific hotel - SINGAPORE. yes, you read right. SINGAPORE. my 2nd year, and still no chance to travel out. haha.

anyway, this time round is a bit more "easy" for me as this is the second time. met familiar faces that i met last year, met new faces to the names on the emails. one familiar face caught my attention at the registration this morning - the ex-ops director of kfc malaysia. went up to say hi and realised he joined the malaysia franchisee just 3 weeks ago as their CEO.

the world is so small yah? you can bump into people after circling round in the industry.

milestone at work...

2009-08-02T15:29:00.003+08:00

you must be thinking what achievement did i do at work? well, its not really work related... but still something worth remembering, the first time i bring my girls out clubbing! haha! unlike my ex workplace where the team hangs out after work very often. think this is only the 2nd time i went out with my girls after work (the first was a birthday dinner earlier this year).

so i decided arrange a clubbing session with my girls (i am a hip and happening boss mah! lol!), especially since one of them has never gone clubbing before (going with her mom to zouk doesn't count) and the other only went with her friends that leaves by 12 midnight!

so we started the night after work with dinner at Central's Manhatten Fish Market. we didn't really planned where to go, so we made a round at clarke quay, before settling for... zirca! haven't been there myself, so didn't mind trying. it was pretty much like MOS's main hall... we got a seat upstairs as it was less crowded with seats! we had drinks, danced at our table (yah... a bit loser right?) before we decided to cross over to Rebel. hip hop and r&b is so much nicer to dance to! plus a super crowded (and young) crowd, we managed to squeezed into the dancefloor.

so we had drinks, we danced, we club hopped, we stayed out late till 2.30am! it was a pretty sucessful night out, especially since this old bones haven't been clubbing for a long time!

a pix after dinner

our first drinks

just before we left, still very sober! haha!

REDS fever

2009-07-28T23:13:00.004+08:00

dun worry... its not another strain of influenza... but LIVERPOOL FC (the mighty REDS) came to singapore as part of its asia tour!

obviously caught the REDS fever and went through a frenzy for 3 days!!! those with my facebook account would have "witnessed" my crazy weekend. so i decided to summarised the 3 days here!

fri - 24 Jul

took half day off from work to kick start my fan crazed moments. rushed down to collect my new cammie (yes... i bought a new camera for this event, my current cammie is only 1.5yr old) at chinatown, then speed to novena just minutes before 2pm (time of event). just when i was feeling down about not being able to get a good spot, the commotion started as the mpv that torres and carragher arrives and right in front of me! too bad for the tinted glass, but i definitely saw the 2 players!!! after much zooming of camera on stage, it was quite impossible to take clear pictures due to the crowd and my distance. the only chance was when they went into harry's bar for a closed door interview, but only through the glass with their back facing us... then they got back to the stage to sign autograph for the lucky fans. that was when i spotted a spot at the barricade at harry's, it has a clear view of the mpv, so i stood there, patiently waited and finally got rewarded! they decided to walk the longer route and walked right past me!!! OMG! lucky me got the close-up on video!

after that excitement and a quick late lunch at BK before proceeding to national stadium. waited from 4pm till they let us in at about 5.30pm. then patiently waited for the arrival of the players for the training session! although it was a short hour of training, i was already excited for the game on sun

sat - 25 jul

just a short 2 hours, i literally got red from the sun tan at UOB Plaza, the stairs facing the singapore river. sat under the hot sun waiting for the bum boats ferrying the team. was so excited when they appeared! this time, i was armed with my new camera fully charged! thanks to the 12x optical zoom, i was able to get real clear pictures of torres and gang.... (HJ, photos to make you drool again)

sun - 26 jul

being kiasu singaporeans, my sis and i went to the stadium as early as 2.30pm to attempt to get good seats for the 7pm match. unfortunately, there are more kiasu ones (earliest at 10.30am), especially since it was free seating at kallang. so i managed to get 6th row, had another tan ( my colleagues called me a red lobster), almost dehydrate just to catch my fav team in action. but i thank rafa benitez for giving the fans their money worth... torres played for abt 30mins (3 times more than the bangkok match), got to see almost the whole team and maybe the last of alonso. though i am praying he will not go to madrid, but it is almost certain that he wants to leave. thank you for all the good memories for the past seasons... we have the best midfield in the world!

now i have REDS withdrawal syndrome... all the way till the new season starts next month!

busy july

2009-07-22T22:52:00.002+08:00

haven't been updating my blog for a while... usually its because i got nothing to update! this time round... i got so much activities in july that i got no time to update! haha!

july is like my pre-tv football season. got invited to watch the man u vs malaysia match in kl last week. will be catching my fav liverpool in action first on friday at training (thanks grace for the ticket!), then followed by the match vs singapore on sunday. :)

last week was the busiest! had a company chalet cum bbq session to reward the SRC committee members after our 1 year reign! so checked in after work on wed, played mahjong overnight till 8am, freshen up and went to tiong bahru market for our seafood and meat shopping and of course yummy breakfast! went back to marinate the items we bought and continued with mahjong since we were afraid that we will not wake up in time for the bbq! played till 6pm and we went to start the fire for the bbq! thanks to brenda, we had fried bee hoon, popiah, curry veg while waiting for the bbq food! we chit-chatted and waited for the last manager to turn up after work. by the time we packed up and washed all the utensils, it was 11ish. after we all bathed, we couldn't decide if we want to sleep or not! we played another round of mahjong but decided that our eyelids were too heavy to continue that we slept at abt 2am. woke up at 8am as i had to rush back home to wash up, change and attend to a pre-launch party by BK ION. yes.. back to office while i was on leave. finally went back and slept at 3pm finally.

thot i would rest over the weekend? wrong! woke up at 7.30am to start my journey to KL. what was supposed to be a football trip turned out to be a major makan trip! from bak kut teh, fried hokkien mee, bak chor mee, A&W, bak kwa burger, muah chee, krispy kreme... phew! i get full reading the list of food! all these in a 2D1N trip!

so this week, besides the match, i got a pair of twins' first year party to attend to before rushing to kallang.

i also had many supplier's luncheon to attend. a total of 3 in this week! had to push another to next month, coz i cannot eat anymore! haha!

the following week will have another launch party at BK ION, a play on thurs and a musical on sat!

phew... that's all for my busy july!

reality strikes

2009-07-02T23:10:00.002+08:00

there is a chinese saying that goes "针不刺到肉, 不会痛"... loosely translated as you will not feel the pain till the needle pricks you.

never really felt how H1N1 affects you mentally until it really hits you! a colleague of mine got confirmed of H1N1 today. so a frenzy started within the office with temperature taking everytime you step into the office, disinfecting the office, checking out what are the next steps and of course everyone turning paranoid!!!

most of us were not in the mood to work today. on one hand we are worried about our colleague, on the other, we are worried about ourselves.

well, life goes on... so now i am definitely more concern about hygiene...went straight to the bathroom when i return home, wash the clothes i wore today immediately and ensure ample use of hand sanitizer and of course keeping track of my temperature. keeping my fingers crossed that that will be the one and only case happening near me!

celebration of friendship

2009-07-01T21:05:00.002+08:00

these 2 weeks reminds me of 2 significant dates to celebrate some great friendships of mine!

27 Jun 2002: the day i joined kfc, the day i begin a wonderful journey with many great ppl... happy 7th anniversary to lil'c, sharkie, dowager, lusty mama (xiao beng joined a couple of weeks later, but can still count you in! haha!). actually forgot abt the date until today... lil'c - we must have post-celebration dinner ya? :)

4 Jul 1994: this is definitely a milestone! 4 great women walked through the good, the bad, the happy and sad moments of the past 15 years with me... from young school girls starting our polytechnic studies to "young" (haha) working professionals! shared many happy moments shopping, eating, bitching, clubbing etc. although we all have different priorities in life now, we definitely make it a point to meet up, celebrate birthdays, festivals etc! although we didn't get the chance to make a big celebration as we wanted to, but will still look forward to the dinner!

here's to more years of friendship pals!

bad publicity = PUBLICITY

2009-06-26T23:28:00.003+08:00

spent the past 2 days surfing the net at work. nope... i am not so free, but busy googling for my own campaign online. why am i doing that? my creative has officially created a big hoo haa in US! yes... unbelievable! such big news that there is a total of 15pages of results from google!

so what is the big deal? apparently some marketing blogs/websites had commented on my current creative, critising the sexual innuendo of the ad. it was termed as the BJ burger ad! it has since been caused a stir in the online community in US for the past 2 days. funny how the ad was running for 3 weeks in singapore without causing much hype, then suddenly within these 2 days, my campaign has shot to be such talkabout campaign not locally but all the way to the states! imagine getting a request from a nbc journalist for my comments (i cannot even get local news network to talk abt my campaigns). imagine being talkabout by celebrity gossip websites like perez hilton, entertainment weekly etc!

wow... what a frenzy my campaign caused! i wonder if i should be happy or moody. was damn sianz to be critised as "a marketing team of jnr high boys", tasteless, insensitive, degrading to women etc. i so want to shout out to them that the marketing manager is A WOMAN!!!!

then everyone else told me that i should be happy and proud... as a marketer, any publicity is PUBLICITY! what's more, a campaign from the tiny dot of singapore is getting noticed and talked about in the online community of US. i was told that i should put it in my resume! Totally having mixed feelings... sigh

happy birthday E!

2009-06-21T00:16:00.003+08:00

Happy xx birthday E! (haha! a woman's age will be kept a secret!)

couple of weeks ago, while planning the date to meet for E's birthday. she popped her birthday request - a strawberry shortcake birthday cake! (yes... 15yrs of friendship means being open to each other about presents request!) she even provided me with the place - prima deli. i told her i will give her a surprise.

so here's the surprise for her! customised strawberry shortcake cupcakes! went thru a couple of websites searching for the right person to order the cupcakes from. finally settled for "cupcake obsession". the lady was nice and came out with the suggestion of what toppers to use. i only requested to add the cat topper especially since she like cats!

here are some pictures of the cupcakes (stupid me forgot my camera, so took a few with my handphone. the rest of the pictures are still with E)

the 12 cupcakes - nutella cream centred cupcakes. yums!

the birthday gal happy with her cupcakes! (i hope)

close-up of the strawberry shortcake topper made of fondant!

and the cat that i requested for

me with strawberry shortcake!

family day 2009

2009-06-14T14:43:00.003+08:00

its finally over! after all the months of planning and the last few weeks of kan cheonging, the family was finally staged yesterday!

although it was a super tiring day for me (being in the committee), it was also quite fun. especially compared to last year! oops! not trying to praise my committe, but it was a total different experience from last year. and i dare say most ppl will say that too. i think this is also the first time i felt the competitiveness and team building spirit from the store managers. seriously... never seen them in this light before. some store managers really thrown me off-guard.

i think i also got a bit fierce during all the tele-matches! trying to be the partial chief judge mah. haha! the weather was good to us too. although there was a slight short drizzle during lunch time, it was a breezy day with sun... not too hot as compared to the previous day!

the only blooper for the day was the injury of one of our finance gal, who sprained her back while playing the olympics challenge. its also the first time i had to call an ambulance! thank god she was ok. was just given pain killers and do not need to be hospitalised.

now it is over... also my last event in my term as SRC committee member! so i can rest for 2 years before it reached my turn (if i am still around in the company!) haha!

countdown

2009-06-12T21:08:00.001+08:00

counting down to tmr's family day after about 4 months of planning. just praying that the weather will be good to us and have a good turnout!

got to wake up at 6.30am tmr - worse than work!

idol fever

2009-06-07T15:23:00.004+08:00

the recently concluded american idol season 8 has rejuvenated my interest for the idol franchise... yes... cw would have so agreed with me... coz we both have the adam fever! haha! with that in mind, maybe the upcoming singapore idol 3 could spring some surprisely good talent like AI8.

well, i have another legitimate reason to support SI3, we are sponsoring the show! haha! so to be politically right, i have to have faith in the programme right? so we attended the press conference on fri where the judges and hosts were revealed. and of course, the privilege of being sponsors... getting photos taken with the hosts! haha!... reminded me of the days the kfc marketing team were split into 2 camps - the taufik and sly camps during season 1. and us getting the chance to take pictures with them during a mediacorp trade event. haven't got the chance to find the photo taken with taufik as it is in my old laptop. so couldn't show you the differences! haha!

sugar overdose

2009-05-31T15:53:00.004+08:00

the sweet tooth was busy the past week...

the artist at our printer was leaving, so we ordered some cupcakes for her. quite a last minute job, so we thot we were quite lucky to get these lovely & tasty cupcakes at an affordable price with less than 3 days leadtime!

went for dinner with lil'c and gc at a nice italian/spanish restaurant at greenwood ave. haha... upmarket place that i will never venture on my own. nice food and ambience (except for the strangely nasal sounding musician). well, the tiramisu was nice but the panna cotta was quite disappointing...

shared the appetizer - melon with parma ham (the melon wasn't that sweet... i miss those in spain!)

the tiramisuthe panna cotta that wasn't up to my expectation! haha!

went to central with my sis on sat, and ended up with loads of snacks! haha! some of the highlights:

mini jap donuts - very crispy and yummy. we had maple syrup, cinnamon sugar, banana choco, peanut and sugared

mini fish tokiwado pancakes - each finished in a bite! flavours we tried: red bean (must have for my sis), chestnut, chocolate and kaya

and at the jap supermarket, we bought snacks and something i found interesting and ah dee will definitely too...

salt creamy caramel pucca bisuits!

Tix to the 'kop'

2009-05-30T13:13:00.001+08:00

Yipee! Collected my tix for the liverpool match! Something to look forward for july!

flu scare continuation

2009-05-24T22:25:00.002+08:00

thats me at work on friday! result of my paranoid boss!

flu scare?

2009-05-22T00:14:00.002+08:00

down with a slight itch in my throat last night, and it didn't seem better this morning. towards the end of the day, i suddenly feels that i might be coming down with a flu! the runny nose seems to be starting. took my temperature after dinner and it was at 37.6! then again, it could be because i've just finished my soup tang hoon. so waited for a while before i took another reading and it became 36.5! well, just popped 2 panadol, hope i will be ok for tmr. otherwise cannot go work alr. my boss is super paranoid abt the swine flu. so staff that are sick and without mc will need to on unpaid leave. sianz right?

sigh... plus this is one packed weekend ahead! sigh...

shocking monday

2009-05-18T21:08:00.002+08:00

the atmosphere in the office on a monday morning is not so typical today... no monday blues... but highly intensed.

what started as a normal monday morning turns out to be one of the most shocking day in my career! my finance manager got terminated of his service this morning... without any warning... not verbal or written... think no one in my office expected it. yah... he wasn't doing a good job, he was always late, he fall asleeps in meetings, he is defensive when he makes mistakes, he doesn't have computer skills (i.e. a finance mgr that doesn't know how to use excel!), he wasn't the most popular person in the office... BUT, we didn't think that was the way to treat him... he probably doesn't think that he was in the wrong at all (old and in denial)... so while i was also one of those who complained abt his work, my boss has always defended him to everyone... to the extreme that we give up complaining! so instead of giving him a warning letter or verbal counselling, they just shoved him the ultimatum - the letter of termination.

quite pity him lah... when i thought of a 60 year old man, driving in the heavy rain this morning... angry and shock of his sudden lost of job... i don't know how to describe, but it was not something we want to happen... it is worrying coz who knows if it will ever happen to me

you can officially call me an aunty

2009-05-10T21:48:00.003+08:00

not in mannerism ok... but there is a new generation in my family and that makes me an official (god) aunt.

my god-cousin has welcomed his baby girl lyssa into the family last month, and today i met her for the first time at her first month party. its amazing that her arrival means the family has officially became a 4-generation family. although we are not exactly blood related, it was happy to see a new face i will see for the future new year and birthday gatherings.

so here's the picture of my god-niece... time will fly and soon she will be calling me 表姑姐!

ouch...

2009-05-05T21:31:00.002+08:00

ouch... that's the sound i make every time i tilt or turn my head... yup... i hurt my neck or shoulder this morning. after my bath, i was drying my leg while bending down and when i got up, i heard a "snap" then followed by a sharp pain at my neck! OUCH!!!! it feels like a stiff neck, basically felt like a strain from my neck to my right shoulder...

one of my colleague had been suffering the same pain for more than a week. i hope i don't get to that stage. so tonight, it is 2 salonpas for comfort.

thank god for rain!

2009-04-26T14:35:00.003+08:00

nope... not you RL! haha! but it is finally raining now... hopefully keeping it this way for a while to cool the surroundings!

the heat for the past weeks has been crazy... perspiring the moment you are out of the shower! a short walk from my living room to the kitchen to hang clothes was unbearable! no matter how much we try to control the air-con usage, we have been tempted many nights to turn it on!

so rain rain, please don't go away!

the week in a nutshell

2009-04-18T19:07:00.003+08:00

havent had the mood to update my blog... coz the weather is too hot! haha! no inspiration! so here's what happened in my life in the past week!

it was a busy long weekend with the good friday holiday...

- fri: went to watch "the confessions of the shopaholic" with my sis, god-sis and their friend. after the movie, we went for a seafood session of the yummy salted egg yolk crab! totally sinful, but 100% satisfying!

- sat: was home preparing for the early kick-off of liverpool vs blackburn. great game and restore the lead in the table for a few hours.

- sun: busy busy! went for an ex-colleague's baby first month party near hougang in the afternoon. it was great catching up with the ex-marketing gals. went home for a short break before going to esplanade to watch CATS. didn't expect myself to enjoy it that much... haha... not a feline lover mah... but it was really entertaining and the interaction with the audience was great! my sis called it her close encounter with the meows!

the week at work wasn't exactly eventful... or should i say, my heart wasn't at work as much...

- tue: went to the airport to renew my airport pass... managed to catch a ride with my area manager. since i was at the airport, i couldn't give up the chance to buy popeye's for dinner! was done before 5pm, so managed to reach home early! hehe! then slept early for the early morning Champions League match. although liverpool didn't go thru the next round, we definitely showed more mental strength by pushing the game all the way!

- wed: actually blogged abt it alr! haha!

- thu: went with my colleague to check out the newly renovated east point store... the ugliest colour used...fyi... i got no say in the renovation works :( gave up on my P&M dept. also decided to check out the new tampines 1! the crowd is madness!!! i love my quiet and serene south-west part of singapore... the east is definitely not for me. and the surprising thing... i actually took a bus back - a total of 1.5hr journey home! boarded the bus in broad daylight and alighted in the dark!

- fri: met E and sis for dinner at GWC. went to kushinbo and must admit, our "stamina" is no longer that good! haha! but made my money worth with the crabs! yup! crabs again!

- sat: met up with RL, CH and SC for dim sum high-tea... as usual, it was good food and great company! and i took bus and MRT for the day... yup... no cab at all! even after the grocery shopping at vivo. cab queue too long!

that's a long posting... so till the next posting!

sharing of experience

2009-04-15T22:56:00.002+08:00

helped an ex-agency friend today... he is lecturing at SIM part-time and was arranging for his students to speak to someone in the marketing / advertising industry. to inspire and let them gets first-hand advice on the industry etc...

it was so funny when he called me as i never expect to be qualified to share my experience with aspiring marketers! i mean, although i have been working for 12 years... yes... i don't seriously think that i chalked up enough experience to motivate people trying to break into the industry! role model? i am definitely not!

anyway, the experience was fun... about 10 students, sitting at BK Liat Towers... sharing with them how i started my career, my views on the industry and my advice for them! hehe... actually they were pretty shy... only 2 of them asked questions... the rest were asked by their lecturer! took abt an hour plus... hope i didn't scare them away and make them change major! haha!

mechanical jinx

2009-04-07T00:26:00.002+08:00

wouldn't believe how jinx i was with anything electrical / mechanical. left work right on time to meet my sis at tiong bahru plaza to buy some stuff at popular and dinner too. as i was walking towards the taxi stand to meet my sis, and just went i pass mcd...i suddenly heard a loud "pah"! the lights in mcd went out, as i look further, the whole stretch of stores were all in darkness! oopsy... was hoping that it was only for the stretch at the atrium. but when we walked into the mall after my sis came, we realised that almost all the shops were affected. even the food court in the 3rd floor! surprisingly the common area and some fashion outlets still had lights. in the end we tried our luck at the basement and managed to get some jap bento for dinner.

i wonder how long was the black out as it was peak dinner hour, so even my biz will be affected... shucks! but it was the first time that i seen it happened and all customers were invited out of the restaurants. mcd even had crew standing at the entrance, subway had used chairs to block the entrance.

anyway, that is not all... when i stepped home, i proceeded with my usual routine... turn on the tv. to my horror, my digital set-top could not be turned on! i turned the main switch on and off, NOTHING! the blinking red light stared at me! quickly called the customer svc hotline, seems like the cable and the set-top might not be "communicating". 2 options - to make an appointment for them to come check and fix or exchange the set-top, the other is to make a trip to the customer service centre. the one at vivo closes at 9.30pm. i looked at the clock, it was 8.10pm... so what did the tv addict decides? grab the set-top and make my way to vivo city! couldn't bear to be without my tv... esp with desperate housewives and ANTM on mon nights! haha!

so that's my technically eventful monday!

回娘家

2009-04-04T12:49:00.002+08:00

happened to be meeting a supplier at kallang place, which is a road across from kfc office. so i decided to take a bold step to go into the competitor's ground! haha! called ah dee to meet me at the lobby as i didn't take it was politically correct to go up to the office. so there i was back at the familiar lobby with the pond, chit chatting with ah dee and SC. also managed to "bumped" into some ops people too. after a while, ah dee needed to get back up to send an email, so they decided that it should be alright for me to go up, so i followed them right into the reliable slow and old lift of Esmart Centre! haha!

everything seems strangely familiar yet different! haven't been there since i left in July 2007! but felt so at ease when i see good old friends... the funny thing... they are not from the marketing dept! haha! as usual, mama s is still as hilarious! uncle p never puts on weight! still hears mc chasing for projections from ah dee! when mg saw me, he did come by and chit chat... it was quite amazing that he actually told me to "watch out for 8 apr"! wow... telling me his promo launch date! haha! then he surprised me by giving me a PH mug for the "pressure they have been giving me!" (this was in relation to the sales pressure of low prices by kfc & ph). mama s said i should go back more often to get freebies!

although it was a short visit, it was definitely fun... miss all the old friends that i made at kfc... hehe... like what mama s said - it was like me 回娘家!

the mysterious

2009-03-24T22:36:00.002+08:00

since late last week, i discovered little "bite-marks" on my hand and leg... thought it might be some insect bites as it was also itchy! thought it will get better, but as days went on, the number of spots increased... and strangely, it is all concentrated on my right feet and hands only. have been depending on my faithful axe brand medicated oil to ease the itch. got a bit worried and went to the doc this evening. he thinks it is an allergy, but will take a lot of tests if i want to find out. so i was given some cream to apply and medicine to ease the itch... hope it will get better :(

new not always the best

2009-03-23T00:21:00.002+08:00

guess i am just trying to adjust... seems to be having problems with my new lappie especially with the internet connection. biggest problem? i can't seem to log into my messenger!!! sigh...

looks like i got to trouble my MIS manager again. lucky this doesn't happened at my ex-company, otherwise i will never get help at all! oopsy... complaining abt the ex IT dept that i worked with! haha! but i am sure many will agree with me!

oh well, wish me luck with my lappie!

happiness meter on the rise!

2009-03-14T22:24:00.003+08:00

happiness meter hits the roof today!!!

wanted to blog about my new toy from the IT fair today... first happiness with my purchase from my brave attempt to cut through the thousands of ppl at suntec city! went out early but there are of course more ppl as and/or more kiasu than me, it was jam packed by the time i arrived. so here's the picture of my new laptop :)

picture courtesy of hardwarezone.com.sg

happiness level 6/10 (coz haven't start playing with it)

mom knock off from work real early and she offered to get some groceries and cook dinner! for years, we only get the chance to taste her cooking during CNY! her new job does not require as much hours, so she has been home earlier too... plus she actually gets off tomorrow! hehe... so we can bring her out for lunch tmr without her rushing off!

happiness level moves up to 7/10

it is such a crucial night as liverpool plays man u in old trafford. we need a win to continue our chase for the title. after the massive win over real madrid in mid-week, i definitely had hope that we can win them... afterall, we beat them at anfield earlier this season, so why not.

what was unexpected was the result... not only did we beat them, we thrashed them 4-1! coming from behind a lucky penalty, we had 4 goals past their most reliable hands! i am one happy girl! 2 consecutive matches that we scored 4 goals... lets hope the momentum continues...

picture courtesy of liverpoolfc.tv

happiness level hits the roof to 10/10!!!

presenting another joy

2009-03-01T23:12:00.003+08:00

went to my god-nephew (my god sis's son) first month party...

presenting kaiser fabian koh an jie

announcing the name

in the arms of my sister

first picture with the STC ah yees

my turn with the star of the day

he is such a cutie! although he was described by my god sis as a wailer and constant milk finder, he was pretty 乖 at the party... he was basically sleeping most of the time... or like the mommy said, he was getting the comfort of being carried in people's arms the whole time!

congrats god-sis for your new addition to the family!

10 years on

2009-03-01T00:22:00.003+08:00

as you grow older, you get more chances to reminisce on the good old days... another point to prove that i am indeed getting older...

today i met up with another group of ex-colleagues... ex-colleagues from my first job! haven't met most of them for almost 2 to 3 years... some even longer... a total of 8 of us met up for a lunch cum hi-tea at allson hotel. only 1 is still in the company, the rest are all exes alr... really enjoyed chit-chatting and catching up with everyone. so we are going to organise another round at one of the house soon!

bo liao day

2009-02-28T00:16:00.002+08:00

was on half day today. just clearing my off-in-lieu before it gets confiscated! haha!

couldn't decide what to do and think i was a little tired as i haven't been sleeping well the whole of this week. so home i went after doing some groceries. actually wanted to take a nap, but ended up chatting with friends on msn and... watched tvb drama online non-stop! but i also washed clothes! days of being a housewife! anyway, i watched a total of 7 episodes in 1 go! lol! tv addict turns online tv addict! hehe... only took a break for dinner and American Idol!

quite loser hor, just on leave to do bo liao stuff! that's me lor!

little nyonya craze continues...

2009-02-24T01:43:00.003+08:00

well, not sure if the craze of the show is the reason that my colleague decided to arrange for a trip to malacca. but it was a really eventful trip full of fun, food, drama and scandal! haha! yes.. it has all the ingredients to make into a channel 8 drama! we almost missed a colleague as she overslept and was uncontactable as her phone was switched off till our bus left our meeting place. there was a commotion as the tour guide and bus driver for not wanting to wait at the tuas checkpoint. then we had an office scandal storyline as well... there was a rumour going on about a couple in the work place, it sort of became quite "open" and it was the talk of the trip because the the guy is old enough to be the girl's father! the trip almost became a "couple alert" mission trip!

we can't forget we were well fed from the start to the end of the trip. we were so stuffed, at every food stop! we joked that our itineary was just eat, up the bus and nap, eat, up the bus and nap, eat, up the bus and nap... lol!

overall, the trip was pretty fun. not forgetting it was my first trip (besides retreat) with RL! hehe... guess she must find my colleagues dramatic and scandalous! lol!

here are some of the pictures... more on facebook :)

a shot at the night market

at the balcony of our room... not that bad view ya?

the red houses near christ church

must have in malacca - chicken rice ball!

a jewel we found on the street! very yummy ondeh ondeh. only RM1 for 3pcs. in just minutes... it got sold out that we couldn't buy more!

trick or treat

2009-02-24T00:17:00.007+08:00

nope... its not halloween... but i had a treat on friday with the free tickets for yoga lin's Trick concert! so what's so different since i have gotten free tickets before? i've got really great seats this time... how great? its the 4th row from the stage! yes... 4th! together with all the vips, super fans, media etc! how great! thanks to mediacorp tv 12, it was such a different experience.

from my seat, i could see yoga so clearly! no need for the big screen at all! best place to take loads of close up pictures! then i realised i forgot to charge my camera!!! only managed to take a few pictures before my camera died on me! it didn't help that my sister forgot her camera. so we had the best seats compared to my other friends and colleagues who went... sigh... so here are the few pictures i took (lil'c - i really tried to take SHE for you)

didn't need to zoom in on the stage at all... i am that close to the stage

"where's rain?" spot my friend contest!

this is one of the best shot! i like this picture

save the last battery life to take this picture of SHE with yoga

the not so clear picture taken from my handphone... didn't really want to miss the chance to take more pictures...

and finally... a quick video

the irony of love

2009-02-14T22:06:00.002+08:00

today is valentine's day... a day to celebrate love...

love for your partner? love for your family? love for your favourite burger?

had an event today to celebrate the expression of love with the launch of my company's men's body spray. yes... i am not kidding you... a QSR selling body spray. it is a scent of seduction with a hint of flame-grilled meat! yes... if you want your man to smell like your favourite meat (hmmm...)... FIRE MEETS DESIRE is what you are looking for! haha...

so what other irony? my event host happened to be a dj who announced his split from his wife the day before!!! however, he was as professional as he could. the client was as professional too... until a tabloid's reporter came to the event to interview him and came to me for comments for his split! i don't understand why she must ask the client for the comment of his private life. oh well, i hope i answered as professionally as i could!

so there goes another day for us marketers to find more ways to make some money from the silly lovebirds! haha! more like creating more work! happy valentine's day to all my friends...

cny part II

2009-02-08T12:55:00.003+08:00

as usual, the cny celebrations doesn't stop when we get back to work after the official public holidays. since my last postings, there are more gatherings, more feastings, more mahjong, more lo heis and of course more pictures taking!!!

god of fortune (财神) came to my office (courtesy of F&N). my colleagues wouldn't miss the chance to get him to pick 4 numbers! haha! went for cny luncheon hosted by singpost and michelle chong was the host. never get the chance to take the picture of the food thou... my first lobster yu sheng. it was pretty good.i also met ah dee at the luncheon! too bad we couldn't sit together and cannot act too chummy with her in front of her new bossy! haha! but still squeeze in a photo opportunity!another great chance to catch up with the kfc/ph gang! JL invited us to her place and glad to meet up with the different generations of marketing team. surprisingly, the current teams were not there. the only survivors are JL, VN and SL! haha!

lil'c & my popiah waiting to be wrapped!

group photo with the ph gals... (SY has the kfc gang's pic)

gong hei fatt choy 恭喜发财!

2009-02-01T22:24:00.003+08:00

have been missing out on blogging for a short while coz i was busy with the start of the year at work... and before you know it, its the lunar new year already!!!

today is the 7th day of lunar new year, also known as 人日or the birthday of everyone! traditionally, this is the day we loh hei as well. so happy birthday everyone! :)

so how did i spend my new year? besides the usual house visiting, i was basically mahjong-ing my new year away! haha! i think this is the first year that i played mahjong almost everyday!

- eve of & 1st day of CNY: played with my family

- 2nd day of CNY: played with my poly clique

- 4th day of CNY: took half day time-off to play with my colleagues

- 5th day of CNY: took another half day time-off to play with my ex-colleagues

- 6th day of CNY: just a short game with my family again after our loh hei

- 7th day of CNY: another last minute gathering with my poly clique and more mahjong!

haha... sounds like a mahjong addict or professional gambler's schedule! anyway, i definitely had lots of fun catching up my friends and feasting like no tomorrow! so here are some pictures of the new year so far!

my reunion dinnermy annual poly clique's cny gathering at G's maiden home

another regular cny gathering since 2003 at my ex-boss's place

loh hei at home with sakae sushi

Tea time

2009-01-19T14:46:00.001+08:00

Lil'c has requested for proof of me using her pressie at work. So here's the pix of my JOYous tea-time w my starbucks tumbler n mobile blogging at work!