Saying Hello to...

1) Straight Hair
Me finally went to straighten my hair last Sun. :)) N i say straighten instead of rebond coz I did it @ a home-based hairdresser near Dar's place n my hair doesnt end up as flat as it wld be if rebonded. Which is not too bad coz it look pretty natural hee hee... some of my colleagues were like "did u do something 2 ur hair?" :P n it was pretty cheap too... comparable to JB without the hassle... only thng is dat the strands near e shoulders seem a bit curly already... but oh well :)

2) A slightly bigger paycheck
Yeah FINALLY got increment... am i satisified? i guess ok bah... e rumour was dat we would get abt 3% and if our pay was below mkt rate then it would be abt 6% but i thnk in e end everyone more or less got e same flat sum... so well... but being e greedy gal that i am... i thnk it is a tad little... bearing in mind dat we didnt get any increment last year...

3) Nice frenly pp
It is kinda of a surprise 2 actually meet nice, courteous pp on the train, especially during the early morning peak periods when it is super crowded and difficult 2 get on @ Kallang. Was attempting 2 board e super crowded train as usual this am n had already decided 2 wait for the next train when this lady motioned for me to come in as there was a teeny weeny space. She even made more space for me :) (n incidentally she works in e same building as me! heh heh) n when the doors closed n the train moved... i almost feel n luckily this other lady held on to me! n when this old lady came in they also helped her :) nice pp... will haf gd karma keke

4) New Kid on the Block
Went for lesson w my new kid... luckily it is is pretty convenient... juz 1 stop fr e MRT. A pretty quiet kid who seemed kinda restless during lessons. Thnk her basics are not v strong so hopefully will be able to help her. But she seems ez 2 teach lah... which is a relief :) But it is rather tiring... wonder how lg i can last... keke

5) New faces
Due to expansion, there are more new staff in the office... hafnt toked 2 all of them yet... but juz wondering whether there will be anyone 2 replace me when I leave... or rather if i m able 2 find a new job heh heh! I definitely hope so man!!!

Whizzing By

Geez, itz already the 2nd wkend of 2010! & i m still not in the mood for work kekeke.

Tokin abt work, we haf a team-building event ystd @ ulu Lim Chu Kang. (exact place was Sarimbun Camp) When we heard, many of us initially had a lot of resistance to it & I, for one, was thinkin of various excuses of why I can't "make it" coz we had to supposedly write a 3 page memo if we are unable to attend! :P Was also debating whether 2 drive there coz we thought they were not providing transport; we were advised to carpool; then they made the pick-up point of the bus @ Jurong East but they finally decided to pick us up @ UOB Plaza which defeated e purpose of me driving. I guess the reason why it was so far was also to deter anyone of us from leaving early haha!

We were divided into teams which we were only told 2 days b4 e event itself so it got a lot of us pretty excited haha! Luckily I had company in my team coz there were some pp i didnt really like in my team haha! But I must say we all enjoyed ourselves v much and my team even got the best team award! hahaha! It was a $250 voucher but after splitting amongst ourselves; I thnk each of us will only be getting $20 haha. I'm glad it is over n that it wasn't as bad as it seemed :)))

& it has been a good new year so far; double dated w Dora @ Ikoi on New Year's Day where we exchanged super belated bday prez n juz had loads of fun catching up; attended Genia's cosy wedding dinner @ Amara last Sat & caught up with a couple of old school mates as well; & had dinner w Jo, PS & Shao Ye on Fri where we had 2 wait 45 juz coz I wanted 2 try e Ramen! haha! But I thot it was worth the wait :))) much beta than the basketball Ramen w e other PA pp couple of weeks back heh. & m happy coz I got a new tuition kid!!! yayee!!! More income for me kekke!

Happee 2010

Yep, it's been ages since I last blogged... almost half a year to be exact; not that I have no time coz I can blog in Dar's off over e wkends, juz been plain lazeee and nothing much 2 tok abt i guess n some other things that hap which i dun wana document... well, shall try to be more "diligent" in the new year hee hee :)))

The last time I blogged, hafnt started on my course, but now it is over... so fast rites??? but there's still that silly role-play that we hafta go thru :( thnk it is q unfair to product staff coz we neither haf e experience nor the knowledge and for pp like me, i m not gona find it useful since i dun intend to be a RM in future. But well... for that piece of paper... which ultimately may not be helpful in e end! :P but i did learn some useful stuff during the cse n hopefully i can rem them in time to come, but after taking e cse, it so dawned on me that i m not cut out for the finer side of finance haha!

Dar's cousins came dwn to SGP in mid Nov and we had q a fun time bringing them ard; Orchard Road, Raffles Place area, Marina Barrage (& it was my 1st time there!), Newton for e huge variety of food and Clarke Quay. Too bad there wasn't enuff time to bring them wakeboarding keke... but they suggested for us 2 visit them in July for some snowboarding :) Dar n I went to BKK in late Nov... we walked SOOOOOOOOOOOO much that we had to have massage EVERY nite! but it was damn cheap lah... $10 for 1 hr n it was not too bad as well. Me thinks me prefer BKK then SZ... like more thngs 2 see, n more thngs 2 eat as well keke... though i had diarrohea aft i came back *bleach*

Barely worked whole of Dec coz was clearing leave. Wanted 2 bring more forward 2 this year but cldn't. Didn't really do much... went JB n also brought e kids out to watch Avatar! It was good! I havent seen e kids since Jan this year and it is a wonder how much they haf grown... n how much naughtier and cheeky they have become!!! n i finally went wakeboarding too... so m now v tanned which I like... but i thnk i was on e verge of peeling; my face was lobster red e next day :P

Hope everyone will have good health in 2010 and may it be a prosperous new year for all!!! I m not 1 to make resolutions but I hope that the new year will bring me good health (m hafing e flu now), new job (yeah getting damn xian of e job), more tut kids (= more income :P), more hol (going bali in May yippeee), memorable times w Dar n more biz for Dar's wakeboarding co! HUAT AH!!! :))

HAPPEE 2010 EVERYONE!!! =^_^=

Happy 2nd!

Time really flies... the 7th July date has come and gone once again... as always, can't believe it has been 2 years since we exchanged our vows :)



Took leave yesterday to kinda celebrate and also to rest a little. Dar has been really bz with his new shop opening but promised me to be back by early afternoon so that we cld go n pray my mum and then run some errands before our massage in the late pm. Managed to get a "free" massage for Dar coz the previous time I went there, the therapist who was a part-timer didn't do my wrap for me so I asked them to change it to a massage for him hee hee... q smart hor. I requested for a couple room; but it wasn't exactly a couple room but instead, a room that was seperated into 2 by partition & they had all these facial machines @ the partition there so... but the therapists were pretty good... mite use them again next time.



Wanted 2 go somewhere nice for dinner but decided not to spend so much money n also coz we are going to Shang for Dad's bday tmr (yep yep... I managed to book the flash ur age promotion! Can't wait!!!) so we ended up @ Ikoi coz Dar was hungry n we haven't gone there for a while. Luckily we went a little earlier coz the place filled up by around 730 and the orders were q slow. As usual, we "tackled" the salmon sashimi n the ebi tempuras. But the tempuras n the chawanmushi was a little off-standard yesterday and we thot they had changed chefs! haha! & we suspect the sashimi chef yesterday was also the boss! coz he was super duper frenly, had a lot of pp saying hi n bye to him n had his pic w celebrity plastered all over the wall! No wonder he was so professional, taking time to cut the sashimi n then decorating them on the plates! We had little yellow flowers on the sashimi :)



After that, it was Transformers!!! We actually wanted to catch it on the opening week but missed it n after that was too tired. It wasn't too bad lah... effects were real good... but I didnt watch part 1 so I was a bit lost... shall go ransack Dar's collection n see if he has the 1st one.



All in all, we enjoyed ourselves... n i m juz glad Dar took e time off 2 spend it w me despite all the prep he has to do for the shop n the gazillion n 1 thngs he has to do! *muakies*

Maldives

I guez most pp have heard of how beautiful Maldives is and long to go there; me was no exception!!! There was a good deal during the last NATAS fair for Club Med Kani & me decided to go w HL. Yep, many pp were surprised that Dar was not goin w me as Maldives is like a honeymoon destination but instead w 3 other babes. & here are the 4 pretty babes: Me, the 2 HLs & SP :) Pity that it was a nite flight so when we reached there, it was in total darkness & we cldn't appreciate the beauty of the island. Nonetheless, we were welcomed warmly by the staff (aka GOs) w a drink & shown to our rooms. & these were the sights that greeted us the next day:

The Sand, the Sea & the Sky!!! & as HL added... the SEAWEED hahaha!

A view of the jetty

On the 1st day, we had a briefing in the AM & was shown ard the island by 1 of the GOs which really wasn't v big. Having nothing to do till lunch, we went to take some pics near the water bungalows. HL's lumix was really gd; it is wide-angled so we cld take many pics ourselves (like e one above)... m gona get the Lumix too if we eva get dwn to buying our own cam hee. Aft lunch, we decided to go snorkelling; which turned out to be a rather bad idea as the sea was v choppy in the pm & many pp on the boat were seasick. & no matter how hard we paddelled in the water, we cldn't seem to go far... it was really v tiring. :*(

Above: HL & I @ the jetty whilst waiting for the boat. Forgot to mention that we had to take a swimming test first before they let us go snorkelling!

Rite: Us happily taking pics b4 plunging into the choppy sea

So we decided to try again the next morning (& e morning after) when the seas were not so choppy. & indeed they were fulfilling trips as we saw dolphin (umm actually i only saw the fin or was it e tail) on e 2nd day & turtles on the 3rd day!!! & the fishes swam really close to me, but i wasn't able to touch them. I esp liked this flourescent blue one :) The only bad thng was that I witnessed this chinese guy breaking off some of the corals when he kicked his flippers. The GO was really angree as apparantly it wasn't the first time he did it. Some of the other chinese also stood on the corals when they have been briefed not to do so. Just some incidents why the GOs there didn't seem to like the chinese much! (& Club Med was teaming w them whilst we were there!!!)

Above: The site where we snorkelled on the 2nd day. See the lighter shade of green, that is where the corals are

Rite: Us on the smaller boat where we cld sit on the deck & took many many pics :)

Proof that we went snorkelling. Don't we look like puffer fishes?? hee hee... guess which is me?

We also went sailing :) We cld actually learn or the GOs could bring us out. We chose for the GOs to bring us out & they taught us a little along the way. It was q ez as they used this "stick" to control the direction of the boat.Tis the boat we went sailing on... it is called the Hobbie Cat =)

It was v choppy the first time we went out; I was actually splashed all over w water & was all drenched by the time we reached back the shore. e 2nd time we went out, it was beta & so HL was able to take q alot of pics including 1 with a super wierd expression on my face coz the GO changed direction of the sail & the sai hit my head!!! Rather the hook hooked my hair so it felt like my hair was gona be hooked off! & she took this change 2 take a photo of me so there was pic of a v pained expression of me holding on 2 my hair!!! I refuse to put e pic up here :P We also went for stretching & a specially arranged Hip-Hop class hee hee. I didn't really dance lah... but the place where they held the classes was v dark & there were no fans which resulted us being feasted by mosquitoes. I thnk that is also where I got my sandfly bites :(

The meals were all inclusive & they were usually held @ the Velhi restaurant. There were also snacks in between the meals @ Iru & Sunset Bar. However the food wasn't all that delicious; perhaps we weren't used to their cooking bahs and the 1 thng we all complained about was that the drinks were all super duper diluted!!! We were wondering if it was coz there were so many chinese there during that period as the chef told us that @ least 10 pp have complained about the drinks!!! In e end, we had to keep telling the bartender GOs that we wanted our drinks CONCENTRATED & asked them to pour the juice straight from the carton itself. The snacks were q yummz though especially the Nuggets & e Samosas.

Having the yummy Samosas @ Iru Bar on the rite before Dinner @ Velhi Restaurant on the left. The 2 HLs actually saw a rat 1 nite @ Velhi Rest, SP & I jumped up in fright haha!

We usually chose the 4 seaters in the rest so that the GOs will not come "disturb" us whilst we eat. It was the job of the GOs to talk to guests even during meal times.

The night life was not boring either; no wonder Lonely Planet sez that Club Med Kani has the best night entertainment on the island. The GOs put up shows everynite with a different theme, e.g. 80 shows, Latino Dance, Cabaret... after which there was the Sign Dance where everyone followed to specific moves to the songs. It was rather fun, esp on the last nite where they played chinese/korean/jap songs. This chinese guy actually went to sing the chinese song on the little stage!!! I almost died of luffter!!! Aft that there was disco (but hardly anyone danced!!!) or guests could sit around for drinks. On our 2nd last nite there, we did stay to talk with the GOs till late; some of the GOs were really q cheeky & bo liao heh. Some pics w the GOs:

Above: Marhavilla the Chereographer for the Nite shows w his Afro Hair. In 1 of the shows, he actually tied his hair up like a poodle!!! I wanted 2 take a pic w him in that hairstyle but I thnk he was embarassed!

Rite: Another 2 GOs who sat dwn 2 entertain dwn with their tricks

Our 2 snorkelling GOs, Vaea from Taihiti above & Yuki from Japan on the rite! Vaea was always lookin for us during meal times & Yuki was simply the cutest GO there!

Left: Emmanuel the Land Sports Instructor who was also the Hip-Hop Instructor.

Rite: Pascine (i thnk) the restaurant manager who was super frenly. HL & I were making noise that all the snacks were finished 1 afternoon and she actually came out to entertain us! :P

Oh & 1 of the GOs brought us to view the water bungalows @ our request. It was q kewl as it had a private staircase from the room into the ocean (see pic) but it didn't have a glass bottom floor which I thot was q disappointing. But we took many pics alg e way :)

The waters there were actually q clear & there were fishes there, we did some couples snorkellling near the water bungalows. Club Med has also thotfully left life vests in the rooms for this purpose :) Oh & I managed to get q near the bb sharks. We saw them in the water but only 2-3 of them were swimming about... luckily HL spotted many of them under the walkway (I thnk it was too hot!!! haha) n I went near them to take some pics. Wanted to touch them but they didn't swim q near enuff for me. We were wondering where e mummy shark was!!!

The weather was really hot but I didn't really mind coz I got my tan! hee hee. Did put sunblock on the first day; didn't put any on the 2nd day n only put on my shoulders on the 3rd day... luckily the tan came out rather even. Altohugh I was a little disappointed w Maldives (coz 1) the beaches were not really v pristine clean & 2) after e 3rd day, we felt like prisoners on the island as it was getting borin coz we dun dive!) I really enjoyed myself this trip! :))) It's actually my 1st trip wout Dar & w my gfs so I was actually a little apprehensive @ first but it turned out to be a lot of fun!!! Perhaps we'll go Greece or States next year bah! Thanks for e fun time babes! :)

Bad Bad Service

I seriously thnk that I have bad karma w the service provider SH; after the incident in March wrt to the HP mini Dar bought & his $200 contract, I was @ the brunt end of their horrid service again. Tis e email that I sent to them:

Issue 1
18th May: My husband called 1633 @ about 9pm to enquire about his billing for hp 9382 3840. He was told that starhub was undergoing a "system upgrade" and hence the officer would not be able to check for him. Just wondering, doesnt Starhub has any backup system??? He requested for a call back the following day, 19th May before 11am.
19th May: No one called my husband back. He thus had to call 1633 again in the afternoon. He was served by a guy named "Suren" who told him that it would take 3 days for him to check and get back to him. My husband then requested Suren to call him back before Fri, 22nd May as he was going overseas.
22nd May: I called 1633 and around 11.30am, and asked whether my husband was getting a call back that day. Ivan, who picked up my call told me that Suren would call my husband back that day. He told me that he would drop an email to Suren so that Suren would call my husband once he receive the email. I told Ivan that my husband would like Suren to call before 1pm that day.
TILL TODAY, NO ONE HAS CALLED MY HUSBAND!!!
Qn:
1) Doesn't Starhub have a backup system for the billing (or any other kinds of system?)
2) Why wasn't there a callback on 19th May when my husband has requested for one? It is always a time-consuming process to call 1633 as we always have to wait for no less than 10 min which is why cx request for a call-back.
3) Why didn't Suren call my husband back yesterday when Ivan told me that he would be calling him back? In any case, it has been more than 3 days and he told my husband that it would take him 3 days to check on the billing!
4) Don't you have a better system rather than just emailing the staff to call the customer back? What if the staff is on urgent leave/MC and cx is requesting an urgent call back? Shouldn't a manager be on hand to call cx back?

Issue 2
15th May: My husband went down to your shop at Plaza Singapura to renew his contract. As he didn't bring down his corporate pass, he was advised to go down personally to hand in a copy of his pass.
22nd May: I called to enquire whether we could fax in the pass instead (as is possible with other mobile providers). I was advised by Suren that it was not possible. However when I called your business hotline @ 1800-888-8888, I was told that I could fax in the pass, together with a letter. This is the 2nd time that I've encountered differing answers from your cx care.
23rd May: As I have left the number in the office, I called 1633 to ask for the number for corporate customers and was given the number 6725 9797. "Nora" who picked up the phone told me that as they have just shifted into the new office @ Ubi, she did not have any access to any system and also that I would have to fax in the request to the shop @ Plaza Singapura as the contract was resigned down that and to call 1633 for the fax number. This was not what was told to me the day before and she told me that it was a miscommunication. I told her then that i was quite sure that 1633 would NOT be able to provide me with the fax number and asked her then what should I do? She kept insisting that she did not have the system and irritated, I told her to ask the manager to call me as I did not want to keep calling 1633 as I always have to hold for almost 10 min. She said "ok" but HUNG UP THE PHONE ON ME before she could even get my details!!! What kind of cx service is this?!?!?!!?
Left with no choice, I had to call 1633 AGAIN, was given the business hotline number and FINALLY got the fax number!
Qn:
1) Why is it that there are always differing answers from your cx service staff? Isn't there some SOP or some general Q&A that the staff can follow? Failing which, shouldn't staff seek help from their supervisors if they are unsure of the answer?
2) I am extremely appalled by Nora's lack of service enthusiasm, especially for hanging up the phone on me! It looks like almost every department in Starhub has bad customer service, is this the image that you wish to project to your customer?

& to add oil to fire, they didn't reply me aft I sent this email. Luckily the gal who was following with me on the "Nora" case was nice & professional & when I told her that I have not received any reply (not even a confirmation email!), she gave me the email of the Head of Cx Svc. Which really worked coz I got a call back (although not by the head) b4 noon on Monday after sending the email on Sun.

The matter has more or less been settled on my part (Dar is still asking about his phone charges) & I got another year of free Auto-Roaming & Caller ID for Dar; so that makes it 2 years coz I already got 1 year free from the previous complaint. Which is good coz I was v against Dar signing on with Starhub again; wanted him to finish his contract & switch to my corporate plan coz I get free Auto-Roaming & Caller ID so this works out to be the same. The guy only offered me a 50% discount off the subscription @ first, which later changed to either Auto-Roaming or Caller ID & now we get both! ha... persistence pays man! I wonder what else I can ask for should I have to call them in again... kekekeke

Footnote: The guy called Dar back & cleared his queries on his billing. & he gave Dar 50% off his subscription for 2 months!!! (he only offered me 1... not fair! :P) means Dar will be saving over $200 in his bills for these 2 years!! I thnk i shd take e credit haha!

Long Absence

WAH... it's been 2 months since I have last posted something... no excuses except that I have been lazeee but more because there's been nothing much interesting goin on in my life lately haha! It's the usual routine of waking up; goin to work; coming home; play my fb games; sleep and the whole cycle repeats itself :P guess it's e same for almost everyone coz i see most pp haf been abandoning their blogs recently :P

The mega project finally ended in early April... Yipee!!! Out goes the mundane job of checking and opening of accounts for clients and forever churning numbers for my boss to minimise the number of accounts that are not opened. Well... sometimes still gota churn numbers but it is definitely not as bad. Took on the imager role in office which is also another mundane role, just gota be careful of the timings which I missed the other day & resulted in me being complained by 1 of the ViXens in the off. I was damn pissed coz it was e 1st time I made a mistake & I have been keeping close watch of the timing except that day coz there were so many txn. What's more, I felt she was instigated by the mother ViXen & aft that, they did not tok to me about it but instead acted normally w me. Me being me, just cldn't be bothered w them n only toked to them when req. Geez... it's been like 9 months but yet I still cannot get used to all the OP in the office. Luckily I have a few colleagues whom I am closer to so we can bitch about all the others haha. In fact, my boss called me & my buddy colleague in to chide us for toking too much hahaha!!! It's funny how thngs turned out; i didn't used to like my buddy colleague so much n preferred mother ViXen but now I can't stand mother ViXen n m closer to my buddy colleague, taught me to really get to know a person b4 putting my judgement on them.

& I was actually looking to change my job coz I feel my present job scope is not value-adding; tempted to go back to gvt sector coz if lucky can be q zuo bo & also the pay is higher. Was waiting to see if I got accepted to the Higher Diploma in Private Banking and just got news couple of days ago that I was selected! Mixed feelings coz do wana learn more and dun mind goin "back to school" again but don't really know the other colleagues that are selected well; esp so since mother ViXen is selected as well... sigh... & worse thing is, there's lessons on my bday!!! Gosh, I like haven't studied on my bday in @ least 12 years!!! Mite skip dat lesson though... still thnking abt it. Wanted to go away that week but looks like that won't b possible coz haf assessment that week also... guess gota celebrate either b4 or aft dat wk bah...

Went GZ/Macau/ZH w Dar & his family in late March. 2nd "family" trip after the Melbourne trip in 07... bought q a lot of stuff although Dar wasn't too impressed that most of the shopping catered to gals. Dar & I made a side trip to GZ ourselves; it has really changed a lot since I was there like almost 20 years ago!!! & it was ez to find the places we wanted to go to too. Thnk we might make another trip there again... Dar's sis & SIL were amazed @ how long Dar could walk; the buildings were like 6 storeys high and he wasn't a least bit tired even after walking all the floors! Me? I was complaining that i was tired even b4 reaching the 5th floor haha! & I juz came back fr Maldives w a good tan!!! But save that for the next entry :P

So wat's everyone been up to? :)

I saw it! I saw it!

The RAINBOW that is... went to keep the clothes and there it was, the huge arc just infront of me. Really brought a huge smile to my face coz I missed it the previous 2 times and for some reasons, I always feel happy whenever I see one... which is not often!

And I thnk it is a gd sign too! Coz I m goin on holiday soon!!! No doubt with some aunties but as lg as hubby is w me, it will definitely be a memorable trip! :)

Amazing Memory

Wow... teachers have the most amazing memories!!! (or maybe only when it comes to their students and not with their daily lives coz I wldn't say that my parents have v gd memories hee) And it is funny what are some of the stuff they remember abt u; I remember one time we went back to sch to visit the teachers, my A-Maths teacher could rattle off our register numbers which we ourselves could barely remember! heh!

Being in PB now, I often receive emails wrt the latest financial/economy news/updates/summaries which often with a click of my finger lands in my trash box. Received a slew of emails the other day and thot to just read them since I was free anyways and had a pleasant surprise at a familiar name at the end of the email; the gal was fr my Pri/Sec school and JC!!! I immediately dropped a mail to her which led to an even bigger surprise: 1 of our Pri sch teachers was now working in the bank too!!! A lunch date was arranged :)

I am embarassed to admit that I had no inkling who the teacher was; but apparantly she did remember me and told my friend that she taught my sister. Well, no big deal, my sis was super notorious in school and more often than not, I was known as "XWL's sister". So u can imagine my astonishment when we met and she told me, "Yes I remember u; u used to have short fringe (finger draws a line across forehead) n used to wear those pink plastic specs." WHICH I DID!!! gosh!!! She also asked us if we knew of some other gals, some of whom we knew, some of whom we didnt... but all in all we had a really gd time catching up!!!

And to top it off, my teacher might be having a gathering with the other school teachers whom we still remember fondly... really can't wait for that!!! Must definitely bring our year books and class photos along :)

Absence from Blogging

Wah.... hafn't blogged in AGES!!! Almost 2 mths n it's all thanks to the games i have been playing on FB... super addictive man! n coz i m playing so many games i juz keep playing the games over n dun haf time for anything else haha... "good" excuse eh? :P anyways life has been kinda boring... nothing much to update also...

CNY
came n gone... 1st year of giving angpaos but my relatives still gave us so in e end thnx to Daddy's ang pao, we earned more than we lost haha! But losses will be mitagated lah coz my mum's side will still give us hee hee :) CNY was also a gd time of catching up; missed 1 w the PA pp (coz I was sick n for the past few times i am always falling sick as the date draws near... maybe i m allergic to them haha) but had a mini ktv session w a couple of them. Met up w my SC frenz too! Wanted 2 lo hei but coz it towards the tail end of CNY n we cldn't decide, it ended up being juz a dinner & chit chat session instead. Oh n also went 2 Shan's hse w QX n DH. Had a nice time catching up although Qixia had 2 leave early... met them again for steamboat abt last wk; we had Mala Huoguo and they requested for more chilli 2 be added coz the soup was 2 bland... n DH ended up with diarrohea e next day! It was hilarious!!!

WORK
yayee... the end of the proj is FINALLY in sight!!! Haf been horribly harressed by my boss (who also went 2 harress other dept... really felt q bad for them) who was juz so unreasonable!!! Hafta a lashing by her last Thurs (which was by no fault of mine) really felt like quitting!!! I can only look forward 2 e end of e proj whereby hopefully i will report under my own supervisor n not directly under her anymore! Soon... all my hair will b torn out by me! haha... Hope that the mkt gets beta as well... thnk shd lk 4 a new job coz my current position is not value-adding @ all haiks! N the new batch of temp boy staff in my off now... really *shake head* My colleague n I gota cover for them & they just climb all over our head! Tell them not 2 do certain thngs coz then my boss will scold us but they juz heck care n do. N this particular staff, went on leave n claimed that he told me but I said otherwise (he told my boss he told me liao when he didnt cfm w me!!!) n told my colleague that he was rude 2 her coz she was rude 2 him! I was like HUH??? n get this, coz he is not going to stardee or anything, he hopes to temp @ our dept for a LOOONG time. I have only this to say: GET LOST! :p n juz received new that there will b no pay increase this year... SOB!!! n i dun thnk i will haf v high bonus either coz my ex boss didnt write a gd appraisel for me... *bleach*

TRIPS
my 1 day "excursions" 2 JB has stopped... coz been bz w proj n so cant really take leave. But we did drive in the other nite for lok lok n Dar has been getting me my yakult (althouh he always drinks when he comes over hmmph!) He also went Macau the week b4 CNY but we will be goin 2gether in 2 weeks time w his mum/aunt/sis & SIL. I can't wait for the break man!!! Away fr off... n i thnk my boss will b away e wk b4 me so that'll make 2 wks of not seeing her hee! Well she can b q nice @ times lah.. juz dat... u know... n e best thng is... I'm booked for Maldives!!! YIPEE YAYEE!!! we will b staying @ Club Med, full board n inclusive of everything for 1500+ =))) I m so excited!!! only thng is Dar wun b goin w me... but I m sure i will haf a lot of fun w my gfs! Can't wait!!!

ME
I thnk i need 2 get more tutees... my previous tutess have since graduated n i m almost always bored on wkends :( which ends up in me always bothering dar n sparkling off unneccesary quarrels heh. I m also wondering if I shd take up this advance dip on pte banking offered by my bank. Gotta study twice a week, 1 wkday n 1 wkend (but i thnk e wkday gota take leave) n there is no binding contract. My colleague who is taking it now asked me to go for it coz she says it is q ez 2 pass de. I m debating coz it doesn't sound that ez but @ the same time I thnk it will be gd for me... haiks... dilemma hee. Oh n i finally watched a movie in Sin after donkey months... n it was Slumdog!!! It was really gd... thot it was diff fr other shows n i was saddened by the proverty. N I thot that the slums were gone, until I read in the newspapers that the child actors/actresses still lived in those make-shift tent areas... wow... we really gota count our blessings man!

n so... how's everyone been? I noticed that most pp haf stopped blogging le... hee...

I wonder...

Sometimes I really wonder if we save more money on our day trips to JB or if we spend more heh heh. Went JB w Dar last Wed coz I had 1.5 days 2 clear which my boss told me wld b forfeited if I didn't clear my last week!!! I wanted to go in to catch a show, coz we hafnt watched a show in the cinemas for ages and it was much cheaper in JB hee.


Went in abt 11plus after much dilly dallying and Dar first went to check out some 4x4 shops as he wanted to get an extra tyre or something for Baby V. We then had lunch @ this coffee shop just around the corner; I ordered claypot mee and Dar ordered dry Ban Mian and the total cost was like 8RM!!! The food was q tasty too!!! En route to buy MIL's rojak supplies, we stopped @ The Store. There Dar bought those plain white shirts that he has been looking for for working on his boat @ 10RM per piece. I wanted 2 buy a top n pants but they didn't have my size but I did buy 2 pairs of shoes @ 45RM altogether!!! The uncle wanted 2 give me back extra 10RM but I was v honest haha :P As usual, Dar complained that I am forever buying shoes but hey they were cheap mahs!


MIL needed pineapples but the pineapples were all sold out!!! Thnk it was coz everyone bought to make pineapple tarts bah, but he managed to get the other stuff MIL wanted. Then it was off to wash the car n then to City Square. We wanted to watch Red Cliff but it wasn't showing yet so we decided to watch Ip Man instead. As we kept thnking that Tues was their Movie Day, so imagine our surprise when the bill for both tickets came up to 13RM!!! It was only after the movie that we realised that they've changed their Movie Day to Wed hee. After the movie, we decided to walk ard a bit and went to the Padini Store where Dar bought q a bit of clothes but which were all on sale. I myself got a top for like 20+RM... wld haf gotten more but they only had 3 colours and the other 2 colours were rather dull. By the time we left the shop, it was already 9plus (n we wanted 2 go back @ like 6+ lors!) and we were debating whether to wait till 10 to eat lok lok or to eat @ the rest. But sleepy was kinda tired and so we decided to try our luck @ Sushi King so as to utilise our voucher as well. Luckily they were not closed yet and me ordered udon whilst Dar ordered a Eel rice and soba set. After our 10RM voucher, total bill was like 20+RM :)))


Looks like everything was pretty cheap rites? But I thnk we spent q a bit of money on shopping as well (oh i forgot 2 mention I bought 2 tops fr this other shop hee) so I guess in e end the effect is netted off bahs. Told Dar e next time we go in... I wana go 2 e new mall Danga Bay. Heard it is a super HUGE shopping centre! Till then then :)

New KTV Joint

Hmm... maybe not ALL that new but mois have only recently heard abt it so to me it is new lahs... Went w some frenz (actually mostly fren's frenz) to the 10 dollar karaoke place abt 2 weeks ago; was actually surprised that the gal managed to get a slot coz apparantly u gota book in advance. The cost is $10++ for 3 hours of singing plus free flow of drinks and free shark's fin. I was actually a little sceptical about the place coz went w my temp staff to Top-One the week b4 Christmas and I wasn't impressed.

This 10 dollar place is rite smack in the middle of Chinatown; yep rite in the middle of the CNY bazzar that is going on now. It wasn't that difficult to find, and a narrow, rickety flight of steps led me up to the main reception. Thot the pp there, though bz were rather frenly; they even changed us to a bigger room when they realised we had more pp and thus it was q squeezy in the little room.

Hmm, my verdict, I definitely liked it a lot beta than Top One!!! The number 1 plus point gota be that 10 club didn't have any smoke smell!!!(n i only realised it when I went home!!!) unlike most other KTV joints that I have been to, u r suffocated by the smoke smell upon entry and it leaves the distateful smell on ur clothes and bag after u have left. The songs were updated and if u wanted to key in songs, u cld either use the remote control or it has a touch-screen. UNLIKE Top-One where one had to physically sit infront of the comp to choose ur songs; yep there was NO remote control which was somehing I totally cldn't understand :P Both places had free flow of drinks and yep the drinks were q diluted, but I preferred 10 club coz Top-One was juz like a little syrup mixed with a lot of water n it actually tasted q horrid whereas I cld still taste my honey @ 10 club. Of coz the shark's fin didnt really haf any shark's fin (or maybe I didn't taste any n cldn't see in the dark :P) but it was edible and @ least they were mushrooms so not that bad lah. My only complaint was that the sound wasn't exactly sound-proofed so u cld hear other pp singing in between songs.

But I do thnk it is definitely value for money; they dun charge u extra for those tidbits and the hand towels n @ #11+ per person, it is really worth it. Peeps, let's go there for our K-session next time! :)

Go Andy Go Andy Go Go

Andy's concert last Sat was AWESOME!!! (althoughout of e 3 concerts I've been 2 this year, I still liked Jay's best!) So what if I didn't really know his songs nor haf as much enthusiasm as his many screaming fans who kept calling him "leng zai"? So what that I actually went for fun more than I m a fan? So what if in e end he didnt sing his more recent songs that I was more familiar with? I had tonnes of fun!!!

Dora bought lite sticks b4 the concert but it was actually not necessary coz we were each given a super kewl lite stick by 1 of the sponsors Nokia n e litestick can change colour one... damn kewl!!! Was q surprised coz there were no free gifts during the Jacky concert and for Jay there was only the cupboard hand thngy (although aft dat there was a poster); was telling Dar that I m saving e litestick for any future concerts that I attend hee hee.

I thot he was v charismatic thruout e concert; he was also v funny in the thngs he say and engaging with the audience even though they may not be standing up and singing along w his songs. N his 2 "sons" were v cute!!! I liked that segment of the concert best!!! They were so "fat" n "round" n cldn't really walk properly yet they managed to turn somersaults and handstands n splits n what have u!!! There was also a segment where they showed his old films and he sang the theme songs from his old films; he looked sooooooooooooo young then!!! N thnx 2 all e botox n wateva, he looks even beta than he was those years back! I m sure it muz haf been v heartwarming for all the fans :) N when he came out for his encore for the fast songs, he asked everyone 2 stand on their feet and dance along w him which prompted many fans (us included) to rush dwn to the railings to be "nearer" 2 him. The encore was v loooong!!! By the time he finished, it was already 1115 pm... definitely well worth our money hee hee.

N i thnk i wana go for JJ's concert again next Mar!!! Anyone wana go w me? :P

Off-Roading

Went off-roading w Dar n his best bud last nite n it was FUN!!! It was e first "test" for Baby V since the makeover was done; the jack up and the new tires.


So after dinner, we proceeded to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal n we were surprised to see a lot of cars for this trip; i didnt do an exact count but I thnk there were easily like 17-18 cars!!! There were LandRovers n many many Tritons (thnk this is how it is spelled...). Waited a while where everyone went ard looking @ every one else's car b4 setting off. Dar wanted his best bud 2 drive but I told Dar 2 drive as I was pretty sure he wld b tired on e way out. He has done off-roading on his bike b4 many many years ago but not on the car so he was a little apprehensive but he did a great job!


Intially the road was still q ok; not many bumps and not many hanging leaves/branches but it soon got more challenging!!! There were potholes for one, of which some were q deep n some part of the roads were q narrow coz of the tree trunks so it was a gd thng dat baby V was small; so it wasn't much of a prob goin thru nor making turns. Then there the dipping tracks; Dar did one that went down n up immediately and I thot that was like the best part of the "trip" but later there was one that was almost 90 degrees!!! Dar took a look and immediately passed the wheel to his best bud haha! There was another part where we had to go up a little hill n turn straight immediately and Baby V almost cldn't make it up!!! Wat a scare!!! But Baby V proved her worth tremendouly and Dar n his fren were v pleased w her performance :) Thnk they r goin 2 get her new accessories next wk; new fenders n visor maybe... so she will haf a new look!

The funny thng was that, we actually made a wrg turn, which was why the path was so challenging! We later found out that coz 1 of drivers let his passenger out to shit on e road, somehow they missed a turn and we had 2 go 1 whole rd to get to our destination which was actually the break waters. But in the end we didn't go coz they haf been driving for almost 3 hrs and we were getting a little tired. It was fun n I dun mind doin it again but seriously, not too often coz aft abt 2 hrs I was like "r we eva reaching our destination???" :P

Memories

Juz watched e wedding video w Dar last nite n it brought such nice, sweet memories of that special day of ours :) n I know i took forever to blog abt it n 2 upload my pics... but hey... good thngs r worth e wait rites? :Þ

Woke up pretty early that day although we both slept late e nite b4 as we were still rushing to do the guest list n all coz I was pretty excited n nervous. The Videographer, MUA n photographer all arrived shortly after I had my breakfast n thereaft my aunt n uncle arrived to help.

M all made up... b4 changing to my wedding gown which I miss a lot... hee. My Aunt specifically said I had to wear a pink dress to change into and luckily I found one coz we went to a couple of places but I couldn't find anything in pink, much less anythng I like!!!

The funniest thing that happened was that 2 of my sisters actually went to Dar's house instead!!! so blurr rites??? I like this pic... I thnk I was tokin 2 Qixia n Huiwen was tokin go Siping bahs...

n little Benjy who was the 小舅子 was apparantly v cooperative by sleeping early the nite b4 n he was q excited too... although he looked a little sleepy-eyed down here heh.

As expected, the guys took their own sweet time to come (but can't really blame them coz Dar's best bud had 2 direct 1 sister to my house n drive the other sister over haha!) but I gota say that the sistas were q lenient on Darling... his first task was actually to write this note "announcing" that he is coming to fetch his bride n then subsequently get the note into the house without throwing thru the gate. Next he had the 酸甜古辣 n Dar said the Omega tablets were really terrible n the chilli padi was damn hot!!! His last task (b4 entering the gate) was to drink up a whole pot of Coke through straws that had holes in them which they gladly drank up coz the chilli padi was soo sooo hot!!! I was thnking dat they should haf done the honey last then it mite haf "killed" the taste away?

Dar writing the words "我来接新娘" on the paper w Benjy looking on. He actually wanted to help Dar write some of the words but were "banned" by the sistas!

e 酸甜古辣

& Dar drinking the pot of coke! :)

After some haggling, both sides had a bit of unexpected "help" fr little Benjy coz he needed to pee!!! Dar was telling me that he was v urgent n it was actually q funny coz he cldn't "tahan" already so both sides then used him as a "bait"; the sistas to get e ang pao n the bros 2 get the key. Check out the pics, they r really q funny coz I was watching the video n the poor boy didn't know who to listen to!!! The last pic was of him pushing the ang pao to the gals; he kept saying "open sesame" hoping that the door would open but it didnt!!! n aft that he dashed into the house but the videographer n photographer had to be in front of Dar so my cousin had to call the poor boy back n let the big bros n sisters enter the hse first!

Thereafter was part 2 of the Gate-Crash!!! Dar had to sing a canto song for me n i specially requested for either Jay Chou or Jacky Cheung. He was a little embaressed as he doesn't like to sing in front of pp but he was a good sport & sang Jacky's canto 每天爱你多一些 which is both our fave song of Jacky's but i was little surprised coz I thot he mite haf sang 月半湾 instead. Next he had to write in a book (which had pics of my hen nite) 5 things that:

1) he love about me

2) he would do as a husband

3) he would do when he is angry

n then he would have to read it out to me. Was q touched by some of the things he wrote coz I know that it came from him :)

N Dar finally gets to come in the room n the last "task" I had of him was for him 2 name my 5 little piggies who were sitting on the bed haha!!! I was v happy to finally be able to "see" him hee! :)

Next was the whirlwind of goin to Dar's place for the tea ceremony n then coming back to my house for the tea ceremony. We almost didn't make it back in time to my house! Oh n we had Benjy to roll and jump on our new bed for us. We wanted Antonio n Vincent to jump n roll too but they didn't wana. Benjy was so cute jumping ard n facing the camera when we asked him to! Thnx sweetie!!! Goin to juz post some pics here:

After lunch, we proceeded to Rasa w some of the bros who were helping with the projector set up. Being e sleepy gal that I m, I wanted 2 take a nap, but they were having some reno in the unit above us so I cldn't really slep well. :( By the time they stopped n I finally fell into a lite sleep, it was time to wake up coz the MUA was there already. But poor Dar hardly gotta sleep coz somehow they cldn't play the montage on the player n so they spent q a lot of time trying to fig everything out.

B4 the wedding dinner proper, we went to the beach nearby to take some pics... me q like them:

& then it was the wedding dinner proper. I felt I didn't take enuff photos w everyone or mingled enuff w everyone :( but juz wana thnk everyone for coming n sharing this v v v special day w me. & all the help fr the frenz n relatives... we are juz v fortunate to have so many helping us. Some pp told me that I gave a good speech n that it was v personal; I'm juz glad I didn't cry when I mentioned my mum... Truly miss her a lot n I wished she was there w us on that day... I guess that was wat my Dad was wishing for also. I was surprised that Dar teared coz he had read the speech b4 n didn't mention anything to me. But we both had a good cry in the hotel rm that nite n he kept assuring me that my Mum, wherever she was wld be v v v happy for us!

I had such a good time that day; wearing my beautiful gown & Nitegown n being the centre of attention... I wish I cld do it all over again!!! Thnx once again everyone for all the well-wishes, blessings, help n for spending the day w us! Most of all, thnx to my Dar for being who he is; for always doting n caring for me n for being the person I wana spend e rest of my life w! *muakies*

Twins & Baby

We've got a new ride!!! & it's wat Dar have always wanted... a White Vitara :) n he didn't tell me that he is buying it, juz conveniently brought me to view it! :P It's a pity we cldn't get the car b4 our wedding date or we wld have used it as the wedding car. (we intially wanted to use the baby Vitara but Dar thot he didn't want to do it up so we decided agst it) N yep yep, it's e same car as the car we used as our wedding car which is owned by his best buddy. n both cars are "SGT", is dat a coincidence or wat??? a pic of e cars:

Of coz Dar liked e car, but wat abt me? :p I q like it lah, coz it is tall n I lurve tall cars coz I feel q tiny in the car and can't really see in front of me but the car is H-U-G-E; being a 2 litre car so I m q apprehensive abt driving it @ first. & the turning angle is also v wide so gota be careful when I turn. Other than that, the car is q smooth n ez to drive, unlike baby V which jerks @ times but I like baby V coz it is so small so it is ez for me to park in any lots. Here's baby V:

& baby V w the 2 twin bros:

But me thnks the kewlest thng gotta b dat Dar got a GPS system for me - e direction idiot!

& it's q ez to use; we used it on our way to Genting n it worked coz it has the M'sia maps as well! Only thing is dat it loses satellite whilst in the tunnels so it wld b q a prob for me as to when to turn out. Thng is, the first time I used the system by myself, I turned out wrongly on the first turn coz Dar set it to a different setting!!! hahaha!!! so typical me rites? :P