A FULL-filling Day

What a day!!! Started off q well as my cash officer is FINALLY back... so I say "bye bye" to my cash days and can finally sit back @ my seat!!! yippeee!!! Sat r e best working days of e week coz there's nothing much 2 do & hafing not been back @ my seat for 2 weeks, I could finally play the games on my comp (:P) n also packed up my messy drawers n the filing cabinet. Thought it would be a quiet Sat but had 2 handle this stupid case... luckily managed to settle it heh.

Dropped off my watch @ Guess before goin dwn to meet Dar for some specific shopping heh. This little crystal thngy fell of from the watch face & I've been delaying dropping it off coz I always forget to bring the warranty haha! But it'll take 1-6 weeks for it 2 be done... hopefully it wont take 6 weeks!!! Then it was off to Compass Point; grabbed some OCK upon reaching coz Dar had lunch already & I was hoping to eat the 1-4-1 pasta @ Pregos. (sidenote: for all DBS cx for month of June... 1030-1230pm) There was CnK sales but both pair of shoes that caught my eyes didn't have my size... DARN!!! Haven't bought anything during this GSS; it's like sales everywhere but nothing interesting. Oh well but can save $ hee. Whilst waiting for Dar, went 2 the lib there... alamak, it was SOOOOOOOO messy & the books were old & smelly but managed 2 find 2 rather decent books :)

Thankfully Dar didn't make me wait 2 lg... so off 2 the first shop we went. The lady was v helpful but I felt she was a bit persistant but we didn't really see anything that really caught our eye. It's like I like but he don't like or he likes but I feel not suitable. :( Dar then said he was hungry, so we went 2 the food court 4 some food b4 going off 2 e 2nd shop; we were sooooooo surprised the gal kept quiet thruout!!! No suggestions whatsoeva... wat kinda service??? But maybe she is new lah... again nothing caught our eyes... so disappointing!!! Still have 1 more shop, the cheapest of the range... wasn't expecting much but who knows... we did see something we liked!!! Yipee... 1 thing off the long long list :P Hopefully they have our sizes *crosses fingers*

Was about to go hm when Dar asked if I wanted 2 go to some sales n I was like "ok lors". The sales was q messy also so I didn't manage 2 get anything but Dar got 3 berms & his best fren who met us there got a shirt. As Dar's fren hafn't eaten, we went 2 the nearby Purvis Street for some chicken rice. We ordered half a chicken & the ngoh hiang thngy n though I didn't eat a lot, i still felt soooooooo full aft dat!!! N aft dat we still went over to Bugis for this Mango Tango drink dat Dar & his friend liked. It was really q yummilicious!!! Esp since it had real mangoes in them!!! Both Dar n I felt soooooooooo full aft dat... it's like we have been eating non-stop the whole day haha!!! Dar cldn't resisit patting my fat little tummy on the way hm :P

Also had some suggestions fr MangoJo n Dar's fren for the venue. Getting stressed out coz the date is drawing near but still no location is confirmed :( Was v happy when Dar's fren suggested Cafe DM which is where I wld really wana have it but Dar was worried about some issues... well hopefully it works out... Checked the Marina but it was super ex n we wanted 2 keep it small... well hopefully everything works out... everyone pray 4 me ok? :)

Melbourne - Torquay

My long overdue post of the last post of my Melbourne trip... so fast... it's been 6 weeks since we came back and I'm still thinking about the 2 weeks that were spend there... :)

I find Torquay a sleepy little town; it is off the Great Ocean Road and I guess most pp may not specifically drive into Torquay. Unlike the the other towns we passed along the way, there weren't so many roadside cafes/parks or as many people. They had something like a town centre and a lot of the houses we saw there were on sale. We actually planned for a day trip to Torquay; leaving early in the morning and coming back to Melbourne @ nite, but decided on an overnite stay instead so that we dun hafta rush and also so that we can have sometime to ourselves hee :) Dar's uncle actually stopped us by Bells Beach on our way to Great Ocean Road as the surf competition was on and Dar wanted to take a look, but we had to pay to get in and as we didn't wana hold everyone up, we just kinda watched from the side. A pic of us @ Bells Beach... nice! Maybe we can go back to try surfing one day heh!

Dar booked the car to be picked up @ about 1pm so we had some time in the morning, so Dar suggested we go cycling. Gosh, I haven't cycled in like a million years & the last time I was on a bike in Uni, I was screaming and everyone was like looking @ me!!! But I fig I needed some excercise after having eaten sooo much so after getting our gear and pumping air into the bicycles we set off. Jaz told Dar the route we could take to a little creek near the house. She also told us that we should cycle on the roads instead of the pavements as some pedestrains may not like us cycling on the pavement. Imagine having to cycle on the road & having to cycle upslope/downslope... scary man!!! Dar found took some shots of me...

The helmet's v ugly hor... but no choice gota wear it!! It was actually q warm & I got kinda tired and kept complaining to Dar and he found it rather amusing coz he has never seen me cycled before and I was wobbling intially! (Dar used to cycle a lot when he was in his teens... he told me how they will always gather over the wkends n cycle from places to places till they "graduated" to motocycles).

After the "morning exercise", it was off to Torquay in our nice big car! Reached there around 2pm, and it was immediately to the surf shops. It was q disappointing intially coz firstly, there weren't much sales and those stuff that I did like didn't have my sizes; they were like 2 sizes too big for me, how disappointing :( But then we spotted this factory outlet of sorts and went in, but didn't find anything but the Rip Curl factory outlet beside it awaited us! Bought lotsa stuff fr there; me bought 2 bikinis (cheap @ $20 each!), a pair of yellow board shorts & some stuff for my kids, whilst Dar bought like 5-6 shirts, a bag and dunno what else. We also bought some slippers from Reef @ $10 each. Actually I don't really need slippers but cldn't resist a pink one to match my new pink bikini haha!! By the time we finished, we were q hungry and decided to grab a quick bite @ Mc's nearby before driving to town to seek for accomodation. Who knows, by the time we filled out stomach and drove to town, it was already dark and we couldn't find the B&Bs! We were like driving around and there were no signs (we were expecting to see brite colourful signs like hotels/motels but these B&Bs only had a small tag outside the house and being dark we cldn't see it @ all!!!) and we were getting worried about having to sleep in the car! When we finally found the B&B we were looking for, we were told that they were fully booked for the nite!! Alamak!!! Luckily we managed to find another one which was slightly a bit more expensive. Whew!!! Then it was dinner @ Growlers, can I say again that the food there was fantastic??? :P Pic of sleepy @ Growlers:The next am, we decided to go for a drive. The wind was sooo sooo strong!!! Almost got blown away by the wind!!! U can imagine how strong the wind can be just looking at this pic:

check out the trees!!! The trees were all slanted in that whole area!!!

The side trip to Torquay was definitely the hilight of the trip, not only coz we bought many many stuff, we both liked the town v much, we gota spend time just the 2 of us and most importantly coz something special happened there. :)) n although Dar doesnt read my blog just wana say:

"Thanks Dar for the arrangement to Torquay & for taking such good care of me be it in Melbourne & all other times as well. We muz go back to Torquay another time ok? Wuv yew lotsa... *muaks*"

New Jobscope

FINALLY!!! Blogspot is running again! Wanted to blog over the wkend but there was something wrong with the website... well @ least to me coz Mangojo claims it was alrite on her side!!!

Was busy last couple of wks what with all the lessons but whoppeee!!! the exams are finally over!!! I think I am just as happy if not happier than my kids haha!!! Told all of them to take a break for a while and to continue lessons couple of weeks later. Just hope that they will all do reasonably well *crosses fingers*

Moi relatives were here from Hong Kong late last week. They just got married and were over in Sabah for their honeymoon and decided to pop over. Dar & I were surprised that there are actually some rather nice resorts in Sabah. My relatives told us that they enjoyed themselves very much and got a good tan as well. Dar was really nice and accompanied me in bringing them out which was really useful as he could communicate w them fluently in Cantonese. I can understand what they are saying but can't really speak Cantonese and they are not very fluent in English or Mandarin either. We brought them to Walas on Thurs nite after dinner w my other relatives and my aunt (although she is about same age as me!!!) pretty much enjoyed the place!!! We even dedicated a song to them but they didn't sing the song that we dedicated :( On Friday, we brought them to Newton for the local delicacies... but the satay wasn't very nice and I really hate the way the hawkers immediately approach you once you sit down, it is like they have marked out their territories or something.

Oh and I got new jobscope @ work. Coz we swopped alternate managers @ my branch so my boss wanted me to take over as Cheque officer so that my new alternate can work more effectively as an Alternate... whatever that means lah. I was telling Dar that my boss probably saw that I am v free @ work so give me more work to do haha!!! Good thing is that hopefully I don't hafta really cover cash anymore... but I thnk I still gota cover next 2 wks... XIANS :(

Melbourne - Nature

Due to space constraint & the ever-increasing pace of life, Singapore seemed to have lost a lot of her greenery over the years; the farms have gone, the lands are increasingly being reclaimed. Added to that, we just do not have natural sights; we do not have the Nigeria Falls or Grand Canyon in the States & Canada, the Grand Canyon, the Great Wall of China & Forbidden City in China (though manmade but very 壮观), nor the Great Barrier Reef or 12 Apostles in Aussie. Thus I'm always awed by these structures/sights when I see them. Not only that, the vast blue sky, the green pastures & the sea that seems to go on forever... wish we had more of that here...

We almost didn't make it to the 12 Apostles; the parked closed @ 530pm & we were there around 515-520pm! Glad we didn't miss it as the view was magnificent!!! Look:














& I love this pic that Dar took... it's post-card perfect isn't it? :)


Dar was commenting on the numerous parks that can be found in Aussieland; envious was he that the citizens could just lie in the park in the summer soaking in the sun or just take a leisure walk around there. Most of the parks also had BBQ pits which were electric operated & free!!! @ some parks/beaches, they also had playgrounds for the kids, how thoughtful.

Look @ the trees!!! Almost engulfing us heh

This tree behind us have the carvings of the native animals on the trunks & it is supposed to be really really old!


That's Milo before me & the hills behind me! :)

& pics of the blue blue sea & white white clouds!!! The way the sea & the sky blends... lovely lovely!

Surfer Dudes @ Bells Beach (Torquay) & a boat (dar loves taking pics of boats) we saw @ St. Kilda's on e rite...







Took this pic w my handy SE hp... see that little fig @ the bottom corner,
dat's my Dar :)



I especially like this pic which we took whilst on the way to 12 Apostles... look @ the white washes!!!

If only we had places like that... isn't it? *wistful*

Impressive Service

Sleepy has encountered some bad customer service in the past & recently; from the insensitive & clock-wood cx svc staff of the insurance co (cant rem which one haha), the infamous Sony Ericsson incident, the tassle with Citibank; to the inexperienced waitresses @ Que Pasa, the overchatty waitress who interrupted our conversation @ Crystal Jade & the rude LTA hotline officer; some of which are perhaps what we expect, some of which are totally NOT expected from the esteemed organisations. Of course, the company will definitely try to do service recovery (which in the case of LTA they didnt. A guy called me to ask me how was the service & i told him it wasn't good but he never probe more!!! Then what's the point of calling me?) but somehow in some cases, the damage has already been done. 1 of the grouses of customer service staff is that whilst consumers are quick to write in with complaints (I'm 1 of the guilty!), they are very slow in giving compliments to the good service rendered. Over the past 2 months, I've been superbly impressed by the customer service by SQ after not one but 2 incidents with them. Tis was what happened:

Incident 1
Sleepy & Dar have actually booked a tour package to Bali, flying on SQ in late Aug/early Sep last year. However as Dar had to go for an emergency eye op, we had no choice but to cancel the tour. The tour agent, took forever to get back to us regarding our cancellation charges (like almost 6 months down the road!!!) and that was after numerous angry calls to them. The guy in charge actually had the nerve to tell me that he has overlooked our case coz he was celebrating his 30th Wedding Anniversary and was thus away. DUH!!! And despite that, they actually charged us almost $400 for a trip that we did NOT even go! True lah, it was our oversight in not buying travel insurance but still... haiz! So anyways as the travel agent claimed that some of the charges were from the airline, moi then wrote in to SQ to ask for a waiver of the charges. Not only was the gal prompt and efficient in answering my queries (which were a lot as I was trying to find out more details), she even took the liberty to help us to call the agent; but the agent refused to disclose anything. Throughout the emails, she was always very prompt and kept us updated on what she was doing throught... v impressed :)

Incident 2
For our recent trip to Melbourne, we flew on SQ as well as the flight timings were most suitable for Dar's bz schedule :P Have I mentioned that he bought a huge surfboard back from Aussieland? Yep he did & it was q funny when we took the trains (both in Aussie & S'pore) coz it was sooooo long & he was occupying a lot of space haha. Yeah so anyways, as he was bz for the next couple of days, he only opened the board bag to check on his surfboard couple of days later and he found that 1 of the sides of the sideboard has cracked!!! For this trip, having learnt a lesson from the above incident, we did buy travel insurance, so we thought to try to claim from the insurance agent as we did not open up the bag @ the airport so we were afraid that it might be more difficult to claim from the airline. However, the insurance agent told Dar that it might be easier to claim from SQ instead and thus Dar called the baggage claims or something department on late Fri evening (I kept asking Dar how come they r open so late haha!) & Dar said that they were very professional and all; they did not commit to anything, just asked Dar to fill up a form, fax it to them & that an officer will be calling him shortly. That was last Fri. Guess what? Yesterday, Dar received a letter from SQ stating that they would be compensating him for the crack in the surfboard!!! Whopeee!!! We were q surprised coz no one has called Dar wrt the matter & they also didn't like ask him to take a pic of the crack of something... Aren't u impressed? We were!!! The letter was very professionally worded as well! :)

It is no wonder that SQ has such a good reputation internationally. On our flight there, we were also rather surprised that a flight attendant could remember where I was sitting (when I was returning 2 my seat from the toilet) & asked the colleague to let me in2 my seat first before serving the food! So next time, fly SQ... it is definitely & truly a greater way to fly!!!

Melbourne - Vehicle Showcase?

Tis was what greeted us when we arrived in Melbourne:

Unfortunately it was NOT our ride... thnk e interior will b super comfy... *wistful*

& @ St. Kilda Beach, we saw this:

Funky or Gaudy... U decide! But I don't think the owner actually drives it on the road... do u?

Over @ Philip Island, there was some car display show or something & the whole street was lined up w cars!!! (This is only a small stretch) There were also cars which have undergone modifications;

Of coz sleepy didnt recognise any of the car (but we saw some old versions of Nissan something when it was still Nissan's old name) but the car on e rite is q kewl rites? Reminds me of Knight Rider haha.

Dar also saw some other fancy cars that he liked...

Hmm... those were the cars we DIDN'T get to sit on... how about some cars that our butts actually touched?!! Coz we had such a huge group going to the 12 Apostles, Uncle thought of renting a big van to seat everyone. We were q lucky as the van was only booked a couple of days before the long Easter Wkend (in Aussie, they get Mon off 2!!! Lucky peeps!) & the guy said it was the last one left

That's the 12-seater Van Uncle rented from Budget... & dat's us on the rite!!! Uncle was in the driver's seat & Jaz was the one taking the pic which is why both of them are not in the pic. Van looks q big rites, but the seats are actually q small 4 my big butt haha.

4 our own "getaway" to Torquay, we intially booked for a small 1.3l manual Hyundai Getz which would have costs us about AUD50+ per day. Look what we got instead:

Tis Humongous 8-seater MPV for the same price!!! How good is that!!! Dar thinks it may be coz they don't have a Getz @ the branch we went to rent, so rather then drive the car down from another branch, they gave us whatever that had not been rented out. Which was kewl coz Dar intended to buy a surfboard & had actually requested for a car with the racks on top. The car (dun ask me what model, juz know it is a Kia & Dar sez it is not out in Singapore yet) was v nice 2 drive but drank a lot of petrol but the comfort was worth it :) More on Torquay in another posting...

Another... n Yet Another...

Shall not bore (or rather make everyone envious :P) of sleepy's trip in Melbourne for a while... n also because it takes a while to load the pics n sleepy is lazee so have decided to write a random post...

Met up w some ex-colleagues last Fri, supposedly for celebration drinks as Tibetan Nun is finally going to embark on her "secular" life! :p Congrats ya!!! V happy for her and I am sure it will be a happier path for her like those of us who have since left the organisation. Then I found out yesterday that yet another cohort mate will be tendering soon, last day being 30th June... that's 2 in such a short period of time!!! But honestly, counting back, we joined PA in Nov 2001 (correct me if i m wrg huh... old liao...) so for those still in the organisation, it means that they are 5.5 years old!!! That's lg!!! It is actually q an interesting job where you get to meet pp of various walks of life (but who may make ur life miserable), organise events (but ur wkends will be burnt), n meeting your other peers from the other constituencies (but some maybe diff to work w). Ok ok, maybe not such an interesting job, but I guess for most of us, we started off rather enthusiastic about the job, but soon start to get disillusioned as the years went by. I see some of my more capable colleagues/friends in the organisation & sometimes wonder what they are doing there.

However, I must add that it was indeed fun working on some projects. Like we had those GRC projects where we really gotta know each other n friendships were forged. Met up with another group of ex-colleagues on Sat whom we call ourselves the "SE gals". Most of us (sans Sharon... dunno how she joined us... we keep claiming it is coz we pityed her haha!), being the younger colleagues in each office @ that time, were often arrowed to work on GRC projects together. To have younger folks working together was fun as we understood how each other felt & cld bitch to each other about each office's working culture. Though we have all left the organisation (amazing hor!!!) we still keep in touch via MSN, emails and have the occasional meet-ups where we catch up on each other's life as well as the latest gossip fr PA haha.

I have only 1 last thing to add "MANGOJO!!! when will it be ur turn??? :P"

Melbourne - Native Animals... NOT

Despite not getting to see the native animals of Aussieland... we did manage to get a welcome from some other not so native animals :P

there were the sheep who were hopefully not going to slaughterland...

...the seagulls of Southbank...

...the cows on the pastures near 12 Apostles...

...the greedy black swans & its relatives @ Albert Park...

...the cocky Kookabaru @ Mt Dandenong...

n last but definitely not least... MILO!!! He's so smart & cute... & loves playing ball!!! Reminds me of my Nikkie!!! Miss u Milo!!!

Melbourne - Story of the Scones

This little incident took place on the 3rd Day when I was in Melbourne. As u all have probably heard, Dar's aunties/uncles were there as well and they injected much laughter during the 10 days we were there. This has gota be 1 of the funniest incident :)

On the 3rd day of our trip, as we were leaving Mt Dandenong (which wasn't really anything much plus it was a foggy day so we cldn't really see v far!!!) Dar's cousin, Jaz suggested that we eat scones on our way home as there was a place that sold really nice scones. So we told the aunties that we were goin to eat Scones, piled up in the car and drove to the quaint little shop. However, after parking the cars, the aunties didn't really wana eat the scones (i thnk they were more interested to go home to cook dinner!!! haha) but asked us to go ahead whilst they shopped around the shops. Of course we didn't wana do that!!! Jaz was then telling them that the scones were really v nice and then she asked:

Jaz: 你们知道"scones"是什么吗？
Aunty: 知道... JA GONG (corn) 啦!!!

@ this, Jaz, Dar & myself bursted out laughing!!! heh... they r v cute rites??? After Jaz explained to them that "scones" r like cake, they also started laughing & decided to try the "JA GONG" :P





sleepy showing off her yummylicious scones w berries jam & whipped cream...





whilst Dar's mum eyes his scones longingly...



Apparantly, Dar's cousin, Chin makes v delicious scones as well... pity we missed it... maybe next time... Hee...

sLeePy's Back!!!

M back from Melbourne!!! Did anyone miss me? :P Wanted to blogged online but somehow couldn't log in so gave up. Really enjoyed this holiday coz it is 1 of the longer holidays I have taken & THE longest taken w Dar :) Weather was nice & kewl though it was pretty cold @ nite/early mornings & in the 1st few days we were there. Luckily we stayed @ Dar's aunt's place and his cousin was soooo nice & lent me some warm clothings!!! We wanted to go Tasmania but coz it was the Easter holidays, the flights were pretty expensive & we were afraid that there will be no accomodation so we gave up the idea... another time perhaps! :)

It was also a pretty relaxing holiday coz we stayed in Melbourne through out the 10 days... goin to list dwn the places we went to b4 sleepy's memory fails her :P

Day 1 - Arrival in Melbourne @ 9am
- Lunch @ Fed Sq in the pm & a walk down South Bank followed by a quick visit to Crown Casino

Day 2 - Queen Victoria Market in the am
- Stroll around Docklands in the pm

Day 3 - Caribbean Market (opens only on Wed & Sun)
- Picnic @ foot of Mount Dandenong
- Up Mount Dandenong where we saw a Kookabara bird real close
- Scones & Tea @ "Miss Marples Tea room" --> YUMMYLICIOUS!!!
- Dinner w Bunnee @ Bimbos --> pizza was Yummz too!

Day 4 - Shopping @ Bridge Road & some Factory Outlet
--> we wasted soooo much time tryin to get to the places coz we were rather confused by the train lines

Day 5 - Great Ocean Road to the 12 Apostles with short stops @ Geelong, Torquay/Bells Beach & Lorne

Day 6 - Sorrento Pier where we wanted to go dophin-watching but operator was doing maintenance & other timings were not suitable
- St. Kilda Beach

Day 7 - Port Phillip but we didn't see the penquin parade hee
- Albert Park which is the venue for the yearly F1 race

Day 8 - Shopping @ DFO (Chesltan dunno how 2 spell & Bridge Road)
--> Dar's cousins were sooooo nice to bring us there... Thanks Jaz & Geraldine!

Day 9 - Cycling in the am
- Off to Torquay in the pm!!! Whoppeee!!! Best part of the trip 4 both Dar & myself
- Dinner @ Growlers... food was F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C!!! Really liked dat place *grinz*
- Stay over in Torquay where we almost had to spend the nite in the humongous MPV rented hee

Day 10 - Stroll on beaches in the am, followed by surfboard shopping!
- Back to Melbourne in the late pm
- Dinner Treat from Chin & her bf @ Vietnamese Rest... food was q tasty :)

Day 11 - Wanted to go Melbourne Zoo but it was 2 ex & since we only wanted to see the native animals we decided not to go in :(
- Back to Vic Market for Dar's sheepskin & some last min shopping (rather Dar shopped whilst poor sleepy waited in the HOT HOT car as we didn't want 2 pay 4 parking haha!)
- Spent rest of the pm packing & helping to wrap dumplings... q nice leh those I wrapped haha!

Day 12 - More packing in the am
- Home Sweet Home

As always, time seemed to pass too quickly & I kept telling Dar I didn't wana come back hee. Super relaxed holiday and we saved q a bit of $ as we stayed @ Dar's aunt's place. Writing all these down brought back the memories of the 10 days gone by... *wistful*... will post up the pics soon!

Inconsiderate peeps...

How irritating... sleepy has been having encounter with rude pp the past couple of days...

Incident No. 1
Was on the bus the other day alg Orchard Road and wanted to stop @ the stop infront of McDonald's House. When the doors opened, sleepy patiently waited behind the hordes of pp waiting to get down the bus. Who knows, this teenage gal actually pushed sleepy away n wanted 2 get dwn before sleepy!!! Where r her manners??? Her only redemption was that she meekly said "sorry" after sleepy gave her a hard stare :P

Incident No. 2
Was @ Mustafa Centre to change money couple of days ago... and everyone knows how narrow the lanes there are. Again, sleepy was pushed away whilst tagging alg behind Dar... and this was a little gal!!! So what did sleepy do? she juz said "So rude" loudly and walked off...

Incident No. 3
The most infuriating one of all which happened @ the underpass from Orchard MRT towards Wheelock. As sleepy was approaching the staircase just after the Tangs entrance, she noticed this fat lady carry many bags walking towards her path. Who knows the lady cut diagonally across from sleepy and squeezed between the miniscular space between sleepy and the wall!!! sleepy almost toppled over due to her many bags and mainly because of her HUMONGOUS size!!! the lady behind had to hold me to prevent me from falling. And the fatty just simply barged through even though sleep said "EXCUSE ME!!!" loudly!!! I hope she falls down or something n no one helps her! HMMPH!!!

I thnk the government should bring out the Courtesy Lion (remember the slogan... "Courtesy begins w me!" once again! Bah!

The "B"

Been eagerly awaiting the big "B" for sometime now... FINALLY it's here but w not much notice! Heard that ZM went to some branches on Tues but she didn't come to mine :( (found out later that she only went to the branches where there were staff promotions) was on course on Wed so didn't receive the letter till Thurs but by then I had already checked my account and happily noted the surge in the balance!

Am I satisfied w the "B"? Umm... I guess ok lah... of course definitely can't compare to PA where will def get 3 months, but heard dat it is still lower than the other local banks :( somemore I think I got slightly higher than the average n a bit more increment than the others but still feel a bit short-changed leh... heh... guess 1 will never be satisfied. Unlike in PA, where my friends comment that I am like some "antenna" w the latest gossip, am not really in touch w the UOB happenings :P so actually till now, I am still not very sure what the average "B" & increment is... but i guess i shd 知足 lah :)

Heard that a couple of my friends are thinking of leaving UOB... me leh? dunno leh... on the 1 hand, I know that I do not want to be in branches forever, yet on the other, can't bear to part w my comfy work environment and work-life... so guess I might stay on till the next "B"... hopefully it will be more than now loh...

The Pursuit of Happyness

Watched the Puruit of Happyness @ Dar's place e other nite & I really liked it!!! (not to mention this was 1 of the rare ocassions where I didn't fall asleep whilst watching a disc @ his place heh :P) The story is about this man, Chris Gardner, who, wanting to have a better life for his son, went against all odds to land an internship @ a prestigous stock brokering firm. He eventually went on to set up his own firm and then subsequently sold it for a fortune. And this is based on a true story too!

Initially, I wasn't very interested in the show & Dar only got it coz he kinda like Will Smith. Then I read in the papers that he was nominated for the Best Actor Award for this show & that the little boy in the show is really his son!!! So when Dar asked me which of the shows I wanted to watch, I immediately said "The Pursuit of Happyness"!!!

Although it was expected that Chris Gardner would succeed in the end, it was the hardship that he had to suffer & go through that really touched me. And just when everything seemed to turn out for the better, something unexpectedly bad will happen and he is back to square one. But in spite of the many hardships he met along the way, (such as being evicted from his house, bank debiting his taxes from his account leaving him penniless, being locked up in jail right before his interview for his intership...) he preservered and made the best out of each situation. But I felt really sad for his son as he was being dragged from shelter to shelter and having to follow his dad out for sales call over the weekend. There was this really touching scene where he dropped 1 of his favourite toy but his dad refused to let him pick it up as they were rushing for the bus to bring them to queue up @ the shelter on time.

Really admire his determination & his positive self-thinking and of course his never say die attitude. If only I could be more like that instead of complaining @ the slightest thing!!! Hope that everyone who watched this show would be inspired to pursue for their own happiness :)

PS: So pleased... I managed to drive the car all by myself; though scared, managed to get to my destination in 1 piece & without stalling the car :) That is my happiness for today!

End of CNY...

Today's Yuan Xiao Jie or Chap Goh Mei... how time flies... it is already the last day of CNY. I thnk there are some customs to follow on this day but dunno what they r and I am not sure the younger generation of today still follow the traditions.

So how was everyone's CNY? Hmm for me, had reunion dinner @ Dar's place on the eve of CNY eve then had own reunion dinner @ hm w Dad & grandma on CNY eve. Went to Dar's place for visiting on 1st day of CNY then went GRL's place & my elder uncle's place before coming home where my dad's side of the family gathered for dinner. My nephew from my dad's side came over & I was v surprised to see how tall he has grown!!! And how quieter he has become. He used to be like a little terror, running all around the house and refusing to call us heh. But he was v well-behaved this time round :) I thnk the happiest person during CNY would be my granny as she gets to see all her children as well as her grandchildren all at once. She even told my cousin to tell my sis that she misses her a lot and ask her to come back sometime... wish Jie could come back sometime too, I m sure my other relatives also miss her as they are always asking about her...



On the 2nd day, was really touched coz Dar accompained me to visit my grandaunt & my uncle. My grandaunt only speaks cantonese and whilst I can more or less comprehend, I cant really speak so it was real "useful" that Dar came along as he could help me to interprete and help me to convey what I wanted to say to her :) He also, as usual, had a good time w all my little nieces & nephews. They all seem to like him soooo much especially little Germaine :)


That's me w Genevieve, Benjamin & Germaine. Benjamin's v cute isnt he?? He even made us take a video of him where he was supposedly doing some dance and also of him singing some superman song but he was sooooooooo soft!!! Then the girls did a clip of them singing “大地回春”which was v funny as Germaine didnt know the lyrics and was just humming alg. And little Antonio was like walking around the gals!!! Maybe I will put it up sometime :) Afterwhich, we brought the 2 gals to Ikea & Courts where they had a really good time @ the play area. N whilst Genevieve is smart & street-smart, Germaine still had the innocence of a child. Dar & I had a good laugh @ some of the things they did & said... Wanted to bring Benjamin along as well but Dar said could only bring 2 so... maybe next time...


Also visited a dear fren of my @ the temple w 3 of my other school mates, 1 of whom I haven't seen in a long time either. My fren took up the robes almost 1 year ago but I haven't seen her for about 1.5 years now. We were very happy to see her looking so peaceful and serene. We had a good time catching up and learning about what she is doing and what her plans are. Hope to make it a point to visit her more often.

Other than that, nothing much but I got red packets fr 2 of my tuition kids' mum haha!!! The other one gave me pineapple tarts & love letters for CNY so prolly that's why I didnt get a red packet fr her. But still... my red packets seem to have shrunk this year :( Mangojo attributed that to the fact that is coz I am older & of marriageble age liao... but still!!! haiz... :P Wanted to do a Lo-Hei w the SE gals but somehow it didnt happen... maybe next year bah. But did went to Lo-Hei w Dar & his best fren on “人日", it was the 1st time the 2 of the Lo-Hei together wor!!! I was rather surprised :)


Hope it had been a good start to the piggie year for everyone. May it bring all of us prosperity & good luck. Most of all, may everything be smooth-sailing for us and may all of us be healthy & happy :)

Driving Lesson #2

Had my 2nd driving lesson w Dar on 2nd day of CNY; it's actually a long overdue lesson but Dar claims that I am always too lazee to learn. Hey, not true leh... he also never offer to teach & who would say no to being chauffeured around rites? :P

Had to have this lesson coz on the 3rd day, was planning to visit YP @ the temple & wanted to drive there, but since I still cldnt drive the manual car, smart me thot of taking Daddy's car then leaving Dar's car for Daddy :) so clever rites? But Dar pointed out something: I'd still hafta drive the car home myself!!! Darn!!! so anyways, we switched cars near our estate & dar made me drive into my housing estate & then towards his housing estate. Kao... forgot how to control the clutch and there was this B-I-G lorry behind me whilst I was driving into my house there and then somehow it followed me out towards Dar's place and I had to stall!!! & the silly lorry driver horned @ me!!! So rude... Darling told me to juz ignore but i was damn nervous lors. After a while, Dar told me drive out on the other main road... still q scared but whew beta liao! :) (well, @ least he stopped nagging after a while heh heh) Getting the hang of it... but still thnk I need more practises so as to be able to get the biting point easily... sigh...

But know what, Dar didnt practise w me reversing and parking, so when I drove back the car, I couldnt really parked!!! In e end, I juz parked the car head in; it was slanted but WHO CARES! :P

Post Valentine...

What a surprise; Darling actually bought me flowers!!! I was really really surprised as he had been bz working the whole day and I couldn't figure out he could have found time to buy the flowers for me! *touched*

Look:

Pretty?? 3 pink roses to signify "I Love U" :) Thanks so much Dar!!!

& coz it was 小猪头's bday ystd... he gets to take a pic w the flowers too.

Happeee Birthday 小猪头！

Valentine's Dae

Most people think that this is one of the most over-hyped days of the calenders; expensive meals which may not turn out as nice as normal days; overpriced flowers... for me, though I do agree that it is a tad overhype, it is also another day where we show appreciation to our loved ones whom we may have taken for granted the rest of the year :)

Havent gotten anything for Darling for this Valentine's; did have something in mind but couldn't find anything suitable. And what with the New Year crowds, sleepy is getting tired of going shopping listening to the CNY tunes being replayed over and over again... so I shall resume my search after the hols... who knows, there may be some good deals :P Likewise, Dar has been asking me what I want, but don't really have anything I want in particular so I keep disturbing him by saying that I want another piglet stuff toy just to irritate him :P Coincidentally, when we went to Mustafa couple of days back to buy printer cartridge, I saw the baby version of my 猪仔 & 猪头!!! So cute!!! the smaller version and since I have the big 猪头 & e small 猪头, if I have the baby one it will be like "Do, Re, Me"!!! But of course, couldn't buy them lah, my bed is overcrowded as it is :P

Waiting for Dar to knock off work & pick me up. Dar suddenly remembered that as he has rented his car out, we will be stuck w the van for V-Dae... how totally unromantic!!! Actually I am ok w it lah but Dar asked me 2 ask Daddy if we could borrow his car instead. I was like, "ok then Daddy can drive ur van???" :P anyways Daddy said we cld use the car 2nite... whew! Not that I mind taking the van, but prefer the car coz it is more comfy & can drive faster. :) Actually we don't really have plans tonite; just goin for dinner somewhere and then dropping by Hwee's place laters. So i get the best of both worlds; spending time w my darling and also time w my gfs :) coz V-Dae is also Frenship Dae mah and so we shd also show our appreciation for our frens :) I remember back in JC/Sec school, we would buy little gifts for our frens or write little notes to each other... Really fun!!! n I do believe I still have some of the notes written to me when I was in Sec sch :) I am a v appreciative person ok??? heh

So to all those pp whom I have crossed paths with but have lost touch, do drop me a note, I would love to get in touch w u; & to all my dear dear dear frenz... cheerz to our frenship!!! *hugz* *hugz*

Babyface

Sleepy has been told umpteenth times that she lks much younger than her age which has prompted her thinking that she shd try to ask for student price @ salons or facial places in future haha. But it has yet to be tried... :P

Luckily Dar also dun exactly lk his age either or it will be kinda like him bringing a 小妹妹 out haha! Guess I took after mummy's genes coz mummy also looked much younger than her age and I remember some of her friends commenting then that she looked much younger than the 4 years diff b/w her and Daddy. And since young, Jie has looked pretty mature; I remember I put this photoshoot of us in my hostel and a fren asked me if she was my aunt!!! gosh!!! I am only like 1.5 years younger than her leh!!! But perhaps when she stands next to babyfaced me, she really looked much older haha.

But in some ways it is not so good to have a babyface coz like Dar says, don't have so much credibility. Especially since I am working in the banks, and sometimes gota explain some policies or procedures to customers and they see me as small fry and immediately say they wana talk to Manager!!! but i am also q gald that I don't hafta entertain their rubbish anymore hee hee. Anyways, this conversation happened in the office the other day when my CSO asked me to go down to override her transaction:

cx: wah, so young can do overidding of transactions ah...
me: (didnt reply as I was checking the transaction)
cx: (cont'd) now staff getting younger, so young already has the authority to overide...
me: (grins) I am not as young as I look...
cx: issit? u r @ the most 30 plus...
me: HUH?? I am not even 30 lors...

Honestly i didn't know whether to be insulted or amused!!! Do i already look 30 plus? How horrifying!!!

Driving Lesson #1

Went for my 1st Driving Lesson last nite... driving lesson?? "wat driving lesson" r u asking? well... as Daddy's car is an auto car, I gota relearn how to drive a manual car and having bugged Dar the past couple of days, I was "scheduled" to have my lesson last nite :P

Was the first time driving the car since Dar got the car couple of weeks ago. Was q excited coz m somtimes too lazeee to take public transport to go for tuition and thus a car would be super helpful esp if I needed to travel to various places. :P

So last nite Dar first brought me to the carpark @ Kallang Mc's and then to the carpark around stadium there as the carparks there were much bigger. Was v v v v scared of driving the car coz the car was still new and I was scared that I couldn't control and will slam the car into something; thank goodness that didnt happen! First thing I had to get used to was the clutch; have been driving auto cars ever since I passed my driving test so it was kinda strange to see a 3rd pedal. Next, gota practise releasing the clutch to the biting point before stepping on the accelerator. Initially I was releasing the clutch soooo v slowly, then I realise I could actually release q fast till about 1/2 - 3/4 way before stepping on the accelerator!! Actually I not bad wor, engine didnt stall ok *beams* Then Dar taught me how to change gears; somehow it was smoother when I changed to lower gears. Dar said it is coz when I change to higher gear, I clutch in too fast, so the engine slow dwn liao then I step on the accelerator dat's why no power. Dar also taught me how to stop the car, after I asked stupid question like do i step on the brake first or I change to neutral gear first haha! Finally managed to get the hang of it (although still not v gd) and we were driving around the carpark in circles.

Dar then suggested I drive on Nicoll Highway for while before going home but i vehmently refused!!! Alamak, I thnk I will freak out if I were to drive w other cars on the road!!! Must practise more first... and I thnk I beta go dig out the "P=Plates" to put on the car :P :P :P

To be cont'd...

e Young @ Heart

Sleepy just returned from KaiYe's birthday celebration a while ago which was really interesting. It was kinda like a grassroots events but yet not really if u get wat i mean heh. :P V thankful to Dar for accompanying me there although he was sooooooooooooooo v tired :)

The celebrations was held @ the Geylang United Football Club in Bedok of which Kaiye is a member. (incidentally that building used to be a theatre. i didn't realise until Dar pointed out the big screen to me!!!) When we passed by on our way to park the car, I noticed a group of pp @ the door and I thot that they were Kaiye's invitees, but they were not; they were pp looking at football on the screen or something hee hee. Was v v v surprised to see Kaiye coz he was dressed in suit and bowtie; was the 1st time I saw him like dat heh. Dar was also v surprised to see him dressed dat way. And Dar is so cute, he passed the wine we bought for kaiye and then he spoke to Kaiye in chinese which had me telling Dar that Kaiye's chinese sux and Kaiye reiterated in a string of broken chinese haha!! Anyways as Kaiye is turning (or has turned) 60, the theme of the party was "Swinging 60s". Q cute rites, i mean who would imagine a 60 year old guy having a bday celebration w a theme and asking everyone to dress like the 60s!!! Well most of the grassroots didnt but kaiye's daughters n her frens/cousins did so it was q interesting.

There was also a live band there... ok not really lah, juz a keyboardist/guitarist w 2 singers. They sang mostly oldies which the crowd q enjoyed. And to our surprise, Kaiye's daughters organised some games for the guests!!! It was q hilarious. Of course we didn't join in but we watched them playing the game and had a really gd laugh!!! There was this game where the groups were given a piece of paper and they are supposed to cut a hole such that a person can go through the paper. And in 1 group there was this really skinny guy who was the model and who had to "squirm" his way through the paper. It had everyone laughing their heads off. The next game was also v funny; the groups had to do a relay w a safetypin held between the player's knees. Watching some of the players hop or trying to walk to the other side really tickled us to the bones!!! And after the games, whilst the 2nd group of singers sang, the guests took to the dance floor. Pity I left before Kaiye made his moves... i m sure i wld haf had a gd luff :P

It was great to see these much older folks (compared to me lah!) enjoying themselves tremendously. I would never have thought that there would be games and dancing as well. It seems that the older pp are getting younger @ heart whilst the supposed young pp r getting more drained and tires easily... how now brown cow? :P To be surrounded by his friends and loved ones in this celebration, I am sure Kaiye had a great time. I wonder who will be celebrating my 60th birthday w me?!?!? :P

PS: Bro Bear, in ans to your comment, my life has not been v interesting of late and I was told that pp have grown tired of my complaints :P

1 week into 2007

The first week of 2007 is over... so has anyone's resolutions been fulfilled yet??? :P

2007 started q okily for sleepy... Went to watch "Curse of the Golden Flower" w Dar on NYE which he didnt really like but i found it ok lah... Then went to meet his cousin @ some pub along Robertson Quay thereabouts. Missed the fireworks though... fren said dat it was rather gd this year... damn... n we were still wondering how come no fireworks this year as we drove out of Orchard Rd heh.

Didnt do much on New Year's Day... was happily catching up on my sleep and chatting w Mangojo online. Such a blurbloke she is... asked her if she was free then she never replied n she had e nerve to tell me she thot i asked her if she was free on e 2nd!!! Alamak... old pp... tsk tsk!! haha Went for KaiYe's RC Gathering. Yep Yep... even though I have already left PA for 1.5 years, they still invited me back *touched* and anyways I didnt want Kaiye to msg me on the day after "scolding" me why I never turn up hee. And they were real happeee to see me... n me likewise lah :) still miss the days of working w them; they may not be the best committee I have worked w in PA (still think TKNC is e best!!) but they were the comittee that I was closest to most of them and they really super dote on me man! Was telling Dar that they kept asking 3 same qn; 1) how r u, 2) where's ur bf & 3) when r u getting married haha!!! Had to "assure" them that I will definitely invite them to my wedding IF i do get married heh. But also v touched to see their concern isn't just for me alone, also for Dar... thanks folks!!!

On the 2nd, finally got to meet up w Hwee who was back for a short stint before flying to Shanghai. Joined her and her frenz for karaoke but we did more chatting then singing heh. And laters in e nite, met her and Siping for a quick drink @ Walas. And just heard fr her that she will be back for a 2 week break for CNY!!! happee happee!!! gota catch up then! :)

Also had some little surprises in my mailbox; received an email fr my JC classmates attempting to link everyone up!!! Gosh... except for Shanster, i havent seen the rest of them since we graduated!!! Really hope that we will be able to meet up or something... i remember this super hilarious time when the whole class went Tony Romas haha!! Still tryin to thnk who else was in our class hehheh... also sent out mails to 2 of my ex sec sch mates n received reply fr 1 of them who is now based in NY :)

So 2007 started w a lot of catching up w pp which is 1 of my resolutions; to keep in close touch w moi friends. And maybe catch up w those friends that I haven't seen in ages. So friends... let's catch up ya? :)

Oh n have a great year ahead everyone!!! :)