Connected to the "Outside World

Yipee yayee!!! We have been recently been granted external email acess for out email accounts :)))) Still remembering feeling v "uneasy" when I first started working as my email had no external access and we can't access external websites either; oh well we still can't but at least I don't feel so "alienated" from the outside world, being able to only check mails when I am home and then waiting 1 whole day for the reply. Now I can answer in REAL time :)

Also had a yummylicious dinner @ Tao Restaurant w Stella & ZH juz now. The food was q unique and tasty... rather worth the price. As usual, we had a great time catching up, chit chatting and got me got pressies too! :) Thanks guys!!! And not to mention the karaoke session w the PA pp e other day, didn't really get to talk a lot, but yet in a way, having the company was somehow enough. If only wish we could all meet more often but more often than not, schedules don't meet and then we take it for granted that there's always another day to meet up. (yes, I am 1 of the guilty ones...) Or that there's always email, msn, and even now, blogging to keep ourselves updated on each other's life... but somehow feel that a face to face meet up is still the best coz it is difficult to anticipate's one's feelings over these channels... don't ya thnk?

Slow Morning

It's gota be 1 of the MOST boring Sat mornings in office for me today!! and almost every Sat, my boss would comment that our branch should be close which I totally agree!! Other than the fact that I can sleep in late and laze around in the house, there are hardly any people on Sat, safe the employees of the establishments in the building. Just wondering if the few transactions we did justify for our pay, the utility bill and all other expenses??
Actually it has been a really slow week... partly due to the IMF I guess; road closures making our branch somewhat inaccessible (yipee yayee) so almost everyday, we balance by 5 and can happily leave the office by 530... how's that??? (now u all can understand why I say I am sooo comfy in this job hee) This morning, when we came to work, we noticed that the surrounding side roads have all been closed off, and then sometime later, the portion of North Bridge Road just in front of my office was closed off too... No wonder there weren't many pp coming in!!! I was trying so hard to keep myself occupied the whole day and it was TOUGH!!! didnt wana spend the time reading process maps, yet didnt wana seem to free to my boss :P Tellers didnt have much transactions so there weren't many vouchers to check either... so went to pester them to close early and return money early so that can try to aim for record breaking time home haha!! And they were really sooo cooperative that I, as cash officer balanced before they did!!!! Only thing is 人算不如天算，1 of my tellers didn't balance so we could only leave @ 130. BAH!!!

Appraisal Time

*Gasp* gota pass up my appraisal by next Mon... has it been soooooooooo fast already??? Was just given the KPIs by my boss 2 days ago and gota hand it to her on Mon... thankfully, there weren't a lot of KPIs but i found it difficult to phrase my own appraisal. Truely miss the good old PA days where we just copied from each other or rather where 1 person did for the rest of us haha! :P Unlike in PA too, I don't think I will get an exceptionally good Evaluation coz there are already certain areas where we fall below the KPI and I am not a very conscientious worker either *sheepish look*

During this time, it always makes me wonder how effective are the yearly appraisals. To me, it is like a "for show" kinda thing, where you try to "promote" yourself; or rather don't make yourself to be a bad worker. Thing is that the KPIs are given to us at the same time of the appraisal (actually they are the same every year but still!!! I only just received mine!!) so how do we measure ourself and take note of the things we shd be looking out for??? To me, I also feel that upper management already has in mind who are the people they wish to promote, so why bother with this kinda self-promotion?? Although supervisors are supposed to meet with the staff after their appraisal, it has never been done in PA... but I heard UOB is different, they do talk to you about it. But then again I don't like these kinda stuff haha!! Heard that I would have to evaluate some of my counter staff too... definitely NOT looking forward to it...

Received the news after my block leave that the new branch @ Raffles City would be opening soon and my Cash Officer would be going over. SOBBIE SOBBIE!!! I really really like her... I thnk that she is THE nicest person in the branch; she doesn't raise her temper and is ever so helpful even if she is soooo v busy... which is what I can't say about some other pp heh heh. I have learnt a lot from her and chatting with her; like recently over SI haha. In the morning she never fails to greet with a cheerful Good Morning and end the day with a "See You..." Sometimes I feel guilty coz she has many things to do and when I try to help her (coz our duties overlap) to clear some, she will quickly wana take over and do herself instead. But I feel bad to just leave like that mah... I am sure gona miss her a lot... and hopefully the new cash officer that comes in will be just as nice. I always have this impression that all Cash Officers are motherly and nice coz the Cash Officer @ King George was also suuuuuper suuuuuper nice too!!! And I do hope there is a replacement coz if I am tasked to be the permanent Cash Officer... i will QUIT straight away!!

Almost...

Almost... Hit
Izzit me or other drivers... have been encountering some errant drivers on the road lately... first it was e silly lady in her beemer along Bukit Timah Road who simply cut lanes like she owns the road or something... AND she did it sooooooo slowly... the uncle in front of me buay tahan her n horned her. Then there was the uncle in his huge bus who wasn't looking where he was going and almost banged into me whilst doing a rite turn in a small little carpark. I horned so loudly @ him that it caught the attention of the residents who were going to do their marketing haha. So Mangojo, after u get ur license... pls don't follow their examples ok? :P

Almost... Fined
What a close shave... ystd Dar was giving his mum to Aljunied when we were stopped by a traffic police!! actually it was q funny coz we were @ this traffic junction when the traffic police pulled up next to us. I noticed that he was looking @ some papers and then @ the car plate of the car in front of us... but we were a bit worried as none of us had our seat belts on!!! Who would have known that the police then turned his head to face us and SAW that we had no seatbelts on... ALAMAK!!! so dao mei!!! He asked us to pull over the side and Dar was chided for the fact out of the 3 of us, no one had the seat belt on. His mum & I were like thnking... die liao... sure summon liao coz he look soooo stern wor... but after Dar told him to give him a chance... who would have expected that he said ok and waved us off!!! Thanks Mr Traffic Policeman!! Saved our money and demerit points! :)

Almost... Drenched
It has been so sunny and hot the past couple of days... & the sky chose to rain yesterday when I decided to run around town... GRRZ!!! It started to rain when I was having lunch w Kai Ye but as Kai Ye predicted, it was only a passing shower. However when I reached came out of the underpass @ Lucky Plaza, what a sight greeted me... it was raining cats & dogs!! Was q pissed coz i only needed to cross the road to get to Paragon but I didn't dare to run over in case the ever clumsy me fell dwn... what a sight that would have been!!! Luckily this indian lady agreed to shelter me over... heh heh... if not i will be cold, wet n pissed haha! :P

Almost... Over
Xians... my block leave is almost over... Guess it is like what DewDrop said... when u r happy.. time seem to fly past... 4 more days... but i am looking forward to the weekend *grinz*

Tech Savvy I am not... SOBZ!!!

Irritated I am coz I am such an idiot when it comes to tech pdts. Got my new phone and installed the programme but the file manager thngy DOESN'T WORK!!!! Haiz... :( the same thng happened with my Palm programme the other time; cldnt get it 2 synchronise properly... but after installing and uninstalling a couple of times... the silly programme (or the silly computer I dunno which!!) finally decided to work :) But even though I have uninstalled and installed the hp programme... it still doesnt work... FED UP!!

Wierdest thng is that, only the file manager doesn't work, the rest of the stuff work so I did manage to transfer songs to my phone which means that now my ipod shuffle and my Creative MP3 players has been rendered pretty useless hee and i did manage to send some pics to my phone... i used to send it 2 my palm then infra it to my phone... how dumb is dat rites?? but like i said... i m a totally tech unsavvy person heh!

Anyways was @ Dar's place the other day and decided to try out the camera on my phone. As both of us were not trigger ready that day... the job of being the model fell on 小猪头. The camera is almost like a digi cam... got a lot of functions...

Look a pic of 小猪头 using the "frames" function... taken in 3 seperate shots... I like this v much :)

N these were taking using the "Burst" function... it is like it will take 4 shots consecutively so Darling was like shaking 小猪头 whilst i took e pic hee. Actually got some more functions but models being models... 小猪头 started throwing a tantrum so we gota stop the photoshoot... well until next time then :)

Me got a New Phone :)

This post is in black in "tribute" to my new Sony Ericsson w810i phone which is kinda in matt black in colour... I like :)
Unlike the previous times when I knew I wanted the 6100 or the 6230 v v v badly, I was pretty clueless what phone to get this time round. Wanted to get either a swivel or a flip/slide phone but nothing seemed 2 catch my mind; thot the 6111 was sleek n cutsey when it came out late last year, but it has been out for so lg liao... novelty has worn off. The SonyEricsson w550i is kewl but then bro bear & tibetan nun has that phone (n both own the orange one!!). And then all the new nokia, being 3G n blah were all 2 bulky n thick for me. Added to that, I wasnt particularly too keen to buy another Sony coz of my horrendous experience w the T630 in the past. Ha... m I a confused kid or wat?? :P
So anyways, they were having some promo on the w810i n the 6111 (which incidentally would have been free since Dar was gona change plan...) so decided on the SE coz @ least it is a newer model, so when I trade in next time will have more value... HAHA! :PP
Actually the promo was on since last week but coz of Dar's emergency eye op, couldnt go dwn 2 buy... then when I finally decided to get my butt moving yesterday, I couldn't buy the phone n effect the mobile plan change on his behalf coz we didnt write his mobile number/account number on the letter. Being me... I duly gave the pp @ Starhub Call Centre a scolding. I m just wondering if they are even following up the matter... hmm...
But what goes ard comes ard coz this am i was chided by this tuition lady coz I went to tell this mum who wanted tuition some wrg information... :P


PS: Me just did this personality test fr a friend and I am a "Fruity-Fragrance Type":
You radiate independence and happiness, always immersed in fun-seeking activities, like an innocent child. You always manage to bring life into the party, thus you are indispensible to parties. Although you are cheerful, well-liked by most, others think that it is difficult to be good friends with you, because the impression that you give is one of a comedian. Some thinks that you like to make a fool of others and are dependent on others, so they are reluctant to be close to you. But, you are actually mature and firm. There are few that truly understands you, leaving you with few bosom buddies.

Some parts not v true leh...

Coincidence or Plain Unlucky?

A shocking sight awaited me when I went home this am; walked past Daddy's car and was wondering why the rear windscreen looked "frosted". Intially thought it was due to the early light rain but on closer inspection, to my horrer, the windscreen has cracked/shattered!!! which explains the frosted look!! Daddy came down to take a look and it was the cause of a this little piece of porcelain like thingy... poor Daddy had to rush the car to e workshop and thankfully they were able to rush the repairs by tonite as he needed to use the car.

This is the 2nd time since the car has been bought that such a thing has happened. First, there was this HUGE dent on the top of the car, when Daddy brought to the workshop, they said it was prolly coz a tree branch or something fell on it. But i seriously doubt it coz how come we were e only car that kena and it wld b q amazing that such a big thick branch could drop to create such a dent rites? N now this shattering of windscreen... Dar was commenting that since Daddy bought the car, we already have 2 such cases (not to mention Dad reveresed the car into something...) which is really q unluckly. But on the other hand, I m wonderin... it is too coincidental liao... was it a deliberate act...??

Being Thankful...

How often do we sit back on think on what we have and be thankful for them? I guess for most of us, more often than not, rather that be grateful for our possessions and our well-being, we lament on things that we can't or are not able to achieve.

Was at Serangoon MRT yesterday when I saw this gal w her friend, all dressed up for a party or dinner function of sorts. I was wondering why she was carrying her little black bag so high up when I realised that it was because she did not have a left hand!! Her vitality and vibrancy whilst she was talkin to her friend striked me even as I was thinking whether she lost her left hand due to an accident or whether it was a born defect. I wonder how it feels like to be so young and yet to be short of a limb; to have the whole world ahead of you but yet having to put up with the stares of everyone around you. But i guess it is up to the individual; you can either wallow urself in self-pity or put ur head high and take everything in ur stride like that gal I saw.

I recalled when I was in sec 4 and preparing for my O-Levels (actually it was like a day or 2 before my chem paper) when I woke up 1 day and could not stand having to face the sunlight. I had to shield my face and my draw the curtains in my room whilst I studied. Paranoid, my mum of course broughtme to the dr where I was told I had an ulcer in my eye and had they brought me in a couple of hrs later, I could very well have lost my sight!! Somehow when I heard that @ 16, u seem to think that the adults tend to exaggerate and that it was impossible for me to lose my sight. But thinking back, I realise how scary it was (especially for my parents) and how lucky I was that nothing happened to me. Likewise, v thankful that Dar's retina detachment was noticed in time or it would be highly probable that he have lost his sight. *whew*

And so I juz wana say that I am thankful of the big and small things bestowed on me:
My Dad, who has not only provided a warm shelter, food on the table for me my whole life but loves me in his own way and is ever so concerned abt me;
My sis, though I dare say we r v different, who always buys me stuff when she is back and sends me cards n lovely notes on my bday;
My Darling whom I have so much to thank for... ;
My friends, whom have always stood by me, supported me through my downs and joyed with me through my upsides of life... and whom I know will always be there for me;
My ex-colleagues turned friends - fate let us know each other and m very happy that friendshop has been forged;
My colleagues who help me in my work;
a Job so that I can live comfortably and spend on my whims and endless number of shoes (haha);
the Luxury of having both Dad's & Dar's car to drive when i m too lazy to take public transport;
and for all the other things that I have... the list is endless!! From this day forth, I shall be more thankful and hopefully complain less!!! (let' see how lg this lasts heh heh! :P)

And What are YOU thankful for?

Shifting House

Renovations to Darling's new house were finally completed and they started shifting in for the past 2 weeks. The reno were q a headache coz the contractor cannot listen to instructions properly AND the workmanship wasn't that good; dar had to like ask the guy to change the floor tiles 3 times and countless other stuff that were ignored. It was real frustrating as there are 2 chinese 7th month this year and they wanted to shift in before that. Finally the house was ready!! :))

Good thing that they are only shifting across the road, so they can kinda take their time to shift their stuff over slowly... which is what Dar has been doing. The past 2 weeks have been spent goin to IKEA with him to get his stuff and to shift his stuff fr his old place to the new place. GOSH he has so MAAAANNNYYYYY stuff I was amazed!!!!! I helped him to carry the stuff over and boy were the boxes heavy!!! thnk all the durians and ice cream I have been working were worked off heh! Kept nagging him to throw away what ever that is not needed, as I told him, if he hasnt used them in the past 10 years, he is unlikely to use them in the next 10 years rite??? But he is e sort that likes to keep stuff and so, much to my disappointment, not much stuff was thrown away :( His new room is kinda cramped rite now with all his possessions collected over the years which I don't really like. Of course he claims that he juz wana shift everything over then slowly pack and throw stuff but somehow I don't see that happening hee hee!! Best thing I like about his rm is the super comfy sofa bed he bought; it opens up to a slightly smaller than Queen sized bed. I almost always promptly fall asleep on it when I am @ his place which is why he is q pissed coz I always say I wana help but end up sleeping instead *grinz*
The other thing I like about the house is that it has a TERRIFIC view!! It's like we can even see the audience at National Stadium, although they lk like ants lah! :PPP Hopefully they dun tear dwn the old bus interchange and build high rise buildings in it's place. Me can't wait to catch the NDP fireworks @ his place this year!!

Mc Dessert Attack

Had this in M'sia the other day & thought they were not in Singapore yet...

They are known as Flavour Burst; it's like a normal cone but has this strip of flavouring to it. I had the Mocha one whilst Dar had the something Orange one and it was nice!!!! Not as boring as the good ole Vanilla cone but it costs 3 times as much!!! Only cost twice as much in Johore though :))))

And Mc's milkshakes are BACK!!!

I had such a HUGE craving for them when they were taken off the shelves back so many years ago (anyone knows why??)... thick & creamy... SLUUURP!! Tried their Banana milkshake (think this is really new... can't find it on their website) on Sat n it was YUMMMMMMILICIOUS!!!! A Definite Must Try!!!!! Rated 11 out of 10 hee!

Balancing Acts

Question 1) Too Much? Too Little?
As u all probably know, the front-line tellers would have to balance their cash positions before they can close for the day. And if there's a shortage/excess, we would look through the transactions and see if there are any errors or hopefully the teller can recall which are the possible customers that more/less cash was given to so officers can check with the customers. My branch has been pretty clean of cash shortages/excess for a while but recently it seems we have been "hit"; 3 times in 3 weeks!! The 2 by 小妹妹 was still ok but the other one by aunty teller simply blew up!!!
Ok, honestly, I am not very found of aunty teller (poor Darling has been hearing my endless complaints abt her :P); she is damn kan cheong & always damn eager to run off. She always wants to leave early & thus always chase officers to check her vouchers. Fair enough, I m q mean, when I was cash officer (& thus her direct officer) i q purposely choose not to check her vouchers haha!! but I dun care coz u all dunno how irritating she can be!! That aside, she always don't want to remember what we tell/teach her resulting in her asking the same qn over & over again. She also likes to choose the easy way out and I am really talking about shortcuts here & sometimes I think she don't have common sense & to think she used to be a remiser yet still so lax on banking rules. But the most classic thing is that she LOVES to argue w my boss!! Ok lah, my boss can sometimes be q unreasonable but when my boss tell her what she has done wrong, she can tell my boss, "ya ya, I am a bad girl, sorry, I am a bad girl..." PIANGZ!!! what was that for??? & she has a daughter almost as old as me leh!!! *faints*
So anyways back to my story... (sorry had to let it out & muz give a bit of background abt aunty...) the other day we had spot check for the tellers & aunty teller was short of $50; there were only 95 $10 pieces in the flap for 100 pieces!! My alternate is q good @ catching snake one, then plus my tellers, they all helped to look through the vouchers and also to search the surrounding area (even the dustbin which she apparantly spits in... gross rites???) to see if she has dropped it anywhere. But in the end we realised it is q a futile search as she didn't bundle the money on that day itself but a couple of days ago, which means that she was actually short of cash for the past few days. The thing was that, when my alternate spinned the money and realised that 5 pieces were missing, the 1st thing aunty teller said was "nvm lah I put back the money." and they are not supposed to do that!!!!! So anyways they were all helping to search, even my boss... when tada!! aunty teller comes in to tell her she has found the money!!!! It was like so DUH and obvious she took the money from her bag coz 1) they already searched the surrounding & 2) I was in the toilet when she went in to get the money and she was behaving suspiciously when I came out of the cubicle. Less than 3 minutes after I went back to sit dwn, she say she found the money liao. Some more, when my boss asked her where she found the money, she mumbled and couldn't give my boss a definite answer. Like my boss say lors, "want to be thief also be a clever thief mah!!"
We let the matter rest and my boss was discussing with us whether she should tell higher authority about the matter. Personally I think she should coz 1) aunty teller won't appreciate & 2) to protect herself lors. So on Fri, (incident happened last Wed n aunty was on leave on thurs) my boss spoke to her privately & asked her discreetly if she put in the money. and guess what??? Aunty insisted she did NOT put in the money and she was damn adamant about it lors!! Apparantly she kept looking down and repeating "No I did not, No I did not!" My boss spoke to her 4 a damn lg time ( @ least half an hour to 45 min) before she finally admitted that she put in the money. Her reasons being 1) she didn't want my boss to scold her & 2) coz the other tellers were waiting and she didn't wana hold them back! (I must say the tellers in this branch are v v helpful, whenever 1 of them havehis kinda prob, everyone will rope in to help to lk @ vouchers/txn & help the affected person to recall their tx.) My boss called back on Sat to ask aunty to write a report & then aunty panicked!! She asked for boss' number & apparantly called my boss to give her another chance but my boss was firm that she wrote a report & that her boss the ZM be informed. Aunty then asked what were the possibilities that she will be asked to leave and my boss replied that she really didnt know. Soon after, aunty called back again & told my boss that she has decided to resign, and that on Mon, she will find everything in her drawer & locker. & being the irresponsible person she is, she simply juz did not turn up for work on Mon... that means she is giving a 24-hr resignation!! We were all blur coz she did not mention anything to my alternate on Sat & so we were all clueless that she has resigned!! N she really caused a lot of trouble coz we had to "break open" her box & my poor 小妹妹 had to help her to return her stock & also to count and take over her cash (incidentally her cash was short of 2C haha!) holding everyone back!! I simply do not understand her, I mean if she is so scared of losing face, then why do it in the first place? Which in any case, the other tellers wont like lk down on her or what coz they all have shortages or excesses b4 mah. Also, when my boss ask the 1st time, she should have just admitted it lah... i mean it was damn obvious lors... like that, of course my boss will want to protect herself mah. Some more, if the other tellers know (n there was a new teller who apparantly saw her putting the money in) then next time, they can just happy happy take out or put in the shortage/excess liao mah. Sighz... thought only the younger generation would be capable of such things but she is like a middle-aged woman liao lors.... *shakes head*

Question 2) To go or not to go?
Q pissed w office this week... haiz actually it is my usual gripe of always being the one being called for overidding. I don't understand why, no matter which position I sit, this downstairs teller would always call me and I m not even her direct officer lors!!! It is worse when there are only 3 officers working; somehow tellers don't like to ask my boss to overide (actually she also wierd one, she tell the tellers not to call her unless officer bz... we keep overidding we dun hafta do our thngs liao lors!! n then she can happily tok on phone... mad!) n then my other officer may sometimes take v lg to go out so in the end who do they call... ME LORS!!! Dar tells me then in that case don't go out so fast lors, sometimes i also think that way but then i will thnk that they are the ones facing customers & they can't do anything whilst waiting for us then it will be v awkward for them also mah. but sighz... then WHO TRIES TO UNDERSTAND MY POSITION??? sometimes really doing things mah n got many thngs to do mah. And we have upstairs dwnstairs somemore, i can go dwnstairs n overide, come up, haven't even sit dwn then gota go n do overidding liao. And not that I thnk i m v great or what by always doing overidding for them, but sometimes I feel the tellers don't appreciate one lors; like when they can tell that I m bz already or when there are already many things in my pigeon hole, they can pile even more things on top one lors. Or if I m doing cash @ bz periods, they will ask me to check stock (or vouchers like silly aunty mentioned above) for them. Eh u all fin liao n wana end early, i also wana go off early mah :( don't quickly go n do overidding, cx gota wait, get impatient then complain or vent anger on teller then teller gets pissed or worse we get complaint letter, or boss will ask why we take so lg 2 go out; as her phrase goes "cx waiting u know, how can u make cx wait??" but if go then i v buay song, then sometimes i will show grouchy face to my teller... how now brown cow? anyone has a solution???

& the Million Dollar Question... More Money or More Time for Self?
Also thinking whether I wana take up a new tuition kid... still trying to fig out the place... not v far but machiam q diff 2 go there. Wonder if I can cope what w work n all and also if i m willing to sacrifice the time which can be used 2 rest & relax ; meet up w frenz; & spending more time w Dar (hmm serious consideration :PP) As it is, 1 of my kids keep changing time one, don't have fixed timing then I don't like but apparantly her CCA teacher always add/cancels CCA one... dunno true or nots... n i still havent ask my other student if she wana continue... 2 lazeee 2 call n she also v lazee 2 call me haha! oh well... i have until 2nite 2 give an answer... shall take a nap n ponder over it... zzzzzzz

HAPPEE 1 YEAR to me!!!

How time flies... last year today was my 1st day in UOB! So fast and it is 1 year already!! Remember last year on this day, went to sign contract, had lunch w my new found friend then went to my training branch @ King George's branch.

3 months there and I was posted permanently to my present North Bridge Branch. Have I learnt a lot? Well, learnt quite a bit about back office operations but still feel that there is much for me to learn; still a lot of things gota ask my colleagues for help or to ask various departments for help. What I really hate is customers always calling and asking about this & that, alamak there is the HOTLINE mah :PPPPPP (though I must admit it is pretty hard to call through... but then again we also don't have any special number to call me!! DUH!!)

But haiz... kinda feel like leaving liao, tired of facing silly customers and picking up nonsense calls but yet I am just toooooo comfy in my present branch, no form of motivation to leave... muz really decide what to do soon... :P

JJ RAWKS!!!

Went to JJ's concert last nite and I must say that I pretty much enjoyed myself! He was good!!! :)) And we were pretty near the stage, well not all that near but not soooo far until he is just like a little ant and then I would have to concentrate more on the projector than on him, so well worth my $110. Havent been to concerts in eons... hmm... went to my 1st one by Jacky Cheung (tis e one he lost his voice then we had a make up of e concert... kewl!) when I was 15 & then the Take That one when I was in JC (& which I almost fainted coz we bought the standing tickets and I almost got crushed n suffocated haha!) then no more till this.
Pre-Concert had this famous dancing instructor from Taiwan (dun ask me wat's his name!!) teaching the audience some actions to be used during 1 of JJ's songs subsequently. It was q farnee but I didnt follow lah coz felt kinda stupid hee hee. Then before JJ came on stage, they showed this video clip like in the year 3006 and there was no music & this little kid happened to find this CD which brought him back to year 2006 and the kida kinda morphed into JJ. Ok... cant say I really understand what it mean but after that JJ came out on stage & the crowd like went wild!! Started off with 2 quick songs which showed his nifty dance steps before slowing down to 翅膀 from his 1st album. But e corny thing was, they literally showed this pair of wings on the screen and I soooo wanted to burst out laughing!!! :P
Didn't really enjoy his fast songs coz for 1, I am not too familiar with them and for another, somehow the music was way way way too loud during the fast songs thereby drowning out his voice. But I totally enjoyed when he sang the slower songs especially 1 of my fave 简简单单which I have as my ringtone *smiles* I recorded the song but somehow the effect not that good leh. Was thnking I shd have brought a recorder to tape up the whole concert man hee hee!!
He had 2 special guests, 金沙 who sad to say, can't sing & who incidentally is the Jean Yip gal wor... never knew that!! & 阿杜 whom JJ calls his 恩人 as he was the one who kinda intro JJ to the entertainment world when JJ first came out. What I didnt expect was the easy camaderie between the 2 of them; they r like pretty different leh but it is heartwarming to see local artistes standing by each other :)
There were also 2 special segments; 1 where he sang songs which he wrote for other pp and 2 where he sang songs by pp who has influenced him in his music whilst growing up. For the 1st session, he sang 4 songs, 2 of which I don't recognise, the other 2 being 当你 & 记得 which is 1 of my fave Ah Mei's songs!!! & he was v touched when the audience sang with him on these 2 songs!!! It was AMAZING!!! As for the 2nd segment, he sang 黑色幽默 by Jay Chou & 唯一 by Lee Hon which I was q surprised coz I thought he would sing songs by more "established" artistes like Jacky Cheung & not the new generation of singers... but I guess it is the R&B kinda music that attracted him lah. But the person that influenced him the most was Michael Jackson & he sang "Heal the World".
The concert ended with his encore rendition of 曹操，my current fave 只对你说 & 江南 fr his 2nd album. He actually broke dwn whilst singing 只对你说 then my friend was asking, why is he crying?? haha :PP
All in all, me thnks JJ is a v talented singer/songwriter. Like most of the songs that he has written save maybe for the fast ones but then again I am a sentimental gal @ heart hee hee. Hope he will continue to write & sing more nice songs for us to enjoy!!! :)

Dewdrop's Wedding Dinner

It was Dewdrop's wedding dinner last Friday nite (16th June 2005), held @ Marina Mandarin. Intially thot I could go there earlier (as I have been knocking off ard 530 the past couple of days) but it is always when u want something that you can't get; so suay, my teller's cash couldn't balance and by the time I could get away, it was already 630. Took a cab and there was a jam... so dao mei. Dewdrop was waiting for me in her suite as the makeup artiste wanted me to finish my makeup & hairdo before helping Dewdrop changed into her gown. Felt so bad that she had to wait for me :(( anyway here's a pic of us in the bridal suite before going down with her to meet the guests:

Aint's she pretty? & the hairstylist did her hair up in like buns with little white ribbons pinned on... v v sweet & elegant. Here's one taken before we went in:

The videographer did a really good montage of the customary on 11th; he knew what he wanted us to say so that everything would blend in nicely. Hope I will get to see the whole thing though hee hee!! & the couple engaged this photographer who would take pics n on the spot give u the pics in nice little cards!! Way kewl!! So of course we went around asking him to help us take pics haha!! He took 1 of me when I was giving a speech on behalf of the Jie Meis. My mouth was open wor!!! I realised that I might have talked too fast but it was a gd experience lah!! hee hee!! Here's one of the table with the couple:

This was a dinner I really enjoyed, in part coz I get to meet up w my ex colleagues fr PA & we had a great time catching up but mostly coz it is the marriage of a dear dear fren of mine and I felt involved in the whole wedding thingy. Congrats again!!!

Dewdrop: U know, actually there was very many other things I wanted to mention in my speech but it wouldn't have flowed!! haha!!! Anyways the jist of it was there lah... :)) Hope u & Ken 恩恩爱爱foreva!! :)

To Give or Not to Give

Sometime ago, there was this article cautioning pp about the "monks" (or something cant remember...) who were going around claiming they were from Thailand and asking people from donations as some of these pp are fraud. That made me kinda wary of such pp even though they were dressed in robes but their numbers seem to have dwindled since then.

On my way to work last Fri, I was walking towards my office @ Bras Basah Complex when I was kinda approached by this monk (oh well he was dressed in robes) who gave me this card with a pic of the Goddess of Mercy on it. I say "kinda" coz he appeared to come out of nowhere (i thnk he was behind a pillar) and just passed me the card. Caught unaware and thinking it was harmless, I took the card. He then pulled out this piece of paper which was a sort of donation card, where pp wrote their name, what they wish for and an amount of money was written down. I was quite shocked when I saw the paper as the amounts written were not small!! The lowest being $50 and the highest was a couple of hundred dollars. So anyway I wrote my name and he did a little prayer for me and then the monk asked me for a donation. I took out my wallet and gave him $10, BUT he, on seeing that I have a $50 note in my wallet asked me to donate more citing that other pp donated like $100 plus. When I said that I didn't have enough money, I noticed that he kept eyeing my $50 and proceeded to tell me that the lowest donation was $50!! I insisted that I didnt have enough money and he was still v persistant... asking me to donate $30 instead. When I again told him I have no money, he just took my $10 and left. I was like stunned!!!! Are monks supposed to solicit for funds in the first place?? Even so, he is not supposed to dictate how much I should donate isnt it?? Like what Dar said when I told him, all donations should be 随意 mah.

I have nothing against religious organisations soliciting for funds, but these kinda black sheep will only create a bad impression for other people; that is, IF he is a genuine monk in the first place. I am thnking that he just writes in the amounts himself so as to make others feel bad by donating so little; in the end when he walked off, I didn't even have the chance to write down the figure. I am now afraid that, he will say bad chants to me as he have my name... How now brown cow??

Dedicated... to DewDrop...

Yesterday's was DewDrops' customary and I was honoured to be 1 of her 'Jie Mei's :) My first time so was pretty excited about it! Went w her to do our nails on Thursday night & went to do hair treatment on Friday night so that I will have nice straight hair on Sat. Haiz... I miss having nice straight hair...

Reached her house @ ard 740am in the am after buying ice for 1 of our haggling games. Also (thankfully... being the scatterbrain that I am) remembered to buy/bring the sour plums bought for the 酸，甜，苦，辣 'segment'. She was already nicely dressed & made up when we reached... so pretty!! We went about getting ready for the games and also took many pics w the lovely lovely bride. As expected, she was v excited and nervous about the whole thing and I told her that she would have to try to control her tears later or her makeup will run heh!!

So anyways, the guys reached about 9am (i thnk!) after having breakfast wor!! And her hubby was made to shout up from the carpark that he loved her. We made him do it like 3 times, by which many people fr the neighbouring blocks were looking out of the window!! But haggling didn't go quite well leh... our 1st red packet only had $8.88 wor!! Alamak!! Not even enough to buy breakfast??? :PPPPP Anyhow, we did have loads of fun before finally opening the door for the groom :) Then it was the tea ceremony & more tea ceremony (& food!!) before we went back to the couple's house for a final run through for the dinner next Fri.

Was tired after the long day but felt really happy for DewDrop. She is a very sweet, responsible and patient gal whom friends can definitely count on. Have known her for almost 5 years now; had our share of gripes, grievances & gossip about our colleagues and pp from our Division; had our share of working together on divisional projects that only brought us closer; had our share of many sushi meals with our cohort mates; had our share of icqing during work to kill our bordedom; had our share of seeking each other for help for constituency projects and the list is endless. Through it all, I have no complaints about this gal; she just takes everything in her stride and looks at everything in a positive light. She is 1 of the people that I am blessed to have known in PA and though we are in different organisations now (conincidentally, our offices r q near each other...) I know this friendship will remain for a long long time to come. Happy for her that she will be embarking on a new journey of life together with someone who treasures and loves her and whom I can tell will look after her well... Congrats my friend!! Have a blissful marriage and hope to hear little feet running around your house soon!!

My Piggies

Yipeeee!!! Finally managed to upload the pics!!!!
Here's 猪头 with little twin brothers 猪仔 & 猪仔仔. That's e "ee ee" 猪仔 on the left...


& Here they are after their bath!!! SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPER PINK HOR??? 猪仔 & 猪仔仔 look alike again!! (oh well almost lah... 猪仔仔 is fatter heh!)

Close up of my most beloved 猪仔... so clean now hor... as compared to the 1st pic :) I love my piggies!!!! Especially the BIGGGESSSTT one of them all heh heh! *grinz*

Lost... & Found

1) Scrungys
Lost my pink scrungy the other day when we went M'sia... I thought I dropped it in Dar's car but can't find it @ all!! Then ystd I dropped my new good light blue scrungy. So pissed w myself coz those were the 2 good scrungies that I have... now I am left w my dirty blue scrungy which is loose and I cant tie my hair properly with it! Where can I find nice cheap scrungys??

2) Chain
Went for facial ystd & had to take off my chain. Being lazee... I didnt bother to put the chain into my many pouches but instead just dropped it into my bag. Whilst @ Parkway after facial, decided to put on the chain but again, couldn't find it in my bag @ all!! So I had to walk back to the shop but it wasn't on the ledge where I put my bag. Was feeling q upset for being careless when the gal called me back!! The chain was on the chair!!! YIPEEE!! :))

3) Wallet
A distressed Dar called me ystd (like a total of 8 times before I finally picked up the phone haha!) coz he lost his wallet!! He was tryin to recall if he left @ my hse but I was pretty sure he didn't. He went back to office to search but couldnt find it even after tracing his steps. That put him in a really grouchy mood! Went to report loss of IC but was told to wait a few days and see if anyone returns the wallet. Personally I thought no one would return it or if anyone intended to, they would have called him coz his namecard was inside his wallet. Asked him to check w the reception this morning n guess what? Received a text fr him this afternoon that said "Babee, I found my wallet!! The coffee shop uncle kept it!" Can really feel his happiness man!! haha!! Apparently he left it on the table after buying his drinks ystd... & uncle didnt call him coz they didn't wana open the wallet heh!! Anyways teach him a lesson coz he's always carrying his stuff in his hands n placing them like everywhr! :PP

4) Job
Brother Bear is gona lose his job... as he has found a new job!! Mighty Mighty happy for him! Have always thought he was deemed for better stuff than his present job. Hope all the other pp in my cohort, esp MangoJo & Pearl Jie will also leave for greener pastures soon!
(N.B: Da Xiong: there I mentioned u... satisfied? :PP)

5) Piggies gone a bathing
I have been having rashes the past few wks/months... which got really bad 1 day I had to go see Dr and take MC. The Dr say I am allergic to dust and suggested that I move out of my hse!! I mean... DUH!! like she wana buy a new apartment for me?!?! Anyways... Daddy & Dar attributed my allergy to all the dust trapped in my stuff toys so I was forced to wash them. I dunno what my maid used but my piggies came out like new!! Ok 猪头 & 猪仔仔 were not very dirty to begin with so u cant really tell the difference but 猪仔 came out much pinkier & somewhat fatter!!! Thus I have lost my "ee4-ee4" (translate dirty) 猪仔& found a fatter & pinkier one & he has also lost his smell; now smell like detergent wor :(( Give me back my "ee-ee" 猪仔!!!
(P.S. wanted to post the pics so u all can tell the diff but 4 some strange reason the pics dun come out... can someone enlighten me pls?? :P)

Oh and I can buy new hp in a couple of days time... any suggestions???

Teamwork

n. Cooperative effort by the members of a group or team to achieve a common goal.

As I mentioned in my earlier post; have been getting bad vibes abt my boss of late. Seriously wonder if she is undergoin menopause or something as she had been rather grouchy and it makes the whole atmosphere in the office so tense!! Yeah I may b a "complain queen" but most of my colleagues feel the same way too, so the prob cant lie w me rites? :PP

Actually she used to dote on me q a bit until... hmm... can't really recall when. Think partly due to this Service Quality Intiative which I had to do for the branch (& which I never really follow up) and this rather grave mistake I made (which wasn't entirely my fault). For the SQI, I had to design the survey form for my tellers for them to give customers so as to track certain key indicators. Of course, my tellers are all too "shy" to give customers so I thnk she is q pissed that I am not really making an effort and there would be a meeting w her boss soon to give an update on the project and so she is worried that our project will seem lousy in front of others. In any case, being a marketing student, I think I shall "smoke" my way through haha! What made ME kinda pissed was that intially she was like, "Oh if she wants to continue, then you can just use the same thing but use other indicators...", then now she is like, "I told you already it won't work...they are not proactive enough to give the forms to customers..." DUH!! As for the 2nd case, to cut the long story short, I "hopped" this case (cx wanted to withdraw FD and merge w another FD) from the ex-BM and didnt proceed to check properly so the FD got rolled over and to withdraw it there will be a cost which had to be approved by someone else who incidentally didnt really wana waive off the charge. But anyway, she kept saying that i was v stupid to hop on the case n blah... to me, she wasn't really solving the prob and like what the present BM said, now wasn't the time to pinpoint the blame on anyone!! So I guess she was pissed that she had to settle the case. Thing is, I am not saying it is not my fault and from this, I will learn to be more cautious next time, but why must she keep saying I am stupid/gong?? I mean everyone make mistakes mah! :(

Then there's v v v little teamwork in the office and it shows! Overiding of txns being another issue, but for other matters, why must things be segregated so clearly as to who should do what? (But I must admit, I always tend to conveniently ignore faxes haha :PP) I mean, if everyone help out everyone else, everyone gets to finish earlier then we can all go back earlier isnt it? Just a couple of days ago, my boss asked 1 of my tellers why her vouchers havent been checked for the whole day by the other officer who is "in charge of" that particular teller that day. Well, as officers we each have our own duties and jobscope and sometimes it is just v diff to find time to check vouchers if, that particular day there are many overidding txns or many phonecalls or nasty customers or diff cases for that matter. Also, some of my tellers are "scared" to ask my boss out for overidding such that they are willing to walk all the way to the other side to ask the other officer to come out for overidding. Officer may get pissed coz the teller is not under her jurisdiction and teller will get pissed coz officer will ask why ask her to overide!! So it becomes a cycle!!! Actually I do tell my tellers to ask my boss to overide coz it is like so "far away" n like i said we have our own stuff to do mah. So I also dunno how to solve this prob haha!

So yeah, have kinda lost favour w my boss... but she will be on leave next week and the whole atmostphere in office will be much lighter! YIPEEE!! There's really a 180 degree change in office attitudes n feelings when she is not around; everyone tends to be more relaxed and jovial... the kinda working environment i wana be in :)) So it'll be a happy 1 week (coz there's relief officer some more so I can zuo bo haha!) before my cash officer goes on 1.5 wk leave n that will be a TOTALLY miserable time!! SOOOO not lookin forward to it!!!

GSS

Coincidentally my friend was reliefing at branch really near me and so we decided to have lunch together. :) Met @ Bugis and wanted to eat Pastamania coz I can get 30% discount but managers were not around so ended up having Sakae instead. Hmm... somehow, always end up having sushi with my friends when we have no idea wat to eat heh!! So anyway we were catching up and she was telling me that she wanted to ask for a transfer to department but it will be q tricky as being less than 1 year old, she would 1st hafta ask her direct supervisor to release her before she can apply for any internal positions. So it becomes a little tricky if after sup approves but the other department doesnt wana take u!! But if we are @ least 2 years old, we can apply directly to the respective departments without having to go thru our direct sup... but still, that is like another year away wor!! And she was commenting that it might be harder for me as my boss & her boss may not be willing to release pp. :( Actually my boss did tell me that during 1 of her meetings w her boss, they mentioned that to as for transfer, staff has to be in the branch for at least 3 years... gosh... I wld have rotted to death liao??

Anyways after lunch, my friend went to meet her friends in town to watch X-Men3 and I decided to walk around Bugis before meeting darling since now sales mah. BUT... the sales was pretty horrid!!! Went to Mphosis & GG<5> & Seiyu but didnt really see anything I like or even if I did, they didnt have my size!!! Grrz... wat's e point of having sales if everything is in like size "L" or "XL"??? Luckily managed to pick up a pair of purple capris fr LMG & a skirt fr Ness. Thnk Ness sales is pretty good... save for the $9 rack but I didnt really have much time to shop as Darling was coming to pick me up already... muz check it out more. AND... saw a pair of shoes I liked for only $20... debating whether to buy that as well as a purplish pink pair fr Nuovo in Suntec which also costs $20 as I still have my Vincci vouchers which I hafta use by 9th July... Haiz... how now brown cow?? :P

Hopefully when I go shopping next wk will be able to find other stuff I like... lemme know where there r good sales okies? :)