something is wrong...

... when you see christmas decorations hung up and christmas trees erected and christmas carols playing. all too soon, again, that familiar feeling sets in and you try to bring closure to the year. and yet you just can't seem to find the time to wind down and relax and bask in the atmosphere. something is seriously just wrong.

... when one too many people hit on you. for the wrong reasons. never mind.

... when you think that you can hang up your traveling boots for the year and just enjoy the season out. and then you are told you need to go to four places. -sucks it in and deals with it-

... when you are self-conscious of your smile.

... when you spend 300 dollars on a bag and don't feel any orgasm. at all.

i seriously think that i am losing the urge to blog. or maybe, it is a sign that i am not living my life the way that i should.

but i can't say that i am not enjoying my life now, enjoying the flurry of surprises that are thrown my way one after the other, from le bf no less, who took the extra trouble to be sweet to me during this birthday month. i insist, no more surprises. and had two more thrown my way. seriously, i am NOT complaining. i LOVE it.

last week, i did manage to get a semblance of my social life back, meeting up with the bestie for dinner and shopping!!! and lingerie shopping no less. i absolutely LOVE lingerie shopping. getting all the necessary support and the feel good factor that only girls would understand is oh-so-important. spent a bomb, but who cares! i deserve it after all the hard work i put myself through.

the week, however, did not end as good as it started, culminating to running to the docs and being put on antibiotics for the really strong flu virus that i could not curb. but even that, could not ruin my self-proclaimed prolonged weekend, which started off with a nice surprise from le bf (really caught me off guard) on friday night. and saturday was SHOPPING with jw. agenda of the day consisted of finding a nice suit and proper shoes, but i ended up with a frivolous buy in the form of a very uber pretty liz claiborne bag. and happy at that!

i really do enjoy the little joys that life brings across to me.

you know you've had a bad week when you try to recall what happened and what might be even worth remembering, and there is nothing. nada. zilch. zero. ling.

or maybe there is. terms like, late nights, cancelling on a girls' night out, having one too many.

okay, enough on the depressing stuff. time to write off the bad week and look forward to the week ahead, where i plan to make a last ditch attempt to get my social life back.

my first post

as a 26 year old.

le bf keeps jibing me, 26 leh... very old leh...

frankly, this is the first year that i felt nothing. really nothing. each of the previous years, i'd wake up in the morning thinking, one year older. but this year, i woke up thinking, it's my birthday! and all thanks to the flurry of sms-es that people sent to me whilst on their way to work. good to know that you keep me in your thoughts as you make your way to work.

this birthday week was a series of highs and lows. started off with being in an all-time low of having to work late and number crunch, being the last to leave everyday from monday to wednesday, having only enough energy to lug my almost-dead body home. that culminated to a sluggish thursday, having to finish up all the untouched business from monday to wednesday, which also equates to the bitch emerging once again.

thursday, however, was highlighted by some colleagues, who celebrated my birthday for me in advance, with some really yummilicious tiramisu cake, and an agnes b. organizer in my fave color no less - red. can't say that i was not surprised, for i had played down the fact that it was my birthday, and with all the work that was due, i wasn't really in the mood anyway. but at the same time, i was really really touched. perhaps because there's been a lot going on at work, and it makes me realize the gem that such colleagues are.

thank goodness for me (as well as the rest of the people), i managed to get my friday off, which also means an self-proclaimed extended weekend, where the stay that le bf booked at fairmont hotel was simply just fabulous.

fabulous in the sense that it was a really rejuvenating experience, everything was just in order, with more birthday surprises to come. we really enjoyed being 'students' once again. students in the sense that we get to enjoy some off-peak time, just shopping, eating and chilling like we were students once again. it was a good reminder that this is something that we ought to do once in a while.

it was in fact, the most fabulous staycation experience. even though we unanimously felt that the room did not beat the venetian (not even close), we had the best time of our lives. it was like a holiday, less the hassle of packing, unpacking, traveling, etc. in fact, everything we needed was right at our fingertips, which really took away the stress that comes with traveling overseas.

it felt really different just roaming the streets aimlessly, checking out new places, just pigging out like no other, and to end off the whole experience with my ever-fave strawberry shortcake.

and on saturday when we got home, there was a HUGE black forest cake, from secret recipe no less, awaiting.

i think i can safely say that i am in cake-overdose. first time in years. don't get me wrong, i absolutely adore cake, and i still do.

so that was the chronicles of my week. i refuse to call the celebrations to an end, for that would not be doing myself justice. meeting-up with all my friends are next on my agenda!

xoxoxoxox

year-on-year review

sounds very corporate sounding, but just a reminder that i have long stepped into adulthood and i am really embracing each moment of my life.

so so much has happened in this past one year that i don't even know where to start. am i contented? yes, very. am i happy? extremely. i guess that just says it all, doesn't it?

what do i want in the coming year?

to work less extreme hours, yet not lose my dedication for it.

to be a good friend, sister, daughter, partner to the people who matter to me.

to have the guts to aim for the stars, yet be contented with what i have.

i would like to thank each and every single one of my friends (in no given order)

eileen

alicia

june

zooey bean

bali

val

stella

jw

shu

von

twin

for loving the person that i am, for not judging me regardless of the stupid decisions that i may make or insensitive remarks that i put across, for always being there for me.

and of course, to le bf, who loves me for who i am and nothing else.

this year's celebrations is without much fanfare. i really do not have a wishlist, and i really do not expect anything. i am just already thankful for all that i have in my life and i truly appreciate each and every single thing, no matter how minute it may seem.

i hold myself in breathless anticipation of what is to come in the next year ahead for myself.

important lesson learnt

it's been a really rough week at work, with loss of sleep and appetite, and with more to come. so i shall take cover and recuperate as much as i can over the weekend and brace myself.

sometimes, life is good in the way that it gives us timely reminders of lessons that we have learnt so far, and keeps us from forgetting those precious things that you learn along the way. painful as it is, i admit that i needed the reminder. and that is all i shall say here.

it's so much so easier to be jaded and cynical with all the obstacles that life throws at you. but i will not choose the easy path to go down to.

and all that i needed to be reminded of are my friends and family who will be there for me when i shout/scream/bitch, and not judge me for it.

it just gives me a warm fuzzy feeling with the parents fussing over me this morning, ensuring that i was getting healthy food into me. with le bf having to force feed me to ensure that i eat just that bit more, so i won't fall ill. with people whom you call friends that share not only your joys and laughters, but also your pain and tribulations.

work, is but work.

the perfect way to chase away monday blues

is to get off work early (and by early i mean 7 pm) to go SHOPPING!!!

and snagging THREE frigging dresses. don't ask me why i bought three at a go. and all dresses. i had the notion to top up my wardrobe with dresses... so...

and i managed to find the perfect pink dress. i think val is going to kill me now. just weeks ago, i was musing about how difficult it is to find the perfect pink dress, and something i'd wear even after the wedding. and she took the trouble to source for pink dresses, and now it's pre-ordered for the bridesmaids.... and then i went on shopping, and i found it. and i bought it.

oops.

oh well. life is short. might as well spend it the way you want to spend it.

i was planning on shoe shopping, but decided that the best way to go was out of the mall and on to home.

that means... shoe shopping another day!

yay yay yay! october is coming.

me loves october!

random musings of a still 2x-year old

does having a job give you purpose? or does your purpose give you your job?

i think people who fall into the latter category would be much more contented.

nothing much, just a random thought that came to my mind. i do think that a lot of people fall into the former category, nothing wrong with it at all. i do admit that i fall into the former category for now. but that doesn't mean that i am not contented at all with my life. in fact, i am very contented. i also do think that it is due to the demands of society that many of us fall into the former category, and it also means that we should make the most out of it.

but i do look forward to the part of my life where my purpose gives me my job. i know that that will come in the near future. and i am looking forward to it.

the not-so-ugly truth

a great start to the weekend after a hectic week. having not had a movie date for ages, le bf and i decided to just catch a movie, just for the sake of it. and it was a not-so-randomly chosen chick flick 'the ugly truth'. it was given not great reviews at all, but we couldn't care the less.

and i LOVED it. every single bit of that cheap humor, the whole chick flick-ness, the crass language, and the weak, very movie-like plot. it was just absolutely hilarious and i found myself rolling off my seat - something which i hadn't done since watching 'white chicks'. it totally rocks my socks, alongside with other feel good movies such as '50 first dates'. or maybe it was because i completely agree with both points of views that were presented in the movie.

but anyhow, it was a good start to the weekend, after a good dinner at our fave haunt of sambal stingray.

looking forward to spending the rest of the weekend in good health!

xoxoxoxoxo

i always thought the long weekend was to catch up on my sleep. this long weekend, i not only managed to catch up on my sleep, i also managed to catch up with falling ill and getting well, all without taking mc. am i amazing or what?

and no, it wasn't by choice. it just so happened that i was down with food poisoning for the entire 24 hours of what you would normally call a saturday. thank goodness for the long weekend, or i'd be kicking up a fuss over my wasted weekend. and the food poisoning resulted in missing my appointment with val for the dress fitting - something which i had very much looked forward (and dieted for) throughout the entire week preceding. sincerest apologies that she has to go through the trouble to arrange for another appointment for me. i would have lugged my almost-dead body down, but for the fact that i was running a temperature of 38 deg. let's just hope that i make it for the 31st oct meeting. -cross fingers and pray really really hard-

i do think those late night dinners, eating dinner at odd hours every day, having period cramps and overworking has a part to play in lowering my immunity. so, again, i will resolute to eat at a constant time and eat well.

but the upside of being down for a full 24 hours and more, is waking up to an amazing facial complexion. i was completely not in the mood for using any of my facial products and was totally zonked out for the entire day. i figured that by the time i got up, i'd just do more damage control. and to my amazement, none was needed!

so really, sleep is the key to maintaining a good complexion. and i suppose that it really is true that the time your skin regenerates the best and the most is between 10 pm to 2 am. so now maybe we should all quit our jobs and concentrate on sleeping so as to preserve our youth.

i am just kidding. that is too shallow. the key, once again, is to have good balance.

having gotten out of my illness phase, it was still an upsurge task from being bedridden one day to acting like a normal person the next. it's even taken a toll on my appetite, not that i am complaining.

so having completed all the errands, le bf and i proceeded to slack the whole of sunday away, but not before we OD-ed on our fave soup. it was a good respite from the plain porridge water and sugar water that i had subjected myself to the day before.

at this point, i am also amazed at the amount of credit card bills that i've had to pay this month - close to 5k! all thanks to that traveling! it really does not come cheap. then again, more than a comfortable two-thirds is claimable. thank goodness. in times like these, i really do wish that we had a corporate credit card so i would not have to pay the bills. bah. but that, of course, has its disadvantages. so let's just leave it as it is.

speaking of travel, the best part (and now i also know the reason why le bf doesn't mind me going on duty travel that much) about having people around you travel is that you just sit back and enjoy the souvenirs without having to go through the stress of traveling itself.

that said, i present to you the several loves of my life....

omg omg omg omg omg is that poyet? -orgasms and dies- really the best truffles i've ever had. but that is, of course, my own opinion.


and the other two loves of my life... le bf actually bought these for me when he came back from KL having watched the man u soccer match. a coach wallet (love the ribbon!) and a dozen of those big-Os in the form of Krispy Kreme!

speaking of man u, last night's derby match kept us all on the edge of our seats. no doubt the most stressful match i've watched (and you know it because i never blog about soccer) but one of the most entertaining and gripping matches ever, and a derby no less.

so having rambled on for the past hour or so, i now leave you with....


i found myself on a billboard!!!

okay right, who am i kidding. just an iphone app that i recently downloaded to allow you to place your pictures just about anywhere you want. you can even turn yourself into a mona lisa lookalike! amazing what people can come up with these days.

i'm out!

the parents are back from their switzerland trip!! and due to their fantastic negotiating skills, they have managed to source for my all time ever fave choc truffles!! from poyet no less!

le bf and i absolutely fell in love with poyet when we were on our tour de europe trip. it has been a long three year wait, and now it is within my grasp. so brimming with joy at the idea of the lovely box sitting in my fridge. i can't wait to go home tmr!!!

it's friday again so soon and i am so tired.. i daren't make any friday nite plans for i wouldn't want to hold any of my frens up for dinner. and just as well. poyet, here i come!!!

lessons to me

one of the rare nights where i can just kick back and enjoy some time to myself in the evening, perhaps put a little bit more thought into this blog rather than the usual narrations of my life.

life's been a whirlwind. so many things going on at the same time that you feel like you've been spun around like a top. but it is still important to sit back and enjoy the finer things in life.

laugh. laugh a lot. even if you can see those damn crow feet forming at the side of your eyes.

live life passionately. there are so so many things to be done in life that anger, pessimism and cynicism should just take a back seat. seriously.

somtimes, just sometimes, boring is good. it just shows that life is peaceful and stable - something that we ought not to take for granted.

but other times, plan your adventure of a lifetime. that is... until you plan for your next adventure of a lifetime. might be something small, but at least it must be meaningful to you.

life is never about your competition. you are not defined by your competition. if you let your competition define you, you have already lost yourself. set your own goals, be happy when you achieve them (and just screw the naysayers). and if you don't, ask yourself why, truthfully, and move on (and still screw the naysayers).

enjoy the journey, not the destination. people are far too concerned with the destination, that sometimes, it does disappoint. but what they don't see is that the journey was far more exciting than the destination itself. and by that time, it already is too late to enjoy the journey.

so i am enjoying the journey of where life takes me to.

moving swiftly into the 26th year of my life, i am, as always, looking forward.

you know that all hope is not lost yet, when you get off at 9.30 and reach dinner place at 10.30, when you were supposed to have been there at 7.30, and yet there are still friends and food waiting for you.

and for that i am glad.

i had the most vivid dream about tokyo- new york..

i distinctively remembered that i had flown to new york with the family, but had decided to go shopping alone. in the process, i met this colleague who was there for duty travel. We went shopping and got our fix of krispy kreme, and went for a city tour to see mount fuji.

ok i know tt sounds weird.. but the whole dream looked nothing like nyc. i saw landmarks that i had seen in japan.. doing things i wanted to do in japan.

i think tokyo has moved up to become one of my fave cities. it was a really good dream and I was so upset to hear my alarm go off this morning. but anyhow, i felt really well-rested and all ready to take on today!

15-hour work day?

working 12-hour work days two consecutive days in a row is frigging insane.

during my duty travel to japan, i had the opportunity to meet this acquaintance of my boss, whom we've had previous dealings with. over drinks, he told us that his company hours are from 6 to 9.

my first thought was.... do you mean 6 am to 9 am? but of course, i remained silent so as to not sound like a bimbo.

he of course means, 6 am to 9 pm.

that is beyond this world. how anyone does it, i do not know. everyday, 6 am to 9 pm, and inclusive of saturdays too. that is beyond my comprehension. he gets up at 4 am each day to commute two hours to work. can you imagine that?

so in times like these, i remind myself of this, so that i can feel remotely better. yes, i know people in australia and mauritius close shop at 5 pm tops. but i guess there is a price to pay for the luxury that comes with it.

i am going to concuss. excuse me.

random musings on a saturday morning

a self-enhanced short work week - something which i always hate to enjoy.

still reeling from a late night of talking to the parents, who are ever so excited about jetting off to switzerland this coming week, on my free ticket no less! finally, a deviation from their yearly month-long sabbatical to china, but something they will still be embarking on after the swiss trip. so excitedly showing them pictures of my switzerland memories, telling them how they had better buy poyet chocolate back. and i can see the glow on their faces as they prepare on this very exciting trip.

allow me to just sit back and enjoy a sense of pride of being able to send my parents (actually just my dad) for a holiday. yes i know my ticket is free, but it's still my benefit to give, no? okay fine fine, i would have used my free ticket, but for the fact that i really don't know when i can go for my next holiday. BAH. even my december holiday looks at risk now, but having traveled so much this year, sometimes i really do just want to root myself down. each time i come back from each trip, i thank God that i am back on home soil.

i know they say home is where the heart is. and my heart is where my family and friends and familiarities are.

tokyo-cebu in less than 1 week

(before i start, all pictures are viewable in facebook. and i must say that jw's pix does a lot more justice to our cebu experience than mine. i've posted the album to my profile, so if you want to get a better insight of what cebu is like, please look at her album.)

in times like these, i sit back and marvel at how truly amazing i am. it may not seem like much, and one can probably understand the amount of stress it entails only having gone through it yourself. so allow me to marvel at how amazing i am and the limits i push myself to at times.

so having said that, as promised, here is the picture of the wonderful sashimi (less the shako and sea urchin) that night. i have yet to find out what the clear white fish at the top right of the picture is. anyone who knows what it is (100% sure please...) please drop me a comment/tag.

everything on the platter was just so fresh and succulent. -smacks lips-

but that, unfortunately, was my only authentic japanese meal. we know it is authentic for there were only japanese in the restaurants, the menu was all in japanese, and our agent had to translate everything for us. if you ask me to go back there, i wouldn't know how to get there and how to order.

after this trip, i have taken to haneda airport a lot more than narita airport. suddenly, narita feels so foreign, and haneda gives you the more homely feel. i especially love the fact that the runway is right next to the ocean, and you just feel so at ease even if you're just cruising. narita, on the other hand, is just full of delays. my flight back was taxiing for more than half hour before take-off permission was granted. so annoying.

the good news is that haneda is getting more recognition - it is becoming an international airport. but the bad news is, singapore flights will still originate from and to narita. for now.

different view of haneda airport... it was so calming and serene...

this was also the first trip that i had managed to squeeze 2 hours for some private shopping at shinjuku. but please do not think that such luxury is given on every trip. and even so, on this trip, it was more of present buying for le bf and the family, than anything else. a day's of my duty travel allowance gone - buying presents.

i guess there is something thrilling about going out in a foreign land, all by myself. i had to conscientiously look out for signs, so that i would know where to take the shuttle back to my hotel, so that i wouldn't get lost and turn up in some corner lurking with danger. all in all, it was a fun experience, keeping myself on my toes, getting a sense of what it is like to go on a holiday all alone... which i think i prefer traveling with friends because it is less taxing and more fun to get lost together.

all in all, i had a different sense of japan altogether. no onsens, no 14-course japanese meals for dinner each night, no time to relax really, to the point that i did not even bother putting on the yukatas in the room - something that le bf and i would do on our japan trips. i finally had a sense of how people do business in japan. but i feel that what i see now is just the tip of the iceberg. i will have more insights with time to come, and i really do look forward to this experience.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and with that, in the early wee hours of saturday morning, i touched down back home, unpacked my bags and packed them again, sent a couple of emails for work, spent some quality time with le bf and within 6 hours, was back at the airport again, and all ready to fly off, this time for my dive trip to cebu.

the below photo was snitched from jw. and that, behold, is the view from our room.

we stayed at the hilton, which was given not-so-good reviews on tripadivsor.com, but i must say that despite the bad reviews, we thoroughly enjoyed our experience there. and between hilton tokyo and hilton cebu, i would say that hilton cebu is better, for only half the price.

all in all, our trip comprised of:- eating, booking dives, sleeping, eating, doing facials, sleeping, diving, eating, spa, shopping, eating....

you get the idea. all in all, it was a good holiday, time for me to recuperate from all the late working nights in sg and tokyo. plus, i had only 2 hours of sleep the night of this trip, so it was a good time to catch up on some good sleep. and jw had no choice but to follow suit.

having not dived for over a year plus, we were no doubt so damn rusty when it came to diving. the good thing is, our divemaster helped us set our bottles and break our bottles. so we just sat back, enjoyed the breeze and view and then just heaved on the so damn heavy tanks to go underwater.

it was the usual species of fish that we saw - clownfish (nemo), moorish idol, starfish, batfish, small schools of barracudas... all in all, nothing much to shout about.

the spa, on the other hand, was OMG orgasmic. the facilities was like aspara, but at half the price. the massage was so good, that we booked for another one at night. we were so addicted to massages and i could really feel the tension of traveling in my back and shoulders all melt away. again, photos can be viewed on facebook.

i will blog more on the after-thoughts of my cebu trip. all in all, a really nice place worth going to for a complete r&r trip!

for now, i will go and enjoy the bouquet of flowers le bf gave me to welcome me home, complete with a duckie soft toy...

i love white roses. and especially welcome home flowers!

i want to be the breakthrough

somehow, the feeling of being in japan for duty travel and for leisure is vastly different. i can't put my finger to it though... the people are still as polite as ever, as congenial as ever.. but just not the same.

perhaps i am just clouded with the stress that i put on myself.

anyhow, other than that, japan is still the same as ever.

had my fave suntory coffee this afternoon, whilst trying to keep awake and working out numbers, even after a sleepless night on the flight. i must commend the crew though, as i was sitting up in the middle of the night, trying to clear my blocked nose, in the midst of the darkness, one of the crew offered me a hot drink to help me get back to sleep (addressing me by name no less). i was more than comforted that someone cared for the fact that i didn't just die away in the night. i can only imagine on an american airline flight, the crew would just not give a damn about the fact that you were pressing the attendant call button and dying from dehydration. and that's the difference between the various airlines, i guess.

but even with the newest of technologies, famous lie-flat beds (ingenious yet irritating), with the extra pillows and very nice blanket, it did not curb my stuffy nose.

had an authentic japanese dinner, consisting of various types of sashimi, some of which were unseen before. for the first time in my life, i tried sea urchin. i can only say it is mushy. just... mushy. will i pay 70 sgd per 100 grams to eat it? no fucking way.

i also tried this thing called, 'shako' - apparently a type of shrimp. a quick google when i got back shows that shako is also otherwise known as mantis shrimp, for the fact that it looked like a praying mantis.

i can only say, thank goodness that i did not know that when i ate it. on hindsight, it was chewy, extremely chewy.

i have the picture of the entire platter, which till now i still find very interesting and intriguing. i will post it up when i return.

so that is my narita experience.

and my subject title? just another reminder to myself. because i am. -smiles-

hi-bye

like the title, just a pure hi-bye message to tell all you lovely ones that i'm out...

>>for duty travel to japan - 26 - 29 Aug

>>for diving to cebu - 29 Aug - 1 Sep

i am SO tired i think i am just going to concuss on the night flight out.

in fact, i think i will be so tired that i will just go to cebu to sleep... and of course dive. poor jw has already kindly agreed that sleeping is definitely part of our itinerary.

so far, we've already booked our spa, manicure and pedicure! i hope the diving won't disappoint... though having dived in mauritian waters, anywhere else that doesn't start with 'M' is probably disappointing. oh wells.

so much thoughts these days, but so little time.

till then, be good!

she might as well lie on the grass naked

you know how when you watch television dramas, or hear about other people's life stories, you always despise the bad person. the one who schemes and plots against others, the one who creates all the politics in the office, the one who steals other people's girl/boyfriends, the one who breaks families up.. etc. and the moral of the story is, you can never get away with doing bad deeds. karma has a way of finding it back to you, even if it takes tens of years to do so.

and watching and hearing all these things whilst you were growing up, you always envision yourself to be the good person, the one with the happy ending, the one who does the right thing. you would never envision yourself to be the 3rd party to a relationship, or the one plotting and scheming and trying to steal your own family's fortune. i don't think anyone in the right mind will think themselves of being the evil person.

but somehow, along the way of life, you tend to forget about all these 'lessons' that were learnt, the morals and values that were instilled to you as a child are thrown out of the window as you get caught up with the hustle and bustle of life.

somehow, you take on the very role that you had despised, that you told yourself that you will never become.

but the funny thing is that, somehow you will always be able to justify your position, to tell yourself why you had to make THAT choice.

well, you know deep in your heart what is right and what is wrong. and if the need arises for justification, then... hmm... that's food for thought isn't it?

and by the way, the title is not really relevant to this post. just a statement that was made over my lunch with aliP today, that i thought was quite funny.

and as if it wasn't bad enough working on a friday night, getting called back on a lazy sunday afternoon topped it off. what a fabulous weekend i had. sometimes, i really wonder why i do this to myself.

it was a weekend of mixed feelings really.

the fun part - the friday night high, the saturday zombie mode resulting in me treating myself to a 1.5 hour spa that undid all the knots in my very tensed back and feeling very refreshed in my body but mentally still very fatigued, to the point that even good food could not perk my senses up, resulting in a lack of appetite altogether. and the sunday morning bk breakfast with the boyfriend. yums. sinful, but so fulfilling. and still managed to sneak in a quick snooze thereafter. thank goodness for the heavy brunch, for i did not get to eat my dinner till 10 pm at night.

and the sad part - finding out that an acquaintance had passed on. not a person that i am close to, did not exactly give me the best memories, but still a sad event nonetheless. maybe i will blog more about it in future. let's just leave it at this for the while.

the frustrating part - having to work on sunday, and not being able to put the blame on something or someone or whatever. so, whatever.

last two weeks of the month. i can only tell myself to hang in there.

just watch

staying late on friday nights usually sucks to the core. especially when everyone is in the happy friday zone out mode and you know you have to stay way beyond office hours.

leaving the office at 11 pm today, i was already thankful. but i was even more thankful for le bf coming all the way down to pick me up, sleepy as ever, and then sending me all the way back home, but not before i had my dinner (yes at 12 midnight). and to top it off, i satisfied my craving for bak chor mee. actually come to think of it, i didn't even know what i was eating. i was just too mentally zoned out and too hungry to even enjoy the taste of it. but the feeling of being filled up with love and food is just more than enough to make my friday night.

half the month gone and crossing fingers that i will get through unscathed in the next half a month to come. the worst is yet to come though, as the end of august sees a very hectic schedule. going to japan for duty travel, coming back just in time to head for my diving trip to cebu. transit time in singapore = < 7 hours.

sigh. envy me huh. i just really want august to end. pretty please?

the thing about long weekends...

is that you feel a sense of lethargy having had that one extra rest day. you see people around you feeling as relaxed as you are, and it just becomes normal, that going back to the upbeat life is just plain wrong. (and just as i was typing this, my boss sends me an sms containing the to-do for the week ahead.)

but anyhow, it was a well-rested weekend nonetheless...

which started off with a very nice dinner at our old fave haunt, cck park - downing the sambal like there is no tomorrow. followed by a very fabulous movie... UP. it was heart-warming, heart-wrenching, moving (quite literally), absolutely hilarious (both in the literal and non-literal way), and just downright orgasmic. everything, absolutely everything, right from disney-pixar's signature short film, 'Partly Cloudy', to the end of the movie, was just fantastic. 'Partly Cloudy' deserves an award in itself. incredulous as the story plot was, disney-pixar, once again, just made everything work.

and then le bf introduced 'Mr Brain' - a japanese drama serial by Kimura Takuya, which left me in multiple orgasms. i absolutely love such shows, more than i am a fan of Kimura. in fact, the only thing that i can remember of him are his adverts (think gatsby song) than his albums and shows.

so that was my couch potato weekend. and too short of it.

with great foresight...

comes great curses.

a colleague of mine is taking the red eye back tonight from perth, coming straight to work thereafter. i dreamt that her flight was delayed by two hours, and called me to help her apply for half a day of leave for the morning. feeling rather amused this morning, i texted her, telling her of my dream and we both had a good laugh.

currently on msn with her, she screamed, SHITTT!!! YOUR DREAM CAME TRUE!!!

still in disbelief, i was like, huh???

and true enough, her flight back has been delayed by two hours, effectively disabling her from coming to work. and now i have to apply for half day leave for her.

to which she screamed, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!!

heh. oops.

OD-ed on Krispy Kreme

somehow, lazy saturday morning doesn't sound as relaxing as lazy sunday morning. but anyway...

taking the time to read through my previous posts - something that i haven't done for a long while. and i really really love it, for the fact that it gives me the confidence boost sometimes. especially in times where i do doubt my own capabilities (yes i do go through that), i am once again reminded that i have the flair to ride it out, together with the confidence. failing which, i definitely still have the energy and the youth!

spent the morning updating the mothership on the latest happenings in my work life, and the dad listening... and then suddenly we realized that he was dozing off! hilarious! i am pretty sure that my work life is not the least bit boring. but oh well... dads...

and been wanting to say this for quite some time but kept slipping my mind - i think i have finally OD-ed on krispy kreme. and if you didn't already know, there is now krispy kreme in malayisa. the closest krispy kreme to singapore, i believe is the jusco at tebrau city. i could be wrong though.

on the recent trip that le bf made to KL, he happily bought a dozen of krispy kreme, all ready to fatten up his girlfriend. and happily i ate them, even though i already had my fill in australia.

and on an even more recent trip that one of my colleagues made to KL, he too, bought a dozen krispy kreme back to office. and yesterday, as i stepped into the office, i was hailed over to our little corner pantry and fed the last warmed-up krispy kreme, but not before making my cup of coffee for the day. it was really heaven.

but i never thought i would say this, i think i have officially OD-ed on krispy kreme. so hold your krispy kreme horses!

i still heart heart heart it though.

okay i'm out. enjoy your weekend!

hello august

three years ago, i departed for mauritius on this very day to begin the most fabulous chapter of my life.

i've always wanted to play on a grand piano by the seaside. okay don't talk to me about waves and sound effect and whatever. i just like to imagine the scene in my mind. something so calming about that.

completely random post from a stressful week. receiving jaw-dropping news, not knowing whether it is a good thing or a bad thing - career-boosting, personal life-killing, social life... wait what social life?

but whatever it is, i will deal with it.

hello august. i really don't look forward to you. i really really don't. in fact, i'm apprehensive about you to the point of being scared. so many things that i do not like that are happening. i will be so glad when september comes. as much as i don't want christmas to be here so soon, but please let august be over real soon. and please let me get out of it unscathed.

the silver lining is that, as long as i have my support network with me, i know i will be fine. -screams- STAND-BY MODE PLEASE!

mid-week post

a mid-week post can only warrant two things - a severely bad week that needs some serious bitching, or extremely good news.

and in this case, it comes in the form of the latter, and double-fold no less.

i just received a phone call from a very happy and jubilant-sounding le bf, bearing the wonderful news that in the recent CPA Australia exams that he took, he scored top in the entire singapore! and of course, the cherry on top is the cash prize that comes with such. le bf is seriously thinking of planning one more trip to aussie at the end of this year. but i still have my heart set on fukuoka - ONSENS anyday!

can i just say, i am so so so proud of le bf.

and the second good news comes in the form that i have finally booked my dive trip. after months of talking and going back and forth with the location of the dive, the dates, the budget, we have finally booked our dive trip to be in.... CEBU. the only downside is that le bf will not be joining us for this trip. but of course, we do have our year-end trip to look forward to! and probably one more in between. -hopeful-

so yes, i seriously cannot wait for the cebu trip. i foresee sessions of spa, mani/pedi, chilling by the infinity pool!!! and of course, diving. and this time, all in luxury!

so that's that for my week at mid-week.

i'm out! g'nite pple!

food for thought

for some reason, it felt like an exceptionally long week even though i had monday off. and a week of with mixed feelings of highs and lows all-week round it was. but let's just skip that already.

like i was telling jw, if we didn't face problems, be it in life or at work, then everything would become so boring and routine. not to say that i enjoy having to face multiple problems and having to deal with it all at the same time. but i guess such is a facet of life that we all have to deal with. and if you think about it independently, it is such that makes life all the more interesting, that we constantly have new challenges to deal with that keeps us wanting for more, more and more.

it was a hectic week at work, staying back many late nights to meet deadlines, with plans made to meet up with eileen for dinner being delayed, with plans made to meet le bf for dinner being delayed, with plans to go to morton's with the babes to celebrate our bonus being canceled and changed to a hot date at la cantina at changi v hotel, where the crabmeat pasta is indeed very delicious and very filling! where it so happened that prescotti called me during dinner to catch up, and i was bitching that june was having problems with finding a date for us to meet up (and june says that it is me), and all this while june was in a romantic corner of the restaurant with her bf, and we only realized each others' presence as she was leaving.

well, the saying goes, if the problem can be solved by money, then it's not a problem.

i'm not rich enough to say that, though i find the saying comforting at times - especially when it is within my means to solve the problem using money, or in some cases, resources bought by money to solve the problem.

so that's food for thought.

it's gonna be christmas

yeap it is. in just a blink of an eye, christmas decorations will be up, orchard road will be lighted again and we will be musing, it's christmas again?

so make the full use of your time between now and christmas to... i dunno... do something! and my doing something? planning all my year-end trips! which, at this point, counts at 3. i do hope my colleagues won't kill me.

it was an early weekend (self-induced) for me, as le bf and i went to catch harry potter on the day of its premiere. the verdict? i enjoyed it solely because i forgot everything that happened in the book (less dumbledore's death that is..). the ironic thing is, for the first few movies, le bf came out saying that it was good, but i came stomping out raving how bad the movie was. and over the previous christmas, le bf read the books and enjoyed them thoroughly and this was the first movie he caught after reading the books. and this time, he came out with a disappointed look on his face.

so moral of the story, watch it if you forgot the book. it really is spectacular in its own right, all else aside.

but true harry potter fans will realize that things have been drastically altered, as bean so enlightened me over our late dinner/supper on friday night. but that's another discussion altogether. although work on friday night ended for me later than i had expected, it was a good feeling as i hailed a cab and sped back to my safe haven in the far flung north of the island. sometimes the toll of working in the far flung east of the island gets to you, but nonetheless, appreciate the fact that we live on a small island, so what am i to complain about anyway! and it was an even better feeling to have friends waiting to have a late dinner with. and it was good as we spent the time catching up after we filled our hungry tummies with prata and murtabak, joking pointedly at the fact that we needn't worry about not wearing chanel and being fake amongst each other.

and on saturday, it was the usual mani/pedi routine, shopping for items on the 'need-to-have' and 'want-to-have' list, realizing that shopping for a perfect pink dress is quite on the impossible side. and finished off with a nice dinner at cedele depot, with my all-time fave carrot cake! life is a real irony sometimes. when you're all out and ready to splurge, you just can't find the right something that gives you the orgasm that justifies the spending of your money. and maybe it just was not my karma yesterday to shop, but it was good fun all right, painting the town red with jw!

and today was spent SLEEPING. it was a literal case of waking up to eat and sleep and eat and read harry potter, just to find out what exactly they cut out in the movie. still sore over the fact that they did not show the muggle prime minister scene, for that was something that i was really looking forward to. but oh wells.

and the best part of this weekend? it has not ended! yeap i'm off tomorrow and i have the whole day planned. i love my life!

laters people!

post-trip thoughts on sunshine coast

i'm supposed to be catching up on my work right now, but it IS a sunday... so whatever.

so after having had our fun at gold coast, we bade our little apartment goodbye, feeling rather nostalgic at that. it was around a two-hour drive up to sunshine coast, but there was some jam at some part, according to le bf. i don't know, i was fast asleep in the car for we had set out on an early journey. heehee.

our final destination was that of noosa, but along the way we stopped by peregian beach and sunshine beach. but we still felt that the best beach is still at gold coast. no wonder for its reputation. but of course, our favorite beach still is flic en flac, mauritius. or maybe it is ile aux cerf, mauritius - solely for the reason that the waters are so much calmer, more serene, that you feel at peace with yourself and you know the waves are not gonna swallow you up if you step into the waters. the waves in sunshine/gold coast are HUGE. good for surfers, but not for weak-hearted people like ourselves. we prefer diving, thanks.

we tried to find a nice japanese restaurant, stated to be at peregian beach, but after a good walk around, we decided that the restaurant no longer exists. and what did we have for lunch again? fish and chips. i am still so sick of fish and chips. chips especially. ew.

and when we got to noosa, sunshine coast, i absolutely fell in love with the place. it had that bohemian kind of feel, just very relaxed, laid-back, kind of small town, self-sufficient, and just contented. and we also read about this very nice gelato called massimo's. when i read about it, i was thinking, how nice can the gelato be? after all, we had fantabulous gelato in italy, home and land of orgasmic gelato.

and of course, i am writing this because the gelato was oh-my-goodness orgasmic! it's nice, light, and slips right down your throat. we had the macadmia and rockmelon, and le bf and i were taken aback by both flavors equally. in total, in the one full day we spent in sunshine coast, we had 5 cups of gelato (between us of course). we had it for pre-dinner, sitting by the beach and enjoying the atmosphere of people playing and the scenery. we had it for breakfast on our last day in sunshine coast, which was also our last day in australia... just holding our gelato, and strolling down the beach.

and of course, dinner on our last night was at this cozy little restaurant (also by recommendation) overlooking the beach, by the sunset. as we got to the restaurant early, we had pre-dinner drinks, and when the sun went down, dinner was served. all in all, a perfect ending to our trip.

anyhow, as we stayed at sheraton noosa, where there was free internet usage at the business centre, le bf and i took the time to catch up a bit with our normal life. and that's where i checked my gmail and saw emirates offering us an upgrade to biz class for 150 aud (per seat of cos.) and we totally jumped at the offer. okay well, i totally jumped at the offer, because i knew for sure that it was a bloody good deal. and le bf TRUSTED my judgment. so we upgraded ourselves, which was a very good decision, for i had dreaded the red-eye flight back to sg. plus, the flight was 2.40 am in the morning (aussie time), and we would have spent the entire day out having checked out of the hotel by 12 noon, and the business lounge would be perfect to freshen up. and i was not wrong at all. more on that later.

on our last and final day, we took a VERY SLOW drive back to brisbane airport. having had our final cup of gelato, we took a final stroll down the streets of noosa, packed our bags, and checked out of the very nice sheraton noosa (albeit a little old). totally loved the in-suite bathtub jacuzzi, resting our very sore feet in the hot bubbly water. -loves-

along the way back, we stopped by at the Big Pineapple. and this is where our trusty little GPS friend failed us and brought us to an empty piece of land. well, the 2nd search result by our GPS brought us to the right Big Pineapple, but not before getting many curses from us. and the Big Pineapple, well, nothing more than a big pineapple (literally) and a pineapple plantation. there after we decided to head over to sunshine plaza - this shopping mall built over the river. it was huge and very different kind of concept and feel from the usual shopping malls. think something like robertson quay with a huge mall and shops along the singapore river. having expended quite a bit of our budget at harbortown (fabulous factory outlet shopping less my fave coach), we curbed our shopping bug (or rather i did) and decided that we should watch transformers again! for just the sake of it. and we loved every bit of it. again. even though the tickets were exorbitantly expensive. (15.50 aud per pax!)

so that was our last activity in australia, and we headed back in a night drive back to brisbane airport, where we bade our car, something that was so important to us during our trip, farewell and returned to avis, in good condition no less.

and the lounge was just a treat of us, as we just relaxed after a long day. the shower facilities were more than decent but not extravagant, and a hot shower is always more than welcomed. the food was also decent, and i was glad i took supper for the in-flight food was.... never mind. surprisingly, i gave alcohol a miss on this flight, much to le bf's surprise. my reason for that: 1) not flying economy. 2) not on business trip. both of which are stressful activities. plus, the selection of alcohol just was not there.

i must say though, even as welcomed as this treat was, the experience of flying business class on emirates and that of sq is completely different. well, yes, the hardware of both airlines are definitely comparable. for some reason, i prefer the IFE on emirates than sq, even though i can't really say why. but in terms of software (and i do mean people relations), there is no competition at all. and the selection of food and beverages (and of course alcohol) was severely lacking on emirates. so yes, that really explains the premium that sq charges. i could go on forever, but i won't bore you to death.

all in all, i managed a good sleep on the flight back, and as usual was rudely awaken (by le bf) to get up and eat breakfast (yucks), and it was back to home sweet home (where i was knocked out for the entire afternoon, napping from 12 noon and waking up thinking it was only 2 pm, getting a shock seeing the time at 5 pm.)

and then, what could be better than receiving welcome home flowers?


absolutely love the new design of this bouquet. it's in the shape of a heart... so pretty!

i might have missed out some thoughts, which of course, will be added later on. for now, i'm out!