Annual Increment & VWS

As mentioned in my earlier blogs, I just did my appraisal in June. My boss didn't really tell me about my increment or VWS like what my ex-boss used to do so I had to patiently wait for the letter to come. Finally received the letter this week. I am quite happy cause this is the best increment I ever had in my 2.5 years with the Company. My VWS was also slightly more than what I expected. I am glad that current boss recognise the effort I put into this department. Recently, I kept getting this feeling that some of the staff in the department have been taking me for granted. They just think that its my job to do certain things for them and they dun even have the courtesy or patience to wait. I do wonder sometimes if one day I decided to leave this Company, what will happen to them? Who will help them? I wonder what is their reaction if I do resign from this Company someday??? Well, there are also alot of them who truly appreciate my presence & help. I thank them for their appreciation and making me feel that its worth my effort to help them. Besides the pay, the next best thing that I got from this Company is getting to know a group of good frens. This is something that I can bring with me besides the knowledge when I do move on to another job and I will treasure it for life.

Cycling @ Pulau Ubin

There were supposed to be plans to visit Chek Jawa @ Pulau Ubin with my best fren Abby + her husband & colleagues on 27 July. But Chek Jawa is temporary closed so we decided to go cycling instead. I was still considering on whether to go with them since I was down with gastric problem. Surprisingly when I woke up on Sunday, I was feeling alright so decided to go with them since I needed some exercise. We reached at about 11am and went to rent a bicycle to start our tour around Ubin. We decided to check out the quarry in Ubin. Part of the path towards the quarry were filled with small rocks and slops. We had to be very careful when riding through this part. Some of us even stopped riding and decided to walk with the bicycles instead. Unfortunately, on our way back, one of Abby's colleagues fell when she made a turn and missed a hole. She was quite badly hurt but luckily they were all scratches on her hand & leg and no major cuts. We quickly got one of guys to send her back to the town area to get the wounds cleaned and properly dressed. As one of us couldn't ride a bicycle on her own (can only do double), we had to walked back with the bicycles. It took us almost 2 hrs to walked back cause we took the wrong route. By the time we got there, we were all hungry & thirsty. Went for our lunch at the famous Ubin Seafood Restaurant. The food is still very yummy. By the time we finished, it was already 3+ so made our way back to S'pore. I was burnt & tired by the time I reached home. I would say its still a good trip cause we managed to cycle & walked around Ubin. For those who have not been there, please do be very careful when cycling through the rocky paths.

KTV

You may think how come I took so long to post these posts??? Well, thats because I've been pretty busy with work and meeting up with frens. Anyway went to sing KTV AGAIN with JC, Cheryl, YY & Kai Ee on 26 July. I've been singing KTV on every Sat for the past 3 weeks. Running out of songs to sing already. Its been a long time since Kai Ee sang KTV with us. The last time was probably during DF session in Apr. I am impressed that his singing has improved. Now he sings rather tough songs such as 你是我的眼, 那首歌 or even female songs like 可惜不是你. These songs are not easy to sing especially if you are a male singing a female song. I was still recovering from my gastric problems so didn't really sing much. Moreover I didn't feel like straining my voice so chose to sing mostly songs by male singers such as my fav Jay Chou & MayDay. It was a pretty good session and I look forward to more KTV sessions with frens that haven been singing with us for some time. I really miss Kit singing Jay's songs & Mycle singing Jacky's songs.

Happy Birthday to my fren!

I wanna dedicate this post to wish a fren who used to be like a brother to me a Happy Birthday and I sincerely wish him many blessings in life. It's pretty sad that we are no longer as close as we used to be. We are probably now considered as only normal frens. I have fulfilled my duty as a good fren to him cause I was always there when he needed help. Now I feel that its time for me to end this duty. I am someone who is very true to all my frens. I realized that I am probably too naive cause I do not know who really sincerely me as a good fren. Some are nice to me cause they know that I am kind and will hesitate to help them. But when I am no longer of any help to them, their friendship stops. Its about time that I learn to be smarter. I know some of my close frens will probably get a bit worried after reading this post. I also wanna let you know that you do not need to worry bout me anymore cause me & him are now on different roads of life and our paths will never cross again. I do not owe him anything anymore. I thank him for his friendship (if there is any) and the lesson he taught me. I have now become a stronger and better person. Enough time have been wasted so let's leave all the memories behind and continue to pursue our own dreams in life.

Sick

Been pretty busy & lazy lately so there isn't much post on my blog. Here is a continuation from my earlier blog. Well, my gastric pain lasted through the night and I could even wake up to go to work on Thursday. The pain was still there and I could have gone to see the doctor and take MC for the day. But I needed to go back office to settle some work and also collect something that I needed to pass to Kai Ee on the same day. The pain was almost unbearable when I reached office but I still waited till 10am before going to see the doctor. Doctor gave me some medication and MC for the afternoon. I took the medication and started to feel drowsy but I worked till 1pm before making my way back home. Lucky the MRT was not packed and I could get a seat. Despite the pain and drowsiness, I still pop by at AIA Tampines to pass Kai Ee the stuff before going home to rest. By the time I got home, I was feeling terrible. Measured my temperature and realize I was having a fever @ 37.8C. I didn't even have the energy to take a bath. My mom was not home so I slept for about 2hrs before going to take a bath. After that, I took my medication and went straight to bed. Only woke up at bout 8pm to take some dinner and by then my fever had gone down. Went back to sleep after that. My gastric still wasn't that well on Friday. I was feeling bloated and feel like vomiting every time after I eat. I was suppose to go play pool with Cheryl & Jing Chuan but decided to go home and rest since I got appointments on both Sat & Sun. Think I should stay away from drinking from now onwards unless its an important event or occasion.

Alcohol Drinking

I remembered writing a blog sometime back about alcohol drinking. Think that I mentioned is its good to drink once in a while with frens. Now I think I wanna take back my words. Come to think of it, alcohol did get me into some trouble. Because of alcohol drinking, I actually lost my boyfriend & a very good fren. Why did I say that? That's because I lost my will power after alcohol drinking and did something wrong that made me broke up with my boyfriend. It was also the same incident that made me lost a very good fren of mine. I now truly regretted what had happened and wished that I didn't let alcohol take over my mind. It's not because I lost my boyfriend but because I had lost a fren whom I was very close to. I treasured our friendship and treated him as a good fren cause we had many common topics & interest to talk about. I am not sure if he treated me the same. Sad to say, I have now lost this fren. We are still frens but no longer that close. I always thought that I will never regret on what had happened but now I have to say I do regret. I have also got frens who end loosing some frens due to alcohol drinking. I think its really time for me to cut down on alcohol drinking. Drinking makes you fat anyway. Another reason is drinking is giving me gastric pain now cause I went for a short drink with frens after work. That's why I am writing my blog at this hour. Well, hope I can wake up to go to work in the morning. Ouch, my gastric feels terrible,

Red Cliff

Finally went to watch the movie Red Cliff a week after it screened. The story is taken from a section of the Romance of Three Kingdoms. I am not really good with china history especially those that are so far back.

The story is: In 208 A.D., in the final days of the Han Dynasty, shrewd Prime Minster Cao Cao convinced the fickle Emperor Han the only way to unite all of China was to declare war on the kingdoms of Xu in the west and East Wu in the south. Thus began a military campaign of unprecedented scale, led by the Prime Minister, himself. Left with no other hope for survival, the kingdoms of Xu and East Wu formed an unlikely alliance. Numerous battles of strength and wit ensued, both on land and on water, eventually culminating in the battle of Red Cliff. During the battle, two thousand ships were burned, and the course of Chinese history was changed forever.

I had a hard time trying to figure out the characters in the movie. I expected myself to fall asleep in the theatre cause we watch it at 9.50pm but surprisingly, I didn't. The movie was interesting enough to keep me awake throughout. The graphics were good and the characters in the movie were well casted. They all fitted into their roles well. Even Lin Zhi Ling who acted as Xiao Qiao and only appeared for less than 10mins is also outstanding. The movie is also not entirely serious, there are some parts that makes you laugh too. The only sad thing is that the story is divided into 2 parts for the movie, we only watched part 1 and there is no proper ending to it which means we have to wait anxiously for part 2 to screen to get the ending. Haiz......

Night Safari on 18 July 08

Went to Night Safari with some frens on Friday night. The last time I went there was few years back with my ex-boyfriend and some frens. Managed to see more animals this time cause we went for more walking trails. We were able to see the leopard close up and even hear the lion roar. The weather was also pretty good except it started to drizzle when we were about to leave. The guys were not that comfortable cause they went in their working attire. We left the safari at about 12am but it was a good experience. Hope to visit the zoo next time.

Problems at home AGAIN

Many of my frens think that I am a happy go lucky person so shouldn't have much problems. Well, they are wrong cause I have a very problematic father. What's his problem? His problem is he likes to fool around. Since young he has always been like that. He has never changed even if he is already a grandfather now. I still remembered about 7 years ago when he started to make frequent trips to Cambodia with his frens. He told us that he was going there to gamble with his frens but my mom started to suspect that he went there to fool around with women. My mom quarrelled with him everyday and even threatened him with a knife. I was then so worried that I would come home seeing dead bodies in the house. There wasn't a day of peace at home. After my mom threatened to kill him, my dad dare not visit Cambodia anymore. His bad habits came back again after few years and this time the destination became Vietnam. His reason was to go there and do business with his frens. His trip can last for about a week. After a few trips, my mom started to suspect him again. As usual, quarrels became a daily activity at home for them. Many times, I asked my mom not to bother about him anymore cause he is old enough to think and he will never changed. She started to take things more easily after some time. Another quarrel started when she found out that he sent money to Vietnam early this year, not sure for what purpose lah. Things got back to normal after she cooled down. Another quarrel happened again in May when we went to Macau with my uncle. They went on a day trip to China state nearby when my mom & me went Hong Kong. They took some photos with this China girl which my dad asked my uncle not to show my mom. My mom got suspicious and quarrelled with him at the airport on our way back. I saw the photos, nothing wrong except in one of the pix when the girl only had a towel wrapped around her. Dun know what they up to. My uncle also didn't have a very good record.

Anyway last week, my dad met my uncle at the coffee shop near our place and he asked him to go Genting with him. My dad came back to tell my mom that they are going there to watch Fei Yu Qing concert but it was already over. My mom got angry and quarrel with him on the day he was going for the trip. He left on Tues and was due to be back on Thurs but by 10pm, he was still not home. Mom tried calling his handphone but it was off. Tried calling my uncle and his phone also not on. He finally came home at about 11pm. Mom suspected that they took plane back. She took his passport to show me and I realize that he went to Cambodia instead of Genting which he told my mom. I was shocked but I dare not tell my mom so had to lie to her also. Told her stamp looks different because he took the plane. I am currently pretty disgusted with my dad cause we all know that lots of men go Cambodia to look for young girls or even young boys to fool around with. I simply cannot understand what he is thinking. At his age, he should know what he should do and what he shouldn't. He has never been really good to my mom since she married him. He was never generous with her. The amount of money he gave her for marketing is also not much. She always have to top it up with her own money and she is not even working. Lucky both my brother & me give her money. He only gives her additional money when she helps him out in his business during the 7th month. Well, the amount he gave is not much anyway. He has always been pretty stingy to the family except for the 2 grandchildren. There are times when he is generous but I can count them with my fingers for the past 31 years of my life. My mom seem pretty upset this time and insist that she wanna ask for divorce. I told her that even if she wanted a divorce, she must still get what she deserves. She should not let him keep everything. I have no objections so long they are happy. They are old enough to decide for themselves. Its not up to me to decide anyway.

I just dun understand why some men cannot behave themselves. They get angry when their partner cheated on them but have they ever think how their partners will feel if they do the same thing. These men are idiots cause they never think with their brains. Lucky there are still good men out there. Hope I can find a good one.

Department BBQ Gathering 11 July 08

We had our department BBQ gathering on 11 July at our HOD Margaret's place in Bukit Timah. The gathering is after office hours so we had to order the food from a BBQ caterer. We even got a BBQ chef to help us to bbq the food. It was quite fun since the last time we had a department gathering was during Chinese New Year. As usual, not all was able to attend the gathering but most of us were there. The food was pretty good and Margaret also got her mom to prepare Cheng Teng for us. Its was yummy although I cannot eat much. We also had beer, red wine & vodka. The only sad thing is that I had diarrhoea that night and end up in the toilet for almost an hour. I didn't have the chance to catch up with my colleagues. By the time I came out from toilet, most of them have left. The rest of us finished at about 10pm. Many thanks to Margaret who organised the gathering and those who made the effort to be there. Looking forward to our next outing at the Singapore Flyer in August.

Trying very hard (by another blogger)

things doesn't always happen the way it's supposed to,
because we always think too much,
so you don't always get what you want...
and you don't always have what you need...
life is about learning to cope with its imperfections,
because simplicity isn't in our nature...
so waiting is seems so much easier...
and striving is just too much work...
i've gotten used to what i had...
because i've forgotten what i can achieve...
so my locus of control becomes smaller...
and my resilience becomes weaker...
trying to see the world from another angle...
because there must be a way out of every difficulty...
so i've gotta learn to remember what i've forgotten...
and learn to strive harder for what i want/need...
good things cannot always come my way...
and bad things will eventually fade away...
one day, waiting for that day...
when i stop dwelling on the bad,
and bask in the glow of the good...
when i stop fearing for what may happen..
and be able to face what can happen...

幸福，其实没有那么遥远。(by another blogger)

静静地，慢慢地，轻轻地，
放开了，看开了，想通了；
不痛了，不哭了，不累了。
接受，人与人之间的关系天天在变。
执著，带来的只有不愉快，不满足。
坦然，面对心中的恐惧。
遗忘，从阴影中走出来。
一切都很突然，别人不习惯，所以反常了。
一切都很出乎预料，我不习惯，所以退缩了。
变得快，就有很多疑问，不安，不确定。
让时间淡化突然，让大家都习惯，
许，因为这样的变化，我学会了去看自己的心。
人，在害怕的时候，太会保护自己，而伤害了别人。
我，在彷徨的时候，太想保护自己，而忽略了别人。
平静了，才发现没什么好怕。
徘徊在从前与现在，累了自己，累了别人。
结果？
兜了一个大圈圈，找寻一个我一直握在手里的幸福。
笨吧。
可惜人就是太爱东想西想，胡思乱想。
简简单单的，变得乱七八糟。
微笑，原来是这么简单。
幸福，其实没有那么遥远。

How to stop loving someone???

Have you ever wonder how you can stop loving someone??? We do know that sometimes your love for someone just stops after being together for a long time. Maybe you realize that you are no longer suitable or you might have fallen in love with another person. Then how about those love that still stays in your heart even though you are not fated to be with the person? I guess it is very difficult for you to simply "delete" the person from your life. I have some frens include myself who still do silly things for the person we love. That's because we cannot stop ourselves from loving him/her. So long the love still stays within your heart, there is no way you will stay away from the person. You still wanna be able to care for him/her even though you cannot be together. I also realize that the more you love a person, the deeper will be your hatred for him/her if he/she hurt you. Just like someone ever told me: If your friend is angry with you, then they still have feelings for you as a fren. If they simply ignore you, then they probably dun treat you as a fren anymore. Hey, I am not asking you to make your frens angry to see if they still treat you as good frens. I know its tough to forget someone whom you deeply loved. You either learn to convert the love into frienship or hatred. I think by hating the person then can you convince yourself to stay away from him/her. Most people feel that they rather continue as frens if they cannot be with the person. But I think its silly cause you will only hurt yourself more and the person will not even know it. It's really not easy to stop your love for someone. If one day your heart no longer hurts when you think of the sweet memories you had with the person, then I can be sure that you have stop loving the person. I am also trying very hard to achieve this. It takes alot of time to get over it but I am sure time will heal all wounds. You must learn to let go in order to move on. Go love a person who also loves you and look for the happiness you deserve. If you have already found your love, then treasure it. I wish all my frens who have found their love everlasting happiness and may you live happily ever after. Do remember to stay cheerful always.(*o*)

Congratulations to Jay Chou

My heartiest congratulations to Jay Chou who is the biggest winner with 4 awards at the recent Taiwan Golden Melody Awards. He did not attend the award ceremony cause he was having his concert in China. I am glad that he has been rewarded for the wonderful album he launched in Jan this year. I love all the songs in this album. Heard that he is already back in Taiwan preparing for his new album which will be launch next month. Am definitely looking forward to many more good songs from Jay Chou & Fang Wen Shan.

Weight Management

Few months ago, one of my colleague recommended me a weight management doctor in Hougang who is very effective. Her sistas have visited the clinic and one has lost about 12kg in 6 months. I decided to recommend to my frens who think that they are a bit overweight. I have a fren who went and lost 5kg after 1 month. There are also some who went and then start to tell everyone they have lost weight. Well, I feel its better for someone to tell you that you have lost weight then to go around telling the whole world. There is nothing to be proud of since you only manage to do it with some help. Dun ever think that you will definitely look better after you lost weight. Maybe you can fit into nicer clothes when you are slimmer but that doesn't make you prettier. Some look very shag when they slim down. There are some who simply think that they will slim down by not eating a single meal at all. Well you can definitely slim down but you probably also get health problems. Not point having a slim but unhealthy body. Anyway, if you really wanna slim down, make sure you do it healthily. Here are some advices if you are discipline enough:

1) Eat less food with carbohydrates such as rice, noodles, bread, starch, biscuits, tidbits, french fries, sweet potato etc

2) Eat less food with sugar which includes soft drink, alcohol, dessert, fruits

3) Do some exercise such as walking if you are the lazy type

4) Here is a diet that may help if you can keep to it:

Breakfast - 1 slice of bread with peanut butter or kaya

Lunch - 3 spoon of rice with 2 meat & 2 vegetable

Dinner - No carbo at all and eat at least 4 hours before your bedtime

5) Drink lots of plain water but stay away from soft drinks & alcohol. You can drink coffee or tea but add minimal sugar.

Hip Hop class by Jay Chou's instructor 雪糕

My fren Cheryl recommended me to attend a hip hop dance class today by Jay Chou's dance instructor 雪糕. The class is conducted by Music Forest and seems like he only comes once a year. I paid $30 for the 1 hour session. Signed up for the advance class cause wanted to join Cheryl. I realize that I shouldn't have joined the advance class cause the steps were tough and I could barely catch them even though I do learn basic hip hop. He was also very fast since he probably thought that most of us are good. The steps he thought were pretty interesting. Its something that I have never learnt in my usual hip hop classes. Maybe thats why Jay Chou can dance that well during his recent concert. I am certainly impressed with 雪糕 and hope to learnt from him again when he comes next year.

Thai Disco

Been hearing alot about Thai Disco from some of my guy frens. Seems like more & more men are patronising such places cause the Thai girls are prettier and more gentle. It used to be just a normal Thai disco where both men & women patronize to jus drink & listen to Thai music. Now its mostly the men who visits these places. One of the most popular one I heard is Club Nana. I heard 2 different versions of these places. One fren told me that men visit there just to meet Thai girls and buy them drinks (known as Ladies Drink or LD) to get them to sit with them and chat. The girls will treat you like kings and it makes the men feel good about it. Not sure if there is any indecent proposal after that. This give me the impression that its just a nightclub operated differently. Another fren told me that you can just go there for drinks with frens. The girls will come round and if you dun want their company, they will just stay away. There are men who simply go there to drink and have the girls talk to them. Seems like its similar to any other ordinary pub. I told one of my girlfrens this and she concluded that what the place is like depends on the mindset of the person who goes there. If you go there expecting girls to keep you company, then its just some sleazy disco. If you go there jus to drink and chat, then its jus a normal Thai disco. I think its fine for men to visit such places if you go there with the right mentality. Jus dun go there and get yourself addicted to the place. No point wasting so much money & time. I jus hope that if any of my guy frens do visit such places, please go there with the right mentality and know when to stop.

Mid Year Review

Wow 6 months has passed for 2008. Time to do a mid year review on my resolutions.

1. I still have not found a boyfriend so nothing much to write about that.

2. Been trying my best to keep my cool. Best way is to stay away and ignore.

3. Managed to get into office earlier cause I now take the express bus to work but this has increased my transport charges every month. Never had much chance to be nicer to my boss cause she left the Company in May but will make an effort to be nice to my new boss as well as my colleagues (except for the PIG).

4. Still trying hard to maintain good relationship with friends but sometimes its difficult to understand them.

5. Still need to try spend more time with family.

6. Haven been saving much cause of the GSS. Will need to do it after that.

7. Been clubbing & singing but not alot. Got drunk during my birthday and it's not as bad as the last time.

8. Didn't manage to continue bowling sessions since everyone is so busy but am learning Hip Hop dance for the past 2 months. May pick up jogging or boxercise too. Its good to have a healthier lifestyle.

Well, thats all for my mid year review, hope I can give a better report card at the end of the year.