thegreysheep

life has been a blur these days

2010-12-02T21:54:00.001+08:00

and i just received more bad news.

i have to work this weekend, the next weekend, the weekend after next and well, it's basically every day for the rest of this month. true, it's not retail hours, but there's no off days for me and i'm not paid overtime. i wonder if this is even legal. lol, doesn't take much to find out. but nevermind, considering that the whole year has been pretty lazy, i will do the necessary sacrifice.

my only regret is not seeing enough of abbie. maybe we could work around this tricky thing. well, one can always hope. yep.

but of course i'm not going to let december slip by just like that even if my weekends are burned. nope nope. i need to do some serious self enrichment in between pockets of time and achieve other things.

December Goals
1. prepare 12 amigurumis for display
At least after that, I might be able to have it displayed in Iluma. I'll be able to have my very own display box. How cool is that? Though it's only a dream for now, I have the hope and confidence

2. finish the EQ book
remember the book prize? -.-

3. read all about touring Europe!
yeah! in preparation for next year. probably sophie's world has bits of Europe too.

4. buy the FX trading book that I saw the last time in popular
it looked easy to understand, but i didn't buy it, seeing how averse i was to finance..and of course, basic common sense that i shouldn't spend money on hated subjects. BUT i shall not let irrational dislikes disrupt my curiosity to try new things. and if i didn't try it, i would never know.

yep, that's all.. pretty heavy goals for 4 weeks. i think i will just spend most of my free time on the amigurumis. the rest is just for variety.

anyway i'm meeting abbie and yonghan this saturday night after work. i've finally gotten my poems account and am dying to get my hands burned in the stock market. i just need a basic idea of how to go about doing it. haha.

there you go, two baby steps (intention to dabble with fx and stocks) towards finance for me, and another two baby steps towards my little passion (amigurumi exhibition and blogshop).

and finally, it may jolly well be a waste of time for me to be doing so many things which are not related. but seriously, if life was a piece of graph paper, i wouldn't want to plot a straight line.

yays yahoos and woohoos

2010-11-28T22:53:00.000+08:00

celebration 1 : I am going to Europe
abbie said we could go to europe next year. *dances around* we could go in May during spring time...

after some rough calculations, i think i need to save around 7k, 4k+ for the package, 1k for the additional tours and another 1k for expenses...OMG but nevermind, i should be able to save up this much if i'm strict with my expenses for the next few months... besides i feel all motivated to save money again... xD

celebration 2: Abbie's sleepover next week
abbie's coming over to my place for a sleepover next week... i'm thinking i might not get to see him frequently these few weeks because of christmas preparations... but this is definitely a yay for me.

celebration 3: Only 2 months + till our ROM
*wedding march*
deng deng deng deng
deng deng deng deng
not the actual wedding, but good enough for me
abbie already got the solemnizer, just need to do the registration...

yep that's all for the celebration...

I guess next week's going to be an exciting one...
gift wrapping course for me on tuesday morning till afternoon.

I'm still waiting for my pottery to be fired...

secret stash

2010-11-27T08:02:00.000+08:00

woody is so cute.

he's got this corner which he hides his food. this corner is obvious because it's got the most woodshavings. recently he de-bibed his baby elephant toy and placed the elephant bib on top of the heap like some sort of a decor ornament.

i guess i would do that too if i were a hammy.

it's done

2010-11-27T00:22:00.001+08:00

finally, my online amigurumi website has been officially launched at thepixieshop.blogspot.com ... sort of.

it's as empty as hell, and siskapoo thinks the layout suck. but oh well it's really tiring to maintain multiple blogs... i have already tried my bestest and i refuse to put in anymore effort for something which brings in nothing.

so much for the entrepreneurial streak. i guess nothing works if you just put in 20%. but i don't have the confidence to put in more. i already have a job.

more meetings today

2010-11-25T08:14:00.000+08:00

went down to bugis yesterday to look at the bazaar setup. so far so good, though storage wise, i've been advised that i will face difficulties during the peak season. abbie was asking me why they placed me at the bazaar knowing that i haven't any experience.

good question. i haven't any idea. maybe they'll change their minds.

ate at ebisboshi with abbie after work... dropped by cat socrates to see how the little ones were doing and hellen told me that some customer went to shake it. oh well, sort of expected it already.

bought movie tickets for harry potter.
a little bit on the long side, but still a great show. so sad it's at its 2nd last...

i just finished my 2nd amigurumi...
maybe i should get started on the bunny.

things are starting to get hectic...

2010-11-23T20:38:00.002+08:00

been going home late these few days. not that late actually, but later than usual.

still, i had plenty of free pockets in between stuff.
am hoping that i will be utilized fully before having to stay back, but it seems like this won't be the case.. of course. just hoping that my weekends don't get burned. at least not so soon?

which reminds me...
i have a followup chicken pox vaccine this saturday. another 80 dollars poorer.... but still, a really small price to pay for immunity towards something so ugly, uncomfortable and risky.

will take a bath, settle down, crochet a little and go to bed.

tired beyond words

2010-11-20T23:02:00.000+08:00

just stocked in my stuff in cat socrates... skeptical about the price that i have set... but well, it's christmas now, so i'm at least a little bit hopeful...

i finished 2 more amigurumis today... even though they were "forgotten" projects in the pipeline... i managed to get them together... it's not easy though... crocheting them is not difficult. it's getting the pieces together and making sure that the expression and everything else is correct is hard.

bunny amigurumi, christmas edition

teddy amigurumi, christmas edition

woody's new bungalow
comprising of 1. the attic (pee corner), 2. the old sock and food corner, 3. the hut and 4. water, wheel and toys corner.

another goal for next year: a second career

2010-11-18T17:22:00.007+08:00

and right now, i'm determined to do so.
i don't know why, but i suddenly feel inspired to write and publish a book on crafts.

the life of a poor "artisan" really sucks... and it sucks so much, i don't know whether just to bang my head on the table.. chew on my yarn... or throw the crochet hook at someone.

i don't know... i spend hours on end, painfully crocheting a doll and in the end, after selling them at some 30 dollars, less the consignment fees and raw materials, i am earning a miserable amount and am so much better off working in my day job... sigh...

anyhow, i already have a structure in mind. and yes, the structure is for the whole book. it came out quite easily for me.

there's quite a number of amigurumi craft books floating around and doing it better isn't easy at all. but i'll do it different. definitely.

umm, not sure what's gonna happen. very time consuming i guess, and i'm gonna lose my drive and succumb to laziness...but at least, i don't think it's going to cost a lot... i don't know... what's the worst that could happen? i could sell it online if nobody's gonna publish it or something. yep.

i will need to create new things... and record down the methods/patterns... something which i have been lazy at doing. after everything has been done, i could sell the dolls online or cat socrates, as i am already doing now.

or, i could teach my patterns at spotlight. not sure if they would want me, but i have someone in mind to approach to help me. :d

ah, i suddenly remembered why i feel compelled to write a book.

i've always wanted to because it's something that i like, just that there's greater urgency now. my passion currently brings me the rags, not the riches. rags refers to both the day job and my side job. maybe riches in terms of satisfaction and experience, but definitely not riches in the literal/money sense.

i've always wanted to go to europe with abbie, but i cannot afford it. this is a painful reality that abbie has driven home. so it'll have to wait until 2012.

waiting 1 year to achieve a wish such as this is ridiculous. stupid.

true, i have to save up for the marriage and stuffs. but is there nothing else i could do in the meantime? even if i don't get that pay raise, even if my amigurumis aren't bringing in the bucks, even if my book don't sell and even if i can't teach, surely i can do something about it. i definitely have to be more proactive, because there's nothing left to lose.

or if you put it in an optimistic way, there's everything to gain.

living congruently

2010-11-14T13:27:00.000+08:00

stumbled upon this interesting exercise (about finding one's direction in life) on the net. the writer called it the Heart, Body, Mind, and Soul exercise...and so i've decided i shall do it to see what comes out of it...

Questions to answer
* What do you want to do? (desire)
* What can you do? (ability)
* What should you do? (purpose)
* What must you do? (need)

Then you look at your list and try to see if there’s anything or any thread that made all four lists.

what i had wanted to do when i grow up - my desires
i think at some point in life (when i was below 12 years old), i had wanted to become a scientist... a detective..an artist or a pianist when i grow up.. i wanted to work in a pet shop... a zoo... or a farm because i love being with animals.. i wanted to work with the lego company, little tikes, toys r us, playdoh and all the other cool toy brands that i love to play with, even now.

i like solving mysteries and puzzles. i like playing and having fun - literally. i like to build blocks and knead dough to create something of my own. i like animals because their behavior is simple.. unlike humans. who insist on complicating simple things.. i like designing.. though i don't have the patience nor heart to re-sketch, redesign or refine.. stuff like that. which brings me to my next point

for someone who can work on a grueling project spanning many months, i actually have a very short interest span. i can be passionate about something for some time.. and after that time has passed. you can count on me to be very unpassionate about it. haha..

what can i do - my abilities
systematic thinking. i am concrete and logical, i guess.

anything with words and numbers should be easy enough. though, probably not the engineering kind of calculations, nor the philosophical kind of words..

i think i'm quite good with my hands (crafts) though there's probably many who are much better than me.

i am much more careful and meticulous than the average worker... tho when there's too much stuff floating around me, i sometimes make mistakes too.

finally, i think i'm really a jack of all trades: music, crafts, business, a bit of engineering and computing.

what should i do? (purpose)
honestly, i have no idea.

helping people and making them happy is good. having fun and relaxing is good. creating beautiful things is good.

what must i do? (need)
i need to earn lots of money to support my family and pay my debts, to build my dream house, tour my dream tours and live my dream life (which is mostly doing my own things at my own time and earning peanuts - tested and proven).

i need to work in a place where i am free to be myself. free from false pretenses and other time wasting complexities. free to create the things i want whenever i want, to work hard and to idle.

ok i have completed this exercise but it has not lead me to anywhere.
maybe i'll think about it a little bit more.

*************
shopping trip at vivo
went down to vivo to get some supplies for my craft yesterday and after walking for like 5 hours, i could not find some crucial things that was needed.

2x glass fishbowl/globe
food bowls just wouldn't do... i've seen a couple of smaller betta bowls on sale at the aquarium shop but those cost 18 bucks. yikes.

small autumn maple leaves.
no luck in daiso. they sell huge ones though. gah. do i really have to make everything myself?

dried starfish
remember seeing some in chinatown last time. no luck in vivo

hamster dollhouse
no luck in pet safari

still, i managed to complete another "terrarium" without the glass globe -.-

bought the basket and zeolite pebbles from daiso, but managed to dig out some shells from my stash of odds and ends.. and do up a small card from paper, potpourri and felt.

plans for tomorrow

2010-11-13T00:05:00.001+08:00

not gonna get to meet abbie because he's got work to do for the whole day :(

but nevermind, i shall preoccupy myself with a couple of things which needs to be done:

1. tidy up my room a little bit more
2. buy more glass containers and stuffs from daiso to do up my amigurumis for sale
3. drop by cat socrates to stock in stuff and get paid
4. check with pearl if my pottery is ready for collection
5. check on the status of my application for philipsecurities account
6. return library books and borrow new ones

fun with new bed buddies

2010-11-12T23:18:00.001+08:00

lookie who i brought home today...

it's cheeky hunny bunny bunny bunny hunny with a huge red nose that is totally squeezable.

best buddies when abbie isn't around

even woody is jealous

abbie and friends

conked out in a jiffy...

you know bird watching... but do you know abbie watching?

it's a great past time

bores some to tears but works out great for me...

annoyance

just be careful not to get carried away too much with the stalking...

company function: photo coverage

2010-11-12T17:35:00.002+08:00

pilfered from the designer's camera :3

training

the whole day was a blur for me :P

dress up

the witch and the angel

peter pan

boss the kungfu jester

pirate dracula and pinocchio

limbo rock

idris limbo-ing like a pro

steve being a rock

prizes

book prize for me

and a $20 capitaland voucher from a lucky draw

group pics

i see harry potter

the frenzy has ended

2010-11-12T08:02:00.002+08:00

this week had been crazy. stayed back till at least 11 pm for mon and tue to prepare for a company function. the thing finally ended on wed night at 11 pm..

at least the whole thing turned out well and everybody enjoyed themselves... even the fairytale dress up theme was a success... the staff really took it seriously, which is heartening... the venue's toilet was packed for at least a good half hour... and they all emerged with dresses, suits, butterfly wings, capes, hats, long noses, broomsticks and make up...

what's even better is that it was a break away from the tradition of cultural night, which i think is more suitable for a much older and more serious crowd.

received a book prize along with 2 other colleagues for helping to organize the event. i guess i did learn a lot this time round... some games ought to be dummy proof so that it works when the time comes.. also, we should have been less strict with the games because i had intended for them to be creative... but that's all right because i know what to do next time.

my only regret was that we didn't allocate more prizes to the dress up since a lot of them made the effort. should have cut down on the lucky draws. why leave rewards to chances when we can give them to the people who earned them. yep.

christmas is almost here. spent yesterday afternoon catching up on some work and listening to a few sets of christmas carols. maybe can make some suggestions as to what could be played in the stores.

opps, that's all for now.
running late for work...

the lazy weekend update

2010-11-06T23:42:00.005+08:00

piano
someone's gonna come by to see the piano tomorrow morning... was reluctant to have the viewing on a weekend since it can potentially ruin my plans. the shelf buyer took eons to come on friday morning and i couldn't leave the house.

anyhow, i hope i can sell it off for 388... still, i guess i will miss it when it finally goes... oh well.

polaroid
am still thinking whether i should get a holga camera with a polaroid back.

it'll cost me around 200, excluding the film. the polariod back is about 130 and the holga cam about 60-90 depending on the model that i'm gonna get.

abbie was telling me that it's a waste of money because i'd be done with the camera once i have enough pictures to do a mini mosaic in our room... but i think i could always continue to shoot pictures.

besides, i think the framing of the question is a little off when he asks if there's any use for the cam once i'm through... it should have been something like: are physical keepsakes worth this much?

and then, i'd probably say... yes.. maybe much more.
but i'm still thinking about it because i'm poor :|

woody
is really sweet and well behaved today.

i took a long lie down on my bed today and placed him on my stomach. he looked at me for the longest time... looked as in stood on his two hind legs and stared... after a while, he settled down and rested there without the usual squirming... and let me stroke his back.

i think it must have been the sunflower seeds. i munched a good 1/4 packet (the large one) that abbie bought for me during my pottery class today and got my blouse slightly dirty. woody must have thought he was lying on a giant sunflower husk or something like that...

pottery
it was my last class today.

i definitely have plans to go back and try out some other stuff, but since a weekend afternoon schedule no longer works... i'm not sure how i can do this again next time...

anyway this is the stuff of next year.
i reckon i would be able to come up with an idea by then.

also i would love to try oil painting. but there's no room for such things at home.

abbie's sleepover
the sleepover this weekend was great. we watched the owl movie and it's like a watered down version of lord of the rings... a little too straightforward, but still nice. i still find the concept of being moon-blinked very funny.

we had intended to drop by bras basah to stock in one of my new creations, collect payment and check out paintings + lomo camera but i changed my mind in the end because i was too tired and it looked like it was going to rain. so i guess i'll just do that next week.

beary lovely terrarium

2010-11-05T00:49:00.002+08:00

yessh, after a long long long long while, i managed to get something done today :D
i call it the beary lovely terrarium... dumb sappy name i know... but can't think of a better name

can sell this terrarium for 39.90 anot?

don't wanna sell it for so much either... because i don't think it can fetch that much...

but i don't have a choice. after the cut by the consignee i only get 26 back... and that's really little, considering the cost of the raw materials for this alone (unlike the previous ones that i have done) is more than $10 :S

teddy is probably the worst businessman ever... but he has an idea brewing

thinking of selling him at tea cosy instead. don't think the rates are any better than cat socrates... but i think i shall just ask.

busy times ahead

2010-11-04T22:51:00.002+08:00

room plan in place
after weeks on the drawing board (or notebook) i finally settled on the layout of the room. it would be funny if it turned out shitty. most probably it would since i haven't any experience...

i read online that white furniture will turn yellow. but i'm still going ahead. the whole room's gonna be white. white bed and shelves, table. only the book shelf is red. and we'll have a green rug and beige curtains. yep this is the best and possibly the only time for me to try... with just 1 small bedroom, the damage can't be that great.

gonna buy a polaroid camera too... been wanting to play with one. and now i can decorate the wall with pictures of abbie. yay.

busy weekend ahead
managed to sell my old shelf for 20 bucks. the guy is gonna come tomorrow to dismantle and shift the thing away.... can't wait for my piano to be evaluated and sold. haiz...

afternoon will be at hock siong's...owl movie in the night... bowling with abbie's co the following morning (groans) and last pottery lesson in the afternoon. maybe drop by cat socrates to get my money. they managed to sell the elephant at last (they sold the other 3 last month, i think)... but still need to prepare invoice... argh

a busier than busy week ahead
next week is really tight. op manual form for STGCC is past due... and there's gonna be a large scale training on wed...

we had a good shopping trip today, getting all the necessary supplies... turned out to be really expensive... we're just short of getting some chocolate prizes... will get them over the weekend...

most importantly, i just hope things will turn out right.

learned a lot from yesterday's session

2010-11-03T08:19:00.001+08:00

was having a migraine so i didn't think i could go to the fc, but in the end i did.

wrote quite a number of letters yesterday and among the 4 people that i interviewed, i met this educated guy who was retrenched and couldn't pay his bills because he's unemployed for so long...

i think he was so emo and agitated that my friend peered over his booth to see what was going on in mine -_-

i don't know how he makes me feel. grim?
i guess i'm feeling that this could very well happen to me or abbie or anyone else that i know.

so the moral of the story is to:
1. always cherish your high paying job :d
2. be grateful that you're employed

just saw the news on yahoo that the retirement age may increase to 68... plenty of irate comments, as usual.
but well... i definitely want to work part time from age 50 onwards to 68 or whatever (if i could)...

not sure what i want to do then... maybe reclaim my piano skills? make more amigurumis? work in a cafe.. or a nursery (plants).

on a brighter note, i managed to get my friend from the fc to come to my house to do a valuation for my piano next tuesday after our volunteer session. hopefully, the price will be better.

and i think it would be, because 100 is too low, or so he said. he's also a band conductor, so any lobang from him is a bonus for me. hee.

2010-11-02T07:33:00.000+08:00

tangled
finally, a movie that i feel like catching. too bad it's still about a month away...

abbie has been buying plenty of donnie yen movies and they're all... bloody :| and this guy has been acting since 1982 so there's really a lot to watch... but guess what, i definitely won't want to spend another weekend to watch him die again. heh

selling my piano
somebody did a valuation for my piano the other day and it's worth 100... sounds a bit too little.
i've posted up an ad on locanto and there hasn't been any response... so maybe 100 dollars is just right.. lol

bowling
gonna go bowling with abbie's colleagues this sat... time to become part of the furniture again... :x

bummer

2010-10-27T22:46:00.000+08:00

abbie made me promise not to feed meal worms to woody ever.

well, maybe once in a while? like once every 3 months or something. it's a promise i can't keep. and woody seems to have gotten fat suddenly. maybe i have caused him to overbinge :| but it's not necessary a bad thing... he seems less resistant to being handled.. or maybe he's just bribed by all the food.

in the mean time, there's still way too many worms so i'm giving some to my colleagues for his arrowana.

2 things done today

2010-10-26T23:03:00.000+08:00

i joined pap. young pap actually. will get abbie to join as well so that we can attend stuff together :]

i bought a tub of worms. meal worms for woody.. and he devours them like yummy noodles... albeit naughty squirmy noodles that ooze the gross stuff.

siskapoo was insistent that i hide the worms somewhere so that mum would keep her nagging to tolerable levels... and so i hid them among woody's supplies... but who am i kidding. you mean you really believe mum wouldn't spot a jar of worms?

it's only a matter of time...yepyep.

i only hope woody finishes them before they all turn into beetles :|

the missing something

2010-10-24T14:20:00.024+08:00

did plenty of things recently. but life grows increasingly boring.

having had all the basics (i guess), maybe it's true that i'm taking a lot of things for granted. but i can't explain the restlessness. i feel compelled to try as many things as possible until i find out what's missing.

signed up for poems yesterday and looking to psycho abbie to join young pap with me. the idea of indoor rock climbing is also forming in my mind, even though it hasn't solidified yet.

i'm not sure exactly what i'm looking for. but whatever it is, i hope i find it soon.

2010-10-23T11:06:00.000+08:00

actually, i'm looking forward to tuesdays...

there's not much of other highlights in my life, except for the ROM three half months down..and maybe later.. where abbie's gonna bring some meal worms from his place to mine so that i can feed woody his proteins. crunchy..

these days, my room is in a mess.
mess from the hamster's stuff, library books, clothes, bills and shopping bags... which i don't feel like cleaning up because we're going to do the room soon.

though, i wish we could do up our room sooner... maybe next week..
so that mum would stop harassing me about my mess and woody's

first thing first, i'm thinking of arranging for some people to remove the piano, shelf and the two blue chairs and help shift siskapoo's table over to the other room. this will help create space for us to move in the furniture.

.

decided

2010-10-20T21:27:00.007+08:00

resolution for 2011
for better or worse, i will take control of my life.

training
happy news. training has finally come to an end today, after 3 months. in spite of the little slew of shits here and there, i'm relieved that there's still some sense of satisfaction in what i did.

can't say what 2011 will bring. but i am certain that training will never be the same again.

cca
i've been volunteering my tuesdays to writing appeal letters for the residents at bishan and yesterday was my third time. each session lasted for maybe one half hour and i'd get to type 3 to 4 letters.

overall, it's quite fulfilling even though i was initially terrified. i still am by the way, but i'm coping - the meaning in what i do gives me the courage.

am looking to join a couple of other stuff... but we will see.

woody
has the largest, pinkiest, fluid and veiny testicles.
and he likes to sleep on them. lol.

smoking ban

fully agree

save money
save the environment
no more negative externalities (and that means less migraines for me)
save lives
save families

people need to be saved from themselves.

they think they only have duty to themselves and they're fine with squandering their own lives away, which they term as freedom.

but they do not consider the feelings nor freedom of those who have to care for them if they ever fall ill. they have put self gratification above the happiness of their loved ones. and that is just plain selfish and irresponsible.

the vacuum is in the house

2010-10-16T09:25:00.001+08:00

shoouup shoooouup shooouuup

no batteries required

what do you know... i guess woody is really cute even tho he's..totally.. destructive.

jaded

2010-10-15T23:38:00.003+08:00

anyway, it's moments like these that makes me feel really...weary. weariness within weariness.

i screwed up again at work... or so i would think...definitely not the best day at work but also not the worst. still, everything ended on a somewhat positive note... or at least neutral..so it can't be that bad... right?

i still have not figured out what to do tomorrow. but i feel like i want to do nothing for a change. maybe return my library books...

managed to finish 4 of the 6 books that i've borrowed.. didn't finish the lky book - as predicted. it was taxing to read even though i found it interesting. i started on the last book today... pavilion of women. another long read....

maybe i'll clean woody's tank as well.. he's been shitting a lot... no diarrhea though. must be all the lettuce at work...

making some progress

2010-10-14T21:31:00.000+08:00

hammy
it seems like the socializing process is taking place quite well.

woody let me hold him for a period of time today, not only without getting bitten, but he also managed to stay on my palm longer without struggling to get out. the only time he nibbled at my palm was when i was feeding him some a little piece of lettuce from my zingerburger... the vege had left some traces of mayo on my hand.

food wise, i have decided not to fill his food tray because we have this ant problem at home. there was like this army of ants buzzing over his food last tuesday when i got home...with more streaming in from one corner of the aquarium. disgusting. we threw away everything... all the bedding and food... and we decided to feed woody only what he needs for the day, twice a day. me in the morning, and siskapoo in the evening.

so far, the only problem is that NOTHING is working as it is supposed to.

the food dish is useless because woody would vacuum the dish empty, and hide his hoard in another corner

the decorative hut became his platform for escape and had to be removed

the running wheel also served as a mini platform for escape, but because it provided woody with some form of exercise, i decided to keep it in the aquarium and cover up the side with a wooden plank to prevent him from escaping.

and finally, the running ball (which abbie bought yesterday) made him so nervous, he couldn't really move. first he peed through the ball. and then he started scratching his way out. with nothing to indicate that he's having fun roaming around in the ball whatsoever.

work
it's been quite a while since i've blogged about any. but anyway, i'm glad the staff training is finally coming to an end. amen to that.

i guess i would have enjoyed the process a little bit more if i worried less and trusted more in providence. most of the mental torment is probably my own doing, worrying about nuts...but i just can't help it.. being the person that i am.

there's a bigger training event that is coming up. and honestly, i don't think i have any energy left for that.

on the bright side, we're moving in to the new office. and i'm definitely looking forward to the new facilities.

destructo hammie

2010-10-12T13:26:00.000+08:00

apparently the sweet hammy that i got isn't as innocent as i thought it was. first of all, it wasn't even a she. what do you know, you can always count on good ol abbie to miss the huge testicles... o_o

and, i'm just beginning to get a taste of mischief.

the rodent chewed off a good portion of the running wheel's rubber that was meant to fix the wheel to the side of the aquarium. it's also trying very hard to chew its way out of the tank...

abbie and i bought this pretty little hut with a chimney to decorate the tank, but it used the chimney as a platform to escape from the tank... and succeeded. yep.

i woke up at 2 am on sunday morning... after 2 hours intermittent clunking of its dislodged porcelain food bowl against the glass tank... there was suddenly silence.

walked into the study room half expecting hammy to be out of the tank... and to my horror (still), it was.

luckily for hammy, it was too chicken to leap off from where it was (which was about 1m from the floor)... caught him, put him back and removed the hut.

anyhow it still hasn't got a name. maybe i should just call it hammy.

the silver lining?
i could hold hammy without getting bitten...

new member in the household

2010-10-09T23:33:00.000+08:00

busy day today.

i finally had my chickenpox vaccination done this morning... the queue was awfully long, so we looked at some syrian hamsters in the nearby petshop... and it proved to be fatal...

am now 82 dollars poorer from the jab (another followup jab in november) plus another 50+ dollars poorer from acquiring a new member of the family...

+ 1 hammie.

didn't really give her a name yet. was contemplating hamster 001. but it just sounds... ominous... haha. yep, maybe i'll call it woody since she's a mix of browns. she's not the prettiest of her lot. but she definitely has the nicest temperament. doesn't nip and doesn't mind being handled... that's all i need from a hamster really.

bought a couple of toys for her too.. the running wheel proved to be too big for the tank. it still fits in, but everything will be so cluttered. so i'm hoping the pet shop aunty will allow me to change it to a running ball or anything else to replace the exercise.

mum doesn't seem too happy about the acquisition... but i'm keeping her at bay by telling her that abbie's paying for everything.

pottery lesson today was productive.
i made 2 small vases and 1 large bowl.

made the downpayment for tea cosy as well.

am downright broke.
but happy.

random updates

2010-10-08T22:12:00.000+08:00

graduated
from my letter of credit class today. i think i'll get to attend another different one next year... but this time, i'll be going alone. oh well...

vaccination
i must get my chicken pox vaccination tomorrow. been wanting to do it for a while now... and it stinks to have an injection on your to-do list. so the best thing to do is to get it done asap.

it's just that finding a common schedule between me, abbie and the clinic opening hours is a little bit challenging. heh

library
been going to the library quite often these days. i just found out (after 27 years) that we are allowed to borrow six books. i always thought we could only borrow four... haha.

got this thick old book on lky. don't ask me why... i guess sometimes political apathy can be a little embarrassing. i've already started and it seems quite interesting so far, so hopefully i will have enough resolve to finish it....

i already finished a book by r.l. stine by the way... rubbish book, i know. and i finished a sandra brown one a couple of hours ago (romance, but also trashy :d).. there's this thin book on positive thinking. it had colourful large fonts (and colourful background) that i found annoying to read. so screw it. yep.

i never really liked books with pictures... it disrupts my imagination.

what's left for now is another sandra brown book.. and a novel called pavilion of women. i think it's about some rich family politics.. i think i might skip it. for now, i have the lky book to keep me company during the ironman exhibition.

events
which reminds me...i dread exhibitions.
possibly because i can't find a good use for myself apart from standing there and becoming part of the furniture. i feel awkward when i'm supposed to be "working" and there's no real work or output involved.

still, i think it's a necessary experience.. and a good platform to learn more so that maybe someday, when we're ready, we can participate in a trade show.

happy as a bird

2010-10-07T23:57:00.001+08:00

letter of credit module
went for my l/c class this morning and man it's a complete opposite of how i used to study in nus.

nice chairs, nice venue, very nice food. even the study content is well... nice also.. and the lecturer is super funny. haven't had such an enjoyable time studying, not worrying about grades. i could use more courses like these. i don't mind studying like that everyday.

i was telling steve about how life in nus was like... moving from lecture to lecture, not having enough time to eat... hopping into the over-crowded oily canteen to pick up some food. climbing up the damn hill of stairs with a bun in the mouth..rushing to attend another one of those brain draining lectures...

and you know what's worse than mugging a whole day for exams?

it's waking up at 5 am in the morning to face the wall and recite my presentation for the 8th time.

anyhow class ended at 5 so i had time to drop by daiso in the evening to pick up some flowers.

ROM project
embarked on a DIY flower bird cage project so that i get to keep it as a furniture decor after i'm done with it.

all the trash generated

output 1: flowers in the bird cage

hopefully, nobody will laugh at my rom table centerpiece...

it's my first time arranging flowers and i don't have much knowledge, but it doesn't seem that bad... considering how cheap it is.

i can't remember how much i paid for the bird cage, but everything else cost me $14...

output 2: additional pot of plants from excess flowers

the excess cost me $10. this includes an unused vine and a packet of potpourri...

got carried away and bought too many things >-< but nevermind, i will find a good use for these when we do up our new room...

and i can always use more flowers in my environment. i saw some really lovely ones in spotlight... but again, it's too expensive. :|

days fly by

2010-10-04T22:28:00.000+08:00

when you're having a heck of a busy time... it's been a lull period so far for the past many months and i'm just beginning to have a taste of the busy final quarter.

it's funny how i'm starting to lose track of things. i'm looking forward to the day when i step into the office and don't know what to do first...lol

october and 2010 will be over before i know it.
i'm still not sure what my plans for 2011 will be, but i hope the future will be just as exciting as this.

spiral

2010-10-02T23:32:00.002+08:00

rings
we bought the rings today. the most decisive move of the day. thank heavens.

met up with someone that abbie knew at gold heart and got our rings from the brilliant rose range. it exceeded our budget by about 200+, but the deal was closed in about... 20 minutes.... a record time considering the amount spent. and a relief.

i had initially expected us to drift from store to store just to compare prices... but this time round, we didn't even look at the diamonds through that little magnifying thing. i mean... is it really that important? i don't expect us to scrutinize our rings every now and then.

shrimp 4 & 5
shrimp 1 had lasted for a long while and grown a whole lot bigger, but suddenly passed away after moulting. we passed by the aquarium shop today and even though abbie wanted to buy some for me, i was quite insistent that we don't get any.

i didn't think it was a good time to get them as christmas is coming. they would become a little emotional burden or guilt. because i know that i may not have the time to take care of them properly... so i don't think it's even fair for them that i get them during this point of time.

on life
some comments are meant to be taken positively, but yet i feel as if i'm sinking into an abyss because some things just don't sound possible.

there are things which i know i ought to do for my own good, but didn't because i don't like doing them.
i don't know. i just want to be a good employee. and i'm sure on some level, i was... but i also know that i wasn't on many other levels.

it's not possible for me to become someone like abbie. for a start, my entire being will need to be rewired.

the warped silver lining?

if i'm really that pro-abbie as i had declared, and i can't be bothered to make myself a better person for my own sake, it would be reasonable for me to at least make some effort for his.

restless

2010-09-30T08:20:00.000+08:00

the abbie-centered syndrome is back with a vengence...

it's like i can't think about anything else except for the ROM... and i'm just wishing every now and then for february to come faster...everything else just seems not very important.

well almost.

yesterday i received this email from spring about some training grants that smes could tap on. and one of them was a partial sponsorship for doing masters...

meh, always wanted to do one. looks exciting. and the structure is similar to the biz program, i know i'd be able to somehow survive... if only i could get past the barriers to entry.

barriers to entry
1. company: perceived need to develop graduates in public institutions .. does it exist?
2. spring: personal interview and strong company performance
3. nusmba: personal interview and GMAT test (Good Analytical Writing Assessment, Verbal, Quantitative and Total GMAT scores.)

considering

2010-09-28T21:59:00.003+08:00

in the end, i didn't go down to the community centre today... was supposed to check out the volunteering stuff... but unfortunately, martin wasn't around for me to tag along...

will probably drop by some day when he comes back from overseas... i really need to beef up my portfolio... volunteering would definitely help. of course, it is also important for me to volunteer in something that i enjoy and feel for.

4 down, 3 to go

2010-09-26T23:54:00.001+08:00

settled
- ROM package
- venue
- shoes
- inform relatives of timing and venue

stuff remaining
-wedding band (next week)
- flowers and decor (dunno when)
- solemnizer

it's been fun so far... shopping for all the stuff... and mainly because abbie's been so accommodating. yup, i know it.

met up with the owners of tea cosy this afternoon and finalized the deal. great people. was asked by the owner to join in some grassroots activities...

meh, don't think i'm really cut out for those, but no harm finding out, i guess.

had the high tea set later on... can't get enough of their scones...

abbie with his very sour lemonade

some stale photos from desaru and my birthday celebration

desaru

beautiful beach

yes it's true...
in spite of all the bitching about bad room conditions, the desaru beach is as good as it looks.

frothy waves

keeps the shore a little cleaner than the ones in singapore...

happy seed

not sure what it is, but it sure looks cute

sandy feet

resting place

chilling with a beer in hand

abbie's mum saw this pic and had originally thought it was a soft drink.
i proceeded to correct her... only to end up insisting it was a soft drink because of her reaction...

me and my big mouth -_-||

birthday celebration

seafood international birthday luncheon

love seafood!

giant clam

which i really wanted to have (eat) for my birthday luncheon, but didn't. haha...
it also looks real cute in an aquarium.

maybe i will keep them some day... and i will cook them for dinner when i'm sick of them. yums.

abbie and i

aunts

there's also the cake cutting later during that evening, but the photos turned out all blurry.:(

jumbo seafood
went for another one of those mouth watering feast with my colleagues...

revenge of the chill crab claw

and everyone's shying away from steve's crab slaughtering, shell catapulting and gravy splattering action.

sentosa chalet

spooky affair

my favourite shot of the day... it can't get any better than this.
too tired to blog anymore. lol.

in retrospect... it was fun

2010-09-24T08:14:00.002+08:00

had an incredible week this week despite all the crap.

sentosa
(for some reason, i'm too tired to dig out the pictures to upload. will update this another day)
monday was a trip to sentosa. i was with my boss and we were early, but we got lost and we went round and round and round the island...

i sat down to guard the bags while the others went to play their games. good thing too because the sun was really hot. everybody came back scorched.

the downside was that i didn't get to see them do the sandcastle competition. they were supposed to sell the sand castle for money and one group managed to sell theirs for 50 dollars... lol. would have been good to see how they did it.

watched them play beach volleyball, ate bbq food and played with the fire after that. i think i already mentioned that my colleague caught a cuttlefish and a few other small fishes.

pierce reservoir
took a crazy walk from my company to pierce reservoir... i was worn out from the heat even before i entered the reservoir. it's like an amazing race thing - my colleague's bright idea. i guess it's been bubbling in his head for quite a while. that morning, he told me suddenly.... ok i feel like bringing them out today.

and we're off. o-o

had to take pictures of certain stuff, as well as the suspension bridge at the tree top walk, find a magic leaf, then get back to the office as soon as possible to devise a way to sell the leaf for at least $10.

it rained. big rain.
i reached the suspension bridge half dead.

the view was great above the trees... i could see the reservoir in the distance. trees trees and more trees around, with mist swirling slowly above their canopy... the light drizzle was making me more sticky than i already was... the air smelled rainy, but also fresh.

the wind in particular, made me feel anxious. we were high above the trees on this "precarious" bridge which didn't feel secure because it was rocking a little. and i was thinking that i might die if there was lighting or if one of the steps were to give way... i didn't even open my umbrella (yep, i was the only one who had one) because i was worried that i might let go if the wind was too strong.

that was probably the best part of the journey.
coming back was quite nightmarish. we all got wet. even me with the umbrella.
the silver lining: at least my underwear was dry.

i was tired, i was wet and my leg had a blister. but i had to move on. because if i didn't i would still be stuck in the forest. and that wouldn't work.

i survived. with very sore feet but without a cold or any insect bites. haha.

jumbo meal
going to jumbo seafood restaurant today for a company meal. i'm growing fat. something needs to be done soon.

hmmmm

2010-09-22T08:22:00.000+08:00

this weekend is gonna be another busy one:
- meeting with the bridal studio staff to confirm the wedding package
- going to ikea to check out the furniture and then to giant to check out the air con
- meeting with tea cosy owner on sunday afternoon
- clearing some old furnitures on sunday evening

went down to sentosa yesterday to facilitate the training but i ended up looking after the bags and babysitting a baby cuttlefish that my colleague caught.

just as well, because i so don't wanna be tanned.

an analogy
i have this grossly fat and pudgy friend who asks me to help him lose weight and become healthy.

with the help of a few other friends, we came up with an exercise regime and a strict diet. but it never gets followed because he hates exercises and veggies. he merely wished himself thin and healthy without putting in the right effort.

i can stay and try to psycho him into doing himself a big favor, or leave.
right now, i'm trying the first option. if it doesn't work, i'll leave. no brainer solution.

accomplished

2010-09-18T23:25:00.003+08:00

today is a productive day. :)

pottery
glazed 3 mugs/bowls and my little pot of love vase

threw another 2 more mugs as well... with one of them severely out of shape... i couldn't help it.

the assistant looked away for a moment and i couldn't resist deviating from her instructions to create something weird. and yep i did make something weird in the end, but it doesn't look too good. haha...

venetian blinds
is removed. abbie did it actually.
need to do a few more things to prepare the room for painting in november.

for a start, we need to throw away some furniture so that we can paint the walls...

which leads to my next point... we need to find someone who can throw the stuff away for us because it's too much hard work with all the shifting. we need 2 abbies.

ROM package
is confirmed. we made the full payment today.

went for jess haute couture in the end even though it's abit more expensive than bridal closet. their selection and service is better and they have something for abbie. none of the blazers at bridal closet fit abbie very well.

was sort of persuaded to sign the wedding package on the spot but we weren't ready. will upgrade to the package after abbie's consultation with his mum...

i've tried searching on the web for bad reviews but i haven't found them... only have a few good comments, so i guess this is a good thing. i feel safe enough.

just another update

2010-09-17T08:12:00.002+08:00

smoking ban
in NY. i am so hoping that singapore will follow suit within the next 2 years. everyone will be healthier... and afterall, they've already banned chewing gum.

siskapoo's concert
on the 17th october. sunday night.
just writing it down so that i don't forget. abbie's coming too of course.

colleague's daughter
went to visit my colleague who gave birth a couple of days ago. and it was nothing like what i had imagined. the last time i visited someone who gave birth was my mum... siskapoo was in a room full of babies and mum was all pale and lying on the bed.

when i saw my colleague, she looked so happy on her bed, and a baby nearby so well behaved, smelled so nice and had such tiny feet. yep.. not the screaming-her-lungs-out non-stop kind and reeks of stale milk...

would i have such luck? i have no idea.. lol

vba classes
is finally coming to an end. last lesson next week. and i'm so proud of them. haha.

it's true that they have yet to write their own codes and so far, we have only focused on understanding the codes that i've written and how to modify it to suit their needs.

the thing is, VBA isn't the least bit interesting (or that easy, even for business undergrads), i feel encouraged that they are taking a substantial amount of time to learn, to make the codes work and to invent something new to help them with their work.

life
these days is just coming home to surf net, especially the ikea website, measuring stuff with my dad's tape and sketching the floor plan on my muji notepad...

on weekends, it would be either some rom preparation or room decor planning.

it's a great routine that's never always the same..

waiting

2010-09-14T23:22:00.000+08:00

out of gas
we practiced laughing yoga today with the juniors and i sucked. well i would say it was a good learning experience... but i don't think i'm cut out for such things...

i care too much about how i look and i am painfully aware that i definitely look spastic. and most of all, i care about looking spastic even if nobody else in the world does. yep.

electric racket
dad bought me this wonderfully terrible new gadget to kill insects... it's a great idea actually, except that i'm too timid to even wield it to kill something. i'm not a melee troop. never was.

i prefer bio weapons or long distance ones. somebody should develop homing missiles against insects...

upcoming lessons
gonna attend a short course on some legal stuffs for logistics/shipping. it's only a short 2 day course. thoughts: no barriers to entry and no exams = no recognition and no motivation.

but excited nonetheless. new knowledge.

waiting
for company dinner at jumbo this fri
for my birthday dinner this sun

to attend lessons next month
for the ROM next year
for abbie's move in thereafter
above all, i'm just waiting for december to be over. lol

i survived desaru

2010-09-13T08:06:00.000+08:00

for the first time, better than abbie did...

his trust in providence was his downfall: abbie was stung like mad by mosquitoes during our night trip to see the fireflies... to the point that his feet actually got swollen....he was wearing a singlet and shorts, with the mosquito patch inside his singlet

i was saved by my prudence: i was wearing long sleeved sweater and jeans.. with the mosquito patch on my sweater. i also had abbie beside me... the yummier meat. so i managed to escape practically unscathed.

his silver lining: a firefly landed on his hands. nobody else could catch a firefly even though they were trying so hard to grab one.

our resort was as run down as described in the tripadvisor reviews... luckily we've got the villa instead of the hotel rooms... the hotel rooms were dismal to the point of speechless... lol.. would have killed abbie for that... even the sandy golden beaches can't save us.

had a few scares in the villa as well. we had this strange gecko inhabitant that loves to fall on people's head. it fell on my head when we entered the room... screamed like hell... lol. and i was the second person that entered (after abbie)...

the next time we entered the room, it fell on abbie's head (and shoulders)... i was the first to enter...

my silver lining: there were no cockroaches..

27th birthday
i received an ipod touch from abbie... yays. never had any cool gadgets before. hopefully i won't get addicted to it...

took an off day today so that abbie and i could go to the furniture mall to look at beds and stuffs for our room...

yep that's all for now.

random

2010-09-08T22:51:00.002+08:00

botany
just bought a couple of fake plants to spruce up my workspace... not that it needs more sprucing up... but more flowers is always better... :D

was thinking of getting some real african violets to replace the leafy plant that died over the long weekend during national day... but decided against it in the end.

december is coming soon so i probably shouldn't increase my commitment. not when i've yet to find people to feed shrimpy then, as i won't be in the office that much.

silent support
went out with steve during the afternoon to get some errands done.

talked to a couple of staff and one of them told me that he wanted to further his studies in uni...

i thought it was a great plan. was like telling him to quit immediately instead of waiting :d but anyway, i didn't push it... lest my head roll lol :|

rat glue
bought a little tub of rat glue as well.
will have some fun tomorrow with the set up and bait. hope it catches something ugly over the long weekend.

yogi in practice?
need to facilitate a yoga session during one of the staff trainings.

god help me.

desaru
even though i'm not really looking forward to it, i'm still somewhat looking forward to it.

tired

2010-09-06T21:06:00.002+08:00

have finally finished all the pre-packing necessary for abbie's move in...

from hereon, things will get progressively more difficult and manual. there's loads to do, including painting. i hope we have a good time working together. i've never worked with abbie before. so...

country living
visited a renovation forum and found out that it costs about 40k to do up a 4 room flat in my favourite traditional english/country theme.

ouches.

not feasible at all but still possible, only if i save at least 1k per month for the next 3 years... and then i'd be 4k short and have nothing left afterwards... lol silly really. but i'd like that option yes.

all right, enough day dreaming for now.
i need to focus on packing my stuff for the upcoming desaru trip. i'm keeping my fingers crossed that things turn out fine.

things to do this week
- sketch what i want to make for my next pottery lesson
- clean my piano
- place an order for a birthday cake
- pack my bag
- buy medicine for my acne
- discuss with abbie some changes in our room plan
- chase suppliers
- return library books

yep, i finished reading the books that i borrowed.
- loved divine science.
- iching wisdom was so so
- the secret behind the secret doesn't really entice me and
- parables of zen buddhism is just plain bad. i have great respect for this religion and i tried to tell myself that there's some deeper wisdom beneath the silly comics but unfortunately, i still found it crappy. i need to borrow a better book on this religion.

spent

2010-09-05T10:45:00.000+08:00

shrimp shopping
went out with my colleagues to shop for shrimps yesterday, but came back empty handed... haha. i guess there were too many varieties of stuff so he needed more time to think through...

i was thinking of getting a water plant, but i thought there was already enough water element on my desk. so i didn't buy any either. good thinking. otherwise i don't know what to do with it man...

dropped by the fish farm to play fetch with jay jay again... she smelled a little bad though... haha

trying out gowns
first stop, bridal closet. it was quite crowded when i got there... need to queue to use the changing rooms... o-o

but it was partly my own doing, because abbie and i came about 20 minutes later for our appointment...
so far, we narrowed our options to 2 dresses...

a simple one with no frills

and another one frilly one which covers my knobby knees...

not a lot of options... still, 1 dress is all i need... will probably be going for the frilly one... tried on plenty of other tu-tu like dresses... but they all look weird because my legs were too thin, like sticks poking out beneath thick skirts :|

most of the suits there were too small for abbie... i think he looked better in the suit that he wore for his brother's wedding..

they mentioned that there will be new stuff coming in in nov so i guess there's no harm signing the package with them for now.

wanted to do so on the spot actually, but i guess i do want to take a look at a few other options... just so that there's some comparison. will be going down to jess haute couture next next week to see what they have to offer before we make up our minds.yepyep.

furniture shopping
is the fun part.

we looked at some quality beds and they're really expensive o-o some of the designs are yuck also. but i didn't know how to tell it to abbie in front of the sales person...

so i decided to develop some secret sign language with abbie (an inspiration from my boss actually)... like if i scratch my head, it means the frame sucks... or if i scratch my chin, the bed sucks... or if i cup my face, it means it's too expensive... stuff like that.. lol

a conclusion

2010-09-03T21:32:00.002+08:00

i have much to learn from everyone else around me.
most of all, patience from abbie... but i highly doubt i can learn it without some "spiritual" awakening... lol.

and then there's a slew of some bugging questions:
why am i always in such a hurry to get things done even when there's no pressing deadline?
why do i feel uncomfortable doing nothing?
why do i seek to unravel the mystery of doing something "new" and then lose interest shortly after "knowing"?
why do i feel like running away from idle conversations during meetings?

no idea.

but during my uni days, i always feel terrible when i didn't do as much studying as i should... in a sense, i feel compelled to study in order to feel relief.

has university life turned me into a mechanical someone who can only find comfort in absolute busyness?
i'm afraid to become the person that i think i've become.

looking for some answers

2010-09-03T07:57:00.000+08:00

never thought that this day would come so early. but yep, i just borrowed 4 books on different kinds of spirituality/philosophy yesterday evening just to explore a little...

- divine science
- zen
- i ching
- the secret behind the secret

i liked the first book that i picked up. divine science.

resident evil

2010-09-02T08:16:00.003+08:00

is back!!! woooh~
should totally watch it next next monday.

feel like dropping by my school for a short visit... but still thinking. yuppyyep.

agenda for sat
shop for shrimps
try out dresses
drop by ikea to buy packing boxes

a milestone today

2010-09-01T23:09:00.004+08:00

hesitant
i didn't send out my resume for the freelance writing job like i said i would... hesitant because i don't think i'm ready yet. and because i feel i have other things to sort out first, such as finishing my pottery lessons.

my first sales report
nonetheless, today i received my first sales report from cat socrates as a consignor. they sold 3 of the 4 amigurumis after a price revision. but after deducting commission and stuffs, there's not really much of it left... just slightly over half a day's salary... :/

life as an artisan must be really hard. i think writing is also a kind of art that doesn't bring in much if i'm not dan brown. i must have little affinity with money. passion in all the stuff that saps all the energy and yet doesn't bring in the dough.

but oh well, it's still a milestone for my first eni mini mini small business. and i hoped my amigurumis brought joy to some people out there.

shrimpy's new clothes
saw shrimpy moult today... it was circling the jar over and over and over.. i thought it had gone mad... and then it sort of swam vigorously on the spot (much like us jogging on the spot)...

i thought it was like.. what? laying eggs? or gonna die or something...

and then i saw it. the head was like bending downwards in an odd angle.. like it was about to drop off... so i sort of freaked. and before i knew it, shrimpy burst and shot out from its old shell and catapulted somewhere underneath mori... leaving a ghostly white shell.

a tiny miracle in a tiny jar.
it's good to see it grow so well amid the death of the other 2 shrimps.

happy teacher's day
wrote an sms to my pottery teacher and an email to my mno prof. wish i could have done something more, but i haven't the energy.

looking forward

2010-08-31T22:06:00.005+08:00

siskapoo and her clarinet
after seeing siskapoo drown herself in her useless case competition and biz com presentation, it's heartening to see her hunching over her music score and playing the clarinet just for fun...

and jigging a little along with the music...

appointment with bridal closet
i've arranged an appointment with bridal closet this weekend and postponed my pottery class. don't know what's gonna happen but it sounds exciting.

gonna give jeanine some feedback since she's the one that sort of introed this place to me...

an idea
this afternoon, we talked about having a part time job. and the idea of a free lance job on top of the current job is really growing on me at an alarming rate. i've already updated my resume and done up a cover letter. will send it out to the company that i have in mind by tomorrow. yep.

whether i get it or not is another thing. besides, there's nothing to lose. and if you never try, you'll never know :D

shopping for shrimps
gonna meet up with my colleagues this saturday morning at clementi to check out some shrimps for my boss. i think he got the inspiration from the little shrimp on my desk.

but anyways i would gladly trade any shrimps for some furry animal. crustacean are good for eating, not rearing. still, i have to admit it's somewhat intriguing to see mori getting chewed, combed and nibbled on all day by little shrimpie.

resolutions

2010-08-29T11:17:00.002+08:00

upcoming break
at desaru... not having high expectations.

was pretty upset with the bad online reviews of the resort that we booked... it doesn't matter if half of the reviews were ok and the other half were bad.. the thing is that we checked it only after booking. this shouldn't have happened.

worse still, we're going there on my birthday. the previous trip to batam was bad also because of my diarrhea. i think i have no affinity with cheap getaways. :d

lesson learnt: complacency is bad.
golden rule: research before recommendation

the silver lining:
1. we now know that we must bring cookies, instant noodles, air freshener and mosquito repellant along...
2. i have abbie's company when i'm in purgatory
3. at least this isn't our honeymoon

travel
12 days in eastern europe...
which i know i will be going. in 2012, with or without abbie.

affirmation
i will find someone who loves me. i will get my degree. i will learn how to crochet. i will work in a loving company. i will learn pottery. i will sculpt an angel from a lump of clay. i will learn how to paint. i will stay in great shape (especially if i stay with abbie). i will have my dream house. i will go to eastern europe. i will have my pets. i will love and be loved. i will be happy.

and i have never been more sober.

"Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve."

stuffs to do

2010-08-26T20:16:00.001+08:00

1. get med for my face because its finishing
2. plan what to do for our upcoming break in sept
3. design a layout for our new room
4. do up a price list for our rom for abbie's consideration
5. bake cookies
6. buy a wireless receiver

throwing a challenge

2010-08-26T08:09:00.003+08:00

abbie was telling me yesterday that the only way i can convince him that i'm smarter (than him) isn't our uni results, but to take an iq test and solve a puzzle game (that he had downloaded to his iphone) faster than he did.

and i did :P

2010 birthday wish: for us to take the mensa test this december
and no you can't get away from this one.

not trying to make any statement.
just something that i've always wanted to find out...

weekend agenda

2010-08-24T22:42:00.001+08:00

moving over
just when i thought living at abbie's place would work if i tried to adapt, it wouldn't.

both of us would face distance issues. maybe we need to think through our options again.

gratitude book
anyway i'm so excited now because i've finally bought the photo album from the abnc shop and i can finally get started on my gratitude book.

managed to dig out some great old emails from abbie as well as some photo attachments. they make a great memory. i should probably print out some contents from his emails.

new computer
dad has a sudden urge to learn computer. he wants to get those huge apple computer with big screen *pangs of jealousy* and he wants it now.

managed to convince him that i don't know much about apple and to push the trip to the weekend so that abbie can help him decide on the model and brand.

besides, it'll be a great opportunity for abbie to bond with his soon-to-be father-in-law.

revelation

2010-08-24T08:28:00.000+08:00

revelation no 1: i didn't know how much freedom means to me until now.

abbie highlighted to me yesterday that i can stay in a house, have a nice little room, my mookie dog and penny the hen, do a little gardening, if i ever wanted to.

i just have to stay with my in-laws. it's really simple.

but i'm not sure if i want that.

not because they aren't nice.
but because i think i will lose my freedom.

i will worry about how they perceive me.
i will oblige to things that i don't want and feel lousy, or reject the things and feel guilty.

of course, things are never as bad as i envision them to be...
but the epitome of farm life to me is really just freedom, tranquility and beauty all in a package. hakuna matata.

if it's not beautiful and carefree... then there's no meaning behind having it. is there?
or will i eventually find new beauty, freedom and meaning after having it?

revelation 2: i didn't know abbie's dream is to become an operations manager in an mnc.

funny.
because you're worth so much more than that.

a time capsule post (to the future)

2010-08-23T22:07:00.001+08:00

training today..especially the sharing session, has been inspirational to me. i guess i'm already on the fortunate side... so i shouldn't complain.

below are just some of the stuffs that i wanted to do during the session (but couldn't because i was somewhat part of the facilitating team)... we're supposed to write a note of advice to our past self and future self..

pretty interesting time capsule concept. don't you think?

a letter from current me (2010) to past me (2000-2005)

follow your heart and dreams
don't hang on to difficult relationships, you know you're better than that
don't let others tell you what to do, even if they mean well
things are not as difficult as you imagined them to be
your destiny is in your hands
work hard and you will definitely succeed
don't give up hope. keep believing.
the things that you seek most is just around the bend. you. WILL. get. them. eventually.

a letter from current me (2010) to future me (2015)

be sober. don't be affected by what others are chasing after; you have a better destination.
be passionate. of the life and the paths you choose to take. believe.
be in love. all the time. let your loved ones know how much you care, so that you can die happy.
be patient and giving. very difficult to achieve, but you will learn some day.

i have duplicated an identical post, scheduled to be published in 2015 as a reminder to myself, provided that this blog is still alive... and that i'm still alive... lol.

it doesn't get much better than this

2010-08-20T23:38:00.001+08:00

stolen from jeanine's blog... heez

neuro linguistic programming lesson with colleagues and their spouses

too bad abbie wasn't there...
nevermind, if there's a next time, you'll make it... right? :d

strange observations

2010-08-20T12:21:00.005+08:00

week's review
considering the stuffs that could have gone wrong... i think this week turned out pretty good :)

capturing dynamic personalities

went to have a buffet dinner at the line on tuesday evening...

it's a rainy day

view (through the roof of the car) from jeanine's lap.

oyster shell decor

a souvenir from the buffet... yummy.

life in a jar

fat shrimp has all the food. small shrimp has all the crumbs.

been trying to drop in extra food for the little one. and the fat one always gets it first because the little one scrambles away from the water disturbances (when the food falls)..

well... too bad. no risks no gains.

such is life.. even in a jar... lol

bored (to tears)

2010-08-19T21:31:00.003+08:00

no pottery (until saturday)
no reply (from tea cosy)
no abbie
no photoshop (cos siskapoo brought her lappie to school)
no plans (for the night)
no nothing

boo

am just waiting for the weekend to come so that we can look for more stuffs for the rom... heez...

walked around the whole amk hub just now and realized that i can't even find a sticky photo album.. sigh~

new seeds
went into cash converters to take a peek... they have lots of cool junk that are real cheap... didn't dare to buy any since i don't have my own home yet...in the end i bought some clover seeds... i have a pot of soil left over at the office.... not expecting the seeds to grow, but $1 only, so i guess it's worth a try...

mum's excited
i think... over the rom... even though she doesn't consider it a "real" wedding... she kept on asking me what she should do... whether there's a need for her to meet abbie's parents...and who should meet who... even asked if there's gonna be a buffet in our house... almost made me fall off the chair..

but nopey.. no buffet at home... told her that my place is a mess and that our house decor is too yuck.. lol, she was like damn pek cek to hear it coming from me...lol...

cross eyed

2010-08-19T00:07:00.004+08:00

just checked out some wedding bands this evening...

went home to do more homework... so in the absence of modules (to mull over)... i can finally mull over my ROM...yayyyy -_-

The Mull List
1. location
tea cosy wins hands down... not the least interested in any other places... the only thing now is whether i can afford it. sigh

2. wedding bands
no opinion (abbie's call).
i just want a comfortable-to-wear ring.

3. make up
again not much expectations. in fact, i don't want a transformation...
i just hope it's not overdone...Not White (thick makeup) and Not Fried (hair)

4. gown
to rent a simple dress that doesn't drop (on to the floor) or suffocate

5. photography/videography
Record lor...DIY lor.. in fact, i already have someone in mind.
though need to ask abbie if he wants professional help or not.

a (waiting to go home) post

2010-08-16T18:55:00.009+08:00

this week is gonna be a difficult one... not for me. though i'm also feeling it... maybe it's because i don't have my computer with me... need to get stuffs done with the little pockets of time that i have from time to time... tricky.. but i like... :D

most of the time, i'm just watching by the sidelines, offering help if needed... meh.

still, there's plenty of highlights for this week...
1. buffet dinner at the line @ shangri-la tomorrow night with my company... and
2. (better than the shangri-la meal), abbie's stayover at my place this weekend...

we could shop for our wedding bands and gown etc... and watch a late night movie together :D

a time machine exercise
we did this exercise during training this afternoon... i'm sort of helping to facilitate this whole thing, but i did this exercise as well...

we were required to go back to the past to revisit some events which helped shape the way we are now...

to cut the long story short, i would say i didn't have much of a great past... so many bad memories, i never want to go back...

the present
the present is MY time and i love the present because
i am finally free
i no longer have to depend on my dad for money
i am giving my parents money instead...
i can pursue my interests in pottery (or whatever that i want)
i have completed my studies... to a level that i'm happy (and proud of)
i am surrounded by caring people at work
i enjoy a better relationship with my sister
i am looking forward to a bright future with a very wonderful man

and i'm excited to know what tomorrow(s) will bring.

anyway, back to the exercise
i knew what i was doing about 1 year back from now...

on the 14th of August 2009
1. i had my pap smear done.
2. i attended one of my first few interviews.
3. i set my academic goals for all my modules.

on the 16th of August 2008
1. i celebrated dad's birthday
2. abbie had his bad tooth removed
3. i bought abbie some flowers to reduce his trauma

on the 16 of August 2007
1. i learned about the monty hall problem

on the 16 of August 2006
1. i was mulling about my modules
2. we bought a cake for dad and he bought his own cake, so we ended up with 2 cakes

that's why i love to blog...

p.s. today is actually my dad's birthday...
it's in my plan to make something for him... a mug from my pottery class.. but it won't be ready any time soon. and he has received nothing in the meantime... so i'm feeling kind of bad...

and i don't know what to say... :|
except that.. good things are worth waiting for...

pottery lesson 2

2010-08-15T10:04:00.005+08:00

learned how to trim the base of the pieces i made last week...

yep, i was still wondering before that... whether the pieces are ready for firing because the base looks real chunky and ugly... now it looks much better.

mastering pottery vs just for fun
that's what my teacher asked me yesterday...
and it really sets me thinking...

because i preferred doing different shapes and sizes every time rather than focusing on getting the cylindrical shape right (which means i can only do mugs)...

true, i know i have to focus if i want to master it, but i'd be creating so many "bad quality" mugs... what on earth am i going to do with them? o_o

anyway it sounded like fun and mastery was mutually exclusive... which isn't true... i think..

and even if it it's true... i think i'd like to have the fun bit first... somewhat a fun overview once through, and then the serious details the 2nd time round...

learning notes:
1. wet the wheel
2. flip the pieces over to the base and place on centre of the wheel
3. slow speed
4. centre it by patting lightly
5. wheel at full speed
6. use tool to trim, place tool below midpoint
7. round "heels" by using fingers to smooth
8. sponge surface to touch up
9. remove by slowly gripping the spinning piece

my notion of love is...

2010-08-14T00:15:00.002+08:00

really defined by the little things i took in when i was really really young...

you know, if you could recall the specific moments when you just stumble across certain things... and your mind can't help but capture the entire scene from start to end, as if it was on a stubborn "record" mode... stuffs that you could recall just by watching it once... stuffs that you can't forget... and stuffs that you find yourself wanting to re-watch over and over again...

Snow White (someday my prince will come): Hope

it was one of the first few shows that i watched when i was really little. i was old enough to know what a prince was and that i wanted one... i just couldn't figure out where the castle was or how to get myself a prince....

but never mind, someday my prince WILL come...
and he did. just without the castle and the horse.

Ghost (unchained melody): Passion

i was in primary school then and i never thought it was right for me to like this passionate love scene. but this didn't stop my little mind from "recording" this in detail and storing it in some secret place.

so looking back, i guess i did like it after all... and i probably liked it a lot more than i dare to admit... lol.

Love is a many splendoured thing

the title speaks for itself... and with the help of the lyrics, i'd imagine what love was like...

dad used to sing this song (a lot) on the karaoke... and i always liked the fact that he sang the song really well.. it's just that he sang it to the tv instead of mum

and finally, I would like to dedicate the song below to abbie

If tomorrow never comes

mixed feelings all over again

2010-08-13T00:54:00.001+08:00

post-proposal
it's been a couple of days since the proposal... and i'm still trying to get used to wearing the additional accessory...hehe... also received more wishes today from all the supervisors.. :D

dismantled the bouquet today because i didn't want it to rot over the weekend... managed to salvage a little bunch of smaller flowers to put on my desk... as well as the 3 big lilies, couldn't bring myself to throw them away... anyway i gave away 2 of them to my colleagues to thank them... brought one home and it's beside my bed now enjoying its last (few) days as a beautiful flower :)

slogging abbie
abbie has been working late all this while, it's just that it's getting a lot worse recently because he's got something important coming up next week...

i called him around 11 yesterday and was horrified to hear that he is still slogging away in the office to patch things up... probably all alone by himself... i knew it.

that's almost 15 hours of work...and on the contrary, i had been lying on my bed and doing nothing....

....

guilt-ridden.
suddenly comes to mind as a good pun... lol.

he's going back on saturday as well... but he reassured me today that he would be able to join me for my pottery class in the afternoon.

dad's health
his feet is swollen again...

nothing to elaborate here except for the same old worries. and that i wished he has a better temper. then maybe i wouldn't be so evasive. or maybe it's just old fears accumulated throughout my lifetime so far. or maybe, i'm just giving lame excuses.

all right all right, so i am not the smartest :d

2010-08-11T20:19:00.027+08:00

how should i put it...

prelude - the day before
i found out yesterday morning that abbie was gonna propose to me today because i overheard siskapoo's conversation with him over the phone... a slip up, i thought...

then i received another sms from yonghan (abbie's good buddy) telling me about a couple of people who would be involved in the proposal event. he even encouraged me to go through what abbie's prepared for me - another slip up that revealed more information because i didn't know who was involved...

thought the cat was out of the bag and that afternoon, i sort of patted abbie on his back to reassure him...

deardear is sooo sweet and soo silly... you know, it's good effort and i really appreciate it.... better luck next time.... remember it's nobody's fault that this happened... it's just that i'm too smart for you heh?? 2nd upper leh.. can see through your plans...

stuffs like that... lol

nonetheless, i could sense that he was still desperate to protect his little secret... or whatever that he has planned... he even excused himself after our lunch to hide in the loo (to delete some messages from his handphone just in case i read them). he initially lied to me that he was in the loo..shitting... i called him to tell him sternly that he's not shitting...because i can see his feet from where i was waiting. he's just standing behind the entrance and the screen failed to cover his legs.

i got worried.

has abbie finally gone mad liao trying to protect his already-exposed secret? after all, i can only visualize yonghan taking pictures with his camera... and chee kei... what could he be doing? juggling balls?? or holding the ring??? not much of a surprise anyhow...

bleh

didn't sleep well the whole night because i was too excited :d.

little bad streaks this morning

1. i broke my compact powder
i wanted to ensure that there was some colour on my face during the proposal in the evening.. instead of looking like a zombie after work...

so while i was packing my stuff, the powder just rolled out of my hands and landed on to the floor... all broken, with some fragments of powder here and there.... was looking dumbly at the mess and imagining the kind of disasters this bad omen will bring... i panicked.. but the law of attraction said i shouldn't fret too much, otherwise things will only get worse...

2. dirtied my cardigan
it started to rain heavily while i was making my way to work... sustained some dark water spots on my newly washed cardigan... today of all days... i sighed

3. my plant died... i think
reached the office and saw that my leafy plant was on the verge of death because it wasn't watered for the past few days.... was like, dammit... right after i replace the dead shrimp... now the plant is dead... more bad luck..pui

4. meetings delayed
went into the conference room to discover that the meeting that i was rushing for had been pushed till a later time... well how about that... lol luckily i didn't dash across the road to catch the bus... would have been dumb -_-

5. awkwardness
from facing my boss... to tell the truth, we didn't have a good week last week... and even though all the hurt and anger has somewhat dissipated over the long weekend, the awkward feeling hadn't...

and so there i was, stuck in the conference room for a meeting that's not gonna take place anytime soon... ack..

yep, the whole day sort of went like that... stale. because of the little things that was putting me off...

was hoping for the day to end quickly so that i can get my nice little rock...

and since this is (hopefully) a once in a lifetime thing, i was thinking maybe i should get abbie to kneel a little bit longer.. you know, i'd like to have the memory of him proposing to me.. the moment.. seared into my brain.

what followed later during the day was totally unexpected :d

the proposal
it was nearing the end of our weekly meeting and there was some sharing going on...

the question was, "if you had to lose one of your senses, what would it be?"...

was thinking hard at it and figured it would be my sense of hearing.. was thinking about some reasons to support my decision in case we needed to share it later...

then it sort of bridged into this blindfolding activity where blindfolded participants were told to guess the items that they were given... didn't make much sense to me.. and after a couple of participants... i was picked.......

i winced.

NEVERMIND, just go through the motion... just go through the motion... there's no need to panic... this can't kill me anyway..lol

and so this was what happened....

doris blindfolding me and making sure i couldn't see a thing

henry giving me the bouquet to feel...

i was so damned sure it was the fake plant/flowers from the breadou corner... because there weren't any live plants in the office... lol

wrong guess? how can i be wrong??

was told that my guess was off... so i should remove the blind fold to see what it really is...

heh?

doing it the traditional way

all this time, i was sure i didn't hear the confetti pop, i'm not sure if i heard cheering... or the song that was being played... i only knew my mind was blank... empty... followed by a sudden gush of thoughts...

oh my god! this is really happening... right now? but why?? yesterday i thought he said... why did he? i thought yong han said.... how come???...oh no! oh shit! i'm so stupid... LOL

i can't believe it... you lied!

but that's all right because i'm a happy fool :D

Engagement gifts

hearts blindfold...

doesn't really count i guess but it's a good souvenior

ring, the essence of it all?

aladdin and some other character that i can't recognize

even my calendar matches the occasion... lol

precious thots box to store the ring - pretty

the insides is made by abbie - lucky... since he hardly makes me anything :D

a little terrarium from my colleagues...

i can imagine the time they spent >_< thank you guys

cupids from tea cosy - love

so much wedding blessings when it's almost 2 years away - lucky again!

the largest bouquet of flowers that i've ever received

beautiful... and smells nice too :D

yep, so 2nd upper or not, i am not the smartest... but nothing's stopping me from feeling the luckiest!

temple visit

2010-08-09T23:34:00.009+08:00

today abbie and i went to explore the temple that i pass by everyday on my way to work... i've always wondered what's inside...

the journey

hot day

i melted underneath my little umbrella...

spacious and grand

peaceful and deserted

beautiful tiles on the wall

and on the floor

nice fishies

picturesque...crematorium......

and this concludes our visit

abbie

the love of my life, my guardian angel and my silly little donkey :)

thinking about learning new things

2010-08-09T02:13:00.000+08:00

the grand plan (throughout my whole life i guess, and as and when my finances permit :d)
1. pottery (basic) - 2 months +
2. pottery (intermediate) - 2 months +
3. handbuilding/sculpting? (project based) - 2 months +
4. oil painting basic (basic) - ???
5. horseback riding - ???
6. japanese cooking courses - ???
7. baking lessons (to make bread, scones, pies.. NOT kuehs) - ???
8. fencing
9. waltz
10. squash

waiting to do 8, 9, and 10 with abbie when he gets his ligament reattached. :)

lesson 1

2010-08-07T23:52:00.145+08:00

went for my first pottery lesson today... and it's conducted in 2 parts.. :D

part 1: wedging the clay
it's supposed to be easily accomplished with some rocking and kneading motion... and it's done to prepare the clay by getting rid of air pockets inside...

towards the end, you'd get a nice roll of clay

but dunno why..
i kept on producing a triangle that looks like a freaking uterus...

i'm thinking maybe it's because of the size of my hands... or the lack of strength..or the lack of technique... or probably all 3...

doreen (the teaching assistant) had me cut the clay into half to check the cross section and there were holes/air pockets... so here comes the funniest moment of the day:

doreen: smash the clay as hard as possible okay? *demo-ed a throwing action*

me: ok

and so i threw the half of the clay that i was holding directly on to the table.. it went like piakk *satisfied expression*

doreen: no no no, you're supposed to smash the clay against the other half to combine them back together and continue wedging...

me: ohhhhhhhhh ok ok
me: omg it's stuck to the table T-T

i should get abbie to do it for me next time...

part 2: throwing on the wheel
is the fun part... though i had to consciously drive out some lewd thoughts that was invading my head every now and then...lol

went home with a pair of sore arms and dry chalky hands, dirty jeans and bits of clay in my hair and toes... abbie said i look like a construction worker...

am so happy that i learned some new stuff today... and happier still that all this stuff isn't graded...

now i can take the learning seriously without having to worry about not being good enough...

some learning notes for future revision...
1. clean and dry the wheel
2. use dry hands to throw clay at the centre
3. add water and increase speed
4. centre the clay by pushing it up
5. arms to be steadily supported by legs
6. bring the clay up and down 3 times
7. while bringing the clay up, right hand to pull the clay towards me, left hand to push the clay away, straighten left thumb upwards and slightly forward
8. while bringing the clay down, right hand to cup the clay, left hand to push forward a little
9. press the top with right thumb over left to flatten top a little, palms to be perpendicular to the wheel
10. make a hole at the centre with the right thumb moving down., leave 1 cm for the base
11. widen the hole by moving the right thumb towards the palm
12. reduce wheel speed
13. interlock thumbs and at 4 o'clock direction, bring the clay up using all fingers
14. check that thickness is even
15. clip sponge between 2 fingers and sponge interior surface
16. sponge exterior
17. round the top by using wedges between fingers and press down
18. trim the base and scrape off excess
19. stop the wheel
20. put some water on the wheel
21. ensure that the string is clean
22. cut below the base and pull
23. from the bottom and avoiding sides, lift clay work from wheel
24. scrape off excess and sponge clean the wheel
25. dry the wheel

crocheting
my desk is also messier than usual because i've been busy crocheting... completed a couple of other projects...

a love bug that turned out real ugly...

bulky ugly bug

i would say i'm kinda disappointed with how it turned out, considering the amount of energy that i've invested...

and this... which is somewhat the better of the two... it's similar to the one i put on sale at the cat socrates... but the stitches are better, i think...

another companion
been contemplating about getting a buddy for the lone ranger here...

peek a boo

it's probably just my imagination though... are shrimps even capable of feeling lonely?

retrospection
it's been a little difficult for me this week..

i've been receiving reassurances that things weren't my fault as well as reiterations that things were my fault... so i've come to the conclusion that i am not at fault... i just failed to detect individual preferences this time round...

still, i'm having some trouble accepting some comments...

about me being able to be "more prepared" for our consultant's meeting... i dunno, i've always assumed that i was the most well-prepared person around... maybe i was wrong about myself. maybe my assumption wasn't true. but i know i wouldn't feel so terrible if the criticism had came from someone respectable in that area... someone well organized and prepared, like our administrator... instead of just any other people..... and least of all...

gratitude
i've been trying to get myself to think positive thoughts and it's not that effective.

but yesterday my pottery teacher told me that i'm very lucky to have abbie.. because most people would think that pottery is lame... few would be interested... and even fewer men ever would spend 3 hours waiting for their girl to finish the lesson...

"good catch" she whispered...
and i smiled because i've always known that... always.

and on the same day, while abbie and i were on the train, he cupped my downcast face and sort of shook me and told me how lucky i was to have the bosses and colleagues that i have.

and the anger receded.

because in spite of all the little things that i was unhappy with, i knew what abbie said was true.

a secret to share with everyone :D

2010-08-04T00:13:00.004+08:00

training
good new, today's session showed a pretty good improvement as compared to yesterday's...

but i got a migraine towards the end... maybe it's because of the direct air con blowing on to me... maybe it's because of the vuvuzelas screaming into my ears... but maybe it's just the law of attraction - i was fearing that i'd get a migraine (for whatever reasons)... and then i really got it... :/

took a whole lot of energy not to puke on the way home... and then my lunch was out as soon as i reached the toilet at home...

just recovered from it though...
missed my dinner... and dad commented that i looked really thin and sick... it's been a heck of a day.

on a random note, i think i should get the book for the secret in the near future... and at the same time, do a scrap book of the

1. things that i'm grateful for and the
2. things that i wish for...

one of the staff shared this today and i think it's a great project that i can do during my free time.

living in the world of black and white

2010-08-02T22:48:00.002+08:00

5 subjects not to teach... in case i ever forget.. ^-^||

5 things not to teach
5. dance
4. music
3. meta physics
2. religion
1. philosophy

7 things to teach
1. maths
2. english
3. vba
4. macro economics
5. geography
6. history
7. crocheting

shutter island
by the way, i watched shutter island yesterday with abbie and siskapoo... disappointing. it wasn't as great as everyone had raved...

"mind bending"? yes, i suppose (if you're new to the concept)... but original? not at all... almost the same as "a beautiful mind" made in 2001.

inception may not be as twisted as shutter island, but hey.. at least it's original as a movie. and it comes with great effects... that's good enough for me...

i have been watching a lot of movies with strange concepts lately... better to put them on halt before i go crazy..

strange movies watched recently:
- the strange tale of benjamin buttons
- time traveller's wife
- inception
- shutter island

big toe goes missing

2010-08-01T11:01:00.001+08:00

sunny day yesterday

a perfect day to give my dirty big toe a good wash...

big toe sitting on the ledge...contemplating.... no don't do it!!

had a silly conversation with abbie that went something like this...

me: hey did you notice that my big toe is missing?
abbie: huh!!?? (looking anxiously at my toes)

had a good laugh about it later....

trying to look retarded here...

abbie's loot for the day... his whatever gain~~

signed up for pottery later during the day... it's a really cozy place.....
but the trip there was a little longer than expected even though it looked near... i think takes a good 25 minutes walk to get there without rushing...

well, nobody ever said that walking to the salvation army was quick... it's just my own assumption...

more fun with photoshop

flowers for you

sorry they're kinda black... lol

of inception
it's really as good as the raves that i've heard... mind boggling... now i'm tempted to watch shutter island (which some claims to be better than inception)... so that's what i think i will do today :D

of dreams
strangely, i had a dream yesterday night. i dreamt that i was getting scolded by my boss (1st time someone in my co. appears in my dream... LOL)

i had accidentally committed an event launch to a specific date (which we couldn't meet) because i had released too much details to certain parties (even before the whole thing was finalized...) and then after that, there was a mad rush to get things done because of what i did...

well, that's the gist of it...
and the dream sucked even though it was rather mild... :d

mixed feelings

2010-07-31T10:01:00.000+08:00

am quite excited today because i'll be dropping by the pottery place later this afternoon to enrol for classes...

am feeling quite apprehensive at the same time because i may need to drop by cat socrates to see if the prices of my amigurumis should be lowered, or removed (i.e. bring home)...

or maybe rent a space somewhere?
nah, not for now...

and finally, i'm feeling guilt ridden because shrimp 1 was swimming in circles yesterday after a water change... so much for the want of clean. it's actually fatal.

towards the end of work (around 6), it was lying on its side, on its way to heaven... i had isolated it in another jar so that it doesn't get eaten... or something like that, if it survives...

i need to be more careful...
should not have had shrimps from the start...

weekend's here

2010-07-30T23:55:00.004+08:00

went out with des today for dinner at sakae... it was pretty funny.

we told them that they had undercharged us... and then they tried to overcharge us :/ i think there was a mistake in the table number as well as the dish order, which was why they took so long to get it right -.-

took a short walk in toys r us... it's a little piece of heaven to me when i was little... so much stuff that i want to bring home... nostalgic..

i guess it's another one of those places that i might enjoy working in, but a lot less freedom compared to my current co.

bought some biscuits...

played with nanoblocks again this afternoon...

long live action city~

this is called team work :d
the merchandiser did most of the buildings
the designer did most of the scenery - think trees and the cute train
i did most of the words - what's new?

fun with photoshop

2010-07-29T23:17:00.002+08:00

i should just probably get a lomo camera instead, but with expensive hobbies on the queue... i'd settle for something less for now :d

bear courtesy of siskapoo

a miniature wooden plane for blythe

phoofy clouds in the blue blue sky

rusty old bike @ the bus stop

my favourite - the apocalypse at the bus stop

not so easy

2010-07-29T21:48:00.006+08:00

just recovered from a migraine... was thinking about the trigger point and how to avoid it next time...

like maybe it's the direct air con that is freezing me up...
or maybe it's because i have to perpetually apologize for stuffs that are not within my control...
but i think it's most likely because i was playing with the new nanoblock for quite a while...

my favourite design

was helping a colleague fix up some display samples for the outlet and because it looked fun to assemble the little blocks...

and it was fun, until after like the 15th piece of sample or so.. could feel this dreadful feeling creeping up on me... plus it's so small and fragile... it really requires a lot of hardwork and focus... it's a lot more difficult than it looks...

it's the same with a retail job...

i had the privilege to work with some colleagues, but it seems like the day is twice as long than if i were to work in the office. and my feet hurts like hell after that... spoilt? old? useless? whatever...

in the end, it seems like i have little affinity with anything else other than handling large chunks of numbers, codes, writing and plain fretting about things that have yet to be done...

beyond the crossroads: a difficult choice

2010-07-28T22:32:00.005+08:00

bunny with my beta gamma sigma pin

i like both of them actually, but if i had to choose one, i will pick the bunny because i can use it to make someone else happy.

as for the bgs award, i guess it does provide me with a sense of achievement... a token memory from my university days, my luck that i had, yep... but no further purpose can be derived from it.

and nobody, if not most people, know what the hell is bgs anyway. :d

plant makeover

2010-07-26T20:21:00.007+08:00

the makeover
went down to daiso with abbie yesterday to buy some stuffs for the plant's makeover...

grey pebbles, a little tin dish and some miniature apples...

i also bought a clump of sunflowers, a little wooden crate and a sleeping gnome... total damage, 12 dollars only... :P

let the re-potting begin

pebbles to prevent the roots from rotting

would have loved to drill some holes in it... but i don't have the right tools...

remove accessories

after staring at the plant for 3 months, i got sick of its pasty looking everlasting purple flowers...

i need something brighter to cheer me up amid the launch of the training sessions which is making me nervous... :/

besides, the plant is always flowering... where are the fruits???
i need it to change. i need it to fruit... it's only natural... haha

and speaking of flowers, i was holding the plant while taking a lift up to my place and a neighbor (whom i have never spoken to) inquired about my "rose" plant...

i was like... ermmmm, the plant is real but the roses are fake... *sheepish look*
and she was like ohhhhh... lol

anyway this isn't the first time i get such inquiries...

little plantie gets dug out from it's old home

gosh, i hope it survives the trip...

i think i broke a few roots in the process...
nothing too serious, i think?

on the other hand, it would be really funny if it withered... -_-

final product

i used some leaves from the miniature apples to cover up some bald spots... sad to say, i think the previous look (with the roses) is better... this looks a little scrappy..

but oh well, what's done is done...
and as my boss would love to say... "you'll never know until you try..."

about trying new things
i'm gonna enrol in pottery classes starting next week, for the next 8 weeks...
this would also contribute towards the stuffs i want to accomplish this year...

"1. join some social activities for self enrichment and net-working..."

lol, actually i cheated..

i meant to join the toastmaster's club for net working and self enrichment... but gave up eventually... wasn't very passionate about decking myself up in formal wear...

and i still don't have my namecard (and therefore i can't network effectively, or maybe, just maybe, it's an effective excuse Not to network)

back to pottery, i did my homework and enquired about the price...

still affordable (but barely), as it will set me back by about 400 dollars...
the good thing is that it's very near my place... and i'm really excited about this whole thing...i think i'll get to meet some interesting people from another walk of life...

yep that's all for now...

drowsy

2010-07-25T10:04:00.002+08:00

bad idea to dwell so near to the bishan active park...

there's some rehearsal going on for national day (or is it youth olympics?) i've been feeling the emcee's hype for a couple of hours since 8+ am. couldn't sleep through the din... well at least it'll be over in a couple of weeks or so...

bought a bum bag yesterday at bugis...a graduation gift by courtesy of mum...

big toe gets to stay :)

mum had wanted to get me a longchamp bag during her tour in scandinavia... but i guess it's kinda hard to buy such things for people... low confidence... so in the end she decided not to buy...

dropped by the bugis outlet to say hi...

and the crowd was really good... people literally spilling out of the shop... and it's good for business... because people naturally attract more people...call it the kaypo syndrome (not in the sense like the one you see below, but you get the point)...

i have it too, and guilty as hell...

farm adventures

2010-07-25T00:47:00.004+08:00

we really went ahead to visit the mushroom farm this early afternoon (despite signs of impending thunderstorm in the morning)... there wasn't any rain by the way... but we did manage to get lost in the wilderness

the direction we were heading to

the direction which we came from...

finally located mycofarm on no man's land... and paid for a tour to see shrooms

shrooms

and more shrooms

couldn't pay attention to what the lady was saying because of the smell...

the whole place smelled musky and wet... some substrate smelled worse than the other... and some, not too bad... what can i say, i'm glad i'm not working in a mushroom farm...-_-

or rather, i'm glad i'm visiting a mushroom farm that doesn't grow dung-based mushrooms (mushrooms that grows on shit)... like button mushroom.. i think there's a good chance i will pass out on the floor...

the visit ended abruptly, so we ventured to some other farms along the way... visited a couple of fish and koi farms...

and ended up bumping into one of my colleagues who was chilling out at one of those highly remote areas away from civilization... *insert jaw dropping moment here*

we also met jayjay (not sure how it's spelled, but it sounded like that) and abbie's really excited...

jayjay the jack russell

she looked so long, we thought she was a sausage dog...

fetch

first time playing fetch... that means abbie, not the dog...

i guess abbie's been a little deprived because nikki (his husky) is not exactly a pleaser... doesn't do no tricks unless you have food... and possess zero ounce of loyalty...

haha, that's what you get for loving a husky...
it's all one sided...

so deal with it....

camped there for quite a while... went around to visit the fishes...

is that black goldfishes?

and got to meet a few more new friends...

they possess an extremely excitable personality

wish i could bring them home...
but nope.. i have faith in my very own mookie and maximilius coming to life someday!

went down to arab street to look for my bird cage...

i bought a white cage for 18 bucks... not sure what i can do with it, but it's bound to be useful during weddings? :/

saw a much smaller and cheaper one later on in an isolated mall... bought that too... and assembled some stuffs together after i got home...

it's too glittery for my liking... and maybe a tad over-decorated...hmm, maybe i'll remove the black beads..

something is different - a reflection

2010-07-24T10:04:00.011+08:00

positive thinking is hard
i haven't exactly been facing a lot of stress at work... but in this highly dynamic company, few things ever worked as planned -_-

this really affects me because i can do all the planning in the world... and ultimately, i have no control over the sudden changes in events...

still, i believe that some things happen for a reason... such as why i'm working in this company... and why i'm coordinating the trainings...

right now, this whole training project is growing to become something awfully similar to a typical project in university... and gawd, i really hated university projects... too much variables (that means human elements) and it's bad because you always end up with a couple of saboteurs that (wittingly or unwittingly) screw people up...

and guess what, this training isn't any much different actually... the training is due to start in august and yet we are still doing so much changes to the curriculum to accommodate the influx of new products for the festive seasons...

most of the things are already in place... but you see, when things are all mostly going right, the dumbest thing had to happen. the first person who is to conduct the first two workshops had to leave.... yes, he had to go overseas during the first week of training... that leaves us with only the option of drawing out some content meant for the "middle" weeks to cover his absence... we had initially arranged the delivery of content so that it flows from the first session to the next and so on....

so how on earth do we make middle content appear coherent?
or, why do we have to slap on shoddy last minute re-vamp work over proper work that has already been completed in the first place?
or, how am i supposed to come up with more new content again? this is the third time. first time, i gave up my ideas because of content overlapping. second time, i structured a session that would connect the previous session to mine. only to end up having the sequence of the sessions reversed... the hell?

i don't think the bosses are aware of how much he is needed here, otherwise they may have made some concession... they didn't even ask me at all. they appointed me to coordinate people and make sure that things turn out right. and then they simply took people away without asking me. nobody said anything either. maybe i should have, but i didn't. it all boils down to initiative. and i can't be the only one who has it.

well, i was wallowing in all these bitter little things...

and then i laughed.

the irony of things

we're supposed to conduct a workshop to motivate people to change their mindset and become better and happier... but here i was, agonizing about how things didn't turn out right even though i've tried my best to get stuff done...

blaming every single thing...
blaming people here and there...
blaming the very same people that i'm grateful for, people that cared about me and has helped me many times before when i face problems at work...
forgetting all the good things that they have done for me in the past
and ignoring (in comparison) how little i've done to help them in return ...

with all this in perspective, i'm just getting all upset over things that didn't really matter..

so what really matters if not good training content?

let's face it, good training content is still BS if we don't have the heart to do it...
as long as we care about the people that we are trying to help and do our best, things will turn out right.

positive thinking is hard, but it can still be done
so, am i really left with a broken ship?

not at all..

the person who supposedly "abandoned" us has contributed more content than i ever could on my own. and even though he's not around to deliver the opening workshops as planned, he made this whole thing possible.

in fact, everyone in the team made this possible - from the tricky scheduling to the final delivery of content. one can't do without the other.

nothing can be delivered if the scheduling didn't work.
the training will come to a stand still if nobody is around to help hold the fort and deliver what's necessary when others are unavailable.

so far, the scheduling has worked, the budget has been approved, and there's always someone around to help me when i get stuck.

nobody is alone.
i should not have despaired so early (despite the pessimist that i was, and still am) because this team is a good team. everybody is a somebody that i can count on...

so sure, sometimes unexpected things may happen and we have holes to plug... but as long as we keep the faith in each other and believe.... we will deliver the essence!

ganbatte oooosh~

moments of

2010-07-23T08:00:00.006+08:00

discovery
took a closer look at my shrimps and discovered that they are total aliens...

they have pincers!...
gosh, i didn't know that... i thought they were defenseless little things that likes to perch on mori and nibble on imaginary food..

and they have not 2, but 4 pincers each...how about that?
4 feelers... based on visual inspection
6 long legs in the front to crawl on the bottom...
another short 10 legs at the back to paddle and do the silly cute swim...

i think there is a good chance that they will gobble me up if they are bigger than me... :/

anti-climax
1. i dreamt that abbie was about to propose to me... nothing coherent, just flashes of various scenes...

2. dreamt that we were on a trip to Scandinavia (this is from siskapoo's influence, no doubt) with my relatives and they were shoo-ing us to go ahead and travel as we like.. instead of sticking to them...

3. some romantic scene with abbie... we haven't gotten to the best part yet...

and then i woke up... :/

mori's health update

2010-07-20T19:43:00.006+08:00

good news, mori is still smelling fresh and the 2 shrimps are still alive...

i noticed that they take a reeeaaaaaally long time to munch on one tiny speck of food...

it's like nom nom nom (food's still there)...
nom nom nom nom (i still see the food)... type some email... check the shrimps..
nom nom nom nom (still the same amount of food)... print documents, consult opinions..
nom nom nom nom (i see the food still)... a couple more minutes passed, before i notice that the speck of food became half a speck...

is there even such a thing as half a speck? yep there is, after today's observations... -_-

well, at least they're eating the food instead of mori...

but now that i think about it... i doubt they can finish mori even if they dedicate their whole lives to munching it... haha, and i don't have to worry about food expenses because they are unlikely to finish the little tub of food (that abbie bought from the aquarium shop) within their puny lifetime (of theirs) either...

the downside? they shit a lot... a lot more than what i had expected...

was thinking of changing the water once a month... but at the rate that they are generating waste, the water should be quite gross even within 1 week... i'll have to change it once a fortnight, maybe friday evening... i don't mind going back later since it's a weekend... but it's still extra work... and it's entirely useless i.e. stuff that can't provide me with any companionship nor intellectual exchange nor additional knowledge...bummer~

still, it's somewhat entertaining to see the shrimps comb through mori's hair all day... it's like they can't stop fidgeting... lol

one of them even moulted today... a good sign according to my colleague... too bad i wasn't around to see the transformation....could see the translucent skeleton floating on top of the pebbles...

wonder how long i'm gonna be entertained before i get completely sick of it... moss and all... man i really need more excitement in my life...

maybe i should pick up pottery...

been looking at the prices... still affordable... schedule seems ok too...
i just need to buy less clothes and eat poor food, that's all...

my new pet(s)

2010-07-19T21:39:00.009+08:00

a marimo (from the singapore garden fest, courtesy of abbie) and 2 shrimps...

marimos are mossy lake balls, typically found in the northern hemisphere, in the lakes of japan, iceland, scotland etc.. it grows about 5mm per year... and can reach up to 20 - 30 cm...

my little mori (i've given it a name by the way) is only like 5cm now... so it'll take about er... another 50 years to reach 30 cm???... lol...

i read somewhere that it can live for 100 years over... so, little mori here stands a really good chance of becoming a family heirloom... talk about great career prospects for a lump of moss..

mori is supposed to bring good luck to its owner too... maybe i'll receive extra luck if i wash it more often :] it's based on an old legend, but i shan't elaborate here...

abbie also bought me 2 complementary shrimps to clean mori's hair... i hope they don't chew up mori too much... and i hope they survive the office... for the lack of better names, i will call them shrimp 1 and shrimp 2...

it's not difficult to tell them apart... one is smaller and super hyperactive... and the other is slightly larger and somewhat lethargic... i'm afraid the description is a little bit too coincidental with the real people that i know... what's more, they (the shrimps) seem to like each other and share mori unselfishly - they take turns to comb through mori's hair...

i hope they are happy in their little jar...

a few posts below, i wished for a sheepdog, a scottish fold and a hen... today, i have one moss ball and 2 shrimps... that put me one step ahead towards owning a bunch of living things... but yeah, i'm still waiting for my shetland sheep puppy to materialize... :]

singapore garden fest 2010

2010-07-18T22:57:00.001+08:00

went down to suntec with abbie yesterday to check out the exhibition...

entrance was like 10 bucks only... for all the beautiful stuff that you get to see, it's really worth the price...

block head abbie

vain me

garden in a jar

i'll get myself one of these when i have my house next time...

inspiration for our future house?

nah..way too much green, i think i won't be able to keep up... think they attract bugs too...

little marimo

how about a marimo moss ball then? abbie really bought one of these for me afterwards...

abbie and i

that would be us, reading the news papers in our garden... :D
i don't know how come the camera managed to catch a rainbow at the corner... maybe it's a good luck sign... haha

sunny

kiddy

did some batik painting in between the session... saw a couple of kids doing it and it looked so fun... too bad abbie didn't wanna join me :/ ended up doing it alone with other kids... bleh

picturesque

there's a whole lot more pictures that i didn't post... too tired... :d

what's bugging me

2010-07-15T23:30:00.005+08:00

dad accidentally spilled his herbal stuff today...

didn't see how it happened because he didn't yell or anything... herbs and liquid was all over the table and floor while i was making my way to the kitchen toilet to trim my fringe...

was trying to scan his feet and hands for wetness... that was the first thing i did... but i couldn't tell if the liquid got to his hands because he was holding a wet table cloth... his right foot looked a little wet though...

a cause for major concern.

i should probably monitor that area and his hands for the next few weeks... in case something bad happens... like his limbs going bad because of the scald and diabetes... i know i know, i'm trying not to think about it... i probably shouldn't even have said it... but no, i can't not think about it...

how can i not think about it? we can't afford mishaps like these... not when i'm not working for the public...

cleaned up the floor and table afterwards... i wished he had left me alone to deal with his mess but he didn't...

he was still trying to salvage some herbs that landed on the table for re-boiling... he scooped them all into a pot and shook them sadly...

bloody hell.. this whole scenario is so screwed up... here i am, worrying about something terrible and all he can think of is saving his stupid herbs... don't tell me i'm over-reacting... i'm not.

anyway i told him to throw it away because its gross... and he did... surprising because dad never listens...still...that's probably my only consolation...

the stuff dreams are made of

2010-07-14T23:47:00.006+08:00

one day, i could wake up in a farm house...

have my breakfast downstairs at the reading room

drop by the junk room after that to make strange stuffs to decorate the house

take a nap before going down to the garden to water and trim my plants...

take my mookie out for a walk and kick up some maple leaves in the park... autumn would be my favourite season... winter's too cold, summer's too hot... and spring's too muddy...

return to find that my scottish fold has fainted from jealousy... i think i will call my cat.. bunny...

and penny is guarding her egg on the living room couch...

...

well...i will be able to get the animals some day... even the hen... because abbie said yes... haha :d not sure how they would fit into a hdb flat though...

maybe i will get to stay in such a place for a couple of weeks if i travel... or if we skip the hdb flat altogether... heh heh, surely we can get something decent with 300k?

relax abbie, i'm just saying for fun only... no need to panic..

of milestones

2010-07-12T12:39:00.003+08:00

snuck a little post during break time...

the highlight of last weekend was abbie's stay over at my place...

abbie's stayover
it's really nice to wake up to abbie sleeping neatly on my old mattress on the ground... fascinating too... how he can sleep so straight, with his arms folded and leg crossed... without holding a single thing...

me on the contrary, tend to be a messy sleeper... you know, fetal position, hidden underneath sheets... or curled around something... that's probably why i find abbie's sleep posture so weird.

shopping for rings
we also went to look at some engagement rings on saturday...

and i tried on perhaps a little bit too many...
the magical feeling of abbie putting on a ring for me sort of disappeared... after the 4th ring or so...

looking forward
one milestone in life has passed (convocation)

i'm so looking forward to the next... :D

of motivational videos
i have been watching so many stuff lately (because work requires it), i kinda feel disorientated... you know, sometimes i feel as if i already have everything that i've ever wanted... and other times, i just feel lost...i'm clearly lacking something...

it's all very confusing... maybe i'll figure it all out some day...

all in a day's work

2010-07-10T01:04:00.002+08:00

singapore philatelic museum
this afternoon, we went down to the singapore philatelic museum to do some field work...

the lady there was kind enough to tell us so much about stamps and its connections to singapore's history... the session was quite enriching... still, it reminded me of my ignorance...and i feel so embarrassed by it... lol

they had quite a number of galleries... so there was one for soccer as well...

which i don't know how to appreciate...

positive therapy
after work, i had another one of those card reading sessions with alex... and i like these sessions a lot because it's strangely therapeutic... i'm feeling more hopeful now.

still, i'm wondering how long i have to slog on the field with ten sticks before i get my two cups... haha

went down to china town afterwards to meet jason for dinner...

restaurant @ china town

we went to this themed restaurant...they greeted guests as warriors...

it's very well thought out... from the greeting, to the menu, the tables, the decor and even the workers (who are chinese)...

food wise, it's also not too bad...
unfortunately, we ordered too much food... so we didn't manage to finish everything... lol

ugly dolls
are finally here...itching to buy one... argh...

stalkerish

sneaking up on the designer who is taking pictures for the posters...

helped him out a little

peekaboo

anyway, something cropped up while i was away in the afternoon... sigh..
instead of following, i should have done what i thought was right in the first place. but never mind, i'll fix it on monday.. and hopefully that's the end of it.

all's well ends well

2010-07-08T23:08:00.021+08:00

you know, a couple of months back... if you told me that something like this could happen.. then i would probably have less things to mull over...

picture perfect

i had originally requested for extra tics so that siskapoo and dad could attend the ceremony with mom and abbie... the whole thing was scrapped because most of my family ended up in europe... dad had the option to go, but preferred to shy away from the occasion (or rather, shy away from abbie) and hide at home... leaving me with lone supporter abbie...

there were times when i contemplated skipping the whole thing... after all, nobody (except abbie) was there to celebrate my achievements.

of course nobody meant for this to happen... but it happened, so like it or not...i had to suck it up..

but yep, today has been a great day which i didn't dare to imagine...

so without further ado, here's today

in chronological order...

early breakfast with abbie @ the void deck

sulking in the car

meh... there was a horrible traffic jam... it took me almost 45 mins to reach the school by cab.

i had intended to reach school at like 9 am... but the jam held me back for like 20-25 mins... was in a frenzy when we finally arrived...

poo shot

was changing into my heels... and digging for my cap

checking out my seat number

no idea where it is... my first time (and possibly last time) graduating... you know... :d

pre-ceremony shot - david and i

i guess you could say my boss was there in my dad's stead... after all, they both share the same name... and fall under d - dominant.

getting the scroll

which is supposedly the highlight of the day...the excitement lasted for like a good whole 15 minutes... and before i knew it, i was back in my seat... willing myself to be awake for the next 1 hour or so...

it's not too difficult because the whole session wasn't as long as abbie's convocation last year... and it's much more exciting.

for a start, there was this girl whose hat kept on falling off... must have been the co-op's fault for recommending the wrong size... haha

but my favourite was this joker who went onstage with his camera in hand, took pictures as if he owned the stage and did a self shot while collecting his degree scroll. what cheek. everyone gaped and laughed and cheered.

sometimes, i wish i have the guts to do something as bold as that... but no, i'm the sort that fears deviating from what's known and safe and proper...

valedictorian giving his speech

some day in the near future, i will get to see siskapoo make her valedictorian speech...

abbie and i

boss actually helped to arrange my hat and take pictures... let's face it... i'm spoiled...

and lucky~ :D

graduation lion

abbie snuck off (as usual) to buy it while i was trying to locate david... thanks abbie :DD

and even though not really well made.. on occasions like these... they fetch a premium price...

qiu qiu and i

haven't been catching up with her even though we just live a few blocks away... most of the time when we do meet, we often end up chatting outside the police station near our blocks... should ask her out for regular dinners some time...

oh well, i'm meeting jason tomorrow for dinner... he was my mno project mate a couple years back... so abbie, stop telling me that i don't have enough social life...

visual basic programming class

well, this... this is something special...

have you ever tried teaching vba programming to veterans?

i have had my reservations about teaching them something like this because it's not what people would want to learn (unless they have to)...

i see a lot of business people flopping in this subject... nobody likes programming... not even me... LOL, but i do see the need for them to know.. it kills me to see people plough through work that can be achieved in minutes...and no, i can't be the only one who knows how to do something like this.

and even though progress has been slow, i'm glad to see that we are making some headway...

all well's ends well

and given things as they are... i couldn't have asked for a better celebration.

thank you to all my colleagues for the great unexpected moral support and gifts.

thank you abbie for being my donkey, my best friend, my mentor, for guiding me towards greater ambition and for putting up with all my nonsense all these years.

thank you my friends, especially desmond and qiuhan, for your generosity in helping me tide through and survive the vicious competition in business school.

and finally, thank you to my family, who have given me so much support through these years and putting up with my epic fail, gaming diseases and goodness knows what in the past.

thank you! thank you! thank you!

bitter-sweet

2010-07-07T23:12:00.006+08:00

it's times like this when i feel really happy working with my company...

graduation gift from colleagues

i made the decision to join this company because i believed that i could get paid without having to "work"...

and true enough, most of the time, work doesn't feel like work at all. (although, sometimes i feel like crying out loud and tearing out all my hair when my boss suddenly tells me to do something)

believe my dream

right now, i'm probably in half a dream and half a nightmare...
it's not easy trying to maintain a positive outlook...

so much obligations and wants could have been fulfilled if i were to quit my current job and work in the public sector or something... and yet in doing so, so much precious things i will lose as well (and possibly not find again)...

have i not anticipated these problems while i was making the decision?
no i haven't...

this is the freaking problem when i don't use my head...

and i know we can't always have the best of both worlds...
but a fool can always hope...... haha

trying to remain positive

2010-07-06T08:21:00.001+08:00

these days, i'm trying to drive out some unpleasant thoughts that has been bugging me but they just seem to get reinforced every now and then.

stuffs i would like to do/accomplish

2010-07-03T23:44:00.002+08:00

end of this year
~~1. join some social activities for self enrichment and net-working...~~
2. make some contributions towards soft toy development
3. learn how to tell white lies
4. learn all of mum's dishes... and do it better than her.
5. do a scrapbook for the things that i'm grateful for and the things i wish for

1 year's time
1. do something really bold and unexpected
2. learn how to bake different kinds of bread
3. learn how to do financial analysis and reports
4. lose my tummy..entails many things
5. travel for work

3 year's time
1. travel japan
2. travel europe
3. travel alaska
4. get a shetland sheepdog called mookie

5 year's time
1. further studies... to keep the brain from rusting
2. learn acrylic painting..
3. have 3 kids... delegate them to eager parents.

stuffs done for the past 6 months
1. reclaimed and improved vba skills
2. intro to adobe illustrator and flash... also found out that i can't do something like this for long... no patience...
3. became a consignor (not working out though... lol)

gross

2010-07-01T08:03:00.000+08:00

loads of ants crawling all over my cough med... luckily they didn't manage to get inside...

why do they bother making it sweet :x

agonized

2010-06-30T23:01:00.006+08:00

dropped by healthway medical this evening with abbie to get some med for my persistent cough... and i got something extra...

the diagnosis?

the doc insisted that i have a little bit of asthma... like what the hell? cannot be... i've never had asthma... it just doesn't run in this family.. somehow, abbie just found it funny...

right now i'm agonising over this seminar that i have to prepare... about 3 hour's worth of content on love...

which is so LOL, considering that nothing in school has prepared me for this... so much for doing well in academics... i can see how useful it is now -_-

so far, the content that i've come up with is only about 1+ hour...i can probably do more research on the topic... but seriously, reading about all these cliche stuff that everyone (probably) knows is driving me crazy...

do i really need to know all these? do all these articles do "love" any justice?

love is supposed to be mystical, intangible and sacred in the first place.. how can anyone expect to benefit by researching it, dissecting it, analysing it and then discussing about it? geez...

love is about Experience and Action... not talking and talking... in fact, i'd say just shut up and do more...after all, action does speak louder than words..no?

of course, i do find a good article every now and then... that's probably why i haven't given up...but it's really like looking for a needle in a haystack...

and on what grounds is a person fit to write about love anyway... for all you know.. the best love articles (excluding religious ones) may very well be written by some psychotic pedophile or achievement driven academic... LOL

my take on love?
i just need to hang a sign on my cubicle that says "free hugs on any day at any time to anyone who needs it"...

see? easy peasy... :D

gastronomic adventures

2010-06-28T23:32:00.005+08:00

yesterday my aunts brought us (mum, sis and i) to grand copthorne for a buffet dinner at brio's... it's a great place... much more variety compared to kuishinbo...

there's practically free flow everything and almost anything you can wish for... siskapoo was like telling me that my pics doesn't do the spread any justice... but so what, i don't like to pile my place with mountains of food... it's gross...

sashimi, scallop, potato, cod fish, fried prawn

mussel, sea cucumber, some crab concoction, potato, bread

oysters

more cod fish, japanese abalone and... i dunno, bloaty headed prawns...

peach compole, chocolate cone, jelly, fruit mousse... yup they all look the same

not many people... i like~

siskapoo satisfied with her kill... i mean, meal...

aunt, trying to make a point

i should have taken a group picture, but i was too pre-occupied with the food... what? i've never gotten any free flow abalone before... but i did manage to sneak a couple of pics with my family...

siskapoo and i...

mum and us

yup, that's all for the feast...
i wanted to eat more actually, and i can... but i didn't...

there comes a point in life when less is actually more... i used to think that i "earn" if i gorge myself with great food... the more expensive, the better... but these days, i have this inner voice that sends me on a guilt trip... to remind me of the price that i have to pay afterwards... all the excess goes to the tummy... it's not even funny..

i should probably work out once during a week day... maybe i'll start this week :S
gonna have another eating session this friday night with my colleagues...

summary of recent happenings

super cute and squishy key chain

been eyeing it for quite a long while... it looked soooo yummy and sooo under-appreciated amid the many many many samples sitting on my boss's desk...finally told my boss today that i wanted to buy it and he said i could have it...

yays, i'm such a big sucker for cute...\(≧▽≦*)
...

fast forward a couple weeks back, i attended a short course in smu...

we had this cultural session where we dressed ourselves up in traditional costumes.. i didn't have any so they loaned some great stuffs to me...

i've always liked the idea of cosplay.. but i never thought that i would cosplay a courtesan... lol

happily acting the part

and it's not easy! we had a dance activity later on and i discovered that i can only move forward... can't reverse without trodding on something... and to turn, i really need to do a U turn... at least now i know why ancient people walk like that...

tang sen wearing his shoes o_o

my favourite picture :D

getting ready

but i guess for me, the epitome of cultural "exchange" isn't about donning some clothes from a different time or race... or just simply talking about culture... it is THIS:

epic

my malay colleague trying to digest chinese management content/philosophy (in chinese)... mind-boggling isn't it?

anticipating

2010-06-26T23:44:00.002+08:00

my internet sucks... is it because every one is streaming some soccer video around this time? ugh

just rebonded my hair today at hair partners... my usual hair stylist left... so i had this new guy today called raymond to do my hair and i think he's better than the previous one (probably the best yet)...
- didn't rip through my hair
- perfectionist tendencies
- free cooling services...

he blew against my scalp every time he used the flat iron to straighten my hair... which is like really weird... and isn't that tiring?... but that's service for you~ i like! LOL

abbie also dropped by to send me some food.. lucky~~ :D

received my convo gown today... heavy o_o... love the gown, hate the hat... wish i can wear the round one instead... i know won't get to do it in this lifetime... siskapoo was telling me that i should dress up today so that my relatives can take pics with me before they leave for europe... so mian qiang... lol

anyway i have not recovered from my cough even though i've finished my medicine...
raffles medical suck... -_-

lols

2010-06-25T20:13:00.001+08:00

on graduation matters
i finally invited my boss(es) to my convocation... have not received the entry tickets yet... maybe nobody will get to attend... lol...

i'm probably gonna get a white shirt... and maybe rebond my hair... i've been wanting to do that for quite some time... maybe tomorrow...

on work
today, i had one of the worse moments at work...lol

it was nearing the end of the day and i was preoccupied with developing a graphical user interface to do some simple data entry for HR (i.e. personal particulars) when one of my bosses suddenly popped by to discuss the company vision... i had one final version saved on my desktop but i couldn't find the original minutes regarding the initial discussion... well i thought i wouldn't need so many versions of the same stuff lurking on my desktop.. you know...sort of fumbled when i couldn't find what he was looking for :S...

searched the email inbox and sent folder..
searched the usual folders..
some random phone software suddenly popped-up because i was charging my phone
searched the recycle bin...

all this while he was looking (￣▽￣lll) epic fail..

after he left (because i couldn't find the damned thing), i managed to retrieve it from the recycle bin... -.-

i dunno why, i have this fond habit of throwing things away (physically and virtually)... that's how i keep my desk clean... that's how i keep my home clean... i don't chuck stuffs into a corner, i throw all of it away... lol...

then again, this habit will jolly well kill me one day...

on the bright side, i played this mini foosball game against steve and won... lost to my other boss though...

gonna be a busy week next week! i like! wooh~

disagree

2010-06-22T23:35:00.001+08:00

but nevermind, i will just do it :d
it's not supposed to be difficult and so it won't be.

today is june 22nd. time to get started..

Stuffs for Q3

- Q2 review: 2nd week of Jul

- HR system conceptualization: End Jul

- VBA: completion in end Aug, project in Sept to write their own codes

- Idea contribution by staff: 2nd week of Jul

- Auto time in time out calculation: before Q3 is over, that is, if the machine's up and running in the first place

- Vision, Mission draft: 1st week of Jul

ramblings to self

2010-06-21T22:07:00.001+08:00

Idealist vs Realist

Idealists are optimistic by nature. They are positive about new things and are not afraid to voice out what they deem to be the perfect scenario to achieve.

Realists on the other hand, are pessimistic and conservative. They will not commit to something which they believe they cannot achieve. As a result they deliver what they promise. At the same time, they are also seen as wet blankets.

There is really no right or wrong, no better or worse. If anything, Idealists are concerned with the vision and Realists, on execution. Both are equally dependent on each other.

Let the Realist lead when starting something new.

Thereafter, let the Idealist guide the Realist towards perfection.

Otherwise, one will just end up with plenty of visions and little actions.

Compliance versus Consent

There is a big difference. Consent cannot be willed or forced or talked into.

No simply means no. Even eventual verbal yeses may also be non-verbal nos.

Listen to what people really want and what they don’t want.
Don’t dictate what they should want.

Disaster
My diabolical plan for the company to take over the world is a simple one that can be executed with some planning. It is supposed to generate more resources to fuel R&D, fill our stomachs and “lift our burdens”. But right now I just see a giant monster squid that will strangle us all. What have I done (￣▽￣lll) LOL

having a sore throat (´・｀)

2010-06-20T11:53:00.005+08:00

from eating pork ribs rice and potato chips... argh, ought to have known better...
abbie ate almost the same stuff, fried chicken and potato chips, but nothing happened... again...

been waiting for abbie's zoo pics update so i can do the post at one go, but geez i know it's not happening any time soon since it's not under my control... and he wonders why i don't like to use his phone cam... it's no wonder really :d

of animals

below would be the highlight of the day as you will see when abbie uploads his share of the pics..

coilish grey tongues...coy

kangaroos in formation, the magic fairy circle...

spiritual

otters attending a lesson conducted by the master of otters...

anticipation

the rest huddles in disbelief as the bull headed stubborn one gets chased away...

ugliest gui lin gao~

as palatable as rocks

lizards in captivity

contentment

dissatisfaction

wild cat having an afternoon snooze

lovely rug

zebras feasting on their food

boring

long snake partially submerged in the pool

sneaky

male fruit bats feasting on food

having balls of a great time..

newly hatched butterflies drying their wings...

beautiful

as long as they are on the other side of the glass...

cotton-top tamarin atop a cotton-top tamarin sign...

duh

of plants

long dreamy beans

lilypads that could use a frog or two

of inanimate things

isolated huts

zebra chair

my favourite quote

of abbie

jaw dropping

fever assessment

3 legged man meets 4 legged roach

my favourite photo

foolhardy

i can really see the similarities between abbie and tong hong (my boss)

there was this large monkey... don't know if it's an ape or chimp or whatever, had its face squashed against the glass... so cute

squeezing for a pose

abbie's turn

somehow, he always does it better...

feeding carrot sticks to the long necks...

surrounded by long icky tongues

i can almost... reach... it.... :d~~~~

happy ending

abbie's gift :D

2010-06-17T23:23:00.002+08:00

just came back from smu... freak tired, so the zoo entry will have to wait... lol

in the meantime...

domokun posing with abbie's gift

This is action city's latest father's day product.. mirror of fame magazine~~ (which is coincidentally affordable for me -.-)

granted, abbie's not a father... but well, it serves any important occasion well enough...

plenty of space for me to doodle my shits

i like the cuttlefish that i drew

domokun guarding my gift with his life

abbie posing with his gift

why so serious?

happy anni dd~~

couldn't help posting up the photo below even though it's not related...

the things that abbie does that makes my heart pitter patter

abbie gazing at wedding rings