December I'm in Love..

It's almost the end of the first week of December! Despite a busy, hectic week at work, my mood is flying high and I'm feeling the joyous Christmas spirit around me. I can't wait to start my Christmas shopping, send friends those handwritten Christmas cards, and have an excuse to sing Disney's Twelve Days of Christmas!

In this moment, I can't help but feeling very grateful for everything I have, and for the people around me. Although it has been a year full of roller coaster of emotions, I'm still blessed, because in the people that I've lost, I found new friends who I can trust.

And of course, I will always have my family, and Dearie. He will always be my rock, and I know he loves me for who I am: messy, insecure, demanding, complicated me. He's my partner for life, and I know it. It took me 25 years to figure this out, but I've found him.

Aren't I so lucky.

...because you make me believe in myself when nobody else can help.

Past few weeks...

Hey there!

I haven’t been writing much but things are colossally busy these past few weeks! Work has just been a major drag (eh I mean, joy! *looks around suspiciously*) that some days just passed by like a blur and I had no time to do anything else.

I know that sounds just like an excuse, but it’s not! Really, really!

Anyway, just some highlights worth mentioning (to look back when I’m 40 years old in my rocking chair – wait, I don’t think 40 year-olds are supposed to be in a rocking chair yet! But what to do, I’m a lazy bum that way. My ambition in life? To retire early so I have all the time in the world to go traveling.)

My friend (bless you, Jonny boy in case you’re reading) has always mocked me for being a spoilt brat. He uses the term ‘Miss Reilly’ (bless you and your ridiculous yet adorable Irish phrases! I’d take Miss Reilly to Miss Spoilt Brat all day.) He has this impression that I can just bat my eyelids and get whatever I want. Sigh, if only life is that simple. I would invest heavily on my eyelashes. The only person that would fall for that trick is probably just my Dad. (Hello, Dad! I love you! Can I move in to your new apartment for free? *bats eyelashes*)

The reason why I’m saying this is because in my grand plan of retiring early and traveling the world, I missed out one tiny, little fact. That money just doesn’t grow on trees. Which explains why I’m slaving my days away. It’s an investment, see. Towards early retirement.

So yeah. Back to the highlights. Over the past few weeks I…

Went to Port Dickson with a dear friend. It was so beautiful there, and I’ve never felt so close to the sea before! (Well, actually, I have, but you can’t compare it to Italy! It’s unfair!) It was pretty sweet though, I give you that. Our room was directly viewing the sea and we even had an open window and a balcony overlooking the water. Aside from the room being huge with a capital h, the bathroom has a Jacuzzi and the shower was open in the middle of the space! It’s not like I felt like a porn star every time I took a shower, but how often do we get to like, bathe in an open space that big? Can’t help but making silly poses as I was scrubbing my body with soap. Psst.

Watched Westlife in concert! Shweet, shweet. Thanks to dearie who managed to get us tickets, we watched the concert for free! I’ve been an avid fan since my awkward early teen days and it was so much fun seeing them live. They sounded great live too! I’ve always had a major crush on Mark (cmon, that deep voice, serious, intense look, who doesn’t? So what if he swings the other way?) but after that concert, I have an equally major crush on Shane. His voice was amazing, those lads really seemed like fun, genuine guys in real life. Awesome experience.

Watched ridiculous amounts of movies. Well, this is pretty much a given. Being a major movie geek, I watch movies probably more than average, but it used to be that I dragged my sisters or had to arrange for dates with friends to see a movie (because I just don’t like seeing movie alone. (I tried, I blogged about it, it was sad. The day I watched a movie alone is a sad, sad day.) But now, thank goodness for dearie (bless his handsome, sweet face) that he’s ‘obligated’ to watch all these movies with me (romantic comedies included). Mwahaha. Hey, I’m sure he enjoys it too. Right? Right? Right? (I’m gonna ask the next time I see him just to be completely sure.)

Got tickets to see Wicked! This is probably something that runs in the family (or at least, just between me and my sisters), but we love music and films and combine them both? Sold! It’s a pity that the only live musicals I have ever watched were probably some Disney on Ices and Cinderella Musical. I saw Les Miserables concert on DVD and it’s really one musical I *must* see if I ever have the chance to. I’m not quite familiar with Wicked or Wizard of Oz for that matter, but this looks really good so we got the tickets to watch the show in December and I’m excited!

Have been going out with dearie for four months. I know it sounds so short in words. I even cringed as I wrote it. Four. Four. Just four months. Only one hundred and twenty days? Okay, okay, I’m going to stop being dramatic. (Drama queen Miss Reilly is talking). But really? Four months? I go in to Ion Orchard and come out from there in four months. I tried on clothes and go shopping in four months. I spend four months waiting when friends come late on our meetups. You don’t feel this way after dating for just four months! But as cheesy as it sounds, I do. (Please shoot me.) So really, I’m grateful any day even when we have just been going out for four months and it’s equivalent to the amount of time I (the vain me) spend getting ready for dates.

Bought a new laptop and vowed to eat grass for the next month. No explanation needed.

I'm officially broke. Enough said.

Saturday, Obvious.

Wow, office is so quiet today. Some of my colleagues are helping out with the buffet downstairs, packing stuffs I think. I, on the other hand, have some emails to clear (and blog to write, but that’s just between you and me), so I managed to escape and withdraw myself from the hectic crowds to my peaceful, quiet desk. All I can hear is the soft music from the radio my colleague is playing at the other end, and the comforting clicking sound of keyboards. Personally, I love it. (referring to the sound of keyboard)

Once again I’m going to count my blessings for yet another wonderful day we have here! Awesome weekend is waiting ahead… in 1.5 hour time!

Anyway, I was re-reading some of my old posts and I came across one which mentioned a song by Westlife, “Obvious”.

Man, that was a good song.
And yes, I’m hopeless for boybands.

I listened to that song religiously when I was in my third year of middle school back in Jakarta. I remember because that was when I started dating my first boyfriend (then.) Anyway, it doesn’t matter now, but what I loved about the song was how much I could relate to it.

Actually, I can sort of still relate to it now.

Before I got together with dearie a couple of months back, I’ve already developed a crush on him for a while somehow and I can’t pinpoint why, aside from the fact that he’s just different. He’s smart and articulate (and this is important, people!) and endearing and unpretentious. Unapologetically sincere.

He was oblivious at that time though, and who could blame him? Apparently when I was around him, my vocabulary immediately shrunk to a pitiful range of words only found in children’s book. Suddenly I blushed, and stammered, and looked away a lot. I wouldn’t like me either.

Alright, not gonna bore with you the details. That’s not the point of this post! Back to the song, people!

Anyway, yeah. Since now you have a bit of a background, listen to the lyrics (or rather, read it) while preferably listen to the song (if you can download it now..)

Ps. Downloading songs is illegal, people! Save our music!

We started as friends
But something happened inside me
Now I'm reading into everything
But there's no sign you hear the lightning, baby

You don't ever notice me turning on my charm
Or wonder why I'm always where you are

I've made it obvious
Done everything but sing it
(I've crushed on you so long, but on and on you get me wrong)
I'm not so good with words
And since you never notice
The way that we belong
I'll say it in a love song

I've heard you talk about
How you want someone just like me
But everytime I ask you out
We never move pass friendly

And you don't ever notice how I stare when we're alone
Or wonder why I keep you on the phone

I've made it obvious
Done everything but sing it
(I've crushed on you so long but on and on you get me wrong)
I'm not so good with words
And since you never notice
The way that we belong
I'll say it in a love song

You are my very first thought in the morning
And my last at nightfall
You are the love that came without warning
I need you, I want you to know

I've made it obvious
So finally I'll sing it
(I've crushed on you so long)
I'm not so good with words
And since you never notice
The way that we belong
I'll say it in a love song

And sing it until the day you're holding me
I've wanted you so long but on and on you get me wrong
I more than adore you but since you never seem to see
But you never seem to see
I'll say it in this love song

Awesome, right? I feel nostalgic too as if I’m suddenly transported back in time to the year of my middle school where I used to listen this in my room over and over again before school.

Great, now I’m going to listen to it again…

tee-hee. =)

Herelies the problem..

Today I finished up a long-overdue proposal (mostly because I’ve been kinda slacking, but pstt, this is just between you and me), and as I drew a relieved sigh, I glanced at the bottom of the page and almost exclaimed unattractively. Holy cow! 17 pages! Seventeen frikkin pages! My words in all their glory..all 17 pages worth of ‘em, in fact.

And yet, I have abandoned this space for a lot longer than I should. And I thought writing leisurely has always been therapeutical! No wonder I’m so stressed with work lately. I just don’t channel the stress the right way.

(Well, I’ve been spending a lot of time with dearie and that should be a stress-free method too, right? Although, every time we do, we stay out late, which results in me not getting enough sleep and probably being even more tired and stressed out the following morning. Oh shit.)

Well anyway. It wasn’t until earlier when my friend said that she hasn’t been visiting my blog recently and I was like, “Err. You’re probably not missing out much since I hardly update it.”

But then as soon as I said it, I felt really, really sad.

No kidding! This really did make me feel sad. There was a point of time I could write my blog every day with anything and everything, and now I can’t even muster a single post because:

I don’t know what to write

I don’t have the time to write

I’m always feeling uninspired

And somehow these three reasons don’t make me feel better at all.

As if it’s not bad enough that I’m losing the motivation to write, I seem to lose my otherwise brilliant, witty writing personality as well. Without it, what else do I have?

I better tell my boyfriend right away. He should know what he’s getting himself into. I’m no longer the bright and creative soul he once knew and loved.

It’s sad that I could churn up 17 pages worth of words (albeit, probably not very interesting), but I couldn’t even do a single post.

Ladies and gentlemen, what has this world become?

Hm. See? Even now I’m struggling to find something interesting to say. Do I talk about the recent awesome weekend I had with dearie when we went to watch Lion King the Musical and Harry Potter on IMAX? About how emotional I was during the scene when Harry realized he had to die, until I could feel tears forming in my eyes, and then feel slightly embarrassed about it, because. Oh well, you just don’t cry from seeing Harry Potter. You just don’t. I’m already a sissy as it is.

Ah yes. I guess I could talk about that. Or maybe I could touch a bit about how last week during work I had to sing a song in front of everyone..alone? Imagine the horror. And about how after that ‘incident’, my colleague made a poster that read “Christina, we believe! The next Singapore Idol!” and pasted it on the wall. He’s forgetting that I’m not even a Singaporean but of course no one really gave a rat’s ass about it.

What about the weekend before that when we went to Universal Studio and had a great evening reminiscing being a kid, taking rollercoasters and screaming on the top of our lungs like there was no tomorrow? (oh wait. That was just me. See, I told ya I’m a sissy.)

Or maaaaybe. I could write about my Italy adventure?

THERE! It’s not like I have nothing to write. Now I recognize the core of the problem.

I’m just a lazy ass.

Hurray!

Now I can go back to thinking that deep down I’m still very much witty, adorable, smart and all those traits are just waiting to burst out in the open again real, real soon! Yay! Now my boyfriend will love me again!

Mickey Mouse Situation

My office had an uninvited visitor yesterday. It started with my colleague exclaiming, "Christina! There's a rat here somewhere!" first thing in the morning when my brain was still grogilly switching between "shit, it's Monday again" and "shit, it's Monday again". It means, no, I wasn't in any way prepared to face a mouse-rat-situation.

Let's just say that the whole day I was on edge. We couldn't find it behind the boxes, which means, it could be anywhere, including underneath my desk! It didn't help that my colleagues sensed my unrealistic (but very real) fear and they started making jerk sudden movement everytime they passed my desk for the sole purpose of scaring me off.

At one point, one of them actually said that the rat might be hiding under my chair and bite my toes! But I like my toes! They help to keep me..balanced. And proportional. And pretty?

Sometime in the afternoon, I actually saw the mouse run from one end to the next but it was gone before none of us could react. I doubt my scream helped anyone to catch the mouse but what was I supposed to do, right? One of us actually brought in a trap with some food inside and placed it at the corner.

But until the end of the day, the rat was nowhere to be seen, and I actually skipped lunch. Hm, not that one had anything to do with the other. I don't think so? Probably doesn't help that Greg started saying that rats loved food and that I should be extra careful placing my instant noodles!

"Why are you so...." my colleague asked me with amused expression after he successfully managed to scare me off (again). (Really? That is soooo elementary school.)

"Jumpy?" I offered to finish his sentence.

Ha. I've been asking myself the very same question for years. I don't know why I'm so jumpy aside from the fact that I am. How else am I gonna explain it?

Why am I so scared of animals? Why am I scared of horror movies? Why am I scared of ghosts? Well, why don't you get me checked and maybe we can find out the answer.

This morning, when I arrived in the office, I was greeted by the announcement that the rat has been apprehended. It was safely tucked away in the trap. "Come see it!" my colleague said.

"Er..how about..no!"

"Why! I should give the rat to you..Make you face your fears," he said, with unnecessary excitement that was, to me, very uncalled for.

In a flash!

Is it an ironic coincidence that my 1 year in my company falls on 24 June, which is also the first day of my 10.5 leave?

Haha. First things first! I'm really happy I managed to stay on for almost a year now, and it's probably the longest I've ever committed to anything! Time really flies when you think about it. I can recall my first day like it was just yesterday. The outfits I wore, how I felt on the day, what I did and how the day began and ended.

There were moments of doubts and stress during the first few days especially, since everything was so new. But I learnt that, once you make a decision, stick by it. And don't ever look back. Just don't.

So, next thing is, yes! I'm finally doing the big vacation thing this June to Italy! You know what, even though we started out with just a big gut and a few presses to book the tickets without much plans yet, we're all set! It's so exciting, aye!

And speaking of vacation, I'll be doing a pre-vacation thing to Hong Kong next weekend!

Will write more tonight I hope! I miss updating this blog with my neverending rants!

Another Week.

Whenever I meet someone new, or in that phase or just getting to know someone, I always like to ask a lot of questions. How do you know someone otherwise, right? So I thought, I can do it here. The problem is, aside from probably 2 of my family members, nobody else actually reads this. (Speaking of which, I have to ask my sisters when was the last time they logged in here) So sad. The story of my life.

What's sadder is asking a question and having myself answer it! But what to do, right? Anyway, I come across a blog in another person's website with some interesting questions. So here's what I'm gonna do. Whenever I feel like it (read: have no more interesting subject to write about), I'll post each question and we'll see.

For someone with lots of opinion (and unable to shut up), this could be fun. You can answer it too and we'll..um, get to know each other better. (although I'm already in first-name basis with both my sisters. How 'well' do you want us to get?)

(You know I'm kidding, don't you?)

So, yeah! Let's get that on next! But first things first, I just would like to write some updates in the past week. Work? You really wanna know? Well. It's going fine, I suppose. I love my customers and all, but sometimes I'm so frustrated I wanna just scream on top my lungs: GIVE ME A BREAK! It's bad enough that these days I have to always work on Saturdays when I'm not supposed to, but even on Saturday night, or on a Sunday, I keep getting calls and texts from customers.

Alright, alright. I'm gonna stop right here. I'm gonna end up complaining more than I should if I continue. So let's move on, shall we? Over the weekend I started watching season 8 of 24, which is pretty good! My friend was really awesome for burning the complete season on CD. I think I have to treat him dinner or something. I've started rereading Harry Potter again. Last night we watched the 7th installment on DVD again so it seems right to read the last book before the movie comes out next week.

I also impulsively booked a ticket to Hong Kong for next year!

I know, it's so not me to be impulsive, but I did it!

I'll get nervous thinking what I'm gonna do if I really have to travel alone, so I'm not going to. It's still a couple months away so I figured there's plenty of time for my friends to join me (or me to chicken out?) It's exciting though!

Met some old friends on Friday night which was really fun!

Hope you had a nice weekend too and we'll catch up soon! ♥

October Highlights

Oh my gosh, this month is passing by so quickly! I almost couldn’t believe when I woke up and saw the calendar the other day. It’s already November?! Shopping malls are starting to put Christmas decorations, and more than once I had to stop myself just to think about what a year it has been!

Alright, so I haven’t exactly found cure for cancer, or won any lotteries. I probably haven’t made significant changes to anyone’s lives but I feel like I have changed a great deal and gone through a lot! Wow, now this sounds like something I should write at the end of the year!

Yeah, fine. I’m gonna stop myself here then. Otherwise I won’t have much to talk about again coming December.

Just thought it might be appropriate to write some snippets of the things that’s been happening this month, since I hardly blog anymore (again, not that I don’t want to!) I hope I can redeem myself (and my typing skills.) Oh, by the way, I’m writing this on my laptop at home on a Friday evening, while the television is playing in mute. The only sound I’m hearing is my own tapping of keyboards and tickles of waters from the pool outside my unit. Ah, complete bliss.

1) Phuket trip (01-04 Oct)
First time going to Phuket and first time travelling with my two dear colleagues! I thought I was going to have a relaxing weekend abroad when I could just lay down in the beach and sun tanned all day long, and got drunk every night. I couldn’t have been more wrong! Reality was, it was a full-packed action weekend, filled with adrenaline-rush, lots of raining and getting wet, body-aching, crazy midnight bar actions involving pingpong shows and serious stripping acts.

Don’t act so innocent! Haha. Naked girl, ping pong balls, birds, needles. Very flexible and multifunctional vagy-gy. Use your imagination. It was hilarious! It was an eye opening experience, I’m telling you. At one point the bird used landed on my lap! I swore right there and then that I would burn my pants as soon as I got home.

A full day trip to Phi Phi island, went snorkelling and swimming by the beach, tried wakeboarding and had lots and lots of tom yum soup and not enough massages. All in all it was a good trip nonetheless. It stirred up my travel bug and I’m already looking forward to my next vacation!

2) Wedding dinner at Grand Copthorne (06 Oct)
My dearest former colleague invited me to her wedding reception on a Wednesday night. Although I came straight from work with dishevelled face, it was one of the most memorable wedding I’ve been to! It was great to see all my former colleagues again and you know, up to this point I’ve been to lots of weddings of my dad’s friends, and my sisters’ friends, but not so many of my own friends’. Knowing the bride or groom personally just made the whole evening more beautiful and I even teared up during the procession as the groom was given some tasks to get to the stage. At one point he was asked, “What do you love most about Eileen?” I think I don’t have to recite his answers to tell you that this moment was when I almost cried! The food was some awesome 7-course dinners which made me feel super guilty (but happy). After attending a friend’s wedding I always feel like getting married myself!

3) A ‘passionate’ cruise at sea ! (07 Oct)
Being in this yacht line of business, I have lots of customers asking all sorts of questions you can possibly think of about the cruise and the itineraries they can expect. My boss thought it would be great for me to experience what I’m selling. So he brought us along for an evening cruise with ‘Passion’ to highlight the different islands and activities we can do during the trip. I had a lot of fun! The boat was a 33’ motor cruiser and it could go really, really fast! We sat outside by the deck while the boat was cruising in full speed, and I don’t even want to imagine how silly I must have looked with my hair flying in all directions! I can see why some people just fall in love with the life at sea. People who love boating rarely turn back. You either love it, and try to be near the sea whenever you can, or you don’t and the thought of spending 4 hours in the boat made you feel sea sick.

4) Eat, Pray, Love (08 Oct)
I couldn’t remember the last time I watched a movie, probably since Inception. It was tad too long and I was really excited to see Eat, Pray, Love with my two girlfriends. The movie was delightful and entertaining from start to finish. I haven’t read the book, so comparison couldn’t be made, but I really admired Julia Robert’s character. It takes a lot of guts to really just go away to somewhere foreign and detach yourself from ‘real’ life. Although, at the end of it, one might wonder, which life is real? When your life is made of pretenses, isn’t it almost a sin to yourself to stay?

After which we went to Chijmes for some drinks. Le Baroque really had one of the best live music I’ve ever seen! From “The Empire State of Mind” to “Love the Way You Lie”, I lost track of time!

5) Little Nicolas and more Le Baroque (16 Oct)
My colleague and I have been talking about having a French night out which included seeing a French movie, having a French dinner and talking in French and ending the night at a French bar! Well, so it didn’t exactly go that way, since the only French word I knew was ‘Oui’ and after like, three times saying it, it got old quickly. I realized too that you couldn’t really have a conversation with just that one vocabulary.
Me: “Oui?”
Sam: “Oui oui!”
Me: “OUI!!!”
Sam: “Hm...Oui!!!”
Me and her: “.........”
See what I meant?

Catching the French movie was easy enough. The Picturehouse was showing this really adorable cute movie Little Nicolas! It was a feel-good, funny flick which really got me happy afterwards. We thought of sneaking cans of beer into the cinema but we ended up having the beer before the movie. Classy indeed. Anyway, it was a great night that ended with dancing and beers. (I’m certain the French won’t approve of that!)

6) Halloween night! (30 Oct)
The title pretty much explained itself. I tried being Kat Von D although I think it was more like the ‘Before’ version of her, or perhaps the Kat Von D if she had never made it to television. Kat Von D without the money and personal trainer! How terrible! I had to put on tattoos in both my arms and put on long black wig, heavy make-up and stars at the side of my face, and although I looked ridiculous, it was fun getting ready! When else am I able to dress up like that, right? We went to Clarke Quay and it was packed like a can of sardines! Inside the club I could hardly move and it was skin-on-skin with the people around you all night long! I’m still undecided whether I liked it, but well. Half of Singapore population must have been in that club that night!

Apart from these, I’ve been doing another freelance writing job. I did the last article in basically one day! But my editor seemed to like the writing, so no complaints here. If you want to see, here are my previous published articles for Mind+ magazine.

What a month! November is gonna be even busier as I'm bracing myself for more work. But hey, ready or not, here I come!

Check them out.

By the way, just in case you're wondering what the two big icons are doing in the right side of my blog, well. Those are basically my life these days.

I'm promoting and doing sales for Neo Yacht at least 5 days a week. Add some impromptu, unplanned, out-of-the-way things I'm doing over the weekend, it's pretty much a handfull. Do check out the link and 'like' it on Facebook, because otherwise, we're not friends anymore.

Teehee. Kidding, of course.

And the new project is the online store I'm helping out with. It's very new, so not many people know about it. It'll be really awesome if you can help spread the words to your friends. Check it out yourself too; we've just launched our first collection and it's a really exciting process. Basically we know that some people are apprehensive about shopping clothes online because they aren't certain of the quality since they can't see and feel the materials upon buying. Yet, at the same time, these days online shopping has become really common because people are getting busier and sometimes it's really just a matter of convenience, buying things online and having them delivered to your doorstep without the hassles of shopping. That's the inspiration we have to launch this store. All the garments and pieces that you see here are in good qualities and we don't compromise quality over quantity.

Alright, I know I'm probably rambling. Anyhow, we do have a link to our Facebook page there and the website where you can see all our collections. I welcome any suggestions or comments and supports are deeply appreciated!

Sorry I haven't been writing much. It's long weekend now so I'm gonna try writing something tonight. In the mean time, feel free to browse around and I'll catch up with you soon!

Dentist visit

I have never liked the word D! Dragon! Doctor! Dentist! Double D!

But now I'm gonna talk about my dysfunctional relationship with the d in dentist! As a kid, my brain has already been shutting down and rejecting the idea of going to the dentist. Gosh, I can still remember the fear I would have just by sitting at the waiting room, trying so hard to distract myself by reading magazines, but of course it didn't really help. In my mind I kept thinking I heard some screaming going on inside the room. Maybe my parents would have heard that too, and thus, rescued me from the premises.

And of course! The smell! Why is it that all dentist offices have the same smell?! Do they have the same air freshener? Is there a handbook on that? You can't be certified as a dentist unless you buy this freshener which smells like, pain and fear!

To conclude, it's safe to say that I would be really, really content and pleased with myself if I don't ever need to pay a visit to this fine establishment again. But the time has come and I have to fulfill my destiny! Since a few days ago I've been having toothache, which came on and off. Well, I could still eat and the pain wasn't so intense that prohibited me from doing anything else. For most parts it was still tolerable, so I thought initially it was just a case of sensitive tooth from something I might have eaten.

It wasn't until yesterday that the pain was getting more intense and at night I couldn't sleep because my tooth was throbbing, and there's nothing I could do about it! In the morning I thought I couldn't be able to get up and go to work, but somehow I managed. And yeah, the pain was still on-and-off and during the day, I didn't feel as much pain at work as I was during the night before.

But it's clear that something was wrong, and I wasn't about to wait until the pain got worse, so this morning I started calling dentist offices to make an appointment. Alright, I'm starting to bore you so I'm gonna speed up. Let's just say that it freaking hurts during the examination!

It was bad enough having a throbbing tooth, it was even worse when someone kept poking and scratching it! (And for your information, there! The smell was there again! I told you - same air-freshener.) By the end of it, I almost couldn't speak because the dentist gave me some anesthetic so I couldn't feel the left side of my mouth. Isn't it crazy, how something so small like a tooth (which otherwise you wouldn't pay too attention to, I mean, compared to let's say, your arm! Or your leg) could generate that much pain.

Once my toe nail broke and shite, I almost pissed myself out of pain. And it's just a freaking toe nail! What happens if my fingers got cut off!!! Maybe I'll pass out. *touch wood, touch wood!*

Anyway, yeah. They did an x-ray too, and my wisdom teeth were in the wrong direction. Although, they were all at the very back so the doctor said it's not that urgent to get them removed. Eventually I need to, though. He mentioned that these days all you gotta do is sleep, and they would remove all of them during your sleep, and you would wake up feeling nothing and no pain and the procedure is done! Sign me up, please! That's the best method I've ever heard. They need to apply the same method to..child birth process, I'd say. Ha!

Sorry, getting sidetracked here. So, after the long and painful examination and treatment, the dentist gave me a painkiller to last me 12 hours each, so tonight I expect a painless sleep. But that treatment only already cost me $170!

Please, don't remind me of all the nice things I could have bought with that $170! But I guess, that's the price I have to pay for not having throbbing toothache again!

Dang it. See, I told you I don't like the word D!

Went Cycling

This week is so crazy and full of surprises like you wouldn't believe. In the midst of work and still trying to gain some sanity by going out and having fun, days passed by ever so quickly.

I've managed to finish the layout of my next assignment with Mind+ magazine, though. There's still a lot of work to be done 'til I get the article completed but well, at least it's something and I still have until the end of the month to work on it. See, that's the thing about writing as a 'job'. I don't know. I love writing, but I guess it's different when you start doing it as a work. Sure there's still some pleasure involved, but it's not truly yours anymore. Not your freedom, unless you're one of the lucky ones who get to pick and choose what to write. But so far it's been good for me, I suppose. I'm not complaining! Trying to be positive, remember?

I went through some emotional hurdle this week. It's really, really silly, though. I hate myself for being so emotional. I think I've said it many times before. I think too much. As a result, I worry and get affected too easily. When you have been that way for as long as you remember, how could you change?

Now I'm over it though! I've burnt all those teenage angst during muay thai yesterday! After the short session, I felt like seriously punching (certain) people in the head. Oh no. In all seriousness, it's always fun meeting new people and learning new things.

Today I went to Pulau Ubin with sisters and cousins and my sister-in-law. Ehm. ;) It started out great 'cos we were all excited to cycle and enjoy the nature for a change. Once we started cycling for half an hour, the weather started to shift and before we knew it, rain came pouring in like cats and dogs! Thank goodness we managed to reach the central of the so-called-town and had lunch when it was still drizzling. It stopped sometime during lunch, so we thought, great. Now the weather's perfect and cool to continue our cycle.

So we did. Not long after it started raining again though! Harder and harder as time went on and we were quite drenched and the slopes were steep and lots of times we had to carry the bike and walk. My butt seriously hurt 'cos the seat was too hard! I don't know how we did it, but we somehow managed to finish the trail and go back to return the bikes in one piece! I fell down from my bike once, ouch!

By the time we're done, I was like, "dang, this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. You know what, never again." Haha! A little British humor there.

Let me share some (unglamorous) pictures from our day in the island. I was scrolling through them and realized I looked overwhelmingly fat! Ugh. Plus we were all sweating and wet and tired and dirty. These are the pictures that won't make it to Facebook. ;p Nah. I'm kidding. Or am I?

Speaking of which, I'm gonna do that later because the pictures need to be resized first. I'll get around to posting them here eventually though.

So. Until next time! ;)

Barely Here

I guess this is as good time as any to give you a short update on what I've been doing recently. It can be summarized in one word: work.

Meh. Where has my youth passed? Well, seriously. I know I've had my crazy partying days, but that doesn't mean my time is up and I am no longer allowed a break, does it? Ah I don't know. Maybe I'm just being a whiner like I always am. Work has its ups. Normally this would happen during the start of every month. (read: payday) Ha!

I hardly have time to meet my friends. Thank goodness I have great colleagues whom I can call friends too. But I miss my regular friends. I miss Wazzy whom I haven't seen in forever. I miss Fairuz and Hong and Arnold and Steffy. I miss Manly and Elsa, and the list could go on and on. I really think I need to catch up with them to keep myself sane. If you're reading this, YES! I need to catch up with YOU too! I'm sorry for being a lame-ass.

This month is going to be hectic. We're selling mooncake for the first time, so the management has high expectation. So, come support us if you're interested in trying out our mooncake. (Read: Buy one from me, or else we're no longer friends!) Haha.

(By the end of this post, I will no longer have friends.)

I don't know what else I can write here except for work-stuffs. And as you know, I'm not too comfortable talking about work. So let's change the subject, shall we?

(Awkward silence)

Alright. Seems that I don't have an interesting thing to say. Gosh. I am so freaking out about work. Okay, shut up, woman! I guess I should try being 'creative' another day. This blog is seriously getting super lame and boring. My creative juice has stopped flowing.

Guys, have faith in me, please. ;))

Party and Work.

Oh, man. I got the shock of my life when I checked my bank account today. I spent almost 500 bucks just over the weekend, buying whatever shits I can't even recall now!

No, I'm kidding. I actually remember each of them vividly. The worst thing is that I don't even regret buying them although now my pocket has to suffer from being too light of money! Over lunch today we talked about places and travels and man, my travel bug is getting active again! But I can't really take leave yet until my probation is over. Good thing is that I'm enjoying my job now, so hopefully time will just pass by like shuuush! and I'll get to go on a holiday again before I know it! (little chance, but oh well. A girl can dream.)

Anyway! I just wanna share a bit about the party that my boss threw over the weekend which was just absolutely superb! Wouldn't go into much details aside from that his house was so sick! It's just amazing and you know you've made it into the big league when the view from your terrace is the Singapore water and your mode of transportation around is a private yacht! Or wait for it, when you have a freaking lift in your house!

He's kind enough to let us take a spin around on it. I am definitely motivated now to work even harder so I can enjoy a good life such as this. Yes, a dollar at at time. Ha!

I love this picture! I'm loving my colleagues now! Working doesn't feel much like a tough job when these people are around.

Sam and I at dusk time.

It was just a great evening! I'm still in high spirit today even though it's Monday! Went on a good meeting at the marina and managed to go back home on time! Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, come quickly! I can't wait for the weekend!

Rant and Updates

So, a few days ago I was browsing things at the bookstore. I wanted to buy a couple of stationeries for work because I'm just dorky that way. I got high after seeing those folders in various colors and bought like, four different ones although I could just ask for some from the office. See, I couldn't resist the temptation!

Anyway I got to the magazine section and started looking through interesting read. My whole magazine habit consists of buying probably a couple of Cleo, 8 Days, Her World or those entertainment/Hollywood gossips because that's my guilty pleasure. But I saw the travel section and ended up buying Lonely Planet. Sure, that wasn't my usual read, but surely it's nothing to be fussed about?

This afternoon I showed it to my sister in case she wanted to read it too, and she looked at me like I just told her I was going to change my gender.

"You bought this????" her eyes were wide. "Um, yeah?" I replied, not expecting her reaction. She looked at the magazine and back to me again. "YOU bought it???!"

Seriously. Must she repeat the same question twice? "Yes!" I said. "But why???" like her logic couldn't grasp the idea.

"Well, I was just at the bookstore the other day and it looked interesting. So I bought it. WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL??!" At this point I felt quite insulted. Just because I always read bimbotic magazines, doesn't mean I'm incapable of reading informational ones. Heck, don't I write for an educational magazine?

"I'm not smart enough to be reading Lonely Planet?!" I said, wounded.

"Eh no. It's just a matter of habit." she replied. That was close, Sis. Too close.

Sorry, that was just something random. I haven't written here for a while, I know. The past week has been really time-consuming. But it was a good week, I think. My old friends were in town last weekend so we checked out the new Marina Bay casino. And my week was just filled with work.

Oh, another thing I wanna share here. My sis started reading this book "The China Study" by Dr. Colin Campbell. It's a book about food and health, it's kinda revolutionary, I think. It basically tells how plant-based diet is the healthiest way to go, and my sis has been really taken by it that we've started to implement this in our household. Not saying that we're gonna be vegetarians anytime soon, but we're going there. I think from now on, I'm gonna make a conscious decision to reduce my meat-intake significantly and eat more vegetables instead. Let's see how it goes. I really need to lose weight anyway.

Last I heard, my uncle has started being a vegetarian too and he had lost 8 kgs for the past month! I know it's hard not to eat meat, I guess the key is trying to do it slowly. Yeah, we'll see how it goes. Maybe I should keep a food journal or something.

So! It's Sunday night! I'm excited for the upcoming week because it's the end of the month and you know what it means! Payday! About time!

Not much progress...

So, let's see.

I wrote this urgent to-do list last week. Let's see how I've progressed.

~ Finish the marketing book my boss lent me.
I'm still just starting Chapter 5 now.

~ Start the next freelance writing article that is due this week!
The real article: 7 names down, 4 more to go. Deadline is Tuesday!

~ Learn more about yacht, read boating magazines.
Alright, well, I bought Asia Pacific Boating Magazine. Browsed through it, got some contacts to look up, but then my boss was so excited about the magazine so I let him borrow it. As for knowing more about yacht, damn, I'm not really sure.

~ Join gym
Well, I've gone to the gym to check out the prices and even had a consultation. Went on a tour around it, and pretty much had a good vibe about it. I have yet managed to go for the trial before signing up, though. I thought I would go last Tuesday but then something came up.

Conclusion: I haven't really been making progress at all, have I? Damn, I'm hopeless. Last night while I was writing for the article, I got distracted and ended up buying a cute T-shirt online!

That was the lowest of the low. I'm the world's number one procrastinator!

Neverending.

It’s been really hectic recently at work! Don’t you think there are just too many things you want to do yet there is too little time?

Seriously.

This is my urgent to-do list:
Finish the marketing book my boss lent me
Start the next freelance writing article that is due this week!
Learn more about yacht, read boating magazines
Join gym

Between the time you’re working until 6, and the those that you still want to set up for yourself, your family and friends, how else am I going to squeeze in time to do the other things during weekdays?

Anyway, yeah. It’s been an adjustment. But speaking of it, I really need to finish all those things on my list. *sigh*

This week has been better, workwise though. I think I am progressing!

Some days it seems like it'll never end. Like there's just too much to do.

The reality of the situation is, you'll never be finished. If you finish all the work you've got to do, you'll find more to do. You can never really reach the end.

So accept that. Be ok with it. Find the peace you're looking for in the now. In this moment.

Right now. Every now.

Sicko

My throat hurts, my nose is running non-stop and my head spins. Shit. I hate being sick.

I was perfectly fine on Saturday and was still going out at night to watch the World Cup with some friends. The next day, straight after waking up, my throat already hurt and I couldn't stop sneezing for the life of me. We went to JP for lunch, and I wasn't feeling very well by then. I told my sister I didn't want to stay long and my body was just dying for a nap.

We got back at probably, 4, and I crashed straight to bed. Somehow this didn't help much either, and I woke up in sweat a few hours later, still sneezing and the amount of tissues I've wasted probably would affect directly to the global warming.

Went to the doctor last night and was told it was a case of flu. I thought I'd feel better today after having the medication, but this morning was even worse. I didn't want to take the day off since I'm still so new and everything, but at that state I really couldn't bring myself to head to the shower, let alone go to work.

Hope this feeling passes by quickly. :(

Work, Write.

My goodness! Finally! A proper chance to write! Or shall I rephrase it, a proper chance to actually sit down here at my desk at home to browse and gather my thoughts to compose a sentence without yawning or getting slightly intoxicated.

Not that I make it a habit to drink every night. Hey, in my defense, it's part of work!

So yeah. I have officially started my new job since last Thursday, and it's been a challenge. In a good way, I hope? Everything is new and different, and I'm still adjusting. But I'm doing my best, one thing at a time. Wish me luck, kay?

So I guess to continue where we left off, I shall put on some pictures on the farewell lunch I had with my colleagues from the (old) company. Wow, I'm still in daze that I actually went ahead and changed jobs. It's funny when I tendered my resignation, I went back to my desk and I was talking to a friend of mine online.

"Hey, I finally did it!" I said. And he replied, "OMG! Here I was, just sitting here doing nothing, wasting my life away while you were just resigning from your company and making a huge move in your life!"

I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about that. Comforted? Not exactly.

I'm just so glad to have met these people in my previous company. I wish we can still meet up often! I really miss them. Especially now that I'm a newbie!

Anyway, I felt genuinely sad on my last day, having to say goodbye to everyone. Geez, I am emotional.

Alright, alright, I just want to share something good here! It's about the piece I wrote for the educational magazine in Indonesia. It's finally out! It's my first official freelancing experience. Ha!

I don't know if you can see it clearly. But you're supposed to be able to see my name! Yes, the first person to spot my name shall win a personalized dining set! Hahaha. Lame-O!

So I know I didn't write a full-page article. You probably think it's not even a big deal?

Yeah, I only wrote a book review. Hey! I actually went and bought the book, alright! (Although I returned it after I finished reading it. Well, isn't that the whole point of refund policy?) And the deadline was so tight, I think I only had like, three days to write the review? And I was working full-time so it limited my time to read it properly from cover to cover. But I managed to capture the gist of it, and I'm happy!

Yeah, I'm a dork. I better go to bed soon. Like I said, today is the first time since I started the new job that I was able to go back on time! Good night and I love you long time. ;p

Busy, busy ;(

My new job has been extremely busy and challenging! I am coping, though. Doing my best, one step at a time. Sorry I haven't been writing very much. Once everything settles down, I'll get back to routine. :)

Karaoke with Colleagues.

So my colleagues and I had a great karaoke session yesterday after work. We try to squeeze in precious gathering time like this because we simply don't have enough! Especially now that some of us have left the company, we try to catch up regularly to hang out and have fun. (read: talk about so-and-so.)

When I first joined the company, these were the people that greeted me and made me feel welcomed, and we've been good friends ever since. (especially during lunch time.) And we've been through a lot together! Now that most of them have moved on, the company is left with lots of new people that I can't really connect with. I don't really know why, but it just makes me feel even more grateful that I met these people here.

We used to joke and gossip during office hour and lunch time, and now we can only do it after work. Anyway, yesterday we worked half day and the four of us went out from office to meet our other two ex-colleagues for lunch and serious singing business. We all love karaoke!

I haven't been out to karaoke for a while now, and even until 4 hours of singing, I wasn't that much satisfied! At home, I told my sisters we ought to have our karaoke session soon!

Me with Seraph and Rachel.

Rachel is like an affectionate, really loving and kind big sister. To me, at least. Although I'm sure we're probably at the same age. My favorite moment with her was, well, it's hard to pick one. The most memorable one, I think, was when I had a really bad day at work, and I came back to my desk feeling dejected and angry. Everyone else has gone back home at this point, and I still stayed to finish up some stuffs. Rachel was just about to make her way out, and she popped by in my room (which was already empty) to make sure I was okay. I was feeling down, yeah, but until that point, I was fine, you know? I mean, everyone's bound to have a bad day occasionally, right?

I said, yes, I'm fine. And she just looked at me with this real concern on her face, and she told me that everything's gonna be okay, that she understood how I felt, and that we were in this together so I always had someone if I ever felt too sad. And this is still a mystery to me, but I just started sobbing uncontrollably. And Rachel started panicking, and giving me tissues and I just cried even more. "Don't be sad! Don't worry about work, don't be too stressed out," she said, thinking I cried because I felt really pressurized about work. I chuckled (in between sobs) and said, "No! I was fine. I cried because of you! Because you're just so kind!"

I feel very embarrassed every time I remember that time, because bleh. I let everything get to me, and I hate crying in front of other people. Have you felt that, though? Have you ever just felt so touched and started crying because of human's kindness? Yes, sure, I have, but I don't think I've ever experienced such emotions when the kindness is directed to me, you know? I don't know. Maybe I'm just all over the place that day. Anyway, that's Rachel. She's extremely caring and kind.

With my current colleagues.

Seraph and Miu have been there ever since I joined the company, and they're still there. Erika is our newbie, who just came in our little group since last month. She clicks really well with us too! And I got another Indonesian, at last. It's about time, don't you think? (Yeah, about time I have different facial expression than the usual dumb-clueless-oblivious-stoned-look I used to adapt in the middle of Chinese conversation)

While Rachel is like my big sister, Seraph is more like a friend to me, in the sense that we are more or less the same that we talk really well. Even in the company, we have the same roles, she's the writer for the Chinese section, and I'm the English writer. So we help each other a lot, and we can understand each other's stories and complaints. It's like, we have each other's backs. That's one way to put it. I know! I'm lucky!

Goofing around while we let Miu hold the mic. Haha.

And more.

WTF were we doing? Some inside joke here.

Eileen on the right, is probably the wisest, most mature and fun person to be with! She is the big sister for all of us because, I don't know. I guess all of us just feel comfortable talking to her about anything. She's a good listener and adviser, yet at the same time, she is as crazy and creative as anyone! Because she's Singaporean, her English is better than the rest, which makes it easier for me to talk to her too.

She introduced me to the spicy chicken wings cafe in the middle of nowhere (which I loved!), and gave me the recipe for blueberry cheesecake. (which I tried, but failed in making.) She just knows loads of things, so we know where to go when we're unsure about anything!

It's such a fun evening! I enjoyed spending time with them, and I hope we'll get to do this again soon with the rest of the people that couldn't make it yesterday! We have a colleague from Myanmar who used to be in a band! How bad-ass is that! I already told him he should join us for the next singing session! Anyway, thanks guys and I love you all! ;)

Speaking of songs, here are my favorite tunes this week:
1. Old City - Saltwater Room
2. Snow Patrol - Crack The Shutters
3. Ben Folds ft Regina Spektor - You Don't Know Me
4. Glee Cast - True Colors
5. Morcheeba - Enjoy The Ride

Good day, everyone!