31st december 2008.
wanna blog sth on the last day of 2008 since it'll be the last time i can. though no inspiration of what to blog about, i just wanted to bid a proper goodbye to 2008. it seemed like yesterday that the new yr has began, yet unwittingly 365days passed so fast. in my mind are flashes of the year but suddenly i can't pinpoint a single event to write.

as i flipped through photos, it brought back beautiful memories in uni. much as i want to keep 2008 going on n on, it's time to let go and welcome 2009. *smilez* with a new yr comes new resolutions. yet to write them down though some are already written into my heart.

2008 was a yr where i witnessed many changes, moved back to the comforts of home. together with that came many other things. basically a yr where i grew older happily on most days, at least it was much easier than 2007 hence there are of course no complaints. 2009 is a yr of challenges where i'll experience the taste of working life proper. like everyone else, i m not looking forward yet i've learnt to welcome it as a new phase of life. at least friends and family will always be ard no matter which phase it is, with them, it always make challenges more welcoming as we embrace it together and isn't alone. *smilez* let 2009 be another beautiful, meaningful and learning yr!

though simple plans for today ahead, i must say i enjoyed myself lots with the gals. haha i guess it can count as a christmas cum new yr gathering! it really brought back memories of our past gatherings with 6 less merd present. it's really nice to have got to know u gals! been less willing to travel to tampines sports hall for the last yr, but thank goodness u all are always so accommodating. i promise i'll try not to be too lazy to travel to the east n travel there more often cos u all stay there instead of always to the east. *smilez* the usual badminton gang turned into table tennis for a day. wellz..it was seriously an experience with all except stacy knowing how to play. alrights i think we all laughed so much that we couldn't play properly. if only we videoed the whole experience, it wld have laughed our sides off again looking at the rojok way we played. BUT...at least it was an entertaining experience where we saw many poses, many stunts, many styles :) eh at least we had a coach to teach us for a few mins at the end of it?! i guess we all learnt a bit too..
yummy lunch all thanks to val's preparation early in the morning! haha we are all well fed after exercising cos we sat dining for close to 2 hrs. at least it was quite healthy, haha think we all love the salads looking at the amount we finished it's a bit scary. really surprised by stacy, ate so much vegggie, a totally different image from the past of burger without cabbage!

pretty pretty handmade stars!! thank you val for the piece of art that i've not seen before! beads ironed together...

ger's fav, posing in front of mirror.

group photos! nice deco :)

with christmas tree!

thank you gers. enjoyed the day *smilez*

christmas '08.

many things occured over the last few days, thoughts flashed and i was reflective. it was self discovery as i learnt a little more about myself. Enlightened and felt immerse satisfaction at the realization of wat was missing for a while before i realize, my ideals shld nv be lost over time or emerging issues. it misted, yet on tue, i wiped it shiny and was ready to enbrace the new year ahead. this time, i am moving with confidence and purpose towards dreams that i have always believed strongly in. driving is one of those dreams i almost gave up yet on the day i sat at the driver seat, my fears were allured. there will always be days of feeling lost or discouraged, more imptly, it's to be clear about who you are. following the self discovery were days of zhi high-ing which coincide with christmas partying *smilez*

47 christmas party!
re-lived a one night hall experience, days of my uni life i'll nv forget. speical thanks to bengs for staying over! without you, wldn't have the experience of staying up till late playing majong or slept in hall. haha not the mention the 3 pro mahjong players who have been really patient to tolerate a really slow and long game of teaching while playing. lol. plus i realize actually my bridge cmi when played with the pros.

pretty light sticks wristbands.
with roomie!! *smilez* a room-mate experience will not be forgotton either!

the 47 seniors.

the countdown party.

a exploration to the unfamilars.

omg. see that ancient lamp-post.

vacant colonial houses. if only...

stepping into the black and white days.

rustic feeling.

taking photographs at such places are beautiful.

suddenly i have an urge to go backpacking around singapore on foot, carrying a backpack with water and snacks, settling down in a ulu corner once in a while to munch and observe, jumping and running around on large grass greenary, skipping on roads and shouting out loud. *smilez* luckily i had the opportunity to skip and run ard like a little kid, it's a nice experience.

Tang Yuan making!

yea! so proud of myself! woke up at 5am to make tang yuan for breakfast with mum. it dawned upon me that i do like to make such pasteries once in a while, yet i guess it is not exactly sth that will last. wahaha..nonetheless a good experience cos it starts from scratch, not from the premade dough or premade packets of tang yuan. though it may not have turned out as nice as those sold outside, i guess it's the efforts that's worth complementing :)


it is quite a tedious process and not sth the faint-hearted wld be up to. started a few days ago when mum starts the frying of peanuts and pounding them manually (cos the mixer is rusty) followed by early morning rolling of dough and wrapping with peanuts. wahahaha was caught playing cheat a little cos my tang yuan noticiably became bigger and bigger to minimize the no to make ma. ehmz i think my tang yuan cmi cos a few came out cos too thin, plus it's not even with thick skin in certain areas and other areas too thin. by the time we ended, it was 8am, just nice for breakfast! made quite a few bowls enough for 2-3 families to eat :) *beams* the tang yuan are definately the most unique. tmr again to finish up the flour?! haha maybe i can pretend i m sleeping...


yea went shopping in town twice. received presents! muahaha thank you ppl for helping me prepare for work. yea i like them...to think i almost forgot bout it already. despite my sore throat n cough which is taking really long to recover, met up with a good fren for lunch n catching up. muahaha donno how come everytime i see her during 'our dates', i'll talk non-stop. talked till my throat became much worse. yea lost touch for a good 6yrs, yet the friendship is still going strong and will continue to blossom. afterall will be working at the same workplace nxt tim too *smilez*


enough of words! photo time!
colourful knights guarding Batam view Hotel. super cute n really nice place for phototaking! *beams*
impressed with the professional photographs taken by the 2 accompanying photographers.
pretty lamp, with effects within clearly lit.

go-karting! ehz alright shall not be reminded of my embarrassment of being overtaken by 2 rounds.

at waterfront.

the first time experience of 3 who went kneeboarding!

ME me! Me in the waters...

haha i think those who can wakeboard looks super cool and shuai! turning and skiing on waters. wahahaha it can melt girls' hearts wo, can go ga-goo-ga over them. uh oh i think i may have just landed myself in trouble. yet to see a girl successfully wakeboarding though, not even at ecp.

the company for the short 2 day trip. a super nice ger who settled our transportation. i've lots to thank her and definately lots to learn from her too.

BATAM! yea it was only a 2 days trip, yet i enjoyed myself super a lot...cos the iternary for the 2 days are packed with activites! it even made me forget at times that i was down with a bad throat. was attracted to the water sports, though i only played, it was nevertheless a good experience! *smilez* shall note down everything as much as i can rmb before i forget :) cos there wasn't much photos taken. not even the beach, which was supposed to be the highlight of batam, isn't it? will have to rely on my photographic memory.

day 1:
reached batam view hotel which was practically teeming with singaporeans where everything there was charged in S$. nonetheless i think the tour agency was good, cos they took care of everything, including our passport. we were all super hungry n *tink tink* saw lunch buffet for only S$10 in the hotel. of course we jumped in cos we were super hungry. ehmz it turned out to be like a normal mixed veggie meal, think we each prob ate only $2.5 worth of lunch.

travelling in batam was made easy thanks to diana's father's friend who lives in batam, hence recommended a taxi who follows us ard batam when we need him to. without him, i wld prob feel quite unsafe n may not have travelled so many places. due to the rain, our first plan was city tour.

first destination was: MASSAGE! went for the a 2hr thai massage plus body scrub! good would be an understatement. massage loosen my joint, cracked many bones and was comfy except towards the end where i really wanted to go toilet but had to hold it. cracked my fingers, my toes, my sides and even my head. scrub makes me feel really clean, except that i was a little tramautised cos i m totally not used to feeling exposed. maybe nxt time, i can specify that i don't want certain segments but i think there was quite a bit of communication problems.

second stop was: shopping! megamall i think. went there for movie plus A&W! watched bolt. nice movie, nice cinema. wanted to watch twilight but didn't want to reach back hotel too late. yeahs and it was A&W time. yummy yummy, their waffles, their root beer float, their curly fries! diana n friend disappeared for toilet for a long time, only to come back with lots of clothes.

then it was dinner time! travelled to golden prawns for seafood! yummy yummy all wasn't very hungry so we settled for ceral prawns, chilli crabs, toufu and gong gong. yen, our taxi driver, was invited to sit for dinner with us. despite my terrible sore throat, i jus couldn't resist my 2 fav seafood dishes in front of me. muhaha no doubts my throat came back feeling really much worse.

by the time we reached back batam, it was batam time 10:30 batam time. yea had some phototaking at the reception area n we were off to finally step into our rooms! the hotel is indeed comparable to singapore's, which has cable, channel 8, channel U etc. deco was good and room was clean. by then, the 4 of us were almost dead tired from the one day of fun.

day 2:
BUFFET BREAKFAST really started my day off really well! cos it has really all kinds of breakfast, from beehoon with ingredients to porriage to western (cerals with milk) to bread and spread to 3 different types of eggs. it really has almost all kinds of breakfast i could think of. then, felt almost on top of the world with food as the main theme. went exploring the hotel which has its own private beach, zoo!, jetty and parrots. *smilez* it was a beautiful place, but we missed to opportunity of photo taking due to the limited time.

with our taxi, we travelled to waterfront where most of the water sports are. yea! played go-cart. i was the most cautious driver there, cos the rest all overtake me 2 rounds. ehz, how come the rest not scared they lose control n fly?! at every turn, i slow to almost a stop. haha super pai sei. i was even stalled at the start, had to restart the engine when everyone is out. LOL. i super pai seh. nonetheless it was fun!

next was WAKEBOARDING! *smilez* the world is so small and batam is seriously full of singaporeans. so qiao till i even saw billy trying wakeboarding! *smilez* due to our tight budgets by then, we only tried for an hr on the kneeboard. haha fell at the same turn towards the end, almost had to end up walking back. (the motorbike wldn't even fetch cos i was near the last checkpt) yea yea was super happy when i finally managed to complete one round smoothly instead of being tucked by the rope which is causing my arm to hurt like mad. nonetheless it was very fun! i don't mind the abrasion on the hand or the tugged but it is quite an expensive sport. didn't get to go to the pretty bridge at the southern end due to the long travelling time of 2hrs.

lunch was an ngoya (donno how to spell) hill shopping center. tried ayam penyet plus meatball soup. super nice wo. went shopping to spend off all our rupiah. but no matter how, i couldn't find anything. being a cautious buyer, i guess it makes instant buying quite hard. seems like if i go bangkok i might not buy anything. wellz, i bought socks though. lolz. finally, it was time to set for home. went back hotel, wanted to take pictures but was raining, so had to give it a miss.

*smilez* it was overall an excellent trip, esp thanks to diana's recommended taxi who made the whole trip safer, easier, more fun and travelling with ease. though short, i guess the activities was memorable. without her, might have ended up staying in hotel instead of travelling all ard exploring the island.

unwittingly, 2 weeks of holidays past. it was fast, very fast. just another 3 weeks or so, sch wld be starting again. but before that, it is christmas plus new year!

mmz so far holiday has been really great. went art museum with pari n xiu, which was super fun, esp the interactive segment. played tennis, some perspective games...totally amazed by it! haha it was the 3 of us visiting museum again! i realized then how seldom we meet up to do such activities nowadays, kind of brought back memories of yrs ago when we went museum visitings. oh tried so vietnam food as well, ehmz, being not so adventurous then was a right choice as mine was the most decent, in fact, i thought mine tasted quite nice :) ehmz wellz i guess the 2 prob would be shaking their head, cos they chose sth not as to their taste. yea nxt time, we shall all go watch movie tgt! shall wait for sth nice :)

tried fried ice-cream at yuki yaki on one of the days too. ehm well, i know i'll nv want to go back there again. sorry it is totally not worth the price even if it's free flow of ice-cream. i wld rather eat bnj. nonetheless, i learnt how to fry ice-cream! haha though i think it's not the one i was expecting...i rmb seeing this fried ice-cream from police academy funfair which is crispy on the outside and cold ice-cream on the inside. mm i think yuki yaki's isn't real cos it was cold plate. not exactly frying ice-cream. maybe one day i'll see my dream fried ice-cream again!

jus back from kpmg's post interview party. haiz i still donno how to network! i wanna learn, i wanna learn! boo i need to learn how to speak up! nonetheless it was an experience- though i totally didn't know it was going to be a bar. took small bites, nv really drink. seems like the ppl going kp all very zhai wo. effort plays a crucial role in kp cos one is recognized for effort. alrightz shall see as it goes. at least there are quite a few ppl i know there, shld be still manageable. talk to a few acquaintances and a few laughs too. it was an experience :)

mm wat else did i do? took out my carrom board and dart board to play. haha i realized it has been super long since i've last touched a carrom or a dart. wellz, i missed those days of playing carrom.

for now, looking forward to the short retreat to batam! spa, water sports, city travel- here i come to see! yes! that has been wat i've been waiting for for the whole holidays, just a short trip to relax :)

*sigh* i seem to be living off the edge these few days, been waiting for the contract to come, cos i all i rely upon now is the telephone conversation to confirm the employment. lol donno why feeling jittery, maybe cos i seemed to have put down the phone really fast upon receiving the confirmation, cos i was really too happy. blabbers, i don't like the feeling of being on the edge of not knowing whether i've a confirmed place. boo...*prays* contract pls come faster kz...otherwise i'll be feeling like this for donno how long before i can really enjoy the holiz.

alrightz holidays so far has been kept busy so far, ey interview was an interesting experience. went there, had an office tour and played zhong ji mi ma before the actual interview. lol but the interviewer was an american i think, so i think chances are prob i can't get in, lol. nonetheless a good experience ba. at least i wasn't as nervous as previously. quite impressed by the work environment though.

yea went warehouse shoppings today! muhaha think i went like 5 sales alongthe stretch of paya lebar road. it was tiring but quite an experience! shoes, bags, dvds, clothes...haha yea came home with a movie dvd plus some office wear! bought an office dress, hope nxt time can wear to work, though that means i cannot grow horizontally, otherwise might not fit in. *smilez* shall look forward to a run tmr :)

ELAINE!! muahahaa of course must upload photos of roomie's 21st birthday! haha sorry came a bit delayed though....*smilez* happy happy 21st!

the big 47 family :)

with tkians! that night really enjoyed myself with the gers! :)
mm by request, our zi pi pose...wahaha.
Happy 21st to jenny n myself! thanks to the hall ppl, whom i enjoyed their company lots. thanks for the night of just sitting, chatting, catching up etc
jen and her camera! hui qun shld have taken tgt with her! with her lots-of-cam top!
ehmz...alrightz embarrassing moments.
with sss! thanks gers for the company for the day! haha thanks for reserving that day,1 dec with me! muhaha n going sentosa tgt!! been super long since we all wanted...

cable car!! thanks pari for the tickets!! that trip seems extremely fast...
haha this is among us only. no one else knows what pari is doing...

lol bridge was super funny with pari confusing herself and others in the process..
at the bridge to tower
*smilez* this looks nice :)
ehmz...i donno how to describe this. wonder how cheelz came up with this pose...
jumping photo! a random photo of myself...
val, wat r u doing?!

haha we went round the christmas tree at harbourfront taking photos!

it has been a long long time since we have all gathered and have fun doing activities tgt! thank you for the company for the day! *smilez*

this holiday, i am really going to just myself enjoy, unlike the other holidays where i found work. *sigh* i can't believed i teared and cried for 2 days consecutively. one out of stupidity and frustration when i couldn't get the slots i wanted for stars. yea i know it was a real unbelievable reason. but it wasn't that i didn't try, cos i sat there for a full 3hrs clicking on refresh relentlessly but it didn't work. reason being my reaction time was too slow and i was so stunned when the page appear that i actually closed it on the first time round. if i can't get those, i'll end up with a 5days 8:30am lessons week and i know it's madness. i did sth totally out of my mind, cos i decided not to register for one of my core. i sent an appeal. plus i felt super duper bad that i m disturbing someone in the midst of exams. yea i felt super duper useless at that pt in time and i really dislike stars then. final yr, final sem yet i've nv got a 3-day wk before. after last sem 4-day 8:30am lessons, i understand i'll nv want to go thru it again. haiz i can't explain how pent up the frustration i felt then. this time, i promise, i wouln't relent. haiz, seldom i see myself feeling so miserable over such small things to spoil my day.

okayz so the nxt day was kpmg's interview. seriously i walked out thinking i've done really terribly for the interview, made a lot of interview mistakes. (1) the qns i asked was terrible, cos i used myself as the center point. like..'if i get into...' (2) asked too many qns that was irrelevant to his department cos i forgot he was like going to be my future boss. (3) totally crapped my way through reasons why some ppl wants the 70b billout from the US govt while others don't want. seriously i actu brought in economic theory that mkt will adjust itself. lol i felt really stupid as we further our conversation cos in the midst of it, he did tell me the answer or rather the politically correct answer if one reads the newspaper in details. (4) eh he was a senior manager, and to think he get such stupid answers from me, i think he was really really being very nice to accept me in. (5) i was overly using informal languages which i totally forgot. instead of saying 'yes' i kept saying 'yup' 'ya' which i know really shldn't be the case. seriously, i really felt my interview was a flop when i stepped out cos even i know i cmi. besides all these, there are definately many many more

i really seriously didn't think i'll get through, waited till 8pm and sort of gave up hope cos i know the interviewers know who they want at the end of each interview, hence not getting a call fast prob means not shortlisted. yet the person called at 8:20pm telling me i got through. haha this time i cried, really cried cos i was too surprised and happy. haha frankly this was the first time i really ever cried cos i was too happy. i was almost planning of wat to do if i can't get into any big 4 by end of dec...i can't say how happy i felt to be given the opportunity at least, given the opportunity to work in one of the big4.