i am so slow.

got bored of korean dramas and at a lost of what HK dramas to watch. watched a few shows here and there but there wasn't one that i really enjoyed. till...i thought of FRIENDS. haha okays it made me laughed so much in a short period of time. definately something i need now..haha thumbs up :)

away from working life. a 1 week break before proper work starts. there are so many things i wanna say but somehow i can't seem to express anything properly.

work isn't all about a fixed 8hrs job. it's about the enjoyment and achievement that'll make each day fruitful. the last few weeks, i didn't mind the lots of ot-ing, the short lunch break or the pay. i was there to do my best for the job without regards for anything else. probably what was on my mind was all about how the small me can contribute as much as i can without making any careless mistake. i wonder what was the reason that drives me. i am not sure myself. at the end of it, i know i was happy.

had a short weekend getaway to melaka :) *smilez* i like backpacking! i like backpacking! stayed in a simple nice clean hostel luckily with no mosquitoes for that night. unfortunately, went during the wrong period of time and many tourist attractions wasn't open. afterall being in malaysia over hari raya wasn't a good choice..haha. explored on feet melaka city and circled it at least 3 times. small and buzzling with tourists indeed it is.

what i remembered most was the eating, eating and eating. ate every 3hrs trying out the various food that it is the highlight for the trip. lol. i realized i like to have everything planned properly, not adventurous enough to book the accommodation over in melaka and insisted on booking late online on fri night.

sat: left home at 5am after 2hrs of sleep and reached melaka city by 11am. lost while trying to find the hostel but found accomodation for the 2nd night and ate our first dish of nice beef noodles :) it wasn't too bad that we walked too far either. toured the city, sightsee a few landmarks, chengdo dessert. yummy. shopped, massaged, ate the famous chicken rice balls and walk ard chinatown before rain arrived.

sun: simple dim sum breakfast, a jap backpacker intro us to a nearby market, morning hike up to fortress, nonya laksa and dessert, zhi char lunch, shopping since many tourist attractions were closed, A&W-ed, secret recipe as teabreak, seafood dinner at a ulu place, stingray supper at chinatown. figured our way back hostel based on instincts. backpacking is definately fun. i love melaka, a small town. a simple and affordable way to spend a long weekend. working life is different, but it'll be a challenge worth going through with smiles. after a week break, i will be ready :)

PHOTOS UPDATE!
a bit slow, but really had to thank my bro and his fren for taking a day off his busy schedule for some outdoor photo shoot without anything in return. they may not be the best photos taken but we are all very contented with it.
mirror image.

at crossroad.

4 directional.

my bro's fav.

his fren's fav.

our grandfather road where the photographers and ourselves risked our lives for the photo.

symmetry. thank you for the editing done too.

i like the sky! i realize nice photographs depend partly on the weather too...too bad we didn't choose a really good day.

running

elaine, i wanna the hall ones too! haha...

random. haagan das ice-cream at $3! yummy yummy.

Birthday Celebration 2009.

one of the few days i planned a day full of activities...*smilez* did a little more this year, maybe cos i am afraid once auditing starts, i wouldn't be able. hope you enjoyed it.

hightlighting some selective events for the day with photos. dinner at werner's oven! *smilez* yeah made a right choice for someone who loves german sausage.

a special homemade 'cake' 3 layered chocolate, peanut and orea. thought it was quite nice :)

only 2 candles? nopez...the rest of the 22 candles are...tata! here...
happy 24th birthday!

ended my job in standard chartered officially. it had been an excellent learning experience esp in meeting the people there. learnt a lot from boss, manager and their wealth of experience. i still have a long way to go in the corporate world. less than 1 more mth to go...now i don't want the day to come to start work...

sometimes selfishness arises from circumstances but the feeling of burden is heavy. maybe making right choices at the start would have been better. learning

came and left a footprint.

came wanting to leave some pictures but blogger seems to dislike the idea and didn't give me an opportunity. hence, decided to leave some thoughts instead. i never thought i was pampered but i realized i am. from not exactly doing housework at home nowadays to creating commotion at home in a bid to convince my mum. but over the incident, i learnt to compromise. travelling is a luxury, something that i know my parents do not fully agree with especially since they came from an era where they worked their entire life upon supporting the family. hence, i have decided to take a step back and not always demand for things that would upset my parents.

last week was a super hectic week where one of the kids have exams approaching and tuition frequency increased to 3 times a week, effectively i had 5 sessions in 6 days. everyday after work, it was tuition. by friday, i was so shag. what made things worse was that i seem to have troubles sleeping every night.

i have yet to say a special thank you to my brother and his friend who took one day of his time off his busy schedule to take grad shoots from my friends and i! the camera may not have been the best, but i believe all my friends are very happy with the photos and the editing done. some pictures do show the character of the photographer.

this week wld mark the end of my 3 months in standard chartered as a temporary staff but it doesn't mean i have decided to stop working, only changing my working environment. i have learnt a lot from the people, from the things i do. there are so much more i've to learnt from the staffs who each have so much more experience. they have been excellent boss, excellent advisors and great collegues. i had a couple of lunch treats, some of whom i have lunch for the first and last time, yet they treated me to restaurants. They taught me, what goes around comes around. not expecting anything in return, they only asks me to rmb to treat my intern or temp staff next time. they are indeed one of the warmest people i have seen. maybe i have grown more attached to the people here than i realized. i wonder if the offer my boss asked to join them would still be remembered in the years to come. gee, but i realize now why they are so keen to get me on board initially...cos they get referral fees! *smilez* nonetheless, i do enjoy the life of working 9am to 6pm daily in this working environment with minimal ot-ing yet good pay. indeed standard chart was my dream bank and it still is. i enjoyed working in the global wealth department much more than i realized. i enjoyed looking at the various funds and using bloomberg occassionally. *smilez* despite being the last week of work, i can't say enough thank you to the boss who still send me to another bloomberg training on fund analysis.

July was a month that really flew by. Company with the stand chart interns really brightened my days at work, kept me smiling and time really flew by over lunch, over our tea breaks.
the group of guys! entertaining in a different way. lol.
my buddies on level 3 after we shifted down! had tea breaks with them in pantries and always helping one another whenever whoever's work is overwhelming. great buddies.

the gers! haha thanks to them, i nv had to eat alone, nv had to feel lonely, nv had to stop smiling. great company!

goodbye to my buddies n the 2 gers. i'll be lonely on level 3, at least there's still company on level 8.

National Day Parade Preview 2009.

pari might *ahemz*....if she sees this photo. posing with my fav toy for the night! i was lucky to get to view the parade once again this year. each time, it left me with a good feeling. i love this year's parade in particular. felt it was funnier and more interesting than the normal ones. more engaging too with the live broadcast news idea and some laughter. *smilez*

one nice fireworks photo.

random. some baby photos that i managed to dig out from my almost lost photo albums when i shifted house. luckily it was found! otherwise i'll have almost no baby photos...haha then, my fav milk bottle :)

so sweet, so adorable. :)

graduation me, 15 years ago. wonder why my face looks so fierce then...

15 years later, proud to be wearing the convocation gown and graduating from NTU NBS.

many many things came up, went by and time flies too. there are so many things i believed had not been blog. the memories may be lost along the way, like the steamboat with the temps, the lunches in pantry and loud laughters that drew complains, the shopping during lunch etc etc. one of the biggest realization i had was striking a balance in everything. there will be a time we have to give up something for another. I used to believe strongly in maintaining a good balance in relationship and friendships, yet gradually i realized one has to prioritize at times. with a close to 7-workdays boyfriend, we have gradually stepped into the arena of our very first hurdle to cross. on our first day tgt, i rmb saying: what awaits us is not petty issues but life challenges. i never thought schooling days would pose much issues but i believe working life would be difference and both will have to adapt to time management while pursuing our careers.

why the sudden urge to blog? it's to tell myself to believe and trust each other. *smilez* this is one big challenge, but it'll be halved when both interests are aligned. the real challenge will begin in 2 months time, so meanwhile enjoy! :)

Today is HP Day. *smilez* finally a break and time to sit down and reflect upon the many many weeks that have passed and how hectic life has been.

there are just too many too many memories created over the few weeks that i can't put down everything. wii session, marina barrage, night scene @ changi village and clarke quay, mangroove walk, tree top walk, shopping, gown trying etc etc.

Marina Barrage with the gals. the gals who never fail to brighten up my days and accommodate to everyone's schedule, meeting on a sunday which is traditionally our family day.

*smilez* picnic kakis :) with each chipping in to help in preparation and not forgetting our production line.

almost full attendance except xiu who can't make it last min. our last all in photo was a long time back, at least a few yrs ago...

our kite-flying session. though unsuccessful, we had a really good laugh then :)

stayed on till the night turns dark to catch the night view of the barrage using stacy's nikon camera which is superb!

lastly, thank you gals. grocery shopping, picnic, phototaking, kite-flying, german bridge and catching up

really random photos that i almost forgot! our mini excusion to little india for some indian fare. nice food, nice experience.

Trip to tree top. quite a random thought cos i really wanted some nature, away from the hustle and bustle of life.

thought this photo was professionally taken. continue walking on, towards the path of light.

totally ill-prepared. bathed before entering the trail, carrying the same bag i carried to work and wearing slippers not knowing having to walk mud. lol.

trapped.

tree top.

washing myself over a stream, something i've not done since climbing and odac days.

some backdated old photos which i've just seen recently and particularly enjoyed the trip during exam period.
Judge GH Ong
prosecuting the line of suspects.

4 weeks, some mini incidences of blurness to brighten up the day and bring some laughter.

1) on the first day of work, i almost spoilt my laptop, stunned my boss when i told me..."eh boss i think i just spoilt my laptop..." he gave me an unbelievably stunned look and a big HUH.

2) flying wallet on the bus when this guy pushed my bag from behind and i lost my grip on my wallet. haha my wallet went woohoo tossing and fliping in the air, landed on someone's lap before landing on the floor. uh oh. stuck out my tongue in pure embarrassment, wanted to hide in the hole then.

thankfully to the few friends who had popped over to lunches and catching up, the weeks passed exceptionally fast. just when i've found company in office to lunch with, it was time to bid them goodbye and was shifted to raffles place. surprisingly, though only 3.5 weeks at plaza, i had a tinge of reluctance to say goodbye and would miss the people there. wellz, have to start accommodating and adapt the the raffles place crowd now. at least, i have an excellent boss.

been a super hectic 4 weeks and almost not having any rest over the tuitions and catching up on weekday nights and weekends, each time coming home to bath and sleep before the nxt day begins. there was a point in time in the first 2 weeks, i was so exhausted i almost wanted to call quits to my temp job, but i hang on knowing that i need the additional income to help clear the uni fees before the interest start kicking in. plus, seeing how those closest to me work so hard, leaves me with no complains. *smilez* nothing beats the catching up with friends and darling every week to bring me back to sanity. finally a super long update :)

temp @ standard chartered.

an experience. work-wise is quite boring. haha. learnt a few things when taking my time to flip through the contracts but after a while, to speed up the productivity, practically jumped straight to the page i know i ought to look at. must keep reminding myself to be contented! afterall i m being paid per hour. lol.

despite knowing that i m sitting right now at a very strategic location if i wanna network with the people there, i don't know how to start a proper conversation esp when my work doesn't require me to talk to them. cos i m sitting where the analysts at a global level are. practically sitting in my dream position if i wanna be in banking.

mm well at least they are starting to be warmer than the first few days. yet on the general level, there is quite limited conversation among the people. haiz. i think i've lots more to learn more about dealing with people too. thank goodness i've a really good boss, very friendly, very patient, very nice. always asked if i wanted to join them for lunches and even afternoon tea. haiz, unfortunately he isn't based in that office and seen him is quite a rarity. hence, the only other person i talk to and is required to speak to is a fresh nus business grad. with the few lunch sessions i had with him so far, at least he is a company. i learnt quite a bit from him indeed. a very self-motivated individual pursuing his dreams headstrong. putting me side by side with him seriously put my own achievements pale in comparison. with his previous internship experiences in fordes, in IBM and almost getting a job in jpmorgan, i can't say he is not zhai. we brought up conversations and he kept me thinking about issues of the uni eduation in singapore that i didn't consider before. double degrees, 3 yr direct honors degree, are they really as good as it seems. nus/ntu/smu business schools. being part of nbs for 3 yrs, somehow i couldn't defend my own school and its quality, putting myself to shame. i can't deny i learnt to look at different perspectives chatting with him.

i realize each and everyone beside me is of high calibre and qualities banks would look at. i wonder if i fall in that category, but i realize currently i m still far from there, not in terms of paper qualifications but in other aspects. somehow all the big bosses intimidate me cos frankly it's the first time i see so many americans and foreign talents around, a well diversed culture. i can't say i haven't learn anything, cos it is the time to brush up on many things here, an excellent opportunity to learn, to test and try. i may nv get to step into the office again, but at least i hope to walk out with experiences. i tried very hard to wake up each morning fresh, happy and smiling when i reach office. it has been tiring, but i wanna continue trying cos i promised to walk away from this job learning as much as i can. gambatte! gambatte to my 3 nights of tuition on top of work too! I CAN DO IT! MUAHAHA:)