Feeling depressed... so I hang out...

I was feeling down and upset recently. Been quite a bit of emotional roller-coaster as usual. Was trying hard to calm myself and to distract myself away from upsetting situations.

So it was at night when Bren called to ask if I could hang out at chinatown for a bit. So since I'm on my way to the hospital, I might as well drop by Chinatown for a while to chill. So we went Yum cha for a small snack first, and a glass of wine before going to hospital.

Yum Cha restaurant was nice! I haven't been here before actually. Cos this is a tourist spot which I don't frequent.

After snack, as we were still early, we went to club street to have a short drink. Found a nice spanish restaurant, serving wine at only S$8 at HH! Cheap! But not so good actually. :(

After a glass of wine, we went hospital to pick my mummy home. Then Mic called to hang out. So after dropping my mummy off at home, we went out again to Robertson walk Wine connection to have a glass of wine. I was very tired by then. So I left after just a glass.

Hope I can get out of such low state soon. Feeling depressed. :(

My new book! 50 shades...

Heard alot about this series... Hope this book is nice! If it is, then I will consider buying the other 2 series!

A Busy Sunday...

I have no idea when I got this weird inspired feeling of wanting to have my own coffee place and be a barrista... I believe I got this "coffee virus" from my latest trip to Sydney and Adelaide. These 2 places gave me the most coffee experiences and I simply love the coffee culture over there!

Anyway, since Starbucks was holding a free coffee perfection seminar, I decided to sign up and go take a look before I sign up for any coffee certificates. (Those professional coffee courses are not cheap you know!)

The seminar took place at a super nice big Starbucks store at Capital Tower. So embarrassing! I didn't know how to get to the carpark entrance and in the end, the whole seminar people knew I am that sotong gal who was asking for carpark directions and was LATE! :p

The coffee master was telling us about the 3 roasts of coffee that Starbucks use. I think I like the Medium roast best.

After that, we went over to the other station for the methods of brewing coffee. There are 3 methods: Pour-over using the cone paper, coffee-press method and of course, the espresso machine.

First is the simple pour-over method...

Then is the Coffee press method:

Then comes the final station: Coffee tasting..

It was a nice overall experiences! :)

Thereafter I went for a quickie lunch with Kermit at Far East Plaza. My first time seeing Ayam Pengat! HAhaha! So sua-ku! It seemed like a popular place cos many people were queuing up! Wow...

Look quite tasty! Anyway, I have a date with my bro Steven, so I didn't try the ayam pengat... Maybe next time i will go back there again!

Next, I went to meet Steven for hi-tea at Concorde. It was my belated bd meal! So nice of him!! :)

It was a very filling hi-tea!

And we went foot massage after food. Haha! My first foot massage after for like.... 1 year! And that was when I was in BKK last year in April with Betsy and her gang! I need to get regular foot massage here! My feet is hurting recently. :(

Oh, need to mention that Steven gave me his Dolce Gusto! Cool! Thanks bro!!

yet another 自恋 moment! bleh....

in 1999... that's how I looked! *OMG*

Hahaha! I nearly flipped out laughing when I saw my mug-shot photos when I was 21 yo.

I still remembered that day when I dressed up (a new grey jacket that I bought from Centrepoint, mind you!) to go to my neighbourhood photo shop to get a mug-shot photo for my resumes. I was looking for a job at that time as I was due to graduate in May.

At that time, people need to send real hard copies of resumes instead of emailing like what we did right now. It was so funny. I remembered having to go bookstores to buy nice thick papers and big brown envelopes.... :)

Don't faint!

Then I was only 21 yo... HAHAHAHAHA!!! Hilarious!!!

Now, am 36... 15 years later, I have changed!!!

Finally I rented out my Master bedroom!

Yes! A couple decided to take my master bedroom wef 1 April. :)

And i had to quickly furnish the room. Luckily my fren's fren was about to throw away her bed and side-tables and since it was in OK condition, I decided to take over. Just need to find a transporter (paid $90) and Tadah! I got the bed and side tables!

Now I need to get a wardrobe and study table, as per request by the tenant. :)

See those new wardrobe and table?? Fantastic!!! :)

Sunday early dinner with Kit

Finally Kit's kitchen was on-the-way to completion! It was a total nightmare and it was actually a good experience for me.

Kit was supposed to have a SMALL renovation for her kitchen and the contractor told her such jobs are max 3-days only. And estimated completion date was 28 Feb. And guess what?

Until now, it was still not done! It was such a nightmare! The guy (called Mike) was a total asshole! He was a big fat guy, totally so lazy to do anything! And he wasn't listening to Kit at all! Eg, Kit already told him she wanted a certain type of sink and frosted glass, etc etc.. But when Mike came, he told me he didn't know anything! How can that be!??!?!

And all his workers can't speak English and thus Kit called me for help. I went over after work for the past few days to try to be her interpreter and it was a tough job! All the coordination with different sub-contractors were all wrong! That stupid Mike didn't arrange properly and thus, some sub-con came and realised certain things were not done and they can't start work! Sigh.... Disasters!!!

So I tried to make a few calls to a few sub-con (cos Mike refused to pick up any of our calls) and I had to beg the china workers to help me call Mike and tell him what we want. Sigh.... It was soooooo tiring!

Finally, we were lucky that there was a sub-con (who did the granite), Mr Guan who saw our poor situation and took a pity for us and he decided to take over from Mike to finish all the jobs. We had already given Mike 70% of the total pay and left with 30%. Mr Guan told us that Mike didn't pay him for the granite job too. Thus, by taking over the left-over jobs from Mike, he hoped to get the 30% payout to him.

We are definitely OK with this arrangement as Mike had disappeared anyway! So let's hope Mr Guan and help Kit finished off the kitchen (which maybe left around 20% at this moment).

Anyway, with all this saga behind us, we decided to go out and have a quiet evening shopping and have dinner (Kit was stuck at home for the past 3 weeks due to all the mess).

We went Vivo-city and Harbourfront to look for shoes and I bought a cute pair. :)

Am so glad the kitchen issues were settled and hopefully Mr Guan is a man who keeps his words and not ran away like Mike!!! The lesson learnt here is to get a really good contractor and have to pay a bit more.

Lunch with Kermit and Nan.. for my BD!

Opps... Didn't take any photos today! Met Nan and Kermit for lunch today after my facial.

Guess we have known each other since 13 yo and we have been hanging out quite a bit, thus today didn't really seem to be to cele my bd.. its like a get-together lunch!

As usual, Kermit was late but not that late lah... hahaha! She had just changed job to a German firm and after just barely 1 week, she was complaining about almost everything! Hahah! From the decor of the table right up to all the bosses! Gosh!! She's gonna make alot of enemies! And yup, she was contemplating to find job again... Well... I guess perhaps she should quickly find another job before her probation was over! :)

I knew that feeling of going to a new office and adapting to new culture all over again. I hated it and I have not been changing job for the past 3 years already (coming 17 March is my 3rd year anniversary at my current company!) and I think I am rusty to start all over again.

Anyway, I am still contemplating to get a PhD but I am so lazy. :( There are sooo many options and each application process seem rather complicated. I am not sure if my Professor can still remember me or not! :(

Anyway, happy 36th bd to myself and once again I felt blessed to be able to lead a comfy life without any worries for tomorrow. And also I have some nice frens around me and I am sorry for not able to spend time to meet up with all of you. I have been rather laid back at home lately and enjoying the life of a potato couch (literally cos I eat potato chips while watching tv).

I hope next year I would have better stories to tell. But as of now, it is life as normal.

International Women's day.. 2013

Today, we cele international women's day in the office and all ladies were given cookies! Made by under-privileged ladies.

The cookies were very tasty!!!

And I bought a few cookies and cakes from the association as well, just to support these women.

I am privileged enough to be able to live comfortably, without having to worry about food and money. I should be satisfied with what I have and contribute to those who are not as fortunate.

I believe in hard work and if we work hard to fight for what we want in life, we will definitely be able to get some returns, even if not 100%, at least we will get something back, better than giving up without fighting!

We only have 1 life! So I do not want to regret any thing. :)

BD dinner with Betsy and Jas!

It was the week of IT show... So being smart alec, I chose to go Star vista, cos soooo ulu and out of town, right? Sure won't have traffic jams and not crowded right?? Cos everyone will be chionging to IT show at MBS mah... So we are smart ladies who will avoid the crowd and have a nice quiet evening!

And...

We were SOOOO WRONG!

Betsy was lucky, she was early and she got a lot at Star Vista. However, the carpark was FULL when I arrived and I started queuing up to get in... And I thought I was lucky enough to get a chance to go into the carpark cos the board read "2 lots available". So lucky right??

Damn stupid to trust the electronic board! Obviously the board was faulty! Cos many cars (like me) circled and waited for nearly 20mins and there were NO lots available! And I guessed the security guards realised the error and they have blocked off all entrance to the carpark. But too late lor. Too many cars were inside the carpark with no lots... Me too... Sobz....

Jas couldn't get into the carpark so she parked at Rochester Mall, just opposite. So in the end, we decided that I park at Rochester Mall too and we can go Rochester park to eat instead (since I can't find a lot at Star Vista). And after I turned out (I was charged S$3!!!), I saw Jas and Betsy and both ladies hopped into my car to go Rochester Mall carpark.. But........... When I reached, it was FULL! So suay!! :(

So as I was feeling lost, Jas and Betsy suggested that we try the public carpark.. Aiyah... the carpark so small, sure FULL de lah! But the 2 aunties asked me to try lor.. so I went in and TADAH! A merce was just about to leave! How LUCKY!!! Finally I was feeling lucky!! Yeah! 3 cheers to the 2 aunties! This showed that I was the unlucky one, cos both Betsy and Jas could easily find carpark lots!

Anyway we parked and took a walk to see which restaurant was available. We decided to settle at Da Paolo Bistro Bar.

We thought most of the business should be snatched up by the star vista... But we were wrong! The place was full! So the hostess asked us to wait at the lounge area while she try to get us a table once some guests left.

So we sat at the lounge and had our snacks and wine (NZ wine, expensive wor! S$98!) and had a nice chat while we wait for our table. It was already 8pm plus already! We spent nearly 30min looking for carpark lots (Actually it was ONLY me who was looking for a lot! Sigh....)

The lounge fries was nice! :) Nice to go with wine and a good company of friends!!! :)

And guess what time we waited till before we get a table????

It was already 915pm when we finally had our table! Finally we can have dinner!!! Yeah! We ordered a fish dish and crab pasta and of cos another bowl of french fries for me!

 

And the ladies were so nice to order a tiramisu cake for my birthday cele! Thanks ladies!!!

 

Aiyoh... Betsy's Samsung phone's flash was too strong! All the pictures were like machiam "exposed"... I had to photoshop the lightings and color to make us look slightly normal! If not, all of us like super WHITE and FAIR!!!

And of cos Jas was very... RED!!! Hahaha!

It was a great night of gossips and laughs and wine and food! Thanks ladies! It would be Betsy's bd next and we will cele in Paris/London!!! :)

Dinner and drinks with Ah Jun and Qianjie!

Had a lovely evening dining and drinking with my 2 good frens - Qianjie and ah Jun. Haha! Actually we only met each other ONCE a year just to cele my bd!!! Awwww... So 感动!

Last year we went Wild Honey (See post HERE!) and this year, Ah Jun craving for fried rice so we went 313 Somerset Ding Tai Fung for fried rice and xiao-long-bao! We had so much carbo food - 2 plates fried rice, one ja-jiang mee and 12pcs of xiao long bao! I was sooooo Full!!! :)

We couldn't finish the fried rice so Jun dabao back. So funny.. machiam like never tabao back, still wanna take photo! Hahahah!!!

Thereafter, we went Brotzeit for one drink to talk-cock... It was nice to talk to them again (after 1 full year!) and so many things had happened to all of us! Time really was fast when you didn't keep track... Hope to see these 2 ladies again without waiting for another year!!! :)

Sales convention 2013! OMG! It's here once again! Time flies!!!

Remembered my Sales convention in Batam last year??? It's here again! And it means another year has gone by...

Damn quick! I still remembered 2012's batam trip very clearly though. I got a fantastic room and had a tiring day running around playing games under the hot sun! And a cool evening and a great night's sleep till next morning! Hahaha!

See 2012 sales convention HERE!

Well, its a new year again, but this year, instead of travelling out of country, we decided to remain in SG and do a one-evening program instead! It was good as I could enjoy my comfy bed at home and also had a great night out with colleagues.

While playing games, we were given polaroid cameras to take weird funny pictures of each of us. So funny!!! :) Simply love this montage!

And as there were only a handful of ladies, the toilet is always empty! Hahaha!!! 自恋 a bit in the toilet while trying to escape some games. hahaha! :p

This is my 3rd Sales convention with this company and so far, I am enjoying it! :)

My birthday 2013... What? Older again?! Awww...

It was just a few weeks ago that I was still in CNY mood and in a flash, it's already my Birthday AGAIN!! Awwww.....

I still remembered last year I was out with Michael and Bren at Mohd Sultan, having ramen and wine. I was actually still sleeping at home and at first, i refused to go out but Bren and Mic were very persistent and eventually I relented and went out! It was very enjoyable! And during that month, I went out with Gine and Qianjie! They have been my friends since JC days! Qianjie was much longer, I knew her since 13 years old! Hahha!

Click HERE for my 2012 bd cele with Mic and Brenda at Wine connection.. And also HERE for my cele with Gine and Qianjie at Wild Honey!

This year, once again, Bren and Mic dated me out and brought me to a place with all my fav food! The place was called "Everything with Fries" - perfecto for me!

 

Nice banana cake that they bought for me... haha! Felt like a school gal again!

 

My fish burger....

Their ham sandwich...

 Steak...

 And their Asian wings!

 

It's a great evening, ending off with me losing S$5.80 on Mahjong with them! Arrggggg!!!

Brenda kena 碰碰糊! And I think is 5 sets! I have to pay alot!!!

And the next day, I got a small present from Kit! Awwww... Love you Kit!!!

It's a small perfume from Polo Ralph Laurent... I love it!!!