And so the saga continues....

No end to the saga.

It's still happening, still bothering me, still a torn in the flesh, still a pain in the ass, still as irritating... but the strange thing is, I wasn't as angry and pissed off as I thought I will be.

Maybe... It's the Chinese New Year holidays and a week long of leave to make me feel much better.

I shall let it wash over me, like water down a duck's back and hope for a change. (Though I jolly well know that there will be NO end to the saga(s) caused by the blessed OBIL.)

Anyway, to cut the whole story short, his damn credit card bills are still being sent to my place. I've finally taken a look at this statement. $6K plus to pay off. Not sure if there's other bills. I'm only seeing this for the moment.

Come to think of it, the rest of the other banks seem to have ceased. Either that or hubby is doing a much much better job in hiding and keeping those bills and letters away from my eyes.

Well, new year resolution, NOT to be too bothered by this idiot. Pray lots more that he will stop bothering us.

One can hope right?

RIGHT!.
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Pray for me la. Pray very very hard for me la.

Another Addiction.

Bad. Bad. Bad!!

Glued to the screen again for another long drawn out canto drama.

This time, it's The Gem Of Life, 珠光寶氣. I've been rushing home just to watch this and I've been neglecting my school things! =(

It's currently the latest craze in Hong Kong and even online, the vids are still being loaded, and the episodes are already over 50 but still counting!

I heard that it runs into 80 episodes... I don't know how I'm going to feed this craze as well as to still study.

I guess, I will just chiong this drama during the CNY week (I'm on leave the whole week!) to finish as much as I can and then settle down to hit the books once again. =P

Watching and completing this show is now my FIRST priority!

hahahahha....

Surprises! (late entry)

Hubby passed me an A4 white envelope with a look that clearly says "Online shopping again!" and when I saw the envelope, immediately I racked my brains for any online purchase that I've joined and the item is being delivered... I can't think of any and me in my defense, blurted out "No! I did not buy anything. Honestly! I didn't!"

It's flat and long. Ripping the packaged opened, I saw a pink sort of board...

A pink cutting mat!!! with a short note on it. aw.... so sweet of you, Cindy! Thanks so much!!!

Best of all, it arrived with the Friday post (last last Friday). I was so pleased to have received it after 2 hard days of the mad house!

Thanks again, princess!

Some days later, hubby and I were having dinner at AMK Hub. Was walking around after dinner and was discussing on what should we be getting for the parents for this coming CNY. It happened that we passed by a counter set up by The Singapore Mint. Hubby then suddenly became very engrossed by some of the products being sold.

After much deliberation, we walked away with...2 gold platted and decorated with swarovski crystals Ong Lai (Pineapples). 1 for each set of the parents. Heng, not very expensisve. =)

It's quite cute and pretty. Even has a bee on top of the pineapple.

Huat ah!!!

Sem 5

2nd last semester.

Thank God. Just a couple of more months and I am free!

Lessons are on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Will be taking a total of 3 modules. Namely,
1) FIN 301: Financial Institutions, Instruments & Markets
2) FIN 303: Financial Management and
3) ASZ220: Professional English Writing

I'm just glad that it's almost drawing to an end.

Collected my notes on Tuesday. Just managed to download the course calendar, course timetable and other things.

This sem, my venue for classes are good! ALL at HQ, SIM building itself, need not go all the way to NP, the blessed block 50 or something. Very happy about the classes venue.

The only down side that I have is, because of CNY, so I have 2 make up class. But then again, both classes are on the same Saturday. So at least, I only burn 1 Saturday instead of 2. The only thing is, the 2 classes are back-to-back. Starts at 4pm to 7pm and then 7pm all the way to 9.30pm! Which means no time for dinner already... the good thing is the classes are within the same block, so even if I'm late, I will not be terribly late.

So all in all. I think this semester's venue is very good for me!

I've been having shitty venues for the past few semesters already, thank God this has finally changed!

Rants

where parties and feastings have ended but about to begin with another round of feastings but maybe not so much parties. "Parties" would be spent on the roads like a wild goose chase. Rushing to relative A's place then to relative B then to relative C so on and so forth in the melting heat and then time spent asnwering the same old questions, "When getting married?" or "When having first child?" and "When having next one?"

*Sigh*

As I grow older, I begin to dislike CNY more and more. The rushing around. The answering of same old questions. The heat. The crowd. =( All these, I detest.

Oh well... at least Thank Goodness. The mad house at work has ended. At least, CNY can be spent without the need to think and ponder over work issues.

At least, visits are only on the first day... 2nd day, my family and us are going to Sentosa. More heat. More crowd. But at least there is no timeline and no need to answer questions.

Next week, is the start of my classes for my last and final year.. I find the timetable quite stupid actually. Start next week before CNY and then students cannot enjoy the CNY coz of all the assignments and online tests. And worse, lessons are affected the following week and got to do make up classes on Saturday. Makes more sense to just push back the lessons and then the semester ends a little later lor.

Anyway, there's nothing I can do. Just go with the flow and do what I need to do and graduate.

Mad house is over. But along the way, I just realised there are just people who knows how to talk and talk and bug others everyday and assume they know everything! Basically, "Talk Big" and still claim credit for the minor role that they have done.

So clever, you come and do la. And not sit there comfortably and hor bug others and take up space and then say "I am there to ensure the tour sub-comm do their job as efficiently and expeditiously as possible."

Give him minor minor role nia ma and he make so much noise. Buay tahan.

My Long Leave. (24 Dec 08 to 4 Jan 09)

It's been a long time since I last wrote anything. And it's no wonder as I've been so busy meeting up and catching up with friends and also to celebrate the holidays, I think I haven't really gotten a good rest though I was on leave!

Since it's too long to write in details of everything that I've done for the past few days, I'll briefly summarized it.

My leave started from 26 Dec but I've been busy since Christmas eve!

Christmas Eve...

View of our parish church from across the road. Church of Christ the King. As per our tradition, we go for Christmas Eve mass. This year, Cindy joined us and we decided to go for the earlier mass at 8.30 pm instead of the midnight mass. Too late and too tiring especially for hub who has got to work till 6pm! We met up for a quick dinner at AMK hub and proceeded to CTK to "choop" seats and to wait for Cindy. But as we were early, we had some time for cam whoring.

Father Stephen Yim (the priest who baptised and married us) and Hub. I took such a nice clear shot of hub and the priest but when it was hub's turn to take for me, the only shot was blurred.

Bleh!

Although late, but still...

Merry Christmas and May the Lord Blesses you and your family! From the both of us.

Christmas Day...

It's Christmas! =) And my Nokia phone of 19 months went kaput!!! And because it's Christmas, only 2 singtel branch are open. Hub and I decided to go to Com Centre @ Sommerset to fix my phone. Thing is, after changing the SIM card as I suspected that it was SIM card problem the silly phone still does not work... sigh.... I need to get a new phone. But still under contract so now got to wait. =(

Hub won a $100 voucher from Metro from his company dinner not too long ago and he's itching to do some shopping. I have a $70 voucher from Tangs that I redeemed from Citibank waiting to be spent. What better way than to go down town to see if I can fix my phone and also at the same time see if we can pick up anything?

Thing is.... both of us did not know that Tangs and Metro were both closed on Christmas! End up, we bought nothing but it was an experience to be in town on Christmas. Orchard Road was closed!! We can walk freely on the roads!! First time in my life walking merrily on the busy road of Orchard without the fears of cars!

Anyway... we bought nothing, except for a box of Marks & Spencers biscuits that I'm getting for a friend as Christmas present and a brand new SIM card that still does not work in the Nokia and I have to rely on Hub's old old Motorola phone. Thank God his old phone is still usable else, how am I going to surive without a phone especially when the week that I go back to work is the week of the dreaded Mad House 2009!

Boxing Day...

I met up with 3 lovely ladies; Cindy, Jenny and Novia for a good good lunch at Regent Hotel, Baslico. We had such a good time, eating, laughing, chatting and shopping! I really love such time, I felt as though we are "Tai Tai" and have all the time and money in the world for such relaxing pleasures!

But it was also at this time, that as we were all sharing about our family, I begin to realise my father is not as bad as I kept thinking about. True, he ignores us. But, after listening to the ladies, I'm begining to feel... hmm... he's not as bad as I kept imagining him to be....

Actually, I must say I am quite amazed at myself, though I was in town for the past 2 days, I did not burn a big hole in my pocket! All I gotten for myself was just a Muji Pencil Case! =P I think I really must have overspend a lot in KL the other time, hence, now that I'm back in SG, I did not get anything much too. I think also with the impending recession and the need to get a new phone, I'm finally learning to control a tiny teeny bit.

Weekend after Christmas, 27 Dec and 28 Dec 2008...

Poor hubby has to go back to office to work on Saturday. His turn to be on Saturday Duty. I woke up when I felt like it and then continue to laze around in front of the sofa to watch the HK Drama, 溏心風暴 1 , Heart of Greed 1. I've already watched the 2nd of this drama and was furiously chasing part 1. Very addictive as usual!

The part time cleaner was supposed to come too so I basically spent the whole day chasing drama and only moving my ass for dinner at the nearby coffeeshop in the evening.

Sunday, we wanted to go to Holy Spirit for mass but we missed the bus that will get us there on time and we had no choice but to go to CTK for the 11.30 am mass. It was kind of a God arranged thing coz, we got to know this French Intern student on the way to Church! He just arrived in SG for a week or so and was on his way to Church. We've not been going to Sunday mass at CTK for sometime already and it was on this day that we went as we missed the bus that we got to know him and attended mass with him. Nice guy. Rather shy but nevertheless quite cute too! I got to meet up with Emma, been ages since I last met her.

We had lunch with him and Emma at the nearby coffeeshop after mass and Hub and I went to town again. Desprate to spend the vouchers we have.

Finally, hub manage to score for himself a pair of Dockers Pants and a Polo tee which will see him through CNY and after that he still has $20 remaining! Will just see what else to buy and spend it too. I walked round and round Tangs a couple of times but still find nothing to buy, end up, I just get the Clarins Sun block that I've been using. Got free gift some more lei. Day and Night cream with the purchase of the Sun block. Not bad la, free wan ma.

29 Dec 2008...

Hub was too lazy to go to work in the morning and he also wanted to skip the weekly meeting. So, he took the morning off. We went for a leisure brunch and then he had to go to work while I continue to stay home to enjoy my HK Drama.

30 Dec 2008...

The day that Jeff, Emma, Hub and I arranged to have a feast at Katong and East Coast! But poor poor Emma, she had a fall on Sunday before coming to mass and that fall is quite serious! She tore her ligament! Poor thing can't walk much and hence, she can't join us for the feasting. =(

Jeff came to pick me at about 12.30pm and as I had not eaten anything yet. Our first stop was to Ya Kun @ Bugis. Bugis coz, he need to meet his clients and also the best place to pick up Hub as he was working in the morning.

First stop was to get coffee and bun. But the place was packed and we decided to get Popiah first. Who knows when we reached there, we got Otah and Popiah as well!

Otah. I find it nice coz it's spicy enough.

Popiah. OOOhh.. I love it! It has enough garlic and the chili tastes special. Skin's egg skin. Not the usual popiah skin. Plenty of turnip and even can taste prawns in it!!

Tau Pok Pau.This I find normal. I'm not fan of tau pok. But the mince meat and sauce makes it very nice and savory.

Banana Pie. We had this while we were drinking Tong Shui. Tong Shui's not very good. Hence, did not bother with photo. The banana pie is good. Crust's very fluffy and the bananas inside were still hot and whole. Not like those mash up bananas.

We parked beside Church of the Holy Family and we went in to say a short prayer at the adoration room. I did not expect to find a Mother Mary Grotto so near to the adoration room hence I said a short prayer there too.

Mother Mary's Grotto. As I was saying my prayer there, I felt myself swaying... the kind of faint feeling. My prayer recently revolves around marriage, family, work and studies. The most recent addition to the list is "having a baby". I have countless fears and worries on that topic but I decided to offer it all up to her and God. And at that instant where I begin to pray, I believe Mother Mary heard me. I felt a deep sense of assurance from her as I was saying my prayer. And the moment I opened my eyes, her face seemed life like as though for that second, she was truly alive and looking and praying for me too!

It made me believe even more that offering all my worries and fears to her was right, that she heard me and that she is praying for me as well.

Nativity Scene. Very big. Very life like. I can't capture all the figures in it... not enough space in my camera to get it all down.

Life size Holy Family. Hub and I held hands as we said a prayer in front of the statues of the Holy Family and we lighted the electronic candle after we've said our prayer.

Ah.. before I go on and on. Catholics light candles during official church services, such as Mass. This is to indicate the special solemnity of the occasion.

The lighted electronic (more tacky yes, but also safer as it does not pose as a fire hazard, moreover, this is located just outside the main church by the side! During weekends, there's will be so many people, the lighted flame can easily catch fire!) candle (also called votive candles or vigil lights) from us, as a sign that we are praying for something for ourselves. Or we can also light one when we are praying for someone else for something.

I'm not quite sure what Hub prayed for. But as this is Holy Family, I'm pretty sure he prayed for our marriage, our family and also for a healthy offspring somewhere in the near future. At least, that's what I prayed for.

"...candles were lighted when the Gospel was read, not indeed to put darkness to flight, but as a sign of joy."
~St. Jerome~

After all the food we went home. Gosh. So full that we both skipped dinner. Though I did eat a little late that night.

And my sister was asking if I want to order anything from Old Navy. Initially, I resisted... But I saw a nice dress and working top. Hence I decided to get both. But the dress is OOS and in the end, I manage to get a working top and 2 nice Tee shirts for myself. I have't bought Tee shirts for a long time and I only have 3 for the weekends that I am wearing almost every week. I really do need some new ones. Moreover, it's so cute and not to mention cheap! Each of this piece is less than $10 USD!

New Year's Eve...

Early in the morning, I finally decided to go and get my stiff neck treated. I've been living with the pain for the last 2 weeks and it got worse. I had to get the chinese sinseh to do something about it else I will never be able to go back to work on Monday. After the treatment, I instantly felt my neck much better, at least I was able to turn my head almost 90 degrees to the left and right! I met EM for lunch in town as I need to pass her her purchases from Vitasence. Had a great time chatting and catching up with her. We had lunch at MOS Burger and then tea at Ah Mei Cafe.

Then it was time for me to leave and to meet my Godma, Godbro and Hub at Novena Square. We had dinner at curry flavour before going for the Thanksgiving mass in Novena Church at 10.30pm.

Though, I did not acheived much for the past 1 year. At least, I am 1 year closer to graduation. At least, I hope that my marriage has grown stronger with the various trials that had happened. My faith has back slided though as I've not really been nurturing it. Nothing majorly bad had happened to us as well. All in, it was a pretty Ok and smooth year and for that, I give thanks to the Lord.

But during the homily, Fr Simon Tan said... "Faith is simple". He shared that when he was young, his parents were poor but everynight, his mother will light a candle in front of the picture of the Holy Family and pray. Come what may, his mother will continue to believe and pray.

This strike me as something very powerful.

"Faith is Simple"

Hub and I are making a change in our lives. We are begining to light a candle at the altar everynight and after that, we say one "Our Father", "Hail Mary" and "Glory Be". This is a start for us. We've not been praying together nor individually for a long long time....

New Year's Day...

Met up with Clement & family and then we had dinner and tea at T3. The little princess is the happiest, being able to run almost freely at the carpeted and air-conditioned place! We, the adults took turns to run after her and just chill out.

Before and after meeting them, I was still busy chasing my HK Drama. Finally watched the last episode late at night too!

2 Jan 2009...

Another makan and chatting session. This time was with my Godma and Bro Daniel. We met up at Raffles City, had ramen for lunch and we proceed to occupy space at MOS burger coz we wanted Bro to taste the very nice Ice Milk Tea (which he has never drank before!). After sitting there for 3 solid hours, we went to Ocha Ocha for more sitting, eating and drinking!

The very night, Hub and I went to Chinatown. We had porridge, frog legs and raw fish slice for dinner at the coffeeshop opposite CK Departmental stall. We've wanted to try the food there for the longest time but we've never been able to do it as it's always soooo packed. But as we were early, we easily found a place to enjoy the dinner.

Took a walk round Chinatown. Most of the stalls have already been set up selling the usual CNY things. Strange is, there were quite a few empty stalls this year. Probably as the economic is not doing that well, stall holders did not rent many units this year.

The things are all the same la. Not much difference. I bought my favorite Muah Chi and other than that, we did not get anything at all. Oh! As we moved along, we ended up in OG and Hub got a long sleeve shirt for only $25! Good deal as it was of good material and the orginal was almsot $90! There was a 70% off sale ma.

I did not expect to go to Chinatown, hence did not bring any camera. As we went before the official lights up ceremony, we can't really enjoy the lights but I can't help but feel that there are also fewer lights as compared to previous years.

Though it was before the official lights up, Chinatown is still quite crowded but not to the extent where we got to squeeze through. We could walk easily through from place to place. Of course, there CNY mood was not that festive yet as it's still about 3 weeks to CNY but if we were to go too near to CNY then it will be too crowded and it will make walking about a very tough and unpleasant experience. I really hate to squeeze past people and stalls and risk being stepped on my toes anytime.

I guess, this will be my first and last trip to Chinatown for this year. My first week back to work will have the Mad House occupy my time. The following week, hub's lessons would have commenced and after that, mine. No other good time to go, hence just as well we go early early too!

And I got to know that my mom fell and sprained her foot yesterday from her colleagues at the bakery. She has already gone to the sinseh but is still painful, the sinseh said she had injured the nerves and big veins... whatever that means. Had a long chat with her and she decided to go to Chinatown to this old man to get it righted the next day.

3 Jan 2009...

Another trip to the TCM in the morning for me. He corrected whatever nerves and veins inside for me as I can feel that my neck is not totally right yet. Can hear lots of cracks and creaks as he massaged and pulled.

My mom also has an appt with the TCM in Chinatown. The old uncle is good so she has to limp there. I've been going to see him ever since I was a child... I sprained my legs very frequently as a child. Hub says it's coz I'm naughty. Whatever it was, this old man is very skillful la. One look and he can say the issue. He took a look at my mom and commented, the bone is out of alignment. Serious lei. The sinseh my mom went to previously only say the vein. Big difference!! This uncle now very very old already... also not sure if his son got learn his skills not... else after he pass on, who can we go to? I remembered this old man righting both my ankles (multiple times) and my right elbow when I was a child and once on my knee a couple of years back. Ya... will limp all the way to him in Chinatown. He is that good!

So all in, it was a day of cracks and creaks for my mom and me la. She had to get her bone back into position and I had to get my neck veins back in position too.

My boss started to text me about work matters in the afternoon...I don't really mind la as he is a nice boss. But I can imagine the first day back to work will be totally maddness already.

Went for Sunset mass in Holy Spirit and then we had prata for dinner. Was suppposed to be eating light food so as to detox but end up, Prata and Prata House. Some kind of detox mann.

4 Jan 2009...

Lazing and to recupurate and to get ready for first day back at work tomorrow. Am supposed to be giving some thoughts to some work matters... but I haven't got round to doing it yet. =( And it's already coming to 6pm. A few hours more, will be bedtime and then it's Back. To. Work! =(

Suay!

The first present from myself to myself for this Christmas should be a new phone - a present which I have no intention of buying till March next year.

But this now got to change and is brought forward because, my stupid Nokia will restart by itself a few times and then totally shut down! It will boot up loading with a "G" and then the envelope logo (sms / mms received logo) which will turn to a "paperclip" lookalike logo. Then it will re-start and re-start a few times and then totally blank!

Argh!!

And all the bloody handsets are now so expensive!! Those cheap ones are so ugly!

And it's the economic recession!!

Double "ARGH"!!!

Anybody want to share??

I'm thinking of getting the Cleansing Mousse from Vitasence as they are having a Christmas promotion now. Buy 6 bottles and get the 7th free. So end up, I'll have 7 bottles which is way too much for myself and hub.

So, appealing to any of you out there.. wanna share?

Orginal Price is $48.50. There's a 20% discount now so it will be $38.80 per bottle. Then there's further discount of $20 (I think) so end up, for 7 bottles, it will cost a total of $212.80. Which will work out to be $30.40 per bottle at the end of the day.

So far, I have my sister and another friend taking a bottle each. Leaving 5 bottles. Which I can still share another 2 or 3 bottles.

Anyone want to share the Cleansing Mousse with me?Taken from the website: "Our Cleansing Mousse does away with harsh chemicals. Instead, these are replaced by naturally skin-friendly amino acids, a major constituent of collagen, to promote cell growth and tissue repair. These are also highly nourishing and moisturising to the skin.

And with our unique blend of pure essential oils, washing your face becomes a pleasurable experience that removes all traces of make-up, impurities and grease, leaving your skin perfectly clean, soft and smooth and your spirits feeling high.Colour: Clear Yellow. Smell: Herbal. Contents: 190 ml"

The upcoming Mods.

After the results release on 11 Dec, the wait continues. This time was to wait for the course offer letter to see if I can get the modules I wanted to take for my next semester in Jan 09.

Once again, the magical time for release of the letter is at 2pm. I was away on afternoon leave hence I was not able to find out till much later that night when I went home to check.

Thank God! I got all my choosen modules!

So for the next semester, I will be doing the following:
ASZ220 (elective): Professional English Writting (10 cu) - Exam
FIN301 (core): Financial Institutions, Instrument and Marketing (5 cu) - Individual Project
FIN301 (core): Financial Management (5 cu) - Exam
Total: 20 cu, 3 modules!

Which brings my total exams to a grand total of 2 papers in May 09. My classes will be on Tuesdays (Finances) and Wednesdays (English Writting).

Honestly, I'm kind of excited and looking forward to the new semester. It's always kind of exciting to go for classes and to collect the materials... heee... The only thing I dislike would be the endless TMA and exams.

But, anyway, just 1 more year and I'm done.

Hang in there. Hang in there!

On this modules thing, I find it TOTALLY unfair to us, students!

A friend of mine choose 20 cu (4 modules) during the on-line course selection, sometime in Sep. But now, when the courses are confirmed and allocated, she was only given 15 cu (3 modules).

Reason: The other module is full and hence not given to her.

Solution: Was told to make a payment of $53.50, go down to SIM and re-select other modules so that she can still take the full 20 cu per semester and she would be considered as making a change to the modules selected.

Now, this is the UNFAIR part! During the course selection exercise, there was
1) NO notice that if modules are full, students will have to pay to re-select other modules. (The notice only says something like $53.50 for change of moudles selected after 3 times and once offered, $53.50 for making more changes... something to that effect la)
2) We can only choose maximum of 20 cu (new modules) and another 10 cu for re-sit modules, there was no space for us to even key in other modules as back up.
3) There was no online counter or anything that shows the number of seats left per module.
4) It's the module that is full, it's not us students want to change module, we'll be happy to take what we've choosen, so why must the student bear the brunt of it and make us pay?!

Ok la, $53.50 is not a lot of $$ but the thing is, it is not a justified expense for us what! Morever, each student got to pay this kind of amount. I think there will be lots more who are affected! Can imagine the extra income going in!

I encouraged my friend to make it known to the higher ups. Not sure what is the outcome. But this is sooo totally unfair to us lor!

Of course, if she was given the 20 cu and she decides to make change, of course I feel that the charge is justified and reasonable. She is creating more admin work for the ppl in SIM. But this is NOT the case ma. She choose what she wanted. The module is full and now expect us to pay another $53.50 to re-choose!!! This is really too much lor!

So far, she has called the Head of Business, who referred her to the Director of Student Wellfare who referred her to someone else... so the case is still pending...

Hai...

Stupid UniSIM. Cheat our $!

I did it!!

=D

I did it! and I think I did very well too!

After all the cursing and swearing and worrying myself sick over the results especially the 2 Econs, I scored for myself 2 A- and 1B!

And the most miraculous thing is, my 2 A- are from the Econs! Both the Managerial Econs (which I missed 35 marks, 10 out of pure carelessness and another 25 is coz I don't know how to do) and International Econs (the blessed Common Currency for ASEAN Countires project, which I've cursed and swore so many times at the person who set the question) and I managed to get A- for both modules?!

I was shell shocked and when I found out I teared for joy. I really did not expect such grades. I was just happy to get a C for every module and here I have such wonderful grades instead!

The other module, Principles of Communications, I sort of guess will be around that kind of grade. Thank goodness.

I'm feeling that God is really so wonderful, he blesses me. My friends and family have prayed lots for me too and for that I'm grateful. Though I did not get straight A's. It doesn't matter. What matters most is the Lord has blessed me with much more than I deserve.

I'm going to continue to work hard for my coming semester, the 2nd last semester to my course of study and hopefully I will be able to graduate by Nov 2009!!!

A bag of nerves....

Just received the email from the SIM portal....

The results for my last sem will be released at 1300 hrs tomorrow. I've been looking forward and yet dreading this day at the same time.

I really really hope even with the big boo boo I made during the Managerial Econs paper, I can still get a decent grade. Of course, A would be best. But I know that's impossible already. B would be nice but with the mistake caused by my blindness, I will be lucky to get a C.

And at this moment in time, I don't really care what grade it is anymore. As long as I can get a C for every paper for last sem... this enables me to move on to other modules and I can graduate on time, i.e, finish my last paper in Nov 2009. That's all I ask for.

Pray for me.

Pray. very. hard. for. me.

Addiction

Latest craze.

Watching vids online... and this time, I'm watching Moonligh Resonance (Heart of Greed 2). Very nice canto drama.I've never watched part 1 but I guess it does not really matter.

Back to the vids!

a long weekend

Finally a long weekend has arrived. I really badly needed it. I've not been so busy for a long long time. And honestly, this busy period is enough to drive me up the wall and send me into tears of frustration!

The thing that really frustrates me most is when I've already done the document in a nutshell, it's merging sheets and sheets of 2 excel files, removing duplicates and combine everything into just 1 file. It's not easy doing it in the first place and after that there are changes. And the creator of that piece of document is not able to tell me where or what the changes are! Frustrating can!

I've spent a few hours just going thru the doc and the changes comes in daily.. argh!! Worse is, that merged file is supposed to be a working file. We have to contact the students listed in the list to come for training and then to tell them of their duties for mad house. But with changes coming in daily, how on earth are we to know if we are training the right pool of students. We can possibly be training the students who are meant for other duties. It's a waste of my time and energy! And that list has more than a THOUSAND students to contact. Mad house is Jan 8-10 2009. Next week is term break. Means I only had last week, this week and the few days before mad house to contact and train all lor... hai...

Anyway, I decided I need a break, so I totally r&r on Saturday and Sunday. Really woke up as and when I decided to wake up, leisure meals and continue to just enjoy and sleep throughout the day.

We met up with our Poly friends for dinner on Sat and it was good to catch up with some of them after so long. By the time we were home, we were quited tired and just went to bed after shower and watching some lousy shows on TV.

Sunday, I finally decided to do some housework and that is to get all the dirty laundry to be washed. Sounds very minor, yes. But at times, it's really so hard to get my ass off and make myself do some housework. But thank goodness, I manged to get it all into the hot hot sunny sun yesterday for today was Mr Rainy at his best. Rained from morning till night without stopping!

And today, I must say the break for 2 days did wonders, I spent today tidying up the document again. Yes. The.entire.whole.day. But it was not too bad. The weather was nice and cooling in fact bodering on being cold. Hubby was busy revising for his exams so, there was minimal distraction from TV.

All in, I really had a good long weekend. Tomorrow will be another day. I was supposed to be on leave, made plans with Godma and Bro to catch up but last minutue I have visitors from Hong Kong. So no choice, will be back in office in the morning the moment they leave, I will go off too.

Come what may, will see to it as it comes.

A break really work wonders! =)

A Dinner and a Wedding

A Nice Dinner with my Uni SIM school mates at Chang, a Korean BBQ restaurant on a Friday night. Located somewhere in Dempsey Road.

The atmosphere is nice. Very cozy and plenty of spaces between tables. The restaurant is also spacious.

Dinners can choose to sit on chairs or to sit on the floor. I'm glad WW made reservations to sit on chairs. I'm not too sure I can sit cross legged throughout the whole duration of the dinner without getting pins and needles in my legs!It's very comfortable to eat there and though it's BBQ, there's not much smoke nor much smell after that. I think ventilation in the restaurant is pretty good. That's why! Also, I saw that there are private rooms too... Maybe if there's enough people, can opt for such a room too.

Table full of appetizers.Honestly, I've no idea what are each of it is called. But I love the Ikan, the Kimchi and the Mashed Sweet Patato (yellow ball of something on the extreme right.)

We ordered a set of mixed beef, pork and chicken. The meat are good quality cuts, hence of course, we pay for what we eat. The total bill came up to about $280. Considering what we ate, it's really quality food!

Not a lot of photos, because we were all busy talking and eating to take photos!

We also took the chance to celebrate Sa's Bday a day in advance with a Bakerzin Cake!

Another Bday Cake(??) with complements from the restaurant. It tasted more like Ice Cream rather than cake. The pruple bit was either tapioca or yam. I cannot quite remember nor can I taste it. The yellow bit was pumpkin. Which when mixed with the sourish sauce together, the whole thing went down quite well!

The Bday Girl and me. She and her special one, the organizer of this dinner as well. Bro Mer and his family. A group photo at the table. Another one before we left. Toddler Shannon was so cute the entire dinner. He laughed easily and was a lot of fun. Though he was so busy pouring water from his sippy cup into the restaurant's cup and into his sippy cup, his poor mommy had to keep watching over him... I'm not sure if she has had enough to eat! But he was really quite fun to be with. I held my cup to his and did a "Cheers". He must think it's fun and after that, he kept bring his cup up indicating to do more toastings! =D Cute!

Mer sent me home, thank God for that, else I really have no idea how to get home from where we were. =P

By the time I reached home, Hub was already bathing. That's early for him, considering, I reached home just slightly after 10. He was supposed to have lessons and it's supposed to end at 10!

It's good that we both reached hom early as we have a wedding mass to attend the next morning in Church of the Holy Spirit. One of our Catholism Class sponsor's son is getting married, so of course we have to be there.

Finally, I get to wear my F21, sage dress! I bought it early this year and never found a chance to wear it yet! Me in the F21 dress with the bronze heels I got in KL and a Charles & Keith Clutch. It's either the light or my make up skills has gone to the dumps! My face look sooo white!

Hub and me. I did not have much chance to snap photos coz we don't know the bride and groom... but the decor in church was very well done! I Love Church weddings. Always seems so romantic!

This couple, they had 5 priests celebrating their wedding mass! So nice and grand! =) A luncheon was provided for all guests, but hub and I did not stay long as we have to rush home as we are expecting our PT cleaner to come to clean up our house. As much as I would love to chit chat to some of our long time no meet friends, it was not a good time la. No choice. Will have to catch up another time then.

KL Trip - Day 4, Last Day!

I cannot believe that even after doing so much shopping for the last few days, we still have something to buy!

After a lousy breakfast in hotel, we went to the MINES shopping fair again. This time on a quest. We are hard pressed for time and we know specifically what we want to get at this last minute.

Tri needed to get her Wella hair things. I, wanted to get that dress I saw a few days ago but can't seem to find in other branches of Nichii.

We know exactly where and how to reach there pronto and we made a mad dash for it.

She got her wella and more. In fact lots more!

Me, very guai. Just the dress and nothing else hmm..and a white jacket. =P Which brings my total purchases for myself to 1 Jacket, 1 Tee, 1 pair of shorts, 2 tops, 2 pairs of heels, 3 dresses, 11 books and tones of makeup. All my clothes like black and white.. how to wear for CNY 09! *Tsk* Time to get more clothes then! hahahaha...

Happy, we went back to rest and to pack these latest additions into the luggage and to wait till 2pm to check out.

But.... sigh... Our coach was delayed for more than an hour! Coach was supposed to arrive at 3. But we waited till 3.30 and then the coach only moved off at 4!!!

Would have been ok if not for the fact that the hotel lobby is warm and stuffy. It was a brilliant, bright, hot sunny afternoon with Mr Sun out in it's FULL glory!!

While waiting, even Mr Spider came to join in the fun! Liews. So big some more!

Brave Tri started to move the snacks away s-l-o-w-l-y. The creepy crawly went in and reappeared after a while, I took the chance to quickly flick it off MY paper bag which warrant a loud and fast "WHACK" on it by Tri.

I tell you, she's brave.

My "knight" in shining amour!

Finally, our coach came and we went on board and we can't help laughing at this. Heh!

I wonder if there's anything else that they might have in mind.. but moving on... we chatted and soon we both fell into lala land and when we woke up, we're approaching Yong Ping!

Goody!

Which means, it's time for...
1) Toilet Break
2) Makan
3) Last time to cheong for more snacks!

Which we both promptly did and end up? 2 more bags to add to the pulled trolley, big paper bag of snacks and add in these from Yong Ping... I think enough to survive on snacks for the next 2,3 weeks at least!

We reached SG customs at about 8pm I think. Which I had an unpleasant incident. =(

We opted to do the automatic passport thing and I have no idea why the silly machine just cannot scan my passport!

End up, I got to go to the security office! The officer is well... "chatty" he kept saying I scanned my thumb too fast, too slow and that I not this not that. And what I never follow instructions.

HELLO!

I'm educated too lor. I CAN read english!

Then he say I pull my language and whatnots. DUH! But it was the other officer at the gantry who asked me to pull it along instead of leaving it at the luggage side what!

Now become my fault.

DUH!!!

Finally after verifying everything is ok, I cleared customs and back on board.

Kel came to fetch us at Beach Road and to my pleasant surprise, when I called Hub to tell him we are reaching home, he answered me with "I'm already downstairs."

Happy can!

So small thing can be happy hor... but yes I am lor. Shows that he is also eager to see me ma! =)

Just so happy to see him! Really missed him for a fair bit the last few days. Though he calls me everynight and text me once a while, but the feeling of seeing him again is really good.

He helped me carry my buys and things back home which we just left at the doorway and went for dinner. Sweetie hub has not taken dinner yet as he promised me that he will wait till I reach home and then go down for dinner together.

Glad to be home. Glad to see Hub! =)

Home Sweet Home indeed!

KL Trip - Day 3 @ Mid Valley & The Gardens

We did not manage to get seats on the hotel's shuttle bus service to Mid Valley for today! =( We were too late to make a reservation yesterday so no seats for us =(

We also decided not to take the hotel's breakfast today. It's just so horrible. End up, we decided to call a cab from the hotel to Mid Valley and have a nice breakfast outside.

The cab fare was RM $30 and according to the uncle, within the KL city, it's RM $30. We were then mentally thinking maybe we can take a cab back if we really buy too much at the end of the day. =P Within 40 minutes, we were at the Mega Mall!
The moment we step foot in, I felt a tinge of excitment. The mall is HUGE!! From where we were standing, we cannot see the end of the mall. I was excited to start shopping but I worry for my poor feet as well as my poor wallet.

But first thing first, settle our rumbling stomachs. Very hungry.

We saw this not bad looking Hong Kong restaurant and we just went in.
Tri ordered Hor Fun and I had Claypot Lo Shu Fen.

Quite nice. But again, too salty for my liking. =( The service sucks. I have no idea why but we are always served by grouchy people. Eat also cannot eat happily! hai... and it's not cheap some more for these 2 items and still have to put up with grouches.

Anyway, we paid and we left. More important things to do than to mull over grouches!

The first shop we went in, I score 2 dresses!

Again from Nichii. But I did not see these 2 in the branch in MINES shopping fair. So I tried and I bought! A smart looking dress and a halter neck. =)

Walking along, I can't resist MM make up in Watsons... and I got some more! This time it's another Mascara, a lippie, a blusher and an eye brow powder. Which I manage to get the notebook free as my purchases were over RM $80. I could have gotten the same notebook yesterday at KLCC! But the stocks were not there yet. *Humpf*

We spent the rest of the day just cruising along the mall. Fact is, both of us bought very little things from this mega mall! Maybe because we're both tired? Or we've seen it already or simply not interesting lor.

But I did get for myself 2 simple cook books. Now that my exams have ended, I think I really ought to learn some simple dishes so that we can have home cooked food once a while rather than eating out all the time!

Title says it all. "Quick" and "One-dish meals". Unfortuntely, yes, that's about all that I have time for. Quick and 1 dish meals are the best for after work evenings if I want to get the food ready before Hub comes back. Side track, I'm thinking of trying out 1 of the dishes for tomorrow's dinner! =)

I do enjoy cooking for Hub, but I am not sure if the same enjoyment can be said for him in eating my ermmm "creation"... hahahahha... I do wonder at times, does he mentally shrink back in fright when I say I'm going to cook? But I think the recipes inside are relatively easy, I shall try my best!

Tri got some of her recipe books too. But she is steady one la. The books she get for cooking and mine are heavens and earth apart. Hers is all those very chim ones. Just by looking at the ingredients list gives me a headache kind of recipes. I honestly do not think I am at that level yet la. Give me another 10 years. Hmm... I think 20 years more like.

By this time, we have covered most of Mid Valley already which the time now says 3pm++. Feet's is screaming away. Tummy's once again rumbling away.

This time, we settled for Secret Recipe.

My BBQ Chicken something something and Ice White Chocolate coffee or something like that.

When hungry, any food tastes fantastic. SO, yes, the chicken rice was yumlicious and the drink just simply wonderful.

When in fact, I think the chicken is too sour, they've given us too much ketchup! But food's food. And we are hungry. Eat already then say. I even wanted to order a slice of cake while waiting for the food! Yes! I was THAT hungry. Luckily, I did not. Because after finishing every single morsel of food on the plate and sucking up every single drop of liquid in the cup. I was full.to.the.brim.

Tum's satisfied. But feet's still aching. Hence, we just crossed our legs on to the plastic chairs and sat and sat and sat. Chatting and watching the crowd and looking at the pouring sky. Praying at the same time that it will stop so that we can once again take the boat back to MINES.

After the break, we walked. Manged to get some colourful bubble soil for my mom and 2 seedings which I intend to grow when I'm back in SG.

And by now, window displays are catching my eyes since I've more or less seen all the shops.

The L'Occitane display is just so pretty!!!I stood there for a few good minutes just admiring it. How come, we don't have such pretty window displays in Sunny Singapore?!

Somehow or rather, we just walked and walked and walked and ended up in The Gardens, which is similiar to KLCC, a mall with all the branded goods. But The Gardens gives a very high class feel. Somewhat to that of Gallery locally, quiet boutiques along the malls with not much crowd and attentive sales personnels kind of feel. Of course, I can't afford anything there, but they do have a Robinsons inside. We went to check it out but came out empty handed too.

The decoration there was just so pretty! I cannot resist snapping a few photos.

These caught my eyes and I snapped.My guess is that there must be some kind of fashion show or something where the models will walk out / sit in the cages. Like a pretty bird in the cage and then spread its wings to fly out! =)

Surprisingly, this is just about the first Christmas tree, albit a little too skinny, I see in KL! I prefer fat and bushy Christmas trees...Obviously, I was more interested in the hanging flowers than the tree. KLCC's huge ass Christmas Tree was not even up yet!

Closer view of the hanging flower decoration from I cannot remember level what.I just like the way the flowers cascades down. So romantic!

And you won't believe it, I bought more books again! This time from Borders. So, I had to lug back a grand total of 11 books back home!

No wonder Hub calls me Bookworm!

A short of us in the mall. We are looking tired after 2.5 days of shopping and walking!

I was ready to surrender and call it a night. Thing is, we still have to take the train and boat back. We were thinking, we might as well wait till around 8pm or so where the working crowd is gone before we go, hoping that it will be less crowded.

Conclusion, that train is crowded anytime of the day!! We were once again packed like sardiness in a can. Cannot believe it. And the train's service is horrible too! We waited for more than 30 mins for it. So, needless to say, with such a long interval, the crowd swell. Worse is, there isn't much ventaliation in the train. I was kind of worried that I will faint there and then!

But somehow or rather, both of us managed to stay on our feet and not faint!

Caught the boat and we were back to MINES. Now, we still have to make 1 more stop before calling it a night. To buy enough snacks for 6 families (3 families on each side; in laws, own parents and ourselves!) before going back to the hotel to finally rest.

Just the 2 of us, we each lugged a BIG bag of snacks back to the room and I think the total figure for all these combined snacks is easily RM $300!

Finally, after all the tasting and selecting discussing what to buy and how to share, we paid for it and go back to the hotel for our final night.

We have like 7 boxes of "Hiang biscuits with malt sugar" (4 boxes mine, 3 boxes Tri's), 6 packs of crispy rice crackers, 6 boxes of coconut biscuits, 2 bottles of longan honey, which we share equally and an additional 3 packs of "Bak Kut Teh" spices for myself.

It's SUPER DUPER heavy lor, just lugging these back up to the hotel!

Best part is, despite getting all these snacks, we are still gettting some more at Yong Ping when the coach gives us some time for a break on the way back to SG!!!

My loots for Day 3 ends with 2 dresses, 6 books, some christmas pressies, MM make up, colorful bubble soil and seeds and PLENTY of snacks.
And the courtesy pic of my receipts...

Which after snapping a pic of the loots, still got to clear away and attempt to pack everything nicely into the trolley lagguage and well... snacks can never fit inside my lagguage box. Hence doing hand carry up the bus.

I really must salut Tri. She helpe me squeeze in every single thing into the box leaving just the snacks outside! I was very impressed coz I've tried yet, can't fit everything!

Her comment? "Well, when you travel more often and having studied in Aust, packing and squeezing becomes second nature."

Ok.... I believe her.

Now, all I need to do is to get Hub to bring me overseas more often so I can learn to pack like the way she does too!

whahahahahahahahahaha