Planning a backpacking trip

My next big trip for 2011 is going to be....... *drums roll* SOUTH KOREA!

But instead of signing up for a tour package just like everyone else, I am going to do it the DIY style. It will be a trip of exploration of the nature and the slower towns and cities. I wanted to do a solo trip initially, but a girlfriend wants to explore Korea too, so now I will have a companion! It will be a good chance to test my Korean language abilities too. Tsk tsk.

Having headache with the itinerary!

Seeing the girlfriend and her married life

The girlfriend who used to party harder than me, always had more fun than me, settled down about 2 years ago after meeting her Mr Right. Her life changed dramatically, just like her dramatic personality. But this change is something that is normal and also noble. I had the chance to feel this change when I stayed over at her place because the husband was away. Seeing her going around with a big tummy and holding hands with her daughter, going out for dinner as if nothing much has changed. This woman is amazing. When I asked her how was married life, her answer was: It has ups and downs.

Life is never perfect, we all know this fact. Its about learning how to ride over the downtime and enjoy the moments of happier times. I am happy to see her enjoying every single moment with her beloved Natalie -- full of hugs and kisses and laughters, and sometimes exasperations, but its all fine. Tiffany is on the way soon, another joyful blessing. I look forward to another night with the girls. Perhaps the more I spend time with the little kids, the desire of finding my own Mr Right and start my own family would come. But right now, I just want to be selfish and enjoy the freedom of being single, and occasionally spending time with the children of my girlfriends.

Challenging or what?

Worklife has been super imbalanced these days, ever since some colleagues left. My share of responsibilities has seen a threefold growth. The job is getting challenging. For someone like me who likes to gek kiang and challenge myself, I should be goddam happy about it. But somehow, it feels empty to be challenging myself so hard and I don't get any kick out of this.

Something is lacking. Don't know what. Too tired to find out.

I lost my drive.

I need inspiration.

I'm taking a long hiatus on the part-time studies, am so afraid that I will lose steam.

I need holidays...

Thou Shalt not entertain the self-centered attention suckers

If the only things that you can do around me is to joke around, talk crap, and getting all my attention but not hearing what I have to say, then get lost. I can't stand self-centeredness, neither can I stand stupidity nor feigning stupid. Yes, I can't stand bimbos.

Get real around me you bitch.

Back to reality

KL, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Phuket. Holidaying is never enough. I still feel the urge to go holiday, but I guess for the rest of year, I have to work doubly hard and leave the travelling plans to next year.

I have been staying away from the blog for sometime, because I need to focus my energy on the tonnes of things I need to do.

Work work work, I'll switch into the workaholic mode till 31st December 2010.

I'll miss this side of me -- dreamy and happy.

Can’t sleep

Because I’m troubled. Why are human minds so complicated?

Eventful weekend

Whole of Saturday was spent preparing for the monthly discussion meeting. I was supposed to share a testimonial, but somehow I felt very resistent about it. It's a testimonial that I have never openly shared before and the thought of opening my heart to so many people just scares me. Eventually, I did and really hate myself for feeling so emotional over it. No matter how much I kept preparing myself mentally and even chant about it, the floodgate of tears just broke lose. That was the lowest point of my life, one that I never wanted to share with anyone else. But it was also the turning point of my faith. I guess the time has come for me to be more open about it.

Sunday was epic looking at the number of things I manage to accomplish. The cooking session was really all sweat and hardwork, despite the fact that it was fun. I cannot imagine myself becoming a housewife, sweating in the kitchen everyday. Even though I can cook and I like it, it can never be an everyday thing. Reached home feeling shagged, I still have to do the damn laundry. I should just marry a guy who owns laundry services business so I can stop doiong laundry for the rest of my life. This is really how much I hate it.
Went swimming too, to cool myself from the extremely warm weather. Now my whole body is aching and in limbo. I should be able to sleep real early today.

Exciting weeks ahead.
Hong Kong next weekend and Phuket after National Day. wooooo....

Losing my sanity

Horrible news last friday, have been dragging myself to work lately, and harbouring thoughts about taking MC or urgent leave. Its not healthy at all.

I think I'm feeling all stressed up, after just recovering from a real bad flu, which really slowed me down. I think i must go back to doing yoga no matter how little time i have. Need to destress.

Breathing some life

Yea, I think I've forgotten how to play for the past one year. Its always good to be able to chill out with pals and talk crap, crap that I'm able to appreciate and cracking up over some silly topics. Chilling out with people I love just makes life so much easier... they ain't self-centered who just constantly babbles about their own life, the flow of conversation was a mixture of everything. Really appreciate that. Cos I have met people who only talks about themselves, and I am getting ultra superly duperly sick of it. I cannot be bothered to confront it, I just treat them with cold shoulders. Afterall, we ain't the same type.

I need to get in touch with friends I love more often. I need to take the initiative!

old problems back to haunt me

My blog is growing spidey webs... but too bad, im here to grumble.

I am seriously over-worked, the gastiritis that stayed dormant for the past 8 years is acting up. Painful.

I don't know if its good news or bad news. I am told that I will need to help out with some new projects, and I am suppose to let go some work so I could work on those. It seems like an upgrade of jobscope... but everyone's hands are so full now, who do I relieve my work to?

Sometimes, I wonder if I am really that capable? Can I just slack a bit please?

Daydreaming again

I don't hate my job, but I definitely don't like it enough to want to do the same thing for the rest of my life. I have always been proud of the fact that I am one who seeks the balance, ie. work-life balance. But honestly, I am not balancing it well now. I stop having life for sometime and have devoted too much time at work. Or did I divert my attention from school work to work?

These days, I daydream about being my own boss. Startup capital, I don't have. Experience, I don't have. Knowledge, still lacking. Courage, sorry, no balls at the moment. Good business partners, hard to find one that clicks. But one thing is for sure, ideas come to me every now and then. If only I had all other things right, I could quit right away and be a budding entrepreneur.

Just let me quickly get over my education phase and clear all education debts. Argh!

What makes a true holiday?

The food, the people and the feelings I got from the Hanoi trip sums up to be a fantastic holiday. I realised vacations filled with touristy activities and overdose of photos taking are nothing. I used to take holiday trips and did the typical tourist activities. Now, the memories of those destinations just fades away over time, even with plenty of photographs. Ironic. Totally meaningless. Roughing it out might just be the best way to experience a real good holiday.

So, what happened in Hanoi?

Day 0 - Singapore to Hanoi
Arrived Hanoi late because Tigerairways kept delaying the flight. A short guy picked us up at Noi Bai airport. I had difficulties finding the board that wrote my name because he is so petite.A comfortable private car ride to the hotel. Arrived hotel late, at about 11pm. The receptionist was helping another guest to check-in, but he smiled and greeted us and told us to wait for a while -- in spoken English that I could understand, and with a smile that melted my heart. What a great 1st impression of Vietnamese men.

We were welcomed by cockroaches in the room, even though the room looks immaculately clean. The bellboy took a bottle of ordourless baygone to fulminate the cockroaches, but we used so much baygone after the bellboy left that we could have fulminated ourselves.

Day 1 - Hanoi to Halong Bay
Had already booked a day tour with the hotel to Halong Bay prior to arrival. Saw the same cute guy at the hotel recept early in the morning, happy! We were not in time to have our breakfast, but he was thoughtful enough to get the chef to prepare an egg sandwich so we could eat it in the car. It gave me a warm fuzzy feeling because it reminded me of the breakfast that my Mum used to prepare for me when I was younger. And because we didn't had dinner the night before, we were super hungry.

Halong Bay was beautiful. Weather was scorching hot, but the caves we went to felt like a different world. The moment we stepped into it, we felt the natural "air-condition" within the mystical caves. Our local guide spoke pretty well, with strong Caucasian accent. I guessed he memorised his script really well. It was really surprising to see that the waters of Halong Bay so calm and peaceful, hard to imagine that it is actually an open sea, which should be choppy. On the way back, we went to the deck of the boat to look at sunset. I lied down to enjoy the breeze, and fell asleep. The guide only woke us up when we were about to reach the harbour. Best nap ever. Its hard to put that feeling into words. But falling asleep on the deck of the boat felt surreal.

Finally reached hotel after a long 3hours ride. We were so tired from being constantly on the road. Hungry, felt like we were deprived of food from this trip. Went out to get dinner, and the incident happened. I was pickpocketed and lost my camera. Devastated. I thought it was the worst thing that could ever happened when you are on a holiday. All Halong Bay pictures gone -- just like that. Can't make any police report because its already late. Could only wait till I return to Hanoi.

Day 2 - Hanoi to Mai Chau
Still shocked from the incident, but I had to put on a happy front and moved on. Again another long bus ride. But the bus stalled on entering highway. I asked myself, is this trip meant to be that adventurous? Luckily, the driver manage to kick start the engine again. However, he was a blur driver and took on a wrong route midway. Doesn't help too when the bus is crawling at 60km/hr. When we reached 3/4 of the journey, another mini bus came and took me and ling out of the bus, claiming that the other bus was overloaded. Well, it was for the better because the new bus was much faster. Enroute, we saw lots of cows roaming the streets and grassland. Interesting sight, beautiful mountains. Many a times, I kept imagining the bus went over the edge of the cliffs.

The 2 days we spend at Mai Chau Lodge, we experienced blackouts, enjoyed the sauna and the pool, went to the paddy fields, to the village home, to the morning market, borrowed 2 mountainbikes from the hotel and went around on our own. It was a right decision not to go on the tours organised by the hotel. We saw much more and had more fun just venturing out on our own. The bike ride was super adventurous as we almost couldn't got back to the hotel because we lost our way. With the hot sun, we were really sweating like mad. Although I was still feeling sore over the lost camera, the beautiful scenery make up for it. I witnessed how simple life could be. And I saw how farmville works in real life. Every grain of rice is so precious. I imagined myself retiring in a laid back countryside like this, not giving a heck on whats happening around the world, the fights, the rush hour. I want a simple life.

Cows crossing the road
 

Mai Chau Lodge sits in the middle of nature

 Breathtaking scenery

 A cloud that hung low




Day 3 - Mai Chau to Hanoi
Finally reached Hanoi and went back to the same hotel. Loi took me to the police station to help me get a report. He promised to help before I went Mai Chau, and he kept to his promise. The policemen looked like mafia as they sat around, smoking and drinking tea. But patient man Loi helped me as a translator. The whole process was like a dream as I was in a daze. When it was over, we were hungry because it was late and we didn't had dinner. Loi brought us to a local Zhe Char stall and we had our first real Pho Ga and Pho No. Clear soup with no MSG and generous amount of vegetables. Yummy.
Went back hotel to rest and chatted with Loi. From his stories, we understand the culture and the lifestyles of the Vietnamese better. A friendship started just like that.

Day 4 - Temple of Literature, the good 'ol wet market, Hoan Kiem Lake and shopping
Nothing fantastic. Honestly, all touristy places looked the same to me. Weather was extremely hot. We walked around randomly and chanced upon a market. Bought most of our Vietnam coffee from 1 auntie who was extremely nice. No English, merely lots of smiles, hand gestures and body language to communicate what we want to buy. 2 bagful of stuffs. Hot and tired. Went back hotel to put down the things.

Hoan Kiem Lake is like a breathe of fresh mint. The wind, the lake, coffee by the lakeside, and the sharing of gossips. Thats when I found out that I have a trustworthy face, because people feel safe to tell me their secrets.

Shopping at old quarters area. Bought a tie for Loi to thank him for his help. Most delicious Pho Ga ever and the best strawberry juice ever. The best meal of this trip, simple and delicious.

At a cafe beside Hoan Kiem Lake

 Ice cream poached in black coffee




Day 5 - Random walking, Hanoi to Singapore
Supposed to head to Ho Chi Minh museum and Mausoleum but the Q was terribly long. Asked taxi driver to bring us to the Museum of Prisoners but taxi driver didn't understand English. In the end took us on a ride for nothing. 100,000 vnd for 1 trip. Map was utterly useless in Hanoi cos the streets were messy. They had many small lanes which were not shown on the map. Aimless walking brought us back to old quarters area, amazing.
Since it was the last day, we decided to stay put in the hotel for the rest of the afternoon. The long chat with Loi and his sister. Took group photos and said good bye.
Good bye to the heartwarming people at Asia Palace hotel 1. Goodbye to the hectic traffic. Goodbye to beautiful scenery.

And hello to concrete Singapore. Back to reality.

Loi, the one who help us alot, the one whom we feel really connected to.

The day shift employees, warm people!

The cute one!

He likes me, look at how happy he was.

Finally going for holiday! But...

I am so worn out by the tonnes of workload. The trip is tomorrow, but I have to work for the first half of day before rushing home to get my luggage for the evening flight.
What a rush....

I can't imagine.... if I didn't get this short break from my studies, how packed my schedule would be... and how I would cope?
Seriously, how to get out of this rut? Fatigue....

Responsibilities

Isn't it a long word to spell? And its quite a mouthful word to pronounce with 6 syllabus. Responsibilities is indeed a heavy word. When I see "leadership", I see "responsibilities".

I wonder what pushes me to take up leadership roles?
In Soka, I took up the leadership role to strengthen my faith. It has been a few years, but I haven't seen myself growing and developing well in this role. Rather, it has become a chore for me. Because I am being responsible, I took it upon myself even though I am not that willing. And now it has become a chore.

At work, more responsibilities could be a double-edge sword. If I do well, it would increase the chances of promotion. But if it becomes so overwhelming that I am not able to cope, then it is pointless. If I am expected to lead, then I have to take on more responsibilities. And I have to produce results.

In school, the responsibility to do well and get good grades is something that I must do. I didn't study hard enough when I was younger. Now that I am older and trying to catch up with peers, it gets really tiring. Eversince I started my part-time studies, my health suffered. Lack of sleep, lack of social life, and lack of money. The cost of education really emptied out my savings, and put me in debts.

In the family, I get the most responsibilities by virtue of being the eldest child. I get the most of everything. Most scoldings, most freedom, most of the talented genes, most respect. But all these meant the family is most reliant on me. Sometimes I wonder, if I were to die suddenly, will they cope well?

I am not one who enjoys being a leader, yet in every aspect of my life, I have to be a leader.
TM has been a wonderful chapter of my life. But do I have that ability and capacity to take on more responsibilities? I have my reserves about it.

How to train a dragon?

This is the 1st movie I watched for year 2010, and hopefully more to come. Yes, I am sooo busy that I have no time for entertainment since the new year started.

Anyway, this movie was a great start and it is definitely worthy as a movie to re-watch or to buy the DVD for collection.

The movie is not just about how to train a Dragon, it also convey meaningful messages through the story. In the story, the main character Hiccup found out that Dragons don't behave like how the Vikings thought it to be. Dragons could be tamed, only if the person handling it does so with peace. But because every Viking was determined to kill the dragons whenever they saw one, the dragons became defensive and started to attack as well. Much like parenting, how children turn out to be, is actually a mirror reflection of the parents. I once witnessed a friend who was yelling at her son to stop screaming around the house, because the son was easily agitated and likes to shout when he is not happy. When I look at the way my friend shouts at her son, I realised the son was just a mirror reflection of herself. The son behaves exactly like how my friend did -- shouting.

In the movie, Stoik did not know how to communicate with his son, Hiccup. It was always one-sided as the father always thought that he was right and refused to listen to his son.Their relationship improved, but it only happened after a near-death experience for his son. And in real life, we often take people around us for granted, until something really bad happens before we start to appreciate them.

There are many interesting messages behind this movie, if you are able to interpret it. This is not just a simple cartoon. It is more than that.

Exams are over, huuu huuu!!!

Time to reward myself, time to take good care of myself. I've been neglecting myself too much and am in a desperate state to make good the damages.
Health and fitness, socialising, doing the things I like, continuing with the Korean language course that has been put on hiatus, reading books (not textbooks for now). All in all, I will have a whale of a time by packing up the calendar.

Bye Bye boring me.

Is it efficient to do overtime?

The March mayhem was just over, but April doesn't seem any better, despite the fact that it ought to be a slow month. I am given more responsibilities now, I wonder if it has anything to do with the not-too-bad appraisal. If it does, I sure hope the remuneration will be adjusted soon. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Back to the question, is it efficient to do overtime? No, not at all. My brain functions slower after a full 8 hours of non-stop working. Not to mention, I still have to find time for some revision after I got home. If eating large amounts of food over extended period will extend the size of stomach, I sure hope it does the same to my brain. I fed it with so much information everyday.

Gotta do something before OT becomes normalcy.  

Can't wait for my much deserved break

I just cleared one paper today. Relieved. One more paper next week and I can finally relax.
There's not much of interesting happenings in my life right not. Its all about work and school, peppered with occasional toastmaster and soka commitments. No time for movies, no time for friends, no time for yoga.

Whatever is going to happen to me? I am so boring.

KL, Hanoi, Phuket -- I just need a break and recharge, prepare myself for the next level of challenge in 2010.

Don't compare with others, compare with yesterday

人的一生取決於努力多少、方向正確與否。不是和別人比，而是和昨天的自己比.前進一步就是勝利。-- 池田先生
This wise guidance was by Ikeda Sensei. I felt it today. I could feel that I am better than yesterday, and I see improvement everyday. I'm talking about my work.

After a long hiatus from Toastmaster, I was back last night. I took on the role of a project evaluator. Even though it was not the best evaluation, it was my best thus far. Even I was surprised. The mentality helps alot. I used to worry about not being able to deliver a proper evaluation, and true enough, I did not. I focused too much on myself. Last night, I changed my mindset to one that is more concerned of the speaker himself. I wanted to help the speaker to improve. That enables me to evaluate in a more objective way. So my public speaking skills have improved as well.

A table topic yesterday gave me an inspiration to write this : "If you could grow one thing, what would that be?"
It's not money, Financial planner could do that. It's not time, because time is meant to be managed, to do the most in the shortest time, to give people a sense of urgency. If I could grow one thing, that would be wisdom. When we have wisdom, we could make sound decisions. That saves time and money. When we have wisdom, we could earn favour in the workplace and make ourselves a more valuable employee.When we have wisdom, it could help us to work smarter, not harder. When we have wisdom, we are more secure about ourselves, and we tend to sleep better.

Unfortunately, wisdom cannot be grown just like that. It takes time and life experiences to accumulate and grow it. Even more unfortunate for some, no matter how old they are, they never become the wise old men.

傻人也许有傻福，但不能傻得太糊涂

Kovan is a hidden gem

Thanks to a friend who recommended a Thai restaurant for my birthday treat -- Nakhon Kitchen. That's when I realised I don't need to go too far to have great food because its all in the vicinity of Hougang! More reasons to ask all my NEL-ians out for gathering.


I googled 'Kovan Thai food' and realised many people have good reviews about this little secret place. Well, I guess its not so secret afterall. Another place worth mentioning -- ice edge cafe. Their ice cream reminds me of Udders. Yums.


What can I say, Kovan is really a hidden gem.

He denies

Mr Mysterious send flowers again -- for my birthday. I emailed him, he denies.I believe him.

This mysterious act is freaking me out.

Happy Birthday to myself

Dear Lani,

Happy Birthday to you, time really flies. Before you realised it, you have already celebrated 27 birthdays since the day you were born. Of course, I'll save the typical birthday wishes, like stay young and pretty forever, may you find your prince charming and etc. Instead, I hope you grow wiser each day and always be better than yesterday. May you achieve your dreams as soon as possible.

Sincerely,
Your identical twin

Tertiary Education merits or the soft skills?

I've got a burning question, does the "brand" of your bachelor's degree really matters so much when it comes to career advancement?

I've asked this question to many of the seniors in this industry around me. So far, I've gotten mixed replies.

In my opinion, if I'm not going to work for the government sector, then it doesn't really matter. I choose to believe that my interpersonal skills and the positive attitude has an edge over someone whose merits are purely based on academic results. Technical skills would improve over time.

It just takes a smart employer to discover a gem like me.

I guess I can conclude now.

Exhasted

We worked on the project for 12 straight hours on Sunday, from 10.30am to 10.30pm. I worked like a machine gun at work on Monday and Tuesday. It was non-stop, except I didn't OT because I had to go to school. Where did those energy came from? I wonder.

I am squeezing the last bit of it now and giving all my best so that the project can be submitted tomorrow.

Impending exams in April... I have to slog for 2 more months.

I am so looking forward to May.

I can't believe a quarter of the year flashed past just like that??!

Appraisal is coming soon, please let all the hard work be recognised. Please reward me with a more deserving salary.

I am so exhausted that my sentences are short.

Snip snip snip

I made the stupidest decision yesterday by deciding to go for a haircut. It is too short!!!!!!
Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!! My beautiful hair's gone!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhh!!!!!!!! Ahhhh!!!!!!!!

Please let my hair grow an inch by a day, pleaseeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!! Hurry up grow!!!!

If you see me in my silly short hair, please don't laugh... just be mesmerised by how i look. Just fool me with all your compliments please. PLEASE.

Oh.... i hate the mirror now.

Bye.... I have to go finish reading up one whole textbook. I have no idea how to complete this assignment and I just hope my brain is good enough to figure out after I gobbled up the whole textbook.

Sobs.... i just want to cry, nothing's going right. T.T

Losing interest

I ended 2009 in a busy mode. 2010 hasn't been much better. Despite the CNY festive period, I did not feel 'festive' at all.

The impossible workload in office is piling up. I stepped into office daily at 8.15am and I'm leaving office 12 hours and more later. Projects deadline and exams are coming yet again. What's new? Honestly, my life just repeats all these in a cycle. I'm pretty lifeless now. So much so that these days.... I find myself talking less to the people around me. Or people around me are slowly losing interest in me and do not want to hear me speak anymore. They just kept on talking about themselves. Well, I have always been a good listener. At the same time, I am finding increasingly more difficult to lead a conversation and be able to enjoy myself. I knew the questions to start to prompt people to start talking about themselves, and thats about it. I don't know how to lead the conversation back to me.

Someone once told me, I am tough to crack because I am so good at making other people talk except for myself. That person, who claims to be a mind reader, said so because he couldn't read me.

I guess I have nothing to say, because its true.

Flowers from Mr Mysterious

I figured out who is Mr Mysterious. Even though I wanted to thank him for being so sweet, I reckon its better not to. I just wonder if Mr Mysterious would be resourceful enough to find out if I quit my current workplace one fine day.

Nevetheless, the flowers brightened up my day as well as the office. Thanking him from the bottom of my heart would be good enough.

Too much good food

The weekend that just passed was super unrested for me. I had weddings to attend on both Saturday and Sunday. Few hundred bucks poorer and few pounds heavier. I didn't know that my cousin dated her husband for 12 years already! Admiration for this couple to have stamina for such a long courtship.The other wedding was a poly friend of mine. I just discovered that we had so many common friends, the theory of 6 degrees of separation was playing out right in front of my eyes.

It was my company's annual CNY lunch today. Its good food once again, 3 days non-stop! Something that I found disturbing -- they served shark's fins for all 3 functions. This fish is dying people... (sorry is that even considered a fish?) Although they bite.... they keep the nature's foodchain in check.

So friends, if you are planning your wedding dinner, could you please take the shark's fins out? Save the animal.

Toxic friends?

I remember I used to have this book called "How to deal with people you can't stand" but its nowhere to be found now. I think I gave it away. I started a kind act of giving lately, more about that later.

So lately I have been lamenting about energy drainers in my life. I thought alot about this and kept thinking if I am the negative person instead who starts to think negatively about other people and judge them by my own views. I reflected and reflected. And my conclusion is... we are going through different stages of life and that we have different priorities now. I talked to a friend lately and she told me about her own personal experiences. She sees people in 2 general 'categories'. 智者 aka the wise and 愚者 aka the fool. She recognises these 2 types of people in her workplace and tries to avoid 'the fool' . They gossip alot, criticise other people and grumble too much. These group of people has no purpose in life, hence they indulge in destructive activities to fill their empty souls. The wise is the opposite of them of course. Sometimes, I do join in such 'gossip sessions' because I succumb to peer pressure and don't want to be left out. I guess I have to stop that and pull myself out of it.

I read an online article lately and could relate very well to it -- 6 types of toxic friends and how you can deal with them.

Time to find new friends.

The people who drains energy away from you

Have you ever felt mentally drained after talking to someone? I do.

These type of people only talks about themselves, are only interested in themselves and at times, really rude. Because they take everything from you, but never give back in return. I label these people as 'energy drainers'.

Where are my mentors in life? I want to surround my life with people that can influence me positively. I feel so low hanging around with these energy drainers. :(

Wedding bells are ringing. No, its not me.

People, 1 out of the 12 months in 2010 will be over in a few hours time, isn't it scary!!?

Oh this 1 month... or rather for the past 2-3 months, I have been busy busy busy. My personal time in terms of socialising and exercising has been drastically reduced. See, even blogging frequency has reduced significantly. There are different stages in life, I am in the stage of pursuing education and career establishment. If only I have more than 24hours a day, or if I can do things at an amazing speed... beat the time!

Friends around me are getting married, and I am receiving wedding invitations all the time. At this ongoing rate, I must do something about it. Friends, if you're thinking of who to engage as your wedding emcee, why don't you consider me? There are advantages :

1. I am bilingual - forget about those potatoes who speaks only fantabulous English and nothing else. I can speak effectively in both English and Mandarin. And a little cantonese if required.
2. I can handle the stage - many people become weak in their knees upon knowing that they have to go on stage. If I say I am not afraid, I am bluffing you. But I have enough experience to know how to control the nerves. Toastmaster's training helps.
3. I am a good team player - in events, big or small, everyone must cooperate to ensure the proceedings run smoothly. I work well as a co-emcee too, just find me a suave looking counterpart.
4. I can write my own script - Couples, you have 1001 things to worry about for your BIG DAY, let me handle the script. You can vet through my work.
5. I am resourceful - I am not lobang queen, but I have my ways through my own personal contacts.
6. I am F.O.C. - I value my friendship with you, so I wouldn't charge you any fees. But i hope all these experiences that I accumulate can make me a professional one day, so please help me to market my expertise if you like me.

That's all folks.

The path to happiness is.... ?

Find problems.

Like duh....? But it is true. If you are living a smooth sailing life, you probably won't be happy. Career, no problems. Family, no problems. Love life, no problems. Sounds perfect? But think for a moment, if you were really living a life like that, will you be happy?

When we strive and struggle and overcome problems, don't we always feel a great sense of satisfaction or happiness? The beautiful rainbow appears only after a heavy downpour, i think this natural phenomenon is already telling us something. There is a message.

Good things follow after a heavy downpour. Happiness follow after problems.

Go seek out problems and overcome them, you'll be happier. I bet.

The temptions in 2010 that would help empty your wallet

It would be gadgets and cheap airfares to the region.

Iphone is sweeping the whole world off their feet, and Android phones are determine to win some fans over. Honestly, I am tempted by what Android phones can offer. Although I don't own an iphone now, the wonderful experience I have with my itouch has been a very good preview on what Apple is capable of. Technology is moving so fast! I have to start doing some catchup on the latest developments before I become outdated. Well, I really love gadgets, they make my life easier. And I know how to fully utilise the capabilities. If you have a smartphone, start using it as if it is smart. Don't ignore those marvelous functions. Otherwise, just get a normal phone with no frills. (Although i bet its difficult to find one of these now)

Cheap airfares. Budget airlines' competition is heating up, so consumers benefit. And budget carriers are flying futher too, great! What's more, with the news about Jetstar and Air Asia forming alliance, I think its even greater news.

Tiger year looks set to be a fantastic year isn't it?

New Year de-cluttering

My Christmas was packed to the max with activities, hence I decided that New Year must be peaceful, so that i can get some rest. Well, I counted down to 2010 at Lunar Bar with friends.Still couldn't convince myself that I should count down quietly at home with my dog and my computer. Well, I drank enough, dance enough, and went home in one piece.

My cluttered room was in need of some major cleaning. So I took the chance to organise the stuffs in my room. First, by throwing away things. Honestly, it feels good to throw away stuffs, im not quite sure why. It feels very liberating. And I am still convincing my mother to let me throw away the queen size bed. I want a sofa bed instead. Still trying hard to convince her.

Next, I tried to clean up my phone. No, not wiping the dirt outside the phone. I realised my handphone contact list is kinda messy, I need to re-organise my contacts. And I discovered I have tonnes of names whom I don't remember them now. One of the names is very funny, I saved the contact as 'Banglah'. I recalled it was because I had to engage a foreign worker to help me shift out my old cupboard to the rubbish centre. They were cheap and good labour, I paid him $50 and he gathered a bunch of friends to help out. What a great deal.
I'm not sure if the 'banglah' is still using the same number or working in my neighbourhood. I may need to engage his service when my Mum agrees to let me throw away the bed. :)