Back to blogging

Today, I was reminded about w a t e r l i l y. I had lunch with Ron and he asked why there are no new updates in my blog. Secretly, I was pleased that he asked. I didn't realise that people actually stop by this URL to read, maybe because my writings are mostly about what I've been up to and little about how I feel about issues/ debates of life. I am certainly honoured that my friends still find my blog worth reading :P To be frank, I've been spending most of my 'free time allocated to be online' exploring the new craze in town, Facebook. I'm getting pretty bored of the quizzes, present giving and fluff friends races (they are certainly corny yet I choose to do it for some odd reasons) but always looking forward to finding/ being found by long lost friends (definitely a super duper plus point for me as I'm lousy in keeping in touch). Definitely one of the most effective way to catch up from where we last met. Other than Facebook-ing, I've been pretty occupied with last minute wedding arrangements (been praying that it all falls in place hehe) and trying to take good care of myself. All arrangements has been made, now to plan the agenda and sort out the hotel preparations. Quite a headache-from the day we made our bookings, 3 banquet sales managers resigned, the 3rd one we knew only yesterday. Lets see how it goes when I see her and her snr manager tomorrow....wish me luck! *wink*

Me and the Gold Crocs

I surprised myself by buying a pair of Mary Janes from Crocs. Although it made me look big footed, it's a good buy - extremely comfy! D and I went to the shop at Ikano on Friday (or was it Thursday...hmm) to get my mom new straps for her MJ. Both the front and back strap of her right MJ were bitten off by her friend's cat (lesson learned: keep your crocs away from cats and dogs!). She was heartbroken - she loves her sandals to bits. When her friend called the next day to apologise and offered to buy her a new pair, she casually said, 'Aiya don't need la it's an old pair' (yeah right!). My mom is just too nice :) The shop only sells the back strap for the 'cayman' model. My mom is now the first person I know who wears the MJ model with the 'cayman' backstrap (it's strong enough to secure her feet- she don't need the front straps). Ok basically, I went to the shop with the objective to get her the straps. D got me to try out the the gold MJ and somehow convinced me to get it. Oh well, why not since he complains I slip way too often with my worn off wooden scholl :P

Moon Cake

Here are pictures of Colin with his airplane lantern (a gift from Gong Gong), taken during the mooncake party yesterday. He joined the other contestants on stage for the 'home made' lantern competition- they didn't seem to mind him interrupting heee.

The management and committee members of my residential area did a fantastic job in organising the event. They managed to gather sponsors (Maxis, HSBC, Focus Point) to donate prizes- ranging from hampers to 29 inch flat screen TV! Most of the residents stayed up till 12 midnight to wait for the big lucky draw (which includes myself...ok i went back at 11:30pm while my dad waited on cause I was restless heee).

It was all worth waiting! We won a multi-purpose blender and a hamper from the lucky draw! Am proudly posting it up on the blog cause it's very rare we win something :P

Facebook

It's a fabulous way to keep in touch with old friends :) Ever since I've joined (thanks ML for sending me an invitation), I've been added as a friend by people I've lost contact with and whom I've always wish to get back in touch with. Last Friday, my friend, Ching Li (I've not seen her since Primary School!) added me in her Facebook! Facebook is full of surprises, I do recommend you to join!

ASW2020

Did you manage to buy any? The sale started yesterday, and today I decided to try my luck (for the 3rd time) to at least open an account. History repeats itself- after waiting 1.5 hours in the queue (did I mention 2 elder women cut into my line...ish..worst part is they nag and complain so much- it's irritating..), I was the first person who didn't get through- non-bumi allocation sold out! The day started with 16 million unit. When reached my turn it was 4 million units left. Based on rough estimation (approximately 3.9 million units sold within 30 minutes), I might pass GO and receive my passbook IF my account is opened within 30 minutes. 4 million sold out within 10 minutes. Haihz, just not my day...

Graduation Dinner Pics

Didn't manage to take very nice pictures- most pictures taken are dark or blur....blame the errm...lightings? Ok, my photography skills ;P Enjoy viewing & have a beautiful weekend..

The woman behind my thesis....thanks for chasing me to meet the datelines!Definitely one of the nicest person I've known.....

Smart bunch of friends....

More of them.....

Graduation Day

I got up as early as 6:15 am to take my shower, get dressed and ate 2 eggies for breakfast. D picked me up at 6:30 am, we got caught in a slight jam at the BU bridge but managed to reach on scheduled (7:15am). PW and E helped me to get into my robe (me clueless as usual), then we head to Level 1 of the Examination Building to get into our Q. As usual, I'm the last few as I have 'Y' as my surname. After the short briefing, we made our way into the Grand Chancellor Hall. It was crowded...hmm I wonder if you can spot me :P

The ceremony started at 9:00 am SHARP. I'm glad the Pro-Chancellor, Raja Muda of Perak, Raja Dr Nazrin Shah was presenting the certificates, not only because he's good looking and charismatic (which is a plus point) but he's one of those well respected Malaysian Monarchy with a PHD from Harvard. In total, 890 certificates (Masters students from 9 Faculties) were awarded within 2 hours. Very efficient and organised, with the 'touch card' device (we each have a card with pre-recordings of our names) and 6 staff helping us along (each with specific task e.g. pre-test of the card, doing the final adjustments on our robes, telling us when to walk and when to stand still). When I was on stage, for a split second I thought I was in some royal ceremony, almost forgeting I was there to receive my cert haha (yes, I can be so lame sometimes). The stage was yellow, with royal seats and Msian state flags as deco........

Of course, as I've mentioned numerous times before, I wouldn't be here today wearing this mortar board (for the 2nd time...) if my life is not filled with these wonderful people...

My parents and D...

(Lillies, a nice surprise from D who managed to join us for a quick photoshoot....)

Friends......who made evening classes bearable.....and are now my good friends




I take off my hat to you guys!

Nice Surprise

Been quite a depressing week for me (wind in my tummy plus some emotional disturbing news)-even buying our dream sofa at Lorenzo couldn't cheer me up. Yesterday, I received a call from an ex-MBA uni mate (she graduated last year) at my office phone. She wished me congratulations and gave some advice on what to expect when I walk up the stage this Wednesday. So sweet of her, I hardly know her yet she took the time to call me. Today, we received a congratulations email from her with a cookie picture. So cute, instantly put a smile on my face :) Its great to know that everyone is making initiative to keep in contact and to meet up as often as we can. Really appreciate the KLCC lunch appointments and outing arrangements, think I'm going to stop shying away and join them more often. It's going to be great.

Books you don't want to read

Both of my vacation books were sucky :( I was trilled to find 'The Place Called Here' at the resort library (I became a huge fan of Cecelia Ahern after reading PS I love You and If You Could See Me Now) but it was terribly dissappointing! I finished reading the book in a day- practically flipping the pages after 2/3 of the book. I bought 'Still Thinking of You' for the trip, as I was happy with the other Adele Parks's novel I read a few weeks back. 'Still Thinking of You' is so unrealistic- too much drama between friends and lovers. The characters are good friends back in high school. Got together for a 5 days SKI trip and to withness the marriage of Rich and Tash. In the story plot, there's the revengeful ex gf (one of the guy's lil sis who tagged along coz she recently broke up with her bf, who so happened to be Rich), super high flyer friend who was sack for insider trading and has not guts to tell his wife, Mia who is desperate to get pregnant and planned a scheme to be impregnant by her good friend cum ex bf....I think I've made my point :P Adele Parks is way to ambitious this round.

p.s. I've checked the comments for both books in amazon.co.uk, both has 3.5 stars rating. I think they deserve a 1 star (ok, 2 stars). Then again, the ratings can't really be trusted, since most books are 3.5 stars...hmm!

p.s.s I'll blog about my trip to PLR soon...once i've gotten hold of the pictures ;P

The weekend passed in a flash!

I'm totally exhausted! Just managed to take a long warm shower (with a good scrub down- you'll know why later) and am waiting for my hair to dry while blogging :) Friday evening, I left work on the dot, had my 2 hours facial and quick dinner with D at the Black Canyon (had interesting fusilli cooked with seafood and chillis). Saturday morning, had v. yummy nasi lemak then went to the hardware shop with D, F-FIL and F-MIL to buy paint for the place. Settled for ICI Dulux Pearl Glo, Lily White for the hall. Yup, we decided to paint the condo by ourselves! Got the other necessary stuff, then head to the condo to clean up, check what need to be done up plus count the lighting points. Rushed home, took shower then drove to Bridal Hse to choose our wedding pics (too lazy to blog about our picture taking experience..maybe some other time heee). Our appointment was at 2pm, we reached at 3pm (got stuck in a bad traffic jam in KL, due to road diversion) and we chose our pictures till 7pm (including time off in between to eat lunch)! Definitely much more tiring than choosing the gowns! We had so many things to decide- not only the pictures we want in our album, but also the look and feel of the album, picture placing design, which pictures to put on 10R frames, type of frames, which to print out as chee mui pictures and other stuff that I can't recall now. Lucky F-MIL tagged along- I was numb after 2 hours, she was there to alert me of my wrong decisions :P The picture choosing was fast for us. We spent most of our time in choosing the Family Shots and which 3 pictures to put on the big frame. YES, I'm so relieved that it's over. After all that, we rushed home to take shower and dress up for Per & Jien's wedding in Ti-Chen, Saujana Subang. Nice ambience to have a small wedding. As the wedding is small, our terribly late 'grand' entrance was v. obvious! My friends were surprised cause I'm usually not late for weddings, oh well, unforseen circumstances haihz. Saw D's aunt and uncle at the wedding too, small world. Got home at 10.30pm, took a quick shower, collapsed on the bed and snored immediately. Woke up at 8:30 am on Sunday, dragged myself up for breakfast and paint session. On our way, we stopped by (ok, not really on the way) the mitsubishi showroom to check out the new Lancer. Pretty cool car. Took quite some time to drag D and F-FIL out of the showroom and get them focused on our agenda :P We managed to start painting and finished the walls in the hall (yippie, it looks so cozy now) with a lot of help from F-FIL and Seri. Got my good pair of shorts covered with paint hee. In between, D and I went out to pick up my cousin, WP from the LRT Station (she couldn't get a ticket back to Kuantan, the poor girl had to hang out in the condo while we finish our paint job...thks for being so patient, WP. Lucky she had her Harry Porter book to read). Cleaned up the mess, then rushed to the airport to pick up my parents. Went for dinner, got home and chit chat with my parents, then shower...ahh....my hair is almost dried now, think i'll hit the sack, nitey nite...zzz...

p/s Gosh just realised I've not blogged about Colin's bday party, will do that soon...

I'm graduating...again!! hee hee

Just read my email, I've officially graduated! wooohoo! The convo is on 5 Sept. The feeling is simply overwhelming..and much much more satisfying than getting my degree. Probably because there's more personal sacrifices involved, like attending evening classes (3 weekdays) instead of sitting at home relaxing and watching telly/ read my book, no happy hour drinks on Fridays (gosh, I can still hear your complains...hehe), dragging myself to uni on weekends for group assignments...and paying for the course fees myself :P It really helps to have very understanding people around me- my parents of course (they practically schedule their activities following my timetable), friends who r never tired of listening to me grumble (haha...I like to believe that :P) and of course my motivator, D. It's simply great, and I truely recommend studying part-time to those who are up for the challenge. Sure, there's a lot of work and sacrifices u have to make to attend night classes- but all is worth it at the end (yeah I can say that right now...haha).

who lives in a pineapple under the sea....

Yes! Mc Donalds is selling spongebob plush toys!!! Am getting my piece tonight....ngek ngek ngek! :P Tomorrow is the last day to buy starry eyes spongebob- the sale of tissue box sponge bob starts on 2 Aug......
I'm Lovin it...lalala....

Tonnes of Gowns

Finally selected all my wedding gowns yesterday! Yoohoo...I was so relieved cause it only took us 2 hours :) Thanks to my sis- she is a true personal shopper! Cat, the lady at the bridal shop commented that my sis knows what fits me and she sure knows my taste. Have to admit, it's difficult to choose gowns for someone as conservative, simple yet fussy like me. Haha. During the fitting, there was another 'bride to be' trying out gowns. She arrived way earlier than me, but we left before her. I think she tried almost all the dresses (including some of mine). Really pity her cause it's very tiring- some of the gowns are heavy :( D got me to try some really tacky ones just for the heck of it (isshh), made me look like some christmas tree ornament! I managed to choose 2 white wedding gowns, 2 evening gowns and a kuah for the photoshoot. The ones I'll be wearing on the actual wedding day is light and comfy (easy to hop and jump around with heee). I really like the kuah...it fits me well (lucky me). My pre-wedding photoshoot will be next week. If u r wondering what's the rush, well when I told Cat that I'll be going to Pangkor Laut at mid August, she freaked out! She insisted I take the pictures before the trip so I won't have uneven skin tone (from tanning). Well, I guess its good in some sense, the faster the better, less things to worry about :P Now to pray for good weather....

Playground

Every evening, Colin waits patiently by the window for Gong Gong to return home from work- so he can take Colin to the playground! I managed to tag along last Friday and took some shots. Colin loves the slide and sea saw.....ma ma is always by his side making sure he doesn't hurt himself :P

Colin's birthday is around the corner, my sis is planning a birthday party for him, do check out my blog for the coverage :P

Weekend Book

First glance of the cover- sexy tanned legs with 'husbands (is one ever enough?) as the title, I thought the storyline is going to be similar to Jackie Collin's. This book is about Bigamy, but far from having slutty characters (ok, women). Two women, best of friends, Bella- married to Philip, a rich and established analyst who gives her the world, love and security, Laura- divorced with a kid and fell in love with Stevie, a music teachers who moonlights as a Elvis impersonator. It started to rain in paradise when Laura introduced the new man in her life (Stevie) to Bella...worst, Laura insisted that Bella and Philip joined them on an all expenses paid trip to Vegas (Stevie was one of the finalist, hoping to be crowned as Europe's King of Elvis impersonator). Bella plans never to reveal her secret (Philip does not know that part of her life and that they are technically not married)..she struggles to bury it deep underground...but found herself struggling with love....


It's a good book to read if you love chit lits/ want to read into the minds of people who tries very hard to bury their past to build a new start

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Work Bullies

There's a lot of talk about school bullies, big boys stealing candies from 4 eyes boys half their size. Little is discussed openly about work bullies. A friend sent me a very good article from BNET- Nipping Workplace Bullying in the Bud. I'm sure most of us encounter bullies at our workplace (whether we are the victim, the outsider watching the act or bullies ourselves). I did, and still do. People bitch about it- at the end of the day, we all live with it. It's sad that bullying is often considered as a 'personal issue' and that many employers feel uncomfortable dealing with it or even discuss about the matter. Here's some things I've gathered from the article, hope it helps us all to be cautious at work.....and for bullies to repent?

1) Why do ppl bully others?
- a feeling of competence in handling his or her own job
- a feeling of having missed out on a promotion
- a feeling that a highly competent and popular collegue might be a treat to his or her position
- a personality clash with a collegue
- a personal problem at home that make the individual feel insecure and inadequate

2) What are acts of bullying?
- spreading malicious rumour
- ridiculing or demeaning someone
- excluding ppl
- micromanaging or overbearing supervision
- unwelcome sexual advances
- making treats
- persistent criticism
- withholding information
- removing responsibilities
- overloading with work

3) How do I detect a bully?
According to the article, bullies have the following characteristics....
- changeable personality- someone who is viciously outspoken in private conversations but is always innocent and charming in front of senior management
- someone who is excessively charming, complimentary, and superficial when in front of the "audience"
- someone who holds prejudicial views and makes regular, inappropriate jokes about issues relating to sex, race,...
- someone who is very controlling of his or her team, display "perfectionist" tendencies and quick to criticise others rather than acknowledging or praising their efforts
- someone who is impatient and irritable when called upon to deal with personal issues or concern of team member
- someone who is called to account for an error, missed deadline or mistake, immediately counter-attacks with lies, criticism and allegations. Bullies often respond to critiscm by appearing very distressed and claiming to be victims themselves, to avoid accountability for their actions

More than meets the eye

I love the movie!!! D and I missed the first 15 minutes of the movie cause we were at the wrong cinema (we had tickets for Cineleisure, not GSC One Utama- ish). Never again, I hope- it's not the first time for me *sigh* Initially I was dissappointed that Bumble Bee was not a Volks, then again, I'm satisfied that they didn't modify him much, he still has that round robotic face- which makes him look cute :P I like Optimus Prime's new look- funky truck. Still think that Megatron's new look is too complicated. After the movie, we spotted The Simpson's family. Jensen's a big big fan of Homer- so we took a picture of him and D...picture is pretty grain-ny, taken with my hp....

In Memory of Pei Sze

It's been one year- to be exact. Often during my quiet times, I would think and wonder about you. I would picture you as your usual bubbly self- recall the meaningful words you've shared with me...and your journey and courage in fighting for your life and happiness.

There's no words strong even to express how lucky I am to have such a wonderful, pleasant and true friend like you. We all missed you dearly.....

Cute Doll Biscuits

One's a Ram, and the other's a Doggie! D bought it from Ipoh yesterday...on his way back from Penang, reaallyyy cute eh?

Girls Day Out

It was a beautiful Saturday morning. Woke up early, did my laundry then drove over to Kel's place to meet up with the girls. Kel arranged a Spa Session and lunch (@ RM38 per person) for the 6 of us at Rustic Nirvana. A bargain we couldn't resist :P All 3 of us (Kel, WL, Me) hopped into YM's spacious Avanza (woman, thanks for driving us down) and head to Jln Imbi. We were greeted with ginger tea, egg tarts and seremban siew pow (the tarts were yummmie). The session started off with the beauty talk, presented by the founder herself. Rather interesting (but long- an hour plus)- didn't realise that chicken curry spices with veg oil makes good body scrub! The spa was faaabulousss (although we had to put on a poker face each time the consultant asked how was thee massaaggeee...) It started off with 10 minutes dip in warm jacuzzi (can't remember what it's called- follows the jap steam bath concept). Then the chopstick massageee which was nice but hurts when she keeps adding pressure on those spots that I told her was REALLY painful. After the massage, I was placed in a black bag with a bunch of jamu herbs- to detox my body. Was nice and warm- I think i dozed off a little......All in all, was reaaally relaxing.....

We signed up the package and shared among ourselves. Managed to bargain for more free mask packs and a free rose quarts facial...

It was so relaxing that I doze off when I got home.....

I found the website, here's the details if anyone wishes to try out the treatments:

Go for the first trial: RM99 for the full spa session (jacuzzi bath, massage- any style of your choice and jamu detoxification wrap) and a Rose Quarts Facial.

Rustic Nirvana Jalan Imbi173 – 175A Jalan Imbi

55100 Kuala Lumpur(Beside Sakura Cafe & Cuisine)

Tel: 03-2141 9193Operating Hours:Monday - Friday : 11am to 8.30pm

Saturday & Public Holidays : 10.30 am to 7.30 pm

Closed on Sundays

Website: http://www.rusticnirvana.com/

Girls Nite Out

We planned this a week ago- to celebrate the end of our MBA (we assumed we pass our dissertation :P). SL and PW are my closest friends in this programme, have to admit I've not maximised the opportunity to 'network' with more ppl, still not too late to join the MBA alumni, I guess. We decided to binge that night, so met up in Hartamas. PW and I was there early, so went shopping at the small boutiques. Bought two dress, one from MINE and the other from Chyna Dolls. The dress from MINE was 1/3 the price of the shirt dress I saw at Raoul (which I liked very much)- I was lucky to fit in the last piece. The lady was nice enough to throw in an additional 5% discount! Hee....PW said it makes me look like a stepford wife :P Yes, it's something different from what I normally wear to work haha. It was 8pm when we finally decided to eat and the jap restaurant we wanted to go to (can't remember the name) was packed! So was Soul Out. Walked around, then decided to jump into PW's car to drive to Saffron.
I was trilled - northern indian food is one of my favourites! We ordered my fav spinach dish, chicken, mutton, alfo veg to eat with our briyani and their special naan. V nice- although it left me with a pretty hot tummy. The mango lassi was not too good, probably cause they were made from sour mangoes :( nvm, all in all was a delicious meal. The girls are planning to take me to Bukit Gasing- yippie. Yes, I've not been there before...err...heee....

Just read SL's sms- we forgot to use her camera!!! Sorry guys, no pictures this time round.
PW: Good luck with the Penang Marathon!! Go go go GIRL!

Silly Me

After close to 1 year of blogging...only today I realised that my blog does not allow readers to leave comments without signing in! Dop! I called WC today to tell him my excitement- bumped into L, an a level's friend and that is when he mentioned...

AL: Hello Leng Chai! Guess what? I bumped into L today...
WC: Wah issit...
AL: Ya lerr, small world, gosh she lost lots of weight...
WC: Uhuh. Oh ya, why do I need to login to leave comments in your blog?
AL: ISSIT??? No wonder I don't get any comments laaa....I thought no one was reading...
WC: HAHA...ya, so u been blogging in your little world....thought I wanted to leave a nice note...
AL: OKOK I MUST REMOVE IT TODAY

and I did a few seconds ago...
my apologies for my ignorance towards blogging technology...heee

Anyways, I bump into L in my office today. The marketing fellas helped me set up numerous appointments with premiums suppliers, which one of them was L! I went like, oiisss I know you!! Ok not too professional haha. For those wondering why all the sudden I'm looking at gifts, well, recently my job scope has expanded to cover marketing aspects of campaigns- in addition to what I currently do which is observing data patterns to pin point which type of customer buys what products etc (don't yawn, yes I'm a data nerd)....in short it means I have to do other dept's work, no fair :P I have to admit, it's fun choosing gifts (who doesn't like shopping?).

Hope to bump into more old friends, sure puts a wide smile on my face :))

Phone Etiquette

I work at a Bank. Recently, we been receiving mystery calls from the audit department- yes, to check how 'politely' we answer phone calls. For starters, we do not receive direct calls from Bank Customers- we do Data Mining. Our calls are mostly from departments we support, basically ppl who knows us pretty well and would cut us at 'hello'. They are cool with my standard, 'Good Morning, Ai Leen speaking'. Now, I have to do this:

1) Pick up within 3 rings...(which is standard)

2) Then say...

Good Morning/ Afternoon

CAD

Ai Leen's speaking

How may I help you?

(We have to keep the script near us for reference)

So far, I can only manage 'Good Morning, CAD errr'.....(then I hear giggles- ish)..I'm so bad at this.

Holidays

My parents will be flying off to their annual holiday destination tomorrow. This time is Russia and Scandinavia *jealous-nya*. I'm too old to receive sponsorship and I can't fit in their luggage, so this poor lil girl has to stay home. Yes, and Work. My collegue will be on her mandate leave(compulsory for banks- 6 days straight, and loving it) starting tomorrow-going to Singapore for the SALE! *jealous- nya nya nya!* I really need a break from working too hard (not to forget the traumatic presentation) :P After much day dreaming, here's the top 5 places I wish I'm at right now:

1) Charles Bridge (absorbing the surrounding scenery and watching ppl sketch)

2) Central Park on a Sunday Morning (scouting for squirrels and making friends with other ppl's doggies)

3) Lying on the deck chair (under shade) and reading a good chitlit

4) Looking for a romantic restaurant along the cliffs of Santorini- and finding that restaurant so I can binge on mousaka and greek salad

5) At home, lazing on the coach and surfing Astro :P

Ok, anywhere but work.

Early in the Morning...

Since last week, I've been arriving early to work. As early as 7:00- 7:30 am. The feeling is great, even Mr. Smiley (my silent work companion) agrees with me. I've been wanting to change my lifestyle, to sleep early and rise early to watch the sun rise (yes, 6am). Now that I no longer have evening classes, I'm able to doze off by 10-11:30 pm! Good eh?

The benefits of coming in to work early:
1) It's quiet- gives u a piece of mind. You can read the papers, sip some tea before starting work.
2) NO TRAFFIC- yes, I work at Jln Tun Razak, my usual 1.3 hrs drive to work has cut down to 30 mins (the max)
3) Lower petrol consumption
4) Best parking space

Let me show u:
7:15- Arrived at work
7:17- Boot up my notebook
7:20- Watered my money plant and my neighbouring collegue's plants- with the remaining water in my kettle (It's ok to do that right?)
7:30- Went to the Loo
7:40- Fill up my kettle at the pantry, washed my cup (No queues, since I'm realllyy early heee)
7:50- Set my kettle to boil. Blog
8:00- Ahhh...nice steaming cup of Green Tea

In the past, I used to come in late (9:00-9:30am- my office hr starts at 8:45am), rush to my seat, quickly boot up notebook, boss asking this and that, rush to pantry, rush back to desk cause forgot my cup...you get what I mean la...

Have a great week people!

Traumatised

It all ended today. I've completed presenting my dissertation late this afternoon, it was HELL.I thought I would enjoy this moment, since it's the last thing I need to do to get my certificate, but NO, the whole thing had to be sooooo UNORGANISED -very IRRESPONSIBLE of UM.

Let me tell you what happened. I arrived 30 minutes earlier, to find my friend presenting to a class of PHD students (her supervisor was on MC) who later bombared her with anal questions which left her feeling like a helpless chick, surrounded by a pack of wolves. I gave my supervisor a call to confirm if she's around and she said, ya she'll be coming. Fine. When it was my turn, she was no where to be found. Wasted 30 minutes waiting for the frontdesk to call her, then I got fed up and gave her a ring on my mobile. She said she can't make it, she thought it was tomorrow and asked if I could reschedule it. HELLO, I'm not the organiser and no way am I going to sort out this mess, since I didn't start it. Haihz, can't really blame her- the darn Uni (mind my language) only sent out the schedule last Friday afternoon, and I was shock to find out that my slot is TODAY (after previously confirming with the office that the slots will only start Tuesday onwards). After much seeking, I got a replacement Supervisor, who is this Professor (who I didn't catch his name) and he gave me such a hard time during the whole presentation! Stopping me in between slides, asking me in depth question on some statistical thingy which of cause I do not know- lucky I have the 2nd examiner helping me to answer along the way (which he was not surpose too, lucky I shared the slides with him before hand so he sort of know what is going on). My other friends who were surpose to present after me were shaking in their pants, some rolling their eyes! Yes, its THAT BAD. The misery ended beyond my allocated 20 minutes (I think it took 40 minutes, felt like forever) and it was too late to go Putrajaya to apply for ROM. It was truely dissappointing :(

updates (12/06 Tues)- My supervisor called me today to apologise. She explained that lately she been busy and disorganised, hence forgotten. OK. Apparantly, her other student who was surpose to present after me, was scared off by the remarks of the stand in professor, she decided to escape n reschedule to another day. DARN. Wish I had that luxury!! She had to rub it in by saying that this professor is famous for giving PHD students a hard time (pity me, I'm only doing my MBA...). Was reassured that he has a sharp tongue but may be generous with his grading (the word is 'may', no guarantee). She better give me high marks to cover up this mess :P

Handy "Baby"

My sis bought Colin a toddler's table and chair set from Ikea, last Sunday. Here are some pictures of Colin helping Ah Gong and Daddy assemble his chair using an alan key. Full concentration :P Hehe...even tried to fix one of his toy...

eBooks

My friend, Kok Pin pointed out a v good site to download and share eBooks. To access, click on Scridb. It takes awhile to launch the download page, be patient- it's all worth it :) Tip: It's faster to download in MS Word format.
Just downloaded a recipe book using Campbell soup, currently downloading Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Let me know what you downloaded ya!

Wee Pin: I know you'll love this site! Have a blast!

Last Episode of American Idol

It's a blast! Am watching the reruns as I'm blogging right now. So excited cause Beth Miller just sang my fav sound in the whole wide world- Wind beneath my wings :) *gleee* After an amazing performance, I am even more convinced that Melinda Doolittle should be in the finals!!!!!

The Horror of California Fitness (Midvalley)

Yesterday, me and Kel went for the free trial at Mid Valley, with all intentions to try out the hip hop class (and me forgeting that I have BAD legs and hands coordination). Upon arrival, we was greeted by a consultant, filled in the usual forms and was given a tour of the place. The place is PACKED with people working out and 'walking' about. As we were close to being late for our class, we quickly collected the towels (they provide u a big and small towel, which is nice) and headed to the women's dressing room. Frankly, I hate the lockers! It's built in an odd 'F' shape, meaning the only usable place is the upper part of the locker. What happened to the conventional square lockers? Anyway, we got changed and head straight to the studio. Our hip hop class only lasted 10 minutes (yes we gave up) and decided to try out the stryder machine. There was hardly any unoccupied machines, noticed some of the machines were not 'oiled' as they were squeaking- v annoying. Non the less, we managed to have a good workout- didn't keep the time as we were busy chatting while swinging our legs hee. That's the beauty of having a Gym partner :P. After the fulfilling workout, we head for the shower. The shower cubicle is 5x smaller than the ones in RHB Gym- yes it was v stress to find place to hang my stuff. Got out and change, rush out and met the consultant. He was busy so we were 'entertained' by another of his collegue, which was rather RUDE. We asked about the 7 days free trial and he said it doesn't exist and it's only a 1 time trial (they obviously have not visited their own website). Asked about the RM35 for 6 weeks of workout+ 1 personal trainer session, he got a little impatient and said, if you feel u want to be healthy and work out, then why not sign up for a permanent package? Well, I didn't want to waste my breath to tell him that I've been working out in my office's Gym and was deciding on joining a fitness centre to try out the class exercises. By then, me and Kel were a lil bit pissed off (and hungry too), we gave him the 'we wish to consider further' and walked out. Instead of feeling 'relaxed' after a good workout, I ended up feeling pretty 'stressed' out. Probably caused by the crowd, queuing up for things, the 'red' around the centre and of course, the 'unmotivated' consultants . I'm sticking to RHB Gym- the best so far :)

Changing the World

...begin with yourself. Came across this topic in the Daily Bread yesterday- very meaningful, so wanted to share with everyone . Jesus told a parable about the problems of not seeing our own faults. He said, "How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? First remove the plank from your own eye" (Luke 6:42).

It is easy for us to point out other ppl's fault and it takes a lot of courage to ask ourselves if it'sour own attitude that needs to be changed. Maybe it's ourself that need to apologise. Maybe it's ourself that needs a humble spirit. We can't change others, but with God's help we can change our own behavior. And when our attitude changes, it may seem as if others have changed as well.

To change can be a wonderful prospect,

Though often it's met with resistance,

The transformation begins within us

And will take a lot of persistance - Hess

When God works a change in us, He can change others through us.

Whoopieee

...I passed the 1st draft!!

AL: Woman, sorry missed your call, what's up?
PW: Good news, we passed our 1st draft submission, don't need to submit 2nd draft!
AL: Really?
PW: Ya la, I know u don't check your emails, so called u la
AL: Yippie!!! So straight to presentation?
PW: Yups. Remember CENSORED in my CENSORED class, she has problems with her assignment leh..not included in the presentation list, asked to see supervisor.
AL: Huh? Who la?
PW: CENSORED
AL: Oh, she...ermm poor her. How many ppl didn't make it?
PW: About 15 people, 35 made it.
AL: Wah like that also can.
PW: So when can we meet up to review our presentation?
AL: Erm...I have not started on the slides lerr....
PW: WOMAN! Don't slack k....lets meet up next weekend.
AL: Ok lo... *sweating*

This post is dedicated to you, PW, for pushing me through this and keeping me on track....
Oh yes, thanks for reminding me to pay fees...hehe...will pay tomorrow....

Updates: Just checked my email, it's 32 out of 52 ppl (which makes approx 61%) who passed the 1st draft! Thank goodness I manage to con my way through :p Oppss...I mean all my hardwork finally paid off...lalala....

You are what you eat

My collegue sent this to me yesterday. Quite entertaining, give it a try!

This is what it says about my character...


What do you think? Frankly speaking, I'm no angel :P I am sometime prejudice, never is a STRONG word hehehe

'Fake' Apple Guava

Covered in The Star papers today.

My mom bought some at pasar malam a month ago, lucky we didn't consume any of it!

He said artificial colouring was used to fool the people into thinking that the guavas were jambu-apple hybrids.

He claimed that colouring agents brilliant blue and tartrazine were mixed for the light-green effect while carmoisine was used for red colouring.

Mohamed Idris said studies in Britain had linked tartrazine and carmoisine to temper tantrums, poor concentration, hyperactivity and allergic reaction in youngsters.

He said the Food Standards Agency in Britain had been reviewing the safety of such additives since 2000.

“Although the colouring substances are currently permitted under the (Malaysian) Food Act 1983, we need to question why fresh fruits are allowed to be coloured and modified?” he added.

Mohamed Idris said CAP had received complaints from foreign and local tourists who felt cheated after the fruits went bad within a day or two.

Bored so Blogged

I'm almost done and ready to submit my 1st draft tomorrow. Yippieee!!!! Planning to reward myself with 10 straight episodes of Crayon Shinchan after it's completed! (meaning tonight la hehe :P). D bought me 3 DVDs (10 episode in each DVD) with ENGLISH subtitles! I left my collection in Singapore when I was working there. At that time, no one wanted to watch with me cause they have to help me translate. Hehehe...can't believe I'm still missing this cheeky lil' boy after so many years!
For those who don't know Crayon Shinchan, u r missing lots! Trust me, if you like Homer Simpson, you like Shinchan! The story plot is simple- a 5 year old Jap boy, lives in suburb of Tokyo with his parents and small white dog (direct translation of his doggie's name in mandarin). The whole mini episodes is about him being a pesty lil ham sap boy. Sometimes he acts like a grown up, sometimes he is so naive, it's hard to know if he's pretending or really is that innocent. His character is what makes his so laughable :)

Oh almost forget, Happy Mother's Day to all mummysss reading this blog. I gave my mom her Mother's Day pressie yesterday, thinking it's yesterday. I got a valid reason this time- my sis had a bbq on Saturday to celebrate Mother's Day for herself, her sis in laws, mother in law, aunties and my mom, so I got my dates confused. Oh well, she loves the card (said it's nicer than the one I gave her last year) and she loves hip in the kakis capri pants. Yuk! May all mothers remain beautiful and radiant alwaysss!!!

Happy Beads!

Kel made me fun jewelries for my (belated) birthday! The original bracelets were made with proper hooks (dunno what it's called in beadie jargons), she had to re-string into elastic bands since my wrists are so unpredictably small :P I hope she hasn't gave up on making bracelets for me heee....

Decided to take pictures using Colin's first nursery rhyme book as backdrop. Took these yesterday night- my handphone camera is doing injustice to her work, its looks a zillion times nicer in real life!

Thanks for the lovely lovely surprise *hugs*

A good read

This book made me tear (several times). V. touching and heart-warming. I simply adore Tiga and her words are sooo precious. For those planning to read this book, the romance bits can get a lil' bit annoying :P It took me quite some time to finish this book- I think I had it since Nov last year :P Kel, remind me to return to you the next time we meet ya. Going to read a book on a murder investigation.....

Bye bye exams...forever! muahahaa....

No more exams for meee! Sat for 2 papers today, my right arm and fingers hurt from writing too much. Which is a good sign right- at least I have 'stories' to write :P Plus, tomorrow and day after is HOLIDAY! Yippie!!!!!!! *grin*

I'm feeling on top of the world right now...am going to laze in front of the TV while waiting for D to take me out for dinner....tralala...

Happy Food

No, it doesn't jump around and make funny faces. It's the first thing that came across my mind :P Got this from a link in yahoo.com:

Top Ten Happy Foods - bon apetit!
1. Wild salmon (rich in omega 3 fats and vitamin D)
2. Spinach - (rich in folic acid and soluble fiber)
3. Skim milk - (rich in Vitamin D and B12)
4. Ground flaxseeds (rich soluble fiber, omega 3 fats and folic acid)
5. Blackberries (rich in soluble fiber and folic acid)
6. Omega 3 fortified eggs - (rich in omega 3 fats, Vitamin D and B12)
7. Sardines ( rich in omega 3 fats and Vitamin D)
8. Soybeans - (rich in soluble fiber, folic acid and omega 3 fats)
9. Beans (rich in soluble fiber and folic acid)
10. Brussels sprouts (soluble fiber and folic acid)
Plus an extra for good luck!
11. Sunflower seeds - (rich in soluble fiber and folic acid)

Going downstairs to make myself a large glass of ribena berry juice...yip!

* Yes yes back to studying....

Study Week

I'm off today till next Thurday, preparing and sitting for my last 2 papers. In the month of May and June, I will be busy wrapping up my dissertation and presenting my findings to a panel of lecturers for grading. My dad's comment was 'Wah so easy, told you it's going to be breeze'. I'm taking he's JOKING. Hee...yes the past 2 years odd of studying required a few major sacrifices (e.g. Friday after work drinks with my buddies (on semesters that I had no choice but to attend Friday night classes issh), friends having to adjust our gathering time to suit my class schedules, less girlie dinners, taking annual leave to study (lucky my company gives me 6 examination days off, else its even more miserable to take leave to sit exams) and torturing Kel's ears with my complains (on days when it's a bit too much to handle). I'm going to miss classes, not lectures per sa, but the time spent listening to interesting presentations (I feel we learn more from each other than the course syllabus), laughing at each other's boo boos, sharing latest happenings in town during dinner breaks and sitting together in class and gossiping about our work and the course :P Like in undergrad days, we still keep seats for our friends (I really appreciate this cause I'm always late heee). The few weeks before the end of lectures, our key topic was what we should do after completing our MBA. Many inspiring and interesting ideas- can't wait!

Until then, I will need as many hugs as I can get to keep me going till the end :) Have a great week everyone!

Must watch!

Just saw it in Cineleisure last night. Couldn't stop laughing! William Macy at his best! The synopsis:

A group of middle-aged friends decide to rev up their routine suburban lives with a freewheeling motorcycle trip. Taking a long awaited break from their stressful jobs and family responsibilities, they can't wait to feel the freedom of the open road. When this mis-matched foursome - who have grown far more used to the couch than the saddle - set out for this once-in-a-lifetime experience, they encounter a world that holds far more than they ever bargained for.

Don't leave the cinema until you finish the song. The last part is rather corny :P

Fa Tat

Yes, D's family dog name is 'Get Rich' (direct transaction from Cantonese). I took this picture last weekend, he came into the house when he smelled fried yam and 'tee kuih'. Eats practically anything, likes to be scratched and enjoys chasing after cars. He reminds me of Bart Simpson's dog- Santa's little helper. I think both are the same species. Very cheeky and silly at times ;)

random office pic

Was taken an hour ago by my collegue, using my hp. Didn't realise my phone has the function to take multiple pictures with one click. Here's 2 of the picture taken- the rest were blur. The guy in the picture is one of our section head, who's currently scouting for a new hp- was asking me about my phone, I wasn't much of help:P

Too much stuff on my work desk, time to clean up (again).....

* Just completed my work- I'll be relaxing till it's time to head home...aahh....