A break from work, finally!

The Deepavali holiday that just passed set me off with the plan for a long break. Thursday's Deepavali, Friday's company holiday, then it's the weekends and I'm on leave on Monday and Tuesday! Woohoo~

I'm enjoying myself so much that my brain and body's giving me bold hints of staying at home- FOREVER. Haha. Illusion-. Quit my job and stay at home, eat grass meh?

Looking back, what have I actually achieved during these 4 years of working life? Argh. Shit. I'm not gonna start getting all melancholic again. I was supposed to be feeling happy about the break! Back to being happy. Hahahahahaha. Laughter, the best medicine. Hahahahaha. Hahahahaha. Hahahahaha. HAHAHAHAHA. HAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAA. Alright, enough nonsense.

Gosh, this break's gonna be filled up with loads of personal activities. Facials, hair cut, gym crashing, agressive food controls, ample rest and staying cheerful and positive. Basically it's all about looking pretty! Steph's big day's this coming Sunday, barely 7 days away. It seemed like it was just yesterday when both of us fantasized about what it's like to fall in love, get married and start a family... Gosh, can't believe she's actually "realising" last stage of what was our "fantasy" in just a week's time! *shudders*

At this point, usually, I mean, USUALLY, whenever I start talking about other people's happiness, I would move on to start lamenting about how I am leading a "happiness-LESS" life... Haha. Well, I guess I'm changing the plot today. Hm. Call it the lack of faith, or the other extreme of having complete faith (that whatever is destined to happen will happen). Somehow, it doesn't bother me as much anymore. I have to admit, learning about several failed marriages and relationships recently made me apprehensive in getting into one. So scary. I guess I'm not that ready after all. Sigh.

Alamak, I'm past my beauty sleep bedtime (again).

It rained almost the entire afternoon. What a good day for lazing around and doing nothing. Was supposed to meet Piggy in the evening but I guess the cool weather made both us re-consider meeting up.

Took a nap in the afternoon. Wow. Haven't had the luxury for afternoon naps for a long long time. It was so nice. A friend asked me how I could sleep at such weird hours. Doesn't my biological clock work? Haha. Well, I couldn't answer that.

I'm having mixed feelings again.

Am supposed to be on leave tomorrow and the day after but somehow I don't feel excited or happy at all. Guess it's all because I have a conference call in the morning with SZB (Siao Za Bor, trust me, she is really siao) and another one at night, with some US people. Argh. A nice day ruined!

Lord, I continue to pray everyday for either that SZB to be taken away from me or for me to be taken away from her.

落花有意, 流水无情.

我喜欢他, 他却喜欢她, 另一个他又喜欢我...

哎... 烦人的四角关系.

上帝, 你又在耍我吗?

Signs that travels are getting too FREQUENT:

1. I stop unpacking. Why bother taking stuff out when you gotta put them back in again soon?
2. Mummy stops buying 4D based on my flight numbers.
3. Ah Bui stops grumbling about me messing up the house.
4. Rara starts to snare in my attempts to stroke her.
5. SMSes from friends often start with- Are you in Singapore?

Jet Lag Jet Lag...

Whoever said one will not suffer from terrible jet lag after coming back home is lying. I am suffering from serious jet lag. Can't keep my eyes open after lunch and am totally awake when the clock hits 9pm. This is so torturous.

Chicago: 5 May 2007

It is the day to go home. Much as I can't bear to leave, a certain part of me did missed home. Well, it did make me feel a lot better knowing that I'll be back in a month's time.

Goodbye, Chicago! See ya soon! Muacks.

Chicago: 30 Apr to 4 May 2007

Argh... Work week. Nothing much to update on.

I am getting sadder by the day. I realised I've fallen in love with Libertyville. Loved the weather, the people, the scenery and most of all, the simplicity and tranquility here. Life can indeed be so simple.

P/S: I am still pissed about having to work on Labour Day (1 May) because it is not a public holiday in Singapore. And, my stubborn boss simply refuse to compensate me with another day off. This COLD STARE is for him.

Chicago: 29 Apr 2007

Bright and sunny! Another perfect day for shopping! Our spirits were high and we had a great day!

If not we don't have to work the next day...

Chicago: 28 Apr 2007

It's a bright and sunny day. The weather had warmed up and just in time too!

We dropped off a colleague who wanted to go sightseeing in the city of Chicago. The city was just like our CBD area but the buildings are much older. Red and yellow tulips were planted along the streets and were blooming beautifully. Wow. This scene doesn't happen only in Holland...

We caught a view of the famous Michigan Lake too. It was beautiful. Too bad we all had our minds set on the factory outlets. Hahaha. SP bought us to one of the largest and most popular Premium factory outlet in Wisconsin. What I remembered most about that place was perhaps the gigantic American flag flying above right at the entrance of the outlet.

We girls had wanted to develop a strategy to ensure all shops are covered since the place as so huge. Before we could get on with our so-called "strategy", we got so tempted by the magic word "SALE" waving to us in each and every one of the shops that we agreed unaniously that the best strategy was to not to have any strategy at all. See, like, grab and go!

We managed to have some proper Chinese food for lunch and it tasted great. Much better than what we had at the restaurant. Satisfying!

Time flies when you are enjoying yourself. One thing I admire about Americans is that when they say they close at 9pm, shutters get down at EXACTLY 9pm. In cases where they still have customers lingering around when it was time to close, they simply wait patiently and still continue to serve with a smile. We Singaporeans have a lot to learn from them, seriously. Shops here put up signs indicating operating hours to be from 11am to 9.30pm, but we pull our shutters and start "chasing" customers away at 9pm. (Gotta admit I was once guilty of such behaviour during one of my vacation jobs as a shop assistant.) We have a long way to go.

10pm. We arrived at our hotel. We had a joyous time sharing our buys over dinner and we can't wait to hit the factory outlets again the next day!

Chicago: 27 Apr 2007

TGIF!

Today the air seemed fresher, the sky seemed bluer and the grass seemed greener. All because it is FRIDAY!

We are on time to knock off today! Woohoo! Guess all the Ang Mohs were also in a Friday mood so everything went especially well and fast. We had a new addition to the team tody. He flew in from Singapore and is from the IT team. It turned out he knew 2 of the girls in my group quite well and volunteered to bring us shopping! 3 cheers for SP! Hurray!

To the nearest factory outlet- Gurnee Mills!

We girls screamed with excitement as our car ventured into the vicinity. Addidas, Nike, Levis, Polo Ralph, Timberland... We can't wait to get out of the car!

I went totally crazy for the next 4 hours. Can't remember how much I spent. I guess it doesn't matter. I totally enjoyed myself.

We actually forgot about having dinner and were only reminded when our stomachs starting growling after the mall was closed. Glad we were still in time for room service. Dinner was good even though it was cold. Poor Sharon (a close colleague from the other department) waited for me to complete my summary to have dinner together. I figured that I couldn't eat without completing that chore for the day. It's in my nature to be so responsible. Haha.

Tomorrow is another day to look forward to because... we are going shopping again!

Happy happy happy.

Chicago: 26 Apr 2007

I managed to talk to Xiaobai online today. Didn't get to meet him in person though. I was in another building and he had meetings for the entire day. Sigh. I missed him leh. (as a friend lah. What were you thinking? He's already attached, cuse me.)

Work ended late at 6pm today (Late: using US standard as a benchmark. You could get assassinated for working OT here okie.). I love the American culture. Headed to a Chinese restaurant highly recommended by a lot of fellow colleagues for dinner. Well, everyone who patronised it said the food was good. I beg to differ. It was just so so.

Service was extremely bad. My face was comparable to Justice Bao's throughout the entire night.

It was freezing cold at night, probably about 10 degrees? I was shivering even after I got into the car.

Back to hotel. Summary time again. Sigh. It's torturous to end each day like that.

Chicago: 25 Apr 2007

Still suffering from jet lag. Woke up at 3.30am in the morning but forced myself to continue sleeping till 6am. I am good at this. Ha.

Nothing exciting happened at work. It's extremely foggy today...

One of my fellow colleague brought us to a Thai restaurant downtown for dinner. The group was craving for something hot and soupy, the perfect combination with the cold weather. I ordered a bowl of Tom Yum Udon and a plate of stir fried brocolli. The Tom Yum Udon sucked. Not spicy and not sour. It was SWEET. The rest of the day continued to suck when I received an sms from my big boss to call her. Called her back and she screamed me for not answering her calls. Tried explaining that no calls came through and there was no record of any missed calls, but she insisted calling 3 times. Well, I didn't want to argue with her. She's been this unreasonable since I know her.. and remember the golden rule? NEVER ARGUE WITH YOUR BOSS. She wanted a daily summary of what was discussed in the meeting, even though it does not concern my department. I knew it! She wanna make sure I'm working (hard too)! Argh. My entire trip is ruined.

It was straight to hotel after dinner. Summary time. I am so miserable.

Chicago: 24 Apr 2007

Had what I would consider a rather good rest last night. Well, I woke up at 2am in the morning feeling totally refreshed but coerced myself to continue sleeping and succeeded. Guess the comfy bed in the hotel helped too.

Woohoo! My first day at Wonderland over at the other side of the world... Gosh.. I have so many people I wanna meet (especially Xiaobai, heez.)!

Shit. I couldn't have expected a more unfortunate series of events today. My wireless network failed me (it worked for all my colleagues) and I had to be "separated" from my other colleagues to get connected via a network cable.

"C'mon! It's not that bad! At least you got it fixed.." most of you will think. Yeah. Right. This would have saved my day if not for the chatter monster sitting next to me who couldn't even spare me 5 mins of peace and quiet. And I couldn't get in contact with Xiaobai! Argh.

Jet lag set in in the afternoon. It was TERRIBLE. I can't wait to hit the sack.

5pm. Time to go home (I mean, back to hotel)! Wow... all of a sudden I was totally awake. What jet lag? Oops.

Had a not so exciting dinner consisting of pizza and lasagne at the nearby mall. Yawns.

Bought a ring from Aldo at a discounted rate of only USD10. Happy!

Chicago- 23 Apr 2007

I arrived!

The first breath of air in Chicago... wow.. not too bad at all. No wonder they always say the grass is greener on the other side. I was a little groggy from the long hours on the plane (thanks to the bad food and the outdated movies on the plane). Thank God I am on first class which enabled my legs a full stretch 100% of the time. I wouldn't have made it if I was travelling on anything lesser.

Alright, so what's the first thing you need to do when you are in good old America? RENT A CAR. Oh, a couple of things to note when renting a car- (1) Rent a GPS (it really gets you around, even though it's been tested and verified that it doesn't work in Malaysia.), (2) Rent a BIG car- you'll need it to accommodate luggage which will double in size when you're leaving. Ha. I'm speaking from experience.

After an hour on the road, we arrived at the hotel. Man, I can't wait to bathe! (Imagine not bathing for like more than 24 hours. Gosh.) Some of us didn't manage to get an executive suite because the hotel was fully booked. Yeah, I think you guys would have guessed. I AM one of those who DID NOT get it. Dai sai lah.

Second thing to do in the US? GO TO THE SUPERMARKET. For what? To get groceries! the hotel doesn't have a flask for us to boil water, the only decent looking water boiling device they have is a coffee maker, and it does live up to it's purpose. The entire machine reeked of coffee. Bought 2 gallons (approximately 6 litres) of water, 2 bottles of apple juice and 100g of assorted jelly beans. I love the supermarket here! It's like 2 times of carrefour with not even half of the crowd.

Met up with the other group who came via Tokyo in the evening for dinner at a Japanese restaurant. It was interesting watching the Teppanyaki chefs entertain us and other guests. Both food and service was good. Thanks, KW.

Great way to end the day!

I am beginning to suspect if Fengshui really works. After much hassle, I managed to convince my colleague to changing seats with me. Imagine I unpacking all my barang barang TWICE loh. (Once when I moved from the other building to this one and another time for changing seats). Now, I am supposed to be sitting in the direction best for attaining luck in love. 2 weeks has passed and nothing has happened loh! *cold stare* Argh. I am so pissed. (The pink crystal didn't work too. TMD. I'm getting a bigger one.)

It worked for my colleague okie! (she knew her current husband, got married and pregnant all in less than a year.) Wah lau! Is Cupid on leave or deliberately missing arrows when it comes to me?

It's another seemingly hot day. Well, I am enjoying the day recuperating well at home, careful not to put the pounds back though. The last 2 months at the gym was not easy at all. Wouldn't say the additional 2kg taken off during the time when I had Bronchitis was any easier, but at least it didn't come as a result of sweat and muscle-aches. Ha.

I am feeling extra chirpy today.

Finally, I'm going on my U.S. trip at the end of the month! It was previously scheduled in Jan, but got pushed back due to the delay of the project. I'm glad plans got confirmed. I'm coming, Xiaobai!

Our First Arrival!

Announcing the first arrival among my Jie Mei (s)... Baby Rebekah!

Baby Rebekah: (Yawns) Alamak, how come so many Jie Jie (s) staring at me ah?


With all Jie Jie (s) and Gor Gor.. (did anyone say Aunties and Uncle? Ha.)



I'm hungry!


Congrats to our new Mummy and Daddy!

Retail Therapy

After a whole 9 days of training (for work), I decided to pamper myself with some retail therapy. Met up with Piggy at Tampines in the afternoon. We thought it will be a good idea to check out the malls there, which apparently went through quite a lot of revamp over the years.

The once all-time-favourite hangout place during JC days... We started reminiscing the old days...

"Hah? You mean the BK is gone? Now change to Old xxxxx Kee???!!!!"

"Ah? What happened to Kenny Rxxxxx?"

"2 foodcourts in 1 mall? Siao ah?"

"OMG! Where is the printing shop where we had our class T-shirts printed? How come become LJS?"

Darn. I feel so OLD already.

Parted with Piggy around 6pm and guess what? The shopping bug got me and I decided to head down to Parkway for more therapy!

Wow... I am so glad I went because... GOT PASAR MALAM THERE! Muahaha. Haven't been to a pasar malam for a long time already sia. My favourite Taiwanese sausages, chicken wings and Ramly Burgers, here I come! Ehem, at this moment, how hard I had worked out at the gym last night did not matter anymore. Now, it is stomach over mind... hah.

Oh oh oh, and there was a pyjamas stall selling cheap yet not cheap looking pyjamas! Oh man... this pasar malam should have come before my pyjamas party mah!

More shopping as I ventured further to explore the shopping centre. WOW... sale here, sale there, sale everywhere!!! Things are not looking too good for my wallet indeed. Heh heh.

My conquests of the day:
A demin skirt,
A part of shoes,
A small birthday gift,
A top for work,
A pair of pants,
A set of pyjamas,
6 pairs of ankle socks and
1 working cum gym bag (which was bought with the help of Piggy at Robinsons some days ago).

Total damage to wallet: S$180. (I am so glad my Mum doesn't read my blog.)

It's another sleepless night.

I feel sad. I know why I feel sad. I hoped I could cry my heart out so I'll feel better, but my tear ducts doesn't seem to budge. This is making me very miserable indeed.