What i want (and have gotten so far) for Christmas

Here's what i want for Christmas:

1. All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth (when I had that missing when I was 9)
2. Want a plane that loops the loop
3. A hoola hoop!!!

(Gary's going to be SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO pissed)

Here's what i've gotten so far:

1. Scented candles (gift exchange)
2. Royce Chocolate (from colleague)
3. Body shop - Passion fruit shower foam and a strawberry shower foam (also from colleague)
4. Chocolate from colleague (dunno where it came from)
5. shower cap (from Ruiqi)
6. HK Disneyland candy (also from Ruiqi - the box is pretty cute)
7. Ma gua rabbit handphone charm (also from Ruiqi who got it from JB)
8. Magnets from Taiwan (from Shuping)

What i REALLY want for Christmas

1. Someone to help me clear my room * (i really want this)
2. A cushion for my chair
3. A new pillow for my bed
4. A second pillow for my bed (so that i can be surrounded with pillows)
5. A new quilt
6. A cup for office
7. A new bag (medium sized one - that i can bring to office)
8. A half cardigan
9. A new skirt
10. A new top
11. Containers to store my stuff in my room

Hee. Hope Gary is reading this..

I'm back (for now.....)

I've nothing to write. at least, i'm not in thinking mode for now. This is because of a few things.

1. I haven't had coke for like two weeks (eh.. the without ice version)
2. I just ended a very tiring 4 weeks of work. Why is this more tiring than the last few months? This is so because I have to plan a performance for Xmas party for my office. The story goes: People in my office decided that Xmas party celebration in the mid of Dec would be fun and would have more people attending. However, this was (in my opinion) wishful thinking on their parts. Not that I do not support the idea, just that it could be improved. They said that the people in the office would be divided into 5 groups with each group being in charged of a theme -- they gave us 5 themes, ranging frm 1940s to 2000. There would be 3 parts to the competition, namely, Decor, Santa and Performance. So my group was in charged of the 1980s -- Mambo Jambo theme. The era of loud colours and "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"-like songs. A lot of planning is needed, and a lot of support from my team mates are required to ensure success. Did I mentioned I was the group lead? Ya. So I'm very lucky to have a group of pretty supportive team mates (save for one, but as that is a nonetity, he's not worth a mention) and everything worked out fine. We lost to the first group by 1 point. But all agreed they deserved the win. Anyway, this sapped most of my energy.
3. Lastly, I'm have a very bad tummy these few days. Probably coz i've been working too many OTs and having dinners at 10pm everyday, and it's giving me some digestive system problems.

But anyway, the performance was great fun. My group had loads of fun, but to be honest, it is not something which i wanna do next year or anytime soon. I just need lots of rest and sleep. Not been sleep well too, because of my tummy problems. But hope everything works out soon. Yawn. I need to catch up on sleep BADLY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh gosh... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..........

I wanna buy a new flute too. but it is going to set me back by at least S$1k. I have to find ways to "give birth" to the money. ok lah. i can see steam coming out of my head from overworking it typing this blog. time to go rest...... zzz..............

Good news

Gary came over yesterday. And we talked about all kinds of things. One of them is about this PSP that our brothers recently aquired.

He mentioned he wanted to get a PSP too. For us. And if i'm not wrong I have to be the one to do some "research" for it. Things like where to get the best bargain, the available colours (6 of them - black, ceramic white, pink, metallic blue, silver, and champagne gold - but they are not all available in Singapore though. Think the champaign gold version is not available here.. I'm not too sure.)

Well, since he said he'll buy one for us, I'll just have to patiently wait till the day he has the time to buy for us.

public transportation

for the last few months i've been struggling on the CROWDED train! WTH......... typical singaporeans. it's just frustrating. out of curiosity, why don't people just move in when they board the stupid train....

When I was overseas, i never hear annoucements telling people to move in "to the centre of the car". Pretty funny right??? ah well.. just like that lo.

Actually i'm pretty tired to complain le la. I just wanna break in my new pink keyboard that's all.. and i got nothing better to say apart from what i see everyday.

Ok time for me to go to bed and rest. I got a pretty bad flu....

Courses I wanna take (if i have the time)

I was surfing the People's Association website today. I am NOT using company's time to do that. In fact, my office is closed today and I am typing this bloggie in the comforts of my own home's computer area (the place where I put my computer.. duh...............).

Anyway, I saw a few courses which I would like to take IF i have the time. Here's the list:

1. Guzheng
2. Chinese Orchestra (where they allocate you the Chinese Orchestra instrument)
3. Japanese Drum
4. Piano (from Lowrey Music School)
5. Violin

Yep, all instruments. Haha. I haven't lost interest in music even though I lost that somewhat in Uni. I think the absence of certain person have allowed the revival of the interest in me. At least music is no longer commercialised as it was when I was in University. Kinda hate it when everything's about commercialisation, and making it to the publications, newspapers, etc. Doesn't help that I am very different from those people in the group. So I left the group in Year 3, after I stepped down from the committee. Enough's enough i think. But well, i want to pick it up again, though not in the same sense. Still hope that I can master the many many instruments. I love learning new instruments. Make me feel knowledgable,............ kekekekeke hahahahaha

Selamat Hari Raya peeps!

update?? update wat???

i was told to update again.. update wat???

i dunno wat to write leh.... (after 5 mins of thinking).............. (another 5 min of thinking)... ok.. i think i know.. wahahahaha..

Gary just bought a new (well relatively new.. he got it a few weeks ago) game called Catan (the card game version). Let me give you a little insight to the game. It is a settlement development game. The aim is to get 12(base) or 13(expansion) victory points. For more details, refer to http://www1.freewebs.com/curry-pot/cardgaming2.htm --> Gary's webby.

Here's the score as of 30 Sep 07:

• Base game: Candice (3) Gary (a big FAT 0)
• Expansion: Candice (nil) Gary (2)

haha. I am so lousy at the expansion. Probably because I am really not sure how to use all the extra cards. haha.. but well.. at least he's good at something!!! heeheehee... wahahahahahah..

The cost of a good game (S$80), a good place to play in (S$4 - my travel expenses), the thrill of winning Gary again and again (PRICELESS!!!)

Gary ranks the games in his blog. But because he is so lousy at this game, I think his game score is really biased. So I shall provide a more objective ranking for THIS game in my blog too.

• Time requirement: 8/10 (can take pretty long sometimes)
• Ease of beating Gary (base game): 11/10 (i've never lost to his before)
• Ease of beating Gary (expansion): 7/10 (i've never beaten him before.. but the score's getting closer.. so i'll beat him someday)
• Replayability factor : 12/10 (I don't mind winning him all the time in something..)

wahahahaha..

My dreams (and Gary's nightmare)

Gary asked me to update my blog. At first, I have no idea what to write. Then it all came to me.

Gary and I have a dream. To stay together. But then.. I have bigger dreams. I'll highlight it here. Openly for everyone to see. It'll be the worst day of Gary's life.

1. IF he were EVER to propose to me, I want it to be in a VERY crowded place (like in the middle of Orchard Road) or when we go see fireworks
2. I don't really want a very lavish ring or dinner, I just want something that is thoughtful and something that can remind me and us of this day.
3. Honeymoon need not be to Europe/ Australia/ Asia/ South Africa/ any exotic places. Just a nice cruise will do. One week or so should be enough.
4. I want my own place. A small 3-room will suffice. Because I like small cozy places. Big house will only magnify the emptiness of the place.
5. Though I know I dun have any control over the tiles, I want a brown-beige themed place. Like a chalet. This will give me a chance to imagine myself living in Banyan Tree all the time.

Hee. That's all I dream. Haha and I think Gary's scared. Why? If anyone who knows him wll enough will understand that he hates point 1.

Hee.

To Gary: You told me to write, I wrote. =P

My (Our??) future?

Having been working for the last month and a half, it's only natural for me to think about this very important question -- "where next".

Let me take stock of my own life. I've got a family consisting of my mum, dad, sis, bro, grandparents and aunt. I've also got a boyfriend of 4 years (which isn't very long, though many would beg to differ). I've got a relatively good career (though i still keep messing up in my job regardless of how hard i try). So what now?

It looks as if I've got everything that many would like to have. It doesn't mean that I'm satisfied.. Much.. There's still something missing.

Round Gary came yesterday. We planned to have a day to ourselves only (which is getting rarer as the months pass). We're played Halli Galli (which I lost EVERY SINGLE ROUND) and Game of Life (I lost one -- by about $300k, and won one -- by about $600k). and we talked about a whole lot of things and us.

Well, about the us part. It was pretty hilarious. I told him a story about a Korean show I watched some time ago. And we had a laugh about it. Then I told him that if we were to be living together, then he had to "obey" certain "prohibitions". He asked what they were. And they were:

• cannot go overseas without me (unless it's for business) -- he said "ok"
• must let me know who he's meeting (especially if it's the opposite sex) -- he said "ok" too

cannot think of anything else, I started putting in conditions for staying together.

• Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, it's his duty to wash the plates -- he said "he's having 2nd thoughts"

Funny right? I can restrict his personal life but cannot get him to participate in household chores. Haha. Well it's all a joke still.

Think about it, we're still young, and we still value our freedom (more me than him I guess). But as a female, I guess I still have dreams of how the proposal and the wedding could be conducted.

Haha. I still want my proposal to be a romantic one (though it's not going to be possible with our dear Gary being so un-romantic.. I can always hope that he'll change because of that special day right??). I also want my wedding to be superb-ly classy and nice. But of course, it's still early days. And I still won't give him any answer if he asks now. HAHAHA... because of financial and logistical issues (go figure that out yourselves)

Heeheehee.. So HINT TO GARY: just spoil me just this once k????

my graduation pictures..

here are my pictures taken on my convocation (actually it's commencement) day and the day my friends and I went back to school to take. not really cam whoring la.. only took about a few pics (mine's around 60 or so la...).. hee.... enjoy bah.. unfortunately i dun have much choices in the song choice...i chose the one the i like best (of the whole lot la)....

commencement aint very much fun to be honest.... know why.. cos i fell asleep... can't believed the number of times i yawned throughout the 5 hours ceremony!! YES!!!!!!!! OMG!!! 5 hours!!!! lemme run you through the commencement ceremony.

first, we reported at 12.15pm in Suntec City; 1pm we entered into Hall 601 for the university wide ceremony. University wide ceremony took about 2hours with (lemme count) 4-5 speeches by guests and another 2 speeches by the Valedictorian (vaguely knew who she was) and then the Salutatorian (dunno who he is). The speeches are followed by the conferral of degrees by the deans.. my dean gave a very "WOW" speech.. well everyone went "wow" when she said it.. because she said she expecte to see us being future --> Senior Partners, CFOs, FCs, and whatever positions that garner the highest power in the finance world.. so people.. watch out for the SoA graduates.. we're graduating with LOADS of ambition.

At 3pm, we left Hall 601 to go to our respective room for our respective School's degree award ceremony. I fell asleep there too (after I took my degree scroll). hee.. but i had to sleep discreetly cos me in front row (my name starts with C you know.. so me in front).. hee. the whole thing ended at 5pm.. after that.. the photo taking sessions started. haha.

Then the week after we went back to school for photo taking sessions. and here are the results.. hee... I'VE GRADUATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES!

i've shot for the moon and landed!!!!!!!!!

hey all,

a harrowing week it has been last week. I've been actively job hunting... for accounts/ finance/ business development/ management trainee/ etc. I know it's a lot, seeing that i've no experience and all. this is like shooting for the moon.

but i've landed... i have found a job as an accounts executive................................ paying me quite a good salary (above my expected). i'm very excited now... YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

funny things i see in application forms

i've been actively searching for jobs since i left the horror company.

and there is always a qn i have at the back of my mind:

"why do people ask for character references who have no relationship with you and yet state the word "relationship" in the character reference section?????"

so odd....................................................

???

hmmm.. life's interesting eh. first i landed a job i'd love to hate, then i'm looking for a job that i might hate to love.

plus on top of that.. uncle goh has decided to join this singapore boardgamers' group. OMG. to be honest. i'm highly suspicious of these dodgy groups. i'd rather stay with a group i'm comfortable with. now he's going for this gathering. sigh. looks like he's out to meet new people and i'm still stuck with my current group.

that's odd.

miss him so.

sigh.. after a long week of work, i have not closed any sales. and the thing is i am worried about my future. lucky my mentor told me that it is a common phenomenon. I am not that worried now. although there are a lot of surpressed anguish at the stuff i'm getting at work sometimes, i am lucky to have one guy in my life and that's (no surprise) Gary.

He's been around me all the time, comforting me, making me feel better although 90% of the time i am just spewing words after words of anger at the people i met for interviews and what they do to me.

i really miss having him around me all the time. stupid me got too used to his continuous presence in my life just before i started work. so guess what, it hurts thinking about him especially when i dun have work to distract me. tough but challenging first week, just the way i enjoyed it (i get bored when a job gets too boring). =)

i'm just very thankful for him being around. talking to me evening after evening. thank you for being a pillar of support when i really needed it. thanks. i do hope this job works for me as you said many many many times. =)

i don't usually do this on my blog. but then.. i really love you dear.. =D

phases of our lives

seeing that the start of the next 40 years of my life is approaching.. i think it's a good idea to view my life in phases, so that life won't be too boring!

Phase 1: the Carefree years

From the time you are born till the time your parents decided to enrol you in childcare where they teach you how to read, write and sing song... (maybe 2-3 years)

Total = 2 to 3 years

Phase 2: the Mugging Phase
pre-school (if any) = 1-2yrs (??)
Nursery = 1 yr
Kindergarden = 2 yrs
Primary School = 6 yrs
Secondary School = 4-5yrs
JC or Poly = 2-3 yrs
University = 3-4 yrs
Masters = ?
Doctorate = ??

Total = 19yrs to as long as it takes to get your doctorate

Phase 3: Working

for as long as you work and longer. The retirement age now is 65 yrs.. Average life span is 77 yrs for a typical Singaporean (from http://www.singstat.gov.sg/papers/snippets/life.html). This meant that there is a gap of 8 yrs before we all "gua le". We take out the money in our CPF by 55 yrs. Most of us start work when we're around 20 yrs to 30 yrs old for both gender. this meant that we spend 35 to 45 yrs working our hearts out (PROVIDED we retire at 65).

but retirement do not necessarily mean not working any more in singapore terms. there are elderly still working till when they past retirement age. because they need to survive. suppose i assume that i OFFICIALLY stop working at 70yrs, the total number of years in phase 3 would be...

total = 40 to 50 years!!!!!!! OMG

Phase 4: Retirement years

after counting the number of years in phase 3, i'm no longer interested in counting for this phase.... boo

===========================================================

so... i was wrong in the beginning of this post... the start of the next 40 to 50 (!!) years of my life is in 2 days time.... shitified....... so for those still studying.. if you think you are going through shit.. think again.. that shit you are going through is small case (less than half) as compared to what you are going to go through after you graduated.... so enjoy your studies while you STILL can... meanwhile.. i'll try to prepare myself for 40 to 50 years of waking up at 6am every morning and dragging my feet to work.. boo.....

Taiwan Pics

Here are the pictures taken before, during and after the taipei trip

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Day 1



just before departing

lunch on board (looks deli no?)

Entrance to our room. Wer're tucked away in a corner (very cosy right?)

rooms are connected.. so nice

here's how the room looked like (very messy hor.. actually, this room is the neat one)

The MRT system of Taiwan (very complicated no?)

The MRT station near our hotel





This is their MRT card. Lotsa design (like old days yeah?)

dinner menu (in Shilin Night Market) --> please note the "hong shao chou dou fu"

"Hong shao chou dou fu" --> doesn't taste too bad. but smells horrid (all thanks to Peiru lo)

View outside hotel room

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Day 2

Us before setting our for our Day 2 program (the day that killed us)



Taipei City map in Japanese!!! The katakana reads as (Shi Di Ma Pu).. Most part of the city have signs in 3 languages (English, Chinese and Japanese). Proves that learning Japanese is useful.

esLite Cheng Pin Shu Dian (very big leh. so many books.. a lot of variety. though i cannot say much for their fiction section -- that's a little outdated)

Taipei 101 in the day

My breakfast Mister Donut, which is near Taipei 101 (the hotel breakfast ain't fantastic la)

The Living Mall. We took an hour to get their from Raohe Night Market (that's the walk that killed us. Our feet are aching like crazy)

it's 25 degrees that night.. amazing right.. they report the temperature on almost all tall buildings!!

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Day 3:

Early in the morning, after breakfast, we went to Taipei Main Station for our trip to Taichung





It's 27 degrees outside!!!!!





Us in the Station waiting for our train





Lookie what we saw in the station (i wondered who sat on it.. heehee)





This is the normal train travelling between cities





Ours is the semi-express train (that only stops at certain stations). Here's the interior (pretty eh?)





Me in the neat, clean train!!!





Cross junction near Fengjia Night Market (in Taichung)





Notice it's raining (we're more or less caught in the rain)





we came back victorious!!! so many things (see??)

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Day 4

Us in Longshansi Station



Having Caramelized Apple (it's very nice leh!!)


A whole display of caramelized apples!!!! hungry leh. and they are so cute.. too bad we can't buy it back for our family and friends!

An apple up close.. this apple probably doesn't help keeping doctors away bah...

Von and I outside the shop selling caramelized apples (waiting for Ser Yin and Peir to be done shopping...)


The famous Ah Zhong Mian Xian (no tables and chairs. Everyone stands and eat bowls and bowls of piping hot noodles)

Mango Ice (bought the wrong one). The ice in this bowl is too coarse (it should be snow ice type)

Interior of the shop that sells shaved ice



Gone crazy after eating shaved ice

Peiru's supposed to be smiling.. grrr

Ferris Wheel in Miramar (very high!!!!). Very scary

View outside our cabin (so nice right?) the cabin's pretty cosy leh.. only 4 of us. so unlike the up and coming Singapore Eye (seat 30 people)..

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Day 5


On the way to the Airport (5am in the morning - don't look like right?? very bright outside)





Me in the transport towards the airport





Our luggages (the check in limit = 80kg, our total check in weight = 59kg). unbelievable eh..





in the airport le.. on our way back le.. we're nearing the chek in counter





In the plane on our way back (sobs). I'm seating next to von!!

View out of my plane window (i got window seat) - cool eh.. hee... but thereafter i conked out for 4 hours out of the 4.5 hours flight.. i even skipped on board breaky... hee...

new wishlist

i'm gg Paradigm Infinitum (PI) - this place that sells 另类 games - tomorrow. here's what i'm gg to be looking at.

1. Settlers of Catan Card Game (heard it's not as good as the board game. but since it's 2 players.. well.. only me and fatty gary playing.. i guess..........)
2. Saboteur
3. Pompeii (this waste time, mindless game. i loved the idea of throwing screaming pawns into the volcano.. *evil laughter*)
4. and many more which i can't recall @ 2.25am in the morning.. i better go sleep soon..............

me ASOC day dinner pics (sorrie ah took so long to upload)

it's not a lot la. most of my pictures are with xj, yanling and nic. hee... very boring if i keep putting up the pictures of the same few people.. so i presented a few only lo.. hee..

this is before we went into dinner (from left: xj, yan ling & yours truly)

I kinda like this photo (especially the background).. and it makes me look thin.. hee..

together with eugenia and alicia. mates from ASOC (obviously). we took a few classes together. but didn't really talk till we met in IT & the law class (last term - i think!)

here's the group that braved strategy and basic jap with me!!

i didn't really enjoy uni life in the beginning cos i haven't really found people who share the same interests (e.g. idol dramas, chinese pop). but by and by, i was lucky enough to meet up with more people through various activities. after meeting these people, i really really had a fun time. had fun bitching and slamming stupid rubbishy profs. hee.. you guys made my uni life worth looking back upon. heehee...

to those that are not "featured" here - there are actually a lot of others not in here, i'm really sorry i didn't take photo with you (maybe cos i left dinner early or u didn't turn up!!). even though you can't get to show your lovely face here, you guys still made my time in uni worthwhile. hee..