Gearing Up!

2010 is coming to and end, and towards the end of the year, I've been doing a loooot of planning! And new ventures too.
  • Taking up dance again, but letting go for latin/ballroom so that I do not have to depend on a partner
  • Hopefully taking Mandarin classes again.. if time and budget permits
  • Squash/badminton when I can
  • Sailing as usual. But I think I'm gonna be less competitive with this..
  • Traveling!
And work's going on higher gear now. Hopefully next year is a lot more fruitful than this. At least, I know life will be ;)

I know you still check on this rather often

But sorry I haven't been updating much

Love you tho :*

Happy Halloween!

A month rushed by and all sorts of things happened.

Let me start with a summary:

  1. In office: Switched portfolios. To a certain point, it's like getting a new job. It somewhat feels like I'm starting from scratch, except that I know where the folders are :P
  2. In sailing: I went for and secured fifth position with Team RSYC at the Malaysian Match Racing Champtionship 2010 in Kuala Terengganu. Being a crew is rather exciting xP
  3. In life: I'm feeling so fickle. At times I'm longing for someone beside me. At times I feel like I should appreciate some alone time.
In office: It's somewhat like a rollercoaster ride in the dark, not knowing what's gonna hit you next. Just when you're settling down and bracing for a turn, you get a drop :P But I'm not gonna elaborate on how I feel about it. I've ranted enough about it to some people :3 I do know Monday's gonna be a headache tho.

In sailing: 2010 sailing season is already over, and it's only October. But it ends around this time anyway due to the Raja Muda Selangor International Regatta being held in November. I still want to sail tho, hopefully will do some dinghy sailing :)

In life: I like how I'm spending time alone today, except for having lunch with some family members (aunts & cousins). It's not often I get this alone time, and having this opportunity allows me to focus on things related to me. Like my laundry, cleaning my room, sorting out documents and such.

Oh that reminds me, I have some research to do by tonight @.@

To Bangkok and Back

Last weekend, I participated in the inter central bank games in Bangkok. The last time I visited Bangkok, was when my big brother was sailing the Optimist in Pattaya... (Optimist sailing is only for 15 year olds and younger, that's how long ago it was)

A bunch of pics have been posted up on facebook, and I'll just leave it as that. Irene took this awesome picture on the bus tho: :D

We placed second overall, and in all games too, except squash who got first! Congrats guys! ^^

Bangkok, is seriously an awesome place to shop!

Anyway, I've been meaning to post stuff about life priorities, but I think I better not :P

Instead, I'm gonna update my shop list ^_^

Ps. The new ipod nano is suuuuper cute *_*

Neighbours

Random: I've been meaning to blog here for a while, but when I have the blogger window open, I become clueless. When that happened again today during lunch hour, I ended up reading Nan's blog which I find superb with her command of English and the way she writes. Thanks Nan! :D I really really enjoyed it!

How many people down the street from your house, do you actually know? How often have you invited them over for tea, or hang out together from time to time?

If those questions were asked now, it would probably be 'very rarely' or 'never'.

But if you asked me when I was younger than 11 years old, I'd say 'all the time'.

Back in my childhood neighbourhood of Bukit Damansara, we pretty much knew the people left, right, front, back and several houses away. We often hang out and play. Maybe it was because we were young and carefree?

Yet still, after I moved to PJ at the age of 11, I barely knew the people who lived in this multi storey complex. And since then, I've moved from condo to condo, even as a university student, I stayed in some student apartment in Sydney. But Sydney was good :D We knew a lot of neighbours and hung out together at times.

What is a neighbourhood lately? I'm honestly ashamed at times that I don't know my neighbour well enough. I can only tell which car is theirs, and what time they usually leave for work.. xD

Hopefully this year would change things. :) I'm trying.

So sick of being sick

Pretty much self-explanatory. I'm so tired, so exhausted. Yet I can't even rest decently.

Losing You. Slowly but surely.

Warning: emo post

I've watched you from afar. As you go further away. Your surroundings have changed. But I am no longer there.

What has happened?

The language you speak, is now foreign.
The radio channel you're listening to, is different.
There's somebody else in my seat.

I feel like I've lost you.

I tried to reach out, but your hand's not there.
I cried out, but you didn't hear me.
I teared, but you didn't notice.

My voice is gone.



Dear Diary,

It seems unbelievable. I left for an 18 day trip. It felt like I was away for a month.

It was a lovely trip, every single moment was spent to its best. Aside from a longer stay, I felt like nothing could be better. :) There was a good feeling of satisfaction there.

I then attended a course after two days back at work. But beginning of that course, I started to become sick. That gave me another two days of medical leave as I was suspected of dengue. Thankfully, it was negative, but I was nevertheless punctured twice to get blood out of me :P

On the road to recovery, the fasting month has arrived. I'm not 100% recovered yet, so all these raya goodies are off limits ;_; Can't wait till I can savour them :D yummmm

This week was actually the first full week back in office. And I'm glaaaad that's over!

Wow, hey, it's 4th of July already?

And again, time flew. I just got back from Langkawi today after a department's Family Day 2010. While I'm unpacking my stuff, I'm packing at the same time for my trip to Belgium this coming Saturday.

Oh gosh.. There's so much to do within this week! (Including Laundry :p)

and sending car to P16..

and exchanging money..

etc.

WHEEEE!!!

Two Weekends, Two Birthdays

Mum celebrated her birthday on Friday the 11th. Rudy celebrated his birthday today :)

There are times I do miss doing all sorts of planning for birthdays or any other events.

Yet, there are times, I'm tired of doing the planning all the time.

My next trip to Belgium, I'm barely planning it :D Regardless, ideas anyone?

When it rains

It pours.

Sudah jatuh, ditimpa tangga.

Shit happens. There will be times when many bad things happen at the same time. I may very well lost 'my love' yesterday, and as sad as I am about it, I somehow feel blessed in some ways. It feels like there's some sort of blessing in disguise, but I do not know it yet. I do wonder how I can feel rather optimistic like that while being pessimistic about the way things happened at the same time.

I am sad. But I tell myself, things can't really get any worse than they are, right? If it does, so what.. :P Shit happens.

At least, there's definitely good things to look forward to soon :)

Make it stop!

Was looking through baby-themed lolcats when I found an old favourite which I believe I've not posted here yet :D

funny pictures of cats with captions
see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Avoiding Responsibility

Random: funny so far the last three posts including today occurs on a day I filled up my car with petrol. I wonder if the sound of petrol entering my car fuel tank and the quiet sound of money going with it prompts me to write.

Responsibility. What a BIG word! Literally. So much can be said about this. But I'm not really a big fan of looong winding po'sts, so I'm just gonna write about how I am afraid to take on responsibility in a type of situation.

Referrals.

When I refer someone to something, I always worry about how the people involved feel. Like today I got two friends to sail with Jeff, and I can't help wondering if they're happy with today's sailing, and if Jeff's happy having the two on board.

If I refer some people, to a massage centre that I like, they may not like it! And if that happens, I'd feel responsible for them being unhappy.

Referring someone to the office?

Referring a friend to another friend?

These situations do exist, though with my tendency to worry, I'm often pessimistic with the outcome.

As time goes by, I'm trying to care less about things. I wonder how that may affect my responsible taking. But hey, like dad once said, there will be times when things don't go according to plan. Tough. Move on. :)

Let's be optimistic!

I'm Still At Home.. o.O

When I'm supposed to be in Pattaya right now!

Oh wells. ICBG got postponed on Monday. Only now I'm able to say something about it after we've all cooled down a bit at the frustration (not about not being able to go, but more so that we have to train much more till goodness knows when)

I can't remember much on what happened the week before, aside from daily training and sailing on the weekend. We managed first in the first series :D As for the platu series.. I'm kinda using it as a teaching/recruiting platform.. one at a time ;) Also, I bought Simcity on my iPhone.. Love it love it love it! Cost about 9.5 ringgit only! (For a game like that!). Sims 3 on my wishlist.. haha. No.. not planning to jailbreak. :p

This week.. a lil crazy. Sorting out the team a bit, training and stuff. Cheques, budget, rules, etc. etc. eek! That's not so much the crazy part tho. Just the part getting a bit sick, and not because I just took the h1n1 jab/vaccine, whatever you call it. It may seem that I throw up easily and stuff cuz my tummy's full of wind o.o Caused by eating too fast xD So trying to slow down my eating! But the sucky part was going to the panel clinic, since HR rejected my claims when I went to my family doctor -.- I waited about an hour, while I was only second in line, but the doctor had to dress up someone (what are nurses for?) and that took ages. Then the patient in line before me took ages. Then I took less than five minutes. I got prescribed stuff that I had over a month ago. I just wanna cure what's causing all this, not just the symptoms x.x So I just went to the pharmacy instead and became my own doctor.. :p haha, and feeling much better already. (thanks to googled stuff too!)

Anyhow, 7 more weeks to my big trip the 2nd! :D

The preparation for Pattaya

In two weeks, I'll be heading off to Pattaya, Thailand for the Inter-Central Bank Games. It would be my first time going for this annual games, participated by four countries: Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.

There's 5 games each year, including one indoor/board game, and this year, it's Chess ^_^

I feel lucky that I'll be surrounded by many familiar people including April, Jas and Rozai. I can imagine that it would be a blast!

Tho part of the preparation, is to learn up some kind of cultural dance to perform there later :S

My New Love

This post is rather overdue, but better late than never, right? ;)

Just over two weeks ago, 17 April to be precise, I found my new love.

My new love accompanies me wherever and whenever, with no complaints at all, and is willing to hear mine and entertain me whenever I ask for it.
It's also gonna make me live on instant noodles only for the rest of the year :P (jk!)
Anyhow, it did take me a while to decide, and to some point, I can't really figure out why I went for it. Even after I made my decision, I pondered a while thinking if I had made the right decision.

I think I did :D

Finally I'm able to enjoy the same love many others are enjoying at this moment ^_^

Lemme introduce "my new love~":

I'm such a sucker for gadgets at times... xP

Sure it took a big bite off my paycheck tho o.O

At what age should one get married?

With lots of weddings and tying the knot happening here and there, often the topic of 'right age' to get married pops up. I usually say, that there is no real "appropriate age" to get married, especially when you're surrounded by different traditions :P

Through observation, though not necessarily accurate, I often see the Chinese getting married in their late twenties or thirties. Or basically a lot more mature before getting married. (Perhaps also I was a lot younger then)

On the other hand, the Malays often get married in their early 20s, and by this I mean the women more than the man (whom usually settles down mid-late 20s).

And I'm of mixed parentage :P I know my mum would go wide-eyed if I mention marriage to her. Heck, even getting into a relationship makes her brows rise, full in query.

Then today I stumbled upon this article on MSN Today.

Eek, I'm 25!

Is the trend building up?

I remember someone (who was relatively a lot older than me) told me once. At around my age, we go about attending weddings or parties of newborns. Wherelse, people her age go around attending funerals.

And yet another person I knew since young has passed on. Sudden like the last? Perhaps so, but in entirely different circumstances. This time from a motor accident (Tho the actual cause may be surgery complications). The date of departure was yesterday, exactly a month after the passing of my aunt.

Often I'm reminded that my life here is a gift. And anytime, it may just disappear. All of us assume that it will last a very very long time. How safe is that assumption? But to be fair, what else can you assume?

Then come the quotes. Live today like there's no tomorrow, and such.

Nevertheless, life again, goes on. But it is always changing, no matter how much we resist naturally. Does embracing and adapting to change makes one live a happy life?

Axis Of Awesome - 4 Four Chord Song with song titles

Thanks Steven for sharing! XD

Questions and Painful Legs

*how was hockey?

Despite the annoying delay of all the matches by 40 minutes, and the fact that I'm so unfit, I did not faint on the field, and I really enjoyed the game. We came out 3rd out of 3 teams, but I had a lot of fun. I know I'd do it again next year.

Why did I take it up? I remembered holding the hockey stick once at school, and tried to stop a ball and hit it away. I quite liked that feeling. But never had the chance. And here, the girls team did not have enough players to even make a full field team. That's where I come in.

*how was the party?

The hockey matches delay and the captain's insisting on me staying for the last game (which weren't ours), caused all my plans on Saturday to go whacky. So doing all sorts of stuff in between, for the sake of getting things done at a cheaper 'price', totally wore me out before the party.

Because of doing errands, I caused April (who carpooled with me) and myself to be late for the dance class (part of the hen party). Thankfully, the trainer was late too, due to a flat tyre. We danced to "Single Ladies" by Beyonce, I've the video.. not sure if I'll upload it.. hmm ;o

Then rushed to Azura's place to shower and change for the dinner. I was famished by then, cuz of the hockey, I kinda missed lunch.

Dinner was ok, just thought my portion was a bit small, even tho it was one of the more expensive stuff on the menu. I was famished okay.. The place didn't really do much dancing.. But I was fine with that, I'm just too tired by night time.

*how was sailing?

Sailing started off ok, after a rough bump with arrangements. Imagine trying to arrange time and transport and stuff in the party while there's loud music and lots of people chatting around you. I felt a bit bad being antisocial.

The hectic part partially comes because I was taking Anuar sailing as well. Besides him getting back into sailing, he has to complete his CAS stuff for his International Baccalaureate by collecting more Activity hours. I couldn't confirm till that night if he had a spot on the boat as it was subjected to the owner's approval...

Then sailing itself was ok, we managed first after a long 1.5 hr race, but only fared 2nd in the 2nd race. At least it was a much shorter race back to the club.

Hurriedly ate some snacks, then drove back, stopping by at KFC for some dinner.

And so here I am, back at home, preparing for work and other things.

What the heck am I doing?

I remember giving up a bunch of stuff. On the basis that I lack time, now that I've started working.

And here I am, trying out and being committed to new stuff. Well, and some old stuff too.

Like this week,

Monday - Squash
Tuesday - Chess
Wednesday - Squash
Thursday - Chess (which I kinda skipped today)
Friday - Chess
Saturday - Hockey & Hen Party
Sunday - Sailing

Then there's still next week
Monday - Chess

And I'm too tired now to think beyond that. :P

Then again, I realised today, that some of the activities I've given up upon, lacked one important factor: friends

Is it peer pressure? I don't think so. I do admit I do enjoy these activities. And often I'm envious of some people in my department who seem to be doing twice the stuff I'm doing. Some with families too! How does one juggle the time? How much sleep do they get? o.O

Maybe if I had a cat! I'd be compelled to go home earlier :D

Still, I'm questioning myself: Lots of people say my health issues is due to stress. Are all these activities relief the stress, or add to it?

Back to the [Chess] Board

After 8 years since the last competition I joined for chess, I'm back in it :o Really one of the things I love about working in the Bank is the activeness in sports and other activities. This year I'm hoping to be selected as one of the 3 girls going to the Inter-Central Bank Games (ICBG) in May. I hope I could pick up the skills again and stuff. My colleague says a bit of practice and training would do me lots of good. After many rounds of chess since last month, I'd ask, why did I ever leave this game again? (Tho I do know the answer.. I started sailing again competitively XD)

At least, looking back at my past involving chess wasn't too hard. And I doubt that the rules for competition have changed much. I'm most glad to be able to find my old scorebooks o.O


It feels rather nostalgic to go through my old games. May give me an insight, to how I used to play last time. Now I just have to look for my chess board and pieces :P

I was such a kid when I played actively back then o.o


And I'm loving it! :D This calls for a new tag!

Love Mistakes

Now I'm no guru, so I do enjoy reading from time to time articles from MSN's lifestyle section on the subject matter. I like to read these things and work out what's best for me, and what I can do better. Let me make it clear tho, while there are lots of positive advice, I don't necessarily agree with all. But that's rare too :)

The latest article I read, which was today, was on Love Mistakes and I was just looking at the 5 items mentioned. How true! There was so much stuff there so relatable, just the idea itself, not necessarily with the examples. And not necessarily from personal experience either. I'd so share more, but doing so may have to end up with me making this blog private :p

Three visits, one week

Quick weekly update is me finally going to see the doctor for continuous nausea that's starting to get more frequent. After many throwing ups, I went to the doctor whom was very keen to believe that I was... well, what do you think of generally of women having nausea :p Anyways, after confirming that it's impossible unless with divine intervention, she changed my medication, in which I seem to be responding better to.

It's now been two days since I've stopped puking :) All that irritation to the throat has caused a sore throat and subsequently a flu :( And so I missed sailing today *cry*

Eek, work tomorrow.

Anyhow, I managed to at least celebrate April's bday yesterday with a bunch of friends :) Watched Clash of the Titans on Gold Class, and now enjoying a series of Glee thanks to her ^^ I must say, I'm blessed to be around friends like her :) Hoping all the best and goodness for the years ahead, and Happy Birthday! ^_^

Life goes on

In the last 4 months, I've lost 3 relatives. Two to cancer, one to old age.

Some hits you harder than others, regardless the cause. Yesterday's loss was one of the harder ones.

Some things are unpredictable, life and reality can hit you at any random time. When that happens, choices have to be made. These choices will affect others. I used to worry about the consequences of my choices, but now I tend to believe the best of others. :)

I was definitely not prepared for yesterday. But at least, I believe I made the right choices. If there was a right choice or wrong choice in the first place :P

Anyhow, I marveled at the fact that the rest of the world is oblivious to what's happening to a little family, showing how relatively minute we are in this big world.

How can I ever be prepared? Regardless on how big or small chances are for tragedy to strike, the chance is still there. Would that be enough reason to get some things in life done fast?

I remember once participating in a Relay for Life back in UNSW, and if there was one nearby KL now, I'd definitely try to go for it. There's one coming in June, but it's in Penang. So those nearby there.. try going for it!

Screw the assumptions

I can't be bothered to rethink stuff at times :P But anyhow, assumptions can be really dangerous, and should be treated with caution! With that, I won't elaborate further on my last post! :P

On the other hand, experiencing work is very life changing. One of the most challenging tasks for me, is prioritizing. Especially with many different stakeholders, I've gotta learn to understand the matters to attend to. And how to attend to them.

It's a very steep learning curve. I can only hope I'm forgiven for being darn slow :P

Seeing the world get darker from behind the office window, is certainly a weird feeling. To have most people still around, having dinner with you, also gives me a weird feeling. It's like, I've finally started to belong to the FS department.

Two steps at a time ^^ (or maybe 3)

The "Danger" of Assumptions

Lately you may see me often asking many questions in a conversation. It may seem like dumb questions or rhetorical questions. I like to clarify better now. Because I've been experiencing all sorts of things go wrong because of assumptions. They may be small incidents, but still, it's no fun!

Once was the assumption that I was in P16 instead of Surian. Rudy was waiting for me in P16 lobby, while I was waiting at Surian lobby. I assumed he knew I was in Surian, while he assumed the other. Luckily we didn't miss our movie.

I had more examples, but I forgot them right now. tbc


funny pictures of cats with captions
see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Mah point~ don't assume!

Anger & Patience

So much anger over this long weekend. Some for reasons unknown. What does one do when there's anger against most people around her?

Who can she rant to now?

How much longer to be patient?

When is it time to finally give up?

Where is the sanctuary..? Oh, I should know this one.

___________________________________________________

I'm surprised my arms feel ok after going for skytrex

So sad it's already Sunday, back to the office, where everything restarts, while work due last month is still there. It only gets harder?

Wait wut..

It's the 25th already?? Where did time go?

Another long weekend (altho just 3 days) is here, and all sorts of things, I think, have been lined up.

Time does fly. But when you're really anticipating something months away, time doesn't fly fast enough.

二十五年,一个星期以后。。。

The week went by quickly. So did the nice looong weekend :)

Chinese New Year was filled with fun and food. And there'll be more!

This year's birthday celebrations involved a lot of food. A scrumptious dinner with colleague friends, organised by Lol-prilz at Tony Romas, Midvalley - Gardens :D

by April Siow

Family took me to Halia, at Sime Darby Convention Centre, for an awesome BBQ Buffet! (sorry no pics of that!)

It was eat eat eat (no wonder I weigh 49 kgs now) for all of us. And since my sister-in-law and I share the same birthday, it has now become some sort of tradition to have a family dinner on the night of our birthday. Rather fun meeting up at the restaurant, greet-hugging her and saying Happy Birthday! and she'd do the same for me, and we'd laugh xD

Presents this year? (besides the OM NOM NOM) None, except for some e-cards, a card from mum, and a couple of bags from mum too ^^ On my birthday mum asked me if I prefer to go for a spa as a birthday treat or *something I can't remember what*. I initially chose Spa, but later told her I've intended to get a proper work/handbag since the one I've been loyally using for years (yes, that Reebok bag I've been using since UiTM days) has started to shown signs of wear and tear :(

So in the end, I opted for a bag for my birthday pressie :) And on the spur of the moment, mum decided to get me two! We bought the bags from Robinsons, The Gardens/Midvalley. :D

Since I did a bit of shopping yesterday too, time to cross out some stuff from my wishlist/shopping list ^_^

Ow ow ow, I forgot to mention, that I've bought my tickets to Belgium too! (exactly on my birthday too :D)

Yesterday

I turned

25

It's only the beginning

The graduation is over, but there's still lingering stuff about NEP going about. Things like thank you notes, recycle-able items, props and stuff is yet to be settled. At least, it has now taken less than 5% of my office time! :D

But that does not mean I'm shaking my legs a lot in office. There's still quite a lot to do, and I'm hoping to juggle things well. Work and off-work. I do wonder how to reason about not being that type that stays in the office morning to night. Not that I'm against it, and not to say I'm not passionate about my work. I'm just too passionate.. about too many things xD

Tho I'd like to be passionate about my work. Doing that makes me feel good with what it comes with: my earnings. Basically, I don't want to work because I have to. I want to work because I like to. But me running off from the office doesn't mean the other way. Like I said, there are other things I enjoy too!

Soon, my weekends will be dedicated to sailing again. Oh how I want to go further from where I am now. Besides that, other things I'd like to do is play squash, attempt to discipline myself to go gym again, and attempt to improve my Mandarin.

There are things that I've let go due to overstretching myself... one of them being dancing. :(

Oh well, it's still only the beginning! :)

(Btw, I haven't gotten any pics/vids from the actual grad night yet)

The Pioneers Changing

I've disappeared from this blog for two weeks for one reason. Jan 28th, the first BNM Executive Programme officially graduated with a disco-themed dinner, hosted by DG Razif. My involvements include the Creative Team, as a performer and a scriptwriter (tho I only wrote the lyrics to the song "Change Do You Good" by Sheryl Crow, and heading the Awards Team where I prepared a 'special' award for each participant. Here's mine:

:D

Checkout ze rehearsal photos~

And look, we have a rehearsal video too!




In the preparation of the awards, I learned about this spiffy photo programme called Photoscape from @p. :D That's why you see the photos a lil different now. Whee!

Hoping to get more photos of the dinner itself and more. It was such an experience, SO glad to be able to experience it :D

We are the pioneers!

Introducing two new additions to the family

Here's SHCAMPER and CHEWMIL! :3

They're named by Rudy & Faizah, and the 'weird' spelling is contributed by 'cute talk' :)

Shcamper's the male orange tabby, estimated to be about 4 months old, adopted from Zoo Negara's vet clinic. They have a bunch of stray/abandoned cats and kittens there, looking for a new home!While Chewmil's a female adult black/grey tabby, no idea how old she is, adopted from SPCA where there's a lot more cats & dogs hoping to be adopted soon. Apparently Chewmil's been in there for quite long (like about a year?).

Here's Rudy looking pretty content ^_^

I want one too! :3

What's a fever without the cough and cold?

What a way to start 2010!

On Wednesday, I started feeling the chills and feeling very uncomfortable in the office. My appetite's gone and I could hardly think. (Yes, I do think ok). I was supposed to have a meeting Wednesday afternoon, but at lunch time, I felt really nauseous, so I postponed the meet, took EL and went home just after lunch time.

I ended up having a temperature of 39 C / 102.2 F not long after I arrived home and rested in bed. Besides that, I was throwing up whatever I ate followed by a massive headache.

Pretty much the rest of Wednesday and the whole of Thursday was spent in bed. I visited the doctor Thursday morning whom says what I have may be attributed to stress. :P

Somehow managed to muster enough energy to go to the office on Friday o.O It was a busy day. The throwing up still happened, once at work, and many times after. But Friday was the day the diarrhoea began. Without the stomach pain.

Anyway, whatever it is, it's weird. Saturday was better, and I went out a bit. To fetch Schramper and Chumil! :D I'll introduce them later.

Sunday's good. Looks like no more throwing up today. Normal appetite's not back yet tho

2010 has come!

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!!!

ALL THE BEST! FROM THIS YEAR AND BEYOND!

Lov,
Ayin
 

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