just when i had mentioned how life is unpredictable in a very recent post, sth happened today that made me think - u really dunno wad is coming round the corner.

was knocking off and taking the lift down, and saw two tenants heading to the lobby from the opposite end of the floor( our bldg has lots of tenants housed in offices like mine). as I still do not know alot of the tenants there, I tot I shld be friendly and just smiled at the 2 gentlemen - 1 indian & 1 caucasian.

when the lift door closed, I heard the indian speak:

'so are you in consulting or IT?'

it took me split seconds to realise he was talking to me because the caucasian was obviously his colleague. and I casually replied consulting and told him wad we do.

'so if I want to apply for a grant you can help me?'

I tot he was just making small talk, but I soon realised he was serious - they were really gonna apply for a grant but dunno how to. and we exchanged namecards outside the lobby... just when I saw my boss's car drive by and long enough for me to see his puzzled face as to why I was stnading there with the 2 unfamiliar men.

so you see? a short lift ride can even lead to potential customers. gosh.

oh, at first when I haven't seen who was spking to me I tot it was the caucasian man who spoke though. the typical stereotyping. yeah... we're all an occasional culprit of tat aren't we? :X surprisingly, from the brief eye contact we exchg & his body language, the caucasian is the shyer guy there.

hmm. let's hope this really leads to sth good. prove my 'usefulness' at work.

tml is a dreadfully boring day. this time boring because of the work, not because there's none. there are a few things I have to iron out abt some proposals tat is starting to get on my nerves. just getting the information alone needed quite a lot of email exchgs because the consultant guy gave us 6 cases in one shot.

and I end up doing all the proposal & coordination shit. boo.

this is an extension of my FB status today - the ironies of life... now that tradeshow is over, the workload is much lesser. because new work haven come in yet and I'm pretty idle in the office.

today I'm basically going over old work to find new things to do. reading the news. chatting. playing bejeweled :X oops. and after lunch my boss even suggested we have coffee. which is weird. because my boss DOESN'T drink coffee. he only drinks tea.

an obervation I've made in the recent months:

sometimes when I don't go to Jer's house or during random hrs of the day... I'm chatting more often with his first younger sister. the one closest to age in me. at first I tot we had the least to talk abt. maybe becos she was usually not home. but it could be due to our similarity in age and that we're both working... that actually I have the most to talk abt with her than any of her sisters. well of cos, we are very different in personality. but still, we can go on n on chatting sometimes. but if I were to say hi to the other two sisters on msn, it'll just go on a while and stop. heh.

so... its funny the way things happen sometimes. you click with the person you least expect to. well... this is life!


P.S to Jer: so you probably know who's the little bird now :P

my monday was never simpler. but I wouldn't ask for more (:

becos the boyfriend is having an exam soon, I tot I shld do sth to make him feel motivated. or maybe I shld say, give him the time to study. cos I don't think he's motivated. haha!

anyway, I didn't call to make plans like we usually do but the bf offered to send me home from work. and when I got on his car guess what he said?

'so where are we going?'


lol. like my 'sacrifice' was wasted cos I noe his heart doesn't lies in revision. haha. anyway... we went to get our mr bean ice cream fix and took a short walk around Jurong Safra to explore the facilities. all in all it was like less than 2 hrs. but still... its one of those quality times spent where u feel gd even though it was a short meet-up?

baby, I know you'll see this... so I hope my 'sacrifice' will be worth it eventually, get u in the mood for studying. jia you! you can do it! (:

after a long week of pre-preparations and attending the tradeshow, I was planning for a good long post for reflections. although the crowd wasn't as much as expected, overall it was still a good event to participate, in terms of the brand exposure our clients got and some solid follow ups for of our own that will hopefully materialise.

well, this tradeshow has definitely been a great learning experience for me. I knew our clients better, understood their system (& in turn, franchising) more... and I think I sorta built up the confidence they have in me. becos many realised that I was just with my boss for a few months, and freshly graduated. they seem impressed and told me that they could not tell. I think it was mainly becos of the way I tried to be calm even though I may be like panicking when people ask me things I don't understand. how shld I put it... its like the way I carry myself, they didn't think I was so young and 'fresh' (in the workplace that is, don't let ur thoughts run wild eh!) because I seem mature for my age.

and yeah, luckily I am not those type who is very secretive and concerned abt age. so I take it as a compliment when they say 'oh you are so young, I couldn't tell!'. let's just say I was also eager to prove to my boss that I can do work fine... and my clients told him that he's fortunate to have hired me and I am seriously glad that someone said it to him. but let's hope he'll appreciate it.

ever since the appraisal I've been like filtering my thoughts and second-guessing what he says. its so tiring. and I've said this more than once so maybe even as u read u're getting tired of me saying this too.

I mean for a small company you need to have more trust between colleagues and u have no choice but to open up more... becos its just u! even if u don like it, u are very much tog most of the times. which is why I am hesitating to commit to this job now becos of all these. gosh. its bothering me so much sometimes...

anyway, let's not talk abt my job... kinda give me conflicting emotions whenever I think abt it. here's some types of people that I got visiting our booth.


the lucky chaps/ladies
many Indonesians come over to look for businesses to introduce back to their country. there are also some like middle eastern businessmen who are even richer... and a few lucky young men & ladies like around our age... whose parents brought them to the tradeshow to look for businesses to invest in. god, its like how other parents bring kids out for shopping but they are buying franchises not toys or clothes.

the retired businessmen/bosses
retired, going to retire... they come in the weekdays, like in the afternoon, which only goes to show they hold high positions in their companies and are looking for sth to invest so they can retire comfortably. some also bring their secretary (male & females) who help them drop their cards into trays & bowls...

the snoopy competitors
be it ours or our clients'... u're bound to have some people sniffing round ur booth to see if they can pick up anything interesting or juicy... hmm.

the trying-to-be-funny
there was this guy who asked me a question I would have like to walk away from. 'so which one of ur franchise will require the least commitment from me?'

damn. he is every franchisor's nightmare. those who just buy the franchise and hope to make money from it. come on, its not a stock or fixed deposit... if u can't be responsible to at least oversee ur franchise, there is no such good deal in the world that will let u sit back & wait for the fruits to drop.

then another came to our booth and just said, 'is this (insert my company name)? I am looking for rachel!' (I go by rachel at work, easier to remember/pronounce than chinese name)

guess what, I've never seen him b4. if I spoke to him I would know becos even know I'm not gd with remembering names, I do rem faces I've seen pretty well (fyi: the previous guy came to our booth the next day and I recognised him). I HAVE NOT talked to him b4 and he must have been like snooping around & following me to see my tag for my name. becos the whole day I was shuttling around to be around & support our clients as they were giving talks abt their concepts.

god! wad an interesting world...

as the boyfriend has pointed out (in a much nicer way of course), I seem to be retarded in interpreting my bosses' words. since its not the first time. lol which is indeed very strange, because under normal circumstances I would have retorted back.

'my personal life is none of your business!'

oh of cos, in a much nicer way too.

now, there are a few options for after-work plans today and I am still contemplating each over & over again in my head. I guess it depends on when I'm knocking off and how tired I am.

I thought I can report direct to Suntec tml, and slp later in the morning. but my boss said come back to the office to meet & he'll drop me there. dang. perhaps recently, due to my boss dabbling in my personal life. alright, poking his nose rather.

my boss said sth during work today, which again I didn't think much about it until later when I had the time to 'digest' it. Because I misinterpreted it. trust me, this is not because I am thinking too much. If you read my past posts, there is a 'history' to this.

'these few days, because of the tradeshow... rest after you finish your work'

at first... I understood it as my boss meaning I can knock off early if I finish my work, because tradeshows will be long days. but no... afterwards it struck me by what he truly meant.

again... my personal life. ever since the appraisal I constantly reminded myself not to reveal anything about my plans after 6pm. which I successfully did until yesterday. I was kept outside the office for most of the day because of 3 meetings and he called when we were about to go back to the office. Usually calls that come in when we're outside, not in meetings... I'll pick them up.

Baby was calling to ask if I have any plans, our usual routine if he has no classes. its like a habit to see if we have anything on after work and if not... are we planning anything? 90% of the time ends up in sth planned. lol. so... I had a hard time talking to him because I want to avoid my boss knowing my after-work plans. And in trying to be natural and continue proper conversations with Jer, I had to reveal reluctantly that I am meeting him for dinner or movie.


and see... just ytd he found out I was doing sth after work... he commented on it today. what he truly means is he's hinting to me to go home and rest after work because our tradeshow is coming. damn. I do regret not saying anything then. feel like kicking myself. next time I should count to ten, rehearse what I want to say in my head and just spit it out immediately or I'll have to endure nonsense like this.

at the end of this utterly short sunday, I'm totally exhausted by the weekend's activities. but still... its fulfilling.

saturday was sorta last minute plan. Jer awoke from his long slumber (and I really mean looooong) and we decided to have a quiet dinner with his parents (the sisters went out for a birthday party). so SH went to the market and bought some stuff for cooking dinner and bought some of the yummy poh piahs from the 400+ market.

and then came the impromptu bowling session. I am proud to say I have improved my score! but certainly need more practice cos the 'feel' isn't there yet. inconsistent leh!

now today was the auction thingy my ex-colleague asked me to help. I was actually quite unwilling to help out cos I know this period will be busy, since next week is the tradeshow week. even if I have no work to do, I will be tired from the week's work. indeed... I had some work to complete. but since I already said I would help out and she can't find anymore people... a promise is a promise...

met some nice gals from today's auction. one was a hospitality poly student and another was an auditor who worked in one of the big 4 and she can speak dutch cos she's born there ok! so cool!

so basically it means hours of standing (this time the pay is lower, to my disappointment - bt still 10 bucks an hour) and I was again irritated by one of the Indonesian guys. who keep pestering me to take photos and wanna be 'friendly'.

in the end, he didn't give me the shock of the day. some other guy did. during lunch, our sit-down-to-rest session... one of the guys moving the paintings came up to me and say:

'are you the gal who was reading 8 days on the train?'

at first I didn't quite get wad he's saying. becos I haven spoke to him at all, neither have I seen him before. even though I know I had 8 days in the bag, I still didn't really get wad he meant by the qn. after asking him did I realise that this guy was trying to say he saw me on the train in the morning reading 8 days and he tot I was familiar.

ok...

then, even though I tot this guy was weird, I still attempted to make some small talk so I won't appear rude... and he dropped the next bombshell on me...

'are you going back boon lay later? cos my friend is driving and giving us a lift to outram. we can give u a lift to the station too.'

I was like WTH!!! how did he know I live in boon lay?!?!

I dunno wad was the guy's intention... maybe he really was trying to be nice. but I doubtso and was seriously creeped out. he said he saw me on the train, tt's how he knew I live in boon lay. but come on... when you take the train, do you scrutinize every face in the cabin, remember what they are doing and where they board?!?!

give me a break from weird guys.

I only want Jer :D

I guess I should have put a disclaimer on my previous entry recommending the taxidiary? :P I was told it is an addictive read and distracted someone very seriously at work. keke.



fri evening was spent with Jer in the Clementi neighbourhood. he went for his 推拿 while I just hung round the neighbourhood. dinner wasn't much of a choice there since its a neighbourhood? haha. anyway, we went for the sushi at Ramen Ten - yeah, the .99 per plate sushi. this was how jer transformed his ebi sushi when he was trying to get it all with his chopsticks without them dropping... and I tot it was cute. the prawns were like hanging by their tails. ha!

thurs was megan's birthday, and we sorta went to the intercontinental buffet that I've been telling you guys about... I would say it is a good bargain for 1-for-1, but not at the original price. because their food wasn't really like a whole big spread kinda buffet. but the quality kind. which I must say I love the oysters & fresh prawns...

some of my fave food & pictures of the night:


parma ham with rock melon






forgot the name of this salad, it was quite a mouthful... its mushroom tossed with wild rocket & cheese *yummy!


roma tomatoes - the juicy sweetness just bursts in ur mouth. eat it in one mouth! don't bite and waste the juices!


the would-have-been nice shot if melanie hadn't been 'stunned' by the sudden opening lift doors ):

found an interesting blog of a local taxi driver with a PhD, how's that? his stories of what he sees and experiences during his driving days are very enjoyable reads. here you go:

http://taxidiary.blogspot.com

hope you enjoy them as much as I do!



this is a fantastic shellfish my mum recently found at Sheng Shiong. its a type of bigger lala from Philippines. and its so damn good. very fleshy and sweet. just steam with soya sauce & voila~!

been asked about my recent lack of posts, and I guess I can attribute it to the string of bad luck I had previously with uploading photos. so, me is back to 'freshen up' my blog!

hmm, first up... few photos which I missed uploading:





was from our previous trip to hanabi, this japanese restaurant in bkt timah. yummy japanese food buffet!


I dunno since when did I develop less interest for my job. how shld I put it... I like wad I'm learning but I don't like wad I'm doing. I'm hoping its cos for now, we are short handed and the situation will improve. becos right now I feel that I spend more time doing proposals, write ups and random stuff around or outside the office that I feel I am not learning enough. as in, I think I will forget the 'practical' part of consulting after doing so much of the theory stuff. and I'm not trained enough.

its like a vicious cycle. you wanna do more, but you're not trained enough. you're not trained enough, that's why you can't do more.

and it really really worries me sometimes about wad I can do after this? hmmmmm. well... my mindset now is, just see what opportunities this company will give me after the tradeshow (which is in 2 wks time). boss is sending me to training after that. i know i must have blogged abt this more than once... heh. its becos its bothering me. i hope i'm not thinking too much!

*~*~*~*

on a lighter note... my bro and I had an interesting communication ytd. we msned to each other while we were both at home. and my door was open and he was using his com just outside the room. hehe. it had to do with the secret we both are keeping. each of us has a trip planned and our parents are not informed yet. we decided that we will tell them tog when his is confirmed.

i seriously don't think mine will be a 'problem' to tell. becos I'm working and earning and stuff. but my bro... he is a NSmen without much savings and recently back from TW. he... will have more to deal with. wahahaha. yeah it is in times like that we are more 'united' sometimes :P

alright... its 12mn now. I would love to finish one episode of True Blood from Season 2 but on second thoughts... maybe not. have a long way to go tml!

i need to exercise man... working really made my diet unhealthy. cos sometimes I have to settle things quickly, lunch in a restaurant is the fastest way - since its more exp, the crowd is lesser.

so it often means i either eat a much bigger meal, or much unhealthier meal. cos at least in food courts i can still choose soups and lighter food.

so, so..! SH you need to exercise! jog! climb the stairs! don't be so lazy la...

and guess wad... more rich food coming our way. gosh... intercontinental hotel buffet! 1 for 1 promo guys! :D :D

trying to act busy in the office. the morning meeting i tot we had wasn't on. and there isn't much stuff for me to do. spent my morning missing my weekly Spinelli coffee fix, reading news online and sending the occasional email.

as my various nick on MSN and FB mentioned this week, I had snow crab and sashimi... and it was gd! very fresh and I can't imagine if the frozen snow crab tasted this gd, what would the fresh one be like? *salivates

this week, as jer noted, is full of sinful food... burgers with wagyu/angus beef patty. and from the minced beef leftover we made pasta the next day. then was the snow crab, sashimi and we shared a Superdog meal before our movie. but they were all damn good!





oh, we had our sashimi fix at this japanese 'fish market' opposite the Giant Supermarket in Vivo's basement. u choose ur salmon n they slice on the spot for u! :D

this is a post hastily done, before my boss steps in after his hours-long meeting :X

the long weekend made me extremely nua and reluctant to come back to work. especially since fri afternoon I was on MC for my persistent runny nose. I decided that since it did not worsen or improve (its getting on my nerves, sneezing every morning) I shall get it cured b4 it becomes a big flu.

nothing much this week, except for a possible marina barrage pinic. and i think we have a gathering this friday, but haven heard any confirmation yet?

in any case... I've finally baked to my heart's content, and found the right bananas, right tweaks and everything that makes my muffins yummy. yay! I am running low on muffin cups and I need a proper mixing bowl. I've been using this big ceramic bowl which is damn heavy and not big enuff when I double my ingredients for a bigger batch.

oh, another random note before I go... so happy all my CSIs and crime dramas are back for season premiere this week! and I heard Heroes 4 is back too. yay hay!

jer's best fren is back in sg for some sort of a surprise visit to us. cos he forgotten to mention to jer he'll be back in town for his brother's wedding. so all of a sudden jer got a call from him to say he's back. lol.

we had the famous black pepper crabs at Eng Seng Coffeeshop tt's at the junction of Still Road and Joo Chiat Place. its crazy how the people flock there for the crabs. I think its quite good. but I'm more a fan of chilli crabs than black pepper. the crabs are damn fresh but I think black pepper overpowers the freshness of the crab you know? still, its yummy!

if you've noticed there's not much food pics, or any pics lately. cos my bro gone to taipei for a trip with his army frens. he called us to say he's extending his trip yesterday. so he's coming back two days later on tues, instead of sun. according to him, I would shop till i drop. which i have no doubts too.

jer's fren & gf will be staying for slightly over a week. sorta clicked with the gf the last time... but we didn't get to know each other better cos there wasn't enuff time. but she's a real sweet gal, like typical korean ladies - demure & charming. and I realised many koreans been popping up around me lately. ha!

we're planning stuff to do tog since they're in town. like a pinic at marina barrage! think they have tennis in mind but I can only watch, and maybe wait for dinner at ikea :P so, its gonna be a fun & busy week!

p.s: I look forward to jer graduating and we go visit them in brisbane... it'll be so cool!

heard & seen so much stuff from clients that I feel I am learning sth invaluable, besides the knowledge abt franchises... but also learning about life.

how not to neglect little details about your loved ones, that could save their lives. how to trust the spouse who is outstationed and have faith in your relationship/marriage. how to take things in your stride and not bother yourself with little details so you are a happier person without fussing over unimportant details...

so many things learnt and heard. would love to share... but I guess hearing it from the people themselves and from a third party makes a difference. hope you guys are enjoying life as much as I do.

learning, growing, loving.

been to Ion for about 4-5 times, and I still haven't cover anything above the ground! mainly dwelling around the basement areas cos the food hall is full of yummy treats. I think most of the shops within our budget are in the basement floors too. its also cos everytime I'm there I only can stay a short while, couple hrs at most.

after our yoga class we went back to Ion to shop, main thing was going to Uniqlo cos we both heard so much about it. the clothes were not bad... I think jeans are pretty decent there. And if you like quality basic tees like crew neck, v-neck, tank top, spag tops etc... you can get 'em there. And guys have some very nice polo tees and business shirts there at what I think are reasonable prices. 30 for a polo tee (:

my bro's flying off to Taipei with his army friends in a couple of hrs, a personal trip. I was so tempted to blurt my Vietnam trip out last week when they were all talking abt travelling & stuff. But I decided that just in case I give my mum more reason to nag... shut my mouth for the time being :X

somehow or rather, communication's been especially bad between us ever since I went to work. I mean, not that its been gd all the while... we're those traditional families that children & parents somehow got this barrier between them, not to mention our age gap. i guess maybe cos I'm home for lesser hrs, I expected quality communication. but whenever we do get to talk, alot of times she either

a) reminds me of the minute, irritating details like housework first thing when I reach home from work or wake up in the morning & is going to work (come on la, its like the last thing we wanna hear right? and what can I do when I have 1/2 hr to prepare for work?!)
b) watches how I spend like an eagle; if I buy some stuff she deems too expensive she'll nag. but sometimes when I told her sth is nice I tried somewhere then she'll say 'then why you nv buy back for us to try?'

I dunno why must she make things difficult for us. When we suggest going out they'll say don't go too far la... travel

ya, she's been so sensitive abt $$$ matters that I dunno what to do abt it sometimes. so. this explains my short fuse nowadays when I'm at home... oh well. hope I can kp a chk on my temper. ENDURE even when she is at her most unreasonable.

damn!

Mika's much bigger than she was in this photo now. and sometimes I can't help but wonder if I did wrong by giving her to jer's family. I know how much they like a kitten... but I didn't expect their mum to be so scared of it. she really screams sometimes when Mika suddenly jumps or comes near her. I didn't know she'll get so paranoid!

Jer also said Mika can be quite aggressive sometimes. I like to think that its cos she is still a baby, and she still doesn't know what can be done/not done, what are the limits to playing (no scratching or biting of hands, legs etc).

I hope its just that she needs training...

went to some shophouse on Niven St and imagine my surprise when I came to the door, there was a sign that read 'closed' and the decor and the guy walking over to the door was covered in tattooes.

LOL.

dont worry, my boss was behind me and it turned out the namecard designer coy was renting the unit ABOVE the tattoo parlour. cool huh?

they even asked if we gt a scare. haha.

Hot Yoga tml with Jer! :D Hope it'll be alot fun without much of the sales pitch talk, woots~

weekend passed by in a whiz, again! JB trip was so-so. I guess I had too much expectations for it? more people other than Jer's family this time. and his family's car happen to break down so we had to ride in his uncle's car, and his sisters & mum in another. hmm. a bit of time wasted in the day cos the first shopping center wasn't as gd to shop as expected. Moved on to Jusco at bukit Indah... alot of shops, which didn't really have time to explore... didn't get shoes like I want. but got a few tops for work. nevertheless, it was fun gg back to shop in JB and exploring new grounds (:

recently, a friend's been msging abt his gf. how he finally got the girl, after convincing her that he really is serious abt her and their r/s. maybe... he wasn't serious abt the relationships b4... or like he said, he just seem to have 'short attention span' - when he sees another nice girl his affections for the gf will 动摇.

but this time... I could see that he was. serious. and this gal was the one who, on the 2nd day told him she wasn't v sure she could accept his past. and she was feeling insecure. and now they're over.

hai. just feel sad for my friend that when he wants to commit, the gal doesn't trust and love him enuff to give him the chance. her insecurities are not unfounded but still... I think since she had initially committed she should have at least stuck by her decision and gave everyone a chance? hope it will turn out well for them... maybe give each other more time to prove my friend is sincere.

on a lighter note... enjoyed a nice japanese dinner with Jer's family... Unagi don, some sort. haha. jap rice and grilled unagi with omelette. gonna try hot yoga with Jer at a free trial in True Spa on Tues. Looking forward to it. Cos I wanna do sth to make me feel less fat... and less guilty? :P

week started hectic, with a series of unfortunate events...

monday - full day meeting at client's

tuesday - and guess wad, it rained cats & dogs when I had to leave for a meeting and a stupid bus happily splashed like a few litres of rain water onto me. morning of prepartion then meeting all the way till dinner time (in case you're wondering, same client :S) and he treated us to nice 'zhi car'!

the lucky thing? I was wearing skirt... if not my whole pant legs would be drenched like dunno wad. god!

wednesday - my phone conked out on me, warranty over and I walked over to Singtel right opposite the Samsung Service Center to buy a replacement straight. can't do without a phone cos I have no spare ones! NUS networking event... met ex-colleagues for dinner with boss. there were certain times my boss and I felt left out cos the two gals kept talking abt their own stuff. Didn't really include us... so... hmm.

today... finally got jer to try the ramen I was raving about. I tried it in the Big Splash outlet... but there's a nearer one in Holland V. Its called Yoshimaru Ramen Bar. Do try it guys... besides the Marutama @ The Central (which I was alw recommending to others too :P), this is the next best and reasonably priced. no pictures though... just trust our recommendation! *winks

This Saturday is a long-awaited JB trip! hopping to get more food for Mika and maybe some accessories like a what-do-you-call-it to carry her around if we need to bring her out? and I hope... clothes n shoes for me pls?