Madness!

Crazy long time since I've blogged. Thought I'd do it tonight because I slept too much yesterday and I simply am still too awake at this moment.

Life's good! I've had a job promotion despite the market crash, which really lit things up. Last weekend the Team from work and i had a paintball session (my very first one!) at Red Dynasty, and no, I didn't get bruises! Then we went for a few bottles of very excellent wine near the prawning area, where Keith failed miserably with one prawn in 2 hours. Hello, KEITH????

And did I mention the lunch there was EXCELLENT? The Mongolian prawns were GORGEOUS! My god, this is making me hungry.

Champ from Thailand came for a visit as well, and we met up at Baz's leaving party that evening, which was held at The Pier located along Mohammed Sultan. Brought my brother along, and there we found a shattered Moley, and a couple of other fellas from work. Amod did a great job as the organiser - The Pier was a brilliant location, and there was even a bar set up...all complete with bartenders and waiters serving canapes!

Can't believe it's been two years, and Baz is finally heading back to the UK. He's been a tremendous help with my development at work.

Paid a visit to my grandpa on Sunday (the Ching Ming). Boy, do I miss him! The cousins and I all had a great time at grandma's afterwards - the food was fab, as usual. :) Ended up in a sleeping bag in cousin Bing's room because there were too many of us girls snuggling on the bed for a quick nap. Hahaha.

Hmmm...let's see, what else? Oh, Joy and I have started our modern dancing classes after work! I almost died from the stretching, but it is a good start to the 'healthy lifestyle' plan I have in mind for this year. Been jogging, sometimes alone and sometimes with Des. Not too bad for a start!

The other J and I have booked tickets for our annual half-yearly trip! I'm looking forward to my birthday this year. Though it's still a couple of months away, but hey! Never too late to do some planning, I say! Have decided on the location - it's going to be at my usual haunt! - and the guestlist is more or less decided (still the same lah!).

Depending on how things are closer to the end of the year, I'm going to do a degree. It's been something I've been thinking of, and I think this year will be a pretty good time. The other J has been very supportive, so I have decided to go ahead with it.

Look at the bleeding time!!!!!!!!!!!! Gotta head to bed, it's only Tuesday tomorrow BUT this Friday's a public holiday! :DDD

Weeeee!

It was 7 am in the morning when my mobile rang. It was the other J's morning wake-up call.

I answered it sleepily, and said i'll get up (but i always never did :x). The phone rang 15 minutes later, and i then picked it up again (this time in a fake i-am-awake voice. I'm rather good at it now :D).

J: "Are you awake?"
Me: "Hi BT! Me? Ya...of course, why?"
J: "Open the door, i'm here!"
Me: "HUH?!"

I walked over to the door, not knowing what to expect because he was supposed to still be at work. And there stood a silly boy with a big grin on his face. He brought a box to my face, and GUESS WHAT??

A BIG BOX OF MY FAVOURITE KRISPY KREME DONUTS!!!!!!

I stood there momentarily, shocked.

"Open the door?"

And so i did.

He walked right in, gave me a peck, and walked to the kitchen where he sat the donuts on the table. He left again for work in a few minutes, after making me promise i'll have one for breakfast before i head to the office. Then another peck, and he was gone.

And i now have 8 Krispy Kreme sugar glazed donuts! How i have been craving for them! Thanks BTP....muuuuuuuaaaaaaaaahhhhssssss!

I felt really touched, i still am! For the other J to make a trip down to my place and then head back to work again...it must have all been very tiring for him.

I had another long day at work again. Joy and i stayed in the office till a quarter past 10, and frankly, i will miss her if we move on to other roles in the future. I can't wait for the weekend to come! It's just a day away, but it all seems so long!

I did a lot of baking with the 2 men recently (sounds gay i know). I got my brother involved when i was making the chocolate chip cookies, and the other J when i was making the cornflake cookies. It was good fun.







I know, i know! They look good (and taste great too!) Also, look at how i lined in sync the design of my blog's url on the pics with the cookie-baking. I like. ;)

I bought a small tin of the cornflake cookies to the office the other day, and it was gone faster than you could spell 'Kellogs'. Almost everyone doubted me and suspected that i bought them. HELLO??? I BAKED THEM!

Hmmmphhhh.

Anyway, the choc chip cookies tasted alot like the ones at Famous Amos! My brother really liked them. *SMUG*

It's Friday in a few hours. I have a session with Penny in the morning tomorrow with the ladies, and it ought to do my personal development some good. Last weekend was good because i was K-lunching at cineleisure with Y.Tat, Des, Guan and my brother, and then we spent a few crazy hours at Parklane playing BF2. We were approached by some guys to do a 7-11 Slurpee advert, but turned them down because the mere idea of seeing yourself on a telly in every 7-11 store just sounded too weird. So, in a nutshell, last weekend was awesome and i hope this coming one would be the same!

The other J's birthday is almost here! I can't divulge too much because he reads my blog (i know you do!!), but i know it will be near-perfect and i'm pretty pleased with myself. I'm taking 2 days off for the celebration of his big '25', so i know we're going to have a really good time.

So much to look forward to! The deepavali public hols, the other J's birthday, Geet's birthday, Joy's birthday, and then Christmas! Gotta start working on my christmas shopping list soon...the team has grown so there'll be more presents to buy!

THE weekend.

The last weekend was one of the best in a long time. Especially so since the last few weeks were tough, with mum in the hospital and all sorts of horrible things happening.

Saturday saw the other J and i out shopping in town! It was fruitful - i bought 2 pairs of lovely heels, and the other J bought me a pair of earrings as a gift - and very, very fun-filled. We were like kids, exploring every nook and cranny on Orchard Road. Saw a couple of F1 cars on display, including a life-size chocolate one at the Royal Plaza on Scotts. As night fell, we stopped outside Paragon, mesmerized by the lovely voices of a female band that was playing, and then discovered (when all hopes of continuing our shopping seemed lost at 9pm) that Paragon was hosting a 'late night shopping' that day and was only closing at 11pm!!!

Had dinner at Thai Express, which i thought still serves pretty impressive dishes. My fave is the BBQ chicken with rice dish!


Had a crazy load of Thai food, and then we headed upstairs to Metro where (!!!) it was having a late night 20% storewide sale!!!!!!

I caved in to temptation and bought a pretty ring with purple gems for mum. 3 seconds later, i grabbed a lovely chunky bracelet for meself (Why not? TWENTY PERCENT DISCOUNT, hello? I am only Singaporean. ;D). The other J excitedly browsed through all the wallets on display, hoping to find THE wallet, but decided he didn't fancy any and so there was no point.

Ended up at M & S just as they were closing, and grabbed a packet of Percy Pigs (God-sent! Mel bought those into the office one day, and we loved them!), 3 boxes of yummy redcurrant puffs which Mum used to buy all the time when i was younger, and a large packet of honey ham chips. Our feet were sore when we were done shopping, but the transport baby was in the carpark located at Far East Plaza, so we had no choice but to walk right back to where we first started.

The other J spent the night at my place, and we bought tickets for the Sunday screening of Wall E at Plaza Singapura!

Woke up Sunday afternoon feeling all revitalized! After a hearty breakfast of crispy pratas with lots of sugar and curry, the brother, other J and i headed down to Plaza Singapura for Wall E! The movie was brilliant. But i have this tremendous soft spot for emotional movies and couldn't stop tearing. The other J's tee was soaked by the time the movie ended. My bad...

And there's nothing better than a meal at Ajisen after a freezing 1.5 hours in the cinema. I'd do anything for Ajisen's crayfish ramen!

The brother, enjoying his dry teriyaki chicken ramen and ignoring me in the process.

I look...puffy.

We drooled at the latest gadgets at Creative and Best Denki; looked for badminton rackets; shopped at Watson's where my brother sneakily placed a bar of Kit Kat Chunky together with the stuff i was paying for at the counter; and did a whole lot of window-shopping! We all decided that we haven't played pool in a while, and so we did!

We walked around in about a million circles before we arrived at the destination that would see the pool match of the century between the Kwan family and Tan family!

But before that, the 2 guys played fashion consultants and the other J bought me a dress! :)

Recap - THE MATCH OF THE CENTURY

I was driving everyone nuts because i was taking pictures with my phone every few seconds. Here's a few:

This photo is proof as to why the other J should never be a photographer, and why my brother should never be allowed to stand behind me in any picture.

Messing around with the cam-phone's frames. MEOW!

Look of disinterest because this was the 824783th picture i took.

After a couple of hours, we all wanted to head for drinks and Loof came to my mind. It's been a while, but the place is still as fantastic.

After 2 rounds of drinks, a huge portion of potato wedges and very juicy 'loofalo wings', we cabbed back. It was a perfect, perfect weekend with the 2 loved ones, and i can't wait for the next!

Sometimes it's the little things that make me smile!

The yummy addition to my serving of milk in the mornings makes me smile.

Desserts and cakes from Canele makes me smile (alot).

The glimpse of a lovely sunset as i head home from work made me smile.

Coffee for lunch with the girls makes me smile.

Lovely M&M cookies which Joy bought me from HK made me smile.

A client's gift of gratitude made me smile.

...and of course, the resident cat never fails to brighten my day up every morning!

Was at a course today, and will be tomorrow as well. Back to the office on Wednesday, and strangely i'm looking forward to it!

The seminar's next week, right before the public holiday on Wednesday! Got to look FF up when i get to the hotel. Time to get some sleep - tomorrow will be another fantastic day!

A horrid past 2 weeks

The past 2 weeks have been very trying. The geek in me didn't think about blogging, or even surfing the internet.

Mum was hospitalised. Worse, it was the ICU.

In the past 2 weeks, i:

- Saw Mum hospitalised, TWICE
- Seen 2 A&E departments
- Sat in an ambulance once
- Panicked alot
- Visited 2 different hospitals, located VASTLY apart
- Learnt how to cope with running family errands, hospitalisation admission, and all sorts
- Learnt how to make tough decisions on behalf of the family
- Spoke to about a billion doctors and nurses
- Teared almost everyday
- Experienced a bloody lot of drama

So, as you can imagine, it was a big, big relief for me when the doctors gave my mum the 'all clear' after 2 weeks. It was tough for me, but i'm glad mum is now recovering well at home.

After this experience, i have grown to intensely dislike a particular hospital. I'm not revealing any names, but that hospital was just about the worse i've dealt with so far. Also, the other J was great support throughout the ordeal, and provided loads of much-needed TLC. He had to pick me up from the hospital, ferry me to work and back in the early morning (the new transport baby!), bought me comfort food, met me for dinner because he was afraid i didn't have any, called me loads of times to make sure i was ok even when he was at work...in all, i felt very very loved and cared for during those trying times.

The family was great as well - godma was always there for me, and provided a lot of advice and support (even though she forgot what the ambulance hotline was when i panicked and called her. But hey, i didn't as well! 3 bloody numbers and we couldn't remember...). My brother always had his arm around my shoulder when i was tearing, which somehow made me feel better. Loads of people came and visited my mum in hospital, and sometimes it felt like a mini party except everyone was close to tears.

Anyway, i'm glad everything is over! I'm sponsoring my mum and dad on a short getaway next year, though i have not decided where. It's a surprise, so they don't know it yet. ;)

Work has been busy, busy, busy. Am loving the challenges - work would be so mundane without them - and today would have been shaaaat if i hadn't received that lovely letter of compliment from a client. The markets have been very gloomy and bleak in recent days, as you might have heard.

Gosh, i need a break. But to where?? The other J, my brother and i will have to sort that out quickly!


PS: Rest of the photos and entries from our 9 day Taiwan trip will have to wait. :(

The sniffles.

This cold is turning me into a ninja.

I took today off to rest at home because the cold is getting much, much worse. As i kill tree after tree after tree with every box of tissue used, i realise this cold isn't simply 'going away after some time', and that a trip to the doctor is in order.

Damn.

I had breakfast with the other J this morning at my place, and instead of nursing me back to health he's snoring away behind me. I'm scheming to wake him up by tickling his feet in a few minutes so he can accompany me to the doctor's. BWAHAHA.

Though ill, i wanted to be a productive person at home for today and had initially decided on uploading the pictures taken on my birthday. That was before i realised the pictures were all on my desktop (i'm using the macbook) and the lazy side got better of me.

Time to wake the sleeping log up.

Heh-choo, heh-choo, heh-choo...

I'm down with the flu, a bad throat, and a bloody persistent fever that won't go away. Must be all that stuff i ate in Taiwan. :(

And i'm going back to work in a few hours! Help meeeeeeeee.

Stay positive....stay positive....

Taiwan - Day 9

I'm in the hotel room, with the other J, doing some last-minute packing. We'll be having lunch and will leave for the airport in a few hours' time!

I haven't had time to really blog because i was out till 3-4am every night, so i'll do that once i'm back in Singapore.

God, i will miss this place! I've experienced many a times during this trip the warm hospitality of the Taiwanese, and look forward to coming back next year. :)

My luggage is MASSIVE after i managed to squeeze the result of my shopping craze into it. I love the clothes here, and boy, did i spend, spend, spend!! I resisted the urge to splurge on accessories because i'll be heading to Thailand again beginning of next year. And the food...mmmmmm, so yummyyyyy!

Time to check-out of the hotel. See you next year, Taiwan!