Approach of the new year

I can literally hear the clock ticking towards 2008. I have always approach every new year with much anticipation except for this year.

It is just unbelievable how time zoomed pass without us realising - I will be entering another decade of my life. A friend cleverly calls it the 'Glamourous 3' though I honestly don't find it anywhere near exciting. A classic example of Cognitive Dissonance.. haha~

Reflecting back, 2007 has been a rather eventful (in a good way) year for me. Obtained a promotion at work, travelled quite a fair bit both for leisure and work and not-too-recently, had a change of job.. just to name afew.

And of course, below is my new year resolution for 2008!

1. Stop my procrastinating nature and aim to pass my driving!
2. Lead a healthier lifestyle - exercise more..
3. Eat in moderation - have to understand that every meal doesn't need to end with cakes or ice-cream and that stomach doesn't have a separate compartment for desserts!!
4. Reduce intake of red meat (though I still love my morten's) and increase fruits and vege
5. Cut down on hobbies like shopping and bingeing - Save more!
6. Adopt a positive attitude in every task I undertake

... and still counting!!

Happy New Year to all!

Christmas Present from Sis

is yet another addition to my Kate Spade collection!

My adoration for this New York label seems pretty obvious.. heh heh..

Being a sucker of good presentation, I guess the olive green (my fav color) packaging does play a part in my fondness towards her merchandise.

Singapore is..

a beautiful house in an ugly neighbourhood.

Came across this rather interesting analogy while trying to catch bits of financial news on TV late last night.

Some food for thoughts?

The one on christmas parties

Unlike previous years, I didn't host many parties this christmas. The thought of massive cleaning afterwards made me cringe. Just hosted my first christmas get-together of the year with my bizader pals over the weekend. Food was awesome and company was unbeatable! It was a great binge-and-bitch session.

Was told (by this same group of friends) that my blog is too wordy for pleasure reading. Decided to post pictures this time round.. As the saying goes,.. A picture speaks a thousand words..

Pressies, pressies and more pressies!

Receive a huge (literally) Christmas present from RBS today. Its a battery-operated remote control helicopter. Some thrilled colleagues started flying them in the office. Guess the toy has achieved its purpose - it is interesting to see how it unleash the child in all of us.

And its found a spot under my christmas tree!

Can't and Won't

What is the difference between Can't and Won't? To put it simply, the former doesn't give the person-in-question an option to choose. On the other hand, when a person won't do something, it is actually his choice to refuse to undertake a particular action.

A question was posed to us during a 3-day course I attended - What are the things in life you can't have a choice?

Pondering over this simple question made me realised that 'can't' is an overly-abused word, a victimised language to a certain extend. Theoretically, (of course, other than being borned and having to die one day) every action we undertake is indeed our choice. Most people use the word 'can't' because they want to give the impression that they do not have a choice for something they won't do. To put it bluntly - they hope to obtain sympathy and understanding from others.

Very often, we hear remarks like 'I can't have a choice whether I want to pay taxes', 'I can't leave office now as work is just pouring on me' dah dah dah...

If you think harder, all these are nothing but actions one chooses to undertake as he/she does not want to bear the consequences of not doing it.

So next time, before you are too quick to say 'I can't attend your party as I have something on,..', think twice - is it 'You Can't' or 'You Won't'?

Hmm... Any comments?

12th Dec

Happy Birthday to me!

It seemed only yesterday that I celebrated my 21st birthday with Chiuyen who was 1 day younger than me. Now that we are both on the wrong side of twenties, I guess I have reached a stage where I am no longer excited about birthdays.. Still, I was really moved with all the well wishes, lunches and pressies I had received. Felt blessed to have such thoughtful friends and colleagues!

My first birthday greeting came from Margaret. Very nice of her (as always!) to remember..

The nicest surprise came from Eileen who got the gift delivered to my office. Definitely didn't expect her to remember my birthday, let alone the surprise she had painstakingly arranged. Pressie was a lovely Kate Spade hp accessory! Love it to bits!

Most unique birthday greeting came from Tatsoon. Huizhen had wanted to be the last person to wish me (at 1150pm) but TS had beaten her to it (30 secs before the clock struck 12). Heh heh.. Very original indeed!

A Year Older (yes..) and Wiser (hmm.. not too sure)..

December has always been a celebratory month for me. Bonus is not the only reason I look forward to year-end. The fact that both Christmas and my birthday happen to fall on December made it slightly more special than the other months of the year.. :)

To celebrate my birthday this coming week, we went to Morton's Steakhouse at Mandarin Oriental. Service was undoubtedly awesome! I was pleasantly surprised by the customised menu that screamed 'Happy Birthday RJ!' and the table setting that was decorated with glittering confetti.

Food wise, absolutely no complaints. The lobster bisque, which left an light alcoholic aftertaste, was lovely. The prime rib boneless steak, despite being at least 2 inches thick, was grilled to perfection - both inside and the outside. The sauteed mushroom and lyonnaise potatoes with onion were great too! We were so STUFFED that the waiter suggested us packing the leftovers so as to save some space for the warmed hot chocolate cake which we ordered for desert. Needless to say, desert was simply heavenly~! Oh yes, it was complimentary from the restaurant too!

Would I come back despite its relatively expensive menu? Definitely a non-hesitant YES!

Thanks to Esther for the brilliant recommendation!

Lost and Found

One of the simple pleasures in life which will bring me great happiness and really make my day is to meet and catch-up with friends whom I have lost touch for years. Last month (Nov) seems to be the season to rekindle such lost friendships... maybe its an early Christmas gift from the Almighty One up there...

Long-lost Friend Nbr 1 (last met: 1997):
Received a facebook msg 'Are you my vacation job buddy? blah blah blah.....'. Though her profile pic wasn't exactly clear, I knew it had to be SK!! (from her style of writing) - ever so witty and candid. We met during our vacation job at citibank. She not only made my 3-month stint in citibank bearable, but also enjoyable. In fact, it was this vacation job that inspired me to work in a bank after graduation. Thinking back (of the good 'ole days), I remembered us standing at our workstations processing endless remittance transactions for 1 hr daily after lunch for fear of developing a tummy. We shared common interests and goals - to look slim, lady-like and demure. Hah~ what ignorance!

We arranged to meet up for lunch at Raffles Place through facebook. Though meeting was brief (wish lunch was longer), we spoke lots. Of course our conversation topics now differ from what interest us years ago.. we had great fun discussing how to handle annoying MILs. Ha~!

***

Long Lost Friend Nbr 2 (last met: 2000):
Met Gerald during a vacation to US and Canada. Couldn't remember what made us started talking and got acquainted. Affectionately known as 'Lau Beng' to us, he was great fun during the entire trip. We did meet up randomly after the trip in 2000 but subsequently lost touched after he married a Taiwanese girl and migrated to Taipei.

While planning the recent trip to Taiwan, it suddenly dawned upon me that I could arrange a meetup with him in Taipei. Lunch at this Japanese curry house near Taipei 101 was lovely. Had planned to take some pics but forgotten as we were busy talking non-stop. Also, met a new friend and colleague-to-be during the lunch.

***

Long Lost Friends Nbr 3 (last met: 1994 (Weimian) and 2003 (Huizhen & Cailing)):

They were my very dear primary school classmates eons ago! The clique I hang out for lunch and did school projects with. I recalled stupidly signing ourselves up for a piano-cum-singing performance during the book-and-music week. While I enjoyed myself playing the piano, the rest are still holding me to it (till this every day) as they felt embarrassed having to sing to the whole school then!

It was Huizhen who organised this dinner. I was really impressed that she had managed to gather us all (except Wenfeng as she is heavily pregnant). Of all days, I had to work OT that evening and was terribly late (for 2 hrs!). Nevertheless, we had great fun that night and laughing uncontrollably while reminiscing the silly things we did years ago!

From left: Myself, Huizhen, Cailing, Weimian