Birthdays on Friday

Friday night has been a smashing affair. Lots of catching up with my uni guys and girls. Haha! “Uni guys and girls” sounds so funny actually… cuz I guess I have never really felt like I was in Uni. Hahah!

We caught up about work life, job hunting, personal life etc. One of my girls gotten and proposal from her bf, and wedding bells will ring probably nx year. Some are working and some like me are still hunting. To me, each meet up with old friends when I was working always give me much comfort. Comfort to know that despite venturing into the strange new world, the good old friendship is not far behind.I hope our meeting on Friday had felt the same for them – although we really have not been separated for all that long! LOL!

Anyway, till we meet again…

Thong Yao

Pei Xuan

Sharon

The Coffee Club

Sharon and the Cake

Sandy, Yong Jie and Thong Yao

Sharon, Pei Xuan, Siow Hui and Suety

The Gang

Sharon and her present

Thong Yao and his present

Sandy and her present

And our gifts to the three birthday boy and girls are …

Thong Yao's Bag from Esprit

Sharon's Make Up from Sephora

Sandy's bag from Dorothy Perkins & Taka voucher

Wedding Dinners

Yesterday, I went to a Malay wedding lunch of my poly classmate and a wedding dinner of my secondary school girlfriend.

I found new meanings to weddings actually.

Well, people of my age are getting married. I guess thats part of the progression in life. And its no surprise that we expect more wedding invites to come along in the coming years. While some has innocently lamented over the number of ‘red bombs’ they receive, I think these are bombs that all of us are really happy to receive. Apart from the ang paos that we gotta wrap, I am pretty sure we are all happy to participate in the celebration and be happy that our dear friends has found their partners. Who not only will walk down the aisle with them that night, but partners who will walk on the at times smooth and at times bumpy road ahead together. Its a cause for celebration really.

Yesterday has been an extraordinary oppurtunity that we met with people we lost touch with over 10 years ago. It has been quite an amazing experience catching up, knowing that they are doing well and good, knowing that they are still like what I remembered them to be. I found myself to be very comfortable in that newly found familiarity. It is a really warm and fuzzy feeling.

2 more wedding dinners to go in December. I think I am really looking forward to them.

Planted to the Ground

Yesterday I met up with a close group of friends – Yijun, Fred, Gayle – for dinner. We have not been as close in contact as we wanted. Perhaps its because I had not made enough effort to. Perhaps we are all busy with our lives. I am always comforted when I see my friends living better lives than before. They are all in the midst of carving their careers, finding opportunities and seeking stability in their own private lives. We probably looked better now, as we seem to have all lost some weight!

This group of friends has been extraordinary. When I joined the team as a Team Leader, it was a total culture shock for me. It had not been easy for me to ‘break the ice’ because I tend to get shy. Especially when it is a big group. It is not as easy to be ‘thick skinned’ in big groups you see! LOL! So this group of people has been my friends when I had no one to rely on. They kind of covered my back and somehow ‘protected’ me. (FYI: It was a little challenging for me because to lead a team of members who knew each other and the system very well is not very advantageous for me – who is being exposed to a whole new way of management.)

Yesterday’s dinner has been simple yet refreshing. I had felt a little bad, because it has been so long since I met them. I am not sure how much I had change, or how much they had changed. But I was glad that when we met, the same old familiarity came back. We were still crappy! Other than this crappiness, I realised I valued their company very much because I am able to get truthful opinions and thoughts from them. (I am sure its easy to distinguish when people tend to give you answers which are pretty generic and answers which are thoughtful.) I am very comforted to still have this group of friends, because through them I found inspiration and direction.

All this sounds so exaggerating, I guess. But I truly feel this way. Though the dinner was short and after dinner Yijun had to rush back to work, I look forward to the next meeting.

p/s: We mentioned something like we hate people who simple don’t know how to reject others, simply becuase they think doing that will make others feel better. Somehow, I reflected and think I have such tendencies too. LOL! I got loads to learn man!

Another Get Together

I met up with my group of training batch mates from my ex company.

Its pretty funny how many most staff knows which batch number they are from, and I suspect none of us really know! But that was already a long forgotten 6 years ago. Oh dear, how time flies. We have all moved out or within the organization, everyone’s matured a little but it is still the warm old friendship that we have that makes us laugh heartily at all the lame jokes and not feel foolish at all!

We ate at Project Shop cafe at Paragon. Then moved on to Sushi Tei when Huiyi came. Nope, we didn’t eat that much seriously. Jude came with a little cake to celebrate Pet’s belated birthday. We sang a song for her at Sushi Tei. Sweet indeed!

Project Shop Cafe

Sushi Tei Paragon

With The Girls

Yesterday was a lovely night out with the girls – Me, Sharon, Siow Hui, Peixuan and Sandy

We had dinner at Soup Restaurant and then walked over to Millenia Walk for a drink at Paulaner Browhaus. Its been a long time since I went Paulaner and I still find that place very relaxing for a chit chit session. And the beer is good! LOL! Though I kind of regretted ordering Tequila…

Has been great catching up with the girls. 2 found a job, 2 still looking. 2 already have a partner, 2 still looking. They are all gonna be back at SIM for their Graduation Ceremony next friday. So cool huh! We’ll be catching up again soon!

The Lovely Girls

Drinks at Paulaner

Get a Life!

Oh yes, I am so gonna die from my lack of discipline! Till now I have yet to touch my assignment which is going to be due in a week. LOL! I am beginning feel a little anxious and I am gonna get scolded by some people who has been nagging at me to get my work done. Tsk tsk! Anyway, before you think I am deliriously busy with wedding planning, I am not. Well, I am guilty of it some time, but most of my time has been devoted to my work. Its approaching end July and the accounts dept needed to declare GST. So its a little more busy for me.

Work place has been more and more “exciting”. I am beginning to understand what it means by “three women makes a market”. Recently, my boss hired a few new ladies – 3 to be exact, and 2 of which are pretty outspoken. Recently there have been some politics going on within the office. Lady A don’t like Lady B and thinks that Lady B is trying to pick on her. Lady B didn’t like Lady A very well and thinks that she’s a bitch… and so the story goes.

Luckily, I am just an audience. I would really hate to be part of the actors in this stage. I am really happy just being the audience, becuase its plain tiring! You need to drink buckets of Brands Chicken Essence to be sharp enough and to prevent swords, arrows, daggers, choppers etc from getting stuck at your back. And even if you have a best friend, you hardly know if its ok to trust them. I am a girl who embraces freedom, such “careful” act is simply too demanding for me. Keep your fingers crossed for me, so that I can sit happily on my warm chair and REMAIN an audience.

~*~

Two days ago, I met up with Sharon. Tonight, Darren and I had dinner with Sandy and Peixuan at Sushi Tei.

In both occasions, we had quite a chat, updates on working life and schooling life and normal life. Haha! Its actually quite astonishing to realise that we have got a life after all! LOL! Yes, life sort of changed a little with transitions from schooling life to working life. But you girls hang on there, because I will be joining you girls in a dog eat dog’s world!

Just a little note, from time to time, we are not presented with the most ideal of things. We get good bosses but lousy salaries. We get a wonderful pay package but we also have bosses from hell. We see expectations evolving from our friends, families and even ourselves.

Our friends might feel that we are overworked and underpaid. Our families might feel that our job is not reputable enough. We might soon find ourselves putting pressure on ourselves to juggle a lot more financial commitments because we are now earning a paycheque finally. Some things can be controlled but some just can’t.

But before all of us turn into some monsters that we ourselves could not recognize, do remember to give yourself a break. I feel its always good to give yourself a rain check. So that you are constantly in touch with what you really want and how you want to achieve it. I guess this way we can prevent unhappiness arising from unfulfilled needs. I really do wish to see my friends enjoy their life, be it at work or at play!

I wish my girls the best of luck in their work and may they always remember that they’ll always have someone here to rant and bitch with! ~cheers!

Of Laksa and Weddings

2 weeks ago, I left my wallet at Selrol’s place after a class gathering. In restrospect, so much has happened during the past 2 weeks. ROM venue planning, solemnizers, flowers, registrations, budgeting, budgeting and budgeting! These are the times I wish I am rich! LOL!

Suddenly I recalled my favourite line while working in SH – “Problems which can be solved with money is not a problem at all”. Well, my problem can be solved with money but I am sure I can make the best out of my available resources!

So 2 weeks later today, I decided to drop by Selrol’s place for lunch and collect my wallet. Boy am I fortunate to have her cook lunch for me! She cooked laksa, which was really good for a first timer! So it was lunch for four (Selrol and Jason, Me and Darren) and lots of chatting. In fact, we chatted for a good 4 hours about weddings and traditions and expectations. I guess it has been really great for Darren and I to hear so much of their experiences.

Seriously, it has been a really long time since I chatted up at such leisurely pace with any of my friends. I mean usually when we meet for dinner, we don’t hang around till too late because everyone has work or other plans early next day. There’s always a time constraint. sigh! So I think today’s lunch has been a great idea. And the best part was, there’s only 4 of us. The crowd was just nice, therefore I don’t worry that I neglect Darren or he get lost in the middle of our conversation.

It had been a great afternoon, and I really must thank Selrol. Come think of it, she is really a cool ‘housewife’ now. And as what we girls said during the last gathering, we will soon become Aunties of Sec 4B! LOL!

Unfortunately, I realise I didn’t take any photos of Selrol’s wonderful lunch! This was taken during our last gathering together.

Starting Great

1   SCHOOL

School started this week. Very intensively.

Been having full day classes from 9am to 5pm for 3 days, and 2 night classes, and preparation for some sorta mock interview which took place on Saturday. This interview was supposed to gear us up for the real world out there. I always thought I would have no problem coping with interviews, but somehow it always seems so difficult when it comes to ‘play acting’. The mock interview were made up of my classmates (whom I’ve never met before – yeah I am an antisocial person in class!). So with them being not exactly strangers sometimes make me more nervous. And congratulations, because all my bull shitting skills were too shy to surface and my mind blanked a couple of times. LOL!

But seriously, I think everything went pretty ok. We are all expected to be nervous anyway. I had fun, got to know some new friends and I think my positive mindset will bring me far in life!

2   FAMILY

My mum was a little paranoid recently. She has been getting a little jittery and maybe too excited for me.

The background of the story is that, I will be staying with my in-laws after marriage. This didn’t come as a surprise to me, because Darren is an only child. And I think it is only right that he plans for his parents to stay with him after marriage if not his mother will be staying all alone. His dad is working in Batam but does comes back occasionally. So this plan is totally fine with me.

So for the whole of last week since my last entry, my mum’s moodiness was sort of got rubbed onto me. It was obvious that she was upset with me because she stopped talking to me. Hey, a woman’s intuition though not always right, its often accurate. I know something is wrong. But because I was affected by her moodiness, I was not ready to ‘confront’ her on what was wrong.

So one of those days, when the mood was pretty uplifted, I took the chance to ask her. She started rumbling on me not taking medicine when I was sick, to sleeping late when I am not working, to not doing housework when I am free, to ‘next time when you get married and still behave like that, you can’t blame your mum in law to don’t like you’. I was like “duh??”… To me, that was something that will happen at least in one year’s time. And seriously I really just wanna enjoy being the lazy bummer while I still can! LOL!

Well, the bad weather took sometime to clear. Maybe because for the past week I couldn’t be a bummer at home due to morning classes. But it is now all over nonetheless!

3   PARENTS MEETING

One of my friends told me that she would be really happy if she ever had an interview opportunity in Raffles Place. Guess she would have been overjoyed if she get to work there. I guess since the beginning of the history of modern Singapore, the Singapore River has been the source of wealth that flows into Singapore and made it prosper into what it is today. OK, too much historical detail here. But I really think Raffles Place truly is the heart of Singapore’s economy.

Anyway, the parents meeting took place in OCBC Centre in Raffles Place. Thats why I was blabbering so much about Raffles Place. Being the heart of Singapore’s economy means that its really a concrete jungle surrounded by many skyscrapers.

How can you tell if someone does not work in Raffles Place? They are probably people who walk out of the MRT station looking blur and lost, with their heads looking high at the sky, trying to find the logo of the skyscraper building that they are looking for. That was me.

I followed all instructions and exit at Exit B. And guess what OCBC Center is not visible from the MRT station. LOL! So I was a lost sheep for a while and wondered to find the place.

Anyway, such a long story of my experience, you can find out more about the session in this link.

4   FRIENDS

On Saturday, my secondary school friends gathered at Regentville Condominium for a BBQ. This year marks the 10th year after our graduation from High School. Many of us has since progressed well in life – whether its in terms of education; whether its in career or in their personal life. So far out of the class of 43 students, I think 4 are married, 3 are going to get married this year and an unconfirmed number for 2009 and 2010. I think all these in whatever form is great news.

10 years ago, I believed in Friends Forever – those sweet romantic stuff. Where I’ll be there for you and you’ll be there for me. But practically, this is not always easy to achieve. So now I am happy that when I meet them, regardless of what they are doing in their life, life always finds them to be doing better than ever before. This is very important to me. I think at the end of the day, I can’t promise to be there eternally. But I really wish that at any point of time, we are living out our lives as best as we can so that when we meet, we are always better than before!

It had been great catching up with the gang. We talked bout studies, work, marriage, in laws, families, housework, housewife-stuff, being aunties, gossips about so and so, LOL! Great great fun we had! Sure hope to catch up again!

~~~

It has truly been an amazing week for me! :