Standard Chartered Women's 10 KM Race

The day is finally here!

I registered for this event reluctantly half a year ago (can't find a proper excuse to reject my colleague), and I must say that I'm thankful for that now. It has motivate me to practice throughout these months :)

My roommate woke up at 3.00am in the morning for her full Marathon run at 5.00am. I'm a bit luckier and get to sleep until 5.45am. After doing the daily morning routines, I headed out from home at around 6.10am. At the lift, we met one uncle who is also doing the run. At the Queenstown MRT, well, there are at least 50 people wearing the StandChart singlet. When the MRT was finally here, I can't believe what I saw, almost the whole train was packed with people going for the run (including sponsors, etc). It was around 6.40am when we reached City Hall... and well. Here is a picture to describe what I saw. The elevator queue was so long that we were still down there when the next train arrived (should have taken the staircase, I know)

City Hall MRT - 6.40am

I didn't really know the location of the run. So when finally getting out from MRT, we decided to follow the crowd, which apparently not as easy as people are splitting in different direction =__='' We walked, queued, walked, queued... guess what, it was in the end 7.15am when I finally reached the start point. Just nice! At the other side of the track, I heard they announced the winner of the Male Marathon Runner (2:14 hrs O.O) Was he flying or what?

The view from Start Line

I can't really run for the first 10 mins. There are people everywhere and I have to keep adjusting my speed to cut / avoid some bump. For person like me, who used to run in a hurdle-less crowd-less track at sport center, this come as a challenge. As expected, I wasn't able to stable my pace, and I lost my stamina at around 4km =_='' I walked for couple of mins, then continued running. I must say that the Distance Board sign did quite motivate me. The motivational word such as "This is what you trained for" did boast my spirit. The digital cheer board was also quite funny. There was a guy saying "Hurry up la Bob, do not make me stand here for so long" to support his friend. Hahaha... 

I finally reached the finish line at around 1:14 after the start of the run (thanks to the Tiger Balm at #8km stand which put my legs on fire and forced me to run faster). The crowd handling was pretty good, and I was able to get the medal easily. Unfortunately, the place was kind of muddy after yesterday's night rain, and I actually dirtied my shoes there T_T

Almost forgot to snap a pic!

I waited for Tomy (who runs for Half Marathon) at the Meeting Point#2, rest for a while, then both of us headed to Clementi for Badminton. We played until around 12pm, showered, then had our usual lunch at Kopitiam, and headed back home.

At home, I did my weekend laundry chores, then relax by reading some news and watch some video. It's 5pm and we're soon heading to Somerset for Ajahn Brahm talk: Stillness - Medicine for the Mind. I have been wanting to go to his talk for a while, after all the recommendation I heard about him. 

Ajahn Brahm - "Stillness - Medicine for the Mind" Talk

Logging off for dinner,

ED

Jurong Lake Run 2011!

I did it! I finished my first 10KM run today :D One of my 4 New Year resolutions is now complete.


Jurong Lake Run – 10 KM Finisher Medal

For one time, things happened as per plan :D Few days before the race, I turned psychopath making up 101 possible risks. What will happen if it rains on the day? What if I wake up late? What if I forget to bring my name tag? What if I faint during the run? Well, the run turned out to be all well. I even got a chance to take some pics :D


The Runners in DB's Blue Shirt! Mine was so wet that it turned dark blue


Grads trying to do eating pose like those Olympics’ Winner

After the run & some fun, I went back home, shower, and went to meet up with Citra for the long overdue catch-up. She has become a pastry expert in few months! Amazing. I’m honored to receive her creation: banana muffin! I can’t wait for tomorrow breakfast!


Cit's Banana Muffin

We had an early lunch at Kim Gary, chat for while, then she went to facial while I went back home & did my housework. Time was already 5pm when I was done, so I just took some rest, shower, then went for Transformer 3 at 7.10pm.

Movie rating? Hmmm… maybe 6 out of 10. The graphics are awesome, but the story line is a bit slow and nothing unexpected. I might be biased as I was super sleepy, but the main heroine also looked a bit redundant in the movie.

As I reached back home after the movie, my mind kept telling me to sleep… but I really want to blog about the run too… so here it is.

That covers pretty much my Sunday. Saturday was disappointing as I spent my day in office T_T I’m in the week of mid year performance review and I have never been so uncertain of my role this year… sigh.

Friday was Kenneth’s last day… and we had a farewell lunch at Garuda, Vivocity. I don’t know why big boss’ secretary picked Indonesian restaurant… at the end everyone was looking at me to order the dishes =.= I love the food – I hope the rest enjoyed it too. We talked a lot about Indonesia – it’s culture, food, even language. Then they finally understand why I’m always confused about the gender “He” and “She” in conversation. LOL!


Kenneth's Farewell @ Garuda, Vivocity

On Wed, I managed to catch up with Jasmine – one of my best buddy at Apple - for lunch! I almost can’t recall when was the last time we met… but she changed a lot… look so much more mature! She is now working part time at IDA Maple Tree to pay for her degree, and she is graduating this year! I’m always amazed at her determination. Wish you all the best always :)

On Tue, Maria invited me to Fitness First @ Maple Tree for treadmill. I was quite impressed with the place. The ceiling is high, the music was powerful, and it has all the vibe to make you feel like a healthy executive. Hahaha.. The place was 80% full. I finished 40 minutes treadmill, then showered and grabbed Subway for lunch. The only drawback is that I don’t have time to cool down. I sweated so much even after shower, in the end my whole shirt was wet as I reached office =.=’

Ok! There is nothing much else for the rest of the week except for my weekly exercise, running, yoga class, and romusa :) Ah! I finally worked out my holiday plan – HK was crazily expensive for Aug (USD 1K for plane ticket from Mdn – HK??) so we decided to pay a visit to princess Aurelie in her hometown directly. Sydney – wait for me this August!

ZzzZz after woke up 6am in the morning,

ED

See you again, Taiwan!

Saturday, 26 Dec 2009
We reached airport at around 10.30pm for our flight at 01.50am. Guess what we discovered… Our flight was delayed to 3.10am :(

China Airlines and its timeliness.

What to do? I planned to sleep till the time for the flight, but the rest were so excited that we stayed awake until the time of our flight.

Christmas @ Changi Airport

Sunday, 27 Dec 2009
We boarded at 3.10am and reached Taipei in the morning 7.30am. After some greetings to our local tour guide, we proceed to have our first buffet breakfast. The weather was alright at Taipei, just like the weather at Genting.

We continued with the tour to Shilin Official Residence, a beautiful garden full of flowers. Everyone was so into camwhoring for the next hour.

Next location was Chuifen, which is famous for the food. We have at least 5 different foods in an hour time. That marked the end of our day in Taipei. We took train for the next 3 hours to Hua Lien and proceed for dinner and fireworks fun before going to Hotel.


Chiu Fen and the food

As the night was still young, we went out after a shower, to the night life in Hua Lien. We had the best food bargain of the day, 40 dumplings for TWD 160. That is less than SGD 8. The taste is comparable to the much more expensive dumplings here, tasty and juicy :D


4 baskets of tummy-warming food for TWD 160

Monday, 28 Dec 2009
First thing in the morning after breakfast is the Hua Lien’s most famous attraction: Tarako Gorge. The scenery made the 3 hours train ride worthwhile. We had the starbucks-comparable price coffee at the area too, which was supposed to be better than the normal coffee because it was made from the mountain fresh water. I can’t make out the difference… but it’s good enough to warm us up.

Wonderful scenary @ Taroko Gorge

After lunch, we left Hua Lien and go to Taitung, where we were placed at the 5 stars hotel and served a really nice dinner where we finished almost everything except the rice. We spent the rest of the day in the hotel playing pools, enjoying hot spring, and participating in the cultural performance.

Wait, that wasn’t the end. At around 12, we were hungry and hence wandered in the road looking for supper. We ended up having instant noodle in the 7 eleven.

Mid night Supper @ 7 Eleven

Tuesday, 29 Dec 2009
Next morning, we went to a beach which was famous because of the filming of Cape No 7. the sun was burning and we can survive only around 15 minutes there before carrying on to Maobitou Rocky Seashore park. Nothing much special there, except the local delicacy of flying fish. We didn’t eat much as it was after a huge lunch.

@ Cape No 7

---

Ok, to be honest, I can’t really remember all the places we have been through. There are lots of sightseeing places, lots of temples, lots of night markets. Not knowing Chinese language was really a hindrance there. Not only you’re not able to understand what the tour guide said, you can’t order the food you want properly because they understand but Chinese. Thanks to Ryoma, our best translator, we can still order the well-known food around that area.

Between Dragon and Tiger, there are Rabbits =D

Buddhist Holly Land, Fo Guang Shan

Night markets are really famous in Taiwan. They are always so crowded that we can barely stop walking without being pushed around. In contradiction, the malls are almost empty. All the food courts and restaurants have almost zero customers when we visited the malls on Saturday. Unbelievable.

Leo Ho Night Market

The food there are awesome. Out from 1800 pics I took, I am sure that at least 800 of them are photos of foods. You can guess how much we have eaten there. I didn't post it here as I can't pick which to post. And God, my worries came true. I gained at least 5kg from Taiwan. My daily activities was sleeping, taking pics, and eating. I will not be surprised if I can’t wear my office outfit tomorrow T_T

On the New Year Eve itself, we're so overloaded that we just spent our night at Royal Hsinchu hotel playing poker and watching fireworks from TV. We decided to sleep after few players KO-ed and slept while playing.

Anyway, few points to be noted. Taiwan is fun. What lacking for me was the time to really appreciate all the places as we’re bounded to the itinerary. Plus some of the places are not reachable due to the weather condition (Alishan!) Plus it was raining and foggy most of the time which affect the scenery (Taipei 101!)

The bonus I got from Taiwan was the chance to meet my hometown friend – Pin, my witchy relative – Chin, and Taiwan’s President – Mr. Mao!! Hahaha..


Thanks Guys for spending all the time to find me among Ximending's crowd

If I get the chance of visiting Taiwan one more time, I will book a 2 weeks holiday, plan my own itinerary, and go around spring / autumn :) Before that, I will have to polish some of my Chinese.

For now, I need to cure my flu and cough T_T

ED

Third Month

My parents called and asked why I’m still in office late at night
My sister called and questioned what I haven’t replied to her email
My brother called and shocked that I’m in office on weekend

I had to say sorry for missing my best friend’s birthday
I had to cancel my dinner appointment
I had to eliminate my weekend gathering

I haven’t got a chance to watch a movie with my flatmates
I haven’t got a chance to talk to my best friends
I haven’t got a chance to enjoy the beauty of Christmas decoration

I go to office canteen and see that I’m the only diner there
I glance through the office floor and see that I’m the only lady there
I leave office and can’t find any taxi around office area

I realize that I am such a minority.

I look at my watch and realize that the day has changed, my Friday is gone, I’m still in office, and I have to come back in less than 10 hours time.

Then I break down and cry.

I need rest. I need sleep. I need motivation. I need encouragement. Most importantly, I want my life back.

Saturated,
ED

Happy Wedded Life!

I didn’t blog last week! :( I intended to do that the day after, but time just rolled and I was never able to reach home before 10… so… here goes the belated blog. I will skip my daily grumble and go to the highlight of last week… :)

It was my IA Supervisor’s wedding last week. Ever since the first week I worked under him, I know that he is a perfectionist with a long term plans for every major events in his life. Back to 2007, he talked about his plan for further studies and laughed while saying “maybe next two years” when his boss asked about his marriage plan.

Now is 2009, he is holding an MBA, and has just exchanged the marriage vow to the love of his life. I’m really impressed. I think I asked him before if there is any plan that he failed to achieve. He told me the hardest one was to gain weight. Jezz, I would love to have that in my plan list. Achievement guaranteed.

… Back to the topic. I got his invitation 2 months back. As I was looking at the invitation, I feel so glad that he still remembers his humble IA student, and then put it at the back of my mind as the time is still two months away.

All in sudden, the time is here and I prepare nothing. Alright, not like I have to prepare a lot like the newly weds, but I can’t even find a red packet on the day itself! T_T lucky that he is a perfectionist indeed and the packet is available at the reception. Hehe…

I attended the Holy Matrimony, which is nothing less than wonderful. The participants were doubled from expectations, and they had to put in more seats. You can tell how popular the couple is :p After a brief praise and worship, the weeding vow was spoken, the ring was exchanged, the candle was lighted, and the story was revealed. They have been dating for 4 years, the chasing went for one year, and the guy was asked to wait for one month for the answer! But it was definitely a worthwhile wait. The ceremony ended at 7.30, and we proceed to the dining at the main ballroom of Shangri-La hotel.


The first time I saw a Thank You gift arranged on your plate

The wedding was grand, and the most important is, it’s really THEIR day. It’s quite different from the normal wedding I attend back in my hometown. It is not because I know the couple this time while the rest I just went for the food, but I can feel the blessings in the air. The normal wedding I attended consisted of at least 80% of parents’ acquaintances, with around 1 or 2 tables for the couple’s friends. This is the total opposite. Almost all the events are organized by their friends. The band, the singers, the MC, the show, the receptionist, the video, the songs… they literally have an executive committee for their wedding preparation. I especially loved the Mac and PC parody by his bosses. Can you believe… his ex-bosses perform for his wedding! And this is the most diversified wedding I ever attended… I can see Japanese, Korean, Indian, Westerner, Singaporean and (definitely) Indonesian everywhere :)

Enough said. In conclusion, I enjoyed the wedding (and the food). As the bridesmaid said, I too wish my own marriage can be as meaningful as theirs :)

Best wishes to both of you!
ED

July and Hospital

July hasn’t been as busy as June (at least for now). Some news, like the sudden death of MJ has been covering news paper for one week and more. The news itself is shocking, but I am even more surprised to know that he is already 50! That means all the other famous singers in his era, has been around that ages as well. Half decade. How fast time flies.

MJ has been a legend. My all time favorite is “You’re not alone”. It sounds so comforting and full of sincerity. MJ, may you rest in peace. Thanks for bringing so many wonderful songs to the world :)

Enough about MJ. For my rotation, it has been a great 3 days :) This is my first time being in such a big team, where everyone is talking about technology and implementation. I got excited, yes, but I haven’t been able to contribute much yet. The team is big and I haven’t known exactly who is doing what. My very first challenge will be to remember all their names. I almost twist my own tongue and still can't get the name perfect ^^;


My new office @ Alexandra

The new 2009 grads have came and joined on Wednesday, 1st july. Their presence really brings back the memories of the naïve me one year back. Hope that they will enjoy the programme as much as I did (minus the stolen bag part).

On Friday, after finishing work, I met up with the other 2008 grads at Novena, to celebrate the fact that we have been working for a year and still being together :D We played the Rockband @ Gaminghow for 2 hours, before heading back to home.

On Saturday, I slept like a pig until almost 1, then went to help Julianto moving his stuff to Lake Side and went directly to East Coast for cycling.


Fighterz @ East Coast

Believe it or not, that is my first time being in East coast, after staying in Singapore for more than 5 years =.=’ the place was nice. We rent a bike each ($6/ hrs) and started cycling at around 5.45, hence the sun wasn’t very hot, and the wind was just nice. We cycled until the end of the route, took pictures, then headed back to the bike shop.

That is when the incident happened. There was a guy in front of me had been cycling in a very weird way. He moved left and right, slow and fast. I tried to avoid him several times, but in the end…

My front wheel crashed with his back wheel. I fell down from my bike, with my face kissed the ground first, as my hand was stucked at the handler. My heart was really ripping when I feel the cement hit my face, twice. I then quickly try to rise up, which wasn’t hard because my leg and hand were alright. When I touch my forehead, I was really close to break with tear. I can feel a big bruise, as big as chicken egg, came out instantly from by forehead. I then touch my chin and I can feel the blood dipping from there. My face!! T_T

Anyway, I know that there is nothing I can do to turn back time.. so after some first aid from my friends (thanks all), I cycle to the bike shop, return the bike, then took a taxi to Changi Hospital (sorry Tom to drag you along :p). They are quite professional there, so I was discharged in less then half hour, after all the screening, xray, injection, dressing, and 4 types of medicine to be taken everyday (oh, and a MC certificate as well :p) That cost $75, which I feel quite reasonable with their services :)

I reached back home at around 11, applied the medication, and went to bed at around 1. The medicine was really a strong sleeping pill… I was totally unconscious until the next day at 12.

On Sunday, after my lunch, I had the medicines again.. and… I was really drowsy. I tried to keep myself awake by typing blog. I managed to survive the nap, but my blog turns out to be so unorganized T_T still.. I am too sleepy to fix them up. Haha..

Ok ba, that’s all for this week. Just finish my Sarpinos Pizza and answering call from my family around the globe (dunno how my incident news travel so fast).

My life is full of unexpected events, but I kind of treasuring them. It shows how my friends and family care about me :p

Movie next!
ED

In the mist of Long-Weekend

I'm thinking...

Should I start this entry “self-contented” or “self-pitying”?

The intonation of my blog-of-the-week depends a lot on my feeling when writing it, not on the week as a whole. This time, it takes me 3 hours to decide. My current mood is quite bad, and I have written 3 paragraphs describing how cruel has the world been to me, till I realized that I am exaggerating and my week isn’t that bad after all.

So let me scraped off all the bad things and start new :p

All in all, it has been a sweet short week. Except for some unexpected leave from my colleagues, everything else has been fine. I got more things to do, which in line with getting more things to learn and appreciate.

With regard to the side project from graduate training program, we managed to schedule our meeting on Thursday. I don’t know why, but things never go smooth when I worried too much about it. Only when the meeting had been confirmed, one of my team members said that he can’t make it. It took some time trying to request for other slot before finally deciding to stick to the original schedule, Thursday 10.30. On the Thursday itself… oh, what a mess.

I woke up a bit late, reaching office just in time for doing my daily operations routine, minus the breakfast time. I was thinking of having my cereal just after the morning work, but then… the system decided to go down for the first time on that day, causing panic to my whole team, and I needed to manually input whatever is done by the system. Quite a lot of work, I’m not kidding you. Together with the fact that one of the main team member is on leave, bad mood started to come my way.

As expected, I didn’t manage to finish what I supposed to do; I apologized to my team member, and went for the meeting. I waited for around 5 minutes for my friend at lobby, run all the way to the meeting place, and late for my first meeting. And oh, I didn’t have my breakfast. Bad mood ++ again ^^; (note: I always feel that this is the bad side of working with gals, they are emotional! don’t they?)

The meeting was overrun, but it was really a meaningful meeting. I can’t wish for a better sponsor. Really. I packed back Malay food, and had a great 2 hours lunch at pantry, which leave me with guilty feeling at the end of the meal.

So, I work myself until 11.30 on that day. I was the last person to leave the office (the second last leave before 9pm) and I can’t resist from taking some pictures of my current seat while no one is around (hope that I am not breaking any law)


My really-open cubicle @ ORQ

Next day is the Labor Day, as well as my brother’s birthday. Happy Birthday, my dearest brother! :) When I called, he said that he was not working on that day too, not because of the Labor Day, but there is a policy in his company that everyone gets a leave during their birthday. How cool is that!

I went to Johor Bahru on that day. My first experience at JB, after almost 5 years in Singapore. With the fact that it took less than an hour and a dollar to go, I shouldn’t have to wait that long. Thanks so much Fendi for being our Dad of the day: paying all of our expenses upfront. Hahaha.. I myself felt that I have a great time there, minus the embarking time when I was almost breathless inside of the hot jammed cramped bus. We shopped around City Square, and had a refreshing walk at the side of Danga Bay. The food experience was good, despite the fact that we haven’t hit the famous Chinese seafood yet. Maybe next time ;) We have our illegal 5 person in a taxi, twice! And the driver did it for RM12. Believe that I can never experience it in Singapore. haha..


Three Gals @ Danga Bay

Anyway, one thing that astonished me: Bahasa Indonesia is useless at JB! There were so many times that we simply gave up of asking what we want and accepted whatever come when ordering food. However, again (as a pretty emotional gal), I reached my level of tolerance during the dinner.
1. We ordered a set meal from the menu, but the waiter said they don’t have it and asked us to order ala carte only. Lucky Fendi went to ask the boss, and he said that they indeed have the set meal. So we ordered set meal in the end. Annoyed level: 2
2. We ordered Sotong Bakar RM 10, and the waiter said that the Bakar is not available yet. Only the Sambal is there, so we ordered Sambal. Annoyed level: 4
3. We ordered coconut drink, and five minutes later, the waiter came back and said that they run out of coconut. Annoyed level: 6
4. The waiter asked us to get and weight the fish that we want, despite all the time we have told her that we’re ordering from set meal. Annoyed level: 10
5. As Jess felt like having Sotong Bakar and some time have elapsed since the order time (due to all the misunderstanding), I approached the waiter and request if we can change from Sotong Sambal to Sotong Bakar. She said ok. Annoyed level: down to 8
6. Our first order, fried fish, arrived, but the rice wasn't served yet! Annoyed level: 9
7. Our chicken arrived, but not fried as stated in menu, and it was still raw!! Annoyed level: 11.
8. The Sotong arrived. And it’s Sambal, not Bakar =.=’ I was speechless, but the other said that it’s alright. It came with prawn too, which we didn’t order. Annoyed level: 12!
9. And after all the food and relaxing conversation, when we wanted to pay, the sotong cost RM 15 instead of the RM10 that we requested. I was already really ready to shot the waiter, but all the other quickly pull me back. Tell me, is it really only me that is too emotional? The rest seems to easily let it go :( I feel bad myself.
10. After we walked off, I just remember that they didn’t serve us the fruit, which were included inside the set menu.

That was one of the experiences at Johor. The rest wasn’t that bad, really. The food is nice, the cloths are cheap, and the environment is good, just that I have some cultural shock. If I’m visiting it again, I will make sure that I set my expectation right :)

IPA - 1 Small Reunion @ Johor Bahru

On Saturday, I slept until 1.30pm and shocked with myself. I did some home cleaning, went swimming, and watched Fast and Furious to end the day. It was such a short day ^^;

On Sunday, I woke up earlier, do some jogging, some swimming, some washing, and then relax for the rest of the day. I did some self reflection too; trying to understand myself better… why am I paying so much attention to detail but tends to ignore the big problem ahead? Why I like to pin point every single mistake of a person?

Think that I learn a lot more about myself this year :) Can’t believe that I have written so long =.=’ Time to go and do other things =D

Bad mood no more,
ED

Welcome 2 22

I’m now 22. Thanks everyone for the attempt in reminding me that I’m getting older. You have terrifically succeeded. Nowadays, whenever I boarded MRT or bus and see a group of people laughing and chatting, I would unintentionally making my own guess “Hm. Must be around 16 or 18. Kids.” OMG. How old is my spirit now T_T

This year birthday has been quite unique for me :) This is the first time that my birthday celebration did not happen in NTU. Haha.. Let me try to count how many calories had been caused by this event…

I had a birthday reminder dinner at Tony Roma’s, with Grill Ribs and 10 days before my birthday eve.
I had a birthday eve lunch treat at Secret Recipe, with Irish lab Stew + 3 brownies.
I had a birthday eve dinner at Soup Spoon, with a grande bowl of spicy chicken soup on the top of million other stuff.

I had a chocolate cake from flat mates, 15 minutes after the clock hits midnight. Truly appreciate their effort in staying up so late for me.

Suddenly 4 candles seems a lot.

Side note1: On my birthday itself, I went to ICA for my PR application, and get a birthday wish from the lady at the counter =D

Side note2: The application for PR can actually be submitted online! Argh! Bye bye my day leave.


Sigh. They should have advertised it more (helping them to advertise now).

For my birthday lunch, I decided to go for something I never tried before. I got MOS Burger. Hey, it was delicious! I got teriyaki chicken burger, and it’s really juicy =D but if you found me didn’t go for it frequently, you know that it might be due to its size :p

and for my birthday dinner, I had a bowl of Sour and Spicy noodle, xiao long bao, and other things.

For post birthday lunch, I had spicy spaghetti at Pasta Mania, followed with my beloved cheese cake.

23. My great friends decided to celebrate my birthday one year in advance.

Last but not least, for the weekend of my birthday, I had a great oh-so-filling dinner at P.S Café.

And FYI, I finally started my jogging =D It was.. er… a 15 minutes jogging session, followed by 30 minutes breakfast. Hahaha.. but still, it is a good start. Thanks flatmate for dragging me out! And yes, next week will be better :)

Embracing new rotation,
ED

NTU Tragedy

After reading all the facts, I didn’t know what else to say. Reading about his background, he supposed to have a bright future. IMO student. President of EEE sport club. Grades above average. Above all the other things. It’s such a big loss, especially for his family. We all experienced that FYP is disastrous. We all know that getting a demanding supervisor can make it worse. But we must also realize that we’re not alone in this FYP world, and this is going to end, sooner or later.

Suddenly feel ashamed of myself for never giving my juniors any advices about FYP.

I hope that this incident will never happen again… and my deepest condolences to David and his family.

God Bless,
ED

The Lost Passport Case - Closed

Today, I received information that I don’t have to reapply for UK Visa. I stared blankly as the confirmation e-mail was being printed out. Finally… I can close the passport case from my mind… (At least until I am back to Singapore).

It really has been a big mess. First time, I thought I will just need to reapply for a passport, and that’s it. The first adrenalin’s rush came after I heard that Embassy of Indonesia can’t provide me with a new passport, as I’m only holding a business visitor visa in UK.

Indo Embassy: “Sorry, you have to be either a student or holding work permit to request for a passport here”
Me: “Oh, I only have Singapore’s Work Permit”
Indo Embassy: “So you can go back to Singapore to make your passport”
Me: “But, what am I supposed to do without a passport?”
Indo Embassy: “We can issue you a travel document, to certify that you can enter Indonesia to make a new passport”
Me: “But I’m flying back to Singapore! Will I be able to enter Singapore?”
Indo Embassy: “You’ll need a work permit to be able to enter Singapore”

Work permit issuer: “Don’t worry Erlin, we can reissue a new work permit for you”
Me: “Thanks so much!”
Work permit issuer: “No Problem! Just let me know when you have get your new passport”
Me: “…”

At the end of the day, I knew that I need passport to make a new work permit and I need a work permit to enter Singapore and make a new passport. What a chicken and egg situation. I was really unsure if I can enter Singapore.

To make thing worse, I read through the online FAQ that if I lost my passport, I need to reapply for UK Visa. Nothing is being mentioned of what will happen if I didn’t reapply. Great, now I am not even sure if I can exit UK.

And as I can’t get through the UK immigration officer phone, I was so stress up. Top up with the upcoming exam, I was really in a bad mood. Finally after a week of arrow pointing in UK, I asked for help from Singapore. In less than 2 working days, everything is settled. I called Embassy of Indonesia in Singapore, and they told me that I can still enter Singapore as long as I have the copy of my work permit with me (thanks God I have it). And then, my manager helped me to check and confirm that I don’t have to reapply for UK visa. Perfect =D

Now I have nothing to worry and I can focus on my training… but guess what, I was sleepy throughout the training just now T_T Maybe I have been using too much of my adrenalin. Or maybe I need to do some sport to keep my spirit. Or maybe I need more rest. Or I’m simply a lazy pig.

The last one make most sense,
ED

World, We're coming!

My feeling during convocation… was similar to what I felt 4 years ago during the high school farewell… all the good memories flashing out, and I reassured myself that I have no regret going out from this school. :)


Yes bear, NTU is the best...

A day before my convocation, I felt very sleepy for the whole day… I got up to bus and slept until I reached my office. When the lunch time came, I realized that my wallet was gone, and I finally all awake. 20 minutes later, I found my wallet in drawer (which I never put there before!) and deemed myself lucky. Afterwards, I happily went for lunch.

My parents came at that day… They reached at 4.30, and I was wanting so bad that I can leave office earlier… however, the reverse happened; I leave office only at 6.30… and guessed what… I can’t find the bus stop to their hotel and worse still, I leave my convocation invitation at the office!!! The invitation card is the single most important thing that I must take for my parent and I forgot it. I realized it only after I reached Novena. I totally blank out, but finally decided to tell my parents the truth (why this thing always happen =.=) and finally went back to my office to take it, together with my parents. My office is locked after 7pm and security code is needed to access… which I didn’t have. Lucky that there are still some people inside T_T

As it was nearly 8pm, my dinner plan was totally ruined. Finally, we’re having dinner at Asian Kitchen T_T I felt bad. And when we’re going back, it was raining hard. I didn’t know where to call taxi… a security guard advised me to wait at back side of ORQ… I followed his advices, only to wait 30minutes without any result. Finally I called to book a taxi and we reached back hotel at almost 11.

Ever since, I never wait for a taxi without booking it anymore T_T

I slept soundly that night, but feel guilty to let my dad sleep at the floor T_T The next day, I woke up at around 7, got ready and left at 8.45… reach NTU at around 9.15, and started to meet friends... and felt happy and sad at the same time. I’m so gonna miss them…

The convocation started at 10… and as expected, went until almost 12. I’m lucky to be seated next to Erikson and Duncan, hence can chat during the waiting time :p Walk out from the auditorium, we proceed to SBS lobby… took pics with friends… family… and I went off at almost 2.


SCEians + MSEian a.k.a dear roomie


Indo SCE, We made it!! Muahahaha~


Thanks for the free snapshot from school XD

Lily sis brought us to eat the most famous bak kut teh in Singapore, which happen to be just one bus stop away from the hotel. The food is real nice. The name started with “Founder” (reminder just incase I want to eat again some day :p) Afterwards, we head towards orchard, shopped, and have dinner at Sakura Buffet… We reached back home at around 10.30

The next day, I slept until 8am.. and found that my parents went off already =.=’ they have a morning walk around the hotel, and bought a char sio rice when they are back… (who stay longer in Singapore, actually?) Finished with breakfast, we settled some stuff before heading to my place at bukit batok around 1. Mum and dad (with the help of provoking drivers) kept complaining that my place is so far and asked me to move house T_T After reached back my place and put off stuff, we went to JP and have lunch at crystal jade restaurant. Not bad, but parents still prefer bak kut teh than something in restaurant… hahaha… After some shopping, we went back again to bukit batok… and set off to Airport at 5.

My parents’ flight was on 7… after they went in to the departure hall, I went to Grassroots’ club to attend SCE Graduation evening. The total tables are 17, but almost 7 of them are empty. The food was overflown, but I still haven’t digested my lunch and hence can’t eat much.

There is almost no one I know there.. but thanks that I found Shi Yi and Hui Min ^^ Have a good chat with them. The MC is very good, and I had a good laugh there. The things finished at around 10… I reached back bb at around 11, met up with Nancy and family (finally! Miss u much roomie~!) who waited outside because dear nan2 forgot to bring key =.=’ hahaha…

I spent my night unpacking my stuff, and only finished when it’s almost 2.30. Don’t feel like sleeping, I browsed until 3++… and finally, when my head can’t take it anymore, I went off to dreamland…

The next day, Sunday, I set my alarm to 9.30. It takes me 2 hours to finally get up from my bed. I rushed to shower and went to Yew Tee as I have promised Agung to return his convocation gown. Thanks for lending me the gown, Gung! Appreciate it a lot ^^ only that the hat is super big.. 7 ½! Seems like my brain size is much smaller. Haha…

The whole round trip to yew tee took me around 1 hour. As I back, I did the home chores, includes cleaning bathroom, sweeping and mopping home, cleaning up kitchen, doing laundry, ironing, etc. Feel super tired and making my mood bad.. until now.

Tomorrow I will working again T_T seems like I wont have such a long post anymore for the next few weeks.

Where have all my flatmates gone to? T_T
Erlin D

SCE Outing

Right after the last day of final presentation, SCE held an outing to Rice Table ^^ Special thanks to Erikson as the organizer!


Erikson, The Lao Pan

I, never been to Rice Table before, quickly signed up when the offer come. However, I never expected that I’ll be sick on the date itself… T_T But, despite being sick, I still ate in my ‘normal’ portion. Yeah, at least the $32.40 was put at the right place :p


CSC-ians and Praz :p

From all the food, I love Soto the most. It doesn’t make me full, it’s nyummy, and left a warm feeling in the throat :D The rest are worth trying… It has been so long since the last time I ate Indonesian food… ah~~

I really forgot that I was still unwell and eat almost all the chicken wing =.=’ I’m really weak to food.

The buffet went from 6 until 8.30. Afterwards, took some lame pics and went back hostel. Just after I reached hostel, I started to coughed severely again T_T I almost couldn’t sleep yesterday due to coughing.. sigh T_T


SCE Outing @ Rice Table

Right now, I’m so happy for my roomie =D Congratz, dear roomie! It's truly a dream come true! ^^ Take care a lot when I’m not around (I’m sorry to transfer the bactery to you T_T) Tomorrow I’m going off to Shanghai… This blog will hibernate for 2 weeks ^^

Enjoy the holiday, everyone!

Shanghai, I’m coming~
Erlin.D

The Showdown

Finally… the presentation is over!

I was far from my best condition during the presentation… Coughing and sneezing for the whole day.. On top of that, can’t sleep well worrying about my lack of preparation.. and the weather was so hooottt (excuses)

Honestly, I was really scared with the presentation.. I can still remember that my last presentation was last semester during professional communication… and I practice 2 weeks only for the 3 mins presentation. And now? For the most important half hour of my university life, I practically practice less than 2 days.. T_T

In presentation itself.. I was all nervous… I kept looking at the slides, I didn’t look at my supervisor, not even to my examiner T_T… Since my examiner asked me to go fast, I finished my presentation in 10 mins.. afterwards, the question and answer went for another 2 mins.. and that’s all. And on the QnA question, my supervisor did help me to convince the examiner. She is really an angel ^_^ thanks so much for all your guidance, prof! I truly appreciate it. And I apologize for making you shock with my nervousness.. T_T (“Why you’re so nervous? Try to improve hor”)


Me and my dear "cubicle PC"

After the presentation, my next stop was MC. T_T I didn’t know why the place was so crowded, I waited for almost 1 hour there… and the doctor gave me 4 types of medicine, only with my explanation of “cough with flu symptom”

When I was given the medicines, the doctor did tell me that it will cause drowsiness.. but I never expected it to be that strong. I can’t even manage to finish my 20 mins Code Geass before I sleep for a long 10 hrs..

Today is the second day of the medication.. feel weak and sleepy all day (surprisingly, I can still eat a lot :p) going to have dinner now and go to sleep again… hope that the medicine will work.. I have many things I need to doo.... pleasee T__T

ZzZz and Zzz,
Erlin.D

PS: can feel that my blog entry didn’t well organized.. but currently my brain can’t think of how to make it up.. ZzZz

The Final Exam

I just finished my (hopefully) last exam in NTU. DS was fated as the last paper for good reason: not to demoralize and ruin the other exam. Yeah, the paper was horrible. Lucky that I looked at the past year exams and had a taste of how horrible it can be… else I might cry when coming out from the exam hall. Haha..


My old faithful pencil box, my last exam paper, my lucky seat number ^^

Finally, I managed to find out the reason of my low motivation in ADMT and IR exam. It was because of the TYPE of subjects they are. Both of the subjects were offered for post-graduate… which make the subject more towards self-learning rather than typical undergraduate learning… the lecture notes of those subjects are quite ‘abstract’ with many things to be researched upon.. me as a obedient undergraduate simply discard those slides.. hence ended up with nothing to be studied.. muahaha...

The DS exam really brought back the taste of undergraduate… the calculation, the memorization, and even the tricks that scattered around every question… T_T Despite of spending my largest mugging time in this subject, I still fell to those tricky questions… anyway.. again.. it’s over… so.. que sera sera~


Mugging time~ Henny and Me. Spot the odd thing? :p

After the exam, some of my friends complained why I put DS as the favorite subject T_T they urged me to revoke that… hahaha.. hmm.. well, since IR lecturer happened to give me a good mark on the IR assignment, maybe I shall as well hike up the subject ranking to be favourite :p hahahaa… just joking… but yup, yesterday, Kuiyu posted the result of the text search engine… and I really can’t believe that peko and I got the highest score… yaayy XD The result was judged based from others' query results. If a lot of other people returned the result as dumb as you, then your ranking will be high. It happened that we got many supporters.. hahaha… Thanks peko.. Thanks peko for making this second FYP a successful one ^_^ The stress paid! And please stop scaring me that the highest score actually means the lousiest result score T_T

Oh btw, as I said in my previous post, my china visa is completed! I was so happy.. really.. After the collection on Monday, I kept looking at it.. It is just as precious as the US visa, although without my face in it :p huahahaa... Oh, and yesterday, dad told me that mum’s visa is done as well.. ^^ bravo! China, wait for meee =D


The Hardwork

Ok, before the holiday mode ruined me, I shall remember that I still have FYP Presentation on Monday T_T

1st of May. Happy B'day my dear Brother!
Erlin.D

Random pics:

New Pringles: Wild Spice... A must try for spice lover! I lurve it alot.. (despite making me sneeze for several times)


After my 21st B'day, Singtel finally gave me the roaming service! haha.. I can now feel the power of being 21 :p


Nice Mix Grill from Canteen 14... I MUST have it again before I am kicked out from NTU!

China Visa Application

As mentioned, I tried to apply China Visa on Monday 7th April and got rejected. The counter lady looked at my departure date and straightly asked me to come back another week. No excuse accepted. Me, being not so prepared to be rejected, walked out empty mindedly without questioning anything. I SHOULD have asked them whether my documents are sufficient or not. I am too wishful if thinking they will let me know without me asking.

The documents I brought during my first attempt, which were merely the 2 pages application form, were totally insufficient. After booking my air ticket on 17th April, I decided to look at the embassy website again and found out the new regulations (updated on 14th April).

What is "the certificate of family relationship"? If I go to visit some friends or uncle, what kind of certificate will that be? :s

The list of requirements was long enough to shift my focus from my IR exam to the visa preparation =.=’ even the night before the IR, I was worried more about visa rather than exam. (That gave insight of how my paper went…) After the exam, I gathered all the documents I can get, and decided to try my luck at embassy again on the next day.

Wednesday, 23rd April. I reached embassy at 8.27am.. 4 minutes earlier than last time... and shocked to see the long queue T_T


The counter is at second level and I can’t even enter the building!

Lucky enough, there are quite a lot of people got rejected (even before getting their queue number!) and I still managed to get queue number 14, in comparison with 42 from my previous visit.

After getting queue number, I sat at the chair provided.. waiting and praying… then suddenly I heard a bunch of people talking behind me:

“Don’t go to counter 10, the lady didn’t intend to accept any application at all. She will just find any reason to fail your application. I think if we got her, we just forfeited and re queue again”

I heard about it and started to worry. I looked at the situations of the 5 counters and calculated it using the round robin algorithm… and the result is.. counter 10! This is the only time I hope that I miscalculate something. But no matter how I recalculated and no matter how I wish there will be a glitch… I still got her T_T

I went to the counter feeling much more nervous than exam. I gave her the required document.. and the first sentence is already discouraging.

C: “Sorry, we didn’t process application for foreigner. You need to go back to your home country to apply for visa. We can only process for Singaporean and Singapore PR”

I: *looked determined outside but almost crying inside* “Oh, I have actually applied for Singapore PR, but it’s still under process. Here is the invitation letter I received.” (showed her the letter)

C: *Considering for a minute, then decided to proceed* I need your hotel booking.

I: “Oh, I’ll be staying at my sister place.”

C: “If that’s the case, then you’ll need to have invitation letter from your sister, follows with the copy of her identity…”

I: *Cut her in the middle* Oh, here are the documents I have, will it be appropriate? *Give her whatever things I brought: household card, copy of my sister passport, bank account balance, even my birth certificate*

C: *Abit shocked, but then try to sort out the documents* So, this is the name of your sister?

I: “Yes. Here is the household card stating that, and here is the translation of the household card and that is my sister passport saying that she is a legal occupant in china and Here is my birth certificate and the translation as well. And this is my account balance…” *Almost didn’t know what I’m talking about*

And guess what, I think she got confused by me as well. Finally, she wrote a pink receipt and gave it to me. “You can collect it on next Monday”. Oh gosh.. I was sooo happy to hear that.. like I have won from a very big war XD It was almost 9.30 when it's over.. the time spent at counter was less than 5 minutes.

Out from the embassy, I still looked happily at the pink receipt she gave me. Afterwards, I quickly called and thanks all the people that have helped me all the way. Thanks:
Daddy – For sending me the household card and my birth certificate
Sister – For sending me the photocopy of your passport and advising me to bring my PR invitation letter
Arianto – For such a great and prompt ‘illegal’ translation of household card and birth certificate.

Thanks everyone… without one of your help, I really will not be able to get that. The requirement is really tight this time. Just after my application, there is one Singaporean rush to the counter and don’t want to give in. “So if I booked the hotel online, how on earth you want me to get the hotel bill!? Why it’s so complicated!? $#@$#” I felt bad for her T_T and anyway, I even heard that the photo must be in white background... Lucky that I prepared for the white background photo as well :D (Previously I was using red background and she didn’t give me a single advice)

For those who want to apply for Visa… Kichi was right… be prepared.

Finally T__T I made it T__T (Tear of happiness). Wish mum all her best getting her visa as well.

Last exam on 30th April,
Erlin.D

April Fool 2008

For some people, 1st of April might just be an ordinary day… but for a cheat lover like me, this is one of the day I have been waiting for :p I started to cheat since the first minute of entering April… Manage to cheat 3 people in the first 10 minutes… and that’s all for the rest of the day T_T After everyone awared about it, it’s very hard to think of something to cheat about.

But unbelievable, I was cheated for 3 times!! Twice by the same panda somemore!! >< Just like last year T_T. This year, the first lie was during the morning DS lecture, when he said that there will be quiz next week. I naively believed it.. he looked super honest T_T and the second time was at night, when he said that he canceled contract signing because of bond… At that time, there was 4 people around… and only me and my roomie believe on what he said.. I just know that I was so naïve :s I used to think I’m good enough in reading people expression.. but now I doubt about it :s At night, another friend try to cheat my roomie. Out of my business, I listen to the story and got cheated as well T_T gosh, I need to improve badly!

Lesson learnt from this year April Fool: Empty bin sounds loudly (direct translation from Indonesian Proverb of “Tong Kosong Nyaring Bunyinya”) Me, the empty bin, like to boast that I’m a good cheater, where in fact I’m nothing compare to those low profile cheaters. Hahaha…

Recalling last year April Fool, there is one funny incident. Panda lied that A is in relationship with B. This year, it really becomes true! Wow. I hope that the DS surprise quiz will be a fact as well for my junior :p hahaa..

Ok then, looking forward to next year April Fool ^^
Erlin.D

Happy Birthweek to me~

My 21st Birthday has been much more memorable than what I have expected. Thanks a lot to all my friends :) I can’t find appropriate words to describe my feelings… Maybe it’s ‘grateful’ times thousands. Hahaha.. Thanks everyone :’)


A ‘key’ to unlock thing in on age 21 (21/3/2008)


A headset that I had been waiting for XD (23/3/2008)


A ‘KEYboard’ to unlock MANY thingS on age 21 :p (24/3/2008)


My dream Goggle ^__^ Swimming anyone? Fufufufuuuu (25/3/2008)


Something with head bigger than mine XD (25/3/2008)


An e-card from my IA Supervisor! *shocked (25/3/2008)


A book written by my friend. WOW! (28/3/2008)


A memorable b’day wishes, even the box was from Adidas! :p (29/3/2008)


And of course, what is b’day without KFC and Cheese Fries? :p

Talking about KFC, NTU just announced that the new canteen will open soon next week ^^ The announcement email was sent on 1st of April, which make me doubt that it was April Fool =.=’ The new canteen will have Subway, Sakae Sushi, Canadian Pizza, Old Chang Kee, but no KFC :( buuh...

A week to remember~
Erlin.D