Closing the March Chapter

As expected, last week was one of my longest OT streak. I was continuously staying late until 12am from Monday to Thursday, all of that to make sure that I can sneak out before 8pm on a Friday night.

Yes, last Friday was my birthday :D and I’m not proud to say that I was in office when the clock hit 12am & the date changed to 25th March. I was getting older by one year, officially in the office (if you’re confused with my wording, you’re not alone). I kept receiving messages & facebook notifications after that, but the person I was with in the office at 12am just ignorant and still kept assigning me work. Oh well T_T Area of improvement for next year! To spend my birthday moment somewhere outside office!

But anyway, all my OTs are paid off with the wonderful Friday dinner at Suntec :) Thanks Winson for organizing the dinner :D When we came out from dinner, the last play of Fountain of Wealth was on, and it really brought back the memories of our first year in Singapore, when we were all still so naïve and go “Waaa” for all these things. It has been almost 6 years and the scenery looked exactly the same!


Thanks Jitu, Kenneth, Maria, for the b'day treat!


My B'day Cake. I want to wish for less candles on my cake!


The group pic @ Crystal Jade La Mien, Suntec :D

After a brief nostalgia, we proceed to Game Center and stayed there until the owner kicked us out at almost 12am. Gosh I really wanted to take some pictures with that Neo Print! But none were working :( After the fun, we decided to call it a day… and I ended my birthday in a bus with my loved one :D

Saturday morning, I got a love call from my big boss, right from Saudi Arabia T_T I was kind of expecting this, so I quickly got ready and went to office. I lost tracked of time when I was there. Everything happened so fast. I just remembered that I ordered some pizza for team lunch, setup some video conference call with Saudi Arabia, then opened champagne for celebration, sent out the successful implementation email.. and the next thing I know time was already showing 6pm. I then went back home and get ready for dinner.


Video Conference between Saudi & Singapore. Can anyone spot me?

Dinner, we went to Nicholas, Le Restaurant near Outram Park area. Enjoyed the food so much and time just flies. I must say that it’s one of the best restaurants that I have ever been to! It worth the 3 hours waits for all the food to be served :p


@Nicholas, Le Restaurant - with our main course

Sunday, we satisfied our adventurous desire (vomit) by going to the Southern Islands in Singapore. Six of us (five ladies + 1 henry bond) went to St. John & Kusu Island. Both come with a beautiful beach, with quite a number of people lying and sun tanning. I just know that those beaches belong to Sentosa, too! And yes, they are really well taken care of. I can hardly see any rubbish or fallen leaves. We spent only around 20 minutes at St. John, then had to go back to the ferry to proceed to Kusu. Well, this Kusu island is famous for the Tortoises, so you can expect us seeing Tortoise statue, praying at Tortoise temple, and playing with the real Tortoise @ Tortoise Sanctuary!


Group pic @ Kusu Island - when we touched down at around 2pm

At Tortoise Sanctuary - That was as close as what my braveness brought me to the tortoise

Back to home, I was already exhausted. Ending the fabulous weekend with a movie Burlesque from Christine Aguilera :)

Start counting down to another weekend,
ED

To be or not to be…

There were a few big announcements from office this week, which made my whole team feel a bit uneasy. I tried to understand its implication, but finally decided to just do my work as usual, leaving the worrying part to other people. There is nothing much I can do anyway.

Weather has been horrible these days. Hot during afternoon time & big rain during the evening time. I didn’t run this week, but I did do the yoga, exercise, and badminton. Some people kept advising me to avoid outdoor activities due to radiation… Maybe I lack the knowledge of how powerful a nuclear radiation can be, but I choose to ignore those comments for the time being. Hey, Japan and Singapore are not that near, right.

At the same time, there is a big news of how close the moon is to the earth for this week. Like the closest in 25 years. I managed to catch a glimpse of it on Saturday night, which also happened to be the full moon day according to Chinese calendar. Oh my, it was so big & bright - no cloud at all near by.

Btw, just watched King’s Speech earlier today, which was a go.. go.. good movie. The actor was really convincing as a stammer. No wonder that he got the Oscar!

I guess my next week will be an awfully packed week. There are things that are overdue soon, things I’m looking forward to, and things that my whole team has been waiting for last year. I don’t mind if I have to work overtime from Monday to Thursday, but please… let me have a good weekend on Friday & Saturday… I don’t want to spend another week like this getting call from boss & connect to office throughout the night.


Pasta @ Empire State, Bugis, 4.5/5! – The last picture before I get a love letter from boss

And oh, once again I would like to thanks my 3G for being a life savior for me (and of course Winson, to prevent me from exploding). Somehow the router at our flat decided not to function this week, so I finally have to connect to office through 3G again. It’s quite amazing to see how 3G actually run comparably fast in comparison with wireless.

OK. I can’t hold it anymore. Allow me to excuse myself to bed now… I can hardly open my eyes. Morning Exercise + Filling Lunch + Rainy weather are the best formula to a good deep sleep.

Oyasuminasai,
ED

Busy Week

The week doesn’t start like a busy one. Earlier last week, I checked my calendar and I have only 1 day of call after 6pm. As the week goes along, I ended up with only 1 day without late nights call. What’s wrong with these people… T_T I was so determine to have my two jogging sessions this week, but taken none due to all these sudden calls!! I want revenge!

On Wednesday, I managed to meet up with Lisa Sis for dinner; who happened to be in Singapore for a pre-honeymoon trip. I know I’m like a lamppost there, but I’m still glad that I made it :D We had dinner at No Signboard Restaurant @ Clarke Quay, then went for a walk around the river. I have been to No Signboard for around 3 times in this half a year, and I kept forgetting that their Black pepper Crab is NOT good! I ordered it for the third time that day and promised to note it down somewhere so I won’t order it again next time. Their Chili crab is definitely a go! Very nyummy. Maybe I will give a try to their butter crab as well next time (hope the next time won’t be too soon – It’s making a hole in my credit card. Lol)


No Signboard Restaurant - Clarke Quay

On Friday, I was caught between two choices: To attend promotion party of my team member, or the farewell party of my ex-team member. After some considerations, I decided to go for the later at Hanabi Japanese Restaurant at Odeon Tower. It was around 8.20 PM when I reached… and I was the last one, as usual =__=… The food is quite good… and it takes me sometime before I realized that it’s a buffet! O.o Oh no! My New Year resolution! But since this one is really not intentional and not within my control, this is not counted. Ok, ok? (Why am I making my own rule then trying to find excuse to break it myself =_=)


After dinner at Hanabi Japanese Restaurant

Anyway, the food is quite OK. I don’t understand why it got such a low rating in Hungry Go Where. Maybe shouldn’t trust the food review too much after all.
On Saturday, I went all out with sweaty activities. I woke up at 7AM, went to Khatib MRT to start the North Connector Park trekking, and stopped at 12.30 for lunch at Ajisen Ramen, Causeway Point. After lunch, I moved on to the next agenda: Badminton @ Jurong West. The rest decided to complete the trail until Marsiling MRT. After the badminton, we had dinner together at the food court near Pioneer MRT before going back home.


At Khatib, Lower Seletar Reservoir Park

Later at night, I watched the movie: The Tourist, featuring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. The scenario is really typical, but I guess it becomes special because of the actors. I guess I start to become a fan of Angelina and Johnny Depp. Haha..

On Sunday, I woke up early in the morning and decided to start blogging. Today will be a relaxing day. Maybe a date in the afternoon and then another movie at night :)

It was really saddening to see what happened in Japan on Friday :( Is the end of the world really so near? Please, please… this is just the first quarter of 2011… and there are natural disasters news almost every week :( Hope that things will be better. I still want to visit Japan one day!!

Ok, I’m hungry and time to go for a lunch!
ED

Yawn

5.00 PM on a sunny Sunday.

My mind is blank; ears are listening to Michael buble; with eyes keep looking at the comfy bed. I’m fighting the urge to touch my bed… The moment I touch it, I will be gone until 8PM before I finally awake again.

This has been a pleasant week. I started my exercise, running, and badminton again, and I feel so much better :) Work has been more manageable (at least for this week), and I managed to be back home before 12 everyday. Haha…

I’m not sure if I’m complaining a lot about my work, but I actually very much OK with it. However, it seems like I gave a wrong impression to those people who asked me about my work… especially my family! These days, my mum starts to countdown to the end of my 3-year bond… and even asked if I would like to go back to Indo once my bond is cleared.

Well, it caught me by surprise. Frankly speaking, I never realized that it’s just another 4 months to complete my bond. I’m free to choose what I want to do afterwards… but guess what - I’m taking the freedom as a pressure instead. It was so convenient to answer, “Oh, I got 3-year bond” when people asked why I chose to work in Singapore. Few months from now, I have to think of another excuse… I can’t even find any answer for my parents yet. Of course Singapore is convenient and safe and such… but it’s also a stressful, competitive county with skyrocketing accommodation price… Still again, it’s how you can keep yourself motivated to do better… but you can’t wish to get maid and car here…

… and the fight in my mind continue… which I will leave to the future me to decide.

This week, we watched “Adjustment Bureau” and “The Next 3 days”… One by Matt Damon and another by Russell Crowe. One comedy, one serious. Both are talking about a guy who did anything for the one he loves. Oh well, I’m giving 8 /10 to the first movie and 7 / 10 to the second one, since I preferred comedy more :p And yes, I watched Green Hornet too! Jay's English was pretty good.. at least its clearer than his Chinese :p

I hate to admit that my birthday is coming up T_T One more year closer to the mid-life crisis. I thought of a very funny plan earlier today. I feel like stop working for a year, and use it to fully build and pamper myself - practice Yoga, train Badminton, achieve Marathon, go for face wash, spa, and skin care. After a year, i want to see the healthy and slim version of myself. Haha...

Ok, enough of the random blabbering. Time to do some planning...
ED