My Typical Week

After leaving me behind for 2 months, my roomie is finally back in town on Thurs night. Welcome back roomie! =D Trust that you had a wonderful journey… Can’t wait for the pictures and complete story! Hehe… I didn’t spot any except for one perhaps: her bioclock is now still on oz time - waking up and sleeping 2 hours earlier than usual :p Now that you’re back, all the best for the work and study and travel and everything… and of course, thanks for all the nyummy chocs! Hehe..

OK, this week, I decided to just start & complete my story chronologically to give a view of a typical week in Erlin's routine. Here we go:

Monday – I had my usual Monday blue, went to my usual exercise, had my usual 9pm call, and reached back home at around 10pm

Tuesday – I can’t really remember what happened. Had lunch with other grads at Canteen, then went for my usual Tuesday evening jogging and went back home at around 10pm

Wednesday – I didn’t have my lunch T_T all thanks to a meeting which overshot from 12pm to 1.30pm. I was lazy to eat alone, in the end I just waited for dinnertime to come. Oh my, the dinner @ Jumbo was worth waiting for (Too bad I didn’t bring my camera). We had the Jumbo Standard Chartered promotion (which summed up to about 20 dollar each). It includes Seafood Broth + Boiled Live Prawns + Deep Fried Red Tilapia + Chili Crab + Stir Fried Broccoli with Oyster Sauce + Salted Fish with Fried Rice. And the portion was just nice for 5 of us (Venny, Linh, Glen, Winson and I). After dinner, we went to Café Iguana for a Mango margarita before calling it a day. Linh announced that he is leaving for London. The dinner & drinks turned to be a farewell party for him ^^;


Happy Faces when the food arrived

Thursday – I woke up early and went to apply for Australian Visa. I took a bus at 8.10am, reached there at 8.30. The lady served me at 8.50am (despite the fact that it should only be opened at 9am). At 9.30, I was already waiting for bus with my Australia Visa with me =D Kudos Australian High Commission! So efficient! I went to Yoga class in the afternoon, followed with my evening Thursday jogging, showered, took a call, then went to the farewell party for interns at Brotzeit. I reached there at 9.45pm – a bit late – just enough to had half pint of beer and get the bill T_T


Grads (from different generations) + Interns – Thanks for giving the sheer of youth in Alexandra office!

Friday – the weekend mood was pretty high, even though I know that I got a call from 9.30 – 10.30 pm. I went for lunch with Helios + seniors, catching up and chatting about works. William’s comment about one of his interns was so funny that I laughed everytime I remember it (even now). Back to office, I attended some meetings, passed Snow Leopard to Shifu, then went to Hosted at 7pm for a dinner + drinks (again!! 3 days in a row) with Glen and Girish. We had 2 big chicken + duck pizzas, as well as Hosted platter. We chatted until 9pm, and then they went home while I went back to office. I went back at 10.30pm after my call finished. For Friday night movie, we watch something light – "Hop" – before then slept at around 1am…

Sat – I woke up at 11am, showered, and then went to Suntec for a lunch (all because I mistaken the Sunday’s travel fair for Saturday). Afterwards, we went to Chinatown for a full day KTV at Ten Dollar Club from 2pm to 7pm. The net price is SGD10. With free flow of drinks. Can you believe how affordable it is? And the songs there are pretty comprehensive. I got to know lots of new songs from there =D The Script was a pretty cool band. After a nice KTV, we went to 8 Treasures for vegetarian dinner – which was superb, then followed with dessert @ Mei Heong Yuen, which was awesome!! Haha.. Only after the whole things, I went back thinking how much calories I have put on T_T

One of the dishes in 8 Treasures. I don't mind becoming vegetarian if the food is all like this

The signature desserts from Mei Heong Yuen! Clockwise: Chendol ($6), Durian ($5), Black Sesame($5), Mango($5). I love the Black Sesame the most!

Sun – I woke up early for swimming. After swimming, we went to Suntec for the real travel fair. I booked my 8 days Korea travel tour for 29 October, then we went for lunch at Nantsuttei. Apparently, it’s one of the top 10 ramen shop in Singapore (according to ieatishotipost :p) all of us enjoyed the ramen a lot, especially since it’s 2pm and we’re starving. After the filling lunch, we went to Orchard – Shaw House to get Henry’s tailor made shirt at Rossi, then went back home.


Golden Curry Ramen ($15) - Nantsuttei. The black layer is apparently from the deep fried Garlic

The rest of the Sunday afternoon was a bit blurry. I was so sleepy. I remember reading through the Korea’s itinerary, chat with mum and dad, then unconscious for an hour. I woke up at 7pm, then went for dinner at 8pm. Reached back home after a small shopping at 9.30, relax, and now going to iron my clothes before sleeping….

That’s summarized my typical weekly routine! Hehe.. And tomorrow here come Monday’s blue… T_T

Hungry Ghost Festival is here!
ED

PS: I wasn't interested with iPad before. But iPad + App: Manga Collection MF turned out to be my childhood dream!! It's like having the whole comic store in my palm. I want I want I want... T_T

Harry Potter @ IMAX 3D

Oh gosh… when is this heat going to be over? Though I appreciate the way it dried up my cloths instantly, I found it a bit too much for me to manage. Even running at my usual sunset time ~6.30pm actually burnt my skin T_T I’m 2 tone darker within a week. Now is 5pm on a Sunday afternoon and I’m typing this with sweaty fingers.

This week was a big week for the big bosses. Yup, their big boss is in town and I can see big bosses running here and there to jump from one meeting to another. Big bosses busy = opportunity for small fries to slack :p haha… my office timing is getting better… hope that it’s sustainable… The manager who sits beside me actually took the time to talk to me and told me not to work too hard. Staying in office for 3 more hours might help to improve your review a bit, but it doesn’t worth it if it means you lost your social life. Well… Ok! I’m determined to change. But what can I do if people keep sending me invite for 9 or 10 pm? :(

Anyway, I managed to kick off my jogging again =) feel good with that, but I do realize that I was even slower than usual… and the hot burning sun didn’t help in giving me motivation to run T_T No yoga this book because the room was booked for Townhall, with was in the end cancelled. Aaa… Such a waste :(

On Friday, I decided to try out the Toastmaster Club in DB during lunchtime. It was quite an experience. It’s a professional club with the president, financial controller, language critics, timekeeper, etc. They even have someone dedicated to count your filler words like “a, I mean, so, you know, etc”. I can see people from vendor to director. The club somehow also gave you the sense of friendship… where everyone is encouraging everyone else =) Best thing? It serves free lunch afterwards! Haha.. kidding. But I really like the session. It mainly consists of 2 parts, one is section for prepared speech, and another one is for impromptu speech. At the end of the section, the assigned reviewer will give feedback to his/her presenter. It then followed with voting for best presenter, best reviewer, best impromptu speech, continued with speech from a GOH, and then closure of the meeting after a debrief. The whole things happened within 90 mins…. And we covered more than 10 speeches! One of the most efficient meeting ever. Now I’m in dilemma deciding if I should join. You’re supposed to gave 10 speeches to complete the introductory level… which is like having 10 FYPs for me…. Hmm.. I will decide about it later.

Friday is also the last days for some people I know… Helios, Baggi, wish you guys all the best in the new role :)

I somehow watched quite some movies this week. Started with Priest (4 stars!), Lincoln Lawyers (4.5 stars!), Russell Peters @ London 2010 (4 stars!), Ramen Gill (3 stars), as well as Harry Potter (5 stars! :p)

Ok, maybe I haven’t been entirely objective with my ratings. We watched Harry Potter in Imax 3D (thanks Winson for the treat :p :p) which I must said, really, really awesome! I’m not sure if it’s the movie or it’s indeed the Imax + 3D. Harry Potter’s castle was so big, so real surrounding you, just like watching through a window. You can feel the rock, the fire, and the minute details of the visual effects. I also like the big 3D glass that doesn’t keep rolling down from my nose. This is the first 3D movie that I can really enjoy till the end. Kudos Imax 3d + harry potter =D Will I go back soon since I got such a good experience? With its price tag, maybe not T_T but it’s good to try it at least for once.


The renewed Shaw Center @ Orchard - pathway to the iMax Theather


Look at the size of the 3D glass! That's what we call coverage!! :D

On Saturday, we received announcement from Ratna after our lunch at Mind Café. She is getting married this Dec! On a Christmas Eve! All of us congratulate and blaming her at the same time, for sharing the good news so late in the year. It was already planned from last year!! Not many of us can go back for the wedding dinner, but at least she knows that all of us are happy for her and wishing her all the best =) Congratz, Ratna!


Ratna's Proposal Interview - Part 1 @ Mind Cafe


Ratna's Proposal Interview - Part 2 @ Kopitiam

On Sunday, I woke up because of stomachache (suspecting my previous day’s Ayam Penyet as the main cause). After washing my face and changing cloth, we went to Clementi for Badminton. Again I felt that I lost my breath too easily. I have to practice on my stamina I guess T_T After the badminton, we went back, and I did my usual laundry work. I called my sister to wish her a belated b’day, as well as a very happy birthday to bro-in-law. They are still in Taiwan enjoying their holiday, heard that the weather is also like Singapore – unforgivingly hot.


The sinful and delicious Ayam Penyet Ria

One more week to the Ramadhan… It means 5 more weeks to holidays! I’m excited.. but again… I haven’t planned a single thing for this Aussie & HK trip.. Haven’t even applied for my Australia Visa… meanwhile… I’m going to SA Travel Promotion next week to hunt for cheap Korea Tour :p

I have two hours to dinner… maybe it’s time for me to actually do some travel research T_T totally not my expertise… sigh.

Till next week!
ED

PS: I met Joanna! It has been so long.. 2 years at least? She was managing Holika Holika, and looks totally as slim and young and gorgeous as before she gave birth. Haha.. She gave me a trial set for Holika’s face care… which I’m definitely gonna try soon :)

Mid Performance Review

July is always time for “mid” performance review, regardless of when you actually finalized your objective settings (for this year, it was April 2011). So, within 3 months, we’re expected to review our performance with our Manager and see how we’re against the set objectives. I don’t know how serious it’s being taken, but I just want to get mine done deal with.

I scheduled my one-to-one on Tue, which was countered by my manager to Wed, which was then changed by me to Thurs morning, then requested by my boss to change to Thurs afternoon, and we finally get the one-hour on Friday before lunch =__=

The one-hour went fine, but I’m not really able to tell how I have performed this far. I think it’s sort of the art of being an evaluating manager: to be able to pass through the session without really saying anything disheartening or encouraging. Haha… He gave some areas of improvement more from the project perspective rather than individual perspective. Is it a good or bad sign? I don’t know, but I just know that I will get beaten hard if I didn’t achieve it at the end of the year.

Apart from that… this week has been quite crazy but still bearable. I spent so many time on Tokens replacement (all thanks to RSA security leak) that I wasn’t not really able to cover what I intended to last week… but at least the high issue is done deal with and hopefully there won’t be much distraction for next week =)

This week I have been procrastinating. I didn’t go for any run in the evening. And when I should go for the morning run on Saturday, I slept until 11am. I don’t know what happen to me… I have been like sleeping zombie this weekend. Put me on bed for 5 mins and I will sleep for the next 5 hours. It might be due to my Thurs Craziness (to stay in office until 2AM + wake up at 7am afterwards), my lack of exercise, or my dependencies with coffee on weekdays. Whatever it’s… I’m committed to a continuous effort of healthier life style :) :)

There has been a lot of development in my holiday plan. From the plan to go back to Indonesia, we changed to plan to visit HK, then last week we confirmed that we’re going to Sydney. Few days ago, my father just called me and again said he needed to visit HK after Sydney to attend uncle’s son wedding =___= in the end? From no plan to 20 days worth of holidays. I hope my boss still want me when I’m back. We got all the flight tickets sorted out, but now I’m totally restless (and excited) to plan for the hotel and itinerary. No luxury of tour guide this time! I can’t wait :D

I haven’t been reading novel on bus this week.. one is because I started carrying my laptop around so I got no hand to hold the novel (bad habit alert!! – working from home), second because I was on phone with my dad almost everyday to check on the travel so I didn’t really get a chance to take my book out. I completed the novel “The Associate” and now reading “What to do when someone dies”. Both are kind of gloomy story… guess I will switch to Che’s romantic novel the moment I’m done with the current story =D

Have I mentioned that we completed Glee Season 2? I must admit that it was so much better from its first season, and I’m really looking forward to the Season 3! Finally we'll manage to follow each new episode when it comes out this Sep! We’re currently crazy over “Outsourced”, and target to complete the series by next week… too bad that it won’t continue with its second season :( :(

Ok, lets finish this post with talking a bit about food =D

Last Friday, I went to eat with my boss (once in a year) at Dempsey hill, at an indian restaurant named “Samy’s Curry”. People kept warning me that the food will be very spicy, but I found it just nice =) I love the way it’s served on banana leaf, kind of reminds me of my beloved Nasi Padang.. oh~


The "Setup" for Samy's Curry. You're supposed to create a hole in the center of your briyani to contain the curry

On Saturday, I was craving for Japanese food and we went to Japanese Gourmet Town in Vivo. I had my ramen and Winson had his Japanese’s Char Kue Tiaw, which is surprisingly very tasty!! After lunch, I went shopaholic and spent 100+ on cloths @ Esprit. Enough for them to grant me one year membership for free ^^;


The tasty Japanese Char Kue Tiaw @ Japanese Gourmet Town

On Saturday night, we went to Boon Tong Kee and had a fabulous half chicken + spinach with various eggs. I kept eating and only realized how full I was when I stand up. Hump!


Even the lousy picture can't stop me from drooling

On Sunday, I decided to reduce the sinful calories by going for 25 laps swimming at NTU Alumni Club. Who knows that the swimming actually makes me starved and I ended up buying a big portion of noodle at Meiling Street Food Center =__=


Fishball Noodle from one of the stall in Meiling Street food center - $2.5. Apparently they moved from Margaret Drive food center

With all these calories, I better make sure that I did my exercise next week. I just finished my Tom yam noodle dinner and feel like going to dreamland again…

In the half conscious state,
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

First of July

This first of July marked my third year in work force. It’s much more special from previous years because of one reason: Three years marked the completion of my tuition grant bond, too. A contract which was signed 7 years ago, now executed and completed. I’m a free person :D :D

But to be honest, I don’t know what to do with this freedom. Even if I’m now free to go anywhere, do I want, or worse, dare to? I’m living such a comfortable life right now. I didn’t think of doing anything that might shake the balance.

Well, few days ago, out of curiosity, I was actually searching on my eligibility to become a Singaporean. Turn out that you can actually apply after 2 years of PR. I feel the urge to apply… but I know I need to take some advices before that. This is a change in nationality I’m talking about, not change in jobs. Something almost irreversible. I think I still need to do my due diligence before rushing on this. There are so many Indonesian decided to stick with PR despite all the perks that its offer. There must be a reason why :)

The hot discussion I heard these few weeks has been all around housing: friend A gets a BTO, friend B gets a condo, friend C is getting resale HDB… so much news which finally also give me an impulse to start researching on best way to get a property in Singapore (and I guess this is one of the reason why I considered to apply for Singaporean. Lol)

I’m now one week away from Jurong Lake Run. And somehow I get so much lazier this week =.=’’ I run only once during weekday and once during weekend. I eat like crazy this week (with 101 excuses) and didn’t even do any swimming T_T

Friday night was a birthday dinner for Bhagee. We went to Barossa @ Holland Village for a dinner and chit chat… it has been quite a long time since the last I see Sapna. I really enjoyed the gathering :)


The Roast Chicken Meal – The mash potato was superb!

Back home, we indulged ourselves with an episode of Outsourced and then dozed off.

Saturday, I went for a run in the morning, then went to Crystal Jade for lunch with Bol2 and the rest. You can tell how big is my portion by the look of the bowl =.=’’ After lunch, we went to the temple then moved on to Orchard for some shopping.


My Favourite Hot and Sour Spicy Noodle in Gigantic Size

We were in Orchard the whole afternoon and managed to cover only a small portion of ION Orchard T_T After some shopping (I went mad and got myself the highest high heels shoes I ever bought), we went to Paradise Dynasty (ION Orchard, level 4) for dinner. The place it famous for its 8 signature xiaolongbao flavours: Original, Garlic, Ginseng, Foie Gras, Black Truffle, Cheese, Crab Roe, and Szechuan. We decided to get one basket and tried them all. My favourite is Original and Garlic. The cheese is good but the taste is too mild. And omg the Szechuan is basically the ma la taste… hoot!!


Happy me at Paradise Dynasty, with colorful Xiaolongbao @ SGD 13.80.

After the dinner, we went to Market Place to get some wines and went back home, accompanied with movie “Limitless” before finally sleep at around 1am.

The next morning, we went to badminton at Jurong East. After badminton, all of us went to Bukit Batok for Medy’s house warming @ Hillview Regency. The place is really good. 21st Floor, 3 bed room, with 4 swimming pools! Yet, the bigger highlight is definitely the food… omg.. it’s really really good!!! I had at least.. ahem.. 3 servings. I started with Misop, continued with lontong, and finished with bihun curry. It’s all so nyummy!! Here are some pictures for memories. Special thanks to Jess for the invitation and for bringing us around the condo :) And Congratz shifu for house and marriage… Wish you a happy wedded life. Hehehe.. :D :D

All Indonesian Favourite Buffet! You can feel the beam of happiness from their look

My Mouthwatering Misop... oh I missed the Chili now...

My awesome Lontong! I didn't remember I ever like lontong this much!

The perfect dessert in perfect shapes. Thanks Yullica!

I ate so much that I didn’t really think much of dinner, even as the time hits 8pm. I finally go for porridge at Dawson, and then bought back some fruits from Fair Price. It’s 10.30pm at night now and I’m still so full T_T I think I have to run at least 5 times this week to pay back all the calories I had taken over weekend…

Anyway, worry about it later… now it’s time for Glee! Hehe…

Pigging,

ED