Transitioning back to Normal Routine after weeks of max OT + max Fun

Life has been really, really fast pace for me for the last 2 weeks. Can’t complain. I made the choices.

Well, my leave application couldn’t have come at the worse time. It’s holiday season and most parents are taking leave to spend time with their kids. We’re already shorthanded, but I still asked my boss if I could take leave on the second week of June. That, with the knowledge that she was also taking two and half week leaves at almost the same time.

I feel a bit shameless but I didn't have many options. My family has book their tickets to SG long back and I don't want to disappoint them too. I’m really lucky that my boss still approved my leave. Of course it comes with consequences. On the week before I went on leave, I had to deal with my current work + the work I supposed to finish when I’m on leave + the work she passed to me to do while she is on leave + status update of everything I’m working on to make sure people don’t bug me unnecessarily during my leaves. That didn’t leave me much choice but to abandon my gym and work two shifts by staying until midnight for the last few days until I went on leave.

It was really tiring, but it paid off :) I left me with no office pressure during my family visit, and I got only one call from office! I call it achievement :P

Having said so, being a 24x7 tour guide is also not easy. Especially if it’s with your loved ones and you just want to give them the best. I have to wake up as early as them (6am!) and slept only after I ensured that things are planned for the next day – more on it on my previous post :)

Rushing for office work, rushing for tour guiding, it all ended yesterday. It was so anticlimax! I thought I would be enjoying small window of relax time, but I felt more lonely than relax. For few moments, I don’t know what to do! In the end I decided to kill time by running 12km at the gym. Same thing happen today. I finished my training at 5pm and started to wonder what to do. I put gym as my last resort and I ended up spending 4 hours there doing 9km run and tried 2 new classes - Easy Step + Sh’Bam.

So yeah, I enjoyed the little distraction to my normal routine, but I do look forward to going back to my typical weekdays :)

One more training tomorrow and I will be fully back to routine afterwards.
ED

Sis & Mum's Visit - 6 Days 5 Nights @ YourSingapore

... with me as the Tour Guide!

I guess I mentioned before that I’m lousy at tour guiding. I tend to rush my “guests” around in attempt to let them “see” more things, but in the end losing out the “enjoying” things part. I tried to keep that in mind this time and decided to have the most relaxing tour, ever!

So here was what happened on the last 6 days…

Friday, 15th July 2012 - Changi - Singapore Zoo - Vivocity

It was my first time going to budget terminal, so I intended to give myself a bit of buffer time just incase I got lost. I left at around 8.20am along with Winson (he was going to office), and reached Changi at 9.10am. I never really noticed the budget terminal sign, but apparently it’s all there and the signboards are really helpful. I was taking the bus to budget terminal at around 9.20am and reached the arrival hall at 9.30am.

So this is the free shuttle bus to Budget Terminal!

The flight touched down at 9.30am. I was happily smiling standing and waiting. 15 minutes passed but there was no sign of people coming out. 15 mins become 30 mins, then 45 mins, then AN HOUR! They finally came out at around 10.45am. My smile wore out but I was still really happy to see my family! Welcome to Singapore!

Welcome! - Blurry Pic, blamed it to the taxi driver for driving too fast!

First destination is home. Brought them back to my rental flat and let them rest for a while – eat, nap, unpack, etc. At around 2pm, we went out to our next destination, Singapore Zoo! I purposely planned it on the first day based on the experience I had before – if I planned it near the end of the journey, people tend to lose the excitement :p

At Singapore Zoo with all different "Ancestors" as the background

The day was sunny – or hot, I would say. We walked around three quarter of the park. I was kind of confused with the map; it doesn’t seem to be really precise. I can’t find the animals where they were supposed to be even after few rounds of checking. I know that my map reading ability is bad, but I believe it’s not that bad! There were constructions going all over the zoo, so maybe they have to relocate some of the animals for constructions. We watched 2 of the famous shows – Rain Forest Fights Back and Elephants At Work and Play. We decided to go for dinner afterwards.

White Peacock during the Rain Forest Fights Back Show!

Not really able to snap with all the moving animals, so we took one with the static one instead

Dinner is at Sushi Tei, Vivocity. It was 5pm in the afternoon and the restaurant was almost fully occupied. I still don’t understand how can it be so popular! We had great time with the food, then went to Giant for some fruits shopping, went back home and called it a day.

Sushi!

Saturday, 16th June 2012 - Bugis - Marina Bay Sands

Woke up at 6am, breakfast at 8pm, and then we went to Bugis for prayer and lunch at 12pm. Had lunch at my favorite restaurant at Bugis – Crystal Jade La Mien.

Bugis is filled with Rice Dumplings Stall!

Lunch at Crystal Jade La Mien!

After lunch, we went back home, packed, and went to Marina Bay Sands for check in. Relax there for the rest of the day – had dinner at No Signboard Restaurant, esplanade

Our Room!

Deluxe Room - guess this is the smallest room, but still spacious enough with Balcony!

View outside the Balcony - Garden by the Bay in the making!

It was 5pm and the sun was freaking hot, but the place was so crowded I can hardly believe it

There is no way to take pic without at least another 10 people behind

On our way to Esplanade via The Helix Bridge

Dinner! - Chili Crab & Butter Crab

Sunday, 17th June 2012 - Sky Park, Fountain of Wealth, IKEA

Was contemplating if we should to USS on Sunday or Monday. After awhile, decided to go on Monday, so we spent the morning swimming and relaxing at Sky Park.

Finally managed to take a decent group pic after endless try

Last shot of the room before checking out

We checked out at 11am, and then went to Suntec for lunch at Soup Restaurant. Got a chance to visit the fountain of wealth as well. After a bit of walk around, we went back home, rest, and then went to IKEA for dinner.

Suntec - Almost the whole section were closed, lucky the fountain area was open

Lunch at Soup Restaurant - Samsui Ginger Chicken!

Walking around IKEA

Our Dinner - guess we ordered almost everything in the Menu

Monday, 18th June 2012 - Universal Studio Singapore

We spent the whole day at Universal Studio Singapore. I thought Monday would have fewer crowds compare with weekend’s. Well, I might be right, but the queue was still horrendous! I spent 20 mins just to queue for the ticket for monorail *faint.

First destination in the theme park was… Madagascar. We rode on the Crate Adventure and King Julien’s Beach Party-Go-Round before dashing to the Lost World for Water World show.

Greeted by Woody Woodpecker near the entrance

Water World - Most probably my 5th time watching this show

After the show, we went to Discovery Food Court, has some set meals for lunch, then went back to Far Far Away for the Shrek 4D Adventure and Enchanted Airways (I can’t believe mum agreed to take this!)

My Ayam Penyet Seat Meal - $11

Shrek!

Done with the ride, we went back to Lost World to check on the waiting time for Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure. It was 20 mins waiting time, so we decided to give it a go. I tried it before but can’t really remember when will the fun splash begin, so I was alert throughout the journey. We got really soaked after the show, but thankfully the sun was strong enough that all was dried within an hour. That was the last ride I took for the day. We just kind of passed through Ancient Egypt section (I managed to get a pic with Cleopatra!)

Is Cleopatra not allowed to smile?

We moved quickly to the Sci Fi city as my niece said that he wanted to ride Transformer. Alas, the waiting time was 90 freaking minutes. It was already 4.30pm and we decided to give it a miss. He went to Accelerator ride, while I enjoyed snapping pics of the Transformer. Man it was huge!

Transformer! Is this Optimus Prime? Can't Remember

Moving on after Sci-Fi city was New York. I’m lucky enough to meet quite a few of the characters there – Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, Mel’s Waiter, Betty, and Frankenstein. I saw Puss in Boots and Kungfu Panda too, but was too late for a pic with them =( We went for our last show of the day – Lights! Camera! Action! Hosted by Steven Spielberg. After few more shots around the Universal Studio, we took the monorail back to Vivocity and (based on demand) we went to Kopitiam to have dinner, Singapore style! :)

Sexy Marilyn Monroe!

Tuesday, 19th June 2012 - Chinatown - Orchard

Good time flies. It was the last full day and I started to get the ‘can’t let go’ feeling. We had lunch together with Lily Sis and her two cute sons at Yum Cha, and then have the shopping season started at OG Chinatown.

Family lunch!

We shopped until around 4pm, and then took a taxi to Orchard for… another round of shopping! We walked around until around 6pm, took some pics, then went back to my place and have dinner around the area. Last few hours before slept were filled with packing. I’m impressed and will always be impressed with my sis’ packing capability. She can pack a big whole mess into 6 nice suitcases adding up to 40kg sharp. Power! We slept at around 11pm after making sure that we didn’t miss out anything.

Wednesday, 20th June 2012 - Changi

It’s finally the time to say good-bye. We woke up at 6am, had breakfast, packed the few last items, and then took a taxi to airport at around 8am. Check in was smooth, and so did the GST claim. Everything was fine and we were all done by 8.30am. It was 2 hours to departure and so we’re just sitting around and chat. The more we chat, the more I wish that the plan is delayed so I can maybe have another lunch with them before they go :p unfortunately my bad wish didn’t come true. The gate opened on time, even though there were like half an hour delayed on the take off time.

Last pic at Departure Hall - Bye, Mum, Sis, Niece!

So that’s pretty much summarized all the 6 Days 5 Nights in Singapore. Who said that there is nothing to see in Singapore? I still haven’t shown them the Night Safari, Jurong Bird Park, Sentosa, Singapore Flyer, Little India, Clarke Quay and not even Casino T_T They still haven’t eaten the Founder’s Bak Kut Teh, Boon Tong Kee Chicken Rice, and what about showing them my favourite KFC! They need to come back for more! Anyway, I truly enjoyed the time spent… family gathering always made me felt closer to my family… and sob, home sick for few days.

Ok, now time to burn down the calories! Fitness First I’m coming!
ED

Search function is not working in erlind.blogspot.sg

Whatever enhancement that Blogspot is trying to do, it's not working very smooth right now. For some reason, my blog address is changed from erlind.blogspot.com to erlind.blogspot.sg. There was no announcement no nothing for this change.

I noticed that it's taking longer time for me to upload photos, publish post, and even load a post! Performance issue is one thing, another one is... the search function is not working anymore! =(

I tried to search for the word "dinner" and no post come out. I tried to search "kfc" and nothing come out also. How could it be possible that I don't have the word "dinner" in my entire 8 years blog? It's literally almost in my every single post.

Blogspot - Search Engine failed

I hope that they will work on fixing it soon =( I use blog because I know that I'm forgetful and I want to be able to search for something when I need it!!  Maybe too much to ask for a free service... but still! I want the search function back!!

Curious - If I moved to Indonesia, will it become erlind.blogspot.id?
ED

Saturday lunch @ Yomenya Goemon, Marina Bay Link Mall

Our second visit to Yomenya Goemon – Slurping Spaghetti with Chopsticks! We had a nice experience before and decided to go back for the Standard Chartered Promotion – Regular Set @ $16

No idea why I start to promote Stand Chart Deals

The service was good (maybe because there is not many patrons around). The salad and drink arrived within 3 minutes of the order. The food arrived within 15 mins. And if let say you didn’t order the set, they will still give you free ice drink, and they topped it up like every 2 mins! Quite an impressive service :)

The Set Meal - Salad + Soup + Drink!

In addition, the food was good as well :) I had the cold pasta, which is an unique experience for me, and I did love the way it was cooked – a bit hard and coated with cream! I kept hearing good recommendation about Mentaiko, and finally got to try it for the first time here :p

His Order: Smoked Chicken and Four Cheeses

My Order:Mentaiko Mayonnaise Spaghetti with Tuna and Corn - Cold Pasta

I was really satisfied with the portion. I was so full that I actually stopped in the middle and talked for a while before finishing the food! (that didn’t happen to me frequently).

After the lunch, we went to Suntec for shopping. It was less than 1 month from my last visit and it has changed so much! It was construction everywhere and most of the shops are closed. I really can’t understand the management… most of the shops are still so new and posh… why do they need to renovate? Anyway, lets see how they design the new Suntec :)

Back home, feel sleepy due to the heavy lunch, but decided to stay awake and do some housework. A blink of eye and now it's time for... dinner!

Living my life around food,

ED 

What's up in Office – Raffles Medical Health Screening, BaCoP Networking Event, Farewell lunch with Sumita

Just browsed through my iPhone and realized that I have like 60 food pictures over the last two weeks! Aston, Burger King, Beppu Menkan, McDonald, few buffets… I haven’t been living a very healty life style v_v

Anyway, here are few happening in office from the past two weeks, other than my day-to-day work. 1 pic of the event + 1 pic of the accompanying buffet ^^;

#1: Free Medical Screening - Got scared during the blood station, but motivated by the food awaited 

Free Breakfast! I don't mind going through Health Screening everyday :p

#2: Networking Event - Having my presentation shown in two big screens *Happy :D

Delicious and nicely done buffet! Must ask my team member where to order

#3: Farewell for Sumita - I wish you all the best in your new department!! Hope you like the gift :)

Went to Prata Prata for the lunch buffet at $7.9. It's so worth it! I can have like 10 plates of this delicious food! :D

I'm glad that I didn't say anything about buffet in my New Year resolution this year. I would have totally failed.

Next buffet planned! :P
ED

Dinner with Eriko @ Garuda Padang Cuisine, Vivocity

Eriko is one of the sweet Japanese ladies I met during my training in UK 4 years ago. After the global training, all of us went back to our own country and lived our own ways. For me, I lost contact with most of them, especially if we’re not in the same department.

UK 4 years ago in some museums - Li Hui, myself, and Eriko

That’s why, I was so surprised to see Eriko – a grad from Finance Tokyo, and all the way in Singapore attending the same training I had last month. To my surprise again, I still remember her name! :p and she still remember mine. Oh gosh. We had nice time chatting with each other. Apparently get an opportunity to move to Singapore and she accepted it. She is no longer in Finance. There are so many things over the past 4 years, we decided to catch up separately after training.

Yesterday, we met up for dinner at Garuda (she asked me to recommend Indonesian food and I don’t know where else to go). It was a bit tough for me to order – everything looks so delicious, yet it’s only two of us. In the end, my temptation wins. I ordered 5 of my favorite dishes… and I think I add rice for 2 times ^^;

With Eriko! I can see my hungry face...

It was a nice catch-up. She is still as cute as 4 years ago. She has been making tough decision to move here all alone, but determine to make the best out of it. Less than a year in Singapore and she already enrolled for Financial Engineering Course and took ballet during free time. That’s inspiring! I’m wishing her all the best :)

We chatted until we were the last one to leave the restaurant ^^; It was the waiter to finally come and politely asked us to pay the bill before we realized that it’s close to 10pm! I’m satisfied with the food and company :D It has been 24 hours and I can still feel the chili shrimp in my taste bud.

Hope to catch up with more friends soon :)
ED

Dreamy Week

Weird, I had dream at night every single day this week.

On Monday, I dreamt about being let go my current job (New dream theme!). That was really interesting. I was quite calm about it, but at the same time kept trying to figure out the reason of the cut. I tried to corner my boss and asked her for the reason. So engrossed with it that I woke up 10 mins late ^^; 

On Tuesday, I dreamt about being back in high school and have to attend exam. I didn’t study well and I just can’t answer any question no matter how hard I tried. I failed the exam and kept asking my teacher to give me a second chance. My alarm rang while I was in the middle of arguing with her.

On Wednesday, It was in office setting - I have to give presentation to a bunch of directors. There was technical difficulty during the setup of the presentation. After everything was finally ready, I suddenly can't remember what I want to talk about. I tried to speak but all I can remember is Hokkien. I can't form a single English sentence! Everyone was looking at me. Sweat started to come out, and then for some reason I could feel that it's too cruel to be true, convinced myself that it's a dream and forced myself to wake up - which I did.

On Thursday, I dreamt about being a tour guide, bringing my family around Singapore (this one has the biggest potential to become a reality ^^;) It was such a hot day and we were walking around the zoo. The place was so crowded, smelly, and we can’t find any place to sit. When we finally found a seat, my nephew went missing and I have to go around looking for him. My mum was hungry, my sister was anxious; I myself was annoyed when I can’t find any staff around. I woke up when my real life sister messaged me :P

I can’t remember my Friday’s dream, but it was something happier. Like I win some stock or free food buffet for a year :p

I don’t know why I dreamt about all these random things. Some of them must have been from the movies that I watched this week – Journey to the Mysterious Land, 21 Jump Street, Man on a Ledge. Maybe it’s a sign for me to cut off on movies ^^;

Anyway, I like dreams :D Like you’re watching movie (most of the time with you as the main actor) and resting at the same time - cool multitasking :p If it's a good dream, then you can wish for it to be true one day. If it's a bad dream, then you can wake up feeling thankful that your life is better in reality.

Enough about dreams! Back to reality :)
ED

Meeting with Anand @ China One

I'm still regretting until now that I didn't take a group picture!!! Argh!!! Failed photographer!

Well, Anand went to India last year to study at Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. This year, he is back to Singapore for 2 months Internship as a trader in RBS with almost 5 digit salary monthly and staying in hotel (why am I promoting him?) Anyway.

We decided to have a small gathering this Friday, just few of us - Anand, Abhi, Avi, Sab, Glen, and myself. We started with a dinner (read: Beer + Satay) at Lau Pa Sat, then moved on to China One as night went on.

50 Sticks of Satay @ 30 bucks - Lau Pa Sat

Sab definitely know where good promotion is. For $28 nett at China One, we got free flow of house pour! By that, it means buffet of Vodka, Gin, Tequila, Beers, and any other things you can think of. That's really worth it!

For some reason, I'm really weak with the word "Buffet" - I started with Vodka Cranberry, moved on to Vodka Orange, and later Vodka Coke, then Gin Tonic... all within the first one hour =___=''' Afterwards, I was happy with free flow of ice water.

It was nice catching up with your own batch people. All of them are still as funny! and at least they won't keep saying you old :) I hope to catch up with them more often... but it might means more liquors for me. Apparently, a gathering is not a gathering without liquor ^^; We chatted and I watched them played pool until around 12am, then Sab and I shared a cab home.

The only decent photo I had on China One T_T

By now, Anand should be sitting in India preparing for the school to start again. All the best to you, buddy! Remember us when you become a successful trader! :p
ED

Outing with Children @ Jurong Bird Park

For some reasons, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is showing as one of my performance objectives this year. It was in May when I realized that I haven’t committed to any voluntary event, and I suppose to complete two by end of the year.

I browsed through the intranet and noticed that there are quite a few upcoming events. I enrolled to help the outing with children at Jurong Bird Park. The event is on Friday, so I checked with the organizer if it means we need to take a leave. She told me that I can book it under Volunteer leave, which means that my personal leave won’t get cut. Sounds good. I checked with my manager and she is ok with that.

Time passed and here come June. Little did I know that I will be so, so busy in the week, that I almost has no time to go to toilet (gross!). Calls after calls, deliveries after deliveries - I was rushing just to meet the deadlines of the day. Thursday was the day when I need to make tough decision. I finished my Thursday deliveries at 7pm, but there was a list of items that I have to finish by Friday… by which I will be away. I got few options – to cancel my voluntary event (which I know I will regret), to send email saying that I can’t meet my deadline (which I know I will feel uneasy anyway on Friday), or… to stay in the office now and finish my work. I pick the last option and stay in office until past midnight. I felt awfully tired back home, but at least I’m glad that I have don’t have to disappoint anyone.

Ok, I ‘m done with the prelude. Now here is the event itself!

Despite sleeping at around 2am, I woke up before 7am and felt quite fresh. I showered, packed, and took MRT all the way to Boon Lay. The park direction was pretty clear. I took bus 251 and reached the Jurong Bird Park at 8.40am… 20 mins earlier than the planned time. I have some breakfast, and then walked around the place.

The entrance to Jurong Bird Park - So flowery that I thought I got to Botanic Garden

Finally a sign of Jurong Bird Park- the weather is perfect that day!

At 9am, there were few volunteers around (definitely not 50 of them). The organizer was nowhere in sight. In the end, the Jurong Bird Park staff let us in to the park and led us to the Flamingo Pavilion. We chatted while waiting for the other volunteers and kids arrived. Most of them are based in ORQ, and they have no clue where is MBC =__=’

Entrance Ticket + Tram Tickets

At around 10am, the group is complete. We were then split into 10 round tables. My table has 4 volunteers and 7 kids. Each table was given a tennis ball… and then the game started. When you get the ball, you have to call out one-person name and pass the ball to them. Smart icebreaker. We know each other names within 15 mins. After few more rounds of other games, jokes, and riddles, it was time for lunch!

Lunch with the kids :D

The kids were getting impatient after lunch, and thankfully, it’s finally time to go to the park. Yay!

First Stop: Penguin Coast!

There are a lot of Penguin in there! Some were really big!

The two kids tagged with me - Yunie and Honie. Their brother name is Rizkie. All names end with "ie". Hehe.

Flamingo Pool: The feather color is so unique! They said it's from food carotin they ate  

Breeding and Research Center - was tested with knowledge of different type of eggs

The Cute nursery & learning room - Never too old to study! 

Outside the Research Center

Swings at Birdz of Play

Pelican at Wetlands

A very smart Parrot @ Parrot Paradise - It can really speak as clear as human! it said "Good Bye", "Hello", in 3 different languages

I don't know why they insist me to take their picture in front of these statues...

Where next? At this point... they are already tired and the only way to keep them happy is by giving my camera to them T.T from here on, the pics are from them

Museum at the Bird Discovery Centre 

The different phases of egg - it's actually scary

Ostrich @ Dinosaur Descendants their legs are huge!

Me in the tram - wanted to pose with Yulie but she was busy with the surrounding

I think this is at Window on Paradise

Lots of awesome owls at World of Darkness. Snowy Owl included!

At around 3pm, we went to the Pools Amphitheater for one of the main shows - Birds and Buddies show. We got the special reserved seats at the very front row! Saw another group of voluntary outing from Golman Sachs too! lol. The kids are given ice cream. Volunteer got some also when there was excess. Haha..

The Birds and Buddies Show - Pools Amphitheather

After the show, we were requested to go back to Flamingo Lodge. There, the kids were given goodie bag filled with snacks, stickers, candies, and the Jurong Bird Park mascot doll (that's $22!). I was jealous at them for a second.

The colorful goodie bag

We rested at the pavilion for around an hour, playing games and given answer on the amazing race crosswords. At around 5pm, the bus come and pick the kids up. Volunteer go back by themselves by bus.

Overall, I enjoyed the outing =) The children were all well behaved kids, so there was no problem at all dealing with them. I think they are all taken care well by the organization. Some of them have been to Jurong bird park a few times! Zoo also! and USS also! and look at their goodie bags! They are spending time with some Directors! I'm glad that the underprivileged here is well taken care of :) Wish them a bright future ahead!

Till we meet again, Yunie and Honie!

Honestly, I feel that I am not much of "Voluntary" myself. I got free shirt, free food, free leave, free Jurong Bird Park ticket, and completed one of my CSR quota :p So I do have my share of fun. Haha.. Win-Win, agree? :p

Till the next CSR event!
ED