Happy Mid-Autumn Festival + Family + Others

OK, this post actually has very little to do with Mid-Autumn festival. Giving it the name just because I’m typing it on the D-day. This will be a mix post!

I went to Chinatown yesterday, expecting to see some nice mid-autumn festival decoration, and was left disappointed! There was almost nothing there :( The whole Chinatown looks dull. The only decoration available is a bunch of fruits at the center of the road, and some lampions at random locations. I remembered it to be better.

Grapes and its friends - Not sure of the correlation between grapes and autumn festival

Long Size Lampions (stolen from Che's)

Round Size Lampions (credit to Che's)

I had a sudden craving for Nasi Lemak, and remembered that we haven't been to Spize for a while... so there we went for the saturday's dinner! fully satisfied!

My Gigantic Limau! Sadly didn't look as big in pic :( - $3.5

My Nyummy Nasi Lemak Ayam Kunyit - $6.8

On Saturday, Aurelie has her 4th Birthday Celebration. Oh how time flies~ She is such a princess! :) Aunt is missing you!

Her Home made Cake - Kudos Aso!

Princess Belle! :D

The outdoor party! looks sunny and fun! :D

Family Pic! All with one line eye due to the brightness -__-

The gifts! Whoa! :D Think she can swim in the gift if she wants

At night, I decided to get my upgrade my Mac OS from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion. Name wise, I preferred Snow Leopard. But apparently Mountain Lion is 2 grade better than my Snow Leopard. Well, I installed it so that I can get iCloud. Apparently it offered more than that! Need to find some time to explore :)

I have to give it to Apple - installing OS is as simple as installing App!

Sunday is my typical badminton day. Despite knowing that it's the 15th of the month, I can't resist the temptation of pig organ soup... and fall for it for lunch =__=''

Lunch - My favourite Pig Organ Soup from Clementi! Love the Chilli!

For dinner, Fieda's mum cooked chicken rice and asked me to join them for dinner. A home-cooked food during the mid-autumn festival... It definitely make me feel closer to home :)

Simple and Delicious home cooked food :)

Afterwards, I spent some time FaceTime-ing and chatting with my family. Bro sent few pics of Ainsley which made me go "awwww"

Ainsley - the second princess!

Had fun time, now it's time to prepare for new month! :) Last quarter of the year!
ED

Note: Broken my own records – most blog posts in a year! 

Bone Therapy Sinseh + Hokee Pau brunch with Feli @ Geylang

Feli texted me on Friday night saying that she got a sprain ankle and need help to find a Traditional Chinese Doctor for Bone Massage. Never go to anywhere like this before, I tried to reach out to my friends for recommendation. Angel Fidel helped me with an address of Sinseh around Geylang area. I shared the contact with Feli and offered to bring her there the next day. She agreed, and that’s how I had my journey to Geylang on Saturday morning.

The Sinseh's Name Card

I left my place at 9++am, still sleepy (slept at 3am the day before watching Prometheus) and reached Kallang at around 10am. According to the new iPhone map, there is no bus available and the place is within 600m walk – I trusted that and started walking (the truth is still a mystery), lost for few mins, and finally reached the place at around 10.30am. Feli took a direct bus and was already standing there waiting for me ^^; who is accompanying who? ^^;

We went to the Sinseh’s place at Crystal Mansion, which was apparently an old apartment. After taking two lifts, we managed to find the place and was greeted with a loud bark from his dog =_=’’ His wife calmed the dog and kept him in the house, but then never opened the door for us! :s :s so weird. We ended up standing outside while waiting for them to finish their lunch at 11.00am.

I admitted it wasn’t a good first impression for me. I called up for appointment and they hung up without asking me for any details. They told me that I can go at 10.30am, but then we ended up standing there waiting for them to finish their meal ^^; I felt bad to my cousin and was making a mental note to complain to Fidel.

The Sinseh finally attended to us after his lunch (or breakfast). He asked my cousin to lie down and with a glance, told her that her feet aren’t balance (one short and one long). He continued with pulling the short leg and then voila, it’s now balance. Therapy done. All of those happened within… 15secs. 

Afterwards, my cousin told him that she also experienced discomfort on her backside. He asked her to lie sideway, and then… crunched her bones! It made a loud bone shifting sounds. I was really worried watching from the side. OMG what if I recommended a crazy Sinseh. Thankfully, my cousin can still wake up afterwards and said she felt much better. He is a superb Sinseh afterall!! He gave my cousin few tablets for recuperation and ointment for her back and charged us $50 (“supposedly $60 but give you discount la”). I didn’t really worry about how much it cost, I was just happy that my cousin felt much better.

When we walked out the place, I told my cousin that I was really scared. I told her that I expected an hour slow massage instead of 5 minutes bone cracking. She just laughed and told me that that’s how Sinsehs are, especially the expert ones. Quirky!

Anyway, after a short tense, we went to Aljunied for brunch. She recommended a dim sum place, which was quite nice and homey!

Hokee Pau Menu @ Geylang

Har Gou - $3.5

Chee Cheong Fan - $3.5

Carrot Cake - $3.5

Century Egg Porridge - $3.5

And saving the best for last - Rostcas Peanut from Feli! :D

Rostcas - Feli's souvenir from Surabaya! I loveee it!

Will keep both the Sinseh contact and dimsum address for future reference. They are both good!
ED

Ranga’s Farewell @ Kinara, Holland Village

End of the month is typically filled with farewells, with this month seems to be more than usual (don’t ask me why!) The farewell I had on Friday was close to heart. Ranga was my longest serving direct manager (25 months, yeah, half of my working life). Despite the few grumbles that I might have, I never regretted having him as my boss. He was my first manager after I ‘graduated’ from my training program, and has groomed me more than what he possibly aware of.

His last day in office!

Three key things that I learnt from him:

1. Relationship is the key 

This is the first thing he taught me, and he reiterated it in whenever possible. Being in global organization, sometimes it’s just not possible to know everyone face-to-face, but the closest thing we can do is to pick up a phone and speak to the person.

He hated emails and once challenged me to send no email without calling up and speaking to the person. Painful (Especially for someone as shy as me), but I soon understand what he meant. When you speak to the person, you got to know their emotions, their concerns, clarifying their doubts, and building relationship… all within 1 min of call. It would have take much longer in mail with the risk of misinterpretation. And you will be amazed how much difference it made for your subsequent contacts.

2. Get your priority right 

On my earlier days, his most frequent good-bye greeting to me was, “Got any deadline today? No? Then why are you here? Go home!”

That explained a lot about his principle in life. Balance is important. Work smart, not work hard. If things can’t be completed in time, it doesn’t mean you have to stay late and finish it. It means you have to inform your boss that there are more tasks than resources and let him sort it out. Manage expectation. Your manager will not know that you’re overloaded until you tell them so. Do not sacrifice your personal time for office, unless it’s really important (and make sure your manager knows it when it happened). After all, it’s your life.

3. We’re working with human

Do not be afraid to make mistakes. We’re bound to make errors even in professional context. When that happened, do not be afraid to acknowledge, say sorry, and move on.

One other thing I really like about him is the fact that he treats everyone equally, despite of rankings and powers. So what if the other guy is a Director? If he promised something and not delivered it, he is still worth a warning! And yes, he joked and talked with me as much as when he talked to his fellow VP. I respect the sincerity he showed – it’s how I want to be treated, and I will work towards doing the same to the rest.

Well, it’s tough to summarize the two years experiences into few points ^^; His style, good or bad, will always be a part which shaped me towards what I am now and will be in the future.

Farewell dinner @ Kinara, Holland Village 

Nyummies Food!

Few shots before I started digging to the food

All the best for your new role and hope our paths will cross again!

Your discipline,
ED

Wish you well and see you next year, Christine!

Connie and I have wanted to have a lunch together for a while. After few rounds of rescheduling, we managed to meet up for lunch at Thai Express.

To my pleasant surprise, Christine also joined! The last time I met her was… 5 months ago? She was on her early day of pregnancy and we’re playfully told her that we wished it to be a twin!

Fast-forward, she is now in her 37 / 40 weeks… and the tummy was so rotund it seems like the boy is ready to go out any time! O.O I told her the movie I watched (“What to expect when you’re expecting”) as well as the story I read from Xiaxue and checked if she has those challenging moments. She said that things are pretty much ok until the last 2 weeks, where the boy kicked so much she can hardly sleep at night. Oh dear :( I’m impressed on how she can still keep everything composed. 

Apparently, that Friday is her last day before she went for her long 3 months maternity leave until end of January. So it’s our last lunch for the year!

With Tine! How come I look bigger than expectant mum! ^^; wrong angle!

Thai Express was not disappointing. I ordered one of their Sa-nook Set and was happy with the quantity :p (of course the quality was also good)

Delicious Sa-nook Thai Green Curry Chicken Fried Rice - $12.90

Man Cheam - The infamous steamed sweet tapioca with coconut milk

Tine, wish you all well, and I hope to see you and your baby early next year!!

The Expectant Auntie,
ED

Viel Glück, David Haber!

I got to know him when he came here for internship half a year ago. He joined other team and was based in Alexandra I didn’t really interact much with him except for few lunch occasions.

For one reason and another, he joined my team after few months and moved to MBC. There, I got to know him better. He is from Frankfurt, went to London for his bachelor degree, currently pursuing his master degree in Imperial College. He worked in DB Frankfurt before, and one of the few that have been approved for overseas internship. He is also the youngest European I ever met (in my current age). From the aura of professionalism he possessed, I can’t believe that he was 21!! *Feel old but I started to accept that fact.

Being 21, he is all fun and adventurous. It’s always enjoyable to listen to his stories, as well as how he planned for his upcoming trips. We lost track of the numbers of countries he visited in this last 6 months – few places in Malaysia, Bali, Phuket, Bangkok, Vietnam, and Hong Kong? I must have missed out some places.

All good time will come to an end, and Friday was the farewell for David. Will miss the lunch the dinner and the jog together. It has been nice knowing you, little boy! (hahaha!! Finally I can someone little boy!!)

Farewell Lunch on Wednesday @ Garuda, Vivocity

Cubicle-Mates!

Wish you all the best on your study!
ED

Laksa Curry Lunch from Eleanor!

Someone please stop me from posting food pictures again and again!! T_T To my defense, I just want to try on the quality of the phone's camera! Too bad the food can't walk or talk so good target for my experiment XD

When we went for lunch last Friday, Eleanor was telling us about her Laksa curry and all of us said we wanted to try. So today, she cooked some and brought it for us :D I love it ~ Thanks so much Eleanor!

If it looked good, well, it tasted 10x better than the look!

The happy free luncher :p 

Alright, since I have posted one food pic, might as well post few more :p

I went back home early today, and Fi's mum fried "U Yen" for us! Imported all the way from Pontianak, Indonesia - Delicious!

Freshly fried "U Yen"

For dinner, we went to Dawson and I order my usual Lor Mee. Have been eating it many times but still loving it :)

Dawson's Lor Mee

I had breakfast too today morning! Chui Kueh... but forgot to take a picture of it - too hungry :p

I need more exercise,
ED

Singapore Citizenship Journey

I went to ICA to apply citizenship on 30th June 2012. I managed to submit my application (finally!) and they told me that the processing would take up to 9 months. With that I went back and thought that I wouldn’t hear anything until after Chinese New Year.

Exactly two months later, on 2nd Sep 2012, I received an In-Principal Approval on my application. I wasn’t expecting it at all! Apparently ICA is really good in giving themselves buffers. I have a lot of learning to do on expectation management.

In Principal Approval for Citizenship!

The mail was basically informing that I have passed through the first level (the letter didn't start with a Congratulations, why?) and there are 3 mandatory things I need to complete within two months to move on to the next level (challenge accepted!)

a. SC e-Journey – done on 11th Sep’12

SC e-Journey is an online-based lecture comprised of all the key items that all Singaporean should be aware of. It has interesting facts about Singapore that I never really noticed before. Quite fun to complete (especially when there is no grading in the end)

The MRT-Looking eLearning

b. Community Sharing Session – done on 24th Sep’12 

We have to book this online, and they seemed to offer only 1 session per month. When I went online, the registration for Sep session was already closed. I emailed to ask and they were really swift in getting back to me (emailed them at 9pm and they get back by 11pm! And no, it’s not automated answer). I managed to join the rest for the Sep slot.

This is where we get to meet the grassroots leaders from our GRC. Queenstown is considered part of Tanjong Pagar GRC, so we gather along with soon-to-be Singaporean from Buona Vista, Tanglin-Cairnhill, Tanjong Pagar-Tiong Bahru, Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng + Radin Mas SMC.

Tiong Bahru CC! Cost me $15 to reach there by taxi during peak hour!

The settings for the session

My tag and feedback form!

One of the key highlight of the session - buffet dinner!

The session started at 7pm at Tiong Bahru CC with a buffet dinner, then continued with a presentation and breakdown to smaller group (there was 80 of us that day) for Q&A. There was literally zero question ask (no one would have applied for citizenship if they still have question, I guess?) so we went off after few minutes.

c. Singapore Experiential Tour – done on 25th Sep’12 

Similar to the community sharing, we have to book our slot online before going for this tour. Getting too anxious, I registered the first slot that I saw, without realizing that there were different tours available! We can choose between LTA, Marina Barrage, and URA. Unknowingly, I choose LTA… Given choices I would have gone for URA!! (Ok I can always visit it again by myself)

I got to take half-day leave for this, and I’m glad that the segment was not disappointing. They got professional tour guide to lead us through the National Museum of Singapore (near Dhoby Ghaut) and Land Transport Gallery (near Little India). It was one of my best visits to museums! :) Thanks Bernard and Jenny! We finished at 3.45pm while the official mentioned time was 4.30pm (talking about managing expectation).

Panorama Shot with iPhone 5! I love it!

Clear Direction to the Meeting Point

Agenda for the day!

Two Free Passes to visit Museum to complete the rest of the gallery ^^;

Second Stop - Land Transport Authority @ Little India!

I find the whole gallery is so cute and amazing at the same time

Old time Cars

Challenge Room - We are all seated in a comfy race chair and have to answer questions on the screen

Lastly, a request to like their facebook page before they gave us a freebie ^^;

I was trying to decide about going back to office or home or gym, and decided to go back and type this blog instead :p

To the next level!
ED

The day when I had two Starbucks for Free

I bet Stand Chart team don't have this kind of person in mind when they created the I Love Free Monday deal (or do they?)

Thanks to the location, timing, and any other things that matter - I got - not one, but two free Starbucks on Monday! I was the cheapskate of the day! ^^;

I didn't check the deal until Cit informed me about it when I finished with my gym. It was 8.45am and I was almost sure that it has been fully redeemed. Well, apparently it didn't! I reached Starbucks at around 8.55am and there was no one at all in the queue! I showed the coupon to the staff. She clicked on the "Redeem" button and the page turned to "Fully Redeemed" afterwards. Have I just got the last Starbucks deal?

Java Chip Frappuccino with Whipped Cream - supposedly $6.6

I told my friends about it and they convinced me to go for another round when the second giveaway is open at 3pm. Well, why not?

So we went out at 2.50pm and reached Starbucks at 2.55pm (just a stone throw away from our office). Lucky for us, the coupon was released early. I become the first person to claim the free coffee!! (I shouldn't be proud of this kind of thing). After us, there were a snacking queue all the way to the other shop. I guess there was around 50 people queuing when we left (oh no, more people know about the deal now!)

Green Tea Frappucino with Whipped Cream - supposedly $6.2

Anyway Standchart, thanks for cheering up my Monday's blue! For whoever created the Free Monday deal and strike a deal with Starbucks, God bless you! :p I love iPhone! Love Stand Chart! Love Starbucks! Love free stuff the most! XD

The not-so-blue Monday,
ED