Random

I think I actually have quite a number of tops and some dresses which can double up as maternity wear. Hmm...lol. Mentioned to K the other day and he rolled his eyes.

Brainy stuff

Was at the derm doc appointment this morning. He wondered aloud if he should put me on some mild medication and also wondered if I would have any side effects. So I casually mentioned to him (a new doc I've never seen before) that I've a long medical history.

He: *leafs through my med file*
He: oh you had an aneurysm!!! Wah!
Me: ya, a cavernoma as well.
He: in the brain??!!
Me: err ya.
He: Wah!! But but. You look so normal!! The surgeons did a good job of clipping the aneurysm and sewing you up!!
Me: errr....??!!

Wonder what that comment of his meant man....

*whimper*

I can't remember when was the last time, if ever, that I felt so stretched. 4 policy papers by mid next week for a consultancy project to another country. Not just any policy paper touching on some small project, but papers recommending frameworks and policy structures impacting a part of that country's Internet arena.

Plus all the event things
Plus the contractual issue which has not been settled
Plus board minutes which have not been written
Plus 2 reseller transfer cases
Plus 3 resellers waiting to be accredited
Plus site visits next week
Plus a stupid work dinner meeting on Sunday
Plus ......

Oh yes
Plus wedding

*pulls hair*

Yummy Munchies

I guess I really do enjoy cooking. And I've a better affinity with savory foods than with the sweet stuff haha. I'm not that good a cook yet, compared to all the other female Cantonese and Peranakan food maestros from both sides of my family. Hope I can hone my skills over time and pick up more Peranakan recipes too!

In the meantime...Sat's attempt at using Ally's Happycall pan to cook butter herb chicken was a success! Coupled with her butter raisin rice and wild rocket salad, it was a lovely lovely meal!! :) Think I shall replicate the whole meal next time again :p

Of ducks and....ugh.

I left DUCKtours 8 LONG years ago. In fact, almost 8.5 years ago. That's close to a decade.

I find it only very slightly amusing that some people still associate me with that company. One senior from hostel who has not contacted me for at least 5-6 years suddenly called me up out of the blue.

Just to ask me how much is the ride, what is the best time of the day to go for it, and what are the peak hours of the ride. Because "I want to bring my son there".

?????!!!!!!!!!!

Like hello?!! zzzzzzzzzzzz. The company has a hotline. Couldn't you have called the hotline? They'd be the best person to advise you right?

The call lasted less than a minute. There were no pleasantries. It felt like a business call. Hello, what is this, what is that? Ok, thanks, bye. We've not spoken in years, the least you could do was to ask how are things?

7 July's a really good date

7 July is an auspicious day. We were supposed to have the wedding on that day but could not manage to find a suitable hotel venue. So 7 July became our Guo Da Li day instead.

Turned out that my cousin picked 7 July for his wedding day and he managed to get a venue. We've been waiting for each other to get married for a long time and then now we can't attend each other's wedding. :( Because of the Chinese pantang thing of "2 happy occasions" cannot clash.

A long time friend, Patrick, called me 2 days ago. We don't keep in tiuch very regularly, only once in a blue moon but we're good with each other. Chiewz and I have been waiting for him to get hitched for the longest time and then voila, he had to also pick 7 July for his wedding date too. So now I can't attend his wedding too :((((

*wails*

YAY!

真的感谢YL。上个星期五她跟我说她会跟新公司谈一谈， 看她能不能够迟一点才飞去香港受训。 她真的做到了！ 公司让她在23July才飞， 原本是16July的。

Feeling really grateful. Hope she doesn't feel too tired out though for she'll be busy almost the whole day on 22 July and then she's to fly in the early morning of 23 July. Feeling a little paiseh now too though.

嗨。。。

我是不是真的该去冲花水？刚接到消息， 其中一个姐妹(for the wedding)有可能不能当我的姐妹了。 她刚换了新工作， 公司想派她到香港受训三个星期。我的婚礼也刚好在这三个星期内。

原本就少了两个姐妹， 如果现在又少了多一个， 我觉得我会挺失望的。而且， 这个姐妹也刚好是我的司仪。。。

sigh. things don't seem very straightforward and easy this year.

为什么呢? 我以为猴子和龙在生肖里是好朋友， 今年对我来说应该是好的一年才对啊。 为什么有那么多这些大小起伏?

Mini garden

It's been awhile since I spoke of my plants.

As you can see from the picture, the pot of Bowles' Mint is thriving. After the initial 1-2 months of stabilisation after transplanting in end 2011, the plant has flourished. Many new shoots have appeared from the main stem and the main plant itself is growing taller and taller. When I last measured it a few weeks ago, it was only at my waist. When I measured it last night, I realised it's at my chest height already! It's getting quite wobbly as well because of its height. The support sticks I placed in the pot are no longer sufficient and I have half a mind to lop off the top 20-30cm of the plant and transplant it into a new pot. Perhaps I'll do it this weekend if I manage to find some time.

The rest of the plants are doing fine. The Basil was doing alright and had new shoots coming out as well. But it has suddenly been dropping leaves in the last week or so and I don't know why. The Bryophyllum's starting to have little new leaves growing out from the edge of some of the existing leaves! Yay finally! The Ficus Ginseng Bonsai is stable too.

The only one problem I had was with one of the terrariums which somehow became infested with ants. It was an open-air terrarium and the little red creatures burrowed through the soil all the way down into the deepest end of the pot. I could see them forming tunnels underneath the surface of the soil and running along the tunnels because the whole pot was made of transparent glass.

That was the first terrarium I had ever created back in 2009. It was a maddening time and I spent a whole week trying to save the pot. Each time I thought I had gotten rid of the ants, each time they came back in full force. And when they started chewing through the bottom-most leaves of the red and green fittonias I had in that pot, it was the final straw for me. I dismantled the entire pot after work one night. And spent the next few hours re-building a new one. I remember only sleeping in the wee hours of the morning that night.

It has been almost 2 weeks since the new terrarium was set-up and the plants have still not settled down. They are still a little limp but what is heartening is that I can see through the walls of the pot that some roots have started growing again. I hope the plants anchor down more fimly and stabilise themselves soon.

In the meantime, my mum has been spraying insecticide in the balcony (where my plants are) on an alternate-day basis. Ants have almost disappeared except for the occassional 2 or 3 running around.

Wonder if I should try growing coriander again since my last 2 attempts have failed....hmm.

Family

Dad, Mum, Adrian and Marc went to Universal Studios today and popped by Vivocity for dinner thereafter. Mei didn't join them at USS but met up with them at Vivocity in the evening. Dad called me at 6pm and asked if I was able to join them. I declined and shared with him that I still had some things to do in the office. He said ok and hung up.

I continued typing for a minute or two but my heart started feeling a little heavy. I wondered why I still bothered to continue working while my family was just 2 MRT stops away and about to have dinner. One of the things I told myself since awhile back was that I would try to make time for my family and loved ones. So what was I doing? I was giving work (which wasn't very urgent anyway) higher priority?

Psssshhhhawwww. That did not sound right at all.

And so, in that instant, it felt like as if I had an epiphany. I decided to drop whatever I was doing and join them instead.  Afterall, work can never be "finished". Those tasks on my plate were plenty but none were excruciatingly urgent. They could wait till tomorrow. No one would perish because I put the work off till the next day.

And so I half-walked, half-ran to the train station and managed to reach the restaurant 5 minutes before the first dish was served. (I've always maintained that my timing is impeccable haha.)

Anyway. I am glad I joined them for dinner.

Nothing beats family.

RANT.

If you cannot accept feedback which was nicely said to you. Then jolly well f*ck off. Don't come asserting your authority just because you are 2 grades higher than I am. We all report to the same boss, I don't report to you. REMEMBER THAT.

一大清早就让我的血压增高。 真是的。

勇往直前！

The mind is active. But the body is a little tired and a littl eunder the weather as well. Haha.
It's a case of mind over body again.

p/s: May that sore reddish spot on my nose disappear before a pimple shows up.

Leaving Office

Mapletree Business City at night. Quite nice actually.

View from Office Window

One of the few times I take a breather and stare out of the office window. I should do this more often.

The photo doesn't do the actual scene much justice but the sea is absolutely gorgeous today. A perfect shade of blue-green with many ships dotting the horizon. The way the sunrays fall on the surface of the sea, the way the whiter-than-white clouds float in the sky and the way some gulls and herons fly by from time to time all make me want to fly away to a beach somewhere, kick my shoes off and just bask in the sun. With nary a worry in the world.

Feet

Bunions, callouses, obvious veins and knobbly toes don't make for pretty feet. I am still very grateful to my feet though. For they have carried me long and far for the last 30-odd years. And hopefully for the next 30, 40 or 50-odd years as well. :)

I really don't need this right now

NOTHING is going right in this bloody project. First time in my life I called a tender and it has to screw up so badly. It's not even a $1million tender although it's still a large sum at $800K. I am facing a situation where I might lose my venue for the event next year. I need to answer to my Board. I need to answer to the two overseas organisations involved in the event.

Really. WTF? What the hell is going on?

加油！

进几个星期的情绪处理的不是很好。时好时坏，偶尔又神经兮兮的，偶尔又想哭。有时觉得压力大，有时觉得东西太多了，不知从何开始， 只想靠一边， 什么都不做。

真的是有点累，不过我还是尽量保持笑容！其实这也是多亏K给我的鼓励和支持啦。希望来临的几个星期和几个月会更好！

美金，你要加油哦！*fighting!*


Ps: 短短几句华文字就花了我整20分钟来type！

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr

Note to Self

1. When applying lotion on your body, make sure everything is fully spread over and absorbed by your skin before leaving the house. Do not leave the house with globs of creamy ivory-colored stuff running down your thighs and calves. It leaves the imagination of others in overdrive.

2. Remember to suck your tummy in when taking photos, especially when you are standing in an oblique angle. There should only be two visible bumps, the boob bump and the bum bump. Nothing else. (unless you are pregnant of course)

3. When having a buffet meal, remember not to gorge yourself till past 9pm. It leaves you bloated and uncomfortable the next day. And, it leaves you with an expanded girth the next day as well.

4. "When in doubt, just buy" Try not to apply this piece of advice too often.

Saturday

Another Saturday of tasks and schedules. Glad that I managed to get some things done today. It always feels good to check off some things on the to-do list. There's still Sunday and Monday to get more things done and to have some me-time and rest-time as well. Been quite awhile since I had some good rest.

Here I am, sitting in K's room. Half-working and half-blogging. Listening to music and sipping a glass of moscato as well. My favourite Brown Brothers - Orange Muscat & Flora flavour. He's surfing the Net.

I like this. Peace and quiet, slow and steady. Just me and him. Each of us doing our own thing but knowing that the other is just inches away. No words spoken. Just a comfortable quiet.