Back in old office

This was a most eventful trip back to sg. It kept me so busy that I didnt have much time to rest. On average, it was only like 3-4hrs sleep per day but absolutely nothing to complain about. There were too many wonderful friends i had missed in my last trips and I had promised i would catch up with them this time round.

Landed in sg about 1am and eileen stayed up to wait for me. She was telling me how much flashbacks she had of the funny times we had when we use to stay together. And how we were chasing VCDs while i was mugging for my exams at the same time. Funny how sight and smells reminds you of the old times which sometimes lay dormant in your mind. So we chatted till 7.30am, bright and early. While i drifted off to sleep with her HP alarm snoozing and ringing till 9.30am, she went off to work while i crawled out of bed at 11am for my lunch appointment.

Went back to my excompany for lunch as the purchasing and admin gals organised a group lunch together. It was really nice and nostalgic to see all the girls. Was there at abt 11.30am but luckily lunch was delayed to 1pm instead. So i had some time to visit my ex-colleagues and boss.

It was quite funny when i went in and stood infront susan. How i miss susan! I could always depend on her to do all my time consuming admin and paper work for me, and the nitty gritty project things when i got too busy. She was the singularly dependable person u can have in the dept. Initially she looked up unsimiling and she started screaming in excitement. It was funny seeing the expression changing. We chatted for a while and we went off to prank on Bee. Bee hd the same reaction and she was jokingly saying "I was wondering why that laughter and voice is sooo familiar! Was thinking so hrd which customer but cannot be leh!" So we chatted more on Hk and life etc, not to mention no more music from my old cubi and snacks. Susan was so cute. She pouted and said "i want to complain to you! KF bully me!!!" I laughed when i heard what happen and promised to bully kf for her. Before it hit lunch time, I went off to look for my big boss. Susan was so sweet. She went ahead of me to announce the "mystery" visitor and making my boss guess who it was. Being blocked off by the cubicle, he was probably squinting his eyes at susan. I popped my head in and he laughed.

"i was just about to text you or email this morning when i was driving" he said. "Really? Why?" i asked. He smiled knowingly and said "What else happy girl?" heh heh heh. I was very touched. I told my boss he was so niccccccceeee! After 8 years he still rems. So we bantered and chatted and kinda updated him on HK and stuff. He asked me when i was going to come back and i laughed how much he wanted to recruit me back. he tapped my head and said i was too expensive. I guess he must have been under alot of stress with new projects after i left. he lost so much weight. I couldnt resist joking that "Boss! U went to Marie France!" Everyone laughed. Boss hit my head as usual with his airticket.

One of the software team colleague had a face sunburnt and he was begging me to stop making him laugh coz his face was hurting from pain. I told to "stop blushing" first. It only made us laugh harder at his self inflicted "agony". Next thing i knew it was 1pm and was running late. So we had to cut short the chatting session, not before i commented my boss and colleagues, the place is now strangely quiet like an the exam hall. Susan told me it has been so since myself and a few others have left. Sad. I guess change is the only constant factor.

Lunch was so so but the company was good. of coz yusheng was splattered more over the table than eaten. It was raining and i had to rush off to the next appointment for the noon and nite, but not before promising my boss i will come back on friday for lunch with him. It was really nice and warm in seeing everyone again. I canx wait to see them again on friday!

starbucks starbucks, I love starbucks

Starbucks
I think i am drinking too much starbucks. Well, i have a stack of voucher for free drinks anyway so why not?

When u start seeing familiar faces every morning, its just hard not to start a conversation. I wanted my hot choc with extra milk, no cream. That has become such a standard that Faye didnt even need the guy to write my order on the cup.

I was cajoling Faye to tell her boss to start the operation time earlier from 11 to 10am. So it save me the hassle of changing lift and going down to 3rd floor. I mean 11am is really too late for office crowd like us. And how many of us wants to detour on way to office lift to the other starbucks? She seemed pretty convinced by the logic of it all that she almost convinced me i have succeeded! haa haaa.

I dunno how starbucks pick their staff but i like them all. I think they have the best attitude service staff. Amicable and friendly, leaving you feel like you have been served, not that you are in the line for firing squad. Pacific coffee in the same building staff just have that surly face that simply is so off putting that i rather stick my 50bucks somewhere else.

Anycase, one cup of hot choc and plenty of more slides to go. Canx wait to smell the fresh clean air back home.

Anna Sui Website launch!

Finally!!! Finally the nitemare excercise of launching the website is over!!! No more late nights, no more TV dinner pack, no more stressing over looming datelines, no more wee morning content cross checking, no more insomnia!

The Anna Sui website is finally launched for all the 4 countries! Yahooooooooooooooo!!!!

The experience has been completely way off the scale. Of course my vendor has been working just as hard and sometimes i feel terrible to push them so hard but I guess we all didnt have a choice. It wasnt that i had a say anycase. Luckily for me, all my country teams have been very supportive in helping me to check the local bits that I had missed out, but gratitude especially to Alice who came back with me over the weekend and staying the late nights to help me check through the web errors. I think I would have wept in utter waterfall...

So now, while ongoing changes are still being updated, at least the core is completed and i am so dead tired i couldnt even really rejoice. This is positively harder work launching for all 4 countries simultenously, than previously just launching the intranet and helping with the corporate internet in my old job. This is truly madness and i think it was the product range and shades that did us in. I still recount for nail colour shades alone for HK alone, I think Alice, YuKi and I could have gone crazy over the number of colours. How many revisions was that? 10? No matter, all is good now!!!

So while i internally celebrate on my success and end of my anti social life for the past month, here's a toast and sincere thank you to all those who has chipped in, and the "finger" to all those lazy people who only live to make snide remarks on this collective effort. (Ha!)

Welcome to our new Anna Sui Cosmetics website!
Http://www.anna-sui-cosmetics.com

Endless Story Lyrics

Missed listening to the song "Endless Story" from NaNA soundtrack.

Always wanted to translate it but didnt found time to it, plus i think my Japanese is getting so crap (sliding downhill like falling from gravity)... sigh. But today, couldnt sleep, so here goes nothing...Green is my weak or "brave" attempt in trying to remember my rusty Japanese..

Endless Story (sung by: Yuna Ito)

If you haven't changed your mind
そばにいてほしいよ　Tonight (I hope you could stay by my side tonight)
強がることに 疲れたの (I am tired from trying to be strong)
幼すぎたの (I was immature in the past )
Every time I think about you baby
今なら言える　I miss you (Now I can say I miss you)
It's so hard to say I'm sorry

たとえば 誰かのためじゃなく (If, it is not for anyone else)
あなたのために　(But its only for you)
歌いたいこの歌を 終わらないstory (I want to sing this song, a never ending story)　
続くこの輝きに (A never ending brightness)
Always伝えたい　ずっと永遠に ( Always, I want to tell you , For ever and ever)

Memories of our time together
消さないでこのまま　don't go away ( Be this way and do not fade, dont go away)
あたたかく溶けだして 確かめるの ( A warm melting as it is once reconfirmed)
優しさのしずく　この胸にひろがってく (Pieces of warm memories Spreads from my heart)
切ないほどに ( The sadder I am)　
I'm missin' you
重ねた手　離さないで (Dont let go of the hands held together)

たとえば叶うなら　(If i can fulfil my dreams)
もう一度 あなたのために　(I would like to once again for you)
歌いたいこの歌を (to sing this song)
終わらないstory (a never ending story)　
絶え間ない愛しさで ( a never ending love)
tell me why　教えてよずっと永遠に (tell me why , please tell me, forever and ever)

たとえば 誰かのためじゃなく あなたのために　(If, it is not for anyone else, But its only for you)
歌いたいこの歌を 終わらないstory (I want to sing this song, a never ending story)　
続くこの輝きに (A never ending brightness)
Always　伝えたい　ずっと永遠に ( Always, I want to tell you For ever and ever)

Sleepless in HK

Cannot believe it. Another night working till midnite!! Was laughing at Lppl's comment that i am worse than he is...Ok, enough frustration released... time to eat dinner (or supper???) and shower and sleep.

Luckily told my boss i may be "later" tomorrow morning... think will be another "Sleepless in HK" tonight from all the high stress!!!

Krispy Creme

Was reading cynthia's blog on Krispy Kreme and i didnt think it was anything fantastic either. Its OK.

My colleague Brendan was raving about it and saying its the best.
I gave it a try - clear glazed(hot from oven) and honestly, i thought it was too sweet after one bite. Am i getting old?

Long Monday Nite

Monday:
Dead beat! I canx believe the whole day went past in a flash with meeting from 10 - 5pm!
Luckily i went back to work the whole Sunday to catch up the backlog or i will be so stressed today!

Still was nice to have all markets flown in today, esp Mel was so sweet.
She asked me if i missed anything from sg that she needs to bring for me (seeing how i complained i missed sg food few months back on her last trip...)

Funnily, the nail swatch drove me and Alice and our vendor crazy.
We worked on sooooooo many revisions (at least 10!!!) to finally get it right!
Vickie was laughing that I must be dreaming about the website and all our product catalogue and i said YEeeesssS!!

Ok its 9.30pm, simply have to head home for dinner! Prob buy congee from causeway bay(again!)..

Boring? Boring my ar*se

I am getting tired of "defending" singapore as a "Boring" city.

Granted SG doesnt have wonderful scenic views, rich history and culture, vast museums etc, still I wont go and make a sweeping statement about a country like that. Luckily I had a Taiwan lady who came to Sg's rescue and said she disagreed with the "boring" statement, though we all agree the weather is not a great thing.

I didnt have my good friends here to share my life and that makes a huge difference. To be fair, if you are alone in a new city, and all one does is keep to yourself and stick to a few places, then yes, life is boring in that country. But its not the country's problem, its you.

To me, being happy or bored really boils down to your company/friends, and your own iniative to make your own plans. I have never felt bored in singapore. I always had things to do, (if i can get my lazy butt off the bed on some weekend... ). I get to hang out with friends at cafe and spend glorious days catching up, I missed watching local and overseas english plays, I missed blading or cycling at east coast, I missed my simple pleasures in life like taking a stroll in the gardens, having picnics and watching concerts at Botantic Gardens, exploring new hangouts, spontaenously packing all in a car or two heading for the "famous" food for dinner, or catching up on late supper, and occasional drinking...Then, there is always malaysia next day to offer us a different change in scenery. So what if Malaysia is a different country but the fact we are linked together and makes it easy access, you cannot discount that as part of your life while living in singapore. Just like Europe, its fun and their beauty are that they are also interconnected like we are! While it bothers me to keep hearing negative comments, I cannot stop people from feeling the way they do as they are entitled to.

I guess the grass is always greener on the other side and people like to think there is better options out there. While to some degree it is true for some, nothing will ever makes you feel like home where your family and friends are. No delusion about it. At the end of the day, when the novelty of newness wears off, people you meet come and go, coming HOME to your old place is the best feeling in the world.

Like beloved things or people you have lost and found again, you dont notice how much you had missed it until it finds its way back to you... and then of course, along the way, you probably had gotten used to the "loss" that it may never feel the same as before.

C'est La Vie!

...

..挨了一礼拜的cinderalla, 加上周末也回来， 今天有点受不了，所以七点前就走人了。走了一圈，还是没有乐趣。。也不饿，索性就吃徐留山甜品去。那天和秦伟聊了一下，他笑我几时变成中国妹，msn都在打中文。我说我懒得换字母。说实在的，语言久而不用，会超级退步！！要死，那天还忘了一个很简单的字怎么拼音！丢脸！常忘了几时加 "h", "g"...还要trial and error....哎哟天啊！还亏以前 中文班差点就读中文第一语言！真对不起老师的一番教导及期望！所以还好现在可好了，超级大把机会重新用回中文！对了，到现在，还是很不习惯香港叫cantonese伪"Chinese". 经常以为他们所谓的chinese 是Mandarin..咳。。。

Day Trip to Lama Island

Woke up about 2pm and returned Josephine's call. Decided to head to Lamma Island for a quick day trip.

While waiting at IFC, i bought a chicken leg and stood infront of the movie TV screen munching away. I realise with much amusement that everyone must have thought i was weird, eating in the middle of the shopping mall in front of the cinema. Honestly, their stares didnt bug me and i didnt even know what the fuss was about? I suppose...munching on a chicken leg is significantly less visually appealing than ice cream cone:) ha!

Anycase, i met Josephine in time and caught the departing boat just in time. Was about 45mins and the weather was so sunny and cool at the same time so it was a nice walk up the hills. It was about an hour walk to 榕树村 but i guess we were chatting and so it didnt seem that long. By the time we near the other village it was dark. I didnt realise there are so many expats living on one side of the island. There are many seafood restaurants but i didnt feel like it. Somehow, i just feel i will get ripped off. It felt like a cross between a malaysia village and a thai street ambience.

Again we were in time to catch the leaving boat at 7pm. Hk has alot of chinese new years lightings now! Took one just for fun. We headed to abedeern for dinner. The Mynmar restaurant i wanted to bring her was so packed and so we headed to another bangkok restuarant instead. Afterwhich, it was beancurd with my fav sesame dumpling! Yipppeee! It is indeed a nice saturday.

Annual Dinner @ Disney Land

So tired after back from Taiwan. Hardly had any winks during whole trip. Forgot it was annual dinner on wed! And worse, it was at disney land.. sigh no choice, had to abandon work hafway and follow the office people to catch the coach to destination.

Overall was ok. Wasnt that impressed with HK disneyland after been to all the rest and universal studio. But seeing how happy and excited Joanne was kinda make it more interesting! ha ha ha!The gals moved from site to site and we started with space mountain. After the ride, the gals were all agreeing that it wasnt terribly exciting as it wasnt dark enough, so we could see all the rails and expect what to come. And there was wasnt enough drops! Boooooorrring! After space mountain, we realise the rest were really kiddy rides. OMG, and we have a few hours to kill! We went off to play buzz light years and winne rides. Oh well, buzz light year was pretty alright and i had pretty high scores, considering i was half texting vendor about quotes at the same time! haaa haaa!! Dun piss me off or i will blow your head off! haa haa

Headed off to the hotel and the dinner night was pretty alright. We had pictures taken with Mickey but honesty, I didnt quite know what to do with Mickey. Didnt have that "attachment" to cartoon character, only took one for memory! haa haa. Won myself a dinner for 4. Josephine got herself a gucci pouch. Food was pretty decent actually. And i love the choc fondue! Yuummmmy!

Spooky nite in taipei

People were asking me why i was so tired back from taipei.

One reason was too much work, second reason was more spooky.

We came back from massage and kate wasnt too well and so we went back to the room for a rest. By dinner time, we grab a cab to Ding Tai Feng for dim sum with Jo. I boarded the cab first, followed by kate. What was weird was the cab driver was staring at Kate the whole time!!!
And honestly, his eyes from the rear mirror looks really really spooky! 阴深的样子。

The minute Kate closed the door, the cab driver told me in mandarin "there is a ghost next to your friend" I freaked out!!!! I screamed and literally covered my ear and told him i didnt want to hear. Ok i am chicken shit! haa haa

kate saw my reactions and heard the word ghost and she got scared. What was more spooky was the cab driver said "your colleague has a younger brother correct? And she has a K in her name" That totally freak me out. I told him i didnt want to continue the conversation and I ignore Kate to ask me to repeat what he said. I felt i didnt want to talk about scary things at night, and considering Taiwan is not known for "clean" environment, i didnt want to invite more "trouble" by talking about it.

So the whole night, both of us was disturbed by teh cab ride and kate agree his eyes looked scary. The whole night, i didnt sleep and for once in my life, i left every single lights in the room on. I think what spooked me the most was that when i got back after dinner, every single freaking channel on TV that i turn to (about 10 channels) were about ghost when i flick to it!!!! Talk about bloody coincidental broadcast!!! It was either about some ghost places, screaming ghost movie trailers, and reporting of a dead Taiwan celebrity that night. Bloody hell, i was totally scared shitless as my imagination runs wild!!!!

On Monday, i looked and felt like shit and was increasingly frustrated and bad mood. Lack of sleep does that to you. And all the work problems didnt lighten my mood and i was ready to aim and shoot. I wish I didnt have to repeat myself a thousand times. By Tues, I didnt sleep well again, i guess elephant memory doesnt help in this case....Arrrggghhh!

I am just glad to be home, even if I am still by myself. At least i have my comfort pillows! haa haa

My shanghai Biz Trip

My vendor brought me to this restaurant @xin tian di interior all decorated by the Liu Li gong Fang glass ware etc (same boss). They even have fusion perfomance which was pretty cool.

After dinner, they brought me to Bund 3 where there are many great restaurants and i had the "seriously serious cake" super goregously good! I was pretty impressed! And the place had a fabulously elevated view of the bund across the street.