aug 2003

• 56 kg
• decided to start a workout n diet regime, a healthy one that is

sept 2003

• fasting month
• workout after breaking fast
• modified phase 1 of SBD

oct 2003

• 48 kg - lighter me

2004

• was used to the diet that I kept on working out n sticking to phase 1 when supposed to move to phase 2
• 42 kg

early 2005

• starting a new, work out but with a healthier meal plan
• 46 kg

mid 2005

• enjoying food to the fullest
• must eat more to gain muscle, but been eating the wrong stuffs
• 47 kg

sept 2005

• 48 kg

oct 2005

• fasting month - appetite can't be controlled
• 47 kg

nov 2005

• went home - hello local delights good by healthy lifestyle
• 49 kg

today

• 2 days of hari raya visiting here, all houses preparing fried noodle or something alike
• enjoying food to the fullest
• 51 kg!!!

tonite

• gym
• grocery shopping, cooking

tomorrow

• a brand new day, a brand new lifestyle - a healthy one that is

give me one week - una semana

Back to Normal ...

Finally, I managed to finish combat yesterday without huffing n puffing like I did on tuesday. Getting back on track after 2 weeks of exercise-free was a killer. Every inch of my muscles are aching 'til now and the worst part is the cardio.
I used to be able to do combat while Im fasting, but last tuesday I couldn't continue without a sip of water after the 4th track!! huffing n puffing, I felt like my heart could jump out anytime. Left after the muaythai track - 'cos I shouted during this track my stamina was zipped for the last track.

Yesterday, I was afraid the same thing will happen - but it didn't and managed to stay 'til the end. Yay!!
My stamina for cardio is back and I hope I can get back to the same weight next week...

Im just wondering what will happen to my sis who took a month break from the gym - good luck to u sis!!

its always like this when Im faced with Lotus Notes application. I've planned on going through the notes application today and find out what enhancement need to be done and how to explain the whole flow to HR tomorrow.

Yet, I ended up thinking of other stuff and munching these preserved mangoes n cashew nuts I bought during my lunch break. Haha, most ppl who saw me was surprised seeing me act normal when I knew I gained weight - no longer the freaky me whenever I gain even a kg. Well, I only told them to give me 1 week 'cos I've started my workout just yesterday. Yesterday's weight training was a nightmare, we simply need to decrease the weight as I haven't been doing weight for a month now.

Hope within a month time I'll have the washboard abs of my dreams - I plan to do it the right way starting next monday. Why next monday, why not now? Actually I've started looking after my diet since yesterday, but tomorrow nite my company is organizing a *surprise surprise* Deepavali n Hari Raya Gathering only for those celebrating it at Grand Hyatt. This is the 1st time they organise it and I think it's a good way of recognising everyone.

another note to myself: 04 december is just round the corner - its standard chartered marathon and I haven't start training .. arrghh, I have no intention of making a fool of myself on that day

I surrender to the devil in me...

after deciding again and again .. and again that it's enough shopping for me and that I have to start saving more for my future, I surrender to my weakness SHOES!

bought 2 pairs of shoes and Im a happy girl today - happy when Im supposed to be angry to myself. But, I can't help it! - one can never enuff shoes right.

Now I only need to think where the hell am I gonna put these shoes at.
I guess I have to start sorting my shoes and have an online auction, auctioning those shoes I will not wear again .. have to have to!!

a Recap...

my last night back home for this year - been coughing like crazy that I decided to blog instead since Im having trouble sleeping...

Well, what can I said .. let's see

28 Oct 05
The plane was delayed for 1/2 hour I guess that me n my flatmate decided to browse the net while waiting for it. Yupe, finally after 6 year living in the same flat, we went home together ;)
Browsing the net made me realised works waiting for me once Im home as they've sent the files to my yahoo account.
Landed safely and been welcomed by a cute voice of my little nephew who still calls me aa instead of khala ;) - as usual, his 1st question was 'aeroplane inside here?' pointing to my luggage. Reached home and had siomay from my younger sis' office for supper. That night I slept with my nephew. Well I actually moved out of his room only to be waken by him twice to move back to his room

29 Oct 05
My 1st sahur with my family - nothing special on this day. Only that after breaking our fast and did our prayers, me n my sisters went to the mall - my sis sent her son for a haircut while the other one accompanied me looking for hari raya clothing.

30 Oct 05
Met my Uni friends at Tamani Cafe where we broke our fast together. Prior to that I met biki n rusdi n we kinda walk around Pasaraya 'cos our meeting time is way too early. Well, I reached there much earlier than them that we decided to head straight to the cafe earlier. There we met another bunch of friends and we kinda had a chit chat before breaking fast times. Boy, how time flies - haven't met my ex-roommate back in uni years since she gave birth to her 2nd born almost 6 years ago! Nothing change from everyone there except that they have kids now. Well, not all of them though.

31 Oct and 1 Nov 05
Im the babysitter for 2 days - babysitting my nephew that is. It always amaze me how words can come out of a 4 year old boy. Some even made us speechless dunno how to answer him back. When his mom bought frapuccino and he ended up controlling the drink - he said that 'u must take turn mummy' but his turn is always longer than his mum. When my younger sis warned him not to asked things in the supermarket he asked my sis 'why you always treaten me'. We kinda speechless not knowing how to answer him back. Probably going to school at a young age made him more open to society and of course him being more vocal. There was once when his mom scolded him, he ran to me and lay on my lap saying 'later i tell auntie (his teacher) that mummy n aa alun (my sis) always fighting with me'.
He left me dumbfounded as well when he asked me what is the meaning of some spanish words in english while I was putting him in bed. I guess watching dora made him understand few spanish. He knows numbers in english, bahasa indonesia, mandarin, and spanish. Well, for mandarin n spanish he can only said it 'til 10 but still! My sis said that he tends to sing all sort of mandarin songs at home and when in class he will say a prayer that he learned from his religious class until the teacher asked if he like to pray at home..
When you asked him to do things that he refused to do he'd end up holding his head saying 'don't disturb me, I am headache'
I always smile when he start singing in english, continued with mandarin songs and ended it with some prayers. Haha, kids nowadays... But its good that he learns to speak more Bahasa since attending the religious class

02 Nov 2005
Hmm, can't recall what happened this day apart from accompanying my sis to visit the doctor since my nephews coughing. Just a precautious 'cos the following day is Hari Raya and all doctors wouldn't be available in case she need some medication for his son's cough.

03 Nov 2005
EID MUBARAK - Its Hari Raya
After a month of fasting in Ramadhan, today is the time all the muslims celebrate their victory. Should I said victory? well - during the fasting month, it is said that all the devil is chained so that the only devil we have to fight it the devil within ourself. This 1 full month is the time for us to practice being kind, patience, and doing all other good deeds. Its time for instropection as well - hoping once the month's over we can continue practicing it on our daily life. The celebration is because after the 1 month of fasting, we were like a new born, all our sin is washed and its a brand new day for us - we should be doing all the right things from now on. Its up to the individual though, but God has given us this opportunity so we should try our best in striving the best in everything. We started the day with the prayer in which after that, we asked forgiveness from the people around us - for me, its from my parents and sisters. Then come the visiting. Daddy being the eldest brother in Jakarta made our house crowded from morning 'til late afternoon. Its good we had some helpers as normally 3 of us ended up arguing on whose washing the plates etc. We tend to asked the guests to help themselves when the crowd gets uncontrollable - just imagine, 100 ppl can come at one go!

04-05 Nov 05
Time to pay visit to the elders and those that came to my parents house. Luckily this time around its not as many as before *grin. Lucky me gonna fly home tomorrow so I don't have to endure all the visitings - I've visited the elders and my uncles, I guess thats enough for me. I still have another round of visiting to do once Im back to singapore tomorrow.
Decided to check my work again today after sending the files on monday - thank god I found out that the problem Im having with the software is now a global problem. Other countries kinda asking the central team to update them on this. It is also written that the new loadset must be installed under certain infrastucture - so basically this shouldn't be burdened to me but to the person who asked me to look into it! Well, I also found out that cum Monday - lotsa job waiting for me. I'll just plan on my head what to do once Im back to office

Well, all I can said from my trip home this time around is:
1. I gained lotsa lotsa weight and I don't care - Im going to hit the gym on monday
2. Im coughing like hell - thanks to MnM, mom's cheesecake, mom's cookies, and all the local delights

10 mins break...

So stress I was yesterday that I decided to attend combat though I was not feeling well. Well, combat kinda lift up my spirit actually, especially when I decided to wear the red wraps instead of the normal gloves. Standing in front so that I can see my movements in the mirror, looking at myself in the blak outfit n red wraps, I decided from now on - its gonna be wraps for combat. It looks sooo coool!

Works been crazy, I actually felt like crying twice due to the stress.
The software has problem and I have to look into it when we're supposed to be the user, well problem lies in the configuration and I don't know how this going to be solved. What stressed me is that I have to liase with the vendor when we're not the one purchasing it and the support there couldn't help solving the problem. I decided to install on few other machines to identify the cause - well, its the loadset!! Of course, I will still be the one US pointing to when this problem occurs.
This is not solved, come conversion. Luckily I have hp to work with for conversion. Oh, today I was told to come out with the interface plan and start looking into datafeeds as well, deadline Nov 4th! *hari raya*
HR still wanna go live by end of november and I haven't have the time to look into another dB from HK.

So, Im flying home tomorrow with piles of readings to read, documentation to complete, files to convert, and application to study.

Today I decided to take 10 mins away from all the things Im doing and blog instead. That is when I looked at my colleagues face and saw that they too are starting to feel the pressure. Welcome to the club guys!

I guess I complained now, but truth is Im kinda thrilled of the challenges ahead. This is why I agree on being the technical lead. I think the main problem is our lack or manpower and getting new ppl now will not be a good idea as well - let's see how it goes along the way.

Meanwhile, Im going back to my writeups and thinking of my journey tomorrow.

Im doom-ed

I came to office with the plan of completing the server set up and concentrate on conversion. By wednesday I hope I can touch some other part before flying home on Friday.

Boy oh boy, tears filled my eyes when I found out that the loadset upgrading on my notebook failed! Hence IT had to reformat my machine and Im left with nothing but to re-install every single thing on my machine...

PCAnywhere, PowerTerm, SQLServer is installed. Installing .NET now - boy there goes 1/2 of my day, there goes all my plan..
Gone are all my favourite links to all the health site, recipes and so on...

c'est absurd - c'est ma vie

There's a house need to be cleaned, toilet need to be brushed, 2 weeks of laundries need to be ironed - but I DON'T CARE!

I've been quite busy for the past 2 weeks - my friend was here n my sis is leaving tomorrow. Hence, been spending the weekend out with them. Im glad they're here - at least I got a very loooong weekend though I kinda have my weekend duty haywired ;).

Just came back from watching the 40 yr old virgin - quite a funny movie. And now, I couldn't sleep :\. So, I guess Im just gonna recap my life hehe..

I finally met one of my online friend. We've been chatting since she was still in the US and now the she n her hubby have move to Singapore we managed to meet offline. Well, a nice person indeed and one thing for sure is we have quite a number of things in common - our fond of outdoor activities and exercise. She used to be a professional body builder and she knows that I want to burn fat and gain a little bit more of muscle, she invites me to her house to see the way she cooks. Im totally excited about this!!

Back at the office - managed to find the way of generating the keypairs with Reflection, hope it's the right way. Well, lets see what US gonna say abt it. Decided not to go to Sydney as well. Kinda have confidence that we can handle everything by ourselves. I hope the offer is still valid when we're stuck along the way though. Plan to complete all things need to be done in the server and migrate everything there as well by Monday and proceed with the conversion part thoroughly. Hopefully I can touch some part of the interface before flying home.

Can't believe it - 5 more days to flying home!!

90 minutes

Im walking down the memory lane of the past 12 hours of my life - all I can say is I am gonna treasure the 90 minutes I had today for a very VERY long time

Dilemma ...

Boss called me this morning. Basically now she's asking my opinion on the conversion issue. Should we used oz's program or should we build from scratch. I can only tell her that I haven't look into all of it but there are some part that can be used if we decided not to use all of it.
She also talked abt the 2 interns that are supposed to come on 7th nov - apparently we might not be able to get it and she might need to get a contract programmer. But she's not sure if this is better. She actually was asking my commitment on the technical part of conversion, interface, and datafeeds part as she will only concentrate on the configuration and conversion process. Good boss that she is, she's aware how much works need to be done on my part and told me to get hp and kat involve to ease my jobs. But for now she wants an answer if we are ready to handle conversion alone or we want it to be outsourced to other office that has gone live. Especially that I'll be away for 3 days I need to come out with the timeline before going on leave as when Im back she'll be on training in KL.

So now, everything is up to me.
Can we handle it?
Do I want to go to sydney to get more from our oz's office?
Do I think outsourcing is better?
Truth is - I'd rather we do it on our side and going to sydney will be very helpful in understanding the process more. But do I dare make this commitment with the resource that we have?

I asked her to give me 2 days to come out with the answer - probably I'll share this with hp and kat 'cos I need their commitment as well.

Oh well, for now I guess I just have to figure out how to generate the key pairs in reflection. Hiks...

10 more days to flying home

Im bumped

I find myself gaining more n more fat everyday.
I don't care - Im going back to my old exercise regime.
Now that the training is on hold until hari raya, I can do whatever I want to do.
So what if I lost muscle mass ..
The last time I did my inbody - my body fat went up by 4% and my muscle mass went down 1%.
Okay if it might be due to the machine having problem but thinking of the figures make me more depress.
All this when I actually follow the advice to eat more (well, I've been eating more of the bad food as well, I have to admit)
Pants are getting loose around the thighs but getting tighter around the waist area.

I don't care - though Im not suppose to do cardio today, I'm going to do the cross trainer for an hour later.

Beginning of the week again.

Had a great weekend. It started on Friday after picking up juwi at the airport. Spent the entire day around city before heading back to the airport picking up alun this time. Had dinner at ananda bhavan and spent the nite walking ard serangoon before heading down to clarke quay n boat quay.
Spent saturday at sentosa n orchard. Supposed to go to the bird park yesterday, well actually we were there but it was raining heavily that we decided to head back to city and spent time there before going to break our fast at geylang n walk around the bazaar.
Poor juwi - she gotta walk n walk n walk .. I hope she didn't lose weight from the walking though :)

Managed to rushed to the gym this morning - not a bad idea of heading to the gym today as the instructor played my favourite track, he even said to me that the track he's gonna play is my favourite track. At the end of the class I asked him abt the rumours that he'd be seconded to another country for few months. He said yeah but I guess it's still not sure when will that be - I didn't really ask for details anyway. He said that I should visit when the time comes. Well, if he's teaching at the cali there, I might just visit for the sake of attending his class.

Sigh - been having insomnia for days now. Always woke up in the morning feeling bumped that I simply hailed a cab to rush to office. I dunno - could it be due to my late workout or the coke I have for my morning meal and breaking fast or even the stressful days at work.
Sneezing and running nose as well now. Geez, I can't afford to fall sick now! I really dunno.
I have myself to blame actually, feeling under the weather and still went for the combat class earlier. But I simply couldn't take it that I left halfway - even before the Muaythai track.

Work has been crazy. Finally I managed to get the Oz's conversion dB both on SQL and Unix up and now need to study them and understand the flow of it before deciding if it's better to build our own instead of using theirs.
Another server crashed - and what kinda pissed me off is that this should be handle by someone else. But everything's being pointed to me and Im always the one liasing with IT. I know my boss wants me to do it 'cos she wants it to be solve asap but then I also have a lot of other things to do. I was so stressed today that I told the person who's supposed to be handling it that I will deal with IT to get a replacement server and once it's done she must try to do the installation. She should know by now especially that she saw me doing it the other day.
One good thing is that my boss is a very good boss, she gives you credit when she feels that you deserve it. Few weeks ago she email-ed me and cc-ed the partner praising my work and thanking me for putting a lot of effort on it. Today in our discussion, she told everyone that I've been doing very well and that she wanted them to help me as well, especially that the HR is going live soon and the weekly technical call with US will be starting soon. I was quite surprise abt the weekly call, thought it won't be that soon - hell, my schedule's gonna be pretty messy. I hope they scheduled the call based on our working hours instead of theirs.

Hope the server problem can be settle before lunch tomorrow. Somehow I got the feeling that I'll still be the one installing the programs.
Sounds like Im complaining a lot huh? Well, the fact is - I AM complaining! Thinking of what I must do next really really stress me up - and this will continue 'til Oct next year.

Gonna be on 1/2 day leave tomorrow - yeay .. at least I have time to unwind since my friend n my sis is coming down.

Well, I think I'll have my morning meal now and try my best to fall asleep.

Didn't wake up for my morning meal for 2 days in a row - bugger!!

30 more minutes to going home
2 more hours to breaking fast...
vadai n indian style fried noodle for today

Gosh - I'm still wide awake when I'm supposed to be sound asleep if I want to wake up on time for my morning meal. Thinking of having it now but then I will not be awake for the morning prayer. Let's see if I can't sleep after this, I'll continue being online until 4.30.

Went to the gym earlier since I have nothing else to do, so I attended the 5 PM pilates class. Just nice, once I'm home I simply need to wait few more minutes before breaking my fast. I can't believe that after 6 years with cali, this is the 1st time I attended pilates! Well actually attended once before, but collin was more focusing on the breathing and the very very basic movements only.

BTW, managed to get the phone number of Grand Hyatt's StraitsKitchen. I really want to break my fast there one of these days. They even flew in a chef from Egypt for the ramadhan celebration. Now I only have to find someone to go there with. Guess I'll check on the pricing 1st before looking for the victim.

Im waiting for 5.30 PM - the time when my nephew goes downstairs so that I can call and speak to him. He's only 4, nothing much to talk to him about - its more like wasting money actually. But I feel that by having a regular talk with him, he's aware of my existence. It actually pays off - everytime I go home, he'll spend most of his time with me, he wants me to sleep with him, bath him, wash him after he does his business and all other stuff that wouldn't happen had I not call him often.

3rd day of ramadhan - boy how time flies. I just realised this is my 13th year of fasting on my own. After staying in the hostel back in 1992 I only spent ramadhan with my family during the weekend and 1 week before hari raya. Then in 1998, I worked in Batam - spent ramadhan with another friend of mine. In 1999, I started working in Singapore and been spending ramadhan by myself eversince. Actually there was one time (1999) when my sis was still working in Singapore n mom was around supervising the house upgrading that we had ramadhan together. After that, I only spend the last days of ramadhan with my family. Oh I think 2 years ago I even spent hari raya alone here 'cos I had exam the following day.
I wonder when will I be able to spend the whole month of ramadhan with my families.

Anyways, weekend is just 30 mins away. Going home to break fast before hitting the gym. I changed my gym schedule unlike the past 2 years where I broke my fast at the office or even in the gym itself. I want to get the best of both - so the only way is to attend the 8.50 classes.

I can't wait for next friday when juwi and alun will be in town. My sis definitely has a list of foods she's going to have and I will drag my friend to try it as well. Can't wait for that!

Who said having someone helping you is good.

The new staff is now my responsibility. I shoud assign jobs to her, something that has got to do with the project before bringing her in for the project. Problem is all the things I'm doing ties to each other hence difficult to assign part of it to someone who doesn't know the system as a whole. So then we came up with an idea of a simple application - a so called XML converter that's going to be used for the HR first, if it's fine we might use it for the financial system too.
She's almost done with this application, I guess early next week. I will then run through with her before showing it to the boss. I drag this moment, 'cos if she's done with that I have to come out with something else for her.
Thought she'll be helping hp on the conversion soon - apparently not that soon!

I've been nagging people in HK and OZ...
I remember when the NZ guys came, john was suprised to know the real me - he said that I was different from what they pictured based on the emails I sent them. Yeah, the nagging email is because I was told to send those email chasing after them. Eversince then everytime I sent email he will reply saying he knew who's nagging me hehe..

I'm done with chasing HK. Now I need to chase OZ.
Apparently the guy was on leave and my boss insisted me to send email to the CIO and chase him instead. I feel so bad - chasing them when we're the one who's in need of their help.

Everytime my boss sees me her 1st question will be 'have you got the reply from OZ?' If I said no she suggested that I send another email reminding them.

I guess the next time she ask me this question, I will jokingly answer that the only way for me to chase OZ now is by flying to sydney!

Today's closing so decided to concentrate on this and forget about the rest. Decided to have 1 round of game before doing the debtors ageing. That is when I realised how long I haven't play any games especially this one. It's kinda addictive but I love it!!

gonna play 'til level 10 before getting back to work.

1. server crashed
2. roll-out of system with lotsa teething problem
3. studying the ssh application
4. chasing oz for the sql-side conversion script

have to do all in one go - phew!
the server crashed was so devastating especially that it happened 1 DAY before closing. Like we had no things to do we had to reinstall enServe, enAdmin, n enTransfer. Decided to use the LIS server for the time being which means back to square one for the LIS.

Came in a bit late today that I attended the conference call halfway - lucky it's not my part yet. Sigh, had to lie to them saying the server is ready n it will be installed w the f-secure soon. I even said that we'd generate the key pair n send the public key to them before our next conference call. Such confidence when the server is now deployed for enTime!! Wonder when will we get the replacement - knowing how everything works here especially when it's involving new machine, ages will be the answer.

1st day of ramadhan - had my morning meal with a cousin of mine. Poor girl, she didn't intend to stay but had to when the project she did w/ her friend wasn't completed yet. She had to eat whatever available - I hope she didn't mind having a very light meal ;)
Talking abt ramadhan - one thing I miss most from fasting in my country is the sense of respect other people have. Back in my country, people will said 'sorry' whenever they eat in front of you - some even restrain eating in public out of respect. Even my flatmate close her door when she's having a meal at home while Im fasting. Not that I'm so particular or get tempted easily - I'm too old for that - but I just miss the sense of respect. Here, they just eat in front of you, even talk to you with their mouth full *something I totally hate.
Well, different culture different courtesy ya...

2 wakeboarding invitation during fasting month
*sigh gotta pass this invitation .. hopefully there's an invitation for november

at last I managed to find out abt the missing instructor *grin. He was assigned to work oversea for 6 mths - apparently the new office location is because it's a new office. Haiz, should've attended his friday class and bid him farewell.

*mudah2an aja tugas ke kl bikin dia kembali ke jalan yg benar n gak suka sesama jenis lagi .. kasian aja sih, orang baik tp dilaknat tuhan*

A sweet Pact

A friend of mine suggested that we made a pact - if we reach a certain age and still single, we'll stay together and take care of each other.
Such a sweet pact - but I hope this won't happen!

Its raining so looks like watching corpse bride is cancelled. Nothing to do n still lazy to clean the house here...

Oh ya, yesterday in the gym's locker I overheard (more like eavesdropped actually) 2 girls talking about the instructor. I really wanna know 'cos I didn't attend his class last friday so no chance of asking him. These girls are talking in a mix of mandarin n english so I didn't get the whole story but what I learned abt is nothing I haven't know. Basically his new office location made it difficult for him and that he's so busy n tired that last friday he was like dragging himself to class - I guess his taking a short break. I remember my other friend said that if he continue doing what he's been doing he's gonna end up bad.
Well, hope it's just a short break from teaching - I actually checked w the club n they said there's no news of him resigning. Thank God.
I know people are wondering about me enjoying his class a lot n thought I have some sort of feelings. Haha .. totally wrong. I simply enjoy his class 'cos he's so motivational n he made an effort to know each person better so we kinda like him for being caring. He's also the only instructor I dare to approach n request for songs.

Another good news - finally .. FINALLY! juwi is coming to town - after 6 years of living here I finally have one of my buddy visiting me! She was unsure when I suggested it since she's on leave n there's nothing can be done in Jakarta during fasting month. I think she feels bad visiting me during ramadhan, right ju? Well, not to worry - I think I'm way too old to be tempted by food here ;)
Can't wait for her arrival ...

its not even 9 AM sunday morning and Im wide awake - done with my ironing and laundry that Im only left with cleaning the house but Im not in the mood for that, so decided to blog instead.

Yesterday was not a bad weekend. Started by going to the gym, well the intro step class is better than last week. Maybe he started with the really basic moves and now he's upgraded it a bit. I might continue going to his class if it continues to be this way. After step I went down to have my lunch - Indonesian fried rice. Have been wanting to try this for weeks but always ended ordering ketoprak instead, so yesterday I tried it and finally I found a fried rice that is really authentic Indonesian style. Met eileen afterwards then we went up for combat.

From gym I headed back home 'cos tonite I'm meeting kimi and some other guys for the stand up comedy. The comedy was okay - can't understand some of it 'cos some of the jokes are too british. The 3rd guy really suck that he ended being boo-ed and left the stage looking annoyed. Apparently this was his 1st time being boo-ed, said the 1st guy who had to go back on stage replacing his place. Overall I think I enjoyed listening to kimi's laughter more than listening to the jokes.

After the gig was over, we stayed back listening to the in-house band performing. Great band I should say. We let our hair down and enjoy the music, well I for one was initially 'forced' to let my hair down. Im always like that with people I first met but that's not a good excuse last night - hell, I couldn't even cross my hand without being protested. That is when I decided to loosen up and simply enjoy the nite with everyone. All in all, it was a fun nite out - with friends from all around the globeI managed to stay on track of being healthy as well - a glass of coke n thats it! good girl...

Hoaahem, now dunno what to do - planning to go to city w/ my flatmate later - corpse bride looks like a great movie to watch, so we plan to watch that later. We'll c if it is as good as it looks.

Bad News?

I was browsing california fitness website to see next week's schedule. I noticed that none of the classes in all 3 branches has my favourite instructor name on it. Was he on leave? But I thought he just went for one last week.

I knew that his office is no longer ard city, hence he couldn't make for his normal 6.30 classes. I remember asking him abt this and he confirm saying that he must rushed like crazy to get to the classes that is why he kinda gave up teaching those classes. I also remember a friend of mine saying he has been having lots of problem with his back and knee joints due to overtraining.

Does this mean he gives up teaching? NOOOOO!
I guess I have to find out more abt this from the person itself

Friendster

I was browsing friendster when I noticed the new feature it has - who's viewed me.

I dunno but I find that as some sort of invading privacy - I mean you will now know who has view your profile which might not be quite nice for the person viewing. If there's a stranger viewing your profile you tend to view this person's profile for the sake of curiousness. Then the person will know that you view his/her profile.

hah!

If i were to pick 2 things I can't live without (apart from families, friends, and animals of course), it surely are Panadol n Coke.
Woke up with a very bad headache that I couldn't hardly sit, let alone stand - I know that Im falling sick when it was followed by continuous sneezing. But life goes on n I can't afford not going to work today, especially when there's a new joiner orientation later n I have to present the enTime part. Simply forced myself out of bed n had shower n breakfast before popping 2 panadols. While I was in the train the pounding in my head reduced a bit - quite a relief as I was quite afraid I'm gonna make another scene by fainting in the MRT. Reached office and had a can of coke to booze my energy. It helps - still feeling headache but at least there's an additional energy thanks to the coke. I know its bad but at least I manage to sit still and start working.

I remember saying how much I miss coding. Well, today I wish I could take it back. Now that the HK's application is up and ready for HR to do a proper test, I move on to the next things to do on my list - interface and conversion part of the global financial system.

Couldn't really concentrate at work so I put on hold studying OZ's conversion scripts. It's so complicated especially with my not so advance Unix scripting knowledge.
Decided to convert their .NET programs to our version of .NET instead. Sigh - I thought it'll be a straight forward thingy with less complications. Boy I was wrong.
I simply stared blank at the list of directories of programs given dunno which one is the first project and where is the solution. Without proper documentations, I really dunno where to start. Well, I guess I still have to go through all the projects n see where's the head and tail of things.

And we thought using the OZ's application will make our life less complicated ...

My 1st wakeboarding lesson ...

Yupe, finally I DID IT!
It was my best experience EVER! - can't be compared with fencing, fitness capoeira, bridge climbing, kayaking, reverse bungee/sling shot, parasailing, underwater walk, banana boat or anything I'd done before - period! Well at least for now 'cos I haven't try bungee jumping and diving yet ;)

But it WAS a great experience for me since I've been wanting to try this for ages. Went there alone and met few new friends there. Basically it was a wakeboarding workshop and each of us had hands-on twice or thrice. Well, I still couldn't stand *grin couldn't even rock forward as I tend to pull the bar when u're supposed to let it pull u. Guess I'm used to pulling the bars in the gym that I did this automatically. The guys kept on telling me not to fight the water 'cos I surely wouldn't be the winner heeee.
After the session was over me and 3 other girls decided to stay back awhile and hang out with the guys there - we hop in the boat twice while they had their practice. One of the stance which looks like superman 'cos he's actually flying was totally AWESOME.
Drank lots of salty water as well - yuks! But I love it and we were thinking of signing up for the course. Well, I will sign up after ramadhan is over. Can't wait to be in the water again - hopefully this time I can stand for a long period, at least rock forward for more than 20 seconds ;).

should I or should I not?

A friend of mine message me to join her n her buddies at the club tomorrow nite. She's been asking this for weeks and I always find excuse to escape it. She even called last week asking when can we catch up. Now I feel bad that I'm thinking of going just for a while. Anyway, the place is quite interesting, always wanna see this place but going there alone made me think twice. Yes, I'll meet her there but still ...
should I or should I not go? *contemplating*
I guess if I go, I'll just make an appearance and leave early...

Already cancelled tonite's dinner with friends 'cos another auntie of mine had surgery this morning and I think this must be prioritize over some dinner. I hope my friend doesn't mind knowning that she purposedly ask me along so that I can make new friends there. A sweet auntie of mine will wait 'til I reach the hospital and accompany me visiting this auntie - thanks auntie pah!

Oh ya, tommorrow I'll be going for a wakeboarding workshop *woohoooo* FINALLY. I decided to go for the workshop eventhough none of my friend can make it and let's see if I'll find ppl there who's interested to sign up for the course.
And I've bought the ticket to this 1nitestand comedy for next week - with a bunch of ppl who I haven't meet before. Well, I know one of the girl and saw another girl's face during the dinner at chicos but other than that - zip. Getting more and more brave now huh! - I guess this is the only way to make new friends.

I'm in the mood of some italian food by the way - hmm, maybe should check w/ my flatmate if she's in the mood for some fine dining as well so that we can have a great italian lunch on sunday.

its been a hectic day yesterday and today - since I got time to catch my breath awhile, I decided to use it for blogging.
Went to hospital during my lunch break to visit my auntie. Its not serious but they just want to keep her there for observation for few more days I guess.
On my way there was when I realised that TTSH has been a common place to visit since last year when this same auntie was admitted when her vein in the brain bursted.

Time flies so fast that without realising it fasting month is just around the corner. Then I started to remember things that happen during the last fasting month. Its not my 1st time fainting - its my 2nd inside the MRT - but definitely the worst faint I'd ever experience and will never want to experience again!

I remember when I regain conciousness I was surrounded by a lot of people but I can't remember anything back then, guess I walked out of the train and followed the staff to a place where I could lie down. I remember crying in the staff room because I dunno what had happened to me - I couldn't recall what I did earlier (gym), where I was heading to (friend's house), and I simply couldn't recall what I did the night before (watching tv when my flatmate reached home). I remembered hearing my mum cried on the phone (baby, what happen to u - where r u - oh my god what happen to u?) when I simply couldn't remember calling my house in jakarta (i dunno, mummy is it fasting month? - mummy I'm scared) *see how when there's trouble mum is the 1st one to call*
What I did remember is the mrt staff all looked worried because I couldn't recall anything ;).
I tried to be calm by opening my bag and see whats inside - when I saw the gym clothing I asked the staff what day it was and called my gym friend asking if I met her ealier. That is when I started to get back on track though I still couldn't recall why there's a present with me.

Luckily my mum called my aunt and I called my flatmate when I regain more conciousness. They picked me up at the station n my aunt brought me to the hospital - there's a big lump at the back of my head that I was advised to had it scanned ASAP.

A year almost passed by and I haven't have the scan done - a friend reminded me to have it done soon 'cos there might be a clog or something else 'cos I kinda lost my short memory before. Guess I'll have it done soon after hari raya.

After quite a hectic day yesterday, i decided to have an easy day today. After all I've sent the files to US and can't do anything before they give us the feedback. HongKong hasn't reply my email which means I can't continue the configuration of the dB. IT hasn't finish configuring the new server so I'm left with more readings but I've been like crazy yesterday handling a lot of things at the same time that my body was shaking in panic while solving all the problems at one go. Hah! and to think what luck I have, just as my colleagues were away lots of their applications have problem.

Just finished watching episode 9 and 10 of the korean series during my extended lunch time *hehe. Plan to finish all tonite. It's quite a romantic story - well, typical of teenage drama. I always have a soft spot when it come to this kind of genre .. can't deny this - I love romance movies.

Just heard a news abt one of my friend. She had a bad break up early this year. Well, I always suspect that one day the guy will take advantage of her. She's so very helpful to this person, emotionally and financially, that I told another friend of mine that this guy is a definited bastard if he ended up breaking my friends heart. And guess what, he really did that! I remember the early weeks after her breakup and I can't do much, just gave her few encouraging words of advise. But I think they're already in an unhealthy relationship for quite some time that she could easily move on and actually have found someone else now. That's fast - considering I'm still the same single old me ;).
Now I hear that her new guy is a nice person who's also stable financially which means she can enjoy what she's been missing before. This new guy is quite mature and that he said he never thought he'd meet someone - he always thought he'd end up single, made me think that I might hear a wedding bell soon. I'm just so happy for her and I hope they last long.

well, I hope someday I can write my own story - not a bad one I hope

1.5 weeks of solutide and korean drama for the weekend

with my colleagues away for the training, Im left alone in this room - its freezing when u're all by urself in this place, and I have to cope w/ it 'til next wednesday.

Weekend has been quite a peaceful one, sunday that is. Went to the gym on saturday - was quiet sad that now the intro step was taken over by another instructor and apparently it's more to intro step moves than intro step. Not much movements being taught there and the last part of the class is for abs, I wonder how am I going to upgrade to the B/I class soon with this pace, I guess I have to re-arrange my gym schedule to attend intro step at other branch with other instructor. Heard toni's class is good - probably I'll switch to her class then.

Had done combat 25 twice! it was a fun launch especially when 23 and 24 is not that great. Attended the launch on friday at bugis where the instructors are aldressed up like ninjas :) There's a lot of new movements so its so fun.

Decided not to attend the mid autumn celebration with my friends and also said no to a friend asking to meetup for a drink - I just want to spend the weekend at home. But then my uncle called and I felt bad if I didn't go the the gathering at his friend's place :(
So after gym, I headed down to my uncle's friend's house - its her housewarming cum b'day gathering so we spent the entire evening listening to my uncles' karaoke-ing, eating and of course birthday cake - luckily I went to the gym earlier.

Sunday is - as usual - time for me to do my ironing. Plan to spend the entire day reading the book I rent. But my flatmate came in with this korean series and asked me to watch it if Im free. I started to watch episode 1 and the next thing I knew Im done with episode 6. Gosh - this series is actually a devil in disguise. I missed Gilmore Girls, Oprah - actually I didn't switch on tv at all. I even cancelled going out for lunch and just ate whatever left in the fridge.

Its monday now, and I just spent the last hour watching episode 7. After blogging I promise to have some work done before heading out to buy lunch and spend my lunch break watching episode 8.

oh ya finally, finally!! I managed to watch wicker park on cable. Nice movie - i like it a lot.
Basically, if u're destined to be with someone u'll end up with this someone, even when others are trying to break u apart.

I feel bad!

Just came back from our lunch at Kintamani. Quite sad now they no longer had asinan - my favourite dish. Since we ate a lot together with JN and HP, we walked back to office - quite a long walk from Havelock to Raffles Place especially that its so damn hot today.
Once in the office, still panting I started to work immediately just to be so annoyed with this IT guy.
He sent email saying that the notes dB has been copied to the server but he said he looked into the scripts and there is no need to install the Excel, therefore my request of installing it is rejected/denied!! wtf...

I replied asking him to refer to the documentation I sent earlier in which one of the steps required before running the application is to install Excel. My first email to someone without even a 'hi' word in it. I then went to his dept and approached his asst. mgr who actually went through the steps with me and said the next time I were to work together with him in the future, I give up. I totally give up working with this MCP.

Back to my dept. and asked my boss to read the email he sent. I also said that I give up working with this guy in the future - but jokingly and we laughed saying how annoying this guy is. The next thing I knew my boss called me asking if it is a must having Excel installed - so I went to her room with the documentation and showed it to her. She said okay, read the email she composed before hitting the send button. I thought she was sending email to this guy, apparently she's sending an email to the partner asking him to look into this problem. Now Im the one feeling bad as I'm the one who's complaining abt him.

I think I'm gonna fall sick!

Been on binged eating for weeks - I've managed to control this but now I keep on wanting to eat sour stuff. Spent the entire lunch time from one place to another looking for something sour. Actually I was in the mood of the mango salad they sold in Orchard and I know they have it here in SunMoon so there I went but apparently they no longer carry this.

I should've gone straight away to orchard n buy it instead of wasting my time searching for it around here to no avail. Well, I guess coke will do for now - it's always like this when I'm going to fall sick.

Called home earlier and managed to speak to mom. She just came back from Bandung and brought lotsa foods from there. She said how can she gave it to me when I was not around :(. Dad came back from Lombok last sunday and my sis said that he brought a lot of ayam taliwang which is delicious from there. I want some!
But I'll only be home for hari raya next month *sigh*. The main disadvantage from being far from the family.

After months of coming late to work, today I reached the office at 8.10 AM. Finally ;). Well, I guess this will be a 'must' every wednesdays now that they've moved the conference call from 7 PM to 8.30 AM.
But the drawback is that I have no time for my daily routine of breakfast while reading e-mails that I only had a small sweet potato, a can of coke and 12 sweets(!!) for breakfast. I have to control the sweets part next week though.

Oh ya, after the call we sat down and discussed our next steps. I took this opportunity to inform them that I couldn't do anything now 'cos IT hasn't install the database and Excel to the server. I also highlighted to HR that the development was done in the earlier version of the notes used in our firm and I foresee some problems here as well. My boss agreed and said that it must be fair for me as well - IT has been taking their own sweet time to put the database on the server when HR plan to release it to everyone next week. At the end when the deadline is near we will be the one blamed of being inefficient when up til today we're still unable to see the application. So today me and the HR director has been shooting lotsa emails to the IT dept and cc our partner in the emails so that everyone knows who's holding back the process here ... he3x

Boss called us yesterday saying that since we're now considered executives (sans the pay though) that we can't claim money for overtime. But it would be difficult if we were to claim time off everytime we work overtime as well that with the project we'll be expected to work overtime more. But she won't be that calculative so if we have to run errand and be out for an hour or two she wouldn't mind. Well, this shouldn't be a problem for me 'cos that's what I've been doing all along. Took this opportunity to ask if I can go back for hari raya next month since we're actually not supposed to take any long leave. Being a good boss that she is, she said special case only applied to me as I'm the only one celebrating hari raya. Anyway its also way of compensating for me being a single fighter for the next 2 weeks during the training. Thanks jenny, u're the best boss a staff can ever ask for!

Now Im thinking - is it okay if I tell her I need to run errand now? - desperately in need of something sour and the mango salad is the only thing I can think about now.

I can't believe I'll be saying this but I kinda miss coding !! - be it with VB, .NET, even writing Unix scripts.
I guess now that we are in the midst of this project, especially that I'm being assigned with configuring the server, reading the Oz's documentation to determine how it can be used by us, and also given the task to handle and distribute the interface to each person depending on what they're assigned to do, makes me realise that sometimes programming is the simplest of all - It's simply between you and the machine - c'est tout!
With the additional responsibility for the global HR I'm supposed to be busy now and yet I'm still able to update my blogs n read others as well - The IT people here kinda testing my patience actually.
How am I supposed to configure the directory structure of the server when you haven't even configure the server for us - c'mon guys! the US counterpart is chasing us on this. When will the fSecure be in? We need this to communicate with the Central server ASAP. This is my 1st experience with fSecure, I need time to study it before using it and time is running out - be more considerable with our hectic schedule please.
Guys, why is it so difficult to store HongKong's local HR application to the notes server and install Excel to it so that I can study the application before deciding if it's applicable for our business process here.
Don't you guys know I have to do this before end of this month so that I can concentrate on the other project next month?
I'm multitasking and you guys know it and yet you don't make an effort of speeding up your jobs! huh...

I hope 2 colleagues of mine who's attending the technical training next week will be more than a helping hand once they're back. Currently I'm the only one handling the technical part - I think I need a helping hand soon.
There's nothing much to be done on the functional since its only gonna be used when it comes to conversion.
Anyway, boss has hinted them that they're supposed to assist me once they're done w/ the training and I'll make sure that's what I get!

an update on my reading - Sophie's World
It is considered as a great book I read this year - apart from Dan Brown's DaVinci Code that is.
I've only read the 1st 3 chapters yet my mind starts to question the simplest thing that we take for granted.
But you can't really go wild or question all the things that existed 'cos remember some things exist because they're are meant to be - I believe in God and some things are the way they are because God meant it to be that way.

Which reminds me I have a timeline that I need to complete and past over to my boss by today ;)
oh ya, we're going to interview 3 more candidates for the programmer position tomorrow - one of them is my countryman. I hope (s)he is qualified enough to be accepted - at least the resume said so. Let's see how it goes tomorrow.

Yesterday after office, with a colleague of mine we went for a walk around chinatown. The mid autumn festival is just around the corner and after being here for 6 years, this is the 1st time I visited the mid autumn festival bazaar there. The giant lantern is nice - too bad I forgotten to take a picture of it on our way back to the train station. Had our dinner at the maxwell centre before heading home to watch Rockstar INXS.
Yay!! Mig is not even in the bottom 3 - I totally root for him as I adore his personality.

Finally, after weeks of contemplating I decided to buy this book.
I mean 1000 places recommended to be visited before you die - it should be fun reading it!
Decided not to join tonight's outing and since tomorrow's karaoke is postponed, I plan on spending the weekend curling up on bed marking those places I've visited and make a note of places worth visiting.

Too bad, the book is sold out in Times; so I went next door to this book rental shop looking for something else to read. I've decided to return the book I borrowed earlier from the library - it doesn't tickle my interest at all.

I went out with Sophie's World . Heard lots of hoo-haa about this book and I think its time to find out myself what's all the hoohaa's about.

I'm sipping my light coke while writing this.
Just had an indian style fried noodle for lunch.
Like that's not enough I bought a pack of roasted almond chocolate and finished it at one go.

Went to IT dept this morning where they offered me some food. I said no 'cos I just had my breakfast which was tuna wasabi in wholegrain bread and a pack of preserved plum.

The guys were totally shocked when I told them that I should control my diet again that late late last night I ordered pizza and had all 6 slices at one go!

Writing this made me realize that I do have a habit of eating like crazy when something's on my mind, and normally this something is about my abs.

Its always that I feel I have to finish all so that I can go back on track the following day. But my colleague asked me to go for lunch at lau pa sat where I had noodle so I continue eating chocolate and planning to get back on track tomorrow.

I think I should get back on track on my next meal. I wanted to get back to my low-carb but I know its not good in the long run, I mean I've seen it myself what happened when I started taking more carbs. So I guess I'll just get back to my routinity for the past few months and be more patience with it.
To think that even the GP refused to prescribed me a fat burner 'cos I was considered on the light side not to forget a very healthy BMI makes me re-think about it.

Actually, to be fair to myself and to the trainer, eversince I changed my diet in which I had more food containing good carbs and take my protein shake after workout, I notice some new muscles on my back.
I guess I just have to stick with it and knowing that the problem area will always be the one with the least result, I have to look at the overall result rather than just at one area.

After 2 falls, I think my iPod really needs to be replaced.
The 1st fall happened few months back when I was so lazy to pick it up properly that the earpiece just slipped off n the iPod fell down hard - the lcd was broken.

The only advice the Apple staff gave me was to buy a new piece - if only there's a service for lcd replacement...

Last night, again, i accidentally pushed it and it fell under my bed.. but anyway its already broken so few more bruises wouldn't harm it.
The only problem with it is now I wouldn't know what song its playing and I have to be like a blind person guessing what Im selecting from the menu when u can't see everything clearly :(

note: my deepest condolensence to those victims and families of the victims of the mandala airlines that crashed in medan - one of my chat buddy's cousin was the pilot. God bless their soul n may they rest in peace.

My definition of a perfect weekend:

- organized friday lunch with colleagues so there's a valid reason for not going to the gym during lunch break
- burning the fats off by attending evening class of bodycombat at bugis
- end friday night with Tom Welling of Smallville
- started saturday by having an african spa wisdom massage
- had lunch before heading to orchard for a biz meetup *well, there's money involved so its biz right*
- spent 3 hrs in a hair salon

- rushing home to get dress for the firm's annual dinner n dance
- spent the entire evening having temporary tatoo, fun n laughter accompanied by a fine dinner course
- spent sunday at home with the rain pouring heavily outside there's nothing better to do then laze around
- went out to grab lunch and some other stuff to munch while watching tv
- spent the evening listening to music while completing my very own creation of accessories *more to come*

- went to the mall together with yolli after dawn for the nice yet fattening dinner.
- ended the day watching Red Eye with a pack of MnM's

this is what weekends are made for - time to pamper your mind, body, n soul.

supposed to me on pm leave today as Im planning to watch a movie - too bad there's no show during the time I want that I cancelled my leave, anyway boss is on 2 days of MC - no point wasting ur leave when u can have ur own "leave" for this 2 days :D

its after lunch - just came back from the new National Library. It is so huge but the lending area only occupies the basement - so I guess the books collection for us to borrow is not as huge as the place huh.

Found one book by Marcel Proust - Sodom and Gomorrah - I hope its a good book.
Trying to move myself from the general fiction, historical romance novels I've been reading to something more "intellectual".
Truth is I was quite at lost after reading the first few pages - I guess you have to concentrate when reading this kind of book. Well, I'll try and lets see how it goes.

So you guys pls let me know if you have any book(s) to recommend.

its MONDAY again ...

Its monday and as usual Im hardly working - probably after writing this I'll work hard :)

Spent the weekend as planned - at home most of the time.

Started the weekend with meeting friends at thumper for a drink. Had fun there and we played games which was quite fun where the loser must drink all the way - this is fine by me as Im only drinking orange juice hehe..
Since Im planning for a quiet weekend, I left early exactly few minutes b4 12 - just like cinderella ;)

Started my saturday with meeting my aunt n together we went visiting one of our family who's son just passed away. From there I headed to the gym but I was late for the step class :( so I just did my own cardio before hitting the abs machine. Thinking of skipping combat for today as Im still feeling sleepy, I then spent most of the time in the sauna room - thinking of the fried chicken from es teler 77 for lunch.
Too bad I later found out the branch in bugis has closed so that I have to think of something else for lunch ..

Went home and spent the rest of the evening curling up on the bed reading n watching tv. Did some domestic work at night so that I can spend sunday lazing off. I even cancelled going to 4 seasons for the tea reception on sunday 'cos I was really not in the mood to dress up.
Oh, and Thanks to StarWorld for repeating the oprah interview with Bill Clinton!!

Overall, a very quiet weekend. So happy my body was with the rest it got that I managed to wake up early this morning for the pump class.

2 more hourse before the weekend but Im already not in the mood of working.

went to the gym during lunch time - supposed to go this morning but I've been sleeping late lately, most of the time 'cos talking to my sis abt whats happenning back home. Gosh, everything that happened lately made me respect and love my parents more!

Going to bugis branch later for the 6.30 class before heading to town n meet my friends - looks like Im gonna make some new friends as well later.
Though I know its gonna be fun Im not planning to stay long - there's no better place than home

I hope I don't have to wake up early tomorrow but I guess this is just not going to happen. My aunt called saying that someone's son passed away and I guess I have to represent my family to pay them a condolescence visit before hitting the gym tomorrow.

Planning to have a good rest tomorrow night.
I just wanna curl on my bed, reading the books that is due to be returned next week.

ps. as for my being more budget conscious - so far so good! yippeee

It's monday and I'm still feeling tired from the weekend.

It all started on friday nite where I met a bunch of new friends in CnC. Almost chickened out as I went there alone without knowing anybody there. But the tempting mexican food won over that I decided to go for the sake of the food - if the company is bad I'd just enjoy the food and find excuse to leave early.
Boy I was totally wrong - the ppl were fun n you have to be thick skin approaching those ppl introducing urself which I didn't really do well :).

Met few ppl from my country which made it more comfortable for me. Too bad the food was not up to our expectations - I guess they're kinda flabbergasted with the idea of having to deal with us individually when it comes to payment.

From there a few of us headed to east coast as the club there was playing the 80s songs - retro nite actually. I didn't know if I wanna go or not but I ended up going and stayed there for awhile before heading home.
It was such a blast that I made lotsa new friends especially that I found a girl who enjoys outdoor sports as much as I do. Planning on joining them rollerblading one of these days.

Saturday morning, I woke up early though I still felt tired from the nite before. I slept at 3 AM yet I had to wake up early as me and 2 of my colleagues are planning on another outing - Johor Baru.

Reached JB for lunch before we started our shopping activities. Quite a damage for my pocket but it got me 3 pair of shoes, 2 t-shirts, a toe ring n an earring. Yaaay... it's always fun when you went shopping and got what you never thing you would ended up buying.

Ended the day with a sumptous Brownies w/ Ice Cream and Fish Head Curry. mmmmm

Back at home and did my laundry before I collapsed in bed. My legs were so aching from all the walking we did. Cancelled meeting my friends to go to the bazaar at the embassy and cancelled going to the gym so that I could stay at home. But then my auntie was discharged from the hospital - which was a very good news - that I ended up going to her place and spent the evening there where I met my other aunties n kuzzins.

Now, back at work wishing it's still weekend - but life goes on and today is also the beginning of my plan to be more budget concious.
I know it's time for me to spend less especially w/ the stupid HR fault that caused me quite a paycut for the next few months :(

Finally, the functional training is over ... now what's left is the weight gained from all the food n sweets taken during the training ;)

It's gonna be a tough project now that we've attended the functional workshop. When I attended the technical workshop back in march we're totally not prepared as we're informed 1 week prior to the training itself. I guess now the 2nd batch attending the technical are very much lucky compared to me n my boss as they have some functional knowledge before heading to the states.

Now, back to my own desk clearing emails, unsettled jobs, and of course blogging before getting back seriously at work next week.

hope I have a great weekend this time around considering what's already planned.
for you guys who might be here accidentally (or maybe not) - have a great weekend too!

I've been waiting for the table to be imported forever so I guess I'd better do something else while waiting for it.

A friend reminded me abt my recent trip back home. Haven't write abt it as I'm still trying to work with the pictures but that's gonna be quite some time so I'll leave that for later.

Went home especially for my nephew's 4th birtday - Happy Birthday you little rascal. It's quite a fun day for the kids and the adults as well. The kids enjoyed the fun with spongebob square pants and I guess the adults enjoyed the foods served. I for one enjoyed myself - from siomay to bakwan malang to es puter and ended it with some chapatis and cakes. Basically I've been surrendering myself to the joyous food from my hometown from the day I reached there, there's no better food than my hometown's local delights!

Quite a tiring and fun day, I have to say - with lots of balloons and this little boy enjoying himself being pampered extra for a day. The day ended by him giving us performance of his version of BodyCombat ;p

Got a chance to meet my friends as well. I guess this was the 1st time we sat long enough and each of us kinda poured our heart out before we headed for some light dinner from some store along the road. After which we went to Monas *to see* the dancing fountain. Haha, we're too late.. we reached there just in time to see people went home. Well at least we did some walking before heading back home.
Guys, of all the meeting we had I think this is *as at date* the best one 'cos we had so much time to talk about whats going on with our personal life - don't you agree?
I guess the next time we can try the same thing - some cozy place to share stories at.

Spent the last few days sending my nephew to his school, lunch with mum n sis my sis' office and dinner with my other sis and my *poor mom who didn't eat a thing* at a mexican resto.
I loooove this kind of food - probably influenced by my sister - and I can't wait for this Friday where me n some newly acquianted friends will have dinner at a nice mexican resto here.

arrghs, the table is still not imported - I wonder what's wrong with the system.

ps. Happy Birthday to my beloved Country

Dear Cupid

I'm kinda sick n tired with all the questions that I sort of ask myself abt it more.
I don't wanna give up either but yet sometimes I feel that I just have to let it be.

so dear cupid, i think it's time for you to wake up and do your job better.

thank you...

today I am so exhausted - must be due to the overexercising

Went to the new cali branch at bugis, its a very nice place totally different from the raffles n orchard branch. I have to said this place is cozy, more exclusive, more classy than the other 2 branches and its not crowded at all. I hope it stays this way. The locker is also big, though the shower curtain is too narrow, probably good for those exhibitionist - which I am not!

Attended the intro step class for beginner - I really want to upgrade myself to intermediate soon, hence I need to attend this class more. Today class is taught by a cute guest instructor - a wade robson lookalike. He'll be moving to Singapore next week - FINALLY!!!! some eye candy at the gym :)
Note to myself: try the warm chocolate pudding(cake?) from 4 seasons - came highly recommended!

Took a break n headed down for lunch before meeting my friends for a walk before going for Combat. Combat was such a fun, taught by the funny instructor - we laughed all the way through, definitely burned some extra calories there. Kinda felt tired but not when the MuayThai track was on - shouted all the way.

From Combat, we attended strength (spinning). This is definitely a fat burner, phew the sweat kept on dripping and dripping. After the class we approach the instructor, my favourite instructor, and I asked him if his tuesday class will forever be taken over by another instructor. His answer was yes 'cos it's kinda tough form him to make to the 6.30 class nowadays without having his face turned green :).
This is such a sad news for me, and I think for my friend as well. I kinda enjoy all his classes n my friend agreed that tuesday's combat is so much fun if he's teaching.
Well, now we planned to move our saturday combat to orchard for the sake of attending his class .. late evening but I guess that's fine.

Gym's over and headed to the hospital to meet my aunt who just had a reconstructive surgery. Thank God, she's doing well and I pray she goes home early. The family had gone through a lot since her vein bursted last year.

Now back at home, having my yoghurt planning what to do next. Guess I'll browse the net while doing my laundry 'til Im sick of it.
I know I have to prepare for this monday's functional training - lots of reading, but it's saturday nite!

Human Resource dept. called saying that since 2003 they wrongly calculate the CPF contribution. Guess they forgotten that for PR the percentage changes every few years.

At the end both of us have to pay quite a huge amount *sigh* - though they will deduct from the salary for few months it's still a huge lost on my monthly income.

There goes the semi precious gemstone ring I was eyeing for ...

I wonder, since HR who is at fault, shouldn't they be the one paying for my share as well?

Well, more savings for the future , guess it's a blessing in disguise - helps chaining the crazy shopaholic in me.

Had quite a weekend.

Spent saturday at home watching 5 hrs of Lost on AXN.. yippeee next week will be the final 5 episodes - hopefully I can catch it back home and that I don't have to give up to my nephew's craziness of nickelodeon channel.

Went out at night to pick up my friend who's in town for business. From her hotel we went to have some satay and walked around clarke quay. It's been quite a while since I met her, so there's a lot of stuff we talked abt. From there we went to orchard, meeting another group of friends who's actually gathering as one of my senior was also in town.
Spent time at the karaoke place - well, they sang n I only sat watching and singing to myself :).
I always find it weird to sing out of tune with ppl you're not that close with - though they're my friend Im not that close to them.
Guess it true what ppl said abt me, kinda have different personality w/ different type of ppl. If they were my school friends like biki n juwi, I'd definitely sing like Im the best singer in town haha!

From there we headed down to swensen for ice creams n some finger foods - adios healthy diet ;p.
We spent time talking 'til we're kinda tired before heading back home ard 2 am n went to sleep ard 3, my friend stayed at my place so we chit chat b4 going to bed.
geez, so many things to share in such a little time.

Still feeling tired, we went to little india early in the morning as my friend's flying home in the evening. Had a great breakfast - masala thosai, samosa and a mango lassi - its great to see my friend who's not used to this kinda food enjoying every bit of it.
Spent time shopping afterwards, went to geylang where I met my aunt who so called be our 'guide' in the market as Im not familiar w/ the place n my friend needed to get some things that her in-laws asked her to.

Back to her hotel then we headed to orchard for some last minute shopping. I parted with her after she met her colleagues n then its my turn to do my own shopping.
Got my creme de la mer - always felt heartache everytime I buy this - and my powder.
Headed down to FarEast buying stuffs my sis ordered - geez, time flies by so fast that I'll be heading home this weekend yay!!

Its very tiring especially with the blazing sun, but its fun as well.

Went home feeling very tired. but then my aunt called saying that my grand aunt is hospitalized.
So there goes my rest, went out to fetch her then both of us went to hospital.

Seeing my aunt there made me think abt my life.
She's alone n had a problem 'cos there's no one to take care of her 24/7.
Yes you can hire a maid, but since she's living alone in a 2 room flat, there's some government rule that made it difficult for her to hire one.
Of course my aunts n uncles take care of her as well, but if u think abt it it's not the same with ur parents or kids taking care of u and they also have their own family to take care of.

I started thinking what if it were me, then my mind wandered around - as usual.
Hmm, I hope this won't happen to me, I don't want to stay single for the rest of my life...
Guess I'll just have to wait for cupid to play its role huh

Ended my weekend with loads of ironing while watching Oprah!
Thank god I woke up early the next morning and headed down to the gym for my 1st class of the week - bodypump.