Envy

"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house" as the Bible says but yet I can't help being envious. This year our company has their Sales kick off in Vegas and next year they shall have it in Orlando. Orlando...sigh is one of the city in US that I would love to go to so I can visit Disney World. But alas, I am never invited or get the chance to go all these meetings so I can only envy from afar. 2 of my close lunch kakis are in the invite list and they are planning trip extension but as both are not avid travellers they are asking me for advice and even ask me to fly there and meet up with them to be their tour guide but having spend so much money on my upcoming trip in December I really don't think splurging another $3k in airtiket alone is justified. I told them if I strike the TOTO tonight I will go without hesitating but of cos life never goes the way you want it to.

Honestly I need to go back to a frequent travelling job, I am sick and tired of being a desk bound employee.

DIY failure

Bought some linen bag and some iron-on to store some Xmas presents but guess what? 1 slight movement and the iron-on will move, thus creating some double image and the bleeding of the color causing some smudges. Not pretty at all and if I can't even accomplish such an easy DIY project, how am I going to be able to do those more complicated projects I am planning to do???

What a day!

I had such a busy day yesterday that even talking about it now seems exhausting.

I set my alarm at 930am so that I can wake up to go breakfast and church which is now my Sunday routine but before 9am, I was awaken by smses from friends and then I ended up lazing in bed reading my story book while waiting for my alarm to ring. After that I woke up, get ready and went out to interchange to get my favorite lor mee (another Sunday routine nowadays haha) and then I headed off to church.

After church, I didn't have time for lunch, I had to go to Bras Brasah for my accupuncture session but prior to that I had to go Popular and Art Friend to check some stuff out. Started my accupunture at 2 pm and told the TCM I need to finish by 315pm cos I need to rush down to Chinatown to meet my parents at 330pm. But ended up leaving the clinic only at 324pm (why so precise because I kept checking my phone!) but good thing is Chinatown is near and the bus came immediately. Met my parents at Chinatown and we headed off to the travel agent for our tour briefing but prior to that had to wait and make final payment.

Briefing started at 4pm and ended around 5pm. After that brought my parents out to dinner at Beach Road, only 1 bus which had to take a detour around Marina Square area so we reached the dinner place only about 530pm. Had our dinner and left around 610pm and took a bus to Kallang MRT to change train to Tampines. Reached Tampines and started doing our winter shopping, by the time we finished was already 9pm. My dad still wanted to go have coffee but I was so beat so we went straight home. Reached home around 945pm, shower and surf a bit of the internet and was in bed by 11pm. Dead tired.

Busy Bee

These days my life is so swarm with activities that my only free evenings are Mondays and Saturdays.

Most of what I am busy with is pretty repetitive but just can't run away from them :

- Accupuncture at TCM clinic 3 times a week to improve my thyroid condition

- Night teleconferences 2 times a week

- Exercise class on Thursday night and Saturday morning

On top of that I am also dealing with these :

- Xmas shopping and preparation of presents for some friends and meeting up with them as well

- Some art and craft projects that I meant to start on for...ever!

- Talking to some headhunters regarding some new roles

- Planning and packing for an upcoming trip to Europe in December

- Talking to a migration lawyer on some advice on migration

- Dealing with bank on my housing loan and deposits

No wonder everyday I am yawning like crazy even though I am trying hard to sleep at least 8 hours a day. Big improvements from 6 hours in the past and the accupuncture really help aid me in having better sleep but it means I have to cut down hours spent in front of computer or reading my story books so I can grab 2 more hours of sleep per day. Worse of all is I used to sleep in on Saturdays and Sundays but due to my schedule and activities these days I had to wake up about the same time as the work week....sigh.

Writing this entry just reminded me I am supposed to meet my best friend since August and it is now already coming to December! Both our schedule just clashed very badly and really hope that I will get a chance to meet her before we both go on our separate holidays.

Sure or not?

Just the other day I received a leaflet from Fancl inviting me to pop by one of their branch to do a facial test in order to get 2 free bottles of their new Tense up drinks. I was initially skeptical wondering if they will be hard selling products to me and wondering how long the test will take.

Lo and behold, the test is a mere 5 secs! All they do is put a pen like monitor to your skin to check your skin hydration and that's it. I got a 66 reading on the pen and I was checking with the consultant what that means? She said anything that shows 70 and above means the skin is well hydrated and mine is still showing normal.

Was quite happy given that it was like 8 pm at night and I was joking with her that after a day at the office in an airconditioned environment, under the sun during lunch and sweat throughout the day, I am amazed at the reading.

Am wondering if the reading will go above 70 if I do the test ear

How to Overcome Career Burnout

Sometimes some articles you come across really speaks out to you because you are facing that dilemma at the exact moment.

Here's another article to share. Link here.

What to Do When You're Struggling at Work

Another article to share, link here

10 Signs You Have a Bad Boss

I always love reading all these articles (this one is from Yahoo Finance), love to see how many apply to my everyday life. Also, this serves as a reflection if I am the boss.

Link to article

Let's just say my boss currently exhibits 8 out of these 10 signs. Woopee

The Top 7 Healing Destinations on Earth

So sad that I have not been to any of these places before although I travel to so many places already...looks like my focus in travel needs to change haha.

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/travel-outdoors/the-top-7-healing-destinations-on-earth.html

In case anyone is wondering why all of a sudden I have so many articles on top 7 or top 10, that's because I have been super busy and I just save all the links and finally put them into the blogs at 1 go.

7 Countries Home to the World’s Healthiest People

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/7-countries-home-to-the-worlds-healthiest-people.html

Hmm....time to relocate to any of these places? After all, health is wealth ok!

10 Things Unhappy People Have in Common

Hehe, for those unhappy people out there, maybe this article will tell you what are the root causes to your unahappiness.

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/10-things-unhappy-people-have-in-common.html

Let's see, I am not unhappy but there are 3 things in the list that applies to me...hey, at least I admit it!

Gordon B Hinckley

Don't know who he is and even after googling, don't think I know any better but dang, he has pretty good quotes.

Here's sharing some which really speaks out to my soul at this time at this moment.

"Life is to be enjoyed, not endured"
"You have not failed until you quit trying."
"Mediocricy will never do. You are capable of something better."
"Be grateful, be smart, be clean, be true, be humble, be prayerful."
"You can be smart and happy or stupid and miserable. . . it's your choice"
"Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds."
"Do your best, and be a little better than you are."

Casual Wear

My new purchases from asos has arrived finally! Here's 1 way I am planning to wear them.

The sandals, bracelet and off shoulder top are from asos. I am planning to wear them together with my capri from Zara but can only find something similar on Mango. My capri looks similar to the one in the picture but slightly shorter and does not have the same leg hem.

Don't you think this combination looks chic? Something I can wear on vacation or a trip to town?

Images on Blogger

Frankly if Blogger is reading this post I just want to tell you guys posting images sucks. Everytime I tried to post new images, they all appear on the top and I had to drag them down to where I wanted them to be. Then all my post alignment and paragraphing will go out of whack. This problem is prevalent for all my older blogger account, the newer one works better but sometimes when you click something wrongly, you can never get back the same format you wanted. Arrghhh..so Blogger, please get your act in order!

Two Words

Not sure if everyone knows who is Lea Salonga, she is a a popular singer in Philippines who has a wonderful voice and sang in many Broadway plays, I was in YT when I saw this song she sang and she sang it during her own wedding which makes her husband cry and cry. Amazingly she can sing that without tearing.

The song is call Two Words which is actually "I do"

Today

Was searching through the internet for a song I heard when passing by a shop yesterday but can't find it but incidentally found this song. Never ever heard this singer before but I must frankly say country singers are getting very very good these days.

This singer is call Gary Allan and do listen to this song call Today on YT, the lyrics is so sad and judging by the way he is singing, it must be a pretty personal experience for him. I actually googled him and read up on him, married and divorced twice and his 3rd wife actually committed suicide..sigh. If anyone is going through a break-up, I think his songs will speak out to them.

Sunsets

Saw this article that day (Planet Green's 10 best places to watch sunsets in the world) but cannot appreciate it, scroll down and check out the one on Singapore. Can someone tell me why is an oil rig in the sunset attractive? Also, as far as I know, you can't see any oil rigs so near inland.

How come Nepal/Tibet Mount Everest isn't in the list? How come Hawaii, Maldives isn't there as well?

Scary

I haven't gone to a public pool to swim for years and today I went for a short 30 mins swim. Why only 30 mins? Cos I can't stand being there for any longer that's why.

I passed by the pool yesterday and it was relatively empty so I was quite excited to go today but it was very crowded today (note to self, go on Saturdays not Sundays or find a more private pool) and not only was it hard to swim because there are people crossing your path either from the front or from the side. Most of all, I can't stand people next to me who will cough out phelgm into the 'drains' surrounding the pool. Don't they know what they spit out comes back into the pool? Pure disgusting and that fellow does it all the time.

On top of that, there were a lot of sunbathers in tight g-strings and leopard prints but on the wrong gender mind you...all these on guys...arrghh that's is going to give me nightmares for a long time to come.

Wanderlust

Missing Alaska, Seattle, San Francisco, Manchester, Scottish Highlands, London, Interlaken, New York and so much so much more....of cos if I have the time to go away for a long trip, I will probably want to go Greece, Russia, South America, South Africa, places that I have not been before but had always wanted to go

Must be daydream as I can't wait to get away from work! Le sigh...

Oh What A Day!

Planned to catch a movie today but ended up doing more and had a wonderfully fruitful day! Set my alarm early but woke up even earlier, perhaps body clock is now tuned to waking up earlier. So read a bit of my story book and then shower and left to have breakfast at my favorite lor mee stall....yippee.

Took a train down to Dhoby Ghaut and seeing that I still have time, decided to stop by Smiggles to check out their stock, I saw them promoting the shop outside PS last Saturday but was running late then so went back to check it out today. Despite how early it was the shop was crowded. Didn't buy anything but spotted these tins which I would considered buying if not for the long queue. Basically what enticed me was each tin has their own lid unlike some of the other storage tins they have in this store, some are merely stacked on one another so the 2nd and 3rd tin will ended up without a lid but not these tins i saw.

Next, I checked out Diva (coincidentally another Aussie shop), I passed by that shop a few times and saw that they have this jewellery storage bag but again the last time I was rushing for time and today I was able to take my leisure time. So finally bought it and that's the most expensive stuff I bought the entire day. Hope it will be useful and worth it's value.

Finally, it was time for my movie and I made my way to Cathay. Queue was long due to today being a public holiday. Caught Thor, nicer movie than I thought and I cried a few times till 1 of my contact lens dropped out but luckily I was able to find it hehe.

I had been watching movies monthly but due to time constraints I wasn't able to catch the full movie the last few times so this is actually my first full movie for a longgggg time and it was so worth it. Glad to be able to spent some time relaxing (not that the shopping wasn't relaxing enough hehe).

Next up was Art Friend at Bras Brasah, I popped by the shop last Saturday but they were already closed for the day and I decided to try my luck, hoping they are open today and they were! Goody good, managed to find what I wanted and also some ideas for X'mas as well as some craft stuff. Now all I need is find the time to do them hehe. However, I also realized there are many stuff that are probably available overseas that can't be found here locally sigh.

Once I am done at Art Friend, I dropped by Bugis planning to take the train home but not sure what prompted me to head upstairs to Muji but boy was I glad I did. They have since imported some new items and the new arrivals are not exactly expensive either, bravo! Bought some storage boxes for a friend's birthday given that she really needs to clean up her room (Not meant as an insult) and these boxes should help sort out some of her knick knacks. At the same time, it was refreshing to find out some bags that I was eyeing at Art Friend selling at a cheaper price a Muji. Unbelievable but true. So come X'mas I will be rummaging at Muji but hope they will still have the items I want (Already thinking whether I should go back and get those bags I wanted and keep them for X'mas instead hmmm).

That marked the end of a fruitful day for I am hungry and carrying too much stuff with me although I very much wanted to head to Parkway to check out a book at the book rental place but I shall leave that for another day.

Although it was a weekday but I must say it was very well spent and much more enjoyable than my weekends and the day can only get better. As today is a non-working day I wouldn't need to dial into my weekly teleconference call and I can just chill out in front of the tv and watch all my favorite tv programs - CSI is back again starting tonight!!! Yippeeeeeee

Depression

While the GE results were slowly being announced yesterday I was fairly depressed, when I found out via various Tweets that WP had won only Aljunied and Hougang, I just logged off and went to bed crying. Crying not for WP, not for George Yeo, not for Singapore but the esteemed Mr Chiam See Tong.

Right from the start, he has fought hard to give Singaporeans an alternative voice in Parliament, holding himself accountable to all his constituents, fighting the battle on his own until Low Thia Khiang came into the picture later on. Both of them fought as best as they could on disadvantaged ground, walk the walk and talk the talk and that's why they got so much respect from the ground.

So today marked a very sad day for me as we say goodbye to Mr Chiam as an Opposition Leader and although he has never run in my constituency I had always rooted for his party. Thanks to you all in Potong Pasir and Bishan-Toa Payoh, the WP will now go into battle on their own.

I have nothing against George Yeo, he is a good man, a better man then some of his compatriots, much more deserving to be represented in Parliament but unfortunately as some people commented, the GRCs is a 2 way sword. You can't saw it without 2 parties getting hurt by it. I am sure PAP or the Government will find some place for George but what they can't replace is a great leader, Mr Chiam. As someone commented, Mr Chiam didn't lose the election, Singapore did.

That aside, a few days ago, I ran into a friend and she outright told me she will vote PAP because she received a $800 GSS package from the Government. $800 may be a lot to others but I swear even if the Government were to dangle a $10,000 carrot in my face I would not be sway for my integrity and conscience cannot be bought for any price. There is a Chinese saying, 良心被狗吃了, if you can be bought 1 time, your conscience will always be in question so I will stay away from such friends as it is obvious we don't share the same values.

Quotes

In the wake of the general election happening here, I wanted to share some analogies but instead I will share with all some quotes from some great leaders in our generation which truly truly speaks out to me. If these men are still alive today, how different will the world be today?

From Martin Luther King Jr
- Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
- Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
- Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
- The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

From Gandhi
- A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.
- A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.
- Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.
- The moment there is suspicion about a person's motives, everything he does becomes tainted.
- Truth never damages a cause that is just.
- Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained.

From JFK
- A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.
- Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
- Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.
- If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
- The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.
- Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.

Last but not least, I applaud friends who flew home from overseas the last few days because they were not able to register as overseas voters and they willingly spent thousand of dollars for an airticket home because they believe. Believe that they are voting for their future, the future of our nation and believing mediocracy is not enough . Salute to you!

And thanks to my colleagues and friends who are not even citizens of our tiny nation but had made observations, they don't need to put it in perspective for me because I hold true to my belief :
- Jac, when the election is over, your government will open the gates to another 900,000 foreigners
- Jac, you must admit the government had done a good job in training all of you to be so obedient for the last 40 over years.
- Jac, the tertiary education system you had today where you invite foreigners in to study and live here for free is similar to the bumi system in Malaysia, when your leader break away from Malaysia, he vowed that it is because he does not agreed to that system but 40 years down the road, he is doing the same to your nation. (I forgot to comment, at least bumi are still citizens whereas we are opening our arms out to foreigners and depriving needy locals from the same opportunity so we are even worse off than Malaysia right now)
- Jac, Singaporeans are only good at complaining but not good at putting their words into actions

WFH

Very happy today cos I choose to WFH. Weather is good but I am staying indoors, dry and cosy. And when it is not raining, the windows are open and there is a cool breeze flowing through, unlike in the office, so freaking COLD!

Keep Calm

In 1939, the British government produced this "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster during the beginning of WW II to raise the morale of the British public in the event of invasion. However, over the years it has been used by many others to create other Keep Calm statements.

The most recent I saw was utterly funny, in the wake of Prince William's wedding, someone created this.

Indeed it is true, so single girls out there, can continue to keep their hopes up!

My bane

Over the weekends I went out for dinner with friends and we ordered cereal prawns as one of the dishes. As everyone knows, when you eat cereal prawns, you are supposed to eat the entire prawn, the shells and head included which is what I did.

However I forgot that I had some skin allergy recently and I should avoid the prawn head as it is highly potent! True enough, after consuming that, rashes start appearing all over my body AGAIN...arghhh....and to be honest, it wasn't very nice cereal prawns. I have eaten better cereal prawns before!

Mood Food

Saw this article that states if you are affected by certain moods, all you have to do is to consume the following food.

Decided to just copy and paste the link rather than bringing the whole article over.

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/7-mood-foods-to-change-your-outlook-with-every-bite.html

I wonder whether I get the same effects if I consume all the following food at the same time since I have all the moods mentioned haha

10 Signs It's Time To Quit Your Job

Saw this article via Yahoo and obviously it speaks to me. And judging by the fact that I am blogging about it during work only proves my point!

You Aren't Learning Anything New
Yes, you want to know how to do most of your job. But there are also things you want to be learning; otherwise you are not growing professionally. If you have stopped learning at work, it's time to find a job where you will learn new skills and grow professionally.

You Never Have a Day When You Wake Up Excited To Go To Work
If you wake up every morning Monday through Friday and never feel excited to go to work, that is a problem. It means you aren't enjoying your job and it is diminishing your quality of life. If you wake up every day and dread going to work, it's time to consider quitting your job.

You Spend More Time Surfing the Web Than Doing Your Job
When you are at work, you are supposed to be productive. Otherwise, it's a waste of your time and the company's money. If you are bored and surfing the web most of your work day, you may want to think about looking into job options where you'll get more stimulation and responsibilities.

You Don't Like Most of Your Coworkers
There are always one or two coworkers in the office that most people can't stand. But if you don't like most of your coworkers, chances are your days aren't very enjoyable because you have to work with them day in and day out. If you can't stand most of your coworkers, it's time to think about finding a company whose employees you mesh with better.

You Aren't Making Enough Money to Pay Your Bills
If you are working your butt off and not getting paid enough to pay your bills, you might be overqualified and underpaid for your position. Go find a job that pays what you deserve.

You Spend Time Looking For Other Jobs
If you are spending time looking for other jobs while you are on the clock, it's obvious you want to leave your job. So keep looking for new jobs and as soon as you find a good one, take it and run.

You Haven't Gotten a Raise in the Last Two Years
If you work hard and benefit the company you work for, you deserve to be rewarded for that. If your boss hasn't given you a raise in the last two years, ask for one. If he or she says no, get out now.

Your Boss Sucks
Sometimes bosses suck. But if your boss sucks all the time and takes advantage of your time, it's time to find a new job.

The Company Isn't Doing Well
This sign varies from company to company. You must keep in mind that we are in a recession and if sales are down but the company isn't in jeopardy, this sign may not apply to you. However, if business is down to the point where it looks like the company is going to go under, start looking for a new job NOW!

You are Stressed All the Time
You are supposed to enjoy life, not be stressed out all the time. If you spend most of your days stressed about everything that going on at work, you are not at the right job.

Did you get it?

This picture speaks a thousand words..do you get the joke? Very cute.

Homemade Chocolate Hazelnut Paste AKA Nutella

Yum Nutella, instead of buying it from the supermarket, you can now make it yourself and you know exactly what ingredients go into the making. Cool!

Recipe and photo from NYTimes

Toast 1 cup peeled hazelnuts in a dry pan until they are fragrant and golden, then let cool. Meanwhile, melt 4 ounces semisweet chocolate (not chips) and 2 ounces unsalted butter (4 tablespoons). Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Blend cooled nuts in a food processor until smooth, 3 to 5 minutes, drizzling in 1 to 2 tablespoons nut or vegetable oil. With the machine running, add the chocolate mixture, 3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk, and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt. Transfer to a container and refrigerate.

To be honest, the steps all look very simple and all ingredients are readily available here except making the hazelnuts..hmmm

Prints

I am kinda addicted to prints right now, now the shop Prints which sells stationery nor prints on clothing etc. But PRINTS....could be words of wisdoms, poems or just random ramblings or descriptions.

Everything I see or read, I kept trying to visualize how they look if I were to blow them up and frame them.

Don't you think these are wonderful? Prints for your laundry, for your bedroom, for your kitchen, for your bathroom, etc etc!! Somehow I am attracted to those with words not just pictures, imagine stopping in front of it and ponder everytime when you passes by.

FB and me

Recently I have not had much patience with FB. To be honest, I rarely login anymore, mainly go there to reply messages left by my frens and some still communicate with me through FB like a mailbox. What started to make me dread FB is strangers wanting to add me when I don't know them, or school mates from my pony tail days whom I have no recollection anymore and whom I have no intention to continue our friendship from where we left off.

Most of all, I see frens inviting others to party, to weddings via FB. What the heck? I mean, what makes you think those whom you want to invite is on FB? And call me backwards but I still love receiving wedding invitations by hand or by post.

Perhaps I should disconnect myself from FB given that I am suddenly becoming so 'anti-social'.

Big Red Cross

Whenever I am surfing on some blog, the pictures are 80% sure NOT to turn up and all I see is a big fat red cross in a box. It is pissing me off especially when refreshing the page doesn't help.

I don't know what the problem is since I can view some pictures in other websites. Anyway I love the Red Cross Society, I do but please, do not keep appearing on my computer!

Kettle

I never know one day I will be raving about a kettle *faintz* but while on my vacation in Australia, the apartment I was staying in had this kettle and it cost AUD 119 in the cheapest electrical store, I can't bear to part with that money but I just can't stop raving about it.

It is red and most of all I love the fire engine sound it make when the water is boiled. Marvellous. If only I can get one in Singapore at a cheaper price, that would rock!

Spring Cleaning

The sun must have rose from the west over the weekend. Suddenly became very domesticated, spent time cooking at home and most of all, spring cleaning!!!! The dreaded pre-CNY having to yell and scream at task but miracle of all miracles, my parents did not have to ask this year round. Somehow I noticed that some of my drawers and items are just very badly organized and did all these over the weekends, chucked out alot of expired toiletries and used up containers. I even did some of these organizing on the day I was home because of medical leave.

I think I deserve a pat on my back for my discipline and motivation haha!

Korean Pancake

Tried Korean pancakes at restaurants before...always pretty yummy but quite expensive. So passed by the Korean supermarket that day and decided to buy a ready mix pancake flour to concoct my own Korean pancakes. The flour mix stated it can feed up to 3-4 pax.

And today is the day of the big reveal. Wanted to do a seafood flavour but don't have enough seafood at home and forgot to buy some kimchi otherwise could do kimchi flavor. Nonetheless, was about to gather some ingredients and make my own flavor. Added prawn, crab sticks, cabbage and ham.

And here's the final product and it made a full lunch for the 4 of us and we were able to make 6 slices from the mix, could be more if we dilute the flour more though. Cheap and delicious.

Bad Start to 2011

Gosh, 2011 just started and already I have one bad news after another. First in the 3rd day of the new year, I got this bad flu, fever and cough. But yet on the 4th day need to go back to work cos an employee was leaving and I had to be around to do exit clearance. So ended up staying late cos he doesn't want to leave the office until he printed out some stuff for his daughter so I waited and waited until about 7 pm before we left.

Given that it was so late, my colleague decided to drop me off somewhere convenient since he was taking a cab. Lo and behold, upon leaving the cab, realized I lose my mobile phone. Tried calling and calling but it just kept ringing. Came home, grab dinner and took a cab down to the office to look for it as the last place I remember holding my mobile was right outside the office door.

But checked every nook and ring and ring my phone but still no one responded. It is a lost cause, had to call the mobile provider to deactivate my line and won't be back in the office on the 5th day due to medical leave so have asked my colleague to help check with the security guard tomorrow - truly a bad start to 2011.

I hope that's the worst already and from now on, all things that happen will be great and bring me lots of happiness *keeping my fingers crossed*