London, Glorious London

Thought I should attempt to post up some photos of London. Sigh, sifting through them brings back such an acute longing that it's almost painful. I miss London tremendously. The sights, sounds, people, vibrancy... it's a city you fall in love with. There seems to be a vibe that runs through the city and everyone is intricately connected. Be in on the train, walking through the meadows or browsing through things at Harrods, you feel like the city has embraced you, rather than simply being a tourist. Ah well, good memories, good memories.

Family holidays are great cos it's basically a free vacation, you are with people whom you love and love you, and you understand what each other wants. But at the same time, it can totally drive you crazy cos when you're with your parents, you can't do certain things or they'd do things to drive you out of your mind. Like when I was discussing with Cheryl whether we should go clubbing, my mum chimed in and said she wanted to go to. When Cheryl and I gave her horrified looks and asked her why, considering she hates places that are dark and noisy, she said she wanted to take a look and go back to the hotel. Needless to say, we never went clubbing.

Anyway, it was supposedly summer in London, but the average temperature was 16 degrees. Cheryl and I, being very trusting fools, believed my mother when she said it'd be hot. So we brought summer things. The spaghetti strap tops, the short skirts, flimsy articles of clothing. Hence, we look the same in all the photos cos we never could bring ourselves to remove our jackets. A tragedy to be in fashionable London and look like a smuck the whole time.

Our beautiful hotel, the K+K Hotel George! Lovely, love place. No complains at all. London hotels are all exorbitantly priced and usually very tiny, but the 3 Chan sisters fit into the room quite comfortably, so that's saying a lot. Breakfast is good too! Champagne at 9am, absolutely devine!

We arrived early in the morning and as the rooms weren't prepared yet, we ventured out to Hyde Park, which is this huge park in the middle of London and it's gorgeous.

My dad's nice. He feeds animals.

Geri teaching a squirrel to beg for food. Cheryl was in the background chanting "eat her! eat her!" Don't you love sisters?

Despite the shining sun, it was bitterly cold, and more so at the River Serpentine. Yes, we are both cowering in the wind. Yes, I'm taller than Cheryl, who's 5 years older than me. Yes, I'm the youngest. And no, she wasn't adopted. Next question!

We went for breakfast at this darling sidewalk cafe and my crazy mum wanted to enjoy the brisk cold wind, hence al fresco dining. When C and I visibly turned pale, the kind waiter offered to switch on the outdoor heater. Bless his heart. As a side note, the waiters in London are absolutely, fabulously gorgeous! They are all foreigners, some students, some I suspect hoping to make it on broadway. But nonetheless, I was drooling at almost every restaurant, and not just from the food.

We had a traditional English breakfast (eggs benefict, fried tomatoes and mushrooms, toast, baked beans) and this was also the place where I promptly left my camera behind when we left for a musuem. -_-''' Only discovered it when we were at the musuem and I practically ran back to the restaurant, which by the way, was at a different tube stop. My parents were not pleased in the I-could-disown-you-for-being-careless kinda way. Luckily the waiter was honest and I almost kissed him in my gratitude. Almost.

We covered a lot of sights in our 6 days there. Posting all of them up here would be nuts, not to mention damn tiring. And it's getting kinda tiring describing all of them. So just enjoy the pics and the minimal words. :)

Harrods! Super expensive and only crazy tourists with tons of money shop here. 15,000 pounds for a chair????

A bust in the image of the owner who happens to be Princess Diana's last boyfriend's dad. He reckons himself to be a pharoah.

We celebrated the parents' wedding anniversary at Jamie Oliver's restaurant, 15. The food is so good I wanted to wept. Incidentally, the restaurant is in this real grotty place. Jamie set up this place as he wanted to give delinquents and people down on their luck a second chance. Hence, he trains these people to become chefs. So noble right?

Happy anniversary folks!

The gleeful freeloaders. Hiak Hiak.

Cheryl terms this as "disgusting close".

A more friendly reception from Geri.

Covent Garden Square. Frankly, I dunno what the hype is about. You can definitely give this place a miss.

We went to see the changing of the guards ceremony down at ol' Buckingham Palace. You have to go early to get the best "seats". But the hordes of people were nuts. It's a nightmare and not for the fainthearted. My mum's one comment, "Why is the palace so dirty?" Sigh, hundreds of years of history and it's summed up by this one statement.

More random shots. This is a zoomed in view of the palace gates. Couldn't get up close.

We then decided to leave the city life behind for a while and venture into the countryside to see this traditional mansion that was donated to the government by an earl. Think he was being generous? Not really. He received a tax break. Nonetheless, the place is gorgeous.

How quaint can this village get?

Every opportunity to cam whore.

Geri in the wilderness.

The mansion, Kenwood House, thoughtfully provides a cafe, or orangery, for tired tourist to consume deliciously prepared country food (think quiche and hearty soups) amidst bright flowers and swaying trees.

Aw, I think me Mum and Pa are so sweet.

Hey, my dad told me to pose, so I did. And I took off my jacket, in case you didn't notice. Yes, it was bloody cold. But I wanted some pics that didn't involve my Juicy jacket. Humpf.

We spent a long, long time taking photos. See how beautiful the place is!

My dad and I were running up and down the hill like idiots cos we were using auto-timer. The ang moh people must have laughed themselves sick at the sight of China people running like suakus up and down.

Some kind folks finally approached us gingerly and offered to help us take a pic. Unfortunately, they failed to capture the house. -_-'''

I love the lake. Note to self: future house must include lake and swans.

One more for the road!

Tower of London where the Crown Jewels are kept. I nearly hyperventilated when I saw all those jewels. I think Cheryl and I were in keeping with the tone seeing how this palace has witnessed murders and intrigued...

Yeah, yeah, I'm a poser.

This guy is called a beefeater. Nothing to do with beef. They're the caretakers of the palace and act as tour guides.

Posing next to a tame raven. Legend has it that if the ravens ever left the Tower of London, London would collapse. Creepy.

Onward to the Tower Bridge. No, this is not the London Bridge of nursery rhymes. But it's magnificent, complete with castle towers and flags. Makes a person feel so small.

Look, it's Orlando Bloom! Haha, or just a really realistic, life-like display of him at Hamley's, a huge toy shop in London. I wanted to rip his clothes off.

At the Royal Kew Gardens, which is like the botanical gardens in Singapore, just a thousand times nicer.

Smile!

My mum forbade me to post this online, but I can't resist. I think it's beyond adorable! And incontrovertible proof that my mum is a chee ko pek. See, I get my butt-appreciation genes from her. I just think it's damn sweet lah.

Portobello market! A definitely must-go! The knick-knacks, fabulous treasures that you suddenly unearth.

Yup, a real mummy at the British Museum. The British were known for their pillaging ways back in the colonial days. They removed thousands of priceless artifacts from the lands they visited or conquered and brought it back to England. Now, despite petitions from governments around the world to return these artifacts, the British are saying no.

The British Museum was our last stop in London. And then it was home to Singapore. Sob. I want to go back there. Stat.

I suppose what made London so great was the existential life we led. We would walk around museums, visit all the fabulous sights, eat magnificant food, and watched a play. Oh, and the wine. We had wine/beer for every meal. Kinda adds a buzz to your day, don't you think? To have nary a care in the world except the next museum to visit, the next cafe to discover. To quench thirst with perfectly chilled wine or a hearty pint of local beer. It didn't feel like life. It felt like paradise.

Wow! Long post. LOL. Hope you might have found the pics nice to look at. :P

Ratatouille

Ratatouille - a traditional French Provencal stewed vegetable dish.

Also the title of an absolute delight of a movie playing in theatres right now. The humour is sly and witty; it's like animation for grown-ups who simply enjoy the wonders of cartoons (hey, how else could you have realistically filmed an army of rats cooking up a storm?).

Watched it with the Fadz man. The unfortunate thing about watching cartoons is the annoying presence of children. Good Lord, shut them up already. We honested don't need a kid who is constantly going "Why he do that? Why she slap him? Why this? Why that?"

And when there was a kissing scene, the monologue paused for a brief, blissful second, before the kid went "Eeeeeeeeeee". I giggled hysterically.

I know I know... London photos.... Soon soon... :P

Goodbye, Global Brands

Well, the internship is done and school has started. Before I launched into my London series, perhaps a farewell to the company is in line. I had fun. I learnt, what I believe, one hell of a lot. So thank you, Global Brands, it has been a good ride.

The entrance of the company. I still remember arriving here on my first day and sat at the recep area for 45 minutes because my sup was on MC and didn't inform anyone that I was coming. But I loved the recep area. So big, with comfy sofa seats and a plasma tv. Wicked.

Fast forward to my last day. 10 August 2007. Half the office was on leave as it was the National Day weekend. Whatever. The SMU interns bought eclairs for the whole office as a farewell gift. SMU has trained us well. :)

The 2 other interns. Harold and Wei Hao. The classic case of Jerkyll and Hyde. Harold was a jerk, but we still got along. Wei Hao was so nice that he made Harold's meanness all the more glaring. But good lads, I suppose.

They were so unwilling to pose. *pout*

The company's belle. She's sweet, soft spoken and very well-liked. Look how she glows!

Hello Ghim Hui! Thought I should pay homage to you. Finance Executive. Very, very nice guy (wahaha).

My sup who was very helpful. She taught me a lot. Pity she's since left the office. Some problem with my big boss. Don't know the exact details.

My colleague on the other side of me. Goh Chee Yan. Super nice business analyst who was always up for a good time.

Some of the girls went pubbing in the evening. Mostly secretaries, but the invitation was extended to Chee Yan and myself. Here you see Belinda (secretary to VP of Licensing), Loretta (secretary to CFO) and Chee Yan.

Belinda and me

Chee Yan, Shahnaaz, Belinda, me and Loretta at Balaclava

Shahnaaz and me. Don't ask.

Ok, done with my homage.

P.S.: if this entry sounds totally pointless and more like a photo blog entry, well that's cos I'm in class, listening to some Chinese prog taking about Information asymmetry. Sigh. School is a drab reality.

London, London!

Helllooooooo dearies! A shout out from London to anyone who bothers to read my blog!! I'm in London and so far, it has proven to be absolutely WICKED. I love, love, love London. The streets are so pretty, everyone's accent is amazing, even the person making the announcement on the train isn't as grating as Singapore's MRT announcement system.

Only 1 grouse. Once again, I've been cheated by my very own mother. She told us it is summer. She said it is going to be hot. So being the dutiful daughters we are, Cheryl and I packed things suited for the Sahara desert, i.e. very small pieces of clothing. We touched down, the winds were up, and it cut straight through the pathetic cloth that we assumed would suffice.

Frozen, absolutely frozen. Meanwhile, my polar bear-built mother and Geraldine have been prancing about in practically NOTHING and saying it's HOT. This is utter madness.

But anywayz, beautiful city. The museums are breathtaking and I could spend hours wandering about. Pity all my mum wants to do is shop, shop and shop somemore. Sigh.

Everything is horribly expensive too. Damn the exchange rate. £1 is SGD$3.11!!!!!!!!!!!!

Will update when I can! XOXO

Later, People

My last hurrah before school starts.

I'm off to the land of tea, crumpets, Manchester United and Prince Williams, dearies.

FYI, that means London. Yup, the parents are in the mood for celebrating their bond again, hence we 3 freeloaders are milking them. Working adults be damned.

Plenty of entertaining posts when I return. Oh my god, so much to bitch about. But that would all have to wait. Cab coming in an hour.

Toodles! See you in a week!

Fucked

Ok, I take back my last post. I'm super, super pissed at my HR Manager right now. She's fucking exploiting me and acting all nonchalant about it.

My office receptionist take emergency MC today and usually when that happens, the recep counter is left unmanned. But today, because 2 of the founders of the company are coming down, they need to put up appearances.

So guess what? My sup (because my manager doesn't have the balls to face me) told me that I was to be receptionist for the day (and possibly tomorrow too). Me, the intern, fucked into being the fucking receptionist.

Of course I'm fuming mad! You do not exploit the intern ok! First, you kick me out from my seat and make me move around like the hungry ghost looking for available seats. Then you give me every piece of crap shit admin work you can think of while you walk around the office aimlessly with a dopey smile on your face. You go for 2 hour lunches, take numerous breaks and chat to people around the office, then give a pained expression when you have to stay back after hours to finish your work. You ask me to write a contract and because the company name is not in full, you decide to redo the whole bloody thing by copying and pasting into a new template. And when you miss out 1 line (!!!!!), you give me a "Why the hell didn't you change that?" look.

Fucking moron. Argh, yes, you are nice like the crazed old homeless lady is nice, but that doesn't mean you get to treat me like dirt. And the worst was yet to come. The mother fucking EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT to the CEO (a glorified secretary, leave with it) was having a meeting and she had the guile to ask me to bring her water! Fucking bitch! I WAS SEETHING WITH ANGER AND KEPT HAVING THOUGHTS OF "ACCIDENTALLY" TRIPPING AND SPILLING THE WATER DOWN HER BOTOXED FUCKING FACE. Maybe it'd have melt. And since she is wearing white and is such a skanky ass bitch, I sure she'd have enjoyed the wet T-shirt look. Hey, I would have been doing her a favour.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. To think I only have 4 more days here and it was so pleasant before today. Argh. I hope the HR department sinks and down under the mountain of admin work when I leave.

The Life of an Intern

I can't believe my luck. But man, my internship company has been good to me.

My company is expanding at a rapid pace and they're due for renovation in late August. Currently, new people are joining us almost every week and the lack of space is evident from how people are sharing tables. It's absolutely miserable. Our company currently has space for about 30-odd employees. They plan to increase that headcount to 50 by the end of the year. Do the math. It's madness.

Anyway, I am the latest casualty of this dizzy growth and as a result, I had to sacrifice my seat to a new incumbent, seeing how I'm merely a lowly serf. My boss (the Group HR Manager) graciously offered to share her room and table with me. Panic mounted within me. Helloooooo, how am I supposed to play music, surf the net and chat on msn if I'm in the same room as you? So I quickly volunteered to move into this small room currently used as a meeting place/storage area. There's only 1 tiny table and 3 bar stools in it. Highly uncomfortable, but beats being under a watchful eye. I'd rather sit on the floor than sit in the same room as my boss. So my boss asked my big boss (who's the CFO; in small firms, the CFO is the overseer of everything, HR included) if I could use the room.

And what do you know... my CFO, who is like one of the nicest, most humble and friendly big bosses around, asked my boss to let me use his room as he is away on vacation. Yes, me, in the CFO's room. Which is big, airy, spacious and overlooks Vivocity and Mount Faber. I gulped down my amazement and trepidition. It was such a "What the Bleah!" moment. There was some apprehension seeing how I'm just a freaking intern.. it almost feels intrusive. So I protested a little as I felt slightly uncomfortable. To put it succinctly, although excited, I felt damn pai seh.

Anyhoo, after some protest and reluctance, I vacated my darling seat that has served me well for 8 weeks. Now, I liked that seat so much because it's isolated. My back is protected as there's this huge cupboard behind me and no one can sneak up on me. Moreover, I've gotten pretty chummy with my neighbours. But vacate, I must, amidst lots of cursing and swearing at this new interloper who was going to claim my seat.

But I must say, I was being over-dramatic as usual. My new (albeit temporary; boss coming back on 6 August, which means 3 days of being cooped up in the tiny storage room) seat kicks ass. I don't have the actual guts to sit on my CFO's seat, preferring to use the visitor's chair instead, but the view, the privacy... it is HEAVEN. And the funny thing is, people keep popping in now to check out the room (cos when the CFO was around they obviously wouldn't dare, but the tiny intern...TAKE ADVANTAGE). My IT Manager says "Good morning, boss!" every morning, the CFO's secretary thinks the situation is hilarious (I think she's pretty funny too; so used to knocking, when she enters the room now, she knocks and I feel all weirded out), and my supervisor giggled so hard the first day I moved in my face turned red.

Damn, it's good to be here. Hmm, maybe I should rethink my career path. My HR manager's room pales in comparison to the view I'm getting now.

So hello to the new bad ass, baby. :) :) :) :)

Potter Mania!

It's a damn inconvenience when I have to work and not be able to read my Harry Potter. It's lying desolately at the bottom of my work cabinet, just begging to be flipped and cherished, word for word.

Bah.

Crazy SMEs

It's not that I don't want to support local companies and work with small enterprises, but sometimes, they truly test my patience. And I end up wanting them to burn in hell forever and ever.

It all started when my boss wanted to place an ad in the Straits Times Appointment Page. After passing me the Job Descriptions, she told me to cut it down to a decent size and send it to an ad agency to do the layout. Fine. I did all that. What I did not know was the hell hole I had just stepped into. Firstly, the agency did lousy proofreading and we had to keep sending things back and forth. Never mind. Then my boss kept changing her mind and adding new stuff in. Never mind. Even though we had a Wednesday deadline, she could still change her mind at 5pm on Wednesday. Never mind. When everything was done up properly, she decides that the layout is too boring and harsh. Change again. Never mind. But the straw that broke the camel's (aka me) back was when the bloody agency calls to tell me that for all new customers, the 1st ad must be paid up in full first before they would do the ad. THAT caused my boss to fly into an apopletic rage and screamed to cancel the whole thing.

I wanted to kill myself. After 2 days of stomach-churning, deadline rushing, coordination in Chinese (my supervisor heard me speak Chinese on the phone and started rolling around on the floor, laughing in spasms), my boss killed the whole thing.

Sigh, so after some sulking and feeling completely demoralised, I put on a (fake) smile and moved on.

A week later, my boss decides to put up the ad. This time, she gets a graphic artist to do the layout, but wants to go through the agency as we can get a discount. Can you imagine how awful I felt when I had to speak to my contact at the agency? She heard my voice and went "Harr... you again...". I know darling, I felt the same way too. Sigh. Anywayz, things were chugging along until my boss spotted some more corrections.

Unfortunately, the graphic artist was not at home and could only change things in the evening. Mind you, this was Wednesday (again!!) evening and the latest we could submit everything was on Thursday morning. Fine. But then my contact (her name is Angel) tells me the boss wants the cheque first to cash in before he would let her book the ad space. How crazy right!!!!! I was so close to telling her to "Piss Off!" but had to grit my teeth and proceed. Where got companies demand cash on delivery, you tell me? Harlow, there's at least a 7 days grace ok!

Fine. My boss conceded and I had to run around the Finance department getting the Finance Exec to do up the cheque, then had to chase 2 bosses to sign the cheque. Fine. Then Angel calls me back and says whether I can meet her at Bukit Batok in the morning to pass her the cheque because she doesn't know how to go to HarbourFront.

I think that's where I lost it a little. I suddenly (miraculously) found all the right words in Chinese to convey just how ludicrous I thought the payment situation was, going so far as to call her company crazy (but nice crazy). I was THIS close to yelling at her and questioning whether her company was really so hard up. Sheesh.

She compromised and agreed to take a cab to my place. Upon reaching the dropoff point, she called me to pick her up cos she didn't know how to find the security post. WTF!! I wanted to faint can! Where got people so retarded!!! Ok fine, I'm a nice person and I do it. What happens next just made things worse. I ushered her into a meeting room, passed her the cheque and inspected the invoice. Just when I thought everything was in order and I could go back to doing work, she launched into a sob story of the company and how trapped she feels. For 15 freaking minutes. It took all my will power not to roll my eyes. And honey, I do that oh so well.

Having gotten rid of her, I still had one more hurdle to cross. The graphic designer had not sent the agency the final artwork. It's Thursday morning and sweat is dripping (figuratively) down my back. I call the designer and harrass her, I call the agency to harrass people. I think I do harrassment well. And when I called the agency, guess what? I got transferred 7 times because the office is idiotic. Some people had not even heard of Angel before! I got transferred to a Josephine, an Aaron, a couple of grunters and generally blur people. Argh. Can you feel my frustration, I ask you?

All in all, that was a truly harrowing experience. Now I just hope the article comes out nicely or else there will be hell. Oh yes, there will be hell. Look out for it! The Straits Times, Appointment Page, Saturday Edition. Global Brands baby, Global Brands. Know that name.

The Small Perks of Life

My life as an intern peaks and flattens out with startling speed. Some days I'm so busy I don't have time to breathe, think or even go out of the toilet. On other days, I jab disinterestingly at the keyboard and do menial tasks with my brain shut off.

So really, it's about enjoying the small perks in life. My sup and big boss have both treated me to lunch and although I often protest to the greatest of my ability, I eventually cave in. Hey, I'm earning peanuts okkaay! And I'm privy to all the salaries so seriously, I'm sure I barely make a blip in their account.

But today, ah, today, things looked a bit better. Seeing how I'm in HR and we're also in charge of employee welfare, my supervisor wanted to shake things up a bit and try to introduce some life into the company. So she came upon this Grant given by Health Promotion Board, which basically funds companies in their efforts to promote healthy living in the workplace. I dunno why, but although my sup likes the idea of the grant, she didn't want to do the work involved. So she passed the project to me. Hence, I started sourcing around for activities the company could do and shit like that.

I thought gym memberships might be a good idea cos not only did it fit with the healthy lifestyle theme, gym memberships are a good perk for employees in terms of status and whatnot. More HR tactics to retain people. Anywayz, I chanced upon this gym near my workplace, Sky Fitness and unbeknownst to me, I started to make enquiries. This club turned out to be super exclusive and priced at a premium.

Seeing how my big boss didn't really like the whole idea of this health at workplace programme because the company must match the amount provided by the grant, I was basically working with a budget of zero. Never mind. I tried to be honest with the sales guy from the gym and tell him the club was way out of budget, but he kept badgering and pleading and invited me down to tour the gym and eat lunch.

Helplessly, I gave in and brought along my sup and another colleague. The club turned out to be really nice and the view is phenomenal. It faces Sentosa and is on the highest floor, ensuring unobstructed views of the area. Fully personalized and the sales guy, Aero, turned out to be really, really nice. He didn't try to sell a package straight away, but instead emphasized on a partnership with us and wanted to meet our needs.

Lunch turned out to be pretty good too. But as the saying goes, there's no such thing as a free lunch. I just hope he doesn't keep pestering me. Oh well. After that, we hopped over to Planet Fitness and really, there's no comparison. No doubt, it's much cheaper. But it's also highly sterile and impersonal and all about business and the money. Customer service is efficient and neat at best. Darn, we've been spoiled.

So yup, enjoying the small perks that get thrown my way. Otherwise, being an intern is rather miserable.

Did I mention that the company created an email signature that doesn't appear to me until the message gets sent out? And what title did they give me? HR INTERN. I'm surprised anyone wants to talk to me.

B-O-R-E-D

I'm officially bored. My big boss is terribly ill and took MC for the whole week, meaning my Sup is pretty darn free too. So free that she was bored of looking at the screen / watching YouTube, and decided to go for a smoke break walk. The person next to me is on leave cos her boyfriend was going for minor surgery. That's girlfriend speak for I-want-to-sleep-in-late.

So where does this leave me? Doing data entry. Ok, I kinda know that is what I signed up for, and frankly, I recognize the importance of setting up the employee system. Seriously, the information is all over the place, no one knows who someone else is, don't even know whether male or female. It's semi-ludicrous. So yeah, that's my grand job, keying in everyone's information.

But that doesn't prevent it from being the world's most boring job. I'm practically snoozing away at my seat. And hence, blogging.

Guess I could bitch a little about my colleagues. They're mostly nice people, very task-oriented but always ready to spare a smile. You just have to distinguish the fakes from the genuine warm human beings.

I absolutely detest the Executive Assistant to the CEO. Now she, redefines BITCH. And probably SLUT too. Social climber who is shameless about her antics. On my 2nd day here, I met her at the photocopier (yup, that's where we all form close bonds). She smiled at me, and I thought, what a nice lady. And then she tried to make conversation as we printed our stuff. So when she asked what I wanted to do for a career, I told her I'm quite interested in exploring the HR track. That's when her claws came out. She smiled a pitying smile, and said in a vastly superior voice, "Why HR? Now, if I was in a management position, HR would be the first to go. It can simply be outsourced." Erm, thanks a lot bitch. Did I do anything to provoke such a hostile statement? You think so easy to outsource ah? HR personnel fight fires every single freaking day, solving problems that demand immediate attention. Sure, the calculation of payroll can be outsourced, leave and MC can be electronized. But what happens when there are queries? What happens when there are discrepencies, miscommunication, unhappiness? A warm body is important can! Fine, you think everything can be outsourced. Next time you need to make an expense claim or medical claim, I shall put a phone in front of you and ask you to call the outsourcer to solve your stupid petty problems!

After that attack, I became rather weary of her, and also more observant of her behaviour. Boy, is she a disgusting old cow. Ok, so at 47 she's not that old, but for her to blatantly flirt with all her bosses gives me the creeps. She speaks with this stupid, fake ang moh accent, thinking it gives her polish but just reminds me of sad SPGS and what they would be like 20 years down the road. Pitiful. And she giggles like a cross between a hyena and a 2-year old, which grates on my nerves. The women in the office steer clear of her. The men are too stupid to realize.

And things really turned for the worse just a few days ago. It was about 6pm, knockoff time. She comes over as if the queen is sweeping into the room, gracing her serf with her grand presence. She wants a favour: drafting of a simple letter and getting the CFO to sign it. In the time she takes to explain the situation to me, she could have jolly well completed the whole damn thing. But no, I suppose piddly little letters are beneath her Royal High(Ass)ness. So after taking 1 minute to write the bloody thing (there were previous letters! Similar! Just change the damn fields!) I passed it to her to take a look. She reads. She sighs dramatically. I ask if anything's wrong (hello, this is the 5th of such letters you've asked for), and she has the gall to say "It's not perfect, but it'd do. It's grammatically off."

Mother fucking, holy hell of all bitches!!!!!!!!! You ask for a favour, show no gratitude, be a complete bitch and dare to behave as if I'm a total imbecile! Argh!

And as a powerless intern, all I could do was grin and bear. But in my mind, all these gruelsome thoughts were spinning so quickly I developed a headache. Yes, I was THAT pissed. Sheesh. And all the way home, I kept thinking of insults that I could have hurled at her if I was in a different position. My favourite was "At least my face isn't so lined it can be used as a water catchment area!" or "At least when I raise my eyebrows, my kneecaps don't stretch!" Ok, I know these 2 statements contradict each other, but I haven't had time to look closely enough to see whether her face is indeed lined or Botoxed to death.

Ok, enough grousing. Back to work..... Zzzzzz....

Meet the New Pod Pod

My life was really quite miserable without my ipod; it's amazing how dependent I've become on it to block out all of life's horrid noises. I truly hate people sometimes and there's nothing like blasting some great rock music to make me feel better.

Want to see the condition my old ipod was in?


Yeah, this bad. Simply heartache.

I refused to suffer my intolerable fate anymore. As fate would have it, SMU's finance department decided to stop sitting on its lazy ass during summer and expedite the TA pay processing. They told us the money would come in on 24th July. My heart sank to the bottom. But lo and behold! When I needed cash the most, SMU pulled through and paid me. Bless their materialistic hearts; never shall I yell profanities at them again.

So even though the huge gorge out of my bank account caused me to hyperventilate slightly, I took a leap of faith and bought a new ipod nano.


Meet Pod Pod v2. Isn't it simply gorgeous? I feel tears of joy coming to my eyes simply looking at it in all its pink glory. Instant love, I tell you. Even the packaging is flawless. I bow to their almighty designers.


Eat your heart out, Creative. I know I'm supposed to support local brands and all that propaganda crap, but seriously, there's simply no comparison. You've stolen their design, made them pay you patent rights on their creation... why the hell doesn't Creative just bribe the Apple designers to create better stuff for them? I guess money really can't buy everything, and the Apple culture is imitable.


Side view. Guess even for gadgets, thin is IN huh?

Ok, enough fawning over the ipod. Even if I do HEART it to bits.

My Heart is Broken

I dropped my ipod on the train to work and the screen shattered. :[ :[ :[

You know how in the movies when something dramatic is about to happen and they slow time down? Well, in reality bad things happen real quickly and there's simply no way you can react in time.

It just dropped. And all I could do was watch in horror.

*Sniff* It feels like I just killed my own baby. I even had a nickname for it. Pod Pod.

In loving memory of Pod Pod.

You have served me well and weather quite a number of falls. I guess your time was up.

Greatly missed, especially when enduring long, unpleasant rides on the MRT.

25 December 2005 - 14 June 2007

I was planning to go watch Anna and the King with Pei Wen, but now that I have to replace the ipod, goodbye musical.

Hmm, should I get the 2GB ipod ($248), 4GB ipod ($348), the Samsung music player (think PussyCat Dolls in "waitaminute") or a PSP? All about the same price... decisions, decisions, decisions.

One Last Hurrah for My 22nd!

Hmmm, photobucket seems to be down.

Anywayz, that's not the point of this post, just a general comment. I hate it when Internet sites do not work properly.

THIS POST IS BY ORDERS FROM A CERTAIN MISS AW JIALING WHO IS NOT CONTENTED WITH MERELY SEEING MY HUMILIATION ON JACKYLN HUANG'S BLOG BUT WANTS MY SILLY PHOTOS DISPLAYED HERE AS WELL. Since I'm such a nice obliging person (plus since she's my ex-captain and I shudder to think what horrors would befall me if I disobeyed), I shall oblige and make a fool of myself.

Moving on. I was pleasantly surprised when the girls got together to celebrate my birthday (belatedly) and Angie's farewell. Ms Angie Wong is flying off to the land of Mao to increase the already sizable population of SMU-ers in Ching Chong (China lah). Well, best of luck babe. We were supposed to meet early to play beach volleyball at Sentosa followed by a nice dinner at Vivocity. And of course, the outing was typical of any volleyball girls outing.
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Everyone "flew aeroplane" (放飞机, geddit?). I thought I was bad for turning up at 4-ish when the original meeting time was at 12pm. At least I turned up. In the end, it was down to me, Jacklyn, Greg, Jack's SMU friend, and a bunch of ex-ACS boys. Can't remember their name, just remember them getting sunburnt.

It was fun enough I suppose, except that my delicate skin absolutely cannot tolerate the freaking sun or sand. I'm burnt even though I smothered myself in sun block and kept running for the shade cos it became too unbearably hot. Plus, I contracted sand rash. Now my legs look hideous. :(

Ok ok, this was supposed to be a happy post, but I keep getting sidetrack. I'm sleepy can. Work is not fun. I'm so damn busy, I can't even chat properly on MSN. And the work keeps coming and coming and coming.... Ok, i'm drifting again.

Yes, so after coercing Greg to have dinner with us (well, not really, seeing how he preferred to dine with the other guys. Humpf), we met up with the other girls for dinner at Thai Express. I see a pattern here. We went to Thai Express for my birthday last year too. And of course, we had to make as big a ruckus as possible. It's us man.

All these photos are taken from Jack's blog as photobucket is being a total bitch.

The very delectable Angie, Pei Ying, Moi and Soo Teng

Ms Aw, Jack Jack and Jia Yan. I shall use the funnier photo of Jialing as this is my blog. Muahahahahahhaha!

More camwhoring. What do you expect from 7 girls man?

All so chio right? Taking applicants now for... man slaves.


This old commerical suddenly popped into my mind. Remember this commercial that had this woman dressed up like Cleopatra, and she was being attended to by 2 slaves? Then she wanted a nut that was still in a shell and she passed the nut to one of the slaves. The camera pans to the slave's face which contorts in pain.. we hear a snapping sound and he grimaces, before handing the cracked nut back to Cleopatra. He had used his thighs (or knees, I can't remember which) to crack open the nut. I thought it was the funniest thing on tv. Don't remember? You people have no childhoods.


Group shot of my dear girls

Oh yeah, and they made me do stupid things too. I was given the most hastily put together ang pow and it was vaguely embarrassing seeing them collect the money in front of me before passing it to me. I hope I looked suitably surprised. But hey, I had to work for my money ok....

First it was this...

Then it degenerated to this. Thanks ah, people. The other customers thought I had gone nuts. Lost it. Went over to the other side. You get my point.

Sigh, but you know I still love you all right? Thanks for everything!

P.S.: My tagboard very hard to use meh??????? I feel so untagged and unloved... :[ :[ :[

Impending Doom

It's Day 9 of my internship and I'm sensing impending doom.

I'm about to lose my table.

Yup, for the past few days, I have been happily ensconced at my cubicle, with my own drawers, telephone and stationery. I have a nice brown wide desk and colleagues on either side of me. But all that is about to change.

The company, which is already woefully cramp, is hiring people in a mad rush. Currently, there are only 5 available tables left. 3 more newbies are arriving next week. 2 the following week. And 5 in July.

Do the math, see who's expendable. Seeing how I'm the lowest of low interns, and in the HR department (always the first to get axed/pushed/mistreated), they have decided that I'm the easiest to dispose of.

Oh woe is me. My big boss (the group HR Manager) is thinking of getting me to sit in her office. What a barrel of fun that would be. I would have to mind my Ps and Qs, endure her nagging (she's actually a nice lady, just naggy) and have to be surreptitious with the (mis)use of my Internet authority. Currently, I'm quite flagrant with the way I display my MSN and Skype and random checking of mail. Shitters man. My supervisor tried to save me by suggesting that it'd be highly inconvenient for my big boss cos I need to move in and out, and she needs to have meetings during which I need to vamoose.... I dunno how that would work out. But my replacement location isn't much better - the interview room. Great. Just freaking great. The interview room has no windows, no telephone, high, uncomfortable chairs and a freaking tiny table.

Hmm, should I ask them to shorten my internship? I just wanna get outta there now if that's my future working conditions.

Urgh.

Birthday Celebrations =)

Yup, some backdated photos from my birthday celebrations... I've been pretty busy with work... Even though it's only been 1 week, and I'm doing mostly administrative work, there's constant stress to complete work ahead of time and deal with an office full of women. Anyway, some photos from my birthday...

Things kicked off with a family dinner at Garibaldi. Two words: freaking fantastic.

The food is flawless but the service could do with some improvement. There's a strict hierarchy with regards to the service and the customers just have to suck it up. We wanted water when we sat down and since we didn't realize there was a hierarchy, we asked a random waiter. He looked at us, smiled curtly and said "immediately". Except, immediately wasn't quite immediately. Only after we asked for the 2nd time, did we get water. It turns out that we had asked the sommelier for water and HE didn't serve water. And since the water/bread server guy wasn't around, we had to wait until he turned up. Amazing, don't you think? And man, was that stupid sommealier a stuck-up bastard. We didn't order wine cos the meal was already horribly expensive, and when the place became busier and he was "forced" to serve some food to our table, he plonked it on our table and walked away quickly because another table asked for wine. Bastard. But all that was soon forgotten when we tasted the food. Beef ravioli with mushrooms in wine sauce. Oh. My. God. I died and went to heaven.

That was the Sunday before my birthday. The following Monday was my Chinese birthday, actual birthday on Thursday. Since my summer school exam was on Friday, I didn't get to celebrate. Sort of. In compensation, my dear mommy planned a steamboat dinner for me on Monday, and I had crab and fondue on Thursday. Fair enough.

Haha, yes, those are Shrek ears on me. Hey, it's for charity ok! And Cheryl got them for me as a joke. Don't you just love older sisters?

Met Pei Wen and Mei Bao for dinner on Friday and ate Japanese. Thanks for the celebration even if I was a last minute substitution. Humpf.

But the week was capped off in a fantastic way. My celebration with Fadz. He brought me to watch Pirates of the Caribbean since I was dying to see Orlando Bloom on the big screen. He more than delivered. He brought me to Vivocity Gold Class! I was so freaking excited!

Orlando Bloom looks so much better on a big screen. I nearly flooded the place with my drool. And it was such a long movie that lounging all over a huge, comfy seat made it sooo much better. The retractable seats are damn fun to operate. No one to kick my seat!

Dinner was at Baladi, this Lebanese place at Arab Street. There's a hilarious story. Fadz had made a reservation at this other Lebanese place he found on the Internet. We got to Arab street, and it turns out to be a COFFEESHOP. Apparently, they changed management, but kept the same name. And there on a table, was this reservation sign with Fadz name on it. I nearly collapsed onto the floor with laughter. My poor baby. Luckily I recalled this place nearby that Aaron Aziz goes to and we went there for dinner instead. No aircon, so that was a little icky... But the food was pretty good and the service was decent. Hahahaha... nothing like a man who can make me laugh.

Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday! And it certainly was! Moreover, the staying in to study on my birthday sure was worth it. I got an A+ for Portfolio Management!!!! :] :] :] :]

Happy Birthday To Me!

You know, some people hate celebrating birthdays, or think that they aren't anything special. But I love, love, love birthdays! Especially mine, of course.

It's such a happy time... A celebration of my being, of aging gracefully another year, of gaining another year of knowledge and experiences. How can it not be glorious?

And it started off on a great note. I had gone to sleep early cos I only slept 2 hours the previous night, thanks to last minute changes to my project. At 12 midnight, my mum and sis burst into my room, and I thought they had gone nuts. Geraldine starting saying fire! fire! and I was CONVINCED she had lost it (she later claimed I refused to wake up to my mum's gentle prodding so took a more extreme stand). And there he was, my darling baby holding a piece of Oreo Cheesecake that he had made for me cos I had mentioned it before.

So in my dishevelled, bleary, post-lack of sleep bad skin self, I could only grin like an idiot. Awww.... love my brown cow. Bless his current cooking life phase.

So even though there's the incessant drilling outside my house, the still slightly-groggy feeling from weird sleeping patterns, and the need to study for my exam tomorrow, they ain't gonna rain on my parade.

Happy Birthday To Me! xoxo

Let The Celebrations Begin!!!

Well, it's that time of the year again. When the special one (moi) turns 2-2 on the 24th. I luurrrvvveee my birthday week... a week long of (food) debauchery and celebrations. Love it love it love it.

And if anyone wants to show me some love, here's my wishlist... Muahahaha....

Sigh, bad thing is, I have an exam on Friday, so no fun for this poor girl on Thursday. :P

Beijing Finale

Well, we've pretty much reached the halfway point and by then, the old people were getting pretty weary. They would seek out benches and sit down at every available place; the poor guide, she was left with the task of throwing the whole itinerary away or plodding ahead regardless of the old people. Oh well.

These are some photos from day 4 and 5. Day 6 didn't offer many things to take pictures of, so didn't add any photos. Besides, I sprained my ankle on the 6th day, so only bitter memories. -_-'''

We saw the Olympic Countdown Timer, walked around Tiananmen Square. That was exciting, seeing how there are plainclothes detectives who have been trained in foreign languages to listen in on conversations and haul away anyone if they even mentioned anything bad about China, Mao or the other M-word - massacre. Yes, even tourists aren't spared.

Also went to a theme park. Don't know why it was in the itinerary when the average age of the group was 50, and they didn't allow people over the age of 50 to take certain rides. Duh. But I went on this super scary ride (see above). It's like the ultimate Viking ride. The thing hits a perpendicular and it truly felt like I was about to get flung out of my seat. Not only does the ride go from side to side, but the round thing spins 360 degrees continuous. Nausea-inducing. My knees were shaking when I came down. Hiak Hiak.

We had to change hotel on the last day and checked into this spa resort that had a sauna in the room. Yup, there was a freaking sauna in my room. Muahahhaaha. But the hotel service was beyond lousy and it was quite a heinous experience on hindsight. Totally not worth the time and effort.

Erm, things are a bit choppy cos I'm in class right now and the TA is sitting behind me. Oops.

This Takes The Cake...

Oh.My.God. You have to watch this. I nearly died from rolling off my chair in laughter. To be fair, I'm sure they had to interview thousands of people in order to find these few gems. But still. STILL.

Watch at your own peril. And no... I know smart Americans. It's just fun to laugh at them sometimes. :P

Disclaimer: No malicious intent was erm, intended, in showing this clip.

Someone Finally Wants Me!

I'm employed, I'm employed, I'm employed!

Now I can stop feeling sorry for myself and think that I'm useless and worthless as a potential employee. Yes, Ms Chan is rejuvenated.

Well, I was hoping for this 6-month internship at Starwood Hotels and Resorts but they are taking forever to come back with a reply. So in the mean time, I applied to another company, Global Brands. They are a relatively young company, founded in 2003, with 14 global offices. Their main line of work is to promote and manage their brand partners' products and promotions and their partners include FIFA (woohoo!!), PGA, Warner Bros., Bum Equipment and Marvel. When I was at the interview, I overheard one of the employees discussing about the promo posters and signboards to be used for the release of the Harry Potter movie, what would work, what colours are more appropriate. So exciting!

So what am I doing? According to my supervisor, the company has absolutely no electronic Human Resource tracking system, and their employee records are mostly still in paper form. That's where I come in. I have to create a HRIS (human resource information system) to track all their employees globally. Things like personal information, compensation and benefits packages, private information etc. etc. etc.... Basically, I have to communicate with all the employees, get the information (because even then there are missing gaps), organize and devise a workable system so that future employees will be more easily managed.

Yeah, yeah, I know what you are thinking. Sounds like bloody data entry. Hey man, I'm not so proud and arrogant as to think that I'd be doing executive work as a lowly intern. Everyone has to start somewhere and since I don't have any experience in HR, nothing is above or below me. So I just hope I don't screw up. Seeing how this position is for someone meticulous and with an eye for detail....

Yes, I've managed to bluff my way through many data entry jobs. Even for my last Finance project, I came up with the model, but my team mates had to pore over the numbers cos erm, I'm not that careful. Hahahahaha!

Besides, this means I'd get to see what my supervisor is paid and if she gets a little something something, if you know what I mean. Ah, what power.

I start work on the 28th May, I end summer school on the 26th, my birthday is on the 24th. Hmmm, no break for this lady.

Trials and Tribulations of Life on the MRT

Singaporeans are vicious, vicious people. Drivers whine all the time about the bad traffic on the road but until you've been traumatised on the MRT during peak hour, you ain't seen ugly.

Aside from the usual assholes who block the entrance and pretend not to hear you say "Excuse me" until you practically yell in their ear; bastards who read newspapers (the big Straits Times, not Today) despite passengers being pressed chest to chest and hence inevitably whacking everyone around him/her with the stupid paper; jerks who lean on the pole and leave a whole group of passengers to wobble precariously whenever the MRT jerks; the poseurs who choose the "speaker" option on their phones and blast emo music and ignore the death glares directed at their way . I hate these people.

I hate going to school in the morning. Seriously. It is possibly the most horrifying experience EVER. I attempt to take the through train that goes directly to City Hall instead of having to transfer at Jurong East. Sometimes I manage to hop on the earlier train at 7.34am, but usually I'm stuck with the 7.44am one. Bad choice. By the time the train gets to Bukit Gombak, people are semi-pressed against the door. I feel really bad when I take advantage of pockets of space and squeeze in, but when there's really no way, I give up. But yesterday, when I made it into the train, this stupid guy used his stupid back and pushed backwards, creating some space for himself. But seeing how he might be caught by the closing train doors, he squeezed behind me and effectively squashed me between his belly and the train door. I was stuck in that position, my back against his belly, face against door, until I reached Jurong. Dickhead.

I fervently hoped that my trial was over but noooooo, the train gods have to test me. I was standing next to this Indian woman and we were near one of the poles. She was standing 3 seats away but STRETCHED her hand across the space and held on to the pole with a death grip. Was it because she was falling? No. It was to block me from accessing any seats that might suddenly be available. She was basically reserving 3 seats and the probability that someone would get up soon. Bloody bitch. We were near the door so more and more passengers kept pressing into the cabin and squashing me, but she obstinately refused to move despite space in the middle opening up. Arrrgh!!! In frustration, I pushed past her to the empty spot and STILL, her death grip persisted. The only consolation I received was that she left before anyone stood up. HAHAHAHAHA, the gods have spoken, bitch!

And another thing we're all guilty of is profiling. We all do it. In a bid to get a seat, you assess the people seated and attempt to make a guess as to who would get up soon. The ones dressed in suits --> headed for town. The ones dressed not so well --> most likely destined for the industrial parks and suburb offices. And people with laptops? Dover / Singapore Poly. That might explain why people refuse to move once they have zeroed in on a potential target. The belief that a person was going to get up soon.

Me? I'm equally culpable. One time during the peak hour on my way home, I zoomed in on this Indian/Bangla-looking dude. I know it's stereotyping and racism, but I usually associate the Banglas with 2 locations: Jurong West (bad) and Outram (good). Good because that means they are leaving soon and I will get the seat. So when I saw that this Bangla was dressed quite well, I thought perhaps he was going to Little India for a little R&R. So I stood in front of him. When we arrived at Outram, a Chinese dude 2 seats down got off. -_-''' I never said it was a science.

But the ultimate gross act has to be people who think of the MRT as a grooming station and attempt to groom themselves in PUBLIC. The nail clippers, nose diggers, hair pluckers. Argh, argh, argh. And how do they pluck hair? Easy. Take 2 10-cent coins, use said coins like tweezers and by positioning hair follicle between coins, tug until hair comes free. Of course, remember to fling body waste around the cabin because the other passengers DON'T MIND.

Fuck. I truly hate these Singaporeans/foreigners. See, I'm not racist. I just hate motherfuckers who don't have respect for public property, regardless of race, language or religion.

Check out my Slide Show!

Beijing - Part 2

Ok, I'm a bigger procrastinator than I thought possible. Day 3 of 9.

We visited the Ming Tombs and climbed the Great Wall on the 3rd day of our trip. The Ming Tombs are similar to the Egyptian Valley of the Dead, with the remains of 13 Ming emperors that ruled China from 1409 to 1644 buried there. The Ming Tombs were ravaged by the Red Army during the Cultural Revolution to show that the royalty was overly decadent even in death. Hence, all that remains of the once magnificant crypt are replicas. Such a great pity; so many national treasures lost. Also, part of the treasures were pillaged by the marauding French Army. Which brings about the biggest tragedy of all: a lot of China's art and historical artifacts can be found in Western museums, and the China tourists have to go out of China to view such artifacts.

The other amazing thing about the Ming Tombs is its architecture. With the high arching walls, voices are carried all around and there's a coolness that permeates the place. One of the highlights is this amazing door that used to guard the entrance to the Emperor's tomb. It is incredibly heavy and almost impossible to move; apparently, one tomb was blast open unceremoniously because the soldiers couldn't move the door. But there's this catch in the door that when fitted with a key, swings the doors open with amazing ease. More Chinese ingenuity.

But definitely, the day was meant for the unforgettable Great Wall. Seriously, seeing the pictures and being there are 2 complete events. The structure stretches for miles and miles, and covers the mountain. We only climbed one portion, but I was out of breathe by the time I reached the top. However, I took 25 minutes to scale that portion of the Great Wall and hence, am immensely proud.

But the thing is, I was nearly humiliated by this old dude in my tour group, Mr Ng. Now, Mr Ng is 70+ and definitely no spring chicken. No doubt, he got a headstart and was like 2 flights of steps ahead of me, but he was relentless and kept pushing forward. Tirelessly. And there I was, huffing and puffing away, and he was like taking a bloody stroll through the park. So to avoid being outclimbed by an old man 3 times my age, I summoned my energies and overtook him in the end. I know, I know, beating an old man ain't no glorious thing...

But I took a picture at the top of the Wall to celebrate being the 1st 2 people up the Wall.

You know what? When I reached the final 10 steps, I felt like Rocky running up the Capital Building. I nearly burst into the Rocky theme song. I was THAT proud.