2 years!

time flies when you're having fun




to my dearest husband...you're the most humble yet cocky, grounded yet ambitious, serious yet funny, seemingly dumb yet intelligent man i've known.

you also have the uncanny ability to melt my heart...only to melt it again

and for that i love you :)

here's to manymany more years together...and may all our dreams come true..insyaAllah

obamamania

today was a truly historic day.

i can write a thesis on why his win was so important and inspiring to me and to many of my frens.....thousands of miles away though we may be.

but i'll just sum it all up in 3 words......... "yes we can"

poor massa

i cant believe timo glock slowed down at the last....wtf was he doing??? to gift hamilton the championship just like that???

i'm super pissed!

i've always thought hamilton DOES NOT DESERVE the championship, even before this last race...and winning it this way just proves my point.

bleah

tokyo | work pays

we didnt really have time to entertain during raya this year...what with him not in sg most days and me bogged down with work..

had a week in tokyo 2 weeks ago (weather was good, food was great...but work was something else), and i've been occupied with post-tokyo work since then i'm amazed i've not drowned yet.

but yes. life has been good (though hectic), and i'm happy. oh and did i tell you i got a whopping (to my standards at least) market pay adjustment that was like so totally unexpected it left me speechless and close to tears? ok..not TOTALLY unexpected...i did hear through the grapevine that it was in the offing....but i didnt expect THAT much NOW. we're indeed blessed... Alhamdulillah..

tonite will be the first nite in days that i'll be sleeping before 3 (work is a killer...but it pays!!)

good nite everyone

selamat hari raya!

selamat hari raya aidilfitri....maaf zahir dan batin :)

last week was great. he was on his break the whole week, and i naturally took leave too. it's not often that we get to spend so much time continuously together yah.

he's been away 2 days now and i'm already missing him :) but i have a gazillion things to do at work, so it's not too bad.

here's wishing one and all a joyous blessed time with your loved ones!

f1 from the office!

at this very moment, i can hear the roar of the cars from my office as they speed through the circuit.

how exciting!

we mistakenly thought the f1 cars were having their practice runs, but soon realised that these were bmw cars instead..hehh. had a quick glimpse at the programme and yes... the Formula BMW Series are having their practice runs just about now.

just imagine...these are not even the real mccoys and they're already so loud! be prepared for more earth-shattering noise once the f1 cars had their turn on the circuit!

anyways..earlier today..some of us got excited over these..

unfortunately...they belong to the boss. ah well...we can always watch from the office. which is exactly what most of us are planning to do. the first f1 practice session starts today at 7pm, so most of us will be staying back just so we can have a look. too bad i've a meeting later in the west...or i'd definitely have stayed back too! butBUTBUT...there's always tomorrow! and sunday!!

hehhe. so EXCITING!

blessed

a whole month has come and gone and i've totally missed out on blogging a post. damm. but i've never been busier in all my life, and i'm totally loving it. yes i whine abt my pay (do you know how much a fresh grad is paid nowadays??? and they're nowhere near to adjusting my pay..hmmph!) and i whine abt my pay (it's really measly..trust me)...but i'm ok with my work.

at.the.moment.

which is not to say that i wont be looking around for something better. though i'm not cos i'm really busy. but yes, if something better comes along, i might just go for it. then again, how can something better come along if i dont go look for it? hmmm

by the way, selamat berpuasa y'all!

i'd never expected while breaking my fast without my family last year that i'd be breaking my fast without him this year. feels funny. but the times apart make you closer, and just like i am totally enjoying the times i break fast with my family now, i am also so savouring the precious days when i can break fast with him.

i am alone,but not lonely. i am blessed.

grey's | samui trip

i just finished watching grey's anatomy season 4 and am all teary and sniffy. i cant wait for season 5. pls oh pls oh pls dont separate them again. i'm just too tired for all the drama...and i want to see them happy together. and i felt like hugging alex and telling him it'll be ok. i SO wanna know what's the story wif him there.

so...what shall i watch next? hmmmmm

anyways....pics of my samui trip is finally up....like finally finally....hahha.

and i'm finally uploading those video shots we took along the way. still not fully done yet...but here's a teaser...

baggy dreams

i'm currently nursing a bimbotic phase that's been keeping me up for days...

bags!

today's payday and the mid-year bonus will be paid out...and i so want to indulge myself by splurging on something trivial...bags!

i've never in my life spent anything above $100 for bags....my current 2 bags which i've used ad nauseum cost me less than $50 each...and i'm not what one would generally call a big-spender (spider's VERY lucky to hv me as a wife...hahha). but i've been overcome by this huge desire to splurge on an IT bag, and i'm determined to get it!

hey, it's either that or the samsung omnia...something else that i'm coveting...and if i can even consider splurging on that...i can definitely splurge on a bag

but which bag to buy?? and how much is too much???

riled up | crossroads

6 years ago, my RO told me that i need to be more diplomatic, more cool, in my dealings with 'the other side'. and i agreed with him totally. i got riled up quite easily, and when i'm angry/irritated/frustrated, it showed.

fast forward to today...i realised i've still not gained mastery over my emotions. i'd inadvertently raised my voice to my colleague, and now i feel shitty. i'd apologised to her, but still i feel bad.

the problem with me is that i have no patience for rigidity, and stupidity. in my line of work, things are seldom black or white. often, you'll find yourself in situations that are grey. so you must know how to manage this without putting yourself in a quandary. and if you insist on having a clearcut black or white answer to the situation you're in, then you're just being rigid. this was exactly the reasoning i was trying to put forth to her, when she was demanding a black or white answer. but i guess my emotions got the better of me, and i flared.

my other colleague totally see my point. but i must learn to be tolerant, she said. and yups, i totally agree with her on that!

someone else was telling me that the higher you get in the organisation, the more you must learn to let go. i was sharing with him about how i missed the good old days, when i was really in the thick of things, negotiating for real tangible things that would really have an effect to the people i serve. and how, given the chance, i would want to go back to doing just that. but he pointed out that there will always be the new ones who can fill that role, and that where i am now is just as important, if not more important, cos i'm the one setting out the directions and providing the tools for them to do the work. so if i want to move higher in the organisation, i must be prepared to do more macro work and leave the rough and tumble ground work to others.

which leads me to think- do i really want to leave all these ground work behind? granted i am ambitious, so moving up the ladder is obviously in my plans. but do i do that at the expense of my passion? and can i really do that, seeing as to how easily i flew off the handle with my colleague over something i should not have gotten all worked up about?

you come to a point in your career when you think - should i leave now? i came to that point last year. i so desperately wanted to leave my job, because it grew to be boring and meaningless. but then i was given the lifeline when i was posted out to another dept, and i got motivated again. the last few weeks have been challenging though. so many of my peers are leaving. which leads me to thinking - what on earth am i still doing here? but yah, there are a lot of opportunities for me here to grow, and of cos being the only one bringing home the bacon (so to speak) right now makes it just a little tad harder for me to leave. so i think i'm staying put...for now.

hmmm this has veered way off. i still feel bad abt just now. she's a really nice girl, just that she's too straight sometimes, if you know what i mean. i must be nice, and tolerant. i must stop being so mean :P

hot date

was in hanoi the last couple of days to conduct a workshop for one of our affiliates. it was one full day of work and 4 days of r&r, so i'm not complaining...heee. this affiliate is quite high-class one, so i travelled in sq and stayed in good hotels....so lagi not complaining.

but the trip took me away from him...and its been ages since i last saw him. my colleagues understood why it is then that i've been jumping up and down the whole day today...i SO cant wait to see him later!! yeyy!

it's been raining a lot these days...which is good cos that means my plants are all well taken care of. which reminds me...i owe is my plant stories...which i've not been able to do. sigh. but her plants are all so nice and colourful...and now i'm jealous..especially when she mentioned her mint leaves...which i've none. should i rekindle my died-ed already passion for plants and try my hands at growing more edible plants or should i just let it go and blame it all on my takde masa excuse?

but how can i say that i dont hv time when i dont even hv kids?? and it's not like as if i have a super important job that requires me to be on my toes at all times (i'd LIKE to think i'm important but thats just me in bozyland.... muakakakaka). but i still dont understand why i dont have time. it's funny.

anyway....this is just me sending off a post on the quick before i log off for the day. i wanna date my husband dis weekend. i wanna wanna wanna! cant wait!

multiplying

hallo! somehow my home laptop has not been displaying the word verification thingy that you need to publish yr post in blogger...so i've not been posting of late. but dono why today there's no problem....so here i am!

here's what i've been up to so far....taken from my facebook's mini-feed(i'm lazy lah..hehhe. oh n i've replaced my name wif 'ppg'...short for purperger...kuakua)

Yesterday
ppg is pissed off wif starhub for the breakdown in transmission in the last 30mins...only to have it resumed wif happy german faces AFTER the match. FUG!5:13am

June 25
ppg is furiously uploading her outdated pics in multiply.12:30am

June 24
ppg has a rat problem at home and is feeling all terrified and helpless. Aaaaarrrgh!12:41am

June 22
ppg is bummed. holland is out. predictions all thrown out d window. does that mean italy will win next?5:26am

June 21
ppg couldnt believe what happened during the croatia-turkey match dis morning. lets hope holland will stay true to predictions!9:43am

June 20
ppg just spent her day screaming herself silly...but its ok since she's now $30 richer! muakaka.9:41pm

June 16
ppg is knocking herself silly for missing the phenomenal czech-turkey match...no more missing matches from now on!9:13pm

June 7
ppg has grudgingly parted wif some moolah juz so she can watch euro08 on cable....starhub sucks!2:22pm

As you can see, euro08 has taken up a considerable portion of my time. i live n breathe soccer....and i'm happier for it. hehhe. so it's gonna be a spain-germany final. my fave holland is out...which is really a bummer cos they were so exciting to watch during the group rounds. ah well. i'm not exactly a spain fan...but it'd be nice to see spain winning sthg after years and years of nothing. but i kinda have a soft spot for germany too...having been impressed with their 'not-boring' performance at the last world cup, and their continued 'not-boring' performance this time round. my only peeve is ballack...who i'm not exactly a fan of. so i'll support the team that plays better on the day itself...n hopefully that team wins (cos not every team that plays better wins the match...as we all know)..

moving on, have made it a mission of sorts to finish uploading whatever pictures that i have into multiply. i've done some, but many more are not in yet. most notably the road trip to samui. ok ok will do that real soon.

spider is back early today. which makes me happy....heeeee

my 31st befday

on wednesday, for the first time in a long time, i woke up with no chorus of happy birthdays ringing in my ears. granted, i'm living away from my parents and brothers now, but i was already living apart from them last year. what was different this year was that he was also away from me, miles apart.

it was weird.

for the first time in a long time too, i took leave for my birthday (or did i also do that last year? hmmm). what better way to start your very own new year than to sleep in late!

and what better suprise than to have a bouquet of purple delights sent up my doorsteps! granted i DID look extremely 'glamorous' when receiving the bouquet with my right-outta-bed look, but it fitted in nicely with the bawling-my-eyes-out look that followed after i closed the door on the sweet uncle who brought me the purple delights, when it hit me that he'd ACTUALLY taken the trouble to do this. for me. and for that i love him.

see. its not difficult to make a girl happy :)

so that was how the 1st day of my 31st year of existence was for me. oh and i also treated myself to a massage, went on a shopping spree (2 pairs of shoes!), had dinner. i feel great. and more importantly, i feel young!

cant WAIT to show him my 'appreciation' later :P

and we are the CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE

all hail the red devils....double winners & champions of europe...woohoooo!

the hero of the moment saves the day...as we knew he would! me n as were shouting n screaming n cursing on the phone as the penalty shootout progresses....we KNEW ronaldo's gonna miss it, we prayed (and it got answered!) that terry's gonna miss it.....n we were noisily egging van der sar on to save the kick from anelka...and saved he did! yeah!

to sum it up...tevez was useless save for his penalty, drogba was idiotic...hargreaves was hardworking...carrick was phenomenal (i'm so proud of him!)...giggs was inspirational..rooney was great i thought (so was a bit suprised when he was substituted)...scholes was fantastic (playing well even after he was injured)...evra was more than commendable (am also very proud of him)...ferdinand, vidic n wes brown were so-so in defence...ronaldo scored the opening but fell down too many times for my liking....nani and anderson were way cool for converting their penalties (even though they entered the game late into extra time and nani was bleeding from the head)....and van der sar rose up to the occassion after a mostly-lacklustre performance...to save the day!

yeeeaaahhhh!

my eyes are sore from crying.

but i'm happy :)

bummed | scarily exciting

i'm really bummed cos my fave david cook got horrible reviews from the judges. they're SO into wanting david archie to be the winner...hmmph. granted he has a good voice, but i've always likened him to gary barlow from day one and you just know how gary barlow's like....nice but BORING.

so

i'm hoping for the best...i am. and whatever happens, i'll still be rooting for cook.

ok will sleep now so i can wake up later for the match. i'm so excited yet so scared i dont know what to make of it all. the prospect of the match is just so...scarily exciting?

5 hours more....

a break from madness

i badly needed a break after all the madness at work....so we drove off to mersing over the long weekend

if you ask me, the beach there is better than the ones in bintan (n comparable to bali n the thai islands). yet it has managed to escape the notice of the 'sharks', who'd no sooner transform an idyllic beach location into one pandering to the populous touristy crowd.

which is all the better for me!

plus seeing fully-clad locals swimming in the sea is a definite welcome sight than near-naked angmohs i've been accustomed to :P

to sum up the weekend: nice break..wish it was longer...but i'm not complaining.

now on to serious things....like manu winning the champions league...yeah!

glory glory man united!

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS once again....yeah!

watching the trophy presentation this morning gave me such a high i actually cried :P

what a fitting end to a most challenging week (work-wise for me), and what a great way to start the new week!

sigh....i'm a happy trooper :)

one down...one more to go...

i'm a happy trooper :)

trees old and new

i'm still radiating copious amounts of heat after being out in the sun the whole morning. tomorrow'll be the actual do, and i'm not looking forward to being in the hot sun again. but i have to admit that it's all rather exciting...hehhe

on a totally different note, we bought over some plants from our neighbour a few doors down(she's moving away to bali!) and have transplanted them in the back yard. they're looking pretty pathetic, to be honest, all dried up and wilting, but we have every faith that they're gonna recover from the shock of it all and prosper...i hope!

our next-door neighbour had also moved out (they're all slowly but surely moving out to make room for the foreign students from a certain school of public policy who in all observations do not know the meaning of basic civic-mindedness...but thats fodder for another story), and lo and behold the powers that be went right ahead and cleared all the trees in her backyard! one moment there was lush greenery, and the next they're gone!

i dont get why they're doing this. do the trees pose any danger to our safety? no. are they such an eyesore? definitely not. in fact at the rate they're chopping down the trees every time a tenant moves out, college green will be devoid of the greenery it's been known for. a mockery of the name dont you think? it will truly be an eyesore then.

so yes, even though our days here are numbered, we'll do all we can to 'greenify' the place. plant some plants here, salvage some plants there. lets just hope they dont all die in our hands :P

relish

we finally checked out the eatery across the road from our place yesterday. truth be told...we've not actually tried any of the eateries there...save for mad jacks & mcdonalds..hehhe...so better try them out fast before we move out of the place for good...

seared tuna salad

grilled portobello tofu burger

the price was a bit steep to my liking...but the food was nice. i especially liked the tuna salad..nice presentation n good taste. the tofu burger was very filling....n i realised that i dont fancy tofu all that much....but the portobello was delicious...n the onions were caramelised to perfection...i like!




this outlet is actually the sister outlet to the more famous eatery at mt emily. you might want to give it a try if you're in the area. i'm more the pasta person...so i'll try the original outlet next to see if their pastas are anything to die for.

of shoes, and the eyebags monster

i know that i've not been in here for some time, but i didnt know it's been this long.

we got back from our road trip to koh samui safe and sound by the way, in case you're wondering. we cant believe we made it there and back on the bonnie cos the bonnie's more the relek cruising about town kinda bike rather than the roadtrip kinda bike. but we made it...so yeyy!

took a few video shots throughout the trip....been wanting to put them together but as you can see, i'm obviously not very on the ball on this...hahha. my dream of making an award-winning travel documentary will just have to wait i suppose :P

i've been knee-deep in work the last few weeks. very busy, but i like. my shoes are killing me with all the running around that i've been doing though. if only actual running is involved, where it's actually exercise you're doing. which i've not been doing. the exercise i mean. and thats kinda ironic cos i'm the one who brought in the fitness trainers who are stationed at the company gym to provide assistance and customised exercise programs for those who want them, and yet i've not made use of this myself.

i must get new shoes. good ones. not the cheap ones from charles and keith which have been my brand of choice the last few years cos they're cheap yet nice. they dont last long and they're really not very ergonomically friendly for the feet to be honest. so i shall pamper myself for once and get a pair of working shoes that maybe cost more than $100? hahha. the theory is that expensive shoes are comfortable - we shall just see about that shall we. and yes i've never in my life spent above $100 for working shoes...track shoes, running shoes yes....but never work/dress shoes. dont roll your eyes ah...i'm cheapo like that.

the downside to working so hard is that i do a lot more work at home now. i'm out and about so much during the day that i'm left with really not much of a choice but to bring work home. which is bad cos when i'm on d lappie at home i will always most definitely be distracted by the many online offerings...which in turn has transformed me into the eyebags monster especially since spider's not around most nights nowadays which explains why i can spend so much time online without having to deal with stuffs like sleeping.

but i'm rambling. and i must clean up so that i can catch up on my sleep.

will blog abt the samui roadtrip soon. gd nite!

off to conquer the roads

pictures of my phuket trip is finally up! check out here for the pics!

in other news...we're off to conquer the roads this evening. wish us a safe journey yah!

mad bangkok weekend

heyhey

we made a super short trip over the weekend to bangkok to join my parents and bros who were there earlier. shopping was ok and food was ok, but the best thing was the company. it's been ages since i've done this with my family, so am really glad that we did it.

it was funny cos there were ppl on the plane and in bangkok who recognised us from our stint on tv (gasp!). must be his botahead lah...hahha. and some even thought we went there cos we just won the money. which is like hilarious cos we've not gotten the money yet and the recording was done ages ago and the timing of the trip was purely coincidental. so anyways...THAT (our tv stint) was something huh...hahha...we sure had fun!

i've still got loads to talk abt on phuket, i've not uploaded the pics for bangkok yet, and we might just be riding to samui over the cny hols. happiness. seems like we're in a rush to do things yah...but we ARE starting a new chapter in our lives and we just wana do all the 'enjoying' first before the real 'work' begins.

used to be that i was apprehensive abt this, but now that it's actually gonna happen i'm kinda looking forward to it actually. i cant wait to see how it all pans out. i'm praying for us both to be given the strength to go through this period in our lives...may we emerge from it victorious...insyaAllah

food fiesta

It would be stupid to be in phuket and not partake of the food, especially since there are SOO many halal options around. As much as possible, we tried to get our fix where the locals do – if the food’s good enough for the locals it would definitely do for us. But of course there were times when we’d be too tired to travel far, and eating joints in touristy areas (many many arab and indian muslim joints to be found) would do the job too.

som tham - mango salad
a must for every meal!

chicken green curry
a yummylicious treat when we were in phiphi

seafood fried rice
comfort food

seafood tom yum
to die for!!!!

sorry cant get enouff of som tham hehhe!

grilled fish..i like!

grilled sotong..nice!

pancake wif bananas (n sometimes wif nutella!)
another one of our sinful staples :P

phuket revisited

this boy was in the mother's stomach the last time i saw him...heee. that was three years ago. we chanced upon this place while travelling ard on the motorbike. back then, we only made a pre-booking online for 2 nites at a place in patong, so we had to look ard for other accomodation. i'd actually made a list of places we could stay in, based on my research online, but they didnt quite come up to mark. dont get me wrong, i wasnt looking for some 5-star resorts, just a nice cosy place that's cheap.

the place looks quite nondescript actually. it lies on the hill along the main road linking patong to karon, and many would have given it a miss cos they'd be too busy concentrating on the uphill ride to notice it. we passed it on our way to karon and kata to check out the hotels there, and passed it again while on the way back. that's when we decided to stop cos the kapcai we were on was sputtering for dear life attempting the uphill ride.

we were greeted by a very frenly "good eveniiiiiiiiing" by an affable guy called joe, whom we later found out to be the owner of the place. we saw the rooms, LOVED the view, and immediately made bookings for the rest of our nites there. We were even contemplating extending our stay, but because we've already made plans to join our families in kl, we said our goodbyes reluctantly.

and the very next day, tsunami struck.

it was sobering. we had to entertain many many calls n sms-es from friends and relatives who still thought we were there, since we were not back in sg. and we were frantically trying to reach joe to see if he and his family was ok - his wife was pregnant then. and yes, they were all alrite, being on the hill. but we were affected, emotionally affected. we tried to do what we can with the efforts in sg, and spider had the opportunity to fly back to phuket to help with the relief efforts there.

so you could say phuket holds a special place in our hearts. we love the people, the food, the relaxing lifestyle of it all. yes it's way too commercialised, but look beyond the touts and you'll see people trying their best to make an honest living. yes there's too much debauchery but there are also many many pure things to be found there. like the magnificent views of minarets from the mosques littered around that never fails to make me gasp in awe.

so there we were again, 3 years later. we had a ball of a time, and we cant wait to go again.... "next time with yr children ok"...mrs joe's parting words to us :)

mr & mrs joe - the lovely owners

the aptly named hotel :)

~ S$50 per nite

change

i suppose it's 18 days too late to be wishing everyone a happy new year. and kinda pointless to be doing reflections of the past year and resolutions for the next since the moment has come and gone. so i'll leave it at that.

and so my wish was fulfilled and i'm finally given a new posting...yeyy! it's not exactly what i had in mind but it's definitely way better than where i was before. the downside's that i've lost my partner-in-crime, my lunch buddy, my idea-bouncer and shopping partner, all at one go. that's the thing with postings and rotations. which used to scare me once. you get familiar with the colleagues around you and the working environment and before you know it, you have to start all over again.

so here i am in a new environment, if you can call being in another corner on the same floor different. then again you CAN call it different cos i'm now stuck in the middle of two very loud guys, one of whom thinks he's god's gift to women (which he's not). the dynamics here is different - it's a much bigger set-up and hence less cosy. but it's exciting and challenging, and it's in the thick of it all....so i'm raring to go!

in other news...i'm going off again next week, this time with the family. and we might just be going off somewhere for the cny hols next mth . suddenly the jet-setter arent i? :P

in other other news, i was suddenly struck by a huge 'maluuuuu' attack last night when i realised it's actually gonna happen. oh nooooo!!!!! *hides face in embarrassment*