Chrissy Eve is here

it's close to 3am and we just finished a quarter of the food preparation for tonight's dinner. i didn't help much. jas wanted me to rest after the shocking incident yesterday.

to you, my best shopping bud, plz don't take to heart if i did not invite you tonight. i know you don't like hanging out with the ocfers, though it's been countless times i've told you that they're harmless.

to others, plz don't take offense if we did not list you down on our guestlist. we did take serious consideration and we are not able to cater for any more than 15 people. there are only 2 of us making the bulk of the food.

and we haven't even started our christmas shopping. you know why if your present is late.

Embarassing Exit

It was time to tell my seniors that I was leaving. Though it's been 4 days since I handed in the letter, everyone was treating me as if I would see them next year...with the exception of a few whom I was closer to. But I waited till almost lunchtime before I went to them personally to say my last goodbyes and wish them well. Then, it was party time.

I must say it wasn't a generous party, considering that the guys were pretty disappointed that there were only 4 types of beer to choose from, and there was only one brand of wine for red and white. And the food nibbles were coming out so slowly that we resorted to standing near the kitchen to grab them. I didn't have breakfast today, so I was extremely hungry by now. The pace was just too slow for my tummy, churning and growling. Luckily the noise and chattering in the hall drowned it away. All I could do was stand around, chit chat and sip my white wine.

An hour into party, the region manager stood on the stage to say a few words, and we crowded into the hall. As usual, the thank yous and appreciation speeches were made and then, I couldn't hear. My vision started to fade. I wasn't able to stand, so I sat down on the cushion just behind me. I must be tired, I thought. I can't let people see me like this. I must find the toilet. I walked over to the bar, tripping and bumping into people. I was sorry but words couldn't come out. By this time, I was having a bad headache. I put my wine glass down and asked for directions to the toilet. I needed some fresh air. I headed to the foyer but before I could step out into the open air, I dropped on the floor.

I couldn't remember what happened. I fainted but was still conscious. A lady helped me sit up and put iced cloth over my forehead. I must have seen drunk to them coz at the slightest bit of alcohol, my face goes red. And believe me, I wasn't drunk with a consumption of half a glass of wine. Not long after, they called a cab on the company's expense and I was on my way home. What a way to end my last day in this company. Looks like I'll be remembered for longer than I anticipated.

Resignation

I handed in my resignation letter to my current company on Monday. Phew, it wasn't too bad. I knew my boss wasn't too happy, judging from his expression when I dropped the bombshell. But he sincerely wished me well. Geez, I must be one of the very few who have only worked there for such a short period of time. Into the blacklist book of records I go...

So this Thursday will be my last day...or rather work for half a day only. My company will be having a Chrissyy breakup party at lunchtime through to end of day. I must say I do enjoy what I've done so far in this company. Sometimes I do get bored doing individual section calculations in which I don't get to see the whole picture. Sometimes I appreciate it when I get sleepy or lazy. The brain need not think so much! Lazy bugger... but it was certainly a very good learning experience. Most of my colleagues in my department are so sweet and helpful. I couldn't have asked for anyone else to work with.

But I'm glad. I'm now quite excited to go to gong, preparing my move, arranging for the removalists to come, buying essential things just in case gong is so ulu that i can't find a nearby place to buy toothpaste! Even got my mum to send me a commentary bible just in case I didn't find a Christian support group or something. Yup, funny series of unfortunate events are running through my mind. What if this, what if that! Oh dear, I'm sounding like Jenny Chu already.

Gong it is...

Yup you heard me right. I've procrastinated long enough in deciding, simply because I didn't want to face my fears. The thought of going there not knowing anyone scares me more than a horror movie would. But God stretches out his arms and waves his magic wand...and pop! I received an email from a friend saying his sister and sister-in-law who are staying in gong are more than happy to help me settle there. Plus, they are full-on Christians serving in a nearby church called Southcity Christian Church or something along those lines. And I thought, yah great...that's a good start. But still, I don't know them. And I can switch on my anti-social behaviour when I want to, where I want to.

I will be leaving with a heavy heart. Lovely Melbourne, the cool weather, the trams, the good food, the company, friends, cell groups...I'm going to cry.....

Now I really appreciate the words "stepping out of your comfort zone". It's way too difficult to handle.

Chloe bit the vet. Ooops!

And she has plague and gingivitis too. Oh dear. I've pampered her too much, giving her gourmet wet food which doesn't really help in cleaning her teeth. And she's overweight too! Although I still don't think so. Oh well, she's on a strict diet now, no matter how much she purrs.

I met Ted & Solveig's cat after church. Quite a friendly cat, although he only let me hold him for a minute. He grabbed into my shoulders, or rather clawed into it. I felt it, but didn't think it was that bad. Solveig assured me that Teluse was only grabbing me coz he liked it. Haha...ok. I now have two punctures on my left shoulder, courtesy of Teluse.

And you must believe me when I say Christmas carols are difficult to sing.

Yay! I've hit more than 1000 visitors to my site. Haha...as if it's of anything to shout about. But yey! Hahaha...

Talking about "visitors", I recently found out that friends who read my blog quite regularly, don't leave their footprints behind. Oh with the exception of Ben Chia of course! And I thought none of my friends were reading what I wrote, maybe just strangers stumbling across my writings. But then again, these are thoughts and comments personnally made and expressed via the virtual world. So, it doesn't really matter if you think no one seems to be dropping by. It's your channel for expression, instead of knocking your head on the wall.

I recently met a colleague who has just migrated from Malaysia. I felt "saved" because quite frankly I was quite sick and tired of these bunch of Hongkie colleagues who kept on conversing in Cantonese, total ignorance of the fact that I was on the same table as them, trying to fit in. The only two Malaysian and Singaporean collegues in the group didn't help at all and continued laughing at the Canto jokes. They have nicknames in Canto for certain people in the company, some of which when directly translated can be quite hilarious. We have Mr Two Dollars and Mr Bankrupt. Try translating them into English names with Chinese surnames. If you get it right, a bar of KitKat is up for grabs! First come first serve!

Today it felt good when my colleague and I were talking in Malay. I think they felt out of place this time. At least they got a taste of their own medicine. But don't worry, we were talking about Gong so I couldn't bear for others to hear about it. The Malay talk was critical. But just talking to him made me feel comfortable. It's always good to talk to your own countryman so that you can whoosh out all your lah's and your sia's. So much more comfortable lah. We just clicked immediately, although he was originally from Sri Lanka, born in Malaysia and grew up in Singapore. Another "dan lain-lain" category...or maybe not.

Tomorrow big day for Chloe. She's getting jabbed.

Boo!

Taken at a lonely looking booth near Fed Square. No camera tricks involved!

Retail Therapy

what is it with girls and shopping?
why can't boys understand this other love
that so embraces us
comforts us
distresses us
puts everything to a halt
clothes and shoes are all we see

all you need is the energy
the passion
the walk
and most important
shopping kaki
money doest not need to come into the picture

dfo moorabin was fantastic
endless bends and cheeky shops
low prices for branded goods
no more retail stuff
one word sums it all
overpriced

smith st shopping was great too
found new shopping buds
in ah bu(carolyn), ah ying(elaine) and ah mok(siew min)
we walked until we couldn't walk
but we were satisfied
next week will be bridge road
=)

Simple Things in Life

simple things in life
can be made difficult
if you choose to be difficult

simple things in life
can simply be window shopping
with your best buddy
and shopping kaki
for hours and hours
it makes you forget
the long wait you endured
for public transport
to your heavenly haven

simple things in life
can simply be words
of love
of encouragement
of assurance
even though you think
that your best friend
or your girlfriend
doesn't need to hear it
but they do

simple things in life
can simply be at home
enjoying cooking
and doing the laundry
or playing with your cat
even though you know
the risk of getting scratched

simple things in life
can simply be picking up the phone
or talking on msn
having a chat

to put it simply
embrace what you have
treasure them
remember the good times
and the bad times
we fall
but we learn

Overtime

For the first time, I did overtime work today. I have never been rushed to finished off anything at work, until today. You can't run away all the time, you slacker! Not one, but two reports needed to be done. How exciting, NOT! One report needed data that was extracted from a software that nobody knew how to use. There I was, sitting at my desk, fiddling with the software trying to get it to do what I wanted it to do. When finally exported into Excel, it was a nightmare! All the numbers were so inconsistent that it was difficult to format the cells all together for a good client presentation.

Second report was in Word and I thought how hard could that be? It is hard when you have to edit someone else's work and they stuff up the formatting, especially importing graphs from Excel. Luckily, the "Print Screen" option was available as the last resort. Can't be bothered remembering how to copy graphs in the proper manner when you see the clock ticking away and your tummy grumbling.

But hey, I get paid for overtime. It was a good thing to see that the sky was still bright when I stepped out the building at 7.30pm.