... (dont read this if you're feeling happy & good today!)

reminder again: dont read this if you're feeling happy and good today.

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sometimes, you just lose so much faith in people around you that you choose not to believe them anymore. worse, you put them at the back of your mind and every little thing they do irritate the hell out of you. of course, i may not be the most appreciative person on earth, but i'm hell sure better than most. ha, i have an issue; and maybe, a serious one.

since im on this, i might as well vent my frustrations & negativity at a go.

yes, i may also be the one who have the most flexible working schedule, but having this doesnt mean that i can fork out time as and when i want. know why? it's because im still accountable to myself. thus, when i really does make an effort to set aside time to enjoy something i look forward to with the people dear to me, being told that it's cancelled last minute is worse than a prospect's aeroplane (i.e. arranged but no turn-up). when you are complainin that i dont put in the effort to meetup, remember that im the only one without a basic pay. when you are lamenting about how come i can only turn up so late, please be appreciative that i bother to turn up.

if you answer is 'er, so?' or 'is it my problem that you choose to work?' then perhaps, we shouldnt even be friends in the first place. it's all about giving each other support isnt it?

not particularly referring to anyone; just an outbreak of accumulated thoughts that i've gathered and have managed to 'forget' and be at peace with since as long as i started out with this career. somehow, these thoughts were dug out a few days ago when shit happens and it all came back to me again.

if you feel that im referrin to you, then perhaps im referring to you. take it positively, communication is 2 way, at least im taking the first step to tell you what is bothering me.

upset.
perhaps, im just being a paranoid arsehole.

brian, somewhat, i think im going to have lesser friends too. haha.

catching-up.

just finished 2 rounds of mj games with chang, kj & gracie, and i must say that we are pretty fast today yah. good job guys!

havent seen the gang for quite a while, so it is good to see them today! and what's more, we are at our favourite mahjong! =) sorry guys, cos playin with me is usually an after-1030pm affair; thus, play late, end late also la.

lookin forward to our coming mthly outing @ lunar, or perhaps elsewhere as suggested by kj! till then.

Re: Where is the love???

Was reading yunn's entry and definitely, i agree with the big budget of holding a wedding and all yeah. as to where is the love? my stand is to each his own yah. of course, all girls will have their own lavish dream weddings and parties. however, isnt love about each other? take another view point, planning through the whole wedding can be romantic too i guess (even though there will be conflicts and disagreements)? shopping through the wedding lists and furnishing of the new place can be romantic too right? some couples love each other enough to hold a simple wedding with their limited budget. some couples love each other enough to only want to share their joy within themselves and go overseas to get married. some couples love each other enough to want to share their joy with everyone they know, hence the big wedding and big budget. right right? er, too mushy for me though. heck, guess im tryin hard to justify.

alright, i admit im not a romantic. since we are stayin in singapore, let's just be practical. in fact, the roommate and i came up with a list of marriage & wedding expenses for our clients a couple of months ago and to tell the truth, it's scary.

this is what we came up with:

1. Meet the Parents
- Dowry, 四点金 (depends on tradition)
- 过大礼 (suckling pig and all, depends on your parents and in-laws)
- Pastries for relatives

2. ROM
- Wedding bands
- Reception or ROM packages
- Solemnizer and registration costs
- And for some, engagement ring

3. Photoshoot
- Photo Albums
- Photoshoot Sessions
- Extra costs if photoshoots are done overseas

4. Tea Ceremony
- Ang Baos
- Buffet reception for relatives

5. Actual Day & Wedding dinner
- Gowns & Suits (if not included in photoshoot package)
- Photographer for AD (if not included in photoshoot package)
- Cameraman & Multimedia ( usually friends)
- Make-up artist
- Car rental (if necessary)
- Make up artist
- Ballroom services (e.g. projector)
- Live bands?
- Expenses and corkage for liquors and wine
- And of course, costs of tables for banquet & ballroom

6. Honeymoon
- Costs of trip & expenses

7. New home!
- Cost, downpayment, loan interest, loan term, monthly repayment
- interior designer
- renovation
- furnishing

above is a very general estimation and of course, some items on our list are not applicable to every couple and can be omitted. btw, we gathered our sources from the respective forums and some websites yeah. haha. fyi, singaporebrides.com provides quite good references for all matters in relation to plannin for a wedding and all.

judgin from the lists above, perhaps that's why more and more young couples plan their actual day over a span of 2-3 years due to costs issue. another fyi, hdb aka the gahmen does give allowance for couples below 30 to fork out lesser downpayment yeah. only 10%(5+5) instead of the original 20% (10+10). as far as im concern, the lesser downpayment is applicable to new flats, not sure bout resale. guess this can be a subtle form of support too?

conclusion, the love is still around. ha.

another random post...

a new buy today - a white top from ness. i haven't spent much on shoes and clothing these days yeah; not that im not interested but ya know, i've to tighten my purse and all these days. recession is coming. everyone, please start to save a bit more money so that we can all buy cars & properties in 2009, 2010.

according to very reliable source, there's an increase of sellers of their condos in the market now due to the deflating economy. soon, there will be more selling off not only their properties but their cars as well. when the supply > demand, simple micro-econs tell us that prices will dive lower and lower. and of course, the stock market is kinda cui now. to people who have landed arms and legs into it, they either realize their losses now or hold and wait for economy to rebounce. for those who have stored cash in their banks, next yr may jolly well be a good time to go in. even fund prices have dropped back to where they were in 2005-2006.

sometimes, i wonder why the rich gets richer. and in fact, recession provides very good opportunities for the rich to increase their wealth expotentially. e.g. recession= prices low= buy properties to invest=rent out/hold till 4-5 yrs later=the property market bloom again=sell off your property. at least 100% profit. sounds simple? yes. but do u have the money? if no, then wait for the next cycle 10 years later.

back to my top, nice especially the buttons at the back. ha, very exquisite design.

of cake and cupcakes! it was mummy's bday on thurs, thus i got a fruit cake from polar. was cake-shopping around in bugis and i had wanted to get the cake from four leaves as they sell really tasty cakes. however, they were only left with the bigger cakes. was quite reluctant to get 1 from breadtalk though cause i had quite bad impressions of their cakes. finally i got the below from polar, looks good but the mango is damn sour la! so nope, no more next time.

btw, do you know that crystal jade sells sweet-looking cupcakes??? was pleasantly surprised when i saw them arranged prettily in the fridge, super tempting. so, i bought 2 for the roommate. grin. i think it's great treats for clients yah. i believe pretty things always brighten up my day, and i hope the same goes for everybody. =)

took this photo at AMK hub's MOS burger a few days ago. im not sure if the patrons are allowed to 'decorate' this piece of wall, is this vandalism? haha, but it's quite arty-farty to look at from afar yeah.

this is how i spent my free time on the trains and waiting for clients recently, spot the difference! i love this game, cos it's a no brainer and i've only got to use my eyes to spot the differences between 2 pictures. easy and highly entertainin. hee, most of you should know, i dont think much. thus, my favourite phrase is officially '我不知道'!

randomness

i like to take random photos recently; photos of interesting stuff i see on the streets, photos of interesting structures and all. =) it's a funny feeling when you see something that catches your eyes on the streets and nothing seems to be able to stop you from clicking an image of it. at that instance, i feel like a tourist. and im happy, not sure why?

so far, im always in office wear when i fish out my camera to take these interestin photos. there was this time when i was walkin from keypoint to the bus-stop and a building stopped me in my tracks. beautiful structure. (will upload the pic next time) but the people around were givin me weird stares though, haha.

one street that never fails to wow me is arab street. try walking through it the next time you're around the area. it's a part of singapore that i believe most of us, especially chinese, have never visited. the street doesnt even seem that it's located in singapore. given my limited vocab, i guess the word is nostalgic. =) in case u're wonderin why i was there, i walked through it so to get to beach road from bugis yeah. hee.

this is one i took while walking from city hall to plaza by the park yah. notice the 'singapore art museum' sign and the flow of the general traffic? isn't it amazing that the signage is placed in a position that NO cars can see? this is definitely my first thought yeah. haha.

foodie time!
went to billy bombers @ cathay with the roommate. their cookies & cream milkshake is super-duper yummilicious!!!! it's the BEST i've had so far, rich, creamy and yesh, fattening. anyway, billy bombers serve great food yeah. oh, and their waffle is quite good too! =)

cravings...

i have a sudden craving for booze, not the usual beer but some real solid whiskey.

dont ask me why, ha.

yesterday was spent hiding-out at home. dont ask me why too, just dont feel like goin for work. last week was quite a disappointment, not productive. i know i shouldnt look back, i know i should move on, thus i went back to work today.

"yesterday was history, tomorrow is mystery.
today is a gift."

count your blessings each day, im glad im alive. =)

百万大赢家 at ONEº15!

Yeah, my group earns ourselves a yacht trip at Oneº15. grin, even though we were out at sea for only 4 hours, the time spent was great! glad that it was all sunny when we set off, cos it was raining quite heavily just less than 3 hours before.

photos time!

anyway, we went to the pool in the club after we got back to shore. guess what, the pool water is warm la. immediately, the partner said 有钱人就是不一样，连 swimming pool 的水都是温的. i agree with her totally.

our conclusion: we are still too young and poor to slack and waste our lives away.

more photos to come!

random thoughts

last week was a rather disappointing week, with aeroplanes and non-productivity. at this rate, when am i going to clear my 2nd osaka ticket and macau? sulks.

but...but...but i won some money during mahjong yest. grin, been long since i played. still, i simply love this game and of cos, winning some money just made it lovelier. this is human nature. why do i love playing mahjong so much?

1. it's super entertaining and kills time efficiently
2. it challenges my brain cells
3. it's a good form of get-together session (selfish though, cos only 4 person can play the same game)
4. it's addictive
5. it brightens my day when im feeling down

im counting down to 2pm as i type this post, for the Oneº15 for the incentive trip on big boss's new yacht. =)

will update soon!

healthy lifestyle!

has been leading a pretty healthy lifestyle ever since i got back from the ABC course. and just yest, we went badminton-ing, grin. the whole session was simply tiring, hectic, and fun! and perhaps, funny too. haha. anyway, i tried playing badminton with my left hand for the first time. it was quite cool though cos we could all hit the shuttlecock nevertheless, just that it's a lil tough to start. er, if u get what i mean? the roommate and partner should try badminton-ing with their left hands the nxt time. =)

ace was a bit late yest, so no larger pics of him here but still can see. haha, the one in red lo.

i talked bout challenging the 5km run in the previous post yah and guess what, i did that with my brother less than 2 hours ago. he's definitely a slave-driver, period. seems like jogging can help relieve stress too, though i thought swimming suits me more. reason being , i could do more self-talk during a good swim. =)

last quarter of the year, time to work harder yeah.

updates II

been long since i last typed something, thought i should be a more committed blogger yeah but ya know...

i've been busy at work, period. little did i know that when i thought i just had to do a bit more to complete my sept, oct came a bigger surprise. of cos, the positive and good thing out of this is that i not only get to go to osaka, kyoto's part of the package too. so oct, yeah oct, yes oct..er, here i come.

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i went for Run for Hope @ east coast park last sunday, and it was my virgin run/jog event. woke up to an unearthly hour of 625am even thought the roommate's place is only a stone throw from ecp. kiasu-ism. in fact, kiasuism came from me cos im afriad that there will be a huge jam or worse, no parking spaces if we arrived too late. the 4km run was fine, completed the routine without much difficulty yeah, think the next challenge will be the 5km run, haha.

anyway, met brian there. read more bout his entry on his blog! =)

my new haircut, really short. the last time i had such short hair would be way back during sec sch days yah. no particular reason why i cut it shorter, so dont come asking me why, how come and such, hee. =)

anyway, today's our incentive day. first up a hearty meal @ xo fish bee hoon with the usual yummilicious prawn paste chicken, kailan, prawn roll, the 三捞 hor fun and of cos the famous xo fish beehoon, then drove to heart springs for back massage and lastly, to vivo gold class for mama mia! for peeps who love their massage to be pain, pain, pain or require their masseurs to have more strength, heart springs is great for you. even though i deem myself to have quite a high tolerance for pain, the massage was definitely pain pain pain (brazilian wax also not so pain). my colleague and my fav phrase was undoubtedly 轻一点 throughout our ordeal. but the shoulder area was quite shiok when she massaged. amazing that joel didnt inch a bit while moon and i were always instructing the masseurs to be 轻一点, think she has an even higher tolerance.

one particular interesting conversation betwwen moon and the masseur.
moon: 轻一点
masseur: 我都还没有出到力！

then gold class @ vivo, this is my 3rd or 4th time im in vivo gold class already and of cos, all were incentives. i dont think the roommate and i will ever pay to watch a movie in gold class, freaking expensive for a movie. ya know, things like what if the movie isnt worth watching in gold class and all? and the nachos and drinks dont come as part of the package. so im glad that the organization throws us with incentives and all. talkin bout incentives, im still pretty sore that i missed the duck tour by a little while the roommate went quack-quacking to the duck tour with the rest. but it's ok, forward looking yah. >.< class =" great">

realized that till now, the gold class pictures werent uploaded individually? cos i did a collage for it, hee picasa is the way to go. one minus point though, the pictures are quite small yah. or perhaps, i should go explore the software a bit more to see if i can post a larger collage the next time!

lookin forward to the yatch trip @ 1degree 15 nxt week. =)

foodie time! went nectarie last night again with the roommate. irish coffee walnut cake, marvellous if you love nuts. =)