About something or other....

About work: Ask me if I'm a "Jack of all trades and master of none" and the answer is a probable "YES". So many things to do but only that many designated work hours. I guess that is a kind of trade-of when I promised myself to be sure that I have a better work-life balance... not just to wake-up, work, eat, work some more, go home late, have a bite to eat, sleep, repeat the cycle... like how it was when I was in my previous job position.

Mental Note: No wonder so many people are saying that they have no time to meet people... work (read: modern corporate careers a.k.a. the rat race) has a bad habit of doing that to a person. Quite evident if anyone has been reading those Valentine's day social/trivial hubbub about speed dating, and other dating services, blah-blah...

About the sudden spurt of blog updates: Please thank my sudden need to output all of the things that have been playing in my head... and not just sticking to forcing myself to put up a blurb about some reality TV show, some movie(s), F1, and depressing thoughts about the workplace.

About something else altogether: Oh, I'm such an idiot! *slaps forehead* What's so hard about giving people my namecard? Hmm... maybe the job title on it sounds a bit too fancy but boss wanted mine showcased that way. But anyway, once again, I hereby confirm myself to be an idiot.

Mental Note: (1) Gotta stop being a git about it; (2) Stop making lousy excuses like, "Oops, sorry! I didn't bring it out with me today". (Pah!) Networking konon...

An Early Valentine Note

Ultimately... it's the thought that counts

Jumping back onto the fast track

Getting back to work after a long break has always been a headache but I'm one of the lucky people who can detach myself from worrying about what is waiting for me inside the dreaded inbox. I truly enjoy first then face the music only when I'm actually back in the corporate environment. :)

Among the hullabaloo of things in my bag was this bit about having to be at Shangri-La for a day-long event with regard to "Youth Enterprise (YE): Train the Trainers Workshop", on Weds.

Okaaay. Hah.

The event itself was interesting enough. All the attendees were people who will later be corporate/teacher advisors coaching school students on how to run a real company that has a manufacturing line. Mental note: Networking opportunity.

We went through the same workshops that needs to be duplicated and presented to the students, inclusive of a simulation where we were put into groups competing with one another to 'manufacture' picture frames and marketing it. Overall, it looks like everyone had fun.

Besides that, I think I also had a good laugh during lunch break when I ended up following a couple of Citigroup gals from my 'workshop group' to a table where other gals and a guy from Citigroup + a couple of teachers were parked.

One of the gals noticed that their guy pal had automatically asked the waiter to get a fork for me (I was happily eating with just a spoon and knife... someone else could have taken the fork that had been set on the table way earlier)... and decided it would be a good prank to say he was checking me out and wondering if he could have my number.

I bet you can all guess that the circus came to town then when everyone began to target the guy. He seems to be quite a sport since he soon joined-in on the uptake and pulled a fast one. It was hilarious! Eventually, the little pranksters decided to leave the table while I was finishing my desert... leaving just the guy and myself at the table. Nice one girls... however let's just say that small talk ensued and that was all.

Anyway, I'm sure we'll all meet again over the course of the 9-mth YE program and meet loads of other people along the way.

p/s: For example, I'm still getting to know the other volunteers from Agilent since many of us are new to one another.

A Long and Busy CNY Break

I was supposed to be on leave from 26 Jan (Thu) and go back to work on 6 Feb (Mon) but didn't find it unusual that I had to work from home on my first off-day for CNY.

Then of course mum began to nag me on when I would start my baking for CNY throughout the entire morning since I couldn't get off the computer until I'm done with the publication of the Jan toolkit.

It also seems that it has become part of a tradition for me to wrap-up my CNY baking and packing of the 'produce' right into the first hours of CNY. Btw, I only made "Coffee Shortcake" and "Jam Tarts" this time... was short on time to make a nice cheesecake.

Moving on, it appears that the weather this CNY is much more pleasant than last CNY's (it was extremely hot then). We also completed our visiting rounds within a record 3 days (normally it seems neverending to me)

And then on 1 Feb, I had a record of a Yee-Sang lunch with my family followed by 3 back-to-back evening gatherings with Chin2. The 1st was with the CGL gals I knew throughout my F1-F3 years at Starbucks (E-gate). The 2nd was with the XSC group at Mr. Ho's Fine Foods... and the last was at Bagan with my CGL F4-F5 classmates.

Bits of news from all the gatherings were: Dom who had planned from last year to get married in June this year has to pull in his plans 2 mths earlier since his fiance is now expecting. Doris is getting married in March and hen-night is at end-of Feb.

Getting home... it was time to pack for my trip to Hadyai with my parents (and some of their buddies+family) the next morning. Later, I realised I should have tried to sleep during the drive there but I got caught up with re-reading "Memoirs of A Geisha: A Novel" by Arthur Golden. I needed a refresher on the story since it's been at least 2 years since the last time I read it. Nope - haven't seen the movie yet.

Anyway, I managed to go for a foot massage that my dad deemed friendly for first timers since it wasn't one of those where you can scream out in excruciating pain. Needless to say I did quite a bit of shopping too and manage to get a nice white handbag with amber trimming, a good number of tops, and a couple of bottoms.

The selection of food that we had throughout the trip had been good but I'm quite hopeless with handling the level of spiciness there. I had to rely a lot on eating cucumbers, cold drinks, or the local cakes/deserts in resetting my tastebuds.

We got back in Penang on Saturday evening with just enough time to prepare to go for a dinner at uncle Dean's place.

And then... before I know it... it's time to get back to work... and that's another story.