R.I.P.

Dogs:
1. Mukasam
2. Poppy a.k.a. Tokai
3. Bobby
4. Scotty
5. Yen Yen
6. Snoopy
7. Lucky
8. Blackie
9. Mugsy

Cats:
1. Cindy
2. Tussy

Bird:
1. Chip Chip


In loving memories of all my pet dogs and 2 cats and a baby bird who had once lived hapily.
You will always be in my memory.

Resumed work today. Mom had undergone a 5 hours laproscopic* surgery at GMC on Tuesday. Surgery went well and mom recovered fast and got discharge on Thursday. Mom told me that she would not recommend this type of surgery to anyone as the post surgery pain was unbearable. But then again, I wouldn't have understood if I have gone through what she'd gone through and go through it all over again with the conventional method by going under the surgeon's knife. Only then, I could compare. But I am indeed thankful that mom had a speedy recovery. Amen.
*A reparative surgery done by making incisions at the abdomen or usually the navel.

Desperately seeking.....

I was desperately seeking someway or something to that could help to relief my stressful working life. Currently suffering from restlessness and difficulty in sleeping.
Until i found out from one of my colleague that she was suffering from the same problem. what a relief that im not the only one! I just bought this 'I-dont-know-what-herbs' from this pharmacy during lunch hour. It's in a form of capsules with dark brown pallets of "valerian" herbs inside. It's says "Traditionally used for the relief of restlessness and difficulty in sleeping".
Sounds promising.
I hope i cant sleep soundly tonight.

I am so suprise ! I am so touched ! He bought not 1 but 2 presents. I feeel so Luuurved...


This was last year's present.

Chinese New Year's Feast

It can't get any better than this. Back at home with mama and papa and bro, ang pows, the dynamic dual's ( mum & dad) scrumtuous BBQ (check-out pic below), homecooked food, mum's homemade goodies, sit at home watching Oprah and doing nothing...heaven. Im enjoying every bit if this. The sotong you see below is really yummy. Dad's new recipe. Its just fresh sotong barbequed with a dash of shoyu (can also be replaced with maggie light soy sauce). Fresh prawns barbequed just like that = yummy. There's lotsa other goodies too. We have crabs, mum's home made pork burger pati, chicken marinated in honey, black pepper lamb chop.

May the year of the Dog bring good health, immense wealth and great happiness to all my loved ones.

i wanna scream, i wanna run and hide, i wanna be strong, i wanna quit, no i can't quit, i can do this, it is me? or is it not me?, its so out of control.....
can one felt so out of control, so overworked so stressed out your brain just go blank and numb and all you can do is to wish that the earth would open up and swallow you in alive? can one also wish that one be transformed into a speck of dust so that the wind would blow one away in one guff and be vanished?
this is exactly what is going on inside my brain.
the expression on my face is deceiving, the tone of my voice does is deceiving, it does not reflect what im feelin'. inside me...argh! go away, don't disturb me, leave me alone, im busy, stop calling me, i wanna finnish my work and go home...
feelin' like one is all alone in an ocean drowning screamin' and no one would hear. this is insane, i can't work like this...something is not right...is it the system? or is it me?
"how is your learning process?" "she is a good teacher, but are you a good student?" dammit. what a crap. one is just learning to crawl and one is expected run.
paper work, work flow, write-ups, pointless reports...argh ! please give one a break...

in spite of all this...one actually believe one can make it through. One only need a think skin, a 'deaf' ear, a fake smile, a positive attitude and a belief that whatever bad things that happened it is a sign that great things are coming your way.

UOB Gala Dinner 2006 (6-7th Jan)

This year's Gala Dinner was held at Genting Highland. The theme for this year is Floral Night.

Teambuilding and Motivational Workshop on Saturday.

All set. Photo is taken inside Millie & Mei Lee's room. From left: Kar Mun, Millie, Rozie, Me.

At the Genting International Showroom where the Gala Dinner was held.

A performance by our colleagues from Southern Region Branch.

Christmas in Kuching

This year's Christmas was celebrated in Kuching. Arrived in Kuching on X-mas eve and checked-in to Kuching Hilton at about 1.30 pm. Hmm....Kuching is rather similar to Penang in a way cos there are lotsa green and blue (trees and ocean). Roads are bumpy, especially when you travel away from the city where the lands are swampy. I have to mention this cos my trip to the croc farm was the bumpiest ride i've ever had ! felt as though my inner organs gonna detached itself from my body. Anyway, it was a pleasant trip. here are some pics.

On Christmas Day. Getting on board a coach that will take us sightseeing for the day.

Sarawaks Cultural Village. Tourist's get to see and experience the long houses stayed by the different tribes. And this is me getting ready to cross the "bridge" to see all the houses. This bamboo bridge reminds me of my girl guiding years. Each of us are given a 'passport' to be stamped after you have entered the long houses. Each stamped will earn you a "kaki lang" status.

A wooded statue. Taken at the cultural village. Actually I have no idea what it's suppose to be and why is it so.

This photo was taken at the 'back yard' of one of the rumah panjang.

Going up to the rumah panjang. The stairs are quite steep. Actually a tourist crash landed on her backside while going down the stairs. These houses are not user friendly la.

At the crocodile Farm. This baby could be almost 10 feet long.

Cultural performance at The Cultural Village. It's a 45 minutes show showcasing sarawak's major tribe.

Went for dinner at a restaurant in SS2 today. First time there though and thought of exploring something new and that place looks rather nice and decent. the waitresses sound like japanese or korean.

me: we are having spagetti carbonana, pumpkin soup, pizza and mushroom soup.

5 minutes later

waitress 1: sorry. pizza and mushroom soup no more.
me: (feeling of dissapointment) it's ok. we'll have chicken spagetti and minestrone instead.
waitress 1: ok

3 minutes later

waitress 1: sorry. minestrone also no more.
me: ok. just 1 pumpkin soup will do for now.

10 minutes later, the waitress bring in chicken fetuccini and spagetti with lala

me: im sorry. but i did not order that one (finger pointing at the lala spagetti) i ordered fetuccini carbonara (finger pointing at the menu).

waitress 1 looks puzzled and returned bank to the kitchen. waitress 2 took over, another alien.

waitress 2: sorry our fettucini finished, can we give you penne?
me: ok. pls make sure its carbonara sauce.
waitress 2: ok

1 minute later waitress 2 came back with the same bowl of spagetti lala.

waitress 2: sorry. spagetti finnish
me: (felling a bit frustrated and pointing at the pasta page on the menu) you mean, all these are not available?

waitress 2 returned back to the kitchen and i thought of leaving already.
Finally they get what i ordered. Bill came out to RM47.50
Gave waitress 1 RM50. Waitress 1 happily gave the 50 bucks to the cashier obviously is not aware that she's suppose to give us back our change. Gosh ! don't even bother to ask. If i were to do that i would have ended screaming at her face.
Futhermore, there are few unanswered questions still linger in my mind. A trip to a restaurant couldnt get any more worse that this. And oh, that chicken fetuccini that we had is also not what we ordered. We ordered chicken SPAGETTI ! and when they said that their fetuccini had finnished why they gave us chicken fetuccini ?

cOcOmO

The time is 23:23. Just came out from shower and hair is still wet. So, while waiting for it to dry, thought of updating my blog on what happened today. Had a wonderful x-mas dinner at Cocomo located at Damansara Perdana with Datuk and Datin. The restaurant is owned by Datin who is also a great chef. Dinner started off with a starter of tuna pastry and onion soup, followed by main course stuffed turkey with baked potatoes and cranberry sauce with free flow of red wine. Our dessert was traditional x-mas mint pie and pudding followed by coffee or tea and another round of dessert of chocolate log cake.
The log cake is Cocomo's specialty and i promise it is REaLLy ReallY yummy. Datuk had invited carolers to add x-mas cheers. *yaWn* Gosh my hair is still wet. Argh...going to sleep anyway.

Ah Tiau & Jikor's 60th Birthday Bash

Last Friday (9/12/05) 2nd aunt and uncle in Klang celebrated their 60th birthday with a BANG! The party was held at Sheraton Subang with 250 guests invited mostly relatives. Dinner started with speech from all my 4 cousins, followed by my uncle. Wonderful and well written speeches. Nothing is complete with a cake cutting ceremony, champaign pouring and YAMMM SEEENG session! Lotsa yam seng around and everyone especially uncle had a GREAT time. Oh, i must complement the band for playing wonderful evergreen songs.
But Im a lil' dissapointed as i have forgotten to bring along my camera to snap those memorable momments. But i managed to snap few pic the next day when me, mum and pa went shopping at Starhill, and 1-U.

Me and pa at 1U. This year's deco a bit dissapointing with the face wooden x-mas trees.


mum and pa

mum and me at starhill gallery

Farewell

Last Tuesday was the official farewell party for Lynn (standing and wearing a blue blouse). She is going to migrate to Australia after working with UOB for 5 years. Sweet, gentle and one of our top sales lady and she is also my 'sifu'. Till me meet again, may you have a wonderful like in ozzy.

Nothing is complete without a glass of wine. More excuse to drink for this bunch of alcholics.

Lynn: seated, first person on your right.

Port Klang Seafood

Last Monday was seafood fiesta as Port Klang. About an hour drive from the branch at PJ. Its a very scenic place and the restautant is actually on the sea or river (whatever). Its dark and i can see few sampans and wooden bridge and water underneath. Restaurant name is Bayu something. It was a farewell dinner for our colleague, Lynn.

My colleague. He obviously had too much wine.

It's amazing that all of them still know where to smile after all the wine tossing session.

Cheese !

Restoran Talipon

Last Sunday went to Kuchai Lama for BBQ steamboat. 2 people known to me said that its CNG (cheap and good). Being a typical me, went off to hunt for the place. Success rate is 50-50, considering the fact that i don't know where is kuchai lama...never been there....worst, the person who said its nice has forgotten the name of the restaurant. Not a damn clue whether its at Jln Kuchai Lama or some small lorong off Jln Kuchai Lama. Its like a needle in a haystack.
Anyway, we found the place. Plenty of choices. But personally think that food and place are not hygienic and whaoooo....nyamuk banyak, especially under the table. Next time have to wear long pants and sapu insect repellent !

Saisaki Restaurant

Had a wonderful buffet dinner at Saisaki Restaurant. Located at Menara UOA II, 5 minutes walk from KLCC . Highly recommended to anyone and everyone who enjoy japanese yummies. Besides all the yummies and colourful and mouth watering sushies, they certainly had one of the best unagi in town. And oh....the salmon.
Check out these pic !

Mandy and Me

all smiles after 5 rounds of sushi

This picture was taken before the sake

this is her 2nd time here and lovin' it

When you Wish Upon A Star

I do believe that when terrible thing falls upon you, it is a sign that great things are coming your way. Yes, i really do :)
They say, when u see a shooting star, make a wish and your wish will come true. Some thinks that its just fairytale, most are not so lucky to have seen one. I have been lucky to have seen one many years ago. And yes, my wish did came true.

Dreaded to start work on Monday morning. Don't really know why. Maybe, i am starting to hate my job. Still struggling with so many things at work...product knowledge, work process, procedures, so many alien legalterms and words, BlablaBLablABLAblaa....there are moments when i felt like pulling out all my hairs from my scalp. This is really a test of my patience and stress management skill.
This afternoon had a very boring lunch with boss, my colleague and 2 lawyers. Veryyyyyyy looong lunch and topic of conversation was boooooorrrriinggggggggg. Should have find an excuse to 'escape'.

Selamat Hari Deepa Raya

It's that time of the year again. Where everyone's have a great time eating and celebrating. Most of the city folks have already balik kampung last weekend and more tonight. As for me, im not gonna join in the rush. Will take this opportunity to enjoy the quietness of the city that hardly comes by. Oh, im gonna miss veena's deepavali open house again. Her mom's chicken and turkey and lamb curry are simply out of this world. Not to mention her muruku, papadam, roundround balls, ah, the list goes on.
HAppy Deeparaya to all who are celebrating and not celebrating.

Absence make the heart grow fonder

Went back to penang last week for 4 days. Miss mum and dad and bro veeerry much. Mostly spent quality time with mum and dad, went jalan-jalan doing nothing important. I have realized that being away from one's family actually makes one feel even more close when they're together. Ironic but it is.
Also manage to have tea with the gals on Sun. cp's just moved so me, kpl, qal visited his new apartment. Also visited kpl & shawn's apartment. Very nearby. In fact, if we stand at either one of their balcony, we could see each other. But might need a binoculars.

My first day at Credit Department

Arrived at the branch at 8.47 am. Planned to arrived earlier so that i could organised my stuff neatly before work start. BUT, couldn't get a good night sleep last night. Was working on sat and sun as well. Anyway, i was early. Chris ("si tau") was there already (like usual). Met our 2 management trainees who reported to work today. May Cy gave me a quite detailed intro to our iHL package. Next will be FlexiMortgage. It has been a mentaly exausting day for me today. And this is only the BEGINNING........

Change is Good

Phew! been pretty hectic week for me. First of all, I'll be transferring to credit department next week. No more SDB. Don't know whether to cry or laugh. But I always welcome change. Change is good. My new portfolios consist of retail and commercial lending. My colleagues conducted a briefing yesterday till 7.30pm and i'm sad to say that i merely understood what are they saying. Most of the time i can see a BIG imaginary light bulb on top of my head. Sigh Sigh Sigh.
But change is good. My conversation with another colleague:
colleague: "mei lee, I nampak u macam cendawan la."
me: "cendawan? apa pasal cendawan pulak?!"
colleague: "sebab macam cendawan, kalau ia dibuang ke mana-mana, ia akan tumbuh. Ia tak akan mati."
me: "hmmm.....betul ke? tapi janganlah buang I kat tengah laut. Mati I. haha."
I thanked her for giving me confidence to take up my new job.