Friday morning

We slept at 1am & I got up @ 5.30am, not being able to get back to zzz thereafter. And you know why. Hubby got up @6 & left for airport 15mins later.

It's an indescribably funny feeling.. all of a sudden I felt I was going to fight alone. Hubby has indeed kept his promise in walking me through the journey to getting my license. He chauffeured me to & from the school without fail, not even once, & waited patiently for me during thr 100mins lesson, in total 3500mins... that's not including the first test & those evenings I did e-revision in school for my advance theory. Initially I did feel a fair bit of disappointment when I knew his trip coincided with my test. But it didn't take me too long to realise that I've taken his support for granted. Most of the people I saw at the school went there by themselves... almost everybody's doing that. I'm the one who's been very spoilt by hubby. I largely, if not solely, rely on him in helping me to press on. If he didn't spoonfeed me with all the info & bring me to sign-up for the course, I'm sure I'll still be procrastinating now.

So, I want to say a big THANK YOU to my honey.. & tell him "We've made it!"

TPPT, Round 2

I passed I passed! :D

Seriously I thought I couldn't make this time round again. During the revision on Thurs night, I started to commit all kinds of mistakes in the circuit which I shouldn't be making by then, like kept forgetting to shift to reverse gear for my parking/directional change, failed to look out for some of the points when doing the courses, incorrect positioning... And because it's only my 2nd time driving the new car, I couldn't master the half-clutch and the engine stalled time & again (I couldn't feel the very little vibration & when I really feel it, it's near stalling). I was also very restless.. eg. when waiting to turn out (from the school) to the road, my mind was so occupied that I didn't realise the car in front had moved off long ago. Only when my instructor, who was busy writing then, discovered & asked me whether I was dreaming!

Then the warm-up session just before the test was even worse. Not only did I stall the engine for several times & make the same mistakes like the previous night, I also nearly hit the pole when doing my parallel parking (I'd never ever knocked or even touched one throughout my lessons). If the warm-up instructor didn't stop me in time, he'd have to go & pick it up. I guess he must be thinking "wa siao liao.. this testee cannot make it leh" as he said "now don't think so much already lah, since you already booked the test... just think that you are taking uncle out for a ride lor." Ya man.. if only it is as easy as it sounds. The warm-up instructors do monitor who pass the test. When I was waiting in the room for my warm-up session, one instructor came in & announced "one passed!".. then the rest said "ok 4 more to go..". They also talked about some funny/strange cases of the testees. Made me even more nervous.

I can't describe how disheartened I was by my own performance & I prayed to God.

After the "lucky" draw (of testers) & other stuff.. the test started. Very amazingly, again I wasn't nervous (like during my 1st test), thank God! The engine stalled once, when I was about to do my 1st course in the circuit, & the tester let out a big sigh. What a start. But still I was calm enough. This uncle was very nice.. though he liked to say "go lah go lah / what you waiting for? / can go already still don't want to go!?..." And I would go "sorry sir sorry sir". Tactics taught by my instructor. He reminded me again & again, not to talk back.. whatever it was, just say sorry sir & tolerate for 30mins. Hehe.

After the 30mins test, I followed him to the TP room upstairs. He asked me a few questions, like whether it's my 2nd attempt & why I failed the 1st time. I was trying to guess would he pass me or would it like the 1st time (when I thought I did rather well too). Then he told me I did quite ok in the circuit and what I did wrong. Next I saw him ticked some boxes in the checklist (mistakes committed) & finally in the PASS box. Wow! At that moment I felt like screaming! And I couldn't thank him enough. Got 10 points - 6 in the circuit & 4 on the road.

A Small Interlude

Last Thurs morning at Park Hyatt's lobby, was waiting & looking for the delegation of old men when I noticed someone who's like 3 metres away, my 2 o'clock, smiling in my direction. As my own action (the quick glance) was too quick for me to process, I only realised he looked familiar after 1 or 2 seconds. I then took another brief look at him & realised he's Edmund Chen. So I turned back to see whether someone he knew was standing behind me but nope, nobody. Know what's my reaction? I walked a lil further away from him and pretended I didn't know it's him. Maybe he overheard me talking to my boss and knew I was from Singapore too so he's happy? But mostly I guess I was over-sensitive.

That afternoon while we're having press conference, there's a power failure which landed all of us in complete darkness for more than 20 seconds. I was very upset about the lack of attentiveness (it's another long story.. & so much for the best & most expensive hotel in town). Went to the hotel reception to address the issue & I saw Chen again. Under normal circumstances, if I were to bump into another Spore citizen in a foreign land, I'd have talked to him/her excitedly & would even complain about the blackout problem. But nope, eventually I still decided to be non-chalant about his presence though we're of such proximity each time.

The fact is, all along I never like to behave like a fan.. perhaps I've seen how smitten some fans could get & it's quite unsightly. And after 1 particular instance, I am now even more indifferent (or at least appear to be). About 2 years ago when I went lunch with a colleague in Parco, we saw 2 famous HK stars & 1 local upcoming (then) artist who were filming there. Naturally it attracted a very huge crowd. We'd a close look briefly when they passed us & I just carried on to where we wanted to go. But my dear colleague wanted to stay & watch. Just when she's about to squeeze into the crowd & me grumbling behind & waiting for her, there's this rude man from the filming crew shooed all of us off in a very loud & harsh tone.. & the crowd wasn't even making much noise. I was like "please lor.. what's so big deal about it!" & blamed my colleague for the mistreatment I'd think I don't deserve.

I've chanced upon quite a few local & overseas celebrities in Parco as it's a hot venue for filming & events and somewhere else too. I have to admit I'm as curious but I won't take more than 3 brief glances (depending on his/her popularity, hehe).

° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °

Like said before, I returned on Fri. Apart from the routine of picking up a pack of Hoegaarden @ DFS which already took some time as there's a long Q at the cashier, still waited long for the luggages. I was getting a lil impatient & while I turned to look at hubby who's already waiting at the exit, I saw Chen passed my back & stood right next to me, waiting for his baggages as well. This time round, after a while, there I started...

Me: "We stayed in the same hotel in Vietnam."
Chen (looked at me as if trying to recall): "Oh yes! I just saw you this morning (eh.. I don't remember seeing him again on Fri morning when I went out for a meeting & I thought he's just being nice even if he couldn't recognise)..... you at a seminar in the hotel yesterday right (right-on! the last thing I want was to embarrass myself in front of so many onlookers. Phew.)?"
Me : "Yes."
Chen: "Going there for work?"
Me: "Yes."

Just then, I got my 2 luggages & told him "ok, see you around!" & off I rushed to hubby.

After nearly 3 months' break...

I went for my 1st driving revision last evening. My test'll be on this Fri and I've only signed up for 2 lessons. Yesterday & tomorrow evening. Not that I don't want to practise more but I've been busy with work lately & I didn't dare to book too many lessons in case I couldn't make it.

Actually I couldn't wait to meet my instructor, Rav, as I wanted to pour out what's been bottled up for 3 months! I want to know what I experienced, was it normal? Rav wanted to know what went wrong too. The moment he looked at the name of my tester, he gasped out "orh... him ar.." then gave me a sympathetic smile.

Me: "please tell me he's a mean person..."
Rav: "ya, he's known for being difficult one.. very ON one.. aiya you got him ar.. (another round of soft, sympathetic laugh)"

Well.. that's all I wanted to hear. Rav said the monday after my test, the 1st thing when he saw Mr P (my warm-up instructor that day) in the morning was to ask him whether I passed. Mr P told him that I did pretty well during the warm-up session & it shouldn't be a problem to pass but didn't know why I failed. Rav said just 1 or 2 weeks ago Mr P still asked about me. As he looked through, he's quite surprised I was penalised on all the small lil mistakes, except for the unjustified "flickering green arrow" part. And the 4 points I got in the circuit was when I did my parallel parking (now I know), not the vertical parking stunt which I was demanded to perform.

After stopping for such a long time, I was a lil rusty in the circuit. It didn't help at all that I was driving the brand new Honda City for the first time as they have changed all the test cars to the new City 2 months ago, shortly after my 1st test. I'm starting to worry now.. as I gotta be oriented with the new car & there're also some changes on the roads too. No choice.. will have to try fully utilise the remaining 100mins to get myself familiarised with the changes.

Tell myself to take it easy.. as I'm not the only one who's going through things like this.

By the way, hubby won't be around on that day. Very coincidentally his company trip falls on this weekend and he's to leave early morning. Hmm :(

Back from Vietnam

I'm back! Yes I've survived another round of "battle". Can't believe it's been a year when last year's experience is still fresh in my mind. And we fondly remember the wonderful 8-day France trip which was the result of the overloaded stress.

Left for Hanoi on 13th May morning. That afternoon, hubby's ah gong passed away (we visited him the day before I left) & I wasn't able to attend the funeral. Felt truly bad about it but thankfully, I have very supportive hubby & very understanding inlaws.

Returned from HCMC on Fri. So glad & relieved that everything's over.

This year's was much better for me as things were more or less in place when I left for the trip. Had very successful press conferences (attended by nearly 30 reporters & 2-3 tv stations) in both Hanoi & HCMC.. so far it's the 1st that I've handled with such overwhelming response. Had very good attendance for the cocktail parties too.

A group pic after the HCMC event at Park Hyatt Saigon.. to wrap up the week's program. From left: boss, the Vice President, External Dept Mgr, me & the Area Mgr (whom I'm working closely with). As you can see, am swamped in a group of.. erm.. men with seniority. So you know how fun it can be for me ;)

2D Getaway

It was a very extended weekend for us. We took leave on Mon (30/4) to make it a straight 4 work-free days!

A last minute decision (too much work for both of us so weren't too sure whether could get away from work for a day) which makes it a even more cherishable break for us as it's not very easy for us to take that 1 day leave.

Planned to go for a 3D2N short trip.

First we considered Hong Kong but opted out eventually due to several reasons. 1) we would prefer to go there in a cooler weather 2) the hotel rates were sky-high for the month of April.. a S$200+ hotel in normal days could go as high as S$450+ in April! With my fussiness in accomodation, I think the damages would be too huge. 3) the good flights were all taken.

Also considered Batam as hubby enjoys special package from his company @ Turi Beach. But I wasn't too keen. Besides Turi Beach sounds quite passé (no?), we went to Harris Resort 2 years ago with parents, sis & family. Nothing fantastic, the seaside was totally unappealing... had a seafood dinner nearby which's way too overpriced. And they called it seafood.. should call it a stalefood dinner & we felt like a big "carrot head".

Then it's Bintan. We didn't mind going back. Got my 1st tan there 3 years ago when we stayed 2 nights @ the sea-facing Bintan Lagoon. Missed the fun of relaxing on the beach (with beach chairs all over) & moments of chasing fishes in the clear sea water. But on the days of our intended departure, only late afternoon ferries were available. To pay so much but could only get there in the evening, it's a waste. So, dropped the idea as well.

So it's further reduced to some local retreat. Were deciding among The Sentosa Resort (ex Beaufort), Fullerton & Conrad.. eventually chose the last. And it was truly a retreat for us!

Here're the 2 friends that welcomed us when we arrived in the room:

Yellow Rubber Duckie

And the cute lil Conrad bear which we brought home :)

한국 한국 !

I really hope we can go Korea some time this year.. perhaps at the end of the year... If the trip can be realised, a 3-day visit to North Korea shall be added to the itinerary too. It'll be interesting and definitely an eye-opener.

In case you don't know, there's no direct flight between North & South Korea. So the routing would be Singapore-Beijing-North Korea-Beijing-South Korea-Singapore.

Philippe (boss' good friend in Seoul), who's also ventured into the North Korea tour business, will help to make all arrangements. Due to the connecting flight timing, a night in Beijing will be needed. According to Philippe, to travel between Seoul & Pyongyang takes 22 hours! And he does this every month! That's pretty incredible right? However heard from him that there'll be some improvement in the flight timing soon. We can in fact make use of the chance to explore Beijing by staying over for 2 nights. I don't mind at all since the last time I been there was 13 years ago. I'm sure it's very different now. But then... provided that we've 10 days to spare all in all.

It's even better if we could go in a group of, say, 6 or 7. We'll have our own tour to N.Korea.

Oh boy.. I'm so very tempted!

All Weeknights Occupied

Last Mon, had a dinner gathering with cousins SM & HW @ 1 of the restaurants in Raffles City basement. Enjoyed the food & the catch-up.. a pity that it's too short. Still a long way to go being Mon night, we didn't want to end it late. Poor hubby.. took the opportunity to stay back & work but still gotta wait for me for more than an hour. He must have been real tired yet he's ever so patient... after these years.

Tue, dinner & fetch mum from cell group.

Wed, went to Ah gong's place in Bishan for dinner as my mum-in-law was there.

Thurs, hubby & I had a very nice BBQ dinner @ Gyu-Kaku, especially like the high-cal pork belly. Hmm.. sinful sinful..
My dining experience will never be complete without my honey ;) This has inspired us to do a couple-BBQ at our place 1 of these days.

Fri, drinks with PY & her sweetheart, Brian @ Ink Bar. A good 3-hour drinking & chatting. We'd agreed to do a double-date of BBQ together soon (instead of just the 2 of us)... + some time by the pool too. Looking forward to it!

Ms Missybe

Yepyep! I'm one of the Spokespersons for Missybe :)

All I have to do is to wear the jewelry as often as possible... & of course to convey any feedback, if there is.

Received my first piece last month... it's a very nice necklace. All thanks to Constance & her business partner+best friend.. hee.

Love the teardrop crystals.. a very unique piece. But still trying to figure out what to wear so as to match well with it.

Awaiting this month's "model" piece - a pair of matching earrings!

Weekend of Family Days

Last Sat, we went 扫墓 ... 4 destinations & a lunch (in-between) took 4 hrs+. After that, bro & family came home with us till dinner. BIL & Rachel rejoined us for a quick dinner @ Causeway Point (sis working).

Sunday.. hubby's company's Family Day @ Jurong Bird Park. We're told that there'd be about 8,000 people showing up but only 200+ parking lots! So hubby & his boss & some colleagues had arranged to meet early in the morning.. 15 mins before the event started. It's a hot hot day & very crowded! Quite fun though... took a walk together & looked at some birds/orange cranes/hawks.. had an interesting conversation with his boss' wife on make-up (she attended a bridal make-up course). Hubby & I love the penguins too.. hehe. The group of us left just after 2pm, after staying for about 5 hrs. Before going home, we went to AMK's newest attraction - AMK Hub. Wanted to just get some groceries from the NTUC hypermart but last minute thought of having cheese fondue for dinner. So we got all the ingredients & made ourselves a simple 1.

Our lil 'fondue fromage' meal :)

Vietnam

Landed in Singapore last night, after 8pm.. & here I was, back in the office early this morning @ 8.30am.

Left on Sunday to Hanoi, took a night flight from Hanoi to HCMC on Tue evening. Supposed to come back tonight but I changed my flight since I got no more meeting & have a lot of paperwork & emails to settle. But who knows, our email system is down today. Sigh...

When I was in Hanoi, I was in a state of confusion. Why? I stayed in Nikko Hotel which was like a little Japan (Japanese hotel guests take up more than 80%) and watched Arirang channel. So, while I was in Vietnam, I felt like I was sometimes in Japan, sometimes in Korea. At times when I yearned for a Singapore-feel, I watched Channel News Asia.

In HCMC, I had no time nor mood to walk around. Felt sad because everything just reminded me of our trip last Nov. As if it's not enough, my room on the 14th floor was overlooking Park Hyatt (where we last stayed). This time, I stayed in Caravelle Hotel.. somewhere I've always wanted to try out. But now, I'm not impressed. The toilet has a funny layout & I'm not talking about the extra loud flushing system (sounds exactly like the in-flight vacuum flush). The vanity counter extended from the basin is fixed right above the toilet bowl.. I was so afraid that my stuff would accidentally fall into the bowl. And it felt kinda weird to be doing my make up just next to the toilet bowl. Hmm...

But actually, these trips do make me really appreciate what we're having in Singapore. And yes, one thing I love about Vietnam is their food, especially in HCMC.

Their main means of transport - motorbikes & bicycles.

Look at the cables

This is still considered a not-so-chaotic traffic condition. Very often, you're just swarmed by motorbikes!

OK, here's a tip on road-crossing in Vietnam (esp HCMC) - don't change your speed. Our reflex is to speed up when vehicles are nearing & by the way, it's impossible to cross an empty road (especially the main roads) in HCMC. The bikers will know how to avoid you, either by going in front of you or from behind, as long as they're able to gage your pace. Hubby & I had tried & it's true. Interesting huh.

Something good

Bz bz bz.... Both of us are so caught up in our work now.

But there's something to be happy about... hubby's officially transferred to another department on 2 April though he's still juggling his new & old duties. The new move opens him to a much better prospect, reporting directly to the AVP. Hubby's handpicked by this very nice AVP who's his ex-boss (whom his immediate superior, Senior Mgr, used to report to). Last year, the immediate boss went on maternity leave & while managing his own duties, hubby had to cover hers. Thank God that it's also during those 3 months that the bosses including the SVP saw his potential. Prior to this, that AVP had tried transferring him to his department but Vince's then new boss (Senior Mgr's immediate boss) refused to let him go. Then for this time when the AVP approached his bosses again, they let Vince make the decision though they're reluctant to lose him. They'd also given very good appraisals about Vince and wished that he would have great advancements. It's God's grace that his efforts are recognised and that he's really good bosses.

In fact his Sr Manager often commented that I'm a blessed girl to have such a wonderful hubby... that if he wasn't married (& still single), he'd have attracted lotsa "butterflies". Haha. Yes I know, I'm truly blessed and so loved. Though he's crazily busy especially for the past month.. so much to learn in his new job (even before he moved officially) while managing the old ones (handing over to the new girl) and his manager still very dependent on him in helping her out, hubby tries not to let his work affect us. He'll stay back for half an hour the most to finish his stuff before fetching me. This makes me cherish our time together & appreciate him even more. Really admire his ability in finishing his tasks efficiently. But I always tell him work is more important & not to worry about me. I've no qualms about waiting for him as I can find my own program or stay back to work. But still, he gives me the best of his time.

Thanks honey! Love u!

RAYURE Fashion Show

Attended a fashion show @ Raffles City last evening. My cousin, who brings this French label into Singapore, invited hubby & me to the runway show. It's a fab one, with lots of French music.

Thanks for the invite, cousin!

Interesting Weekend

Saturday, brought mum to a GP as she's not well. After sending her home, we're supposed to go get lunch when we saw the nearby condo's showflat was opened for viewing. It's by the same developer as ours, same property age too. We drive pass it everyday & been interested in the interior as they've maisonette apartments besides the normal 3 & 4 bedrooms. It's also conveniently located next to some coffee shops & within walking distance to Chong Pang. At first (after we bought ours) we did wonder could this be a better choice instead?

So there we were, out of curiosity, at the showflat of this 3+1 duplex unit. I love the 2-storey concept... The ceiling (@ the dining area) is 2-storey high! Wow! And it's not so pricy for its size (1800 sqft+).. though it's still much more ex than ours of course. But as we visited a few more units, we're totally turned off. The corridor is just like a storage or dumping ground! Most of the households put their shoe racks outside.. not 1, but at least 2 or even 3 of such per unit. And the shoes, which appeared to be over-populated, are not properly placed but all over the place. There're kid's bicycles everywhere.. also cabinets & cartons! That set us wondering.. why, in the 1st place, would they wanna spend so much to stay there? The facilities & common area are poorly maintained too.
So we're happy to be back to our own place & quite convinced that the management of our development is good.

After the "eye-opening" visit, we went to J8 to have our car washed while we loitered for about 3 hrs.

Went home 5ish & out again past 7. Had a simple dinner @ Marina Square & wanted to go for a drink @ Paulaner Brauhaus. But it's so packed! We then went on to Balaclava & had a pint of Hoegaarden there. Indulged in the good old feeling (like during our courtship). We both agreed we should do that once in a while :) It's slightly past 12 when we left.

Enjoying our Hoegaarden

Sunday, chauffeured mum to & from church. Soon after, left home again to attend a Malay wedding in Bedok Reservoir.. my colleague's daughter's. On the way fetched Claris & bf in Yishun. The 3 of them hadn't attended any Malay wedding before so they're quite excited about it especially Vince. It turned out to be quite interesting & stayed for a lil longer than expected. By the way hubby loved the food!

We then rushed to VivoCity as we're meeting LL & Mandy @ 5.30. LL's younger sis joined us & we'd dinner @ Marché. We're pretty disappointed by the variety & guess they're very much limited by space. Also, it's supposedly sitting on a great location but all windows are facing inside (ie. the building's exits). Unlike the 1st restaurant we went with mum on 1 of the Sundays last Dec, the Imperial Herbal Restaurant which is very much a business restaurant, the view is superb. OK back to our gathering... We didn't get to chat much & after dinner, we walked around by ourselves. Glad that we'd dinner early as when we left, there's quite a long Q & I hate queuing. After an hour or so, we finally met up again in front of Forever21 & had a short chat there & then before we ended the night. Yep.. we'll get together again, hopefully soon.

On our way home, we went to Constance's place to pick up my necklace.

A busy weekend but it's a great one!

Celebration

Eve

Went out with TM. Supposed to buy him dinner (his 1-month overdue bd dinner) & he, to pay for drinks. But then I remembered I had a bottle @ MG's.. so I decided to treat him to some wine & last min asked him to buy me a simple dinner instead. And TM, as nice as he is always, agreed. Aanyway he didn't have a choice, did he? Hee...

He brought me to Gyu-Kaku @ UE Square for a Japanese BBQ session. While the meats weren't extraordinarily tasty, it's a refreshing one as we DIY bbq on charcoal over beer (for him) & plum wine soda (for me). I thought it's supposed to be a simple dinner?

C joined us later. To my horror, it turned out to be an awkward situation. One on my left, one on my right.. & both not talking to each other. I'd to take turns to chat with them. Thought they would click pretty well as C's in corp comms & TM's in marketing & corp comms too. And the worst part was we'd already finished our dinner but C was waiting for hers to be served.

After what seemed like a year, we made our move to MG's. And hubby joined us there. Although we chatted & joked as normal, I could feel there's some uneasiness. An hr+ later, TM called it a night. That's the very 1st time TM asked to leave throughout our past meet-ups. So I somehow know how much he liked this arrangement.

Have I made a boo boo?

~~~~~~~~~~~

My BD !

Yep I was working.. in fact was utterly stressed out that day. I thought I would receive flowers from hubby like any other years but nope. Instead he surprised me with my fav durian cake. He said it's too anticipatable every year so he decides to stop for a while since last year (remember the cute & BIG 'hot' air balloon on my last birthday?).

And before I left office, James delivered a box of Krispy Kreme donuts to me which was hand carried all the way from Jakarta (by his friend)! James was a lil taken aback as he didn't expect me to get all excited. So I explained to him that his friend (hubby) would be very delighted to know he's gonna have Krispy Kreme for supper! Haha. Vince has been talking about it for some time & was quite sad apparently that we missed it during our Melbourne trip.

As hubby was very busy @ work too, by the time he reached my office it's already 7pm.. which was just nice as I'd just finished my battle too.

We went back to One Rochester for dinner & some drinks. After a stressful day of work, being able to sink into a comfy couch in a plush environment, with some soft ballads in the background & the refreshing aroma of our fav lemon grass.. not to mention the nibbles that we love.. ooh.. it's haven.

We're so full that there wasn't much allowance in our tummy for the cake. So we planned to bring home & have a poolside cake-cutting session. But in the end, we still decided to forego our 二人世界 & had mum with us in blowing the BD candles & enjoying the cake.

Me & my Krispy Kreme!