Sunday, July 29, 2007

Wishlist for 2007

Since friends have been starting to ask abt my wishlist, so I'd better put it here before others start asking.
A friend actually said this when I was too paiseh abt telling her what i want :

" Would u rather want me to get something u do not want or not going to use than something you want?"

Sounds fierce hor. but it makes sense lah.

First start off with the Do Not Wish list. Basically its same as last year's (link: http://harmoniewong.blogspot.com/2006/07/wishlist.html)

“Do-Not-Wish” List

* No lavender-related products, even when they are purple. I am allergic to them.
* No soft toys
* No photoframe
* No accessories ( necklaces, bracelet....) Cos I wll be making them when I am in the mood.
* No cheena stuff like oriental style cushion, fabrics, fans please, even though it's related to the theme


As for the wishlist, had some difficulties coming up with one this year as there are lots of thing which $ can't buy or might be too expensive to ask for (like the L'Eau d'Issey Summer which I am considering to get it myself).
In the end, I think all these would be fine:

* Tangs Vouchers (cos never receive any before)
* Vouchers from Kinokuniya and Made with Love (http://www.madewithlove.com.sg/) , so that i can get my materials for cardmaking.
* Things I'd use (bag, umbrella or notebook) from Nana's shop-- By The Branch(http://www.bythebranch.com.sg). Help to promote her shop in a way. hahaha

* Chocolates from Sins or Royce (refer to pics in http://harmoniewong.blogspot.com/2006/09/what-august.html & http://harmoniewong.blogspot.com/2007/01/snacks.html)
* Ang Pows!!! Whahaha. To be in line with the Oriental 中国"疯" theme . (Can help to recover the exorbitant charges quoted by the cafe :P)

Hope that helps.

Birthday seems to come early this year as I have received 3 birthday gifts liao.

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Saturday, July 28, 2007

It's a small country afterall

had been running ard different departsment on Thur and Friday. Was busy akin charge of photoshoot for the new ckinic 's website.

Even with my fellow colleagues' help, it was not easy coordinating. Doctors who are orginally cheduled were delay by other matters. Also, it's not easy to gather the nurses and other staff for photoshot as they have to serve patients too.

Not to mention that it was difficult was to find "calaflaire" (did i spell corecly>). We cant get patients to be in the pictures as we will need their consent first. Was told that the common practice was to get own staff to act as patients.

However , Many of them are "pan-tang". So it ended up that my colleagues and I have to " act" in many scenes.

One interesting thing happened though, which I have to say again: Singapore is such as small country.

The doctor who I am working together with for this website, grabbed her bf (who happened to be meeting her then) to act as a patient for one of our scene. And the photographer knew him too. (the funny thing was that the photographer just came out from the treatment room and saw him sitting at the waiting area, thought that he is a patient and asked "what are u doing here?")

As they talk about wake boarding, then it dawned on me that I had seen the doctor's bf before.

3 yrs ago .
when my ex-colleagues (SPH gang) and I went for wakeboarding.
Asked him if he is a wakeboarding instructor and he confirmed my suspicion.

and his (photographer's) assistant , overheard our conversation, mentioned abt someone.. and found out they have some common friends.

What more can I say?!!

And as if such coincidences aren't enough, I received as sms from "The Ex" in the midst of my photoshoot on Friday morning, saying the he was attending a course then and seated in the same table as with my ex-manager. Said that found her familiar and later he remembered that I had pointed her out to him when we were touring my previous office during our orientation.



*********************************************************

I regret not checking on my friend earlier when i sense something was amiss. And when I remembered to sms her on Friday night, was shocked to receive her reply that she was hospitalised due to slipped disc since last Sat and will need to undergo an operation on next Tue.

As her why her operation was so many days away and she replied that the doctor had went overseas for a few days. (btw she is not staying at the hospital I am working at). I couldn't help thinking that shouldn't arrangement be made for other doctor to operate on her rather that let her lie in bed for so many days, enduring the pain?

She din want us to worry hence did not tell us her ward number, though I manage to guess the hospital she is staying at. Well, I have my ways, it is not difficult to check it out since I know her name as in NRIC and her birthdate.

Looking at visiting her on Monday or tomorrow... have to wait for our common friend to decide.

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Tuesday, July 24, 2007

craps

Crapping is infectious. Colleagues and I under the influence of our boss, are starting to get crappy at times.

This morning, out of the blue I came up with a “打油诗”

“小事别烦我
大事别找我
没事找上我
所以我 zuo boh”.

*( for those who dunno, Zuo Boh =做无, means doing nothing)

Have to say the 1st two are are quoted from boss, who joked that his tagline when he left office last yr is "小事别烦我 大事别找我 ". So before he goes on 2 weeks leave, he's gonna say that again.

Which also means 2 weeks boh cheng hoo. :P

*********************
After lunch, my colleagues and I went to get some fruit juice. e were talking abt boss on the way back (warning each other who he is buay-gam with) and just as we open the door to our office, saw boss at a distance, talking to someone. Of cos ，guilty as we are ， (though boss dunno we were talking abt him) our natural reaction was to sip on our glasses of fruit juice. And boss said "哇！这么好喝啊。”

What I din expect was my colleague's reply
“呀。还很match我们的衣服。matching colour somemore."

And then i realised her carrot-orange juice matches her reddish-orange top and my brownish looking apple-orange juice matches my khaki jacket.

Boss choked on his laughter and shaked his head . Admit defeat. Haha
**************************************


Look what I have found! Fast foward timer to the first 1min 44sec ( or 6.20 as shown)



perhaps we shall start singing birthday song this way. hahaha

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Sunday, July 22, 2007

Was not in a good mood when i came online. Even though i do not seem so while chatting to my friends at the moment.

One of the "ah shuis" mentioned something which almost brought me to tears. No, not that she made me upset, but make me feel 感动。

“i can see your main idea is to gather everyone together to have a good time. not solely for your birthday. that's very nice and admirable.
coz not everyone is willing to do that."


Wah, i really wanna cry man. Getting emotional liao....

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Saturday, July 21, 2007

Good news received on 20.07.2007

Yesterday afternoon, Boss asked me to to go over to his office.
And I was given a letter.

"你也有一点点。"

Then I realised I was holding on to my Annual Increment Letter

Joined my current company in the 2nd week of june. and for this 2nd month , I will be getting an increment. Prorated and it's really a small amount (the small 2 digit figure) but it is still quite unbelievable.

For my previous company, the HR had "warned" me that since i choice to join them in Feb this yr. I will not be able to qualify for their annual increment exercise in Jul this year. Thus i will only be getting an increment in July 2008. They dun have the practise of proration of increment and Performance Bonus.

As for my current company, they have two annual increment exercise -- July and Jan.
Looking forward to my next salary increment. :P

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Friday, July 20, 2007

Lessons at work

1) When "anything" means "testing"


When boss mentions "anything",

he is just testing u.

Hence, do not do nothing.


Yesterday, boss asked me to get a quotation from a vendor for an addition 1/2 day photoshoot of our clinics as I pointed out to him that it is unlikely we can have 30 shots of 4 different clinics done in 1 day.


Me: Any budget?

Boss: Anything lah.

(look at the quotation for 1 day photoshoot).

Boss : Should be around half the price. U ask them if they could charge cheaper.

Me: Do u want me to show you the amount they quoted when I receive their quotation or shall I pass the quotation directly to executive to raise PR and u check it out from there.

Boss: Directly pass it to exec.


However , instead of charging us half of what they quoted us for a full day shoot in the previous quiteation, the vendor also charge us half of what they quoted for the pics touch up services too.

Personally feel that they should not factor that it as we are just spreading out the photshoot of 30 different scene from the 1 full day to 1.5 days . So went to update boss abt the price quoted before he question abt it when he see PR.

After taking a look at the new quotation , he said: Anything lah.

(after working with boss for more than a month, we notice that there are times when boss like to crap and seems to test our response to his crap, so my response to that was:)


Me: yah, whatever .

Boss: Whatever , Anything lor.

I remembered Boss ever gave a serious talk on A-Grade and B-Grade performer and of cos I knw it is not wise to do nothing though he seems fine with "whatever & anything" the vendor quoted. So called by the vendor and queried abt the exra charges. It was rather easy as I have valid reasons to ask for the waiver of the extra charges.

Less than an hr later, boss passed by my workstation , and i passed him the lastest quotation -- $250 lesser than the previous.

Need not mention in detail abt his reaction, all i can say is that it was approved in less than 2 hours after my colleague had raised the PR.

2) It's a small world after all

Singapore is such as small world. It really could not be smaller when I found out that the candidate who applied for the post of Asst Manager used to be my ex-colleague from the 2nd company I had worked for. Not only that, she is also ex-classmate of my colleague who also reports to my boss.

Needless to say, boss did ask me for my opinion of her.

Though I was not close to her then, there wasn't any bad blood between us. As far as I know, she's a good worker , and definately can perform up to my boss's expectations.

As the sayings go:

"多一个朋友，好过多一个敌人”

"Always leave the company in a good name".

I could not imagine how awkward it would be if she is selected and we aren't on friendly terms .

Boss even asked me if i have any message to pass to her before he went to interview her. As for her second round of interview, he even ask me to fetch her to do some catching up and say I could meet her for breakfast .

what i dun understand was his comment:

“(if she joined us)会很好玩。你们两个都认识她”

ehh what exactly he meant by "好玩"

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Thursday, July 19, 2007

preview of De Oriental

Finally came up with this (just a preview)

i know some parts are not proportionate..., but pardon me, i can't see straight lines lah.

Also fretted over the guest list, as this year, the venue can only accomodate 40 people.

More friends by the year yet have to invite less. Headache arh. I also wish I have a bigger budget to book a bigger place.... Basically , i think the company charges a lot just for the privacy and air-con.

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Monday, July 16, 2007

世上最远的距离

大约是7，8年前在网上读到以下这篇文章， 才发觉原来那句“世上最远的距离 不是生与死的距离 而是我站在你面前 你不知道我爱你 ” 原来只是 one of the paragraph.

7，8年后，突然想起此文好像有一句 “是彼此相爱 却不能够在一起”，于是，便在网络上搜寻（我承认，是利用办公的时间), 不一会儿工夫就找到了。

现在重温这篇文章，是另一种感触。 看看最后一段，是不是让你想起《珊瑚海》里的那句 ：
... 海鸟跟鱼相爱...


不要丢鸡蛋哦！
************************************************

世上最远的距离--泰戈尔

世上最远的距离
不是生与死的距离
而是我站在你面前
你不知道我爱你

世上最远的距离
不是我站在你面前
你不知道我爱你
而是爱到痴迷
却不能说我爱你

世上最远的距离
不是我不能说我爱你
而是想你痛彻心脾
却只能深埋心底

世上最远的距离
不是我不能说我想你
而是彼此相爱
却不能够在一起

世上最远的距离
不是彼此相爱
却不能够在一起
而是明知道真爱无敌
却装作毫不在意世界上最远的距离

世上最远的距离
不是树与树的距离
而是同根生长的树枝
却无法在风中相依

世上最远的距离
不是树枝无法相依
而是相互了望的星星
却没有交汇的轨迹

世上最远的距离
不是 星星之间的轨迹
而是纵然轨迹交汇
却在转瞬间无处寻觅

世上最远的距离
不是瞬间便无处寻觅
而是尚未相遇
便注定无法相聚

世上最远的距离
是鱼与飞鸟的距离
一个在天,一个却深潜海底

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Sunday, July 15, 2007

provence breads

here i am multi-taking by writing two blogs (on two different blog sites ) .

Has actually completed my log post on my more personal blog in the afternoon, but stupid Multiply site, after i click "submit" it prompted me to log in and the whole blog post gone missing!

Darn!

So here i am, trying to rewrite that post again while whining abt it here. It does not help when that blog post is not abt some happy moments....

Work had been quite ok so far at least now i gotta something to do by helping out with the website for one of the medical centre. Boss is really a weird person, he actually "nagged" (ok not nags but remind me thrice) at me to tell the Doctor -in-charge that i am not the actual person who is suppose to help out with the website , but just to help out while waiting for the executive to come on board. And he said i must let him know if the doctor is being difficult.

in my previous previous job, my ex-boss was always drilling to us that we must do whatever what other colleagues want us to do, to show we admin team provide good service.

Had been sourcing for things related to De Oriental after work. Think it was on Tues that i took the staff bus and alighted at Holland Village . Checked out Lims Arts and Living and some chinese ornaments shop. However in my mind i was thinking abt Provence's bread. Check out their webpage http://www.provence.com.sg/

The lst and previous visit to that bakery was 3 years ago, with my SPH ex colleagues. From then onwards Breadtalk's breads became nothing to me (breadtalk was still a hype then). Their breads are so soft! I love their chocolate twists.

Rencently, when checking the new Central (the shopping mall above clark quay mrt), the shope Petite Provence caught my eyes. The mini croissant buns really seem like a chip off the block from Provence. And I was right abt it, Petite Provence is a subsidiary under Provence. See their website http://www.provence.com.sg/petit/petit_three.html


So this time round, even though I was going home for dinner, i bought a cheese bun and a cinnamon bun. Initially thought of saving one for spper but even before i took the bus from Holland Village to home, both buns were polished off. Whahaha

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Friday, July 13, 2007

周杰伦 - 不能说的秘密

din sleep well last night.....

anyway had manage to find the complete lyrics for Jay Chou's latest song, "不能说的秘密". Frankling speaking, after hearing abt 50 times ( travelling between home & office), i was still unable to catch what was he signing at some parts. what happen to the clear diction when singing "菊花台”. hahaha

************************


周杰伦 - 不能说的秘密

专辑:不能说的秘密 电影原声带

词/方文山 曲/周杰伦
☆☆不能说的秘密 电影原声带☆

冷咖啡离开了杯垫 我忍住的情绪在很后面
拼命想挽回的从前 在我脸上依旧清晰可见

最美的不是下雨天 是曾与你躲过雨的屋檐
回忆的画面 在荡着秋千 梦开始不甜

你说把爱渐渐放下会走更远
又何必去改变你走过的世界
你用你的指尖 阻止我说再见
想象你在身边 在完全失去之前

你说把爱渐渐放下会走更远
或许命运的签只让我们遇见
只让我们相恋 这一季的秋天
飘落后才发现 这幸福的碎片
要我怎么捡

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Sunday, July 08, 2007

purple vs oriental

This is one of my "战利品" from my sourcing trip on sat. Needless to say, it's the purple packaging , not the cat that caught my attention.

going to sleep now, eyes really tired after making another pair of earrings just now.

Happened that I just bought the oriental-looking beads months ago, did not know i will need it for my own event then.
Crystals and other parts were bought at the craft shop trip with fannie yesterday morning.Manage to find the butterflies chrystal's which flutterby uses, hence can see that my eagerness to use them.

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Thursday, July 05, 2007

songs of the month

still up at such later hour after a full meal with my former company temp staff at the "pink pink western food" stall (refer to http://harmoniewong.blogspot.com/2007/01/saints-cuisine.html) and a round of tau -huay.



First thing I did after reaching home and showering is to revive my mp3 player. Was truly upset when it failed to start up this morning for no apparent reason. Finally, when i hooked i up to it's "life support system" -- the laptop, it show signs of "breathing".

Of cos, as a multi-tasker, while reviving my mp3 player, i also listen to my 2 top-hits for the moth on the media player. The 2 songs are

1) Jay chou latest song ---不能说的秘密。
what i have is a full recorded version from radio. Just happen to be walking towards the bus stop after work when i heard the familiar intro ："新歌”。 So just selected the record function wile I have a hunch that it's going to be Jay Chou 's latest song.

As for the song. Well...very english rock .. Really reminds you of The Reason ( "Mrs Wong" pointed that out to me) and Chasing Cars.

I quite enjoy slow english rock, hence I quite like this song even though Jay 's diction is back to
"Mumbling Mode".

2) Thanks to "Mrs Wong" who pointed out her liking for this song, I began to took notice of it.


我不想忘记你
郭静

我在向前走 却像在退后
我在用想念 狂欢寂寞
越快乐就越失落
爱将我们高高举起以后
再让心学会坠落
怀念这宽阔的天空
虽然那里空气很稀薄

我努力 想起你 笑着哭泣
让自己 深爱你 再学会放弃
我不想忘记你
就算可以
我宁可记得所有伤心
我努力 想起你 苦也没关系
用祝福 和感激 勇敢失去你
爱你这个决定
虽然艰辛
我不说对不起

一个人不懂什么是拥有
两个人不懂怎么把握
越在乎就越脆弱
爱将我们高高举起以后
再让心学会坠落
怀念这宽阔的天空
虽然那里 空气很稀薄

我努力 想起你 笑着哭泣
让自己 深爱你 再学会放弃
我不想忘记你
就算可以 我宁可记得所有伤心
我努力 想起你 苦也没关系
用祝福 和感激 勇敢失去你
爱你这个决定
虽然艰辛 我不说对不起

我努力 想起你 笑着哭泣
让自己 深爱你 再学会放弃
我不想忘记你
就算可以 我宁可记得所有伤心
我努力 想起你 苦也没关系
用祝福 和感激 勇敢失去你
爱你这个决定
虽然艰辛 我不说对不起

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Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Harry Potter & the horror of the tickets sales

Yesterday, as promised to my little brother, I had purchased 2 tickets for Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix on next Sat , 14 July, 10am. Advance tickets purchase was made available since last Friday.

Dun ask me why I choose 10am. It's because I was left with no other choice.

Here's the conversation between me and the ticketing staff (TS)

Me: Hi, I'd like to enquire abt the advance ticket purchase for Harry Porter & The Order of the Phoenix.

TS: Sure . Which date?

Me: 14 July, next Sat.

TS: The earliest time slot will be 10am. ....

Me: Is there any session ard 11am .

TS: We Don't have a session at 11am. There will be one at 10.20am and one at 10.40am

(and i was wondering , isn't 10.40am AROUND 11am?)

ME: Can I have 2 tickets for the 10.40am slot and by the aisle.

TS: (checking). Sorry all the seats are fully booked

Me: How abt 10.20am

TS: Sorry , only the seats from the 2nd row from the front are available

Me: How abt other sessions for the day?

TS: (check check check) All the sessions are full, except for the 10am slot.

Me :(feeling exasperated) Ok. A pair of tickets for the 10am slot. Thanks


That's scary man, yesterday was the first day of the week, yet tickets for next weekend (i stress "next") are almost sold out.


***************************

I find it irritating that ppl slang unnecessarily.

This evening, i was listen to FM933 on my mp3 player while waiting for my bus. and this female DJ with super high pitch voice was giving away tickets to "Harry PORTer and the Order of the Phoenix".

Since when did Potter become Porter?

Perhaps she just wanna make it rhymes with "Order".

bleah!

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Sunday, July 01, 2007

perfume & De Oriental

In case someone saw this and thought of me, i hereby announce that as a purple freak, I have this bottle of Anna Sui Dolly Girl Bonjour L' Amour liao.





How could I not resist the purple packaging, even though the fruity scent is not to my perference.
The notes include grapefruit, sweet lemon, cinnamon, orange blossom, magnolia, tuberose, jasmine, muguet, rosewood, cedarwood, orris, peach, raspberry, coconut, amber and musk . I had made sure that there was no trace of lavender in it. Quite ironic right, where a lavender-colour lover is allergic to the flower.


The next perfume on my wish list is actually this:

The conical shaped L'Eau d'Issey Summer, packaged in a 100 ml bottle decorated with green grasses. The notes are the same as last year's: rosewater, freesia, cyclamen, lily of the valley, white pepper, peony, osmanthus and woods.

However I have to forgo it due to budget constrain for these two months and I already have 3 different types of perfume on my desk now. Unless I tio 4D or toto lah!

******

By the way, for those friends who had attended the Superstar gathering last Aug, please reserve yr 17 Aug nite

for De Oriental aka 中国“疯” gathering . More detail to be updated soon.

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Nana's By the Branch Website

Happen to chat for a short while with Nana that day. And she told me the website for her shop By The Branch is up.
Check out : http://www.bythebranch.com.sg.

As I have a fondness for pastel colours and ribbon stuff, i couldn't help screaming "nice nice" in my head while browsing the website.

Had always wanna get a potted plant for my office. During Nana's shop opening, I initially thought i could get a potted plant from her when i applied for half day leave (so that i can bring the potted plant directly to my workplace) . Well... i din expect that just a few weeks later, I made my decision to accept the new job offer. Saw from her website that this month they have a special promotion for indoor potted plants .http://www.bythebranch.com.sg/special.htm

Have to wait until my probation over then i can apply half day leave wor. ..

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