Hi Folks!

After all the waiting and anticipation over the last weeknd, my wish has finally come true... and I wanna share this joy with all my friends..

I've got a joB!!!! =D =D =D

I was told that I would get a call from the agency today after I went for the interview last wk..(oh yes of coz it's not for the position of a financial planner...haha.)

Erm..I wanna thank ALL the ppl who have made this possible for me. Thanks bell, weili & ah ni for the company that day to go down together n hunt for jobs at int'l plaza..esp ah ni who helped to select which agencies to drop by, including the critical one that eventually gave me my job now :) Great thanks to carine, who helped to match this job for me and gave me the important chance to be a potential candidate for this job vacancy :) It's part of her job I know, but if not for her, I would have still been waiting n hanging in mid-air now. And to claire who interviewed me for the job..she was so warm and friendly throughout the interview..she made me feel comfortable in an unfamiliar environment. Great thanks to her for giving me this chance to work in their company :)

Though some of you might not be reading this, my heartfelt thanks extends to all of you. This opportunity means alot to me..THANKS, agn =)

Looking for a job can be extremely tedious..extremely for not-so-pia ppl like me..haha. Most of the time it's such a chore to have to amend your cover letter to cater for every specific position you are applying for. And there's the waiting part.. duno when to expect calls for interviews or havta go thru rounds & rounds of shortlisting b4 you even get to attend a job interview. And when you're finally called up for interview, the interview may be more than 1 round.. having to dress up for the occasion, research on the company and prepare to wake up early in the morning for the real thingy..omg. Looking for a job is just like this..what to do?

That's one reason why I heaved a sigh of relief when I finally got the call from the agency this morning.. *PheW* I can be spared from all these at least while my contract lasts me.. and I can't help but repeat this..I really cherish this opportunity..and alot goes to luck too. Now I'm really looking fwd to next wk to start of work! I believe this place will be one that I will look fwd to going to every weekday morning..good luck to myself ;)

To all who's currently looking for employment, I wanna wish you the very best of luck! And I look forward to hearing good news from all of you =) And to pals enjoying your break, you well deserve it and remember to jio me to go out kie..heeh.

On an ending note.. I saw a very heart-warming article on the lifestyle section of the Straits Times yesterday. quoting something that the author's friend once told her, I wanna tell this to all my friends too,

"It's okay if we don't talk every day, but we must tell each other immediately if there's any event which changes our life, okay?"

Ok? And thanks for reading this post and sharing my joy dear pals =D Every friend I've known will always have a place in my heart. :)

A Good Long Saturday..

Started the day out with ah ni at shoe box sale held at suntec convention hall..we were surprised to see that there was no queue outside the venue..heeh of coz we were wrong that there were not much ppl at the sale this yr. Inside the room, lots of ladies were alrdy crowding around the tables placed along the sides of the room. We realise we couldn't see any of the shoes displayed on the tables at all.. even with my height plus tiptoeing, it was of no help at all..there were just too many ppl packed in front. Oh well..for the sake of cheap shoes, let's chiong!!

We decided to start off with the less crowded section displaying open-toe shoes. There were more aunties there..haha. Ah ni accidentally stepped on an auntie's toes and she got so angry she started cursing & swearing to herself.. cuz I saw her mumbling to herself nonstop with a sooper black face..ah ni asked me why she so worked up..I tld her maybe 10 other ppl alrdy stepped on her b4 she did..haha! Just too bad..you come this kinda sale, this kinda problem is really inevitable ;p And there was another inconsiderate auntie in front of me.. she kept stretching out her arm and waving the sandal in her hand to grab the attn of the staff to get the size for her.. but there were ppl standing in front of her and she didn't care.. she continued waving her hand in between ppl's heads until it knocked one of the girl's head! Obviously the 'super-auntie' auntie was ignorant abt it and she didn't even apologise to the girl..so poorthing.

Over at the other side selling 'closed-toe' shoes, it was sooo packed the girls in the middle were sandwiched until they couldn't move at all, while the anxious ppl behind kept pushing & squeezing... And I was observing the guys standing behind, watching what was gg on..some of them wided eyed at how onz girls can be at shopping and grabbing things..hahaha it was qt funny ;D To my surprise, the girls over this corner were very helpful. I was casually asking ah ni if she found a pair of shoes nice, then the girl in front of me who overheard me immediately reached out for the pair and passed to me, asking, "you want?".. that's a really nice gesture of her! Around me there were other girls in front who were nearer to the staff helping strangers who were stuck at the back to get sizes for them and the shoes were then passed to the back like passing a baton in a relay race..cool rite? The staff auntie was very efficient also! She shouted out the shoe size of a certain design like at an aunction, then you will see dozens of hands raised up and frantically waving, hoping the auntie will be nice n give it to her..haha. Then you'll see satisfied girls squeezing out of the crowd, hugging bags and bags of shoes to try on in one shot..if not by the time you slowly try one pair by one pair, there'll be nothing left liao.

I didn't get anything in e end cuz the biggest size was also too small for me.. seemed like I went there more to watch ppl than buy shoe.. hahaha. =D After lunch with ah ni @ ren thai (yes the food was not bad!), I headed off to vc as usual on sats.. today i brought the 2nd round of brownies I made for them to try.. I got alot of positive feedback from them and it's truly encouraging! Thanks guys! =) The next thing I hope to try preparing is my fav dessert - honeydew sago, which I duno where I threw the recipe to.. if it turns out nice, then can see which one to bring to vc chalet ;)

I sat in joyce's car for the first time today! =D And I was just in time to catch the best female singer award at the taiwan golden melody awards shown live on tv after I got home.. and stefanie sun won the award!!! Hooray!! 3 cheers for Yanzi!!! I luv her and in my eyes, she's the best amongst all of them..she truly deserves the award after these yrs of nomination. =D What a great way to end my day.. tired after a long day but it's been a fulfilling day! :)

No more closed-toe shoes for me: Ouch~

I can't actually recall when was the last time I had bad blisters on my feet.. I guess I only had small ones that are so minor that I can't really feel them. My "closed-toe" shoes like my sports shoes are all very comfy, even my low heels dun gimme problems..so I've been very fortunate to be ~blister-free~ for many many years now.. haha.

Until recently I bought this black covered-toed shoes (that's open and strapless at the back) from vnc for vc cuz my previous pair got so terok I cannot wear them anymore (err..my old pair is actually my vj choir shoes which I went to polish it black!!! Coz my shoe size tooo big liao..very hard to find nice covered toe black shoes that I can squeeze my feet into :( so I conveniently reused my vj court shoes..lol ) I didn't feel any discomfort when I first tried them at the shop but when I wore it out e 1st time for SOV, my feet hurt..luckily don't really have blister..only some redness. Haha what's new right? I always hear girls wearing heels or shoes that give them blisters plenty. So I was hoping that my new shoes would be those kind that wear 2nd time onwards won't have problems liao.. but I prepared plasters the 2nd time I wore it just in case. Unfortunately, my plasters came into good use.. I ended up with a 'bubble' on my small toe and more redness on the big toe. But at least I could still work "normally", just that it hurt every few steps that I walk.

So today when I wore that pair for the 3rd time, I learn smart liao. I carefully stuck plasters on both my small toes so that it covers the small bubble, but the moment I got down to my void deck, my toes started to hurt like mad every single step I took, then it got so bad until my face cringing liao..felt somethin like rubbing sandpaper against my flesh..omg. I tahan all the way until the mrt stn toilet n guess what? I got a brand new blister on the area of my small toe which I didn't cover with plaster..oh bestest.. so I stuck some more plasters on my small toes until it looks like my whole toe is plastered..nvm anyway it cannot be seen. The plasters did help to ease the pain abit but when i got home and removed them..I got 2 happy bIG bubbles on each of my small toe.. the bigger one is like 5-cent coin size and it looks like it's on the verge of bUUrsting.. it's hUUge lo!

I swear I'm not gg to wear that pair of shoes out AGN!... except for vc performances & must remember to prepare lots lots of plasters. I better stick to my dear old open-toe shoes, if not walk 10metres will feel like walking 1Km. This is a super gross entry.. sorry 'bout that.. OUCH~

Job OR Career?: ...hAR?

Food for thought time! Ready? Let'sss.. Go!! =p

26th May - supposedly the day when I have my FirsT formal interview in my whole entire life. I applied for the position of a PA @ this insurance company, expecting the interviewer to bombard me with qns abt how "qualified" I am for the job until I become totally dumbfounded & lost for words.. then maybe I can dig a hole in the ground until I get out of the office & to the lift..wahahah. BUT the whole interview turned out to be more like a pep-talk session lei. Out of the entire time I spent in his office, the interviewer only spent like less than 1 min (?) talking abt anything to do with the position I applied.. and the rest of the time he was psycho-ing me into becoming a financial analyst.. okAY berry gooood~ I spent the whole time either reading more and more articles about the successful candidateS (haha i must emphasise the "S" becoz now I think about it.. his so-called successful PPL is like only 1 girl whom he kept stressing lo.. haaha.. ;p), or busy nodding my head away non-stop at every good thing he has to say abt being a financial analyst.

Before this if you ask me what is the job I will least want to work in, I would say financial analyst.. bcoz one has to be qt "thickskin" to be in this line (sorry ar no offence to anyone in particular) and I seriously lack the kou3 cai2 and courage to do this job. I've heard alot of stories abt successful ppl in this line and how lucrative this business is..but I know I'm not cut out for this line, and I'm not exactly an ambitious person.. at least at this stage of my life, that's my philosophy.. "enuf" can liao.

But after the psycho-ing session today, I must admit I was really tempted for awhile by the monetary rewards that this job offers, and I was actually considering if I COULD do it if I wanted to.. haha **brainwashed** That interviewer was good..even such a laid back person like me can also get motivated by him..hahaha.. not bad not bad ;p Throughout the session, I realised he kept emphasising on JOB vs CAREER. He said there's a difference between the 2 you know? Oh I duno.. now that you tell me then I know. (*grin* )
job=work for a boss and do whatever your boss tells you to do
VS
career=work for yourself and do what you need to achieve what you want
So his bottomline is PA=job, financial analyst=career.. and most inportantly he's trying to convince me that career obviously is better cuz earn more $$ and you carve out a career for your own self instead of having to be dictated by your boss. Yaa makes sense.. and then he said if I rather choose job and the pathetically-low salary that comes with it.. then just too bad for me. okAy... so conclusion?

I thought about it on my way home after the sooper long session in the office.. you ask me the question again now, I think my answer is still JOB. hahaha I can imagine the interviewer's face if he knows abt this.. he'll faint lo.. hahaha. Actually I also duno what will be the best for myself.. $$$ + career career means good for me meh? Sounds like 1+1=2.. but I don't forsee myself being so successful n earning like crazy, instead I forsee myself having to sacrifice something else in exchange for the $$ etc..that something which i think will be more important to me than $$.. ok so I think I can just happily stick to finding JOBs from now on. Or maybe next time I might look for a 'career'..5 or 10 yrs down the road?...we'll see. At the end of the day, all of us hav different goals in life and we just have to respect everyone for whatever decision that they make.. there's no 'better' or 'bad' solution I think. But thanks uncle for the pep-talk tdy..I guessed I enjoyed it though..it's very informative indeed :)

Is Looks Everything?

Yes I agree and am fully aware that good complexion is an asset that is very important to young girls.. or some consider it essential cuz it's the basic requirement to looking good. However, not all girls are so lucky to be endowed with flawless skin, or at least good complexion that doesn't require much extra care but still appears good.. that is no or very very little and occasional pimples, no excessive redness, no scars, etc. But for more unfortunate gals like me.. whom acne loves to get aquainted with all the time.. why can't some people just be more understanding?

Even though I seem to have passed the "qing1 chun1 qi1", pimples still pester me now. So I've already resigned to my fate that I just have to keep dealing with them whenever they come.. I'm already past the stage where I used to stare at my face every morning and get so demoralised because you seem to have no control over them.. be it your diet and daily habits to better skin.. all these take time. So now I'm happy just the way I am! Acne can be such a minor problem if you really think about it.. there is nothing really so disastrous about it and to have to be upset over it because you know that they will eventually go away :) Now I’m glad to say that I'm totally positive and cool about it though I know they might be with me for as long as I don't want them to be; I just gotta be all ready to combat it when they come!

I totally understand that having acne problems is already a very unpleasant thing to happen to a person.. be it a girl or a guy. You know you don't look good and it's inevitable that you start to lose your self-confidence in front of your peers. I really cannot stand it when some people have to be so unfeeling by not understanding your situation and be so mean as to dig further into your wounds! During my trip to Taiwan, I had a terrible breakout cuz of the weather and blah blah blah.. the tour guide kept criticizing my complexion and say how poor & how bad it is, as if it is what I wanted for myself.. ok fine I just kept smiling away and hope to hide my embarassment and pray that she will just shut up for good. Obviously she didn't.. and she happily went on to emphasise how good & how perfect her complexion is cuz she used this miracle native product that she was "marketing" to us. Regardless of her motive for making all those unconstructive comments, be it that she's so overly concerned about my skin and thinks she knows my problem better than I do, or she's just trying to push for the facial products so she can benefit from some monetary gains in the process, I simply cannot tolerate her blunt attitude by making those offensive remarks about me and in front of my friends.

That is not the most ultimate yet. There was one incident where I was on the streets of Taiwan waiting outside a bakery for my friends when this middle-aged woman stood in front of me, giving me this very strange look. I thought she wanted to ask for directions or stuff like that, but instead she asked me in chinese while pointing to her own face, "Your dou4 dou4 (pimples), you want to see a doctor? I can recommend a very good sinseh..." I was totally caught aback by her "over-friendly" gesture and rejected her politely before I walked away after my friends were done. Can you imagine a total stranger approaching you abruptly like that and "confront" you about such a personal and sensitive issue? I thought she might possibly have done it out of a kind or "kind" intention.. I'm not sure and I couldn't care less because there's no way I can come into consensus with having to appreciate her kindness?! .. it just ain't right! All I felt was insult and anger more than anything else!

Back in Singapore, I too had bad experiences with staff at this G*** pharmacy.. or rather the promoters of certain specialised brands that the pharmacy carries, who and 'pose' as the general staff there. When you're looking for something on the shelves away from their counters, they will approach you and pretend to help you (when they do not have any superior knowledge of the shop's products other than their own counter's products).. then they start scrutinising your entire face which makes you feel so uncomfortable. If they see that your complexion is not good, they will "show their true self" and start recommending you their facial products. There was once a promoter that inspected every corner of my face and the "oh you look so pathetic" look was written all over her face.

This is not an accusation or "hatred-recollection" session; but I just want to tell all these people who have denied me that I believe in myself more than ever before and I love myself just the way I look now, even with pimples or scars on my face. And please stop giving me the look as if I am so miserable to have poor skin and I don't know what to do about it, because it is never my choice and I know better than anyone else that I did attempt ways to improve the situation all this while. Do they expect me to grief over it everyday and blame everyone else for me not being able to look as pretty as people around me who have good skin? Come on, just get on with life because there are greater things than just about how perfect or imperfect your skin is! For girls who might be experiencing similar problems as I do and you're reading this, all I want to say is love yourself and just be yourself.. no one can deny you as long as you believe in yourself.. and you're just as beautiful =)

A Great Day Spent in the Kitchen

Great! I finally had time to try out the new brownie recipe that I got from sandy the other time.. I had tried making brownies a couple of times before using my previous receipe.. but the brownie just doesn't seem to turn out right.. and I had no idea what and where went wrong..no prior experience myself and no expert to advise me.. so I only have me and myself to keep trying until I geddit.. haha. Now with all the sch deadlines and exams over..I have all the time I want to play around with my ingredients and tools!! After all the excitement and anticipation.. getting down to serious work .. 3 hrs later.. TADAA!! Presenting my brand new masterpiece.. Jaffa Triple Chocolate Brownies!! Heeh..it was quite a success..fortunately! Sis complimented and wanted a 2nd piece! So Touched that my brownie was being appreciated! =) I finally got it after so many times of trial & error..can throw away my previous receipe liao..hahaha. Thanks sandy for the superb recipe!

Everyone's been busy with our own schedules lately and it's really a rare opportunity today that the whole family could sit down n have both lunch n dinner together at home.. :) After lunch we all had a bite of my brownie and later in the evening, ma made her "ai-xin" brasied duck..it's simply delicious..4 of us squeezing together at the small table in the kitchen for a simple meal..great food and great company..luuv it.. i truly enjoyed every moment of the dinner today.. *man3 zu2 man3 zu2*

My First Big Walk of my Life!

What a way to spend the vesak day wkend with my virgin big walk! Glad I had driz for company :) if not I would have given this yr's big walk a miss.. Ghee.. now that I realise.. it's been ages since I last woke up sooo early..5.45am?!! (I'm sucha pig ;p *snore*) let alone for a meaningful purpose - to exercise - haha =D..so proud of myself ! keke.

The bestest thing to start the early morning was I conveniently left my house without driz's n my own number tag..n own realised it when the train was reaching boon keng stn.. ultimate sia~ But luckily the number tag is really qt useless..'xept for lucky draw.. if not can just go ahead n join the big walk without it.. *phew*

I guess Big Walk ain't that fantastic unless u hav great company to walk along with.. thankful i had driz with me..2 complain queens walking 10km..can u imagine that! haha..but it was real fun..it's been a long time since i had sucha hearty chat with my mei mei..we took abt 2hrs+ to finish the whole journey..with the company of lotsa lovely puppies and dogs..some wearing shirts (when the sun is so scorching hot..poor babies!) n some wearing mini boots (?!) and our all-time fav superheroes - spidie and battie and..the falungung ppl(!)- .. and what else hav we..human-size fruits that we crave to have a bite cuz we were so thirsty..couldn't believe that the mineral water supply was actually SOLD OUT (!???) n I couldn't help but complain all e way.. how is it possible to walk the journey without a drip of water? And we ended up buying drinks from 7-11 to soothe our dry throats.. *shiok!*

For this Big Walk, I wanted to have a go at how far 10km is..n yea after finishing it... now I truly noe how fAAr it is.. *fall flat* haha! But I managed to complete the whole walk.. it's a personal achievement!!! =) In fact plus the walking from where the shuttle bus dropped us to the starting point and the journey back from the stadium to the busstop, it was already more than 10km! After filling our protesting stomachs at bugis mos burger, I headed home cuz I cmi liao.. on e verge of KO-ing..haha. But yea it was a good experience after it all..waking up sooper early just to have a good sweat.. haven't felt so healthy for a long time!