bye for now.

sent a dear friend off at the airport last night.
as always, nothing is normal with her.

firstly she arrived pretty late at the airport for check in.
normally a person leaving would come early to an airport (especially when there is an entourage coming to send you off),
check in,
and then have a nice little chat with the rest of your friends.

Following that, her luggage was over loaded.
she had to take out 12kg worth of stuff.
and only had 10 mintues to do that.
7 of us tore open her bags apart and frantically started to remove unimportant things.
An invasion of privacy, i would say. but what must be done, must be done.
it was really a sight to behold.
but we made it in the end.

And so all checked it, and it was a mad rush to the gates.
and the hugs, kisses, some tears and goodbyes!

Goodbye tern.
have a good, fun, enriching, wonderful, butt whopping experience.
you definitely will be missed.

my outlook for the years beyond

The mother dragged me to a "crystal teller" to have an forecast for the year ahead, and the years beyond.
the difference between a "crystal teller" and a "fortune teller"? not much.

i am not too sure i like what i am hearing,
but all in all,
it sounds alright.
i guess nobody likes listening to all the bad stuff,
and yet you can't help but get interested in knowing more juicy details about your life.

and so just some snippets from the forecast, the ones that i can remember.
1) i would eventually be more successful than my husband. The only person that i can depend on is myself
2) i should try to think before i shoot my mouth off, or else i am going to get into some trouble
3) if i managed to do the above point number 2, the year will be a good one for me. Since last year was supposedly a very unlucky year for me
4) my first relationship is a stepping stone for me to ensure that the next one will be a good one.
Supposedly, it was good that my first serious relationship failed. Cause this means that the next one will be a good one. I guess that places matters into perspective.
Don't they always say that things happen for a reason.
5) career wise, it will be good. and even better for me if i choose to work in a bank. (argh, that is the last place that i want to be in) oh and i would do good in sales position as well (another area that i have not taken a liking to)

like always,
i am going to remember all the good stuff,
and take the bad ones with a pinch of salt :)

i am just being optismistic what.

i have made the first essential step....

of booking my tickets to Tasmania!

most often than not,
i hate attending parties/gatherings where i hardly know a soul.
i just feel tired of trying to have "superficial" conversations with people that i meet for the first time.
so i have all these reservations even before going.
ironically, when i do end up going (by force/no choice),
i always end up having a great time!

last night turned out to be fun.

P.S maybe the fact that there were a couple of cute guys there made all the difference :)

hmmm....

received a jab in the ass today.
wonder what was the first thing that came to the doctor's mind when he saw half my ass.

finally a long break!

GONG XI FA CAI!

silly old me.

woke up bright and early this morning.
this morning in particular, i decided to wear my flip flops to work instead of the usual flats.
i was thinking i would change into my flats once i arrive at work.
so i happily placed my flats into a sperate bag.

la, la, la.
arrived at work.
met my colleague, who asked me if i wanted to go buy a drink.

i replied saying "okies, let me change into my shoes first."
went to open up my bag,
and TA DA,
found only one side of the shoe.

i forgot to bring the other one.

a quick update

i have been working at the zoo now for nearly 2 weeks in the HR department.
so far it has been alright.
one highlight would be:
a behind the zoo tour to take a look at how the rest of the team operates!
it was really interesting, looking at the mega huge bugs, touching caterpillars( they feel like marshmallows!!) and thinking how something so ugly can turn into such beautiful things!
it is kinda ironic how in a place where the belief lies in protecting animals, they too breed animals to feed them to other animals- such as mice, chicks, etc.
these small cute animals are all food to be fed to snakes, toads, etc. born to be fed.

just to touch on the last post where i was ranting and raving about how horrible it is to work in singapore, i have to say the good thing that comes out of it is that i get so caught up in my small little bubble that i hardly think about anything else.
A routine, thats what it is. i am starting to establish one.
if i am not careful, i am going to end up like those old women who died in their homes and got eaten up by their cats. eeks.

i have also shifted temporarily to clementi for the next month or so before i head back to melbourne on the 15th of march.
this is the fourth/fifth time that i am moving and this is the first time that i am old enough to experience how inconvenient the whole process is.
in the past, i was still young. so there was mum around to organise and pack all my things for me. this time round i had to do everything on my own, in case mum throws away something important.
shifting house marks the end of the last of my memories.
moving out, moving on.

am i suppose to be glad

and thankful that:

1) i managed to leave work at 630pm on the dot today
2) i managed to reach home in time to catch the 9pm drama
3) i don't have to work weekends
4) i managed to find the time to read the papers

why is it such that people are expected to work doubly hard?
i look at the faces all around me, on the buses, trains, at work,
and i don't see a smiling one.
i see people buried in newspapers, dozing off, staring blankly into space.
everyone is hurrying off somewhere- to work or back home.

is it too much or even unrealistic to want to achieve a work life balance.
am i asking for too much?
is there a place for someone like me in society, or will i get left behind?
i just feel that it is cruel and highly hypocritical to preach to your employees about a balanced lifestyle, when most of them can't even leave the office on time.

a friend said that he is going to work really hard for the next 15 to 20 years of his life,
and then enjoy the fruits of his labour.
what happens then to the 15-20 years that have been "lost" to working your ass off?
i guess ultimately, it boils down to whether you will regret it by the time you have made enough.

is this the price that i am willing to fork out? not really.
what options do i have?
what do i have to give up?
this is the frustrating part- the fact that i can't have the best of both worlds. ha.

i would like to insist that i am not a lazy employee.
i am willing to work hard.
just that if this goes on for the next 15 years,
all i am left with is an empty shell.

i can't deal with exhaustion and tiredness.
i know it is bad,
but i just let things slide.

all i needed was a listening ear.