Bali

I actually went on a day trip to Bali yesterday.

And im back in the office today.

My super duper ultra big boss asked me which part of the island I went.

With my limited drawing skills, I drew a map of Bali for him.



This looks like someone’s testicles man.

I hurriedly went out of his room to print a proper map when he looked confused.

Carz

I went to my boss's room today and saw that he placed the car i gave him on this mantle place he has in his room.

Look at how proudly it stands.



Until you step further back and see the kick-ass models already there.

Compliments

I have been complimented for various things before. But I never thought I'd receive one like this from my boss after last week's conference in Shanghai. Definitely not my chinese speaking abilities.

"I just wanted to congratulate you on the great job you did at the conference, without your chinese speaking capabilities it would have been much harder. So GREAT JOB!"

Conference

Going to this conference that my ex-company hosts gave an odd sense of familiarity. Odd feeling cos I've gone to this conference ever since its inception and it's the first time I am attending this as an outsider.

My former boss came to introduce himself to my current boss and it was an awkward moment for me. Current thanked Former for letting Current have me, while Former said it was only a loan. Kinda weird moment there.

There were several cocktails and dinners during the conference and we were shuttled by buses from hotel to hotel, depending on where the coctails/dinners were held. I caught this sign as i was walking to the shuttle bus.



IHG stands for InterContinental Hotels Group. Haha.. this was a funny one.

I brought tons of brochures and even more namecards. It was a tough time trying to explain what my company was in Mandarin. I spoke so much Mandarin that i got a headache in the first two days. Gave away all of them and now i have this much namecards to reply to.



Hopefully i get a deal or two out of these buggers.

On a happier note, I managed to catch up with my pretty Shanghai friend. I've now known her for 3 years now and she was literally my first work friend. It's fun to see how we've grown into our roles.

Hangzhou

I did a day trip to Hangzhou when i was in Shanghai.

上有天堂，下有苏杭。(i'm very good at chinese proverbs, as evidenced here). I've been wanting to go Hangzhou for a long time.

It was a long long journey..

1. 45 mins to the train station to my hotel

The train station was packed at 9am man.



2. 1.5 hour journey to Hangzhou

I called my ex-colleague to ask how to get to Hangzhou. Coincidentally, she was there at the same time! Haha.. she mistakenly took the el cheapo RMB15 (S$3) train which takes 3 hrs and there was no allocated seats. So she stood for one hour until she got a seat. For RMB 50 (S$10), i got a seat and the journey was 1.5 hours.

3. 2 hour car ride to Thousand Islet Lake.

It was raining the entire day which made the pictures bad..but the fogginess added to the mystique of the place.







Going down the slippery slope to get to the boat.

Illness

I think i have an illness.

No matter how late i arrive back from a trip, I'd unpack everything, dirty clothes, toiletries, work files, accessories, etc before i go shower and sleep.

No matter how long the flight is.

It's 2:30am now and im glad to be back.

Shanghai

Came to the conference my ex company hosts every year. But this time I'm here as a delegate. In the past, we used to all squeeze in a serviced apartment to save costs.

Now i finally get to stay in the hotel where the conference is held. So nice.





It isnt that obvious here but the cupboard opens both ways: one side opens into the toilet, and the other side opens at the doorway. Very convenient.



It's an 88 storey building. Scary!





I was famished after my flight and ordered these... yummy.. but they had 10 xiao long bao...



Then i just had this for lunch... nice soup!

Help

I actually recently got some part-time help for my mum. She comes in once a week to clean up the house and help out here and there. This lady came highly recommended by someone i felt is a little too picky and anal for her own good. So i trust her opinion on things like these.

After the first time she came, she wanted my mum to buy the following:

1. A stronger vaccuum cleaner
2. A stronger iron
3. Some special table cloth she recommended

We bought #1 and #2 before her second visit and she helped us buy #3.

On a second visit, she wanted us to buy:

1. A better ironing board.

I didnt manage to buy an ironing board before her third visit.

On her third visit (today), she suggested that my mum bought a cupboard to store the excess clothes we have.

Siong man.

Cards

Just got my order of 2 boxes of name cards for an upcoming conference i'm attending.

Means i wont be getting promoted anytime soon i guess.

Vicious Spiral

It’s strange how one thing can lead to another.

I actually went to Watson’s to get pore packs.

Then ended up getting batteries for my wireless keyboard. Wanted to get 4 pieces only (S$7.05) but then 8 pieces cost S$10.50. More worth it.

Then while paying, saw this two-bottle dettol promotion. Original price is S$15.50 and then now is S$11.80 if I bought more than S$15 at Watson’s.

Bought them all.

Cant think of a nice title

My mum’s happy that my that uncle won S$10,000. His daughter’s in uni and could use with some extra dough. He's very thrifty. Handphone screen spoilt never change. My mum told me to buy him one.

Coincidentally, DBS ibanking has that fab offer with 40% off Samsung phones. I waited till 31 March before ordering cos I wanted to pay till payday. Then I realised deadline was 31 March and the payment website doesn’t work with Mac and Vista (office laptop) and then was panicking cos I cant get my 40% off deal.

I finally managed to in the end. And now he won S$10,000.

I hope good things come to good people.

Digital Aged

It was a flurry of activity in my house last night. I came home late cos I went to get a PSP. I was supposed to stay out later to wait for my mum who was supposed to go to town to pick up my cousin’s maid to come stay at my house cos my cousin’s going on holiday.

After some change in plans, the maid no more coming liaoz. So I went home.

When I came home, my mum was yakking on the phone cos my aunty won second prize in 4-d (or toto). W00t S$2,000. And then another uncle called to say he won first prize!!!! W00t w00t w00t w00t w00t S$10,000! Happy like bird. My mum was very happy and yet half sianz cos apparently she saw the winning number on a car license plate together with my uncle when they visited my aunty (same one who won second prize - very complicated). But she was too lazy to buy in the end. She was nonetheless happy.

In the short window of time my house phone was available, my cousin (the one with the maid) called to say that she’s getting a cab to send her maid to my house. Asked me to take down the taxi number so that we can go down and pick her.

My mum hurriedly took down the numbers to buy in the next 4-d!!

In other news, PSP is very difficult to play.

PSP

Just bought a PSP.



Increasingly more things in my room is white.

My Mac's white.

My keyboard's white.

My ipod's white.

Bought an ipod speaker cum radio that's white too recently.

Nothing

Have you ever had that feeling that NOTHING you do seem right? NOTHING.