waiting AGAIN

I'm waiting again, but this time, it SUCKS. Why? Coz one thing affects so many people.

I'm waiting on an E from my client. She has sent it about half an hour ago. I still haven't got it. It's because of that earthquake that disrupted the internet connection all around Asia.

While I'm waiting, my designer has also been waiting. So that he can finish up this last bit and zip it off to our client.

While we're waiting, our love ones are waiting for us. I'm sure his wife is waiting for him, especially with the amount of latenights he's been pulling on this job. EK is also waiting for me in Orchard. And there I thought today, I could for once be on time or even early for him. Nope. I'm late AGAIN. I want to catch a cab down but it's raining so basically it's hard to catch a cab. On top of that, I don't have cash in my wallet, which means I'll have to draw money which is more waiting for EK.

My client IT side is hence waiting for us to complete this job and send it across to them so they can code. Yes, it's a vicious wait. And no one knows how long we need to wait. That stupid mail could be travelling across to the other side of the world and back for all we know. Bah.

I hate waiting. Especially when I'm not the only one affected by it. People are waiting for me!!

Santa Heard Me

Last year, my christmas wish could have been expressed through one song sung by Britney Spears:


Ooh yeah
Last night [year] I took a walk in the snow
Couples holding hands, places to go
Seems like everyone but me is in love
Santa, can you hear me ?

I sign my letter that I sealed with a kiss
I send it off and just said this
I know exactly what I want this year
Santa, can you hear me ?

I want my baby, baby
I want someone to love me someone to hold
Maybe, Maybe
Be all my own in a big red bow
Santa, can you hear me ?
I have been so good this year
And all I want is one thing
Tell me my true love is here
He's all I want just for me
Underneath my Christmas tree
I’ll be waiting here
Santa that’s my only wish this year.

Christmas Eve, I just can’t sleep.
Will I be wrong for taking a peek ?
Cause that I heard that you're coming to town.
Santa, can you hear me ?
I really that hope you're on your way,
with something special for me in your sleigh.
Ooh please make my wish come true
Santa, can you hear me ?

I want my baby, baby
I want someone to love me someone to hold
Maybe, Maybe
we'll be all alone under the mistletoe
Santa, can you hear me ?
I have been so good this year
And all I want is one thing
Tell me my true love is here
He's all I want just for me
Underneath my Christmas tree
I’ll be waiting here
Santa that’s my only wish this year

I hope my letter reaches you in time
woooo yeah
Bring me a love that I can call all mine
Cause I have been so good this year
Can’t be alone under the mistle toe
he's all i want in a big red bow

Santa, can you hear me ?
I have been so good this year
And all I want is one thing
Tell me my true love is here
He's all I want, just for me
Underneath my Christmas tree
I’ll be waiting here
Santa, that’s my only wish this year

Ooh Santa
Can you hear me ?
ooh santa
Well he's all I want just for me
underneath my Christmas tree
I’ll be waiting here..
Santa, that’s my only wish this year
Santa, that’s my only wish this year


This year, I'm proud to say, Santa heard me! It couldn't have been any better than this. Though he didn't arrange for EK to be sitting under my Christmas tree with a big red bow on Christmas morning, but I had him with me for both Christmas Eve and the actual day itself and I can't ask for anything more than that!

Christmas Thoughts and Love

Sometimes, you feel totally embarrassed when people (specifically my colleagues) give you gifts for Christmas and you didn't prepare any in return.

I guess for me, when I was little, it was all about receiving gifts. As a child, the more prezzies the merrier! Then when we grew older, gifts from individual relatives became like an exchange gift event (think that didn't work very well) so we scrap the entire prezzies altogether. Within my family, I only got prezzies for my sis coz its so hard thinking of what to get for my parents and when you have thought of something, it never seems to be within budget. Either that or they don't really express what they want so I have no clue what to get and getting something else would be meaningless. So I don't usually give prezzies to them, just my sis, and sometimes my close cousins coz we celebrate Christmas with them as well (in NZ).

So giving gifts have never been a habit of mine. Perhaps also Christmas has been too commercialised. For many, Christmas is all about prezzies.

Yes, to an extent, prezzies can be weaved into this meaning of Christmas. The three wise men bought gifts to exalt the new born king. Christmas day celebrates Christ's birth, but it also celebrates the purpose of his coming, to save us from our sins with his undying love, and according to a phrase spoken by a pastor once "you cannot love without giving".

I feel utterly bad when I receive gifts from my colleagues, not because I haven't prepared anything, but because I didn't have enough love and thoughtfulness. And that is one area I need to improve on.

With all my love, MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you!

Trying to be a smart ass.

Why do I try?
Is it even worth the try?
I tried and what did I end up with?
A quotation that's too low or a 'retired' account director asking me 'why didn't I consult him first'?
Which is worse?
What can I do now?
Sit and hope that we don't require this additional quoted service?
Or ring them to inform that we need to revise the quotation?
But will an increase in the quoted price be well received?
Isn't it also not legally correct?
What we sent out is final, isn't it?
What can I do now?
Is there really nothing I can do?
Is this the only option, or do you have anything better?

Women Drivers!

Days are unpredictable. One moment, you can be happy, the next moment, sad.

Take for example yesterday. I took the day off to shop with Pear. At the start of the day, I was happy, excited and looking forward to a nice relaxing day of shopping - bead shopping that is.

Then while preparing to go out, the sky started to turn grey and gloom set in - rain rain go away, come again another day.

Pear and I met up, excited to explore this new shop which was stated in the papers to be one of the larger bead shops around, but I was disppointed when we got there. It was messy yet not loaded with a large variety of things. It was cheap, but not really either. We didn't end up buying much in the end, proceeding to our next destination - People's Park Shopping Centre.

That was when it happened. My parking skills are atrocious, especially with Singapore's narrow lanes, so I always have to readjust my car to park perfectly. Just as I was reversing out of the lot to readjust my car, I turned to my right and saw a car approaching. I stopped and waited for him to pass before reversing out.

KNOCK!

I turned around and realised I've hit into his car which was right behind me. The thought that ran through my head at that moment: "SHIT. It's GRANDPA'S car". He had stopped behind me and was reversing into a car park lot that was diagonally opposite mine.

Getting out, he was rather pleasant about it. Assessing both our damage - I got away with a scratch, he had a tiny dent above his rear tyre - he said he probably wouldn't claim insurance. I was relieved, but of course, a damage is a damage. He said he'll take it to his mechanic to assess the repair costs and get back to me. We exchanged name cards, took down IC numbers and were off on our way.

My mood was slightly affected. I was relieved, yet disappointed with my driving. 'Women drivers' he must have thought. I couldn't pinpoint my exact feelings then. I just wanted to go home and not drive. Though I was relieved that Grandpa's car only received a scratch, I just hate the fact that it's not my car. If it's my car, I wouldn't be that bothered, but the fact is, it's Grandpa's car and I had loaned it from him to drive. I should have been more responsible.

Having said that, accidents are bound to happen.

Shopping kind of took my mind off things for a while, then we moved on to our next destination: Arab Street. I didn't park coz they were all parallel parks and if I had attempted to park, it's like asking for another accident, so Pear went to walk the shops, while I toured the place for an easy park.

I finally found an easy lot (first lot of a line of parallel parks) but being lazy to tear parking coupons and also to get out of the car, I stayed in and waited for Pear. I was relieved that I found an easy lot.

That evening, we went home and I broke the news to Grandpa, who took it well. That was both an embarrassing moment, and also a moment of relieve. Sometimes, after such things happen to you, you don't really feel like driving anymore. Well, that's how I feel.

But as EK puts it: if you are not prepared to meet with an accident, then don't buy a car or don't drive.

If only these options were viable...

3-day Adventure

It was another adventure to remember.

When it first started on Thursday night, everything went wrong when the bus left Singapore. A tired little girl, missing and wanting to see her boyfriend sooner, a different bus and seat was allocated to her (not as comfortable), and a frustrated boyfriend over the phone at the swapping situation.

But it all changed when she arrived in Penang. Though her eyes were sore from crying and her emotions hurt, it was all forgotten with an explanation from the boyfriend regarding his frustration at the situation - not at her. The bus company were the ones who 'manipulated' the little girl and that's what the boyfriend was angry over.

Everything was back to normal. TLC was put into place and the holiday began. After a late breakfast - Lorong Selamat Char Quey Teow - it was off to the mall for some shopping where the little girl bought a pretty hair clip. Then, they left for the beach. It was going to be their first time riding the jet ski and both were excited. It is an item on her 'things I want to do before I die' list - to jet ski. He was a little hesitant at the start, asking the little girl to take the front, to drive the jet ski. She started off slow, screaming and a little frightened to accelerate. As the waves came against them, she gave up, and her hero came to the rescue. Sitting behind her, he took the bars and started up. Accelerating, OFF THE WENT! She was safe between her hero's arms, screaming with excitment, semi-fear and laughter.



She enjoyed herself thoroughly. They rode out towards the horizon, sped over the sea as if they were skimming the surface, did leaps over the ocean's choppy waves, and drank bits of salt water.

The fun didn't stop. They continued with horse-riding on the beach. Sharing a horse, they rode romantically off into the sunset - NAH, they didn't. It was only 4+pm!



They spent the remaining hour or so lying on beach chairs under palm trees, sipping their cocktails and enjoying the blue blue sky.



Evening came and they set off for home, sitting in a jam for over an hour with rain batting down heavily on the car. Tummies were rumbling and bodies were shivering, but the journey home was not one bit boring - with a chit here and a chat there. When they got home, it was already 8pm! Walking across the street, they had dinner at the hawker centre just opposite their apartment - Penang Laksa, Jawa Mee, Buan Jian Kuey, Hokkien Mee - before retreating indoors for a night in.

The next day was another eventful fiesta. The couple went for Fried Fish Mee Fen (vermicelli) first, then a walk around a mall, before returning home to pick up the parents. Off they went to the southern most part of Penang for Crab Porriage, then made a detour to have Penang Laksa before heading home, oh wait, they made one more stop to buy some fruits from a roadside stall before going back - crossing to the main island via the famous Penang Ferry.



They rested in that night and for dinner - FRUITS.

On Sunday, the family went for dim sum, shopped around, ate Jawa Mee and Rojak at a hawker centre, went to the seaside to dig up clams (or whatever it's called) and picked home a few pretty seashells, saw Penang airport (tourist destination - haha) and then the couple dropped the parentals off at home before heading out again.

Baskin Robbins was the place. Ice Cream was the agenda. After chilling over fantastic ice cream, they got back into the car and went for a car ride in the heavy storm. Arriving home, they decided to have dinner at the hawker centre opposite. From the car to the hawker centre, they walked hand in hand through the rain, their legs and shoes soaking up with rainwater. The little girl giggled and laughed, enjoying every bit of the rain. The boyfriend looked on, smiling at her many expressions.

There, she ate fusion Buan Jian Kuey - Chicken Hawaiian flavour which included cheese, mushrooms, pineapple, chicken and ham. It was AMAZING! She was satisfied. They returned home to pack their bags and prepared for the journey back to Singapore.

Tired and burnt out from the 3 days of intensive fun, the little girl fell soundly asleep throughout the entire bus journey home.

Visit/Revisit

La la la la la. I've got nothing to do (technically I do, but I'm not in the working mood). I don't feel like working at all. I want a break. Can't wait for tomorrow evening, the start of my holiday. Though it's starting off with an overnight coach ride, but nevertheless, I'll be on a holiday. Took Friday off work to enjoy a full 3 day weekend in Penang. It's a recharge holiday. Talking about holidays, let me share with you my list of places I want to visit or revisit!

(1)
What: To revisit
Where: New Zealand, specifically Auckland
When: SOON (March/April 07?)
With: EK
Why: Miss my family, miss my friends, and I want to show EK the home where I've lived for the last 5 years.

The rest of the list is in no specific order.

(2)
What: To visit
Where: Taiwan
Why: SHOPPING! Never been there.

(3)
What: To revisit
Where: Korea, Seoul
When: Soon-ish
With: EK
Why: Coz EK says he wants to experience Korea's night life which he didn't get to do when he was with the tour group. And I want to go before all my friends in Korea forget about me.

(4)
What: To visit
Where: USA
When: Within the next 3 to 4 years
With: Whoever
Why: Coz James is there to be my tour guide! Must make use of resources. AND I WANT TO GO DISNEYLAND!

(5)
What: To visit
Where: Venice
When: In my lifetime
With: The person I love
Why: WHY NOT?!

(6)
What: To visit
Where: Japan
When: In my lifetime, hopefully when I'm below 30
Why: I want to go Harajuku/Shinjuku and dress (for one day) in those outrageous colourful outfits with wild hair to say 'been there, done that'.

(7)
What: To visit
Where: Germany
When: In my lifetime
Why: To rent a fast car and drive along that 'no speed limit' road. That is, if that's in Germany. I think it is.

(8)
What: To visit
Where: Hong Kong
Why: Just a place to go I guess, heard shopping is good there.

(9)
What: To visit
Where: Europe
Why: To see the castle among the clouds, to see the leaning tower, to see Michaelangelo's work, the list goes on!

sunnyside DOWN

This morning, I wanted to make breakfast for EK. He stayed over to keep me company in an empty house as my grandparents had gone on a church retreat. Thinking whipping up some eggs and sausages for breakfast shouldn't be too hard, I started the cooking at 7am.

The sausages were ok - not pretty but OK (had to dispose of the first 2 sausages).

The sunnyside UP became a sunnyside DOWN. It was a disaster. First, the egg stuck to the pan - HOW MUCH OIL DO YOU NEED TO USE?! Then when I tried scooping the egg off the pan, the sunnyside was disturbed and the runny yolk broke. It looked terrible on the plate - very sad in fact. I can manage a scramble but not a sunnyside up.

I was so disheartened and embarrassed, I went crying to EK. Tears were balling down my face as I cried about my atrocious cooking, swearing never to cook again. EK was most encouraging, even apologising for not waking up earlier to help. He came out and ate the egg. When I saw him eating the ugly and probably gone cold sunnyside up, I broke down again. It must have tasted terrible. I felt so bad. He felt even worse seeing me crying like that. He said it was nice. But I know he was only being nice.

WHY AM I SUCH A BAD COOK? AM I DESTINED TO BE A TERRIBLE HOUSEWIFE? I CAN'T EVEN SERVE THE MOST BASIC SAUSAGE AND EGGS, WHAT ELSE CAN I COOK?!

Beautiful.

Today is beautiful. I'm not stressed or gasping for air. The things I thought might arrive late was waiting for me in my mailbox when I arrived at work. Ahhh...everything is going great!

I'm in a fantastic mood today. This week is going to be a short week for me at work since I'm on annual leave on Friday. Taken it off to visit Penang and Langkawi! Going to hit some beaches and ride some waves - on a jet ski hopefullly!

I'm also alone in my little corner of the room as one account executive is somewhere in Anerica, roaming the streets and another is sick in bed. So I've cranked up Corrinne May and am enjoying my privacy - sketching new trinkets!

Ah...what a drastic change in tone, emotions, everything. From my previous 'Sob.' entry to this 'Beautiful.'

Indeed. Today, yesterday, the day before yesterday hasn't been great days for me.

Today, I didn't do well in my presentation. Yesterday's was better (even my boss says so). Sigh. And the horrid thing is, I was presenting to the general manager of my client company. Yesterday was only to the executive director. I don't know if we will get the job, but from the looks of their stern expression, I can only hope and wish and pray.

Yesterday's drama? Please, have a seat and LISTEN! Apart from spending my frantic morning from 8am to 10.30am getting ready for my presentation at 11am, and the slow computer which plays up just at the crucial moment, I also had to deal with another crisis. Another client of mine has got a hugh event next Monday. I'm in charge of handing all their 150 handouts folder (we still have missing pages which will only come tomorrow), their info cards, all their signages, etc.

The first panic attack came when the printers discovered incompatible fonts which displayed wrongly on their computer, which made text run out of place, which means - NO PRINT. So it came back to us and that whole afternoon, I was sorting out and converting the powerpoint slides to PDF but there was drama with technology which delayed the whole process. AND THE JOB HAD TO GO TO PRINT SOON IF NOT WE'LL BE LATE LATE LATE!! What happened? I finally found a computer (at the other end of the company) having MS Powerpoint. Yes, can you believe that only selected computers in our office has MicroSoft?! Then, after converting the slides to PDF (2 slides per page), the PDF came out blank as an error message detailing 'no such fonts installed' flashed in front of me. Thinking it was converted wrongly, I tried another several times. Still failure. So I returned to my computer, dishearted when I realised that same file that opened with errors on that computer opened fine on mine. So back I went to that computer to convert the remaining files, which was a tiring process of running to and fro to check because there were still other problems which I shall not go in detail. Finally, all was done by 3pm and passed on to the printers.

The second panic attack for the day was when I heard WE DON'T HAVE THE WHITE RING BINDERS. The supplier called our printers to say they didn't have enough ring binders - we had already ordered from them the quantity. They played us out. So at 4pm, I was off with our production manager and a staff from our printers to a warehouse to look for the binders. The good news? She had the white binders. The bad news? She only had 100. We needed 150!!! So all the way till today, I was worrying about this, until lunch time, when the printers informed us - ALL IS SOLVED.

The day before yesterday was another mad day, getting ready all the handouts that were going into the folder, organising the layouts, liasing with our clients to get the last minute information, etc etc etc. YEA. SOB.

Oh, and my boyfriend has left the company for 'greener pastures'. Yesterday was his last day. SOB to that too. AND I DIDN'T HAVE TIME TO ATTEND HIS FAREWELL LUNCH. Of course I'll get to see him at other times. It just means we won't see as much of each other coz we won't have lunch together, we won't bump into each other's paths while running around the office, we won't...basically, we won't see each other from 8am to 6pm. But of course, there's 6pm till bedtime to see each other...still...

Sob.

Inspiration

The lack of it is detrimental, especially in the creative/design industry. Sometimes I feel like I've got IT. Other times, I feel like my existance is worthless.

Where do you go to find new inspiration?

In the advertising world where there are so many messages flying around, nothing is truly new - just tweaked. In the design industry, a new look is often bounced off someone else' design - a new material here or a new colour there.

With an urgent deadline to meet, the creative team struggle to produce something of inspiration quality. It doesn't help when your boss has sold your company to your client with impressive archives of our previous achievements. On top of that, there is a lack of motivation (yet another recruitment TVC), a lack of time (storyboards, creative rationale and costing have got to be sorted in a matter of days), but most importantly, a lack of inspiration (especially when the client comes from a very specialised industry).

Somehow, I'm thankful I'm not part of the creatives. Of course my contributions are welcomed, but at the end of the day, I've learnt to accept that I'm just not gifted in this department. I wish I can be more creative, but...

Where do you go to find new inspiration?

In the design industry, with the lack of knowledge on good material suppliers and a lack of proper training by those who have been in the industry for longer, I find myself at a disadvantage. However, those are the least of my concerns. Inspiration is the key to producing something of beauty. The most challenging part is finding inspiration to design something with the materials we have. Sometimes I think to myself, though I have the materials, I may not have the gift. That's why I'm still exploring. I don't want to give up too soon. That's why I'm still searching for that spark.

And when inspiration do hits, the next challenge is converting this bit of inpsiration into reality. Sometimes, your inspiration ends up being tweaked and compromised due to limited materials, the texture of the materials, and the possibility of such a design.

So really...where do people go to find new inspiration?

It's boils down to stealing an idea here, ripping a tagline there. Nothing is truly new. Just tweaked. Revamped. Amended.

Do you agree?

Bored of me yet? You've asked me to update, hoping to hear some juicy details about my life perhaps, but you end up getting an 'article' on Inspiration. I find these last few entries of mine have been rather ambiguous. Please be patient. It's not easy opening up after disappearing for so long. Stay tuned for the next episode...

Insightful News/Useless Blabber

I'm back!

I'm sure all of you must have missed me? Well...at least some of you? Anyone at all? No? (Please excuse me as I wrote this paragraph without knowledge of my very active tagboard.)

Anyway, I've finally decided my blog have been left stagnant for far too long. Time to pick up the slack and write a good article or two. However, the fact is, I never write good articles anyway so why not end your reading misery - especially with my limited vocabulary, atrocious grammer, and world 'unimpacting' news.

But once in a while, I do feel like writing. I do feel like expressing my brainless imagination. I do feel like telling the world what I've been up to, even if it's really nothing.

So here I am, back in the act. And I'll try to keep this promise of updating my blog a little more often - hopefully with some insightful news and not useless blabber.

Penang Penang

Three weekends ago (yes, I have been insanely busy), I followed him back to Penang, his hometown in Malaysia. Leaving straight after work on Friday, we went home for a quick shower before leaving for Golden Mile, where the pick-up point was for the coach. We were taking an overnight coach all the way up to Penang.

The coach was new, he has never travelled with this company before and it was an eyeopener for both of us - more for me of course. This country pumpkin was so amazed at how luxurious the seats were - just like flying business class on an aeroplane! We even had our own personal TV screen, showing a great variety of outdated shows but it was still a good selection. The seats reclined as well!!!!! It was amazing; like a lazy boy - minus the leather of course.

However, the 9 and a half hour journey wasn't very comfortable. According to him, the seats did not recline as much as the other company's coaches and both of us didn't manage to catch as much sleep as anticipated. Nevertheless, the moment we arrived in Penang, put our bags down at his place and washed up, it was out of the house for the 4 of us (his parents included).

Here's what we did.

Activity (1) At one of his favourite food stall called 'Jie Mei Char Kuay Teow'...

Food (1) Hokkien Mee - apparently not one of the best food stall for it
Food (2) Char Kuay Teow - DELICIOUS but it'll never be my fav
Food (3) Yam Cake - at least I tried...don't know why I thought I heard them say fish
Food (4) Otah ?soft, juicy and different from Singapore's

Activity (2) Drive around Georgetown before coming to his next favourite food stall...

Food (5) Buan Jian Quey (2 different types) - love the one with black sugar

Activity (3) To a famous chinese temple up on the hill and then to another temple (used to be the biggest sleeping goddess in the world) before going for lunch...

Food (6) Penang Laksa (Assam style) - LOVE!
Food (7) Penang Laksa (Sweeter style) - LOVE IT TOO!
Food (8) Passembur - it's alright but not a favourite

@ the temple

Activity (4) Take a long drive around Penang's coast, stopping by at a hillside plantation for...

Food (9) Fruit Rojak - I LOVE FRUITS, so sweet so juicy!
Food (10) Fruit Ice Kachang - amazingly sweet mango!

Activity (5) Continued on our road trip around Penang Island before returning home for a rest at around 3pm which involved...

Food (11) Homemade Moon Cake - Eating is also a form of rest!

Activity (6) Drive to another part of Penang for appetizers...

Food (12) Fried Lalas - it wasn't the highlight, just to keep the mouth busy while waiting for...
Food (13) Grilled Female Crabs - I've never had it this style (YUM) and the female crabs had so much eggs!! I learnt to eat crab eggs that day.

Activity (7) Drive to Gurney Drive, queued along the road till we were almost giving up when we found a park, got out of the car and walked to the food market for more...

Food (14) BBQ Cuttlefish - nice and crispy!
Food (15) Muah Ji - not much of a starchy chinese dessert person
Food (16) Soft Apong with banana - love bananas!
Food (17) Crispy Apong - DELICIOUS! Almost like loveletters!

Activity (8) Dropped off the parentals for their beauty sleep (10pm) before zooming off to a pasa malam (night market) and then to the beach to watch the starless sky.

Ahhh, finally an activity that didn't involve any eating. Bliss!

And that was my long first day in Penang.

The second day, we woke up at 9am, washed up and got ready to embark on another day of activity. I promise it doesn't involve too much eating.

Activity (9) Off to one of his favourite breakfast places for...

Food (18) Bak Kut Teh - Beautiful!

Activity (10) Went to check out this big house in Penang

No food involved

Activity (11) Then we went to the Youth Park where there were loads of people exercising, and children, playing on the swings and stuff. We took loads of pictures as well.

No food involved

Activity (12) Dropped his parents back home before going out again to a 5-star hotel for massage and spa treatment. I'm not one who appreciates such things, to me it was pain and torture, but I did feel more relaxed after that so I guess it worked.

No food involved

Activity (13) I had been craving for ice cream the whole time in Penang ever since I saw Baskin Robins so after the massage, we went to the shop beside Baskin Robins? Why? Coz he wanted to introduce me to a shop called Ice Ice Baby which had baby faces all over the shop! They served amazing desserts!

Food (19) Baked cheese noodles - I managed to eat a little of it. Too cheezy but edible.
Food (20) Ice cream on chinese egg waffle (aka kuay bulu) - YUM YUM YUM!
Food (21) Chocolate fondue with ice cream, cakes and assorted fruits - DROOL!

@ Ice Ice Baby

Activity (14) Then we went shopping! He took me to this big shopping mall called Comta where we walked the floors. He bought me a nice 3/4 black pants and a pink singlet, before rushing home for dinner with his sister and family.

Food (22) Fried Egg Oyster - bought from the food stall opposite their apartment.
Food (23) Steamed fish drenched in tomato sauce - it tastes just like how mama cooks it.
Food (24) Brocolli with mushrooms - nice and healthy for a change.
Food (25) Steam egg with prawns - another nice, healthy and delicious dish.
Food (26) Chicken Soup - another dish very much like how mama cooks it.

Activity (15) Shower, Pack-up, and get ready for the bus ride home, which was even better than the bus ride to Penang though the coach was slightly older and there weren't any personal television set. We travelled with another coach company this time around, one he frequently travels with and it was nice because the seats could recline to almost horizontal and we managed to get better sleep on our way home, to recharge us for the next working day.

The Inner Workings of a Shopaholic's Mind

Recently, Pear passed me a book from the Shopaholic series written by Sophie Kinsella. Although the book she passed me was the second book and I haven't read the first, I could immediately relate to Rebecca Bloomwood, the shopaholic.

Here's a snippet into the workings of a shopaholic's mind. (Ladies, don't lie to yourself, I'm sure you can TOTALLY relate.)

So for example, when I get to LK Bennett, I'm incredibly focused and direct. As I walk in, a pair of red boots with high heels catches my eye - but I quickly look away, and head straight for the display of sandals. This is how I shop these days: no pausing, no gorgeous new range of sequined pumps over there. I simply go straight to the sandals I want, take them from the rack and say to the assistant,

'I'd like to have these in a six, please.'

Direct, and to the point. Just buy what you need and nothing else. This is the key to controlled shopping. I'm not even going to glance at those cool pink stilettos, even though they'd match my new Jigsaw cardigan perfectly.

Nor those slingbacks with the glittery heels.

They are nice though, aren't they? I wonder what they'd look like on.

Oh God. This is really hard.

What is it about shoes? I mean, I like most kinds of clothes, but a fabulous pair of shoes can just reduce me to jelly. Sometimes, when no-one else is at home, I open my wardrobe and just stare at all my pairs of shoes, like some mad collector. And once, I lined them all up on my bed and took a photograph of them. Which might seem a bit weird - but I thought, I've got loads of photos of people I don't really like, so why not take one of something I love?

'Here you are!'

Thank goodness, the assistant is back with my lilac sandals in a box - and as I see them, my heart gives a little leap. Oh, these are gorgeous. Gorgeous. All delicate and strappy, with a tiny little blackberry by the toe. I fell in love with them as soon as I saw them. They're a bit expensive - but then, everyone knows you should never skimp on shoes, because you'll hurt your feet.

I slip my feet into them with a frisson of delight - and oh God, they're fantastic. My feet suddenly look elegant, and my legs look longer...and OK, it's a tiny bit difficult to walk in them, but that's probably because the shop floor is slippery.

'I'll take them, please,' I say, and beam happily at the assistant.

You see, this is the reward for taking such a controlled approach to shopping. When you buy something, you really feel as though you've earned it.

We head towards the checkout, and I keep my eyes carefully away from the rack of accessories. In fact, I barely even notice that purple bag with the jet beading. And I'm just reaching into my bag for my purse, congratulating myself on being so single-minded, when the assistant says conversationally, 'You know, we've got these sandals in clementine, as well.'

Clementine?

'Oh...right,' I say after a pause.

I'm not interested. I've got what I came in to buy - and that's the end of the story. Lilac sandals. Not clementine ones.

'They've just come in,' she adds, rooting around on the floor. 'I think they're going to be even more popular than the lilac.'

'Really?' I say, trying to sound as indifferent as I can. 'Well, I'll just take these, I think...'

'Here it is!' she exclaims. 'I knew there was one around here somewhere.'

And I freeze, as she puts the most exquisite sandal I've ever seen onto the counter. It's a pale, creamy orange colour, with the same strappy shape as the lilac one - but instead of the blackberry, there's a tiny clementine by the toe.

It's instant love. I can't move my eyes away.

'Would you like to try it?' says the girl, and I feel a lurch of desire, right to the put of my stomach.

Just look at it. It's delicious. It's the most darling shoe I've ever seen. Oh God.

But I don't need a pair of clementine shoes, do I? I don't need them.

Come on, Becky. Just. Say. No.

'Actually...' I swallow hard, trying to get control of my voice. 'Actually...' God, I can hardly say it. 'I'll just take the lilac ones today,' I manage eventually. 'Thank you.'

And for the next hour as she sits at a cafe sipping her cuppaccino, all she can think about are those clementine shoes and the outcome? What do you think? Duh. A woman can justify any want to a need.

Well, I haven't finished reading the book but I'm ever so thankful I'm not as bad a shopaholic as Rebecca is.

www.jolieavenue.blogspot.com

I've been so busy and tired lately, I haven't had the time to sit down for a breather.

Life has suddenly caught up with me, age has clearly slowed me down and time has been slipping right by me. To be more explicit, work has come to a slow drag with sudden stressful climaxes, an extra hobby vies for the rest of my time, and love comes knocking at my doorstep.

Work...it's the same thing over and over again. Periods of constant waiting and periods of immense stress. A week without deadlines follows with a week with back-to-back deadlines. Work has definitely gone from stressfully interesting to stressfully mundane. But nevertheless, against the benchmark of going back to school, a pay check at the end of the month still works wonders for the shoppaholic's soul.

My newest hobby? I don't really know how else to call it. Perhaps it's called a hobby. Perhaps it's called side-line income. Anyway, Pear and I have just launched an online business on the 1st September 2006 selling jewelry, hand-made exclusively by us. It's our pride and joy at the moment: right from the start when we decided to start such a business, to the first day we actually got down to putting our talk into action on 9th August 2006, then to the day we rushed to launch the website on 1st September 2006, and till today, a normal business day for us, where we'll be meeting after work and uni to discuss business.

I'm still in disbelief, amazed at how just 2 months ago, we were still talking about how nice it would be to make and sell our own earrings. It was really all talk then and I never thought at that point in time, this dream would come true one day. Even my prince said so himself. When I met up with him slightly more than a month ago, it was only a casual topic of conversation that was brushed over briefly as a passing thought. And today. We've got a website, extra materials and orders!

Pear and I have plenty of dreams and to see one dream realised - I don't know how else to describe it but as Mr Big says on Sex and the City - ABSO-F***ING-LUTELY AMAZING!! The thing is, I've been so busy with the launch of it, I completely forgot to announce it to the world, so everyone out there, if you haven't already visited our shop, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Pigs to fly? Go NOW!

Apart from Jolie Avenue, there are other things new to the heart of this expired teenage shoppaholic - like Love. It's all new to me at the moment, and I have not figured out how to weave it into a bloggable topic yet. Perhaps coz 'love' is so personal to me, I don't think I can do justice to it with words just yet.

Like and Love

"There's a difference between like and love. I mean I like my Sketchers, but I love my Prada backpack." - Bianca, Ten Things I Hate About You

Sometimes, I wish it was so easily defined. Neverthless, here's what I think:

There's a difference between like and love. I mean I like that there's a difference, but I love how both feels.

Drama in my life

Mark-Up

Pear and I have been dabbling in some jewelry business so I decided we should mark-up our price on each item by quite a big sum of around $50. Both parties agreed and our business florished! No one seemed to object the mark-up and we were doing very well.

Detail Rating (out of 5): *


Quitting

Everyone heard that I was quitting Pagesetters. Everyone is getting ready to celebrate my leave with good farewell words and lunch treats.

But how come I didn't know I had announced it to everyone that I was leaving. Yes, I thought about it and I think I should quit, but I don't recall telling anyone about my decision.

So I asked a colleague of mine if I did tell everyone I was leaving and with a straight face, he said, “Yes, you did.” I found this very puzzling.

Detail Rating (out of 5):***


Murder Accomplist

Last night, after being an accomplist for a rather serious crime, I decided to run. It was all dark, everyone was asleep. To appear less obvious, I stayed low, crawling on the ground of my precious stuff toy in my hand (WHAT THE?). I turned around the corner of the street and spotted a police car and a couple of policemen attending to some commotion at my neighbour's place - probably some party that went a little too overboard. I froze for a second. They looked at me, a weirdo crawling on the ground, but without thinking twice, they continued on with their police business.

Heart beating faster and faster, I turned around and made my way to a car parked on the side of the road. Quietly without being obvious, I broke into the driver's side of the car. The car was a left hand drive. Not the normal kind of car you see in Singapore. I spotted several policemen walking past my car. One of them looked in. I hurriedly tried to start the car, but automatically, I reached over to my left for the gears. Wrong move. I thought I was in for it. I thought I had given it away. Realising my mistake and avoiding eyecontact with the policeman, I reached for the gears on the right. The policemen walked away.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

Detail Rating (out of 5):****


The Overview
What a busy night it was for me yesterday, or should I say early this morning! Hitting the pillows at 12.30am, I thought I could get a full 7 hours of sleep. I was wrong. I had dreams after dreams after dreams. And they weren't nice dreams either. They were all stressful to an extent. It wasn't the kind of dreams where you feel good and end up smiling to yourself when you wake up. It was about business, work and crime! And what is more amazing is that I remember them. Perhaps it's coz I woke up after every dream. However, you can clearly see the detail rating as I progress with each dream. The more recent the dream, the better I remember it. Though I love dreaming, being an accomplist on a crime isn't my cup of tea and being a panda the next day isn't a bonus as well!

Mr Sandman, give me a sign

Expired:
I wanted to be a pilot,
And travel the world with class.
But I suck at multi-tasking,
So this dream I gave up.

I wanted to be an air-stewardess,
And travel the world to explore.
But Mum doubted my service,
So this dream I gave up.

I wanted to work for an airline,
And travel the world on discount.
But so did many others,
So this dream I gave up.

Frozen:
I wanted to be a cop,
For it was a childhood dream.
But I doubted my ability to handle the training,
This dream is now on hold.

I wanted to be a fashion designer,
For all the clothes I want to wear.
But without a degree in fashion design,
This dream is now on hold.

I wanted to be my own boss,
For I rather answer to myself.
But without good research and proposal,
This dream is now on hold.

Active:
I would like to be a copywriter,
I hope to design a big ad.
But I might not have enough creativity,
So this dream I'm still pursuing.

I would like to find a job I love,
I hope every work day is fun.
But I don't know what I really enjoy,
So this dream I'm still pursuing.

I would like to find a Singaporean boyfriend,
I hope I'm on my way.
But it's harder than I thought,
So this dream I'm still pursuing.

Under-Construction:
I wouldn't mind being a tai tai,
I hope my husband is rich.
But not many guys would approve,
I'm still amending this dream.

I wouldn't mind being more ambitious,
I hope for more drive in life.
But with ambition comes overwhelming stress,
I'm still amending this dream.

I wouldn't mind being a psychic,
I hope to see my future.
But the future lies in your own hands,
I'm still amending this dream.

Achievements:
I've always lived a life of a dreamer,
Wishing for so endless things.
And now that I've achieved this,
What's next? Pray tell, I do not know.

Composition Title: A Day Out at the Beach

The day started out warm. All dressed in her new pink towel-material skirt, a white top, and a pink bikini hidden underneath, Lorraine made her way down to Harbourfront MRT station where she had arranged to meet with her best friend, Pearlyn, and two other friends.

After lunch, they boarded a Vios and drove into Sentosa. Driving across the bridge to Sentosa, Lorraine was consumed by excitement. It has been about three years since she last stepped foot on the shores of Sentosa and she was looking forward to it. Though Lorraine isn't much of a beach girl - she didn't like the sand between her toes and the salty sea water - she was nevertheless excited. She was the one who called for this outing. She was dying to go Sentosa, to stretch out on the beach and chill the afternoon away.

They parked their car and walked down to the beach. There was a good crowd of people on this semi-cloudy day. The sun was just right. Not too scorching, and yet not entirely useless. They stretched out on a beach mat, lying in the sun and chatting. Life couldn't get any better.

They felt drops of rain falling on their exposed skin. Lorraine wasn't bothered. Afterall she loved the rain and what better timing than on a day she was dressed to get wet! They ducked for shelter though, having a drink while waiting for the rain to 'vanish' which it eventually did. Just a passing shower.

The adjourned back out onto the beach and let the sun warm up their bodies. Lorraine took this chance to absorb everything. She saw people who were doing the same as she was - sunbathing - and others who had a book in front of them, reading by the beach. And then there were others who were playing with the sand, and a few others who rather be in the cool sea. There were little kids, playing in the kiddy pool just a while away. Not to mention the groups of teenagers at the far end, competing against each other in a game of beach volly.

An ice cream and some nacho chips went down well under the beautiful sun. Lorraine even took a dip into the cool sea water. She enjoyed it. When a person is in the mood, everything feels good.



At around 5pm, they were all hungry and decided to leave. After a nice shower, they met once again and walked back towards the carpark. One their way, they spotted a large white snake! There must have been some animal performance earlier and there were a few remaining audience hanging around the stage, taking pictures with the large snake. Not wanting to miss this great opportunity, Lorraine's friend went down to join the queue. Lorraine took her cue as the cameraman, but she refused to touch the snake. Pearlyn made it a point to stay far far away from the snake. She wouldn't even look at the pictures that were taken!



They left Sentosa for Chinatown, having Korean food for dinner and some asian desserts before heading home. Plonking herself on the bed, Lorraine fell asleep after a little bit of Korean drama treats.

Sandwiches - Account Executives' Lunch

How do you like your sandwich? Toast? Thick-sliced or thin? Buttered?

Here's my sandwich:

Stale toast on one side but not on the other. Both are on thick-sliced bread. On the toasted and super stale bread, you've got margerine, smooth and apparently good for you. Then comes the miserable piece of ham stuck in the middle. Following that is an piece of non-toasted multigrain bread. No spread.

"WHAT THE?"

Think abstract. Here's some help:

Stale toast - Our Clients (tough and demands lots of energy when chewing)
Margerine - The contact between you and your client (it's got to be smooth since they mean business and business is always good for you)
Miserable Ham - Me, the Account Executive
Non-toasted Multigrain bread - The designers (with the creative variety of ideas)
*And no spread - Our contact maybe a little dry (especially when balancing the clients' wants with their creativity)

WELCOME to the exciting world of Account Servicing (AS), also known as Ass Sucking.

Vampires and Magnets

It's been a long time since I last wrote a good blog entry. Or any blog entry for that matter. Today, I decided to 'pick up my pen' and 'let my fingers do the walking'. Sadly, all I have to write about is my wait. Yes, I'm waiting once again. So today, to change the direction of this entry, I have decided to write about another topic in my life: The stress that comes with waiting.

I've been feeling rather stressed lately and it's an accumulation of many things related and unrelated to work.

Let me start with the first client - I'll call them the vampires. Whenever I talk to them, meet them or do anything related to their project, I'm mentally and physically drained. I feel completely worn out as if I have just tended to a problem child - no, let me correct this. I feel completely worn out as if I've just tended to a child who is also my aunt. When you still have to maintain your professionalism even though they are so disorganised, undecisive and demanding. I was left sucked dry on last Friday evening, last Saturday afternoon, yesterday morning and now this afternoon. It doesn't get any better than this. Tomorrow, I'm meeting the vampires again so lets see how much energy and time they can suck out of me.

The second client - let's call them Houdini! This client is a constant struggle of waiting and stress. For one, Houdini's assistant whom I'm dealing with is forever not answering her phone calls (she's never at her desk). Then when I've sent her something, she'll never reply as if she never checks her email. She holds a low position so basically, she answers to the Great Houdini. Slowing down the entire process, I've got to go through her to get consent from the Great. It's always a wait with this lady - and it's not as if we have time. But then again, Houdini is known to be able to magically escape out of tight situations at the last minute. Let's hope magic is on our side!

The third client is definitely, without a doubt, known as Little Miss Fickle. Do you know the story of Little Miss Fickle? Go read the Mr. Men and Little Miss series! But from the name, it's quite S.E. Basically, they are very fickle-minded. One day it's this, the next day it's that. Not to mention disorganised so what you do now is never quite right. Today we just submitted a final ad for their approval and minutes later, we've changed the entire ad around. Which is final? I don't think I can pin-point the end!

Another worry of mine is the MC King. Every company has an MC King. And especially at this crucial moment, he first takes annual leave from work for a holiday (which is still okay) then followed by an MC the next day to rest in. The worse thing is, our presentation is on Friday and he's only coming back tomorrow. Because he's on MC, I'm stressed because all I can do is wait. I need information to complete this other quotation which will leave me with more waiting once I submit it.

Let's leave the work worries and move on to other things.

Moving on to the next stressful situation: The Persistant Magnet. This is written in an extermely abstract context, which I don't know how else to explain. If you get it, you do, if you don't, move on. You know how magnets work - even though you pry the magnet away from the metal, but if they remain in close proximity with each other, somehow, the magnet finds its way back together. Not to mention this is a quite persistant and mature magnet with many years of experience in re-attaching itself to any types of metal. And I'm new in this magnetic field as well. Oh, sorry, forgot to mention, this is semi-work related. All work and no play makes Raine a dull girl.

So now, let me introduce the Hinter. I really dislike it when people hint, but it's even worse when I can pick up on the hint. The worse part is that I think I know what might follow and I don't want it to follow. So here I find myself waiting and dreading what's to come. And when it does, it'll only put myself in a super horrid position to make the decision call, and put the other in an awkward position.

Then lastly, but the least stressful one of all, I'd name it the French. French is such a hard language...who came up with it?!!! Unless you speak it, you'd think it's such a weird language! And all I can do is wait for some French inspiration or any other sort of inspiration. PLEASE COME SOON.

Drifting to Tokyo

Today, I watched Tokyo Drift at the movies as a form of stress relief to mark the close of a SUPER BUSY FRIDAY.

The movie wasn't that great, quite boring plot, but then the gorgeous cars, set in Tokyo, the cool japs and the racing made up for it. I wouldn't recommend it 100% because the cars weren't fantastic either. You can definitely see how low the budget of this film is compared to The Fast and The Furious and 2 Fast 2 Furious. This movie loses out in terms of the cars (their look, their style, their angles) and the filming is not as fantastic! But...who's complaining?

29th of July

I wrote this blog entry so long ago but I'm only posting it now...

Two weekends ago, two different days, two different senarios, and two very different set of friends.

	Friday	Saturday
Start Time	7.30pm	5pm
Reason for outing	- To destress- Celebrate the coming of the weekend	- To meet up- Bid farewell to Derek who's returning to Aussie
First lot of friends	Pear, Junren and Zeyun	Derek and Locy
First activity for the evening	Dinner at Alexandra Village	Drinks at Pan Pacific Hotel lobby bar
Language	English	English
Conversation topics	The stressful week, working worries, our busy days	Sydney, friends of theirs, business
Second lot of friends	Pear, Junren and Zeyun	Derek and Zhiyong
Second activity for the night	Drinks at Villa Bali - happy hour 1 for 1 drinks	Dinner at Pepper Lunch - to eat for the sake of eating
Language	English	English and Mandarin
Conversation topics	Work, life, friends, latest life updates	Immediate plans on what to do next, where to go, about speaking mandarin
Third lot of friends	Pear	Derek, Zhiyong, Ginger, Leslie, Alloi and Dexter
Third activity for the night	Sleep-over at Pear's place	Dao Huey at Rocher
Language	English	Mandarin and Hokkien
Conversation topics	Girl stuff, guys, the future	Unknown last gathering, drunk stories, a lot of inside jokes
Fourth lot of friends		Derek, Zhiyong, Ginger, Leslie, Alloi and Felicia
Fourth activity for the night		Coffee or Tea at an Arabic cafe
Language		Mandarin and Hokkien
Conversation topics		A lot of jokes and forgettable talk (i.e. Crap)
Relationship with friends	Close to very close	Only one close, the rest are all acquaintances
Conversation input throughout the night	From average to a lot	From average to a lot less than average
Alcohol Guage	From sober to tipsy and high	From a little tipsy to sober
End time	1+am	1+am

Need-I-Say-More Days

Today. Monday.

Usually I don't even need to type 'need I say more' and you'd get the drift. However, today is an excellent day. Monday blues? NO WHERE IN SIGHT! Today defies all Mondays.

Why?

This is my typical week:
Monday - it's the start of another hectic/stressful/boring/tiring week of work
Tuesday - oh gosh, as if Monday wasn't bad enough
Wednesday before lunch - hurry and get on with it
Wednesday after lunch - yay, second half of the week
Thursday - it's almost Friday...hang in there
Friday - need I say more

But this week is a short week coz National Day is on the 9th of August, Wednesday. National Day splits this working week into 2 proportional halves. It makes the week exceptionally short. Check this out:

Monday - because the next day is the eve of a public holiday
Tuesday - it is the eve of a public holiday, shouldn't need to say more than that
Wednesday - need I say more
Thursday - already the second half of this week? That fast?
Friday - need I say more

According to the above data, by comparing the number of 'need I say more' days, this week is SWEET!

Therefore I'm forced to be in such a happy mood. I'm savouring every moment of this week!

But before you tune out, stop and listen to my eventful weekend that just passed.

Last Friday night, I stayed over at Pear's place and we talked till I fell asleep – literally. Apparently she had told me to remove my contact lenses several times. The third time, I told her I had done so and went back to sleep. The next morning when I was awaken by the sound of renovations right outside her room window, it took me several blinks and stares before realising I was still wearing my contacts. I never removed it. HAHA.That was how tired I was. I just knocked out completely.

We washed up and went over to TPY central for dim sum - yum! Both of us have been craving for dim sum in a while so it was definitely great and we discussed and planned our future joint venture together. Can't wait to start! Shan't fill you guys in on this yet, but when we start, I'll definite invite everyone to come for our grand-opening!!

After a good lunch, we walked around TPY, checking out our competitors' products, sourcing for potential materials and we even did some shopping! I bought myself a pretty black and pink flat slippers for work. It was comfy!

Then we headed back to her place for a while before leaving once again to RJC. Yiqing came to pick us up. They were going down to watch a basketball match where their boyfriends (kinda) were playing in. And I? Since I had nothing to do for that couple of hours before my other appointment, I joined them under the crazy hot sun. The sun's intense rays were horrid, burning through my skin and going straight for my sweat glands. After the match, both Pear and I agreed that we had a work-out too!

At around 5.30pm, I split and made my way back to TPY to meet Dan, Ah Min and 2 more of their friends for dinner and also to celebrate Dan's birthday. It was a great dinner. We had sambal sting ray, prawns, sambal kang kong, chilli sotong and bbq chicken wings. We were so full after dinner, we decided against having her chocolate cake immediately (law of diminishing returns) so we went to visit Dan's shop instead. This time around, I played some online games. The 4 of us played warcraft (with Dan as our teacher floating around among us). I was the lousiest at it. I kept yawning away, and every so often, I'd scream for Dan. "Where's my hero? I can't find her." "What should I do now?" "What should I buy?" "What should I do now?" "What do I click to heal myself?"

We were losing at first since all of us didn't know how to play the game except for Dan and Ah Min, but at the end of the game, WE WON! I emerged with the best score among the 4. Why? Coz I'm a genius! Or rather, I'm a genius coz Dan's a genius. She selected one of the easiest hero for me with her own healing ability, and also, she played most of the game for me too while I yawned away, taking over at bits when Dan had to disappear off to help the others.

After the game, we went back to Dan's place where one more of her friend joined us for the birthday cake. The chocolate cake was good, not as fantastic as it used to be sadly. Maybe coz they've gone too commercial that the quality dropped significantly. SOB. There goes another good chocolate cake option for me.

That night, I only got home around 1.30am but I refused to go to bed (not wanting the long beautiful day to end), watching 1.5 episodes of a korean drama before finally giving in to my tired body.

On Sunday, I went to church, met a friend for lunch that afternoon and chatted with mum in the evening before meeting Pear and Junren for dinner at the famous Pongol Nasi Lemak along Upper Serangoon Road. Then I went home, did work while watching some chinese show on TV before watching another korean drama episode and then bed. I had a fantastic weekend and I guess that kinda add points to the start of a new week as well.

That's why...Today. Monday.

Unwell...

Dizzy,
Queasy,
Uncomfortable.

Busy,
Tired,
Vexatious.

Stress,
Problems,
Ants!

Sorry, got distracted by an ant on my table. They seem to frequently visit my desk - one at the time though so it's manageable.

Today's wise words

My mummy sent me this passage she chanced upon today. At this point of time in my life, this is what I need the most.

YESTERDAY - TODAY - TOMORROW

There are two days in every week about which we should not worry – two days which we should be kept free from fear and apprehension.

One of these days is Yesterday with all its mistakes and cares and faults and blunders. Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control, all the money in the world cannot bring back Yesterday. We cannot undo a single act we performed, we cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone.

The other day we should not worry about is Tomorrow with its possible adversities, its burdens, its large promises and poor performances. Tomorrow’s sun will rise either in splendour or behind a mask or cloud – but it will rise. Until it does we have no stake in Tomorrow, for it is yet unborn.

That leaves only one day – Today. Any man can fight the battles of one day. It is only when you add the burden of these two awful eternities – Yesterday and Tomorrow, that we break down. It’s not the experience of Today that drives men mad – it is remorse or bitterness for something that happened Yesterday, or the dread of what may happen tomorrow.

Then let us Journey but - One Day at at Time.

And then she also went on to quote a verse from the bible that really needed to hear right now...

I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit.

- Psalm 40: 1-2 -

The Lord is amazing. He speaks through so many channels (through mum's email, encouraging friends and today's church sermon) in order to get the message to me to put my trust and faith in him. Thanks Lord for sticking with me now when I need you the most. Amen!

I was deceived!

Once again, the post office cheated me!

Somehow, post offices and me just dont get along It's exactly like my relationship with computers. We have this common understanding. I don't like you, you don't like me.

Ahhhh...why does this happen to me over and over again? And with this same client!

God, HELP ME!

Waiting = An Opportune Moment

Here I am, waiting again.

This time, I'm waiting for people. It seems like I've been doing plenty of that recently. Just last week, the mad rush at the end of the week was a result of waiting. Waiting for the copywriter to finally be done with the text that goes into the brochure, waiting for the client to finish her endless meetings and get back with any changes, waiting for the designer to amend the brochure, waiting for the client to approve the new brochure, and more waiting waiting waiting...

It's a VERY VERY VERY and might I add VERY long process. And right now, I'm waiting for the graphic designer to do my minor changes to the brochure and send them back to me. It shouldn't take him more than 15 minutes, but he is also busy with other things.

Sigh...is life all about waiting? They say you shouldn't let time pass you by. Grab every opportune moment. And hence this blog entry - an opportune moment.

Shhhhh...I just spotted another colleague of mine making full use of his opportune moment!! Wonder what his blog address is...wonder what he writes...hee hee.

God Bless(ed) Me...

Dear Lord,

I can only depend on you right now for my stupidity. I made a wrong move last week and it has caused many worries this week. And now, I can't do anything about it - I'm powerless - but leave it in your hands - the powerful. Only you have the power now to decide the fate of this parcel and Lord, I pray that the parcel will get there real SOON and also in MINT condition. Lord, help me. I'm new and I wasn't told what to do, and so I took my own liberty to send the parcel by normal post which only turned out to be stupidity.

Lord, I don't know where on Earth this parcel is right now:
If it is still in Singapore, God bless it to hurry up and leave the country.
If it is in the aeroplane right now, God bless the pilot to fly faster but with safety.
Lord, if it has arrived in Korea's postal headquarters, God bless it to be dispatched immediately.
And Lord, if it, so amazingly and graciously, has been delivered today, God Blessed Me!

Amen.

Many Mini Minutes

Everything is in minis now. Just last night, I saw the ad for cornetto minis!! They are so adorable, I felt like eating a bunch of them - now how greedy is that!

Anyway, so here's the minutes for the past couple of days...in as mini a paragraph as I can.

Saturday DAY- Spoilt Radio Celebration!

To commemorate Spoilt Radios Day on 24/7, Pear and I had a mini early celebration (actually, I wouldn't call it mini). What's Spoilt Radios Day? It's a day in a year where we celebrate the endless 'broadcasting' of two spoilt radios. Still don't get it? That goes to show how exclusive you have to be to join the club!

How did we celebrate it? By meeting to sign up for our basic driving theory test together! I can't believe how inefficient it is though. After waiting for almost an hour, the lady tells us that if we are only signing up for our basic theory test and have a credit or debit card, then we can do it online at their machine - that's AFTER WE'VE WAITING FOR ONE WHOLE HOUR! Grrr...anyway, it only took us 5 minutes or less to book our test date (one month away) so we had absolutely no clue why others were taking more than 10 to 15 minutes!

After that, we met the guys down in town, where we continued to celebrate the day with a good sushi buffet with loads of sashimi, softshell crabs, pregnant fishes, peas and heaps more! The guys were there, not because they were in the club, but because we needed people to help us so that we can eat more varieties. You see, a plate of sushi comes in 2s or 6s, and to maximise the spread at the buffet, we need more people so that we can have one of each thing! However, being young, being greedy and being in a buffet, we naturally ordered too much to eat. The last hour there was spent moaning at how full we were, stuffing the remaining bits down our throats (definitely diminishing returns) and trying to hide away the rest of the food among the stack of plates accumulated.

Then of course some exercise was involved - the best exercise in town – SHOPPING. But we didn't buy much either, which is fine by me, since I have already spent my first pay cheque and is currently tapping into my yet-to-come second pay cheque!

To close off the tiring day of eating and shopping, we found ourselves at Burger King, downing Lemon Barley to quench our thirst.



Saturday NIGHT - Old Teammates New Lives...

Then after I split with Pear and Junren, I met up with an old softball teammate and we ended up at The Coffee Club at Takashimaya, eating more while we catched up on new lives. It was a good time of catching up, talking about everything under the sun, from softball 6-10 years ago, to the future. There was so much to talk about, we adjourned to McCafe for more of it! I only got home around 1am in the morning! And my grandpa was still up - not waiting up for me of course.

Sunday AFTERNOON - Bad Boys, Good Girls

Yesterday after church, I spent the entire afternoon lazing around watching TV. Bad Boys 2, Dinotopia and Miss Singapore Universe 2006 was aired almost simultaneously that I had trouble watching everything at a go! My main focus was Bad Boys 2 of course. I never liked Dinotopia and I've seen the episode before, but during Bad Boys commercials, I would switch to Dinotopia. Then even both Bad Boys and Dinotopia ended, my attention turned to the last bit of Miss Singapore Universe 2006. I found it rather lame...I don't know why. Some answers made me cringe (missing the question completely) but most made me laugh, sometimes along and sometimes at them.

I didn't even watch the ending. Can't remember what I ended up doing. But when I saw the Miss Singapore winner and representative on a commercial for Miss Universe 2006, I sighed. There goes another year of 'trying' - not that she wasn't pretty. It's just that I felt there could be someone better.

But that's not the important thing. The important thing is that I was a good girl that Sunday. I stayed home.

Sunday EVENING - Cheerleaders are dancers gone retarded

Last evening, they aired 'Bring it on' - and I couldn't help myself but watch it AGAIN. I can't even count how many times I've seen it. I knew what was coming next, what would be said, their expressions and everything! And yet, I fell right back into television's trap. They say 'cheerleaders are dancers gone retarded'...

So here's my version of the reality:

TV addicts are producers who never made it.

Ding Dong

"...Ding Donnggg"

Grandpa leaped up from the sofa and said as he walked across to get the door, "I'm coming."

I ran out of the bathroom where I was washing my face, telling grandpa it's not our bell! No one was at the door.

--- Rewind a little earlier ---

"Seven Eleven...it's a store and more...Ding Donnggg" said the television advertisement.

My grandparents and I had a good laugh after!

Long Sweet Long...

Long Friday Long...

Work ended late once again, with a meeting at 5pm - just before knock off and of course, we didn't end on schedule. After the meeting, it was a mad rush down to Orchard to meet Pear and the guys for the movie - Pirates of the Carribean. However, we were very disappointed as the film kept pausing in between, then when they finally got it to work fine, there was a voice lag of about 1 second, so we saw what was being said before we heard it. People started leaving. We decided to leave to...disappointed but at least Lido gave us a refund and free tickets. It was good that we got a free movie, but that meant watching it on Sunday - we've been waiting all week and now, we have to wait 2 more days.

After the disappointment, we headed to Timbre for drinks and enjoyed the live band till around 1+ before heading home - stopping by at Thompson for some Prata on the way back. When I got back home and after a shower, I was back on my laptop, doing work for the Saturday till 5am in the morning.

Long Saturday Long...

Saturday started at 9.30am, when I woke and got ready for work. I had to go in to the office to prepare some things for our presentation on Monday with my colleague. I ended up waiting almost half an hour before he came at 11am and we worked all the way till 4pm. Our boss joined us in between. By 4pm, we were starving and since the work was done, we left for a very late lunch. After 'lunch', I picked Pear up and we rushed to NTUC and Cold Storage to get the ingredients we needed for the dinner we were whipping up.

We got back at around 6.30pm and the prep and cooking started immediately. The guys came around 7+pm and were very hungry and thus grumpy at our attrocious time management. They said they should have eaten KFC before they came.

However, when the food was finally served at 8+pm, they were happily delighted. Our dinner proved to be a greater success than we planned. On the menu was minestrone soup for starters, salmon teriyaki, marinated chicken thigh and shepards pie for mains. Don't believe we could handle all that?



Junren praised, “The wait was worth it. Thankfully I didn't eat KFC.” And he did a little calculation and decided we could charge $80 at a high class restaurant for the entire meal. Pear and my eyes lit up. SUCCESS!

We were so bloated after the meal and sent the boys to work - yes, in their eyes, we were slave drivers, in our eyes, we deserved a rest so the washing up was their responsibility! They were shocked at the amount of plates and utensils we used when we cooked. Oops.



After dinner, we adjourned to my bedroom for a game of 'Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus' - which Pear and I lost AGAIN. Why? I think we know each other too well...so none of the options are specific enough. Either that or we both are fickle-minded - that's how alike we are. Haha.

Then we decided to watch the movie the guys rented - Wedding Crashers - while we ate Raine's famous dessert: Oreos n Ice Cream. It was a pity it wasn't as nice...I didn't like the additional baileys that was added in...too much milk flavour. Hopefully the others like it since they aren't so particular about milk as I am.

After the movie, they hanged a while longer till around 2+ before leaving. The day had been a long one, but I was enjoying it because it made my weekend felt longer and I didn't want Saturday to end. Once Saturday ends, it means Sunday is here, which means immediately, it's Monday and it's back to work. However, though I said I didn't want Saturday to end, my body shut down at 4am.

Long Sunday Long...

Sunday morning at 11.30am, I woke. Getting ready, I left for the airport to pick my grandparents up. While I was at the airport, I saw a bunch of crazy fans welcoming 2 singers - though not very famous I reckon. 1) The welcoming party wasn't that big and 2) I didn't know who they were, I even had to text Pear to ask if they were famous. How silly. Turns out, there was a concert that night and these singers were performing.

After picking up my grandparents, we went to Hougang Mall for lunch before heading home, where I watched a Japanese movie before heading out again to meet Pear and the others for dinner and - FINALLY - Pirates of the Carribean. The movie was worth it - though free, it was worth our time and effort. I LOVE IT. It's even better than the first one!

I got home around midinght and hopped straight into bed after shower.

Long Monday Long...

Along came Monday morning, awaking me from a sweet dream. I lied in bed wondering how come my alarm hasn't gone off. After a while, I decided to look at the clock.

8.20am.
Past 7am (the usual alarm time).
8.20AM.
PAST 8AM (THE USUAL LEAVING-THE-HOUSE TIME)

LAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahhhhh. I leaped out of bed, flew into the washroom, flew right out, hopped into my outfit (thankfully I had planned it the night before) and poofed on some makeup and was out of the house by 8.30am.

Grandpa and I were stuck in a jam just outside our house and I only got to the MRT station at 8.50am to board my train.

I only reached Harbour Front at 9.20am (20 minutes late for work) and jumped right into a cab to take me directly to work. Despite being late, I had a telling off by the cab driver, asking me to buy an alarm (those cheap alarm) that sounds at 7 o'clock, both am and pm. And the cab ride wasn't cheap - $6 as compared to a bus ride of 39 cents.

And the funny part? I was the earilest in the account department (my department) and my boss wasn't here yet. So much for rushing and panicking.

That morning at 10am, we left for a presentation at the client's place. The wait was ages coz they were running late, but presentation went alright. Hopeful I guess. After that, we had lunch before returning to office and I only got to rest for half an hour before I was out of the office again, going with my boss to attend another meeting. When I got back, it was already 4+pm and by 6.30pm, I was out of the office, going down to Orchard to meet my Prince for dinner.

We had tepanyaki, then went for drinks at the Top of the M. My Prince knows how to live it well. We chatted till around 11pm before heading home. We've definitely matured in our thoughts and in our conversations. It's more indepth about what we want from life, our career paths and our dreams. It's crazy how adulthood has sneaked up upon us and caught us off guard. Just yesterday we were in secondary school, not know what we wanted in life and today, we both have such big dreams and we can feel/taste it in a way if you know what I mean.

I got home around 11.20pm and headed for bed.

Long Sweet Long...

It's been a long long few days and I love it. I love the hustle and bustle of it all, and I don't regret ever returning to Singapore for this kind of lifestyle.

Her Story

She woke up at quarter past seven, a little late but on schedule. Picking out her work outfit for the day - a pretty pink sequins top dressed down with a simple black skirt, she got ready for work.

The sky looked perfect, a beautiful forecast for the best day of the week - FRIDAY. She could smell the weekend in the wind, in the air, and in the warmth of sunny Singapore.

She caught eleven twelve to the interchange and walked lightly across the beautiful green field to the Mass Rapid Transit station, making sure her heels do not dig into the earth.

The train was crowded as usual, nothing out of the ordinary for peak hour human traffic. She joined the working professionals as they journeyed to work. Some were sleeping, others were listening to their ipods and the like, and still there were others playing with their cellphones. But the bulk of the passengers were intently reading the newspapers, business magazines, novels and even notes they had on hand. She joined in, pulling out her Korean notebook to refresh her memory. It has been a long time since she last practiced her Korean. It needed brushing up.

The train pulled in to Harbour Front station and along with the mass of people, she ascended to daylight – a dim moist daylight, sprinkled with tiny specks of water.

Whipping out her pretty pink 'FCUK RAIN' umbrella, she skipped to the bus-stop to await her bus that takes her to work. The world seemed smaller when she boarded ten as she met her colleague (one who seldom takes this bus) and together, they engaged in a light-hearted conversation till they reached their stop.

The rain poured down as the bus pulled up at their stop. The sky was a shade of grey and blue. It looked miserable. Hopping off the bus and leaping under the bus shelter, she received a taste of the rain - a tiny taste good enough to get a part of her hair wet. Staring out at what awaited the ladies at the bus stop - a five to ten minute walk to the office, they whipped out their only weapon.

Opening her trusty pink umbrella, with her friend's yellow umbrella trailing behind, they charged against the wind and rain. Rain beated fiecely down against her delicate pink umbrella. Wind blew her hair up into a mess, rain water found its way on her made-up cheeks and forehead. The rain seemed relentless, determined as it is to get her soaked from head to toe. Thankfully, her delicate umbrella, bending in the wind for its master, held out for her. It only allowed the bottom half of her skirt from mid thigh and down, her legs and her entire feet and slippers wet.

As she approached the side of the road and was waiting for the little green man, a car sped by. Water splashing up as in the movies flashed across her mind. Instinctively, she shrieked and stepped back as the car droved past. Thankfully for her, the puddle of water was not big enough to cause any commotion.

She crossed the road, walking under the peaceful overhead expressway to the other side of the pouring rain. She hiked up another slope with rain water flowing down against her before finally reaching shelter.

It hit her. She could not have felt more soaked. The feeling of being about fifty percent soaked on dry land played a significant part. Her slippers squishing out water beneath her toes with every step she took could not have done it better.

Back in the office, after she wiped off the rain from her legs and dried off her soaked slippers was she able to sit back and laugh about the moring's rain storm.

So FREE

I must be so free at work to write these 3 entries in a day...check it out below!

Something Ugly.

How strange we humans are...

Just last week, our company had a used props sale and I bought myself 2 mini pots of fake flowers to beautify my desk. As I stood there surveying the 4 pots on sale, I wondered which to choose. One had bright yellow roses, another had little orange-like fruits. Yet another had little purple-like fruits. And the last had red and dark blue round fruits.

Being me, I sided towards the yellow and orange, they were more bright, more to my liking. However, the IT guy whose room we were occupying for the sale liked the red and dark blue flowers better because it was different. I hesitated. Firstly, I don't fancy red - its just not my type. Okay honestly, I felt it was ugly. Secondly, I'm not so bold. I think red is a very bold colour. Thirdly, it's the IT guy.

However, I was still a little new to the company then, and I wanted to leave a good impression, even if it was just with the IT guy. I reasoned that this IT guy has probably more of a creative eye than I do, being with the company for even longer than I have. I trusted his opinion. I purchased the yellow roses, and the red one. I didn't like it then, but I went with it. I thought to myself, even if I don't like it, at least he does.

That's how humans are. We think of others before ourselves (not a compliment). We don't have our own unique personalities, or even if we do, it's blended down with society's perception. But then again, there's others (like me), who don't have this unique personality and hence, take up other people's suggestions in order to stand out and impress. We rather go with others than our own preferences. Unless of course you can't be bothered - but how many of us really can't be bothered? Those who say they can't be bothered and dress sloppily also spend time making sure they look sloppy enough to convey the message. It's human nature.

So back to my little story. Even after I brought those 2 pots of plants back to my table and settled them beside my computer, I still didn't fancy the red one. Yes, my table did look a little more lively, but red? I was still questioning my decision.

Then my colleage sitting in front of me bought the orange pot of flowers. The one I liked more than the red. She said she liked the flowers on my desk so she bought one for herself.

But just the other day when I did OT, the creative director came in to chat with us. While chatting, he compared my pot of flowers (the red one) to the orange one on my colleague's desk. He liked the one I chose. He said my colleague's one is more conservative, it suits her.

I beamed.

Now when I look at the pot in front of me, I love it. It has grown on me. Was it because of what the creative art director said? (Note his title - CREATIVE)

That's how we are as humans. We feel confident only when someone has acknowledged and complimented our choice. We like it when others like it. I can buy a top that I like and only truly love it when someone has praised it. So the question really is...do we sincerely like it or do we just like the compliments?

Who do you blame?

Who do you blame when something you've all worked hard for failed to impress the judges?

Let me give you the options:

1. The one(s) who presented?
2. The one(s) who wrote the proposal?
3. The one(s) who came up with the creatives?
4. The one(s) who agreed along with these fantastic ideas?
5. The one(s) who wasn't present (who should have been)?
6. The one(s) who can't see how awesome they are?

The correct answer is not everyone, nor is it the team. Trick question? Read on...

I believe each and everyone of those mentioned above feels they are partially responsible.

1. The one(s) who presented feels they could have been more persuasive.
2. The one(s) who wrote the proposal could have written it better.
3. The one(s) who came up with the creatives could have – well – could have done it differently.
4. The one(s) who agreed along with these fantastic ideas could have seen its' loopholes.
5. The one(s) who wasn't present could have been here.
6. The one(s) who can't see how awesome they are could have opened their eyes!!

So why not the team? Why not everyone involved? Coz...

1. The one(s) who presented put in their best.
2. The one(s) who wrote the proposal did a great job.
3. The one(s) who came up with the creatives won favour among all.
4. The one(s) who agreed along with these fantastic ideas believed in it.
5. The one(s) who wasn't present had organised it well for others to take over.
6. The one(s) who can't see how awesome they are were just honest.

So who's to blame? That's not the question. The question is what do we do now? (Not a trick question)

Lunch

1. Boredom,
2. Not really.
3. Just a little.
4. Work is ever present,
5. If searched for hard enough.
6. A product of laziness and slack.

1. Work,
2. There is.
3. Waiting for me.
4. Proactiveness is the key.
5. Hard work stares at me.

1. Tired,
2. Is me.
3. Of strategic planning.
4. What can be done.

1. Useless.
2. I feel.
3. Sitting here today.

1. Useful.
2. My Aim.

1. Lunch.

Does your bladder expand when you are stressed?

I dedicate this new discovery to MOX (note: fictional name) for providing this gift of stress to me. I would firstly like to thank my parents. If not for you who brought me into this world called Singapore, I would never have learnt about stress. I'd also like to extend my gratitude to them for taking me to New Zealand, where I learnt all about stressful proposal deadlines at the University. I'd like to thank Mr F., my manager, for blessing me with this stressful chance of a lifetime and I'm sure, there's many more to come. I'd also like to thank my colleage who so conveniently went on annual leave during this period, giving me this opportunity of a lifetime. If not for him, I wouldn't have received this beautiful gift. Of course, I can't forget to thank the helpful computer which chose the best time to decide I didn't have sufficient vitual memory to process the printing of my proposal and shut down on me, first refusing to print half of my proposal and after some coaxing, it spitted out the back part of my proposal but refused to print this ONE remaining page right smack in the middle. I can't thank you enough for this lesson on bottleneck effects which contributed grately to this success! And to Mr Photocopier, who missed printing out several pages and decided he'd jam for us to see - cheers to you! However, most importantly, I'd also like to attribute this award of stress to the high demands of MOX. Without your 1 original set and 5 copies demand, plus visuals and collaterals required, all these within a short span of 2 weeks - I thank you for your faith in Superman - I wouldn't have been able to receive this award of stress. Thank you very much!

Oh, and I've got one more toast to my bladder. The most helpful one of all! You endured with me from 8am today when I started working on stress till 4.30pm! I thank you for your expandability.

The End of The World...

Cup.

WHAT DID THAT ITALIAN SAY TO ZIDANE THAT CAUSED HIM TO REACT SO RASH?

Throughout the entire game and even the build up to the game itself, I was supporting Italy all the way. I like France, but I think Italy is definitely stronger.

However, nearing the end of the game, a twist of events caused me to reconsider my position. That was the moment Zidane was given a red card for using his bald (and I believe very hard) head to hit an Italian player in his chest. And all that the commentators said throughout the rest of the game was how this has tarnished Zidane's image (especially with this being his last appearance in the World Cup), how he was so rash without considering about his team who needs him out on the field...rarara.

But they don't know what that Italian said to Zidane that made him so mad! Zidane has always been a favourite of mine and to see him act so rash...I believe there's a very good explanation behind it. It's not like Zidane and I believe truely that it was the words of that Italian caused Zidane's rage.

That was the turning point. I wished for France to win the World Cup because of that. However, I knew perfectly well, with Henry out and Zidane sent off, France had little chance of winning it back in penalty shoot-outs. Pooz.

However, before I go further on to critise the Italian and side with Zidane all the way, I will find out what really happened. I will find out what was said before I make my judgement.

Spent it all!

Haha...even before I cashed in my first pay cheque (for the first week of work), I have spent it all!

On Friday evening, Pear, Junren, Zeyun and I headed up to Mount Faber for a 'great' dinner. The occassion: me getting my first pay cheque and Pear getting her pupillage position at a good firm - we were treating the guys.

We had reserved a table at the Altivo Bar on Mount Faber for dinner. On arrival, we were greeted by valet service and was lead to our table that overlooked the World Trade Center and Sentosa. The atmosphere was fantastic. A cool night breeze, a candle lit table, serenading voices from a live band, beautiful scenery and great company. It was almost perfect.

Then the food came. It sucked (especially when compared to the price we were paying and the atmosphere itself). Zeyun's fish and chips wasn't anything special, Pear's salmon was a little dry but Junren's salmon was unedible (he claimed) because it was too hard, and my pita bread that came with my chicken was HARD LIKE ROCK (and I'm not lying).

Junren and I both complained about our food. The manager returned to reconfirm with me in regards to the plate the waitress had taken back. He asked me if I really wanted it changed, that if the pita bread was really that hard? I told him, challenged him back, asking him to POKE IT AND SEE FOR YOURSELF.

Finally, our fresh new plate of food came. This time, the pita bread was beautifully soft. That was how it should be! Junren's salmon was much softer than before. We were pleased, though for the price we were paying and the beautiful ambience of the restaurant itself, the quality still wasn't up to match.



When we called for the bill, the manager came to ask how was our meal. He then acknowledged that my pita bread was really hard and apologised for that. Guess he went to poke it himself to find out.

After that, we adjourned to the Glass Bar for a round of drinks before we left for home. It was nice. Once again, the ambience and scenery made up for the pricey drinks.



So the verdict: For food, DON'T go to Altivo. For drinks (and fantastic ambience), you'll be blown away at Altivo.

I stayed over at Pear's place that night and on Saturday morning, I followed Pear to ACS where she taught tuition to her korean students. It was my first time meeting these 2 korean boys and I got to practice conversing in Korean for the first time since I got back.

While Pear taught, I did work - yes, I've got work to do over the weekend - WELCOME TO SINGAPORE.

After the tuition class, we met up with Ling for lunch and Tara joined us for some shopping and drinks later. I haven't seen them in ages so it was really good catching up with them. We had a good time, especially when we were trying to recall all our secondary school classmates. Our of the 39, we only managed to name about 25. How pathetic are we?

I spent the rest of my pay cheque today as well. While I was out shopping with Ling and Tara, I bought MY FIRST FCUK HANDBAG, and then when they left, Pear and I continued shopping. I bought a blue top and a plaited black skirt. And while walking past Nike, I spotted something that had 'Raine' printed all over it. MY LIME GREEN NIKE SHOES. Pear and I entered the shop and I came out with a new pair of shoes! I LOVE IT. Check it out!