Thank you for the Palm!~

The past Sunday was Palm Sunday; the day which marked the journey into the holy week where Christians all over the world observe the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ before Easter.

It is considered the most solemn period of the year; and fasting and abstinence, penance are all practised during this time.

Palm Sunday was a celebration, a day where we celebrate the highest point of triumph in Jesus's life as a man on earth as he enters Jerusalem.
It was also well known as the Sunday of the Lord's Passion and palm trees were symbolic as a sign of respect from the people who lay it down before Jesus when He entered the city.

We celebrate the triumph of the Lord, praising him for his coming, and it was truly the event which marks his glory and power as a man.

It is funny how when one man reaches his peak of glory, the next path is the way down the drain.
This is true for all of us, and Jesus as well, as he was crucified within the same week; whipped and humiliated by all in public after such a glorious moment on this Sunday.

That was why Palm Sunday was also known as the Sunday of the Lord's Passion as it marks the beginning of the Lord's journey to his death, to fulfill our Father's will and to redeem us, sinners.
It was probably the last celebration before Easter; as we journey into a solemn period to observe what Jesus is about to endure.

I went to church on Sunday; and I did not have a palm in my hand.
I was a little sad, as I recalled how I used to go with my family and we used to have a few branches of palm leaves in our hands; happily counting where we would place the blessed palms in each area of the house.

My family left on Saturday, and since I was spending time with them, I had no time to look for palm leaves and furthermore, I don't own a palm tree myself.

I did spot a few palm trees on the road; and also in residential neighbourhood but come on, that is such a despicable and downright dishonest act and I don't feel that it is that glorious or respectable for such a happy occasion.
Yeah, I still practise what I learnt in Moral lessons back at school.

I felt left out when I was in the church grounds; where everyone was with their families or with close friends, and even a small boy holds a palm leaf in his hand.

Perhaps it was my little reward or perhaps the Lord did not want me to feel left out, as suddenly a middle-aged lady walked towards me and passed me a palm leaf, saying, "Sister, a palm for you?"

She just pushed the palm into my hand and gave me such a nice and sweet smile, that I was stunned for a while, before smiling in return and said, "Thank you" and I silently prayed, "Bless her kind soul, Lord"

I also prayed and thanked the Lord for his blessing as I truly felt lightened up.

I think He was trying to tell me, "You are not Alone, I am always here with you"

Perhaps I was being imaginative, but I always felt that the Lord is right there beside me especially when I have a tiny hint of sadness in me.

Then the priest went on to talk about how we should look around us, and make peace with people whom we don't like or do not like us during this week as it is a week of reconciliation.

It is a time to reflect and look into our very own family relationships and try to see in each and every one around us, the living Christ in them.

I think I have just found one; the lady who had given me the palm leaf; and many many more around me.

My parents who had cared for me since I was young and would never criticize or discriminate for anything that I have done

My best friends who will never give up their trust on me and have confidence in everything I do

My uncle who always believed in my capabilities and stand there supporting me all the way since I was a baby girl

Colleagues who have been helping me out when I am distressed or being taken advantage; who speak up for me in unjust situations.

Church members who smile at me even though I am new in the church and even introduced themselves to me

I am sure there are many more out there that although I do not list them out here, I silently thank God for their presence each day and also for their happiness.
There is a Christ in every one of us, we just need to be proud of HIM =)

Praise the Lord and may you be blessed with the Lord's passion this week, as we journey with him towards another triumphant celebration.

Have a blessed and meaningful Holy Week!~

One week...

I kept putting off updating my blog; and compiled stuffs which I want to write about and then I kept forgetting about it.

Anyway, I was also quite excited when I flew back to Penang, and reunited with my family.
They didn't stay for long, until Saturday, but it was good enough and I was happy to be able to spend some time with them before Holy Week and Easter.

The past week have been crazy and frustrating as well; mainly due to work (as usual, like, what's new anymore here) and I was constantly fighting against trying to keep myself calm, not to mention SANE.

So, what have I done besides work and spending time with my family?

Hmmm....the most prominent; being Earth Hour 2010 and also food tours and some marketing campaign, oh, and also Palm Sunday and the commencement of the Holy Week; one of the most solemn period throughout the Church calendar.

Updating my blog with more photos and stories soon....it's a brand new week and it's again a busy and frustrating week .....hopefully, I will still find time to breathe..or blog!

Going back to Penang...

Had a long day yesterday and it was really tiring....
I only got back to the hotel room at 10++ at night, after meetings and dinner with my intermediate boss and colleague at a nice Balinese restaurant, which I shall blog about soon in my food blog =)

Anyway, I gladly went to sleep, given that the connection at the hotel was so bad (I was quite shocked as so far it had been excellent!)
I am starting to think that it is more of a problem related to my laptop rather than the network connection anymore.

I am happy to wake up this morning as I know, finally, I am going back to Penang to be with my family!
My colleagues and boss laughed at me when they heard about this coincidence; my family is there and I am here =P (Meanies!)

I am heading to the office for about 2-3 hours and then, off I go on the plane again!
(Seems like the plane has become like a bus to me these days)

YEAYYYY...in high spirits todayyyyyy

My welcome drink...

Following my 'rather upset' post on my inevitable trip to KL, I am soon cheered up upon arrival at the hotel as I was treated to a welcome drink at their lounge.


Funny how I don't remember ever having that on my last visit (which was only a month ago?)


It didn't exactly cheer me up on the spot, but it did take my mind off the matter for at least a brief moment while I relaxed in one of those big couches (those were really comfortable, I tell you) and listening to the nice music.

I guess I was too early for the live band =P

My welcome drink



Alright...not so bad...

Arrived...with a heavy heart

I boarded the plane with a heavy heart, I think this is probably the first time I've felt like this to make a trip down to the city in which I grew up in

Perhaps work has taken its toll on me, or I was just too tired/exhausted these days and of course, the fact that my family is also on their way to the North while I am leaving for the south probably played a role too.
Whatever it is, I just know that I would choose not to come for this trip; if I could.

I start to understand why frequent travellers complain about having to be away so often that they wish to be static for most of the time.
(perhaps we can never be satisfied too)

I think we wish for travel, then when travel comes, we complain there's too much.

I wouldn't mind going overseas; out of Malaysia...maybe I won't complain too much...of course, that depends on my schedule too.
But any schedule can be shifted if it's to USA or Europe, right....that's how the formula works..

The first time I ever felt so low in spirits when I stepped onto KLIA grounds
No rush to get off the plane, no rush to make a beeline to the arrival hall (because I know there's no familiar faces there to pick me up :(



I even took photo and remembered the details about the cab driver...

He turned out to be a very nice and trustworthy Chinese man in his late forties...

Well, only one more day...and I am back again....yeayyy!
Looking forward to a good weekend; Holy week is coming anyway...

Tired, and time to sleep soon, although I still have stories to share from my flight....goodnight!

Lovely weather but a sad me...

This morning, I woke up feeling really tired and all worn out
I just feel so exhausted that I don't even know what got into me but I practically had to drag myself to work

When I step out of my house, I was surprised by the sight which awaits me outside my door!
There were these tiny specks of fluttering rain that it almost felt like snowflakes on your face.
I almost shouted for joy when I saw the dark clouds and the thick mist surrounding my condominium area!
It looks like Genting or Cameron Highlands at that point (my condominium is located really close to the hills)

The cloudy weather is finally here, but push away the momentary joy, I felt a little disappointed as I need to fly off from Penang this morning

Surprised that I am actually upset at the opportunity to fly home and to see my family for the first time?

Well, thanks to fate and coincidence, my family is on their way to Penang today as well to stay for a week and I had to be in KL for at least two days for some training which I was trying to avoid from going

It was a real bummer, and even with the light torrents of rain and clouds, I still do not feel very comforted

My heart feels so heavy to have to travel all the way and I am seriously not in the mood for business travels like these at the moment...
I just feel so tired.....

I am sad....how to cheer myself up now?

Will be on the flight in a couple of hours, hopefully I can update when I have landed in the Mud City....

A New Week...

It's Monday again, and despite having those Monday blues (which I am sure the whole world is having too since today's also the start of school since the one-week school break), we still have to get up, get out, put on a smile and get to work/school for that matter.

Oh, life's the same and we go back to the regular weekly or daily cycle of waking up, having breakfast and driving to work.

Arriving in the office, turning on the laptop, going through some of the pending items/lists and replying my emails.

Today, is somewhat different from the rest of the Mondays, as there is a new regulation or rather implementation, where we are starting our new weekly meetings with the HQ in KL via tele-conference.

That was something which changed my weekly Monday routine (refer to my previous post) and most probably, my Friday routine as well.

Of course, I am not complaining (how can I complain anyway?), as I still have tonnes of things to worry about.

It is also the week where I have to rush a few things for my customers, projects and also traveling.

Yeah, of all the time to travel, I had to be traveling to HQ this week...
My parents and family are all coming up tomorrow and I may be required to be in KL...bummer
I am taking two days down to KL and will come back, all in line with the training in HQ.

Of all the time...

I have been typing away hard at my keyboard for the whole morning....I have to do some ergonomic exercises soon to flex the muscles on my hands, after what my aunt have gone through with her Carpal Tunnel Syndrome...it's scaryyyyy

It's just another Manic Monday again....

Micro Management is major UGH

Recently my boss has started his idea of having a weekly meeting; teleconference with our office from HQ and it is not just once a week; rather twice a week.
Once at the beginning of the week and then at the end of the week.

Not pretty, I know.

So, how it all started, and what gives my boss such creativity after granting us the freedom and independence for more than two years?
Well, the reasons:
1. Proper passdown and updates to the other offices around the country to ensure that we are well-informed of the changes or decisions made by the management. This is also in line with their mission to fine tune and align all the staffs and teams to the same direction
(SHOULD have done this long ago!)

2. Perhaps this should be the main reason; the ONE staff who was clearly wasting his life away has finally caught everyone's attention (or NERVES) and something has to be done.
Making the staff attend weekly meetings leaves no space for work truancy or cheating; and of course, proper attendance to the office at all times.

I don't really mind having all these meetings as I am indeed working myself out but it does feel annoying when you feel like you were not being trusted to do your job (although I know, I am not the one in focus but still, I am losing my freedom and independence for another person?)

One person messes up, and now the whole world has to suffer (or rather, bear the responsibility for his actions)

It is truly sad and at the same time, it feels really sickening to be micro managed; I thought we have all left that behind at our school days.
Sighs, I am not afraid of micro management as I do know the reason behind all of it, but still, I felt like I was just the accompanying soldier in this whole thing...

Too bad eh?

Remembering my grandparents

It's almost mid of March now, and there's only three days away from my late grandfather's death anniversary.
It will be followed by my grandmother's anniversary in a period of a week's time?

It has been more than ten years since their departure and I do still remember their presence vividly

My grandparents have always been fond of me ever since I was born; being the only granddaughter then and I was just oh, so precious in the eyes of everyone
Their love for me cannot be expressed in words, and although it was sad that they had to leave the world, we had learnt to accept their departure

All I can say is Goodbye, and the best song for them?
Mariah Carey's Bye Bye
I am sure the two of them are staring at me from heaven now, witnessing all my good and bad, my failures and successes as well.

May they rest in peace, and my dear grandparents, you will always be loved and deeply missed by all of us...

Where is the rain?

Only two days of lovely windy weather, with clouds and strong wind and it is all gone again and we are back to the hot weather

Where has it gone?
Why only two days?

I don't know what happened, but I am missing the cloudy, windy and rainy days all over again

When will the sun go away and let the rain stay???

(I complain about the sun too much I think, that it's kinda mean =P )

Friday? So what...

It's Friday again...I know that I am always blogging about Friday, TGIF, etc that it gets boring when I write about it every Friday

Usually I get really excited when Friday comes, but somehow today, oh well, it's just the end of a crazy crazy week and I get two days of breathing time and then it's all back to the whole cycle again

I feel tired every day when I get off work, so tired that I just want to lie down to sleep and do nothing at all

I am no longer that excited this Friday
Is there something wrong with me?

I am worn out from work, and there seems to be nothing anymore...everything on my mind is work and yet I feel like I am achieving my own expectations
I think I am starting to drive myself crazy with my thoughts

What is Friday anymore?
I know after two days, life will go back to normal and my work cycle starts all over again

I don't know, I don't feel sick of work
In fact, my mind is still full of work and how I want to accomplish and close every thing on hand and yet, I worry myself crazy too

What happened to my Friday excitement?
It is not right....I am always happy when Friday comes....what's with me...I think I need help

A break maybe? I don't know, and yet I feel afraid if I go away on a break, things will be left untouched and not worked out and then workload doubles when I am back...

I need to take a deep breath and tell myself, hey, it's Friday! Weekend's here....
Uhhhhh....so what...

Cute BMW 4WD

I spotted this cute vehicle on the road last Sunday (yeah, it was raining at that time!)


It was a BMW 4WD; but somehow, I found something quirky about this design!
It just doesn't seem right....it looked odd to me


Does it look like a BMW being put on top of another vehicle; say like another MPV like Alza or maybe, just the lower chasis of a Myvi?

There is just something odd about the way this design turned out to be...

I even feel that it looks like a BMW being elevated a few inches high!
This, my ladies and gentlemen, is what they call innovation in design! =P

Serving the (right) customers

Customer service is not for everyone and if you are ever going to go through this field, be prepared to brace all the triumphs and challenges that will come with the package.

I have always thought that serving the customers require a lot of patience and perseverance as we are dealing with people from all walks of life, and with money involved (they PAY you), we have to put on our best behavior to treat them the right way.

My first job upon graduation was involved with software, engineering and also applications support in a very conducive company; a company that I will live to remember my enjoyable working experience.
Back then I remembered having to work with internal customers as well, understanding their requirements and I had to do cross-site support which meant dealing with people from different countries; namely China, India, USA, Philippines, etc.
It was not easy although we were all in the same company as it was also across different divisions and reporting to distinctive umbrella organizations.
I recalled some technically demanding customers who had to have whatever they asked for there and then and whether you know it or not.
I knew it was not easy then but it was fun during the learning curve and you just enjoy challenges especially when you are a fresh graduate.

Dealing with internal people are different from external customers; I don't think we need an encyclopedia to detail the differences here.

It is definitely much harder and stressful to face some of those demands and unreasonable deadlines or risk being reported by the customer to your management.
Escalation is a usual process and customers cannot even accept it when you are away on vacation or even if you are on sick leave, bla bla bla.

My recent experience with a multinational company was horrendous and I feel really battered out of my wits by their demands.
I am not saying that I am fully perfect and provide the No.1 service and support, but headcount/resources were really low on our side and I have tried my very best, I really mean it.
It is not easy juggling between completing your already increasing workload and at the same time, entertaining every single request and demand that comes from the customer's end.

Of course, understanding from the customer's end, I do not blame them for getting frustrated with us at as well as they too, have their requirements and deadlines to meet. However, from my side, I have tried my very best, to every extent possible to help to work for them and coordination job is not entirely within my control.
It was hard working with the internal team when they are not cooperative as well, and yet you cannot expect the customer to understand this.

It will come back to us being the problem statement.

I feel really tired and exhausted out of my own wits to meet every single expectation from everyone.
(Or perhaps I am trying to meet my own expectations too much, and I feel that I am just useless when I don't do things right?)

I am worried about my own performance, sometimes I feel I am not doing everything perfectly.
Is that all to life? My work and in meeting everyone's expectations?

My boss told me this, "You can't please everyone. You could kill yourself trying to make everyone happy"

I am glad that my boss trusts that I am doing my job right and that the customers are the unreasonable or demanding ones.

However, why am I still not feeling at peace or happy with myself?
I just don't understand myself sometimes...

School Holidays

I was wondering what was with the crowd in the cinema and malls last weekend.


There were so many people queueing up for the movie tickets, although we were there so early, compared to the other weekends after CNY.

I wanted to catch the new Disney movie; Alice in Wonderland, 3D version, and was hoping to be able to get some tickets.

It has been soooooooo long since I have gone to the movies that I can't even remember what was my last movie (or was it 2012? =P )

Anyway, I finally realized that the school holidays are already here and the school children are all out for their share of entertainment.
Disappointing for me though, since I wanted to watch a movie; especially this movie.

In the end, I watched Confucius instead (review here)

One week of holidays, but one advantage though; no jams when we go to and back from work!
Holiday for the roads too! =)

Rain marching into March

It is already March, and the weather has finally taken a change for the better, thank God!~

It has started to rain in the evenings lately, a much welcomed change from the hot and dry spell we had during the Chinese New Year period.
Much as we love our clothes to dry fast during that 40 degrees celsius but I seriously do not like the heat on my skin and the discomfort during that time.



Perhaps it is due to the Chinese astrological calendar calculation that after Chinese New Year and come the 2nd month to the 3rd month according to the Lunar calendar where rain is in abundance, we will expect rainfall.
Furthermore the ancient Chinese astrologers deduce this weather in conjunction with the Ching Ming festival (to commemorate our deceased ancestors and loved ones) and somehow their calculations stand accurate for almost 3,000 years.

Well, I must say they have pretty good mathematical skills to be able to predict such accuracy.

Whatever, I am happy and welcome the change of weather =D

Need for Comment Moderation

I am sure most of you have noticed that recently I have enabled my comment moderation where you will need to go through word verification and also wait for my approval before you can see your comment published on my blog.

I know, troublesome and tiresome, but I have no choice but to enable it as I have noticed a few annoying spam messages/comments flooding my blogs.
These comments are in no way related to the content of my posts and are basically spam, which I do not want to appear on my blogs.

I apologize for the inconvenience and I hope that you can bear with this, to maintain the quality of my blogs.
I do not wish for my blog to be spammed or worse, attacked by any virus.

Thanks for your support and kind understanding! (geez, I feel like I am replying an email to my customer =P )

Missing the weekend...

Come Monday morning and the first thing that you think when you open your eyes is, "Darn, it's Monday again, the weekend is over"

How superficial we all are, we know we need a job to sustain ourselves and we need the money to pamper ourselves with little luxury items, and we are always so earnest and doe-eyed during our job interviews to convince others to hire us and yet we can't even cajole ourselves out of bed to get to work on most mornings.
Worse is, we can be bitching about it in our heads and yet we can walk into the office, and look like we were looking forward to work so much.

Haha, that's life; the same scene will put itself on forward and rewind every single week.
Like the sea, there is always the high and low tides sweeping up to the sand and after all, without complaining and grudging once in a while, where would we get the happiness on the other end, right? (a little nonsensical, I know)

While we have a long list to rant about what we don't like about working weekdays, I have decided to just preserve the weekend in my mind and tell myself about things that I really love about the weekend; so that everyday would seem like a weekend
(Self-psychology works most of the time to preserve our sanity in this mad world but if it doesn't, there is a book out there with the same title, 7-Day Weekend)

Weekends...everything about it is nice, even the word itself is comforting to the soul and what do I love looking forward to...

1. Waking up to birds chirping softly and the skies are still dark, and you know you are NOT working =)
I love to wake up early on weekends, being the opposite of the majority to enjoy that fresh and cool crisp air (the weather has changed, finally)

2. Having a cuppa hot Chinese tea during one of those dim sum breakfasts and sipping it slowly while you sample each bite of the delightful (and sinful) dim sum and knowing that you still have all the time in the world and not having to rush to get to the office before the meeting starts.

Besides enjoying the food, I get to do my people observation and it is fun seeing people of all walks of life and each with their own unique style and behavior.
(now I feel like a retired person sitting in the dim sum shop, talk about people watching!)


3. No meetings or business calls or any demeaning emails popping up in your Outlook

4. Not having to follow any schedule and doing everything at leisure

5. Having the time for me-session (my solitary time)

6. Cruising around the island in the car, taking in all the view and snapping pictures wherever I go


7. Pampering myself from head-to-toe

8. Going shopping or watching movies

9. No traffic jams or long queues at restaurants/eateries (except at the cinemas and the malls' carparks)

10. Time to relax and just RELAX!

I really missed the weekend....well, just close my eyes and count to 5 days...and then it's weekend all over again! =D

What Angelstar Blog Haven means to me...

I am thinking of starting a few more blogs; yeah, again, as if the list of my blogs that I already have in my profile is not enough to keep me busy and they are already sparsely updated.

Well, it is an interest of mine and I like to diversify and specify my different blogs according to my personal interests.
I loved blogging and it has been more than 5 years since I have started blogging, yeah, it HAS been THAT long =)

How it all started? you may ask

Well, that would go all the way back to when I just finished my examinations and I was willing my time away, enjoying that freedom and that sudden extra free time that I have on hand.
I caught up with my reading and as you know, I really loved to read a lot and I was then already tapping into the Internet for more reading materials and finding out about things that I like.

At that time, I actually wanted to continued with my writing interest; to write in a freelance and leisure manner and therefore, I was wondering to myself, whether I can write articles on the Internet and that was where I stumbled upon the concept of blogs.

Reading a few blogs made me so inspired that I wasted no time in starting my own blog and hence that was how Angelstar blog haven was born.

It quickly became my main portal for writing and to share all my thoughts and views and I was so hooked on to it that I could not help thinking of what I want to write and share on the net.
It was even more addictive than those chatting tools like ICQ, MIRC, Y!M, MSN, etc which was the craze when Internet first started.

As I started to write more, I realized that I had too many things that I want to write about and I just did not want to crowd them into one blog. At the same time, it would be really crazy if I were to cram all 10 ideas I have in a day into the same one blog. It would seem like overloading the blog and others out there, if I have any readers, would be totally lost with what I want to tell in my blog, furthermore, with diverse topics.

Most of the bloggers do that, and they have their own styles.
My style was that I wanted to diversify and to give myself a clear and specific direction or portal to share my ideas on different topics.

As my blogs grew in numbers and in population, I still maintain this main blog as the focus site although there is no specific topic related to the title of this blog as how I have done with my other blogs.

If you check my very first post in this blog, you will realize that it started in 2005 and my style of blogging have changed over the years. I don't know, you can probably say it is related to age? =P

Alright, speaking of my new blogs....I will be announcing it when it's ready...I am just happy that Angelstar blog is 5 years old already! =D
It is my very first and personal blog, my first definition of my blogging adventure, and is and will always be very important to me! =)

Happy Birthday to Angelstar Blog Haven and may there be many more posts to come =)

Poor workers!

Last weekend when it was so hot and we were melting even with the air-conditioning on in the car, I was taking in the view while passing by the roads.

I spotted a few construction workers on top of a building in the middle of construction under the very hot sun and I felt a spot of sudden guilt in my heart.

Here I am, seated comfortably in the soft cushioned seat in an air-conditioned car and I was complaining about how hot it is and how bad the A/C is, and there was this bunch of people who had to rough it all out and under the HOT SUN.
The temperature must be almost 40 degrees celsius out there and there is definitely no A/C; there was not even any sign of wind that time and these people must be sweating their glands out but they are still stuck there.

I really felt so guilty for being so comfortable or just enjoying my weekends lazing around while these people had to work and sweat it out on our rest days.

Am I worrying too much again? I don't know, I just felt pity for them and realized how fortunate we are...
Had there not been for them, we would not have comfortable houses to stay in or cool offices to work in.....but they are just, oh, so pitiful!

Lovely weather on yet another Friday

It's funny how time just seems to slip us by
I felt like it was last week when I was just posting on my blog that it was Friday and how I was looking forward to a good weekend, and today, we have arrived at another Friday, only that it has already been a week.

How has my week been?
Well, pretty good and bad at the same time
I've finally completed my project tender documents and have also submitted them! YEAYY!!
I have collected a new project tender document (again) and have sent it via courier to HQ; this is one huge job which will get the whole world to work again.

Apart from that, there were so many things to rush for this big customer in Penang; a real demanding one where everything must be done immediately for them.
It is exhausting when you have to be at their every beck and call.

Oh, the high stress that came with my assignments this week has led to excessive acid being excreted in the stomach and caused a massive gastric and tummy upset attack, and I was crying for help and pain =(

Anyway, I am still slowly recovering from the bad attack after a few doses of the medication and keeping a close eye on whatever I am eating.
(this is always the case after an attack as my tummy will be highly sensitive at this point and easily upset)

It is great that we have weekends to look forward to after a busy week at work for the past five days.

Today's weather made it an even more lovely Friday to enjoy as it was just cloudy and the sun is nowhere to be seen, to my delight.

Know what I feel or dream of doing now?
Having a good book to read and a nice cup of fruit juice (orange) to sip while listening to one of my favorite song~

I love Fridays.....I hope it rains soon ;)

Rain - my reward/consolation?

It's raining now!
I cannot believe my eyes, I felt like it's been ages since we had this hot and humid weather and only the last few days, the wind started blowing.

Now, I am really seeing rain, as in gushing water falling from the sky, yeah, in huge torrents!!
Wow, I am elated to see the rain, it's been so long!

It feels like seeing an old friend when I see the rain!

Perhaps it is a form of consolation from God/heaven for the pain I have been having due to my bad tummy ache/gastric?

Thank you Lord, for this little kindness for me.

It feels like a miracle, and all of a sudden, I don't feel so unwell anymore..call it psychological or what, I just know the rain always does wonders for me =)

My eccentric housemate

I have two new housemates; yeah, since my last housemate moved out, the two of them moved out together and it is nothing to do with me.
One housemate had bought a new place to get married with her boyfriend (or rather, fiance) and the other had moved down to KL to be with her soon-to-be-husband too.
So, the two last housemates moved out because they are moving on to their next phase of lives; marriage.

I am still waiting for my fate; my next destination for my career and therefore, I am still stuck here at the moment.
I don't hate where I am staying at the moment; in fact, I kinda like this place and I am probably gonna miss this place if I were to be transferred to a new place or back to HQ (if that's the next decision).

Since January, I have two more new housemates who came in.
One is a slightly older lady, who looked rather sullen who will occupying the small room while the other is a chirpy lady who's about my age who's taking the medium room.
Well, originally, there was another young lady who came to view the rooms, and I kinda preferred her to this older lady, but since my housemate felt it was only fair for first-come-first-served basis, so that's it and the older lady won the race.

Anyway, there was nothing much new or anything to get used to since I have been used to getting along with new people for the past few years I have been living outside home and I have met good and bad (to say the least) housemates over the years too.

The two new housemates are okay, I guess, especially during the first month they moved in.
I have no issue with the younger housemate as she is just friendly and straight-forward. She loves to talk, a lot, but she means well and she's always ready with a smile or a hi whenever i see her.

The other one, however, was a little weird.
She just keeps to herself, like to herself all the time.
She stays inside her room, well, not complaining about that since I do the same thing myself, but my master bedroom has almost everything though.
She has a TV.

Okay, what I meant about the eccentric part was that, she doesn't smile at me at all.
The first time we talked was because she had to get the house keys from me before she moved in.
That was the only time we talked or smiled at each other.
After she moved in, she's like really quiet and she tried to avoid me.

How would I know whether she avoids me?

Well, I've noticed for a few times now, that every time I turned the door knob and go out of my room, and if she happens to be coming out at the same time, she would deliberately close her door and step back inside and wait until she hears me turning my door knob to go back into my room before she comes out.
If that is not eccentric enough, I've bumped into her face to face and even when I offered a smile on my face, she just does not want to smile at me in return.
Imagine, I was staring at her right in the face and I felt like an idiot back then, smiling and the other party just treated me like I was invisible!

Another incident where we met face to face was when she was walking towards my direction in the car park and I smiled again (I guess I never learnt my lesson) and she just looked straight and pretended she didn't see me.
It was so deliberate and it was definitely done on purpose because we were practically in each other's way.

Now, you tell me what's the problem?
She often wears that really sullen look and she talks and laughs really loud too, in her room.

Whatever, perhaps it's just my luck to have one or two of these crazy people as housemates once in a while.
Sighs...I want my own place soon so that I do not have to put up with such craze anymore...

Gastric and stomach ACHE!

I think this year didn't start off that good for me, I have been 'awarded' with loads of injuries leading all the way from January until Chinese New Year, then CNY I had a bang and then I had body ache and breathing difficulties, and now, latest to join in the line is a bad bout of gastric and stomach ache.

Don't go pointing fingers chiding me for not eating and all that, but I can tell you that I have been rushing like mad for the project deadline these days that I think that is the main culprit.

Weirdly enough, somehow my gastric is never related to food, unless it's food poisoning, which I am probably forced to believe it this time.
My gastric and sinusitis is always related to stress and the bad weather (the case for sinus).

I am in high stress mode since I came back from my CNY leave, and things have been really crazy around here.

Yesterday, I was really in a lot of pain when I got off work; it was mild at first when I drove home.
Then I went out for dinner, and that's it, after dinner, I had a serious and sharp pain in the abdomen and initially it was like intermittent and then, the pains were really, *YOWL!!*

It was hard keeping it up in the car and I am glad I was not the one driving as the traffic was really bad (it is always bad when you are in an emergency!) and I had to keep gripping onto something, I don't know, I think it's psychological that when we are in pain, we always want to release the force of the pain to another medium.

I grabbed the upholstery of the car and my handbag and it was still really painful.
I had gone pale by then and I know the driver must have panicked upon seeing my look as I seldom complain or keep so quiet during the entire trip, wriggling and writhing my way on the seat.

I even dug my fingers deep into my hands; and even tried to bite myself to divert the pain away from the nerves, no, it did not help, in fact the pain got worse.

Look at the marks it left me even until this morning


My stomach's still feeling rather edgy today, but I have come to work anyhow and I don't think it's a wise move as the pain is still so bad, and it's making me very uncomfortable...

I have taken my 2nd dose of my medication, and if it gets worse....I will have to force myself to see a doctor.....
Gosh, the pain.....it's still there....

Strained muscles

I have overstrained the muscles on my arms yesterday and today, I am feeling the pain and discomfort on both my arms!

It was unintentional; as I was expecting to spend the entire day in the office, preparing and compiling all the tender documents for the latest bid job.
I received a text message from my colleage cum manager in KL; asking me to collect another set of documents from our consultant in Gurney.

Being told that it was urgent, I took off in my car and drove straight to Gurney Tower to collect the project documents from the appointed consultant.
Already, I was not concentrating and had missed a turn, but anyway, I was still on time to meet up with him.

I parked my car a short distance away; paid my 40 cents due for the parking space and strode straight into the building, making my way to the 20th floor.

When I met the consultant, he explained the nature and the scope of the project to me and then told me that I'd have to bring the mechanical and electrical drawings back to my technical team.

"Alright then" I say
His next question caught me by surprise, when he asked, "Did you drive?"
This was unusual, typically they don't really ask you these, because they don't care
so I just told him, "Yeah"

"Those drawings are rather heavy, you know", he says to me

I was like wondering to myself, Like, how heavy can these drawings get, right?
Wrong thought!
I looked at the long rolls of the large-sized papers; possibly A2 or something rolled together in a scroll and still told myself, "how heavy could these possibly get, it's paper"

When I tried to life one roll, I almost fainted.
It was so heavy that it was unimaginable.
Yeah, perhaps I was weak too, but even the big guy mentioned it was really heavy!

He kept telling me to drive my car over and I told him I could manage.
I thought it was one roll; then he said, there is another roll.

He laughed and kindly, he offered to bring these to my car.
Thank God!

However, he helped to carry only one roll; leaving me with the other roll.

Oh my gosh, I felt like a labourer (no offense meant here) when I was heaving these rolls of drawings (what kind of silly drawings are these anyway) to my car.

Then he had the cheek to tell me, "Oh, actually we do have the soft copies of these drawings which I can send to your colleagues if you want, but we thought it would be easier if we gave them the hard copies directly so that they can refer"

*FAINTS*!
If I had a knife....goshhhh

And...that's how I ended up with all the muscles aching over me today; actually even since yesterday.
I think they should consider including fitness test into their interview subsections the next time they want to hire an engineer...

Accident @ Bayan Lepas

I saw an accident along Bayan Lepas; near the first flyover before you approach the intersection heading to Bayan Mutiara/Queensbay (coming from the bridge).

I was coming along the coastal road; from the bridge exit's direction when traffic slowed down tremendously.
I was left wondering (or guessing) that it could be yet another police's road block which was rather common these days on this island.

However, when I was approaching the overhead bridge, I saw a Kancil parked in the midst of the two giant pillars holding the bridge and 2 police cars parked by the side.
The policemen were hovering over the driver; whose car door was wide open and that was where I saw the driver, with his head rested on the steering wheel with his eyes closed and his hands were just hanging lifelessly.
It was a disturbing sight, for me, as I saw his hands dangling by the side and covered with blood.

I do not know what kind of accident that was; or how it happened and I had no time to find out anyway as I had to get on with my driving and through the traffic.

I only know that it caused the slow traffic even an hour later as the busy office workers are informed by the radio of the accident.

I pray that the driver survives, that's all...

Back to work

The weekend just seems to slip past us, in a blink of an eye.
Well, sometimes I feel it's ridiculous to compare 2 days to 5 days and then say the days pass us by so fast.
Crazy people, us.


Am I sinking into the Monday blues syndrome, I don't know, perhaps yes or no
I dread the arrival of Monday, but yet, I want to go to work
I have tons of work to complete and that's why I know I won't be sitting or wandering aimlessly for the day.

However, after enjoying a nice weekend; actually, not so nice after all with the hot and humid weather and the sun constantly shining on me, but still nicer than having to go through all those horrid moments at workplace (sometimes)

Fridayyyyy enthusiasm is over, and Monday blues are here to stay...I hope not...
Welcome back to work...and a whole new weeek of work!

All Hell Breaks Loose in Two Days?

I really can't believe it, how things can just go haywire when one person goes on leave or fall sick on one day and when it's more than one day, take my case, two days, and ALL hell breaks loose.

That was what happened when I fell sick (unfortunately and unintentionally) last Monday.
I don't know what happened, I woke up, and I felt so tired and my whole body was aching. I felt like I was being weighed down on the bed and my head feels like it's spinning around.

I tried with every ounce of energy to pull myself out of bed (it was probably the first time that I woke up past seven) and I dragged my feet to the bathroom and took a quick shower.
I thought it was just the exhaustion over the weekend and that it was Monday blues and usually showers/cold baths help in getting over the feeling.

However, when I step out of the shower, I felt even worse and there was this feeling of hot and cold all over me and I just felt uncomfortable.
I felt weak and tired all over as well, and I had to sit down.
When I stood, I felt like sitting down.
When I sat down, I felt like lying down...you know, that kind of feeling?

I tried to get up and reach for my outfit to wear to the office, and that was when I felt my head spinning around.
I didn't want to admit that I was unwell because I didn't want to take sick leave, I just wanted to go to work.
It sounds crazy, I know but after a while, I really felt so unwell and weak, I could not even see myself leaving the room, let alone getting out of the house and driving to work.

I have to admit it there and then, that I am unfit to drive and go to work and I'd better lie down and get some rest.
It must have been one of those rare times where I was telling myself and feeling that I must go to the doctor!

I went to the doctor alright and I rested; I was practically asleep the whole day after the doctor put me on heavy medication; the drugs made me so drowsy and groggy that I could barely feel or hear anything and I slept through the day, that even both my phones by side which were ringing, I could not even hear.
I could barely lift my eyes open or my hand; I could say that this is the time where the saying "Dead as a log" describes me.

The funny thing is, I could even go back to sleep at night and all the way till morning. Typically when I take even the shortest nap in the afternoon, I will have trouble sleeping at night.
No exception cases; unless I am sick, like this.

The next morning, I woke up still feeling groggy and drowsy; and I decided not to take the medicine anymore.
I felt better but still slept a lot throughout the day. Needless to say, this calls for another day off from work.
I cannot help it, I need to have enforce some self-importance and priority this time.

Having fully rested for two days, I have returned to work on the Wednesday and that was when I heard that everything was in a chaos.
HQ had to handle a lot of inquiries during my absence and customers were rushing them.
Bosses had to stay back to approve the projects, etc.
I blinked, "What, so, this is my fault that I am sick?"

Everyone seems to be saying, "Oh, she's sick, so we've got to do this"
Even when I get calls, they're like, "Are you working today?" although they know fully well I have been back to work since Wednesday.

This is not the first time this has happened, and sometimes I wonder, how such disorganization can happen in a multi-national organization.

I have been sick before and worse things have happened, but I think I am still sick.
Sick to be staying here, and really sick of everything!

FRIDAYYYYYY

It's finally Freaky Friday....and Thank God it's Fridayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!

I can't wait to leave work....it's driving me crazy...
High stress mode at the moment!

I wanna go home....weekend, here I come!!
I sound crazy but it's been a crazy week too....been sick and all and rushing my work like mad and well, it's just not that pleasant, with those bullet-like emails.

I've gotta return some torpedoes soon...but anyway, it's FRIDAYYYYYYYYY

I am lovin' it! =D

Have a smashin' weekend everyone and till my next update, TGIF folks!!~

My little cousin brother

My youngest cousin brother; the latest addition to the family is also almost 1 year old now and I had the chance to see him during CNY when youngest aunt brought him back from his maternal grandmother's place where he was placed under her care.

He was pretty active during that time; despite aunt saying that he's a little agitated since it's near his nap hour.



He has learnt how to say "Ma Ma" and "Mum mum"; I guess that's pretty close =)


He doesn't know how to walk or stand on his own feet yet (metaphorically speaking)

Adorable, isn't he?
He's definitely the youngest baby in the family at the moment! =)

My CNY gathering with friends

This year's CNY was made even more meaningful when I had the chance to meet up with my friends.
Ironically, we just realized that it was probably a year ago since everyone met up with each other although the last meeting (not everyone was there) was during Aaron's birthday party.
I think Mike was missing but Dane was there; and this round during the meeting, Dane was missing but Mike was there but there was an addition of Vincent.
So, guess it all made up in numbers; and hopefully there will be more addition during the next gathering.

We made plans to meet up at this famous Greenview Restaurant in PJ; SS19.

I found a lot of the food bloggers posting about this restaurant; raving about their famous specialty dishes (food photos and posts in Food Blog =)

Oh, I missed my bestie!!!


Lots of camwhoring and lots of chat boxes popping up here and there, and we were supposed to catch up on our discussion for a vacation and somehow, it didn't realize


My best girl friends since high school!!~ (Jes and Yenn =)


We had a so-called CNY feast; or a rather lavish spread of dinner while catching up with each other (or were we catching up more on the food??=P)
Lou Sang was definitely on the menu; and I think it was probably the first time we had it for ourselves (this gang I think)


Me at work; capturing the food photos, what else?


LOU AHHHHHH!!!!


Lots of good wishes and it turned out to be wishing for each other to get married soon....ishhhhh =P

Second round at Swensens' SS2; and finally a group photo!


I am missing the gang again....hope there will be a next gathering soon, or the trip? =)

CNY is over

The 15 days of CNY and the festive season is all over; after months of anticipation!
It seems like it just went past us in a breeze or a wink as I barely felt that it was 15 days ago and now it's no longer CNY?

That being said, somehow I don't feel that past the 15 days is no longer considered as CNY.
After the New Year is marked by the First Day of Spring and therefore, the first month is pretty much a new step into the New Year, right?
We are pretty much still in the New Year mood and all thing's good.
If you hear your older aunts or relatives say, they always say during this month that "It's the New Year, don't do this, don't do that"
(In Cantonese, it's translated as "San Nin Lau Lau")

We are going to have to wait for another year for all those festive food, preparations and festive stuffs which makes it all so worth celebrating =)




Of course, the most that I will miss is ANG POWs....pocket money =)
That's wealth!

Now tell me, what else are you going to miss about CNY?