the moment of truth
After a long long CNY break and all the hype about it, with all the worry & mixed feelings coming along with it, the truth was finally disclosed early this week.. in fact, I think the namelist was already known by some even before the official start of work after the CNY break.
Apparently my process dept was one of the lucky ones with the least impact. Anyway, the day was one with mixed feelings as well. Seeing one close colleague pack his stuff and leave..and hearing many others whom I've known through my 1.5 years there also affected was quite sad. I really wonder when I'll see some of them again. The goodbyes and handshakes and the "take care" wishes from those who leave to those who stay, as well as for those who stay to those who leave were all around. I think the consolation was that the retrenchment package was reasonably good. For the close colleague who left, I'm glad to know that he is taking this chance to do what he really wants to do in life... and I'm sure the close friendships forged during my time there definitely will not be affected no matter where we end up working.
Well well.. as for me it's back to my boring work; and I know I should be glad I still have a job in these bad times. Thanks to all who have been concerned for me. I also really hope that for those who had to leave; they will find their new directions in life and have bright futures ahead.
.: ting @ 10:29 AM ~
:.
_________
Independent living
Gonna be home alone for the next few days as my family had gone to tour Shanghai 2 days ago.. But should be ok since I have work & other activities to keep me busy haha.. Independent living for me ah~
Just some updates about the past weeks.. My birthday came and went. This year there were quite a number of celebrations.. felt like a little girl again haha. Although most of the actual day was spent working hard cos as luck had it, I was the only person in my dept at work that day.. ie. bao ka liao again. Think for future birthdays I must take leave!! haha
Really thanks to all who have made my birthday special :)
Birthday activity: relaxing by Palawan beach
Birthday BBQ :)Last friday, also celebrated wx's birthday. She's a fellow Saggitarian too! Yeah~
Happy birthday sis!
Loved the cupcakes-cake siti prepared for her.. So cute & innovative :)
Next up.. yesterday went for my finale of the year (finale of the runs I participated) -- Standard chartered 10km Run! Haa.. it was an experience covering 10km.. almost double of what I have ever attempted before. 10km is no longer an impossibility to me now yeah!
The tired out faces after the run
My Standard Chartered 10km medal =DAs it was wx's birthday that day.. we decided to go sit the flyer.. I thought I had HSBC credit card 20% discount for it so I happily jioed them. Turned out that the discount wasn't valid as it was the eve of holiday.. diaoz~
Before the flyer activity at night, went to meet another friend for tea. The main motive was actually cos we wanted to see her baby daughter.. whom we haven't seen since her full month.
She's a really active baby.. future athlete in the making =)
For the flyer.. we went at about 6 plus, hoping to catch the sunset, but by the time we finally boarded the thing, it was already night time.. But really enjoyed the night city scenes :)
Theresa's bb ruien :)
On board the Sg flyer!
Nice city night scene..
Now, I'm home alone.. just finished self-cooked lunch & washing super muddy shoes -- aftermath of the SC run.. basically just resting & relaxing.. hope my family come home soon! haha
_________
The Korea Trip
And finally.. i'm going to blog about my korea trip as promised. So stay tuned =) But it'll be in chronological order so bear with the boring format ya~
DAY 1 - JEJU ISLANDArrived at Jeju after 1 long flight to Korea and 1 short domestic flight to the island itself. You can imagine the energy level (or rather the lack of it) by the time we finally started our tour. The intermittent drizzles and cool winds didn't help. Little did I expect the next few days there to be of such weather as well.
Some sightseeing at Jeju. Hmm.. I think the scenery wasn't as pretty as what was expected. The highlight was the Teddy Bear Museum which exhibits so many cute teddy bears, from teeny weeny to gigantic ones.. we were going teddy bear-crazy by the end of it all hee..
The world's most expensive bear -- LV bear!
Teddy bears featured in "Princess Hours"
Hugging the gigantic bear :)DAY 2 - Daegu
First up was persimmon wine-tasting, the start of all my wine drinking in Korea. In fact, I've drank more alcohol in Korea than I ever did in my whole life in Sg haha. Well, I was told that my face turned red when I merely had 1 small glass. Apparently not a good drinker I guess.
Cheers!We went to a temple next, but guess most of us were more interested in the lovely colored maple leaves there than anything else =p Its really a pleasure to be able to experience the autumn scenery since autumn is supposed to be my favourite season (for someone who lives in a country with no seasons haha). But autumn is just so pretty la =p
Dinner was BBQ, which we all warmly welcomed, having eaten super healthy food (vegetables, kimchi, plain water, soup-based dishes) for the past meals. We ate the BBQ the Korean way, which was to wrap all the food, ie. the rice, BBQ meat, kimchi, sauce, etc into a big piece of lettuce and stuff it all into your mouth.. wasn't a glamorous way of eating, but definitely fun =)
Yummylicious!
DAY 3 - Daegu
We visited an apple garden in the morning and had fun picking apples from the apple trees. Was quite fascinated as I have never seen so many apple trees before. Nice! We had wine tasting (yes.. again), but this time apple wine and pomegranate wine. Had apple pancakes made from fresh apples to go with the wine too... really yummy. All of us also had a custom made wine bottle which we filled with apple wine ourselves =)
The girls with the apple trees
Apples for sale!
Apple pancakes & pomegranate wineAfter lunch, we had fun at this converted railway, where we were supposed to ride this "trishaw" thingy which had bikes at 2 ends of the "trishaw" down the railway track. A good workout for our legs while enjoying the breeze and scenery there.
Me with Veronica at the other endThe final stop was a coal museum, which wasn't exactly worth mentioning.. Almost all descriptions in the museum were in korean.. probably except the titles of the descriptions. Naturally we didn't understand a single bit. So off we went taking photos with the nice scenery outside the museum heh heh..
Beautiful autumnSpent the night at YongPyong Dragon Valley, the filming site of Winter Sonata, a beautiful ski palace in winter.. but since we went in autumn, my guess is it's not as beautiful haha. No skiing in our itinerary, no skyride as it was under renovation... but we managed to find exciting activities for ourselves.. went to the only slightly remote arcade to play on the dance machine.. (which i never passed.. boo!), while providing entertainment for the aunties and uncles of our tour group (our new friends haha)
Sipped some "shao jiu", similar to sake in Japan, to beat the freezing cold weather which was about 2 degrees C... it tasted almost like the medicinal alcohol used in hospitals.. yuck.. our curiosity got the better of us when we recalled our tour guide's "dare" / recommendation to try eating ice cream at the freezing cold 2 degrees C.. and so we did haha.. I bet that was one of the high-est night we had.. almost went crazy with all the cold-ness (internally cos of the ice cream & externally cos of the weather) haha..
Brr... (ps. see the temperature display at the back for evidence =p)DAY 4 - YONGIN EVERLAND
Finally a theme park up in our itinerary! It turned out to be a rather disppointing day as we didn't manage to sit on the highlight of the park -- the world's largest wooden roller coaster with a plunge of 77 degrees, no thanks to the stupid weather... and erm.. the blatant queue-cutting of the people there. Managed another ride instead.. although it would have been better if we were able to try the park highlight.. ah well.
DAY 5 - DECKSAN SPA CASTLE
This was the accomodation which i adore the most! The hotel room was almost like an apartment, complete with a little kitchen with stoves and all, a living room with sofa & TV, and 2 bedrooms, one with the typical hotel room decor & the other where you can sleep on tatami mats =D
Kitchen corner with living room at the backThe spa castle itself was pretty great too! Didn't try the hot springs as the conservative me wasn't too willing to bare my skin for it as you are not allowed to wear anything in there. Instead, we played at the water theme park. The theme park was nothing too amazing.. something like the old Fantasy Island in Sentosa, only much smaller. But it was sure a memorable experience to be wearing so little and playing at the pool side with cold pool water in a weather of about 8-10 degrees C. The indoors spa area was lovely though, with jaccuzi and what-not targetted at different parts of the body-- neck massage, body massage, back massage.. you name it man. What's best is the warm warm water there haha
Decksan Spa Castle water theme parkDAY 6 & 7 - SEOUL
The time at Seoul was mostly spent shopping, buying stuff ranging from ginseng, amethyst, cordyceps to faceshop products. We also had traditional Korean show, tradition Korean costume fitting, kimchi making etc. Went to another theme park on Day 6 night, Lotte World, which had indoor and outdoor parts to it. Went for some rides and settled for a simple ramen dinner.. a nice and sweet theme park worth coming again I would say...
All of us in Korean traditional costume
The 4 Korean beauties =P (ok.. I know I'm not) 
The girls at Lotte World entranceSeoul marks the end of my Korean trip.. meaning back to Sg.. and yar back to work. Sigh..
_________
to korea & back
as the title goes, i've been to korea and back.. the promise we made to ourselves at the start of 2008 to embark on the journey of this unknown territory was finally accomplished. But some things certainly don't stay the same.
take for example, work... a year and a little more ago, i was still an innocent fresh grad, unimpressed by the fortune of being in the times where job opportunities are everywhere and it's easy to get what you want. Little did i expect only a mere one year later, i would face almost all the things one might get to experience in the real working world; ugly politics, bleak future, mass paranoia, retrenchment, termination, pay cut...
with almost all my work friends leaving me consecutively, i'm beginning and trying my best to get used to an increasingly lonelier work life. it didn't help that although loading is getting lower and lower, yet expectations are increasing and my workload and responsibilities get crazily more and more... with the few people available in my department, i'm almost like the only person available on some days of the week... and naturally have to be "bao ka liao". it's been a while since i keep getting calls off work.. and now i don't just get called for issues of the machines that i'm in charge of. instead, its for any other issue that happens =(
i guess, as i know rationally, and as every other friend tells me, its a great opportunity and foolproof way to really learn, from the technical knowledge to the soft skills. sometimes the best way to learn is through the hardest way. ah well.
sometimes i do wonder how different my life would have been if i hasn't chosen this job. but i never had regrets... at the very least, the job allowed me to grow in all the ways i had wanted to. and made me into a person i never thought i would become. the best gift is all the friendships that blossomed through it all. we must stay in touch no matter what happens and where we go ya? =)
when the going gets tough, the tough gets going =)
shall update about the korea trip once i get hold of all the photos ^^
.: ting @ 10:16 PM ~
:.
_________
Shape Run 2008
Geared up for the Shape 5km run this morning by waking up at a freaking early 530am haha... The run was supposed to begin at 730am at Padang... thats very early la haha.. Luckily was able to wake up in time.
Before reaching the place, my sis and I already saw lots of gals wearing the green nike top which was part of the goodies for the run this year. Almost every train carriage got at least 1 girl in that top. When we reached it was even worse.. everywhere was so... erm.. green ;P
Overall was nice running at city area in the early morning.. more refreshed feeling. The route taken was different from JP, and it provided more of a city view so was more interesting I feel. But my lack of traning cause me to run quite slow today... and motivation was lower also as the girls running around me werent very fast either haha
But still quite a not bad event, lots of freebies and goodies although the queues to get them took such a long time.. and everyone was in green so I kept getting separated from Pj & my sis and always have great difficulty finding them.. nxt time shan't be so guai to wear their sponsored top liao haha
oh.. I also saw/met quite a number of people today.. some I haven't seen for some time.. like pof =) hope you had fun there too hee..
_________
Bad day at work
Today was a bad day at work.. the Monday started off in a wrong tone when there were too many issues over the weekend it got the equipment sm worried. So worried to a point that he started aiming me with questions and questions of how I should follow up and what I have (or rather haven't) been doing all this while. Felt angry at his accusations although deep down I know there is some truth in it. Yea that was how my morning meeting went...
The day went as per normal (ie. as busy as usual). Even had a nice lunch outside, finally relieved of the canteen food for once in a long while. Then afternoon was meetings & meetings until i kind of did something wrong again and got scolded by my equipment engineer.. even when I left work at night my assistant engineer called me to scold me over something that I did not follow up properly.
These days of hectic issues after issues got me into thinking.. is this job really for me? Not just once did people around me comment that I am too soft and should be more aggressive to get things done in my job. I admit that I am also easily affected by what others think of me as... easily affected when people scold me or blame me especially for things I don't think I deserve the scolding. Many a times I try to tell myself that these people too are frustrated over the many issues which are causing them trouble and that I don't seem able to solve. I can't help but feel incapable and inefficient and also kinda overloaded. argh!
Never really written about things that happen in my work but tonight I just feel like complaining. Luckily the friends I made in my company were so sweet today. Thanks a million =)
.: ting @ 12:22 AM ~
:.
_________
Busy busy
Been really busy lately, especially at work... After a relatively long learning period I was given (almost 9 months), I was finally given real responsibilities at work... but it also means a gradual loss of freedom... and an increase in committment level =(
Was never a very work person... so at first was pretty put off at all the calls I started receiving on offdays, weekends, on holiday, or at wee hours of the night (midnight, 1am, 3am...). I didn't mind answering calls at weird hours (when i'm supposed to be off from work) as much as the expectation of me to make a decision there and then, when i may very well be blur from being just woken up from sleep; or unable to make too much of a decision given my lack of experience and information about the situation. But no choice as its considered taboo to leave the machine idle pending my decision till the next day =S
(As I was typing this.. got another call from work again....)
Haha enough of my complaints.. Shall talk about happier stuff. The busy work still didn't stop me from always going out to enjoy myself.. see how slack i am =p
Been to genting and back a few weeks ago. Very much different from what i remember of it. And it was the first time i went with friends instead of family... also my first time in the casino. So its quite memorable in a way. Had a lot of fun too bad we could only spend a short span of time there.
Another worth mentioning event is this Safra cycling event I went on a random Sunday. A total of 15km cycling on the old airport runway left me quite breathless and exhausted. But the feeling of pedaling into the clear blue sky on the really huge runway feels good =)
A scary new ride in Genting as background =p
I love our pose in this photo =)
Hope my weekends remain as fun (more activities coming up heh heh =p)... and of course, my issues at work to be solved soon... (although i'm not very optimistic haha)
_________
Birthday activity: relaxing by Palawan beach
Birthday BBQ :)
Happy birthday sis!
The tired out faces after the run
My Standard Chartered 10km medal =D
On board the Sg flyer!
Nice city night scene..
Cheers!
Yummylicious!
The girls with the apple trees
Apples for sale!
Apple pancakes & pomegranate wine
Me with Veronica at the other end
Beautiful autumn
Brr... (ps. see the temperature display at the back for evidence =p)
Kitchen corner with living room at the back
Decksan Spa Castle water theme park
All of us in Korean traditional costume 
The 4 Korean beauties =P (ok.. I know I'm not) 
A scary new ride in Genting as background =p
I love our pose in this photo =)