Beautifully Imperfect.

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  Did the whole morning routine - brush teeth, wash face, empty usus besa- okay, you get the drift.
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  Watched the repeat of Mysteries of Love ep. 14 since I missed it last night. Raymond Lam as the geeky professor quite hot lor. He can teach me things any day.
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  Used some iPhone apps to modify an oh-so-adorable picture of Jayden I took yesterday night and posted it on Facebook.
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  Read a magazine Dad brought home.
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  Found a Four Four Two mag from Dad's pile and used more iPhone camera apps to take a picture of a smiling John Terry to send it to Mary.
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  Chatted with Mary for a bit and discussed hot eye-American-candy that we have to look out for during today's World Cup showdown between England and USA.
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  Downloaded more awesome possum Glee songs! (Aaaaah Adam and I just watched the season finale that day and it's overrrrrr now. :(((((( Season 2 cannot come quick enough. I ADORE Finn & Rachel's version of Journey's Faithfully, gahhh.)
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  Listened to said Glee songs. Over. And over. And over. And over again.
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  Took a nap.
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  Downloaded new picture search game for my phone! So addictive can die. Kept on trying to beat my own high score. (I swear I am my own worst enemy wtf.)

It's been awhile, blog.

I keep on telling myself I'll sit down and do a proper update one day, and not steal moments in between working hours, or while I'm waiting to go out to lunch (like now) to hastily type a few words in your body and deem it a proper update.

Time just doesn't permit! :( Boo.

The past month has been pretty damn crazy. Planning the Managers' Conference for 1,300 pax - all staff from senior executive level to top management - took up nearly all my time at work. Colleagues said it was like another day job, and I fully agree. Some of my other projects took the backburner and I am fully feeling the effects of chasing up to meet deadlines and clearing all the backlog accumulated.

But work aside, I'm taking a break this weekend! I'm on leave the coming Monday and tomorrow is a full day of training (read: hotel food and leave at 5:30 p.m.) so it feels like a super duper long weekend. Yeay. The boyfriend and I are making a trip down the island down under (Singapore! Not Australia, thought I wish it was :p) to visit Universal Studios and the casino, so it should be a blast.

Off for lunch now, colleague is waiting for me, so it's time to go till the next hasty update. Ack.

Graduation pictures at campus :)

3 years and done. Bittersweet.

I remember rushing into my first real job, post-graduation. I'd done the whole part-time shebang during school and uni days but this was different. Real responsibilities, real impact, real office politics. I admit taking that very first job was out of desperation because the job market was horrendous back in early '09. But with that being said, I think it would be unfair to take anything away from my four-months with Cerebos. I had many a laugh with colleagues, a great all-round manager, learnt many a Microsoft Excel function and a ton about FMCGs (and had many a bottle of bird's nest with rock sugar hehe). Overall, I had a pretty good working experience which helped me ascertain what I really wanted out of a job.

When I started, I was rather optimistic. I told Adam I'd try to stay there for at least a year. Sure, the job didn't give me a lot of late hours, it was so near my house, free parking, and all these other frills, but it wasn't what I wanted. And it certainly wasn't what I needed as a first job.

God works in his own little funky mysterious ways. I'd like to think he's grinning as he reads this. Sometime in April or May (it really does all seem like a blur to me now) I went with Adam to a career fair, only bringing along a few resumes because I was already employed. I dropped my resume at two positions that had interested me since I first started looking for a job. The Sunway Managerial Advancement for Recruited Talents (SMART) Programme, and CIMB's The Complete Banker's Programme (TCB). Both were highly reputable and promised wonderful development and I won't lie, I was excited about the prospects that could be as opposed to where I was then. I made the final cut for both, five and four stages respectively.

The interview stages were insane. Those times made me realize just how far I could push myself and just how I could perform under pressure. Sometime in early June, I got the answers. I had both jobs waiting. I was surprised, honestly shocked, and obviously ecstatic. (I must've done a victory jig or two and sung a victory song) So, I had to make my mind up. Did I want to go into banking or did I want to go into a conglomerate? Sunway won, to many an arched eyebrow. To each his own, I say. I've not once regretted my choice, nor lamented what could have been had I chosen the other travelled road.

De-stressing after stressful times.

The program has given me ups and downs, stressful times and times of glee. I've made wonderful friends. For the past six months, however, I'm pretty proud to say that I've not once regretted my choice, nor lamented what could have been had I chosen the other travelled road.

I do wonder sometimes if age is a disadvantage for me. Out of the six in my batch in my management trainee program, I am the youngest. At times I wonder if I would be more savvy, or more street smart with a few more feathers in my cap if I had a year or two more to me. Who knows.

Also in 2009, our family lost a little one. Little Melanie, which was to be my sister's youngest daughter died in my sister's womb a few days before she was to be due. My sister gave birth to her, stillborn, a little while before Chinese New Year. We were floored individually, and as a family. It's been nearly a year, but it still kinda hurts, and I can't even imagine what it must feel like for my sister. I thank God she's better today.

2009 witnessed the first time xoxo.chic was ever at a bazaar! It was hectic, carrying so much stock back from our suppliers gave us sore fingers. Tiring as hell. Doing the pricing, and the preparations the night before. But it was so much fun. Even more so because I was doing it with Siokkwan & Mary. 2009 also unfortunately witnessed xoxo.chic in a...nap? Haha. What with all of us joining the workforce one by one, xoxo.chic has unfortunately taken a backseat. It's sleeping comfortably right now. I'm not sure when we'll wake her up, if we will, but it's been many a good day with xoxo.chic. The pleasure and content we feel when customers express how much they like something, the funny photo sessions, the pretty clothes we see, the times three of us go through together, the hard-earned money.

xoxo.chic's first offline presence.


No yearly post is complete without shoutouts to my crazy girlfriends. Especially Mary & Siokkwan since we've been the ones in Malaysia more often throughout the last year. Thanks for the many a crazy time, stress-release layaning, bitching and giggling and gossiping, and giving me that sister understanding. They call us the mean sisters (yes, I'm looking at you all, boyband) but we know otherwise. I love you girls like silly.

Drinking up.

I wore red, he wore yellow -_-

The team. Some of us have been playing together for 11 years?

So! Quick update. :)

In the past two months, I went for multiple stages of interviews for two jobs, challenged myself in ways I've never before, thought about questions I've never had to think about in the past few years, put myself in the hot seat while having to come off as intellectual and passionate at the same time, worked up the nerve to tender a resignation letter and started a brand new job. Phew, thinking back makes me quiver a little. Heh.

Anyway, the new job. I'm pleased I got the one I was interested in and attracted to since Day 1 and I'm happy with how things have turned out, job and learning-wise. I still wonder on and off if it was the right thing to do and at least I can say, in the sense of opportunity, growth and a starting block, I can safely say it was a good decision so far. Assignments have been good so far and colleagues and management trainee program peers have been so warm to me. It still may be too early to tell, but at least I can be satisfied with what I'm doing at the moment.

It's gonna be three months with the Group Internal Audit, after which it'll be soft skill training and working on projects for any subsidiary, and then the rest of the two year period with Finance.

Haha! I just realised all the above sound so hush-hush, like I'm a Secret Service Agent or something. :P I'm still rather iffy about divulging details about company for fear of the non-existence privacy on the net, but we'll see how that goes. Makes more sense for you to ask me when you see me personally, right? :)


Sooooo, enough of the boring stuff and let me tell you now that I'm blogging from my hotel room in Penang! Been here for a week working on an internal audit project and will be here for another week. AM. SO. STUFFED. WITH. AWESOME. PENANG. FOOD.


Anyway, gotta run now. Colleague is back and we're off to a mall. Talk soon!

Oh hullo, Gary.

Genius.

After that last week of utter pain, I am proud to say that I went to the dentist this morning to get my stitches removed and feel so much better already. It was a bit scary to feel her snipping away in my mouth and then tugging at the thread (or whatever schmancy term they have for medical thread) but hell, it's over. And I feel like a (poorer) heroine for going through all that. Yay me!


Jayden and I at his first ever birthday party, him looking oh-so-metrosexual in his pink and dark blue striped polo and pink pacifier to match. Heh. He got a new blue pacifier today to further enhance his manhood because this pink one was getting too worn out and he HATES it. It's quite funny. He holds it, and tests it for about a second in his mouth and promptly spits it out and does it over and over and over again.

I’m blogging at work into a Word doc to look a bit more inconspicuous at my cubicle. Stealth, ain’t I? Hee.