The good times

How time flies when you are having a good time. After the hardship of arriving in HK last year, I reflected on the good times that I have had this year....my fav ones were:-

- Reading Judith McNaught at a beach in Lamma Island. It was one of the rare times with just 'me' as company...

- Getting to know somebody new over a 3 hours lunch and realising that both of you have the chemistry to get along well......

- Exploring Discovery Bay for the first time with Bard during the snowless winter in HKG, though it was cold and chilly it was a great day, a great place, great people and great fish and chips lunch (if it wasn't too browned). Felt just like in the Docklands in London...
And to top it all, I got a beautiful framed b&w photo taken by Bard.

- Ocean Park with Suaimi and Iszam during CNY. It was very crowded and we did not go on any rides since the boyes were not 'brave enough'. Despite that, it was one of the best times I have with these 2 guys....A fun-filled day with fun and crazy company...

- Goofing around with my nephews while they were on holiday in HK, joking and playing UNO with Suaimi joinning us till late at nite, bantering and joking......

- Dinsum-ming with Noy, Kamarul and Iszam followed with short trip to Citygate for window shopping. Then we proceeded to the airport for a bite at Popeye's and then took the bus back to Central to pick up Karen after which we took the ferry to Discovery Bay for dinner. After that we took the train to TST to meet Noy again for dessert supper at Sheraton Towers.

To cap it off, it was a beautiful day with clear blue sky. What a whirlwind day but it was a perfect day with perfect company....

- 2 surprised birthday parties (late last year) - totally unexpected, one given by family in KL with the presence of my colleagues and the second one given by new buddies in HKG. Sadly, out of the 4 buddies, I only remain close with only 1....but that's another story altogether which I don't care to disssect anymore...the evening was perfect though....

- Cycling on the city wall in Xian with Bard and Linda post APOS meeting. Great day (not too cold or too hot). Never laughed so much especially when Bard dropped like a sack of potato trying to be photographed jumping midair. Great holiday it was............

- Having Waikin and Hohui in HKG. Over the years we have shared our laughters and tears, I cherished every moment spent with these girls, especially now that we are all apart. We only had 1 full day together and what a quality day it was.....started the day with a long brunch at my fav place with Whaisee, followed with a shopping spree around Causeway Bay and ended with dessert at Western Market just after a seafood dinner in Cheng Chau Island.
A grand day with the greatest company ever!

The good times spent were priceless indeed and I shall treasure these moments.....

Thank you my dear friends..... I wannabe ????????

The much anticipated Hari Raya Open House

Sincere apologies if any of my friends especially those mentioned below got offended during the past weeks. It was the excitement of the occasion plus me in my 'onsite' working mode. I guess I can't help it, event management is my bread and butter.............

This much anticipated event has been brewing for quite sometime and finally the event took place on Sunday, 26 Oct. It was called 'joint open house' since there were 5 o us co-hosting this event (Bard, Linda, Azam, Suaimi and me).

What a grand feast it was. Ketupat, lemang, roti jala, nasi tomato, beef curry, chicken kurma, dalca, kuah lontong, kuah kacang.....we had it all. And the best part was it was all home-cooked by us.

Even then, there would have been more items in the menu had we had more resources and energy but it was just too much plus we didn't have any more pots and pans big enough to accommodate cooking for 80-100 pax! It was no joke.....

Bard likened the cooking activities as "Hell Kitchen" but to me it was more like a typical onsite activity. In the wee hours of Sunday morning at 4am, we were still cooking up a storm.

It was fun, doing this together with friends and buddies. Seeing friends and guests enjoying the food that we cooked ourselves was well worth all the aches and pain that came with it. Never mind that we only had less than 2 hours of sleep. It was crazy!!

Although I can't say if my fellow buddies Bard, Linda, Azam and Suaimi thought the same way too. I guess they saw the control freak in me what with my onsite schedules, marketing list and barking out orders and instructions just like an Army General Wannabe...hehe....

Thanks all......

The power of an adjective

I recently a used a word to sincerely voice my thoughts of a person and because of that word, it was thought that I still harbor a grudge with someone. Oh well… I do not need to justify my action or my choice of words to anybody.

My dear, whatever in the past.... remained passed. So passe'......I want to move on and am not going to live in the shadow of anger, regret or anything negative. Those ill feelings will only bring wrinkles and gloom to my beautiful and pretty face. Haha!!

Anyway, what I want to say is, I wasn’t making any sarcastic remarks to anybody at all but a genuine respect to this sweet girl for being who she is.

I just wannabe sincerely honest….

The Xi'an Odyssey (07 - 14 October 2008)

I’m back in HK now after more than 2 weeks away. First was the trip home and then Xi’an. It was one of our worst experience (nothing new there) but it was also one of the best post-event trip ever!

Having your buddies joining you for a short holiday really helped to de-stress a great deal.

Where work is concerned, Julie (the project leader) used the process of giving birth to describe the whole onsite meeting experience. I fully agree with this metaphor.

The whole duration of the meeting (5 days) was the delivery process, we moaned and groaned and screamed insults at each other to deliver the baby and once the baby got delivered (when the meeting ends), it may not be a pretty or cute baby but it has its full faculties of a normal baby with complete 10 fingers and 10 toes and such….

And so, the meeting went well. Of course it could have been better, we’ve learnt new things, areas to look into and watch-out, how to improve our services but in the end the clients didn’t have too much gripes to bitch about and still thanked us for our ‘professional dedication’ and handling problems with ‘dignity and grace’. Hahah!! What a joke!!!

Some of us will be openly complimented and gets all the limelight from the others while some of us will continue to prod and work behind the scenes quietly unnoticed (to ensure that those in the front-line get all the glory). Such is life……..

I have to say this. Despite all the drama and hitches during the meeting (such as bad AV, the lousiest group dinner ever held in my 8 years of event management, the botched-up jobs on arrivals and departures) I still I love Xi’an. Really-really loved it!!

It is much better than the 4 China cities which I have visited so far (Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzen and Chengdu). Must be because it was easy to get halal food and also because I managed to explore the cities with kind new friends (Sophia, Diang and Sandy) and also because I have had the pleasure of exploring the city with my close friends.

To have your non-work friends joining you made all the work related matters and problems non-existent. The 2 days I have left to explore the city after my meeting ended went really well, many many thanks to the enthusiastic and infectious company of Linda and Bard. Thanks heaps guys!!!!

Xi’an is a heaven for history lovers. The Terracota Museum is totally awesome and befits its status as the 8th wonders of the world. The best part of the trip for me was cycling on the City Wall. It is a 13.5 km journey but we only managed 1km. Shame on us...hehe...

Too many distractions, namely too many stops taking photographs and we did not have the luxury of time on our side. And so, we have to turn back after 1 km. Nevertheless, I loved every minute of it.

Also, we watched a local theater dance show of the Tang Dynasty. It was worth the RMB200 that we paid for each person with its beautiful choreography, stage setting, costumes and dancers. It was soo sensual and captivating…………….

In one of the Tang Dynasty parks, there was a park called the ‘Elegant Lady Area’. There was wooden tablet which described the women of the Tang Dynasty. It says that ‘the women of Tang Dynasty were progressive, optimistic and confident’.

How aptly put and that’s what WE, Women of the Prada/LV/Gucci Dynasty wannabe too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Eid Week - 05 Oct 2008

It’s been nearly a week since I got home, celebrating this Eid (Hari Raya).

Yeah…family ties were strengthened and rekindled. I can’t really say that I relish it but it was something that had to be done, a duty to perform. Nevertheless, I enjoyed myself, yeah I did... Not to mention that I really stuffed myself to the gills (not that I have any). But I swear that my pants and sarong have become tighter since last week. Not good at all.

Oh well….it was fun, enjoyable but also exhausting catching up with relatives and friends.

Absence makes the heart grows fonder…it’s good to keep these ‘home’ trips short and sweet. Longer than one week will over do it.

I’ll probably not stay longer than 10 days and during these times I’ll be rushing about here and there trying to squeeze in all the activities below:-

• Visitng my siblings, close friends and relatives;
• Marketing trips with my mom (the mother/daughter bonding thingy);
• Spa time with the ‘gals’ (time to update each other with the latest gossips and love lives);
• Touch base with the ‘ex’ (still a kind of investment portfolio to look into once in a while 'just in case');
• Being the perfect and attentive aunty Cici to my nephews and niece (another investment for my old age, just in case I remain a singleton past 50, I'll need somewhere 'free' to retire);
• And of course, having a drink (or two) at Luna Bar with my closest friends (non-alcoholic of course....).
  

I must say, except for the part when my handphone got stolen, everything else went well during this trip. But the lost handphone was not too much of a big deal coz I was still at home and not in the middle of nowhere.

I wanna have a perfect trip and this time, I got it!

The Homecoming Queen - 29 September 2008

I am on my way back home now, travelling back with Suaimi by my side. It’s nice to be travelling along with a buddy one in a while….especially when you are going back for holiday. It’s going to be a full week away from the office. When I return to HK, I will have Bard as my travelling companion. Not a lonesome trip this time. Gosh! I could get used to this!

I am looking forward to this holiday! But the main reason of my joy is not the going home, nor the upcoming reunion with beloved family members….it is the thought of being away from the office. YAAAAYYYYY!!!!
That shows how much I love my work…haha!!

On a separate note, yesterday I was mistaken as a friend’s mom (yikes!), as an Indonesian and also a Filipino. Duhhhhhhh….. Can’t help it that I really look like these people…it’s my colouring, I have all sorts of exotic blood in my lineage (hahah!!)… Anyway, I have a pure Asian look, no mistaken about it and in HK, this is often mistaken for a Filipino or Indonesian maid.

It is insulting at times but it’s funny too. My mistaken identity has often been a good topic of laughter among my friends and I am the butt of the jokes…yikes!

Oh well….can’t take offence to these kinda things, it’s not worth it. Stereotyping is part of human nature. We (and even yours truly) tend to stereotype people based on their looks, dressing, skin colour, etc, etc….

I wanna be me! I know who I am and am proud of ‘me’, that’s all that matters.

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“Are you high?” Karen asked me last night. Haha!! I was in my usual chirpy mood but I guess I was more exuberant last night (the Malay word would be ‘galak sangat’). Must be the heady combination of having a successful weekend based on 2 main activities:

1) Playing Domestic Goddess in Linda’s kitchen (I am a shamelessly domestic goddess wannabee and all those hours watching those house/kitchen ‘make-over’ programmes really paid off). Thanks to Linda, for allowing me to ‘play house’ in her kitchen. I felt like Nigella Lawson and Martha Stewart rolled into one.
LUV IT!

2) I had had such a successful time shopping ‘economically’ in the kind of places that I never ever shopped before in HK.

It was AMAZING! I only spent a fraction of my spending money and I managed to get soooooooo many great things for my darling niece and nephews and also parents. It was sooo exciting!!!!

Only a true-blooded shopaholic will understand and appreciate the kind of ‘high’ that I am feeling. Uuummmmmmmm (it’s that feeling of contentment and full satisfaction….from shopping, that’s what I’m talking about here, no sexual pun intended…hehehe)

I'm a Shopaholic Domestic Goddess Wannabe!