End May - June 2011

I have a few people asking me why I haven't been updating my blog recently.

Well, I was busy, tired.  No, I think I was physically exhausted. 

It has been a super packed month  - such that I was getting emotionally unstable due to the lack of rest and sleep.  During the week, I worked till quite late almost every day - either staying back in office or going for tuition.  I became very quick tempered and didn't want to really talk to anyone.  I just want to get the job(s) done. 

Last weekend of May
This weekend was kinda 自找one. 

It all started with me wanting to go Lombok in late May and happened to mention my intention to a friend - whom, to my surprise, immediately agreed and said let's go.  But somehow, for some dunno-what-shitty-reason, the conversation suddenly switched from going to Lombok to Club Med Bintan.  And the more we discussed, the more I realised she was quite insistent on going to Club Med. 

I tried the subtle way in rejecting going to Club Med, but failed.  Instead, she kinda succeeded in gettng her message across to me that Club Med Bintan shall be the destination.  And suddenly, it became my fault for not wanting to travel. 

It reminded me of what I blogged before.

That many women are very skilful in this - saying "I don't know." or "Anything." or "Í'm OK. You decide."  And if you take it at face value, and make your suggestion, they will go "Sounds good. But... ..." 

What you don't realise is that they will overthrow all your suggestions and slowly kills you with exasperation and frustration.  And the best part is?  When things fall apart, it will somehow end up being your fault!

Ahhh...

I am guilty of this too, but I think some of my girl friends are so much better at this - even to me!   Gosh... I pity the guys.  Cos as a woman, if I can't stand such behaviour, I wonder how the guys do - each and every time.

I must make a mental note not to do this anymore. 

So anyway, back to my story, when I decided to stop being subtle and directly told her that I didn't think it was worth $700+ to go Club Med Bintan, she threw her temper and said I spoiled her plans for a short getaway!

Huh?  I was upset that she was upset with me.  Over things like these.  Nonetheless, to appease her, I found a trip to Batam over the weekend, and told her "take it or leave it."

She took it and I just psycho-ed myself to get the trip over and done with.  At least, I had an early night that night!

Never such unhappy planning again!

First weekend
It was Bloss' hen's night.  I was sick.  Very.  With sore throat and super part-running-part-blocked nose.  But it was Bloss' hen's night.  I must be present! 

And so off I go, in my half-sick-half-sober state.  Fortunately for me, we had a pampering session instead of a wild party.  We started off with a massage at Holland Village, followed by wash-and-blow hair session at Marina Square, dinner at One Fullerton and ended off with drinks at One Altitude.

At the salon: See I can't even open my eyes anymore!

Didn't really like going back to Raffles Place area during a weekend.  But Bloss hasn't been to the area, particularly One Altitude - so we decided to bring her there. 

Hope she had enjoyed herself.  

By the time I reached home during the wee hours,  I immediately concussed.  And still had to wake up early to go tuition.  =(  And called off a belated birthday lunch session with a friend, who, luckily, understood I needed the remaining half-day weekend to rest. 

Second weekend

I had long arranged with another friend to go into Johor this weekend for karting and seafood.  But because I was very tired, I asked the friend if it was possible to find another friend to take my place instead.  Failed. 

And so, off I go to Johor.  This was not so bad because I love karting!  And it was fun!  With the drizzle.  Hah.

I must go again!

Belated birthday lunch on Sunday with the friend whom I flew kite the previous week, and ended up home at only 5 pm plus... Tired...

Third weekend
It was Beerfest.  I was supposed to go but ended up working OT until 3 am in office.  Friends started calling me in their half-drunk state.  Waited for me until 2 am plus, when we all finally concluded I was not going to make it down in time.  Not even to meet them for supper. 

And then, it was Bloss' wedding.  Truly happy for her that she found a man who loves her back as deeply.

As I always believe, honestly, girls don't need a memorable wedding.  They need a memorable marriage.  Their wedding was kept simple.   Ok - but still, there were certain logistics to take care of.

And the groom was late in coming to pick her!  Goodness.  Apparently, the brothers went to the wrong place to pick the groom...  Oh well, but fortunately, all seemed to go well thereafter!

The PPGs - Bloss' wedding day!

Fourth weekend
I was supposed to meet another friend for a belated birthday dinner on Thursday.  But I had to go for dinner with my regional colleague, so had to cancel it. 

And we had wanted to meet on Wednesday too.  But the work event ended late.  Later than previous years.  Honestly, this year, I don't think the event was well-run.  It was a bit tad chaotic.  But for some reason, the senior management seemed impressed and praised us for a good event night!  Oh well, so long as they are happy.

And I honestly hate it when guys try to be "funny" on the pretext that they are high or drunk. It's OK if I'm a willing party, but I'm not! Bleah!

Someone came up to me and my boss, and wanted a hug from each of us.  I immediately turned black faced, turned away and pretended to be busy and ignored him.  And he still walked up to me, and asked me straight in my face why I always ignore him.   Duh. 

And the next thing I knew, he gave me a super tight hug.  The only fortunate thing was I managed to turn such that my shoulder and elbow were towards him, and I was carrying a file in front of me.  And the worst part was, his hug was so tight, I couldn't even budge! 

I think I gave such a disgusted look and kept rolling my eyes, while trying to wriggle my way out, that someone saw it and tried to get me out of that situation, by initially saying to eventually shouting, "XX, you can't be for real.  Come on.  Look, you are suffocating her.  Let her go. She can't breathe and is turning blue.  Let her go now and let's go off!"

And off he did.  To hug my boss. Whispered in her ear, and then kissed her cheek.  Yucks! 

Fine.  I'm OK if one tries to be eng moh, and act all friendly with the hugs and pecks. But those were obviously not friendly gestures.  Those were "eat toufu" gestures.  Eeks. 

I love the poster wall at the smoking area! Hah!

Everyone thought I would have some breather after the event on Wednesday, but no.  I still had so many things to write and do.  Sigh...
In the end, I cancelled my Friday dinner and also rejected a colleague's farewell dinner.  I decided to just go home and sleep.
Slept from 10 pm on Friday night to 10 am.  Then sleep again from 1030 pm on Saturday to 830 am.

Bliss.  I love my bed.  It's 10-ish pm now.  I think I want to go to bed again!  Night people!

This speaks to me...

Read my horoscope for May and this is what it says...

"You'll have certain tendency toward depression.  The problem, in fact, is that you want to have everything immediately. Be more patient, and everything will fare better and better. You'll risk going from absolute bliss to the deepest sorrow, without transition, for a small dispute, a little worry!"

How true. :(

Dress hunting for June!

好姐妹要嫁人了！

这一次，她对婚礼的要求比较多。 是好事。

因为这代表她的 在意和在乎，所以会有要求和期盼。

I helped to plan, find and coordinate the wedding - from photography to wedding invite, to wedding venue decor, among others. 

Honestly speaking, she's an easy-to-please bride.  There are a lot of things, which honestly, I would not have agreed to.  But she's OK.  She's the bride.  So if she's OK with not having some things, or not having what I thought could have been better, I leave it to her. 

 A sneek preview to her wedding photo! **Oops!  I hope she won't scold me for sharing it first!**

The dinos!

We went dress hunting for the sisters yesterday and here are the few dresses we tried on!

Dress 1: But it's a tad too short.. Out it goes.



Dress 2: For the evening.  But again, it's too short for Sista No. 3. So no deal. :(






Dress 3: For the day-time.  The photo does not really do the dress justice.  We swear it looks better.  Both Cheryl & I like this but too bad, it does not fit Sista Number 3. =(  So out it goes.



Dress 4: We love the tutu.  But due to its impracticality after the wedding, we decided it's a no-go. :(

 


 




Dress 5:  I always love bubble dresses.  Suit my bubbly personality. Hah! But we thought this is too normal, and it's a bit tad pricey for made-to-order or MTM.  So no more BUBBLES. :(



Dress 6: Another variation from the tutu dress.  But we decided it kinda looked blah after some time.  So nope. Out it goes!



 

Dress 7: After trying many many many dresses, we finally settled on this.  Turquoise tube flair dress with a cream white satin ribbon.  Simple and seemingly common.  But we thought we can at least wear this to dinners and also, it's quite a deal at S$70 for made-to-order dress!  And the shop owner turns out to be my school mate, so she is not charging us for alterations. Cool!

王子公主结婚了！

Watched the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on BBC.

Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Cambridge, is simply gorgeous on one of the most significant days in her life.

I love her gown. Simple. Feminine. Understated elegance.

Lovely couple from what I gathered on screen. They fell in love, broke up and got back together.

他们的结合真的好童话般似的。 祝福他们！

Inspired.

I’m glad boss couldn’t go to the conference and I had to go in her place instead. Meeting marketers from other industries is always refreshing for a change. You will then realise that the marketing world you are living in is really far too myopic. At least, for me.

I looked through the list of delegates and I realised I was the only small fry there. All the designations were big. Chief Marketing Officers la; Regional Marketing Directors la; Head of Global Marketing la, etc from companies like Facebook, M1, Nokia, Ogilvy, SingTel, Standard Chartered Bank, etc. I almost didn’t want to exchange name cards. But that’s beside the point…

You also then realise that these top-notch marketers are at their positions today – for a reason.

These people are charismatic. And there are just far too many smarter brains to pick. And most importantly of all, they are passionate about their jobs. It is that amazing. I could literally feel their passion oozing out of their skin, even through the few minutes talking to them during the networking breaks and luncheons.

I need to mix with these people more. Or rather, I need to meet with and hear from these people more.

It reminds me why I chose to do marketing in the first place.

This conference came at a good time for me. At a time when I am starting to question what and why I am doing what I am doing. At a time when I feel that I cannot draw any more inspiration and motivation from my job, and even the people around me.

At a time when I tell a few people that I want to go upgrade myself with a MBA or some skills certification, and all I get are either some disapproving or discouraging remarks. Don’t they understand that I need some brain stimulation, and talking to and hanging out with them don’t satisfy me at all in that area?

Then again, now as I am penning this, I wonder why I even bother to ask people for their opinions. If I feel something would benefit me, I should just go ahead, isn’t it?

At a time when I wonder why some friends are so free that they can call/text me at all possible opportunity to gush off their thoughts about this new guy they just met and knew and wonder if there is a possibility between them.

Get a life!

If you think there is a possibility, just go ahead. Cos I wouldn’t know. I’m not him. I’m not you. And to be really blunt, I’m not interested – especially when I am at work or when I am having lunch or when I am going to bed. Because anyway, the next time these people contact me again, it’s going to be a different guy anyway!

Anyway, I digress.

The conference also reminded me of something my mum used to say to me when I was only in Primary school. “Compare yourself only with those who are better and stronger than you, for you will only strive for improvement then. But compare yourself with those who are on par with you, or worse, weaker than you, you will only turn complacent or worse, feel self accomplished for the wrong reasons – which will only lead to your own degradation. The path is yours to choose.”

So now, I think about the people, friends and associates who are supposedly in the marketing line that I know. Better, on par or weaker? Hmm… Maybe it’s high time to “change” some “friends”.