I think im at one of those moments when you feel a little aimless in life. It's like u reflected on the past year and looking ahead in the new year, what have I achieved and what I want to achieve this year. By next month, it would be my 1 yr anniversary working full time. I wonder if the past yr had been fruitful and exciting or just mundane and boring.
I wonder what would 2006 be like for me. I dont think this is one of those new yr resolution entries. I'm a bit too late for that, but I do wonder if 2006 would be a good year for me. I wonder if I would still be working at SIF or somewhere else. I wonder if I would really make full use of my time and do something worthwhile like community service or join a new activity. I wonder if I would make the correct decisions. I really wonder.
I think life is gng to pass me by really fast and I'm not sure if I can catch up with it fully. Imagine, in 6 yrs I'll be 30 years old. Doesn't seem far away from now. I wonder in 6 years would I have achieved something great in my life. Would I scale that corporate ladder and be successful, would I remain happy, would I even be in Singapore, would I be married? 6 years.... seems too short to achieve greatness. At the way I'm leading my life, I think i'm no where near in achieving anything.
Would it be the time to start on a 5 yr plan, starting this year? For example: 1. To be a manager by the age of 30 2. To earn a certain amount by 30 3. To be happily married by 30 4. To own my fav car 5. To have travelled to some exotic destination 6. To have served the community through volunteer works 7. To have lead a healthly lifestyle 8. To have attained a Masters degree in Business or something else 9. To have a group of very close buddies 10. To be contented in life.
Looking at it... I dont sound very adventurous. I dont even know what I want and that's scary. At 23 moving on 24.... I feel I'm still a teenager clueless about my achievements in life. I wonder if it's still too early to worry about such things, or do I really have to start and plan my life till 30 at least. And after 30... I'll plan my next 10 years till 40.
Financially, I should have a 5 years plan. I've been having thoughts on whether I should invest my CPF $$ . My mum is into it and it seems to be lucrative, kevin is interested and has decided to invest. I wonder if I should? I'm not that sort of person who's really into stocks and shares etc... but thinking ahead for my future... I should pluck up the courage and start young. Not that I want to dabble in shares now, but perhaps start educating myself on these various possibilites. Looking at what I'm getting paid and how I'm spending my $$, in 5 yrs i would still be a poor woman comparatively. It's a scary thought to look ahead and see the amount you need to save to : 1) Buy a car 2) Buy a HDB/Condo 3) Marry and start a Family 4) Kid's education 5) Bills, Bills and Bills. 6) Retirement 7) Others (holidays, misc expenses, shopping, maintenance)
Gosh. Dont you think it's starting to get a little scarier and frightening to see how close we are to such realities in life. To think I'm beginning to adjust to becoming a young adult in my almost mid 20s, where I have to start thinking about my life in the 30s. Mid 20s is gng to be a short transitional period. It's gng to be tough.....
hah it's 9.52 am and the mood in the office is GOOD! That's because the BOSS is not in. He's on a 7 days leave and he's somewhere over some ocean on his way to Eastern Europe!
Everyone came in late and we're just chit chatting our way in the office. Heh... ooo happiness. So from today to the 27th... the mood is gng to be excellent. I might just recover from my cough today! haha
It was our 5th year anniversary and also the internationally, commercially known Valentine's Day. 5 years together is indeed a long time. Half a decade. Imagine that. In 5 years, so much has happened, and it is a feat to still remain together for so long.
It all started as a friendship that to me would not have developed to a relationship. But subsequently, after much interaction with him, feelings grew and soon you know it on Vday itself after receiving that long long letter and a little chit chat abt feelings, we got together at abt 9.30pm i think. And from then onwards, the ride has been interesting.
We went through the army period, where the bf is in the army, and gf is studying. We went through the separation, where gf went to melbourne to study, and bf stayed on to work, we went through a yr together alone without families ard, where bf came over to melbourne to study masters and be with the gf. We went through separation again, where gf went back to sg for good, and bf stayed on to finish studies.Now we are going through our next milestone, our career, where both gf and bf are trying to carve out a successful career. In 5 years, all these happened. Of coz we had our disagreements, our quarrels, our fair share of wanting to end the relationship, but somehow we managed to pull through.
These 5 yrs have indeed been an experience for me. I've learnt plenty from this and I grew up with this relationship. I hope that could be many more lessons to learn, life lessons that is. I hope I had been a good gf to him as well.
Last night, we celebrated our anniversary at Wild Rocket locate at Hangout@Mt Emily. Nice place, rather romantic too. As dinner was at 9pm, we had coffee at Coffeebean Boat Quay and exchanged presents.
From Him: 1 Bouquet of handmade roses sent to my house, 2 Balinese Dresses, 1 Puma belt, 1 Fashion Assassin Black dress , Tiffany and Co ring and dinner at Wild Rocket. For Him: 1 Photo montage with an attached card, 1 Pansonic MP3 player, and a choice weekend stay at either a SPA or Farm stay when we are in Melbourne.
Will post pics of the night later.
To Bf,
Here's to a good start to our next yr together. Thank God for you!
It was an eye opener to be in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Though it was only a short weekend work trip, what I saw was enough to have left an impression on me. The place is really different from Singapore; no tall buildings, traffic is madness, dusty, and old looking. It's what you see at old Malaysian towns. Lots of people walking around, lots of motorbikes, a lot of roadside food stalls, plenty of garment factories, etc.
I was there on a work trip to meet some cambodians my company had engaged before and the singaporeans living in Phnom Penh. It was more of a networking session. The Singapore Ambassador attended as well. Thought that reception was the main reason for the trip, it was the other programme that really made a difference for me. The 2nd day of the trip, my boss and I tagged along with the cambodians and their friends to this rural village called Ang Kor Borei - Takeo Province. It's about 3 hours drive away from the city, and it's located at the border of Vietnam and Cambodia. The purpose of the trip was to visit a primary school and distribute stationaries to over 450 primary students (grade 1 to 7). This school is located by the riverside, and unfortunately is standing at a location which floods for 6 months. And so, for these 6 months, the school children are unable to attend school. This left them 6 months for studies only, which to every educational standard is not enough. And so, the flood season has ended and now it's time to start school again. And so as a form of encouragement, the cambodians who have formed a NGO, decided to raise some funds to pay stationaries for these kids, so that they can start the new school year on the right note.
It was such a sight when I arrived at the school. The condition was definately bad. Bad lightings in the classrooms, dirty desks/chairs, most kids were in filty clothing and most had no slippers to wear. It was this moment, that I felt so blessed to have what I have now or being provided for. These kids have nothing to their possesion and yet most look so happy and contented. You should see the smile on their faces after collection their stationaries. Such delight was priceless.
I am glad and honoured to have participated in this project, because no way will you ever see such a thing in Singapore or even in Malaysia. Not even when you're a tourist in some 3rd world country. You have to be at the place to experience it. There's still so much more we can do for these kids. Such as providing clean uniforms, a pair of slippers or school shoes, lights for the classroom, and new furnitures. I salute the cambodians who took their precious time off to work on something that serves its community. How many of us are willing to volunteer such time and effort for our own? not many....
I feel inspired to wanting to help, in watever big or small ways i can. If everyone helps a little, the world would definately be a better place... a much better place.
In about 1 hrs time, i'll be making my way to Phnom Penh, Cambodia for my first ever work trip. Honestly, I am a bit nervous since this is the first time going to Cambodia, first time planning my own event overseas, first time flying with the boss.. etc...
I just hope everything will run smoothly, I pray hard that it will! I think more imptly, I pray hard I can get along with the boss. I never really had this much interaction time with him and so perhaps the nervousness too.
But oh well, need to be brave... Anyway, it's a short trip, I'll be back by Sunday afternoon. But it will seem a rather long weekend for me.
It's my year this year, yup the DOG year. According to the 'feng shui' master on the Mediacorp CNY show, this yr aint a good year for Dogs. I think the funniest line was that he encouraged those born in the yr of the dog to bath more. ahah... that sounded just weird. I'm not sure if it's because this year is the fire dog yr and so we need to keep bathing to keep cool? Anyway, it's best not to believe such things; well at least for me I don't believe at all.
CNY 2006 has been a rather relax affair compared to past years. Things doesnt seem all that rushed and stressful. As usual, my family and I went back to Malaysia since my paternal grandparents are staying there. And so it's the time of the year that I get a chance to meet my entire family. It's a little different from the past especially since all my cousins have grown up. But there is this little cousin of mine (2 yrs old) who is bringing the joy and laughter in the house. I will post pics of him later. Wat's nice of CNY eve is seeing my neighbours playing with firecrackers. Em still quite clueless where they buy the firecrackers from. Malaysia banned it for several yrs, but somehow everyone is still playing with firecrackers. It would be nice to play with fireworks again.
Anyway, like i was saying, CNY was a little quiet. Not many relatives came over to visit, I guess because of the long break, some have decided to come on day 3 when i'm already not around. Even till today I have difficulty remembering who's who, which ones are my cousins. But all of them seem to remember me. Heh... it's a good thing I guess. But of coz I received the same comments from them, "wah so big already ah. wah really look like ya mother, like sisters like that, wah when you getting married ah." the usuals. However, it's nice to see them, and seeing them making the effort to talk to me. I was kinda expecting to see some of my other cousins who are actually in Singapore, but they were unable to come because their father is hospitalised. it doesn't matter, some other time i guess. Of coz there's no CNY if there's no gambling. Just found out from my dad that my grandfather knows how to play mahjong since he was in primary school! I also found out my cousin and aunt knows how to play too! Wat was lacking was the mahjong table. But we have agreed that for the next CNY, we will play mahjong haha. But for this year, we will still stick to black jack. The kids have always enjoyed blackjack. Some of them really do have the luck, every card always turn out so nice. This year, the adults joined in too and so it was more exciting to win their money.
Day 3 of CNY, it was time to head back to Singapore. Evening was the time to meet my maternal grandparents and relatives from mum side. It was nice to meet them again too, only thing is I dont quite click with my younger cousins. I think it's the age gap; i'm the oldest, followed by my bro who's 17, and the next in line is primary 4, followed by primary 3, 2 and babies. I've always clicked better with my aunts and uncles. Again, CNY dinner was a rather quiet affair. After dinner, a few came over to my house for a little chitchat. I went to Zouk that night too for Paul Van Dyke. I was glad I went at 9.30pm coz at 11.00pm, the queue was freaking long! They had to stop people from coming in too. The dancefloor was crowded, and everyone was just pushing around. Luckily, the music was good and so it wasn't all that bad.
Now.... i'm back in the office and it feels like a monday. How nice if i could take these 3 days leave. I think it would have been worth it. Unfortunately, I blew 7 days leave in march already. Oh well, just gng to slack my way today, since boss aint around.
