22/2/12

Finally got official blogger app on my mobile!!!

My friend had introduced me to blacksmart app over the weekend and I was able to download loads of interesting android apps!!
And not to forget this previously being region banned blogger app..

Now I can blog on the go!!
Bliss!!!!

2/2/12

Faculty CNY Lunch at Marina Mandarin, Aquamarine

At Marina Mandarin

Inside the Hotel

Ang Bao from the Dean!!!!

Fruits and Salad 1st

The feasting

A little more~

End with a cuppa tea...
 The Dean's office was invited to the Annual CNY lunch, this year at Marina Mandarin Hotel, Aquamarine buffet.
The spread was so-so, food is decent.
But the most important thing is that everyone has a good lunch and great company together!

Gong Xi Fatt Chai!!


1/2/12

Clipper Tea Inspirations

Over the holidays during Chinese New Year, I had serious cravings for a cup of English breakfast. Don't ever ask me why, I can never figure out a reason and once I had the time I headed toward one of the high-end supermarkets (You can only find Dilmah and Lipton in NTUCs!) and found this:


One of my favourite brand of tea: Clipper!
And it has a brand new packaging.

The packaging is simple, very eye catching and I like it. It has that rustic, unpolished, back to de old day kindergarten feel. It just makes me want to pull out my drawing block and pencil and draw like little kids do.

On the note that I know I can never find all the other variety of tea selection here in Singapore, I went onto Google to find out more about the packaging and I found these:






The packaging is simply delicious!
So much so that I got a new PR design and concept for my Science Faculty!
Yummy~
Can't spill more, 'nuff said.

30/1/12

巨蟹座

因為想留個紀念, 忍不住copy了在FB上看到的星座分析!
正如它所說的, 這是真時的自己!



巨蟹座的孩子,有點笨,有點瘋,有點傻,有時神經很大條
對朋友很珍惜,真心對待。
面對愛情,怕受傷,愛逃避。
有時會很絕情,卻還是心軟。
很懶,怕孤獨。愛安靜,愛寫東西。

巨蟹是個矛盾體很嚴重的人
喜歡不斷在腦海裡想太多,最壞的毛病就是念舊
回憶相對於他們來說就是精神支柱。

偏執悲觀,追求完美,有輕微強迫症和潔癖,輕微自閉。
討厭耍心機。
難過了心痛了就用沉默代替一切。
巨蟹知道,巨蟹不可以去強求任何人。

蟹蟹生氣時不想說話、開心了會傻笑、受委屈會放在心裡、在乎了就想被你知道。

MSN上不愛主動找人聊天
善忘,不論重不重要的事都容易忘記。
偏執悲觀追求完美
受不了,就別走進我的世界,我是巨蟹座。

玩的時候可以很瘋,但認真的時候就不要把我當玩笑。
我的底線可以為一個人放得很低,但不要以為我是沒底線的人。

我喜歡也好,厭惡也罷,我的感覺我最清楚。
從來沒人可以強迫我做我不願意做的事,所以也不必懷疑我是否在說違背良心的話。
因為我是巨蟹,狂妄中永遠有著一份執著。

18/12/11

This is the closest I can get to a White Christmas



Looks like it's snowing ain't it?
Love it when it has that old countryside look, hillside dotted with little houses and only the lights show through in the storm...

16/12/11

A poisonous witch in my office. :(

Till today, I still am truly grateful.
Although I work pretty far from my home, but for a place I spend 8 hours or more every weekday, my workplace is indeed quite a safe haven for me.
I built a little home away from home in my own cubicle and I always treated everyone around me fair and genuine. I always felt that there isn't a need for secrets and I always readily share about my life and experience so others can be inspired and enjoy the funny and happy things that happened to me.

However, this home is no longer that safe haven.
A ripple has spread through our office that now, everyone just keeps to themselves.
When we chat, we no longer does it like before, laughter in the office had died down to nothing but a wisp of smoke.

A year ago, we have a new addition in our office family, Ms. W.
First impression, I thought she was pretty eccentric with her dressing and hairstyle. An artist, just like those fashion magazine colleagues I used to have.
She hums like a ghost in the morning and sing oldies in the afternoon. It's kind of irritating at first, but I have learnt to accept that. Afterall, everyone is different.

I never like to be involved in politics or whatever conflicts arise in the office. I felt these behaviorism are totally uncalled for. But, no matter how I tried to stay away from such conflicts, they came looking for me anyways. and it was RUTHLESS.

I got a call from another colleague to ask me out for breakfast one fine morning. However, she told me she would meet me outside somewhere, and that we left the office and came back the office individually.

The breakfast turned out to be a chat by a bridge nearby where she tried to warn me about Ms. W.
I was told that Ms. W has said rude remarks about me in a meeting which I was not involved.
According to her, Ms. W has insulted me in order to push her staff up for promotion.

My first initial thought: Was that really necessary?

Her staff is also my colleague, sits next to me everyday, and we are pretty good friends.
She has been in this office for 10 years and her superior changes every 3-4 years which cause her not having a chance for promotion. So I totally agree that she truly deserves to be in the promotion roll.

But, to the extend of insulting me to get her into the roll, well that totally changed my impression of her.
While other managers has defended me, Ms. W definitely has crossed the line.

Ms. W also heavily hinted to this colleague of mine not to get too close to me as her behaviour will implicate me. Hmm... what behaviour? Me and her going for breakfast?

So, What freakin' RIGHTS has she got to restrict us?

In this office, there is an understanding that everyone works in a team to get things done, and we can rest and have some interesting fun and chitchat while at work. After all, it's a place we spend most our time with, and it's always to good to keep a nice warm family environment in the office.

But she saying such rudely remarks had hurt the office really badly.
Not just that, now that she can't touch me, she went to complain to another colleague instead, and unfortunately, that colleague has somehow been bought over by her sob stories.
And she cleverly chooses her target to poison.

For that, I aptly named her as a Witch in the office.

For months, I knew she has been spying on my computer EVERY TIME she walks out from the cubicle and pass sarcastic remarks to anyone who is 5 minutes late for work.
We were given the flexibility from our boss, so, what right has she to comment on us?

Till date, I know there are colleagues who doesn't like her, avoids getting too close to her or just stay as neutral as they are to prevent getting played out by her. Those she has to rely heavily on on her daily duties, she still treat them real nice, but I am too afraid that once these colleagues have "lost their worth", they too soon be eliminated by her.

The worst part is that our big boss trusted her fully. and I mean 100%.
And because of that, the balance of the office has been totally tipped over by this one witch alone.
And that really hurts because she has totally obliterate the entire office's hard work and efforts just by her one statement alone. It's really bad.

I really hope that our boss can really open his eyes and hear 2 sides of the story.

It so bad that I just felt my safe haven have turned into the cold harsh Antarctica.
There's no longer that warm friendly chats and joyous laughs, but everyone has to look out and beware of her. It has taken a toll on my mental health too, because of her constantly spying on my back, I can't help but  making sure all my documents are locked and secure, and getting sick because of it.

My headaches becomes more frequent and my doctors are trying to get me to a specialist.

As for me now, I am taking serious consideration in either changing jobs or transfer to another department.
I probably will go insane or consider suicide in the future if I am going to stay in this office as long as she is in this office with her current attitude.






13/12/11

The pains of us Administrators~

Drawn by Priscilla on Samsung Note

This drawing is dedicated to all the girls in my office.. All busy making sure student exams marks are properly uploaded and another team who are quietly checking on module configurations for the next bidding session in the new upcoming semester.

7/12/11

Crabbie Karaoke~

Drawn with Samsung Note
Ka-ree-oke!!!!!!

Crabbie's Monday Mood~

Drawn with Samsung Note

Monday was a good day yesterday as the freak in the office is not in! I have clear blue waters to swim in and blew bubbles away happily...


20/11/11

點心, 點. 心.




景:淑晴的辦公室
時:夜
人物:永傑,淑晴

永傑OS:來, 休息一下...
          D       永傑那著一杯茶和一個裝著太陽餅的盤子入場
          D        淑晴抬頭看著他走進來
          D        永傑把遞來的點心和茶在淑晴的辦公桌上
永傑: 加班很辛苦的, 所以要偶而要懂得休息.
          D        看著點心
淑晴: (感激) 謝謝... (好奇, 指著點心) 這是什麼啊?
永傑: ~ 這是太陽餅.
淑晴: (驚奇) 太陽餅?
永傑: . 妳不是說過妳喜歡吃太陽餅嗎? 這個是巧克力太陽餅. 妳不是也很喜歡吃巧克力嗎?
淑晴OS (驚訝) 那時在茶水間跟小施小談時說過, 他怎麼都還記得啊?
          D        淑晴小感動
淑晴: 謝謝.
永傑: (微笑) 不客氣. 這家太陽餅可有名喔~ 這是我拜託朋友幫我從台中帶回來的.
          D        淑晴再感動
淑晴: (不好意思) 謝謝.
永傑: 不用客氣. 我順便幫妳沏了杯紅茶, 兩樣配搭起來很不錯喔!
          D        淑晴笑著.
淑晴: 我會好好品嘗的. 謝謝.
永傑: 好了, 就不打攪妳了. 妳也不要忙的太晚喔~
          D        淑晴笑著點頭
          D        永傑走出書晴的辦公室
          D        淑晴目送
          D        淑晴雙手拿起了那杯熱茶喝了一口
淑晴OS 午夜遞來的溫暖, 真好! 被人那麼細心的呵護幸福!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
以上是在午夜, 休閒的喝著一杯熱茶和吃著一樣小點心帶來的靈感... :)

15/11/11

Hiding in my crab shell cave~

Going back to work tomorrow with a meeting at 9:30am in the morning.
Seriously have no idea what to expect of it. Prior to this meeting, I already have a whirlwind exchange with the people in the meeting tomorrow. 
Hope things turn out fine for me.
This picture below was drawn on my way home on the MRT train.
Really depicts how I feel now about tomorrow's meeting. 
If you can't figure out, I represented myself with a crab.


Finger Drawing on iPad with Adobe Ideas App

28/10/11

Keep Recycling

My mum just announced to me that we need not to keep those cans and plastic bottles for that monthly yellow plastic bag recycling movement simply because they are not coming around to collect them already and she also mentioned that there are 3 big bins for the 3 main recycling types at the entrance of our neighbourhood car park, so I offered to commit myself to take those recyclables down to the bins.

Then I sat at home in the afternoon pondering about this recycling issue when I turn on my TV and watched an episode of The Secret Millionaire on cable TV in which this female millionaire went to India for this special project. There she was to look for worthy causes that she will  give a lot of money to at the end of the episode.

(OMG! I can't believe they have actually came up with a tour for the slums!)

Ok, culture shock aside, through the local slum tour guide, the lady was introduced to a place called Apnalaya Youth Centre where they help out people within the biggest dump in the world. It was then the visual image of a 9 foot-high waste dump filled the entire screen of my television.

Waste from all over the world gets dumped here and the poor people sort through this huge dump of trash to pick out items like plastic, cardboard, metals to be recycled. Children as young as 5 years old are out there, picking through what may have been something I have trashed away a few months ago (with some time allowance that the trash has to travel there).

Now, I try to maintain that recycling spirit within my own family and within the office.

Well, actually the recycling habit at home was most initiated from my office environment where we would practice this almost every day even during lunch when we would bring our own washable lock-and-lock containers to buy food from the canteen.
It is an initiative by the Environmental Society within the Campus (if you didn't know I worked in a University)

Although so, there are of course lazy days that I would opt for their disposable cutlery.. (lol.. that's despicable for me) but in proportion, I think I am reducing at 75% of my waste is better than none, right?

All in all, in whichever scale big or small, I think everyone should make their effort and do their bit to recycle, so we can significantly reduce the waste of the world. and also do some good for the environment...

20/10/11

Garlic bread obsession

Have been going on a Garlic Bread frenzy lately...
Here's a few I had so far...

This one is from the "Salad Bar" stall at my workplace in the University Science Faculty Canteen. Initially,
I thought they must have made this garlic bread from scratch, and the reason why it is so popular. But to my dissapointment, it wasn't. It was mass-produced, FROZEN garlic bread.
OR, maybe it's just cheap, at 70 cents a piece.
The bread is very very oily, as if was soaked in butter and very little garlic and herb. But because of the butter, it is salty and somewhat tasty. Not my type of garlic bread though.



This one, also from the Science Faculty Canteen, but at the "Dily's" stall. A mass-produced in an external bakery. It's more herby than the previous one, but not garlicky enough. And it's on a soft bread, makes it not too appealing to me. And it's more expensive! At $1 a piece.



I bought both of these garlic bread at BreadTalk. Looks similar, but different. Well, actually, not much of a difference anyway. The garlic spread is the same, only that one is french baguette and one is brioche bread.
I like the brioche bread version. The butter and the brioche bread are a match made in heaven.
The spread, however, not commendable. It's SWEET. Hell, yeah... taste nothing like the good ol' simple garlic bread. Total disappointment..


18/9/11

Moody September

The starting of September reminds me gently that my best friend's wedding is 25 days away and my weight is nowhere down to the ideal that I wanted and my arms are still big and flabby. I still haven get a gown/dress for her evening dinner and I am, seriously? wanting to back out from her wedding, but I really can't do that due to my own reasons? She is my best friend and I think she is worth more in comparison to my fear/unwillingness of meeting other ex-secondary school mates during the banquet. to make things worst, she has appointed me to be her banquet emcee which I cannot turn down and I didn't really like to be seen on a stage by 450 people to be exact.
I don't blame her, she is my best friend. Just that, I can't just tell her these fears/unwillingness of mine and turn her down flat just because of my selfishness.

To be honest, after that unforgettable 2 years in my polytechnic years where I was really getting to be an extrovert; I realised that my whole character is becoming like a cabbage plant, On the outside leaves, they are fan out glorious to the sun and on the inside, I am constantly wrapping myself up, hiding myself away from other people's view. I didn't know how I become so, but my two faces are slowly travelling towards the two opposite extremes. And at the stand of each personality, there would be one part of myself I am hating my other half of. Just as quiet or kept to myself as I be, I hate the extrovert part of myself, having to show that side of myself to others; and on the extrovert side of me, I hate the introvert part of me not being able to stand out and show the real me. It's somewhat like there is two of myself constantly fighting with each other, yet each quality of the two personality brings me comfort in some very strange and totally not understood manner.

Wedding aside, people around me, especially my grandma is starting to ask when I am getting a boyfriend.
Ha, I guess that is the kind of question you will get when you are always alone and you reach that marriageable age that people are starting to question.
Well, just to clarify; it's not I don't want a boyfriend, it's that I can't find one that I could really fall in love with.
I am a romantic, someone who is isn't at all practical yet very logical in some sense. Very childish and child-like thinking. Some people classified me as naive, which I do not reject that idea because I think I am too.
So finding that other half is simply a challenge because I need someone who can handle all these aspects of me.
No matter how much I yearn to not be single, I guess I have to accept the fact I need to wait for that day to come.

One of my close friend describe me as an "endangered animal", which means someone who needs protection and everyone who want to protect (literally in mandarin). It totally sounds like I myself is like an idol drama character, yet, I haven't seen that idol male lead in my life. So where is he and when is he coming? I don't know.

Also lately, my another close friend told me about this trip they were going for as the top-earners in the sales level and it was a top-secret as many others who wasn't invited would generate jealousy and complaints of unfairness. I managed to catch a glimpse of the company video that covered that event. I was really envious, and because of that "I must have fun" streak in me, that big part of me was really disappointed yet really envious.

There are only two phrases that kept me on the ground and sane during these times.
One was describe in a movie about going against all odds and with God everything is possible. And that God will make a way, we need to prepare ourselves meanwhile while waiting for Him to send the rain.
And another was a phrase my friend told me "Study first, you will have time to make lots of money later."

I kept telling myself that "it's not my turn yet, I got to be patience. There will be a chance for me."
And that the day will come one day; all these to calm my disappointment and curb my emotions.
Although I don't show, doesn't mean it isn't there.
I can't be totally frank with her, and here I apologise about it, but I know I don't even qualify, so there was no doubts about it; just that I wasn't selected to go this time made me disappointed, that's all.

Or maybe, deep down, I just didn't like being left behind, like I always has been when I was younger.

However underneath all these emotions, I was glad she told me upfront in the first place rather being the last person to know. I really truly appreciate her sincerity. I could guess that she will know that I will be sorely disappointed should I was told of later, and with one of my character being very introvert, I would definitely be offended; which I had no matter what, just that it has really same down or came close to nothingness after a day of really understanding how it works.

All in all, its not a fantastic September for me mentally and physically. There is so much strenuous task and missions I need to complete, not forgetting I still have University assignments to complete for my studies.
Not that anyone else would care much. :(

Hope October will turn out better. Let's hope so.

Dressing dilemma

My best friend's wedding is this Sunday!
Please help me pick a suitable dress!


I bought this dress in USA Old Navy. It's call a town hall gown. Same one Rachel had spotted me wearing at my cousin's wedding. I just feel it's showing too much of my fatty meat... Not forget that I will be standing on the stage and be seen by 450 people. Scary.

I wore this at her ROM ceremony. Short dress means need to wear stocking cause my leg have alot of scarring. BUT, it's all black (my stockings are also black) Not that good really.

This is a hand me down from my mentor. Looks good and I wore this to my first formal dinner on board the cruise. Disaster cause my bra can be seen. Unless I wear some nu-bra or something. Not that flattering on me though. Need to keep looking out for my bra. Haix... 

Bought this from Victoria Secrets website. Again same problem. All black. 
Short skirt. Additional problem is that this is semi transparent. Need to wear additional stuff inside.

This is not a contender la. Just to show for fun. A prom dress I got at a super steal in USA.
Cannot wear this cause would look like I am usurping the bride's role.

For those interested to know how the back look like, this is it.


I bought this today. Again short. But most prob will wear this to work instead of the wedding dinner.

Some of the earrings I can wear for the dinner.

So how? What's your opinion after seeing all these?