A totally long and random post : My life at a glance

I just looked through the photos in my camera and found that I have quite a number of photos which I took from now and then. The last one I blogged about was the charity lunch one and so now, I shall do a total summary of everything. Rojak-rojak, you know.


1) Lipstik

I found this styrofoam cup in one of the training rooms and to my dismay, I had to get new cups for training.

Very creative vandalism :)

2) Sunlight

It is very rare to see sunlight on my way back. One day, I finally got a little bit!

Blur shot though...

3)J Co vs Big Apple

I have tried J Co doughnuts twice and finally got to try Big Apple's.

Verdict: Looks the same, taste also almost the same. Still prefer J Co. :D

4) Favourite breakfast

My favourite breakfast will have to be Bak Kut Teh at Teoh Heng's in Kluang, my hometown. In the morning while the air is cool and the sun is just peeking out from behind Gunung Lambak, this is the best taste anyone can get. I just had some on Mother's Day. :P

You don't get yam rice in KL. And we always eat this with dark soya sauce and chili padi.

Some of the treasures.
You don't get such beautiful pork ribs in KL. And such beautiful soup. Filled with many many beautiful pork ribs like this one. Yummers.
Maybe you do (in KL) but I just have not come across it. Must explore Klang. Soon.

5) Ta Pao (takeaway)

I like it when people make an effort to decorate food, even if it was just tapao-ed.

My Fried Glass Noodles in a styrofoam box had the condiments and stuff. I mean, yeah, whatever but I was pleasantly surprised so I took a photo.

6) Gardening

I told mom that I was going to grow a plant in the office and so have decided to be closer to nature by hanging out with her while she does gardening. I took photos of some changes in the garden at home... I love my garden. It may not be the prettiest but it was where I learn about nature and how ants will bite no matter what and how snails mate and how worms don't die when they are broken into two. Among others.

This is how a pineapple look like before it becomes...

...This!

~~~

Random plant which mom initially wanted to get rid of but survived and so mom decided to let it grow, feeling touched by its determination to strive on with survival. I think gardening has more than meets the eyes.

Mom was furious when the plumbers who came to re-do the water piping dug up the whole garden patch in front of the house. Now she has to re-plant the carpet grass. She does this little by little:

So that it will become this!:

7) Exploring another property

I went to our sister-hotel the other day to attend a training...

and guess what I found in the Financial Controller's office!:

He must dig "with great powers, come great responsibilities."

8) More shoes!

Just to wear in the office when feet cannot take heels anymore. Normally at 5pm. Anyways, Topshop was on sale so...... and it is cute! and comfy! and worth it! me like.

Blends in well at the office.

9)Ladies night

I went hopping with a bunch of drunkards... (haha!)

elaine, jenn, esmee, me
As you can see, everyone had their fancy-named-drink and I drinking :

Ladies and gentlemen - Sprite.

Ons. Very cool.


a change of club later, I saw and took photo with adam c!

Don't really know why and felt pretty the awkward but I just wanted to. :D
I watched you on Quickie 8TV last time!


I took photo with Superman too. He helped to get above pic. His initial plan was signing on my back. Erm... let's keep that for Justin Timberlake.

I took photo with a tiang too. because esmee went "yvonne, you should be in the photos! it's your camera!"okie dokie.

10) The Plant named Bobby

Bobby the plant. Not to be mistaken with my Facebook pet, Bobbee the Dragun. :)

Bobby had only 3 leaves when I bought him but he soon grew a few more leaves. They were healthy green and shiny until...

...some bitchy worm decided to eat them. Well, the worm has been found and after some screaming and drama, Bin caught it and flushed it down the WC. And it was never heard of again.

Just a few days back, a new leaf has surfaced! (see middle)

Good luck.

11) Trainee's Farewell

SO it was time for Taiwen, Shella and Peiching to leave (except for Taiwen who will be continuing one more week). What am I going to do without them?

My normally small workstation...

...has been converted into a small office in an office...

posers! haha.

anyways, even after the tables were removed, I still walk around the space because I was just so used to it.

Anyways, we cam-whored a little...


Sometimes we have discussions on the floor.....

I just wanted to see how I looked like in spectacles without opening my eyes and getting a headache... hehe!

Mushroom Head is still missing an arm...

Shella's favourite photo!

Anyways, their farewell was yummers because we brought them to our grill fine dining restaurant for a yummy dinner.

Featuring Wagyu Beef steak:



Anyways, just wanted to let you know that when you order just ice cream here, this is what you get:

and the pastry chef has thoughtfully wrapped lotsa choc chips within the icecream! :P

12) Round 2

went out with more drunkards but this time I had coke! whoa.

Nobody at all believed me when I said I'm allergic to alcohol. Nobody.

13) Indiana Jones


Met up with Ivan and finally watched Indiana Jones! No photos but I liked the whole familiar Indy-action-packed-scenes but don't really dig the plasticky skull.


14) Shabu Shabu


Went to a place called Shabu Shabu where it is steamboat with the raw ingredients displayed like sushi on a conveyor belt! Everyone gets their own personal pot and they just need to grab the food off the conveyor belt. I said GRAB because it moves so fast! Blink and you'll miss the fishballs! I could't really take a photo because it was too fast and turning on the flash might not be nice because I might flash those innocent people sitting opposite us.

The thoughtful folks at the restaurant even printed manuals on how to use the personal hot plate and pot.


Well, pretty safe and pretty hazard-free but there were lines like this:

"When smell something burning, smoky, turn off hot plate and let hot plate cool down"

I wanted to point out to Ivan and was just reading "When smell something burning..."

"Run away!"

I agree.

Anyways, I can't believe that I ate these very thinly sliced pork because there were clearly lotsa fat parts and I really cannot stomach eating fats. But it was so thin that I didn't even realize it. Cool.

15) Presee's Bday

It was Presee's birthday today!

We had a celebration in the office. :D

Notice how she acted surprised when she already know we were planning something. :D

Presee posing with the earrings and necklase set we gave her...

closer look

I have a pair of bling bling earrings too. Now we bling in sync! :D


OK. Off to bed.

New look!

I have decided to change the colour and the look of my blog because...



I spent a long time practising my photoshop on the above picture and thought I should put it to some use. You can still see some rough patches here and there... aiya, amateur ma. Will improve with the next header. I love public holidays and especially if it contributes to a long weekend. I finally have time to do time-wasting things like these. But I guess it is about time!


Btw, watched Narnia - Prince Caspian today and the highlight of the trip to the movies was this Clorets Dark Secret ad:





Check out the Auntie and Uncle getting all turned on. Aiyo! but funny!


While the movie was OK, I find myself looking forward to the many up and coming movies like Indiana Jones, Hancock, Kung Fu Panda (cute!). The movie was OK. ;)

safety first

One ordinary afternoon at work, one colleague, let's call him Bob, decided to take the lift to the 33rd floor. While waiting for the lift, he decided to hold the fire retardent door ajar because the lift landing area has just been repainted and he didn't like the smell. So he hoped that by leaving the door open, there will be some ventilation.


Then I walked in.


"Why are you holding the door?" I asked.
"The smell. It is smelly here," was Bob's reply.

"As an appointed member of the Safety Committee, I demand that you close that door now!" I squeaked.

"Erm, OK. I could do that," Bob replied trying not to laugh.



Sometimes I think I take my job too seriously.


But most of the time, I think I don't take my job seriously enough.


"teeheehee! Fierce not? But seriously, we should always keep the doors closed. Otherwise, we will defeat the purpose of its existence," I explained further.



REWIND to a few months back.

One ordinary afternoon at work (can't remember what I was doing), my boss walked into the office hurriedly and while doing many other things, he called me into his office.

"Yvonne ah!" he called as usual.
"Yah!" I replied as usual. "What's up?" I asked as I would sometimes.
"You are now appointed as a representative of our department in the Safety Committee!" he said while replying to numerous e-mails (I suppose).
"Erm... cool! What do I do??"
"Well, you will be involved in the Committee on our behalf and attend meetings and assist in ensuring the safety of everyone," he replied.
"Cool. I'll do just that."


Later in that ordinary afternoon, I decided to add some excitement into my life by being excited about this ordinary post...

"Presee, I'm a member of the Safety Committee! I represent HR."
"Good. Our safety shall be in your hands now. Now, where is that document..."



The excitement died after a few weeks but I still try my best to ensure the safety of my colleagues...


"Who left that trolley in the corridor?! It's a safety hazard OK!"


FAST FORWARD to a few months later

One ordinary afternoon, I was printing the organization chart of the Safety Committee and Ms. Ruth, the English Language trainer, happened to be around.

"Ms. Ruth, did you know I am a member of the Safety Committee?" I asked just trying to add spice to my otherwise ordinary day.
"Oh, really? That's great! I'm sure you are doing a good job," she replied encouragingly as she normally would.
"Really? You think so?" I asked, fishing for reassurance.
"Yes. I think you pay enough attention to details and I think you are right to be part of the committee," she replied.
"Hehe! Cool!"


She made my day, just like that. What an ordinary post. I was going to blog about the many ways to cut up a mango, complete with pictures and step-by-step explanations BUT I finished the mangoes before I could think of how many ways I actually know.


Btw, I know about 5 methods. Will get to it soon. :D

the gift of giving

We just had an internal two-day charity lunch in the hotel to help out one of our colleagues who is in need. It was good. Good food, good vibe, good deed, good fellowship... everything good.


For once, the cafeteria looked posh. (quite lah)..


tom yam...........

Huge prawns..........


Fruits and Thai dessert.....


Among others... but my favourite was the chocolate fountain.......

hmm.....

-chef! more!-

-ooh-


-Ons stuff-

Anyways, I feel so bad for taking so much chocolate out of the fountain because it IS for charity but.... but.... was supposed to be for fruit skewers but I actually scooped it onto my waffles...

I also happen to have 4 servings of waffles with ice cream. It is the ultimate treat but I think I sort of over did it a little bit. Everyone who saw me that day (and that would mean the whole 400 strong staff) have changed their perceptions of me...

Taiwen (trainee) : Von... finish la.. gone... your image... gone.


Presee: You know what was my favourite? The tom yam... so good.
Yvonne: You know what was my favourite? The chocolate fountain.
Shiow Ling: Can tell lor.
Presee: Ya.

Lastly, we never let up a chance to cam-whore. All of us.

-OK, act cute!-

learning chinese with jay chou

There is only ever one chinese song which I know and that is Tong Hua by Guang Liang. Of course I know many other songs but this is the only song which lyrics I can remember from beginning till end. That is, in han yu pin yin version. It was during this period where everyone was crazy about this song and Sunway Pyramid was playing it day to night at the skating ring. Thanks to my friends who patiently taught me word by word and even explained the meaning in detail, I could sing along when we went to Red Box.


Anyhow, many years have passed and I was sick of Tong Hua and therefore have decided to sing something else. One day before we went to Red Box, my colleague, who is also an avid Jay Chou fan, asked me to choose a chinese song from his very extensive song collection and even offered to do a duet to cover up my supposed terrible singing (and he is supposedly very Jay). I couldn't read chinese characters ma, so I chose Shan Hu Hai because the "shan" looked like the "shan" in my name. "shan hu" meant coral while "hai" meant sea and so basically it meant Coral Sea.


Wah piang. Such a difficult song to begin with. I sang just reading from the pin yin version which I printed and vowed to learn it by heart to fully appreciate the song. Anyways, I found a webby which has the pin yin of the song and also the meaning of the song. I agree that it is one effective way to learn chinese or mandarin in particular. When you know the meaning of the song, you will appreciate it better and it will also be easier to remember the words, the character and the pronounciation. Anyways, here's a sample:





See what I mean when I said difficult song? I didn't know it was a sad song until I read the translation. See? No appreciation. Anyways, I wanted to choose another song which was not so sad and decided to click on "hei se you muo" which meant Black Humour. Aiya. Also another sad song. Luckily I also have Wang Lee Hom with "Wei Yi" meaning Only One. Lee Hom!! This one, I dunno sad or not but OK lah.

In Wei Yi, to say "it is not easy", instead of "bu rong yi", he sang "tan he rong yi". So we learned something new today!


Anyways, my interest in language have expanded a little to Korean! I learned how to introduce myself from my very Korean-waved trainee, Jonjon.

Anyong aseyo! Yvonne im nida. Manaso pang kap sim ni da!

which meant:

Hi! My name is Yvonne. Nice to meet you.


You just need to replace my name with yours and you are good to go. I also have one trainee from Korea (who was impressed with how I intro-ed myself!:) and she even taught me how to write my name.



Well, they don't really pronounce "v" in Korean and so my name sounding like ee-von is written as yi bon. I remember in college, I have a Korean friend, Brown, who called me yibong throughout the whole degree program and I actually thought he was making fun of me. Another friend, Owen, from China will call me "yi wen". No, scratch that. He called me chou yi wen. Something that's not so good but that's how he call everyone unless he needs their help. Haha! Chou this, chou that. Gosh.


Anyhow, I need to also brush up on my French. There will be some french trainees coming soon and I think it will be good to practice with them.

Btw, I saw this song CD for sale in Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and it features this french song which I can sing! Les Champs-Elysees. My classmates will remember this song because we had to sing this song as one of our oral test.

Je me baladais sur l'avenue, le coeur ouvert.... remember?!


aiya... those were the days...