Wednesday, December 28, 2011

farewells and hope

bye singapore.

Hi BKK. Haven't seen u in 6-7 years. Hope it'll be a good reunion. If I'm not in time, wishing all my buddies a happy happy 2012. It'll be a blast so let's embrace it together.

RIP Hammie.. You had a good mummy. Thanks for being part of her life.

Monday, December 26, 2011

pulling close to end 2011.

I'm putting up this post in advance since I'll be spending new year in BKK this year. Hopefully it'll be a good relaxing one.

Xmas is really the season of giving. I felt it exceptionally strongly this year...dunno why. not that I got money to burn but probably I'm beginning to feel that it's great to be able to give, show appreciation and make someone else's day better than it would have been.

Kitties were role models for this. As usual, they congregated for a very strict and intimidating session of xmas party and gift exchange this year. Some braced themselves for the scoldings for their lousy choice of gifts while some basked in the limelight with theirs being voted the most well-received present. Some showed humility, vowing to do better next year. Some just showed great spontaneity by just being part of the fun and laughter. The recent precious get togethers I had with my loved ones, family and friends, reminded me to just worry less and be here, in the moment. It's a luxury in fact to be able to do so.

Just caught New Year's Eve the movie and I just had to quote this from Claire Morgan ( played by Hilary Swank) coz it really resonated with what I want to achieve in the coming year. Moved me to tears by the way probably coz it was so heartfelt and the great acting.

She made this speech to the audience waiting for the countdown at Times Square when the famous ball dropping act suffered a hiccup.

"It's suspended there to remind us before we pop the champagne and celebrate the New Year, to stop and reflect on the year that has gone by.

To remember both our triumphs and our missteps - our promises made, and broken. The times we opened ourselves up to great adventures - or closed ourselves down, for fear of getting hurt.

Because that's what New Year's is all about: getting another chance.

A chance to forgive, to do better, to do more, to give more, to love more. And stop worrying about 'what if' and start embracing what would be. So when that ball drops at midnight - and it will drop - let's remember to be nice to each other, kind to each other. And not just tonight but all year long."

Cheers to a brand new year and friendship.

Great gifts this year kitties.

ES bought me this scratch-map where we could scratch out those countries we have been together. COOL. We hope to conquer the globe together! His disclaimer: Not allowed to scratch those I went with friends or 'some other men'. -_-

Saturday, December 24, 2011

merry christmas 2011

MeRRy chRisTmaS

& happy2o12.

It's the time of the year when I start lamenting how cruelly fast time sped by. On a positive note, I am proud at how well I managed 2011. Has got to be my best year so far. really.

Completed a few major items on my MUST-DO list with several memorable occasions along the way lighting up the year. Lots of outflow this year to commemorate the big 30s with different groups of friends... it's all worth it.

As I browse through my pictures folders, these were what made it to mochi's charts:

1) SMAB grand tour of USA - 3 weeks with SMAB driving ourselves nuts from east to west coast of the big apple. Totally ridiculously adventurous.LOVE it. I thought we grew closer this year by a huge step..knowing everyone's living habits, scolding each other all the time.

2) Celebrated 5th year with ES. Quiet dinner and he threw in a Bali rendezvous holiday for me. Deserving a No. 2.

3) 98A03 wedding fiesta - Em, Adrian and Les all got hitched! woohoo. Definitely worth a mention. Babies soon please.

4) my irritant Bro's wedding - like finally. Despite the mega saga where a strong intention to disown him nearly took over me, I was very touched that someone else is officially sharing our burden in this. haha. He's changed alot ever since the marriage and after I wrote him a looooong touching sms. Family rocks.

5) Close colleagues weddings - so glad for Mahani and Eric. They are people who make my day at work though we are no longer in the same Group. They deserve a standing in mochi's charts as well.

6) Last but not least, my recent India and Kashmir trip with my besties Sharon and Zhe san - been a loooong loooong time since we travelled together and we decided to make it a boomz one with a boomz destination choice - Incredible India. Indeed, the trip lived up to its name. Truly incredible that I had nightmares about AMK station drowned in heaps of garbage and the tracks submerged in garbage water. Me and sharon san were forced to jump into the water to escape from a man with a rotting face. Luckily, it was just a dream.

7) Got a queue number to select a flat! finally I am one step closer to owning my own place. I am so excited but at the same time, worried about the finances. Well, will stop being a worrier and take things as it comes.

8) To end off the year, I'm going to visit BKK again...after a good 6-7 years? Yes yes, don't remind me on my screaming bank account, dry and dehydrated. I'll save more next year k.

taught the unintentional bokeh here really looked amazing.

How my little space looks like at year end. 2 MD albums... a card bro sent back from Venice and my daily accessories

best xmas gift from colleagues..thanks angela. you know me well. must be coz my constant blasting of my music and my constant singing that gave you the idea.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Not so bad

The bustle of crazy xmas shopping was arrested by a mood of uncertainty as people wonder if SMRT would fail them.. again. Well, NS line was crippled twice in 3 days and for a good 5-6 hours for each incident. This is scary. As a good public officer, I mulled over why the sudden surge within the last 6 months.

Just like electronics and systems, or technology in general, the more integrated, advanced and complicated it gets, the more problems and the harder it is to find out the cause. I remember my good ole canon printer which only had one function, PRINT. It's durability was incredible considering how many notes and papers it had to spit out during my schooling days. As compared to the all-in-one printers which I seldom use, their lifespans were pathetic.

The disruptions became more frequent after the start of CCL and upon investigations, the faults identified were unheard of..like track faults,power rail problem, cable fault etc. The root cause might be something deeper, underlying the mesh of transports hubs,tunnels, lines and tracks.

I'm not very disturbed by the spate of news on the disruptions. I find it quite entertaining actually... hot conversation topic whether face-to-face, on whatsapp or on FB. :)

Could be that I was lucky enough not to be caught in any of the disruptions. The other could be my recent experience in India which helped greatly in negating some of the anger as well.

People lived in a hell of constant honking, pollution that could whip up a fog and an almost non-existent transport system. That's how they live, with 1.21 billion others.

It definitely made me more grateful for what I have and where I am.

Took this pic while in a 1.5hr jam on the way to Taj Mahal.

Never seen SOOOO many people in my life. Traffic was bad and people were just huddling under the sun in their tentages, I dunno waiting for what. Maybe they have no idea as well.

Wild boars rummaging through rubbish. Never seen so much rubbish in my life.

Friday, December 02, 2011

TGIF highlights

Cleared my email to the point where I didn't have to scroll to see my incoming mailbox.

Had cedele carrot cake for breakfast and saved half for tea break. Well
Worth the 6 bucks.

Cleared my workstation to finally reveal
parts of my table top. Harlow! Haven't seen you for a while!

Bro giving a treat at manhattan fish at Citysquare mall. Love Family dinners .

Used for the first time, a scarf Sharon
bought for me from chennai. Wrapped it around my neck.. Wildly imagining
the raindrops are snow. So surreal.