Life's a beach!

To spread environmental awareness, the gang took part in the beach clean-up at East Coast Park ... a perfect excuse to chill-out at Max, enjoy the day at the beach + BBQ and a lil chill out session at Dempsey thereafter ...

The new mantra ... Refuse, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

:: tee, j-mee, @loy at work ::

:: and mua! ::

ms lonely

sigh, all my original aisle mates have left .... which sometimes leaves me to wonder, when will it be my turn?

angie has left the firm to pursue greener pastures within the firm's arm in Melbourne ... here are pics taken on her second last day ... i'm getting a lil rusty from camwhoring ...

MBA

In my line of work, I relish the part where I get to meet up with clients personally. While I sometimes lament about how meetings can be really disruptive, especially with really tight deadlines to meet, emails to wade through and piles of files to review, it breaks the monotony at work.

Well, some may have already heard of the interesting experiences that I recently had. So bear with me as I repeat my stories ... so here goes ...

Had to meet a bunch of expats yesterday to conduct a series of consultations and to ease the doubts behind the tax filing process (yea, boring ...) and guess what, I finally met up with the client who gave me an indecent proposal last year and yes, he does look cheeky! hahaha

The meeting was rather daunting at first ... it was just me fronting 10 clients in a room and fielding questions from all directions. But after I said my piece and explained the rationale behind certain actions, all calmed down and I finally managed to take a breather. I then took the opportunity to speak to each individual personally. Yes, I chatted to my indecent proposer and he left me his mobile number, inviting me to club with him (quite a party animal). I was praying that he wouldn't ask me for mine!

There was another new client that I met whom I had no details on. So I had to ask about his personal profile to understand his situation better. His reply was that his friends call him a MBA ...

Married But Available

But he went on to add that he thinks he should be known as a MBVA ... Married But VERY Available ...

Oh man, was he openly flirting with me or what?! And there's more ... he mentioned that it would be nice to have a companion with him to enjoy nice walks by the beach as it can get quite lonely ... erm ... I really didn't know what else to say but grin and scribble notes ... he's 58 years old by the way ...

And yes, the yatch guy ... in separate meeting, there was this other client who showed me pictures of his yatch in Italy and of his apartment in Singapore with a nice seaview and outdoor jacuzzi . Since he was new to Singapore and had not mingled around much, he had a humble request ... for me to be his tour guide ... my client meetings are becoming an occupational hazard! Hmm ... not very comfortable with divulging my mobile number to clients or to blur the line of professional relationships ...

Well, well ... so far the folks that I have met up with are much older and much shorter ... so no hope lah ... hahaha

Sloshed ...

at the tax party held at Velvet ... what a way to ring in the new year and the upcoming tax season ...

in line with tradition, hard core drinkers reveal themselves (cos its free flow of booze) while the not so hard core ones get dragged into the downing of booze as well ... and also this year was not without scandals ... haha, ok i was exaggerating ... not that i know of any scandals that took place, but seriously, I felt that this year's party was more fun than usual ... with the excellent venue (my fav playground!) and greater group cohesiveness amongst the department (generally everyone was very sporting), we bagged the top prizes for both games that took place during the party ...

in the first game, J-dee, Darryl and myself took the prize for the beer drinking competition ... among the 5 teams that took part, we were the fastest team to finish a jug of beer through straws ... hehe, with J-dee around, we were definite winners!


in the second game, lee took the prize in the scavenger hunt thanks to the missing 5th clue ... to find a drunken person - ME!!! hahaha

yea, i almost got wasted after downing at least 20 shots of vodka/tequila amongst other drinks ... as Stef said ... the liver is evil and needs to be punished ... yea i know ... wtf?!

this has been the best tax party EVER!!!

:: jeremy + angie showing off their sexy moves ::

:: ooohh! bumped into keith ... 1st to celebrated his 2.8 ...

and of couse, we had damien's company as usual ::

Sunshine

there was a glimmer of hope after we voiced our (violent) objections to the forced annual leave encashment exercise ...

and yes! we won!!!

so ... decided to take the rest of the year off ... after X'mas that is :)

high tea ... massages ... the works ... need to recharge before the start of peak season ... those in the know will definitely concur ...

Foul!

i have deleted this post as there is hope!!!

woohoo!

decor-8

:: close up of THE TREE ::

was involved in the inter-dept X'mas Decoration competition ... judging was today and notice was only given to us only last week ... with a paltry sum of S$50 ... we had to come up with something creative ... preferably using recycled material as far as possible ...

almost the entire day today was spent on the 'project' ... here are the fruits of our labour ... THE TREE! comprising of pictures of all of us in the team ... well, actually lotsa pics of the 'ees' were in the tree ... there were comments like ' how come bee appears in so many pictures???' (bee is in another team by the way) ... hahaha ... well, the source of pics came from yours truly (hence the biasness) and obviously there were LOTS + LOTS of pics of the 'ees' ...

and here is the 'inspiration' behind THE TREE ...

"Our Christmas Tree
People today decorate their homes during the festive season with pine, spruce, fir trees and/or other evergreen boughs over their doors and windows. In older days it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness.

In the Northern hemisphere, the shortest day and longest night of the year falls on December 21 or December 22 and is called the winter solstice. Many ancient people believed that the sun was a god and that winter came every year because the sun god had become sick and weak. They celebrated the solstice because it meant that at last the sun god would begin to get well. Evergreen boughs reminded them of all the green plants that would grow again when the sun god was strong and summer would return.

In the Southern hemisphere, in particular on xx Street on the xth floor, there are no such things as short days or long nights. We believe that the sun, the inspiration for us to work is our shared dedication, commitment and us enjoying working with each other. We do not celebrate long days or short nights but rather value and appreciate the opportunities we have in working with and learning from each other and the fun we have together. Our evergreen boughs represent all the green plants that would grow again when the sun is shining strong and summer would be here for the next years to come."

Away Day 2006

away from the office for a team-building event at Orchid Country Club ... i must say that i had great fun and enjoyed myself trememdously, despite it being a department event ...

the workshop was well organized with excellent games to boost ... interaction amongst the department was robust as ranks were thrown aside and we all worked in different teams ... altho' sometimes one gets to see the ugly side due to the competitive streak in each of us ... but overall, it was a blast!!!

stayed on for 3 rounds of bowling ... the second round was a match between the managers and staff ... and we lost to the managers!!! argh!!! well, they won obviously cos they are older with more experience ... hehe

PISSED!!!

Last minute work ...

Last minute amendments ... blardee hell

Last minute handovers ... courtesy of the kutiya whom i wish to khoon ...

Saali Us Kutiya Ka Khoon Kar Do!!!!

Argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back @ Work

great to see the rest of the 'ees' back in the office ... treasuring the last 2 weeks of tee's presence before she's off ...

think i'm getting away with the pink streaks (now a peroxide orange according to Keith) ... no gasps or shocks of disbelief yet ... the fashion police have yet to arrest me (i.e. The Partner + some HR fuddies)

new colleagues ... turns out that a new colleague used to be from my primary school and i can't remember her at all ... we were from different classes and strangely she even remembers which colour team i was in!!! i was in the greenies and she was with the blues ...

new assistant ... seated next to me ... i know this sounds wierd ... but its a lil too close for comfort + convenience ... for both hers and mine if you ask me ...

inherited ... okay, rather i absorbed the rest of my shitty cases from my coverage ... feel quite bad about leaving her in the lurch the past month ... but anyway it will be payback time for me ... soon ...

more resignations ... sigh ...

away from office

1. Set out-of-office email - check
2. Set out-of-office voicemail - check
3. Handover to coverage - check
4. Run around the office gloating ... waving good-byes - check

okay the last one was an exaggeration ... but well ... somewhere along that line ... :)

finally!!! 100% submission ... yay!!!

out.

dee-mee-nee-shing

yup .. the 'ees' are diminishing ...

to clear leave ...
jee left the office 2 weeks ago ...
j-mee's last day was yesterday ...
@lloy's last day is today ...
and all 3 are off to UK come September 12 ...

so it's just the 4 of us that are left ... i have this nagging feeling that this is the start of our disbandment ... with all the different pressures and different pursuits of ideals ... *sob*

come September, we will each be off to holidays or to do our own stuff ... its funny how i struggled to negotiate for an entire month off in September, hoping to flee Singapore for an entire month in US or in Europe ... but alas, all plans fell through with some twists of events ... yes, i am disappointed but oh well ... feels like a good ol' school hol to me! ;)

instead of doing some serious travelling, it could be a good time to reflect and take stock of my life ... and not to mention some serious housekeeping to do ... there is so much that i need to get rid off ...

been reading quite a number of blogs recently and came across some very simple but inspirational thoughts ... this is one of them ...

"in the 60s, peddlers balanced their wares in two baskets swinging from a wooden pole which they carry on their shoulders. sometimes life feels like this - we have a basket of good and bad, friends are the pole which bridge and bring it all together. when the ill winds blow, as they sometimes will. "

i am very thankful for my friendships and for the people around me ...

y'know, human beings are a complex lot ... we complicate matters ... make mountains out of molehills ... jump to conclusions at a snap ... hyperventilate ... yes, yes, yes, guilty as charged ...

in one way or another, we are participants in a rat race and some rats out there are nasty and mean ... so the next time you are feeling down and out cos of some rug-rat ... stop and take stock ... go back to basics and appreciate the simpler things in life ... i'm not gonna elaborate here cos i could go on and on ... but its worth stopping to smell the roses (in our case, frangipanis) once in a while ...

this must sound weird coming from a material girl ... honestly, i do find contentment and appreciation in many aspects ... and i am thankful ...

omg, i sound like a darn preacher ... its friday ... and i'm tired of work ... am looking forward to my break and my escape ...

ta

TGIF!!!

more farewells ... what else is new?

the only constant is people coming and going ....

the VTs (Vacation Trainees) are leaving today & going back to school ... its goodbye to low charge-out rates (i.e better budget management) ... less delegation of work ... sigh ... its back to reality ...

i must say that i really enjoyed working with this year's bunch of interns ... very optimistic, hardworking & committed despite the short stint with the department ... its heartening to know down-to-earth bright young minds out there ...

:: with the help i simply could not do without ::

Tried out Aerin's at the new MarketPlace at the basement of City Hall ... we ordered the signature dishes ... i had spaghetti with prawns cooked in olive oil, Chris ordered the fillet and Ollie had tagliatelle cooked with salmon and fish roe (which i think tasted the best among the 3 mains) ... dessert was a decadent warm chocolate pudding with cranberry ice-cream ... yummy! much better than the version over at Menotti ...

:: dinner at Aerin's ::

Headed to New Asia Bar for Damien's "Bring A Hot Date" party ... my hot date was Chris ... heh, I think she enjoyed herself pretty much ... as usual, our initiation rites for the group involves downing a Waterfall ... so here is Chris & her delightful waterfall ...

smooth operator

omg ... the kutiya is working her black magic ...

she is giving a massage to MAL right now ... WTF!!!

she sure knows how to butter her way up!

no gah-men

whoopee!

no gah-men today, tomorrow and monday ... almost all of the heavy weights are out of town ... in my team, only big momma is holding the forte ...

perfect!!! might just come in late on monday due to the world cup finals *grinz*

new folks have joined us this week ... affectionately known as SUCKERS (which makes us the SUCKERED) ... the vacation trainees are leaving soon ... which means that we will have to train up the newbies yet again ...

fever ... fervour ...

Friday 30.06.2006

last day of the firm's financial year end ... letters have been dished out ... everyone got promoted ... CONGRATS!!! ... we also met our targets ... as such, we had a mini departmental celebration ... simple poolside buffet dinner at Royal Plaza on Scotts ...

thereafter, adjourned with the 'ees' to Mud Murfs again for another round of soccer ... Germany vs Argentina ... despite the agressiveness on the field between the 2 teams, the 1st half was totally boring ... resulting in a goal-less match ... it was hard not to stifle the yawns ... luckily the 2nd half was more exciting ... jee & i were rooting for the Germs ... while the boyz + tee were rooting for the Gents ... the penalty shoot-out was so exciting, we couldn't contain the cheers .... way fun!!! yay!!! the Germs won!

Saturday 01.07.2006

went down to Marina Bay with tee + dee to catch dear j-mee in action ... soccer friendlies between the firm & ??? (we still don't know who they were playing against!)

tennis fever ... another round of practice at Keppel ...

soccer fever yet again ... caught the match between England & Portugal ... not an exciting match (no goals) ... as usual the penalty shoot-out was an adrenaline rush ... unfortunately the Brits are out ... and so is Brazil!!! man, oh man ....

Looking forward to the finals & semi-finals ...

cloned

seems like i have a clone in the office ... hmm ... double vision?

the managers came up excitedly to me with the clone ... proclaiming that we look soooo alike ... like sisters .... ya right! ... "similar features" ... hmm ... maybe?

lee ... can join your lookalike club already ... maybe we should have a contest eh?

disconnected

my grapevine has gone awry ... i'm getting more and more d/c from my team mates ... yea, thats what they call it ... on the surface ... team mates ... beneath the undercurrent ... strangers ... kutiyas ... hi/bye ... fya/fyi ... whatever ...

heard about the news from the gang (who are not part of my team) ... about another resignation yesterday within my team ... seen 3 resignations (1 who had already left, 2 fresh resignations) this week ... all from my team ... and I thought that the soon to be bonus payout would help rein in those envelopes ...

d/c cos' i'm so nonchalent about fellow team-mates ... stopped contributing to bee-day presents, farewell gifts and what not this year ... hello? i'm not an ATM machine that dispenses cash!!! made it a point to only contribute to people who actually matter to me ... so its only for the select few ...

i've learned ...

thoughts ...

bored ... at work ... hence the blogging ...

sunshine .... looking forward to collecting my laptop this afternoon ... the past 2 nights were spent in bed curled up with a book instead of staring googled-eye at the computer screen ... actually it was quite a welcome change ... but i still miss my lappee!

sigh .... another resignation from my team yesterday ... gosh, my team is dwindling! but that doesn't speed up the climb up the ladder does it?

frustrated ... with the new assistants ... things can't get done fast enough ... my status is reflecting pretty badly ... getting prepared for another round of firing at this Friday's team meeting ...

unreasonable ... forcing me to clear my outstanding leave and to plan my leave schedule ... sorry no mood for that right now ... thanks for imposing yet another deadline for me ...

rainbow ... i so need one in my life right now ....