Happily guilty, guiltily happy

I just bought a Warehouse dress at 40% off. I love such discounts and on such circumstances, I hardly ever think twice. The dress is gorgeous because the prints seems like a great paint job to me, nice hues of pink-purple sprinkles.

200+ list price and getting it at 130+ is no joke! It’s GREAT VALUE.

Finally done with my work. I am gonna see a doctor now. Thanks to the chocolate fudge cake that my mom fed me (and potato), I am suffering from a major dry throat, yet funnily, I am also plagued with a ball of pleghm that I just can’t seem to purge out.

Double trouble. My immune system is getting so weak. First my eardrums, next the sinus (that is driving the potato crazy at night and in the wee morning), and now my throat.

Over and out.

a thank you entry to my family!

Today, my aunt treated me to authentic Peranakan restaurant Keppel Club named PeraMakan.

No doubt, the food is best. But what I’m always looking for in a restaurant, to discern one league from another, is the dessert. I ordered Apom Berkuah – steamed hot plain kueh dipped with rich warm banana sauce and banana slices. The melted banana sauce was yummayy great!

Dishes ordered:

1 Ikan Garam Assam – Spicy Assam Fish

1 Babi Pontay – Pork

1 Otak Otak Makanan Laut – Otak omelette dish with prawns

1 Bakwan Kepiting Soup

1 Hee Peow Soup

1 Sambal Kang Kong

Can’t believe the Little Nyonya fever is rubbing some heat on us that I suggested for Peranakan food. However, my mom and auntie rose are true-blue Peranakans and both of them didn’t miss a single episode of the serial drama. We still have some Peranakan memorabilia at home, which are used for decorative and preservation purposes. Mom dug out Ma Ma’s old Sarong Kebaya sans the brooches and they were beautiful, just like those you see on TV..flowery, glittery and elaborate. My sis and I intend to wear them coming Chinese New Year to start “immersing” and “exploring” our roots! Some of the old traditional objects are now used as rice basket at restaurants apparently. The beaded slippers, which have always been sitting at the side of the stairs since decades back and overlooked, were never as apparent as now than before. They belong to my Ma Ma. Now that i think back, it all makes sense  on why i called my mom’s mother Ma Ma.

Maybe one day, i should head back to Malacca with my family once more. The last time i went, I couldn’t even remember who the hell i was; that was how young i was.

Anyway, much thanks to Auntie Rose & everyone for their advance birthday treats and greetings. Before Dad, Uncle & Aunt-in-law went back to Taiwan this morning, we had a mini-celebration at a certain hawker food centre last night. Thanks Dad for the red packet (albeit enough to cover 1/10 of my overall expenses this month)and uncle & aunt for the clutch bag. Deeply appreciate it. I feel happy that all the people I love are finally gathering together for a common purpose.

This cake hat is awfully cute! Thanks to cheryl, I trotted down Ikea to get one for myself. Couldn’t care less about what people think, I walked everywhere with this hat. It did bring some smiles and extra glances to our table, but who cares! Portie is happy and excited over Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

booze

I seriously think my colleagues are intoxicated.

They are mad. They drink beer like they drink water…reckon’ my alcohol standard is looking good as well; two pints of beer, 2 glasses of champagne and I was still comfortable…on the cusp of being sober and being high, the perfect way to release and unwind on a Friday night.

It just struck me how easily i blended myself into the company. There wasn’t any “adaptation” stage for me and i believe right from the start, things were already well looking good. Adrian thinks that I’m good at people management. I’m not too bad. I thought i did a pretty good job in other aspects as well since I always managed to rise to the occasion when there were hiccups.

Now, i just hope that I’ll be able to do something even more challenging, like playing a strategic role in repositioning companies to reflect their true intrinsic values and communicating them effectively out to the investment community. This would take a longer time because it’s not a one week or two week thing to fully grasp a client’s business in its entirety. I have yet to speak one on one face off with my clients yet and it is only through personal dialogue right from the horse’s mouth where you get the best picture on its business and its industry. And apart from management, I have to sieve out the analysts and the fund managers that have all the while been following my clients and build rapport with them. And how could i forget media relations….:) This community is definitely harder to interact I must admit but nevertheless, it’s worth cultivating the art of media management…all for the interests of everyone.

To mark the end of reporting season, Mark is planning on rounding up everyone for a lunch buffet @ Four Seasons next week where he pledged to get all of us drunk on champagne in mid-day. COOL SHIT. COOL BOSS!

And in the midst of drinking sesh, all high and fly, i believe i committed myself to the JP Morgan run this coming May…if the combined timing between Romil & Dave is 20minutes faster than Kathy and I, we will give both of our 1 day leave to them at our expenses. However if they fail to do so, their leave will be granted to us at their expenses. I love my colleagues man, damn spontaneous! I think the winning chances are 50 50, albeit the fact that Dave runs like a mad dog. Kathy was a national runner for Beijing when she was younger. Haha, so the odds are equal!

For more pictures, visit my Facebook.

Our cute tiny animated and unpredictable brown-eyed Kathy Laoban.

I’m 23 this year, going on 24. Where are you?

New wala girls.

As promised.

fruitful friday.

I would say my Friday was very well-spent.

I haven’t stepped my foot into Wala’s since..1 year back or more? I’m glad nothing much changed except for more tables and seats and enjoying a smoke-free pubbing experience. EIC is still damn good, but i reckon’ that they are going more technical and more..red-hot-chilli-peppers style. I would really love to hear some soft rock in future..;)

Mint and i had our usual dinner at Crystal Jade before we headed to ‘book’ seats. Cheryl and Alex came soon after and we had quite a ball of time snapping pictures and poking ol’ so harmless fun together. SHH, its between us.

I would say Wala is a nice place that i would frequent in my future weekends, probably due to all the memories that i’ve acquired over the years. The most significant moments would probably be the two occasions – one with kokkee, joyce, ruoyun, peihui and i and the other time with qiumin, ruoyun, wenkang, jireh, tikay and i. It was fun in a bunch.

The other embarassing moment would probably be with qiumin and jianda where i got slightly tipped due to martini overdrive. It’s damn funny – I had to go to the nearest kopitiam to dilute my alcohol overdose and was told that i was singing Nicholas Tse’s song along the way back home….

And yesterday would mark another significant Wala moment to remember to – cheers to cheryl and alex’s virgin Wala trip and the ‘rebirth’ on our (qiumin and i)’s part.

Will upload yesternight’s pictures once i get hold of Cheryl.