Last Week in the Business District

I've always worked in the business district in Singapore.. For the better part of my career, I have been working in Raffles Place.


The furthest away from Raffles Place I got was Raffles City/ Marina Square area.

From next week onwards, my team will be moving to an office in the suburbs, very near to where I live currently.

I've always "complained" about working in the business district. The rush hour traffic, the mad rush during lunch hour..

But I think working in the business district also did mean I could quite easily meet a good number of my friends for lunch.. if I wanted to. There are also lots of choices for good food in the area.

My new office will be next to a Sheng Shiong supermarket and there aren't very much nearby apart of some apartments and some factories.

It'd be nice to stay near the office for a change. But sadly, it'd only be for a maximum period of 2 months because I will be moving to somewhere rather far away... (by Singapore standards anyway).

So.. goodbye Raffles Place.. for now.

And goodbye to my great window view. I will miss you.

Swarmed

I've really kind of disappeared from the blogging space - I have not blogged.. nor have I been reading many blog posts for quite some time now.

And the simple reason is that I've been swarmed at work.

Work has been really busy and stressful.. and somewhat depressing as well. I have had a number of leavers in my team recently.. and a lot of issues on my project.. leading to demoralised and demotivated staff.. and so on.. Some colleagues have been rather ill and have gone for operations.. so overall, things have been gloomy at work.

But things are starting to look a teeny weeny bit better.. Or so I think because I just can't see how it can get worse.

In the weekends or on my days off, I've been with the baby. She's almost 9 months now. Time flies!

She's getting really cute and I've been wondering if going to work and spending all this time away from her is worthwhile.

On the other hand though, it makes me treasure the time I get to spend with her more.

She has been a lot more active recently - crawling around at top speed (and getting into all kinds of accidents.. ouch!) and cruising around (ie walking around whilst holding on to something like the side of the sofa and the railing of her cot).

She also started to learn how to wave goodbye, shake hands and do all kinds of funny little tricks - so cute!

I look forward to coming home everyday just to see her.

Separation Anxiety

I been back in Singapore for about 5 days now.

I was away in London for 7 days and suffered from separation anxiety (from Little N) from Day 3 onwards.

I arrived in London on Monday morning, freshened up in the hotel and went straight in to work. Back to back meetings on Monday and Tuesday left me pretty exhausted and I did not have time to miss my little girl.

But on Wednesday, I went off to an offsite training and started really missing her.

Quite badly.

Thank God for photos on iPhone.

I was really glad to be home on Sunday.

The trip was a good one though and I did enjoy my training session a lot. I went for an offsite training at a training centre for the UK's Royal Marines. It was a corporate training session conducted by real military men. The training focused mainly on leadership, team work and planning. It included a couple of physical sessions (think army obstacle course and PT sessions), a formal dinner with generals and "fighting" session (paintball) planned by real army captains. I enjoyed the training time thoroughly, even though it was rather tiring and I missed home and Little N badly.

More importantly though - I was glad this trip gave me an opportunity to understand how Little N would do without me. She coped really well being away from mummy for 1 week.. and though I missed her a lot, I was in a way glad that she was adaptable and could cope so well staying at my mother's place for the week.

This is probably the one and only photo I'd ever put of myself on this blog.. 

but it's probably also the one and only photo I'd ever take wearing an army uniform..

Depressing News

I've been having a series of depressing news at work. 1 of my staff is looking to move back to another team where she came from.. 3 other staff have handed in their resignation over the month - to better opportunities, better renumeration and a more stable environment (vis-a-vis investment banking, which is usually unstable.)

It's hard to not understand when people want to leave for better AND more stable jobs.. But.. but... but...

Some of these staff have been working with me for a while now.. and are people I'm close to, so it's hard not to feel depressed.

And worried.

My key project is already shaky and with all these leavers, I am truly worried about the ability to deliver.

In times like this I know I should say more positive things to boost my team's morale.. but my own morale is affected..

And it really doesn't help that the last resignation came over the phone 2 days into my 1 week leave.

Sigh.

On the brighter side of things.. I'm off for a week as my parents are off to Taiwan for a vacation with my brother, so I'm spending time with Little N this week.

I may be biased, but she is really quite cute now..

She can say "mum mum mum" (she isn't referring to me.. or to food.. it's just a sound she makes) and she can moan - ie go "hmmm hmmmm hmmmmmmm". She also can move around with a very strange-styled crawl.

Meal times are becoming really messy now that she is eating solids.. Her hands will go into her mouth as she gums her food.. and those same hands will touch everything else - face, clothes, tables and chair.. And she is becoming so particular with food!

 "Now, should I go after that ball?"

Happy Easter

I've been really busy at work recently. Project issues, development delays and testing problems.. Nothing new except... a few key people in my team are also leaving.. and that means I'm busier and more stressed out than usual.

I've only been back at work for about 2 months but it feels like forever already.

Anyway, it's Easter today and I thought I should eat some hot cross buns to celebrate. Easter is a time of hope and new life.. and a reminder that God is in full control.

This hot cross bun is from one of my favourite bakery at Serangoon Gardens food centre. This bakery in the food centre sells rustic, old-school favourites like potato curry buns, luncheon meat buns, kaya buns and good old banana cake. Every year around Easter, the store will put up hot cross buns for sale.

These aren't as good as the ones J usually orders.. but as they are good enough for me. I had them plain with cold milk today.. Would be much better toasted with butter but I was too tired to even do that..

Happy Easter!

Serangoon Garden Bakery & Confectionary
Serangoon Garden Way Food Centre
Stall 45

Happy Lunar New Year

It's the year of the Water Snake. Happy Lunar New Year to all!

I've been back at work for just slightly more than a week now. It's good to be back at work.. though there are lots of challenges at work.. and I seem to have even less time than ever. During the day, I have to ensure I spend some time to visit the nursing room.. and I am also trying to rush off work earlier in the evening to be home with Little N before she sleeps.

After having been away from work for almost 5 months, being exposed once again to the full brunt of the rush hour subway human traffic is a rude shock to the system.. and it really brings home the point that has been dominating our local newspaper recently.

Being a new mum, I shudder to think about my child having to grow up in a tiny island with 7 million people in the future that our government is planning for..  I also can understand why so many parents are reluctant to have more children in Singapore.. though that is another post for another day.

Happy Lunar New Year!

Off work

I've been off work for more than a week now.

I was very busy at work up to the very last day in the office and left at about 10pm that day..

Since then, I've tried to put work behind me and doing things I enjoy - such as going for a swim in the morning, cooking a light lunch for myself at home and going around the island, eating things I like.

Next week is The Big Week though, so this time of relaxation would be ending soon.

Looking back at my post on "Things to do before September", I definitely have not done all the things I wanted to.. but I've played enough, especially over the last one week.

Happy Days, Simple Days

Recently, work has been busy and stressful.

"Life shouldn't be so difficult." So says the optimist in me.

After careful considerations, I think the optimist is right.

I may face tough and difficult days now and then, but overall, I tend to have more happy days than tough ones.

Happy days usually do not require too much.

A well-baked cake, a warm sunny day, a great movie, meeting up with old friends, a stroll in the park after the rain, an encouraging comment on my blog, a facebook message from an old friend.

These are all things that can make my day brighter, happier.

小时候，幸福可以很简单。

长大后，简单可以很幸福。

A delicious glass of ice-blended watermelon with 

lime can really make my day too!

Busy busy busy

I've been busy busy busy.

Has it only been 2 weeks since I got back to work from my block leave?

It feels like it was 2 months ago.

The next 2 days though will be interesting though - I'd be participating in a volunteer program where I'd be helping to build some houses!

Bet I'd be looking forward to icy desserts after a day of hard work! :)

Block leave

I'm on block leave for the week.

In Singapore banks, block leave is mandated by the Central Bank. For some banks, it's mandatory to take at least 2 continuous weeks off every year. For the bank I work for, it's 1 week.

Thank God for the Monetary Authority of Singapore for this policy because this one week is so precious to me. During this one week, I'm not allowed to go in to work, log in from home, or basically do anything about work.

Which is a good thing because I have been feeling burnt out recently.

I have a million things I want to do this week.. which I know will end up spoiling my week off. So, I'm just going to take things slowly this week.. enjoy doing some of the things I like.

Like enjoying a soft cream in the mall on a weekday

Late Nights and Take-Home Dinner

I have been feeling most unhealthy recently.

Since I came back from my business trip, I have been working rather long hours, eating dinner at late hours and not doing any exercise at all.

I feel tired, pale and flabby.

Not a good feeling.

Happily, this situation should end by next Friday and I'd be flying to Hong Kong for the weekend and then taking the rest of the following week off.

My plans for that week will be to go swimming, hit the gym and meet up with friends for high-tea. All very very healthy things to do.

In the meantime though, I'd have to stick to my take-home dinners. Mostly, the food hasn't been that bad. Tonight's dinner was hot and spicy noodles from Asian Kitchen and it is pretty good.

The noodles were cold and clumpy by the time I got home 

but the hot and spicy soup was very good

Long Flights

I never liked flying too much. Long flights are especially nasty.

On my first long haul flight to Australia as a teenager, I threw up 9 times on the 9 hour flight.

Man is made to roam on the ground, not in the air, I think.

Flying SQ business class though does make it a lot easier to endure long haul flights.

But still - the humming noise on the plane, the weird smell of the aircraft and the horrid tasting orange juice (which for some reason inevitably taste odd in an aircraft) - even SQ couldn't take those away.

I flew SQ Business from Singapore to London this time, and from New York to Singapore.

Between the 2, I must say I liked the flight originating from Singapore a lot better. The food was better, I thought - they served satay as snacks instead of the usual peanuts or pretzels. And the appetizers and desserts were pretty good too. I never liked mains on flights - there is always some sort of "microwave smell" about them.

Satay - something I always look forward to

Prawns with pomelo - not too bad

Mango and crabmeat salad - this one is really yummy

Ben and Jerry ice-cream is always good

Irritated at work

I wish I'm the sort of person who doesn't get affected by what happens at work, but I am.

I don't get as much affected by stress from the workload.. but there are people that one deals with at work that... to put in a nice way, I wouldn't want be friends with outside of work.

Unfortunately, the world is made up of all kinds of character and one just has to continue to deal with the less pleasant ones.

Today, I'm really irritated by some people at work. Brrrr! It's not easy indeed to deal with both difficult and volumous work AND nasty people!

Thankfully, this blog is an outlet for me to express my frustrations! Reading about the beautiful plants and flowers in the gardens of my fellow bloggers also make me feel that much better.

My own balcony has too either too hot.. or too wet to be a nice place to spend too much time in recently.

Nothing works like a glass of starfruit tea to cool one down! 

I wish I have a glass in front of me now!

2011 New Year Resolutions

I'm later than usual this year because it is March and I am only writing my resolutions down now! Well... better late than never!

There are so many things I want to do this year..

Firstly, I really do want to work on improving my patience this year. Recently, my quick temper has caused a bit of grief and frustration to people around me. Putting aside who is right or wrong in the situations - I should really learn to take a deep breath and chill when I'm upset.

Secondly, I want to try to eat more healthily this year. I exercise quite a bit (or at least before I twisted my ankle) so it was a surprise to me when I was told I have high cholesterol. I do need to start watching what I eat and seriously consider going on a few days detox like Ting did.

This year would be a super busy year at work.. (assuming I'm still working where I do at the moment) But I do want to try to still make sure I leave work at least at a reasonable time once or twice a week - to go to the gym or just head home to cook dinner.

Lastly, I want to make sure I do a few things to help people this year - whether it's doing something for a friend.. or making a donation to a charity.. or just volunteer work. I have no clue what I should do.. only that I want to do something.

Wish me all the best in keeping to my resolutions!

A bad ankle and the A380

I am finally back!

It's great to be back home although I must say I most certainly didn't arrive home in style this time around. Nope. I hopped my way out of the plane, bought some duty-free, collected my luggage and hopped out to meet the Husband.

I had twisted my ankle coming out of the service apartment in London, just before I got on to the car that was waiting to pick me to the airport. I had missed a step just outside of the apartment and my right foot twisted, sending me tumbling like a drunk with my 30kg luggage.

Miraculously, I was able to limp around in Heathrow Airport, collecting VAT, checking-in my luggage and then buying some perfume and duty free my colleagues asked me to before slumping into a sofa at the SQ lounge.

I had been really looking forward to this flight back because it was on the A380 plane. The plane was so huge that they had 2 different doors - one for the upper deck and one for the lower deck. I was on the upper deck and whilst the seats for the business class weren't any different from that of the Boeing 777, the plane seemed to be a lot more spacious in certain areas.

Unfortunately, the cabin pressure on the flight affected my ankle so badly that even standing on my left leg, with minimal pressure on my right leg was really difficult. Mid-way through the flight, I asked if I could have something hot to apply for my legs. The steward came up with a creative solution of 2 tied rubber gloves with hot water put into a cloth bag. That really helped quite a bit to relief the pain but I was barely able to walk out when the plane arrived in Singapore.

This left me limping badly whenever I wanted to go to the rather spacious bathroom. Unfortunately, it also meant I wasn't able to roam around the huge A380 aircraft.

A380 or not, the service level of SQ business class left a big impression on me. All the stewards and stewardesses were pretty nice and treated this limping passenger really well.

The food on SQ business class is really quite good!

Whilst the Ee fu noodles taste distinctly like plane food, the lobster tasted surprisingly fresh. 

My favourite is the green peas though - sweet and crunchy!

Breakfast was good too - fresh fruits with yogurt

 Pancakes with clotted cream

 My innovative pack of heat treatment

It's cold in London

I'm in London for this week and next for a business trip.

The preparation for this trip and the many back-to-back meetings I'm having explains the lack of any posts recently.

I've been too busy to even take any pictures.. but will surely do that in the weekend.

P/S: The nicest thing about blogging is knowing friends through blogging who would message you to ask if things are okay when you don't blog. Thanks Petunia!