Saturday, November 08, 2008

Happy busy bee....

Woo hoo! I'm done with my mid-sem exams! Met up with Ting last Sat right after my exams for a sumptuous dinner and retail therapy in town! Felicia and Joanna joined us for drinks that night at RX's place.

Despite our late night-outs, Ting and I had an early rise the next day for service! We then drove down to Joo Chiat Road for yummy shabu lunch before our visit to the bridal studio for my first bridal fitting...

We bought some desserts from Obolo before we called it a day (to replenish our beauty sleep)...

Being such a busy bee, I had an eventful week filled with deadlines and personal errands to run. Visited the skin centre, my contractor, my soon-to-be renovated home, etc etc...

~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~

Here are some photos taken during my official trip to Ho Chi Minh city...

My colleagues and I had breakfast at SQ lounge before boarding. As compared to the long haul flights which I took to visit hubby, the flight to vietnam is so much shorter.

At HCMC, I was very amazed that their airport were sparkling clean and new, close to our Changi Airport's standard!

Our collaborators received us at the airport and chauffeured us around the city.

It's the bikers' territory! Their downtown traffic was horrendous!!!

It was astounding to see so many wired cables in a city's downtown....

The journey to their research farm took us around 2 hours. We stopped over at a village where lunch was served.

Well, I know you will never be convinced by looking at my expression. But still, I have to comment that vietnamese food were really unique and tasty... The guy beside me is the boss of the company. He is such a good host and so fatherly too.....

I was impressed that even the village's toilets were so clean!

We reached the farm shortly after lunch. We got to put on special boots before entering the farm.

Here is the picture of the month. My colleague had such huge legs that required a whole team of helpers to put on the boots for him...

Okay, go ahead and laugh...

The weather was extremely hot and humid!!!!!!!!!!! I was drenched in sweat lor.....

Their research rice fields....

My colleague is indeed a rice lover.....

On our way back to downtown...

Streets of HCMC....

Pulled over and bought some vietnamese hybrid rice back...

At last, arrived at Movenpick (Omni) Saigon Hotel.

Had presentations and continued with discussion.

To round it up, the trip was very fruitful and exciting. The standard of living in Vietnam was satisfactory and their labour cost is relatively low as compared to other developing countries. Nonetheless, the Vietnamese are generally nice and hardworking!

God bless the nation and its people. ;)

~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+~*+*~

Here are some photos taken during June's belated birthday at Minori Japanese restaurant...

Ellen with her new samsung phone....

We took this opportunity to update our department photo....

The theme for our department photo: Mysterious black and white

Our department shot.

Praise the Lord!
3:43 PM

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Hectic October....

To my surprise, the unit coordinator for lab section was actually quite a nice old man. He fully understood my situation and even gave me advice on the upcoming practical. Never underestimate the power of prayers! Anyway, I will be leaving for Ho Chi Minh City in a few hours time for my business trip. Apart from this project of mine, some other dormant projects seem to resurrect all at this time. Still need to find time to draft a press release, help out with corporate budget/grant applications, attend to patent matters and do term sheet cum agreements, etc. To make matter worst, I have a new colleague in my office that I’d need to brief. Of course, the amount of work I have given her is sufficient to keep her busy for some time so that I can clear some work before they start piling up.

After my business trip, I’d need to rush back to Singapore to attend an IP Masterclass cum networking session at Intercontinental Hotel the very next day. As the event will be starting as early as 8.30am, I don’t think I will be in the right frame of mind to drive as a result of sleep deprivation. Hence, I have decided to take public transport to work instead. An excuse to give myself and the car a break from the daily peak hour traffic jams. Phew….

Lunch with Peter, Sufen & Ruwei @ *Marmalade Pantry, Palais Renaissance.

*One of my favourite restaurants in Singapore! They serve really delicious dishes and yummy desserts!!! Not totally haute French but it blends with a touch of Asian!

Praise the Lord!
1:21 AM

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Back to school!

I'm finally back to my hectic schooling schedule after my two months of not-so-long term break. Was kinda lost during my first lecture last week. The lecturer told us to MEMORISE all the amino acids information as if they were some gospel truths since amino acids are the basic language of Biochemistry. I'm beginning to feel like a scientist; at least a biologist by training.

In addition, the debrief regarding my module and strict lab rules really threw me off the cliff! We were told (again and again) that all lab sessions for this module in particular, were compulsory. This sounds bad.

The reason is because I'll be away for business trip on one of the lab session and was hoping that my lecturer could let me off for that particular lab. Unfortunately, things ain't looking good as I was told by my lecturer that the university don't usually give exceptions since every experiments are of equal importance. Moreover, they have never allowed any students to miss lab over in Perth. She advised me to check with my unit coordinator (whom seem to be a very difficult man). I'm so damn worried as my air ticket has already been booked and my collaborator-to-be is in the midst of planning the programme. How how how??? I need my Lord's grace and mercy... *praying hard*

There's nothing much I can do too. Shall leave everything in His good hands. Anyway, here are some post-dated photos to share:

Chalet + BBQ @ Downtown East - 20 Sept' 08

Irene & me while chewing our sushi....
Girls' Talk! Kat & I - Preparation time! I didn't really contribute much help to this BBQ as I was at the bridal studio designing my gowns in the noon....
bacon + asparagus = yummy chewy nibbles..
Had fun preparing the spices....
I invited Ting to join...
Group Shot!
KTV session - 24 Sept' 08

Praise the Lord!
12:29 AM

Saturday, September 27, 2008

SWING KPE RUN!!! (14 September 2008)

Due to the F1 Grand Prix, the road closures around Marina center resulted in several major traffic jams everywhere! I spent at least 1.5 hours on the road (snailed from BKE all the way to NUS) to reach office in the morning.

In the evening, it was another 2 solid hours of snailing from westcoast highway to Bugis! The traffic was really bad. Arrived at bugis around 8pm and had steamboat session with Ellen, Ying Ying, Dora, Weiliang, Yi Yan and Hai Hwee at Xian De Lai. This restaurant have quite a wide selection of food and the whole level 2 were filled with our laughters...

*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*+~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~

Participated in the SWING KPE 10km Run with Ruwei, Weiliang and Hai Hwee on 14 September 2008 (Sun) . It was a great achievement for me as I completed it in 1 hr 29 minutes, considering it as a breakthrough for myself. It is unfortunate that Shuk Fern, Kharil, Meng Huat and Henry were unable to make it last minute.

Here's the flashback of the SWING KPE RUN.....

I parked over at Ruwei's place and we took a 15 minutes walk from her residential place to Tampines Mall.

Queuing for the shuttle bus to KPE Run start site....

Proceeding to the start line.....

Welcome to SWING KPE!!!

The one who never gives up on me... inspired me to go on...

Getting ready...

Damn shag....

By faith, I completed the race against myself....

It was a great 10km run!!!

Thanks Ruwei, for leading me through.....

Say "Cheeze"!

We were certified wor.....

Team TLL!!!!

~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~*+*~

Had dinner with Ting and Siyan at Orchard last Friday. It was supposed to be a happy shopping cum dinner for us. Unfortunately, it became a consoling session for Ting as she got to find out that her man seemed to have befriended a PRC woman from the nightclub. It was extremely depressing even though she tried to give her man the benefit of doubt.

We later proceeded to boat quay and had 3 bottles of red wine! Of course, I drank very minimum since I was the chauffeur for the night. Accompanied Ting till 6am in the morning......

So, who says a woman needs a man?