Feline Dreams

2009-04-05T02:50:00.004+01:00

Hello all! Proper post this time instead of some doom and gloom one liner lol... Had a one week course over the past week; it has been a long long time since I've had to sit still in class and pay attention for more than a couple of hours! And the course coordinators were absolute slave drivers; class started at 730 and more often than not ended at about 630, AND there were no proper breaks scheduled; we had to put our hands up and request one when things were getting on a bit.

Anyways I'm done with the rig life now, going back to the office this Tuesday and starting back in my original department.. pretty nervous about it all; it's been a hell of a long time since I'd done any geology! But I have something to look forward to before that; my friends from London are coming to visit!! F and M got their tickets a couple of days ago, and N just got hers last night! I'm so excited; I've not seen them since graduation in May last year! Taking 2 weeks off of work and will be taking them around KL, Singapore and Brunei of course :)) It'll have to be a pretty whirlwind sort of tour, cause they're only here for 2 weeks; but I can't wait!!

Also, there might be a trip to Lebanon coming up in July, another EP00 reunion; hopefully that'll come through too... It's been ages since I went anywhere, the last time was... Egypt and Dubai in November! And I may as well go away before I get too bogged down in the office..

Anyways; not to end this post on a depressing note or anything but I reckon I definitely am incapable of being interesting for more than a few months at a time =/

Hope all's well with everyone (well everyone who's still reading this anyways lol)

xoxoxoxoxox

I wonder....

2009-03-18T13:20:00.002Z

...if I'll ever feel happy, loved, wanted, pretty and needed ever again.

2009-02-21T22:28:00.003Z

I'm tired of putting on a happy face for everyone. My grandfather's in the hospital and he has been for the past 2 weeks.. every time I see him he seems to be getting weaker instead of better. I feel like I'm back in the same situation I was in a year ago. I want to shout, scream and cry, but I don't know anyone I could do that in front of.

As cliched as it sounds, I feel really quite alone in a crowded place.

2008-11-04T15:08:00.001Z

Just off the rig today, and off to Dubai tomorrow evening, and then on to Cairo on the Saturday for the next 2 weeks for a mini EP00 reunion :) Should be good fun, I'm looking forward to it, plus I think I need to get away from here and some stuff for a while. And of course, I'm staying true to myself; it's now 1115 pm, and I've not done a bit of packing! I may just do it all tomorrow... The airconditioning in my room's busted, apparently there was a power surge and it's just conked out, so I don't want to spend so much time in my room, it's too hot and sticky. I also need to fit in time to visit Auntie Mila and my manicurist at some point in the morning tomorrow, so I don't think I'll be getting much sleep tonight! Ah well, I can always sleep on the plane.

Will be getting back on the 18th and straight back to work on the 19th; so I guess no updates for a while, unless I find some time to borrow my friend's laptop.

Went to Miri after work today just to grab a frappucino in the Miri Starbucks. Well, my friend had offered to drive; and it's only 45 minutes from home, so why not? The toffee nut frappucino is definitely worth a try, if anyone's going there anytime soon!

Lots of love,
xoxoxoxoxoxox

2008-10-16T07:40:00.002+01:00

Based on conversations I've had with a few girl friends, it seems like the girls I know would only consider going out with guys who are of the same education level as them...So, if they were degree holders, they wouldn't even consider going out with someone who didn't have a degree. I was just wondering whether this is a general consensus, or just the personal preferences of my friends...?

I personally believe a piece of paper, whether a degree certificate, masters, HND, whatever doesn't make someone better or worse for you. Someone's level of education does not dictate whether he'll be a nice guy, whether he'll be someone you can have good conversations with, and all the other things you expect from a boyfriend. But then that's just me.

Any thoughts, ladies?

xoxoxoxox

2008-10-13T15:52:00.002+01:00

I'm probably one of the last few people who've not seen Mamma Mia yet; but I finally sat down and watched it this afternoon and absolutely loved it! Went out and got the OST as soon as I could and I'm now singing along to it lol :) My favourites're "Last Summer" and "Lay All Your Love On Me". It's such a good film, and I wish I had caught it on stage when I was in London.. bet it would've been one of those musicals where the audience'd be singing alone to every song, like We Will Rock You was.

So, the past week has been a flurry of catching up on Raya; been visiting friends, entertaining guests and also had an open house over at mine's last Friday. I've been trying to restrain myself from going all out with the cakes and biscuits, but I just can't resist the odd kuih mor or two, and tapak kuda...but hey, after a month(ish) of fasting, I feel a few treats won't hurt.

Back at work in a week's time, but I've got to be in the office for the next couple of days, to finish up my career review; it doesn't feel like it at all, but in 2 weeks' time, I'll have been working for exactly a year!! Hasn't felt like it at all, and when I think back to this time last year when I was twiddling my thumbs because I didn't have any work to do, and didn't have anybody to hang out with, it feels like an age ago. Loads of things happening this year, some good, mostly bad. Can't wait for the year to be over really.

Haha and for some reason.. I feel like I've gone back to square one all over again.

Have a good week!

xoxoxoxoxoxooxox

2008-10-07T16:19:00.002+01:00

I'm back! Never have I been so glad to finish a hitch; the past two weeks have been the longest, and pretty much the least interesting out of all my hitches so far. Not to mention there was a bit of a personality clash with one of the guys I was working with in the first few days. It's all sorted now, but it was a bit tense in the cabin for a couple of days. All resolved over a nice Indian dinner :)

So I'm all ready to start my Raya this year, albeit a week later than everyone else, but hey, better late than never right? I wasn't in the mood when I came back initially, but then I saw my new bajus hanging in the closet, and my friends started texting about going Raya-ing with them and about coming to visit my place. It'll be the first time in a few years that I'll go Raya-ing with my friends, last year I was too ill and totally depressed about being home to care much.

One slight fly in my ointment: For the past few days my gum has been swelling at my lower right molar, and I went to see the onsite medic to see what she had to say. And she told me that my wisdom tooth is impacting on my 2nd molar, causing my gum to swell up, and in turn causing an inflammation on my tonsil (I'm not sure how my gum and tonsil are related, but hey, I don't have a medical degree, so who am I to argue?). So for the past two days I've been having difficulty chewing and swallowing, I should really go see a dentist but I'm really worried about what would happen if my tooth needs extracting, I really really do not want to spend the next week or so with hamster cheeks and a liquid diet. Call me vain, but I don't want that look to be documented for this year's Raya photos! I think I'll wait it out a bit longer, pain has abated slightly after my supervisor did some "acupuncture" on my hand this morning; i.e. he located a pressure point on my right hand and squeezed hard. Apparently it's meant to release endorphins and reduce the pain in my gums. And you know what, it worked! However, I'm not sure if this is because of the pain in my hand (and it's a lot of pain) has caused my brain to temporarily forget my tooth.

Trying to get my body back onto Brunei time now; hopefully I'll be able to sleep through the night and turn my body clock the right way around.

Good night all!

And a belated Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Maaf Zahir dan Batin :)

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

2008-09-28T22:36:00.002+01:00

I guess that's all, folks.

We had a good run though, didn't we? :)

xoxoxox

2008-09-23T09:05:00.002+01:00

I get the feeling it's going to be a loooonnnng night, and it hasn't even started yet! Lol.. I've been up since about 730 am, but then forced myself to sleep til about 12 and now I'm all dressed and ready for work, but I'm about 2 hours too early??

Looks like I'll be hitting the coffee and Redbull hard tonight, just to stay up. I've not really dreaded work ever before; I've had the usual "Oh man it's going to be a stressful two wks" thoughts once in a while, but not the "I so do NOT want to go to work" kind of thoughts before.

Hmm.. let's hope it'll turn out better than I'm expecting.

xoxoxoxoxox

2008-09-22T09:50:00.002+01:00

Back to work tomorrow.. and I've just been informed that I'll be on the graveyard shift! So I'll be working from 6pm to 6 am; not looking forward to the mess that my body clock will be in over the next 2 weeks.. It's almost like being back on Uk time :P

For some reason, I always find myself getting really busy towards the end of my 2 weeks off, when I should really be getting ready for work. I spent Friday night and most of Saturday with the girls at the Empire, I think we spent most of our time either eating, or in bed talking lol! Tried out Villa Mauri too, definitely worth a return visit.. I like their sungkai buffet concept, reduces any food wastage. Didn't get to try their chocolate pudding though which was a shame, a friend who's tried it tells me that once I have it once, I'll be dreaming of it! Lol! With a tagline like that, how could anyone not want to try it??

Sunday was spent at J's place for her nikah ceremony.. Got really teary eyed when she was getting dressed, and putting her tudung on.. and again when she salam-ed us after she got married by the imam.. Lol! Women, eh? But yeah.. so that's 1 down, 4 to go? Can't believe J's someone's wife now.. it feels surreal almost. But needless to say I'm very very happy for her, photos are up on Facebook btw :)

So.. I'm pretty annoyed at the moment, but I think I'll just leave it lah. No point, and not worth the effort really.

Enjoy the last week of Ramadhan and happy advanced Raya to everyone!

xoxoxoxoxo

2008-09-14T08:48:00.002+01:00

I wonder what other people get up to during the daylight hours of puasa; I personally find myself not having anything to do til after sungkai...Whereas I would usually be meeting up with friends for lunch, drinks and hang out all through til dinner, I'm now at a loss of things to do. But at the same time, I'm enjoying the time I have to catch up on my Tv series, books, magazines, and generally lazing about in bed like the lazybum that I am :)

Met the girls (and one guy!) up for sungkai at the Sports Cafe in Sutera Biru last night, and stayed til they practically kicked us out. As usual, there's always loads to catch up on when we get together, last night was a night of introducing new partners to the group, talking about future plans of one particular couple and general chatting. Towards the end of the night, us 6 were huddled round our own table, leaving respective partners to watch the Man Utd-Liverpool match on telly lol! I've still not had the chance to introduce P to the gang, hopefully sometime in the near future we can all finally get together. Spent some time reminiscing about old school days; I think I've mentioned that I've known these guys since I was 12 and just starting out in secondary school? In fact, one of the girls I've known since I was 3, from kindergarten! M and T carry around photos of us from secondary school in their wallets, which I think is very very sweet, and we were passing them around last night; nothing's changed really, except we've all packed on the pounds after school haha...

Going out for steak tonight with work friends; I think they were originally meant to go on the Friday night, but I was in Bandar with the parentals; and I jokingly asked them to postpone it til I could make it.. Didn't think they would, but got a text this morning for dinner tonight so yay! The carnivore in me is looking forward to some meat tonight lol..

Hope everyone's had a good weekend; I wonder what to do over the next week...

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

2008-09-10T10:47:00.002+01:00

This is slightly belated but, Happy Ramadhan everyone! This is my first puasa in Brunei in 4 years, and I go and spend the first week of it at work :P Ditto with the first week of raya.. Oh well, can't be helped I guess.. Not really keen on taking a week off of work, because well, what would I do with 3 weeks off??

No plans for this 2 weeks, except maybe to finally move all my stuff into the new room. Was planning on doing a scuba course with a friend who was in the country for work, but unfortunately said friend had to go back home :P Just when I was building up the excitement about the course too. Oh well, maybe next time, when it's not the fasting month heheh.. Have a few plans to meet up with friends for sungkai already, and the parentals are wanting to spend the weekend in Bandar.

Speaking of fasting, it wasn't too bad fasting on the rig; I did get pretty weak and cranky by the end of the day, but overall it wasn't too bad. Only thing is, I can never wake up for sahur cause I can't be bothered, too tired and I just value my sleep far too much. Looking forward to going to the gerais for sungkai, I haven't been yet, was meant to go yesterday but I was tired from work so I slept as soon as I got home, and just about managed to wake up for sungkai before crashing back into bed again.

Went to the office today to do some paperwork; could have technically done it at home, but for some reason or other, there was an extra long blackout in Lumut today; had to have a cold shower, and left the house with dripping wet hair, and drove to the office with the windows down so my hair could "air-dry" lol.

So the KL trip was good; just what I needed, a quick, relaxing, girly getaway. Me and A went shopping for most of the day, and spent the nights meeting up with our KL friends from work and uni...Me and A really got a chance to talk and catch up with each other's lives as well. With our schedule the way it is, we only get to see each other maybe once a month, so we had loads to talk about.. Only bad thing is, our flight home was delayed by 3 hours, so instead of arriving back in Brunei at 8, I got back at about 11pm. I think only normal airlines for me from now on.. It wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't have to be up for work at 5 am the next day, but as it was, I was getting pretty stressed out towards the end :P

Speaking of trips, sounds like the EP00 reunion in Egypt is actually going to happen!! Very exciting, will be good to see the guys again. So will be starting to look for cheap tickets from tomorrow onwards, which means no shopping sprees for me anytime soon :( Well, that's probably a good thing as I did manage to spend a fortune during my 3 days there! No, I don't know what I got either, but whatever it was, it was expensive!

Til the next post!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

2008-08-22T08:02:00.002+01:00

Going to Kl for the weekend yay! :) Very, very last minute planning; A called up on Wednesday and was talking about how she needed a break, so told her I'd be up for going with her if she decided to go somewhere. Was planning for Singapore at first, but the tickets over are stupidly expensive! So settled for Kl, but I'm determined to make this a relaxing , girly catch up trip instead of an out and out spending spree like the last one was. I've got a few things on my shopping list; mostly books and clothes, not planning for any major purchases at all. Will also be meeting up with a few friends while we're out there so all in all, it should be a good weekend :) Ok, maybe I'm planning to do major damage at Forever 21 and Topshop, but that's about it! Especially since asos and topshop both cancelled my online orders, on account of the fact that they don't accept Bruneian credit cards, how rude??

Will be my first time flying AirAsia, feeling slightly dubious about it, but I'm sure everything will go well. keeping my fingers crossed that my flight back on Monday night will not be delayed, otherwise I'll be screwed for my early morning crewchange on Tuesday.

Yesterday was good, it was nice to have the girls (and one guy!) over at my place. J, O, and D ended up staying for ages at mine's just catching up on the past few months, and trust me, there's a lot to catch up on! These girls are my friends from secondary school, and it's nice that no matter how long we leave it in between meetings, whenever we do manage to meet up, after the initial 5 minute awkwardness, it goes back to normal :)

Anyways its not 3pm and I'm leaving in a couple of hours but I haven't packed!!

Have a good weekend all!

xoxoxoxoxox

2008-08-18T09:14:00.002+01:00

Having such a lazy day today... you know those days when you can't be bothered to leave the house? Been catching up on Lost, my reading and just generally bumming about. It's been a while since I've done that and it feels pretty good...

Checked out the rafting event yesterday and it seemed like so much fun, I'm inspired to take part next yr! I just want to do it so I can dress up to be honest haha.. A took part this year, she dressed up as Cleopatra, very cool :) It was super hot though, when I left the house it was nice and cool, then it steadily heated up and when I finally got there, it was hot enough that I got tanlines on my feet from my flip flops! Tres uncool.

My new bed set arrived today yay! Spent some time arranging it to fit my room; I'm still not sure about the placement of the wardrobes but it's ok for time being lah... Now I just need a sofa bed, a new telly, and I'll be sorted to organise some slumber parties :D

Back to Lost now, it's such a mindfuck!!

xoxoxoxoxoxoox

2008-08-16T02:42:00.002+01:00

I wouldn't say there are many advantages to being in a long distance relationship; but one main one that I've found is that: I can go online shopping, have it shipped to P and then P can send it over to me :D Lol! I've just been on the Topshop website and there are sooo many things that I want; and I may have ordered a silly amount of stuff from it. But I'm shopping deprived, my last big shop was in Kl and that was like a month ago! Now I just need to sit and wait for it to come to my doorstep heheh...

xoxoxoxoxxoxo

2008-08-16T01:57:00.002+01:00

And here we go again with 2 weeks off; except this time, I have nothing planned whatsoever! Was planning to visit M again sometime next week for a bit of a beach bumming break, but then I'm in no condition for water sports, so that idea's scrapped. It's just that, for the past couple of months or so I've always had something to do so now I'm at a bit of a loss of what to do with myself. There's work that could be done of course, I have piles of paperwork that need to be sorted out but I can't actually be bothered to sit down and start anything. Maybe next week haha...It's probably good that I'm not going anywhere this time, there's a lot that needs to be sorted out around the house. The renovations are almost done, but they've left everything in a horrible mess, with my stuff scattered all over the place, and in between 2 different rooms. Will hopefully be moving into the new room before I start my next hitch.

Had such a good day yesterday, had an early morning meeting with S, and then just spent the whole day with her, catching up. It's rare to be able to see her when we're both off cause she's always back in Bandar and I'm pretty much always here lol! Went for too much food and drinks, showed her around Lumut (didn't take long lol), caught up on all the gossip; it was a proper girly day out :) Met up with R after she finished work, and she's already booked us for her wedding weekend in December!! SO excited, she's going to be the first out of all of us to tie the knot, and there'll be a couple next year I'm sure... Been ages since we had a catch up, specially since R's now office based, and the rest of us try to avoid the office if we can lol..

Not sure what to do this weekend; apparently there's the Rafting Klasik tomorrow, might pop down and check that out tomorrow if the weather permits; I'm fine with sun, but if it's pissing it down, I'm definitely not bothered. Today will probably be running errands with my mom; it's my grandmother's makan 100 next Thursday, didn't realise it had already been that long, time seems to pas by very quickly when I'm doing my shifts.

Been hanging out with a colleague who's on the same schedule as me quite a bit the past few days. We're not exactly bosom buddies, and to be honest, people aren't really too fond of him, but when he texts or calls me up to hang out, I just can't say no...even though I will eventually end up getting annoyed or restless and itching to go :P I need to be a bit tougher maybe, the other girls have no problem ditching this person so I'm sure I could do the same... after a while haha.. I just feel too bad sometimes though!

Anyways, time for a shower. Have a good weekend all!

xoxoxoxoxox

2008-07-28T15:32:00.002+01:00

Flight's been delayed to tomorrow morning; so I've had an extra day to hang out with my friends :) Currently trying to finish packing and wondering whether to wear my boots or my sneakers on the chopper tomorrow... The boots are really heavy if I were to carry them around, however, as a guy I met today so nicely put it "It's harder to swim of you're wearing safety boots". Decisions, decisions lol!

Should be off to bed now, early early flight tomorrow. Really wanted to fly off today so I could get used to the rig, plus get over my (if any) seasickness before the job starts tomorrow afternoon. Oh well.

Night all!

xoxoxoxoxox

2008-07-27T08:06:00.002+01:00

The house is currently being renovated; meaning that for the past 2 weeks I've been woken up too early in the mornings by the sounds of banging, hammering and sawing. And then if that wasn't bad enough, they've started painting the house right outside my room; so I've been breathing in paint fumes for goodness knows how long. The house is an absolute tip! Can't wait for the workers to finish so I can have my peace and quiet back again.

Not that it will matter from tomorrow on anyways, will be back at work til the 12th of August. Will be going offshore for the first time; to S's rig for a certain operation. Looking forward to it, I'm interested in seeing how things work compared to my usual rig, plus I hope this will finally give me a proper chance to catch with S! I haven't seen her in months; our schedules just don't seem to match up properly. Back to my usual outfit of coveralls, clunky boots and scraped back hair for the next two weeks. I always feel ever so slightly masculine when I'm at work, but at the same time it's refreshing that I don't have to put too much effort into what to wear and stuff haha... But I'm already planning what to do on my time off! Too early? Probably, but sometimes I just need that little bit extra to motivate me during my 2 weeks on haha...

Spent my weekend sorting out errands with my mom, sent 2 of my kain raya off to the tailor; this year I'm sending my kains to 2 different tailors. I just haven't been satisfied with my usual tailor's work over the past couple of years, so I thought I would cut my losses and send to 2 different places, hopefully there's a chance that at least one out of the two kains I'll send over to them will turn out good. Not that I'm too bothered to be honest, I haven't been feeling the raya mood so far. I went kain shopping last weekend only cause I was under duress from my mom. I guess it stems from the fact that it'll be my first raya without my grandmother, and anyways, according to the current work schedule I'll be working the first week of raya. Not sure whether I want to take time off yet... P may be coming back for raya, but until I get confirmation, I think I'll just leave my schedule as it is. I'm not the only one that's been feeling disenchanted with raya, a couple of my other friends feel the same. I guess after spending 4 Rayas overseas, you start to get used to it not being too big of a deal?

Woke up early today (early for a Sunday that is) to go down to KB to catch the cat show; there were sooo many cute cats! Some of them were really naughty, trying to grab and bite at people through the bars of their cage, and others were just sleepy heads, sleeping on top of their cages, without caring a whit about the people around them. I'm always so tempted to get one of my own, but I don't think now's a good time, what with me being away 2 weeks out of a month..Maybe when I go back to the office for good I'll think about getting a house cat... But until then it's enough for me to just coo over other people's cats...

Bit of a boring update, but that's cause I've had nothing going on the past 2 weeks! Need to pack my stuff for tomorrow (along with several requests from my friends already offshore, most notably bbq Ruffles and KitKats), and actually read the description of what I'll be doing over the next couple of days!

Have a good 2 weeks everyone! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

2008-07-19T17:20:00.002+01:00

Looks like this blog is only going to be updated fortnightly; based on the last couple of entries. On my 2 weeks off again, finally! I was knackered by the end of my hitch this time, 2 weeks felt like forever! The worst point was when I woke up 2 mondays ago, and where I would normally be thinking along the lines of "Yes, I'm tired, but it's ok because I get to go home tomorrow", last time it was a case of "I'm tired, but I've just remembered I have another week to go, shit!" :P Lol! But it's all worth it for the 2 weeks off, been spending it catching up on my sleep.

Also, starting to catch up on all those dvds I've been stockpiling over the past couple of weeks; and I've also scheduled some pampering time for myself. Not got any definitely travelling plans for this break, but still hoping something will come up. Otherwise, it's probably a good idea to just stay in and relax.

Hope everyone's having a good weekend!

xoxoxoxoxoxox

2008-06-30T01:34:00.002+01:00

Got back from Kl yesterday with heavier bags and a much much lighter wallet lol.. It was a good break, good food, good friends and amazing shopping! Met up with M while I was there, and it was so good to see her again, the last time I saw her was last summer! But as usual, it was like no time had passed, there was none of that "haven't seen her in ages and now we have nothing to talk about" awkward stage :) I was very very glad of the female company too, I love the guys and everything but some things only a girl would get you know?? Haha plus I don't think the guys would have been quite as patient with going round the shops with me.

I haven't been to Kl in years, probably not since my first year at uni and I was overwhelmed by all the malls in Bintang walk; so many shops so little time! And to make matters worse (or better, depending on how you look at it) everything was on sale! I definitely got there at the right time, most of the designers were selling their stock at 30 - 50 % off so I got a couple of bargains.

Also, I went for that fish spa I was talking about in the last post; it was sooo much more ticklish than I thought it would be.. It costs rm38 for a 30 minute session, but the first time I couldn't put my feet in for more than a few seconds at a time cause it was just too ticklish. Had to literally put my feet in, close my eyes and grit my teeth so that I wouldn't jump back out again! But it was actually really really relaxing.. like pins and needles, but exfoliating pins and needles? Anyways me and M went back for a second session the day before I left and this time we took full advantage of the 30 minutes.

And I love the whole amusement park within a mall thing, like they have at Times Square! Although it did get a bit messy on one of the rides, poor M :S

Already planning my next trip for my next 2 weeks off; I'm thinking maybe KK to see M or maybe a short break to Singapore? But absolutely, definitely no more shopping! My cards can't take it anymore! After a particularly productive day in Kl, I got a call from the bank asking me about my purchases and he listed out such a long list of shops and amounts that it was embarassing! Almost wanted to deny some purchases and tell him that actually, my card had been stolen, or duplicated or something, just so it wouldn't seem like I was so much of a shopaholic haha..

Hope y'all had a good weekend!!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

2008-06-25T15:29:00.003+01:00

Going to KL tomorrow on the morning flight - but yet can't be arsed to get started on my packing! It won't take long; I have a mental picture of what I want to take with me, but it's a matter of actually getting up and doing it! Ah well, I suppose I could just go with an empty bag and get my clothes over there? Lol! The hotel I've booked is close to this new mall called the Pavilion, and I've been browsing the homepage, and it looks like 7 floors of heaven! Pretty much a one stop shopping mall; and and and it's got this fish spa thing that I've been hearing about, where you dip your feet into a pond filled with a certain species of fish, and then the fish will nibble away at the dead skin. Sounds pretty disgusting to me to be honest, but I'm definitely giving it a go anyways lol!

Will be meeting up with M and hopefully R tomorrow too, yay! M's just finished her final final final report so I reckon there's some celebrating to be done :)

I'll be the first in my group to arrive in Kl, the rest of the guys are arriving tomorrow night and Friday night; looks like I'll be getting a head start with my shopping while waiting for them; knowing the guys I probably won't get to do as much shopping as I'd like once they're here...

Back in Brunei on Sunday evening and back to the site (for 2 weeks) from Monday on...Ah well I'll keep myself going by reminding myself that it's worth it for the 2 weeks off that I'll be getting!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

2008-06-18T08:39:00.002+01:00

Ooh managed to log into normal sites now so should take full advantage...Just realised I never actually blogged about my birthday onsite...Let's just say it was definitely an experience...It was my first day standing alone, and it was such a hectic day... I've had to go to uni on my previous birthdays so it wasn't like I wasn't used to doing work on the day, but to start the day at 5 am and to finish it at like.. 1 am the following day?? Not impressed :p

But it was still a pretty good day, A came to visit the rig after she came off her rig, and she brought me a whole tin of cookies! It was really good to see her and to have a familiar face around...Also, the work supervisor got me a bracelet that had my name embroidered on it! Granted, he got my name wrong (E instead of I) but its the thought that counts.. And, also got a bouquet of flowers sent to the site, without a card attached. Was very embarassing carrying it from the security counter back to my office, plus everyone kept asking who it was from, and I didn't have a clue! Eventually found out who it was from, and those flowers definitely helped to brighten up my office :)

Going to see the girls for an early dinner later, as in 5 pm early :P And tomorrow I have a meeting with a so called insurance planner. Since I've started work, these guys've been coming out of the woodwork! Not too sure I like the idea of having someone controlling my expenses, and telling me what I can or cannot afford, but at the same time I think I may need someone like this, to keep myself in check with the spending.

xoxoxoxooxoxox

2008-06-18T08:00:00.002+01:00

What is WITH the internet recently?? It's been really slow, and I can't access anything except Blogger and Gmail! Been having Facebook withdrawal symptoms. I wonder how long it's been like this, I only just got home yesterday, and I have 2 weeks off yay!! Starting 2 week hitches from the 1st of July, lucky for me I start off with a 2 week holiday..

Planning a short trip to KL at the end of the month with some friends, and planning to meet up with Mizzy while I'm out there. Not been to KL in years, looking forward to some good food and good shopping lol..

Anyways short update only, the internet is still acting up, not even sure if I'll be able to publish this post!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

2008-06-08T02:57:00.002+01:00

The past two weeks have been hectic! I've had one of my busiest times on the rig; cause it was the first time I did it all alone, where I would normally have had 1 or 2 seniors training me. So that was definitely a stressful time, not to mention it was one of the busiest times onsite; I was definitely kept on my toes! I was very very happy when Tuesday rolled around, even though I only grabbed 25 minutes of sleep the whole of Monday night! Caught up on my sleep on the Tuesday, then on Wednesday I left for a 3 day safety course in Miri. I have to admit I wasn't the most active member on the course; I was still tired from my week on, and this course demanded SO much group participation, even more than at EP00 :P We were put up at the Marriott for the course, which was very nice lol :) I was lucky to get on a session with 6 or 7 of my friends from work, and it was really nice to catch up and hang out with everyone again. At the moment, I have no voice to speak of, because we ended up going out every night the whole 3 nights we were out there lol! We all probably got a total of about 10 hours sleep over the whole course?

Back to the site on Tuesday, so will be catching up on sleep the next couple of days.

Have a good weekend everyone!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

2008-05-25T11:50:00.002+01:00

I'm back! Reached home on Friday morning after a very long and uncomfortable flight. Will be back at work on Monday and back onsite on Tuesday.

First off, thank you for all the messages and tags guys, they're much appreciated. I went to a family function today, and met an aunt who asked me how I'm coping. And I guess the answer is : I'm not really coping.

Ever since that Tuesday, I've refused to think about it, and I've surrounded myself with my friends and always, always tried to keep my mind occupied. The thought creep up just before I go to bed each night sometimes though, and when I'm sitting down doing nothing for a couple of hours, like when I'm watching a film, but for the most part, I'm doing well at keeping them at bay. I thought that coming home would make it all better, more real in a sense, but it hasn't. It doesn't feel like my grandmother's gone for good, it literally feels like she's just gone away for a little while, and that she'll be back again.

I think the other members of my family have had time to accept the fact, grieve and begin to move on, but I kinda haven't. I've not had a proper cry, I've not spoken to people about my feelings because I've been trying to keep them away myself, and I've definitely not begun to move on.

I doubt I'm going about it the right way, denial's hardly the best course of action, but I'm not entirely sure what else to do.

2008-05-13T18:34:00.002+01:00

I was at uni picking up my graduation tickets when I got a call from my mom informing me that my grandmother passed away 7pm Brunei time. I'm numb. I don't know what to feel. They told me to just stay over and not come home because by the time I get home, my grandmother would have been buried anyways. I wish I could have seen her one last time. I'm glad my parents are in Brunei though.

I'm feeling very lonely here at the moment.

2008-05-01T13:41:00.001+01:00

1st of May today! Congratulations N, A, S , C (ok few more days for you missy) and me for making it to the 6 month mark at work yay! Proper holidays here we come :)

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

2008-04-29T11:53:00.002+01:00

Day 2 of the course. Note to self - never tell a well engineer you're a geologist, because for the rest of the day/course, said well engineer will continuously take the piss out of the geologist. So far it's been ok, but was really quite bored yesterday, because he was going through some really basic stuff that I'd gone through before at uni and at my last course. Today was marginally more interesting. Maybe I'm just not used to sitting around listening to a lecturer for long periods of time anymore. Looking forward to Thursday, we get a site visit to the rig yay! :)

Yesterday stayed over at the girls' flat, with the intention of staying up and watching horror films together. By the time we actually played the dvd, after dinner and catching up with N who I hadn't seen in a while, it was 11. And I fell asleep pretty much right after the film started lol!

Also, finally managed to meet Shasha's Callie and she is just as cute, if not cuter than in the video and pictures!! :D

Looking for an apartment to rent for my stay in London. Gloucester Road, or Bayswater ah... hmmm...

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

2008-04-24T10:57:00.002+01:00

Had my faith in human kindness reaffirmed today. I had gone to the bank to pay off some bills through the ATM machine, and for some reason or other, decided to put my sunglasses on top of the machine instead of just pushing it up on my head like I usually do. And of course, I completely forgot about my glasses til I finished doing all my errands and was back in my car about 20 minutes later and noticed my sunnies missing. Retraced my steps and remembered placing it on top of the ATM and ran back into the bank to see if anyone had turned it in. I didn't have much hope of ever finding it again to be honest, and the first lady I asked wasn't very helpful, she just shrugged and told me that if it wasn't there, it's probably gone. But I made her ask her colleagues, just in case, and lo and behold someone HAD handed them in, to one of the tellers :) :) So to that super nice person, thank you for handing my sunnies over, may many good things happen to you!

So spent my second day off in the office, trying to get my probation letter sorted out before the week is out, cause I need to apply for my graduation leave. And wouldn't you just know it, noone I wanted to see was in! So I have to come in tomorrow too! And on top of that, my geology supervisor's just asked me to come in for 8 am! Week off, hah! :P So far my schedule looks like this: Office tomorrow, weekend off, start a 5 day course Monday to Friday, straight back onsite on Friday til Tuesday, do a career exhibition on Tuesday, and flying off on Thursday! Hectic, much?? Barely any time to sit down and watch the bucketloads of dvds I've bought over the past 2 days!

My parents've said that they can't make it to my graduation this time... I feel slightly upset, but at the same time I understand their reasons. P will be there for me, anyways. And this means I can spend time with my friends without feeling torn in multiple directions, trying to spend time with my friends, my parents and, over the weekend, my EP00 friends. Things have a way of sorting themselves out eventually.

Finally met up with Shasha and E for our very overdue sushi dinner last night, and as always I totally overate! It was worth it though, I'd been craving sushi for a long time, and it's always better with such good company :) Still haven't seen the kids though, must stop by sometime next week to say hello.

xoxoxoxoxoxox

2008-04-23T14:41:00.001+01:00

On my week off now, but still have to come into the office for various reasons. Bleh. Also, starting a 5 day course on well engineering from Monday on, so I technically only have.... 3 days off? Oh well. I prefer going out and meeting my friends and colleagues than just staying in anyways. Although I do want to just sit and watch the tens of dvds I've just bought today.

2 hours of aerobics tomorrow. I've started to build up a shield in order to deflect the weight comments I got last week too :P

Men. Pft.

Longer post next time!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

2008-04-11T08:07:00.002+01:00

For the first time in Brunei, I actually opted out of using the car to get to my dance class at the studio that's quite near my house. It's about a 4 minute drive, which translates into roughly 10-15 minute walk? Not far at all, but under the hot afternoon sun?? Terasa jua eh :P It didn't help that when I got there I found the studio closed and locked up!! Immediately called my dad up to pick me up, malas to walk all the way back haha.. Walking's just not the norm here is it... everytime a car passed by they'd inevitably slow down to look at this random girl walking. Not one of them offerred me a ride though :(

Anyways this dance/aerobics studio I'm talking about is Nem's Fitness, and they have a branch in Pandan Kb too. Never been to any of their classes before, but yesterday I tried out their latin aerobics, and it was easily one of the best classes I've been to. Good music, very cool instructor, and, unlike a couple of the classes I've been to in other places, you dance for the full hour. Not dance for half an hour, and then do weights for the rest. Fair enough if that's what some people are into, but I prefer to dance the whole time. Will try again tomorrow, they've got ballroom followed by hip hop scheduled in the evening. But I think I'll take my car this time, not risking walking over there for nothing again :P

Also, I went for a spa treatment at a spa/massage place that's also just newly opened in this complex. Definitely a much needed treat, the masseuse was really good. Although for the first time in my many years of going for massages, she massaged my bum! It hurt, too! :P Not too keen on that part, but everything else was nice... And after my body scrub, I went for a shower/bath in this sunken bath, very luxurious. Lol I predict I'll be spending a lot of my off time/money at this complex, I love that everything's so close to my house! Now all I need is for a bookshop to open up, and I'd quite happily never leave Lumut again!

Have a good weekend everyone!!

xoxoxoxoxooxoxox

2008-04-10T13:15:00.002+01:00

Back in civilisation and off for a week wahey!! Well.. not really a week cause I've just spent 2 of those days at an onboarding course, and will likely spend another day of it in the office :P So 4 off days wahey! Lol..

Things I missed while I was on site:

1. My full length mirror. The only mirror on site was a tiny bathroom one that I shared with a guy. Didn't realise how much I'd come to rely on being able to see myself fully til I could only see bits of myself at a time lol!

2. Being able to wear my hair down. For safety reasons, any long hair should be put up, so my hair was perpetually in a bun. Good thing was that made my hair all wavy, and I didn't have to spend too long drying it in the morning.

3. Having someone to talk to. It was weird being in a new place, where, if you had to vent or talk about something slightly personal, there isn't really anyone you can talk to, unless you call people up. But even then you can't have a private conversation cause the phones are all in shared office/cabins.

4. Female company! I was the only girl on site for a few days, but then we got a new female medic. But I didn't really hang out with her, the only other people around my age are guys.

5. Wearing my accessories. Again for safety reasons, no jewellery or watches allowed while working on site so my arms and neck and ears were completely bare! Felt a bit weird, cause I never take off my rings or necklace. Also, wearing normal clothes like jeans and skirts and tshirts! I was in coveralls the whole day, and PJs and night :P

I'm determined to make the most of my off week; went to aerobics this morning, and have a 2 hour spa session planned for tomorrow :) I'm getting a bit of a complex about my weight though, a couple of guys on the rig have made cracks about my weight!! I've learnt to ignore it, but at the same time, am quite annoyed that they think it's ok to make fun of an issue that is very sensitive for girls, even though they hardly know me!! Don't know, maybe that's just what they're like???

Bit of a hodgepodge post, I apologise, but not much else to write about really.

Have a good weekend all!

xoxoxoxoxoxox

2008-03-29T08:53:00.001Z

Ugh. I've got a pounding headache. Probably the result of sleeping from 5pm yesterday to about 8am this morning, and then sleeping again in the afternoon. Can't help it though, I'm damam :( And my mom's been giving me this cough syrup for my hacking cough, and it obviously isn't one of those non-drowsy fomulas cause I'm out like a light within 20 minutes of taking it. Guess who's not eligible to operate heavy machinery right about now :P

Have a good weekend all!

xoxoxoxoxoxox

2008-03-27T11:44:00.002Z

....and then there were two. PEs, that is. Today S and I sent a friend, A, over to the heliport to start off her first shift offshore. It was weird saying goodbye; ever since we started work in November, 4 of us, including N who started his shift on Tuesday, were hardly ever separated. We did courses together, we had offices/rooms next to each other, we did breakfast and lunch pretty much every work day. But now that we've started our individual shifts, we'll hardly see each other!! Well, for the next year at least...It'll be weird. But hopefully we'll be able to still do things together, me and A are hopefully going on holiday together in May. Fingers crossed that plan will come through.

Today's been one of those days. Got told off early in the morning for something I didn't really have any control over, and then when I tried to start my car to go home in the evening, the bloody thing wouldn't start! I've been having issues with turning the key in the ignition for the past week or so, but was going to just leave it til the weekend. Well, I think it may need to be sorted out a bit sooner than that, seeing as how I couldn't start the car and had to leave it in the office parking lot. Times like this I'm glad I don't live far from the office, had to ring my dad up and get him to pick me up.

Had the worst experience at Pizza Hut in Sg. Liang yesterday. First off, they got 2 orders completely wrong, and then S found a piece of pasta in her baked lasagne!! And then, when we complained, the waiter actually said "If you want, you can not pay for the meal." IF she wants?? Surely that should be a given? And then he went off to the kitchen to do god knows what and then he came back 3 minutes later, and said to S "If you want, we'll give you a discount." We were speechless. What is *with* the "If you want..." business and how come his offer was downgraded from a free meal to a discount?? Not going back there again anytime soon, and neither should anyone else.

My grandmother's finally been discharged from hospital after an 8 week stay. I wasn't here when she was in the ICU but I was here for most of the time when she was in the normal wards and I don't know, I wasn't impressed with some of the nurses on duty. Every patient who came into my grandmother's ward had a maid with her, and if they didn't have one, the patient's family would be asked over and over whether the patient would have anyone to take care of them. Um.. correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that what the nurses are meant to be doing?? And once, a patient asked to be moved from one bed to another, but because the new bed had no sheets, the patient's family asked for sheets from the nurses in charge. And she did give them the sheets, she dumped them onto the new bed and left. The patient's family had to make the bed up themselves! And even with certain meds, they passed the meds on either to the family or the maid, instead of giving them to the patient themselves! I've seen one of the patient's maids grinding up some pills for her charge, but again isn't this something the nurses should be taking care of? I didn't want to be any trouble though, because at the end of the day, these women were still the ones taking care of my grandmother and it wouldn't have been a good idea to be anything but supernice to them.

Currently ill. There must be a big going about; either that or the extremely changeable weather has finally got to me. Let's hope tomorrow's a better day.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

2008-03-24T12:50:00.002Z

It's raining cats and dogs outside, yet I'm sitting here scarfing down a tub of Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough icecream. PMSing much? Lol! I must've looked like a right cow when I went shopping in Supasave after work today, I went and got my ice-cream, a box of oreos, a packet of cookies, some kebabs and chocolates :S Oh well haha I'm sure I'll sweat everything out when I start work outside next week *fingerscrossed* lol!

My weekend was very very uneventful, spent Saturday in the hospital with my grandmother, and yesterday curled up in front of the telly. Towards the end of the night though, I got a really pleasant surprise through Facebook : My ex housemate, Katie, has been proposed to by her long-term boyfriend Drew last week. And she accepted, obviously! I'm so happy for them both, and Drew, bless him, did it the proper way too. Asked her dad for her hand in marriage, before finally dropping down to one knee in the gardens at the Tower of London! SO sweet :) Makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

2008-03-21T13:46:00.006Z

On the last day of the course, our course director put together a 20 minute video of all the photos she had taken of us over the past month; from the time we first met each other, all the way through to the final presentation day. It's weird to see how the photos change over the 4 weeks; from the first few photos when we were too shy to really be ourselves, and then to the last photos when we had grown close as a group :) Part of the video had Elton John's "Your Song" as a backing track, and I got all teary eyed while listening to it. Sigh.. I know I know, it's been 2 weeks, get over it and everything already, right? Lol! Sorry guys, I think I'll be course centred for a while.Map showing photos of everyone on the course, as well as the part of the world they're from. As you guys can see, loads of Asians, but also a few more nationalities scattered here and there. Total number of nationalities - 15

Unfortunately couldn't find a photo of the whole team, but this is part of Team Optimised abseilling down a 22 feet rock face. And I was all for abseilling, completely forgetting that before you can go down, you have to climb up. Not impressed with the climbing, totally loved the ride down though

Team SkyPilots - This is within the first couple of hours of meeting each other for the first time ever

Team SkyPilots - Arriving at the Outdoor Centre after having spent the past 24 hours together, crossing from one country to another, invading expensive hotels for a bath, ending up in a random hostel, with one of us sleeping under a teepee constructed out of a shower curtain, and finally arriving at the centre after having woken up at 5am to catch a train, and then searching for ages for the place :P

Team Dynamis - See?? We did work too! This was the team I worked in for the past 3 weeks with our project

Me on the Pamperpole, see how small the platform is in relation to everything else???

I think this must've been taken just before I jumped off the Flyingfox platform

And finally, me on the Flyingfox :D

2008-03-20T11:26:00.002Z

I've lost my voice! :( That sore throat I'd been nursing since I got back eventually turned into a proper husky, 6 pack a day type voice. I thought it'd got within a day, but it's been around for over 2 days now, and it's quite frustrating cause I sound like a pre-pubescent boy whose voice has just broken, except with a lower pitch. Makes singing along to anything a bitch too, cause I can't reach any of the semi high notes boo. Although my friends are probably glad they're spared from my warbling for a while lol! Are there actually any remedies I could take to sort my voice out faster?? It's not a dry throat, even when I've drunk loads of water, it didn't help at all. Hmm...

Hope everyone's had a good day off; I've been vegetating as usual, re-discovered my season 2 Heroes dvd and been catching up with that today, helps to pass the time. I've got no plans for the weekend either, will probably spend time in the hospital with my grandmother to be honest. So, the doctors've said that there isn't anything medically wrong with my grandmother, but she just needs to build herself back up to her usual stamina. Which was very heartening to hear, let me tell you. At the moment though, it's hard to push her to try and do things for herself, I think the past 7 or so weeks has built up her dependance on us doing things for her. Guess the thing to do now would be to try and slowly get her to do more and more things for herself. No talks of discharge yet, I hope it's soon though.

I made a couple of quick introductory presentations to some future scholars a couple of days ago; I felt my age when I was doing it too, has it really been 5 years since I was in their positions, unsure what course to take, and being very nervous about making the choice because it would determine my whole life? Time definitely flies by...

I've finally got my work schedule sorted out, I start my rig assignment on the 1st of April, on a week on week off basis, which is exciting! Very much looking forward to it; also, I'm looking forward to all the time off I'll be getting lol! But the annoying thing is, I have absolutely nothing to do between now and the 1st, I've got stuff to read, and things to familiarise myself with, but come on a whole 2 weeks of that?? Time passes by excruciatingly slowly at the office; especially since we've not got as many visits and attachments to do as we did before the course. Next week we have a couple of visits to do so that's good; because at the moment, I swear I could be going stir crazy in my little office for lack of things to do! But the good thing is, I get to catch up with my course friends from about 1pm onwards, which is when they start work in their part of the world...

Enjoy the weekend everyone! xoxoxoxoxoxo

Sha - I'm not actually in Milan at the moment hun, I went a couple of weeks ago when I was still on my course. Didn't actually do much shopping there can you believe it?? I was only there for a night, so I spent my 24 hours there walking around the town with my friends, with frequent capuccino and gelato stops lol :) xxx

2008-03-17T13:15:00.002Z

On top of the Duomo in Milan, enjoying the only sun I had the whole 6 weeks I was away :P

Top photo : Schematic stick figures of the guys on my table group, and the second photo shows the people I sat with in class for the whole month. Had a lot of fun, specially with the 2 guys next to me :)
Akon performing at the Arctic Snowboard Challenge, Norway!

Me and the girls in Oslo :)

Taken at our first social at a bowling alley; was meant to be a girls' only photo, but as the case always is, one of the guys always has to jump in :)

2008-03-16T12:46:00.002Z

Been trying to upload some photos from my trip but blogger's being weird. Will try again in a bit. I've had such a lazy weekend; I definitely caught up on my sleep, I had 12 hours on Friday night and just over 10 hours last night, plus I had an afternoon nap too! Let's hope I'm over my jetlag now, I've not really had time to recover after starting work the day after getting back.

Watched There Will Be Blood today, it was a struggle trying to finish it, I've never been one for movies like that, but cause it had something to do with the oil industry I thought I should give it a go. I never really get the hype of Oscar films, I think it may be a case of them mostly being too intellectual for me? But anyways, this film really got me thinking that I'm so glad that I'm working now, as opposed to a hundred years before. As bad as the conditions may be on sites now, it's nothing compared to what the early drillers have had to go through =S But oil was found SOOO much easier then than it is now pft.

There's been a trio of baby monkeys visiting my house recently; a patch of jungle near my house has recently been cleared to make space for a house I think, and these 3 monkeys must've been displaced or something. They keep coming around and scavenging the food we leave out for the cats and birds. On one hand I feel sorry for them, but on the other, these monkeys are usually vicious creatures, and I'm scared that they'll hurt our cats. On more than one occasion, a monkey's come by and taken our kittens, to do what with, I don't know.

New week ahead, here's hoping it's a good one! :)

Tag replies : (very very overdue I realise, sorry guys!)

Sha - Thanks for the well-wishes, and I travelled so much while I was there because I might as well make full use of being there right? Otherwise it'd cost me an absolute fortune to see my friends from this part of the world :S Hope you're well babe xxxx

War186 - Lol! I enjoyed the travelling and I really wanted to see my friends, but by the end of it I really really wanted to just stay in and have a weekend all to myself, just vegetating and watching telly and reading magazines, y'know? I think I did that once over the past month, atupun self enforced, and then a friend came over for a chat and that plan went out the window lol :P xxxx

Tina - I couldn't find that chocolate fountain when I went back to the shop! Boo I is tres upset :( I made space and all in my luggage skali they tried offering me a cocktail fountain instead. Pft, not exactly the same thing! Did you get your set eventually? I think I may order the fountain on the internet this time and then just pick it up when I get there. I amd etermined to have a chocolate fountain for office makans damnit lol! xxxx

jai.aji.jiren - Lol! Well the last trip wasn't a holiday, though it may have seemed like it from my posts, actually had to do work y'know! :P lol! This next trip pun is because I'm going for my graduation. Honestly, I feel like I'm earning money in order to fund my next trip to wherever at the moment, it's even taking precedence over me needing to get a car lol! xxxx

2008-03-15T13:06:00.003Z

Not to sound like a misery guts or anything, but I think I may be slightly depressed here.

I feel exactly the same way I felt when I left uni for good; the first month and a half or so I felt completely lost being back, I didn't know what to do with myself. I had left my closest friends behind, I had to readjust to a completely different life, and this time, it wasn't a matter of being back for a few months over the summer, it was permanent. I felt like I had lost touch with all of my friends back in Brunei, they'd all moved on with their own lives which didn't really seem to include me. But slowly, slowly, I settled back into it all; work and training kept me busy through the week, and I was too tired over the weekends to really want to do anything but chill out at home. I made new friends, and reconnected with old friends, and most of my nights I was out and about hanging out with these guys. Then I went on my course for 6 weeks and had the time of my life with everyone. It felt like I had never left; meeting up with my ex housemates, my coursemates, and meeting new people, not to mention seeing P after 4 months :)

Coming back to Brunei after that was... hard let's just say. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate Brunei, I'm not planning on emigrating to another country or anything like that. I feel like I've gone back to November all over again, feeling lost and lonely and with no idea what to do with myself. At work, and with everyone I'm always super cheery, because, honestly, who wants to hang out with some miserable girl? It's just I need to settle back into Brunei life all over again. And it'll take some time. But it'll happen. I can't continue living my days just constantly looking forward to next trip abroad, I know that. Just, at the moment, I'm feeling upset and need to write it all out y'know?

There may be more depressing posts ahead, just to pre-warn everyone;... but I'll snap out of it soon I'm sure! Also, 7 weeks til May :)

Have a good weekend all

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

2008-03-14T13:17:00.002Z

My lovely, lovely coursemates. I've missed them loads since I've left, and I know I'm not the only one missing everyone. Apologies for the geeky photo, it's very difficult to find a photo of all 28 of us together lol!

2008-03-11T06:27:00.002Z

I'm back! The flight was uneventful; watched both Enchanted and Sydney White, neither of which made me feel any better about leaving P behind :( The flight was uneventful, but the events leading up to the flight were not so uneventful. Got to the airport 2.5 hours before the departure time, like any good passenger, except when we were changing trolleys froom the bottom of an escalator to the top, we managed to misplace S's handbag, with her passport, tickets, wallet, phones and pretty much everything in it. Cue 2 hours of panicking. The RBA staff in London were amazing, because they managed to get her ticket reprinted, and they also contacted the Brunei embassy to try and persuade them to let S travel with no documents whatsoever lol! Looking back on it now, it was quite funny, but it sure as hell didn't feel funny at the time. Something to tell the grandkids I'm sure lol..The only bad thing was that I didn't get to say a proper goodbye to P cause we were all running around like headless chickens :( But, May isn't too long away. Will hopefully be going back for graduation, and also to see friends in the Uk, and maybe in Dubai too, if things go to plan. OH! Rihanna was in the security checkin, like 5 people ahead of me! I was super starstruck but was too malu to ask for a photo. She's as pretty as she looks in her videos and photos. Also saw Prince William and Kate Middleton wandering about Selfridges on the Sunday, although I have to admit that I didn't recognise him at first, P noticed them. London is SO good for celeb spotting lol!

Back at work tomorrow, not looking forward to it, I think I might just fall asleep at my desk from sheer jetlag and exhaustion. But, new clothes to wear wahey! Lol! Didn't have any money at the end of my 4th year to stock up on a work wardrobe, but I've picked up some basics on this trip. Especially considering that I'll be in coveralls for most of this year now.

Anyways I said I'd put some photos up from my course, but blogger was being weird that day, so I guess it'll have to be Facebook if you guys wanna take a look.

Have a good week guys!

2008-03-09T21:00:00.000Z

Is it bad that I've not even left yet and I'm already counting down to my next trip in May? :(

xoxoxoxoxo

2008-03-08T17:36:00.004Z

Back in London now, left Holland last night; it was a really emotional goodbye. Well, emotional on my part anyways lol! Never been very good with goodbyes. The past month has been more intense than I thought it was going to be, and EP00 time moves different from real time I think, so even in such a short time, because we had spent so much time with each other, we developed strong bonds anyways. Not sure if that made sense, but it was really upsetting to say goodbye. I really wished I could have stayed an extra night but at the same time I really wanted to come back to London asap. K and D are also in London to visit me and I'll be meeting up with a few of my ex coursemates later tonight so that will be cool. Will be back in Brunei on Tuesday and straight back into the office on Wednesday so will have a proper update by then. Will leave you guys with some photos in the meantime.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Fxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

2008-03-01T09:24:00.002Z

I should be on my flight to Milan right now, but my flight's been delayed for 3 hours! Can you say kusut?? I think the weather's the main factor, it's been really windy here, but it's just so frustrating! I only have the one night there so I want to make the most out of it. Sigh..At the same time I'm very tempted to just leave it and spend some time in Holland, except for the fact that P's getting to Milan in about 10 minutes, and so's another friend of mine. Guess I should make the most out of my (even shorter now) time there.

The course keeps getting more hectic! The past 2 days were devoted to our group work, which isn't too bad as I've got a really good group, everyone gets along well, so that helps a lot in actually enjoying the work. Although I have to admit one girl in the group just really gets on my nerves. She's not really really bad or anything, compared to some of the guys I've had to work with last year, this girl's a saint, but sometimes...Gah. Lol! One example was yesterday morning; after first of all coming in 30 minutes late(!!) we were dividing up tasks and getting ready to start them all. So I asked her if she could maybe start typing her stuff up for the report we were meant to produce at the end of the day. She looks at me and goes "I don't like the laptops they give us. I only work on Linux." (Linux by the way, being a different operating system). The whole group was a bit dumbstruck at first but we were like, well ok, fair enough, but we still need to get things done so just work on this laptop for now. And she kept on refusing to do so, and said she hates the laptop so much she just leaves it in her hotel room and never takes it out. And when I suggested that maybe she could just grab her laptop from her room which was 2 minutes away from the office, she gave me a death stare and said she'd borrow someone else's instead. What the fuck?? I was already feeling tense from the amount of work we had to do, and then we also had to deal with a team member who wouldn't do any work cause she "doesn't like the laptop". I swear, it's not good for my blood pressure to be at the level it was at yesterday morning. So she eventually used another groupmate's laptop, even though he needed to use it too. Next week is meant to be the hardest phase of the project and I swear me (and probably another friend) will snap if she gives us the same shit as she has been the past 2 phases. :P

It's very interesting to see how people from different parts of the world react to stress. When it came to the crunch time yesterday, I was full out panicking, and so was the Irish girl who's in my group. We had a very rushed lunch, where I couldn't even eat properly cause I kept thinking of things I should be doing. One very quick lunch later, I was all for rushing back to the laptop and these 2 Mediterranean guys (Greek and Lebanese) were all like "No... relaxxx! Let's go for coffee!" And there I was practically jumping up and down because we really did NOT have time for coffee :P But anyways. Love the group anyways. Most of the time. Lol!

Very sad to be leaving the course on Friday, but at the same time I'm quite ready to be done with it all. But I'm not looking forward to starting back in the office the week after. Studying's so much better than working. Already made plans to visit my coursemates at some point in the near future, plus the industry's so small anyways we're probably going to run into each other more than I think.

Internet time's running out now, and I still have an hour and a half to kill. What should I do now???

Have a good weekend all!

xoxoxoxoxooxoxox

2008-02-26T22:16:00.002Z

I had the most random weekend in Norway; involving a Russian place, staying up til 6 am and then waking up early to watch a snowboarding competition on the Saturday and then, watched Akon performing at the competition! It was SO weird; the Norwegians seem very reserved and polite, there just wasn't any of the shoving and pushing trying to get to the stage that I'm quite used to and was expecting from concerts. All in all a very good weekend; photos to come at some point, when I finally figure out how to download my photos onto this laptop. It was really really good to catch up with my friends there. It was quite weird though, everyone I met that weekend was from a different company to mine, but they were all different generations of geologists from the same uni as me! I tried to get some of them to divulge company secrets to me but to no avail lol! Just booked my tickets to Milan to see Mathilde this weekend; I'm very very broke now, but I figure, when else will I be able to see them right?

So tired this week; been burning the candle at both ends, what with work and hanging out with my coursemates. Last night was good; we had a big girly chat over dinner, but I think some of the boys are feeling slightly put out that they weren't invited. But sometimes, you just need to vent and only other girls will understand. Class social tomorrow, we're going bowling. Not exactly my first choice of activities, but it should be good nonetheless :)

Hope everyone's doing ok!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxxo

2008-02-19T21:06:00.003Z

I'm going to Norway this weekend! Just dropped an obscene amount of euros for a short weekend trip, but hey when else am I going to see my friends there right? Might be going snowboarding too. I've been procrastinating from studying the whole night; I have a subsurface exam tomorrow but I. Just. Can't. Be. Bothered. Lol! It's really depressing being stuck in a hotel room, eating crappy (and super expensive!!) room service, instead of being out and about with the rest of the guys in the Hague or something. Not that I'm the only one that's stuck indoors presumably, and to be fair I've mostly been on the internet trying to sort out my trip than actually studying so maybe I shouldn't complain? Lol! But anyways, must celebrate end of exam (yes, just the one this week) tomorrow, any excuse for a night out right? :D

Sigh. Guess I really should get back to it. Whoop de do. Roll on petrophysics! But it's such a shame not to utilize my 9 euros a day internet connection. Awu mahal nyamu! But if I didn't have the internet on I think I'd go crazy!

Have a good one guys!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

2008-02-17T18:31:00.002Z

Hello from Rijswijk! Finally have time to sit down with the computer for more than 10 minutes at a time. As you guys can probably guess, the course is hectic; more hectic than I thought it would be! The first weekend in Belgium was incredible; noone on the course got more than 4 hours sleep per night that whole weekend; they just kept us going with different team exercises and projects per day. My first group was like a match made in heaven; everyone just got on so well; and it made the trip from Holland to Belgium that much more fun. Some of the activities we were supposed to do included taking photos with two people in uniforms (done when we took photos with some Belgian policemen); take a hot bath in a swanky hotel (done thanks to the charming nature of our Greek groupmate who persuaded the concierge at a hotel to let us manky people in to use their bath); sleep in a teepee ( We built our own using a shower curtain and some duct tape), amongst others. The whole of Saturday was spent trying to tender virtual contracts and earn virtual money by doing some stunts; our group did abseilling; flying fox and last but definitely not least, the pamperpole. I've never been particularly afraid of heights before but I think that bloody pamperpole exercise has made me develop one! It was the single scariest thing I've done. Basically it was a pole of a certain diameter and there was blocks of wood hammered all around it; and a platform on the very top. The pole's about... 10 m high maybe? And the purpose of the exercise was to climb all the way up to the top, turn around once, and to jump off. All while harnessed obviously. Sounds pretty easy no? I thought so too, except I didn't take into account that the pole would be swaying around while I was climbing it. I was literally pissing myself; the hardest thing was to try and get upright on this platform and keeping your balance at the same time. Click on the link to see photos of how it worked. Our instructors over the course were very cool; there's always something very attractive about rugged, outdoorsy men, I think lol! And, this is quite embarassing to admit, but over the space of that weekend; I only showered maybe twice? Lol! It wasn't a hot weekend thank god, and I honestly felt that my time was better put to use somewhere else rather than in the shower. I was in a team called Sky Pilots the first day and Optimised on the second and I think we did pretty well lol!

We started classes on Tuesday and it's been very packed actually; they're trying to fit many many different topics into 6 hours; it's very reminiscent of my days at Imperial. We had a geology session a couple of days ago and I was very nervous about not getting things right; especially when the non-geologists were placing a lot of hope slash trust on us getting everything correct :P Next week we have an exam and some more exercises to carry out. We've not been getting that much rest after hours either; most nights we're out in a big group just having dinner together and chatting; it's interesting how being forced into extreme situations over the past weekend has kind of forced us to make bonds more quickly than we probably usually would. It's a very multicultural group as well; from the Greek to the Norwegian to the Bruneians.

Spent the weekend with P in Amsterdam. It was my first time there and it's actually a very pretty city. I always expected it to be seedy, and full of just weed and prostitutes, and while it does have those things, it also has some lovely architecture and museums, two different markets, great restaurants and best of all, good shops! We even managed to fit in some karaoke at an Irish pub last night and we managed to mangle some pretty good songs; ever noticed that no matter how good someone is, once they're starting on the karaoke, they sound just as crap as everyone else??

Staying in for the first time since we started the course tonight; I need to rest up and catch up on some work, plus rest up for next week too!

Hope you guys have had a good weekend!

Fxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

2008-02-05T20:08:00.000Z

It's good to be back. She (and Ka A) came to send me off at the airport, and I also got a sweet farewell present from a friend before I left. The flight over was alright, slept through most of it. Actually, I slept and ate and slept again. Pretty much the whole way lol! . I'd forgotten just how cold it actually gets round this time of the year; I've been freezing my buns off, even with my winter coat on! I'm still pretty jetlagged, yesterday was the first day that I made it past 5pm without falling asleep, although that's probably because I was out and about in Manchester with Nathalie; and couldn't very well fall asleep on her. I was very very cranky though, but some tea and a scone with clotted cream and jam soon sorted me out. Tomorrow I'm meeting N again in Leeds for lunch; I haven't been back there in a while so I'm looking forward to it.

I've mostly been shopping, I pretty much hit the shops as soon as I got off the plane lol. I've got several months of shopping to make up for y'know! Although I may be going slightly overboard, should tone it down before I run out of money before even starting my course! I've just been trying to stock up on work clothes because before I came back after finishing my course last year I was too broke to buy any new work clothes. Thank goodness the sales are still on, but saying that though, I haven't actually found that much. Doesn't help that I've piled on the pounds while I've been back, I've gone up a whole bum size! :( Got some non work things too obviously; scored a handbag and wallet, and must remember to get myself a chocolate fountain set before I come back (I is jealous of hers lol!)

I've still got some prework for the course that needs completing before Friday; its non technical reading and more business-y type things and my brain's finding it hard to wrap itself around the concepts, hence I've been putting it off. I actually cannot be bothered to do any studying lol, it's been a while. Ok, 4 months, but that's long enough! Leaving for Holland on Thursday, I feel like I haven't spent that much time back in the UK to be honest, and I definitely haven't seen P as much as I'd like to, what with him working long hours and all.

Oh and guys, keeps your fingers crossed for my grandmother would you? She was taken into hospital on Sunday, the doctors suspect a gastro bleed. Apparently its very common in elderly people; my mom says she's seems alright now. She's currently under observation in ICU, they're waiting to see if the injection they gave her stopped the bleeding. She hasn't been well lately and she's been refusing to go to the hospital. I hope she gets better soon :(

Next post will probably be from Rijswijk.

Take care everyone!

xoxoxoxoxooxox

2008-01-31T11:06:00.000Z

I've always loved motorbikes; since I was about... 14 and the cool guys in school had motorbikes. But my mom never let me on one for safety reasons and to be honest I agree with her. How many times've we been forced to brake or swerve on the roads because of those biker convoys that can be found on the roads during the weekends? Particularly those sports bikes. But still doesn't stop me from coveting one of them babies.

Got shown this video this afternoon at a safety meeting which properly scared me off bikes. Not for good, but enough to probably not want to take one to the road anytime soon. And I hope this never happens to the many guys with bikes that I know.

Note: Video is really graphic and gruesome so I wouldn't recommend watching if you're the squeamish type.

Video

xoxoxoxox

2008-01-31T10:06:00.000Z

Big big hugs and congratulations to Shasha, who is graduating today!! Have a great day hun, and please blog all about it, since you can't actually tell me all about it in person :( When're you flying back??

Can't believe I'm actually leaving tomorrow! I've picked up my tickets; made the necessary arrangements with my bank; and by some stroke of luck, my workshop visit tomorrow has actually been postponed so I can even take a sneaky half day off to go to the salon after lunch lol! Will be flying off with S; and coincidentally, another friend, F will also be on our flight and she'll also be off to Rijswijk. That brings the number of guys from my batch who'll be in Rijswijk the same time as us up to 7! Which is very cool, as it's been a while since we've seen everyone. 7 out of 11 isn't bad right? I wish A could come and join us (told you to apply for our session! :P) but I'm actually starting to get a teeny bit excited about it all now. What I'm not very excited about is the packing; I still haven't put anything in! And I still need to get my hiking boots out. Pfft here I go again procrastinating. Tomorrow I'll be cranky and panicky about packing and end up leaving something super important behind I bet.

Over the past month that my friends and I have been with this new department, and with all the different people we've met throughout our many visits and familiarisation programmes, I think the guy who was showing us around over the past two days takes the cake as the nicest guy. EVER. Not that the other people weren't nice, mind you, but this one seriously went out of his way to do things for us, especially considering the fact that we were basically dumped on his lap, because he was around and available. He even arranged a mock emergency drill while we were onsite, mostly to check his crew's emergency response skills but also, I think, to entertain us lol! We were allowed to choose which team we wanted to be part of and I very unwisely chose to join the emergency response team, which meant that I had to run around with a stretcher looking for "missing" crewmen. I drew the line at lifting the guy though, I left that one for the guys thanks lol! Next time I think I'll go for the role with the least exertion required lol! But yes, the guy is a sweetie, bless him.

I really should go pack. Or I may do that after American Idol at 8 hmmm... lol!

Have a good one ladies! xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Tag replies:

Tina - I know! He just said Ok tu, nda papa tu! And me, being a girl, was just completely clueless and I had no idea what to do. Plus I was super tired so just decided to leave it. Although I now realise that I SO shouldn't have paid for it ah...Hope you're doing better now hun, left eye still acting up? Maybe you need to take allergy pills; the doctor prescribed me the last time I had that problem and all ok now *touchwood*

War - I know kan!! And it wasn't like I asked for something particularly complicated. Only 2 colours what, green and red. If got all colours of the rainbow on the pumps then I can maybe understand the mistake but still!

Shasha - I misses you toooo! I have noone to wave at when I visit the flats now; and no more emails waiting for me either booo :( malas to pakat bah it was late already haha.. I did take his name down though. If I had broken down I would've tracked him down and made him sort it out :P

Olive - Awu people were telling me I should've gotten them to empty the tank but like I said I was just like omg now what?? when it happened hehe.. So far so good so fingers crossed lah heheh :)

2008-01-29T13:36:00.000Z

My car's fuel tank currently contains half green and half red petrol. Went to fill up my tank at Roxana in Seria and told the pump attendant to please fill it up with red. He said ok, so I did the usual turning off of my engine and then fiddled with my radio for a bit while waiting for them to fill it up. Looked through my side window and the guy had attached the green pump to my tank! So I called the guy over and told him he'd put the wrong petrol in and he was completely unapologetic! I wasn't sure what to do either; I mean there's no point having him switch back to red cause it was almost filled up anyways. And he kept telling me it'd be ok, that petrol was petrol and the car'd be fine. SO annoyed! He didn't even apologise! I took his name so I swear if anything happens to me on the road I am storming back over and making them fix it! Apparently I should've asked them to empty the tank completely and to fill it up with new petrol but I didn't know what to do.

Fingers crossed I'll make it to my destination tomorrow...

xoxoxoxo

2008-01-27T01:47:00.000Z

I'm convinced I bring bad luck to the crew we were following on Friday. We spent most of Friday morning waiting on a crane that never arrived; no crane, no job because the crane needs to set up the equipment before starting the actual work. When we left for lunch at about 1145, after about 2 hours of waiting about aimlessly; who do we meet as we leave the site but the crane! Chugging along nicely, with nary a care in the world :P Hmph. Yesterday I sacrificed my weekend lie in to meet up with the crew again and when I got there; they told me that the crane was out of order and they had to wait for a new one to come in. Waited a couple of hours for this crane to come in from KB to the site which was literally 15 minutes away by car and it never arrived. I left soon after cause I was going to Bandar with the parentals, but apparently the crane only arrived at 2 pm, after the crew had been waiting there since about 8. Poor guys; must be frustrating to be waiting around for so long; they're not even allowed to leave the site, unlike me, who comes and goes as I please lol!

Today, I decided to have another go at it and hopefully actually witness the operation we were supposed to have done on Friday but wouldn't you just know it; got a call from one of the guys literally 5 minutes before I was to leave the house telling me not to come after all cause they'd been called out to sort a problem offshore. :P It's not meant to be I suppose. In a way, I'm secretly glad because I was sort of dreading spending my Sunday in the field; I get very little holidays as it is, I need to make mine last! The guys who're working today are on a shift work system so they get a week off of work very soon.

But, no matter, I'm off to meet a friend for lunch instead and then off to the office to check my work emails. Apparently this London Kebab place just opened up in the Pandan area; and I've heard good things about it, so I'm off to check it out.

Enjoy your Sunday!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

2008-01-25T11:38:00.000Z

Ngaleh ku. It's been a hectic week; managed to fit in a bouncer party, 2 sleepovers at the girls', a joyride with H and S, one very late night girly chat with S and H (which resulted in me being super tired and cranky the day after, but was well worth it because it's been a while :)) and dinner with Shasha and E (thanks guys!), in the past 5 nights. Not to mention my 3 days mud and cement intensive course and my 2 day induction at a different section of my department. Thank god for the weekend!

Although I'll be back out in the field tomorrow with the guys we were out with today cause we didn't manage to see as much operational stuff as I'd liked, seeing as how we had to wait for the bloody crane to get to our site for pretty much the whole morning! Although I did manage to have some fun with the walkie talkie the guys were using; the supervisor allowed us to "radio" back to base and I tell you, the way the people who share the frequency respond when a guy radios in is completely different to the reaction I got when I called in! The phrase "Mau beromen bang?" came to mind lol! But hey it kept us entertained those long hours while we waited for the crane to arrive. I've realised that there's so much about what the company gets up to that I didn't know about; and this induction period is really really useful for us in terms of exposure; its amazing how much there is to do once the oil has been found! I never thought about what happens after the hole's been dug up, so to speak. The guys doing their jobs are good at it, and they're really good and patient about explaining it all to a bunch of clueless newbies. Days when you're out in the field are the best really; you get to see tools and equipment up close, so it's not just an abstract sketch or diagram; and best of all, if you ask nicely, you get to do some hands-on stuff too!

I spent most of yesterday in the workshop looking at the various tools we'd be using in the field today, and at one department, for some strange reason; there was a wooden penis on a table! Like a properly carved one, right next to the computer where we were being briefed on a program, and right in S' and mine line of sight. Needless to say, both of us didn't know where to look during that whole presentation! :P I wanted to ask the guy why he had a phallic object on his table, but didn't know how to phrase it politely; so I just stumbled about for a few minutes before I finally pointed at the thing and went "WHY do you have that on your table??" Lol! I would say the embarassment level was at an all time high but I was just curious!

It's my last weekend in Brunei before I fly off on the 1st yay!! I've just been told that I have a site visit that Friday though and I have no clue what time it finishes, but sod it, I'll board in my coveralls and boots if I have to! I still have so much to do; I need to get my windter stuff out of my boxes, wash them and then repack. Bleh. I hate packing. And unpacking too actually.. Going to Bandar with the family tomorrow so I can get myself a new rucksack, my old field one is looking a bit worn for wear at the minute; and I want a nice, brand new one for my 4 day "adventure" weekend, which is actually part of my course. I don't know much about it yet but apparently it's very Amazing Race-like, and we're supposed to find our way from Holland to Belgium in 24 hours, spending the least money and taking as little time as possible. Sounds interesting, I hope I get someone familiar with Europe in my group or we might end up in Norway or something!

Anyways I am ready for bed, early start tomorrow anyways. Have a good weekend!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Tags:

War - Hehe I guess that makes us lingual chameleons? :D xxx

2008-01-19T15:19:00.000Z

Just back from a steamboat/barbeque farewell thing at a friend's. Unfortunately the cooking had to be cut short when the gas canister for the steamboat kinda caught fire. Everyone panicked; including yours truly with the (half a day) fire fighting training. The host didn't even know where his fire extinguisher was; and we scattered out of the compound pretty damn quick. Luckily the host's brother saved the day with the fire extinguisher. He was obviously paying attention during HIS training :P

I wonder if any of you guys do this thing I do : Depending on who I'm with, I speak differently. Like, with the guys I was with tonight, it was all very much "yameh?" "Yalor" "Got leh" style of speaking if you get me? And when I'm with my colleagues and other people I'm macam biasa, a mix of English and Malay. And then some people lagi get the Bruneian me, with the "yos" at the end of my sentences. Lol! Never realised it until tonight because it'd been a while since I spoke Brulish(?) and was just wondering if that was just me being weird?

Rediscovered my love for The Little Mermaid today and only just found out that it's recently started in Broadway as a musical! The Little Mermaid's my favourite cartoon, ever and I remember I used to watch it all the time, to the point of memorising lines and scenes. In fact to this day, I can sing "Part of your world" without needing any lyrics sheet lol! The other songs I don't remember totally but I can still hum them I think. I wish I lived in NY so I can catch the show, it'd be like a dream brought to life for me! Oh and while youtube-ing mermaid videos, I stumbled across this guy; check him out and tell me he isn't amazing! If you listened without watching the video I'm sure you'd think he was a girl!

Link 1

Link 2

Have a good weekend y'all!

xoxoxoxoxox

Tag replies:

Olive - Hehe ayam?? Just as random as fish, maybe you can list his analogies out too? Hehe be interesting to compare them :)

Day - Norsh had another one, but we've started tuning him out so we missed it! Learning to nod and smile and think about what to have for lunch or dinner while appearing to concentrate on him lol!

War186- Haha most of my friends who played didn't bruise themselves, there's something wrong with my arm cause when I stick it straight out, there's an extra protruding bit at the side of my elbow that the others don't have. Lol! I sound like a freak now :P

Alai - Link away will add you to my list too :D

2008-01-17T13:11:00.000Z

It's been a week of firsts:

Yesterday I had my first squash lesson and I quite enjoy the sport. Paying for it today thoough, my arms, thighs and bum hurt. And I'm crap compared to the people I went with. As the teacher quoted "Aiya, you look like you want to go shopping lah!" And as for the way I hit the ball? "Wah.. like orang goreng sayur ah??!!" Lol! How insulting?? But luckily the guy said it nicely enough that I didn't mind too much. And I guess I must've improved by the end of the session cause he said I looked like I was goreng kuey teow this time.

Today I finally tried out BJ archery in Pandan, and it was fun! Went with 3 of my girlfriends and I have to say, the staff dealt well with 4 loud, slightly blonde people haha..I was very impressed; everyone was very professional, and they ran through the different parts of the bow, how to hold it properly, how to fit an arrow on properly, etc. They let us practice holding the bow and pulling the string back a couple of times before letting us start shooting. Met an old schoolmate there (and fellow Brustuer!) and he was most helpful in helping me sort myself out. Apparently I have a tendency to cock my hips when I should have been standing straight so he was responsible for telling me off when I stood improperly lol! But yeah it's great fun, highly recommended. The price is quite reasonable too; between the 4 of us we got 60 arrows and paid about $6 each, there is also the option of getting 30 arrows for just $10. I think I'll be going with another friend tomorrow, and once more on Sunday with PS lol! Only problem is, I now have 2 ugly bruises on my left forearm where the bowstring struck my skin. It's ugly, but it's proof that I've played!

I've been very impatient with someone at work lately and it's beginning to show in how I interact with her. I get very short-tempered, and I'm honestly quite rude sometimes. But this person just gets to me! She seems to expect things to just magically organise themselves and fall into her lap, problem free! But what she doesn't realise is that the rest of us have been trying to sort things out for everyone and she's just been reaping the benefits of our efforts. And all those times I (or my other friends) got told off? Was because we were trying to arrange for something for us all! And she goes "Oh, I never realised that he (our supervisor) pandai marah orang? Baik jua ya!" That's because you never speak to him sister! There's a reason he didn't realise there was 4 of us altogether and not 3, cause only us 3 had bothered to speak to the new supervisor and make our faces known to the new department. Today's email really set me off; my friends and I were planning on joining a site visit later on in the afternoon so we were just discussing whether or not we should actually tag along with this group that had already planned on going. This person just said yes and buggered off somewhere, even though the rest of us were talking about talking to the respective authorities to arrange the visit. And she has the NERVE to email us an hour before lunch asking whether the trip had been organised yet, and when we said no, she asked why not? Macam Oh. My. God! We weren't put on God's green earth to cater to you woman! Just get off your arse and do something for yourself once in a while, I promise it won't kill you! And she always whines about how we don't invite her along to certain things, but seriously, if we don't say anything, then just bloody ask us! Nda kan tunggu orang bawa saja, macam tah nda dapat bertanya sendiri! God. *Breathes* I'm not the only one getting annoyed, we all are. One day one of us is going to snap (probably me) and say something I'm sure of it.

Ada lagi sorang. But I think one annoying person per post is enough.

Oh a Mr. Fisherman quote - "You all ah, want to go into a restaurant and look at many different kinds of menus. But actually, you can't because there's only ONE menu." This was in response to us asking about tagging along on the site visit (yes the very same one annoying colleague was harping on about).

xoxoxoxo

2008-01-12T17:33:00.000Z

I've agreed to trade a video of me playing GH for something I think is worth a lot more than a photo, taking into account the embarassment factor.

Cubey, if you're reading this, hmph! :P

/edit : Ok, I can deal with two I suppose hehe...

xoxoxoxo

2008-01-12T11:31:00.000Z

True story:

A woman recently suffered a fall, and to make sure that she hadn't broken or fractured anything (she's quite elderly), her family sent her to a hospital for an x-ray. When she was x-rayed they noticed something in her stomach area: a pair of scissors (correction : forceps). Apparently a couple of decades back, after she had a c-section, and the medical staff simply forgot to remove the forceps! They operated, and when the retrieved it, it was all rusty! Unfortunately, medical records back then aren't as detailed as they are now, so the hospital has no idea who were the attending nurses and physicians when she had her c-section.

How scary is that?! The level of incompetence that's being showed is really sobering. Imagine how many more people that could have happened to; it was only by sheer luck that they even found the instrument left in this woman; if she hadn't fallen, they wouldn't have run an x-ray on her, or found the scissors! It's a wonder she didn't get blood poisoning from the rust.

But who's to blame? If the family were to sue the hospital involved; none of the staff who were around 20 years ago would still be around now. So effectively they would be suing innocent people.

What would you guys do?

2008-01-11T15:18:00.000Z

I'm going to Rijswijk in February yay!! My travel form finally got approved this afternoon and I made travel arrangements straightaway. Planning to fly off on the 1st to London, spend a couple of days there and then off to the Netherlands on the 7th. Will be coming back straight after the course ends; was planning to come back later, but cause I'm not allowed any leave while on probation I'll be flying back straight after. But hey! Not complaining, at least I get to go in the first place. Already made plans to see my friends during the weekends, and realised that even though I'm there for just about 6 weeks I only have about 3 weekends free! So many things to do, so little time! Credit cards at the ready, shops, here I come! :) The hotel I'm staying at in Rijswijk is slightly odd though, in the sense that the bathroom is located in the middle of the room and has glass walls! So there is a complete lack of privacy in case I have someone over and I need the loo. On a more positive note though, at least I can watch telly while I have a shower? Lol!

Kaizen sushi opened up in Seria yesterday and I tried it out with my friend over dinner tonight. The place seems bigger than Excapade in Seria, and the menu was so varied! There were pages after pages after pages of brightly coloured sushi, didn't know where to start. The only weird thing was; they didn't have a drinks menu, which is quite annoying. They're currently only serving soft drinks I assume? As I usually order the same set of sushi when I go to Excapade, I wasn't sure what to get this time so my friend and I got a selection of random dishes : some cheesy salmon thing, unagi, tuna and a platter of pregnant fish. Lol! I've always wanted to give the pregnant fish dish a go, but was always put off by the thought somewhat. Anyways, tried it eventually, and it was... ok. Tasted like normal fried fish, not sure I noticed any difference between eating a pregnant fish and a non-pregnant one? But the fact that I knew what I was eating kinda put me off it somewhat I think. Wouldn't order it again anyways. I'm sure the place will be full all through lunch and dinnertimes now. But I think I'd probably go to Excapade over Kaizen.

Speaking of fish (hmm fish seems to be a running theme in my last few posts; maybe I should change my blog name to fishy-dreams?), I watched a video of a dish served in a Shanghai restaurant, which prides itself on serving fresh fish. Anyways, the cook takes the fish out of the aquarium, gets rid of its scales, cuts it open and guts it and then fries all but the head of the fish. All this while the fish is still alive and flopping about! And they then serve it up to the waiting guests who can't wait for their partially alive fried fish. Isn't that the cruelest thing ever??? I mean, the poor fish; the pain it must be in! I'm sure it doesn't affect the freshness by that much to just kill the fish before skinning it and cooking it? Gah. Humans. I swear we come up with most inhumane ways of eating in the name of "good food". Remember the whole monkey brains thing?

Have a good weekend all!

xoxoxoxo

2008-01-09T15:07:00.000Z

Lol! Ok this next post is probably not going to make sense to most people, nor would people find it funny, but in my new department, I have a colleague who me and Day have decided to call Mr Fisherman. No particular reason why, but anyways Mr Fisherman tells me and my friends off quite regularly for the most random things, and he always uses analogies to drive his points home. So, as I'll only be working with this colleague of mine for a year, Day thought I should compile a list of quotable quotes from this person, to remind myself of him in the many years to come heheh...This list will be periodically updated with new analogies as and when they are used.

1. I told Mr Fisherman I had organised a site visit for my colleagues and I.

Me - Just to let you know, I'm organising a visit to this site with the other guys.
Mr Fisherman (MF) - WHY?
Me - *Explains why - exposure to new environment etc etc*
MF - You are trying to fly, but you don't have wings! It's like, you want to cook this dish right, but you don't have all the ingredients, so how to cook???? Must get all the ingredients and THEN you can start cooking.

2. A friend, S, told MF that she wanted to visit different sites in order to gain more working experience at these different places, as each site has different activities going on.

S - *explains her request to Mr Fisherman*
MF - What for??? It's like...say you want to eat fish! You can eat fish from different places, got thai restaurant, chinese restaurant, malay restaurant. In the end, it's still FISH right????

Lol! Nda make sense bah kamu eh!! What does cooking and eating fish have to do with what we asked him?? Nothing that's what! :P

Anyways there was another one today, but I've forgotten it. So these are the only ones for now hehe..

Tag replies:

Olive - Selamat Menyambut Tahun Baru Hijrah to you too hun! I hope you're enjoying your much needed holiday (even though you started work um... 2 days ago?) Lol! I kid I kid! hehe.. xxx

Day - Today punnnn kena marah again! Lol :P Honestly I'm learning to smile through the words and pretend I'm listening :P xxxx

Shasha - OI! Nda cali tu eh FF ah hehe... :P See you Friday! xxxx

2008-01-08T11:19:00.000Z

I am exhausted! Spent the whole of yesterday out in the field with some wellhead maintenance guys as part of our induction. Went to places that I seriously never knew existed in Seria. I *always* wondered where those hundreds of wells that were drilled in the past ended up; now I know; in the middle of nowhere! It was good, although we were seriously tired out after spending the day under the sun. So so many part names to learn; well, not learn exactly, but familiarise ourselves with. My brain shut down pretty much after lunch. The guys we shadowed yesterday pretty much embodied what I think offshore guys are like. As soon as they knew we were newbies, and not to mention female, they were, shall we say..penyeluru lah. Not that they weren't very very helpful but they were also trying to get a rise from both of us :P Something to look forward to over the next year I guess.

Today was spent at the office, but I was out and about the whole day, it felt like I barely had any time to shoot off replies to emails, let alone have the long email conversations I used to have just a couple of weeks ago! Lol, not that all I did before joining this department was emailing with people, but let's just say it was a big part of my day.

Tomorrow I'm back with the guys from yesterday, although I think we may be in the workshop , instead of out in the field. A good friend I haven't seen in yonks is down in the district for a meeting so hopefully I'll be able to get off during lunch to meet up with her, it's been too long!

Oh and an update on the course in February - called up today about the status of our request and the guy on the other end (who hadn't replied any calls or emails since December) pretty much told us that because there were too many of us this particular session, they were going to start kicking people off the course!! Which sent me and a friend running off in blind panic to our respective supervisors to get their help with the situation. Luckily, our supervisors put their foot (feet?) down with this person, so hopefully we won't have to get spots on a different course session because that would totally mess up our schedules; not just personally, but also professionally. Our schedule over the next year was planned around this course, so if that gets shifted around, then pretty much everything gets delayed/disrupted! Some people seriously think they're bigger than they actually are.

Eeps! Currently on MSN with a friend from the training centre, and apparently this safety course that I swear I put my name down for in mid December, and he says my name's not on the list for the course on Monday the 14th! Honestly, it's like one thing after another.

Public holiday on Thursday yay!

xoxoxoxoxox

2008-01-06T11:06:00.001Z

My grandmom's been ill the past couple of days. She's got a fever and she's been pretty weak cause of it. But, as the case usually is with elderly people, she refuses to see a doctor. It really upsets me to see this strong woman who helped bring me up, this fierce woman who never lets anything get by her in this condition. I hope she feels better soon.

I want someone to tell me it'll all be ok. That's all.

2008-01-06T01:37:00.000Z

All my shipped over stuff from London smells like box =/ It's got that icky, damp smell you get when you haven't aired your clothes out in a while? Highly annoying, cause I was looking forward to getting my clothes back, only to realise I can't wear any of them straight out of the box. And I really shot myself in the foot when I didn't fill my inventory list properly; when I was packing, I was writing up the list pretty haphazardly cause I just couldn't be bothered. I wish I was more detailed now though, cause I'm looking for the box with my heels in and I have no clue where in my 8 boxes these particular shoes are! My own fault =P

Started with my new department last week, and so far it's going well. We get kept on our toes with meetings and induction activities. Only snag is our immediate supervisor. He's... I don't know what to call him, maybe... old school? I tried organising a visit for my friends and I to a site nearby, as part of our exposure and I told him about it and he chewed my head off! Said something about me wanting to fly when I didn't even have any wings yet. Or something to that effect. Properly gave me a scolding for a full 5 minutes. And that wasn't the first time either. When I first started working, my friend and I asked him whether there was anything we could read or any meetings we could attend so that we could learn more about this particular field of work. And he said we were being too "aggressive"!!! I'm sorry, I thought that was showing initiative? And people complain that new recruits nowadays expect to be spoonfed information and yet when we try and ask questions we get shot down! Grrr.. Decided to let anything he says from now on go in one ear and out the other. One year is a short period of time; and most of that will be spent out of office. Plus there are other people and channels I can go through instead of through him.

Something else that annoyed me was that my friend and I who are in the same department asked someone for help in organising visits to some of the company's facilities; and instead of telling us who to contact or helping us along in any way, he fobs us off to someone who has nothing to do with us, or the purpose of our visit at all! It's like... If I had to go to the dentist but the dentist's receptionist tells us to contact the fire brigade instead to make an appointment? I don't see why something that was supposed to be kept within the department, between 3 people, has to be lumped together with something that will most likely take months and months to sort out, what with waiting for the appropriate people and protective gear.

My course in Feb still hasn't been confirmed. Even though the appropriate people have signed the release form, we've hit a snag with a certain other department. Gah!

God, when I write it all down, it seemed to be a frustrating week but it really wasn't lol! I've met some really cool people; went to a house warming do at the girls' flats; joined a department that I'm genuinely looking forward to working for.

Oops, time to start getting ready. Still haven't found those shoes, or picked out my outfit.

Have a good sunday all!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Ps: Thanks for all the new year greetings, let's hope it's a good one for us all this year :)

2008-01-01T10:44:00.001Z

Oh and I forgot to mention; it's P's 25th today! I have to say that I honestly had no clue what to get him this year, the past years I usually had a gift idea a couple of weeks before the date. This year, zilch. Was planning to get him a wallet, but the site I was choosing off didn't seem to deliver. So because I was running out of time, what with the different holidays over the past month, I eventually settled for an Aquasphering voucher and a couple of remote controlled helicopters; which will hopefully get delivered soon. But will get him his real present when I'm over in Feb; I think I finally know what to get him, but I need his shoe size lol! Men are SO hard to shop for. What do you guys usually get for the men in your lives?

xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

2008-01-01T10:29:00.000Z

Happy New Year everyone!! I'm glad it's the new year, I thought things were kind of dragging on a bit; and now that it's the new year I think I'm feeling more upbeat and refreshed. Hope you guys had a fabulous celebration last night, and you're not feeling it too much today! I stayed in like I planned, and was out like a light pretty much right after the countdown on telly. Lol!

Anyways to start off the year, I just got a weird phone call. I picked up a call on my house phone and there's this girl on the other end saying "Hello, Siti??"

So I tell her she's got the wrong number, and then she asks me "Who is this??", really rudely. By the way, it really really annoys me when people who call me ask who I am; shouldn't it be ME asking her that? Anyways, I ask her who she's looking for again, and she goes "My friend, Siti." Majal jua tu, I mean, I tell her once it's the wrong number and she still asks me about this Siti chick? So I told her again lah that she had the wrong number, and she promptly hung up on me.

One minute later, phone rings again, and I thought that it had to be the same girl, misdialling again or something. So I pick up and it IS the same girl and she goes "And you better shut up bitch!" and hangs up!!

Lol! I was like umm.. did I miss something? It's not MY fault she got the wrong number, so why the rudeness? We've got called ID at home and I was so tempted to call her back, but then thought maybe that'd be slightly immature? Lol but. SO TEMPTED :P

Anyways, joining new department tomorrow. Hopefully it goes well.

Hope you guys've had a good day off!

xoxoxoxoxox

2007-12-30T13:51:00.000Z

Just finished a marathon session of ANTM Cycle 8. Although my favourite girl, Natasha, didn't win but I'm so pleased she got to second place! Didn't think Jaslene should've won though; but I'm glad Natasha beat the others to get to the finals. The last 4 girls were so mean towards her; I suspect purely because she's got a weird accent and married young. Pft. She's appeared so nice and sweet on the show, although I know that's probably been very heavily edited, but she was just so endearing! Lol anyways. I keep listening to Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown's new song called "No Air", based on Tina's recommedation. I'm loving it currently, I hope it doesn't get overplayed to death on the radio, but you can just tell it will be.

This Thursday a couple of my friends are holding a house/flat warming dinner do at their place, but I've just realised that a friend is also having his malam berbedak that same night! Well..this guy is more my parents' friend than mine, but I'd really like to see him in all his berbedak glory, as I won't be going to the bersanding ceremony. But then I don't want to miss out on hanging out with the girls either. Not to mention Shasha's famous cupcakes are apparently going to be making an appearance! Lol..decisions decisions...

In case I don't get an opportunity to do so in the next couple of days, have a very happy new year everyone. Are you guys doing anything in particular to celebrate? I think I'm just going to be boring this year; stay in and watch the fireworks on telly.

See you all in 2008!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

2007-12-29T15:45:00.000Z

As I'm typing this, P is currently in Selfridges taking full advantage of the sales there. His latest puchase - Bottega Veneta shoes. He'd never even heard of the brand before! Jealous, me?? YES!! :P

Have a good weekend all!
xoxoxoxox

2007-12-26T13:22:00.000Z

After a massive group effort my friends and I finished Guitar Hero 3 in about... 4 hours flat! Lol! I received the game on the Monday, and decided to give it a go today. I was going to play just a couple of the songs, just to give it a go, but you guys know how it is; you keep wanting to play just an extra song, just one more level! Lol! We felt such a sense of accomplishment at the end.

Tapi there's an unhappy ending - my PS2 memory had run out of space, so even though we finished the game, none of our progress was saved!! :( Haha... But nevermind, still felt proud of ourselves tadi lol. This game's got more songs that I've actually heard of, and the boss battles in between levels were a welcome bonus. Plus I love the fact that you can complete the game in 2 player mode!

My favourite song to play was Muse - Knights of Cydonia, what was yours? :)

xoxoxoxox

2007-12-25T13:45:00.000Z

Merry Christmas everyone! To those celebrating, I hope you've had a good time with the loved ones. To those not celebrating, I hope you've enjoyed the day off. I know I have, with the ever so sexy Dr. House, MD :)

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

2007-12-22T14:12:00.000Z

FINALLY changed the layout! This one allows comments too, which I think I prefer to tags. In fact if I'm not mistaken, this kitten picture is the same one she used when she helped me change my layout ages ago! Right hun? :) Not sure about the scribbly things at the top of the page, but til I find a better layout I think I'll stick to this one. Kitten's pretty cute anyways :)

Oh and I've finally updated my links too, if you want off the list, or I've missed someone out or if I've made a typo somewhere, do let me know.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

2007-12-22T09:04:00.000Z

I went a on a slight credit card application frenzy today. I've applied for Amex, Mastercard and Visa, from 3 different banks! Eeps. I think I may cancel one of them lol but which one? I may keep the Amex cause its a chip and pin, and I think there's a 2 year waiver on the Mastercard so I may keep that one too...Oh well. I'm sure I can cancel them whenever I want, I reallllly don't want to be spending imaginary money and end up with a huge bill at the end of the month. With 3 cards no less!

Finally got my nails done, had it painted a nice shiny red which my mom hated on sight. She'll probably make me remove it within the next couple of days or so, knowing her. May have to hide my hands around her so she won't remember to tell me to get rid of the colour. Knowing me though, I'll probably chip my nails within this weekend and then I'll have to get rid of the colour anyways :P

Bit of a random post, but I had the urge to blog lol!

xoxoxox

(Very overdue) tag replies:

Sha - I'm sure he didn't do it out of spite, he was just trying to be funny. It's ok I got my own back, I lowered his chair when he wasn't looking, and obviously he wasn't expecting the sudden change of height and sat down normally and almost fell over. Lol! I wasn't there to see it but I did feel a tad guilty when he told me lol :)

War - Yatah kan, antah dari mana that dream came from...Nothing like that anymore though thank goodness.

Metallichick - You should have seen me when I first saw my table with the signs :P Slackjawed would've been the word to describe me at that point.

Tina - We get along ok I suppose haha.. But he's left now my colleague, gone to a different office, leaving me all alone and lonely :( Haha sudah atu, rindu tia jua :P

Olive - Hehe I know! Menyaya banar... But now noone else to kacau...the others are all pretty serious, don't think they'd appreciate a practical joke as well as this guy haha..

2007-12-22T00:58:00.000Z

First off, a belated Selamat Hari Raya Aidiladha to everyone :)

These public holidays in the middle of the week are such a drag, no? It's like you get geared up for the weekend except oops, no, not the weekend yet, still have to work on Friday :P It doesn't help that the office is practically empty save for us lowly new recruits. I've had so many "See you next year!" and "I'm off for a 2 week holiday" type messages that it's truly depressing. Lol! Hence the complete lack of any holiday spirit this year. Hard to get geared up for Christmas and New Year's when you only have a day off to celebrate and/or recover from all the celebrating. Not to mention the torrential rain we seem to be getting every evening; hate driving in heavy rain, it makes me paranoid seeing all the mini accidents that always seem to happen during this kind of weather. Was going to get me a manicure after work yesterday but changed my mind after it started pissing it down. It's been a while since I've been back during monsoon season so I think I've forgotten just how much it can rain here, and just how heavily.

Yesterday was a good day; got my joining instructions for my course in February so now I can start making travel arrangements yay! 44 days to the 4th of February I can't wait! Yes, I've already counted the number of days left, sad I know. I know I can't go through the next few years in a constant state of "looking forward to my next trip to Europe" but it's kind of hard not to sometimes... And I got my first ever payslip, which I'm promptly going to take to the bank with me in the hopes of getting my very own credit card. I've been using my dad's supplementary card all this while so it's quite exciting to be able to apply for my own :D

And this week's embarassing event was : Having the security guard at the safety training centre (yep had another 2 day course) approach me on Tuesday after I finish parking to inform me that my car was too far from the back and could I please reverse? But he told me I didn't have to start up my car, that I should just put my car into neutral and then release the handbrake. I had NO idea why he wanted me to do that, but I did it anyways, with my door wide open and him, I don't know, was he pushing the car maybe? I still haven't figured it out lol! But anyways, I gave up after a few seconds cause there were a lot of cars passing in front of me (there's a 15km/h speed limit in the centre's compound so everyone had a good look at this bimbo girl who obviously couldn't park on her own and needed the guard to help her) and I got too embarassed. So I just shut the door and reversed the normal way, i.e. with my car in reverse :P The next day, as soon as I turned into the parking lot, the same guard started approaching my car, stood next to me while I attempted to reverse park; which of course ended up badly because I was so conscious of him next to the car that it took several attempts before my car was straight. Then he waited while I reversed very very carefully into the spot. Blah. I *can* park, I park everyday at the office without any assistance from anyone! Not sure why he thought I needed extra help lol I've had my license for 5 years now! ....Ok granted the last course I did before this week's course I kinda backed into their fence when I was parking but it was a one off thing! :P

And on that note, I'm off lol! Have a good weekend all!

xoxoxoxoxox

2007-12-11T12:38:00.000Z

My reputation at the office is ruined. Before I left for the weekend on Friday, I realised that there would be some attachment students starting on the Monday after. So, as I wasn't going to be in on Monday, and I knew that there's usually a mad rush for empty seats and tables when the students arrive, I told my colleague, in passing, that could he please make sure that noone takes my seat on Monday. So I come into the office this morning, and the first thing I see when I get to my seat? 2 huge(!!!) signs stuck onto my chair telling people "DO NOT TOUCH" and "NO TRESPASSING"! And another one stuck across my screens. And yet another on my table! It looked like my table was a crime scene with all these "DO NOT DISTURB" signs everywhere! I looked closer at my desk and my oh-so-funny colleague had stuck a tiny post-it on my box of chocolates proclaiming that "If you can read this, you are too close. BACK OFF!"

And the whole day today I had people coming up to and asking me about those bloody signs and I had to convince them that I really didn't put them there, my colleague did! All the while he was sniggering away next to me. The new students probably think I'm a freak, and my other colleagues probably think I'm some territorial little thing :P

I'll get him back one day soon...when he least expects it lol.

I had a dream last night that I was on a flight to Singapore, which for unknown reasons ran into problems and we crashed into the sea and we had to ditch the airplane. Weird thing we were all wearing our safety harness like in a chopper, along with live vests that had emergency breathing systems (EBS) attached to them! And I remember someone telling me to deploy my EBS but I didn't have time before we were completely submerged and then we were upside down and I had to open the window to escape and I panicked cause I couldn't get it open the first time around and then I did it and I finally got out *breathe*

Yes I have been spending too much time at the safety centre.

xoxoxox

2007-12-10T11:24:00.000Z

I'm counting down the days til payday because I'm absolutely, positively broke! Didn't think I'd be spending that much in Brunei, but what with paying for some sports gear over the weekend, my customs and delivery charges on my shipped stuff from the uk, not to mention my humongous phone bill, I am effectively broke :( So much for saving up.

Going back to the office tomorrow, and we should have a couple of attachment students in. God seems not that long ago when I was starting my first assignment in the office and everything's so new and scary. Over the years and after multiple assignments everything became more familiar and people got to know us better. So in that sense, I was lucky because when I started work little over a month ago, I didn't have to go through the whole being nervous thing, it just kinda felt like slipping back into familiar territory. But yeah, am fully expecting to be either called "kita" or "kaka" tomorrow. I must seem so old to them!! =/

Going kickboxing with Suria tomorrow methinks, must make full use of new shoes and exercise pants lol!

xoxoxoxox

2007-12-07T11:33:00.000Z

I'm sick. Boo. And after spending 3 days stuck in safety classes I have decided that the world is a very dangerous place to live in and I'm contemplating living in a bubble so I can grow to a ripe old age. Lol. Not really, but you know how when people start pointing the different dangers that can get you in the workplace, you find yourself becoming ever so slightly paranoid? Well that's me now. Seriously, even something as simple as.... painting a room can lead to death. Apparently. Oh, I could tell you guys about Hazard Identification Plans and the Health, Safety and Environment Management Systems that are in place at work, but then you'd probably be just as bored as I've been over the past week. Great thing is, I'm back for more training on Monday. Yay me :P Well, I may complain, but I enjoy it really, and I need to get all these things done before my department switch in January. And I've made plenty of new friends over the past 3 weeks too. Always a good thing.

Went to hip hop class with some friends yesterday and I was all up for it, and I was dying after about 20 minutes! One girl I was with however, went off to play squash after the class. What can I say, I'm horribly unfit. I've signed up for a further 7 sessions so I might get to her stamina yet, just you wait! Lol..One of the classes offered by the gym is a class in "Sensual Dance" and I'm oh so curious to find out what that's about. Will probably give it a go next Wednesday haha...I'm determined to lose weight by hook or by crook lol.

Today was such an unproductive workday for me; it took me ages to remember what I was doing before I left the office on Monday and by the time I'd gotten back into the "groove" lol, and replied to emails, and had email conversation it was about lunch time. Then next thing I know it was 5pm and I hadn't done half the things I wanted to! =/ Must buckle down next week; don't want to get on the supervisor's bad side, specially if I want to take some days off in February :P Monday's a no email day at the office actually; the company's wanting its employees to interact with people more, to pick up the phone and speak directly to someone, or even better, to walk over and talk to the person face to face. I'll be at the safety course thank god, cause I don't think I could deal with not sending any emails for a whole day! She'll have to though haha, let me know how it goes! :)

Have a good weekend all!

xoxoxoxox

Tags:

Mona, Di, War - Haha sorry girls, I felt uber guilty at putting the email up even for the 30 minutes it was up there!!

Tina - Not reallllly, cause I'm not that busy yet. I prefer being busy than having time on my hands to get bored you know what I mean? I need the pressure lol!

2007-12-02T06:01:00.000Z

Our "helicopter". I was actually really worried that my big bum wouldn't make it through those windows!

Lol yeah I was *really* enjoying that lecture...Well, I *did* get up at 530am to wash my hair and get to the training centre on time, and then got told we'd be going into the water, pretty much ruining my hair washing efforts.

This was taken while we were waiting for other groups to finish their exercises, so we could just go in and dry out already!

Wahey! Fit diver helping hysterical friend back in lol! Oh and you can just about see the life raft at the back there, the teepee like thing?

(and I've also uploaded a couple of videos on facebook if you guys're interested lol)

xoxoxoxox

2007-12-01T11:06:00.000Z

An email I received today in response to my repeated refusals to give this guy my phone number:

/edit (decided to take out the email)

First of all... ayam??? Is that supposed to flatter me into giving him my number?
And secondly...the whole I'm-so-pitiful-so-please-give-your-number thing? So unattractive.
Sigh cute people shouldn't speak sometimes, it just ruins the whole image :P

xoxoxoxox

2007-12-01T01:26:00.000Z

Final month of the year, finally! I'm looking forward to the new year, hopefully things'll be picking up. Joining a company at the end of the year isn't really that great; you'll most likely be on a probation which means you can't take any days off, while the rest of the office have saved up their holidays for Christmas and New Year, meaning that the office is empty save for you and the other new recruits. Unless of course, you've managed 3 weeks off anyways, like someone I won't mention lol! ;)

I'm joining the drilling department from January onwards and should hopefully be rig bound a couple of months later. I've also booked myself onto a month long course in Rijswijk for February, which has been tentatively confirmed and I'm *really* hoping that works out, I need to get out of this place! Even though it's work related, at least I'll be away, and closer to my friends and P.

Had a conversation with her the other day about how we think some bloggers actually are in real life. I'm sure everyone who reads a blog has formulated some sort of...image of what they think the author is like. In a blog, everyone sounds open and friendly because they're jotting down their personal thoughts and sharing them with everyone else. But in real life, not many people are that open...or ditzy, or happy, or however else their blog appears to be. So I wonder what sort of image I'm projecting to you guys? Lol :)

Have a good weekend all!

xoxoxoxox

2007-11-29T13:10:00.000Z

I don't know if I've ever written this here, but up until Form 1, I didn't know how to speak Bruneian Malay. And even then I wasn't fluent, I only became fluent after my first year at uni. Lol! I got to thinking about this after stumbling across this blog where the writer wrote something in Sarawakian dialect.

My mother's parents, who're both Sarawakian live with us, and cause of that, my whole family, including my very Bruneian dad speaks Sarawakian at home. And because I went to a convent school when I was younger with loads of international kids, I never really needed to speak Malay much, except for during malay lessons. I moved to a government school when I was 12 for secondary school and hung out with more people who spoke Bruneian malay, but my closest group of friends (who'd moved over with me from the convent school) still mostly spoke English. I got to practice it a bit more with the students there, but after balik2 kana ucap my Malay karas atu I got annoyed and gave up. And even when I did speak Malay with people, they'd reply in English! Not sure why, but anyways, didn't get much practice in secondary school either. It used to annoy me when people make fun of me for not understanding them; I DO understand I just couldn't express myself very well at the time yet. It would've been the equivalent of me speaking to them very quickly in Sarawakian and then asking them "Kenak kau tok sik paham tuto ku??" You know? The number of times I got a "Nda paham Melayu kah?" from people hmph :P

When I left school for uni, there were a few Bruneians in Leeds. And I guess being so far away from home made everyone miss the language; everyone spoke Malay when we got together, and slowly, slowly I got more fluent. Lol I knew I got it when I was chatting to a friend on MSN and she went "Is this really you...? Since when do you chat in Malay?" :P Anyhoos, I'm now fluent enough not to get a "Cina kah?" or a "Nda pandai cakap Melayu kah?" from people :) BUT on an annoying note, because I've been away for that long, I haven't practiced my Sarawakian that much and now I find myself struggling to find words for the simplest things. Grrr. Sudah satu, satu lagi lol! Anyone fluent in Sarawakian out there wants to layan my practices?

xoxoxoxox

Shasha - Another weekend coming up, bleh haha... but Monday should be an interesting day :)

War - Lol! Kinda the highligh of my month tu that course ah haha...

Sha - Thank you hun *hugs* :)

2007-11-24T13:18:00.000Z

Got a case of missing-my-old-life-blues today. The weekends seem to bring them about, gets me all antisocial and cranky.

Sometimes I think I prefer the weekdays so I can keep busy for most of the day and not think about things. Like how long it'll be til I next see P.

Sigh. Hope you guys are having a better one.

xoxoxoxoxoxox

2007-11-22T10:49:00.000Z

Well, I survived the course, and it's back to the boring ol' office tomorrow...boo :( The past three days have been quite physically intense, especially if you're a non swimmer like me, but it was SO much fun!

The first day was spent mostly in class, but we spent the afternoon in the pool learning the basics : how to put on a lifevest, making sure it works (i.e. if you're floating, it's working lol!) and deploying a liferaft. We learned what to do if we were alone in the water, or in a group and how to form survivor lines and circles to conserve heat. Oh and we got lifted into the air using a harness, which was how it would be done if we were rescued by a helicopter...And it was only when I was watching people being lifted up that I realised how see-through the coveralls we were wearing goes when it's wet :S Let's just say people were layering in days 2 and 3 lol!

The second day was spent mostly in the pool; it was a crash course on what to do if we had to ditch or abandon the helicopter in water. We had to learn how to use the emergency breathing system and how to break out of the helicopter if the exits were blocked. It was really quite freaky because you're strapped into the seat, and water starts gushing in from the sides and you can only unbuckle your seatbelt and escape from a window once you're completely submerged. The worst exercise was when the "capsized" the helicopter so we were basically strapped into our seats, upside down *without* any breathing support! We were supposed to count til 7 once we were completely in the water before escaping through the window but once the copter capsized, water came into my nose and I just panicked and bolted through the closest window :S
When I got back into my seat the trainer asked whether I had counted to 7 before escaping and I told him "Yes, but I counted very very quickly" :P It was all very professionally taught, there were 2 instructors on board the plane at all times, and 2 divers waiting outside in the pool in case of emergencies. But cause I'm not a water baby by any means, being underwater for any period of time scares me. It did help that one of the divers helping us was super cute though lol it gave us all an extra incentive to get out through those windows as quickly as possible!

Today we learnt first aid and basic firefighting. I never realised just how many different types of extinguishers for different types of fires there are! The practicals today were fun too; we had to find our way through a smoke filled room with 50% visibility, and another room with 0 visibility, relying on touch to make it through the place. It was supposed to simulate a situation where the room was full of fire and how to escape. Also got to operate a foam extinguisher and put out a fire using a fire blanket.

All this in 3 days!! I'm feeling quite upset that the course has ended actually, and that I have to be back to work tomorrow. Sigh guess it can't all be fun and games! At least I only had a 2 day week at the office.

xoxoxoxoxox

Tag replies:

War - Lol! I wish I had advanced warning before watching Good Luck Chuck with my dad in the room! There was a lot of fast forwarding and blushing being done on my part :P And I was so lucky that that girl found my phone! :)

Metallichick - I *still* haven't moved haha but I'll definitely let you know when I finally do!

Sha - It was such a fun course! Make sure you don't watch the film with any older people in the room :P

Dee - That was nice of Virgin to give you back the credit you lost. If I had lost my phone in the Uk I would've had no hope of getting it back I'm sure!

Neez - Yep same ol number. And yeah the course went very well, as you've probably just read lol

2007-11-20T12:08:00.000Z

Was going to write about the my first day of offshore safety training but I'm actually just too tired! Will probably write a more detailed post when I finish on Thursday (assuming I'm alive that is).

Now, excuse me while I practice re-breathing my own air in preparation for tomorrow's activities.

xoxoxoxox

2007-11-16T12:47:00.000Z

I wonder why people from my batch have been acting weird as of late. I mean, we *have* known each other for 5 years or more, it's perfectly ok if you want to do lunch with some of us and not all of us. You don't have to hide it and then kedapatan in the restaurant! *rolleyes*

I'm hoping against hope and crossing my fingers and toes that things I've been doing today will work out...I'll be one very happy bunny if they do!

The days are flying by it seems. Next week I'll be going on my 3 day survival course; 3 days in a swimming pool, fun. Lol! Speaking of which, must remember to fill up club membership form so I can take swimming lessons..

Back to my Grey's now!

xoxoxox

2007-11-16T12:30:00.000Z

I lost my phone today. I left it in one of the toilet cubicles at work and only realised it was missing a couple of hours later. Cue freaking out, especially after a conversation with a colleague this morning about things going missing! Rushed off to the toilet, convinced that I was going to have to shell out for a new phone and when I got to the cubicle, I found a post-it stuck to the wall with:

"Lost your phone? Call me at **** to get it back."

I was SO relieved!! I even knew the girl who had it so I ran over to her desk and got my phone back. I'm glad there was a happy ending, shows there're still *some* honest people out there :)

And on that note, have a good weekend everyone.

xoxoxoxoxox

2007-11-14T12:42:00.000Z

Yesterday's post was about stuff happening at work that's just been annoying me. Honestly, next time I'll do it all myself, since these "organisers" seems pretty much unable to sort anything out. We've been living alone for 4 years, and even if I was on a course with my friends I wouldn't share a room with them anyways! Oh and not to mention someone telling me to be nice to certain people (new recruits themselves) because my job or any future advancement may be on the line. Ugh. Whatever. I HATE being told to be nice to someone, especially by someone so new and obviously clueless. Apologies for the vagueness, but I suppose I better, for my own good. Never know who reads this things nowadays. Look out for a site move soon, probably moving to wordpress.

Anyways on a happier note, I've finally watched Hairspray! I've been waiting absolutely ages to watch it, I missed it when it came out over summer, and I've been going to my local dvd shop pretty much every other day asking whether they had a clear copy in yet. It's such a feel-good film, and the characters are really likeable. Although I thought Amanda Bynes character was a bit...dopey. Who knew Michelle Pfeiffer and James Marsden could sing so well. And Zac Ephron too! I must've had a smile on my face the whole time it was playing. Definitely going to try and watch it when I'm back in the Uk. Speaking of which, it doesn't look like I'll be in that continent anytime soon. Again due to silly people doing silly things. :(

Tina, you were asking me about Good Luck Chuck dulu kan? Did you watch it eventually? I saw it a couple of days ago, and I wasn't that impressed. Too much sex and penguins. And even a scene which had sex AND penguins! Lol.. Dunno. I just didn't think Jessica Alba and Dane Cook had that much chemistry going on, he spent half the film sleeping with a heck of a lot of girls, and the other half trying not to sleep with Jessica Alba's character :P And that last scene with the stuffed penguin? Ugh.

I'm off to watch some Grey's before bed, bye!

xoxoxo

Tina - Hun will explain further when I get this wordpress account so I can password protect the post :) xxx

2007-11-13T13:45:00.000Z

The words of the day are :

Incompetent
Arrogant
Unfair

SO frustrated right now!!

xoxox

2007-11-11T00:57:00.000Z

Ok, I was just going through my "Who's viewed me" list on friendster and one of the people who's viewed me was this girl whose profile photo showed her in her bra, and her other photo was a full frontal nude photo of herself!!!

What the heck is that about?

Very disturbing.

xoxoxox

2007-11-10T02:15:00.001Z

Wow was just reading back through my archives and realised that I've been writing in this blog for just over 3 years now! Where'd the time go??

xoxoxox

2007-11-09T10:19:00.000Z

Ahhh thank god for the weekend, think I'm spending mine catching up on my reading, possibly with a home-made mocha frappucino (I've been inspired by her); must get the essentials tomorrow, i.e. my own blender, ice, and fresh coffee.

Pft remind me never to put my hopes of getting things in Seria town. Was planning on getting the Guitar Hero 3 game today for the Ps2, along with a wireless guitar controller. Out of the 4 shops I visited, none of them had it! Betcha this doesn't happen in Bandar :P Picking up my work trousers tomorrow, I hope they've turned out alright. I'm a loser, when I don't have anything to do in the office, I sit and think of things I would buy if I went to the Uk lol. I know, talk about making it harder on myself! So far, I have different types of shoes and worktops in my list :P Planning on getting some pieces of furniture for the house, specifically a bookcase and a new wardrobe, to fit in all the things that're crossing seas to get to me at the moment. I think all we have here is Courts, and I bet they cost an arm and a leg. =/

Oh went to a friend's (and I use the term loosely) open house during lunch today, and it was the weirdest thing! The only time I saw our hostess was when we first arrived, after which she disappeared off to her room with her ex-classmates, leaving the rest of us, including her colleagues, sitting outside feeling slighlt foolish!! I thought it was SO rude, surely it wouldn't have killed her to mingle, she DID invite us after all! Us girls, who weren't part of the cool crowd invited to her room, had a good chat though, it's scary how many people in my school year are married, some with multiple kids already! The number of times I've been asked about wedding plans...if only I got a dollar, cukup jua untuk bali my dinners for a few nights kali eh lol. I guess it's just the normal Bruneian perception that any girl who've finished their studies must now be planning their marriage, or at least start saving up for it. Well pooh to that, I think after all the studying, I deserve to pamper myself and spend my money on myself first no? And P deserves that too right?

Sometimes I wonder about the perceptions people have of Bruneian women, or how we appear to them. A Venezuelan guy in the office was complaining to me how some of the ladies in his office are actually slightly scared of him, and when he has one-to-one teaching sessions with them (he's a software consultant), these women actually get a friend to come and accompany them during the lesson! Apparently, the ladies are "afraid" of him because he's young, South American (read : very loud, but sweet) and single lol! He's taken to wearing a ring on his left hand to keep the ladies at ease. Weird huh? I mean, suuuurrreeelllllyyy as flirty as a guy is, he's hardly going to jump on some poor unsuspecting female in the office, while giving them a software demonstration?

Have a good weekend all!!
xoxoxoxoxox

Jammy people make me jealous. Jammy people who brag about it are just annoying.
As are people who name drop in their blogs. Tacky much?

2007-11-08T10:30:00.000Z

It's been a week and I still don't have access to my work account! It's so frustrating, I'm literally dying of boredom.. Sure I can go round and talk to people (and I have been for the past week) but surely I should be starting something by now?

On a better note, I got my books from Amazon 12 days after dispatch, which is quite good I thought..

....I have nothing worth writing about =/

xoxoxoxox

2007-11-04T05:00:00.000Z

If you love chicklit, then you have to visit this site:

Holly's Inbox

It's a peek into a girl's email inbox as she starts off as a receptionist in a new company.

Spent the past half an hour reading month 1 :D

xoxoxoxo

2007-11-03T12:39:00.000Z

Saturday, where have you gone?? Come back!! Booo kan abis tia the weekend ah... Spent the day out and about with my mom; every Saturday before I went to uni was me and Mom's day. After school we'd go for a longggg lunch, go round the shops and then chill out at home. I've missed that. We used to go to the tamu early in the morning as well when it was a public holiday, but I think I'll leave that to her and my Dad now lah, the tamu starts at an unholy hour, too early for me lol. But the tamu was a lot of fun when I was younger, I was always stuck in front of the rabbit cages poking my fat fingers through to play with them lol :P Went to Fratini's for lunch today and Fratini's beats Capers hands down. The pasta was cooked to perfection. Couldn't finish it so I've tapau-ed it and will be having it for dinner lol. Mom had her first canelloni dish too, and I think she wasn't too keen about it, but she soldiered on and finished it bless her.

Went to choose some material for work trousers today, and the tailor had a 2006 Next catalogue. So I just told the lady to follow one of the trouser styles in there, fingers crossed it works out! Also, sent kain to a new tailor in Kb, I've been searching for a new tailor for a while now, and this one seems to know what she's talking about, but again, some people are just all talk, and nothing to show at the end of it kan. But my god she's charging me and arm and a leg for it...only cutting the kain and sewing some beads on also that expensive. Told her I'd pick it up in 3 weeks' time, just in time for my first paycheque woohoo!! Although technically it's not really a paycheck cause we missed getting our names on the payroll by a day when we joined, so it's more of a cash advance, not a full month's salary :P

Oh P just texted and he is currently out and about in W'ton and he's just bought me some work tops from Oasis! And some magazines too :D :D Granted, I went online and showed him what I wanted but still! Happy bunny now :D Love you baby xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lol and on that sappy note, enjoy the rest of the weekend ladies!
xoxoxoxoxoxox

Tags:

Shasha - Lol does it? I'm flattered that you check the site on your phone btw :)

2007-11-02T14:32:00.000Z

Yet another day of trying to get stuff set up. Noone seems to have been informed of our arrival, hence the lack of access to pcs, lack of tables and general confusion all around. Disappointing, because they should've been told earlier so there's none of this faffing about (They seem to have it sorted at her workplace and hers too, so why can't they be the same here?) But on a happier note, I've raided the stationery cupboard and I now have my own in-tray yay! Yes I'm easily pleased lol. Lots of "Brapa lama kamu attachment kali ani?" questions, and looks of disbelief when we tell them that actually, we're not attachment students anymore, but actually on the payroll lol. It's been 4 years, and 5 attachments! But I guess the staff members see a steady stream of students coming through and it's hard to keep track of who's who. Had the first of many makans which the department is famous for, based on personal experience there'll be loads more to come. Lol,really must get around to signing up for that gym!

Got told that a friend and I were being "too aggresive" today, apparently for having the nerve to ask whether there were any meetings we could sit in or courses we could attend to prepare ourselves for rig-life, instead of just sitting about. Funny, other people would've called that showing initiative, and I thought that's what people wanted? Pfft whatever, already decided not to like the aforesaid man anyways. Got a list of available course dates too, angling for a European based one, but we can only register once we have our accounts sorted out, which should be sometime next week. Apparently places are very limited, so must rush!

My friends who've been working, not just at this particular company, but in general, are always complaining about office politics. Hoping to avoid all of that, maybe I can just keep my head down and pretend not to notice. Although, if I don't play the game, will that make me more of a target?

Anyways, I'm going to try and find things other than work to blog about, I don't want to start boring people lol!

Happy weekend y'all.

xoxoxoxoxox

Tags:

Sha - Duck rice is the best. Did you ever try their chili beef? So good. Sayang jua ah they took so long to get back to you, we could've been workmates! I guess it would've meant commuting though, which is a hassle.

Tina - Lol! Yeah, guess it's quite obvious right lol, so much for anonymity. Although putting my photos up probably doesn't help either hehe...Still no computer access = cannot do work, although I've been advised by pretty muh everyone to enjoy this relaxing time lol. Once kna bari kraja I guess bertimbun kali tu :P Did you click on the Vitas video? Apparently he's an eastern European opera singer with a Mariah Carey-esqe range. He's really good, it's just weird for a voice that high to come from a man!

Sha - Thanks very much hun, I hope you're feeling better by the time next week comes around :) enjoy your weekend too!

2007-11-01T09:42:00.000Z

She texted me last night with this : "Welcome to the rat race you fully fledged pink diamante rat." Lol! Hands down, one of my favourite texts!

So, first day was alright. A lot of time spent going over the contract and terms and conditions of employment. The rest of the day was spent going to see people to arrange access cards, courses, etc etc. There wasn't that many people in the office today, apparently everyone's still on leave/at conferences. Disappointingly, I may not get to spend any time offshore like I originally wanted; the plan is I might just go out for certain activities instead of staying out for a week or two. I was quite looking forward to going offshore (and the extra money!) so boo to that. Also, as usual people seem to not be prepared for our arrival, courses that were supposed to have been booked, haven't. Arrangements that were supposed to have been made, haven't been done either.

Work wise though, it looks like I'm going to be kept on my toes. As soon as I came in a guy showed me to my seat and started telling me about all these projects he had in mind for me. Then another geologist stopped by and told the geologist that HE had some projects for me to do too! So tomorrow they're all going to sit down and discuss which project should be done first, in order of priority. So much for starting me off easy lol, apparently there's isopach mapping, seismic interpretation and data packs to do, AND I need to sort out some safety courses at some time too. Whew. Getting tired just thinking about it, but at the same time I'm pleased I'll be kept busy, it's so much better than just sitting about in the office twiddling my thumbs.

Tomorrow's likely to be another pretty relaxed day; specially since it's the weekend. Probably going to start reading up on my area, highlighting and making notes, just like old times lol!

Oh, and the next public holiday that falls on a weekend is in February!! That's a long wait before I can go anywhere.

On a last (and completely unrelated note), I want food from :
Belgos, Zizzis, Four Seasons, Kam Tong, Mandarin Kitchen, Harlem, S&M Cafe, Mr Jerk's, that cream puff shop in Oxford Streeet that I can't remember now lol, Nandos and many more. Sigh. Sia sia pun.

xoxoxoxo

War - I'm surprised we don't have more friends in common, Brunei's so small!! Hehe...

2007-10-31T14:10:00.000Z

You guys *have* to listen to this guy, he sounds like he had to have an operation in order for him to sing like that!

Vitas

xoxoxox

2007-10-31T13:26:00.000Z

Whew just finished watching Season 5 of 24, it is *such* an adrenaline rush! Jack Bauer is possibly the fittest man alive (yep, the character, not the actor). Plenty of times I've caught myself not breathing until the end of a particularly action packed scene and it's like *exhales*, oops didn't realise I was holding my breath type thing lol. There's something about Jack Bauer that's just so...*Grr* (lol! I ran out of words to describe him). Season 5 is probably one of the better seasons; there were so many major character deaths! And of course it ends in a cliffhanger that sets you up for season 6. As good as 24 is though, sometimes I do think like, how come noone in the show ever needs to use the loo? I've never seen Jack in a loo scene, surely that's not normal?? And their phones are constantly powered up, if I used my phone as much as they do I think it'd die within a couple of hours! This one, a whole 24 hours also can last lol.. But hey, it's a good show anyways if you don't sit and think about it too much. And believe me, there's so much action that I tend to just sit and absorb everything that's happening instead of analysing.

Guess it'll be early nights in for me from tonight on, at least tomorrow I start at 8, normal work days I start at 7! Bleh. And I used to complain about 9 am starts. What I wouldn't give to revert back to uni hours of 9-5 now lol.

Night! xoxoxoxox

Tags:

Dee - Thanks, I didn't know that. Wonder why the artist didn't sign his name on his drawing? Jeff Thomas' probably getting all the credit for this one too, poor anonymous artist.

Neez - Thanks hun, good luck with sorting your life out as well, hope it goes ok!

War- Thanks hun, kinda nervous/excited about it now, but I think I'm going to miss my student life SO much! :) I love going through the photos you post, to see if we have any mutual friends.. in a non stalker-ish way that is lol! :)

Shasha - Lol! Nooo it's not lame at all, it's sweet. I'm in a sappy mood too anyways lol, hence all the Pon and Zi posts :D Haha.. oh well, I guess we'll have to repeat clothes at work (shock! horror! lol). After the first week or so we'll be too busy to care I bet.

Tina - Lol balum start kraja already want to reminisce lol. And thanks for the good luck, will definitely update tomorrow :) Also, I have a whole folder of Pon and Zi stuff if you want I can send them to you? Hehe or you've already chosen the hug one as your favourite?

2007-10-30T11:10:00.000Z

2007-10-30T10:48:00.000Z

Just got my contract and terms of employment through the post. And I now know where I'll be starting too. Reading through the contract made me nervous, it seems so adult and scary!! Ah well, roll on the good times (I hope!).

Speaking of work, I've been going through my clothes and I've just realised that I don't have that many work clothes at all. How I wish I'd gone on a spree before I left and stocked up; but I was too broke at the time and there was always a pretty dress or skirt or top that distracted me from boring shirts and trousers. Now, no work baju. Poo. Think I might take a leaf out of Shasha's book and tailor some trousers, but not sure what to do about shirts. I wish there was a Gap or Zara or even better, Curtis and Hawes here for all my shirt-y needs! Btw ladies, do you tuck your shirts in or out? I never used to tuck mine in til this year cause most of the girls in my year tucked their shirts in during presentations. But then it's not very flattering, specially if you have a tummy, like I do. Lol! What to do?

And speaking of work yet again lol, my mom drew my attention to Brudirect's HYS a couple of days ago, where apparently, there've been a lot of complaints posted on the forum by people working for my future employers. Now, what I don't understand is, I know the company has it's own forum for people to air their greivances in, so why would people choose to do it in a public forum instead? It's so embarassing to the employees and the company to have their dirty laundry out in public like that. And just how effective is it going to be anyways, noone uses their real names in HYS so who's going to take them seriously? It's like signing a petition, but instead of using your real name, you use "The Tooth Fairy" or "Roger Rabbit" or something equivalent. Noone's going to take you seriously. Honestly, some people just can't be pleased. If they're really so upset by the way things are run in the company, take it up through the proper channels; surely the people in charge would respond better. And really, if you're not that happy, then just resign. You know? Plenty of people would take their jobs in a second. But obviously this won't happen. Biasalah, all talk, but when it comes down to it, they hide behind their pseudonyms and go about pretending. Sheesh.

xoxoxox

Tags:

Tina, War - They're just the cutest aren't they?? They're called Pon and Zi, and I think if you google them, you can find a whole bunch of different cartoons. Oh and the penguin one is a newly added favourite now :D

2007-10-29T11:09:00.000Z

The second one's my personal favourite :)

xoxoxoxox

2007-10-28T02:35:00.000Z

Apologies in advance for the upcoming post, it's ever so slightly whiny slash depressing.

Sent P off at the airport yesterday, as I type this he's on his way back to the Uk. And I think it's finally sinking in that I'm not going to follow after him anytime soon, that I'm actually staying here for a long long while.

Not had much experience with long distance relationships before; the longest me and P have been apart have been during summers, and I tend to rack up the phone bills over that time. But it was all ok because in the back of my mind I knew I was flying back. Based on observing my friends, LDRs don't have the highest survival rate; out of the 8 girls I knew who had a serious boyfriend before they left, came back either single or with a different guy. Only one couple I know survived the distance (in fact they're engaged now) but still, odds aren't too good are they.

We're both going to work our best at keeping it going, and I'm going to save up and visit as much as I can so hopefully we'll have a happy ending too?

Ok, this post is going nowhere fast so I'll leave it at that lol! Off for (msg filledTina? Lol!) sushi with Mells and PS later yay!

Oh and my computer is no longer infected with silly stuff, thanks to Kaspersky.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Taggies:

Neez - Hey you, it's been a while :) How's it going, update me on your life!!!!

War - Broadband rocks! If only more dvd shops were like Joey Joe's huh..

Anna - Me too...And so cheap too!! Portobello's better for earrings than Camden I think, more unique, but more expensive lah..Joey Joe's in Kiulap, it's one building down from the Hua Ho there. (Correct me if I'm wrong, please lol I've only been there once!)

Tina - They do seem to have a large collection don't they.. I was well impressed when I asked for the Phantom of the Opera dvd and they gave me all 3 versions of it! And the woman even knew which came first etc etc.

Shasha - Equally long reply left on your blog lol! Last weekend as an unemplyed person for both of us woo!! Lol