Monday, November 07, 2005
A week of events
Woah! Has it been a while since I made an entry!But nothing much has been happening for the past 3 weeks except for work work and more work. But this week has been a flurry of activity though... Here's a summary:
Mon, 31 Oct: Super long work day. Already tired from the previous 2 nights of working... Day began with buying stuff for the promotion. Then it came to tallying the lots and packing the freakin van. Oh my goodness... the packing was horrendous with multiple trips up and down the stairs. i was so glad to get a parking spot near the office.. And the van was packed to the max till I couldn't even see the back!!! And mind you, the van was really old, with no power steering and it was huge (3L Nissan Urvan). And to make things worse, we were late and I had to drive through Little India... On the eve of Deepavali, that's a suicide mission! And true enough, I got into an accident. But thank goodness it wasn't major, I knocked off a poor chap's mirror casing... sigh... Things were ok for the rest of the night until the clock struck midnight, that's when the crowd got very very rowdy... We packed up at about 2pm and headed back to office. Only to get stuck in another Jam: it was halloween night and the road to our office was jammed. Not to mention that there was no parking space.. had to illegally park and start unloading all the stuff in the van. By the time that was done and I drove home and bathed and finally slept, it was 4am.. zzz
Tue, 1 Nov: My HK colleagues had come down to give us a hand in the Deepavali promotion and today was their time to return to HK. I only managed to get 7 hours sleep @_@ goodnesss... but I am glad the war is over (albeit temporarily). I can remember sitting at the back of my manager's car as we speed down the CTE to pick our HK colleagues from the hotel. Looking at the nice blue sky and wisps of white clouds, I felt surprisingly, peacefully serene. And for some unknown reason, I was happy. No worries, no burden, nada.. It felt as though I was in another country on holiday.. kinda like Australia :) Anyway, we picked them up, went for lunch and did a bit of shopping (one of them had a shopping list). Bought Ya Kun kaya at Raffles City, went to Lim Chee Guan for Bak Kwa and finally Pandan Chiffon cake in T1. They checked in real late though. By the time we reached the airport, it was 4pm and their flight was 4.30pm. I can still remember the counter staff asking them: " Hi! Checking early for the 6.30pm flight?". Upon realising that they were checking in for the 4.30pm flight, the poor gal's eyes opened real wide and she started saying hurry hurry! ha ha ha! Hilarious!This was followed by dinner at other half's place and we watched the super sappy love story: Crying out love in the centre of the world... boy...did it turn on the water works.
Wed, 2 Nov: Nothing much happened... it was a lo bo day.. ha ha ha ;p
Thurs, 3 Nov: Was bliss to wake up late...! ah~... went for lunch, then went to the new house to meet the contractor. New grills, new doors, new lights (for my room) are in order. Renovations are really minimal.. By the time that was done, we had to get ready for Dad's birthday dinner. After which met up with Kame for coffee... Hmm.. another wasted day. had wanted to start seriously packing my room..
Fri, 4 Nov: Highlight of the day (or rather night)? Me dressing up in a sari. Yeah... u did read correctly. Company dinner at night to thank all the promoters for helping out during the 3 days. Dinner was held at Muthu's Curry and dress code was Traditional costume. Manager made stupid dare with new colleague and I that if we dressed up, he would come in Indian traditional costume (original dare was that she dress up in sari and I in a very short skirt... I changed the rules.. ha ha ha). So yeah.. the Sari that i bought 8 years ago finally saw the light of day today. Hmm... I have to thank my colleague for dressing me up and providing all the necessary bangles, necklace and stuff, tips on how to walk etc. Although the make up she did on me could be pared down by a few notches... I felt it was too heavy... way too heavy.. I looked scary!!! it's like I was ready for a wayang show... nonetheless, went to the restaurant and everyone got a kick out of me wearing a sari... Although as the night progressed and a few jugs of beer later, it started to get a bit uncomfortable. The male promoters started sidling up to me to get a better view of my bareback (yeah.. the sari was bought during my young and wreakless days so it was quite.... revealing to say the least). Some of them said I looked like one of the actresses, others said that if they weren't married, they would ask for my hand in marriage.. One more said that he was very proud that I dressed up in the sari. Hmm.. way too much attention!! it was a welcome respite to get dressed out of the saree whe I returned to the office...
Sat, 5 Nov: Yet another busy day. First order of the day was to go shopping for a birthday gift. After which was to go to the birthday party. Then went to office, picked up the laptop, then went to visit one of my retailers to lend it to him. Then went to Carnivore! That was quite an experience! Ha ha ha.. meat meat and more meat... This Brazilian restaurant offers 15 different cuts of meat buffet style. You start off by getting some greens from the salad bar. That's the indication where they know that you are ready to be served. And the servers come by with a huge skewer of meat. They will let you know what kind of meat it is and it's up to you to decide whether you want to eat it or not. Alternatively, you can indicate your interested by flipping a coin like card. One side indicates that you want the meat, the other says no, you will pass. I thought it was particularly commendable that they remember what kinds of meat you don't eat. Hulktopher didn't eat Beef and Lamb and the servers remembered, offering him pork and chicken and always insisting that he take more that one piece to make up for all the other meat that he has missed. But the meat was succulent and delicious. The roasted pineapple was a good way to digest. And by the 8th serving of meat, I was stuffed. I had to share with kame certain servings of meat. But I highly recommend the Lamb... mmmmmmm....
We then adjourned for Karaoke! That was fun! Especially with such a huge group and everyone singing a variety of songs. Karaoke, to me, is a good opportunity to learn new songs form others, especially Mandarin ones! Unfortunately, due to my bad throat, I coraked most of the time... ha ha! Should go to this more often.
Sun, 6 Nov: Lunch at Rendesvouz hotel. Delicious curry, succulent rendang, tasty sambal brinjal, mouthwatering chicken curry, appetizing sayur lodeh... wah... nuff said! Ha ha ha. It is one of the must eat places!! Did a bit of shopping before going for the Lisa Ono Romance Latino concert. Other half and I were seated close enough to see her clearly (although I can't see her features). Her music is for easy listening and soon other half was tapping to her bossa nova songs (his first time listening to her). Her mellow voice was nice and the music was very expressive. Unfortunately, I felt that her guitar was overpowered by the other instruments (Piano, bass, drums and flute/saxaphone). I couldn't hear it when they were playing together. But when she did a few solo songs, it was very very clear. Another disappointing thing: she didn't know how to work the crowd. Unlike Laura Fygi who pleased the crowd with her banter, Lisa was very subdued. To the point that I could feel the awkward silence after she completed a sentence. I guess most of the crowd didn't know what to do next (Am I supposed to clap? Whistle as encouragement etc). But it reflects her introvert nature I guess? But as the concert progressed, she let her music do most of the talking. Earning her a standing ovation when she ended the encore with "The Girl from Ipanema". Was a worthwhile concert. :) And a nice way to end such a hectic week...
Mon, 31 Oct: Super long work day. Already tired from the previous 2 nights of working... Day began with buying stuff for the promotion. Then it came to tallying the lots and packing the freakin van. Oh my goodness... the packing was horrendous with multiple trips up and down the stairs. i was so glad to get a parking spot near the office.. And the van was packed to the max till I couldn't even see the back!!! And mind you, the van was really old, with no power steering and it was huge (3L Nissan Urvan). And to make things worse, we were late and I had to drive through Little India... On the eve of Deepavali, that's a suicide mission! And true enough, I got into an accident. But thank goodness it wasn't major, I knocked off a poor chap's mirror casing... sigh... Things were ok for the rest of the night until the clock struck midnight, that's when the crowd got very very rowdy... We packed up at about 2pm and headed back to office. Only to get stuck in another Jam: it was halloween night and the road to our office was jammed. Not to mention that there was no parking space.. had to illegally park and start unloading all the stuff in the van. By the time that was done and I drove home and bathed and finally slept, it was 4am.. zzz
Tue, 1 Nov: My HK colleagues had come down to give us a hand in the Deepavali promotion and today was their time to return to HK. I only managed to get 7 hours sleep @_@ goodnesss... but I am glad the war is over (albeit temporarily). I can remember sitting at the back of my manager's car as we speed down the CTE to pick our HK colleagues from the hotel. Looking at the nice blue sky and wisps of white clouds, I felt surprisingly, peacefully serene. And for some unknown reason, I was happy. No worries, no burden, nada.. It felt as though I was in another country on holiday.. kinda like Australia :) Anyway, we picked them up, went for lunch and did a bit of shopping (one of them had a shopping list). Bought Ya Kun kaya at Raffles City, went to Lim Chee Guan for Bak Kwa and finally Pandan Chiffon cake in T1. They checked in real late though. By the time we reached the airport, it was 4pm and their flight was 4.30pm. I can still remember the counter staff asking them: " Hi! Checking early for the 6.30pm flight?". Upon realising that they were checking in for the 4.30pm flight, the poor gal's eyes opened real wide and she started saying hurry hurry! ha ha ha! Hilarious!This was followed by dinner at other half's place and we watched the super sappy love story: Crying out love in the centre of the world... boy...did it turn on the water works.
Wed, 2 Nov: Nothing much happened... it was a lo bo day.. ha ha ha ;p
Thurs, 3 Nov: Was bliss to wake up late...! ah~... went for lunch, then went to the new house to meet the contractor. New grills, new doors, new lights (for my room) are in order. Renovations are really minimal.. By the time that was done, we had to get ready for Dad's birthday dinner. After which met up with Kame for coffee... Hmm.. another wasted day. had wanted to start seriously packing my room..
Fri, 4 Nov: Highlight of the day (or rather night)? Me dressing up in a sari. Yeah... u did read correctly. Company dinner at night to thank all the promoters for helping out during the 3 days. Dinner was held at Muthu's Curry and dress code was Traditional costume. Manager made stupid dare with new colleague and I that if we dressed up, he would come in Indian traditional costume (original dare was that she dress up in sari and I in a very short skirt... I changed the rules.. ha ha ha). So yeah.. the Sari that i bought 8 years ago finally saw the light of day today. Hmm... I have to thank my colleague for dressing me up and providing all the necessary bangles, necklace and stuff, tips on how to walk etc. Although the make up she did on me could be pared down by a few notches... I felt it was too heavy... way too heavy.. I looked scary!!! it's like I was ready for a wayang show... nonetheless, went to the restaurant and everyone got a kick out of me wearing a sari... Although as the night progressed and a few jugs of beer later, it started to get a bit uncomfortable. The male promoters started sidling up to me to get a better view of my bareback (yeah.. the sari was bought during my young and wreakless days so it was quite.... revealing to say the least). Some of them said I looked like one of the actresses, others said that if they weren't married, they would ask for my hand in marriage.. One more said that he was very proud that I dressed up in the sari. Hmm.. way too much attention!! it was a welcome respite to get dressed out of the saree whe I returned to the office...
Sat, 5 Nov: Yet another busy day. First order of the day was to go shopping for a birthday gift. After which was to go to the birthday party. Then went to office, picked up the laptop, then went to visit one of my retailers to lend it to him. Then went to Carnivore! That was quite an experience! Ha ha ha.. meat meat and more meat... This Brazilian restaurant offers 15 different cuts of meat buffet style. You start off by getting some greens from the salad bar. That's the indication where they know that you are ready to be served. And the servers come by with a huge skewer of meat. They will let you know what kind of meat it is and it's up to you to decide whether you want to eat it or not. Alternatively, you can indicate your interested by flipping a coin like card. One side indicates that you want the meat, the other says no, you will pass. I thought it was particularly commendable that they remember what kinds of meat you don't eat. Hulktopher didn't eat Beef and Lamb and the servers remembered, offering him pork and chicken and always insisting that he take more that one piece to make up for all the other meat that he has missed. But the meat was succulent and delicious. The roasted pineapple was a good way to digest. And by the 8th serving of meat, I was stuffed. I had to share with kame certain servings of meat. But I highly recommend the Lamb... mmmmmmm....
We then adjourned for Karaoke! That was fun! Especially with such a huge group and everyone singing a variety of songs. Karaoke, to me, is a good opportunity to learn new songs form others, especially Mandarin ones! Unfortunately, due to my bad throat, I coraked most of the time... ha ha! Should go to this more often.
Sun, 6 Nov: Lunch at Rendesvouz hotel. Delicious curry, succulent rendang, tasty sambal brinjal, mouthwatering chicken curry, appetizing sayur lodeh... wah... nuff said! Ha ha ha. It is one of the must eat places!! Did a bit of shopping before going for the Lisa Ono Romance Latino concert. Other half and I were seated close enough to see her clearly (although I can't see her features). Her music is for easy listening and soon other half was tapping to her bossa nova songs (his first time listening to her). Her mellow voice was nice and the music was very expressive. Unfortunately, I felt that her guitar was overpowered by the other instruments (Piano, bass, drums and flute/saxaphone). I couldn't hear it when they were playing together. But when she did a few solo songs, it was very very clear. Another disappointing thing: she didn't know how to work the crowd. Unlike Laura Fygi who pleased the crowd with her banter, Lisa was very subdued. To the point that I could feel the awkward silence after she completed a sentence. I guess most of the crowd didn't know what to do next (Am I supposed to clap? Whistle as encouragement etc). But it reflects her introvert nature I guess? But as the concert progressed, she let her music do most of the talking. Earning her a standing ovation when she ended the encore with "The Girl from Ipanema". Was a worthwhile concert. :) And a nice way to end such a hectic week...
# posted by Xallista @ 12:54 PM 
