BD Folks gone wild - Xmas Eve Lunch

It was delightful coming back to the office on Xmas Eve and finding so many presents sitting on my desk, and as usual, a couple of ants greet me by running amok on my desk.. Thanks to all who made the effort to prepare xmas gifts.. i got chocs, facial masks, photo frame (never read e-xmas tree list right?) and more chocs!

Back to our xmas lunch. Firstly, the restaurant: a quaint little pizza place with shiok-adoo-dadoo food. They had the foresight to seat us in a private room. You'll see why.....

Some highlights of the lunch and thanks to....

Lynette "the classy babe" who introduced us to classy dishes like portobello mushrooms and beef carpaccio (cured raw meat..... i think) and who gave her thumbs up to the quattro formaggi pizza (whom EVERYONE liked in the end!)

David who cheered us up with his "dirty jokes" about blondes and planes and cassette tapes.. I never saw this side of David, and i must say, i am still trying hard to "think dirty" so as to better understand him...

MG and Eliza, for their totally outrageous re-enactment of James' wedding march-in and Ronnie's overzealous yum seng toast.. You gals are the true "drama-mamas"!



Ronnie, for choosing the black squid ink pasta. Eliza and David certainly enjoyed the ink stains on their teeth and mouth... Oh, and your "virgin" experience in using a wine opener.

James for being a true "beer lovin' guzzler". We got to try out different types of beer and lager.. i know eliza and David certainly did.

Mei Yi, who graciously became our Xmas DJ and played all our xmas song requests from youtube. Hope you found your way to JB that day.. your face was lobster red from the beer and wine!

Nicole, Anya & Wee Yong for tolerating with us on the far end shoving plates at them and screaming for pizza.. We were a hungry lot!

Wine, beer, Mega pizzas, yummy appetizers, and old granny BINGO.. 'Nuff said.

Look forward to more of these "intoxicated" celebrations and gatherings with the BD Folks! I saw a totally different side of all of you :) Merry Blessed Christmas to the team, and a Happy New Year! May 2009 be filled with peace, joy, love, prosperity and good health!

drama

Hi,
We run the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2008 last Sunday, 7th Dec 2008. We have run a great race and most important was we finished the race at our time.(Half Marathon) What we achieved in this race was feeling healthy and stronger. Only disappointing was that the day I collected my “Bit number 40614” and investing on number “4061”,”0614” and “4014” still no luck.

Jimmy

Crab-e-licious!!! (@ Eng Seng)

Thanks to i.luminate & Amos, we were treated to a sumptuous meal of juicy black pepper crabs last Friday!!! Venue is none other than the ever popular Eng Seng restaurant along Still Road. This rather run-down eatery serves one of the best black pepper crab which is finger-licking good. :p

Anyway the whole group was all psyched up, with "carefully" planned logistics of reaching there by 4.30pm to "chope" seats & crabs.

Amos gave us the go-ahead to order 12 crabs (plus other sides such as mee goreng, fried hor fun, fried you-tiao, rojak etc)! While ordering with the infamous auntie, I could hardly contain the drool that was spilling out of my mouth. *slurp*

We all had a hearty meal, no small parts of the crab was left uneaten (or unexplored?? - quote David). Our table which had more "macho" eaters (James, David, Jimmy, Wee Yong & Amos) were casting furtive glances at the opp table (predominantly female except Ronnie) so that we can help "clean up" their crabs! All that was left on our plate was traces of black pepper sauce cos we had David who was busy lapping up most of it.

I vote David as the NEATEST crab eater! He piled all that's left of the crustacean in a shell which looks good enough to be reconstructed (see pix as proof). The rest of us had crab shells littered all over our plates & table. :p

What a great way to relieve stress!! Thanks Amos!! :D

PaintBall : Our Teambonding!

Dear Colleagues,

This was one of the greatest and very Challenging Team Bonding that i had went through since i had joined SingTel.

PaintBall Team Bonding by BD & SM

The morning started with all of us conducting briefing and warming up.
Excited like a boy and girl going through a new game.

The Instructor saw our excitement, hence he had given us a small lecture on Safety and the Game Rules.

Excited initially, but once we heard the "Safety" briefing especially on danger of close fire and incidents where some participants taking out the "mask"....... ripped lips and etc. The cold went down our spine!

I noticed some of us started to cover the head with cap and many start to use scarf to protect their neck.

Once the game started, it was nothing but full of fun, firing and shouting. There was some cheer leaders by the side (if i could remember)

Some lost some win......but the best thing that we achieved was as follows

Team spirit
Lots of running (exercise)
Souvenirs ("Blue black", i had one too)
Stress Relieved

For those who had short memories, pls refer to the attach photo.
The main bulk with be at the X drive.......

X:\Business Marketing Group\Business development\Pix\TmBdg-Paint

Sign off
David & Ronnie




Why Paintball?
Paintball is great for relieving stress while promoting team work in a fun and interactive atmosphere.
Leaders will emerge through practical application of strategic planning. Team spirit and friendships build as the season progresses .
The tension and pressure of everyday life is forgotten as the participants slip into their fantasy world

What is Paintball?
Paintballs Flying Wild Over Singapore Skies! T.A.G (Tactical Action Games) Paintball has brought the electrifying sport of paintball to Singapore. Trained marshals are constantly on site to guide you through an exceedingly exhilarating day and the different game scenarios, like capture the ammo box and zombie. Their presence ensure that the game is played fair, and more importantly, make sure everyone's safety is looked after.

THE GAME Paintball is a combination of "Hide & Seek" and "Tag".
Two (est 5 pax each) teams are pitted against each other with each game having specific objectives.
Players eliminate the opposition with a paintball splat from a CO2 powered paintgun.
Paintballs are small spherical balls made of a thin gelatin case filled with biodegradable, water-soluble dye, which is environmentally friendly. When the paintball breaks on an opponent, he or she is then eliminated

How to truly enjoy a deserved break?

In today's super well connected world, you are contactable via phone or email no matter where you are with the exception of the more remote places. In all my previous working years, I did not had a enjoyable breakaway at all coz companies love to issue you a super productive tool called the blackberry which cultivates a habit in us to take a look at it to check for any new emails or sms even if you put on silent mode.

However, I had an exception this year in my Japan trip. Not because I did not bring along a bb, I brought along the iPhone along which is err...great for entertainment and also accessing emails :(.
The blessing in disguise came when I was happily eating away the delicious ramen and I received a sms from SingTel to tell me that my data roaming charges had exceeded $300 on my 2nd night in Tokyo!!! I got a bill shock! Super amazing how push emails can be so expensive in Japan...

Anyways, I turned off the data roaming settings and this is where my fun and enjoyment extrapolated on the scale. The best thing is that all the missed calls appeared with unknown caller ID and hence, I can't call them back!

From then onwards, I 'bo chap' all the emails and happily eating and touring away in Japan.
All in all, Japan has been very very good to me (my stomach)!!! Awesome country!!!

Check out my online Japan albums. I strongly recommend Nikko and Hakone for romance during autumn.

Day01>> http://travel.webshots.com/album/568266513lcNwjY?vhost=travel

Day02>> http://travel.webshots.com/album/568270574JFBJgb?vhost=travel

Day03>> http://good-times.webshots.com/album/568273957aTUtwG?vhost=good-times

Day 04>> http://travel.webshots.com/album/568278983MNkCNc?vhost=travel

Day05>> http://good-times.webshots.com/album/568275050ybKyeM?vhost=good-times

Day 06 http://good-times.webshots.com/album/568408377VBCDDv?vhost=good-times

Day07>> http://good-times.webshots.com/album/568286688ReBwWn?vhost=good-times

Day 08 http://family.webshots.com/album/568326681xUaUck?vhost=family

Day 09 http://travel.webshots.com/album/568343827mmdsFq?vhost=travel

Day 10 http://good-times.webshots.com/album/568366106iKbVPI?vhost=good-times

Day 11 http://travel.webshots.com/album/568406282jeHads?vhost=travel

Day 12 http://travel.webshots.com/album/568424279qUNbbd?vhost=travel

Carrots, Eggs & Coffee

I just read this which I found it thought provoking...here's sharing it with everyone...

A carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee... You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again. A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.
Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled 3 pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word.
In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, ' Tell me what you see.' 'Carrots, eggs, and coffee,' she replied. Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg.

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, 'What does it mean , mother?' Her mother explained that! each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water. 'Which are you?' she asked her daughter. 'When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean? Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain & adversity do I wilt & become soft & lose my strength Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened & stiff ? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter & tough with a stiff spirit & hardened heart? Or am I like the coffee bean?

The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean? May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy. The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

MAYBE WE CAN ALL BE COFFEE.... :D

The Story of a Wedding Dinner

I always like to attend wedding dinners, not because of the food served there, (hotel food are normally so-so only), but because of the company you would see. As you grow older and get married, you tend to go for less outings with friends. So wedding dinners are a good way to catch up with people, especially those friends you have not seen in a long time. But of course, as you get older, you would also attend less weddings, since more of your friends get married and those who are not married, ………….would most probably stay that way :P.

I attended one of friend’s wedding a few weeks back. One of my good friends – who was one of my “brothers” for my wedding. We were school mates in JC and also university course mates. We join the same ECA in JC – Chinese martial arts. So there we were, all the “武林高手” in the same table and some of our spouses.

There was one particular person we did not see in quite a while because she was overseas all this while as her husband had an overseas posting and was only recently back. Of course, she was not idling all this while but had three kids while she was overseas. So I am not the only one who is “productive”. She married earlier than me, so her elder kid is older than mine. Her kid is 5 years old this year and would be going into a primary school in 2 years time and the topic of the day revolves around primary schools for our kids, which is the theme of the story for this post. (Even the financial crisis took a backseat that day).

Because she lives in Buona Vista, she said she is going to enrol her kid in Henry Park Primary School, supposedly one of the better primary schools in that area. She was saying her flat is within 2km of the primary school. Actually I never believe in so call “good” and “average” primary schools. Whether a person would be successful in life really depend on a lot of factors, going into a “good” primary school would really play an insignificant role in his/her success, in my opinion. So I don’t really understand why some parents go to great lengths to do volunteer work or to move house so that their kids would go into a “good” school.

After the birth of my children, I already make up my mind that there is no way I am going to do volunteer work to get my children into a primary school. (I am just too “lazy” and “bochap” to do volunteer work, and my time is too precious for such “mundane” chores.) Moving house is also out of the question (until that night), because my place is in a such a convenient location and many people would “die” to come to live here. The only issue we have is that there are very few primary schools in my vicinity (the price for living at the city fringe). The one primary school within 1km of my place is a all girls school, which is not what I want for my daughter. So the next choice are schools out of 2km, which is an issue I am going to face in time to come.

It just happens that one of the friend works in MOE, so he becomes the “SME” (subject matter expert) on enrollment in primary schools. And though some of us don’t have any kids yet, this is a perennial and popular Singapore topic, so all of us were pretty engaged. Though the wife shares my view of not doing any volunteer work, she still wanted the kids to go to a “good” school. (She wanted to best of both worlds). So how do you get your kids to a “good” school with minimal efforts? Since there was a MOE SME, we know phase 1A is for sibings, phase 1B is for alumnus of schools or people with “connections” to schools like board of directors, member of clan associations etc, and phase 1C, 2 and so on.

Luckily or unluckily, I happen to be an alumni of a “good” primary school, one of the SAP primary school. So if I join the school’s alumni association, chances are that my kid would definitely get into the school, which a lot of parents want their kids to go. The only problem is that school is not near my place, so if I want the kid to go there, I can

1) Drive her back and fro everyday (so I need to buy a car which is not a very wise decision, considering the age of rising petrol prices and ERP rates, anyway, I eschew car ownership because I hate to find carpark lots and cars are depreciating assets)
2) Move house so that I don’t need to subject the kid to long traveling time and hopefully avoid buying a car (also not very wise, if I need to sell my prime location and move to the “suburbs”)

Anyway, the wife was so excited, she had difficulty sleeping that night. To settle this once and for all, we actually went to the school to take a look. And to be frank, we actually like what we see, the surroundings and also the website of the school.

The only “negative” point is that there is no worthwhile house to buy near the school. I didn’t really want to buy a resale flat because it is quite expensive. Yes, there is a condo within 300m of the school, but it is a 99 leasehold property and 15 years old already, which would not make a very good property investment. But then again, is there any basis for comparison between a property investment and investment’s in your child’s education?

For me, one of the consideration is that the kids in this school would get a good grounding in the Chinese language because it is a SAP school, plus I like the motto of my alumni which I still remember to this day.（忠孝仁爱，礼义廉耻）

For those who don’t understand Chinese, it means, in the same order

- Loyalty
- Filial Piety
- Humanity
- Love
- Courtesy
- Righteousness
- Integrity
- Sense of Shame

Compare this against the motto of the neighbourhood primary school which is “Work hard, play hard and make a mark” (doesn’t the first few words sounds eerily familiar??).

The wife called the alma mater to get an application form for me to join the alumni association. It is still on my table collecting dust. Do I really need to孟母三迁 and follow the crowd? Anyway, I still have more than 2 years before my kid enroll in the school?

So it’s between "Work hard, play hard" against "忠孝仁爱，礼义廉耻" , where would you enrol your child if you are the parent?

weeyong

Langkawi

With i.luminate finally over, I took a long-awaited holiday to Langkawi with my husband & 2 young kids. It was a really fun & enjoyable one! One of the highlights for me was watching 30+ eagles flying nearby & scooping for meat in the waters while we were on a boat. I had never seen so many free-roaming eagles before, and it was fascinating watching them repeatedly grab the meat in the waters with their feet, then bringing it to their beaks while still in flight.

Another highlight was having close encounters with about 10 black-tip reef sharks! We were feeding other fishes with bread while standing in the waist-deep waters on Coral Island (a protected marine park, off Langkawi), when these black-tip reef sharks started swimming near us! Most were about 1m long, while 1 or 2 were about double that size. I knew they were harmless, but it was still quite an experience having sharks swim around you! Later, I realised that they swam close to shore because they knew it was nearing feeding time! Apparently, the dive operators that brought us there would feed them at 1pm whenever they are there! The guide would stand just 2~3m from the shoreline, and hold pieces of fish to feed the sharks. They would try to lure the sharks to as shollow waters as possible so that we could have a splashing, close encounter with these sharks! Can you imaging having a shark just 1 meter away from your feet?! Check out the video...

For my son, the highlight was probably the fishing trip we took when we rented a boat out. Even the local boatman was fasinated by this little 4yr old boy who keeps catching fish! At the end of a 4hr fishing trip, we caught almost a bucket full of fishes! :)

Anya

LOVE

Love embraces and enrich one's life, be it spiritual, personal and work life.

Spirtually and in my personal life, the greatest thing that I have know is to have God in my life. Life is not a bed of roses..when things do not go the way you have expected, I have learnt to count on my blessings and know that God has given me much more that I can ever be grateful more - my supportive parents, my wonderful siblings, an opportunity to be a wife and a mother, the love of a husband, being able to work and the steadfast friendship of friends.

Where work life is concerned, I am thankful for the opportunity to be where I am now. The initial period was tough but I have managed to go through it by the grace of God. The journey in preparing for i.luminate was indeed tough but is certainly a fruitful and enjoyable experience. I have gained so much more during these 7 months of preparation especially forging deeper friendship with colleagues working alongside with me.

I am also grateful that I have wonderful bosses who understand when I have to be away from office or needed to rush back home to take care of my son who is at a tender age where colds and flu bugs can strike on them so easily. During the difficult period that I have to go through when my father-in-law passed on, I have grateful that my bosses and colleagues showered me with their concern and love despite the fact that everyone is busily preparing for i.luminate. Thank you to all.

Although the world seem to be in a gloomy and messy stage now, we can indeed make life more positive with small acts of caring and by spreading love around.

Below is a short story which has touches me. Hope it touches you as well....

A little boy wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with Twinkies and a six pack of root beer and he started his journey. When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old woman. She was sitting in the park just staring at some pigeons.

The boy sat down next to her and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the old lady looked hungry, so he offered her a Twinkie. She gratefully accepted it and smiled at him. Her smile was so pretty that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered her a root beer. Again, she smiled at him. The boy was delighted. They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word.

As it grew dark, the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave, but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old woman, and gave her a hug. She gave him her biggest smile ever.

When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, "What did you do today that made you so happy?" He replied, "I had lunch with God." But before his mother could respond, he added, "You know what? She's got the most beautiful smile I've ever seen!"

Meanwhile, the old woman, also radiant with joy, returned to her home. Her son was stunned by the look of peace on her face and he asked, "Mother, what did you do today that made you so happy?" She replied, "I ate Twinkies in the park with God." However, before her son responded, she added, "You know, he's much younger than I expected."

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Embrace all equally! ...Author Unknown

Settling In

My first post!

Just want to thank all my colleagues and boss who've made me feel very welcomed in this team. I'm still easing into the company in general and my role specifically. But looking forward to wats ahead!

Anyways, doing a little advertising for my film ^^

It's gonna be screened this 20th Oct! Anyone interested to come let me know ya.

Cheers,

Mei Yi