Photo Blog: Hong Kong (Day One)

As promised, here are the photos of my HK trip. My girlfriends were sweet enough to join me there after my business meetings, and I extended my trip so that we can explore HK to our hearts' desire.

Being the obssessed planner, I swept all available maps from the airport and hotel and laid them all out on the bed the evening my friends arrived. Armed with a pen and paper, I poured through the descriptions and locations of all the cool and exciting places I wanna go, or show my girls, and generated a 5-day itinerary in one night!

Day One: Unexplored Territories

Being the adventurous traveller, I suggested exploring the outskirts of HK - places where none of us have ever been before. Taking directions from the hotel, we hopped onto a bus that will take us to Aberdeen for dim sum.

The classic HK double decker bus!

Jacqueline, moi and Michelle on the bus to Aberdeen

Views from the bus

Stanley Market - quaint li'l village at the southern tip of HK Island

A nice cosy resturant called the Boathouse

The Smugglers' Inn

Great place for a drink and resting our tired feet.

Our ice cold beers

Just like everyone who came before us, we left a souvenir on the ceiling.

Jacqueline and Michelle up their funny antics again

Another artistic attempt of mine to take a black & white photo

I am working on the sizes of the other photos. Stay tuned for Day Two...... :P

dry spell

for a writer like myself, it's a tragedy to be hit by dry spells. the need to purge has been highly inhibited by the incapacity to write.

writing has never been a problem, at least not for a girl who's inflicted with what's commonly known as the verbal diarrhoea disease. but I guess when one's life is going nowhere but spiralling into a hopeless quicksand, one surely has more grievances to air. but when one is in a state of calm and peace, ironically, one becomes "word handicapped" and is inevitably stricken by writers' block.

seems as if joy is the ultimate bane for all writers. happiness murders creativity. that's why most creative people such as artists, poets, writers, painters - are a bunch of eccentric, temperamental and individualistic egomaniacs.

hong kong was simply divine. i shopped and ate like never before. yes - me, elvina shopping. i get goose pimples just remembering that. what on earth was i thinking about?? but the stuff was cheap, and it made me look ten years younger - so i thought i should spend some money to lie to the whole world. it made perfect sense. women do that ALL the time.

the food, oh my, was absolutely tempting. desserts were swimming not only in my mind, but in the cavities of my digestive system every few hours. roast meats, dim sum, spanish food, hong kong street delicacies somehow manage to squirm their way into me. i must have carried a whole 50kg worth of food in me during the whole trip. ahhh yes....miss tummy is peeking out as well, enjoying the world view with miss belly button.

time for the hamsters' run on this idiotic looking machine they call a treadmill.

i couldn't bear to look at my shopping bills. maybe if i stash them underneath the bed, they might disappear. i bought shoes, dresses, sleeveless tees, skirts, bags, accessories, lingerie, snacks and other ridiculous gadgets which i may have no use for at all in the near or far future.

i must be possessed.

either that or the woman in has finally been unleashed.

i think u guys would prefer to believe in the latter, though i am very much inclined to think otherwise.

photos? tons and tons. the gadget freak in me was unstoppable. trigger happy me was trying to capture the entire state of hong kong in a 512mb chip. ambitious fool i am. but the pictures were lovely - because they encapsulated all the amazing fun i had. one of my most memorable vacations i must say, in more ways than one.

i think i will have to spend some time making the pictures smaller so that i can upload here for your viewing pleasure. kindly donate to the elvina's future foundation before you view them so that i can continue such altruistic projects in my years to come.

suddenly, the dry spell has been broken...

Taking Off

I am taking off into the skies again.

This time, I am jetting to Hong Kong. I am responsible for managing all marketing and branding activities for our HK office as well, but did not have the opportunity yet to meet the team there since I started my new job.

Well, today's the day. My flight's in 5 hours time.

I am looking forward to it, 'cos I have not been to HK for quite a long time. I miss the food most. Heard it's summer sale season over there right now, so though shopping's not my favourite cup of tea, I may just do it for the sake of it. Grab some nice dresses for work since I am there.

The TV brought some disturbing news though. Typhoons invaded HK last week and left more than 30,000 people stranded at the airport. Got some folks worried for me there for a moment, but I am sure everything should be fine now.

I will be back on Aug 15 - and I know my absence will be sorely missed (haha..). Just keep me in your prayers and before you knew it, I shall be back to haunt you.

Meanwhile, here's a little Elvinalogy for you to work on again. I kinda of miss these stuff so humour me, won't you? :)

Answer these little questions in any way you want, with reasons if you want to be more detailed.

Ten Questions (Inspired by John Baker's Five Questions)

1. What makes you laugh?

2. Which person is the greatest inspiration to you?

3. Which song touches you the most?

4. What kind of present would you get for my birthday?

5. What is your greatest fear?

6. What will be your dream job?

7. What makes you blog?

8. Which three blogs do your read every day?

9. How would you describe this blog to strangers?

10. On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate this blog?

Looking forward to your attempts on Elvinalogy v3.0. For the rest who wanna know more about the Elvinalogy series, check these out: Elvinalogy v1.0 and Elvinalogy v2.0.

By the way, I have chopped off my long tresses and I have ash blonde, shoulder length hair now. I look like a wannabe Japanese chick.

"Ja-ne!"

24 Weird Things About Me

1. I once wanted to be a fireman. Just once.
2. I don't like shopping.
3. Diamonds are not my best friends either.
4. My heart skips a beat when I see men in uniforms.
5. I sometimes swing from feeling extremely confident to desperately insecure.
6. I talk to myself. Especially when I am stressed.
7. The clothes in my wardrobe are 80% black.
8. I absolutely abhor bad customer service and I will make life hell for anyone who's guilty of it
9. I am not very good with old people.
10. I am very good with babies.
11. My online persona is so much more popular than the real me.
12. I remember things that I should forget, and I forget stuff that I need to remember.
13. My mind is a depository of useless trivia.
14. I am freakingly patriotic.
15. I simply love sleeping on hotel beds.
16. I could have been a lawyer, but I 've got a conscience.
17. I have an insuppressible desire to make people laugh.
18. I like to create my own life's philosophies.
19. I rarely regret the decisions I have made in my life.
20. My heart hurts and heals easily.
21. My brain generates new ideas 24/7.
22. I reveal my age to anyone who ask.
23. I believe that a short girl like me should marry someone tall or my offsprings will turn out to be gnomes and hobbits.
24. I don't know why I even bother to write a stupid post like that.

The Diagnosis

Dear all loyal guests of Hotel Solace,

Sometimes I wonder where would I be in this cyberuniverse without you guys. Reading all your well-wishes and caring messages has proven to be a much more effective cure than any medication can offer.

Just so you know, I am recovering, but very slowly. What happened was unusual, probably even a first. I had gastrics on Sunday, and only got to bed at 4am (which technically means Monday morning).

I was in a comatose for a full 20 hours and only woke up on Tuesday 12am. That practically meant that I slept through the entire Monday without waking. Well maybe for a mere 5 minutes - when I was struggling in and out of consciousness to send a simple SMS to my PA to tell her I couldn't make it to work.

It was amazing how I never woke up at all after that. The only reason why I woke on Tuesday 12am after that long slumber was because my body was screaming for water. Imagine that I have gone without a morsel of food or a drop of water for 20 hours straight, or even more since my gastric attack on Sunday.

Took a sip of water, and fell right back into total unconsciousness. I remained in coma until a phone call from the office woke me up at 9am on Wednesday. By then, I have been unconscious for almost 30 hours.

Something's not quite right, and it worried me....a great deal. So I dragged myself to the doc - still feeling extremely lethargic. I slept again while waiting for my turn. The sleepiness was intense and I couldn't shake it off.

The diagnosis? I was overworked.

Doc actually felt that it was serious enough to give me an injection to ease the giddiness and medical leave for the rest of the week, coupled with tons of medication that will make me drowsy and allow my body to rest and recuperate naturally.

Funny thing is, I don't feel stressed at all. My body didn't show any obvious signs of breaking down. But yet, when it hit me, it felt like I was being consumed by a sweeping hurricane. Nothing I do could break that deep sleeping spell.

Sometimes I wonder if my phone didn't ring that Wednesday morning, would I just slip into perpetual unconsciousness, without anyone realising it? Would I even wake up at all?

I should be resting actually, but unfortunately my boss from Sydney is in town this week. Tons of meetings, tons of updates and presentations and tons of planning and deadlines to meet.

I was back in the office the very day I got the jab, while I was still feeling woozy and extremely tired. I would have slept some more if I did not have to go back to work. It's really no one's fault, 'cos there are some critical press deadlines I have to meet. And with my marketing boss in town for only three days, I really did not have much of a choice.

So now, I taking quite a while to recover...but I am recovering. Slowly but surely.

Thought you guys would wanna know what had happened to me since my last entry, in case you were worried sick and wondering if I am still breathing.

Thanks again for all your concern and love. I feel better already. :)

Yours gratefully,
Elvina da Divine Princess

What's going on?

It's exactly 12am.

I have unknowingly slept for 20 hours. Which also meant that I did not have single morsel of food or drink for that same amount of time.

My head feels heavy.

I feel weak.

I came online to search for a 24-hour clinic. Couldn't make it to work this morning. I vaguely remembered struggling to stay awake long enough to send an sms to my colleague before slipping into total unconsciousness.

I couldn't remember what happened. It felt like I was on an overdose of sleeping pills.

Found the clinic, gotta go now.

My eyes are threatening to close again.

What's going on?

Swamped Lake

I have been so busy since I got back from Sydney - and the workload seems to be getting heavier and heavier.

I have four newspaper print ads going out in this Saturday's Straits Times, seven job descriptions to clean up for a global IT company, 12 HR print ads to edit for the Human Resource Magazine, and a mega project that includes working on a html e-mailer, putting up new roles on the website, creating a client profile page, advertising the roles on external job boards, and partner with government boards to target their database.

All these on top of an event that I need to organize for Commerce candidates next week, attend two peer briefings for industry parnters in mid July, supervise the creatives and production of a range of golf-related merchandise that we are producing for a golf event that my company's sponsoring, and meet boutique creative agencies and production houses to brief them on my new branding strategy for the company.

Hence, I am quite drained to blog - so I do apologize for the lack of updates.

As usual, I have tons of topics to rattle about, and I love the interaction you guys are having on this site. It makes me feel really privileged to know that you are always here, even when I have been slacking. Makes my heart ache too for letting all of you wait so long for a new blog entry.

I will try to put up something interesting soon this week. Meanwhile, just be awed that I am now gearing up for a classic performance of Swamped Lake.

Nevertheless, I love my job still. My colleagues have came up to me - one by one - to tell me they are very happy that I came on board, they think I am amazing and they could not imagine how life would be without me. (how sweet...I am such a sucker for compliments)

I organized a huge party last week, which was hosted by my company's group COO and Asia Pacific CEO and attended by over 200 senior management clients and media personnel. Recieved lots of compliments from industry partners, and tons more from everyone in the office. I was told that that particular client event was the best party my company has ever organized, and most of the clients were highly impressed.

Best of all, my lovely boss gives me so much autonomy - it scares me. He listens to my opinions, takes my advice, and accept my suggestions. I do work hard, but life's been good. I am the voice of all things marketing, branding and PR in this company. Everyone is close to worshiping the ground I walk on.

I should have just ask for a million dollar salary per month.

Checkin' Out of Heartbreak Hotel

Artwork by ~shadrad

A blogger friend asked recently how she should nurse a broken heart when she loses someone whom she loves very much.

Where matters of the heart are concerned, unfortunately, one cannot subscribe to a response/reaction template or formula. It differs from time to time, and varies from circumstances to circumstances.

When I was younger (young and hot by the way!), breakups are common. Guys checked in and out of my life, and I thought it was just a process of growing up and finding myself. I hardly beat myself up over it because I knew there will always be someone else. Losing someone was awful no doubt, but I'd never allowed it to take precedent over other aspects of life - such as friends, work, family, school, hobbies etc. I figured it was not that I was being flippant, but rather, my priorities were somewhere else, something else.

If a guy leaves me for whatever reasons, he could always be replaced by someone who may be more loving, less argumentative, more financially well-off, less clingy, more understanding, less unreasonable, more sensitive, less promiscuous.....and the list goes on. I've always felt an unsupressable need to move on, either as a way to cope with the temporal pain/heartache or as a form of self-justification that it wasn't really my loss, but his.

I also convinced myself that grieving over lost love for too long was a waste of time. I wanted to make the best use of my time because I am one who believes strongly that time is perishable and once I miss today, I could never relive it again. Today only happens once in your lifetime. And that goes for every other day in your life too.

Then I grew up and something changed inside me. Relationships began to matter much more. I took it more seriously because I wanted to stop moving from one fleeting love to the next. It became more tiresome to start from scratch every time - getting to know someone and allowing him to understand you back. It became harder and harder to let go as you grow older. The need for stability and finding a person you can entrust your feelings to forever (if forever exists) became more pronounced.

I am actually not the best person to give an advice on how to move on, having been someone who has wallowed in a pity party alone for four years before breaking out of a self-induced imprisonment. It was torturous to say the least. But I needed time. Time off to think about the self-destructive relationships that I put myself through all the time. Time to gain my confidence back. Time to know what kind of guy I really want in my life this time. And I needed time to thoroughly heal the heart that refused to stop bleeding.

If there's one thing that can help you check out of Heartbreak Hotel, it's not your conviction to forget. It's not who you date after that failed relationship. It's not how much you cried your heart out and how many people you talk to about it. It's not about sticking needles in a voodoo doll with his name on it, or hating him with all the blood in your veins.

It may sound corny, but time does really heal. It is amazing how in the moment of pain, that concept is almost unbelievable. But unknowingly, the pain lessens. The hurt diminishes. The feeling of betrayal fades. And all the pent up anguish and misery - become more and more undefinable. It will come a point when you wake up one day, and realise you have absolutely ziltch feelings towards that person who has hurt you so bad when he walked out of your life. And you begin to wonder where all that excruciating pain went.

Time is undoubtedly, the best healer of all wounds - both physical and emotional. Give yourself time and space and allow your heart to mend itself. By forcing yourself to forget about it would only amplify the damage, slowly but surely.

Though for me, writing can be strangely therapeutic. And hence, I write, I blog, I rant. Somehow it catalyzes that healing process.

"Time heals what reason cannot."

~ Seneca (Roman philosopher, mid-1st century AD)

"Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish;

Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal." ~ Thomas More

"Healing takes courage, and all of us have courage,

even if we have to dig a little to find it. ~Tori Amos

Mr. Right II

There's a need to clarify that when we talk about Mr. Right here, we are not referring to Mr. Perfect. Besides the fact that he doesn't exist, it's also impractical to demand that of someone when we are so dotted with imperfections ourselves. I strongly believe that people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

Since we ain't talking about Mr. Perfect, the main discussion on Mr. Right is not about how good or how loving, romantic, understanding, rich, tall, dark and handsome he must be in order to qualify as Mr. Right.

Mr. Right is a guy whom a woman feels is the right fit for her life. He may be so utterly flawed, but for her, just for her, he is what she wants. Or maybe, in a more realistic concept, he is who she can accept as a total package - imperfections and all.

Going by that definition, if you find a guy, who despite your attempts to accept and overlook the things you really do not like about him, isn't someone you can accept whole-heartedly, then probably he is not the guy.

I have many girlfriends who go through this process of self-abuse and torture, where they keep flogging the dead horse of whether the one in their life is Mr. Right.

"I know he loves me. I do love him, but I can't trust him."

"If not for the fact that he is so flippant when it comes to relationships, he is really the guy I want to spend my life with."

"I know he has feelings for me, but maybe he's just not ready."

"It's always better to find a man who loves me more than I love him. If I miss this bus, I may never find someone like him again."

Sounds all too familiar? Have you been defining Mr. Right based on those self-authored standards? Why is there such a pressing need in us to force fit someone into the Mr. Right mould, even when there's a hint of nagging doubt tugging at the back of our mind? How often do we have to try and convince ourselves the man we in our lives is really the guy we desire and love?

The issue to this topic is "convincing". If I ever come to a point in a relationship where I have to justify why a man is Mr. Right, he's probably not the one at all. Once, I asked an ex-boyfriend what he loved about me.

Instead of giving me typical answers that men would usually give (i.e. your beautiful smile, your wonderful personality, your smothering kisses etc...), he asked,"Why is there a need to justify my love? If I tell you I love you because you are awfully sweet, and one day if you stop being so sweet, does that mean I should stop loving you? Should there be reasons for loving you? If those reasons cease to exist, would I have to withdraw my love too?"

Since then, I have learnt that when you love someone, you love him - just because you do. There could be 1001 reasons why you are attracted to him, or why you are so enamoured to everything that he says or does. But they could never be the reasons for loving him. You love someone because you want to, and because you just do.

Some of you may not agree that elimination is the key to sieving out the Mr. Rights. Some of you may even feel that Mr. Right, like Mr. Perfect, doesn't exist. There is no right or wrong notions to this. But there are proven stories that may support how Mr. Right can really exist, and only if you want him to.

You may never realise that throughout your entire life, you'd have performed millions of elimination activities either consciously, sub-consciously or even unconsciously. That's how you get to know what's your favourite food, color, music, artist, places, people, fashion style, hair color etc. The things that define you and your world are established through a constant cycle of trying and elimination to narrow down what makes you tick.

Why should it be any different with the man of your life? However I do admit that for some girls, love seems to be less picky. These women are the ones who marry the first man they ever loved. I have one such friend. Her husband was her first and last love. She does not have to eliminate a whole slew of Mr. Wrongs to find him.

For the rest of us victimized love-struck fools, you don't really have a choice. You gotta go through the cycle of life to zoom in to a person you know will define your life, just like the other personal choices you have made in your lifetime.

Personally, I've sincerely treated each and every guy I have dated as a potential Mr. Right. The nagging feeling's always there, and many times like what some of you have mentioned, I wanted to run away. I wanted to give up because I could never be sure. I am tired of going through the motions of loving and failing, and I do not know how to trust anymore. I probably wanted a Mr. Right so much that I am actually fearful of losing him after I've found him. I would even go into a self-destructive mode and do things to intentionally test or rip apart a relationship.

But that's self-defeating, isn't it? I think we need to start believing Mr. Right is there, and if he is the one destined for you, you don't really have to work that hard to snare him. Even if you feel like running away, even if the nagging feeling is so strong, and even if you very much want to throw everything you have for this guy away - you will realise, you can't. Real love can bind two imperfect people together and make them right for each other.

I am not saying Mr. Right will never ever quarrel with you. I am not saying Mr. Right will be the epitome of the Perfect Husband and Boyfriend - and that he will be exactly what you dream of and desire.

But rather, he will be the one you love despite all your doubts, your fears and your insecurities. Most importantly, he loves you just as much despite having those same doubts, fears AND insecurities too. When the days are rosy, your love grows. When days are bad, you fight, you hurt each other, you tear each other apart, but at the end of the day, both of you try to right everything again and mend the love as you go along. It takes a hell lot of work to be the Right person for each other.

Mr. Right is the man who is willing to go through that with you.

A wise woman once said,"The happy moments you see in a loving couple are always captured in photo albums. But what you will never get to see in those photos are the painful and heartbreaking moments that they went through to be together."

Swinging in Sydney

Hi dearies....

Sorry for the long absence. I have been caught up since last Tuesday 'cos I have finally started work in my new office!

My colleagues were very warm and friendly, and my boss was extremely funny and endearing. My work as a marketing manager for this executive recruitment company is fantastic as I am the only and first marketing manager to be hired for the job. No precedence - means I get to set all the rules and direct how the marketing, branding and communications of the company is going to go.

That made me feel really important. Haha... :)

I am taking charge of the Asia markets - namely Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Expansion plans are underway, so you can be sure that I will have more on my hands than ever.

Right now, at this moment, I am blogging from my Sydney office. YES! I am nestled in Down Under. Arrived on Sunday evening and started my first round of training under my marketing director in Sydney yesterday.

Weather: Freaking cold, wet, windy and I am freezing to my toes!

Sydney is great. The pace is much slower, the city sights are beautiful and the people are generally friendly. Maybe I may eventually retire here when I am old and sagging.

My office is another one of Sydney's greatest wonders. Perched on the 47th floor of the Citigroup skyscraper, one steps out of the lift to be greeted by a huge reception area, surrounded by full length glass windows. The office overlooks the Darlin Harbour and the view is simply breathtaking.

I did not bring along my super duper camera 'cos it wouldn't fit into my luggage which was stuffed with thick winter wear, but I will try to capture some shots from my trusty li'l phone. :P

I know I owe you guys Mr. Right Part 2 to Part Infinity, and I promise I will write about it once I get back. I am now quite into the groove of my new job, so it's not that hectic anymore.

As for the comments on the inaugural Mr. Right post, thank you all. You have given undoubtedly given me more inspiration and ideas to include in my next Mr. Right rambling.

As for Pip, I understand what you must be going through right now. I promise I will write something about it and hopefully, it will lift your spirits up a little.

Meanwhile, for the rest of ya, do continue to envy me for having a swinging time in Sydney.

I am going shopping tonight.

Mr. Right - Part I

by Imperfectheart12

Not very long ago, I promised someone that I would blog on the topic of Mr. Right. Not that I'm Miss Know-It-All (far from that!), but I guess, all she wanna know was my personal take on it.

For the longest time, I have been a delusional girl. Someone who lost her father at a very young age and ever since then, would constantly seek and crave for the attention and love that she has lost so tragically.

Boys after boys, relationships after relationships. They come and go like the shoes in a woman's closet. But every time, I somehow managed to convince myself that the boy I was dating at that particular point in time, was Mr. Right.

I liked him. He liked me. Some very much in fact. We were happy together. So how wrong could it be?

Then the feeling sizzled. The conflicts began. The lies were weaved and the fights were ugly. The breakups were painful and the tears were heartwrenching. The memories were bitter and the pain was lingering. But no matter how I try, I just couldn't get out of the vicious cycle of rebounds and breakups - and always thinking I have found Mr. Right.

My friends have always asked me this same question- How would you know when you have found your Mr. Right? How would you know it's HIM when he appears?

I'm telling you girls - I am no love guru and I don't know the answer. I really don't. If I do, I wouldn't have to go through those many failed love auditions in my life, do I?

But those failures have rather, taught me some very important lessons.

For one - I've learnt to identify all the Mr. Wrongs. Don't you think that would be the one most important step to finding your Mr. Right? I would say it definitely is! Golly, it's a simple process of elimination, for heaven's sake.

The bad guys who thrill us.
The ones who always break their promises.
The ones who make our hearts flutter crazily one day and left us high and dry, pinning for their attention and love which will never come, the very next moment.
The ones who slept with your best friend or the leggy mini-skirts he picked up at a club.
The ones who abused you - emotionally, sexually, financially, physically and psychologically.

It's not that hard. They are the ones that your mother probably warned you about, but you were too smitten to realize. The challenge of snaring such a man was too sinfully irresistible.

My first advice - If you want to know where and who Mr. Right , you gotta first purge all these trash out of your lives and social circles for a start. Clean Up, Grow Up and most importantly - Wake Up. These kind of men will never ever be Mr. Right. You don't need an IQ of 400 to know that. You don't even need me to tell you that.

This is gonna be a long and meaningful discussion. I shall let your eyes rest for the moment - and take some comments, if any - and shall continue this in my next post.

.......to be continued.

MEME MIA 2

I lifted this off Merv's site and thought it was an extremely entertaining meme.

I AM: Elvina da Great
I WANT: "World Peace"
I WISH: That everything I wish for will come true
I HATE: Hypocrisy
I MISS: Sucking my thumb
I FEAR: Myself
I HEAR: Good stuff about my blog
I WONDER: If I got too much time on my hands
I REGRET: Nothing
I AM NOT: Your Mother
I DANCE: When I am Freaking Drunk
I SING: When I am sad
I CRY: When smoke gets in my eye
I AM NOT ALWAYS: Digging my nose
I WRITE: Because I can, and because I love to
I CONFUSE: Whever I cannot Convince
I NEED: A minimum donation of USD100 from everyone who reads this blog
I SHOULD: Try waxing one day
I START: Something
I FINISH: Nothing
I LOVE: ALL who worship this blog
I REMEMBER: ALL who don't

I TAG: Whoever who laid eyes on this.

Missed moi?

Oh my oh my. How long have I been absent from the blogosphere? Two weeks??? Geez.

I bet you guys missed me a great deal. *grinz* I missed you all tooo!!

Here's a quick update on my life so that you will stop wondering if I have decided to marry some rich Arab prince and set up my own dynasty in the Middle East.

Job
Time really flies! This Thursday would be my last day in my current company. I have been rushing all the work that needs to be done and handed over - so it has been a pretty crazy two weeks for me. Can you imagine I have not even packed or cleared my desk? Wish I can cast a magic spell and make all my garbage disappear.

Writing
I have a writing assignment and the deadline's tomorrow! Writing assessment books is not as easy as I've thought. I am seriously wringing my hands now.

Speaking of writing, thought you may like to know that one of my blog articles has been published in someone's self-published book! If you have been following this humble weblog of mine, you'd remember the stuff I wrote on my kelong escapades.

Well, this guy Paul Kua wrote to me and asked to include my work in his book - Malaysian Islands: the good, the bad and the finest.

It is now available for sale here so you may wanna surf over and take a glimpse!

Greatly honoured I must say. Once I have completed proJect pink and the assessment books, I would have a title to my name too! OOooooo.....my dreams are coming true. Do support me when the time comes ok? An author with no readers is as good as a bird without wings. We would not be able to get off the ground. :)

Gaming
Oh - my new found passion! Someone should just ban me from this game. Pardon my french, but this massive, mulit-player, online role playing game (MMORPG for short) is bloody addictive!

I am now a level 42 Human Priest in the World of Warcraft. Killed multiple monsters, beasts, ogres and skeletons. Healed hundreds of players and highly skilled in tailoring and skinning. It would probably take me a few more months to get to the ultimate level (Level 60) - but for now I am quite proud of my achievements, considering it's my first attempt at the game!

I have never been a gamer. My favourite online games are those that stimulate the mind - such as Yahoo! Literati, Boggle, iSketch and online mystery games such as Mysterynet.com which challenges you to solve a crime every day. I have more of such cool links, which I will reveal in a later blog.

Would be quite interesting to know more about me from the kinds of stuff I surf for on the internet, wouldn't it? (If you are thinking porn, you will be greatly disappointed haha...)

Back to World of Warcraft - it is such a mind-blowing game because it allows you to play many different characters such as human, gnomes, dwarves, elves - and different classes such as hunter, druid, priest, warlock, paladdin, rogue, mage etc. The permutations are absolutely infinite. One can probably play till he's in his 80s!

You also get to meet friends from all over the world, who will group with you and pull together their various talents, skills, and spells to fight the mobs in dungeons, or in the various quests you pick up from people of different towns and cities along the way.

Ok ok, not gonna bore you with this gaming talk. You simply gotta try it for yourself and maybe if you like the game, then you can come look for me in this virtual world. I would be most happy to offer my priestly assistance! :P

Signing off
If you have an issue that you would like me to discuss via this blog, do drop me an email. The readers of this blog would be more than happy to share their opinions too - which is what I really lurrrveeee about them!

I have so many issues that I am dying to blog about - but I really must focus on meeting my deadlines this Tuesday. So do be patient with me, as you've always been - and don't desert me! I will be BACK - very soon.

"Get busy living, or get busy dying." - Stephen King

Don't Quit

Leaving a job is never easy. I'm still in the midst of rushing to complete my last few projects before my last day on May 12. Tons of handover work to do, and lots more administration work to fulfil. It's really a hassle. Especially when you know you are on your way out, all these "duties" suddenly seemed so insignificant.

But I've always prided myself for doing a professional handover - and that's not gonna change. May 12 is a mere 2 weeks away. I will survive! :)


By the way, when I was clearing my personal mails today, I chanced upon this poem that someone sent to me some time ago when I was in depression and feeling there was no way out. It gave me hope and made me believe in myself again.

So my friends -if you ever feel that nothing was going right, and all you wanna do is give up, let this be the anthem of your life. It lifted me up and I hope it will do the same for you.



When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill.
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile but you have to sigh.
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns.
And many a fellow turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow,
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man.
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor's cup.
And he learned too late when the night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt.
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar.
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit,
It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit

- Allen James

Bill Gates Was My Father. [If].

For one, I would be typing this entry using MS Windows, though I personally feel Steve Jobs would have a better eye for design for both software and hardware.

Being one of the world's richest man daughter ain't easy. I'd have to mingle with the upper crust society and put up with the bimbotic likes of Paris Hilton and her herd. I guess most people expect women who are born disgustingly rich to possess little intellect. Not only is it expected, it's probably forgivable and understandable.

Somehow I cannot help but wonder - if I was Bill Gates daughter, how different would my life be? How different would I be?

Assuming I am still what I am, then being Elvina Gates will unleash all the person I will ever become. I'd pursue my education in Havard with undying tenacity and with my burning desire to achieve, I'd make sure that I emerge as one of the best scholars to ever step out of that school. That will show those snooty socialites and aristocrats how shallow and inane they really are.

My day would probably start with a sumptuous American breakfast spread, served on a silver platter on my bed. That for one, I would definitely indulge. Food is one of God's greatest gift to men, and I ain't gonna fight that. Starting off the day with a good meal is essential for what I am going to do next.

Armed with the knowledge I have amassed through education, and my devious efforts to mingle and network with the top guns in Dad's company. I would quickly learn the ropes of the business and find out how Dad, looking the way he is, PLUS being a hopeless dropout, could achieve world dominion. That has honestly eluded me for the longest time. But I guess his life played out exactly like Donald Trump's The Apprentice - where the streetsmarts will always outdo the booksmarts.

Speaking of Donald, he is my mentor. Being a prominent figure's daughter has its perks. Everyone wants to or claims to know you. Not that Donald's like that, but all his businesses under the Trump organization have definitely benefited tremendously from Dad's support. Microsoft has become as precious as the air we breathe. Uncle Trump once jokingly took a jab at Dad and told him that Microsoft is just like a woman - you can't live with it, but you can't live without it either.

Dad told Donald it's time he gets a whiff of fresh air and offered me as an apprentice for Uncle Trump. Being the defiant me, I wasn't the least bit intimidated. I wasn't totally in awe because my Dad has already proven the impossible. I was more excited about having the opportunity to learn how Donald works. I mean though I would ultimately love to take over the reins in Microsoft, getting into the clockworks of a Trump organization is no small feat.

After making my rounds through Donald's various businesses as an intern, I'd start inching into MS, and unassumingly work my way up. I have always believed if one did not start from the bottom, they would never be able to understand how the people at the lower rungs of the corporate ladder really feel. It will always be all too easy for management to say they emphatize, but then you realize they actually have no clue of the REAL problems and will try to sweep them underneath the plush carpets. Most top management are inflicted with the Ostrich Syndrome. If you cannot see the issues, they probably don't exist.

Somehow reading those anti-Bill Gates weblogs on the internet, I cannot help but suspect that Dad could be inflicted with this disease as well. Well, at least I know things can still change. Bill Gates ain't an immortal and he would have to report back to God's camp in heaven eventually. Hopefully by then, Elvina Gates will be the one to make history.

For one, I would abolish the monopoly concept that Dad held so dear to his legacy. It should be a free market, and bullying our way through the industry ain't gonna bring us very far. Steve Jobs is an inspiration. He created a dream that wasn't as successful as Dad's, and at one point even tethered at the brink of bankruptcy. But he held on and revive that dream - and with his keen intuition for marketing and design, Apple got a new lease of life.

If I ever have the chance, the first thing I would do is to jump on the bandwagon with Steve and work WITH him instead of AGAINST him. The best business mantra is not to invest our precious resources fighting each other, but to combine them and create a computer dynasty that is practically unrivalled anywhere else in the world! If Gates and Jobs can work together to create more innovative and groundbreaking ideas, software and operating systems that are compatible to each other's products, the end achievements would be outstanding.

It's a win-win situation and everyone from both companies will only stand to benefit and reap the rewards. I believe in the new era of business, collaboration, not competition, is the way to go.

Well there, I can almost see myself gracing the covers of Time (just like Dad did), Newsweek, Cosmopolitian, Tatler and all other world glossy-cover publications as one of the millennium's most accomplished woman. That whiff of fresh air that everyone is craving and lusting for after years of Microsoft's tyrannical epoch.





Hold on to your seats people, and brace yourself soon for a mind-blowing revolution in the world of Microsoft.

Yes/No MEME

I ripped this off LuvPhobia's blog as I thought it to be an extremely revealing self-discovery exercise!

Why is this MEME so compelling?

1. You can only say YES or NO.
2. You are NOT ALLOWED to explain ANYTHING unless someone messages you / comments and asks!

So here goes:

1. Taken a picture naked? yes
2. Painted your room? yes
3. Made out with a member of the same sex? no
4. Drove a car? yes
5. Danced in front of your mirror? yes
6. Have a crush? yes
7. Been dumped? yes
8. Stole money from friend? no
9. Gotten in a car with people you just met? yes
10. Been in a fist fight? no
11. Snuck out of your house? yes
12. Had feelings for someone who didn’t have them back? yes
13. Been arrested? no
14. Made out with a stranger? no.
15. Met up with a member of the opposite sex somewhere? yes
16. Left your house with out telling your parents? yes
17. Had a crush on your neighbor? no
18. Ditched school to do something more fun? yes
19. Slept in a bed with a member of the same sex? yes
20. Seen someone die? yes
21. Been on a plane? yes
22. Kissed a picture? yes
23. Slept in until 3PM? yes
24. Love someone or miss someone right now? yes
25. Laid on your back and watched cloud shapes go by? yes
26. Made a snow angel? no
27. Played dress up? yes
28. Cheated while playing a game? yes
29. Been lonely? yes
30. Fallen asleep at work/school? yes
31. Been to a club? yes
32. Felt an earthquake? no
33. Touched a snake? yes
34. Ran a red light? yes
35. Been suspended from school? no
36. Had detention? yes
37. Been in a car accident? no
38. Hated the way you look? no
39. Witnessed a crime? yes
40. Pole danced? no
41. Been lost? yes
42. Been to the opposite side of the country? yes
43. Felt like dying? yes
44. Cried yourself to sleep? yes
45. Sang karaoke? yes
46. Sucked your thumb? yes
47. Done something you told yourself you wouldn’t? yes
48. Laughed till some kind of beverage came out of your nose? yes
49. Caught a snowflake on your tongue? no
50. Kissed in the rain? yes
51. Sing in the shower? yes
52. Made love in a park? no
53. Had a dream that you married someone? yes
54. Glued your hand to something? yes
55. Got your tongue stuck to a flag pole? no
56. Ever gone to school partially naked? no
57. Been a cheerleader? no
58. Sat on a roof top? yes
59. Didn’t take a shower for a week? no
60. Ever too scared to watch scary movies alone? yes
61. Played chicken? yes
62. Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on? yes
63. Been told you’re hot by a complete stranger? yes
64. Broken a bone? yes
65. Been easily amused? yes
66. Laugh so hard you cry? yes
67. Mooned/flashed someone? yes
68. Cheated on a test? yes
69. Forgotten someone’s name? yes
70. Slept naked? yes
71. Gone skinny dipping in a pool? no
72. Performed on stage? yes
73. Blacked out from drinking? yes
74. Played a prank on someone? yes
75. Gone to a late night movie? yes
76. Made love to anything not human? no!
77. Failed a class? no
78. Choked on something you’re not supposed to eat? yes
79. Played an instrument for more than 10 hours? no
80. Cheated on a girl/boyfriend? no
81. Did you celebrate the 4th of July? no
82. Thrown strange objects? yes
83. Felt like killing someone? yes
84. Thought about running away? yes
85. Ran away? yes
86. Did drugs? no
87. Had detention and not attend it? yes
88. Dumped anyone? yes
89. Made a parent cry? yes
90. Cried over someone? yes
91. Owned more than 5 sharpies? no
92. Dated someone more than once? yes
93. Have a dog? no
94. Own an instrument? yes
95. Been in a band? no
96. Drank 25 sodas in a day? no
97. Broken a cd? yes
98. Shot a gun? yes
99. Dated a married person of the opposite sex? no
100. Written a love letter? yes

YES - that's me alright. And NO - you may not ask me anything beyond this blog. :)

Try it....and have fun.

Whassup Doc?

If it seems that I have not been updating my blog recently, that's because over the last two weeks, many things have happened.

For one, I've quit my job.

This decision, though it seemed sudden, was quite unexpected actually. I do love what I am doing now, but I cannot help being seduced to the greener pastures that have been beckoning to me from the other side. The rewards are simply too tempting. Not only could it potentially be a wonderful resolution to my existing financial difficulties, it also allows me to put aside some savings for the future.

Though I do enjoy business development work and creating strategic alliances such as the recent deal between MTV and STB, marketing is in fact my real passion. This new job is exactly that and more.

I am tasked with the marketing, branding and communications for one of Singapore's top executive recruitment firms. I must admit that it is indeed a privilege to be headhunted, and an even greater one to be working for this organization. The headquarters for Asia Pacific is based in Sydney, Australia and I will be looking after the Hong Kong and Singapore markets from here. In fact, I've just been told that I'll be going to Sydney for a short training stint some time in June!

My new job starts on June 1 and I will definitely be back with more updates on that!

Secondly, I haven taken on some freelance writing projects. A start-up company intends to publish a set of Guided Composition assessment books for Primary 3 and 4 students and I have been offered the project! The token remuneration is nothing much to rave about, but I do appreciate the opportunity to publish my very first books!

Though I would very much prefer a sensational bestseller novel to be my virgin masterpiece, but I guess this would do for now. :)

Last but not least, I have unwittingly turned into a hopeless addict to the virtual game of World of Warcraft. It has consumed my days, nights, weekends and all my living seconds. I am now a Level 27 Human Priest with 33 more gruelling levels to go before reaching Nirvana.

Yes, life has been wonderful indeed.

For that, I thank you Lord. Your blessings have been more than abundant.

GBBMC

Grassroots Blogger Book Marketing Campaign, or GBBMC for short, is an ingenious marketing stint spearheaded by Kevin Apgar to promote Paul Davidson's latest book, The Lost Blogs.

The Lost Blogs is a satirical compedium of ancient blogs by the most infamous personalities in history - from Ghandi to Jesus to Jim Morrison. In this witty and original take on the most important technological development since spam, The Lost Blogs offers hundreds of blogs from the most famous minds in history, detailing their hysterically personal (and impersonal) "revelations".

GBBMC is an amazingly fun project where 40-odd bloggers took to the blogosphere and write as their preferred historical figure for an entire week, and they can try to guess who these writers are blogging as.

I am, of course, one of the Lost Bloggers and if you want to take a shot and guess which famous personality I was trying to blog as, click your way now to I Am NOT What I Am. Do check out the other Lost Bloggers too on my Blogroll and see if you can unravel the mystery writers!

Kids Power!

The 19th Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards was an awesome show! This awards show - is a mini-Oscar's show where kids get to make all the decisions - and vote for their favorites in sports, music, movies and fashion.

It was a star-studded night no doubt, made even more glamourous by the likes of Will Smith, Chris Rock, Jessica Alba, Jesse McCartney, Cameron Diaz, Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Justin Timberlake, Hugh Jackman, Nelly, Bow Wow, Adam Sandler, Green Day and Pink.

Yup - go ahead and envy me 'cos I get to see them up so close and personal. Haha...

Jack Black rocked the house with his funny antics as the host for the night. The sets were amazingly elaborate and sensational. The audience were in top form and screamed their lungs out for every star - except for Backstreet Boys. All in all, it was quite an incredible experience for me.

Yes - I do love my job. :)

Check out the animated photo banner below - for they will be able to show you the scale and scope of the event that I would not have possibly been able to describe using mere words.

NICKELODEON'S KIDS CHOICE AWARDS PHOTOS

I'm Home....

...and feelin' tired....

...and feelin' cold cos I was caught in the rain for more than 2 hours on my last day in LA...

...and feelin' lazy.

How's your day been?