I love travelling and last weekend (not the recent one) I went on a planned trip with my brother to Singapore. At the time we had purchased our tickets, it was intended to be a day trip with us spending a few hours in the Lion City. A nicely timed 11am flight via Jetstar to Singapore and an 8pm flight back via AirAsia.
Luck had it both airlines rescheduled and infomed us of the retimings. Jetstar left almost an hour before the original time and that was fine by us. Supposedly more time to roam around. Now AirAsia on the other hand made more drastic changes. An 8+pm flight had been retimed to 5.35pm which is an incredibly huge jump. Seriously, 3 hours short? Which left us with possibly at most a 1 1/2 hour timeframe to enjoy Singapore. Needless to say, I was deeply disappointed. To add to that, it was my brothers first time there and I really felt bad he wasn't able to explore the country more. What was even more agitating was the fact that AirAsia was not contactable via their new "Premium" call centre ("The number you have dialled is incomplete") and their non-existent Live Chat service which basically said that all their operators were unavailable for chat. I've never had that problem before with companies like ComGateway or HP. I had to instead fill up a form with my enquiries and guess what, I received a reply more than 24 hours later. What a damper. Imagine if it had been a business trip and the meeting ended later than 5.35pm and I'd bought the ticket for 8.30pm? If the variance was an hour it would've been easier to reschedule or itinerary for the day. But I guess it's just better business to get people to miss flights and get them to buy new overpriced last minute tickets instead eh?
Anyways, there was no apologies or compassion on the insane rescheduling. I probably should've just cancelled the whole trip. Would have if it wasn't because I'd promise my brother the trip for many months. Not only did we miss our flight (as expected), we had to purchase a brand new ticket and since there was no early flight even for Jetstar (earliest was at 10+am while AirAsia only flew 1 flight direct to KK at 5.35pm) the next day, we had to fly to KL then get another sector to KK the next morning on the 6.50am flight.
Although tired, we managed to enjoy the trip and took a more positive look at the whole experience. After buying the new tickets, we checked in early (dropped off our bag closer to departure time) and had lunch at 6pm. Before missing our flight, we went to Orchard Road (I love that place) and got to check out Ion Orchard which I personally find to have by far the most confusing building layout ever. After our "lunch" we decided to head on down to Bugis Street and was happy my brother loved it and managed to do some shopping for himself. We weren't rushing as much then. Earlier on we practically breezed through Orchard and it was less that satisfying for the shopaholic in me (fortunately I reminded myself the trip was for my brother). Maybe next trip. *smiles*
I'll post my purchases (i.e. haul) on my beauty blog which is currently on 2 blogging platforms (OnSugar and Blogger). I'm testing out a different platform to see if it suits the nature of the blog better. I'll be renaming the Blogger version of the site to the new one on OnSugar soon. Still trying to figure out how my header should look like. I want to have more content (hauls, reviews, first impressions, etc) on there.
Back to the story of the trip, we were basically crazy exhausted. To make things worst, both of us didn't get enough sleep the night before the trip and would've been fine if everything had gone to plan. We thought about checking in to a nearby hotel while waiting for our connecting flight to KK from KL but decided against it due to the short time in between (4-5 hours). We felt it wasn't worth the extra cost. After 2 hours, sleepiness was already creeping in. By 4am, we ended up sleeping at one of the corner eateries til the hustle and bustle began at about 5am. Haha. Fun times. It was probably the longest time I've spent with my brother in a long time.
Soon as I got back, got home and went to get ready to see my bestie who I was supposed (and promised) to do her make up for her shoot that day. Felt bad I wasn't there in the morning as promised but I did managed to salvage her afternoon shoot some what (I hope). I love make up and having the opportunity to try it out on someone other than myself was just a thrill. Maybe I'll get that opportunity yet again some day. *beams*
Monday, July 26, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
30 Day Challenge
I know I'm a little late but I'd just stumble onto Petrilude's personal YouTube channel (click here) and was introduced to the 30 Day Challenge which was supposed to be done the whole month of June where you can either blog or vlog about the designated topic daily for a period of 30 days (obviously, LOL!).
So basically here are the daily topics:
Day 1: Your favourite song
Day 2: Your favourite movie
Day 3: Your favourite television program
Day 4: Your favourite book
Day 5: Your favourite quote
Day 6: Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 7: A photo that makes you happy
Day 8: A photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 9: A photo you took
Day 10: A photo you taken over ten years ago
Day 11: A photo of you taken recently
Day 12: Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 13: A ficitonal book
Day 14: A non-fictional book
Day 15: A fanfic
Day 16: A song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17: An art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)
Day 18: Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 19: A talent of yours
Day 20: A hobby of yours
Day 21: A recipe
Day 22: A website
Day 23: A YouTube video
Day 24: Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 25: Your day, in great detail
Day 26: Your week, in great detail
Day 27: This month, in great detail
Day 28: This year, in great detail
Day 29: Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30: Whatever tickles your fancy
I found it interesting to give it a shot. Let me see if I actually have answers for all those topics and maybe (quite likely) I'll try it out. I know it's already July but it's a fun thing to do isn't it? *smiles*
So basically here are the daily topics:
Day 1: Your favourite song
Day 2: Your favourite movie
Day 3: Your favourite television program
Day 4: Your favourite book
Day 5: Your favourite quote
Day 6: Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 7: A photo that makes you happy
Day 8: A photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 9: A photo you took
Day 10: A photo you taken over ten years ago
Day 11: A photo of you taken recently
Day 12: Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 13: A ficitonal book
Day 14: A non-fictional book
Day 15: A fanfic
Day 16: A song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17: An art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)
Day 18: Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 19: A talent of yours
Day 20: A hobby of yours
Day 21: A recipe
Day 22: A website
Day 23: A YouTube video
Day 24: Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 25: Your day, in great detail
Day 26: Your week, in great detail
Day 27: This month, in great detail
Day 28: This year, in great detail
Day 29: Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30: Whatever tickles your fancy
I found it interesting to give it a shot. Let me see if I actually have answers for all those topics and maybe (quite likely) I'll try it out. I know it's already July but it's a fun thing to do isn't it? *smiles*
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Under A Microscope...
Working in the corporate entails a lot more than being a civil servant would in my opinion. Of course you'll get some b*tching and talking behind your backs experiences. Not to mention people who takes glee at pulling you down. It's a dog-eat-dog world out there and for those of you who are still studying and ever eager to jump on the working world bandwagon, I'd say stop and enjoy your young student life to the fullest.
Don't get me wrong, I love being in the work force. It means more independence plus a steady stream of income which as far as this money oriented world is concern is never a bad thing. Generally though, working for the government is a lot more laid back than for private companies and establishments. More often than not, you'll have a whole lot of time on your hands to get your work done and then some. The busiest times are usually when there's an event of sorts coming up. Of course, let's not forget the government exams involved every once in awhile too. I believe benefit-wise, working for the government does have its perks (plus allowances).
In private companies, busy is an understatement. Work load is continuous and expections are high. A lot of what you do requires justifications and reason. Depending on which company you work for, work hours can either be rigid or a lot more flexible. Bear in mind however, you may be expected to work extra hours whenever necessary. A 9 to 5 job might not necessary mean you get to pack up and leave the office at the stroke of 5pm. Certain times, you may have to work later due to stretched meetings or simply to finish up work for the day to avoid accummulating it the following day. As far as benefits goes, it varies from company to company and depends on which level or job position you're at and whether you're a contract or permanent employee.
The thing about working for someone is sometimes you get lucky and get an understanding boss who looks after and stands up for his/her subordinate. Other times, you might not be as fortunate and end up with a boss who (a) enjoys nitpicking your work and finding fault in everything that you do (especially if you're better at your work than he/she is), (b) adamant to know your every move from what you're doing now to what you're going to do the rest of the day (or week) and where you were, are and will be, (c) doesn't bother about your work, hardly around and fails as a support system for the team, (d) wants everything done now and seems to be on a constant PMS-esque state and (e) appears to be helpful (or eager to be helpful) and sing praises or acts all jovial and "nice" in your face but morphs into the I-did-everything-my-team-members-are-such-bums mode sucking up to upper management when you turn your back to them.
With all these funky characters roaming about the offices, some genuine hard workers and good samaritans and them bad apples it just makes you wonder how does one stay motivated to continue to perform well in their respective jobs. Rolling with the punches is easier said than done and when life hits you with more lemons than you can squeeze, making lemonade can be a chore and your enthusiasm and spirit can get shot down in the crossfires. Analogies aside, feeling comfortable in your work place is essential considering you'll spend 7-9 hours a day throughout the week at work.
After 5 long days a week of work, the weekends become extremely precious. Long weekends are a gift. What I miss most when I'm working is not being able to spend as much time with my siblings and family. I see them a few hours a day and sometimes not at all which is sad since we all live in the same house. I barely get to meet up with my friends too but I try to as much as I can. Fortunately there's the phone and Facebook or we'll be completely disconnected. Haha. Don't even get me started on personal time. For me personally, it's almost nil but I do my best to squeeze it in whenever I can. My main things to do to unwind? Staying home watching TV, being on the computer immersing myself in YouTube videos, blogging, editing and reading a book (not to mention chillaxing with my siblings).
I believe the most important thing when you're working is to always find time to get away from it all and just take a vacation. It doesn't have to be far (or overseas although that'll be super!), a trip to a nearby resort for a couple of days, fishing, snorkeling, rock climbing, massages, basically whatever makes you happy.
Happy working everyone!
Don't get me wrong, I love being in the work force. It means more independence plus a steady stream of income which as far as this money oriented world is concern is never a bad thing. Generally though, working for the government is a lot more laid back than for private companies and establishments. More often than not, you'll have a whole lot of time on your hands to get your work done and then some. The busiest times are usually when there's an event of sorts coming up. Of course, let's not forget the government exams involved every once in awhile too. I believe benefit-wise, working for the government does have its perks (plus allowances).
In private companies, busy is an understatement. Work load is continuous and expections are high. A lot of what you do requires justifications and reason. Depending on which company you work for, work hours can either be rigid or a lot more flexible. Bear in mind however, you may be expected to work extra hours whenever necessary. A 9 to 5 job might not necessary mean you get to pack up and leave the office at the stroke of 5pm. Certain times, you may have to work later due to stretched meetings or simply to finish up work for the day to avoid accummulating it the following day. As far as benefits goes, it varies from company to company and depends on which level or job position you're at and whether you're a contract or permanent employee.
The thing about working for someone is sometimes you get lucky and get an understanding boss who looks after and stands up for his/her subordinate. Other times, you might not be as fortunate and end up with a boss who (a) enjoys nitpicking your work and finding fault in everything that you do (especially if you're better at your work than he/she is), (b) adamant to know your every move from what you're doing now to what you're going to do the rest of the day (or week) and where you were, are and will be, (c) doesn't bother about your work, hardly around and fails as a support system for the team, (d) wants everything done now and seems to be on a constant PMS-esque state and (e) appears to be helpful (or eager to be helpful) and sing praises or acts all jovial and "nice" in your face but morphs into the I-did-everything-my-team-members-are-such-bums mode sucking up to upper management when you turn your back to them.
With all these funky characters roaming about the offices, some genuine hard workers and good samaritans and them bad apples it just makes you wonder how does one stay motivated to continue to perform well in their respective jobs. Rolling with the punches is easier said than done and when life hits you with more lemons than you can squeeze, making lemonade can be a chore and your enthusiasm and spirit can get shot down in the crossfires. Analogies aside, feeling comfortable in your work place is essential considering you'll spend 7-9 hours a day throughout the week at work.
After 5 long days a week of work, the weekends become extremely precious. Long weekends are a gift. What I miss most when I'm working is not being able to spend as much time with my siblings and family. I see them a few hours a day and sometimes not at all which is sad since we all live in the same house. I barely get to meet up with my friends too but I try to as much as I can. Fortunately there's the phone and Facebook or we'll be completely disconnected. Haha. Don't even get me started on personal time. For me personally, it's almost nil but I do my best to squeeze it in whenever I can. My main things to do to unwind? Staying home watching TV, being on the computer immersing myself in YouTube videos, blogging, editing and reading a book (not to mention chillaxing with my siblings).
I believe the most important thing when you're working is to always find time to get away from it all and just take a vacation. It doesn't have to be far (or overseas although that'll be super!), a trip to a nearby resort for a couple of days, fishing, snorkeling, rock climbing, massages, basically whatever makes you happy.
Happy working everyone!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Sleepless Nights...
I've always been a night owl and not much of an early bird. At some point I did manage to train my mind to sleep and wake up in a more decent schedule but I'm struggling with it yet again. Last night I only managed to get about 40 minutes of sleep. Despite the unhealthy nature of my nocturnal tendencies, I do not intend to consume sleep medication to help with my problem. I was prescribed some muscle relaxant for my aching arm muscles some time back and although it's not supposed to, it made me sleep a bit too soundly and I found it harder to get up in the morning despite going to bed early.
At times when I can't sleep, I'll catch up with work, watch TV, rearrange/organize/clean my room or do plain ol' computer stuff. It gets annoying though because I have to work in the morning through to sometimes 7pm and my lack of sleep affects my brain functions particularly in the morning. After noon I start warming up a bit and get back on the rhythm of my work. Clearly it's a disadvantage for me to start functioning a bit late in the day so as much as I can, I'll stay on a bit later just to prepare documents and information for the next day or following work day.
In the mean time, I'm still working on getting my sleep patterns to work out better so I can take advantage of the mornings as well as the afternoons more efficiently. Sometimes the problem is my eyes are sleepy but my body is still restless so I usually end up jumping out of bed and look for food or surf the internet or something. I'm thinking of joining some kind of dance class or a yoga/pilates class to give my body a good workout and hopefully help me sleep better (and easier) while working out a sweat.
I'm considering giving Core Fitness a shot and drop by for the early morning classes before going to work. Will swing by there one of these days to check out membership pricing and stuff like that. I think one of my mum's friends is an instructor there too. My mum did suggest I join the aerobic class her friend teaches at the Sports Complex as well but it gets dark pretty early here (around 6.30pm) and me going there alone with a dimly lit parking lot isn't exactly safe in my opinion.
Another time passer for me would be playing around with my make up. I don't wear a lot of make up on a daily basis. Sometimes I just slap on moisturizer and a sunscreen and I'm out the door (our skin needs to breathe too). Most days I'll just do my brows, curl my lashes (sometimes I'll go with or without mascara), lip balm or lipstick and a quick brush of powder. If I feel like it that day, I'll throw in some eyeliner as well. That's about it. But I LOVE make up and my collection seems to have grown quite a bit now. Wanna see? I've always loved make up but now I can actually afford to buy them so that gets me super excited.
Ah yes. The World Cup is coming to an end and it's going to be Netherlands vs Spain in the finals. Gonna be an exciting match and fortunately it's on a weekend. Haha. Think I'll root for Spain. Hurm. Poor Brazilians though. They got a lot of flack from their people for getting booted out in the quarter finals and the blunders in the 2nd half of that game. Anyways, venha Brasil, their president wants the people to not dwell on the past and prepare for World Cup 2014 on home grounds. That should be exciting and hopefully Brasil will reclaim their title as champions then.
Well, it's almost 6am and I guess I should just get ready for work or something since I'm already up. Hopefully I don't fall asleep in the office which will be hard to do with the amount of work I have. Haha. Anyways, my London haul video (Part 1) is almost ready to upload I think. Oo wait, uploading now.
So until next time!
At times when I can't sleep, I'll catch up with work, watch TV, rearrange/organize/clean my room or do plain ol' computer stuff. It gets annoying though because I have to work in the morning through to sometimes 7pm and my lack of sleep affects my brain functions particularly in the morning. After noon I start warming up a bit and get back on the rhythm of my work. Clearly it's a disadvantage for me to start functioning a bit late in the day so as much as I can, I'll stay on a bit later just to prepare documents and information for the next day or following work day.
In the mean time, I'm still working on getting my sleep patterns to work out better so I can take advantage of the mornings as well as the afternoons more efficiently. Sometimes the problem is my eyes are sleepy but my body is still restless so I usually end up jumping out of bed and look for food or surf the internet or something. I'm thinking of joining some kind of dance class or a yoga/pilates class to give my body a good workout and hopefully help me sleep better (and easier) while working out a sweat.
I'm considering giving Core Fitness a shot and drop by for the early morning classes before going to work. Will swing by there one of these days to check out membership pricing and stuff like that. I think one of my mum's friends is an instructor there too. My mum did suggest I join the aerobic class her friend teaches at the Sports Complex as well but it gets dark pretty early here (around 6.30pm) and me going there alone with a dimly lit parking lot isn't exactly safe in my opinion.
Another time passer for me would be playing around with my make up. I don't wear a lot of make up on a daily basis. Sometimes I just slap on moisturizer and a sunscreen and I'm out the door (our skin needs to breathe too). Most days I'll just do my brows, curl my lashes (sometimes I'll go with or without mascara), lip balm or lipstick and a quick brush of powder. If I feel like it that day, I'll throw in some eyeliner as well. That's about it. But I LOVE make up and my collection seems to have grown quite a bit now. Wanna see? I've always loved make up but now I can actually afford to buy them so that gets me super excited.
Ah yes. The World Cup is coming to an end and it's going to be Netherlands vs Spain in the finals. Gonna be an exciting match and fortunately it's on a weekend. Haha. Think I'll root for Spain. Hurm. Poor Brazilians though. They got a lot of flack from their people for getting booted out in the quarter finals and the blunders in the 2nd half of that game. Anyways, venha Brasil, their president wants the people to not dwell on the past and prepare for World Cup 2014 on home grounds. That should be exciting and hopefully Brasil will reclaim their title as champions then.
Well, it's almost 6am and I guess I should just get ready for work or something since I'm already up. Hopefully I don't fall asleep in the office which will be hard to do with the amount of work I have. Haha. Anyways, my London haul video (Part 1) is almost ready to upload I think. Oo wait, uploading now.
So until next time!
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