This is what everyone has been waiting for. The New Years Resolutions Post !!

A flashback to 1/1/2006, with comments on 1/1/2007.
1. Lose 15 kg. At least. (Crap. Failed miserably)
2. Get a job and enjoy it for a year. (OK, well 2 weeks to go..Considered Achieved)
3. Start professional certification studies. (Started. Exam Dec 3. Achieved)
4. Keep in touch with all my friends. (Achieved, well.. yea I consider it achieved)
5. Make new friends. (Totally Achieved)
6. Save some money. (Achieved)
7. Go on one overseas trip. (Achieved - In Shanghai now !!)
8. Have a much cleaner house with more systems. (Achieved)
9. Improve my Chinese, and start on Japanese. (Achieved)
10. Try to make some effort towards world peace. (Making friends counts. Achieved !!)
Result : Achieved 9 out of 10.

A flashback to 1/1/2007. With results today.
1. Lose 10 Kg. At least. (More reasonable...but not achieved - I blame Melbourne)
2. Keep plugging on at my job and achieve success. (Not bad at all in this area !! Great !)
3. Pass Level 1 of my professional studies and start Level 2. (Passed Level 2 !!!)
4. Keep in touch with most of my friends. (Easily done)
5. Make new friends. (Ha ! Even this week I made at least 2 new buddies ! Cheers to ViBear and YSBear!)
6. Save more money than in 2006. (Technically failed. But should have been expected. Technically, if you look at it, by just not going to Melbourne I would have achieved this goal. And I paid for 3 exams in this financial year too. So. Achieved on technicality.)
7. Go on one overseas trip. (Done - Vietname, Australia, Singapore twice...)
8. Buy less clothes of higher quantity. (Easily)
9. Improve my Chinese, my singing and learn more skills. (I think so...at least relearnt macros)
10. Keep on having fun times and be positive all the time. (Had great fun with Cranium!)
Result : Achieved 9 out of 10.

AHHAHAHAHHAHAHA.

New Year's Resolutions for 2008.
1. Lose 10 Kg. (Sue me... I like this as yet unachieved resolution.
2. Pass CFA Level 3.
3. Travel overseas at least twice. (Since I know that I am going overseas in January..)
4. Keep in touch with old friends and make new friends (now combined as was easily achieved)
5. Get a good suit. Hugo Boss. Or Armani. Or Calvins...
6. Get promoted.
7. Fall in love. (Yea, I know you cannot plan to fall in love. But I do..)
8. Improve my Chinese, my singing and learn a new language and more skills.
9. Save lots of money. At least as much as this year.
10. Stay happy. And healthy and fun.

Let us pray for my first resolution.

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One of the more engaging applications on facebook is the Compare People application. And when this is matched with the Social Profile application, you find even more clues to what people think about you. In this application, you vote for people. It could be smartest, fattest, more likely to eat jelly beans on a Sunday morning and so on....... For me, there are few applications that I revisit after adding them, so it was by chance that I misclicked on my Social Profile page. Whoa.

Here is a small summary of my characteristics as votes by some of my friends. Obviously not all, because not everyone has the application and still less take the time to click around on it. First, top ratings among my friends on facebook. This is quite impressive as the list stands at slightly above 700. Mind you, I only add people I actually know on facebook, and sometimes it can be quite daunting to think about it that way, that I know that many people who HAVE facebook and are on it, and have added me back.

OK back to the topic. Out of all my friends I am :

5th most well mannered. Why thank you. I believe this could be the Prince Charming inside of me, you know...as this outside body is just a disguise....

9th good listener and outgoing. Well. I pride myself on the good listener, but am I really outgoing ? I was surprised with that, especially thinking back a few days ago when someone told me they were not as outgoing as I was and here I was thinking that they were so energetic and extroverted.

Oh...one of my favourites. 11th cutest. AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA.

Also 11th Happiest. That is good. I like that.

11th most tech savvy. I think people did not read this question properly. As far as technology goes, I am so backward it is not funny. I still get people to buy my computers, I do not play games, I do not have Astro or a console or a good phone.....

12th better singer. Woohoo. Pride goes before a fall. I know.

And I guess being 17th for People I would sleep with and People I would kiss should probably be voted by the same people ?

Sadly, I rank 27th (Better Hair) 33rd (Rather Date) 46th (Funny) 62nd (Hotter) 66th (More Popular) 70th (Better Catch) 84th (Smarter) 88th (Nicer) 144th (Rather Marry) 155th (Better Friend) 193rd (Sexier) 215th (More Fashionable !!) 234th (Better Laugh). Sigh.

So people would rather kiss me and sleep with me than to date me and marry me. Gosh !

Still thanks goes to the 10 people who voted me most useful.... > <""

And also the 5 people who would rather marry me. AND ! 13 people who voted me more attractive.

Surprisingly, only 2 people think I study hard. And 4 people think I can drink more. 6 people would rather be trapped on a desert island with me and 5 think I am more likely to skip class !!!

What amazing things.

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I now realise that to do anything online other than facebook, I have to do those things first before I even direct my explorer to facebook. It is like a black hole. Once there - gone. So now I do all my other stuff first, be it banking, email, paying bills, blogging or searching for study materials.



Anyway, will type really fast now, as am feeling the effects of not being on facebook for more than 24 hours.



On Monday, there was hardly anyone working so obviously, a lot more work to catch up on for me. Add that to the fact that of the two people who could help me, one was on medical leave, and one was on emergency leave, and that leaves me with a lot of shit. And for the first time since I started working 23 months ago, I blew my top at someone through the phone. Basically this guy made me really angry, and he was from Hong Kong. And I picked up a phone and blasted the guy. Like really hard. And I used English in an evil icy frosty tone. I felt sorry for him as well as he was a bit confused as well. After that call, I wrote him an email and CCed my boss and his boss and some other people as well. Whoa. You know, I could feel the anger shining forth from my face in heat. And my colleagues knew because I was talking loudly and fast on the phone as well, and I slammed the phone down. Not before I said goodbye and Merry Christmas in my polite frosty tone though. So you see, I was not rude, neither did I say any profanities, but I believe that there was just the right amount of frostiness to get my point across without being overbearing, though I was pretty condescending on the phone, letting him know that things were agreed between myself and his boss, with or without his knowledge. Anyway, he replied very quickly, apologizing and saying things. Magmanimously, I forgave him. Though really, I was over it right after the phone call. Ha. But this is another time when I get the politics to do work for me, with the emails, and I also let my boss know that I was going to scold him first, so that I could tell my boss that I told him about the issue already. Kekeke. I should be in politics. At least, office politics.



Phew. Steam let go.



Argh, opened facebook on the other page so must hurry. It is sucking me in already. Had to click away from it really quick before registering any words on it.



Anyway, with all the work, it was 7 pm before I got away from the office and by this time I had already worked for 12 hours WITHOUT lunch. Well I did not have lunch because I thought I could just get away from work by about 3 pm. Luckily, I went through EuBear's house pretty quickly and thought I was late. Not at all ! Noone else was there yet and I could happily eat my grilled steak and the fantastic garlic bread that he makes. By the time the other guys got there, I was full. And we had fun playing with darts and resting, before the main event.



Mahjong.



Wahahha. As usual, I was the big winner, and the only non loser. GBear quit after 2 rounds of losing money. But of course I lost all the money back later at poker. I think I have lost all sense of playing holdem and should really spread the method of playing Omaha. Or maybe just stick to Mahjong. Wahaha. Super pro.



By the time we got up to go, it was around 2.30 am, and as it was meant to be an all night drinking fest (which did not happen - most people were too tired after work) it was quite early. I was pooped anyway, and went home to sleep. By the time I woke up the next day it was time for church, and the speaker was a former gangster, no less. He sang in Hokkien as well, so I am wondering if he was from Klang, though I understand that not every Hokkien guy is from Klang. But I thought - Gangster + Singer + Hokkien = Klang right ? Hahaha.



At 2 pm, went to Klang myself to EddieBear's house. It was raining like crap. Surprised to see PatBear there !! Hugz. But of course also good to see JeanBear and DanBear. Later on, WoobyBear came with StephBear and SLBear. Talk. Laugh. Eat. Very fun. Especially as later, we were told that there was a reservation for BKT somewhere nearby. Ooh. More eating. Thanks EddieBear for everything !!



Rushed back home at 5.30 pm to go for my family's Christmas gathering, which is more food, and present of course. This tradition has been going on since I can remember. By the time it was over, it was 11. Home. Shower. Almost fell asleep. Then went to sleep. So Christmas Day was a non facebook day. Which sort of makes it more special than it already was to me. Haha.



Yea.


Really have to facebook now as am meeting SharBear and DanBear at 1U for movie and karaoke in 2 hours and I definitely need more than 2 hours on facebook !

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OMG. Today I realised a couple of things.

First, I went to Pyramid 2, which is like the sequel to a shopping mall. Basically they just extended the original Sunway Pyramid which seems to be the craze anyway. After 1Utama had a new wing, Midvalley now boasts a new wing called Gardens, then there is a huge Pavillion which I have seen grow from a giant hole in the ground to a top class mall and of course there is the ever more crowded Curve.

Anyway, the place is not too bad. There is a lot of clothes of the fashion I like, that is perhaps why my sister has dubbed the place "Lala-land". Hmph. Seriously, the clothes there at the Asian Centre exudes Korean flavour. So much, you can smell the kimchi around the floor. I love it. Haha. Have not bought anything yet, though hopefully have some money left over by year end closing of my personal accounts so that I can get something for myself.

Anyway, we had lunch at Tony Roma's where I had my grilled sandwiches while my mother and younger sister regaled me with their ideas and antics. At one point I went totally ballistic and hysterical and could not stop laughing for about 20 minutes. Let me tell you their plan.

In shopping malls nowadays it gets really hard to look for a parking space. And sometimes we follow people who have just exited to see where their car is, and follow them to their parking lot. My mom and sister planned to walk around the parking lot with someone following them. Around and around (So evil !) Worse of all, their plan includes hiding behind a pillar when the driver is not noticing, and then when the car has passed, jump out and wave, while smiling evilly. I almost choked. But I can just imagine myself doing this too. Hahahahaha.

Evilness.

Christmas is coming !!

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I swear I wanted to write this sooner but every time this screen popped up along side facebook, facebook just totally sucked in my attention, as you can see from my newly added applications. But now I have decided to just sit here and write this post which I have planned to write since Monday morning. Just sit and write.

As every end of year flows along, people tend to do some things they normally would not. And I absolutely cleaned my room and did some minor rearranging. Absolutely cleaning, means everything was cleaned and wiped and washed and rearranged. Well I have my closet and linen cupboard untouched as yet, but those I plan to do with as well, because the closet alone will mean twice as much energy. I did this from 1 am to 4 am on Monday. Had to wake up at 6 for work. But somehow it was fun. At some points I was laughing to myself at the things I found, catalogued, packed and labeled.

Here are a few things which I found which made me emotional. Whether by laughing, or crying, or just reminiscing. Wait. Make that more than a few things.

1. Letter from ParkyBear in Malay regaling me with a story of fishes eating people but got killed from the Summer of 2004.

2. Thank you note from SharBear after a random night out during exam times, to Victoria Parade McDonald's, I believe with TasBear and BuckleyBear as well, where some people were in the trunk of the car and we got lost in Docklands.

3. Polaroids of myself, SherBear and FredBear.

4. Farewell note from NeetaBear. With a gift.

5. Postcard from JinBear when she was travelling and suffering (maybe) in Central Australia.

6. Birthday card from the Trojans for 2006 when I was in Labuan and KenBear reminded me to 'tapau' a coconut for him from the island.

7. Apology Note from IzyBear for eating my egg chiffon for supper and another for eating up my food so that I had no breakast the next morning (Weird!).

8. Goodbye card from RoxBear which was given to me on my last day in Melbourne and was also signed by Chey (a pet bird) with a claw print.

9. Birthday card for 2005 from JoBear in Adelaide which came to me in the Dining Hall along with my FCUK cap which has since been killed in a traffic accident in Ho Chi Minh.

10. Graduation card from a whole lot of freshers...which technically means a lot of people who would have just graduated. Still have not gotten used to the idea of these people being all grown up.

11. Goodbye and keep in touch note from HuiBear which was written on a roll of plastic.

12. Gossiping card from the Trojans in 2006 which detailed a housewarming, christening of the toilet bowl and how KenBear was busy playing PS and how IzyBear was finally doing the dishes.

13. Birthday card from ParkyBear in 2006 with a picture of a morbid cat and filled with bits of his red seal, which resembled pieces of coagulated blood.

14. Postcard from CKBear from his plane to Melbourne with a second postcard because the first one portrayed the wrong plane.

15. Thank you card from SalBear for letting her watch Sex and the City in my room all the time and how I will always stay the way I am.

16. Birthday card from SoBear for my 21st with a coupon for a pizza from Pizza Hut at 5.95 along with 5.95 to buy it for myself !

17. Birthday card for my 21st from JeanBear, CCBear, KenBear and GrBear with a scantily clad lady on the second page which also mentioned that it is alright to be horny on my birthday.

18. Christmas card from XXBear and SherBear from Melbourne which was all sparkly and detailed the next phases of our lives after graduation.

19. Birthday card for SexyBear from EsdaBear and SherBear. Haha. You have to read inside.

20. Farewell card from JeanBear which was well written and very sad.

Many many more but these were some of the first few that I picked up. There were also loads of pictures including 2 stacks of pictures that was taken one winter day when FredBear was in the mood. Even allowed for costume changes and was taken around Docklands, Port Melbourne, and at a cafe. Also were some great photos from another great photographer, this time it was DaveBear, who took the great Scheps and IH Grounds photos. Not to mention heaps more of family (group) photos.

Aw. So sweet.

Yes.

But now my room is completely clean ! And I know where everything is. And I have a dedicated accessories drawer, one for my belts and wallets, and a whole little cupboard for my caps. Also a stationery drawer, and of course now there is a memory closet.

Ah.

Yes.

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Had too many beers on a Friday night but had to get home after a while anyway since everyone was going home. It was about 1 am. And it was weird. To be honest, this was really the first time that I have tried to drive after drinking. Usually I am very good about this. I could feel myself waver on the floor sometimes as I was walking and I literally flung myself into the car. Realised that I had not paid the ticket and paid it. After which, I flung myself into the car again. Had no idea what was with that. Managed to get home though, but I was driving very carefully and had to really focus. It was quite hard, and I was only high.

The reason I brought this up was because it reminded me of an occasion when a close friend and I had vodka and juice throughout the night, and yet he had to wake up next morning to drive someone somewhere. And he told me, when he was driving, it was as if he was driving very fast but did not get too far. Luckily he did not have to go far, and was back in five minutes and was in a dead faint within another 10 minutes. We already fainted ourselves between the vodka and the trip, so lots of blackout there. Dangerous. Do NOT drink and drive boys and girls.

Have spent the last 2 days at The Curve and 1U and I must say the Christmas decorations are amazing in both places. Some people tell me that they are the same as last year but then again I was not in Malaysia last year so it still feels magical to me. This is like life. Sometimes, is it not better than to experience something yourself than to have someone tell you about it ? There is nothing like a self experience, standing there, and looking with your own eyes, and knowing with your own point of view the thing before you. I swear, it was wonderful, and though I have been told, that it just the same, and nothing has changed, yet still, to me it was wonderful. Unless there is something really stopping you, I believe that you should go on and find out things for yourself. This is something that I also truly believe in, and why I want to travel more and find out more. What is the North Pole like, and how does riding a horse in the plains feel like ? What do the Andes contain, and what does it feel, skiing down the Aspens. I want to know.

So go on your way. Life is a journey, and if we do not travel, but only watch the travel channel, there is a whole load of difference.

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Yesterday I was in a mini state of panic. I forgot my ATM number. I worried for a while. And then it came back to me. But in that few seconds of panic, I realised that my life is so full of usernames and passwords and numbers...it is quite crazy.

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True story below.

When I first found out my current rotation I was undeniably angry and disappointed but yet sort of resigned to the fact as I have always knew I had to do an operations rotation. Nevertheless, as I was also angry at the first suggestion of Customer Service, I guess this was not too bad. Though I had previously stated the pros and cons of working in this new area, rest assured I was leaning heavily towards the cons.

Now, however I have a different song to sing. Although not really interested at first, I got into the thick of things and started to actually do work there. Much as it has been warned me to not get into the daily work as it will be boring and keeps me tied down to a factory job, I still did it. Happily for two weeks, on the outside at least. I complained a lot to many people I know. Why two weeks ? Well, for two weeks, the manager of the unit was on leave, so I could hardly be expected to have a long talk about my issues now could I ?

Blessing in disguise. In the two weeks that he was gone, I had a place to sit at. And concentrate on my work. And prospered. By the time my manager came back, I had a glowing report (as a fast learner and hard worker) as well as more time to formulate my plan of attack. Some carefully worded e-mails to some people in power got me some insurance for a drastic attack I was planning. Well, basically I sort of tricked them into giving me powers over what I was going to do. But luckily, I did not even have to resort to my arsenal.

My manager had a talk with me last night about things he wanted me to do. I could not have planned it better. Now I only have half a day's work and the rest of the day I had to improve the ways things were done there. Fantastic. I had already reduced one person's daily work to two hours anyway (that is why someone is going to be leaving in 2 weeks, not really my fault, they are not efficient enough..). And better yet, hopefully I can reduce it still further !

As my current job required lots of Excel, I have learnt so much Excel in the past 2 weeks just by using it. Funny. And another funny part was I still remember how much I hated programming in university, and yet now I am so into writing macros to speed up my processes. Also as many of the staff here are Malay, I have to speak Malay a lot too. I got used to it very fast. Amazing how it speaking a language can be like riding a bike sometimes. Comfortable. Funny how life goes. I guess the moral of the story is, sometimes, the best thing to do is to make the best out of what you are given. You never know what you can make out of it. And is that not just as exciting ? What is life after all, but a big journey ? We are better people for walking to places we did not plan to sometimes.

I am in my happy place again. Especially as I was just randomly asking some of my new colleagues, how come I had no problem fitting in ? This was because some others from other departments were complaining about their managers and colleagues....

"Because you are so adorable and friendly.....~" was the reply from someone I am not really close to. Wah. Flattered. And happy of course. Funny what words can do to you right ? I guess one thing I like to do is to find out new things about new people and I am proud to say I have been liked (well as far as I know anyway) in all the departments that I have been in ? It can be quite important to me because as much as I say that we should be more aggressive in life and move forward without caring too much about what people think about us, I do care. And I would much rather climb to the top with people's well wishes than curses.

Here is to the future.

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I just worked my second 12 hour day in a row. I am so tired.

But today I was massively entertained by RoxBear and her friends. We have very fun times talking on email, especially if the topics are very interesting like today.

And I realised I usually have a lot of interesting topics to blog about when I am at work but by the time I reach home and sit down, I would have forgotten much of it, or get too busy. Even if it did get written down, it has lost some of its best parts on the journey home. I think I should email myself in the future to remind myself of these things.

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People have been asking me lately what I do on my weekends.

I was surprised to find that I could not really answer.

And then I realised that for the most part, whenever I was in Malaysia for weekends, I was usually studying, first it was CFA1, then CFA2 then FRM. Those took up a lot of my time for the weekends. But ever since the FRM exam on the 16th of November, I have been pretty free as I have decided to take a break and only start CFA3 in January (which incidentally I have decided to move up to next weekend, as I got really fidgety without any studying...).

But just to see what my weekend was like...

Friday night (because that is when weekends really begin) was a very restful night, and I got a lot if internet done. Basically it was back from work, dinner and a night of internet. Not till late, about midnight, I was so tired I went to bed.

Saturday began with a long walk around USJ6 and then USJ10 to buy some breakfast, and then more internet (DAMN YOU FACEBOOK ~!) before I went to IKEA with my mom at lunchtime. We skipped lunch and instead had an ice cream and a curry puff each. Then as usual, it was a long walk throuhg IKEA. I swear, every time we go there, we end up walking the whole place. We enjoy it so much you see. We ended up with a 2 rugs, 6 mugs, 2 plants, 1 throw blanket, 1 plastic tray and 1 Christmas tree (the old one was more than 20 years old and was finally retired this year). We could have bought out the whole store if we did not stop ourselves. By the time we reached the cashier it was almost 5.30.

A little more facebooking (I LOVE YOU SO MUCH) and then it was time to change. I was going with the family to celebrate the 80th birthday of my Dad's Aunt. But it was more like my Great Grandfather's Brother's Son's Wife. So I suppose she was my GrandAunt once removed. Complicated. I only knew like 20 people out of 200 there. You cannot really consider them close relatives can you ? Though we did share the same surname....

Home around 11pm, more facebooking (EVIL!!) until about 3 am..

Sunday was a big sleepy morning till church, then back for a little facebook before lunch, then newspapers and HSX which are a weekly ritual.

Usually there will be something going on, and this weekend I went to watch a Christmas musical with SharBear and her friend.

A little facebook at night. And the weekend is over.

My life on weekends seem to revolve around facebook.......

But OF COURSE I am NOT addicted....I can stop any time I want.....I think.

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So I am back.

Back from where ?

Last Saturday I went to Singapore with about half of my previous department to participate in the Singapore Marathon ! It was quite exciting, as I have never thought to run in front of so many people before. I had my first dinner with the team of seafood, and then walked two shops away to meet up with other colleagues and friends who were not from my department, chiefly many of the Sailors including SailorJeow and SailorJoyo who are now both working in Singapore. I put my head down as my manager walked past, but he saw us anyway, and came in. And stayed and talked a while. And then when he left, I had some more space for a little more seafood. We chatted a bit more after dinner before going back to the hotel. I was staying at the Carlton. Really a nice place, especially after I got upgraded by the front desk upon checking in. I was a bit late, so they gave me this pretty big room. Nice towels, bed, and pillows, but the shower failed miserably in comparison with Prince, my hotel home.

Woke up around 6 am, and finally made it down groggily to the lobby where we walked to the starting line. Most of what happened next was a blur. We started, and we were off. It was quite cool to run among so many other people, it felt as if I were a bird in a flock, all flying towards (or away from?) the North Pole. Or like ants, scuttling over the forest floor. 10 kilometres was what I signed up for, but I got more than that. I experienced running in the streets of an empty city, while people cheer you on. I must say, it is quite an adrenaline rush when you have hordes of people cheering you on to run. I made it in 1 hour 16 minutes and 23 seconds. It was well within my personal target of 90 minutes. But after that, I felt that I could have done much better, and I suspect that this is only the beginning. I would love to go for more after this. More runs anyone ?

After the run, packed up and had a lunch with some more Singaporean colleagues. It was at the hotel restaurant, and since I had a nice seat away from the bosses, I had a fantastic meal, thanks to the bank. I started off with a terine of duck for an appetizer, with a chocolate milkshake. Moved on to a piece of wonderful medium cooked beef steak, and ended with with a great coffee. Yum. Cost around $80. Oops. Then I moved my stuff over to SailorJeow's place. Rested, fell asleep, read Women's Weekly. Then dinner at this place called Pepper Lunch which was basically cook your own food in a hotpot. Good concept, but makes your clothes smell.

The next 3 days were basically lots of shopping and sightseeing of Singapore. Well, rather, I enjoyed the Christmas decorations while SailorJow shopped. I did enjoy it as well, as it has been quite some time since I had so much fun trying on really expensive clothes like that 2 layered DKNY winter coat, or the Calvins which were on 50% sale but I hardened my heart against it....
Sigh. Well, maybe one day.

Also managed to meet up with EstBear at the Coffee Club for some food. We also managed to catch Prince Charming doing some promotional event with Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and a rather plump Snow White !!! So funny. Unfortunately we had so much fun catching up she forgot to give me a tie from XXBear and I forgot to remind her. Never mind, this just means that we can catch up again later !!

It was also fun as we conspired to buy a DVD player for SailorJeow as a housewarming present from a group, and later also got a tiny Christmas tree for her with tiny presents and marshmallows for her house as a super surprise. We left it for her to find when she got back from work. So lovely. Very sweet too. The only thing which marred the day was a whole day of rain rain rain. So much rain.

Finally got back late on Wednesday night. So tired and exhausted. Singapore might be a bit more glamourous, and decorative, but Malaysia is definitely more comfortable !

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