Another weekend ! Woohoo, somehow they seem to be reducing in number. Exciting, yet slightly sad.

Am in midst of negotiating salary. Very exciting. Or interesting at least. Fight Fight Fight @! What is the balance of being greedy compared to wanting to live a little, and not just merely survive ?

Watched "Wanted" at the cinema yesterday and was slightly disappointed with the movie. The movie itself was not too bad. I just felt that it had so much more potential that it did not fulfil. It could have been almost magical, but it stayed at good. Oh well.

And woke up this morning to go to the driving range. I can hit the ball more than half the time I try now, and send it further than 5 metres...so I guess you can call that improving. This makes it the third time I have done anything with golf balls, after my first experience with FredBear at Albert Park, Melbourne, and the second experience with GANay at District 11, Ho Chi Minh City. Third is now Sunway, Malaysia. Three experiences in three different countries.

Now my back aches, I have a blister, and some slightly sprained fingers. Ooh. Pain. But fun. Something that I would try again.

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Yesterday was a pretty good fun and nice day by any standards.

I went into office, and found emails from HongKong and Malaysia, for tax planning, for visa applications, for moving......a whole lot of forms to fill and that was just the morning's excitement. Then came the tax and mover calls from Hong Kong. Amazingly fun, to be dealing with HK people. Haha. It is just me. Anyway, great to slowly gather more information about tax matters. And also to find out stuff like where will I stay, how much, who chooses, who moves my stuff and so on. It was pretty fun. It was like there were several assistants for me, and as soon as one called me to advise me on all my tax stuff, promising to come back with this and that, another one would call and brief me on how my stuff and/or furniture would be moved...good life. I plan to have many assistants in the future. One for my personal life, and of course several to plan my life, shop, advise, and so on. Haha. Perhaps the best part was the flurry of phone calls. And dealing with different people. Now that is something that I like.

Speaking about people, I also had a long postponed lunch with JengBear. Have not seen him since we sent him off at the airport to UK 2 years ago. He has been back for a year, but we just did not manage to meet up. Great thing was, JengBear is one of those low maintenance high yielding friends. As in, those you do not have to meet up that often, but when you do, everything is still just as comfortable and really promises to be one of those friendships that last ! Great. He will be going off to UK again to do his Masters at about the same time that I would be leaving, so it was a great catch up session.

Speaking about UK, CCYBear will be moving to London to work in August as well. Still within CSBank. But how great fun. There was a round of congratulations and counter congratulations. What a great coincidence that we are both moving, and at the same time, and within the same bank.

Speaking about coincidences, I later met YvBear at the opening night of Beauty and the Beast musical at KLCC. I had earlier e-mailed YvBear about my move, and what great fun it was to catch up with her as well.

Speaking about Beauty and the Beast, I was there with JeanBear and her parents. They had a spare ticket, and JeanBear very kindly invited me to come along. It was fun to watch a musical live again. I have not done that since The Producers in Melbourne and that has been 4 years ago. How time flies, as JeanBear's dad and I were saying. We were saying how we first met about 2 years ago, and time just flew by as well. So funny. There was a technical error leading to an instant replay, which was funny, but I guess I had some personal expectations going into the show which led to certain disappointments. Gaston was too scrawny, Belle a bit too plump. The Beast was not beastly nor big enough, and as JeanBear said, Lumiere was really too round for a candlestick. Chip had a distinctly private school Malaysian accent, and I think the presentation of the entire thing could have been better. Mayhap I still have a better affinity for people characters as I really enjoyed The Producers and Fame, but then again, Cats was alright, though I would have hated The Lion King, so perhaps it is just that I have seen the movie version ? So I would have certain expectations. All in all, a 3.5 point out of 5 experience.

Speaking about musical, our very own Oweek HappyFeet Award PatBear finally met us up for dinner at Delicious at BVII on Monday night. His hair is shorter than we are used to, but he is just as funny and delightful. IzyBear, JeanBear and KeeBear made up the dinner party. We had a lot of fun just joking and laughing and talking about our experiences and lives. I swear we laughed a lot and were very loud at the restaurant. But super fun. Super Duper Fun. People should do this more often. And I think they do, because I think very often you would find groups of friends at cafes or restaurants just catching up. Which is a very nice thing to do.

Speaking about catching up, on Sunday, IzyBear, JeanBear and KeeBear and myself caught up for Round 1, at Bubba Gump Shrimp at the Curve. Quite a smoky place, and the clothes smelt after a while. The shrimps themselves were alright though nothing to scream about. Portions pretty large though and service pretty good. Again, all the typical laughter that we have during one of those dinners. We also went in search of the mysterious bowling alley at Cineleisure which only IzyBear has visited but had no idea of its location. We finally found it, and it was not bad, and I look forward to bowling there one day. We ended up foosballing downstairs and it ended with a draw because mysteriously there were only 8 balls. Nevertheless, I believe that it is fair to say that JeanBear and I won, because we reached the score of 4 first. Plus, we scored the opening goal. Plus, we scored with the old black ball we found in the table before we put our token in. Hooray. Celebrate victory !

Phew.

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Today I did something which I have not done for a while.

Tried on clothes in a changing room and did not buy anything !! ... Lol. Took some pictures though.

The best thing was, they fit pretty well.

Must continue the diet.

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I am so full I am going to explode.

Combination of too much soup, bubble tea, aloe drink and water. I feel like a water bag.

Die.

And I cannot pee.

Lol not cannot, but have not peed.

Wahahaha. Ooh, GAGjj is here from Shanghai. He was someone whom I dealt with a lot when I was there. Now that he is working here for 6 months, I might take some time to show him around.

OK I am seriously bloated.

Yuk. What a yukky post.

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So...a lot of excitement generated, and seems like I may even have a big welcoming party.

But of course there are things to settle and things to consider before I get there. As I did not go to work today, I guess I could say I still do not have any more details then I did on Saturday. But in the meantime, just a little reminder of things to settle before and after going.

Before

1. Tax (ugh)
2. Sharesave (ugh)
3. Bank accounts (should be easy...almost completed)
4. Job details - accomodation, salary, benefits (should be easy as not done by self??)
5. Read up on job ? (ugh)
6. Wardobe packing (fun fun fun)
7. Wardrobe purchase (more fun !!)

After

1. Mobile number
2. Internet
3. Computer purchase
4. Karaoke (yay)
5. Mahjong (double yay)
6. Work ? (double triple ugh)

Well my brain is absolutely not working, so perhaps I should just continue with this list later.

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Well, so finally a decision was made, had to be made. Let me take you through the process.

Application 1 - London
Application 2 - Dubai
Application 3 - Shanghai
Application 4 - Shanghai 2
Applicaiton 5 - Hong Kong.

Within 3 days, rejection was given for Applications 1 and 5.

Depressed, because would no longer be going to Hong Kong.

After one week, had interview for Application 3.

Second interview for Application 3. Questions were asked if I would be interested in the role if it was switched to Hong Kong instead.

Start praying.

First interview for Application 2.

Third interview for Application 3.

First interview for Application 4.

2 weeks crawl by.

Second interview for Application 2.

Another week crawls by, punctuated with CFA examination.

Offer given by Application 3 on the condition that it would be based in Hong Kong. Whoa. Amazing.

Not much details yet....

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It is over !!!

No more exam. Such a relief.

Just job search now. Such a pain.

Perhaps now that for the first time after university that I have finally nothing to study any more, I will have to find something else to do. At the moment however I cannot think of anything.

Dance class ? Gym, perhaps improve Chinese.

The mind boggles.

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Well, just LOOK at the progress I have made today.

Have not touched a single non CFA book, so this proves that I can focus. Perhaps I should also have included touching the CFA book as part of my focus plans. Maybe I will start....

Now. Crap, it is only 8.30 in the morning.

Well perhaps, a little sneak read of Kinsella's "Shopaholic Takes Manhattan" would be alright ? After all, we often hear the experts say that we must not cut temptations out of our life, but rather in moderation, and I guess they should know what is best since they are the experts right ? Mmmmmm. Yummy. What a really funny book.

Hmm perhaps I should really get moving on this CFA study thing.

Oooh, wait, I forgot to add on my list on achievements today (very important, you know how self help gurus always say we should feel proud of ourselves for ALL our achievements, and it is best to write them down so that we do not forget them. Does wonders for our self esteem) that I have not read a single Kindaichi book. Well just because I finished reading them all yesterday does not mean that it is not an achievement today is it ?

Time spent on Internet and facebook so far.....36 minutes. Out of 24 hours, that has got to be a record.

Well perhaps, after a few more chapters more.... it will not hurt, really will it, just a few chapters more ? Because I believe it is an investment of my concentration. Since I am feeling sleepy now, reading the CFA study guide will be useless and therefore I am spending these sleepy moments reading Shopaholic so that I can use ALL my awake time for CFA.

Perhaps a quick nap.

Crap.

It is 11.10. Almost lunch time.

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Someone please remind me to study !

I spent Tuesday speed reading Sophie Kinsella's "Confessions of a Shopaholic", watching a couple of episodes of "Coupling" and also several books of Hajime Kindaichi Teen Detective. I will not even mention the hours I have been spending on Facebook trying out the Bowling Buddies game. I also seem to be hooked onto Neopets again.

Die.

Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die

Worst thing is, there is at least another Kinsella book in the house !

And all this at a time when I was supposed to be reading everything I could on heuristic biases and Grantor-Annuity-Trusts and frame dependence.

Urgh.

HELP !

In other news : 5 days to CFA Examination.

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To continue on with more stories of embarassment...

Went out for a late night break with GAChu, and was under the impression that he would be studying. Walked into Maccas, and spotted someone reading (studying) so I walked over and just stood at the table. Just imagine my shock when I realised that it was not him, and I kinda lost my senses as well, and stood there for what seems like forever but was probably only a few seconds, before looking sheepishly away and walking off. I swear, it was super embarassing. Urgh.

Met KeeBear and JeanBear for BKT in Klang yesterday. As I was saying to them, it seems like I only eat BKT in the presence of Klang people. Probably because every time I go down, it would be with some Klang people anyway, and it is not like I eat BKT usually. After some BKT goodness, somehow convinced JeanBear to MJ with us. Great 3 hours or so. Hahaha. At the end, I must say, JeanBear somehow managed to do better than CKBear the last time we did this. Hehe. She did not lose more than her starting capital. Haha. And yes, she won a game too !

And since I promised MKBear to do his tag (only one...) I will do it here. And I will not ask anyone else to do it either. CBF.

1. How many children do you want?
Many. At least 3. Mixed is best. Mixed boys and girls, not mixed races...

2. What do you want the most now?
Billions of dollars, cash, no questions asked, no conditions attached. How greedy we get....

3. What do you want to be when you grow up?
I do not plan to grow up.

4. If you can have one more dream come true, what would it be?
Refer question 2.

5. What are you afraid to lose now?
Friends and family. Though technically, I should not be afraid to lose them, since it is not like I am doing anything to lose them. I guess a more practical answer would be like, my music compilation, or my address book, or my memories....

6. Do you believe in being in love forever?
Definitely. Maybe. Yes.

7. If you meet someone you love, would you confess to her?
It used to be no. Then it became yes. Now it is definitely a depends.

8. What would you do when you're feeling down and depressed?
Sing. MJ. Watch shows that make me laugh..very easy....

9. What are the requirements that you wish from your other half?
Someone who is really my other half. So for example, if I do not iron clothes, she should have no problem dealing with it. Either ironing herself, or sending it to someone to be ironed. Someone who can sing the other side of the duet...you get the picture.

10. Which type of person do you hate the most?
Those that make me hate them. ;)

11. Do you cherish every single of your friendships?
Yes, and sometimes I wish I could do more.

12. Do you believe in God?
In the existence of God ? Yes.

13. What do you think is the most important thing in your life?
Well, being alive I guess. If I were not alive, there would not be a single thing in my life would there? Some of these questions do not make sense.

14. Do you find it necessary for you to have a girlfriend?
No, and it should not be necessary. It would be necessary for me to have access to the internet though.

15. What do you want your friends to be like?
Hmm. Good questions. I want to be all different I guess, and yet able to come together to have fun and play with me....and be happy. Ooooh, I guess I like my friends to be happy people and not be depressed and sad.

16. What kind of friend do you hope to be in your friends' eyes?
Someone they would come to for hugs and help and fun and comfort and MJ and stuff. Someone they need ? A friend ?

17. If you can have a change, which part of your character would you like to change?
Er, must I really ? I guess, sometimes I should be a little less elitist, racist .. bla bla bla. But then I would not be me !

18. If you're feeling low one day, who will you go to?
Anyone who is around. Beware ! I will tell you my sob story.

19. Would you die in order to save the ones you love?
I guess. If it is real love and not just puppy-sweetie-candy love.

20. What keeps you motivated to be alive and to move on?
Life. If being alive does not keep you motivated to be alive, what is the point of living? Am I making sense ? It is BECAUSE life goes on, that we have to as well. Or just stop living. Since we ARE alive, we should be moving on. And there is just so much that we can do and enjoy and achieve in life, so that should be all the motivation that one needs. Oh, and chocolate of course.

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