I am still home and there is one week to go !!

I have absolutely no idea how the week went by so fast but there are some bits that I remember, like going for dinner with KeeBear, JeanBear and ChewBear and then mahjong...on a weeknight. Had lunch with grandparent on Wednesday. Slept a lot on Thursday and zapped my finger on Friday. Also had karaoke on Friday night as well.

And that makes a week!

Saturday was the Day of Indulgences, as the facebook event was called. It all began with a breakfast at La Bodega at 10 am. Attendance : 6 pax. About an hour later we adjourned to SailorJeow's place. While waiting for the rest to come, managed to play about 10 rounds of mahjong and I lost. Crap. With everyone arriving soon, there was a feast of bak kut teh, fresh from Klang. Attendance : 11 pax. Then the Cranium games began. Competitive by nature, there was a whole load of heckling and trash talking. We managed about 4 rounds before the next event, karaoke at Red Box. Attendance : 8 pax. Mostly English songs, and loads of crazy and emotional shouting. 10 pm saw us move on to Bamboo. Attendance : 12 pax. We danced till 3 am. That in itself was a record, and we were all feeling the age. But ridiculously fun. Mamak next, attendance : 6 pax. Roti Telur.

Given that there were people in and out of these event for the whole day, the actual amount of people who were involved was actually 16 I believe. What great organisation, as there were people from Hong Kong and Singapore as well, so you really must applaud all the work involved in getting this day to work. Amazing.

Legendary.

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And so, I have returned home.

After a very close shave with missing the flight at 9 am (woke up at 7 am) I was safely on board and was finally deeply engrossed reading the local newspapers ! They were quite interesting, and might I say, unchanged from where I left off. It is these kind of things that make you feel that time seems to have stopped somehow.

Got behind the steering wheel for the first time in about 8 months and it was grand, although weird, driving along the highway, surrounded by sky and trees instead of hulking buildings and neon signs. I missed the signs though. Had a nap in tha afternoon until evening as was waiting for the HK IGs to turn up. Their flight ended up delayed and when they arrived we went out to SS15 AsiaCafe for supper only to find that every single available seat was taken up by those football crazy Malaysians watching the Liverpool-Man U match. Luckily we were late, so there was only about 10 minutes before suddenly the place was empty again. After food, everyone was so exhausted that we fell into bed pretty fast.

Checking into the hotel was fun, as met many many other IGs from other countries, including those that have completely slipped your mind, and it was great to catch up as well. After cocktails, most people could be found walking around in Pavilion. Myself, took some time to play Monopoly HK Version, and we were there till about 2 am. Training finished up the rest of Monday, and it was not very interesting, however it was nice to meet up with the team as well as the whole room. Brought some cookies back to KL office to meet and greet. Heavy rain stopped me from returning and ended up at Red Box with SailorJow singing till 11 pm. Just the two of us sang for about 4 hours. Did not even give the buffett a second glance. Returned to the hotel room to luxurise in the bath and then spent the next hour watching ANTM.

Tuesday flew by in a blur of sleepines, lunch with the IGs at Wongkok and ended at about 2 am in the Main ballroom with most of the presentation for Project RABA done. Snuck out for a snack at Jalan Alor with about 7 others, which was a bit regretted later due to very dark eye circles on Wednesday Morning. Got a hair cut at Sungeiwang where was mistaken for a HK Student and also looked at some clothes at Pavilion. Took a nap, and prepared for the presentations in the afternoon. The evening gala dinner was done quite well, with a James Bond theme, hence all the black tie hoohaa. There was even a baccarat table where you could gamble beer and wine coupons. Myself and GAHil ended up bankrupting the casino ! Later was also chosen as Top 6 Dashing Males for the night. LOL.

Thursday saw me sleeping in and then driving to Bukit Jalil where I met some of my back office people and learnt from them how their tasks were done. Even made a couple of calls and saves between HK and Malaysia. Talk about hardworking ! Friday was an errands day, and managed to renew road tax and driving license though the queue took FOREVER ! Somehow my allergies resurfaced during the weekend as well, but kept in check while I met up with JeanBear and StephBear and WengBear. We were off to KLPAC to watch a Japanese dance troup The Condors which were a mixture between dance and theatresports. Fun. Completed the night with a visit to JinBear's place for mahjong and then for some Indomee later.

Did Cheng Beng duties early Saturday followed by dim sum lunch at DJ. Went home for a rest before spending the rest of the afternoon at the MPH Warehouse Sale where spent close to HKD1000 on books. Worth it though. Bumped into SailorJow there too. Sweated like a pig in the hot sun though. Dinner was at Pantai Seafood with JinBear, RaeBear, SharBear, PLBear, KeiBear and TEBear. Way too much food though it was finished. Went along for some beer till about midnight.

Met up with SailorJoyo back from Singapore with SailorKuang at Prince Cafe at about 1 where we talked and talked and talked. Went baby toy shopping before that as well for a gift. Then adjourned to 2 3 Square to meet SailorEL, with hubbie and baby in tow. They were then replaced by LawleyBear and TrBear. Seemed like an overdose of Finance people ! But fun to just sit and talk. Later went out for dinner near Penchala with family at a new rustic place, very similiar to Tamarind Springs but much closer. Had French Onion Soup, Fried Calamari Rings, Lamb Shank and Honeydew Juice. Yum. Fell dead asleep at 11.

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All too soon, it is time to leave Hong Kong.

But just for 3 weeks. I miss it already !!! Even though I am still sitting in my room, with my suitcase half packed. 6 hours to the flight. Looks like I shall not be getting much sleep tonight.

The last couple of days have been even more fantastic as I have been getting more and more done for more and more people. I love my job. It helps that bonus was paid out in the last couple of weeks as well. Haha. But I seriously love my current job and my team now. We work well, are happy and will overcome all obstacles that come our way. Fingers crossed, we can meet our budget by the end of Q1. But that is just the first hurdle. As we move along the year 2009, many more will come our way. But we shall overcome.

These last couple of hours was spent rushing some work before my long holidays, handing over some work. I was really proud to be coming up with some smart comments on some large project we have going on as well. Unfortunately this time I was really too rushed to go shopping for people, perhaps next time, if I have more time, I could actually get gifts. As it is, went for dinner with FredBear all the way in Repulse Bay for Thai food. Had baked crabs, which was okay as tonight was really windy and cold. Then we went looking for massages (again) but ended up at our favourite Joy Ocean. Was there till half past one am.

Now am sleepy, newly showered but not yet packed.

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It is freezing again. Well. Perhaps just cold, but cold enough to kick me back into hibernation mode. I just want to sleep and sleep but it is never enough and stupid things like work get in the way of sleep.

Well I guess I cannot really decide not to go to work, as they just paid me my annual bonus, so I guess that is incentive for me to keep on working. Anyway, in times like this, I guess most people would rather have a job than no job. So continue working. The lucky part is that I do like my job. Well, actually, I enjoy my job very much. I have a great boss and a great team, fun to work with and small enough to be close knit.

Just the other night we had dinner together at the Shanghai Club, where we just had wine, and played drinking games, and talked about cars, mortgages, traffic police, horse racing, and so on. I must say, even though the youngest one of them was at least ten years older than me, I had a really great time. I think it is an advantage being so young as well, as currently I am not seen as a threat, so everyone is willing to teach me. At the same time, bright enough (lol) to do what they need, so it is all good. Work is good.

So good in fact, that I will miss it very much when I go on holiday, and in fact I have resisted the urge to go on holiday for a very long time. But in conjunction with training, I shall be home for 3 weeks, from 14 March to 6 April. Aw. Though I do not really miss home, there is a kind of eager anticipation and excitement to be going home. It is rather like a holiday.

One of the good things about my job is of course the brokers. While I was in corporate banking, I had clients, and we had to bring them out for lunch, remember their birthdays, and basically keep them happy. Now that I am a client of the broker the opposite is happening to me. I just casually mentioned how much I enjoyed scallops and the next thing I knew, I was having a buffet lunch at the upscale Conrad hotel, having scallops. It was fun. On average, I get about 20% of my lunches taken care of. It is great because they bring me to restaurants I do not think about going to, and also teach me a lot about the market as well. These people are of course all at least ten to twenty years older than me too.

That is why I do believe that I will miss work. But everyone needs some time off sometime.

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