Back from Melbourne and off to Hong Kong

Am back from Melbourne! A week in Melbourne did good to my skin :) It was terribly cold, nothing like Spring at all! It was averaging 12-13 degrees celcius the whole time I was there but me like though I still do not think much of Melbourne. Not my cup of tea unfortunately.

I honestly do not remember how I spent my days there because I have visited places I need to visit when I was there 10 years ago. So it was just very relaxing trip, sleeping 10 hours everyday. That is until Ann Gie arrived then I was sleeping a lot less -_-"

Sam's wedding was awesome. We learnt a lot about Vietnamese culture that day and saw a lot of pretty Vietnamese girls as well. The wedding was very well planned and grand. I'm pretty sure he spent quite a bit on that day alone though I would hate to guess how much. It was hard to leave - always is hard to see your holidays coming to an end but one have to return to reality sometime. 

Anyway, it is off to Hong Kong tomorrow! I only just unpacked my luggage and then pack it up again for my trip to Hong Kong tomorrow! Can't wait to touch down in Hong Kong again after a decade! 

Psst! Kevin Cheng is in Hong Kong right now!!! But fat chance of meeting him :( He's recuperating with an eye injury so no chance of bumping him on the streets not like I have the time to be walking around hopping to spot some stars anyway. This is a business trip.

Holiday....finally!

Finally a holiday after more than 9 months! Australia tomorrow woot!! And it's Australia again after......10 years!

But it's also gonna be expensive :(

In other news, I received a surprise in the mail today. I won a Nescafe Dolce Gusto from DBS Card for using my credit card! I think they had a contest on sometime last month or something. You just have to charge a certain amount (can't recall something like $2000?) to your card and you're in running to win one!!

I will collect it when I'm back from Australia :)

WTF!!!

How much damn more money do I have to spend?!?! If all the wedding ang pows, traveling, macbook repairs, glasses etc etc etc is not enough, let me add one more to the list. 

Hear this:

My car's air-conditioner gave up on me today! FUCK! Honestly, fuck the words that I use. I got into my car this morning as usual to drive myself to work and the moment I switched on the air-cond, a foul smell was emitted then hot air then came the hissing sound. Immediately you know that something is damn wrong. So I ended up driving all the way for an hour with my windows down. Thank God it was 6.30am in the morning.

I was hoping that the car will decided to stop its nonsensical "strike" in the evening. Nope, the air-cond decided to continue its strike. I drove all the way in the hot sun with my windows down. Drove straight to a workshop and wow great news to end my sucky day! I was right - leakage. Leakages can happen either from the inside of the car or out. But as "lucky" as I am, the leakage had to happen from the inside which means more money and more hassle. It will take a day to repair and will cost me minimum $700!! If it was the outside $100-300 will do it. WTF!

I have no plans when I will bring it for repairs but I know I will rather drive with my windows down for now. Is it really time to change my car? I have been looking and considering that option. Or is it true what they say - a car knows when its owner is tempted to get rid of them then they start acting up? I'm just looking, preparing for the future for God's sake! Like it or not, the car must go by law in 2.5 years so live with it!

URGH!!!!

Broke again

Did I mention I spent almost $1000 to get my Macbook out of the hospital? That's not even it - I still cannot use the wifi? OK I think I did - hey you can't blame me. Age's catching up

I spent another $1700 over the weekend. -_-" 

For some reason, right is not happy with me and decided to fall "ill". I was diagnosed with astigmatism. Not critical, in fact very mild but because I have a lot of difficulties driving at night, my optician thinks it is best that I get myself a pair of prescribed glasses. So I said OK because driving at night is really a torture for me.

I combed her shop up and down, left and right for God knows how many times going from display units to display units. I shortlisted a couple. After a couple of rounds I managed to narrow down to 2 - both black frames but one had more character and rugged while the other is refined. I decided to go for the rugged version and then I saw the price tag!!!!! My choice $880. The other $580. Urgh! With discounts and all, I paid $880 with prescribed lenses.

This is how I look 4-eyed. 

But that's just $880 so what else? I shared with Ann Gie to buy mum a new handbag and also a pair of new Anna Sui's sunglasses. She tried on a couple and really liked the Anna Sui one. She looks really chio in them lor......anyway, I paid for them when I went to collect my own today. Told my optician to call mum tomorrow to get her in to get her eyes checked then tell her what's going on. She's gonna be so surprised! Hehehehe

Macbook's home

My dear came home couple of days ago. I paid $20 short of $1000 to repair the battery and re-install the system. The airport is still not repaired so I'm going online via LAN. Apparently one of the electronic board has given up. I was told that there is no point replacing it - it will cost more than $1500 and a new Mac is $3699. If I don't mind not having a wifi, then there is no hurry to change it. 

Poor me.....am poorer than the church mouse!

Australia next weekend

Finally - a holiday.....a long awaited holiday! Let's see...my last holiday of the year.....Bali! OMG really are you serious? 

A lot of things need to be done before I fly - medical checkup (tomorrow), submit my medical report etc to complete my PR process, change money (sob sob) into Aussie dollars and Hong Kong dollars.

Nelson might not go - he hasn't decided. Whatever.....

I need to make sure all the important stuff at work are done before I leave. Quite scary if you ask me especially now that I do not have an assistant. I do not even dare to imagine if my mailbox will burst with emails when I return a week later but that's a thought for another day. I don't want to spoil my holiday. 

I just looked at my flight details - I'm actually regretting why I took such a late flight out of Australia (or is it the only?). I am arriving only 11.30pm Sunday night and I need to work the next day!!!! Argh stupid! Back to office for 2 days then it's off to Hong Kong. 

Busy times!

Macbook hospitalised

My beloved MacBook Pro of 3 years was hospitalised on Saturday :(

I was using it as usual on Thursday evening when suddenly my webpages stopped loading. Thought it's my connection again so I switched the airport off and on again. When I did that, it says AirPort card not installed. *Jeng jeng jeng* Then the batter turned red asking me to service the battery

Tried re-starting it but nothing happened. It still shows AirPort card not installed. *Jeng Jeng Jeng* So I turned my lappy off hoping that it must be tired and needed rest coz I left it on since Sunday. I only put it to sleep whenever I'm done because I didn't wanna lose the tabs I had opened. 

Friday was out all day and the first thing I did on Saturday morning when I woke up was to dash for my lappy. It wouldn't turn on!!!! The only thing I see appearing before my eyes was a white screen and a gray apple. Nothing happens after that.....tried a couple of times, same thing everytime.

Had to send it to "hospital" in the afternoon and when we were there, the lappy decided to turn itself on again! But airport card refused to wakeup still so my poor lappy has to be "warded". Now am just waiting for the call to see what exactly is wrong.

My dear lappy, I hope fixing you won't be too expensive!!!

Running low on dough **Updated 19 Sep 2012**

**This list will be edited as we go along**

I just realised that I have too many holiday/travel plans coming up and a lot of events (eg: weddings etc) coming up 2nd half of this year........bad money planning - I'm heading for doomsday :(

OK here's what.

July
1) Births - 2 (colleague & close friend)
2) Weddings - 1 (close friend)
3) Visitors - 1 (close friend from Estonia)
4) Birthday - 1 (hubby)

August

1) Birthday - 1 (mine)
2) Wedding - 1 (friend I made in Kenya) - Added 20 June 2012

September

1) Births - 2 (both are very close friends)

2) Birthday - 2 (grandma and best friend)

3) Wedding - 2 (close friend) Updated 03 September 2012
4) Outing - colleagues

October

1) Travel - 2 (KUL, AUS) Updated 19 September 2012

2) Wedding - 1 (cousin)

November

1) Travel - 4 (2XHKG, Malacca and KUL)

2) Wedding - 1 (cousin)

December

1) Christmas
2) Wedding  - 2 Updated 03 September 2012

3) Travel - 1 (SGN) Updated 19 September 2012

January

Free??

February

1) Chinese New Year

2) Travel - 1 (family trip)

March

1) Travel - 1 (TWN)

ARRRRRRGHHHHH!

A day of good news

A good day but as usual, nothing so fantastic as it comes to an end.....

First I received confirmation that I will go to Vietnam on business trip in December to attend coffee conference. Made reservations for myself and a colleague who will be attending the conference with me.

Then, the news of my successful application for Singaporean PR came in the mail. Refer to my other post on this topic alone.

I left the office on time today - did not leave earlier. Stayed till my official end of the day. The moment I got home, received an SMS from my manager - my promotion has been confirmed! I will be promoted effective 1st Oct! I don't know what I will be promoted to because of the current organisational changes but I'm guessing that I'll be called Senior Account Manager or something like that. 

Finally came the fact that I will not have to fly budget to Hong Kong =p I'm flying SQ!

Ahhh.....of course the day ends by going home and...........ok stop.

A PR today

I received my Singapore PR approval today! It isn't anything impressive to be offered the PR because to be honest, apart from being able to apply for any jobs in the market and have retirement fund contribution from the company, there is no other benefits by being a Singaporean PR.

Instead, I think there might be more disadvantages for those of us who would prefer to remain Malaysia or have no intentions of moving to Singapore. For example, I will never ever be allowed to drive a Malaysian car into Singapore for as long as I am still a PR. 

But what surprises me is the duration between application and being approved. I submitted my application on 15th August 2012 and was told that I will hear from them within 4 to 6 months. I have many friends who are now Singaporean PRs and the average waiting time is 4 months. But I got mine within a month! The letter was dated 17th September and I received it today! A colleague applied for hers back in January and received her letter only mid-May.

Whatever the reason why i got mine so quickly - I have now 2 weeks to submit some more documents before I get my blue ID card. Next stop - medical checkup!

Lynn in London!

Lynn has finally arrived in London! A new beginning that will change her life forever - this is the beginning and I'm super impressed with what I have heard so far about how mum is coping! Super cool mum man!

I can still remember when I first got the news that I will be leaving for Moscow. Mum started getting emotional like 2 months before I was scheduled to fly. Everytime I go shopping for something she gets emotional, when someone asks when I will be leaving she gets emotional - basically anything that will link to me leaving, she will get emotional. But this time, hmm....peaceful!

Apparently Anlynn has started walking around in London on her own already! 

Have fun Lynn!

Leaving the nest

The "little" girl's last night at home - she will be leaving the nest tomorrow finally her turn. She's actually the first to be leaving the nest at such a young age - going to London tomorrow to further her studies. Both Gie and I attended uni in KL so that was the furthest we went until I left home to Moscow when I was 25. 

I don't want to know how the atmosphere is at home right now - I can only guess. I said goodbye on Sunday and Gie is back home right now. I guess I will only see her again in 9 months, if she comes home for summer otherwise I don't know when.......Gie will see her most often, whenever she flies London she will most likely get to meet her for dinner or something. 

She'll be going to KL tomorrow on her on just like how I left for Moscow but at least she has a friend flying with her and our cousin has arranged a cab to be waiting for her at the airport. 

I'm sure she'll be great and will love London. 

Bon voyage, have a safe flight tomorrow Lynn! And enjoy your time in London!

Officially Kevin Cheng'd fan

There my Fanclub membership pack arrived in the post today 😊😊❤❤

Didn't manage to get an autograph, this will do for now. Though not autographed in front of me but still autographed by him. It's not printed ok! He autographed them!

Visitors and Lynn leaving

This week is a busy week back home - 2 visitors are in town, one from China and another from Australia. Mum's gonna have her hand full again with 2 visitors in tow and grandma to take care of. To top it up, she's busy getting Lynn ready for her maiden journey to the other half of the world - London!

Yes, Lynn will be the first in our family to study overseas. She's always always different! She went to a Chinese primary while two of us went to national school. She went to our rival secondary school. She went to rival college in KL. She went into arts. She is a straight As student. She did not learn to play the piano (only a couple of months so that doesn't count). And now, she's going overseas. Hmmm.....bizarre.....

Anyway, I will be seeing her for the last time this year this coming weekend when I go back to catch up with her before she flies off on 911. Then it will be a year before I get to see her again. Gie will be seeing her more often since London is practically her 3rd home now, after BP and SG. Lynn will be missing out on a lot like our CNY trip to wherever but she will be having a lot of fun on her own too! Freaking jealous!!! London!!! C'mon I only ended up in Moscow, Italy then Africa! Now am back. Told her do not ever return. 

Anyway, sister, you'll do well. Don't worry too much. London's a civilized country you will survive. 

Meeting Kevin Cheng finally!!!!

Finally my turn to be able to receive Kevin! He kept his flight details very secret but the few of us kept in touch with fans all over trying to find out his flight details. Eventually, Elyn from Singapore got news that he was spotted in Shanghai airport at around 12+am this morning (18 August 2012) and, really appreciate it, she texted telling me the exact flight which Kevin was on. 

There was only 2 possible flights which Kevin will be on and a third which was had a slim chance so even if the news didn't come, I would have tried my luck at the airport anyway. 

I am first going to share the pictures sent by Elyn. My own will be uploaded later - I actually did not take that many because I was really talking to him, studying him but I managed to get one with him.

There was about 14 fans who turned up at the airport. The reason why Kevin have requested for his flight to be kept a secret is because he was arriving at 6am at Changi Airport Singapore. His flight actually earlier than scheduled at 5.20am and thank God most of us were already there. We noticed 2 security personnels and a lady whom I was told is from StarHub - the main event organizer for tonight's StarHub TVB Awards. We knew we came to the right place and waiting for the right person. 

At around 5.30am, I noticed a silhouette inside the belt area - a very slim (maybe thin) and good height man with a cap. It was too far away so it is not possible to see the facial features but I was looking at his sides then back. Of so many passengers arriving and waiting for their luggages at the belt, he caught my attention. Fans at that time didn't notice him at all because he was just too far away. Anyway, I know then that was Kelvin and alerted the other fans. 2 of us walked up to the glass doors and started snapping pictures - max out our zooms. My sister who went to the airport with me actually said the girl from StarHub asked the security why are we snapping photos already. Obviously she didn't notice Kevin is already waiting at the belt. 

After awhile, there he is - walking out pushing his trolley out of the glass doors. The first thing he said when he us was "Thank you all for coming but this is too early. Way too early. How did you know? I told them not to tell!" He sounded tired and he sounded guilty that we are that at that unearthly hour. For awhile, all he could utter was "It's too early man" All in English - he speaks with a strong American accent in perfect English, which kinda took me by surprise because the only times I hear him speaking a word or two of English are all in the TV series he was in and none of them sounded like how he spoke this morning. 

Security whisked him away very quickly. I asked for a picture. He smiled and said "I look like shit!" I said "No you don't!" He turned back as he was walking "Yes I do!" The security said "Too early" I said "OK understand" He turned again and said "Can we do the picture tonight when I look better - not crap?" I smiled "Of course" He said he didn't sleep at all - he had scenes to film today, went straight to the airport and didn't sleep on the plane. He's extremely tired and he said he looks like crap. 

When we got to the van which was already waiting while they were loading his luggages, he actually stood there to speak to us. He asked if all of us will be there tonight? He said he will try to arrange a photo session with us then. All of us agreed. And again, he kept saying it is too early in the morning for us to be there. Then he boarded the van. As he did that, all of us remained at the scene, chatting and looking at each other's pictures. 

Suddenly, there was a light in the van again - he opened the door of the van. He stepped out and said "You still want pictures? Let's do it in case I am not able to do pictures later." Isn't he just sooooo nice!!!?????

I walked forward first to have my pictures taken then my sister. Subsequently it was a blur for me because I was busy checking the pictures but I think there were 2 others who went forward to get a pic with him. Then he left. 

Kevin was extremely nice - he doesn't look a bit crap. If he looked crap then, I really cannot imagine how he looks like if he's looking good! I finally understand what they mean when other fans say that he's extremely nice to fans and takes good care of them. He was friendly and apologetic. He accedes to our requests if he can. 

Kevin, see you in a couple of hours :) (I am going to StarHub TVB Awards 2012 which is why he is in Singapore for)

So excited to finally have met him! He is soooooo good looking!!!! OMG! I can die lor....But I look damn bad in the pics - so obvious I haven't slept. I only slept for 3 hours before waking up to go to the airport ok.......hai.....should have slept like at 8pm so to look my best right? 

Starhub TVB Awards 2012

I am going!! Kevin is attending too, well that's why I am going!!!!

I will go with my little sis - gonna leave the hubby at home =p So excited!!! Now I need to consider what I should wear - I cannot underdress because it's a red carpet event so many will be in gowns but I do not want to overdress as well then it will make following Kevin around very very difficult.....hmmm...very tough decision I need to make here.

Dukan Diet Stage 3

Am going into stage 3, consolidating now and in 44 days will move on to the final stage which is stabilisation which literally mean going back to normal life and hopefully will not rebound.

Let's see.

Blogging on iPhone

Am trying out the Blogger app on iPhone. Not good. Not user friendly at all and yes suppose to be simple but a little too simple.

Disappointed 😒

RIP

Black Friday indeed.

As I write, I might have lost my uncle already. He, who has been on life support since his accident on 5 July 2012, will be taken off the life support today.

My last update was 3 hours ago from my aunt in Australia who told me they are still waiting for his son to arrive from New Zealand. She was making her way to the hospital and an aunt from Sydney had arrive.

I am sure 3 hours later, right now, they must either be finishing up the paperwork or whatever. I know pulling the plug is a very easy thing and only takes a while. My grandmother was taken off life support the same way last April too. It is just a matter of minutes.

I will be taking time off work today after an important meeting to rush home to be with my family. Grandma seem to be able to sense something because out of the blue she was asking for him last night.

Uncle, we don't see you enough. Regret not writing to you enough nor trying to get to know you enough. It is so unfortunate that this had to happen and none of us had the chance to say goodbye.

You will not be forgotten - what happened on that tragic day will remain a mystery.

Rest In Peace Uncle.

Kevin Cheng in Malaysia today!

Urgh! So near yet so far! Knew he was arriving in KLIA today but then at the same time know I'm gonna give it a miss this time! KNS! He will leave tomorrow for Hong Kong again sien

Road Bully in JB - carplate WUH2470

For those in JB, beware of road bully driving with the carplate WUH2470! My friend was bullied yesterday at Perling! Last minute had to u-turn home but they were ahead of the queue already up the bridge.



With signal and all, they cut in the queue. The car behind was kind to give way too. But WUH2470 who was on another lane and wanted to change into the lane they were going in, couldn't because t...heir car came in first. So he showed his middle finger when he noticed he driver was looking at his rear mirror.



Driver did not play his game so just said Hi over the rear mirror. WUH2470 big sized driver got angry because my friend wasn't angry. So what childish act did he do? He came out, cut in front of the car and stopped there. Got down from his car and came over to my friend's asking "what is your problem". My friend did not wind down his window but that imbecile continued what is your problem? So my friend wound down his window a bit and asked I should be asking you what is your problem.



WUH2470 said fuck you la! Did the act of middle finger and stuff. He said something something Singapore car. My friends (two of them in the car) couldn't hear exactly what was he mumbling, only heard the word Singapore car.



So remember, if you bump into this carplate, get your handphone ready to dial 999.

Surprise!....Not

So Anderson Cooper has come out of the closet. The world (those who watches him) knows deep down he is gay but he has never admitted it nor has he denied that fact. But somewhere deep down I was hoping that he is not. He's pretty hot! 


But good for him!

The Dukan Diet

Ok, am not exactly fat but I think I can do better than what I am weighing/looking right now so on the advice of my cousin, I have embarked on the Dukan Diet!

My self-concocted diet plan has served me well for the last 10 years but it hasn't been able to get me pass a certain weight level - it has stabilised me at something which is above my target weight but not that far off. And it really is only helping me keep my weight in general but not sculpt the different parts of the body.

Seems like Dukan Diet may just do that for me! My cousin has assured me that the success rate is 9.5 out of 10! And it doesn't only helps one lose weight on the scales but also helps to sculpt the body! The weight comes off pretty evenly, so it seems, from all parts of the body so that the weight loss is apparent.

Its concept is based on and kicks off with a pure protein diet and introduces the other types of food back into a person's diet in stages. Seems very logical and doesn't sound very difficult to do. 

It is a diet of 4 stages and so I have started off by reading up to stage 2. I will continue reading up on the rest after I go into stage 2. I started yesterday and stage 1 for me will take 3 days. So far, I have lost 0.5kg! Coincidence? Maybe. According to the book, 3 days Pure Attack (stage 1), I should expect to lose between 2 to 5 pounds (ie: 0.9 - 2.3kg)

So far, hmm....I actually am starting to feel that this diet isn't as easy as it seems because of where I am at right now. The diet will be much easier to get through if I am living in a Western country or Australia/New Zealand. In our Asian society, it is really difficult to find food with no oil, minimal salt and are just boiled, grilled, broiled, roast etc. without lipids (fats). Even if I am ready prepare my own food, the ingredients may not be easily available too. So am living on yoghurt, oat bran, low fat ham (was so happy when I found this!), canned tuna, roast spring chicken (which I am quite sure if Dr Dukan sees it, he will disapprove it anyway). Even a simple steam egg, I realised, is full of oil and salt (from the soy sauce I believe)!!! I realised that I absolutely love oat bran!

Let's see how I do today and the result tomorrow. Last day tomorrow then it is into Stage two - 5 days of protein + veg followed by 5 days of pure protein (what I'm going through now), repeat till the target weight is reached. Then move on to Stage 3 then Stage 4.

The Blogshop

I can't believe how many people are actually still reading my posts about The BlogShop and Clarence Chew! They have been closed for 6 months now and people are still googling the news.


Famous - for the wrong reasons. 'Nuff said.

New Blog

Ok this is going to sound crazy and I agree with anyone who thinks I'm crazy - I am!!!! Here's what - I actually created a blog just for Kevin Cheng!!! OMG!! IKR?! 


Here's the blog: kevinchengkc.blogspot.com


STOP LAUGHING AND SAYING OMG!

Still lazy

Been too lazy to write and have been busy chasing stars again - movie stars that is. Back to being a teenager!!! Gosh.....but at my age, the stars I'm going after are also not what they used to be - they are older stars too hehehe....

The guy is making me go gaga now *sigh* *drool* - Kevin Cheng of Hong Kong:

Lazy

Stress + busy + lack of sleep = plain laziness


Definitely not the kind of life I seek.....


Business finally slowed down after 2 weeks thanks to Groupon's feature. Now it's all up to me alone to see how else I can keep the momentum. 

RIP Whitney Houston

Sunday today as it is waking up in a foul mood and then got a shock of my life when I got my cousin's what's app telling us that Whitney Houston has died.


Whatever anger I felt against my husband cannot compare to the news I just received on my phone! 


Whitney Houston!! Who would have guessed that she'll be the next victim joining the greats in heaven?? She has been pretty quiet for long time, battling drug abuse and issues. But I mean c'mon!!! 


I practically grew up listening to her songs! Although not as shocking when I got the news that MJ has died but still....who's next?

Feb 2012

In a blink of an eye, we are already in Feb. First month of a new year passed just like that.

What have you achieved? Have you even started doing what you are supposed to for 2012? What about your resolutions? Have you embark on them yet?

How have your Chinese New Year been? Have you done visiting friends and family yet? Don't forget we only have till Monday to do so!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Back from Bali and HATING IT!

We finally touched down on Friday after spending 4 incredible but hot days in Bali and boy am I hating being back!!!! Back to work tomorrow.......I have been depressed the moment we touched down at Changi and I'm still not over it! *!%*$


The trip, apart from the weather when we are at sea level, was great. Although close to 50% of the time was spent on the road getting from one place to another, but each time we get there, it never fails to take our breath away! We almost always start our day complaining about the heat but everyday (except 1st & last day), we will end up in a mountain somewhere with strong winds and extremely cool weather (think Genting Highlands in Dec). It was just great.


The villa we were in, wow.....speechless. Apart from the mozzies, I have no complains whatsoever. I can live with the mozzies. 

The trip ended better than expected. I was apprehensive before because I have never travelled with my aunts before (Genting Highlands when you were 5 doesn't count) especially my 2nd aunt who is somewhat unique. Also we were a pretty big group of 8 pax so trying to get everyone to agree to something might be tough. But thank God, I had all the itinerary and transport arranged so all we do everyday is to get into the car and let the driver surprise us. The best decision I ever made.

The downside? Hmm....food was rather disappointing. Apart from our daily breakfast which are cooked in our villa itself, I haven't found anything worth recommending at all. Not even Babi Guling at Ibu Oka nor Bintang beer. Also, I lost my ID even before I checked-in! Ish! 

I'm glad mum enjoyed herself - this trip could either make her or break her ie: she could stop traveling altogether and hate airplane rides or she will be more open to traveling from now on. If you didn't know already, I had to resort to booking and paying for the flight tickets first then tell her afterwards to make sure she'll go on this trip with us!


Verdict: Great holiday with the family which includes my 2 aunts (dad's only sisters) - great way to spend our first Chinese New Year without Grandma but she was in our thoughts throughout the trip. 

We miss you Grandma.  

Congratulations Lil' Sis!

*Yawn*


Anlynn has yet again scored straight A's in her AS exams. For those of you, old school like me, AS is first half of A-levels. A-levels is no longer like what it used to be - one monster exam at the end of the course. 


It is now a course with 2 final exams each of them accounting for 50% of the final score - AS and A2. 


So yes, Anlynn's AS results were announced this morning and again straight A's. She has received conditional offers from 3 universities in UK based on her forecast results and now with this actuals, she will most likely be accepted to all of them. I'm pretty sure Anlynn will not be able to attend Sam's wedding in Melbourne in October. See term in UK starts in Sept *wink*


Congratulations Lynn! Echoing what everybody else has said - we don't want you at Sam's nor Sue's wedding!!!

Welcome Year of Dragon!

First day of the year of the dragon and I have broken all traditions by not visiting my in-laws! Not on purpose.....hubby's sick. :(


Tomorrow's Bali....I hope hubby's fever will go away and he'll be fit for the trip tomorrow!!!! 

The BlogShop Sucks *2nd update*

Good news for all you vendors out there!

On of Haji vendors have managed to file a claim with Claims Tribunal and they are going to court this month (or is it next...hmmm)!!!

For all of you out there if you still haven't got any reply from the police, you can start looking at filing with Claims Tribunal. The filing fee is S$100!

Good luck and happy new year!

Happy Lunar New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! Hope the year of the dragon brings all the goodness to all.

Only a few more days to Bali =)

First day of work on 30th Jan is actually not a good day for me to start work but my boss didn't approve my leave extension by just another day. So I am seriously considering of coming back to the office on 28th Jan to look at some emails. This year is going to be tough for my industry and also personally, my budget is super high. Gotta do everything I can just to make sure it's gonna pass smoothly. No hiccups.

Cold sweat sial!

New TV

Oh I knew I left something out!

Hubby got a new TV for our place! He actually bought 2: Samsung LED 40" for MIL and Samsung LED 32" for us. He claims that this is his Valentine's gift to me. Uhhh.....nice try darling.

Exactly 14 days to Bali!!! Woot!

Bored

Aiyoh I'm so bored! It's 3.30pm and 3 more hours before I can leave the office. I was secretly hoping that hubby will have his departmental dinner tonight but no such luck. Only with him having to stay back for such functions can I leave on time (4.30pm) otherwise I will have to wait till he knocks off which could be anytime between 6.30pm to 8pm. He will have a dinner tomorrow though but it doesn't do anything to me - I have a telcon at 2.30pm which will jolly well drag till 4-4.30pm. SIAN!

The weather sucks too. Gloomy and raining all day. Granted it's cooling but it's not doing anything to lift up my mood especially when I'm terribly sick and tired of my job.

Am so bored and blank, I don't even know what else I can contribute here. My OPI shipment needs to arrive soon!!!

The BlogShop Singapore SUCKS - *update*

ANOTHER Long Post Beware

Since my first post about my experience with The BlogShop Singapore in September, I have received a lot of emails and comments about my readers' own experience, many asking for updates from my end and many with a lot of unanswered questions what is happening. Since I have insider information, I have decided to write an update about what happened to me after my September post and what is currently happening within The BlogShop, as accurately as I can. I gather these information from somebody I know hence I will not take any responsibility of misinformation.

My last post, I stopped at Clarence playing with words that I wasn't able to collect my ITE stocks from FEP.

What happened after that? The story continues.....

Clarence went missing for more than a week. He was totally non-contactable by phone or SMS. He stopped replying. We all know he doesn't picks up his calls but at least he was still replying SMS-es. There was still no security deposit refunds, no sales reports, no stocks to be returned, no rental refund nor were there my sales payments - since June.

On 31st October, I decided to lodge a police report. I am not able to share anymore SMS-es cz I have deleted all that after I got all my outstanding payments and stocks. Back to the report, I made the report targeting the company and Clarence for negligence, fraud and lies. I'm not sure if I can do this but I will anyway - I will share my report here.

Just noticed that when published, my report is cropped. To read the full report, click on the image. It will open up.

I don't think this is the best report but in your report, please be as concise as possible. It is not here but in the report, there is an option to indicate who you are reporting against - put The BlogShop and Clarence Chew there. If you do not have time to visit your nearest police station, do it online. I did mine online.
 
I told Clarence that a report has been made against him and the company. I got an almost instant reply from him. Wow! So he's still alive! What a surprise. From there, things just sped up. He promised to return the money - cash into my account directly in a week. After a week, partial of the money was returned but he asked for another week's extension for the other half. He kept to his word. But the stocks? Where are my stocks? In September he said it will be in Far East right? No, I got so fed up, I drove to ITE West and collected it myself. It was still sitting in the store.
 
For those of you who are thinking of lodging a report or getting legal advice, please do so quickly. The Blogshop has ceased all their operations in Singapore. City Plaza, Haji Lane and ITE outlets are now officially closed. Far East was the first to go on 24th Oct. Based on what I know from my source, The Blogshop still has a few loose ends to tie up before they call it a day. And they are already acting to tie up those ends, many are now done so it will not be long, maybe only a matter of days now before they deregister and dissolve The Blogshop. Once that is done, no reports can get them as The Blogshop is a private limited company ie the owners do not undertake any liability, debts etc of the company. Think of the blogshop as a person - a human being. If you are suing a human being, once that person dies, who do you sue? Nobody.
 
At the same time, seek legal advice. My case, because of the small amount of money and I was the only person lodging the case against them, they considered that a civil case. Case closed. No action was taken. I checked CASE - not within their jurisdiction. Claims tribunal - maybe. But seek legal advice. And if you can, all of you vendors, gather and lodge the report together. You can't, agree on the the police station where you will lodge your report with (you will need to choose the location online too) so that all your reports will end up on the same table then they will have the visibility and can see the magnitude of the problem on hand - the total sum owed in total and how many people are involved. I was fighting my own "war" then so my case was weak. I am very sure Clarence knows exactly what game he has to play - delaying your payments, bounced chqs, MIA, etc are all delay tactics. He is playing with time hoping none of us will take any action because we are all waiting then, BAM! The Blogshop disappears. Clarence goes scott free.
 
I am one of the few lucky ones who got everything back. (Actually not everything, I found items not returned to me but later on found them in Haji's store room when my friend was helping to clear out to make way for the new owners. So check your stocks too - my bad habit, not proper inventory checks - if/when you get them back.) But those out there, good luck. I hope my posts helps and can serve as a guide or give you an idea what you can do.
 
All the best!

PS: All interested to lodge a report as a group, please leave a comment here so that others might see. Give a date and location so that all who sees this post can lodge on the same day and at same location (remember you can do it online and select the same location). Otherwise, you can also email me and I will consolidate.

You can reach me at anshii@nelanz.com should you not feel comfortable leaving comments here for anything at all.

Happy New Year 2012!!

Happy New Year 2012 everybadeh! Hehehe

How did you welcome 2012? Have you made any New Year's resolutions? How drunk did you get?

Mine was a very quite affair. Stayed home all weekend without any alcohol. How boring is that? I'm interested to know if any of you can beat that. Leave a comment!

2 weeks to Chinese New Year - only 2 more weekends which means Bali is just around the corner! Yay!!! Holiday!!! Ooo can't wait can't wait. Ann Gie finally decided (again) to go to Bali and tickets booked. This time no turning back for her heh! But learn from her, indecisiveness is really a bad trait because she ended up paying twice of what we paid on the same budget airline before paying for luggage! She could have flown a 5* airline if not for the fact that they are sold out for the same price with 20kg check-in! Boo!

It's gonna be pay-back time in Bali for the lack of alcohol during New Year's eve. You just watch me *ggrrrr* But the excitement of the trip is really building up. I gotta pull myself back to earth - don't get overly excited and then ended up disappointed :(

Oh oh oh....Australia tickets are up! Gonna fly Emirates! But I hope the price stays for another mont, PLEASEEEEE??? I cannot buy the tickets now.....I need to keep my credit card debt free coz I need to pay for OPI - taking in new batch, in the process now and I'm gonna pay with my credit card. No no I'm not crazy. It's actually a good way to utilize your money PROVIDED you have all the cash to settle the bill in full at the end of the month.Ok in short, you get to maximise the use of your cash. A very long theory but proven and even thought in my Financial Planning course. Hmmm...let me put this as simple as I can:

Say your billing date is every 3rd of the month. Jan's expenditure will be billed on 3rd Feb then you have 2 weeks to pay up right? Think about this - what if you make a purchase on 4th Jan? It will still only appear on 3rd Feb right? Then you have 2 weeks to pay which means you only pay for something 1.5months later? Without interest!! What else do you want man for such good deal? Put your money into good use :)