Smith & Hsu

After Maggie resigned in end Sep and her East Europe trip in last Oct, we haven't really got chance to have a good talk compared with our previous 8 months' close working and living relationship.

Therefore, we had a date this afternoon at Smith & Hsu as I've heard some good compliments about their teas and food. It's really quite full as there are only 16 seats. The service is OK only as we waited for almost 30 minutes to place our order. They actually have a few people but not sure what they are busy with. However, their score is really good.

We discussed about her Business Plan for her new start-up business. She wants to start up some business based on a platform providing "INSPIRATION" to people. We also talked about my work and some advises to me as my ex-supervisor as well as our relationship. That was really a good chat and sharing. We two somehow are very similar in terms of our attitude, approach towards life and relationship. Guess that's the reason why we really take her as my sister and one of my role models.

Christmas Coming!

Time really flies. I only realized it again yesterday moring when I was leaving office as they have already set up one Christmas Tree at lobby. I can still remember my last Christmas in Singapore. I visited a few symbolic places to really have a good feel of Christmas there as I know I probably won't be back any time soon.

The most impressive Christmas Tree I have seen so far would be the one at Ngee Ann City, Singapore. Christmas is a very big event there as it's not just a big shopping season but also a happy festival. This year, I would be in Taiwan for the Christmas. Got to come out a plan to enjoy my first Christmas back at home.

Cloud Gate - Nine Songs

I have been thinking to watch Cloud Gate's performance for a long time because it has earned a lot of compliments and respect from different part of the world and the most importantly they are from Taiwan. 2 years ago, they did have a performance in Singapore but I wasn't able to attend because of traveling schedule . Therefore, this time once I know of the Nine Song performance, I decided to go right away.

To be frank, I didn't really understand the whole performance as there are a lot of different factors here with a Chinese historic story, Taiwan local aboriginal music and dancing. However, the dancing, the stage setting, the music and the performance itself was really impressive to me though I didn't understand the story or there is even no story actually. ;Q

Actually, I met Mr. Lin Hwai-min in person at FSA VIP dinner. He delivered a speech about Cloud Gate and the different factors in his performance. I can really feel his enthusiasm when he was talking. It's really great to know that there are still a lot of people from Taiwan dedicating in their life. It's not just about politics here.

Wedgwood Tea Room

Had a long day today as I can't really focus and got a few conference calls and interviews. Besides, I have been feeling the stress from work for the past 2 weeks because of the few projects on hand and the pressure to open new accounts.

Therefore, I decided to leave earlier today and messaged Cindy and Sandy if they got any plan tonight. Cindy actually went for a concert today. So Sandy and I just met for dinner. We went to Wedgwood Tea Room at the new Sogo. I have been thinking to come as I like their bone china and we only want to have a light dinner.

We ordered one set with salad, sandwich and tea. The tea is really good as it's so refreshing and teasty. It has been always packed during weekend and even afternoon for weekdays as this is a popular place for those Tai-Tai.


I really start to consider switching my life to be a Tai-Tai if possible. I believe I would enjoy this kind of life to take good care of my husband and kids as well as myself a lot. However, this goal might not be that easy to achieve then.

最遙遠的距離

早上因為有新同事的training進了辦公室，本來跟斷食營的同學約中午碰面，但臨時取消。才發覺我真的除了工作就沒什麼個人生活的，除了跟一兩個還在台灣的朋友碰面還真的沒什麼事做，辦公室對面的華納威秀就變成了我最好的去處。幸好最近還有些可以引起我興趣的電影，一段時間沒看國片了，看到這個片名的時候就想去看看，因為大學時就對這首詩有些感觸，看完之後更覺得距離不是絕對的或是我們的眼睛可以判定的。

世界上最遙遠的距離
不是生與死
而是我就站在你面前　
你卻不知道　我愛你

世界上最遙遠的距離
不是我就站在你面前　你卻不知道我愛你
而是
明明彼此相愛　卻不能在一起

世界上最遙遠的距離
不是明明彼此相愛　卻不能在一起
而是
明明無法抵擋這股思念　
卻還得故意裝作絲毫沒有把你放在心裡

世界上最遙遠的距離
不是明明無法抵擋這股思念　卻還得故意裝作絲毫沒有把你放在心裡
而是
用自己冷漠的心對愛你的人掘了一條無法跨越的溝渠

不知道你是否能愛我像我愛你一樣
也不知道是不是只要努力就可以得到幸福
我只知道
不論會變的是不是你
永遠不變的是我

或許我真的是太過理智，面對感情，我最衝動過的動作也不過是為了想再見他一面，馬上從上海飛回新加坡然後再飛香港，只因為我知道那時已不再是亞洲兩個國家間的距離而是兩個大陸。但其實真正的距離並不是兩個人的所在，而是兩個人對這段關係的定位，不過我想這些都已經是過去了。雖然前兩個禮拜在將近一年之後再次見面，雖然在聽到他的消息、在網路上看到或接到他的電話還是不禁地會讓我心跳加速。雖然我心中很想釐清過去發生的種種，但我知道那並不會改變什麼，最多只是解了我心中長久的疑問，所以我還在想到底有沒有必要去問，如果結果並不會有所不同。

Anyway, 再次見面後的感覺多了些許不確定，老實說，我對他的了解真的非常有限，再加上我這一年在新工作上的急速成長及未來可見的跳躍，很多事情應該都很不一樣了。不知道我是不是又再次過於理智，或許感情上很多東西不該用道理來分析，但或許這就是我吧﹗

幸福

近來漸漸感到生活有點空虛的感覺, 其實還沒回來前就知道我的生活方式及對生活的想法跟家人有所差距, 尤其是我會想要有個舒適溫暖且屬於我的空間, 這樣我才能好好休息, 但我想短期內這是不太有可能實現. 但對想要有自己空間的想法卻又漸漸增長, 尤其最近看到一個介紹室內設計的電視節目"幸福空間", 就讓我更想要有個屬於自己風格的空間.

我現在就已經可以開始想像我想要的空間, 我一定要有個好廚房, 衛浴及一個有陽光的閱讀空間, 這三個會是我絕不妥協的必需品. 尤其是廚房, 我其實是個還蠻愛煮東西的人, 尤其是看到大家吃完那種滿足的感覺, 那真是種享受. 原本不認為我會是個居家的女人, 但漸漸的我發覺我會是個想要好好照顧家人小孩的人, 所以要是聽到我真的作個全職媽媽也不用太驚訝吧.

昨天在一個blog上看到人家在介紹"廚房之歌"這本書, 這其實是本食譜但就參雜了一些生活的筆記. 訴說這再不同國家的生活尤其是與小孩在廚房及食物上的互動. 看了好舒服, 好想有個屬於自己的家庭及空間, 就在廚房裡準備美物的食物給我愛的家人.

或許真的是年紀到了再加上身旁許多朋友也有了家庭, 那種幸福的感覺讓我也想步入家庭. 每天早上在心愛的人身邊醒來應該是在幸福不過的吧.

My New Toy - SE K810i

Currently, I'm using 2 phones: Dopod for the company number and SE for my personal number. My previous SE phone has been about 4 years old and got some problems. That's the reason why I'm considering getting a new phone these 2 months. I have been considering either SE K810i or K850i as I want to have a phone with good camera features so that I don't need to bring my camera along. In the end, I decided to go for K810i as the price difference to K850i is quite substantial and the major difference in terms of camera feature is only the mega pixel. Besides, K810i got this red color which is more for my style I guess. :)

I bought one at Shih-Lin this evening and the phone is just nice for me. Maybe it's because I have been used to the user interface of SE and the camera feature should be quite OK for normal shoots. Then I can take more pictures to share on my blog soon.

David Tao Taipei Concert

On my way back from Tainan last Friday, Cindy called me and told me that she got tickets for David Tao's concert in Taipei on that night. I was thinking if I should go as I actually need to go back to office in the afternoon though I was still on leave. However, it's too temptating to have a FREE ticket so I decided to go.

Actually, I met David Tao in person once as we took the same flight back to Taipei about two years ago. My only impression then was he is quite small size. However, after the concert, the only thing I can say is he is really very energetic as he kept singing for 3 hours non-stop.

Cindy and I enjoyed a lot about all the old songs that we sang back in Uni though there are some new ones that I only heard about it first time. Overall, it's quite interesting experience as this is my 2nd concert experience after the May Day one in SG 5 years ago.

We decided to arrange more activities from now on as I really believe that my life is not only about working after the Detox Camp.

Detox Camp

After reading an article on Business Weekly about some celebrity women's experience in a Detox Camp, I decided to go once I got chance. Three weeks ago, after I brought in 2 new cases, I decided to take one week leave last week for the camp as I knew that I won't be able to have this kind of chance again.

Therefore, I was in Tainan for 7 days. As the name indicates, there are some treatments or programs to detox our bodies. The main program is Fasting. Every morning, we would drink 2000 cc of Warm Lemon Water with Salt to clear our body. For the 2nd and 3rd day, we drank only water and for the 4th day, we didn't even drink. The purpose is to have the body concentrating on detoxing as most of the time our body is working on digesting the food we eat.

For me, it's really a total relaxing, reviving, purifying experience and of course I made some good friends there. I would highly recommend everyone to go for this kind of camp if you want to keep a healthy body and especially for hose people with Health Issues. This would be a good alternative treatment as I have seen a few good cases with symptoms such as high-blood pressure or heart problems improving during the camp.

CAVARALLI CAFE

It's my first time sitting at a cafe for a weekend afternoon after back at Taipei for more than 9 months. It has been a crazily busy 9 months as I was trying very hard to pick up everything I need to perform. Finally, things are getting better after hard work and learning.

However, it's really a trade-off. I have spend most of my time on work including weekend. 75 hours week seems not a big deal. Therefore, I decided to have some change to try to have a "more" balanced life (anyway, it's all relatively). So now I'm sitting at a nice cafe shop at 永康街 and ordered a Rose Milk Tea.

Ya, I'm going to enjoy my leisure time though I still need to work on my research for potential companies to approach.

Ariel's Wedding

inkCongratulations to Kevin and Ariel!! Ariel is the first one to get married among the 5 of us. Kevin and Ariel have been together for about 8 years since we were still in Uni. It's really great to see them getting married and stepping into the next stage of their life.

Cindy and I are the bridemaid for Ariel. We need to reach around 7 am as the groom would reach around 8am and we need to finish the ceremony so as to leave the house before 8:45am.

We were supposed to play a few games with the groom to get the process a bit tougher for him. However, the first thing Ariel told us in the morning was to ask for easier game for the groom as he was burning the midnight oil the day before and very tired. Besides, there is time limitation as we need to leave Ariel's house on time. So we only get Kevin to play basketball up to the 2nd floor, answer a few questions and sang a song, whhic were way too easy.

We need to leave Ariel's place before 8:45am and can only stepped into Kevin's place at 10am, but they stay so close to each other as it's only a 5 minutes walk. So we can only drave around the Taipei city for one hour and 15 minutes to kill time.


Cindy actually got tons of serious misquito bites while waiting for Kevin to at downstairs of Ariel's place. It's either those mosquitos were too hungry in the early morning or Cindy is just simply too delicious.

Thanks for Ruby's offering as we went to her place to have some snap. We got up really early in the morning and we got another full evening session to go on. Really need some rest and we fell asleep immediately after touching the bed.


Ruby and Chris were also back for Ariel's wedding. They are another couple since uni time. Our relatioships are a bit extreme; either very very long or just simply very short.

Before the dinner ceremony, Ariel arranged one of her friends to do hair and make-up for Cindy and I.




It's quite different to see myself with full make-up. That's really quite good to have a refreshing me but it's not often to have this kind of occasions


We knew that Ariel was dying to drink some wine as everyone was hoping her to drink grape juice. So we get Ruby and Chris to demonstrate 交杯酒 so to get Kevin and Ariel to finish a full glass of wine.


The dinner vanue is at Grace Hill, a dedicated and very popular wedding venue in Taipei. I like the bride dressing room a lot as it's my ideal design for the living room.


We actually met up for dinner yesterday as that could the last day to have Ariel and Ruby in Taiwan at the same time. Besides, we also want to celebrate Cindy and Ariel's birthday later this month.

Congratulations and Happy Birthday la.. :)

North Coast

Got a message from Cindy last Fri for visiting North Coast of Taiwan on Sat. This is my first time visiting this beach as I don't really go to other places in Taiwan other than my hometown. However, that was an interesting experience as this could be our last girl's trip out before Ariel's wedding 2 weeks later. Besides, Rudy is also back from UK for summer holiday. So we just set up 1pm from NTU main gate.

We arrived around 3pm and either laid on the beach or soaked in the water. It seems to be a popular place for teenagers as most of the visitors are high school or uni students. There are also some families as we saw a cute kid wearing a "honey bee" style swimming suit, which is so cute.




That was really a great experience and I started to think if I should buy a car so that I can go out during weekends. I'm a bit tired of staying in the city for most of the weekends as I do enjoy spending time alone or with friends for a leisure outing.

Anyway, Cindy and I agree to start planing our weekdays after work and weekends together as we can not stand ourselves stuck with works most of the time. We can actually leave the office earlier as long as we have arranged some activities to keep a balance life. It's only about decision and action.

The first activity would be a Symphonic Salsa performance by Klazz Brothers & Cuba Percussion next Fri night. Thanks for Matt's introduction so that I was exposed to this interesting combination of classic music and salsa. It was fantastic when listening to CD and I believe it would even greater as live music.

My First TOS

Today is a special day for me as I finally secured 2 assignments since taking on this position 7 months ago. It was a long way and tough path for me as I'm supposed to secure three assignments for my confirmation within the initial three months. However, it just didn't go like what we planned and expected. Though tough, it is a very solid learning process and a good opportunity for me to learn more about myself.

I really need to thank for my mentor, Maggie, who taught and guided me along the way. I have been very lucky to have good and kind people around me. Thank you very much again. Though it might be the last 30 days that we would be working together as Maggie would be leaving for another stage in life. I would always remember every single thing that she told me and all the best to you, Maggie!!

Happy Father's Day!!

Yes, I kept my promise to spend Father's Day and Mother's Day together with my parents from this year. This what I promised myself from last year. It's my first time staying together with my parents for these 2 special days since I left for Singapore on 8th Aug 2001. Though it's just one of the days in a year, it's dedicated to all the fathers and mothers.

It's clearer and clearer to me that we are stepping into another stage as we got more and more friends getting married or having kids. Still can't imagine the day when Mother's day is dedicated to me but that should be quite a different feeling.

Company Outing - Fishing

Last weekend, I organized a company outing to fish at Keelung. We have about 20 people joining this event and we did catch quite a lot of fishes though we have tried a few different spots that night. Besides, some of the colleagues stayed at my grandma's place that night so that we can climb up some hills to see the Pacific Ocean.


Besides, we also have a BIG BIG SEAFOOD lunch. Daddy helped me pre-order 7 dishes and all of them are high-end material. I can only say this is one of the best meal I got this year so far.

Gathering

After Ariel's engagement 2 weeks ago, we had another gathering as Tina can't attend the engagement on that day itelf. We went to a small and nice cafe stores. I always like this kind of stores in Taiwan because of the unique design and style each shop has. Those are nice places for a good afternoon tea either alone or with friends.

I wished to have this kind of time slot once a week to consolidate what I've been in and planning for next week. That was really enjoyable.