Nov 2005

This is the last day of Nov 2005. It is considered one of the busiest month and toughest month I have ever got. I am very busy with the continuous exhibitions and events in both Singapore and Malaysia. Therefore, I really quite a lot and only now I realized how tiring it is. So I really admire those international sales people back in Taiwan that they can travel around the world like nobody's business.

Besides, this month is also very tough for me because there are a few small things going on at my work place. It is actually a small issue but I think it affects how I look at my work a lot. We are used to work on weekend or public holidays as we are working on consumer products. Events and exhibitions are part and parcel of our work life. Originally, we are given off day in lieu for working over weekend. I think it is normal as it means the organization recognizes the extra effort and time the staff put in. However, because of some miscommunication and misunderstanding, the management decided to stop this mechanism.

To be frank, I do not really care about the number of off days I got because I always have quite a number of off days being forfeited at the end of year as I can't finish them. To me, the work is always my first priority but I would try to make use of the off days to either be back home or have some holidays around. However, it is more about the feelings we, the staffs, have on this kind of changes as there is no proper communication made on this issue. I am not resistant on changes but I believe staffs need to be involved and explained on some changes involving themselves so that they can understand the reason why and the necessity of those changes. Furthermore, the side effect of this changes may cause some staffs losing the enthusiasms to organize events or exhibitions over weekend as their extra efforts are not recognized in the common way. I was quite upset at the beginning but I guess everything is all right now as I always put those negative thinking and emotions behind very fast and hopefully we are back to the orignial system already.

Anyway, this is the last day of Nov and I got only three more weeks to finish this peak season. Then I would be back to Taiwan for Julie's Wedding (You guys got to check out her wedding photos. She looks SO grogrous.) and enjoy my one week holiday back HOME.

Beside Me?

Has been crazily busy this month and would be like this until the middle of Dec as year end is always our peak season with lots of events and activities. Besides, I also need to travel a lot to Malaysia as I'm working on that market now also.

After this busy schedule and frequent traveling, I started wondering what I want out of this. I think I can still hang on because I have passion toward my work, but now I already felt exhausted and struggle to go through the following 3 tough weeks ahead.

I seem to be in a cycle. I was lost at the beginning of the year but got motivated and stimulated by a friend at the middle of the year. Now coming to the end of the year, I start to reflect on what I have done for the past 6 months. Seems I did have done something different and better. Hopefully, things would keep going on and I would find some other motivation to keep me going.

However, the deep feeling inside me now is "lonely" as most of the days I'm busy with work, and lately I spent quite a number of nights at hotel. What's "beside me" actually? Yes, I can definitely look for friends or families, but sometimes the person I want to talk to is not available or I just can't find a suitable person to share the particular feeling I have at that moment. So what's really left beside me at this kind of lifestyle? Another big question for me to find out.

Went through today with two extreme emotions but good thing is I ended up with the good one. Was exhausted physically and tired mentally this evening, but met up a old friend after working at the show. We talked about life lately and the busy schedule we both had for this month. At the end, he mentioned he forgave me for some decision I made previously. It really relieved me and made me feel that I still got good friends around that I can share life with.

I still got someone beside me I guess.

House Hunting

Just got the bad news that they are going to knock down my sweet home so we got to find another place by the end of this year. It is really a sad news to me as I really like my place a lot. It's a very nice cozy room that I can really have a good rest and I believe this is also one of the best options I can find in Singapore in terms of environment. It should be quite difficult to find another place like this. Too Bad!! Got to start house hunting again. For those who haven't visit my place yet, you may want to plan some trips before end of year so that at least you can experience the nice place you can see from the pictures here. You would definitely love it also. : )

Lipstick Jungle

Bought quite a few books last week during Kinokuniya's 20% discount promotion, the first one I finished is Lipstick Jungle by Candace Bushnell, the writer for Sex and the City. It's about three very successful and powerful women in New York City and how they live differently in this new era. The whole book is very interesting to me as it describes the lives that I desire in terms of success in career. Women are getting more power and control over a lot more things. However, there are a lot more sad things that women nowadays got to learn to handle.

There are more and more women taking up the role of "provider", so-called "the man", in the family. However, men still can't get away the stereotype they need to be in power. Or I should say the society still can't accept this kind of changes. So men like those are losing their self esteems and it may cause some family crisis. I guess I myself also can't get away with this concept. So I am actually looking for men who I think strong enough and can take care of me both financially and mentally. However, it's getting tougher and tougher as women nowadays can afford almost everything we require in life. So financial part seems to be only a symbol but just required. The mental part became more crucial in the whole relationship but that's also the most difficult part as people nowadays may not really have time to understand and spend with each other to get the mental satisfaction.

So for my case, I actually came out a theory. I want to find someone who is compatible with me in terms of aggressiveness in work. However, if both of us are working towards our own career, it may end up that either one of us feels that the other party is selfish and only focus on work. So the best case is to find someone who can also be my partner in work, but that's only the ideal situation. It's so difficult to find someone to live together already. It would be even more difficult to find one to live and work together at the same time. Anyway, this is just a theory and need to be proved.

Mistake

SORRY!

All About Love

Watched " All About Love" last weekend. It's about a guy who regreted that he didn't spend enough time with his wife when she died of car accident. 6 years later, he met a lady who got transplatned his wife's heart. It's about how people should treasure what they have instead of regreting when they really lost it.

I think to most of us, our first priority now is our career. So we spend most of our time and energy on work. Others like family, friends,and life might be the 2nd priority or not even on the priority list. However, I was really touched and started to think about my priority in life after watching this movie. The actor changed his life totoally from a successful doctor to a normal emergency officer after he lost his wife, because he regreted a lot and can't enjoy the life again with the regret.

How about me? I left my family to work in Singapore. Though I have a very close relationship with my parents and we almost talked everyday, it is still different from really spending time with them. After all this, I realized that my familiy should be on my first priority and I need to spend more time with them. So I'm planning to go back more frequently next year for Chinese New Year, Mother's Day, and Father's Day at least.

Work is really important but family is more important to me as I have only my parents. I can't imagine life withouth them. I might have a bigger familiy with my husband and kids in the future but parents are so important to me and I should really start thinking of taking good care of them.

Anna's Visit

This is really a very happening month. We have our 4th guest in town this month. Anna was the international MC for AIESEC in Singapore 2 years ago. So we spend one year here together. That was a interesting period as I was still quite involved in AIESEC activities at that time with our same batch of trainees. She is here again for holiday and enjoy all the nice & familiar places and food in Singapore. We got to meet up again in Europe next year. ; )

Hong Kong Fantasy

Only decided to visit Hong Kong last weekend on last Thursday. This is really a very random and last minute trip. I bought the ticket and applied for my HK Visa on Thursday and just flew on Sat early morning. I just want to have a break as I would have a very crazy 2 months because of both my work and study. Year end is always the peak season for us and this is going to be my last semester for MBA course. I got to cover both work and study plus a management project to end my MBA course early next year. After checking my schedule last Thursday, I decided to go somewhere to enjoy my precious weekend which I don't need to work and meet up old friends. ; )

Disney is definitely one of the places that I want to visit in Hong Kong. So I went straight to Disney on Sat from airport. This is my first time visiting Disneyland and I really had a lot of fun.



Right after I reached, they just started the parade of the day. You can see all the different carton figures and a lot of performances over there, which is one of the biggest attraction sof the park.

After that, I started my adventures in Hong Kong Disneyland. There are four sections: Fantasyland, Adventureland, Tomorrowland, and Main Street U.S.A. The most attractive part to me is the Fantasyland which reminded me all the memory I had when young. They are so familiar with me and I really forgot all the pressures from work and life when I was there with them.

As you know, there are a lot of people in the park especially during weekend. I'm not so interested in those facilities. So I spend most of my time on the various performances and queuing for taking pictures with my favorite carton figures. One of them is definitely Winnie the Pooh. This is my favorite picture from the 100 over pictures I took in these 2 days. I just looked so cute with Tiger and Pooh. Do you guys agree? ; )

I actually went for 3 performances: Mickey's PhilharMagic, The Golden Mickeys and Festival of the Lion King. My favorite is actually Mickey's PhilharMagic. This is a magical 3D show with all the different carton figures though leading by Mickey. You can see all the familiar carton figures running around you because of the 3D effects and they even add in special effect like smell and water. That was really a lot of fun. : ) It's a pity that I can't take pictures as the normal camera can not present the 3D effect.

These are pictures for the Golden Mickeys which is also quite nice but I guess I was a bit tired that I almost dozed off or maybe it's just not as interesting as the 3D show. : Q

I actually spent about 30 minutes to queue for taking pictures with Mickey and Minny each. Though it's quite time consuming and tiring, I was so excited when I was standing next to them. It's just like your childhood dream came true finally. I guess that's the reason why they called it Fantasyland.

The last show I went is Festival of Lion King which is a 360 degree open stage for Lion King. The special effect is really good especially cute Simba. I believe it's a robot but the way it moves is just so cute that you got to witness itself.

The last and the best part of the day in Disney is the fireworks. It's really amazing with the special effects and the castle background.

After that, I rushed back to town to meet up with Tippy, Candy and Esther, the Hong Kong AIESEC MC members the same year as me. We have known each other since 1999. It's always good to meet up with old friends especially when my last trip to Hong Kong is already 2 years back. We went to a nice hot pot restaurant.

Thanks for Stella for offering me a nice place to stay in Hong Kong. Stella is also a very special friend of mine. We also knew each other since 1999 when she was in Taiwan for IPM. We are actually born on the same date but she is just 2 years earlier than me. : ) She is really capable that she actually bought this flat on Hong Kong island after working for only 6 years. The housing in Hong Kong is really very expensive. So I can only say she worked very hard and I really like the place a lot. ; )

On Sunday morning, I went to visit the Hong Kong Electronic Show, which is one of the major regional show for electronic industry. I guess I just can't ignore things related to my work. It's also great to meet Willy, one of my AIESEC seniors, again. It has been a while from our last meeting back in Taipei.

It's a pity that I didn't have time to try all the food that weekend. Thanks for stella that I had one of the best breakfast with the nice bread and special Hong Kong milk tea. That's really refreshing and a good start for the day.

Actually, I was planning to meet up another friend on Sun afternoon as he was working in Hong Kong because of the show. So I took the chance to walk around the city and tried the authentic dessert, the milk strew, while waiting. This one is really nice as it is very smooth and seems the shop I visited is a famous one as it's very crowded even in the afternoon time.

It's a pity that I didn't manage to meet up with that friend as he was busy with meetings and I need to rush to airport to catch my flight back to Singapore. It is still a very refreshing trip for me and I really had a lot of fun in Disneyland. Now I really want to visit the other bigger Disneyland as this one in Hong Kong is really quite small. I believe the others would be even better.

Grace's Visit

This is really a very happening month. We have our 3rd guest, Grace, at our place this month last weekend. Grace is Ceci and my best friend. We knew each other since 1999 and Grace & I were working in the same company as trainees before. Grace is actually the first trainee in my company. Thanks for her so that I can adapted to the environment much easier at the beginning stage of my traineeship. That was really a great time when we four, Grace, Sandy, Jean and I were working together.

Happy Birthday! Grace! I was supposed to be here this weekend but decided to go Hong Kong instead. So we just practially just swapped and spend time with the same groups at different locations. It's kind of fun but I promise I would be back to Hong Kong again soon before my visa expires. ; )

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

On the flight back to Singapore, I watched this movie, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. This is about a 4 best friends growing up together and never part from each other until the summer vacation when they are 16. They bought a "magic" jeans before they leave for different places as this jeans fit perfectly for all 4 of them though they may have different sizes. This magic pants seem change their life at that summer holiday.

The attractive part for me is the story for Lena. Lena is like any "good" girl in any group. She would not show off her beauty as that is more about the personality. Then she meet someone in Greece where her grandparents are. He is kind of "enemy" for her family. The story is like "Romeo and Juliet", but she managed to change herself and express her feelings because of him.

Guess that's the breakthrough I want also. I have been hiding my true feelings as I think I would be very vulnerable if I show how I really feel. So I actually run away from what I really want as I think I would get hurt easily especially on relationships. However, I decide to change all this by giving myself a chance to change and to try.

It maybe crazy but I have never done any really crazy thing up to now, but it would be different soon.

Oct 12th - Shanghai Day 4

My director arrived yesterday midnight. So today, we spend most of the time in the exhibition to look into the new products. Sometimes, it's great to have at least 2 people to visit this kind of show. Some discussion can really stimulate good ideas in terms of product planning. I guess that's the reason why people said that you can't create things without going out to observe people.

After that, we started our city tour of the day. We went to try the famous 南翔小籠包 finally. The taste is slightly different because of the crab meat but I find the ones from Crystal Jade is better as that is not so oily. : ) Maybe I'm used to the food in Singapore already.

After that, we went to this famous area called New World (新天地). Basically, this is a area with all the traditional shanghainese buildings but they renovate the place as the perfect dining and drinking area with the special atmosphere.

Quite surprised to see a familiar shop here. Pauliner is a famous beer store in Singapore that most of my friends like a lot but good to see something familiar la. : )

We actually came here for a good restaurant called XinJiShi recommended by Ying. Seems this restaurant is really famous and provided very nice good as the queue is so long. We have waited for almost one hour to get into the restaurant. Three of us just order 4 dishes. We thought the main dish is actually the strewed meat and just added in a couple others. In the end, the other 2 dishes the crab meat bean curt and the chilly thing are the one shocking us when seeing the bill. Anyway, this is quite a nice restaurant indeed and would recommend you guys to try if you are in Shanghai.

Anyway, was planning to leave on Sat but decided to go back tomorrow as some projects going on back in Singapore. In summary, Shanghai is really a big city with big area and huge population. However, maybe I just growed up and worked in another 2 big cities also. So it's not so impressive to me as the infrastructure is not as good as Taipei and Singapore. Nevertheless, this is still a fruitful trip to me and finally, I visited China after so many countries. : )

Oct 11th - Shanghai Day 3

Try to capture the last several hours before sunset to visit the Shanghai Old Street. This is the area with all the historical Chinese buildings. I thought it would be one of the best place to demonstrate the Chinese culture. However, it is too commercialized in my opinion. All the buildings are converted into shop space. The most strange thing to me is to have a "Starbucks" among those shops. It's like a alien among all the shops selling Chinese stuff.



This is the most famous dumpling shop in Shanghai. You can tell from the long queue they have outside the shop. They actually have a nicer area for dine in with a great view over the garden. It's a pity that I didn't try it as I think that's too much for one person. Maybe try again another day.

This group of buildings are actually build next to one of the famous garden, 豫園. It is famous for the setting of mountains and rivers inside the garden. Chinese are capable of creating their own space inside their home. I think that's a must for ladies at that time as they can not leave the house at all. If not, I guess they would be bored to death. I can't really go in as they are almost closed when I reached. See if I got time to visit it again these days.

Went for the famous crab(大閘蟹) for dinner with friends. Everyone told me to try the crab here as that is one of the hottest thing here. These crabs are actually from one of the famous lake in China, 蘇州陽澄湖. It is said to be the season for the male crab. So we just tried it. To be frank, I can't really tell the special part. Maybe I'm used to the heavy taste from Chilly Crab and Black Papper Crab. Guess I still prefer the one back in Singapore. : )