Friday, October 31, 2008

Weekdays can be great too!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! it's FRIDAY again! if time's going to zoom past like that every week.. i'll be 30 before i know it!!! Geez.. 30 actually isnt that far away~ wahaha! anyway, it's been a good week.. actually it's been the best week i have had since i started work!

i'm not sure if i have mentioned it before.. but work officially ends at 5pm every Friday evening for our 'Highs & Lows' session! it's a gathering where everyone announce what they are particularly happy (High) or unhappy (Low) about that week.. we could get away with not mentioning a 'Low' but there must be a 'High'.. and for every 'Low' that was mentioned, there must be a 'High' to balance it out..

it is also a session where we get to know one another better.. we would gather at the lower ground floor and have a few drinks.. normally white wines and soft drinks.. both of which i dont really enjoy! every week i would get asked if i want a drink, and every Friday i would politely decline.. they probably thought i was being shy but this is the week they know i seriously cant drink.. i told them the story of last Saturday's Midori with lemonade! wahaha!

it's been a really good week because for the first time since i started work, i dont have a 'Low'!!! i'm happy about that, really.. and my 'High' was that i dont have a 'Low'!!! wahaha~! i finally felt like i'm on schedule this week, though not without the help of SR! i'm also better prepared this week and have started to fall into a routine.. and i now handle the newspaper delivery guy really well! HAHA! i have also cleaned up the mess at my desk and it's now neat and tidy the way i like it!

also, there's no 'Low' this because i received confirmation that Sinnie is coming from Perth next week and Y is coming the week after!!! BUT, the ultimate 'HIGH' is that Sis is coming in December and from tomorrow onwards.. i can say that my Sister is coming NEXT MONTH! Yippie! what's more, i have gotten her cheap tickets to and fro Melbourne!!! A$67.90!!! wahaha.. i can only cross my fingers that Tiger Airways doesnt cancel their flights as and when they like it (they are apparently quite notorious for doing that here)!!!

ALSO, i have booked Sis and myself for the Murray Expedition*!!! we will be going on it the first weekend she's going to be here! now now, with all these upcoming visits, how can i have a 'Low'?

i also received a letter (snail mail!) from Hello Kitty (you know who you are!) and Hello Kitty's life is going great! Zen is working on his personal project and is almost done with it now.. i'm waiting to view it! Kor is finally having his exams next week after so many years of hard work and studying!!! i cant wait for him to 'graduate'! Mum & Dad are going to Taiwan (again~!) and Miyuki went home to JAPAN today!!! i can feel her parent's joy! i hereby announce that my crazy Japanese house mate will be back in 2 weeks and i sincerely hope that she remembers to get to the airport on time this time round! ha!

and so, i feel great because my aim to enjoy weekdays has been achieved this week! i'm pretty sure it's not 'happily ever after' from here.. there will bound to be days that i would feel down because of work, friends, family, life in general, etc.. but at least for this week, i can be certain that there is one office worker who has enjoyed her weekdays!

*Murray Expedition will be explained later in a separate entry because it is of utmost importance that i explain it correctly!

Sunday, October 26, 2008

another weekend gone!

well, it's Sunday again~ the life of a office worker.. looking forward to Friday evenings and trying to shunt the ever dreaded Sunday night? hmmm.. maybe that is the case.. but if office workers all around the world can enjoy their weekdays too.. wouldnt that be fantastic?

in order to enjoy my upcoming week, i stayed back in the office till 7pm on Friday, so as to get more work done.. it was something that i was supposed to do but i didnt know about it because really, no one told me about it.. so i cant really do something i dont even know existed, can i? anyway, it was completed and i also get all my filing done! i dont need to go back on Saturday!

i did however, brought back the Job Notes file and read through it.. there was also a case left behind by J which wasnt solved when she left.. i brought it home too.. but i'm only going to try to see if i can work it out later.. because i had been occupied with Game Boy Micro since yesterday!!!

wahaha.. there's only the Mario Brothers and Super Mario 2 on it.. but the Mario Brothers kept me occupied for a long time.. and still is actually.. hehez! this cute little gadget belongs to Miyuki.. but it's now sitting on my desk calling me.. Miyuki passed me the charger for it too! just in case, you know~!

as for Saturday, i went down to The Parade to get brunch at Cibo Espresso before grocery shopping at both Foodlands and Coles.. i came home with a whole trolley full! i vacuumed and mopped my room after keeping my groceries away.. and also wiped all surfaces! it's really due to the weather and the fact that we are situated right next to the road that there's so much dust..

the weather's really strange yesterday, it was hot and humid but it wasnt a sunny kind of hot.. it was cloudy the whole day.. and windy too.. i was in the TV room the whole afternoon with the air-con switched on! hehez!

in between Game Boy Micro sessions, i was doing laundry and cooking a pasta and a fried rice.. enough for all my lunches next week and maybe dinners too.. hehez..

last night we girls went to Maylands Hotel, just round the corner, for a drink.. i really cant take much alcohol! one Midori with lemonade and i am down! wahaha..

that's pretty much to it for my weekend.. i'm hoping that the coming week will be fulfilling!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Danny's Thai Bistro

Miyuki came to meet me on Grenfell St after work today.. her work ended at 5.30pm, which is a rare coincidence.. our plan was to head to Danny's Thai Bistro.. for Thai food, of course! we actually planned this dinner on the day that we were having Indian food at Taj Tandoor!!! eating one cuisine and thinking about another?! wahaha..

we took Bus 123 from Grenfell St straight to Norwood and we were the first few customers there.. we ordered one entree and one main each.. which means lots of food!!!

Fresh Cold Rolls
with fresh vegetables, vermicelli, prawns and pork with special sauce dipping sauce..

Salt & Pepper Fresh Local Squid

Special Fried Rice
prawns & chicken with egg, Chinese broccoli and fresh tomatoes..

Pad Thai
Thai rice noodles with chicken and prawns, ground peanuts and egg..

i must say the Pad Thai was way too disappointing!!! it can in no way be called Pad Thai, really! i can only say it is some kind of stir-fry rice noodles with loads of tomato ketchup~

the Special Fried Rice is not really that special either.. i must admit i dont know what Thai fried rice constitutes or taste like.. but that Special Fried Rice we had tasted just like any Chinese fried rice..

on the menu, it says that the Salt and Pepper Fresh Local Squid is 'Danny's all-time favourite!' and so we paid A$10.90 for it.. Geez, it doesnt seemed all that worth it now.. it's neither wonderfully delicious nor horribly disgusting.. it's.. just alright, you know..

the only saving grace of tonight's dinner was the Fresh Cold Rolls.. but the dipping sauces were again kind of Chinese!!! Sweetened black sauce? Spicy Chilli sauce? isnt that more Chinese than Thai? Gosh, i'm confused now..

i sat facing the interior of the restaurant while Miyuki sat facing the al fresco area.. when we were almost done with dinner, i turned around and saw that other than us and another table of Koreans.. the whole restaurant was catering for Australians!!! i am now appealing to Simon to switch to another Thai restaurant!

Jowin's theory: if you ever see a foreign cuisine restaurant in Australia catering only for Australians, dont bother walking in if you are looking for an authentic foreign cuisine .. that said, you should look out for restaurants like Dumpling King (Karine and I will be lunching there again tomorrow! Yippie!) , they cater for their own nationality too.. which means the food they serve is pretty authentic.. or at least decent, if not cheap!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny's Thai Bistro
123a The Parade
Norwood SA 5067

Monday, October 20, 2008

Work & life..

i am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel! 3 hours on a Saturday has paid off! *smilez*

My dear friend C turns 26 today! she is also going to be a new Mum coming January!!! Gosh.. it's still a little unbelievable.. i actually called C to wish her but got to C's Mum instead.. what's amazing is that we chatted for more than 10mins!

i guess with C's pregnancy, it made me realised that we have indeed grown up.. even though we may not feel like we are and even though we may not want to.. but we are indeed adults now! *gasp* wahaha.. anyway, we are all excited and happy for her!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Oyster Bar, Scampi's & The Pier

it's been a good weekend.. i went back to the office yesterday to get my desk and in-tray sorted! was there for a good 3 hours and i decided to pamper myself by doing some shopping at Marion Shopping Centre after that! it was a hot day and i'm glad to be spending a couple of hours shopping in an air-conditioned shopping centre.. wahaha..

work on Friday was still quite a mess but at least it's not nerve-wrecking like Monday and Tuesday.. the whole week simply flew by and i constantly felt that time was not enough!!! i felt the same on Friday and soon it was time for dinner at Scampi's! YIPPIE! was looking forward to dinner at Glenelg!

there were 12 of us.. 8 of us colleagues, and 4 of them brought their respective partners.. we first went to The Oyster Bar for drinks till about 8.30pm.. dinner was at this seafood restaurant called Scampi's, which sat on the beach facing the sea..

at that moment in time, i really felt that everyone should have dinners like that too.. the weather's perfect with the sun setting into the horizon.. the sound and smell of the sea.. and a soon-to-be-filled stomach!

our order was taken at about 9pm (more like supper, huh?) and we actually spent a good hour chatting!!! because our food didnt arrive till about 10pm (becoming more and more Italian!)! in my opinion, an hour was really a little too long as most of us ordered deep fried food.. anyway, dinner was made enjoyable with the company, not the food!

after dinner, Jo and Miyuki joined us.. and so did Karine and Tony! we headed to Pier One Bar for more drinks.. time was forgotten until AC mentioned that we really need to go if we want to catch the last tram! we half walked and ran but we missed the last tram still! haha! we took at cab home in the end.. it was great fun!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Work

i finally feel like i'm breathing again!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Work

if Monday was tough and Tuesday was a disaster.. then today must be a real challenge!

Monday, October 13, 2008

life

received a phone call from a friend whom i have not spoken to for a couple of months.. life instantly seems brighter..

Work

tough day.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Glenelg~!

Jo brought me to Glenelg today! we took the tram from the city.. when we finally stepped off the tram at its last stop about 20mins later, i took one look around the end of Jetty Road and like it immediately!

we took a walk along the beach and make a turn back to Jetty Road to have lunch at Nando's! Yum yum~ the schedule after lunch was to relax and shop the whole afternoon! hehez!

the plan was to finish walking one side of Jetty Road before crossing over to the other side.. while we were crossing the road, i saw a familiar face from work in a white car.. but because it was a sunny day and everyone was wearing their sunnies, including this familiar face, i couldnt be sure if it was R from IYP..

i was mumbling to myself when Jo saw R too.. it was when R starting smiling that i realised we have indeed met someone in a car whom we know while trying to cross the road! it was pretty ridiculous because we started talking to R in the middle of the 2 lanes while the red light was on.. before long, R had to move on because the lights had turned green! Adelaide is indeed a very big city~ wahaha!

we also went to K's shop in Glenelg where Jo bought heaps of stuff from there! Shop shop! oh, we also saw a guy in this year's Australian Idol! i'm not sure how far ahead he went in the competition but when i saw him performed on TV, i thought he was quite good! he's pretty popular, i must say.. there was a group of people in a car that shouted out to him and a group of girls going, "OH MY GOD~!!!" haha..

i didnt know why i spotted him in the first place.. i thought he looked rather familiar and it took me a while to realise that he was on TV.. but Jo gave a rather interesting answer to why i spotted him first..

she said it was because he was wearing a YELLOW t-shirt!!! wahaha! i thought that was a reasonable reason, yup? i myself had wanted to wear a yellow tank top to go with my black bermuda shorts.. but i reckoned i'll look like a BUMBLE BEE.. so i decided against that! and it just so happened that this guy was wearing a Yellow t-shirt and a pair of BLACK jeans! ha! difficult not to notice a Bumble Bee!

P.S. This is post no. 100!!!

Friday, October 10, 2008

finally paid!

haha.. i have finally received my pay! but it only came through in the late afternoon.. C and SR brought J and me out for lunch today.. we went to The Office Bar, which offers pretty decent food, i must say!

after lunch i went to check my bank account but pay wasnt in yet, so i was feeling a bit sorry for myself that i cant do shopping tonight! oops~!

anyway, there wasnt much time to think about late night shopping because there were still work to do and stuff to learn before J officially leaves the company this evening..

we had our usual Highs & Lows Meeting at 5pm and that was also to bid farewell to J and M, whose last day is also today.. after the meeting, J passed her key and her work that was incomplete to me before i left for the weekend.. i gave her a big hug and told her that she knows where to send her e-mails to! we were using the same e-mail account at work!

i walked quickly to RAH to meet Miyuki for dinner.. Indian food for dinner!!! this restaurant was recommended by one of Miyuki's colleague.. he's Indian, by the way.. which means we cant go wrong!!!

the restaurant was situated on Rundle Street.. it's called Taj Tandoor Indian Cuisine.. it was quite spacious on the ground floor and there's more tables upstairs too.. i quite like the ambiance of the restaurant..

it's the first late night shopping after DST sets in.. it's also quite a warm Friday evening.. hence all the shops had their windows and doors open for a more al fresco feel.. and the whole street was packed with people celebrating the end of the work week!

we were pretty early and only a few tables were occupied when we got to the restaurant.. we ordered a couple of main courses and Basmatic rice and Naan to share..

Pulao Rice
Authentic aromatic Indian Basmati Rice..

Beef Vindaloo (Hot)
A very hot and sour Goan preparation of beef with hot chillies and vinegar. Delightful favourite for those who like it hot. Also available in lamb or chicken.

Fish Baingan
Fillet of fish simmered in tomato and coconut curry with mustard seeds and eggplant..

Garlic Naan
Naan with fresh Garlic

dinner was very yum~.. especially the Mango Lassi! both me and Miyuki ordered one each.. but it was not enough! we will be back for more! when i finally checked my bank account after dinner, my pay has finally been banked in! yeah! so i managed to do some late night shopping after all!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Office Bar
110 Pirie Street
Adelaide

Taj Tandoor Indian Cuisine
290 Rundle Street
Adelaide

Thursday, October 9, 2008

tired~

that's how i feel now..

1. my pay didnt come through! there was a mix-up with my account number and hence it was sent to an invalid account.. now we are waiting for it to bounce back before they can send it through to my account once more~

2. i cant do sales! i was given the challenge of getting on the phone and calling up the VIP list, in the hope that they will use our service/products once again..90% of the time i got to their answering machines instead.. those few that i managed to get in touch were not sold.. haha.. so in a nutshell, i didnt managed to get any sales!

it was an interesting experience though, i must say.. i'm not referring to point 1! hopefully that will come through tomorrow!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

mid-week!

it was raining this morning.. the lucky thing was that the distance from the bus stop to my workplace is really near!

there were loads to do yesterday and today, mainly because a day of work was lost due to Labour Day.. but we managed to catch up today and life was better after the most important bits were completed.. L called to check and see how i was doing, which i really appreciate!

of course! life's even better when you get paid for putting in effort at work! and it's Pay Day today!!! Yeah~! just about time, i would say.. SALE is going on!!! wahaha..

there's an exciting event at work tomorrow and i'm looking forward to it!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Yippie!

i didnt feel like getting out of bed this morning.. it was still pitch dark when my alarm went off! all thanks to DST!!! finally dragged myself out of bed after a 15mins struggle and got myself into the shower.. immediately felt more awake after that!

got to the office early and still have time to go to Bean Bar for a take-away Flat White! i am trying to limit myself to only 2 coffees (from cafes) a week.. mainly because that will eat into my savings!

initially i was thinking of setting Mondays and Fridays as Jowin's Coffee Days.. but now i have a more flexible plan! my budget for coffees will be A$10 a week.. meaning i could either get 3 small coffees or 2 regular ones each week, depending on how desperate i am! ha! i can still stick to 2 coffees this week because there's only 4 working days!!! i need a regular today, really!

the day started off with a Staff Meeting at 8.15am.. and work begins after that.. J will be in L's office this whole week as L is inter-state.. i am holding the fort myself starting from this week! but thankfully i'll still have J to run to for the rest of this week before she goes away~!

during lunch break i received a phone call.. it was to call me in for an interview which i promptly rejected.. i guess i had enough of job hunting and would like to do well in this job.. because they were the ones who gave me a chance!

the day went by pretty peacefully, albeit really busy.. there was Afternoon Tea at 3pm to welcome D into the IYP team! Lamingtons, Chocolate Chip Cookies and Apricot Bun with Icing! Yum~!

the tension starts to drawn on me at about 4.45pm as i have my first report presentation to do! gosh, was i nervous~ but B, J and SR and the rest were all very kind with their encouragement! i was very glad to have it over and done with! cross fingers that next week will be better!

when i got out of the office after work ended today, it was still bright! and that made me very happy! and for once, i'm grateful to DST~ also, i received a parcel from Zen today! Yippie!

Monday, October 6, 2008

Labour Day BBQ!

the BBQ was great fun and there were loads of food! the weather wasnt that great though.. it was raining in the morning~ Gosh! the sun only came out sometime after 3pm.. but it was fun nonetheless!

Jo takes really good care of the Maylands Manor residents!

and so does Miyuki!

some of the contributions of our guests!

meat skewers contributed by Nathan, a guest of Miyuki's..
those sausages are my contribution! that's a tray of it.. i bought 3 trays!

we ended up with a table full of food.. and alcohol was in abundance!!! we had 3 rounds of cooking and the BBQ lasted from about 1.30pm to 7.30pm! Geez!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

DST begins!

Daylight Savings Time begins today! it feels weird to have an hour taken away from my life without any reason.. and the thing is, i'll only get it back after half a year!!! which means i'll be 2 & 1/2 hours in advance of Singapore and Malaysia for 6 months! Geez.. i remember the last time i went through DST was in Perth.. and that was only for 3 months! Gosh.. guess i'll be used to it by then~

Saturday, October 4, 2008

BBQ Preparation..

woke up at 9am and went to Foodlands at about 9.45am with Miyuki and Jo.. all of us have to get food for the upcoming BBQ on Monday! Jo was done with grocery shopping and went home first.. we met Simon when we got out of the supermarket! he was there to have breakfast and to get BBQ food too.. haha.. almost all of Maylands Manor were there! Geez!

anyway, came home and had brunch and proceeded to clean my room, which was in a mess.. vacuumed and mopped the floor and wiped my tables, changed the water for my lilies and arranged my things just the way i like them.. now, i can sit back and do nothing for the rest of the day.. wonderful~!

Friday, October 3, 2008

功夫

i just finished watching Kung Fu Hustle (功夫) in the TV room! i had a good laugh~! really enjoyed the movie and decided to get it!

i remember watching it in Genting with Kor and Sis, on the 1st of January 2005!!! Geez, that was a long time ago!!!

the adults were attending some oldies concert and we were not interested.. so we went to catch Kung Fu Hustle instead.. gosh, almost 4 years already!!!

the DVD was on a sale of A$8.99 at Target and i went there especially for it! and in the process bought a pair of work pants for A$11.89!!! i love Target! hehez.. i love Friday evenings too! late night shopping and a long weekend make me happy!

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Dumpling King!

i had lunch with Karine today! we went to Dumpling King and ordered the usual to share.. i think her diet is much tinier than mine! but it was a very enjoyable hour spent and the sun was bright and sunny! we went to the Central Market after lunch.. she got herself some bananas while i went to Kim Wang to get some chilli..

it was busy at work today, more for J than for me because she is trying to clear up quite a number of matters before she leaves.. what's more, with only 4 working days next week, we were trying to get started on the stuff that is usually done on Monday, so as to be on time when we start the week on Tuesday! it's really not easy at the moment! add oil!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

flowers?

i received a bouquet of flowers when i was out for lunch today.. when i got back, J has already gone for lunch and i saw the bouquet lying on the desk.. i thought it must be sent by a client for one of the superiors or something.. so i went on to put my bag away and get ready for another round of work..

but the bouquet were getting in my way.. already the workstation is small for one person, let alone J and me trying to work with it.. so i was thinking of a place to move the bouquet to when i realised that it's addressed to me!!!

Geez.. i've got a number of questions from various people asking me who the flowers were from.. but i have no idea because there's no other name on the card except for mine.. T was very nice and said i should put the flowers in a vase, and started looking for one immediately.. C was very kind and offered hers when she saw that T was looking for a vase.. so the flowers are standing in a very nice vase on our (J & mine) workstation, under a spotlight (i later realised)!

i guess i vaguely know who the flowers are from?