Well, I'm back, but I don't think the old blog is very happy with me. It wouldn't let me in for ages, and made me reset the password and do all kinds of funny things just to have access to it - obviously a punishment for neglecting it for so long. I'll try to be more diligent in future, but now that I'm no longer in Singapore the blog magic seems to have slipped away. I miss Singapore, actually... it would be nice if I could pick it up and plonk it down next to Melbourne... or since that is a physical impossibility, I wouldn't mind spending my winters there. As it is FREEZING and RAINING and WINDY and GREY, and I meant to go for a run this morning in my spangly new running shoes, but it is too wet to go outside... so I miss Singapore's heat, and also the food and the late nights and most especially the NPCC girls and Renie's family.
I do not have much to say and I am certainly not planning to revive my old habit of looooooooooong blog entries - in fact (naughty me) I am only really writing in here because I just joined facebook (at the insistence of Miss Jane Bunn, who says I am living in the dark ages) and put this down as my website, and with the fear in my heart that people may actually click on this link and be choked by the dust of the mouldering old blog, I have bravely decided to update it. However, I should really be getting back to work (Renie is now applying for permanent residency in Australia so there is a lot to do), so I will bid the masses of blog-readers a fond farewell. I promise I will return in under a year this time.
~ Jem
♥ pluto is ruled by rem
cabin boy and ice cream queen
Sorry guys, you just have to live without pictures and videos for the time being - the connection is very slow here and it's taking ages to upload big files. I can't be bothered to do it now because I know Jem's brothers probably want to use the computer. Will upload them soon.
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I’ve been bugged constantly by Joyce to update my blog so here I am, typing furiously away to match Jem’s busy-ness. She has been doing her exams practice questions for Thursday’s paper. I should really do something, like revise my rusty Finance but I can’t be bothered now – not much motivation to do that yet unless I pay for my CFA – when money is involved or rather investment is involved, you seek a return. Anyway, today’s Queen’s Birthday for Victoria so it’s a public holiday. Hooray to long weekend (though it’s ending soon)!
Let me explain briefly why I’ve not updated my blog. When I came to Melbourne on 11 May, I was already so exhausted by the 7 hours flight (Hey! It’s exactly one month for me in Australia!). I only managed to unpack my bag and go to the bank to create a bank account. I flew off shortly in the afternoon of 13 May to Sydney for a two-week training. I thought internet would be provided in my apartment but it turned out that I had to pay for it so I decided not to check my personal mail box altogether. Do you know how terrible it was? I’m so used to using the internet every minute and every second in Singapore! When I came back home, I didn’t have much chance to use the Internet as Jem’s brothers were always using the computer. I didn’t have the mood to type a long blog as well so I dragged it on and on. Anyway, that’s my short explanation of why I took so long to update the blog.
My stay in Sydney was ok except I got pretty lonely at one stage. I took a video of my apartment to show you guys but it turned out to be very crappy so I decided not to post it. It’s a pretty nice one-bedroom apartment equipped with a small kitchen, two TVs, a DVD player and a separate bathroom. Colleagues in Sydney were ok – I wouldn’t say they were very warm and I think it was because (1) I’m not the world’s most sociable being and (2) I wasn’t going to become their long-term colleagues – no need to establish some form of relationship I guess. The office that I was at was quite tiny, a huge change for me because Harbourfront office in Singapore is HUGE. Almost everyone knocked off on time – around 5 – 5.30pm. I’d say that’s a huge change for me as well considering I always work till 7-8pm on average and on some days till 10-11pm. It’s good in a way because I need not feel obliged to stay late simply because others were staying late. It’s especially good for winter because winter can be quite depressing with the cold and the sky turning dark at 4.30-5pm. I always ended up going home instead of walking around the city – can’t be bothered. I’d cook my instant noodles and watch my DVD – Da Chang Jin. I forgot to mention that food was extremely expensive in Sdyney – always around $10 per meal for lunch or more. I had to be very careful with my spending.
Jem came over to Sydney for the first weekend. Rob and Kylie got her a ticket as her twenty-first birthday present (even though she’s now twenty-two!). How exciting! On Friday night, we went to Cockle Bay for dinner. It was pretty nice at night, quite peaceful. We had a vegetarian course meal for two which costs us close to $100. It was way too much for both of us. We felt bad cos we left half untouched. Wasn’t our fault because the waiter assured us that we could finish our food. We were nowhere near to accomplishing that.
The next couple of days were spent on visiting Rob and Kylie (and kids!) who stay at Mosman (heard it’s an expensive area) and visiting tourist attractions like The Rock, Opera House, The Bridge and The Botanic Gardens.
Needless to say, when you enjoy yourself, time flies. It was Monday and Jem had to go back to Melbourne. It was depressing for me especially when it was the start of the working week and I had to say bye to her outside my apartment when her airport mini bus arrived. I was really looking forward to going back to Melbourne then. However, the second week wasn’t too bad towards the mid of the week as I met up with Grace and Julia. They are both Singaporeans who are working in the private banking side. It was nice to hear some familiar accent and stories about their work. We had dinner, supper and drinks a couple of times. When it was time for me to leave, I was overjoyed. I packed my bags the night before and was very eager to say goodbye to everyone – perhaps a little too eager. The flight back home was quite scary. As it was an extremely windy day, we experienced plane turbulence. The ride was really very shaky and the last 20 minutes before landing felt like the plane was about to crash. It kept tilting to the right side – the place where I was sitting – as if it was about to topple over. Even before landing, I could see that the plane wasn’t very stable. It was my scariest flight ever. When it landed safely, everyone clapped. I felt so lucky to be alive. Imagine spending so much time, money and effort to migrate to Australia and only seeing Jem for like less than a week before having a plane crash. How ironic it would be! Jem came and picked me up. When I told her about this, she said that she was glad the plane didn’t crash. The wind was so strong when we got out of the airport that we had to practically push ourselves forward to walk to the car park. The wind kept blowing us back. That was my first time experiencing such strong wind.
I started work the next day. It was a little daunting to have to adjust myself once again. However, Melbourne is a little easier to adjust to because the office is bigger than Sydney’s and the colleagues seem to be nicer. The only thing that I still find a little difficult to get used to is the weather. It’s so much colder here than in Sydney. People here knock off pretty early as well and similar to Sydney, we’ve drinks and chips provided every Friday at 4pm – something which Singapore office will never have. Imagine drinking wine or beer while working?! I had that for the first Friday and felt so tipsy after that so I went for orange juice on the second Friday instead. The only problem I have now is that everyone seems to be so busy. It’s so difficult to get them to show me new things. I need to learn a little of the equity functions as well but they never have the time to show me.
This weekend has been more eventful than the last as I was planning stuffs for me to do. I know that Jem has to study for her exams so I just have to keep myself busy and occupied. I travelled all the way to Box Hill on Saturday to apply for my medicare, only to know the office isn’t opened on weekends. Bloody hell! They didn’t update their website. However, I got stuffs done at Box Hill so I didn’t make a wasted trip. I applied for a credit card from Commonwealth Bank, enquired on home loans and bought mock fish and chicken from the Chinese supermarket. Jem told me I’d love Box Hill and I really did. Box Hill has a lot of Chinese food, stores and goodies as there is a relatively large Chinese population there. I was surprised that the display of goods was the same as Chinese stores in Singapore. It must have something to do with the culture of displaying goods. I got photographs printed for Rob and Kylie at the Kew Junction and I bought groceries for home. I even cleared the rubbish and cleaned the kitchen when I got back home. It was a day where I became half a housewife. As I’m now hooked to Sudoku, I bought a book from the news agency to kill time. Yesterday, Ella, Dave, Pete, Jane (Jem’s cousin), Jem and I went to Cirque du Soleil. We were watching the Varekai performance. It was good though the music and the spinning in the air acts made me drowsy. I still prefer Circus Oz though. But still, it was enjoyable.
In this picture, Jem has a weird expression because there were some people who kept walking in front of us when we were trying to take a picture – it looks like a “what the hell” expression! ;-P We had some vegetarian food at the Veggie Bar after before heading home. Today has been more on the quiet side. Jem’s in full speed for studying today so I was just doing random things and choosing my clothes for tomorrow (it’s hard when I have mainly summer clothes). I spoke to mum today and she said my dad won’t be coming to Australia at the end of the year so my sister is coming instead. I’m going to buy tickets once I know when my mum can go on leave – that’s exciting. Jem and I thought of the things we could do when they are here – go to Sorrento, visit Box Hill and some other attractions in Melbourne city. ;-)
Random stuffs – I’m no longer as afraid as in the past to travel around Melbourne. I think when I was here previously; I’ve relied quite heavily on Jem to bring me around. We used to travel quite a lot by car but not now. As I’m working, I need to work out the roads so I made a conscious effort to remember them. I’m now more confident to travel by myself. It’s really not as difficult as I thought. Jem and I made mock lemon chicken last night and Pat and Ella seemed to like it though I didn’t think Caz likes it as much (she’s Pat’s girlfriend). I can speak more confidently to Jem’s family as well. In the past I used to be more paisay. Pete just introduced his girlfriend, Loz to me today. That was nice of him. I’ve not met James’ girlfriend – not sure if he has one. He’s a more private person I think. Jem’s not even quite close to him. Liza is still in America and has just converted to becoming a Christian. I don’t think her brothers are very happy about it. Hopefully she’s an open Christian – it will be quite stressful if she thinks Jem and I are sinned by being together. I think the Christians I’ve met are pretty religious and close-minded, that’s why it’s hard to be myself in front of them.
So much for now. Pat may still be using the computer to do his essay. Hopefully he gets off the computer soon so I can post this up. Will post more pictures next time. Didn’t take as many pictures as in the past.
Tata! Care for some scones?
- Renie Ps: Joo and Fen, remember to send me some farewell pictures ya?
Took a picture of one of the farewell pressies – an album by the NPCC friends. Very cool! Whenever I miss home, I look at them.
Took a couple of pictures of Jem’s room. I had the pictures put up to make me feel at home. As you can see from the NPCC picture, it looks like an old black and white school picture. That’s because my photo frame was broken when my box was shipped over and the glass scratched the picture very badly. Before I came, Jem took it to the photo place and have it fixed for a hefty $50 but I must say, the person spent ages doing it and it turned out to be pretty good though some faces are blurred. He had to use black and white because the original picture was badly ruined.
♥ pluto is ruled by rem
cabin boy and ice cream queen
Just managed to finish my video work - not that fantastic as the program kept shutting down for no reason and I had a difficult time retrieving saved file. Anyway, hope you enjoy it. It makes me feel better to do something related to me and Jem. Today has been an emotionally draining day.
- Renie
♥ pluto is ruled by rem
cabin boy and ice cream queen
This is a really funny clip of a cute little boy. I shouldn’t think it’s funny but I can’t help it. He’s really so innocent. It’s somewhat irritating that his dad kept laughing but I might have reacted in the same manner. I already did - at home! I love the boy – lots of expressions on his face! Very adorable!
In case you’re wondering why I’m blogging now while working, it’s because I’m NOT working. I went to see an eye specialist earlier and it turned out that I only had dry eyes, my eyes are rejecting the contact lenses and that the degree on my left eye has gone up by 150 – that’s pretty significant. That explains the blurry vision! Phew. Anyway, the doc gave me some eye drops and dilated my eyes so that she could do further examinations. This process caused my eyes to experience temporary blurriness (for 6 hours) and I can’t look at documents so I got an MC and am staying at home. On the way back, the sunlight was hurting my eyes so much that I was practically walking with my eyes closed (the dilatation made my eyes more sensitive)!! I even bumped into someone because of that! So embarrassing. Anyway, am really glad that’s nothing wrong with my eyes!! Yay!
By the way, am leaving in mid-May to Australia. Yippeeee, so exciting! I’ve also just joined Merrill Lynch’s footy team for the competition in May (though am only a reserve because I joined much later – was afraid I can’t commit because of migration). I’m one step closer to becoming a real Australian. Heeheee…(just kidding – in case my patriotic Singaporean friends come han-tuming me). Am attending training starting from this Saturday! I can finally wear my contact lens soon!
- Renie
♥ pluto is ruled by rem
cabin boy and ice cream queen
Alright, my promise to write again on Joo’s ROM wasn’t done early this week. Can’t blame me, I’ve been busy with my work. After chatting with Jemmy every evening, I always opt to watch a little of TV before sleeping. But I’m good. I’m writing today. I’m going to watch Eragon later after this – hope it’s good.
Joo’s ROM was held on 24 Mar 07 at Boon Lay Raja Restaurant. I was pretty excited the night before – I had a strange feeling, somewhat of a mixture of happiness and sadness that my childhood friend was getting married (known her for 18 years). In retrospect, it seems pretty bizarre as I’m not her mum. I always have this idea about mums feeling sad that their daughters are getting married. Perhaps I was a little sad that I won’t be attending her wedding dinner or the fact that I won’t be participating in my other friends’ ROM. I suppose then again, it’s just an event, though important, is really another day, special only in the way that it marks the day of future commitments. Anyway, I wrote her a little note of congrats and sealed it with a token in a red packet.
I woke up early and dressed up for the event (more casual as compared to my friends). I collected the rose petals from the florist before heading to the restaurant. We met up with Joo’s family. It was kind of awkward. I’ve always never liked the idea of thinking that I’m a shy person but in actual fact, I really am. Sometimes I managed to conceal my shyness but at other times, like this meet up, with Fen and WH at elsewhere withdrawing money, leaving me alone with Joo’s family, it wasn’t difficult to see I was uncomfortable. I didn’t know what to say. The stupidest thing is I could have at least congratulated Joo’s parents but I merely stood there and said “uncle, auntie” and smiled sheepishly. When Fen came, the mood was a little lighter. She’s the most natural person I’ve ever known. She came, shook Joo’s parents’ hands and congratulated them. She even successfully managed to offer help to carry stuffs for Joo’s mum (which I tried to earlier before she came but Joo’s mum insisted that she could carry it herself).
I was relieved when we started decorating the private room. It was nicer than I thought. In fact, my impression of an extremely traditional Chinese restaurant was created by Joo. She didn’t seem to think the room was fantastic but Fen and I thought otherwise. We started immediately and these were the things we did:
1. wrapped purple ribbons around the cups 2. scattered rose petals on the floor to make a “path” for the wedding couple 3. hung up the heart-shaped binds we made 4. hung up the big heart-shaped Styrofoam board 5. decorated the solemnizing table 6. decorated the two tables for the guests
It took a while but it all went pretty smoothly. The only thing we didn’t do as planned was to hang up the purple cloth at the sides of the table – the table was yellow in colour and won’t match the purple.
When all the guests came and the Justice of Peace arrived, the music began. “From this moment…”, it went – way too early for the ceremony. I had difficulty trying to control Joo’s MP3 player. Trust me, it’s very user unfriendly. No matter how much I tried to rewind it, it won’t act upon my command. Anyway, the ceremony still began despite the technical glitches. The solemnization was in Mandarin – kind of funny because I’ve never seen one in Mandarin before. It was pretty short and sweet. They signed on the papers after multiples “I do and I will”.
Embarrassed Eugene and Joo:
I was given two vegetarian dishes – a huge plate of noodles meant for three and a smaller plate of veges. The vegetables were fantastic but the noodles were a bit much for me to finish so I tried to psycho my meat-eating friends to help out. I passed the red packet to Joo and once again, another awkward silence. It’s strange considering we are quite close but I can’t seem to say my blessings. I find it extremely embarrassing. Not sure why. Fen was asking me why didn’t I say something nice so I quickly muttered some lines like “wishing them a happy marriage” and “have babies soon” kind of crap. Felt a little like an idiot.
When the guests slowly left, we tried to clear the decorations. The rose petals on the floor were a mess but the restaurant waitresses refused to allow us to clear it up. They volunteered to do it instead. I suppose if they had a vacuum cleaner, it might be easier for them. Joo went to Eugene’s place while the rest of us went to Orchard to find Lele. She had a stall to tend to and can’t leave for Joo’s ROM. We bought some accessories from her to show our support.
WH and Fen left shortly after. Leen and I chatted while queuing for her Teenage Mutants Ninja Turtles show. We also bought tickets for Azur et Asmar, a French cartoon show that Jemmy and I wanted to watch but wasn’t released early enough for us to do so.
The next day, I met up with Leen at The Cathay PictureHouse. The show was fantastic. Although the ending was predictable but the whole plot was very unique. There was a certain style in the story that captivated me. Unlike Disney cartoons, this show didn’t have a 3-D all rounder effect. In fact, some of the characters looked like they were only 2-Ds. The use of solid colours also made the whole show very magical. It was awesome. We had toast with eggs afterwards and a long chat. Leen has a character that makes people feel at ease to pour their hearts out. She’s exactly the kind of person whom I find very comforting to confide in. We went separate ways later. I immediately headed to Phoenix Hotel to find Marjory, my migration agent.
Marjory came to Singapore for a short 3D2N stay – solely to conduct seminars here for people interested to migrate to Australia. I was a little worried that it would turn out to be an embarrassing meet-up without Jemmy. I was worried I’d have nothing to talk to her about but my worries were unfounded. We went to Meritus Mandarin Observation Lounge for champagne. The view at the Observation Lounge wasn’t as great as I thought. Maybe Singapore’s skyline just isn’t as pretty as Melbourne’s. The city looks grander when I looked out from the kitchen in Melbourne. Nevertheless, we had a great catch up and discussed about work life in general. I should have expected Marjory to be a feminist, or rather she sure sounded like one. The topics we discussed would be of great interest to another great feminist, Jem but she wasn’t there to participate in the discussion. After the drinks, we went to Chatterbox for some desserts. Yummy ice cream! Time flew and without realising it, I had been with Marjory for close to two hours – that’s no mean feat considering we weren’t close friends on an emotional level. But Marjory proved to be a great conversationalist and I had a good time that day.
Miscellaneous events that happened to me include undergoing an hour to two training for my job in Australia at Berndale Securities, a wholly owned subsidiary of Merrill Lynch Australia Pty Ltd. I announced to my colleagues recently in a meeting that I’ll be transferred to Australia – news weren’t stunning to many as news have spread outside of our department that I’ll be transferring out. The attention that I’m getting made me feel very uncomfortable but I’ve come to terms with it. If people choose to gossips, speculate and make rude comments, I’m not going to care because I can’t please the whole world. Work life is separate from my private life and I don’t wish and don’t see the need to explain my actions to anyone unless I choose to. That’s part and parcel of life. As much as I hate to admit, I’m still a greenhorn. I’m not as good as others in terms of concealing how I feel and expressing my inner thoughts. There are a lot to learn and confidence comes with experience and the willingness to change mindset.
Logging off
- Renie
♥ pluto is ruled by rem
cabin boy and ice cream queen
Happy birthday darling! You're now 22 in Melbourne time and 22 in half an hour in Singapore! Glad you like the pressies! Have a good day! Enjoy, celebrate, be happy and hop, hop, hop around! ;-) Love you lots!
Birthday song:
♥ pluto is ruled by rem
cabin boy and ice cream queen
Yesterday was a tiring day. As I’m not a big fan for shopping, how does 11am – 4.30pm shopping sound to me? We were buying some decorative items and materials for Joo’s ROM (Registry of Marriage). It’s weird to know that all my friends are getting married. Since she’s the first from the NPCC group, naturally we are all concerned with the preparations. We went to Plaza Singapura and discussed the theme for the decorations and items necessary for the ROM. It was difficult, I must admit. We were thinking of a more Western theme but it turned out a mixture of both the East and the West maily because the ROM will be held at a Chinese restaurant.
It was all fun though. We had a very cute idea of replacing the use of terry bears to the use of eggs! Yes, eggs though not literally. We bought two egg-shaped styrofoams and painted them to make it look like the bride and the bridegroom. The bride has accessories for the head gear and the bridegroom a tiny hat. We were all very proud of our art work. We also diligently cut out heart-shaped coloured paper to make blinds for the backdrop. Not forgetting the signboard, a huge heart-shaped coloured paper on a styrofoam board was made to tailor the names “Eugene n Peiru”. Last but not least, the wonderful candle holders are wrapped in orange ribbons to make it classy. So the whole theme is this, we’re going to make a trail of mixed cloured rose petals and brightly lit candles on the floor (red, pink and white), starting from the entrance to the solemnizer (wonder if we need the dry ice to make the misty effect) with the music playing in the background, the guests rising when the couple walks in, the cameras and videos rolling, everyone’s clapping and the beginning of the ceremony. The two eggs will be in front of them, the wonderful candles as well and the nicely decorated table with the purple cloth coupled with flowers at the sides, the pen readily available once they are prepared to sign on the dotted line and music once again in the background when they are about to kiss. We can REALLY be wedding planners! NPCC girls, maybe we can set up an events management company! Here are some pictures and a video of our hard work and creations. Joo’s mum kept thanking us for our help but really, we wanted to be part of it. Since I won’t be taking part in Joo’s wedding at the end of the year, I’ll give her a red packet in advance.
By the way, if you’re wondering why I’m still at home typing this blog entry, it’s because I’m on a 1pm-10pm shift today, which is good – I get to go jogging in the morning, buy breakfast (and order a big bag of flower petals!) and get extra allowance for the shift work. At times, I work till 10pm anyway so it makes no difference for me. I’m going to start preparing for work soon so byebye! I’ll upload pictures and videos of Joo’s Saturday ROM later this week or early next week.
Here’s a video that I thought was quite funny – Ann sent it to me. Monkey vs dog vs students in sit-ups!
- Renie
♥ pluto is ruled by rem
cabin boy and ice cream queen
This is a planet where it's free from pollution. This is a planet where mosquitoes cure illnesses. This is a planet where it houses young dragons like Justin. This is a planet where things are green with endless strawberries. This is a planet where people play ice cream "war" games and do backflips. This is a planet that belongs to Rem.
