Change is a constant

Hello my dear readers (if there are still anyone left),

Here is an attempt to revive my blog which has been inactive for the about 3 yrs already.

As I scroll through my previous posts, i found that so many things have changed in my life.
My career, my relationship, my lifestyle..

I am glad to have this posted today..

I hope i shall have discipline to post up some writings from time to time from this day onwards =)

Cheers to a good restart, and I will end with a photo which taken during my BKK trip with my girl friends (testing out the posting image feature and seems successful :P)

Chocolate Ville, Bangkok

First half and second half

6 months since my last post, 6 months?! Ying Ying Dai Tao Har, this shows how lazy you are being a blogger. *fail* Here is my first post after 6 months. and I decided to blog about this past week that was unforgettable for me in my 4 yrs + working life in my current company.

Well it started off with a nice Monday as 1st half of the day was nice and easy. No Monday blue :) My dear friend invited me to join her for a lunch at town as she wanted to show me a nice cafe around town. We left office slightly earlier than usual lunch time to town. Here are some nice photos taken in this cafe called "La Vanille"

La Vanille

La Vanille

A rack with so many cute miniatures on the wall

Rabbit on the board

3 cupcakes for RM10

Noms noms noms

Santa on cupcakes :)

That's me in December 2012

Super like this wall deco

Though it was a quick lunch, i enjoyed eating in that place. Moreover, price of the food is not too expensive.

The second half of the day after i returned to office was totally opposite from the 1st half. It was terrible. It was the beginning of my tragical week when I realized that I did a silly mistake on my work. It was too late for us to correct the mistake as the parts had already been loaded in the production line.

For the next few days, I was busy with explaining, apologizing, and clearing up the mess that I myself created. Well, my program counterpart which I work closely with had a harder time actually, for he has to explain to our US counterpart on the error and provide a proper package to explain the scenario.

The error that I did was actually using a new setting that was not intended, when I was supposed to change back to the old setting after the decision was made last minute by US counterpart.

To cut the story short, I thank God as by the end of Friday, the tension was able to be reduced and finally most of the crucial things were fixed. People began to understand the whole incident as they realized that communication was also a cause to this error. It was not over yet of course, but I know that things are in better control :)

These few days I kept praying that God will help me to stay strong and not to break down emotionally. True enough God was in control. I thank God for my program counterpart is understanding and helpful to me in times like this. He didn't just leave me to settle the problem by myself. I learned my lesson, in a hard way definitely. I also thank my dear and I know that he was trying to cheer me up when he saw a less cheerful me during the week. He kept saying that "no biggie, it's just work"  My bff was also showing her concern and care too. She boiled tongshui for me and encourage me to ganbate in clearing up the mess.

This was my week, when Christmas is just around the corner. :S
i hope that i will have a good and peaceful Christmas by then.

My birthday 2012

Hmm.. I'm writing about my birthday which was in January!!! haha.. scold whatever you want and I will continue to write about this freaking late post :P
This year, my birthday fell on the eve of the cny eve (eve of the eve). Therefore it was a double joyous occasion for me. (Syeok sendiri).

Too bad Min Fei was not here in Penang during my birthday. So he celebrated with me a few days earlier before he went back to hometown. Journey to Straits Quay was terrible even as we started off from Bayan Lepas as we were caught in traffic congestion due to it was during CNY season. Min Fei actually booked a table at Weissbrau but I did not want to eat there (because I went there before already :P). Since it was a weekday and not much crowd there, so we changed our venue for dinner. After checking out a few doors, we decided to dine at Agua. This was our first time there at Agua and we only found out that it serves Spanish Food when we were seated. (Hmmm.. interesting!)

Still wearing my green company badge on our way there LOL!

We ordered a set dinner + an ala carte

Check out the menu for the evening

clockwise from top right: Calamaris Romana, Lamb Catalan,
Fig with  brandy syrup and vanilla ice cream, grilled pork
middle: white and red wine  

We were very satisfied with the quality of the food served. The portion was just nice for the two of us and we were still able to go for a drink at Starbucks next door. XD I particularly like the dessert that I picked from the main menu: Fig with brandy syrup and vanilla ice cream. It was my first time eating a fresh fig fruit (i had those dried ones before).

My birthday 'cake' happens to be a tiramisu > <|||

 BIRTHDAY PRESSIE FROM HIM <3

A brand new hairdryer wei!!!!!

Heheehhe.. dun laugh okay.. i know it was so unromantic to receive an electronic household item on your birthday but hey, i requested it. And I think it is a useful gift for me since my old one is spoiled. Thank you dear. muaxx

Miss Ong and Miss Tan!!!

During the week of cny, my bff celebrated my birthday by giving me a little surprise! It was really thoughtful and sweet of her to drive me all the way to Tanjung Tokong area for a nice dinner and after that to Hard Rock cafe for a drink, just the two of us! *thank you dearie*

posing with our food, and the pork knuckle was really really yummy and highly recommended!!!

After the dinner, we went all da way up to Hard Rock Cafe for a drink wei!!!!! Even until now, I'm still very much grateful and touched by the effort made by her. She's such a darling. This is my very first time visiting Hard Rock Cafe. It was really a good time spent there with my bff while listening to the band playing. AWESOME! :)

The little surprise that miss Ong gave me was not long after our drinks came and one of the performers on the stage started to call out my name. It was then i saw the wicked smile on Miss Ong's face and then I knew something fishy was going on that time. Realized that I didn't really have any choice, so I reluctantly walked to the stage front with my bff cheering for me (back at our seats) together with the crowds :S

So below is a caption of what's happening next >>>>>>>>>

It looks like i'm gonna hang this on the wall of fame of my own dee :P

A video captured by my dearest bff is also shared here. Not sure are you able to view it or not. Perhaps you need to add me as a friend in FB first :)
priceless expression

My lovely cute bday gift from HK. It comes with a cute note too ^^

New Year old post

Peeps, Happy New Year to you all.
I must have missed out a zillion of your exciting posts for the past months.

Same for you dear friends, I have failed to update you guys with the exciting events that have happened during these few months.

Of course the major event happened in November 2011 was the Penang Bridge Half Marathon that I participated for the first time in my whole life!

Previously I have updated in my posts on the training I did over the last few months before the marathon, and I was actually attempting to hit two birdies with one stone.
1. Build stamina for the half marathon
2. Reduce weight and hoping to get rid of 'spare tyre' around my tummy

I think I have done item No.1 quite well. During training, I tried to keep my running pace slow and steady. During the actual day, I also ran with the pace I used in my training. I did not have much problem in running up the bridge and doing a U-turn at the middle of the bridge. It was on my way down from the bridge I had some difficulty in maintaining my pace due to stomach cramp, and followed by tiring feet and aching muscles due to long hours of running, especially on the route towards the finishing point. Gosh, the road was straight, dull and boring. The power bar I bought for RM8 per piece did some help in dragging me towards the finishing line! Yes, I did it. I DID IT!!!!

Thanks to all my friends and blogger friends, who have supported and encouraged me during the trainings. I truly appreciate the advice and cheers given to me. Above all, thanks to God, for providing a fine weather for the morning. It was thunderstorm and lightning on Saturday night at around 10pm and we all thought that this weather would last till the morning but the rain stopped totally before the marathon started. The sky during the early morning was so clear that I could see the moon shinning brightly over our heads as we were running up towards the bridge. Thank God for giving me the perseverance and good health to prepare for this race.

I would like to share with you the running gears I have invested in this run.

ASICS GEL 1150

Yeah... my first pair of Asics running shoes. Started using it for my training for about two weeks before the actual marathon. Love it to the max!!!

My chio digital watch

Why i said it is chio? Cuz it is in apple green colour and I bought it for RM8. Yeah.. .it is 8 ringgit!! I found this gadget at 1st Avenue one week before my marathon. It did a great job in keeping time during my run and most of all, it comes with light up dial function wei.... I could check the time during the early morning when the sun was not up yet. Until today, it is functioning well.

Here is my results I got from the official website for PBIM.
http://www.penangmarathon.gov.my/portal/

Name	:	TAN SUI YING
Status	:	Active
Collect Method	:	Queensbay Mall (12th & 13th Nov 2011)
Category	:	Half Marathon Women Open
Bib No	:	E25127
Event Results
17KM CheckPoint	:	2:33:28.81
ChipTime	:	3:17:02.29
GunTime	:	3:18:22.37
Ranking	:	655/1393

NOT BAD HUH? :P

I almost forgot about Item No. 2!!! Haha... Frankly my weight is not showing any significant change but I am still grateful that it is not going up. Now it is 2012 so one of my new year resolution is to slim down. I am trying on something different for the moment and I shall update you more in future. :P

Let's cheer and welcome this new year with greater hope and greater love!

See ya in the next post!!

reading, travelling, here i come!

Reading is a very healthy activity but too bad i lost this passion of reading since many years ago. Nowadays it always takes forever to finish a book after i start reading one. However, I have started to read recently by the hope of "reviving" the passion so that I can be more knowledgeable and more sensitive to global issues. Uh well, I hope I'll be able to finish reading the book and share it with you in my blog soon.

About two weeks ago, there were some salespersons coming into our company to promote their magazine subscription package.

It is quite a good deal when you only need to pay RM438.00 for the two magazines of your choice for one year of subscription and the most interesting offer they have is,
you will be getting a tour package to Shanghai / Beijing for not one but two pax.
They have different varieties of magazines for your selection such as TIME, FORTUNE 500, READER'S DIGEST, JALAN-JALAN, TRAVELMATE etc.

After went home to discuss with my dad, I picked TIME and Reader's Digest for my one year subscription.
Not only I get to read, but dad also can spend his free time reading them since he's now a full time house"wife" after retirement :P

And yes, I'm going to travel to Shanghai!!!!! yippie..... this is truly wonderful as I always dream of travelling to other countries. The only foreign country and the furthest country that I have ever been to is Singapore :S
Thank God i have this 2nd opportunity to travel overseas! yeahhhhh..... Min Fei also subscribed and we will be travelling to Shanghai together with his parents :)

For your info, the tour package does not include airfare. So we've got to buy our own tickets and I'll be checking in to Air Asia website more often nowadays to look for cheap tickets. :D
The travelling period is valid until 31st of May 2012.
Besides, there are some hidden charges such as tour guide tipping, visa application and extra local land tour fee that I need to pay for the tour.

The form for the promotion

Some free magazines I received from the salesperson.
(after paying for my subscription, I specially requested for the one  featuring the royal wedding :P)

An extra free gift for two subscription by us :D
(i heard that this book costs more than a hundred ringgit in MPH)

So what else besides the magazines and the tour package I get for paying RM 438? of course... it is 

the RM 438 that I can claim for my income tax for the year 2011. :) 

wrist injury

My right wrist is sprained and it's hurting real bad since last Friday. I suspect it was injured during the hiking trip to Penang Hill last Saturday but I found it weird as the pain only started last Tue, which was a few days after the hiking. Anyway, it was just a slight pain and I could still flex my wrist and fingers in every direction. The pain aggravated on Friday night when I went to bed. It could be due to more tearing to the muscles as I used the Arc Trainer on Friday's workout. Besides, i also went for a casual drink with my colleagues after work that night. Sigh, i regretted for drinking that 1 pint of Paul Laner and another mug of Irish bomb when I'm having a wrist injury. I think the alcohol also did some harm to my injury..

Friday night was a long night for me. Sigh. I was tossing and turning on my bed all night long trying to get a correct position to rest my hand but to no avail. I got up and went out my room to check on my computer in the middle of the night. I even tried playing Spider Solitaire using my left hand. I also went down to the dining hall and played with Conan for a while until I was tired and went up to bed again. A restless night. Sigh. The pain still didn't go away :(

Early morning I received a call from my colleague asking me have I arrived at the meeting place for the hiking. I guessed she missed out my text msg informing her that I couldn't make it due to the injury. Not only the hiking trip I missed but also an invitation to jog at Botanical Garden on Saturday morning by Eugene Ung the Penang blogger. Initially I told him I could not meet him for a jog because was going for the hiking trip, and in the end I missed two important activities just on a Saturday morning. What a disappointment dey......

Dad brought me to see doctor at a panel clinic. After a checking on my wrist, he told me that nothing is broken and no fracture occurred, and what I got was a pain killer medicine and  a self-heating lotion.

my swelling wrist :"(

For the moment I am still depending on the pain killer and I hope the condition will improved by Monday. Well, at least with the pain killer i'm taking three times a day, I could still type on the keyboard and posted up this blog today. Anyway, the pain came back again on Saturday night when I delayed on taking the pain killer. But after taking two pills of painkiller (1 from the doctor, 1 panadol), the pain was relieved and I could sleep for the night. My church member suggested that I should go and see a sin seih (Chinese traditional practitioner) for faster result. I'm afraid to do so because the massage therapy surely will be painful. Moreover, based on the experiences shared by friends and family members, not all massage therapy are effective for everyone. Some case the injury got worse after seeking Chinese doctor for massage therapy.

This weekend was not really a good weekend for me.
These are the things I failed to do for the weekend due to my injury:
1. Penang Hill hiking trip
2. Jogging with Eugene the Penang blogger (supposed to be 1st meet up)
3. Play piano for Sunday worship :(
4. Meet up with Eugene and his family on Sunday after church (i had to turn down his invitation for the 2nd time again this week)

But hey, life is not that bad after all. I still have my left hand functioning well! Thank God for that. I stopped dwelling in self pity when I realized that there are many unfortunate ones out there struggling with life when they have only 1 arm / 1 foot left to continue living for the rest of their lives. How can I complain when I only have this temporary disability due to injury? Shame on me...

I pray that I would be able to carry out my daily job on my computer as I return to work tomorrow.

Have a good week ahead peeps.

i made it to the top!

I'm not really into hiking and the tallest hill that i have hiked is Bukit Jambul hill. haha.....

last Saturday i was persuaded by my colleague to join her for a hiking trip together with some of the usual hiking members from our company including our plant Vice President.

Just reached the car park nearby

what are you doing at 7.20am on a Saturday huh?

We took the Poh Yau Sua route to go up.

wild boar tracks could be seen everywhere along the trails

According to my colleage, we ought to be careful not to step on those wild boar tracks as there would be wild boar fleece infested there and if they get to your body, your skin will be itchy and it will take a week before they could go away. Freaky!

taking photo with my colleage while waiting for others

At Station 84

Our initial plan was to stop at Station 84 and go down the hill through the tar road. But when we reached 84, everyone was very eager to continue the hiking and so we went up up up again to Penang Hill. And of course, those regular hikers from my company already started their journey up to the hill when we just reached the rest stop. We still get to take a group picture with our VP though :P

can somebody tell me what is the unit behind the number? is it km?

The rain forest in Penang

It was a long, winding and steep road up to Pg Hill

We were struggling on our way up. Boy, it was tough indeed!

We were just a few steps away from the top of the hill!!!

Finally!!!! hooray!!!!!!!!!

Who would leave Penang Hill without savouring a bowl of ice kacang?!

It was a wonderful experience for me. Thank God I made it to the top!!!!
It was not as difficult as I thought it would be.......
I'm now thinking of doing 2nd time this Saturday.. hmmmmmmmm...... consider .. consider.. consider... XD

An evening with Stacy on stage

I need to start blogging again after I found out that my last entry was almost 1 month ago! >.< sorry folks for being MIA recently.

It's time i write about the memorable company dinner / singing competition held last two weeks.

My favourite photo of the evening :)

I turned out to be at the 5th placing on that night. Haha.. still managed to get the RM 100 shopping voucher. Well, a bit unhappy at first for the first two days, but now already accepted the fact and realized that I did not perform better than other finalists in terms of being a stage performer. I should have done more actions and gestures such as walking around the stage, wave to the audience and get eye-to-eye interaction with the judges. The guys did it so well that the judges were impressed and thus gave higher marks to them. (Fyi, I was the only female finalist on that night ^.*) and of course, they sang expressively, had superb voice and they were able to capture the hearts of the audience and most importantly, the judges. I really have so much to learn from these people. They are very professional, indeed :)

But still, I thanked God that I did not make any silly mistakes like singing out of tune, forgetting lyrics, tripped over the staircase and fell on the stage etc that evening. I was quite nervous and I was wearing high heels (was that 3 inches?) that time. I wouldn't know what to do if one of the things I mentioned above happened to me during my performance :O

Winner 1 & 2 (Zul & Hasnisham)

Winner 3 & 4 (Yazal and Ilham)

Winner 5 & 6 (Me and Ku Anuar)

Me and the finalists
well done, my friends! =)

Though did not get the bigger prize on that evening, I did have a great time there, enjoying the performance by other finalists, chit chatting with fellow colleagues, taking photos with fellow colleagues and something that I must mention is that I get to see a celebrity!!!!! not only see but stand next to her. Some of you might not know her, but she is a young but very talented local singer made famous by Akademi Fantasia 6 ------->

Stacy

(you might wanna check out who is her by clicking on her name above)

Stacy was invited to perform at our Seagate Dinner!!!!!!

She has very good and powerful voice. And she dances well too. OMG, I was totally mesmerized by her live performance on stage. :) 

Who would miss the chance of taking photo with her? Hehe... thanks to my colleague that he managed to capture some nice photos of me standing next to Stacy during the prize giving session. I even hugged her when she handed me the prize XD. I could hear some screams from the audience when we hugged :P (must be some jealous fans)

Overall, it was a wonderful and memorable evening.