In training

My job has given me the opportunity to take on different roles in different areas.

And this time around, I was asked to train a trainer.

On the whole, it has been a good experience.
The rapport was there, and the trainer-trainee was very receptive.
I foresee the start of a great working relationship with this trainee, in this next project that I will act as consultant for.

For those friends who have been reading my blogs regularly, I do apologise for not blogging in the last few days.
Other than having had to conduct training for a couple of days last week, I had also been busy working on a big report for my organisation.
This report is for some important stakeholders (and I mean MEGA-important!), so I had to really pull out all the stops to produce a decent piece of work.
Now it's almost done (with still some bits to go), and I aim to complete it soon.

Work aside, life is still interesting.
On Friday, I received a lovely surprise - a phone call from a good friend, who asked if he has missed my birthday.
And I'm talking about someone who has a busy life to lead too.
How kind and thoughtful!

[And for those who were wondering if I had my birthday already, the answer is "no".] :o)

Anyway, that same Friday evening, I had to attend a business function.
Met a number of acquaintences and business associates there.
Although there was food and a free flow of drinks, I only stayed for about 45 minutes (enough time to make my presence felt and have a glass of red wine, before I excused myself to meet another friend).

At the business function, I had my face drawn as a treat.
That was fun.
I ended up looking like Dumbo (big ears!) with flatteringly nice eyes (someone else said that).
I am not complaining, as it was cartoon drawing after all - all for a bit of fun! :o)

As I said, my friend and I had made plans to meet up for dinner and drinks.
We spent the evening at my favourite watering hole after dinner, and my friend basically wanted a listening ear.

And on Saturday, I had made an appointment to get some financial advice.
This was for retirement planning.
Although I would like to have the option to retire by 45, I was more realistic (just that little bit - haha) and offered my financial advisor 50 years old as the targetted age for retirement.
Considering my current situation and how much I would like to spend monthly when I retire, I still have some way to go yet.

Enter my friend's business proposal - how timely!

Gotta end my blogging here - hair appointment and shopping awaits! :o)

Miss Humpty Dumpty...

...had a spectacular fall.

Yup, I was unprepared for the complicated new moves and the speed at which the moves were to be carried out at last night's Salsa dance class.
Coupled by the fact that I was unused to my new dance shoes.

The shoes helped me do my spins very well.
Unfortunately, the heels are so new that the surface is smooth.
With the wooden flooring, that made me slide at times when I wasn't careful.
That was another problem why I fell - my legs entangled themselves after one such slip, and before I knew it, my bum was polishing the floor.
All I could say to everyone was, "I am having too much fun, that's why".
Ha.

I felt fine, and so I carried on with my class.
In fact, my spins were executed pretty well (thanks to the new shoes), to the extent that not just my instructor, but also an advanced-level dance 'helper' said so.
Makes me now more determined to get the basics right.
Which my instructor (thankfully!) is strict about.

He has said that no matter how many different moves we end up learning, if our basic technique isn't there, we won't dance well anyway.
And similarly, being a trained musician myself, I can relate to that.

Am gonna sort out those darn heels by the end of the week, before my next Salsa class.
In the meantime, Miss Humpty Dumpty signs off...to get her spine checked out.
Again.

Salsa is like ... ?

50 - Every person does it in their own way and style.
49 - It relieves stress.
48 - It's really good if you do it with music.
47 - There is always new moves and new techniques.
46 - You don't like it if your partner seems like they are not enjoying doing it with you.
45 - When doing it, you must have eye-contact.
44 - Some people fantasize about doing it on stages and in front of an audience.
45 - You can't wait until you do it next time.
44 - Some people love doing it with strangers.
43 - The more you do it and practice, the better you are at it.
42 - Some people just love watching others doing it.
41 - You never forget who taught you and did it first with you (hmmm not all the time).
40 - You like to tell stories about when you did it with someone good (who said men don't talk).

39 - Some people just do it for enjoyment and not for the feeling.
38 - Neighboors complain because of the noise and commotion from you and your partner.
37 - Some people even trade partners when doing it.
36 - You can not wait to get it over with if you do it with someone with no chemistry.
35 - Young ones always last longer, are faster, and do it more than the old ones (is that true?).
34 - You love doing it with people that are more experienced.
33 - You can't stop thinking about it, and want to do it night and day.
32 - You smile just thinking about it.
31 - If you are good, others want to do it with you.
30 - Some people don't like to see their partners do it with someone else (better than them).
29 - You are in pain (sore) if you did it too much the night before.
28 - When you are done, both of you are tired, hot, sweaty and satisfied if done right.
27 - People can get cranky if they don't do it for a while.
26 - You even know the date when you did it last.
25 - If you wear too much clothing, you can't do it.
24 - There are hundreds of websites about it.
23 - People go out to get some /and do it.
22 - People travel great distances to do it.
21 - You like it if people say that you are good at it.
20 - Sometimes it is intimidating doing it with someone better.
19 - It is just amazing when you both are on the same beat.
18 - You have injuries, bruises and scars because of doing it.
17 - The great ones are respected and well known (that makes some jealous).
16 - There are the usuals that hang around clubs and locales.
15 - People don't have to speak the same language to do it with.
14 - You can instruct new ones about doing it right and correctly.
13 - Some people don't even know their partners name when doing it.
12 - Some people like to do it with multiple partners at the same time.
11 - Some people can get jelous if you do it with others but them.
10 - You can accidentaly injure your partner when doing it.
09 - There are videos that can teach you how to do it.
08 - People can download them online.
07 - Some people have done it with hundreds of people.
06 - You are always looking for little secrets to become better.
05 - It is a good idea to be flexible when doing it.
04 - You can get in some crazy positions when doing it (HMMM).
03 - There are places only dedicated for this at night.
02 - Nowadays you see people of the same sex doing it.
01 - If you are really good at it, you can start charging your services by the hour, not applying at all time.

[Please note: input in brackets ( ) are included by my dance school's artistic director, who has thanked someone called 'James' who posted this up originally on an online forum.]

Amusing advice

The following is what I read somewhere else, which I thought will make my female readers chuckle. This was actually from a guy who decided to give some advise to all the women he knew. Enjoy!

1. Don't imagine you can change a man unless he's in diapers.
2. What do you do if your boyfriend walks out? You shut the door.
3. If they put a man on the moon -- they should be able to put them all up there.
4. Never let your man's mind wander -- it's too little to be out alone.
5. Go for younger men. You might as well -- they never mature anyway.
6. Men are all the same -- they just have different faces, so that you can tell them apart.
7. Definition of a bachelor: a man who has missed the opportunity to make some woman miserable.
8. Women don't make fools of men -- most of them are the do-it-yourself types.
9. Best way to get a man to do something is to suggest they are too old for it.
10. Love is blind, but marriage is a real eye-opener.
11. If you want a committed man, look in a mental hospital.
12. The children of Israel wandered around the desert for 40 years. Even in biblical times, men wouldn't ask for directions.
13. If he asks for what sort of books you're interested in, tell him cheque books.
14. Remember: a sense of humor does not mean that you tell him jokes, it means that you laugh at his.
15. Sadly, all men are created equal.

Sparks

I've been keeping abreast of a dear friend's news through the blogs that he keeps.
Likewise, he's doing the same by reading mine.
On his latest posting, he said he has started a 'spark' by introducing a friend of his to 2 other like-minded friends of his.
Out of that introduction and discussion, the four of them are 'on the verge of starting their own enterprise'.
Congratulations!

Coincidentally, I met up with a long-standing friend of my very own last Friday.
This friend of mine is someone whom I have always had a high regard for.
His brilliant business sense and yet good-hearted nature is a rarity nowadays.
Then again, I must say I have quite a number of such cool friends around! :o)

Anyway, we were supposed to meet for dinner/drinks with another friend.
Except that she couldn't make it.
So my friend and I met up on our own instead, and boy, was it a adrenalin-pumping chat we had!
My friend was asking me about my experience as an academic.
And that somehow led to other related matters.

As usual, this Mr 'Think-tank' (I'm now calling him) came up with a positively heart-stopping business idea.
And from the looks of things, it could well be the start of my own business for the future.
BUT, I have no business experience, so I asked him if he could be a co-founder to mentor me.
Just like he had done with other businesses that he had helped start previously.
If this business idea takes off, I could have the option to retire at age 45 (my original goal).
In fact, if everything goes smoothly, I could even have the chance to retire well before 45.
Not only that, it could be a business that might survive for many generations to come.
Wow.
That's an exciting thought indeed.

For awhile now, I've been trying to come up with business ideas of my own.
But nothing had screamed out to me that said, "this is IT"!
Until last Friday.

Sometimes, life is indeed unpredictable.
To think that this idea was 'fed' to another friend of his, and yet that friend didn't think it was that worthy for consideration.
I guess it takes 2 people with a similar wavelength to create business 'sparks'.
And I think my friend and I have done just that.

Right now, we have agreed to start this off as a hobby.
And that's to be fair to our existing jobs and all.
And if things pan out nicely, we will think of what steps to take next.
Stay tuned people.

Insult or flattery?

I know of an acquaintance that has started making daily contact with me since we got to know each other sometime back.
And by daily contact, I mean be it via phone calls or text messages on the mobile (that is, more so than meeting up in person).
I generally appreciate such kind acts, if the gesture is genuinely to secure the newly acquired relations.
AND for the right reasons.
In this case, I do wonder...

But first, let me explain.

The situation:
In one of our conversations, this acquaintance said it will be cool to be hanging out with me regularly.
When I asked why, this person said, "at least you are not dumb or stupid."
Out of curiousity, I asked him jokingly whether that meant all the people this person has hung out with so far were dumb or stupid.
The reply was "I figured if I hung out with someone of high academic qualifications like you, your intelligence may rub off on me."

The problem:
Am I supposed to feel insulted or flattered?
Insulted - because that means the sincerity at wanting me as a friend is purely because of my academic qualifications.
And NOT because of who I am.
Flattered - that is pretty obvious (because he feels that I am smart).

The solution:
I told this acquaintance that first of all, I am not THAT smart.
And I also added that even if I were smart, I shouldn't be given the pressure to HAVE to be smart all the time, and that sometimes, I would like to have the freedom to be dumb too (in other words, I would like to be just ME).
Finally, I also said that if that's the only reason that he wants to hang out with me, then I'm not really worth it.

The question:
I was prepared not to hear back from this person altogether, hoping that he got the hint that I wasn't impressed.
Little did I realise that this person continued to touch-base with me on a daily basis.
And pretended nothing has happened.
Now, is this person REALLY dumb, or acting dumb???

Beats me.

Serious business

I've dunnit.
I've gone and bought my dance shoes for my Salsa lessons.
Did that earlier today.
My girlfriend and I stumbled upon this shoe shop on a lower floor of a building, after finding out that the original place we wanted to check out was already closed for the day.
It was good really, as we would have been referred to this particular shop even if we had caught the original shop's opening time, according to the lady-boss who attended to us.

The shoes I got are really lovely, as they are made of satin material on the outside, and leather everywhere else.
Even on the soles!
That is the difference that dance shoes are from normal high heels.
I chose a safe colour, black.
That's because I don't really want my male Salsa coursemates to be stepping on my lovely shoes if they were in a lighter colour! :o)
I can't wait to test them out next Monday.
Stay tuned for how that lesson turns out...it's gonna be serious 'business'!

Nerves

Salsa class last night was the best yet!
All the ladies managed to have a dance-partner each to practice with at one time.
I tested my new heels out on the dance-floor where we have our lessons.
Although they were brilliant for the turns (I even got praised), I slipped a few times doing other non-spinning moves!
I guess the soles were too slippery and didn't have any grip whatsoever.
In short, they weren't made for dancing.

I noticed that my lady-coursemates are starting to have proper dance shoes now.
I must do something about my dance footwear too.

I also noticed that these ladies are improving their dancing.
It seems that they have been practising their dance moves at the social club.
I am ashamed...

And another thing I found out was my instructor has been watching my dance moves more often than not.
THAT has made me nervous, because a few times, I noticed it was the little mistakes of mine that he had been pointing out to everyone, although not mentioning who had made them.
It was to the extent that a dance-partner made the comment that I was visibly shaking although I hadn't realised that I was!

It's not that I don't appreciate my instructor's efforts.
In fact, I couldn't be happier that he could see my enthusiasm as a learner(!), not to mention I would like to be moderately good in due course.
At least good enough to keep progressing to the end of the Intermediate level (there are 4 modules of this), and perhaps beyond.
The thing with me is: generally, when I'm focused at doing something, I don't care if the roof of the place falls down.
But once my concentration is broken, I mess up.
Oh well, guess I have to get used to being watched (be it on or off the dance-floor in due course).

Dress hunt

I went dress hunting today.
Knowing how difficult it is for me to buy any dresses that fit me, I didn't harbour much hope of finding any.
So I was delighted at being able to come away with a couple, although I tried many before I settled on the two I got.
I am more suited to clothes made according to European-sizing and cut, so while I was in the UK, there was no problem of finding clothes that fitted me well.
Made even more delightful when I could wear the smallest sizes and found them aplenty during summer sales!
Unfortunately, it's the reverse here.
Clothes that I like either do not fit me well or those in my size have run out.

Then again, I had problems buying shoes previously.
In the UK, I had to get the smallest adult size, but even that sometimes was still a little too big for me.
In many instances, I ended up getting children's footwear (tax-free).
In Singapore, I'm able to find footwear - no problem.
So I guess the saying "you win some and you lose some" has an element of truth in this case.

Small world

My cousin was in town again for the weekend.
You know, the one whom I hung out with and played with the cute-looking squids at a club some weekends ago? :o)
This time around, I was hanging out with her friends - one who came from (KL) Kuala Lumpur, and another, back to Singapore for some business meetings after having migrated to New Zealand with his family.
We had a good time: had pub-dinner, followed by visiting 2 watering holes for quiet drinks.
One of which was - you may have guessed it - at my favourite watering hole.
(Well, my favourite watering hole was close by to the other one we first went to.)
Now, if you say the world isn't small, how would you explain that my cousin's friend from KL ended up re-acquainting with the guy serving us at my favourite drinking place??

At first, they found each other familiar-looking.
Then on further exchanges, they realised they worked at the same hotel more than 10+ years ago in KL.
Singapore isn't THAT small, but I still managed to unknowingly re-connect 2 people back into each other's lives again.
How cool is that...that such a thing can actually happen?!

I was supposed to meet one of my own friends for a drink tonight.
We did meet, except that it was for an offer for a kind ride home for me after I met up with my cousin and her friends...

Meaningful words...

For those who don't read Chinese, here is my attempt at translation...

"It's not the end of the road, it's really time to change your course!"
This phrase is meaningful!
When we encounter something that cannot be resolved, to the extent that it has affected our lives and moods,
Why don't we slow down, and momentarily think about whether we have a chance to change our course,
Or approach it another way, and embark on a different path altogether, which will make things simpler.
However, at such an (unresolvable) occurrence, we tend to be unable to entertain such thoughts,
And instead continue to tread on familiar grounds, going round in circles,
Embedding ourselves in unhappy situations,

In life, there is bound to be setbacks; THAT is not the end of the road but merely as a reminder to us: it's time to change our course!
To let go does not mean we are admitting defeat or failure,
To let go is merely to allow us to find a better road to embark on!!

Another thing I learnt about myself

Had an interesting day today.
It started being rather normal.
But come afternoon, emails to and from my boss were flying in cyberspace.
This was all because I was trying to inform him of my intent to collect some office stationery during office hours tomorrow.

You see, the laser printer has run out of toner.
And I have some administrative things to print out and sign, ready for collection via courier on Monday.
Seeing as I have a packed weekend, that means I can't pick up the toner that I ordered over the weekend.
And being work-related, I felt it was fair that I asked for time out.
Especially when I specified I was going to head out for mid or late afternoon, after I've done almost a day's work.

Anyway, my boss ended up speaking to me.
And said that I should be clearer in my email-clarifications.
I was, but didn't think to add that maybe he could've read the emails a little more carefully.
I suspected that he was reading only key words (in a hurry) that might have triggered his own confusion.

All being said, I wasn't feeling - not even at the very slightest - irritated by that short exchange.
In fact, I couldn't have felt any better!
Want to know why?
Well, as long as my desired outcome is met, it doesn't matter what has been said to me or about me, does it?

That is what I've learnt about myself today.
And that's from being a hot-headed little missy that I once was when I was younger.
I think I should open a bottle of red wine to celebrate.
And before anyone starts to go "tsk tsk tsk, what an alcoholic", do let me add that a new bottle has to be opened for tonight anyway.
My parents like to have their glass of red wine every night with their light supper.
How perfect. :o)

And how about this?

Apologies to friends who don't read Chinese...

Can you believe this??

Spinal tap

Or should I say, it was more of a push and a shove.
I am talking about my visit to see the Chinese 'tui-na' physician.
I haven't had time to have a follow-up session with my physician after a couple of treatments since early May.
Strictly speaking, such sessions usually means I can't really do any form of exercise for around 3 weeks per visit, as a recommendation.
(I have temporarily stopped Yoga because of that reason.)
Which means no Salsa either.
No can-do.

So, I finally decided that after a couple of months of avoiding such a visit, it was about time to get my spine checked again.
This time, there was less to be 'fixed', but boy, was it painful!
My tailbone had been mis-aligned (there was pain felt initially at a particular spot), and just a couple of quick (but painful!) movements by the Chinese physician, and the pain suddenly vanished.

There are some skeptics around that say all this is just an 'act'.
I was once a skeptic too, but am totally convinced 'tui-na' and acupuncture treatments truly work.
Not that I recommend anyone to try these! Ha.

Personal spinal problem aside, I just heard from a friend yesterday that he has also hurt his back.
It was from lifting something heavy and using the wrong part of his body to do so.
Apparently, he is feeling numbness on his back and legs now.
Sounds serious.
Will keep you posted on what had happened to him, after his doctor's diagnosis.

I keep learning new things everyday.
Such a description of a back injury is also new to me.
Isn't life somewhat interesting (for want of a better word)?

Dizzy turning, turning dizzy

It was a very interesting first Salsa lesson at the Intermediate level.
We learnt the 'prep' turn, along with 'titanic' and the 'copa'.
This time, the class consisted of 10 ladies and 3 men (including the instructor himself).
Obviously, the 2 men (minus the instructor) had plenty of practice opportunities, whereas us ladies only have 1 turn each.
At the end of the lesson, our instructor said we need to perfect our 'prep' turns by next lesson.
He said we need to practice 5 times a day, and each time, turn till we are dizzy before we can stop.
Without doing that, I'm already dizzy with work.
So how?

Weekend

I continued on my remote hunt for a Salsa song that my instructor has been playing for our class practises for the last 10 weeks.
Remote, as I didn't know the name of the song.
And I also didn't know the singer, nor the production company.
How much more remote a chance can that be???

Anyway, I went to visit another dance school's site to see if that had music recommended for purchase.
It did, and I took done a couple of the titles.
And off I went to a CD shop in town, which the website said it would have those titles.

I struck 'gold'.
Managed to locate this first title consisting of a pack of 4 CDs.
And one of the CDs, it has THE song.
My lucky day!

Anyway, I dined out with my friend who was on a similar 'mission' as me.
We had Japanese food - and no prizes for letting you guess who suggested that. :o)
We did a spot of light shopping, and then accepted an invitation to join another friend for drinks.
I kidded with my friend, saying I shall order hot drinks like Milo, instead of drinks of the alcoholic kind.
Unfortunately, we didn't go to a place that serves such hot drinks.
So I ended up sharing a bottle of red wine with my 2 friends.
Gulped down lots of water as usual.
With some snacks of escargot cooked with cheese and grilled.
Yummy with the red wine, of course. Ha.

A good end to the Saturday, no doubt...

My dinner

As I was saying in the previous blog, I was waiting for my friend for dinner.
I had been unsuccessful at ringing her a couple of times on the mobile - recorded message said she was unavailable.
So I ended up abandoning the meeting spot and went shopping.
I had promised a good friend that I would get him a pair of wine glasses.
He has been using plastic ones which I thought is silly.
Being the more domesticated one, I said I will buy him proper ones.
So I did. :o)

Meanwhile, I sent a text message to a couple of friends.
Coincidentally, both friends were in town, but one of them was with another work-mate having dinner.
The other decided to join me, but 5 minutes into meeting up, the girlfriend whom I was supposed to have dinner with rang.
She said she had lost her phone, but found that she had actually left it at home by mistake!
Anyway, the friend who was with me decided to head on home instead.
And my dinner-girlfriend picked me up in her car and brought us to this (much heard about) little place selling soya bean curd and drink.
It was one of those older, war-time shophouses that I like.
The street name was 'Short Street'.

It was the tastiest and smoothest soya bean curd I've ever had.
The texture of the curd was as smooth as the Japanese tofu.
Yum.
Brought back some for my parents to have for supper.
It was much appreciated all-round.
I will have to go back there again sometime soon.
Thinking about it now is already making me drool...

Good taste or not

I was going to be late meeting up with a friend for dinner yesterday evening.
So, I left a couple of text messages on my friend's mobile, but no response.

I got to the meeting place and she was nowhere to be seen.
I pretended to be interested in some Swarovski crystals at a shop while looking out for my friend.
At the same time, I noticed that a guy was looking at some displays too.
When he finally got served, he hadn't got a clue what to get.
He said embarrassingly that he was shopping for his girlfriend.
He told the lady serving him that he didn't know what jewellery to get his girlfriend, hence the decision to get a crystal display of some sort instead.

Though lovely as they were, the cost of some of the crystal items was as much as a pendant in white gold (I'm an expert in this - haha).
Doesn't the guy know that whatever item of jewellery he buys, his girlfriend may like?!
Why must he have so little confidence in his own taste?
And besides, it's the thought that counts.
And if his girlfriend were to end up not liking a piece of jewellery that he had bought, then she didn't deserve it anyway.
Or any gifts from him for that matter.

The thing is: what can we girls do with the crystal gifts?
They are fragile.
And unless you live in a place with lots of cabinets for its display, where would you put it?
Back in the box, I suppose.
Isn't that a waste of money??

Maybe I'm practical.
But I prefer jewellery.
Good taste or not.
At least I get to wear them, despite having lots of my own already. :o)
The time, effort - of course, the money too - spent by the giver should be greatly appreciated.

Any, considering how busy working life is, one hardly has the time nor energy to do anything after work or over the weekends.
All the more the gesture should be appreciated.
Good taste or not...

Friends from afar

I have had two of my friends in the UK respond to my emails after I wrote to them over the last weekend.
One is from a ex-coursemate of mine admitted in the same year as me, and who was in the same research institute as I was.
Good news is that she will be attending the same graduation ceremony as I am.
That means I will be able to catch up with her before we all disappear altogether after the ceremony ... into different continents. (Ha.)

The other is from my ex-uni mate from Honours days (whom I shared a student-flat with, along with 2 other students).
He was telling me that he has just celebrated his 10th anniversary of marriage with his wife(another ex-uni mate of mine) in April.
And that his daughter will be starting school in September.
Wow.
Time indeed flies.

Ahem.

Anyway, this male ex-uni mate of mine has done (god-knows) how many marathons/major runs all over the UK now.
And although he is of quite a few years older than me (sorry ole chap if you are reading this - haha), he only started all this serious running when he turned 40.
Life does indeed begin after 40.
He has only just returned from Glastonbury festival last Monday.
This year, it was apparently part festival/part World War I re-enactment.
Sounded like fun!

What's more: my friend has even signed himself up to be part of a massive nude photo-shoot by Spencer Tunick (website: http://www.balticprojects.org/tunick/).
That is in 2 weeks' time.
Considering that he will have to get up at the crack of dawn on a Sunday - which is usually COLD beyond belief - I have only six words to describe this: MIGHTY BRAVE (and you are NUTS!)

I will be thinking of you in sunny Singapore then, Paul! :o)

Weekend news

Weekend was fairly good.
I didn't touch my laptop much, other than enjoying a quiet time and writing some social emails.
These were to inform my ex-coursemates and friends in the UK that I'll be attending the graduation ceremony in September in London.
It seems so far away, and yet so near.
In the meantime, I'm trying to see if I could find the cheapest airfares and hotel accommodation for then.

I also managed to head out on Saturday to get my first Salsa CD.
I also came away with 2 pair of gorgeous earrings.
Isn't that typical?! Ha.
To defend my impulsive buying act, these earrings are in Italian white gold.
And other than gold, I can't really wear any other kinds of earrings.
All to do with my allergy to metals problem.
So there. :o)

I couldn't stay out for long though.
My new slip-on footwear gave me a painful blister on my right foot.
Darn.
Otherwise, I would've gone on looking for CDs at another CD shop that I had spotted in town.
Oh well, another time.
Like tomorrow evening, perhaps! :o)
I'm meeting a friend in town.
We have been postponing this dinner for ages.
So we have finally been able to fix a date to meet up.
Maybe if time permits, I'll head down to the CD shop.

Nice to be at home and not rushing to Salsa class straight after work this evening.
The rush will only resume next Monday...

Celebration

I celebrated the completion of a education-based program that I had to develop for one of my company's clients yesterday.
It was a significant piece of work, as it is my first program I have developed on this job, and my first program I've ever developed on such a scale.
This program will eventually be branded under the client's company, and marketed all over the world.
Isn't that neat?! :o)

Anyway, I hung out with a gal pal.
It was fun, as we ate my favourite for dinner - i.e. sashimi!
Then we checked out an interesting (albeit small) watering hole.
We didn't like the crowd in there so after finishing our drink, we ended up at my favourite watering hole.
I was there last Friday.
Come to think of it, I was there the week before that and oh, the week before that too!
No wonder the 2 guys managing the place now remember me. :o)
I like this place for the fact that conversations can be heard as you taste good wine.
And this place has chosen not to publicise itself, so has managed to retain an exclusive clientele.
I only bring close friends to this place.
If not, I may end up bumping into my friends all the time and have no more hide-out left! :o)

Am a little tired.
Think will go take a nap after my afternoon coffee...