One-plus month later...part i

I am back.
I feel bad that I have neglected the blogging in the last few weeks.
A few concerned friends have written personal emails to me, or dropped me short notes, to ask if I am ok.
Well, I shall reveal all from here on and in parts, as many things have happened/are happening.

For this part i (the Shanghai trip):
The last time I blogged, I said I was about to head off to Shanghai for my holiday.

Well, I've dunnit.
Spent 4 days and 3 nights there (mainly free-and-easy), and the deepest impression I had was there was LOTS of walking involved.
And all that walking was to do with one thing - SHOPPING. Well, my sister-in-law is a shopaholic, and being the only people (my mother, my sister-in-law and me) which made up the tour "group", the tour guide left it to us to decide what we planned to do.
Since my sister-in-law organised the trip, I left it to her to decide what she wanted to do.
Hence the seemingly endless shopping we ended up doing.

The sights we saw weren't many; most of those were viewed from the tour van, which I ironically enjoyed!
We went to the Temple of the Jade Buddha, The Bund, Xiangyang Market, and ascended the famous Oriental Pearl Tower (see picture above and below).

But my most favourite parts of the trip were to be able to view the seemingly endless architecturally and artisitcally challenging high-rise buildings that seemed impossible to build! Anyway, all the pictures I took were through the use of my new mobilephone.

Here are some more...


Here is another shot of the Pearl Tower.
The sun was so bright (it was 34 degrees celsius that day) that I couldn't even see what I was taking from the screen!
So I simply snapped this picture pointing my mobilephone vaguely in the direction of the Peal Tower.
Not bad, eh? :o)




This next picture was taken from Nanjing Road, the Orchard Road equivalent. The neon lights were amazing!




For instance, the neon lights of this building changed from "HJ" (didn't know what it means), to "你好" (meaning "how are you") - it was really AWESOME!




More pics to follow in part ii, folks! :o)

Yet another Saturday

The days just go by in a flash for me nowadays.
Yes, I had been having a tough couple of weeks, but still, things had been busy for me at work.
For a start, my new supporting staff reported to work on Monday in the week just past.
Things were ok, and although he seems to be lacking advanced Microsoft Office skills, he was resourceful enough to check out the "help" feature built into Microsoft Word.
Although I must say that a few times, he should not have asked me for help, but to go to the other promised help that wasn't that forthcoming - as usual.
I had a peaceful couple of days - on a couple of days, one or both of those "crazy" people weren't around at the office.
One was attending a course for 2 days, while the other (the petty one) has somehow injured his back and was on medical leave for a couple of days.
Needless to say, those were productive days for me.
Ha.

I received a surprise parcel in the middle of the week.
It was an early birthday pressie from my dear friends back in the UK!
They (husband and wife) always plan ahead for things, and this is something I have become rather bad at (specifically for sending out birthday parcels overseas) in the last year or so, since I got back to the home country.
Getting to a post-office is not as easy anymore.
The nearest ones would require me to take a bus to get to it!

Anyway, Friday was a busy day for me.
I had meetings back-to-back in the afternoon, and when I got back to the office, I had a voicemail that sounded frantic.
When I found out what the matter was, I wasn't pleased at all.
The "promised help" told my new staff that he wasn't allowed to print stuff off the printer at our office.
She said that he should send documents to print at another printing machine that requires him to get to the 6th floor (we are situated at Level 1) to retrieve it.
She gave him the reason that it's because at the rate we have been utilising the printer, the ink for the printer has appeared to deplete faster than expected, and that our department will be charged for additional ink cartridges if this carries on.
And because he did as he was told in my absence while I was having a long meeting, another fellow colleague freaked out when she saw (and picked up) the training materials from the printer at Level 6 (her office is on that floor too).
She is in charge of the development of these training materials still under development, so in a state of panic, she went around the whole floor asking if anyone actually had been given a soft-copy of the materials and had printed them out!

Our department takes care of the development of training materials, so OF COURSE we would be using up the ink faster than in other departments due to the work we have to do to make them appropriate for printing and production!

And that was the same reason I gave to my new staff.

So I don't know WHY that "promised help" was being so awkward.

Actually, I know there was a separate agenda for this "instruction" to my new staff.
The other team have been printing a lot of materials from this office printer, so that's ok.
But as long as it's my team doing the same, it's not ok.
In fact, I must say that I have not normally printed much stuff from this printer.
My petty colleague, however, had been doing lots of that.
And on many occasions, I saw that the documents had been non work-related stuff when I accidentally picked up his print-outs by mistake.

Nevermind...I shall tolerate all this.

I shall raise this matter to my new boss who is joining us in a week or so.
I will ask her to increase the budget for the purchase of the ink cartridges, and explain why.
That should shut that "promised help" up quite nicely.
Especially when she is in no position to raise this matter to my new boss, other than me and her own (petty) boss.
After all, she is only a supporting staff, but since Day 1 when I joined, she behaved as if she was in charge.
She has treated me like dirt, and has no respect for me whatsoever, but that doesn't really bother me now.
No matter what she does, she will always be a support staff.
So I am not going to stoop to her level and play childish office politics with her.
Would be a definite waste of my time!

I would say the same for her own boss.
That petty colleague of mine could do what he wants.
Even if he wants to feel he is superior, I will let him.
No matter how superior he wants to feel and to belittle me (in order to overcome his feeling of inadequacy of not having the same level of academic qualifications as me), my academic certificate will still bear my name and not his.
So there.

I skipped a group dinner on Thursday as I wasn't feeling well.
But I will try to make it the next time it is organised!

Tomorrow will be a fun day.
I am meeting a friend for lunch, which will be followed by shopping, and then dinner and then movie.
Will be a busy day ahead!
I LIKE!
Ha.

THEN, I am off to Shanghai for a few days.
My birthday coming, that's why! :o)

Saturday night out

I just got back from having had a Japanese dinner.
I went out with my ex-boyfriend again - this time to check out the other branch of the Japanese restaurant that we went to the other time.
The ambience was great, and we were given a table at a nice and cosy corner away from the dining crowd.
We ordered dishes to share again just like the last time, and we didn't think that what we picked were as nice as the last time.
Even the desserts weren't as nice, nor were they presented like the other "sister" branch.
It meant that we didn't get to have the small, folded paper cranes to take with us. :o(

In any case, the dinner experience was fun again, and this time, my ex-boyfriend decided to feed me the shared dessert (a few times) for my sampling.
Having no expectations each time we met up has been great so far, which means we could really enjoy each other's company.
But the most enjoyable part was during the car ride home.
We were both kidding with each other, and I boldly asked him when I was going to get my birthday pressie.
Ha.
He said the dinner treat was IT, and I cheekily said that didn't count, especially when the food goes through your body's digestive system, that's it.
He was quick-witted enough to suggest that I could choose to keep my poo as a birthday pressie if I wanted to!
Ha.

Anyway, we shall see.
I'll be delighted if he does end up getting the same cute soft toy that he has in his car, for me.
AND, I told him I wouldn't want the one in his car as it is second-hand!
Ha.
My ex-boyfriend is still a big softie, and continues to be his playful self while positioning the cute soft toy on the car's steering wheel while he drove.
It was so cute that I HAD to take a picture of it!

See? Cute, eh?

Anyway, it was a good thing I hadn't postponed the dinner.

I had a tough day at work on Friday, what with another confrontation from my fellow colleague's supporting staff.

She was supposed to support me administratively for a short period of time until my own supporting staff comes onboard to join my team, but she chose to adopt the "hands-off" attitude which was uncalled for.

So, when I mentioned this to another staff (who wanted to get some work information from her and on failing to do so, came to me), about how unhelpful she was, she flipped.

Naturally, she has her boss (my petty fellow colleague) to back her up.

I sometimes wondered if it was because they were at a more advantageous position of having more people to back each other up in times of "need", and whether that's the reason why they thought they could do whatever they like to me.

This confrontation (albeit the second time for me) taught me a wise lesson.

That is, to learn how to stop being too accommodating and do things myself, and to be more demanding (and bossy) to get work done!

At least, that will apply to this current work situation...

I've just heard from someone...

This was a friend whom I got to know recently.
He just dropped me an email a few minutes before I started on this blog.

My friend and I met up for dinner before he was due to fly off to Shanghai for a business trip the day after.
Being someone who would be doing my packing at the last minute (i.e. the day before an overseas trip), I was concerned that I might be taking up his time if I were to agree to meet him the day before the overseas trip.
But, my friend was fine about it, and the sweet man even offered to pick me up from work that day!

Over dinner, my friend made a personal observation - he commented that I have a high EQ.
Actually, I realised that it takes one to know one! :o)
Which reminds me - I will have to tell him that when I see him again (without crutches, of course).
Ha.

I somehow knew that this friend would be a nice friend to keep from the first time I interacted with him.
In fact, it is nice to know that we share similar 'frequency' in our conversations!
From similar life experiences to similar exposure to Western culture for a long while - really cool.
And it's great to know that there are more outings to come!
Now, this friend I don't mind hanging out with.
As for the other guy I blogged about previously, I much rather wish I could make him disappear.
The more I thought about how he behaved towards the whole BBQ thing, the more unimpressed I am.
Oh dear...this is so unlike me!

Strange week

This week ended strangely.
I first had a tiff with my dad moving my stuff around at home while I was away in Hong Kong.
The strange thing was: those couple of shelves weren't even untidy in the first place.
He simply chose to relieve his 'itch' on the fingers to move my stuff, which I had painstakingly arranged in a certain order.
Needless to say, everything was in one pile, in a disorganised order now.
Grrr...!!!!!!

Next, Friday ended not so well for me at work.
My fellow (petty) colleague actually confronted me, saying that I had supposedly said something that was the wrong version of the 'story'.
From start to finish, the confrontation didn't include what I had supposedly said that made my fellow colleague upset/annoyed about, but instead, he got into a state where he threatened me with words like, "I could be nasty if I wanted to."
Sheesh.

Throughout it all, I was calm.
I stood firm and showed bewilderment about the whole incident.
I rationalised with him, telling him that whatever was possibly misinterpreted could have been said to cause an outburst between us, and then the tale-carrier could sit back in glee and watch us 'fight'.
That would have been the worst case scenario.
Not only that, I said he should've come to me for clarification first, instead of becoming all upset and annoyed the whole day, while I continued to go about my own work being unaware ('duh'!).
I added that I have nothing to gain if I were to be malicious towards him, as I still need him to impart his knowledge and experience of working in my company!
Besides, if he were to really lose his job, I would be the one who will also have to take over his duties and responsibilities, which (God forbid!) wouldn't help me at all!!!
On hearing that, he then calmed down and apologised, saying that I was right that he should've approached me for clarification first (another 'duh'!).
But not after he had thrown a couple of threats my way before that, and said it's experience that counts and not qualifications (I have higher qualifications than him, you see).

All these utterances (amongst several others) only meant one simple thing: that he is insecure about himself.

I had never thought any lesser of him although he is less qualified academically, so this was a first that I've heard from him.
Neither had I ever wanted to play 'power' games with him, which he kept mentioning too.
He also claimed that he's not a 'control freak', wanting to know everything that goes on at work (as far as I am aware, he had always wanted to know what's going on all the time).
On top of that, he said he chooses to be a loner, and it's my 'business' if I wanted to please colleagues at work (now where did that come from?!).

If all those examples do not spell insecurity on his part, then I don't know what does.

Anyway, I digress.

I went for a BBQ earlier.
I took a friend with me, as he's not much of a social person, and I thought it would be a good chance to let him sharpen his social skills and for me to observe how he interacted (or not) with people.
Even before the BBQ event, he already disappointed me by allowing me to pay for the cab fare to the BBQ venue, and to pay for the 12 cans of beer that my host had asked me (or rather suggested that my friend) to buy.
Neither did he offer to share the separate pressie that I got for my host, as it was a celebration on her getting her PhD.
All in all, it meant that I paid for everything.
Sheesh indeed.

It wasn't that my friend couldn't afford to pay.
I really do not know what he was thinking.
And to think that he ate the food there and drank the beer that I paid for too!
And that I was initially asked to pick the cheapest beer (as suggested by the gracious host).
He chose the more expensive ones instead, cuz he said he wanted to drink some of it too.

Better yet, we left the BBQ event earlier, and didn't even stay for the chicken wings to be cooked.

By the way, he was the one who was anxious to leave ...
... to find a quieter place (which we did) ...
... and to ask me (albeit indirectly) to be his steady girlfriend ...

Have a good chuckle, dear friends.

Gosh

Has it been one week already???
Gosh.

I guess trying to catch up with rest in the evenings took up quite a bit of my time.
Not to mention that I had to go back to work last Sat.

It was my organisation's orientation for new recruits, so everybody had to be there.
Owing to the fact that my job position is unique, I could've asked to be excused from the function (at least one of my fellow colleagues did anyway).
After all, I was only required to show my face to the new recruits for a few seconds by way of a formal introduction, which wouldn't have mattered that much since I work 'behind the scenes'.
But I attended the function anyway, because I respect my boss highly, and I know he would appreciate such an effort made on my part at showing my support anyway.

And because of my unique job position, I was allowed to leave after a couple of hours, although everyone else had their own duties to carry out beyond that time. :o)

That was Saturday.

Sunday was a quiet time spent on working on my 'book'.
So, nothing that fun or exciting.
The fun bit came when I went out with a friend for a delicious Japanese dinner on Monday.
This friend met with a serious motorbike accident while he was overseas recently, so was still in crutches (but of course, lucky to be alive!).
But he has been operated on since, so was able to borrow a car to drive himself around.
And he graciously offered to pick me up from work.
Not to mention he brought me a box of chocolates!
Speaking of which, he works for a company that markets confectionery (i.e. chocolates, etc.).
How cool is that, eh?!

I had to skip yesterday's squash game as I didn't feel too good.
And today, my condition escalated to feeling sudden dizziness at work.
Had to ask my boss for permission to leave work in the late morning.
He took a look at me and could already tell I was 'off-colour'.

I went to the doctor's.
His diagnosis was that I could have caught the flu virus.
I had a sore throat a few days before, I started sneezing last night, and now my body is aching.
I feel weak generally, and after I came back from the doctor's earlier, I slept for 3 hours straight!
My doctor gave me 2 days' medical certification to cover me for today and tomorrow.
Although it's unlike me, I think I shall take the day off work tomorrow too.
Especially since I have my own Saturday duty this coming Saturday.
Which means I can catch up on my work then...

A miss or amiss?

Was I missed in the past week?
Well, miss me no more, people - I am now back from Hong Kong! :o)

I had a bit of a scare that I wasn't going to make the business trip, but was glad the sufficient rest helped me recover in no time.

I left for Hong Kong last Sunday morning.
Arrived at noon but didn't get to the hotel till shortly after 2 pm - just nice timing to check in.
After a short rest and some unpacking, I bravely took the hotel's free shuttle bus and got off at the nearest town to do some light shopping for immediate family members.
I only took 1.5 hours and managed to get everything for everyone, and then hopped onto the free shuttle bus again (doing its hourly rounds and in a loop) to get back to the hotel.
By the end of the day, I was so exhausted that I went to bed quite early.

Anyway, it was a great shopping experience, as within the short 1.5 hours, I made some friends out of the street stall-holders.
One even said to visit her again the next time I visit Hong Kong, not to buy anything from her, but to go for a cup of tea or coffee! :o)

Monday and the first half of Tue were all business-related.
The only other free time I had was on Monday evening.
That, I spent with my other colleagues which also included my boss.
I was the only female around, so I was well taken care of.
The men in my midst were witty and fun to hang out with, made even more enjoyable when it's outside of work!
Five of us ended up having dinner together, after which we went out and about window-shopping.
I was the only one who changed out of my work attire, and into jeans and t-shirt.
The men left their executive shirts on, and most of them had their sleeves rolled up mid-way.
It was an amusing sight, since I was dressed so casual, and were in the company of visibly high-profile people!
We ended up in a shop that sold ladies and mens-wear.
One of the men shopped for a suit, as it was a lot cheaper in Hong Kong.
I left the 3 other men (including my boss) standing around chatting amongst themselves.
I was so impressed that they were so patient to wait around, only to be told by my boss much later that it was purely because he was enjoying the air-conditioned, cool temperature in the shop that made him happily stay for longer!
Ha.
Afterwards, we had dessert at a nice dessert place, and it was another enjoyable time.

The business trip was shortened for some on Tue, especially for 3 of the 7 colleagues and I (this includes my boss again) had to check out of the hotel in order to get to the airport in time to catch our plane home.
It was another fun journey, as the 4 of us had dinner at the airport, and had interesting conversations.
All the playful 'ribbing' the my boss and my 2 other colleagues had was amusing, to say the least!
I guess there must be synergy amongst a group of people before such a comfortable level of communication could take place.
And I have witnessed that, and am also glad I was able to join in surprisingly well.

Given another chance to travel as a group like this, I would most certainly do it again!

Oh, and I am also looking forward to be back at playing squash come Tue. :o)

I am back...somewhat

I have received a few sweet emails from friends who asked after me.
It was partially because I have not blogged in the last 9 days.
Apologies - but I had been too tired to do anything other than head to bed each of the days previously.

I have been trying to balance work and relaxation time; the latter of which was in the form of Spa treatments.
Fitting my time into such treatments was tougher than I thought, especially when I had wanted to be the last one to be treated for the day, during the week!

Last weekend was hectic too - on Sat, I went to watch the Superman movie with a friend, followed by coffee, then dinner.
By the end of the day, I was exhausted.
Come Sunday, it was another Spa indulgence (and some light shopping after), which brought the week nicely to an end.

That aromatherapy massage was timely, as the next day at work (and the days following that) brought disaster upon disaster onto me.
Due to the mere inefficiency of one work associate, the rest of us ended up being implicated for the delay in the delivery of work.
Not a fan of office politics, I did the best I could to resolve the tricky situation instead of blaming anyone for the delay.
With the help of a very kind colleague, the 2 of us managed to turn things around.
Of course, it was the best we could do, although what was delivered wasn't the most ideal.
For that, we shall leave it to the other person who is the overall in-charge to handle it.

Due to all this hassle and stress, I caught a chill.
I started to feel feverish on Tue.
As a result, I could only watch my friends play squash on Tue evening, and letting them try out my brand-new squash racket I had bought on Sun.
Everyone said it was a good buy, especially when it is a good brand and the price was reduced by almost half of its original price tag!

I couldn't go on sick leave on Wed, as I had to finish off the problematic work situation in the morning, and then to conduct interviews for my new staff-hire with my boss in the afternoon.
I then got my boss' persmission to leave the office a few minutes earlier to go see a doctor.

And here I am, resting at home on the second day of sick leave granted. :o)
I slept all day yesterday, and was pretty zonked from the strong dose of medication my doctor has prescribed.
This is because come Sun morning, I'll be jetting off to Hong Kong for a 3-day business trip.
And I had expressed concern to the doctor that my fever may not subside in time for the trip.

I am better today, but still a little zonked.
I will try to head out later for a facial appointment that I had made a week ago.
I am reluctant to cancel this appointment, since I have other errands to run anyway.
Besdies, I have not gone for any treatment for the face in years!
SoI guess it's about time to do so.
Ha.

Will blog again when I get back from Hong Kong!

My virgin game

SO sorry to get you people (especially the guys - ahem) excited over nothing.
I am referring to my first go at a game of squash earlier, on Tue evening.
Thanks to my dear friend SeeFei, I had a taste of what the game was really like.
It was FUN!

Not only did I think that, my 2 other friends/colleagues from work who joined me/us enjoyed their first experience too!
All 3 of us were beginners, and SeeFei was a very patient and enthusiastic 'trainer'.
Not only did he give us a prep talk, he even showed us the 'moves' and took us running one round around the block where the squash courts were.

I am making plans to get a racket of my own now...the game is really cool.
And am off to bed...

Another weekend, another chain of events

I wished the weekend was longer.
This last one went by in a flash!
Had dinner on Saturday with a friend I just got to know in the last few weeks, and it was a good evening out!
We actually found that we could chat about anything under the sun (or the moon for that matter, since it was evening), and after dinner, we adjourned to having smooth soyabean curd at one place, and then a long drink at a cafe afterwards.
We ended up being chased out of the cafe as it was about to close.
From that extended conversation, I discovered more things about myself.
I guess the level at which the conversation was unknowingly pitched at made me realise there were things I didn't know about myself till then.
And what a revelation at that! :o)

Earlier today, I went for a luxurious Spa treatment.
I have forgotten how good it was to be pampered like that!
I decided to make another appointment for this coming Thursday...