Lone Ranger

Hi all, bet you are all craving for updates on moi huh?

well, first things first, remember when i told all of ya out there that I forgot to T/T money over to Vienna for my 2 week orientation in Austria (which Amy strongly told me to participate cos they bring you to tour the entire(!) Austria), well, iwent to the bank yesterday at noon and managed to remit the dineros over. BUT! Sadly, the lady told me that the places are full (though she's trying to open up more places) Haiz, she did day that 'if you can't managed to get a place, I'll of course, return you your money' haha, Austrians are nice...

Looks like i'll need back up plan in Vienna, maybe tour with the city with Tina b4 she leaves for Prague. Save her the hassel of stalking my toru group too...haha

Oh! i was in office early today, or rather, all the interns were in office early, and the entire office was filled with only interns! So, I've managed to snoop around and capture a few shots of moi office!Finally!, you guys get to see the sty I worked in...haha...


The Office


My desk! Miss J's desk is the one beside moi to the right, Management Consulting is just opposit me.

Opps

I am anxious and irritated.

Can't believe that I forgot to T/T money over to Vienna for my OK Orientation Program...suddenly, everything has now become no OK.

Gonna T/T over the money at lunch break tomorrow and gotta wait for 2 days to get the receipt again. Man, wat if i T/T the money over and I still couldn't get it. Darn. Contemplating to T/T only on Tuesday after getting verification from Vienna, but nah...think I'll be going ahead anyway. I'll just claim that the bank screw up last time and did not T/T for me...haha...hope that works...

And realised I've gotten my hostel at Haus Panorama, not Eramus. Slightly sad, cos that means what Amy advises me on will all be irrelevant. Heard Erasmus is nearer to school too. But the good thing is that there's a gym at Panoroma, so hopefully, I'll get a chance to use it frequently. Haha, maybe I'll get Bem Foster's body next year. Yeah right.

Really anxious bout the orientation program, if i really did not get it, then I guess I'll just extend Italian trip and after Tina's gone, I'll most prob go to Copenhagen. Haiz...nothing concrete yet except 9/1 till 9/10 I know for sure I'm in Italy, which hostel/nunnery, i still dun noe, Oh, here's a joke I remember from this game i played yrs ago, the electronic version of 'Who wants to be a Millionaire' one of the Q goes: Who stays at a monastery? one of the options was monsters...haha...

Hope the joke's not on me this coming week.

thank god it's friday!

and not only is the weekend here, i will not be seeing irritating girl!

she just irritated me again! I so do not need you to broadcast to entire office that I am acting busy! well, has it ever occur to your brain that I am indeed working? Apparently not, cos her brain is the size of a 6 yr old's testicle!

she's trying to communicate with me again, and this time round, i really pretended to be busy and ignore her by kaing my 'deep in thoughts and playing with my pen' look. she's just sitting opposit me and lamenting to her fren that the printing cannot come out cos someone in office jams the printer; well, then go solve it if you are so desperate for that paper, you goon!

Glad that she moved back to her far-flung table facing the windows (read: moi need not see her face) I'm so glad that Hwang will be back on Monday after being on leave since tuesday(which gives HK gal oppurtunity to be that close to moi) and take her sit diagonally opposit me back. Looks like my monday will be good (if and only if Hwang is back).

money and a hong kong gal's worthless sense

9 more minutes to lunch time, but then again, i ain't meeting madhi till 12.30.

Met her yesterday and we went to gloden shoe carpark, had japanese food, again! i think moi had more jap food while working here then my entire lifetime. Probably gonna eat jap curry, again(!), later at lau pat sat.

Oh, by the way, today is pay check day! collected my check from the Finance dept just now. 3 weeks and all i do not even cost 500 bucks. like tina said, cannot even cover 1/3 of my LV bag...

Gonna meet tina and k.s later at P.S. after work to check out the pathetic scene there for our mkting plan. miss the fried pork at basement, yummy!

ok, now' moi shall tell you bout gossips regarding this particular ntu intern sitting diagonally opposite me. in fact, i am talking to her just as i am typing and ranting bout her this exact moment, i know, i know, bitchy tactic, but that's what lures u all here, isn't it!

she's part of the 2 gals that stop and chatted with their friends outside china square last week, to jot your memory.

well, yesterday, told her that i am not going for lunch with her and her frens cos moi meeting madhi.

just as i was leaving office, janet called my(!) cell and ask me if i've seen her gp of other intern frens going for lunch with her. Yah, i do not get the rationale behing too, which just proves that NTU peeps are indeed as dumb as their creative print ads showcasing an immaculate guy with manicured nails teaching impoverished kids in the Himalayan mountains. You get the drift.

Now, it takes me 10+ min to walk to golden shoe, and i wasted 10 min + on the cell with bloody janet passing message to her male counterpart, who happens to share the same lift with me. what great timing, and how would i know how many seats your guy frens want you to 'chop' with tissue papar packs for them at amoy hawker center. Hang up, NOW!

this morning, the same retard ask if i was wearing lipstick. roll eyes, thrice! maybe that janet does not get the fact that we chinese have something called heatiness?? she's from hong kong moreover. one word: RETARD!

latest update on retard girl, just came back from lunch with madhi and already, barely less then 30 min in the office, retard hong kong gal strikes again!

she was so fascinated by my cuff-links that she wanted to see it, ok, moi is actually very nice, you want to see, i'll let you see. But can't she keep her mouth shut? apparently not! she was so intrigued by cuff links (cos her father never wears such shirts) that she ask me how to use them (ok, is it me, or is she from another planet?) then, she proceed to tell me that her father uses buttons (HUGE ?). i realised that by button 'cuff-links' which her dad uses, she meant her dad wears normal button sleeves shirt. wanted to roll eyes but reckoned it'll only hurt my precious eyeballs.

My article which was praised. HA!

Well, remember when moi tells all of you out that that I was writing a piece of article on M&A in China? Well, apparently, Miss J was 'very impressed' (her exact words) and so does the manager for our Business Consulting Unit! Ha, all you peeps out there now yelling "Plagarist" now, rest assured that moi did tell Miss J that I did refer from other sources, and all she was cool about it! Nothing dodgy! She said 'as long as there's reference, it's all right!' love the Brits!

So here I present my article!
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Expanding into China
Gerald Toh for BDO Raffles

As a country with varied growth rates for different geographical areas, coupled with a booming and fast growing economy, China proves to be an attractive choice for local businesses seeking expansion plans in recent years. Local firms can leverage on their strength in various sectors and carve a niche for themselves in the world’s fastest growing economy.

Along with China’s rapid growth emerges a burgeoning group of middle class population with higher income. This translates into a higher demand for lifestyle-related products and services. Singapore firm OSIM realized the importance of China and how it is vital to the company’s expansion and growth strategies. Although OSIM was faced with difficulties in the initial stages when it first started in China in 1994, it has since enjoyed steady returns from the country ever since the rapid opening up of the economy of China.

OSIM managed to attain its success in China by sticking to what it does best; by heading into a sector which is their core competency in Singapore. This gives OSIM comparative advantage over its competitors and ultimately, help established the successful branding of its products. It is due to OSIM’s comparative advantage that enables the Chinese to have the ability in adapting OSIM and make it a success.

Similarly, Singapore businesses with an edge in service industries should strive to expand their operations into China, where the level for their service sector is still at its formative years. It’s aging and populous nation needs expertise in medical care and education. Another area is the growing tourism industry. With a huge domestic market internally, and the increasing popularity of China as a tourism destination, hotel management services is another segment which Singapore firms can seek to take advantage of.

But the vast country has great differences across various provinces that the average investor may not know which part of China to invest in. An alternative to seeking out an appropriate individual investment option is to go into a partnership, or through appropriate merger and acquisitions (M&A) with a Chinese company. A recent study published on McKinsey Quarterly revealed that M&A deals between Chinese and foreign firms accounts to less than 12 percent of total foreign direct investment for China. This is in contrast to the average 47 percent for the ten countries, apart from China, that attract the greatest amount of foreign capital worldwide.

The same study also revealed that with the removal of limitations on investment in many industries, the number of cross-border M&A activity is poised to increase, the most recent example being the purchase of 5 percent shares in Bank of China by Temasek Holdings.

However, there needs to be caution as conventional approaches to M&A are inappropriate in China when one considers the peculiar dynamics of the Chinese market. Furthermore, the central government still prohibits majority foreign ownership in more than 25 industries, including banking, telecommunications, and auto manufacturing.

Chinese owners often desire control, or the appearance of control, for social or personal reasons. This helps explain why corporate control is deemed more important than ownership to the Chinese. By ensuring the Chinese locals to be in the commanding position, one can be assured of having the ability to acquire market knowledge and know-how, thus establishing networking locally and to further help develop the business through such alliances. Like what the locals say, having connections to others (guan xi) are of utmost importance when doing business in China.

Nonetheless, deals can still be structured to give an investor adequate board representation even though majority foreign ownership can be limited within the running of the firm. These foreign investors can choose to exert control through other means like the usage of governance provisions. This is to ensure that their board standing reflects the true economics of the transaction and that they have a say in the election of independent directors. Alternatively, foreign investors can also insist on the right to fill significant posts, for example, chief financial officer, or they can outline the important areas for decision making, followed by establishing the appropriate mechanisms so as to exercise control. In reality, multinationals often use a combination of methods coupled with an agreement in order to increase ownership and control over time.

The other tricky problem with cross border M&A is the difficulty in determining a correct value for the company due to a lack of appropriate and relevant past M&A cases. Traditional methods like discounted cash flow is not suitable as the ever-changing dynamics of the Chinese market will make the cash flow forecasted to be inaccurate. Therefore, investors should use a wide range of valuations in assessing the outcomes. Moreover, the company should also base its decisions on the way China fits into the overall company and industry strategy, like what OSIM did.

The presence of external factors such as industry growth and the cost of key inputs will cause differences in valuations. When such opinions differ, investors should structure a deal that factor in the cost of such uncertainties in order to minimize any further risks.

There exist much opportunities in China, and companies expanding into China may reap significant rewards. China is undergoing a period of evolutionary process and with constant economic progress, businesses needs to realize the significance that such impacts can have on and affect their business models. For a wide range of reasons, businesses seeking expansion plans into China should expect a high level of liability and risk exposure. The team needs to have sufficient time to conduct research to ensure due diligence, and hiring accounting and legal advisers with local experience are absolutely essential. This group of people with local knowledge is important in helping the investor with issues like asset ownership, land use rights, and tax and financial liabilities and benefits.

Careful planning is the key to ensuring success, and BDO is able to utilize our global presence to help local businesses in their expansion plans or M&A through our member firms in China.
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References:

James Ahn, Thomas Luedi, and Isiah Zhang, How to make M&A work in China, The McKinsey Quarterly, January 2006

Connecting Business with HSBC Series, The Business Times, 12 April 2005

spoonfed

Yippie, realized that I actually have access to Blogger. Great! Moi have avenue to bitch and rid my boredom in office than=more gossips for you guys out there! Haha, bet you all just can’t get enough of it.

Well, all the NTU interns are gone from the office cos some career counselor is here from their uni to check and talk about their professional attachment with them. Ha! Which just goes to show that NTU is like what’s being portrayed by the press; boring, spoon fed students with no creativity, only capable of making noises and whine but can do nothing more.

K, Miss J is back to the seat besides moi, gotta go, lunch in 1 hr’s time, wondering where to eat today…

monogram thoughts

i am happy, very happy to be exact.

before telling you guys why, let me first brief you on the drama.

Realised that daddy was in Bangkok after I called him last Thurs, and he mentioned he'll be flying to perth next tues, which is great news because this implies that his credit card will be stock plentyful of funds for me to indulge in my retail therapy this wkend. boy was i wrong, very wrong actually as i find out today.

decided to go down to LV today to check out the Reporter bag which I have been craving since the horrible demise of my 50 cents bag from states. price tag on 50 cents bag from states: 50 cents (well, if you want to consider the air tix at S$1100, then its S$1100.50) ; price tag of Reporter: S$1500 (which means it actually costs more than me flying all the way to NYC and spent USD27 to Wassiac and spending another USD50 in cab to Millerton to get my 50 cents bag), and the Reporter does not comes in Taiga leather! DAMN! The reporter (bigger sized version) only comes in the LV monogram canvas, and I am not a big fan of monogram canvas, cos I've always thought it is a bit in-yer-face.

after 10min at the counter and looking through few other sling bags, still decided that i should settle for Reporter in monogram canvas. but here comes the drama, i picked up the last piece in store, and less than 5 sec after, this tai tai has that sparkle in her eyes on the same bag, but alas, moi took the LAST one, so she only have the sample piece to ogle at. Battle won and feeling satisfied, but! realised that daddy's card went over the limit! damn! what can you blow on in BKK? Perth, i understand, but BKK??!! Went throught this malu experiance of talking to the Amex lady over phone in front of the cashier who's by now despising me (despit me dressed gorgeously in my Felix tee from buenos aires, tokyo bought japanese levis, and Loewe sling from madrid, which i think these bunch of ignorant stupid Singaporeans have absolutely no idea that the Loewe costs me 1200 EUROS!).

Anyway, informed by Amex that dad only has 400+ left in his account. sad, very very sad, and stressed! tried my campus card, which i know is loaded with funds for my exchange studies later this yr, but who knows! those funds were in my checking account, and my campus card is linked NOT to my checking account, but rather, my savings account. Not enough funds in there = card rejscted (again!!) = another "you can't affors this bag, cheapo!" stare from cashier.

Here comes the rescue! Mummy whip out her stack of cash (!) , all in Brunei big notes nonetheless, and paid for the bag (this time, cashier lady has sparkle in her eyes as if she never touch $500 Brunei notes b4). Satisfied.

Mum was smart enough to know that Dad's card will most likely bounce cos it's end of month AND he's been overseas, so chances of having enuff $$ is like impossible. so, she actually came prepared with cash. she's so smart! haha...all thanks to her do i get to be my spoilt brat today. she is so gonna get LV from me from Vienna! haha...

so here's showing off time from gerald again! I present my LV Monograme Reporter after countless un-wrapping; like giving a birthday gift to myself! Oh, my mkting proff once said the reason for all these wrapping is to make concumer feel good about shopping, cos it's like un-wrapping own's bday pressie! So true!


that's not the reporter darling! it's the paperbag with the reporter inside...haha!


that's the paper bag inside the bigger paperbag above with the reporter inside. haha!


and you'd thought there'd be no more un-wrapping! haha, this is the soft cloth bag protecting the reporter. realised that it's a norm for all leather stuff to have suck protection. My Loewe has it, and even my Prada boots and Gucci shoes have it too...



there you go! my pride! my first LV Bag (the wallet and key pouch do not count as bags, i suppose! now i've gotta buy the monogram wallet which Adeline wants, and influence me to crave for one too, to match this...haha!) look at the gold locks on the bag, onw word: posh. nuff said


actually at S$1500, it's a steal for LV, cos of the simplicity design, the sling strap is cloth, not leather, and the interior is not very complicated; essentially what i like in this no fuss simple bag. just like my sadly demised 50 cents bag from the states! what a costly upgrade, pero me encanta, y muy contento despues salgo el tienda te llama Louis Vuitton.

paranoid aunty receptionists

did more calling, finished page 2 out of 16, yeah, 14 more to go. can you guys hear my laughter and imagine my excitement? if you cam great, cos' i myself am so not in the least excited.ever.

it occured to me how screwed up some people can get, some have such horrendous phone ettiquettes; no wonder their businesses will always be SMALL and medium enterprises (SME), at such rate, doubt they'll ever mature beyond SMALL.

this lady was asking me why i am asking for her company and why am i doing it, moi was so tired of explaining to her, twice, that i went, "i am just calling all the companies on my list to verify the information is up to date. Your company is just one of the MANY company which happens to start with the letter M, along with all the OTHERS that also starts with M"

did she think I randomly close my eyes and point or throw a dart to get her company?! Mad woman. That's not the worst.

There's this receptionist who was so lazy that she told me to call back later to check with her boss to see if her boss's name is what was shown in our records. Get it? Imagine my mother saying "You have to call Gerald later to check and see if Gerald is his name". Roll eyes, twice.

Needless to say, I shared this ludicrous info with Miss J, and all of my colleagues after the phone was put down. I wonder why the boss hired some senile old woman to be the receptionist for a glam office at Clifford.

But there's something funny too, this lady whom has a poor command of english thought i was calling to make an appointment with her boss, when all i wanted was her boss's official appointment within the company (CEO, MD, President,CFO etc etc...)

All this crappy conversations i've encountered just makes me ponder what will happen if I do not evesdrop on my receptionist if I have my own SME next time. time to call for screening for receptionists!

Had lunch with janet and s.t. today after leaving them to fend for themselves on the past 2 days. and i doubt i'll do it again, having lunch with them again that is. they met their friends just as we're walking to china square, and happily, they just stand there and talk for 15min! Hello?! Lunch?? You guys got all the time in the world to chat when school starts for you pathetic NTU-ers in 2 mths time? Roll eyes.

oh, managed to finish my article on expansion to china for singapore biz, and i am rather proud of it though 80% was copied from McKinsey Quarterly. I did paraphrase though. ha. ask me nicely and i'll send you a copy. serious. now, you roll eyes.

and what is mr. lim's appointment?

as usual, did my call-ups to various company today, but just to share with all you guys something funny.

Artistes Networks is one of BDO clients, and since moi knows all things related to entertainment (sadly, for this case my knowledge has to be reduced to that for Singapore level; read, tiny pathetic Singapore) i knew all along that the company is an artiste management company.

Managed to get CFO (=Mavis Yip) and i spoke to the lady about the appointment for this other person listed in the database

"Ok, so Mavis is the CFO , in that case, I have another person's name here in my system, listed as Mr. Lim Blah Blah Ken (I thought the name consists of 4 words), so, can you please provide me the appointment for Mr. Lim?"

"He's our MD"

"Ok, then can you please provide me with Mavis's email, cos I already have Mr. Lim's email in our system"

"blah blah blah at Hype Records"

then it dawned on me; It's not suppose to read lim blah blah ken, but rather, Ken Lim (as in Ken is a Christian Name, and not pronounced as KEN with a chinese accent, akin to GEN)

Ken Lim as in the Singapore Idol judge. Cool, i have his personal email, haha! Can't touch this!

I am seriously contemplating with idea of ripping off some emails esp those of companies like M & C Saatchi! Glance at my list, I'm calling Aussino tomorrow, hmm...time to snoop the company out.

one word: UNETHICAL

anyway, i just wanna show off my most prized collection of my shoes today, haha (in yer face)

Got them all from my hong kong trip last Dec, pair of boots from Prada for my winter (to NYC this end yr supposedly, but hell, me going europe instead to stock up on more shoes and LVs!) and the other two pairs are from gucci, think prada is better; lighter and softer leather and posher velvet individual bags for protecting the shoes! posh!


go ahead, roll eyes everyone...whatever~

gilmore glass

well well, just as i thought i have nothing interesting to link me one step closer to the elite and 'IN' crowd, desperate housewives, or mujeres desperados en espanol, came along on a monday night. This particular episode reconfirm what I've always believed in myself; no! not that I am always desperate, but rather, I do have good, or rather, great, taste.

Wonder if you guys noticed the glass ware that Eddie's boyfriend(Susan's ex) was holding at the beginning of tonight's episode on Channel 5, the green round glass display he was holding? well, here's some photos to jolt your memory.





yeah yeah, i konow i did say it was green, but then, that in la-la land. What is hown in the photos darling, is in reality. Yes, this indeed does belong to moi. Ha! Yada, yada, i can so see all of you guys out there whining and eyes- rolling now.

Well, anyway, I got this hand blown crystal from the states in the town of Millerton on NY State, which was actually where I spent some of my off days while at Sloane in Connecticut last summer. Yes, 2 different states indeed; oh what great memories of Millerton i had! I can still remember the junk food, soda grabbing spree I had at CVS on days off, watching Mr. & Mrs Smith at the cosy movie theatre, grabbing my favourite desserts (some of the best in the world) at this charming lil cafe, grabbing my Harney and Sons Tea by the truckload, and of course, the Chinese take-out restaurent where I had awfully bad General Tao's chicken, Moo-Gu Gai Pan, and Chow Mein. Lastly, my fav grab in my entire life-a 50 cents vintage sling bag from the garage sale, which sadly, have broken now, but hell, I'm upgrading to a LV reporter this fall!



Look at the nice town! I absolutely dreaded the place last time, that was actually before I found out all the great shops! Ha! The theatre is the building with the clock tower; just to remind you to never be late for your show! Can't believe this was all happeing last summer, seems so surreal! i miss millerton, the lush green of sloane, my friends, and surprisingly, the kids. it's them that made my last summer so special. but then again, maybe it's cos i'm sloggin away now at BDO that makes me so nostalgic. i am sure this Fall will be as good as last summer! here's to europe!

anyway, here's a camp fire song i had from last summer:

Black Socks
Black Socks,
they never get dirty,
the longer you wear them,
the stronger they get,
sometimes,
i think i should wash them,
but something inside me keeps saying not yet,
not yet, not yet, not yet...

all-righ-tee

it dawned on me that this blog is actually still alive and kicking! and i thought i'll be like so totally over it by the 2nd week. Third week and it's till going! Though moi's slightly tired now, but I am sure I'll be able to get an adrenaline rush once there's something juicy to share.

well, knocked off at 5.45pm on the dot today and manged to be home and shower and finish dinner by 7.15! cool ,or like what bimbo jie said when when I first met her: funkie munkie! (can't believe moi gotta stoop so low in order to get my point across, it sure is tuff being a blogger)

had lunch with 3 interns from other department as janet and sok teng was stuck at work piled to them last min by kelvin(workaholic guy whose idea of lunch is to eat in so that he can get more work done; one description: roll eyes, HARD)

anyway, went for lunch at this ultra ulu place at Mediacorp opposite MAS building (not caldecott hill, dah-lings) and they all Q-ed for this Bak Chor mee that costs whopping $4 (at such a place?) which just confirmed my theory that all hawkers at CBD are out to rip ppl off! Anyway, I paid $3.50 for my Jiao-Zi La Mian (SMU's one so much better even though it sux like hell)

Oh, and I managed to finish Everyone Worth Knowing over the weekend too. Great book, but still prefer Devil Wears Prada. I am so not interested in the love tryst/seduction/flirting/secretly in love with the hunky male kind of storyline; the only things that gets me reading is the bitchy world she actually works in, Manhatten Glam PR World. Anyways, the story supposedly climaxes in the Playboy party that the main character helped to put together. Whatever, so over it now! Still miss all the Jimmies, and Manolos in Devil.

Contemplating if I should start on the thriller Mary, Mary. But figured that it'll be to wait till after my wisdom tooth surgery in July; I need something to kill time then.

Oh, on my way back today, don;t know exact reason, but my mind kept thinking of LV Reporter bag and the wallet with exterior coin pouch which Adeline want me to get for her from europe, which just make me myself the urge to own one too.

tooth fairy, grant me a wish

extracted my upper right wisdom tooth just minutes ago. process was, like last week, fast and painless. need less to say, The Hands were there again.

The tooth turned out to be not as badly decayed as the upper left tooth which was extracted. Oh, and I have scheduled my surgery for the lower right tooth on 15 July. Pain and hell; so fun.

I realised that the people going to dentist are mostly guys, which makes me wonder if it is really true that guys are indeed getting vain. I mean, even for moi, i do not even bother to go for teeth cleaning and get my teeth whiten/polish/veernered. Rather spend that money on my favourites - shoes and bags (not hand bags! but rather sling bags; roll eyes)

managed to read female at the clinic whilst waiting and saw article on, what else, bags! so excited that i nearly jumped out of my seat (if not for the mucho guy seating beside me, i would have really jumped with joy). Featured article was on the various IT bags from various designers, the LV Speedy (which was apparently designed for Audrey Hepburn), the Chanel 2.55 (which actually represents the date it was first conceptualized), and of course my current fav, Bottega Venneta and Hermes Birkin. But why are the Dior Sadle and Loewe Amazonia missing, to think you guys dare to miss out on such iconic bags out and put in some cheesy brand (i understand the Fendi Baguette, but why YSL? Call yourself editors!)

Note to self: Singapore fashion magazines sucks as they report on trends from 2 seasons ago, and they will always be behind and lagging simply because writers here are too lazy to think of original trend spotting articles and instead, sit on their chairs and wait for the US/UK editions to be out so that they can recycle (which by the way, is so not in vougue!) the stuffs from there.


My LVs and Chanels! Ha!


Grant me a wish! I want never-ending cash to be spent at Hermes!

full and full

hola todos! hope no one's missing me for the last 24 hours! well, well, moi went through so much this Vesek day that i can barely contain myself!

started the day when steven called me before noon; now, i do not know about you guys out there, but on a day where i have no school or work to do, i so do not wake up before noon! now, steven actually was that stupid enuff to call me at 11.40am and i i can mutter was, well, let';s just keep stuff here PG rated, but you get the idea i am sure (especially most of you know how bi-o-tch moi can really get)

tried out the english afternoon tea buffet at goodwood park with steven, kiyo, josephine and brandon. it was good! at 30+++ i find it worth every penny (but once in a long while is good enough; there are better ones out there i am sure) and since i absolutely adore everything ang-moh; read: glenn wharton-ish, all the pastries and sandwiches on display is just amazing! oh, and i finally tried chocolate fountain ages after it was first brough in by the line @ shangri-la (which inccidentally, moi has been trying to save up my money since 1000B.C for that ridiculously proced dinner buffet: nuff said) by the way, the buffet had a great selection of tea and since moi is an avid fan of teas, i am so in lover with that place! tried the sencha green tea with my hot items, and switched to prince of kandy to compliment my desserts (yes, the nice folks over at goodwood lets you have 2(!) choices of beverages)!

then, we all came to my place for a gret game or rather, great gameS of mahjong. lady luch was on my side as i managed to win $$ from all of them! but alas, i am still short of 4 bucks to cover my losses last week, around 1am+ brandon came over to pick up josephine and we all went for a quick supper over at bishan street 24, kway chup actually - can't compare to the sandwiches though!


pastries, and fruits post-fountained


my prince of kandy tea, look! tea leaves, not bags! posh!!!


the spacious cafe at the lobby; nice plush seats!

oh.my.god

apparently, Miss J is able to see ALL of my emails from my BDO account. All of those bitchy, naive, dumb, bimbotic emails I've sent out even if I do not CC it to her. And boy, did moi leaarn it the hard way. Sent an email this morning to my Tina telling her bout meeting tonight, and ended with spanish saying that moi shall correspond with her in spanish in case someone can read what I'm typing on my lappie at work.

After lunch, had an email from Miss J that reads: Hablo Espanol tambien. Ha! (=I speak Spanish too! Ha!)

Guess who's having the last laugh. HA!

hello, hello?

oh.my.god. what a day (and for many more to come)! called like 30 out of 1000's of companies to verify their details.

one lady was sprouting such atrocious english that moi thought she's from another planet!

as usual, certain peeps are nice, but mostly the aunties are rude. can't really blame them since i give them the benefit of doubt that they all never make it to university. in fact, can speak english is good enough for them. singaporeans really do speak horrible english. just walk down raffles place at lunch time and you'll know what i mean; all those university obviously ain't doing much, which only makes those without tertiery education worse. I know I am elitist today, but blame it all on those aunties at the other end of the phone. bitchy mode so switch on right now...

pity all these happened after lunch time, if not conversation with sayang madhi will be never-ending! madhi is so cute! brought me to an underground Banquet foodcourt at Arcade (moi walked like 2 km to get there, madhi better be meeting moi at lau pat sat next week!)

oh! saw jeremy too, and boy, he so looks like anthony ler (the smiling murderer) today. shudder.

i laughed. i laughed out loud.

Back from work today with half my body drenched; luckily i did not pull a janet jackson in CBD at rush hour as moi was saved by the sling strapped across my chest. Did tons of reading (again! what's new anyway) while rest of interns were busy entering data, or crunching ratios and doing discounted cashflow. Started to realize that Corporate Communications is so not needed in an Accounting firm.

By the way, saw this "motivational" letter on BDO International website that "Since Big 4 are perceived as cold and arrogant, hence BDO is not eager to be one of the Big 5, we are happy to be the top player catering to a niche market of small businesses" - something along that line. I laughed. I laughed out loud.

As for my workload (if any) today, I was so busy pretending to be busy with reading through what I've read yesterday(twice), that my friend sitting opposite me really thought that moi was busy with work. I laughed. I laughed out loud.

Had this big hoo-ha at office from morning till past lunch time with trying to configure my wireless, then later, back at home with moi wireless. What a day with wireless. Then, realised that the office system will miraculously disable any connection to MSN and MSN Web. I laughed. I laughed out loud.

Apparently, I have to call hundreds and hundreds of SMEs and verify their contact details throughout these 10 weeks (Miss J tells me to spent maximum of 1 hour each day, and she reckones it'll be roughly 200 per day) because, "BDO caters to SMEs" and that is where their niche is. I laughed. I laughed out loud.

I was also asked to read Business Times (which is actually a very good read) to seek out news on SMEs, FRS, and any seminars held by competitors etc etc... Asked Miss J if we were to utilised such articles on SMEs for our newsletters and all she said was "Well, it's just reading so that we know what's happening, we don not really include it into the newsletters, but rather to help us know what they are up to, you know (what I mean)" I do not know what she means. I laughed. I laughed out loud.

But, there's always light at the end of the tunnel (gasp). I'll be given my own email (yeah!)so that I can email the SMEs (sad!) from a BDO address and not moi's unglam SMU or Gmail account. And dear Miss J mentioned that I'll be the sole intern with an email address. Wondering if it'll be a generic one like information@bdo.com.sg or ccs_intern@bdo.com.sg or worse, intern001@bdo.com.sg. I laughed. I laughed out loud.

Operation Intern

Ever heard of horror stories from your friends that they were all being mistreated while carrying out their internships? How they were made to Xerox books after books for like 3 hours straight? At the end of their internship, they have to crack their brains and reflect what they actually did for the company other than making coffee for their supervisors, getting their tongue all dried up by licking on envelops to seal them, and of course, blinded vision by constant Xerox rays.

Apparently, none seems to be true to BDO. In fact other than the fact that moi was reading tons of publicity materials and brochures from member firm worldwide, I did nothing else today. I am not complaining of course, moi actually interns in the corporate communications department hence I understand that it is very important to know the corporate image moi needs to undertake when bitching about my company to others on print. Speaking of which, boy oh boy, BDO in U.K. and Australia have very impressive printouts! The U.K. firm actually hires cartoonists to draw out wonderfully brilliant images for them, just take a look at http://www.bdo.co.uk/!

I had a great manager whom I report to – the lovely Samantha J (can’t reveal last name in case she appears under Google and moi will get fired and bid tata for bitching about the firm; but then again, I am the only intern in this department at the firm) She’s actually from U.K. and has been in Singapore for 6(!) years already! Plus, she actually has a degree in Law (!!) from one of the top universities from there (only found out the location was in Wales, but not the name of it)! And she is gorgeous! In a sea of corporate outfits which everyone is wearing, she stands out in her all black ensemble of sleek top(none of those boring office blouse for Miss J, thanks!) and nice slim fit pants, which just enhances the delicate features of her never ending legs, and short tussled blond crop! Screams chic-cool!

Well, as expected, there were around 20+ interns in all posted to various departments, but none with me. Nonetheless, I share an office on the 6th floor (the main office’s on 7th with around 4 department like Auditing and Taxes, read: very Accountancy related) with like 20+ other peeps including at least 8 interns (my floor includes 5- 6 departments like Risk Management, Corp Fin, HR ++). Have my own desk, but opted to bring my personal lappie instead of waiting for them to install a desktop installed with Windows 98 (yes, 98!).

Went to Raoul's sale at Hitachi towesr and managed to wrangle my way through and snatch 2 shirts at $130.They are selling all those disgusting ugly designs from 10 years ago, but I managed to get onw plain white and one blue shirt which I was looking for anyways, no stripes this time thanks. Can't imagine what I had to go through! Wonders where these ladies get their strength from. Was so tired and traumatised after battle at the shop that moi went into a stage of stoning while paying the bill.

Note to self: Singapore sales sucks, and they will always be! Save up and shop overseas instead where there're no Operationally Ready for Battleground Shopping Females!

Signing off with a pic of my pantry – UNGLAM!


Figure no difference it'll make if i included the water dispenser to right of fridge anyway

strip(p)ed feelings

That was supposed to mean striped, as in horizontal or vertical lines, and not strip(p)ed as in not wearing any clothing or loin cloths or leaves.

anyway, less than 10hrs to go before I'm due to report for my internship at BDO Raffles, which I am so excited! Really ought to thank my bitching buddy K.S. for obtaining the namecard for me. Not for him, I'll probably be spending my days in school now doing term 3A with some Indian professor spouting technically challenging terms for FIIM.

Just exchanged email with Hayley, one of my closest friend I've made from Sloane last summer, to tell her about me going to Europe this Fall, and she was so sweet to tell me to drop by Manchester to relieve our kids-bashing moments! She also said something which really strike me: Internship sounds important. Reflected upon that and I guess it does matters to a certain extent. The description 'Internship" just sounds so much more grand than "Attachment' or worse, 'Industrial Attachment'! Ha! Maybe that's just another of my stupid thoughts.

I was in dilemma for a good half hour deciding which shirt to wear, then another 30 mins on which tie to match while facing my shirts. Opted for a not too loud slim vertical striped shirt with a brown tie with diagonal bold stripes, and my newly bought cheapo pants from Zara. Should stop torturing those ck pants after countless wearing, and hate to have tight crotch in those woolen Hugo, besides, temperature's too high for my balls to sweat! Ha.

Note to self: behave really well and try not to scare others tomorrow; do NOT bring up, and don't even THINK of the conversation that "I intend to bring my tea sachets in 3 different varieties and those tea-time cookies on first day of work, but decided to not do cos' it's so embarrassing and inappropriate to be munching away on first day of internship"

between elections and chips

Well, well, well, the dust has finally settle and, as most people have guessed when placing their bets with their friendly neighbourhood bookie during the last 9 days when dear Singapore has no government, the PAP has swept 82 out of the 84 seats in parliament (I should so be writing something more interesting).

Met up with Adeline and Mel last night for dinner at J8, but dear ol' Mel pulled a fast one on us and went MIA for nearly 2 hours. Nonetheless, the lack of his presence did not affect our appetite at all. Besides, moi have more issues to think of and to bitch about with Ade. Avid readers would have also realized that moi actually extracted one tooth around 2pm yesterday, and some of you may be questioning my ability to chew my chow; fret not, as even moi was surprised at the rate I was chewing and yakking none stop despite blood still oozing out from there (not there, u ass!).

Anyway, Mel finally called us after what seemed like eternity (abit it's actually eternity of fun times without his constant horniness and bad bitching, ha! ), while Ade was busy shopping for a new suit at G2000; no thanks to her great frame and classic taste, she managed to pick up a gorgeous set of matching jacket and trousers which is simply divine. Somebody pass her that pair of Jimmies and she can so kick some serious ass in her office! Consider moving on to some glam PR job instead of being a civil servant maybe?

Apparently, Mel fell asleep, though moi suspect he was actually knocked out by his sis for being an irritant, and thus missed the dinner. Still, he came over to my place where we three watched CNA for the elections results, and the rest is history.

Just really surprised that Workers Party managed to get a a decent share of the voters' vote, despite the loss, moi thinks that WP does have some future afterall.



Okay, so WP did not get Aljunied...nothing left watching on TV then.


Ha! Papparazi at work and managed to get that ever elusive Mel

dental visit

My, oh my! Apparently, lucky moi needs to undergo surgery to remove both of my bottom wisdom teeth and(!) as if that's not making you scream yew! ouch! and get you screeching in your chair, moi needs to extract both of my top wisdom teeth as well; how fun, and I am so not enjoying it.

nice dentist lady told me that anyone sane will, of course, not do all four teeth at one shot, and decided to first extract my top left tooth, which as she shown me earlier, is rotting and decaying with nice lines and cracks of black. The procedure was not that bad, as I was given three(3!!!) anesthesia shots into my gum, yes indeed, into my gums; rumors of such shots being excruciatingly painful are not exactly 100% true. The assistant then proceeded to hold my head with both(!!) of her hands and dear dentist quickly, and swiftly did something; my eyes was shut ever since The Assistant held my head with her hands(still in shock!); trust me all you darlings reading this out there, I could have swear that was a scene absolutely perfectly slated to be in your next summer hollywood blockbuster about how dentist and their assistants are actually all aliens cutting up us human beings. It was a very very fast procedure, and not as painful as I had expected. I am all hyped up for the other extraction scheduled on next Saturday! Yeah right.

Saw the x-rays of my bottom wisdom teeth, and boy do these teeth have a wandering life of their own! Both of them are grown in a complete gravity defying manner of being horizontal! Actually there are perfectly horizontal. So horizontal that they form the X and Y axis with their neighboring tooth! Decided to go for surgery in July after I finished my internship and before starting my term 3B, so that moi will have ample time to rest and not kick and punch my fellow school mates by being a even more distracting force around campus.

Anyways, I've decided to kickstart my first photos on this blog with a BANG!, and what better way is there other than posting my forst widom tooth extracted?! I can so hear you guys and avid readers out there screaming for it already, so here you go!


Specimen A: Bloody Freshly Extracted Top Left Wisdom Tooth


Specimen B: Specimen A after a good wash

all for now, need to get that one way ticket to Ethiopia a.s.a.p

everyone worth knowing

Now, I've been told that I got like tons of personality, hell, some even say I may be a schiz sufferer in constant denial.

Finally managed to edit the links on my blog, on my own no-less (do I hear claps?), and (!!) also, I managed to add in the flikr photos thingy you're seeing now to your right --> How fun is that?! I also added my photo onto my blog so that everyone will now know who moi is and can now come killing me with that parang you've been wielding ever since you realized you're one of the many people whom I had bitched about.

All these, and 5 chapters of Lauren Weisberger's book Everyone Worth Knowing with my agua con gas con limon, ever since the last post; I must really bored at home, huh? Figured that reading a chick lit at home is much better than on the subway during rush hours with everyone watching over my shoulder and questioning my sexual tendencies, or during lunch break at Raffles Place with (again) hundreds of eyes watching me and (again) questioning my sexual tendencies, It simply boils down to questioning my sexual tendencies appaently...ha ha ha. Which explains the purchase of murder mystery Mary, Mary by acclaimed thriller writer James Paterson (touch of masculinity on genre yet setting of novel among the elite Hollywood Hills mansions screams Manhattan chic) for my public reading.

Also (finally) received a call from this very nice sounding guy from BDO Raffles telling me what to wear (apparently, moi needs a tie on Monday, and judging from prior visits, everyday too; which just screams either a)over stifling routines in tight collars, b)memories of JC days, c)going through 15 minutes in the a.m everyday trying to tie a tie right and perfect with the length, knot et al, or d)time to go shopping for ties to destress from thoughts of (a), (b) and (c)).

Full circle, sans the advice slip from UOB though

killing me softly

It's getting tiring! Well, apparently, moi will be starting my internship in 2 days time and someone stuck in her tiny office cubicle had still not sent me the work place ethics and dress guide which she promised to send since last week.

probably she's still darn upset about the fact that she lives off a 2 by 2 meters area of workplace that is filled with countless paperwork that seem to never end. OR, she is out to Palais Renaissance or Hilton for the Designer Bazaar featuring Etro, Dries Van Noten and Cavalli to be held today. And she's been in line waiting since we last exchanged emails. But again, maybe that's just me and my alter-ego, and I think I'm probably more excited about the not-yet-delivered workplace dress guide more than the ethics thingy.

On top of that, something's been bugging me for the past 2 days, and no, it's not about 'me and my ever shrinking bank account' or 'Which Etro Shirt 2 Buy'. It, actually, invloves something more IT, anyone know how to edit the links in my sidebar? I've been trying to edit it, but cannot seem to find the function.

help please?

between cents and sense

Have you ever wondered what one'll do after he/she retires and have all the time in the world? Can someone really just sleep through the day and chill out by watching countless hours of channel 16, drinking tea, eating pastries and book reading for 24/7 for the rest of your remaining lifespan?

Occasionally, it's wonderful to just take 24 hours and have some pamper doing nothing time, but after a while, as with all the tireness associated with working your butt off trying to make a decent wage in this world of ever rising product prices that seem to even challenge the growth rate of India and China, everything, when done to the core, just become numb and painfully traumanting both emotionally and physically. Welcome to the world of ultra long holiday break for the young, and retirement for the aged(sounds much better than old).

I was awoken up by a 'gong-ing' noise emitted by the heavy duty water pump from the maintenance worker cleaning my HDB corridor (yes, moi actually does live in public housing contrary to what most thinks) barely 5 hours (!!!) after I went to sleep after The Game, and decided to make a trip down to UOB to TT the deposit over to Vienna, only to realized that our ultra efficient banking workforce which our nation prides need to take 4 hours to TT mi dineros over to Austria where it just takes barely even 1 minute to help you deposit your money; with that rate, the money would have been able to travel to the NYC - thrice. While waiting in line for the 2 min procedure which was completely DIY even though the application form has like tons of cheem banking codes which neither me, nor any of the 4 million population in Singapore will be able to comprehend, I realized that I may be the youngest adult there in the bank. Apparently, retirees have the habit of waiting in line waiting to update their passbook to see how much they are given from our government's progress package. Either that, or, the richer aged will be pestering their financial planners seeking the best advices for unit trust or investments options. By the way, consider yourself lucky to be reading this, there's a new trust by UOB that focuses on global commodities and I think that it is a very good bet to place tu dineros in.

Anyways, after applying for the TT, UOB will need to take at least 2 working days to send my the confirmation slip through snail mail, no email, no fax; unless you provided the fax number when you first applied to open an account, not the transfer of the money, with the bank. Which makes me wonder, what if I decided to buy a fax machine somewhere in between the timeline of setting up an UOB account and say,the TT of the money? Well, friendly customer officer told me that moi will have to send in a formal letter to the bank telling them to fax, instead of mail, the debit advice to moi.

By now, if you are following closely, you may have realized, after I applied for the TT of the money, and I want the advice by fax, the day UOB received my letter will be 2 days after I went down to apply for the TT, which by then is when I would have gotten the debit advice confirmation from UOB in my mailbox.

Is it me, or does the procedure really does not make any sense?

Utterly devastated yet happy

Just finished a game of mahjong with my khakis; lost $23 bucks under 9 hours which works out to less than $3 per hour. I simply love mahjong, it is essentially the cheapest activity (depending on the bets) I can ever share with these bunch of friends whom I have known for 11 years. Yes, yes, more than decade; I so do not need to count the years.

Mahjong is the time where we can all bitch (my favorite activity which I pursue 24/7) and catch up on all those lost times. Stevie had just completed his exams today, Jos won't be starting till 30th May, while Kiyo is granted off for the next 2 days in preparation for his SATs. I do not recall having two (2!) days off for test preparation in my N.S. days, which makes me think that Kiyo either a) seduce his superiors or b)it's the elections nearing that prompted the kindness or c)I had a terrible superior (who happens to be one of my best bitching buddy today) or d)time have indeed really changed.

Anyway, I am always grateful and amazed at how much information can be exchanged within those rounds of 'PONG' and 'CHI' , and that most probably after 2.30 am. as Jos said, I'd go into this state of raunchiness and sluttiness where I'll literally touch myself when someone 'zi-mo'. Trust me, you so do not need to know the full details.

Obviously, I traded Zouk for the game session cum gossiping, which in my opinion is totally justified and an obviously good, if not perfect, alternative to what would have been a night of waiting aimlessly in line with other kids trying to get into the club, followed by banging head mashing music and terribly expensive drinks.

Arranged with them to try out high-tea at Goodwood Park next Friday (Vesak day) followed by more(!!) Mahjong over at my place. Simply can't wait!

Telegraphic transfers and laziness

Went down to OIR to submit my forms for the OK Orientation Program and Hostel Application today; all went well except for the fact that I realized there's a need to TT 450Euros over as deposit for my hostel in Vienna, and darn, the rate for Euro is not looking very pretty I must say. Met Ying, and she once again, confirmed that I am the lone ranger to Vienna, which makes me wonder(again) of she's just a terrific liar with all those experience in shutting annoying irritating prospective exchange students asking for more information or the fact that I am still in denial that I am really the single person going over (chances are, it's it's a mixture of both).

Prior, to OIR, I went to OCS to submit my indemnity form for my internship at BDO Raffles to Jannisis. Seriously, I do not understand why and how people can have time to appear so busy yet they are never efficient in producing swift replies and responses. If not for the fact that I went down personally, I doubt Janisis will even bother to ask for the form from moi. Just when Ying was telling me that I am efficient in giving her the form the very next day she emailed me, I was thinking that it may not be moi who's fast, maybe if you try to concentrate and not chat with 2(!) other people, maybe you'll get things going? Nonetheless, it may also be due to the fact that I am just rotting at home and not doing anything that could have prompted my efficiency. God wonders!

As I was on my way home, decided to pop by into my favorite cake shop Bakerzin to purchase my all time favorite cake from them-Strawberry Shortcake, only to discover that they have decided to market on Mother's Day by introducing a special limited edition Strawberry Shortcake rebrand/remodeled/repriced(!) call Indulgence. Yah, indulgence to indulge for that special woman in every man';s life - the Mother. Sometimes, I wonder why I always choose to patronize them again and again when their service sucks, refuses to give out tap water, and charge exorbitant prices for their food. Note to self: so trying to look for another pastry shop that is convenient and serve great strawberry short with fresh cream!

Finally reached home after 1 hour out with my overpriced cake and a pack of Shilin XXL Chicken from J8 (can't they just add pork to their menu?!) and told, or rather, bitch to Mum about the cake for her which is supposedly for me. As I was slicing it up, she just conveniently took a strawberry from mine, ok, sop maybe she really thought the cake was for her even though she can't eat it (diabetics), and I am sure that on the previous 10 occasions I bought the cake, she simply refuses to eat, and even touch it. Talk about Bakerzin being smart enough to do some re-packaging and even the most ostentatious people will bend. Seriously though, happy mother's day.

Ivy had arranged for Zouk meet up later and till now, I am still wondering if I should get de-flowered by my first Zouk experience in my 23 years or just stayed at home and hone up some lame excuses. Meet at 10.30, and I'll have to go through so much stuffs just to meet them; I am so darn lazy!

xoxo

It's been a year?!

Here I am sitting in front of my lappie and reverting back to the one past-time (or was it simply another of my avenues for ranting and bitching about my otherwise mundane and inane life) which I thought I'll never ever do again!

It has been almost 2 years since I've last logged into blogspot, not to mention update the blog; nonetheless, I've decided that it is now time to pick up all those fragments and once again, I'll need to piece everything together (again!) All thanks to my addiciton of snooping around the web for blogs, I realized that other then my laziness and one finger typing that really really really hinders my efficiency, there really is no other way for me to rant out! Besides, if ther's a need, I'll simply turn on the speaker function in this baby gadget and let the auto thingy decode all my thoughts and pen down all my emotions para mi instead. Praise the lord for amazing technology, but shame on me for refusing to use it!

Anyway, after getting busy with all the reading of the blogs out there, and especially on food and traveling, I realized that it is essentially important for me to flunt and share with the whole wide world my travel viajes (journeys) all over Europe this Fall when I'm doing my exchange studies, and also, the World, though I think it's gonna be so difficult to even attract somebody to read it!

To top it off, I am startled to find out that it is almost a year since I've been to the States last Summer in Sloane! Time really flies! Well, that's another story altogether...

Nonetheless, here's to a fresh start!