i don't think i did very well for my house drawing above, but for the sake of the personality test, i did it anyway :) been really busy looking at figures for the entire day. i needed to draw some pictures to relieve my eyes from all those numbers! checked out shan's blog on the house personality test and the results are pretty accurate.
Your house tells the world that you ought to be a leader. You are a freedom lover and a strong person. You are shy and reserved. If you've drawn a cross on each of windows, you always want to live alone. Once you have a problem, you need a friend with you. son. You will avoid being alone and seek the company of others whenever possible. You love excitement and create it wherever you go. You see the world as it is, not as you believe it should be. You added a flower into your drawing. The flower signifies that you long for love. It also safe to say that others don't see you as a flirt. You don't think much about yourself.
~gracie left a note at 3:29 pm
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Car Conversations i have always enjoyed car rides - not because i get a free ride home, but i really feel that car conversations are the most memorable things on earth. i was browsing someone's bloggie today and the author reminded me of all those car conversations i have had with adr. i must say, our weirdest jokes, our darkest secrets and even our funniest jokes came out of our car conversations. i love those times and i guess im going to miss them when he's away.
perhaps i should say, our friendship started from our long car conversations...we would sit in the car and we would chat till the cows come home. it's times like these that you get to pour out your heart and soul - most of the time, heartfelt words that spring up from the bottom of our hearts. many a times too, what we say comes as a surprise and i realised too, that there is a whole lot of him that i haven't gotten to know. time always flies. and i have always wished i had more time...
you know how very often, we live our lives in our masked worlds that we really dont come to terms with our own real self until we are placed in a quiet, secured and enclosed environment to open our hearts up. and sometimes opening our hearts up to people around could be really scary, especially when you don't know how much to trust people around. but with your soulmate, i believe you can.
So soulmate, when will our next car conversation be?
~gracie left a note at 4:36 pm
Corporate Communications Executive this has always been a dream job. i wouldn't say it is a job that is much sought after in the market or a money making career many would slog for, but it has been something that i have always been wanting to do. all my life, i was never really trained in communications. never attained a mass comm degree nor scored As in public speaking nor given the opportunity to explore the areas of Marketing and Public Relations. but i guess since young, i have always been a die-hard chatterbox, who just cannot stop yakking :)
before i left tds, someone asked me: gracie, what is one thing that will motivate you so much that you would be willing to pull up your sleeves and dig your hands in? and without a doubt, i told him, it is communications. it has already become part of my life, my passion. and with a smile, he urged me to jump right in. what enlightened me from our 1hour conversation was really this encouraging statement: gracie, it doesnt matter how long you start the race, but how you end it. how inspirational.
sometimes we sit down and wonder...we are not trained or schooled in the best university... we do not have the relevant experience or skills. the rat race here has molded everyone to be so focussed on the achievements and getting the best, that very often we forget our primary passion and life's motivation. it really isn't about achieving, but the process of getting there.
i have been trained in historical research and sociology - nothing at all relevant to communications. but now that i have started to dig my hands and feet into event management, seminar training sessions and exhibitions, im beginning to find new sense of work fulfilment.
even though i still find myself swimming in the sea of new environment and adapting to new styles of working, i feel good about being able to find my way around eventually. i recalled how i started my first day not knowing a single thing about microelectronics, and truly struggle to reach the sky without knowing where's the ladder. when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. how true. i wouldnt say that my struggles have ended... but as i remembered my passion, i know all is well :)
~gracie left a note at 1:48 pm
Monday, August 27, 2007
Forever Love i thank you for all the great moments for all the laughters you have added for all the shared secrets we shared and all the lil' bits of fun we had --------------------------------------{-@ im listening to Wang Lee Hom's Forever Love.
have you met anyone who has been able to pull the love chords of your heart and made you feel that he or she is your forever love? im sure the search isnt an easy one, especially there are so many zillions of people out there to meet. sometimes it may be difficult to think about the word forever, because there's just too much impermanence and fragilities in life.
no matter how things may be in the future, call me a dreamer or a romanticist, i choose to believe that there is forever love somewhere. and yes today, im thankful, because i think i have found...my forever love.
rain rain rain... grrr. bad weather. i hate gloomy weathers because number one, me is very lazy. i don't like carrying umbrella in my bag!! and number two, my laundry is piling up! and when i do attempt to wash them, they have this sickening dampy feel and non-sun-ed smell!! where's my sun? and number three, my office cubicle transforms into a freezing Cold Storage. boo, i miss the sun! miss it LOADs.
just this morning, i decided i better be safe than sorry. went up to my drawer, pulled out the small red umbrella which served me pretty well during the cold autumn showers in Melbourne. i smiled to myself as i placed the umbrella in my bag thinking to myself, yay! i won't be stucked in heavy rainfalls because i have my pretty umbrella.
and true enough, when i got out of the train this morning, it was raining cats and dogs. and as usual, walked the sheltered pathways to the bus stop and rushed for the SBS bus. when i alighted at the bus stop 50metres away from my office, it was still raining quite heavily. how glad i was to have brought my umbrella!
to my embarrassment, as i unfold the pretty red umbrella, it suddenly dawned on me that it's been years since i opened it up. the wires were coming off and the button's breaking apart. worst still, it has holes! -.- i ended up singing, raindrops are fallin' on my head through the 50 metres journey to work this morning. of course, not literally!
yes. i was drenched.
moral of the story? .. .. .. buy a new one!!
~gracie left a note at 10:51 am
Sunday, August 19, 2007
a special memory some special moments are shortlived short sparkles in the air fireworks of joy but always remain a memory that when you look back in time you can just smile and thank God that all that has ever happened was beautiful and good
~gracie left a note at 5:41 pm
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
The 7th Month i've been reading shan's blog and realised too, that the eerie month has started this week. and i'm reminded of all the smoky burning incense and noisy stage performances under my hdb block which i dread almost every year -.- my usual complaints every year - my leaking nose and sleepless nights. and my ultra sensitive nose has started leaking since day 1... grrr.
maybe i never appreciated the importance of this festival since im not a firm believer of the returning dead, ghosts or spirits making thier annual pilgrimage back into the land of the living during this lunar 7th month. this is also the favourite time where the movie theatres would show creepy, ghostly shows to reach box office sales. i dont normally go for such scary movies as i never like to pay for fear inducing movies, but with the exception of one which i watched recently.
this local production, i'm sure many of you have already known or seen, is a clever production put together by royston tan. perhaps because royston was from tds, but i'd say i've become an ardent supporter for local films. this is a musical featuring the strong sister-ship of the Papaya sisters who sang and performed at 7th month makeshift concerts. and because most "getais" are hokkien-songs based, i found myself reading the subtitles most of the time just to understand the meaning of the lyrics. but really, it's a very well done film production, bringing out the essence of real sister-ship. aunties who sat beside me were sobbing quite badly at its most touching portions of the movie.
i didn't really enjoy the movie FULLY because a bunch of noisy girls sat behind me. what was worst was whenever there were funny scenes, the ah-lian would kick the back of my chair in excitement. and all through the movie, the bunch of them would giggle, make fun of the lines in the movie. sickening¬
if you have not caught 881 - catch it! it's not creepy and definitely a musical with lyrical story telling worth watching.
~gracie left a note at 1:39 pm
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
meteor showers... i don't profess myself as an astronomer, but im pretty fascinated with the mysteries above that i cannot seem to fathom. that's right. i love star gazing and have always enjoyed every single trip i had with adr.
honestly, call me sua-gu, i have never seen a real telescope in my entire life until last saturday. we have promised each other we would catch the meteor showers on aug 12 midnight, but we kinda got carried away with catching Rush Hour 3 that we totally forgot about it. trying not to disappoint me, adr and i still star gazed from his windows facing the east.
what could you possibly see from the windows? the city lights were too bright. and the clouds fogged our view. i remembered the only thing we could see from the telescope was the orangy planet Mars, which seemed to be the brightest that night. and well, i didn't get to see any meteors showers, as by the time adr set up his telescope, it was almost 4am.
as i watched him set up his big viewing mechanism, i thought to myself, perhaps the best starry hosts i could make myself instantly see was to conk out in bed and sleep :) hee. oops. that was eventually what we did! ha. since we kinda missed our august 11/12 star gazing expisode, we are now hoping to catch the next upcoming Aurigids meteor showers next month. absolutely exciting and spectacular, as astronomers explained over space.com that Aurigids are rare meteor showers that would hit planet earth on 1st sep.
im now praying for cloudless night. no rain. and it would be just perfect to go out with the telescope!
above pic: images.com
~gracie left a note at 10:12 am
Sunday, August 12, 2007
pic: taken by shan. boys poking fun of each other! outside astons
The 4fps the boys had their astons reunion on national day. it was difficult to get the boys together cos' 3 of them are serving the nation. and when shan and i sat down to plan a surprise for adr, we realised how difficult it was to throw him a surprise because adr is simply too sharp with details!! but we all had fun. i guess ;)
~gracie left a note at 9:41 pm
Friday, August 10, 2007
amk hub the new amk hub isn't so new, since it's been up and running for quite awhile now. but for those east-siders who seldom travel up north, this could be a phenomenal building to explore. and so the story went like this...
rainer, shan, adr and i shared cab to go back amk hub yesterday after a good lunch at astons. while in the cabbie, i asked shan: have u been to amk hub? she exclaimed, i seldom come to this part of singapore. but i do remember reading in the newspapers that the fairprice at amk hub is ultra huge. then i added, blah blah about the size of the supermarket and asked her to come along since adr and i were going there to get groceries for dinner.
adr interrupted our conversation and said in a suan-ing tone to shan, 'eh. u very auntie lei.'
shan responded, 'what auntie!! newspapers say ma..then u also going to ntuc lor.'
then adr explained, 'i go amk hub ntuc because i stay around this area. u stay in the east, come ALL THE WAY here to the north just to look at how big the supermarket is?!'
shan couldnt take it anymore. she retorted, 'but that doesn't mean...'
adr added, 'my mother travels all the way from north to IMM in Jurong and marvels at everything she sees there. whoa that is so big.. only aunties will do that lor.'
i couldn't stop giggling. shan got frustrated with adr's teasing. *adr - can u be nice??
the best part was, the taxi uncle sniggered :)
~gracie left a note at 1:45 pm
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
SP2- 鸟不下蛋的地方 alice. you are right - SP2 is really 'ulu'! and there is only one pathetic bus service that brings the commuters right to their offices. and the bus crowd is horrigible. grrr -.-
just during lunch time, i shared with my lunch kaki that the culture here in the west isn't the same as the east. and she asked, how so?
and very quickly i answered, you would only see such a phenomenon over here - everyone has their access cards dog-tagged around their necks, even as they leave their offices for lunch. and it’s not just one crowd… it’s almost a predominant culture of this community!!
oh well. i got my staff pass today.
im officially part of SP2 community.
~gracie left a note at 4:50 pm
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Family sure, people would come visit, friends, associates, but it's not the same as having someone whom you know has an eye on you, is watching you the whole time. nothing else will give you that. not money. not fame. not work. - Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
powerful words. Tuesdays with Morrie encourages readers to think about a morbid topic – your death. it’s an inspirational dialogue between the author and his dying professor that truly brought out the meaning of life. “once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.” how true. and when you know you’re dying, priorities change. family becomes one special element that you’d really wana spend time with when you know your time is short.
as i recalled, i realized that my family is always there sticking by closely. i used to find them annoying, as i have always believed that im old enough to make my own decisions. i remembered feeling so embarrassed when my dad took the bus with me when i started secondary one. and of course, when i attended orientation at uni, my mummy followed me around the campus. when i started my first job, my parents brought me to my work place a weekend before. and now that i’m on my third job, they are still asking how my first day went. family is always there whenever i take major big steps into unknown. perhaps this book has reminded me to remember the goodness of some things that i have always taken for granted.
family is there for you all the time. always.
~gracie left a note at 9:04 am
Monday, August 06, 2007
simplicity... is all it takes to make everything memorable. or maybe, having the right companionship is the answer. shan, adr and i went out for dinner at orchard tonight. it never felt weird to have a trio outing! and shan, please don't feel that u r a lightbulb! i think we had fun! or maybe, i was the only one who was having all the fun?? *hmm.
we didn't go to posh restaurants. the food court dinner was just as great! even though we didn't have our usual breakfast or lunch at school today, i'm so glad we met for dinner. i think it's great to have shan around, cos i think sometimes i really run out of things to say :) and we managed to walk around paragon - checked out the crumpler shop and the marks & spencer biscuits. it's just great.
maybe it just takes a company of good friends to bring out the best in you. this is so true *grin
~gracie left a note at 10:54 pm
first day of work i couldn't sleep. duno if it's the excitement that got my adrenalin going or if it's the anxiety of the unknown. tossed and turned and barely caught a few hours of sleep.. the next minute i opened my eyes to alarm clock was 6.15am. yawn -.-
i knew that i couldn't afford to be late on my first day of work. rushed to the train station at 7am. why did i choose an office location so far away from home?! well~ what to do? sometimes we don't have the luxury to choose, do we?
while in the train, i pulled out "Tuesdays with Morrie" to read- an inspirational book which lm passed me. and yes, very quickly i sunk myself in the myriad of inspiring words of wisdom. and just this morning, i read:
"sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel. and if you are ever going to have people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them, too - even when you're in the dark. even when you are falling."
how true is that... so appropriate as i start my new job today. sometimes it is difficult to trust some stranger person you come into contact with through your work relations. and people can be cunning and shrewd. you never want to land yourself in corporate politics shit, yet you wana be accepted in the working community that you're put in. somehow everyone puts on a fakish mask. however, relationships being so mutual will require some sincerity on both parties to make them work. and when you don't trust ppl, they won't trust u too.
as i soaked myself in those thoughts, i realised i'm just one stop away from my destination. i was supposed to get to work at 830am and i was still waiting for the bus at 8.15am. the bus crowd is so bad in the mornings... people here really elbow each other just to get up the bus. it seemed like i'm living in another part of the world, where the culture is so different from the north!
yes. i was late for work today. thankfully, it's orientation in the morning. all the newbees were gathered together in a seminar room where we were given a 2-hr briefing on all that we need to know about the institution and intranet stuff. the next minute i knew, i was left alone in my cubicle without supervision. my boss is on mc today.
i'm kinda free today... just trying to keep myself busy with reading of reports and information stored in the computer. and that's why here i am... updating my first half of my day here. it is only 2.28pm and i've got 3 more hours to go. boo.
~gracie left a note at 1:34 pm
Sunday, August 05, 2007
farewell and welcome... i have realised that saying farewell becomes easier when you tell each other, lets keep in touch. and that it is just a momentary goodbye and you'd be seeing each other again. and while you are away from each other, you keep that hope in your heart that you're going to see them someday. goodbyes become really hard when you aren't going to see them ever again.
my last day at school was a special one for me. and it was great receiving encouraging emails that came through my staffmail before i shut down my comp for the very last time at 7.20pm. and saying farewell to special ppl here in school was momentuous for me, as i went around thanking everyone who has made my 1.5years a memorable one :) and special ppl include canteen uncle, short cleaner auntie, everyone in GO, deputy director and of cos, adr :) i know i will miss these special people heaps!
in less than 10hours time, i'll be stepping into a new beginning. an unknown. some parts of me are screaming in anticipation for a fresh start... a new working environment... a time to meet new colleagues and perhaps, gain new exposure in industry. i know i'll be closer to my dreams than ever, now that i've taken up the new offer.
i seem to be repeating what i have said earlier in previous entries. anyway, i'll update tomorrow about my first day at work. time to sleep and rest.
~gracie left a note at 10:04 pm
Thursday, August 02, 2007
The Simpsons Movie this cracks me up! if u need some funny entertainment, watch it! check out the trailer.. giggles.
~gracie left a note at 10:01 am
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
933 Radio today, i have the luxury of having the entire office to myself :) something which i'd miss when i move on to the new place i guess. anyway, i tuned up to online 933 radio and man! it's been sucha long while since aussie days that i tuned up to 933. and guess what's played?
meteor showers...
pic: taken by shan. boys poking fun of each other! outside astons