H and I will be meeting the contractors today for final tile selections and the purchase of toilet accessories. Then, hacking will begin on friday. Can’t wait to see the new place. It’s a pity my grandma went back to KL before seeing the new place. We brought her there once, but I think the place will look very different after renovations are completed.

My uncle and aunt have also been to the new place. My colleague and her bf too. They are renting an apartment somewhere and they need second-hand furnitures, so I told them to take a look at what we meant to give away. In the end, we gave them the 2 queen sized beds and bed frames. I’m happy to be able to help really. And play a part in conserving earth’s resources?

There’s a company event this friday which i’m helping to organize. Rather busy because of that. The lady from hr (whom i’m running the event with) told me that i could try out hr cos i’m interested, and i should also do events cos she sees great potential in me. haha. well. running multiple events will push my stress levels over the top. But i should say that the multi-tasking abilities i’ve picked up over the last few years certainly helped.

The tenants will be moving out tomorrow! Finally….. OUR OWN PLACE! It has always been a dream to have my own place and decorate it however I want. Now it’s really happening. EXCITED is an understatement. Gotta wait for renovation works to start and complete before moving in though. YES!!!

Less than 2 months to house moving The tenant is moving out this sunday, and we hope to start renovations next week actually. Can’t wait to see the 3D drawings. We’ve already sorted out the car park labels, how to apply for a utilities account etc.

That said, my grandma will be returning to KL soon. Next weekend, my uncle will come from KL to pick her up. We don’t have plans to visit KL anytime soon for now, so I hope she’ll visit again with my aunt in December. A pity she won’t be able to see our new place. I’ll definitely take more photos and send them to her.

Commencement is on the 9th of july. Speaking of which, i should check my seating arrangements and when I need to head down to collect the grad gown. Not surprisingly, my supervisor won’t be in town. I’m eager to see my psych friends again though!

Btw I’m meeting c and j this thursday. C messaged me last week and said that Dr S is asking for my full name to be used in an abstract. I’m speechless. Really touched he remembers that I exist. I sent him a short email telling him where I’m working at etc, and he replied within 24 hours, saying keep in touch. I’ll always be grateful!!!

lately i’ve been doing aerobics at home with my sis. it’s hard to find classes that fit out schedules outside (that are reasonably priced), and it’s fun laughing at each other. feels good to sweat it out. i desperately need to increase my activity level.

h and i watched Madagascar yesterday. it’s cute and quite funny. today, we’re going for a massage and hopefully catch one or two euro games late at night. i can’t wait to eat the durians at home too. i’m worried about the extra calories and the ‘heat’ from late nights + durians though.

by the way, our december trip to australia is confirmed! air tickets are booked. have no idea what we’ll do there yet. i’ll look into it slowly. meanwhile, i’ll be rather busy with house renovations. i really really really look forward to moving into my own place. august!!!

H and I are back from Phuket! We had a great great time over there, despite the bad weather and the rather remote location of the resort. But we would love to stay there again for our next trip, because it’s really beautiful and serene. The Westin hotel at Siray Bay. It’s far from Patong, but I can’t stand the noise and crowd at Patong area at night.

As I said, the weather was really bad. Intermittent rain on one day, thunderstorms on another. So we didn’t manage to participate in any sea activities. I thought we could go fishing or kayaking, but we ended up going for foot massages. They were really really cheap. And H had a lot of alcohol!

And I managed to give H a birthday surprise! When we returned from our city tour at night, the hotel staff greeted him at the lobby and presented him with a small chocolate cake with 3 candles and his name on it, and the Riesling I ordered for him. I think he really was surprised. I’m glad!

I’m flying off to Phuket next thursday Can’t wait. Everyone loves a holiday!

Not sure if I’d mentioned.. my grandma is here for a visit. I’ve been trying my best to spend more time at home, but it’s not easy on me because I can’t get to do the things I want/need to do. For e.g., sometimes after work you really just want to watch the tv on your bed, but I need to sit down with her and chat with her in the other room instead. So as a result, I haven’t been able to catch any full tv show for the past few weeks. I’m not saying that tv shows are that important. I’m just saying that I’m tired also.

Mahjong is another thing that I won’t really play when my grandma is not around. Mahjong puts me to sleep. But I try to organize games for her because she has nothing to do. And in the end I’ll get blamed because I organize the games but I myself don’t like to play. Wtf.

Anyway I’ve been trying hard to increase my activity levels and get more exercise into my life. I’m considering taking up Zumba classes with my sis, though the location of the class isn’t too convenient. We tried following some clips online yesterday and we both ended up with aching backs. Still looking forward to joining a class though.

I had a great time catching up with my school mates yesterday over dinner. Sm is now considering trying something outside academic research, while m is looking for a job to finance him for the final leg of his phd. hope they’ll both get something they like.

I also got a surprise call from zp yesterday. He asked if I can meet him for lunch and I told him that I will probably strike toto at night. We had lunch and he was talking about his plans and career paths. Wish him good luck. I still have to figure out what I want.

Commencement date is set by the way. 9th of july. I’m not excited about the ceremony itself, but I really hope to see friends once again. It’s incredibly difficult to meet people after graduation, especially in my line, because they tend to venture overseas and stay there for a long while, if not forever. Wonder if y will be back for commencement. She’s in Germany at the moment, and we do miss her quite a bit. She has finally finished her phd, and if I were her, I wouldn’t miss the ceremony even if I have stomach flu or fever!

I’m trying to plan an australia trip in december.. and it’s a lot of hard work because a lot of people are coming along. planning things that everyone will like will be near impossible. i still have no fixed plans as to where we are headed, or even how we’re going to reach certain destinations. hopefully i’ll get a clearer picture soon.

today’s mother’s day. everyone is preparing a dish at home today to celebrate the occasion. we also have a cake in the fridge. my grandma is here today. py is coming over too. i told him to come over to try our cooking. i hope the dinner will be a great success!

work has been alright so far. sometimes i wish that things will move along faster, but i guess when that time comes, i’ll be wishing that time will slow instead. i’m thankful that the company culture is pretty relaxed though. they don’t have fixed reporting times as well. even though it’s supposed to be 830 to 530, people come and go at slightly different times. so far, the bosses are pretty nice too. so i’m really appreciative and grateful that i got the job. they are only going to select 3 people out of the 1600+ applicants for the coming graduate program, so i’m lucky to be in it already. i wish the benefits will be better though

For the first time since I took up the job, I felt the stress and anxiety associated with the role. We were in a meeting discussing the changes to be made to the last report, and I kept wondering how it’s going to affect the next report that I’m supposed to produce. Wish me all the best! I’m finally seeing the true colours of consulting…

I’m meeting jk and p tomorrow to celebrate p’s birthday over dinner! (if she turns up, that is. her boss has been giving her hell i heard.) after 2.5 years (according to jk), the three of us finally met up for tea last saturday, and we decided to meet up for dinner again because it’s p’s 26th birthday. i hope i remember to take photographs! i brought my camera to our tea session on saturday but i forgot all about it. damn.

my grandma is visiting next sunday! time flies…. i actually managed to convince her to come visit, and i’m feeling proud of myself. she’s not that interested to visit initially, because her legs have been bad and she can’t walk around like before. i told her i’m graduating, my sis is graduating, we can take photos together. and my small sis wants to fly on SQ to kl and back, and she’ll only get to do that if my grandma is coming together. and then hopefully my house renovation will complete and she can visit the new place (come to think of it, it’s quite unlikely). and i intend to go to kl in august and i can bring her back by flight. wow i have good convincing powers

one last note about the house renovation. we just brought 2 contractors up to the unit this evening to take some measurements. so we’re waiting for detailed quotations and we’re going to decide who we want to hire. i think we both have an idea already, but we want to follow through the process. can’t wait to move into my new place. it’s going to be FANTASTIC!

I have stopped thinking about the phd for a couple of months… until I went back to school a few days back and I started talking to people. I really like academia life, the environment, the freedom and the ability to do your own research. But I’m still not convinced that I can or should do a phd. Oh well. I’m distracted!

That aside, I had a great time catching up with friends. Met M, T and S for lunch, and we were discussing T’s girl troubles and S’s upcoming japan trip. M’s supervisor is leaving, so he’s also having a difficult time ahead. Then I met NH, and till today I wonder why it’s much easier to talk to him as a student or friend, instead of working with him. I remembered how fed up I was. But what’s past is past Anyway, after that I had a quick chat with R too. Perhaps the only soul in the campus who lives without a handphone and insists on not having one. I miss these peeps! Hope we’ll keep in contact!