Decluttering Phase

So many things happening in my life now that requires me to declutter all my stuff.

 

Work

We are moving to our new building Menara CIMB in KL Sentral end of this week so we have to finish packing soon.

 

House

Toilet renovation almost done. I am SO looking forward for it to be complete. Then I need to slowly declutter my house in anticipation of the new arrival and start making over Tricia's room for the confinement lady to stay in.

 

Car

Hubby bought a new car, which we will receive sometime this month. Hence, I need to start clearing up stuff from my Inspira as we need to send it to be made up pretty soon. It's up for sale anyway. So if anyone here interested (which I doubt any of my reader would be), do let me know. I'm letting it go at around RM50K.

From work and weight to house renovation and vacuum cleaner

Work has not been slowing down as I expected. Just as I thought we have some extra time on our hands, it kept piling up again, with more new special projects coming up. It is becoming a norm to HAVE TO work on weekends. This is tiring especially when I have a major exam coming up in June and I have yet to study. =.= Signed up for a revision class in Sunway though next weekend. Hope to be able to cover the syllabus one round before I attend the revision class (which at this rate, is impossible). Paid RM720 for 3 days revision class and one mock exam. Hope it pays off.

All this stress is taking a toll on me and I don't know whether this is a good thing or not. Yesterday, after lunch I felt dizzy and little out of breathe. My initial thought was, am I having high blood pressure. When CY (colleague/friend/TCB batchmate) came in, he said maybe I was just tired. That is probably true as I have been sleeping late the whole week. I have even lost weight. 3-4 months gym workout could not give me this result. I am at my wedding weight now? I thought it was impossible to achieve. I still feel flabby though... looking at my fats protruding from every angle of my body. If this goes on, I might be able to achieve my ideal weight of 52kg after all.

Was it 3 weeks ago... I came home late from work on a Friday night and found out hubby took a room at Equatorial Bangi. The hotel was not bad at all. But I wasn't so thrilled because again, I had to work that Saturday so only went there to sleep. Hubby and Tricia got to enjoy themselves in the bathtub and had breakfast at the hotel. He later told me that the reason he needed to check into a hotel so much was because he smelled like cow dung after delivering cows during the day. So it got me thinking, why don't we buy a jacuzzi? As usual, when I got excited about something, I will keep talking about it and my colleague/friend/gym partner Soke Yee suggested that I go to perfect living expo in PWTC that coming weekend. Maybe I can get a good offer as the jacuzzi I was looking for apparently costs around RM10K. So 2 weeks ago, we went to PWTC for the expo. Initially found a 2-person jacuzzi for RM11K and it was not even that nice. Continued walking until the first hall and found this at a much lower price, 35% cheaper than the first one! Put in 30% deposit for it. There are a lot more choices, nicer ones but at a slightly higher price but I am opting for the cheapest one I can find first as we have many other things to think about. Maybe then if we have extra cash, we could change to those with see-through glass design. 

Our next problem is renovating the toilet. We know our toilets can't fit in this huge jacuzzi. It is a 5' x 5'. I wanted to renovate the toilet in our master bedroom upstairs because it will be in our room. But the renovation cost is going to cost a bomb. Extending our toilet downstairs make sense because we only need to do minimal renovation to extend it to our backyard and hubby was all excited to put it downstairs as we are practically living downstairs anyway. After a long thought, I told hubby, we might as well make a new master bedroom downstairs. It is going to be easier for me to when the next baby comes around. I can serve my confinement period downstairs without having to go up and down the stairs for water/TV/internet. The design has been giving me headache. We are going to get hubby's cousin Dira, who is an interior design student to design it for us. But first I need to know what I want, right? And I want to take down our 8-feet-cupboard downstairs with us. (This design was sightly altered by Soke Yee from my initial design.) I prefer Option 1 as it makes the room looks bigger and spacious but am still open to suggestions. We have not asked for an estimated renovation cost yet and I am just praying that we could afford it. All travel plans (other than the UK one for abang's graduation) has been cancelled.

One final purchase I am looking for now is a good water-based vacuum. One rainbow vacuum salesperson came to our house the other day. I wasn't even interested to listen because I knew the product already. I don't deny that it is a very good product and I want it very much but the price is just ridiculous. RM8K for a vacuum? That's a bit too much. Surveyed online and found people selling a 3-year one on mudah.my for less than half the price. I excitedly called my husband to tell him about it but he said he is tight on cash now so hold that thought. With sad heart, I let go. But last week, Soke Yee was also looking for a good vacuum. And we agreed that rainbow is a very good one. So we decided to call the seller. Funny thing is, when I told this person my name is Farah, she was confused because she said I sound like a chinese. Yes, my English now has a Chinese accent to it after more than a year working in this department. (Okay, that is definitely not a good thing.) Moving on, she told me that a lot of people are looking to buy so we must hurry if we want it. Soke Yee said she will think about it. After much thought and after telling her mom (she got scolded by her mom for wanting to buy a RM3K second-hand vacuum), we decided not to pursue it. She then threw me some other good vacuum names. And I think Dyson is a good alternative at only quarter the cost of a rainbow. Maybe later today or tomorrow, we can go around looking for one.

That's it for now. So many stories cramp up into one post while I have the time to blog about it. Now I am going to spend the little time I have with my babies until I have to go to work later in the afternoon. Until next time, peeps.

Sing/Swim/Slide away, baby girl

We are entering April already and I haven't progress anywhere with my studies. Sigh. But this post will be about Batrisyia. Her progress update. My baby girl now LOVES to sing and dance. We always sing and dance with her in the car and now even when she's alone, she would just simply sing by herself. Whenever she hears music that she likes, she would move her hand and body to the beat. It is such a heartwarming sight. Last month, we took her karaoke-ing for the first time in Nilai. Hubby took a huge room for her to run around. She had to much fun, made sound at the mic, climbed onto the table and danced to JLo's Dance Again song.

Last week, after I fetched her from Nilai, while in the car on the way back to Bangi, she sang MaMaMaMa! Tica Tica... Wahhh, she made a song out of that two simple words. When I was imitating her, she put in Papa into that equation. Of course, Papa has to be in. He is her best friend!

Tricia swimming class for this semester is done. We have about a month's break before they start a new semester. I must say I am not happy again. Teacher Bryan hired 3 new trainers for the baby class and I found these 3 new teachers are... well... New. Progress is slow again and they seem to repeat the same thing over and over again for Tricia. It is going nowhere. My colleagues have been telling me stories about their swimming class in Sri KDU. And their reviews sound good. Their FB page is AA Water Babies. Since we are always late for our swimming class, I was looking for a class for babies around my area. And Sri KDU is not anywhere nearer to Bangi than Shah Alam. Coincidentally, Abby sent me a poster of AA Water Babies classes in Bangi! So I'm going to try them out next week. Was supposed to go yesterday but I had to work Saturday. Not going to complain about that because we just got injected with a Booster. Life is good this year. Haha.

Hmm, what else. Oh, like any other kid, Tricia loves to play whenever she sees playground, be it indoor or outdoor. The first time we took her to play with the slide at McDonalds BBB, she didn't know what to do so she seem quite scared to go into the tunnel slide. Once I put her in and she knew what to expect, she got excited and kept going again and again. So now we will take her to play whenever we have the chance to do so... Dataran Nilai, Giant Nilai, KLIA, The Curve. Anywhere with slides! Hehe. Apart from having a jolly good time, it is good exercise for her too. She seems to observe what other kids are doing and kept imitating them, like climbing the slides from the front, going head first etc. Giving mama heart attack every time.

More new stuff

Hola people. The weekend is FINALLY here! What was supposed to be a relaxing week at work with all the monthly PnL stuff done, turned to be a super hectic week doing a special project. We even had to go back nearly 12am Wednesday night but the super exciting thing about it was: The big boss now knows my name! LOL. Yeah, it is a big thing to me, considering I wasn't officially acknowledged when I transferred in and after nearly a year joining the new team, it is nice to be finally recognised.

Last weekend was about catching up with family and friends. Saturday went to Dina's baby aqiqah. Sunday met my dad in the morning and went to hubby's schoolmate's open house. Hubby bought a new blackberry, Z10 by trading-in his HTC oneX and decided he didn't like it. So he went and traded that Z10 with a Samsung... was it Note 2? I'm not too sure. Had to take in a RM350 depreciation loss for using it for about 3 days.

As for me, I redeemed my credit card points for another DVD player so that both TVs have their own DVD player. The first one was redeemed too. I like free stuff. =p Decided to redeem it before hubby can say he wants to buy a new one. Haha. I was right. Right after I told him I redeemed my points, he said he WANTED to buy a blue-ray DVD player for his TV. Too late babe. Too late. =p And then, I also decided to buy a cheap AUTO washing machine since the one I had was semi-auto. Been complaining too much about the amount of washing I have to do to friends that they pushed me to buy a new one. Surveyed at one electrical shop, the lightest load around 6-7.5KG price were around RM750. Went to Seng Heng and found a Panasonic 6.5KG load for RM699 and extra RM100 discount for members. COOLNESS!

Matta fair is currently going on. Malaysia Airline also has their own promotion in March in conjunction with the Matta fair. So we bought our flights to London for abg's graduation in July. We don't quite look forward to it because it will be in fasting month. And the fasting time would be around 2.30am to 9.30pm! For Malaysians like us, that is seriously long. Hopefully it won't be too taxing on us and we can have fun and function normally. Bought Tricia a child seat although she is still entitled to infant ticket because we don't think we can handle holding her for 13 hours straight. Damaged done RM3.6K+ for adult and RM3.1K+ for Tricia... covered by dearest TokMama.

Oh yes, I just want to add: A tired mama is a useless mama. Last Sunday, after all the visiting and the shopping, I was trying to clean the house a bit but I was SUPER drained. Hubby was sleeping and Tricia was her usual active self. I was compiling hubby's work papers in a file and Tricia was circling me trying to take a cup of water by my side. I couldn't do it on the table or she would start to ask me to pick her up. So I did it on the floor. First, she fell down on the file and had two small cuts on her legs from the steel. Second, she managed to kick my cup and spill all the water in it. I was TOO tired to get up and mop the floor although I KNEW she would fall down if she slips. True enough she did and all I did was look. I couldn't even bring myself to pick her up and comfort her. Slowly I woke her papa up so that I could take my turn to rest... but only after I changed her wet clothes from the fall and then hug her to sleep with me. Woke up an hour later to a big portion of fried rice, prepared by dearest hubby.

Happy New Year, 2013!

I didn't feel like making it a big deal but when I read my past new year's posts, it was actually quite fun to look back. Hubby and I spent our new year's eve at the comfort of our home; playing Wii and watching TV with of course our beloved baby. 2012 has been kind. Here's a summary of the "happenings".

Work

I've been wanting to change my job so bad and I finally got it without having to leave my beloved company. It was a "bonus" to have friends as my teammates, guiding me through the new territory. And not long after I joined, we already got a new junior, which forced me to step up faster. So new year's reso #1: Catch up with work FASTER.

Baby

Batrisyia has been growing up so fast, I wish I could put a brake on it. People are making her a benchmark to track their children's growth and a lot of them got frustrated thinking their children are late bloomers. My advice to all moms out there... don't compare your child's growth to others. As long as you know it is normal, then let them be. Of course all moms want their child to be the best, to have the best... and as long as you are healthy and happy, I am a proud mummy, baby. New year's reso #2: Make time for and spend as much quality time as I can afford with my baby.

Travel

We started 2012 with me still being in confinement. It definitely didn't slow us down though. Went for holidays so many times that I lost count. Only went out of the country once in 2012 sending my brother off to study in Bristol, United Kingdom. Managed to slot in Vatican City, Rome and Capri Island in Italy. Plans for 2013? Still deciding. I'll be going to Singapore in January over the weekend since my mom has to attend a conference there. I'll be bringing Tricia but Hubby doesn't want to go. InsyaAllah going for my brother's graduation in July, which is going to be in fasting month but hubby doesn't want to go too. Thinking of slotting in Paris this time, on mom's request. Maybe going to KK with the Halim's family in June after CFA. New year's reso #3: not about travelling but pass my L2 CFA? Hahahahaha... My never ending story, man...

Money

Oh ya! We bought an apartment in Nilai... Starzvalley, right across Inti University. Still under construction at this very moment. Target completion time is end of this year 2013. So looking forward to that. It is an investment property anyway... so it's not like we are going to move. We have decided to delay our K5 purchase for possibly a year or so. Hubby refused to take our names out of the waiting list to ensure that his dream is still alive? Hehe. Also we max out on our ASB loans. One of the best decisions ever, the ASB loan. Dividend time (new year like now), we get to see our savings grow.

Health

Managed to keep my weight around my pre-pregnancy weight through out the year. Signed up at Fitness First very recently so that I can work out during lunch time. New year's reso #4: maintain a healthy body weight. I can put achieving a certain weight but I think maintaining a healthy weight is more important.

Did I achieve my last year's resolution. Not really but it wasn't that big a target. I wanted to use make up and wear high heels more often. But that's not REALLY what I wanted. I wanted to be confident with myself, my body again after my pregnancy. And happy to say, throughout the year, I don't feel too bad. So yeah, consider it achieved! On to the next missionS.

Term Structure and Hedging

Hi all. It's lunch time and I am reporting from my new department. Supposed to be studying but my studies is not progressing anywhere. =_= Why do I keep wasting my money enrolling for exams when I don't even put enough effort to pass it... Anyway, our team consists of 4 people including my boss. I am the odd one out in many ways:

1) I am the only Malay here. 

2) I am the only one married.

3) Consequently, I am the only one with a child. 

I used to wonder how my former boss in CIMB-Principal survived being the only Malay in the office. Now that I am experiencing it myself, it is actually not bad at all, as long as you can get along with your teammates, your racial background does not really matter anymore. Sorry if anyone finds this statement racist. I have no racial issue. It is just that... I used to think I would only feel comfortable if I have at least someone with the same background around with me... a mixture instead of being the only one singled out. But I am happy to report, so far I don't quite feel out of place (except when they buy cakes containing alcohol or go out to non-halal place for lunch =p Haha. Okay. Not that often.)

On the 2nd and 3rd category, I am hoping and praying that my boss will get married and have a baby soon. Wakakaka. Okay. Maybe not so soon but at least in 2-3 years time? Motive? So that she would be more understanding when it comes to family issue. Not that she's not understanding now but I also don't have a pressing need to be at home YET. I hope, when the time comes, when I need to be with my baby, she would understand what it feels like. Hehe. After all, she IS 2 years older than me. =p 

Master Chin at Central Market

I'm moving to a new desk effective next month. This whole month is my transitional period. Morning I will be with Money Sales. Afternoon, I will go one floor up to Term Structure Hedging. I have been unhappy with my work performance for awhile but I stayed on because 1) I feel the need to "give back" to the department for helping me getting my PKMC licence and accepting me into Treasury. I was told by a senior to stay for at least 2 years, which I did. 2) I wanted to move out last year but couldn't find any internal vacancy (by internal, I mean Treasury only) AND I got pregnant. So when I came back from maternity leave, I straight away made an appointment with our career advisor and got my transfer. Yeay to that!

I know this is the best decision for now. I want to learn more technical stuff and this desk offers just that. I got to learn about FTP pricing, IRS, hedge accounting and a lot more which are very2 technical. One guy there was from the same batch as me but he is a level higher than me already. I know I am at least as good if not better so sometimes I wonder why didn't I joined this department earlier like he did. Fate, I suppose. At least I have my Batrisyia Hana now so I must strive harder to be better at work. 

Back to the point, with all the uncertainties in the future, I feel like going to Master Chin to see what lies ahead in my career. I thought of going to him after Abby went to see him earlier this year. Just for fun. I will believe what I want to believe anyway so it is not really "fortune telling". More like stating the current situation to your face. It costs RM90 to "read" about yourself and one subject of Tarot card reading. I gave him RM100 and instead of giving me RM10 back, he asked me to pick two subjects instead. Haha, okay. 

First, I had to write my name and my date of birth. Apparently, in my past life, I had a loved one, and a happy family but they all died so I was very very sad. When I came to this world, I sometimes got very sad too. Then I had to put both my fists on the table, thumbs up. Looking at my face, he said my first child is a daughter. (Isn't it obvious? Hubby was feeding Tricia beside me that time. LOL) I will have maybe 3 children. At least 2. I will have a boy too. I have a lot of siblings (really???) but they stayed far from me (oh. I forgot my dad's children. Haha.) Referring to my cheek/cheekbone, I have power/leadership skills. My lips shows long life.. at least 80 years old. Then I had to clasp my hands together before putting my hands on the table facing down, showing all my fingers. Same thing, power, leadership, good at marketing (Hah? I doubt it. If not, I would have done really well where I am), can talk to people. Then he flexed my fingers a bit and said that I'm very close to my siblings. (Maybe one) Next was palm reading. I like to help people, can work as Dr, nurse etc. (Heard this from Abby), marriage, children, long life, emotional but easily contented - got car, got house, happy already. I like to change my mind that I might have missed a lot of opportunities because of that. (Hmm? Job wise?) Tarot card reading, I chose work/career and luck/money. I had to shuffle the cards with my left hand and then split the stacks into 3 before putting them back together. Work/Career - First card was death. (Okay, I was scared.) But apparently it means rebirth - people will help me when I need it. I have been unhappy at work. I prayed to my Allah. Someone is being unfair to me. People not treating me right. People are jealous of me. (Huh? Jealous for what? I have no achievement whatsoever yet.) All the cards are bad. I might be moving in a few months or so if I continue to be unhappy. (Hmm.. Is this referring to my new department or old one. I'm so confuse.) Luck/Money - Again with the death card. This year is okay. I have money but is not enough. (Yes, it is not enough. I'm going to travel overseas and I have no extra income to spend!!! Well, money is never enough anyway.) I am good with money. When I have no money I stayed at home and when I do have money, I know how to spend them well. I guess that's it about me.

Hubby's story - He was a soldier. He killed many people in his past life. So he has to pay back karma in this life. What he has to do is talk to a river (???), any river, to dispel the karma away. He had many siblings. He got married in his twenties. (Duhhh.. obviously. He is still in his twenties.) He will have 3 children, but quite difficult to get boy, will only have one. (Good to hear the same prediction, ey? Haha.) He has strong fingers, has power and leadership, long life. His tarot card reading - own business - already stable, looking for something new to do, received a lot of support from family, father helped him set-up the business in the beginning. Money wise - same as mine - when he has money he knows how to spend and enjoy but when he has no money, he will just stay at home. Health - Generally no problem but he worries about it too much. Just a little headache once in awhile. That's all I could hear and remember coz I was busy with Tricia that time.

Was the money worth it? Not for the facts, no. But it was quite fun to do something different once in awhile so yeah... I didn't regret it. 

March blues

I cried driving home last night. Tears came rolling down after my boss called me in to explain it to me. Called hubby but he was not available to talk. He said "see you at home" but I know I won't be in the mood to talk about it once I reached home. The problem was very personal so I can't just call some random people to talk about it. After hubby, the one person that could light up my day is my baby girl. You are my sunshine, my life, my everything. So I drove back to her as fast as my car could take me. When I got home, she smiled at me, whined when I hugged her to sleep and held my hand. That was all I need. Maybe "this" is the price to pay for such a beautiful, beautiful thing in my life. You are a beautiful blessing given to me, my dearest baby girl. And it was such a small price to pay in exchange of these precious moments with you. 

So for the record, although it was not great, although it was really upsetting, I am still thankful for the blessings I have in my life. It was not as bad as I think it was. And it definitely could have been worse. I just don't take failure too well but I need to learn to be thankful and appreciate the things that I do have in my life. For we are only human... everything can be taken away from you in a blink of an eye. So do spend some time appreciating the things most dearest to you and not focusing on the things you don't have. But of course, after I recover myself, I will need to strive hard to make it better. Not mope around and be left behind.

I LOVE CIMB~

Hua hua hua...
Muacksss!!!

Engagement, Confirmation and PKMC exam!!!

Normally, after a long break from updating the blog, I would only write in when Irna bugs me to. Quite surprised she hasn't been bugging me already. I'm guessing she's either too busy with her life at the moment or she just couldn't be bothered anymore. Anyway, what's (not so) new with me?
1) I'm engaged to my beloved Hazmi on 7th February ^_^
2) I'm confirmed in CIMB (at long last... that took forever!!!)
3) And I am currently sitting for my PKMC exam. =_=
For those who has been wondering how I did in my CFA last December, as expected, I failed. As historical as it is, being the first me failing a major exam, I wasn't actually expecting a pass as I hardly even completed the syllabus, let alone practised answering the questions. Although it is very frustating since it was very costly, I had signed up to sit for it again this December. Wanted to push doing it in June but I just need some space to breathe. With the wedding coming in October, I just can't take in another major event in my life. Sometimes I think there's just so many things to do, catch up with and chase in this phase of life that I just feel like dropping it off altogether but come to think about it again, I thought I shouldn't give up so easily without a good fight. Hope the money spend on the exam would be worth it this time. Alrightey then. Time to start studying and start the countdownS.

The end of 2008 ~The beginning of 2009

Hi peeps... It has been a while... *ehem* well, a looooonnngggg while since the last update. And I am writing this post now... as usual... to fulfill Miss Irna's request for me to update this long forgotten page. Lets see... where do I start?

2008 has been quite a productive year to most ppl ard me. Hmm, what happened to me? Err, nothing much actually. I changed department from Treasury - Debt Capital Market and Syndication to Treasury - Global Sales and Group Funding. It was a great experience "training" under the syndicate team but I am also enjoying my time here at GSGF. Apart from the normal day-to-day work, we have to also entertain clients with events like bowling, movie trips and year-end party (where we got to dance) so it is still quite fun. However, I am still a trainee and hoping to get confirmed by early next year. On a more personal note, I went to Redang with my beloved last October (alongside Ms Irna, Ms Aiya and Mr Aiya), sat for my CFA exam which was quite disastrous and... have been trying to lose weight unsuccessfully. So my new year's resolution would be... (well, not so new year as it has to start now...) losing 6kgs by the end of January!!! So wish me luck.

As for ppl ard me (as you could probably guess), being in the prime age of settling down, there have been a few waves of engagement and marriage ceremonies all ard... not to mention babies. Trying to fit everything in my very tight schedule, I would try my very best to attend the ceremonies at least to those closest to me. I am so sorry to those ppl whose ceremony I failed to attend. It does not mean you are not important to me... it just mean I am not a witch to be at more than one place at the same time (although I would be very much delighted to have that power *wink*). Expecting a few more waves next year, early first half and mid-year, so keep the invitations coming ppl ^_^

And lastly, update on my sweetest man's progress... His farm is now up and running... with 60 hopefully fertile females, 2 very healthy males and 2 cute baby goats. It is just so amazing... From a forest land, it is now a full-fledged, goat rearing farm. Occasionally, mostly on weekends, I would drive over and play with the goats... help to feed them but that's about it. I'm not that much of a help but nevertheless, I am currently moonlighting as a farmer... errr.. no.. a farmer's wife? Hahaha... Anyway, I can proudly say that I am such a lucky girl to have met and have him in my life.

Cheers.

From this

To this



And this!

I was on NST!

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Monday/National/2317677/Article/index_html

Banking on 'universal' exposure to build career

Farah is happy learning all she can as a management trainee at CIMB.

KUALA LUMPUR: Farah Haida was a first-year undergraduate when she attended a career talk by CIMB Group corporate resources head Hamidah Naziadin in Cambridge three years ago.
Two years later, as she approached graduation from the London School of Economics, she decided to check out the Careers Fair of the United Kingdom and Eire Council for Malaysian Students in London.

There, she once again came across representatives from CIMB -- one of the many companies wooing graduates such as herself.

Having done her research on CIMB after Hamidah's presentation, Farah decided to only pursue the interview offer from CIMB, despite having received offers from other companies at the exhibition.

Now 24, Farah is happy learning all she can as a management trainee at CIMB.
And so far, Farah has enjoyed every bit of the experience, which she describes as "enriching".

She has been posted to three departments -- corporate assurance, CIMB principal asset management and direct banking and cards -- since she joined the firm last August.

"So far, all the department heads have been very accommodating. They give me work which helps to build up my learning experience."

Although she likes what she's doing, Farah has set her sights on joining CIMB's treasury department.

Hamidah said that at CIMB, the strategy was to expose new recruits to as much of the business as possible, in line with its aim of training "universal bankers"."

They are not confined to a specific area of work, which means that they can experience the full depth and breadth of the business, an opportunity they may not have if they pursue their careers in a larger foreign bank."

Rueben Gan, a first-year philosophy and economics student at the London School of Economics, is coming back to intern for the summer holidays at a consultancy firm in Kuala Lumpur.

But, unlike Farah, he plans to stay on and work in London for a couple of years upon his graduation in June 2010.

Gan said a first-year internship in Malaysia would look good on his resume and it would help him with a second-year internship in London.

"It will give employers the impression that you have the initiative and drive to pick up some relevant and useful work experience in your free time, on top of the obvious credentials on the CV. It may also give you something to talk about in the interview room."

Gan, however, feels it is better for him to remain in Britain after his graduation to gain experience and exposure."

I also enjoy the lifestyle, the city and the diverse mix of people. It's nice to work in a vibrant and exciting environment when you are young."

Update 2 2008

I'm back... What a surprise... even to myself. Second update this month. hehe. Well, all you need is to get into the second gear and keep increasing it (mentang2 lah bawak manual :p) haha. And thanx you sweet ppl... I thot I lost all readers. (Wait a minute... why do I need readers? What's the purpose of me writing this blog? To update ppl on my life or to serve as my diary? Peer pressure? Hmm... Oh ya, to update ppl on my life... so without readers who am I updating, right? And occasionally it does serve as my diary so ppl, if you do read those kind of entries, do keep it to yourself =p After all, it's private! [Yeah, right~] But as I said before, I consider ppl who read my blog my friends, probably friends-of-friends... coz I don't advertise my blog to the whole world. So when it comes to private entries, that's me trying to pour out to my beloved sweet friends. Awwhhh. hehe.)

Ok, ok. Back to the real world. So far, I am starting to get things in place. Unpacked the last box of things from the UK (that's because Dina already asked for her books, which were shipped in my box and arrived like months ago). And I joined the aerobic class Dina recommended. So far, went to 2 classes already. It's really good and fun :) Tried to go for more but sadly, can't make it after work. With the traffic, I just can't make it on time. ~ My little baby neo is fine. Took it for its first 1000km service. Man, with free labour, it still cost me about RM150. Combined that with first monthly installment, aerobic fees and belly belt, I'm going deficit this month. Hope things would pick up later. If not, I'm really going broke. Also having trouble finding time and energy to keep it clean.

Work... My current boss is really sweet. She took time of her busy schedule to always include me in. Took me to luncheon with other bankers, sent me to meetings and sent me to briefings. She's nice... very willing to teach. Very appreciative of my work. Though I made some mistakes, she chose to see it from the bright side, saying it's pretty good for a first timer. Here I am, feeling all stupid for making mistake in such an important work but she's so motivating. (me hug her) And I am getting pretty comfortable with my colleagues. Now I don't feel like leaving. But at the same time, I want to know what else is out there. Then again, boss is supportive saying it's unfair for me to not finish my round. Awh, me so lucky. Now I need to see and decide which department I want to go next... provided there's vacancy in that department. SPA (Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Awam) offered me to go for an interview for the PTD (Pegawai Tadbir & Diplomatic) position today. Since I am determined to pursue my dream to become a trader, I am letting that go. Called JPA, and they said, since it is hard to get work these days and I already have one, I should just go with it. They released me from the bond since I completed everything.. sent in completion form, applied for work with SPA and "waited" 6 months to be called. After all, a LOT of ppl want to work for them and they only have limited place. Letting me go would actually be a win-win position for both of us.

CFA wise, me opened account already. But am thinking of paying next month. Coz I need to pay before 17 March to get cheap price. At the same time, I am trying to get an extra month in ASB(to earn extra dividend). Haih, so sad, no money to study. Need to draw down savings. All money! money! money! now. Sometimes I feel a tiny bit of regret for buying the car a bit early in life. If only I waited a bit longer, I could have saved a lot more. But when I think of how I reallllllllyyyyyy neeed the car, it is just the best decision I could make at this point of time. Well, lucky I live with mummy. At least she could still partly take care of me.

Life wise... I am sooooooo happy to be home. I mean I don't have a tiny bit of regret for not working there in the UK. Different ppl have different taste, different needs, different capabilities. And me... I'm just happy here, regardless of what ppl think I should do. After all, I need to decide what's best for me. So this is it! ~ My second life, in TornCity, is fine... Trying to balance real life and game life. Especially that I'm married in there to a guy from the US. The time difference and commitment, are making me twice as bz. Well, not twice, just a bit more. But now that Val's Day over (not that I do much actually), I should be free-er, except for the occasional chaining (that's attacking ppl in other faction at a specific time determined by the leader).

Ok peeps. Me need to go do all the cleaning now. Laundry. Wash car. Iron clothes. Maybe clean toilet too. Haha. Owh yeah, clean self, especially now that I just got back from that aerobic class. (See, car help take me there. If not, I'd have to take a cab... Pay... and wait under the hot sun for God knows how long. At least, it helps get my life together. No no... me not regret for having my baby) So later peeps... hope this post last u long enough until the next update. Haha.

P/s: bojol... I'll try to look into that chatbox when I feel like it. heh

Back to blogging?

Hey peeps... Surprise to see a new entry??? I doubt ppl even visits this page anymore but to irna... who scolded me for being too lazy to do anything and asked me to update my blog... here's one entry for you :p

Right. Where do I start? It has just been too damn long since the last post. Let me just say I bought a new car? It's a black 1.6 manual H-Line Satria Neo... Yes, it is small but I don't care coz I can fit in pretty well in there. My bf??? He'll manage. :)

Guess which one is mine? ^_^

Work wise... I'm currently attached to CIMB-Principal Asset Management, after I completed my classroom program. (Well, not totally complete anyway. I have another ONE class to attend) Learning, Learning and Learning!

Study wise... Planning to take CFA in December. Initially wanted to take the June sitting but feels that it's quite heavy for me to handle right now. Better get my life in place first.

Marriage plans... Nothing in the calendar yet. So better not hold your breathe to that. (Am just putting it here so that ppl would stop "harassing" me by asking that question again and again.

Relationship wise... Yeah... we're good ;) =D kiss kiss sygku... (I'm pretty damn sure he stops reading this already) (What's with the *damn* word. Seems to be overly used. And what's with this thought in a thought, double bracket thing ??? )

Hmm, what else? I'm currently body conscious. I TRY not to eat dinner... Trying to look for gyms to attend. Found Dina's aerobik class. Think I'll give that a try.

And lastly, I wonder when would the next post be... Soon or a few months more down the road? Hehe... Adios peeps...

Kuching

I feel like i'm getting lazier and lazier to update my blog. SoOner or later, I think this blog would get abandoned. That would depends on my boredom level and workload. Well, Penang was kinda fun. apart from the fact that I was not feeling well all week there. Nearly asked for a MC but lucky I managed to get some rest b4 continuing work. After 2 weeks in office, I'm going to fly off again tmrw, this time to Kuching, Sarawak. Sounds like fun eyh? I've never been there before so I hope I would enjoy this trip. Lots of new thing to learn, lots of exciting things to see. So ppl, wish me luck ^_^... Take care and chiow~

Life is full of uncertainty

A few weeks ago, I was so excited when I got a conditional offer from CIMB. Now, my future is in a haze. After 3 papers down, I would say I didn't do very well. Hope is all I have now. Well, I feel like I can't take this anymore but I should not and can't give up just yet. I have another paper left. Apart from being under prepared, I am not in my right mind right now. ~entry sensored~ All I can say now is, if my result turn out to be so bad, probably this job is not suitable for me. It is more about whether I can handle pressure and separate my emotion from my professional mind rather than whether I can actually study everything I have learnt. After all, the job is very demanding and stressful. All I know, Allah knows best. For that, don't put your hopes up just yet.

CIMB! Here I come...

I would really like to write a long entry but I don't have that much time since I haven't started studying yet. I actually have a lot to talk about but lost the excitement already. Haha. Long story short, I got a conditional offer from CIMB! Thanx to everyone who helped me through the application process... you know who you are. From checking my CV, giving me possible interview questions to being my "wingman" on the interview day itself, THANK YOU! Love you all. hehe. All I need now is a 2:1 for my degree... Then I'm all set to go. Wish me luck ^^