Tuesday, November 25, 2008

drooling...

i have been a huge fan of wristlets for almost two years now, having first bought my first one before i left for UK in 2006, a leather Hide Design wristlet to hold my passport and some change without taking out my entire purse at the airport, i thought it was the most brilliant idea and the fact that they looked terribly chic :p and in the past two years, i have managed to collect quite a few, a red Dorothy Perkins one, a dark grey sequinned from H&M, a green Bershka and my absolute favourite, a black Coach one all the way from US of A.. but of course, dah ada banyak pun mesti nak lagi kan kan :p

so for this Christmas, these are the ones in my wish list...

*in case you're wondering why i say for Christmas, first because this is the time where the best sales are, especially on Boxing Day and second is the fact that some of my good friends in UK who celebrates Christmas would still give me presents despite me not celebrating it and vice versa, and you should never need further convincing to give and receive yummy presents :p ooohh, wonder who's my Secret Santa this year tee heee hee :p*

i have been saving up for one of these (although my heart wants both haha tamak) and was planning to ask my brother who resides in Germany to buy em', but in case - to make it easier for my Secret Santa, these are the one im drooling overr okey :p (but a cheaper H&M version also greatly appreciated! hehe);

This is Coach Hamptons Wristlet

This is Marc Jacobs Wristlet


gorgeous right?

Note : Mr Sun, can you look for me in Barcelona kut2 ade cheaper version? you know im not big on brands, as long as i get something similiar :p prettyyy pleasee :p

of sweets and books

THANK YOU to Mr Sun (^_^) for buying me the third book of the Inheritance Trilogy - Brisinger by Christopher Paolini, finally got it yesterday after a month! was surprised that he remembered that i liked it, sweet! (^_^) jauh tu datang all the way from UK :p even that it costs wayy cheaper than here as the hard cover version here in Malaysia differs to about RM50 to UK price..sigh.. i do miss the cheap books there..

any hooo, it turns out that the set twas not going to be a trilogy no more, as the author revealed that there will be fourth book coming out too, so the series was renamed to the Inheritance Cycle..

in case you have no clue what book im talking about, this is the series where the first book "Eragon" was made famous by the movie of the same title starring Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, Joss Stone and Rachel Weisz, you know as the voice of the dragon? yess, i can almost see you guys nodding your heads tsk tsk..:p read la the book, its ten times better :p

this is the cover of the third book, cant wait to start! :p


was googling and found this picture of Christopher Paolini, handsome kan?

he started writing Eragon at the age of 15! and today he is only 25 years old and already so rich and famous! huhu

*i should start writing again i used to write tons and tons of short stories when i was younger, dunno where all the drive and ideas went, must be about the same time the first engineering book was shoved into my hands :( oh well, its never to late to start right!*

Monday, November 24, 2008

crash test dummy

i recently attended an interview session with another international company, not oil & gas though, its more of a product/manufacturing/supply sort of company. if i tell you the products it produces im sure you are able to guess what it is, but suffice to say that almost most of the famous everyday products we use are from this company.

why did i go for the interview, u may ask? when its totally different than oil & gas which is my bread and butter with homemade strawberry jam? firstly, im sure you all know of my current dillema so lets not go into that and the second reason is mainly because they offered me a really interesting post..so i thought, why not, give it a chance kan? i might not want to move from the oil and maritime industry but who knows, maybe my rezeki is there, so its worth a shot :p

so the interview went well..really well..i was the epitome of cool, confident and answered everything smoothly and even able to make jokes appropriately to the delight of the interviewers, really, it was like in interview heaven, we were best friends at the end of it, even making plans where to have the celebratory lunch!

so i was confident that the job is 'in the bag', so to speak..

then they ask me to sit for a test.

a reasoning test.

i have a huge mental block when it comes to tests. am never good at it. regardless if i know the answers inside outside backwards forwards, i would still fail the test. my palms will be too sweaty for me to even hold the pencil properly, i would start sneezing or even worse i would start to suffocate and have difficulty breathing.. even the simplest question like how much is the original price of A if it was sold first at 10% less than at 25% increase which is at $3.25, or sumting of that sort, simple maths aite? but it took me forever as i keep hitting the wrong buttons on my calculator so it keeps giving me the wrong answer, then i panicked as my eraser couldnt properly 'erase' the pencil marks and i had to spend time erasing it out properly, and then i dropped everything and then...well, you get what i mean..

really, my body have the weirdest and most violent reaction when it comes to doing tests.

so i sit for the test at 2pm, finished it 3.05pm.

drove from Subang back to my office in Damansara.

reach my desk at 3.55pm, log in the computer, and make a dash to the loo and grab a cup of coffee enroute.

opens my google mail at 4.05pm.

and there it is, at 4.03 pm, the Regret Letter, a mere hour ish after i sat for the bloody thing, you know the type of regret letter, the "We have made a sincere effort to carefully assess your test results to match our requirements. We have concluded with regret that we are unable to offer you an opportunity with our Company, despite your admittedly fine qualifications, this decision was not an easy one to make. We see many fine candidates with excellent qualifications, and are forced to make extremely fine distinctions between them"

so as i thought, i failed misreably at the test.

so i confirmed back with the recruiter, whom in turn confirms that even though you excell with flying colours at the interview, at the end of the day, its the test that will make or break you. so whats the point of the interview then? apparently they have to turn away many people who are excellent academically, more than qualified and was absolutely fantastic in the interview, but the policy of the company is that the person must score a certain percentage of the test to be even considered! and admittedly, the recruiter admitted that they have been having a difficult time finding talents for their company.

duhhh!!!

oh well.

one down, three more to go.

sigh...

Thursday, November 20, 2008

again?

a bunch of my new friends are begging me to go to Bandung with them next year..

should i?

its my third trip already and i rather go places ive never been...

but they are even willing to pay for my hotel..

maybe i shud ask them to pay for my tickets as well hehehe

tu mcm official tour guide la plak kan?

tapi, why not right?

what do u guys think?

just between us :p

i've been busy busy :p and loving it!

loving it because i think i have been idle and anti-social for so long, im starting to forget what does it feels like to dress up for a fun saturday nite, had to dig up my dancing shoes and blow the dust on my gold sequin fancy clutch and trying to figure out where in the world i put my assortments of glittering bangles and wristlets, corsages and necklaces :p

i have two formal dinners next week, one is themed "Vegas" and the other "Glamour & Glitter".. yep2, i kid you not, these are the actual theme and we have to dress accordingly! but as long as we dont have to put up any department performance *cringe*shudder* im perfectly happy to go along with the theme :)

this weekend im off to Penang with my usual bunch of favourite folks, and then some :p the event is a good friend's wedding and also, a long overdue road trip with the motley crews and a mini reunion of sort, so am very much looking forward to it :)

ive just checked air asia online and happily discovered that the place i want to go to in feb will only be rm500 per person! so dear darling you, can we go pretty pleasee?? nanti lemme know ya? :p

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

im in way over my head

so ive been into the new company for one month and a week now..and after the first three weeks of goyang kaki, the last two weeks have been pretty intense.

what im doing here is totally, TOTALLY different that what i was used too before in the previous company, in this new company, my brains capacity are tested to the limit, in fact beyond the limit actually, due to the fact the said capacity has shrunked considerably in the last few months having doing tedious mind bloggingly boring secretarial work previously.

but i was okay with that.

that's why i moved.

i needed the challenge for fear the longer i did not use my brains, the more stupid i will become and hence eventually i will be forced to get married to any Tom, Dick or Harry (or in this case, any Ali, Arumugam or Ah Chong (being politically correcto)) that knocks on my aunties' door on their relentless pursuit of wanting to be part of "our" family that they dont really care how the leftover daughter looks like as long as they can connect to the "name" accordingly, and being reduced to those trophy housewives types (ecewah mcm lawa sangat haha) and spend the days going to hair salons and spas and looking pretty..of course assuming tho stupid i may be, im still smart enough to marry a rich man :p

but i digress.

this challenge is although welcomed, it is however thoroughly disliked.

a contradiction, i know.

reason being.. the capacity of the challenge here in the new company is basis on FINANCE matter.

yep, the F word.

I HATE FINANCE.

i dont care about the Cost Variance Analysis, or the Profit Margin Thingamajggit or Negative and Positive Exposures or whatever else crap finance jargon you want to throw at me.

UNFORTUNATELY, not only i have to know these "things", i am actually the Custodian of it!

yes!

so u might think, why the hell did i take the job if i knew its going to involve Finance right?

well, there are two reasons behind, the first, i was actually head hunted for a different position, did the interview yadayada, all was set and ready, and upon the submission of my resignation letter, they informed me that they are offering me a different position, at a higher pay, of course..well what a girl's gotta do right? and u know how ballistic my ex-company was when i resigned, u think im gonna go up to them and say, "oops sorry he he, i withdraw my resignation *sheepishly*", suicide right? the second reason was the fact everyone, and i mean everyone says "Nique!! is ****!! only a fool will refuse and offer from ****!!" and, i who actually cares about what other people think of me (to think i should have outgrown it already) do not want to be labelled as a fool; foolishly just accept the offer and pray that i (despite everything) have made the right choice.

the best thing about this job is the exposure (oh lord, i sound like a finance person already) to the actual workings of the business, which is fantastic. everything else about the job is exactly what i want to do. and the F part is not difficult. its not rocket science. i can do the bloody thing.

but, oh i hate it.

guess the hunt isnt over yet.

tee heee heee :p

if u guys noticed, im currently addicted to the Love Is.. comic strip :p

i used to have a friend back in school that used to look them up everyday in the papers, cut them up carefully and paste it in a dark blue hard cover notebook, which is filled with those strips, one for each day, and she will scribble some notes on each page as well. oh, how i envied her back then :p by the time i wanted to start my own collection, she is almost 6 months ahead of me, and there's no way i can compete with that unless i trace back ALL the previous Love Is.. strips in old newspapers, right? agak kerja gile jugak la kan? so i forgo the idea and started a different collection instead..collection ape kah? nanti lah i citer, very d shy *blush*

anyhoooo, the point of this entry is that im so glad that in this age of the internet, all the collection is readily available at the tip of your fingers..one click and you can view them all, in several different language okey!

AND,

its a great way to get your point across to your loved one, without being whiny and demanding and manja (muahaha) for example, the strip below has resulted into Him calling me last night and sending the sweetest email explaining why he couldnt call (^_^), this way, he just thought i was being "comel" (hehe..yes, yes, you can roll your eyes) and i was glad that it worked, so everyone ended up being happy!

*nique will be grinning from ear to ear for the rest of the day, humor her je la okey :p*

Have a Fantastic Day, Folks!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Thursday, November 06, 2008

lets talk about love, baby :p



the love quiz...

got this in my inbox, mcm pernah buat dulu, but why not, im bored at work anyhoo :p

What is the best nickname that u ever had?
the best eh..hmm..the list includes nique, nike, nicklodeon, niqnaq paddywhack, nikito, nicky..but someone called me 'tatoesh' once (which takde kena mengena ngan 'nik' hehe), so i think dats my fav :)

Rate your social life from scale 1 to 10?
let's see...hmm.. i'd say its around 5ish..maybe because ive been pretty "anti-sosial" for these past few months, tapi takpe2 nanti tunggu the "ultimate event organizer" to return by end of the year, okey folks :p

Are you in love with someone at the moment?
is being tak boleh tido, malas nak makan cos he's not there to eat with you and must hear his voice at least once a day means you're in love? then yes (^_^)

Are you missing someone at the moment?
yes, very much :(

Would you die for the one you love?
wah terlalu extreme la tu, but it depends la, if it means would i risk my life to save the person i love, like jumping through a blaze of fire to rescue him on the other side cos he broke his leg and cannot move (hahaha i watched too many movies :p) then, yes, i would :)

Do you think love hurts?
yes, all over.

When do you know that you're in love?
when i cant stop smiling and grinning (tersengeh sorang2 hehe) when i think about him, then tetiba terasa nak nangis dan bergenang ayer mata cos im missing him so much, that's when i know.

Whats the best thing about love?
everything (mcm banyak sangat nak tulis, shy la *blush*blush*)

Whats the worst thing about love?
also everything

Will you wait for someone you love?
only if he asks me too

What song that best describes your love life at the moment?
I Miss You - Incubus

Do you wanna get married?
someday, yes

Have you talked to the person you love in less than24 hours?
no :(

Do you keep memories or try to forget them?
i keep the good ones

Is love always on your side or the opposite way?
opposite way, ive had the unluckiest love life/history ever, ever! but im still hopefull and positive about it! so either im an idiot or a totally hopeless romantic huhu

Do you have a gay/lesbian/bisexual friend?
yeap yeap...they are pretty interesting bunch of people! (apakah kena mengena with love??)

Are you sick of love?
tired of waiting yes, but not sick of it

Are you sick of questions on love?
hehe after ALL the above questions about them?? now i am :p

Do you believe in soulmates?
i believe in two people falling in love and working hard to make sure that the love lasts forever..soulmates are a lovely idea, but i think that would be too easy..

im tagging;
1. Miss Olyn
2. Miss Aeni
3. Miss Herlina
4. Miss Pugly
5. Miss Elmy

eh semua girls ek, takpe la..

jawab2, jangan tak jawab :p

ps : just realised kan, the first two questions kan, macam takde kena mengena about yr love life kan? kan? kan?


Wednesday, November 05, 2008

1st Black American President


He Won! I'm glad (^_^) Anticipating the changes he's going to bring :)

Bio woes..

so the Malaysian government announced in the papers today that they will start the phase implementation of bio diesel tentatively on Feb 2009..first phase will be for all the government vehicles, followed by public transportation and personal cars respectively..

its now a race within all the oil companies to built the best/first facilities to cater to the capacity required for the bio fuels..

at only 5% difference (normal fuel 95% palm oil 5%), is it really worth the millions of dollars spent to change the infrastructure?

sustainability and environmentally aspect of it - of course its worth every penny..

but have we really thought this through?

i for one gladly welcome the change, having wrote a paper on it last year for my Masters degree on the future of sea transport, but the difference is that was for marine use only, this is talking about on the road public vehicles where the logistics is even more far and wide..

but we'll see :)


will it come to this? :p

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Money Isn't Everything, But It Does Quiet The Nerves A Little...

Got the quote from sumwhere, cant remember but it sure is true..sigh..

im feeling the aftermath of being deprived of my salaries since September :(

i hate money, not having it, that is..is there anyone there who hates having too much money?

another 20 days before i finally get paid..

three months of being broken, how the hell did i survive?

Monday, November 03, 2008

Eating Right Without Thinking

By Tamar Haspel, Women's Health (Click here for source and more articles)

From the instructions for some diets, you'd think losing weight was more complicated than calibrating a sextant against Orion on a cloudy night. The food diaries you need to write; the nutrition labels you need to read and pronounce and translate; the protein, fat, and carbohydrate grams you have to add up. It's time to try an easier way. No math, no more squinting at the fine print and trying to decipher those words with no vowels. Instead, just 20 everyday tactics that will get you started on your weight-loss plan and then help you stick to it. Soon enough, your diet will simply become the way you eat.

1. Always eat dessert. Yes, always. "A small amount can signal that the meal is over," says Barbara Rolls, Ph.D., author of The Volumetrics Eating Plan. She ends her meals with a piece of quality chocolate and she's a doctor. (hehehe i like this one!)

2. Get help from a paper napkin. You can use it to blot a teaspoon of fat off a pizza slice. That may not sound like a lot, but multiply it by a slice a week, and that's more than a whole cup of fat you won't eat or wear this year. (yes, this actually helps especially those oily goreng pisang and KFC fried chicken, blot off the excess oil and fat, euwwww)

3. Take the beltway. When junk food beckons, tighten your belt a notch. Not so you can't breathe, but so you have a gentle reminder of the size you'd like to be. "The scale isn't the only measure of weight," says Roberta Anding, R.D., a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. (wear yr tight barely-breathing skinny jeans can oso kan kan :p)

4. Go public. Enlist the help of friends, family, and coworkers and know they're watching. "The power of embarrassment is greater than willpower," says Stephen Gullo, Ph.D., author of The Thin Commandments. (hmm, shud try this! olyn dear, be my advisor :p)

5. Milk it for all it's worth. Consuming 1,800 milligrams of calcium a day could block the absorption of about 80 calories, according to a recent University of Tennessee study. Jump-start your calcium intake by filling your coffee mug with skim or 1 percent milk, drinking it down to the level you want in your coffee, then pouring in your caffeine fix. That's 300 mg down, 1,500 to go. (damn, am allergic to milk huhu)

6. Scrape by. Always order your bagel or burger with a plastic knife. Use it to scrape off the excess cream cheese and mayo. You could shave off as many as half the calories.

7. Spice things up. Capsaicin, the substance that puts the hot in hot pepper, temporarily boosts your metabolism. Just make sure you're drinking a yogurt lassi with that searing-hot chicken vindaloo. Dairy blocks capsaicin's sweat-inducing signals better than water. (must try eating more spicy food! mr sun will so proud hehe)

8. Case the organic section. That's where you're likely to find bread and cereal with fiber counts that put the conventional choices to shame. Thought you were doing well with your 3-grams-per-serving Cheerios? Nature's Path Slim blows it away with 10 g. (And it really doesn't taste like a shredded shoebox.)

9. Increase your a-peel. Speaking of fiber, a lot of it's in the peel, whether it's potatoes, apples, or pears. Even oranges don't eat the whole peel, but keep the pith, that white stringy stuff; it's packed with flavonoids. More nutrients, more fiber, less labor. It's a win-win-win. (must not be manja and peel even grapes haha)

10. Spend lavishly on precut vegetables at the supermarket. Sure, they cost more, but you're more likely to eat them. "Make low-energy snacks as easy as possible," Dr. Rolls says. "Keep vegetables as near to hand as you can. Make it so you have no excuse." (i tot kalau dah pre-cut mcm lagi tak fresh or sumting like datt)

11. Upgrade your restaurant selection. Pick a place where you'll actually want to linger. "When the meals are not hurried, the presentation is beautiful and the portions are reasonable so you can regulate your attitude," Anding says. That means your body not the empty plate will tell you when to stop. (wahhh, more excuse to eat at expensive place meh?)

12. Eat a snack at 3 p.m., no matter what. "Have a 150-calorie snack [now], and it can save you 400 calories later," Anding says. An ounce of nuts or two sticks of string cheese weigh in at about 170 calories. (i agree! it makes you less lazier to go the gym after work too, cos yr less hungry)

13. Drink with your dominant hand. If you're circulating at a party, Dr. Rolls suggests keeping your glass in the hand you eat with. If you're drinking with it, you can't eat with it, can you?

14. Plate it. Whatever it is, don't eat it out of the container and don't bring the container to the couch. "Part of satiety is visual," Anding says. "Your brain actually has to see the food on the plate, and when you reach into the jar, or the box, or the bag, you don't see it." If it's worth eating, put it on a plate. Eat what's there, then stop. (owh must change my lazy ways of taking the entire carton of Haagen Daaz for the Two Pints marathon huhu)

15. Send back the bread. All it takes is a wave of the hand, a smile, and a "No, thank you." (hmmmmmmmmm)

16. Start with salad. It's the holy grail of dieting eat less by eating more. Dr. Rolls's research has found that eating a salad as a first course decreased total lunch calories by 12 percent. Avoid the croutons and creamy dressings, which have the opposite effect. (i do, i do!)

17. Go out for ice cream. Or an eclair. Or even guacamole and chips. Just go out. Don't keep your danger foods in the house. You can't eat half of a carton of ice cream that's not there in the first place.(hehehe i rest my case :p jom kengkawan gi makan lecka lecka :p)

18. Give yourself a hand. Find a way other than food to work off your nervous energy. "It's behavior modification," Anding says. "Instead of grabbing a bag of chips, you pick up your knitting. Art works, woodworking works anything that occupies your hands."

19. Wait a minute. Well, 10 minutes. When your mind strays from your desk to the vending machine, it could be hunger or it could be boredom or irritation with your boss. If you're still thinking about snacking 10 minutes later, then you're probably hungry. Think of it as a chance to have one of the nine servings of fruits and vegetables you need each day. (yes, its definetely boredom for me and trying to stay awake as i walk to the co-op finding something to munch huhu)

20. Go wild once in a while. Deprivation won't make you thin or happy. Designate a meal or two a week when you can eat absolutely anything you want. (weeeeeee!)

susah kah? (^_^)

tsk...tsk..

when i joined my current company early this month, i met a girl, whom is also starting her first day there. she has just graduated with quite an impressive CGPA from one of the local uni, and this is her first job, she told me that she had to undergo quite an intensive interview process before finally being selected out of hundreds that applied, i nodded and replied that yes, that is the procedure, after all it is one of biggest oil company in the world, so naturally the competition to work here is very very stiff. after that first day where we had our brief orientation together, she went on to her department and i wished her luck and some wisdom that i have learned when i first started working, you know the usual work smart, dont be afraid to ask questions etc etc and i went off to my department.

over the past two weeks, we passed each other occasionally, and during those brief meetings she informed me that she has to do a lot of reading and not much work yet, fair enough, i said, that is normal, when i first started working, the first few weeks all i did was read and make photocopies of tons and tons of documents and keying in tons of mindless data, but hey what did you expect, right?

last week i met with a hr personnel that did the orientation for both of us the other day and she informed that the young girl has resigned! i was schocked, as the reason she gave the hr personnel was that she had nothing to do and there was not much guidance given for her to be able to do work. !!!

such a silly little girl right? extremely pampered and arrogant right? first it was not easy to get such placement in this kind of oil company, with really attractive salary and luxurious benefits, it is a highly competetive world out there and in this times where economic recession is upon us, and as a fresh graduate, simply changing jobs because "you are bored" is simply not a good enough excuse! i havent met a single person whom when they first started felt a little bored but then of course it will pick up, you cant expect the company to entrust you with milions of dollars project on your first day right?

there are hundreds of unemployed people out there and here this silly girl, confident in herself because of her outstanding result, she can get a job anywhere else, which she probably can, but to what extend if that is the kind attitude she has. i spoke my mind to the hr person the other that big oil companies like this should give a chance to those who has lower CGPAs too. just because your result is lower it does not mean you are not smart, being in the corporate world is not just about being academicaly smart but if you work hard and you work smart, you can get ahead in this world. in fact, some of the most of succesful people i know today does not have a 3.0 in their cgs, but they sure work hard and look where they are today!

these big oil companies, at the end of the day, when you take people in at mid-career level, because of their success in other companies who gives them a chance and their excellent reputation in their respective industry, take a look at their uni results, i bet that more than half of them do not graduate with first class honours but graduated with an open mind, full of initiative, and motivation and the ability to create oppurtunities for themselves. im not dissing those with with first class honours, fair enough you work hard for your result, but all im saying is, to these big big companies, give everyone a fair chance and sometimes, people just might surprise you :)


maybe this is why she left? :p