Been feeling so exhausted recently. Feel like I really need a holiday. Time seems to be split between the little fella and work and it seems neverending. I love the little fella to bits but taking of him when he was sick almost the whole of last week has drained me. The constant need to think of what to cook for him, the battle of getting him to eat more or just ‘one more spoonful’ is exhausting. That coupled with work, late night conference calls has left very little in me. I constantly feel like I could fall asleep standing. I need a cave that I can hibernate in for a while. But unfortunately, this is going to be a busy week again cos my boss and colleague are in town so it is more mind-draining activities this week. That plus that are some decisions that need to be made on the home-front…dun think there is much of me left!I need a new brain and whilst that is being done..perhaps a new energised body and soul won’t hurt too.

Posted: June 23rd, 2008 under Family, work.
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I believe if the trip is meant as a family trip…it will happen.Just got to believe that all things will fall in place…

Posted: January 12th, 2008 under Family, work.
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It has been a really busy month with work as usual and stuff on the homefront. Work has been busy as usual and it has twarted my body clock as well. Cos I stay up for late night calls, I am now such a nocturnal creature. And on the home front, the little fella just  recovered from gastric flu. And like any other parent would say, it is the most tiring when little kids fall sick. And really most of the time, you are wishing that you are the one sick instead. He had it quite bad this time around and it took him a full week before he was finally OK. Anyway…all is well now and I can only pray that all will stay well especially since Christmas is round the corner. I do want to celebrate it this year since we gave last year’s a miss cos of the Pox.So fingers crossed…all will be well.

 Last evening, we went to this Korean restaurant in West Coast. Can’t remember what it is called…food was all right but what I liked was the play room for kids. It was a ‘ball room’, pretty much like the one at Ikea,just that it is shallow-er and more suitable for younger kids.And the little fella was so happy in there, throwing the balls, swimming in it etc etc. I was just thinking how nice it would be if we had a play room like that too. Am sure the little fella would love it to bits. Well…maybe when we shift to the bigger place, he could have a play/activity room. He enjoyed himself so much that he did not want to come out for dinner or to rest. Just wanted to play ‘a little while more’.

He is now learning to bargain with us. “A little while more”..”Last one”…” 5 mins more”.. Cute but also got to teach him his boundaries already!

Posted: December 10th, 2007 under Christmas, Family, Parenting, work.
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Its now official and I work from home on alternate days. Works out well for me cos I dun get any distractions and can focus on my task at hand. I reckon that for what I do, I just need blocks of time that I can sit and just work away without the phone ring, chattering etc etc. I get mixed reactions when I tell people that I work from home certain days. Some say it is great for its flexibility and all but most think that it is the perfect excuse to laze at home. And I tell you…I really hate that. I hate the quizzical looks that people give me when I say I work from home.Say things like even if you sleep/watch telly/dun work ..no one will know. Well..theoretically yes..but won’t it mean I will miss all my deadlines?!?! I have given up justifying my work and well..as long as I know I am doing my stuff, it is OK. Just a couple of days ago, told my BIL that I was working from home and as usual the quizzical looked popped up. He exchanged this funny and knowing look with my mum. So they said the usual things..I defended by saying that people do know when I am at work cos I log in. BIL then said..well..you could always set your PC to automatically login at a specific time. Also said that with wireless, I could be on a holiday and no one would know. Hmmphh…So decided after that. I was not going to say anymore.

Suppose it is the working culture but why are people so hung up on where you work from? Isn’t it more important that you finish your tasks and deliver what you are supposed to? I could very well be physically in office but yet not work. Anyway..I have decided that people can pretty much say what they want and I will try not to be bothered. But it would be nice if people were more supportive.

I love working from home cos it pretty much means that my time is mine to manage. I can work more after the little fella sleeps and take a bit more time in the am to send him to school etc. With my 11pm/12 midnite conference calls, it is good that I have the flexibilty of managing my own work day. Much as I have all the time to laze, watch telly etc etc etc…I am bounded my work ethics. I always think..since I am given such a privilege and flexibility, I better not abuse it.So there..that is my stand on working from home.

Posted: November 7th, 2007 under work.
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I am tired of writing about how busy I am and how tiring it gets. To me..busy-ness is now a constant so I shall not gripe about it any longer. It shall be me just coping with it and taking it as part and parcel of work of life, in general. Some random thoughts  that have popped into my mind the last couple of days:

• Am I a good wife/mother?
• What exactly is it that holds a relationship together?
• When will we ever get to move?
• What will Matthew be like when he grows up?

These are thoughts that I had when waiting for the train,when waiting for the system to load up etc etc. Not sure if I have the answers to all of them but like think they are still interesting to think about.

Posted: October 11th, 2007 under Family, Marriage, Parenting, work.
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It has been such an incredulously busy 3 weeks. My birthday came and went, the little fella’s birthday came and went..the DC conference came and went..my crazy 2 weeks at work came and went. And boy…am I glad! The last 3 weeks were just horrendously busy and I just felt like I was going at a breakneck speed without a chance to slow down. I sure am glad that now I have a little breather.

The little fella’s party was nice, I thought. A bit of planning beforehand but it had nice food, nice cake and nice deco. We catered from this place called Chilli Padi and it was nice, both in terms of food and set-up. At least it did not have the tacky red tablecloths or plastic flowers. All it had was a a nice batik tablecloth and nice pots for the soup and dessert. It was simple but tasteful. Food-wise, it had a decent spread both for the kids and adults alike.

Decor-wise, it was really simple. Just had a simple HB banner, a few balloon bouquets and all the other helium-filled balloons floating around. Kids had fun with it and so did some adults, tying little creatures to the end of the strings. The balloons are not bad..till today..a couple are still floating around at home. The little fella definitely had fun with them and even the next day, he was still talking about his balloons. I ordered some star ones as well as a huge Thomas the Tank Engine one. It was cute.

The birthday party heralded the start of a very busy 3 weeks for me. So after that, it was a series of conferences, meetings and rather late nights. Thank goodness for Iz in this period, he picked the little fella up almost daily. There was no way I could have managed otherwise.

With the busy period of planning behind me, it is now back to the daily grind with a platterful of work.Am just thinking now when our next holiday could possibly be..not in the next 3 mths for sure.

Posted: September 17th, 2007 under Family, work.
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I was supposed to go to Geneva for 4 days today but the trip has been postponed cos of some project changes. Sigh…got me excited for nothing. I am a bit disappointed as I was hoping to go to Geneva..on business class somemore. But on the other hand, I am not sure what it would have been like leaving Iz and the little fella. Am sure it would have been hard and I would have missed them like crazy. So am in two minds about the postponement. Perhaps it all has to do with timing, and the next time ( which won’t be too far away), I am sure…I would be more prepared. And plans would be nicely laid out for me and not so rushed. So, in the meantime, I am just going to enjoy spending time with Iz and the little fella.

 I am enjoying work so far…learning as I go along. And it helps that I have really nice colleagues who make getting used to things here so much easier. Lunch with them is always filled with chit chats of our little ones and their antics. It never fails to amaze me how we can spend the lunch hour chatting about nothing but the little ones. It is nice to trade stories and share parenting tips.

Posted: June 25th, 2007 under work.
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Simply thought the date sounded nice and decided to use it for my post title. And simply also cos I am too tired to think of a nice witty title. Almost the end of Week 2 Day 1 already. Lots of stuff to read and get my hands on but because it is just reading, it makes me go into a sleepy sleepy mode. So my counter-reaction to combat the droopy eyelids? A big pack of sour gummy ropes and another big pack of orange peel. I had a call at 2 but it was a rather short one. So that was like a burst of activity in a day of non activity. When the day is not so active, I think of all sorts of things..Matthew, the privacy screen I want to buy, what the avocado gula melaka downstairs will taste like..when I should try it. Am sure u can see the pattern there…my mind wanders amidst all the stuff I have to read and digest.  I wonder how long more it will be like that before real work starts. Am sure they would not want to pay me for sitting here and doing not much in particular. Learning,yes, but not working per se. Was a tad discouraged last week cos of some work-related stuff…can’t say I am well over it but well..am sure I will get over it somehow. But well…some cheering up will be nice.

I have been watching the Korean drama serials on cable on Sun nites. I just wish they weren’t so late. These days I would like to sleep earlier cos I know I would have to get up by 6 plus when the little one does. So the later I sleep, the more sleep I am missing out on. Anyway…the shows are great mind blockers…can simply space out there and watch without having to think of anything else. Iz was really nice….bot me the DVDs of the previous series cos I missed the first bit of it. I did like that show,”Foxy Lady” , cos it was both romantic and witty. Can’t wait to catch the first half that I missed. I remember the first episode I watched was when there was ‘ovaries trouble’. It was her first trip to the gynae  and it was hilarious. Then to grieve over her loss, she went out to buy a model of a womb and carried it all around in a box. U really got to watch it for yourself!

Almost the end of the day already…I can’t wait to hear the little one calling me “MaaaaaaMeeeeee….”.

Posted: June 4th, 2007 under Family, work.
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Time to take stock of Week 1 at the new place. All in all, it has been a good week. Got my laptop, blackberry and all connected already. That is especially crucial since people I work with all all scattered around the globe. This week alone, I have done more conference call than I have in the last 10 years!!! Now that I have spoken to more people, i feel a little more assured that I will be able to deliver up to expectations.Of course, there will be tonnes for me to learn but then I believe I will be able to contribute positively as well. Hmm….maybe that positive-ness wouldn’t always stay within me..but I got to! Got to believe that I will be able to handle this job well. Much I get alot of support from the boss and team in the States, London and HK. Much weighs on me cos I am the Asia Pacific rep and it is me and me alone.

People in the workplace here are nice. Where I am sitting it is generally female-dominated and though from different divisions, we are in the same age group so it is quite fun. And what is doubly reassuring is that I have met quite a few mothers of young kids here. So if they can balance both the demands of their job and motherhood, I believe I can too. For some of them, their kids are even younger than our little fella. So one of the questions I keep asking them is ..”How do you handle both travelling on the job and ur kids?”. That is something that I am really apprehensive about because M is so sticky to me now. It is always Mummy this and Mummy that. Talking about the little one, he sure is growing up so quickly. Last night, he was running around with his cousins and all in the club. He is the youngest amongst them( 3 boys and 1 girl) but he was running around with them all the same. He had a head on collision with his cousin and whilst that boy had a red patch on his forehead, our little coconut head seemed unaffected. Must have been tired though..fell asleep in the car on the way back. Yesterday was a treat cos he also stayed up past his usual bedtime of half past eight.

Well…lunchtime over and back to work now.Oh..lunch was good today, had nice company and nice food. Iz was/is on leave so he came down to lunch with me before gng to his playground ( the PC show). Hope he buys a laptop bag for me We went to the Jap restaurant and I had some collagen ramen. Was tasty and maybe if I drink it enough, I wun need Botox in future.Hahaha

Posted: June 1st, 2007 under Family, work.
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Because I have left this blog untouched for quite a while…I cannot really remember what I have written previously..so I was reading back on my entries and I chanced across one which said that I was starting a new job. Well…I will be going through that once again. Hehe…as MM puts in…I am like a rolling stone. But well…I think if I have to work and I will be getting more for it in a new place then why not?!? I am happy where I am now, great boss, great place and nice colleagues. Sometimes I have to deal with petty things amongst staff but that’s not unbearable. The only complain that I have of here is that the pace is rather slow and even for a person like me…I can get bored. And I was telling Iz that if I stay here longer I will get so comfortable and my brain cells would probably die from un-use. It is not that we have nothing to do here but it is just that compared to where I have been, the pace is really slow and tasks operational. Occasionally..exciting things happen but that is not the norm. The boss here is great though…super easy-going and flexible. Her pet phrase seems to be ‘ we see how lah’. Sometimes, I feel that she is a bit too kind to her staff but well..I suppose that is her working style. Colleagues here are somewhat gossipy and like Iz likes to say..auntie-fied but they are a nice bunch. Pretty sheltered here and too used to the comfy pace already, I reckon. So…I think I will miss this place when I move… But I reckon that whilst I am still young (relatively lah…) , I should gather as much work experience and try out as much new stuff as I can. It would also look good on my CV. And the vain and image-conscious side of me says, well….a move to a higher position is always good and impressive.  That aside, I am a bit scared though…not only will it be a new area of work, it will also be a my first foray into the corporate sector, apart from the short stint at that silly school which shall remain unnamed. With all the stories you hear about the back-biting, the politics, the competitivess, the loooong hours…..I wonder if I am making the right choice. After my initial excitment, I am now wondering if I am up to it. All the what ifs….That day after I signed the letter of offer, I worried about it so much that I got a tummyache. I tend to get tummyaches whenever I am newvous about something. But well…now I cannot reverse the clock anymore, I can only pray that it all turns out well. Must think positive. Sort of counting down to my last day here cos I am looking forward to the break in between. Already have plans to go have tea, shop for work clothes, do my hair etc etc…Will be so busy then

Posted: April 25th, 2007 under Shopping, work.
Comments: 1