The Strings of Thoughts that Led to Perth

Suddenly I thought of my visit to Perth two years ago...

And the cozy home of my cousin's.

The home-made pizza made by LJ we ate on the first night of my arrival.

The two little kids. The first time we met, and their tiny sizes as opposed to the huge blue sofa. Oh so endearing. So cute!

If there was any song that would make me reminisce, it would be these few:

This was the song that kept playing on the TV while I was there...

And while my cousin was a big fan of Australia's X Factor, there were a few auditions I remember watching with her, one of my favourite being this:

That's the original song. And the audition:

Such a beautiful song.

I love it. Her voice, so peaceful, so harmless, so mature. For a young lady of 15 years of age only.

I wouldn't mind sitting in a café and hearing this lady entertain me with her voice. =)

I find so much serenity in just hearing her voice in the wind.

I wonder what happened to this singer.

Whether she made it??

Yeah, so it was just a moment of reminiscing.

Good times, really.

It would be nice to re-live those moments. But it will only be in my memories.

Coz the kids have grown, and they have moved to a much bigger house. I wonder if the new house has that sense of welcoming warmth that beckons every time you reach the entrance.

That house did.

Honestly,  I didn't think they needed a bigger house.

That house was truly spacious enough for a family of four.

But ah well, perhaps they wanted more space. And no one can dictate what they want to do with their money.

They build a brand new house from the ground, or so I've heard. I saw the piece of land that was bought. Big, very big indeed.

We wanted to make another trip to Australia, you know, just for a few days. She invited us over too. Now that the house is up. LJ is very house proud too. But with Hubs and his schedule, it's not possible. Now I'm not that fit to travel too. Good thing I didn't book my flight to Thailand with bro and daddy for this weekend.

If not, I would have had to give it a miss.

Have a good long weekend.

Lotsa love.

Jealous

We're mere humans. We live to create moments. To create an impact. 

To make a change.

A simple song, by an unknown singer who has his own sets of baggage. 

He chooses to put his heart on stage and give it his all.

And many people can relate to him.

Because we all have our sets of baggages too.

Emotions. Regrets. Perceptions. Decisions.

We think it was the right thing to do at that one point of time, but looking back, it was probably a mistake. 

Some mistakes can be avoided.

But when the time has passed, no damage control can fix it. 

At one point you thought you were right, or that it was okay, and then suddenly you realise, that you were really, really wrong.

Then live, to regret it.

We move on, through time. 

But it's moments like this that hits us and we wish things didn't go the way they went.

It's a journey. LIFE. Mistakes. 

We don't forget. 

We learn.

Lotsa love. 

Unexpected

I didn't expect this, neither did I see this coming. 

But it happened, and I guess it's my body's way of telling me that I've pushed myself a bit too much. 

That's the thing about me, always pushing to go further. That's why I always thought, I'd make a good employee. 

But now with Drs strict advise for me to rest at home, I suddenly feel that the weight has been taken off of my shoulders. 

I feel lighter, definitely. 

And it is during this moment that I feel so grateful, that I have such wonderful, helpful colleagues that is willing to help me out. 

I'm always blessed to have to work with colleagues that will go out of their way to help each other out, and not drag each other down. It was then in AZ, and it is now in here as well. In fact, I feel it more here, as my colleagues are really really nice people. Each and every one of them, truly. 

And it's for these small things that I feel, how grateful am I to have found such a good pack of ladies and man who are so fun-loving and caring. 

And who looks out for one another. 

And a boss that understands too.

Makes life seem less lonely here. 

And more belonged.  

Mom, dad and bro came to visit me as well just to see if I'm okay. Although they didn't have to at all, but they insisted. I guess the love of parents toward their children will never diminish, even through space and time. And distance. Singapore is not that close to KL, and to have them travel all the way to see me, I feel loved, and touched too, truly. Was even more surprised when the person who initiated the journey was daddy. I miss my daddy very much. And his cooking too. Although I am very grateful to have food on the table to eat when I come home from work every day all prepared by my mom in-law, but nothing beats daddy's cooking. Daddy's cooking is less lavish, more simple, definitely, but the taste fits my palette better. 

I'm not complaining. Maybe a little. 

I miss home. 

And my dear ColB too. 

And now we have another addition, Allyshea into the family so I'm pretty sure the house gets even more "warm" with all the tender, loving care activities going in there. 

She's such a lovely baby. 

Wish I could pinch her cheeks!

Lotsa love. 

Scribbles 123

 Lying on my fluffy bed that Wednesday night, all cleaned up in my lovely lavender pajamas and flipping through the channels of the TV, I realised how life has changed so much for me over the course of one year. One year ago, I was in Penang too, only that I was still in AstraZeneca, and we were here for our national conference as well. Last year I was not married, just dating, this year I suddenly feel much older. I didn't have the mood or energy to go for 'second round' or 'third rounds' like I used to. Perhaps marriage really changes you. Or maybe it's just the age, but heck, I'm only 28 years of age. Barely even, still 27 technically. 

Perhaps it's the company. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate my new colleagues. Joan, Stella, Edwin, Emily, Cara, and Sharon, they are all lovely. But nothing beats the chemistry I had with my ex-gang of AZ. Simon and I, Danial, Syam, Denesh, we were tight like glue. It was during the moments I was flipping the channels of the TV that I am fondly reminded of the years that were, how much of fun we had, especially during the first year. 

Memories that were. 

I'm grateful for the days. 

Because as some of us move on from then, like Simon is moving back to Australia, Syam is well, Syam, Denesh is more pro-management and not as wild as he used to be (like, clubbing every week, really????), Danial is in another team, and well, the biggest impact was me I guess, when I left. 

Hyacinth Msged me when I left, that mornings weren't as wonderful anymore when they reported in after I left. People say I have an infectious laugh. Lol. It all was gone when I flew to Singapore.

My new colleagues are lovely people. The environment here is different in a sense that, well it's more 'Chinese' haha, people are here definitely more demanding and less merciful, and jobs are expected to be done in a stipulated time. But I've grown to love my colleagues more and more, after some 'sync'ing definitely hahaha. But they are all lovely, most of them are moms, so they have a very fun-loving nature, very 'maternal'. Cara is more of the 'Tai tai' attitude lady, Edwin is our only thorn of the roses, Emily is Organised and compliant, Sharon is bubbly, warm and funny, Joan is the sweetest and Stella, OMG she's so cute! 

But back to GSK Singapore, I must say that in every possible way, the way they work in Singapore is so much better. The people are so damn efficient it scares a Malaysian like me..! Hahah yes I'm still a Malaysian lol. And if you think you are on one level that is above the majority in Malaysia, trust me when I say, you are the mass majority in comparison to Singapore standards, unless you are just that good. Well I would humbly feel that it's the former for me. There is still so much to learn. 

Yes, I am still my aggressive self, but I Guess it has dawned upon me that I'm here working not to earn a living, but just to pass my time. Although the environment's competitiveness affect me (I am quite kiasu sometimes), but I have to constantly remind myself that I do not need to be in the rat race anymore as I do not need to worry about things like mortgages and loans and banks. Perhaps I'll plan another trip again with my love from the money I've worked. Or invest in Malaysia. Am thinking of building another few buildings in my hometown since the ROI is not too bad and I have a steady income now, so it's good to magnify the income. And oh, it's so awesome to work here because I'm taking 1/3 of the time I used to work in Malaysia to save X amount of money hahaha. I'm so grateful..! Talk about ka-Ching Ka-Ching! 

But nothing too Rush, really. 

There is more to come, definitely.

But I'm taking it one step at the time. 

Lotsa love. 

The Chapters of YesterYear

It's customary every year that when the year closes, I'd pen a note to summarize how it went. 

I logged into Facebook and I saw ample posts of how everyone summarized their year, and I Guess they storied around similar routes, going through happiness, hitting some walls, overcoming some bumps, gained so much, lost so much, and came out victorious at the very end. Of course, that would just be the tip of the ice-berg summary, coz its FB lah OMG, you can't story your whole in-depth yearly life experiences and expect people to not figuratively throw eggs on ya hahaha. 

But well, *Long deep breath*... If I had to summarize my life in one sentence, it would be exactly what I have anticipated from my year end post of 2014. CHANGE. It would be a year of change. And it is exactly what I have anticipated it to be, if not better. After my promotion, I decided to end my journey with AstraZeneca. Gave up my job, my potential career of already moving to a marketing role, and left everything, my friends, my dear family, my doggy, all for one person. I guess sometimes in life, you WOULD really do crazy things for love. But I should consider myself lucky, to be able to do something that not many people can do, or would do, or would want to do but does not have the opportunity to.

I was "jobless" for several months. Well, it was actually by choice. I was offered several jobs that I could have just taken if I needed a job, but well, I didn't take it up for several reasons. I moved to another country, and got myself acclimated to a new country altogether. I am grateful for the support that my Boyfriend turned fiancé and finally husband gave to me at that very duration, because I wouldn't have been able to do it without him. On top of that, I was busy planning a wedding, and a honeymoon, in which the latter did not take place due to a circumstance. 

I became a married woman last year. 

Yeap, I have given up my single-hood officially and decided to settle down with the man who would have my heart for the rest of my life. 

I think I had a beautiful wedding.

It was also a simple, lovely wedding. 

Only invited 100 of my most important people in my life.

We made it very, very simple, due to the fact that the wedding was supposed to be cancelled initially, but we decided to proceed with it nonetheless because the invitations were all sent out.

So we made it, very very simple. Almost minimalist.

Of course, we didn’t compromise on the food.

Every one of my friends and my dad’s friends who were typical food critics gave compliments to the 

chef.

We asked for the hotel’s most expensive wedding menu. It was nothing short of an array of dishes which started with the 5 Seasons Hot and Cold Dish, then it was the Sharks fin soup ( was really contemplating on this one because Sean and I weren’t into killing any more sharks, but gave in to dad’s request, duck, pomphret fish (correct spelling? Haha), prawns, vegetables with sea cucumber and abalones, and two desserts.

Gave some tables to daddy and mummy of course. 

We didn’t take the ang pow money.

Sean gave it all to my parents to keep. We didn’t take a cent. But Sean paid for everything. 

He has always been so gracious with his money. I guess that’s how you define a man. It’s not really the fact on how much you make a year or a month, but really, how you treat people the money that you have that defines your level of graciousness. I still have a lot to learn from this man, especially when it comes to money. Trust me, I am not so gracious.

We planned a honeymoon but well, it’s postponed. My heart was very pained when we didn’t take the flight on the day of the departure, since everything was already paid for, but we did it with very good reason, and looking back, both of us were so glad we didn’t board that flight that very night. I guess we can always earn back the money, but money cannot be compared lost time with the closest of family.

However, I don’t know how am I going to go for a three weeks honeymoon, now that I am working.

But I guess my boss would understand. After all, honeymoon is like, a once in a lifetime kinda thing right?

But three weeks? Hrm.. Probably I’m just gonna try two. *smiles*

I miss my family very much. Everything here in Singapore is better in every possible way, the money is better, the lifestyle is better, the facilities are much better too. But nothing beats the warmth of presence of my dear family members and close friends. They say, that home is where the heart is, and the warmth of my heart is mainly filled by everyone back at home and the familiar faces. 

Let's hope for a better year 2016 ahead. I believe, it is going to be another year of change too. I'm praying for the best. =)

lotsa love.