.: Winks & Kisses :.

Am in Malacca for the long weekends, having truckloads of fun with my cousins.

Will be back to KL on Monday.

Til then, lotsa winks and kisses from me & Rach!

*wink*wink* ;)

.: Age Is Just A Number :.

Why do I need to explain to everyone how I graduated from ACCA at the age of 19?

Why to I need to explain to everyone that I started working at the age of 19?

Why do I need to explain to everyone that I am a qualified, chartered accountant to two professional accountancy bodies at the age of 23?

Why is it difficult to understand? Is it really that difficult to comprehend?

I am capable of doing what a 30 year old chartered accountant is doing. Why does my age have to be a barrier to my career progression? Is it really such a hindrance to be taken seriously at this age? The capabilities that I demonstrate at my work should speak for itself, not my age.

Do ever judge me by my age! Ever!

Gosh. At times like this I just wish I can put away all my adults responsibilities and re-live back my missing childhood days! At least I don't feel so frustrated for being treated like a normal 23 year old.

.: And The Winner Is..... :.

The list of DiGi Speak Up contest winners are up.

Click here to find out the list of winners! :)

Guess who won? *hint*hint*

Nah, not me, but.... Tammie, my cousin sister did! She won a phone! :)
Click on the winner site to have a look at her winning picture! And this is her Oscar speech. *lol*

So happy for her! :)

And congrats to other winners too :)

.: Kath's Travel Guide @ UK - Part I :.

It's been months since I came back from UK, but it is only until now that I have the time to upload some pictures.

So here are a few pictures (with me in it) to share.

If you don't like my face and would rather look at pictures of nature and things - click here for Kath's Travel Guide @ UK - Sneak Preview.

I will continue to post up pictures and blog more of my UK trip at not-so-regular intervals. Please bear with my laziness.

Outside the hostel Martin & I stayed at Stradclyde.

Martin is my travelling bear!

(Glasgow)

Albert & Me on a bad hair day. Lookalike no?

(Madame Tussuad)

Ben, Mummy & I standing right in the center of the Earth!

(Greenwich)

This is how wearing a gown in the old days feels like.

It's heavy, I kid you not
(Fashion Museum - Stradford Upon Haven)

Right outside of Roman Bath and Abbey Cathedral.

(Bath)

On a City Sightseeing Tour Bus in Windsor. Behind, the infamous Windsor Castle.

(Windsor)

.: Purge :.

Down with purging and tummy ache today. Wonder is it because of the fried tung fun I had last night? Or the avocado milk shake mummy made?

Either way, I have been visiting the toilet twice. Hope it will just stop there.

.: Blessing Streak :.

Been on a winning streak of late.

2 tickets to the premier of Orphan (thanks to Nuffnang)
2 double tickets pass to watch Cold Prey 2 at Cathay Cineplex (which is a con - coz the only Cathay cinema screening this show is in Johor, like what the heck right? -.-)
4 tickets to watch Hi-5 at Genting Arena of Star (which my colleague ask me to help enter for her 4 year old daughter, in case you're wondering what kind of 23 year old nut I am)

Nothing to really shout about, but still…..

On top of that, (tho this is not a contest) - I manage to secure a job in a well known company, paying quite well. And on top of that, I was counter-offered to work in my parent company in Singapore (which is the dilemma I am currently facing - to go or not to go Singapore?)

I guess that in many ways, I am very much blessed.

So instead of whinning and complaining, I guess I should be greatful and thankful for every single God's blessing :)

.: Think Outside The Box :.

This lovely lady that I was chatting over Xi Mut Tea in Old Town Coffee Café on Saturday was someone in HR. She's an absolute lovely lady, so easy to chat with.

She was telling me this, which I felt was something that I should share.

There was a group of employees in a team building exercise.

One of the game was that each person, has tagged his/her back, a piece of paper with name of a famous celebrity written.
Now, the objective of the game is very simple - to ask questions to other people around; who could see what was tagged behind; in order to guess the name of this famous celebrity tagged on his/her back.

So everyone went around, asking questions to each other. Some manage to get it very quickly. While a few others struggled. In the end, there was one guy left; who had a name of a celebrity that he has never heard of tagged on his back. So obviously it made it very difficult for him to guess. He ended up asking questions on the first alphabet, the second alphabet and so on and so forth.

Then one of them quickly object to say that it is not right - the guy can not ask these kind of questions.

To which, the coordinator said "No, he is not wrong. The only rules that I mentioned at the inception of the game is that you need to ask questions to guess the name written. Nobody said that you could not ask these kinda questions. In fact, you could very well ask 'What is the name tagged on my back' "

So, the lesson learnt from this exercise is that we should think outside the box.

And never allow anyone (or even yourself) impede or limit you from doing so in any way.

.: Jodi's Stories :.

I have been spending much of my spare time (which isn't very much actually) reading up novels. Now, I never really believe in buying books/novel for reading, unless one; I am going to read it a couple of times two; it's a definite real bargain.

So with that in mind, I am a regular visitor the our very own National Library.

Now, don't underestimate our National Library. Tho very much lacking as compared to libraries in other developed countries, there is still a wide range of books and novels that you could lend/borrow (I could never seem to get this right, someone pls correct me?).

And one of the novelist that I am following closely aside from Nicholas Sparks and Nora Roberts; is Jodi Picoult.

I have read her very first debut novel; Songs Of The Humpback Whale.

In this book, I love how she narrates the story by 5 different individuals - Jane, Oliver, Rebecca, Joley and Sam. What is unique is that her narration of Rebecca's experience is end to beginning. I have to admit that I was a lil confused when I started of with the novel, but after reading on, I manage to piece together what this whole novel was all about. I love the way that she must have really did her research to know and able to write so much about the Humpback whales and apple orchards.

The sypnosis of the novel as below :

In this novel, Jodi Picoult interweaves five rich narrative voices to tell a story of love, loss, and self-discovery. The voices belong to a mother, her daughter, and three very different men.

Jane had always lived in somebody's shadow. Escaping a childhood of abuse by marrying oceanographer Oliver Jones, she finds herself taking second place to his increasingly successful career. However, when her daughter Rebecca is slighted, Jane's dramatic stand takes them all by surprise.

Leaving Oliver and his whale tapes behind in San Diego, Jane and Rebecca set out to drive across America to Uncle Joley and the sanctuary of the Massachusetts apple orchard where he works. Joley directs Jane across the United States in a series of letters waiting for her in designated post offices. Each letter gives concise directions to the next post office; each letter provides Jane with a chance to reflect on her forgotten past.

Oliver, used to tracking male humpback whales across vast oceans, now has the task of tracking his tantalizingly unpredictable wife across a continent. To do so he must learn to see the world-- and even himself-- through her eyes.

Songs of the Humpback Whale is a powerful and sensitive novel of family life that questions how songs are passed down from male speaker to male speaker, but also examines the female tradition of listening that women unconsciously pass on to their daughters.

I have also read Second Glance, which is very much an unconventional love story.

Do we love across time? Or in spite of it?

This was the first two sentence in the synopsis that caught my attention. As I read on, I was very much swooned by her quirky, likeable characters; the mysterious elements of magical realism of the supernatural world; and the more serious social critiques on sensitive topics such as genetic selection and races.

I am now halfway through Perfect Match; which is basically a story about the battle of the parents of a sexually abused 5 year old boy.

Updated 02/09/09 :

I have to admit that this is the best Jodi's novel I have read so far.

It did started off kind of slow, mild, almost static plot, but as pages and pages were turned, the plot starts to thicken, and midway to the story, there were sharp twists here and there; at it was then that I started to flip the pages at a faster pace.

When we are struck at without a reason, we should strike back again very hard; I am sure we should - so hard as to teach the person who struck us never to do it again.
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre

.: Shifting Genre :.

As Ben, Yin and I was crooning to Vanessa's Colour Of The Wind, Desiree's Sunshine and Diana King's I Say A Little Prayer, the three of us realise that we prefer music from Mix FM rather than Hitz FM.

Damn! Are we all slowly but surely getting older (even our taste in music) or what?

Damn.....

.: Going Deep :.

Had alot of deep, thought provoking moments in my life today, which I wanna share with all of you.

Namely from a chat with a lovely lady at Old Town Coffee Cafe in Uptown Damansara in the afternoon and Rev Peter's book launch in Nanyang Siang Pau Hall in the evening.

But I am exhausted for today - will share more tomorrow.

For now, I shall leave you guys with one very profound quote

Church is only society on earth that exists for the benefit of non-members. -- William Temple

Indeed, sometimes as church goers we are too hung up with the smaller, petty things, that we lose sight and focus of the bigger purpose; of God's purpose.

.: Top 10 Signs You'll Soon Be Unemployed :.

1. You return from a week's vacation to find that you had scheduled THIS week as vacation, not last week.

2. The email in which you wittily described your boss as “Hitler without the redeeming features” was accidentally cc'd to “All Staff”.

3. That cute new employee you unsuccessfully hit on turns out to be head of the Lesbian Lawyers Alliance AND the chairman's daughter.

4. You wake up naked under the boardroom table just as the door opens and the directors file in.

5. Arriving at your destination on a business trip, you check your papers and discover that you have gone to the wrong continent.

6. The milk you “borrowed” from the company fridge in the R and D department wasn't milk and no one will tell you what it was.

7. The bad driver to whom you gave the one finger sign on your way to the office turns out to be the new director of human resources.

8. You take a "sick" day because you were up most of the night watching a TV sports final and the following morning the boss says, "So, I hear you had a late night?"

9. An off-color joke you forwarded to “All staff” contained a Trojan super-virus which shut down company computers worldwide.

10. After your project team gets the company listed on the stock market, you realize that your data had the decimal point in the wrong place.

.: Someday We'll Know :.

.: Someday We'll Know :.

Ninety miles outside Chicago
I can't stop driving I don't know why
So many questions, I need an answer
Two years later, you're still on my mind

Whatever happened to Amelia Earhart
Who holds the stars up in the sky
Cuz true love is just once in a lifetime
Did the captain of the Titanic cry?

Someday we'll know
If love can move a mountain
Someday we'll know
Why the sky is blue
Someday we'll know why I wasn't meant for you

Does anybody know the way to Atlantits?
What the wind says when she comes
I'm speeding by the place that I met you
For the ninty-seventh time, tonight

Someday we'll know
If love can move a mountain
Someday we'll know
Why the sky is blue
Someday we'll know
Why I wasn't meant for you
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Someday we'll know
Why Samson loved Delilah
One day I'll go
Dancing on the moon
Someday you'll know that I was the one for you

I want to take you to the end of the rainbow
Watch the stars crash in the sea
If I could ask God just one question
Why aren't you here with me, tonight?

Someday we'll know
If love can move a mountain
Someday we'll know
Why the sky is blue
Someday we'll know why I wasn't meant for you
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Someday we'll know
Why Samson loved Delilah
One day I'll go
Dancing on the moon
Someday you'll know that I was the one for you

.: Someone's Got.... :.

Someone's got a new toy to play with! *wink*wink*

No points for guessing who tho :)

.: Chick, Action & Horror :.

Well, it is NOT a description of me - tho JC will definately attest to the horror part.

It's of the 3 flicks I have watched the past two weeks (which is way more higher than my average).

I watched The Proposal on Saturday (1st August @ GSC Tropicana Mall). It was an okay movie, not something I would watch again and again (still find it hard to find a good movie which has the same impact as You've Got Mail had), tho JC enjoyed it alot (I know - Mr. Woody into chick flick? But it's true!).


Then, watched with the CC Youth G.I. JOE on Sunday (2nd August @ GSC Tropicana Mall). Tho I am no big fan of action flicks, I must say that I do enjoy this movie. The storyline made a lil bit more sense compared to your average action flicks.

Yesterday (18th August @ Midvalley GSC) I won two tickets to watch the premier of Orphan. And even tho I love horror movies, this movie is considered mild compared to say Silence of the Lamb or The Hills Have Eyes. But when it's gory - it is sickenly gory. Good movie, with a slight twist in the end.

And .... I just found out today that I won two tickets to watch Cold Prey 2. Something similiar to Final Destination I suppose. *happiness*

.: The Green, Green Grass :.

It's tough when you are facing difficult decisions to make. Either side of the field, the grasses are green. Sure, there are some weeds here and there, but I suppose that there are no such things as perfect fields, are there?

I wonder which field should I decide to play in?

Sigh.