August Snippets

It's a hectic month.

080803: Got a call from Seattle while having breakfast on a Sunday morning. Zhao Shao needs a little favor from me which eventually turned out to be a big thing...too big for me to stomach...Still, I tried my best to help and I believe I did good.

080807: Tom took off today. He treated us cakes, so sweet. Gonna miss my buddy...

080808: This is an eventful day. Friends got married on this auspiscious day, congrats to all:) And watched the Beijing Olympic 2008 at home. How can I watch without TV at home? Dread not, just go to TvAnts, download the application and tune to CCTV5 and you get a live-cast of the majestic event:) Too bad I didn't get to see Li Ning hovering around the Bird Nest and light up the Olympic torch as need to accompany CM out to buy some sun-block for her Tioman Island trip. Thanks Yan Han for passing me the HD DVD on the event:p

080809: Woke up at 5.30am and walked CM down to take a cab to Jurong East, where she will meet up with her colleagues to Tioman. Returned to my cosy bed till 8am and it's my turn to take off to the Woodlands custom to go home for Siew Teng's commencement at Cyberjaya. Though I reach the Larkin bus terminal at the usual 10am, the usual 11am bus ticket to Kluang was sold out. It's Singapore's National Day, hence a long weekend. No wonder. Had to take the 12.30pm bus lor. Met Yan Ling at the waiting area. Reached home, took a quick bath, some food and off we went to KL with mom and dad at 2pm.

Reached KL roughly at 5pm, met up with Siew Teng and went to my aunt's place where we will put up for the night. Jing Wen, now a young teenage girl, is preparing for her PMR in Oct. Li Xian has grown into a young man, a little rebellious according to my aunt and I assured her it's normal. He is now a little like me when I was his age, I was much worst:p I was surprised when dad told me Jing Wen is reading my blog. Okay, so from now on, I will try to spur more sensible write ups and hopefully she will not become anti-government like me..haha.

080810: Siew Teng's big day! Woke up at 6am. Deprived of sleep now:p As usual, only parents can enter the grand hall for the conferring ceremony. I had to wait outside for more than 4 hours. The Chancellor of MMU, apparently a very old man, had to give out more than 3000 of certificates at one go. In the midst he actually dozed off and when this young Bachelor walked with pride to the centre of the podium and reached out for his cert, the Chancellor head was dropped dead. For 5 seconds, he didn't moved and the time freezed. The poor Bachelor was stunned and didn't know what to do. He must be thinking what I thought at the same time, "This old fart must have got a stroke." Dramatically, the douche bag dozed off 4 times throughout the ceremony, wtf.

After the ceremony, situation got worse as thousands of ecstatically charged graduates plus thousands more family members flooded the square outside the hall. Followed my sister everywhere, squeezing through the traffic, preying on targets and stopping occasionally to snap. By the time we were done, it's already 3pm. All 88 shots from me were as sharp as Hattori Hanzo's samurai blade, my personal best record:) We headed back home right after dinner as I need to be back in school the following day.

The photographer and the proud graduate, who is immediately RM54,000 richer than others.

080811 - 080815: Intensive training and reading on the prospectus. Need to understand the company fully before I can present. This week, I was living an amphibious life, both as a student and as an IR. Strangely, I was not feeling a tinge of fear to face those fund managers and investors in the coming week. I was just thinking of how to help out, and hoped to present and translate the best I can. Wrangled with research, studies, part time GA, trainings and this...phew...

080815: Had to manned the booth for OutReach in Marina Square from 9am to 3pm. Thanks Han Yang for accompanying me. The Education Minister of Singapore will be at the Science Fair as well and the professors were quite tensed. During our demo, the bloody reporters kept snapping pictures of the minister and the camera of our setup had a hard time to detect the laser disc. Fortunately it worked after all those flashes ceased and the minister's ,"Oh, this is fun!" saved my ass.

First time having Japanese cuisine in Singapore. CM was thrilled and contented at Sakuraya, haha:)

080816: Went on a shopping spree for shirts and ties and shoes. Had to get the attires for my big day as well as for the meetings with all the honchos. Bought a pair of Pedro at AnchorPoint, only to find out there are much cheaper leather shoes at Queensway shopping centre 100m away.

080817: Last minutes preparation for the next day.

080818 - 080820: Five to six meetings per day back-to-back, each lasting for an hour or more. Adrenaline level rose to a record high! A bit staggered at the beginning but eventually got better and better. In HK, it's all by myself.

080821: One day trip to Repulse Bay, Madam Tussaud's wax museum, Wan Chai...

080822: Back in school and a whole loads of stuff to iron out. Need to make a decision by next week.