*WHOA!*

i had insomnia last night
But today.. im so so so thankful
So thankful for GOD's favor

Morning I came in, after being awake from 2 -5am...
I know we are getting our performance bonus and increment letters today...
but heck, i was so tired
and i saw this email by our DD

Dear Esther,
I am pleased to inform you that your Performance Bonus (PB), Growth Bonus
(GB) and Merit Increment (MI) awards are above the norm.As PB is considered based on individual performance and relative ranking,the awards would differ each year.You have done well. Keep up the good work.
Best regards,


I was like WHOA.. above the norm leh, Not bad sia. But predicting like at the most few hundred dollars above others
Den my boss emailed to say there were only 7 senior officers in our department who got this above norm thingy...
Well its stilll a long way before promotion for me...but this is like the next best thing.

2 officers, about 6 yrs into the job, got promoted this time... hahah means I keep this up and still have 4 yrs to go?

ok la
i was still expecting a max 4K bonus onli... until at the end of the day
DD hands me my letter


I GOT CLOSE TO $9K BONUS!!!!!!!
WAH LAO!!!!

and my salary hit a Landmark figure
meaning to say in <2 years, my salary had jumped $1K

i knew my performance was not bad for last year because of the award winning event, but i thought it will be dismissed as rubbish or something....
Anyway me and my sisters exchange letters all the time. I know i really got a crazy lot more than they did. talking thousands of dollars difference
I kind of feel bad, but i know they are sincerely happy for me, cos they know my circumstances and how hard i work

But most most most importantly
Thank you Lord for all these, the favor, the opportunities, the environment
i know im bad, sometimes i curse this job, or i whine
but Thank You Lord.


--------------------------------------

either something interesting to share. I actually have some value in the market.
Some ang moh guy liasing vehicle stuff with me ends up to be someone who owns a London broking firm in singapore

He was so impressed with me, he sent me a compliment, and he offered me a JOB
I told him im no bank and finance qualified person, he said its not about qualifications. He is impressed with my attitude

Haha

I know i wont take it. But I had to be polite so i told him id think about it
$$$$ is so not my thing
i kind of agreed with Laoban that Im doomed to be in law administration for life.
hahahah

of course i agree with him
one of those days.. i love my job
im going to buy everyone i love a little gift!!!

Easter Sunday

~ Celebrating resurrection of our Saviour today ~


~ Victory~




-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



I think those who know me, should know that im very into those designer items lately.


Or what my sis calls "Brand conscious"


Ok la i admit that I have not been frugal. My count of possessions include 2 burberry bags, 1 LV bag, 1 burberry wallet, and just last week Dan got me this LV vernis ludlow...





cos he knows how much i like it... it is so pretty i tell u


(I think he feels bad cos i buy him phones to play with)





Yep but its a road of no return.. u crave and crave after your first item. So i actually did some planning in Jan that I will be getting a weekend Gucci tote. the kind that would look so gorgeous when im wearing 3/4 pants. the kind that you can stuff lots of things in. Den i will try to justify the purchase by saying it can last long and be a diaper bag when i have a kid


oh wait i think i have a picture of it..

so rugged with attitude...

I did my research in the boutique, lady say it costs a $850. I was like ok what... and Dan said it look nicer than other $1K over bags.

Check out my stupid attitude la. $800+ bag i say ok what.

But nvm... im not buying this anymore after this session of drooling. You'd find out why

You know why i planned splurging, cos come tuesday we will be getting our letter telling us how much we are gettng for our:

Performance bonus

+

Growth Bonus

+

Merit Increment ( i hope this brings my salary to the next landmark figure... pls...)

Im expecting a good figure for all 3 items because of what DD told me when i asked him about my grading last year, during appraisal. He was like.. u did well, u will know when you see your bonus (shy laugh)

Got my hopes all up

But im still for conservative estimate. Based on HR minumum calculation-- minimum is like for people who do only their core expected, so not those who did impressive revolutionary stuff that grabbed the management's attention... can get chao chao like... 2 x gross salary

not bad what. So i thought worse case scenario i can get that amount. So i can buy my gucci tote

Sigh

but my brother just entered republic poly. Im actually very thankful to God about his results. He is a guy, the least he must have is a diploma rite.

I kinda feel like things for guys are a lot different. So at times i know its foolish and futile but i'd rather my brother has my brains and luck. Im not saying that Im damn smart or anything... but im at least comfortable. But I will not feel good holding a degree and if my brother didnt make it and end up with no qualifications.

So i used to talk to him, telling him i know how singaporean gals are like. im one myself and i know. Its hard enough to find a gal, but with this education thing in the way...

Ya but thank God everything worked out ok and he got into RP. Good thing there is RP too.

So now, back to the finances

My brother just bought a laptop. Cost my dad about $1.5K. So i figured the only right thing for me to do, being blessed with this bonus, will be to reimburse my dad for that. Its also my duty. My dad has a car and family to support and I dont.

After that I have to pay my credit card bill, and save the rest cos lets face it, im not getting any younger.

and the increment also goes to my brother's increased pocket money for poly.

So bye bye Gucci. I know i will feel a lot better with this decision. I never want to be selfish and indulge in designer bags while my family struggles with another tertiary education.

So I told God , I tried my best. Back in Uni i gave tuition to give myself pocket money. Now Im still paying off my uni fees. Now, i know a lot of people tell me i should watch out for myself instead trying to increase my burden with these little things.

But I know everything makes me a stronger, not bitter person.

:)

I still thank God for everything, you know.

Qing Gong Feng Yun

Laoban says im a "thoroughbred political scientist"

he made me demo in our unit meeting... diu lian....

Since so, I shall present to you, my friends, our blockbuster story

called... PALACE POLITICS... aka Qing gong feng yun

actually the players are:

of course the beautiful 4 cpd gals la

u know we are soooo beautiful that we are famous

i met a 3 mth new staff at a course last week, she told me she heard our department a lot of beauties

*roars*

so a dept of beautiful gals, sure will stab each other to gain attention one rite

so come the male players

actually there is only one player



DAN



cos the rest of them are actually pigu, laoshu and jelly's bfs who are not really in the palace



but i gave them roles too... when we went for a $300 crab dinner!!! ($300 leh. wa lau)







Presenting....












Up left.

Jelly as Zhu Long fei... and her guard
as in every gu dai show, a couple who offends the state rules get into the pig basket... except in my happy palace politics there are no deaths.
this happened because jelly did not tell us that she was together with ernie-san ... she did not tell us for 2 weeks. That is unacceptable.
Hence she rolls around in a zhu-long with us


Next

Me as Huang-lian Hou... supposed to be HUANG HOU. cos i am the lawful wife of the Emperor. but because I have lost my appeal, thus the emperor's appetite for concubines, I become a Huang Lian Po....
My arms are crossed because I am crossed. haha

Below me
Danny as...
HUANG SHANG LA... the core of all these female backstabbing

On his shoulders
laoshu as MA PI FEI
(ass-kissing concubine)
always wanting to be the most loved concubine of Huang Shang. Will do anything to keep her position. constantly whispering into the emperor's ears. She is the reason why the other 2 concubines have been banished... one into the zhu-long, one.... u'll find out later

the story about this concubine, her true love is actually an official (played by kou-di). But since her much publicised royal betrayal, he had his head sewn into a very very tall green hat that he has to wear for life. No wonder LU MAO GUAN is weeping sorrowfully

and at the corner
Pigu as LENG GONG ZHU (Cold Palace Princess). she has been banished into the cold palace after Emperor was brainwashed by that MaPi Fei. To ignore is the greatest punishment, thus she is in depression. The royal physician COUNSELLOR, played by the noble Kerni, is there to keep her sanity...



HAHAHAH
Work drives us nuts.
Forgive me all boyfriends of my dear colleagues

WHAT WOULD LIFE AT WORK BE WITHOUT U ALL...

I will not waste chalk

Ive started on Dan's complete Simpsons collection

So funny...

I like irony

ah ma 55th bday

Ah Ma (of the company) turned five-ty-five last sat

so off we went to the URA bungalow

q a nice place though, may consider applying for it and have a weekend of fun with all of us

except that we will not be gettin this one, getting something called a VILLA for our division level, which only meant it faces the park and sea

we tried smiling..

we tried huang fei hong

we tried being sneaky

den la ma and meinu arrived. la ma brought her baby gal along so she was in non-crazy, all-mothery mode

and i think meinu is v happy cos she just left our company,

has a huge (i think 5 carat) diamond ring, and is getting married to one of our ex colleagues

having the perfect wedding , guy and gal both so good looking, wedding pics in melbourne, dinner at fullerton

except.... we are not invited.

hahaha

but all the best for her la, she so chio

HAPPY BDAY AH MA!!!!

-------

End: if u can make out these videos and watch them to the very end....

WHAT IS LACKING IN MY CHALET ACCOUNT?

a ghostly encounter?

I have two

Love and Marraige

For those wondering...

A student asked a teacher. "What is love ?"

The teacher said, "In order to answer your question. Go to the padi field and choose the biggest padi and come back. But the rule is: you can go through them only once and cannot turn back to pick."

The student went to the field, go through the first row and saw one big padi stalk, but he wondered....maybe there is a bigger one later.
Then he saw another bigger one... but thought may be there is a even bigger one waiting for him.

Later, when he finished more than half of the padi field, he start to realise that the padi was not as big as the previous one he saw, he knew he has missed the biggest one, and he regretted !!!!

So, he went back to the teacher with empty hands.
The teacher told him, "...this is love... you keep looking for a better one, but when you realised later, you have already missed the person...."


"What is marriage then ?" the student asked.

The teacher said, "In order to answer your question, go to the corn field and choose the biggest corn and come back. But the rule is: you can go through them only once and cannot turn back to pick."

The student went to the corn field. This time he was careful not to repeat the previous mistake.

When he reached the middle of the field, he has picked one medium corn that he felt satisfied, and come back to the teacher.

The teacher told him, "this time you bring back a corn.... you look for one that is just nice, and you have faith and believe this is the best one you got.... this is marriage."

tired

- screened-

My problems are over now, but perhaps yours are still lurking around here

Life is Ironic

Photoseries- Life is Ironic
Created By: Danny and Esther
Copyrights reserved


I saw this.




So Barney and his little gf wants to go to the fire station.
Let me teach you a thing or 2 Barney.
Let me show you some things that have never crossed your purple dino mind in your i-love-u-u-love-me-we-are-happy-family world

A firestation.....





... can also catch fire.
otherwise why the fireman so sian

Not only that...




A Policeman also can get Jailed
you think they do all the catching?

Now out of the jail and into the streets





You dont go and believe Bob the builder la
His tow truck also can gena towed one la


Shocked?
You probably can think about how your fish died
You thought it died because it was old...
thats what you mummy said...
Ive been keeping it's death cert for some time... I think its time i should show it to you







Sigh... we tried to save it my dear
it could not make it to the buoy.. and drowned


So you are frightened eh? Now that is fear, something new to you.
Fear... and you think you know all about fear


What makes you think Birdie is happily flying in the sky
Like anyone else, it has a fear of heights

and on the ground

While the cactus can take thirst
it can fear the heat.
so sit and sing in your air con room and feel good

and when night time comes
and when you are listening to the lullaby

remember someone out there is afraid of the dark like many of us are, but forced to be a bat

You never knew, did you?

So many things in this world are fake, dear.

OH DEAR....

Look what I have done to you .... Barney

CNY

Making up for not blogging
(im still alive)

CNY (Chu san and si)

3rd day...

Some of the invited few at work went to ah ma's house to bai nian. she is soooo host-ly. machiam hosting a whole pack of hungry wolves, she kept going in and out of the kitchen to bring us food food and more food

So unlike her fierce self at work... wooops!

we took some pics but Dan kept irritating us

Aiyoh so colourful rite

I love my gals so much. For V day we bought each other stuff.

Romantic

I got Laoshu a naraya pouch cos she likes it, and had to top up with a necklace chosen by Dan cos Pigu's prez was so much more expensive than a $5 naraya pouch. anyway, Laoshu claims to be Danh's fav concubine so its only right that he chooses something for her. (wats wrong with me). Pigu got a braun buffel card holder wallet from me...

and i got from Laoz an eyelash heating curler and from Pigu an eye cream

And pigu got laoshu a concealer and Laoshu got pigu ermmmm... i forgot

by the way , u could tell, all the presents were "demanded" ahahah

i wanted to curl my lashes cos they are awfully dull and i just purchased Dior Show mascara. anyway i want to curb signs of aging now that im so old. so i asked for eye cream.

recently have been splurging so much at fancl, i use their pretty paper bags as gift bags man. I have like so many of them

and i have $10+ credit there liao. once i hit $60 im going to get tense-up ex cos i really dont want wrinkles

Dont you worry about all these now? I do. with the tiring work ending at 7 or 8pm daily, you dont have much time to get prepared to sleep by eleven. i dont want all those wrinkles n stuff

oh anyway

Day 4 of CNY

we did the much neccessary ass-kissing act of visiting Laoban's home. Its like if you dont go, u wait long long before he recommend you for promotion. ahha. so we went

but not before we shopped again. The same gals... we went to raffles city la, far east la, DFS la... (psss march bonus is coming and we are going to be gucci customers soon)

Dan n I were happy cos we did not have to work

So you have a problem with that?

No rite

anyway we started critisizing pigu on her non-existent eyes in photos... so many photos of her with NO EYES when she did not make a conscious effort to open them wide wide

den we comforted her telling her that she can go for the oriental slit eye look. what we call FENG YAN..

aiyo poor baby. eyes already so small liao still gena pull lidat. haha.

V day- Valentine's day

Totally lost its appeal. serious.

Giving each other presents is ok. like me and the gals

Ok Dan and I gave each other presents, early, cos u pass by the shop you buy.

This time we gao-gadget

He got me my VERY GORGEOUS

LG viewty... its my 3rd LG phone. this baby can take slow motion video which can be HILARIOUS. Dan the Director is currently working on an art flick starring me & angie the 2 siao zhar bos

Its not ready yet, but he did it because he was inspired by one of our crazy antics when we were doing up the CC6 settings in the call centre. instead of tending to the coms, i showed off my phone which got crazy angie into the "lets-do-this,lets-do-that" mode. mind you she is a married hot mama. but she is still crazy

so Dan saw this, laughed at us, and sat there to think

den he sat us down to film a whole series of action flick. once he is done i will upload it. it should be good

hahaha

this is what i got dan. He is out of black and into white now...

yeah

that aside. anything else on vday is really crazy. $1000 spent to wilt ? i heard that over the radio. seriously pass me the money to get something really lasting can>? like an LV. hah

Dan made reservations at Pasta Fresca, at 6th avenue because we like it so much, and we thought it would not be as crowded as the rest of singpores full of "Smugattacheds"

Time out: Esther's Dictionary

"Smugattacheds"- a stolen phrase, noun~Refers to 2 that makes a couple. may be male-female, male-male, female-female. whatever ok. But these people go around with this loving smiles and touching, in an attempt to showcase their attached-status, and sometimes, look around to see if no one is actually throwing them envious glances. Phenomenom usually more pronounced annually on Feb 14th, and one x smugattached holds a bouquet proudly in the hand, as if it serves a purpose

seriously i get sick looking at the gals holding flowers perfectly in their hands. Showing off can? I have received bouquets before and I put them in PAPER BAGS if i cant leave them at home. I would feel that dumb if i hold one walking around, as if im afraid people dunno i have flowers.

Insecure la...

Plus flowers are crazy expensive on vday. i personally think flowers are nice to have, but $100- $200 for them is pure irrational behaviour.

anyway back to 6th avenue, quiet quiet 6th avenue suddenly became the zoo. So packed and we waited more than 1 hour for our food.

We swore. Next year onwards we will buy stuff and head home to cook. Its more fun and less irritating.

While we were waiting, there was this old ang-moh couple next to us. When they left, we have not gotten our food yet (but we were gracious about it because we had so much to talk about... bitching about work basically but passing it off as quality time) .. and the old lady...

very nicely pass me the rose she had.

She said "I think you will enjoy this more than I do"... and she gave me a pat pat . then she chatted briefly with us about the busy restaurant night and left

How nice.

Do you think any chinese lady would have done this?

something to think about....

Niew ear resolution

I noticed that this year, the fad is to declare to the world that you have no new year resolutions




So everyone was like "nah... no resolutions, they are dumb" "i dont keep to mine anyway"




Even the Pastor at Trinity said that




suddenly, thats like cool.









So how? i PURPOSELY have one resolution when no one else is having any.




OK this year i will make it a point to update my blog.




that way if i die or sumthing, people actually notice.









"Eh... what happened to esther huh. recently never blog. she always blog one leh... im worried. Lets call her"









ring ring




"hello"









"esther, where have u been? im so worried cos u did not blog for sum time"









"You were worried about ME!! thats sooo sweet!!!"














Ya rite.




No i figured if I dont, people actually forget that I exist. Or people meet me on the street and we lapse into awkward silences in between empty boh talk




Which reminds me. that day i was walking around the marketplace at my house, wearing v lok cos i was headed to Dan's and i know he will love me no matter how ugly i look and he promised.




yah. so i was walking, outside cheers, pondering whether to buy calbee or ruffles chips




den i passed by a guy who gave me a look. Immediately, paranoid city. FINE LA, LOOK LA, I UGLY CANNOT MEH




Den he said "Esther!"




I was thinking, wa now ugly also can become famous arh









I stared at him for a good 3 mins and was convinced that I have no name in my mind









He said "its me la"









Mind : of cos its u la, if not me meh?




Face break into this sweet have-mercy-on-me smile









He said "from vball la"









Me "o... orhhhhh..." wa shit, shit, shit. i now know u are from vball and i think yes i know u but... "erm so whats ur name huh"









Well the conversation just went downhill from there. What u doing here oh i pei my mother buy groceries ahaha thats nice so where you stay...




and it was punctuated with awkward silences. im pretty sure he wished he had never shouted "Esther!"









sigh. why must people talk. dont talk everything will be fine ma, rite














-----------------









Ok why am i rambling. Cos its CNY Da Nian Chu Yi Night. I have nothing to do, and Dan is in malaysia. that makes me miserable. Laoshu gave me a tight slap that day and asked me to be more independent









this is how im talking to Dan

free internet sms. to see if we can cut roaming charges. if not, well... at least we tried

i missed him so much. So now Da nian chu yi, i PURPOSELY put one picture we took at xmas

i'm going to be honest here. i miss him like crazy.

anyway i give up being good. Im already publicly recognized as playful. thats the adjective stuck to me like toilet paper to a wet ass. From young my parents are like "Behave yourself ok Esther" But Dan is the one who welcomes it. He lets me be myself and still tells me im v attractive. so its like, i can have pimples lined in a T shape across my face. YAY.

but i miss him. how can i miss him so much when we see each other so much for so long?

Today one of the aunts from my grandaunt side gave me a da-nian-chu-yi talk.

Time out: Esthers dictionary

Da-Nian-Chu-Yi Talk- ~noun: a talk you have on da nian chu yi. duh. but it means different things for different people: ie Kids: "so how are your grades?", teens "which institute are you going to", grads "so have you found a job? how is it?", single adults "Got bf? when are you getting married?" Married adults: "when having baby. does ur mother-in-law sucks?"

Ok so she came to me. She is nice and civilised and educated and all. then she asked me "So when is your Big Day?"

ive been asked that by others le, so i ti gong. den she started talking about saving, getting married early, not to be a mother later than 30 if not no stamina....

Wa

then it dawned on me that I am not the person I was a few years ago. One of the kids. I cannot just start carrying my young cousins and spin them around to camouflage myself as one of the kids le.

So i stoned for the rest of Nian chu yi, thinking why i cannot be a carefree lil kid anymore. Most of the time i just stared into space on a chair. Well thats my role now didnt you say? I am a marriagable adult. Ie. I am boring.

My cousin kelly stoned too. but thats cos she was lacking cigarettes.

I contacted Dan later and he was experiencing the same thing over at the causeway. Things are probably happening at a higher scale (ratio Peninsular malaysia: Singapore). Cos his relatives are probably more vocal, and he is much older. He is 28! quack! LAOOOOO

Lets just take it, friends. we have to stop playing and start thinking about real issues.

Sucks man.

xin nian kuai le la. whatever la. bye.

xmas 1

xmas for Public Liaison Officers

is like this

yeah we are pigs. less than 30 of us...

Gingerbread man design competition. Mine and Dan's

I like mine larrrrr

Very innocent rite

BEWARE OF NEXT PART:

Level : UBER SHALLOW

Dan gave me a series of presents...

i went to biooo chanel wallet, just bio. but no way am i buying any $1K plus wallet
siao!!!

SO heres my wallet, from burberrys

as you can see, im a bit high. cos i previously bought this burberry tote

which set me back and poorer by almost 800. but i lk burberry's... so englandy

Dun judge me, we are all sad PLOs. we need to make ourselves happy, before we GO ABSOLUTELY CRAZEEEE!!!!!!

Aha

next pic with my jie meis. our indulgences of the year (mine was part 2 present from Dan again, poor poor dude), taken with Dan's indulgence of the year N95 8GB

Shallowness aside

we look good dont we? ;)

yeah ... scold me when you meet me

and then i got... a diamonte hp strap w my name.. bling.... and the best....

TIME CRISIS 3 with PS2 GUN!!!!!

BIANG BIANG BIANG

Rocks!!!

U ROCK , DANNY!!!!!! ahahhaa!!!

Happi Anni

i luv u

so much~

i rem more than a year ago, i made my lazy prayer to God to just lead me to whoever is right in His will. I

Thank God for leading me to you... who taught me all the peace in love that i have never known to enjoy..

Thank God for leading me to you

Zoo

Visiting the zoo is lame

So what are you waitin for, rite? heh

We were still on leave, having nothing to do when everyone else is working (awww... my heart goes to you, really), dan said we should check out our own zoo.

(yep, spent 6 days in thailand shopping without even checking out THEIR zoo)

You bet we spent so much time with animals, here goes:

Giraffes may be tall, but fear them not

scold them if u want

Dan has a pony... like every prince charming who is not as tall as a giraffe

awww

aint it sweeeetttt...

okay....

erm

*awkward silence*

and just cos an elephant looks dumb, it might not necessarily be deaf

No la we DID visit animals la. so much we came up with a guide on how to appreciate hippos

and learning stuff from our primate cousins... ewwwww

brought whole new meaning to :She Wen , ELECTRIFYING....

Picked out my own pet

Dan even has his own Mini-series: Life as a Buaya

Buayas to note: Buayas end up alone

Haha.. Watch out for Season 2. (terrible life being my boyfriend though, made to take these photos and crapetted into such "adverts" wahahah... i luv him for being so secure)

More siao pics

ya rite, after years of being on the road, dan found his dream home!

and then hor, the pony-killing-elephant-shouting Buaya and his truck-driver gal lived happily ever after lor!

den Singapore Zoological Gardens taught them how a proper picture should look like

haha ended our day eating dinner at a SECOND STOREY HAWKER CENTRE. note: 2nd storey k, all stairs, no lift, no escalator, but i dunno why, i can see idiots like these

ON BLADES!!!!

SIAOO!!!!

so what, did you reach the staircase, took off ur blades, walked up the stairs, and put the blades back on again?!!

SIAOOOOO!!!!!!