{[Perfect Escapade =-.]}

In celebration of Chris' birthday, a group of us namely Chris, Dave, SK, Tailun, Leonard and i took a bus down to Marina Bay's Live Seafood Restaurant for dinner. Since it was my first time, i didn't know how the system works. Somewhat similar to Seoul Garden, a pay-before-you-eat- buffet style.

Considering it a buffet, it's really affordable. Eat to your fill yet cheap. However, the best part was the cooking. I was the chef for the night, an unqualified and inexperienced one. Whoever have the runs after dinner, i'm truly sorry. There's always a first time and it so happened that those 5 guys were my guinea pigs, especially Dave. LOL. Oops.

Enjoyed dinner thoroughly. While i got the opportunity to cook, i had a great time hanging out with my tennis friends as well. One group of nonsensical but jovial guys who always crack jokes. It's a joy to be out with them. =)

I shall hereby take this opportunity to wish Chris a wonderful 19th birthday. All smiles~ ;)

Gaining experience in the working world is almost equivalent to that on learning to walk my first steps all over again. Tough it may be, i know there will come a day when i master the art of walking. The struggles will make the efforts all worthwhile. Determination and perseverance should see me through this.

Having worked for a month now, i've understood many values which my parents had always instilled in me, but fallen on deaf ears. Whether i've grown from this entirely new experience, it's still a mystery.

Pausing to look back on my decision to enter Poly, i never once regretted it. The more so now. JC route wouldn't have enabled me to gain this whole deal of experience, which has a great impact on my life. My idea of working was far from reality and it has hit me real hard. Something unexpected, something which i had to rapidly adapt to in order not to fall behind.

I guess i'm more or less getting used to working life after much complaints i made over the past few weeks. Enough said about work, there are certain issues i want to make up to yet, i can't bring myself to do it. No courage, no guts? Perhaps both with a sprinkle of laziness added in. I've held them back for too long, a period so long subsequent actions may not be able to make up for it anymore. Oh well, shall cast it aside for the time being.

It's the weekend, indicating the nearing of my fifth week of work. Hope all goes well. So long folks~

Daddy: (Sitting on his bed watching Shu Yuan and i) Juan, Shu Yuan is taller than u?!
Me: No lar, i think almost the same height.
(Shu Yuan made both of us stand side by side.)
Daddy: Oh, same height.
Daddy: (With a look of disappointment) Juan, you wasted 7 years of my food supply for you.
Me: DADDY!!! That's so hurting...
All: Laugh out loud.

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

Sidney: (After resting at the bench, stood up) I'm going to save the damsel in distress.
Me: Thanks!
Sidney: Not you... (Laughed as he walked over to Dennis)
Me:(Snarls at him)

Tennis was full of laughter and fun. Enjoyed every bit of it. Sidney, that boy, can surely make one laugh like an idiot. And rallying against Dennis was great! Love every tennis session. =)

Worked as usual on a Friday morning, but the thought of the next two days being a weekend lifted me up. Mrs. Amy Tan came over to the client's place and collected some notes from me. In return, she gave me mooncakes. Lol. Seemed like she made it herself. Tasted quite alright. Lots of almond seeds and one piece of duck yolk. Caught up a little with her before she left. Seeing her again made me feel closer to school.

After winding up audit fieldwork at the client's place, it was back to office. Filled up my timesheet and reimbursement sheet and it was almost 5.30pm. Completed some other work on hand and called it a day. Rushed off to school to meet my tennis pals.

Back in school, those old, familiar faces were enjoying themselves thoroughly. Such a heartwarming sight. I miss the days when most of us were tennis fanatics. And i miss coach loads. Been quite a long while since i last saw him.

Oh and Dave, if you ever read this entry, i'm really apologetic for my absent-mindedness. It wasn't intentional or on purpose. Lol. But going home with you is as entertaining as before. Thanks!

Tennis later in the afternoon. Looking forward to it. Time to lose some calories built up over the week. =) So long folks~

Things hadn't been getting any better. The thought of days picking up from an all time low is slowly fading. Seems like it's not possible. Merely three weeks into the job, there were times when i really felt like raising the white flag and scrambling off to my little hideout - a place oozing with protection and comfort.

I squashed the thought of continuing audit fieldwork after attachment, lest considering it. Guess i can conclude that auditing is never the type of job for me. Perhaps tracing, vouching, extracting figures and thinking of ways to better the working papers while analysing all the work i have done is not my cup of tea. It's tedious and overbearing. And i hate those dizzy spells which act up more frequently that ever due to my motion sickness.

Seriously, i want out. Well, some are going to say what a spoilt child i am, unable to take a little bit of hardship, complaining at every little thing that doesn't go her way, always waiting for people to spoon feed her, giving up so readily when the battle hasn't even started...

Perhaps so, but definitely not spoilt. Most likely accustomization issue, the likelihood that i'm not mature enough to take on such a big challenge in life or even over reliance on my parents all the while. I believe i got to start somewhere cos eventually, i will still need to go out into that cruel world to feed myself. This could be a good beginning and hopefully, something fruitful will come out of it.

Working life is definitely much more difficult than i had expected. The well protected environment i was in is drifting away. What beholds is a vast ocean and my survival depends solely on me. No longer is there a bed of roses for me to fall back on. Presumably a lifeline would be my immediate family members who can't always be there for me. I got to stand on my own feet at the end of the day. Time to be independent and be a grown up. This sucks.

As usual, it's tennis on Saturdays. It definitely was much livelier compared to last week's. Not that our group expanded to a number greater than three, but all courts were used.

The sun was glaring down on us, resulting in a sunburnt face. My play wasn't as horrible as last week's, making some slight improvements. Enjoyment is the word.

How long can three people last in rallying? Hence, three hours later, we were packing and on our way home.

Able to place those unpleasant thoughts on attachment aside was great. First two weeks hadn't gone on very well. Not up to mark in my performance and efficiency level is way below par. Perhaps my body system is struggling to adapt to a sudden change in biological timings and eight hours of intensive use of brain cells. Working sure isn't as fun filled as compared to studying. No longer any fine time for other activities lest relaxation. So the heart is now split into two, one part aching to be back in school, the other itching to find out how well i'm able to adapt to working life eventually. That's the problem when one has never once worked in such an environment before.

Days went by as per normal, getting stuck at the client's place, doing that hair pulling audit. Unwanted hibernation at the client's place got gan chiong baby thinking of the office. After several absences since Monday, she finally had the opportunity to have lunch with Jie again. Yums~ Japanese food.

Lingered in the office for an hour or so after all work had been cleared. Studied the people at work out of boredom and from nowhere, boss ordered gan chiong baby to see him. Having to meet bosses one to one is usually a bad omen but it turned out otherwise. Pretty amazed that he asked gan chiong baby to consider continue working at E&Y after her internship. Auditing may not be for her? Haha.. yet to decide.

Then gan chiong baby was out on the same job once again. Didn't manage to complete her work as usual for there's too much to handle. But no matter what, she needa finish it on Monday. Guess OT will be inevitable.

Before getting started on her work, she couldn't resist any longer and requested the use of her senior's laptop to view her results. They were beyond expectations, but could have done better. Did worst in her favourite module. Quite disappointing. Nonetheless, it's considered satisfactory. Hopefully it gives her an edge in getting into a local university.

Gan chiong baby is struggling hard. Auditing is no easy task. It takes a toll on your mind and continuously screams to raise the white flag. No matter what, gan chiong baby will not give up. Determination will see her through this "ordeal".

For the very first time, gan chiong baby had a taste of actual audit fieldwork. Inarguably tedious, confusing and perplexing. Spent almost 8 hours sieving through the client's files, without getting much documented. Confusion rose easily, questions raised but resulted in more complication.

Hoping the road beyond will get smoother as the days go by. May daddy's words be spot on. Perhaps audit isn't gan chiong baby's cup of tea though it isn't for sure. Waiting to judge how things turn out at the end of the internship. Similar feelings persist, auditing may not be cut out for gan chiong baby afterall.

Having postponed Ratatouille from Tuesday to Saturday, i finally had a chance to catch it. Reviews gave it a 5 star rating, friends commented that it was nice, but from a personal perspective, i thought it was perhaps just above average. Didn't get me all hyped up unlike Hairspray.

The animation was fabulous, the background of each scene was detailed and almost life like. Imagine all the effort they put into making this movie a success. Having seen bro work on his animation storyboards, for every little movement, there is a need to redraw the entire scene to look exactly the same except for areas where changes had to be made. Tough work.

Storyline was touching and sweet. Loved Remy the rat. And his imagination of Gusteau. Chubby little thing. Good ending with the opening of La Ratatouille. Anyway, i happened to learn that Rataouille is a type of vegetable soup and not some restaurant. Misconception there.

Tennis:
Fingers aching to get a grip on that racquet. It's been 2 weeks since i last laid my hands on my tennis racquet. Skills got rusty which were never that good to start with. Stamina failed quite terribly, not able to keep up with long periods compared to the past. Problem with working and aging.

Rallied with Dennis and Sidney. Very few people for the very first time. Continued on for 3 hours and couldn't go any further. Then it was home. =)

Shopping:
Night shopping at a nearby shop for more clothes. The current suits i have are insufficient to last me throughout the entire internship programme. More clothes will enable me to rotate between greater variety rather than sticking to the same old pieces. Feel as if i'm having a change of wardrobe. A third of my clothes are now formal wear but at least they are new. That makes me happy. Haha, just love new stuff.

That's another $100+ flying off. Spent almost a month's salary on all my clothings, shoes and bag. Breaking even is only possible in my second month of attachment. That sucks. No choice. Once i start working, all expenses are on me, no longer relying on parents. Time to train on independence.

Gan chiong baby was practically racing against time these two days. Piles of work need to be completed, at the same time picking up new skills on the job. Time seemed to tick on at top speed, and very soon, it was time to knock off.

Senior was nice to throw gan chiong baby with tonnes of work. Check out her work desk. It's disorganised and filled with files. Basically, it was setting up of files these two days, preparing for the up and coming audits. Peak period's nearing, in fact less than a month from now. That means OT and more OT.

Today, gan chiong baby was on the run. She travelled to client no. 1's place for statutory audit in the morning. Back to office, carried on with her work. Lunch break followed and in the mid afternoon, she was sent on an errand to deliver a package to client no. 2. Dragged Janice along, or she would be lost in Raffles Place. Dumb her. Just an hour left before the day's over, she still had lots of work left to do. That's the problem having too much work to handle. Overloaded. However, she's glad that she could render some help and learn from these areas. Basics are most important.

Who knows, gan chiong baby was once again sent on a task to deliver an urgent document to client no. 3. Holy cow, check out her pulse rate at that moment. Booked a cab to client no. 3's workplace, fearing to be late which may result in the client being upset. Of all times, there was a heavy traffic. Shucks. Took a good 30 mins to reach that place. Boy, see how she rushed up to the office. Phew, she made it and off to home she went. How much she hated not completing her work before leaving and wasn't allowed to go back to office to do so after delivering the last document. Argh!

SCREAMS!!! Gan chiong baby took a million years to get herself ready for work. Woke up at 5 plus am only to set out for work at 7 plus am. Mummy was nagging non-stop. Blame it on the stubborn hair and the exceptionally loose skirt, with that blouse sticking out every now and then.

Blisters formed on the way to work with that pair of shoes biting gah chiong baby's heels. Luckily gan chiong baby brought with her a box of plasters, which proved to be extremely useful. Three cheers for gan chiong baby~!

At work, gan chiong baby had a stiff neck after an hour's training. Poor her. Training continued until lunch break. Spent more than half an hour finding BK for lunch. Owing to the rain, every single stall was packed like sardines. Fed that growling stomach with a burger to shut it up. =)

Back to more training. By then, gan chiong baby was half dead. Hunger pangs went off but tiredness followed. Lots of notes to take down but gan chiong baby wasn't attentive towards the end. Fidgeted alot, trying to keep herself awake. Only looked forward to time work ended. Gan chiong baby could finally go home. Can you feel that elation in her? Haha...

In preparation for my up and coming internship, a fair bit of shopping was needed to be done. Mummy and babe accompanied me on my clothes-hunting yesterday afternoon. Almost all that i've bought fell between the gradients of black and white. I loved the newly bought dress the most. Looked as if i were an olden day Victorian lady. Haha..

There was this sales manager who walked up to mummy and asked for the clothings mummy was carrying, in exchange for new sets. That was nice of her. She went beyond her call of duty and wrapped our purchases neatly and specifically requested one of the sales personnel to perform the cashiering for us. As we walked out from Metro, they smiled and nodded their heads at us. Thanked us profusely.

Seldom, one gets special services while shopping in a mega store. I mean, other than ang mohs, exceptionally rich Singaporeans, celebrities and top figures of the country, who always seem a notch above us, which other Singaporean gets special treatment? It was slightly awkward yet at the same time, it felt good. On a personal note, sales personnel discriminates according to your wealth. Wealth in this case refers to the amount of purchases one makes. Try making one small purchase and check out whether they would even give you a glance. Well, just a thought...

There after, SHOES! My favourite. However, it was a chore buying my shoes. Must be covered, less than 1 inch high with a broad base, no pointed ends, wide at the sides, and able to fit my large feet. Damn it. In the end, i can only fantasize on getting pretty and elegant shoes. Got myself a pair of office-lady kind of shoe. Oh well, what to do? Unless i custom make one. Ho ho..

Daddy met us afterwhich and went for some desserts before going to TimeZone. Been years since i last entered TimeZone. It was still as crowded and rowdy with adolescences and teenagers like myself. The money-eating machines no longer interest me. But the basketball did. Lol, absolute fun. Quite pek chek when the ball doesn't enter the net. My highest score was a mere 34. So pathetic. Babe nearly killed mummy several times when the ball bounced off the fence and went straight at mummy. Luckily babe reflected the ball in time. She's a basketball killer.

Taxi-ed home after that, forgetting to buy some necessities. Gotta get them now. Argh!! So long~!