Dear all, it’s been a long time since my last entry. Have been busy with my wedding and my new job…
So where am I shifting to… well, many of you might have been to this website. www.tiffyndolffy.com
I will be updating you on our world and ocean at the above website. So sit back and wait for the latest entry real soon, ok.
Alright!!!! Finally I’m back. When was my last blog? 21 August 2007. Woah!!! That was more than 2 months ago. OK. I am guilty of not keeping my own promise. Well, here I am to start again.
As my title shows, its slightly more than 2 more weeks before our wedding. The preparation has been quite smooth so far. We have selected the march in songs, the schedule for the day is out, the roles and responsibilities of the brothers and sisters are also confirmed.
The one that is causing the most headache is the table arrangement. But, with my experience in delegation, I have delegated the table arrangements for my parents relatives to none other than my parents!!! Likewise for Dolphin’s relatives. Guess what?? My parents have given me their arrangement already. All in perfect order!!! No waiting for my in-laws. Hahaha!!!
I will be giving my ops order to my brothers in arms on 2 Nov 2007 also. Dolphin would be having her hen’s party on 3 Nov 2007. For it’s a day of plotting and strategising for both of us.
After that, its the collection of our suits and gowns on the 7 Nov 2007. Rest one day on 8 Nov 2007 and that’s it!!! 9 Nov 2007 will arrive in no time!!!! Exciting exciting!!!
Think this should be it for now…..
For the record, this is the first time that I blogged from office.
Well, it has been hectic for the pass 2 days. My days started from 5am in the morning till 8 - 9pm at night. It was quite an experience. Have done things that I have never done before. Have felt certain emotions that I have not felt before. Well, at the end of the day, its a job that I have to do. No matter what, people’s life are affected and we can’t deny the fact that at the end of the day, he or she is still somebody else’s son or daughter, somebody else’s dad and mum. I guess we have to exercise our initiatives at certain times.
OK, to elaborate on the title of my blog. Pain! Pain! Pain! Yes! I had a root canal done on my molar several years back. Since then, it has been giving me problems. Periodically, the gum around the tooth would become red and hurts very badly. Everytime, I would go to my usual dentist for treatment.
This time round, the gum got red and painful again. I ignored it for a week. The pain did subside but the gum started to swell up. It felt like there is pus building up in the bulge. It was so painful that I could not bite.
However, I still got to eat. I bored with the pain and ate as usual. I think sometime last week, the bulge burst and the pus started flowing out of the gum. I thought the flow would just stop after awhile. But… No!!!! I kept squeezing pus out of the bulge for the next few days.
Finally, I got so fed up with it last Sunday that I went to another dentist for a check up. The dentist took an X-ray and told me this "Your root canal that was done the last time was not successful. The entire tooth is infected on the inside. That’s why you have the swelling and pus build-up. The infection is eating away your jaw bone also. You would have to remove the tooth."
I was like "WTF!!!" I spent almost $1K to get the root canal done and now I have to take the whole tooth out. What are my options after taking it out then?
1) Nothing - However, the adjacent teeth would start to slant towards each other in time to come. But… FOC!!!
2) Dentures - So passe!!! Cheap though.
3) Bridging - I would have to file off my adjacent teeth, build a bridge with the 2 teeth and insert a replacement in between. Around $1.5k. But, I would be sacrificing my 2 good teeth!!! NO NO NO!!!!
4) Tooth implant - Most expensive $3.5k. However, I would be able to claim part of it using medisave. I think I can claim around $1.2k - $1.3K.
Sigh… I have to decide within the next few months. As if I delay further, the adjacent would start to slant towards each other. By then, I would not have a space in-between the adjacent teeth to insert any replacement tooth. How? Which one should I choose… Help me…..
More than 2 weeks since I have blogged. Finally, I have recovered from my cough. I have been training real hard for my IPPT next week. Cross my fingers that I will pass… Pray for me.
Have been really busy ever since I joined my new job. Well, it has been exciting times for me (if you had read the newspapers).
Anyway, dolphin and I are looking forward to our big day. The planning regime has started. Looks like its going to be very exciting for both of us….
Just a few updates for now… See yah soon…
Have fallen ill, came down with cough, flu and fever since last Saturday. Struggled through Monday and Tuesday morning. Finally, after much pushing from my colleagues, I relented and went to see a doctor and took a day off. I had been very reluctant to do so as I had just started work at my new place and taking MC so soon just did not go well with me. Oh well, I guess I am a bit stressed and am still adjusting to the new place and work procedures. Yes. I am stressed. I admit. But I think I can pull it off.
It has been a long time since I have been so sick. I practically slept through the last weekend and the entire of this morning and afternoon. I was supposed to go for my IPPT last Sunday, but I postponed it to this Saturday. I think I can’t go on this Saturday too. Coughing is so irritating man!!!
OK OK, I guess that’s all for now. I am not going to sleep anymore. If I carry on sleeping, I won’t be able to sleep tonight. I need the energy to do some very important things tomorrow. I will jut stone in front of the TV for the rest of the day… Cough cough cough…
Took me quite a while to blog again. I had been very busy for the past 3 weeks, handling over work in my previous job to my staff. Then I moved on to a whole new area of worklife which I hope it will be a much better place for me. Oh, before that, Dolphin and I also had our much awaited ‘Meet the Parents’ conference…. Hahaha!!! Here’s the updates.
Meet the parents dinner on 15 July 2007
Yup!!! Finally it arrived. We all went to 避风唐at Bukit Panjang Plaza for a 8 course dinner. Both our parents were insistent on having it simple and to cut down most of the traditional thingy… But during the discussion, some of the traditional ‘must haves’ still popped out. Hahaha!!! I guess being parents, these things would sure exist.
It struck my mind: Next time when our own children get married, how much of these traditions would we remember and practise? Yes, both our parents said as long as we are happy and blessed, these tradition are just…. traditions…. But, come to think of it, these are the very things that make us Chinese, differentiated into the different dialects. I am not advocating practising 100% of the traditions, but at least those meaningful ones.
I will make it a point to blog as detailed as possible our wedding ‘procedure’ and preserve it online. Hahaha!!!
My new job in SPF
16 July 2007: I greeted the day with excitement and a little bit of nervousness as I embark on my new job. This new job would give me a whole new pespective of my job as I can finally see the direct contribution of my work to society.
This would definitely spur me on to work even harder and at the same time, learn more professioal and marketable skills. One week into my job and I really look forward to see all the excitement that’s waiting for me. I will update you all when the time come.
That’s all for now folks. Till we meet again.
2 August 2004, I moved from the private sector to the public sector. Having tried one full year in an accounting firm, I strongly believed that I was not suited for an accounting job in the private sector. So, I transited into the public sector. It promised better prospects and much better pay for me. With a stroke of luck, I was given a major project to handle.
The project involved a lot of co-ordination work and interviews with ground staff which set a very good foundation for me in understanding the operations of my new employee. Well, I even got good reviews from my bosses and it I got promoted within a short span of 1 and a half years to a managerial position. Yes, the entire process has been an eye opener for me. I was never so involved in my work for the initial two years. I was presented with so many opportunities. Financially, I was really doing quite well, otherwise I would not have been able to achieve a lot of things that I currently have.
Well, the turning point was when I got onto the managerial position. I began to assess the significance and impact of my work to the entire department. I really felt that there are no real significance at all. Resource Accounts was never really a concern for the management. Professionally, the preparation of Resource Accounts does not require me to really tap into the accounting knowledge that I was trained with. The project that I did when I first joined also died a natural death. There are many other things that I do, but most of it are really just…. paper exercise.
I began to question myself if the skills that I have learned here will
have any use elsewhere. I did have a discussion with my bosses on this concern but the reply was always the same. There are already people in the places where I can learn more useful skills. One of the bosses even suggested rotation but I knew all along that it would never come. Thus, what else can I do. I had to seek out opportunities for myself.
Thus, here I am today. Waiting for my posting to my new work place next week. It has been a wonderful journey here for the initial 2 years. The last year was a time of reflection and it changed the perception of my work in my current job. I chose to move on, in the hope for a better prospect and usable skills. Like in my previous posting, good or bad, it’s hard to say. I would allow myself to look back. Not to wish that I should not have moved on if things don’t turn out well in my new job. It’s to assess myself if I have progressed between then and now. Give myself 2 years, and I will let you know then.
Lastly, thank you (my current job) for all the opportunities that was
given to me. There are good things that I would bring along with me to my new place. I hoped that I leave this place with something memorable for each and everyone of you to remember. Thank you.
I went to the closing ceremony of the National Stadium on 30 June 2007. To speak the truth, the farewell was really not befitting of the fond memories that the National Stadium had brought to so many of us. The legends match was decided on a tossed coin after a 1 all draw.
Though the Singapore-Australia match was entertaining, Singapore was still trashed 3-nothing. The finale was even more cliche. We were left to our own imagination when the emcees asked us to follow a tracking spotlight to an empty goal mouth ad asked us to imagine Dollah Kassim dribbling past 3 Malaysian players??!! What is this?
What made it worse was that the march past of the past and present athletes was made in total darkness. The floodlights were switched off!!! See what?? The fireworks were also like ‘Huh??!! Like that only ah?’
Oh well, I still managed to get some pictures, fo
r what it’s worth.
Sun sets on the Grand 
Old Lady
Quoted from somewhere (source unknown):
Once upon a time, there was a king. The king liked one his followers very much because he was very wise and always gave very useful advice. Therefore the king took him along wherever he went.
One day, the king was bitten by a dog, the finger was injured and the wound was getting worse. He asked the follower if that was a bad sign. The follower said, ‘Good or bad, hard to say’. In the end, the finger of the king was too bad that had to be cut.
The king asked the follower again if that was a bad sign. Again, the follower gave the same answer, ‘Good or bad, hard to say’. The king became very angry and sent the follower to prison.
One day, the king went hunting in the jungle. He got excited when
he was on the chase of a deer. Deeper and deeper he went inside the jungle.In the end he found himself lost in the jungle. To make thing worse, he got captured by the native people lived inside the jungle. They wanted to sacrifice him to their god. But when they noticed that the king had one finger short, they released him immediately as he was not a perfect man anymore and not suitable for sacrifice.
The king managed to get back to his palace after all. And he finally understood the follower’s wise quote, ‘Good or bad, hard to say’. If he hadn’t lost one finger, he could have been killed by the native people.
He ordered to release the follower, and apologized to him. But to
the king amaze, the follower was not mad at him at all. Instead, the
follower said, ‘It wasn’t a bad thing that you locked me up.’
Why? Because if the king hadn’t locked the follower up, he would have brought the follower along to the jungle. If the native found that the king was not suitable, they would have used the follower. Again, the quote ‘Good or bad, hard to say’ stands.
The moral of the story: Everything that happens in this world, there is no absolute good or bad. Sometimes good things turned out to be bad things eventually, while bad things become a gain.
Whatever good things that happen to you, enjoy it, but don’t have
to hold too tight to it, treat it as a surprise in your life. Whatever bad things that happen to you, don’t have to feel too sad or despair, in the end, it might not be a total bad thing after all. If one can understand this, he or she will find life much easier.
Oh yes!!! Dolphin and I experimented the following dishes over the weekend:
Breakfast:
A simple scrambled egg and cheese sausages. Have tried this several times already and the quality is improving every time. Yum Yum!!! We bought this cheese chicken sausages from Giant Tampines. It’s taste was heavenly!!! Much better than the Cold Storage one.
Dinner 1:
Spaghetti!!! It was not as difficult as it seems. Boil water. Then add salt and oil to the boiled water and cook the spaghetti for 15 minutes. Drain the water after that.
Stir fried mince meat with margarine. Then add sliced button mushroom and cheese chicken sausages. Finally add the Prego’s Bolognese Sauce. Oooooo!!!! It was tasty!!! We cooked too much though and Dolphin could not finish hers.
Dinner 2
Home-made chicken nuggets! Dolphin got the recipe from her colleagues. Making the nuggets was so easy even though it involved using the oven. Dolphin suspected that she was missing some steps. Advice: Scroll all the way down for "Tips for the day" before starting on anything. Hahahahaha!!! It turned out that the chicken was tasteless as the "Tip of the day" was "Remember to marinate the chicken with……." Hahahahahahahaha!!!! Nevertheless, it was a still a delicious meal (with lots of Maggi’s chilli sauce).
