SMIRNOFF

the taste and feeling of having a bottle of SMIRNOFF ICE, vodka mixed drink after a not so wonderful dinner that i cooked... NICE!!!

ice cold, fizzy and not too much alcohol. just the way i like my drinks. and as for the way i like my woman... she gotta be just the way i like it. haha!

the little enjoyments aside, i really hope to get the job with FSA and being paid my desired salary. and if i get the job, my lifestyle will definately change and the pace will go faster. it's not a bad thing at all, it's just going to be different from now. there will be more responsibilites, more challenges, conflicts... blar blar blar... the whole nine yards. and honestly, i'm looking forward to the challenges ahead...

it's saturday, enough of such serious talks. i just wanna chill... wish i had many friends beside me right now with 4-6 times as many bottles of SMIRNOFF ICE and chatting the night away... AND back to some light-hearted blogging...

here's a list of things that i would like to have ard for the weekend in london now: sunshine, good company with friend/friends/girlfriend, majhong, football, scrabble, beer, wine, liqour, damn good food, road trip, shopping. that's all i can think of for now.

and i don't want to think anymore... bye bye

alive, walking and standing up straight!

finally! i'm back! alive and kicking!
for those out there who doesn't know what happened to me for the past few days, here it goes.
on friday, i went for my second and final interview with FSA. i was given a set of data to work on within an hour. i gotta use the Excel spreedsheet and creat some graphs and percentage. but sad to say, i made a mistake coz i transfer the wrong set of data and i couldn't answer one of their questions. but i still feel quite positive, 70-80% chance of getting the job, but i am not sure what's the salary they ware willing to pay me.
and over the weekend, i was at Sunbury Court for the OCF retreat. it was colder than central london and i had lots of fun playing scrabble, bridge, big-2 and heart attack. and of course i got to know the OCFers much better and had a refreshing time. but sadly, i injured my back very badly just a few hours before i was suppose to leave. it was so bad that i could hardly walk and i thought i had a slip-disc or i was going to be a crippled.
when i finally got home, i couldn't walk for more than a few steps without collapsing unto the floor becoz of the pain nor could i stand up straight. it was really worrying!
i've broken my wrist, had ear infection, suspected torsion (which was actually infection of certain body part), laceration of my knee, broken foot, migraine... but none of these hurt as much as the back injury. i thought i was going to be paralyse or bed ridden or... but... let's continue with the story...
so i spent monday and tuesday at home resting without much improvement... and the opportunity cost was £120 for 2 days of work forgone. but on jonathan's advice, i took some asprin on tuesday night to ease the swelling of the muscles which is what he suspected. the reason is becoz he suspected that the muscle in my back was swollen and it was pressing against the nerves in my back that cause the pain or becoz i pulled my ligament, the natural reactly of the spinal muscle was to contract to protect the spine/nerve/ligament...
and on wed, Mervin and Jonathan was very nice enough to pick me up and sent me to St. Mary Hospital for a checkup. and thankfully, i felt very much better on wed morning coz i can finally walk and stand up straight. at the hospital, i had a checkup with a doctor and x-ray to make sure that nothing was broken or too serious. the doctor concluded that either the ligament was pulled or the tailbone was chipped... so once again, i survive.
here i am now, in my office once again, typing away on my blog and earning my keeps. my 5 pences worth of comments: it's a very nice feeling to lie in bed all day,do nothing but eat and watch tv. but it's more fulfilling to wake up every day and earn your keeps and know that you are responsible.
and yes, i would like to thank my housemates for helping with the cooking and washing for the past few days. and jonathan and mervin for their advice and help. and everyone who prayed for me.
time to go back to work =)

4-0!!!

4-0!!! that's the score for Barcelona vs Middlesborough!!! well, at least that's the score for the match on the PS2 machine when i went over to gavin's place with phinehas last night. btw, i took middlesborough! =) hehe. i am not good at such computer games. i rather play an actual game though i am not very good on a field either. haha. but spending the evening playing PS2 was a change from the usual surfing of net and watching of tv. though i went to bed alittle later than usual.
and i still haven't got my pay from my first job! sucks! it totally sucks! i'm going to email my former supervisor and bug him bout my paycheck.
shucks, my lunch time is going to be over... gtg...

i'm such a junkie!

last night, as joey was leaving he passed me a packet of japanese crackers and i finished it before i went to bed. and my dinner consist of half a pot of rice with a piece of chicken breast meat and the gravy. i left the other half pot of rice for phinehas and stella and rest of the chicken (actually, there's only 2 pieces left. i was tempted to eat 2 pieces for myself, but in the end, i didn't).

and everyday at work, i consume between 2-4 cups of tea with 3-4 teaspoon of sugar each time.
i love sweet stuff. sugar, chocolate, sweets, crispy donuts!!! life would be colourless without taste and meaningless without sugar!!!

i think i eat quite alot, but i don't know why am i still so skinny. i also know that my metabolism is high, but it can't be that high right? i eat alot, i have not jog nor do push-ups nor sit-ups for bout 5 months, i sleep alot... it's so tough for me to gain weight! i get hungry every 2-3 hours and if it isn't for the fact that eveyrthing is so expensive in london, i'll most probably have sandwiches, sneaker bars and other snacks in my drawer. i'm not a bottomless pit like some of my friends, i am just a non-stop eating machine...

room-mate finn says that muscle weighs more than fat... so i'll try to do some push-ups, sit-ups and dips every day starting from tonight. but i do not have much fats to start with, so i wonder where the muscle will come from...

eh, this blog is getting nowhere. work is still the same. i've got to open a few hundred letters and stamp the dates, filing and archieving every day. i'm used to my work here, but being me, myself, a person with an extremely short attention span, the job is getting monotonous but the people i work closely with are enjoyable. this means that the FSA job is constantly on my mind. i don't mind working for FSA at canary wharf but i will definately miss the people that i've gotten to know over here. and i hope that the FSA job will pay me well =)

sigh, i feel that i am such a boring person. i think i keep repeating myself and the same things... but i guess that means that i am consistent and somewhat reliable...

i'm even boring myself... but i can't sleep... maybe it's tiem for another cup of sugar enriched tea.

how often do i do my laundry

i usually do my laundry when i discover that i only have 1-2 pairs of undergarments left. i don't usually do it when my clothes are dirty nor when the laundry bag is full or when i am very free. i'll usually do it when i am running out of clean undergarments! hahaha. what a weird blog entry!
laundry aside, i still don't make my bed coz it's not necessary, but i wash my dishes and cook some of the meals, i wash my shirts and jeans once in awhile coz i hardly perspire in london...
and the week ahead: i am meeting billy tomolo evening, i got to go to work as usual, i got a second interview with FSA on friday morning before i go for the OCF retreat in the evening. so i guess it will be a pretty eventful week and i just hope that the weekdays will passby quickly and the weekends slowly...

just a thought

In the face of death, little things took on importance. Soldiers wondered how their favorite football teams were doing or where their wives took their kids for dinner...

it's a cold cold day!

it's saturday today! the day after friday and the first day of the weekend. i guess everyone should know that already! it's a cold day today. 2-8 degree! my face was freezing in the wind and my hands felt cold even when i wore my gloves.
the weather aside, it's has been all work and no play for me. i've not been playing football which i miss very much. i miss hanging out on fridays at a bar/pub chatting and it's usually Winebar. gosh! i'm such a quiet boy here in london and this is not the way it should be!!!
after the OCF retreat, i definately must make lunch appointments with 2 friends of friends whom i was suppose to meet a some time ago but i didn't for some reason which i don't remember... if there's any reason at all!
i must start to make my life in london more exciting. old trafford, edinburgh, prague, barcelona are just some the places that i wanna visit!!! and i wonder what else is there that i am able to do with my restricted finance...
i'm getting restless, time to watch some tv or something b4 i attempt to cook chicken rice...

a chance for peace?

the death of Yasser Arafat has presented the Israeli government and Palestinian authority an opportunity to make peace in the troubled middle east region.
the Israeli govt can either initiate/ restart peace-talks with the Palestinian authority under a new leadership which will most probably be more receptive or they can take a hawkish attitude and continue with afew more years of conflict which does both sides no good economically, socially and psychologically.
the Palestinian authority has to consolidate it's party and strength and show the Israeli government that the new leadership is in control and not the extremists (Hamas..) before there can make any headway in the peace-talks.
if i remember correctly, it has been almost and exactly 3 years since the 'uprising' started becoz some cleric visit some mosque or temple on some sacred day...
but now, an opportunity has come to possibly end one of the world's longest on-going conflicts. and if it does happen, we can all take some comfort that in troubled days like these, peace can still be possible...
Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas, an opportunity has arise for them to be nominated as Nobel Peace Prize Winners for 2005...
lunch time, time to eat my ham emmental in a french croissant which i bought from the sandwich man =)

i've got the BUG!!!

i think i'm getting the shopaholic bug from living with my sister, phinehas and stella... the hard core shopaholics!!!
for 2 consecutive sundays, i have been window shopping. and i just spent 2 and a half hours walking along Oxford Street looking at clothes. specifically, sweaters and nothing else. if u are wondering who the heck would spend so many hours buying sweaters... well, u got ur answer. I AM THE ONE!!! and i'm only window shopping, not even buying anything at all.
basically, i went into Topman, Gap and Next to compare the prices, colour and material. and on average, a acrylic sweater would cost around 15-20 pounds. a wool sweater/cardigan would cost ard 20-30 pounds. a cashmere sweater would only set u back by 100 pounds =)
i like most of the sweaters and cardigan that i saw today. from Topman, i like the cream and light pink coloured sweater very much. and by default, black and brown are my usual colours. from Gap, i like the dark brown and burgundy wool sweaters. from Next, i like the wool sweaters and cardigans. and the cashmere sweater that i was talking about, was from Gap!
shucks, i think i am terminally ill with the shopaholic bug! no amount of vitamins, penicillin, drugs can cure me now! only retail therapy MIGHT help... and after looking ard for the best help that i could find, i concluded that in my current condition, a complete session of retail therapy might cost me up to 200 quids!!!
then again, what's the point in being a miser right?! having lots of money, feeling miserable, having no friends, owning nothing nice... it says in the bible that a rich man has sleepless nights coz he's afraid that he'll lose his possessions. therefore, it's good to seek to please God and be bless by God for all these things will be given unto you as well. and i believe that i'm being bless by God, and therefore, i shall spend A FEW quids on some sweaters and cardigans =)

summary for the week

i had my FSA interview at canary wharf yesterday. when i arrived and saw the skyscrapers, the landscape and offices, i was impressed, the feeling i had inside me was that i belong to such a place, it's where i wanna work and possibly my second home. i'll be a banker one day.

back to the interview, i was put in a room with 2 interviewers. Susan and David. they brief me on the job scope of a research assistant before they started asking me some questions.

if u know me well enough, u'll know that once i have warm up to a person, i'm friendly but i mostly talk bout crappy stuff/jokes, talk bout almost anything but i am never good at formal discussions. therefore, going thru any interview process is always a killer for me. but anyway, i think i did pretty ok except for certain aspects. e.g. i think i gestured my hands too much, and once or twice, i felt that i wasn't really answering the questions.

if i get thru to the next round, the next process will be the testing of my microsoft excel skills and i better start practicing on drawing the graphs and formulations.

getting bored of talking bout the interview. the other significant events that happened this week were: our cellgroup celebrated Tze's birthday yesterday and we had lots of food and fun. my cellgroup is a weird bunch of people. they have not seem people sticking poker cards on their forehead when playing indian poker... hahaha. kuangyang finally arrived in london and we had dinner at my place. nothing much to talk bout other than those that u've already known if u read my blog often. e.g. i've gotta my first paycheck...

my life is so boring for now, if only i've got 5,000 pounds. i'll make my way to barcelona & prague for sure. and other nice cities that i would like to visit. for now, i shall slowly save up... damn slowly...

back to 25th october

if you read what i had entered into my blog on the 25th of october... the one bout the currencies speculation... well, what i said happened.
the dollar rised initially and today, it's at an all time low...
in fact, the USD is trading at an all time low against the euro and other major currencies like the pound and yen.
1.8563 USD to a pound. so u can buy 1,000,000 USD at a cost of 538,706.02 pounds. and since u sold 1,000,000 USD initially at 545,300 pounds, u earn 5,454.98 pounds after 2-weeks of accumulated interest payment of 839 pounds.
damn i am good... hahaha

my first pay check

yeah! i've finally received my first paycheck. XXX pounds credited into my RBS account. i'm so glad that i am finally earning my keeps and spending my own hard-earned money... well, it's not really that hard but i still earned it =)

however, i haven't receive my paycheck from my first job. =( i just called them and they said that they didn't have my bank account and national insurance details... bleh! hope i can get my money by next week.

2 more hours and i can knock off to prepare for my interview at canary wharf at 5pm later. shucks. i'm totally not prepared for it. the only thing that i can remember is its 4 objectives. market confidence, public awareness, consumer protection and fraud prevention. my desired salary is going to be £10 per hour. hope i am not asking for too much. =)

lunch is almost over... gtg... tata

blogging mood...

i miss the days of being crappy and carefree. the days where i can crack the dumbest, lamest, out-of-point jokes, putting the fire extinguisher in my friend's bag, hiding my friend's bag, making weird, silly and funny noise... the life as a student, i really miss those days... hmmm, maybe i can hide one of my housemate's books in the fridge or something? keke
anyway, it's not that i am not enjoying myself right now. it's just that my responsibilities now are very different. I'm a working adult. i.e. someone with the responsibility of being accountable to himself and most probably those around him and affected by him. my friend told me that finance has been my greatest concern because i always mention bout it. (i did not talked bout being short of money and finance, i only talked bout how much i earn per hour and my concern of paying my bills on time) how true. yeah, i am enjoy myself in london, experiencing the weather, enjoying my work, my church activities, enjoying things as there are now... but at the back of my mind, there's always this concern of being unemployed and having problems paying my bills... but after all that's said and done, there's nothing i can really do bout it right. i can only talked bout it. all i can do is to save up for a rainy day and be prudent.
Godliness with contentment is a great gain. I am truly contented with what i currently have and i don't mind living this lifestyle for the next 2 years. but i know that i can't live this lifestyle forever coz there will be greater responsibilites for me in as life goes on and i'll have to change/ make changes.
right now, i just wanna be carefree, funny, crappy and lame!

monday pink?

when i got home after work on friday, i checked my mails and found out that i got an interview for FSA (financial services authority).
currently, i am happy with my postboy/payroll admin job. however the job with FSA is for the position as a research assistant. it's something related to research and analysis which is what i always wanted. but i told my current employer that i will commit myself to the job for 2 months.
dilemma dilemma dilemma.
i shall be a man of my words. so i will commit myself to be a postboy for the next 2 months. but i will still go for the interview and be honest with my potential future employer and tell them that i can only start work next year. well, if the job is yours, it's yours. whatever will be wll be.
=)
have a great week everybody!