Relieved but No Relief

As part of our project closure, our research team has to present to the research office's senior management and MOE the findings from our project. It is a high stakes presentation. Initially, it was thought that I would present with my PI present to answer the questions. However, my PI had to return home to Brisbane due to an urgent family matter last night. No choice, I had to present on my own. :( There were a couple of questions, e.g. why did you choose to ...? But thank goodness, our MOE advisor who was present at the presentation, answered some of questions. :) It was really nice of him to help out a junior research staff. I thanked him profusely after the presentation but he brushed it off saying he should be answering those questions as I wasn't involved in making those decisions.
According to colleagues who were there to support me, I was steady during my presentation lol. Actually, I am like a duck, all calm on the surface but the mad paddling under the water, in this case, the mad panicking inside haha. :P 
I am relieved that it is over for this project but somehow, there is no relief yet. Because there is still a follow-up to this project that I have to attend to. There's no end to work, one thing cleared, another comes along. Sigh.

All the Best

Today's the last day of work for our intern, Edwin. We decided to throw him a little farewell party. Once we have gathered at the Chill Room, Christin went to get Edwin on the pretext that the project PI, Jennifer wanted Edwin to present his work now! You should have seen Edwin's face when he came through the door, holding his Macbook and we were singing "Happy Birthday" to him as a joke. He mumbled, "But it is not my birthday". LOL. Once he knew we were throwing him a little farewell party, he looked so relieved. He thought he was getting into big trouble with Jennifer as he was finalising his work. Haha. :D

Edwin is only with us for slightly less than a month but he has been a great help to our service project. He is really responsible, a keen learner and a great team player. He will be going back to UK to continue with his studies. I wish him all the best in his studies! :) 

Break but No Break

I was informed on Monday that there would be no counselling today because it is the CAs and P6 Prelims this week. I was happy as I thought I could finally sleep in as my girls would also be at school. Unfortunately, luck is not with me. I had to go into my workplace to do some work in preparation for a high-stakes presentation this Friday. :(

Celebration + Gathering

Today, a bunch of us threw a mini-party for a good friend/ colleagues of ours, Dennis to celebrate his submission of his PhD thesis for examination! Aileen and I discussed the idea about two weeks ago and once I managed to lock our VIP down to a date on the pretext of an important lunch meeting, we moved into action. Aileen bought the food while I contacted our friends/ colleagues about the celebration+gathering.
It was funny when our VIP came to look for me about the "lunch meeting" before the appointed time. As our friends/ colleagues were still arriving from their various offices, I had to send him to wait in his car first. It was a wonder that it didn't occur to him that we were up to something when he met a few of our friends/ colleagues who never normally appear at our office, on the way to his car. Lol. Once we were ready, I sent him a text message on the pretext that I needed his IT expertise urgently at the small meeting room. 
As Dennis opened the door, we shouted "Surprise!". He was really SURPRISED! Haha.

"What's this?"

"HUH??!!"

"Oh, I see. Hahaha"

Red velvet cake - Congrats 7 years!

"I did it!"

Aileen, Dennis and I

Christine and Dennis

Sharm and Dennis

Mardiana and Dennis

It was a great celebration with lots of good and healthy food and great company. Most of us have been at our organisation since 2004/ 2005 and have worked together at one point of time or another so there were lots of laughter and reminiscing of old times. :) As we were too engrossed in talking and eating, we forgot to take a group photo and also of colleagues who had to leave earlier for meetings and lessons.
Well done, Dennis for the submission of your thesis. We are all really, REALLY HAPPY for you!! The next celebration is your shout! Lol. :P

Back in Town

My favourite boss is back in town! David will be here for a week. Really good to see him again. :)

"Youtube teaches Everything!"

That's what my girls told me. I was struggling to create pivot tables in Excel. I took down the steps but I must have missed something and it didn't work out. I was getting quite frustrated when my girls told me to look up Youtube. According to them, Youtube has tutorials for almost everything! True enough, there are numerious tutorials on Youtube on how to create pivot tables in (different versions of) Excel. :) I managed to create my pivot tables. Thanks, Girls! 
PS. I wonder what tutorials my girls have been looking up on Youtube.

My Chinese Name

The results from Blogthings about "What's Your Chinese Name?" is eerily accurate! :O I do indeed have a HUI in my Chinese name!!

Your Chinese Name is Hui

This name, meaning intelligent and wise, fits you completely. You are very bright. Enthusiastic and optimistic, you get a kick out of stimulating, intellectual discussions. You could spend a whole weekend studying philosophy or interesting religions. You crave enlightenment. You love that there is always more to see or do. The world is big, and life is long.

What's Your Chinese Name?

Exhaustion

Which is worse? Physical or mental exhaustion? I think it is mental exhaustion. Brain shuts down, nothing is processing... : |

Impossible

Here are two versions of the song, Impossible. I like both versions as each has its own merit. :) 

Impossible by Shontelle (uploaded by ShontelleVEVO)

Impossible by James Arthur (uploaded by 728MJ)

SCGS girl is The Final 1!

My girls have been following The Final 1. At first, I thought it was just a case of watching some reality competition show like the American Idol or The Voice. It turned out that they were following The Final 1 because of one of the top 10 finalists - Farisha. I asked them what is so special about Farisha. They replied, "She is from SCGS!". Oh ok, that explains a lot lol. They are definitely true blue SCGS girls with the kind of fierce loyalty that only SCGS girls will show/ give to another SCGS girl. :) 
My girls are really happy that Farisha won and is The Final 1! Way to go, Farisha. You did SCGS proud!! :)

New "Kid"

There is a new kid on the block. Well, it is not really a new kid but a sequel to an exisiting popular game. Plants vs Zombie 2 is back, with a whole new range of plants, zombies and worlds! It is just as exciting as the 1st PvZ, if not more and best of all, it is FREE! :)
I just found the way to kick my Candy Crush addiction lol. :P

I have an Addiction

I have an addiction. I need help. Please help if you can! I will be most grateful!! 

SEND ME LIVES and EXTRA MOVES for Candy Crush Saga!! 

I promise I will kick my addiction once I get pass Level 245!!

Hari Raya + Lunch

We went to my friend/ ex-colleague, Rahidah's home for Hari Raya. This is a yearly affair which our whole family always look forward to! This once a year event is also the only time we have Malay food because Rahidah (bless her!) always make sure the food is not too spicy for us lol. :) 
It is really wonderful that Rahidah opens her home to us every Hari Raya without fail. It was great catching up with Rahidah and it was great eating Malay food with gusto! :) 
Selamat Hari Raya, Rahidah. See you, next Hari Raya. :) Meanwhile, keep in touch via Facebook. :)

The assortment of yummy goodies that Rahidah packed for the girls to bring home! :)

Beautiful

It has been a while since I saw such a beautiful sunset from my balcony. Love the mix of colours - orange, pink, purple, blue.

E-learning Frustrations

My girls had two days of e-learning due to the PSLE oral examinations. No doubt, e-learning, IT and technology is the future but asking primary school aged children to do e-learning can be really frustrating, especially when faced with IT issues. 
On the first day of e-learning, my girls have had problems with some of the files that they had to watch before they proceeded to do their assigned homework. They either couldn't open those files or the links embedded within the files didn't work. How would the children know how to solve the IT issues or what to do in such situations? As a result, my girls could only finish the remainder of their first day homework very late at night after I came back from work to solve the IT issues. Even then, one or two still couldn't be opened. :( :( Apparently, my girls weren't the only students who had had problems with their e-learning assignments because on the second day of e-learning, teachers sent messages about faulty files and also the steps to solve the IT issues were provided. Sigh.

PANICKED!

For a good 30 minutes, I panicked and thought I was back to Level 1 in Candy Crush! I haven't had the chance to play Candy Crush all day today and was about to attempt playing Level 245 on my iPad when the message popped up that I wasn't connected to Facebook. The same message appeared a number of times even after I reinstalled Candy Crush and it showed me as being at Level 1 instead of Level 245! What happened to the other 244 levels that I had played and conquered?!! 
I checked with a friend who plays CC too and was alerted to double-check my CC status in Facebook. Thank goodness! I am still at Level 245. PHEW! I would really cry if I am back to Level 1 again. It seems that there may be a glitch with CC app on the iPad. Hope the glitch will be fixed soon.
 

PSLE 2013 - Oral Examinations

The first of the PSLE (Primary School Leaving Examinations) will start this week, with the Oral examinations being held tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, on 15 and 16 August 2013 (Thursday and Friday). 
Good luck to my P6 counsellees and to all P6 students out there. :)

Roar by Katy Perry

This is a new song by Katy Perry. Although it is just a lyric video (and not a music video), I thought it is really cute and unforgettable. :) 

(uploaded by KatyPerryVEVO)


I just love the cat at the end of the video! So adorable!! :)

Singapore's Third Series Coins

Singapore's Third Series Coins are released this year on 25 June 2013. I finally managed to collect all the new coins. The new coin designs feature national icons and landmarks such as the Merlion ($1 coin), the Port of Singapore (50 cents coin),  the Changi Airport (20 cents coin), the Public Housing (10 cents coin) and the Esplanade (5 cents coin) and all the new coins have a common unifying symbol of the lion head.

It is going to take me quite a while to get used to the new coins. I still prefer the First Series Coins (Marine series) and the Second Series Coins (Floral series) because I personally feel that they represent Singapore a lot better. The flora and marine creatures mean energy and life, much better than the buildings featured on the Third Series coins. Just my two cents worth. No pun intended! Haha. :P  

B-grade Movies and I

I just have a thing for B-grade movies. If I want to give my mind a break, I would watch B-grade movies. :) They are sometimes silly, sometimes ridiculous, sometimes action-packed and they come in different genres - horror, comedy, sci-fi, ... B-grade movies are just pure entertainment and fun. :) Some of my favourite B-grade movies are Starship Troopers movies (1-3), Eight-legged Freaks (yes, I absolutely HATE spiders but I just love this movie lol), Tremors movies (1-4), and some of those mega creature vs giant creature movies haha. I discovered that Syfy channel screens quite a fair amount of B-grade movies such as the recently screened Sharknado. 
Thank you, B-grade movies for keeping my mind sane! :)