Bread and butter #68 (The horror of all horrors, piling up of workload... countless session recordings!)

I have had many many many session recordings not properly recorded since 2nd July (yeah, the first day of work). Usually I just scribble notes and throw the few pieces of paper onto my stack of papers on my work-station, and the stack grew over the past 6 months.

New year is coming, so I finally decided to clear off all the session recordings at one go. I don't want to bring work forward to 2008! There will be tonnes of things to do in 2008- like work plan, budget, meetings, spring-cleaning etc. So I don't wish to worry about session recordings of 2007, when I have session recordings of 2008 to settle!

Therefore, I spent the whole of Friday, Saturday and Monday (today) looking through my case files from the first page to the last, browsing through my previous recordings, then typing the missing ones.

Settled two cases in a day, stayed back after my event on Saturday till about 5.30pm (Amazingly, staying in the office was not tiring... and this is the second time I stayed back in office to do work after an event. For the first time, I even got to replenish my energy for tuition!), and went back office today to finish off my last few recordings! I threw all the messy notes away, and my table is much neater now! Yahoo!

Now, I'm super satisfied with my efficiency. But all these trouble could have been prevented if I have been consistent right from the start. Let's see if I can improve any further in 2008! ;)

***

Today's HALF DAY!!!

Went out for lunch at Ajisen in our beloved IMM after 1pm with SM, TW, BY and CQ. IMM is beloved because it is always one of our top favourite places to chill out after stressful times. (Hee, PY and BT will know what I mean. ;)) Thereafter, we had a long chat and browsed through WG's photos, taken during his Egypt trip, at Secret Recipe. The yoghurt drink there is yummy and refreshing!

***

Anyway, the important point is,

I FINISHED ALL MY SESSION RECORDINGS!!! :D

Bread and butter #67 (Not good enough.)

Die. Self-defeating thoughts keep coming into my head. Despite all the reassurance, encouragement and advice, I'm still sian about it. I just can't do things the way I would like myself to, and I just can't do things the way others would like me to.

Super sian. Super sian. Super sian. =(

January, faster come. I can't wait.

Bread and butter #66 (Family Day at Qian Hu Fish Farm.)

Had a family day today at Qian Hu Fish Farm. Ahhh, I love the fish spa, because it made me laugh! It's ticklish... and when I see the bigger fishes swimming towards my feet... wow...But I didn't jerk at all. I kept my feet still and didn't scare the fishes. I was a good girl, haha. Up till now, I still feel a tingling sensation at my feet from time to time. It's an interesting experience!
Right after I finished taking some photos of the fishes, the personnel informed me that we can't take any photos. So, too bad, I can only show this much. =)

Mexican food with Joan and Sanmin.

Had a short meetup with both Joan and Sanmin. The Mexican food at Holland Village is not bad woh! There are two Mexican restaurants in Holland Village. Can't remember the name of the restaurant I went to, but I can remember that they have a cosy yet air-conditioned interior (which we wanted very much to go in due to the hot weather), and good service- the waiters and waitresses kept a constant lookout for the water level in our glasses, and it took us less than half a minute to get their attention when we wanted to foot the bill. I super love nachos!!! Like this round ornament hanging on the wall, and the sofa seat colour! Or was it the table cloth? Nevermind, I just like it.
And the food...ahhhh, I like! The meal would be PERFECT if there were to be a jug of magarita. Yums! :D

I'm banana.

Wah seh, I think nobody will believe this lor. I think I'm a softie by nature, but I don't think anybody believes in that.

As time passes by...

My path is clearer than before. Even if my life is in a mess, I can still find my way around. Even if I have no courage at all, somehow, I still have to pluck up my courage from god-knows-where. Just have to tell myself "I can do it" and then do it, if not nothing will be done.

I realise there are fewer and fewer people who believe in what I believe in. I'm thankful for those who sincerely believe in what I believe in, stand by me, and offer me a helping hand whenever I need it.

I'm not strong, but I will stay strong.

Magma with Beauties. Where were the Beasts?

It's December's Beauties and the Beasts gathering, and our theme was Christmas! So everyone of us had to be in green, red and white. The two beasts were not around. Did they skip the gathering because they're worried about meeting the dresscode criteria? :P Another component of this gathering: We had to make handmade presents for each other. We chose our receiver by picking lots, and it took us 7 tries (!) before we got a partner each.
My favourite main of the night: Onion and bacon pizza with sour cream. Elayne forced me to hold that piece of pizza lor.Elayne and Yingfong. Thanks to Elayne, I do not only have "yellow" photos for this gathering. Xinli and me with the food. Notice me with a hairclip? That hairclip was part of my dresscode, hee. Anyway, how can there be no sausages in a German gathering? =)Mr Willy / Simon, who followed our dresscode so closely. A super good role model for the Beasts.Poor Mr Willy was murdered by Xinli! Look at that evil face... Interestingly, Mr Willy is a candle-holder, and when the smoke from the candle rises, it will come out from his mouth, and make him look like he's smoking.
Mr Willy is pretty popular among girls, as you can see. BEFORE: Einstein-style hair.AFTER: Handsome Simon, no?

Here's Elayne and Yingfong illustrating the theory of "gold-fish memory".Lovely Christmas tree! :DHappy Beauties without the Beasts. Ying Fong's hungry... and she ate up a branch of the Christmas tree!!!It's almost like a tradition to take 三连拍 with the Beauties.We were fooling around in front of the entrance, and obstructing people's paths, oops. Can't forget the way we took these pictures- Xinli and Elayne are so innovative, haa.Just to convince the Beasts and everyone else that we did follow the red, green and white dresscode, we have to take a full length photo of ourselves. So colourful hor? :)

Anyway, we took this last photo on our way to the MRT station, hahaha.

Hana Kimi.

Been watching Hana Kimi (Japanese version) over the past few days, and I just finished watching it! It was marvelous- has many lame and hilarious scenes (good for relaxing), dramatic actors, beautiful actress with delicate features, and most importantly, a beautiful sound track. I always believe that, for a drama to be good, the original sound track must be able to bring out the theme of the drama. It's super nice, I tell you.

Hana Kimi OST.

Watch the drama and then listen to the music. Bits of the drama will come back to your mind. The tracks are captivating. =)

Bread and butter #65 (Christmas Party @ SCS! :D)

Internal Flea Market (IFM)! We displayed... and the items were left there... hahaha.

Participants of the IFM.
Thereafter, the PARTY! Party games were all planned by BT. Good effort leh.

"Tag the reindeer's tail"!I volunteered Theresa to be the representative for the Red Team! =)

Silly SM loves his Santa hat a lot... he kept fidgeting with the white hair. I think he misses his long hair.

Balloting for weapons to hit the pinata.

Parrot pinata! Haa, BT seems to love pinatas a lot when we first saw them at Concourse.Observant Chris actually pointed out to me "the weak spot" which we should hit- the parrot's neck!This is how violent we can get lor. When SM kept saying "手小心一点", I was reminded of how he flung Theresa into the seawater and then went back to ask her if she's okay. Wahahaha~

First hit of the pinata by Chris.

Chaos...

Thereafter, we had our yummy potluck. Chris made Irish stew!!! The cocktail, chicken and salad were not bad too. :D-

Presents time!

I got my gift (with a super cute wrapper) from Lyn, and gave Julie hers.

Love the party and the company. Thanks all!

P/S: Prepared photos and cards for colleagues, and silly BT kept comparing the size of the pictures on different envelopes. -roll eyes-

Bread and butter #64 (Doubtful.)

Think studying Social Work really makes me super self-aware. I know that I need to talk to someone who will best understand the way I feel- someone from the field. I only told part of the whole story to a few of my colleagues, and the general story to SM, and today, I finally told the whole story to fellow Social Worker, WP.

Last night, I could tahan no more, so I called her to ask for a meetup. I need to say it out- all the frustrations, and all the lousy feelings. I feel stuck. Constipated.

I really don't feel good hearing certain comments, especially when I've put in a lot of effort and I've tried my best. And irritating hiccups, which could have been avoided, only made things worse.

In the end, I verbalised (ranted) everything that is making me upset for the past few days, and I felt much much better. I felt like a ranting machine. And as I rant, WP shared with me her experiences too, which helped quite a bit. At least for now, someone understands how I feel.

I will take action in early January. And we shall see what will happen.

Bread and butter #63 (Irritating and frustrating whatnots.)

I simply don't understand. Most people tend to thank those who only spend... say, a day with them, and neglect the people who stood by them all this while. So the dedicated people who stand by you are mannequins? You probably never realise their contributions until they're gone. Pui.

All the coordination. All the planning. All the preparation. All the hard work. All the headaches.

Not even a "thank you" at all.

And you said thank you to this person who only came for a day and tried to sell religion to you.

Pui! Pui! Pui!

***

And when you sign up for certain things, you should jolly well remember it yourself and come for it. What do you expect? The organiser to call up everyone? You think the organiser got nothing better to do.

***

I sincerely hope that my current idea is not a self-fulfilling prophecy. I've already thought through it again and again, talked to various people for their opinions, and even wrote a simple compare and contrast table, so as to verify my stand.

Really confused with all the thoughts in my head, I hope that one day (soon) I'll be clearer of what I want and be able to state what I want. I need more time to think through (yes, again!).

***

Pretty upset with certain comments made. Yes, my listening skills were so good that I managed to catch what you said. Some comments should only be made at the right time. And do take time to think for others, for example how come certain people behave in a certain manner. Some things may not seem the way they are.

***

Know and understand your role. If you don't need me, why call for me.

***

Don't try to talk things out with me when I'm upset. I'll bite and I might cry.

I'll recover. I just need some time alone.

I'm Foxglove!

You really want to be a good person, but you have this little mischievous streak that seems to get in the way. Deep down you mean well, but you are just so good at being just a little bit bad.

Hee, sounds like me. =P

Bread and butter #62 (Bowling fun!)

We had bowling fun during our rest time! The ones good at real bowling were lousy at virtual bowling, while the ones lousy at real bowling were good at virtual bowling!

Fun amidst work and stress. =)

Hahahahaha...

Bread and butter #61 (Christmas party for the children.)

Pretty amazed at the patience some of my volunteers have. I'm so lucky to have them around. I do hope that I'll see them being awarded 3 or 5 years long service awards, and the student volunteers be recognised for their dedication and patience. -prays hard-

Anyway, Mr SCS Santa wishes all of you a very early merry Christmas! =D

P/S: Rest well, Mr SCS Santa... I want to see you healthy healthy on 24th woh. Ho! Ho! Ho!

Bread and butter #60 (Welcome home, X3 team.)

This is probably going to be the last time that SM is wishing us good luck for IM as the in-charge! But I guess he'll still write poems from time to time, HOR? -pokes-

Met up with Joleen and Rachel, my fellow attachment friends at New York New York. I don't know why I took a super long time to finish my meal. It's either (a) I'm a slow eater OR (b) my friends are hungry.SM is angry with me for bullying him all the time. =(
Joleen wanted to have candy floss, but we were simply too paiseh to go for it... so we nominated the two pinkies to go take 5 candy floss in total, woops.
I was complaining that their poses were too boring...
But we weren't any better. =P
Anyway, the gathering was a little too short, as Rachel needed to rush off to somewhere else. I want a longer chat!SM managed to persuade me to welcome the Project X3 team at Changi Airport. I was originally concerned about the transport back home, but he offered to send me back! Yeah! And it was pretty heartwarming to receive the call. You should know what I mean. ;)Notice the red carpet? It is actually a red piece of cloth prepared by SM, for the Project X3 team to walk on when they come out!

Even though I reached home at about 1 am, and was very tired...

Welcome home, Chris and the dedicated Project X3 team!