~**~ aylie. com ~*

It has been a very stressful month, so i’m really glad to be blogging about something light and really non-work related. Hubs and I bought the weekend Eclipse tickets on Thursday, 2 days in advance so that our seats would be guaranteed. It was great. My favourite book in the series has been New Moon, for personal reasons – because I felt that Bella was relateable and that having her own “sun”, Jacob was really what she needed at that point in her life, much like my personal experiences as a teenager. The movies however, were quite a different story because Twilight and New Moon, to me, didn’t bring out the essence of the books. They were about character development, the intertwining of the lives and the uncertainty of what was going to happen. Instead the movies focused on plot development and I just didn’t find them relatable. The only reason why I kept going back to the theatres for the 3 movies was just to support the franchise.

That said, I don’t know whether it was David Slade who should earn all the credits, but there was finally something about Eclipse that was lacking in the previous 2 that made me enjoy watching the movie through and through. From the viriginity chat that Charlie had to have with Bella (which I enjoyed in the book, just imagining the awkwardness of that conversation) and the tent scene and the wolf and heart bracelets.. As a fan of the books, it was great just seeing those little bits translated to the movie, the itsy bitsy throughout the books that earn its fans was finally in the same enjoyable bits in the movie.

I’m a little disappointed to learn that they’ve decided to change directors again, I don’t know anything about Bill Cornby but I hope he keeps the 2 movies true to the books. New Dawn being the conclusion of the series of books was a great deal to the readers (ie me) because it had to tie up everything in the plot that it had started (whether Bella was finally going to be a Cullen and a vampire, what changes would she have to go through, what about her lifestyle and was she really moving to Alaska, etc), so I hope the new director isn’t going to come in and skip the itsy bitsy in the books and take it any direction he wants! If that was the case, go direct a movie that’s not a franchise and has a cult following! Respect the fans because we are only so for the love of the books!

Have been having loads of me time the last few days with Hubs not around. Cleaned the house (I hate the process, but the result is therupetic because a clean and neat home instance relaxes me), did the ironing so there’s loads to choose from, changed my nail colors, went shopping and bought some more (I have to ban myself from shopping – i must have bought at least 10 new pcs of clothing this month) and got some beautiful nail polish.

A little annoyed with Hubs for not writing more and that these Chinese like to have escorts around all the time! The first night he landed, they treated him to a karaoke night with escorts. I am not for these and thank god that he doesn’t have to go China often.

Tomorrow our Global CEO is comin by our office and I can’t be late. I have a 30 min, private presentation to him on business update for my group and i am kinda nervous, not sure if its because my boss told me that there’s no need to prepare anything. Impromptu might be worse ya, that means i won’t be able to control the direction of the meeting and it might end up being a Q&A session. What if he asks difficult questions?

Unprepared meetings also make me nervous because that means i don’t know where to start or what to expect. In fact, the more i think about it, perhaps it might be better to prepare a few, short opening lines to start the conversation off… Hmmm.

9.30pm. Still awake, and nothing else I can do. Hmm. Maybe i’ll watch a DVD or not.

Celebrated 8 years, and we went back to 1-26, hoping for a great meal but were disappointed. We sat by White Coffee sipping a cup of tea, sharing memories of days past, and feeling as if nothing else matters. It was simple, and very very comforting. My day stress melted away, and I immersed myself in laughter and very simple joy.

I asked myself if i would ever give up my job to be a stay home wife. My answer is no. A stay home mom maybe? If this is how i feel with 2 of us, i hope that when the day comes to 3 or even 4 of us, my answer may be a steadfast yes.

Life is good..

It’s official – my job is making me sick. The doctor prescribed some medication and informed that the persistent cough could be triggered by excessive gastric juice, which in turn could be triggerd by stress, and god knows that i’ve been stressed..

It takes a saint to tolerate what has been going on, and i cried buckets and refuse to admit defeat to a woman who is so unprofessional. There are a couple of women i’ve met in the last 7 years of my working life that i can say i’m not sure who’s worst when compared to her, but seriously they don’t say it’s hard working for a woman after all (and i’m not even working for her, i’m working with her!) The only silver lining at this point is knowing the day will come when this wil all end. And i hope that my boss sees this with his eyes and processes it and gives me more credit for sticking this period through with him and not taking the easy way out.

It’s bloody hard managing office politics and the higher i climb, the air seems thinner because i find it harder to breathe.

I only take this in stride, with my husband next to me, talking me through my options and learning from the ordeal.

I want to recount this day with more energy but I’m exhausted really. Today has got to be one of the most challenging in my entire professional life, seriously one of the toughest situation and one I have no solution for.

I send proposals and negotiate contracts on a daily basis (while being mathematically challenged, i have to add), so while I might not have figured out the best discounts or combination available on the market, i should still instinctively sniff out the good deals. In this case, I have officially entered a deadlock, and while the situation is in my favour, without a doubt; i find myself unable to seal the contract to my satisfaction, because doing so would cost me more. (Did that make sense?)

The good news is that I need to close this tomorrow morning, the bad news is, it could close either way, whether i like it or not.

Even the Chanel can’t cheer me up.

Hello I am finally back home!

After a not too bad 4 day wait in Nice, France, I am back home. It could have been alot worse — stuck in airport without a hotel room, in some less fortunate parts of the world, without money, etc, I didn’t take so much pity on myself. However did see a couple of very gloomy faces stranded at the airport, desperate to get home. In one of my 3 hour long queue to reroute my flight for alternative back home, there was this arrogant German (I have nothing against germans, just this 1 guy at the airport), who cut the queue behind me, declared he was first class and to be served right after me. The people who have been queuing 3 hrs behind me protested and was silent after the pompous man followed up with “I paid 20x the price you paid for your ticket, and deserve 20x more service than you do. It’s the same everywhere in the world”. Hmph. I feel sorry for those people in line.

Seriously, averse situations bring out the best and worst in people.

At the airport, i also saw fellow canadians comforting and updating each other (i was chatting with one and he was 60, inline for 3 hrs next to me, and didn’t complain), and people were smiling at each other, trying to be positive together, and it was nice to be around such people.

On a side note, i think the another reason why i wasn’t as frazzled as some was due to my previous experiences: stranded in Paris when i first started my job — it was one of my first trips, and without my luggage because it was delayed; delayed luggages (twice) — I cried in Paris and feel foolish after, it achieved nothing and i felt and looked worst after. There are things greater and beyond our control, positivity and a smile are better tools to deal with the situation than anger or self pity.

Did I mention that I got a day tour of Paris in the end, after i dried my tears and decided to make more of out the delay? A fellow Singaporean on my flight apparently decided otherwise and cooped her misery and herself in her tiny complimentary hotel room for the rest of the day, and when i met her to board our flight the next day, she looked as bad as when i saw her the night before.

And so, just go with the flow of what life throws you, and make the best out of a bad situation.

Calculated my income tax and I almost fainted! These sums increase exponentially and yet my salary is not catching up! Urgh.

I bought the EPL 1 today! Here’s the baby!

Had a conversation with MS, guess I need to update my WISHLIST! It shouldn’t be that difficult considering i’m a fickle minded person that list could grow infinitely long! It needs to be done over the next few weeks, there’s just so much going on now — France this weekend for 6 days, then back in SG for 3 weeks (and already my schedule is looking ridiculous but i’m not complaining — meeting the girls for drinks, high tea and dinner for 3 nights) and then to NZ which will be the South-est i would have ever been! Looking forward to all that great adventure.

Haven’t been here for more than a month i’ve realised! What did i do in March? Apart from HK, I came back from Phuket and going to Cannes this weekend, but it’s been so busy with the office shift and the weather has been bad. I’ve had eye cramps (is that even possible) where i feel myself constantly squinting, not because I can’t see, but more that they feel so dry, i kept my forehead together on reflex. Doesn’t make sense at all!

I’m lemming to buy a camera to replace my current one, we’re going to Queenstown soon and I thought it would be great to change the camera before we go. I’m not into the technical aspect of photography, but i do enjoy snapping away, keeping nice memories vivid via photos…

Olympus EPL1 seems like a great choice.

More later, so tired now.

Just got ubertwitter on my mobile and that’s when things started heating up! I’m on the thing so often, it is becoming the first icon on my saved pages whenever I go on IE, it’s just next to my google icon now. Life is short, so have fun!

Tomorrow I have an annual evaluation with my new boss — in fact this is long overdue, given that we weren’t evaluated last year when the restructure happen. Everyone who kept their jobs were glad (myself included, though I don’t want to brag, i don’t think they can exactly live without me) and any talks of pay review, job progress, advancement opportunities, were swept under the carpet.

Therefore, I am both excited and nervous about the meeting tomorrow, there’s just so much I want to find out, and want to impress on the new boss! Pray for me that it will all go well!