I'm back!

After a long absence, I'm back. Actually, I kinda forgot about my blog. Sheesh. Anyway, here are some pix of my recent trip down to the marina. Caught the Extreme Sailing event.

MECS - Celebrating the Mini's 50th Birthday.

The club celebrated the 50th birthday of the Mini and the 16th birthday of the club yesterday, 9th August 2009. Rather than have auto tests and games and a whole day event, we celebrated it by screening the Bourne Identity at Old School @ Mount Sophia (the old Methodist Girls School).

The turnout wasn't as great as we'd hoped it would've been, but it was a good one anyway. Here's hoping everyone enjoyed themselves.

Malacca Trip

Made a short trip up to Malacca with Tass and Cheryl. It's changed after the last time I went. Nice changes.

Celebrating Joanne's birthday

For the past month or so, the aircon in our department had been on the fritz. In the past week, it total broke down to the point to the point that we figured it would be much better walking around in our underwear. It was THAT hot! When they finally got down to fixing the entire unit, we were forced to move to temporary space up on the 3rd floor, with the regional people.

As Joanne's birthday was on the weekend, we did a little celebration or sorts for her. Stace (I think) came up with the idea of having a chocolate fondue party. So since we didn't have a fondue set, we substituted the melted chocolate with Hersheys chocolate. Not bad, eh?

As is with our normal style, we had to have... a photo op.

Baby sitting

I had probably one of the best times in a long while, last week. Why? Cos i was babysitting two very cute kids... Ellcie (the cat) and Lesette (the dog). They belong to the Smurf and we got a chance to babysit them while she was away down under. They're so darn adorable all I wanted to do all week was to spend time at home. Going out for a bit... made me feel so guilty.

I wish Teddy could be like them, especially Lesette. She's so trained she comes when you call her, she doesn't really bark much (except when she's playing or trying to annoy you) and best of all... she doesn't bite except when playing. And then, too, it's such a gentle bite.

Sigh.... I hope she gets to stay over more.

My very first pre-opening experience

When AQ asked me whether or not I wanted to take on the pre-opening training for Hong Kong, I have to admit... I was a little apprehensive. Firstly, I've never travelled overseas on my own before. Secondly, they kept stressing the fact that the Hong Kong property is very important to us. We can't afford to screw things up. But at the end of the day, I decided to take the plunge and try it out. After all, MM's opinions don't count and if AQ had no confidence in me, all the more I wanted to prove to her that she shouldn't regret her decision to ask me to take on this challenge in the first place. Besides, training is something I like doing and as I told myself, fear is something I've conquered before (my Stamford Crest and Exec Club experience) so I should try it again. And if I do well here, maybe I'll get to be the 'Pre-Opening trainer of choice' in the future, taking over from Ivy of Manila (R.I.P) and just like Leny seems to be the pre-opening specialist for Housekeeping. This... even though MM says it's only gonna be a one-time thing. Yeah well... MM, your words mean nothing. I've been told that it's NOT the case regardless what the bloody hell you think!

Going there was nerve wrecking. Having to plan a training schedule to teach a one-month training programme into three and a half days. If it were me, I wouldn't be able to make it. Come to think of it, it WAS me.. two years ago. And in that time, even I couldn't learn much. Or, maybe, it was just the way MM taught me. For and OJT trainer, she sucks.

Before going up, AQ did say... "make sure you bring your suits and dress better than you do here cos Hong Kongers are particular about dressing and you're representing Corporate office". I've stopped counting how many times she'd repeated that sentence. Meeting up with SH and JT at HK airport and then getting into the office at Johnston Road, I have to admit... I felt so damn overdressed and ridiculous. Everyone there was in jeans, Fraser shirts and sports shoes. And there I was in a full suit. After all, the building at the time was still under construction and it was dusty all the time.

Anyway, for the next two days, I dressed down a bit, still in my office wear but no jacket. Basically, I ended up dressing up as I usually do here in Singapore. By day three, I was dressed down into my Fraser shirt, jeans and track shoes. More comfortable for training.

More updates later... when I'm less tired. Shown above are pics of my apartment. Not bad for pre-opening standards... had anticipated conditions to be far worse than that.

Frasers celebrates a win!

We did it again! We were picked as the Best Serviced Residence in Asia by Travelweekly Asia again this year. This makes it the second consecutive year that we've won.

To celebrate the win, we were given an early release on Friday. The Sales (and Reservations) administrators were allowed to 'dress down' a bit. That meant that we could come in our specially printed shirts, tailored pants and a jacket. In the evening, we all headed from Suites to Place for a celebration party. To cater for all kinds, there was karaoke for some (mainly for the aunties, I guess). For the rest of us, there was a mini version of the Amazing Race. That was fun but... when you're sick, running around that much makes you feel all the more green and tired. All things considered, it was still a fun run up to the weekend.