the LAST series : farewell, at last

31 july 2009

my last day at the hub after being there for 5 years and 1 month.

i barely slept the whole night because i was rushing scrapbooks for jenice, shirley, sandy, nurul and syaiful. it was a mad rush and i wanted to give up halfway during the wee hours of the night but i perservered.

eventually, sleep gave in when i was working on sandy’s scrapbook. i took a short nap at 5 before waking up at 6am to continue with the scrapbook. i was so drowsy from the lack of sleep, i no longer know what i was writing. haha.

i was still working on my last scrapbook at 8am.

finally! project farewell completed at 8.15am.

i carried a bag full of candies, one 20 page scrapbook album for jenice and 4 pieces of scrap art for the rest and dashed out of the house.

first thing i did when i reached the office was to give eveyone their gifts. their tears and appreciation made all my efforts and exhaustion so worth it.

♣

my last attendance at the dept meeting.

my last day was also jenice’s 5th year anniversary at work. the girl was so caught up with work and everything else she forgot about her anniversary. haha. thank god, we remembered!

my farewell celebration officially begins: -

the beautiful farewell video

boss asked me to say a few words. i was actually quite embarrassed because i know everyone is waiting for me to burst into tears but i had zero tears to offer. a while back, when i first gave boss the letter, he told me to enjoy my last month – to stop the tears and be joyous. i guess i took his advice a bit too seriously.

boss giving me a cd copy of the farewell video.

jenice was tasked to present me with the farewell gift – a gift that will make me remember my time with them.

a ball of black. jenice was crying so hard.

“the union cup ah?”, i couldn’t help wild guessing.

the gift turned out to be a really beautiful black titus watch.

photo taking session begins:

one with the nasty boss.
for some unknown reason, we always looked very uncomfortable taking pictures together. i think we both have this uncanny ability to get on each other nerves. hahaha.

one with my wonderful team.

one with jenice’s team.

one with edmund’s team.

and one with anyone who wants to have a picture with me…

edmund

the 2 interns who made the beautiful farewell video.

janet

nurul – i made the dear girl cry when i hugged her.

amirul.

shirley

sam and janet

i am well known for wearing leggings/opaque tights to work.
to celebrate my departure, the ladies came in leggings/skinny jeans/opaque tights.

almost everyone except me!

janet and i wore leggings for the forearm instead.

♣

one last picture with my team before running off for lunch.

♣

lunch was lovely.

everyone is obsessed with the rabbit pose ever since a picture of me doing this as a kid appeared on the video.

super duper cute.

jenice made a scrapbook for me too – a compilation of the fun times we had together with our usual group of friends. they wrote lots of well wishes and funny remarks on the book. haha.

after lunch, we headed to marks and spencer so that i could be in tights like the rest of the girls. shirley bought it for me as a farewell gift.

♣

came back from lunch and continued with moment capturing…

gregory

sandy

awful friend and kns friend

syaiful

♣

leggins/tights unite!

i just can’t seemed to escape from the rabbit pose…

all the ladies unite!

♣

after receiving flowers from the team, i was told that there was another surprise waiting for me in boss’s room.

i got all tense hearing “boss’s room” because i’m terrified of being pranked by him.

see, i don’t even dare to go near his cupboard. haha.

i was still very wary of the surprise they have for me…

it turns out to be a tin full of biscuits. haha.

BUT!

i was still wary that something will jump out from the tin…haha.

with tentative steps, i took out the paper slowly…

and heaved a sigh of relief when i realised there is really no hidden monsters in the tin. they just wanted to make sure i don’t starve while working in faraway places. so sweet.

♣

our last hour as colleagues…

the little girl i so adore.

our last picture as boss and subordinate.
we finally looked comfortable in a picture.

i can only credit that to pure relief – you’re no longer my nasty boss!!!!
hahaha.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

thank you for giving me such a wonderful farewell.

when i think back to this day, i am filled with unadulterated joy. these 5 years have been nothing but wonderful – a lot of hardwork and late nights but still wonderful.

i will remember all of you and i will visit you guys when my probation is over!

all my love.

always.

the LAST series : my last dinner with the team

24 july 2009
dinner & ktv at jumbo seafood restaurant.

i was very sleepy already – didn’t eat much, didn’t sing much and i missed jenice very very much. it didn’t help that my boss was being very irritating. hahaha!

halfway through dinner, all the men disappeared from the room and came back looking like this: -

i didn’t know whether to laugh or be utterly horrified because it was exactly what i was sabo-ed to do at bintan but you gotta give it to eric, amirul, alex and edmund for being so sporting. i know they were all forced to do this by the evil boss.

and then the inevitable happened, boss dragged me to dance the silly dance again.

i

wanted

to

cry

and

strangle

my

boss

at

the

same

time!

argh!

of course, i couldn’t complete the dance. everyone scrambled back to my seat and i was so terrified of being dragged up to dance again by the boss i hid behind my chair. he burst out laughing when he found me.

♣

shirley was my singing partner for the night – we sang a lot of sad chinese love songs. i sang “all out of love” with edmund and “red bean” with boss.

i was totally exhausted already and i still had to work tomorrow. haha.

♣

we headed for really expensive (in my opinion) durians.
naturally, i didn’t eat any of it because i swore off durian at the age of 14.

i was a durian lover until i hit 14. one night, in bed, i was so repulsed by the smell of durian lingering on my fingers (even repeated washing didn’t help) i decided there and then to never eat durian ever again.

i still cannot believe it cost $150!!!

a pair of aldo shoes would be so much more satisfying.

hahaha.

♣

i was so sleepy i fell asleep on the way home.

when i finally made it to bed,
i fell asleep with a smile on my face
deep sleep prepares me for 25 july
for on that day my heart will race…

♣

the LAST series: birthday celebrations

24 july 2009

i was very very happy that day. i believed it was written all over my face because nurul came up to me and whispered in my ears “i don’t know why but you look very very pretty today.” haha.

a birthday surprise was the last thing on my mind that morning but i realised something was amiss when EVERYONE in the department was gathered in the office – hanging around waiting for something to happen. i remembered asking edmund “why are all these people gathered here?” he just shrug in response.

no wonder.

the department was bustling with activities because of the outing in the evening. i remembered i was busy handling over my duties to other people. boss also bought us tea.

♣

i just realised july 24 (7.24) is also the number of the room i was staying in at siloso beach resort. both of them adds up to 13.

see, 13 is magical.

it is also the day i chanced upon a note that reads:

you came like a comet
and blazed through the skies
my world stood still
as i watched you lit up my life
the momentary brightness
captivated my whole being
i reached out to grasp it
wanting to make the moment last forever
but you were too high, too far and too unreachable.

the skies lost you in the blink of an eye
you came like a comet
blinded me
and then made me cry.

i sighed as i read the note.

and i remembered a saying from a wise man, “sometimes, you don’t have to stretch to reach, just open your palm and let it willingly fall onto you.”

“oh, so you’re going to fall into my palms” – “i am afraid, yes.”

♣

i brought my team out for lunch at vivocity and came back to office for surprise number 2.

♣

ms sandy told me she was very down and wanted to chat with me. i told her to give me an hour because i needed to do handover. the handover was postponed and subsequently cancelled. i offered to go over to meet her but she wanted to meet me at the stairs.

so we met but someone let the cat out of the bag by asking sandy the location of the surprise. duh!

i was still very happy to step into a room filled with people i love and who actually loves me back. haha.

i always make the same birthday wish – to be happy, healthy and rich always. haha.

jenice, the lady behind the surprise, presented me with my farewell + birthday gift – an agnes b tote (i have half a mind to collect all the totes since they come up with a new colour every season), a birthday card and capitaland mall vouchers.

and the hug everyone was asking for…

thank you everyone for all your love and fun!
syaiful, i wish you were there!

everyone left except for lawrence, jenice and mac.

jenice stayed for obvious reasons because we are 姐妹花。

mac stayed because 1. he actually considers me a good friend 2. syaiful wasn’t around 3. he will not be around for my farewell.

lawrence stayed because we share a pre-corporatisation bond. before we met, i was the voice he look for at hq when he needed assistance with counter closing and cheque payment. he always told me it was so refreshing to hear a young, lively and energetic voice as compared to the people who used to attend to his calls. haha.

mac is so tall…

we cleared the room and both mac and jenice walked around the compound with me to distribute cakes. it was very nice.

i was searching for my boss so i could give him the cake. when i finally saw him, he just smiled at me, said some gibberish nobody understood, and left without taking my cake.

!!!!!

never give face.

on a brighter note, special thanks to jenice and syaiful for everything.

your still owe me birthday dinner.

ps: syaiful gave me a purple adidas jacket on the following day. i asked him why give jacket and he said “so that when you go to your new company, you can wear it when you feel cold.”

wahhhhhhhhhh………. thank you kns friend for your thoughtfulness. i wear it every saturday when i go for pilates.

i am not alone. i am not alone.

farewell, darren

i will continue the good fight on your behalf.

all your love

i wanted to blog at length about my farewell during my 2 weeks break but i didn’t have the time.

i still do not have the time to blog about it so i will do piece meal blogging.

here’s a farewell video done up by the interns. it’s just fabulously heartwarming. i was touched but no tears flowed down my cheeks. i think it was because i was feeling very happy and high from the lack of sleep on thursday night and all the lurveeeeee i’ve been receiving  in the last one or two weeks.

i actually felt a bit bad for not crying but considering the amount of tears jenice shed, i’ll just assume my jie mei has cried on my behalf.

enjoy.

drained by the third

it’s only the 3rd day and i’m feeling drained already! 3 intense days of working from 8.30am – 7pm with no music to listen to.

between the scouring of documents from old files and flipping through the scoured files to understand the transactions in details and figuring out the SAP like system and trying to do everything from scratch mostly on my own – i find myself totally happy, totally satisfied and totally exhausted.

i’ve been tasked to do a write up tomorrow on capex acquisition and disposal. a little scared cos i’ve never drafted anything like that before and it has been so long since i touched on items of this nature.

this is the kind of fear i was seeking.

i am actually researching on this now, downloading countless write ups for reference and understanding. there is a lot of information available on the net.

i am so unbelievably tired but i’m still sitting here downloading reports to read.

fear really drives me. haha.

a better day

i had a great day today.

i felt great when i woke up. i felt great when i was lazing in bed. i felt great when i was getting ready for work. i felt great waiting for the bus. i felt great being on the bus. i felt great waiting for the lift at the lobby. i felt great in the morning. i felt less great in the afternoon but greatness came upon me towards the evening and it was all great after that.

ah.

isn’t it lovely?

i don’t need mind blowing moments in the morning to make a day great. all i need is just my constant source of morning sweet peace and delight.

i learnt a lot at work today. i am constantly on the prowl for things to learn, read and do. i am less anxious when i have things to work on.

let’s hope tomorrow is just as wonderfully great.

remember your purpose or else what’s the point in leaving?

my first day was filled with confusion and uncertainty and there was a second where i seriously wondered is everything as it seems here. i even briefly considered james offer to me.

it didn’t help that there was major renovation work going on in the office and the dust and noise can be a little too much to bear. i spent many hours wiping away layer of dust only to see them on my table an hour later. i went back home with really dirty opaque stockings. in the midst of all the discomfort, i actually thought of mac and chiong from the facilities team.

there was also a man who said discouraging things to me – i am glad that i am level headed enough to know what is right and wrong. i even told him “hey, no mess is permanent. all these that you see here is temporary. it will all come to pass!” to which he shrugs and walks away.

i had a nice little welcome lunch at changi airport and once again, i forgot to thank her for lunch!!! i think my previous boss pamper us too much – free lunch is almost a given but i do remember thanking him always.

focus. focus. focus.

everything was better and clearer after the chat with the finance head. i’m actually quite determined to learn something from this stint and of course, help contribute to the realisation of the dreams of 2 people in the company.

i have no big dreams so i actually enjoy helping other people fulfilled their dreams in one way or another. i realised this during my second interview.

we were released earlier today because of the excessive dust and noise from the renovation. despite the early release, i still felt tired from my first day.

it’s amazing how alien everything seems just after a 2 weeks break. i am not kidding when i say this but i forgot how to read a profit and loss statement! it took me a while to get use to reading the annual report and i was at a lost when asked to review the budget. i only started to recall things when the GA started talking about it. it didn’t help that i have not done any work in this area for a long long long long while.

it’s ok, i’m sure i’ll somehow get the hang of it. besides, this is the exact reason why i chose to end a chapter.

to feel fear again.

to feel like i might not succeed unless i work very hard for it.

to swim out to open waters and try to stay afloat.

to do the things i was not able to do then.

 

my nasty (ex) boss wrote in my farewell video that i must always remember why i left the company and to continually stay focus on my dream.

because of the intensity of july, i forgot many of the reasons that drove me to close the chapter. his note on my last day made me remember all of that and i find myself repeating his words today.

once again, thanks to all who text me today.

and syaiful, haha, thanks for being even more excited than me!

heading to work with all your love

tomorrow is my first day in an unfamiliar territory.

i will remember your love, wishes and concern. hopefully, that will help me survive miserable first days with a smile.

i’m heading to unfamiliar ground with familiar love all over me! i’m going there all prepared…

i will be wearing the gorgeous classy watch i received from my department.

i will be carrying the equally gorgeous agnes b tote i received from 48 lovely friends and colleagues.

i will be wearing the clothes and bringing the wallet i bought with the vouchers my friends and colleagues have given me.

i will be bringing along one of the many biscuits my department has given me in case i am hungry and there is nothing for me to eat.

i will be bringing along a notebook shirley gave me many christmas ago.

i will be bringing my favourite muji calculator (i found it in my drawer although i don’t remember putting it there) because it has accompanied me at work for 3 – 4 years.

i will be bringing my pen bag because i can’t decide which pen to bring.

i will be wearing my current love, the sweet honey smelling, Chloe perfume and hope with all hope that i will be as well and as good there.

 

heading to bed.

i need to wake up at 6.30am tomorrow to reach work at 8.15am.

new beginnings

thank you to all the lovely people who text me for a great first day tomorrow.

i am very touched that you guys remembered me and cared enough to wish me well!

i don’t know where i will be without you lovely people.

love ya loads.

sort of back from a sort of long hiatus

i haven’t been blogging seriously for a while because i have been so busy. there are so many things i want to share and tell but i just do not have the capacity to do that at the moment.

life has been a whirlwind since the beginning of 2009. i was down, i was out, i was confused and i was extremely unmotivated. a book i found in april lifted my spirits and i have been experiencing immense joy ever since. i still have my moments but i know now that things will come to pass eventually.

life took an interesting turn in late march/ april too, in the very same month i picked up book. i was encouraged by nikko to go for a job interview which i resisted for weeks because i had no plans to quit in 2009. finally, i gave in and pass her my resume.

everything was a blur from then onwards.

between april and may, i went for 2 interviews and got an offer towards the end of june. through the 3 months, i was sometimes for it and sometimes against it. many questions were asked and many questions were thought through with a frown on my face. i spoke to many people and listened to what they had to say. after many rounds of deep contemplation, i took the route that seemed like the best to me.

thinking is a long process. i encouraged all to think about what you want in life seriously because it is easier to react to opportunities/threats in life when you know exactly what you want. think with a sober mind not when you’re under pressure to make a decision. i was preoccupied for days and sometimes weeks because i didn’t know what i really want. my heart was divided until the very last minute.

a new chapter in my career begins next month. i hope it will be as fruitful as the wonderful years i had with my current company.

in between the torment of deep contemplation, i was busy with birthday preparations, training, work, spiritual enrichment & meeting up with friends i virtually had no time to do other things. my life has reached the point where yesterday’s event seems like a few weeks ago. i also have a few special projects on hand that is draining me entirely. i’ve resorted to sitting at bus stops for inspirations.

i will be very busy with handover & the finalisation of my projects for the next 2 weeks.

i want to enjoy my last 14 working days to the fullest! i also want to make sure i have the chance to say goodbye to everyone i love.

so i guess that’s another 14 days break from the blog!?

m y b o s s i s s o s w e e t

he bought me a cake yesterday to congratulate me on my graduation.

he said, “learn to celebrate success! you didn’t celebrate enough!”

gut feeling

intuition.

mine is right almost all the time, especially when it’s on something bad.