Friday, April 09, 2010
Yingqi's Birthday
It's the time of the year again. Still rem we met up a year ago around this period at Mad Jack. This time, we met at Somerset 313 to celebrate Ying Qi's birthday.
Nice grp pic taken in front of the restaurant where we dine - The Hamburger. I didn't eat cos I was too full from my lunch and Don chicken pie during tea break. Will become super fat if I continue eating at this rate.
The gals :)
Time to open presents...
We got her some tops from Joop, a black bag from M)phosis (for her to bring out to lunch) and also a Mango sling bag. Think we know her taste too well. She just bought the exact bag in the same color a few weeks ago. Bummer... It would have been a perfect gift if she hasn't bought it. Anyhow, we gave her the receipt to exchange for something else instead.
Happy Birthday in advance, Ying Qi!
++ MarryMango at 3:07 PM.
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Japan trip and Big Fat Increment
Was in Japan from 19-28 Mar 10. First time I've been to a country where the temperature is below 10 degrees. It was freaking 6 degree! Teeth was chattering and I was close to freezing. Nevertheless, it has been quite an experience.
Think this is the best pic that Carisse and I have taken together at Himeji Castle.
Fushimi Temple, as seen in "Memoirs of a Geisha"
Golden Pavilion. Wonder if it is really made of gold or just sprayed gold color.
Can't rem the name of this other temple. Caught a bit of the cherry blossom as well...
We bought tickets to Sumo wrestling tournaments as well. It's actually quite interesting after you learnt the rules etc.
Tokyo Disney Resort. I think this was such a letdown. We only managed to take 3 of the rides and they are those kiddy merry-go-round, pinnochio and the Mark Twain ship. We got the Fast Pass for 1 of the more exciting rides but it was scheduled at 5.30pm. It started raining close to 5pm and too cold for us to bear. So we left. Such a bummer and waste of money for the entrance fee as it was close to $100...
Can't rem the name of this other temple. Caught a bit of the cherry blossom as well...
We bought tickets to Sumo wrestling tournaments as well. It's actually quite interesting after you learnt the rules etc.
Tokyo Disney Resort. I think this was such a letdown. We only managed to take 3 of the rides and they are those kiddy merry-go-round, pinnochio and the Mark Twain ship. We got the Fast Pass for 1 of the more exciting rides but it was scheduled at 5.30pm. It started raining close to 5pm and too cold for us to bear. So we left. Such a bummer and waste of money for the entrance fee as it was close to $100...
Absolutely miss the pan-fried noodles in Osaka so much. It was so delicious. Sorry for the lack of description for the entire trip. Basically, we have been to Osaka, spent a day at Kyoto and also travelled to Tokyo. Shopped a fair share as well. Bought mostly Jap snacks...
Limited edition snacks and some packaging like this Jagabee is only sold in Jap. Alot of the Meiji snacks are also like half price cheaper. So I bought quite a bit back to Singapore. Got some more snacks like Royce chocs at Narita airport too...
Not forgetting my Burberry Blue Label. Tat's almost like my mission there. Haha...
Bought a blue label and another Agnes B bag :)
Received good news when I'm bk at work this week. Got our increment letter just in time before the new financial year starts today. Wasn't expecting much cos my last increment/promotion was back in Nov if you recall. I tot the most I would get is $200 more per mth. But no! It was a few times the amt. Got a kick out of my manager's reaction. She doesn't know how much we get as the director gives out the letter herself. She was asking me single or double digit in %. I said double and she started guessing 15 or 20%. Haha... I said no, higher. She gave up and asked me to tell her the range instead. I juz told her it's more than 30% lah. She almost wanna faint alr.
Although my appraisal was done by her, I guess the final decision still lies with director bah. Director told me I'm in the upper band so they made quite a big adjustment to my pay. Ppl often ask me are my bosses male? I'm proud to say both my direct manager and director are female. So is the manager who first interviewed me back then. This increment is based purely on merit (& a tad of sheer good luck) and I have earned wat I deserved.
Surely there are some ppl who get red-eyed though. Some might think that I'm not working as hard cos I dun knock off extremely late like to the extent of taking cab home daily. I believe in the notion of efficiency. Work late does not equate to good quality of work. I guess sometimes we just need to work smart. And I just have to continue to strive forward and maintain my upper band!
++ MarryMango at 9:05 PM.
