My Ambitions

This is a common essay topic for kids to write in school, even though I do not remember writing anything on that during my school days.

We spoke about it this afternoon over a simple family lunch. We went to Tung Lok Signature to celebrate my sister 21st birthday and Mother's Day for Ah Ma. My aunt remembered fondly that how much I wanted to be a lawyer when I was young, and what inspired me to do that was after watching a drama series which Fann Wong acted as a lawyer many years ago.

I have soon realised I was cut out not to be a lawyer. I was not good in debating and I was not as proficient in English as I was in Chinese. Hence, I dropped that idea. When I grew older, I told myself I wanted to be a successful executive that has climbed to the top of the corporate ladder. It did not matter which industry I would be in, because I just want to look sharp and chic in that sleek business suit and killer heels.

Yet, that idea slowly died off as I entered Junior College. I then decided to pursue my interests to be an anchorwoman with Mediacorp. I mentioned numerous times in front of some my classmates that I was very keen to do something related to mass communication and I wanted to appear on TV, hence broadcasting news on the peak 1/2 hour was a neat idea.
However, I was very shocked when I failed my A level Chinese and it has thus dawned to me that I was neither good in my mother tongue.

Hence, I told myself that I must work doubly hard to prove my worth when I was completing my degree in SIM so I could work for the middle office in a foreign bank and be paid highly. Well, it turned out that I am currently working in a customer centre environment of a local bank sans the high pay. My results were too mediocre and I did not have much credentials that I could be proud of.

It was a casual topic, but it highlighted to me that either ambitions will never stay constant or I am too fickle-minded. What is more important that the current job gives you a sense of accomplishment and it has served you well be it financially or physically. This is what they call contentment, aren't they?

I am toying with the idea of switching to journalism. Thus, my baby steps are to set up an interesting blog before venturing into newspaper or any form of media.
Reported by fufu, anyone? Haha

Later... ....

Happy are they who take life day by day, complain very little, and are thankful for the little things in life.- The Notebook

Taipei (Taiwan) Day 1: Long Shan Shi 龙山寺

We arrived at Tao Yuan International Airport at around 2pm. As we were carrying large luggage, we decided to take a cab to our hotel. The cab fare was around NTD1000-1200, depending on the destination.Y hotel (YMCA hotel) is located near Taipei Main Station, we paid around NTD1000.

Our first destination was the famous temple Long Shan Shi (龙山寺) located at Long Shan Shi Station. Long Shan Shi Temple was built in Taipei in 1738 by settlers from Fujian, China during the time of Emperor Qian Long. It served as a place of worship and a gathering place for the Chinese settlers. The temple has been destroyed either in full or in part on numerous earthquakes and fires. During World War II, on 31 May 1945 it was hit by American bombers during the Raid on Taipei, who claimed the Japanese were hiding armaments inside. The main building and the left corridor were damaged and many precious artifacts and artworks were lost in the ensuing fire. Taipei residents had nevertheless consistently rebuilt and renovated it, and did so again after the end of the Second World War a few months later. 

While there are many temples in the city, Longshan Shi is one of the largest and famous, and it has a lot of the old Chinese traditions that are hard to find elsewhere in Taipei.
The extrinsic design of the 19th century Chinese architecture and art was amazing too.  The temple has many Chinese poems, verses and lyrics on signs which added a touch of literature in addition to the religious and sightseeing value. However, it was hard for us to enter the shrine of GuanYin because it was very crowded in the afternoon. The temple would also give out joss sticks for free to the visitors . As there were many altar, we were very confused on which to start off with so we followed the crowd. 


I was impressed by the worshippers donned in black robes kneeling or standing in front of the deities chanting faithfully in a unison voice. Most of the city dwellers like me might not have the patience do that. I could never under estimate the power of faith to God. The richness of its history had never failed to teach me something new even though this was my second visit.

Pardon my sleepy eyes. I did not catch enough sleep the night before. 
This trip was planned with Ali's parents so we did not visit many places. Yet, so long the parents were comfortable with it and that was all what matters. 


Later... ... 


Directions:
Take Banqiao Line to Longshan Temple station Exit 1

Free Entrance

7 am – 10 pm daily

Credits to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mengjia_Longshan_Temple
http://ccyee.wordpress.com/tag/longshan-si-temple/
http://eng.taiwan.net.tw/m1.aspx?sNo=0002090&id=93

Thank you Taipei (Taiwan) April 2012

I returned from Taipei last night. It was my second trip to Taiwan and it has been a fruitful journey. My first trip was filled with a little tiredness and confusion as I was not familiar with the destination and I did not want my beloved grams and aunt to waste their time waiting for me to search for directions. Pressure came from not doing enough itinerary! I went with Ali and his parents last week and it was better because I became confident to roam around Taipei from the experience last year. Moreover, guys are generally better in their sense of directions and I am very thankful to have a "human compass".

I salute the Taiwanese's gung-ho attitude towards life. They do not mind the pain and are willing to make ends meet by working harder. You could see push-carts along the streets selling food and trinkets. They also have a variety of snacks and competition is everywhere. It was their warm service that differentiate them. What I enjoyed most was the days in the outskirt of Taipei where you can have some time to yourself without disturbance from the city. I do not deny that due to economy, some places had been commercialised. I am hoping that as the country progress there would be still be some natural enclaves for travelers to let their hair down. 

I enjoyed the variety of food too. Fruits were exceptionally fresh and sweet especially the mangoes, pink guavas and strawberries.  However, I am still unable to accept smelly tofu. Probably I do not really have the guts to try, even Ali loves it. I also love how efficient the MRT in Taipei is. Short waiting time and the crowds dispersed rather fast in a orderly manner.

I will pen down the itinerary for the 6 days we spent in subsequent entries and I hope it helps in giving some informations. Do share with me and the rest of the readers if you have more details.

Once again, Thank you Taipei, you have been great. Thank you Ali for the kind sponsor too.

                                                                        At Ulay (乌来）

E-statements, Yay or Nay? (edited on 22/04/2012)

I did not know what happened to my previous post. I logged in to blogger.com while playing with Ali's iPad and the post went blank suddenly. Hence I have to retype this entry.

What are e-statements? e-Statements is a free service that displays your bank account/credit cards statements within online banking. You can, at your convenience, easily view, print and download your statement. I signed up when I submitted my application for one of the credit cards to citi-that-never-sleeps.

I liked the initiative. Many banks are promoting the use of such service. It is environmentally friendly, and easy to use. One just has to log in to the banks' internet banking and the banking transactions are available at a glance. Besides, it is a great way to lower exposure to identity theft, reduce clutter and get organized. However, I started having doubts when I made a mess out of my bills.


I do not use internet banking often (unless you are referring to work but that would be another story).As such, whenever the bank uploads the bills online, I often miss the payment due date and incur the interests and late charges.

I have to garner my courage to call up the banks to request for waivers. Consumers usually try to avoid calling the hotlines as they would not want to be put on hold for too long, especially when you are not a priority banking customer. After pressing the numerous options on the automated system, you have to wait for a while until the greetings from a sweet and friendly customer service officer startled you from your sleepy mode.
It was a difficult experience for me. The requests to waive off the charges are different from other requests like annual fee and banking services. My first attempt was rather easy though. I informed the customer service officer that it was really unintentional and I convinced him with my next course of action to prevent such incident from happening again. It was the second time that I felt a little embarrassed because I was not able to deliver what I promised. And I could not say that it was not on purpose again as I should have learned my lesson.

There are many ways to conserve the environment, such as the other Rs like recycle and reuse. I will continue to give my support in other means but at this moment, I would still love to receive mails sealed in white envelopes that stamped private and confidential. I would prefer my credit records to be clean and tidy. :)

p.s I received a letter from my employer few days ago whom informed me that they decided to automatically enroll all my eligible accounts and cards onto e-statements platform. I logged in to the internet banking and cancelled the services. Sorry boss, next time perhaps.

Credits:

http://www.first-online.com/eStatements.aspx

To Sister Ee, Happy Birthday and Happy Marriage

It is currently 12.35 am on Sunday night. I should be sleeping but this post which is dedicated to a good friend of mine should not wait any further.

Eileen Ee (ee) was my classmate 8 years ago when I was studying in Temasek Junior College. As we had the same name and she was born earlier than me, it was quite a natural process for me to regard her as an elder sister. Ee is an intelligent and pretty lassie, and she does resembles a bit like the Hongkong singer Kelly Chen.

We did almost what teenagers would do back then, shopping in the malls after lessons, spending our allowances on taking tons of neoprints (which was really popular at that time), and eating unhealthy fast foods as that was what we could afford when we were young.

We wrote silly messages and couldn't be bothered what were being taught in classes. We joked and gossiped amongst ourselves to kill time in school. Those were the good old days. Despite having huge fights and conflicts which inevitably caused us to drift for a period of time, we managed to reconcile the friendship.

Ee is also a sensible and mature friend. Frankly, she looks like an ice queen if you do not know her. Haha. Yet, beneath that icy look lies a rather simple and contented heart. There was once we were talking about our ambitions with a bunch of our classmates (if I remembered correctly), she said she wanted to be Huang Lian po. I actually couldn't quite believe her then.

As we move on to different phases of our lives,we became caught up with our work and we had less time to meet up due to clashes in schedules. Being a teacher nurturing our descendants is never an easy job and I really respect my friend for that.

She will be happily wed in this coming May and I received her invitation card few days ago. Besides the traditional gesture of giving an ang pow, I will also pen down my sincere well wishes in this entry as I believe she would be busy with her families and guests on her actual wedding day.

Happy Birthday April baby! Thank you for always being such a wonderful and patient sister and friend. I wish you good health and luck and not to forget success in your future endeavours.

And to the soon-to-be newly wed,

May you always feel as close as you do this day.

May your lives be graced with good health.

May you always find happiness in your home,

and may it be a refuge from the storms of life.

May your love grow ever stronger as you share

your lives together, and may your future be even

more wonderful than you dreamed possible

Happy Birthday Ali (Brotzeit 313 Somerset)

We wanted to have some mediterranean food initially but while walking towards Orchard Central, Ali decided to give Brotzeit at 313 Somerset a try. It was a spontaneous idea so the crowd will determine our choice.

It turned out to be a good decision and we enjoyed ourselves. Fortunately, there was a table for two and it was a good place to people-watch in this Alfresco restaurant. It was windy too, probably due to the fact it was evening.

We did not try the pork knuckles. The portion was rather big according to some reviews online and since both of us aren't big eaters, we had skipped that. However, german beers were not to be missed!

We also ordered Breaded camembert with the interesting cranbery sauce. The combination of cranbery sauce and melted cheese was brilliant! It is very much worth it.

We shared the Pork Cheese Sausages and buttered Spatzal. Ali said that the Buttered Spatzal was just like pasta "kor-song" because it was plain pasta with butter. Both dishes were rather okay and mashed potato as a side would always be an all time favourite.

The unadventurous Ali ordered Hot chocolate cake with ice cream to end off our dinner. I very much wanted to try their apple strudel but well, since it was the birthday boy's wish, the cake would mark a good ending yesterday.

Once again, Happy Birdday Ali!

Sorry, the photos are taken via iPhone and was filtered with Apps because we were too lazy to bring any camera out.

And you can refer to the links below for reference.

http://www.brotzeit.co/menu.php

Figuring out.

I used to be a blogger using Blogger.com, in fact for quite sometime before I moved to Wordpress. I am trying to explore different blogging platforms to see which suits my needs.

I am still trying to figure out on the mechanics. Soon...!