Yes yes, I know, I've been MIA, again, but that's just life you know.. One minute you just came back from a holiday all ready to blog, then life catches up and 3 months (since you last blogged) just passes by like *woooosh*.
But as I promised, if there is a travel, it would appear on my blog! And post-London, my next travel destination was
..
....
..
Bangkok!
It was sometime end-April and it was for the company's group trip. This was my second year in the organising committee and this year I took a more active planning role than I did last year which partly explains why there was a significant gap between my Part 3 of the Spain trip and the UK 2018 posts.. Hehe! That and Yasmin's surprise party (if I have time, I'll blog about this..)
As the Entertainment Team Co-Lead, I got to travel a day ahead of the group trip to recce the place and it was great! Because it gave me a day before all the storm started..
26 April 2018
We arrive in Bangkok all ready to do our site recce!
Lately I feel like it's harder for me to sit down and pen my thoughts here as most of the time my mind is all over the place (#scatterbrain), and I fear as I write, it's just gonna jump everywhere! But let's try anyway because Pisang (*waves*) said if I don't update my blog, she starts to "wander".
I have discovered the joy of Google Sheets.
It all started when spendthrift ol' me decided that in 2017, I wanna go on not one, but two "big trips". Then one day my colleague, Manda, told me how she just created a scenario planning (so consultant) to buy a handbag and the new Macbook Pro and said she's now broke.. Lol.
So I thought, I should do the same thing tooooo! After taking account of all my monthly expenses and commitments, and projecting the monies coming in on a monthly basis, this is what I managed to come up with - an "annual budget" for my 2017 salary.
Now I just have to monitor the monthly spending against the budget before I decide..
I've started reading Malay novel
There's no plural in there because really, it's only 1 novel so far (and by "so far" I mean in the last 24 hours - because this really is a new thing), hehehe.
It all started with the Suri Hati Mr. Pilot craze that was going on. My mother been asking me to get a copy of the book (because she's an even book worm than I am) since the beginning of the show (and now it has ended after 16 episodes). So occasionally I've been popping in to bookstores trying to see if they're in stores - but nadaaa! Damn this craze is real!
So on Friday, my friend was nice enough to buy me (gotta keep to that budget guys! :p) another Malay novel instead - Isteri vs. Tunang.
I can't comment on the show as I didn't watch it, but I think I would've enjoyed it because I thoroughly enjoyed the book! I finished the entire 437-pages in one sitting (sampai pukul 3 pagi.. Talk about a "wild" Friday night)! I even cried at certain parts as I can thoroughly understand how it feels to be Alana Sofea's (Scha's character) position.
Though there were some parts that I thought tak masuk akal (actually its the trigger point of the entire story) but who am I to question logic after years and years of Bollywood movies?
I was in Bangkok earlier this month/ end of last month
Spent about 3 days 3 nights in Bangkok which was filled with mainly shopping.. That was very satisfying for my wardrobe and soul. I mean how can you not enjoy spending when on average, every clothing item cost me around RM25?!
I love Bangkok!!
On the first day Amanda & I returned to work, we wore the clothes we bought from Bangkok and we gave each other the "I know where that's from :p" look. Throughout the entire week our colleagues would be asking "is this from Bangkok?" (we've monikered the first week we were back as "''Bangkok Fashion' Week") and even my mother is going "baju baru lagi?!" almost everyday.
Would definitely try to make this into a yearly thing - I mean, my wardrobe would need a refresh no? I promise no more ZARA til at least March!
I got promoted!!
After 2 years in EY, and effective from 1 October, I am now a Senior! It feels so surreal that I have remained in my job for 2 years and more.. I mean, according to Gen Y's statistics, it's time to leave my job now, but then again I don't really strongly agree with the view of most people have for the working "millennials/ Gen Ys" #rebel. Out of the people who started the journey with me back in September 2014, only 6 of us are left :(
Okaylah, I suppose you're updated with my life now.
Til next time! xx, A.
p/s: Guys, I discovered mash-up covers that combines hit English and Bollywood songs(!!!!!!). My playlist is gonna be complete now with this(it's currently 90% Bollywood songs I swear.. I need some balance..)
Guys, I am having a serious case of Monday blues - and I'm being totally super dramatic about it.
This evening, as I was resting after a long day (of doing nothing but watching Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons.. *roll eyes at self*), I literally have butterflies in my stomach thinking about what a long day I'm going to have tomorrow - I need to be in office by 7.30AM...
I slept it off for a bit before dinner and I woke up after dinner feeling even more crappier!!
I notice lately I get anxious very easily.. And only a couple of days ago I realise what gives me anxiety..
Me: OMG, talking to you about me not being able to read my e-mails for the entire day just made my heart beats faster and now I'm anxious! I never knew I care so much about not being able to read my e-mails!!
Pisang: I think not having control gives you anxiety..
Me: Lol - I'm surprised my room is not giving me an anxiety attack everyday..
Pisang: Your mess in your room is your mess, you do have control over it - when you decide to have a spotless room, you can have a spotless room. So that's why you're not bothered by it.
IT. IS. SO. TRUE!!!!
Tomorrow seems so undecided for me - sure I know what i'll be doing from 7.30AM - 5.30PM, but it's not my usual day-to-day kind of work.. And I'm in charged of controlling the presentation, what if I screw up the order!? Omg - did I even bring back the laser pointer?! SHIT.
I am a control freak guys :"(
I need a break from work. Work elevates my controlling level.
I have been working for about 1.5+ years now and I got a lot of people asking me:
"Do you like your job?"
I can honestly say, I am one of those lucky few people that do not hate their job.
I don't like love my job per say, and yes I do drag my feet getting ready in the morning but that's more because I'm just tired and not because I dread work. So I guess, I do sorta-like my job?
This is most probably because I'm very lucky that my job suits my personality type.
I am the "controlling" type of person and my job allows me to be "controlling" because that's what Project Managers do - control things and ensure things are always under control even when they're not as per plan. (That is a lot of "control" lol)
But I think most importantly is that ever since I started working with EY, I am very very blessed that I have such awesome colleagues.
What I really like about them is that they are always so helpful - despite their ranks! Hierarchy means nothing in EY and this has been very true since Day 1 (okay lah, Month 1 possibly) I started work - I've had a Partner staying in the room with us til 11PM because we were setting up the War Room.
Today was a lot like that day.
I had my Managers and Senior Manager cutting, taping and hanging up papers in the War Room. They do not mind having to take off their shoes, rolling up their sleeves just so the Associates do not have to stay back too late. They came in and instead of criticising or bossing us around, they simply asked "What can I do to help?". My Manager actually sat down, summarised and read it out loud to me as I write on the dashboard that reports the status of 19 projects..
This is exactly what I mean by hierarchy doesn't mean a thing in EY - based on this picture, can you even tell what's their rank correctly?
There may be a day where I have a change of heart and decide that maybe consulting/ project management is no longer my cup of tea and leave EY, but these people will surely make it harder to leave..
Yesterday, I got an intern to help me out with things at work (because my two managers was this close of "Osom/ Rock-Papers-Scissors"-ing each other to decide which one of them gets to have me with them in a meeting.. lol) and thanks to all of the awesome bosses I had/ have, I am really inspired to teach and guide this new team member rather than just bossing him around.
A leader, that's what my bosses are to me and that's who I aspire to be at work.
This morning I just couldn't get out of bed. When I finally got to the office, I felt like I've been hit by a truck. I think I had a spacing out moment for like a good 5 minutes before I finally could switch gears and get into my work mode.
This week felt extra longer than usual cause we've had a super kelam-kabut Tuesday, then a Wednesday that wasn't actually that long but it felt longer than usual.. Haihhh
So I needed a pick me up and there was no ZARA at the nearby mall so..
Last Sunday night I joined one of the firm's CSR events - it was in collaboration with a local soup kitchen. The event finished about 11.30PM/12.00AM and since majority of us were hangry, we decided to stop by the nearest McDonald's for supper. - I swear the waitress probably thought I was desperate when I asked her, "Kak, that like few bits of curly fries letak dalam saya punya normal fries sekali boleh?" :D (they were out of curly fries).
After that the initial plan was to drop me and a couple of work friends back to my car at the first distribution point. There were 4 (Arinah, Dee, Roy and me) of us in the car, Arinah and Roy actually remembered the initial plan whereas Dee and I completely forgot about it. Funny thing is, we were the two people showing the way back to Dee's place because that's where Roy parked his car too.
Once we reached Dee's housing area, I began searching for my car...
....
Hrmm.. That's Roy's car.. Where did I park my car?
....
Me: DUDEEE! Where's my car?!
The rest: ....... Wait, what?!
All of us: OH. MY. GOD! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I swear I had a moment thinking my car got stolen..
So continuing my happening Friday night story (seriously guys - all my managers were out partying at Zouk, and somehow all the associates ended up home/ not joining.. #23goingon32), this was how my Saturday evening was spent..
Mummy said we should go to Naelofar cause I told her they have new tudung style and I asked "Now?". This was her reply..
#igotitfrommymama
So I thought I'd share it with Zayana, because as you can tell from her picture, she's Sadness..
I like how she knows which picture I was talking about #clingyforlaife #tilJannah
To understand why I am so tired, let me tell you about my daily life in a working week - On Monday I am pretty chilled, just cleaning up some stuff that came in over the weekend and planning for the end of the week (workwise, I wish I was planning for the weekend!), by Tuesday before lunch things would normally start gaining momentum and by Thursday morning I'd basically have heart palpitations because of high adrenaline and by midday Friday I let out a huge sigh (normally in my head, but last Friday I sighed-out-loud and one of my colleague heard and laughed, "So done with work too eh?") and by 3PM on Friday I'm ready to knock myself out in bed.
I can't remember what was the conversation about, but basically I replied in a defeated tone and my manager laughed, "Ahahaha why you sound so sad?!".
So yeahhhh. But for the time being, let's just say it's all Zayana's fault..
Hold on. I just had to let that phrase sink in, working adults. Wow.
Okay, back to the story.
Being the working adults that we both are, Zawir & I hardly get to spend our weekdays together anymore. Honestly I do not blame anyone for this because quite honestly I like to do nothing more than just not kick back and rest after a whole day of working. And I understand how knackered Zawir must feel considering that I was there in his shoes a year ago too when I just started work.. In fact I think I was worse! I'd only speak to him for about 10 minutes before falling asleep on Skype/Viber. I'd wake up and he'd (sometimes) still be on Skype and I'd have to rush to get ready for work.. Okaylah, actually Zawir does the same thing with me now too except now he does his work before sleeping and I'd accompany him on Skype (yes we still Skype).
When the weekend comes we do make an effort to see each other, even if its just a "working date".
Last week we both had a bunch of stuff to do and I know my workload was nothing compared to his so I brought my colouring book and coloured while waiting for him to finish his work.
This weekend however seems pretty more chilled for the both of us, so we decided to have dinner on Friday night.
During our (late) dinner,
Me: Weren't we supposed to watch a movie tonight?
Him: No, I just said, "what movie". I didn't say yes..
Me: No lah, I'm very sure you said okay and then asked what movie do I want to watch.
Him:Nooooo.. I'm very sure I didn't say yes. I said "tengok lah camner"
Me: *checks phone* HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! We both didn't ask what movie, but you did say yes!
We're both so tired that we just make up the conversations we want to have in our heads, lol.
And also this weekend it has been two days where we both wore colour-coordinated outfits unplanned.
Me: Eh why you copy my colour!?
Him: Excuse me, I picked you up so I had to put on clothes first.. So you copied me!
Oh and guess what movie we ended up watching this weekend?
Dilwale.
Fourth time for me, second time for him. Hehe!
But before you think the crazy obsessive SRK fan in me dragged his sorry bottoms to the movies, I didn't! His aunt asked and he asked if I wanted to join them so I'm like "HELL. YEAH!". Sorry honey, if there's one man (outside of my family) that I love more than I love you, it's probably SRK.
One of my boss told me, "Try not to bring your work personality home".
Which I think is true, because with the line of work I'm in now, I would drive people nuts by always asking them things like "Can you do it?" "By when?" "Any risks?" "Mitigation plan?" "Any issues?" "Delayed by how long?" and what not.. #projectmanagementtalk
I also had a manager who would ask us to take personality tests and a client who gave us a booklet on our personalities. The same client also told me that most personality tests would give you different outcome as you grow and go through different phases of your life or thrown into a different environment (like changing between project teams), however whatever that was in the booklet I got, that should be the fundamentals of who I am and wouldn't change much even if it's 10 years from now and I have 3 kids juggling two different jobs..
And I agree!
I've been taking the Myers Briggs' tests since I was in uni (cause Raema would send us some quizes to find out which fictional character are we most like and it's normally based on the MB test personality type), and I swear I've been bouncing from being an introvert and extrovert a lot more often now that I am working.. The other two alphabets for my MB tests results also changes often with lots of different combination but one thing that remains is that I am always a "J" a.k.a. "Judging".
Recently I discovered this test where it gives you a percentage breakdown of say, how much of an introvert/extrovert are you. So I am always borderline introvert (I) - extrovert (E), observant (S) - intuitive (N) and thinking (T) - feeling (F) but I am very judging (J) person like more than 70% judging and less than 30% perceptive (P)...
"Wow Aisya, you're very judgemental!" - Zayana
I AM!
"Judging individuals are decisive, thorough and highly organized. They value clarity, predictability and closure, preferring structure and planning to spontaneity" - from 16Personalities.com
I find this explanation a perfect description of my "work personality".
I need people to give me a firm and direct answer, I need to know the plan and what other potential things that may disrupt the plan which then I need a back up plan and a back up of the back up plan, I like the known predictable stuff and I hate not knowing what's going on.. Not only does my work trains me to be more managerial type but I naturally have a habit of preferring order.
And today when Mummy asked search for flight options for my parents' potential holiday, after giving her various options of how she can get to Santorini, what's the pricing like and which would be the cheapest combo...
Dang that typo mistake (if you can spot it, yay you!) is annoying me....
Mummy: Are you sure it's that cheap? For two? Me: Well it's cheap, but it's gonna give me a headache making the bookings for you guys.. So maybe after I charge you my service charge it wouldn't be that cheap anymore.. Hehehe :p
I don't bring home my work personality, I'm born with it #blessingandacurse
This post is going to make me sound so spoilt and bratty, but I'm just gonna put it out there and be honest about how I took a lot of things for granted.
...
It's surreal to think just two years ago, I was still a student. And I still say it's the best days of my life! Student life, especially abroad, is awesome guys! Minus the constant homesick, actually, with the constant homesickness, it's an experience of a lifetime and I am truly blessed that my parents were able to support my education (I am very against people who are blessed enough to afford their own education and still take scholarships... Dishonour on your cow!) AND that University of Sheffield accepted me with my shortcomings.
If you scroll back to my student days, I mostly share about my crazy online shopping addiction. And believe me, it was crazy! I have an ASOS account order history to prove it...
Source: Google
Today, I was #feelingspendy and decided to scroll through ASOS searching for work clothes. I am now in a phase where I'd rather splurge on work clothes than weekend clothes cause let's face it, I go out with work clothes way more often than my casual clothes #thesadtruth. I also have gained a little (okay lahhhh a lot!) of weight and I don't think I can blame it on the steroids anymore. I blame on how expensive the healthier options are in Malaysia!! Like if I want salmon, I'd have to fork out RM30, whereas last time I got 4 slices of salmon for like RM40 (granted £ was cheaper back then, but still!)
Anyways, after quite a few hours of browsing, I found a bunch of things I absolutely loved. I had about like 10ish items in my basket, and then I scrolled down to the total side and got the shock of my life!!!!! 3 DIGITS IN UK POUNDS!! O.O
There is no way I can afford spending that much on work clothes, so I spent quite sometime debating with myself which I really need (because I neeeeeed some new pants guys!) and which I don't. After narrowing it down, I managed to reduced it to double digits.. Boleh lah tuh!
Now comes the painful part, paying. Haih.
I am very sure I (read: my parents) spent hundred and hundred of ££ while I was studying, I even spent some ridiculous amount (and poor Zayana had to join me) to get FashionValet to deliver to me while I was in UK (solely because I was impatient and couldn't wait til I balik Malaysia... Astaghfirullahalazim). Haih.
Now I think back I feel sad of how shallow and spoiled I was back then. My poor parents worked hard for their money and here I was ignorantly spending it away.. Sorry Mummy, Daddy :(
These days with everything being so expensive in Malaysia, my wish is that I am able to afford the kind of luxuries my parents were to give me and more, so that I can not only share it with my family but also extend it to those who need it.
Also, Dear God, please let my kids be kids yang reti berjimat sikit. Ameeeeeen!
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On a side note of things, I have this one pair of pants from ASOS that I bought back in 2014 and it is my favourite pair of work pants ever!
I have been searching high and low for the pants so that I can repurchase it and have back-up of it. After almost 2 years, I finally found the white and camel version of it and I couldn't be more ecstatic about it because it was on SALE!!!!!! (You bet I got them both)
The black pair is no where to be found but I stand by my shopaholic beliefs: If it's meant for you, it'll be there when you want to purchase it and good things come to those who waits!
I have (so far) been able to keep to my one short "paragraph" (who am I kidding, I bullet points my entry even in my diary) per day entry as planned. I suddenly had a brilliant idea of getting one of those diaries that have like space for entries of the same day but from different year, like this 5 Year Diary. It's quite cool isn't it to be able to reflect on your "development/progress/growth" over a psna of a few years. Plus for someone who is like obsessed with finding things that are similar in my life (according to Zayana lah, according to me I just find patterns in things because that's my personality type), I think this would give me great satisfaction if I randomly finds a day that's common/repeated, especially unintentionally! Maybe if I stay committed to this diary, I shall invest in the 5 Years diary..
Work is picking up its pace and I find myself glued to my bed by the time I get back (sometimes I get too sleepy to even stay awake up til dinner time). It also does not help that Zawir is currently going through his classroom training meaning I get less of his attention, meaning my chatty self has no one to talk to! So Zayana shall suffer (hi Zayana! You've been warned). I have this thing where like I have a human interaction quota (I didn't make this up okay! It's part of my personality, it's one of my "needs") and if I don't fulfil it, I'll feel incomplete (according to my personality test, it'll trigger my "stress"). So you see, if I penat-penat also I choose to talk to you, you are my human interaction quota filler of the day! Feel proud!
Of course sometimes it just means that I'll share dozens of funny Instagram videos with you, but if you try to actually hold a proper conversation with me, my attention span won't be able to take it so I may end up talking about people then about food and share back Instagram videos with you or just reply sepatah-sepatah jer.. I am very difficult, I know. Hehe.
Like now, I'm sleepy (which means there're probably dozens of spelling/grammatical errors here) but I'm still awake with my half opened eyes typing this post.. I don't even know why...
About a couple of weeks before 2015 ended, I had dinner with Raema and Zayana. As we were catching up with each other's lives, I found myself in a situation where I got the timeline of all these events messed up..
Me: No way, the first time I heard about it being official was after my birthday celebration.
Them: No... It was before!
Me: I swear it was after!!! Cause it was at Haagen Dazs
Them: And Haagen Dazs was in July, before your birthday.
Me: Cannot be, Haagen Dazs was in October!
We never found out when Haagen Dazs happened, but two against one, so my timeline is wrong.
Me: Well, I hardly blog these days! Even when I do, they're mostly throwback posts, so don't blame me my timeline are all wrong..
I know how pompous I sound saying that, but it is how I track when is what. I (used to) blog right after things happened, and use the date of the posts as reference of when these things happen. One time I was having a conversation with a colleague about wedding updo and she asked if I had a picture of my hairstylist's work for my hair updo, instantly my brain know to search for December 2013 posts so I can find the picture as I did not have them in my phone.
Like I said, my blog is a personal online diary.
Seeing how the new year just kicked in and after 2 weeks break, I just feel like work is gonna hit me so hard that I won't have time to do anything else but catch up on sleep. Hehe, I may over react, but that's what I am expecting for at least another couple of months. Therefore I decided to go old school; I got myself a hardcopy personal "journal".
It is actually the Duck planner.
See, at work I have this To-Do list notepad for me to write down all my To-Dos for each day; it gives me great pleasure when I tick it all off and if I don't, I'll have to carry forward it to the next day and repeat! At work, you also write "notes" when you go for meeting; sometimes you use it for the minutes you're supposed to write, others it's really just for your future reference. This way whenever your boss asks you stuff that happened at a meeting from a week ago, you just have to go to the date and it should be there (if you wrote it down). Even while I was studying I used to take time and make my own personal notes even though I wasted a lot of cartridges printing the lecturer's notes, because writing has always helped me to memorise.
So yeah, from now on, I shall write the highlights of my day in the journal (I refuse to call it a planner, cause it's more of a recap tool than a planning tool) and should I find the time to update my blog, I can always refer back to these "notes" ;)
Also, if you're wondering why am I not using it as a planning tool, especially for balancing work and personal meetings.. Well there's always Outlook calendar and also my Secret Santa from office has gotten me planner with "Keep Calm & Write It Down" on the cover.. He or she knows me so well!
Out of the 7/8 years of blogging, I swear I think this year is the worse for me.. I mean just look at my posts count! Tsk tsk tsk.. How am I ever gonna remember anything in 2015 when I'm old and wrinkly and can't even remember where I put my car keys?!
Imagine guys, when we get to that age (insyAllah if panjang umur) we'll be the most tech savvy grandparents, ahahahaha.
Anyways, let's do some major throwback to 2nd of July 2015!
The project that I was on back then was supposed to finish by June 30th, initially. So I made plans to go on a short break from the 1st of July til the weekend in conjunction of not only my birthday, but my friend from UK, Dani, was also in town and Zawir was also coming back sometime that week.
A day before I was supposed to go on leave my colleagues were so nice, they took me out to dinner! They even let me chose the venue and since it was fasting month, my taste buds were all over the place hahahahaha. In the end I settled for Italian and it was a choice between having aglio olio at Pizza Uno's or arabiatta at Antonio's. I was going back and forth a lot and decided to go to Antonio's.
My mini celebration round 23.1
Now that we're no longer working together (as we're all on separate projects) I miss them :'(
Thank you for dinner guys!!!
So how I spent my actual birthday?
The summary version is well, I spent the morning half of it in IKEA, the middle portion of it at home and the night portion of it having dinner.
Please read below for a lengthy version.
Project Re-Style for my room is probably the longest personal project I've taken for myself.. It started sometime in 2014 and in November 2014 I bought a bunch of stuff for the room. Remember that Deepavali IKEA trip? Which somehow became an annual thing because guess what people?! I went to IKEA again this year a day before Deepavali... But that's a story for another day, at this rate it's a miracle if I manage to tell the story by NYE. Lol
Anyways, those things took months to get assembled, not because they were hard to assemble or anything, I just had other things to do. Once those things were finally assembled, I realised I need more stuff hehe #girlproblem. So I told Zawir way earlier that I need him to follow me to IKEA as I need help cause some of the things I want are just too heavy for small me. And what better day he can't say no to me?! My birthday!
So off we went to IKEA in the morning and bought my nightstand and drawers for my vanity when I went to IKEA with him, because all other things, namely 1 wardrobe frame, 3 wardrobe doors, and whatever stuff I need for inside the wadrobe, were bought 2 days in advanced and I got them delivered and installed by the IKEA men the next day after my birthday.
Now you may ask why couldn't I just buy everything and deliver it one shot? Well, that'd mean I'd have to carry my drawers and nightstand to the checkout counter and they were heavy. Plus I'd have to pay extra in terms
of delivery and installation charged.. I cheapskate. Hehehe
Once we were done at IKEA we went straight to my house and project pasang furniture begins!
Am I the only one who gets excited doing these home improvement stuff?! Zawir was so cranky doing this for me but since it's my birthday he can't say no lol.
We took quite sometime to fix it up because Zawir is the kind of person who likes to separate all the screws and make sure everything is accounted for as per the manual.. I on the other hand, finds the manual and find what I need as I go along. But you know, I'm asking the man for help so gotta do things his way.
End product :)
I give myself a good pat at the back for choosing drawers all enough to double as a vanity table. At the same time I also get to keep other stuff that doesn't really go inside my wardrobe (like extra toiletries, travelling bags and etc.)
If you're observant and have eyes like a hawk, you're realise that my left and right drawers handles are different (something that kills Zayana on the inside). This is because when Zawir and I were in-charged of fixing it up respectively, we both disagreed on which way it should be fixed.
I opted for the non-conventional way which is for the opening (place where you your fingers and pull) to face up, so that when you want to open the drawers your palm does not have to face up (which is quite unnatural isn't it?!). Zawir on the other hand disagrees and thinks that's how palms should face when trying to open a drawer..... -________-'
But whatever, we were late for dinner so we didn't have time to change it to my way.
Before dinner I briefly met Dani I swear it's been almost a year since I last saw her (which was on graduation day) and when she saw me she gave me a hug and carried me right in front of Pavilion! I've never felt tinier in my entire life!!
Dinner was at my favourite Thai place in entire of Malaysia (probably even the world) which I realise after dinner that it's been my birthday dinner place with Zawir for three years in a row...
No, this isn't what we were wearing to fix the IKEA stuff if that's what you're wondering..
But yes, that was my simple birthday celebration round 23.2
Do you guys realise how much less I blog now that I'm certified healthy (I didn't blog about my doctor's appointment did I..) and back to work at full speed? I do! Being a corporate slave makes your daily life so uneventful...
Anyways!
I realise I haven't really blogged about my Japan trip with my family that we took towards the end of Q1 this year. That was pretty hectic.. So lets blog about that (while I wait for my laundry to be done)
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Sometime in March this year I made a trip to my second kampung (as I'd like to call it), UK. I promise I will blog about that soon, but let's shift the focus to Japan first shall we?
My trip to UK was fully sponsored by me, which was something I was damn proud off. Leading up to my UK trip, Mummy was already planning on a Japan trip for her, Daddy, my brother and my cousins. She asked if I wanted to come along. But considering that I'm spending my 6 months worth of salary on the UK trip, I have not much left to spare for another trip that's a week away after coming back from UK.
So I told her to count me out.
While I was still in UK, she texted me
"Are you sure you don't want to go?"
"Nahh, it's okay. It's out of my budget for the year"
"Okay lah, we'll pay for you"
"Lol, thanks. But even so I don't think I can get a leave"
"You can just go for a weekend... Don't have to follow for the entire stretch"
She really wants me to go guys..
At one point she was even sending me pictures of Sakura flowers and reminding me almost every night to ask for my boss' permission. #whatMummywantsMummygets #persuasivemother #gotitfrommymama
So after my UK trip, I went back to work for about a week and then I asked my boss if I can get two days off because my parents wants me to follow them to Japan for over a weekend. My boss was kind enough to give me the green light, and off Mummy went booking my ticket.
After a 7 hours flight, we arrived in Japan.
Upon landing, I desperately needed to go to the ladies, and when I went there I was so amazed by the toilet!! Not only you have the water sprinkler thing inside the toilet bowl, the seat also goes up and down by itself (so you don't have to touch it!!!) and the seat was heated. DO YOU KNOW HOW AMAZING THAT IS IN WINTER/EARLY SPRING?!
I said to myself, "it's official, I love Japan" hahaha.
Then I realised one thing I hate about Japan - there are barely any English signage!! So unless you speak the language, it's pretty hard to navigate yourself around and you'd spend hours using that translator app on your phone.
See what I mean about non-English signage?! If it weren't for the typical toilet symbol, I wouldn't even be able to find a toilet myself...
I've heard about how much Japanese love their culture, but experiencing it yourself is a whole different thing guys!
I was so grateful for the tour guides that we had. They are a group of Malaysian students in Japan that provides you a tour guide in each city that you're travelling to. So say today I'm in Tokyo and I'm going to Osaka tomorrow, I'll have one tour guide in Tokyo and another tour guide will be waiting for me at the train station in Osaka.
So cool right?! They don't have that sort of thing in UK..
And since they're Malaysians students, they not only speak Japanese, but they also know which halal places to go to and what not.
In that picture above is our Tokyo tour guide (whose name I've forgotten) but his wife and him was so lovely! They made us breakfast :D I like it when people feed me when I'm hungry. Bless the couple!
Our first stop from Tokyo was Osaka.
We took the bullet train (called shinkansen), and it was so cool!
Not only it was super fast, but you hardly feel it. And it the seats were packed but it didn't feel too cramped it you get what I mean.. And the toilets were super clean too! #vivalaJapan!
The train station.
Lemme tell you how the train works, basically they have three different "lines" - if I'm not mistaken the red is the fastest one, followed by yellow and then blue. You can get use this train to get from one of Japan to the other in a day, and you won't even get motion sickness!! I'd know, I sometimes get motion sickness from KL-JB -.-
See the men in suits? People use the shinkansen to commute inter-cities for work, so expect a lot of people during peak hours (i.e no chance of not having people sit next to you so you can just take all the seats to lie down flat and sleep, teehee)
Our first stop at Osaka was the Castle. You can read more about the Osaka Castle here.
You wanna know why Japanese are so kurus?
The use the stairs everywhere!! -.- We rejoiced everytime we found an escalator at the train station. Hahah
That green roof is the castle's roof and the tembok is well, I guess to keep unwanted people away from the castle.
The castle grounds is also filled with lots of sakura trees as you can see. Perfect for photo-op session!
It was quite a walk to get to the castle from the ground. And on the way we found this little stall that sells Japanese soft-serve ice cream.. They had strawberry, chocolate, vanilla and green tea, I was spoiled for choices!
Settled for strawberry instead and thus began my addiction to the soft-serve ice cream.
Mummy said: "Come say hi to Atok", lol
Finally made it to castle!! Ice cream pun dah habis :(
Hehehe, isn't he so cute?!
Lemme tell you the funny story about this photo.
So we spotted this cute little samurai uncle on the castle grounds, and everybody was intrigued by him and apparently photo with him was free (I guess he dresses up like that for fun? But I'd like to think he enjoys making people's trip to the castle more memorable).
Anyways, at first Daddy and I were the only one who wanted to take a photo with him. But he insisted having the whole family for the photo-op. Then Daddy asked him if the sword was real.. And then he took it out and it turned out to be tongs (as seen held by Daddy).... Ahahahahahahah! But yeah, cute lil uncle!
After the castle we went to the Kaiyukan Aquarium.
Next it was shopping time, because I insisted on getting a pair of sneakers - walking in Japan is no joke man. What with no escalators and all..
I can get around UK in my ballet flats, but for Japan...... Gimme me my Nike! *waves white flag*
So our Osaka friend (travel guide) took us to Shinsaibashi, a famous shopping centre (though I'd like to call it more of a street) in Osaka. It's basically a long stretch of road with shops left and right of the road. There were a lot of things to see but even a whole lot more people x.x
We also went to see the Glico man. But camera's lighting failed us.
It's supposed to look like this, replicating NYC's billboards.
Anyways, after a good 12 hours in Osaka (give or take) we bid farewell and thank you to our Osaka-friend and went back to Tokyo.
I slept so soundly in the shikansen ride back to Tokyo, somemore with the two pillow I my parents bought for me from the aquarium. Come to think of it, its been almost 8 months and I haven't named them!!
See the otter and seal pillows?! Aren't they cute?!!! They also makes a super fine travelling pillow, so my Opti (the star shaped pillow who was in the wash when this photo was taken) has more friends now!
That marks the end of my Osaka trip. Shall continue with the rest of my Japan trip later on k!
Me: I'm trying to find a picture of me in Sheffield as a student to signifies the simpler days - do you know how hard that is?! It's like we've never left the house... Zayana: We never left the house.. Especially you
It is hard! All the pictures of me in Sheffield when I'm not at my then-house are pictures of me either about to go shopping or with shopping bags (even if its just a Boots bag) -.-'' Speaks a lot about my student days eh...
But I guess those do signifies the simpler days - you don't worry about anything other than getting your ass to class, finish your tutorials, submit your assignments and sit for your exams. Everything else is covered - your grocery, shopping allowance, travelling logistics etc.
As much as I enjoy my financial freedom (from my parents) and the fact that I no longer burden them, that's basically the only thing that's nice about adulthood - your monthly salary. Other than that, well, there is no other than that.
You no longer have the time to do anything else on weekdays - any social outings, if its not important, it can wait til the weekend comes. Even on weekends you need to split time between going out with your friends, spending quality time with your family and running your personal errands.
Fuuhhh.
Being a working professional requires a lot of sacrifice guys, and I truly respect working parents. It is not easy, juggling your professional duties and personal commitments. All those years when I used to complain about Daddy working late, coming home late, picking me up from school late... I understand why now - sometimes shit happens at the very last minute requiring your immediate attention and there's no way to avoid it.
So kudos to all parents out there who are working their butts off just to provide us our necessities.
And to kids who rush to their adulthood, I can only say one thing - DON'T. When it comes, you'll be begging to snooze the alarm, go back to bed and purposely miss your 8AM lecture.
