at cross road (once again)

oh hi! it's been quite awhile since my last post. two weeks in cyberworld is like several years away from home..

besides work, i have been enjoying myself with recreational activities with dear and company. how nice. hey, gotta tell you: making miniatures could be the next big thing! i must quickly learn from yang already. he is the expert. *you are the man!* if you are interested in knowing the activities i've been engaging myself in, you can read them all in my dear's blog. navigate to the link on the right.

work update:

things have turned bad actually. seemed like everyone (you) know(s) how good i can be. honestly, i have the confidence to perform at every level. right now, maybe it is my position that limits my full potential but from the work which i have produced, one (you) cannot deny the fact that i can deliver. i have given my honest feedback and spoken to everyone (you) at all levels (except one) about the need to improve operations. now, i do not wish to listen to any more 'discussions'. they aren't worth the time. nothing comes out of it. stop. that's it. enough. from now, i only focus on my work. just work. not anymore of the (your) supposedly important talks.

am i a team player? of course i am. (are you?)

i'm on the runway track to success now. although the journey is long and filled with many humps and bumps, it's the track i chose to take. i may not be onboard a bullet train, but i am sure i will make it to the end slowly and steadily. hence, i will do anything right to get myself there (right, nothing illegal). i promise.

i'm sure you have your path to take. may you be blessed. cheers.

cleared sky

there is a chinese saying that goes something like 'no fight, no friends'. it means getting to know a person with an initialized fight (among warriors).

well, things haven't been going smoothly for me the past few days. nobody understand the difficulties i was going through, except dear. it was really stressful. i wish i could just walk away... i have been preparing myself for the worst already, especially today... dear was there with me, not physically but 'cyber-ly'. i broke the record for going into the conference four times, thirty minutes each. verdict? well, i got an insight to the operations of the company by the insides. do i have to know all these? i am a programmer, not somebody in the marketing & sales department or the administrative department. i wasn't supposed to know. then why make the fuss? well, because i care about my job. i do not wish to do things which are potentially harmful to myself and jeopardize my position. however, thanks to the fuss, i've finally come to a consensus with the heads of sales, i.t. and h.r departments. at least i now know that i am recognized and appreciated. although i feel better, i am keeping my fingers crossed. as always, we must take everything with a pinch of salt.

today marks the sixth anniversary of enlistment to national service. thirteen of june two thousand and one is the date i shaved my head in front of a company of men! looking back, i've gone through many many ups and downs. i'm getting older... and wiser.

*damn* ict coming next month.

thank you, dear.

signed, ah lim.

upset

everyone knows anyone can be made a leader. simply give that person a title and that's it. he or she now has the final say over matters. question is, how do you then elect a leader? what criteria are needed? performance? character? or both? or some other qualities? and who is to judge then?

"status doesn't give you everything" - tuesdays with morrie - an inspirational book, teaches you how to be strong and stay true to yourself. it's very true, very very true...

what happens when you are challenged? how would you react? what would you do? do you go all out to trash your challenger? would you consider the consequences?

i think i might have taken matters too seriously. well, this a blog, not a diary. i've a responsibility over what i say down here.

i've just a few words to some of you: 'have the guts to admit your inadequacies; don't assume, it only makes an ass out of you and (me or the subject(s))'. thank you.

catching up

had been away for quite awhile. 5 days to be exact. been too caught up by activities. all of them with dear. how nice, to put all work aside and enjoy myself. not that i couldn't be bothered anymore, but i need to be realistic. work is never ending. period.

anyway, i pampered myself by buying an edt from adidas. nice!

had a little misadventure while paying for it though. to cut the story short, my brother paid more for an adidas deodrant but he got back the excess he had paid. well, no big deal but still, i felt it was the salesperson's carelessness of not checking the goods on display; leding us to think that products on the shelf was on offer. buck up, dude!

later at night, i attended kamilah and shafik's wedding dinner with dear. kamilah is dear's classmate from np and a very close friend of hers. it was a very simple yet purposeful solemnisation ceremony. the newly weds looked their best on the night. i can't help to think about my own wedding ceremony already. it can be broken down into five w's: where? when? what? who (to invite, no pun intended)? why (the above w's)? oh, and not forgetting the 'how'. tough, eh?

here are the shots:

the grand entrance

the stage

spy shot: the newly weds

official picture: the newly weds

all of us (nine, excluding me because i took this picture)

the ladies

the guys

me, dear, the chariot (lexus gs300)

the nine of us went to catch SHREK 3 after the two-hour stay at bukit batok community centre where the wedding was held. damn, it was a very very good movie. the cg graphics are superb and the plot is strong without being overly exaggerated. the ending was especially meaningful and kids would definitely learn something from it. go watch it and you'll know. there were bit and pieces of funny scences that made the audiences burst into laughter. noticeably the scene of 'frog king'. damn funny. it reminded me of kermit the frog in sesame street, but the king is funnier. lol. oh, it was a short movie though.

rating: 8.5/10

next, pirates of the caribbean: at world's end.

in at world's end, chow yun fat's line 'welcome to singapore' really sounded awkward to the ears. well, maybe it's just me. anyway, jack sparrow was at his best again: getting people out of troubles which he created. in the movie, every character had his/her agenda and being selfish seemed to be the right thing to do. william turner had to get his father out of davy's hands, but if he saved his father, he would have to loose elizabeth swan. elizabeth, on the other hand, had to overcome her own guilt by saving jack sparrow. jack's only wish was to be a free pirate. ... and so on as so forth for the other characters.

the movie is typically an adventure movie. what i liked about it was it's way of ingesting the old brit's (with that british accent) jokes. it was real funny. the brits convey through words better than the americans but less expressive, i guess. i wouldn't expect more installments from pirates of the caribbean because more of it would turn people off. really, would you want to see another misadventure of jack sparrow?

rating: 7.5/10

*sigh* i still have not watched spidy 3. heard there will be three more installments...

ok. let me introduce you to crystal jade dim sum. here's what i had the other day (with dear):

dish 1

dish 2

xiao long bao

all of it!

mummy yummy

oosh!

caught in the act

what are you looking at? they are all mine!

overall, i could be sumed up in one word: foodalicous! lol.

ok. i'm done for now. got to run already.

chaos.