Happy 27th Birthday to Me!

Yesterday, Super Junior Assistant Photographer was at a Zumba Event :)
I was so conscious of my own presence that I was hesitant to walk up the stage or to the front of the hall initially, but things got better after a short while of being thrown into a sea of unfamiliar faces - Even I was surprised at myself for actually adapting to the environment.


Most photos were a flop and a total embarrassment especially when placed side by side with the main photographer's, but my most salient achievement in the 2 hours was that my camera elicited a number of excited responses from the participants.

 Shamelessly presenting to you the few photos taken by yours truly, the Super Junior Assistant Photographer who brought nothing but more trouble to Main Photographer.

Yes! I was with him, now a professional photographer!

Upon seeing him, the sense of familiarity came back and I realised that I missed being his intern so much!  

He shared again his knowledge with me and this time it was not on BioInformatics, but his other passion, Photography. 

FREE PHOTOGRAPHY LESSON AGAIN LOL.

Am always a fan of someone who is unassuming, down-to-earth and loves to nurture the young.

(LOL okay I'm not young anymore)

Supper with him was how I spent counting down to my birthday (Although he has forgotten my birthday but I forgive him lol)!

Happy 18th Birthday to me!

Hi dears! I neglected my blog again, I'm so sorry! 
Promise that for the next few days when boss is away, I will update you as much as possible! Will update this entry when I have more time. 

Let me proclaim to you that life has never been better~~ YAY!
Knee is recovering well, Simba recovered, found motivation in my job, found role models in my workplace, met the nicest people in SOSD (faith in humanity restored!), and went to do a house visit at a former MP's place for a dog (she is one inspiring and lovely lady)!

I guess you got bored from me shamelessly wishing myself Happy Birthday at this space every April. And YA~~ After so many years, it is still my 18th birthday! 



1) Camera Lens

This year, I did myself a favor by buying something that costs an arm and a leg for my birthday - a camera lens, something that I always wanted to get but held back for the longest time! Reviews rave about Cathay Photo so I had to check it out myself and this is why I love forums - they never lie, the service is awesome! 

Nikon F1.8 50mm, specially designed for taking portrait photographs and I'm gonna make good use of it for my coming birthday celebration. 
I'm the only lady in the entire shop! Photography seems to be more of a hobby for guys. :D



2) Flowy Grecian Wedding Dress from a blog that gathers ideas for wedding gowns:

Although I need to be alot taller to look good in this.. 

Hmmmm... 

I still have time to choose something I like...

I don't have to be so uptight and all panicky...

3) Aravind Eye Care

Some interesting quotes to share:

"An average surgeon with the right attitude can do wonders for you."

"The contents are better than the container."

(Elaborate on these later. Have to sleep for now!)

Kayden, Happy Birthday!

My nephew's 2 years old!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAYDEN TOH!

(An opinion I have kept to myself for the longest time but couldn't keep it any longer: Why do hairdressers like to cut babies' hair to a crew cut? Come on, hairdressers, you can do better!)

Now Kayden is going through the stage where he starts to imitate what we say and do, so upon seeing us try to get him to blow out the candles, he spontaneously pressed his lips together. The result was of course a pool of saliva which landed on parts of the cake. Eeewwww!

Hope you grow up to be an inspiring individual who is well-liked and respected by others! :D

Do you always meet a talkative friend all throughout your life? 

I think I have met another again. LOL.

Simon, my ex NTU coursemate, just joined our department. COOL. I ran into him 2 weeks ago in our office (either the office is big or I am just too blur.) 

He is one talkative person... and now I have someone to drive me home after work YAY.

And I saw my ex school teacher, Mr Jacky Tan, at the palliative care forum; he just joined the company as a Medical Social Worker! I was smiling to him throughout the forum and Colleague Evon smiled at him with me too. After much persuasion from colleagues, I mustered enough courage to go over and greet him, and although he couldn't recall who I am anymore, but at least he noticed us smiling away at him even when we were a hundred miles apart.

Me: "So sad he couldn't recognise me anymore."

Evon: "Of course la, he got so many students!"

Me: "He used to teach me Physics!!"

Evon: "Maybe this is his passion!"

Me: "Physics???"

Evon (rolled eyes): "NOOOO, I mean helping people. His passion is to help people la."

Niceeee.. My ex teacher is always helping people, in one way or another. :D

"You have never really lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you."

 -quotes-lover.com

Another piece of good news to share!
The photographer in SOSD, who has been in the photography line for 19 years, is conducting a photography crash course for us for free (so that we can help take photos of the dogs in future adoption drives)..!
It's no doubt a dream come true; I mean, photography class from a professional photographer that can easily fetch $600 per student is now offered for free?
:D
Basic equation of my life:
Photography + FREE Stuff = DREAM COME TRUE!
(Okay don't judge me, I am human.)

The Wedding Gown

Tried on a few gowns before signing with the bridal studio :D
Proudly presented to Colleague Michelle (who just got married) my contract which Simba and I signed with acquiescence to the wedding coordinators' fierce persuasion, but to my surprise, she went "AHHHHH, HJ you should have asked me along! I would have asked for more things for YOU!!" LOL.


I came into the studio, fell in love with it and set my mind on it. Although I might not have gotten everything's worth, but overall my wedding package is pretty good. After all, what matters the most is not the price tag that comes along with it or everything I can squeeze out of it, but it's whether the bridal studio's style matches what I'm looking for. :D


The wedding coordinator got me to describe the sort of gown I like, and after some brief introduction of myself and elucidation of that perfect dress, she defines my style as "Romantic".


After what seems like a thousand years of browsing through the catalogue, I pointed (see below) out what I thought is iconic in the olden days, and she explained that this is translucent so she got me something similar but is opaque lol.

Fell in love with the embellishment on the gown and the sashay bottom, though a bit of layering, lace, ruffles or frills will be great too! Maybe I will add on a piece of off-shoulder cloth on my arm (it's so cool the cloth is detachable)!

Just as I thought the feeling of slipping into a gown would be nothing but blissful, to the contrary, when I saw myself wearing a gown for the first time in front of the ceiling-length mirror, I felt utterly, absolutely insecure in an environment filled with other customers since I looked so tanned in that pure white dress and weird without much make-up on. LOL. My shoulders went all the way down I was practically hunching and the coordinator reassured me and said while she adjusted my posture, "The thing about wearing a gown is that the bride wearing it should feel beautiful and confident in it. Everyone will be looking at you the moment you walk into the hall, so you can't be hunching this way." Hmmm..

U know, actually u don't need to trim your tummy unless u choose a mermaid cutting gown! For all other types of cutting, they design it such that your waist looks way smaller than it actually is! Lol no time left so I'm going to focus on arm slimming only!

Cousin said she wants to tag along the next time I go for gown fitting LOL! Told her that I wanted a toga but she advised me against it, saying that it will not be as elegant as other gowns.. Hmmm.. What do u think? I love Grecian... If you watched Thor 2, U must have noticed the gown that Natalie Portman wore in ancient Greece. :D

Autonomy & Mastery

One of the benefits that you can reap from a young, growing organisation is that you find yourself surrounded by opportunities to stretch your potential and mature along with the organisation, and this means you get to climb up the career ladder quicker. However, this also means you need to thrive as fast as you could but at the same time know how to pace yourself so that you don't burn out (which is unfortunately something I'm struggling with.)

"Change is the only constant." was what Boss said to me. 
"For the next 5 years, we are going to do more. I give you the autonomy ah, and you have to learn how to manage everything yourself and eventually gain mastery. I'm not saying that everything is gonna be smooth, in fact I'm telling you that the process is going to be painful, and I want you to learn from it."


4 months now and I am exhausted. Lol.
This was never what I wanted nor expected. I JUST WANNA BE A HOUSEWIFE!

I found 3 more aspiring housewives-to-be at my workplace and this is us not paying attention in the cooking class. 

It's not easy to find an inspiring boss whom you greatly respect and nice colleagues. So ya.. I'm going to stay in this and be as dynamic as I can be until Simba strike it rich!