We've been so busy with the new house that I totally forgot about my new year resolutions! So here goes...

1. Make More Money
2. Make Babies
3. Make Time

Top 3 priorities this year.

More money, cos' we spent a bomb on our house renovation and furniture. It's time to replenish our savings! Also cos ahem, we've got lots of wish lists for the house still! :)

Make babies, been married 3 years. In the past we only live together on weekend. Now that we have moved to this new place, we are finally living like a normal married couple. Supposed it's high time to make babies!!! :))

Make time, for things that matter. There's 24 hours in a day. And yet we often lament that there's just not enough time. While I am juggling career and personal life, I would seriously like to make time for my parents (not like I'm not doing it now but more of it since we now live 6 units apart), for myself to discover hidden passion(s) that I may have and for my hubby! :)))

So ya! Top 3 resolutions for 2013! Happy New Year!!!

The IPO that gives you insomnia... boohoo...

The company I'm working in is going to be listed soon. Everyone is frantically sorting out their finances so as to be able to capitalize on the IPO allocations. Me included.

To be honest, I felt so blessed to be able to enjoy IPO not once not twice but thrice throughout the 12 years of my career. This time round however, the stakes seemed higher. Gotta remind myself to be fully alert. Can't treat it like my 2nd IPO... where I basically just kept all my allocations to just reap the dividend yearly!

Not entirely sure how this will pan out since this is also the first time I am taking a loan to finance my allocations. Previous IPOs were self financed so no issues like margin call or force sell. *Gulp*

If it wasn't for the house renovation that's happening next month, I would've self financed. But oh well... hopefully all goes well la! YAY!!! :)

Update: This turned out not to be a blessing but a nightmare. OMG!!!

OK la, I relented when my childhood friend asked me to go over yesterday. Went to the nearest Parkson to get a hamper but the hampers on display looked so lousy so I decided to get her clothings instead. Went mad cos' everything was just so cute and the colours... PINK PINK PINK was just oh-so-sweeeeeeeeeet!!! Ended up getting 5 sets of clothing; Minnie Mouse edition! :)

Here's Baby Macy Tan Rae Ean... 2 and a half months old with me; the auntie who is 3 decades older O_o. 18 years ago, the father and I were like dumb fucks fooling around after school with our group of buddies (all still in contact). Then we went on with our first courtship, first job, first car, first property etc. Before you know it, we were married to our first loves and yesterday, I held his baby for the first time in my arms. The feelings were strange... almost unreal. Can't believe time has passed by so quickly.

Our other childhood friend commented that Baby Rae looked frightened hahaha... with this emotion *_*" (which is kinda true if you look at the picture hahaha) but then I said she's just posing for the camera with her cool look... hehehe. Babies are just so cute!!!

P.S. Baby Rae looks like a carbon copy of her dad! Really "sebiji semacam"!!! Hahahaha...

3-3, the date my brother proposed to his long time gf. When they posted the news on Facebook, everyone was so happy for them. My parents and I were over the moon! :D

The team was so happy cos our TVs have arrived and the technicians were busy installing them!

But then after installing, we were told that the cards need to be activated. So ermmm, the excitement only lasted several minutes.

I've been staring at my blank TV screen for 2 days now... hehehe and my DVD player's coming next week! So in the meantime, it's just nice to know that I've got a TV installed in my cubicle. So much easier to view screeners / DVDs vs. using my tortoise laptop.

Simple pleasures in life! Naisssss!!! :D

Day 8th of CNY is THE most important day of all to the Hokkien community. This year, it was on a Monday. I initially wanted to take both Monday and Tuesday off but due to unforeseen circumstances, I had to go to work. Hb came to fetch me back to KS as usual.

Before prayers began, we visited Hb's ex-business partner at his banglo in KS and had a great time chit chatting about our recent holidays. They just got back from South Korea; which Hb and I went last year. This year we visited Beijing.

As usual, offerings were placed on a table right outside the house. While waiting for the clock to strike midnight, we entertained ourselves with firecrackers! This year, only FIL, MIL, Hb and I were present. BIL's overseas for work and SIL's son was sick. So unlike other years, it was kinda quiet. Nevertheless with the numerous fireworks at play that night, it was somewhat festive-feeling!

MIL said before we came back, a poor teenager said he was cheated to come to KS and needed bus fare to go home. He only asked for RM28 so my MIL gave him the money and told him to go home the following morning.

We thought nothing of it. When it was time to pray, we did the usual and started burning the various offerings. After prayers, we took several plates of offerings to a temple nearby. As we were walking back, a strong gust of wind started blowing (as if it was going to rain soon and as a matter of fact it did much later). The wind was so strong that it blew the offerings we burnt earlier; combination of ashes and burning bits right into the house!!!

From a far, the mixture of fiery red burning bits coupled with black ashes looked as if a dragon was flying into the home!!! The scene gave me goosebumps as I've never seen such a thing before!!! The entire incident kept us all preoccupied for quite some time cos' while MIL cooked supper, Hb and FIL cleaned the place outside while I mopped the entire place inside.

Hopefully the entire incident of "dragon flying into home" means GOOD FORTUNE for us all! Dear Ti-Kong, hopefully our prayers are answered. Thank you thank you!!!

Separately, the following day, a dragonfly flew into our home and refused to leave. It flew so low and at times hovered mid air as if checking Hb and I out. Again, I googled the meaning of dragonfly... and this time, the meaning was a good one! Some sort of a bearer of GOOD NEWS!!!

So ya, hopefully this year will be a great year for us all! :))

Just realized I did a recap of 1H of 2011. So here's the 2H of 2011.

July
Launched my first project at work.

August
Parachuted in to help on a high profile company wide project. Recognition in credit roll which I found out later on was extremely precious and difficult to get in. Though I didn't think anything of it, my boss feels that this single cross functional project sealed my position in the company. :)

September
Short break to Pangkor with Hb to recharge our energies. I love the beach!

October
Presented winning idea in Bali at the management offsite and won a further RM5,000. Unfortunately, till now we've not received the money. Nevertheless, had some time to go paintings shopping at Kuta.

November
Family holiday to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

December
Finally, the entire team was fully assembled. This is also the one year I work till the very last day of the year. Previously, I would've taken the entire week off.

Note: Photos to be added later on.

I want so many things in life and I want them now that somehow they became a "rojak" of wish lists that may not be clear enough for the universe to decipher.

I want to have a baby NOW!

I want to have time to spend with my loved ones going on trips, journeys and such together NOW!

I want to be able to prove my worth in a bigger way NOW!

I want to be able to do something that I am comfortable with confidently NOW!

I want to have excess money to live the kind of life I want NOW!

I want to be happy and healthy NOW!

So ya, my wish lists dear universe. Please help grant them NOW!

This year, I've nailed down 3 key areas to really focus on. Some say that resolutions are meant to be broken but personally, what's not on paper's not counted and what's explicitly expressed do have a higher chance of becoming reality... "The Secrets" you know. So here are my 2012 resolutions:

Personal
Continue savings of 40%
Reduce expensive habits

First half of the year as I was transitioning between my old and new job, I found myself perpetually stress and along the way developed expensive shopping habits. Truth be told, I busted 25K on LV within several months, bought more than 5K worth of beauty products and facial treatments. Spent 6K in changing my braces to Invisalign. Bought an iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, iPad 2 AND the recently launched iPhone 4S.

Second half of the year, I suddenly came to my senses after paying 4 to 5 digit credit card payments monthly! Instead of spending crazily on branded and luxury items, I now save up 40-50% of my nett income. The single biggest motivation to do so is to save up for our double storey that will be completed in August this year! Might as well spend on building our dream home than for "syiok sendiri" moments.

Career
Stop unnecessary dreams
Pursue career wholeheartedly

The first 10 years of my career game plan was very clear and rigid. Eventually, at the age of 30, I finally achieved what I set out to do. Took me 10 long years and a truckload of sweat and tears but it was all worth it and handsomely rewarding. Then came my marriage at 30. All's fine and dandy but since then, I found myself in a limbo.

Should I set aggressive targets for myself as before and aim to rise further up the corporate rank? Or should I shift my focus towards becoming a family woman. Perhaps I should stop working or how about starting something small on my own or with Hb so that I can have more time for my family and loved ones?

I have been in a limbo for close to a year. Then came the opportunity for a career change that came along with greater monetary and compensation which I took up after spending 10.75 years in my previous company. It was a huge step for me. However, with the kind of pay and rank I command, the expectations were also a lot greater.

I need to be focused 100% in order to achieve what I've planned for the company. I can't be stuck in this crazy limbo state no more. As such, I will give myself another year of crazy aggressive demanding workload. I can be quite a workaholic but also have a tendency to procrastinate with unnecessary thoughts in my head.

So ya. Enough of dilly dallying, enough of wondering which direction to take when it comes to my career. I should just charge ahead!!! Just 12 more months to go. Then regardless of which route I take, I would have already gathered enough highlights to boost my professional profile for future usage.

Health
Begin next phase of life
Look after health

I am a smoker, a hard core one who smokes a pack in 24 hours for the past 12 years. Is it damaging? Am certain it is. But why am I smoking still? Stress? Habit? What? To be honest, I'm not exactly sure.

But all I know is that, if Hb and I are serious about expanding our little family unit, then we need to know what to do and be committed to it i.e. quit smoking and drink lesser.

I also hate to take vitamins, supplements or any form of liquid 'goodies' like Yomeishu / Dom. But for the past 6 months, I have been diligently popping Folic Acid in preparing my body for pregnancy. On top of that, I've also started taking Yomeishu.

So ya, those are my 3 areas of top priorities which I absolutely need to achieve in order to move on to the next phase of my life. May I have the strengths both physically and mentally to achieve them. As my best friend always say: I CAN, I WILL AND I AM GOING TO ACHIEVE THEM ALL!!! This shall be my new mantra for 2012! YAY!!!

Amazing how time flies. I just received a letter that I sent to myself a year ago via the community service offered by Zewt. In it, was my hopes and expectations on myself which essentially formed my resolutions for 2011.

For some strange reasons, I remembered the existence of the letter but somehow I couldn't quite recall the specifics of the letter. So here's a quick report card on my resolutions:

Save 20% of nett salary.
[YAY!] As a matter of fact, I saved an average of 40% of my nett salary.

Stop spending frivolously and cut down on impulse shopping.
[NAY!] I've been spending like crazy the first half of the year. But halfway through I repented and started saving like mad! What did I spend on? Ermmm... I'll talk about it in my next post *guilty*

New career after 11 years in the same company.
[YAY!] 8 months ago, I made a career move to join a different industry altogether. From telco to broadcasting! When asked why by my bosses, the answer was simple. 1st job. Curiosity of what's beyond the walls. Eager to explore. Was it a right move? It was surely a calculated one to leave on a high note after winning the Best Accelerator Award in 2010 and onto greater package but as to whether it was a right one, only time will tell.

Shower my parents with EVEN more love!
[YAY!] Not only have I been good in my monthly commitments to my family. Hb and I even took them on an all expense paid trip to HCMC, Vietnam! Plan to do so again this year! :)

Stop smoking.
[NAY!] I'm stupid, full stop.

Start family expansion.
[WIP] Can't say if it's a yay or nay yet cos I'm busy taking vitamins and liquid goodies (Yomeishu, bleh). So ermmm... WIP la.

Be a happy person with inner peace.
[NAY!] I am still perpetually stressed out with a million and one things at work since I'm new and all. Happy? Nope. More like anxious. Inner peace? Nope. More like psycho-analyzing every single thing at work.

Report card:
Out of 7 resolutions...
- 3 YAYS (well done!)
- 3 NAYS (carry forward to 2012)
- 1 WIP (carry forward to 2012)

That meant an achievement rate of 50%! Enough to pass... Could've been better but am glad I made the efforts to be a better person on all aspects of my life. Balance 50% shall form parts of my resolutions for 2012! YAY!!! Next up, 2012 resolutions!

On that token, Mrs. ON9LA1 would like to wish everyone a very happy new year!!! Have a great year ahead!!! Cheers! :D

Off late, I felt that my parents house is noisy and cramp. It's like there's no personal space for me to focus on my own stuff. Father's outside at the living room, mom watches TV in my room for an hour, all other parts of the house like rooms are occupied, dining room shares the same noise level as living room. Short of working in the kitchen and toilet, I have no where to go!

Because of this I like going back to my weekend home in KS. Where there's peace and quiet and I can occupy whatever space I like. Unfortunately it's damn far away. And I have difficulty waking up in the morning!

It's another 11 more months to go before our houses are ready in Setia Alam. By then we'd be 6 units apart with the much needed space in our homes and yet comfortable near each other! :)

On a separate note, I have finally gotten my own space at work after 5 months in the open area. Do I like it? Well yes... for awhile... until I realized I missed my neighbors! Haha!

Half a year has passed and so much has happened since. Thought I ought to do a quick post in recapturing some of the key happenings as it was also the same period I neglected this blog of mine.

January
Hb took me to South  Korea to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Coincidentally, on our wedding anniversary date 09-Jan, we were at Nami Island; a romantic and beautiful island which was also the filming set of the highly popular Korea drama; Winter Sonata. It was also during this trip that Hb and I experienced snow for the first time!

February
Prior to Chinese New Year, I had to spring clean our place in K S'gor and boy was it tiring and backbreaking. However, when the spring cleaning was done and CNY deco added in, the satisfaction was oh so worth it.

March
March was an emotional month for me as it was this month that I decided to resign from the company I’ve worked for the last 10 years. As much as I hate to admit, I was living in my comfort zone and hence, the decision wasn’t an easy one. After much consideration and deliberation, I decided that a change would be good so I took up the offer.

April
The first half of the month was of me serving my notice, finishing up whatever I could and finally handing over my portfolios. Thereafter, a day after I left the company, I attended a workshop with my new colleagues in Gita Bayu. Managed to also squeeze in a short getaway given the extended weekend from Labour Day. My family and I also drove to Hat Yai for a short 3 days 2 nights but boy, never will we drive anywhere during public holidays again! Hahaha…

May
Started work this month along with the discovery of everything new and fascinating at my new workplace. This is also the month I started using Invisalign instead of conventional braces with wires and brackets. And therein started my new found appetite for fooooood as it was no longer painful to bite and chew!

June
This month captured my 1st milestone in the new company I worked with. Though I was still under probation, my boss managed to put me in this 5 days workshop with 2 Harvard professors in Genting. Everyday we go through hundreds of pages of case studies and at the end of it all, all 12 teams of 6 members each were to present their business proposal; applying learning from the workshop. Happy to say that my team emerged the champion amongst all 12 teams and the decision was unanimous!

It has been ages since I last had the urge to update this blog of mine. Suffice to say that loads had happened during my absense... the most recent ones being... a career move...

It is indeed true that it has never occured to me that I'd leave this job. Life has been kind and I was contended. Afterall, I've been here close to 11 years.. But when opportunity came knocking, the desire to explore coupled with the curiosity of what the horizon holds left me with the single hardest decision I have ever made pertaining my career.

Crazy day today! Attended a simulation workshop where I was supposedly the MD of a Hospital tasked to turn around the business via convergence of existing business units and expansion into new areas of opportunities.

Super tight schedule and we were even assigned an "assistant" each who'll remind us of our meetings with COO, CEO and Board of Directors (BOD)! And if that wasn't enough, they even had psychiatrists observing us in all our one to one meetings with COO and CEO as well as our presentation to the BOD! Plus, everything's captured on video for our personal reflection tomorrow with the psychiatrist!!!

Halfway through the preparation of our plans, I was "summoned" to meet 2 "reporters" who were there to interrogate me about a patient who turned PINK after drinking the prescribed cough mixture by our hospital! I was expected to provide an official statement there and then and these "reporters" even came with an audio recording device to record my statement!!!

Then out of the blue, my "assistant" reminded me of my meeting with the COO. And this happened nearly immediately after we got our brief i.e. no time to even finish reading up!!! And the biggest mistake I did was not checking with my "assistant" on the org. structure of the hospital and it's subsidiaries!!! Where I came from, a COO is the 2nd in command after CEO but here... this COO supposedly reports to me but was secretly eyeing my seat!!! The meeting was disastrous and I had to cut it short!!!

Then just as I began to deep dive into our plans, my CEO sent me a nasty email asking me to sort out a bad publicity from a patient who died from wrong prescriptions! I was whisked away to a corner with laptop; away from my team to draft a press release to address the negative publicity!!!

Just when I thought there were no more surprises, came my meeting with the CEO this time round! Luckily, we had slightly more time to prepare and the subject of discussion; strategic long term plans that I have in mind for the hospital was an area of my functional expertise! Again, the psychiatrist was also present and I was sweating profusely!

The last meeting of the day was the presentation of our plans to the BOD and boy were we bashed to the max!!! The day was supposed to end 5 sharp but thanks to the severe thrashings from the BOD, both teams had to stay back till 10.30pm at night to polish our decks!!! Why? Cos the final round of presentation to the BOD along with our real-life senior management team will be tomorrow at 10am SHARP!!!

I'VE BEEN CAUGHT OFF GUARD NUMEROUS TIMES TODAY!!! AND I AM SO TIRED AND EXHAUSTED AND BRAIN DEAD!!! HELPPPPP!!!

- Posted from my iPhone 4

Today I attended a workshop that was highly interesting and paradigm shifting. Thought I should reflect what I've learned here for my own future reference.

Prior to the workshop, we were each given a unique password that allowed us to take the S.t.r.e.n.g.t.h.s F.i.n.d.e.r test online. I for one am often skeptical of tests like these. Cos' come on, how accurate can it be if all you do is answer several questions? But when the test results came back, I was "shocked". Firstly, we had to answer not just several questions but 180 questions in total! Each question has 2 complete opposite statements. One would need to choose the statement that best describes him/her within 20 seconds! After that, a report is generated with your Top 5 Strengths Themes. And mine are as follows:

1. Focus
2. Significance
3. Restorative
4. Individualization
5. Strategic

 More about my Accelerator program...

Back in 2009, my resolutions were pretty simple. Now that we're in 2010, thought I should revisit my resolutions and have a closure on them...

Be a Good Wife

 >> Learn how to cook...
Up till now... I still don't know how to cook... BUT... I've attempted to be more domesticated and I think I have done a fairly good job in keeping our weekend home clean, comfortable and cozy... so CHECK!!!

>> Spend more time with OWLoon...
I took one whole month off work to spend time with OWLoon after our marriage... and have since spent every possible weekend in KS with him... so ya... CHECK!!!

Be an Even More Fillial Daughter

>> Take on more responsibilities...
My FB status today says: "Gazed into the crystal ball and foresee myself eating bread for a long, long time... Donations of any forms are most welcomed!!! Ang pow mari!!!" So ya... I have been spending a lot on CNY preparations... and have also upped my monthly contributions to the household... so again... CHECK!!!

>> Spend more time with my parents...
Considered CHECK... cos' for our pre-honeymoon, we took my parents along!!! Hahaha... but definitely, more rooms for improvements... have yet to figure out the balancing formula between family and hubby...

Be a Better Person

>> Increase savings...
Yes... I did increase my savings... but I also spent a bomb on vanity stuff for my wedding... on all the extras that are not covered by OWLoon like facial packages, manicure and pedicure and a whole long list of etc etc... so hmmm... must INCREASE EVEN MORE... so nope... FAIL!

>> Decrease impulse spending...
This I have been very good... I didn't spend on anything unnecessary the entire year. Though I was yearning for a new branded bag... a new camera.... a new pair of diamond earrings... I managed to refrain myself... (BRAVO BRAVO)... so yes... CHECK!!!

>> Be a HAPPY person...
2009 was definitely a character building year... and I must say that as I was going through the year... I thought that it was one of the toughest years in my life... but remember the saying... "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger"? It was definitely true in my case... I learnt to be at peace with myself... to appreciate the good things in life... and to consciously force myself to turn negative thoughts into positive ones... Think my optimism paid off, for I am so much more happier now than before... so CHECK!!!

So let's see... nett nett I scored a 6 out of 7 CHECKS... and that meant a success rate of over 85%!!! Not bad la... hehehehehe... :-)

Just the other day, I received an unsolicited mail from a real estate agent who claimed to specialize in the area where my place is located... and that he knows I'm one of the owners with a unit there... Hence, along with the mail, was his name card... which I should apparently keep so that I can call him whenever I feel like selling my place... It all sounded pretty professional until I read his card... his name is King Kong O_o...

So anyway... the following day... I got an unsolicited call 'pulak'... and this time round, it was a lady... from another realty... Same thing... knows that I'm an owner of KA... and that she has a serious buyer who is willing to pay RM250k for the place! If I'm ok to sell, she could immediately draft out the contracts!

To be honest, I could hardly believe what I was hearing... cos at RM250k... it's a whopping 30% increase from the price I paid and best of all, the development is only at best 80% completed...

So anyway, I politely declined by saying that I'd think about it... and went online to google the prices of KA... Surprise, surprise... the market rate is indeed RM250k!!! So that means... it has indeed increased by over 30%!!!

So the big question is of course... do I sell it now and use the so-called return of my investment as downpayment for a bigger place? Btw, current unit's a service residence at 935sqf only... Or should we wait a few more years when OWLoon and I have our own little family unit before settling down in a bigger nest? Hmmm...

Got my Promotion letter today.
I am officially PROMOTED!!!

However, there is a technical error...
Hopefully it can be resolved in the next 60 days... pls pls pls...

Nevertheless, life is beauuuuuuuuutifulllllllllll!
Thank you, thank you...

Finally got the final payout today...
Not sure if there's more to come given the numerous rumours...
But for now, it's the final batch di... and am happy!!!