You know for a fact that it's Chinese New Year when you start seeing the colour RED ("Ang" in Hokkien) in everything nearly everywhere you look.

And oh, not just at shopping malls mind you... but at home too... like how plants are suddenly dangling with auspicious symbols with red and gold ribbon, or how red cushions are whipped out of no where...

Or when gifts by relatives are being sent to your home...

But aside from those... to us Chinese... Chinese New Year has got to be the single largest festivity that is celebrated in an elaborate manner. Tonnes of preparations are made before hand to ensure that friends and families' gatherings at home are as comfortable as can be... Think: Cookies, snacks, mandarin oranges, soft drinks and of course... alcoholic beverages!

Today's New Year eve... and a must do on this day is of course the Reunion Dinner.

With that... "maemee" would like to wish everyone a very Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year! May the year of Rat brings us many happy returns! Cheers...

Unlike other companies that practices "Sau Kung Jau" before Chinese New Year, our company only has 1 dinner each year... the Annual Dinner... which is understandable given that we have over 3,000 employees...

So this year... my colleagues and I decided to celebrate ourselves and we went to "Ah Yat Abalone Restaurant" at Avenue K. There were plenty of packages to choose from and we selected the RM78 per pax one (normal price: RM138)...

The funny thing bout ordering their package meal is that it comes with a single serving based on number of pax ordered... not a central dish in the middle like other Chinese reaturants... so that means, the portions are kinda mini... This was my portion...

The African abalone was ok... but rather tiny. But since it was only RM78 per pax, can't complain... Of all the dishes... the chicken wing stuffed with glutinous rice has got to be the nicest... as well as their honeydew sago... which tasted like melted ice cream... yummm... :)

On Thursday, the entire Strategic Marketing team took half the day off to go bowling. Yes... of all the things in the world (rolls eyes)... B-O-W-L-I-N-G!!! This was supposedly our team outing this year...

So off we went... to Cosmic Bowl in Mid Valley...

We were all dressed in this personalized black collared T with our names and staff IDs imprinted at the front... and at the back of it... a huge CSI...

The last time I ever bowled was like over 10 freaking years ago! So needless to say... it was a rather embarassing experience...

• I was the first person in our team (of 4 girls) on the chart... and when I first lifted the 9-pound ball, it felt embarassingly HEAVY!!! And ahem... at both times, the ball went into the drain... so I started my chart with a huge shiny ZERO
• Then just when I thought I've started to get a hang of it... the ball slipped from my fingers and flew to the BACK instead... leaving my colleagues screaming!!!

Lucky thing, the rest of my female colleagues weren't way better off... And I noticed, our team seemed to be the noisiest... as in our balls always land with a loud thud before making its way to the pins...

In the end... we just took turns snapping photos... LOL:

And then more people joined in... cos we occupied a total of 11 lanes and my neighbours (to my left and to my right) comprises of more beginners like me... who were far more interested in snapping photos than rolling a freaking 9-12 pound ballssss:

After that, we had to endure a terrible 2-hour drive from Mid Valley to Little Havana to attend our CMO's farewell party.


I love our CMO. He's not just attentive, sharp, smart and intelligent but also kind and humble with a cool sense of humour... So many of us were teary eyed when he first announced his resignation. That night, he whispered something in my ear when I said goodbye...

"Try not to be too stressed up. But if it really gets too stressful, just leave..." and gave me a fierce hug... I'm soooooo gonna miss him and given a chance, I would definitely wanna continue working for him... Sob sob...

Ponder upon this:

We achieved Independance in 1957... some 51 years ago but it is only now that the G suddenly realised that Indians are located not just in Selangor???!!! That there are Indians in KL too???!!! Hmmm... interesting isn't it...

I was working from home and in between numerous windows and files, I decided to check my Facebook. Then I saw this interesting quiz that my friend sent me... called the "When Will You Get Married" quiz...

I answered a couple of questions and submitted my answers. When the "analysis" came back... I laughed like a mad cow!

14 years from now, I'll be 43... I wonder if anyone wants me then... But given that CNY is round the corner (think nosy relatives)... I'd probably quote this "analysis"... hehehe...

The other day... as I was typing away madly on my keyboard... one of the buttons came off! I tried and tried to "sumbat" the fella back but despite numerous tries, the button remained detached! So I gave our help desk a call and the following day, someone came to replace the entire keyboard!

While the guy was fixing the keyboard, I just had to complain...

• Me: So... this model is not very good isn't it... this is the 3rd time the button came off (tho I was able to push it back in every other time)...
• IT Guy: Ermmm... not really... sometimes... it depends... on the... USER!

My colleagues laughed hysterically like mad cows! Stupid! :P

Hooray!!! I finally got my promotion letter today!!! What a great way to start off the new year!!! Hehehehe... Am soooooo happy!!!

Life is indeed soooooo beautiful!!! Thank you thank you!