Pain pain, go away!

Strenuous work out at the gym with Jo last night left me aching this morning.

Yesterday I made sushi with Pei-Wen and the other Malaysians. Boy, that was fun. We all stared at the sushi for some time before someone made the first move and ate them. haha. They were precious, especially after all the trouble we went through rolling and making the rice, but we relished them!

Tonight - Toy Story 3 with the girls! That should be a good break after all the work that I've done today at SJU open house :)

When I grow up...

It's like sitting in a train station, sharing a bench with a stranger, doing your own thing in your little world without any privacy. You want to run off to somewhere else where you can read your book without anyone peering over your shoulders from time to time. The next moment, before you know it, you're bonding with him over a bottle of beer. Oh food and liquids, how they bring people together eh?

Today marked my fourth week at the company. It's strange how I started off sharing a common area with 4 other people, then moved on to another cubicle when the big move happened with LWW folks coming in from the other side of the street. They say it's for the sake of integration, so they moved everyone around, and I was placed in a new area with new people. New faces scare me a little sometimes, and all was quiet for the whole week until today. Someone's transferring to the NY office, so we had a happy hour in honor of him. Got myself a bottle of beer and the social switch got turned on immediately. Everyone's talking now, and I love it. I love my company and I think I can just stay here forever working alongside with this fantastic group of people. Boy, aren't they brilliant?

When I grow up, I just want to be like one of them :) 

Defying Gravity

Today, it was storming in Philadelphia. It's been a while since it last rained, and it was good. Too bad I was stuck in the office and all I could do was to gaze longingly at the beautiful droplets from across the transparent window. I think it hailed as well. Someone's windshield got destroyed. Trees collapsed and the trains weren't running coz of disrupted lines. These train commuters ended up overcrowding my usual bus 44 and I had to stand all the way home.

Anyway, Idina Menzel, the famous Elphaba from Wicked performed live at Mann Center, Philadelphia with the Philly Orchestra! Me, Jo, Sam and Sam bought lawn seats but ended up sitting on real seats to watch the open-air concert :) How awesome is that? She ended the night with her powerful, soul-searching song - Defying Gravity. And that is precisely what I intend to do at work. It is challenging, but I will defy gravity and rise up to be the most awesome intern for the summer. Hehehe, not like there's a lot of interns around, just 2, but I will overcome all obstacles and shine!

Today, I almost had a Marilyn Monroe moment when the car whizzed past me. My dress flew up, and according to Lay Queen, I covered my skirt like a star.

Hahaha.

Watching The A-Team with my fellow Malaysians today at the city was fun :)

I'm back!

Work has been consuming my whole life. I go through the same routine everyday: wake up, breakfast, work, come back, unwind, and sleep! Oh, and this summer, I have also mastered the art of procrastination. It takes me forever to complete a task at home =p

This week was experiment week. I've been waking up 10 minutes later every morning, just so I can try out the bus schedule and arrive at work later and later each day. I made a massive discovery: I save 20 minutes of sleep by reporting to work on the dot at 8:30am! I love it. I call this the just-in-time system =p

Since it's only my third week of work, I'm still doing data entry. Yesterday and today, two huge batches of packages came in. When I came back from lunch yesterday, 100++ envelopes were sitting on my desk, and I worked through yesterday to today to process them all. I had a good laugh today reading one of the notes left by a dude in the package. His dog chewed on his contract, hence the tattered edges! LOL.

And at last, the weekend is near! Two more days to Saturday :)

Summer love :)

Sleepover at our apartment with Migs, Karl and Alex.

We went out for dinner, played Apples to Apples and at 12am, the boys proceeded to game while the girls watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding on DVD :)

Karl waking up to my Asian blanket. I stole it from Korean Air long long time ago. Hehe

And mama Jo making us crepes for breakfast!

Went to TGIF for lunch. Service was bad =(

My Cauc-Asian friend here tries to act Asian-ish. 

And finally, both Jo and I took a picture at the LOVE sign at downtown Philly. After three years in Philly, we are back again at the same spot to take a roomie picture! 

Oh and USA and England soccer tied 1-1 today at FIFA worldcup. 

Book on hand now: Passion Test. I need all the motivation I can get in life now ;)

Windows

My spot at the office doesn't come with a window.

One day, I will rise up and get a big big big room all to myself, with windows, and it will give me a 360 degrees view of the city!

:)

From Japan to Vancouver

Thank you Jermyn for sharing this with me!

If you google for directions from Japan to Vancouver, they'll ask you to kayak across the Pacific Ocean.

I cannot believe this but look at No 12. 

O.M.G 

Welcome to the city of brotherly love, my friends!

I survived week one of work!!

Zhi Ven and Hong Mun, my primary school friends from Chung Kwok, are in town!! And they're here for a good 4 years. WOW. So far, I only know of 4 other people from Chung Kwok who are in the US, and 4 of us are based in Philadelphia. Isn't it a small small world? 

We went for Dim Sum, which was the first ever for them in Philly. It was a great meal, and I was introduced to more Malaysians today! Yeay. I am no longer alone anymore :) 

Welcome to the city of brotherly love, my friends! 

Hello there.

Hello there everyone.

This week was an adventurous week for me. Honestly, I do not even know where to begin, but I shall attempt to go down memory lane.

Friday May 28th 
Jermyn sent me off at the airport, and he helped carry my overweight bag. I paid through my nose for that extra 9kg. Damn, I should have just checked in an extra bag and bring back more stuff that would remind me of my wonderful time in London. My flight was really uneventful. I tried to sleep, but I couldn't. I wasn't physically in London anymore, but my mind was. I guess my body knew that for a fact and refused to cooperate when I told myself I just want to sleep, forget all the sadness and look forward to a new life when I touchdown. No, my body refused to sleep.

Touchdown - Dr PK came and picked me up. I thank Buddha for presenting me with such wonderful people in my life. JoAnn was waiting anxiously back home for my arrival, while Dr PK waited for a good 1.5-hrs before I stepped out with my luggage bag. My parents, who were with my sister, called. Welcome home bao bei! Well, I have grown accustomed to call the US and A my home now.

Saturday May 29th
Spring cleaning of the apartment!!! Both Jo and I hung out with Darius, Tim and Darius' parents. We went to this nice Indonesian place at South Philly: the ghetto-iest of the ghetto place. Lol. Well, not really, but still, architecture was a tad different from the usual buildings u see downtown.

Sunday May 30th
Mum, Dad and Sis came. Welcome to my humble adobe!

Monday May 31st
We went grocery shopping. My god, my dad bought 2 cartons of eggs (on top of the 1 carton that I already have at home!) And I finally bought my ironing board to iron all my working clothes! We went outlet shopping as well. I bought another Coach bag from the store. Oh boy, I need to curb my shopping habits. Blehhhhhhh. And sis went home to Connecticut.

Tuesday June 1st
First day of work! I woke up extra early for fear of being late. I turned up just in time for orientation. Turns out that there are 3 of us from the same school doing the internship! I like my desk, and people are really friendly at the office. My CPT working authorization wasn't recognized by the company at first, and I was freaking out a little because that means they could terminate my employment. But all is good now. I am finally working legally in the US!

Wednesday June 2nd
Can't blog about the exact details of my work, but all I can say is that it's a cool place to work at! Did you know that there are lunch time concerts every Wednesday at downtown? Me and the other associates from the company bought our lunch, stood outside and enjoyed the lunch concert while munching on our food. The pubs and bars downtown have drinks specials as well every Wednesday, specifically for office workers to enjoy the happy hour drinks! The department went, and I tagged along just to socialize, and I had a drink over great conversations with the associates. Looking forward to more of this in the future!

Thursday June 3rd
Got my first assignment. I worked throughout the day on it, but my computer broke down at one point in time, and I had to call tech support to come fix it. Mum and dad went downtown to explore and they got separated. Mum was lost, but she had enough sense to borrow a stranger's phone to text me to come pick her up at the shopping mall, specifically the shoe department! HAHAHA. And my dad remembered my working address, so he waited outside the building for me to walk out after work. I know, I have such amazing parents =p

Friday June 4th
Happy Friday! It was dress-down Friday, but I wasn't informed about it, so I was the only person in the office to wear formal clothes. All the other associates were in jeans. HAHAHA. I told myself, it's better to  be overdressed than underdressed! We went out for lunch, and I met another colleague who is from Brazil! Yeay to diversity :) I like my workplace. After work, I waited for the bus for a good half-hour, but I had such a fun time watching a newly-wed couple take their pictures. The bridesmaid were all pretty in their pink dresses! The couple had to take kissing pictures, but the whole world was watching them since it was directly outside City Hall at rush hour =p

Mum and Dad left for the airport, and I am finally free to do my things again!

Hooray to the weekend!