tinkling

it has been a while. listening to yiruma over to radio yesterday made me want to play the song. i haven't played so much in a long while. it is great tinkling the ivories. gave me alot of peace.

one post per month

all the updates have been sporadic these days.

there's alot to do. never ending list of work to do. one deadline after another. it doesn't seem to end.

glad we are learning new things; baby steps to learn a new language. others in class seem to be flying, i'm barely crawling.

the home project has been going great so far. we finished painting of the living room, 2 bedrooms and the 1 toilet today. just 1 more room and doors to paint. i love the white walls. it makes the place look alot bigger. the fresh coat of paint makes everything new. great opportunity to spring clean. we don't have alot to dump as we have been packing our stuff every now and then. both the kitchen and toilets are the challenge which we will slowly fix up after the time-consuming painting. as we are on a shoe-string budget, we will go mainly diy. paint the cabinets. seal the ones which we don't intend to use. it will probably take us another month or so - a long drawn process, but a really worthwhile one. we live here, this is our home, and we will do all it takes to make it more pleasant. after we get through this, i want to pick up my piano over the weekends again.

should i be writing more. doubt it for now. no real compelling reason to do so.

010114

first day of the new year - a good juncture to housekeep the year that has passed and plan for the year ahead.

2013 has been a well-travelled year - one which i have got the opportunity to visit more places than any of the years in my life. took a short break with dearie in hongkong, induction to uk and wintery christmas in korea with my family. a trip to uk and a holiday in dec, these would be things hardly possible if i have not chose to move on. it was a leap of faith for me; i hope i have landed on a land of greater possibilities.

second half of 2013 was pretty challenging with the leap, but all that has definitely slowed down into something more manageable now.

i have been seeking out new challenges for 2014, this must be a lifelong pursuit for me. i started to re-read some of my favourite zhang xiao xian novels again. that's the least i can do to salvage my deteriorating chinese.

tax courses are on the list right now. that'll take me a good 12-24 months to fully attain what i want to get.

while i am hoping to find more time for myself and with my loved ones, i am also hoping to do well in career, earn more, save more and enjoy another good year ahead.

2014

trying to fill next year with the large stones. tax courses. secretariat courses. hr will be a good to have but probably a little to long to commit. goal is to be more efficient in the things i do. spend lesser hours to complete the same amount of work. find more time to spend time with family, read and play the piano.

talking about spending time with family. we have a family holiday planned in 3 weeks time! winter sonata, here we come!! i packed some evaporated milk and rose syrup. we will be having a free flow of ice kacang at the ski resort.

mummy and i went for a hair makeover yesterday. she looks fabulous! it is money well spent. that's my treat to her for this year. i love seeing mummy so pretty =) we will be going shopping later at bugis. this is simply the best way to utilise my time (since dearie is away in japan). after shopping, mummy will be cooking almond sliced fish (can u imagine that!!! the last time i had them was...eons ago! we used to love this when we were kids). i hope she has and will enjoy the time spent together, as much as i have.

michael

serenading to kissing a fool and mr & mrs jones by michael buble. put it on repeat!!

hollies

i am so so looking forward to the holiday next month. i do need that break from work.

Walls

This has been a tough year. Hitting one wall after another. I hope i am getting stronger through it and not dying from a hemorrhage.

why is it so hard

how do i become more self sufficient? how can i not be at the mercy of constraints? it is just about the money issue. who pays the extra? i don't mind taking on the inconvenience but will it work? how do i find a solution which will benefit all? i wish i had more time on my side so that i can make things work out right and make everyone happy.

chore

eating to me is a chore. to order food for others is an absolute pain. everyone should just feed themselves.

On and on

i hate myself. all i was told was to update a cost tracker.then i thought i should do a consolidated effort by doing a fixed asset listing (which i do need to have to get my depreciation going) which has budgeted numbers in line with the cost tracker. then i thought i should have proper fixed asset numbering (which the present chart of accounts only gave broad accounts)..i am just digging a hole deeper and deeper. someone stop me from doing so coz all i need to do was to update a darn cost tracker.

3 months

i am going to be 3 months old with the company. probation call tomorrow. how much more timely can the storm in the teacup be. looking forward to more 3 months. i do have good bosses, less those who are suppose to be my boss on paper.

corrupt

files in the card drive corrupted. we had problems deleting and transferring files into the hdd. i panicked when the hdd failed because if it did, all my years of photos will be gone. good thing dearie recovered them and now we have them stored in 2 different places - can never be too sure.

live

if i can ever choose to see one live concert, whom will i pick.

has to be itzhak perlman.he is on tour in US now. gosh, will i ever get to hear him in person?

every tune he plays on his violin tells a story.

the brahms violin concerto is still on my playlist.

Stop and stare

I wish i could do more for her. Wrench her from that situation and bring her home, because i know she will never leave it behind. I asked myself what should i do when i got there. What could i do?

We make choices every day, every hour, every minute. We could never certainly tell which each of those choices begets us.

The choice should be to live in peace, to live with less discord, to leave the extra baggage of the past behind us.

Radio

I have not tuned into local radio for a long while. Did so this morning and glad i did so. I tuned into the only station that has the least words and most music - 92.4..and i struck gold!! Better than gold!

Brahms violin sonata no 2 in A maj op 100, played by itzhak perlman and ashkenazy. This is the best combi in the world! Wowww, i am listening to the whole sonata over youtube now and it is pure delight.

I want it to play forever.

Lucky dip

2 days of course on the payroll system and i am back into the tub of lucky slips. Each with a prized task i need to work on..i have stopped writing them in my book as they seem to stream in continuously and accumulating.

With 2 hats..i am trying my best to switch to and fro.. and making sure i get as much covered as possible. I feel inadequate. But everyone is too busy to address that.

Wet week

It has been raining alot this week. And the rain seems to bring on all the lethargy. I feel strangely tired.

Won't it be nice to snuggle in bed on a rainy day? Oh yes, dearie is irritated with the flimsy bedsheets, we shall dump them out after the next change!

Sports day

Sunday was sports day for us - mr in the morning, 25mins gym before badminton, badminton in the evening.

It was completed with yummy you mee for brunch..slurpss!

It is a great way to spend the day!

up to date

i can officially declare i have caught up with all. i am not going to check the cash items as i know it will not tie to the cent with the excel entries we have. everything else looks reasonable.

next is to just make sure we get the entries put in regular enough and to educate mummy to use the system.

such sense of relief. wow.

i still have tax computation to do before end of november.

i want my life back!

housekeep

feels like an extremely long week with the long nights. i'm glad i'm done with the 6 files and now onto to reconciliation. met the deadline of the gst filing too. phew!

hope to get back into the normal cycle of life - more time, more rest, more exercise.

i found half of the missing earring. i cleared through my wardrobe hoping to find the other half of it but nope, couldn't find it. i did clear out a bag of dust laden rubbish out of it. down the chute it goes.

it is good to do housekeeping and throw out the junk on a regular basis.