2 months in...

Well coming to the end of my second month into my new job, I can say that it is really a nice company to work in. My new colleagues and I connect well both on a professional level and they are just as crazy as me outside of the office....hahahaha. They remind me so much of my previous company before it was acquired and everything changed for the worse. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hope things will be alright. :-)

Cheers

New Job on Monday

I will be starting a new permanent job on Monday after doing independant consulting the past year. The freedom of having flexible timing with more personal time at my disposal was a definite plus. However the chance of working and bonding with colleagues that you see daily was lacking. Being an independant consultant, one does not work with the same people as its all assignment based. I missed the chance of going out with colleagues and getting to know them outside of the office even if it was just over a simple lunch. I have had colleagues who are now some of my very good friends that I see very often, even ones from my first job. I'm really looking forward to my new working environment as well as meeting my new colleagues.

Cheers
Sean

Trip to Kaohshiung for Taiwan International Orchid Show 2010

Well most of my friends know that I went for the Taiwan International Orchid Show. What most of them don't know that it was my first trip to Taiwan. What I found out about the people was that they are a rather polite group of people as compared to some others in the same region. Now I know my friends' fascination with going there instead of Hong Kong. I find the Taiwanese a much more friendly people. One of the things that I still remember about the trip apart from the earthquake was just a simple gift of barbequed sweet potatoes from a shopkeeper. My friend who also went for the show and I decided to walk to a night market from Sin Min Lu. We wanted to experience the local culture along the way (although at that time we did not know how far we had to walk...hahaha). We walked by this unassuming shop run by 2 brothers selling barbequed sweet potatoes. They were telling us about the sweet potatoes and it being a speciality of this part of the country. We decided to buy 1 each to try but after knowing that we were visitors to his country, he refused to accept our money and said that it was a gift. He even introduced a chilled version which I thought was also delicious as chilling it intensified the taste further. He also gave 1 each of that to take away with us. This small gesture by someone we just met made the long walk to the night market a very happy one. This re-enforces the saying that its not the gift but the thought that counts.

Last Reservist Commitment...

Finally finished my reservist commitment for the year yesterday. This year the timing was rather lousy as it stretched for 21 days over the Christmas holidays. Started on 10 December and only did the outprocessing yesterday afternoon. This time around I was not with my usual group of friends but instead got put with a totally new team as many people actually deferred because of the timing. Apparently I was not the only ones who were new to the team as many were actually from other groups that got called back the same time as me too. So on the first day, it was getting to know the guys thing all over again but luckily my group were all very easy going so it makes getting to know each other much faster. It was also rather unusual as on the first day they presented me with the 10 years service award which was a hamilton watch and it was rather nice too I might add...hahaha. So after all the duties and unusual things that happened, it was finally all over.

Nightmare Valet Services at Capella...

Yesterday was a very important day for my family and we had a major dinner celebration at Capella on Sentosa. If you are not sure what Capella is, its a 6 star hotel on Sentosa that just opened this year. At Capella, it takes 20 to 25 minutes for a valet to locate your car and bring it up and the charges for this service...$12!! I have attended functions and dinners at other hotels before and they take less than half the time to do the same thing for far less the amount of money. We were told by many other people who have attended other events/wedding dinners there before about the same poor valet service. We had already told the hotel prior to booking the ballroom for our celebration of our concerns and to express the standard of service which is expected from the valet. However it was still as bad as it was. The only thing I can say is that they are consistent in the poor standard of service provided.

So a fair warning if you are attending an event at Capella, park your own car in the basement or be prepared for the horrific valet services.

Busy Bee...

I've been running around the past few months for several committee meetings. First of all, I'm on the committee for the Orchid Society of SouthEast Asia (OSSEA). Next I've been asked to be on the committee for next year's Singapore Orchid Show. I'm also on the Judging Committee for the upcoming World Orchid Conference (WOC) in 2011 held in Singapore. I'm glad to be apart of these exciting events which are happening on our shores and also thankful that people see the potential in me to include me in them. Hopefully I do not disappoint them and to do my best to show that their trust is not misplaced.

Cheers
Sean

Upcoming Birthday Celebrations...

Well...will be celebrating my birthday again next week. Time really flies when you are having fun! It also brings to mind things which have transpired during the past year. It brings to mind things which I have achieved and things that I should have done. I am rather happy on how things have been in my love life although there have been ups and downs but thankfully, there have been much more ups than downs...hahahaha. With that, I can safely say that I'm much more in love than I've ever been before... :-) I am also happy and thankful for good close friends which I know I can always count on and hopefully they can say the same about me. This year has also been a year of firsts too where both my dear and I have gone on overseas trips together...not once but 3 times...hahahaha! Well the celebrations are being planned by my dear dear so will see what happens. :-)

Cheers
Sean