to dreamland and back

i can't believe my week long vacation is over. time flies so fast, but it's just faster in this part of the world. i haven't had a whole day spent at home in the past nine days. it seems that there's always a reason to leave the house (yeah, the mall's waiting for me..hehe).. but other than that, i was in phuket for a four-day island getaway. (yes, it's phuket..and i'm not dreaming!!)

i can't believe my boss allowed me to be on leave for four days, despite the critical stage of my project (well, i was confident my module would be behaving well, while i am away..hehe). so, my friends and i arrived in phuket last tuesday, and had a half day city tour before we checked in at our hotel. we didn't have a five-star hotel waiting, but that really doesn't matter cause you won't be spending much of your time in it anyway. there's a whole island to explore and four days surely ain't enough.

after the half day city tour, we rested a bit at our hotel room since we had a very early flight that morning. we stayed at patong beach, the heart of phuket's night life (and we can't be drowsy when that starts). just a few hours before sunset, we strolled along patong beach. we weren't disappointed by it's beach line, and the area was just so lively with all the people around. i can't help thinking that if only panglao island would be developed like this.. wouldn't that just be lovely?

so we stayed there until sunset. well, nothing beats sunsets by the beach, so why miss that? later that night, we checked out the famous patong night life, and it definitely lived up to our expectations, or probably even exceeded them. the "tiangge" is just all over the place, and there were as much bars too, and of course, restaurants parading their best seafood catch. of course we didn't dine at their luxurious restaurants, but even their budget restos couldn't be let down. thai food everywhere is just delicious. not to mention their signature iced milk tea. so every thai meal, was a feast :)

the following day, we headed off for our beach adventure to the phi phi islands. we went to maya beach which got famous by leonordo DiCaprio's movie "the beach". then we headed for some snorkeling around the island's lagoon. after which, we headed to the neighboring islands for more sightseeing, monkey feeding, swimming, lunch, and more swimming. i just enjoyed every minute i was out basking in the sun. too bad, we only got a day.

our last whole day spent in phuket, we epxlored on other parts of the island. we got a good view of phuket's beach lines at viewpoint (one of phuket's viewing spots), then we went elephant trekking, pasalubong shopping, and stopped by a temple just to get a feel of what a buddhist temple is like up close.

pictures speak a thousand words, so check out my multiply site for my photos :) (well, the real reason, i'm just too tired to post another set of pictures for this blog..hehe)

we got back to singapore early friday morning, still thinking of going back to thailand. probably to enjoy the place fully, you have to stay there for at least a month. :) when i arrived here, i was surprisingly busy. there was so much cleaning to do in my apartment, aside from the loads of laundry that awaited. i never really got the luxury of a good rest despite the long vacation. no wonder i am still so exhausted up till now. good thing there's another long weekend coming up. thank God for holidays :)

but as for now, it's back to reality. vacation mode is so over. got to fix my mind set for work.

entrapment

my friends had a day trip to kuala lumpur, malaysia last sunday. well, after having stayed here in sg for about five months, i've finally made my KL-trip :) for about 24 hrs to stay, one couldn't really just go about every interesting place in the city. but having toured the city's finest, it was more than enough that we could ask for (not to mention the free ride we got around the city when our taxi driver kinda lost his way and brought us to the wrong bus station before we left).

we went to KLCC or the petronas tower (who would go to KL and miss this one?), and just within the area is also the KL tower (which is also one of the world's tallest tower). then we dropped by at their chocolate factory (not willy wonka's, but they got great choclits too..our fave was the choclit coated coffee bean...yummy). we also went to southeast asia's biggest shopping mall, the time square (well, it got the world's largest themepark in it). lastly, we headed off to putrajaya (never seen so many architectural wonders in one place, and they're all gov't buildings).

but one of the highlights of our trip, that for sure not all tourist could experience was the fashion show that we got to see in the mall just beside the petronas (Suria @ KLCC).. well, with the hot, sexy, steamy models in it.. it was a feast for our drooling eyes already ..hehehe

okay, so here's what i'm talking abt..

the petronas tower

the guide, the tower, the skybridge



prime minister's office at putrajaya



the mosque's dome and other offices



okay, and now the highlight.. ready to drool :)

but of course, how could i forget a 'dream come true' moment... a kiss from one of the gorgeous models.. hehehehe (dream on!!) ... naah.. it's my 'breakfast at tiffany's' moment. well, when i went to new york, i swore to take a pic of me outside the tiffany & co shop ... well, if ur a fan of audrey hepburn's 'breakfast at tiffany's'..dahling, you could truly relate to me :) hehehehe ... hmm..so okay, i wasn't able to do that in nyc.. cuz we just passed by it while riding the yellow cab. good thing, there's a tiffany & co at the Suria!! so, who'd stop me from taking this pose? well..not even the police!! hehehe

hawker thoughts

i like the part where the nocturnal side in me kicks in. no matter how exhausted i am at work, i still manage to stay awake for as long as i want. the more things get done. that would mean, spare time to blog. :)

i didn't have a good start today. several "misfortunes" happened the moment i stepped out from the apartment's gate. it got worse when i arrived at the office. it was like the movie "pure luck" but to a lesser extent of course. when i started talking about them to my friends, i realized they are really nothing but trifles. i've only thought about that when you hear people going through a greater deal of trouble. sometimes i do get the tendency to be too preoccuppied in my own little, shallow world.
i always tell myself not to complain too much cause i do get to be too whiny at times that i get annoyed with myself. however, i still remember too late about that right after i've said my litany of complaints to my friends. i guess i've got more patient friends than i've thought. hehe. i'm just thankful for that.

despite the morning "misfortunes", the rest of the day turned out well. i've been somehow "productive" at work, and i am proud of myself when that happens (cause that rarely happens).though i must have been still caught busy with either my skype or g-chat by our project manager. hehehe. but that doesn't matter, as long as i've shown some output. we do deserve to have that kind of break, so he probably understands. :)

speaking of these instant messengers, i always get amused at how people play with their status. well, i also do that most specially on my g-chat. you can't really freely expose how you feel on the IM you are using at work. it would cause more harm than good ;)

here's just a few of the funny skype status people use at work:

"FS: Toshiba DVD player, barely used" (talking about advertising for free)

"25 more days..." (people luv to do countdowns..for reasons we'd have to guess)

"Big brother is watching you..." (a status fit only for the boss..i didn't know he's a fan)

"going wondering" (does he mean..wandering? well, it still could work)

"what did i ever do to deserve this?" (hmm.. no wonder this person took a year-long leave without pay)

when there's nothing interesting to do

okay, i am blogging again in the middle of my work hours, but i'm just really bored, and sleepy and i needed a good distraction. good thing claire's blog gave me a good idea to keep me from dozing
off here, or staring blankly at the monitor. so, i'm doing this survey :)

Four jobs you have had in your life:
- software engineer
- software engineer
- software engineer
- software engineer

(i think i really need to do something to spice up my career and think
of odd jobs so that by next time i answer some survey like these, it wouldn't
look as predictable and boring as it is now)

Four movies you would watch over and over:
- legends of the fall
- my best friend's wedding
- before sunrise and after sunset
- ?? (a lot of my fave movies would fight for this position, so i'll just keep this blank)

Four places you have lived:
- bohol
- cebu
- singapore
- *to be defined* (depend's on the direction of the wind)

Four of your favorite expressions:
- hala, bitaw no?
- OMG
- ngak
- seriously? :p

Four places you have been on vacation:
- philippines (pagudpod, vigan, baguio, manila, dumaguete, iligan, butuan)
- japan (osaka, nara, kyoto, kobe, kyushu)
- us (atlanta, orlando, west virginia, new york, new hampshire, boston, seattle)
- singapore

Four websites you visit daily/regularly:
- gmail
- google
- yahoo mail
- blogs of friends, and friend's friends, and
strangers, etc, etc, etc

Four of your favorite foods:
- roasted peanuts (i miss chedeng's!!!)
- prata
- pasta
- fruits (para healthy..hehehe)

Four places you would rather be right now:
- at one of the malls here, window shopping
- in a coffee shop with a good view, then nagmuni-muni
- on vacation, in europe or somewhere else i've never been to
- at home, watching season two of grey's anatomy (i can't wait for it to
be weekend!!)

Bonus Q:
Are you supposed to be doing something else instead of answering this
poll?
- i'm supposed to be doing work, and i got really really really bored
looking at the documents, good thing i bumped into this survey at claire's
blog.. which is a real lifesaver as of this moment.. :p so, thanks to claire..
daghan nata walay lingaw (chuckle).

nobody knows how i feel

it's just so difficult to get by a day at work when your own boss doesn't understand what you do, or what you have done. i always feel that i gave an impression that i am not a very productive person (probably cause i've been seen most often with my skype and gmail always up). sometimes when you make the wrong impression, some people just find it hard to erase that. i am guilty of that sometimes, but we should always give this space for people to show the real them. i guess my boss doesn't do that.

no matter what i do, i get treated as this very unproductive employee and it is just utterly frustrating that i wish i could just kick some butt to prove my point that i am not unproductive at all. okay, so i am getting violent. it was bearable when my own team lead has not resigned, at least i am confident that someone is keeping up with my progress despite what the boss thinks. but now she's left me, like a duckling swamped in the rain with nowhere to go, i am back to the unproductive, skype-addict employee that the boss has branded me. what's worse, there are also other bossy colleagues who thinks the same way and treats me the same way, but i've got bigger problems than to deal with them. if they think i do not exist here, then i feel the same way for them.

however, if i keep these kind of thoughts eat me, i'd really become the unproductive employee that the boss thinks of me and i do not want to give him that pleasure. well, this is my job, these are my frustrations. even if nobody understands how i really feel about these things, there's nothing i could do. i am a slave to my job. it sucks to realize that. but again, i am here, so i might as well get things done while i am at it.

i'm just letting the fumes out. so back to work.

effects of ripples

sometimes you just wish that you won't have to meet some people you've met cause they just stir up the balance and calmness you're trying hard to put in your life. but then for what? for you to adjust and wait till the ripples they cause to die down? there's agony in watching each wave pass you by ..oh, how i hate that!

I-OnlineUpdatable?

let me talk about work. just for now.

One of my current tasks is to modify my gui module and make it Online Updatable. That simply means that i would have to add some changes to the gui so that it gets updated correctly when one of its configurations have been changed. One of the modifications that i have to add in for this is have one of the classes inherit from IOnlineUpdatable, do the required initialisations and voila! my gui now listens for any updates.

Okay, before i get too geeky... just imagine me in the middle of my hectic work with all eyes on my ever colorful visual dev studio. my mind then wanders (which is too often these days) into something that could be "blog"-worthy. but i couldn't just take a break and note that down or else i'll loose the fading (with all the mind-wandering) momemtum i need to do my tasks. so the time just then passes by, and all those thoughts flushed to oblivion. while i was doing that "ionlineupdate" stuff, i couldn't help but think and wish that this blog too becomes online updatable. :) now i wouldn't have to worry how to squeeze in my "blog" worthy thoughts into this blog. how nice could that be? i could do my blogging anytime, anywhere. :p

now i'm just getting crazy for thinking about that. well, it's just that lately i could barely get my "blog" mood back since i'm so stomped with work. By the time i get home, i'd just be too exhausted. except for today. i'm done with my onlineupdate task, so i got the chance to get out of work early (and that is at 7 pm!). i think i've had enough rest (or am i now not used to sleeping early?) since i am still so wide awake and it's past 12 am.

well, enough of blogging for now. i do really need to get my zzz's. tomorrow's another day

:)