ICE.COLD.COFFEE

I went swimming although I woke up with a slight sore throat. Haven't been going for training for almost a week now, and I used the excuse that I was sick on Wednesday (although I wasn't) so I doubt they would believe me if I said I was sick again. So, I had no choice but to turn up.

Only 4 of us came. I think everyone wants to sleep in to prepare for countdown so there were so few of us. We swam 2.4km in total. And I was the only breaststroker there since the others swim freestyle so they had to keep waiting for me. Not forgetting that the others are all guys while I'm a girl.

For one set, we had to do 4 x 200m pulling. (pulling means you put the pull bouy in between you legs and swim. So you can't kick, you just swim with your hands, without kicking) And obviously, freestyle pulling is like twice as fast as breaststroke pulling so I was lagging behind most of the time.

And they wanted me to lead for the last 200m. Are you crazy?! But it's just for fun la. And since breaststroke pulling is so slow, they asked me to do the freestyle one. The thing is, I don't swim freestyle so I'm really slow. They said they'll give me 10 seconds lead. Oh well... I'll just go then they can overtake me later. So, as expected, the overtook me by the first 100m. Haiz... What can I say? If I manage to hold on to my lead, it either means I'm really good or they have to train much, much harder.

After training, my throat still felt sore. Soemtimes I'll wake up feeling sick when I have to go for training. Then after I swim, my blocked nose, sore throat, etc will all disappear. But today, I still had that nagging pain in my throat.

I went home and had lunch, then I tried to fall asleep while watching tv on the sofa. I sat there for more than 3 hours and watched lots of meaningless shows, but I just couldn't fall asleep. My whole body was aching and I could feel like I was going to fall sick.

At around 5, I went to bathe and got changed for the countdown dinner.

It was at Warren Country Club and the theme is Hawaiian and Brazilian. But my family didn't really dress up to the theme.

The invitation card said to be there by 6.30pm. We turned up at 7pm. But even when we reached there, the restaurant wasn't ready yet and we weren't allowed to go in.

The staff were all dressed in Hawaiian clothes and there were 3 models, 2 babes and 1 hunk, taking pictures with people. The girls were wearing a bikini top and a piece of cloth wrapped around their waists and the guy was topless and wearing a pair of bermudas.

They asked us to take photos with them, but we were too shy.

When the restaurant finally opened its doors, the 2 female models held a stick horizontally in front of the entrance. Seems like everyone had to do the limbo to get in.

No exceptions.

Some people tried to cheat by squatting down but there was this lady who would stop you if you didn't do it properly. Then you would have to do it again, until you got it right. Of course, the bar wasn't too low so it was quite easy for most of us. And for those who look like they can go really low, the models would purposely push the bar lower and for those who look like they haven't done it before, they'll make it easier.

We were quite shy about going in like that so we wanted to wait to see if they would allow people to go in normally and upright later. But they seemed like they'll be there until all the guests went in. So, we decided to go in then.

My Dad went first, followed by my Mum. My Mum was really shy and she tried to cheat. Wrong move!

The lady caught her and she had to do it again, until she got it right on the 3rd try. I went next, followed by my brother. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

The dinner only started at 8pm and at our table, only 6 of us turned up before the dinner started. The other 4 were really late.

We were separated into 2 groups and we had to think of a group name. The theme was movies. Our group came up with King Kong, and upon hearing our group name, the group leader of the other group joked that his group would be named "Chicken Little". Although it was just a joke, the emcee really named them Chicken Little and they earned 500 points for the better group name. Haha.

The show was pretty interesting and the food was fine.

There was a fire and magic show by this magician. He looks really young. In my mind, I somehow think that magicians are always guys in their late 20s or 30s. This guy looks a lot younger. The fire show was quite interesting and he spinned sticks which we were lighted on both sides. The magic show was actually, erm, not very good, because you could actually see though some of his tricks. It was interesting nonetheless.

At about 11 plus, I started to get really cold. I think it's because of the soft drink I kept drinking. I was also wearing a sleeveless shirt and skirt. So I kept going to the washroom because it was warmer there, then I would use the hand dryer to warm myself up a little.

When it was 10 minutes to midnight, I was already shivering like mad. Seriously, I was shivering.

Luckily, we went out of the restaurant for the countdown, to some stage area, without aircon. It was really nice because there was a band performing there and everyone was so happy.

When it hit midnight, everyone was cheering and there was this lady who came up to everyone and said happy new year. I shaked hands with her and wished her happy new year too.

After the countdown, we went back to the restaurant and the disco started. Of course, I didn't dance since my parents were there.

After listening to the music for a while, we went back.

By then, I was already feeling sick because I was having a headache.

After I reached home, I quickly went to bathe and sleep. I was having a fever and a cold and a sore throat and my whole body was aching. What a great way to start the new year. Haha...

It was still a fun party though.

We went cycling. I was expecting like half the class to come, but in the end, there were only 3 guys and 5 girls. So few of us, but we had fun!

We rented our bikes at Pasir Ris Park, $10 for 3 hours. And cycled out to Tampines Sun Plaza Park. There, we sat on the swings. I love swings! Haha... Haven't sat on one for like don't know how long already.

It rained a little in between, but luckily it was only a small rain and stopped pretty quickly.

After cycling around for a while, we went back to Pasir Ris Park and went to the playground.

These few days, I've been really excited about receiving smses. Feels like the time when I first got a phone and was so excited when ever it rang or beeped.

Sometiems, the sms comes as a nice surpise. Other times, it's just... nothing more than a beep.

This bbq was supposed to be held during the June holidays after the handover. Mun Bbun said he wanted to organise one for the year 1s to thank us for being such wonderful juniors. It was supposed to be a surprise so only he, Esther and I knew about it.

Anyways, it was postponed because there wasn't enough time and I ended up being the one planning it. But who cares, as long as we all come together to have fun, it doesn't matter what it's for or who plans it.

At times, the planning was quite frustrating but it was fun too. =)

But the thing is, there were supposed to be like 13 people coming. But after I confirmed the date, they said they couldn't come one by one. It got me so worried that the bbq wouldn't be a success with so few people.

But luckily, it was! Haha...

Me, Melissa, Jia Yan and Yong Bin went to Fairprice to buy the food. And since there were so few people coming and we had $100 to spend, we didn't have to worry about the price.

We bought lots of stuff, including sparkling juice, ice cream, chocolate, honey, etc.

The bbq was fine... The 4 of us, Wei Sheng, Yin Ren, Kaijun and Mrs Chuah came.

I don't like to eat chicken wings so I was eating mostly the hotdogs and drinking. Haha. I never get full at barbeques.

Anyway, my favourite part was playing basketball. I haven't played for like don't know how long already and when I took my ball out this morning, it was covered in some white stuff. Don't know is that dust or mould. Ewww...

I love playing basketball, just that when ever we play match, I just can't seem to get the ball in. Maybe I'm too excited that I forget to aim properly.

So, the whole barbeque was nice! Most of the food was burnt, but that was the only way to make sure it was cooked. And Yin Ren is the barbeque king! Haha... He managed to cook the chicken wings so nicely that they weren't burnt but were cooked on the inside.

I had lots of fun and I'll sure miss the seniors! Wonder if we'll ever get a chance to have bbq with them again.

My whole holiday is officially packed!

Tuesday (Today): Do homework

Wednesday: Finish homework (hopefully)

Thursday: Horti bbq

Friday: 4J class outing

Saturday: My Dad's company countdown dinner

Sunday: Celebrate New year.

Monday: Rest day. Prepare for school.

Tuesday: Back to school

Can I pleeasee have another week of holidays?

The sale was so nice! Lots of stuff to buy.

Only thing was that there were so many people since it's a public holiday.

Anyway, I bought 2 pairs of 3/4 jeans, 1 skirt and a top. Haha. So happy...

The queue was so damn long, but the good thing is, my Mum, Dad and brother took turns to queue while we were still shopping. And luckily for me, I didn't get to queue so after I finished shopping, I could pay straight away. They queued for more than an hour altogether.

Lucky me!Haha...

The Sexy Name Decoder

Oooh... Don't think it's true. At least not yet... Haha.

My Dad's sick so we didn't go out at all. Spent the entire day slacking, watching tv, eating and sleeping. Haiz...

What a way to spend Christmas. And to think I got so excited when the Christmas spirit was back in me the night before, only to get a boring day in return.

Anyway, found out that there's a Metro sale at Expo starting tomorrow. Hope we can go!

Every Christmas, the entire family on my Dad's side will go to my Aunt's house for family gathering.

It's a super big family. Cos my Grandma had lots of kids and now they have kids who have more kids. Haha.

It's kinda complicated cos one of my cousins is younger than my nephew. Then sometimes even we get confused if the small kids should call us auntie or jie jie. I don't want to be called Auntie! So old!

Anyway, almost all the young kids call everyone Auntie or Uncle. That's what happens in a big family.

The down side of having a big family is the "politics" involved.

Precisely because of the size, there's bound to be misunderstandings and people who can't get along. Hiaz... That's so irritating and I hate that!

But then, I just try to ignore it and have fun. Why let such things spoil the mood?

And the last time I went, I was frustrated about all my cousins being so thin and well-dressed, they can all become supermodels. But I decided that I don't want to be bothered by it anymore.

And actually, I'm not fat. Just that they are all super thin. And maybe because I have a rounder face because of my high cheekbones and my broad shoulders because of swimming, that's why people think I'm fat. I'm not, just that I have a bigger frame. Haiz whatever...

But the main focus today is not on that.

Another of my cousin asked me "got boyfriend or not?".

He asks me every single time I see him, it's getting irritating. So what if I don't have? I like it this way. He's a very nice guy though, just that he's overly concerned about this matter that it gets on my nerves.

And, his younger brother, who's one year older than me, was bringing his girlfriend for the family gathering. It's not his first one...

On a happier note, I had a good time playing with my nephew today. He was soooo cute. And in between my meal, he asked me to take a photo with him out of the blue. Haha. But I was very happy. =)

But when my cousin's girlfriend arrived, my nephew's attention was split among the 2 of us. And I felt kinda jealous cos she got all the attention from everyone else too. I know it's stupid to be jealous about it cos it's expected since we haven't seen her before, but there was this jealous feeling inside of me.

And in case you're wondering, I don't "like" my cousin so I wasn't jealous in that type of way. It was just that I was the only girl in that age group since all the other girl cousins were a few years older and already working. So I spent a lot of time hanging out with that cousin and the other guys in our age group. So when he brought his girlfriend, I was a teeny weeny bit jealous la.

At about 8 plus, all of us went downstairs to play with sparklers. We do this every Chinese New Year and sometimes during Christmas. I used to enjoy this a lot when I was a lot younger. Now, the excitement seems to have died off. Think I'm getting old. Haha.

We went back about 10 plus and after I reached home, I quickly went to bathe because I wanted to be ready to sms my friends Merry Christmas when it reached midnight.

And I messaged everyone at the pastry kitchen and some of them replied. Haha. Happy happy...

I received lots of Merry Christmas messages from my friends too. Haha.

The Christmas spirit is here again!

To everyone out there,

HAVE A GREAT CHRISTMAS filled with love, joy and happiness and all the wonderful things in life!!!

Be happy alwayz and smile lots!!!

(And thanks for reading my blog!)

Lotsa love, Charlynn!!!

Before I went for the attachment (in Nov), I could already feel the Christmas spirit building up in me. You know, with the tsunami last year, the celebrations were kinda cut short.

Then during the attachment, the Christmas-sy feeling built up more when I saw log cakes and Christmas stuff everyday.

But now, everything just disappeared. Maybe I'm too caught up with the attacment that I don't have time to think about Christmas!

And I know that I should probably stop talking about the attachment. It irritates me to know how much I think about it and miss it. But I seriously can't help it... I miss them so so much.

I seriously don't know what I want to be in the future.

I feel that every step I take now is making me more specialised in a certain field and narrowing my career options. Tha't why I'm afraid that I'll make the wrong choice.

I don't want to waste my life doing something I hate...

Somehow, I subconciously decided that I want to be an accountant. I've semi-decided that I want to study Accountancy at SMU and I don't even know how I came up with this decision.

My Dad says an accountant earns quite a lot. Starting pay already maybe about $2,000.

But the thing is, I've told myself, since I was young, that I want an interesting and dynamic job.

A 9 to 5 office job is a definite no! And that's why I'm freaking out now, because if I continue going into accountancy, that's what I see myself doing in the future - a job I hate!

I'm really, really confused.

And after working at Conrad, I feel that being a pastry chef is such a fun job. It's just what I really want! But the problem comes in. I've asked some of the other chefs and they earn only $1,000+ after working for like 3 years. That's a far cry from what an accountant earns.

And if I want to go into the pastry line, I'll have to do a course at Shatec. So if I decide that I want to do this, I'll have to give up going to university. Because if I go to university, I'll end up studying something I don't need, waste money and also waste 3 years of my life!

I'm really confused.

This may be just some passing phase in my life. You know, like when I was young, I wanted to be a teacher and others wanted to be firemen, policemen etc. But I have never felt so strongly for a job before. Like I can see myself being happy doing this for the rest of my life!

Besides, when I was there on attachment, the stuff I had to do was much easier than what the other full-time trainees had to do. And I know that there's also stress and stuff to handle.

So, I have to make a choice. Choose the high paying job that I hate, or choose something that I love, but with less pay. And I can only choose one. Either way, I'll have to give up something.

I know that some people may say I should do what I like. But the thing is, we also have to be practical. Money may not be everything, but it IS important. Seriously, without it, ife would be much harder.

And my parents see me as going to university, and ending up with a high paying job. I'm not sure how they'll react if I really decide to do something else. Maybe they'll be disappointed, but after a while, I know they'll support my decision.

Hmm... confused...

Is there a fun and high paying job out there? If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to comment. I need help!

I was beginning to get over missing the pastry kitchen gang.

But after seeing them again yesterday, it just makes me miss them all the more.

Haiz. I think I'm too emotional. So long already (5 days) since I stopped work and I still think about them.

I just feel weird not going to work. Maybe it's also because of the holidays. cos if I go back to school, then life will be more "normal". But now, having nothing to do (except a whole pile of homework), is making me miss the fun days working.

It seems weird that I can't get over the type of life I led for 3 weeks at the pastry kitchen and go back to the life I've been having for 6 years (I moved to Tampines in 2000)...

I went to search my name on Yahoo!.

When I tried "Charlynn", I found lots of other people named Charlynn. Haha. Charlynn isn't a very common name, but there are still people with this name. Usually it's spelled Charlene, Sharlene etc.

Other similar names include Charmaine, Sherlynn etc. Can't really think of many right now.

And I found out that Char Lynn is some type of hydraulic motor or something like that. Haha.

When I searched "Charlynn Low", my blogger profile came out first. Guess there aren't many people with the same surname.

It's fun! Try it! (But it may not be very useful for people with very common names)

I had to go for training today although I was planning to skip it.

Because they said Daryl was coming to correct our strokes. But in the end, he couldn't make it. Haiz. Anyway, today's training was fine. I swam 2.3km.

After training, I went to Suntec. Chef Steven was going to treat me and Zhang Lan to hi tea to thank us for working without pay. I was so excited!

But when we went to B1, we had to get a visitor's pass since we weren't working there anymore. Then the security guard didn't believe us when we said we were looking for Chef Steven and that he knew we were coming. So he had to give the pastry kitchen a call. I know it's for security reasons but it was so troublesome! And people walking pass kept looking as though we were caught for smuggling some bomb inside. Haiz.

In the end, we realised that it was Chef Steven's off day. He wasn't there. Someone else would come to meet us instead.

Ah Ming came and brought us in. Then we saw that the security guard's face change. He was so fierce to us before then when Ah Ming came, he became so friendly.

We went into the kitchen and I passed them the photos and a Christmas card. It was a very nice feeling cos some of them stopped their work to come over to talk to us and see the photos.

And as usual, Echo gave us stuff to eat. Haha. She's so nice to us!

We joked a lot and had lots of fun. I really miss working in the pastry kitchen.

They said we came on the wrong day for hi tea because saturday's hi tea was buffet while today's wasn't. Haha.

At about 2.30pm, we went upstairs and it was so nice to hear Virginia tell the waitress that we're invited by Chef to have hi tea!!! Haha. Sounds so high class.

Anyway, the hi tea consists of a pot of tea each and a set of pastries. We already tried most of the pastries in the kitchen before but today, it was different because of the nice ambience. And we used forks and knives instead of our hands. Haha.

Zhang Lan and I took turns to choose what we wanted to eat. She took one item, then I took one. Then after we finished eating, we chose again...

There was only one of everything, except for a few items. So we had to choose carefully what we wanted to eat. And I always couldn't make up my mind because everything looked so yummy!

It was a really nice meal, but I didn't really like the tea. It's supposed to be some expensive tea then you have to sip and enjoy it or something like that. Haiz. But I guess I don't know how to appreciate it.

After the meal, we walked about at the lobby and went to the gift shop to look at the cookies. We also saw the log cakes that we made on sale! Haha. So proud of ourselves.

Then after a little while, we went back. It felt so weird going back so early because everytime we went home, the sky would already be dark.

And it was really sad to leave too, because I know that I may never get a chance to see them again. It just made me feel so empty inside...

Went Kbox with Xuan Yun, Cindy, Hanjie, Yuwen and Xiu Zhen.

It was really fun and I got to sing a lot of songs!

So far I only went to kbox once, with my family. Haha. So I didn't have a lot of singing experience.

Besides, my singing sucks. (Did I mention that I was also in my school's choir in secondary school?)

Anyway, all our voices also quite average la, so nothing to be embarrassed about. Anyway, I was singing with good friends what, so embarrased then embarrassed lor... Haha.

Fun! We should go more to get more practice!

I went to the gym at 8.30 am this morning... Didn't think that I would have the determination to wake up so early during the holidays.

I think it's because during the attachment, Ah Kheng and Kuok I said it wasn't good to sleep too much. Makes you even more tired instead. (Kuok I sleeps maximum 6 hours a day!)

Haha. It's true! If you sleep too much, you'll become lazy and lethargic.

At the gym, I ran 5km! Woo hoo! So proud of myself. I just felt like runnning so maybe that's why is wasn't that hard. Of course not all at one go lar. I ran quite slowly and took breaks in between.

After lifting some weights and at about 10am, I went home.

Been surfing the net since.

And yesterday, I contacted Chef Steven about me and Zhang Lan going down on Wednesday and he said ok.

Whahaha... I'm so excited. He told us we can have hi tea later. His treat!

I didn't know that hi tea was spelled h-i. All along, I thought it was h-i-g-h tea. Haha.

Actually the main reason I want to go down is to pass them the developed photos and to see them.

Although I don't miss them as much as the past few days, I still miss them a lot!

The treat is secondary, but I'm also looking forward to it!

Going kbox with Xuan Yun, Cindy, Yuwen and Xiu Zhen later.

Got to go shower now. Toodles!

I don't have to go to work today...

In case you still don't know, it's not my day off. My attachment has already ended.

And I miss everyone terribly.

The whole experience seems surreal, even though it was for a whole 3 weeks.

It was definitely a life changing experience. And I never regretted one moment of it.

Now that it's over, I feel kinda empty. Haiz...

I was hoping that time would pass slower so we wouldn't have to leave so soon...

There were 80 log cakes to put the cream on today. Only Zhang Lan, Echo and me were doing that because the others had to do other stuff.

It's much easier today after we got the hang of it. And Echo even priased my log cake. Haha! I was so happy!

In the end, we finished 73 by 9pm and Zhang Lan and I had to leave. I wanted to finish the remaining 7 but Echo insisted that we shouldn't be overworked. Haha.

Luckily everyone left one by one today and I didn't have to say bye bye to them all at once so it wasn't that hard.

We took many group photos and it was so fun! I think they haven't had the chance to take group photos because there was no reason for it.

After the photo taking session, Su gave me and Zhang Lan each a card. It was from everyone and I was so touched! I wanted to open it there and then but better to do it at home la.

Then, Su went back.

And there was a time when Virginia, Echo, Ah Hau, May Yee and Autie were in the chiller with me and Zhang Lan, Wonder why the timing so nice, but they gave us a present each. So touching!

One by one, they all went home, until only Virginia, Echo, Ah Hau, Chef Steven, Kuok I, me and Zhang Lan were left.

I think Kuok I was waiting for us to have dinner with him before we leave but when we got to the canteen, he was eating with some other chefs and the table was quite full so we didn't get the chance.

In the end, Zhang Lan and I sat together.

I think he was waiting for us but before we got there, some of his friends came and sat down.

Anyways, before he left, he came over to say bye bye.

Chef Rosli also came to shake our hands and wish us all the best for our futures.

Even when I say bye bye to them one by one, I already wanted to cry. But I held back my tears.

After dinner when we went back to the kitchen, Chef Steven said good bye to us and asked us to come back one day next week because he wanted to treat us to high tea. So nice of him!

It was already 7pm plus and only Virginia, Echo, Ah Hau, Zhang Lan and me were in the kitchen. We talked a lot.

Then I asked them what was tiramisu because I really had no idea what it was. Luckily, Ah Hau was going to make some so he quickly made it and let us try.

Honestly, I can't really remember what it tasted like. But he made it so nicely, even added the decorations and stuff.

Then, we exchanged phone numbers and before we left, Echo brought us up to the "Salon by the pool" where guests were having a Hawaiian theme party. She had to replenish the food so we went up just to take a look. It was beautiful!

After we left, we opened our cards. There were a lot of words inside and I knew that if I read it there and then, I'll definitely cry so I quickly kept it. Zhang Lan read hers though.

Then, we opened the present on the way to the bus stop. It was a small music box!

It was such a sweet present! I love it!

I messaged the others to thank them for the wonderful present and most of them replied...

Makes me so sad to leave but I'll come back another day for the high tea treat and to pass them the developed photos!

Looking forward to seeing them again!

Damn renovation, so early in the morning!

I was so tired and wanted to sleep till 10am.

But the drilling went on from 8.30 to 9.30.

What the hell! People want to sleep on a Saturday morning you know?!

**************************************************

And today is the last time I'll be going to work. Sure feels sad.

Hope that it will be a memorable and fun day!

Yup, the job attachment is almost over! Tomorrow will be the last day...

I'm not happy. In fact, I can't bear to leave...

I knew that it would be hard to leave because when I thought to myself that 3 weeks will be over soon when I was only in the first week of the attachment, I already felt sad and could even cry.

I really, really can't bear to leave! I thought of extending this attachment but I still have a pile of untouched homework waiting to be done. Besides, it would be even harder to leave later...

And today is the last day I'll be seeing Ah Ming, because it's his day off tomorrow. He's the assistant pastry chef and a really good one too.

He's fiece sometimes and I understand he has to be in order to make sure things get done. But he's really playful too. I can get scared of him when he's fierce, but he's a really nice guy when he's in a good mood.

We took lots of photos with him today and I'm seriously going to miss him. He's a great chef, a great leader, and a great friend...

Waa... I already got so emotional when I went home today. I almost cried... I really can't imagine what would happen tomorrow. I'll probably cry my eyes out...

I don't want to cry though, because it's kinda embarassing. But I can't help it because I cry really easily and from the bottom of my heart, I seriously can't bear to leave!

Also, Zhang Lan seems to be looking forward to the end of the attachment and doesn't seem sad that we're leaving. It'll be weird when I cry like mad tomorrow and she doesn't even shed a tear.

During dinner today, we had a chat with Kuok I, another chef. He's such a perfectionist that everthing he makes is so beautiful, such that when I helped him to dip the strawberries yesterday, I kept asking if it was pretty enough or if I had to redo it. He definitely has to potential to become a head chef! This guy is also really young, and cute too! Haha... Definitely miss him when I'm gone...

There's also another chef. Her name is Echo. Pretty special huh? She's such a dear and bears a lot of resemblance to Shuwen! I love her so much! She's so unpretentious, happy-go-lucky, cheerful, and just great!

Today at about 8 plus, she called out my name, just like she usually calls me. Charrrlynnn... She always "drags" my name and calls it loudly, but I love it. I thought she wanted to use the sink because I was using it then and she was just right beside me. But then, she said that she just called my name for fun because soon she wouldn't get to do that anymore after I leave tomorrow. It just made me feel all the more sad to leave!

For today, we did log cakes for the entire day again today. But luckily, Ah Ming taught us how to do it properly and it was much easier. Did I mention that he's a great chef? Haha...

It wasn't as hard as the last 2 times we did it. But still tiring though.

And tomorrow, it'll be log cakes too because there's some great order and we have to finish 80 plus cakes by tomorrow. Of course, not only me and Zhang Lan will be doing it. Others will have to chip in too.

On the way home, I read my 8 Days magazine and there's a Maybank advertisement in it. It says that if you spend $1000, you get to redeem a free Conrad log cake! There are 1000 cakes to give away.

No wonder we had to make so many! And 1000?!?! Wow! That's a lot, a lot of log cake.

Ah Ming said that usually for Christmas, everyone'll be doing log cakes together and it'll be so much fun. Unfortunately, we won't be there to join in the fun...

This attachment is coming to an end soon and I don't want it to end!

But then again, all things have to come to an end. After this, we'll all get on with our lives and let this become a beautiful memory...

I got to prepare a lot of recipes today. It's much easier than doing other stuff.

I preapared ganach (some sort of chocolate), some sponge cake, carrot cake (not the cai tau kueh you get from hawker centres!) and some grand marige (wrong spelling) cake. Fun!

And after 7pm, only Echo, Ah Hau, Zhang Lan and I were left in the kitchen. We had fun talking and eating stuff. Haha. I love working late!

It's sad that we only have another 2 days of work left! I definitly miss this great bunch of people! I wouldn't mind extending the attachment, provided we are given allowance. Now that we're working, without being given any salary or allowance, it makes no sense to go to work when I have to fork out my own transport fare!

If they could just give me a little, little bit of allowance to cover my transport expenses, I'll voulenteer to work another week or two!

Log cakes are fun... or should I say were fun.

We enjoyed putting the cream on the first few ones.

Now, do that another 20 times, for the entire day!

It's killing me!

It's Tuesday the 13th, but somehow, it was a totaly unlucky day. Wonder if the legend Friday the 13th was mixed up with Tuesday...

1. Virginia clamped her hand on the cupboard door. It was really silly and very, very painful.

2. The entire trolley fell on Virginia! The trolley was taller than a person! She slipped and fell, and the trolley she was pushing up the ramp fell onto her. Luckily, she wasn't hurt much, except for a hard knock on her right shoulder.

Seems like an unlucky day for Virginia only right? Wait till you hear my story...

3. There was this mad guy following me or something! Ahh... Save me!

When I came out of the MRT train at Bedok, he came out at the same door too. Then he looked in my direction and rubbed his nose vigrously. I thought maybe his nose itchy, it was just a coincedence.

But when we were about to go down the escalator, he did it again! Looked at me and rubbed his nose vigrously!

And you know, there are lots of people squeezing to get onto the escalator. So I could tell that he was trying to stand on the same step as me because he didn't want to move forward when he had the chance to.

So on the escalator, luckily I was 3 steps behind he and he sort of turned to look at me, as if he knew that I knew that he was up to no good.

So when we came out of the escalator, a lot of people turned left, but I turned right instead, in case that guy tried to come up to me. I thought it was the end of that weird encounter.

But after we came out of the exit, he purposely came right next to me and did it again! DAMN SICKO!

I stared at him then he walked faster in front. He kept looking back at me and I just ignored him.

Finally, he was out of sight when I reached the bus interchange. The incident irritated me for the rest of the day. Stupid dumbass!

And when I was in the queue for the bus, I received a message...

Bad news number 4...

4. Li Ling is quitting swimming!

Ok, can't really call that bad news, but it was something that really disappointed me.

I know the trainings are affecting her studies and she doesn't have enough time. I'm already lucky that she wants to quit after one year. She already thought of quitting right before the competition, but luckily she stayed on.

This time, I can tell that she really wants to quit and that it will do her good if she has more time for her studies.

So, all I can do is to wish her all the best, and pray really, really hard that there'll be girls joining next year!

Can you believe it? Zhang Lan and I got to make log cakes today!!

I think we got the chance because we were on attachment.

Any other trainee would have to work for quite a long time before they got the chance.

Anyways, it was really fun!

Whenever I see the others making log cakes, it looks so so easy.

But I can't say the same when I did it. Haha.

We were given the log to "paint" (cover in cream then make chocolate streaks).

I would put up some pictures of it but my new computer doesn't have the camera software installed yet, and I'm too busy, er lazy, to do it. Maybe another day. Haha.

It's the cashflow finals!

I'm not particularly nervous, because I don't really aim to win. I just want to have fun.

It's weird because the people at my table were so friendly. We were helping one another throughout the game that felt funny to be so helpful. After all, it's still a competition.

But then again, their friendliness only made the game more fun and less competitive. Not as stressful as I thought it would be.

When my passive income hit one million dolllars, I thought I was already quite good because for the prelims, one million was really high.

But I forgot that this was the finals and that I was playing with the best.

In the end, first place had a passive income of 28 million, 2nd: 26 million and 3rd: 7 million.

So my results weren't that good after all.

Anyways, I had fun and there was this really cute girl at my table. She was so nice to everybody and was quite funny. I think it was because of her that our game became so much fun!

And, there was this handsome guy I saw today!

Also saw him during Camp Ideapolis, but it's a different guy I was talking about in that previous post.

Kim and I also saw this guy on the MRT on the day of training. Haha.

And today, he was going from table to table to see how everyone was doing. When he came to our table, he sat down for a while and talked to me and another girl because the others were buzy calculating some stuff.

Didn't really asked much about him cos it didn't feel right then. But halfway, he asked "you're from VJ right?" Then I asked "How you know?" (Secretly hoping that he had been noticing me as well. Haha. I'm mad!) Then he pointed to a slip of paper with all our names on it.

Chey! He saw the paper! No wonder! Made me so paiseh.

But then again, how did he know my name? Haha. But I didn't ask in case it made me seem desperate. Haha.

At the end of the competition, we each received a certificate of participation and had to go up to receive it.

And guess what? That guy was the one giving out the certs.

So I had the chance to shake his hand. Haha! Don't know why I'm so hapy about such little things.

His hand was really big and strong and his handshake was very firm. He said something to me but I didn't really hear, much less reply. Must have been something like "Congratulations" or "Thanks for coming".

After the whole competition, I decided to go to work although I was so terribly tired. I was totally knocked out on the MRT. I didn't even know when the lady sitting on my right alighted and a guy sat beside me. No wonder I was shocked when I woke up to see that the pretty lady transformed into a fat guy. Haha.

But I woke up just in time to aloght at CIty Hall.

Today, I made chocolate chip cookies, cut the oh so yummy blueberry cheesecake, washed oranges and some other stuff I can't remember.

And I ate loads of log cake too! Because the cake shop couldn't sell it this week and it was expiring soon. Haha. There were loads of food to eat today.

There's this chef who calls me mei nu (pretty lady) all the time. Haha. I know he's only joking la but it makes me so happy! Haha.

And at the end of the day, Fen gave me some of the chocolate cookies I made to bring home! Haha. She's so nice!

And I'm glad that I went to work although I was so tired today! It was loads of fun!

I got into the Cashflow finals!

Woohoo! Haha...

There are 50 finalists and I'm one of them!

Actually, I hesitated about going for the finals because I'm afraid it'll be very competitive and I ewon't like it. After all, I'm playing with the best and everyone hopes to win!

1st prize: $6oo. 2nd: $400. 3rd: $200.

I don't aim to win because I don't think I'm good enough. But I'll try.

I just hope to have fun tomorrow.

It's such a pity that Kim won't be there. It'll be so much less fun alone!

Today is the Cashflow prelims and also my rest day so I don't have to go to work.

Haiya, why do they have to put NTU at Boon Lay? Took me almost an hour to get from Tampines to the other end of the line.

Anyway, I met Kimberly there and we went to NTU together.

It's very fun being with Kim cos she laughs so much! I'm very easily tickled too, but I need someone else to laugh with me.

And of course, we laughed the entire way there and took photos on the bus. Haha.

The game was supposed to start at 1pm but in the end, a lot of people were late. The rules said latecomers would be disqualified. But if all the latecomers were disqualified, maybe we could have gone on to the finals automatically.

The game was fun and I got to know a few people. Luckily it wasn't as competitive as I thought it would be, cos I hate such situations. Everyone was quite friendly and we had fun.

In the end, my passive income was $688,000. It's quite high, so I should be able to qualify for the finals.

After the game, I went to Redhill for XiaoHan's concert.

It was a concert put up by the scholars for their juniors who came from China a few days ago.

XiaoHan just invited us because we were her friends.

It was a nice concert overall. A lot of singing and dancing, but I didn't understand some of the jokes though. Their Chinese too chim.

Anyway, it's been a fun day not going to work. I didn't exactly miss going to work, but I really have fun there, so I'm looking forward to tomorrow!

There was swimming training today and I planned to go last night.

But when I woke up at 7.30am this morning, I decided not to go. Haha. I just didn't feel like it. So I went back to sleep.

Then I had lunch at the hotel with Zhang Lan. All meals at the canteen are provided free so we decided to try the lunch today.

Lunch is almost the same as dinner. Nothing really special.

When we started work, I piped the cream into the eclairs. There were lemon flavoured ones and coffee flavoured ones. There were about 100 in total.

After that, I piped the cream into about another 100 cream puffs.

It was quite fun and easy. Haha.

Zhang Lan was making Santa Clauses in the chocolate room. It's some dough pressed into a mould to make the shape. The chef wanted 100!

After I finished my cream puffs, I went to help her. And that was all we did for the rest of the day.

There were many steps to making one Santa Claus.

1. First, make the face using the mould.
2. Then make the beard using another mould.
3. Make the hat with a third mould.
4. Make the "ball" of the hat with a mould.
5. Paint the hat red.
6. Put on the other pieces.
7. Paint the lips, cheeks and nose red.

Woah! So many steps to making just one Santa Claus. Now, do that 100 times!

I always thought these were machine-made, not hand made.

We did that until it was 9 plus then the chef told us to go back and continue tomorrow. We still have about one-third of the work left to do. Haiz.

But although it's tiring, the satisfaction is there when you see it finished!

I was so jealous the whole day!

I made loads of cookies on my own, in a separate room because I had to use the rolling machine.

Then chef taught Zhang Lan how to make new stuff and they were in the other room with all the others.

I'm jealous because he taught her and not me. But then again, he can only teach one at a time. Maybe it'll be my turn another day.

And also, the part that I enjoy most about work is talking with the others. But because I was in the other room today, I was really lonely.

And the great thing about this attachment is that everyone else is so good to you because you are the newbie. The junior, the xiao mei. Then they give you a bit of everthing to eat and tell you interesting stuff. I love it when people shower such attention on me.

But since I was separated from them today, there was no one to take care of me. So sad...

I'm jealous of Zhang Lan because she got all the attention that I missed out on.

I'm jealous of her, but I don't hate her. Seriously.

Tomorrow will be a better day!

Today is the last day of operation for Oscar's. The restaurant at Conrad.

Virginia brought me up to take a last look before it was closed for renovation.

It's such a nice restaurant. Wonder why they still need to renovate it.

Today, I made chocolate eclairs and cut lots of ... (eh, I don't know what is it called) something like a really small orange. I cut that damn thing for 6 hours! Cos there were so many and I had to take out every single seed!

Also, Virginia made a cake (which costs $150!!) for Fann Wong's celebration after the Star Awards.

Chef says celebrities always come to Conrad. Don't know why also.

They came the previous years after the Star Awards and he also saw Alex Du at the Conrad also.

I went upstairs with Virginia. But we didn't get to see any stars. I think they were in the ballroom.

We also went for a walk at the gift shop and I saw the cookies I made being sold at 3 for $2.40! Wow! So expensive!

The log cake was $50 each! Really expensive too, but it's absolutely delicious. If you want a log cake, you should definitely buy it! It's the best log cake I ever tasted!

And the eclairs I made just now were sold at $1.60 for the small one and $2.40 for the big one (if I didn't remember wrongly). Haha. So proud to see the stuff I made for sale!

After work that day, I was really happy. But I also thought that after another 2 weeks, this attachment would end. Then it would be so hard to leave all these great friends and give up all the fun I have everyday. I really hope that that day would come slowly.

I definitly miss everyone and everything!

Even if the chef wants to extend our attachment, I wouldn't mind!

It's my day off today and I have to go to NTU for Cashflow competition training.

Cashflow is a board game, something like monopoly. Just that this is a little more complicated.

The competition is on Friday and finals on Sunday.

I've only played the game twice. So I really need the practice.

Actually I thought almost everyone would be experts since they all came to take part in the competition. However, I was so shocked to find out that a lot of them didn't play the game before!

Out of 255 participants, 50 will go into the finals. Since so many of them aren't sure how to play the game, maybe I have a chance at the finals!

The game is about building up your passive income (income from dividends from shares, rentals... In short, it's income that will keep coming in regardless of if you work or not.) to be greater than your total expenses. So that you can survive even when you don't work.

The maker of the game came to talk to us and told us stuff about the game relating to real life. Like how we can invest in stuff to build up our passive income and become rich! Haha.

Quite true though. If you build up your passive income first, instead of spending money on bigger house or car, you can earn more money now, then spend later!

It's so different from what our parents tell us.

They tell us to study hard, get a good job and earn lots of money. But this game really changes that perspective.

You should play it for yourself to know what I mean.

All the best to me for the competition!

I think Zhang Lan and I are getting used to the work environment and are getting less shy with the others.

Now, we can joke around and just have fun, not like the first few days when we were really quiet and reserved.

We have dinner with the others and have fun the whole day.

They call Zhang Lan, Xiao Lan. And call me Xiao mei (little sister) because they can't pronounce Charlynn. Haha.

Today, I made more strawberry trees. It's just strawberries poked into a chocolate covered orange and it looks really pretty!

Also, we made more cookies and fruit cakes.

And today, we had especially a lot of food to eat!

We had lots of cookies and cake. And ice cream too!

Nice ice cream always makes me feel high and really happy! Haha. I had a scoop of chocolate and strawberry Movenpick ice cream. It was just heavenly! Haha. The strawberry ice cream had small pieces of fruits in it and the chocolate one had small pieces of chocolate in it. Woo hoo! That was the ultimate!

Haha. I love ice cream!

Today seems like a roller coaster ride. It was both a happy and sad day.

President Nathan was coming to have dinner at the hotel today and it was a really busy day.

Usually, there would be about 7 people in the kitchen, but today, there were only about 2 or 3, including me. The others had to bring food up to the restaurant.

And there is this phone in the kitchen that rings ever so frequently. Everyone except Zhang Lan and me knows how to pick it up.

Today, when everyone was so busy, there were only 2 people in the kitchen.

I was so hoping the phone wouldn't ring if not I would have to pick it up, because I didn't know what to say.

But, it happened.

The phone rang.

The other chef was busy, so I had to picked it up.

The person said something, then I didn't know how to reply, so I asked the other chef to come over. He said something, then put the phone down.

A few minutes later, the phone rang again.

I picked it up again.

The person said something about pastry rack, blueberries blah blah blah... I didn't really know what he said, then I said ok and put down the phone. I told what I remembered to the chef, and he was quite confused at what I said.

Then I think he figured out what was the message and asked another chef who just came in to collect the blueberries.

I could tell he was a little angry because I didn't hear the message properly then.

So of course, I was a little depressed. Seems like I can't really do stuff properly like the other more senior chefs. After all, I'm only a trainee. I've only been there for 4 days!

I almost cried then, but of course, I had to control!

I think he sensed that I was disappointed and told me some stuff about how hard working life is, and how I should study hard when I go back to school...

It's true you know. Studying is one hundred times easier than working.

Anyway, that was the sad part of today. Seems like just a small incident, but it made me really sad.

However, the fun part came at the end of the day.

I had the chance to follow another trainee up the the restaurant "Oscar's". We just had to refill whatever that was lacking on the buffet table.

It was an eyeopener. The restaurant was absolutely beautful!

After we went back to the kitchen, I was taught how to make strawberry shartcake!

Woohoo! So fun!

I didn't get to make the entire cake myself because there were some difficult parts that the chef had to do herself.

Still, I had fun! And while cutting the strawberries, I could eat all those that were out of shape. Haha. Yummy!

Today, my shift is 2 to 10pm instead of the usual 1 to 9pm. But, I think working later is more fun. I also don't know why. Maybe it's because things are less hectic at night.

And when the function upstairs ended, there was some leftover food and fruits from the buffet table and I had a good time eating before I left.

All in all, today was another fun day. Although there was an unexpected sad event, it only made me learn how to do things better. At least now I can pick up the calls with more confidence!