Princess in NORWAY

I have arrived in Ulvan, finally. After 13 hours of flying to Amsterdam + 4 hours of transit + another 2 hours of flying to Trondheim + 4 hours of driving by car! The temperature outside now is probably about 0 degrees or perhaps lower. There are frosts on the grass. But thankfully, the room I have is well heated and very cosy. I'll need to go take a nice warm shower now and prepare to join Duke O and Stephen for dinner. More pics when I have the time to...

I am in AMSTERDAM!!!

Hi guys! I am sitting at Schipol airport in Amsterdam now. Waiting in transit for my next connecting flight to Trondheim, Norway. As we landed at 0705hrs (6 hours behind Singapore) this morning in Amsterdam, the sky was still so dark and ground temperature was only 1 degree Celsius. Damn bloody COLD!

But it was a really pleasant flight from Singapore, although we were held back for abt 1 hr due to technical issues. Otherwise, the 13 hour journey was pretty smooth and comfy. I had a whole row of 3 seats to myself! And needless to say, since I was so deprived of sleep, I took the opportunity and slept thru almost the entire flight! I was literally sprawled out on the 3 seats, with the armrests up... Muahahahaha...

Anyway, I'll be meeting Duke O and another colleague later in Trondheim, and we will take a 4 hr car drive to Ulvan where I'll be staying for the night, and also observe the night trucking of salmon out of the factory. I seriously think I'll freeze to death when I'm there!

OK, that's it for now. More pics will follow later when I get into Norway and check into my hotel room (and I suspect it's gonna be so very late).

How long does a garden snail take to grow that big?

How long does it take a garden snail to grow that big??? I found this fella chewing junk mail from the letter boxes at the bottom of my apartment. And this snail is very big. The shell is about 12cm long! Normally, i see many of these snails crushed along pathways. even those very small ones are usually crushed and yucky-looking. But just how did this fella manage to grow till this size without suffering the same fate as it's unlucky peers? It's simply amazing. And how big can it grow???

I wonder if this thought applies to our everyday lives... So many people out there. Even before they ever make their mark, they fall and fail miserably. But somewhere, somehow, some people just manage to surpass their peers and make it to the top. The climb up the ladder very high. They excel in everything they do. And many other people will just be left wondering how long it took to reach the top of the ladder...

A Long Journey

Such a long journey. We have all worked very hard, and come this far. Changes in our surroundings and the environment have led people to move on. Some for the better, but there are also some that didn't quite make it.

Re-structuring in most companies will see some people coming, and also some people leaving. We went thru the same thing in our company. It's been a long process, and we're still seeing some after effects of all these. It's inevitable, and from the macro-level, it's all for the good of the company's development and future. However, I wonder if they do see things on the micro-level as well. Staff movement in that sense have never been good for the morale of most staff. People take a long time to form working relationships. The rapport does not appear overnight. But once a team is torn from re-structuring, people have to start all over again. assuming new duties and working with different sets of colleagues. But on the bright side, there may be better chemistry that could result.

Rumiko & Susumu have decided to leave us, on their own accord. It was truly very very sad that two very nice colleagues and friends will no longer be working in our team. But, from the bottom of my heart, I do wish them all the best in their future undertakings. As people always say, Grass is greener on the other side. So I'm sure they'll find greener pastures. Eric will also be leaving us at the end of this month. And I also feel quite sad about it. Working with Eric has opened my eyes a lot. I've learned a great deal under his tutelage. Although I know that he still maintains that it's gonna be a tough and long road on for me, and I also know that he still has doubts I'll ever survive (since the first day of work together) for long... ...

好不容易走到这里，即使别人再怎么不相信，再怎么看不起，我都觉得不可以放弃。这才是人生一大挑战。Princess Carol, がんばって！！！

每一个人都有很重要的责任

炎热的星期一中午，高速公路旁，一间开了几个月的香港茶餐厅。门上挂着的招牌显示 "CLOSED" 但仔细看里面，其实已有几桌人在用餐。侍应生上前来替我开门，欢迎我。我告诉她门上的牌子不欢迎我，她急忙道歉，并安排位子让我坐下，再把门上的牌子转过来 "OPEN"。

有时觉得，就是这样一丁点的小错误会造成很大的损失。或许在我走进那家餐馆之前，可能有很多顾客因误以为餐馆今天休假，没开，结果都到别的地方去吃了。而餐馆也就失去了几个宝贵的客人。

最近，我工作上也遇到这样的问题。就因为国外的工厂小小的疏忽，导致我们的营业部门出了很大的问题。工厂的工人却不明白其中的严重性。枉我费尽心思为公司争取的顾客，现因工厂的疏忽，以及航空公司的失误让我们赔了好多钱。

下个星期，我还得飞到很远很远的工厂去一趟，看看那儿的运作，骂一骂几个人，再和那边的负责人开个会，然后再飞回来。这样飞来飞去也都不知道又要花多少钱了。

所以说，每一个机构，每一层员工，无论是最底层到最高层，都需要有一定的 comittment. 就连工厂里最底层的员工也可以影响整个公司的运作。

天啊。。。我今天算是破纪录了。。。我居然用中文写部落格咧！！！ 还真要感谢一个朋友的教导和训练。

I'm looking back at all the words above, and I suddenly felt my eyes giving way... Can't believe I wrote all those... But I did, I really did. All by myself lor! Pat on my back!!! Hahahaha....

Daddy's Birthday... Shangri-La...

Daddy's birthday today. Ron had planned to give Daddy a treat, so we booked a table at Thai Village Sharksfin Restaurant @ Goodwood Park Hotel. 8 of us, Daddy, Mommy, Ron & Julie, Hubby & Me, Princess Z & Prince A. We were late, so I told Ron to go ahead and order first. And guess what he did... He cleverly went ahead to order 1 claypot of sharksfin EACH (7 pots @ $60 EACH lor!!!) + Vermicelli Prawns + Scallops & Asparagus + Fried Tofu + Venison + Birthday Noodles. That was sooooooooooooo much food! The pot of sharksfin down already I was 3/4 full, can you imagine the rest of the food... Gosh... Anyway, Apart from the sharksfin, I found that their standard was no good. Seems that the presentation and quality of food was quite terrible as well. And total bill came up to $600+ lor! Fainted...

Well, after dinner, Julie decided to go shopping alone, Ron had to send Daddy & Mommy home, and Hubby, Me & my 2 Royalties went on to Shangri-La for some drinks. Sat at the usual corner right at the back where we could have some privacy and abundant space for the 2 Royalties to run around terrorizing the waitress. Hehehe...

I like the Chino feel...

Reserved... For the Princess...

Lovely China-ware for my Earl Grey

Golden draft for him...

Court Club Sandwich for the 2 Royalties

And we couldn't stop munching on these...

Kimberly came along too!

Moi enjoying my Earl Grey...

It had been a really long time since I enjoyed just sitting around hotel lobby lounges sipping tea or wine to beautiful live Jazz or Bossa Nova music. Tonight was really relaxing... At least I think my wrinkles have subsided a bit! Hehehehe....

A 72 hour battle and things still go very wrong!

After struggling without sleep for nearly 72 hours since Saturday, I had thought that the worst would have ended. I assumed that we'd already been to hell and nothing more could happen. I let my defences down. But when I got a call from Duke O today, about more mishaps, my heart nearly stopped beating. I felt all the blood drained from my face and nearly passed out. I couldn't control my emotions at all, and had literally started shouting at a very apologetic Duke O. I had never, never, never, been so upset with anyone like this before... This really made history. I felt very sorry for Duke O, but someone had to assume that responsibility and catch the shit as we call it. Because it was exactly the same for me when I face my own customers.

I knew my colleagues looked at me with fear and utter disbelieve because they could almost see me breathe fire out of my nostrils, and no one could believe that after such a major catastrophe, I was still standing there. Kevin really couldn't believe his ears and Mitch felt very sad that such a thing was happening too. Stanley called this afternoon as well, and he thought this was some kind of a sick joke too. And Charlie was pretty upset over the series of unfortunate events that he was mouthing so much vulgarities today. If I had a counter, I'd be clicking it for every F word he said, and I'm quite sure the counter would just be jammed!

Someone said to me today, “你还真能撑呀。换成是我，早就不干了。看来，你可不是省油的灯哦！佩服，佩服！！！”That someone was a guy. And I know he's full of respect for me... In fact, from the first day I assume this job position, everyone told me that I was in for a hard time. Everybody I knew had told me that no women could ever make it. All the women we knew had dropped out from this position. And I'm still in the running. I had one very simple theory to it. I try my best, do what I have to do, have lots of patience, keep my cool always (though it was never easy), persevere, and work like a man.

Perhaps the market I'm in charge of has a really good potential for growth. And everyone knows how valuable this role is. I'm very sure there are many people out there dying to grab this seat. And whilst I have almost full control, understanding and information of this market, everyone tends to keep their eyes on me. People are always around me, observing what I do, where I go, who I communicate with. It's very pressurizing. I recently told someone that I'm like an endangered species (受保护动物). He didn't believe me. He thought I was joking and he laughed it off. Sigh...

Devastating...

Recent spate of events have led me to start thinking why I'm working so hard. In the past, I'd work with my heart. The interest in what I do for a living drove me to put in my best efforts, just to make things work. Also the fact that I had built part of the organisation, though in a really small way, had driven me to strive even harder. I'm known to most of my colleagues as Princess Carol, only for a very simple reason. I never say die. I never give up. I'll go all way out to fix a problem. Work till 4 in the morning just to make sure nothing goes wrong. But these few months, every thing seems to be going the wrong way.

No matter how hard i try, nothing seems to be right. I'm also left to face and deal with some people with very much less enthusiasm and commitment. To an extent it destroys what I've built and achieved so far. This really disheartens me. I just can't understand how people can brush off duties of top priority as something they can do some other time. Totally no sense of responsibility I'd say. And, to add salt to the wound, I feel the least about getting recognition for my commitments. I do have colleagues at my same level recognising what I've done so far (because it's really tough job even for them, not to mention for a lady) but sad to say i don't see the same coming from the top. Sad. Really sad, and disappointing. 就象我一个朋友常说，每个人一生的努力，如果得不到认同和肯定，那就真的很失望。。。

Just this weekend, all my orders went to hell. Almost 100%. And whilst I was trying really hard to salvage whatever I could by working the whole of Saturday and almost all of Sunday till 5.30am, I still got shouted at by my customers. I haven't slept at all since Saturday. And I'm really tired. Very very tired....

On the lighter side, as a form of stress relieve and a way of self improvement, I started re-looking at my language skills again. Having no time at all to attend proper lessons, I began reading my previous notes on Japanese and speaking to my friends and colleagues as much as I can in that language. I've also made a vast improvement in my Chinese, thks to my colleagues in the office and around the region and most importantly, a friend who's been very encouraging and giving me the occasional 'assignments'. I have progressed to the stage where I can now read a whole page of Chinese words without going cross-eyed, Haha... Oh! I also forgot to mention that I'm quite addicted to facebook. I enjoy the fluff races, and feeding my Wawaby! Hehe... Takes my mind off work as well. Most importantly, it's interesting to know that the world is really small, and that yr friends do know some other friends too!

Anyway, was at Vivo today with Tweetie & Michelle... Had lunch @ Sushi Tei, and it was utterly disappointing. Everything tasted horrible. The sashimi platter had Botan Ebi with the head blackish and almost falling off. The scallops were really mushy and fishy already... My main dish, Hiyashi Chuka had crab meat that didn't look fresh either ans tasted (-_-)... Nope. Nothing won my appetite today. So I decided to buy a box of donuts to share in the office... Looked OK, but tasted (-_-) too... Sigh... What's going on....

What A Day... ...

I had a terrible day at work today... Everything went wrong. Felt really sad and disappointed...

I actually had no idea how to react, what to do, and whether I should just pack up and walk off...

But it just wasn't me to do that. I actually rushed back to the office to fix a crisis when I was halfway thru dinner with hubby.

I feel so bad for him. But really thankful that he understands my job well enough to not divorce me already, because that's not the 1st time I had to run back to work half-way thru a meal with him (*o*)...

Oh, and I am still wondering how the airline could have made such a blunder, and sent a part of one of my shipments to San Francisco instead of Singapore... It's on the other side of the freaking globe!!!

Strawberry Avalanche!

Had lunch at White Dog Cafe with Tweetie, Charlie & Michelle yesterday. Food was not too bad, but very rich and heavy. I started with a Lobster Bisque (too salty for me), we shared a White Dog Platter (-_-), and then I had a Linguini Cabonara with bacon & scallops (so rich and heavy... and naturally couldn't finish, to which Charlie finished it for me!), but I managed to find space in my tummy for a Strawberry Avalanche! So there I was with the yummy Strawberry Avalanche full of fresh strawberries, a lot of vanilla and strawberry ice cream, and topped off with whipped cream! FAT!!! Sigh... Couldn't resist...

That look of content...