red sea

Liverpool's Steven Gerrard (R) celebrates with Xabi Alonso after beating Chelsea 1-0 during their English Premier League soccer match at Stamford Bridge. Yay :)

the giant in you

I have been head-hunted :)
Thank you GOD, thank you for everything, thank you for the continuous opportunities & chances, thank you for giving me the break to make a name for myself in this industry, thank you for marking up my market value, thank you for this life!

The depression and bumps in my life, the stories of hardship and stress – I have to go through them all. And I will have many more to come as I know my life will not be easy and kind. But GOD doesn’t dish out problems without solutions :) I also know that I will reap the rewards later on.
I know I’m not Christ-like, I’m Church anti-social, I’m not a frequent Church-goer, I swear at times, I'm an atheist, I believe in the existence of extra-terrestrials and alien life form, I believe that there will never be peace on earth and justice for all. There is no such thing as equality and the rich will continue to rob the poor. But I show my worship and thankfulness to GOD in my own way. Whether it’s Christian-like or not – this is my way, this is my choice and stop being judgmental about it. At the end of the day, I will face GOD and do all the answering. I am a strong believer in “You have a Choice & Everything in moderation”.

I had a haircut today. A cute bob :)
The cut was fine. Quite nice actually. I have been going to Chong for 2 years now – he’s a decent male hairdresser. Very quiet. I would have preferred someone who would squeal with delight when he/she runs his/her fingers through my hair. One who would scold me for using cheap and nasty shampoos. One who would be inspired by the colors on my face and the changing season outside to make love to my hair and tame the wild beast that it is.

Liverpool VS Chelsea – I’m so excited. Big football game tonight :)

you got to have faith and hope

My 100th post for this year…wow…felt like I’ve reach a milestone in my blogging ‘career’ with Blogger.
My first blog was on 24th September 2005 at 11:26am. It took me 3 years to get here; 254th postings…boy, I’m real slow :)

I think it's really true when people say that time flies by after you hit 21.

Here I am. And it is a new beginning. A new step. I am happy that things are moving forward. Things are happening. I have faith. I just had to let myself go through the whole process. Sometimes the darkest moments in our lives aren’t when we hit rock bottom. Sometimes the darkest moments in our lives is when we hit rock bottom and realize that the abyss actually goes on forever :)

It's almost 43 months since I've entered the hectic hectic world of the FMCG industry. Life was busy and it was all about keeping up with my deadlines. I remembered the tiredness. I remember the bleakness whenever a challenge was thrown at me. I remember having no joy in my spirit when things weren’t going my way and knowing that my former colleagues were doing so well in their career. I remember trying to live - one day at the time. Having to concentrate on just getting through that single day. It was too painful to think about the future, or life. I remember the sheer focus, the mental discipline and having faith in GOD that was needed to stop myself from going mad. The thousands of terrible and depressing thoughts, raining relentlessly in my head; images I couldn’t stop, clouding my view, gripping, choking, dragging me down to that deep, dark place. I remember GOD then. Holding on to this really huge floating thing that kept my head above the water. I wasn’t exactly sure what to do with it, nor why I was doing it at that time, but it was big, much bigger than me, and it worked. I had to wait for so long. I nearly gave up. I remember the helplessness. I remember I couldn’t do a single thing to change anything. Nothing. Just hopelessness. Emptiness. And heart-wrenching sadness.

Then came HER & and that one breakthrough. I thank HER for where I am today.
I’ve experienced failure, depression and rejection but also found success and triumph. Now; looking back...it's bittersweet. I'm still a piece of work in progress...but i'm growing up.
I discover one of life’s sweetest words – it’s GRACE. It heals all that is broken inside me and makes me want to change my life. To live the best I can. With purpose. With significance. With gratitude. With happiness.

Then there was Cassius, Callum & Torres – I admit. I’m bad at relationships. I’m bad in managing them. Come to think of it, I might even have a beautiful ending with either one of them…if I didn’t screw up…

What's next? I wonder.

Yellow Man

Whew! I’m tired. Just got back from Singapore with Iron Butterfly, Celtic and Wendy.
It was a study cum working trip for the 4 of us – we studied the Singaporean market, customer trends, supplier networking, how our Singaporean counterparts conduct their business, their merchandise display and human relations. I am impressed. The Singapore market is way mature compare to Malaysia. Customers are more knowledgeable, have a higher spending power and are more product-quality oriented. Their suppliers are more experienced and have wider market exposure compare to my local suppliers when it comes to doing business, they are so creative in their marketing & promotion mechanics – this I must educate my suppliers. I took a lot of pictures on their merchandise display, open-concept block display & pillar branding – they are just so proper and neat and can create the ‘wow’ impact to lure the customers to walk in into their shops. Not like my Subang store – like a cheap warehouse. Overall I was really impressed with the Singaporean level of professionalism.
I am also impressed with Iron Butterfly as well. During meals time with suppliers, Iron Butterfly handled the question time with ease and precision, deflected lots of silly questions while still being positive. Working trips are inspiring! You get to chat with a bunch of new and interesting people.

Singapore is a sophisticated, developed, modern and a truly global city with its amazing, sweeping, postcard-perfect views of the city. You can literally see, feel, smell and taste that Singapore has been a cross roads of international trade and cultural exchange for centuries. We stayed at Beach Hotel which was situated on Beach Street – the location where many young backpackers come to stay. The place is literally filled with many cafes, restaurants and shopping malls - featuring a secret garden-styled outdoor setting, with cafe tables dotted amongst water fountains, vines, bushy trees, flower beds and birds tweeting in the canopy high above. It’s absolutely gorgeous. I couldn’t resist.

(I have a sudden craving for some alone time)

run; not to make short cuts but make a better self

Task to do:
(1) Brand Fair Mailer Nov – Dec.
(2) BTS 1 & Christmas Mailer.
(3) BTS 2 & Christmas Mailer.
(4) Spring Cleaning 2009 Mailer.
(5) Store 011 Re-vamping Layout.
(6) Tropicana Layout.
(7) USJ19 Layout.

I have no business acumen and I’m horrid with numbers.

This is beginning to run me dry. And I have been very unprepared…

Top Sonic

Selamat Hari Raya

There is always so much going on in my head, but today; it all seemed to be moving at the same speed, with the same rhythm.
Strolling through the city. Shopping at The Curve. Wandering up and down the malls; ended up with 2 new tops :) Sitting in cafes. Devouring greasy hotdogs. I float happily.

Tomorrow - putting a little bit of faith into my heart, and putting aside the fear, and taking the big leap.
Whatever it is, I must keep positive because something good will crop up eventually.

celebrating life in a positive way