I am so the broke

I know this is nothing new lar...but then again I can't help complaining. It's been hardly a month since I got paid but then everything's gone by now.

And it's this time of the year that I need more cash than ever.

It's Christmas...and you need to get presents.
The Christmas party for BBI...need to spend some on dressing up.
I'm looking for my own place...and I need to pay for the deposit and stuff.
And it's my brother's 21st birthday...and he treats me like a gold mine (should have set a limit in the first place...damn...)

I can't bloody wait to get PAID!

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

I just took last Monday off. Only to return to attend an urgent meeting to address the employees.

Our company just got bought over...by another major company based in the US.

First thought: What, are they going to downsize?

Second thought: If not, am I going to get paid more?

Third thought: Can I get attachments overseas?

And nobody really knows what's going to happen. Though our COO told us that basically nothing will change for our operations but people are still going to be worried anyway. *sigh*

On a different note, my training route has taken a change. My boss decided to let me do my own conjugations before Christmas and that's exactly what I did yesterday.

Instead of following the standard operating procedure, I was presented with a challenge: to start everything from scratch. Meaning, I will write everything up on my own and decide what to do based on what I've been trained on.

Oh, most things went well, except for a few hiccups here and there. (And both my bosses knew about it...shite...) Though they reassured me it's ok, but still...I'm not satisfied with my performance. I should and could have done better.

But by the time in January, I will be pulled off the conjugation team temporarily to work with my boss for a month on another task. (Cos I was told that they need a team dedicated to it and I'm picked coz I'm driven, motivated, enthusiastic, and willing to try everything. Yes, I am.)

*bobbing on the ceiling*

Can't help it...hehe...

It's just...

That something is not right.

Apparently there're no phone lines in our new house at the moment so my dad's relying on his PDA to go online. (Seriously??!?) No wonder I noticed it's much quieter recently. HAHA! But this is not the thing I'm talking about.

OK, my uncle forwarded some pictures of the new house and I've seen the complete ID of the house for the first time. The layout is just like what I've seen in the drafts, but then, something is just not right.



I first saw the pictures at work, so I couldn't really sit down and look at it. But now that I'm at home, I've sat down and taken a good look at the pictures.

It's the curtains.

I don't know about others but...brown and beige horizontally striped curtains together with those furniture? It's just not my taste.

If my dad hears this he would definitely remind me that it's HIS house anyway, and he can do whatever he wants with it, as long as he is happy.

This is just a post to fill up some time and cyberspace.

Yes, indeed.

I'm supposed to be off work 20 minutes ago and here I am, blogging from work. I think I'm not supposed to do that at work but then again, I AM off work officially. I'm just still in the office. Hmm...I wonder if Facebook works here?!?

Talking about Facebook, this is the trend that I noticed. If I don't get on it then it's fine. But once I log on, I just couldn't get off. It's just like I'm stuck like a magnet to the screen and there's always something for me to do. And it's not just me, I've heard this quite a few times already.

"I'm so addicted to Facebook, like, I can't stop once I start..." or something like that.
(Yes, I said the same thing too.)

Anyway...going off to browse Facebook. It works!!!

Like I said, this is just to fill up some time and space. HAHA!

Marseille, Here I Come!!!

YAHOOOO~~~~

No, I'm not advertising for Yahoo. (Though I wouldn't mind if they would pay me for it??! *hopeful*)

Anyway, I'm cheering because I'll be going over to Marseille for Christmas! Emily invited me long ago but I just couldn't make up my mind whether or not I could go around that time or not.

At that time, I didn't know when I would have a job, where I might relocate to. Then when I had a job I didn't know whether or not I would have time to take off work, and then I wasn't sure if I would be going home or not.

I have a job now.

It's in Cardiff.

And I have 2.5 days leave this year, but I don't think I'd take them.

The good news is, the company closes down on the 21st this year...all the way to the 2nd January 2008.

Bad news is...tickets back home around this time cost about 1K (in GBP...) when it's usually less than half the price.

But then again, I wasn't exactly planning to go home for Christmas anyway since it'd be more fun to stay here. (There isn't exactly the Christmas spirit back home so there's no point.)

And Emily invited me over for Christmas *cheers* so the timing couldn't have been more perfect!!!

But before that, there's this highlight event of the year in BBI: the annual Christmas party, which pretty much wraps up our year.

I can see everyone (especially girls) at work is SOOOOooOOoOoo thrilled about it. (Though I didn't feel it on my first week...it's starting to get to me now...HAhaHA!!!)

Gemma and Lesley-Anne were talking about which outfits they might be wearing, both Becky-s went shopping for dresses right after work when Debenhams had a special sale, and the guys are generally looking forward to have a few (or more) drinks before and after the presentation and dinner. Suzanne has already got her dress ready together with matching shoes and clutch. I'm going to wear my LBD again since nobody has seen it before over here. (Luckily I can still fit into them. *whew*)

I was just talking to Emily today, and she said to just leave all the planning to her. So I'd be on another stress-free holiday since Emily will be playing host! (When I was doing the planning for our Europe trip, I swear my parents could have driven me nuts...) So thrilled...so thrilled!

*James Brown music comes on*

Whoa!!!
I feel good...
Na na na na na na na...
I knew that I would, now....
I feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel good...
I knew that I would, now...
So good...so good...I got YOU!!!

(I feel like I'm going a bit bonkers now due to the excitement.)

1 week gone

My first week at work just went by like that. Well, not just like a snap of a finger but longer than that. Not very fast but fast enough though. (I know I'm contradicting myself but it's just how I feel.)

And to be honest, the hardest part that I couldn't used get to...is still...getting up early. Which was why I was so excited on Friday night. Not only because I get the weekends to do my stuff but also staying up late and sleeping in the following morning (OR afternoon...depending on what time I manage to drag my ass out of bed.)

Work has been good so far. I'm still in training so there's nothing much for me to handle on my own. But then again, my mentor has been really nice and I got to do some testing on my own once I've been passed on the basic elementary skills.

Though being at work is almost totally different from being in Uni's lab, it's still similar in the sense that everyday is like (Friday) project day to me. I spend most of my day in the lab but instead of sitting around and do nothing while I wait for my experiments, we do get a lot of stuff to do. So far I've had a stack of information and paperwork waiting for me to go through but I've only done less than half of them.

Anyway... *ahem*

The train ride down to Cardiff last Sunday was bad...very bad.

Did you know that I had to stand for 3 whole hours when I was travelling from Birmingham to Cardiff??!?!?

It's bloody tiring, OK!!!

Originally my seat reservation was for an earlier train but then I got on a later one so there's not exactly a seat for me. And after 7 hours straight of travelling, I couldn't be bothered anymore, so I plopped onto my luggage for the last leg of my journey.

I finally got to Cardiff at around 8 at night and dragged my luggages and myself to Suzanne's in a taxi. Thank god it's a nice place and I had a decent night's sleep before starting work the next day.

OKOK...pictures of my room now!!




And now I realised that I haven't got a single picture of my place in Heaton. Hmm...

OK then, will blog more tomorrow if I'm up for it. Off to watch some TV before bed.

Packing

That's what I'm supposed to be doing now. But I'm doing another sort of packing instead. Going through and packing my shopping for the past few days.

I vaguely remember that I didn't actually buy that much, but the monstrosity of the situation on my bedroom floor now is unbelievable. Littered not only with paper and plastic bags, but also with boxes and receipts as well. If only my parents saw this, I swear to God they're going to disown me for a few good reasons.

*sigh*

I've just been putting off the need to buy stuff that I should have bought long ago until now. (Yeah, I should have just bought them when my parents were here.) Now I'm just a rich little poor girl. Rich with stuff from shopping but poor in terms of bank balance.

Thrilled as I am from this shopping spree, the one thing that keeps me occupied now is my spankin' new phone!

There, the W910!!! But mine's in black.



This is kinda different from my old phone (of course it's different, that's the point!) so I have been meddling with it since I got it yesterday evening.

And just because I got a new phone, Victor and Emily insisted that I'm a B.I.T.C.H. for the whole of yesterday.

Yes, I am a B.I.T.C.H. and I'm lovin' it!!!

So what? Muahahaha!

I love my phone...

It's so ironic...

That's because I handed in my resignation today. (No, of course it's not to my new job!!! It's the one in NUFC.)

I brought in my uniform and resignation letter together, so that they would refund my deposit for the interview faster. (Yes, they take a deposit for the uniform though it's just T-shirt and a sweater. Probably there are people who take the uniform but never turn up for work just because they love the uniform so much but are not interested in working for them.)

Anyway...it's ironic because I also went shopping today. See the irony already? No? Well, because I just resigned from one job but then I'm still shopping!

But but but!!! I didn't shop just because I wanted to. It's because I needed to shop as well. (I am sticking to this story no matter what anyone says.)

I'm due to start work very soon but when I opened up my wardrobe, I gasped in horror because I have almost nothing suitable to wear to work. And no shoes!!! Except that very set I bought specially just for interviews, but you can't expect me to wear that everyday for the next month, right?

So...my shopping...



It seems like a lot, but actually they just gave it to me in separate bags...it's not that much really. Not at all...no no...

Oh and another thing. I finally realised this. Dorothy Perkins is my new Giordano in UK. Why Giordano? Because when I was back home I always shopped in Giordano. The size, the fit, the cutting, the style...I can only say that it's made for me. (It's also because all other brands don't seem to fit me very well.) So I've finally found a place to prepare my wardrobe for the working life AND to shop at the same time!!! WOO HOO!!!

Need to go out now. Somebody's making cheesecake and toad in a hole. Muahahaha! Fuss free dinner for me. :P

Btw...I got a new phone today as well. More about that next time. :)

It is OFFICIAL!

OKOK...I know this is not exactly news now. But I've just got my confirmation letter (so you can't exactly blame me right...hehe)

YES PEOPLE, I AM NOW OFFICIALLY HIRED!!!

I now have a full time job, regular pay (though not fantastic but it's definitely a start and a big step for me to being self-sufficient) and finally a chance to put what I've learnt to good use.

And like how Uncle puts it...I'm now a taxpayer as well. This is something everyone will have to go through (with the exception of people within a certain 'category' of jobs for e.g. Ah Longs and underground bookies) so I don't really have a problem with it. (The problem probably only comes at the end of the month if I don't budget properly.)

Now, I feel like such a grown-up! HEHE.

I mean, I know about basic taxes and all and have handled some of the documents before but that was in Malaysia. And only my dad would have to worry about that, not the rest of us though. PLUS...my dad's pretty secretive about his taxes and all so it's usually taken care off privately (like it's gonna make a difference to me...except the rare occasions where we would use it to ask for extra pocket money or a fabulous treat). So now, I'm going to have to do my own taxes and pay my own bills.

*gasp*

I definitely feel like an adult now. And good in a way too.

Please please pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaase let everything go smoothly. PLEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAASSSEEEEEEE...

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This has nothing to do with what I was saying above, but I'm going to say it anyway.

iPhone is officially available in UK stores today, beginning 6pm. On my way home from the train station I passed by Carphone Warehouse and saw a table lined with about 8 iPhones (temptation). Without realising it my legs were just leading me into the store and before I know it, I was already talking to the people in store, trying to find out what deal can I get.

You know, you know. It's definitely a chic phone, THE phone to have. The design is sleek, the screen is fabulously large and clear, and the functions are more similar to PDAs rather than phones...and it's selling at 269 pounds. WOW...

But we're not done yet. The phone is definitely locked to O2 for the next 5 years. And you can't unlock it unless you are willing to void the warranty with Apple for doing that.

OKAAAAY...

I'm still undecided though, there're a few models that I'm looking at and they've much better deals for them. We'll see, we'll see...

Update for today

Finally...I've got a place to stay. All thanks to my superiors and their help.

WOOHOO!!!

Though it's not permanent, but at least I could stay there until I find a place that I really wanna live in the long term: budget, location and condition-wise.

Shitholes

This kinda summarizes most of the houses I’ve seen yesterday. I said MOST and not ALL because at least, at the end of the day I’ve seen a total of TWO decent places out of the countless dumpsters that I’ve been to.

Seriously, I’m really disappointed with what I’ve seen coz I never thought the state of the houses would be LIKE THAT. OK, I’ve seen my fair share of dumps as well, and in fact, some of them are worse than a few of them put together, but still, I expected so much more…

I am disappointed, demotivated and hungry right now.

Why demotivated? Well, let’s see. Imagine this, you see one dump after another, and they’re supposed to be in the choices where you have to call “Home” for the next 6 months (at least), for the WHOLE bloody day!!! I don’t know about anybody else but it’s definitely enough for me to assume that there aren’t many decent choices that I can pick from.

Luckily, at the end of the day I finally saw something close to what I had hope for. And they’re both near to where I’m going to work though they’re miles away from the city. For that, I’d sacrifice the distance (and horror!!!) in exchange for a comfortable house.

And it seems, the further away I walked from the city, the conditions of the houses improved tremendously. Or probably it’s just that I don’t know where to look, that’s all. But it’s undeniable that the nearer you are to the city centre, you see more ancient houses rather than new ones. The new developments are all located at the outskirts, and since I don’t have a car, I’d need to stay somewhere easily accessible with public transport.

I need to get this done ASAP. I am really really really desperate for a decent house right now.

Busy, busy, busy

I have so many things to blog about but I just simply couldn't find time to do it! And I'm absolutely exhausted today so I'm not going to go into this topic now. I need to talk about something positive, POSITIVE!

OK, I'm in Cardiff right now and since I know nobody here, I'd have to stay in those budget-hotel-turned-hostel kind of accommodation. I tried looking for a backpackers place to stay, but it's really difficult since I'm travelling alone.

Right...I'm down in Cardiff for 2 nights and tonight's my first. Very tiring journey here (and this is still by train) but the people here at NosDa were really nice and friendly. I didn't get a change to linger around after checking in, and it was only about 1 hour ago when I really had a good look at this place.

The room is not too big, but big enough for me alone. (But it's DEFINITELY bigger than my current room) And the condition is not too bad, considering that it's a hostel. En-suite bathrooms and toilet and it's clean (I'm very particular about this part). Now, after a long day, I just want to sit down and have a decent meal and a cuppa to wind down. And it's really nice to sit and have dinner at the patio right next to the river, enjoying the view and the calm silence right next to the city.

There's everything here that you would find in a hotel or a hall of residence, and the best part is, it doesn't have curfew even if it's a hostel. The price of a hostel for the facilities you get at a hotel. The only thing they don't provide: Soap and toiletries...except toilet paper. Oops...

Oh, and there's the communal areas as well. It's really cool...they have a pool table, computers for internet access or free WiFi, a TV room and a lounge for residents to have free coffee and chill in. But it's the weekday and there's not many people around. Just as well then...at least the place won't be too noisy.

Would put up pictures if I take them. Too lazy to budge from my seat now to go get my camera and take pictures. Probably tomorrow night then.