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...

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

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...