Then I received this

From a nice colleague friend, aaaawwww.....

God did not intend for us to be all rich, beautiful, or great alone; but he does intend for us all to be friends


HAPPY GIRLFRIEND'S DAY!If you get this more than once - you are blessed with friends.


Happy Girlfriend's Day! Good times are even better when they're shared.

A good long talk can cure almost anything.


Everyone needs someone with whom to share her secrets.

Listening is just as important as talking.

An understanding friend is better than a therapist;
And cheaper too!

Laughter makes the world a happier place.
Friends are like wine; they get better with age.


Sometimes you just need a shoulder to cry on.
Great minds think alike, especially when they are female!


When it comes to "bonding," females do it better.


YOU ARE NEVER TOO OLD FOR SLUMBER PARTIES!!!!
It's important to make time to do "girl things."

Calories don't count when you are having lunch with your girlfriends.


GEMS MAY BE PRECIOUS,

BUT FRIENDSHIP IS PRICELESS!!!!!

PLEASE PASS THIS MESSAGE ON TO

ALL OF YOUR GIRLFRIENDSincluding the one that sent it to you....

Thank You

Crap!

Some people are not born to be a leader. That’s all I can say. Feeling so pissed off right now I could kill someone.

So not in the mood to document this but what the heck. You see this boss of ours in the office, well he is acting actually since the incumbent left more than 6 months ago. But now there seems to be someone new taking over, but not official yet. So this so called acting boss didn't want to sign my application for virtual office. A little bit on this, BSP just launched our very own virtual office. It is what it is. Office away from the office so to speak. You don’t have to come to work every day but just come to the virtual office since we have all the computers, and network to stay connected with our colleagues in Seria. Its cool isn’t it. So I apply for it. Since I’ve been traveling to Seria for the past 10 years or so. I know this will ease a lot of my burden. Reduce my risks on the road every day and I would have some quality of life in the end. But this boss didn’t feel he has the right to sign off my application since he is no longer “the boss”. He said he needed to check with the Manager first. But hey… you are who you are until its official. And he said he didn’t want to be in trouble. For what? For allowing me to work there whereas its already in the system and approved by top management and even advertised on line? Its just formality, for heaven's sake. WTF man????? I feel you don’t deserve to be there and lead people. You lack integrity, compassion and empathy to be a good leader. That’s what you are. And you might as well go where you come from.

My cup of coffee

Today started rather slowly. Wished my 3rd brother happy birthday for his 36th birthday today, wish him the best of everything in life. May Allah bless you and your family. In a way, I feel closer to him since we are basically on the same boat. He invited us for dinner at his home tonight so I look forward to that with family. Hope it wont be raining tonight ;-)

Nothing much going on, except I had another presentation to do with the HP management. As usual it went well. I didn’t feel nervous or anything of that sort anymore, its just work. And it was all over in less than half an hour. Bought packed lunch today since hubby was busy with work too. So had my lunch in the office and I had cravings for coffee all of a sudden. I don’t know where it all come from, I feel I just need a cup. So I asked our tea lady to get me one cup of hot water. I have to ask from her since we are not allowed to go to the kitchen, (company policy, nothing personal, more to HSE requirements and nothing else). And make my own cup of coffee on my table from my pre-packed 3 in 1 we bought in NZ. You wont believe this…, I still have that box of Mocha Coffee we bought while we were on holiday. In June. It’s a very nice coffee and we don’t have that brand here in Brunei so we bought a few packs last time. I brought one pack to the office since it was so nice but I don’t drink it all these time since I am cutting down on my caffeine so I still have it in my drawer. Rather have it there in my drawer on standby actually, when this kind of situation persists and when my cravings knock on my door so this is what I would do. Grab it and have a cup, after 4 months!!

It feels like heaven, it always does. Coffee is wonderful. Hot or cold. I just love coffee but haven’t had one full cup for a very long time, except occasional sip from hubby’s coffee if he offers me, lol. Or on our occasional visits to The Coffee Bean in the office and I ordered the ever so nice caramel blended ice, but it does have 500 calories in it! WTF.

So that’s it, I enjoy it while it lasts. No more coffee for me until I don’t know when. And the tea lady wont have to worry about me asking for another cup. I don’t usually ask for anything from her except for my occasional white tea at 7.00 in the morning. By right I should get 3 cups of drinks per day in the office, like everyone else, but I’ve been trying to cut down on my sugar and caffeine intake for the past year or so, I stick to water for now and for later too (may be).

Oh I am happy today to hear my girl is doing well with her exam. She told me exam was ok so I hope she will get good result too. I know she has done her best so its all up to her to gain that spot again. I will pray for her to do well of course.

So Ayang, if you read this. You can have a free afternoon today and enjoy whatever you do until tomorrow, Saturday is still another exam day right?? Don’t forget tonight we will go and visit Uda for his birthday ;-)

A Touching Story

I hijacked this story from another blog. I love reading it, its really beautiful and a gentle reminder on how important family is and how we should spend time with our loved ones and remember to look after them.

Read on...

Four years ago, an accident took my beloved wife away and very often I wonder, how does my wife, feel right now? She must be feeling extremely sad for leaving a husband who is incapable to taking care of the house and the kid 'cos that is the exact feeling that I have, as I feel that I have failed to provide for the physical and emotional needs of my child, and failed to be the dad and mum for my child.

There was one particular day, when I had an emergency at work. Hence, I had to leave home whilst my child was still sleeping. So thinking that there was still rice leftovers, I hastily cooked an egg and left after informing my sleepy child.With the double roles, I am often exhausted at work as well as when I am home. So after a long day, I came home, totally drained of all energy. So with just a brief hug and kiss for my child, I went straight into the room, skipping dinner. However, when I jumped into my bed with intention of just having a well-deserved sleep, all i heard and felt was broken porcelain and warm liquid! I flipped open my blanket, and there lies the source of the 'problem'... a broken bowl with instant noodles and a mess on the bedsheet and blanket!Boy, was I mad! I was so furious that I took a clothes hanger, charged straight at my child who was happily playing with his toy, and give him a good spanking!

He merely cried but not asking for mercy, except a short explanation:"Dad, I was hungry and there wasn't anymore leftover rice. But you were not back yet, hence I wanted to cook some instant noodles. But I remembered you reminding me not to touch or use the gas stove without any adults around, hence I turned on the shower and used the hot water from the bathroom to cook the noodles. One is for you and the other is for me. However, I was afraid that the noodles will turn cold, so I hid it under the blanket to keep it warm till you return. But I forgot to remind you 'cos I was playing with my toys...I am sorry Dad..."At that moment, tears were star ti ng to run down my cheeks...but I didn't want my son to see his dad crying so I dashed into the bathroom and cried with the shower head on to mask my cries.

After that episode, I went towards my son to give him a tight hug and applied medication on him, while coaxing him to sleep. Then, it was to me to clear up the mess on the bed. When everything was done and well past midnight, I passed my son's room, and saw that he was still crying, not from the pain on his little buttock, but from looking at the photograph of his beloved mummy.A year has passed since the episode, I have tried, in this period, to focus on giving him both the love of his dad and mum, and to attend to most of his needs. And soon, he is turning seven, and will be graduating from kindergarten. Fortunately, the incident did not leave a lasting impression on his childhood memories and he is still happily growing up.

However, not so long ago, I hit my boy again, with much regret. This time, his kindergarten teacher called, informing me of my son's absence from school. I took off early from work and went home, expecting him to explain. But he wasn't to be found, so I went around our house, calling out his name and eventually found him outside a stationery shop, happily playing computer games. I was fuming, brought him home and whack the hell out of him. He did not retaliate, except to say, 'I am sorry, Dad'. But after much probing, I realized that it was a 'Talent Show' organized by his school and the invite is for every student's mummy. And that was the reason for his absence as he has no mummy.....Few days after the caning, my son came home to tell me, the kindergarten has recently taught him how to read and write.

Since then, he has kept to himself and stayed in his room to practise his writing, which I am sure, would make my wife proud, if she was still around 'cos he makes me proud too!Time passes by very quickly, and soon another year has passed. It's winter, and its Christmas time. Everywhere the christmas spirit is in every passer-by...Christmas carols and frantic shoppers....but alas, my son got into another trouble. When I was about to knock off from the day's work, the post office called. Due to the peak season, the postmaster was also on an edgy mood. He called to tell me that my son has attempted to post several letters with no addressee.

Although I did make a promise never to hit my son again, I couldn't help but to hit him as I feel that this child of mine is really beyond control. Once again, as before, he apologized, 'I'm sorry, Dad' and no additional reason to explain. I pushed him towards a corner, went to the post office to collect the letters with no addressee and came home, and angrily questioned my son on his prank, during this timeof the year.His answer, amidst his sobbing, was : The letters were for Mummy. My eyes grew teary, but I tried to control my emotions and continued to ask him: " But why did u post so many letters, at one time?"

My son's reply was: " I have been writing to mummy for a long time, but each time I reach out for the post box, it was too high for me, hence I was not able to post the letters. But recently, when I went back to the postbox, I could reach it and so I sent it all at once..."After hearing this, I was lost. Lost at not knowing what to do, what to say....I told my son, " Son, mummy is in heaven, so in future, if you have anything to tell her, just read the letter and it will reach mummy. My son, on hearing this, was much pacified and calm, and soon after, he was sleeping soundly.

On promising that I will read the letters on his behalf, I brought the letters outside and started reading. And one of the letters broke my heart....

Dear Mummy,I miss you so much! To day, there was a 'Talent Show' in school, and the school invited all mothers for the show. But you are not around, so I did not want to participate as well. I did not tell Dad about it as I was afraid that Dad would start to cry and miss you all over again. Dad went around looking for me, but in order to hide my sadness, I sat in front of the computer and started playing games at one of the shops. Dad was furious, and he couldnt help it but scolded and hit me, but I did not tell him the real reason. Mummy, every day I see Dad missing you and whenever he think of you, he is so sad and often hide and cry in his room. I think we both miss you very very much. Too much for our own good I think. But Mummy, I am starting to forget your face. Can you please appear in my dreams so that I can see your face and remember you? I heard that if you fall asleep with the photograph of the person whom you miss, you will see the person in your dreams. But mummy, why havent you appear?After reading the letter, I can't stop sobbing. 'cos I can never replace the irreplaceable gap left behind by my wife....

For the females with children:
Don't spend so much time at work. If you cannot finish the work, it must be some kind of problems within the company, and it is not your sole problem. Feedback to your boss. Endless over time may not necessary be the answer to the problem. Take care of your health so that you can treasure and take care of your little precious.

For the married men:
Drink less, smoke less, cos nothing can replace your good health, not even business nor clients.Try thinking this way, are you able to work till your clients are totally dependent on you? or your boss is totally dependent on you? In this society, no one is indispensable.Take care of your health, so that you can take care of your little precious and your loved ones.

For those singles out there:
Beauty lies in loving yourself first. With confidence and loving yourself, you will see the beauty in other things around you. You will be able to work better and happier. Don't let your health be affected by your work or your boss, so nothing matters more than your well being.

A quiet weekend

Its quiet for a change, after the last few weekends where we were so busy with too much chaos, in a nice way of course. But not without the highlight of today's event. Hubby and I went to JPD after our usual weekend breakfast and tried to find out more about tendering for a number for our new car. We were not familiar with it but we were thinking of taking a "nicer to look at" number for the car. But the number we wanted were not out for tender yet so we just need to go back to JPD next week and see what we can do.

Had to go to the insurance company as well and renew the insurance for our Rexton which is due this month. Went with the new car of course but I am just so pissed with the condition of our road. They are really filthy with muds and debris. Especially so when it rains, which it does today and the new car was covered with mud. I cant wait for the road renovation to be finished which I think few months to go yet, sigh!

Apart from that, its been low pace. I am reading a book titled "Sun at Midnight" this week and hoping to get it done by next. As always I enjoy the story line. I learned new things every time I read a new book and thats what I love about reading. This book is about a trip to Antarctica. About self preseverence and determination. And it has its own share of romance which I always like to read in a book. And I am hoping to encounter an happy ending soon.

I am thinking of baking a Blueberry cheesecake tomorrow. I have the recipe and itching to try it out. But when I think about it, if I bake one, then we need to eat and finish it. And you all know how rich and fattening a cheesecake can be. I am so not in the mood to eat the whole acuan of cheesecake, definitely way too much. So I decided against it until I can bring the cake over somewhere and share it with family. So keep that on hold for now.

My girl is busy with her studies these days. Her final exam is on monday and she spents most of her time in her room and be stressful. Dont like that very much and I am worried about her. But I am sure she will cope just fine, just like she did every time. She made me promise we WILL NOT go out tomorrow, lol. She said she needs to concentrate and rather be home and revise than out wondering at the mall or somewhere else. So we gotta do that. I know this exam is important so will try our best to comply to her, for a change lol.

One of those days

Today I am in a foul mood. Nothing seems to cheer me up even thinking of driving the new car in the weekend. My little pleasure in life. Got to ponder on the positive things in life to move on. And think about all the good times. And I need to act fast or that feeling would slip to the bottom of the stairs again. And to bring it up to the top of the stairs can be so hard at times.

And I need to do something about these 2 staff of mine. I've been crawling up the wall with the attitude and behaviour of these two. Not that they do anything bad but more on their discipline and punctuality to adhere to normal working hours. And as their supervisors its really my job to ensure they come to work on time and if thats proved to be difficult, to compensate the time by staying up later than usual. Thats what responsible people will do. And I dont think these 2 people are feeling that at the moment. I know we all have committment and personal life to think and worry about, by hey... so are everyone else.

So now need to find ways to convey my dissapointment and my stern warning to them. I dont want to act like a "lady boss". I want to do it in the most diplomatic and tactful ways so we all can benefit from it and everyone will feel ok with it. Any ideas?????????

So very very stressful!!!!!!! I hate it when I feel this way. Wish I could crawl into a corner and shut the world away for a while.

Papadom

We watched Papadom the movie on Saturday and I have to say I really liked the movie. I am not a big fan of Malaysian movies. I never went to any except to a very few. And I don’t even remember the last time I saw a Malaysian movie in the theatre. I don’t find Malaysian movie very entertaining at all. They are dull, loud, no sense and value at all. That’s my perception, never enjoyed it. But this movie is so different. I didn’t plan to go and watched it but I saw a short preview on tv the other night and thought I would give this movie a try! And I am not disappointed.

Afdlin Shauki was brilliant. He thinks outside the box for this movie. I so like it. I didnt even watch any of his movie prior to this although I know he has done quite alot of movies over the years. This movie has a good combo of sadness and humour. I googled some pictures today and found this on Afdlin blog. And what he said in his blog touches my heart. Even watching the movie invited an element of sadness in me. I was really overcame by emotion. Its all about fatherly love, I can relate to that but in the context of a motherly love. A strong and pure love to the only daughter he ever had, like me. How he tried to protect her from all the bad things in life. I like what he said in the movie. He loves his daughter to the max and he means well with all his actions. But sometimes the things he do to to show his love and care are not acceptable and wrong. So he said, even if he means well if his way of doing it is wrong, its still a no go.

He mentioned that this movie is all about him. How he perceives his life and how his family would end up if he continues to do what he does today. Its not easy to divide your time between family and work especially if you are workaholic like him.

Hubby gave it a 6 out of 10 but I gave a full thumbs up and gave it 8 out of 10. And after the movie hubby suggested we go to the Indian restaurant (the one we always go to in KB) and order a papadom!! LOL. My girl has no comment but seemed to enjoy it as much as we did. I would suggest you guys watch this movie. You wont regret it. I know I wont. I even love the song, lol.

New addition

Its home. In our garage. We brought the ODC home on friday after we cut short our working hours and went straight to the car dealer. After all the formalities were done, we drove around for a bit just to get the feel of the car. Its a pleasure and hope this car will give us the satisfaction of driving a Honda for many years to come.

And during the night we went on to have dinner at Excapade to try the car out at night. So far so good.

Breast Cancer: Early Detection Saves Lives

Went to BSP Breast cancer awareness day yesterday. The event took one whole day. In the morning, we had the launching ceremony by BSP TD (our first TD lady). Then we had talks about keeping healthy by Dr Hjh Roslin from MOH. It was a good talk, covered all aspect of health, body and mind. Then we had a Q& A with some other health officers and cancer survivor.

Then in the afternoon we had a demonstration on how to do self examination (BSE). I think this was the highlight of the whole event. Very good information on how to detect cancer or lump early. Esp for those who didn’t know the importance of knowing your own body and to notice any new changes to the breasts. I know some people are just purely ignorant and thats the sad part. Or even shy and ashamed to go to the doctors to check on their own breasts. Or come too late when the cancer already at a later stage or spreading.

And then we had talks about real life experience from two BSP employee cancer survivors. They both emotionally recalled the incidents, those times they found out about the lump, the cancer, how they deal with it and how they moved on and picked up the pieces. It touched my heart to the core, on how difficult and hard life it must be for them. How to handle the emotions, and how to deal with kids, family and friends and even work. Very humbling and I felt so remorse.

One thing that struck me was the fact that cancer doesn’t care who you are. No matter how rich or high ranked you are, if cancer wants to come and get you, it will. These two ladies has NO family history of cancer. They are the first in the family, so no family history doesn’t mean it wont get to you.

The 2nd speaker hit me the most. She has no biological children but she adopted 3 so far. She found out about her cancer when she was trying IVF. After being diagnosed she was advised not to pursue ivf or even conceive due to the chemo drugs and all. So there goes her desire to have a biological children.

So sad. And very strong and tough lady too. I wonder if I have similar determination, courage and willpower. She moved on and faced cancer in the face. In a way, what she did was definitely the way to go. There is no point in sitting back and feeling sorry for yourselves. It wont go away by just crying, moaning and giving up. As what they said, don’t let cancer control your life. You have to take control. And fight. She did look happy and content with what life has given her so I know she is doing ok.

Sometimes life has its own way of making things to work out. No matter how hard life seems to be, it will turn out well in the end. That’s what I notice all this time. So what we need to do is just to hang in there. And pray Allah will show the way.

Thats my way of coping at the moment. I have my moments of sorrow, I may feel sad, depressed or upset but I try my hardest to look back to all the beautiful things in life. Things that I have and make full use of them, not the things that I dont have. And not to dwell too much on the bad things. I want to smile more and search that serenity and peacefulness in my deepest heart. I know I can succeed if I want to.

I watched Oprah last night. Its about spiritual well being and they talked about being content with life. There was this lady who cried on tv, and complained life has treated her so badly. She lost her business and feel she has no hope in life. She kept on saying she didn’t have anything in this world anymore. But Oprah and her guests asked her to look at other positive things in her life. And not to focus on all the negativities all the time. She can start by thinking about the air she breathes every second. She has that! She can think about the way she wakes up fully dressed and breathing every morning. She still have all those too. Oh My! How true is that???.

So stop complaining people! At least we all have our health and not dying of cancer, or anything else for that matter. We are not crippled. We have enough to eat as opposed to so many others who don’t in the world. And live in a safe and peaceful country as opposed to those living in the wartorn places.

Think about it.

Welcome to the family!

Cant wait to welcome you! The addition to our ever growing car fleets, lol. We did the downpayment and the signing of documents yesterday. Its done. And now waiting for JPD to register, get the number and process the registration. And this baby is going to be with us very very soon! So very excited. I know we are in need to have a good reliable car. Not that we have shortage of any. We have 5 and this is number 6. I wish I could say that to the number of kids I have, hahaha. But thats sadly not the case.

Anyway, this is actually not THE car. The car we choose has a different colour. I got this from the internet for me to post how sleek and a beauty this car is. I will post our baby soon here. As soon as it arrives on our doorstep and be part of the family, lol.

What a weekend!

Well.. what do I want to write today? A lots been going on. And new development too. My brother’s trip to Holland was cancelled, boohoo… He was upset since he knew about it at the last minute haha. I understood his frustration completely. He poured out his dissappointment during another family outings on Saturday night. Poor poor brother, sigh.... How would you feel if you just knew about it 5 hrs before your scheduled flight? That you in the end couldnt go? While you have packed and brought everything? And a long distance flight too. And the reason was, there was no flight, ie. no empty seat? I mean WTF?? You should know all about it days before, not on the same day as your scheduled flight, right??? How stupid is that??? Its not as if you were sent to Singapore or Kuala Lumpur where you don’t have to prepare a thing. This is Europe man! You HAVE to come prepared! With your clothings and your food, amongst other things. I don’t know how some systems works. I am so lucky we are not from the public sector. I am counting my blessing. From where I am working, there is no such thing as no flight or no seat. They block booked the seat even you have to go tomorrow, there is always seat available.

Anyway, its not my place to argue. And I am just so glad those kind of incidents never happened in my organization.

Sunday we went to the launching of Suzuki Sport at Boustead. We were there for a short few minutes. Nothing exciting. And I am not a sport car buff so I didn’t really fit well. I went with hubby who just got a new Suzuki recently, at least we got 2 mugs free and some free meals lol.

Talking about buying a car, we are in fact in the middle of buying one. Oh yes, a new car will be in the garage soon. And I am so excited. Cant wait to drive that beautiful and sleek car. And you should see the features this car has! Its awesome!

At the same time, we were also looking for places we could sell our problematic car. There were some potential buyers although it may not be very favourable to us but I think we have to live with some loses. Its acceptable though, as long as we could get rid of it!

We have been looking around at the car dealers for some time already. We have been eyeing a few models and fixing on one previously. That’s a few months back, when we were so fed up with one of our cars who we have serious issues with. But then we stumbled upon this car and we just couldn’t let it go. Hubby and I are so convinced this is the best buy and have a good value for money. Although it’s a bit expensive but it sure has a resell value with good safety features and other stuff. So we are happy for now.

Important Message

I am looking forward to this. I think this is the first time my Company is organizing such an event. I hope I can attend, and nothing (work wise) will hinder me from going. I know this is a very important topic and must be known and fully embraced by all women. As we all know, breast cancer is amongst the most common cancer attacking women. And it has the highest death rate too. Very scary. It is like a parasite, you wont know it if you are not aware of it (until its too late). But as far as I know, knowledge is power and you should know your own body. All you need to do is to be aware of any changes to your breast. Check for any lumps, no matter how small and if there is any discharge. And how the breast look like is important too. Well, does it look any difference from previously.

This is going to be all day event and one of the agenda will be talks and Q&A session with BSP own cancer survivors. This should be interesting. Real life experience is the best. You get to hear it first hand. So surely a very important info. I know a few friends who are cancer survivors. I also know a few friends who has ovary or cervic cancers. I salute them, they are all one tough cookies. Some people thought cancer is like a death sentence for someone, I thought so too. If its not detected earlier it could be it. That’s why knowledge is power, so very important to know your own body and find out more of the disease. What I mean is to be proactive. Find out as much as you can. Know your own body.

I also been an ardent reader of some cancer survivor blogs around the world. Some have survived it, some has a recurrences, some just found out about it and under treatment. They have gone through a lot. I think I did blog about this a few months back, the fact that I am counting my blessing everyday. I know I have some issues in my life but compared to them, its really is nothing. They suffer a lot more than me so there. I have definitely stopped complaining from then on lol.

So Allah, please help us. Please protect us from all the bad things in life. Amin.

A new nephew!

Been feeling a bit tired lately, well.. alot tired. My shoulder is killing me. I am so overdue for a good massage so will try to make appointment for one very soon. I havent had one for more than a month so I am so looking forward to relaxing. Sitting all day in the office and the commuting to work has taken its toll on my ageing body, lol. But cant do much about it, still have to do this day in and day out. I actually enjoy working, its a good pay so I guess I have to bear and live through it. Just need that pampering once in a while.

Anyway, today we are waiting for news from my sister in law who is about to deliver her 3rd child. She was admitted last night but so far we havent received the good news yet. Wow.... her 3rd, and she is not even 25! Married my brother when she was really young and make a family of hers very quickly. But they seemed happy, life is good for them. Gorgeous children too so they are doing really ok. This is going to be my 8th nephew! Its a boy, by the way... And my girl is also very excited, she has more cousins to play with, one more cousin to spend the time with and to love and to cuddle. I am sure this is going to be a cute like a pie little boy too.

Wonder what the name will be. So far the names of the little ones in my family start with the letter A, including my girl. Did we plan for this? I am not sure but its very interesting come to think of it. They are : Ayang (my girl), Adik, Afiq, Alif, Afif, Akif, Anish and Afizul. I hope we will not be running out of names as the time goes by since I am sure there will be more little ones coming our way, lol.

Sigh... I am really suffering from the shoulder pain so I am going to stop her for a while. This is just a random post, just feel like doing the blog today so here I am.

Holland, anyone?

My brother is going this weekend. I am so jealous! lol. He was sent by his ministry to attend a workshop organised by WHO. He will be there a week.

He will go on his own. He invited us to go with him but its a bit of a drag for us, not after NZ and the cancelled trip to KL! We need to save up, I tell you. He wanted us to go since we've been there before, amid a long time ago. 9 years to be exact. Thats when hubby was sent for a course in Amsterdam and we went along with him.

It was indeed a pretty country, very cold but beautiful, although it almost summer at that time. I still remember vividly since it was a new experience for me too. Although its a long flight and I was a nervous wreck due to the newness of it all. Not used to the weather and the jet lag. But we managed to make full use of the visit and went to various interesting places, including Madurodum where there were small replica of the whole city. Very nice. We used the train and we used the bus. Even then, hubby was already very resourceful which worked very nicely to our advantage. I wish I could publish some of our Holland photos here but I dont have the digital pictures back then. Those were the days when internet and digital pictures are still in its infancy in Brunei. What a shame.

My brother was excited, this will be his first time to Holland. I hope he will have fun although he will be on his own without his family. We warned him about the weather though, and what to expect. Like its not easy to find food to eat since we are Muslim. So we recommended him to bring our electrical stove him for him to cook some rice or eggs. And I am sure he will survive on fruits and vegetables, lol. He borrowed some of our winter clothing as well. I know he didnt need to buy those where he can always borrow from us. Hey now he can save and spend his winter clothing allowance on other things, for sure!

Anyway, have fun Wang! Make full use of your trip, although I doubt it if you have the time. Its not as if you are on holiday, hahaha. But you might as well enjoy your time there.

Tired but Happy

Lots going on leading up to this weekend. We went for 3 open house invitations on friday, the first being to my dad's step brother in KB. We came later than my parents and brothers and didnt even stay long since its working day and we had to go to another friend's invitation. It went well, although we never met them before they were good bunch of people, really warm and friendly. Well, thats how its supposed to be, I mean, they are indeed family. Then we moved on and left the rest of my family there. Afternoon another invitation from our HP manager in Lumut for another feast. So for friday, its 3 heavy meals to deal with. Arrived home and call it a day at around 7.30pm exhausted.

Its a good day for my girl too since hubby and I took her to our office in BSP. She's been there before but its a long time ago and it seemed that this was much more meaningful since she is all grown up and already looking for ideas on what she wants to do when she finishes her school. So this trip to the office kind of giving her the inspirations and motivations on what she has in mind. And its brilliant that we just celebrated the 80th anniversary where the building was really groomed and patched up beautifully. She was excited with the propect of working here if given the chance but of course she needs to work hard and get good result to enter the market and it could be difficult to enter the oil and gas industry with lots of competitions with others. We'll just have to wait and see.

The celebration continues

Today in the office, we shared the anniversary cake which was cut by His Majesty yesterday. A huge crowd turned up to get their slices. MD congratulated everyone for the work well done yesterday. The event went smoothly without any hiccup. Everyone were proud yesterday and praises came from the palace. MD also mentioned about anniversary gifts to be distributed to everyone soon. For today, we got to enjoy the cake and it was yummy!

80th Anniversary cake

Everyone received this email morning. MD is distributing 80th anniversary cake! How nice lol..

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To : All BSP StaffFrom : MD via BSP Web and e-Bulletins

Dear Friends,

Yesterday was a wonderful day that will remain in our memories forever.

Thank you for making the visit of His Majesty so special for us all.

We have an 80th Anniversary cake to share. At 10 am this morning, you are invited to the Atrium to share your exciting stories from yesterday and enjoy the cake. First come, first served!


Sincerely,
Grahaeme Henderson
BSP Managing Director

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