球场边的精彩

　　终于等到星期五了。
　　来到《我报》后，每逢星期五，一班同事一般会在截稿后结伴出去relax relax一下。今晚我们选择一起去看世界杯的开场赛。
　　其实我们8个人当中，除了David和他的朋友外，其他人都不是真正去看球的。我们只是想去看热闹，感染气氛，当然也不忘把我们在第一份《我报》中写的World Cup Dummy's Guide put to the test!
　　老实说，我们都没有做到，大部分的时间都花在聊天上。4－2的精彩球赛只有到了下半场才吸引到我们的目光。不过，最令我们印象深刻的并不是Pringes那个超棒的进球，而是球场边的精彩。
　　每当其中一队进球后，camera都会pan到球场边的教练和manager。他们的animated/agitated/frustrated/happy的expressions都逗得我们哈哈大笑。对于非球迷的我们来说，感觉比整场球赛，甚至是进球来得更精彩。
　　在现实生活中，也何常不是这样。
　　关心和爱我们的人，尤其是长辈们，对于我们的人生，往往只能从一旁冷眼旁观，爱莫能助。我们成功，他们与我们同欢喜。我们烦恼，他们也为之心烦。我们犯stupid mistakes，他们自责没有好好引导。
虽然不愿意承认，但没有他们，我们的生活也许不会如此多姿多彩。
　　不管是球场边的精彩，还是生活中的精彩，都需要有人去珍惜和欣赏才有意义。
　　这个周末，设法放下手中的事，让身边这些人知道他们存在的重要吧。

自信的女人最美

自信的女人最美。
今天我终于明白这句话的意思。

一个月前为了一个副刊专题访了3个人，其中一个就是S，后来我这个长气鬼把文章写得太长，还好内容蛮有意思的，所以Glenn就要求把全部的访问分出来单独写。S的访问少了照片，所以今天特地安排在她午餐时间到她的家拍照。

之前，曾经听说有关她的一些流言蜚语。有人告诉我，听说很多女人都不喜欢她，相信她应该蛮难搞，小心一点。

老实说，今天到她的家去，确实有些战战兢兢的。一方面是之前所闻，另一方则是因为今天下午的corporate lunch我误了时，迟到了5分钟。真的有些害怕会给她吃了呢。

让我意想不到的是，在我下德士的那一刻，就看到她热情地从家里面向我招手。访问过程中，她十分配合，有问必答，我和摄影师的诸多要求她也都一一满足，让我们有些受宠若惊。她的亲切和真诚与之前我所听闻的差十万八千里。

在见到S之前，我对她的事业成就由衷钦佩。今天有缘与S见面，更被她待人处事，言语举止的魅力给深深吸引。她的成功和魅力，其实没有什么秘诀，只有自信两个字。

不管别人怎么看她说她，只要自己坐得挺，站得直，对自己满意，散发出来的自信足以让自己的actions speak for itself，堵住那些“醋罐子”的嘴巴，同时也令其他人另眼相看，甚至多看几眼。

访问结束后，我在回办公室的路上告诉摄影师，希望自己有一天也能够像S一样成为有自信的女人。


想知道S到底是谁，这里先卖个关子，留意下个星期五的《我报》吧！

Why I love London Part 1

Everytime I feel down or tired, I tend to seek refuge in things that I like or enjoy. Never fails to perk up my spirits.

The first "comfort pillow" that my mind always grab hold of is London, my most favourite city on this earth. I think about it all the time, about day in day out, day and night, rain or shine, & so do many others that I know(right Wedgie? ;p ).... it'll always have a special place in my heart.

Aniwaez, that's enough of digression, back to this blog... was having dinner awhile ago and surfing my favourite online shopping sites and fashion guides at the same time when I saw this beautiful jacket on Catwalk Queen.

The first thought that hit me was "darn, if only I was in London...".

Not that I'm not able to get it in Singapire but I don't have much of a use for it here. Unlike in London where I wear my coat/jackets everywhere I go (even indoors!), I only get to use them in the office or at the cinemas. Doesn't make sense for me to own one more when I already have a whole cabinet full of my collection from London.

I'm not very slim by nature so it's comforting to have a jacket to cover up all the unsightly bits. Besides, jackets chosen right will make one look slimmer!

Although you might argue that the pound is just too much handle but you can't deny that London is a shopping heaven. Jackets in all sorts of colours/designs/materials aplenty everywhere you go. This is definitely one reason why I have this neverending love affair with London.

Shopping + London, my 2 favourite things. I heart London! (Not sure when part 2 will come... but probably some time soon... stay tuned!)

I'm definitely much much happier now :)

Righty, gotta finish up my article for Saturday! Ta~
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Need some daily fashion advice? Check this out:


It's written by this amazing lady named Gemma Cartwright and she's from the UK too, which makes it all the better! Hee...

Secondhand Branded Bags Shop

Had quite a number of calls to find out the location of the secondhand branded bag shop that I wrote about in my "invest in secondhand branded bags" article in the first issue of mypaper.

So here are the details if there are still people who are interested to find out:
Interesting Shop
Icon@Bugis Point #04-01P, opposite Bugis Junction Bread Talk, 530 North Bridge Road

谢谢你

今天我的心情没有平时一样美丽。好不容易才走完这一天。

谢谢你的出现，在我最颓丧时开导我，鼓励我，让这一天没有在一片愁云惨雾中结束。

也很感谢你与我分享过去走来的路。比较起来，我的顾虑和烦恼只是小儿颗。

我现在明白，要乘风破浪，就必须先对自己有信心，不要让自己的短处成为绊脚石，而是发掘自己的长处并加以发挥。在每场大雨后，蓝天的某一边必定有一道彩虹，等待着你我。

你对我的好，我想，最好的报答方式是努力再努力，一定要保持对记者这份工作的热忱，永不言败。

即使现在或未来的风再猛，雨在大，我答应你不会被流言蜚语打倒，一定要坚持做个好人。耐心点，以德报怨，总有一天会挨出一个春天。

还有，我一定会牢记，4年前我之所以会签下这份合约的原因：只因为我享受当记者。很喜欢接触不同的人，尝试不同的东西，有机会每天都面对新挑战，有长篇大论有感而发的癖好（现在知道是致命伤，会努力改进），希望读者看了我的作品能够从中获益。

最近比较烦

今天有名前同事问我：《我报》出世了，开心吗？当时，我迟疑了一会儿，没有马上回答。

不是因为我不高兴。 5月31日前我迫不及待，6月1日《我报》终于面世了我确实很开心，因为与大伙儿多个星期的努力有了成果，可喜可贺。可是，那份快感也很快消失了。

近几天我一直觉得有点烦。不知何故，不懂做什么都不顺利，无论是事业、家庭、友情方面都处处碰壁。也许是日积月累的疲累与惆怅，今天我病倒了。

明天是我加入报馆满6个月，对于我这个新记者而言，加入《我报》，老实说，我觉得压力很大。请不要误解我，我不是不喜欢在《我报》工作，我其实很满意很高兴有这个福分，因为我终于有机会写自己感兴趣的财经新闻，以及新闻、时尚和汽车专题。只是觉得自己有些力不从心。

可能是因为自己是新手，而且蛮久的一段时间没有应用中文，目前在整理稿件、写稿方面等都比人慢。此外，我发现自己最近完成了文章后，会频频自问“这篇东西会有人看吗？”，“内容有用吗？”。由于求好心切，怕主任、编辑认为写得差，担心读者不看，就开始对自己多多批判，一再进行修饰更改，有时还弄巧反拙。其实，这是恶性循环的开始，因为对自己百般挑剔，只会裹足不前，而没有办法在自己设下的时间内完成任务，心里自然不好受。

我在来到《我报》时，答应过自己这是个新的开始，要把坏习惯改了。可是，这不容易做到。在这里我还必须提醒自己这也是我的成长过程，没有一个人的成长岁月是一帆风顺的，所以一定要锲而不舍，坚持到底才会对得起自己。

唯有一个小小要求，就是希望读者您会多看我的作品一眼，这样就足够了。因为只有通过这样，才能让我知道自己的努力没有白费，也将成为我坚持努力下去的推动力。

Feeling conscious

　　Just got back from an interview with a cosmetic dentist. To tell the truth, I wasn't looking forward to the interview at the beginning, not that I hated going to the dentist like most people do, but I was afraid that he would see through my lips and my teeth and criticise that it's blacker than tar or has gaps bigger than the black hole.
　　(I didn't have a very good brace job when I was in sec school and I'm not very consistent in wearing my retainers, so i've got small gaps and ugly braces stains on my teeth. Would really like to do laser whitening one day but it costs a bomb... perhaps if I get a promotion or a huge bonus from SPH *hint* hee hee....)
　　Fortunately the dentist was an angel (and so was his patient!), even though he did point out my inperfections, he was very reassuring as well to say that it's only natural and that it can be rectified if I wanted to, if not it's perfectly fine.
　　Really excited with the information I've gotten from him and can't wait to file my story. Hopefully I'll get to be his patient one day too... I want that trillion watts smile!!!!
　　Can't release any details of the story here for obvious reasons, but hopefully all of you will get to read it soon.
　　Till then... back to work for this Friday's article.....

寂寞@Orchard Road

　　Walked down Orchard Road with a close friend today. It's a Sunday and with the GSS going on, it's no surprise that the whole stretch was overflowing with people.
　　While walking, my friend turned around suddenly and commented that if she was walking down the similarly crowded, if not, more crowded Oxford Street in London, she would feel at ease but if she was alone today, she would have felt out of place.
　　What she said struck a chord in my heart.
　　Before I met up with her today, I trawled down the same stretch of Orchard Road on my own and that familiar yet distant feeling of loneliness that I felt years ago has somehow found it's way into my life again and silently crept back into my heart. At that moment, how I wished she would turn up right away or I thought I would be engulfed by the crowd that was rushing by me in both directions.
　　When I was in secondary school and JC, I absolutely hated shopping on my own or going to crowded places by self. I guess I hated the feeling of being alone among couples, families or groups of friends. But while living in London for the past 4 years, I've learnt to appreciate doing things on my own, especially shopping as I could shop at my own pace and go to the shops I wanted as and when I liked to.
　　Over the last 4 years, I can honestly say I never once felt lonely going about on my own even though I'm miles away from family and friends. In fact I value those moments of solitude very much and crave for time out on my own now.
　　But why the feeling of loneliness again today?
是我的心在寂寞？
还新加坡本来就是个容易令人觉得寂寞的地方？
又或者是伦敦已把我的心给“偷”走了？
　　I miss London.