My birthday presents

Here are the presents that I received for my birthday.

Prada (lamb skin)

Prada (beige)

Marc Jacobs (jacket)

Juicy Couture (lip-gloss bracelet)

LG (handphone in baby pink)

LV (wallet & card holder)

Happy Birthday~!

I am so happy today! It's my birthday and the 4th one spent in Hong Kong. Although family is not around, I have my staff celebrate birthday for me and since last year, the celebrations have been elaborate. Last year I received 4 bouquets of flowers and a lovely Hello Kitty birthday cake on top of a lunch and BBQ dinner with all staff from my department. This year, I have 2 bouquets of flowers, 1 Hello Kitty flower arrangement, 1 3D Hello Kitty birthday cake, 1 executive lunch and 1 steamboat dinner with all the staff from my department. Tonight, about 70 staff will be there celebrating with me!

See the pictures below:

Surprises~

This is my birthday week and yesterday I got 2 surprises, 1 good and 1 not so good. The good one came from Singapore, a orange silk scarf from my ex-staff at the warehouse. It was really sweet of them to remember my birthday every year. The 1st year, they sent me a bottle of Gucci perfume, then the 2nd year they gave me 2 little hippo plush toys and last year they sent flowers. So, this is the 4th present I have received from them since this Hong Kong secondment.

Okay, back to the not so good surprise...I didn't get it nor see it by myself but it was reported to me that one of our inspection staff found a snake inside the carton of diodes that came from our Thailand factory. A photo was taken of it but after that the carton was sealed until the policeman came to pick the whole carton up. We later found out that it was a green bamboo snake (青竹蛇) and it was about 2 feet long. The police records say that it was not poisonous even though this type of snake is suppose to be quite venomous. Maybe the fangs have been taken out? We really don't know...

This incident was of course reported to HQ and the person-in-charged at the Thailand factory was then contacted to do an investigation on how this snake got into the carton. Most of us think that it must be some kind of a prank by one of the workers at the factory... And we do not know if there are more... Anyway, this snake flew all the way from Bangkok to Hong Kong, went through both customs undetected and is now taken care of at one of the farms in Hong Kong. I wonder what will they do to it?

The green bamboo snake (Trimeresurus albolabris) coiled up at the bottom of the carton.

Going home or not?

It's pathetic. There's really so little work to do at the warehouse! Looking at the data everyday makes me worry. We used to have averagely over 30,000 units of outgoing orders everyday but nowadays, we have less than 15,000...more than 50% down in sales! I am not involved in sales so I really do not know what plans they have for the year but I sure know that there will not be any increase in sales. So this year, there will definitely be no pay increment and most probably no bonus. And I need to the budget for the next fiscal year starting April for the department...really don't think there is much budget to invest in anything new this coming year.

Over the last 16 years of my working life, I have been through a couple of financial crisis and personally to me, this is not the worst as I have been hit quite badly during the Asian financial crisis in 1997. I was doing business on my own and during times like these, it's even harder being the boss. I remembered that I didn't even have money to give my mum to buy food for the household and she had to forge out money from her own savings to buy food for us. I was broke, pregnant and going through a broken marriage. It was the darkest time of my life and I really pray that it will never happen again.

My staff in Singapore are calling me to ask if I will be posted back this year as they have been hearing that my contract in Hong Kong will end this year. The problem is, I really don't know. I definitely hope that I can go back this year but the crisis is making me think twice. I am not willing to take a pay cut and go back as in this situation, it will take forever for them to raise my salary back to this present level. If I continue to stay here until the market is much better in Singapore, they will have less reasons to cut my pay by then. Logical, right? But then again, hubby is unhappy here and we are both getting rather sick due to the terrible air-pollution here...so is it worthwhile to stay?

We are both blaming on the air-pollution but there are more than 7 millions of Hongkongers staying here breathing the same air! Why are we both special? Just because we have a place we can always go back to? Will our health get any better if we relocate ourselves back?

Being healthier

Second resolution for the new year decided, and that is to be HEALTHIER! I have had enough of being sick this last year and I really can't stand having to take antibiotics anymore! I didn't know that my sinus problem can affect me so bad until this last year in Hong Kong. I guess the pollution problem is really getting to me. Hubby also gets sore-throat very easily here... Maybe 3 years in Hong Kong was really the limit to our health but we can't leave yet, not unless my boss said OK...*cross my fingers*

So my plans for getting healthier will start with having more home-cooked dinners and drinking more nutritious soups. I have decided that I will try to cook at home as much as possible and eat more vegetables and fruits. Health-supplements will also be a must and I shall exercise more...maybe hit the gym at least once a week or maybe I should find a sport to do together with hubby... Golf is something we both enjoy together but we can't afford the time and money to play golf so much...or can we? Going into China to play golf over the weekend will cost us both at least HKD1200 each without a night's stay, and if we stay, it will cost us another HKD1000 more each. Playing golf is expensive and the first resolution to save more money will not be fulfilled. Such dilemma...*sigh*

Looking back this year...

Although 2008 has ended, the streak of the bad health for me this year has not seem to be over...I am down with a really bad cold and my sinus problem is acting up again. Well, I guess it's not 2008 but the year of the Rat that isn't good for me but it will be over in less than 3 weeks now and I really can't wait for it to be over. Looking back, I must say this year has really been quite happening for me.

I met up with the President and CEO of my company finally in April and had a really good time talking to him over dinner and drinks. He allowed me to take photos with him too and that was really precious as he doesn't take photos much.

In May, hubby and I went to Europe and that was wonderful. 10 days away from it all, we went to all the "must see" sights and we both met one of our long lost friend each whom we found through Facebook.

In June, I went on a tour to Kyuushuu, Japan with mum. It has been a long time since I last went on a tour alone with my mum and I am glad that we did it. That's when I realise that my mum is really getting old but I am grateful to God that she is still very much healthy.

In July, I enrolled into U21Global to do my MBA which was a dream I had since 15 years ago. Thanks to hubby who found the institution and encouraged me to take it, I even got a scholarship for it which pays 50% of my tuition fees. And because of this, my days turned from being boring to being busy and fulfilling.

The second half of the year wasn't so good for me though...I got myself some funny rash all over my body in Septemeber which lasted for about 4 weeks...

In October, I went on a business trip to Tianjin and Beijing and got a sick stomach over some sashimi. It was really bad...I never had upset stomach like that!

In November, I was admitted to hospital for some serious viral infections which caused me to have such terrible headaches and vomitting that I had to be transported to the hospital in an ambulance. It was my first time on an ambulance and I thought I was going to die! 2 days on the drip in the hospital, did all the checks that I needed to do to find out more but luckily, couldn't find anything serious except that I have some sinus problems and the pain all over my body must be caused by some virus. The pain all over my body was annoying and lasted about 10 days. The worst was the pain in my butt, I couldn't sit properly!

In December, the family came over and we had a wonderful, funfilled holiday trip to Korea. It was the family's first try at skiing and except for some "blue-blacks" in my legs, I got away fine. The best thing was, the whole family enjoyed themselves and they also got to see falling snow for the first time. It was wonderful.

Plans for 2009

The year 2008 is officially over and I am at work for the first time in 2009. Effective from this year, the working hours for my company has been changed to 8:30 am till 5:30 pm, half an hour earlier than most of the rest of Hong Kong. I think it is good as I will be able to get onto less crowded public transport and have less excuses to take taxi to work. Time to save money! Economy in 2009 is not going to be any better than 2008 I am afraid, and I have lost hope about being able to settle back into Singapore this year...which was our plan until this financial crisis set in. Now, I am grateful that I still have a job and thank God I didn't invest in any stocks or bonds!

How should we get by the year 2009? Well, I don't usually make resolutions at the beginning of the year but I guess this year should be different. According to some "financial experts", this recession is going to be the worst since the Great Depression in the 1930s. So, what is it going to be like? How many people are going to lose their jobs? In my own department, I have cut 5 headcounts (almost a 10% cut) and I do not know how many more will need to go if the situation is going to be this bad...So, resolution for the year? Save as much money as possible! How do I do it? Well, for a start, I think I will not buy anymore branded handbags...will just make do with whatever I have now. Starbucks coffee? Cut. Taxi rides? Cut. SQ flights home?...will change to Jetstar. Yamada Miura beauty supplements? Cut. The list will be continued...