how do you ask for pay rise and less work at the same time?

Tricky. Tomorrow is my yearly appraisal, and i've tried to come out with a plan. A plan which i can get what i want- a pay rise and reducing my current workload. I cannot think of how i can justify why i get more money but not taking on more work. Hm.....

well, it does hurt. leaving tomorrow

I didn't think it would hurt so much to leave family and friends, is tearing me apart right now. When i told my nephew who is not yet 4 that i'm going back to a country far far away, he said 'don't stay too long'. I didn't really know how to reply.

I have to admit, i do miss my life in Europe, the weather is unbearable here, safety is another issue, freedom....but now i feel terrible of leaving. I ask myself: what do i want-honestly, i don't know.

Alexander McQueen died

Rest in peace. You will be remembered.

I'm too upset to write anything

New Year. 2010

New year started off with a busy schedule again, work for 2 weeks, went to Berlin for Bread and Butter show, then work for another week, i packed my bags and flew to Hong Kong before coming back to Malaysia.

I had a good time in Hong Kong and Macau, met up with some friends and finally i came home. I have to say, is a strange feeling to be coming back here, is strange yet familiar.

ps: is so hot that i cant write anymore.

Quite an unusual christmas day

It was Christmas Day, everything was close. We were sitting at home(in London), had nothing to do, feeling bored and hungry, and feeling the urge to escape families, we thought it might be a good idea to go out. Convinced that we are in London, not in Germany, we can get food easily at anytime and anywhere, we set out to our little adventure, looking for Food, or more specific-fast food-KFC.
We started on Fulham high street, to our surprise, nothing was open(except chicken cottage), feeling disappointed, we drove on and believe any of the services on motorway would be open. We drove towards Heathrow direction, and saw one services coming up soon, not feeling too excited because we would have to settle for Burger King(most of the motorway services in UK has Burger King), and i don't like burger king, only to found out minutes later it was close! Completely! Not even the Gas station was open! Disappointed again! we decided to head to the last resort-Airport. Parked our car at Heathrow Terminal.5, saw the Costa coffee wasn't open in the arrival hall, my heart sinked. He didn't care and dragged me to the departure hall.
He.was.RIGHT. we were lucky that almost everything was open. We settle at a Italian restaurant, relieved that we were not going to starve to death. We had a good meal, even got magazines for the evening, still it was kind of strange to spend Christmas day at the airport when you are not flying.

I have to thank him for his determination and stubbornness, or else i would have been starved to death(ok, I'm exaggerating) I have to say sometimes I'm not that spontaneous like him, i wish i am but I'm not. It reminds me of what my friend said once-Maybe life with a very different partner is not that bad after all because you experience more and it brings you jump out of the box sometimes just to please the other half, of course, you are not going to enjoy it all the time, but this Christmas day, i find it extremely fun and i thoroughly enjoy it.

Another horrible drive

It took me almost 5 hours to drive from Mannheim to Dusseldorf. What a day??

I was so exhausted. Again, more snow on the road, traffic....i love snows, but please, i don't want to drive in this condition anymore.

He lives on the ground floor with communal garden, i woke up this 'afternoon', and the garden is covered in more than 10cm snow.....for a moment, it feels like im staying in a ski resort. Is actually quite nice staying indoor, and is nice and white outside. :)

Strasbourg-disaster

After work on Friday, i drove to Mannheim and stayed at a friend's place.
The drive from Nürnberg to Mannheim was horrible. I've never driven in this kind of condition. It was snowing very heavily, it was super cold, at least -8 degree Celsius, my wiper didn't work because everything was frozen, i couldn't see anything from my window because even my window was frozen(both on the inside and outside) i had to scrap off the ice while i was driving. The road was full of snow, i couldn't see which lane i was driving..............but i did arrive at Mannheim after 3 and a half hours(it usually take 2 and a half hours), which was fine.
Today, we did something even more outrageous. It was -10 this morning, we somehow convinced ourselves that Strasbourg will be warmer and WE, we can stand the cold. What the hell was i thinking??
Obviously, that was a mistake. I've never felt so cold in my LIFE. I remember when i was in Vienna 2 years ago, it was -17, but i didn't find it as cold as today. At the end of the 3 hours walk, i couldn't feel my toes anymore. I'm serious, i really couldn't feel it. I wonder if the locals can stand it too. In that 3 hours, we walked through some nice Christmas markets, had hot orange juice, went into the Dom and a biscuit shop, took less than 10 pics(because it was that cold, that nobody bother to take any), had crepes. I couldn't be more happy to leave. It was way too cold.
I was so looking forward to this trip, but it ended in disaster, mind you, I'm still cold now.
I still have to drive to Düsseldorf tomorrow, fingers crossed.