Work ended and I have a black CCF!

Haha! That's Jiayuan taking a picture of me.

My colleagues at Futurebrand really know how to make me happy... they got me a black CCF!

I haven't decided what it should be called... possibly Brandy, to remind me of Futurebrand. But I must make sure it's an affectionate name I love - sauce? CCF Sauce? Saucey? black sesame? It might just remain black CCF.

It was a real surprise and I was giggling like a happy little girl.

NICOLE! This is the funniest girl, EVER and I love her.

All Nics are so funny TeeTee my deskmate. He and Nicole were the ones who went to buy me black CCF. Poor TeeTee has no more deskmates, and no more noisy me.
This is Smita, whose last day was yesterday because she's joining the Hong Kong office. Very funky woman.
Roxanne and I on the rooftop. I think she's really pretty and has this entirely cool, but sweet demeanour. Aha, it's obvious in this picture... I chopped off half my hair! I couldn't bear the Singapore Sun, and told my hairdresser, Fiona, to chop it all off. I am loving the feeling of being a free woman, considering cutting even more off.
Elaine from Philippines.
It's a pity I didn't see her that much because she was in the states for a vacation for three weeks. She is quite a cool person, as with many people at Futurebrand. They all seem to have very individual, interesting personalities!
Xiaohui, who just joined with TeeTee. She's from Nanyang and Hwachong too. And she's a tom yum queen like me.

I've been tired, and caught up with a social life. Extremely tiring, considering I made myself come home and sleep at 10:30pm the entire of last week. I have not ran since Monday, barely been practising because I'm so tired that I laze in bed and mumble to CCF when I wake up in the morining.

I feel like all my days deserve some mention, so I shall do the day-by-day thing which I usually scoff at-

Tuesday: Glad that I was on leave the next day, I got my colleagues (Nicole, TeeTee, Xiaohui) out for dinner with NicNic, Linda and I. I think this was the first time Linda caught a glimpse of my crappy side and was horrified by Nic and I. And Nicole made me laugh SO MUCH, that silly little girl. =) I don't know what was it, but I was really relaxed, and happy with the company. We were at Cedeles, and their bread of the day was ciabatta. Ahh, ciabatta with mushroom soup, reminds me of my New York staple.

Post dinner, NicNic and I hung about to catch up, and he dragged me to walk to PS. The dear boy, I'm going to miss him when I go to Canada. =( I'm ever amazed by how much crap we are able to exchange, while maintaining an ability to discuss more serious, heartfelt stuff. Nevertheless, we think we are getting a bit out of hand with our wackiness that we need to spend a day in the business library to recharge. In the library, we are raelly different people - very, very serious.

Wednesday: Had appointmentappointment in the morning with Evelyn and Dr Lee, before I headed to school. And... impulsively, I went to the salon because I badly wanted a hair wash (I couldn't bathe in the morning because both our bathrooms were being fixed!) AND impulsively, chopped off all my hair. My hairdresser, Fiona, is the nicest ever. I just love going to her, because she's so genuinely nice, and interested in her job - service from the heart, I'd say. She really strikes me as a kind, lively, and wonderful person.

I had loads of spare time, so I practised in the AR, chatting with NicNic on the phone in between. That was a good practise - I miss the grand pianos, much better than my upright, which is really falling apart. It was just me, in the big, empty room. My space, my practise, my mistakes for my ears only... I was almost reluctant to leave-

But I had to meet Jiayuan, who kindly accompanied me to the airport... to pick CHRISTIAN STEFANUS ALOYSIUS KURNALDI HUI up from the airport. Christian is this Indonesian-Chinese Australian dude I met on exchange, and one of the few friends I kept, besides the Singaporeans. I was so apprehensive, but it was absolutely GREAT seeing him again, felt so happy giving him a great big hug. I took him to Singapore's Best Prata at Casuarina Road (near my house), which I'm glad he enjoyed, or at least appeared to. I was really happy to catch up with Christian, have missed him and there was much to catch up on! Invited him to my house, where he got really amused by my younger photos.

Thursday: Back to work! And the day Black CCF came into my life. Smita's last day. Met Kebs for dinner, and I'm glad all went mostly fine. Took a long walk home, from Junction 8 all the way to my place. At the staircase into my estate, a guy (in army uniform - No. 4) ran down, passed me his number and said, 'Hi I'm Sam. Please sms or call me if you want to be my friend, or chat. What's your name?' I lied that I'll call, and rushed off. The Dad was super paranoid about the entire thing, haha. Funny.

Friday: Oh that's today! Last day at work, and I was busier than ever, because I was rushing to prepare for my presentation, and clear up my files to put in the central server. I actually forgot my coffee, until I discovered I was feeling sicker than ever at about 5pm.

I was glad to have a chance to do Friday sharing session, and talk about some of the things I have been working on during my internship. And even more heartened that it generated enthusiastic discussion. That's what I enjoy about Futurebrand - the surprisingly genuine interest in open discussion, and throwing ideas in the air. I was asked if I had any feedback, 'negative' ones so that they could improve - but really, I could think of absolutely nothing to say at the top of my head. It was all good. And I'll miss the people, and observing things in my own little spot.

And so, that's the end of my stint at Futurebrand Singapore. Will be heading to Futurebrand China on 2nd July.

I had a simple, but delightful evening... had dinner with WINSTON OH at Thomson Plaza. I was really glad to see him (he was off in Sweden for exchange), and happy to give him a welcome home hug. =) Seeing Winston made me realize something -

I make friends in a really strange way. I often operate by my instinct - Winston's not one of those I am THAT close to, so close that I'd talk to everyday, or share my entire life story with. (or maybe, not that close yet). We were always just business schoolmates, HnF friends, and yet - I felt genuinely happy to see him after so long, and he is one of the few friends I really treasure from Business school. I really think it's an instinctive, gut feel kinda thing - some people I meet, I just trust, and believe them to be genuinely good, sincere people. Winston's one of them. Whether he treats me as a good friend or not, I know that when I look back to my university days for fond memories years down the road, he's one of the few I'd think of, for sure.

Long post!