a decision that i will never regret...

...and these few days undergoing the SAP Consol (Accounts) training reaffirms that decision i made more than 10 years ago in 1996.

when i applied for college back then - i applied to take up a major in Management Accounting. the other close competitor is a major in Financial Accounting. those of you not in the field will just say - what's the big deal? both the majors still have the word "accounting" in there. true, but the similarities end there.

briefly -
Financial Accounting : deals mainly with the reporting of past data - the history
Management Accounting : deals with future, probable-to-happen data - the future

i m so glad i took MA back then. i just feel that i m not cut out to be an accountant. i m better off analysing, writing commentaries, fiddling with possible scenarios, playing with forecasts figures, predicting trends ... those tasks make me more alive.

many people have commented to me, in front of me, by the side of me, behind me --> accountants are boring. well, u cant really blame them - they are dealing with dead, historical data most times. but don't underestimate them - ever heard of creative accounting?

last but not least - i m proud to say that i m a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (yes, showing off i am just because i can! haha.)

因为那烟火太灿烂，也因为那烟火有点伤感

城市充满短暂的烟火 - 照亮了沉默，带出了寂寞

唔知点解呢几日心情有点忧郁。。。可能係工作压力影响。。。可能觉得自己一个人过得有点无聊。。。试着好努力地去压减自己嘅情绪波动。要镇定，要平静，要坚强，要耍酷，要演戏。。。有D累了。

可能我只想知道你在想什么， 请贴近我的心， 贴近我的耳朵。

Phuket Fantasy Part 3/3

it's been at least a week since my last post. i have forgotten most of what i wanna write in this last episode of the phuket fantasy. my mind has been invaded this week with all sorts of things at work - i was in an advanced excel workshop for the first 2 days of the work week, and these 3 days (incl. tomorrow) i m in a state of confusion most of the time in the world of SAP. i shall try my best to capture the essence of the last 2 days of the fantasy before pushing & forcing myself to face the real world.


Day 3 - marked the day we checked out of Karon Princess and moved to Kata Palm Resort. it was love at first sight ... well, almost... the hotel was having some minor renovation work going on. but still, the place was beautiful. impressive lobby. and the room! it's very romantic. we did not have sea-view, but the pool view was great too.







my room mate couldnt wait to jump into the pool, while i couldnt wait to soak in the tub :) while some others just wanted to laze around.



we had some rest & relax time, before proceeding to Phuket Fantasea; phuket island's renowned theme park. a few friends who had been to phuket said this is a must-see. so we forked out slightly less than MYR150 to go, which is inclusive of a show.








the show won a lot of applause. spectacular to say the least. too bad we were not allowed to bring in our cameras... inclusive of our camera handphones. it's a good thing though, otherwise we will be too busy snapping away & did not concentrate on the show.








the show starts at 9pm, but u should go earlier to do some shopping, & explore the other attractions there - the palace of the elephants, festival village, elephant rides; to name a few.


by the time we leave the park we were exhausted & excited. our exhaustion won over and we decided to go back to the hotel. nearing Kata beach, we went for a stroll, jalan-jalan cari makan. our last chance to savour the delicous food, before we leave the next morning.


by the time we were back in our hotel room, i was very tired. just tried to gather my last bit of strength to pack my bags before going to bed.


Day 4 - we had time after breakfast, to go for massage, swim, shopping and whatever we wanted to do before we leave for the airport. i took a stroll along Kata beach. the sea was still pretty rough. the waves were as high as a kid. kinda scary, if u ask me.





i finally managed to buy a pair of sandals. i have always wanted a pair, but nothing caught my fancy. practiced my negotiation skills :) what to do, THB in my pocket was almost depleted.


at the airport, we had a quick lunch at Burger King before boarding our flight home. sad... to leave such a beautiful place. sad... to see our holiday end. sad ... knowing we had to go back to work the next day.


so that's about it. am looking forward to my next holiday. no idea when and where yet. maybe a trip to Yogyakarta to see this?

Phuket Fantasy Part 2/3

Day 2 - woke up to enjoy a nice breakfast in front of the beach. food wasnt all that great, but the potato wedges was yummy & the omellete, too!

rushed off to go for our island hopping tour...we were running a bit late, cant blame us, the driver picked us up @ 7.30am (which was earlier than my usual working day wake up time!). so off we go, 7 of us malaysian girls & 3 aussie guys in the van.

the tour was nothing to shout about. was quite far from phuket island to phi phi island. i was feling sleepy & bored, but could not sleep. maya bay was lovely, too bad we were on a cruiser, so we couldnt go nearer.

viking cave was just viking cave. :P nothing much. cant go in anyway, coz according to the guide, it's now owned by a bird's next company which makes it a private cave.

we stopped at monkey beach for snorkelling & canoeing. i enjoyed the canoeing. havent done that for a long time. snorkelling was nothing exciting. readang island was much more beautiful with its varieties of sea creatures & corals. plus 1 hour of snorkelling & canoeing was simply insufficient.

the unforgetable part was when the monkeys at monkey beach stole our loaf of bread, which was meant for the fishes :(

after the whole thing finished, we wanted to watch sunset at phuket's prominent point - phrom trep cape. due to miscommunication with our driver - who couldnt converse in english nor we in thai - we ended up in chalong bay. but still, it was nearer to travel to phrom trep cape from there than from our hotel at karon beach.

chalong bay is quite pretty, actually. from there, we hired a nother van to go to phrom trep cape. amazing! just look at its pic...so, it was a good thing the driver left us there. :)

sunset view from phrom trep cape is NOT TO BE MISSED!!!

finally we took away our dinner from phrom trep cape & patong beach & ate in our hotel room. yummy nice & cheap dinner! THB570 for 7 of us, & we had grilled fishes, papaya salad, mango salad, vege, clams, grilled pork, white rice. it's great to have so many accountants in the group! :)

after dinner, we walked around karon beach & had our massage session. thumbs up! me & my friend went for the thai massage, whilst the rest who were less adventurous went for the aromatherapy massage.

by the time we finished, it was almost midnite,... so time to go sleep. :)

i m back - Phuket Fantasy Part 1/3

i am back from my phuket trip - it was great! i wish i don't have to come back to work. as one of my pals said, she now plans to have a holiday that lasts a lifetime! :P

Day 1 - departed to Phuket & checked in to Karon Princess Hotel (value for money for THB950 per room nite with breakfast)

went out for late lunch & walked around Patong beach. we managed to book the island hopping tour for the next day at THB1000/person & the tickets to the Phuket Fantasea at a discount & good seats. :) :) we did more shopping before settling down in front of Impiana Chabana Resort for a nice sunset view. the sunset was so lovely.





went for a nice seafood dinner - we had lobster, omelette with crab meat (yummy! 1 of my friend said she didnt know eggs could be so tasty - she was totally in love!), mussels (huge servings!), salad & fried vege served with white rice.



after dinner, we continued to explore patong town & did some shopping. when we were too tired to walk anymore, we took a tuk tuk back to the hotel & slept like babies...coz the next day, we had exciting activities lined up. :)

more to come ...

Beat the World

no, this is not about the Olympics starting tomorrow. it's about the World Drums Fest i attended last weekend. it was a colourful, upbeat event. great! i enjoyed myself, and even more because a friend got us some media passes. so, with that in hand - we could go nearer to the stage & capture the vibration of the beating drums less than 6 feet away. *thumbs up*

recently the heat @ work had been unbearable. crazy. i was standing in for a colleague who left, while the Company looks for a replacement. & because of this, i m stretched to the limit. beyond the point that i feel i can take. i was like an octopus, & i find that my productivity and efficiency had decreased signifcantly due to inability to concentrate on my work. my current portfolio & the one that i m temporary covering for are very much different in nature - treasury vs cost management. yeah, how similar can that be!

on one of those bad days, i even sneaked to the ladies' room to cry a tear. ugh... my CFO was trying to comfort me "i know the ship is sinking, just bear with it awhile longer", "i have pushed the HR to recruit people ASAP" (actually the HR had not even put an advert now & the guy has left >1 month already!), etc.

i don't want this to be an entry of rants & complaints, it started with a positive note, so i m ending it with one, too.

anyway my heart is no longer here, it has flown to here :) so, wish me a good weekend ahead, & a great holiday with my pals. (anyone looking for a job? we have a few positions for Management Accountants...)