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  • Posted On: November 23rd 2023 at 9:40 pm | Add a Comment?
    Categories: Korean related, Overseas, Personal life, Rants, Work

    It’s a long, long journey to US from Singapore. I’m still on my first out of the 3 flights that I have to take. Well, I don’t like the long flight journey but I am ok to be in US. Well, I always go US for work so it’s kind of a “no choice but to fly there” kind of thing. It is also a privilege since most people don’t fly for work or even go to US for work. In my last 10 years of work, I have gone to US 4 times, China 1 time and South Korea 1 time. It’s definitely a privilege and blessing that I am happy to have no matter how much I may have complained about the flights.

    I started watching 20 Century Girl korean movie on Netflix.

    I’m quite bored on plane and I hope I can sleep more for my next flight across the Pacific Ocean…


    Posted On: November 4th 2023 at 10:00 am | Add a Comment?
    Categories: Insights, Korean related, New stuff, Overseas, Personal life, Rants, Shopping, Travel, Work

    I’m blogging this on my phone as I am flying from South Korea to Singapore. For some reason, I am always very motivated to blog when I am on the plane. Maybe it is a quiet time since I am not connected to WiFi and I can’t do much while on flights. Maybe I am feeling more insightful when I am up in the skies? Lololol.

    Well, it is more boring in the current flight because my Netflix is not logged in before I fly so I cannot access my downloaded videos. Somehow Netflix thinks I am downloading videos on multiple devices and refused to let me download more videos so I have to login to log out all devices. I did log back in again but somehow it log me out again. Gah. I have to reach out to Netflix to sort out the issues when I am back in Singapore.

    I realised I am the biggest critic to myself. I should learn to appreciate my own achievements. I have achieved much more than what I started out with. Just because there are people who doesn’t see my true value or appreciate my efforts/hard work does not mean I should not see my true value. I am gaining more self-awareness and learn to gauge people around me. I’m also learning to trust my gut/intuition more. It’s also important to celebrate small wins in life. 🙂

    Anyway, it has been a fruitful trip as I was able to top up my skincare items along with getting my personal colour test and new hairstyle. I was able to get new makeup based on the results of my best colour match as well as 1 new outfit for Chinese New Year too. 🙂 I got a new cardigan for me to wear in US too! Whee!

    I got more sunscreen from Olive Young too. Trying to save money by buying cheaper sunscreen instead of Kiehls sunscreen. Haha.

    I did splurge on hand cream though. I went to Tamburins and got more hand and body cream for myself. I even got myself a new bottle of perfume from my favourite scent – Berga Sandal.

    I even managed to get my new accessories which I didn’t get in my previous trip then got tempted when I am in Singapore. Sadly the first faux pearl necklace I got broke before I managed to wear it. I still managed to get replacement for it at another place too. I also managed to get a nice pair of clover earrings – yeah the fake Alhambra earrings lol. I probably won’t wear it with my real Alhambra jewellery haha. It’s in the colour that matches my best personal colours too.

    The lady at the personal colour test told me that my current spectacles doesn’t suit me. I will look better with silver or transparent spectacles. Or even black. These are the colours I never considered until the personal colour test.

    So I went to Gentle Monster and got a black frame with silver spectacles hehe. Still thinking if I want to make it into sunglasses or just normal spectacles. I’m definitely working hard to glow up after my break up. I have to put in extra effort to make sure that I am taking care of myself better. I think my goal for remaining months of 2023 and 2024 is to sleep more. I need to get my health in better condition. This year has been pretty tough for my health and I hope next year will be better. Eunice mentioned that this year is expected to be tough for us and whoa, she is right at least for me.

    I definitely achieved way more than I initially expected in this trip, on top of learning new stuff for work. Good job, Sakura! *patting myself on my back* Hahaha.

    Anyway, I’m listening to the audio book – 5 levels of leadership on Audible now. It’s a book recommended by one of my career mentors. I’m thinking if I want to buy the physical copy of the book. Not sure if I want to build a mini library of physical books in future. That is going to be on top of my library of music books. Space is a serious consideration though. Hmm…


    Posted On: November 4th 2023 at 1:10 am | Add a Comment?
    Categories: Korean related, Overseas, Personal life, Rants, Shopping, Travel, Wants, Work

    I flew back to Singapore from South Korea yesterday and it was quite an adventure. Lol, my life is always an adventure especially when in airports lol. 🙂 What is a sagittarius life without adventure, right? Haha.

    So here it goes…

    (1) It started with my taxi ride to the airport. I just approached by the traffic officer to find out about my taxi cost and if I am overcharged. I have to share where I took the taxi from, how much is it, show my receipt, my payment method, if I have given any tips and how I book the cab. Well, I was very fortunate to stay in a pretty good hotel who got Bell Service to help me with luggage from my hotel room to the cab. First time going back to Singapore from Seoul that is so fuss free and not physically tiring at all.

    (2) Then I went to Asiana Airlines counter to drop my baggage. As usual, it is the automated system and I have to go to another place for bag drop after printing out my boarding pass. Then the staff said it is overweight and kept asking me to pay. When I asked how much is it, she said 65,000 won (or is it 60,000 won?). Anyway, I asked how much overweight is my luggage and she showed me is 28kg. Gosh. It is within the baggage limit since I booked through SIA. I am well under the limit of 30kg so I told the staff. Then she directed me to a separate counter to register. I waited and there is another staff who helped me. Again, she asked me to pay which I told her I am well under the limit. She scanned my details and found out that is true. *shrugs* Anyway, she helped me with the baggage tag and forgot to pass me my boarding pass until I asked for it. Then she realised it was dropped on the floor. Aiyo… Luckily I wasn’t very sleepy at that time lol.

    I didn’t buy much in this trip as I am very aware of the importance to keeping to budget. I still ended up exceeding a bit so that leaves less money for US. I was sharing with my friend that if I somehow managed to keep to the budget set for Seoul and US, I can reward myself with something! Then she was like… I thought you needed to save money? Okay, fine. Maybe I will reward myself with a nice home item instead. Lol.

    (3) Then I was packing my winter jacket into the hand carry and realised I was seated opposite a group of friends where 1 lady is carrying a fake mini constance bag from Hermes. Lol… I almost brought that bag for my travels. Lol. Luckily I have already packed my Hermes mini evelyne bag into my backpack so it was not awkward.

    (4) I went to do my tax refund and gosh, only my Hermes receipt is shown jn the system. Quite bullshit to be honest. My other 3 receipts from Sulwhasoo, Osulloc and SPAO were rejected. I went to the counter and asked and they said they needed to see the items before they can provide the customs stamp. Alamak. Those items are mostly in my checkin luggage which I have already checked in. I was pissed at myself since it’s quite a lot of money. Oh well, what can I do? Might as well forgive myself and feel better that it could have been greater loss of money if I buy even more skincare products lol. So I complained to some of my friends to vent out my frustrations.

    (5) I got a cute cinnamonroll water bottle with vitamin C water and I wanted to drink when on the taxi ride to airport. I ended up forgetting to drink and have to throw it away. At least I managed to take out the cute cinnamonroll character head and let the customs lady throw it away. I also forgot to take out my laptop and ipad when going through customs check so they had to take more time to check my backpack. Lol.

    (6) At this point it is close to 5pm and I haven’t had my lunch yet. I was supposed to eat before clearing customs which I obviously forgot. I do have snacks so it is not that bad. Luckily there is a food court after customs so I managed to go there and eat. I didn’t manage have soondubu (soft tofu stew) when I was in Seoul. Then I saw there is soondubu at the food court and was delighted! Unfortunately it was sold out so I still didn’t get to have it. I just ordered pork cutlet since I don’t eat beef and don’t want octopus.

    (7) Linking back to (4), I went to tax refund counter after I have my late lunch. I just gave all the tax refund forms and the lady somehow managed to scan all of them for me and I managed to get my refund. The form stated only credit card and alipay for the refund but I was able to get cash refund in the end. 😀 Yay. So I didn’t lose my money haha. I opt for USD since I have to fly to US 2 weeks later. Turns out to be “losing” a bit of value since I could have gotten more in KRW. At that point I didn’t think I will be paying in KRW for any purchases at duty free stores. I ended up going to Gentle Monster and got a new spectacles. Price is listed in USD but they only accept KRW. Sigh. Oh well, at least I will still be using USD 2 weeks later anyway.

    (8) I went into Hermes, Chanel, LV stores and walked out empty handed. Haha. Actually I found stuff I liked at LV and maybe Chanel too but I was able to have self discipline and not spend on them. I’m so proud of myself. I’m a changed lady haha. Well, my close friends will know what caused the change since I have been harping on it almost everyday. Lol. Unfortunately I forgot to get my lip balm refill from Hermes even though I went there. I guess I have to either get it from Singapore or Japan or San Francisco.

    (9) I found my gate about 15mins before boarding time then saw Angel-in-us coffee next to my gate. Somehow I decided I should get matcha latte (since I can claim…) 5 mins before official boarding time. People already started queuing at the counter. I went to queue to buy matcha latte instead of the gate lol. I still make it in time and the gate hasn’t open by the time I joined the queue for the gate. Mind you, I was carrying a backpack, a huge tote bag as carryon luggage, 1 paper bag of snacks from GS25, including my cinnamonroll cartoon character in it and a cup of iced matcha latte. Really #likeaboss at that point. Lol. The gym workouts have helped for sure lololol.

    That concluded my adventures of flying back to Singapore from Incheon airport. Which trip do I not have adventures? Lol. Not sure if I am attracted to adventures or adventures are attracted to me at this point. Hahaha. I’m proud of myself to be able to handle all these in a calm and positive manner by myself for sure. Definitely a Sagittarius! Hahahaha.

    I’m blessed to get middle seat empty as my flight to ICN had a relatively plump Korean guy sitting next to me and he was sleeping and falling on me throughout the flight. I got quite irritated and just push back his head then he woke up to look at me and I gave my most #badgirl look while watching my korean drama on my ipad. Lol. He never do it again anymore.


    Posted On: August 16th 2023 at 11:30 pm | Add a Comment?
    Categories: Korean related, Love, Personal life, Rants

    It’s day 3 of my hospitalisation leave and I am taking less naps. I still get dreams which are odd and wake up at odd hours too. I’m spending the day watching Love in Contract. My finger is still hurting but the strong painkillers are also helping my fingers. I didn’t dare to continue my TCM medicine for my finger since I am already taking really strong painkillers for my wound. Hopefully it doesn’t bleed as much tomorrow. It’s been a challenge to make sure that the bandage stays put though. Can’t wait for my followup appointment with the surgeon.

    I also received a care hamper from Geck Keat today. She sent me some bird nest and vitamin C drinks. As a big fan of bird nest, I guess this is my excuse to spam bird nest? Hahaha. 🙂

    I’m feeling blessed with the care and concern I received so far. That includes the care and support I got post-breakup. It wasn’t easy to navigate the health issues while the relationship was in the rocks. 🙁 I guess God has his way to make sure that at least I have supportive friends and also met a nice surgeon who encouraged me to just go for the surgery. Hopefully the scar is not as bad though haha. *fingers crossed* I hope I can trust a senior consultant surgery skills hehe.

    I still remembered when I told my bestie that I have to go for the surgery and she went to find an auspicious date for it and told me to pick that date. I thought she meant she is only free on that date but it turned out she went to check every date before lunar 7th month to find out which date is auspicious for surgery. 🙂 The stars were aligned as that is also the earliest possible date when my surgeon is available. 


    Posted On: August 15th 2023 at 9:14 pm | Add a Comment?
    Categories: Korean related, Personal life

    What do I do when I am on hospitalisation leave? I decided to sign up for Prime Video 30-day trial and watch my dramas. I originally planned to study for CISSP but I’m feeling quite tired so I guess it’s better for me to take care of myself and enjoy life a bit haha. I welcome drama recommendations. Please comment on this post if you have recommendations on what dramas I should watch. Haha. I’m currently watching Love in Contract on Prime Video now.

    I’m quite happy that the surgery is over but now need to make sure that my wound recover soon. It’s also my first time having 2 painkillers – 1 of them is actually quite strong based on what the nurse told me. I don’t feel much pain so I didn’t take the second painkiller before I slept last night. I ended up sleeping for close to 12 hrs and missed the call from the surgeon’s clinic on the surgery bill claim this morning. Lololol. I have been having insomnia issues and it’s been a really long time since I can slept so long. I had so many dreams and I woke up with a bad dream – losing my hand carry bag when I passed by Malaysia security immigration. Don’t ask me why the dream is so weird. I also don’t know how I remember it and it been so weird.

    My armpit is so swollen and the surgeon’s nurse told me that it is normal and I am supposed to keep taking the painkillers for the first few days to ensure that the pain is under control. It’s not very painful but I will take panadol once I realised that the wound is aching a bit. I guess it helps with the inflammation too.

    Thank you to all of my friends who showed me concern and provided support in this period of time. I am slowly on my road of recovery. 🙂