Whoa! Slow down!!!

I can't believe how crazy work has become over the last few days. Thursday last week things were still ok. I had completed my project way ahead of schedule with only a few other tasks that needed attention. So I was asked to jump onto another project as peacemaker/cleaner-uper. Basically, poo hit the fan, there were conflicts and heated arguments, and I was thrown into the mix to make everything better. I finally managed to settle everything down and was ready to put my head down and charge along with the actual work, when at 3pm, my old project manager came up to me and said "When you get a chance, like in the next 2 hours, could I get you to have a catch up with so-and-so for a handover? You're our new test lead on the project and will be taking over everything, and so-and-so is also going on leave and today is her last day". Talk about advanced warning!

Ontop of trying to finish my 2 existing projects, I now have to take on another project which is HUGE in comparison to my current ones. I was always meant to jump onto the project, but my focus was purely on the technical component and I was also supposed to "do my own thing" as we're in the middle of revamping all our work processes. Instead, I now have to do both the technical component and worry about the main body of work. This is ontop of the interviews I have to go to. No, I'm not looking for a new job, only looking at hiring other people to help me out. Oh, I've also been roped into all our process improvements which are just eating away at my hours. PLUS, I've been "volunteered" to give a presentation on my experience on my last project. If that goes well, my PM would also like to "volunteer" me to do a company-wide presentation. All of this needs to be done before I go on leave which is just 4 weeks away! And if we do find a new person by then, I'll need to train all of them up!

It seems everytime I'm about to go on leave, work just explodes into craziness. Infact, I felt the first twitch in my face just then. Not good. I should really stop looking at my calendar. I think in my 7.5hr working day, about 4-5hours are purely for meetings. OMG! HELP ME! I'm definately going to need my holiday in a months time.

Chicane

There is a huge cafe space directly below my office. When I first joined, the cafe was literally deserted. However, it was close and I went and tried their coffee once and never went back. They eventually closed down and the place was left empty for quite a few months. I walk to work one day and suddenly see the place under construction. After what seemed like a really long time, the cafe finally reopened and is today's Chicane.

Initially the place was quite deserted as well. The customers were badly burnt by the previous owners and it looks like it was going to take a lot of effort for their business to pick up. I even went in one day to try their coffee, took one look at their menu and went "This isn't a lunch place for me". Fast forward a few months, and you'll be lucky to get a table on a Friday afternoon without booking. And this place is HUGE. The place is completely packed out at lunch times and there are patrons from morning til night. It is now one of our unofficial meeting rooms. (I've lost count the number of times I've walked past and seen people have "meetings" there)

I've eaten at Chicane once or twice, mostly for farewell lunches. Their eat in menu is quite nice. Steak and beef burgers, pasta, risotto, grilled fish, lamb kebabs and the most divine salt and pepper squid. Because of their menu, I've never bothered eating there unless its a big organised lunch event. It was only recently that I found out that they have some great pre-made sandwiches, and for $8.70, you can get a salad with it as well. Of course I had to give it a go, and now I am completely hooked!!

Moroccan Lamb Baguette with Tuna Nicoise salad

Tandoori Chicken with Baked potato and chorizo salad

MmMmm its packed with chicken

Veggie burger with Roast veggie salad and Walnut Garden Salad

Moroccan Lamb Baguette with Caesar Salad and Pumpkin, Sundried Tomato and Bocconcini salad

Chicken Schnitzel Caesar Sandwich, Caesar Salad and Sweet Chilli Noodle salad

I have yet to have a sandwich and salad I did not like. The Moroccan lamb has got to be my favourite one so far, and I love their Caesar salad! Their premade sandwiches generally don't change, but they also have a sandwich bar section where you can choose your own fillings. Their salads change every day so you don't get sick of what they have to offer, but I think their caesar is always available.

What I love about Chicane is the great value and the fact that you're really full after eating. Not "Omg I'm going to be sick" full, but you definitely won't be starving by the end of the day. I've actually started to organise lunches there as its turning out to be a great catch up join. And I'm going to make it a mission to try all their sandwiches!

Chicane Cafe
20 Bond St
Wynyard

Azuma

I found out recently that my workmate has accepted a position elsewhere and will be leaving our team really soon. She has been a part of our "World Safari Lunches", which is when we try out a new restaurant once every 3 weeks and splurge a bit. No food court stuff for us. Although we're having a team farewell, we thought it would be good if the 3 of us went for a private lunch to have a bit of a chat before she left. We decided on Azuma since they have wagyu beef on their menu and we were all craving for some red meat.

We arrived at Azuma to a serene setting and excellent service. We decided on a bento box each, and ordered a serve of wagyu beef to share.

Noodle Bento - $35.00
Udon Noodle Soup, Teriyaki Chicken, Tempura, Rice, Salad and Fruit

Noodle Bento - $35.00
Cold Soba, Teriyaki Chicken, Tempura, Rice, Salad and Fruit

Sashimi and Tempura - $38.00
Sashimi, assorted Tempura, grilled seasonal fish fillet, rice and Miso soup

There was so much food I couldn't fit it into the one photo! Yes that one bento box!

Seared Wagyu Beef served with Daikon & soy citrus sauce - 100g for $22.00

The bento boxes were such good value we could barely get through the food. I went for the hot udon noodle soup since I've ordered it before at their little takeaway food court joint Ton Ton. The tempura was unbelievably light, I could almost convince myself its low fat! Almost.....

The Wagyu beef was a bit overdone for my liking. We ordered medium, but it was more well done. I think next time we're going to order rare so we can taste how buttery it should be. The sauce however, was heavenly! If I wasn't so full, I would've ordered another bowl of rice and a big spoon to scoop up all the sauce! It was sooo unbelievably good!

We had a great time sitting around chatting without getting kicked out (which is always a plus). The service was attentive but no overbearing. The food was a bit over priced for what you get, but we had a great lunch catching up with my workmates that it was worth the money.

Azuma
Tel : (02) 9222 9960
Fax : (02) 9222 9962
Address : Level 1, Chifley Plaza, 2 Chifley Square
(Cnr. of Phillip & Hunter Street)
Sydney NSW 2000

This is going to be a VERY long day....

We had a farewell drinks thing last night after work, generally at these functions, I tend to leave around 8pm at the latest (Considering is a weeknight). Last night, the speeches didn't even start until about 8pm, so by the time speeches were done and calls for final drinks before the bar tab closed it was almost 9pm. We were all going to leave, but somehow I got suckered into a game of pool, and a bunch of us stayed back at the pub until about 11pm when we got kicked out. Instead of going home, we moved onto the next pub for more drinks before we got told that we're going to get kicked out soon. I decided it was time to leave whilst the others decided to stay til closing time. By the time I got home, it was well past 12:30am.

It wasn't all the alcohol that killed me, it was the fact I couldn't sleep. I don't have a pounding headache hangover, I have "the whole room is still spinning" hangover. It feels like I haven't slept in 48hours. It was a bacon and egg roll type morning.....I would love to go home because I'm just not functioning. But with the amount of work and commitment going on, I can't go home. And I can't even have a quiet night in since theres Meyo's birthday thing tonight. And there is no sleeping in tomorrow since I need to be up early to be ready for beach volleyball. And of course, Sunday is Mothers day. There will be no rest for the wicked this weekend. Maybe someone should just shoot me right now. Atleast it stops the room from spinning.

Malaysian Cuisine - Jimmy's Recipe

I've recently discovered a little secret place literally around the corner from my work. Its a little hole in the wall restaurant that is barely noticeable from the main street. I only happened to spot it one day heading into our office car park. In fact, this place has been open for almost 2 years, and none of my workmates even know about it! There is a tiny sign advertising their presence and that's it. The shop itself is tiny. You can only sit a handful of people in there. So either go early, or grab takeaway.

I'm not even too sure what the name of the shop is call. Maybe its just "Malaysian Cuisine", but whatever it's called, they've got some good food in there! I've been there a few times just to try their food out, and so far so good.

Chicken Laksa

Their Laksa is supposedly the best in Sydney, but I personally still like the laksa from Malay-Chinese Takeaway. I prefer my laksa to be lighter so I can finish the whole bowl. Their laksa is richer than MCT, but still good regardless. I just wouldn't finish all the soup......I'll feel too guilty from their richly goodness!

Kapitiam Chicken

I went back the next day to try their Kapitiam chicken. This was...strange. The sauce is slightly sour, but also curry/satay like. I've never had this dish before, so I'm not sure if its the way its supposed to be. I was disappointed in how they made the dish though. They had a Kapitiam SQUID special the day I was there, but I really had a hankering for chicken. Instead of cooking a fresh batch, they picked up some chicken and mixed some of the squid sauce through it. The dish didn't taste bad, but I think I would've liked it better if they had covered all the chicken with the sauce. And maybe if I didn't find squid pieces in my container...

Hainan Chicken and Rice

Chicken and veggie broth

Chilli garlic dipping sauce and ginger shallot sauce

Every time I've gone into the shop, I see people consuming plates of the Hainan Chicken Rice. So for my workmates birthday, we decided to give the dish a go. The chicken was very nice and tender, the soup flavoursome (Even though it was msg laden) and the dipping sauce was oh so authentic! They even give you the option of wing or thigh.

I'm liking this place alot as it is so close to my work and is perfect for those days I am too lazy to walk anywhere to buy lunch. It is literally a 30sec walk from my office! How great is that for rainy days!

The shop can be found in the tiny Bridge Lane between Bridge St and Abercrombie Lane.

And it continues....

Its been a tiring week. Work has been absolutely insane with my Manager resigning and moving to a different department. We had 4 days notice before she's left. Ontop of trying to get work under control, I had to deal with the whole tour being cancelled thing. So me and Moishii had an emergency meeting on the weekend to go over the other tours and try to rework our entire itenary. So I tottled over to Flight Centre just then to try and reorganise my trip. Luckily, the tour we want, and the date we want is available. Its also guaranteed to run no matter what. (How much are you guys willing to bet that we can make that tour cancel as well?) Ontop of that, they're willing to give us an earlybird discount on the new tour (Because we got a discount on the old tour) as well as give us a full refund of the difference. Its all good news isn't it?

Well, knowing us, its not always good news. Moishii's flight from Istanbul to Rome has been cancelled. Wait, let me clarify, the AIRLINE that runs the flight has gone BANKRUPT, hence the flight got cancelled. Yep, thats right folks, we made an Airline go bankrupt. How good are we?? Anyway, they've managed to squeeze him onto an Air Italia flight that departs 10mins after the original one so thats not too bad. Air Italia is more expensive anyway, so think of it as an upgrade.....kind of......

So thats item #2 on our wall of shame. Let the list grow...

Its already begun...

I've got less than 2 months before I embark on my 3rd overseas trip to Europe. I've been looking forward to this for so long! No overseas trips in 2006, save all my leave for one big perfect holiday. There was plenty of stress and lots of money spent, but its all done and I'm ready for my trip.

Today, my workmate asked me when I was going on my holiday. Then I started discussing about where I was going, what the plans were etc etc. And how I am SO OVER looking through travel books. Ever since we booked the last thing needed, I haven't looked at anything related to the trip. I needed a break from it all.

So as I was rushing home from work today, I walked past Flight Centre and saw my travel agent, poor Jessica, sitting at her desk. I thought, what a perfect time to go remind her I need to pick up my tickets soon!

As I walked towards the shop, her eyes looked up and saw me, then practically popped out of the sockets.

Jessica: "Oh my gosh! Just the person I want to see!!"
Me: (Thinking she was being sarcastic) "Are you sure about that??"
Jessica: "You must be psychic! I was just thinking about you! I've got news for you"
Me: "Its bad isn't it......?"
Jessica:"Unfortunately yes.......I just got a fax and your tour has been cancelled...."
Me: "Oh. Ok."

I wasn't even SHOCKED. I didn't yell. I didn't cry. I didn't kick up a fuss. Infact, Jessica was more upset than me! (But I think that was partly due to the fact that she knows she has to see me more often again!!) And its like I KNEW something like this would happen. And I don't think anyone who knows me will be shocked by this news either. I know me + Moishii = Bad News. But come on. This is ridiculous!

Before I booked the tour, I called up the tour company and asked what is the likelihood of the tour being cancelled, and would I be better off taking the next tour (Which departs 7 days later) that is guaranteed to run no matter what. The answer I got was this:

"To be honest, this is our most popular Italy tour and has run every year. In fact, in the history of running this tour, it has NEVER been cancelled before."

*Sigh* When it comes to us, history means jack all. Now its back to the drawing board. To make things worse, that was the perfect tour. Not only did it take us to every place we wanted to see, but it also operated in the opposite direction of EVERY SINGLE OTHER TOUR across all the companies. And it worked perfectly for us because it allowed us to leave the tour early and do the other cities we're both dying to go to. THERE IS NO REPLACEMENT TOUR! ARGH. I need to do some research and stress some more.

I'm not overseas yet and its already begun.....all bets are off for this year......

Bootaylicious Beyonce

After a long wait, it was finally time for Beyonce! I have been looking forward to her concert for so long. Not only do I love her songs, she's also a fabulous entertainer, and I knew I had a great night ahead. After meeting up with Cherry and Moishii, we quickly rushed to the Olympic park and managed to grab a good parking spot with our prepaid ticket. We grabbed our stuff and rushed out of the car park and headed straight for the bar. God it's been awhile since we've had a drink.

We quickly grabbed our drinks and found a lovely spot on the balcony to relax before the show. After our drinks, we figured we're going to need something starchy to line our stomaches. We grabbed a few hot chips to scoff down before making it into the stadium for Chris Brown. I'm sure Chris Brown's performance was spectacular, but I wouldn't know considering the 40y.o. Mother was going NUTS next to me. She brought her teenage daughter along, but she seemed like a bigger fan than her daughter. She was literally on the edge of her seats the entire performance (When she wasn't up dancing that is). That woman went OFF.

She finally managed to settle down before Beyonce started. Not before the chick behind us managed spill half a gallon of coke all over the floor.

Trying to mop up the mess

After cleaning that mess up, Beyonce finally came on. And god was the concert good! Not only is she bootayliciously HOT, but she knew how to entertain! Would I even dare say her concert was as good as Kylie's? Whilst Kylie's concert was all feathers and glitz, Beyonce's was GLITZ with a lot of flesh. A LOT of flesh. There was one costume she wore, that I remembered saying to Cherry "God, she must've gotten a brazillian to wear that". But then there were some really classy and gorgeous outfits. My favourite would have to be the belly dancing outfit she wore for the song she did with Shakira "Beautiful Liar". The outfit was revealing, but in a very soft feminine way. TOTALLY Mouth watering. She got the audience involved and into the mood, and her voice. GOD her voice was AMAZING! We had an absolute blast of a time, and I was really disappointed when there was no encore.

I wasn't disappointed in the extra entertainment that was happening around our seats though. There were these 2 girls sitting infront of us that was either stoned off their face, or pissed off their face. Possibly both.

Is that a...boob?

The chick in the leopard print dress ended up falling flat on her face multiple times during the night. There was one point where I thought she had passed out in a pile of her own puke. She was also feeling up other people during the night. She sat with her legs crossed and touching the chairs infront of her. Instead of sitting up a little to let people walk past, she forced people to try and climb over her. One of the guys didn't feel comfortable doing that and stood there waiting to get past. After a few seconds, she decided to run her hands from his waist to his knees. His GF, who was standing behind him, was ready to rip her face off. Too bad nothing came out of it. She did, however, flash her entire butt in our face. Her dress basically did not even cover her ass when she sat. I'm not exaggerating. She was sitting on BARE ASS. And when she leaned forward, you could see her entire black G-String. THANK GOD she was wearing anything at all!

After the concert was over, we stayed in our seats until the entire stadium was cleared and eventually got kicked out my security. We walked out of the stadium and tried to reenter to have a look at the people spending a week's worth of pay on souvenier only to be kicked out by security. Since we had nothing to do, we decided to head towards the car. This is when we noticed that the huge crowd we saw, wasn't trying to get to their car, they were trying to line up and pay! And since we had prepaid, we thought if we get to our car in time, it shouldn't take us half an hour to get out. So we race to the car and quickly hop in. Now anyone who has driven to a concert knows that the car park will be complete chaos. If there is space, people will move into it.

So as we're edging into the main stream of traffic, out of the corner of my eye, I see this car jerking towards us. No because there was a problem with the car, but more of a problem between the seat and the steering wheel. Next thing you know, a bitch in a BMW sticks her head out the window and yells at me "I'M NOT LETTING YOU IN! SO DON'T EVEN TRY!!". This was the start of a screaming match. Well, more like me screaming and her sitting there like a stunned mullet. Especially when I screamed at her "SLUT!!!!!!!". She sat there with her mouth hanging open for a good 5 secs before managing a weak "wha...wha...WHAT?". She even had the audacity to say "Don't you dare touch my car". Hello? Bitch? We're INFRONT OF YOU. If there is ANY scratching between the cars, its because YOU drove into US. You tard! I have no problems people not letting you into the lane. Ok, I do. But that's not the point. The point is, instead of edging in and not letting us in, she SLAMMED on the gas, then SLAMS onto the brake stopping within centimeters from hitting the car. MULTIPLE times. And if she did hit the car, it would've also hit me. So, me being me, meant that I spent a good 2mins hanging half way from the car window screaming abuse at her and mocking her. I've never seen someone go from "I'm so good, I've got a BMW" to "Oh shit, I need to get out of here before I get my head ripped off".

After that outburst, I certainly felt better. Not sure about Cherry though. I did warn her before the concert that she needs to be prepared to fight. Especially after the last incident with Kylie. I also remember telling her off for wearing heels instead of something comfy you can roll around in. You know, just incase there was a tussle. I also told her that no matter what happens, there is only 4 words you need to say to a cop. "It was self defence".

Moishii has also been briefed. He knows what to do in the event that a fight breaks out. Film. Unless I'm losing. Then he needs to throw Cherry into the fight.

Anyway, after all of that, we decided to head off to Hey Hey for a Hey Hey special. For those who haven't heard of a Hey Hey Special, it is basically a uber, mega kebab combo. It contains beef and chicken, lettuce, tomato, onions, tabouli, cheese and about a kilo of sauces made up of chilli, hummous, tahini and garlic yoghurt. Cherry was a Hey Hey virgin, so we decided it was time to devirginise her. Except she walked in and said she didn't want a Hey Hey Kebab. After a lot of yelling, she finally gave in and ordered a Hey Hey Special, and hey, I don't think she was disappointed. We even made her eat it the traditional way. Standing in the middle of the street in the freezing cold.

Its that time of the year again!!

Today is the day we get "The Envelope"! "The Envelope" is basically notification of our renumeration for the next year plus any profit share. Am I happy? Yes I am! Could I be even happier? Of course I can! When I got verbal notification of what I was going to get, I was initially disappointed. I wanted more! (I know, I'm greedy) But considering how last year had completely exceeded my expectations, I should be happy with what I got this year. I guess I was hoping for miracles. Lets aim for bigger things next year! :)