RuehYinn a.n.d. Juleen a.t. blueepinkk.com

Since Juleen has written her side of the marriage proposal story, I guess I should write mine…

It all began about a year ago when Juleen keep hinting me to propose. Now being a practical guy, I am never good in this kind of things. For me, marriage is a kind of progression in life. It is like when you feel you are old enough, mature enough, ready enough then you can start to think about marriage.  All you need is to suggest to get married, choose a date and lets get married. That is called being PRACTICAL. However on the other side, I know to make  marriage special and memorable I need to put in effort to make it unforgettable. One of the way is to propose like what we always see in the movie or drama. After talking to few female friends, I started to realized proposal or even marriage is a GIRL’s thing. They treasure good proposal and marriage more than guy. No wonder, if possible a guy wouldn’t want to go through the whole process of proposing and marriage ceremony. Too troublesome, too much hassle, too much effort and money spend without equal return satisfaction to the men. But for girls, however, it is the reverse. To go through the process of proposing and getting married is a special thing. It is D – Day for most female. So since Juleen has been so sweet to me all this while, I thought I shouldn’t disappoint her. It is too cruel if I do…

Therefore, to propose is never an option for me. In fact, to propose in 2008 is one of my new year resolution. It is a must do thing for me this year. I was thinking of the right date to propose and it took me a while. I need to make sure so many things. I have to make sure I am financially able to provide, I need to make sure I have the house, I have to make sure I am the right one for her and etc etc. After much thinking, delay and procrastination I thought December will be the right date. Why December? Because by December I will know how much is my bonus and my increment. Sound silly but in this world there are certain things you can’t do without money. One of such is a proper marriage.

To be frank, I have not decided on the date until after the 1st week of December until I found out about my increment and bonus. I quickly look for availability and settle with Dec 26. I thought it is a special day since 26+12=38 and 38 is our special number. Don’t ask me why? I also don’t know but because we are so fond with the number 38… our new house number is 38, Juleen’s diamond is a 38 pointer and so on.. Hehe! Since  it is a day after Christmas I thought I would just ask Juleen to buy me a Christmas present. I think that is a smart move because not only I got the book I have been waiting for, the book will also act as smoke screen so Juleen won’t know I will be proposing on that day (I just found out she knew long time ago. Girl has very sharp instinct I tell you).

The Snowball

After some suggestion from a close friend, I thought Sassorosso is the right place. The restaurant is very cozy, quiet and not too crowded with people and since I am a very reserve person (yes,reserve person still can write blog) Sassorosso is just nice. Besides, they offer really good authentic Italian cuisine at reasonable price. Being a kiasu, I booked the restaurant 2 weeks in advance and requested a specific table. I got the reservation but not that specific table though since they have a private function  booked inside the restaurant. But that’s okay, everything still turned out fine. Remember, always learn to improvised if you don’t get what you wanted..hehe!

On the day, my feeling was mixed. I was a little scared but mostly excited. However as the hour got closer I find myself a little clumsy and tense. I feel myself unease, worried Murphy’s Law will take place and was rushing  for everything. Even when I picked up Juleen I have to intentionally force myself to look cool so that I won’t get into unnecessary conflict. Ohh… when I am unease, I will get impatient and always end up in conflict with Juleen (since she is closest to me).

To cut story short, we reached there on time, had very nice dinner, and propose. This is how I propose… after the dinner I told Juleen I wanted to have a chat with the waiter. As I approached the waiter, I quickly pull out the ring and ask him to put it in the bill folder and wait for my signal.  Upon the signal, the waiter bring the bill over and I opened the folder and proposed. Juleen wasn’t too surprise but waiting for her answer is kinda torturing as I feel many people are looking at me (I am not worried Juleen will say No..hehehe). That is how I proposed, simple and sweet…

We initially wanted to go to No Black Tie to listen to some jazz music but decided not to since the champagne make Juleen a little tipsy and sleepy..hehe! For the rest of the story, please read Juleen’s thought in the previous post. I am just excited it is over and now we have to worry about something else. We have to plan for our wedding reception…Can I sigh? Hehehe…

After the dinner

On top of sharing my thoughts on my proposal I think I should acknowledge some people for making this proposal a successful one. They are like the unsung heroes behind my successful proposal. Without them, I think my proposal will be a dull one. Top on the list is TC (as seen in the picture below..hehe). Allow me to introduce, he is my Fund Manager. This guy is amazingly NICE. He is the one that show me various places to propose. Not only show me but he is so willing to spend the money so that I have the experience before making up my mind where to propose. He also shared so many creative ideas to propose. When I say “creative”, they are really creative! This guy is really good in these things. But what is more important is how often you can find a boss that is so generous, friendly and helpful?Very rare…

I also wanna thank my colleague like Shiu Lin, Kar Fu and Calista for their ideas. My colleagues together with TC has inspired me to be a better man rather than just being a practical man! Thank  guys!

Our proposal story begins with…

The guy RuehYinn

and The girl Juleen

at Sassorosso, Jalan Yap Kwan Seng

The interior of Sassorosso

The moment I enter the restaurant, I’m already very excited! The ambience is very cozy and soothing. Once we entered the restaurant, somehow the waiter already knew it was for Mr. Yap. It was not suprising since RuehYinn had already called in to book 2 weeks in advance. We were ushered to the table located at the garden.

Then the waiter approached us with the menu. The moment we opened the menu, we were amazed with the array of dishes printed on the menu. For awhile, we were confused of what to order and became indecisive. RuehYinn being nice gentleman kept providing suggestions of what to order. After awhile, we decided to refer to the waiter for recommendation. The waiter did gave some helpful suggestion and we finally had our orders in.

Champagne moment

Cheers!

The food we ordered…

I have never liked fresh oysters because of the fishy taste so we had them baked with cheese and garlic

Baked Oysters

sooooo delicious, in a few minutes…they were gone!

Olio Prawn Spagetti

The jumbo prawns were so juicy and the pasta was perfectly cooked (al dente). Yummy!

Occhio di Bue Pizza

The crust of the pizza was sooo good, and the toppings bland well together, really really nice!

and not to forget, the last but not least…

the dessert Tiramisu

Isn’t the Tiramisu special…. hehe, it seems so simple to do ya.

We took our time to enjoy every bite of the food because they were simply irresistable. RuehYinn kept reminding me to slowly enjoy the food else we could have finish the food in 30 minutes. After we asked the waiter to take away the remaining food, the rest of the time were spent on enjoying the champagne and small talk.

By this time, we had already spent almost 3 hours at the restaurant eating. All of a sudden, RuehYinn excused himself to talk to one of the waiter whom he claimed is his friend from his previous visit to this restaurant (that’s why he suggested this place for our date). After awhile he came back and we ordered the bill. The waiter placed the bill folder on the table. Eager to know how much it all cost, I opened up the bill folder. To my surprise, there was a diamond ring inside the bill folder. For a moment I was stunned!!! There was a moment of silence…

RuehYinn then popped the question ‘Will you marry me?’ I responded with a ‘Yes!’

Before we left, there was a white couple sitting beside our table who offered to take our only shot together at Sassorosso.

And the rest is history…

The best gift I bought for myself this year (with approval from Juleen..hehe) would be:-

1. Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 lens; and

2. Nikon SB600 Speedlight.

After a long consideration, I have came to the conclusion that D60′s kit lens (Nikkor 18-55mm f3.5 – 5.6 VR) has to go and I need an upgrade. The kit lens is a good lens and light, however, the Image Quality (IQ) is kinda limited. Under good lighting Nikkor 18 – 55mm VR performs relatively well but not so during poor lighting. I am not talking about very dark environment. I am talking about daytime inside the house. As a result, the pictures turn out to be blurry and disappointing all the time. Since then, I’ve decided to only use big aperture lens (means with lower f value like f2.8 vs f3.5 – 5.6). But there is another problem! Big aperture lens normally come with hefty price tag. For instance, my kit lens (Nikkor 18 – 55mm f3.5 – 5.6) is selling for RM850 only, whereas the big aperture lens (Nikkor 17-55mm f2.8) is selling for RM5,000. That is 6 times more expensive for the same zoom length. My hope was dashed for a while since there is no way I will have the money to spend on such lens. Next I look into third party lens like Tamron and Sigma but my friends advise me not to consider third party lens since they always come with quality problem and the IQ is no way near the original maker. Since then, I let go of my “dream” to own a big aperture lens.

Few weeks ago, after getting really disappointed with my kit lens… I decided to held on my research on the possibility of owning a big aperture lens. To my surprise, after a week or so of research, I found out some of the third party lens are EQUALLY GOOD if NOT BETTER than the original maker. Best of all, it only cost a fraction of the original maker’s price. One of those lens is Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 lens. Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 is no doubt one of the sharpest lens ever produced. I have slight doubt when I read one of the review on the internet. But now I am convinced!! Other than slower motor speed (which is not really that slow), no one say anything bad about this lens. A quick google on this lens will reveal a lot of happy owners and good review by professional. Read the review here.

How much does it cost? The Tamron only cost me RM1,650 vs RM5,000 by Nikkor. The drawback however, this is not a full frame compatible lens (bottomline, for the use of professional DSLR). Oh, did I tell you this is an award winning lens also?? To know more…just visit Tamron website here.

I also got myself a new Speedlight SB600 which is necessary to take good pictures. Don’t bother SB900 or SB800 Speedlight if you do not have the budget. SB600 can do more than 80% of what SB800 or SB900 can do! Very good flash unit. If Juleen ever writes about my marriage proposal (ahem!!!), then you will be able to see what SB600 can do in poor lighting condition. SB600 with Tamron 17-55 f2.8, produced really good pictures…

Here are some of the pictures I took to test the new lens. You judge the quality (without editing, not even with the watermark)…

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Juleen seems excited with the prospect of the lens and flash…

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Myself and Damon, my best friend since Standard 1 but has migrated to Australia. Sob sob!! And darn, I really need a hair cut myself…

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You wanna be the The Rock, bro?

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Wai Yeen, Damon’s wife. They just got married 2 weeks ago. Very nice friend… Anyway, I forgot to adjust the white balance so picture turn out to be yellowish..

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Oh,did I mentioned big aperture lens can produce bokeh effect like the following… Bokeh effect is where you have blurry background but the subject is sharp. Bokeh in effect makes the picture less noisy and let the subject stand out. Very nice effect, isn’t it?

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One of the lesson I have learnt is that, never never blindly listen to people. You may miss out great opportunity if you do. Instead, do your own research and make your conclusion independently from others. Bear in mind, what doesn’t work for others does not mean it won’t work for you! If I have listened to my friend without doing my own research, today I won’t be owning a relatively good lens just because someone say otherwise.

Last week, RuehYinn promised me to bring me to have a good italian meal on the day after Christmas in exchange of a book The Snowball as Christmas celebration. ( I can smell something ‘fishy’… hehe…)

Finally, he popped the magic question and we’re engaged… , he said he planned it today because 12 + 26 is 38, which is our special number in our hearts… haha

Anyways, I guess his colleagues TC and gang have taught him some proposal skills and where to dine. Thanks a bunch to you guys!

We’ll talked more details over the weekend, so just hang in there… (to be continued)

Good nite for now~

Another year is coming to an end… I am feeling a lil emotional. But before I got too emotional allow me (and on behalf of Juleen) to take this opportunity to wish everyone Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The best thing to do during Christmas is to go to church, spend time with family and friends, exchange gifts and give thanks to God for the whole year. I have done that…

Picture: Siew Yen, Ng

I’ve came across this post from one of my favorite blog, http://malaysiafinance.blogspot.com. The writer (never know who he is) is always very independent and critical in his view. I can’t help myself not to cut and paste this post because it is so real and in some way  it did happen to me! I never realized it was evil until I got a little older (like recently, haha). Luckily, it wasn’t too late for me. Ask Juleen, how much I “reminded” her not to spoil our kids in the future (psst: Somehow prophetically, I think Juleen will love the kids so much until they got spoiled).

Don’t be discourage by the length of his post. A lot of people give up reading when the write up is lengthy. But please don’t because you rarely come across such a good post. This is so “practically useful” reminder for everyone whether you are students, young graduates, parents, soon – to – be parents, grandparents and so on. I personally love his POINT 6!!

So read up!!

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“Some over protective parents do not allow their kids to join any society or clubs even. They get ferried to and from school and then to and from tuition.”

TC,

Your sure this is nothing to be ashamed of?

...

Monday, December 15, 2008

Problem With Today’s Young Graduates

The headline may sound like an old man bitching about how tough it was during his younger days, I hope its not. Over the last few years I have had to hire at least 10-15 new graduates every year, and then get the unit managers to train them up. In highlighting their shortcomings, I have to generalise but I am sure that’s pretty much the same conclusion throughout the country in all industries.

1) Rich parents – Parents who are rich, please note, generally your children will be assholes if you do nothing right when they were young. That’s because the over mollycoddling, pandering to their whims and fancies, have shaped their character – which is pathetic. I have a few rich kids who have OK degrees, but decided to quit of a couple of months because they wanted to do something else. When asked further, they said they wanted to go further their studies. Geez, that is only an option if your parents are well off. After the years of investment into the child, there is no inclination of the need to be independent or self sufficient. They can have the option because the parents allow them to. What a wonderful bunch of kids.

Some even have the audacity to go for a long holiday after their graduation. You try to follow your Western fellow graduates… well for one, most of them work for at least a year to save up before they embark on their travels (I don’t think we do)… and when they study, they themselves take up student loans which they will pay back when they work (which we don’t).

2) Character – Linking onto the above, the same spoilt brats generally have poor character. When I say character, I meant ability to assume responsibility, respect for corporate culture, ability to apply themselves well, work at something, ability to learn and willingness to learn, and general people skills.

3) English – Now we go to quality of graduates. Most, whether they are local or foreign graduates, cannot speak coherent English. I am appalled that the Chinese schools are now clamouring for Science and Maths to be taught in Chinese for the first 6 years of schooling. Why? English is not a glorification of western culture, it is an essential tool for business and global communications. I am not dissing Chinese, Malay or Tamil language, but if you think you can compete in an increasingly globalised world with just your mother tongue, that is misplaced arrogance of culture. Study English together with whatever other languages you want, not at the expense of English. It is also not enough to just have a working knowledge of English, you need to master it. Education gives a person choices and options, and English broadens that scope even more. Can your child go and work in the US or UK financial firms, if he/she wanted to? If they had the tool, they would be sought after if they were good.

4) Communication skills – Linked to the mastering of English, it is not enough to learn how to do power point presentations or run up figures in excel spreadsheets. A person can greatly add value when they can present them well. Oratory skills are mightily lacking in Malaysian young graduates. The art of persuasion, the ability to project professionalism, and eventually the ability to lead. Just imagine Obama without his oratory skills. I always exhort my friends with kids to forget about the ballet classes, the extra tuition classes… make sure you enroll them in the drama and speech making skills classes, there are a few around.

5) Intellectually not strong – When I come across even those who scored fantastic results or graduated from top foreign universities, I find some of them unable to hold an intellectual argument. If presented with a common question such as why are we now in this global economic crisis. Most I will hear are one or two points: easy credit, excess leveraging… and nothing else. A decent answer would have to include examining the crux factors, there are at least 5, and then ascribing proper blame proportionately. You need to examine a complex issue from a few angles. Our education system is such that there is only one answer per question in the exam papers. Hence after giving one answer, they think they have answered the whole question.

6) Bias – Some will say that local graduates are unfairly discriminated. I don’t buy that. I tend to not look at degrees as that only tells me you can read and write. What most employers are looking for is that one quality – I call it street-smartness or ability to think on his feet. Can you be taught that? I don’t know. It has to do will self assurance and inherent self confidence. These people are problem solvers, they are doers, they take the initiative, they will speak up at the right time, they get the job done by hook or crook. They rise above the crowd because they won’t be the first to say “cannot do”. They are achievers when they put their minds to it. They can be persuasive and they apply themselves diligently to master any new tasks. You have that, the degree is just a visa for you to travel further in your career.

We have too many followers, not enough street smart people. I don’t think you can teach that at MBAs. But one thing for sure, you may be able to cultivate “street smartness” when they are young. Always encourage and allow your kids to join the Scouts, Drama Clubs, Leos or Interact clubs. To me, these are breeding grounds for future corporate animals. The interaction, social politics, club politics, camaraderie, application to one’s objectives are all critical to encourage one to develop and establish his own identity and personality, and in many ways help them make sense of how the world operates. Most of the street smarts I know who now do well in corporate world, also did remarkably well in those movements and clubs when they were younger.

Parents nowadays have fewer children, so they can spend more resources on them. Don’t molly-coddle. Some over protective parents do not allow their kids to join any society or clubs even. They get ferried to and from school and then to and from tuition. When home, they do some homework and play computer games or do internet chats the whole time. Time to rethink our influence in our young.

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December 2008 will always be remembered as the worst month for blueepinkk.com. Up to today, the 3rd week of December, blueepinkk.com only has 3 posts as compare to average of 15 posts a month…

Sigh…

I feel so disgraced

and…

I feel as though I have neglected blueepinkk.com

but…

I didn’t do this with purpose

and

I have excuse reasons for it

and

I might briefly talked about it tomorrow or…(someday)!

but

don’t blame me if I don’t

because

I might change my mind and talk about something else

beside

it is useless to talk what had happen

so

let what is bygone be bygone

so

we’ll see! Hehe…

…

Here are the key to become a famous blogger!!

It’s Christmas season and it reminds me of fruitcake. And I came up with this idea of making mini fruitcakes to sell at church cafe on Christmas services. I started with searching and compiling fruitcake recipes, with some modification, voila! I have my fruit cupcakes done.

Fruit Cupcakes

It was my first attempt, and even though the flavor wasn’t that perfect yet I felt very satisfied with my first go. I’d figured out what to put in the next time.

This weekend was Hari Raya Haji long weekend… For me, December is the best time because we have so many public holidays during this month including Christmas I love Christmas!

RuehYinn have gotten some orders for my cupcakes and brownies, presenting what I was busy with for 4 hours on Monday morning…

Pretty Raisin Cupcakes

RuehYinn was so lovely that he helped me with the baking. HuGsss~

Thanks dear!