Maximillian & Us

I have finally finished reading the Millenium Trilogy !!

The books were written by a Swedish author Stieg Larsson, who died after submitting the novels to his publisher.

I first heard about this author from my French colleague. She keeps telling me that the book is really good. At that time she was reading the French version. Then when we shopped for books to bring with us on our Trans-Siberian trip, I decided to read the first book. Since then I havent been able to put down the book until this morning at 0330 I finished the third book. It got too exciting until I cant resists to put it down and go to sleep.

All 3 books have now been made into 3 movies but in Swedish. My next task will be to look for the movie with English subtitle so I can watch and understand the movie.

I would highly recommend this book to everyone! Read it and let me know what you think…

p/s: I regret buying Dan Brown’s Lost Symbol. His book is no where as exciting as the Millenium Trilogy.

This year because the company has replaced the annual formal Christmas Dinner with a Summer Party, we had to organise and pay for our own Christmas party. So 2 managers decided to organise a Christmas Pub Dinner and over one Friday drinks one day they decided to organise it as a competitive team event with games and call it the Audit Olympics!

We were grouped into 5 teams and were given a team name. As you can see, everyone dressed up for the occasion. We even took pictures underneath the office Christmas trees, which caught a lot of attention! I was a ‘Persian’, which sucks cos there really isn’t a ‘Persian’ costume which we can get. So the girls decided to dressed up like middle eastern women while the men pretended to be persian cats… LoL. Our team got 1 point deduction for coming up with bad costume..

To ‘officially’ start the Audit Olympic games, we had a torch procession from the office to the pub and even had a small ceremony to light the Olympic cauldron (we used a Christmas pudding as a replacement). We even had a deejay! hahahahaha

Then the games started. We played a total of 6 games. Majority was quite physically challenging but do-able.

I think we were probably the only function in the office which dressed up for a Christmas party. It was quite fun and everyone was very sporting and played all the games ‘created’ by the 2 managers. I was quite surprised at how much effort everyone put in to dress up and no one complained about playing any of the games… so there was definitely good team spirit within the function.

Definitely one party which I will remember for a long time.

Today we decided to have pub lunch at The Telegraph and I took the opportunity to snap away with my new Canon 7D. The Common was covered in half snow and half ice. It was quite slippery to walk but we managed to get to the ponds and took some pictures. What do you think of my pictures?

I received my Christmas gift early this year. It’s quite funny how we’re not Christian but we still adopt the practice of giving gifts. There was no gift last year as we bought the PS3 and the year before Dav bought me a DS Lite.

So, I came home late on Thursday night and found a nicely wrapped box on the bed, waiting for me. The box was shipped from Amazon, USA. There can only be one item in there… indeed it was the Kindle! If you have never heard about this gadget, it’s an electronic book reader. I’ve always wanted one.

It is a black and white e-book reader, about the size of A5 (half of A4). The look and feel is very sleek and smooth.

Look how slim the e-reader is.

So besides Dav giving me a present, I’ve also decided to give myself a present to reward myself. I finally bought myself a DSLR. I got the Canon 7D. Now I can proudly say I’m a owner of a DSLR!

*Phew*

It has been a very very long 2 weeks. No matter, I’m back in London now. So, let me give you a brief update.

Business Trip to Madrid

I was working in Madrid for the past 2 weeks. It was a trip I was hoping not to make. However I couldn’t get out of it when I was back from holiday. I went alone and there was so much to do. I seriously have not work long hours for a very very long time. Everyday I would head back to the hotel around 8.30pm.. the latest was around 9.30pm. People in Madrid works very long hour during the winter. I was told this is to compensate for the short working hours in the summer. People stop working at 2pm in the summer!!

Anyhow I was enjoying the food and the people even though it was very busy until the very last day. My purse was stolen in a bar on my last night in Madrid. I found out when I wanted to check-out when I got back to the hotel. I had to call the senior manager to come and assist to pay for my hotel bill. Luckily he stays very near to the hotel. He was very kind and I was surprisingly very calm. After paying my bills, the hotel helped me call the police station to lodge a police report. After that, I spent another half hour calling all the banks to cancel my debit and credit cards.

So I got back to London with no cash and no credit cards. But there are kind people all around. I shared a taxi to the airport with a few colleagues so I dont have to pay for taxi, the local HR manager gave me Euro 20 for backup and Dav came to my rescue in Heathrow airport. So all well, ends well.

Hungarian Funky Nu-Jazz Band

We were invited by a Hungarian friend to see a band playing in Old Street 2 weeks ago. Her friend is a singer in the band and they are playing for the first time in London. Since we were feeling adventurous, we thought why not. The band’s name is Barabas Lorinc Eklektric. We truly enjoyed it, I even bought their first album. After the show, we were invited to an after party by some stranger who lives nearby the club. It was quite an odd experience but we didn’t stay long. We knew it was gonna take us ages to get home. So we left at about 2am and only got home after 2 hours. We would love to do this again but I think age is catching up with us.

Seng Fun’s Hens Nite

Seng Fun’s Hens Nite was the very next day after going to see the Hungarian band. So you can imagine the level of energy I have. Anyhow the plan was to get her doll up and head to Old Street (yes, almost the same location) to attend our Burlesque Class. It was great fun! All the girls ‘dressed up’ and was very sporting. Some of us are even thinking of taking of classes. After the class, we head to Soho for dinner at a Cuban restaurant. Seng Fun was very lucky none of us girls were forcing her to do funny stuff. We ended the night having girly chat till about 3.30am!

ATP World Tour Finals

After all the excitement throughout the week, it was quite sad to know that Federer didn’t make it to the Finals of the Finals! So I had to change strategy and choose a player to support. It was my first time going to the O2 main arena. It was HUGE!

I went with 4 colleagues. We were seating at level 4 and still managed to see the court quite well. The event started with Men’s Doubles Final, which lasted just under 1.5 hours. Then it was the finals. Most of us were supporting Davydenko.. he was definitely the more experienced player. Del Potro did not show much threat.

The World Tour Finals will be played in the O2 for the next 4 yours. Maybe for next year, I should consider going for the semifinals instead.

London Philharmonic Orchestra

I almost forgot I bought tickets to this event. Since we have never been to an orchestra in London, I thought it would be an experienced. The theme was ‘A Concert of Christmas Music’ and it was held in the Festival Hall. The concert was very impressive. We have always enjoy live music, what more a full orchestra. There was also a 2 groups of choir in the concert. Although we enjoy this concert, I think Dav will not come along to another one in the future.