Driving test coming...

Started to work hard for the test. Had a three hour session yesterday, gonna have another 3hr tomorrow morning.. Really don't want to waste the money I have already spent..

The week has been ok.. Nothing special happened.. A friend of mine from childhood (5 yrs older than me) has come to London for work for a month.. Business travel, business class flight, living in service apartment in South Kensington............. (?!) but he is really smart.. he has always been a role model for me..

Today is a sports day.. 4 hrs of football in Regent's Park, than 4 hrs of snooker in King's Cross with ML x 2, KC, Hansen, Bobo + Manman.. Both MLs didn't play well (hahahaha)..

Really gonna publish more thoughts here.. But don't want to show you guys rubbish thoughts.. so please be patient..

Lovely weather (still) with my lovely bobo, in her lovely sunglasses..

Lovely weather outside our lovely home, which we'll soon move out again.. :-(

An English colleague of mine..

Bobo with something on her eyes.. Send me your guesses what that is.. She said they are cool..

No shit!

Life of being a consultant

I have just done a week of consulting job at a client site.. It's been good, in terms of meeting new people, working in a bank environment, and wearing proper shirt and trousers (it makes me feel real work).

BUT, after this week, I feel myself being a total idiot.. I am supposed to be an expert of thr program my company sells. But when I got there, all their IT guys are already quite good with it, and I don't feel confident at all... It's mainly because the areas I worked in when I was in the office, this particular client isn't using any of them.. Also it needs a lot of knowledge of computing generally (e.g networking, security, how Java really works etc...) to be a consultant, which I need to improve on..

Well.. you may now think that I am shit as well.. But I will keep going and prove that I am as good as any of them.. Afterall, I am still the youngest in the office and all others have got years of experience.. I am working with them means that I am at the same level as they are..

Bobo is now ill again.. I am really worried.. She really needs to get some exercise, or otherwise she will suffer when she gets older.. If you agree please tell her for me..

Otherwise this weekend has been good and relaxing:

Friday:
Had dinner with SL, HY, ML, KC, MM and bobo... It was in Chinese Experience (a porscher Chinese restaurant in China Town) and bobo booked it in top-table, so we had 20% off.. The food was reeeeeeeeeeeally nice, but way too less for us to share.. After we went to snooker.. haven't played for so long and occasionally got frustrated with my own..

Saturday:
Driving lesson at 10am.. Not so surprisingly, I woke up at exactly 10am :-).. I think I did well.. and am going to use this instructor's car for test..
Went out with bobo to Regent's street to buy some trousers for work.. got 3 pairs for 80 quid, not bad eh??
Then went to SL's place to watch FA Cup final.. WHAT A SHIT GAME?!?!??!?!? 0-0??? Man Utd was the strongest all the way through, but Van Nisterooy was SOOOOOOOOO crap.. So they lost by penalty shootout... sigh.. And Paul Scholes missed the penalty, which is like Geogor (our best player) missed the penalty for us when we played the Manchester tournament two years ago..
Then went to China Town to buy food, for hot pot in SL's place.. Mah Jong afterwards, and it was fun..

Sunday:
Football!!! Not the best weather, but had some really good fun, and good football (at least at our level).. Bloody tired though.. Now am home and get some rest for another week of work...

NEWS of the week:
We've booked flight ticket to Athens on 7 June.. It will be a 7-day trip, Athens -> Santorini -> Mygonos -> Athens.. At least 8 of us will be going, and I am soooo looking forward to it.. haven't been to holiday with ML x 2.. It will definitely be good...

My job is like...

Occasionally hell.. I was supposed to finish the work I got at the office two weeks ago and this week I should've already been in the bank being a consultant.. Instead, I spent this whole week, working my socks off, just on the last task I have. And, still haven't finished.. But I must be on client site on Monday.. That means I need to go back tomorrow (Saturday) and carry on.. But my back is really tired...........................

There are many wonderful people in the office though.. They knew I am going to work away from the office next week, so 13 of them went to lunch with me today.. Yum Cha (or Dim Sum).. That's like 1/3 of the total number of people in the London office.. :-)

Something else No 1:
Bobo has been equally busy, or even worse than me.. We are both looking forward to a nice holiday in Greece in June.. But still not sure when exactly and who we are going with..

Something else No 2:
Because of the work, and Bobo needed my computer everyday last week, I couldn't try much with my new gadgets.. They are cool though.. After I bought them, I read some reviews online and think I got good deals.. And still have a week to try out before the 14-days refund-with-no-questions...

Something else No 3:
Went to see our 'secretary''s performing arts show last night, with 3 more colleagues.. It was a combination of about 10 musicals, and it was great.. so much better than I expected at least. They played Les Miserables, Chicago, Little shop of Horror, We will rock you, and some others I haven't heard before.. Good night out even though I was knackered..

Thought of the week:
When you work, you think you are gonna finish it in x amount of time, always allow yourself 3x.. It's sooooo true..

Sunday's shopping: M-Audio 49e Midi keyboard + M-Audio MobilePre USB Preamp and Audio Interface. Surprisingly they were from Apple Store, not shops in Denmark Street.

Dinner at Belgo with Michael + Beryl + Clement; beautiful shop in Covent Gdn; blue Bentley

Driving

Just finished my driving lesson... I have already spent nearly 40 hrs.. having my test on 7/6.. now pushing myself.. Really should've learn with this Chinese instructor long ago.. The other one (a woman, 35, not English) is just crap compare to this chap.. He is experienced, good at driving and direct..

Workwise, I still can't to be a consultant next Monday, having waited for two weeks already.. Still got jobs to finish in the office.. Oh... Hopefully I can buy a keyboard and sound card / sound module today to light up my life..

Ah!!!!!

The last two days (including today) have been incredibly stressful and busy, both in office and at home..

Office: people have found a few little problems with the work I did before and need to fix them before I go away on client site. This adds to my already crowded schedule and this means I can't go until later next week. It's disappointing and the only good thing about this is, can play football once more with my colleagues next week, wa hey~~

Home: bobo is handing in dissertation today. I have been working late with her in last two evenings, only had 4-5 hrs of sleep both days. Really not enough for pigs like me. Hope all the hard work (well most of the work of course is hers) pays off.

Thought of the day - bugs:
They bite. They are annoying, but totally unavoidable. 50% of the time you discover them, and 50% of the time people tell you about them, then ask you to remove them.

Some bugs:

Bank Holiday

May Day.. Just realized today that there are no more protest in London in May Day now.. Well actually I think they've stopped those protest years ago.. But this is the first year I can "enjoy" this bank holiday in London (before, I always needed to revise for my exams)..

This bank holiday was excellent.. Fantastic weather and snooker final.. Bobo and I went out for a couple of hours, just to give her a break.. Had a lovely tea / dinner in Covent Garden.. It's the restaurant on the top floor of the Covent Garden market.. It always seemed unreachable to me, like heaven, until we actually went up the stairs. They serve good food, but of course a little bit more expensive than those restaurants on the ground..

More food late at night, cooked by Bobo (of course): cheese fried rice with fish balls!! Sounds ridiculous but it's lovely..

2005 Embassy World Championship Snooker has just finished eventually.. A 22-year-old fat boy (Shaun Murphy) won it.. I have been saying that it would not be good for him to win it so soon in his career.. But he was really too good for his opponent (Matthew Stevens).. And I am really sorry for Matthew, who has played his 2nd final, and lost from his 10-6 lead.. again...

Thought of the day (ignore it if you can't read chinese :-) ):
"偷得浮生半日閒" - the key word is 偷.. you have to work hard in advance, to get ahead of schedule, to earn your half day of leisure.. Only this will show its value.. What's the point of taking half day off if you can't get your work done?

No thoughts and wills

Oh man.. Today is tiring.. I went to play football with friends in Regent's Park. Got there at 12:45pm, finished at 18:oopm!!! They are crazy. After two games I was packing already, but then they looked (or stared) at me, saying "Why the hell are you packing? You're not thinking of leaving right?". "I'm only getting my water." I replied.

Good game though, I scored. I don't normally score with these guys because I always play in defence. (Yes, I may be the smallest guy in the field, but I am a central defender, believe it or not).

My Bobo has been working on her dissertation, due in on next Thurs (5/5). I tried to help but.. World Championship Snooker, final. Matthew Stevens vs Shaun Murphy.

This blog was meant to be giving my thoughts and wills to my friends, who can then reply and give comment.. But so far I have received none.. And days like today, I really don't have many special thoughts to share. So shall I change the title?