Example Of A Last-Day-of-Work Letter

I received this via email from an ex-colleague of mine (who was also my mentor for a couple of years). Since he knew that I was already going to leave, he thought I might want to send this out on my last day of work.

Note: I modified the letter a little to fit me :P


Dear All ,

As many of you probably know, today is my last day. But before I leave, I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know what a great and distinct pleasure it has been to type 'Today is my last day.'

For nearly as long as I've worked here, I've hoped that I might one day leave this company. And now that this dream has become a reality, please know that I could not have reached this goal without your unending lack of support. Words cannot express my gratitude for the words of gratitude you did not express.

I would especially like to thank all of my managers: in an age where miscommunication is all too common, you consistently impressed and inspired me with the sheer magnitude of your misinformation. It takes a strong man to admit his mistake - it takes a stronger man to attribute his mistake to me.

Over the past four years, you have taught me more than I could ever ask for and, in most cases, ever did ask for. I have been fortunate enough to work with some absolutely interchangeable supervisors on a wide variety of seemingly identical projects - an invaluable lesson in overcoming daily tedium in overcoming daily tedium in overcoming daily tedium.

Your demands were high and your patience short, but I take great solace knowing that my work was, as stated on my annual review, 'mostly satisfactory.' That is the type of praise that sends a woman home happy after even a 10 hour day, smiling her way through half a bottle of mostly satisfactory scotch.

And to most of my peers: even though we barely acknowledged each other within these office walls, I hope that in the future, should we pass on the street, you will regard me the same way as I regard you: sans eye contact.

So, in parting, if I could pass on any word of advice to the individual who will soon be filling my position, it would be to cherish this experience like a sponge and soak it up like a good woman, because a job opportunity like this comes along only once in a lifetime.

Meaning: if I had to work here again in this lifetime, I would sooner kill myself.

Very truly yours,

Tine


You know what?

I just might ;)

Why Do You Blog?

Pablo Pabla came up with a writing project where we are to answer three questions (as below) about blogging. I thought it was quite interesting (I love writing projects!), so here it goes.


1. Why do you blog?

I jumped onto the blogging bandwagon in May 2005 when I saw that everyone was doing it. Yep, herd mentality, and I sank right to it :p When I first started blogging, only a few friends and family knew about the blog. I didn't make it public until about a year later.

I was apprehensive about letting strangers read my life like an open book, but I never regretted that move, for I made so many new friends because of it. My cousins and I grew closer because of our blogs (previously it would be a sporadic email or two, and annual meetings during Chinese New Year). Keeping in touch with friends who live so far away also became easier.

I started the beauty blog, Beautyholics Anonymous, two years later, in May 2007. This was with the encouragement from fellow blogger, Paris, who was and still is my source of inspiration. The beauty blog feeds the vain side of me. The bit of pocket money I made from that blog helped too :p


2. What do you hope to achieve by blogging?

Golly, I've never really thought of what I'd hope to achieve from blogging. I love writing; well, a more accurate description would be to simply say what my heart and mind are feeling and thinking. I'd like to say that I've grown in the past couple of years when I first began. Emotionally, and in my style of writing.

I did not write to gain any sort of recognition, nor do I write to entertain. It's simply ME.

I'd love to be able to write better. There are so many brilliant bloggers out there who struck a chord in me with just their wit and words. That's what I'd love to do. I have a long way to go, of course, and I hope I'm heading in the right direction.


3. How much time do you spend a day doing blogging related work (as described above)?

Hmm ... it can take from 10 minutes to days, even weeks, before I come up with an entry. I'd draft an entry at work (shh! When I'm free, of course) on Notepad, add and amend to it intermittently during the day, before it's posted. I like to read it many times before it's published on the Internet. What can I say, I'm a perfectionist :p

More heartfelt entries normally take a few days to write. These are usually the more difficult ones to write compared to tags, updates, etc. Believe it or not, writing such posts have invoked tears and a whole lot of emotion to the words.


There ya go. I don't know when I'd stop (there will come a time when I will stop, as all good things will come to an end), but till then, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for better things to come :)

Scary Movies? No Thanks!

I'm going to let you in on a little secret.

I am a HUGE CHICKEN when it comes to horror movies. I can't take gore (these images will stay in my head for years; I know because my mind can still conjure some pretty horrific pictures which I had the misfortune to come across), and I do not like the sudden loud sounds which make me jump out of my skin.

Me likey comedies, whether they are romantic, slapstick, or just downright stupid. Any sort of feel-good movies are fine by me. Hmmmm .... *dream of Hugh Jackman for a bit* ... *drool* ...

Anyhoos.

Paris asked me about the scary movies I've watched, and even though I hardly watched any, here are a few which stuck in my head till now. Here goes nothing ...

*Theme from the Twilight Zone in the background*

Gremlins
Hey, it was scary to me, k? Especially when the cute lil' furballs turn into mutants when they got wet or fed after midnight. *shudder*

The Ring
This would be the original Japanese one, not the Hollywood rubbish. I remembered watching it when I was in Dundee, in the dark, all of us huddled on one bed, in front of a 14" telly. The pillow and my fingers were most of what I watched that night.

Exorcism of Emily Rose
Okay, I really didn't want to watch this one. I was in Japan when I watched this. My Jappy friend wanted to watch this, but I didn't. Too bad for me, another colleague wanted to watch this as well, so majority won. This movie seriously scared the bejeezus out of me. Especially the part where the boyfriend woke up and suddenly saw his possessed girlfriend on the floor going berserk. That was some real scary shit. I had to change the position of my clock to face the wall, because I was afraid to look at the time (in case it was 3am. If you watched the movie, you'd know what I mean). I daren't even wake up to pee in the middle of the night!

So yeah, no horror films for me please. My heart cannot take it leh.

Beetrice and Kim, what are your scary-till-they-make-you-wanna-pee-in-your-pants movies?

I Don't Want Your Friends

I don't get it.

What is your definition of a true friend?

Someone who indulges you in self-pity, even though it was you who was wrong in the first place? Or one who tells you to wake up, face the cold, hard facts but is there to help pull you out of the hole?

How can you tell me that the friends whom you deemed as people who will go all out for you to be the ones who lets you sink in your own depression? Indulge you in your own self-pity as if the whole world is against you? Have you not been telling them the truth about what truly happened? Do you think they'd still be on your side once they know the truth? Or are you afraid they'll leave you too if they knew?

I don't get it. I really don't.

36 Days To Christmas

I'm so in the Christmas mood now. 36 days to Christmas. I know, 'cos my Christmas tree on Facebook tells me so.

See the lack of pressies next to the tree? Be nice, and send me some lah, even though I can't actually have it :p

My Ticket To Freedom

I know Geekchic beat me to it, but I just can't resist.

Okay okay, I know it's NOT even a PR visa (provisional visa means I have multiple travel access to Australia for two years until my permanent residency on spouse visa is approved) , but still ... like GeekChic calls it, it's a step to freedom :p

Domesticated? Yes. Housewife? Erm, No.

As time draws near to the day that I'll be leaving for good, I've been thinking a lot of what I'm going to do when I'm in Melbourne, whilst settling in and looking for a job. I reckon I'd be Australia's sampah masyarakat for three months or so (hopefully no more than that, but you never know), so I have to get myself prepared with things to do whilst I'm at home, and that hubby's away at work.

So far, I've been collecting a lot of recipes of stuff I want to try out, 'cos by the time I move over, I'd finally have a kitchen of my own. I loved cooking when I was in Japan; having my very own kitchen, where I know where every single thing is, rocks. What with the variety of ingredients I can get there, methinks I might be able to be adventurous and try out new recipes.

I'll also be packing my cross-stitch kit with me. Imagine, I was such a tomboy during my early secondary school days, who can't cook (I burnt the rice, broke the eggshells into the pan with the eggs, dropped tomatoes ... you get the picture) and can't sew (Mum did all my needlepoint projects for me). Now, I can proudly say that I can cook ... well, not enough to make a 10-course gourmet meal, but enough to get by. I also can knit (only scarves, but hey, it's an achievement!), and I love doing cross-stitch.

This took me only a few hours to do. Simple and sweet. Thought it'd be cute in our new home :)

People kept telling me that I'll end up being a housewife in Australia. Now, before y'all think I'm housewives-bashing here, do bear in mind that I have immense respect for homemakers; I mean, heck, just take a look at our prominent bloggers who are homemakers - 5xmom from Malaysia, Karen Cheng from Australia, etc. These are no ordinary women, and certainly figures whom I greatly admire.

I guess, for me, I'm just not ready to give up the rat race just yet. After all, I'm still young. I've only been in the working world for four years. As my parents would say, I'm still "mentah". We're planning to begin a family only in a couple of years (although there is no 100% foolproof plan for this ... *gulp*), and in between, I'd love to continue to work. When the next chapter of our lives happen, then we'll see how things go from there.

For now, I wouldn't mind myself a bit of a break and get on my hobby kit ;)

Text Message/Email Reply Etiquette

How do you normally reply your text messages and emails? Do you keep 'em short and sweet, or do a 500-word essay?

I am notorious for writing long, essay-like emails (well, most of the time anyway). I like to write them as though I'm actually speaking to the person, and everyone knows what a talkative person I am. But there is one type of reply which I absolutely detest, and they are one-worded replies.

"Hey how about lunch today?"

"OK"

or

"Shall we go to that restaurant again next week? The food's quite nice"

"Ya"

Seriously, this irks the hell out of me. I mean, come on. Have the courtesy to write or text a little bit more. "Sure no problem" or "Okay, that'd be fine" or something like that would have been a lot better than a single OK.

The ex did this, and I remembered how absolutely pissed off I'd be when I get such replies. And whenever I talked to him about this, all I got was a shrug and four words - "My nature, cannot change". What a load of rubbish. It's rude, that's what it is.

I'm so glad Tim doesn't give me that nonsense. His replies are short, no doubt, but never curt, never rude. Even when we're bickering with each other. My friends have proper text message/email reply etiquette too. Thank God for that.

There's no need for double standards when replying your emails or text messages to your friends, compared to what you write to your bosses. If you can reply nicely to the big man, you can do so to your family and friends as well. One-worded replies are forgivable when you're busy or indisposed, and cannot manage to write more. Other than that, I feel that it's inexcusable.

What do you think?

It's Done

I finally did it. Given a year ago, I wouldn't even have thought of doing it just yet, but I did it. Yesterday.

I tendered my resignation.

I was expecting a bit of drama from the big man, but there was ... nothing. I mean, yeah, my boss already knew I was leaving and all that, but come on, a token of sadness would have been nice. I left his desk feeling rather unappreciated.

Oh well. Nothing I can do about it now. I've got other things to think about anyway.

Still.

Come on! Look sad a bit lah! Bluff-bluff counteroffer me a bit lah! Grrr!

I'm Baaaack!

Missed me? ;)

Man, the past week was exhausting, but so great, 'cos I managed to get so many things done. Oh oh, and I've finally gotten my Australian provisional visa in just five days! I mean, yeah, it was a lot of hassle (many thanks to my father-in-law, who unfortunately became our *ahem* "driver" for the week), and a whole load of documents to submit, but seeing the visa sticker on my passport on the last day made it all worthwhile. Woot!

Time spent with Tim alone wasn't much, as we had a lot of family obligations to attend to. But it was so good seeing him again. Finally get to spend some time with hubby *grin*. It wasn't so bad leaving him this time, for we know the next time he's back (which is for the wedding), I'll be leaving with him to Australia for good.

I'll talk more about the wedding stuff we did over at our wedding blog. Golly, it's been ages since I've updated that one. Can you believe it, a couple of months ago, I wasn't even excited about the wedding, what with stress at work, visa applications and, of course, the wedding stuff, but now ... it seems like a whole load's been lifted off my shoulders. And I'm now so excited about it.

Tee hee hee!

Short Hiatus - Off To KL

Well folks, I'm off to KL tomorrow to see Tim. And to kao tim the visa application thingy. And also to get my wedding shoes (wheee!!). Keep your fingers (and toes, if you can spare 'em) for us that all will go well, ya?

See y'all in a week (will give y'all an update then), and happy Friday!