Working rat

What is there to write when i do the same thing everyday for my job. This is basically what i do at my workplace everyday. I put down my bag, on the computer, open the excel file, open the database and start copying files from the excel file into the database. Occasionally, i would drink some water and go to the toilet. This is what i do for 8.5 hours excluding the 1 hour of lunch break. I dozed off about a dozen times today. It is really boring * 100. Luckily, we can listen to mp3 player or receiver when we do data entry. Also, we don't have to wear office attire to work and the pay is quite good as well. Getting my pay on the 5th of april!

Went to AMK's famous hawker centre with my family and some of their country club friends to eat crabs yesterday night to celebrate my mum's birthday.

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Ubin once again

Saturday, we have a jc class gathering and the 7 of us planned to meet 10 am at pasir ris before going changi village. I was late as usual and those who had arrived were having their breakfast at whitesands mac. Clarence and meibin were very late and they took a cab to changi village. We met up with them after taking a bus there. Reached pulau ubin at 11.30 am after a ride on the ferry. The weather was scorching hot and i brought them to the bicycle shop which i rented the last time i was there. After some bargaining, we rented the bicycles for just $4.

We began to cycle and started on the route towards the western side of Ubin. We explored some tracks within the forest but most of them led to kampong houses or dead ends. We passed by a temple, several cold drinks stalls and arrived at the thai temple near the western end of the island. We continued our way and reached the coastline of ubin leading to the bottom of a big quarry.

We saw some turtles and quite a lot of small fishes in the water as well.

We left after some time and went back on the main roads. After some exploration, we discovered a well beside a track.

We reached a cold drinks stall and took a break since we were drenched in sweat and were rather tired. I brought them to the top of puaka hill after our break. Took some photos as well.


We cycled back to the jetty area as it looked like it was going to rain. We stopped beside the beach and discussed whether we should head back to mainland or continue cycling. The sea breeze was really cooling and we decided to continue since the dark clouds had drifted away. Thus, we started our tour on the eastern part of ubin. Halfway through after cycling several upslope roads, most of us had already exhausted most of our strength and decided to go back. We thought that the road ahead would lead us back to the jetty but we were wrong, we were cycling further and further. We reached a dead end with a toilet by the side of the road. We were very disappointed but after some of them checked the map and the area around, we discovered a shorter route back to the jetty. We brought our bikes down a flight of stairs to the beach which has a trail at the other end.

After around 15 mins of cycling, we finally reached the bicycle shop, returned the bikes and waited a short while for the ferry. Took a photo at the jetty as well.

We had our late lunch at changi village and took a bus to tampines. After walking around in tampines mall for some time, we decided to go home as we were drained of most of our energies. Took a look at the event outside TM and took a photo with a white horse.

Sunday, went out with my parents to pray and did some shopping with my mum at bukit panjang plaza.

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I'm in shock!

Went for work as usual on wed and thursday. The work was still as boring but it was more tolerable than the first day of work. Went for dinner with gs and derrick on thursday night at old airport hawker centre. Derrick was late for one whopping hour while gs and i walked along geylang road since we got nothing to do.

Went out with fuli and weiming today since fuli is going to taiwan for ATEC next tue and he will only be coming back on 30 Apr, which is more than a month's trip. We originally planned to go east coast to rollerblade or cycle but since Bernard suddenly got more important things to do and David backed out of unknown reasons as well. We decided to retreat back to the city and hang out there instead. We met up at bugis junction but did not spend too much time there. The 3 of us were not too hungry and decided to go suntec city. We passed by Shaw Towers and decided to ask the shaw movie counters if we could purchase tickets for Singapore International Film Festival. They were not selling over there but gave us brochures for the film festival instead.

When we arrived at Suntec, i suggested going Carrefour as i wanted to take a look at some of the exercise equipment selling there. The place was quite packed and we spent around 30 mins searching for it. We spent most of the time browsing through the cds, vcds and dvds instead as some of them were available at quite a low price. We headed to the food court at level 3 for our lunch. I suggested going to the exhibition halls as i thought there will be some fairs or sales or exhibitions there. We were rather disappointed as there was only one event held there which is the wedding fair. The wedding fair had already been there for ages and it is more like a wedding stall instead of a fair.

We decided to go to marina square and then esplanade since we got a lot of time to spare and no particular activity to do. We went to the rooftop of esplanade and had a rather nice chat there while enjoying the great scenery and the cool wind. We were discussing about the tallest building in the CBD and i told them about the fengshui of UOB and OUB buildings that i learnt from a history tour of Singapore some time ago. The OUB building had sharp edges that can "cut" its rivals and the UOB building countered the "sha qi" by having an octagon design instead of flat squarish designs that will be cut easily. Also, there is an additional shorter UOB building adjacent to the main building and there is a wide space between the 2 buildings. The purpose is such that when the OUB building tries to "cut" its rivals, OUB will fail cutting the octagonal UOB building and will fall within the space between the 2 UOB buildings. Indeed, UOB has acquired OUB a number of years ago. Thus, proving that fengshui has a certain degree of accuracy in it. Coincidentally, a tour guide brought his group up to the top of esplanade as well and he explained the same thing to them.

We went back to Raffles City and saw a bit of Shanghai in Vogue, a part of the Singapore Fashion week. We walked around and headed to the hawker centre between douby ghaut and city hall again for dinner. Then went to ps and watched the rock climbing event held outside the building. There were 4 walls around 6 metres high but they are really challenging with handgrips spaced widely apart and a wall with a horizontal section in the middle.

Went inside ps for a while and headed to orchard next before going back. Dyed my hair for the 2nd time tonight. I was absolutely stunned with the result. I was expecting my hair colour to be darker than the colour shown on the packaging since my hair was much darker than the color stated the 1st time i dyed my hair.

I'm now an asian with blond hair! Looks a like a "chao ah beng" already. Gosh...............
Took a picture of my hair from the top.

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Working is not my cup of tea

Went for the telemarketing training on mon monday and i was ushered into a conference room where a person in charge is giving a briefing on a new project which we have to persuade companies and home users to buy an anti-spyware software. We were given several sheets of paper that contains some frequently asked questions for the software and a script for us to follow when we are talking to the customers.

We had to go through the information given to us and also had to take down some additional notes that were told during the briefing. 2 other newcomers arrived shortly and the supervisor gave us a quick training on how to use the program on the computer to access the customers' information including their phone number. We were tested on our ability to use the program after that. We were supposed to do some roleplaying after that but the supervisor was quite busy as he had to handle the anti-spyware project as well as train us.

We waited until after lunch and he gave us some time to prepare for the roleplaying session. At around 2 pm, he initiated the session and some of us were acting as the clients while some as the telemarketer. It was rather interesting as some of us would think of difficult questions for the telemarketer to answer while some had funny responses to the tough questions. Some of us adhered to the script quite strictly and it was not too difficult for most of us.

I left at 3.10 pm to meet my camp mates in Bedok camp to get my ic after that. I was late for half an hour but all of them were still in camp waiting to get their ic coz S1 was not around. After around 45 mins of waiting, we finally got our identity cards and everyone was interested to see how each of us looked when we were young. Some of us looked really cute, eg junchen, and some looked very nerdy, esp jiekai. We went to suntec city's marche for dinner after that. I ate quite a lot as i shared pizza with jk, crepe and rosti with ks. Junchen ordered 2 jugs of beer after our meal and we were all in good spirits, chatting and drinking. We took a few photos with our pink ICs as well.

Some of us decided not to go back so early and we went the Pacific Coffee House in Citylink for some drinks before heading back home.

Today, the 3 of us newcomers were not sure what to do after arriving and we waited for some time before being assigned to do data entry. We had to copy the info of the clients into the database and we taught how to do subsequently. It was very easy but i got sick of it after 1 hour. I was the restless one there, frequently stretching myself and slapping my sore neck. I don't like to be doing the same thing over and over again but it had to be done anyway. I had to motivate myself to do it while my eyes got tired, back and neck became sore due to too much time sitting down in the same position.

I had a more enjoyable time in Mindef although i was busier over there. I could do despatch that requires me to pass something to another department after typing something or i could fax something after emailing something. I could also print something and after that do filing. I could also shred paper and help to move the cupboards. There was also chinese new year decorations to be done as well. With such a variety of things to do, i could hardly be sick of doing the same things nor could i be confined to a chair. Well, this data entry job is just too mundane for me. Doing everything else seems to be better now, although the pay is the only thing that keeps me to this job. I'll be on the lookout for more interesting jobs too. Got back home today in a lousy mood, tired and sian.

If only money can drop down from the sky, ha........ :)

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Last weekend as a NSF!

Hc and i met at city hall as we were planning to go to the sportslink sale at suntec exhibition hall before going for zhangyi's concert. I was late for half an hour as i was taking quite some time to find my hammock so that i could pass to gs who is going taiwan for ATEC after next week. Didn't find it in the end and think that i threw it away coz it was stained with a broken ice pack since i went brunei.

We arrived at the exhibition hall and there were quite a lot of clothes with many people crowding around them. The shoes available were mostly old shoes and they are not very cheap as well. We saw sgt francis there as well. He was his same old self, and had the same hairstyle as well. Hc and i stayed for less than 5 mins and went to check out other exhibition halls. There was a food fair in the main hall at level 3 and we went in to take a look. There were many stalls inside and many people as well. It was not as crowded as compared to the IT fair last week but still considered a lot. We got ourselves taiwan sausages, assorted fried fishballs and drinks. Got some free samples of bak kua as well.

Ks joined us later to have our dinner at marina square food court. We then headed to Victoria Concert Hall and took some photos outside esplanade.

We arrived outside VCH after around 20 mins and kr and ly were already there. Jiekai arrived shortly and we waited for zhangyi to pass us our tickets. Took a group photo outside the hall.

Jianyu, Paul, sgt tiko and rongshun finally arrived just before the concert is about to start. We were separated into 2 groups with 4 people in the 1st row and 6 people in the 2nd last row. I was one of the lucky 4 sitting in the front row. The concert started with an impressive number and i was reminded of the chinese orchestra concert that i participated in JC. I was in the percussion section where the loudest instruments were in my control. I used to be banging cymbals of all sizes and i was really stressed as everyone would know if i banged at the wrong timing.

Soon, it was time for zhangyi to play the violin and i quickly got my camera ready to snap photos of him. The position that we were in was not very gd as the railing would block his face and he was constantly moving while he played. Thus, it was extremely hard for me to get a gd shot of him. Therefore, i was snapping photos 'incessantly' (without flash of course) to get some good shots which indeed caused the lack of my concentration listening to the music he is playing. The only good shot is shot in sepia tone as i was experimenting the classic concert feel for the photos.

Some of the pieces later were quite good and a few were sleep-inducing. I fell asleep a few times during the last few pieces. Overall, the concert was good considering the age of the musicians and the quality of their work. Most of them were younger than us. We felt proud to have zy as our friend too, although he was too busy to attend to us during the intermission and after the concert ended.

We had our supper at an open air hawker centre between city hall and douby ghaut mrt until around 10.45 pm.

Went out with my bmt friends today as Bruce organised a pre-ord gathering. The turn-out was smaller than i expected. Bruce, Jun yu, Junhong and i met up at Paradiz Centre for a ktv session in the morning. Jun yu had a $25 K-box voucher and he treated the 4 of us for the ktv session. The staff originally did not let us use the voucher for K-lunch but i argued my way through since Ks succeeded the last time he used his voucher. We sang until 2.15 pm and David and Ivan joined us subsequently. We then went Cafe Cartel at Ps to have lunch. Spent quite some time there chatting and getting to know more about each others' lives since most of us haven't had the chance to do so after BMT. Bruce and David left after the lunch and the rest of us headed to the new E-xone arcade at douby ghaut mrt. I didn't play much and spent most of my time watching them play. We left for home at around 5.20 pm.

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Cheap Sports Apparel!

Spent the whole day at home on thursday and wondered why the telemarketing company hasn't called me for the training yet. Called them and they told me that daryl and i are still selected, but they haven't allocated us for training yet. They called me later in the day to inform me that i'll be going for training next monday morning at 9 am and will be officially starting work next tue. Spent the rest of the day chatting and playing online games.

Woke up quite early to go for the adidas sale at expo today. Ks and i reached at 10.50 am and there were already quite a lot of people queuing outside the hall. We waited for around 15 mins before entering the hall and had to deposit our bags at the bag deposit counter. When we entered the hall, there were already like a few hundred people inside and many people were crowding at the counters asking for shoes and bags. We were at loss on where to start our shopping and i was kind of disheartened to see so many people. We went looking for the stuff we like and my height does serve quite useful to see the shoes, bags, or tees displayed behind the counters. I picked up a pair of sandals and a pair of shoes and saw kev with quite a lot of shoes and some clothes, wristband and bag. He had been here since 10 am and was the first 10 people to enter the exhibition hall. I left the shoes i picked with him since he was sitting down waiting for his friend. I picked some more shoes but some of them do not have my size. I picked up my pace and scanned through the entire hall for cheap bargains and nice apparel. After around 1 hour of shopping, we gathered at the common spot where all 3 of us were choosing the things that we really want and calculating the total costs.

I decided on a pair of running shoes that costs $100 there but costs $249 outside, adidas original shoes for $50, sandals for $30 and a climacool polo tee for $20. Total Cost = $200. Rather expensive but i'm willing to spend it because i don't have many shoes at home to wear. We then queued for the cashier where there were around 100 people in front of us. Kev, ks and i then queued at 3 different rows so that we can jump over to the person who is at the fastest queue. We waited, waited and waited for around 1 hour 40 minutes before getting near the cashier. Kev and i decided to transfer to ks's queue, as ks is almost reaching the cashier.

When i stepped right next to ks, the person behind him snapped at me saying "What do you think you are doing?" I was taken aback by his sudden hostility and replied "He is my friend." He then snapped back at me with a "So?!" I was thinking what should i reply this bitchy guy with and i said "He's paying for me, cannot meh?!" Inside, i was fuming. Well, i had queued for around the same time as him and he didn't need to vent his pettiness on me. He and his friend just didn't have the brains to split and find a shorter queue. That was not the straw that broke my back in fact. They were being sarcastic, nasty and spiteful saying comments behind our backs like "Some people study so many years also no use.", "Some people just wanna cut queue, no morals." and "What can we do when people are so barbaric?"

Kev and ks were talking and they did not hear the things that they said. My face was as black as Bao Qing Tian but it was no use because i was facing in front and not behind. When we finished purchasing our stuff, i really wanted to turn around and shout "#$@$^%#^&$^Y@$$R@$!##@%@$%@$^#%^#%&$^&$^@$#!!@$@#%#$^%&^$&#%^@#$!$@$%@$^%@$%@#$^$^&$^&#%@##@$%@$^%*%&(&^)(^*(O%^#$%@#!@#!@%$@$^$&^&*&%*#%@$!#$#@%#$@^#%^&$%&^$8$^*%&(^*(^*($^$@$@#$!@$%#$^^%&^(%&%#"

I didn't do it in the end because we were partly at fault as well. I just have to accept the fact that some people are just not as gracious as us ;) We redeemed our free Adidas water bottles in the adjacent hall (1 bottle comes with every $50 in a single receipt) and got our bags from the collection point. We then took a cab to tampines and had our lunch there. Went home lugging our individual large baggages.

Took a few photos of my brand new shoes and tee as well.

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Going back camp for the second last time

Went back to camp on tuesday morning for the pop rehearsal. I woke up at 5.15 am and had only slept for around 3 hours. Reached camp at around 7.20 am and waited for quite a long time before the briefing started. Some of us were allocated to marshal vehicles into 3 SIR parade square while the rest were assigned places at various junctions to direct the vehicles. We were told to be in position by 9 am and some of us bought snacks in the canteen as we had some time to spare. We went to the parade square and waited for encik to brief us on where we allow the vehicles to park. After that, we went back to the office and waited for quite some time again. They dismissed us around 10 plus and told us that we need to book in tomorrow at 3 pm and in position by 4.30 pm. Everyone was complaining why the heck should we book in 1 hour 30 mins before the stipulated time.

Quite a lot of us went to e-mart to clear our credits and i bought a field pack, leather shoes, brooks running shoes for my sister and a pair of white socks. Helped daryl to choose the items that he can buy so that he can clear his credits and he gave me toilet rolls and white socks in return. Most of us went to the newly renovated Bedok corner to have our lunch after our shopping spree.

Wednesday, arrived in camp at 3.15 pm and quite a lot were late as well. We finally got back our $30 that our company owes us for the ord dinner. We headed to the canteen to buy some food since we have around an hour to spare. We went to the parade square and waited and waited. Only 1 car arrived at around 5 pm. Jiekai and i were directing traffic at the entrance of the parade square and we took turns going for dinner as someone has to be there marshalling. Quite a lot of vehicles arrived from 6 pm onwards and most of us were rather busy. We also have to switch on the lights in the empty 3 SIR buildings. Jiekai was also telling me about their scary experiences when they were patrolling past the deserted buildings. He once heard the sound of slippers running in bravo company building at around 2 am. Then some others also heard the sound of chairs or cupboards shuffling after midnight. I was genuinely intrigued by their experiences and dared jiekai to go up to bravo coy level 4 alone and wave at me for $4. He rejected my offer and demanded that i increase my offer. I wasn't willing to part too much of my money and did not raise my offer.

After the passing out parade started, we didn't had much to do since those that want to come had already came. We were all discussing about the horrors that some of them experienced late at night when they used to do guard duty previously. Paul suggested going up to bravo coy to take a look and i gamely agreed to go up with him. We dragged liyuan with us as well and we walked up the staircase slowly. I was the jumpy one there and would exclaim if i thought i saw something or felt anything. We went up to level 3 and decided to walk along the corridor after some hesitation. It wasn't as scary as i expected as the street lamps were lit and the moon was rather bright. Nevertheless, we didn't muster the courage to go up to level 4 which jiekai claimed is the most haunted. Strange enough, the staircase lights were only lit up to level 3 but not level 4. The staircase leading to level 4 was quite dark and we didn't stay in the building for long. Luckily, we didn't see anything there.

After the parade ended, we guided the vehicles out of the parade square. We removed the white tape around the bag checking area and our task was finally accomplished. We stayed for encik's debrief and he told us to come back next mon to collect our pink ic. He also returned us the medical ffi form and clearance forms so that we can give the forms to S1 branch without going back to support company to collect next mon. Took a cab back home with junchen, daryl and eugene as it was reaching 10 pm.

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I don't want to study.........

I went to NTU to have my medical checkup with Clarence and Daryl. We had lunch at Jurong point before going there. Took 179 from Boon Lay Interchange into NTU. There was a guy from AJC whom i find familiar and he was in the same bus as us. When he and his friend got off at the Sch of Communications bus stop, we hesitated but decided not to alight as Derrick had instructed us to alight when we see the building Innovation Centre. The bus then went past several halls and we thought that we missed the stop as Clarence and I did not remember going past the hostel buildings the last time Derrick brought us to the medical centre. We got off at the next stop and cut through the halls to get to Sch of Communications. The weather was hot and humid and we were drenched within minutes. We got to the previous bus stop and checked the map. It was rather far from our bus stop and we had to walk from one end of a building to the other end of the building. We also found out that we should have alighted at the next bus stop which was much closer to the medical centre.

After walking for about 20 mins, we finally arrived at the medical centre. There were quite a lot of people inside and we had to fill in several form before taking our height and weight. Our eyesight was tested as well. Waited another 20 mins for the doctor's consultation and she asked a few questions while checking my pulse, heartbeat and blood pressure. She also told me to lie down and pressed on my tummy and knocked against her hand to check the sound. After the consultation, we had to do a urine test and after that, they instructed us to go to Jurong Point's medical centre to have our chest x-ray.

We went to the nearby canteen to grab a bite before heading to do our chest x-ray. We only have to stand in front of a machine, put our hands on our waist and wait a few seconds for the x-ray. We then went guardian as i had to purchase my Gatsby natural black temporary hair spray.

Edwin joined Clarence and i later to catch In Good Company at Marina Square as he is having his 2 weeks of off due to ops bacinet. Most parts of marina square are still in renovation and only a few shops like royal sporting house, food court, long john silver are open.

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Cheap gadgets

Went out on Sunday with my sec sch mates to celebrate Weiming's 21st birthday. Bernard, Fuli and i went hunting for his present in the morning. David couldn't make it on sun as he was having a chess competition. We went to Far East Plaza to find any suitable t-shirts or bags for him but most of the shops were not open yet. We then walked along Orchard Road discussing what other presents we can get for Weiming. I suggested HMV or movie vouchers as his general interests are music and movies. We decided to think of other ideas while keeping the vouchers suggestion as a last resort if we couldn't think of other stuff to buy. After some deliberating, we decided on the vouchers and a cake. We then headed to Taka food section where there are quite a lot of stalls selling cakes. We took note of the price, flavour and design before heading to other places with cake shops. Shops like Bread Talk have cakes that were generally more expensive and we decided on the shop selling cheesecakes in Taka. We then went to buy the vouchers before buying the cake as we didn't want it to get warm. After getting a $20 HMV voucher, we went cathay cineplex to buy 2 movies passes. Then went back to Taka to buy a $15 cookies and cream cheesecake and Cold Storage for a lighter.

We were thinking of where to cut the cake and i suggested level 4 at Centrepoint as few people hang out there and there are benches there as well. We arrived there at 1.15 pm as we expected Weiming to be late as usual. He was indeed late by 45 mins. We put the candles, lit them up and sang him a soft birthday song as we do not want to embarrass him in the public place. Took a photo as well.
The birthday boy is on the left.
We then headed to NYDC at Wheelock Place for lunch as Weiming is giving us a treat. I told him not to splurge his money but he insisted on giving us a treat. We ordered the set lunches and had a rather nice time eating and chatting. The total bill came up to $59.

We played pool at Le Meridian afterwards as we couldn't think of any other things to do. Fuli left at around 5.45 pm as he need to book in at night. The 3 of us continued our game and played for another hour before going to the IT fair at Suntec. After around 30 mins of walking, we reached the human-packed exhibition hall. We forced ourselves into the hall which has brochures and flyers dumped all over the area. David joined us after his competition soon after we arrived. Bernard was interested in digital cameras and he had been wanting to get one since last year. We went to the Sony booth and i was telling him this and that about digital cameras. The cameras were rather expensive and we went to Nikon booth. The cameras were relatively cheap but the model that Bernard wanted was sold out. We went to Olympus, Konica Minolta, Canon and Pentax booths next and Bernard had his eye on a $399 Pentax Optio S50 which has 5 megapixels and 3 times optical zoom. It was the cheapest 5 mp digicam around but the bad things are that it had only 1.8 inch lcd screen, the digital zoom was only 2.8 times and the camera was not very user friendly. Bernard decided to buy it but he have to collect it at Sim Lim Square 3 days later as there was already no stock for the camera.

We then went to the Creative booth as Weiming was interested in mp3 players since his discman was spolit. The Creative Zen Micro was really cheap and the 4 gb was only selling for $299. The 5 gb was selling at $399 and 6 gb at $429. However, the charger and extra lithium battery was not included for the 4 & 6 gb version. They were giving out $20 vouchers for the 5 gb version and Weiming decided to buy it. Only red, orange and purple zen micro are left and he got a red one. I saw a poster at Akira counter selling cheap flash memory mp3 players and i decided to get one for Yew Hua, my JC classmate, as his birthday present since most of the guys are sharing. The 256 mb player comes with an in-built fm tuner & recorder with 1 year warranty and a good price for it.

Went to Suntec food court to have our late dinner before going home.

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Coke...y

Went ktv with ks and ly as ks has a $25 voucher that expires after march. En route to k-box cineleisure, i saw people outside the building distributing free bottles of coke and i took one. In the escalator, i put it in my bag as i did not want the k-box staff to tell me that no outside drinks are allowed inside. Went i reached the ktv room, i opened my bag and took out the coke bottle. There was only a quarterful of coke left inside the bottle. I was aghast in horror as much of the coke had drenched my bag and all the things inside. My magazines were wet, my umbrella was wet, my keys were wet and my water bottle is wet. I took out all the stuff from my bag and headed to the toilet to pour away the excess coke in my bag. It was really my misfortune as i was the lucky one who took the bottle with a loose cap. So there i was exhausting tissue paper from ks and ly wiping my umbrella, bag, keys, magazines and water bottle. I took quite some time as i was wiping, singing, wiping and singing. We sang from 11 am to 2 pm and ks gave us a $2 discount for the ktv session.

Went HMV for a while as ks wanted to check the price of Penny's new album. Liyuan went for work after that while ks and i went chinatown. I was accompanying him to check the price of Penny's new album in the cheap cd shops there. It was selling at $16.90, only a buck cheaper than that in Sembawang Music Centre. Ks went to the NUS open house with jy after that. I went home as i do not have any other activities later on.

Spent the rest of the day chatting and playing online scrabble.

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Found it

I was vigorously flipping through the recruit section of classified and reading the tiny words of every advertisement for employment as i had nothing on on thursday. It was quite encouraging as there were quite a lot of suitable jobs that i'm interested in. I called a frozen food company as they were recruiting a driver to send their food. The pay is $1100 per month but the working hours are quite long. Have to work during Sunday as well. I called other companies and found another job as a telemarketer. It was stated 6.5 per hour and the work place is near Buona Vista. I found that the working hours is 9 am - 5 pm during weekdays. I was rather interested in that job but i continued to hunt for other good job offers. Found another telemarketing job in Bugis that requires us to promote mobile phone services. The pay is quite high at $8 per hour. The working hours are 10 am to 5 pm, not too long. Some of the other jobs have already been taken up when i called the companies, even though the advertisements have only been put up for half a day. It doesn't really matter to me as i have a list of jobs to choose from already.

Went to Bugis with Daryl and Liyuan this morning for the job interview for the telemarketing job. I called them but they told us that the person who is interviewing us is only coming at 2.30 pm. It was quite a downer as we met up at 11 am and had 3 and a half hours to spare. We were wandering around Bugis Junction aimlessly and went to the nearby hawker centre for lunch. Liyuan had to go back at 12.30 pm as he got work at 1 pm. Daryl and i headed to Ritz Apple Strudel for dessert after our lunch. I didn't want to waste my money and i was looking at Daryl eating the yummy strudel. We spent around 45 mins in there talking about jobs, driving and everything to waste our time away. Our last stop is Kinokunia before heading to the telemarketing company.

We went inside North Bridge Commercial Complex 03-01 and waited there for some time as the receptionist is rather busy on the phone. When we asked about the telemarketing job, she don't seem to know anything at all and asked her superior to attend to us. He had to clarify some stuff with his colleagues over the phone as most of their colleagues are at the IT mall in suntec. He then asked us what time we called and who we spoke to. I told him the time but did not know who i spoke to. He seemed puzzled and told me that all the job vacancies are already filled up. My heart sank immediately upon hearing that as i thought we had a wasted trip. But a moment after he said that, he continued telling us that he is sorry but they do not need people to distrubute flyer anymore. I was wondering when did we ask for jobs to distribute flyers and asked him whether the phone number that i called in the morning is their company's. He replied no and i knew we were in the wrong place. I called the telemarketing company immediately and asked the exact location again. We were not in the wrong level or unit but actually in the wrong building.

I was really amused by our folly and we went to the North Bridge Centre, the building beside North Bridge Commercial Complex. There was already an interviewee there and the staff passed us the application forms. We went for the interview together and i even took out a file containing my A-level results, O-level results, Testimonials in Sec Sch and JC, and SAT score. It was really kiasu for me to bring that but i guess that was the only stuff that can increase my chances of getting the job as i do not have any job experiences before. However, the interview only lasted a few minutes. After we told the interviewer that we are only going to work a few months, the person told us that they are only looking for people that are able to work long term. He told us to consider for the temporary job which pays $6 per hour with night working hours on weekdays and a full day on one weekend. We told him that we are not interested after contemplating for a few seconds. Left off in a huff and we are complaining to each other about the amount of time wasted on this interview which didn't work out.

Next up, we called another telemarketing company in the same building as well. It was in level 4 and we proceeded up for the interview. There were around 12 people in the interview room whose age group are around ours. We looked at the whiteboard which was written "$8/hr weekdays 7 pm - 10 pm weekend (sat/sun) 11 am - 6 pm" Daryl and i looked at the application form and found out that it was actually the same company. We left promptly and were still jobless. I had checked out the buses going to the telemarketer company near Buona Vista and there is a bus going there from Suntec. We walked in the hot and humid weather arriving at Suntec City rather drenched. Took some time before finding the bus stop and Daryl suggested going to the IT fair. Since both of us were still rather sweaty, we proceeded upstairs where there lies a throng of people. We only managed to walk along the open booths on level 3 and did not go into the exhibition hall on level 4 as the amount of people inside was simply astounding.

After 30 mins of bus journey, we got off at the Normanton Park bus stop and walked towards Rutherford building. The building was much more developed and "high class" compared to the companies in Bugis. We filled in the application form and waited for quite some time for the interview. The people who interviewed both of us was very friendly and she even brought us to take a look at the place we will be working. She said the company pays $7 per hour for A-level students and the working hours are from 8.30 am to 6 pm. Both of us were satisfied with the job terms and she told us that we will most probably get the job. Daryl saw his sec sch friend working there and they had a chat before we left. He told Daryl that it is quite stressful working there but it doesn't bother me at all since i came from a high working pressure environment in Mindef. She will schedule us for a half-day training before we can start work.

I should be starting work next thursday if nothing crops up. I finally got my first job. Got another good news when i came home today. My driving license was mailed to my house.

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I need an aim

Monday, i finally got myself working to find a job by flipping through the classified section of straits times. Called for a $1400 monthly car washer job but there is a age restriction of 30 to 45 years old. Called for another admin assistant job and they only want females. Called for some other jobs and they require us to go down to a place for interview. I got quite sick of calling already and i resigned to slacking in front of my computer, as usual. I need a job man!

Tuesday, went to watch Assault on Precinct 13 at ps with my bmt friend, jun yu, as i had to return him his mp3 player which he accidentally left in my bag around 2 months ago. Some of my jc classmates were clearing leave and off that day and we decided to watch Hitch at night. It was one of the rare occasions we met up during weekdays as most of us were busy in ns before. Went to newton food centre to have our supper after the show.

Wednesday, went with ks to have our weekly swim at safra mt faber. It was a sunny day, perfect for suntanning. After swimming 20 laps, we had our lunch at archorpoint. Got nothing on tomorrow or friday yet. I need to earn money after spending so much since we started clearing leave a month ago.

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Another weekend

Saturday, went to shop for kp's birthday gift as his bday is on sun. Most of us arrived late as expected. Clarence and i went wandering in paragon and heeren looking for some suitable gifts while waiting for derrick and gs to arrive. After they arrived, we did more window shopping and wandered in the various shopping centres in orchard and finally decided to settle it in Far East Plaza. It was already 6 pm and my back became really sore after walking up down left right in out of the shops in shopping centres. Had quite a long time driving on friday and the long walking aggravated my back muscles. The 4 of us were rather indecisive and it took us a long time before buying the 1st gift. Derrick was having his own shopping spree as well. He bought a $100 bag from project brothers shop and a $20 t-shirt in far east. The 2nd gift was purchased at pacific plaza. (I cannot reveal what the gifts are as he might be reading this) Finally, we finished our long and tiring shopping trip at around 8.15 pm. We were all very hungry and were finding a cheap food court to have our dinner.

We wanted to go kp's house to pass him his gifts but he was not in and we were driving on the road aimlessly. We were on Scotts road, then bukit timah road, then upper bukit timah road, then went past my house, exit to bke through dairy farm road, entered kje, went choa chu kang, then jln bahar, and finally lim chu kang road. I suggested going to hunt for the paranormal but the rest were not keen. I took control of the steering wheel after gs got sick of driving. It was only my 2nd day of getting my license and i was driving! I drove into ntu and derrick became the tour guide of the gigantic school. He also showed me and clarence where to get off from the bus for our medical checkup later this month. We got off from the car and walked around the canteen near the medical centre where there were quite some people studying there. We went inside a building and there was a big study room with a few people inside. I can say that the environment in ntu is rather conducive for studying. We left after a short while and decided to go back home since derrick still has quite a lot of incomplete schoolwork. I drove gs and myself back home and was travelling up to 100 km/h on the expressway. It was harder to control the car at this speed and a slight movement on the steering wheel will have a rather big effect on the direction of the car. The steering wheel was harder to turn compared to the cars in the driving school though.

Sunday, went orchard to watch Team America: World Police with weiming. I was stuck in a traffic jam along scotts road and orchard road and was late for 40 mins. I was waiting for the elevator at cineleisure when i saw Michelle Chia and Shaun Chen waiting as well. They were holding their hands and i was rather surprised to see them at such a public place. There were quite a lot of people who noticed them but did not ask for autographs or such things. We went inside the same lift and i was standing beside Michelle Chia in the lift. It felt a bit weird as i had never been so close to a celebrity before. She was about a head shorter than me but i did not look at them directly. The elevator's door is a mirror and i was catching some glances of them from the reflection. I was also listening to their soft but audible conversation as i was beside them. They were not speaking chinese, in fact they were speaking cantonese, i think. I don't know cantonese at all so i don't know what they were talking about. I got out from the lift at level 4 while they went to level 5 to buy movie tickets i presume, as Shaun pressed level 5 when he was on the lift.

A rather uneventful weekend for me.

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Yeah!

I've made it, the nervousness nearly wrecked me today. I had a revision before my test and the wait between after my revision and the start of my warm-up was 1 hour. So i was sitting outside the traffic police counter waiting and reading my booklet anxiously for time to pass. My bowels became too active and i had to settle some big business. ;) I was sitting with other testees and i think i was the most nervous guy there. My breathing was raspy and i was shaking my leg non-stop. I just kept waiting and waiting, until 2.35 pm when i went down to print my allocation slip and do the warm-up before the test.

Well, it was much better when i was driving. The instructor brought me to do the circuit requirements first before heading out to the main road on test route 4. It was generally ok, only missed checking a few blind spots. After the warm-up, we headed back to the driving centre. It was another wait and we were all seated at the waiting area. After 15 mins, we were ushered into a room where a tester gave us a brief on the test. A person is chosen to help to select the test route and tester for everyone taking the test. I was given test route 6 and my tester is Lai. After the selection, we had to wait again for our tester to come and bring us to our car. I was the second last person to be called and it was already 3.50 pm.

My test had finally began and i tried to be calm although i was drenched with cold sweat. The circuit was not bad coz i didn't have any mistakes. Then, out to the main road. Everything was smooth until i had to change lane on bukit batok road. There were quite a lot of vehicles and i was not too sure whether the car behind me was close enough for me to lane change. I changed my lane anyhow since the traffic light junction was rather close and if i didn't change my lane after the traffic light, i would be on a turn left only road. I was quite familiar with this route and there was also a junction with a stop line on a slope and using the handbrake was essential. Guess what, i stalled the engine when i was about to move off. Nevertheless, i quickly restarted the engine and headed off. Stalling of engine does not deduct you any points at all, unless you stall your engine in the middle of a junction or delay the vehicles behind you. A reminder, don't panic when you stall your engine, just quickly clutch in and turn the key. I was on my way back to the driving centre and was turning left when a car U-turned and appeared on the right lane behind but adjacent to me. I was rather worried because i did not notice the car that U-turned behind me. On further thoughts, i had the right-of-way and it should be the car that gives way to me. I parked the car and went up with the tester back to the same room. The first thing that he said to me was "Your driving is not bad, can drive." He gave me 6 points and a pass. I was thanking him profusely as i couldn't control my happiness.

Tips for doing well during your driving test:
1) Your circuit must be perfect. The parking, the s-course, crank course, directional change and emergency brake. Circuit is the first thing to be tested and if you don't do well for your circuit, i'm afraid the tester will have a bad first impression of your driving.

2) Please wayang and turn your head and eyes everytime you lane change or turn. This is a must. The tester will be sick of seeing you checking safety that he might imagine you checking even if you forgot to check once or twice.

3) Make your tester feel safe when you are driving. Don't follow too close another vehicle, slow down before a bend and slow down when there is a hazard in front.

4) The most important advice, be alert. Take note of the green light when there is red man flashing on the road perpendicular to yours. Always be wary of taxi and buses if they are in front of you. Keep your eyes open if there is any vehicle parked on the side of the road.

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Give me Luck!!!!!

Yes, my big day is tomorrow. I'm really a war of nerves when i think about it. Hopefully it doesn't rain, hopefully there are no taxis disturbing me, hopefully i don't meet too many amber lights, hopefully i don't be too anxious, hopefully i don't "garang garbo", hopefully my tester is very lenient, hopefully my tester likes me, hopefully i don't be blur, hopefully i freaking pass!

Went swimming at safra mt faber with ks, went suntec for the career fair after that, went for my driving revision and went to watch The Woodsman at cineleisure with jk. I wore slippers to my driving lesson and it was a mistake, i had to use more of my muscles to control the clutch, brake and accelerator. My shin was really quite sore after the lesson. I asked my instructor to grade me and he noted most of my mistakes. He gave me a marginal pass and told me the mistakes i committed. Those are the mistakes that can be avoided and i really hope there i will not make any careless mistakes tomorrow. I need to get it over and done with!!!!!

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Movie Maniac

Watched Million Dollar Baby with Weiming on mon night as both of us were quite eager to watch the movie after it won Best Picture. We caught the 9.15 pm show at Bishan and left the theatre at 11.45 pm as the show was slightly over 2 hours and there was the usual 20 mins of advertisements in gv cinemas. We got to the mrt station at 11.50 pm but there were only trains heading to ang mo kio and toa payoh. I was originally planning to take a train to newton where i can take a direct bus back home but since there was no more trains going there, i shared a cab with weiming as he was going back to camp. The taxi driver took a long way and we went all the way down upp thomson road, going a rather big round to yishun. The midnight charge had already kicked in and i was looking at the price meter every 20 seconds. I reached home about 20 mins later after dropping off my friend at yishun and the fare is a whopping $20.75. My wallet is bleeding!!!

Went to watch Sideways at ps with jiekai today. I was late as usual because of the unpredictable waiting time for buses. Really can't stand the waiting time sometimes as buses seem to come later then usual when i'm in a rush. I was almost late for the movie as the show starts at 3.30 pm instead of 3.55 pm. I had checked the internet for movie timings for ps and it displayed 3.55 pm which was in fact the wrong timing. I arrived at 3.48 pm and because of the 20 mins adverts, i was spared of missing any part of the movie. Had dinner with jk after the movie and walked around for a while before we left the place. He was heading to the Substation for a free short film screening from 8 to 10 pm while i was going Cineleisure to watch another movie with daryl and liyuan. The movie is a french film, Les Choristes or the Choir Boys, which is nominated for Best Foreign film in the academy awards. I was the first one to arrive and liyuan was really late as he was caught in a traffic jam in the PIE. Daryl and i went into the theatre first and told liyuan to call us to pass him the ticket when he arrived. When he arrived around 20 mins after the movie had started, daryl tried to open the entrance door but it was locked. Ly had to call the staff to unlock the door before entering.

There, i've accomplished my mission of watching most of the movies that i want to watch during this oscar season.

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