The book says....COMMUNICATE

This term is so sensitive.

Today i went to meet up with a friend. Though I knew that the behavior projected was due to the person's upbringing. Still, I was really pissed off by the way the person went about doing things.

I seriously thought that the person wanted to catch up with me. But instead, it was to fulfill what the person's boss had asked to do. This is in the same theory as another joker i know.

This other joker asked me before in the past. Hey, can you tell me more about Aikido? So I went on and explained stuff to him, giving him a clearer picture for the next 10 minutes outside my home in the freezing winter. In the end, what did the guy answered? He said, actually I'm not so interested in this. So I asked him, then why ask?

His answer was, "Well, I read it in a book. It says to make friends, we gotta talk about a topic that the target knows to improve communication with one another."

- Never cite from a book what you just did to make friends. It is just so duh.

As for today's issue, the person told me that the boss instructed her to make more friends, not to be so shy and widen your social circle, so that's the reason that I was asked out. The person felt that I could relate well to others, so wanted to pick up some tips from me. But how was I to teach something that requires the individual to act normally, and make your own friends without a motive? When the person obviously has a motive..

So I gave the above as a reasoning and cited some common workplace examples. Then I left to go window shopping and stuff, so the person followed suit, step by step...left foot, right foot. Turn left, stop, turn right, stop. I tried to be friendly, control my frustration, and asked whether the person would like to look around. In the end, I had to ask the person to stop following me. It was just too close for my comfort, and fark, I was really pissed off.

In the end, once the person had finished the 'research', the person left, with the reason that time for home cooked food was a better option.

Alright! Next time, I am not going to be so accommodating. You need a request, ask it via SMS or the phone. I'm not going to waste my time to meet up with someone so unappreciative, once your objective has been cleared, you left.

Life's like that

Met up with Mr Tay and Liaw this afternoon.

Many thanks to Mr Tay for the Korea University T-shirt that he gave me. Thought that the symbol of the school, a tiger, was really weird, since the national symbol of Malaysia is the tiger right?

And Liaw, who is might have just left for the United Kingdom, is on to his dream as a optometrist. I wonder how will my life turn out to be? I think everyone wonders about the same thing at this point of life. Whether I would be able to have the things that I want in life.

Man...i need some new shoes. Something casual, such as loafer shoes, something that looks presentable with jeans. I also need a pair of sandals, since my old pair is getting rather ragged.

Well, that's all for today. Not sure what else there is to write until i get employed.

Friends told me to enjoy the time I have before starting work, but however, i really wish i can start work soon, getting really rusty.

Wedding Bells rang today.

Went down to Aranda Country Club for my two friend's wedding today.

The venue where they had their wedding vows had such a nice setting. It makes the journey down really worthwhile.

And yeah, Adelin looked really stunning today! Daniel didn't lose out too. Looking as the nicest guy on the block as always.

I met a few old friends there, namely Yan Fen, Edwin, Josephine, Melanie, Connie and a supposedly senior. I think she was Kunze's girlfriend. Anyway who does Kunze think he is?

I didn't like him during the time in army. Neither do I like him still now. I decided not to chup him much, except for a casual hi, but yet he seem to be still so farking arrogant. Whats with him anyway? Ask him things and totally ignore others, yet likes still to act cute and attract attention. However, I found Winston a really nice guy, despite meeting him for the first time. The CSO will forever be the CSO. Stupid idiot.

Anyway back to the wedding couple. Thanks for letting me to be part of the video, though I did not really have much to say. Not really good with words at that time. Enjoy your trip in Tokyo, wear more thicker clothes, and don't catch a cold. The lunch was really good, seems that everyone loves the beef steak dish.

Here's the photos!

Short note of what I bought..

This isn't the main post today. But just wanted to showcase what did I buy during the recent PC Show 2008.

My brother said it looked really gay.

My sis said it looks like a present for her.

So what do you say? I find that the design looks very surreal and helps to cover the immense number of scratches that my notebook has.. Thats why i chose it.


Doesn't it looks nice?

My Hawker, my Heartlander.

Was having lunch at the neighborhood coffeeshop when I realized some thing. Most of the hawkers left are the old folks, aunties and uncles who are in late fifties. Where have all the young blood gone to?

After coming back from Australia, I realized one thing that was missing from the Melbournian life was the existence of hawkers. The localized "Ah Huat's Ice Kacang", "Feifei's Wanton Mee" and the Katong Laksa. All these local heritage of Singapore are fading fast, more are getting replaced by the enterprise version of them, such as Food Republic, The Kopitiam. Sure you see younger cooks there, but what about the quality?

Do they cook with a prized effort at their dishes, or are they just cooking for the sake of earning some money for themselves? Truth to be told, I really missed the stuff such as Butterfly Kueh, You Tiao, where one is able to buy them from the old uncle showing how they are made early in the wee morning. At the enterprise version of laksa, do they taste as good as the home cooked ones from the various shophouses along the older streets, or do they taste right due to the added ingredients from the enhanced flavor noodles bought from commercial manufacturers...?

Remembered a kid, how I relished going to the bakery to buy my favourite pastry, priced at 80 cents. Compared to now, where I would have to fork out $2 for a reheated frozen piece. The cost of inflation or something else?

Some see the task of cooking as a chore to earn a living, However, I find that amid the task of cooking, one has forgotten the art of making a dish taste nice via natural means.

Trash?

Was taking the bus down memory lane this week when I saw a lot of familiar faces down Simei Estate.

Faces of former juniors of my secondary school. For those who don't know which school I'm from, I'm from Changkat Changi Seconddary School.

And yeah. I'm proud of it. When I was in primary school, I was always told by my form teacher that this school was where the trash of society goes. Well, I beg to differ. Trash can be defined in many ways and come from anywhere. Its not the school that produces trash. Its the people out there who deem it fit to label others as trash. Some people just have the idea that they are so high and mighty, somewhere up there or so they say.

I wonder if I can find her and tell her what I think now.

Long awaited family brunch

Hmm.. I could do with more of these.

I really love family lunches. Where all of the family could get together for lunch or dinner and chat about stuff. I'm referring to my dad's side here, cuz so far, at my mom's side I'm just most of the time part of the furniture. No common topics to exchange with them.


I don't feel like exchanging news with them most of the time, due to their apparent lack of trustworthiness among the older generation. As for my dad's side, they seem to be more closely bonded. We are able to understand each other on the same wavelength and chat on much more similar grounds. Apart from some of my other cousins such as Liang Qi/Kai, Jiayan and Cheng Mun, Jingli, I don't really find there's much common topics among the rest.

Oh yeah, and two IUF of my family:
"For those who don't know what's that, it stands for Interesting Useless Facts"

1. Each person in the family branch has a left handed in the family - Stated by Sophia.

2. Of all my cousins, I realized the girls are the ones in JCs, while the guys are either Polytechnic or ITE students. - Stated by ME.

Here's the Pics for today.



After brunch, the relatives and me went window shopping. I rarely enjoyed such outings with my family. We mostly buy stuff straight and hurry back home to sleep/shit/work. Everytime its the same, thats why I'm so bored with this life. At least when I'm in Melbourne, I meet up with friends to chill in the night, go over to each other's place for a chat, go to La Dolce Freddo for ice cream. Else we might just hop down to do grocery shopping n window shopping at the Queen Victoria Market.

Well, I'm reminiscing about those times.

Going in circles

Just finished my last security test last week.

After that stage was over, I began to ask myself, what if I failed the test? Then my wait for my employment with my dream company since December of 2007 would be dashed. The first time I looked at the advert, I knew it was the career that I always dreamt that I would wanna embark on. Even to that point, I even start looking at programming languages, which would definitely be the last type of reference text that I would look through.

So please. I really want the job. Its been too long a wait, n no matter how self-inspiring I can command myself to do, its reaching the limit soon.

So what have I being doing these past few weeks while waiting the wait?

1. Being working out with the mates, specifically Mr Wang. and Mr Emo. Mr James wanna join me tomorrow, but yet we haven't reached a confirmation on what to do yet.

2. Helping out in my uncle's wine shop, contrary to what my mom thinks, which in her definition are places where people get drunk and slug it out at each other. However, the place I'm at begs to differ. I heard none of the raving, loud rock music, yet I keep hearing the repeat tunes of the classical and blues being played through the speakers of the player. At first, I was a little apprehensive about helping to run a shop with zero experience in, but after today, I realized i rather liked the challenge. At least, this gives me a short-sighted view of how my dream restaurant management would be like, if I were to have one.

Man. I need to change my occupation soon. Its at "Unemployed" for fucking way too long.

The long awaited QM Gathering.

Untitled...

Few months have passed since I came back from Melbourne.

I found that alot of places in Singapore has changed over the short duration of a year. New buildings are in the midst of being built.

New technologies are up and running in Singapore.

I met up with a few of my camp mates from 36th Singapore Combat Engineers. Yeah, those were the days where we could just slog out in camp with one major goal in mind, yup, to ORD. Notably those guys which I really could chat a lot with were Andrew, Qinghui, Daryl, Gerald, Guan Kheng, Melvin, and some of the others.

There were those that I really disliked back in camp, hopefully I will not meet them ever again. As the look in their eyes really disgust me.

I came back and met up with some of my secondary school friends, mainly Pei Pei, Ray, Fen Fang, Bingyu. These are the only ones that I have met up with, with my good friend Siu Fung flying kite at the last minute on one occasion.

It always happens, when one is attached, friends tend to be kept on one side of the shelf and soon to be forgotten until the next downturn.

I met up with another group of my closer friends, my polytechnic friends. Mr Wang, and Zixian. These two mates really influence me a lot by making me drag myself outta bed early in the morning to go to the gym together, nonetheless, either one of us would be the super latecomer. I thank them for allowing me to be part of their group after so long, especially when some other friends are not what they seem. Other friends that I've met up with, Serene, Shi Qing, and Joy. There are some which I wasn't able to physically meet, due to their personal stuff, such as wedding plans.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Another group of friends that I met up with, are my friend in University. I hope to see some of the others, especially when they come back to Singapore for their holidays. I met Jake, Danielle, Edna. I hope to see my two best buddies some time, George and Daniel. I also hope that Amy and Renkai are getting on well in their studies and 'life'..

Current Reads,
1. Sun Tzu's Art of War
"As per norm, I'm still stuck at a certain chapter of this book, where all wisdom are imparted through the use of poems."

2. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
"Finally, after a long hiatus, I've hit the dependence paradigm part of proactive-ness."

3. FREAKONOMICS
"Darren highly recommended this book to me. Its about economics, though I have zero experience in this topic, thought it might be good to learn about something new, such as personal finance in Rich Dad, Poor Dad, as recommended by Uncle Albert."

MVs that make up my dreams?

This is the first time such a weird post has come up here. But really wanna post this. Haha.

I don't really like some of the singers, but these are my personal views on the music videos.

Christina Aguilera-Candyman
"Strangely, such a wonderful video is unable to be embedded. Well I really liked the coordination from the dancers and the song has a really catchy tune. It can be found here."

It's not the sexiness of the singer that lures me over to the dark side, but more to the powerful and pure voice that she projects while singing the songs.

Rihana - Don't stop the music.

"Apparently, I heard this song for most of the time when i tuned in for 'So You Think You Can Dance' reality show while I was residing in Melbourne. Really catchy tune and soon I was hooked on to it."

PS. I don't have a fetish for non-asian girls, but yupz, she has a great voice as well.

Like bygones go.

Actually dunnno what to write for today. Heartbroken? Nah. Not so. Some other friends are feelings rather heartbroken for the week. GF/BF dumped. So many people who dunno how to treasure someone who loves them.

So here's the question today.

Would you rather be the one loving or the one to be loved...?

Job hunting is coming to an end..my thoughts.

A new chapter of my journey is about to begin.

No more university blues. Now is the time where everyday importance would be the coming of the friday night fever and the pushing back of the monday blues. I don't think there will be a chance for long weekend like in NS.

How would the next 2 years of my life be life? Wallowing in misery of the collared worker's life? Or being able to adapt to the various changes in the office? I don't know, and I don't plan to find out. I'll let God lead me on this path that he's given me and that I have chosen.

Doesn't matter that I seem to be re-doing my national service. I really find that this might be where I can find the suitable career for my journey in life. Never mind that I will not be able to earn big bucks like others in my family, at least my pursuit of joy in life lies in work experience, instead of the lure on financial gains that have changed the loyalties of many. Kinship is forgotten in such cases, and such people are really so blatantly despised in my world.

Why ignore the older generation when they do not recognize you anymore, even if they are faking it, what concern is it of yours? Human life peaks at around 80 or so, and not everyone can live till the age of that level. Let them feel wanted and there is no loss to yourself or at your expense. What others love to gossip about, don't care about them and let them say.

Dating women...no...I will not date people who are 8 years younger than my current age. I'm not like you, sotong. Only go for girls who do not know better. They see you as 24 years old, mature and caring type of guy, someone whom they can look up to and talk to. Instead, the vibes that I get from you are like you are looking up to them. They asked u to study n work, you do as you are told. I think need a mom, not a girlfriend.

Jobs....Career...Where can I find you?

Aaah. Where can I find you? Time passes by fast, even while you are languishing at pace you do not want. Work work....the lines a orc would say in Warcraft 3.

Where's work? I ask Mr Orc.

James smsed me today to inform me that he has found a temp job. As a factory packer in Tampines Industrial Park. 9am-6pm. Timing's rather ok with the 6 day week range. But seriously, what is a ITE graduate doing a primary 6 qualification job? And yeah, the Casanova haolian asked me to convert my single-hood status to attached like him.

So I asked him back. Wow, you work so long, later girlfriend can go relax one corner in school n make better choices. ;P

But I don't think I'm gonna consider dating till I get a decent job, and considering now with the lack of it, it shouldn't be anytime soon..which girl would go for a guy who has neither a wallet with substance, nor a richness in future? I think not many right? Maybe except those who think LOVE can sustain everything.

I don't condemn such people though, I used to think the same way, and in a certain way, I still do. Love can't make food, but it can keep a couple strong throughout times of despair and toughness.

Better go sleep. Tomorrow going gym with Mr Wang.

Singapore and Mi

This entry is titled "Singapore and Mi".

Well some of my friends have been asking me why there are no pictures of my life in Singapore. Well, previously I did not own a camera while I was living in Singapore. But since some of my friends wish to know what I have been up to and whats going on with me nowadays, especially TED, who just wanna know.

So this is a slide show of the random stuff I have being taking around the place. Enjoy. ;P

How to motivate myself further...

The drag from the job hunt is catching up on me.

I don't know. Should I go try out the agencies? I wouldn't want to go to Recruit Express.

I feel so unmotivated damn it. But I gotta buck up. Its only a small setback. Instead of moaning over my current worry, which is particularly unproductive, I should take a leaf from Jake and do other better things to motivate the confidence in myself.

For example, what should I work on?

1. Decreasing my ever expanding waist-line.
Considering that I have a free 2 week gym arrangement with EnergyOne, I should just make a trip down SAFRA Tampines tomorrow. I realized last week while I was trying to catch the bus home at Bedok, though I failed to catch the bus, I really enjoyed the brief sprint towards the bus stop. Since Bingyu is also currently interested in going exercising, that means i will have another exercise kaki, besides Mr Wang and Xian. Alright! I'll hop down to the Gym tomorrow for a workout then! Then go for some archery shooting to train my forearms followed by aikido practice in the evening! Then after the trial period is over, Bedok gym here i come!!!

2. Increasing my chances of a reply in a company.
If there is a decrease in my waistline, there should also be a increase in the frequencies of people calling me up for interviews. So what should I do? Should I go approach friends who are currently in the recruitment consultancy company? Kelly Services, Adecco? I would have to up the ante on the frequencies of the search for jobs using the search engines in the various job portal accounts that I have. Also, go try out the various companies that relatives of friends have recommended that I try for such as Accenture, as recommended by Ivan. And maybe, on a lighter note, as said by my dad, apply anything that comes your way, even if it has no relevance to your degree. Well, its just your first job anyway.

3. Training up my level.
Now here's the Yi-sha! of the next phrase. What's the next phrase? Its just my as slow as ever path to the acquiring of my driving licence and my first degree black belt in Aikido, after that I will have two degrees,(pun intended.) So what do I have to work on? my movement, physical and mental fitness in all timings of the training. Showing face more often, raising the needed amount for driving practice, getting a PDL again. Learning the correct patterns of performing the 31 Kata and the 7 Ken Shiburi. And learning 24 Kata as well is a plus.

4. Getting the ante up for my skills.
Not just physical skills, but also work skills. I plan to improve on my knowledge of security systems by studying the CEH course program, and taking the certification later once I am confident of my level. I may suck in Java programming, but I can't let this simple round of failure get to me. Maybe I'm no good in Java, but hey, there's still C++ and SAP down the road, So I wouldn't know until I have tried them all. I got a morale boost today on this aspect, after helping liang qi speed up his computer.

ALL RIGHT! FIRE UP!

Where is the love?

Today's title seems to be abit off. Its not the usual lovelorn moan of mine. but more to the general version of it.

WHERE IS THE LOVE..?

Just finished my MRO 2nd interview on Saturday. I met Merry Riana! In case anyone doesn't know, she's one of Singapore's self-made millionaires at the age of 25. But also, its nothing to hype about someone's else personal success.

I believe that instead of thinking that she can do it and so can I, I prefer to think that I would rather delve in on my own and create my own goal for myself. Millionaire or not, I would be happy.

So what happened in the interview? Cannot disclose. But one thing to say is, I really enjoyed myself with the new company they I've not had since so long. But one stupid rule in the interview was the idea of no private exchanging of contact details, in case of attempted conflict of interests. But what could be said for this poor soul here who wished to befriend some new friends. Damn.

So what interviews do I have this week?

CSIT - Wednesday
MRO - Friday

Wish me best.

Welcome to the SVF Movement!

I really wanna say this out loud to whoever in my family is causing me this unhappy night.

STOP VIRUS FARMING!!!

You can farm creeps/grubs for all I care in online gaming, but please, don't farm viruses in the shared computer!!!

You know how freaking retard is it to sit up at this time of the night solving shit caused by people who don't give a shit? and expect others to clean up the shit for ya. Argh. Wait till I find out who is the joker...!

Just because of you, I'm having pop-ups all over my screen and the computer illiterates asking me what is going on, why does so many things happen when I come back..?

I just did a complete scan 2 weeks ago and zero hits, now i get >40 hits!!!

Rise and Shine.

Another month is going to be over soon.

But I'm not depressed or discouraged as still being unemployed. But in the meantime, according to friends alike who have given me precious advice on the perils of working life, I thank you.

1. Enjoy whatever time you have right now, cuz when u start working, you gonna slog like fuck.

- Well, if I'm going to embark on a career, it has to be satisfying to me, else I would just call it a job, not a career. To me, if it is something interesting to do and something that can further allow me to enrich my life further, why not? Even if I have to journey to some freaking far industrial area, work 2 shifts, I will do it, but only it the job has any benefit to building up my career.

2. What do you want to do? IT or Business?

- Seriously, I haven't got a detailed clue, just a vague idea. Why I wanna do IT? Because i still have some interest in it especially in the sales, security and networking areas. Though my programming skills still suck like hell, I'm not afraid to try building it up. I guess thats my main weakness in IT, but to put it in my own words, no weakness, no further gains. As for why I think about pursuing a career in business, well, its a more or less proven fact in Singapore that only through business, money comes rolling in. And management skills can be picked up from business much more readily than other fields where you traditionally work up the chain of seniority. So I guess its still a two way answer. But well, thats why there's such a thing called a double-edged sword right?

3. Aiyah, any job that comes, just take. Do it for the experience.

- True. I agree to this point. But wait a minute. I still have to look at the pay regardless. I don't want to get a damn low pay < 2 K. I might as well just live with a diploma right?

Social woes: Spiralling downwards...

After coming back to Singapore for so long, I still feel so lost.

My social life is gone. Everyday, I'm either reading the news on the wiki, else I'm busy chopping monster mincemeat in CABAL. Besides that, I'm job hunting in jobstreet or jobscentral. I pretty much gave up looking in the Strait Times for work, since their executive position wants experience. How in the world is anyone going to get the experience when :

1. Anything you have slogged during the holidays doesn't really seem to count as experience.
2. The company states fresh grads are welcomed to apply, and follows by knowledge of this and that will be an added advantage.

HOW? HOW? HOW?

One sentence. MY LIFE IS SOMEWHERE NEAR THE DUMPS AS WE SPEAK.

I may sound moody with all these negative posts here, but rest assure, this is the same old guy at work here. Got hit by a small bout of food poisoning yesterday. Maybe I should start sleeping earlier....:)

Woes of a Job Hunter.

Been job hunting for a week and not a positive catch yet.

I sorta think fishing sounds easier. I'm just an average grad. No top grades to count as a achievement. Would I still be wanted in the Singapore society? How would I be able to find my mark?


All these questions lie unanswered as I seek my first job, or my first kill. So what do I do nowadays. In short, I'm tired from all the free time that I have. How should I go about making good use of it when I'm so sian from all this?

What could I do?

1. Get a licence.
2. Join a new art, probably capoeira?
3. Meet up with new people?