Time flies

Time really Flies.

I still remembered vividly this day last year when I was complaining how fast the year went too. It has been 2 1/2 years since I graduated from University, and I am sure I no longer look like a fresh grad anymore. Battled by the work environment, interacting with people 10-20years older than you, presenting in front of tons of people etc. And I still have at least 25 more years of it. Sweet.

Resolutions for me are always simple. I always like to do things that can value add myself. If not, I will not even attempt to do it in the first place. Perhaps that's why I don't gel with the way people behave in my gov.sg workplace. So for my new upcoming year and work at private.sg, I would just hope to:
- value add myself in terms of engineering knowledge
- save more money
- Try to get good grades for my Masters. My results are seriously disappointing. hahaa. It's quite hard to juggle time between work and studying. Average is about a B. If it was during Undergrad days, I guessed I would have already die of depression.
- Show more love, care, patience, and understanding towards my loved ones.

And talking about saving money, HK and Taiwan Trip next month. Yes. 2 trips within a month. I better enjoy myself first before i start my new work. The probation is going to be 9months anyway. Notice to quit during probation is 1mth and once confirmed, notice will be 3months. Outstanding. And I got a paycut anyway. But for a better career prospect, I will try no matter what.

And last but not least, I yearn to become fitter! Or at least get my weight back to the 60 plus kg range. Weight has been hovering between 70-72 kg recently. I exercise quite frequently, though not as intense as before. I eat like a bird. But I wonder why my weight still hasn't decreased. 1 gym session, 1 swimming session, and a 12-15km run (with my army friends) every week. I hope to see some results. At least.

The classics... I like..

Wake me up when the year is over....

Job Hunt, interview, 5hrs written test, interview with VPs, and finally letter of employment. Finally, a move out of gov.sg to private.sg.

2 1/2 years in gov.sg has forced me to become more outspoken. It requires me to represent the armed services and enforce compliances by the Suppliers. In a bad way, I stir people's shit. General managers, Managing Directors, Presidents, etc. You name it, I stirred them; even though my pay might only be a tiny fraction of theirs. But considering the amount of profit they get from the contract, I am the boss. Cheap Thrill but I like.

Moving into private.sg does invoke a certain level of uncertainty in me. In gov.sg, schedule can slip, people can slack, and nothing can happen to them. i doubt this will happen in private.sg whereby time is money. And not to forget the office politics, private.sg seems to be like a jungle where only the fittest survives. I hope I can be the fittest.

Pay is not fantastic but at least it's still enough to pay for my bills, petrol, insurances, with extra to save. I firmly believe as long as the money is reasonable, the opportunity for a better career holds a higher priority. Though ambitious, I don't believe in stepping on people to climb up the ladder. I believe in what I can achieve, which is to give my best in whatever I do. And I want to do more.

So wake me up when the year is over. Not to mention, private.sg is good enough to let me stay in gov.sg for the aws. Having something is better than nothing.

The Morning Thoughts

It's good to reach office early in the morning when there are no one around. Not that I want to reach office that early, it's because I want to avoid that money sucking erp gantry that stands between my office and my house. $4 at prime time. Not that it's a lot of money, but summing up for the whole month, it's still quite substantial.

Now that I have a dog at home, I no longer need to depend on an alarm clock. My dog is that smart till the extent that once he hear my alarm sounding off and I am still not up, he will just bark, bark and bark till I wake up. Once I am up, I have to perform the 5 min "play with him" ritual. Perhaps that's the main reason why he is waiting for the alarm to sound off. The alert that I am ready to play with him again. He is very popular among the kids too. And it's very obvious that he loves to play with kids. Whenever there are kids around, you can see that desire in him that he wants to go out and play with them. Even my cousin Mei mei is his best friend now. And fuji is also her best friend. My cousin's request for the reward for doing well in her exam: Anything that has dogs' pictures on it. Sweet.

Work is getting mundane as well. Forever fighting the battle that take very long to win or even impossible to win because people constantly avoid doing their work; End result: You do it for them. I guess this is the distinct culture in gov.sg. Meritocracy is grey and promotion prospect depends on your time spent here even though you suck at your work. Sometimes, life is just so disgusting seeing incompetent people trying their means to get promoted to a competent position; even when everyone can see what's up their sleeves. The thought of mismanaged by someone whom you feel you are 100times smarter than just ain't good. I am never going to get my career aspiration dampened by these people. Waiting for my confirmation and once Jan is here, and there I will go. private.sg.

QOTD: "We are what we believe we are." And I believe I can achieve more.

The long hiatus

The long hiatus...

Busy with school, life, work... and the constant worry of getting fat..

The true meaning of life. the question that will always bug me..

we will get there... sooner or later..

Quote of the day

" When life knocks you down, try to land on your back. Because if you can look up, you can get up. Let your reason get you back up."

A firm believer of "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger".

Whenever I say this, i always recall the gruelling tekaning session during NS. That was really the darkest period of my life. The tot of leaving behind my loved ones, stuck in a camp with the supposedly crazy commandos trainers and not forgetting the fair and chubby us fresh from the college.

I swear they really whacked the shit out of me. 80kg at enlistment to 65kg 2 months later. A trainer who was always running behind us shouting ,"Don't let me catch you.. if i catch you, you will be dead. I will make sure you get confined." Needless to say, I was sure they gave us some slack. How was it possible for a commando trainer who could run less than 9mins for 2.4km not to be able to catch up with a slighly overweight trainee who was wearing his No.4 uniform loaded with his SBO filled up with 8 sand cans? I am sure anyone would be able to catch up with me.

Anyway, it didn't kill me.... it make me stronger... literally... and physically.

Tin

Pearl of the Oriental

As usual, pictures tell a thousand words.. And I have a lot of pictures (not sure whether there are a thousand pictures.. thanks to snapshot friendly audrey lee)

Just chose 10 out of the thousands...

The resolution

The resolution... the summer break resolution.

As what I always did during my uni days, the vacations were always my "train-to-be-very-fit-period-so-that-i-have-buffer-during-semester" training regime.

Finally, the semester has come to an end, though I only took 2 modules this sem. But to juggle between work and sch is not easy. Nowadays, work always take a higher priority over sch, unlike in the uni days. I am so glad that there is no 1st class masters etc. Just a B grade would suffice. I hope i get that though, considering the futile effort throughout the whole semester.

TRAIN TRAIN TrAIN. SWIM, RUN AND GYM! I need to get back my 6 packs! Go away i-ta-li.

The medieval Italy

1 more week to the end of exams! ARGH. Welcome me, Oriental Hongkong!

Human dog

I am sure he is a human.. He behaves like one!

Singapore is where i call home

I MISS SINGAPORE! I had enough of parmesan cheese and lambrusco!

Another 12 hrs of flight. I hate.

The frantic rush

The frantic rush to book air tickets, to ram myself up in terms of project knowledge, to prepare the neccessary logistic and to manage the time with my sch.. all because I am going Italy this sat.. sweet.

The first time I will be seeing snow; western snow. I heard from my friend that western snow is nicer than asian snow. I wonder why. Does it even make sense in the first place? Asian snow more yellow and western snow more white? Beats me. Though the visual will be great, I am only afraid that I can't take the cold. Me is not really an aircon person. I still remembered I was shivering when the temp was about 15 deg in Japan. So this time round, I am prepared with winter clothings, Benard's winter clothings (Thanks Bro).

Italy. The city of Mafia. I heard pick pocketting is rampant there as well. I remembered Wen xing saying Italy is like the M_l_ysi_ of Europe. Safety and cleanliness wise. I have to verify that when I am there next week. The best of all, Italy is the city of bags... and I really mean it. Prada, Gucci etc. I already have a bag shopping list from colleagues. So pls don't ask me abt it anymore cos I only have that amt of credit card with that amt of credit limit. :) haha

I guess that's the perk of getting to work in my company. Always having the opportunity to travel.

Anyway, IT show was good. Happy with my purchase. Acer Aspire 1410. Bye to my Toshiba Tecra since Uni. A small and portable laptop to travel around with; be it for work, travel or sch. Happy. At least now my ' works. ' ' ' ' ' ' ' I think for my toshiba's heyboard, only 30 out of, say 50 keys are working now.

Italy till end Mar. HK in End Apr, Germany in Mid May, Phuket in end July, Looking forward, but everything can only start after my exam in 1 mth's time.

Tin

Bye Sunny, Hi Latio

I hate sunny.. Nissan Sunny.. It sucks..

Nissan Latio highly recommended. Economic, reliable, pretty...

Now I have half a car new. The front is old, the back is new.

Even my front seats have to be changed because of the impact which caused the metal frame within the seat to buckle. $720 for one seat. I am so glad I decided to go back today to sound off. $1440 additional to that driver. :)

And I am off from ICT! wheeee... but work starts tomorrow... boooo..

Endurance and discipline

It's during time like this, rushing project till don't know what time, that I start wondering to myself... is a masters really that useful?

Not to mention that I have to report in camp tomorrow morning by 7.30am. My last ICT. Once I am done with this year, I will be officially be placed in Mindef Reserve! Oh my God.. 3 days of ICT next for me to do a stand down parade where I will wear my red beret and do a slow march pass off the parade square to signify that I am permanently off from National Service~

But I will miss my buddies.

Marching into the Year of Tiger

As what people usually do at the start of the year, I did make my resolutions; in the hope that I can accomplish them, at least a few i hope.

After a hiatus from school for about 2 years, going back to school did bring back some familiar memories from my close to 16years of studies. It would have been better if NUS didn't change that much. Not to find the Wellness centre at its usual location at YIH wasn't that great a feeling; luckily, I was thick skinnned enough to approach a student who looked like he was from secondary sch. Perhaps back during Uni days, I do look that young before. At least for now, what I hope to do for sch, would be to do well for studies. To do the best in whatever I am in right now. Not to just get a minimum passing grade (Masters doesn't have classes of honours though) but to get more than an average score, but juggling time between work, loved ones and personal time isn't easy.

The normal aspiration for work: Promotion, pay rise etc. For myself, I just hope to get opportunities for better exposures and get to learn from the best in the trade. Learning is paramount as I believe with interest, tangible/ intangible benefits will then follow.

In the prime time of my life, striving for a good career and trying out new things are the first in my to do list. However, this doesn't negate the fact that family, loved one and my friends still play a very important pary in life. I am so glad that while I am rushing from work to sch and then going home from school, I know there are people who are always behind me giving the support which I need. Time. My dire need. Time management is what I aim to better in.

Nevertheless, this year is supposed to be a VERY good year for people born in the year of pig. When I say very good, it meant real good. All the fortune tellers all said that. Job progression, Romance, health, family... U name it, pigs, i mean people in the year of pig, are going good in it.

But... before good fortunes bestow on us... a mishap got to happen to me...

10K worth of repairs and 2 weeks of inconvenience. I am going to claim whatever I can from that driver's insurance.

Mr Fuji

Not forgetting he likes to bite my socks (though not the nicest thing to chew) and running away when i tries to get it back... chewing the newspaper in the pee tray and licking your whole face when you are back from work... even my mom is starting to like his presence (cos she was the impedance to us getting fuji)

All in all, fuji is a welcomed member into the family... seriously behaving what a little kid will behave and everyone is spoiling him.

Little Spoilt Brat

Never did I know a puppy behaves like a little kid.

And now I am becoming like a parent, disciplining the spoilt little brat.

"NO! Cannot Bite"

"NO! Don't urine there!"

"Ouch! Stop biting me"

How long more does it take before he can be toilet trained?

Malaysia......... Truly Asia

A sat in Malaysia with Audrey and her colleagues. Not too many people. Just the 5 of us cos the other 5 threw stunts at the last min. hahaa.. Sometimes I just wonder where is the most basic responsibility in a person.

Anyway We had fun. Go karting at a place which I don't recall how I reached, massaging at a parlour where my male masseur was constantly taking a peep at whichever gals who came in and lastly, a malaysia trip is never complete without a zi char dinner.

Frankly speaking, I was quite scared when I was running through his fur.

The unglam before the action. Because the dirty helmets stink, everyone was given a disposable shower cap.

Call me Justin Schumacher.

Seriously I tot I was quite good. First few laps were slow because as a frequent driver, I actually tend to slow down at every corners. It was those people without license who drove without even tapping the brakes.

The RM3 bucks Fruit Juice. Cheap Ah~

A satisfied Tin. RM200 for dinner. Less than 20 Sing dollar per person. Cheap ah~

7 Jan 2010

Like I always tell myself, education is never cheap.

Clearing my 20K of undergrad fees soon. Another 6K of graduate fees coming.

But all for a cause, upgrading myself.