Once again, it is the Chinese New Year. On Saturday, my family went to have reunion dinner with relatives at the Lei Garden Restaurant, the same place that we have been eating at practically every year. Then on Sunday, we went to visit both grandparents' home and we were back home in less than three hours. There was nothing to do anyway since I was not close to any of my cousins & relatives. I was slightly unhappy when my older cousins lectured me on my inabiliy to find a proper job. Never mind, it's just once a year; I remained low profile until it was time to go home. Back home, my brother was sleeping because he had volunteered for guard duty the night before; once again, he has successfully skipped Chinese New Year visits.
Back home, I am overwhelmed with boredom again, just like any other year of Chinese New Year celebrations. As always, only the cinemas and restaurants are opened so the choice of entertainment is pretty limited. I hope I will be able to find things to do during this period.
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Friday, January 27, 2006
My Turn to Say It: SingNet Sucks
Once again, I am tormented by the fact that I am using SingNet. I bought Bleach DS recently (my 2nd wifi-enabled DS game) and have been playing it as though it had become a part of my body. It's a totally awesome game (possibly the best fighting game I've ever played on a handheld) that compelled me to give up my 'lurker' ways at the GameFAQs boards and started actively participating in their discussions. I actually got pretty close to some of them until they started arranging online games. It was when it dawned on me that I can't join them. Being left out hurts. I was nothing more than a screen name on a message board.
SingNet has been blocking Nintendo Wifi for months and, despite so many complaints from users, nothing has been done. The owner of the blog entitled "Deep Thoughts of a Singaporean Critic" actually spearheaded the wave of complaints against SingNet but it looks like he has failed.
I was desperate to play the game online. By some miracle, I managed to play a few games when I stuck my NDS out the window one morning and piggybacked on some guy's wireless before it disappeared. Then today, I went to AMK early to try and leech off the usual Belkin router but the owner had become clever and found ways to deny access to outsiders. It was a wasted trip. In a final act of desperation, I bought the Datel Wifi Max home to try out. I crossed my fingers and whispered a silent prayer but SingNet was too evil to let me get online. No words can describe my frustration.
If anyone has wireless at home and is not using SingNet, please let me know. I promise to behave.
SingNet has been blocking Nintendo Wifi for months and, despite so many complaints from users, nothing has been done. The owner of the blog entitled "Deep Thoughts of a Singaporean Critic" actually spearheaded the wave of complaints against SingNet but it looks like he has failed.
I was desperate to play the game online. By some miracle, I managed to play a few games when I stuck my NDS out the window one morning and piggybacked on some guy's wireless before it disappeared. Then today, I went to AMK early to try and leech off the usual Belkin router but the owner had become clever and found ways to deny access to outsiders. It was a wasted trip. In a final act of desperation, I bought the Datel Wifi Max home to try out. I crossed my fingers and whispered a silent prayer but SingNet was too evil to let me get online. No words can describe my frustration.
If anyone has wireless at home and is not using SingNet, please let me know. I promise to behave.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Ouch, Swollen Face
One of the wires on my braces have broken off earlier this week, leaving an exposed sharp end that constantly stabs the inside of my cheek. It is painful when I try to talk or eat. I tried to cut off the sharp end using nail clippers and scissors but it doesn't work (Now I feel silly trying that cos' the metal is supposed to be hard enough to straighten teeth~).
Oh, well, I can't do anything about it. At the worst, I thought I will get a ulcer. I was wrong, though, cos' for some strange reason, the right half of my face was swollen when I woke up on Tuesday. I couldn't think of any other cause for it other than the broken wire, but I don't see how it could give me a swollen right eye, a bulging right cheek and a red nose (Has it got to do with nerves/veins inter-connected to each other or something? Eek.)
I immediately scheduled an appointment with the dentist for Tuesday, but he kept postponing. The final date is set on Thursday and he promised no more changes. It was pretty awkward awkward when I went to AMK on Tuesday. I wonder if anyone noticed that I was speaking improperly as if the right half of my face was paralyzed due to all the swelling.
Anyway, I finally decided to do something that I should've done earlier and that is to stuff some cotton into my mouth to cover the wire. Stupid me. But after Thursday, everything will be normal again; just in time for the Chinese New Year (Though I could've just leave things the way they are and use that as an excuse to not attend reunion dinner).
Oh, well, I can't do anything about it. At the worst, I thought I will get a ulcer. I was wrong, though, cos' for some strange reason, the right half of my face was swollen when I woke up on Tuesday. I couldn't think of any other cause for it other than the broken wire, but I don't see how it could give me a swollen right eye, a bulging right cheek and a red nose (Has it got to do with nerves/veins inter-connected to each other or something? Eek.)
I immediately scheduled an appointment with the dentist for Tuesday, but he kept postponing. The final date is set on Thursday and he promised no more changes. It was pretty awkward awkward when I went to AMK on Tuesday. I wonder if anyone noticed that I was speaking improperly as if the right half of my face was paralyzed due to all the swelling.
Anyway, I finally decided to do something that I should've done earlier and that is to stuff some cotton into my mouth to cover the wire. Stupid me. But after Thursday, everything will be normal again; just in time for the Chinese New Year (Though I could've just leave things the way they are and use that as an excuse to not attend reunion dinner).
Half Month's Pay
It has been quite a slack month for me. I recently received my half-month's salary for January (since I've not been doing much and cos' of all the holidays this month). It looks like my boss, Mr. Sunny, took a hint from my suggestion about paying me based on the amount of work I have done (which is very little). If he had given me a typical full month's salary, I would have been insulted.
I had always pictured myself celebrating when I receive my first pay check, but this is not that 'moment' I have hoped for because I did not sweat blood and tears to earn my keep. My conscience did not allow me to reward myself without a challenge, so that means no PSP for me until I get some real work done in the months to come (that is, if I am still working there). In the meantime, the money is going into my bank account until my guilt wears off.
I had always pictured myself celebrating when I receive my first pay check, but this is not that 'moment' I have hoped for because I did not sweat blood and tears to earn my keep. My conscience did not allow me to reward myself without a challenge, so that means no PSP for me until I get some real work done in the months to come (that is, if I am still working there). In the meantime, the money is going into my bank account until my guilt wears off.
Friday, January 20, 2006
Birthday Gift for Mum
My mother's birthday was on Saturday so I thought I'd buy her something. This would be the first time ever that I am getting her a birthday gift because my father reminded me about it the week before. Normally, I would just treat it like any other day, but this time, I was perfectly aware of it so it'd seem wrong to ignore her birthday.
I started thinking of what I could get for her. My mother spends quite a lot on branded goods, so ladies stuff like handbags, clothing and jewellery would not be a good idea since I have no idea what her taste is. Then I thought of buying a cake but it would be so troublesome to carry it around on Saturday while I am at AMK and it might not be fresh when I take it home. Then there are those simple little desktop ornaments and trinkets that one could buy from gift shops but I dislike them because they are novelties that serve no purpose other than to collect dust. I even thought of asking my brother if he wanted to set up a surprise family dinner or something but it'd be a big hassle since he is in the army.
I was thinking about this when Brainy was on MSN so I asked him for suggestions. He recommended a present that could be used everyday. I wasn't really sure what he was getting at until he mentioned personal items like mugs and so on. The moment he said a mug, I was reminded of 'Hermes teacups'. hehe. But a mug was an excellent idea. It was a simple gift, and despite being a giftshop-type item, it would not collect dust (unless the person ends up using it to hold stationery on their work desk). Thanks to Brainy, I think I've found a suitable gift.
On Friday, I made a trip to the gift shop at White Sands mall. I had no idea what kind of mug design I was looking for but I was most pleasantly surprised when I saw a range of mugs with selected English names printed on them. There was a list next to the shelf that showed all the available names. (I browsed through it to see if they had my name available but all they had were 'Calvin' and 'Kevin'. I'm a freak!) I found the cup with my mother's name on it and purchased it. There are a few paragraphs of poetry/horoscope/fortune/whatever it is printed on the back of the mug, too. It's pretty neat.
(Lookie, a Metagame.Com mousepad. And there's Rick Jones hiding in the blue box.)
I gave the present to my mother on Saturday and she was rather delighted. Wee. She said she would've forgotten about her own birthday if my father had not reminded her, too.
I started thinking of what I could get for her. My mother spends quite a lot on branded goods, so ladies stuff like handbags, clothing and jewellery would not be a good idea since I have no idea what her taste is. Then I thought of buying a cake but it would be so troublesome to carry it around on Saturday while I am at AMK and it might not be fresh when I take it home. Then there are those simple little desktop ornaments and trinkets that one could buy from gift shops but I dislike them because they are novelties that serve no purpose other than to collect dust. I even thought of asking my brother if he wanted to set up a surprise family dinner or something but it'd be a big hassle since he is in the army.
I was thinking about this when Brainy was on MSN so I asked him for suggestions. He recommended a present that could be used everyday. I wasn't really sure what he was getting at until he mentioned personal items like mugs and so on. The moment he said a mug, I was reminded of 'Hermes teacups'. hehe. But a mug was an excellent idea. It was a simple gift, and despite being a giftshop-type item, it would not collect dust (unless the person ends up using it to hold stationery on their work desk). Thanks to Brainy, I think I've found a suitable gift.
On Friday, I made a trip to the gift shop at White Sands mall. I had no idea what kind of mug design I was looking for but I was most pleasantly surprised when I saw a range of mugs with selected English names printed on them. There was a list next to the shelf that showed all the available names. (I browsed through it to see if they had my name available but all they had were 'Calvin' and 'Kevin'. I'm a freak!) I found the cup with my mother's name on it and purchased it. There are a few paragraphs of poetry/horoscope/fortune/whatever it is printed on the back of the mug, too. It's pretty neat.
(Lookie, a Metagame.Com mousepad. And there's Rick Jones hiding in the blue box.)
I gave the present to my mother on Saturday and she was rather delighted. Wee. She said she would've forgotten about her own birthday if my father had not reminded her, too.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Army Matters for 2006 :(
Lalala. I got some time at home so I am able to blog.
I woke up and then went to type out stuff for work. Basically, I am just inputting items & figures into Excel for a price list (I wonder if this is what 'data entry' is). I tried to learn Excel even though I was more used to preparing tables in MS Word.
I also got a mail today. I was hoping it was my overseas card trade but it is from the army. It is a notice to tell me that my unit is having mobilization manning from 7th February to 14th February. I guess that means I might be missing the X-Men Sneak Preview. This was just like the other time when I had to leave the Avengers Sneak Preview before it even started. *sigh* :(
But that's not all. I was being 'arrowed' to be the detachment I/C, meaning I have to make phonecalls to all the people in my area to let them know about the mobilization and also verify their address and contact. Argh, I know I have done this before during my 2-years service, but I didn't think they'd ask NS men to do it. Who the heck has time to call up 23 people? I mean, I do, but not that I want to, of course. Grrr.
Speaking of army matters, this is going to be a busy year for me. After this mobilization in February, I have IPPT in March and my first reservist ICT in April/May. I hope I can withstand all these monstrous ordeals.
I woke up and then went to type out stuff for work. Basically, I am just inputting items & figures into Excel for a price list (I wonder if this is what 'data entry' is). I tried to learn Excel even though I was more used to preparing tables in MS Word.
I also got a mail today. I was hoping it was my overseas card trade but it is from the army. It is a notice to tell me that my unit is having mobilization manning from 7th February to 14th February. I guess that means I might be missing the X-Men Sneak Preview. This was just like the other time when I had to leave the Avengers Sneak Preview before it even started. *sigh* :(
But that's not all. I was being 'arrowed' to be the detachment I/C, meaning I have to make phonecalls to all the people in my area to let them know about the mobilization and also verify their address and contact. Argh, I know I have done this before during my 2-years service, but I didn't think they'd ask NS men to do it. Who the heck has time to call up 23 people? I mean, I do, but not that I want to, of course. Grrr.
Speaking of army matters, this is going to be a busy year for me. After this mobilization in February, I have IPPT in March and my first reservist ICT in April/May. I hope I can withstand all these monstrous ordeals.
Monday, January 16, 2006
Funny Phone Call
I received a strange phonecall on my handphone today. hehe. It went something like this:
Lady: Good afternoon. I am calling to let you know that you have won a prize in a lucky draw.
Me: Oh, okay. *Surprised*
Lady: It was a lucky draw form that you filled up and dropped off at the supermarket. Remember?
Me: Er, not really. *I haven't stepped into a supermarket in a loooong time.*
Lady: I am pleased to inform you that you have won a $150 voucher to spend at XXX store, a YYY-brand watch and a trip for two to Thailand courtesy of ZZZ travel agency.
Me: Oh, wow. *I've never won a lucky draw in my life before...*
Lady: I understand that you are working. Could you come by to Delphi Orchard tomorrow after office hours to pick up your prize?
Me: Well, yes, I can. *Feeling suspicious now; wonders if there are any strings attached.*
Lady: When you pick up your prize, I would like to discuss with you about ZZZ travel agency. It is a newly set-up company and I would like to run you through with some of their services and benefits. It is... blah, blah, blah...
Me: (*Aha, so there was something to it.*)
Lady: May I know your gross salary? Is it below or above 2k?
Me: Er, I am just part time.
Lady: I see. You sound pretty young for your age, Sir.
Me: (*Question marks appear*)
Lady: I just need to confirm your particulars. Your full name is Mr. Richard Koo...
Me: Er, sorry, but I am not Richard Koo.
Lady: Hmm. Let me check. Your number is xxxx3114?
Me: Er, no. It's xxxx-TWO-114.
Lady: Oh, no. Sorry about that. *hangs up*
Me: (*My voucher! My watch! My free holiday!*) T_T
Lady: Good afternoon. I am calling to let you know that you have won a prize in a lucky draw.
Me: Oh, okay. *Surprised*
Lady: It was a lucky draw form that you filled up and dropped off at the supermarket. Remember?
Me: Er, not really. *I haven't stepped into a supermarket in a loooong time.*
Lady: I am pleased to inform you that you have won a $150 voucher to spend at XXX store, a YYY-brand watch and a trip for two to Thailand courtesy of ZZZ travel agency.
Me: Oh, wow. *I've never won a lucky draw in my life before...*
Lady: I understand that you are working. Could you come by to Delphi Orchard tomorrow after office hours to pick up your prize?
Me: Well, yes, I can. *Feeling suspicious now; wonders if there are any strings attached.*
Lady: When you pick up your prize, I would like to discuss with you about ZZZ travel agency. It is a newly set-up company and I would like to run you through with some of their services and benefits. It is... blah, blah, blah...
Me: (*Aha, so there was something to it.*)
Lady: May I know your gross salary? Is it below or above 2k?
Me: Er, I am just part time.
Lady: I see. You sound pretty young for your age, Sir.
Me: (*Question marks appear*)
Lady: I just need to confirm your particulars. Your full name is Mr. Richard Koo...
Me: Er, sorry, but I am not Richard Koo.
Lady: Hmm. Let me check. Your number is xxxx3114?
Me: Er, no. It's xxxx-TWO-114.
Lady: Oh, no. Sorry about that. *hangs up*
Me: (*My voucher! My watch! My free holiday!*) T_T
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Saturday at Serene
I went to Serene Centre today to play in a ComicsMart tournament. I did not know how to get there since it wasn't near any MRT station so I decided to just take a cab. At first, the driver was unfamiliar with the place until he asked around and realized that he knew it as 'the McDonald's at Farrer Road'. I normally wouldn't want to travel so far but the thought of the voucher keeps me going.
I arrived at the place on time and met up with Jess and Jeffrey. Later on, Yap Jing Yang and Mark showed up, followed by Orchi and Himura. Leck Koon sooned arrived and started the tournament with the 7 of us. Mango arrived late to be the 8th player and Brainy dropped by towards the end. That's nice. Short and sweet. I was worried that there would be a big crowd at Serene. I scored 1-3 which was quite horrible. I have no excuse for my loss other than the fact that it was my own fault for making very terrible mulligan choices that probably costed me the game.
After that, we all decided to go to a card shop in Yishun to check it out (it was called "Buy 2 Hand" or something). This was actually the 2nd time I've been there but I am so forgetful that it felt as if I was never there before. The shopkeeper's album was quite impressive since it contained many Marvel/DC Origins cards (it's a rare sight to see a shop's album with so many Savage Beatdowns in it). Everyone started buying tons of cards to foil their decks. I normally don't care for foils since I am in no hurry to foil my deck and would only get the foils if they were cheap. But seeing everyone buying tons of foils (and the fact that Brainy seemed to be egging everyone to compete with his spending) made me didn't feel like going home empty-handed, so I bought one foil rare (which was over-priced; stupid me) and a couple of foil commons/uncommons. The shopkeeper misled me into thinking the c/uc's would be cheap (saying he'd give big discounts and all that), but when it came to payment time, he charged $1-$1.50 per c/uc which was freakin' ridiculous. I would've just dumped everything back, but it would be embarassing to do so. My face turned black when I saw my total being calculated. It annoyed me greatly. I regretted buying from that shop. It ruined my day. F**k!!!
After that, we went straight to AMK. We had dinner and then played cards at night as the rest of the guys dropped by. Everyone's just busy getting ready for Sunday's PCQ. It was quite an interesting day. Let's see if I can wake up on time and not miss the PCQ again.
I arrived at the place on time and met up with Jess and Jeffrey. Later on, Yap Jing Yang and Mark showed up, followed by Orchi and Himura. Leck Koon sooned arrived and started the tournament with the 7 of us. Mango arrived late to be the 8th player and Brainy dropped by towards the end. That's nice. Short and sweet. I was worried that there would be a big crowd at Serene. I scored 1-3 which was quite horrible. I have no excuse for my loss other than the fact that it was my own fault for making very terrible mulligan choices that probably costed me the game.
After that, we all decided to go to a card shop in Yishun to check it out (it was called "Buy 2 Hand" or something). This was actually the 2nd time I've been there but I am so forgetful that it felt as if I was never there before. The shopkeeper's album was quite impressive since it contained many Marvel/DC Origins cards (it's a rare sight to see a shop's album with so many Savage Beatdowns in it). Everyone started buying tons of cards to foil their decks. I normally don't care for foils since I am in no hurry to foil my deck and would only get the foils if they were cheap. But seeing everyone buying tons of foils (and the fact that Brainy seemed to be egging everyone to compete with his spending) made me didn't feel like going home empty-handed, so I bought one foil rare (which was over-priced; stupid me) and a couple of foil commons/uncommons. The shopkeeper misled me into thinking the c/uc's would be cheap (saying he'd give big discounts and all that), but when it came to payment time, he charged $1-$1.50 per c/uc which was freakin' ridiculous. I would've just dumped everything back, but it would be embarassing to do so. My face turned black when I saw my total being calculated. It annoyed me greatly. I regretted buying from that shop. It ruined my day. F**k!!!
After that, we went straight to AMK. We had dinner and then played cards at night as the rest of the guys dropped by. Everyone's just busy getting ready for Sunday's PCQ. It was quite an interesting day. Let's see if I can wake up on time and not miss the PCQ again.
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Bad Days; I Hate M$
You know that your self-worth isn't very high when you quote S$1,200 as your expected salary and the look on the interviewer's face suddenly changes followed by a brief moment of awkward silence. That actually happened to me when I went for the job interview with the secretarial firm. I should've seen it coming since I had a degree in computing and absolutely knew nothing about management or accounting.
And so, on Wednesday, I went back to Grand Link to work. I don't know why. Maybe I was feeling guilty for my outburst. Maybe I was getting desperate for a job. Or maybe it felt good to be wanted (the boss didn't want to let me go). Whichever it was, I couldn't do anything on Wednesday because there was no MS Office yet. I just spent the remainder of the day updating the computer and anti-virus.
Today, I arrived late (the boss said it was okay due to the heavy rain; how nice of him). He had bought the MS Office and Windows XP Pro. I told him that XP Pro was unnecessary since he already had XP Home as his OS. But he said that it was better to use Pro since they were a business. I looked at the $260 price tag on his newly-purchased XP Pro and decided that it was best not to argue. Then things went wrong. The setup decided to loop infinitely (I sat for over an hour as I watched the progress bar go from 0% to 100%, reboot, then repeat... for 5 times... and not realizing it) until I ejected the CD between loops. Then it carried on with the installation and when everything was done, all the drivers for CD drives, graphics card and whatnot could not be detected and everything was running super slow. Oh dear god. I have enough trouble from my laptop at home; please don't let my workplace become like that. Stupid Microsoft products can't even perform a simple upgrade properly.
In the end, they called a technician who would come down to check it out the next day. I had nothing to do cos' there was no PC to work with (again) so I was allowed to go home early. Of course, I made myself useful by taking home a small bit of work to do.
And so, here I am. My days have been very short because of this job. I train myself to sleep at 2 am every night and I play Priston Tale just to pass the time cos' I have nothing to do.
On a side-note, I think I will be taking some night courses. Currently looking for an institution where I can learn accounting (if I get a certificate for it, even better). Looks like the years spent in NUS have been a waste after all.
And so, on Wednesday, I went back to Grand Link to work. I don't know why. Maybe I was feeling guilty for my outburst. Maybe I was getting desperate for a job. Or maybe it felt good to be wanted (the boss didn't want to let me go). Whichever it was, I couldn't do anything on Wednesday because there was no MS Office yet. I just spent the remainder of the day updating the computer and anti-virus.
Today, I arrived late (the boss said it was okay due to the heavy rain; how nice of him). He had bought the MS Office and Windows XP Pro. I told him that XP Pro was unnecessary since he already had XP Home as his OS. But he said that it was better to use Pro since they were a business. I looked at the $260 price tag on his newly-purchased XP Pro and decided that it was best not to argue. Then things went wrong. The setup decided to loop infinitely (I sat for over an hour as I watched the progress bar go from 0% to 100%, reboot, then repeat... for 5 times... and not realizing it) until I ejected the CD between loops. Then it carried on with the installation and when everything was done, all the drivers for CD drives, graphics card and whatnot could not be detected and everything was running super slow. Oh dear god. I have enough trouble from my laptop at home; please don't let my workplace become like that. Stupid Microsoft products can't even perform a simple upgrade properly.
In the end, they called a technician who would come down to check it out the next day. I had nothing to do cos' there was no PC to work with (again) so I was allowed to go home early. Of course, I made myself useful by taking home a small bit of work to do.
And so, here I am. My days have been very short because of this job. I train myself to sleep at 2 am every night and I play Priston Tale just to pass the time cos' I have nothing to do.
On a side-note, I think I will be taking some night courses. Currently looking for an institution where I can learn accounting (if I get a certificate for it, even better). Looks like the years spent in NUS have been a waste after all.
Monday, January 09, 2006
Super Hectic Day; I'm Tired
Today was super-hectic day. I am gonna split it up into acts, much like a play.
Act I: Another Botched-Up Job
Today, I went to try out for my first day of the job. Just to recap: My Mum recommended me to work as an admin assistant for one of her friend who started a new office at Grand Link. Just last week, they were renovating the place.
I had trouble waking up since I slept at 5 am again. I had to force myself to wake up and I arrived at Grand Link at around 11:30 am. I knew that the boss was overseas (my Mum told me the day before) so he had a friend to stand in. I arrived and had a talk with the guy. He told me that he had nothing for me to do. He said the boss left me some paperwork to type out but I could leave it till he got back. I wasn't going to just spend the whole day idling so I'll probably do it later on. First, some Internet surfing. I powered up the thing and it begun downloading Windows and anti-virus updates. Wow, it is really a new computer just like the whole place. I tried to surf the net but it couldn't detect any connection. I kept on tinkering around, trying to figure out what's wrong, then the guy came and turned on the ADSL modem for me. Stupid me.
Soon, it was lunch time. I went to this new restaurant at Grand Link called 'The Relak Corner'. It serves Pizza Hut-style pizzas and oven-baked rice at affordable prices (mostly $5 & below). I tried the baked rice and it burnt my tongue (in fact, my tongue still hurts now) but it tasted great and I was very, very full.
After that, I went back into the office. I surfed around, updated the computer, went to VSRealms forums to settle a trade deal, got on Web Messenger and disturbed whoever I could find with my lame makeshift penguin emoticons of doom <(*V*)>. After a couple hours of surfing, I felt that I had better start on some serious work. I took out the papers and wanted to start but... there was no Microsoft Office! Damn, talk about brand new. I asked the guy about it but he wasn't IT-inclined so he had no idea what I was talking about. In the end, I spent the rest of the day idling-idling-idling in front of the computer while people walked in and out of the meeting room. My Mum came around evening time; it was then I learnt she was sharing this office space with her friend. When it was around 5 pm, she told me I could leave and gave me a ride home.
During the journey, I was burning furious. Really @#$% angry since this was not the first time a job offered by a relative was screwed up. I said a lot of mean things. I accused my Mum of babying me by fixing me up with such a miserable excuse for a "job" which is an insult to my intelligence and abilities. It was a complete waste of time. I just poured out everything that was wrong about today. She tried to reason with me and said things like, "the boss is away", "it is a new business, it takes some time before it gets busy" and other stuff, but I was stubborn and refused to let any of that into my head. I just cut her off with a firm, "I am not going back there to work again." I still wasn't sure if I was right to vent my anger or whether I was too impatient and overly demanding. Perhaps I was acting like a spoilt brat and should've just taken the job for what it is.
When we got home, my Mum helped fix me up with another job. To cut the longer story short, I now have a job interview with a secretarial firm on Wednesday. I felt somewhat apologetic; perhaps I had gone too far today.
Act II: Hair Salon (Don't worry; this section is real short)
By then, it was 5:45 pm already. I remembered about the Hobby League at ComicsMart but I need to cut my messy hair now since tomorrow was a public holiday. There was a long queue at the nearby barber so I had no choice but to go to the a hair salon. It was so awkward; I felt that I was so out of place since most of the staff and customers were females. But I was desperate. I paid for a haircut and wash.
The haircut was nothing special, but then the hairstylist started massaging my head and shoulders as she rubbed the shampoo on my head. I felt like I was in heaven as I felt my muscles relaxed and the blood circulating around my head. It was a pretty awesome way to take a break from the intensity that just happened and also my lack of sleep.
All that bliss would've lasted longer (*sniff*) but I apologized and cut the thing short or else I'd be very, very late to reach ComicsMart.
*Pant, pant. It has been a long day. Even I feel tired as I type/read this. Bear with me as I go into the next part of the day.*
Act III: VS @ ComicsMart
I arrived at Raffles City at around 7 pm. I was eager to continue my weekly battle against Jeffrey and Jess cos' the three of us were all vying for the ComicsMart voucher after since we knew they gave it out monthly. (*Note: At the end of each month, those who 'perform well' can win a $30 voucher. 'Perform well' = participate a lot, since you also get points when you lose.) To my surprise (or actually, my horror), there were 11 people instead of the usual 4-6 when I arrived. The PCQ people were there (like Oreo and Danny) and it seemed that my forum post had alerted more people to come. Most of the VS players whom I knew were there and some even dropped by unexpectedly. So much for a typical peaceful evening Hobby League. Nooo~ my voucher. *cries*
Ryan remarked, "If it's 5-round Swiss, I don't think I feel like playing." I kinda agree with him since I've had quite a long day. Oh, well. I was in it for the voucher so I had to play. We played all the way till 10 pm and I was very, very delighted about my performance. I scored 4-1 which kinda meets the goal I've set for myself every week. It kinda made my day.
After that, some of us went to eat at SubWay till it closed before going home. I don't know if I was tired or plain just wanted to cause trouble. I gave the SubWay people trouble by being indecisive about my order and talking nonsence ("Can I have 2 chips instead of just 1?").
Oh, well, that's my day. I am so tired; perhaps I can sleep normally tonight.
Act I: Another Botched-Up Job
Today, I went to try out for my first day of the job. Just to recap: My Mum recommended me to work as an admin assistant for one of her friend who started a new office at Grand Link. Just last week, they were renovating the place.
I had trouble waking up since I slept at 5 am again. I had to force myself to wake up and I arrived at Grand Link at around 11:30 am. I knew that the boss was overseas (my Mum told me the day before) so he had a friend to stand in. I arrived and had a talk with the guy. He told me that he had nothing for me to do. He said the boss left me some paperwork to type out but I could leave it till he got back. I wasn't going to just spend the whole day idling so I'll probably do it later on. First, some Internet surfing. I powered up the thing and it begun downloading Windows and anti-virus updates. Wow, it is really a new computer just like the whole place. I tried to surf the net but it couldn't detect any connection. I kept on tinkering around, trying to figure out what's wrong, then the guy came and turned on the ADSL modem for me. Stupid me.
Soon, it was lunch time. I went to this new restaurant at Grand Link called 'The Relak Corner'. It serves Pizza Hut-style pizzas and oven-baked rice at affordable prices (mostly $5 & below). I tried the baked rice and it burnt my tongue (in fact, my tongue still hurts now) but it tasted great and I was very, very full.
After that, I went back into the office. I surfed around, updated the computer, went to VSRealms forums to settle a trade deal, got on Web Messenger and disturbed whoever I could find with my lame makeshift penguin emoticons of doom <(*V*)>. After a couple hours of surfing, I felt that I had better start on some serious work. I took out the papers and wanted to start but... there was no Microsoft Office! Damn, talk about brand new. I asked the guy about it but he wasn't IT-inclined so he had no idea what I was talking about. In the end, I spent the rest of the day idling-idling-idling in front of the computer while people walked in and out of the meeting room. My Mum came around evening time; it was then I learnt she was sharing this office space with her friend. When it was around 5 pm, she told me I could leave and gave me a ride home.
During the journey, I was burning furious. Really @#$% angry since this was not the first time a job offered by a relative was screwed up. I said a lot of mean things. I accused my Mum of babying me by fixing me up with such a miserable excuse for a "job" which is an insult to my intelligence and abilities. It was a complete waste of time. I just poured out everything that was wrong about today. She tried to reason with me and said things like, "the boss is away", "it is a new business, it takes some time before it gets busy" and other stuff, but I was stubborn and refused to let any of that into my head. I just cut her off with a firm, "I am not going back there to work again." I still wasn't sure if I was right to vent my anger or whether I was too impatient and overly demanding. Perhaps I was acting like a spoilt brat and should've just taken the job for what it is.
When we got home, my Mum helped fix me up with another job. To cut the longer story short, I now have a job interview with a secretarial firm on Wednesday. I felt somewhat apologetic; perhaps I had gone too far today.
Act II: Hair Salon (Don't worry; this section is real short)
By then, it was 5:45 pm already. I remembered about the Hobby League at ComicsMart but I need to cut my messy hair now since tomorrow was a public holiday. There was a long queue at the nearby barber so I had no choice but to go to the a hair salon. It was so awkward; I felt that I was so out of place since most of the staff and customers were females. But I was desperate. I paid for a haircut and wash.
The haircut was nothing special, but then the hairstylist started massaging my head and shoulders as she rubbed the shampoo on my head. I felt like I was in heaven as I felt my muscles relaxed and the blood circulating around my head. It was a pretty awesome way to take a break from the intensity that just happened and also my lack of sleep.
All that bliss would've lasted longer (*sniff*) but I apologized and cut the thing short or else I'd be very, very late to reach ComicsMart.
*Pant, pant. It has been a long day. Even I feel tired as I type/read this. Bear with me as I go into the next part of the day.*
Act III: VS @ ComicsMart
I arrived at Raffles City at around 7 pm. I was eager to continue my weekly battle against Jeffrey and Jess cos' the three of us were all vying for the ComicsMart voucher after since we knew they gave it out monthly. (*Note: At the end of each month, those who 'perform well' can win a $30 voucher. 'Perform well' = participate a lot, since you also get points when you lose.) To my surprise (or actually, my horror), there were 11 people instead of the usual 4-6 when I arrived. The PCQ people were there (like Oreo and Danny) and it seemed that my forum post had alerted more people to come. Most of the VS players whom I knew were there and some even dropped by unexpectedly. So much for a typical peaceful evening Hobby League. Nooo~ my voucher. *cries*
Ryan remarked, "If it's 5-round Swiss, I don't think I feel like playing." I kinda agree with him since I've had quite a long day. Oh, well. I was in it for the voucher so I had to play. We played all the way till 10 pm and I was very, very delighted about my performance. I scored 4-1 which kinda meets the goal I've set for myself every week. It kinda made my day.
After that, some of us went to eat at SubWay till it closed before going home. I don't know if I was tired or plain just wanted to cause trouble. I gave the SubWay people trouble by being indecisive about my order and talking nonsence ("Can I have 2 chips instead of just 1?").
Oh, well, that's my day. I am so tired; perhaps I can sleep normally tonight.
Saturday, January 07, 2006
New Year Resolution
It's that time of the year again when we make our New Year's resolutions. Here are five in no particular order.
- Get a job. This one's pretty obvious. Can't keep on wasting away at home.
- Try not to giggle too much and make unnecessary hand gestures. Cos' it is effeminate and I don't want people to think I'm gay. I really should act my age.
- Try to dress better. Don't want to look like a geek forever cos' people just don't like to hang out with geeks. Kinda difficult to do since I don't shop for trendy clothes and my fashion are so last century. I need a makeover like the Densha Otoko.
- Correct my horrendous sleeping habits. Still very difficult. I usually sleep at around 4 am to 7 am. Been living with it for nearly 12 months already. I can now blink my eyes 6 times per second and evoke muscle twitches in various parts of my body 21 times per minute. Involuntarily, of course.
- Improve my overall fitness. I am unfit and growing fatter everyday. And I have IPPT in March and my first reservist in-camp training in May (the 1st of 10 to come). I wanna be fit again. But it's going to be hard. Looks like medication is the way to go for me.
That's about it. I chose five cos' well, five is a nice number. I guess.
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Mid-Week Report & Outing
Quite a number of things have happened recently. Some are rather trivial or insignificant but I'll just blog about them anyway.
- The package that I have sent to Canada for an overseas card trade during Christmas have finally reached the hands of its recipient. That's around 10 days, including the various public holidays. Hurray. That is one good trade reference for me at VSRealms. I now look forward to doing more online VS trades.
- Recently, Priston Tale is having a stat reset event. I remembered how disappointed I was when I missed it last year (my character build is somewhat screwed up). Even though I don't really play PT anymore, I found myself obligated to at least update my character once in a while and keep him as proper as can be. So I guess I'll be playing a bit of PT this month. The problem was that I left my computer to download the client and after it was done yesterday, they released a newer client today. Doh~
- I have been spending most of my time watching the Densha Otoko TV series. It is a great show and I have been impressed, wowed and touched by it. I am near the end so I guess I'll blog more about it when I am done. It is an incredible viewing experience and deserves more than just a one-paragraph mention from me.
- I've managed to win a $10 ComicsMart gift voucher for participating regularly in their VS Hobby League events in the month of December. Jess won $30, though and I am kinda jealous. It would've been me but there was one time they forgot to count my participation. Never mind, I guess I'll just try again next month. I don't want to sound like I am a petty person.
Anyway, speaking of ComicsMart, now it's time for a regular post.
I went to Cineleisure today to play VS at ComicsMart. I met Jeffrey at Somerset first and we went to have our dinner at the nearby food court. We both ordered from the same store which served various kinds of omelette. They didn't have the chicken omelette so I ordered the noodle omelette. Jefrey had the omelette carrot cake. It took nearly ten minutes to cook but when it was ready, I realized that the noodles were wrapped inside the omelette. I am an omelette nut but I was disappointed when the omelette was tasteless and the noodles were ordinary.
We went straight to ComicsMart after that. Along the way, someone tapped our shoulders and we were surprised to see that it was CKTeacher. We were surprised that he was going to ComicsMart, too. He said that the school he was teaching at was just nearby and his car was parked near Cineleisure. How convenient.
We reached ComicsMart at around 7 pm and Jess arrived. Leck Koon was there as usual and when he saw that there were only 3 of us, he remarked that it wasn't enough. In the end, his colleague joined us to make up numbers. We played 3 rounds and everything was over by 9 pm. When it was all over, I was tempted to ask everyone to go to Subway for supper but no one wanted to grab a bite. *sigh*
As we left, there was a Cheers nearby and I remembered that I needed to buy the Priston Tale daily card if I were to start playing again. I approached the cashier but he didn't know what the heck I was asking for. In the end, I just left and on my way out, I saw a Priston Tale poster right next to the doorway. Stupid cashier people.
I took the MRT home but I still wanted my Priston Tale card. I ended up making a stop at Tampines to visit the Cheers there but it was a waste of time as they didn't have it, too. *sigh* Since I was there, I decided to go buy some ice-cream at McDonald's. I tried out their new Flavour Burst cone which was rather huge. It started dripping all over my hand and I almost couldn't finish it. After that, I just went home. Oh, well. That was it for the day.
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