Hooray, Nokia 6210c

I've gotten a new phone recently. It's the Nokia 6210 Classic. I have been wanting to shop for a proper new phone but my mother got this one from her Starhub subcription promotion and didn't plan to use it. So much for wanting to buy my own phone with my own hard-earned salary (I think I wouldn't have known what model to buy anyway).

I learnt from surfing around Hardware Zone that the 6210c is pertty new. I spent the first couple of hours fiddling around with the thing and putting my MP3s in. All I can say is; I am most delighted. I've finally got a 3G phone that can snap non-blurry pictures and play video/music (my PSP just became obsolete). The buttons are a little tiny but it's something that I'll have to get used to. I still have no idea how to configure the Internet settings on it but it's okay.

I'll probably need a new handphone pouch. The thing feels pretty fragile like, as most people say, a candy bar.

The Penguin is Cute No More!

Hello everyone, I will be changing the address of my blog on the 26th of August (Sunday).

The new address will be: http://penguinsnest.blogspot.com/
(Assuming the URL is not taken and the renaming thing works the way I think it does.)

The reason? My current address ("cutepenguin") sounds like it belongs to a female blogger. I named it that way last time because I came up with the address name before the blog's name. The address also sounds pretty common; it's one of those URLs that people can easily stumble across by typing random stuff into their address bars (probably just as random as typing chucknorris.blogspot.com). I don't feel safe that way.

Be sure to update your bookmarks and links! I'll be mentioning the change in my MSN title and sending out e-mail as well so everyone knows where the penguin has moved to.

The Storm is Over (I Think)

I almost thought I would be out of the job this week.

It was fast becoming obvious that my boss had hired me with the intention of making me an insurance agent. All those SCI (Singapore College of Insurance - wow, I never knew such a vile place existed) textbooks she had entrusted me were more than just for casual reading and she had signed me up for their exams in September.

Not wanting to be converted, I approached her on Tuesday to talk things out. I was simply unsuitable for the profession. I said that I would not hold it against her if she didn't want to employ me as just an admin assistant. She told me that she would think it over.

And surprisingly, there I was, carrying on with my job as for normal. I am currently in my 6th week on the job. It looks like the storm is over.

A part of me really wanted a break from it all. Maybe I am very tired of my now mundanely routine lifestyle. Maybe it's just RT biting me and adding to my stress level.

Video-EZY Movie Rental Night

Last Tuesday, I dropped by at White Sand's Video-EZY to browse their movie titles. Usually when I go to rent movies, the reason is either I haven't watched a movie in theatres recently, or I foresee boring nights ahead with nothing to do. (Can you guess which is it this time?)

Video-EZY's rental fees is something that I will never feel comfortable with but I still patronize them because I like the convenience and atmosphere of the store. I browsed around and decided to rent Epic Movie and TMNT on DVD. Normally, I'd just rent VCDs cos' it's cheaper and I don't care for movie extras. But then I saw that the Epic Movie VCD was rated PG while the DVD version was M-18. I like to watch my movies un-butchered, thank you very much.

The movies were on a 3-day loan and I thought I could return them a day late since Thursday was National Day. The guy at the counter told me they were open on public holidauys so I still have to return the movies on time. Oh well.

Oh yes, while I was browsing at Video-EZY, I thought they were playing some WWE match video since I heard a man with a loud voice yelling and people cheering in the background. It was when I heard "This is Spartaaaaaaaaa!" that I looked up and realized what it was. Yup, 300 == WWE. Lots of muscular half-naked men running around. Same thing.

Epic Movie was rather funny & amusing with a rather meaningless ending. I am glad I didn't catch it in the cinemas. TMNT was pretty good but over a little too quick. Definitely check out TMNT.

August is Here!

I moved into the little office room yesterday. Privacy and a nice room at last. hehe.

I am looking forward to the WoW TCG sneak preview on the 12th of August. I haven't touched card games in ages. One of the main reasons is that Ang Mo Kio central has lost its lustre as a card-gaming hangout and I am too lazy to relocate. I'll just leave it at that. At least the local official support for the game is still good. The WoW MMO pretty much takes precedence over anything now but I can't resist the TCG since they are related. Anyhow, my guild has been making good progression, having downed two new bosses (albeit easy ones) in the last raid week. It's a pretty good morale-booster for us all.

Incidentally, my RT also begins this month on the same day as the sneak preview. It's in the late afternoon though, so I can still go in the morning. My RT schedule is pretty weird; Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. At least Tuesdays are WoW maintenance nights so it isn't too bad. I hope I can handle both work and RT without stressing myself out

No MSN Allowed!

The first half of the week has been quiet. My boss has been away attending to personal matters. I tried to use MSN but Geraldine warned me to not to. I wonder if all workplaces are like this.

I just realized that our agency is the only one with its own desktop computer sitting out in the open for our life planners to use. Geraldine sits inside the office at ther own table with her own laptop, doing her own stuff. For me, I have been sitting outside in the open and using the desktop where all the other life planners are.

I finished my work early and found some time to surf the net. I felt there was nothing to it (everyone needs a break sometimes). I wasn't sure if it was okay to do so here. Geraldine was surfing the net 'tactically' and it was perfectly okay for me to surf the net for my other jobs.

That was until, later in the day, Geraldine told me someone complained to her that I was playing games.

Playing games? Websites with colourful designs, art and screenshots do not equate to playing games. Meh.

Working Days @ Great Eastern

It has been a week at my new job as an admin assistant at Jasmine & Associates. I was the 'understudy' for the current admin person, Geraldine, who would be leaving at the end of the month. So far, it has been quite a peaceful first week. Geraldine always teaches me a few things then goes on with her work. When I am done, I just wait around for more things to do. The boss, Jasmine was away on course this week and rarely dropped by, so I had the whole place to myself most of the time. It felt very relaxing to have no one watching over your shoulder. I hope it stays like this next week. Overall, the workload is manageable, not too stressful and I still have time to play WoW every night when I get home.

The strange thing is that, up to now, I don't even know my exact salary (aside from a range) since I haven't signed any letter of appointment yet. The boss wasn't around most of the time and I only learnt from Gerlandine on Thursday that they don't practice preparing appointment letters. I guess I will try again next week. Hopefully I can bargain with her next week.

Insurance Agents

I went for a job interview for an admin assistant post on Thursday evening at Great Eastern (Eunos). Yup, it's that insurance company. Through our nearly 2-hour long exchange, the interviewer felt that I was a suitable candidate for the job and invited me for their agency's mid-year function on the following day. I wanted to turn down the offer (I'm not even employed yet!) and just stay at home but she hinted that it might influence her decision to pick me.

And so, despite the fact that I wasn't even hired yet (she mentioned there were two more candidates to interview), I attended their function today at Sentosa. The boss picked up several other colleauges at Tampines and I got a ride from there. There were about 10 agents in their little department. We had lunch at the Cafe Del Mar. The most uninteresting part of the day came when everyone started talking about things I didn't understand during the presentation.

Oh, well, I learnt that I was hired and would start work on Monday. As an admin assistant, of course. Though they did hint that I might be able to convert to a 'Life Planner' in the long run. Sorry, but I don't think I will ever dabble in insurance. Wish me luck on Monday!

Rolling Bomber Special!

Earlier in the week, Miya, being the nice person he is, recommended me for a part-time job near my home. I was pretty much bursting with excitement and looked forward to the interview on Saturday. Unfortunately, I was informed just the night before that I was not needed anymore. It kinda popped my bubble. Oh, well. Back to my regular job-hunting routine next week.

All in all, it has been a pretty typica, run-off-the-mill week for me. I still spend most of my time at home playing WoW and only go out only for meals. August is coming; things will change when I go for my annual RT again. That's very saddening.

Oh yes, Chaosmag showed me this crazy funny video which will always leave an impression on me. It starts off absolutely hilarious but gets somewhat deep towards the end. Have a look at:
"Rolling Bomber Special"

And... it appears that Blogspot is broken at the moment and I cannot input any text into the Title field. Tried it with both my computers and it's like that. Edit: Found out from the help forums that I have to point my cursor at the top-left corner of the Title field.

What Have You Done to My Room!?

I went on a little emo-streak last night when I got home. My mother had move around the furniture in my room without letting me know. She had my bed replaced with a new one (which I was actually okay with), but she emptied my cupboards and packed all my 'junk' in several large boxes. I spent the night wading through boxes to retrieve some of the important stuff that I use everyday (like my video games, trading cards, installation CDs, adaptor, cables, etc). I'd take a photo of my room but the USB cable for my camera is lost among the boxes.

Looks like I have to spend some time these few days to undo the mess. I was so pissed last night I couldn't sleep. Parents have no clue about privacy. The new bed & mattress is awesome, though.

Anyhow, I watched the Transformers movie at Ang Mo Kio with the gang (before all the nastiness above). I was hoping to get seats at the new AMK Hub cinema but tickets were sold out so it was back to old & anicent Jubilee. The movie was far better than I expected. One of the nicest movies I've watched in a long time.

New Layout!

I was playing around with the 'new' Blogspot (it's new to me cos' I don't explore it much) and learnt that it was now customizable via a neat user-friendly interface. And so, I am now playing around to see if I can create something nice & simple out of it. Wee.

Out of Job; Back to Warcraft

It is now 3 weeks after I left my job at SMART taxi. The last few days at SMART had been pretty relaxed for me as I mainly handled simple filing and report-writing duties as part of the handover to the one that was replacing me. Incidentally, fellow colleagues started leaving one by one during those days and after I had left. It somewhat made me feel good that I was abandoning a sinking ship and several others shared my view.

I am back to playing WoW and have reprised my role as main tank for my guild. Our progress have been steadily improving with the recruitment of new raiders. It looked like the days of being stuck with insufficient raid classes is finally over. I would say our progress is pretty good.

I guess I'll be enjoying myself for quite a while again before I resume job hunting again.