Family Photo

Ir's funny becos we seldom meet up, but when we really do, we always have a great time ! Only this time round, I am missing cos I am in Houston....

This is wat I call Reunion Dinner !!


Happy New Yr peeps !!!

Story of the Invisible Man and general update on Houston…

I am the “invisible man” in office. My boss cannot even be bothered to see how I was doing despite him being near my cubicle. That why I call my workplace the “CELL”.

It’s kinda sad, I know… but oh well, just gotta keep myself motivated on the job. Don’t get me wrong, my boss is a nice guy. Just that it seems like they dun really understand the meaning of a management trainee. They dun even know Next Gens exist before Boo and I came to the place. Which I dun blame them - given the way their operations are run, they have minimal contacts with other subsidiaries of NOV. They kinda have so little expectation (like what Raman lamented…) of NGs that it actually wows them when we could accomplish simple task like generating an Excel table.

I will just do and learn what I can here, as much as possible.

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A little update of Houston:

Accomodations

Back in my apartment in Houston, it is so full packed with activities man… Daniel and Rafael (Mexicans), Bjarte (Norwegian), Victoria and Sean (British), Mat (Canadian) and Cuiwen …. we kinda hang out quite frequently.  Dinners, Pancake breakfasts,Shopping, Salsa dancing, chilling, partying and gym too… woohoo

Plus, Lernik and Dmitry (Russians) are here too ! Hopefully we are gonna have some Russian Vodka !!

Work

The weather is a little erratic, cold in the mornings but hot in the day. So it still needs a little getting used to… but for sure I am cool abt it. I work from 7 am till 4 pm daily becos I wanna siam the morning traffic. It is atrocious man…. Lanes are forever merging at the filter lanes on the highway; cars are exiting and entering at close proximities, so it like traffic jam at every of such places…. I swear to god… it is so painful man… *roll eyes*

People

People are generally nice, when you open up to them in Houston. Otherwise, it’s pretty hard to strike a conversation with them sometimes. Now I can feel why Ken (Canadian colleague) felt unwelcomed there. As a matter of fact, I am thankful to many of my colleagues here that assisted me with AutoCAD, work matters and also some chit chatting.

And I am so looking forward to “skyping” with everyone who will be having Reunion dinner at home in Singapore on Sunday morning (Houston time). I will be in Austin btw… =)


HAPPY CHINESE NEW YR PPLE !!!
And have a successful and prosperous new year ahead !!

=)

Monster Truck Show – 17012009

Justin and Jars came over from Austin to spend the weekend with us.




And we went for the Monster Truck Show at Reliant Stadium with the International Next Gens 9s during that weekend. The show was ok… but it didn’t really wowed me except for the few short spurts where the trucks fly off the group. Even then, it was like only a few seconds for the first couple trucks. Thereafter, it just went a little bland. But I like the doggy Truck; wanted to buy the soft toy of it but unfortunately, all the souvenirs were sold out.




After that, we went for some drinks at downtown, near to Rice University. The ambience was pretty conducive for chill. Haha, but Justin didn’t like it though, he wanted to “cheong”… lolz He fell asleep while we were chilling lah… but I dun blame him lah… the place was owned by Sherlock’s cooperation, which happens to be the bar outside the place we lived. As an analogy, it’s kinda like going all the way overseas to eat MacDonalds when you can eat that in Singapore…hahaha



All is well in Houston… full packed with events and meeting old and new friends. Hopefully in the midst of doing so, I could learn some stuff at work.

The Houston Outlet Malls

It’s official, Daniel (Mexican Next Gen 9) is a bad influence !! lolz If booze drinking wasn’t bad enough, soliciting me to shop and spend money is !! wahahaha

Kathy Mills, Premium and San Marcos Outlets, holly man… I have spent a bomb here buying clothes and accessories. Well, at least it is much cheaper than home, especially the brands like American Eagle, Banana Republic, Guess, Coach, Kat Spade, Oakley, CK, Nike, Adidas and Kenneth Cole. And the sales are real crazy lah… even Obama’s Inauguration they can have 44% sale becos of that. Awesome !!

=)

Ling’s Blog which reminded me of my PIL….

Ling talked abt her client who is carefree and happy because he is living for himself. Important things are only family and money. Simple and sweet.
This entry got me thinking, like why do I need to work so hard if I have a good and stable job, great pals and ultimately an awesome family to begin with ? I can just spend what I want, do what I like as long as it is within my means…

Well… however, there is a catch here. I call it the “priority in life” (PIL). Let me explain, everyone has a priority in life, an ultimate general aim like what one hope to achieve within this lifetime. When one’s POL is to get rich as soon as possible and then lead the kinda life he/she wants, he strives towards it. On the contrary, if one ‘s PIL is to say be happy and live life to the fullest, his action(s) will then to make himself happy in every possible way(s). What is interesting about my thought is that I feel that PIL changes with age, time, experiences and character.

So I am speculating that this client’s PIL is to be happy for now. I could be wrong, but I genuinely feel this way. So, what’s to say that it will not change ? Give you peeps an example, a Canadian colleague (Dave) once told me, the biggest change in him was when his daughter was born. He was then a 27 guy trying to find a place to survive in society. “The one thing I changed the most is to be selfless. I will think of my baby daughter before anything and everything…” What this statement strikes me is that Dave doesn’t seem to be a guy who would say such things. Believe me people, from the stories he told me and the stuff I see him do sometimes … he is a “wild wild” man hey….

So what’s my PIL you will ask ? It’s to save as much money as possible to build a family. With who I dunno… just save first lor… then if possible save some money for my future child. Abit weird I know… well my parents planned for me way before I was born… and I am always thankful for that because sometimes everything’s just a little easier… so I want that for my child too… hahaha. At the same time, I won’t be stingy till it affects my general happiness… a little pleasures doesn’t hurt at all man…

It has always been at the back of my mind… just that I didn’t really put these thoughts in words… now I did…

=)

NBA Game (Bulls vs Rockets) - Updated

Alrighty !!!
Got the tickets to this game.

Cost me like 120 bucks per ticket. Rafael and Daniel were thinking of going another Houston game – Houston Rockets vs LA Lakers in March.

I will still go man… Bulls game becos I am a Bulls fan, Lakers game becos it’s gonna be an awesome game !!

Woohooo

NBA Game (Bulls vs Rockets)

Okay… it is so hard to find a Bulls fan, especially down south…

Hmmm…. I will still watch the game, with or without anyone accompanying…. Hahaha

But I was kinda disappointed on missing the All-Star game in Feb… oh well… there is always something to miss out from any trip…



YC's quote for Tian Cai's broken heart.... lolz

This is the console you...
“Losing something that is not meant to be yours is no shame at all; because, let’s just move on to the next better one….”

This is to wake up your bloody idea...
“Don’t be so thick-skulled…”


Wah liew... tell you so many times you just simple choose to ignore. Needa be realistic man... (note: so many pple say the same thing... there must be some truth in it right... hahaha)

Well... hopefully you get something worthwhile outta this saga man....

Dun despair, you still have your Korean neighbour... kekeke

A story of Zuo Bo and upcoming trips in US

As you peeps would have anticipated, my blog entries are inversely proportional to the amount of work I do in my rotations. Enough said…. Hahaha
Well, a bit the zuo bo this time round if you ask me… whatever
Anyway, just to make you readers jealous, these are some of the trips I planned in US:

1) San Diego / LA / Las Vegas (Tian Cai)
2) New York City (Jingle)
3) Austin (Capital of Houston)
4) Mexico (probably Cancun)
5) Tokyo (if the timing permits)

1)confirmed le
2)and 3) more of less confirmed le… so now left with the next 2 which I am still planning.

So stayed tuned from more of YC’s adventures… wahahahaha



Too troubled by past ? Nah… it’s more like having my eyes opened…

Was talking to Huishi 2 days ago … and she lamented that I am too troubled by my past when I brought up the topic of my ex …

Wait… dun shoot me yet pple… I was telling her that I cannot take another “heart attack” like the one I got in China (aka the “zao sai” thingy), thus her statements. Honestly, I really cannot be bothered with my ex becos she is leading her own life and I am leading my own now… we have moved on dunno how long ago.

But the legacy of the breakup has to do with the realization that r/s are so fragile and difficult to control, especially when human beings are involved in it. All things can remain constant but still it will end up wrong. So I kinda felt that I needa really trust someone before getting into a r/s. Well, with my travelling schedule now…. Where got time to settle my tots and look around ? Every r/s is a gamble, but wanna gamble also also need calculated risks siah… my style leh… =)

What’s worst (or good for my career), I might be flying around a bit again if I get the permanent job I am looking into. A year in Dubai or Houston, followed by travelling around the APAC region, how how how ?? And my HQ might be KL instead of Singapore also…

Well… I guess I was just a little EMO when she started asking me why I was still single…. Hahahaha

At the end of the day, getting a gf is easy… but getting someone worthwhile is so difficult and precious….

PS: Although I dun have time to settle my tots, feel free if you guys wanna intro me anyone hor… wahahaha intro only mah… know one more fren also good… no need die die must cheong to be gf de…
*winkz*

Houston here I reach… troubles here they come … |||

Hey peeps, I finally reached Houston.

Dunno issit me or I think that the ang mohs here not as frenly as the Canadians. First, nobody came to fetch us from the airport, so Cuiwen and I got “hollanded” till like 5ish and we missed the chance to grab our house keys. So we kinda had to wait, amidst all the tiredness and dragginess, at Bjorte’s (Norwegian) place till they are back. By the time the whole saga ends, it 8 pm already.

The subsequent day, Sunday, was even worst becos I simply couldn’t make out how to get to my work place. A mixture of the confusing highway connections, weird instructions from google map, and the tiredness from 48 hours of flight time in 2 weeks… so had to settle for a GPS device costing me 140 USD. Hopefully it can be used in Singapore when I am home… if not really dui arh…

Then, after talking to my boss, there seem to be minimal things that I will be doing here in Houston. So I had to keep myself motivated while doing nothing… heh On top of that, the flying really has taken a toll on my body clock man… its totally haywire now… oh man…

Somehow, I have a niggly feeling I won’t enjoy my rotation this time round… Oh well, we shall see…

=)

YC
{Writing while rubbing his closing tired eyes}

PS: Pics to come soon heh….
 

Happy New Yr !!!

A Recap of the Year 2008...

There were Wedding Bells Ringing....



Spare time for Exercise....



The nostalgic last Semester of School....





Overseas Working Exposures ....






Of course good food...



And lotsa Partying !!!




Well here comes the serious NEW YEAR RESOLUTION(S):

1) Learn as much as possible during my overseas training
2) Experience the different cultures to the fullest; toking to people to gain contacts
3) Take care of my family and frens whenever possible
4) This is a pretty tough one... pple's been bugging me to get a gf... not I dun want... just with my travelling ... it is so hard to settle my tots and look for a suitable one...
5) Enjoy myself and be a happy man even under adverse situation(s).
6) Find a permanent placement in NOV where I can learn technical skills as well as tok to pple to gain contacts.

Only for (4) which I am keeping my fingers crossed, the rest is pretty much achieveable.

So Happy New Yr to you peeps !

And see you guys in April !

8)