Bitch

It’s a fine line between being direct and being confrontational.

Bitches are confrontational.


I encountered one.

=)

Wacky Americans

Radio shows in USA are so wacky.
They actually get wives to come online to talk about the wrong happenings in their marriages and then check on their husbands. This is what they do…

The DeeJays would call up the husband by faking that they are from this company doing a promotion on flowers. So they would send flowers to someone the husband have in mind free of charge. Then, all these were done while the wife is on the other line, and the whole process is live on radio ! So if he is cheating on her, everyone… yes I mean everyone …. Would know !!

Kudos for their creativity; however, I swear that I would be super pissed if I were the husband.

Well…its America… where anything and everything is possible !

LOLZ

Me is pissed !!!

I am irritated by people who:

1)Do not lock doors. Isn’t it self explanatory that you lock the door when nobody is at home ?

2)Expecting others to keep a lookout for you all the time, when you are always screwing things up.

3)Lend my car to another person to drive.

4)Expecting me to be a deliveryman. No hands or just too lazy ?

5)Are naturally sloppy !

6)Bugs me when I am watching the TV or searching desperately for something.

*roll eyes*

Sheesh….

Kirk “HamBurglar”

A picture tells a thousand words. The Americans are getting fat and Kirk did a favor to society by missing the last free throw to make the score 91-99 victory over the Pistons…. Nice !


For those who don’t know, there has always been a promotion in United Center that everyone gets a free BIG MAC if the Bulls scored 100 pts or more. Officially, fans are calling him “Hamburglar” ! lolz

Anyway, Kirk was launched into the starting lineup because Rose is outta the game with a bruised wrist. And Kirk showed up with 24 points, 8 assist and 3 steals. He is back to his 06/07 game man ! Wooohooo


1 game behind Pistons for the 7th seed !
Go Bulls !

End of Rotation and start of New Rotation

Finally 3 months staying in Singapore for sure. Dunno if I would be travelling out again but 3 months to recuperate is just what I need to relief all the stress from moving around in a plane. Travelling can be real tiring sometimes. My neck is so stiff these days from work and travelling…. urgh


Anyway, what I do find bad is interacting with so many people but not being able to know them better because I will be jumping to another place with 3 months. So for the 6 months in The North American continent, I should say I made my fair share of friends and colleagues. Hopefully, I will be able to see them again. Nevertheless, I made a good bunch of people from the international front that probably spans the entire globe. How cool is that !?


I know I will for sure be going Russia if Lernik is getting married in 2 years, like he promised. lolz

At the end of the day, I think I am a stronger person after the overseas exposure.

Our paths will definitely cross again….

Singaporeans are Special

Daniel, Rafael and me had an interesting conversation yesterday night over popcorns and wine… hahaha

The topic revolves around Singaporeans ! Daniel commented that we Singaporean are so different from the other Asian people he interacted. And that despite him not knowing much abt Singapore prior to meeting us, he likes what he sees in us. And I think he is right man !

Singaporean, for most part, doesn’t really know how special we are. I am guilty of this sin too, till I mixed around with international people. We are born with a very diverse and mix of people. The different races, religion and culture, we all look through it… yeah yeah we do crack racist jokes sometimes… but when the time comes we are not really that racist like we think we are. I can stereotype… I can crack racial jokes, but I am definitely not racist ! Like when interacting with people, they are just another human being to us… colorless and religion-less. What I am trying to say is we are open to things which there are many who aren’t.


This is most definitely our speciality !

=)

Working and Travelling – A path I chose….

Let’s face it; in my line of work, I would need to travel, whether it is short term or long term. And like I told Chek, the day I decided to go into this industry is the day I told myself to look forward and not regret my decision.


So sometimes, I am kinda amused when people start commenting like “Wow, you are travelling again… and wow… travelling is so fun for you”. Travelling is fine, if and only if you are travelling for leisure. Take my stay in Houston for example. My thinking is that since I am here already, might as well travel as much as possible because I wouldn’t know the next time I will be here again; thus, all the travelling from New Orleans, LA, New York and etc. But I am here for work ultimately, to get drafted into a permanent position. So the travelling is just a bonus for me, not something that I planned.

Basically, what I am trying to say is that most of my friends like to travel for leisure, but not many would want to travel frequently for work. So, please don’t look at my “bonus” as a big deal people, because I still have:

1) Jetlag issues.
Imagine having to fly back from Canada to Singapore; then Singapore to Houston in a span of 1 week. It was 50 hrs of flight in 2 weeks and man… it was crazy. I had 24 hrs of sunlight on the to flight and another 24 hrs on the fro flight… those who flew to far places would know what I am saying.

2) Family and Friends at home
Singapore is where my family and most of my friends are. So yeah of course I miss all you people, but I can’t possibly split myself up to catch up with everyone. Especially my family, as much as I would like to spend more time with them, I can’t. Also, I miss so much by being outta Singapore for 6 months man… dun really know what the gang’s been up to too… hahaha

3) Social Pressure
People around me are starting to get married and stuff… hahaha. All I get during all the relatives outings are questions on when is it my turn to get married. I don’t even have a gf for goodness sake. To add to that, travelling so much makes it real difficult to find someone to settle down with. Nevertheless, social pressure is not something that bugs me anyway… but I am just saying this is what I go through sometimes.


As I reiterate, I have chosen my way to live my life; so I can’t complain that much can I ? I can’t deny that I did travel quite a bit during the 6 months, and I also experienced a rich variety of cultures and groups of people. These wonderful friends include the Mexicans, Russians, British, South Africans, Americans, Canadians, PRCs, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Arabians and many more. My only regret is not being able to travel to Mexico City though… because I wanna see the Stepped Pyramids there. Oh well…. Leave some regret so that I would wanna come back to this area again.


That reminds me, I just told Tian Cai that one day I wanna go Seychelles Islands, hopefully for my honeymoon. I heard lotsa wonderful things about the place from my colleague who originated there. According to him, Seychelles Island is the number 1 place in the world to go diving. For those who don’t know where it is, it is at the top of Madagascar and bottom of India; kinda near Maldives.


I think I daydream too much arh !! hahahaha

But I am serious about visiting Seychelles Islands someday though….

2 more weeks and I am home, definitely staying put for the next 3 months.
So see you all soon !

=)

Higher pay in such a Time ?

In this bad times, people are still expecting more pay than last year ? Come on… serious ?


If you are a fresh graduate and you really think so… well
1) You are a very confident individual
2) You must know contacts in the hierarchy of companies.
3) You are dreaming

Enough said.

New York – 13 to 16032009

Rafael and I met up with Jingle (cousin) in New York.

Day 1
St Paul's Church
Times Square
5th Avenue
Empire State Building
Broadway- Phantom of the Opera







Day 2
Battery Park
Statue of Liberty
Metropoilitan Museum of Arts
Rockfeller
Brooklyn Bridge







Day 3
Walls Street
United Nations
Little Italy





New York City is a fast paced, vibrant and jesty place to visit. People are moving so fast that they even walked faster than I walk. My cousin used to be a "nuah sai" and mind you she walks way faster than me and Rafael now.... So fast that they dont really see the beauty around them. So if you ask me, it's a place to visit but definitely not a place to live in... let alone live long in.

Oh well... this trip kinda ends my touring in USA... hopefully I have the chance to come back again... I wanna go Mexico, Chicago, San Francisco, New York City again... and etc.

Back in Singapore in 2 weeks !!

Singapore... here I come home man !!

=)

NorthWest CDC and the 8-month bonus

Yeah Keet is appalled by their 8 month bonus because, like everyone knows, it is our money, and it shouldn’t be spent like that given the economic downturn.

I say the timing is wrong lah… I stereotype, but generally civil service just comes up with these insensitive things lah… I mean it is really fine to make mistakes, but repeating them is a different story. So if you ask me, this 8 month bonus could have been postponed since this money could have be made to better use, example helping the people who got layoff, no?

I am not angry actually, more indifferent. At the end of the day, we don’t know the whole story. But, as I reiterate… the timing is wrong… as always…

Random Singapore Table Tennis Ranting

I have never liked Li Jia Wei’s style of table-tennis; some of you guys would know, especially the ones who play table tennis with me. Generally, I have nothing against her, other than she is a tiong and I stereotype; my “not liking her” involves her style of play. She plays an aggressive style which is best suited to the short pimples rubber. Minimal spin, but tremendous speed and counter attack returns.


Picture: (From top to bottom) Long pimples, medium pimples, short pimples and flat surface

And if you look closely in the ITTF Rankings, only 1 player has short pimples rubber on the bats for the men. As for the ladies, only Li Jia Wei uses this kind of rubber. The rest all uses normal type of flat surface rubber. Probably the other most famous person who had used this short pimpled rubber is Liu Guo Liang. But like Timo Boll, he had never been ranked in the top 3 frequently. So my point being, for some reason, the normal kind of rubber still works best on the courts (see *).


Thus, I feel that it will be extremely difficult for Li to actually evolve her game into a consistent top 3 player to even help Singapore win another medal. And if you guys observe the China team, they seldom have players using other types of rubber except the flat surfaced ones. Also, look at the previous players who have left China to join the other teams; many played the pimpled surface rubbers too. A coincidence, I don’t know…. Call me a skeptic, but this is me with my years of playing the game. But then again, she did won us a medal after all - I am leaning towards the notion that she was lucky but I rest my case because we all know luck is also another element in any competition.

Feng Tian Wei… higher chance and potential… Li Jia Wei… hmmm probably not… So let her retire and have all the babies she want man… Besides, it is time to really nurture some Singaporean local talents while stop relying on foreign ones…

*P.S: Just thought you guys wanna know, I play a short hand bat (flat surface rubber with long pimples behind) and I used to play quite a bit with the different pimpled rubber surfaces.

John Lee's Question

John Lee asked me "What have you learnt from having 3 rotations in NG Program"

Well that are what I have learnt:

1) Being Political Savvy
2) Street Smartness
3) How difficult it is to change cultures
4) Oil Industry knowledge

But I still have lots lots more to learn ...



and learn I will !

Who’s to be Blamed?

In light of the recent suicide case in NTU, where an Indonesian undergraduate from EEE stabbed his FYP prof before jumping down, I am gonna give my 2 cent worth.

First of all, sad sad sad. I mean from the reports this undergraduate was an A grade caliber student. In addition, imagine how his parents would feel; watching a talented son grow up only to see him the last time at his funeral. I really feel for them, esp the mum. Like my mum used to always tell me, giving birth is like cutting a part of flesh from her body. After birth, any mum would do whatever they can to take care of this part. Oh well… as much as life goes on… wasted la…

Okay, just read on Channelnewsasia about counseling in University. My thoughts… u mean there is supposedly such services in the University Premises ? Why was there no publicity to make the awareness known to people ? But then again, back to the case of this incident, would the undergraduate really go for counseling if he knew about it ? The reason I question that is because normally people with chronic mental issues doesn’t think they need help. And especially in our Asian culture context, seeking help is like telling the world that you are “mad”, so I am truly skeptical about it.

Meanwhile, I don’t buy the talk about the curriculum being too stressful. Yes, the curriculum is stressful – NTU has one semester of work distributed in the other 5 semesters due to our industrial attachment; however, many of us had gone through it ourselves. Tough as it is, it doesn’t give you stress that makes a person berserk. At the end of the day, you want to be an engineer then you need to be up for it. I find that perhaps life is too good for many of these later generations people that they take things for granted, looking for accusations instead of looking within to find the problem. Most of the time, you reap what you sow, and you bear the consequences of what you did, period.

Another thing, you never know if the prof is an a$$hole you know. Believe me, after 4 years in NTU, I know how painful some of these so called professors can be. And this is totally the school’s fault. NTU, over the years, just is more interested in churning results from research than really teaching the undergraduate. Perhaps teaching wasn’t a priority, but we pay (however subsidized) for the teaching and tutoring you know…. We don’t need professors to write answers for tutorials for us to copy back and mimic the solutions; we need tutors who make us understand concepts more than spoon feeding. Good lecturers have their contracts not renewed probably due to them spending longer times with undergraduates… I mean I am not going to list names… but yeah we know some…

As much as the media wants to talk about it, I personally think this incident was a one off lah. More likely than not, a bad combination of events just spiral into this tragedy. How to prevent it ? Very hard arh… one kind of rice feed thousand kinds of people. We just got to learn to be responsible for our actions sometimes.

In conclusion, the Indonesian undergraduate made a decision to take up EEE. He lost his scholarship someway, and the mental stress (with FYP added) was too much for him to bear probably. Who is to be blamed ? Personally, I blame the undergraduate for not loving himself and his family enough to know that suicide is not the end, but a beginning of more pain and sorrow.

=(