OT tonight...

Staying back in the office to do a VOL application deployment. It should be a fast job, that wont take more than 1.5 hours.

So far I've done my part and waiting for the user to verify that what I did is correct and working. Hope to get home by 9pm.. Hopefully..

Sleepless again...

Been having problem sleeping the last few nights... No idea why, but just couldn't fall asleep.. Tossed and turned the whole night... from 12mn til almost 2.30am... then I sort of drifted into slumber and I will wake up at 6.45am to go to work (almost) every morning .. I don't feel sleepy the whole day except during my bus trip home from office and around 9-10pm. However, I do feel my head getting kinda heavier and heavier...

Think I need to find a way to get proper sleep..

一个像夏天 一个像秋天

歌手：范玮琪
专辑：我们的纪念日
歌曲:一个像夏天一个像秋天

第一次见面看你不太顺眼 谁知道后来关系那么密切
我们一个像夏天一个像秋天 却总能把冬天变成了春天

你拖我离开一场爱的风雪 我背你逃出一次梦的断裂
遇见一个人后生命全改变 原来不是恋爱才有的情节

如果不是你我不会相信 朋友比情人还死心塌地
就算我忙恋爱 把你冷冻结冰
你也不会恨我 只是骂我几句
如果不是你我不会确定 朋友比情人更懂得倾听
我的弦外之音 我的有口无心
我离不开Darling更离不开你

你了解我所有得意的东西 才常泼我冷水怕我忘形
你知道我所有丢脸的事情 却为我的美好形象保密

如果不是你我不会相信 朋友比情人还死心塌地
就算我忙恋爱 把你冷冻结冰
你也不会恨我 只是骂我几句
如果不是你我不会确定 朋友比情人更懂得倾听
我的弦外之音 我的有口无心
我离不开Darling更离不开你

Motivational talks

Ever since I've gotten my MP3 player, instead of music/songs, I've been listening to motivational talks on most of my bus trips, to and from the office..

I realised that by listening to them, I can skip reading some of those motivational/self improvement books. Some of them includes Anthony Robbins, Zig Zagler and Stephen Covey. So far, my favorite 'life coach' is Anthony Robbins. I like the way he conveys his messages across. He has so much passion and enthusiasm that it's hard not to be influenced by him. It's hard feeling sad/bad about oneself while listenting to him. He makes everything seems possible and everyone a potential for greatness.

However, I do worry about one thing, that is my sense of hearing. I know that I'm kinda 'deaf' some times, as I can't catch certain low tonal voices/sound. And by listening to my MP3 player for at least 2-3 hours a day (combined travelling time to and from my office) at volume 15-20, my hearing might/most probably get worse... Sigh.. the double edged sword of our modern technology..

Arubaito (アルバイト) drying up...

Aiy.. if Kuan is going to US for his new job training, then I will most probably lose the Eng-Bahasa translation job...

Since I don't go out during weekends and also weekdays, staying at home and doing translation is one of the better ways to spend my time.. Not to mention the extra cash that it brings in, although it can be rather tiring at times. If I were to lose that, then I think I shall spend more of my time reading and brushing up my Japanese. Maybe to prepare for my GMAT and TOEFL too, since I'm thinking of applying for MBA... From the look of it, I might not be taking the IoL, the translation certification, next Jan. Since there is no job prospect at all for translators, as everyone thinks that anyone can do translation, why waste the money (around $2K or maybe more) for a piece of cert that will not value-add? Maybe I might delay it to 2008 instead, since I've so much on my plate currently.

Hopefully I will have confidence to take JLPT 3 end of this year.... And of course, if I were to get the scholarship, then it will be the best.. Pray hard hard...

All the Best, Mich!!

Met up with my ex-colleagues for tea today. Actually, I think of them as more of friends now.. I treat most of my ex-colleagues from SISTIC as friends, although there are some exceptions.

One of them, Mich, will be relocating to HK early July. She negotiated with her company and will be there for at least 2 years.

Here, I'll like to wish her all the best!! And I'll sure to pay her a visit, maybe next Apr!! :)

While she was gone...

My Visa boss is on leave for 2 weeks, this and the next week. And while she was gone one of my colleagues from my team is resigning as she has found another (better) job.

When she told me this Monday, I wasn't very suprised. Out of the 5 of us in the team, she seems the one who would leave the earliest. When someone stops complaining about their work, there can only be 2 reasons: either they had persuaded themselves to take the shit, or they had decided to look for greener pasture and leave, regardless. So she was one of the later.

Frankly, I am happy for her that she is leaving. This job/project is not worth our time and effort. This is only a contractual position, and what HP promised verbally they did not deliver as they later claimed that it was not stated in our contracts!! The HP management only know how to fire fight, and will not do pro-active to take care of its engineers. If the team leader didn't complain to our HP boss about the workload/etc, like my team lead, my HP boss will not even come to see how we are doing, or check out the morale problem/complaints that we might have. They will not reward a job well-done... So why stay? Cos I'm making use of them, just as they are exploiting me. They get what they paid for, which is a contractual kind of work performance. If they can't even issue us a namecard for us to tell people that we are working for HP in the Visa project, how much sense of belonging do they think we will have? How to tell people what/where I'm working as when I can't even produce a name card to support my claim of position?

Thus I'm looking forward to the contract renegotiation in a few months' time... Then they will know that it doesn't pay to ignore the people who are bringing in the dough...

All I can do now is wait...

Got back from KL just now..

Flew to KL yesterday to attend the interview for the scholarship. Went thru all the trouble to get whatever that were required, begged enough people for favours, were so stressed out that I was imsonia (a first for me...) and killed enough brain cells to maybe help them find a cure for Alzheimers. That 20 odd mins of interview with 5 panel will determine if I'll be given the chance to study in Japan. I'll know in about a months' time... If I dont get it, I wont try applying again next year. It'll make my life shorter by at least a couple of months..

In the mean time, I need to rest.. Will write more about the experience later tonight maybe...

It has started...

The World Cup 2006 has finally started yesterday..

Since young, I've been a supporter of the German team, so this year I will continue to support Germany in the quest for their 4th World Cup. Although my head tells me that they are not capable of beating the Brazilians, but my heart tells me otherwise. Like they say, the ball is round, so anything can happen. I was ecstatic that they won 4:2 against Costa Rica last night/early this morning. As I do not subscribe to cable tv, I will not be able to watch any matches other than the 4 matches that Channel 5 is showing (which is the openning match, the semifinals and the final).

I can still remember the last World Cup in Japan/Korea. I was sent to US on a business trip during the semifinals and finals. I caught one of the semifinal matches(between Brazil and Turkey) with my US business associate at his house on the morning that I arrived in US, even before checking into the hotel!! I was on the plane when the other semifinal match was played. And I watched the final between Germany and Brazil in my hotel bed. I was heart broken when Brazil scored the 2nd goal.

Watching yesterday's match has brought back memories to me. Some of the names of the players who played was very familiar. Players like Klose, Frings and Schneider were ones whom I've not read/seen playing for a long while. I do not follow EPL or any other football leagues as closely as I did a couple of years ago. I still supports Man Utd, Bayern Munich, AC Milan and Barcelona but not as fanatical as before. Although even then I was just a 'silent/closet' supporter, as I do not buy any of their jerseys (cos SGD90+ could be better utilised than buying a jersey), nor do I go around telling/challenging people that my team(s) were/are the best.

Hopefully, I'll get the watch 2 more matches of the German team playing and finally see them lifting the World Cup in their own country... Let's hope...

Expensive Trip...

Went to Shenton Medical at the Republic Plaza this morning for a medical checkup. Had to do it for the Monbusho scholarship interview later this month. When I showed them the medical certification form, the receptionist did not know how to proceed. She had to seek her supervisor's advice as to how to proceed and what to advice me. Thus I had to wait for the supervisor who was in a meeting. Luckily I didn't have to wait very long. The supervisor, a Malay lady which I didnt manage to get her name, was experience enough not to be stumped by the form. She explained to me each and every test that I needed. There was no health screening package that could do all those tests/examinations and I had to pay for each and every one of them separately! So in the end the bill came up to about SGD180!! But what choice do I have?? Time is running out and I am desperate. So I spend the whole morning doing all the tests, ECG, Chest X-ray, took blood sample, urine sample, etc.. And til now, I still owe them my stool sample.. aiy... Need to pass it to them as soon as possible, but I dont see it being possible, with the earlist being Thursday, cos I need to be in office by 8am tomorrow and I have Japanese lesson tomorrow night... Maybe I can drop by during lunch time...

I also bought myself a plane ticket, from Singapore to KL for the 21 Jun at 10am. There is no other alternative and I had to choose either MAS or SIA. Since MAS had the flight that suits my timing the most, I had to fork out SGD213 for a one-way ticket!! What a daylight robbery this is!! And i had to go to Singapore Shopping Centre to collect the ticket!!

So all in all, just today, I had spent close to SGD400 for that interview... So hopefully it is a worthwhile investment...

Nothing much these days...

Nothing much happened these few days.. not that I want anything to happen..

Went for a haircut last weekend, and that's about it. Stayed at home the rest of the weekend... Did some house cleaning, laundry, prep and Japanese revision.

Work wise, same old same old. Complaints about my Visa boss are flying around the place, now even the team that is now under my boss's 'jurisdiction' has started complaining... Not good... Either everyone is just reacting to the re-organisation or they are truly pissed with her.. But either way, I'm not going to react to that. I'll try my best to just do what is expected of me and that's it. No point discussing when nothing will be done about it and we are not the ones with the power to do anything about it.. So why waste the energy? I rather use that energy and do something I like or something that is going to be benefitial to me in the long run...

Howling youngster, Helpless father...

Took bus No.76 home as usual today. But what was unusual was that a father carried his crying son onto the same bus as well...

The kid is about 5-6 years old, and he was crying and screaming at the top of his voice... It was a double-decked bus, and I went to the top deck as usual, while the father & son sat at the lower deck. What was unbelieveable is that the youngster cried and screamed for more than 30mins!!! I was very irritated, almost wanted to go down and give the boy a slap if they had not alight from the bus.

These is one of the reason I don't like to go to crowded places or go out during weekends or school holidays. If only the kids would behave themselves in pulic and not make a nuisance of themselves. However, I will not blame the kids, but rather the parents for these behaviours. 所谓：子不教，父母之过！！And I was never a believer of 爱的教育,I believe that "Spare the cane, spoil the kid". At certain point of time, caning/corporal punishment is required. Trying to rationalise with a crying screaming baby/toddler/child is useless, achieves nothing except frustrating both the parent and the child. The talking/reasoning part can be done after the baby/toddler/child has calmed down and willing to listen.

With most of the kids nowadays being taken care of by their maids, I can't help but wonder how much values/moral have the kids of today learned? Because of the limited time parents spend with their children, they might resort to indulge or 放纵 as compensation, always giving themselves excuses not to see the real issue. That is why I believe that not everyone is suitable to be a parent. It is not an experiment where one can say， "Oops, sorry. Let me try again." Being a parent doesnt mean that one just provide them with all the comforts of the world; one need to educate them in the sense of being a civilised cultured person, and not just academically or career-wise.

我指的是养育，而非侍养；“侍养”是指三餐温饱，不受风吹雨打，不受疾病缠身，快高长大，好比侍养家里的小猫小狗那样。“养育”中的“育”才是分辨我们人类与动物的不同。每个父母都希望儿女比自己更出色，青出于蓝而胜于蓝，但往往他们只关注物质方面的富裕而忘了心理及公民意识的建设，所以才会看到许多中上层阶级的下一代是如何地目无尊长、自视过高、道德颓废、完全不为他人着想。可悲阿！！

My new toy... iRiver T30

Bought myself an iRiver T30 MP3 player with 1GB storage at the PC Fair just now. =)

Went there during lunch time.. :P Was there yesterday after work, to visit the PC Fair and the World Book Fair. Bought an assessment book on JLPT 3/4 grammer at the Book Fair. Have always bought books in the past Book Fairs, but this time I was reluctant to buy. Why? After the trip to China last Chinese New Year and found out how cheap the books are there, I'm reluctant to spend more on those books. If it's stated as RMB28 and they are selling it as SGD13, I would have bought it before the trip, but now, I wont buy, not when I know that the actual price in SGD is less than SGD6!! I will saved the money for a book-shopping spree in Beijing... :)

Yesterday I went around the PC Fair looking at all the mp3 players on offer. Saw Samsung YF-U1, Creative Nano Plus and Sony's NW005 and several other brands. Didnt see iRiver's range of mp3 as it was at the end of the exhibition hall. After much thought, I've decided to buy Creative Nano Plus which is selling for SGD149 for the 1G version, as it is the cheapest on offer. Then today on the way to the PC Fair, my colleague mentioned that he saw iRiver on sale, so I decided to go and take a look.

True enough, the iRiver mp3 players are on offer. The T30 1GB model that I've always wanted is going for SGD189. It comes with a set of earphones, A (brandless) battery charger and 2 AAA rechargable batteries were included in the deal. I'm more than willing to pay SGD40 more for a better brand. So I bought it. What made it better was that the shop charged me wrongly aka cheaper, instead it costed me SGD149!! =)

Can't wait to go home and play with my toy.. :)