What is Imm Doing?

A Place for my family and friends to know what I've been up to and what I'll be doing. 一个交待行踪和报平安的管道。。

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Don't buy me gifts... Save the Earth instead...

Seriously, if anyone is going to give me another photo frame, mug, book or accesories, then I would rather him/her to donate to charitable organisations the money that were to be spend on my gifts/presents.

This year, I will donate the money (that were supposed to be used to buy presents for friends and colleagues) to the following organisation on your behalf..

WWF – World Wide Fund For Nature (formerly World Wildlife Fund)
http://www.panda.org/how_you_can_help/gifts/index.cfm


After watching Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth", I suddenly realised that the world might just go 'crazy' (with all the flooding, hurricanes/typhoons, heat wave, and whatever) during MY LIFE TIME!! All Mother Earth need is another 5-10 years of pollutions, and that's it.. All the ecosystem will be so screwed up that it's almost impossible to 'enjoy' nature anymore, unless one consider those man-made lakes/gardens/what-nots to be nature...

So instead of getting another gift/present that is going to sit in my cupboard collecting dust for don't-know how many years, I would rather have that money spent on conservation efforts...

So, please, if you don't know what to buy me for Christmas/my Birthday, just donate the money to WWF or any other charitable organisations. Those people/animals need the money more than me...

Award Speech..



Firstly, I would like to thank my parents for sending me to Spore for studies and supporting me all these times, I wanna thank my brother and sister who were there for me, I would also like to thank my few close friends whose advices meant a lot to me, and lastly, I would want to dedicate this award to my colleagues in the project who have been willingly, patiently and selflessly guiding me for the past 2 and a half years...


Last saturday, 23 Dec, there was a HP Christmas lunch at a hotel which I decided not to attend, for obvious reasons... :P And during the lunch, awards were given to engineers who were nominated by their peers and/or teammates for a job well-done. Unknowingly, I was one of them. The award comes with a trophy and SGD$150 in cheque. Not too bad for a belated birthday present..

Hahahaha...

Another BD...

What did I do on my birthday last Saturday??

Well, I wanted to usher in my birthday the night before but I was so tired that I fell asleep even before 12midnight!!

On the day itself, I woke up around 9am and was contemplating what I wanted to do on that day. Then I decided to go and have a foot reflexology session at Yishun, since I've already bought a package for it. Before that I cooked myself a bowl of Mee Sua, with 2 hard boiled eggs, a tradition.

I had wanted to see where bus 76 or bus 268 goes exactly on the opposite direction, so I took whichever bus that came first. Although bus 76 came first, but it was kinda packed, so I decided to take bus 268, which was just behind the first bus, instead. After a while I realised that bus 76 actually goes to Yio Chu Kang mrt, while bus 268 goes to AMK bus depo. So I got down 2 bus stops before the depo and walked towards a bus stop in front of Nuovo, a condominium. I knew that there will be buses going to Yishun from that bus stop. True enough, there were 3, and I took the first that came. Reached Northpoint Shopping center around 11.30am and went straight to Wan Yang. Luckily there are slots available for me. They also realised that I still have 2 sessions of foot reflexology and 1 session of back/shoulder massage left from 3 years ago. So in the end, I also enjoyed a session of back/shoulder massage.

After the massage, I went shopping. My 'mission' for the day is to get some T'shirts for work. I wont be getting any more pants/jeans/etc until my scholarship application is confirmed. In the end, I bought 2 Reebok T'shirts from Royal Sporting house. Then I took mrt back to AMK. There I went straight to Bee Cheng Hiang and bought 600g of bak kua. This shall curb my craving for it for a while. Then I went to Giordano and Baleno and bought a T'shirt each. I went passed Polar and bought myself 2 slices of cakes and a piece of fruit cake. Then I went home.. Everything done and I got home before 3pm!! Efficient!! :P

In the afternoon and early evening, I watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Hellboy. For dinner I had instant noodles (mee goreng) and 2 taiwan sausages. Of course, not forgetting my bak kua! :)

At night I did some tarot card readings, which I normally do on my birthday each year. I chatted with my sis over msn too.

Then the day passed.... That's how I spend my birthday... :)

Friday, December 22, 2006

Countdown to my birthday...

Four and a half hours more to my 32nd birthday...

What's my plan for tomorrow? Not very sure.. maybe I might want to pay a visit to the Buddhist temple at Farrer Park, but all subject to my mood and the weather... Most probably I think I'll stay at home and relax, doing absolutely nothing (except the things I wanted to do), and maybe think back the events that happened during the past one year.. what I've done and could have done better, what I didnt do, what I did wrongly or didnt handle as well as I wanted, and what I plan to do this coming year, etc.

Furthermore, this could my last year celebrating my birthday in Singapore. There is a very high chance that I will be going to Japan come April, and will probably be there for at least the next 2 years. It will be a new experience altogether for me. I'm worried that I will not be able to blend in culturally.. but I will worry about all these when everything is finalised and confirmed.

Had a dinner with my colleagues on Tuesday at M.O.F. in Marina Square to celebrate my Birthday. The Japanese food there is not too bad, but I hope to taste real authentic Japanese food next year... :) So far I had received 2 BD presents, both from my colleagues.. Thanks Fitri and Henny.. Will open them after 12 midnight tonight..

Awaiting anxiously.. :)

End of the year...

Today quite bored at work.

Seldom do I say this, but the last few days was quite slow, to the extent of being bored. Not that I’m complaining.. :P

So for the past few days, I've been spending time doing online tests on Tickle.com, reading up on Fable, The Lost Chapters that I started playing recently and surfing the net...

My boss will not be around the whole of next week, so it willl be another week of 'doing-nothing'. But come January, all projects will start moving again, and the workload will start piling up... 休息是为了走更长的路。。

Stomach trouble

Two Fridays ago, met up with my ex-colleagues from SISTIC for dinner and then went for karaoke.

We went to Carl’s Junior at Marina. I wanted to try the chilli beef fries, unfortunately it was sold out, so instead I tried their new burger, with Pastrami as one of the fillings. After that we went to Suntec’s K Box Karaoke as the branch in Marina was fully occupied. The 3 of us sang until almost 12:30am. At first we sang more recent Chinese Pop songs, then we started to play a fool and choose all those 80s and 90s songs to reminisce the good old times. By 12am, I could barely sing a tune. We took a cab back home. It was almost 1:30am when my head hit my pillow.

The next morning, I woke up feeling horrible. Thinking that it was due to the previous late night, I took 2 panadols and continue to sleep. When I finally woke up around 9am, I know I was very sick. Not only was I feeling feverish, my stomach was bloated and grinding. And to make things worse, I had diarrhea! My whole body was very weak. It took me almost 1 hour to bath and get dressed, and went downstairs to buy bread. I do not have any food that is can be easily digested and am too weak to cook. When I finally realized that I need to see doctor, all the clinics near my house had already closed for the day, as they only operate half day on weekends. So with no choice available to me, all I can do is to rest and sleep as much as I can.

My body really felt like shit throughout the day, only felt slightly better at night. Dragging my weak body I continue to rush for one of the 2 translation jobs due that coming Monday & Tuesday. Luckily I have already mastered the translation technique and could quickly translate the one job that was due on Monday.

When I finally woke up on Sunday, I’m almost 60% recovered. But not wanting to take any chances, I went to see the doctor. Both doctors that I consulted were not available so I had no choice but to see a new doctor. Having waited almost 1 hour for the doctor, my consultation was completed in less than 20 minutes, and he didn’t even give me a MC chit for Monday!!

After having my lunch, I’m almost 75% recovered. However, on Monday morning, I’ve decided to call in sick, so I can get rested more. With no MC chit, I had to take annual leave instead of medical sick leave. Bumper.. Wasted a day of annual leave...

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Job No. 101

Wow! Didn't think there will be more than 100 translation jobs from Bro's contact in Japan this year, but indeed I've received my 101st translation order!!

This year has been a bountiful year, although I must say that almost all my last 20 weekends are burnt, rushing to meet tight submission datelines. But they are all worth the stress, blood and sweat. Think I must have made at least triple my monthly salary.. Now, all the money is Bro, which actually is a good thing... When I make it to Japan to study next year, I will have the money to support my wanderlust.. :)

Looking forward to it...

10 min slower..

The official result is out!!

Event: 10 Km Women
Date: Sunday 3 December, 2006
Race Number: 30423
Gun Time: 1h:36m:22s
Chip Time: 1h:30m:43s

I ran 10 minutes slower than last year. Not too bad for someone who didn't train for it.. :P

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Farewell, L2...

Farewell LoneRin, LoneRawn and many more...

It was good while it lasted...

Finally I've uninstalled L2 from my system. After spending hundreds of hours in L2 Paradise, leveling up my dwarf/elf/human and trying to upgrade my armor/sword/accessories, I had to say goodbye.. With NCSoft prosecuting some of the private L2 servers and other private servers closing down voluntarily, I've decided to stop playing L2 altogether.

I was one of the last few in my group of friends/colleagues who still play in the server. Most of them have moved on to Final Fantasy and World of Warcraft. I was satisfied with my little level-60 spoiler dwarf and level-43 artisan dwarf. I had spent the last few weeks logging in to the server, making SSD and SSC for sale, hoping to earn enough money to get a decent set of Grade B armor. Alas, just when I had earn enough to buy a Doom Boot, the server was shut down.... :(

After playing L2, the other MMORPG no longer attract. I simply love the graphics and the game play, although I don't really like to PvP. After reading so much negative comments/feedbacks of the retail L2 servers, I've decided not to play L2 anymore. My friends have been tempting me to sign-up for WoW, but I'm reluctant to pay the monthly subscriptions to play. And I don't really fancy the graphics.

So maybe for the time being, I will stop playing MMORPG and start picking up my books/novels.. until another free game comes along..

Incompetent Fools and Arrogant Bastards/Bitches …

Unbelievably this world is full of them…and more incredibly they are thriving!!

Incompetent idiots who called themselves Project Managers, Business Consultants or any other bombastic sounding name, who are nothing but glorified mail relayer or coordinator. They are so technically retarded that there is no point in trying to explain anything to them. And yet, they can argue loudly with full confidence as if they are in command or as if they really understand what they are talking about.

Some of the permanent staff here behaves as if they are god or they are superior than those on contract. When they want something, they want it NOW!! They do not care if they had just made the request barely 10 minutes ago, nor that the fact that everyone is tied up with already planned activities. And worst is their tone. The way they speak to you as if they owned you!! Just because there is a ‘Manager’ somewhere in their job title, they speak as if their words are not to be questioned and must be obeyed, regardless how ridiculous or brainless their requests are..

It’s really a pain in the ass working with/under these people…

还好不是我的烂摊子。。

Evil Me!! Muahhahahahahaha….

Heard a good news today. Not that the good news has anything to do with me, but I’m just happy for one of my colleagues. Just when everyone is lamenting that the life in the company sucks big time, and everyone is hoping to get out asap, he was offered a job to work in China!! So he will be serving his 1-month notice soon..

Not that I’m being evil (which maybe I am), he is one of the Server guys, so his leaving will definitely has a huge impact on the Server Team which is currently only 2-man strong! Thus in a way, I’m glad I’m not the Server team lead!! Hahahaha.. I don’t have to clear the shit or manage the shit that is piling up… And if I involved in that shit I won’t have the time to do my translation jobs which are earning me quite a handsome sum of $$$.. hahahaha.…

Maybe all these happened for a reason. Maybe I wasn’t meant to be the team lead at all. But regardless, I will not burden myself with management of the team any further. I will (try) to keep my opinion to myself and work as a team. And hopefully (I know I mentioned this many times, but I will continue to state this) I will get to go Japan this coming April…

All the best JS!!

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Cheap Labour??!!??

When I rejected the role as the Server Team Lead becos the management was only willing to pay $250 extra, I do not think there will be any sane person who is willing to take the shitty job for anything lesser. Well, apparently I was wrong... My current team (which is the Application team)’s team lead has agreed to take on the role with no increment!! What a spoil market!!

Let me put something straight, I have full confidence that he will do a good, if not great job as the Server team lead. But the fact that he is doing it at no extra monetary cost to the management just pissed me off. Period.

To put it bluntly, I was hoping to see the Server Team collapse. Yes, evil as it may sound, that is what the management truly deserved. I had hoped that the team will be a mess and they had no luck with whomever that they brought in to sort things out. In the end, they had to beg me to take it. Well, I was too naïve. There seems to be people willing to take the shit.

So good luck to him! I will not lift a hand to help him with the Server Team, nor will I take some of his load as team lead, although I’m the assistant team lead. Since he has agreed to take up this additional team lead role, then he jolly well carry the load/responsibilities/shit that comes with it.

What Tarot Card are You?


You are The Hermit


Prudence, Caution, Deliberation.


The Hermit points to all things hidden, such as knowledge and inspiration, hidden enemies. The illumination is from within, and retirement from participation in current events.


The Hermit is a card of introspection, analysis and, well, virginity. You do not desire to socialize; the card indicates, instead, a desire for peace and solitude. You prefer to take the time to think, organize, ruminate, take stock. There may be feelings of frustration and discontent but these feelings eventually lead to enlightenment, illumination, clarity.


The Hermit represents a wise, inspirational person, friend, teacher, therapist. This a person who can shine a light on things that were previously mysterious and confusing.


What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.



Took the above online test. As expected, I am the Hermit. Just the fact that I don't like to go to crowded place, that I rather stay at home then to go out and make new friends and that I treasure my time alone every weekend is enough to lead me to conclude that I would rather rot at home than to go out and meet people..

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Signed another year of 'bondage'...

Went to GMP last thursday to sign my employment contract.

After the negotiating and verbal agreement to continue with the contract, I had finally put down my signature on the dotted line for another year of 'bondage'..

I felt that I did the right thing of not taking over the Server team, as now the problem has arise for the scope of work and responsibilities for the team. There is so many unknown and unpredictability in the whole department, and any new things/initiatives are viewed sceptically. Better to just buy my time and do what I can do leisurely at work, while making sure I have time to do my translation jobs.

Hopefully I will not need to serve the full one year.. I hope to go to Japan in April to do my Master on Monbusho Scholarship... 保佑!保佑!!

Busy week..

Was very busy last weekend. Had to go back office and do the Teamsite application upgrading over Sat & Sun. And the run up to that week was on course for 4 days and had to stay back late in the office.

And becos of that I had to miss not 1 but 2 weddings. One of them is a friend from my BM schooldays, June. We were in the same class during Form 4 and 5 in BM Convent. We werent very close, but were good friends. We lost touch when she came to Singapore for her JC, while I stayed back to take me Form Six. After graduating from NUS, we bumped into each other in Khatib, and we became housemates for almost 5 years. I feel bad for missing her wedding, cos I wanted to see her grandma and mum again. They all are very nice people..

This year I had 4 wedding invitations, and yet I didnt make it even one of them. I was down with fever for YP's wedding in Sep, then my back ache bedded me for several days in Nov and caused me to miss SF's wedding. Then in Nov, work made me missed out on Patsy and then June's wedding. Maybe weddings and me just isn't right...

Is my conscious turning bad?

Two weeks ago, on my way to office, in the bus, the guy sitting next to me dropped his hand phone. I didn’t realize it until the next guy who wanted to sit pointed it out to me, asking me if it’s my phone. Being an honest person, I said no. Then the dilemma arises. After stating the phone is not mine, what am I going to do with it?? The guy who lost his phone is still unaware of his lost and has got off the bus. I took the phone in my hand started to think… I had no choice but to pass it to the bus driver.

After getting off the bus, I was agonizing over the ‘lost’ of a new hand phone.. Several ‘what-if’ scenarios kept playing in my mind.. What if I acknowledged the phone as mine.. What if the person didn’t see it, and I’m the only one who saw the lost phone.. What if I didn’t hand it over to the bus driver.. What if I just took the phone and ignore the person..

Maybe it’s just not my nature to take things that do not belong to me. And yet why do I feel the way I felt?? Mmm...

My 2nd 10km Run..

Barely made it...

Went for my 2nd StanChart Marathon's 10km run this morning.

This year I made it to the starting point on time, as the start-off time for 10km ladies was 7.30am. And I think I will stick to being late at least 15 mins.. The number of people there was crazy. Heard the emcee mentioned that there were about 16,000 ladies signed up for this 10km run.. No wonder...

Since this year I didnt train for it, my target was to finish in 100 - 120 minutes. As I was either down with fever or back ache almost every other week during the last 5 - 6 months, I told myself to just finish the race and stopped whenever my back hurts.

Along the 10km, I jogged and I walked. And I saw lots of sweaty bodies, men and women. Some of the guys running on the next lane in the opposite directions were running top naked. Some of them have good bodies, while some should just keep their shirts/jersey on... As for the gals, I can only comment that everyone has a different body/butt shape... hahahaha..

After huffing and puffing, I crossed the finish line around 95mins. Not bad for someone who didn't train at all..

Now almost 7 hours later, my no training is coming back to bite me. I feel pain whenever I try to move my left knee.. Hope it will be better tomorrow, else I'll have to hop around next week...