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。。

Sunday, April 30, 2006

PM Lee and Wife.. and Gang...

Had a good suprise this morning..

Went to buy breakfast at the nearby hawker centre this morning.. Saw a group of people in whites walking towards the wet market and hawker centre. Didn't give much of a thought, until I heard an uncle say to his friend, "Eh! You dont want to go shake Lee Hsien Loong's hand ah?". Oh.. PM Lee is here to do campaigning/canvassing for votes... Not a busybody in nature, I went ahead to my usual stores to get my 猪肠粉 and 豆花. Just in front of the hawker centre, there was a tent, with tables and chairs, oh, they (the PAP 'entourage') are going to have breakfast here! Later I did catch a glimpse of PM Lee and also his wife, Mdm Ho Ching. Mmmm.. how shall I describe him and her? He looks younger than he seems on TV, and she looks much better in real person than on prints. All around them, I can see the people are excited, even those who tried to act "no-big-deal seeing the PM" and was still trying to steal a few glances of him. Didn't had the chance to shake his hand though... He was off to somewhere else alone when his entourage was there tucking in to the food.

Well, having seen the PM of Spore today, I must admit, PM Lee has the look and 气势 of a Prime Minister, a no-nonsense person who is also approachable.. Actually, I would love to meet SM Goh Chok Tong and MM Lee Kuan Yew more than PM Lee Hsien Loong. I had the chance to meet with PM Abdullah Badawi in 1993 while he was still the foreign minister when he came to BM High School as an Old Boy for some event. PM Badawi looked very mild and non-threatening then, and I believe he still is now. I can feel the dynamism, purposeness and alertness of PM Lee today, even when he was supposed to be 与人民打成一片. Maybe PM Badawi has changed, maybe. However, I can imagine when the both of them stand together or even have a discussion, PM Lee will surely 把 PM Badawi 吃了.. or at least has the 气势 of doing so. No wonder Msian government can't win any fights/debates with Spore, 战还没打,气势就被人比了下来;说理又未必说得过人家;若真的打起战来,肯定打不过人家. 可悲啊。。。

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Very Efficient or Very Kiasu??

When I got home from work last Thursday, immediately I noticed lots of posters of Lee Hsien Loong and the Ang Mo Kio GRC (Group Representative Contituency) on lamp posts and other public open spaces.. So, the Opposition is going to challenge PM Lee and his gang of merry men/women at his home turf...

On that night itself (Thursday, 27 Apr), the MP for this area, Dr Inderjit Singh was going door to door in my block canvassing for votes! Wow! This is really efficient! On my bus trip home last Friday, I could see stadium and open spaces being turned into rally sites for all the political parties. The next few days, during the run-up to the election on the 06 May, everyone's attention will be focused on it, even PRs like myself..

Bed Hunting... Shoes Searching..

Woke up around 10am this morning, had breakfast and went to Ang Mo Kio Central. Took the free shuttle service from AMK MRT station to IKEA. Went straight to the bed section and sat on several set of mattresses on display. Wanted to get a firmer bed, but decided on a softer one after reading up on the in-store mattress guide. Since I sleep more on my side than on my back, a firmer bed is not ideal as it will not allow my hip and shoulder to sink down to maintain a straight spine. The mattress comes with a 10year warranty, and will be delivered to me next Saturday. Hopefully, by mid May, my bad back will recover..

Since I was in the vicinity, I went to Queen's Town Shopping center, 'the' place to get cheap sport shoes. I bought myself a New Balance 766 Running Shoes. A men's running shoes, as there are no women shoes with my sizes.. :( That's the pain of having huge feet! I had to always 'hunt' for shoes, and always get frustrated when I can't have the ones that I like. Either I liked the design but none fitted, or it fits me nicely but I don't like the design... Thus most of the time I ended wearing men's running shoes... In this case I had to take size 9.5!!

So at the end of the day, I had bought myself a new mattress and a pair of new running shoes.. All these costed me a total of $350, I do feel the pinch but I think they are good investment... Thank god for those translation jobs.. :)

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

It is raining but I'm not running...

It's JP Morgan Run today, but I won't be running, cos I want to give my back sufficient rest before doing anything rigorous.. That is the main and official reason for not running, although there is another lesser reason to it.. I have not been running for a while, due to me being sick or injuried, at least not consistently, thus I will not be ablt to, maybe, even match my last year's timing.

So I shall give this Run a miss and concentrate on getting better and healthier so I can prepare more fully for this year's Standard Chartered Marathon! My aim is to finish 10km run within 70mins or even lesser!!

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

And they asked me again...

Yesterday, my bosses (both HP and VISA) asked me to go downstairs to a cafe for coffee.. When she called, I immediately knew what it was all about...

Well, they have been looking for someone to be the 'assistant' to my VISA boss, managing the teams, which will comprise of my current application support team and the server administrators. She wanted to delegate all her current BAU (Business As Usual) tasks and jobs to this person, and free herself to do other things.. This person will have to handle all BAUs, audit preparation, BCM planning, attending meeting on operational issues, etc. To put it plainly, she wants someone to do her dirty job... to be the one to be blame by the development department for executing her process and procedures that sometimes doesn't make sense.. to be the scapegoat to pin the blame on if any complaints about operations come in.. That person has to handle her, manage her in a sense, while at the same time manage the group of engineers who will be doing the grunt work (which is us). So, I told both of them almost immediately that I'm not interested, as I dont think I'm a good enough manager to do the job. I do not want the responsibility that will come with it and I not 奸 enough to be a manager. And since I know I wont be able to do a good job, why make the people under me suffer? That's what I told them... :P

This is the third time they ask me to take up a 'managing' position.. I rejected them the first time when they ask me to be the team lead for the application support team. The second time was to take charge of the application monitoring team, which I agreed to and is currently doing. This is the third time. If the job scope has more prospects and this managerial role is a permanent position, I will take it up. But being a 'contracted' manager is a double whammy to me. 非常吃力不讨好。With the added responsibilities and the title of 'Manager', one's salary does not necessarily reflects such 'promotion'. Without a decent pay raise and still remaining as a contracted staff, I would rather spend my time doing things that I like, for example taking Japanese lessons and doing translations jobs.

Frankly, the title 'Manager' is overrated. Everyone wants to be a manager, but not everybody can be a good manager. Rather than being a manager who is being cursed for incompetentcy (and/or other idiotic behaviours), I rather stay as an engineer doing the cursing! :P

Monday, April 24, 2006

She said they said.. They said she said..

So who exactly said what??

My boss is telling everyone that the other department is trying to make things difficult by making unreasonable demands and requests that are against the norm of any operation department. While they (the other dept) are saying that my boss refuses to listen to their side of the story and put words into their mouths... So exactly what went on during their meeting is anybody's guess...

That was last friday.. when my boss had called an emergency meeting with only 3 of the 5 team members (as the other two was on mc and on course respectively). She told us that the other dept brought up a lot of 'exception' that we allegedly did that did not comply to procedures and were demanding that we allow such exceptions to be the norm in future! She said they said a lot of things that we did for them that didnt comply to our standard operating procedures. After hearing that I was very pissed. I went to ask two of the team members of the other dept for a talk at a cafe downstairs from the office. What they told me is totally different from what my boss told us! It's 2 different stories altogether...

Now who should I believe??

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Bad Back ..

Was on MC yesterday.. Bad back.. Had problem getting out of bed in the morning.. Can't bend down.. Luckily was okay by 9am.. but didn't feel like going to work.. so took mc.. :P

Think must really get a mattress soon, even the floor is not agreable with my back anymore.. Ikea is having a bedroom sale, maybe I'll go and take a look... Aiy.. need to spend money again..

Friday, April 14, 2006

Skype me!

Finally installed Skype on my PC... and gotten a microphone...

My skype id is phaikimm2312. Feeling free to skype me!! :)

Thursday, April 13, 2006

气爆血管。。 举手投降。。

今天不应该上班。。真他妈的。。。

上个星期的烂摊子终于赖到我身上了。。。现在事情好像越闹越大,变成了两个部门对抗的political game。。。 怕死的‘男主角’昨天到处寻找靠山找借口,连‘敌人’都可以邀请下楼喝咖啡谈判,诉苦说我们指责他。。 真够贱的。。都不想一想当初事情如何爆发的。。就因为他向她救助! 真是个卒类!平时没兴趣学习我所做的一切,又在不应该打电话的时间打电话给我,在应该打的时候不打,真混蛋!当有事不明白应该打给我时不打,却可以在我回家过年时打通国际电话来跟我说我做错了一件小事!!

刚刚接到一通电话,有高层向我们的GM投诉我那24小时的team无能,无法support使用者的疑问或解决难题。结果HP的老板要我训那班小瓜,叫他们‘醒目’一点。哈!哈!笑话!那个team很快就不属于我管了。。我又何必费神处理呢? 简直是吃力不讨好,枉费我一番心思。。本来是烂摊子没人要的一个team,我好不容易费了几个月的心血、时间和精力,把所有应该做的应该有的都做齐了做全了之后,现在竟要我双手奉送给当初把team搞砸的那班人渣!我不甘心!!

因为(又是)一场重组使得我们的工作范围又起了变化,另外一组server operations将归我Visa的老板娘管,本来的24小时小组将重回另一老板的权力范围内。真是大风吹,三天两头就重组一次,搞到每个人心惶惶的,做什么事都畏首畏脚的,战战兢兢的,很不健康。。

现在,因为这事件我被令必须把所有一切technical knowledge记录下来,传给那位uncle。。 他妈的!真当我很闲空是吗?管那几个小瓜就已经够我烦的了,现在还要babysit这位大叔,哇,当我是管家婆啊??!!他妈的,一想到他的薪水比我高S$1.8K就心理不平衡。。 很想对他大骂,但想一想这么做对我没好处,所以只能在这里发泄!! 啊!!!!!! 烦啊!!!

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

突然,心情变糟。。

不知何故心情突然间变得很糟。。

突然不想与其他的同事说“鸟话”,参与他们的话题聊天。。突然觉得有点倦意,对任何事都好像有心无力的。。突然对身边的人和事都存有消极的看法。。突然兰天好像变得灰暗了,似快下雨了。。突然想听一些慢歌,一些不开心的歌。。突然想掉眼泪。。突然想远离人群,呆在家里。。突然。。

也许是荷尔蒙作怪吧。。

Freezing my nose off....

My nose is running again.. and there is nothing much I can do to help it....

The usual 45min bus trip from home to office is a torture today, with the inconsiderate person sitting behind me directing both the aircon 'holes' at my back! When I finally reached office, thinking that I'll have a warmer environment, the temperature of the Operation Command Center is set at 15 degree Celcius!!! What the fish!!

So now, my nose is running at about 5 tissues per minute.. :(

Sunday, April 09, 2006

The past week...

Last friday after my course ended early, I went to a Buddhist temple to pray. It is a temple located near the Farrer Park MRT, one that my friend introduced me to. Haven't been there for quite a while. It wasn't very convenient going from my AMK house. It closes at 4:45pm everyday, so I can't go during weekdays, and I'm too lazy to go all the way there just to pray during weekends. The auntie there has given me some good advice several years ago and I'll go there once in a while to get a peace of mind and hear some nagging from her...

Sat & Sun was spent reading and sleeping.. Was playing online game til 2-3am the last 2 nights. Will need to sleep early tonight, tomorrow need to work... But been having stomach upset since ard 9pm.. running to the toilet until my legs lembik.. Hopefully I will feel better in the morning..

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Friends...

The Best of Friends
© Jill Wolf

When friendships undergo a test
It's often found old friends are best;
The sampler on the parlour wall
Has these few lines which say it all;
The best of friends can change a frown
Into a smile when you feel down.
The best of friends will understand
Your little trials and lend a hand.
The best of friends will always share
Your secret dreams because they care.
The best of friends, worth more than gold,
Give all the love a heart can hold.



知己 (作词:武雄 唱:卜学亮, 黄子佼)
人海中, 遇见你, 从朋友, 变知己
共患难,同欢喜, 友谊常在我心底

象一个流星, 划过了天籍
是命运让我,能于你相遇
也许短暂, 却更美丽

感谢你一路,陪我到这里
是一种缘份, 有一种默契
让我生命,充满惊喜

人海中, 遇见你, 从朋友, 变知己
共患难,同欢喜, 友谊常存我心底

我翻开照片, 看见了过去
我们的样子,都耸得可以
笑容却是,如此熟悉
当初的约定, 我不曾经忘记
未来的梦想,依然很清晰
我也常常,向别人提起

世上总没有,不散的宴席
我们却变成,永远的知己
彼此加油, 互相勉力
未来的岁月,无论在那里
你要更用功, 我会更努力
期待着再次于你相遇

好朋友, 我感谢你
让我生命拥有,喃喃可贵的意义
纵然是各分东西, 请不要忘记
我会永远,永远祝福你

人海中, 遇见你, 从朋友, 变知己
共患难,同欢喜, 友谊常存我心底





Thank you all for being my friend...

Drama in office.. (will most probably be seen as) my fault (?) and I wasn't even there!!

Got an sms from one of my colleagues (not from the same dept) about some happenings today in office, that seemed to have been aggravated by me not being around!

This is her side of the happening, which I shall reserved any judgement to its authencity.....

Some users wanted to publish some contents to their website using the application that I am administrating. Due to the high volume, the application seemed to have hanged and stopped working. Thus the need to ask for my team's intervention to get those contents published. Instead of helping the users immediately on this production issue, my boss has requested them to send in an emergency request and get all the relevant approvals/sign-offs before allowing my team to action. This is one point of contention, as the users see no reason for this need when the contents have already gone thru the proper and complete approval process.

Anyway, the users have submitted whatever that my boss has requested and then it was my team's turn to remedy the situation. As I wasn't in office the whole week, that responsibility was passed to my colleague. Due to unknown reasons (which I will clarify when I get back office next week), he was unable to perform that task! So in the end, they had to ask the users' representative (the same person who sms-ed me the first place) to come into the operations center and help my team to fix the problem!! That was the other point of contention, as this issue was escalated all the way to my boss's boss, since my team is not able to perform the task that we are supposed to do. No wonder, she said she rather have me around to fix all problems.

Normally, if there is any failure in publishing, I'll just resubmit those publishing requests and they will work. Even if the failure remains, I can do a quick remedy (restart the application, etc) and that will resolve that problem. There is no need to ask my boss for advice as this is a production issue, which we are more familiar with their resolutions. I will just notify her once the problem has been resolved. There is no need to go through an entire round of approval/signing-off.

Frankly, there is no need to escalate things so high up in the command hierarchy. And if everyone knows their stuff, all these won't have happened in the first place. The users shouldn't have published so much web contents within such a short period of time that they actually jammed/hanged the application. My boss shouldn't have asked them to perform so many paperworks before remedying the problem, all these can be done after the problem is fixed. My colleague shouldn't have NOT known how to do the republishing of contents, as he has done it many times. My colleague should have called me before approaching the users themselves for help, especially after being 'tekan' by my boss.

Honestly, what pissed me off the most is the last point. I'm just a phone call away, and yet they didn't call me.. That shows how much they treat me as part of their team... Am I that unapproachable?? I think there will be a big hoo-ha this coming Monday when I get back to work. My boss will definately ask me why I didn't teach that colleague of mine what I was doing on that application.. We are supposed to back each other up when the other is not around. Everyone is busy with their own responsibilities. So.. I can't help it nor can I force them if they are reluctant/have no time to learn. Really hate it when these kinds of things happen... Really affected my mood tonight..

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

学日语。。

上了两堂日语课,头脑里尽塞满了あいうえおなにぬねの。。

也许Ooya-っせんし希望我们能学会并学到更多的日语,所以在那短短的六个小时里教了很多很多。让大家都感到有点吃不消,information overload。而且她还说从第三堂课开始她将不会写romanji,只写Hiragana! 所以为了能了解Sensei接下来的课,我必须把那些三十多、四十个Hiragana全背熟。。

为了我能在今年年底参加JLPT Level 4/3的考试,我必须加油!!がんばって!

搭错车,下对站

昨天搭错了巴士,绕了一圈国大附近的邻里,让我有机会看一看八、九年前曾经熟悉的‘风景’。

从The ComTech Building走出,过了马路,本应该搭97、100、166或963号巴士的,但也许因为鼻子又再作怪,脑袋有点晕沉沉的,竟然上了51号巴士,直往Pasir Panjang路奔去。刚开始我还没意识到情况,只是觉得为什么这巴士会走这条路线,好像离HarbourFront越来越远了!一直到巴士驶过了虎豹别墅,绕过了Science Park II,我才惊觉到我上错了巴士,这巴士将开往Jurong,而不是HarbourFront!!这时我赶快按铃下车。

下了车到了对面的巴士站,我才对自己的大意觉得好笑。上了我向司机确认的确是开往HarbourFront的巴士之后,找了个靠窗的位子坐了下来,开始好好地欣赏这条‘错’路的风景。许多曾熟悉的店屋都已改变了模样,被翻新的翻新,被拆除的拆除,所剩下只有我记忆里的样貌了。车上有不少国大的学弟学妹们,看着他们不禁想起当年的自己。哇!那好像是很久很久以前的事了。。

想想十二年前我只身从槟城下新加坡念大学,很有缘地被安排与一位父母是马国公民,但是在新加坡出世的女生同住一间房间,共同生活了两个学期,并在接下来的3年里住在隔壁,成了好邻居。加上另外一位也是在宿舍认识的好友,她们两人可说是我在新加坡认识最久的好朋友了。直到现在我们还是会相约出来聊聊天,吃吃饭。明天我就约了这位国大时期的好友兼室友吃饭。

Saturday, April 01, 2006

9MP.. OMG...

For fellow Malaysian, they know what 9MP stands for, "9th Malaysia Plan", but to me, it's more like "9th Malay Plan". When I read about it in newspapers and blogs, I couldn't help but feel both pissed and amused.. Let me explain...

-> Two New Universities in Terengganu and Kelantan.
Why do they need new universities for? To churn out more unemployed and unemployable grads?? Use that money to improve those existing universities and regain back the quality that UM and USM used to have. Use that money to employ more qualified lecturers/professors/VC. Use that money to buy better and newer equipments for the labs.

-> Exhance Bumiputera property ownership with RM$2billion initial allocation
WHAT?? Who will be accountable for those money? Who will own the properties that will be bought with that money? Or they are going to buy properties using those money and give them to Malay entrepreneurs? Who will check and make sure the ROI of those properties bought? Who can make sure that this will benefit the majority of the rural Malay folks?

-> Expanding KLIA's passager handling capacity
And allow the airport workers to have more money to buy more sophisticate tools to pry open our luggages? If only they can improve the efficiency of the ground crew, provide better in-flight meals and cut the airport taxes, they will be able to give Changi a run for it's money.

-> National Deficit ballooning to RM351.3 billion by end of 2010.
WAH!! That amount is equivalent to almost half of Malaysia's GDP. So who will pay for those deficits? Malaysia govenrment has been suffering deficit for the past 8 years. How do they think they are going to reverse the situation come 2010? Comparatively, the RM$4 billion savings from cutting fuel subsidies seem a lot like a drop in the ocean now. And they are thinking of using EPF money to finance that.. Wow!!

-> PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was closed to tears and had to be patted on the back by DPM Najob..
Oh please! Just because Tun Mahathir had his crying moments during one of the past UMNO assembly doesn't mean that PM Badawi has to have one too.. What is there to get emotional about? Ntional development is a cold number game. Either we can accomplish Wawasan2020, or we failed. Frankly all these emotional outbursts are soo unbecoming of our MP and ministers. Yes, they are supposed to be emphatic and feel for the rakyat, but there is no need to cry or shed tears every time they want to make a statement.

The above are just some of my personal comments.. Sometimes I really wonder what Malaysia will be like in 10 or 20 years time. Will the Chinese still stun the civil service and armed forces? Will police still continue asking citizens if they want to 'settle' and not booked them immediately? Will it still have citizens who identify themselves as Chinese/Malay/Indian, instead of Malaysian? Will there be students scoring obscene numbers of As in SPM/STPM and yet can't think on their own? Will there be thousands of graduates with degrees that is of no practical use in real life? Or graduates who need to be re-educated to be employable? Will it really (or finally) gone to the dogs? or will it flourish amid the economic shadow of China and India? Only time will tell...

Hairs off!

Went for a haircut this morning. Couldn't stand my hair curling the wrong way..

I've been going to this same hairstylist, Eileen, for almost 3.5 years now. Her saloon is at Ang Mo Kio Ave 10. Ever since I moved to Ang Mo Kio, I've been walking to her saloon every time I needed a haircut. It was a quick 20-25min walk. I tend to make my appointment with her in the morning, around 10 or 11am, so I can walk under the morning sun and get some much needed Vit-D.

I tend to stay with one stylist as I am very particular about letting strangers touching my hair. My mum has been cutting my hair since I was born until I was in my 2nd year in NUS. My previous stylist had cut my hair for almost 5 years. I left her because of her pricing and also because of a recommendation and review (of the current stylist) by my friend. She used to charge $28 for a simple haircut, then the price keep going up, until it's almost $40!! While my current hairstylist, Eileen, has been charging me $20 for the past 3 years.

I trust Eileen for her professionalism and will take her advice on the style that suits me. I am not very brave in experimenting with new hairstyles nor colors. So I tend to get back the same hair style most of the time, unless I felt I'm up for a new look. Maybe next time I might try something new..

But one thing for sure, I'm not suitable for long hair. It just looked weird on me and furthermore, my hair roots are quite weak thus resulting in more hair loss. All these years, I've only had long hair once, during my last year in NUS, for about 6 months. It was a total disaster and I can sense my hair was thinning at an alarming rate. Of course not to mention the amount of shampoo needed for long hair.. So aesthetic and cost wise, I will stick to short hair.. :)