A great week ahead?

A weekend of welcomed rest, free from work.
Frustrations from knowing that the end of the week is here, that I have once again performed below expectations.
Apprehension at having to present lacklustre results and having to hear of impressive performances by others.
Excitement at the prospect of going to an exciting (that's what they all say) event, the same dreaded event mentioned above.
A better week ahead?

I WANT MY REIMBURSEMENT !!!

Perhaps the goal-setting session would provide the spark I need.

To Batam. To success.

Is my degree recognised?

Just read the latest entry on Wei Ren's blog(OK... So it has been there for a few days already...). I agree with most of his points regarding my UOL degree, but I believe a 2nd upper or 1st class honours degree from the UOL-external programme is worth more than he suggested. From what I've heard, a 2nd upper or 1st class degree gives a reasonable chance of getting into an MNC against competition from NUS, NTU and SMU graduates with relevant degrees, while the civil service tends to prefer graduates from the three local universities. Well, it's all talk from the grapevine, and I can only hope my sources are reliable. Haha... In any case, it's not that relevant in my current job, and if I stay at it (hopefully), I won't have to worry about the recognition given to my degree.

Of course that does not mean I can slack and be satisfied with a 3rd class or 2nd lower. In fact, I'm looking forward to the new term.

Hopefully by that time, I would have decided whether to disrupt from my NS liabilities. What a bother!

Relieved --> Stressed

Finally closed my first case yesterday. Not ecstatic though; just relieved that I finally cleared the first hurdle, especially since I would not have succeeded without Alfred's help.

I'm tired. Looking forward to a relaxing session at Batam. Hope it's not too stressful...

I think I've stepped on someone toes. Did I misinterprete her views, or did she misunderstand me? Or maybe it's just her not being in the mood to entertain others, as she suggested? She told me not to worry when I asked if she was offended, but after reading her blog entry, I'm not so sure. Perhaps she is not offended, but just VERY annoyed? Or maybe she's referring to someone else?

I really should stop second-guessing others, before people get so frustrated that they give up trying to explain how they feel and any misunderstanding deepens into a chasm...

Hiaz... Now I don't dare to talk to her in case she's really referring to me. In which case I would be bugging her again. Perhaps I can try to clear my doubts after the trip...

Why am I so affected by how people feel about me? Arghhhh!!! :-(

Small Singapore, large Chinese population

Met many friends over the past few days, hoping to meet more. There are some people I really hope to meet, especially Bert, who is forever cocooned in his world of music.

It shouldn't be too difficult, since Singapore is so small. To think that the owner of a used-to-be-irritating maltese is now my colleague. And I didn't even recognise him at first. Wonder what's next. Perhaps one day I will realise that my neighbour is my manager's relative, or my dad's colleague is my friend's mum. Haha...

One final observation: there are A LOT of Chinese (as in Chinese nationals, aka China people - hope this doesn't sound offensive) in Singapore. Although official statistics puts the figure at a few hundred thousands(i think it's less than 500k), it seems like a million to me. Maybe one day there will be more Chinese from China than Singapore, in our homeland. Haha...

My prediction: In year 2100, there will be 5 official races in Singapore - Chinese, Malay, Indian, Eurasian and Chinese PR. Haha...

Whatever the case, peace and harmony is the most important. We shall remain as one people, one nation, one Singapore!!! (perhaps I'll get a National Day award for this show of patriotism)

When can I rest? But I've only just started...

I'm so tired...

After a week of intensive training and some less stressful mental exertions, I'm finally ready to start work. Sort of. Still got a lot to learn actually. And a lot of sleep debt to 'clear'.

In short, I'm now a somnambulistic entity with an engorged brain, aching back and numb legs.

Hope AMK will yield better returns. May I be blessed with helpful souls who will in turn get to benefit from my service. I believe the liars at Bukit Batok today are an anomaly (I hope).

~Alas! The world is ridden with deceit. Pragmatism rules over conscience! I shall attempt to resist the devastating plague. No filling of resume with blatant lies or avoiding people doing survey with chants of " I'm busy ", only to be seen loitering in the area for the subsequent hour.~

'07 Exams - Part 2 : Temporary freedom from academic imprisonment

Holidays...somehow it does not feel very different from the exam period. I guess this means I could (and should) have studied harder. Whatever. It's too late now.

PBF was not quite up to expectations. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that all-important 'A'. Then again, it's not quite realistic to keep my fingers crossed for the next few months. Perhaps I should find some four-leaf clovers.

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There was a fire in a flat in the opposite block on Sunday. I was not aware of it even though my room was facing that flat. Somehow I managed to smell the smoke only when my mum alerted me to it - a case of delayed reaction? Rushing to the windows, I saw that a crowd had gathered below, looking up at the billowing smoke. Some were taking photos - perhaps to send to STomp? I took shots with my phone's camera, but they were rather blur. Too bad, no pictures for this kay poh...

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Was at AMK Central today. AMK Hub was so different from the last time I went there, when occupancy was barely 50%. Now it seems like a fusion of J8 and TPY bus interchange.

The other areas of AMK Central was much quieter than my last visit, which was not at all surprising. The inexorable invasion of malls into the heartlands is undeniably detrimental to the neighbourhood shops, but there can only be sympathy for these legacies from a period of lower population. The space crunch and the general(younger) population's preference for a 'all-in-one' concept will eventually result in the decimation of most neighbourhood shops - or at least those in town centre... (I'm not quite sure where this is heading, so let's change the topic)

Anyway, I met quite a few old friends today: Yin Lin, Shawn, and of course, Peng Fei. I met Peng Fei at the bus interchange while waiting for the same bus. Apparently, he was having nights off, and was going back to camp after buying a $5 pillow. Good investment I suppose, but not absolutely necessary. Afterall, I spent many months with mouldy pillows in the army, and my head's fine! Other than the occasional itch, but I doubt it has anything to do with the pillows. I believe they are usable as long as you wash the cover regularly. Besides, he's only got 5 more months to go.

I found out he is in my former camp, but different unit. Chatting with him about camp brought back so many memories of that quaint settlement of British legacy - an ancient civilisation sheltered by lush greenery from towering HDB flats a few kilometres away. An interesting milieu indeed!

Oh, I also met Mediacorp actress, Carole Lin. Looks pretty much the same in real life...

'07 Exams - Part 1

During the exams...

Econs and Stats were terrible. Thanks to a serving of contaminated curry, I was plagued by diarrhoea throughout the two days. I ended up in the toilet for 10mins on each day, during my exam. I did not manage to finish either paper, although the toilet trip was not the main reason. I was too slow in a relatively easy Econs paper, while the Stats paper was truly a monster. The most of the supposely easy questions require either lots of critical thinking or tedious workings, while the tougher questions were allocated huge chunks of marks. It did not help that Section A was a real killer, and following the examiner's advice of doing Section A first(she said we should do it first because it is easier), I was depleted of time and energy by the time I reached the relatively easier Section B. She probably found it funny to award four measly marks to the calculation of mean, median, range and interquartile range of 12 numbers! In my opinion, the interquartile range alone is worth four marks.

Maths was better, but not as good as I had hoped for. Given my poor performance for Stats, I figured I would need at least 90 for Maths to achieve an A for Maths/Stats (they have to be combined as each is a half-unit). No joy there, unfortunately. Still, I should get A for Maths...


Outside the exam hall...

I met Alvin outside Expo MRT after my Econs paper, and he almost did not recognise me. He is working for Kaplan, and was giving out brochures for ACCA courses, specifically targeted at UOL students. I was not interested in the courses, but the free pen was good. Haha..

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Last Saturday was a warm day. I was trying hard to keep my eyes open while reading the papers when I received a dreaded call.

"...You have been mobilised..."

It sparked a flurry of calls and SMSes to friends to find out what I was supposed to bring when reporting. No one knew. There was also no relevant information on the NS website, and no one answered the phone at the admin centre. I even made a call to BMTC School 1 by accident.

Turns out we only had to report in our uniform. Thankfully, with advice from my father, I did not bring too much unnecessary stuff, unlike some of my friends. It was nice to meet up with friends and catch up with one another, if not for the fact I was in the midst of my exam...

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On Monday afternoon, I watched Spiderman 3 with Kang, after my Maths paper. I thought it was pretty good, though there were too many elements in the show. Sam Raimi tried to do too much, which resulted in the movie flitting from one scene to another. There were also some minor inaccuracies that Spiderman fans would not be too thrilled about. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the spectacular fighting scenes and the touching moments, especially the one near the end where Harry and Peter became friends again and fought Venom and Sandman to save Mary Jane.