Sunday, March 28, 2010
Even if I don't save them and blog straight away, I still take a while to type an entry cos of the extreme length. This is yet another such entry =P
The week that passed was one of the more fulfilling weeks than others so far this year. Started with more tuition and job huntings. A number of calls of each even though no good news right now. Even though I'm still feeling lost right now, I don't feel so afraid of the future already. Even though I'm still aimless, I'm hopeful of the future :)
Applied for Perm Executive Officer on tuesday and I went for an interview on friday. But it was not for the perm position but for a temp position at another department - Research Office in NTU. It was a stressful interview because I ran out of adjectives to describe myself lol... 5 strengths and 5 weaknesses leh, people usually ask 3 each isn't it? Haha so I got caught.
There was a written test of 7 questions before the verbal interview as well... Ok, here's to my photographic memory (not exact phrasing):
1. Tell us about your academic background, famly and work experience.
2. Have you worked in NTU before?
3. Do you know of any recent research and innovation in Singapore from the media?
4. Are you aware of the Singapore-based universities? If so, write a brief paragraph (about 200 words) about each of the university.
5. [Show how data can be retrieved from the funding application form and latter of award.] - this was actually a question testing how to create tables and such.
6. You have been chasing Prof Busy for a write-up for a web update. He has not responded to your calls and emails. Show how you would write an email to him as a final reminder.
7. You are required to get a list of projects from the schools. Miss Difficult is known to be rude and difficult to work with. Write an email to tell her of her mistakes and the request in such a way that she would not be defensive.
And I must confess one hour is not enough to complete the test. Although I was assured it was okay haha... I didn't feel assured. Nonetheless, as least I knew whether I would fit into the environment. It was too dull... sitting there typing in front of the desktop and cracking your brain how to draft the emails. Ugh.
Yesterday, the boyfriend and I went to Suntec for CareerExpo organised by JobsDB.com. Don't wanna start commenting on the scale of the fair. Or have I just made a comment? According to him, it was in no way comparable to the one in NTU. I think they were about the same except for a larger proportion of financial consulting firms and supposed no engineering firms. Hey hey, I'm not badmouthing the finance industry ah. In fact, I'm keeping a very open mind of it now. Yeah.
It's not the first time I've people telling me I don't look Singaporean. What do you think, do you think the same now after I say this? But I especially like to hear that I "don't look 24". Haha... let's hope I can keep looking younger than my age :) After we're done at Suntec, we took bus to Chinatown for our dinner. Yes, we had a hearty dinner of xiao long baos, rice dumpling, yam cake and hokkien mee amounting to $12 or so. We went home two very much healthy and happy individuals ^^
Oh I have a news to share. It is in no way related to me though or maybe a little. On wednesday night, I received a call from good ol' Chloe. But I still prefer to call her Szehua, I mean cos that's what I knew her as. Maybe thus, I also prefer to call rabbit Xiuling instead of Fydia.
Ok, dear Szehua is now engaged to her bf. Yes, Victor (but I still prefer to call him Junwei haha) proposed to her that exact date, 23 March 2010. I'm honoured to be one of the first ones to know and what's more I knew it from her personally. It had a certain impact on me cos I should say it's the first time someone close in my small circle of friends is getting engaged.
Hmm, unless Qiaofen is engaged but she didn't say la haha but I think no. But Qiaofen is definitely the next likely to drop the bomb. The similar thing for both Qf and Sh is that they both have already applied for HBD flat with their other halves so ya... I supposed I'm right to suggest Qf would be next =P
Anyway I almost couldn't say anything when I heard the news, except to rumble oh-my-god, oh-my-god... Oh-my-god, how was it? Oh-my-god, congrats. Oh-my-god, did you cry? Oh-my-god, I was still thinking when will you drop the bomb since you already applied for a flat. Geez, I was really happy for her. Cos after so many years, I'm sure friends around her including me have believed and seen for ourselves how they are meant for each other.
Right, I do not deny I still had quelms about her way of handling issues sometimes but I have to admit over the years she's toned down a lot already and I've come to realise, she is a good friend to me. If it wasn't for her, my life in MSE would have been much worse. Yes, I'm not the best kind of friend to her at times, but since a long time ago, I have been sincere towards her already. In a way that I don't have to worry about saying no to her, or telling her how I feel exactly. She may not be my best friend in my heart, but I think we have a kinda special friendship. Thanks for asking me to be one of your bridesmaid. It only goes to show how much our friendship means to you.
Congrats Szehua & Junwei on your engagement :)
Labels: Dear, Engagement, Interviews
It was a love story @ 20:08
baby,just say yes.
baby,just say yes.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Time to do some updates before I either forget or have too much to type...
14 Mar
Met dear at Anchorpoint, we walked around and went to Queensway shopping centre. I got a new pair of shorts haha. Regretted not looking at the pants at G2000 cos I want to get new working pants for the future yeah. We wasted no time and went taking bus to Tiong Bahru for our late lunch... just nice before it started to rain heavily. Cos you know we had no umbrella and there's not shelter from Queensway shopping centre to the bus stop.
We shared double sliced fish soup with rice... cheap and healthy :) After that we walked around Popular cos I wanted to get some supplies but dear didn't want me to buy on impulse haha so I had to sneak back to cck to buy. Spent close to an hour in LotOne's Popular cos I couldn't seem to find the things I wanted. But I did get some of the things I needed to make some cards... yeah continuing with my cardmaking =p
15 Mar
Nothing else. It's the March holidays for the school-going kids. No tuition at night cos tutee had plans. Job searching online and sending resumes the whole day...
17 Mar
Went for an interview at Smith Street, Chinatown - Sales & Marketing Management Trainee. Ok, to be frank I was skeptical about doing sales but yet I think it is fun do be in marketing. So I went ahead... turned out that the managing director who interviewed us(group interview of 3 of us cos scheduling problem) cleared my doubts in that area. However, I have to admit I was not pleasantly surprised to know that their client for one of their projects is National Cancer Centre. I had recently read about NCC outsourcing their "sales & marketing" which is actually acquiring fixed giro donors. So this is what it was all about...
Of the 3 candidates, I was the only degree holder (holding an unrelated degree). One was a fresh graduate from Temasek poly from Tourism & Hospitality and the other had graduated from MDIS whom had a lot of F&B experience.
The journey back home was with the poly grad (I've forgotten her name) cos she stayed in Yew Tee with her brother. She's 21 years old and was a foreign student from Myanmar who had been invited to obtain a PR and so she could stayed on to look for jobs. Her brother had graduated from NUS and is now doing programming. She is of mixed blood, about 4 types. So her features are very prominent. We had tons to talk about on the mrt... it was refreshing for me :)
She told me she will only work for 2 years after which she hopes to further her studies in the US. We ended up talking about work & travel which is really horizon-widening in a short span of time cos I've course mates who worked at theme parks at New Jersey. Nice lor... I told her I would want to take up courses like BA or Acct in future when I had a stable income to upgrade myself.
We both agreed we didn't like the job cos it felt we would be obligated to stay on after the training although the director said there is no contract. Anyway I was offered but I rejected it cos I certainly don't wish to do hard-selling for NCC... I don't know about her but I think she would most likely be offered a job in either IR cos she's holding a very related diploma from the industry.
19 Mar
My 3 lovely cousins came over from Pasir Ris and reached my house at 2pm. We were supposed to have a 2D1N camp but you see, we didn't plan itinerary earlier so we spent the 2 hours rotting at home. Jia Hui was trying to do her JC maths tutorial and Qing Ying was playing maple with Marcus while Jing Hui surfed the net with me.
When we finally decided to go Farmart, it was already about 4.45pm and we chop chop prepared to go out cos the next shuttle was 5.30pm at cck. We managed to board the shuttle bus and reached the place, but sad to say we spent only 20mins and finished walking cos most shops were not opened at that time (already) and it was starting to drizzle so we hopped onto the same shuttle bus back to cck. Spent $1 per person on the shuttle so about $5 went down to the drain haha...
We were hungry by then and had economic bee hoon and mee at Fei Siong. A warm and filing meal cos of the cold weather... we then went up to the Arcade to watch people play. We chanced upon the photo-hunting machine and got a free play leh... must be someone hit twice with the card be. Many new machines since the last time I've been to an arcade myself. Sigh... gone were the days - I could still remember Bong, Kt and Wx competing on the drum machine. And maybe I do miss challenging each other on the Daytona. Oh and playing photo-hunting with Jing Xi etc and the Bp gang too.
We went home around 7pm... very fast right haha. My mum already prepared fried rice during lunch and it was in the rice cooker all day. My dad came home not long after and we all took turns to bathe and then had dinner together. Then we slacked around playing cards etc. Then we watched Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief on the laptop (connected to the big TV screen) in the living room. All of us were spread on the floor much like chalet or sorts...
Movie ended around 12.30am and we went to bed. The 3 girls had my bedroom while I slept in the study room. Cos I didn't want to squeeze and I'm not used to sleeping in air con, especially on an already cooling night.
20 Mar
Sheryl(friend I've made during last SIA interview) smsed me the night before asking if I would be going today for the interview. She wasn't so sure yet... and I told her I'm not going already. Turned out she smsed me in the morning she didn't go as well le. Sigh, all of us wannabes-no-more.
Anyway, cos it was already decided we would be going to the zoo today so we went ahead already the weather didn't seem fine. Should have listened to my plan of heeding the weather forecast - Plan A (no rain): Zoo, Plan B (rain) : Science Centre & Snow City.
Geez, at least now we know next time heed the weather forecast!
This was my visit to the zoo within 2 months...haha so I'm only uploading pics showing people. Serene & Leon joined us for the zoo trip as well. Apparently my cousins were either not used to taking pictures or didn't like taking pictures. Most of the pics I took were candid shots. Thus, hardly any pics with me - me being the photographer =p
Labels: Dear, Family, Interviews, Zoo
It was a love story @ 16:47
baby,just say yes.
baby,just say yes.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
I made simple tuna and ham sandwiches for our dinner. Cos we wouldn't have time to meet for dinner before that and it's healthier and more budget this way :) he loves ham sandwiches, or maybe just the cold ham?
I made a tub of colesaw and only bought enough for him... strawberries are love! Loook at the deep red colour; they are not sour at all although I know strawberries are supposed to be sour. But they are really nice, gonna buy more on my next visit to the ntuc. Bought a box of these Korean dalgi (yes, strawberry in Korean) for ~$3.
Tickets to the performance. $12/-
** group pics are with xl's camera. shall gope from her fb when she upload =p
- edited 15march
Labels: Dear
It was a love story @ 08:26
baby,just say yes.
baby,just say yes.
Saturday, March 06, 2010
Laziness? Mind blank or mood swing? Haha... ya maybe the latter.
26 Feb (Fri)
Our 5 years 3 months. Met dear for dinner at Jurong West stadium for sushi. Didn't want to go far cos he had to go back hall to pack bag to go home for the weekends. We wanted simple and cheap jap dinner and we got what we wanted.
He likes ebiko, tamago, prawn and salmon. I like beancurd skin and salmon. I dislike any sushi that is spicy one... taste weird to me. We like salmon belly soup... but somehow it tasted a little little different from the past but we still finished it.
My new water bottle. Small = cute. Thanks dear :) and the tiko face haha...
27 Feb (Sat)
Went JB with family... supposed to meet the cuzzies at Kukup but got some misunderstanding and inconvenience so we didn't get to meet. Xiao gugu and da gugu families and Li Ling went in the morning to the chalet. Father drove us in in the evening with er gugu and we had seafood dinner there.
Ok some very messy photos... Marcus lighting up the fire crackers: from Mum showing him how to use the lighter, to him summoning his courage and walking up to my uncle's side, to him finally lighting the crackers and run!
Then we went inside the house...
And inside the house, actually outside worse... there were many worms, I don't know what is the exact name but you know those railway milipede kinda worms oh ya those that sometimes show up at PJC too lol...
In any case, I've got it on video. And I did cos I wanted to see exactly what kinda mechanism compelled it to move in such as railway-like manner haha... to which I regretted. Two reasons. 1) I watched the video right after and was shaking feeling irky. 2) Dad placed the same worm on my leg just when I happened to turn my body to show Marcus the video. And I freaked out. Yea, terribly in shock and tears flowing.... weakling huh?
28 Feb (Sun)
So we didn't stay over at uncle's house there cos haha... my father and I spoilt the mood. Who asked him to play that prank on me and how would I know why I reacted so badly. But well, they also didn't want to stay cos my bo mu's sister was there and my er gugu etc they didn't feel comfortable ba. So father drove us out around midnight.
Last day of the month, and wanted to go out with dear maybe just to hang out but didn't. It's also CNY last day... and like past years, spent it with family cos have to eat reunion dinner second round. Simple simple dinner is indeed satisfying :)
4 Mar (Thu)
Met the gang for steamboat dinner. Hmmm, I thought it was to celebrate Yixian's birthday but no celebration mood leh. Maybe cos it's just a dinner and on a week day night. If we could have gone out on a friday or weekends I think chilling out at some bar or some late night supper would be more fun.
I didn't take any photos of the steamboat cos when I wanted to take, we already started. And it was a little messy having to pass the many plates of the food around to put into the hot pot. I agree that the duck meat from the clear soup was tasty but I hadn't much appetite otherwise. I'm surprised at myself cos steamboat usually delights me haha cos everyone sitting around to eat together is fun. Well, at least it was still fun sitting around the round table even though I didn't eat a lot.
We went to TCC after that cos TY came only after our dinner. Similarly, I was hungry but I didn't order anything cos nothing appealled to me. Hmmm :( couldn't be helped I guess when the taste buds act all weird. I know I didn't want coffee and I didn't want anything iced. Hmmm maybe I missed out hot chocolate? That's what I would want.
The ever-ready pair. TY and gf.
Without flash & with flash.
Adding details as "watermark"...
5 Mar (Fri)
Accompanied dear to his Hall 6 Cultural Night perfomance at ACJC. It turned out to be a sc11 outing cos 6 people which was more than half the strength were present: Jh, Oli, XL, Fred, BH & Jan. Even though none of us planned for it... that's because Jh was performaning mah!
Had lots of laugh (quite bad hor me) at some of the preformaning items... especially the three umbrellas oops. I think I like the dance items most... totally awesome how some of the guys were that flexible in their moves. Some of the voices were damn rich too... right dear? You wanna k too right?
Haha, ya must find a day go k soon. Few months didn't sing ktv liao.
It was a love story @ 10:53
baby,just say yes.
baby,just say yes.
