Saturday, September 27, 2008

F1 Fever

Yup, F1 is in town this week, and from my office I could hear the cars zooming pass, it was really loud. Could also catch a glimsp of F1 from my office (only about 3 cm of the track, hahaha). Was watching the warm up yesterday afternoon from office. Not bad, but of course it could have been better if the track was nearer and clearer. The day before I met up with Imran for dinner and chit chat. Been quite some time since I saw him... So we went Thai this time, had dinner at Thai express at esplanade. After dinner we walked over to Marina Square to shop a little. Along the way, we of course saw the race track. It was already up with the flood lights and everything, it was really pretty cool to be able to walk along the track (without the cars on it that is, haha). I wanted to get a pic of the track so I took out my phone a snap a few pics of the track and the Singtel sign boards. Then when I turned back, I saw Imran staring in the sky, so I just said," Eh are you trying to do a model pose on the race track... " And of course, him being so sporty really came up with a top model pose... hahaha, it was pretty hilarious. As usual, I'm too lazy to extract the photos from my phone... so you'll just have to wait for it.... At the end of it, we ended up at Gloria Jeans to have coffee and chat a bit more before heading home. And the kick of the day came after we exited the train at Pasir Ris. Imran had accompanied me to Pasir Ris, so when we reached the station, the bloody train would not open the door. So of course we were like cursing and swearing the train drivers and all that. The driver then ran across the train to the opposite end.... Then suddenly, the train began to move - in the opposite direction. Fuck man... This means that I will have to stop at Tamp and come all the way back again... Damn these stupid drivers... And then I realise something, the train wasn't aligned correctly. The cabin we were in should exit at the lift, but we were nearer to the escalator.... This means that our train had overshot the station.... Kaoz.... how dumb can they get... So the train rectified the problem and aligned the train properly, and open the door. So being so Singaporean, we went to take the life (because it was nearest to us). I was one of the earliest to get in, facing the front so I could not see a thing of what is behind me. So after the lift was full I turn back to look at Imran, and at the corner of my eye I see an old lady in a wheel chair, stranded outside. OMG, I was so guilty struck by that. And of course Imran had to rub it in. He was like," Shenloong, you see the old lady outside... It the person that needs this lift the most and she's outside and we're inside..."... So I just said (even though I was in the lift, and I don't normally swear under these conditions)," Shut up bitch, I'm feeling bad enough"... OMG, I'm so sorry lady, I really didn't see you there... And to all those other people in the lift, if you had pushed your way into the lift, you should be ashamed of yourself. I mean if you really didn't know that she was there, then its not too bad. But if you know it and you choose to avoid it so as to keep yourself guilt free, then fuck you, you suck!... Haha okie that all for today, going for drinking session tonight to celebrate CY's B'day....

Friday, September 19, 2008

I like....

I'm really beginning to like my job a lot.... not as in my job scope (I still think I can handle some more serious stuff, but of course a little at a time, need time to digest). But I like working in the financial world. Especially in this period of the sub prime, it really makes the job so much more interesting. It like you can lose your job anytime (hahaha, as if thats a good thing). With all the uncertainty surrounding this industry, it is really difficult for anyone to guess what is going to happen next. Today, our company treated us to lunch + a ben & jerry's ice cream. Its supposed to reward us for our hard work, and to continue to strive to do the best no matter what happens. But I think its to calm the nerves lah... hahaha. I'm starting to think that maybe I can stay in this industry for some time... of course depending on whether the company still wants me after my contract is up... But what I mean is that I think I can continue to find a job in this industry. Initially I only gave myself 2 years in this industry and then I probably fuck off back to the boring engineering industry, but now I think I might be able to stay on a make a living in this environment. Its fun, and its exciting. I do still need to move on to other job scopes though... I really cannot be checking invoices all my life... hopefully they'll give me a choice to make a switch, maybe to the trade support section. Anyway I'm also thinking of taking a foreign language during this contract period... Thinking of Japanese or Korean... I don't know,m see how it goes.... Probably will decide by the end of the month....

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

In the action of it all

Working life has never been this exciting, and I think I would not be able to experience anything like this if I had joined another industry. The banking and finance insdustry has been in the spot light for the pass 2 days. So many things happened. Things like Lehman brother's collasp (now part of it is prob gonna be taken up by Barclays), Merril Lynch being taken over by BA, AIG's in deep shit. Almost all financial institution and market has been rocked for the last few days. These are issues that I have never bothered to read up on, these are news that I will just skip in the papers. But now, everyday I try to read what's happening in the financial world (it is so not me). But I must say that this has in some way triggered my interest in this sector, making me want to find out more about this world and this industry. I just went to the library to borrow some financial books to read up, hoping to gain greater idea of what I getting into, and also to understand more about the workings of this sector. It is actually pretty exciting, and not just ordinary paper work. I know that I'm only checking invoices now, but of course I hope to move on to greater things eventually. Hmmm... Hope that I'll be able to learn much from my colleagues and move on be take on other roles.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Mooncake Festival 2008

Today is the Mooncake festival!!! Where we all gather around to eat mooncakes, drink tea, look at the moon and carry lanterns around our neighbourhood... So, it was a great excuse for us to arrange another family gathering to foster the close relationship that we have. This time round, we met at Xiao Yi's place at Sunset ave. The place is actually pretty nice, just find that its pretty inaccessible without a car... And the theme for this gathering is porridge. Yup, we had a porridge feast, hahaha. Here are some of the photos to last night.

Here you can see my uncle and my cousins playing Wii together... we had fun, I think it was boxing that they were playing. Haha, at a point of time when Spencer was losing to Natalie, he even went to try to punch Nat (I don't mean literally, as in with the Wii remote). That scene was so funnie.




After dinner and mooncakes, it was time to grab our lanterns and patrol the neighbourhood. Here are the over aged group preparing the stuff for the kids, haha.


Lanterns, mooncakes and tea... The things that are just essential to the festival. Xiao Gu even got a telescope to watch the moon and stars. Heard that it cost over 2k, but it was pretty cool. Could really see the moon clearly with it. We walked from Xiao Yi's place to the playground just outside, it has been like eons since I carried a lantern, haha. But I must say that I think I don't get along too well with my cousins (as in my mum's side). Maybe its because they're just too much younger than my age, or maybe its the way they were brought up. It just clashes with my thinking. I can't hold a conversation with them without being close to blowing my top almost all the time. They're just too protected, living in this castle with things all nice and beautiful. And this just irks me. Some have already reached secondary stage, but their thinking is still immature and their use of words are just wrong. And the best part is, they don't take advice. You try to reason with them, they can use all sorts of textbook answers to argue with you (a lot of which does not apply). Sometimes I just feel like giving them a tight slap to wake them up, and to tell them to face reality. So many a times, I get so frasturated with them, that I just don't want to talk to them. Which is also why I'm usually by myself during these gatherings. Well now there's Melvyn who's joining me in the over-aged cousins club. He seems to be out of sorts with school recently, well hope he'll catch on. Uni is just a first step, get the paper first then think later, hahaha.


Here are another few photos of my dear cousin, MJ. Remember earlier I bloged about my photo shoot. Yup, here's another 2 pics that we took at the studio... Isn't he just cute... and fat... hahaha... gotta lose some weight bro.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

First weekend

Finally after a week of slogging at work, I've reached my first weekend! Yuppie!!! Although I'm sitting in office the entire, but it is pretty tiring facing excel sheets the entire day, so today I went out for a kopi session with my guys! Oh ya, before I begin, I'd like to send my condolences to Alvin and his family, his grandma just passed on, so I'd like to wish them all the best and to look forward. Went for the wake earlier, JC and some of the court guys were also there. Was listen to them, and now we have progressed to talk about buying of houses. Obviously Alvin is already Q-ing for flat. Probably intends to get married in about 3 years time. JC is also Q-ing for a flat already.... and me, still swinging around single and super available... haa

Yup, anyway after I went to the wake, I met the guys at Thomson prata for kopi and chit chat. But once I got there they decided to change place... so we went to this kopi tiam next to Nee Soon Camp. Had a nice chit chat session with them. Of course the session included a lot of talk about our work now. But half way through the talk, I was already feeling pretty tired. Think its because of my work. Was a little sleepy... Even now, I'm feeling pretty sleepy, but waiting for my hair to dry up. Well looking forward to enjoying my weekend. Tomorrow (or should I say today), I'll be going to my aunt's place for moon cake gathering. Yup, they're having this get together to feast on moon cakes and drink tea, and also not to forget the bitching session where you talk about everything under the sun. But I'm expecting a lot of questions on my work. I can just hear it already, "so how's work?", "Getting used to the job?", "Can pick up the pace?".... The usual first week of work questions. Not really my favourite conversation to engage. Of course, I know its all out of concern, a little of these questions are ok with me... I just hope it doesn't get too repeatitive, and on and on and on... And then someone (like xiao gu) to cover me with the cold blanket (as he's prone to doing). Hmmm...

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Overseas in Singapore

Don't be mistaken, I'm not going oveseas. Morgan Stanley is definately not sending a temp staff overseas for any meetings what so ever. But working in Morgan is really very much like working oversea. Why? Because the group of colleagues sitting just behind me are the japanese correspondents. This means that they speak Jap all the time, in fact most of them are Jap to begin with. So throughout the day, I keep hearing them converse in Jap to their clients (probably from Japan). Then in another corner is little Hong Kong. The people there speak in cantonese over the phone to their clients.So there is this mix of languages going on in office, and this makes it seem a little like I'm overseas. It does bring back some memories of Shanghai, when I'm in office and the colleagues are speaking in Shanghaiese, and I can hardly understand a thing (it did get a little better towards the end, but still I'll give myself a 2/10 for my level of shanghaiese, haha). Erm, about my office, the job is pretty mundane (as Terrance had promised when I went for the interview), but there is a lot to do. A lot of checking and checking and checking. For the first 2 days, I really worked till I wanted to cry. Its not because the work is tough, or the stress level is super high, but its because I cannot understand how their system works. For a big company like Morgan, they have a pretty backward system. They are handling a lot of clients and there isn't a standard for tracking the client's information (I'm trying to be very vague here, I can't say too much about the exact details of what I'm doing). Every client/market has a very different way of data entry. So this makes it very difficult to retrive the data that you want. The job is actually very simple and can be done very fast. But its the searching that is taking up so much time. A lot of time I just can't find the data that I want, and this makes it very frustrating. I was so disappointed with myself. I kept thinking whether it was me that is plain stupid for not being able to grasp the system fast enough. But I really tried my best, I did as I was thought to find each of the information that I needed, but a lot of times, it just returns with a null result. Well at least today was a little better, managed to locate most of my information (guess I'm slowly getting it, I hope) with minimum help. There is still a lot to learn in Morgan, and I hope I can grasp each challenge fast enough and move on. I must admit that I do not want to be checking information all my life in Morgan, I have to move on to other things. Well I hope this is the beginning of greater things... hmmm, to infinity and beyond!

Monday, September 8, 2008

First day

Today marks the start of my career... Started my day in Morgan early this morning, its been a while since I woke up this early and lasted the entire day, woot.... All in all, everything was fine. The job isn't as easy as it seems, there are loads of things to learn and to pick up. But really the thing that makes the jbo difficult is the huge number of uncertainty in what you do. Alot of it is so ambigious. I gotta check figures and numbers, but most of the time the numbers don't match, then every client that request for payment have a different style of billing, so I'll have to learn each of their styles. Then there are loads of codes for each client, and different codes for each market... and thats what makes the job confusing. I must say that if the pay remains as it is, I probably would not stay for long. Mainly because its not really the kind of job that I want. Number 1, I really do not fancy a desk bound job. Being desk bound makes me feel very confined, but of course if the pay is good, I can still perform well in the desk bound job. So I'm now bidding my time, looking if there are any changes to my employment status. But moving around is really my style, being at a desk and looking at the computer the entire day is really quite tiring. But I will definitely stay to complete the 3 months. Whatever happens after that, we'll see...

After work I went over to City Hall to try to use my G2000 voucher (which has expired by 2 days). I totally forgot about the expiry date, I had thought that the voucher expires at the end of Sept. So I picked up a shirt and went to pay for it using the voucher, and the sales auntie told me that I cannot use it. I already explained to her that I'm not out to cheat her or something, the voucher was only 2 days old, come on baby... Certainly you can still accept it, but nooooo, she just wouldn't take it. damn, so I just gave up the shirt and left the store. It really makes me wonder, why in the world does a cash voucher has an expiry date. I mean the vouchers were bought using cash so that the user can use the vouchers to buy from the store. Which means that in actual fact, the vouchers were also cash. So how can money have an expiry date. It doesn't make sense. If the voucher was given out by the store for free, I can still understand, because it would have been given out of good will, and that it would only allow people to use it within a certain period of time, but for a voucher that was bought by cash?!? HUH??? WTF.... I'm thinking whether I should write in to the press to express my thoughts, but I don't know, see how lah. You know my english isn't very good, but through the press is the easiest way to get an answer. Once it gets published, I'll get a reply almost instantly. Hmmm.... thats one option... I'll think about it. Okok, gotta get my bathe now... Haiz, still have to wake up early tomorrow....

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Up the ladder

Tomorrow I'll be starting my climb up the corporate ladder. Yup, I'm starting work tomorrow morning at 9am. I have no idea how I'm gonna wake up in time for it, but I will. I just hope that everything will turn out well tomorrow and that I have made the right choice (erm, even if its wrong also bo bian). 8 Sept... marks the beginning of my becoming. Me taking that first step into the next phase of my life. Where bills and money issues officially come into my life. Where I have to exchange hard labour for cash. Hmmm.... Well I think it shouldn't be that bad, can it? I'm sure I'll be able to perform just well. But I do hope that I would not be stranded there like a lost dog, with nothing to do. I'm pretty sure that I'll be handling some pretty mundane job for this contract period, but I still hold that glimsp of hope that they will see something in me, and slowly pass and teach me some of the slightly more important stuff. I do want to learn the rope, and really what I need is some people to teach me. Okie, I resolve to be more proactive in my job, and ask as much as I can, and pick up the rope as quickly as possible.

Right now I'm dying my hair, gotta get it to a single colour before the start of my working life. As you know my hair was highlighted after my exams, and really I think I should do something about it before work begins. Initially I wanted to get it back to all black, but I'm too lazy to go out and buy the dye, so I'm using the one I bought in Hong Kong way back a year and a half ago. The colour is Auburn. Its slightly reddish, and I thought it should be good enough, anyway asians are supposed to have darker hair, so from experience, whichever colour I put on my hair, it should turn out to look pretty black (well then again I'm colour blind remember, haha). Good luck for tomorrow!

Friday, September 5, 2008

Random pics

I find I have quite a lot of photos, some of which I said that I will share on this blog but was too lazy to upload them... so now (while I'm still free) I've decided to upload, randomly, some of my photos onto this blog... there are qutie a lot... so maybe I'll release them bit by bit.... I'm starting with family and interesting stuff first, so here's the first batch.


Me and MJ all dressed up for our photo shoot... lets see he's in Korean wear while I'm in some Jap clothing... forever so grumpy looking, its so difficult get him to pose a nice smily face for the camera. In the corner, you can find my cool Ah Ma, also dressed in Korean wear, cool right! yoyo check it out!


Here's MJ before the photo shoot... Snapped a pic of him in the toys room while waiting for our turn


Okie remember previously I blogged about going to Mandai for a durian picking trip... well these are the only 2 durians that we managed to pick after close to 3 hours of searching in the jungle... and the best part is one of them is spoilt. The durians may look pretty big in the pic, but in actual fact, its only slight larger than your fist. Sad right....


This is from my cousin (the one in red, the face a bit blur) Birthday! The party was in Kbox at Kallang leisure park. We had the while room to ourselves, which was very big (very uncommon for Kbox). Dinner buffet was also included.


This was taken in the NTU auditrium, just before the start of convocation. I was sitting just in front of Alvin, so we took the opportunity to snap a pic first. Cheeze!

疼憨人

I'm now addicted to this song that is featured in Royston Tan's lastest movie 12 Lotus 十二莲花 (ok ok the movie's already been out for a month already), its called 疼憨人, sung by 杨佳盈 Carrie Yeo of Project Superstar. I think the melody is really nice, and Carrie really did well to deliver the song, kudos to Carrie and 12 Lotus for bringing such a nice song... Anyway I can't find any copies of the song online, so if you wanna listen to the song you can go buy the CD or listen to it from this website

博客 92088

The start of my career

It has been decided... As of this morning, I have officially sold my soul to Morgan Stanley. Erm, actually it should be to Adecco to be exact. Because in actual fact I'm not contracted to Adecco, seconded to Morgan Stanley. So by right, Morgan Stanley is not my employer. Well I just hope that I made the right choice, anyway there's no turning back now, so I guess I'll just have to make the best of it.

I've also thought it out, my contract will hold till the 7th of December, so I've made plans for the worst scenario to happen.
(A) If after 3 months, Morgan Stanley decides that they don't want me, I'll just use the money that I've earned in the 3 months to go on a holiday. Then come back and start looking for another job.

(B) If after 3 months, Morgan Stanley still only want me as a contract staff, I'll continue to keep the job. But I'll give myself a deadline of next year's Chinese New Year. If by that time I still do not get an offer to become perm, then I'll start looking for another job.

This should work out fine right? I mean I do not want to remain on contract for 1 entire year. When on contract I do not get any of the benefits that Morgan's staff gets, I do not have any leave, I am not entitled to any pay rise, and I am not entitled to any bonus at all. Already I have forgo about $4k to accept this job, naturally I do hope to see some form of returns in the future, if this job works out, then all is well... But if it doesn't, then I'll have to seek greener pastures elsewhere, even though this is one of the biggest company in the financial world. I'm keeping my fingers crossed now, as I climb the coperate ladder, just hoping that everything will turn out fine for me. Amen.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

I have chosen

After 1 year of searching (erm actually if i only include the months that I am actively searching, it should be only 4-5 months), with more than 40 applications sent, 4 rejections, 2 interviews and 2 acceptance letters... I have made my choice for my future. Ultimately I have chosen to start off my career in Margan Stanley. Well it was a hard decision to make. Telling this to many of my friends, they would probably laugh it off saying that the decision is not difficult. Morgan Stanley is a company that a lot of people want to ge in, and here you have an opportunity and I am still asking whether I should give it up for the other job.... But you must know the things that I gave up for the Morgan job. Indeed, to give up Morgan for the other job is a very stupid thing, because Morgan is such a big company, and it will look good on my resume when I am looking for a job in the future. But still this is a temp job, with a high possibility (from hear say) that I will get to sign on a perm. For this I gave up a job that pays me higher than Morgan (I mean at this moment, in the future I don't know), gives me leave, allows me to travel often and give me a chance to get the year end bonus. Being a temp in Morgan does not give me any of this. If you were to calculate it out, to the end of the year, I am giving up a few thousand dollars for the Morgan job. But this is the gamble I am taking, I just hope I didn't place my bets wrongly this time. God bless me, and wish me luck in this job. Will be going down to sign the contract tomorrow.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Finally the time has come

The earlier posts have all been related to my job search and the decision as to which company I would want to join. Well the time has come for me to make my decision, and I really do not know. Earlier, there have been speculation that Morgan Stanley is prepared to offer me a perm position in the company, but today I received a call from them saying that they are now prepared to continue to offer me the temp job only instead. But the catch is that, although on paper it is only a 3 month stint, but there is a high possiblility that it will stretch to more than 3 months, and eventually hit a perm position. But then again, this part is not in black and white. It is all hear say, so it is not confirmed yet, the only confirmed part is the 3 month thingy. The other company that wants me, as mentioned, wants me to go Shanghai for 6 months for training. This is a perm job. And the prospects are not too bad, although the terms that they are offering is not that fantastic (the large interest comes from the traveling, as in I get to travel quite often). Pay wise, it is quite similar, not much of a difference (because Morgan Stanley is only offering a temp position, they are not giving that much now, but the pay there will jump up if they decide to sign me on after the 3 months). Haiz, decisions, decisions, decisions.... Something that is not so easy to make. Why do I have to get into such predicament. Save me please....

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Still waiting

I'm still waiting for Morgan Stanley to reply with their offer. As mentioned, I heard that they were keen to offer me a perm position in the company, but because they were busy with their budget last week, so they could not find time to call me. I just hope that everything goes well, because currently I do have a job offer on hand from Shanghai, and I am trying to put that on hold. I do not know how much longer can I hold that job for, but I don't want a situation where Morgan Stanley suddenly rejects my perm application, and then because of the long wait, the Shanghai job also rejects me. I will end up with nothing then, and I will have to start all over again. I have done my part to get this far, I think its not fair for me to end up that way. Whatever it is, I just hope that they can get back to me soon. Even if they do not want me, at least let me know early so I can make my arrangements.

Monday, September 1, 2008

High School Musical

Okie I know I'm a little, maybe I should say very, late in this... But recently I was at E!Hub at Downtown east, I was at the cinema looking at the up coming movies, and it seems that High School Musical 3 is coming... Well I haven't even watched part 1 and 2 of the wildly successful movie, which is quite not me, because I love musical inspired movies... So today I streamed part 1 of the movie, and it was great. The plot is definetely simple, revolving around a few high school students, but I just like the mix of songs and drama together. Some people call it simple, I'd rather say that its relaxing and light hearted. There is no need to guess what is coming next, or be scard the hell out of yourself. Overall, its a very easy movie to watch. So I'm gonna watch part 2 tomorrow, looking forward to it, yippie!