Tuesday, June 30, 2009

H1N1

Another craze that has been going on in this sunny island is H1N1. At first there wasn't any cases of it, and when it starts, the whole thing is like a beast let loose from its cages. The number of cases has ballooned to around 700 already! And poor me, today I'm down with flu. And the funny thing is, when I was Q-ing at the clinic, I was reading the H1N1 flyer... and to my horror, I got all the symptoms of the virus (other than fever). I was like 'Shit'! So at the clinic, all those with these symptoms are to wear the face mask and walk a separate corner to the 2nd level for a different section that is opened specially for people like us. Haha... So now, I'm down with flu, plus I get 3 days of MC. When I told my colleagues, their first reaction is, "WHAT!!! 3 days, what did you tell the doctor". I wasn't trying to get anything that long myself. In fact I was only expecting a 1 day MC and I'll be back tomorrow, but now I have 3. And what worries me most is that I think I do not have medical leave from office, so this MC will cut into my annual leave, fuck man. If its really the case, then it sucks big time man.

Rabbids: Transformer

With all the Transformer 2: The revenge of the fallen craze going on I thought it will be most apt to put this up on my dear blog. Hahaha.... It a trailer of one of my favorite games combined with the Transformers. Actually this has been done quite some time ago, its actually a trailer for Ravin Rabbids 2. Now there already part 3 and 4 is coming up soon. But I still enjoyed this trailer very much though.


Saturday, June 27, 2009

Saturday bluez

It just sucks when you find out that you have to be in office on a Saturday. Yup, that me now, stuck in office for I-don't-know-what. My customers are not around, I don't have many outstanding issues. Haiz. Well all I know is that there is a meeting in a few minutes. After that its back home again. K k, bell ringing... time for meeting....

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Kelong Acheh

I'm back from my Kelong trip. The place was called Kelong Acheh. Quite a good experience, the place was super relaxed, super tranquil, and super nostalgic. And all that together with crap living quaters (that resembles olden living space of my ancestors), creepy toilets with flushes that doesn't work and tons of mozzies beating on you every now and then... but these are the things that really bring us back to the kampong days. Haha.

It was really relaxed because there wasn't much to do, everyday we wake up to eat, fish and play mahjong. And thats all that we did for 3 days. Fishing was really fun, because it was really quite easy to get fishes, only that the fishes that we caught were really small. The biggest catch that I got was probably just 3-4 inches long. The really small ones are only about 1 inch long. Yeah I know its really pathetic. But still its better than not catching anything at all. Well I caught like 20+ of these small fishes. Most of them were released back to the sea, because it was really cruel to let them die for nothing. And fishing can be a really really cruel sport. Especially when the hook gets in the eyes of the fish, when you have to tug the hook to get it out of its eyes and mouth and gills, ahhhhh. The thought was really gruelsome. Can you imagine that on a human, ouch!

We had also arranged for a day at the beach on one of those deserted islands, we had loads of games there. And also specially arranged for BBQ on the last night on the Kelong, so it was really really good. Seafood was super fresh, sotong was everywhere (can you imagine that its could just be the same sotong that we use to feed the fishes, haha, I just hope its not from the same box). The last day at the Kelong, we spotted a big fish just beneath the Kelong, so everyone started to think of ways and means to get the fish out. Ultimately, the malay family got the net and climbed down the Kelong and just scoped the fish out, hahaha... so much for fishing.... hahahaha.... When we asked the person, he was saying that its the Elephant fish or something like that... It was really big, and super fat, probably bigger than my lappie. So that really helped to end our trip with a bang, hahaha. Overall I really had a great time with my family, I always like these family gathering stuff, its really nice to get together once in a while. Family is for life, we must treasure their presence... Hmmm come to think of it, its been a while since I visited my grandma, maybe I'll try to go down to visit her this weekend. Oh yah, I do have a few photos taken at the Kelong, too lazy to upload now, another time k. =)

Saturday, June 20, 2009

June Babies

Just celebrated Stanley's Birthday last week. We went over to a high class rest at Craig St for dinner at some Italian rest called Pasta Bravo. So you see, we are now into the fine dining era, haha. Well I just realised that there are quite a few June babies among the people I know. My bro and Mum are all June babies, then there's Stanley, Marvin and Johnathan. There are probably more, just that I can't remember at the moment. Well anyway back to Pasta Brava, the place was really good. The ambience was excellent and the food was pretty good. I had the squid ink pasta, I swear that it really taste much better than it looks. When it came, it didn't look that appitising, it was like all black. You seriously cannot differentiate between the spag and the prawns, but put the spag into your mouth and you are in heaven, hahaha. The deserts were heavenly, they had really good tiramisu, I had this choc cake, it was really really really good. The cake was warm and when you cut into the cake, the choc just flows out of the cake. Oh man, that was really good. The portions didn't look like alot, but it was really filling.

www.pastabrava.com.sg

Another celebration was of course with my family, I can't remember if I've blogged about it already, but I thought I'll just briefly blog about that super filling experience. I treated my family to Sakura international buffet at Downtown East. The buffet spread was actually pretty good, in that small area there was quite a lot of food. The quality of the food was passable, it wasn't great food, but it was still above average. Had a great time that night muching down all the food. I felt so guilty the next day because I was so stuffed that I did not even feel hungry at all the next day.







The famous bird drawing by who else - Mr Van Goh (aka Goh CY). One of the most interesting part of the rest is that they provide everyone with chalks and you are free to draw on the table (which is covered with paper). So when you enter the rest, you can actually some of the drawings that the customers had left behind hanging on the walls, pretty cool huh!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Targets

I now have less than 2 weeks to move my sales up to meet this month's target. I have absolutely no idea how I'm gonna do it. Hopefully the people I meet will help. Arghhhhhhhhhhhhh

Unlimited wants

There are so many things that I want in my life, but with limited resources and capability its really gonna be real difficult to achieve all of them. Lets not even talk about all of them, it is already super difficult to realise 70% of them. I know I am materialistic, I know there are a number of wants that are not really required, I know that some of these wants are totally useless, but thats life, and thats what makes life so interesting...

I want more money!!! My pay is just far too low

I want a car

I want a house

I want to buy new clothes

I want a new bag

I want less stress

I want to do well in my work

I want more sleep

I want to be in a job that I really really like

I want to open my own company/shop

I want to travel

I want to master Japanese

I want to improve my singing

I want learn things fast

I want to lead a happy and fulfilling life

I want to be able to make the people around me happy

I want to be able to provide for my family

I want to spend more time with my family

and the list just keeps going on and on and on...
When will I be able to achieve all of them

Monday, June 15, 2009

Monday blues

You know the dreading feeling of dragging yourself to work every monday, and even in office your engine don't seem to be starting fast enough, well there is a term for this and its commonly known as Monday blues. This is a very normal feeling, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having this feeling because most, if not all, people will suffer from it at some point of time in their career.
But having said that, the situation gets serious when you dread going to work on Monday, and Tuesday, and Wednesday, and Thursday and Friday as well. You feel totally stressed out and can't wait for the next big holiday, only to realise that you are already out of school, and there is no such thing as a big break anymore. Goodbye to month long June holidays, farewell to frosty more-than-30-days December breaks; and hello to short weekend breaks and occasional long weekends. Now, this is not healthy. Because it is a tell tale sign that you don't really like what you are doing. You have to pull out all the energy in you at work and the only time when you are energetic is after work. You have so many deallines and targets to meet but you have totally no idea how to achieve them and you feel as lost as the survivors in the hit drama 'Lost' and as helpless as a naked man stranded on some pacific island waiting to be part of some ritual before being eaten raw by the tribal carnivores.
And that is exactly how I am feeling now. I am totally lost at work, I have no idea what I can do, and I am feeling pretty stressed out. This is all deep inside me, on the outside I may seem all happy-go-lucky, but I'm really feeling all fucked up inside. And the fact that I'm working for my uncle really hammers the nail onto the coffin. I've said this before, that I don't like working for my relative and this is the exact reason why. I know that I will have this kind of pressure to do extra well in my job, and I really cannot allow any room for failure. And now that I've hit some stones along the way, and I don't see success any where near, it seems to me that I am becoming a liability in office. And I hate that. Already I hate to be a liability in any office, and its much worse when the office belongs to someone so close to you. I've been told that I am still some distance from my target this month, but I don't know what I can do to push up the sales. I mean I can aproach my customers to talk to them about the product and hope they will buy stuff. I can't possibly put them at knief point and force them to buy correct? And the worst part of it are all the issues that come with the sales. Urgent orders, order cancellations, earlier lead time, some of the time line that they give us are simply impossible to meet. Just this morning, my CS told me to leave the commitment of delivery to her because I gave an earlier date of delivery, and she told me that we will need to rush out the part and we should have buffered another week instead. Aiya, I already buffer 1 week already. And anyway its only 1 reel of good, how long do you want to take to check the part. Customer needs the part urgently, there is no reason why I can't expedite the part to them. And then it was the target news. My supervisor told me that for this month my sales is only $15k so far, and she wants me to hit at least 50k at the end of the month. And before I can even sit down to think of how I can achieve this target, news number 3 comes in when another colleague comes over to ask me why I am sitting on a case. Because the customer needs the part urgently we have to try to pull in for them, and also because she had helped to secure this deal for me. In fact she did everything for me in the deal, and all I needed to do was to followup. So I was told off by her becuase she thinks that I am sitting on the case and not doing anything. But I have so much on my mind. Arghhhh..... I really need some time out, and sometimes I am crying inside of me. The body wants to continue but the soul is weak, very very weak now. Oh god, please give me some indication of what I should do. Haiz.

Superstar


Last weekend was my debut concert at Kovan Heartland mall. Its the first time I sang on stage in front of sooooo many people. OMG. I was realy nervous. When I started the song, I fumbled a little before picking up the rest of the song. I'm supposed to be on the wait list, but I doubt I'll make it through lah. I got 1 green and 3 orange cards, so that means that I have wait. WH who asked me to join was telling me that he was so disappointed in me because I was so much better when we went KTV and that I was far from my usual standard. Haha. It was really pretty scary you know. But I must say that it was really fun, no regrets. If there's another chance I might just do this all over again. Though the nerves were really terrible. Hahaha. I was so worried that I might forget the lyrics. Well good luck all those who made it thorough, work hard and don't let me catch up with you, wahahaha.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Busy Bee

Been really busy these days. I have so much on my mind, I have so much to do, there is hardly any time to take a break. I find that I really have some problems with time management and organization. My work is in a mess and I have tons of stuff uncleared. What the fuck am I gonna do!!!

I just went through my email today to write down everything that I still have to do, and everything that is still pending, and oh my god, I filled an entire page of my notebook. Haiz, I really need to organize myself or I will really fail in my job. Right now everything is half done, so I must really try to clear as much as possible. But in office I usually have this mental block that prevents me from achieving the fullest of my time. It is always till near the end of the day that I get most effective, and most of the work done. And at that time, I will feel the press of time and start to worry about not finishing my work. I'm like so fucked now.

Buck up bitch!

Monday, June 8, 2009

林峰 泳儿 - 明天以后

I have been looking for this song, finally found out the name of the song. Yippie! This is a really great song man... Hope you'll enjoy it as much myself. Its by Lin Feng and Yong Er. Lin Feng has quite a few nice songs in his album, think I need to do some research on his songs, hee.


Sunday, June 7, 2009

Interesting weekend

Had a very interesting weekend this week. First up was saturday, I went our with Dodo, we were at one of the latest malls in SG, Iluma, checking out the place. Was walking around and to my surprise I saw one of my long lost friend. Walking towards me was Ben Lee. I haven't saw him in ages. So I said hi and all that, and he was saying," hey, you remember Jing Cheng and Daniel". Omg....!!!! I haven't seen them in like 10 years!!! They are like my secondary 2 classmates! Jing Cheng and Ben are even my primary schoolmates. Hahahaha. I always love to see some of my ex-classmates, it was really good to see everyone and know that they are doing well now. I see Ben in TV and mags sometimes so it wasn't too big a surprise, but the other 2, I really haven't met them in the past 10 years at all.... Jing Cheng remembered my name but of course he could not remember my looks, because of the huge change in me, hahaha. Daniel totally forgotten about me... wahaha. It was a big surprise for me, I'm sure its the same for them as well.

And today I went to TM to show my support for WH. He had a performance for the Sing '09 Competition. Had to stand there for 2 hrs + just to catch his 2 songs. After that we went to KTV, and he kept physco-ing me to join the competition that he is part of the organisating committee, Kovan Superstar 09. The second edition of the competition. So after much pursuasion, I finally agreed to join the competition, which is next saturday! Hahaha. Aiya, just join for fun lah, I don't think I'll make it anyway. See how it goes. The things I do to show my support, haha. He had actually asked my to join him in the first season previously and even for the Sing '09. But time didn't allow, so I rejected him. After so many rejections, I finally agreed. Well, I'll have to memorise the lyrics this week. I don't mind getting out in the first round, but I don't to make a fool of myself in public, so gotta make a bit of prepration, haha. Good luck!....

Friday, June 5, 2009

How to look busy at work.

I just found this webby online, I think that its pretty interesting. What's said on the webby is also true, sometimes it not a matter of how hardworking you are, or how efficient you are, but how busy you seem to be. This is especially true for big organisations. And its funny that I'm writing this in office now, haha... well take this with a pinch of salt and think for yourself.
How to Look Busy at Work Without Really Working

If you're getting paid to do something, you should do it, and do it well. But is it always that simple? What if you have a vague job description, a haphazard workload, and a very bad boss who is only content when you look busy, but not if you're super efficient? Sad to say, but sometimes working at your maximum potential is punished. This happens a lot in larger organizations and retail.
Let's say you and a co-worker must each enter the data from 100 files, or shelve 100 books. You hustle and finish an hour earlier than your co-worker, and there's not much else to do. Your boss or manager walks by, expresses displeasure at the fact that you're not doing anything, and assigns you to an unpleasant, and really unnecessary task because they don't like seeing you
relax (even though you earned it by finishing your assignment faster, right?). What do you do? Quit? File a complaint? Or slow down? These instructions are here for if you decide to reward your own efficiency by using that extra time you earned for R&R--without your boss noticing.
(Note that if you follow these steps without actually being more efficient than your co-workers, you'll fall behind on your work and give your employer a reason to fire you.)


Steps
Know what the standards are. At the end of the day, you still have to meet those standards if you want to keep your job. The main thing you should know is how much time your manager or boss expects you to spend on a particular project or assignment. Spend that amount of time on it--no more, no less (unless, of course, efficiency is actually rewarded in your position, not punished). If, for example, your boss expects you to spend 40 minutes on a task (because that's how long it takes most people) but you know you can get it done in 20 minutes, you should be able to sprinkle another 20 minutes of "fun time" in (broken up into 3-5 minute intervals) and still get the job done in 40 minutes.

Create the illusion of furious activity whenever possible. Never have a clean desk. Fill your work area with several projects that you are in the process of doing (or not doing, as the case may be). Cover your desk with open binders, highlighted reports, and sticky notes all over the place—make your workspace look like a war zone. Remember to keep your wastebasket full, too, preferably with work-related debris. A good boss will see right through this, but your mean boss will be content to see you look busy (because it makes them look like a good manager).

Ask a lot of questions. Think up complex questions about tasks you have to do and ask them of your boss or coworkers. Ask questions frequently enough and everyone will think you’re really wrapped up in whatever task you're asking about. Be careful what questions you ask, though: you don’t want to sound incompetent.

Open several of the applications you normally use for work and have them visible on your computer’s desktop. The applications, of course, vary depending on the nature of your work. For example, if your task is data entry, you should have one or more databases up and running.

Be alert. Not working is like playing a sport or game. You’ve got to always be on your toes and ready for anything. Try to anticipate your opponent’s next move — for instance, does your boss always stop by at certain times? — and pay attention to clues (if you hear footsteps approaching, a chair creaking, or a flourish of activity nearby, it could mean trouble).

Watch out for Big Brother. Most large companies now monitor their employees’ computer usage. Learn about your company’s policies on internet usage, and learn about their monitoring efforts (it helps to make friends with someone in the IT department). If you can’t run afoul of the company’s policies without making sure you won’t get caught, don’t risk it.

On the frontline, there are free programs you can install, called "virtual desktops", that will allow you to have two active desktops on your computer (one for work, one for play) that you can switch between at the touch of a key when you hear the pitter-patter of supervisory feet.

You can also defeat this sort of monitoring by positioning your computer in such a way as to block someone else’s view of the screen (blame the unusual positioning on glare or ergonomics, if you need to explain it).

Sneakier IT personnel, who monitor usage on the backend, are harder to fool. Use proxies to surf the web, or use cached Google pages of a website instead of going directly to the site. There are also a variety of programs you can get (many for free) specifically designed to help you avoid detection. Search for them on the internet.

When surfing the web, even with a proxy or cached pages, never delete parts of your history. Most IT loggers will see the sites deleted, and even if the logger logs every site visited, the techie will most likely not look meticulously at every site viewed. It just makes you look suspicious.

Visit friends in different departments, leaving your workspace very "busy" looking. However, make sure that you have a work-related topic to initiate the conversation and return to if a supervisor walks by. For instance, tell the person next to you that you are going to double check something with someone from a different department. What you're really doing is providing yourself with an excuse if your boss wonders where you were for a little while. "Oh, didn't tell you? I wanted to double check and make sure both of our departments were on the same page about the new ad campaign, I know it's an important issue and I would hate to have any mix-ups."

Drink lots of water. Not only is water good for your health and can combat certain types of cancer, it makes you have to use the bathroom a lot. Bathroom trips can take up a lot of time and are a legitimate way to waste time while still looking busy.

Make a decoy screen. For a good catch-all, open a couple programs that you use daily. Make sure that all are visible and fill up your screen so you look busy. Then, take a screen shot using the "Print Scrn" button, open MS Paint, paste the image in, then save and set that image as your desktop background. You may also want to hide most of your desktop icons, as this could be a dead giveaway. Even if your computer is on the desktop, it'll look as if you are deep into work! Here's another decoy: Next time you install a program, take a screenshot with the "installing" window. Make it your wallpaper when you need to leave the office so passers-by will think you’re just waiting for the installation to finish.

Always, always carry a backup prop. If you’re going to be away from your desk doing something other than work, carry a document you might have been reading with you. It's best if it's a "long term project" that you can convincingly say you were finally getting to.

Tips
Keep it simple. If you're called on your whereabouts, have a nearly-true, simple, work-related answer ready for any situation.

The more time you spend typing, the busier you look. But, control your typing speed. Fast typing usually denotes email writing. Report writing or other work-related typing requires reflection and much more care; unless you are a professional typist.

If you're in a job that requires you to make a quota of phone calls per day/week/month, call up your bank or a customer service line and just let them put you on hold. Sometimes you can get up to 20 minutes of hold time before you get to speak to someone, at which point you simply hang up. You're eating up your time, and on the computer that tracks call time, it will appear as though you're busy pushing clients to buy. But this probably won’t work when your calls are monitored.

Windows+M/Windows+D is the shortcut to show the desktop instantly. Use this quickly to hide whatever it was that you shouldn't have been doing while giving the impression that you're buried in work.

Open several applications that cover your desktop. Depending on your job, these can include Outlook, Excel, or some type of online program. Using Alt+Tab will allow you to switch from window to window, so you can be surfing the web one minute and appear to be working on some data entry the next.

In a less technical field (e.g. retail) you can get away with a lot if you just look intense and walk fast, especially if you have that back-up prop. When you look like you have an urgent mission, it's unlikely a boss will stop you to ask what you're really doing.

Disable your screensaver, or set the timeout for a really long time, so that it isn't so obvious that you haven't been at your desk for a while.

Warnings
Never brag about how you cut corners at work to other people—they may be interviewing at your company soon or know someone there.

These tips work best if used sparingly. If you end up getting little or no work done, you’re bound to get caught at some point. Even if you don’t get caught, you’ll have nothing to show for the time you've spent at the office. Use these techniques just to break up the day and make it go by faster, but then get back to work or risk losing your job.

Stay away from doing external paying work on company time. Sure, it seems like a great idea to work on your side job while you’ve got some time to kill at your main job, but it’s a bad idea. If you’re caught, you’ll almost certainly be fired, and in some jurisdictions your company can sue you for your wages and damages.

If you do decide to download programs to help you not get caught, make sure you do it while your computer's not being spied on. Some office networks have a program installed that allows an administrator to view live screenshots of all of the monitors on a network.

You may be inclined to disable your screen saver to leave the impression that you haven't been away for too long, however, disabling your screen saver gives other employees easy access to your machine. If someone accesses your computer, you will be held responsible for the actions performed on your computer because someone else will essentially have access to your accounts.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Bleach:ヒート・ザ・ソウル6


The next installation of Bleach PSP game is out!!!! Bleach: Heat the soul 6 is the next addition to the Bleach: Heat the Soul series. Before this I also tried out Bleach: Soul Carnival, that game was really cute, but I guess my limited Japanese didn't help to make the game more fun than it could have been. The thing about the Heat the Soul series is that is a battle kind of game, so even with limited Japanese, it didn't spoil much of the fun out of the game... I'm like totally in love with this game now. There are more characters, the game play is a little different. More scenerios, and so much more fun. Ok, its also because I love the Bleach anime, so I really enjoy the game much more. I'm now playing the story mode to open more characters, hopefully I will be able to open up all of 'em.






Britian Got Talent

I just have to write about this, since I've started with it. Susan Boyle did not win the show. Sadz. Because of her rapid rise in popularity after her first performance, some people out there were out to put her down. And thats what happened. In the end, she came in second to a dance group despite delivering another solid and absolutely stunning performance, singing her first song again - I dreamed a dream. Well good luck to her, and all the best in the future. To me, her performance that night totally blew me away and it totally silenced her critics. Kudos. Keep up the good work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fS4v5_T5PA

Flying away

Ijo is such an ass... He broke up with his boo, and now he's making me comment on his facebook status to make his ex sad about losing him. BITCH. Hahahaha. And the best part is, he's making all his friends comment on his FB status, wat the hell... If he's in front of me I'll just slap his face... hahaha. Now more and more of his friends are commenting on his FB status, so that his boo will think that he's run away from home and will be worried about him, what an ass... BITCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Bro

A belated posting for my dearest bro. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! Yup, it was my bro's birthday on Monday, he's a 1st of June baby 28 years ago... hahaha... I am planning to treat him to dinner, but he wasn't free last week, and he's working this weekend. So we have to postphone the dinner to next week. Decided that it will be in conjunction with my mum's birthday, so I save on one dinner, hahaha. Well in case I'm late again, let me first say HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM! Love ya, muack!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Exams

After almost a year, I had to take exams again... ahhhhhhhh. Well this time its my Japanese language exam. Time is passing so fast, I have already got to the end of my Jap class for this semester. All I can say is - die liao... hahaha. Well the paper wasn't difficult. In fact it was actually pretty easy to do, if I had the time to really study and memorise my forms, I shouldn't have any problems sailing through the paper. But thats the problem, I don't have time. I cannot remember all my forms. I even had to take 1/2 day urgent leave this morning to study for the paper because I haven't finished. Well its a 3 week break now, the next level will only begin at the end of June. Haven't signed up though, I forgot to bring my cash today. Will probably do it tomorrow.