Rejuvenation

Recovering steadily from the illness; won’t be too decisive now, in case the illness takes a bad turn at the last minute like the other time… I guess this is also the rare time when I am sick for almost 1 month. haiz…

Revamped the ZZGY website, since I revamped the contents. I chose a template which shows the words larger. haha… It’s the old-man-complex. I prefer larger words that will relieve readers from the agony of squinting to look at the words. Added a new Definitions page to aid readers in understanding some terms used inside. Shall add in more, like the footnotes.

Regarding job-seeking, I have been receiving only calls from financial advisors/insurance agents or salesmen… They are really hungry for people, but I’m not hungry for a sales job. They keep saying I will know only when I try. But as a highly-educated adult, I should know myself better that I am not cut out for sales; common hard-sell tactics don’t work on me.

Realized that the world out there is quite egoistic. I remember one of the interviewers nullifying everything I possess — my knowledge, my experience — saying that whatever we went through in school is rubbish; undergrads are Alices entering Wonderland. While I do not deny that there are people who still live in naivety, there are people who has a sense of presence for the real world out there. Some people need ‘wake up call’, but a significant number of people have already woken up. I may still be in the semi-conscious state after waking up, but I definitely know what to expect in the working world.

Rejected that job offer (which was a sales position anyway) cos I find the interviewer (future boss) to be lacking in respect for the potential in people. She thinks that just because she was one who dreamt through life till university, all undergrads will be like her (in Chinese, she didn’t realize 一山还比一山高). I also conclude that people who dreamt through life before working, and then finding a little bit of monetary success can be quite disrespectful to other people. They think they are superior than others and nullify everyone they meet. Yes, earning big bucks is good, but alienating myself will not be what I’ll do.

Really, if I were an employer, I would be asking ‘What are you good at?’, so that I can tap on the person’s strength. That person may be inflating his strength, but at least that’s something he’s good at doing, and I don’t mind training him just as long as I don’t need to train him from the basics. I wouldn’t want to be an employer who only know how to say ‘You know nothing’. If the person in front of me knows nothing, why would I want to employ him?

ZZGY Chapter 8, Commentary, Chapter 9, Commentary, Chapter 10, Commentary reloaded (New), 《沉默的回响》 之后的空洞

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2008/06/26 The Elusive Success

2008/06/29 Assorted Entry

2008/07/01 Recovery

2008/07/03 All The Non-Economical Economic Activities of An Unemployed Fresh Graduate

2008/07/04 Yours Sincerely is Officially Unemployed

2008/07/06 Punggol Jetty Trip

2008/07/08 Sammi Fan Blog Update: Feel So Good

Updated B+5 Images with:

- - + Punggol Jetty

- - + EE2001 Bits n Pieces

- - + Final Year at a Glance

Changi Airport: Reminiscing Terminal 1 is a website launched in conjunction with the upgrading of the oldest terminal of Changi Aiport in May 2008.

The focal point of the site is the photo contest whereby people submit photos taken in/related to Terminal 1 and hence, contributing to a vast archive of photos relating to the terminal over the years.

Well, I would not have been so hardworking to promote this website for free lah. haha! I submitted my photos and 3 of my photos are chosen for the Voters’ Choice round of the contest v0v

It is beyond my wildest dream to win the technical aspect of the contest, but well, people, you can vote for me to win the Voters’ Choice!! haha! The prize is a Sony Ericsson K770i mobile phone and an eye massager. I don’t think I can split that prize for my supporters, but hey! I can show support in other ways de! haha…

hmmm… Like… attending important functions… hehe… *rubs chin*

At the same time, voters are admitted to a Lucky Draw, where the prize is one Samsung L170 mobile phone + one Osim iCare 100 eye massager. So, it’s not a one-win situation here, k?

The voting (vote HERE) starts now till 17 Aug 2008.

An exhibition of the shortlisted photos will also be displayed at:

_ _ / Terminal 1 Transit Nexus Lounge (pass through customs, turn right, where the waterfall fountain is) on 17 - 31 Jul 2008

_ _ / Terminal 1 Departure Hall, next to Row 1 (near the Skytrain station to T3) on 1 - 17 Aug 2008

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ABouT My SuBMiSSioN .

I submitted 9 photos to the site, of which, 3 were selected. The 9 photos can be found under Gallery, Year 2007, starting from the photo with the caption ‘Visitors meet with greetings of various languages’ to the caption ‘Departure Hall from Carpark A’ (Currently the 1st 9 pix).

My selected photos are:

_ _ / Glimpse of T1 Exterior from the Other Side*

_ _ / Spine of Passenger Flow

_ _ / Visitors Meet with Greetings of Various Languages

(Pardon the wordings, cos I wasn’t really concerned about the quality of the captions when I submitted; I didn’t know the captions are the only way of identifying the photos, o_0 )

I can’t post the photos here lah, cos part of the contest regulations was that CAAS now owns the right to publish the photos, so do go and take a look (at the voting site)

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STRaTeGY .

Ok, I’m so thick skinned that I want to organize this voting thing so that I stand a greater chance of winning. Each person is only entitled to vote for 1 entry, so WE CAN’T WASTE THE VOTES!!

There are really some beautiful pix, like the external one with a beautiful sky that looked too good to be true. And also a very cute wedding pic taken at the terminal. OMG… They may garner a lot of votes!! haha… Cannot take chance!!

The idea is, come here and contribute to your idea of the best pic of mine (MINE, not other people one, for goodness sake. From now on, the focus is all about me mE ME), and then we agree on which photo to vote, can?? haha…

The zenov support group shall start voting on 16 Aug 2008, in case people see my votes too high (if we’re successful) and then support other pictures.

Remember, voters get a chance to enter the LUCKY DRAW too!!

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Links to various sites relating to T1 upgrade:

Changi Airport T1 Upgrade

Reminiscing Changi Airport Terminal 1

Gallery (direct link to Year 2007 photos, where my photos are)

About the contest: Voting and Prizes

*(’the other side’ meant from transit, where the current BK is.)

Snagged a few pics from xx’s Facebook, which were from me. haha… I only like these few pix… More fun, with more feelings…

Wait till gg upload all her pix and I choose the ones I like from her camera… ha…

And the most photogenic guy in the pic is... on the extreme right (dunno his name). Look at how distorted the others' faces were, but he faced the camera in the right direction, all beautiful smile, and was jumping very stylistically, like in a magazine cover...

Just like the feel of the pic...

They looked more like a congregation of intellects than coming here for commencement. Hence I like it. ha... Spontaneous, except for... cheong chye... why look into the camera?? haha...!

aiya... Classic, must take. Somehow I like this more than the many other portrait-pix taken inside the building.

Went to gg and xx’s commencement ceremony, to be their official photographer for the day.

I don’t know about the quality of the pix, but I knew I was quite good at splitting myself among the two. Don’t forget they have their own social circles (that may not overlap) and are all over the place finding people to take photos with.

I think one of my capability was the Auto-xx and Auto-gg detection. While I was with one, I could sense that the other needed my help (cos their cameras were both with me) and I would automatically wander off in a direction which would end up with me finding the damsel/skinny monkey in distress v0v

Another feat I acquired was to handle 5 cameras at one time and use them to take photos each, within a short period of time. Must not have unrelated people appearing in the pictures (which there were a lot), no blinking/semi-blinks, no blur, no dark (my initial few pix were light-deprived), no over-expose, no loss of important data (scroll, cert, bear, flower, boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever), must have focal point, vanishing point, 1/3 rule, bottom-up grand rule, top-down act cute (a.k.a Facebook pic) rule.

I think one does not need a pro-photographer with a super-ex DSLR for such an event. Just a cam-whore who understands the general principles/advantages/weaknesses of the dummy camera a.k.a digital camera.

One of the memorable moments was when xx had a friend (or I think is his sis/cousin) who made a pose, which immediately made me think of self-pic, and I immediately ran up close to them and did them a near-self-pic pic. I think quite nice. But cos the focus was on the gal, I think only the gal turned out nice.

aiya… How good-looking can guys get?

I quite enjoyed myself.

I was initially apprehensive on going. Was in a depressed/stressed mood from the 3-week no-result job hunt, and not prepared to answer questions on why I don’t have commencement this year, etc.

But ok lah.

The little exercise pumped oxygen into my brain more than the fossilization process I experienced slacking at home, and I feel rather hyper, despite the sleepiness.

haha!!

Wait till I get my hands on my handiwork from the two clients. I’ll examine the photos for quality. And show them here.

Of cos lah, quality in terms of composition and technique. I can’t choose the subject of the pics, remember??

Anyways, others who want me to go be their photographers can ask me. I may charge a fee, which is inversely proportionate to our degree of friendship*. If I have to provide my own camera, please inform in advance, so I can charge the batt and clear the memory card. Of cos, the cost of me providing hardware is inelastic to friendship. The service costs $20 flat.

I start accepting booking as of NOW.

*If I don’t know you, then $20 per hour. It decreases till I know you very well, which will cost $20 for whole session, plus a free ride home if you’re driving, or a free meal, if you are working/have a boyfriend.

Let’s get the mundane stuff out of the way.

I went to Punggol Plaza today just to have chendol (which was one of the worst I’ve ever had).

I know the schedule of all the prime time shows now, and am keeping tabs on watching them.

With this, I wanna recommend the latest Channel U 10pm show, The Perfect Cut. It’s about plastic surgery, coupled with psychiatry for the added drama tension.

I think it’s a show with a very well written script, well thought-out theme and interesting use of literary manipulation (like the aforementioned tension).

The script was so good, I am willing to ignore the gap in skills of acting between the actors, the funny make up and hairstyles and the un-Singaporeanized all-perfect-Chinese speaking.

ha…

Not to mention eye candies like Michelle (she’s the only glamourous actress in the show, no steal!) and Thomas Ong (with his funny coconut hair) and Julian Hee (with his over-done eye liner). But in terms of beauty, I actually liked the X-factor given off by Michelle’s Mum. o_0

I just saw the trailer for tomorrow (Friday) with Chen Hui Hui, and I think she was very good. ha… Better than in the Ch 8 7pm show lol I also think Song Yi Fei (我要加大！） acted much better in here than the 7pm show.

And of cos, Thomas Ong played his character (Dr Tan) so well, sometimes I just feel like punching him in the face! muahaha! But then, I suspect the animosity was due to the fact that the character was quite like me… hmmm…

But on the other hand right, the ‘feud’ between Thomas Ong (plastic surgeon) and Michelle (psychiatrist) reminded me of Godma (medical social worker) and her meeting with an old classmate (some generic doctor) in and around her workplace. (Thomas: 放心，我医不好的病人就丢给你咯！)

hmmm… The last thing I’ll expect is having the doctor as my godpa (a la in the show).

For those who missed it, I can burn the previous 2 episodes, since my sis recorded it. ha…

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Other than that, I was also watching the Beach, Ball, Babes. Two things:

1. For those who read ZZGY, there is this character called Junwei, whom I modelled his outlook after some random face I saw on TW variety show. And guess what? I found a replica of Junwei in the show! haha… It was the new actor (I never see him before lah) playing the kid brother of Jessica. For a new actor, ya… I think he acted better than that guy who played opposite Fiona Xie in that 水缸 show.

Just mentioning, cos I was quite amazed to see a fictional character coming to life. haha…

2. Mediacorp is overdoing the accept-PRC-propaganda. Those who watched it will know; the show was trying very hard to victimize PRCs, at the same time vilify Singaporeans. But I guess the worst thing is that the worst actor in the show happened to be Cui Peng, playing the PRC character. Don’t know why. I don’t remember him with such bad acting, but he really looked more like reciting his lines than acting out the character.

Like I said, even the kid brother in (1) acted better than him. Please feel free to bring up actors in the show with worse acting than Cui Peng, but don’t bring in passerbys like the Uncle Bread and Volleyball Players A to Z. haha…

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That 7pm show.

I didn’t want to talk about it one, cos I will go on and on. But since I’m talking about the other shows, I might as well bring it up.

Yesterday’s episode was about Kaiwang (and family) forcing Zijing (Ivy Lee) to agree to give birth.

Zijing’s stand was: Don’t even have enough money to give their 1st child the best, why bring another one to the world and let him suffer?

Kaiwang: I don’t mind having more kids, more kids the better. I can still give him/her the best I can afford. People in the past also have lotsa kids.

Those who know me will be able to guess straight away that I CONDEMN THAT KAIWANG TO HELL.

1st, being able to give the best he can afford to his child DOES NOT EQUATE TO giving the best to his child. The poor kid will still suffer from the lack of headstart, financial support in studies and have a HELL OF A HARD TIME doing catch up.

2nd, People in the past have lotsa kids, which explains why the society in the past was backward. Spreading limited resources between many kids resulted in all the kids receiving less than ideal education and therefore resulted in retardation of progress to society.

If that Kaiwang is earning millions by the month, I won’t even bother if he decided to give birth to a football team. But his family only has a few thousands in savings and he still has the cheek to want to give birth to more kids! WTF!

Irresponsible parents like him are the cause of societal problems!!

grrrr!!!

p/s: I apologize for my English that seems to be getting worser and worser (another version is more and more worse). But I have been thinking in Chinese almost non-stop for the past few days. ha… I really felt like a pathetic writer this afternoon when I wandered around Punggol Plaza aimlessly, just to get a break from all the writing… lol

Eating and Drinking and Sleeping…

OK lah… Rest for 1 week before sending resumes again, although I’m rather worried about the kind of jobs that I will ultimately end up with. After all, of all the 40 plus 50 resumes I sent, only 4 asked me for interviews, and only 1 offered a job for me. Well…

I should start sending unsolicited resumes le… haha…

Anyways, as I write this part, I’m preparing to go out for my driving practical test le… I’m not as nervous as the last time, but still nervous.

Wish me luck!!

ZZGY Chapter 10, Commentary uploaded, 《沉默的回响》 之后的空洞 (New)

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2008/06/15 My Last Day of Schooling Part I: The Project

2008/06/15 A Lot of Expectations

2008/06/17 My Last Day of School Part II: Chance Meetings

2008/06/18 Blood Type Comics

2008/06/22 Back From Discharging My Duties

2008/06/24 Sammi And Wallace In TV Drama

Updated B+5 Images with:

- - + EE2001 Bits n Pieces

- - + Final Year at a Glance

Feel So Good

In addition, today’s daily prayer:

I hope to receive interview calls, not from those financial advisors/insurance/MLM companies I have been getting for the past few days.

The Family went to Punggol Jetty after a sweaty lunch at Maxwell Market.

the orh jian of a stall manned by 2 uncles served big orhs with their orh jian... compare the size with that of the chilli plate!

Punggol Jetty is far from being near my home, cos it’s about 5km away. Some more, it was served by only 1 bus that is not that frequent.

It was like a miniature East Coast Park: a mini jetty, mini beach and a police post that is like a sentry room. I guess the police officers stationed there had better not be claustrophobic or scared of the dark, cos the place is REAL ulu lor… I think it’s the most ulu build-up area in sg liaoz…

Thank goodness it was my favourite cloudy sky weather, with lotsa wind. We went down to the mini beach for a short walk that ended up quite long, partly cos I was tempted to go further and further. At the end of the beach, we climbed up the embankment (which looked like it was new) and continued down the trail along the coast.

There were lots of people fishing, apparently quite at home with the place than we were, who were busy walking around and exploring.

The beach overlooked the Straits of Johor, where the big shipyards of M’sia loomed at the near horizon. And just as near was Pulau Ubin, which really looked untouched and serene than the Coney Island further down. I guess the latter was ready for developments as planned by the gahmen liaoz, to be a commercial ‘leisure hub’.

Kelong in the middle of the straits, with Pulau Ubin as backdrop. Man, do I love the sky!!

The trail led further into the woods, where on the other side was Punggol New Town. If it was not for the impending rain to come (the distant rumbles of thunder kept hinting of a possible rain).

Road towards civilization...

Oh ya… We met a chao turtle on the way back. My sis called him a 死乌龟*. But whatever. It stink so much that I took a photo and went off lol

We then went to explore the neighbourhood of the old Punggol. We went past the Francis Xavier Seminary, which was rather huge and imposing. The architecture of the building, which was half hidden in the luscious trees surrounding the compounds, hails from a different period. Not that Gothic/Victorian period. More like the 70s. But I wonder how it feels like to live in such a big compound, atop a small hill, in the middle of almost nowhere.

hmmm…

The vanishing point of this pic was supposed to be the sea. Blame it on the poor quality of the phone camera, the sea became a blur of light...

I wanted to go back and explore the trail I left behind leh. Anybody interested? We can meet at the bus stop outside Punggol MRT, which serves the bus that goes to Punggol Jetty ;P

The meeting place and direction of travel

The trekking route

* Turtle and 乌龟 are 2 different species of animal (the animal in question is a tortoise), much like Ah Meng (orangutan) and Ah Beng (me). ya…

a.k.a HoW I WhiLeD My TiMe aWay

1st, I’ve been doing a lot for my fluff friend. Mostly earning munny through petting and challenging others to a race. And then spending all the munny on food, which I stocked up and maintained the speed of my pet constantly above 3200.

I promoted the advertising industry by whipping myself with hours of cable, from History Channel to Zhong Tian; I showed my support for the industry across the globe o_0

Of cos, if all the kinetic energy generated by me were to be tapped, I guess my amount of internet activity through the clicking of the mouse would generate enough energy for the house daily.

Blog Break: Geeks and Love

And then, poor me also accumulated enough virus so that I could test the most powerful drugs in the market. You see, just as I thought I was recovering from the cough last week, it took a bad turn over the weekend and I was coughing through the night yesterday. I concluded that it was the worst symptom I have experienced in years and so went to be the guinea pig. And ya… the antibiotic called Cephalexin stinks big time.

And like I mentioned in the previous post, I also contributed to the retail industry, buying 2 books, 1 top, 1 jeans, 1 belt, 2 DVDs and tonnes of food. Along the same argument, after I recover from my illness, I shall buy a running-generated power turbine (which unfortunately is non-existent), so that I can work off the energy I am storing up now.

I also sent nearly 20 resumes since last Friday, of which the only replies I ever got was ‘We have received your application’. Of cos, there was also this sentence ‘We regret to inform that only successful applicants will be notified’ that explained the ‘job-hunt-application silence’ I received, perhaps since I started sending resumes months ago.

But considering how Bloomberg took about 3 months to invite me for an interview, perhaps I should really wait patiently and hold out till the last second, till my mum decides to kick me out of the house for being unemployed…

Blog Break: Geeks and Physicists

Another non-economical activity was the editing of my novel, as mentioned last week. Yup, with all the time in my hands, I actually edited 80% of what I set out to do after the planning last Friday. I just need to complete the latest round of edits, then proof-read before I can post the edited versions.

The end product as of now, was not what I said initially I would edit them to be, interestingly. For one, the number of pages increased instead. At the same time, I did a lot of changes, adding sequences and changing settings. hmmm… Right now, I can’t really decide whether the new version is better than the old one…

Lastly, I did something that was of a personal record. You see, usually I will surf the net with several tabs on at a time, somewhat hinting of my impatient trait. This morning, I was surfing on the net both on the laptop AND on my phone.

Oh, blame it on my stupidity. I happily assumed that the website I went to offered free hp software downloads, and then only to realize I missed the fine prints (actually they were technically ‘faint prints’, being VERY light grey on white background) that thanked me for paying US$6 for the FIRST WEEK. So I bo-bian, quickly downloaded the maximum of 12 downloads, before I forgot to unsubscribe later. Keep in mind that surfing the net on the phone also cost big bucks. So I bled a lot for a silly mistake.

I guess people who are rotting away rots their brain away too.

haiz…

Will someone just invite me for an interview??

Blog Break: Geeks and Sexual Inferences

Comics from: XKCD