.....And The Chicken Rice Wish Has Been Fulfilled....

... By Loy Kee Chicken Rice. Hahahaha..... The chicken was delicious and the texture was very "hua4". The sauce was not only sweet but also salty enough to soothe my yearning for delicious food. In addition, I had GREEN VEGETABLES (Xiao kailan) ! This is really a luxury to be having green vegetables after 2 long months.

Today I went on a shopping spree spending more than Rs.3000. The stuff that I bought are mainly health care products for me to bring back to India. I need all these health care products like eye wash to keep my eyes healthy (thick dusts on the streets and poor lighting in office), supplements (need to watch out my diet... everyone is really complaining that I've become skinnier.. gulp), iPod Nano to clean my ears (again.. same reason - too dusty....kidding!). I didn't buy iPod Nano.... yet.... still in the process of looking for a good mp3 player. Recommendations is that I get iPod Nano. Any one care to comment on this? Greenlamb (since you own one :P)?

On a side note: I'm very scared to go into bookshops here in Singapore. Every book I see in MPH/Kino is at least 2 times of the price in India. What I'm doing at the moment is, enter the bookshop, see their recommendations then maybe buy it in India. I'm looking forward to get a few books on management and self-improvement.

Chennai Week 10 Ended with Chicken Rice Driven Code!

Finally I'm back in S'pore....... home (at least for now)..... The feeling is very nice. Suddenly I can breathe properly again and not worry about the thick dusts on the roads. On reaching West Mall in Bt. Batok, I was overwhelmed to see "familiar sights" of spacious shopping arcades and "crowded" (the crowd in West Mall can't compare with weekends at Spencer plaza, although Orchard might). Christmas shopping crowd, young children running around the mall doing their own shopping with their "wah laos" and "lai dat meh?". I just realised that I've never seen a bunch of kids hang out together as a group in shopping centers without their parents.

Everything looks so clean and so organized here. It is very comfortable to be back here after the "stressful" lifestyle in India. The night before and the day before that I was still rushing to complete my lab assignment. I managed to finish the code in record time. It shocked myself and everyone in class as we were suppose to program 5 options. I completed all 5 while the rest are still working on the 1st option. I scare myself...... Like what I told my friends, this is the power of chicken rice. I was very motivated to complete my codes by yesterday evening because I know I would not be able to go back on Monday to work on it and submit. In my mind was just the wonderful Singapore Chicken Rice, Char Kway Tiau, Bak Kut Teh and all the various delicious non-spicy Chinese food. I have had enough of spicy Indian food especially the non-vegetarian ones. Prata and Chicken curry, Chicken Tikka, Chicken Briyani..... ugh... the week I knew I am coming back to S'pore, I had problems eating the food there in India. I lost all my appetite. According to my friend, Loon - "我瘦了"... Must be because of the diarrhea last week. It seems that a lot of other people are also having diarrhea in Chennai because of the water pollution. Newspaper initially reported that the cause is unknown but yesterday it was reported that the disease is cholera. So.. I think I might've been affected by cholera without knowing it. Good thing nothing bad happened. It seems that a few people died from dehydration due to excess loss of fluids from diarrhea. Some had to be injected with fluids as oral intake is vomitted out. My friend Benny was vommitting that day. I'm not sure if related or not.

Anyway, now that I'm back here in Singapore, I suppose it is time for me to do some shopping! My New Year Shopping list is just being compiled.... Hahahaha... :D

My Updates for End of ..... which week is it? 9?

Since yesterday morning, the weather here in Chennai is very cold. This is the coldest recorded temperature ever according to the news report. Temperatures have fallen below 5deg Celcius and snows will fall soon.... wait.. That's J&K (Jammu & Kashmir) and PoK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir)... Anyway, Chennai is supposedly the hottest city in India (last year temperatures were up to 40degC and many people died of heat wave around March, April). Presently, a new weather system is just about to hit 500km South of here. Yesterday, it was drizzling the whole day and this morning, heavy showers. I like the weather when it is just drizzling, it just feels nice and cool. However, I hate the heavy rains though.

Despite the "nice weather", my friends and I are falling sick - vomitting & diarrhea. Benny had a bad day yesterday as everything that he ate in the morning is vomitted out within minutes. We were trying to figure out what was wrong with him as we had the same food but did not suffer the same fate. We suspected it was the insect repellant that he turned on while he was sleeping. The effect of the poison has caused him to be sick and nauseous. So, warning to all - don't use the chemical insect repellant in a poorly ventilated room. As for myself, I was and am still having diarrhea since last night. I have no idea why or what happened.

My Cinema Experience in Chennai
Anyway, last week I had my first cinema going experience in Sathyam Cinema, Chennai watching Harry Potter! I'll have to say that I am quite surprised by the cinema. The outside of the cinema is covered with huge billboards of Tamil movies such that I could not tell that it is a building. The lobby was dirty and rundown. I was starting to feel disappointed at the "best cinema" in Chennai. BUT my impressions were changed once we entered the cinema. It started to feel more like Golden Village in Tiong Bahru. THEN.... I started to have a bad feeling again when the show started. As soon as the WB logo was screened, people in the hall started to cheer, clap, whistle and making so much sound that I feared my movie experience would be spoilt. It became silent when the first screen of some old caretaker walked up the stairs. I felt relieved BUT as soon as Harry Potter appeared, people were cheering, whistling and clapping again. The same goes for the other 2 main characters. After that, it was silent again. It felt as if we were watching a live drama instead of a movie. The experience was amazing especially when the Quidditch World Cup was being screened. People in the hall were all reacting just as the same as the characters in the movie. At the end of the show, again, the audience gave a round of applause as our heroes go home waiting for the next semester.

The most expensive food that I have paid for so far in Chennai...
Last Wednesday, we went to Asakasa Restaurant to have our dinner. We found the restaurant through an advertisement they placed in the newspaper. This is the first Japanese restaurant that we found here in Chennai. It is located in such a secluded place that none of us would've thought that there would be such a high class restaurant in there. Inside the restaurants, it feels as if we have left India and arrived in Japan. Everything about the place was Japanese - Japanese Ocha, Japanese Okiasama, Japanese Businessmen, Japanese Sake, .... you get the picture...

However, my heart suddenly sank when we got the menu. The prices were freaking expensive. Two Salmon sushi (the standard rich & raw salmon) costs Rs250 which is like S$10!!! I had a Katsudon meal set for Rs500.... Although the food was delicious but it is definitely not worth to go there often. It is only when I started working, I realise that saving money is not an easy task. I need to start planning my finances ......

Singapore next week
I have confirmed my booking for the Jet Airways flight back to Singapore on Dec 25th, Christmas day. I'll be arriving in Singapore at 5pm, I think. Unfortunately because I am skipping class on Monday 26th, I have to make up on 2nd January to finish up my labs as trainings have been extended.

1 min blog updates

I'm taking out time from lunch to check my mails and blog this very very short update. Maybe I'll expand it later when I get the time but I have only 5mins on my card left so can't blog for long. 1min-Updates for the past week:
1. Cyclone never came (phew) but new cyclone approaching.
2. Watched Harry Potter & Goblet of Fire (I have a lot to say about the cinema going audiences here)
3. Exams postponed, training has been extended (don't ask why)
4. Celebrated two of my Singapore colleagues' B'day in the past week.
5. Booked my flight back to Singapore on Dec 25th (reach at 5pm) and leaving S'pore on 1st Jan by Jet Airways. (The hole in my pocket suddenly feels so deep :( )
6. Had the most expensive food that I paid for - Japanese set meal (Katsu Don) in Chennai ... scary... this is even more expensive than what I had paid for in Billy Bombers. Rs500... pocket really burning hot now...

Exams & Cyclones coming soon

It has already been 8 weeks since I arrived in Chennai?!? Time really flies...... There's a little more than 2 weeks before this intensive training program ends. The main part of TPF theory has ended, we're only left with the labs as well as the final section - TPFDF (whatever that means :S)

There'll be a final exit test on Dec 26th. I suppose my Christmas this year will be spent in my room studying instead of enjoying Christmas TV shows back home in Brunei. Good news is that after training ends, we only need to report back to the main company on January 3rd 2006. This means that I have 7 days off!! Wooohoo!! At the moment am now trying to arrange for my flight to go back to Singapore on 26th Dec midnight. If it is settled then I'll arrive in Singapore on Dec 27th 7am.... but this is not confirmed yet. Don't know if there is still available seats or not. I can only go and arrange for this on Monday. After going back to Singapore, I'll have to reapply visa to return to India as my Visa is single entry.... so mafan. Seem like I will need to set out a plan & lists of to-dos when I get back to Singapore.

Well, putting the good news aside, Chennai is about to be hit by another cyclone - Cyclone Fanooz. *yawn*.... This is getting very very tiring and irritating.... Suddenly out of nowhere a new cyclone just forms and threatens to hit Tamil Nadu. It is becoming like a routine and I'm already expecting certain things to happen when it hits. No surprise that plenty of areas will suffer water logging problems especially near my office. My clothes won't be dry after washing.... Not only that previously, in all the cyclone attacks, at least 2 or 3 people would die from electric shock. The most recent case reported by the newspaper was because of water logging, people dig the roads to let the water flow. They dig it too deep that they hit the power cables below. No problem initially but as cars drive pass it, it damage the cables further. Just so happen a 60yr old man with his grand daughter walk by .... got electrocuted by it. His son saw him fall so he rushed to try and help but ended up he was also killed. It was tragical.

Week 7 ended? er..... mid of week 8?

I have been so caught up in my labs last week that I did not really have much time to come online... or specifically, to blog. I did manage to sneak out from work to go online on Saturday though. This was mainly because it is very difficult to travel due to the heavy floods. The main entrance to Tidel Park which is situated next to my office is totally flooded. The drains are like mini-rivers and the roads are waist high. We practically had to swim. Fortunately, the night before, my sports shoes were already soaked due to the floods near my place of stay so on Saturday I wore sandals to work. It was very convenient to just pull up my long pants and walk through the floods as compared to my friend who has hush-puppy leather shoes. Poor puppy, it's crying...

Anyway, I guess my friends and I should consider ourselves lucky (or maybe unlucky) as we're like the bringer of rains to Chennai. I mean, what is the probability of 4 waves of heavy rain hitting a city that has been experiencing drought for 3 years until we came. The first wave was a very powerful cyclone, the next two were just heavy monsoon rains and the most recent one, another cyclone. The cyclone that hit recently, well it was not as terrible as the first one. However, due to the waves of rain coming almost every week, Chennai is not prepared to handle it. The floods and water logging problems get worse and worse. People were evacuated from the low-lands to schools and other higher areas. Schools and colleges are closed here. The worst I think is when they released the dam. The river was filled to the brim and the surrounding slums were all flooded. It was a very "unique" sight because the river was usually dry. You can sometimes see the river bed and now it is filled.

Fortunately, this time the cyclone I felt was not as destructive as the first one. But who am I to judge as I am not affected much by this. Everyday I see in the newspaper, there are hundreds of people in need of food and proper shelter because of the rains and floods. For me, I only have my labs to worry about :S.... Just realised that I'm down to my final 3 weeks of training.

End of my 6th Week in Chennai

Woah... It has already been six weeks since I first set foot on Chennai. I don't know whether it is a good thing or not that I am always counting the number of weeks and using them as my blog titles. Anyway...

Today I'm so happy that we don't need to go to office. This was because our lab coordinator decided that the lab was very simple and that we could do it within one hour. He gave us the chance to choose whether we want to come back today to do the lab or stay back till late last night. Most people chose the later because they wanted to take the weekends off to go home. Another reason I think he allowed that is because this morning there was a "big" cricket match between India and South Africa (I think....). So, everyone "MUST" stay in and watch the match. Did I ever mentiont that cricket is religion here in India? :P

For this post, I'll cut down on what I want to say about my labs and the rain. Think my blog readers will get bored soon with all the mention of frustrating labs and irritating rainy weather here. I think I shall talk about some culture shocks that I have experience here so far. I can't list all of them but I'll just briefly mention some of the more obvious ones in point form below.

1. No proper public toilet & ESPECIALLY NO Tissue!!
This is might seem like a joke but this is the biggest shock and problem. I'm so used to the clean and well-equipped toilets in Singapore. People laugh when they see that Singapore has a World Toilet Organisation but I think it is good that they have such an organization to ensure QC. At least in Brunei and M'sia, even though there is bad public toilets but can still buy tissue from shops easily. Packet tissue is like a foreign item here. I can find them but only in "Guardian Pharmacy" (A shop with guardian's colours but different name and logo) but it is being sold at quite an expensive price. Not worth buying.... When I go back to Singapore, I'll need to stock up more packet tissues before I come over. :S

2. Poor people and their living conditions
I mentioned this briefly previously. Each time I see them I feel quite sad. I don't know what I should do. People will come up to me and the first thing they do is make eye contact. Although they don't say anything, their actions tell you what they want. They'll clasp their hand and then extend it to you. They'll then repeatingly move their hands that they want you to give them food. Some of them are very persistent even if you say no. Most of them in fact, would because we are foreigners. Some of them are really in need of support while there are also some beggars who I think are healthy and strong enough to do something else rather than begging.

On TV, there is this advertisement about the "Kuwait Fund". The advertisement goes along the line of "If you give a hungry man food, you feed him for a day. If you teach him to fish, grow crops, rear animals, educate his children then you have taken care of him for a lifetime." Actually I do think that many people who have access to education has taken it for granted. Experiencing the condition here, it is very easy to notice the poverty gap between the rich and the poor.

3. Political Issues - The power of the fourth state
I follow the local news channel - NDTV 24/7 every morning. This is the only local news channel in English that I get on my TV (I do have BBC and DW-TV for world and sports news as well :P). The first time I got a shock from this news channel was when a reporter was reporting about the flooding problems in Bangalore. She was talking about the bad conditions that people in Bangalore were facing during the floods late last month and how the authorities were slow in taking action. At first when she was reporting it, I sensed that the news was getting abit too personal as her expression was that she was quite angry with the situation. At the end of her report, I quote her: "The politicians are just good at what they are doing. Political posing". Instantaneously, my friends and I were like "What!?! Did she just say what we heard her say?" Then we started to laugh and of course, compared it with our home countries.

Another show that they have on NDTV 24/7 is a puppet show called Double Take. The puppets are designed to look like the ministers. In this show, they'll use the puppets to tell stories and act out how incompetent the minister is in his post. I was like "woah..." then I found out from a friend that this concept was adopted from Germany. They sent 20+ people to train in Germany on this puppetry criticism.

4. Matrimonials in newspaper
This is very interesting. You know in newspapers, we always get classifieds where people sell/buy products/services,etc. Here, there's another section - Matrimonial. One section which writes - Looking for brides and the other Looking for bridegroom. I was laughing when I first saw the section in the newspaper. Advertisements were like "Looking for fair,slim,beautiful girl from good family background". Some were like "The parents of So&So who is in US working now is looking for an alliance with the family of a girl who is etc etc etc". Alliance? The most interesting one I think was "So&So with MBA degree, earning six-figure salary looking for MBBS etc etc". He's only looking for a doctor wife huh? Oh ya, some others have astrology requirements and locations.

In addition to these requirements, people have to send in their "applications". Most of the people in my class talk about "applications" instead of "proposals". So, I suppose one must first send application, get approval stamp then can continue. hahaha..... I suppose it is still a practice here that continues where some parents still arrange the marriage of their children.

5. Girls one side, guys one side
Although it is not an explicitly written rule on the bus but this seems to be the case. It must have been a horrifying experience for those ladies that some weird guy (ie. my friends and I) sit next to them. Even on a packed bus where there are not enough seats, guys would prefer to stand rather than sit next to the women. I don't know if we are offending their culture or not. This one I'll have to check. My cultural sensitivity is getting abit low these days ^_^.... Making plenty of assumptions or thinking that I will be forgiven because I'm a foreigner.

About culture, people here like to address each other as Sir/Madam especially when it comes to people of higher rank. Hierarchy is a very important concept here. However, for those of us from Singapore, we seem to be different. We would address them by their names and treat them more equally. (I'll blog more about this next time... my surfing time is up again)

Tedious labs & unpredictable weather

After a whole week of continuous labs we were finally "entitled" to a few days break. The reason it is "entitled" is because our basic assembler training is over. Now comes the advance stuff, TPF -> my bread and butter for the next few years...... The theory classes no longer seem simple and easy as it was one month ago. The concepts taught are quite abstract as in I think it will take me quite some time before I can understand what it all means. Assembler was to be like CS1101 and now TPF is like 1102. Also, next week will be another week of labs or should I say, two weeks of continuous labs.... scary but hey, half the training is over. :P

As for the weather here in Chennai, there is another depression over this region. On a day, it can be sunny and extremely hot. Suddenly without warning, sky gets dark and it will be a heavy downpour. Cyclonic rains are very different from the ones which we have in SEA. You can actually see the rain being blown hard by the wind and umbrella is no protection against such a storm. My friend describes the weather as "Mother nature is having her PMS". Heavy rain here is not good especially for office goers. Unlike the schools and colleges here, we don't get a day off due to the flooding of roads or homes. A few hours rain can easily flood some parts of the road. These would make travelling very inconvenient to and from work. Fortunately an idea struck my head that we could easily take a bus to cross the flooded areas. :D

Few weeks ago, I was already predicting that my leather shoes would be worn out soon. Well, now the sole has started to tear open and I can see my socks from the tip of the shoe. :S My poor leather shoes, badly damaged by the weather here. In addition, twice I was splashed by dirty water due to inconciderate drivers. The first time was not very serious, the second time I was very pissed off. I kept cursing that guy for driving so fast. I mean, the road is already "halfed" because one section of it is flooded but he still drives onto the flooded part and I ended up as the victim. *grrrr*

Anywayway, this weekend should be quite a relaxing weekend. My friends and I are trying to get tickets to watch Harry Potter here but are quite unsuccessful because the normal timings are all fully booked. Think we'll have to try again next week. Oh yes, if any of you do get the chance, I'd recommend to watch the Hindi movie "Taj Mahal". I've not watched the movie yet BUT the trailer and behind the scenes look good. Although I could not understand a word they are saying but the body language speaks for itself - the vibrant colors and the very chio Pakistani-French actress.... It's suppose to be the most expensive movie ever made in Bollywood and they spent 3years filming it. Darn, if only they have English subtitles here.

Summary of Week 5

5 weeks have passed and I am still surviving........ barely...... My feat for the first lab was just luck? Nah...partly because I had experience doing something similar when I was in NUS. Lab2 nearly suffocated me. The lab was suppose to start on Wednesaday afternoon, I slacked the afternoon away not doing it because I was too tired to think (....due to Risk). Note to self - never play Risk the night before a lab session.

I freaked out when I didn't do much by the end of Thursday morning. In the afternoon fortunately, I started to understand more of what I was trying to do and slowly managed to finish on time. However, my code was very bad in terms of efficiency but can't complain much. Actually, my colleagues aren't that strong in programming especially when it comes to assembly. Many of them stayed overnight just to finish up their work. I can tell that they are quite stressed out by it. It doesn't help also that their other friends in TCS are not subjected to the same level of intensive training as they are getting. I just realised that I've been working 7 days straight with no break. Get up at 7, start work from 9am to night 845pm(last train) with a 1 hr lunch break. By the time I finish dinner, it is already 1030pm. Take a shower and sleep.. Next morning repeat the process.....

Other than work.... well.. there's a Sri Ramakrishna Maths Publications company. I told YC previously about that. Today I just saw what is behind this publications company - "Sri Ramakrishna Universal Maths Temple" O_O .... .I was like "WAH LAO eh..." ... Universal Maths Temple? They worship the god of maths? hmmm.. I really got to explore more to see what it is about. Btw, Indians are very religious people. It doesn't matter which religion they belong to, they are very expressive about it? I mean, I switch on tv, at least 2-3 channels preaching hinduism 24/7 and another 2-3 channels preaching christianity 24/7....

ok.. time's up. .gotta go

Long Sunday and more labs for the week

Working on Sunday was bad enough. Playing Risk till 3am the night before is worse. My friends and I went to Spencer Plaza (the super huge shopping complex in Chennai) for shopping on Saturday. We ended up buying Risk together to fill our free time (very hard to get any these days). It was very addictive that we didn't want to stop playing until we finally gave up because we know that the game would not end so soon and we have work the next day.

Good thing that this place we are staying provides morning calls. I am really pampered alot here in Chennai. The caretaker of the place would just give a ring to the phone in my room to wake me up. After I have finish preparing then I'll just give them a ring and ask them to bring breakfast up. Anyway, on Sunday morning, I had to drag myself out of bed. Well, my friends and I actually arrived at office late. Supposed to reach before 9am but we arrived at around 10. We had to 'drink tea' with the HR the next day and I expect our score card has some marks deducted liao.

Sunday was just a lab session very much like my first year in SoC. Really dejavu... Aaron Tan's (my CS1104 lecturer) words keep ringing in my head. At times I could suddenly recall facts that I don't even remember when doing my CS1104 exams :S ... This lab session was supposedly an easy lab because when I saw the question, I had the algorithm roughly planned out in my head. I thought that it would be simple and not as tough as how the rest of my classmates felt. (Actually when the question was given, they were all complaining on how it should be done. I felt like shutting them up for whinning so much at that time.)

....However, when I started work on the lab, I realised that it was not as easy as I first thought that it would be. The way to solve the problem would have been very easy if I was asked to write in Java. Unfortunately, it was assemble language... The horror of the tedious branchings and comparing of registers..... argh... the whole day I spent trying to solve the problem ended up in frustrations. I stared at the computer screen for hours on from 10am till lunch and from 2pm till about 5pm... It was only then I realised WTH!! ... I've forgotten the most fundamental rule of programming ->When you are stuck and tired, just leave the program and not think about it. That's what I did and went home to sleep. The next morning my mind was clearer and I realised the silly mistakes that I made in my code which made my program to run in an unexpected way.

In addition, the funny thing was that on Sunday I thought my friends had finished half the lab assignments. It wasn't the case.. I ended up being the first one (or maybe 2nd to that VIT gold medalist.. not very sure because she seemed to be coding furiously even after I finished mine...) to complete followed by the other 3 of us from Singapore. The others were so shocked and one was frustrated by us. He was frustrated because he started to work on the lab 1 day before my friends and I did. He said something like "What the heck am I working so hard for?"... yah.. poor thing... He stayed overnight on Saturday, Sunday and Monday as well trying to finish up the lab. This is one example that hardwork not necessarily equates to success....

Anyway, today they just gave us another lab assignment. My brain was in a deadlock again and I felt super sleepy that I actually took a nap. After that, my friends and I rushed back to our TQ so that we could take a good rest then work on the labs tomorrow. The labs are really tiring. I wonder how long will this 3rd lab take..... Not only that, my brain is becoming more and more like a computer. Java was already making my brain to think in a very systematic way... Assembly language is the ultimate so far... think in numbers... when I no longer look at "The Matrix" in the same way again because I have taken the red pill and understand how to read Hexadecimal operation codes for IBM ESA/390 like 1A 23 means add register 2 and register 3....... goodness... :S

Week 4 ending....

After today, it would mark the end of my fourth week here in Chennai. It has already been 1 month! Wow..... 5 and a 1/2 more months to go before I leave India. Time seem to be passing quite fast now that I have a lot of homework to do. There are lots of assignments and lab work. It feels just like my first year in NUS again. Not only that, the things they are teaching us is very much similiar to what I've learnt before.

All throughout the lessons so far, I was trying hard to recall what was taught by my lecturers in my first year. Concepts taught in 2nd year and 3rd year are rarely used. Now I can follow all the other working ppl who always say that only take the basics out of uni, the rest of the stuff taught is useless. Ironically, the two modules which I was quite weak in my first year - CS1102 (Data structures & Algo) and CS1104 (Computer Organization). A lot of concepts about computer memory access, how computers work and all the binary and hexadecimal numbers are coming back to haunt me. It has turned from my weakness to something that I must conquer else I will have to start looking for another company liao.

Class is starting to become less noisy. I think my classmates have become less enthusiastic about asking redundant questions. This is because the more questions they ask, although make them look impressive but our working hours would be extended until we can complete the sessions. We are on a very tight schedule and must complete by Dec 26th. I think they are having some projects that urgently need people so they want to make sure we grasp all the concepts quickly and can work immediately after that.


AIESEC Chennai's Diwali Night
Yesterday I finally met up with the AIESECers and trainee in Chennai. AIESEC in Chennai had organized a Diwali night for the trainees. I was so happy to meet them. The feeling was like I know these people very well and not strangers. The setting was so familiar. It made me feel quite at home. AIESECers here talk about the same thing - welfare of trainees. The Financial Controller going around getting money from the AIESECers and helping to assign a trainee buddy to the newly arrived trainee, etc. After the normal AIESEC event, trainees have their own trainee party gathering nearby to send off another trainee. It was very very nice to be with people of the same group again.

I met a Taiwan guy who was so happy to see me. His first reaction was like "Do you speak Chinese?". I replied in Mandarin and he was overjoyed. He exclaimed that in his 7months here I'm the 2nd guy from "The Far East" that he met in Chennai. Anyway, other than that I "interviewed" the trainees on their weekend activities. They travel alot during weekends - leave from work on Friday evening, take overnight bus/train and go straight to work on Monday morning. It is very tiring but they say it is worth the trip. I'm looking forward to joining them once my trainings are over. Muahahaha.....

Anyway, think this will be all for my summary of this week although I have more to say but my surfing time is almost up. I'll update again another time. By the way, I have work tomorrow (>_<).... it's a Sunday.... gosh.....

IT and India (Chennai)

At almost every corner here in Chennai, one can easily find posters or advertisements about private schools teaching J2EE, .Net, Java, C++, C and the other popular programming languages. Newspaper advertisements also. IT jobs make up a large portion of the classified ads compared to business-related jobs here in Singapore.

The place where I'm working now is at a city/town or whatever you call it (in Tamil, it is Nagar), Thiruvanmiyur has a lot of developments going on. Currently, there are 3 big buildings there. Tidel Park, El-Net Software City (where I work) and Ascendas. There are a few more buildings coming up. The place is supposed to be called "IT-corridor". The roads at the moment are narrow and with certain sections flooded. It makes me wonder how this place will be 10years from now. Clean, good roads, proper shelters and street lights? Only time will tell.... My friend thinks that it won't be as nice as we would expect it to be. The people contracting this development might just drop the project halfway. Who knows?

Anyway, everyday I walk from my office to Tidel Park (about 10mins walk) for lunch. It is quite a hassle but I have no choice because there is a lousy canteen at my office. Tidel Park has a better food court and more variety. Not only that there's also a money changer, a bookshop, a pharmacy and plenty of ATM machines. This place is not as nice as Raffle's City but this is a good place. I can't complain much. :P

Summary of week 3

My trainings have officially started on Wednesday. Day 1 was just introduction by the HR manager on the purpose of the course and the need to adhere strictly to the timings. We were not allowed to take leaves and our Saturdays were taken away from us. In addition, we were told that Sunday holiday is optional because most of us will still go back to office anyway because we might not be able to complete our homework fast enough. One of my friends calculated the number of hours that we have to work and the pay that we are getting and concluded that we are earning the same amount or even less than Mc Donalds' part time job. Can I have your order? Egg Mc Muffin? Big Breakfast?

My classmates are.... interesting.. as in typical top-class students? They love class participation. They love to try and silence whoever is trying to answer the question and propose their own solution. Most of all, they love to "help complete the sentence of the teacher". All 3 of us from NUS were ... well... typical NUS students - keeping quiet. Hahaha... of course at the end of the day, we were just amazed at how they were so enthusiastic to answer even if what they say have no relevance to the question. -.-"
Some of them just say something extra or ask chiem questions which is of no help to the course or will be better explained next time when we learn more. It is as if they are trying to show that they are very capable and very intelligent which I think I shall not comment on. I think if I find out their grades in high school and uni, I'll have to cover my face and hide in one corner. :P

But.. I'm not intimidated by them. They maybe very smart but I doubt that it would matter a lot. Hahaha.. Don't know lah, 6months down the road see how.... where will I be then?

Happy Diwali

Today is Diwali Holiday. Diwali here feels like Chinese New Year in Brunei. The people have been playing firecrackers non stop since Friday night (after the cyclone). Nothing much to do today except stay in and watch tv.

It is very scary to be walking along the streets during Diwali season. Suddenly someone might just set a firecracker in front of you. Very dangerous. It is worse when I saw a bunch of kids with firecrackers. Who knows one of them might just be "happy" enough to try blowing up a firecracker at Chinese man just for the kick of it?

Unlike S'pore or Brunei, there are no "sales" during Diwali season. I thought it would be similar. Shopping is not the same here. No special Diwali offers. Prices are just the same or even more expensive to take advantage of consumers. Ok lah, that'll be all from me this time. I realise that I have been writing super long essays. This is not good. In A Levels, my GP teacher told me to KISS (Keep it short and simple) my work. In University, my communications lecturer said to KISS (Keep it short stupid!). People hate reading essays. I bow down to all those who finished reading my long winded talk below... Hahahaa

2nd week over

After 2 weeks, let me summarize abit of my daily activities other than the heavy rains and floods. By the way, the weather is very clear right now, afternoons are hot and sunny as how Chennai should be. I think I'm getting a tan because of the sunlight here :S

Anyway, every night for the past week, my friends and I have upgraded from normal non-vegetarian restaurants to high-class restaurants for dinner. We are living an expats life here in Chennai. Like how the expats in S'pore are, this is how we are treating ourselves as well. Lunch at the food courts and canteens at our work place costs about Rs.30-40. Dinner starts at Rs.100 and averages around Rs200-Rs250. The most expensive meal I've had so far is today's buffet lunch at a 5-star hotel. It cost me Rs350 (abt $12) but quite cheap I think when one compares it with the buffet offers in Singapore hotels ($25?). However, most reasonable price is when we had lunch at Zara, a Spanish restaurant (not the clothes shop). A full set meal that costs only Rs209 (about $8) which would've cost $12-$15 in Singapore. The place is also very nice and posh. The only downside is that some of the customers smoke.

I have also been trying to contact people from AIESEC in Chennai. So far, I've only managed to sms Vikas, LCP of @Chennai. He gave me one guy's contact who called me once and that's it. I tried calling him back but I think he changed phone number liao. So, Vikas gave me another number. This guy called me today and promised to meet me tomorrow or at least Friday. They are quite busy these days because of Diwali celebrations. Friday is gathering for trainees to explain/expose them to Diwali and what it is about. I can't wait to meet up with them. At the moment, it is very boring here in Chennai because my friends and I don't know where to go. We don't know any local people here.

Marina Beach
I think I talked about Marina beach in a previous post. This is one of the longest beach in the world. It is just a ten minute walk from where I stay. This morning, my friends and I got up early to catch the SUNRISE!! ..... Unfortunately....... we were 15minutes too late and the clouds were very thick. See no sun .. hai~ ...We were there at about 610am. The surprise I got was that there were so many people at the beach at that time. In fact, I found out that people start going to the beach at 430am. This is because they are there for their morning exercises. So many people jogging, a group of people playing soccer (finally found football in India!), a group of people doing laughter exercise??, etc. The laughter exercise group is weird. They bend to their left, stretch their arms and start giving out a mild laugh. Repeat on the right. Repeat a few times. Then they move on to "heavier" exercise. Laugh loudly and in a deep voice like santa claus.

Anyway, my friends and I had a morning jog on the beach then played soccer with the bunch of people. There was this 89year old man who I think is the coach of these people. He has an album that collects newspaper clippings of him during his younger years I think in the Indian national team back in the 50s?? This guy is still very active. It shames me that at my age, I am not as fit as this 89 year old guy. He may not run as fast as I can but he definitely can jog a longer distance. His footwork on the ball is quite good. If I do reach 89years old, I would want to be as fit as he is... but before that, I need to work on how I am now. Shame CY, shame... in this 6months here in India, I will try to build up my stamina and football skills by playing with these people. Hahaha.... .. hopefully. Will come back here more often. Next time MUST see sun rise from the horizon. :P

Btw, "football in Chennai is for 'poor' people and cricket which is a religion in India is for the better off" quote from the people I met at the beach. We found out about this because my friends and I are looking for places to watch football on tv. Unfortunately, there isn't any place to watch football. Football is cheap and you can share the ball with everyone. Cricket is expensive because of the equipment. Oh yes, talking about expensive. I was expecting Chennai to have plenty of cheap stuff like cheap Nike shoes, cheap clothings, etc... Ended up the prices are no different from S'pore and there are also many which are more expensive. I guess I assume Chennai to be similar to China. Of course, cheapest thing here is food.

Work
So far, I've yet to receive official training. Training only starts on Nov 2nd. At the moment, my friends and I are just slacking in the office. Read abit on OS, read abit on Assembly language, program abit on the Intel 8086 emulator (hear of Intel 486? This is the predecessor.. ancient dinosaur.) Hopefully when training starts, it will be interesting and I can feel useful. I've just found out the price of the place I'm staying at as well. TCS is paying Rs800/night (about $32) for each room. No wonder we are getting such good service and complimentary breakfast... Of course, they're still trying to move us out but they've yet to find an apartment for us.

Heavy Rains in Chennai

It was raining heavily continously in Chennai for the past few days. This was due to the high concentration of low pressures off the Bay of Bengal (east of Chennai). The news reported that a cyclone was forming. Winds of up to 60km/h were expected to hit Chennai. I didn't really know whether it is considered serious or not except that due to this heavy rain, I caught a cold because I was always under the rain. I do have umbrella but what's the use in Chennai where there are so many low electric cables around. I could easily grab one of the power cables and *bzzzt* ....Fried CY.

Previously I said that monsoon season is over but I realise that the information is not correct for Chennai. Chennai will experience monsoon till end of this month. Also, this heavy rain has not occured for more than 3years. It flooded most of the outskirts of the city. Between where I stay and my place of work, it is relatively dry but there are some areas which is heavily flooded. People have to wade through waters that are at waist level. Gov't officials are concerned of the diseases that might spread because the water is mixed with drainage water. *Eeew*... but what to do? On Thursday, my friends and I went to work quite late because we were stuck as the road to the train station was flooded till waist level. We took an auto (the yellow tuk-tuk as they are called in Thailand) who has strong bargaining power due to the floods around. A ride that would normally cost Rs10, he charged us Rs30. No choice but to pay because we still have to go to work right?

The interesting thing was that due to the heavy rains, the train station's counter was not open so we had FREE train ride. hahaha.... to make up for the expensive auto. When we reached our office, the main road to the office was flooded as well. We had to take off our shoes to get in. It was very 'jialat'... Umbrellas don't really work in this kind of situation. It would've been better if we had raincoats and PCK boots. Reaching the office, we found out that many others have not arrived despite us being 2hours late. The director was so happy to see us in office that he wrote an email to show off the quality of his S'pore recruited trainees. The rain continued to pour heavily and we started to wonder what would happen when the cyclone hits Chennai.

Abuthen, we should've just stayed at home that day because at 3pm, the director declared that everyone can leave. This was because Tamil Nadu was in a state of emergency, 550 bus routes were stranded due to the floods, power was cut in many parts of Chennai and the trains were not operational. Because we could not take the train back, my friends and I boarded the company van to a nearby public bus stop. Winds were blowing strongly and the rain was torturous. We were all freezing cold because of the rain. The once traffic jam prone street has a few cars on the road. We witnessed a tree branch break and falling on the car. Fortunately, the branch was not heavy enough to damage the car. The driver drove off as if nothing happened. Lucky him...

After we managed to take the bus, we were only able to alight at a stop about 2km from where we stay because of the route. We tried to walk back to our place of stay until we reached a "dead end"... Floods that were up to waist level on the main road. Autos could not pass. We tried to flag down an auto to get us back. It took us about 1/2 hr before we managed to get a guy. In such a situation, he tried to get us to pay Rs30. We agreed if he brought us across the flood. When he reached, he realised that he can't drive his auto across and apologized. Told us that he can bring us if we pay Rs50. We tried to bargain for Rs40 because it was way too expensive. He was reluctant. He stared at my friend who was doing all the bargaining. My friend stared back hard. The situation felt abit tense. Ended up, we tried to get off his auto, he demanded for us to pay Rs10 for the short distance. My friend was pissed and did not want to pay. An argument broke out and lasted for about 10mins I suppose before the autodriver finally agreed to Rs40.

Once back in VR Home, we quickly took a shower and enjoyed the comfort of the place. For dinner, because of the heavy rain, we ordered pizza from Dominos. It was super cheap Rs117 (about $5) for 2 personal pizza and free delivery. When the pizza guy arrived, he was shivering because of the heavy rain. I pity him but didn't think of tipping him... which I think I should've because he battled through the cyclonic rains to bring our pizza. That night, we just glued to the TV news channel getting updates on the cyclone's situation. It was reported that the cyclone was suppose to hit early Friday morning. The winds were still blowing very strongly that night.

However, when day broke, it was strange... No strong winds, no rains. The sun was bright and sunny. My friends and I stayed... ponteng work until about 10am. Realising that no cyclone will hit today, we left for work and reached at 12pm... Just in time for lunch. Hahaha....

Pondicherry

Pondicherry is the name of the former French Colony town situated about 130km South of Chennai. My friends and I went to Pondicherry on Sunday. We were actually planning to go there on Saturday but was not very sure how to go or whether we should or not. So, Saturday we ended up shopping at Spencer Plaza all afternoon (doesn't it sound like expensive plaza as in x-spencer to you? coz one of my friend heard it as expensive plaza instead of Spencers).

We took a bus at 8am yesterday morning. It was raining quite heavily but when compared to SEA, the "heavy" rain are just mild. Weather these days have been quite unpredictable. Chennai is suppose to be hot all year round but we are experiencing rain every day eventhough monsoon season is over. I don't really like the rain in Chennai eventhough it is considered a blessing here as Chennai has been experiencing drought for the past 3 years. The rain makes the road very difficult to walk and it damages my shoes. Some of the roads are very muddy and puddles are everywhere. So... we took the public bus near our place of stay. Strangely, whenever we try to flag down the bus we want to take, the bus driver ignores us and drive off. Due to this, there was one Indian guy running after the bus. My friends and I were in awe seeing how fast he could run and he grabbed the rails on the bus climbing as the bus moved. We continued to wait patiently before a bus finally stopped for us.

Buses here are interesting. The conductor always sits 2nd from the back and by the window. This is so that he could see whoever boards the bus and ensures that he collects the fares from them. He has a whistle - 1 blow means stop, 2 blows on the whistle means go. I also had the experience of seeing the conductor chasing a guy out of the bus because he couldn't pay the fare. They argued and the conductor of course managed to get him off.

Ok.. sidetracked a little from the main points of my trip. The bus ride to Pondicherry was 3 hours. We changed bus to an ECR (East Coast Road) bus. The bus was full and we had to stand. We stood for about an hour before we managed to get seats. My legs were already feeling very tired. Upon reaching Pondicherry, we realised that we don't know where we are supposed to go. We don't actually know where the remains of the French Colony was located. All we knew was that we wanted to go see the beach. We didn't want to take the auto because we know we'll be cheated as we are not familiar with the prices.

We asked around and found out that the beach was 2km from where we were. As we walked along the road, the scenery became more and more "organized". Suddenly, we saw a French lady (or maybe just another ang moh). My friend Benny got more and more excited. Moving on, French schools (mostly Catholic? All of them had the Virgin Mary statue situated just below the roof of the main building.), French library, police post with a French sign, etc. It was almost as good as being in France... almost. The roads were very straight and traffic was low. There is also a heritage walk where the path is paved with stones. This place is more suitable for tourist. There are many foreigners around here. Many of those street pedlars selling 'exotic' stuff like sandalwood necklaces, drums, etc.. I didn't buy any because of phobia. I have enough of being cheated.. Buy only next time if I do go back :P

The beach, well, wasn't really a beach. The sandy beach was 10km away (according to one of the auto guys). We settled for the dangerous rocky beach. Of course, I didn't went into the water. Only our friend, the Indian girl went in. Along the beach was a giant statue of Gandhi and a small Nehru statue opposite it. I realise that there are many statues along Marina beach in Chennai and Pondicherry. Oh yes, there was also Notre Dame here but we didn't have the time to visit it. There is also a very famous and big Hindu temple but due to lack of time.... And not forgeting, we saw the Joan of Arc statue but only her back because it was fenced up and we can get to it unless we walk a long way round to enter from the church. But we went to the house of one of the famous Indian Philosopher, Sri Aurobindo. We had to take off our shoes and walk in. There was a tomb with flowers over it and people meditating beside it. No one was allowed to talk. The place was sacred. I didn't really understand who he was so just walk walk, see see inside. All I know from that trip was that his wife was called "The Mother" and she played tennis.

Oh ya, FINALLY SAW AN ELEPHANT IN INDIA :P ... India is supposedly the land of the elephants and they are sacred creatures here. Hahaha.. I've seen elephants before but that was so loooong ago. Also, at Pondicherry, I had my first 'Banana Flambe'. It was too sweet but quite interesting. I mean.. ice-cream on top of a hotsauce with some liqour - new experience.

So far I've been blogging about my good experiences at Pondicherry but it also left me with some 'bad'/sad experience. It is here that I saw a man foraging for food from the garbage. Beggars came up to me, one even had a baby on her arms. Although I was very sympathetic of them but I did not give them any. I felt bad but it can't be helped because if I were to help one, the rest will come chasing. After this experience when I returned to Chennai, I got abit of phobia when I see kids running up to me. I have this anticipating feeling they'll extend their hand and ask me for something then I realise they ran past me and they are dressed quite well. I am abit lost when I see these people... makes me feel really appreciative of what I have.

Anyway, last night reached Chennai at about 9am. Quickly showered and went to sleep because of work today. It didn't really feel like a vacation. I would love to go back to Pondicherry next time but will stay there overnight. 1 day is definitely not enough to enjoy.

Summary of what has happened so far

I find myself very tempted to blog ALL of my daily activities. It is so good that I wanted to share with everyone. BUT of course, this is not feasible and damn boring. Hahaha... Anyway, things are starting to slow down for me (so fast u might ask? I don't know :P). Let me describe abit of my experience in Chennai in the sections below.

People
I think more than 98% of the population here are Indians if not all! The Indians I met so far in restaurants, VR Home, at office are extremely friendly and "trustworthy". As in I don't get the feeling that they want to eat me up. Very different from what I would find in KL. During my KL trip, that was horrible! Everyone looked dangerous and ready to pounce on you. I would prefer to walk alone at night in Chennai than in KL. There seem to be also some form of mutual understanding and respect between people here especially when driving.

Traffic
Ironically, on the way to Changi that day, the taxi driver who drove me was having a fight with another taxi driver. This was because the other driver was flashing his headlights at him for no reason. He drove dangerously to show his anger at that guy. I was abit frigthened by it... 6hrs later in Chennai.... heh... EVEN WORSE! But the driver was not in a rage. He was just going around as if normal. Everyone sound their horns, everyone flashes their headlights. It is very important to sound your horn in Chennai as traffic is damn messy. But then again, I find that despite the messy traffic, people seem to know when to let others pass and when not to. It is weird. I would be stuck in a junction if you ask me to drive here.

In addition, trucks have "Sound Horn" notices written at the back to warn drivers to sound horn if they can read. An interesting fact is that during normal hours, one can hardly shift into 4th gear on the street. At most, just 3rd gear and you might have to start shifting down to 2nd liao.

Food
Idly, poori, sumber, chutney, chappati, dosa, uttapam, lassi, and so on.... are well... acceptable. Some are delicious while others are just plain not suitable for me to eat. The worst was the sour pickle. It was way too sour. The food overall was not as bad as how the reception package I read described it. I suppose it is only relevant to people who can't handle spicy food. A meal in TCS caffeteria for worth Rs30 would leave me so full that I could barely move. Restaurants however are abit costlier. Minimum of Rs100 for a complete meal. Quite worth it though.

Although..... I would like to note that it is quite hard to find a restaurant selling meat here. The other day, my friends and I were hunting for chicken at restaurants near our place of stay. We walked for quite a distance.. like pgp to bizad canteen before we finally found a "KFC" like fast food restaurant which is situated in the middle of nowhere. The shops beside it was all closed. If I was alone, I would NOT go there. Quite scary...

Last night, we went to a restaurant in the hotel near VR Home. The chef was so delighted to see us because we were "different". First he asked where we were from and of course we said Singapore. He immediately boasted his culinary skills which were not included in the menu. Singapore fried rice, ee mian, etc... He was like "You want S'pore food? I can cook for you. Make you feel at home."

Shopping
Ok.. First of all, I'll have to admit I have poor bargaining skills. Full stop. I shall not elaborate further as my friends here have been reminding me over and over on something I've bought. Other than that, I went to this place called Spencer's Plaza, supposedly the biggest shopping center here in Chennai. Here, we are able to see various types of people... as more like S'pore except with majority Indians rather than Chinese.. Hahaha.. I'll continue to say that I've spent quite heavily recently and will eat idly and dosa (maybe vada once in a while) for the next few months to save up.

Autorickshaw (just 'auto')
Today just had the experience of bargaining hard with an auto driver. These drivers would drive up prices so high to cheat us. I mean .. a short trip which was suppose to cost Rs40, they tried to charge Rs120 for the ride. Fortunately, there was another auto driver who came a little later, offered to give us the ride at that cost. The first auto driver was abit unhappy because the other guy wanted to try and take his business. They were arguing abit in Tamil. We were bargaining with the first guy. So when we requested the price, the 2nd driver laughed at the first guy and would gladly accept our offer. Unwillingly, the first guy accepted our offer, the 2nd guy just laughed and drove off. We were also smiling at this incident. :P

Airline adventure

It has been quite some time since I last blogged. It is not easy to find time to come out to this internet cafe to blog because I get off quite late from work and my friends aren't keen on going online.

To the topic! -> to continue from where I left off previously, Changi Airport is marvelous. It has proper airconditioning and very clean... all very comfortable. When my friend and I boarded the plane, the first thing we noticed was how "un-SIA girls" they were. ^_^ ... Next, the interior of the plane was abit warm and stuffy. I was getting abit nervous because I fear that would be the condition all throughout the flight. The size of the plane was also very small - an Airbus A320. Only 2 toilets for the 4hr flight with 150ppl sitting. When we boarded, everyone inside was staring at us curiously. There were only 3 Chinese man on the flight and we are 2 of them! Next problem I faced on the flight was the storage of my hand luggage. Most of the compartments were already packed. It was here that I realised the need to go through Channel B(read below). These people bring a lot of stuff! In the end, my luggage was stowed away in a compartment a little further from where I sat.

During the flight, I noticed that the passengers like to walk around the plane often. It was very busy. People would walk from the front to the back, back to the front and chat around. It feels as if they do know each other that well. However, I don't know if they do or not. But then ar..... the aisle is so sempit! that they are blocking the path. At one point, the air-stewardess was pissed and she firmly requested that they be seated down. (yah! coz they were blocking our food!!!)

On arrival at Chennai Airport, I was already prepared for how it would be like. As expected but also not as expected.... very much the opposite of Changi..... of course, this is a bad comparison. I mean, Changi is the world's top 3. Oh ya..... at immigrations, I was held up awhile because I was.........*TADA*.... STATELESS! (Why am I not surprised?) I was just sniggering all the way at the poor officer who looked stunned and wanting to throw me out of India. I smiled as the poor guy had to walk over to his colleague to seek advice on what to do with me. Well, of course at the end, I was allowed to pass.

At baggage claims, I had the "wonderful" opportunity to experience power trips at the airport. The whole airport power was cut suddenly when the luggage conveyor belt was running. The belt operated smoothly for awhile before it tripped again. They had to manually switch on the belt each time. This occured 3-4 times before I finally manage to get my luggage. My first feeling as I stepped out of the aiport was "WAH! So many people! Why is it also very humid!?" When I rubbed my palms, I can feel some sort of wet and yet dry sensation. This is not the same as sweat. I began to fear what it would be like everyday here in Chennai. Anyway, after our contact person picked us, we were brought to our accomodation at VR home. It is situated very near the world's 2nd longest beach! Also... where the tsunami hit India last year. The house was better than expected -> Friendly service, personal double room, ac, clean water, hot water... It was magnificient! I took a shower and went to bed straight.. very tiring day....


Update: This place I'm staying at the moment is suppose to be for associate consultants/clients/big shot people. As accomodation was not properly settled, they chucked us in there. Next week I might be staying in some run down apartment :( ... Hopefully they settle something good for us...

Airport Adventure

Changi Airport was filled with Indians the day I was flying off to Chennai. It was not because they were there to fly to Chennai. They were there to send off their friends/relatives. When I arrived at the airport, I was quite shocked. In addition, at the immigrations section, there was a special section for those flying to India to be cleared first. I was directed to "Channel B" where the authorities there weigh my hand luggage. I didn't understand why they needed to do that until much later.

I was actually quite late when I started to queue at the immigrations. My flight was supposed to be 9:05pm but I entered the immigrations at only 840pm. Queue was super long and I started to feel panic. Various thoughts ran through my mind like "Oh no.. miss flight...Benny is going to fly to India without me." "Doris is gonna kill me." "My friends are gonna laugh at me." ... Before my queue was over, I saw my friend just coming in to join the queue. I was like "WOAH!" and felt reliefed. I'm not going to be the only one left out... hahaha... if anything goes wrong, both of us will just get it from Doris or our HR manager... Hehehe...

Anyway, when we cleared immigrations, we both ran like mad to the gates. I was carrying a 11kg bag and boy it was damn heavy. I ran out of breath before I even reached C Gates. My friend was already far ahead of me. I couldn't see where he was. All I know was that I have to reach Gate C21. When I arrived at C21, I was so shocked to see that the lights were all off and there was not even a single soul there. I started to swear and ran around panicking even more. When my fear started to subside a little, I remembered and checked my ticket. The gate is NOT C21 but actually C15. WAH!!! THen I continued to run a little further to the gate. I arrived at the gate at about 9pm which is 5mins before the actual flight time. The gate was supposed to be closed 10mins before boarding but it didn't. Lucky man.... Anyway, I want to blog a little more on why this is.... But i guess my prepaid limit is out... will blog again another day.

Chennai Trip Postponed Again

My trip to Chennai is now postponed to 15th October instead of this Friday 14th. So, 1 extra day for me to spend in Singapore. My friends are already 'bu2 nai4 fan3', all ready to kick me out of this country. This is for the crime of DoTAing daily and sleeping like a pig. Sorry lah ppl, I have no choice but to hang around a little longer. LOL!

Also, initially there was some problem with my Indian visa application. My visa took quite a long time to be approved. I suppose it was because I'm stateless. It is so difficult to travel with a passport like mine. I can only travel to East Malaysia and Singapore without the need of a visa. Anyway, fortunately visa application is handled by my company's admin officer. I didn't know that there was such a problem until my colleagues told me. Also, not a problem for me as long as I don't get fired because I can't fly to India :P

Chennai in 2 days (for sure this time)~

Packing Up = Thrashing Out

It is weird that when I pack up stuff, I find a lot of unwanted stuff as well. I kept some of the stuff in the box previously because I thought that it still had some value in the future. When I look at these stuffs again, I realise that it was just thrash. I should've cleared all these loooong time ago. Hahaha... But I suppose it was because I spent so much time reading and studying those lecture notes and tutorials that I very 'bu4 se3 de diu1'. Now.... just anyhow lar.... into the bin. Halfway through packing up. Another half to go. Furthermore, I've settled most of my other stuffs as well. Hahaha... Lighter responsibility liao (I've just been questioned by my colleagues why I'm still so involved in student societies. Who knows?)

3 days to Chennai~ I've just got news from my friend who already in Chennai that the lodging is quite good.

Luggage Bag Shopping Experience

Yesterday I went out hunting for a good and cheap luggage trolley bag. I know that Mustafa Center is selling relatively good quality bags at cheap prices of $20-$30 for a 25" to 28" bag. However, the prices are too cheap to convince me that they would last wear and tear. This is weird but quite true. Anyway, I saw in the newspaper Robinsons having a sales for travellers bag few days ago. I went out straight to Centrepoint Atrium at Somerset to have a look at the sales. When I saw the prices of the bag, I was abit shocked. The luggage bags were very expensive. I hesistated whether to buy or not. Since it was still early, I decided to go down to Orchard and walk around first. At Orchard, I went to check out the prices of the bags as well, still quite expensive. I then remembered that Seiyu and Carrefour had better offers. So I thought, "Oklah.... don't want buy from here liao. Too expensive."

I went to the nearest Carrefour which is located at Dhoby Ghaut. When I arrived, I found out that Carrefour was also having a luggage bag exhibition at the open space in Plaza Singapura. Furthermore, the prices of the bags was what I was looking for. I got a 3-in-1 bag for just $49.90. Lucky I didn't go get that $89 bag at Robinsons. Feeling satisfied that I have achieved my target, I went back. Now, it is time to start packing up. 4 Days To Chennai~.

A little limerick

There was a young man named Chin Yun,
Who got bored gaming ev'ry noon,
He told the interviewer:
"I am a fast learner!"
And they'll ship him off to India quite soon.

By Hooi Ying (posted with permission)


My comments:
Very power... I don't think I could come out with that rhymes like this. Thanks HY for this cool limerick.

... and some more to add on...

Actually, I didn't expect my title when I first posted that I would be confirmed to leave for India. However, I did remember previously that the HR manager wanted us to be there on the 15th October. Now I know why it was postponed. The formal training starts on Nov 1st. My colleagues and I are sent 2 weeks earlier supposedly to allow us to spend some time to get use to life in Chennai. However, the main objective though is actually the resources are in Chennai and we have 2 weeks to self-study and ensuring that our Assembly Language are on-par with the 20 other recruits from India. (unrealistic though...I feel very scared... will be an embarassment if I can't learn fast enough... I'm pitting myself against the best of the best from India.. a scary thought.... I think expectations from NUS would be quite high also since NUS is 18th in the world....)

In addition, as my other colleagues put it, we received another bomb today. Training is for 3 months but actually there's another 3-5 months work on a smaller scale project before we are shifted to the more critical project in Taiwan's ASDC or Singapore's SIA. So... instead of being away for 3 months, it will now be 6 to 9months. My colleagues being abit "pessimistic" set it as 1year in India. Anyway, we are already starting to plan our trips around India - Plan to leave as soon as work is off at Friday then come back only on Monday morning (Travelling in India takes a loooooong time. Chennai is nearer to Singapore than to New Delhi in terms of travelling time). Then can blame all on Monday Blues for our lack of productivity on Monday. Hahaha.....

........or maybe not....

Today I've just received an email from the HR manager saying that I won't be flying this Sunday. Instead, the date has been postponed to 14th October. So, I have another 5 days of slacking before I fly off. *phew* I was panicking as I start to pack my stuff today. There seemed to be a lot and I don't know where to start. Now that it has been postponed, I'm relieved. I have more time to settle some of the unfinished stuff else ar..... I'll be constantly sneezing in India just because people would be scolding me for tossing all the work down. hahaha....

And so it is confirmed....

I have just received an email from the admin officer announcing that the flight has been booked. My flight will be this coming Sunday at 9pm. I'll be flying together with 2 others. Another colleague will be leaving for India earlier on the 7th because her mom will be travelling from North India to meet her. I'm in a really excited mood now. Abuthen ar, there's quite a number of issues that I have to settle before leaving Singapore. Don't think I have enought time to finish all of them though...

Anyway, gotta start packing and preparing for my journey. My next phase in life is about to start - The Working Life. Chennai in 5 days.

Countdown to India

Although the exact date that my colleagues and I will be leaving for India is yet to be confirmed, the HR manager has said that we will start our orientation in India on 10th October. According to our admin officer, she said she would be booking for 9th October as soon as our visas have been approved. I am feeling very excited. After 5 months of idling, finally I have something to do again.

For the past week, I was virtually gaming every day. Some of my friends were boiling when they found out that I was on "gaji buta". Well, I did receive my pay slip for the 5 days I "worked" last month. It is equivalent to what one would earn during internships for a month. They were mainly boiling because as one friend puts it - "Melampau! I suffer for 2 months get $500 only. You play DoTA for 5 days and get the same amount!" To add to this friend's anger, I replied "It was very tiring. I have to study the strategies and put up with all the lagging problems. My my... *sigh*... so shiong eh~" Of course, with this reply, I should expect a beating which I did receive. :S .. Abuthen har... payslip have but money haven't receive... I think must be my bank account number error. Well, I'll check it out with the admin officer when I see her again.

Other than DoTA-ing, I've been reading up on India and especially on Chennai. Check out Wikipedia's Chennai facts. In addition to this from Wikipedia, I've also been reading the Chennai SN package (Student Nominee package - AIESEC reading materials for incoming trainees to the place) that EL borrowed me. This is what makes AIESEC trainees having an edge over others. It helped me understand abit more on the local setting. Wikipedia provided facts but not how to handle the culture change and other issues. I learnt some survival tips for when being in Chennai and had set some expectations straight. One interesting fact is that one can live quite well (better than most there) on about 7000Rs (approx. S$270) per month with food and accommodation included. Most importantly, I have to be culturally sensitive and open minded. Ooo... I can't wait, Chennai in 6 days.

Very proud Chinese lady at the bank

Today I went out to the DBS bank at Clementi to bank my cheque. After I had filled up the forms, I joined the queue. In front of me was this Chinese aunty who I assume to be in her early 50s. She turned around, saw me and exclaimed "Wah, so tall ah you!". As usual, the expected question that comes after that is - "Do you play basketball?". Haha.. unfortunately, my height has nothing to do with me playing basketball. I didn't really play basketball until after I came to Singapore.

Anyway, back to the point. After asking about my height, she starts to talk about America - Las Vegas. She continued to critise Batam as stupid because they have just banned the casinos there. Her rational was that countries that have casinos prosper well and that casinos earn a lot of money. In my mind, I thought - "Wah, she very support S'pore gov't on the casino". Before long, she went to say - "S'pore now then start have casino. Way too late liao lah. How to compete. You see: Macau, KL (isn't it suppose to be Genting?) all so rich now". I just nodded and didn't really care what she said.

After she stopped talking about casinos, she started to rant about Chinese overseas - how united they were. The way she describe it, I think if I put it on this blog, you might see my name in the newspaper tomorrow for causing some discontent in racial harmony. I was shocked when she started to explain how in countries like America, Chinese overseas are very united and "white" people see color. She went on to explain that see color makes the Chinese people strong and that it forces them to stick together and earn a lot of money. Furthermore, she was virtually attacking any non-Chinese. Everyone in the bank could hear her. I looked around nervously and wondered if there would be someone to protest. People around didn't really bother or as how I would feel if I was one of them - "Seesh, who is this person talking a lot of crap". As she continued, I felt like saying "Lady, please stop. Keep the opinion to yourself."

After talking about "color", she went on to brag about overseas Chinese as super rich. Sugar King, Timber King, Flour King, etc. She said to me "You know Robert Kuok - Sugar King... you see so rich." In my mind I thought - "Heh...Lady, if I was still studying in NUS this year, I would take up the opportunity to have lunch with him in Hong Kong this December." The queue for the bank counter felt like eternity as she continued. It was torturous. I've never met someone who can say so much to a stranger other than the taxi drivers. Taxi driver coffee-shop talk I'm used to but bank customers having coffee-shop talk, this is my first experience. Anyone else had similar experiences before?

First Day of Work

This morning I went off to the company very early. First day mah, so wanna make a good impression. As expected when I arrived at the office at 850am, there were not many people around and the lights were not all switched on yet. I looked around to see if I can find someone to report myself. A moment later, one of the admin staff came and asked. I told her that it was my first day and waiting for the admin officer in-charge. She asked me to sit and wait. While waiting there, I found out that the office itself is separated into two sections. One is TCS and the other is Tata Technologies. TCS people come into the office only around 910~930.

During the wait, I met two others who would be going off to India with me. There's suppose to be another guy but he didn't go to the office today. Anyway, there wasn't much to do at the office today. It was mainly brief abit about when we might be leaving. The exact date I'll be leaveing for India is not yet known. According to the HR manager, we could be off this weekend or middle of next week. We were all abit shocked at the dates set although I was abit prepared as I knew we were suppose to be in India early October.

The best part of working for TCS at the moment is ~ we were all sent back home by 12pm after we settled the administrative stuff and need not report to the office till 30th Sept. This is because TCS Singapore is just a recruitment office/hub. The office here does not have servers or high-tech computer equipments. I suppose those based in Singapore are outsourced to work in projects of clients. My colleagues who would be going to India with me were bragging to their friends that they were on a "paid-leave". This is abit melampau but I suppose it is a good thing that I'm paid to stay at home and sleep till before I fly. =P

Isolation stunts creativity

The more I stay in, the less I feel like blogging. These days I can't seem to think of a good topic to blog about. There are a few issues in my mind but I can't develop my thoughts into a blog post. What to do? I need inspiration! lol~

中秋节快乐

Today's moon was very beautiful. Here's some pics which I took with my new camera. Unfortunately, my camera does not do any justice to the actual view of the moon.

Blur Image of the moon - looks like a light bulb (Taken without flash - my hands are too shaky)

The moon (Taken with flash)

Moon with clouds on the side (not very clear ~ need better camera, SLR?)

I like this picture - looks as if a cosmic explosion just occured. Of course, it's only the moon's light through the clouds. (Again, the fault of my camera.. hahaha.... viewing it through our eyes is much much better than through the camera lens)

My new camera!

After I found out that I would be having my job trainings in India, I realised that I needed a camera. To make things unfavourable, the COMEX held in Suntec City was over. I didn't know what to do as I am not a good shopper. I don't know how to compare prices and bargain. I ended up searching online on how to buy cameras from Sim Lim. Guess what! I found a wonderful site where tourist discuss in the forums on how to get the best camera deals from Sim Lim Square. These 'ang mohs' ah, you always think they go Sim Lim to be 'tang1' (Direct translation - Slaughtered). The forum teaches them how not to be fooled by the shopkeeper's 'special price only for you my fren'.
Step 1: Go Mustafa center check out the prices and the freebies
Step 2: Go Sim Lim check prices
Step 3: Negotiate for a price lower than Mustafa and get them to throw in freebies e.g. memory card.

So, I did follow those steps except for the bargaining part. I'm not very good at it. This is my experience:
1. Went into shop, ask about price for Panasonic & Canon camera. ~Get price liao~
2. Was hesitating as price was abit high so asked if have promotion. ~Salesman say no, over liao~
3. Turned around abit sad thinking "Oklah, maybe I don't really need a camera"
4. Salesman quickly say "What you like? I give you free memory card - 128Mb!"
5. My eyes glimmered. I think he sensed that. But I still hesitated, I was like "er... 128 ah.. too small ler..." Turned around again preparing to leave.
6. Salesman say "Ok ok! I give you 256! You like?" ~BINGO!
7. "Ok... I think I will wan to buy"
8. He then intro me his Konica Minolta camera (according to HF, this shop is the authorized dealer of KM cameras, so they'll hard sell it to you, anyway...)
9. I liked the camera, he gave an offer price of $599. I was like er... I must bargain but how? I am still very naive.. and nice to the salesman so I asked for $580. He was like "Hey.. $19, also wanna bargain meh? Ok lah.. I give u 590".. I accepted.
10. Then he suggested I get 2nd battery - special price for today is $55 compare to usual $75. So total is suppose to be $645. I bargain again.. ask for $640. He was again like "Hey... $5 also wanna bargain." I replied "Yah.. easy mah.. round off". Despite his reply, he gave me what I asked for. I suppose it was a small bargain. He must be laughing inside that he has a weak bargaining customer.

Anyway, overall, I am quite satisfied with the salesman's service. At least he was trying to service me and ensured that the camera was all in good order. I will look towards the positive side of this and prevent myself from suffering 'post-purchase dissonance' syndrome (Besides, this syndrome is common so no need to feel bad). Here's a pic of my camera :D

Cool morning yesterday

Actually I wanted to blog this post yesterday night but was busy until quite late. Why was yesterday cool? Well, to start off, I actually forced myself into bed early the night before. This was to ensure that I could wake up early yesterday. I hate the feeling of getting up from bed tired and stretching all over. It spoils my mood. The best way to start of the day is when I get up feeling fresh and energetic. So... trying to lead a healthy lifestyle - Got up -> wash up. After that, turned on Channel News Asia to catch Prime Time Morning while drinking my cup of tomato juice (Vitamin C is good for body u noe?). Ah~ This is the life.

After that, I spent another hour watching the news. It got abit boring when the same news are repeated over and over again. I decided that I should get out of my chair and do some exercise. So.......... I prepared myself and went out to swim! This is my 2nd time in the pool after being here in S'pore for 3years. I didn't swim far as I got tired very easily. I can't swim 50m without resting. I remembered the first time I went to the pool here in S'pore, I was abit over-ambitious - recalling the days when I represented my district swimming team to compete in the nationals back home in Brunei (which was like 10years ago). I swam half-way realised that I was too tired to swim further, I struggled to the ledge at the side. I thought for a moment there I was going to drown. Scary... After that incident last year, I only swim near the sides. I dare not swim far from support liao. I suppose I need to swim more frequently to get my body used to the water as well as building up stamina. After the swim yesterday, I'm planning to go to the pool again soon.

我的汉字很不ok

我发觉到原来我很久没写汉字了，所以我想试试看用电脑打汉字。我知道我自己的华文grammar一定有错。我差不多有一年没有学华文了。很多汉字我已经忘了怎么写也有很多我忘了怎么念。如果陈老师和林老师知道，他们一定会觉得 disappointed。
因为我已经找到工作，工作还没开始所以天天很得空。从明天起，我得天天学写汉字。(要不然到了台湾会给弄笑话) 在 interview 的时候,我说我会说华语可是我会一点儿汉字。。。。哇，我觉得很累打这个 post。我需要很多时间来打这么短的 post。好吧，这次我就打这么的 post 吧，改天才打一个有意思的 post。

The new NLB at Bugis

From the outside, this building looks very futuristic and cool. Many people have complain that the design is out of place because Bugis is filled with heritage buildings. I went to the National Library yesterday after a frustrating window shopping experience at Sim Lim. I was totally not in the mood to shop so I left Sim Lim before I even properly started.

I took the glass elevator up to the highest level - 14th floor. As the lift moved upwards, I started to feel afraid because I have a fear of heights (more specifically - falling). I could feel cold sweat running down my forehead and my legs are weak. I tried to control my fear by telling myself that it was all in the mind. At the 14th floor, I marvelled at the view. It was quite good but abit limited. One can vaguely see familiar landmarks at Orchard road. The view of the city is completely blocked or maybe only when they properly open all sections in the library then can one see the city.

The library has gardens on located on various levels in the building. I only manage to visit the Level 5 courtyard. The place is interesting but again - view is terrible. There isn't anything special to see from here except maybe chiobu walking around Parco hahahaa.....

From my visit, I only like the exhibitions such as Singapore's history as well as on the development projects for Marina Bay. The Marina prject looks very ambitious but if the project is successful, that place so poshy. I would also wanna buy a home there if I have enough S11.

Coffee Bean, Starbucks and so on

These days I've been travelling around Singapore's CBD and shopping centers. Mostly because I need to go for interviews at the offices there. As the title suggest, Coffee Beans, Starbucks, etc catch my attention each time I pass by. The alluring smell of coffee leaves one craving to have a cup of ice-blended coffee with whip cream. But then ar, a cup of it will leave me eating rice with soya-sauce (Labi style - Labi is a rural farming area in Brunei where my father grew up. He likes to intro this dish to us if my siblings and I were to complain about mom's cooking so that we should be grateful... hahaha... :P) or tomato sauce (like the girl who gathers free ketchup from fastfood restaurants so that she could buy expensive fashion labels) for a few meals.

Despite my wallet burning deep these days and I can see butterflies coming out of it, I could not resist the temptation. :S ... I try to give excuse to my guilty conscience by thinking: "It's alright. I'll be earning my own income soon. Once I have my income, it will be alright." True no? Of course, after attending the financial advisory courses, I learnt that this is what most people think and it leads to unsatisfactory results. Majority of people spend first, save later. There are also many who spend future income (like what I'm doing..... eeee.. guilty ler...).

ANYWAY, let's not talk about finance. The more I talk about it, the more sad I am. Boh lui liao~ I realise there are many wants/needs that I want/need to fulfill before leaving for India. I'll make another post on this another day. Back to topic - Coffee Bean, Starbucks & others like Secret Recipe.

I wonder what the secret is in all these Ice-blended coffee. Can one get the same taste and texture from 40cents coffee mix with ice throw into blender? As I blog this, I'm starting to crave for a cup. Maybe I'm just a frap·pé-addict. For now, I will have to control my cravings. See no frap·pé, Smell no frap·pé, Drink no frap·pé.

Offer Concluded

Yesterday morning I went to Tata Consultancy Services, supposedly just to collect the contract then return home to read it thoroughly. Instead, the HR manager led me to another room to read the contract first so that I can clarify some of the terms in the contract. At the meeting room, I joined another potential joinee who was already reading his contract. I happily started to read my first employment contract. The contract seemed alright to me. I quickly flipped to the salary section to check if they are paying me what I requested for and...... THEY ARE. So I was very happy and could just sign without reading on. But of course, it would be foolish of me. What if there are some clauses that suddenly prevent me from doing something? So I continued.

When the guy beside me finished reading his contract, he started to ask me some questions regarding the job scope and length of time we'll be out of the country. In addition, he said that the salary was low. I asked him how much he was paid. He answered S$30k annually. I was like "You are a fresh grad also, you will be getting more than me and still not happy?? -.-" " He then explained about the potential salary he might get if in KPMG ($2k but will reach $3.5k in 1.5year) or PSA ($2.8k). Ok lor... I told him that the opportunity to go overseas is different mah and we'll be paid for our stay overseas. He wanted to make sure that the allowance package was high if he were to join. He went over to the HR to try and negotiate for a higher salary. The HR manager didn't give in. Anyway, he took his contract back to reconsider.

For me, I went to clarify some of the unclear terms in the contract and what the 13th month salary meant. I just found out that it is a common practice here in Singapore that most firms will pay 1 month's worth of salary at the end of every year completed. After clarifying my doubts, without any hesitation, I signed the contract. Voila~ CY is now "Trainee Engineer" at Tata Consultancy Services.

Tired day

I got up yesterday in a half-awake-half-asleep state. I was not very sure why I was like that. All I know was that I felt irritated because daylight had not break and I was already awake. I felt very tired while feeling my entire body being sore. I had interview at 10am so I forced myself up and prepare for the interview.

The interview yesterday was at CSA. Before the interview commenced, I had to take 2 tests - one on Java2 and the other on Servlets. During the test, I find myself being very restless. I could not sit still on the chair because my whole body was feeling uncomfortable sittting up straight. I ended up sitting as if I had no backbone. I spent about 45mins for the test. Most of the questions I do not have an answer to it although it was MCQ (tikam lor). The result -> 28% for Java2 and 30% for Servlet. Of course with such a result, the interviewer is bound to ask. She asked how I felt about the test. I told her that it was very difficult and that many concepts I was not familiar with. Java was suppose to be my forte but I've no knowledge on threading which was asked very often during the test. I suppose the job is more suited to CS students. Her comment: "Oh, this is the type of questions for Sun certified Java programmers".. Hmmm... ok. That means I'm not qualified then. Anyway, abit 不耐烦 already because I was feeling very tired. In addition, at the back of my head, I already know that I'm going to take up the TCS offer so abit bochup also.

After the interview, I was considering whether to or not to go for my lessons at the Prudential Training Center. It was nearing lunch time but I didn't feel hungry. Instead, there was a weird sensation in the stomach - no pain though. Just plain weird - like no appetite to eat. In the end, I went to Boon Keng mrt to help my uncle settle some payment and then went to Dhoby Ghaut for lunch. After that, I decided not to go for lessons. I went back to try and get some sleep. I didn't manage to sleep but I had loose bowels for quite some time. Later in the evening when it stopped, all I felt was my stomach aching. I'm still feeling this ache this morning. It is only when I lie down to rest, the aching stops. Food poisoning?

Another job offer

Today I went to the 2nd interview at Tata Consultancy Services. The result -> I have been extended the offer to work with them. It came as a sudden surprise as I thought that my previous written test and interview didn't go well. I called my parents to tell them about it. The first reaction was: "Huh? India again? The pay very low one wor... Go choose some other company". Not only my parents, I have another friend was also very concerned about the pay that I might be getting from this company. Fortunately, the HR manager clarified that I'll be receiving my salary in Singapore dollars plus additional living allowances when I'm in India. I've not confirmed my salary with the HR manager as I was not sure whether it was the right moment to ask. I'll ask her when I meet her again to get the contract.

At the moment, my heart is more or less set for this job offer. If all goes according to plan, I'll leave for India in early October. The trainings session is for about 3 months and after that I am very likely to be posted to Taiwan to work for a period of time OR I could be posted back to Singapore depending on their needs. I'm very excited. :D

@XP

@XP -> AIESEC Experience

Today I went for an AIESEC exchange simulation session at NTU. During the session, a presentation clip was shown. The clip was full of questions on why AIESECers are in AIESEC. I was able to relate to feelings asked by most of the questions.

Out of all the questions, this one was stuck in my head - 'Have you ever wondered why your friends could never understand why you are so involved in AIESEC?'. Everytime I tell my friends that I'm going out for an AIESEC event, some would respond negatively by giving disapproving looks while others would just question why? I discussed this issue with another AIESEC friend. He was also saying that he complains about the workload in AIESEC to his other friends and he gets no sympathy from them. Cruel?

Just to share with all my blog readers whether you know what AIESEC is or not, AIESEC has changed my life. This is why I'm still so involved in AIESEC. When I started my final year in university, I was quite lost. The thought of graduating from university was terrifying. I was reluctant to move on to an unknown place. I joined AIESEC that semester and was quite involved in the training sessions initially and backed out in the middle. I was starting to think why am I so involved in AIESEC for? Then came NLDS 2004 (National Leadership Development Seminar). I participated in the camp with the intention of just wanting to enjoy not bothering about other stuff.

NLDS 2004..... the turning point of my life. On the first day of NLDS, I had the opportunity to meet some delegates from Indonesia and Malaysia. The meeting to me was the first of its kind. These people are so energetic and passionate to do things. During group discussions, the passion of these delegates in sharing their ideas was refreshing and pulled me along. During dances, they would dance passionately and not care if there are no one else following them. This is proof of working hard and playing hard.

During the evening session, an external coach was invited to train us. He asked a simple question - What is your passion in life?. He made us think about it carefully. When I thought about it, I was like "Hey, yea o... what's my passion in life? er... start business? er... why? er... playing computer games? er... I don't know". He asked for volunteers to share what their passion in life is. I was one of the people called to share. I started by saying "I want to start a business". He looked unconvinced and probed, "What business? Sell what?". I continued with "er...Sel...." *"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOUR PASSION IS! Think carefully again then answer me next time"*, he exclaimed and smiled. It felt like a large slap on the face and a strong wake up call. It was true what he said. I searched deep inside me to the answer.... and I have none. 2nd evening, another slap on the face - different coach, same question. I began to think about it seriously but till today, I have not reached a conclusion what my passion in life is. Nonetheless, through that experience, it has served as a wakeup call to me.

After NLDS 2004, I am more keen in pursuing my final academic semester in NUS. In addition, I was more open to the idea of graduation and going out into the unknown. Of course, this is my personal experience. Others might have other experiences which differ from mine completely. Anyway.... so, what is your passion in life? I strongly suggest that you think about it.

Ups and Downs

I was up last night till about 1am doing some last minute mugging on Module 9. I set my alarm to ring at 830am this morning. I woke up at 8 this morning feeling fresh and good - ready to mug some more for M9. I was in a very good mood. Joyfully I went to have my breakfast and left early for Suntec City. I arrived at Suntec City at about 1030am. Not many shops are open yet and the atmosphere was interesting. To be able to see shop owners getting ready for the new day makes one feel ready to tackle the challenges of the day.

Since I was early, my intention was to sit at one of the benches in Suntec Tropics Atrium (located between Tower 1 and Tower 2). Happily I opened my M9 '10-year series' and tried out questions. There were still a lot of concepts that I didn't understand. Suddenly, I realised that I had totally forgotten to bring my passport for identification! That got me panicking. The time then was 11am. I didn't know what to do. I considered taking the mrt back but that would take way too much time and I won't be back in time. So, feeling annoyed, I took a cab back - paid $8 for the trip just to take my passport. I cursed myself for being so absent minded. The more I think about it then the more I felt irritated. I mean I paid $105 to sit for the exam and now I've paid an extra $8 for something that I have considered pulling out from....

I mugged on cab unhappily. It was a horrible experience to read on a cab. As soon as I got down the cab, I felt nauseous. I quickly grabbed my passport and other important documents just in case then took the bus back to Suntec City. Fortunately I returned to Suntec City Tropics Atrium just in time. I had 15minutes before the exam started. In addition to this, I passed my M9... Yay! Don't really know why I celebrate though. I still have to attend product training sessions next week.

In other news, I got a call from CSA regarding an interview with them. This is the first time the person asked me what grade I got for the Information Systems Development project I did in my 3rd year. I told her "C+" and her reaction was like "Wah! Why so bad?". In my mind I was like "What the??? How can you be so straight forward one? Sh**.... S'pore kiasuism......". I had to explain what went wrong in the project and how we could've improved on it. She was not fully convinced but arranged an interview for me anyway. Hai~ Although I'm only in the process of getting employed, I experienced some office politics even in the training sessions. There was one guy who brags that he's from the top agency in the field. I mean "Duh!"... Don't need to brag all these leh. When talking, he speaks as if he is a level higher than the rest of us. Do I have to be like them to survive this cruel dog-eat-dog world?