What a day to waste......

Slept 10 hours last night: I overslept. No, I have no programme to attend to today. As a matter of fact, I don't even have a schedule or plan for the day. This is the last weekday of my only holiday week before my 5 months long attachment. "What's up with sleeping 10 hours then", you may ask. Well, my working hour begins at 8 am, and my travel time to my workplace takes around 80 minutes. Therefore, I have to get use to waking up early, or else will would be tough going to work.

I went back to school after breakfast, probably for the last time this year, to collect my $10 refundable deposit for the 3-hour business etiquette course. The lesson was supposed to be at 10am today, but it was cancelled due to poor response. What a shame, though. It appears to be a fun and useful course for me. Many people have already taken up business etiquette for Inter-disciplinary Studies (IS), which I did not. However, I did not regret not choosing Business Etiquette. I thoroughly enjoyed the IS modules (Social Psychology and Drama & Poetry) that I picked, ans I did well in both modules. As a matter of fact, there are many interesting modules which I would love to take for that module. Well, what can I do about it, beside choosing the modules I have the most interest in?

I had Root Beer Float for tea-break today. The Root Bear tastes great, and the ice-cream (vanilla, I believe) was just as delicious. However, I wondered what is the purpose for putting ice-cream into soft drink. To let the ice-cream melt in the soft drinks? I allowed some ice cream to melt in root beer as an experiment. The result? A puke-inducing beverage. Conclusion? More puzzling mystery: How on earth did soft drink float survive in the market for so long?

Marina Square revisited

Today I was supposed to go to a fair with Ailing no.1 at Suntec City, but decided against it when we were finally there as it is not entirely convenient for us to go in. The visitors are mostly businessman in formal costume, which our costumes were definitely not comparable to. Beside we had to register before entering, and registration appears impossible for us, as the information requirement don't seem relevant to us.

Instead, we went to Marina Walk and Marina Square nearby. It was the first time I was entering Marina Walk (New building?). It seems like a high class place for high-income visitors. Later, we took a walk around the newly renovated Marina Square. It has been a long time since I last went there. It is a place that I patronise quite frequently.

Sadly, the new Marina Square is definitely not the old Marina Square that I once knew and now misses. It was so family-oriented. Now, it shouts "High-class!" and "Expensive!". What's up with all the pricey restaurants and stores? Is this an attempt to compliment the shopping centre with the government's plan to develope Marina area into an integrated-resort to cater to rich tourists?

An unusual day

Part 1: Stood Up

Today I was suppose to meet my classmates for steamboat dinner at Marina Bay. However, the gathering was cancelled somehow the night before at midnight. I found this incident painfully familiar. I wonder why are they always busy. However, what really irks me is that they actually agreed to the gathering before changing their mind one by one at the last minute. If they are not free, or don't even want to go in the first place, why even bother agreeing to go? This only makes me feel cheated.

Part 2: Company hunt

At noon, I received Ailing's no.1 sms. I called her and told her that the rest of my day is cleared by the cancellation of the gathering. So we decided to go to our respective attachment comapanies to get outselves familiarise with the location and the travel time.

First, we went to F&N in Tuas where Ailing was attached to. She already had to travel for around 1 hour on bus and mrt from her house to Boon Lay MRT station. To her surprised, we actually had to travel for another 25 minutes on bus from Boon Lay interchange to the company, during off-peak hour! And that excludes waiting time!

Next, we went to Micron Semi Conductor in Boon Keng where I am attached to. Similarly, it is a long journey there from my house, but my situation is far better than Ailing's. It was only a 2 minutes walk from Boon Keng MRT station. In fact, there are plenty of shops and food outlets near the company. There would be lots of choices for me during lunchtime. In fact, there is also this 24-hour DVD rental kiosk nearby. Last but not least, there is also this Chinese acupunch(spell?) and massage.

Part 3: Reunion

After our company hunt ended, we separated at Dhougby Gauht MRT station before I went to meet Jasmine and Elisa at Suntec city where they were working. It has been ages since we last met and you won't know how much I missed them. We had dinner at a hawker center there before going to Carrefour and doing a bit of window shopping.

Examination timetable

The examination schedule for my last semester in Ngee Ann Polytechnic has to be the best I ever had. In the past, they always cramp all 5 major modules into 5 days, 1 module per day. It leaves us with just a day or less (depending on the exam time of the day) to study each module. Of course, one would think it be appropriate to study during the 1 week study break before the exam period. However, such an arrangement does not work for me.

You may study during the study break week, but it is easy to forget what you revised during the revision week and studying 5 modules con-currently can cause confusion. Thies semester, the 5 modules are spread over 7 days, leaving us more time to prepare for 2 of the papers. For some reason, it is better for me as I have time to get over the previous paper and more time to prepare for the next paper. It would be best we have a paper after every 2 days. Still, each to his own. The current exam timetable style seems to work for most students.

Event communication

Even though I often complaint about hoe tedious and stressful this IS(Inter-disciplinary studies) module is, I am glad that I actually took up this module. I learnt quite a lot from this module, and the module actually pushed me to my limit (probably even stretched my limit). The 30% report demands us to put in what we want for an event, and it includes every little thing: The objective of the event, target audiences, day of the event, admission fee and collection method or free admission, hire of relevant staffs and costs of labour, the various programmes and the contents of each program, the utilities and the endless items required (shall I also mention the costs and the suppliers?), venue, official budget, advertising and marketing style.

These are just the headings and the sub-headings of the report. Try completing it within a couple of weeks with 2 other group members, and juggling this assignment with the equally tedious AFA project and the tutorial of other modules.

As tough as it was, I learnt to be more appretiative of the various events that I attend. It takes a lot of commitment, patient, management, manpower, and money to organise a major event. I also learnt the necessary skills that could prepare me for the future. You need not be a professional event planner to use event communication. Even lecturers of Ngee Ann Poly also need to use event communications.

It is also an interesting module. Whenever I go for an event or the likes, I would tend to evaluate the performance of event planning, detect faults and learn from it. Better yet, acquire the successful uniqueness of the event and probably apply it in the future!

Blog the blog

Special thanks to my readers who take their time to read my posts and replying to my posts. I don't exactly aspire to be the most famous or controversial blogger or whateverso. I just want to share some of my experiences with other people. It is also a mean for me to kill time and hone my English language skill. As of this day, the visitor count hits more then 300, and I am very grateful already. For a blog which does not try to improve its image and is not exactly reader-friendly, I am delighted that there are people who really cares about what I write here. A big "Thank You" once more to those who are reading this. :-)

Yellow Ribbon Campaign

The 2nd 2-weeks-long Yellow Ribbon campaign has ended recently on 17th September. Before it began on 3rd September, I attended a talk in school. It was quite a successful event held at the large Lt 26. Glad to see so many people supporting the event. Some of the ex-convicts were there to tell us about their experiences, and allow us to emphatise with them. The somehow emphasized my belief that no one is perfect and everyone make mistakes.

The key is to forgive and give them a second chance. Sadly, our society is generally still rather unforgiving, and many still see people as black or white. I myself do not. I see people as different shades of greyness. Different people have different background, upbringing, exposure, learning expriences. Some of them were misled. However, we should not be prejudice against them. Giving them a second chance is not enough. We should also encourage them to move on in life anf give them a helping hand.

I also participated in the Yellow Ribbon Walk which was held on the first day of the campaign 3rd September at the eastern side of Singapore. The walk began outside the Changi Prison Wall. It ended at the Pasir Ris Park I think. Before the walk, the cast of "1San 4Ge 3Hao 2Ren" was also there to support the event (and promote the film ;P). There was also this ex-convict who performed the song which he won a competition for. It was a meaningful song and what a pleasant voice he possesses. The song goes something like this: "Not that I do not want to change for the better. It is just that I lack the courage to do so, and I really need your helping hand."

It is a very thoughful campaign and I will always support it. Still, I think more can be done to make the campaign more meaningful. Firstly, I suggest informing the public of the plight of the ex-convict and the dire cosequences of being prejudice against them. Sociologists or psychlogists could be invited to make useful speeches to allow the public to be more emphathetic towards them (and hopefully, the term "ex-convicts" will no longer be of common usage). Probably by doing so, Singapore can become a more forgiving and gracious society.

Terry Fox Run/Mid-autumn festival

Today being the mid-autumn festival, people celebrates by playing lanterns, candles, and sparkles, eat mooncakes and have chinese tea. If you celebrate mid-autumn festival in any other ways than those traditional ways that I mentioned above, do share with us. :)

Coincidently, I participated the Terry Fox Run today. Terry Fox was a young man who had one of his leg amputated when he was only 18 due to bone cancer. Through this experience, he decided to raise money from Canada to contribute to the cancer research to help thousands of cancer patients. He did so by running across Canada. Sadly, He died before he could complete his mission. However, his spirit remains glowing and his determination and perseverance continues to inspire many.

I donated $25 to participate in the run. Initially, I signed up for the run despite of the pricey registration fee because it is an opportunity to help the less fortunate, it was also for the CCA points and the free entry to the Sentosa. Other reasons include an opportunity to exercise, getting a feel of participating in a mass run (For my Event Communication project, we organised a fictitious mass walk in sentosa in similar location, so I thought it was interesting). However, Ailing No.1's key reason for participating was mostly because she was touched by the story of Terry Fox.

We were both very late for the run, but there was a heavy rain in the morning, so the walk was delayed. In fact, the competitive 8km run was cancelled due to the weather condition. Even the 4km fun run was shortened to 2 km due to similar reason. However, it went on smoothly. There were thousands and thousands of participants. Terry Fox would be proud. May Gob bless his soul.

Silkroad of Love (a.k.a. 1Si 4Lu)

Wow! Just purchased Fish Leong's latest album, "Silkroad of Love", and what a great album it is. Fish certainly redeemed herself from the huge disappointment that her previous album "4Yan 3Wei 2Die" created, at least for me. "4Yan 3Wei 2Die" consists of 11 songs, among which "1Jie 4Shou" (Accept) is one of my favourite songs of Fish's. "2Ning 4Xia" is a cute song, but, like the rest of the 9 songs, is also forgettable.

What a shame, especially after her Greatest Hits+New Songs album, "4Lian 4Ai 3De 4Li 4Liang" (The Power of Love). It features 10 of her most popular songs from her 1st 5 albums. Imagine having a greatest hit album after just 5 albums! Needless to say, I love all the 10 songs. As for the other 10 new songs, several of them reach the greatness of her most popular songs. The rest of them are hardly comparable to the best works of Fish's, but are listenable. It is this album that makes me a fan of Fish. I was so eager to buy her 6th album, "Yan Wei Die", but was so displeased with it after sampling through the songs. Manage to get hold of the song "Jie Shou" through the purchase of "Rock Super" compilation, which also features Fish's hit single "1Hua 2Yuan" (Garden) which I also love.

Now that I have listened to her 7th album "Si Lu", I couldn't be more pleased. I was expecting some bad songs. Of its 10 songs, they are all listenable! The album more or less reach the level of the new songs segment of her great "Lian Ai De Li Liang" album. The by-product I got from the purchase of this album is a 2006 calender set, which has 6 nice photos of Fish. :-D However, it does not state the public holidays or the lunar calender, much less school holidays. Beside, it came in poster form, so displaying it would be troublesome. Still, I am glad to have it as it is a limited edition calender restricted to the first batch of goods.

Conclusion: If you like Fish Leong, do not hesitate. Buy her latest album "Si lu" now!

P.S. I am not paid advertising fee by Rock Record. I am doing a mini advert for Fish as a fan. ^_^

P.S. 2 I am listening to the album now. ;-D

Happy Teacher's Day

Ironically, this is also the day when we meet our LO (Liaison Officer) for the attachment for the first time. Our respective will visit our workplace thrice throughout our work attachment. To be honest, I am not totally excited about going for attachment. However, being a young adult who never had a major part-time job, working in the office should be a whole new experience for me, or even a new phase of my life.

Thanks to the invitation of my ex-classmate, Wee Ping, I could visit my secondary school yesterday. It has been 2 and a half years since graduating from Juying Secondary School, but half of the teachers were still there. This year's teacher's day celebration seems to end quite late, at around 11 am. Went to saw the school performances. To be honest, I prefer the previous performances I got to enjoy as a student there. I even remember there is a fellow schoolmate who act as a comedian on special occasion. What a hoot he was. I sure miss him. We also notice that the students had chairs and benches to sit on. Maybe like Weeping said, there are significantly less students these days (Low birth rate?). We used to sit on the floor, and it was even more crampy than now it is with chairs.

For some reason, I decided to visit the D&T (Design & Technology) workshop, even though I regretted choosing that subject over F&N(Food and Nutrition). Met our workshop instructor there, and he had so much to share with us. He spent more than half an hour talking to us, and we stood there listening, until my legs tired already. However, everything he said make so much sense, and are both interesting and meaningful (such as parents nowaday spoil their children, don't really corporate with the school, and all). Apparently, he was very happy to see us again.

After the celebration end, I got to have a quick chat with my English techer, Mr. Lum. According to him, the formal celebration is the default dinner. 2 years ago, it was a lunch, and all the teachers had to rush off to the bus sending them to the lunch venue. Because of that, we had limited time to talk to the teachers. What a pity, for it was the 1st Teacher's Day after our graduation, and it was also the year with the most number of visiting ex-Jyians.

Later, I met my form teacher Miss Lee. She looks livlier than ever. As we were talking , there were students giving her presents. She said she don't really need those presents. She would be more than happy if graduate like me visit the school. Anyway, she was also more than willing to be my references. In fact, she would write double references when I go to university. So, I must jia you and then not let her down wor. Hope to be able to visit the school again.

Back at Ngee Ann poly, I typed greeting emails to 3 teachers, Linda Ng (AFA lecturer), Mrs Yong (MA2 tutor), and Simon Tan (MA2 tutor). I wanted to write to Ms. Tiew (Audit 2 tutor/ My advisor), and Mrs. Gopolan (Claw lecturer), but couldn't find their email address. As of this writing, I received very sweet replies from Linda Ng and Mr. Tan. Anyway, going off to see my LO soon. To end off, I will say it once more: "Happy Teacher's Day to all teachers!"