Updates

Yet another week has passed. Work is work, nothing much to blog on but currently i'm in the midst of doing up the recruitment advertisements for our district. Mostly done, what's left is submission for approval by the corporate marketing department. The next headache's going to set in soon enough in the upcoming week. The website's going to be a chore, there's no direction for me and sad to say, i'm no agent, i'm not exactly sure on how to go about promoting the district.

Anyway, gained some new insights this week. Attended their monthly meeting, got to gain first hand knowledge about their newest personal line product which i'm keenly interested to purchase myself. No agent is pursuading me to get anything whatsoever, I don't buy policies based on relationships, I make my decisions and purchase based on needs. It's really pointless to buy a policy just to support a friend or something but end up getting something worthless and financially draining. On this new policy, it's really quite a good plan for the whole family protection, maybe i'll just pay for it out of my own pocket.

It's orgasmic talking to sensible people and people who has their own perspectives. I finally managed to talk to one of the agents who was an ex-teacher on the prospects of teaching etc. Really grateful to her for sparing her precious time doing clarifications for me on this career pathway and even offering to help me check out on some other information which she's not familiar with. From the conversation, what I can conclude is that teaching is no longer teaching. A teacher has got to be a teacher, a friend, a coach, an administrator, a planner, an organiser and the list continues. Gone are the days school ends at 1pm; you must be glad to reach home by 6/7pm. And that's the reason she switched line to become an agent instead, she wants more time for her family and herself. I fully empathise with her, I may be working temporarily now but I do feel the strain of a routine 8-6 job. Currently, I don't even have enough time for myself or do the things that I want to. Now then....who wants to get a policy from me?

For those curious about my previous post about the hospital issue, that's my grandmother in hospital due to stroke. No need to probe or do subterranean whisperings. So ended up having to go down hospital every now and then after work to talk/check/liven up her spirits. It is also during such trying times that you see the nature of the human heart, in short, there are the stayers and the deserters, people with no concept of priority. But thankfully, she's now back home and I suppose she's on the road to full recovery. The other day I went down to check on her, it was the 17th day after that fateful day. She managed to get up from bed, walked to the living room, sat down, crossed her legs, stood up, walked back, button her own shirt, lied back on the bed. Simple tasks aren't they? Try picturing someone who can't move an inch 17 days before, that was a touching scene. She has the willpower to live on, and it's up to people close to her to edge her on.

And of course, how can we forget about food? Some fresh updates and news.

We went back to the Kirin Restaurant opposite our office again. This time armed with Roger. Instead of the usual trio, today we went as a quad. Tried some new dishes and this is nice, something like fried tofu skin. There're scallops inside, very crispy.

Ribs...common fare in dim sum. Not bad either but as usual Jane doesn't know how to appreciate such delicacy.

Roger's a big eater. Look at the difference in size of plates of his(on the left)and ours.

Something famous from the Tanjong Pagar market. Accolades from Channel U. Tried and tested by me. No good! The only taste available is on the outside with the red bean paste and the peanut powder. On the inside, it's plain plain and more plain. Try munching on pure ice. Tasteless, an apt description for this. I won't try it again though. Costs S$1.50. I definitely prefer any other ice-kachang from any dessert stall.

I also finally entered into a new arena for food at Maxwell Food Centre. We walked 1 big round when we were going there but on the return trip, it's freaking near!! Like just 2 roads away?? Anyway, got to try the supposedly famous Fish Slice Noodles. Hmm...maybe the freezing cold air-conditioning in office numbed my taste buds...accolades aplenty but to me it tastes average? Well, one man's meat(food) is another's poison.

Till then....

Languages

My Hokkien is as good as my grandmother's Mandarin;
My Hockchew is as good as my grandmother's English.

Office: A Brief Introduction

As promised to Suihar, let me do a general introduction to my workplace at AIA Tanjong Pagar. And just to clarify my jobscope again, i'm no agent! Some pictures with some descriptions, hope that would suffice.

Early morning at the office, SP-Jeffeury district office. No one's around just yet except for me and the secretary.

My workstation. I get to use 2 laptops, 1 dopod, another laptop in my boss' office and 2 standalone desktops.

My tablet and my dopod(I wished...)

This is an adult's fridge!!! Children under age of 18 please do not intrude.

Meiyan and I opened a bottle to celebrate the 'non-arrival' of our bosses.

I believed I mentioned there are brothels just below my workplace. This is just 1 of them. Those with the red lanterns/red words. Keong Saik is a unique blend of decency like the coffeeshops, high-end hotels as well as office buildings and indeceny such as pubs, ktvs, massage parlours etc.

Bored again...someone disfigured my 'Angel Pig'...so the blu-tack took a different form this time.

And most definitely, never forget about food when you visit my blog. Finally managed to try the famous 'Wanton Noodles'. Got to read up on the newspaper article pasted right at the window pane. This wanton mee is famous!! Voted Top 5 Famous Wanton Mee in Singapore by the Straits Times. Well, it sure lives up to it's name. For me, I believe the essence of wanton mee lies in the noodles. The chef has got some real skills and good technique. The noodles are really smooth and like what we usually say: "very Q" or "springy". The char siew meat is unique too, made of up lean meat. Nice blend..definitely not the normal type of dry char siew we usually get outside at hawker centres. This wanton mee is good. Costs a mere S$2.50. Foong Kee Restaurant is the place.(6 Keong Saik Road). Wanton mee lovers, you got to try this!

Till then...

Bus Ethics

I did a previous post on MRT ethics previously. Let's just do another for our affable bus services. Taking a bus to work is nothing less than a daily chore, something better than slavery. On my daily escapades, I made several realisations, the gist of which is that some Singaporeans are monsters:

1. These people have 'larger-than-normal' butts that overflows onto 2 seats.
2. These people have thick fur coats.

As to why I made such conclusions? Please do allow me to elaborate. Our bus seating usually has 2 seats in a row i.e 2 person can sit together. Somehow, the number of seats get decreased tremendously when there are the people who:

• Have such big ***** that they have to spread their legs so wide.
• Have luggage as heavy as 1kg that they need to place on the adjacent seat.

Why thick fur coats then? I believe i'm not alone in witnessing that the 2 air-con holes will most probably be pointing at only 1 person. 1 person requires 2 air-holes at full blast to be kept sufficiently cool?? And worse of all, when the neighbour switches 1 over to his/her side, the former will immediately switch both back to facing him/her again.

On a better note, something good did come out from my daily bus trips. Just a few days back, I witnessed someone giving up his seat to an elderly lady. I felt comforted. And no, I was not in a position to give up mine, I was firmly lodged right at the last row window seat, that had been my permanent seat for 2 weeks straight. Some anti-climax here, the volunteer was non-surprisingly not a Singaporean. It was a caucasian who had lodged himself comfortably with his bags packed around him and who was conscientiously reading a book. When the elderly lady walked in, people suddenly became tired and dozed off; people suddenly had smses gushing in and phone calls ringing non-stop; This caucasian immediately stood up and offered his when everyone else did the opposite. Learn well fellow Singaporeans!!!

Till later...

Daily Lunch Affairs

Work is not boring but I should say the stagnant feeling sticks to us. Getting out during lunch time is a joy and getting good food(not brain food) is essential for keeping my spirits high. And my am I lucky once again to have colleagues who love food hunting!! This particular venue is located just opposite us, newly-opened restaurant serving supposedly Hong Kong-styled dishes. Kirin Restaurant is the name. They were issuing brochures with this marketing strategy:'Eat as much as you like, pay what you want'. So off we went sampling....

You lot must be wondering what's this horrendous looking thing doing here. By the way, waiting for the 2 secretaries to get ready for lunch is an even longer and boring process. This, was the origin of the blu-tac "Angel Pig". It's fully equipped with a functional halo and wriggly tail at the back.

We ordered many dishes but the rest were gobbled up too quickly to be photographed.

These were some of the dim-sum we ordered: "Shrimp Dumplings", "Scallop Dumplings" and "Tian Jin Buns". The shrimp and scallop dumplings were good! S$3.20 for each if i'm not wrong.

Tender Chicken fillet stirred fried in XO-sauce and celery. Got a real nice orchid on it too. Taste wise...I'll rate it as normal. S$8 for this.

In either sense, this restaurant has some good and bad points. In a way, I suppose it's one of those hit and move on type of restaurant. Nothing really fantastic, if it's dim sum you're looking for, there're nicer ones out there.

Cousin's Wedding

Just a quick update, over the weekend attended my cousin's wedding. Held at Rasa Sentosa Resort all the way at Sentosa. He's a cousin many years in advance of me, exact age unknown to me. But things were good that night, the bride was super chio that day!! The dinner was good too, at least much better than the one I attended for Shangri-La Sentosa held at the same place. Cheaper too...S$600+ per table. At the very least, the former doesn't serve red wine that tastes like ribena. Food was good too...table for 10 but my table only had 8 and subsequently only 5. That only equates to increased servings for me!! Cod fish, scallops, sharks' fins....hmm.....shiok!!

A much larger than expected chunk of Cod fish!!! Nice!!! Big, fleshy and chewy.

I managed to capture a video of my cousin's cute little baby boy too. Cute little Jerome but i'm not going to post it up here. Copyright goes to my cousin! However I can share with people who wishes to view it. Ask me for it.

Till then....

Apologies

As the post suggests...apologies. Apologies to those that have attempted to get me out but i've to kindly reject. Those few that know, ya, the hospital's like my 2nd home now, day in day out. So at least until end of this week, I can't commit anything. So enjoy yourselves out there in the meantime. Most sincere apologies!!

Food

Yeah, forget the unhappiness for a moment and let's talk food. Just scanned through my hp and realised some food picts are left stuck in it. Let me do them justice all at 1 go.

After the exams, the food frenzy started with my date with Zp at Queensway. We ended up with lunch at Alexandra Village. Over here, I ate the most delicious roasted meat!!! And when my tongue says nice, it's real nice. But the meal was rather expensive, around S$13 for 2 person's share.

Look at all the accolades, if I can get that amount on my door, i'll be rich!!

Rice, Salted Veg Soup with no MSG and the meat(Roast meat, duck and char siew).

A closeup shot of the meat...Roast meat and duck were nice!!! Char siew was comme see comme sa only

The really nice roast meat!!! It's not the usual oil oozing meat that we get in normal hawker stalls. Just take a look at this piece of meat, most of it is lean meat, the skin is super crispy and the adipose is just a thin layer at the top! Miss the fragrance...

Other un-mentioned good food are nonetheless tried and approved near my workplace. Tanjong Pagar is a food paradise!! No pictures yet though...i'll just list what i've consumed over the past 2 weeks.

Tanjong Pagar Market

• Braised Duck Rice - S$2.50
• Japanese food(Pork Katsu Don and Chicken Teriyaki) - S$3.50

Amara Hotel Foodcourt

• Western Food(Fish&Chips, Chicken Chop) - S$5.00
• Thai Food(Pad Thai, Pad xxx, Thai green curry...shiok!) - S$4.50 each
• Fishball Noodles(The fishballs are hand-made and huge!) - S$3.00
• Curry Rice + Bread(Mutton & Chicken curry...gravy was heavenly enriched with dissolved potatoes. Really fragrant, tender meat and crunchy bread!) - S$3.00

Pearl Centre

• Braised duck rice(delicious!!) - S$2.50
• Hongkong-styled 'Chee Kueh' -S$2.00 for 3

Along Outram Road

• Original Kolo Noodles(Taste is good but the serving is puny!!) - S$5.90
  

Not forgetting 'Chewy Junior' cream puffs and the really soft and fluffy muffins from Tanjong Pagar!!

Oh, remember the roasted meat stall at the 1st picture? I went back with the intend to satisfy a craving today, only to find it closed. What a great disappointment! But 1 disappointment usually leads to something better! I discovered this really really and I mean really nice chicken rice stall!! The stall's just located a few stalls away from this roasted meat stall. Ordered S$3.00 chicken rice. The whole packet was filled to the brim, in it was a thick slice of tomato, 2 slices of cucumber, a spoonful of 'Ah-char' and the main attraction: I tasted the most delicious and tender chicken meat today!! Definitely worth the price...my packet was made up generally with chicken breast which normally feels real rough to chew on but guess what?

This is real tender and smooth with a rich taste too!! I was exclaiming on the 'nice-ness' of the chicken to my uncle who was in disbelief until he stole a chunk of meat from my pack and had to agree readily with my exclamation. No pictures though...I didn't wish to be laughed at for taking a photo of a styrofoam box with rice in it. Next time maybe....

Till then...

Concluding 2 weeks of work

My boss tortures me and the secretary abuses and forces mountain-loads of stuff on me, even the secretary next door aren't treating me like human. Haha...well, those are lies. 2 weeks of work at AIA, and no, i'm still not an insurance agent so no worries. Working there is rather enjoyable, the first few days there were generally monotonous but once I get to know the people there, things get real cosy and rowdy. And yes, i'm the youngest again at that workplace!! The relationship between the 2 sister secretaries and me have evolved to become 1 aunty, 1 little girl and 1 poor little boy. Things got off to a slow start, for my role there, I get to be an "unofficial intern" as i've mentioned. So far, i've dealt with and settled internship issues, progress reports which almost killed me, set up a new database; Currently still working on recruitment issues, getting catchy advertisements done, recruiting new agents from all channels and also the troublesome website. Anyone with references to anyone interested to earn some cash to do up the website, please contact me!!! Assignment-based...should be a 1 time payment and may/may not need follow-ups. In either case, money will be rolling into the pockets of the chosen one.

Getting back into the workforce once again reinforces my long-standing ideals on pursuing the right degree. I believe this is an issue concerning many of us undergrads, especially been hearing numerous from bioscience side on the job prospects of graduates. Let me share with you my belief: 'If you are capable, you get the job'. Allow me space to explain this further...i've also faced problems with friends and relatives enquiring about the job prospects of my course. To which, I have no qualms in replying I should be able to get into most industries with the exception of those specialisations like medicine or dentistry to state a few. Engineering grads do not necessary end up as engineers, chemistry grads do not end up as chemists and arts students do not end up as teachers! A degree is essentially a basic gauge of your ability to process information, whether you have obtained a certain level of IQ designated for the job. However, the top student in bioscience doesn't necessary equate to the best worker suited for the working society. He/she might have the memory space to accomodate the whole textbook but can that same person accomplish an assigned task? Conversely speaking, a person with 'lower IQ' but 'higher EQ' can do the task better. As an employer, what is your choice? A person with good paper qualifications but poor work capabilities, or someone who can share your burden and get the job done? Thus, I strongly believe that anyone with the determination and capability shouldn't be bothered by the lack of job opportunities etc. Such whinings are really for people with no true abilities.

Coming back to work issues, just this week I get to fix up my boss' pda phones and laptops. All the connections are screwed, the wireless connection's in a mess and she can't synchronise her pda phone. Being the greenhorn there, I definitely can't resolve the ip issues, since each organisation has their own internal settings. So we got the Helpdesk down to do the configurations. There's this technical fellow called W*****, brought the laptop down, told him the problem and was asked to repeat the problem another 3 times. There and then, I knew it was a gone-case, he is definitely one of those waiting for allowance crediting into his account every month. He doesn't even know how to connect the LAN cable and even plugged my power supply into powerless sockets. In short, what he does after all the crapping is just plain trying to do a "smokeout". Asking me brainless questions, trying to drag time and best of all, asking me for the password for their own internal network. I was like hello....this is your job and you're asking me? This is technical helpdesk assistance: A computing graduate with paper qualifications best-suited for this job but with zero capabilities. And just before I forget...this really pissed me off: He dare ask me to google the error and see what are the ways to resolve this issue.

Anyway, wasted 1 hour of my time with no yield and a severely pissed-off me. Retrieved the laptop, switched on another and decided to resolve it myself and after another hour or so, finally managed to set up the whole thing. I'm definitely no computer expert or whizz kid, I just dare to venture and test out things, and most important of all, I don't like to say the words "I don't know!".

Espresso

I was hungry...lunch was at 1.30pm but i'm still hungry. The time was 6.30pm and I walked past the same vending machine again. Wanted a milo to quench my hunger but this aroused my curiosity:

Aromatic Espresso, that's what the can insinuates and what I was led to believe. I should go learn jap, maybe the footnote in jap reads something like: 'One man's meat is another man's poison' or something like that. The can came out from the machine...I reached for the can and released it immediately. The can's bloody hot!!! It's hot coffee in a can...damn! But anyway, the coffee sucks, taste like diluted coffee you get at a kopitiam. The only consolation is that I paid $1.50 for the red can, it looks nice and unique though: It doesn't have a tab.