Friday, December 15, 2006

Bad news~

UEFA Champions League Knockout stages draw are out.. and Liverpool is facing former champions Barcelona! That's bad... If Liverpool can make it past this round, then it's not too bad after that... Man U, Chelsea and Arsenal have relatively easier oppoonents though, shouldn't be a prob...

On another note, thanks to ZJ, KY and WY for the adidas cap!

T-3 days (^-^)>

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Into the sky, to win or die! (-_-)|||

Caught eragon together with Ivan, GY and Law at PS today. Practically wolfed down our dinner at Manhattan Fish Express cos we only had like 15 mins before show time at 7. In the end, the show actually STARTED at 7.20! Argh~ Aside from that, met Huiru at the Manhattan Fish Express. She's one of my former colleagues at IRAS back then and she looked lovely as ever. Hehe.

Predictable story, cheesy one-liners (refer to title of post), a few laughable scenes are the drawbacks of the show but luckily there are heavyweights who save the show from being a total disaster. Jeremy Irons is the young protagonist's master, Brom and John Malkovich rules as the evil King Galbatorix.

According to people who read the book, it's a total letdown. So morale of the story: Do either one and you'll be contented. Read or Watch. Do not try both unless prescribed by the doctor... Lol

T-3 days (^-^)>

All done and deal!

Finally went down to sign appt letter with Deutsche Bank, title: ID administrator. I know, doesn't sound impressive, but at least I get a chance to use Japanese and communicate frequently with colleagues over in Japan. How's that?

Well, I'll be working at DBS Building Tower 2 which is just beside Elaine's workplace. She just said finally got lunch kaki le! Haha. Also looking forward to meet her for lunch in the near future too!

Also went down to Republic Plaza for my medical exam for the job. Suaku me had to call my sis and asked for directions cos I'm still a Shenton Way / Raffles Place newbie! In the end, dunno by what arcane intuition, I managed to find my way there. Usual tests performed like urine, blood, x-ray, eyesight and the likes. And turned out I was FIT for work!

So starting work next Monday, which happens to be on my bdae. Wanted to delay by one day but nobody actually celebs my bdae on a weekday, so might as well start work loh.. I always think of Monday as a good day to start anything. It's like an tradition for me..

Ok~ Will keep you guys updated soon but i'll be away during the weekend. Will be at the annual MINDS Camp. Hopefully I can take a couple of good pics to post it up here. That's all!

T-4 days. (^-^)>

Monday, December 11, 2006

Do I look like a Japanese?

Went to Taka today to collect my Liverpool Home Kit jersey from adidas and played pool with GY till Law came down later to join us~ Finally after the long wait, the S size jersey is in town and thanks to my sis for reserving it for me! :) Also thanks to GY, Law, YY, BZ and JJB for sponsoring the jersey too!

Decided on the impromptu to catch Open Season at the Cathay during dinner time. On the way to the Cathay, I gave directions a group of Japanese tourists to Raffles Hotel from Hotel Rendevous (which is quite a long walk away) The nice obaasan (auntie) then asked me whether I was living in Singapore and my dad was working in Singapore... Haha! She thought I was Japanese! I told her that I'm a Singaporean to her disbelief... Hee~ I took that as a compliment to my Japanese language skills then or maybe I looked like a Japanese according to Law... :)

Now looking at the nice Goldlion dress shirt (bought from Tangs this week) and my Liverpool jersey hung on my cupboard~ *beams*

Btw, my birthday's in a week's time! Wanted to prepare a wish list but not many things I want anyway and most ppl dun bother about my bdae in the first place as well.. So just keep it short and simple...

1) Liverpool Home Kit Jersey (done)
2) adidas cap
3) adidas jacket
4) a pair of cufflinks

Pics to come soon, I hope... :)

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Good news come in pairs?

Decided to take up the offer from Deutsche Bank AG instead of Panasonic. Luckily haven't signed Panasonic that side. Think that guy must have been damn pissed with me. Delay liaoz, said want to sign already then last minute 'chu' pattern.. No choice lah, gotta see which one offers better mah.. Both sides offer the same pay but Deutsche Bank is nearer compared to Panasonic, so...

If all goes well, I shld be starting work on my bdae! i.e. 18th December! People pls remember! Haha! yet to upload my wishlist but coming soon...

Another piece of good news is that adidas (note no caps) has M size liverpool home kit jersey! My dear sis just called me to say she reserved it for me liaoz! Gotta go down to Taka tml and collect! :)

Good news come in pairs?

After This Our Exile (父子)

Just caught the show with GY after dinner. Wasn't really expecting to catch a show today but agreed anyway cos it's supposed to be nice and it's a award-winning show (Best Feature Film, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor in the 43rd Golden Horse Awards) , with one of my favourite actresses, Charlie Yeung!

In a nutshell, it revolves around the lives of father (Aaron Kwok) and his son. How they cope with their mother leaving them and making ends meet in Malaysia... A touch of comedy, tragedy and heart-wrenching scenes. The show's rated M18 according to GY, cos of "intimate scenes". That's for sure with scenes involving Aaron and Charlie... The show's ending kinda abrupt too, which I dun like it (remember Casino Royale?) but overall, the movie's ok, but wouldn't recommend watching it over the weekend at that price...

A random search at Google revealed that the phrase "After This Our Exile" is part of a prayer one says after praying the rosary. It goes like this:

"HAIL, HOLY QUEEN, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!"

Which kinda leaves me much to think about... Anyway, good news for me, Deutsche Bank AG has offered me a position as a network ID administrator! Should be taking that up instead of Panasonic~ :)

Also, going to organise a Xmas party for A07/08 peeps on 23rd Dec, so do let me know whether you'll available after reading this post, either by MSN, SMS or tagboard in my blog! Thanks!

Cheers!

*gasp* after looking at clock for time of post... Addictive Neverwinter Nights 2...

Sunday, December 03, 2006

日本語能力試験

やっと来てくれたよ!能力検定試験だ!今朝三級を受けて、いい結果がほしい!90パセント以上でもいいと思うよ~ はは~ 8時45分ごろ日本学校に着いたら、多くの人々が並んでいた!びっくりした!試験をするのに全部3時15分かかって、休憩時間が2つある。1つは20分ぐらいだ。試験をしたら、大体易しかったと思った。結果はいつ届くか、またわからないので、知ってることになったら、皆に知らせるよ!

(Translation)
The Japanese Language Proficiency test (JLPT) is finally here! I sat for Level 3 this morning and hoping to get a good result for the test! Any score is fine but above 90% would be nice though.. Haha! Reached the school at about 8.45am and a lot of people were already queuing outside the gates! Was really surprised to see the crowd! The whole exam lasted for 3 hours and 15 mins, with 2 intervals of 20 mins in between. After sitting for the test, I found it to be pretty easy though.. Not sure when the results will come but I'll inform everyone once I receive them!
(End of Translation)

After that had lunch with Jacelin, Adeline and Qinghai at Bedok Market before going off to Expo to meet GY to go see SITEX. Nothing in mind to buy in particular, just went there to walk around.. later moved on to the BIG BOYZ TOYZ exhibition that shows cars, bikes, even a yacht, and girls with skimpy clothing on too. Everything to attract guys by the hordes (me included)!

Had dinner with GY and Law and played a couple of games of Settlers of Catan at my place afterwards. Haha, tml going to reply to Panasonic about the offer. Most prob shld be taking it even if it means waking up at 545 every morning and travelling to Bedok...

Cya!

Monday, November 27, 2006

Great weekend (again)!

So busy over the weekend, until now then i blog about it.. Lotsa stuff to blog about, so I shall do it in chronological order~ :)

1) Last day at IRAS!

Last Sat, my colleagues gave me a nice card with well-wishes inside, wishing me the best in my future job at Panasonic (or Microsoft? *prays*) and my manager gave me and another colleague a treat cos he also leaving soon this coming Wed. Had a hearty lunch at Fish and Co and you can check out the pics below~

My baked Salmon with mushroom sauce~

My manager, Lijun and I


Fellow colleague, Fauzi and I


2) Primary sch fren gathering

Looking forward to another gathering that same day, this time with a couple of my primary school friends! Only got four of us, GY, me, Ruizhi and Sharon! Just met Ruizhi on the train a few days ago but for Sharon, wah~ Last time I saw her was back in Sec 1, when we came back to visit our dear form teacher, Mr Chong back in Peixin Pri..
So we had dinner at Spageddies @ Paragon and caught up with each other, actually most of the time, Sharon and I did most of the talking~ LOL
Then kena arrowed by Sharon to organise a pri sch frens gathering next time. T_T Possible idea would be @ Settlers' Cafe? Haha... Here's a pic we took that day~


Me, Sharon, Ruizhi and Guangyu

3) Pool and Movie on Sunday

Felt a bit bored on Sunday, so asked the guys out for a game of pool at our usual pool haunt. Too bad cannot take pic in there. V nice ambience, nice tables and nice cue balls~ In fact, I bought my cue stick from there a couple of years ago. Yy came along too, which was a surprise cos usually he's not free one~ Hehe But anyway, we enjoyed playing pool till about 7-8 (YY had to leave early cos he needed to ta-bao dinner back for his 老婆)
Had chicken rice for dinner at a nearby diner and was about to head back home. We were walking past The Cathay when I just expressed my suggestion of watching a Battle of Wits. To my surprise (twice today), GY and Law were game for it! Ended up watching at PS cos the showtime at The Cathay was pretty late.


Not bad a movie, in my opinion. With a mixture of comedy, drama, romance and war. All the right elements to a great show~ Andy Lau stars as Ge Li, a man invited to help defend a city of 4,000 ppl against an army of 100,000! He supposedly follows teachings that preaches Love All, Serve All, kinda like Hard Rock Cafe~ and he rejected Fan Bingbing's advances! Fan Bingbing's role is of a cavalry general in the city of Liang and Nicky Wu's also in it as an archery officer-promoted to general. I'm quite a sucker for war movies where tactics are involved. Think Gladiator (opening sequence), Troy, Lord of the Rings, etc... And Fan Bingbing is so pretty in the show~ *starry eyes*
That kinda wraps up my weekend, one of the best I had so far~
*To Ashlyn, if you're reading this, Happy Birthday once again! :) *

Friday, November 24, 2006

Don't give a damn whether it's shaken or stirred!



Went for interview this morning at PWC Building for DBS-POSB for the position of Personal Financial Consultant. (And just received a reply through email saying that I was not selected for further interviews T_T ) Anyway, after that, I had lunch with Princess Ang near her workplace in City area. It's been a while since I met up with her. We chatted quite a bit before both of us needed to return to work..

Met up with GY and Law for dinner and went to catch Casino Royale at GV Yishun. It's pretty long! 144 minutes to be exact. Was pretty much looking forward to the show cos I'm a Bond fan! The guns, cars, gadgets (almost none in the show) and the girls! Also the demeanor and style of Bond too! Anyway, the show was an ad fest too! Ford, Aston Martin, Ford, Sony-Ericsson, Sony, etc... Somemore closeup shot of product as well. Best scene I liked was when the bartender asked Bond how he would like his vodka martini shaken or stirred. Reply: Don't give a damn about that! LOL Priceless!

But then, kinda lost about how Bond moved from clue to clue and the ending was abrupt. I was like "huh????" and recovered from initial shock after 1,2 minutes later.. "Liddat called ending?" But I gotta say Daniel Craig's one of the best Bonds in the business as yet, followed close by Sean Connery then by Pierce Brosnan~

That's all for now! Tml's my last day at IRAS! *beams*

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

I got a job offer!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally after 4 months of waiting and interview-going, I finally got a job offer from Panasonic! Applied for this job on my own at the Job Fair I mentioned in my earlier post. Surprisingly, the offer din come with the help from 2 of the job agencies that I've registered with.. Hmm..

But then again, I'm in a dilemna... Both POSB-DBS and Microsoft are going to get back to me soon about the success of my interviews soon.. WY advised me to take up the Panasonic offer first and if DBS or Microsoft offers me, then I'll be able to quit during my probation period and head off to my new employer! Thanks WY for the advice!

Anyway, the shop I usually go to get my figurines, La Tendo, had a 30% sale over the weekend and I got for myself a Mia Campbell figurine from Gundam Seed Destiny! *beams* Pics to come soon!



And lazy me finally uploaded my Gundam pics up to community webshots... The link to the album's below~ Just click on the small pic below to get to the album. Take a look if you want please, gotta say some of the shots din turn out that nice but I uploaded it anyway~

Image hosted by Webshots.com

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Great weekend!

Finally got my hands on Neverwinter Nights 2 on Friday! Pre-ordered it a couple of months ago together with my cousin and his friend and finally I was informed (by my cousin) that it's here!

Super excited. So went to collect it after my interview at Panasonic at Bedok. So here am I trying out the official campaign with my character, a warlock. Warlocks are a new base class included in this series together with the original classes like fighter, wizard, rogue, etc. Hopefully I'll post 1-2 pics of my warlock in action soon.


That followed with an outing to Settler's Cafe with the usual gang on Saturday! Me, Zj, TF, KY, JW and WY. We played Guesstures, Taboo (twice) and Cranium. Hehe. Loved these games cos they require a lot of interaction with people in the group which ups the fun factor. Here's a pic taken that night.


Hopefully can get more ppl to join us in the next outing, possibly to WY's place? Heard it's HUGE... Hohoho..
Then just joined my buddies for dinner and Law finally "claimed" his bdae present from us. Long overdue since Aug loh.. He bought a Sony-Ericsson K800i (I think) It's more of a camera than a phone, IMHO (In My Honest Opinion, for the mis-informed once again.. ^_^) But I was spending more time checking out Law's new HP than he did. LOL. Just can't get my grubby hands off his phone, you see... :P
That's all for now! Coming soon, my Gundam gallery!

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

The hunt goes on...

Took a day of leave from work today to go for 2 job interviews. Morning 9.30 am at J.S.T Components (Japanese electronics sales office) at Aljunied and Microsoft Regional Sales at Alexendra Technopark @ 2pm.

Managed to reach the J.S.T office about 15 minutes before the appointed time. Phew~ Scared cannot find the place early in the morning. About 10 minutes walk from Aljunied MRT in long sleeved shirt and I'm almost sweating it out... Someone did mention to me before that it's important that you shouldn't be LATE for an interivew and also said that cannot be too EARLY for one as well. The interviewer might think that you have no concept of time (时间观念)or something liddat...

The J.S.T interview went pretty well, I guessed. Interviewed by 2 native Japanese speakers, an attractive lady and a serious-looking guy, entirely in Japanese. Woot! They were rather surprised at my conversational ability despite not having any certification. But it's all thanks to my Japanese senseis (teachers) in NUS, I said. :) Managed to catch most of the stuff said by the guy, but there were a few funny moments when I asked about the welfare benefits. The lady was also an assistant engineer and the guy was the manager, I think. They were surprised when they found that the benefits differ by a huge marginfor the both of them when trying to explain to me. Haha! Only thing that got me worried was that i was told I had no previous working experience in an engineering firm.. (But I'm a fresh grad for goodness's sake!)

Left about 10.50am and took the train from Aljunied to Queenstown. Decided to have lunch at Anchorage point and head down to Queensway shopping centre later in hopes of finding the oh-so-elusive-sold out-you-got-money-also-cannot-buy Liverpool 2006/2007 season SHORT SLEEVED jersey!

Spent about an hour walking around the WHOLE Queensway shopping centre, but only left L and XL sizes.. WTF! Other bigwigs like Man U, Arsenal and that stinking Chelsea still got S and M sizes available woah... This goes to show that Liverpool damn popular in Singapore sia! *beams* but damn sad cos now cannot find in Singapore le... the shop guy also said jersey not coming in anymore, maybe the red zipper jacket (only available in L and XL sizes >_<) might! Took a short bus ride to Alexandra Technopark to Microsoft for my next interview, which looks to be promising... Lucky I went there before to send my HP laptop for repair. if not newbies sure cannot find the blasted underpass to get to the technopark. Difference now that I had to find Blk B (Microsoft) rather than Blk A (HP repair centre)... Reached there damn early about 1pm! And remembered what my fren said about reaching too early... So I hung around the food court (which I found only accessible by elevator...) till about 1.30pm before I made my way over. Normally when u register at the recep, it's always a form or book you gotta fill in, but at Microsoft, you gotta fill in at the computer terminal! So cool~ Then the terminal will print a sticker which you proudly stick it on your shirt/blouse. The form also required you to declare whether you were down with running nose or cough, and since I was still having a cough from my flu last week, I noted yes for cough. ---> which turned out that the sticker on you would say "Health: Bad" I was like WTF!

Whenever people walked past me and stared at my sticker, they moved away hastily. No prizes for guessing y, yah? Anyway, the interview started at 2.30pm (so much for being early. *grumbles*) and I was amazed at the office at Microsoft! Tall ceiling with spacious cubicles. No. They should be called workstations instead. And posh sofas here and there for staff to work on their lappies. Even saw a futsal (table soccer) table too! *double beams*

Interview went on fine, was asked the usual questions, but answered them with a dash of my own spice. hee. Which got me thinking, if I get the job at Microsoft, does it mean I can use MSN messenger at work? Microsoft mah.. :P

Finished about 3.40pm and took a bus down to ViVocity where the mountain tortoise called Jaron hasn't set foot upon so far...

First impression: Rather huge interior, spacious walking areas for shoppers. Think might go again to visit all the artworks scattered around the complex inside and outside. Headed for Red 2 to see how my uncle's new outlet was doing. i dare say, it's doing pretty well. My aunt didn't have time to chat with me.. Then headed down to the adidas boutique to hope that they might have stock of M size liverpool jersey or zipper jacket. A cute salesgirl approached me and I explained to her my predicament. She only said it's all sold out and asked me to try a specific shop at Queensway instead, which I told her "I just come from Queensway leh..." Haha! In the end, I walked around and spotted some potential buys like a newly brought in cap, a zipper jacket that says "I LOVE TOKYO". Hmm....

After a tiring day of hunting jobs and jerseys, I finally headed back home by train... Phew!

Friday, November 03, 2006

Cough, cough, sniff...

Down with flu since yesterday evening until now.. Damn sianz.... Missed the gathering with my Langkawi ppl.. Also missed saying goodbye to Char whose last day at IRAS today... Went to another doc instead cos my usual family doctor is on holiday (Good life sia!) and will only open his clinic in the evening instead..

Got 2 days MC from doctor and spent most of the time sleeping the afternoon away.. But, received calls from the job agency saying that I have 2 interviews next week! At Microsoft and at JST (Japanese electronics firm). Must have been damn sick cos I could hardly reply properly in Japanese to the job agency ppl.. Also I told my buddies I got interview at Toyota.. That's another pending one that's not confirmed yet.. Haha.. Hope to recover soon in time for the interviews!

Sick Jaron

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Confused...

There seems to be no direction in my life right now.. Everyday I'm just going through the same routine over and over again with no progress at all.. Feeling confused over what I should do from now on, how I should carry on with my life... Someone help me please...

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Jobcentral Career Fair

Went down to Suntec City Convention Centre for Jobcentral Career Fair today. Saw the ad on the train when I was on my way to Kranji MRT to meet up with the Langkawi ppl on the day of our trip. So I thought to myself, why not go and take a look over there?

I reached there at about 2 plus and started making my way round the stalls. Dress code supposed to be business casual but think I'm the one of the few idiots who wore long sleeved shirt, pants and leather shoes.. -_-

ZJ told me to look out for his pri sch friend who'll be there for SIM promoting courses and I managed to find her without much difficulty. Think she kinda forgotten about me cos we only met up once at SIM canteen to have dinner together with TF and ZJ of course. Had a nice chat with her and moved on to see what other companies can offer bah.

So far, the list of companies I've applied / going to apply are as follows:

  1. Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore
  2. Duty Free Shop
  3. Panasonic
  4. Hitachi
  5. Singapore Police Force
  6. ST Microelectronics
  7. DBS
  8. Standard Chartered Bank

So far, only Singapore Tourism Board has rejected me straight because my honours class is not Second Upper and above. Bah! Second upper v big meh? :P

Oh well, hoping for good news to come soon then...

Death Note!



Went to meet TF at Sunshine Plaza to check out whether the MG Gundam Wing Custom Zero was still available at Hobby Art Gallery but Joyce said all sold out le.. New stock coming in only in December / January... Oh well.. Went over to La Tendo and chanced upon a Luffy figurine going for 24.50 and another Saber figurine for 72. Put the both of them in a pocket in my mind for potential purchases. Hee...

After that, went to meet up with ZJ and another friend for dinner before heading off to watch the much-awaited DeathNote movie. WY joined us for dinner too, although he watched the movie with another group of friends already.

The movie was ok only lah. I'm currently watching the anime now and also reading the manga too. The movie, IMHO (in my honest opinion for the mis-informed) proceeded too fast. Even those who did not know anything about Death Note would have been lost.. Also felt that they should have gotten actors to portray both Light and L instead too... The actual ones are erm.. not too convincing? The movie also doesn't pay homage to L's brilliant mind as quoted by TF after the show as well. It kinda shows him as a freaky kid who loves sweet stuff and talks monotonously.. That's quite sad...

The second instalment is already out in Japan, or so I heard.. and due to be released soon in Singapore shortly. To watch or not to watch? That is the question! Might be getting a "Death Note" notebook for fun from Comic Connection. Although the larger version looks and feels like the real thing, the rules are written in both English (as per original story) and in Chinese! Argh! Think from Taiwan or China sia.. The smaller one is cheaper and has rules only in English but doesn't really look like the real notebook at all. Which to get? It'll be fun to be seen writing in the notebook and peeking at someone who just pissed you off.. keke..

Off to the Jobcentral career fair @ Suntec tomorrow! Armed with resumes and a witty mind, here I come! Hopefully can take pictures in there and share with you guys soon!

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

I'm back!

Hey people, so good to be back in Singapore! Simply loved the trip to Langkawi, the company was even better! I mean, the beach was so beautiful man! Just take a look at the pic below!



We went to the beach, go-karting and snorkelling! Some went island-hopping around which I would have loved to go if there was enough time!

Click on the link below to access my photo album for the trip! Will add more photos once others have sent me photos as well, so stay tuned!
YCK Trip to Langkawi

Friday, October 20, 2006

I'm off for a HOLIDAY!

Finally after an agonising week of waiting, the weekend has arrived! I'm off to Langkawi for a trip! *beams* Going to travel with a group of friends from YCK and will only be back on next Tuesday! Stay tuned to my photo album when I return! :)

Monday, October 16, 2006

In sickness or in health

Wasn't feeling fine after YCK session on Saturday.. Felt a little queasy in the stomach so went home after that to take a well-deserved nap for a couple of hours. Felt a little better though but the pain and discomfort returned on Sunday as well before and after I went to my cousin's place.

So in the end, visited my family doctor this morning. Tot I would get by this year w/o getting an MC but oh well.. It's good (and bad) to see Dr Tan again. A fatherly figure who usually does not rush his time to clear your case when you visit him and chats you up a bit before conducting the diagnosis as per normal. Sometimes I feel a bit better just by seeing him. Lol!

Felt a little bad for taking MC today cos Mondays are usually the busiest at IRAS. Jean must have been cursing me the whole day, I guess... Paiseh!

Had lotsa rest today at home, took some time to do up most of Legend Gundam and took a great nap in the afternoon. Felt a whole lot better after taking the medicine! Hope I get well soon for the long awaited trip to Langkawi! T-5 days!

Lastly, drink lotsa water during this blasted hazy period, ppl! Peace!

Friday, October 13, 2006

Farewell~

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was working in IRAS as a temporary clerical officer. Din realised that I have been working there for a month plus already and all of my colleagues but me are going to leave soon to go back to their respective polys to start a new semester. So fast! Going to miss them... *sobz*


IRAS Fil Comp Atrium Project Interview Team!

Click on the pic below to see the rest of the pics we took!

IRAS Fil Comp