Monday, September 15, 2008
BATAM!
Went for a 2D1N stay at Batam over the weekend. Overall it was a good getaway. Here are some memorable moments:
Most headache moment(s) - Whenever we were paying for something. My God... it was a math test everytime we had to convert the rupiah to SGD. SGD1 = 6300 rupiah... not easy when everything is in the ten thousand range and above!
Happiest Moment - eating A & W! Seeing it was like reaching the promised land. It was a pretty unanimous decision to dine there for lunch. Had rootbeer, chicken wings and curly fries! Bliss
Most confusing moment - Checking into the hotel. We were told to bring about S$100 which was to cover the spa, room and transport. The practice there is to pay first. So when they guy said "It's 385 in all with the extra bed" we were a bit stunned. Isn't it supposed to be max S$300?? We asked him that we were told it would amount to only S$300. He made a few calls and said apologetically that it was 385. Being in a foreign land, we didn't want to argue, so we took out the moolah. When we presented the SGD, the guy was stunned. That was when we realized that he meant 385,000 rupiah, which equates to S$62. We decided to pay first and had a mini conference in our hotel room - how come only S$62???? After a few phone calls to my friends sister, realized that S$100 each was an estimation. The room rate is correct, but the Spa and the transport will be paid seperately. Oooooor............
Most wu hua (best value) moment - generally if you buy the local stuff it is cheaper. Services are cheap too. here's a summary of what I bought and did: Manicure - S$12. Spa (3 hour package to make be nice and shiny) - S$48. Indo Mie Instant noodles - S$0.25 per packet. Toothbrush - S$0.25. Chewing Gum (bottle kind) - S$1.50. Import stuff are more expensive, but still relatively cheaper compared to SG. They have Breadtalk and the bread was about S$1 (still 40% cheaper); A&W was about S$4.50 for the meal. J.Co donuts and coffee was about S$5 for coffee and donut set
Most bo hua moment (poor value) moment - seafood dinner. It was still cheap - 3 people S$50 for 3 crabs, cereal prawns, fried squid, baby kailan, dou miao. But the size and portions were quite.... pathetic. Our initial order was only pepper crab, baby kailan, fried squid and cereal prawns. When the food came... we were like... huh? The crab was smaller than the kind you find at kopitiams. The cereal prawns... you might as well changed the name to cereal shrimp. I couldn've wiped out the baby kailan on my own! Not sure if it was due to the over emphasis on "kechil", meaning small portion... Hence we had to add on the order with chilli crab and dou miao. When it came, it was better. The crabs were nice, but i think its due to their species, the meat was quite nuah.. probably because they were quite small.
Most embarassing moment - Being totally naked in front of a stranger during the spa. It's just weird to have someone you don't even know see you warts and all... Worse still, she even helped me scrub my back... totally weird....
Spookiest moment - I dunno if its a figment of my imagination, but i woke up in the middle of the night to hear a conversation going on between my friend and my cousin. I peered at my friend, whose back was towards me. It seemed she was talking but i can't fanthom what she was saying. It was totally incomprehensible! And more interestingly, my cousin, whose back was also towards me (I slept in the centre), actually answered back. I was like... WTF??? ok ok... go back to sleep!!!! The next morning, I was telling them about it when my cousin said: "you know what? I woke up to hear you and hyena having a conversation! Hyena was saying some and you actually answered back!"...... Yikes
Most headache moment(s) - Whenever we were paying for something. My God... it was a math test everytime we had to convert the rupiah to SGD. SGD1 = 6300 rupiah... not easy when everything is in the ten thousand range and above!
Happiest Moment - eating A & W! Seeing it was like reaching the promised land. It was a pretty unanimous decision to dine there for lunch. Had rootbeer, chicken wings and curly fries! Bliss
Most confusing moment - Checking into the hotel. We were told to bring about S$100 which was to cover the spa, room and transport. The practice there is to pay first. So when they guy said "It's 385 in all with the extra bed" we were a bit stunned. Isn't it supposed to be max S$300?? We asked him that we were told it would amount to only S$300. He made a few calls and said apologetically that it was 385. Being in a foreign land, we didn't want to argue, so we took out the moolah. When we presented the SGD, the guy was stunned. That was when we realized that he meant 385,000 rupiah, which equates to S$62. We decided to pay first and had a mini conference in our hotel room - how come only S$62???? After a few phone calls to my friends sister, realized that S$100 each was an estimation. The room rate is correct, but the Spa and the transport will be paid seperately. Oooooor............
Most wu hua (best value) moment - generally if you buy the local stuff it is cheaper. Services are cheap too. here's a summary of what I bought and did: Manicure - S$12. Spa (3 hour package to make be nice and shiny) - S$48. Indo Mie Instant noodles - S$0.25 per packet. Toothbrush - S$0.25. Chewing Gum (bottle kind) - S$1.50. Import stuff are more expensive, but still relatively cheaper compared to SG. They have Breadtalk and the bread was about S$1 (still 40% cheaper); A&W was about S$4.50 for the meal. J.Co donuts and coffee was about S$5 for coffee and donut set
Most bo hua moment (poor value) moment - seafood dinner. It was still cheap - 3 people S$50 for 3 crabs, cereal prawns, fried squid, baby kailan, dou miao. But the size and portions were quite.... pathetic. Our initial order was only pepper crab, baby kailan, fried squid and cereal prawns. When the food came... we were like... huh? The crab was smaller than the kind you find at kopitiams. The cereal prawns... you might as well changed the name to cereal shrimp. I couldn've wiped out the baby kailan on my own! Not sure if it was due to the over emphasis on "kechil", meaning small portion... Hence we had to add on the order with chilli crab and dou miao. When it came, it was better. The crabs were nice, but i think its due to their species, the meat was quite nuah.. probably because they were quite small.
Most embarassing moment - Being totally naked in front of a stranger during the spa. It's just weird to have someone you don't even know see you warts and all... Worse still, she even helped me scrub my back... totally weird....
Spookiest moment - I dunno if its a figment of my imagination, but i woke up in the middle of the night to hear a conversation going on between my friend and my cousin. I peered at my friend, whose back was towards me. It seemed she was talking but i can't fanthom what she was saying. It was totally incomprehensible! And more interestingly, my cousin, whose back was also towards me (I slept in the centre), actually answered back. I was like... WTF??? ok ok... go back to sleep!!!! The next morning, I was telling them about it when my cousin said: "you know what? I woke up to hear you and hyena having a conversation! Hyena was saying some and you actually answered back!"...... Yikes
Monday, September 08, 2008
If I had the money...
If you were rich, have you ever thought of giving back to the community? In my dreams of hitting the big time, where money is not an issue, I have thought about whom i wish to help - children & para-athletes
Why these 2 particular groups? Well, for children, I'm just a sucker for young kids. Somehow, I find that they should at least have a chance in this world. Kids are meant to be kids, to learn through play, make friends and hopefully grow up to be responsible adults. I hope every kid has the opportunity to be given a fair chance in life. So if I had the money, I hope that children all over the world, will be given proper food, shelter, clothes and more importantly education. There's something about a child's innocence which should remain that way. I find that they should enjoy their time as children while they can instead of being thrown to the harsh realities of life at such a tender age. But for those who survived their unfortunate circumstances and grow up to be responsible adults, I sincerely salute them.
The other group, para-athletes, are a group which I feel needs much more support. Right now, I don't see much being done for them. When the Team Singapore was sent for the Olympics, they had the support of the ministries, the sponsors, the nation. However, for the para-athletes, I don't see as much fan fare. Why is that? Aren't they athletes too? And they are the ones who have to work twice as hard to over come their disabilities, with the odds stacked up against them and they are capable of bringing home a gold medal. Its not easy to swim when you only have your hands to push yourself forward; it's not easy to play basketball when you are on wheels, especially when you need to dribble and maneuver at the same time. The Paralympics is after all where the best also come to compete, so I do not see why they do not get equal support. Or is it because getting a gold medal here is not as much worth? For this group, I hope to be able to support them in terms of training (you hear about Tao Li getting Altitude training, but have you heard the same being done for Teresa?) and sponsorship and also awareness for the group.
So if I had the money, these are the 2 groups I would like to help. What about you?
Why these 2 particular groups? Well, for children, I'm just a sucker for young kids. Somehow, I find that they should at least have a chance in this world. Kids are meant to be kids, to learn through play, make friends and hopefully grow up to be responsible adults. I hope every kid has the opportunity to be given a fair chance in life. So if I had the money, I hope that children all over the world, will be given proper food, shelter, clothes and more importantly education. There's something about a child's innocence which should remain that way. I find that they should enjoy their time as children while they can instead of being thrown to the harsh realities of life at such a tender age. But for those who survived their unfortunate circumstances and grow up to be responsible adults, I sincerely salute them.
The other group, para-athletes, are a group which I feel needs much more support. Right now, I don't see much being done for them. When the Team Singapore was sent for the Olympics, they had the support of the ministries, the sponsors, the nation. However, for the para-athletes, I don't see as much fan fare. Why is that? Aren't they athletes too? And they are the ones who have to work twice as hard to over come their disabilities, with the odds stacked up against them and they are capable of bringing home a gold medal. Its not easy to swim when you only have your hands to push yourself forward; it's not easy to play basketball when you are on wheels, especially when you need to dribble and maneuver at the same time. The Paralympics is after all where the best also come to compete, so I do not see why they do not get equal support. Or is it because getting a gold medal here is not as much worth? For this group, I hope to be able to support them in terms of training (you hear about Tao Li getting Altitude training, but have you heard the same being done for Teresa?) and sponsorship and also awareness for the group.
So if I had the money, these are the 2 groups I would like to help. What about you?
The Interview and the aftermath
I recently updated my resume and to my surprise, I realized that I chalked up quite a lot of experience in my current company. My job responsibilities filled up almost 1 page (in bullet form). Not bad, considering I have been on the job for only 6 months.
I went for an interview with a telecoms company. Sad to say, I screwed up the interview by shooting myself in the foot. In fact, I felt like shooting myself in the head as i felt the words leave my mouth. You know, its the same feeling that you get just nanoseconds after you hit the "send" and your sms get sent to the wrong person. That's the exact same feeling I got, but of course 10 times worse in magnitude. There was no way to retract the sentence since it was already halfway out of my mouth.
Oh well, it just shows a couple of things - 1) I need more interview experience. 2) I need to lie better
But I must say that all is not lost. I learnt quite a few things from the interview. For one, I realized that you better have a very good reason why you want to leave a company after just 6 months. My interviewer was very persistent about that fact. And perhaps I didn't lie well enough and she saw through it? And I realized that they valued my 6 months in my current job more than the 3.5 years in my previous company. They didn't focus much on my past job, despite the fact that it was telco related.
I also learnt to trust my gut feel. I didn't like the vibe i was getting from the HR person and my interviewer. In fact, I didn't even feel a nice vibe coming from the receptionists, both of them. You might say that I am sour grapes since I did not fare well for the interview, but seriously, if my interviewer is going to be the person I will be working with, i think I will be in a worse off situation if i got the job. And the HR person didn't even give a smile, didn't even bother to properly introduce herself (I still don't know what is her exact designation). What's up the with uppity atitude? And I'm not the first to have the same feeling about the organization too. Another friend also had the same treatment. In his words, he felt that he was scrutinized even to the smallest detail. His interviewer even commented on his slightly torn shoe! I was like.... ok.... do I really want to work in a company which micromanages to that extent? Especially when I don't like the micromanaging I get in my cuurrent workplace?
And after much review, I realized that I don't really hate my job. I do enjoy what i am doing, its only 1 person which I don't like (which I have totally no respect for. How do you work for someone when you have no motivation?) and just how the organization works, especially in terms of approvals (which take forever due to the levels I have to go through, which is 3-4 levels btw). And also the fact that my manager does not know how to groom people (which is why my colleague is leaving). But on the flip side, i have to admit that the place has very little politics. So i guess it is still a good learning ground.
So I am still looking.... I will still try to hang on for 1 year, but at the same time i am looking around for opportunities... Anyone have lobang, do tell me!
I went for an interview with a telecoms company. Sad to say, I screwed up the interview by shooting myself in the foot. In fact, I felt like shooting myself in the head as i felt the words leave my mouth. You know, its the same feeling that you get just nanoseconds after you hit the "send" and your sms get sent to the wrong person. That's the exact same feeling I got, but of course 10 times worse in magnitude. There was no way to retract the sentence since it was already halfway out of my mouth.
Oh well, it just shows a couple of things - 1) I need more interview experience. 2) I need to lie better
But I must say that all is not lost. I learnt quite a few things from the interview. For one, I realized that you better have a very good reason why you want to leave a company after just 6 months. My interviewer was very persistent about that fact. And perhaps I didn't lie well enough and she saw through it? And I realized that they valued my 6 months in my current job more than the 3.5 years in my previous company. They didn't focus much on my past job, despite the fact that it was telco related.
I also learnt to trust my gut feel. I didn't like the vibe i was getting from the HR person and my interviewer. In fact, I didn't even feel a nice vibe coming from the receptionists, both of them. You might say that I am sour grapes since I did not fare well for the interview, but seriously, if my interviewer is going to be the person I will be working with, i think I will be in a worse off situation if i got the job. And the HR person didn't even give a smile, didn't even bother to properly introduce herself (I still don't know what is her exact designation). What's up the with uppity atitude? And I'm not the first to have the same feeling about the organization too. Another friend also had the same treatment. In his words, he felt that he was scrutinized even to the smallest detail. His interviewer even commented on his slightly torn shoe! I was like.... ok.... do I really want to work in a company which micromanages to that extent? Especially when I don't like the micromanaging I get in my cuurrent workplace?
And after much review, I realized that I don't really hate my job. I do enjoy what i am doing, its only 1 person which I don't like (which I have totally no respect for. How do you work for someone when you have no motivation?) and just how the organization works, especially in terms of approvals (which take forever due to the levels I have to go through, which is 3-4 levels btw). And also the fact that my manager does not know how to groom people (which is why my colleague is leaving). But on the flip side, i have to admit that the place has very little politics. So i guess it is still a good learning ground.
So I am still looking.... I will still try to hang on for 1 year, but at the same time i am looking around for opportunities... Anyone have lobang, do tell me!
