Wednesday, May 31, 2006
at the 4th week of work...
was pleasantly surprised to see an intern joining us on mon, cos i thought all interns start the internship on the same day. anyway e guy will be under my supervior.. yeah!! cos this means less work given to me.. lol..
n this guy super zai lah, pursuing a double honours in econs & law!! the program which i applied last yr but back out after the interview.. hah.. anyway this guy not the shuai ge type but quite gentleman =D can get along lah.. right now, there seems to be more guys in my section.. even then, come to think of it, there is no shuai ge at my level leh =( one fren actually envy me cos she say raffles place more cute guys but i seriously dun think so leh.. only see a few not bad looking guys so far during lunch hours n im already working there for more than 3 weeks!! dunno if i cock eye or my expectation too high, hah..
back to my fellow male colleagues, not exactly the good looking type but hmm, not bad la.. although they at times want me to run some errands or do some sai gang for them, well, which intern doesnt do tt?? right now they are starting to show their humourous and crappy side, which is good cos im oso along tt line too.. heh..
i still rem when one of them was giving out chocolates, he said "eat at ur own risk, i shall not be liable to any gain in weight" (@_@)"'
then another time when most of us, the interns, gather around to do some sai gang, another colleague past by and expressed surprise at the 'world of intern' aka intern assembly line..
seriously think that im e busiest intern at my level. one intern at another section need to approach her supervisor before work is given to her while the other interns seems to have it rather easy as well as 4 of them are working on e same project.. then e new guy intern seems to be involve in the project too.. now they are doing a phone survey and 3 person will be in charge of calling and another 2 will be doing the data analysis.. wah lau, so unfair... i single handedly perform a one man show phone survey last week la, from the drafting of the questions to calling up 150++ ppl.. makes me so utterly sick of pc and phone rite now.. and tts not e end, i oso did data analysis and only slept at 4++am today cos nid to prepare results presentation slides.. ended up drinking intense cum concentrated coffee to perk me up today.. (hmm, how come it is so similar to wat i did on my last day of exam??) dunno if it's good training or what my fren call exploitation..
realise tt its super easy to gain weight if u r working in office.. more likely than not, u r not going to exercise after work esp if u r engaged in ball games.. imagine bringing a racket, ball, a change of clothes and track shoe to work, ma fan.. then weekend is usu filled up with other activities such as frens or family gathering.. no way u can burn the extra calories.. then at work, having fastfood and fried stuff during lunch= high energy intake + chocolates/ snacks at office = big tummy, fat thighs larger waistline etc...
no wonder im getting fatter.. no secrets, i already knew i put on a fair bit of weight somewhere during CNY liao, now its just getting worse.. already more than one fren told me ive got bigger arms and rounder face.. plus all the other hidden areas which i knew has been growing.. its really oh no!!! perhaps i ought to take up other form of sports.. maybe jogging?? but think ive been spoilt by NJ track until dunno feel like joggin anywhere except the track liao.. but argue it another way, its jus excuses.. oh well, looks like i jus nid to put my heart into it before all my clothes are rendered too small for me.. hah
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Weekend Special: Drama Review 1 - Da Chang Jin (Jewel in the palace)
Review:
im sure most chinese by now at least have already heard of this drama.. the drama that took East and Southeast Asia by storm..
this is e first drama tt i got so hooked.. finish the drama in 7 nites.. n tts during semester time.. but luckily its only 1st wk of sch.. =D if not can realli die.. e earliest i slept during tt period is 2.30am n tts only bcos i nid to wake up at 6am later on.. furthermore, i watched it 3 times.. oso dunno where i actually find so much time...
anyway for this review, i like to touch on the other side of the drama, saying more about the Cui family instead of Chang Jin..
看了这出剧，我真的认为学好三年，学坏三天。社会是个大染缸，如何出污泥而不染是一门大学问。
今英原本是个心肠不坏的女生，而且挺不屑崔家族的行为。但是为了“报复”长今， 她选择了一条不归路。她不只走错了一步，而是一错再错。 就如韩尚宫所说的，离原本的路越来越远。但她又对闵大人痴心一片，甚至在紧急时刻护着他。有时觉得她挺可怜的，觉得她是贪婪的崔氏家族的受害者。但有时又觉得她好像是自愿的，而且其热心的程度还让我挺惊讶的。
真不知是环境改变了人或是人改变了环境？难道真是人在江湖，身不由己？
其实崔尚宫也是如此。在她临死前在长今母亲墓前的那一番话让我感触良深。怜悯之心也不禁油然而生。但是枷锁/ 包袱真有那么难摆脱吧？也许是吧，我也答不出一个所以然。但权利和财富真的有那么重要吗？这些乃是身外物，生不带来， 死不带走，真有必要不择手段去争取？但毕竟我们都是人，人都是有七情六欲的。贪并不是一件坏事，问题是怎样不让贪念冲昏了脑袋。这我想几乎每个人都了解， 但就是知易行难。。。
总觉得今英是全剧中最悲的人物。不但在最后彻彻底底输给了长今（厨艺与闵大人），也无家可归。她在剧里对闵大人说的最后一句话“来生如果可以再见， 请千万不要跟我说抱歉” 让我蛮震撼的。可惜编剧并没有描写她最终的下落，让我觉得有点失望。我想大家都有兴趣知道今英何去何从吧。。
剧中有许多感人的对白，让我难以忘怀。忘不了“希望你一夜无梦，我担心你，连做梦都会辛苦”与“就是因为你，所以才没关系”等经典对白。 我想这也是这出剧的成功之处吧。一部百看不厌，高水准的制作，我强力推荐！！
Rating: 9/10
Credits to
www.soompi.com &
www.imbc.com for the pictures!
Thursday, May 25, 2006
demoralised...
Just got my results and still trying to let my mind digest this fact... really a huge blow to me. I haven did so badly before ever since I came to uni. Previously I thought that no matter how badly I did, I wont be THAT poor to get the C grade, but I did... now my record of getting As and Bs only is broken... and the thing that makes it even more difficult for me to accept what is before my eyes is that my 2 worst modules are actually the modules which I walk out of the respective exam halls feeling not bad about the papers!!! Must have made some stupid careless mistakes again that cost me my grades. and not surprisingly, along with it, my CAP went tumbling down. If I were to plot a graph of my CAP over the semesters, it definitely resembles the stock market currently =D
The just-past semester is a mistake. I shdnt have overestimated my ability from the beginning and take honours modules. I should have heeded my fren's advice not to take up the 2nd most difficult Econs honours mod. I shouldn't be so full of myself to think that I will be all right. Now I'm just paying the price of my arrogance. Just like a Chinese saying goes 'yi fen gen yun, yi fen shou huo', I ought not to practically slack the whole sem and still expects good results. Actually my result is considered decent but I just have yet to come to terms in getting a C+. think it's a psychological thing ba, just like how I wish I can 'liquidpaper' off my O level English grade. Lol
One of my friend say let this sucky result be the motivation to work hard for the coming semester.. I agree, if not most prob I will think that I'll be lucky forever and continue be happy-go-lucky. Then I might be in for a greater shock. But on the other hand, I now doubt my ability. I fear of the 2 sems ahead, dunno how to survive the remaining econs honours mods.. perhaps I'm really not as good as people, me included, think I am.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
in deep thoughts....
reach home at midnight for 2 consecutive nights... it is actually nothing but considering the fact that i need to wake up @ 7am for work.. best... dunno how to survive in the morning later... has a bad headache from the moment i woke up yesterday morning till lunchitime. then the headache resumes again after lunch till a few min before the movie starts... therefore wondering if im really unwell or its just a show put up by my brain... hah..
watched the da vinci code just now which explains me arriving home late... its a very Hollywood style thriller, fast paced with few boring moments although it is a tad confusing for me since i have yet to read the book.. BUT discovered two interesting things in the movie.
1. Tom Hanks wore a Mickey Mouse watch in one of the scene. i really admire my fren for her observation cos it just appears for only a few seconds!!
2. The British police drove BMWs!! din realise that the British police is loaded.. lol.. thought they will drive British cars instead.. anyway they made the BMWs look rather ugly in the movie until my frens almost couldnt recognise it.. Imagine BMWs in white, blue and orange... Oh dear, reminds me of NUS school colours.. *faint* =P
walk out of the theatre with lots of questions bubbling in my head.. had an interesting discussion cum debate with my friends on the way home. obviously it left us with more questions... 1st up: what is religion? 毛泽东 once said that religion is the opium of the masses. it is actually a political tool used by the rich and the powerful centuries ago to reaffirm their wealth and power. most religion teaches people to be good and kind and any hardship they suffer now is a test put forth by the God and they will get rewarded in their next life. the rich and powerful make use of this to continue oppressing and exploiting the poor and the poor, after being 'brainwashed' by the teachings, will 逆来顺受 instead of rioting against them.
bearing this in mind, this brings me to another question: does God exists? if so, why is it that some religions have a God (eg Christanity, Islam) , others have many (eg Hindu) and a few handful have none (eg Taoist)? why do people kill using 'in the name of God' when God is supposed to teach people to be good and kind and magananimous? now people usually think Islam is a rather violent religion due to the 911 incident. but Christianity/ Catholic is also a rather violent history a few centuries ago. Numerous free-thinkers were killed and scientists who proposed ground-breaking truths (eg Galileo Galilei who siad that the Sun, and not Earth, is at the centre of the solar system) were tortured. also why is there the argument of my God is better than your God that led to countless bloodshed??
next up: what is fact? what is truth? is fact = truth?? i personally think that facts are only a piece of jigsaw and truth is the whole jigsaw puzzle. history need not necessarily protray the whole truth. history is written by men and men can decide and choose wat to write and wat to left out.
eg 乾隆 is considered one of the best emperors in the Qing Dynasty after his grandfather 康熙. But is 乾隆 really that great? the sheer number of 文字狱, especially in his latter years, tend to suggest otherwise. in fact there are historians saying that the Qing Dynasty is already on its decline during the last few yrs of 乾隆 ruling. apparently age has caught up with him and clouded his thinking back then. but is it recorded in history?? hardly so. at least i dun remember reading about it when im reading china history written in chinese. the above example is one of the many 'hidden' facts throughout the history of mankind.
so why are we so convinced that whatever is written in the books are nothing but the truth? and remember, each fact is also subjected to different interpretation as well. 正所谓尽信书不如无书, we ought to take everything with a pinch of salt. we are living in a grey world, a world of half-truth. Even the famous science theories cannot explain everything. eg Newton's law cant explain the erratic rotation of Mercury. we accpet these theories not bcos they are the whole truth, but rather it is bcos we cant find counter evidence. the science theories we accept now are merely just here for the time being before it is proven otherwise.
sonetimes i really wonder what's the purpose of studying. i still rem the shock i had when i was in JC1. apparently some stuffs we learnt in sec school chemistry are not entirely accurate. if most of the stuff we learnt are entirely correct, why are we still learning them? perhaps learning can help us better understand our surroundings, but the teachers must refrain from insisting that they are nothing but accurate. we are always seeking out truth but i dun think anyone has found the truth yet. the 3 fundamental questions still plague people's mind. who are we? why are we here? chicken or egg comes first?
there are certainly tonnes of hard question we have yet to find an answer. there are also tonnes of delicate questions that need people to determine where to draw the lines. one hot topic: development vs conservation. personally i think both are not necessarily at odd with one another, but rather it is really 鱼与熊掌难以兼得.
有时想想，人活在这世上也何尝不是如此？年少时雄心壮志，一心想要实现梦想。但是到了最后，许多人为了五斗米而折腰，不得不放弃理想。不知为什么这世上有这么多扰人的事情和问题? 想逃却逃不了，不想想却又不直觉想起来。会与能思考是人与动物之间最大的差异，但我真不知这是祸还是福。。。。
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Weekend special: Posh/ Branded cars galore!!
i've decided to post stuff other than my life routine during weekend.. since its weekend, lets have some lighthearted stuff yeah?? so today i've decided to post pictures of posh (and expensive, of course) cars that caught my eyes while walking in S'pore..
i know some ppl may be surprised that a gal actually like cars.. this is yet another pastime (not really but cant think of an alternative word) i discovered by chance.. ever since my sis downloaded pics of Porsche from the web, i started looking out for such branded cars.. but its also kinda inaccurate to say that it only started then, i have a habit of looking at the scenery (cars, trees, sky etc) whenever im travelling since young.. just tt im more interested after what my sis did..
but then again, i only like to look at the cars design.. so spare me on the technical specifications. although i know about a bit about accerlator and gear, i am not interested to delve into more details.. afterall im still a gal.. hee..
ok, now let the cars take the centre stage...
the first to get the ball rolling, let's welcome Porsche!!! i saw this outside Meritus Mandrin Hotel and not 1 but 2.. rich people...
i personally prefer Prosche and Ferrari but when will i ever earn enough to buy one...
this is what the Porsche label looks like.. i very bo liao rite?? =P
next up, Jaguar. saw this at a bt batok carpark, surprise rite?? actually i dun find it nice leh but the mature ppl seem to have a liking for it *wonder why* perhaps cars are a symbol of status and image then the older generation find Jaguar and Porsche is more appropriate to their image, they may find Porsche too sporty for their liking/ image..
2 posh cars parking side by side!!! what a sight!!! took it at NUS LT11 carpark, another surprise cos din realise NUS lecturers/ students so rich one.. =D
the red car is a SAAB, kinda rare in Spore or perhaps they ply the roads which i hardly go.. it is the brand of the car Wang Shao Wei drove in Prince Turns Frog (Wang Zi Bian Qing Wa).. too bad its not a convertible... haa..
until now, i still dunno the brand of the car on the right.. i'll like to think tt its a Porsche but super unsure.. how i wish im more kay boh then n took a pic of the label, just like wat i did for the above Porsche then can spare me this guessing game.. lol..
finally, Mercedes SLK!!! the design is simply excellent!! saw it near my workplace.. for the past week, have seen it 3 times this week.. looks like it has become a regular feature liao... now i wonder who is the owner of this car and how he looks... heh... *daydream*
Thursday, May 18, 2006
lost @ work
For the first time in my life, I dunno wat to write in a minute... and its not bcos e meeting is short.. in fact, it lasted more than 2hrs!!! but still, I dunno wat to write.... Reason?? Most of the time, the people are talking in all the professional jargon which implies aku tak tahu!!! and im not sure if its bcos of the after-lunch syndrome or im just simply bored, my eyelids feel heavy in the midst of the meeting.. now looking at what I've scribbled on the paper, I have the faintest idea of how to make use of these to come up with a decent piece of work.. think need to go consult my supervisor liao... wat a difficult sai gang... din realize do sai gang can do until u r at a complete lost.. heh.. Well, this shows that certain sector of banking is really not my type..
anyway i mentioned in my previous blog that i will upload some photos of my office, now managed to take a few.. here they go..
this is the centre corridor of my level
the interior of my office
inside the pantry room
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Life as an intern
7 days into work and I am never punctual for work… =P the earliest I reach the office is 9.05am… damn…luckily no one reproach me abt this issue, yet.. will try my best to be punctual but it appears to be a daunting task.. waking up is already a tough step for me, still have yet to get used to waking up 1hr earlier than my usual days in school… moreover, the fact that im a nite cat doesn’t help a bit.. all astro fault.. heh..
Anyway few interesting thing I discovered these few days…
1. lots of branded cars ard…
Although I know raffles place is financial centre so obviously the rich will be at the vicinity, im still surprised at the number of posh cars I saw in a few hours.
During lunch hour alone, I once saw three jaguars passing by my office building… not that im a fan of jaguar, in fact I find the design of jaguar rather unappealing… but the frequency of me seeing jaguars ard at my workplace is even higher than the freq I saw them in the supposedly rich mans’ areas such as bukit timah and katong…
Then there is another time when I was eyeing enviously at a convertible BMW, a Porsche or Ferrari is beside it.. omg…ultimate right?? But din have a chance to take a photo cos im crossing the road then.. didn’t want the other ppl to think that im mad…
Then just yesterday I saw a SLK Mercedes parking at the road side when im on my way to buy lunch.. one of my dream car!! Although I saw in everytime I watched Full House (a Korean drama), im still literally drooling cos its just so sleek and cool!!!
I wonder after this internship, wat types of cars will catch my eyes… looks like ive been spoilt by these drivers… hee.. when im working at bt timah 2 yrs ago, all the BMWs, Mercedes and Jaguars “forced” me to push my appreciation of cars to a higher level eg will not go “wow” whenever I see a Jaguar and looking forward to see a Porsche…
this time round, after seeing such a wide range of posh cars, I wonder wat type of cars will make me turn my head in future.. perhaps a Rolls Royce?? Haa.. haven seen another one since I first saw one ard 10 yrs ago… definitely looking forward to see another one again…
2. women in raffles place simply LUV high heel shoes
Definition of high heel shoes = shoes with a heel of at least 3 inches.
Perhaps Yiya is right… from my observations in e 7 days, I have yet to see women in raffles place wearing no heel shoes.. not even those tall women, although they most prob will wear a 2 inch shoe instead. Any reason?? It certainly beats me… but I must agree high heel shoes is a perfect complement for skirts, esp the flowy ones… even I am being influenced.. went out over the weekend and wore my usual low heel shoe and somehow I feel that there is no kick, n wish im wearing the high heel one instead… cant believe it cos ive never wear a pair of high heel before I work in OCBC!!! Not even when I attend grad balls, wedding dinners… and to think that I like high heels and thinking of getting more pairs now (currently I only hav a pair of high heel)… 善变的女人。。 lol..
3. bank staff work OT everyday..
It may be a well known fact but somehow it still surprises me, cos my initial perception is that only the staffs from renowned (aka international) banks will work so hard.. but it seems like the common trend throughout the banking sector.. the only ones that walks out of the office at 6.30pm sharp are mostly the interns!! For the rest of the staffs, it is pretty normal to leave the office at ard 8pm… and some actually came earlier at 8am for work lor… im glad im just an intern now, with no obligation to work OT but wat abt a yr later if I become a staff in one of the banks?? I shudder to think that I will need to work from 9 till 8++, that’s a whopping 11++ hrs!!! how to get a life in this case?? No wonder my frens who are currently working tell me to get rid of books and enjoy as much as possible when in uni… although I did not miss school unlike some of my fellow interns, I do miss the late waking hrs and the outings during the weekday.. =P
And it looks like im the busiest intern at my workplace… just submitted a proposal to my supervisor on Monday and now got another piece of work to do, deadline is today.. (hmm, then what am I doing now ah.. =P) while the others are spending most of the time doing some reading up or doing some editing or jus slacking away.. shd I be glad tt I’ve got work to do or shd I envy them?? Rushing out a proposal in which ur proposed strategies will be considered and perhaps adopted by the bank in future is definitely not an easy task, imagine all the ‘what if’ – what if ur supervisor find it to be a worthless piece of work?? What if the strategies I propose and adopted by the bank turns out to be a failure?? While typing, I am constantly wondering if im on the right track, if what I am proposing is valid, any assumptions and justification etc… feng diao…up till now, no comments from my supervisor yet.. jus hope I can pass this ‘test’… if not I nid to look for other ‘chu lu’ after graduation liao…
oso get a chance to attend meetings alongside my supervisor, really glad that I can have further insights to the operations of banks eg the alliance between different divisions and the constraints faced… BUT I am also assigned some high class ‘sai gang’ – taking the minutes and typing them out later… and as if one is not enough, I nid to type two today cos got 2 meetings today!! Nevertheless, I kind of enjoy the meetings cos at least I can break away from staring at the computer screen.. hee..
ok, lunchtime now.. meeting up with the econs gang ^^ then later back to my work.. got a number of deadline.. aja aja fighting!!!
Friday, May 12, 2006
paradox of students
when we are in schools, we wished we are working.. no homework and yesh, no exam!!!
but when we worked during the vacation, the monotony of work puts us off to some extent and we wished to go back to school with more exciting life (meeting up with frens, CCAs etc)
when we are hard pressed for time to meet the deadlines etc, we wished we had an easier life eg no project, term papers etc...
when we have lotsa free time on our hand eg during holiday, we wished there is something for us to keep ourselves busy..
even though we are free and our parents wants us to help in some household chores, most of us will try to find reasons to shy away from it...
when we were bogged down by the endless tutorials and readings, some of us may think 'why work so hard' and decide to hack care and slack away...
when the not-so-good result came in as black and white and presented in front of u, you wished you have been more hardworking..
when we were single, we wished we have a caring boyfriend/girlfriend...
when we were attached, some of us might get sick and irrated of concerned bf/gf asking about our day, our whereabouts...
when we were not given a chance (eg chance to voice out our opinions, chance to vote), we complain a lack of freedom/ choice, violation of human rights.
when we were given a chance to do so, we either keep quiet or wished things have been decided for us...
think this somewhat applies to the adults as well.. human is such an unpredictable creature..
Thursday, May 11, 2006
battered feet & exhausted mind
Never did i realise by the third day of work (which is yesterday), im already 'shang hen lei lei'.. by the end of the first day, i've got three blisters on each of my foot, which to me, isn't too bad cos I dun expect zero pain when u r wearing a 3 inch shoe for the first time.
What caught me off guard is that the blisters burst and the shoe cut into my not-yet-heal flesh and results in minor bleeding.. result: 3 plasters on my left foot and another 2 on my right foot!!! Omg...
My colleague joked that I can forget about wearing shoes to work liao cos even though on the 2nd day of work I decide to wear court shoes instead, my feet still hurts... wat the hell... then when I went to a shoe shop to get a pair of comfy shoe to wear in office, the shoe shop assistant couldn't manage or bother to hide her shocked expression. Guess the extent of my 'injuries' is rather extreme.. heh.. Contemplating if I should change to a pair of comfy but no-heel shoe but my friend asks me a v thought-provoking ques: 'Have you see a female bank staff wearing low or no heel shoe??' some price for working in a bank... haiz..
what's more, after staring at the computer screen for several hours in a row, I started having a rather severe headache and feeling nauseous.. luckily im not alone, one of my fellow intern also went thro the same experience.. but still wondering if we are Abnormal or not.. lol..
actually working in a bank not too bad, got a workplace to call my own and the right to personalise it.. there is also drinks provided although its self service, can listen to music while working and not forgetting blogging, like now, in the midst of work =P not that I dun have work to do, but just feeling a bit lethargic after lunch, hah..
oh yeah, and the colleagues here nice and friendly... click quite well with the rest of the interns working at the same level. Was rather surprised to see engine and pharmacy, yes, pharmacy ppl working as intern.. well, I know that banks welcome ppl from diverse background but just have this nagging thought about whether they can cope well in this somewhat totally alien environment.. hmm, I must rem to take photos of the department and post it here, quite nice environment.. hee..
the work im assigned to is interesting as well, it is something close to me thus im not struggling a lot to get the job done.. part of the credit needs to go towards my supervisor, she's caring and show me the light.. another part goes out to my friends, without them, think I cant even get the work going.. importance of having contacts/ networking.. hahaa
so my dear frens, if I sms u some weird ques out of the blue, rem tt I doing it in the name of work and no other intention... sorry if I cant disclose any info abt my work cos its to be kept confidential until a further date..
okay, time to get proper work done.. has slack enough liao.. furthermore, I also dunno who will be monitoring my actions etc.. am being assessed continually... so will update again at a later date..
Monday, May 08, 2006
Falling in luv.... with dress
i have never been a dress person... the last time i wear a dress is... let me see... upper primary?? =P come to think of it, am hard-pressed to come out with a reason why dress has never sparked my interest.. is it bcos most Singaporean female usu dont wear a dress?? dress somewhat gives the impression that it is more for formal occasion.. so when one go shopping in a dress.... i can imagine the curious stares by the on-lookers...
But... i think i start to have a liking for dress now.. chance upon this website
http://faire-project.blogspot.com. this website is dealing with imports from HK, Taiwan, South Korea.. never realise South Korea has many pretty stuff until now... =D and their dress are simply nice!!! and selling at a super reasonable rate too!!! oh no, now starting to feel the itch to get my hands on a few of them!!! but perhaps i should wait, since my internship will starts tml i will see how the ppl wear to work first before deciding if there is a need to overhaul my wardrobe. heh..
for now, lets take a look at the dresses...
Lacy dress
Light Green Chiffon dress
Leafy Chiffon dress
Pink Lacy Dress
Special item: dress shirt
(wonder how i'll look in one, will it emphasise the fact tt im kind of vertically challenged?? lol)
Hence, dont be too surprised if i start to don a dress (^^)
Okie, think i better go sleep liao.. need to wake up at 7am tml.. getting excited and nervous at the same time as it is my first time working in a bank.. dunno if im up to e job or not... will try to frequently update my internship stint in this blog so do keep a lookout.. nitey
Fun @ Sentosa Chalet
have been blogging about other stuff such that this chalet blog has taken a back seat for a while.. but still, better late than never.. lol...
its supposed to be a badminton camp but it turns out to be an econs gang chalet instead =D cos sylvia (ex-pres of badminton interest grp) jio the rest of the ppl to come for in instead.. n besides, the econs and badminton gang, at least to me, is difficult to seperate..
i onli reach sentosa just in time to join the rest for dinner.. well, how i wish i can join my frens for a whole afternoon of fun.. apparently it is all sunny in sentosa unlike in sembawang where im stuck at home due to the downpour when im about to go out. but never mind, there is always the photos =]
Random photos taken when they are in mid air...
after dinner, we went to watch the music fountain... the performance has definitely change for the better... i last watched it quite a few years back and thought it may be the same old thing again.. there is an element of performance now, kinda quirky and fun.. but somehow i have a feeling this is like the las vegas fountain show i saw on e tv.. is it good or bad?? subjective issue ba..
in for a rude shock when i reach the chalet and see the size of the hut.. with 2 mattress lying side by side and there is hardly any space to walk liao.. what's more, with 8 gals in a hut, it now looks more like a refugee camp.. lol...
wat is this guy doing here??!! oh no, sei lang!! ahh!!!
no lah, this is e badminton grp pres, ying chao..
sylvia's hai ren ji hua, cheng gong!!! hee heee..
"dun photograph me!!"
another sei lang??
no no, this is junxian - e only other guy staying over e nite
then we begin our journey in search of a good place to play sparklers.. hah.. initially we intent to just go to siloso beach and play but sylvia wanted to go to the southernmost point of Asis S'pore so after 45 min (or more??) of journey we finally reach Palawan beach and
taa-daa!! but our efforts to walk there is futile cos a couple had their wedding dinner held there earlier so the staffs nid to clear out the stuff and deny us entry to the island... sianz... nevertheless this incident didnt spoil our mood and we decided to play on the palawan beach instead..
i may say that is a beautiful sight when a sparkler was flying in the air, the photo above doesnt do justice to the actual scene.. think someone video the process but have yet to get my hands on it... no wonder sylvia term it as a meteor, i dun disagree with her though the actual meteor can be MUCH better... ( i can never forget the time i saw this fireball across the sky when im in NP, its 'journey' actually lasted more than 10s!!!! definitely magnificent!!!) well, it acted as a compensation for me since i last saw a meteor in dec 2004... anyway due to the sheer darkness, we are unable to find the sparklers that we threw up in the sky at the beach, so it might be better to avoid Palawan beach for this week or so, just in case... lol..
on the way back to the chalet, everyone is getting a bit high and we started singing.. and a whide reange of songs, from chi to eng to eng oldies etc.. then slowly it become a contest between the front grp of ppl and the grp behind... wasted that its not wed night, if not my guess is that most of us wont object to a night out partying... =P
throughout the night, it is the usual dai dee and bridge session.. but due to the prescence of more than 4 ppl, we decided to play asshole dai dee.. its is just like the normal dai dee but the last ppl holding to his or her cards is given the label 'asshole' and he/she is supposed to give his/her two best card to the 'king' (person who finish first) in the next round.. think we were making a nusiance out of ourselves while playing with the noise level we were creating...
fun game, everyone gets to be 'asshole' at least once... which is quite surprising cos the rules of the game made it quite difficult for the 'asshole' to fan shen, vicious cycle.. lol..
well, this also implies no one is a victor throughout the whole game, we manage to dethrone 2 long-time kings (yeah!!!) one of the king got dethrone after he said "wu di shi ji mo de, he is now dai dee qiu bai".. hah.. bao ying.. so next time rem to watch ur words.. then another fren after being king said she didnt realise being the king is so shiok..
*&^@#$.. stop it, my best position is only queen =(
thereafter is the bridge session as some decide its bedtime for them.. junxian, being the bridge captain in his JC days, decide to teach a newbie some tatics such as which card to throw and which card to keep.. my poor fren, think she's kinda traumatised but hopes she can absorb and digest all e info so that her skill can tu fei meng jin.. hope junxian can teach me next time, though he and a few others mention im considered not bad for a social bridge player (all thanks to almost-everyday bridge session in arts club last yr), i think i still need to brush up my skills in some aspect..
played all the way till 5am.. feeling pangs of hunger and we end up eating quite a lot of snacks in the midst of playing.. junxian bet tt me n another fren will hav no voice to sing ktv the next morning cos we are practically gorging up all the available potato chips.. heh, we'll prove him wrong.. ^^ all of us slept little and woke up at ard 8.30... and to our dismay its raining!!! that means tt we cant wash up cos its public toilet with the washing basin in the open... with no sign of the rain subsiding, we ended up washing up with someone holding an umbrella over us... what a first and unforgettable experience....
end of chalet, think 2D1N is a tad too short.. the fun shd go on for at least another day or two.. anyway the econs ppl proceed to ktv!!! ktv is our fav pastime and all of us v gian about it since it has been at least 2 mths since we last sang it.. and we have 3 more ppl joining us...
yen ting, jessica and peggy
(chio rite?? =P)
realise Kbox is pretty strict when it comes to 'chasing' us... e 3hrs is not up yet and we have a staff knocking on our door and say its e last song... damn... why are they so particular abt it?? the whole place is rather quiet and even though the crowd might come in later, it is rather impossible to fill up all the rooms right?? so why so gan giong?? and what irriates me is they are chasing us off before the stipulated time they gave us!! is it stricter enforcement on the management side?? well, they are on the verge of losing us as regular customers liao... how i miss the 'sushi guy'.. not missed by me alone, but also among the rest of the grp... hahaa
one last photo to signify the end of the chalet cum outing as well as this blog post... last time, at least until july, will e 9 of us meet again peggy leaving to HK possibly for good.. =( then me, jingni and sylvia will start work next week which makes it difficult to meet up during weekdays.. not v keen to meet up on weekends due to the crowd but looks like it will become e only time when most of us are free.. we'll see how la.. when there's a will, there's a way =)
Sunday, May 07, 2006
polling results
hahah... cant believe i can post 3 blogs in a night...
latest update of polling results.
To me, it is hardly surprising that PAP secured 82 out of 84 seats, just like GE2001.
But I did not really expect the percentage of votes for the incumbent MPs in the opposition wards to actually increase as compared to GE2001. Especially when SM Goh is assigned to back the two PAP candidates and not forgetting the upgrading 'carrot'. What it implies is really interesting.. hmm..
Another interesting thing is that the percentage of votes PAP gets in the wards (Bt Panjang & Sembawang) that SDP contest in take the top 2 position. Does it mean it really show that the support rate for PAP is really that high or is it that the voters are now sidelining the SDP such that although they do not fully support the PAP, they still vote for PAP??
By coincidence or by chance, the percentage of non-effective (spolit) votes are also the highest in these 2 wards... Am I reading too much into it or do these two sets of stats try to imply something?? That the voters wanted to vote for the opposition party but bcos they doubt the ability of the opposition party they decided to cast blank votes instead?? Since in most of the other wards, the winning rates are only in the 60 range and spoilt votes remains at ard 2%..
Finally the PAP team in AMK GRC only manage to garner approx 66.1% of the votes, somewhat below the national average.. It did come as a surprise to me cos my guess is that WP can get 30-31% of the votes. there are even bookies betting if they can get more than 20% of the votes!! im sure they are now repaying the winnings like siao now... =P Following similar line of thoughts, is the result a true reflection of the ground?? Or can it be that since voters know that since it is a sure-win for the PAP candidates, they are more willing to vote for WP??
I not sure if this is called critical thinking or ridiculous thinking on my part. Well, taking things with a pinch of salt can be good.. although some may think that critical thinking is a process where one is either trying to pick a bone inside an egg or wasting time to think about questions with no ans, i believe that 'jin xing shu bu ru wu shu' is one 'zhi li ming yan'. well, the above is just some doubts running thro my mind now... you may or may not agree with me but one is entitled to his or her own opinion....
Saturday, May 06, 2006
helpless as a friend
recently some of my frens are going through a low period in their life. they feel that they are some kind of failure in many aspects such as school work, interpersonal relationships etc. Besides dispelling their negative belief that they are of no use to the society and assuring that they are certainly not pests and encourage them to think on the bright side, there is nothing much i can do. with that, i feel quite bad about it...
it is not as if i have not been in their shoes before. during jc, my self-esteem did suffer bcos im not faring well in my studies and i am kind of sidelined by my female classmates. so i feel for them. normally one's confidence and thus self-esteem take a dive when things are not smooth sailing. but it is important to recognise that you can have things your way everytime and one must try to learn not to take things too hard.
however, i dun think i am successful in helping them to discard their pessimistic thoughts.. maybe it is bcos 冰深三尺，非一日之寒 ba.. when things dun go right for a prolonged period, the more likely these beliefs are deeply entrenched in their minds... despite experiencing slight depression before, i still didnt know how else to help them except to encourage them to speak to a counsellor... feel so useless *sad* it certainly pains me to see them so down yet im bounded by my own ability to help them.. out of the blue, thought of the following lyrics 'what can i do to make you happy?'... how reflective it is of my feelings...
my side of view on certain issues brought up in the GE
During election, both the ruling party and the opposition parties brought out quite a number of issues such as ability of the oppostition party, means testing for patients, upgrading of lifts in HDB flats etc. Well, just a penny for my thoughts with some of the things the candidates said...
1. Oil prices.
In the PAP CBD rally held a few days ago, Minister of Manpower Dr Ng asked if the opposition party can bring the oil price down. I personally feel that it is a ridiculous question. Those with a bit of economics knowledge will know that the price of any good is determined by the intereaction of the demand and supply curve of the good. The price is the result of equlibrim point where demand = supply. Henceforth, in a free market no one, i repeat, absolutely no one can change the market price of the good. I do not wish to go into a explanation as it will be too econs.
All I can say is even for the oil-producing countries, they can influence the direction of the oil price by varying the supply of oil but they cannot foresee the final market price of oil as it is also dependent on the demand side as well. And vice versa. Knowing this, even for the ruling party who has more resources and ability is a price taker and is helpless at this aspect.
However, the government can either choose to subsidise to reduce the burden borne by Singaporeans or appreciate the Singapore currency. But the two measures have its cons as well.
With regard to subsidy, it is very costly to the government. This means that in order to implement the subsidy, the government may need to resort to cut down the budget on other aspects such as education. This in turn leads to what economists termed "a misallocation of resources" as the money is not going to where is yields the highest benefit/ returms.
As for the appreciation of the currency, it can render Singapore exports uncompetitive in the international market. As Singapore is highly dependent on exports to spur economic growth, it can have undesirable reprecussions to the Singapore economy. Hence in a way, doing nothing might be better although the rise in oil prices has negative impacts too.
What surprises me is that a minister, who is one of the elites, actually asked this question. I may read too much into it, but it did seem to me that he implicitly implies that the ruling party is able to do that (bringing down the oil price) when it is actully mission-impossible. I wonder what is his purpose?? Although it can just be a causal remark to question the ability of the opposition party, but I thought the candidates would know better than to play with this issue. By doing so, he is only making a fool of himself. As far as I know, I dont see the opposition parties criticising the ruling party for doing nothing with respect to the oil price cos I believe that most of them, by now, dont oppose for the sake of opposing.
2. Outsourcing
Dr Ng also asked if the opposition party can stop the factories from closing down and relocating to other countries. Well, I think the ruling party themselves also know that they are not 100% successful in doing so so why shoot the opposition parties this question??
Due to increasing globalisation where now more countries deregulate their foreign captial restrictions which leads to increasing capital mobility, firms will relocate, regardless of any emotional ties, to other countries so long as their bottomline can be boasted. It is a sad but true fact. Even for Singapore companies such as Yeo Hup Seng, they relocate their factories/ plants to neighbouring countries such as Malaysia due to significantly higher operating costs.
To me, it is not a matter of outsourcing as it is happening everywhere and it is here to stay. And the pace is more likely than not to increase as emerging economies such as China and India further open up their domestic markets It is how the government react to this trend. Perhaps a better question to 'throw' to the opposition parties will be "Can the opposition parties do better than the ruling party when it comes to the outsourcing problem?"
In this way, the opposition parties cannot really find fault with the ruling party as it has done a pretty good job. The number of job openings reach a new high last year despite the ongoing outsourcing trend. Furthermore, the unemployment rate is falling.
I feel that paraphasing is very important. In both cases, I feel that a better choice of words can make a great difference. One may not realise but most people choose to remember what they want to remember. It is these minor words or minute details that create positive or negative impression in people's mind.To me, I cant remember the rest of Dr Ng speech but these 2 questions just stuck in my mind cos they simply irks me to some extent. To think that the candidates of ruling party made what I call it a careless mistake when one knows that politics is almost always a word game.
3. Education.
According to TODAY report on thurs, Minister of Education Mr Tharman said that 80% of the students who lived in 1 to 3 rooms flats went on to pursue post-secondary education in 2005 as compared to just 50% ten years ago. Of which 15% make it into the university. I must say it is quite a impressive figure if one just look at it solely.
However, one must always look at the big picture. On the national level, 94% of the cohort went on to post-secondary institutions. I got this figure from a speech PM made which he said 6% is too high a number when it comes to the % of students who went out to work after 'O' level. Hence if one will to do a simple comparsion, students who lived in 1 to 3 rms flats are actually under-represented in post-secondary institutions.
To make a simple analogy, it is like you used to score 20 marks in a Maths test. In a later test, you scored 45 which is a more than 100% improvememt. Nevertheless you still fail becos the passing mark is 50.
Therefore, things are not as rosy as painted by Mr Tharman. From this under-reperesentation, I wonder if the education has become more of the rich people's game and if education is really a social leveller that helps children from poorer families to climb up the social ladder. Did not have any local statistics to clear my doubts. But in the USA, a research study has shown that 70% of the children remians in the same social-econo class as their parents and the proportion of poor students in univerisities is lower than the proportion of the poor in the country. This means that social mobility is relatively fixed. I chance upon this info when I was doing a project last sem but cant remember the source as it has been more than 6 months ago.
Food for thought: Is this trend happening in Singapore now?? If yes, any proposal to commbat the trend?? If not, will this be of a problem in Singapore in the future??
That's all for now. Wow, cant believe I actually typed so much. Hmm, good preparation for my ISM or thesis in my last year of study. lol.. Okay, time for me to watch the news for the polling results....
Random stuffs
I've got a lot of things to blog but due to time constraint and the malfunction of my brain now, I have no choice but to blog at a later time. Post exams period is definitely fun (^^)
However I didnt really have much time to enjoy as my internship will starts from next monday. This equals to more normal days (or rather nights for me) as I did not want to get sack for being late for work. =P And I also need to shop for office attire, and fast!!! Oh no, there goes my $$$...
In about 5 hrs time, I will be able to cast my first holy vote. What a great significance for me, but I still have yet to make up my mind... Never mind, will worry about it when I wake up from my beauty sleep...
Some light hearted stuff with regard to the GE2006
It seems like I have nothing better to do after exams.. =P have been following the news of the coming GE rather closely and I have decided to do something bo-lian. These are some of my finds/stuffs I did. They are just for pure entertainment and ought not to be taken seriously.
1. Good-looking Candidates
I find that there are more good-looking male candidates than female candidates in this GE. Is it bcos I'm a female?? lol..
Anyway I've come out with a list of the male candidates that caught my eyes, ranking not in order.
Mr Teo Ser Luck from PAP
He was once a part-time model. Need I say more??
Mr Chia Ti Lik from WP
He is not exactly the handsome kind, but I will term him as the sunny guy (yang guang nan hai).
Dr Lim Wee Kiak from PAP
He looks better in real life and I will associate the term SNAG to him.
Dr Vivian from PAP
Mature and well-natured, an ideal candidate of a good husband =D
Now it's time for the female candidates to take the limelight. *drumroll*
Ms Josephine Teo from PAP
A lady with both brains and looks. I feel that she is the prettiest among all the female candidates.
Ms Glenda Han from WP
Her sweet looks definitely scores well with both male and female voters alike.
All the photos above are taken from the PAP and WP website.
2. Education Background of the new PAP candidates.
I did a tabulating on which JC did they study in and the following is the result.
Name of JC No. of candidates studying in the institution
RJC 4
HCJC (known as HCI now) 6
NJC 3
TJC 2
SAJC 1
ACJC 2
NYJC 2
CJC 1
Im not surprised by the result above as I know the great emphasis placed on academic result in the public sector.
However, is 15 out of 24 candidates coming from the top 5 JC too high a proportion?? Given that ard 25% of the Pri 1 cohort enters JC and that the students in the top 5 JC constitute about 30% of the JC student population, this implies that a majority of the candidates are among the top 10% of the cohort.
Therefore just a question to ponder, are they really from diverse background that claim to represent the Singapore population??
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Freedom!!! & Yesh, i get to vote!! =D
have been both looking forward to today and at the same time dread the arrival of today... what a contradiction.. reason being i have 2 papers today, super sianz.. its not the first but fourth time i have 2 papers in a day!!
some of my frens kinda pei fu how i can manage to get by... hmm that's a pretty good question cos i dont know the answer myself =P and it's not as if i did well on these back-to-back papers, just like what happen today.. really dunno what i am writing for the second paper, now can only keep my fingers crossed and relieve that it is all over.. hopefully i can bank on my other modules to pull up my overall grade though im not very optimistic..
was just chatting with my fren over msn just now and she's complaining she's getting tired of studying. well, think there's always a point when we get sick of something.. for me, i need not look further beyond my jc days. it is the period when i almost completely lost interest in my studies. thinking back, i cant seem to pinpoint to any reason to explain this behaviour.. perhaps it's what the chinese says 'wu ji bi fan' cos my jc days is the most hectic times of my life until now such that i start to rebel ba.. and i am amply 'rewarded' by many red lakes until i can count with ten fingers how many tests/ exams i pass in that 2 yrs (excluding A levels). lol
think i am on the verge on repeating history again, kinda dun feel like studying now but the situation isnt as bad. at least im studying modules im interested and not something that is being force down my throat. though i did regret some of my decisions this sem cos level 4 modules are really tough, shouldnt overestimate my ability in the first place, damn.. finally understand why some of my seniors with pretty good grades decide to give honours a miss, go through a year of hell and what do you get in the end?? higher pay?? not really if you work in the private sector.. more knowledgable?? who are you kidding?? i bet most people forget what they learnt after exams..
hmm, enough of my grouses.. let's move on to a more interesting topic.. no prize for getting the right answers.. the GE 2006! im glad that im born at the right time, or rather, the right year ^^ got a rather big sum of cold hard cash from the gahmen and a chance to vote a few months after i reach the age of 21, hee..
was pretty shocked when my mum pass me this last sun...
my family got not one but three of the above brochures!! one for each voter with personalised 'service' somemore.. cos our names and address are pasted at the front, omg.. din realise PAP is so agressive in campaigning..
and this is the first time i am aware of the MPs in my GRC. ok, im not politically apathetic.. i know almost all the cabinet ministers and the repsective ministries they are in charge of but i must admit i onli know a few backbenchers.. the high proportion of minority candidates in my GRC came as a surprise.. its like 50%, wow.. is it bcos Sembawang GRC has a higher percentage of minority residents?? even so, is 50% a tad too high a %?
have yet to see them paying my area of residence a visit.. equally quiet from the opposition party as well, which is quite strange cos i thought the main purpose of SDP came to Sembawang is to ask the Minister of Health to clarify the issue of NKF.. have not seen any exchange of fire yet.. can it be bcos SDP is troubled by the impending legal charges??
looks like the battlefield is much more interesting over at Aljunied GRC with the PM comparing and scruntinising the opposition candidates and the hoo-ha over the submission of the minority candidate application form..
hmm pls dun sue me for my thoughts =P in my opinion, i thought the issue is overblown.. sure, the reputation of the election department might be tarnished if the matter is not settled but is it necessary for the ministers to arrow the candidate after the truth is out and the candidate has apologised?? now with talks that it can be actually a conspiracy, i seriously think it is dragging for too long a period of time and perhaps it's better to drop the issue and move on to have a constructive and interesting debate on the more down-to-earth issues...
this time round, the opposition candidates are definitely more well educated and the views of some of them echoes my thoughts.. so looking forward to see what they can offer. now that ive completed my exams, maybe its time for me to attend some rallys and see how the candidates work the crowds.. hah.. and also help me decide my vote as well..
apparently all my frens who can vote have yet to make up their mind.. cant blame us though, voting certainly warrants careful considerations and the timing of this election is rather inopportune for us cos the campaigning smacks right into our exam period! at least now i have the luxury of time to finally do the things i like.. YAHOO!! and of course, to make up my mind.
