After four years of hard work, we finally convocated on the 25th of July 2008 with Bachelors of Engineering (Computer Engineering). Congratulations to us all! We thoroughly deserve our degrees. And convocation day is definitely a good day for taking photos. So here goes....
One of the few times I have to wear a tie. Dressed up and ready to go.
The world is waiting for me, but Im going back to NTU. Ask the world to wait for a while more.
My moment on the stage.
Photo-taking with my parents. Without them, there wouldn't be me.
Me, Jun hao and Jun wei. The super talk cock kings.
More photos with classmates/schoolmates/playmates/teammates. :)
Ex-Chinese High guys plus Jun Wei.
All-star line up!
Didn't get a chance to take photo with Rong Hua, Weiming and Jastinian on convocation day itself. What a pity. We made up for it by taking photos on the SCE Graduate's Evening at Grassroot's club the following day.
Me and my professor Prof Angela Goh, who was my academic counsellor during my undergraduate days and who I will be working with for my post-graduate studies.
Though everyone keeps saying SCE is a boring and stressful place, when it comes to separation we will still miss each other. I won't be seeing the same faces that I have been seeing for the past four years when I go back to school next week. Throughout these years, I have made a lot of friends though I did not stick with any particular group. Most of these friends are people who I can talk cock with and people who I can work well with. I wish all my friends good luck in their future endeavours and hope that we can stay in touch!
I just matriculated today. Im a freshie! Haha. Fresh research student though, not fresh undergrad.
New semester going to start soon but I don't have much drive. The requirements that I have to fulfil don't sound easy. Can I still reach the levels that I had reached as an undergraduate? It's a totally different game now.
My new job is making me quite lethargic, that's why I haven't been updating my blog. Today is only my seventh working day and I feel that it's been a long time. The job is monotonous and boring at times. If not for the nice colleagues there, life will be bad. I don't know why I feel so tired everytime I reach home. I can feel the lethargy when I go running after work. Maybe it's the aircon in the office or sitting down all day long that made me so tired. I don't even feel like going out. I spent the last saturday at home reading and watching DVDs while Sunday was spent playing soccer.
Went for a medical examination for my post-graduate admission last Wednesday and found out that they had to draw my blood for a blood test. Scary. I have a phobia for that. I'll always break out in cold sweat whenever my blood is drawn. It's psychological and I don't know how I can overcome it. I remembered there was once in JC when my whole face turned pale after my blood was drawn. So embarassing. Luckily this time round it was not that bad.
Went to watch 赤壁 with Ong, Ivan and Junhao later on the same day. The show was quite nice and not as bad as what some of my friends claimed. Some of the parts were quite exaggerated though.
Went to Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao at Jurong Point with my parents on Saturday night to celebrate my father's birthday. My treat. Haha. The food there is not bad and the price is not too expensive.
Went shopping alone at Ang Mo Kio Central this afternoon since I went to my grandma's home which is around the area. Picked up my third bargain from Adidas within a month in Sportslink. This time round, I bought a pair of Adidas +F5.6 TRX HG soccer boots for only $31.50.
Product
Original Price
Price I Paid
Location Bought
Adizero CS
$163
$79
Adidas Store Vivocity
So here's a summary of my haul for the past month:
Adidas ESS Messenger Bag
$49.90
$24.95
Adidas Store Junction 8
Adidas +F5.6 TRX HG
$79
$31.50
Sportslink AMK
Yeah! Everything half price and below. Im a good bargain hunter. Haha.
After a week of being unemployed, Im back to work again, this time at Meiji factory. My new work place is near and I just have to cycle for 15 to 20 mins to reach there. My job was to do data entry and work was rather boring. The first half of the day was spent checking if my predecessor, Keith made any errors in entering the data. After that, I have to input the rest of the data. The people there are quite nice and friendly though. I got to know them better during lunchtime when we went to the nearby hawker centre.
Today being Friday, "Sweet Adventures" (a store located in the factory itself selling Meiji products at cheap prices) was open and I couldn't resist doing some shopping. Haha.
Total amount spent: $17.70 for a carton of 7 boxes of Meiji Plain Crackers with Oat, 1 box of Meiji Petit Brunch chicken biscuits, 1 box of mixed Hello Panda, 1 roll of Meiji Gummy Chocolate and 4 packets of Copan Garlic Toast. I started buying from Meiji even before I received my first pay from them. Haha. There were many other things to buy including chocolates but I don't really like them. Of all the things I've bought, I'll most likely eat the biscuits while the other junks may be given to my cousins. Maybe my parents will take one or two. :P
Went to Jiehe's home last night with Zhen Wei, Feng Cheng, Ryan and Chin Siang. What an experience it was! His house has got to be the biggest I've ever been to; it's three storeys high and the porch can park like 7 to 10 cars? There are already four cars in his family: his father's Mercedes, his mother's BMW, his and his sister's cars. Then yesterday there was also Zhen Wei's car and still there was space for a few more cars. Wow.
The first thing that we see when we set foot in his living room was a 65-inch plasma TV. 65-inch!!! Oh my god! A 40 plus inch TV is already considered large to me, now what do I see? A 65-inch. His house definitely has the "WOW-factor". Haha. Jiehe took us on a tour round his house, starting from the first storey. He first showed us the guest room with the pool table. Then he brought us outside to have a look at the swimming pool and the water fountain with the koi pond. The view from there, overlooking the Bukit Panjang estate, is rather nice. Back in the house, he showed us the study room where there are a few computers arranged in such a way that it reminds me of a mini computer lab. Nice working/studying environment.
Next, we followed him to the second floor where they all slept. The second floor has its own secondary living room and the lighting in his house can be controlled by a centralised system using a touch-screen monitor, something like those we see in the lecture theatres. He brought us to his room which is spacious but quite empty except for his bed, and every room has its own attached bathroom.
After that, we went to the third floor which consists of a sound room used to play music and a theatre. We just spent a while in the sound room but it was the theatre that bowled me over. Imagine having your own theatre in your own house! Amazing. And when I said it's a theatre, it really means a theatre, not just a room with a projection TV. It was a huge sound-proof room with an enormous screen and there were even seats like those in Golden Village or Cathay cinemas. Wow! That's not all! The room also doubles up as a KTV room and there is even a computerised system just like those in KBox, PartyWorld and such where you can select songs from the database. So basically it's just like a KTV room, except that the screen is much much larger, the room is much much bigger, the seats are much much more comfortable and the sound system is much much better! Incredible!
So after the tour, we went to the living room to play with his Playstation 3 on his 65-inch plasma TV. I've never seen a real PS3, much less played with one. We played Winning Eleven 2008, followed by Grand Turismo and then NBA 2K8. The graphics rocks for the GT and NBA but not for Winning Eleven. We played from around 9pm to 1am before we went up to the theatre for the second round of activities. We had originally intended to watch a movie but we couldn't find a DVD which none of us had watched before and we had a KTV session instead. We sang all the way until 5 plus in the morning and surprisingly I didn't feel tired at all; maybe I was too amazed to feel tired. We ended our "tour" after that and it was a wonderful experience. Thanks Jiehe!Haha. I think it will be more fun if the others like Sicong, Daji, Eddie, Junqin and KC could make it. Hopefully, there will be another visit! :)
[Maybe pictures can better describe how awesome his house is but too bad no one took photos.]
After much delay, I finally went to watch "10 Promises To My Dog" yesterday. I have been waiting to see this show ever since I saw its "Coming Soon" billboard advertisement when I went to watch "Chocolate" at Plaza Singapura. Coincidentally, I watched the show yesterday at PS too. The show is very touching and some of the parts are very sad. The ones I remembered were when Akari and her father had to move into the University hostel and she had to leave Socks behind with her friend. The parting scene between dog and owner where the train began to move and the dog chased after them is heart-wrenching.
Another sad part is when Akari grew older, fell in love and started to neglect Socks. She even said that she felt very confined as she can't go anywhere because she had to take care of Socks. She said that she felt as if she was the one wearing the collar and sort of vented her frustrations on Socks. I felt so sorry for Socks. How easily people forget when things don't go their way. She had forgotten how Socks had faithfully been by her side all those years and made her happy. Luckily she remembered in the end. Of course, the saddest part was during Socks final moments when she lay helpless waiting for Akari to return from work and say her last goodbye. There were also many other parts that made me sad, like when Socks couldn't leap at the rainbow like she used to anymore because she was getting old and Akari realised that.
Inevitably, the show made me cry and I was thankful that the cinema was dark enough. However, my eyes were red after the show as I could see in my reflection in the toilet's mirror. Shows about dogs always make me sad as I will relate them to myself and Chippy. As I watched Socks grow old and eventually pass away, I know that one day the same thing will happen to Chippy too and being 7 years old, she's not young anymore. I have to constantly remind myself to treasure every moment I have with her and shows like these serve as good reminders.
When Akari first had Socks, her mother made her promise 10 things to Socks. I can't remember the 10 promises exactly but I know that they are based on "The Ten Commandments of Dog Ownership" which are as follows (from a dog's point of view):
I
My life is likely to last ten to fifteen years. Any separation from you will be painful for me. Remember that before you aquire me.
II
Give me time to understand what you want from me.
III
Place your trust in me. Remember that before you aquire me.
IV
Don't be angry at me for long and don't lock me up as punishment. You have your work, your friends, and your entertainment. I ONLY HAVE YOU!
V
Talk to me sometimes. Even if I don't understand your words. I understand your voice when it is speaking to me. Be aware that however you treat me, I will never forget.
VI
Remember before you hit me that I have teeth than can easily crush the bones in your hand,but I choose NOT TO BITE YOU.
VII
Before you scold me for being uncooperative, obstinate, or lazy, ask yourself if something might be bothering me. Perhaps I don't understand what you ask of me or perhaps I am not feeling well, not getting the right food, been out in the sun too long, or my heart is getting old and weak.
VIII
Take care of me when I get old, you too will grow old.
IX
Go with me on difficult journeys. Never say "I can't bear to watch" or "let it happen in my absence". EVERYTHING IS EASIER IF YOU ARE THERE.
X
REMEMBER I LOVE YOU!
Among the 10 commandments, IV made the deepest impression on me as a dog-owner. Sometimes we are too preoccupied with our own life that we forget that we mean the world to our dogs. Their work is to accompany us, their entertainment is playing with us and their friends are also us. So what do they have if we neglect them? Thus, I will like to make my 10 promises to my dog and tell her: "Thank you for being by my side."
Jie Wei's wedding dinner was on Sunday evening at Holiday Inn Park View. He is the third friend to invite me to a wedding dinner after Chang Hui and Veronica. I didn't manage to attend Chang Hui's dinner but I attended his ROM ceremony. As for Jie Wei, it was the opposite. I wasn't free to attend his ROM but I attended his wedding. David, Dennis, Zhiwen, Chang Hui and Ah Xiong were the others who turned up for. We have all known each other for a long time; I started playing soccer with them when I was in primary school and they were in secondary school. We have been playing soccer week in week out since then until recently. I still play soccer with David, Dennis and Ah Xiong at times but I haven't seen Zhiwen, Chang Hui and Jie Wei for some time. To be precise, the last time I met Chang Hui and Jie Wei was during Chang Hui's ROM one year plus ago. Now, one is getting married and another is already a father. I didn't know Chang Hui had a son until David mentioned it. Congratulations to him for that and to Jie Wei for tying the knot. I wonder who's going to be the next one.
The dinner itself was not bad and each guest was given a small teddy bear as souvenir. I took the male bear but Chang Hui gave me his female one because he said “不要拆散他们”. Haha. So I ended up with a pair. There was one cute waitress who I couldn't help but stole a glance everytime she walked past (and she walked past me more than a dozen times because she was in charge of serving the table next to mine. Haha.) but she didn't look in my direction even once. =(
I met Eddie at Orchard to shop for his suit and while on the train, I found out from my cousin Cindy that my cousin Alson is also getting married in September. That's very good news for the family. My two eldest cousins on my maternal grandmother's side are already married and Alson is the third eldest. So if it goes in that order, I'll be the fifth to get married? Haha. That's highly unlikely I shall say.
Anyway, Eddie and I went to the G2000 Black Label at Wisma to look at the suits. The blazers with matching pants cost $199. Eddie size's is the same as me, even the smallest size 44 looked just a little bit too big on us. I tried on one of the blazer myself and wow, what a difference it makes to a person. It made me look ... classy? Haha. One day I shall borrow it from Eddie for some important function. Eddie didn't buy at the Wisma outlet because the salespersons' attitudes were fucked up and I can't be bothered to elaborate. In the end, he bought it at the G2000 outlet in Takashimaya while I left to attend the wedding dinner.
7 weeks on and I have come to my last day in Fuji Xerox. When I first got the job from JAC, my first thought was: "Ok, just bear with it for 7 weeks and I'll get back my freedom to slack at home after that." But how things have changed, right now I am hoping that the contract period was longer because this has to be the best job that I had ever worked, mainly because of the people around me. I feel kind of sad that it's going to end just like that, 树倒猴子散 (Qiu3 dou4 lao3 gao2 sua3, a hokkien phrase I heard from a warrant officer when I was a trainee in SISPEC which I think is quite funny).
I'll miss the talk cock sessions, lunches at NUS/Holland Village/Ghim Moh, the outings, the slacking, the photo taking and all. Talking about photo taking, I realised that I took as many, if not more photos in these 7 weeks than I did in an average year, thanks to Lionel's powerful camera and Alex's handphone (on the last day). Haha. There's talk of keeping in touch and having more outings but my guess is only a minority will be attending, which is usually the case. All of us will be moving on to another phase in life: some to the army, some back to study and some on to other jobs and time will be scarce in a competitive society like ours. 天下无不散之宴席，all things good and bad will come to an end and this is just one of those things that has happened before and will keep on happening. New acquaintances/friendships will always be made and old ones may gradually fade. It is fate that brings us together as we had talked about in the cinema yesterday.
So the last day began with me reaching the office around 9.30-9.40am as usual. Surfed the net and came across Eddie's blog. We went to Vivocity for lunch and while we were on the bus to Vivocity, I received an sms telling me to look behind. I turned around and there he was, Eddie. Haha. What a coincidence! He was meeting his ex-colleagues for lunch somewhere around the area also. We had lunch at Superdog in Vivocity and I had the student meal which consisted of a grilled fish burger and iced premium brewed tea. It wasn't filling at all so me and Weiqi bought bread at Giant's bakery which tasted horrible. Alex and Desmond bought bowl noodles to cook in the pantry. Shopping at Giant was followed by a trip to the arcade and we went back to office around 2.40pm, meaning our lunch break was like 3 HOURS!!!! Haha. Anyway, it was the last day for all of us with the exception of Weiqi and we can't be bothered. He can't either.
After work, me, Weiqi, Yong Bin, Alex, Sing Hong, Lionel, Melissa went for the last after-work outing which was dinner cum movie at Orchard. We had dinner at NYDC outside Hereen and the topic eventually shifted to their first days and my first day at work. And I jokingly told Weiqi that I felt like giving him one tight slap the first day I saw him. And he retaliated by telling me what a short freak like me was doing in their office on my first day. Hahaha. Hurling insults at each other is a good form of communication!
You don't mess with the Zohan is damn hilarious. We were all laughing from start to end, so much so that my jaws ached a bit. It's been some time since I watched a movie like that and Im glad I did. Haha. After the show, the guys went to play the basketball shooting game in the arcade while Sing Hong and girlfriend, Melissa and Lionel left. On our way out of Cineleisure, Yong Bin said he saw Stella (some girl they saw on a blog) and we went back into Cineleisure to take a look. I wasn't very keen but followed anyway. This detour was almost costly as we nearly missed the last train and we had to run to reach it. Wtf? All these just to look at someone who we don't even know?
One person whom we didn't get to say goodbye to was Mun Wai. He's been quite unhappy for the last few weeks, and Im aware of part of the reasons. I feel sorry for him, knowing what he's been through. Maybe we are both old people, that's why I know how he feels, I think..... He's a hardworking and helpful person and doesn't like to trouble others. However, his shortcoming is that his behaviour is eccentric at times and I have told him that. He even sent me an sms to thank me for that yesterday after work. Too bad I didn't have a chance to shake his hand and wish him all the best in finding a job and pursuing his degree.
The week began with me on paid leave on Monday (Yes, paid leave for a temp job, that's how good the job is). So after watching the Euro final, I slept in late and woke up at 11 plus which is very late for me but early for many people I know. Chatted with Wan Qi online and she said that she wanted to go out because there was drilling ongoing on the flat above hers and it was driving her crazy. It was rather impromptu, so I quickly bathed and changed but when I was ready, she told me that the queue at the post office where she was waiting to renew her PDL was long and asked me to wait at home first. So I waited, in my formal shirt and pants, in front of my computer for her to call me when she's ready. I wouldn't have changed so early if I knew she was going to take that long.
And so we met at Jurong East MRT and proceeded to Ikea because I have an audition later that evening at Puegeot showroom which was just beside. She had a hot dog bun, then we went to the hawker centre for dinner. After that, we returned to Ikea where she bought a cake home to eat. From there, I went for my audition and she left for home.
Together with Eddie, Keith and Keith's friend, we were directed into a small room for the auditon where there were already 10 to 20 people waiting inside. The audition was for recruiting stand-in participants for a seminar. Basically, we were supposed to go into some rooms to attend talks and fill up empty seats, acting as investors. We will be paid $100 per day for the 4 days event which will be held at Shangri-La hotel. They needed people who look mature enough to be investors so they got us all to walk out of the room and one by one they told us whether we were "OK" or "Too young". I was labelled "too young" and was therefore REJECTED. Damn it. There goes $400. In fact, among the four of us, only Keith was accepted but since Eddie participated in the event last year, they let him through though he, like me, was considered "too young". So, there goes the job but Keith told me he may have a vacancy for me at his auntie's Meiji factory which is near my home, so there may be a chance for me to earn some more money.
Met Rong Hua, Jastinian and Wei Ming for dinner at Marina Square food court for dinner on Wednesday. That has been our meeting place for the past dunno how many times. Haha. What to do? We stay all over Singapore, me in Jurong West, Jastinian in Tampines, Weiming and Rong Hua in Sembawang and Woodlands area respectively, so meeting at City Hall is easy for all. I didn't really want to go because it was quite last minute and the sole of my shoe peeled off and I had difficulty walking. But then considering that I haven't met them for like 2 weeks, I went in the end. They arranged to meet at 6.30 to 7 pm but I was already at buona vista at 6pm. So I took the train to Eunos with Weiqi and then back to City Hall again to kill time. Haha. And it was just nice that Rong Hua arrived when I was reaching City Hall.
Went out again after work on Thursday. Wan Qi was having an interview around the area so I met her at Redhill MRT after work. We went to Bugis and had dinner at the food court of Fu Lu Shou complex. She never fails to amaze (or frighten) me with her appetite. After we had our meal, we ordered a plate of Rojak. I ate only the pineapples and cucumbers and I was already quite full after that. Wan Qi finished the rest of it and after that, she had another packet of fried Golden Mushrooms. She kept telling me that it was very tasty for like 20 times while we were walking around Bugis Junction. So much so that I told her: "If you are not going to stop telling me that, Im going to slap you. " Haha. Of course I didn't mean that, it was just a joke. We window-shopped, then sat by the fountain at Bugis for a while before taking the train home. On the way to the MRT, she stopped by Crystal Jade to buy some buns which she claimed to be for her breakfast tomorrow. Haha. Don't know how much she spent on food alone.
More photos with classmates/schoolmates/playmates/teammates. :)
Ex-Chinese High guys plus Jun Wei.
All-star line up!
Didn't get a chance to take photo with Rong Hua, Weiming and Jastinian on convocation day itself. What a pity. We made up for it by taking photos on the SCE Graduate's Evening at Grassroot's club the following day.
Me and my professor Prof Angela Goh, who was my academic counsellor during my undergraduate days and who I will be working with for my post-graduate studies.
