yeah....Things will only get better

If you will, this is another ploy to make money . The kids love such animation. I don't recall much of such movies when I was a small boy. Whenever I go to the Cinemas, it's for the "grown up shows". I won't call it adult movies for they're not.

I found Robots very enjoyable a film. I won't call it fantastic. It has a pretty simple plot. Then again, most "cartoons" have simple plots, so it's not surprising. However, the enterntainment value of it is high.

I'm not going to do a movie review on it. I'm not a film critic... don't think I qualify. After all, I'm a cheapskate that only go to the movies on Weekdays and try to limit it to Mon-Wednesdays. Thursdays still ok but not Fridays. ( Correct Hor , Dear?)

However, if there's one message that this film wishes to bring across, I believed it did.

If you're not going to pursue your dreams when you're young, you're gonna live to regret it.

A new blog is in town.

With lotsa colouful langauges, please do not bother entering if you are indeed bothered by such expressions. Stay at home and surf around mickeymouse.com. I'm sure that's better value for you.

Edelweiss

For those that have been singing the song and for NPCC members that have been singing the song with hand actions as well, do take note. This is the flower.

Regardless of what your instructors teach you, how you gonna sing or slang the name, do remember that the name means "noble and white".

Now you have been singing it in the lyrics and now you know the true meaning of it.

Now who actually wrote this song? Beats me.

Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Every morning you greet me
Small and white
Clean and bright
You look happy to meet me
Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow
Bloom and grow forever
Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Bless my homeland forever

The decision to remove N & N eggs off the shelves of supermarts is defintey a kiasu move. However, these are the measures that actually ensure that what we buy off the shelves are fit for consumption.

The Straits Times has actually published an article as a guide on how to identify these eggs. Bad eggs should I say. There aren't many local brands of eggs actually. In fact, I don't suppose I will notice the eggs that I buy. Well, ST has pointed out that N & N eggs are marked with the Chinese Characters "安安". Should you see these characters, return the eggs to NTUC fairprice.

However, if you do not know Chinese, I suppose by recognising these 2 characters would be sufficient. You can treat it as a logo or some kind of design.

It brings me to my main point. You can actually see the importance of Chinese in this whole episode.

You have to know Chinese in order for you to identify the bad eggs.

Alright another post on abbreviations.

While there are some kind of short forms that are widely recognised and understood, certain are for the wrong reasons.

For those that fall under the Ok category, i.e. you won't get any shit ( pardon me for that unpaliarment langauge.. I'm only a peasant, not some scholar.. so pardon me). If you say SBS, or MRT, well people know that these are associated with transportation.

Tell people you are from NUS or NTU, and now SMU, people understand that these are universities in Singapore. Or LSE, UOL, these are UK universities.

Now suppose you are cheering for your beloved alma mata or some organisation that you have deep emotional bonds, You shout and cheer!!

" Go NUS!!!" or " Go NTU!"

or Go ODAC or whatsoever...

It's still ok .. as in it sounds pleasant.

NOW.... what if you are from a certain concert band of a secondary school. I've overheard this myself.

" GO XXSSCB Go!!"

XXSS is the secondary school... somewhere in the eastern part of Singapore. Don't want to reveal the name , not very nice and not important at all. After shouting and screaming for so long, the students realised that it's very tiring to be yelling such a long name. So they decided to cut down on the front part, since they were the only concert band around.

Upon hearing the new shortened version of their cheer, the VP stepped in and demanded that they either change it or stop it.

I would too I guess...

" Go CB GO!!! Go CB go!!! " and " We love CB, mighty mighty CB"..... " North South East West whose the best??? CB CB is the best!!""

Ok.. I know this is a bit overdue but heck...

Welcome back to sunny Singapore... and a bit hazy as well.. haha...

Not as if Japan isn't sunny, afterall it's known as the land of the rising sun? But since they say 外国的月亮比较圆.... I can safely say ,... The Sun in Singapore ... ermm.. is sunnier or issit more sunny?

Enjoy your char kuay teow, chicken rice , xiao long bao ...

And do visit AS1 if you free....

For those that do not understand words of commands for drills , kindly ignore this post, thank you.

Overheard this again. Conversation between a NPCC OC and his cadet (cdt).

OC: Don't you know the proper command for turning to right?

Cdt: Yes sir.

OC: But what you gave just now was incorrect.

Cdt: That's the lastest from HQ, sir.

OC: No! It can't be. The correct command is : Bergerak Ke Kanan Ber Tiga Tiga, Ke Kanan Pu Sing. You did not use " ber tiga tiga".

Cdt: No ley sir... HQ didn't use it. They just Bergerak Ke Kanan, Ke Kanan Pu Sing.

The following training, the OC went down to HQ to observe. The cadet was very sure that he's correct and since HQ is no longer using " bertiga tiga" , that is the new words of command. However what actually happened is that, the contingents at HQ level parades are usually more than 3 ranks, hence you don't need to include that phrase.

That's why I say. Kiang jiu ho, mai geh kiang

As the title suggests, these are what you will need. The immigration card should be issued free. By right lah. I don't suppose anyone would attempt to extort some money from you. Your passport. You already paid for it when it was issued to you. Remember, it's not an entitlement, it's your privillege you know. They can always take away your passport, yeah despite, I know, that we paid for it.

And of course, some Malaysian Ringgit. I don't have a RM50 note to show. That immigration officer took all away from me. So, RM10 will do lah huh.

Remember to get an official receipt from them. Ask him for his service number.

And of course, it's best that you speak Malay and know some high ranking officials. Haha..

Oops

Alright folks, I've gotten my tag board and my counter back. It had better not run away again.

Wonderful.

Went to Johor today. Not for shopping , not for the karaoke at Taman Sentonsa ( then again which KTV is open in the morning) but to meet a client. Was pretty happy that the road to the immigiration was very clear.

However, the customs officer at the other end had other ideas. He singled out some stuff in our vehicle as taxble items and therefore we have to declare and it's subjected to some tax and so on. He accused us of attempting to cheat and demanded that we pay a fine and the taxes that we were supposed to pay. Now, my colleague and I do not have that much Malaysian Ringgit. For your information, the amount demanded was RM1050. We only had half the amount.

My colleague, Tan, went over and asked for settlement on the spot. That was only met with a " Do not try to bribe me!".

We pooled in whatever cash we have. It was still some RM 150 short. Some distance away from the berth we parked our vehicle, we saw another Singaporean vehicle. A young men was seated outside his car. Staring into blank space. Tan struck a conversation with him. That young man had to pay a fine of RM8000. Not too sure what did he bring. Pretty ridiculous.

We went off to the money changer just across the immigration berths. Back with the money, the immigration officer somehow dissappeared. We asked around for him but he was no way to be found. A typical tactic I'm sure. Holding up the person, pushing him into frustration and hence agreeable to whatever amount one may quote.

Tan placed a stack of RM50 on the board.

"That's all we have."

The officer was adamant that we pay the full amount. It doesn't help a bit that we're not that conversant in Malay. We emptied our wallets and pockets.

Yups that's all we have. The officer insisted that we add another note to that. One more note and that's it. He took out a small note pad that was printed with receipts. Supposedly to be the official document. However,

1) The person making the payment was only known as Mr Tan. No passport number, nationality, address what soever.

2)Only RM 50 was written . Not too sure where the other went. For your information, we paid a total of RM400. Down from the RM1050. But well, he still pocketed RM350, or maybe even more. The receipt book is like something you will find in some traditional mama store. Defintely not some official document.

3) The officer issuing didn't indicate his name. Just scribbled some shit and that's it.

Oh well... looks like it's hard to find a single immigration officer there that is not prone to coffee money. Except this made it look official. You pay RM400,he writes only RM50. Not too sure where the rest went.

Thanks ah....

Yeah... what about it you may ask.

Picked up a copy of that , the one published by Tourism Web Services (TWS). Another abbreviation, not again.

It has many colourful pictures , maps and of course advertisements. It's small enough to fit into all handbags, some may even put it in their pants pocket. I guess it's real handy. Flipping through the pages, you do find some information that unless you belong to STB or some torusim related industry, otherwise it's highly unlikely that you will know or even pay attention to it.

What I find most convenient for tourist is this particualr page of telephone numbers that one might need throughout their stay here such as the weather forecast, taxi bookings, embassies or in the event of an emergency, the number to dial to contact the police is "999" instead of "911". This ain't America.

However, being the entreprising people, what do you see is that this particular number, known as "City Search " or otherwise known as an operator-assisted Yellow Pages, being published. For those interested, the number is 1900-7777777. Call at your own risk and cost. I'm sure Singaporeans are aware of numbers that begin with "1900". It usually comes along with an asterisk, informing you of the cost of the call and informing you that you have to seek permission from you papa or mama if you are underage. Some friend making lines even gave you advice to be caution when you meet up with people that you never met before and so on.They are just short of telling you to bring condoms with you, just in case you really need them.

Back to City Search. I don't think you will ever meet up with the telephone operators, so I don't think there is a need for them to indicate on any form of publications of such " beware" lines. Yeah.. and defintely you won't need to carry any form of condoms. But well.. you do need to pay them right? As in pay for using this service, not the condoms. Hmm.. why are we into the subject of rubber??

ANyway... my point being, this publication should indicate that this number.. is charged at a certain rate. You pick up a 10 cents coin, you can have 3 minutes of call on a normal number. But with a 1900, 10 cents won't get youy anywhere.

There's no need to cheat travellers right? And please don't tell me it's an honest mistake. I'm not a tourist.

Not again.. 2359.. when today goes into history and we await the coming of tomorrow.

At 2359 59 seconds... everything just seem to hold... and all of a sudden, it's a brand new day. Time for catch hold of this for it doesn't come often.

2359

March 2005

Caller (C): Hello, this is B**** calling from O*B* bank. I'm calling to tell you some good news. As a valued customer of our bank, we are pleased to informed you that you have been awarded prefered status, whereby you are entitled to a 0.0X % off you annual interest for loans. Besides, if you take up a loan of more than $X00,000, you will get a free gift of...

Receiptionist(R): I'll transfer you to our general manager. He is in a better position to answer you.

The call is being transfered.

GM: Hello, this is M****** speaking.

C: Hi.. I'm ...... ( basically copy and paste the first dialogue here)

GM: How on earth did we qualify as prefered customer status?

C: Well.. according to our records, you have always maintained a good..... ( blah blah blah.. basically a good records, with low debts, prompt payment....)


6 months ago

C: Hello, this is XYZ from O*B*, I have to inform you that this is your final reminder that we have yet to receive your payments for the month of August. If we do not receive your payment, I'm sorry that legal actions will be taken against your company. Please comply.

or

C: Hello... I'm sure you know where I'm calling from... so when are you paying up?

GM: Please give us more time... I promised to settle everything by the end of the year.... before January 2005.

C: We have already given you many chances. IF you still do not commence your payment by the end of this month, see you in court.


Perhaps by the grace of God, the company managed to secured some orders later that month and the rest is history.


It's only 6 months and well the contrast is so great. No money no talk....


** If anyone of you is wondering if the company in question happens to be the one I'm working at.. nope. Happen to be at another company and overhead this conversation. Of course, I've been engaged in this conversation. This is the harsh reality of the modern world **

Damn....

Lost my message board and counter.

Will have to put it back.

hmm.. Ain't we supposed to be the educated people? You know, at least "O" levels and above.. some even Uni grad. But please....

I was on the phone in the office, when an incoming call came in. A colleague answered the phone. Now.. since all were busy, him included, he used the hands-free speaker.

C(colleague): Hello, good afternoon.

I ( incoming) : May I speak to *Jack? ( Fake Name... so as to protect the innocent)
C: I'm so sorry but he's engaged at the moment. Would you like to leave a message?
I: I didn't know he had a girlfriend, how can he be engaged?
C: I mean, he's on the line.. may I know who's on the line?
I: No, you don't need to know me.
C: Ok.. would you like to leave a msg , or how may I be of any help?
I:I don't think you can help... by the way , can you ask him to put down his phone to answer mine? I've been waiting for very long alreeady.
C: I don't think that's possible, he's attending to an urgent call
I: Are you trying to imply that mine's not urgent and I'm calling for fun?
C: Sorry I didn't mean it to be so. Would you like to leave a number and I'll get him to return a call.
I: No... if you want to be of some help, get him to put down his phone and answer mine.

I ended my call. I heard that and took over the conversation.

ME: Jack is very busy at the moment and can't answer your call ...and since we are not of any use and you refuse to leave a msg, I don't think this conversation is going anywhere. I'll have to end this call. Thank you for calling and rest assured that we would seriously consider filing a police report.....

I: ermm.. surely there's no need to be ....
ME: Thank you and have a nice day

hahaha... is that person mad or something?? hmmm... welcome to the interesting world.... you get to meet all sorts of people... hahahaha.....

Yeah.. you saw it right. He is the king who got an A++ for the CDPRO2 exam questions.

Haha... Outstanding. Yup... Guailan Kia who is also outstanding with CDPRO2.

Congrats( for getting all the answers right and not about your guailaness... that one no need to congrats... somehow inborn??)

Okie.... this is what they say about my age

You Are 27 Years Old

27 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

Got this off a forum site.. for those that are familiar with CD PRO 2 ... have a go at this

【无间道之CDPRO2年终试卷】

数学题
1.『GY』这个字在一到六集中出现多少次？
(A)三次(B)六次(C)八次(D)十次

2.一到六集中，CDPRO2总共出现几台？
(A)27台(B)29台(C)31台(D)35台

3.第二集中，GY仁说要将『内建』CDPRO2卖多少给肚烂明？
(A)两百万(B)十万(C)五百完(D)免费

4.承上题，GY仁在第六集中答应十万块卖出，请问GY仁要求哪种付款方式？
(A)支票(B)刷卡(C)现金(D)分期


华文题
1.黄畅秋的口头禅
(A) 三小(B)干(C)操(D)你老师咧

2.第二集中，GY仁在肚烂明试听音乐时，曾经说了什么？
(A)你的表情真变态(B)这是三小(C)你现在还会肚烂吗(D)我先吃个面

3.韩老大在第三集曾说出要将黄畅秋当什么东西抓抓来炖？
(A)鱼(B)螃蟹(C)鸡(D)龙虾

4.ELVA的名言
(A)天上掉下来的GY
(B)你又合唱不是那样的GY
(C)GY的人，牵到北京也是GY的人
(D)原来你是如此的GY


人物题
1.刘文龙的哥哥是谁？
(A)刘文正(B)刘建明(C)刘文聪(D)刘德华

2.把厕所看做电梯的人是
(A)GY仁(B)黄畅秋(C)肚烂明(D)傻强

3.ELVA和GY仁的关系
(A)前女友(B)朋友(C)情侣(D)兄妹

4.谁出卖肚烂明？
(A)黄畅秋(B)GY仁(C)刘文龙(D)韩老大


地理题
1.第四集中，韩老大要肚烂明去哪里跳猛男秀才能拿到CDPRO2？
(A)会疯银行(B)GY仁音响店(C)光华商场(D)文聪猛男秀场

2.承上题，老畜牲中医诊所在第一题答案的
(A)旁边(B)对面(C)一百公尺(D)楼上

3.下列那些地方，黄畅秋和韩老大『不曾』同时出现？
(A)海?(B)暗室(C)天台(D)案发现场

4.第五集中，GY仁和黄畅秋约定见面，GY仁搭地铁後，出现在哪里？
(A)天桥(B)天台(C)地铁站(D)街道


问答题
1.黄畅秋将CDPRO2卖给哪些人？

2.傻强曾出现在哪几集中？并写出和他在一起的人。

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　－完毕－

Just stepped into my workplace. Well.. everything seems to be so slow.

The carpark was half filled or half empty, whichever ways you wanna see it. The usual waiting and screaming for slots just don't seem to be happening today.

The receptionist picked up the phone and her tone was slower than usual, smiling as she speaks. Experts do claim that the person on the other end can actually feel your smile, somehow. Not too sure about that. The QA engineer walked out of the pantry, with his favourite metal tin cup in hand. A strong brew of coffee perhaps?

Everything's just so snail-paced?

GoSh....It's wonderful.

Haha... really a guai lan pic of a guai lan kia.

What can I say but another over hyped exhibition at Suntec?

Not that I have anything against it. But let us look at it this way. Remember the career fair that ended some 1 week ago? It promised to showcase X number or jobs, career opportunities and so on. Ask anyone that went to it, I guess many of them would shake their heads. You do have lotsa career opportunities. Correction, it's opportunities for a career oppotunity.

The majority and the more aggressive booths are those from the insurance and banking sectors. I don't mean to dismiss them; in fact I have good friends that are in this line. Just that you have to know how to draw the fine line between business and friendship. However, judging by the way the tactics were, I suppose that these agents, advisors, whatever you'll call them would be pretty lonely people without much of a social life.

A booth that I'll love to quote. The Singapore Police Force. For the last 3 years, they have been perfecting the art of giving this standard answer for the position of Senior Police Officer. Try asking them for something, they'll tell you that they are not recruting for this scheme at this moment. Perhaps they were recruiting for the post of police officer. However, a similiar fair at NUS yielded similar outcome and they are not recruiting at the moment. IF the SPF wasn't recruiting for SPOs, I don't understand why they actually bothered to set up a booth in NUS career fair. They can call it raising awareness but I call it giving false hopes.

Back to Career Fair @ Suntec.

Well, the more vocal and aggressive people are those in the educational lines. Yes, oppotunities for you to enhance your career aspects. You can get a degree at this price within this time frame. Throw in your work experience, you can actually do get the degree in lesser time. It sounds enticing. But look at the price, the cost of it. Not forgetting who accrediates these degrees. Still a long way to go man. Too much uncertainties here.

IT show was well.. too crowded. To put it mildly that is.

Lost my mood totally. Not too sure if it's overcrowded. What if someone attempts an act of terror? Not too sure if they could do anything. Don't suppose that will have to wait till something happens before action's done?

The Day's Gone... and here comes Tomorrow.

May tomorrow be a better day for all.

=)

Not that I'm bored. But yeah.. you can't help but take a pic of the machien that you're working on.. day in and day out. The background looks messy.. because it really is. Just that in order for me to take this picture, I've decided to sweep all stuff aside.

Ok.. the screen doesn't show me doing work. Well this is confidential stuff... of course cannot anyhow show lah... sometimes must ensure info security. So this is the most .... ( help me think of a word here) manner to do so.

Hopefully before the zzz monster takes over, I'm able to finish this post, complete what I have to do.. drive off. I believe if I'm able to finish everything and leave home... I will not feel sleepy anymore.

Back to this beauty call the powerbook.

Expensive stuff, but well.. I believe it's well worth the investment. Still learning but I'm sure I'm adapting well. Yes there are some new icons here and there. Just have to get use to it.

The plus so far?

Robust machine... not that I can drop or smash it.. but it never crashed before. My former toshiba though much faster, I lost count of the number of the times it crashed on me.

Nice pictures, nice interface... blah blah blah...

But But.. there's one real major short fall so far..

Can't find cheap software anymore.

I'm dreaming of some yummy chocolate ice cream.

Can't find a picture of Ben & Jerry, so Haagen Daz will do fine.. haha

You can't help but wonder if there's too many different short forms in this society of ours.

When we go for our meals, we think of KFC, LJS or BK. Not even cash in hand, look for ATM. The more common ones are DBS, POSB, UOB and OCBC. After lunch it's back to work. Normally, I prefer to take the MRT. Along the way I reminiscence, my school days were at ATS, followed by CHS, later it was OI and AJC. Served my NS in BRC. After I ORD, went to NUS. At NUS, I was at FASS, with PL as my major. Haha.. enough of that. But then again.....

Picked up a copy of TNP along the way back to AMK.

There's this company , PJ entreprise, because it's the abbrevations of the 2 bosses, Penny and Jack. Now that's pretty straightforward without a doubt. However, by simply combining the first letters of names to generate a short form.... hmm.. now that's not as straightforward as it seems.

Neville, a former army superior of mine, is the only child. Naturally, his parents, Kelvin and Nacy were anxious to have grandchildren and hence were always nagging at Neville. They young couple tried for quite some time to have a child but wasn't successful. They decided to go for fertility treatment. That was 2 years ago and that was the last I heard from them until someone told me that they haven given birth to triplets. Well.. for fertility treatment, sometimes you do get additional presents.

Now, what if this 3 generation family decides to change the name of their family owned provision shop to include the first letter of their names?

Kelvin, Nancy, Neville and Beatrice... Now what do you get?

Luckily for them, they did not include their babies into the picture.

Their names being:

Charles, Clara and Bryan.

Now that's really a mouthful. And I bet no one would ever forget this provision shop.

Got this from Mr Brown who in turn got it from ngader.




Does your Company have a problem in recruiting the right person for the right Job? If yes, try this simple experiment.


Put around 100 bricks in some particular order in a closed room with an open window. Then send 2-3 candidates into the room and close it from outside. Leave them alone and come back after 6 hours, and then analyze the situation:

If they are counting and recounting the number of bricks - PUT THEM IN ACCOUNTS DEPT.

If they have messed up the whole place with the bricks - PUT THEM IN ENGINEERING.

If they are arranging the bricks in some other order - PUT THEM IN PLANNING.

If they are throwing the bricks at each other - PUT THEM IN OPERATIONS.

If they are sleeping - PUT THEM IN SECURITY.

If they have broken the bricks into pieces - PUT THEM IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.

If they are sitting idle - PUT THEM IN HUMAN RESOURCE DEPT.

If they have thrown the bricks out of the window - PUT THEM IN THE MATERIALS DEPT.

If they are clinging onto the bricks - PUT THEM IN TREASURY.

If they say they have tried different combinations, yet not a brick has moved - PUT THEM IN SALES.

If they have already left for the day - PUT THEM IN MARKETING.

If they are staring out of the window - PUT THEM IN STRATEGIC PLANNING


AND last but not least....


If they are talking to each other and not a single brick has been moved
- PUT THEM IN TOP MANAGEMENT.

I had mine last year and don't forsee myself going for another one anytime soon.

I never believe in all these formalities. Sitting there for an hour or more, clapping for people whom you most prob have no idea of... listening to the typical " inspiration" speeches by some guest, whom again , you probably won't know. If you came from a large faculty like I did, we had 3 days set aside for us, chances are you won't really be with all your friends. What so great about donning this gown? You only get to walk up the stage and after 8 seconds you are off. Alright if you really wish to have some memories, well, get the gown, take lots of pictures and well that's it. You can even create your own fantasies and storylines, or if you have the ability, be at some wonderful backdrop, some wonderful scenery. Ah well.. don't think Singapore has much of such... the most popular being the durian.

Alright.... so what so wonderful about this ceromony?

I never had the intention of attending mine. Not that I'm ashamed of my degree, although it's nothing great anyway. I wasn't the valedictorian, nowhere near. You have to pay 50 over bucks for that gown with a pink hood, a motar board and well some freebies such as an alumni card. Not that it's easy to don that and it's defintely not easy to move around. Furthermore you have to take leave if you're already working.

SO TROUBLESOME RIGHT?

Well, I didn't register for mine until the last day. I had no intention of attending the ceromony, not at all. Dad talked me out of it. Ah.. he didn't really talk me out but just a word from him was sufficient to make me go for it.

I could sense how much he wants to attend it.I don't consider myself a filial son; in fact, there are just too many disagreements between us and this being one of them. However, I don't see why I should deny him this. It won't kill me or make me any worse off. Just that for that day or so I guess.

I'm sure he enjoyed that simple ceremony that day. He left me shortly to go back to work.

But I'm glad that I made his day.

I hope you would too....

Yes I have been extremely lazy for the month of Feb.

Then again , nothing much for me to blog, except for my much hectic trip to Thailand. Flew on Sunday attended a meeting on Monday and back in Singapore on Tuesday with another meeting in the afternoon.

Hopefully the month of March would b better.

Cheers