my amazing grace

2009-12-05T08:37:00.001+08:00

test

2008-05-04T12:25:00.006+08:00

It's been more than a year since I caught up with my JC classmates. Wanlin organised this outing to go prawning at Marymount Road last night with the rest.

We decided to rent 3 rods for 3 hours. Total damage was $90 and 7 of us shared the cost. I went prawning only once before and our reward wasn't that fantastic. Was hoping to break that feat.

Within minutes, we got our first prawn.

Wanlin was our prawn destroyer as she was the one unhooking the prawn and pulling out their pincers, whatever you call them. The look in her eyes when she tears out the legs, it's really scary. Little wonder she's still single. Haha.

Daosong and Wanlin.

4 brothers in action.

Stacey, Yvette and Wanlin.

While we were waiting for prawns to take our bait, we chatted and reminisce the old times when we were in JC. Now everyone of us have matured into adults and also started talking about marriage. One thing which didn't change for sure is that we enjoyed one another's company and we are still full of crap.

Anyway the 3 hours flew by and we only caught a total of 13 prawns. Jimmy had sambal chili which he got from the mee goreng he bought earlier. Tasted very nice when it's dipped in the chili. Left the place around 1+am and unsure when we'll be meeting up again.

Work wise is quite alright. Just that I've been really busy on FOP (Freedom of Payment) transfer cases. I think FOP is crumbling anytime soon as simple transfers are failing. I think there's something wrong with the working structure over there. But hell. It affects my workload alot.

Serene's been away for 2 weeks to Mcau (lucky girl) and left all her shit to me! But I managed to help her clear most of it so she better get some goodies back for me. (Serene I know you're readin this).

Someone from my team just tendered. Turnover rate is so high and I'm wondering when will it be my turn. Will try to blog more often.

2008-03-21T18:51:00.003+08:00

I've made the biggest purchase of my entire life on this Omega watch.

Everyone's been asking me to get a Rolex but I don't think it suits me. Wanna get a Burberry messenger bag as well. But I only bring bread and TODAY paper to work, so I don't find it practical paying $1290 to put such basic necessities.

Work's been pretty good as volume dropped quite alot. Been given extra responsilibity like doing reports and organising team building events for ASC, APEX and OSC. I think being a guy in the team helps alot. The girls in the team always complain to me that I get the most compliments from markets. I kinda squared off with a notorious CAA who frequently shows her attitude not only to me and to my other colleagues as well. I spoke to Chris about my displeasure and she said "Hey she likes you alot leh!"

I find it puzzling as I hate her to the core. I think that psycho likes people to give her a taste of her own medicine.

Anyway one CAA Sheau Yann gave me and Pei En a treat at Ichiban Boshi as we helped her on a troublesome case. It was pretty sweet of her to do that. Headcount's frozen over at my side and I wonder what the future beholds. Am really looking forward to another pay rise in July after people told me they do 2 pay revisions a year. Money's never seem to be enough isn't it? You earn more, your CC bills grow more as well.

Dad's feeling homesick and he may come home soon. Minghan just got a new laptop as he's going to Ngee Ann Poly soon next month to do Computer & Electrical Engineering. Ming cheng's still the same. Active and all. My mum's been falling sick quite frequently after my Dad left. I find myself washing dishes and cleaning up the house more often ever since. Grace's starting to send resumes as she'll be graduating this June.

Graduation. Something which seemed like yesterday. I still remember the first day I went to work, all dressed up smartly and excited to embark on a new journey. Fast forward 9 months later and it's quite an achievement for me right now even though I'm not entirely happy. We shall see what they have for me.

Another stint of reservist awaits me in 20th May to 6th June where I will be heading off to Melbourne with Grace from 7th June to 15th June. It will be free and easy and it's quite difficult to plan the itinerary myself. Anyway I'm so looking forward to that. That will be already in the middle of the year and how time flies.

Investment wise, I've plonked 10 grand into equities but the market is so bearish that I've suffered 40%+ paper loss. Just when you think it's so cheap to buy, it gets cheaper the following day or week. You'll never know when it's bottomed out but I believe it's beginning to. But as a follower of Warren Buffett's strategy in value investing, I hunt with the bear and I intend to hold on to 10 to 20 years. When I have more capital then I'll do trading. But now cash is king.

That's pretty much the updates of my life thus far. Hardly have the time to meet up the rest of my friends as I'm always tired after work. Wouldn't mind hanging out if the following day is a non working day though.

Call me or drop me a msg! =)

2008-03-08T08:51:00.004+08:00

One of the most important people in my life has left us. My Dad left for Canada to start a new beginning and he'll be away for 2 years with the intention to migrate.

The journey to the airport was tough. The farewell was even tougher. Tears started to well in my eyes and I started sobbing as I gave my Dad a final hug. I didn't want him to go at all. All of us started crying except him. I guess he's putting up a strong front but deep down inside, I know it hurts him as well.

I have so many things that I didn't tell him when he was still here. I wanna tell him that I love him even though I don't speak to him much. I wanna tell him that I care for him even though I don't show it enough. I wanna tell him that to me, he's the greatest Daddy in the whole world. When I recall those times when I showed him attitude or simply can't be bothered to talk much, it hurts me so much that I wanna say I'm sorry. It taught me a painful lesson of learning to cherish someone when they are here. Don't take anyone for granted.

It will be hard to deal with the pain, especially Mum. It's the first time that he has left us. But I promise I will take good care of the family.

To my dearest Daddy, we all love you very much and we wish you all the best. Give it all your best and don't give up. Just remember that you are always in our hearts and we will miss you everyday.

Lots of Love,

Mummy, Donald, Minghan and Mingcheng.

What hurts the most, was being so close. Having so much to say, and watching you walk away...

2008-03-01T09:19:00.003+08:00

Promotion, pay increment, bonus, compliments and recognition. So what? Not in here man. I can see more reponsibilities coming soon.

2008-01-29T22:56:00.000+08:00

It's been a 1.5 month long hiatus and it's also my first entry in 2008 at this point in time. So what have I been up to recently? I don't check my blog now and I've officially became more "matured" or some say more "uncle".

Been reading alot of financial stuff and even watching Bloomberg at night. Oh my goodness what has happened to me? Anyway I failed my CFA and I was quite disappointed in fact. 39% passed and I thought I could have fared better. Most likely I'm gonna retake it and the desire to pass is even greater this time round.

Career wise, still moody about it and I'm still open for options. After being 3 months doing client servicing, I guess I've put in effort to give it a shot but it's really not my cuppa tea. Ops is really quite boring. So now what? Take a pay cut and join a smaller firm doing something which I yearn to do? Or continue with my decently paid job and keep asking myself why the hell am I still doing this?

Been losing appetite over this and it's affecting my well being. Oh well I just took 2 days of leave to spend time with Grace as we booked a chalet. Tomorrow's back to work and the dreadful feeling is back here to haunt me again.

2007-12-10T22:17:00.001+08:00

Slouched in the train seat with my arms folded across my chest, I looked around and observe people's faces. Some were reading their favourite book, some were napping, some were just plainly staring into blank spaces. I wonder what kind of troubles they have.

It's sometimes quite amazing to decipher what people are thinking about when you just look at their facial expressions.

Tired from work.

2007-12-07T23:07:00.000+08:00

It's the company's annual D&D at Shangri La. It was rather weird as it was held on a Thursday evening. All of us had to rush to the hotel after work and we were told to get there early to get good seats.

There were many good lookers around. Men and women where bulk of them are from markets. The theme is formal and there's like a red carpet thingie where we can take pictures in front of a UBS logo backdrop.

We grabbed a good table and were famished as it was already 8pm.

Me, Janice and Serene.

CTDS and Premium constitutes Post Trade Services! My whole team is full of girls except for me and Jason.

The food was quite bad and the serving was so small. I guess I don't really fancy fine dining. Headed out to pee and saw Ernest at the hallway. So sat down at the couch and had a good chat with my buddy. It's been so long since we had a good chat as I'm always so busy. I hardly check my personal email also. Slowly group by group came out, then structured team Jeslyn and Jaynce came and joined us to chat. Followed by Del and then Dolly and gang.

Joanne, Fiona, me, Dolly and Karen.

Me and Karen, my best buddy at UBS! Sad to see her leaving soon and I missed the days when we always crap together at static.

Headed back to the table before taking stupid shots.

Myself trying to pose.

Trying to act cool while those 2 ladies came from behind to spoil the picture without my knowing.

Took quite a number of stupid shots but the award goes to....

Wendy Low!!!! LOL

2007-11-26T20:41:00.000+08:00

I've finally came to terms that a job is afterall just a job. No more dreams about having your ideal job and enjoying every moment of it. My dream died. To me, a job is just about earning as much as you can.

I abhor my work but I'm forcing myself to stay because of the money, my family and Grace. Now my dream job is to have something which pays alot and not working long hours. I'm wondering why would people spend most of their working lives slogging their asses off and spending less time with their loved ones. By the time they retire with so much cash that they don't know what to do with it, they've probably missed the best moments in life. Now I understand why those traders who earn millions of dollars choose to quit.

Don't work too hard. Learn to appreciate and enjoy those things which may appear to be oblivious to you.

2007-11-18T21:55:00.000+08:00

A nice short getaway from our bustling busy city is always well appreciated. Grace and I took a ferry down to Batam as it is the cheapest and nearest getaway from Singapore. Well actually it's because of her birthday that I booked the trip. Haha.

We booked a room at Holiday Inn and it was huge. It has a living room..

A guest room...

and a master bedroom.. Only for the 2 of us. Such a waste and it's the perfect size for a young married couple.

Service was excellent and it's been such a long time since I've experienced such good service.

However the shopping there was very bad. There was nothing much at Nagoya Mall and we spent most of our time exploring the hotel. As dinner time was fast approaching, we asked the concierge to recommend seafood restaurants. He recommended Delimah and then I asked him if it was expensive.

"Errr.. It is expensive for me but it may be cheap to you. So not expensive and not cheap."

Ok so we walked over to the outdoor restaurant by the sea.

Sun setting.

We ordered steamed sea bass, black pepper beef, baby gailan, gong gong, 2 drinks and 3 bowls of rice for a total of about $31 SGD.

Happy happy.

It was getting dark and we walked back to the hotel. The surroundings of the hotel is like the suburds and it was quite scary. Anyway we headed to the lobby to get Grace a birthday cake which we brought it back to the room to savour.

Making a wish.

Warm chocolate cake where the warm chocolate flows out of the cake. Yummy.

The next day, it was time to say goodbye to our short yet sweet getaway.

Happy 22nd Birthday dear! Hope all your wishes come true and wish you good health and hope you stay happy forever. Love you lots. Will be looking forward to our next trip together! =)

2007-11-15T18:54:00.000+08:00

It's been along time since I've updated my blog! Been really busy with work and I don't really have time to update my blog.

So it's all the way from the beginning of November where I celebrated my birthday with my SIM friends at Manhattan fish market. They got me cufflinks!

Jinny and me!

Next up on my actual birthday, my colleagues planned a small party for me at the pantry. We had pizza and roasted pork to celebrate my 24th year. Very different and refreshing. haha.

They gave me another pair of cufflinks and vouchers from Robinsons. =)

Met up with Grace and then she brought me to ECP where she "surprised" me with her home cooked pasta. Tasted delicious!

Yum yum. The next day we headed to Pariss to have international buffet but it was such a letdown. Not worth the price and the food sucks.

Also met up with my secondary school friends at Timbre where they served great pizza and wings but lousy service. No pictures here but it was great fun catching up with them once again.

Work's pretty fun as of now but I still have the dreadful feeling of going to work. Colleagues have been wonderful to me and I really appreciate that as a matter of fact. On and off I'll get to face some nasty clients but I don't take it to heart. The good thing is you get to learn alot about how the market works and you get to network with the front line people.

I just went for an induction program today at ORQ and the view is beautiful.

View from 49th floor.

On my right was a Client Advisor (CA), on my left is a Client Advisor Assistant (CAA). The CA was carrying a Mont Blanc bag and the CAA was carrying a Prada bag. The way they talk is really different as well. Then came a caucasian CA who spoke to the CA beside me and they were talking about some structured product. I was hugely impressed and it's certainly inspiring.

Another half day course tomorrow before I leave for Batam on Sat with my sweetheart.

2007-10-27T13:16:00.000+08:00

Work's been very hectic ever since I started my new position. No times for email jokes, chat on Mind Align and visits to the pantry.

I was quite depressed for the past few days and I already felt like quitting. It's simply a job fit problem and I absolutely abhor my job. It was a mistake.

I highlighted the problem to my line and she persuaded me to give myself somemore time as the beginning is always like that. She then told my head and my head told the same thing to me. Anyway I shall just give it another try and see how it goes. But my colleagues have been nice and lovely too.

2007-10-22T20:42:00.000+08:00

I officially started on my new job today with mixed emotions. Was quite sad to leave my team and join a new one. Christina was nice and patient as she went through the gist of the work with me. However it was too much info to handle.

Too busy to chat as well and there was a certain level of stress indeed. It made me wonder whether is it worth to feel stressful everyday at work while getting paid like a king or feel happy everyday at work while getting paid enough to lead a simple life.

Maybe I should consider putting my big dreams aside.

2007-10-13T23:29:00.000+08:00

I'm like a haircare fanatic. Spent $19.90 on Wella System Professional 1.3 shampoo and $39 for Sebastian Clay today. Here are the shampoos that I have and I'm the only one using them.

1. Kerastase Bain Divalent
2. Kerastase Bain Volumactive
3. Phyto Shampoo
4. Giovanni Tea Tree Shampoo
5. Tigi Thickening Shampoo
6. Kaminomoto Medicated Shampoo
7. Wella SP 1.3 Volume Shampoo

7 bottles! How on earth am I gonna finish them?

Bought this Green Tea facial cleanser from The Face Shop and bought this korean compilation music CD.. Spent about close to $100 today! Ouch.

2007-10-09T21:48:00.000+08:00

So I've finally made a very tough decision between the 2. I've decided to stay.

I had quite a hard time rejecting Barclays as it was quite a good offer I thought. However in the night, I sent an apology letter to the Regional head and the line manager.

The line manager replied ,"Hi Donald, That is fine. Your decision speaks a lot about your commitment to your employer, which is good. I wish you all the luck in your career. Thank you for the chance to have interviewed you."

And this morning, the regional head replied as well.

"Hi Donald. Many thanks for your email, it is a shame for us you have made the decision to stay with UBS, however we wish you the best of luck in your career and I hope the position works out for you. I would also like you to know, that this has not closed any doors for you at Barclays Capital should you have any interest in joining the company at a future date."

I was very very touched indeed. I've never met such nice employers before. Too bad it's night shift. If not I would have gone over.

Had my first lunch training with my new team and I'm clueless about what my new line manager is talking about. But the people are friendly I suppose.

Gonna meet HR tomorrow.

2007-10-06T10:33:00.000+08:00

I've received an offer from Barclays Capital and the remuneration is very attractive, just that you have to support UK/US markets. Since there is nothing from UBS, I verbally accepted the offer but my controls head Debbie did a last minute persuasion for me to stay.

My heart is with UBS. I love the people around me and I love my team. However due to limited headcount in my department, they are not converting anymore people to perm. Debbie is also in charge of my department but she wants me to stay and work for other departments.

Had a long chat with her and I explained my feelings and situation to her. She told me she'll talk to Angie, the head of CTDS and Premium. Angie spoke to me last evening and offered me a job at CTDS, where people say that you can learn because you get to liase with the Client Advisors and the various departments.

She told me that I should think about it and get back to her on Monday. My mum's pretty insistent that I should leave and join barclays cos I've given them my word on joining and she thinks it's not nice to go back on my word.

But deep inside me, all I feel is that she don't really care about my well being and just want me to earn as much as possible and since I'm young, i can take hardships. My other friends told their mums about it and their mums told them they wouldn't want their children to work night shifts.

Had a chat with my Dad and he said money is not everything to him. What's more important is that you can be happy. So I've had a word with my Mum and told her how I felt and then could hear her sobbing over the phone. She told me it's not that she didn't care about my well being, it's just that she didn't want me to get blacklisted by Barclays and it's a good exposure to work for different banks.

But the night shifts really turn me off. It's taxing on your body and it screws up your body. Robs the quality life out of you by compensating in terms of monetary rewards. It really depends on how you see it and how you weigh your priorities in life.

2007-10-04T00:14:00.000+08:00

Took the samples from Serangoon Broadway and my Mum scanned a few selected pictures.

This is the one that I'm gonna develop.

And this is the family portrait which we're gonna develop into a 30R. We have 6 in the family including Kiwi! Karen started going gaga over Minghan (left side) when I showed her but she couldn't believe he's only 16.

I LOOK FAT!

2007-10-03T20:42:00.001+08:00

Been reading about Facebook recently in the papers and there's so much hype about it, soI registered for it. Started adding friends and there were alot of unfamiliar functions which were alien to me. Bitten by werevolves, sheep throwing, beer giving, top friends, hot friends etc. Ahhh Facebook is way too complex for me. I don't really get it and I don't have the patience to go explore around. Am I getting old? Shall just stick to Friendster for now.

Maybe it's time to leave..

2007-09-28T22:44:00.000+08:00

As I walked towards the escalator, the fire alarm started. Damn. The entire Suntec had to evacuate for this fire drill exercise. So I waited for my colleagues to come down as we headed to the assembly area.

There were thousands of people streaming their way around the towers, chit chatting away and taking their own sweet time.

As we got there, Debbie started taking our attendance and then off we went back to our office. Since there were so many people heading back, we went over to Toys R Us to check out toys. It's Melvin's favourite hangout place lah. So old already still see toys.

The team had free lunch today as Ernest, Ee Sze and VIncent gave us all a treat at Kushinbo as they converted to perm staff. Congrats guys! It's my first time there and I've wanted to go there ever since a long time ago but it's so expensive.

Each person costs $19.80++ but we only have an hour to finish our food. So we piled up plates after plates on our table and dug in.

Had my fill and I struggled to keep awake after lunch. Anyway it was quite good but I don't think it's worth $40+ for dinner. Thanks for the lunch!

2007-09-25T23:17:00.000+08:00

It's been quite awhile since I've last updated my blog and it took me few seconds to recall what my blog address was.

Well quite alot of things happened at work and it has been unsettling for some of us. Ever since the day I started work over here, I've never ever felt the dreadful feeling of going to work even though how boring my work is. The working environment is one of the best I've ever been in thus far and it is so much fun working with the people around me. I have begun to assume more responsibilities there's more things to do. No longer only creations and amendments. Now it's monitoring queues and PEGA! Karen, Mike and I were the only ones who didn't go for PEGA training cos we are contract staff while the rest went for it. But ironically, I'm the one doing all the PEGA shit and Melvin and the rest calls me the PEGA expert, like duh. Haha.

Mike and I had our first presentation to our department last Friday and to our horror, 2 of our big bosses sat in and we did our thing. Fortunately, the bosses were quite impressed with our work and at least it made my day. I doubt they even know our names before this.

But sadly, there seems to be a headcount problem and I've chatted with my line manager about this. I MAY be leaving soon since there's uncertainty and sometimes I don't feel part of the team. It's like the rest were discussing about the D&D while the 3 of us simply just couldn't participate. Having talks with another company right now and my future could be decided as soon as end of this week if everything goes according to plan. Of course if given a choice, I'd stay since I've made so many friends and I like the environment.

Hope things will be sorted out soon.

I LOST MY $62 TEXAS INSTRUMENT FINANCIAL CALCULATOR! Shoot me.

2007-09-12T23:14:00.000+08:00

While i was finishing with my last amendment, I felt dizzy and the ground moving underneath my feet. Michael exclaimed that the building is shaking and the window blinds were moving as well. The office quickly became filled with anxiety as people began to pack their bags to leave.

"Eh let's go. Don't do liao!" I cried to the rest.

I cannot imagine myself falling together with the debris and rubble from the 16th floor. Everybody evacuated and alot of people were standing below tower 5 talking to one another. Yet again, Indonesia recorded a 7.9 magnitude earthquake. It's one of the strongest and longest tremor I've ever felt.

2007-09-08T23:59:00.000+08:00

Spent $498 this morning on my new toy - HTC Touch and it's my very first PDA phone. Burnt a hole in my pocket and I've gotta adjust to a whole brand new concept of smsing.

Spent my Saturday at Bottle Tree Park with Grace and Kiwi as Grace complained that we didn't bring Kiwi out for a long time and she misses her so much. So Kiwi donned on her tee which I got for her from Chatuchak and we went over to Bottle Tree Park to check the place out.

There was prawn fishing and longkang fishing over there as parents were seen watching over their kids, wading in the pond trying their hands to net some fishes.

The 3 of us sat on a bench swing and took some pictures.

Kiwi and me. Please don't mind my pri school boy haircut as I just finished my reservist.

Grace and kiwi.

Kiwi's side profile.

I was snapping away till i got this shot of Kiwi sticking her tongue out!

So cute!

My 2 lovelies.

Sent Kiwi home before we went over to AMK Hub to catch Ratatouille. Had steamboat buffet at the coffeeshop and it's only $11 per pax. At least we went somewhere different instead of the usual town, town and town.

2007-09-01T11:06:00.000+08:00

It's been a long time since I last blogged as I was busy with my reservist. First two weeks were quite slack but it was a different thing when it came to the last week. I had field camp from Monday to Thursday and we were all shagged out. Imagine carrying wooden beams each weighing more than 400kg and filling more than 1000 sandbags.

Anyway on the last day of my field camp, I had my convocation. Left the guys to continue with the recovery of store while I made my way back to school for the event. It was great seeing my friends again.

Finally after so many years of studying, this is something that I should be proud of.

Grace and me.

My family.

My classmates.

Even old boy Diyou came to join in the fun!

This is something that all graduates must do!

Headed back to camp after the convo as I out processed on Friday. Anyway I've got lung infection and I spent $71 seeing the doctor. He told me that it would be better to go for a chest Xray and gave me MC on Monday. But I guess it wouldn't be nice to not go to work after MIA-ing for 3 weeks.

Hope I get well soon.

2007-08-13T18:52:00.000+08:00

Other than the Intraveneous infusion, the first day of my reservist was a very slack one. In the morning, we went to refresh our CPR skills which I passed the test and got my cert renewed. After which it was break time and a 2.5 hour long break.

Headed to Northpoint with my old SAFTI mates and had KFC for lunch as we hung around at the mall as we catch up the old days. After lunch was the lecture on intraveneous infusion aka IV.

It is the process of introducing hartmann/saline solution into the vein by using a needle. The size of the catheter is about the size of a Yakult straw, which the entire thing have to be dislodged into your vein. That's the hard part of being a medic.

The guy started talking about internal organs and the liver being one of the most important organ has it stores alot of blood, about 500ml of it. I got really queasy after hearing all that kind stuff.

I paired up with Berdley, my good old friend and I volunteered to be shot first. The bugger inserted the needle into my vein and managed to hit as there was backflow (flow of blood), as he started to dislodge the catheter into my vein, it was really painful and he missed it. He started pulling out and pushing in with the help of the instructur. It was excruciating. Lasted for a few minutes and he managed to get it all in. However the area where I had been shot got all swollen and my arm felt funny.

After the entire thing, we booked out at 4+pm and were required to book in again the next day at 8am. From tomorrow onwards, we will be moving to Clementi Camp where we will stay in during weekdays. Sucky but IV is over.

2007-08-12T23:33:00.000+08:00

Away for reservist from 13th August to 31st August.

2007-08-09T23:06:00.000+08:00

I switched on my tv and saw this pretty host on Channel 5's new singing competition Live The Dream. I had no idea who she was and I googled on the show and realised that she's Andrea Fonseka, the girl who opened boxes on Deal or No Deal.

Looks damn hot right? She looks great on TV too.

But this was how she looked when she was crowned Miss Malaysia in 2004. One heck of a difference. That's what Marie France did to her. Unbelievable.

This image will haunt me.

2007-08-08T20:26:00.000+08:00

Work on public holidays is never fun.

2007-08-03T21:22:00.000+08:00

Over lunch, Teck Wee, Vincent and I were all discussing about people in the company.

There's this really pretty girl named April sitting diagonally behind me and she seems to be at the centre of attraction when guys first see her. She is simply gorgeous. Trust me. Oh and she happens to be Michelle Chia's cousin, but she's prettier than Michelle Chia.

April is the so called ang moh pai. She studied at ACJC and she's really articulate. So we cracked some jokes about her.

"Eh she got sister or not ah?" I asked.

"Yah yah. She got one sister call June." Replied Vincent.

"Oh yah. Then another one call May right?" I said.

Teck Whee then suggested telling this joke to her and see whether she appreciates such lame jokes. We then concluded that she'd probably just give us a cold hard stare and say try harder.

Then I really wonder. Do all the ang moh pais click better with one another and all the singlish speaking group click better with one another, segregating the 2 distinct groups. There's another girl named Dolly sitting behind me, equally well versed in Mandarin and English. She sounds impressive when she speaks to clients on the phone, except for the bye bye. Haha. A graduate from SAJC and SMU. The new guy that replaced Meihui only worked for 4 days and he's gone. I asked Dolly about it and she refused to tell me even though I read that you can get all the hot gossips from her. Haha.

Melvin really makes me laugh when he says "Eh I ang moh pai hor. I listen to English songs one."

So if I really have the chance to interact with the ang moh pai people in the company, I don't know how I'll converse. But I'm definitely more comfortable in English rather than Mandarin, even though I'm trying hard to improve my dictation of my chinese words.

Weekend's here again! One more week to reservist. Sigh. I saw my training schedule and they have this coastal defence shit. Sucks.

2007-08-01T00:03:00.000+08:00

I just found out that my girlfriend actually lied to me about something which happened a year ago. To me, this matter is a great deal as most of our arguments were about him. To think that I actually gave her the benefit of the doubt. I'm so upset and disappointed to find out the truth. Most of the time, people can't remember what they actually lie about.

It takes a long time to build up trust, but only a second to break it.

2007-07-31T21:59:00.001+08:00

Suddenly I'm starting to listen to those old chinese songs which still remain as classics. Yearning for KTV.

2007-07-28T21:51:00.000+08:00

The last time I went to the Science Centre was about 4 years ago when I went with my army friends for some event. Since we didn't know what to do and where to go, Grace and I went to the Science Centre and it was her first visit since her primary school days? lol.

There were many fascinating things to see and this outing was something fresh. At least is not the usual shopping and movies kinda thing. We also went to catch a short film about dinosaurs at IMAX. THe screen was huge and I felt very dizzy while watching the dinosaurs walking around.

Dinner was at IMM, at this small Hong Kong cafe where I had dried noodles with spicy minced pork while Grace had Chicken and Mushrrom baked rice. Cheap and good. Yum yum.

It's been a long time since I've met my SIM friends. Wonder how have they been doing especially my good friends.

2007-07-27T22:59:00.000+08:00

Attended the company's event at The Loof for VOS 1 year anniversary. It was an al fresco chill out area and was appalled not to see any food around. Someone passed the message that the waiters will bring out the food and you'll have to take from them. Today's also Meihui and Huishan's last day at UBS as they will be returning to NTU. It was a joy to have known them especially Meihui, who has been my chat buddy and entertainment throughout my mundane job. =P

My team leader Melvin, me, Karen and Meihui.

Ernest and I quickly grabbed a seat as the rest were busying interacting. Soon after, a female colleague named Cheryl from Reconcilliations sat down and introduced herself to us. She then told me that she viewed my Friendster and realised that we both shared a common friend - Iris (Juntian's girlfriend). Apparantly, she's Iris's cousin and it's really such a small world. Mingjian also introduced Caroline, who's from CTB, to me. Quite a greenhorn when it comes to such social events as people were chatting while holding their glasses of champagne.

Meihui, Ernest, Huishan (Ernest's crush), Teck Wee and me at The Loof.

Jason, (some extra), me, Arnie, Mingjian, Karen, Ernest and Teck Whee.

Anyway the food sucks and I got high on my champagne and tequila shot.

2007-07-26T22:09:00.000+08:00

If I'm a line manager or someone in command, I wouldn't talk like her.

2007-07-25T22:52:00.000+08:00

Front office, middle office, back office. What exactly are they?

In Financial Markets, front office refers to liquidity management and active trading which involves interaction with customers.

The middle office is the group of employees in a financial services company that manages risk, calculates profits and losses, and (generally) is in charge of information technology. The middle office draws on the resources of both the front office (sales personnel and corporate finance) and the back office (administration and support).

A back office is a part of most corporations where tasks dedicated to running the company itself take place. The term comes from the building layout of early companies where the front office would contain the sales and other customer-facing staff and the back office would be those manufacturing or developing the products or involved in administration but without being seen by customers. Although the operations of a back office are usually not thought of, they are a major contributor to a business.

To me, I'd use an analogy of a recording company staging a concert for a celeb. The celeb would be the front office, interacting with the audience and generating sales for the company. The middle office would be those doing the planning and research on where and how to stage the entire gig. The back office, are those responsible of setting up the props and all.

Tomorrow will be my first full month at the company. Cheers.

2007-07-22T21:13:00.000+08:00

Grace sweetie headed off to Hongkong with her family for some visiting and will be back on Friday.

So it's only a purely work and study week for me.

Met up with my secondary school friends for bowling and dinner at Mad Jack. Ahh having Monday blues already.

2007-07-21T21:00:00.000+08:00

It's never easy to say goodbye. Uncle Daniel went back to Canada after a month's stay over here. We went to Marina South to have steamboat buffet and I brought Grace along. It was the first time Uncle Daniel and Aunty Jessie have met Grace. The company was good but the food wasn't.

L to R: Jacky, Jeffery and Dansie.

Dansie and Grace.

Dansie, my cousin, kept hugging and kissing both Grace and I. She's really an adorable kid.

After dinner, Uncle Daniel, Minghan and I went over to the Matilda house near my

place. It was the first bungalow to be built in Singapore and it is rumoured ot be haunted. As Uncle Daniel is someone who seeks excitement, he wanted to go before he leaves. So the 3 of us went to take a look at the house at 1am. But since it was pitch black and drizzling, we didn't go into the house. We simply stood at the roadside looking at the house. We then drove over to Old Changi Hospital. It was creepy.

On Saturday morning, we went Uncle Daniel to the airport.

Uncle Dan and me.

Uncle Dan with me and my brothers.

Uncle Dan's family.

As it was time to go in, I tried very hard to control my emotions. He said goodbye, gave me a handshake and gave me a hug. Then I started sobbing as he waved goodbye and into the boarding area.

I hate farewells.

Miss you Uncle Daniel. See you soon.

2007-07-18T23:41:00.001+08:00

Wake up, off to work, work, lunch, work, home, dinner, bathe, online, study, phone with Grace, sleep. That is my typical routine everyday.

I'm getting the hang on my work already. My creations are at a much faster speed now and I've learnt new things as well. I've fitted in quite well and now I feel part of the team, all thanks to nonsense from my team mates like Melvin, Michael, Teck Wee, Vincent and Karen.

I've nothing much to blog about my life since it's so mundane and predictable. Can't really blog about work as well since I believe people from work may read my blog, just like the girl behind me (aka Meihui, who's coincidentily Susan's friend).

The only thing I enjoy during work is Mindalign. Wahaha.

2007-07-11T20:30:00.000+08:00

My former colleague Grace sms me in the morning telling me that I'm on magazine.

"Huh sure or not? Are you sure it's me?"

"Yah the Gatsby ad. haha."

She scanned a copy of the page and emailed to me. Got a shock of my life.

2007-07-09T21:33:00.000+08:00

We are having an epidemic in the company. Several people were down with some kind of virus and the entire company is required to do a blood test. Even though I'm a medic, I'm still terrified of needles. As Michael and I went to queue for the blood test, I started seeing stars when it was about my turn.

"Eh Michael, I can see stars now man. Feel like vomitting."

Think he got a shock when he saw me.

The nurse saw my pale face and she told me to drink milo before having the blood test. Several of the people behind the queue started giggling. Arnie accompanied me to get milo and we started queuing again with Axel and Ernest.

I felt much better this time and the drawing of blood was a success. But My head felt heavy for the rest of the day.

Committed quite a number of silly mistakes man. There are quite a number of products and they have different issuers as well. Quite a hard time deciphering which numbers to extract from the term sheet. I just feel that there's no logic sometimes.

I SHALL LEARN TO BE MORE METICULOUS.

2007-07-06T23:32:00.000+08:00

Today marks my shifu aka Jie Ling's last day at UBS. She has been a real good teacher and she's really adept at her work. She bought us customised cupcakes and she even wrote a personalised note for me!

Cupcakes with our names on it.

My cupcake. Delicious.

Jieling and me.

The early shift people headed over to Clarke Quay for Jieling's farewell dinner as the late shift people joined us later. The 15 of us went to The Pump to have dinner but there weren't enough tables and chairs for us. After wasting about an hour or so over there, we decided that we proceed to Hot Stones to have dinner since there were empty seats there. But oh boy it was damn expensive. I had this Sirloin Steak and it cost me $27. The concept is like they place the raw meat on a hot stone and you'll then cook it yourself. But the oil kept splattering and it was a hard time cooking.

We all got sticky and oily but it was great fun having an outing with my colleagues for the first time. The people there are friendly and I can say that I enjoy working with them. It's just that the job is kinda boring but I pretty much expected it.

It's been a week since I started work and I'm quite used to it. But I'm still quite blur at my work.

2007-07-04T22:16:00.000+08:00

Angdo. That's my new userid for my stay at UBS. Why angdo? COs Ang is my surname and they use the first 2 letters of my last name, which i use Donald. So there goes angdo for you. I will use it to login my PC and mind align, which is our chat system. Axel saw my nick and he said "hong dou.' (red bean) But I kinda like my new nick! I've also gotten a new email addy. Donald.Ang@ubs.com. Quite cool right?

Work's pretty alright and I've more or less gotten the hang of it already. The weird thing is I don't feel as tired as when I was slacking at home!

Monday we had this event held at The Rock where we had free buffet. So we went there to have lunch.

This is how my desk looks like.

Wednesday is fruits day!

2007-06-29T21:53:00.000+08:00

Work's pretty alright. Quite systematic and I'm quite slow in doing my work cos I'm still new to all the stuff. But my speed today is much faster than yesterday and I'm feeling more confident. Kept asking my seniors many questions and I hope they don't get too pissed with me. Patience is a virtue!

Been working till 730pm everyday and people DO go for only 1 hour lunch breaks, which is quite a culture shock for me as I used to go for 2 hour breaks in the past.

So far my colleagues have been pretty helpful and they are quite friendly and I can say that I don't have the dreadful feeling of going to work. I don't feel so lethargic as when I'm doing nothing at home.

Had lunch with Ernest and Kelvin yesterday at this place which sells fish and chips. Total damage :$9

Had lunch with Ernest's team at Pepper Lunch. Total damage: $8.95.

Wah cannot lah.. Everyday eat so expensive stuff.. Haven't even get my pay yet man. Even if I get my pay, I'd still wouldn't pay so much for food. Suddenly I miss Golden Shoe Complex.

Weekend's here and I will enjoy it to the fullest.

2007-06-27T22:26:00.000+08:00

So tomorrow marks another new chapter of life - A long one indeed. Hopefully everything will be alright.

2007-06-26T20:15:00.000+08:00

Donald Close to UBS Deal

Free agent Donald Ang today appeared to be on the brink of signing a 6 month deal with UBS, joining former classmate Ernest Ee at the company. Since being released by SIM in June, Ang has been a free agent and doing part time ad-modelling.

UBS has confirmed that Ang will be due tomorrow to put the finishing touches to his move. Should the transfer be finalised tomorrow, Ang is set to undergo his medical with the Swiss giants before being presented as the company's major summer signing.

2007-06-25T19:21:00.000+08:00

Part 2 of the stupid ad.

If I'm still unemployed, I don't know how many more ads I'm gonna make. Need a job! A suitable one that is!

2007-06-23T23:34:00.000+08:00

Been pretty aimless and demoralised recently. So did this for fun. Haha enjoy.

2007-06-23T22:14:00.000+08:00

Had an interview with ABN yesterday morning and DBS in the afternoon. ABN offered me a contract but I declined as the remuneration wasn't up to my expectations. Thought I didn't fare too well for DBS interview.

Kiwi doesn't look right to me. She's been behaving strangely - Lying at places which she didn't use to lie. Feeling lethargic and not being enthusiastic. Not having her meals for 2 consecutive nights. Kept digging the floor for no apparent reason.

I am getting very worried.

2007-06-21T21:48:00.000+08:00

Day 5 - Back to Singapore

We slept in late cos there was nothing on for the day. We checked out at 11.30 before we went out to walk the Mong Kok area for one last time. We had our lunch at this noodle house as it smelt good from the outside. I ordered mee pok dry and it doesn't look appetizing.

Mum ordered mee pok soup.

Granny and I ordered mee pok dry. Doesn't taste as good as our local mee pok though.

It rained for the first time as it lowered down the temperature quite abit. We slacked our day away at Xu Liu Shan, a dessert shop specialising in mango. Our total bill came up to 40 bucks. Really expensive man.

The bus then took us to the airport as we bade farewell to the land of dimsum.

2007-06-20T21:37:00.000+08:00

Day 4 - Back to Hongkong and Back to Shenzhen

Took the train early back to Hongkong and we stayed at the same hotel. There was nothing much to do and we attempted to get to Tsim Sha Tsui by train. As we got there, the weather was terribly hot and tehre was nothing much to see actually. Perhaps we didn't know where to go and then we took a train back to the hotel. Complete waste of time.

The sun is scorching hot and we all felt so tired. It's much worse than Singapore man. Trust me. After much discussion at the hotel, we decided to head back to Shenzhen again. So it's the same old long train ride and all the customs checking. Damn sian man.

But this time round we went back to the Luo Hu shopping mall to get some stuff. I got cufflinks at $2.50 each. Mum bought a chiong Samsonite luggage bag at $28 and a pair of shoes. Minghan got a pair of Onitsuka at $20. Mingcheng bought some other stuff like watch, umbrellas, some magnet thingie etc.

Had early dinner over there and then took the train back to Mong Kok. Bought some cup noodles back to the hotel for some noodle party before we went to bed.

2007-06-19T22:18:00.000+08:00

Day 3 - Shenzhen Tour

Sick of another tour this time. First we went to this National Minerals Place where they sell all those jades and gold. Mum spent about $200+ over there and I got myself something called the Pi Xiu, supposedly it can attract wealth and all that kinda stuff.

Headed for lunch at some restaurant and they brought us to this place called Window of The World. It's like all the prominent buildings in different countries are shrunk. But entry fee is SGD$50 per person and we decided to give it a miss. The rest of the tour went ahead while the bus took us to this similar place which we have paid for in advance.

But the place is ultimately boring and we told the guide that we were skipping the remaining itenary. So we went back to Dong Men to walk again. Haha it's out favourite place over at Shenzhen.

Headed back to the shopping mall nearby our hotel as mum and my 2 brothers shopped while granny and I waited for them downstairs since she was tired to walk. My 2 brothers ended up with a brand new watch each. Headed back to hotel to rest. BACK PAIN! I need koyok!

2007-06-18T22:37:00.000+08:00

Day 2 - Hong Kong Tour And Off to Shenzhen

Woke up early in the morning to follow the tour guide who brought us to bo liao places. That's why i dislike the idea of following guided tours.

We took the train and left for Shenzhen and it was my first time stepping into China. I was surprised to see how developed Shenzhen was as aI was expecting vegetation, villages, cows etc.

This is called the Luo Hu shopping mall where you can find all the chiong stuff over there. Remember to bargain and as a guide, divide the retail price by 3 and bargain from there. Yes those fuckers jack up the price so high.

Felicity Hotel, a 5 star hotel.

This is how the lobby looks like. Grand eh?

Rather spacious room.

We took a train down to Dong Men Lao Jie to visit the place and the place is huge. You can shop till you drop and my back pain came back again since the Bangkok trip. Can walk until blur. They have clothes, shoes, bags, food etc You name it, they have it. Good place to shop but there the place is notorious for pickpockets. Beware.

2007-06-17T22:53:00.000+08:00

Day 1 - Arrival

It's been eons since I've been to Hongkong. It was way back in 1991 and I spent my birthday over there. This time round it was back to the land of dim sum for a long awaited visit. Surpriingly the airport was very nice, comparable to Changi Airport actually.

The tour bus came to pick us up to the hotel and the scenery was quite beautiful.

We reached our hotel, Stanford hotel at Mong Kok. It looks quite nice actually but the rooms were very small and cramped. It's only a 3 star hotel but the rent in Hongkong is very expensive.

So we left our luggage in our rooms and we headed out for lunch. Food wasn't very fantastic and it wasn't cheap as well. So we walked around the area to see what's in store for us.

We did some shopping before we took a ferry over to Hong Kong Island to take the Peak Tram. It's a tram which travel up a hill at 45 degrees inclination.

Beautiful view from the top.

We discovered there were some shopping malls at the top but since it was getting late and granny was tired, we headed back.

2007-06-15T22:37:00.000+08:00

Went for Da Bai Sha (Great White Shark) interview yesterday for a Relationship Manager position and oh boy it was the toughest interview I've ever attended. The guy kept shooting me off and I guess it's a way to test how you react.

"Wha your hair like that how to be banker?"

"You want to retire early right? Go be housing agent lah. Earn alot of commissions also. Why here?"

"Huh you don't look like the captain of your bowling team leh."

"Orh.. Your school lousy that's why you can be captain lah."

"What did Alan Greenspan said recently that caused the market to move?"

"Which area would you advise your client to invest in and why?"

"Do a role play and convince the other interviewer to buy from you."

"Why invest in Vietnam?"

"Wah I think your pattern only can apply for papa-san and mama-san."

"You cannot sell lah. It doesn't create any interest."

I managed to fend off alot of questions but there were some I couldn't answer like the one about Alan Greenspan. I know who he is but I didn't know what he said recently.

But awhile ago, a guy called me up to go for a 2nd round interview next Friday. It will be at Hong Lim and I think if I'm selected, I will be stationed over there. I have another interview at "A Big Neh" next Friday as well but this is an ops position. 2 different jobs lead to 2 different career paths, but I wanna be a fund manager next time. Spoke to my aunty who's an actuary who said that you cannot use ops as a stepping stone. But her husband used to work at United Bloody Suckers as ops before he transfered to Counter Strike ops. Now he did an internal transfer to do product control. She also said sales is the last resort unless you can sell. Sigh how?

I saw this post on a forum about job interviews. Quite interesting I thought.

I find that interviewers nowadays are not very trained to interview pple.

It's like the person who can tell the best story gets hired. Not the best worker. My friend who is working in a head-hunting firm for positions Managers and above tell me, it's who you know that will get you the job. If got 2 pple to select from but only 1 open position, but the interviewer or mgr knows one of the candidate, the other candidate can go home sleep already.

He also say, prepare to make up fake stories to display leadership skills, and things you did and u regret in life and how u change it. This type of things cannot check one. Leadership skills n What you did that u regret in life don't have to be work related or school related so they cannot check at all. They also like to ask abt yr weakness. Prepare to make a damn touching story also.

In my current job at DBS, i made up a super cock n bull story about pple helping me last time so im so touched i wanna contribute to society, how i was abused and bullied in school and how i becum damn popular and im hired. All are fake stories!! And they believed!! Am i a good worker? Nope! 2 mths already im running to an advertising company. (Not cuz im a job hopper but my passion is in media/advertising)

During my 2nd n 3rd round of interview at the advertising agency, the interviewers told me that they are damn touched by my story (apparently fake) and they got back to me really fast, saying im thru to the next round etc. I made up a story abt me being anti-social and how i changed and helped altruistic pple. LOL.

Oh and dont bother to send thank you letters also.

Telling cock n bull story is way more powerful than having good interview skills , sending thank you letter, shake hands etc.

There is no point telling the truth in interviews. its all abt telling story. Prepare a few stories n memorise b4 u go interview.The stories must be very touching. And it helped that i took up acting classes b4. When i just grad i dunno how to tell story. Went for 30 + interivews, jobless for 1 yr, until my friend advised me to make up stories. Thats how I do well at interviews.

Im now offered jobs at the advertising co im talking abt, OCBC, and an events mgmt co.

If you want the job prepare these stories (All stories must be FAKE)

1) What difficulties you encountered in life and how you overcame them (One tip here. If you are after a position where u need to be sociable, e.g Advertising or Events co, PLEASE MAKE A STORY ABOUT YOU BEING AN ANTISOCIAL NERD AND HOW YOU BECAME MR/MISS POPULAR)

2) Anything u done in life that u really regretted. (Talk about a friend or a family who passed away. and how u hurt him/her and when he/she passed away, you wished that you can correct what u did wrong n say u love him/her one last time. Of cuz the person who passed away is fictional as well. If you feel uncomfortable to talk abt death, you can make up a story abt an imaginery boyfriend/girlfriend in which you did not cherish and how he/she left you and how you are now a much better bf/gf to yr new bf/gf.)

3) Tell me one instance in which you displayed leadership quality. ( it's actully good to make up a story abt you being captain of a soccer team and how yr team got trashed 3 nil , then how u motivate yr team to practice n evetually trash that team 5- nil. It not only shows yr leadership quality, it also shows that you are a sporty person with lots of energy.)

4) What is your weakness. (this weakness, make sure the weakness can be twist until become strength. E.G. Your weakness is You are a bossy person but u can twist it until to show that you are a person who expects good results n achieves them.)

This post should be stickied. Really. I know some points/ suggestions sound damn stupid, but believe it or not that's how it is. These are the crap questions that interviewers ask nowadays instead of being objective by testing jobskills. Ever since i failed my first 30++ interviews, and then i started my storytelling shi* I have never failed a single interview.

Good luck to those having interviews!

I'm going to HongKong this Sunday with my family and will be back on Thursday. Adios.

2007-06-12T14:45:00.000+08:00

I checked my RMIT email.

Hi Donald

I don't know why your result was missing. It should read:

Ang,Mingde Donald 82 HDH
I have notified the administration here and the amended result will appear soon

My apologies for the inconvenience

Terry

YES!!! Fucking hell it should be 82% and not 42%. Dunno wtf they are doing man. Cock up! GRADUATED! YES!! Over the moon. Thanks to all my friends who have showed me encouragement during the past hell week. Love you guys and good luck in finding jobs! Meet up soon!

2007-06-12T13:17:00.000+08:00

While my friends are dressed in business wear going to work, I'm dressed in my Red Bull singlet and army shorts going to the market. Nabei. But bo bian lah cos I'm a filial grandson so I have to bring my granny to the pa sat.

I stayed at Punggol for 4 years and I've never been to the Punggol market before man. So I'm making my debut this morning.

Very aimless for now and I'm still affected by my result. Found out that I'm not the only one and alot of them are appealing. Out of 130+ people in my course, 40+ ppl didn't graduate. That's one helluva number. I think they'd better recheck it again.

How can I find a job for now? Never graduate and I have reservist on 13th August till 31st August. My original plan was to quickly secure a job and defer my ICT due to New Employment. Now I have to change my plans. Results of the appeal will only be out at the end of the month. That sucks man.

Despite friends saying that confirm the school made a mistake and that I'm gonna pass, and although I feel the same way, But I can't help but feeling very insecure and panicky since nothing is confirmed yet. I need BLACK AND WHITE.

Jesus Christ, Guanyin niang niang, Dua pek gong, Allah and all the different Gods please help me! *Prays hard

2007-06-08T17:13:00.000+08:00

Brought my granny to see my grandmother. Paternal meets maternal. We all went for dim sum at Toa payoh as my grandfather who couldn't recognise me likes the food there.

My youngest brother Mingcheng, my mum, my maternal granny who came frmo Canada, my grandma who lives in Toa Payoh and my grandfather who cannot recognise me. It's from left to right by the way. Can't be from right to left right? My youngest brother on the right side?? White haired? Hmm.

Same old kind of food. Boring and it's not filling. Walked around Toa Payoh while the old girls shopped around to find cheap bargains while we waited for them. Quite a boring day as well.

2007-06-08T09:55:00.000+08:00

Sent an appeal to Wee Tze and explained my situation to her. That freaking bitch didn't show any empathy and said that "Then you must have did badly for your final exam." I felt like giving her a tight slap to her face. Sharon is also on leave till Sat. Sigh this is bad. It's gonna hinder my job search and I don't even know what to do now except to spend time with Granny.

Anyway I had a gathering at Waraku for dinner with my uni mates. It was lovely seeing them once again and we had so much fun. But glad that all of them cleared the modules, but also feeling sad that I tentatively haven't graduate yet.

Sweetie and I.

Jasmine's sweetie and herself. haha.

All of us!

Lester was very sweet and he made a personalised photo for each and everyone of us. Behind the photo was also a personalised message to us. Very sweet guy and all the best pal! Keep in touch ok!

We went over to Paulaner at Millenia Walk to have a drink or two. Ordered cranberry juice since after having beer at Bangkok, I'm not really keen to drink in Singapore anymore. Furthermore I was driving that night. Chatted with them before we parted ways close to midnight.

Juntian, Iris, Grace and I went over to Cineleisure wanting to catch a late night movie but Shrek wasn't showing. In the end they watched Men in White while Grace and I went home.

We found another new scandal. So so so scandalous....

2007-06-06T14:52:00.000+08:00

What the F**K!!! I failed my investment!! Why did they do this to me in my last sem??? it's impossible cos my test and project already had HDs, which means i would have gotten at least 40% out of the 50% which comprised of the test and project. Overall I only got 42%?? I'm confident of the final paper and frankly speaking I was expecting a HD. I hope it's a screw up from my school and it isn't the first time they pulled such a stunt on students before.

Heard many screw up stories before. One of my classmate was in the same boat as me as he had 2 HDs for his tests and he failed overall for Prices and Markets. He appealed and they gave him a HD overall. What a cock up. I cannot afford to fail and i don't deserve to fail. I nearly died of a heart attack when I saw my results.

Please please I need a miracle.

2007-06-05T23:19:00.000+08:00

Krabi - Day 5 (City Tour)

Our last day was spent by having a Krabi Town city tour in a tour group. Since we had some time left before returning our Vios, we headed down to the beach to look at the seashells, enjoy the scenery and the seabreeze.

After we returned our car, the tour bus came to pick us up and we went over to this marine fish centre where they do research on diff fishes. Boring and scorching hot.

I started to feel hungry.

Then off we went to this factory like shop where they sell local production where we get to choose many different types of biscuits and candies. Nothing much to buy as well.

After that it was off for lunch. They brought us to this roadside stall where they sell very nice tasting duck noodles and it's included in our tour package, meaning we do not have to pya for our lunch excluding drinks.

It's pad thai with duck in soup. Tasted great.

The stall was situated just beside a mangrove swamp. While we feed on the duck noodles, we get fed by the mosquitos.

After lunch, we headed to Krabi town where we got lost yesterday. There's only one pathetically small shopping centre (I wonder if you can call that one) in Krabi town. Didn't bother to take a picture of it.

So we just walked along the streets and found a small market which sell fruits and food.

Had another round of pad thai there but it wasn't as good as the one at Ao Nang.

Lingered around there and had a couple of Dunkin Donuts (Yes I'm surprised there's an outlet there) before boarding the bus to Tiger Cave Temple.

This time round we finally get to go inside a cave as we failed to do so yesterday.

The tour guide told us that we have to climb more than 100 steps up the the top, and then down again into the valley of the mountains before we get into the cave. As we hit the top, grace and I were like sweating buckets of perspiration.

Then down to the valley.

The whole place was very dark and creepy. The story goes that a monk ventured into the jungle in search for some enlightenment or something.

But they had flourescent (however u spell that) lights in there as the guide told us some story which I didn't really listen. It was hot in there with so many bodies inside. Can't wait to get in there as I didn't want to be all wet and smelly while boarding the plane.

Wait for me! Don't leave me behind!!

After the entire thing, we left for the airport and I tipped the tour guide. His service was excellent and he deserved the tip. Just like how I deserved my tip from Lee Westwood. HAHA.

People tip me, I must tip people. What goes around comes around. But Lee Westwood tip me 500 BUCKS, I tip ppl 200 BAHT. Haha same same lah. It's the thought that counts.

We took the 720pm flight back to Singapore as we bid Krabi goodbye.

Goodbye! Won't be seeing Krabi again! Will probably go to some other places next time. But it's quite a nice experience especially spent with my loved one. =)

2007-06-04T23:40:00.000+08:00

Krabi Trip - Day 4 (Around Krabi With Vios)

We awoke greeted by a sunny Monday afternoon, weather looking fantastic when I peered out of my balcony window.

It was time to explore the area.

We rented a Toyota Vios which cost us about 1400baht for 24 hours excluding petrol. We rented a car cos we wanted to explore further areas as we basically covered most of the area at Ao Nang. It was also quite an exciting idea driving around in a foreign land.

Our vios.

We looked at our maps and decided that we should head over to Gastropod fossil to take alook. But to our dismay, it was nothing much and you had to pay to get in there. Looks like botanical gardens though.. So we drove over to Krabi town while looking at our map.

I wonder if you know. How to dipp in Krabi-yo. If you see me then you nee me then you really have to go.. Fast and fuyoohh.. chipp chip chip..

In the end we got lost. we decided to head back to Ao Nang while Grace took over the wheels.

It was quite fun just driving around actually. We headed back to the hotel and asked the staff whether we can drive down to the caves as shown in the map. She said it wasn't very far and so we first headed to the Princess's Residence, as shown on the map and highlighted in pink words. We thought that it's a tourist attraction so we made a long journey over to the Princess's Residence.

What greeted us were 2 armed soliders standing guard outside the area. I got off the car and asked if we could get inside. Instead of half expecting the fierce looking guy poiting his M16 at me barking at me to fuck off, but he was friendly and told me that it's restriced in half english half thai.

So off to our next destination, Kluang Cave. It's an area where there are many caves as shown on the map. However the map is half fucked as it is not a well drawn detailed map. So off we went ahead towards the north west.

This time round, I took over the wheels as Grace's driving skills were.. you know. Haha. One helluva funny thing was that we missed a left turn and she needed to make an illegal U turn. After she made a U turn and stopped at the roadside to check for cars, she made ANOTHER U turn. U turn + U turn = No U turn. WOMEN DRIVERS. hah.

She was my navigator and then we drove towards the direction of the caves as shwon in the map. When I ain't sure, I asked her how to go.

"Neh." She pointed towards the direction of a huge mountain.

Wah lau got mountain means got cave? Haha. Anyway just anyhow hantum lah. It's fun exploring new areas though.

As we drove further in, we were surrounded by cliffs and vegetation.

We saw more of this...

this..

and this!!!

What the heck? I saw one cave and it really looks intimidating. Even Batman's cave doesn't look so frightening. Ok lame. It doesn't help when the skies became dark and torrential rain began to pour. It's the perfect scenario when you want to make a horror film. Saw one village and went down to ask the guy how to go to Kluang Cave, he didn't even know what I'm talking about.

So it means.. we got....

Since I'm no fan of being a survivor out in the wild, I decided to head back to the hotel for a rest as Grace was also running a fever.

After a nap, we headed to this nearby seafood restaurant and had dinner over there. We cose our garoupa from the pond and also ordered tiger prawns and vegetables.

Poor fishy fishy became our delicious steamed fish on our dinner table.

We ordered 2 tiger prawns and it's about $7 SGD for one. Ridiculous pricing but Grace wanted to try so I'm fine with it. tasted like those that my classmates and I went prawning the other time.

After dinner, we didn't know where else to go and we went over to Ao Nang to have ice cream at this ice cream shop.

We ordered a banana split with 3 scoops of ice cream cleverly served with 2 sticks of strawberry pocky. The ice cream tasted fabulous and can be comparable to Ben & Jerry's. We ended the night with a big belly with our last day tomrrow at Krabi. We're gonna have a tour tomorrow.

2007-06-03T22:57:00.000+08:00

Day 2 - Krabi (4 Island Hopping)

We woke up early in the morning to have breakfast at the hotel before we went for our 4 island tour. Breakfast was buffet style and was quite ok. The only fascinating thing is that you have to fry your own bacon.

After breakfast, we waited for our tour guide to pick us up at the lobby.

The minibus picked us up and headed over to the pier where we had to take the boat to the 4 different islands. Here are the many pics that we took for the island tour.

The tour ended at about 2+ in the afternoon as we went back to the hotel to rest and shower. After a short break, we went out to the Ao Nang area where there were shops along the streets which range from restaurants, travel agencies, pharmacies, food stalls, clothing stores etc. However there's not alot of activity during the day. Before I went Krabi, I did some research and alot of people were recommending this place called Bernie's Place. It costs only about $10 for buffet and it's value for money.

Saw alot of Singaporeans along the streets of Ao Nang and before we knew it, it was already dark.

Nice view.

2007-06-02T23:46:00.000+08:00

Krabi - Day 1 (Arrival)

The Budget Terminal is indeed budget. It looks like a warehouse which is simply painted over and it looks really empty.

This was the boarding area where there were only a few pathetic shops. I forgot to bring a few items which Grace told me to bring like toner and toothpaste and she got pissed. =X

Got a toothpaste from the 7-11 at the airport as we prepared to board the plane.

After a 1hr 30 min flight, we were at Krabi Airport. As the plane was descending, I looked out of the window and realised that the airport is surrounded by vegetation. Scary. We found our tour guide and he brought us back to our hotel, which was Krabi La Playa over at Ao Nang.

It was already 8pm as we checked in. The room was rather spacious and it was quite well furnished. The bed was also king sized and huge. I've never slept in a king sized bed before. There was also a window in the bathroom just beside the bathtub.

We left our luggage in the hotel room before heading out to have our late dinner. We took a wrong turn and we ended up walking up an isolated hill where human traffic was almost non existent. We turned back and realised that the main tourist area was another part. We stopped at this hawker place and ordered some dishes.

Minced spicy chicken fired with chili and basil leaves for me.

Pad thai for Grace.

Headed straight back to the hotel right after dinner to have an early rest as we were goning to have a 4 island hopping tour the next day.

2007-05-29T13:26:00.000+08:00

Since I've been bummin around recently, I went back to Kino for a day for their stock take to earn some cash. It felt great going back and being part of the team again.

Stock taking basically includes using the scanner and scan the books on the shelves and counting them physically. It was that easy. However I had some errors for my first few shelves and I think it was my manager who spoted them cause I saw him checking my shelf while I prayed hard that I didn't commit any mistakes.

Work was rather slack as we spent most of our time waiting for the auditors checking the books while we sat on the floor chatting. Ended work at 8pm before rushing home to meet Grandma and my cousins, who arrived from Canada earlier in the day.

Good to see Grandma once again as she still looks the same. I'm gonna spend most of my time accompanying her in Singapore.

2007-05-25T17:10:00.001+08:00

Katharine McPhee has transformed from a girl next door into a jaw dropping beauty ever since her appearance on last season's American Idol. She has released a new album and her first single is titled "Over It". It's a great track and it's currently the song which is stuck in my head!

Good looks with a great vocal. I think she looks gorgeous in her curls. I'm still puzzled why she didn't win American Idol last year.

2007-05-24T13:23:00.001+08:00

The time has come where thousands of recent graduates flock to browse newspapers and surf websites for jobs. With the booming financial markets in Singapore (However not in the same league as Wall Street yet), everybody wants a piece of the pie. Engineering, psychology, social science, arts graduates etc. The guy at Merrill Lynch even said there's even a guy majoring in Music working over at ML.

Everyone of us has a dream job. But how achievable is that, it's a different story. You'll be facing alot of strong competition from different universities. About the financial sector in Singapore, I'd agree that it is expanding. However it will be highly unlikely that it will achieve the same sort of standing elsewhere.

Expansion occurs mostly in the back office. If you like settlements, verfiying of trades etc, that's the job for you. Big Investment Banks have mostly expanded their operations locally, which doesn't really give anyone real hope of moving into Investment Banking, which is the "in" thing right now. Unless you're scholarship or Ivy League material, or else you can forget about venturing into that area.

People also hold prestiege in high regards. As long as they are able to work in an ib, they'd do anything. Others use it as a stepping stone to move laterally in the organisation, hoping to gain a firm foothold and move into the front office. In the first place, front office is significantly difficult to get in and no matter how well the Singapore economy is doing, it can never match the "big boys". The bottomline is that Singapore will always be a small economy. But it takes a hell lot of transformation from a small fishing village to the current cosmopolitant city.

Dream job? Dream on. Not for the majority of us in Singapore anyway.

2007-05-22T13:24:00.001+08:00

Life's at home is really boring. Been slacking alot after I came back from Bangkok and submitted my resume to a couple of agencies already. Been to an interview with one of the banks I used to work at but I think I screwed up again. I told my former superior that I'm actually interested in investment management and she said credit line does not give you the adequate experience to move into investment next time.

The interview lasted more than an hour with her doing most of the talking. Anyway shall see how things go. Not really that interested into credit anyway.

Only thing I'm looking forward to is the upcoming Krabi trip next week!

2007-05-14T23:34:00.000+08:00

Bangkok Grad Trip - Day 5 (Home)

Our flight's at 6.15pm and we rented 2 minibuses this time round to ferry us and our luggage to the airport. Since the transport will be here at 2.30pm, we went out once again for our last minute shopping on the last day. Some of them went for another round of massage. Juntian,, Jeff, Anfernee and I all went back to MBK to shop for presents for Mother's Day. I actually forgot to wish my mum a happy mother's day till Monday. She sms me in the morning asking how am I and tellling me I forgot about Mother's Day. I felt very guilty so I went to MKB to buy a bag for her.

We went back to the hotel after our shopping, then we hopped on the buses and said farewell to Samran.

Juntian, once again, sleeping.

We reached the airport and then lugged all our stuff to the designated row while waiting to check in.

We went into the boarding area and had an early dinner over there, before we went onto the shuttle bus which brought us to our plane.

Going home..

The lovely people who went for this graduation trip. Although there were some conflicts here and there and even managed to catch a glimpse of the ugly side of people, but still it was a very memorable trip. I will miss you guys!

2007-05-13T23:44:00.000+08:00

Bangkok Grad Trip - Day 4 (Thai Palace)

Today's the day for some sightseeing and we went over to the royal palace. But at the entrance, we a saw a sign which says that all visitors have to wear long pants and covered shoes. So only Juntian and Jeffrey didn't satisfy the dress code. But they have a service there, which lends clothing to visitors. This is how Juntian and Jeffrey looked like.

Hip hop sia! Look at their baggy pants.

We paid the entrance fee and then walked around the palace. It was nothing much actually and I don't really like to visit such places. It bores me. Haha. I prefer mountains and rivers instead.

We went back to Siam area after the visit to the palace as there wasn't anywhere else to go anymore. So after walking around till evening time, we headed back to the hotel and rest. Dinner was at this stall selling seafood. It was quite bad as well.

Singha beer

Cheers to 4 HDs!

Lousy food

Went back to Suan Lom to do some last minute shopping before we went back tot he hotel for somemore drinking games. That was how we ended our last night in Bangkok.

2007-05-12T23:02:00.000+08:00

Bangkok Grad Trip - Day 3 (Chatuchak)

I've heard so much about this place when I was in Singapore, hearing that they have EVERYTHING there, including pets as well! We took a train to Chatuchak and the place is freaking huge.

Yes this entire area is Chatuchak.

We quickly headed to the area which sells pets stuff. There were so many puppies over there and they looked so pitiful. The entire area was very hot and humid and I could felt what they are going through.

Poor pups.

I bought a bed and 2 t shirts for Kiwi. Most of us couldn't stand the heat and humidity over there and we decided to leave early. We went over to Siam Paragon for lunch. I saw a roadside stall selling chicken drumsticks and I bought oen to try. It was icy cold but it tasted quite good somehow.

Siam Paragon is more like Takashimaya. They sell stuff which were quite expensive and of course, we were not there for that. Some of us headed back to the hotel while some of them went elsewhere. We arranged to meet at the hotel at 6.30pm but some of them were late. Anyway we met up in the end and went over to Chinatown to have seafood for dinner.

The food wasn't good man. I think local seafood is better. We then moved over to the next stall at Nam Xin to have our bird's nest and sharks fins. I love sharks fins.

I think the waitress never use a camera before.

2007-05-11T23:35:00.000+08:00

Bangkok Grad Trip - Day 2 (MBK)

Most of us met at the hotel lobby for our breakfast, ala carte style. The menu has 6 dishes. 3 Western, 3 Chinese. I ordered the American Breakfast and the serving was alarmingly small.

This is my American Breakfast.

Ernest's Continental Breakfast of hotcakes look yummy.

Roadside stalls.

After we had our fill, we went over to this huge shopping centre called Mao Boon Krong (MBK). The girls headed over to Platinum mall to do their own shopping while the guys walked around ourselves. Bought a couple of Sharapova and Newcastle posters at a shop in a mall.. Kelvin joined us after we met him at the Macdonald's at MBK.

I saw Ronald Macdonald standing in a very unusual position. So I took a picture with him.

But we walked around Siam Plaza as we were meeting the girls at a lter time at MBK. The guys shopped for their berms but they were pretty expensive. About $30+ for a pair of berms. After much bargaining, it was still quite expensive though.

Siam Plaza.

At this shopping centre, we saw that Sizzler offers very attractive prices for its main courses with free flow of salad bar. Fish and chips is only about $8 and thus we had our lunch there. The funniest thing was the waitress asked me whether were we Japanese or Korean!!! Wahahhhahaa! So I told her I'm from Tokyo, Japan. She believed me!

After we finished our meal, we paid and walked out of the door. Another girl was at the door telling us "arigato". Wahahahaha it was really damn funny.

There was no response from the girls and we walked around MBK ourselves first. It was huge and my back started to ache. I must say that there are many pretty girls over there and tghey dress better than local girls. We walked till evening till the girls came to meet us as we headed for dinner at this restaurant nearby our hotel.

Jeffrey, Juntian and I walked over to the roadside stall while waiting for our dinner to be served. We ordered oyster ommelette and we brought it inside the restaurant to eat. The food was excellent and I'm addicted to Pad Thai and the Fried Basil leaves with Minced Chicken rice.

We headed back to the hotel after dinner as we needed to rest early for the trip to Chatuchak tomorrow. However, Susan, Tingting, Lester and I played cards and drank beer in my room since they are beer lovers. We played dai dee and felt quite dizzy after 2 bottles of beer.

Time for bed.

2007-05-10T23:04:00.000+08:00

Bangkok Grad Trip - Day 1 (The Fun Begins)

Met the guys over at Terminal 1 early in the morning. Sad to hear that Eunice and Junling didn't join us in the last minute due to some personal reasons. So off we boarded the plane to Bangkok.

Upon reaching there, I was quite amazed to see how nice the new airport is. However our luggage were all wet when it came out onto the conveyor belt as it was raining cats and dogs over there.

Rented a minibus which took us to our hotel. It was a 30 minutes drive to the city and we will be staying at Samran Place for the next 5 days. The lobby is like the size of my room and the restaurant is just next to it. I shall say it's a lobby cum restaurant kinda thing. The room however is quite cosy but the corridor is like those that you see in hongkong or thailand horror films. It was eerie.

We left our bags in the room before taking the train to have our late lunch at Chit Lom. Walked over to this mall called Big C to have lunch. The food there is dirt cheap as I ordered spicy minced chicken with rice. It's only $1+.

A couple of them wanted to visit the 4 faced buddha shrine nearby and we walked over to the temple. Some of us waited and took pictures while the others paid their respects.

Kinokuniya Thailand!

Water parade!

Shopping for groceries.

Visited some of the malls and we bought some beer and liquor back to the hotel for drinking. We also bought some mineral water back since there wasn't any kettle in our rooms and the water is not potable. We took a cab back to the hotel to put our stuff before heading down to this night market called Suan Lom. Had late night dinner over there while some of them stayed back at the hotel.

6 in a cab!

Suan Lom

This pizza tastes fabulous.

As we returned, we played and drank at Jinny's room before we called it a night.

2007-05-09T21:58:00.000+08:00

Finally, the last academic paper I will take at SIM. Fortunately it was quite ok and it means that, I will leave the school with a heavy heart.

While studying for the last paper, I suddenly thought about my university life. How I've transformed from a just ORD soldier into a economics and finance guru (I hope). The great friends that I've made, the projects that we had, the breaks in between lessons, the lunch in school, our gossips in class and the last but not least, the friendships that we have. I felt an overwhelming sadness in me when I think about that. How the 3 years have passed so quickly. How the 6 school semesters have passed so quickly. How, it ended just like that.

I will definitely miss school and all of my friends. No matter close friends or acquaintances, I will still miss all of them. I leave with a heavy heart, memories deeply embedded forever in me.

Thank you SIM for providing me with the education that I've got and most importantly, providing me the chance to meet my good friends.

It is not the end. It is just a beginning. I will start another new chapter of my life. The new chapter starts with Bangkok tomorrow. Will be back on Monday. Till then. Goodbye my friends.

Taking the first and last shot of myself in the exam hall. But somehow I noticed Ruifang bioing me. Hahaha.

Val and I! Nice knowing you Val! Keep in touch!

Upon seeing Ruifang eagerly waiting for me to take a picture of her, I duly granted her wish.

See how happy she looks. Haha.

Vitamin C - Graduation (Friends Forever)

And so we talked all night about the rest of our lives
Where we're gonna be when we turn 25
I keep thinking times will never change
Keep on thinking things will always be the same
But when we leave this year we won't be coming back
No more hanging out cause we're on a different track
And if you got something that you need to say
You better say it right now cause you don't have another day
Cause we're moving on and we can't slow down
These memories are playing like a film without sound
And i keep thinking of that night in june
I didn't know much of love
But it came too soon and there was me and you
And then we got real blue
Stay at home talking on the telephone
We'd get so excited, we'd get so scared
Laughing at our selves thinking life's not fair
And this is how it feels

1:As we go on, we remember
All the times we had together
And as our lives change, come whatever
We will still be, friends forever

So if we get the big jobs and we make the big money
When we look back now, will our jokes still be funny?
Will we still remember everything we learned in school?
Still be trying to break every single rule
Will little brainy bobby be the stockbroker man?
Can heather find a job that won't interfere with her tan?
I keep, i keep thinking that it's not goodbye
Keep on thinking it's a time to fly
And this is how it feels

Repeat 1

La, la, la, la; yeah, yeah, yeahLa, la, la, la, we will still be friends forever

Will we think about tomorrow like we think about now?
Can we survive it out there? can we make it somehow?
I guess i thought that this would never end
And suddenly it's like we're women and men
Will the past be a shadow that will follow us round?
Will these memories fade when i leave this town
I keep, i keep thinking that it's not goodbye
Keep on thinking it's a time to fly

Repeat 1 x3

2007-05-07T19:51:00.000+08:00

3 down 1 to go!!!! Today's paper I almost did something stupid again. I flipped through the paper and was happy to see the question on portfolio measurements. But on the formula sheet, I only saw the formula for RAP. I was quite stunned and tried to recall what's the formula for Jensen as I could remember Sharpe and Treynor.

I almost dried out my brain juices while trying to remember the formula. Then I realised I haven't flip over the formula sheet.

There it was... A cockster will always remain a cockster.

2007-05-06T00:57:00.000+08:00

What do you do when a stranger adds you in Friendster? A BLOODY GAY just added me in Friendster. I'm not anti gay or what. I'm just homophobic.

2007-05-03T01:47:00.000+08:00

I've booked my trip to Krabi today together with Grace at People's Park. Will be departing on June 2nd for a 4 Day 3 Night tour at Krabi. Will also be doing island hopping around and will be visiting Phi Phi Island I hope. Can't wait for that.

As I was busy analysing the different types of questions for Investment, National Geographic Channel was on. This program called "Lockdown" is a really interesting program. It's a documentary on how prison officers deal with their prisoners in the prison and how they decode the letters sent to the head of the gang in the prison. It's very similar to Prison Break but this is much more interesting. The prisoners are very ingenious.

Next up was the program on the air disaster which took place in 1983, the year I was born. It was about a Korean civilian plane which was shot down by the Soviet Union which mistook the plane for a spying plane. Now I'm on Discovery Channel, where this guy is searching for the fictitious Shangri La in Pakistan. There's this scene where an old man was ill for a long time and another guy went into a trance. He ran out of the house and started digging in the earth, searching for something. Then he found a skull wrapped in a cloth. After unearthing it, the old man recovered a few days later. Amazing.

I guess I shall spend more time watching cable instead of just watching soccer.

2007-04-30T15:07:00.000+08:00

I managed to finish 6 questions out of 6 today, avoiding the calamity that happened last week. 2 papers down, 2 to go. I smell graduation!!!

2007-04-24T16:22:00.000+08:00

I'M SUCH A BLOODY COCK! There were 6 questions in the paper and I didn't see the last one, thus only doing 5 qns!!! I almost wanted to faint when my friends were discussing the last question and I didn't know what they were talking about. Only when Jinny and Ernest told me they were talking about question 6. I was like WHAT THE FUCK!

Anyway something similar happened last time when I wrote the mcq answers on the quesiton paper without noticing that there was an answer sheet behind. But I managed to go back to the exam room and requested for my answers to be transferred over to the answer sheet. Sigh.

Sigh it's a whole 10 marks and I was quite confident of getting a HD for this. Prior to that, I need to get 85/100 for this to get a HD because I only had a DI for my test. But now my hopes are all dashed.

I'm bloody careless.

2007-04-20T23:01:00.000+08:00

As I wanted to make sure of the format of IFO and trying my luck to get some hints from the lecturer, I sent an email to him 2 days ago.

Hi Mr Thomas,

I'm currently a student at the Singapore Institute of Management and will be sitting for the Introduction to Futures and Options examination next week. I am wondering what will the format of the paper be like as our local lecturer didn't provide that information. Any particular areas of topics that we should focus on? I hope you can clarify my doubts. Thanks!

I waited anticipately for his reply. But Leo sms me to tell me about the message he had for us in the portal. I checked the portal and this was what I got.

The exam format was discussed by me in the very first lecture.
As previously advised:
Part A 20MCQ x 2 marks = 40 marks
Part B Short answer/calc questions = 60 marks
No further questions about the exam format will be answered.

Guess he must be pissed about me asking tips from him. LOL. Hope I'm not the only one. After finishing IFO, I flipped open my Investment text and was shocked by the content. Comparing IFO to Investment, I think the latter's a piece of cake. I foresee having a tougher time ahead.

2007-04-18T12:23:00.000+08:00

I seriously fail to comprehend why the salary of ministers are being benchmarked to the private sector. Why souldn't they benchmark against the remuneration of other top ministers in other countries? Are they implying that ministers can perform as well as top bankers, engineers, accountant and other professionals? Even if the economy is waning and the salaries for the prviate sector dip, I doubt the salaries of the ministers will follow suit.

http://hammersphere.wordpress.com/2007/04/16/video-of-chairmans-parliamentary-speech-on-ministers-pay-hike/

This is a very good speech by Sylvia Lim on this issue, which isn't shown on TV. It's a must watch.

I found this on a forum, and someone posted this.

"How come CNA will never show???"

Then I saw this reply which made me laugh out loud.

Reply: "Have u ever seen a person's right leg stomping on his left leg?"

Absolutely hilarious.

Beware.

2007-04-16T23:42:00.000+08:00

Designed a new blogskin as I got bored of studying. It's a derivatives theme. Haha.

Anyway I fell in love with this song by Evan Yo after Anfernee sang it in KTV the other time. My mum likes it too!

2007-04-15T21:03:00.000+08:00

Revision's been pretty slow and I've only touched on Futures and Options only. As for the rest of the 3, I've simply no mood for them. Options alone is giving me abit of a headache. It doesn't help much when there's an upcoming Bangkok trip with my classmates a day right after our last paper. We've been discussing quite abit on the hotels and I've been thinking what to buy in Bangkok instead of how to do a delta hedge.

Just get it over and done with!

I was a huge fan of punk rock in the past. All American Rejects, Yellowcard, Good Charlotte, My Chemical Romance, to name a few. But as I grew older, my taste of music slowly began to change. Suddenly I find myself in love with oldies and love ballads. But I still never get sick of good old alternative rock.

Now i've been hearing my brother listening to Panic At The Disco, All American Rejects, My Chemical Romance, Simple Plan and others. He's going through that phase which I went through in the past. It's always quite a sight to see someone following your footsteps.

2007-04-11T23:40:00.000+08:00

I was ushered into a well furnished meeting room, left alone to wait for my interviewer to arrive. I wanted to take stupid pictures in the room but noticed there was a hidden camera near the light. Luckily I didn't do anything stupid.

I had my very first interview for a perm job and I think it went pretty alright even though she didn't ask me alot of questions. Basically the very general types like strengths and weaknesses, what I study, why I wanna join this company, why this position and some other stuff. I even had to mention binomial pricing and Black Scholes for goodness sake.

Initially felt nervous but my butterflies in my stomach were gone in a few minutes as the confidence started picking up into the interview. There would be 4 to 5 rounds of interview for this position. Oh my God. Anyway they'd call me again within the next 2 weeks if I'm being shortlisted for the 2nd round. Can't imagine the level of difficulty for the last few rounds.

Well keeping my fingers crossed and not expecting anything much. Already did my best and it was quite a good experience. Back to studying! Bangkok trip confirmed from 10th May to 14th May.

In Bangkok mood.

2007-04-10T13:23:00.000+08:00

I went to SuperCuts at Compasspoint to cut my hair since it was really messy. Decided to cut it shorter.

"Help me cut my hair shorter cos I've an interview tomorrow."

So she cut and cut and cut. After a few moments, a different looking me was seen in the mirror.

"Don't cut so short please. If not look like nerd." I told the lady with a slight tinge of exasperation.

"Huh but go reservist can keep so long meh?" She replied.

"Huh? What reservist?? My reservist is in August."

"Then I thought you said tomorrow have to go reservist?"

"INTERVIEW LAH."

"Orh chey.. I wondering how come now reservist can keep long hair."

Anyway I don't really like my short hair right now. Sigh. The haircut costs $30.40. I don't find it worth at all. Jiwon cuts better in my opinion.

Happy birthday to Mummy and Ruifang!!

fang: So sorry that I didn't make it for your picnic. Hope to had fun!

2007-04-09T22:50:00.000+08:00

Went over to this job agency called JAC for an interview with them. The lady told me she has 2 job assignments on hand and both are in the credit department side. Anyway 1 of the job has a minimum requirements of A levels or diploma, doing credit research. But I guess it's pretty much a no brainer job. The other one is assistant credit controller and the agent sent in my resume for the both of them. Just see how it goes.

Hit the gym at Marina Country Club and I am the only one in the entire gym. Often faced with overcrowded Clubfitt gyms, I decided I should join this gym as a member.

Clubfit gym per entry = $2.50

Nike Gym gloves = $32.90

Optimum Nutrituion Whey Protein = $70

Having the gym all to yourself = Priceless. Shioka mama.

I recently got a summon of $130 for travelling along the bus land outside PS. My parents told me to go down to LTA to make an appeal to waive the summon off.

It was like an interview room over there and I went into this small room with a aunty in front of the computer.

"Give me your summon and IC." She said.

After I gave it to her, I made small talk.

"Oh here can appeal one ah?"

"You don't know meh? Then you come here for what?"

"Oh I know lah.. But I didn't know they actually have rooms for appeals."

I noticed her name tag and it says "Helen Ang"

"Eh you also Ang ah? But your chinese surname is Wang leh. Mine is Hong." After looking at my IC.

"Yah lor yah lor most people with Ang has Hong as their surnames. Mine abit special. Angs got different chinese surnames one mah."

She nodded, eyes fixed on the screen.

After which she asked me, "So why you go into bus lane?"

"Oh I wanted to turn into PS mah. But I dunno where is the small lane so i change lane first lor."

"Ok next time when u see bus lane don't turn in ah, I waive for this this time round."

Small talk pays off.

Anyway the greatest joy for today is that I received a pleasant surprise call from "Mee Siam" (code word) and they scheduled an interview with me this coming Wednesday. I still can't believe my luck. Shall spend the day tomorrow rehearsing and doing some research for the upcoming interview. Hopefully everything goes well.

2007-04-06T23:30:00.000+08:00

Lost big time in mahjong and I broke my Rayban shades by sitting on it. Sway day.

I realised that options is no joke man.

2007-04-05T07:58:00.000+08:00

I feel so refreshed right now. Been down with gastritis over the past few days and after a few bouts of vomitting, I feel deprived of energy. I'm almost as good as bed ridden. After a visit to the doctor on Tuesday, I'm feeling much much better already.

Talks about cancelling the Bangkok trip have been mentioned due to the turmoil over there. Disappointed.

2007-04-02T20:51:00.000+08:00

Gwen Stefani without makeup looks immensely different from the one I always see on TV. She looks gorgeous without makeup.

We planned for a trip to Bangkok after our exams. Can't wait for that.

2007-03-31T09:37:00.000+08:00

Whenever I drive past TPE, I always see people wakeboarding in the sea near Marina Country Club. I've always wanted to try and this time Susan suggested wakeboarding and 5 of us went for it.

It's perfect to wakeboard at MCC cos it's at Punggol, which is where I live. Poor Susan had to wake up at 6 amto travel all the way here to meet us at 8.30am. I picked them up and we drove to MCC for our wakeboarding session.

My first meal of the day with my out-of-bed look.

Susan and Eunice at the pier

Ernest and Diyou arrived shortly afterwards and we proceeded to board the speedboat.

Zainal was our instructor. After we boarded the boat, he drove us to another area near Sembawang Island (didn't know there's such an island) for our wakeboarding.

Happy folks.

So everyone started taking off their clothes and Susan slowly stripped herself out of her jacket to reveal those....

Gettin' embarassed. LOL.

She was the first one to go as well. After getting on her wakeboard and lifejacket, she was ready to go.

Susan wakeboarding.

Diyou, Eunice, Me and Ernest followed next in this order.

Diyou single handedly managed to maneuvered himself. Like drifting in the water. But right after I took this shot, he plunged faced down in the water. LOL.

Eunice clanging on her wakeboard for dear life, forgetting that the life jacket she's wearing serves that purpose.

She managed to stand after several tries. Well done!

Ernest and I both never tried before and we had special training from Zainal. After tips from Zainal, I was ready to go.

I look so uncool in this picture. I've barely stood for a few seconds and I was down. This looks like I was slamming on my brakes.

Ernest choked on seawater before he even started.

Ernest did better than me. Haha but he fell quite a few times as well.

So all of us went for another round and when it was Ernest's turn again, there was an impending storm right ahead.

Zainal decided to let Ernest play as the raindrops started falling. Soon enough, it started to rain cats and dogs. Zainal decided to get him up as we engaged the storm.

Our rescue team came in and rescued Ernest from the storm.

Ernest may have suffered from hypothermia and Susan was so upset seeing him like that.

The storm was bad...

Really bad...

We managed to escape the storm and this was after the sun started to shine again.

Group pic with our instructor.

Total damage was $68 per person. It was still very expensive in my opinion. However this wasn't the event of the day.

We drove to Kovan for lunch and while at the carpark, I was ahead of Diyou and I wanted to do a reverse parking into the lot on my right. After I stopped ahead of the lot, I saw Diyou behind me and the lot in the rearview mirror, as I thought he was stopped behind the lot to let me park, I reversed and check the mirror to my left, soon after I heard a loud horn but it was too late, my left bumper knocked into his front left of his car.

We came out of the car and looked at the damage. I thought how come he went into the lot as he knew I was parking into it. He then told me he wanted to disturb me by going in first and he thought that I'd stop after seeing his car. But his mischief cost him quite alot of money as he offered to pay for my damages as well.

Big dent in his car.

Left bumper came out and my brake light cracked.

I felt lost as I didn't know how to feel. Getting into an accident with your friend is no joke cos you didn't know what to do. To accept his compensation or not. But he felt quite bad and he offered to pay for it. I felt quite bad for him too but I had no choice.

So in the end we went to Lester's gf's dad's workshop at Choa Chu Kang to settle the damages. The uncle told us that total cost would be around $400 to $500. At least it's much cheaper when the guy at Sin Ming quoted me $400 alone for my car. Will send in the car for repair on Monday.

Lesson learnt for him, and for everyone.

2007-03-30T08:07:00.000+08:00

I had one of the weirdest dreams ever in my life! Cos this dream starred many different of my friends.

Grace and I went to this resort at East Coast Park to chill. Then I saw Alvin and the volleyball mates (my sec sch friends) playing volleyball at the beach. I joined in and played with them but my flip flops got spoilt in the end. Ended up chatting with Weisiong and Alvin on the bench near the beach. (Grace disappeared just like that. Don't know where she went)

So I headed off to the resort and I saw Anfernee at the lobby. We went to check in and saw Grace in the room. Anfernee afterwards went to wash his feet while Grace and I went out of the chalet and I saw colleagues from the Singapore Masters! Saw Sujan (the fucker who made me pack undies) and he smiled at me, asking me where this particular unit number was. After pointing it out to him, Grace and I walked towards this new club at East Coast Park.

After walking in, it looks like a mixture of Zouk and coco latte (forgot the name of the club at MS). Then I saw Connie, Joe (both from class) together with Poh Joo (my sec sch friend). Joe saw me and started asking questions and said something like "Aiyah talk to you always so serious one. No sense of humour at all"

I got angry and pounced on him. A moment later, my hp beeped.

It was a sms from Susan asking me to bring my camera for the wakeboarding. I was awaken by her sms. It was a very strange dream though. Anyway wakeboarding at 9am and it's my virgin try. Hopefully I don't fall often and don't get bitten by strange fishes in the sea.

2007-03-29T23:27:00.000+08:00

I felt a huge burden off my shoulders after taking my last test at SIM (hopefully). I have a further 2 more lessons on the following Monday and Thursday and it draws our 3 years at SIM to a close. It certainly brings back lotsa memories.

Went gym and then ktv with my classmates. Haven't been to ktv with them for a very long time and my singing standard dropped especially hitting the high notes for Jay Chou and Lee Hom songs. Legs never fail to shake when I try to hit the high notes. LOL. That's my trademark style you know?

Wakeboarding tomorrow. Looking forward to it. Also looking forward to seeing something else. LOL! Grace warned me not to see till my eyes pop out. Haha!

2007-03-25T22:19:00.000+08:00

Ain't easy to remain cooped up at home and finish 7 topics at a shot within 2 days. All the wheat and cloth are giving me a headache.

Helping Debbie to advertise for this new online magazine. I've read it myself and it has a really cool interface.

Check it out.

2007-03-23T23:27:00.000+08:00

For the first time in my entire 3 years at SIM, I've sat for the most challenging test ever attempted. Usually all tests would be similar to past year test papers. As long as you did the practice test once or twice, you'll definitely obtain a pass at least for the real thing. However this was not the case today after flipping through the papers and found out that almost all the questions were very tricky.

I have no choice but to applaud Harry who set this paper. It's really ironic cos he's the lecturer who I deemed to be the slackest amongst all RMIT lecturers. Images of him resting his leg on the chair in front of him during lecture still remains vivid in my mind.

8 topics of International Trade next Wednesday and I've yet to touch a single page yet. I will switch to hibernation mode for the next few days in order to cram the entire content into my head.

I remember when I was little, before my younger brothers were born, I always played with myself. I have always loved ninjas. There was this show about this ninja who wears black in the night and white in the day. It was kinda cool. I used my mum's tube top (she had a black and a white one) and wore it over my head, fold the bottom layer up, covering up till my nose. I also had this plastic toy sword which I go around slaying my grandma and my grandpa.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was also one of my favourite cartoons, alongside MASK, Captain Planet, Transformers, Smurfs, Sesame Street and Care Bears. I was excited when I heard about a movie on the ninja turtles. Went to watch it with Grace after test today and I think it's a waste of money. Didn't really enjoyed the show much and it's only about 1 hr and 10 mins long.

Splinter made me laughed the most though.

2007-03-18T23:57:00.000+08:00

It's been 15 months today. Spent the day at Botanic Gardens with a third party - My lovely Kiwi.

Upon stepping into Botanic Garden, she pee-ed. Less than a few metres away, she poop-ed. Before I could absorb the greenery around me, I had to pick her poop up. Anyway we walked around the garden, towards this place called Evolution garden or something like that. But due to the porous rocks which they had there, no pets were allowed. The rocks absorb and retain the pee. So we made our way to the orchid garden, which was quite a distance away.

Kiwi refused to walk any further. Sitting down after getting tired. We tried pulling her but she refused to budge. So Grace and I took turns to carry her. I think it's a good form of training to become a dad. Haha.

But we put her down and let her walk on her own again, before meeting an Australian couple, who told us they have a pair of standard schnauzers back home.

Ang Moh Guy: "Oh poor thing. She's in real need of water. Look at her pant. Did you give her water?"

Me: "Oh yes I'll get a drink for her later on." I lied. Besides the lemonade, chrysanthemum tea and green tea which Grace prepared for us, I had nothing for Kiwi to drink.

In the end, I poured water from Grace's water bottle onto the cover of the cooler. It was kinda dirty as particles were seen floating in it. Poor Kiwi had to quench her thirst in the dirty water. Haha.

The garden was huge and we didn't finish walking. If we did, Kiwi would have suffered from heat exhaustion.

2007-03-16T23:05:00.000+08:00

I did something for the very first time in my life. Something which I should have done a long time ago. Telling my brother right in front of him that I love him.

It felt kinda sweet to say that.

2007-03-14T22:41:00.000+08:00

I plunged into my savings and registered for the CFA. Will be taking level 1 in december. Just caught 300 and I loved the fighting scenes. THe gore was quite fake I thought and some heads flying left me laughing.

The feeling is so distant.

2007-03-12T17:29:00.000+08:00

It's time to return our Skodas. Although it's not a fantastic car, but I've grown emotionally attached to it. We headed over to Laguna to get our claims and expenses. However our pay cheque has to come later. We had lunch over at the Vineyard and we took our last pictures with our cars.

All of the drivers at the golf course.

We drove our cars out to the open field outside the carpark to take more pictures. We started to park our cars in an artistic manner aka showroom style.

Adios amigo. Back to school.

2007-03-11T23:11:00.000+08:00

Today's the last day of the Clariden Leu Singapore Masters, which means it's also our last day at work. I picked Lee and Dave up from the hotel and made our way to the airport. It's my last time sending them in my car and I drove as slowly as possible.

When we reached the departure hall, I unloaded his luggage and as I turned over, Lee was holding a wad of $50 notes in his hands.

"This is for you Donald."

I was shocked but my hand automatically reached out for the wad of notes and took it from him, placed it into my left pocket before saying thank you.

"It's been a pleasure meeting you and driving you around. I wish you all the best."

He smiled and then he walked into the airport.

The bulge in my left pocket was not a small one. I could feel the thickness of the notes in my pocket and calling out for me. Since Angie had to come to meet Lee to get his autograph for cancer patients, I went into my car and counted the notes first.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10"

10 pieces of $50 notes. SGD$500 just like that. I couldn't believe my eyes. I've never earned so much money in such a short time. It was amazing.

Angie arrived and then she got Lee again to sign the autograph. I bade him farewell again and took one last picture with him and Dave.

I felt quite sad as they walked into the terminal. Even though it was only for a week, I still felt sad. I guess I've been the one ferrying them around and they're very nice people. I don't say that he's nice cos he gave me a big tip, but I'm saying he's nice cos he is. I'm kinda inspired by him too though.

Angie and I drove back to Laguna and then we slacked at the carpark. Menaka, Juntian and I drove the buggy again to look for Eunice, who was tailing Thongchai Jaidee, the golfer that she ferries. Thongchai is a golfer from Thailand and he is also the number 1 golfer in Asia. How cool is that? We even created a cheer for him.

"Thongchai ai zai Thongchai ai zai... I say thongchai you say zai! I say thongchai you say zai! Thongchai zai! Thongchai zai! Thongchai Thongchai sibei zai!"

I thought it was hilarious.

This guy is good. He was 13 under par before hitting a few bogey shots and it became 7 under. The leaders were 11 under par which means that Thongchai failed to win.

After the whole thing, the top 2 scores were tied at 11 under. So the 2 golfers, Liang from China and Steel from Malaysia tee-d off again at 18th hole and Liang managed to secure the title.

The winner is the guy in red. PRC. Yuck.

Thongchai Jaidee and me.

While waiting for errands, we slacked in Eunice's car at the carpark and took silly pictures again.

Eunice. Juntian and me.

Failed to scare Angie up.

The cool boys.

After Eunice sent Thongchai to the airport, she came back and then we prepared to go for dinner at Siglap. We took some final pictures at the golf course to end our job as drivers for the Singapore Masters.

Our cars.

Mimicking Mardan Marmat.

And then mimicking Lee

Drivers for the Clariden Leu Singapore Masters 2007. See ya'll next year!

2007-03-11T00:08:00.000+08:00

Angie sent Darren Clarke to the airport and he tipped her USD$300. We were all shocked by his generosity. That's insane. If it was me, I would have felt shy to take the cash. I've never been tipped before I don't know how it feels like. I reckon it must be quite paiseh to take the cash. I picturing myself saying "No it's ok" to Lee when he's about to tip me. But I'm not expecting anything at all.

Went for late dinner with Angie and Eunice and Newton Circus. I'm getting fat.

2007-03-10T23:07:00.000+08:00

The office is a place not to be in. Being there is like becoming target boards waiting to be shot at.

That's an absolutely no-no. It'll only invite people to arrow you to do work.

We managed to get hold of a buggy and test drive it around the carpark, our hangout place.

So Menaka, Juntian and I grabbed a buggy and went driving around the golf course. Menaka was the one driving the buggy and he was driving like a F1 driver, making sharp turns and moving fast at slopes. I had to hang on for dear life.

Lee was playing somewhere. But I didn't know exactly where. So we made a few rounds before I saw Lee.

Lee putting the ball.

The golfers have to play 18 holes. When you finished with one hole, you had to walk to the other. The bottomline is that you have to keep walking and walking under the hot sun. Menaka went back, leaving Juntian and I following Lee.

Actually mobile phones and cameras are not allowed on the golf course. But i just didn't really care about it.

So we took pictures of ourselves. Eunice said we look like some tourists. lol. Juntian look like some fucking japanese tourist. Haha.

I like this shot alot. Lee and Dave concentrating. Lovely.

However he didn't do too well for today. Overall it's only 1 under and he failed to make the cut. Surprisingly, all the big shots failed to make the cut.

Took a picture with Dave the caddy and Lee.

Lee and me.

Dave and I. Dave seriously looks like my grandpa.

Managed to take a picture with David Howell, ranked 18th in the world.

Sad to see Lee crashing out of the tournament. Which means he's flying off on Sunday instead.

2007-03-08T23:42:00.000+08:00

Lee hit 2 under today. Not too good.