Random Thoughts

The virus is here, and the patient that was quarantined came from the SMU, and she'd visited a clinic in Bedok. But is there a concern to be panicky now? I doubt so.

Video game live is on 19 June and NUS Choir is going to be part of this concert. I went down for the practice on Monday, and only 6 sopranos will be chosen to sing for the concert. I missed one practice, and it was a blessing in disguise that ultimately i was not chosen to sing for the concert. Singing for the concert would mean i have to take 2 half day leave on 18 and 19 June, shortly after I start work on 1 June.

My work probation had a duration of 6 months. I believe I have to avoid taking leave if possible.

These days, I had been studying Japanese language almost everyday. I love Japanese language. The more I study, the more i become so obessessed with it.

The picture above is a drama series that I have just finished watching. Yama Onna Kabe Onna, which literally means Mountain lady Wall lady. Basically it's about big bust and flat-chestedness. I know you may think that i am a hentai(perverted) guy...but it's not about the pervertedness but this drama series is a comedy and it's really very FUNNY. It's not R(A). I enjoy brushing up my Japanese as i listening to them talking. I pick up words like Dama re! (shut up) and Chimanani(by the way)....and many other common words use in conversational Japanese. Love it.

The whole job searching experience

I am not perfect. In a Japanese proverb, it says that even monkeys can fall from a tree (Saru mo ki kara ochiru) Sometimes when it comes to job searching, all of a sudden you start to be hypocritical, convincing yourself that healthcare industry is really what I want :)

May be it will still take some time for me to sink in the fact now that i am former staff of a hospital. And of course, I am so looking forward to the opening of the Kent Ridge circle mrt line. I am now a Corporate Planning and Development Executive. Something I should be proud of? Perhaps. Thank God that after weeks of plunging into my job searching, He gave me this door to a new opportunity.

I remember the uncertainties i have while sending over 50 resumes with little responses coming back. I remember applying just randomly applying Corporate Planning Executive, oblivion to the fact that the hiring company was the hospital. I also remember the efficient and friendly experience i have with the Job agent from MTC and HR. To Peng Chen, I respect your professionalism and speed. You deserve to be in ISE department haha.

I have my first and second round of interview from that hospital on the same day. Pretty weird i would say, but i appreciate the honour to choose me for the second round. I was given an essay to write after the 1st round. "Discuss the applications of Industrial and System Engineering to the healthcare industry". I have no problem writing this essay at all because healthcare is pretty much close to the heart of ISE. Many ask me of why i am an engineer and I am in the executive position. Let me formally blog this down.

Industrial and Systems Engineering deal with system optimization, project management and supply chain modeling. These are the terms that i am specializing in. I see myself developing a career in Supply Chain and Logistic. When that dream of mine become pretty difficult to realise, I knew that pragmatically I need to start looking for alternative route. In the healthcare industry, we deal with patient service in the form of patient waiting time, we look into the operations of the hospitals and see how we can improve some of the operations, using either new machines, or proper scheduling of manpower or operation rooms. I always complain about ISE and how difficult it can be. But that doesnt mean that i do not appreciate some of the usefulness of what i am studying in this real world.

So..engineers can easily cross over to the management side. But not the vice-versa. That is something I am always proud of.

Rice Dumpling in Hong Kong and Japan

Tomorrow is Rice Dumpling Festival but I'd already swallowed down probably alot of the nonya and the bean paste dumpling, 2 of my all-time favorites. What you see here is typically a rice dumpling from Hong Kong. I decided to search for this rice dumpling after i see those weird looking dumplings from the tv news. It sure looks big isn't it? I think one of these is enough to satiate me for my breakfast. Yum.

The picture belows shows a Japanese Chimaki. Chimaki (粽 or ちまき) are Japanese versions of Chinese Zongzi, a glutinous rice cake wrapped in a bamboo leaf. They are eaten especially on the Kodomo no hi Festival on May 5. (from Wikipedia). Japanese food is always so neat, beautiful and clean-looking huh? Wish i can get to eat these cute little thing someday.

Do we expect really need high standard from customer service?

How much do you ask for in customer service? When a waitress in a Chinese restaurant start to give you a listless expression, ignoring some of your special requests, what would you do? If they serve you with something that you did not order, what would you do?

I think Singaporeans (including myself) can sometimes be a bit kingly, or even overwhelming kingly when they patronise shops and restaurants. Some of these kingly expectations can be translated to homes, where occasionally I see how my tuition kid's mum shout, rant and scold the maid, accusing them of lying, accusing them of incompetency. Sei once told me how his co-worker often treat the maid as a person out of the family, when the maid was not being introduced in a party session. I mean, some of you out there may think "Huh, introduce the maid for what?" Well, to some extent, I admittedly believe that there is no need, but Sei had argued that the maid should be fully integrated into the family, and should be introduced just like a husband or a child would be introduced.

Back to the customer service issue, I believe if a customer service is not up to my personal standard, I would not patronize it again. However, I do not see any need to make life miserable out of the servicing staff in shops, restaurants or front desk staff. Yes i do agree, we pay for the 1o% customer service, but what is done is done. If it's lousy, what can you do? Just don't go there again lar.

I sometimes give an expression of discontentment when a servicing staff gave me a long face to my request. Sei always remind me "hey it's ok, don't worry, we won't come back again".

My appeal to all reading this article is that, next time somebody serve you, be it the cleaning auntie in hawker centre or some Macdonald uncle who wipe the table for you, say a "thank you". It won't make your mouth rot by appreciating their service :) We are not kings.

Alamak

Alamak had been a very frequently used word in Singapore, and most of us could easily believe that it had its origin from the Malays. I was very surprised to learn from my japanese friends that Alamak is a frequent word used in Japan, and occasionally the word actually appear in Japanese drama. My Japanese friends claim that it was from Japan, while i strongly assert that it clearly comes from the Malays. So what had happened?

I strongly recommend who those are very free out there to try digesting this blog article:
http://afzainizam.wordpress.com/2009/03/09/the-origin-of-the-word-alamak/

I am pretty much amazed by the 2 theories as to why Alamak originated from Japan, and how on the other hand, it can originate from the Malaya. I think we often take this word from granted, and I can hardly fathom the fact that such a commonly used word in Singapore, can give rise to a contemplative article from a historic point of view. Exciting history :)

Bus Stop

The entry tonight basically will be about a conversation i had with Sei, when he commented that those fine prints of the bus stop location printed on the side roof of the bus stop in Singapore is not just minute in parsimony, but also fail to allow bus passengers to fully understand its usefulness.

In the pictures that follow, I had found some pictures that depict HongKong bus stop, Taiwan bus stop and of course Japanese bus stop, which had similiarities in how they are being designed in order to be more informative to passengers.

Starting with this picture on the right, we have the Hong Kong bus stop, with that green signboard showing you the bus stop number and the name of the location. I would say this signboard is clearly larger, less stingy than those small words from Singapore.

Then we have the picture on the left which shows a bus stop from Taiwan. Here a signpost is being erected next to the stop to show the details of the location and other related information.

Next up, the blue sign post on right here, is a signpost from Japan. It seems that Taiwan and Japan have pretty similar designs.

I think it's high time for the relevant authorities to do something about the bus stops that we have. I guess, if you are a frequent bus commuter, then there is clearly no need for such information. However, sometimes when you are exploring new areas of Singapore, such information may clearly be more useful than you can ever expect it to be. Personally, I loath trying to stick my face to the window to try to catch a quick glimpse of the bus stop name as the bus whizz past hastily.

もう水曜日だ

もう水曜日だ。来週からNUHに勤め始めるけど、暇な時間はだんだんなくなるんだね。火曜日の夕方に生君から電話してくれた。台湾はひどい雨が降っているけど、大丈夫だと言われた。

またつまらないの日だ。ジョエーナさんと一緒にイケイアへ食事に行った。私たちは色々なことを喋るので、ずいぶん楽しかった。ジョエーナはスポーツ好きである女性だ。いつもの通り、彼氏とジョギングや水泳やサイクリングなどスポーツをするようにしているんだ。

僕も最近よく水泳しているよ。。。

why no 14.5

Ok i think i have one of the smallest body frame in Singapore for my age. Why would i say that? I had a hell of a time trying to find 14.5 shirts. Believe me, 14.5 is always out of stock.

14.5 , i believe, only 2 brands that I have encountered so far sell it. G2000, and Goldlion. G2000, despite having 14.5 shirts, have sleeves that were a little longer, whereas Goldlion's sleeves for 14.5 is pefectly fine.

So Sei and I have been hopping from Robinsons to various places to hunt for the fitting shirt, as taking size 15 seriously look inappropriate on me. The sales girls at these places had recommended me to try on 15, of which i have to flatly refused. They were pretty friendly and patient though :)

We went to Raoul in Raffles city, and the sales guy manage to help me alter the sleeves length and width to achieve a very fitting cut. This is the most expensive shirt i have ever gotten in my whole life, and alterations require another 20 dollars on top of the total bill. No more Raoul for me until i make enough money. But let me tell you, it's really worth the money; the quality of the cloth, the service; the colour and everything.

As a son of a seamstress, my mum had always taught me to tell from a good quality shirt and a lousy quality, Sei had also taught me what it means by 100 double ply cotton..etc All these terms seem to point to some inevitable truth, that I have stepped into a working world....

However, I do remind myself i have to be careful of the thin line between the NEEDS and WANTS which Sei had constantly remind me. Ok...in all i spend around 300 plus for 5 sets of shirts and pants, 1 additional pair of shoes.. is that alot?

Randomness

Was reading a blog of my friend's who had decided to take on SGH instead of DSTA, albeit the 33% higher pay that was offered from DSTA. How many of you guys out there could seriously make that decision?

Quoting from her blog:

"I figured a lot of things can be bought with money... butbutbut nothing beats reaching home before the sun has set and can go run and eat dinner with family and watch (crappy) mediacorp variety shows and drama serials. so there, goodbye DSTA, hello SGH. i hope my assumption that i can knock off on time at SGH is valid. minimally i know i will save a lot of time travelling everyday"

To me at least, it would be a very difficult decision.

Yesterday there was a small outing with Joanna, Zechou and Junyuan in Marina Square, where we were supposed to have a game of bowling of which was cancelled and we ended up chit-chatting at the starbucks. Topics range from gossips to job searching to our night cycling outing that was being postponed for too long since year 2 :)

As a result, we decided to go for night cycling tonight to East Coast Park, and then cycle to probably Changi...i doubt that it would be an overnight thing though. I believe it's going to be an interesting night.

TCM and WII

生さんは来週の土曜日から、一週間で台湾へ旅行に行く予定だ。

Let's start an entry in English this time. Sei is flying to taiwan for vacation from this coming saturday and will be there for a week. Taiwan had been his second home there, and I bet there will be alot of catching with this old friends there. In fact, he had a short stint there, teaching Japanese language to some taiwanese chinese students.

We finally got a few stuff over the weekend. First of all, we manage to catch Angels and Demons at AMK Hub because we thought we were pretty sick of patronizing Tampines 1(boring), Suntec(lagi boring because he works there), Marina Square(super boring). To our dismay, AMK Hub can be a little boring too. Am i getting a little old here? That those shops there no longer appeal to me as before? Hmmm

Oh well, we found a shop in AMK hub that sells the WII game controller. We purchase one more set, an additional one to the current set that we have, so that we can compete with one another in MARIO CART. I would say, he is better than me ...with occasional triumph from my side. We feel that purchasing those new games would not be rational, considering the fact that the WII machine could be modified to allow burnt cd to be played. Because the WII was purchased in JAPAN, the modification could be a little tricky and we were not sure if Singaporean stores, especially those SIM LIM SQUARE could solve the problem.

To Sei, those little neighbourhood retail stores(next to the AMK hub) seems to offer much appeal. I am prefectly fine exploring those familiar shops, that look so much like Bedok interchange retail stores. Ok, we approached a Eu Yan Seng outlet where we explore those supplements over there. Sei is a smoker, and perhaps we can find some useful supplements that could help him overcome some of the insomnia, cold and fever symptoms he had.

I often believe that those symptoms were due to his trying to break free from smoking. So, we decided to try out the Eu Yan Seng TCM(traditional chinese medicine) clinic just above the Eu Yan Seng retail outlet in AMK. As a note of precaution for people as poor as us, I check the consultation fee with the kind lady over at the counter. Everything seems reasonable, and it's definitely going to be around 50 dollars or so.

Sei could speak and understand a little Mandarin. But i would have to be his translator for that day at the clinic, because the TCM practioner was a lady from mainland China who couldn't speak English. I see that as a bonus, since I always believe that practioner from China must be really knowledgeable. Furthermore, we had requested to see a senior practioner as a consultation fee of around 17 dollars. Cheap right?

So there I was, trying to interpret, pause a while, and translate to Sei. The physician offer some body adjustment medicine and some medicine to help him overcome insomnia. He's going to take some powdery chinese medicine for 5 days. Whether or not it's going to be effective...we'll see.

Sei was glad he could finally see a physician as he had wanted to see consult a TCM physician for some time. Hope it works well. The auntie at the counter was very very helpful too. I indeed enjoy the professional experience there.

水泳

こんばんは。

さっきタンピニスへ水泳に行ったばかりだ。今日はプールで体を焼いていたよ。そして、伊勢丹でシャツとベルトを買った。ディスカウントが十五パセントあるよ。でも、自分で買い物するのが詰まらない！可哀そうね。。

僕の大学の友達は色々な会社に勤められる。例えば、警察部隊だし、教師だし、研究者になる友人もいるよ。今シンガポールで不景気な経済があるので、就職活動が大変だと思う。だから、仕事が見つかったのは幸せことだ。

こんな大変な時のに、僕はいつも明るくするようにしているよ。一旦試験が終わってから、一週間で就職していた。友達はよく遊んでくださいと言われたけど、僕は事業が大事だと思う。やっと今は遊べれるよ。嬉しいんだ。

仕事が見つかった。

こんばんは。作文の文法が正しくなかったら、ごめんください。

今朝、NUHへoffer letterをサインするのに行った。参考（さんこう）までに、NUHはシンガポール国立大学病院だ。NUHは僕の家からちょっと遠いけど、十分な給料と従業員手当｛じゅうぎょういん てあて｝を支給(しきゅう）するんだよ。良かった！

雇用条件｛こよう じょうけん｝を読むのが重要だと思う。それから、六月一日に病院で働いて始める予定だ。その時まで、とても暇だ。毎日運動するようにしている。IPPTテストを合格するように、今から一生懸命努力している。

緊張することに、この仕事の見習い期間（Probation Period)が六ヶ月がかかるよ。その期間以内には素晴らしい結果を出すべきだ。それに、三ヶ月以内に傷病休暇｛しょうびょう きゅうか｝を取られない。実に、八月七日に休憩したい。だから、上司と相談しないと。。

僕の夢はいつか日本へ旅行に行くことだ。日本へ行かないことには現実の日本の社会は理解できないだろう。でも、よく日本語を勉強したにもかかわらず話すことがまだまだよ。失望させられる結果けど、あきらめいないほうが良いと思う。

三日前に、オフィスで着る服を買ったよ。シャツとか、ズッポンとか、靴とか。。。高い！

サラリーマンの生活はきっと難しいと思う。