A shopping lesson learnt

Sometimes its puzzling how 'bo chup' I can be about my attire. It seems to me that when I go to places that are near home, I dress like I'm going to a wet market to buy things. As in, literally the exact attire that I wear to sleep & needless to say, similarly worn at home. Today I wore my faded green t-shirt & casual bermudas to Parkway Parade. I didn't really realise it until my Mum told me later when she met up with me at Parkway. She told me that people won't pay attention to me, if I dress so shabbily when going shopping. Whatsmore, it is a shopping centre, regardless of where or how near I stay! She was right... not many people bothered to approach me, even as I browsed through shop after shop.

Worse still, I wore sandals, when I knew that I was shopping for formal shoes! I can't believe it... how could I be so blur? So paiseh... one of the shoe-shop retail staff had to offer me a pair of socks to wear, so that I can try on a pair of black formal shoes! But it was a good & comfortable pair of formal shoes, so I bought it at $98. Yes, its expensive... but I really like the shoe, especially since it has anti-smell leather at the sole. Wonderful... =)

I also bought a pair of grey coloured formal pants, along with 2 formal long-sleeved shirts (1 light purple & 1 greyish blue). I thought they look freshly new in terms of colour, for a change. The total bill came up to $111. Wow! Plus the shoes, it added up to $209! Its quite a 'bomb' to me, but I liked what I bought & hope its going to last for sometime...

The journey so far

Life after graduation hasn't been emotionally easy for me. Since I finished my final exams in early May, I have been trying to find a permanent job to settle in. In fact, I began applying in like February or March, a few months even before my final papers. It has been quite awhile...

God has been playing quite an interesting role in my life since then. It all began with my volunteer participation in the Rainbows program at Farrer Park Primary School. It is a program designed to interact & counsel primary school children who come from divorced families. Although the program name was later changed to 'R Club 7' (something that I didn't fancy at all), I guess this program did make an impact in my life.

Looking back, I'm not sure how this program did some 'work' in my life... but one thing's for sure, God brought Ellen & Wee Liang into my life. Through Ellen, Wee Liang hired me as a research assistant cum admin executive at Singapore Management University. It lasted about 1 month (August) coz I had a SIM project mate who was desperate to leave her temp job at StarHub... & I wanted to enter in, hoping for better prospects since I don't intend to stay in the education line. Honestly, I didn't see much prospects in it, since I'm not working & being paid as a teacher or lecturer, which is the 'backbone' of the education industry.

Through God's grace, I managed to 'ace' the interview & got employed in 10 mins! Sharon Wong, the Business Market manager told me that this was the fastest interview ever! Yup, I think so too... definitely God's grace. Winnie Tan (my project mate) began coaching me in a 1-day crash course on StarHub corporate mobile services. If not for Wendy Ng (also my SIM course mate) sitting beside me & helping me along, I would have literally 'drowned' all by myself on the second day.

I took 2 weeks to stabilise myself in the fax-in sales team. Thereafter, I gradually progressed in efficiency, though not as efficient as the rest, but I was happy with my progress. I stayed in the fax-in team for about 1 & 1/2 months. Later on, I moved onto doing Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the department. That lasted another 2 - 3 weeks, before I moved on to do a bit of roadshow application forms checking, concurrently with fax-in sales. After another 1 - 2 weeks, I was transferred to the number management station, which is under Rebecca's Dad - John Seow Thiam Cheong. There, he coached me in the management of SIM card numbers, where I worked for the next 4 months.

In between the months at StarHub, Uncle John tried to recommend me for a few perm positions, but to no avail. I tried for (1) customer service executive, (2) marketing executive, (3) operations executve, (4) business process executive & (5) product executive. It was a sad time for me, as I barely had enough to save, after giving to parents & supporting myself. Not to mention, a couple more rejections to add on to my life history of job seeking.

Then, finally... in mid February, after going through THREE rounds of interviews with 4 staff, having my initial job position as sales support executive taken from me... I finally got selected & accepted into the Wholesale & International division as an 'Internal Account Manager'. Don't be mistaken, I'm not holding a managerial post... I'm just an entry level executive. But the location is at Paya Lebar, nearer my home & I've been blessed tremendously by God with a salary offer of $2,000! Marvelous! I was so shocked when Kareen Lai for Tai Seng HR called me! Although I played it cool over the handphone... Hee... =)

So right now, I'm waiting for a new temp staff to be recruited in, so that I can train him / her. My official start date is 7th March (Monday)... 2 weeks advance notice based on company policy. Much apprehension that I'm feeling about the entirely new job scope, new work environment, new colleagues, new journey to work, etc. But I'm trying to take it within my stride & pray along this journey. God be with me... Amen!

Wu(2) Shuo(3) Wei(4)

Rebecca & I went to visit Mrs Koh after church today. I was filled with much apprehension while standing at her doorstep, waiting for her to open the door. I haven't seen her in the last 8 years, since I stopped going for Chinese tuition lessons at Blk 100, Bedok North Ave 4. She was staying at the 3rd floor then...

When I first saw her, I was quite surprised coz I couldn't really remember how she looked like since almost a decade ago. She seemed quite surprised to see this 'stranger' standing outside her door too. I haven't seen her in town or at Bedok area & neither had she seen me all these years! Just a year ago I didn't actually wish to see her, coz my spoken Mandarin has deteriorated over the years & I'm not exactly an accomplished career man. Well, even if she did see me, I don't think that she could recognise me. Afterall, she exclaimed that my looks have changed. According to her, I have grown taller, stopped wearing spectacles & become less playful (that's what she thinks... *hee*).

Mrs Koh looks more plump now. She has stopped teaching tuition for several years now & is now taking care of her son's 2 children - 1 boy & 1 girl. The boy is very playful... kind of reminded me of my earlier playful days, though I was more cheeky & mischevious, rather than physically running & jumping around like this little kid.

Rebecca & I shared about how we have been these years... & Mrs Koh shared about her life so far too. Rebecca thinks she's happier now, though I thought she's just as busy with children, now that she has her own grandchildren to look after. Her husband was friendly too. I could still recognise him, though he needed a few minutes to recall who I am. But its ok, not everyone grows up looking more or less the same, like Rebecca... Hahahaha... =)

Fish & surprise!

Hahahaha... What an interesting subject title for this blog post!

Well, Rebecca & I went out to celebrate V-Day, as well as our 44th mth of being together. Initially, we planned to visit the Istana (Yup, its open on the 2nd day of CNY), but the queue was so so long (from the Istana till the bus stop outside Plaza Singapura)! So, we decided to drop the idea & went to Suntec City to catch a movie instead.

The movie was good (good recommendation by my GF), though I felt that there was a slight pint of disbelief that a group of people could take apart an airplane, re-design, re-assemble & re-construct another smaller (yet flyable) version of a large model aeroplane! Up till now, I still find it disbelieving, especially since the ending credits of the movie didn't state that it was based on a true story. But oh well, its just a show. It was also quite a refreshing movie to watch, since it didn't have the usual romance & sex. Its a good change...

Right, so after the movie, we went into a video retail shop & 'emerged' later with two VCDs! Opps, I mean, 1 VCD & 1 DVD, since Rebecca had mistaken the 'Dances with Wolves' DVD for a VCD. But its ok, I will the show too. Hope to watch it soon... And guess what? I got a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) cartoon VCD! I really like it coz it shows a few of the popular cartoon serial. Kind of like re-living my childhood days... though the turtles look a lot bigger on the screen when I used to watch them at a very young age. *Laugh*... =)

What happened next? Rebecca & I went to Fort Canning, hoping to eat at the Sunrise cafe at the top of the hill, but was told by one of the ranger guards that it was closed & had fully converted into a cooking school. Then we went to YMCA hoping to have a nice quiet dinner at the YMCA cafe, but found that it was also closed! Aiyoh... but okay lah... at least we found some brochures of cheap language courses! Rebecca is keen on learning Thai... I'm keen on learning Japanese, French & probably Thai too... so that both of us can communicate & not let our learning go rusty.

Now the best part - after scouting a few places to eat, we ended up going into a Fish & Co 'glass house' just outside Park Mall. We pondered outside for some time, until Rebecca tried to usher me into the entrance, coz other customers have begun to queue up... & we actually arrived before them. Hahaha... so cute... =)

We ate our usual 'Seafood Platter for One' & found out that 2 sets were too much for us. Erm, as in, too much for Rebecca. I was pretty much quite okay... Then! Then Rebecca predicted that there would be a performance on stage. After holding her prediction in my head for almost an hour, this long-haired & soft spoken guy came on stage to entertain us with some songs. I like him coz he's soft spoken. Somehow my heart just doesn't prefer people who talk with loud & roudy voices.

So what happened? Well, in the beginning (not the ancient of days), both Rebecca & I seemed to be the only two people attentive to his singing & playing. He smiled & waved at me a few times! Then, my horror came... he came around while singing a song, touched my shoulder, put the microphone in front of me... & told me to continue singing the song! I was dumb-struck, but decided to have fun & just sing along... just for the fun of it! I think the song is "Sometimes when we touch". Rebecca enjoyed herself & thought that I sang quite well! I was surprised too, though I thought that I had 'Zao2 Sia1' about two times during the chorus due to the high notes. And guess what? The guy asked me "Are you from Singapore Idol?" Hahahaha... what a question / remark... Funny... =)

It was truly a surprise at Fish & Co, thus I titled this blog post as "Fish & surprise!" Even Aunty Molly's eyes opened wide when Rebecca told her that I sang at Fish & Co! Hahahaha... Indeed, an interesting & rare occasion...

Thinking about it, that guy's quite weird or cute (whichever you choose to think of it). He says odd comments like "Fish & Co is one of the best restaurants in the world. Afterall, it is an international restaurant... so I like to sing at this restaurant." Then he says things like "Fish & Co is healthy food! No cholestrol... or at least it has good cholestrol." Duh! And after saying these weird things, he will suddenly say "Is my boss here?" Hahahaha... =)

"Applause is good... but I need cash... Nay, I'm just kidding..." Guess who said that? Him... =)

Interior decor & 3 course buffet

I think I really pamper my terrapins. A few days ago, I decided to gather rocks for Terry & Jacey. So while walking home, I strolled past the outside fence of Victoria School, scanning the ground for suitable rocks & stones to decorate my tank. Hopefully, my terrapins would feel more homely among the wild. One thing that I realised - rocks are definitely more hardy & easily washable as compared to wood. So there... I added several big rocks & smaller stones, adding further variety of 'infrastructure' & decor for my pet shellbacks.

Honestly, I think they have become much happier with a totally different layout, with a mixture of wood & stone for their home. I still remember that I spent like almost an hour trying to figure out the best way of placing the rocks, so as to lift up the wood to a higher level, thus giving greater depth of water for my terrapins to swim in. Finally... it looked good... with two stone platforms for my pets to busk in, with full view of the sunlight which they need for their bodies. Conversion of calcium or something like that.

Just today, I picked up a leafy plant from around my estate to further beautify their scenery. Wow... I tell you, I really like the way this leafy plant just floats above a stone, near the corner of the tank! At first, my terrapins were a bit surprised. But as usual, Jacey turns courageous first & explored this new plant in its living atmosphere. She looked so cute popping her head through its thin green leaves & surveyed what's around. She begun to nibble at its leaves & even went for the little tiny shoot of baby-leaf that was just emerging from the centre of the plant! Seeing her example, Terry joined in too... Aww... these cuties... =)