Day with Countless Visible Products

[Friday, 14 January, 2011]

Sore throat started to erupt. I was working on the tuition agency website and had the “Singapore Services” page up and also revamped on “Our Services”. Then, I blogged about the release of GCE ‘A’ level results 2010 in year 2011. I finally went to bed at 5am.

I woke up after 11am and set off to the office at noon. The property agent in representing LHN group came over and we had a long chat from the office to the canteen. We tried the leftover dishes from the new Chinese chef.

After writing a new blog at Smart Tuition Singapore Blog about Sophie, I continued with some amendments for the admin side. Then, I proceeded to do SEO.

Mike and I took cab over to Vivocity in the rain to take a walk and have our dinner. We went back to Challenger and were quite disappointed that the Xbox showcase area was filled with products and I supposed the charismatic Xbox girl had finished her holiday job.

We went over to Harbourfront Centre and I was impressed with the shop next to the food court that sold very creative and cool household products. Then, we had western food at the first level for our dinner before heading back to the office by bus to Kampong Bahru Road.

I worked on the Singapore Schools page and began my crazy SEO journey for the night. We were both excited to see the results weeks later. We left the office at 11pm and I continued with work right after reaching home.

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The Whole Day on the Tuition Agency Site Again

[Wednesday, 5 January, 2011]

I worked on the tuition agency website until 4am. I woke up after 9am and reach office by 10.30am. I rushed to do the flyer for recruiting tutors. Soon after Mike came, which was around noon, the man for doing QP came to evaluate.

We had lunch at Everton Park and we tried the chicken chop, which was very normal.

After going back to office, I worked on the page for tutor to edit their profiles. My younger brother’s SMS to ask me to email a parent caught me in a bad situation as I knew nothing about the tuition assignment and thus was quite worried that I might make a mistake. After that, I made amendments to a number of pages.

Mike and I had dinner at the $4 nasi lemak shop around Kampong Bahru Road. The ikan billis tasted very special in a good way. We continued working in the office until 10pm.

Eng Teck was at my house and both my younger brother and I thought it would be good if he was not leaving Singapore for half a year so that we could have worked on the tuition agency together.

I spent the rest of the night working on the tuition agency site.

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One of the Best Days – Suntan, Dinner and Movie

[Friday, 3 September, 2010]

I was taken aback to realise that my source code for the Quit Smoking Calculator being stolen by someone who was foolish enough to be discovered by me. I was probably too naïve to believe that the world was still quite decent and nobody would have done that; at least the person would have credited it to me. This was not the case this time and the girl did not even care to modify much of the coding. I dropped her an email to check if she was a human or wildlife before I would do anything. I could see details of her in her Facebook profile.

I spent too much time doing the website instead of looking for a job, and I really cherished my baby a lot.

This nasty incident forced me to include a simple copyright statement on top of the pages in a form of comment. Scripting in JavaScript for simple application was easier than doing it in PHP, which involved other pages, but due to security purpose, I would have to make new adjustments in future.

I went to bed after 5am but the backache caused me my sleep. It was really bad this time that I could only doze off after 6am despite I was really tired. I woke up before 8am, before my alarm clock on my phone sounded. Even though I lazed on the mattress, I did not dare to doze off for I knew I would oversleep. Wanling dropped me a SMS to delay our meeting time from 9.30am to 10.30am. After stepping out of my house before 10am, I asked her and she told me she would make it at 11am instead. I returned home after seeing her reply.

The top buttons of my Sony Ericsson G705 failed on me whenever I pulled the slide phone down and I had to push it back before I could press the button to send SMS. Since I had got the time, I did a restore factory setting action to be surprised that the phone went back to normal. However, it soon regained the stupidity. I was glad that the phone did not die on me totally before I met up with Wanling at Harbourfront MRT station.

We went to Breeks Café at Harbourfront Centre. Since I had taken my breakfast while waiting for her earlier on, I did not have room for food. Consuming a bowl of soup was filling enough. We started our usual chatting and I was quite astonished over her comment on me that I had too many things in mind to get working, which made her a good observer. We went over to the hawker centre to purchase our lunch from my favourite chicken rice stall before we boarded the Sentosa bus.

We went to Siloso beach on account that there would be more bikinis than the Palawan Beach’s side. We lay the picnic mats and started to enjoy the peaceful day, watching foreigners passing by and a couple showing off hot kisses. It was one of the best afternoons I had ever had, suntanning with a sweet girl who could easily tolerate all my craps and indecisiveness for more than eleven years.

Apart from the enjoyment, I had headaches regarding the dinner date I had with Guoxin and Mingli without my phone. I had to use Wanling’s phone to communicate with them and I was hoping too much to finalise it as soon as possible that it cracked my head. The problem was I wanted to include Wanling in since she had no curfew, and that Mingli had told me that she did not want to go out till late hour. Guoxin and I were considering over catching a movie after dinner over either at Vivocity or Jurong Point. If we were to catch it at Vivocity, it was more convenient to go home for Wanling but Mingli might find it a hassle to meet us; whereas, Jurong Point was too far for Wanling to go home. Guoxin suggested going to his house after the movie at Jurong Point to wait for his dad’s car so that he could send Wanling and I home, but it would be after midnight. After hesitating for some time, Wanling finally gave in and agreed to Guoxin’s suggestion.

After washing up in the late afternoon, we went to Harbourfront’s MacDonald’s because Wanling was too thirsty for the coke, which she claimed that the restaurant served the best. I tried hard to fix my phone but it insisted to depart.

We met up with Guoxin first and went to the movie ticket booth immediately to purchase the tickets. Mingli met up with us at New York New York. I had a plate of teriyaki chicken instead of fish and chips for I wanted to fill my stomach with something harder. After dinner, we shopped for a while until near 9pm when the movie started. I forgot to get a group photo before Mingli left.

We went into the cinema right in time when the movie – Grown-ups – started. The seat was low and I had a bad time with my back, trying not to block the person behind me by sitting low. The comedy was fantastic and I almost died laughing many times. I supposed the companion made it better.

After that, we took bus to Guoxin’s house and started playing with his dog, Golden. Then, we played daidee and I got my ear and forehead hit by Guoxin.

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Banking Department had Left

[Thursday, 19 March, 2010]

Upon reaching the office, I was plagued with the fact that the banking colleagues were leaving. I was numbed in my brain. Their shifting to the Bishan campus was nothing compared to my dad’s departure more than ten years ago, but soon, I was going to feel so indifference without their presence. One day, I would be hearing their noises out of nowhere.

This morning, the office was noisier than before for the SYOG teams were preparing for the afternoon’s training. I helped out a bit. Joy and Hirman were already at the battlefield bravely with the HCJC volunteers while Weitat was obviously luckier to be leading the Cedar girls in the afternoon. It would be a very good experience if only I had my language skill improved that I would be able to help out. Obviously, I felt left out due to my incapability.

All of them were gone and I thought I would really be alone until Mingfa called me out for lunch together in the rain. He came over to pick me up soon and we went to West Coast market. The chicken chop was overrated. I felt quite bad for Mingfa had to take the extra miles to specially fetch me and send me back when he could easily cross over from Clementi Wood Secondary School after his morning coaching.

The tidying up of my resume was beginning to turn into a nightmare. It seemed like never-ending. I was very amazed with Josephine’s knowledge and nothing could really show my gratitude for her assistance.

In the evening, Hirman gave me a ride. When we were at the gate, he managed to attract the attention of Sie Sie by banging the left mirror but he remained cool and cheerful. We got Sie Sie to hop onto the car and we happily left together since she was on the way to Capitol Tower, which was near my place. However, we met very heavy traffic jams at AYE and Hirman turned to Holland Village but we had too many fans on the road to slow us down badly. With the radio news reporting that ECP was filled with zombies, Hirman changed his mind and decided to take CTE instead. Alas, he dropped us at the Central, where we transited to the train.

I knew well the journey would be longer than taking train directly at Clementi but did not expect the jam to cling onto my legs. I was cool with it since my main purpose was to chat with Hirman but Sie Sie could no longer make it for her Yoga class and thus, she decided to go to her usual workout place – UOB tower – instead.

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Health was Big Issue

Yesterday morning, I woke up having my left calf cramp suddenly after a normal little wake-up stretch, or rather, straightening of my legs. Luckily, the pain subsidized soon. I struggled for some time to decide whether which type of doctor should I visit – western or Chinese physician. Alas, I took the latter.

I was the third in queue, but before that, I was lectured by the cashier who told me that that was a charity organization and thus I should not have passed her a fifty dollars note for the four dollars registration fee but my wallet was already empty and there was nothing I could do.

The doctor said I was extremely “heaty” and that indeed I had flu. I went out quite soon to get my medicine, handing over the used empty bottle over to the pharmacist, who further nagged at me for not removing the previous label. Since more than ten years ago it was okay for them to paste new labels over the old ones and I was not sure of their new restriction, so much for disallowing recycling of the bottle months ago since the H1N1 outburst.

I went to report to work still after getting changed at home. Once I reached the office, I almost started to shiver under the air-conditioner and thus I had to move to an empty classroom again. It was in fact, too late, that my illness was already worsened before the shifting.

Lunch was together with Daniel, Dorothy, Jingkun and surprisingly, Chi Chiang. We went to West Coast hawker centre and I took chicken chop despite the “heatiness” inside my body. The meat was quite disappointing.

In the afternoon, I went to the lecture theatre for the briefing organized by the Fitness Department in regarding of the health improvement challenge. Actually, I was only interested in the results of the previous health screening. I was given a student trainer who could not escape my nose that he was a smoker. However, since he looked quite soft and nice, I did not want to make things difficult for him and thus, I did not say anything nor request for a change. The Polar watch loaned was quite interesting and I could not wait for my illness to be cured so that I could go for a jog using it.

I went for dinner with Mei Hoe. We went to the Clementi new shopping centre and decided to dine at Sakae Sushi. I did not feel good that Mei Hoe insisted to foot the bill again, saying that she was treating me as her god son. I did not want to owe anyone any favour no matter how close we were.

Anyway, she showed me her medical report, displaying the extreme low blood cells in her body to worsen my mood. She could have collapsed anytime. Worrying for anyone was the worst thing I would want to do after being drained off totally more than a month ago.

When I was reaching The Cathay’s Starbucks, I checked my phone and realized Andy had dropped me a message that he was not feeling well and thus would not be going down. Soon Siong and Stephen were already there and there was no sign of Mr John or Jeremy would come down, let alone to reply our emails. Seeing that I was weakened by the illness, both of them decided to call it a day soon.

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Dinner at Redhill Market after Badminton

On Tuesday, my nightmare arrived again. I hated to be alone at certain places.

How would you feel if you were left alone to handle many immature people and have to take care of the equipments at the same time that you could not even go to the washroom for three hours?

It was not only tediousness, but also the enduring power to hold bladder. It was both physically and mentally draining.

I took care of the exhausting morning to begin on a better day, in my discomfort throat and cough, I pulled through the afternoon. The badminton session was a release of tension from my mind. I did not play well but I felt very comfortable with my diving skill, even though I created more bruises on my knees.

After that, I went to Redhill hawker centre to have dinner with Mei Hoe. Unfortunately, I was too thirsty that I could not take much food and Mei Hoe preferred to order many small dishes to share. In the end, she had a small plate of oyster while I had an awful plate of chicken chop.

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Last Volleyball Games before Hell Days Again

I had my last two sessions of volleyball because going into exile for another two to three months.

Tuesday began with the badminton game. It was quite fine. Then, we went to West Coast Plaza to have dessert, however, ended up in an awkward situation, dining in a Chinese restaurant. In fact, almost no one felt like eating.

Jingkun, Weitat and I returned to have the volleyball game. On the way, I had a cup of bubble tea, which caused extreme discomfort in my chest, such that I could not breathe properly. In my sprained right ankle, I had one of the worst volleyball days ever. It was a bloody day. Mingfa sent me home after that.

On Thursday, I was doing work alone in the office until evening when everyone started to arrive slowly. The stress of the work and the lack of sleep, together with the sprained ankle did not seem to tie me down. Over a few games, I started to get back some touch of the ball.

The worst thing that I had done was to give up playing together with my teammates so that others could play. Then, I joined another team in the next game and I could almost stroll around. Then, I had to wait outside the court for the next couple of games. The last game was boring.

We went to the Popeye at Singapore Flyer but changed destination to Bedok 85. I had a plate of chicken chop before going home to finish a bowl of fried rice.

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My Younger Brother was Back from Europe

My younger brother finally returned from Europe last Friday. His girlfriend drove over to pick us up before going to Changi Airport Terminal 1 to receive him.

It was certainly a great exposure for him, which I would never have the chance to experience.

Alas, my mum needed not to worry for him anymore and that I could have a higher chance to have someone to accompany me to play LAN game before the commencing of my hell days two weeks after.

We had lunch at Vivocity’s Food Republic and I forgot that I should not take the expensive chicken chop since the standard had dropped.

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Cashier Order and Shop at Vivocity

On Saturday, Gilbert made arrangement to go to Marina South Pier. It was a busy morning for me since I had to rush down to the POSBank to buy cashier order to pay for my school fee.

I received two missed calls from numbers which were not in my contact list. Just as I was locking the door, I received another call again and I realised it was from Meihoe. Mr Ng had invited me out for lunch and I felt too pampered over it.

I arrived at the bank and was so fortunate that there was no queue. I tried to cash in a cheque but the bank teller told me I had to drop it at the box outside. Next, I found out about buying the cashier order and even though she told me I had to pay a five dollar fee, I did not want to waste my trip down. Next, I found out about the maximum purchase using NETS could be adjusted to $3000 per day and the maximum for ATM withdrawal was only $2000.

I went home to place everything back and gave Gilbert a call and he insisted me to put on the new clothes and shoes, and thus, it took me ages to get out of my house. I met him below his office and walked over to Keppel Road to take a bus towards Vivocity instead of Marina South Pier since the sky was getting dark.

We had our lunch at the Food Republic food court and I got myself the usual chicken chop but it was not as yummy as in the past anymore. The shopping trip started and I finally got to buy Gilbert his birthday gift. I also got myself a sleeveless shirt to make my collection four. Nevertheless, the stay at Topman shop was too long and exhausted me.

Gilberto in his new jacket

Me at the corner of the seat. The lighting was quite special.

The sauces

We took a rest at a new restaurant called Barcelos. My focus was on one of the staffs who looked like primary school kid as I remembered in the past, there used to be an age limit for youngsters to work part-time.

It was getting late and we had to call off the plan to the Marina South Pier.