Short work week!

So... it's Friday again in the blink of an eye. My... how time flies. Then again, it was a really short week for me, talking about work of course. This is the third week at work, though I was only in office two days this week. Still, it was an eventful and busy week for me.
Monday -  I was as per the previous weeks off on the first weekday of the week. Well, my aunt did inform me that she was going to work that day and asked if I wanted to go to work as well. However, I already had other plans so I didn't go to work. I had a free ticket to Adventure Cove, which is at Sentosa island, and so spent a day there with some relatives and my sister. I have to admit that I did enjoy myself after a day spent there. Considering that I had a totally wrong idea what Adventure Cove was ( I had thought I was going to a theme park and so was actually preparing myself for roller coasters which I did not really enjoy), the water theme park, something similar to Wild Wild Wet, was so much a relief for me. It was also quite a relief for me to soak in the cool water of the pools there which is certainly a much needed respite from the sweltering heat that has become a permanent resident of the weather these last couple of weeks. Apart from the cool water, the rides there were quite exciting, not too intimidating, and generally felt fun after I had overcame it. I did feel that quite a number of the rides were quite mild after trying out a few rides. It was still good enough for me though. While trying out the different rides there, one thing did seem surprising to me. Despite it being a weekday, the start of the week no less, there was a surprisingly large crowd at Adventure Cove that day. This resulted in long queues which I had not been expecting. Still, the long time spent queuing for the rides gave me a great opportunity to get lots of sun on my skin and I sure had a nice tan by the end of the day. I was really glad of this as I had been trying to squeeze some time into my packed schedule for some swimming and tanning. We were almost complete with all the rides there by lunchtime given that there weren't many rides there and even then, I was already drained of energy. We did try out every one of the rides there. Haha, I would say it was having just the right company which enabled me to give each of the rides a go, Otherwise, I am almost certain that I would have backed out from quite a few of the rides there.
All in all, it was a day well spent.
Tuesday - It was yet another day at work today. Apart from clearing the usual stack of papers today, I also picked up a new skill - to use a machine to cut thick stacks of papers. I sure am being entrusted with more tasks each day, which sure is a good thing. Today was also the day I got to have a glimpse how the second level of the office looked like.
Wednesday - I was once again off from work today. My brother was enlisting and I accompanied him for the day. It sure was quite an experience being on Tekong for the first time. Haha, it would be some time before I see my brother again.
Thursday -  Another work day for me. My aunt was not in office today so I was left on my own to complete the left over work from Tuesday. I did try out a different place for lunch today. Well, I can't say that I am impressed with the food there. I did get quite a huge mug of lime juice for just $1.80. Still, I had tasted better in other eateries. Fast forward to evening and it was dinner with JL at Long John Silver. I cannot even remember the last time I ate that. Sure was a great meal nonetheless.
Friday -  I took the day off again today to make a trip down to my former school to ask some favours from my former teachers and the principal. Unfortunately, they were all busy either having lunch or probably at lessons. Well, seeing as it is the school holidays next week, it is likely I would not be able to find them in school next week as well. I guess I would just have to seek other options for my university application. Despite all that, I did get to meet some former teachers, and also caught up with a friend. Haha, I actually got him to come along with me to school partly to make myself less nervous and partly to get in touch with him.
See... it was still quite a busy week I had yeah? Hahahaa...

University Open Houses 2014

The weekends are over once again. This being the first weekend after the release of the A levels results, there were a couple of universities having open houses and I thus made it a point to visit visit some of them, namely NTU and SUTD on Saturday. Thus, I didn't do much else this weekend other than being at the universities. I did get JL to accompany me though.

Our first destination was SUTD seeing as that was the university I was most clueless about and thus needed to get most information on. I met JL at One North MRT station and grabbed a quick bite before heading to SUTD. However, it was only then that we realised that none of us had any idea how to get there although we did know it was somewhere near the MRT station. 

After some walking around though, it was to our relief that we saw a shuttle bus which would ferry us to SUTD. Haha... why didn't I check up on shuttle bus services? We boarded and soon found ourselves -entering the gates of the university, my school- to- be.

It was already past noon by the time we got to SUTD so it was after only a couple of hours of browsing around that we had to make our way to NTU. Well, I did gather some useful information though. I found out that students did not have to make a choice of their course of interest until after their first year of studies in SUTD. Thus, all students will begin with taking similar subjects and only select courses in their second year. Furthermore, the selection of students for SUTD is based on a broader criteria, taking into account other areas besides academic grades. I sure hope I stand a better chance here. The sustainable development courses offered here do interest me. 

After leaving SUTD, our next destination was NTU of course. Having previously looked at the courses NTU offered, on top of knowing where my interests lie, I already had a rough idea which courses I wanted to have a look at this time round. Thus, I made a bee line for the Environmental Science booth, Environmental Engineering booth and Economics booth soon after arriving at NTU. It was just about an hour to the end of the open house so I made a few quick queries regarding the courses before parting ways with JL to join my family for dinner.

It was only after I got home that day that I realised that I had some questions regarding the application process which I had forgotten to ask SUTD. Thankfully, the open house was still open today and so I made a quick drop by SUTD this morning to ask the admissions office staff some quick questions. Now, all that is left is to apply for the universities and hope for the best!

New experiences at work

Hey guys! Time sure flies uh? Another week just evaporated haha! So that means I have been working for two weeks now as of yesterday. One more week gone by, lots more to write about.
Over the past week, I picked up a couple of "office skills". On Tuesday, I learnt to print addresses onto envelopes. By Friday, I was already getting really used to doing that such that I was churning out stacks and stacks of printed envelopes every day. The next thing I learnt was to seal these envelopes in record time! The method I was taught to seal these envelopes more than tripled the number of envelopes I sealed as compared to before. It came as quite a surprise really. My aunt just saw me sealing the envelopes one by one really slowly on Friday and thus gave me some tips. I didn't know there was a skill to be learnt in something as simple as sealing of envelopes lol! So, with the new skills picked up, I was then able to carry out my tasks with more efficiency and ease.
After two weeks at work, I have pretty much gotten used to working life. The early morning squeeze on the bus, the never ending work waiting to be completed, crowded food centres and then back to squeeze in buses for the evening rush hour home. Haha, of course, I have also had to adapt the way I work to meet deadlines too. Well, and I have also come to realise that no matter how hard or how fast I work, there will always be work brought over to the next day to be completed. There is just ever so much work to be done haha!
Being one who isn't picky with what I eat, I am not too choosy about where I have my meals if I eat alone. As such, I have been frequenting the Bendemeer food centre for my lunch. Being able to enjoy my favourite food at low prices is sufficient for me. In fact, I have yet to patronise each and every of the stalls available there... haha!
Despite having gotten used to my work schedule. I have been getting to work kinda late ( ie. at 0900 or even after 0900 on some days). I really got to get out of bed earlier and clock in earlier for work just like last week. This past week was a short work week for me though, as I missed work on Wednesday due to having to attend to some private matters.
Looking forwards to another week at work. Hope my pay starts coming in soon though...







been getting to work kinda late
short work week wed did not go to work

2013 A levels results!!

So the long awaited day finally arrived. Today, I will finally know how well I did for the A levels exams I sat for last year. Throughout the day, I waited impatiently until 1400 for the release of the results. Then, I logged on to the website as instructed to check my results.

Well, I was not too disappointed with my results. Most of my grades remained the same as my previous results, with the exception of my H2 Chem and H2 Econs. My Econs grade went up by two grades from an E previously to a C. Unfortunately, my Chem grades fell by one grade from a D to an E. My GP grade remained a C as per the last results while my H2 Maths remained unchanged as well which meant a fail grade for Maths. Well, I guess I am just glad that I was able to still retain my C grade for GP despite not having had much practice on writing essays and attempting comprehension passages. I was also quite relieved to see that my Maths grade did not fall to a U. 

All in all, I am just glad that I did better overall than before. Well, I guess for one who isn't studying full  time what more without coaching, except for Econs and GP, attaining such grades is already quite a consolation. Still, the fight to get a place in university will be tough. 

Lots of luck to myself. :)

Toa Payoh SAFRA

Went TPY SAFRA yesterday with JL to swim finally. It has been quite some time since we last swam and TPY SAFRA is the only SAFRA that we have not swam at. It wasn't our first time there though as we had gone there before not too long after it first opened, hoping to swim before it got crowded. However, the pool was not ready then.
So... we had a really good swim although the pool was really crowded. However, the weather was good with bright, warm sun shining down and the water was warm. A satisfactory first swim there at TPY SAFRA. After our swim, we continued with our plan to have lunch at Yellow Submarines, a fast food outlet which was new somewhere in TPY as well. We wanted to try out the food there. Frankly, I was still clueless about what and where lunch was. All JL told me was that he had a surprise planned for me for lunch.
It was when we got there that I realised we would be having subs for lunch! It was nothing like Subway though. Yes, the buns were longish rather than round but there wasn't a selection of buns to choose from. There was only one type of buns so the only thing we needed to decide on was whether we wanted beef of chicken. We both chose beef and I must say that I found the beef sub to be quite dry as there wasn't much sauce at all. Thankfully, the cheese fries we ordered along with the subs more than made up for the lack of sauce in the buns. It was Nacho cheese all over the thick fries and every mouthful of that fries was flavourful, creamy and yummy! I guess I'm not too disappointed actually and I would love to have the opportunity to go back again for the chicken version.
It was getting a little late by then after our lunch. As there wasn't much to do there at TPY, we decided to head for home. After looking through Google Maps, we realised that we were not too far from Novena MRT station actually. That meant we did not need to walk all the way back to TPY MRT which was quite a long walk. Thus, we walked towards Novena MRT and passed by some rather interesting sights along the way.
First, we passed by a river called TPY river. There was a nice breeze blowing there and it looked rather tranquil. Next, we passed by Whampoa PCN and several other interesting places too such as zhong shan gong yuan (中山公园), zhong shan guang chang（中山广场）and some roads I have never even heard of before. I sure am glad we walked instead of taking the train. It sure made the journey home so much more interesting. In fact, I think we ought to do this more often, visiting places we hardly go to, finding new places and trying new things.
We eventually got to Novena MRT and left from there.

Working life is just shaggggggg!

Hi guys. So I am back once again after a really long hiatus from updating my blog. Haha, that is coz my com just got repaired... like finally! So I have started working just earlier this week on Tuesday and I shall talk a bit about it here.
So my first ever job, which is a part time job, consists of data entry, filing of papers and quite a fair bit of writing and sending out letters. I had certainly sent out more letters today than the other three days combined... haha! With the exception of the sending of letters, the other tasks are much more relaxing although there has to be full concentration at all times to ensure that papers are not misplaced and details are not overlooked. Furthermore, a clear mind is also needed to remember instructions and to keep track of what I had been doing. Thus, I have been getting myself used to carrying out the tasks in the office over the past couple of days. I am quite happy with my progress I might say.
Outside of work, I have also gotten a feel of what life in an office is like these past few days. From bringing my own water bottle on the first day of work, I have now started to make myself coffee and tea and thus drink from my desk. I have also been helping myself to the CNY goodies left there for us to munch on. Of course, I no longer bring my own water bottle haha! As such, I do have to make a conscious effort to remind myself to take periodic breaks to get myself hydrated.
Talk about breaks. Sitting in an office for long hours, what more staring at a computer screen, sure is very unhealthy. Thus, I again have to consciously make a effort to move around  and look away from the monitor every half an hour or so to rest my eyes and not to be too inactive. Haha, what better time to work my muscles than lunchtime then.
Being in an office, my lunch comes from my pocket. Well, not literally. But you do get the idea yeah? I have been frequenting a food centre not too far down the street from where I work, ever since I had been introduced to that food centre. I have thus been walking to and from the food centre instead of taking the bus. This is partly to get more exercise and to save some money, however little, on bus trips. Furthermore, the slow walk to the food centre enables me to slow down the pace of my life and take a break from the hectic work in the office.
Upon arriving at the food centre, I am greeted by the usual lunch crowd. Despite the food centre being fairly big with a wide variety of food choices and stalls, it has been quite packed for the past couple of days. Having tried the "lor mee" and duck rice over at the Bendemeer Food Centre for the past two days and having not been too impressed, I decided to give one of the other food centres a chance today. The "char siew" rice which I picked sure did appeal to my tastebuds more than my previous selections.
After a quick lunch, I would then take a walk back to the office under the hot scorching midday sun. I never fail to return to the office perspiring profusely. Then, I would get back to work sorting out the huge pile of papers on my desk. Thankfully, work ends at 1700 for me daily regardless of the amount of work that needs to be done.
Yupp, that seems to sum up how I had been spending the last four days. The  only surprising thing is that I am always so drained mentally and physically by the time I get home each day no matter how awake I had been while working. It is to the point that I just have one thing on my mind when I step into the house... Sleep! Hahas, so ciaoz guys, till my next update!