PhotobucketPhotobucketPhotobucketPhotobucketPhotobucket

Monday, October 1

The Po-Po Encounters

I'd planned to blog this post a lot earlier than this will be posted (no guarantee I'll actually be able to hang in and finish up this post for today), but work awaits and there's countless fall TV series for me to catch up on (Modern Family, Glee, 2 Broke Girls, New Girl, the list goes on...) so those somehow took priority over the blogging. If only time will freeze... then I could do all the time-wasting stuff (basically consisting of almost everything I do) while everything stays motionless and still... and leave the time when it ticks on for the compulsory things... like work.

Not to say that I hate my new job entirely. I barely think I have any reason to hate it, even. The people there are pretty nice (the ones I have to get in contact with as part of my job responsibilities anyway), but my mind does run amok at times. Perhaps I'm just being pessimistic. But pessimism is good sometimes. Too much optimism spells trouble sometimes too, right? My job responsibilities may feel mundane, but I still enjoy it (on some level), and I don't mind one bit. But maybe something in me seeks something a little more exciting than sitting by the desk facing a giant computer screen and running up and down the next. 

Honestly, I've always wanted a computer screen that huge, especially back when I was a full-fledged Windows user and a full-on gamer (think MMORPG games like Maple Story lol). Now? Not so much. I stare too long at the giant screen, and my eyes start to hurt and I have to squint a little. Or perhaps that's just a sign of aging. Still, it's sad either way. 

Anyway, the workplace has a strict policy of all employees wearing around their passes with the lanyards around the neck. Entry to almost every single office, building, facility and etcetera in there is hampered by a security device, so you have to use the pass to tap it whenever you wanna enter someplace. One morning (I think it's already been two weeks thereabouts since it happened), after I tapped my pass to get through the barrier from the Reception area, I absentmindedly kept the pass back in my bag, and began my slow, carefully paced walk to my office. And guess what got me? A run-in with the po-po! There aren't usually police standing at that exact spot he was at (seems like there were lots of 'em that day––probably an event), but there he was, standing in the middle of the carpark. I was almost walking past him, and he stopped me and asked for my pass. It's safe to say I was still feeling all sleepy, but deep within the crevices of my heart, it was ringing crazily off the hook. I try to avoid running into the authorities if I can. I like to think of myself as the good kid. The goody-two-shoes. Not so much the teacher's pet, 'cos that's just a stupid title to live up to. I dug the pass out of my bag and showed it to him. But that wasn't enough. Oh hell no. He dug up all of my personal particulars (okay, just my name––last name included––and my IC number). And asked whether I was new here and an intern, to which I meekly replied, "Yes." He also asked for the department I worked at (more about that later...). But he let me go after that, and warned me to wear it at all times from now on. I thanked him at the end of it (which I'm not too thrilled about doing when I think about it now).

When my supervisor returned the next week, on Monday, he asked me whether I had forgotten to wear my pass. And mentioned he had been 'informed' about it. But after that, he just kindly told me not to forget, or it'll get him into trouble. Haha. Still, an embarrassing sitch to run into. Thank God I'd came early and there weren't too many people around when the po-po stopped me for questioning. Wonder what happens to the regular employees who forget to tote around their pass. Hopefully, for the rest of the 19 weeks there, I won't forget to tote it around again! 

ONWARDS!

Check out this cool cereal set I bought from the supermarket! It's supposedly imported from Ireland and it only cost me about a buck and a few extra cents!

The milk was just plain gross. Then again, I only like chocolate milk. No idea how I got past my childhood years drinking plain white milk...
Received a card holder and the official lanyard at last!

I'd been collecting a lot of mooncake boxes for my company lately, what with the Mid Autumn Festival (that is finally over, thank goodness!). I told my aunt, uncle and mother about it, and they jokingly commented, "There's still Christmas. There're probably hampers that you have to carry back around that time too." With the ordinary mooncakes, I could take sometime walking to collect and back. But then came the ice cream mooncakes from Swensens! Never really tried mooncakes in their entirety before, but I got to try two types while I was there! Was offered a full mooncake with liqueur chocolate in the center, and a slice of chocolate ice-cream mooncake! They didn't taste as bad as I'd imagined, especially the latter. It was mostly ice-cream. 
Ice Cream mooncake from Swensens my supervisor offered!

I started out the first week of internship thinking I'd have no companion for lunch, and was wondering how I'd survive lunch for 5 months on snacks I'd planned to bring to work and the 2-bucks worth of sandwiches from the vending machine. But then came Carmen! She arrived a week later than us for some reason, and I was lucky enough to see her by the Reception when I was checking for packages when I arrived. 
The first dish I had in the canteen while eating with my fellow interns!
 Another dish I tried (Hong Kong Char Siew Noodles) while eating with Carmen!
The McDonalds' lunch my supervisor kindly paid for me, and upsized too! I rarely upsize my meals at Macky Ds, really. Politely declined a few times, but had no choice but to have to state what I wanted for a meal. Haha. He commented how they occasionally do Mac deliveries for lunch. Not sure if I hope to run into that again.
A pink macaron that I got to eat for two days! A company was doing a beta test of some sort at the canteen and gave away free cupcakes and macarons to permanent staff. The macarons were plain awesome!
Becky arrived to my workplace at the right time to try the macaron too! She actually got to take a photo with Rui En and Pierre Png, the lucky girl! 

And... I met her again in the evening after work ended! We spent really long deciding what we wanted for dinner. I died a few times that evening, no thanks to some fickleness. *I kid!* We ended up at Saizeriya Italian Restaurant (I'm sure I've blogged about it before, but it's an average-grade restaurant that offers a variety but taste-wise, nothing exceptional. I've been there many times now, and I usually try something different (I love the idea of eating through the menu!) So this time, I got...
Mushroom and bacon risotto! I honestly expected better risotto (you know, ones that don't taste like rice doused in cream sauce). The bacon was a tad too salty, and the mushrooms were acceptable. Still, I managed to finish it, but I wouldn't order this dish again. Perhaps I'll go back to the Vongole pasta. That one was awesome. Namely because it's filled with clams and uses linguine pasta. 
Becky ordered a cheap plate of tomato spaghetti! With way-too-salty bacon in it.

In all fairness, I'm continuing this blog post about a week later than when I originally typed up all that stuff up there. I should start having page/jump breaks in my posts. Otherwise, my blog would be helluva load to scroll through.

My father brought home his camcorder for me at last (I wanted to buy a new camcorder at the last Comex show)! I've always wanted to own a camcorder. And now that I have it... I discovered I've nothing really to do with it. Lest I decide to create my own movies and such. Perhaps I'll be inspired to, only if I have the whole Final Cut Pro software or summat. iMovie doesn't suffice, barely.
It's still in amazing condition! And it was pretty expensive when he got it. There's an option to save it in the memory card or the hard drive of the camcorder! Amazeballs!

See, it's been so long, I don't even remember when I'd gone out for dinner with my cousin anymore! So I probably won't be able to recount that. I think the first set of photos belongs to a Friday, the first Friday of the first week of internship. I remembered how I was complaining to my poor cousin about being all tired about work (when it really was nothing compared to the workload I have now). Anyway, we met up at Bishan for dindinz, and we came upon the treasure: Ambush, famed (not that famous really) for its casual european dining menu. There were even escargots. But I decided to save my money for better, less-casual snails. 
Look what my cousin brought to dinner! An Eeyore handbag! It oozes furry cuteness, non? I'm probably heading to buy one of these for myself later this week with my cousin, and I'm stoked! 
My cousin, Gloria, posing with her bag. I made her do this. She had zero choice but to comply.
A rather cheap-looking menu resembling a newspaper. The layout is great though, no complaints there!
Batter-fried squid? I don't remember the exact title of this appetizer.

My cousin's pasta with the humongous sausages.
Wait, I guess I did order some snails after all, albeit in a pasta dish. They tasted meh.
For dessert, we headed to saybons for a Nutty Nutella crepe!

Another dinner date with my cousin, this time on a Thursday! I remember, because I'd planned to do some shopping at Oakham Market. By the time we reached Ann Siang Hill and to the front door leading to the basement of OM, I realised the door wouldn't budge. And then I saw a 'Closed' sign. And then my mind flashed back to the time I'd gone there with Becky and we'd gotten in the same predicament (except it was in the day). And I remembered OM's website stating it only opens Friday to Sunday. And I was a day short. Oh well.
The pretty lanterns lit up above the roads along Chinatown, in light of Mid-Autumn Festival! It was a beautiful sight. And it's not even the Christmas season. That's something to be said.

We were hungry and went hunting for dinner. We ended up at a Chinese restaurant. The traditional sorts, with salted, roasted peanuts as appetizers and traditional utensils with traditional Chinese prints. Omg, kill me. I just used the word 'traditional' thrice in a sentence. What has become of me?

My cousin's pissed expression as she waits for the food, as well as at the over-enthusiastic staff.
Braised ee-fu noodles with mushroom, and chicken with dried chilli (no one ate the latter though)!

The noodles were awesome, I gotta admit.

Blew my cash on this unappetizing bowl of mango dessert with sago. 

It's my first time entering a Chinese restaurant voluntarily. Rest assured, it's my final time too. It's not that the food was overly lousy or expensive. But... it's just not worth it, if you're not going there for something other than wedding banquets.

On a completely unrelated note...
Two plates of Pop-Tarts I prepared for Becky & I when she came over for some secret mission art session!

And something else that is waaay overdue. I think the exhibition has even ended its run here in Singapore already, in late September! The Harry Potter exhibition! Here are some snaps of the goodies I got from there (I wish I got more, but one shouldn't be excessively greedy...)
A Gryffindor beanie! It fits perfectly over my head. Too the colour doesn't match my Gryffindor scarf I'd bought for USD$90+ online. It's a far cry, in fact. Oh well. Where else would I use a beanie of this shade without looking I'm trying too hard to cosplay as a Harry Potter character? I welcome any ideas.
Does the real Gryffindor beanie (the one they used in the movies anyway) even resemble this colour?
Got a huge Undesirable poster! This would only come in handy after I get to renovate my room. This is worthy of getting its own frame.
The similar one that's sold online!

If I vaguely remember, my mother and I went to a scholarship and top university fair (for US & UK universities anyway––and one German university for some maritime thingy) before we went for the exhibition. Anywhere seems appealing right about now.
My mother got me a caramel waffle snack (loved it!) and sunblock for the face from Ocean Potion! You can't be too careful!
Share

Wednesday, September 19

Anxieties

Damn, I've been blogging (on and off, no doubt) for a few years now... it's unbelievable how I still find it so taxing to come up with a starter line interesting enough to rope readers in to the *real* stuff. I'll continue working on it though... 

And now that the first paragraph's over and settled with... 

I've no idea what I can really say on my blog posts now. My life mainly revolves around the internship presently, what with 10 and a half hours spent at work each day, and there isn't a lot I can write about without getting into legal prosecution risks of divulging confidential information. But I'm pretty sure emotions and thoughts don't really count in that. 

Speaking of which, I kind of enjoyed Media Law (which I took the past semester), even though I only managed to scrape through with a B+ at the end... Undecided if I should actually pursue Law completely in university, and I've to admit: I've never once given a damn thought about doing Law. But perhaps Media Law had contorted the inner workings of my mind, who knows. But what happens then, even if I study Law? Do I become a lawyer? Where do I work? A giant legal firm? A small, independent, private law firm? (I don't mind small companies, really!) Do I even possess the confidence and willpower to obtain what's right for clients as a lawyer? I mentioned the whole studying Law notion to my uncle and jokingly remarked I could be a judge. Right, as if it's that easy. My aunt decided against it. She said it spells for hard times, being a lawyer. If dire times call for desperate measures, perhaps a legal counsellor? Someone who deals with family/divorce trouble? In any case, my future in university (hopefully I get into one) is a big question mark. I want to study theatre. TV. Film. Writing. French. It's a pity university education is not free-of-charge the world over, that'd make it so much easier to go to whichever country I desire (assuming I can get in!) Apparently, my friend in Finland pays nothing for her university education! She's happily studying singing in a university in the city of Turku now. The Finnish got it swell.

Anyway, think I terribly railed off the subject I intended this post to be about, so it's time I get back on track. Wish I could say the same about my own life. Standstill. Crossroads. 4-way junctions. Those are words I can describe about my present state. I go about my day with careful routine––hey, routine is good y'know. According to an article I read in Reader's Digest (the iPad digital versh), unpredictable schedules and lack of a regular routine "spike[s] levels of the stress hormone cortisol and disrupt your body's ideal state" (BAM! Sufficient true blue informative facts for one post, there ya go!) 

So the subject at hand: Internship. I have about 20 weeks left to go, come Friday this week! I end on 8 February, so if the world doesn't blow up on me and the rest of the world by then, I'll very gladly take my leave! I know, it may be too early to tell, you say? I actually like being in the field of TV. It's vastly interesting. Just yesterday when I was doing my rounds (or maybe when I was going home), I heard two ladies commented how they had to remove the homosexual scene in the drama series premiering soon (or has it already premiered?), 'Revenge'. I've watched up to the latest episode (right before the hiatus) and I know it like the back of my hand (I'm not exaggerating here, people). They meant the scene between Tyler and Nolan, where the two dudes kiss in the privacy of Nolan's metal-hard study, after they've got a deal working of some sort. Ignore this if you don't actually watch 'Revenge' or remotely even care for it. That's such a pity really, in my opinion (I can see I am beginning to tread on dangerous ground here). Cutting out the homosexual scene completely and leaving out an otherwise vital part of the story? Actually, it may not really have been necessary, lol. But I guess the authorities have to do what's best for the conservative nation we still are now. All right, I should stop there before I start rambling too much. 

On second thought, I shall blog more about this whole internship when I feel up to it. I know I have barely typed 10 lines on the internship itself, but it can wait! I've got ample weeks more of it. 

Photos below! I've taken some shots of my desk and the area around my cubicle, but it's probably not the best idea to put it up online, not when the whole place is so security-protected anyway.

 My first meal, on Day 3! I get anxious when I see egg in my food, then the picking starts. I barely touched the thing (except strands of noodles and vegetable stems maybe) and brought it home as left-overs instead.
 In the background: my official notebook for internship (I record my dailies––what I do each day––there!), and a "limited-edition" sticker set (related to the TV channel I'm working for) a kind corlick gave when she noticed my really huge notebook!
 Offered a snowskin mooncake by another corlick that we received boxes of today and yesterday from Raffles Hotel (I was actually collecting mooncake boxes and delivering back empty ones yesterday...)!
 It's alcoholic mooncake! Liqueur chocolate hidden inside! Sorry if the photo grosses you out. 
Headed to the supermarket after work today to look at items and stock up on the snack supply during work! Somehow, looking at grocery items in a supermarket really calms me down. I should do it more often...
Share

Saturday, September 15

First-Timer

I watched Annie the Musical on 26 July this year, so this is just another one of my usual long-overdue blog posts! Anyway, my mother bought the tickets for both of us to watch a few months before, but she forfeited her ticket to my aunt instead when she scheduled to go on a get-away to Indonesia with her pals instead.

My aunt has probably never watched a musical in her life, so this was her first. When the 'Overture' ended and Annie belted out a rendition of 'Maybe' and there were tons of children (playing the orphans) running around the stage, that's when my aunt leaned towards me and asked me in Mandarin, "Are those real people?" No need to exactly mention my really exasperated reply to that insightful question.

Anyway, Annie the Musical had some pretty heart-warming moments, so it was pretty nice overall! The little Singaporean children they hired as actors to play the orphans were precious, especially the tiny girl with the two ponytails at the side of her head (name's Molly, I think?). 

Our view of the stage from our seats, right next to an aisle!
During the intermission...
Brought out my new Juicy Couture monogrammed bag to use for this occasion! So purdyyy!

My uncle fetched us after the musical and we headed for dinner/supper at the usual restaurant along Geylang Rd we usually patronise!
Abalone with broccoli!
Tried soaking my broccoli in hot water like what my aunt and uncle did to remove the abalone sauce (they're vegans!) and it really does work!
My noodles. 
One of our usual pickings. My uncle dubs them 'Chinese French Fries' and the chilis tossed amidst the "fries" as 'bombs'. LOL.
On the ride home, we saw the hugest moon hanging from the sky! It was almost impossible to describe (so I have no idea how to describe it here anyway). Anyway, the moon in the above photo is the small white figure in the sky next to that orange luminating light from the streetlamps (i know, the irony).
My uncle's posters of his stuffed animals he usually sells during his fleas!
Share
Related Posts with Thumbnails