Hello, hello!
First and foremost, Selamat Hari Raya to all Muslims, and Happy Children's Day to everyone who is still young.. at heart.. like me. HAHAHA!
Epica - Blank Infinity (symphonic metal genre)
It will be in auto-play mode for only three days because I understand the annoyance of having to listen to music you don't like (and you can't conveniently press the STOP button on the top window bar to pause the song, HAHA!). Just want to share a song that has been playing in my head. Thanks Alex for introducing the song to me. :-D 各位朋友，好久不见！No worries, I haven't died. In fact, my six and a half-week vacation has so far been splendid with lecture notes and traumatising projects becoming my distant memory. Well, not exactly splendid but, at least better than those days when I had to complete a ten pages-long report within a week. Anyway, no. I wasn't busy enjoying life the past few weeks like what some of you might have thought. I did not spend my days soaking myself in an Egyptian tub filled with milk as rose petals fall from above. I had actually found a permanent Personal Assistant job that will probably keep me employed for the next three years or so because my boss allows me to work even when my vacation has ended. My employer is a real estate agent (handling high-end, private properties) and he has a extremely adorable 3-year-old son named Damien.
Damien showing off his Power Rangers.. power o_OWhat's so different about this job is I get to work at (my employer's) home.. which means I only have to work for one person instead of having me shared among everyone in the office. There isn't exactly any fixed working hours, which is why I can choose to work after my lessons. I didn't feel bored while working because my employer would have random chats with me every now and then to make sure I feel comfortable with my job. Like my employer, his family (wife and parents) is very hospitable, understanding, caring and selfless too. :-) They provided me lunch most of the time and would ALWAYS refuse my money. I feel very
pai seh. Hahaha. Anyway, my job scope is basically to call other agents, buyers and sellers to ask more information about the properties that they are selling or looking for. Seems simple, eh? But many a time, I would be yelled at by arrogant people who think I asked too many questions or paranoid agents who think I was going to steal their businesses. *rolls eyes* I got to be really tolerant of such people to stay on this job. Haha, and some of you might have known about the housing market going downhill.. so yeah, it is quite common for people to hang up on me when I said I/my boss could help market their units because they KNEW they are still gonna suffer losses. :-P
On top of that, I have also applied as an Art teacher at an art centre for kids. My trial period had ended, and right now I am still waiting for a confirmation of employment from the so-called Principal. Hahaha, I doubt I stand a chance though.. because other candidates were/are from renowned local art institutes like NAFA and La Salle. I didn't even have Art as one of my O-level subjects (because only the last class had it as an elective subject, and I was VERY sure I didn't want to be in the last class anymore) so I was pretty surprised when the Principal told me to go for a trial. :-D! I was told to write why I wanted to become an Art teacher on my application form. Could it be my rather inspiring answer that had given the centre some hope on my teaching ability? HAHAHA! I also showed samples of my sketches, but I thought those were irrelevant because a kid (when I say kid, I mean those below the age of 9?) wouldn't be interested in anything black and white. They want colours, and sketching would be too complex for their age :-)
Oh by the way, I am also registered under the MOE as a primary school relief teacher for Art, English, Health Education and Civics and Moral Education. Uh, so all in all, if my application as an Art teacher gets finalised, I would have 3 (permanent) jobs -- the PA one on two weekday evenings, art teacher one on weekends (and probably one more weekday evening if I am able to persuade Winston :-P), and the relief teaching job on anyday I feel like earning extra bucks. HAHAHAHA, I feel like a super workaholic. I still have to see how my timetable for next semester looks like though..
Before my job as a PA began, Peiling introduced me a three-day (5 Sept 2008 - 7 Sept 2008) usherer job at a Chinese Insurance Congress at Suntec Convention Hall which I agreed to take up. I got to know some other Singaporean teenagers (majority from SP and VERY COINCIDENTALLY from Hillgrove Sec!) around my age working with me. I clearly specified their nationality because the ratio of Singaporeans to Chinese there was 1:100. My superiors were from China, and they had to, you know, bring us around Suntec Convention Centre (SCC) to let us familiarise the place. It's like, having
foreigners to
guide locals around SCC
leh! Oh, the irony and embarrassment! Hahah! The people who attended the meeting were from China as well, with maybe about 5% of them from either Malaysia or Singapore.. so, I actually had to interact with the Chinese for three days straight. It was during these three days of totally-mandarin interaction that I realised I didn't deserve the B3 grade for my Chinese O's. HAHAHHAHHAAHAH! HOW ON EARTH DID I GET A DISTINCTION FOR MY CHINESE ORAL EXAM?! I swear I spoke like crap that NOBODY understood me. Oh wait, maybe only one Chinese.. because he is studying in SMU! His spoken English was FWAHHHHH! So naturally Americanised! My colleagues (also new friends) and I were taken aback because he could speak so much better than most of the locals. It was so fluent and guess what? He only took two years to learn English.. in SINGAPORE! o_O! Erm, but Singaporeans don't speak like that?
讲师们。
The lecturers on the first day of the congress.
There was this Chinese working with me who said I looked like a Thai or Vietnamese. I was flattered because no one had ever questioned my nationality. Hahaha. And there were also a few who thought I was 15 or 16 years old. Hehehehe.. :-D
讲座。
One of the many lectures. The male lecturer on the left spoke Japanese so the woman on the right had to actually translate what he said to mandarin. Very eloquent :-)
There would be about 3 to 4 lectures every day, with each lecture lasting for about two hours. Some overly-obsessed audience would harass the "lecturer" for advices, photograph-taking and their signatures after that.. so besides being an usherer, I had to take up the roles of a SECURITY GUARD and ward off those lunatics while I brought the lecturer to his
autograph table (haha). I had to make sure the FANS queued up while waiting for their books to be signed. I didn't know who the lecturers were so I reckoned they weren't any famous celebrities. Hence, I believe these "ardent devotees" were captivated by their speeches (I was present when they were lecturing.. but their lectures didn't impact much on me
leh?). Until now, I still couldn't believe anyone could be SO INFATUATED with someone in just two hours!?
People RUNNING to the FRONT rows of the audience seats.
Colleagues :-D
From left: Hui Ee (DMC Year 3 student! Another coincidence. Hahaha), Darren (我还是觉得我一个人比较好:-P）, Huijun and Yongjie
With Wan and Justin.
Hui Ee with eunuch :-O
Richson
This is Clement the mysterious colleague, who refused to let me take a picture of him.
Our resting corner. Hahaha :-P
Meals were provided and I was satisfied with the salary because I didn't have to do anything labourious to earn that much (but I had to wake up at 5am every morning). My superiors were nice to me but I didn't like how some of them treated my female colleagues. They were instructed to carry heavy equipment around when the boys were apparently everywhere. And there were also bossy (Chinese) colleagues who would tell me what to do. Grrrr, fine. It's O-V-E-R anyway. I shall not berate anybody because I don't wanna seem like I'm against their nationality. Hahaha :-D
Okay, that's all about it. There are about 3 more entries to go. I feel lazy. How? HAHAHA!
Stay tuned. :-)
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calm
dirty
hungry
