day one

my special chalet seems to be going okay. the people are still fairly friendly and nice. but i've got some early rising to do tomorrow. so i'm heading for bed. and i'm already damn way past my bedtime! :( and yes if you'd noticed, i'm home... :)

*>_<" damn that peony!*

sad

i'm going to be away for 2 weeks from work. hopefully not everything else. i'm not sure what to expect but it better not be too bad. i hope they'll let me out at least for dinner. hope they don't make me sleep in camp. hope i won't burn my weekend. hope i can still see my darling. =x

oh, and happy birthday mummy.

*cries*

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

gosh they have a page for everything in wiki. so yes i did go check out the sneak for this show this weekend. and even though it was a last minute decision (we booked tix online for the midnight barely an hour before it started) i think we both enjoyed it pretty good.

i think for the most parts that made my heart beat a heck lot faster were the racing scenes that included all that neat drifting. considering drifting originated from japan, an asian country, it was kinda amusing to see the angmoh try and pick up the skill in such a short time. the movie has this typical element of east-meets-west-to-kick-up-a-storm kind of plot. pretty much like the 3 angmoh ninja kids and their japanese sensei many years back. but this time it's on the streets of tokyo and the plot involves more mature themes and fast moving speed demons on the roads.

and boy was it exciting. but don't worry, i'm not going to hit the singapore roads and make a fool out of myself. i'll leave that to the stuntmen.

me? i'll just be running along for my silly 2 weeks of chalet come monday. what chalet? the in camp training kind of chalet silly! wonder what i'll be doing in there. but i hope my colleagues don't grumble under their breath as i leave my work to them while i sit back and watch them curl up in fear under their cubicle. muahahaha... *ahem* so anyway i'll be drawn back to the world of military for the short term. will try to enjoy myself...

*boo! xD*

James Randi, Scientific Fraud Debunker Video

ah neat...

my first encounter with THE client

seems my blogging lately is more often than not ranting about work. can't help it if i have things to say about stuff i encounter in the course of my job can i?

the client had already joined us in a contract but just that we needed to clarify some requirements from them. so i got pulled along for the meeting. i suppose it was fun and out of the ordinary by comparison to the daily office routine. the difference is even more obvious when the location is in botanical gardens! xD we spent close to 2 hours ironing some issues out, finishing just before 6! so miraculously, i was for once off work "early"... so to speak. hehe...

i'm getting anxious, about next week. not sure what to expect in the 2 weeks of "chalet"... hrmph they better have something good in store for me! >_<"

i'm worried about my sweetie too... she's been so tired/lethargic the work must have been really hectic! :(

*u poke, i poke, we poke together! =x*

you know...

you know you are maximising optimal use of your brain when you are saying out something (e.g.: a sentence? duh...) and typing out 2 sequences (read: 2 sets of unfamiliar text on-screen), and thinking of another issue at hand ALL AT THE SAME TIME! wow. i'm memorising too many things at work i think. these things just get burned into my mind due to over-use and repetitive input. my colleagues don't even bother doing that. but boy am i glad my colleague is back from her honeymoon! i was saying that the tables are working on 3 legs (me + 2 newer colleagues) so now that she's back we're on a better track! and come wednesday, my AM is gonna be back and we'll be back to full strength! except for the fact that i'll be gone next week... :(

work's quite a load full, but i'm still taking it in my stride and enjoying myself at work. would you stop calling me geek already (i meant myself)? haha i still enjoy the techie bits... just more challenging would be the detective work i have to do fixing bugs from pre-existing codes from other people who have already left (read: legacy code!) which is... a pain. >_>

ok nuf about work. i'm trying to get myself mentally prepared for the next 2 weeks of... holiday? we'll see what comes...

and i went to the little shit's room more than 5 times today. might i say i have irritable bowel syndrome? it's a weird little diagnosis i've gotten wind about only recently.

*pass to me pass to me =x*

clouds

yea my head seemed to be up in the clouds the whole of today. i'm just feeling so laid back these days i'm not doing much of anything else. i really should get my butt off the couch more often hehe... oh i'm feeling so wussy right now. but those huskies in Eight Below were so adorable! =x

*float*

Kidz Online - Tech Training

guess what i'd found online? and it's free too! i'd say it's pretty cool for this bunch to set this up, and at no cost at that.

YouTube - Torn Mime

veni, vidi, vici.

i've hardly had time for breaks at work these days. the things i complete are endless, so i can say that this fulfils the saying "your work is never over" because as soon as i strike one task off my list as accomplished (yes i do love to make lists on paper even at work!) another few more come tumbling in. and because those 2 other colleagues of mine are still fresh, i'm kind of the one to get things moving. to refresh you, my superior (the assistant manager) is on ICT, the other more experienced colleague is on honeymoon, and my program lead is just as flooded with other tasks (presumably). if the tasks are lesser of a priority on their deadlines, i can possibly redirect them to my new colleagues. i did that for a few tasks, but i sense that they still need more time.

i'm not one to complain (too often), but one of them really should get his act together a bit more... though of course i wouldn't lose my patience over him as he's still considerably new after all. i just need to remind myself often that, "he's new. he's new."

so what's this veni, vidi, vici? it just kept popping up in my head. can't get it out of my mind. so i'm here to put it on the blog in hopes of getting it away. maybe it'll get infectious and you'll catch it too. "i came, i saw, i conquered", as what julius caesar said while he made his salad (or getting his salad tossed, whichever rocks your boat).

it's funny, because just today i managed to complete a task (with minor alterations pending nonetheless) that required me to do some data manipulation. i just felt relieved because i promised to have it finished by tomorrow (meaning the alterations would come later) and i'm actually ahead of schedule. it's not an easy task (what's the point of blogging about it if it was) but it wasn't exactly an enormous difficult task either. and neither was it confusing. i think i can only describe it as tricky, but not as complicated. and how completing this task relates to "Veni, vidi, vici" is precisely because i managed to get this task done whilst working on several other tasks as well. i guess i'm proud of myself somewhat. it's just a lot of tasks at hand so i gotta keep a stiff upper lip at work just long enough till my colleague and AM returns, and maybe till the 2 new guys are more familiar with their work.

*2 days... vici tu? xD*

Mess

seriously, ever wonder what the heck mess means? more than meets the eye...

weekends are for...

cleaning up!

you betcha... it seems every weekend i get around to cleaning up things around the house, specifically my areas, which miraculously manages to stay relatively... -cough- neat and tidy! xD i wouldn't say i'm a neat freak but i'll be glad to put things away and in order.

my bro treated us to dinner today. he took us to this obscure place hidden in the outskirts of town that people would hardly even take notice of. will post pics of rach and i posing around war-era artifacts. kekeke... the dinner was average i should say. can't expect much from a mess kitchen. =x

geez the weather is getting to me. hope i can sleep well tonight. better don't appear lethargic at work this week!

*4 days...*

about a watch

http://www.squiggly.com/swatch/p/product/i/7505/code/YCS104P/name/Seditionaries
i didn't expect that i'd need a website to teach me how to wear my watch properly... >_>

http://www.torstensjourney.com/Swatch/Westwood.html seditionaries is what i have =x

thank goodness it's friday! been so whacked out from work the whole week that many of my colleagues commented i looked so stressed + tired. -.- time for a weekend break from solving everyone else's problems.

and to think my colleague just flew off on her honeymoon, my AM is at his ICT plus my program lead is up to his neck in work as well. so next in line for the rest of the tasks remain to be cleared by me. the 2 other colleagues are still considerably new so they are less familiar, which brings us back to the point of me having to settle these stuff. >_>

*ganbatte!*

Be A Fashionista

bags for "rent" anyone?

sniff...

i felt melancholic today, turns out i had a bit of a flu by the end of the day. cold sweat, lethargic, clammy hands and a drippy nose. talk about finishing up with a big bang.

if you'd caught the local news on tv this evening, you might have caught this report about a war relic being disposed of in-situ in toa payoh. goodness... my superior was caught on camera doing his job sia... it's so amusing to see them on tv... haa, especially since we are suppose to be low-profile type of army resources.

time to rest to let my body start its war on terror. terror of the flu.

*:( dui bu qi...*

gqb

if you have read this week's 8 days, you might have noticed an interview with a local sports man with the national team. goodness... he was from my secondary school, ended up under my same platoon, and now, look at him. he's gotten medals, recognition and an interview with the mag. gosh he's great! and to think back in the active days, there was this warrant officer in our unit who "awarded" him with a nickname, in a way to tease his surname. he'd tease him with the nickname of Letz. you see, his surname is Goh. so if we were getting some action (in military sense mind you) he'd decided to call out qiubin's nick + surname, hence "Letz Goh!" >_> man i hope i that WO checks out 8days and comes across his article. haha... proud to have known this fella. he's like one of those compact sports saloon: small yet powerful.

weather's turning real warm lately. tsk.

*coach? >_>*

i nearly thought i'd boarded the wrong bus

so some of you had probably heard this from me before already. yes this morning was such a rare sight indeed! and to think i nearly thought it was not the bus i need to get on for work. the bus was 1/3 the occupancy than usual. i had a seat! i could sit for my (not-too-long) journey! w00t! normally i was squeezed the nearly the front but today was so different! thank you world cup! thanks to their final match between italy and france, a good size of the population in singapore (and in other parts of the world too i'll bet) were actually not going to work this morning. not that i really bother about who won (italy did, or so i've heard) but what do you know, the world cup turned out something good (to my advantage of course) after all! xD

ok i think today was a rather unproductive day, but i did work nevertheless. just seems that i did lesser, though i think i was still piled. must have been all that configuring and constant figuring...

*i bring white horsie go shopping centre too? =x *

so fast!

yea the weekend flew past just like that. i felt as if i'd slept through the whole damn thing. =x i guess it's precisely so short a time span that makes it so precious for us to look forward to for the rest of the weekdays does it not? -sigh-

*oink*

still on it

yea i'm still perusing the videos found on www.thejapanesearecrazy.com and i'm still finding new and amusing (ok i prefer looking at cute stuff) videos to watch i just can't get enough of!

but i'm bushed for now. so off i go to bed. xD tgif!!!

J.A.C ! - Funny Japanese Videos | Funny Videos and All Things Japanese! - Cat Behaviour and Duct Tape

please don't do this to your cats... it's adorable i think... but kinda cruel... >_>

hectic-meter: 80%

so what if it'd dropped? i was less busy today because i was occupied with attending meetings! 3 of them with my lead. goodness. but it's just that we can't help having to have to tie things down to get things moving. and with the two new colleagues around, it's more convenient being in the meeting room than at our cubicles. geez i can still say i was pretty busy today... just probably less hectic thanks to those meetings...

even the bread i'd intended for breakfast, was kept until after 6pm before i had the chance to finish it off else it'd be such a waste!

counting down to my 2 weeks of holiday...

*you so cute =x*

New York Auto Show: Mitsubishi EVO X North American introduction - Autoblog

New York Auto Show: Mitsubishi EVO X North American introduction - Autoblog

check out the neat concept design for the new mitsubishi evo x! i'm figuring if what i've gathered is correct, the evo x model will come out in 2 years or so, which means the lancer (aka the tamer cousin of the evo) model will be coming out sometime next year. i'd say it looks like a combination of the peugeot 306 (its front), the mazda 3(rear) and a bit like the proton Gen2 front certain angles. definitely looks meaner as a result of a larger front section with carbon fibre in place. expecting a rounder version on the lancer without the bells and whistles commonly seen in the evolution models.

also check out http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/motoringpreviews/65311/mitsubishi_lancer_evo_x.html
for their review of the car as well!

erh independence day anyone?

well glad for them to be celebrating their "national day" which they prefer to call independence... by comparison singapore is probably way behind in the number of years we've established ourselves since we started off in 1965. but hey look at where we are now! we caught up fast enough hehe...

i was doing some sums in my head today and i figure, heck i can have a target to aim for. i think that if i can save up a certain amount of money in my bank, i can probably be more hopeful about getting a car in future. but on the other hand, if i can't save up that targetted amount by this time next year, i can probably forget about getting that in the meantime. cos it'd probably mean i won't be able to afford the payments and stuff. call this discipline, but i'm sure as heck be glad to save up for any reason.

i must say today was hectic at work. if i had a hectic-o-meter, i'd probably rate this 8.5 on a scale of 10. i'm sure this isn't the end of it yet. although it's a monthly thing, this is as tough as things can get in the office. several things pending urgently, boss fires more arrow down. ok i understand his position, it's not exactly an indication of him being a meanie. he's got stuff to do, and it's not like he can help it but we're here to help fight the fire. so alright i do believe i'd cleared most of the urgent things at hand for the day. there's somemore tomorrow. of course those can wait because they are less urgent than those i'd done today. but by tomorrow they'll probably be bumped up the urgency chart already. work is never done. so it's not always practical to do overtime and exhaust myself somemore. right? heh yes i do have that sort of mentality. work hard, but also remember to work smart. i've lost count (ok i'm just lazy to list) of how many things i'd actually memorised in steps, procedures, (keyboard) shortcuts to increase my efficiency so i won't take more time than necessary in doing minute tasks like copy and paste. rather than doing all that mouse movements, most of the time i'm sure some of you would be aware that doing the Ctrl-C then Ctrl-V movement on the keyboard is far speedier no? apologies but i must admit i'm more of a keyboarder than a mouser (however you wish to term these types) so i do more things with the keyboard. sometimes i see my new colleague (the freshgrad who just joined few weeks back) doing his stuff as i helped to look on to help troubleshoot (not like i'm that free to kpo what he's doing k) i just have this urge to suggest squeak out one of those "why don't you..." phrases, but i'd refrain from that in case people start thinking i'm too bossy. and hey they have their own way of doing things... and my way might not always be the best way. so i leave things as they are. don't you get that urge sometimes? to tell the person next to you, that things can be better if you'd done it another way? bah...

ok done ranting. weather's pretty warm lately.

*forever and ever and ever and ever*

J.A.C ! - Funny Japanese Videos | Hilarious Video Clips and All Things Japanese! - Amazing Ramen-making Machine!!

won't mind if sg has something like this... reminds me of this game i played called "the incredible machine" that's similar... but on the pc.

J.A.C ! - Funny Japanese Videos | Hilarious Video Clips and All Things Japanese! - Home

J.A.C ! - Funny Japanese Videos | Hilarious Video Clips and All Things Japanese! - Home

ok indeed as the site (and its videos) suggests... i guess they really are crazy...

hurhur...

oops! bunny porn! =x

crikey

i guess i'm feeling rather recharged now. keke... the weekend came and went just like that. thanks to shan we had a pretty filling (very late) lunch at this japanese restaurant in the basement of liang court. i should say it's been a while since we actually headed out to jalan jalan because otherwise the rest of the time the two of us would be staying home in front of the tube.

speaking of which, the tube. taiwan drama series... devil beside you. heard of it before? neither have i. but thanks to a colleague of rach who'd actually lent her the series to watch, my dear rachel has actually finished watching it within the past few days. i'd say the storyline is pretty good. but the resources were probably lacking somewhat, like too few extras to make the scene realistic. and another thing is the theme song by rainie yang gets repeated every single time a small "touching" scene happens in the show. i'd say that's irritating... >_>

it's monday again... back to the office!