the sixth kingdom!

yo!

my camp jus ended yesterday. supposed to end on sat, but it ended only on sunday mrn. so damn tiring. and so damn fun. it's the best camp i've ever been to so far. heh. guess tat'll be a good start to uni life.

now im here typing this post in pain. muscle aches. bruises. abrasions. AHHHHHHHHHH! so painful! it's worst than napfa test. many many times much worst than tat. but many many times more fun than napfa test too.

i guess i'll never forget the game at the slope where im totally covered w mud for the first time. so freaking dirty. then, all the forfeits which i've kena - eating chillies, licking a plate of chilli sauce, drinking vinegar, picking up worms, passing biscuits mouth to mouth etc etc... and yesterday's initiation. it was sth like a 12 hr non-stop game. one wld be completely covered w mud from head to toe, climbing up a pole, cross ropes, table game, breaking a watermelon w/o hands, up n down the roof, down the drain to hall 6 pond etc etc..

in short, the camp was simply packed w great fun. i love my grp members coz they made all things possible. i love my seniors.

i love hall 6!

hols in bkk!

wahahahaaa...

back! shopping in bangkok was great! it seems like playing w monopoly money until one day u found out tat it's running out! haha. i've bot plenty of t shirts! tat's an accomplishment. hard to find nice n cheap tees back in sg. well... everything was very good even tho we took turns to piss each other off. lucky thing was tat none of us ended up in the same hostel. haha.

the trip was real tiring. can't really entertain anyone since i reached hm. fell asleep watching show, fell asleep waiting for ppl, fell asleep everywhere! sigh.

now, the nxt big thing is the camp. followed by sch. sigh yo.
i haven enjoyed my hols to the fullest yet!
no no.. no sch! haiz.

went to collect keys to my room this afternoon.
it wasnt as bad as i thot it wld be. heh
quite big tho. can take in quite a few squattors. anyone interested? hahaha
the window was wat turned me off perhaps... it was creeky. sigh.
i so wld not touch the windows!
n we met those camp in-charge.
n we agreed tat she's quite a freak cos she could alr match the names w the SURNAMES! hhahahaa. would be moving in soon. gonna miss garfield on my bed. gonna miss mom's dinner. miss this com. miss the music on my com....

hmm. im still quite surprised as to how 2 person can look soooooooooo alike. so pretty.

wanton mee!

im so happy!

hahahaaa. lol. tat's cos i've fulfilled one of my wishes, which is to head back to amoy street for the wanton mee! hahahahaa. so happy. kinda a dumb wish to have, but it was really nice!

woke up in the morning n me n mom went down to amoy street. it was so delicious! we ordered so much food tat it seems as tho we haven eaten in ages. haha.

not only were the food great, the place brought back lotsa fond memories as well.
haha. if only every single one of us were back there to queue for the wanton mee, the sugar cane juice, the moshi moshi for dessert, the attempt to try out beginners' luck by buying toto, the stroll to mph and to the little shop tat sells biscuits n tidbits... wahahahaaa.. i wonder how things would be like if all of us ever meet up again.

im jus missing those days with endless laughter i tink.
those days w/o any worries.
just laugh.
and be happy.

i want a simple life.

anw. off to thailand tmr. hehe.
wat can i say?
finally. haha.

work cont'd..

and there was where i ended up at for the next 3 and a half months...

singtel

the feelings then was one of relieve due to a new environment perhaps.
tho initially i do feel rather reluctant to take up the job, due to the nature of the job which required me to speak up. but i took it up anyway.

i dreaded the job initially. cos i was afraid to speak up. n cos i felt it was so monotonous. it took me quite a long while to click with the other temps there. before then, two wks after i started the new job, i called up the agency and told them i wanted to quit. but they were kind enough to counsel me rather than to give me a scolding. eventually, i concluded tat i was too implusive. and so i stayed on. i rmbed tat ive even frequently contacted the ex-colleagues telling them how i dreaded my life at the new place.

but soon, i've gradually got used to the kinda life. and with the commence of my first tuition, life was kept busy from morning till nite. i either spent my evenings teaching, or attending lessons. tat went on for the next few months. nth much, or rather nth significant happened. but it was there tat i learnt abt human nature.

i came across ppl with ugly personalities. it was a moment when i was so depressed. office politics. and poor treatment of temps. i've seen it all happening w my very own eyes. it was so upsetting. it nearly got me psychotic once when things went far too wrong. yet, i knew i was in no position to judge. after all, i spent more time tgr w the other temps. i supposed i need to put myself in the shoes of the perms. and so i let the matter rest n forgot abt it. n i've really forgotten wat it was tat triggered my anger except tat i vaguely rmb sth went so wrong back then. it was at moments like these tat i wish i would fall n hit hard on my head so as to forget everything.

but ever since i decided to put myself in the shoes of the perms, things went pretty much smoother. tho at times i could feel myself drifting away frm the other temps cos of the different mindset, we still managed to enjoy each other's company chatting abt stuffs like school and frens and life besides work.

i was generally treated well in the office. treats to cakes and teas; crap w some of the perms; helping the perms run errands at the same time taking it as an excursion round offices at other levels. and ive got to say tat other levels have very nice offices! the office design was damn cool! the colors they used were so loud, bright.. so brave to use such colors like red n orange for offices. and it made the office looked so vibrant, so full of life! tat's why i enjoyed running errands for them, and the other temps thot i was insane, wondering why i seemed to be on such good terms w the perms. they may have ugly personalities, but no one is entirely a baddy. on the flip side, they may be quite a nice bunch of ppl too.

on the last day, we were treated to a thai restaurant for lunch.
haha. see. tat shows further tat 'theory' is right. no one is entirely a baddy.
and i really appreciated wat my in-charge had did for me.
helping me w my tests, exam, and all my leave. she may not be perfect, for she's a human too. too err is human. she pmses too, and at times made things difficult for us - temps. but no matter wat, it's all a thing of the past. and we may never cross each other's path again. so i chose to overlook all her flaws and conclude tat she had been a good in-charge. am i too naive or are the others too sensitive? i was told tat im naive. cos despite her flaws i still think she's someone nice. but i'd rather be naive and happy, than to be sensitive and unhappy.

i supposed i wont miss them. perhaps i've jus ended my job. and so once in a while i'll still think of some moments at the office. the moving. the ordering of cakes n puffs. the treat from allison. the jokes from jun. the sweets which amanda bought from perth. the drinks at the pantry. the 2 days attached to auditor, sabrina. our first and last lunch together.

well. everything has come to an end.
tat's my life for the past 6 months.
nth personal for i've yet sorted out my thots.

work

finally..

six months... six months out at the real world.
six months w/o pocket money.
six months w/o any homework.
six months w/o any lab work.
six months w/o any uniform.
six months w/o using my brains.
six months w/o any hols.

i've spent the past half a year doing things tat i don even know wat im doing.
i've wasted half a year.
but i've learnt quite a bit of stuffs too.
most importantly, i've come to know many ppl in these six months.

------
i could still rmb vividly tat i was so bent on getting myself a teaching post then in the dec hols. i registered at the moe website; went down to schools; called up all the neighbouring schools; then waited n waited n waited... and eventually i gave up waiting.

it was then tat agnes' words came to my mind.
'.. let's go find job tgr if u can't get to teach..'
so i contacted her. and the very next day, we set off on our job hunt.
we flipped thru the papers everyday..
made a couple of futile trips for interviews..
got cheated by some ads n companies which stated 'event co-ordinators'..
frankly, job search was such a frustrating task.
it really gets on my nerves.

and then, in the morning on dong ji, brandon called w the job at cpf.
the phone call woke me up and he then promised to call back later to fill me in w more details.
i woke up, had my tang yuan, and met agnes for the interview at 3.
none of us had thot of working tgr. we only wanted to search for jobs tgr.
but never did we expect us to be working tgr. upon reaching the office, we were rather surprised to see mdm loh there. and anw, we ended up working tgr as well. then was my first encounter w agnes' frens and shifu. i feel rather threatened by shifu then cos she was so fierce! and the next thing, brandon n gang left the room, leaving the 7 of us. we discussed. and decided to take up the job. the nxt thing was 'enjoy ur christmas wkend, and u guys will start work nxt wk'. we were all so delighted then. not only were we finally employed... we were working tgr too! even tho i only knew agnes n mdm loh then... i was more than happy to have a fren w me. it was so exciting!

on our first day. we went to the 37th floor and met up w the head of HR. we were briefed and then proceeded to the 10th floor by the nxt hour. rafil took us then, and we all sat at the meeting room where we spent the entire morning. it was the first time when the 7 of us, together with huiren and the big 4... gathered tgr. we were briefed for the ENTIRE mrn cos rafil was too 'busy' to bother abt us. haha. so we chatted and even took a group photo. haha. we were then dispersed into groups around the office to do different stuffs, and i was tgr w agnes n andrea, and the 3 of us were attached to snoopy n woodstock, who are in charge of replying emails. so we were told to learn from them for the rest of the afternoon. and we were simply dumped w files and files of correspondences to read. it was ultimate boredom! nearly bored to tears then.. tat we started manufacturing our very own mini poker cards to play dai di. haha.

well. for the next couple of weeks, instead of replying emails, we did form processing. it was during then tat we met the group of temps who came before us, and we chatted and began to make frens with the ppl there. haha. wat we were doing then were form processing. but within this 'form processing unit', there are sub-units too. like letter-opener, damage control, batching etc etc. and i rmbed tat i was kinda amused by the letter opener then. we handled hundreds, if not thousands, of letters each day. still rmbed nazri bringing us to the post office to collect letters. hey, he brought along at least 5 gals with him to collect letters, yet he himself carried nothing back to the office! haha. lousy. tho rather ungentleman, but he could be the one who broke the ice amongst the temps.

so we processed forms for a couple of wks, collecting stamps at the same time. and there were really many beautiful stamps. processing forms may sound dull, but i tink i enjoyed doing tat most. it kept u busy, and time past so fast w/o u realising it. there was once when there was overwhelming number of letters that we ve to do OT till 10pm. the few guys brought dinner back and it was the first n the last time tat we dine in office. it was real fun.

soon, as the volume of forms went down, we were dispersed back into our little groups and we started replying our first email. at the end of the email, it wrote this:

Carmen Choong (Ms)
For Executive Assistant
Agency Projects Department
Central Provident Funds Board

hahaa. sounds so pro. and there were replies from the public thanking us for the prompt replies. it started off rather slowly cos we were afraid of making mistakes in our replies. but snoopy n woodstock guided us along the way and settled those problematic emails for us. cyndi and roro joined us in the email gang when one day the volume of emails shot up like nobody's business. then we shifted up to the 25th floor, n i was arranged to be seated beside cyndi. that was when we really exchanged and i got to know more abt the big 4. after a while when the previous group of temps left, we were back to 10th floor again. haha. one after one, the more senior temps left. first was the 2 hongkies, then snoopy, then nazri, then someone else whom i dunno too, then edmund, esther, elizabeth n woodstock. elizabeth was a nice lady who enjoyed working w us. often when she came by to pass me the letters or faxes, she would hang around and chat w us. telling us about her boy; how she went thru her pregnancy period; how she maintained her figure after giving birth etc etc. edmund, a nice guy who ve this quiet sense of humor. haha. on our first day after lunch, he came to us in the meeting room and talked to us. told us where's nice to go lunch etc etc. all of us told he's a perm, until he said 'if you all are free, just act busy' and we realised then he had been acting busy chatting w us. haha.

other events..
- dajie's bday was the first, and we bought her chocolates.
- then i joined the big 4 to kbox.
- the big gang dining at glutton sq.
- a few of us meet up to elizabeth's hse for new yr.
- upon getting our first paycheck, we headed to marche for dinner w an unexpected guest.
- then we headed down to sentosa after being deprived of sunlight for a couple of months. it was fun! we met denise keller there. played volleyball. picnic. suntanned. played water. played daidi which i kept winning. hahahahahaa.

after all these fun...
it's time the big gang dispersed as well.
i was one of the last to leave. big 4 had a new member - peiqin n became big 5.
the big 5 were the last to leave. and they left in a group of 5 too. all 5 remained unemployed after that. i left just before them.

it was all just a couple of months back, yet it seems like years ago.
i still miss the food at amoy. esp the wanton mee. fell in love w it after the first time. one of the nicest wanton mee i've ever had. the 2 bucks nasi lemak at the food market. so cheap, yet so filling! and food at maxwell too. haha. come to think of it, sometimes it's really funny. like the times when we tried to push 4 tables tgr to fit 12 or 15 ppl at Hans. den back to our very own gang, the lunch at pasta mania too. becos of the good food there, i've put on quite a bit of weight. should i be back in sch, i guess they wont allow me to graduate from taf club. haha. n the influence of good food was so strong tat for a period of time, i've wanted to take up food sci. hahahaha.

there was never a day which i dreaded working when i was at cpf.
everyday was filled w laughter n fun.
every morning kicked off w the morning madness.
we met at the mrt station every mrn, w shifu challenging me to walk fast in heels.
it was madness! cos 'fast' was never a word in my dictionary. and worst still, heels. haha. but it was damn fun. tat was how i was trained to be walk fast.

when strangers come tgr and became frens, the feeling was just so right, so good.
becos of this, leaving was hard.
it didnt mattered to me even if there's any better job offers w higher pay or better prospects.
for i knew tat no other jobs would bring to me so many frens and so much fun.

but eventually, becos of some personal reasons, i've upsetted some ppl.
it wasn't much of a big deal, cos i knew things could change for the better if i wanted to.
and yes, i wanted. i wanted things to change for the better.
but i couldnt do it.
and so i left.