Category: the otnaicus daily

Well, submitted my final report to the project manager. So as of today, I’m pretty much freed up. I have no idea what I should be doing from this point onwards and I have got two more weeks before the end of my contract.

Speaking of which, I’d better start sending out resumes again. Got a few “lobangs” but have to start working on them. Haven’t heard back from the interview that I went on Friday. Wonder whether I should be popping out an email to the interviewer to thank them and at the same time kinda “remind” them that I’m still waiting to hear from them. Yeah, think I should do just that.

But then again, I’m not as free as I imagine myself to be. Gotta work on that Goal Setting card. It’s coming to the end of February. Have an idea of the goals I wanna set but I have to get around to actually writing it down. Plus, it’s a commitment that I have made to myself. I believe that it’s gonna be a great year for us all but a man who fails to plan, plans to fail. And I plan not to fail!!!

Do keep me in prayer as I hunt for a job. It’s driving me up wall sometimes worrying about when I’m going to land my next job. But I’m leaving it in the hands of God at the same time.

Until the next update, cheers…. :Þ

Apologies for the lack of updates lately. Had the intention to update after Valentine’s Day but didn’t get around to it. Don’t know whether I’ve been lazy or just plain busy.

Actually, nothing much to be busy about lately since the plug has been pulled on my project. What I’ve been doing lately was to write up a final report for the project manager to compile. And maybe after that, I can start working on commenting the code to make it easier for whoever is taking over to read and understand the code.

Valentine’s Day was, with the exception of me leaving my phone in the cab, a success; I think. Went to Wild Rocket as planned. Though the dinner started late (9pm actually), had a good time. The food was good; nicest piece of salmon I had in a while. The company was even better. Suffice it to say it went very very well. And up till now, still thinking about the evening.

Back in the job hunt mode now. Went for an interview on Friday and I think it went well. Still waiting to hear back from them. Think they might balk because of my expected pay but I did tell them it was negotiable. But I don’t know whether I would seriously want to take up the job as they mentioned to me upfront to expect long hours and high pressure environment. Don’t know whether it’s fear of long hours or because I don’t want to miss CG, service and duty. But will continue to pray over it while pursuing other leads.

Well, I guess that’s about all for now. Will update again soon. Until the next time, cheers…. :Þ

Well, it’s the end of another day. Not a bad day, considering the fact that it is a Monday and that I’m pretty sleepy from the lack of sleep over the weekend.

Made a startling realisation today. Realised that over the past few months, I have not managed to save much from my income. I’m still at a lost as to why that is so. Over expenditure because I wanted to get the stuff that I otherwise would not have been able to afford? Or is it because of the Building Fund? Well, I’m determined to keep a closer eye on my expenditure from now on. Can’t go on like this forever. Heh….

Sat down to edit my resume and cover letters today. Time to start sending those resumes out again, since I don’t know whether my current contract will be extended or not. I must say that it’s not easy. Writer’s block? Maybe. But still it has to be done. So God, guide me through this.

Okay. I must admit, a rather incoherent entry. I’ll just leave it as it is for now. Think I do have writer’s block today. Haha.. Until next time, cheers… :Þ

Yup… Chinese New Year is around the corner. To be exact, it’s on 29 January 2006 this year. And on that day we celebrate the entrance into the Year of the Dog. So to all readers, an early Happy and Prosperous New Year to one and all!!!

Think the holiday mood is killing my work spirit this week. What with the upcoming ultra long weekend that I have planned and the half-day leave I have on Friday. How long the weekend? Well, I kick off the weekend on 27 January with a half-day leave. Will be flying to Penang that evening itself and will be there till 2 February when I fly back to Singapore. My lab director has graciously granted the entire lab a day off on 1 February so I just took an additional 1 day leave to cover me till 2 February.

Another Chinese New Year with the family, just how I like it. But this year without the company of my sister. Why? Cuz she has to be back in Australia. Sigh… Well sis, I hope you enjoy some semblance of New Year’s there.

Okie dokie. Gotta try to get some work done before I fly off this Friday. Until the next post, cheers… :Þ

Sigh… I’ve been at the office since 9am to setup for a demo that is supposed to start at 9.45am. It’s now 11.05am as I’m writing this and still no sign of the visitors. Is it ever going to happen? Sigh….

Well, Chinese New Year is around the corner. Looking forward to another trip back home to Penang. Same duration as last time but I’m on a later flight to Penang. An hour later than Penny’s actually. And by the way, my leave finally got approved so now I can finalise my flight plans.

As I finish off this ranting entry, I just want to put in one more rant. My eye is bugging the heck out of me…. Until next time, cheers… :Þ

Happier days? Well, a lot of stuff happened within this week for me. Good stuff, not bad ones, so please rest assured. Some of you might already know what, but for the rest, please hang on until I can find a good time for me to share.

Anyway, it’s the end of the week and things are looking up. A meeting that I totally forgot about got cancelled. And thank God for that cuz I have agreed to having Bible study tonight with my CGL. Then this weekend will be a whole weekend of serving and serving. Don’t know why but nowadays I’m just looking forward every weekend to direct at Expo. It’s a whole new experience and we’re still experiencing with the different kind of shots that we can get, especially out of the handheld camera on stage. Sometimes frustrating, but always enriching. In short, I’m looking forward to a wonderful weekend…

Think work today will be pretty uneventful. Still need to call up Apple Support cuz the stupid RAID array has developed the same problem as the last time. The same hard drive module is failing although that is a brand new module that we slotted in to replace the spoilt one. How do I know it’s brand new? Cuz the anti-static wrap’s sticker was totally intact. And it’s barely two months and the hard drive is failing? Beginning to suspect it’s the controller or something. Pretty weird huh?

So I’m headed off first… Got work to do and Lord, help me have the mood to work… Cheers… :Þ

Happy New Year to one and all!!! I know I’m a few days late but haven’t had much of a mood to blog the past few days. But suffice it to say, I had one good countdown, a nice BBQ dinner to start off 2006 and a nice trip to JB with my church mates on the 2nd day of the new year.

First the BBQ. Nice food provided by my boss. Yes, it’s a New Year’s BBQ at his place and we were invited along with some of his family. Nicest food I’ve had for a BBQ in a long time. Cray fish, steak, prawns, squid, sting ray, pork fillets, chicken fillets, satay, $6-a-piece otah, etc. You get the idea. I practically stood by the pit the whole night cooking the food up. Basically, chef for the night. Haha. To date, nobody has reported a bad case of food poisoning so I think I’m safe.

The countdown next. After service on Saturday (a good one mind you, finally getting the hang of directing in Expo), we went to the coffeeshop by Michelle’s place to grab a bite. Ordered quite a bit too and somehow ended up with two plates of rojak which nobody had any problems finishing. Aside from that, we all ordered our own individual dishes and a host of other stuff to share like carrot cake and oyster omelette. Nice and economical dinner I must say. After that, Sam, Jamie and me adjourned to Michelle’s place for durian and watched some of CCC’s productions. Not a bad way to spend the countdown; that is away from the crowd in the comforts of your own home. In this case, a friend’s home.

To Johor then we go. Usual stuff in the day; shopping and what not. Dinner was seafood at the usual place we all go. But the highlight of the entire trip was the trip back to Singapore. We actually walked across the Causeway to the Woodlands Checkpoint. Why? Because there was a massive jam at Johor on the road leading to the Johor checkpoint. The buses were severly delayed and the queue getting ever longer. So in the end, we decided to walk. Stopped in the middle of the Causeway to take pictures some more. Haha. And my first experience too. Interesting. Haha…

Well, that about sums up the long weekend I had. But looking back at 2005, I feel that it has been an exciting year indeed and God deserves all the glory for what has happened in 2005. I thank Him for both the trials and the good times and blessings. And my prayer for 2006 is that I will grow even more in Him and move on to another level in my relationship with Him and in my ministry to Him. And, to lose some weight as well.. Hahaha…

The end of another day. About to pack up and leave office for the comforts of home and a nice dinner. So until the next post, cheers… :Þ

Yes!!! My ultra-expensive earphones have finally arrived. Cost about the same as a pair of Oakleys (the metal-framed ones). The earphones are from Ultimate Ears and it’s called the super.fi 5 Pro. And my iPod has never sounded so beautiful.

Basically, it’s a pair of in-canal earphones, much like what performing artists wear as in-ear monitors. Comes with two drivers per side, one for the high frequencies and one for the low frequencies. The bass response is soooo much better than the included Apple earbuds or any other earphones I’ve ever owned. The details you can hear from the earphones are amazing. On some songs, you’ll think that you’re hearing distortion or static in the background when actually it’s the amazingly super soft sounds, or the details, that you’re hearing. It’s a hearing experience to behold. Worth every cent I spent on this baby.

Okay… Enough about my new pair of earphones. Now about Christmas…

My family came down to Singapore… Yay!! First Christmas I had in a long time with my parents. We went to The Line at Shangri-La Hotel. The food was simply fabulous. It’s an international buffet. So we started off with the crustacean section. Had French and Canadian oysters (the former saltier in taste), crab legs that were so huge we suspect they’re actually from Alaskan crabs, steamed prawns, cray fish, scallops, mussels, etc. That was just the appetizer. They had a salad bar, all greens. Then comes the hot food. They had Western, Asian and Indian. And the Indian was authentic. Their tandoori chicken is not the red type you find on the streets but those that you can find in India itself. Can’t remember their entire selection, but suffice it to say it’s mucho good. The desserts were also pretty good but by then I couldn’t eat much more. All in all, worth the $88+++ my dad shelled out. But it’s much cheaper during normal days, at $68+++ if I’m not mistaken. A should-try…

And for Christmas, I got a spanking new Crumpler bag. In particular, the King Single. Now got a nice nice bag to lug my laptop around without extra cases.

Yeah, all in all, a pretty fun Christmas. But missed all the nice food, wine and company at Michelle’s place too on Christmas eve.

Well, I’m in a bit of a holiday mood this week cuz of the long weekend that’s coming up. But will definitely need to get some work done today in preparation for the demo cum meeting later this afternoon. Until the next time I update, cheers…. :Þ

Christmas is indeed around the corner. I’m definitely looking forward to the long weekend and the extra bit of rest that should come my way. Also, my family is coming down to Singapore on Christmas Day itself and we’re going to have extremely expensive buffet for dinner that evening itself. Gonna try out The Line at Shangri-La Hotel. Kinda on the expensive side ($88+++ for Christmas), but hopefully the crustaceans that they serve and the chocolate fountain will more than make up for it.

Today feels like Christmas Eve. Not much mood to work in the office, especially having heard that some of my friends have either taken half-day leave or their company grants all employees half-day off. So today was quite unproductive until we had a progress meeting this afternoon. Thankfully, it was rather mild compared to last week’s. I think my friend and me are beginning to settle into the fact that yes, he is our project manager and there’s nothing much we can do about it. Thank God that big boss didn’t come too, else I guess the meeting might have been dragged.

I’m here now at church (Jurong West premise) and waiting for the JAMs church rehearsal to start. Hopefully it won’t go on till 1am as planned and we can all go home early. Have the intention to go meet Michelle for supper with Jian Ming and maybe Sam. WELCOME HOME MICHELLE!!!! Hahaha…

Tomorrow’s gonna be a long day. Estimate at least 12 hours in church (again, Jurong West premise) and then I’m off home to get the stuff for Monday’s appreciation ready. Still got the certificates to design for the award winners and the SOT students. And I think I’ll need to go blast $50+ for new ink cartridges as I’m printing them out. In photo quality. On glossy photo paper. Gosh, hope I’ll be able to get some decent sleep this weekend. Sounds like I may not get that much sleep after all.

Well, that’s all for now. Merry Christmas to one and all… The year is indeed coming to an end… If we have met all our goals this year, may we make bigger goals and strive towards them next year. If we had a disappointing year, don’t worry. God is a God of fresh starts and next year will be a new year for us to prove ourselves. Until my next post, cheers… :Þ

Sigh… It’s a Friday that is almost gone down the drain. It’s supposed to be a happy day today, what with the BBQ that we’re gonna have tonight at a professor’s place, the chance of directing at Expo for the first time tomorrow, and the general fact that it’s a Friday. But now, all that happy vibe is almost totally sapped away by a round of meetings this morning. Just got dumped with a whole load of programming work to do plus need to work out some timelines for it. Some of you may know the new work arrangement that we have in the project I’m working on, but I just have some problems with the arrangement. I don’t know why, but I just have this thing against it. But whatever it is, I’m determined to pull through this, to shine for God through all of this.

There’s gonna be another round of project meetings later this afternoon. Hopefully I’ll be in a better mood then and some of the Friday mood would have come back to me. And pray that the meeting this afternoon will not kill it off anymore.

Better get back to work now. Just had to let off some steam before I start work in ernest. I hope my posts here won’t become just rants. Well, here’s to looking forward to a better Friday…. :Þ