I changed blogskin again! This time, i used the previous blogskin as a guide to create my own. I just got crazy over a new anime called saiunkoku monogatari and have decided to create a wallpaper initially. However, photoshop totally demoralised me. Hence i've decided to create something easier. I was inspired to create my own blog image. I played around with photoshop for the entire 2 hours or so....attempting the various functions to achieve my desired image. Well, if u noticed, there are parts which are badly done and are obviously photoshopped. Oh well... I tried many things, moving the pictures, creating the words, selecting additional pictures, creating effects and so on. After which, i uploaded on to blogger and did a few editing to the original template. If you realised, it's actually rather similar to the previous one. It's just that, the guys are substituted by a couple. hahaz... So, presenting my final work... WELCOME! and yea... i learnt the basics of photoshopping =)

Just went Funan with em on wed. Actually I learnt quite a lot from the trip to Funan. Before going, I got a crash course from bun so that I wouldn't feel confused when those salespeople start explaining, or when looking at the specs provided by the shops. Firstly, I asked about the most important components in a laptop.
I learnt about the processor, ram and the other parts. With those knowledge in mind, I had less trouble understanding the terms those salesmen use. Well, since i had only a crash course, there are still things i don't really understand. Like, what's the difference between a core duo and a core2 duo. Initially, i guessed that it was something like...different generations. Yepz...I got it. Anyway, most laptops have a core duo processor. Hence i didn't really take note of the type of processor. Core duos are better and faster anyway. The only thing i took note of was the speed of the processor. The next thing was ram. The cheaper laptops have a ram speed of 512mbhz. The slightly more expensive ones have a ram speed of 1Ghz. You could choose to upgrade to 1.5Ghz tho...at a rate of 69 - 99. The shops quoted different prices...but anyway, as one salesman pointed out, even if you have a good ram speed, but a not so fast processor, you still can't maximize the effect of the processor. Next is harddisk space. Generally, most laptops offer 80-120GB HDD. the smaller it is, the cheaper it is of course.
Then I started asking about the brands. Actually, i was biased towards a few brands initially. Acer, fujitsu and toshiba were the three brands. After much sourcing, researching and asking, most salesmen dun recommend acer. Good specs, good price, but not so good quality according to them. Toshiba and Fujitsu are better, just that fujitsu's much more expensive for the same specs. It's made in japan. So em and i researched on the different models in different shops. There were shops with intimidating salesmen, some with friendly ones, and some who had no idea what we were asking and thus they gave a bad explanation. After researching and analysing the each model's outlook and specs, we actually settled on a few models from Toshiba and Fujitsu. then we started shooting plenty of questions. Fortunately i had a crash course, or else i'd have some trouble asking those questions, and the salesmen would probably find us irritating. As a salesperson, i'd prefer my customers have some sort of basic knowledge in the product they are buying.
Thinking about the price, the functions..
Initially, em and I were most or less settled on the toshiba laptop due to its specs and stuffs and price. However, after some thought, i'm sort of inclined towards the Fujitsu's one. However, the only one thing i dun like about the fujitsu's one is that, it only has microsoft XP. It does not offer Vista. However, i saw a somewhat similar model at a nicer shop. That model has a biometric function, and yes...Vista. I didn't really ask more about that laptop. Come to think about it, I sort of regret not asking about it. I would have to go down to Funan once more. Actually, i like looking around for laptops, and the accesories i may require. I find it fun to know something new.
Now i'm thinking...should I get my laptop at simlim? or funan? Funan's shops seem more trustworthy. Hahaz...who shall i drag with me? new laptop noobies? or comp expert? lol...

new blogskin!

A series of fortunate events occurred today.

-> our book sales hit a record high, way beyond what we've targeted.

-> our overall sales hit a record high

-> we had extremely good sales record consecutively for 2 days

-> the theif at toapayoh was caught and the issue solved peacefully

-> i felt i've slimmed down a little after skipping dinner

-> i felt a sense of strong unity among my colleagues for a moment

-> the tuition centre in-charge next door treated me to a piece of cake

-> he said "i like you"
=D

Anyway, a few unfortunate events occurred today too

-> i forgot to bring home my wallet

-> i had no money to go home

-> i couldn't get a taxi

-> i nearly quarrelled with someone who was also waiting for the cab

-> xiaoqiang's left=(

-> tml's the last day i'll ever work with danny

-> the boss and the lady boss are so "wth!"

Hahaz... the few of us were so busy promoting comics, we barely had time to rest. There was a pattern observed in the shop. Whenever the game counter area's crowded, our area will be quiet and vice versa. Our customers alternates. We were aiming a record high of only 2k. Somehow, customers just came swarming into the shop and bought like they've never done so. the nets machine probably feels tired today, having to process so many transactions. and for the first time, we exceeded our target by a lot, creating a record high.the boss and lady boss are stationed at tpy. Business there obviously wasn't as good as ours. Our sales was twice theirs. They probably felt somewhat inferior? haha... they called periodically to scold us. And yes, the boss was stopping us from transferring consoles to our branch (to prevent us from earning more?) until someone lied about customers resorting to buy from our competitor. the boss relented of course. i think xiaoqiang was rather happy about returning to amk since he had to deliver a console. Imagine having to face your irritating boss on your last day? i really hope that he wouldn't be around either next week.That teacher next door held a party at the steamboat shop. while walking back from the restroom, i happened to pass by him and his big group of friends. "ah Jie!" he called out really loudly. Then we begun speech-fighting again. halfway, he said jokingly "i like you". lol... i blushed la... but it was rather dark there and i was busy speech-fighting to continue blushing. I was a teeny-weeny little bit interested in him what =)Anyway, the not-so-bad guy treated me to a large piece of cake, ranting "rmb to bring back the plate hor?" x3 heh...i brought the cake back and shared with my colleagues. not bad la...my fav fruit cake. hahaz...

back at the shop, i begun fighting with people again la (as usual...) somehow, all of them ganged up against me. Especially some lovesick baichi whose sweetheart didn't join the party next door.

countdown 7 days more to go!!

it's my offday today! and it's included in the countdown by the way...so...12 more days to go!

Anyway, it's MY offday, and it's shiling darling's offday, and it's ang ku kueh's offday! lol... well, angkukueh's offday and my offday are always fixed on monday, so it's natural for us to have the time to jio each other out. Initially, i wanted to jio him to simlim square so that he can enlighten me on those laptop stuffs. Shiling's offday came as a surprise. Cristy changed her offday at the last minute to monday yesterdae. So she called me immediately to jio me out. Haha...her phone attempts to amk failed terribly. I picked those calls, but i directed those calls to baichi even though i noe she was looking for me. I was laughing away while acting as the matchmaker for baichi and her.

I guess she gave up calling amk and decided to call my phone instead. hahaz.. so we decided to go sentosa within minutes! we got the time arranged and stuffs. we jio-ed angkukueh too. Poor angkukueh, i deserted him for my darling. Shiling hasn't been to Sentosa, so i brought her to the beach there. The water there, apparently, isn't very clean today. I guess it's due to the rain. We went sentosa just for the sake of playing water. There were only 2 of us initially. We actually shared much gossips when angkukueh wasn't around and we played around in the water for an hour before proceeding back to the beach station to fetch that angkukueh. We arranged to meet him at 1plus and we were dripping wet at the station! so embarrassing... he didn't turned up even after an hour. we simply gave up waiting (we couldn't contact him because our hps were in the locker). We went back to the locker and got our hps and called him. I was terribly "pissed" when he told me he was still at harbourfront and would only arrive at 2.30... lol...

2 fat ladies at the beach, waiting for that old man... we were sort of embarrassed when we saw him coming (with a friend). We've never seen each other in other clothes other than workwear. It was actually an "eye-opening" experience... lol... the 4 of us played around in the water for another 2 hours. it wasn't very hot that day nor cold.. but i think i was still burnt... Shiling and I spent 1 hour waiting for our turn to bathe. Those girls are really taking the hell of the time. I just don't understand y they can still take 1/2 an hour to bathe despite knowing tt tons of ppl are waiting for their turn. A short hair girl went in 5 mins before me. She came out 5mins after i came out from the shower. Wow... and imagine this, she's quite fast already among her friends.

Bleahz... when we came out, angkukueh was complaining that we took a real long time to bathe. In actual fact, we took only a mere 15mins, and shiling went in after me. =) and according to them, some guy was caught trying to take photos of girls in the toilet from above the toilet. Actually, i realised something. Passers-by can actually see wad's going on in the girls' toilet if they bothered to take a look. This is because the trees surrounding the toilet do not have enough leaves to shield their views of the toilet.

Usually, all of us would be in black. For the first time, we saw each other in clothes of another colour. lol... As i was wearing a t-shirt, i still didn't realise how bad my sunburnt was (because no one could tell me). We went vivo to visit our colleague, bluedragon! There were 2 new colleagues working there. One's quite good-looking... lol...

We went food republic to eat. The price of the food there is =.="'. I couldn't bear to eat at all. Then we Daiso to shop for some necessities. hahaz....4 of us spent an hour there searching for only a few items. I got a container-like thing which is used to make an onigiri and another perfume to make my room smell like lavender. not to forget, i got titbits =)

It's actually quite fun today. I've never been out with my colleagues except during the kbox trip and a few suppers. It's the 1st time i spent an entire day playing with my colleagues (and his fren). Dajie was admiring us (like totally) when i called her over the phone. But i guess it's really difficult for her to have this chance. When she has her offday, the rest of us would probably be working or vice versa. It's really a coincidence for the 3 of us (who are relatively close to each other) to have our offdays together. let's look forward to more of such trips! and yes, when i looked into the mirror, i realised, i'm terribly terribly burnt =)

got an impulse to blog now... actually, today's work is really tiring... all the moving of stuffs and arranging of stuffs. The fickle-minded boss increased our workload...it was a lot oh physical work... at the end of the day, i juz ran up the counter instead of doing those physical work. It's really an achievement seeing those things we've done.

It's shinyee's bdae todae... so the few of us gathered to go kbox... It's the first time my parents really allowed me to stay out late beyond midnite. There were only 6 of us... xinyi, me, peiching, shinyee, danny and baichi. hmmz... ok lah...we juz pia-ed all sorts of songs... I think i behaved rather conservatively at the shop hence they were really surprised when i went crazy... Stupid baichi dared me to drink a whole mug of beer, which i did. My face turned red immediately and i really felt very warm. However, i noe that i've 100% consciousness. The coldness of the beer affected my throat though. I didn't feel drunk at all (or else how do i blog after drinking that mug of beer?) anyway, i feel funny at the fact that i drunk a mug of beer with a straw... Beer's nothing la... Vodka is the limit... red wine is quite bad... but beer is rather mild. i don't like those black beer. I'd rather those normal carlsberg or tiger beer. lol... it was fun la... but maybe it'll be more fun if more ppl went... and if it was free...lol...

So what if i had carrot legs? at least it's better than your baichi head... to think you actually lost ur love overnight simply because i accessed her friendster...lol...i guess there's no point trying all means to get her phone number for u! =)

I think mother hen will be happy that baichi's going over to tpy to work for the entire dae tml. I guess she'll be fighting with him for the entire day again. Although jealous, i feel that it's best for her because he can cheer up the extremely depressed girl. Well, no matter how much you deny, i noe u like baichi la... =)

it's rather peaceful these few days at work. Guess y? because the boss is not around!! although we don't slack a lot, but at least, we feel more at ease pushing sales. there's no pressure or stuffs like that. taiwan books sales hit a high for the 2nd time on saturday... i guess it'll be bad these few days.

on sunday, marcus came by to buy books! but too bad, i was too preoccupied with work to really serve him. It'll seem really obvious that i approached him on purpose especially when i was given other work to do. and especially when he's at the game area =.= orhhhh....0.o"'

Anyway, i'm counting down! 20 days more to the end of my life at that shop. So many things occurred at the shop these few days. A huge theft occurred at the tpy branch. Some theif stole games consecutively without being discovered. what's more? he came back to the same branch to sell the games he stole. i'm like "wth" ? he's very daring... but on that day when he came back to sell, the muddle-headed game-in-charge wasn't around. He was substituted by a smarter chicken king, who sensed something fishy. Although the theif wasn't caught on that day, but the entire issue was discovered. that game salesperson is really muddleheaded. He actually did not discover that his games were disappearing at a rather rapid rate. And he actually allowed customers who haven't paid for their NDS to leave with those NDS. The customers wanted to have a meal and play with their NDS before coming back to pay and he allowed them to do so, on the claim that he "trusts" them. Wow...u can trust customers within a 10mins interaction?

Anyway, a huge argument occurred at the tpy branch over veri small issues. simply because shiling and ricky went to get more stock at the main branch and they arrived late by 15mins, anqi argued with them. Sometimes, you really can't trust people entirely unless u've really interacted with them. yingxuan was actually pouring oil on fire. someone whom i tot was juz an innocent creature is actually this scheming. even shiling couldn't believe that someone whom she has been close to is actually doing something like this. To us, it's just a small issue. a small reprimand will do. it's really lame when i first heard it. If they argue that intensely over such an issue, i'll probably fight with dajie over it. that's because i'm late almost everydae! and on days which i've half offdays, i'm always 1/2 or 1hour late! does that mean i've to quarrel with her over it? oh gosh...i dun see dajie quarreling with me over that either. poor shiling is terribly affected by her bad encounters over at that branch and she's probably heading towards my house now to cry... well, actually, i hoped that she'll be back in amk (even tho i may be overwhelmed by jealousy due to some factors).

Went shopping with my parents today...
I was feeling extremely nauseous when i got out of the car when we reached tampines mall. I've no idea why i have sudden surges of nausea periodically. It seems that my stomach is beginning to reject large amounts of food? I used to be able to eat like a pig. However, recently, i began to feel full even though i ate only a little. I feel hungry easily too... oh gosh...
Sometimes, i feel unfortunate and disadvantaged... because the clothes sold at some shops are designed for only thin people. And for people like me? unless we get the XL ones, we never get to wear nice clothes. Not all asians are thin and slim la... i'm one fat person trying to look good. but the lack of choices (and also the lack of courage from myself), prevented me from looking slightly better? haiz...
Why can't people produce clothes for the benefit of everyone and not just 3/4 of the population? I believe that fat people can look good too...or is there a conspiracy between clothes producers and beauty centres? lol... tho i doubt so... but the lack of choices of nice clothes for fat people like me is pushing more to participate in slimming programmes. While being fat has no real benefit (since it increases the chances of certain diseases), people like me (who can't afford to slim down immediately) stilll hope that people can think of how to help(in the sense of fashion) us more while we remain plump?
Lol...this is just a minor complaint from me...

Now i've sore cheeks... stupid chicken king really spent a real deal of strength pinching my cheeks... They turned real red and i could feel a numb sensation in my cheeks after he pinched them... that idiot, i'm so gonna throw more than just logitech boxes at him, along with a few mario mushrooms. Peiching did a great job taking revenge on that baichi...i shall save the details...

When i saw the extra large marios standing around in the shop, they really reminded me of joe lim...haha...

Wah... somehow i really can't stand lazy people. I don't find it reasonable for one to be unable to sell games, or do anything else, and just stand by the counter watching others sell and earning 4 bucks an hour. Maybe he isn't lazy, just stupid enough to not realise that he's actually contributing nothing. I hope he disappears soon. He really spoils the day for me.

So a newcomer came today...she was totally enthu about the interview. However, she came for a mere 1 hour or 2 (and we didn't get her to do anything other than arrange books), and she left. Her answer was, "i found that this job is not suited for me and thus i've decided not to waste any more time." Anyway, i've also discovered that she's an irresponsible person. She wanted to leave immediately after informing me. I told her to inform peiching first (since she's the shop manager) or the lady boss and that newcomer couldn't be bothered at all. It was after i called peiching over did she stay for a while. I'm not saying that work in that shop is all that nice, but she could at least try and experience before determining the results of her decision. She left before experiencing anything (arranging books isn't any part of the experience). Anyway, my instinct told me that she wouldn't stay long either.

Hmmz...i didn't see that guy over at the tuition centre today... i saw Shiling's eye candy though... lol...

The girls finally learnt the art of running away.

The game area really caused a real deal of problems for us. They wanted to shift their counter AGAIN and this had serious implications on the book area. oh well, the boss is the most powerful. To improve game sales, he had no problem sacrificing the book area. No wonder our sales are dropping...

Well, i went to work at 5 when i was arranged to reach at 4.30. i broke my necklace just yesterday and i'm still quite sad. I managed to repair the broken chain the day before but it just gave way again yesterday. Well, it cannot be salvaged. So i took time off to visit the silver chain shop to get another chain. I'm into this chain-wearing addiction.

When i first walked into the shop, i saw a more than familiar figure. That old chicken king is still around! He was supposed to be posted back to Yishun todae and Shiling and I were about to celebrate his departure. AND that bloody old chicken is back...posted back to amk within an hour of his departure. Now i've to suffer his stupid jokes again... No peace again... and i'll end up fighting again...

So the book area was completely messed up and what now? the game area is neat and nice and spacious and the book area was messy. And who does the cleaning and tidying? Thanks ah... Peiching and I completely neglected sales (we totally cannot be bothered) and spent time compressing books on the shelves, shifting them and rearranging them. There was a real huge makeover at the book area. The rental VCDs were shifted there and for a moment, i thought it was a bad idea for rental items to be among sales items.

so right after work, the 3 of us cooperated to settle accounts within minutes and to leave immediately. Since the game department was doing their share to revamp their area, and WE cannot be bothered or obliged to help, we just left =)

anyway, during my trip to the toilet todae, i met the two guys from the tuition centre. One was the rumoured guy who din shut his door (it's a shared toilet). He came out from his cubicle and i thought, "din shut ur door again?" before i went in (to the designated guy's cubicle), he stopped me and said "needa flush the toilet." He's considerate enough to flush the toilet before i could use (since the designated girl's toilet is occupied). I held a small bucket of water while waiting for him and he joked "wah...wanna flush toilet for me izzit?" ha...wait long long... i'm just waiting for my turn. The other guy came out from the girl's cubicle. They started their jokes again... "eh...dun need to flush... conserve water... flush after she has used..." lol...no way manz... Then the first one volunteered to carry the large bucket of water to flush for me... hmmz...

Ok lah...nothing interesting regarding this encounter. But i thought it's really nice for people in neighbouring shops/centres to build up friendships. I've begun to chat with the shopkeepers at the sembawang bookstore and they've helped me move cartons of books when they realised that i had no help (since the guys in my shop do not take the initiative to help). oh! the guys at the tuition centre are quite good-looking too... lol...on a closer look...the one w/o specs look even more gorgeous...

When i told dajie that the guy was handsome, she rebutted by saying "maybe he's a paikia in the background... looks decent on the surface..." maybe dajie has sth against decent guys? no wonder she dotes on chicken king that much. Chicken king makes shiling and I feel pekchek many times but dajie still dote on him more than she dote on us. It was rather obvious to Shiling and I. Bleahz... 2 of us will gang up! =)

I had a real busy day today. Let me state that i'm not an octopus. Don't expect me to multi-task with only 2 hands.
Fabian was there to repair the computers. The computers have been giving me a whole lot of trouble and irritation. Thanks to the router that directed viruses from the customers' comps over to the counter comps. Fabian did a real lot to isolate the counter comps. I've got plenty of pandas and trojan horses popping out occasionally, supposedly to give me a surprise (and a hard time). The day went rather smoothly. Other than occasional network breaks (because i kicked the modem), there weren't much problem.
First thing in the morning, the game IC was sick and took MC. Ok thanks...so only 2 were left to tend the entire shop. What's more? There's supposedly an interview held today. I was picking calls non-stop and i couldn't really leave the counter. Plus, i had an urge to answer nature's call. NO ONE was around to substitute me. Oh wow.... 200+ boxes worth of goods were taken care of by temporary part-timers so i didn't really have to worry. I just stood at the counter area while peiching did the commanding and stuffs. Both of us were extremely lethargic at the end of the day.
Something tells me that i don't really like picking phonecalls for interviews here.
Firstly, people ask a lot.
Secondly, some don't think about what they wanna ask before calling. I ended up waiting for them to think of a question to ask while they prolonged the silence.
Thirdly, they speak really slowly and i'm really one who can't stand that type of speech speed (i wonder i got along with mx?)
Fourth, they don't listen to what you say (are you the one interviewed or am i?)
Fifth, they ask some questions which don't make sense
I shall quote an example which remains vivid in my mind....
"hello? can i ask you something? can i wear shorts down for the interview?"
"what do you think?"
"can u help me ask the boss whether i can wear shorts down to the interview? the weather's really hot..."
"can you please wear long pants?"
"can i don't wear? can you help me ask the boss? the weather's really hot!"
"please wear long pants."
"then can i wear t-shirts?"
"please wear at least a polo T-shirt or something decent"
"polo T???? the weather's extremely hot and u want me to wear a polo-T?"
"excuse me sir...on a personal note... do you want to wear something that'll give the boss a bad impression of you?"
"oh whatever..."
I was really amazed by the type of question that person asked. It's not a school interview. It's a job interview.

Anyway....halfway throughout the day, the boss ended up selling games because there was no game IC. hahaha.... danny was grabbed from vivo back to amk. Finally, the 3 of us reunited in amk...but we were kept busy. I was rather pekchek answering those calls...(and they came non-stop), and i had to do product information, collect money for books, scan stuffs....all simultaneously... oh wow...i felt as if i was an octopus.

At the end of the day...i tendered my resignation! the lady boss refused to take... i told her i was just shifting my resignation only slightly earlier but she refused to accept...The lady boss referred me to the boss. It felt as if i was asking my mum for permission to go out and she directed me to my dad for permission. The next moment, i just passed her my resignation letter (i gave her a month's notice). she passed it to her baby... =.="' i don't care la...i'm leaving on 30th june... =)

I went out for supper with peiching and danny...i like listening to them chat. I get to hear plenty of gossips plus their personal love lives... lol...

When i reached home, i found out that i received the reply from PSC after the interview. I was rejected by them anyway... and directed somewhere else. I don't dare to assume much from the short letter, so i've decided to wait longer for further details before thinking further about my future.

ok. obviously, the previous entries were transferred from livejournal back to my old blog here. I guess i was trying to avoid the reality that i'm incapable of altering the appearance of my livejournal. hahaz...whatever the reason...i'm back to using this.

I've been really tired of working nowadays. Facing many troubles and problems in the shop now. In march, i was trying to quit. I didn't quit ultimately because i felt a need to be responsible for a promise i made, which ensured my employment. Also, i felt an obligation to "help" others there. The shop is constantly facing a shortage of manpower anyway. I guess, it was the friendship cultivated there that caused me to persist on for a moment.

However, as time passes, friendships were lost. Danny was posted away. Yoyo was fired. While i kept in contact with them, the shop was no longer the same. Never mind the fact that new colleagues were employed, and others were transferred here. To add on to the accumulating problems, the boss had a changed attitude towards workers. He was no longer caring, and blamed us mindlessly for any mistake committed, or work undone. It's as if we had the time to clear up the mess created by the customers when we are so preoccupied with sales, and the 200+ boxes that arrive without fail every month when we thought we finally had the time to clear up something. I feel that i've been blamed of something every moment while working. I'm not the only victim of course. the main victim's dajie. She's blamed for everything. And she's currently unstable in a certain sense.

So a few days ago, 200+ boxes of goods from china just arrived. there were no extra workers (only one self-proclaimed part-timer). There were only the usual number of people working.

One cashier, one salesgirl, one game-ic, one technician. I was the only extra one out, so i was busy trying to settle those 200+ boxes. the self-proclaimed part-timer was more than useless. He was completely ignorant of my commands. i told him to check every single box so that those containing stationery would not be left out. He went out and came in promptly. "done!" he said.

After that, i dragged liying(who came to my rescue for only a day) out to check those boxes again. We found 5 more. And those boxes were in very conspicuous places. I guess, his definition of stationery is rather narrow, or he probably forgot the meaning of stationery. I was utterly irritated with him. He's not only not helping me, he was giving me more trouble.

After the stationery-containing boxes were carried into the shop, the stationery was laid out and price labelled. Since everyone was armed with a label gadget, and i wasn't, i went out to label the boxes. They weren't easy to move. Some were extremely heavy.

I looked around helplessly hoping help would come, but it never arrived. I don't know how much muscles i've strained to get those boxes up and down. fortunately, liying came out halfway. she helped me with the boxes. thanks a lot!

However, after a while, liying had to leave and i was all alone to deal with the mess created inside n outside. while stationery was taken out to be priced, they were not packed properly and left aside. I was left irritated. I have to deal with a mess created by others. and guess wad? the self-proclaimed part-timer was slacking all the way at the back of the shop, probably sms-ing and doing nothing. AFter which, he found himself a place at the game counter where he wasn't employed to be. He wasn't selling anything, juz standing there, not doing anything, and obviously not helping me. He was supposed to be packing goods, not selling games. A girl to pack 200+ boxes of stuffs without help and paid only a measly 4bucks an hour. I was challenged mentally and physically.

After that, dajie asked me to stop packing those goods and to help with the ordering of taiwan books. So i went into the office to help scan those order lists. The computer gave me a whole load of problems. and the technician is obviously not around to help me settle some problems. I couldn't email the order lists in the end.

Another problem i faced was dinner. I remember asking the dinner buyer(the self-proclaimed part-timer) to buy my food and the boss' maid's (rita) food. he returned promptly (again). he bought only the guys' food. The girls had no food simply because he dunno where the shop was. so shiling went down instead to buy and i had to leave my job post to take over hers. When i was about to have my dinner, i found out that he did not buy the maid's food. I was really angered. I was facing a dilemma at the same time. I ate only breakfast and i was really hungry for dinner. but it's either, rita going hungry or me. Rita is really nice to me and i like consulting her regarding many problems (other than work). She still has to work when she gets home with the boss. So i gave her my dinner. And i went hungry. At the end of the day, i could really feel myself on the verge of breaking down. When i left (avoiding having to OT), the boss' child waved goodbye. i didn't notice because i was really lethargic. Then the boss called me and said (supposedly jokingly but i was not in a mood to joke), "hey, y r u so disrespectful? my boy's saying goodbye!" i would appreciate the fact that i'm senior and your child's junior and it's morally right for him to respect me and say goodbye. thanks

when i was walking out, i could feel tears welling up (even at this moment while i'm typing).

These few days, i was doing plenty of overtime. at this moment, i don't really feel like going into the details.

on friday, while packing newly arrived taiwan books...

i found out that 200+ boxes of goods were arriving, and the boss was looking for part-timers. Ahpek said that the boss was employing them for 50 a day, and told ahpek to look for a few of them. the next moment, i broke out. they are paid 50 dollars a day and i, also a part-timer, is paid only a measly 44 hours a day working myself to death and having to juggle multiple tasks at the same time. I was really angry. however, i'm not one who starts cursing when angry, or throws my tasks aside or go crazy. I went emotional and the next moment i knew it, i was crying. ahpek was trying to console me but i knew, the more he consoled, the more i cried. I was facing a problem called extreme exploitation. I can only say that i'm stupid to persist in this line. I'm really stupid. I don't regret because i've learnt. but i can only say that i'm stupid to learn this way. I cried really badly in the shop for the first time and i guess my colleagues were really scared.

No extra pay for working OT. No extra pay for working at night. No extra pay for working on weekends. No extra pay for working on public holidays. The life of a part-timer in that shop? I sell books. i promote books for rental. i do cashier's jobs. i do cleaner's jobs by tidying the place from time to time, collecting books and placing them on shelves and cleaning up dirt left behind by customers. i do delivery jobs. i do collector's jobs. i do technician's jobs by repairing computers. I do labourer's jobs by carrying plenty of stuffs. I do administrative work, the scanning and stuffs. i receive complaints, deal with complaints and whatever. That's not all. All the jobs the rest don't wanna do are thrown to me. and i'm paid 4bucks an hour. thanks. i can only say. I'm really stupid, dumb, blind and i'm a real idiot. thanks.

(entry on 14th march transferred from livejournal)
I think i like the idea of posting entries periodically? I've doing a lot of that... So many things happened in a month and i realised, i simply can't be bothered to update about them! i shall summarise them...CNY: not bad lah... quite a few angbaos. I can feel that many of my aunties are still using those red packets from years ago. The design hasn't changed. Oh well, i throw away those angbaos eventually. The highlight of cny is still meeting up with my cousins. Although i'm not very close to my cousins at my mother's side, we still talk of course. Just that, the content is rather different. I still remembered that during my cousin's wedding, i was sitting with those girls. However, they were simply talking about fashion and stuffs like that. Things that i'm not really interested in. Although i spent the effort to wear a skirt there, each of them was still more dazzling and attractive than me. I've managed to surprise a few people though. So during cny, i spent most of my time mapling in my little cousin's room >.(end of transferred entry)

(entry on 13th february 2007 transferred from livejournal)
i had my day off yesterday and today, i'm back to work.i had a face-to-face meeting with irene today. i thought she was a rather strict person but she seems rather nice. Peiching, yoyo and irene started ranting about clothes. Yes, we had our company dinner today. The day was rather tiring. From the time i started work, i had been packing books for the different branches. Then i had been transferring books which were left at a corner during the renovations. Not only so, i had to arrange those books on the shelves. The number shelves is pathetically small and obviously not enough for the cartons of books. We resorted to stacking them on top of the shelves and trying to maintain the rest as neatly as before on the shelves. I still have 10 or more boxes of manga to go and i'm beginning to wonder, when i'm gonna finish packing those books as neatly as i could. I sort of doubt i could do so alone, or even with the help of the rest. What's more? there's hundreds of boxes of franchise to be packed for the franchise stores and the other branches. i was packing books non-stop and for the first time, i didn't only feel tired, but also felt like vomiting. the tendency to vomit grew stronger while i continued unpacking n arranging those books. i'm not sure whether it's the smell of the books or what, but i was certainly not feeling very well.i was quite glad 7pm was coming because it means we are closing shop soon and i can stop arranging books. i practically did nothing for the sales today. At the end of the day, all my khakis had gathered at the shop. in the morning, there were danny, yoyo, peiching, angie (surprisingly), qiaoli n nick from the yishun branch (who was hmmm....supposedly good-looking according to peiching. he's surprisingly young too.... he's younger than me although he looks older than me =.='"). then nick n qiaoli left for the other branches. xinyi n junyeong came later to join the crowd at the amk branch. all of us were busy with books for the entire day. Company dinner was held at Pariss at Taka. Cool eh... i've always dreamt of eating there, hopefully during my parents' birthdays or something. i gorged on the seafood (haha...i'm a typical greedy pig). There were sashimi and abalone! i even had goose liver (which was deemed rich men's food). and of course...ice cream and cakes!! well, it was a treat from the boss what. i thought we will have some sort of company meeting first when we have all the bad news or whatsoever. unexpectedly, it was not held. i was very full at the end of dinner. i was busy eating n interacting with other colleagues from the yishun branch (since i know the rest from toapayoh n amk already). I even drank beer! cool... well, it seems that people from the vivo, yishun, amk n tpy branches know each other fairly well... =)at the dinner, the boss bro came over to ask me something. i was rather shocked, only to find out that all he wanted to noe was how the aircon at tpy was working... i gave him a simple reply, "i'm at amk..." then i spotted another men at the shop. he was the one i followed while he carried chairs from the amk shop. i think he's the boss in charge of other branches. =.= oh my...i tot he was a friend of the boss or something.After the dinner, we took photos with each other as if we were close friends. i quite like the atmosphere. i like the yishun branch and i hope i can be posted there soon... tpy is as good. i just want to avoid amk since i'm under the scrutiny of the boss every second...
(end of transferred entry)

(post on 12th feb 2007 transferred from livejournal)
It has been a long time since i last blogged... I've decided to switch blogs because blogger is throwing me tons of problems... I've to register a google account and what-not for the sake of uploading an entry? Oh gosh... and what's more... after requiring me to register a google account, the page simply doesn't want to load proper for me. I couldn't proceed hence i've decided to switch to livejournal... following the crowd eh? Anyway, i've started working and i'm quite sure the whole world knows about it. I've started working at a comics shop! The working hours are hectic. I guess only workaholics can take that sort of work schedule. I'm not a 100% workaholic though. but i dedicate myself to my work totally, which sort of means that i don't slack at work or things like that. I first started out working at Toa Payoh. On my first day of work, i had a hard time trying to find the shop i was going to work at. It's along a row of shops facing the road less frequently ventured by people. I walked round the whole of Toa Payoh central during my great search for the shop. I think that's the reason why i know almost every corner of Toa Payoh central now. At least, i can calculate the shortest route i need to take from any bus stop to the shop. By the way, Ying Huo Chong De Meng was filmed at that shop! i haven't started working there then, but i could recognise the maple cards displayed there in the show. When i first started out, i do what newbies do. I sweep the floor, clear the bins and stuffs like that. Peiching was my mentor. She taught me how to use the systems at the counter as well as the cashier box. That's a whole lot of information to memorise. Anyway, as i was not used to those systems, i was rather slow. Peiching stood by me to guide me. She's a bit strict though. Then i started out collecting books the customers read, and putting them back on the shelves. I can take hours looking for the position of a certain series. There's a whole range of books there. I was overwhelmed by the amount of books, ranging from novels to manga. I walked around for the entire day and at the end of the day, i was completely shagged. My feet ached like hell. I haven't walked kilometres for ages. For the second day (it was a saturday), customers were flocking in. The influx of customers left me panicking sometimes because i couldn't handle them quickly. I left many waiting. Fortunately, Peiching was an extremely efficient person. The queue shortened rapidly. My feet ached much more on saturday because i walked tons more. For the rest of the days, my feet didn't ached as badly. This is probably my feet is used to walking for 11hours. My other colleagues at the shop are Ahyee n xinyi. That's 3 "yi-s" at a single shop. They are very nice people. However, as time passes, i hear more gossips. Politics in a shop i guess? Angie came after a week when Peiching was transferred to the main branch in amk. Angie worked in amk initially. I had a new mentor after a week. She's a nice person too, though she was not as efficient as Peiching. I could sense that from how she managed the accounts. Peiching takes only 5mins. And for that one week when peiching was around, i could leave the shop for home before 10, despite many errors i made while collecting money. However, when angie was in charge of settling the accounts, she took rather long. For that few days, i left shop at about 10.30pm. haiiz... Junyeong came a few weeks later. I began calling him gorgor after xinyi started calling him that. Well, he's older than me ma... He's a nice person, but a wee bit blur too. He's super talented in music! lol...There's 2 levels in a single shop. i was employed to take care of the upper level. For the first few days, there was peiching to guide me. After peiching left, i was left to guard the entire level myself sometimes. i felt rather stressed because i wasn't used to the environment there. Worse off, i wasn't good at introducing books, especially novels. What's more? i can't handle phonecalls yet because i don't even know what series are available and till which book is a certain series available. Sales was maintained at the target amount even though i haven't really gone about promoting books. wahhh.... As time passes, i got to know more customers. Most of them are regulars, especially those borrowing wuxia novels. I learnt the art of introducing novels despite not knowing any content. The longer i worked, i know which series are more popular. Hence i could introduce them to other customers. Most of them are old uncles. Whereas those renting comics range from students to aunties. I made a few friends there and i even exchanged emails with them. Hopefully, i can meet a few on msn. Well, the way i deal with customers is rather interesting. I treat them as friends, rather than strangers. I speak to them as though we are very close friends, using a polite yet casual tone. Of course, i don't go on ranting about books all the time. Sometimes we chat. I'm not sure whether that's considered slacking, but i guess i'm used to promoting books and chatting with them at the same time. Sometimes, i complain to them about my work schedule, the boss, and other things. When i'm depressed, and i go to work with a heavy heart, the site of them really makes me cheer up. Words of concern from them really makes me feel happier. At the end of the day, i leave my work with a cheerful mood. I like my customers there =)On saturday (the most recent one), i went to work only to find out that i've been transferred to the main branch where the boss work... Wah... before that, i've heard many things about the boss. I felt very stressed out as i have to live under the scrutiny of the boss. Somemore, i've to deal with sales which has never been good at the main branch. This gives the boss more reasons to reprimand me and stuffs. Not only so, there's the lady boss there. After working for two days, i really missed my days at the tpy branch even though i'm quite stressed out there too. Just that, it's much worse working with the boss around. what's more? i've to submit something called "personal sales" to indicate how many books i've managed to "sell out". Not like there's many customers around for me. And it's not like i'm more experienced than peiching when it comes to familiarity with books and stuffs like that. Presently, i'm taking this as a challenge. but how much more can i take it? i'm not very sure. i started my practical driving lessons already. Combining that with work, i think my body can't take it. when my body fails me, i don't think i can take it mentally either... haiiiz... looking forward to more rest days when cny comes...
(end of transferred entry)

the Helper Thanks for taking the test !

you chose CX - your Enneagram type is TWO (aka "The Charmer"). "I must help others" Helpers are warm, concerned, nurturing, and sensitive to other people's needs. How to Get Along with Me Tell me that you appreciate me. Be specific. Share fun times with me. Take an interest in my problems, though I will probably try to focus on yours. Let me know that I am important and special to you. Be gentle if you decide to criticize me. In Intimate Relationships Reassure me that I am interesting to you. Reassure me often that you love me. Tell me I'm attractive and that you're glad to be seen with me. What I Like About Being a Two being able to relate easily to people and to make friends knowing what people need and being able to make their lives better being generous, caring, and warm being sensitive to and perceptive about others' feelings being enthusiastic and fun-loving, and having a good sense of humor What's Hard About Being a Two not being able to say no having low self-esteem feeling drained from overdoing for others not doing things I really like to do for myself for fear of being selfish criticizing myself for not feeling as loving as I think I should being upset that others don't tune in to me as much as I tume in to them working so hard to be tactful and considerate that I suppress my real feelings Twos as Children Often are very sensitive to disapproval and criticism try hard to please their parents by being helpful and understanding are outwardly compliant are popular or try to be popular with other children act coy, precocious, or dramatic in order to get attention are clowns and jokers (the more extroverted Twos), or quiet and shy (the more introverted Twos) Twos as Parents are good listeners, love their children unconditionally, and are warm and encouraging (or suffer guilt if they aren't) are often playful with their children wonder: "Am I doing it right?" "Am I giving enough?" "Have I caused irreparable damage?" can become fiercely protective Renee Baron & Elizabeth Wagele The Enneagram Made Easy Discover the 9 Types of People Harper SanFrancisco, 1994, 161 pages

I've just came back from m'sia after a 6D/5N trip.
We went Genting first. It was as crowded as before, like the few times i went there in past years, even though we went on a weekday. If we go in january, it would not be that crowded? I'm not sure. The first day, the 21-ers "crashed" the casino, only to be stopped by the security guards to check their passports. This time, they can have the "u want my passport? i show you!" attitude. I still didn't dare try. Yimin looks older than me and she's stopped. Do i have any chance? lol... i guess not. We got two free tickets per room to watch a show called "mysteria" during our stay. Well, that show is a combination of magic, dance, and stunts. Dance...not very appealing to me though. Magic, i know the trick behind most of them already. Stunts are breathtaking as usual. There's this crossbow user! She's simply fabulous! She's extremely accurate!! I thought crossbowmans exist only in Maplestory. I got to witness a real skilled one!! Oh! and a cute white tiger appeared in one of the magic tricks! it's so kawaii....
On the second day, five out of 8 of us "kids" went to the theme park. It was originally one adult n seven dwarfs. Now it's left with 5 dwarfs. to be precise....4 ginnas and a babysitter =) We played only gokart, swing, toboggan, flying dragon and the pirate train in 5hours. spent A LOT of time queueing...sian... Pirate is as lame as usual. In fact, i went in and came out, seeing nothing. And i lagged behind in gokart as usual. It's quite stupid lar...
So we decided to go to the theme park at night, when there's less people. before that, we visited the arcade to watch sinyong dance para para. He's quite pro sia...topped the list lehz...
At night, while waiting for yimin, the four of us went to play the aeroplane and elephant merry go rounds. It was quite lame, snatching the planes and elephants with kids...=.= Since the cyclone queue was still quite long, we went to play the toboggan again, then gokart. They gave out showercaps for us to wear!! sheesh...it was a room filled with grandmas ( we had to wait for our turn in a room)... AS USUAL...I LAGGED BEHIND AGAIN!!! ARRRRGHHZ... nvm...it doesn't mean i can't drive. It simply means i cannot compete in driving competitions only =)
Then stupid me went up on the spaceshot again with sinyong. the previous time, i simply regretted going on again after my first try. This time...i simply didn't learn my lesson =) I kept screaming throughout...but at least i didn't regret =D Then we went on the pirateship! we went on twice! we set at around the centre for our first try. It was not as exciting. The second time, we sat right at the edges. THAT! was FUN! although we didn't get to try out cyclone...but well...nvm...

Then we went fraser's hill. The parents spent most of the time talking, dancing and singing. We spent most of our time playing cards, mahjong, singing and watching the parents dance. We hogged one of the karaoke sets while the parents set up another in another room. Usually, the bungalow is fully booked by us. This time, we didn't manage to find enough people to book the entire bungalow. So we shared the bungalow with another singaporean family. We couldn't afford to blast the speakers anymore. Although i didn't sing much, but people like yimin, shuiyong and sinyong hog the microphones most of the time. And for the first time, i hear my bro sing! lol...
Mahjong was normal la...with jokes from time to time...and complains of lack of passports to end the game... =.= since there were 8 of us, we would split up into 2 groups sometimes. the other group will play cards. Asshole daidee was one of the games. The asshole evolved to form a pile of shit. i remained as a "piece of shit" most of time...unable to overthrow the king and queen. Sometimes, i can grow from a "small piece of shit" to form the big one. Lol...the game was lame lar... Then we played poker, a new game i learnt. We had fake money, of course, to place our stakes. The 100dollar tiles were called peanuts because of the NKF saga. everyone competed to see who had the most peanuts. And those who lost their peanuts downgraded to form the middleclass, lowerclass and no peanuts class.
During our stay, sinyuan had a bet with his mother. The bet was about getting the hp number of a pretty girl in the other singaporean family. if he won, he'd get 50bucks. during our stay, we acted as matchmakers, creating lots of opportunities for him, pushing him and acting as informants. It was quite funny but he really did spend a lot of time with her, playing with dogs or table tennis.
Another interesting event was the dietcoke n mentos experiment. since we didn't have diet coke, we substituted it with coke. During our first attempt, we added the entire bar of mentos into the coke, hoping to create a rocket or fountain. we failed completely... So during our 2nd attempt, we analysed the problems and devised methods to solve the problems. it was like doing a project where everyone put together their brains to create a rocket. we poked holes in the bottle and mentos. String the mentos together and so on...conclusion was? it failed too... lol =)
We had steamboat during one of the nights. Since the ginnas sat together at a table, we totally had no idea about when food is cooked. our method? boil the water each time we put food in. sintong acted as the timekeeper. Each time he says, "ok", we noe we can start fishing for our food. It ended with a sabotage. Libing, yimin and i were sabotaged. We found more prawns than what we took on our plates because of diligent prawn catchers. they threatened yimin to finish her prawns by repeating the price of prawns. (RM3 for a prawn)

A bad experience i had during my trip was at genting. While people get out of the lift, some people simply cannot afford the few secs for everyone to get out. They had to block your way and try to get into the lift despite failing to do so because i was armed with my luggage to push them away. i was quite irritated. THen, at the buffet, people who queue are SOOO rare. once some people see slots, they HAVE to cut in. Despite seeing a whole row of people behind, an obvious sign of a queue, they STILL have to cut the queue. I feel like screaming at them. The only thing i could do was to give my mum stares. The only advice she gave was "stay close to those in front". They don't even know how to say "excuse me". If i see kids around who don't know how to queue, i know the reason. You can't really blame schools for not teaching basic courtesy because some parents are showing their children the wrong examples.

In a state of confusion now. I'm supposed to be happy, but i'm not. My mind is in a blank. Freak. I need to get out of this state now.

I know this feeling. I try to prevent people from having the same feeling. I'm not sure whether i succeed each time. However, i keep having that feeling. Unfortunately, hardly anyone has stopped that feeling from emerging.

Kimjongkook's voice is horribly high...even higher than mine... I think those superstar wannabes have to learn from him if they are really keen on attempting high pitches in their songs. Seems that there's a trend of singing songs that requires one to reach super high pitches. i watched only a few participants singing, and out of those few, most of them chose a song that requires them to hit a super high note. Sheesh...
but kjk's good...his high pitches are good... no off tunes... but for a guy... maybe it isn't that suitable even though it's good? oh well, i'm just stereotyping here...
While watching rain dance on mobile tv, i tot he sort of resembled kjk... hmmz... but maybe rain isn't that shy about dancing as compared to kjk on xman? lol...

I love haha!! although i've heard only one song of his (that's JUMP), i guess it's his character that appeals to most people. His hilarious imitations of kjk never fails to make me laugh. He's terribly thick-skinned but he's good at dancing too. Not so good looking but he dances and raps extremely well!!

There are like tons of korean singers and stars, but it seems that we only know a few in singapore. i don't expect to find turbo's CD in singapore though...or kjk's latest CD... Although it sort of top the sales charts (did it?), i don't see the same album being promoted. The only few Korean stars we actually know are those on TV (auntie killers and so on....), and singers like rain, shinhwa, BoA and HOT... i think there are times more out there...

Oh well...some stars are meant for us to dig them out =D That increases their value doesn't it?

Hmmz... to those who watches Goong... Yoo Eun Hye is not Joo Ji Hoon's! ok...lame... but hmmz, while searching for baby vox's music video through youtube, i came across some korean variety show which yoo eun hye participates in. Xman! It's a good and hilarious show. You actually get to see the other side of singers which you don't see elsewhere. Then!!! I found out that yooeunhye actually has a real-life scandal with another guy called kimjongkook!! lol...

Recently, i got hooked to his band's songs. He belonged to a really ancient korean boy band called Turbo which is disbanded. I love their songs (not all though) On top of that, i love some of the dances! I like the dance from Black Cat and Love Is. While his band has been disbanded, Kimjongkook is venturing out on his own. I quite like "You're so loveable" from one of his recent albums. The music video isn't very appealing, but nonetheless, it sets the mood of the song. His voice is good (i think). At least, he doesn't go off-tune when he sings in Xman. Although his voice is rather high-pitched, but as some fans of his say, it's a unique trait of his. His voice is quite prominent. You can recognise immediately. Yooeunhye also has a characteristic voice. It resembles her voice on tv (like duh tho...) Anyway, since there's five members in baby vox, it's rather easy to find her voice in those songs.

I'm hooked on to the wrong songs. I'm listening to jap, korean and classical songs but not cpop or english songs! Oh great... to think that chinese and english are the only two languages i utilise. Maybe that's a reason why i'm not good at them? Because my mind's always filled with songs of other languages...