For hire

So today, I went to the SMRT head office to pick up the documents for placing our bid of the shop premise at Eunos MRT station.

SMRT had built 10 new shop lots and only one is left and the closing date for this tender is next week on the 7th.

At least I now have an exact date to work with. So on the 7th, if our bid fails, I can move on with the rest of my life which has been on hold for almost two weeks pining for this deal to go through.

I give us yet another 20% chance to nick it.

I like the area. It's within the MRT station itself and next to the bus terminal, near a town centre, near some industrial buildings, near to both posh and not so posh housing estates, near to some eating establishments with plenty of Halal food on offer and the shop itself is near the toilet... just in case I need to go when I need to go.

It's got centralized air-conditioning and security is covered.

(Hey Marc! I could be near you man! High five!)

We're gonna ponder the details over the weekend and if everything is set, Monday I drop in our bid at the SMRT head office.

In the meantime, I'm looking for some casual work.

SUPERHERO FOR HIRE

WILL WORK FOR CHOCOLATE

Let's play Part 2b

Ok, for six days I have been at war with the malware in my computer. I've been told that $60 should be enough to hire someone to remove these buggers but my laptop is old. I give it less than six months to live so if possible, I don't wanna spend any money on this thing.

So as stated in my Let's play Parts 1 and 2 entries, I have installed more than 20 anti-malware applications to combat these evil doers and I've personally tested them all.

They're still there, but very much suppressed.

So if you're facing the same problems in future, take note of what I'm typing after this.

I've narrowed down by half the number of anti-malware applications on my computer. These are those that works against the extremely powerful malware on my computer and my descriptions in English in its lowest common denominator is as follows.

1) Sunbelt Kerio Firewall
- Before anything, you gotta install this one first. It makes sure whatever application that intends to start on your computer, has your permission first before it starts. Even those which self-install.

I've had Zonealarm Pro as well as AVG firewalls before, which are already very good, but Kerio outdoes them all. Together, they're the 1-2-3 of free to use firewalls. Only one firewall is recommended per computer, otherwise both you and your computer would be confused.

If I had this in the beginning, I wouldn't have had to type out this damn entry.

2) Sunbelt CounterSpy
- Another great free to use product by Sunbelt. Just install. It will update itself automatically everytime you start your computer and crushes every bad stuff it detects like a cockroach as you happily use your computer without you noticing.

If need be, you can even run it to scan your computer for spyware anytime you wish. Very powerful.

3) AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic
- It's damn annoying. Everytime it detects bad stuff in your computer, it'd prompt you and sometimes that happens like a few million times in a row. The bad thing is you need to physically be there to click on the option to "Deny access" to the bad stuff as it doesn't automatically do it for you.

The good thing is that it means that it works. Just remember to deactivate this application whenever you're running the other applications listed out in here because it does get in the way.

4) Spybot Search and Destroy
- It automatically deletes bad stuff from your computer. Just turn it on and go have coffee for 15 minutes. Come back and follow what it says on your computer. Just do it. Don't worry, your computer won't explode.

5) Ad-Aware SE Personal
- It does the same thing as No 4. You run this thing AFTER you run No 4 ok because this thing is more powerful. It destroys anything that No 4 missed out. Don't be stupid and ask "Why couldn't I just run this thing alone in the first place?" Because it just doesn't work that way ok!

6) a-squared StartCenter
- It scans your computer for malware infections and removes them. There are some bad stuff it detects but cannot remove. Simple. Just take note of the EXACT name of those bad stuff on a piece of paper.

Then go to "My Computer" to search for them and then remove them manually. Sometimes the bad people who come up with these bad stuff think they're clever so they make it a little more difficult for other good applications to remove them automatically.

There are instances whereby some of the stuff it detects but cannot remove are harmless AND actually important to make your computer run normally so if you're not sure whether to delete or not, DON'T. Send me an email.

7) HijackThis
- This stuff is powerful. It lists out everything in your computer so you can nitpick which ones are harmful and needs to be manually deleted. As in No 6, if you're not sure whether to delete or not, DON'T. Send me an email.

8) Kill2Me
- Look2Me is a malware that causes your computer to have irritating pop ups every one minute prompting you that "Your computer is infected. Please click here to find out ways to remove them" in order to direct you to their website so you'd buy their stuff.

Kill2Me kills Look2Me. Just follow what it says. Your computer's desktop will disappear for a few seconds but that's normal for this application to work. It'd come back. No, really. If it doesn't, I owe you a lap dance.

9) Ccleaner
- What it does is to automatically make more space in your computer. Just click on the button that says "Scan", and shut up. There is also an option to add/remove applications just like the one in your control panel. If the sentence before this one is too hard to understand, pretend you didn't read it.

10) CWS Shredder
- CWS refers to this animal called "Cool Web Search" and it lurks around in your computer without you knowing. "OooOoOOOoh, scary". But don't fret, just shred.

11) Avast Cleaner
- It's Vitagen for your computer. It kills worms. Just don't literally drink it.

Ok I'm done. Three more things to note.

Firstly, only run ONE application at a time.

Secondly, please don't forget to clean up your computer the old fashioned way too every once a week.

a) Go to Control Panel
b) Click on "Performance and Maintenance"
c) Select the "Free up space on your hard disk" and let it do its thing for a few minutes
d) Once done, click on "Rearrange items on your hard disk to make programs run faster" and select "Defragmentize". DO NOT do other things on your computer. Let it run its course and follow what it says afterwards.

Thirdly, if you couldn't be bothered installing ALL these applications, just do Nos 1-8.

If you have problems, The Calamity Man is here to save you at a special promotional rate* of $17.95 per hour during this Great Singapore Sale.

* "Special services" rates are not subject to this promotion.

Tremor kasih

If those of you living in and around Toa Payoh have been experiencing minor tremors these past couple of evenings, I humbly apologize.

Between you and I, it was just me pounding the pavements. No need to inform the authorities ok.

Yeap, yeap, yeap... pounding the pavements, alright.

I used to run but these days, short of rolling about, I bounce around.

Nothing much changes, I'm still eating the way I have always been five, 10 years ago, just that the metabolism level needs a little coaxing to rev up these days. I'm not as young as I used to be.

*cough*

*splutter*

Dang, even typing is a little too much for these old, rickety bones of mine.

Mighty Mouse

This just in, [removed] just called to tell me that he's found a new location for our new shop.

It's within [removed] MRT station and he wants to see me there in less than two hours.

The thing about this location is that it's on a tender basis. Meaning we'd have to wrestle other people who are interested in the same location and the guy who bids to pay the highest rent, wins.

My mind is going into overdrive.

Whited out

Usually when I move on from one stage of my life to another, I'd sever all traces of communication between the people of the last stage and myself. I'd either change or not carry a handphone at all, cut my pager line, change my address, my email address or whatever, and this time I'm thinking of doing the same thing.

The thing is, ok so maybe I've made an impact on other people's lives at my last job, that's all fine and dandy but I don't understand why there is a need to cry for me and everything. It's not like I'm dead. I feel honoured of course but I also find it a little over-dramatic.

And then I have phone calls asking me how I'm doing, people asking me to come and visit, people wanting to meet me up, people wanting to pass me the things they bought for me.

To be honest, it's scary and I do not know how to handle it.

Naturally, I'm a guy who lives life in stages which in my mind are just sub-cycles of life cycles and maybe it's not the best way to handle things but I kinda like to forget about the past and move on to the next sub-cycle without being held back into the past.

Perhaps it's what I've been through personally that makes me be like this, shaping me to be this kind of person. "Is it bad?" I ask myself and sometimes I feel it is.

Just now my former assistant supervisor, the one who gave me my new old phone called to meet me up so she could hand me a spanking new housing (for the phone) she just bought.

She actually called me last week during my reservist to tell me about this and I made a small deal of it hoping it'd die down but it seemed that she was so determined that I had to give in.

So after spending a few minutes deciding what to do and where to meet (I was trying not to meet her initially because I just felt scared about this whole thing), we finally settled to meet at Braddell MRT.

I thought it was gonna be like a simple pass-me-the-housing-make-some-small-talk-and-scram affair but then she exited the gantry.

"Oooooo-kay", I thought.

"Gaaa! What do we do?" I asked myself as my mind tried to think of ways to escape.

As usual, my face didn't show what my heart was thinking. Um yes, my heart can think. So I just casually led us to the coffeeshop nearby, ordered us both a drink and sat down for a while hoping to know what to do next.

She passed me the phone's housing (Finally! How LONG I've waited!) and I asked how things are at work.

One of the reasons why I've been trying to escape is that I know that we'd be communicating in Mandarin. I mean, although I've all along been saying that I can do the language, I only use it when necessary because my knowledge of it is quite minimal. I'd use it for work no problem but this is not work.

I was struggling. I felt uneasy. I was wriggling around in my seat. In my mind, my eyeballs were darting all over the place looking for the imaginary "Exit" sign.

And it was over in half an hour.

Thank God.

And I'm now a proud owner of a brand new all white phone housing (I've always liked white phone housings and she knows, eeey scary). To this day, I have not spent a single cent on this phone.

The Furry Truth

More evidence of fuzz butts in various states of laziness!

12 months = $10k

I need to run away for a while. Not something I intend to do permanently but I need to put myself in a forced situation where I could just focus on one aim for a fixed duration, say one year at most.

I could do one year.

Besides, National Service was longer by one and a half years and I scrapped through that. It wasn't comfortable but I barely made it. The secret was that it was something I couldn't escape from no matter how adverse and I had no choice but to see through the duration.

I've always wanted to run away, it's a somewhat open secret. To do my own thing, to be by myself, not worrying about stepping on other people's tails unwittingly or not, no one to please, no need to worry about waking up slightly earlier or later to use the toilet, have things done my way, having my own space, no one to explain to, no one to criticize me.

I'm actually quite depressed at the moment and I want to be left alone.

My existence at this moment is a very unhappy one. It's very superficial. I'm living a fake life. I don't like being in this place. I don't like the people here. I'm not doing things that I'd rather be doing. Some of them out of consideration for others.

I don't like it when I wanna do something and other people are being so negative about it. Sometimes they don't say it but I can feel it. It's like I'm living my life to please them, according to what they want my life to be, acording to what they feel I should be.

I've always had this feeling inside of me that some day I'm just going to heck all, pack up and just go. Something inside of me is saying that this feeling is getting stronger. That day is drawing nearer.

I'm giving myself one year, till the end of July 07 to have at least $10000 in the bank and I need to focus. One year is not long and ten thousand dollars is not exactly a small sum.

If I feel that I need to isolate myself to achieve this, I might just do that. That depends on how things turn out in the next ten days.

Job situation

The situation with [removed] still hasn't changed. It's no secret that I'm still hoping it'd work out.

This just in. We didn't manage to secure the premise at [removed] and [removed] wants to look around outside of Toa Payoh now, preferably in the city. Don't think this is working out for me. So off I go looking someplace else.

First and foremost, I want a 15% increase in salary. That's the most important at this point. That'd make it more convenient for me to plan out the future. I give myself till July 1 to get my work situation sorted.

So today I went for the Operations Executive job interview at Assyakirin mosque. It's all cool. The job scope is pretty much the same as my previous one, in that it is not specific. My job is to make sure nothing screws up and that's it. That pretty much covers everything. Excitement level - 6.5/10

I had an overseas call from Laguna Resort Bintan asking me to go for the Sales Consultant job interview next Wednesday. Uh huh, I might go for that one if I haven't gotten anything sorted by then. Excitement level - 3/10

Main thing is, the plan for my last job was to pay my liabilities and the plan for my next job is to save money.

So it's: clear debts -> save money -> make money-> scram!

I'm currently at the first ->

Girl, 8, raped and murdered in Perth

Ok so these things happen all the time (doesn't make it right though) but what struck me when reading this piece of news were two things - the kid looks like my slimy, smelly, noisy Perthling Aquila and that it happened in my lovely Perth.

Gaa!

Here's my summarized excerpt of the news article.

Perth - An eight year old girl was raped and murdered in the public toilets of Canning Vale shopping mall on Monday afternoon.

The naked body of Sofia Rodriguez-Urrutia-Shu was found sprawled on the disabled cubicle floor in the female toilet by her 14 year old brother, police said.

Police later arrested part time shop worker 21 year old Dante Wyndham Arthurs at his parents' home nearby.

He appeared in court yesterday charged with wilful murder, deprivation of liberty and unlwaful sex penetration and was not required to plead. He's remanded in custody until July 11.

Ms Brooke McCaffree, 22, who works as a shop assistant at a gift shop next door to the toilets, said she was "absolutely disgusted".

"I just don't understand how this could happen, we live in a nice suburb. The fact that I was there serving customers as this was happening in the next room is just diabolical."

Blob!

Since February I've been telling myself to get back on my fitness regime to prepare myself for reservist but that didn't happen.

No wonder I did badly in my fitness test. Also, the lack of fitness was very evident. The first thing that hit me was when I was carrying all my stuff from my apartment to a friend's car on the first morning.

I not only huffed and puffed like crazy, by the time I reached his car, I also chipped a fingernail! And we haven't even started.

I was having lunch just now with Lilies at FNS 470 (Toa Payoh foodcourt) where I used to work and everyone there was like "God, you're FAT!". Totally no manners all of them. At least mask it in a nice way or something, like "You look um, more prosperous?" but nooo... .

Last Friday when my reservist was over, I told myself to puh-lease start my fitness regime again the following Monday which was supposed to be yesterday and until now I still haven't done anything about it.

Hur hur hur.

To top it up, I not only had two pieces of instant pratas and beef curry for dinner just now, when Liana and Jelte suggested to order pizza, I was the first one to volunteer which ones to order. Which. Ones. More than one.

Wahaha!

There goes the regime...

Best diving team in the universe goes to...

Italy!

Yes Italy.

It was heartbreaking to see the Socceroos made it this far in the World Cup, holding on to Italy in the round of 16 for four minutes into extra time and then lose out to a penalty kick given only because the Italians just love to cheat.

Cheat! Cheat! Cheat!

May you be reborn as worms in your next life, all of you scums.

Look at the match statistics here and here. The Socceroos were up there with the best for the entire match until the Italians cheated.

Dumb referee was at the right place, at the right time and still he made a dubious call to award Italy with a penalty kick after Grosso pretended to trip over Lucas Neill like as though he'd been shot by a thousand bullets from a machine gun, with only half a minute left of the game.

This is not soccer. Italy is in the wrong sport. With talents like this, they should be universal champions at the Olympic sport of diving. Problem is, they all wanna be soccer players and make it difficult for honest people to play the beautiful game.

I spit on the Italians. Ptooi!

Manic Monday

I can't believe it. I've been running the BitDefender online scanner for the past 4 hrs 40 mins and it's still not quite done yet. According to the window that I'm seeing, there's still like 2 hrs 50 mins left. Argh!

That's alright. By that time, the second half of the World Cup round of 16 match between the Socceroos and Italy would have started and I'll continue my fight against the evil malwaresters tomorrow.

In related news, Barcelona, one of the biggest soccer teams on this planet is eyeing Lucas Neill of Australia. Apparently, his gung ho display for the Socceroos have been rather impressive.

A bit of extra information here, Neill's father moved to Australia from Northern Ireland 30 years ago and since Northern Ireland is not in the current World Cup, a lot of its people are supporting Australia because of Lucas Neill.

Another Neill and Northern Irishman is involved in the future of the Socceroos - Martin O'Neill. Now this guy, previously of English soccer team Leicester, bringing it from the lower leagues to the Premier League before moving to Celtic of Scotland and leading his new club to many trophies; has been linked to replace Golden Guus Hiddink who is moving on to the Russian coaching job after the World Cup.

Trouble is, Sunderland of England also wants this guy. Personally, I couldn't think of a better guy to replace Golden Guus. These are two of the best guys who have experience in turning a bunch of misfits into something no one imagines them to be. Hopefully he picks Australia.

In other news, Assyakirin Mosque of Taman Jurong, just next to FNS 399, just called to ask me to come down for an interview on Wednesday for the Operations Executive job I applied for.

I'm still hoping the [removed] thing materializes but it doesn't hurt to attend any interview that comes along the way to find out more about the job. It's just an interview. Nothing's being confirmed yet.

Let's play Part 2

For almost three hours I've been trying to clean up my computer with the arsenal I installed last night.

So far it hasn't been completely successful. The damn popups and prompts that appear from my tray are still here, albeit in lesser quantities but I'm not done yet.

I've a feeling there's gonna be a Part 3 for this. Like when I dump my computer and get another one. Heh.

What I've done so far, in this order, was to:

1. Disconnect from the Internet
2. Run Ccleaner
3. Lavasoft Adaware
4. Spybot Search and Destroy
5. CounterSpy
6. Reconnect to the Internet
7. Run Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool (currently)

And after this:

1. Run Microsoft Windows Defender
2. Run CWShredder
3. Run Kill2Me

And after that to run the online scanners:

1. Bitdefender
2. Panda ActiveScan
3. TREND MICRO HouseCall 6.5

Just for extra measure I'll also run:

1. Hijack This!
2. and a whole array of seven other tools I have

The last resort, if any, shall be the Part 3 I was talking about earlier. Hopefully it doesn't lead to that.

Toa Payoh Ahoy!

Right, it wasn't exactly lunch. In my mind lunch ends at two and my appointment with Jim and Venitha was exactly for 2 pm, so it was more like tunch. Ok? Thanks.

Venitha picked Toa Payoh Lorong 7 coz the Makansutra guide said there was popiah to die for over there.

I too had my own guidebook - The Singapore Bus Guide which has a map in it. I walked from home. Took about 15 minutes with the help of the map. I thought I wouldn't know where the place was, or to even understand how to read a map but turned out I was just there the week before, just that I wasn't paying attention.

The first one I saw was Jim. I couldn't have been wrong. Besides Jelte, there aren't a lotta white guys in Toa Payoh. I tailed him.

He went into the toilet.

Um...

I called Venitha to tell her I thought I saw Jim. She said yeah he was going to the bathroom (Houston, we got confirmation) and that she was in front of the popiah stall waiting. Right, where in the heck was the popiah stall?

I found her, Jim found us and that was the first time I met the two of them together. Venitha said she didn't expect me to be so good-looking in person. Heh. I just had to mention that.

I initially emailed Venitha to meet them up before my reservist. I thought it'd be nice to meet them before their stint here is over.

Nice people they are. Just ordinary folks with no airs, no expaty attitude... [this bit on this post has been removed in response to a scary article I read on the news today that might implicate Team Singadventure].

They just refuse to fall into the expat trap of ya know, being on a high horse and acting like as though they are too big for anything. So no American Club, no ExpatSingapore.com where the people who post on there are vicious (and I agree having been BoardAdmin since 03), no cars when the public transportation system here is so efficient (can't argue), yes to hanging out with locals (I feel so, so blessed) and yes to eating out where us locals do.

We connect on many levels like the fact that Maoris are scary especially when they do the Haka before their rugby games, we talked about the evolvement of civilization and languages of the world, we touched a little on religion and current affairs. Well basically I just want them to feel lucky knowing that there are actually Muslims out there who do not bay for American blood all the time as yours truly is and they wanted me to understand that not all Americans are ugly.

They certainly weren't. And they were pretty assured I was an OK guy who hasn't got any murderous intentions... at least for the few hours I was with them. Heh heh heh *rubbing hands in glee, eyeballs darting left and right a few times*

After three and a half hours, we had to mosey ("make a move" in John Waynish as I just learned). They were meeting some friends for dinner before watching some people fly all over the place at Choa Chu Kang in some acrobatic show but we promised to keep in touch and hang out again. That'd be nice.

The moment Venitha posts our pictures on their blog I'm gonna hijack them and post them here ok. So hold on to your horses.

Let's play Part 1

So I've spent the last four hours installing anti malware programs on my computer.

Let's see... besides Lavasoft Adaware and Spybot Search and Destroy, what do I got:

1. Microsoft Windows Defender 1051 (Beta 2)
2. Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool
3. CounterSpy
4. Hijack This!
5. CWShredder
6. Kill2me
7. Bitdefender
8. Panda ActiveScan
9. Trend Micro's online scan
10. a-squared (a²) Free edition
11. avast! Virus Cleaner Tool
12. McAfee AVERT Stinger
13. Panda Quick Remover
14. Blacklight Beta
15. Avast! Home Edition
16. AntiVir Personal Edition
17. Outpost Firewall Free

Yup, yup, yup. This time I've brought out the big guns. I have no clue what I've been installing but the guys at majorgeeks.com seem to know what they're doing so I'm just blindly following whatever they recommend to do here, here and here.

So uh, who wants to play?

I swear man, if I get to meet the people who are responsible for installing malware on people's computers without their consent and blackmailing them in the process, I'd wring their necks and hang them on a 20 foot pole to warn other online malware fear-mongerers to watch it.

In other news, I met Jim and Venitha from the Singadventure blog for lunch today but more on that later I promise.

White castle

I was hoping that I could have more time to rest after my reservist yesterday but that didn't happen.

My computer got invaded by malware and I tried everything I know and then some and still couldn't detect and remove the darn thing.

(Edited to add) Lavasoft Ad-Aware, Spybot Search and Destroy, Zonealarm Pro, Microsoft Malicious Ware removing tool, upped my browsers' security, privacy and firewall settings, defragmented my hard disk just to see if that'd help but nada.

Every now and then I'd get prompted through various methods that my computer is being infected and I should go buy something in order to remove them effectively.

This is blackmail. I know this is their desperate marketing attempt at fear-mongering and I refuse to be had. It's damn annoying. If I could come face to face with the person or even persons who are responsible for this I'll make sure they suffer a slow death for causing people like me mental agony.

I lack rest and I'm tired.

Anyway I found strength to visit my mom. Food, real food is the motivation. Doesn't take much for me to be inspired.

As usual, my mom likes to suggest ways of me getting better work opportunities elsewhere.

- Be a flight steward like my brother
- Be a nurse
- Work for the government, anything as long as it's with the government
- Pay a visit to this religious guy she knows to offer me some prayers for a better future
- Blah yada blah yada

I appreciate her concerns but she refuses to see how I look at things and I too refuse to accept her suggestions.

For her, it's about me getting a stable job and a high salary and live happily ever after.

For me, it's about me working for myself, have enough for my family and live happily ever after.

But I've learned to zone everything out. The trick is to:
- establish and understand the pattern
- anticipate what is gonna happen prior to my visit and focus, focus, focus
- come up with template responses
- slide in attempts to distract her from undesirable topics of conversation
- if that doesn't work, to just go "uh hmm" everytime she says something while reading the newspaper
- point at the TV and say something general that would entice her to respond
- finally, if all else fails, just be silly

Heh heh.

Talking about this, Max told me yesterday that the Eng Wah lady has been avoiding him but on the other hand he has been approached by Carrefour for some kinda collaboration thingy. If either or both of these are successful, he wants me to take care of it.

I'm not too hopeful. I'm just taking the next week or so at a snail's pace. Chill out, no pressure. Perth WEEK so to speak.

And about this [removed] thing, I have a deadline set in my mind for something concrete to come out of it and if that isn't achieved, I'd have to move on. I have to be practical and snap out of this castles in the sky thing.

Stay tuned.

Round Two - FIGHT!

The Australians went into the final group match two points ahead of Croatia and only needed a draw to reach the last sixteen. Australia, galvanised by the coaching of Dutchman Gus Hiddink, showed incredible tenacity to fight back from being behind twice in the match before 56,000 fans.

And they succeeded with a 2-2 draw and have surpassed all expectations by going to the second round of the World Cup.

Um... why are they celebrating?

Boink!

Dang, I shouldn't have had that curry. Makes me wanna go in a hurry.

Boohoohoo... we suck.

Woohoohoo! We made it!

"Should've chosen the Socceroos instead," Simunic, the Australian-raised turncoat mumbled to himself as he got the marching orders.

Everyone agrees Golden Gus is da man who made the difference for Australia as the new soccer powerhouse.

For your information, there are three Australian raised or born players in the Croatian team and six players of Croatian descent making up the Socceroos.

Back from the ashes

Mon 190606

I'd packed all my stuff, I had a list going on but in the end I still managed to forget to bring the most important supply of all - my cigarettes!

I was so pissed off with myself.

Dinner was a still-beating hunk of chicken with rice. It was bloody and all so I dumped it, went to the shop and got myself junk food instead. I tell ya, not even the army can stop yours truly from his right to eat.

I mean, we can be ruthless and all but we like our chicken dead, thanks.

Tue 200606

For the first time in the history of Calamity Man, I failed my fitness test. My fitness level hasn't been that great of late but I'd always managed to at least pass but this time I couldn't go pass 27 sit ups in one of the tests because I either sprained my back, slipped a disc or both.

I had twenty seconds to make it 28 and I was struggling like a fish outta water till the countdown timer hit zero seconds.

According to the rule, once one of the tests is failed, the entire test is failed but I still went on to complete all the other tests.

I still went ahead with the grenade-throwing practice in the afternoon thinking that the pain would go away but it didn't. It became worse.

Wed 210606

I had to skip our Fighting in Built Up Areas (FIBUA) practice as well as our company mission exercise (CME) over the next two days and see the Medical Officer at the advice of my Platoon Commander (PC).

I'm a proud, proud man. I hate to see the doctor. To me, it only proves that I'm weak but I tried to sleep on the back injury problem and it didn't go away.

But I regained some of my pride when the Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) selected me to overlook some matters on the Battalion's behalf over the two days. I felt proud because there were other sergeants available and he chose me. I might have been injured but I was still useful.

Thu 220606

The guys who went for the FIBUA and CME the day before came back before lunch. I promptly made myself available to ease the load of the rest of the commanders who were involved. I knew they were exhausted. In contrast, I had a grand total of 15 whopping hours of sleep!

We played some games as a Battalion in the afternoon. Participation was understandbly lacklustre. My Alpha Company got beaten by the fat guys from HQ Company in tug-of-war, we drew with Support Company in this game called water bomb and we lost to Bravo Company, our nemesis, at soccer.

Notice the trend here?

In the games that I didn't play; tug-of-war and soccer, because of my injury, we lost.

And in the games that I played; water bomb, which was non-physical, we managed to fight it out to a stalemate. Imagine if I had been fully fit. Heh heh.

Fri 230606

It was time for us to leave but as usual hours were wasted waiting for things to happen. We finally managed to leave at 1545hrs, almost two hours late all because of some internal politics which was so unnecessary.

I need to rest a bit now.

R.I.P.

RESERVIST IN PROGRESS

What were you thinking?

I'll be going to hell for five days from Monday. See you again Friday... IF I make it out in one piece that is.

Dramatic moment

I don't know how to begin this.

So I'll just write as I think it.

I was happily patrolling the foodcourt today when Ita, one of the tenants shouted out at me, "Hey, Da Su is crying!"

Da Su is my cleaning supervisor... or should I say my former cleaning supervisor.

I hopped over to find out what was wrong.

Da Su was inconsolable. He was sobbing between words. He said he couldn't bear to live with the fact that I was leaving them today. I have been keeping mum about my resignation until very recently. I have been the best "ching li" or manager in Mandarin he's ever worked with according to him as he continued sobbing.

Then others came over and added in their own thing. I was lost in the flurry of chatter and sobbing because everyone started crying... even the men, especially Da Su!

I couldn't cry in their presence although I had wanted to. I had to be the tough one. Tears were welling in my eyes but I still had a few hours left to serve and I was very determined about leaving on a high and so I controlled myself.

Besides, it was nearing lunchtime and there was work to be done. If I started crying too, the sob fest would continue and things would stall. I had to be professional.

I stood there and with a serious smile (if that was possible), I gave a short speech to everyone in which I said, "Please do not be sad. Please do not cry. You must understand that I do love working with you people but some things have happened recently between the company and I and I felt the best option for me was to leave. It was none of your fault. Be assured that I will come by every now and then to see you guys when I have the time." *Suave smile* "Ok now please get back to work, thank you."

I bet you guys didn't think these things happen in foodcourts huh? You go to a foodcourt, you buy food, you eat food, you leave food on the table and leave but it's like a little drama serial in there sometimes haha.

There are some things that occured I deemed too HOT for all and sundry to see in the online world so I left them out. But have faith in this: I made the right decision.

On the whole, it felt nice that I have touched people's lives positively just by being myself. I do acknowledge that sometimes being myself irks the hell outta other people but sometimes they work out too. I will never change. My aim has never been to please anyone but if you so happened to be pleased, that's great, thank you.

From here

I have finally confirmed within myself that I have an allergy of working for people. Make no mistake though, I'm not implying that I'm allergic to work. They are two different things.

Firstly I cannot stand colleagues and/or superiors who are spineless zombies who just bob around their way at work and step over people's heads in order to get higher. Reminds me of the Dilbert comic strip, really. Most of them are like the pointy-haired boss in the strip and the special guest characters like Mister Serdecisions and Patty the amplifier and distorter.

Secondly, within reason, I like to challenge the status quo and zombies don't take too well to that. There was one point where I came up with all the proposal for us to move forward as a company where Halal matters are concerned and after all the initial hoopla, it just died an agonizing death.

There are others, one more being me suggesting for used oil to be collected in barrels and then sold to an oil-recycling company in order for us to off-set some of the tenants' expenses and that one got shot down too. That's a whole load of used oil being flushed down the drain in exchange for nothing.

For me, I am not seeking perfection, but if there is a better way to do things, I'd like to work on it in my own quiet way before bringing it up when I feel I have a case. In both scenarios I mentioned above, I felt I had a few strong points but the zombies didn't want the little bit of extra work. Extra work that could have generated into more efficiency in the greater scheme of things.

Thirdly, I just knew I was gonna run my own little business since young. Period.

Like I told Liana earlier today, I never aimed to be Bill Gates. I just want to make enough for my family and the underprivileged folks can take all the surplus that I generate through my business. After all, I wouldn't be taking my wealth to my grave when I die. Might as well spread the love around.

But first, I'd have to get rich. By rich I mean to have a little extra than what I'm accustomed to and that is proving to be the difficult part.

Liana reckons I do not lack in business knowledge and theory, instead I lack the business savvy. And she's right. I noticed that too and I'm working on it.

Some people work smart while the others work hard. I believe I belong to the latter. I use more heart than brain in every aspect of my life and that's not necessarily a good thing. If it was, I wouldn't be the loser that I am now.

But I'm very certain about one thing. I do not want to change myself. Yes, I can reduce the heart:brain ratio but I wouldn't do a major transformation. I believe there is a small probability that a heart person can earn an honest living in this world and help others in the process and I wanna prove it.

Say half the world's population are heart people, all the heart people cannot all be losers right? I refuse to believe it even if it was a fact found by an AC Nielsen research backed by the United Nations.

As I was saying, I am working on it. Like most of you who's been around to keep up with my life for about three years now through my blog, I am forever talking about making it in business. Time is ticking quickly according to my ten year plan but I have this picture in my head that if I was to throw fifty darts continuously at the board, one of them is bound to hit the bullseye at some point.

I have been working full time to firstly clear up my debt this past year but in the process I have also been keeping up with the business side of things by getting involved in small business dealings for extra income just so I could keep myself on my toes.

And every now and then, I come across a Eureka moment and I spend some time doing my own little research to see how much the possibility of them materializing is and how I could get things started and make them work. All of them have been drawing blanks thus far. No surprises there.

Currently there is the [removed] thing which is still maintaining its 20% possibility of materializing rate and in case that doesn't work out by end June, I'm thinking of doing something in Timor Leste. It's a very young and problem-laden nation and I understand that the risks there are high but so is the potential. Remember the story about "shoes in africa"?

One guy wanted to sell shoes in Africa but when he popped over for a visit, he noticed no one was wearing shoes so he thought selling shoes there was a dumb idea. But another guy did the same thing and decided that "Great! Then there is a market for shoes in Africa!" and that's how the Africans started to put on shoes and the second guy became rich.

The big question is, whatever business I wanna venture into, I would need to raise the capital. If it was Timor Leste I have in mind, then I'd have to at least raise some money to go over and spend some time there to complete my own findings and come up with a feasibility report and business proposal.

I have spent the past year clearing my debt so that's all good. The most obvious answer to raising my capital risk-free is to save my own money but I reckon that'd take too long. With my skin condition and lack of qualification, I've never been able to secure a high-paying job (you'd be surprised if I was to tell you how much I earned at FNS as a manager).

Saving for my capital would take too long a time and by the time I manage to come up with something, Timor Leste would be a futuristic nation filled with floating skyscrapers and flying cars!

So now I am on a mission to check out what's available for me along the lines of obtaining a humble loan via any legal source. Most crucially, I wanna know how I could qualify myself for any loan both as a private individual and a startup.

If you have answers, do let me know.

On an aside, If you happen to have a low five figure amount in Singdollars in spare change and would consider making someone's dream happen who intends to make other people's dream happen, then you are also more than welcome to reach me at thecalamityman at gmail dot com to bounce off some ideas. We'll take it from there.

I have a few things in mind which I'd like to narrow down into one concrete thing but without any financial backing, they would still remain things in my mind never to be realized.

Something to spur the Socceroos on (heh heh)

It is just before the Australia v Brazil Group game at the World Cup.
Ronaldinho goes into the Brazilian changing room to find all his team-mates looking a bit glum. "What's up?" he asks.

"Well, we're having trouble getting motivated for this game. We know it's important but it's only Australia. They're sh*t and we can't be bothered".
Ronaldinho looks at them and says "Well, I reckon I can beat them by myself, you lads go down the pub."

So Ronaldinho goes out to play Australia by himself and the rest of the Brazilian team go off for a few jars. After a few pints they wonder how the game is going, so they get the landlord to put the teletext on. A big cheer goes up as the screen reads "Brazil 1 - Australia 0 (Ronaldinho 10 minutes)".

He is beating Australia all by himself!

Anyway, a few more pints later and the game is forgotten until someone remembers "It must be full time now, let's see how he got on". They put the teletext on.
"Result from the Stadium "Brazil 1 (Ronaldinho 10 minutes) - Australia 1 (Viduka 89 minutes)".

They can't believe it, he has single-handedly got a draw against Australia!!

They rush back to the Stadium to congratulate Ronaldinho. They find him in the dressing room, still in his gear, sat with his head in his hands.

He refuses to look at them. "I've let you down, I've let you down."

"Don't be daft, you got a draw against Australia, all by yourself. And they only scored at the very, very end!"

"No, No, I have, I've let you down... I got sent off after 12 minutes!"

Say "Yes" to fair employment practices

The Manpower Ministry announced the formation of the Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices on 29 May.

Over the next two years, the alliance will focus on eliminating discriminatory employment practices in hiring and in employment — particularly on grounds of age, gender, race, religion and marital status.

Here are the guidelines with both acceptable and unacceptable criteria being spelled out.

Came across a discriminatory job advertisement lately? Then name and shame the guilty parties involved. Send the details you found directly to mom_hq@mom.gov.sg.

How to smile Part 2

This post touches on local issues along the lines of Paladin's own "How to smile?" post on Monday, 12 of June.

I found this job advertisement on ST701.com . Question is, how did reputable companies such as Montblanc as well as Singapore Press Holdings, which owns the ST701 website, go down to this level? And should we allow them to get away with it?

What happened to the national pledge? Is the pledge merely words that we utter which serves no other purpose?



Company Information
Company Name Montblanc Singapore Pte Ltd
Industry Retail / Trading / Motor Dealers
Job Description
Sales Associate

Location
• Downtown
Qualification
• ‘O’ Level and above

Skills Requirement
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office (MS Words and Excel) is an added advantage
• Knowledge of handling watches, jewellery or luxury goods is an advantage
• Possess good interpersonal and communications skills, particularly in English.
• Possess of one other language, such as Japanese is an added advantage

Experience
• At least 1 year’s sales experience in the relevant watch, jewellery or luxury goods industry
• Must be well groomed with pleasant disposition, ambitious and energetic.
• Chinese Male/Female preferably with a good height of 1.65 m and above
• Able to work independently
• Able to work under pressure and willing to take up challenges
Note : Only Singapore citizens and permanent residents need apply. An attractive remuneration package will be offered to the successful candidates. Salary offered will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.
Location Singapore



It's not just outright racial discrimination (we're not talking "Mandarin-speaking" anymore here), it's also discrimination against the vertically-challenged... whoever is below 1.65m. Suddenly all other qualities of a human being do not matter anymore.

It makes me sick. I think I need to take a break away from the computer.

Beat it

I really think FNS 399 would crumble after I leave. What with the fact that only a weak leader in Enrico (my colleague, I'm not gonna use his real name anymore) is left behind to manage the place and no Calamity Man to pick up his mess as well as a rookie as my replacement.

I actually feel bad about it knowing that my people would suffer as a result but I've done all I could and I think it's time to move on to something that would give me more positive results for the amount of effort I'm capable of putting into anything that I do.

Yesterday, one of our tenants approached me for permission to offer a new item on her menu. Even though it was within my jurisdiction to say yes straight away, I thought I did the right thing by not doing so out of mutual respect for Enrico even though I do not have a good impression of him as my direct superior and a manager of an eating establishment. I felt I should at least inform him about it as it's not really a small thing in our line of work.

So today I brought up the matter to him.

Man, this guy has a big ego. So do I like I often say but there is a time and place for that as far as I understand.

In front of me he said "Ya, ya, ya she brought it up to me as well but I had no idea what she said because it's something in Malay... what was that again?" like as though he knew all along.

The truth is, she never approached him at all. She, like many others, is more comfortable dealing with me.

The issue I have right now is because behind my back, Enrico actually chided this tenant for not approaching him first.

What Enrico needs to understand is that this is not his grandfather's business and we are not the tenants' bosses. In fact it's the other way around. The tenants are our bosses. They indirectly pay our salaries and we are service-providers to them.

This is the same guy who always says, "You know or not, I study management hor, I know this and that and this and that..." with his chest all puffed up in his self-absorbed glory.

I've got news buddy: Knowledge is nothing without application.

Understanding that the particular tenant needed a little extra help, I took it upon myself to ask her to prepare the new dish that she's intending to sell, took photos with my cheeseburger (really fat and old digicam) and then went home and took a few minutes of my World Cup time to help her prepare a DIY promotional poster. Tomorrow, I shall laminate it at my own expense just in time for Friday.

Now that's experience, humanity and common sense. Beat that.

Socceroos bounce back

History was made last night when Australia won their first ever game 3-1 against a defiant Japan in the soccer World Cup in what was a scrappy match peppered with scuffles and kicks up one another's backsides.

Aaaaiiiieee! I want my mooommmyyy!

Tim Cahill became the first guy to ever score a goal for the Socceroos in any World Cup when they equalized in the final ten minutes before adding a second a few minutes later.

Go Aussie! Oi Oi Oi!!!

The final nail was knocked into Japan's coffin when John Aloisi scored in injury time to leave the Japanese team wondering what in the heck just hit them.

Down boy

I know the people at work love me, adore me but I really didn't expect a couple of them to go to the extent of arranging me to be matchmade with one of their relatives.

Ha ha, I actually found that funny.

Do I even have a choice here? Naw I don't think so.

They happily arranged between them to fix me up with this girl from Manado, Indonesia and I was ordered to hand over my photos and shut up. They got everything down pat.

That's it. They wouldn't entertain any protest from me.

*rolleyes x 5629027*

Orange fever

I was in the middle of my usual Perth Day routine of lunch and reading the papers today when I received a text message.

It was Ainu. Yeap, yeap, yeap, Ainu of yore. The legend herself.

Ainu: what time do you finish work today?

CM: i'm free today. not working.

Ainu: wanna hang out?

CM: sure. what do you have in mind?

Ainu: wanna have coffee?

CM: ok.

Ainu: but i'm going to a friend's wedding first. i should be done by 4 or 5pm.

CM: meet me at 530pm at uh, somewhere. i'll get back to you on where to meet. can't think of anything now.

Ainu: 530pm at holland (village). i got to send some food back home for my dad.

CM: ok, see ya but i have to be back in time to catch the holland match on tv.

Ainu: ok.

And so The Calamity Man just came back from dinner and dessert with Ainu in time for the World Cup match between Holland and Serbia-Montenegro.

Keep your teeth to yourself. I was only enjoying the attention. We had a good, specific two hours of catching up and that was all.

As far as I'm concerned, there's a time for women and time for the World Cup especially when Holland and Australia are playing. So till the 9th of July this year, soccer takes precedence.

Not even a hot, gorgeous babe... not even a sizzling, nubile virgin served naked on a silver platter can change my mind on this.

Ok I lied. I take that back. But you can try and find out yourself if it's true. Go on. The lines are open.

Hole in one

It's gone down to 20-80. I'm talking about my chances of taking over Mouse Toa Payoh.

The reason why [removed] opened another store in [removed] (not Ming Arcade as I stated earlier) was because the premise at Toa Payoh is to be taken over by a hair salon this July.

He wasn't really thinking about handing over the business or relocating, just that he's made quite a killing the last few years there, he has regulars coming in every now and then, he's well-established and he's is the only IT store in Toa Payoh Central believe it or not, and he doesn't really wanna let it go so easily.

He only advertized on the classifieds for a few weeks running to find someone to take over the business as a "last burst of fire" attempt to salvage it but it didn't work out.

My cheeky sms the other day kinda reignited that feeling deep inside of him that [removed] can still be saved. By a penniless guy... . Me. I have the passion but not the money. The other people he spoke to had the money, but not the passion.

We've talked it out today and now it all depends on one factor. Whether his bid to rent the premise at [removed] is accepted. Both of us are giving it until the third week of this month.

The premise has been vacant since the new year thereabouts but the representative at Eng Wah Organization which owns the building has been pissing him off by playing a waiting game for the past month in an attempt to secure a better last ditch offer from another party.

He and I both agree that at the price initially offered for a place in expensive Toa Payoh Central with the right crowd, it's too good a deal and we both don't wanna do business elsewhere. It wouldn't be as worth it as this one.

Should it work out for us, especially me, I would start next month.

This is how we will operate. It's a dog and bone approach extremely rarely done in the world today.

I shall be a self-paid employee. Every dollar we make will go to an account we both have access to. I can draw as much as I want to but. But I wouldn't do that because the money accumulated in that account is meant to be used to wholly buy off the business from [removed] and I would want to do that as soon as possible.

Only then I would have more say in the business. The selling price of the business would include two things: the "skeleton cost" and the "flesh cost". Both of them refers to the initial capital of the business.

The skeleton cost refers to the cost of setting up the basic needs of a shop namely the shelves, racks, counter, POS (point of sale) system, surveillance camera/s, etc.

The flesh cost refers to the stocks. Mice, keyboards, ink toners, speakers, MP3 players, everything but the computers. We just don't do computers. These are divided into two. The stuff that [removed] directly imports himself which is a LOT and the stuff that we get from local suppliers.

I'm gonna add up all the sales while he's gonna add up all the costs. When I have enough to cover all the costs, I buy the business from him so he could finally semi-retire. Me? I could finally live my dream. Maybe open up more shops.

I want to do that quickly. Doesn't matter if I'd have to suffer initially. Suffer first, enjoy later. Not the other way around.

But now this dream depends on the stupid lady at [removed]. Dang I hate it when my future is in the hands of other people like this but I guess I have to practice some patience here. I do my best and leave the rest to God. If it doesn't work out, I know there is something else for me.

Heaven knows

So my mom had this dream a few weeks ago in which her late mom, my grandma, the one who took care of me till I was nine, was craving for nasi briyani up there in Heaven.

Who did she call?

The Calamity Man of course, the in-house all things Halal representative.

Unfortunately I had a hard time trying to work my schedule out what with the darn conversion thingy at the foodcourt, my working on the Gung Ho Ventures website, the job-search and all, until today.

Even that was hard coz my mom and I were at loggerheads on how things should be done.

I wanted to just get the nasi briyani from my foodcourt, bring them to the mosque, get on with the special prayers and go back to work.

My mom wanted to cook the nasi briyani herself, then I go pick them up and go to the mosque nearest to her home and out of nowhere just ask the Imam to conduct the special prayers.

I was uneasy with her plan outrightly because for me, time is of the essence and I had to find an efficient solution to achieve maximum results at the shortest possible time. Besides, I was very comfortable at my own mosque. I know all the people there and they all know that I'm a novice Muslim so I have nothing to be embarassed about.

But after two weeks we managed to come to a compromise.

She had to cook the nasi briyani herself so I let her. With Liana's help I arranged for a courier to fetch the 15 packets of nasi briyani this afternoon from Yishun and send them over to me at Taman Jurong. I had already arranged with the mosque about the logistics two days ago.

I have to be honest. This was the first time I was doing something like this and I was lost in translation amidst all the Arabic verses involved. My eyes were fixed on the floor. I only knew two verses! But I felt ok. The folks at the mosque knew I was a novice having only learned how to pray last year at the Muslim Converts' Association so they told me beforehand to take it easy and just flow with the go.

Translated into English, the prayers mean "prayers of delivery". From what I gather, what happens is that food that is meant to be "delivered" to the recipient in Heaven is prepared in an amount enough to feed all those involved in the prayers itself here on Earth. After the prayers, the food is then distributed to all involved and that signifies the food has been "received" by the recipient in Heaven.

Ya know, I was touched. I was so touched to see all those folks coming around to help little 'ol green horn me out. The staff at the mosque was there, strangers who just happened to be there were there in the circle we formed, my building's cleaners were there... .

I just had to cry. It was beautiful to be touched like that. Thank God they didn't see me coz they all had their eyes closed in deep concentration. But I looked around and I was happy to see all of them there. My grandma, grandpa and gang should be happily eating the nasi briyani then.

After the prayers, which we did right after Asar just now, we all split the bounty and went on our ways. I was very grateful. I shook everyone's hands and thank everyone personally. I didn't even take my share of the bounty coz there wasn't enough to go around but everyone had a packet of nasi briyani in the end so no problem. I could always drop by my mom's and have mine served piping hot or heck it, I work in a dang foodcourt anyway!

It was worth it.

Just do IT

Everyday, at least five times a day, I pray for only three things.

That Dear God please:

1) Strengthen my faith

2) Protect my family from evil

3) Make fortune more attainable for me

And it seems to be working. Well except for the fact that Sis Lilie still remains uncontactable in Perth with no news... but I'm sure she's alright. I'll keep on calling her and praying that nothing is wrong.

I met Max when he agreed to be my affiliate in my now dead and buried SmashingBargains.com project. When the project failed, Max loaned me some money without any strings attached. I didn't ask. He said to take my time to pay back. No worries. That was slightly over a year ago.

I paid my last loan instalment to Max this morning and as usual I sent him a text to inform him of his sudden increase in wealth.

CM: hi max, i've transferred my last loan instalment of 200 to you. yay!

MAX: congratulations. would you like to pay interest and work for me this sunday?

CM: dude, i'm working this sunday lah.

MAX: after work lor.

CM: i work at taman jurong. by the time i reach there it's 11.45pm. anyway, when do you intend to actually semi-retire like you always say? (he's just opened another store at Ming Arcade)

MAX: when you come and work for me lor.

CM: you nabeh. but i'll do one better. i'll buy one of your shops one day.

*Suddenly my phone rang. It was Max.*

MAX: Eh you wanna take over my Toa Payoh shop or not (he's been advertizing [removed] for takeover on the Straits Times classifieds for a while now and I noticed coz I read the "Business Opportunities Section 209" all the time)?

CM: You mad ah? You want $80000, I $80 also don't have!

MAX: We'll work something out lor, like a franchise. I'll consign you my goods.

CM: Ok I understand. If your POS (cashier) system can print out daily and monthly reports, maybe what I can do is to surrender to you my entire daily sales to consolidate, then you deduct whatever pre-agreed amount I owe you at the month end and transfer me back the balance. That way, both our interests are protected.

MAX: Ok, we talk tonight.

We were supposed to meet an hour ago but he was held back with moving in his stuff to his new store so it's postponed till tomorrow.

The above system I mentioned is what is being practiced at all my company's foodcourts. Pre-agreed amounts (to be paid to the company) are not always the same. It all depends on the tenants' negotiations skills and/or whether he actually bothers to negotiate in the first place. Believe me, it happens. Some tenants are so simple they just accept whatever terms my company offers. It's sad.

But I'm gonna negotiate. Knowledge is nothing without application. I have nothing to lose anyway. If the terms are ridiculously lopsided the other way then I see no point in getting involved. I'm not desperate. For your information, I didn't accept the Operations Whatever job at the security company.

So it seems I do have one more option to consider. Talk about a late run. This taking over one of Max's stores is definitely more desirable than all the other options by ten miles.

It's strange how from becoming neighbours in a shopping mall, to an Internet business affiliate and working for him part time, then leaving and borrowing money from him to get by and working someplace else full time while slowly paying back his loan, I am being offered a chance to take over one of his outlets now.

Maybe SmashingBargains wasn't a bad idea after all. It's possibly now my best ever investment. Otherwise I wouldn't have become friends with Max.

People have that kinda trust in me and I'm proud of that. It does pay to be honest. I've never believed in stepping on anybody's head to get to the top. God does have a plan for me. He works in mysterious ways He does.

However as usual, the ink is not on paper yet. Everything's still 50-50. We haven't really sat down to iron anything out. I'm quite hopeful of it though.

One part of me does question why he would wanna let one of his stores go if it's making money but from my past experience working for him, I don't think that is a problem. I've seen the numbers.

And in all this time that I do not work for him, we do meet up and conduct small business dealings with each other. He's the guy I get all my IT accessories supplies at wholesale prices from to sell elsewhere. So I have kept myself in the loop.

Besides, he also plans to move House of Mouse to another location in Toa Payoh Central, most likely the entertainment centre where there is a LAN gaming/cybercafe shop, an arcade and the cinema where I usually catch my movies at. Great. Target-market central.

It's also nearer to the MRT station and the bank which both Max and I have accounts with. The rent is also cheaper by two times as compared to Mouse's current location. And, it's just next to the FNS 470 foodcourt so I can still easily get my Halal food for meals.

Neat.

666 - not!

Today is the 666. Today I have tendered my resignation.

It's been carefully thought out. I'm a micro manager. Every detail must be planned out.

Giving one month's notice, my last day of work should be on the 6th of July but because I have five days of reservist starting this 19th and have some annual leave days as well as off in lieus to clear, my last day will be on the 18th, a day before my reservist. I won't be coming back after the five days.

One other good thing is that I shall still get paid from the 19th to the 6th of next month. Woo!

Whether or not I take up the Operations Something job tomorrow, it doesn't matter. I'm quite confident God has a plan for me and by the 26th, Monday, I shall have a new job.

D-day

I still haven't agreed or signed on anything with regards to the job at the security company.

Although I have applied for many, hoping that someone would see something in my resume that can be considered an asset despite the lack of variety (FnB galore!) of experience, I have only got two real offers so far.

The Assistant Restaurant Manager one which I duly kicked into the drain and this one, the Operations Something one (Coordinator, Assistant, Executive, Manager, I don't know).

I think it's obvious I don't exactly have a wide selection to choose from, heh.

The Operations Something job has many inconveniences as far as I see it. Using the toilet is gonna be tough as there is only one toilet for both genders on the whole floor and I have a weak internal system, smoking breaks will be very, very limited since it's an office environment and I don't really wanna step in and out so many times and reeking of cigarettes on the way in, it's a new working environment with the Boss always there, hence much freedom will be lost and so on and so forth.

But in a way, it's a good thing. The bond will ensure that I am forced to stick to the same job for the next three years of my ten year plan. My bond will end exactly at the end of the second phase of the first five years and I can then move on nicely to the first phase of the next five.

The deciding factor for me would be the salary. For the inconveniences I foresee that I'd go through, I have a minimum starting salary at the back of my head and I won't sign on the dotted line until that figure is at least matched. I can adapt to everything else. Of course I will start negotiation with a higher figure. I'm not really bothered if I do not get the job if they cannot at least match my salary demand.

My next move has to be significantly better. I'm certain of that.

I imagine myself taking whatever I have at my disposal at the end of three years to start out on my own anywhere else but here. Currently, I am almost done with my Gung Ho Ventures business layout actually but I think it's wishful thinking. I don't have the capacity to be involved in even a freelance business right now. I have to be realistic.

So tomorrow I go down to the security company and see what they have for me in black and white. Tomorrow I make my decision.

Stampede

What do I want?

I know the answer.

What I want is a lotta things but to put it simply, I want my next step to be decisive. My next step shall be the launchpad that propels me to the things that I really want in this life.

A job to me, is not just a job.

To me, a job for the past year has been a source of clearing my financial debt, to pay the bills and to supplement my living expenses.

But now the focus has changed.

Tomorrow is the day when I shall have no more debt as I clear my final instalment of my personal loan which has been dragging for some time already.

I shall still have bills to pay and living expenses to supplement though but with the excess cash I have from next month, I want to set it aside for my future. And my next job has to be something I can learn from and take with me as I move on in life so it's not only about the money.

I currently have eight years left of my ten year plan. The first five years is meant for me to struggle my ass out for the following five years, meaning I only have three years left of struggling time and seeing how quick the first two years went by, time is of the essence. Every single second is crucial.

In the next three years, I shall struggle to go as far possible with the tangible things in life as I work on my spiritual development at the same time. It's important for me. It's like paying insurance premiums for the afterlife. It doesn't take a lot, so why not? In everything, I must keep having faith.

The following five years involves doing my own thing. Self-sustenance from my own business, emigration, starting my own family and all that. I don't wanna start struggling then so I do all of that now so things would be smoother.

So in summary, what I do now is to invest in my future. Every. Little. Thing. It's a mental mad rush but I think it makes perfect sense.

Bond... Calamity Bond

So I went to two job interviews today.

As an aside, you know, I was in this same predicament last year but the difference is that now, I don't feel lost anymore. I'm confident of myself and I truly believe I can handle anything.

The first one I went to was for the worldwide investigator job. I actually found it weird that I was applying for such a job. I couldn't believe I said it when the girl at the front desk asked what position I was applying for. I could actually imagine me looking at myself with a weirded out look.

Heh.

It was a tough interview. I was huddled in to sit in their conference room at their conference table, on the conference room chair while they were in the middle of a conference.

The boss was like a mafiaso. Scary-looking, with body fats almost bursting at the seams and screaming to get out.

He interviewed me right there and then. He had this habit of asking "why?" suddenly from outta nowhere and I found me asking myself "why the fuck what!?" a few times but of course I didn't show it. Each time it happened I took 3.4792 seconds on average to recover, apologized and asked him politely to expand on whatever he wanted to know.

I carried myself with dignity. I may fall but when I fall, I wanna fall down in flames.

I stated that I knew Mandarin so he asked me how well my Mandarin was. I said I have a fair knowledge of the language. He nodded at his right hand man who was on his left and the guy started to ask me something in Mandarin. I replied him back in Mandarin.

He was asking what my job scope is in my current job.

At that point, I had two things on my mind. Thank God for my bad boy days of yore when I hung out with a Chinese gang and also thank God that the guy's Mandarin wasn't really fantastic either so he made me look good. He couldn't possibly say my Mandarin was bad. Besides, no one else at the table knew what we were on about.

He nodded back at Mr Mafiaso.

Whew!

Mr Mafiaso told Mr Right Hand Man who was on his left to let me handle the operations. And then he asked if I had any questions. I said yes. I wanted to know what the job scope was, the working hours, my remuneration where I would be based and so on.

Mr Mafiaso again nodded at Mr Right Hand Man who was on his left.

Mr Right Hand Man said I basically have to manage the stable of investigators they have (cool! a promotion even before I started!), process some reports, I work 9am to 8pm from Monday to Saturday, I shall be based... indoors (bleah) but I'll have my own desk (woo! my own desk, finally!) and my salary is not an issue, but, there shall be a three year bond in place (gasp!).

I told them I needed to think about it and will decide by tomorrow.

Before I left, Mr Mafiaso hastily added, "I like you. You seem to be different from other Malay guys."

"I've heard that a few times before. Thank you."

I proceeded to my second interview with the matchmaking agency.

As it turned out, the lady who spoke to me had to attend to something else and asked her partner to attend to me instead.

He was nice and pleasant but the guy didn't know squat. He was just helping out he said and he was treating this as a preliminary interview and whatever queries I wanted to ask had to wait until the lady comes back... on some other day.

Nice, really nice.

Job offers league standing

1) Matchmaking Consultant
- Currently at top spot. Although it offers only a commission-based salary, it also offers me much freedom to pursue other things. Whether or not I take up this offer depends on how my interview with the directors go this Monday. I'm interested mostly in the income-making potential.

2) Worldwide Investigator
- Leap frogging two other offers, this job offers the opportunity to travel, meaning an escape from Lah Lah land which would enable me to reset my sanity level every now and then. Much depends on the remuneration. If it offers me at least the same wage as I'm earning now on top of other variables, I might just snap it up in a bat of an eyelid. Interview is also on Monday.

3) Sales Consultant
- Dodginess factor relegates it one position. Remuneration is based on a small allowance with the bulk of income to be earned from sales commissions. Although it'd be great to work overseas but not so overseas within the same timezone in Bintan, should things not work out, I don't wanna find myself lost in wonderland.

4) Assistant Restaurant Manager
- I received a call this morning from Morris Allen, honcho of an educational institution. As it turned out, he wasn't offering me the Sales Executive job that I applied for in his school. He said with my credentials, I was more suited for his restaurant business in Boat Quay. But I told him no. Sorry, but I looked at myself in the mirror and asked what's important and the answer was "quality of life". He offered me more than I earn now but with the split shifts involved, that'd mean I have way lesser of a life than I do now. This position has been relegated permanently.

As you can see, all the jobs open to me are Mickey Mouse ones. What's a guy with a resume littered with so much FnB experience to do to get out and be employed in an equal opportunity organisation? It certainly doesn't help that I've got a skin condition that makes me a little darker than most and yet I appear invisible in the eyes of many. It's ridiculous.

I'll never be happy as long as I'm working for people but I keep on telling myself not to stay at the spot and to keep on moving and that's what I'll do, no matter what the adversity is. I'm determined to make something of myself first before I get outta here for good. I don't wanna go someplace and rely on handouts. That'd be irresponsible.

Banana skin

I've been hit with MarcPeelitis. It's a condition once called CalamityManitis but it mutated and became more dangerous.

Yesternight I slipped and fell upright on my right knee. The night before I slipped and fell upright on my left knee. Looking at how things are going, I deduce today I'll slip and fall on both knees, tomorrow I'll fall on my butt and the day after I'll slip, flip 180 degrees and fall on my head.

*rolleyes x 873682625*

One more

I've got two positive job offers so far.

The first one, as you know, is the Bintan sales consultant one. The guy said he'd be coming over to conduct interviews with potential candidates, me included.

There are positives in that one, but honestly, I've got an ugly feeling about it.

The other offer is for a matchmaking consultant's position.

Yeap yeap yeap, matchmaking consultant.

...

.....

Have you stopped laughing yet? Thanks.

I was encouraged when I read the lady boss' email last night. Her English was good and when I spoke to her this morning, I think her spoken English is good as well. Their website is also well done. There is hope yet in this country.

No such thing as "please revert to me ASAP" or "got anything, call me hor" or "wait I tell my secretary call you" kinda nonsense.

So anyway, this one's a full time, home-based job, something like what Paladin's thinking about doing. There'll be meetings once a week with everyone involved. The office facility's available anytime as long as it's open.

I haven't got the job yet. My interview's slated for next Monday. I'm not counting on it. Meantime I'll keep on applying for more jobs and at the same time maintain the same level of professionalism at my current employment.