no more candy for me

I’ve been removed from my desk!

Usually that means I’m fired but thankfully that isn’t the case. A permanent staff is coming in tomorrow so I have to give up my desk for him. Why my desk when there are other empty desks around? That is because my desk is the only desk left that has a spare computer.

This of course implies that the new desk I have been assigned to has no computer.

Argh!!!

My only source of fun (while appearing busy) is taken away from me. From now on, it’s going to be a lot tougher for me to blog. Right now, I am borrowing my friend’s computer to blog.

What is more, I no longer have any eye candy opposite my desk. At my old desk, I could steal a few peeks at her forehead. I know it sounds totally psychotic but you have to understand how bored I was. So even looking at the forehead of a somewhat pretty gal is better than staring into blank space and dozing off. Why only her forehead? Do I have some sort of forehead fetish? Well, the reason is not so perverted: I am too short to see beyond her forehead.

But it’s not just her forehead I get to see of course. Sometimes, she leaves her desk and she even takes off her coat to reveal a pair of fair, toned, shapely arms and even a tiny peek at her sculptured shoulders. Considering she’s the only girl who seems confident enough of her body to show it off, this is something I definitely look forward to every day.

And here’s the best part. We take the same bus home! And even better, we get off at the same bus stop! The bus came earlier than usual today so I almost missed it. As I boarded the bus, she gave me this smile that was like saying, “hey you made it! That’s great!”

Ok I know it’s my fantasy but I don’t get to fantasize much so patronize me ok? haha

And now I don’t get to ogle..ahem.. I mean glance at her anymore. My new desk does not face the common pathway anymore so in order to catch a glimpse of her walking by, I would probably have to rotate my head about 150 degrees or buy a reverse periscope. Somehow, I think both solutions are a bad idea. I wonder why…

And before anyone starts getting any funny ideas, I must clarify now that she is not my type. She’s really not THAT pretty. She definitely has a nice body, the kind that can actually look good in a swimsuit (which is not easy). And she has this sweet face but it ends there. Her face is eye-catching but more because she is fair and has good complexion. I wouldn’t call her very pretty. She is above average but like I said, looks don’t really matter but the impression a girl gives me. And she doesn’t give me the Samantha impression. And if she’s Karen Mok then I’m a powerpuff girl. =P I do think, however, that she does know she has a nice body and she tries to flaunt it but without making it obvious. A girl doesn’t wear sleeveless tops almost everyday unless she feels her arms and shoulders are good enough to be seen. And there are other small clues that suggest she knows the art of flaunting: which is to reveal just enough without being slutty. (she never wears low cut tops though so you can guess which part of her body she’s not particularly proud of) but you see, that’s the secret of dressing up. It’s to show all the good stuff so well that people forgot about the bad points. So I give her top marks for having a sense of style.

Oh and I have not seen Mr. Helmet for some time. His hair intrigues me less and less. So I don’t feel all that sad that I can no longer investigate the mystery of his weird hair-do.
I usually don’t blog twice in one day. But I really felt quite tired of work so I gave myself a break. Break’s over so I’m off. See you soon.

super long blog

Oh dear… it seems like this could be yet another day when I have nothing to do. Actually I do have something to finish up from yesterday but I doubt it would take me the whole day to do it. So I thought I had best “save” it for last or, better yet, somehow manage to spread it out over the entire day. Maybe I could blog 1 hour before I do 10 minutes worth of work. This way, what should have taken only an hour to complete could last the whole day.




It has been about an hour since I wrote the previous paragraph. During that time, I have been finishing up the work my supervisor gave me yesterday. Why the sudden sense of urgency? Well, it turned out my supervisor did come to work today. He arrived for work a little late so I had previously thought he was not coming. Even after he arrived, I was still planning to execute my plan of spreading out that 1 hour worth of work over the whole day. Unfortunately, my supervisor was more concerned (read: kiasu =P). The impression I get from him is that he thinks this task is not easy and may take hours to solve. I would love to think I’m some kind of genius who can come up with simple solutions others could never imagine of. However, I really think it was more a case of the supervisor either thinking that an undergraduate wouldn’t know how to solve problems or he just didn’t have much experience with such problems and exaggerated its so called complexity.

But I digress. As I was saying, my supervisor came to talk to me. Probably worried that I looked bored, he asked me to finish up yesterday’s work. He even challenged me by saying, “I want to see if you can come up with a solution that’s fast and good.” Doesn’t that give you the impression he thinks it will probably take a long time to come up with a solution?

Well, that’s the impression I had anyway. Determined to prove him wrong, I went straight to the workshop, got some scrap materials and, within an hour, made a simple apparatus that fits his requirements, together with the help of the lab technician there. The design looks horrible, with scotch tapes crudely placed and odd shaped pieces of metals and plastics stuck to each other. But it works and that’s all that matters. After all, it’s only meant for internal use and on a temporary basis.

Of course, my life was made much easier because I managed to find scrap materials that fit my needs. Thank God for that (and everything else too of course =)). However, I still stand by my belief that few mechanical engineering undergraduates would think my solution was difficult to come up with. In fact, I even think they may have come up with a solution even faster than I did.

So now here I am, waiting for the next phase in this mini project of mine. Now that the apparatus is ready, the next phase would be to use it but my supervisor and I are waiting for the right time. Till then, I will be blogging on and on and on….

This reminds me. I am supposed to blog out my answer to one of the questions I asked before. The question was: If I could choose between Samantha and Karen Mok who would I choose?

Well I feel I need to first clarify that these 2 personalities only represent the personalities I could be attracted to based on impressions. There are still other kinds of attractions like those that developed through friendships or some great level of chemistry or both. I’m honestly not sure how many kinds of attractions there are but I definitely know Samantha and Karen Mok are not the only 2 personality types I could develop feelings for.

Also, I am assuming I don’t know anything about these girls. I only just met them so I don’t know if their personalities really fit the impressions they gave me and I obviously don’t know if they may like me too. My choice is solely based on my first impression of them. And most importantly, these are only attractions, nothing near “falling in love”. That comes much later after I know the person a lot better.

That said, I shall now reveal the answer. The answer is Samantha.

Why her? Well, Samantha is obviously much harder to find than Karen. I’ve already met a Karen Mok type person in school but never someone anywhere close to Samantha. That is precisely why I think Samantha is so perfect to me she could only exist in television shows.

Perhaps the real problem is that even if I do meet someone who behaves like Samantha, it is difficult for me to believe that is who she really is. After a couple of bad experiences (not as devastating as those BGR break ups but still hurting), I have developed a cynicism towards sweet girls. Simply put, I think they are too good to be true. I prefer if girls scold me when they are angry with me. Or if I’m wrong, they just tell me so without trying to be diplomatic and avoid hurting my feelings. It gives me the impression such girls would prefer to look demure and gentle than say what they really feel. I know it’s hard to say what you really feel when we live in a society where misunderstandings can be catastrophic and bad impressions are difficult to correct. But it’s not like I’m the girl’s boss or she needs my help. Friends should be able to be open with each other.

Perhaps another “problem” is that I do know such girls who are frank and open and I am actually very close to them. They may bitch at times but I think that only shows they are human and I feel I can trust them more. So perhaps I have subconsciously associated such “imperfect” girls with girls I ought to be close with. And perhaps that would imply that perfect girls are girls I ought to shun! Wouldn’t that be a good joke?

(Digress: I feel that bitching is ok if it’s purely meant to vent out your frustrations. Sooner or later, someone is going to make you angry. So it’s better to let that anger out than keep it bottled inside. What I don’t like is when people say how bad that person is without even considering that they could be in the wrong too. And while it is ok to complain about someone, once the complaining is over and the frustration is vented out, it’s time to forgive the person rather than constantly hold a grudge. It’s not as if the person will suddenly turn over a new leaf just because you are STILL angry with her/him. Forgiving, on the other hand, can make someone feel he should make use of this 2nd chance to change his ways.)

In the show, Samantha is perfect in every sense. She doesn’t make unreasonable requests or throw tantrums. It’s not like she never gets angry. She did punish her husband every once in a while when he was a bit too jealous or over-anxious. However, she was always willing to sacrifice for him not just because she loves him but also because she knew that sacrifice is required to make a marriage work. And for the feminists out there, the husband sacrificed too. So don’t worry.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t know so much about a girl just from a first impression. So as far as impressions go, even if she was Samantha, I would only be able to notice that this girl smiles a lot and seems to be the kind of person who doesn’t take life too seriously. Samantha would give me the impression I could come home to her after a long day at work and her smile would make me feel it was worth it.

On the other hand, if I met a Karen Mok, I would be attracted to her cool persona and her charm that comes naturally with confidence. She is someone I would admire a lot so that alone would be enough for me to want to know her better.

If I was pragmatic I should choose Karen because I know she is someone real. Conversely, there are too many girls trying to pretend to be Samantha. So why should this “Samantha” be any different?

However, I can’t help myself. I’m ultimately still a sucker for Samantha. I will always try to pursue Samantha as long as there is a slim chance this girl is really as nice as I think she is. I’m not saying Samantha has to behave like an angel to fit my impression. If she smiles a lot but still shows her anger when she’s angry regardless of who she is with I would think she really is perfect. It’s the smile I’m talking about. Is it really genuine or is it just something that she uses to hide her true feelings?

Karen Mok would make a fantastic companion and she is probably sexier to me but I would’t mind just being friends with her. I would definitely want to know both Karen Mok and Samantha more than any other person but if I had to choose someone I want to share my life with, I will still go for the fantasy come true that is Samantha.

Even if it ends up as a fantasy and this girl is not a real Samantha after all, I know I would still try again if another “potential Samantha” came along.

What else can I do? =)

the only result that matters is God's love

From now on my blogs may take a while before they are published. Not only have I been given a few more assignments, I can only publish the blog if the big boss is not around to see me logging onto the blogger website. My supervisor was warning me not to use the Internet too much. Actually, I hardly use it but maybe, back then, I didn’t care if the big boss was around. So every time the boss happened to be around, he happened to see me use the Internet.

In any case, I had best be more “tactical” from now. To be “tactical” means to be discrete in one’s work, knowing where and when to do what so as not to be caught or give people the wrong impression. I’m not sure if there exists such a definition for “tactical” or it’s just yet another singlish term I picked up while in the army. But as long as you get the picture that’s good enough.

Anyway, at least typing the blog on Microsoft Word should look official enough. So I just have to type it out first, then wait for the right moment when the boss is away to log on, publish and log out. No more blog hunting though which is a little sad. I found yobi.blogspot to be such an interesting blog. If I can find other blogs like his I would be very happy. But for now, I had best lie low and not go hunting for more interesting blogs. Besides, yobi does post often so it’s not so bad.

Today is the release of the exam results. Thank God for everything and Glory be to Him. A lot of non-Christians do not understand why God is the one who gave me the good results even when I worked hard for it; why I cannot say I earned the results through my own hard work and claim the glory for myself.

Well, God made me. So I wouldn’t even be here without Him let alone talk about exam results. And I work hard because I know I should, not because I want to earn prizes or flattery. And could I really have done well if, suddenly, a crisis happened and I had to be distracted from my studies or, worse, forced to quit school?

There are a lot of things we take for granted. I, for one, know that we have to thank God for everything we have each day. And we don’t just thank God for the good but the bad too. Well, maybe not thank Him for the bad but thank him for the growing that troubles bring and to still love Him even when things get tough and it’s hard to feel hope.

Well, it’s 530 already so it’s time to go off. Next blog will be next Monday earliest. Meantime, have a blessed weekend. Regardless of what your results are, God loves you.
And that’s really all that matters.

zzz

This was supposed to be posted yesterday:

Today is one of those days when I just wished they would deduct my pay and forbid me from coming to work. I would rather lose the income than sit at my desk constantly thinking of things to keep myself occupied. More often than not, I just end up dozing off. I admit I could have had more discipline and forced myself to stay awake. I could have ran to the nearest toilet and splashed about a gallon of water on my face. Or I could have just done 50 star jumps. However, I wouldn’t have had to do any of this if they would just give me some work in the first place!

The reason for this sad state of affairs is that my supervisors are away in Batam. Our company has a factory there and they went there to do some stuff. I am not sure what information I can reveal so you will have to make do with highly generalized terms. Bottom line is that they are all away.

So here I am bored stiff. I think rigor mortis is setting in.


Well just after I wrote that, one of the permanent staff gave me something to do. I was already so resigned to lazing around today that suddenly being given work actually made me a little sad at first. However, that initial feeling was immediately replaced by a sense of relief that I will not have to stare blankly at the computer screen anymore.

The work given me is not easy. I have to do some statistical analysis even though I have never learnt that in school. I told the colleague I may not be of much help but he said it’s ok. Still, it’s not good to just hand in crap so I had to try and learn some tools I could use. Thank God then that there was a fellow VIP student who came from the ISE department so he knows a thing or two about statistics.


I’ve managed to come up with a conclusion based on the limited statistical analysis tools I just learnt. I hope it makes sense though the colleague will probably see it as “a good try”. At least a good try is better than nothing. And who knows? Maybe it’ll turn out to be some novel solution that no one has thought of before. I may have discovered some breakthrough technique. They may have to offer me a contract immediately because they know people with new ideas don’t come by very often.

Oops I guess I must have fallen asleep again because I must be dreaming.
Haha…

anyway, check out this cheesy, lame advertisment that's shown in America to promote the NUS business school.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeqkQraNO7w

I will be amazed if people were attracted to NUS just because of that commercial.

The beauty IS the beast??

A new girl just came in on Monday. And I suppose she is pretty in a clean-cut office girl kind of way. You know: rectangular spectacles, straight black hair; fair-skinned. The stereotypical girl-next-door but just that she is in office wear. The reason I can write so much about her is because she sits opposite me. And the bonus is that she now sits in between Mr. Helmet and I. So I can now sneak a few peeks at Mr. Helmet’s hair without being noticed. Of course, it could lead to people thinking I’m trying to sneak a few peeks at the girl rather than the man behind. After all, that sounds more logical unless I have some fetish for male wigs or worse I’m gay. But so far, I think no one has noticed my pre-occupation with his hair yet. Or maybe everyone’s wondering if it’s a wig too and they’re hoping I can find out for them!

Anyway for some reason, about 2 hours after I first saw the girl opposite me, she doesn’t seem to look that pretty anymore. In fact, she suddenly went from “girl-next-door-pretty” to just girl next door. It’s like as if some spell was cast that transformed her from sweet innocent office girl to plain, average nerd.

I know I know.. I sound so mean… but this is how I feel and I won’t lie about it. But at least I am impartial enough to say that if she said I went from mini handsome dude to boring, freaky nerd I wouldn’t be hurt.

And yet, just as I’m writing this, she seems to have gone back to sweet young thing again. Hmm… this is really something worth examining…

And then she went back to nerd again… darn….

I think the only thing I’ve proven is that physical appearance is so superficial and subjective. It depends on the angle, the surroundings and the behaviour of the person. If a girl who looks sweet starts spouting vulgarities faster than my ex-platoon sergeant, I’m quite sure most guys would get turned off. On the other hand, if she had some “ah lian” image, we would be less surprised and so less turned off. Some who like the “ah lian” image might even be turned on.

Bottom line is that the girl has nice features but she’s obviously not my type in terms of looks. If not, I could never think she’s attractive one second and average another. I also think that, in terms of having a crush on someone based on appearance, I don’t really go for looks but rather the impression a girl gives me. 2 types of personality turn me on. 1 personality is the confident, self-assured girl who is just plain cool and yet still girly. Someone who fits that image is Karen Mok. She isn’t as pretty as celia cheung or (to me) Fiona xie. But boy does she turn me on. She just seems to be totally in control all the time. That kind of confidence is darn sexy. And somehow, how she looks adds to that cool, confident woman image don’t you think?

Another kind of personality that turns me on is the bubbly, cheerful, girl. Unfortunately I can’t name a star who fits that description because I think it’s purely manufactured and therefore irritating. The closest celebrity I can think of is Elizabeth Montgomery, or rather her character Samantha in the television show “Bewitched”. It’s a very old show so you probably won’t know who I am talking about but her character is really great. She’s strong and kind, warm but firm. More importantly, she smiles so often and in such a beautiful way that even when she frowns it looks pretty in a cute “sa-jiao” kind of way.

But being a tv character, I guess such a girl doesn’t exist. I thought she did but I was wrong. Well, for now anyway.

But here is an interesting question I would like to ask you. If I could choose between Karen Mok and Samantha, who do you think I would choose?
Let me know what you think though I know nobody will bother to reply or comment..grrr…

been blog hunting

thought this blog was quite good too

http://yobi.blogspot.com/

http://crazygoogleads.blogspot.com/

interesting blog of an extreme diet already unfolding

When you're free go check out this website.

http://the--baddest--bitch.blogspot.com/

I also added it in as a link on the left column (under "new link!!) just in case you can't find this post later on.



When a blogger logs out, he is told who else just blogged too. That was how I happened to chance upon this blog. The title sounds rather rude but the content is actually quite innocent (although a little too painful if you ask me). This girl is fat. She readily admits it and wants to lose 60 pounds in 3 months. That's crazy if you ask me. I hope her health is not affected but I think it will be. By the way, 60 pounds is like 30+kg.

anyway, she invites us to join her in her dieting trip. Each day she will post new pics of herself and I wrote this on day 1.

Yup, she just started 5 mins ago.

So let's go check her out. I am really curious to see if she can succeed in her extreme diet

lala

The art of looking busy while blogging is not something one can learn overnight. It takes weeks of practice and often there will be setbacks. Only in very rare occasions does someone with the natural ability to act busy come along. How good is such a person? He is so good that he knows how to write long sentences of completely insignificant nonsense just so that it looks more like a company report.

I haven’t really talked much about my office other than Mr. Helmet. Maybe now is a good time to talk about the rest. After all, the office seems particularly quiet today. Not sure where everyone went to but I don’t think they’re absent. They’re just everywhere but the office.

Being a Dutch company, I shouldn’t be surprised to see a few Dutch in the office. But I have to admit I was. I realize it’s natural for companies to make sure that the top man in charge always comes from the country of origin. And I can also understand why this would lead to more Dutch being hired in middle-management positions as well. But it still startled me when I saw all these Dutchmen. And no they are not flying. Haha

I think it’s quite easy to tell when a Caucasian is a Dutch. Firstly, when they speak English, the accent is extremely unique. This is probably due to the influence of their mother tongue, just like how the Indians and Chinese have their own accent as well. Singaporeans have their own accent too but it’s hard for me to distinguish since I probably have it too.

Of course, individuals have their own variation. But in general, people from the same country do share a common base for accents. Of course, it’s impossible to describe what a Dutch accent sounds like. At best, I can say it sounds like a mix of German and French. The most important thing to me is that it is clear. I find it quite easy to understand, at times even easier to understand than the Australian accent. To be honest, I actually like the Australian accent the most. For some reason, the accent in itself already sounds cheerful, stress-free and cordial. However, it doesn’t sound as nice when Singaporeans stay there for a couple of years and pick it up. More often than not, their so-called Australian accent is more like a mix of Singaporean and Australian. And that just sounds a little odd. It’s interesting to note that it’s a lot harder to use Singlish when one no longer has a purely Singaporean accent. I mean think about it, it’s weird to say “lah” and “aiya” with an Australian accent. For instance, “aiya” will probably end up sounding more like “oh ya” and that just destroys the essence of the word doesn’t it?

The thing is that Singlish is inherently lazy. It is a language used by Singaporeans who just want to get a message across without having to think of what preposition to use. While others would ask “where are we meeting for lunch?” Singaporeans would just say “lunch meet where?” See how much easier it is?

This laziness is also audibly evident in our accent. We skip the arduous process of correct intonation. We don’t pause at certain vowels or stress certain syllables. We just take the easy way out and drag everything. So even our own country sounds more like “Seeng- car- pourrrr” when it should be more like “sin-ga-por”. I don’t claim to be some expert in English. But it’s hard to deny that the Singlish way of talking, both in style and content, is basically just a lazier form of English.

On the other hand, you could say it’s a more efficient form of English. So who knows? Maybe English will one day be like Singlish! Haha…

the bald and the beautiful

In my office, there sits a man who has an awfully peculiar head of hair. For convenience, let us call him Mr. Helmet because his hair looks more like a helmet or a very furry cap. It seems to rest high above his forehead with the hair in this arced shape.

Thanks to him, I now find myself obsessed with finding out whether he is wearing a wig. It certainly looks that way but it could also be a “comb-over”. For those who do not know what a “comb-over” is, it is basically a method of covering one’s bald patch by letting the back hair grow really, really long and simply combing it over to the front. You could also leave the side hair really long and comb it over to the centre. Unfortunately, whichever way you comb, it’s still pretty obvious you were not born with such weird hair so in the end you end up revealing what you tried to hide. This reminds me of a Chinese saying that goes something like “chi di wu wing san bai liang”… I may have got the han yu pin yin wrong but I know it’s supposed to describe a case where the act of trying to hide it only makes it more obvious. And that is precisely what a comb-over does.

Based on my initial observation, if Mr. Helmet did do a comb-over, it must have been combed over from the back than the sides. However, the hair at the back also appears to be flowing downward, which is impossible if it was really a comb-over.

So in all honesty, it should be a wig. I suspect that he does have real hair at the back and at the sides, like most men. However, he wears a wig just to cover the bald patch at the centre. Sometimes, I can even see 2 different layers of hair at the back. It’s like there’s this layer of hair on top of another. That must be where the wig ends I guess.

It makes me wonder what I would do if I suffered male-pattern baldness one day. Maybe I’ll start making trips to yunnan jian fa zong xin or some weird male spa. Maybe ten years from now, you’ll see me with some gingko nut paste smeared all over my scalp and 2 cucumber slices on my eyes (just as a garnish). While I have no intention of looking like a xioa long bao, I know that I could be quite tempted to sacrifice my dignity if it means saving my hair. After all, walking around as a permanent sunlight reflector is rather embarrassing. People will look at my shiny head and try to catch their own reflection.

But if you think about it, it is better to be completely bald than have like 4 or 5 strand of hair left behind. It’s not like those few strands can cover the whole patch and they only make the whole bald patch look ugly. If that happened to me, I know I’ll shave my head totally. At least people may think I shaved my head on purpose. Besides, it’s not like I’ll be completely bald after I shave. It’ll just be so short people can’t tell if I have hair or it’s just too short to be seen.

I would like to believe that everyone can age gracefully. I think if one is happy and easily contented, it tends to show on one’s face. I find that grouchy people always look 10 years younger. After all, they frown so much that the frowns become permanent and turn into huge wrinkles. And they usually have this super tired look, like as if they’ve had enough of this world and feel over-burdened by it. Everything seems to sag under the weight of their troubles, from their cheeks to their tummies and especially their buttocks.

Well I intend to age gracefully, full set of hair or otherwise. If I do begin to bald one day, I intend to cut my hair short and not attempt to wear a wig or do some comb-over. I might even polish the bald patch it a little just to be funny…
Leaving my hair alone is a sign that I can accept changes in my life even if they are for the worse. And that can’t be a bad thing can it?

dealing with people...

Well, my supervisor is back today. He’ll be leaving for batam again tomorrow so we are trying to finish an experiment by today. I’ll probably have to compile and type the report for him in his absence but I’m starting to get quite used to this secretary-like lifestyle.

Considering the little time we have together, I would like to get started on this experiment as soon as possible. Unfortunately, as I knew too well in army, how soon you complete your assignment depends more on how soon your supporting staff complete their tasks. Right now, I’m waiting for the lab technician to send me back some measurements. Apparently, the measuring equipment is way too complex (and expensive) to risk an undergraduate student using it. So I just have to wait for the measurements to come before I can carry on. Considering he took only 2 hours to complete 13 readings, I am baffled as to why it takes more than an hour to complete the remaining 6 readings. I just went to look him up at the lab but I saw him chatting with his colleagues. He said I can come back at 11.

I really, really hope that he was not lying when he said he was waiting for the machine to warm up. However, the cynical side of me can’t help feeling that he is just trying to bluff me. After all, I’m this innocent green horn. Of course I would have to believe him right?

To be fair, I cannot prove that the machine was already warmed up and seeing how diligent he was yesterday I suppose there is no harm in trusting him. But it made me realize, yet again, that I don’t seem to like people that much. Haha…

I notice that everytime I meet new faces, I naturally give this look that says “I don’t know you so let’s just pretend we didn’t see each other”. However, if the face belongs to a pretty girl, I’ll probably try to act macho and just look straight ahead. I mean I don’t want to stare at her right?

This attitude towards strangers basically stems from my belief that nobody can be trusted so why bother making friends with people I cannot trust. Of course, that ought to mean that I shouldn’t have any friends. Well I think I do. But the word “friend” is very loosely used nowadays. As long as you know his name and hand phone number, he automatically becomes your friend. However, isn’t a real friend is supposed to be someone you can depend on? I honestly cannot say who I can trust with my deepest secrets or whom I can depend on when I meet with a crisis. Even best friends have their own troubles to deal with. How can they help you when they can’t even handle their own problems?

That’s why I think friends will always be fair-weather friends. Sure, some friends are better than others. Some friends will try to help you with what they are willing to sacrifice while other (so-called) friends will not even lend you a cent or a helping hand. However, I still believe it is too naïve of anyone to think a friend will sacrifice something he is NOT willing to sacrifice. If I asked you to sell your house to help pay my mother’s hospital bills, could you really do it? I certainly don’t think I could.

Yet, I know that being a Christian means showing compassion and not being too concerned with earthly possessions. So where do I draw the line? Mother Theresa once said that you know you’ve given a lot when you gave till it hurts. Every time there’s a disaster aid fund collection in my church, I think of an amount in my head and I’ll only think it’s enough if I feel pain from losing that sum of money. If I’m a billionaire and I give $10 it’s not much of a gift is it?

Yet I can’t help wondering if I’ve really given enough. I could give more and it’ll hurt more. But the fact is that I can still afford to give it away. Yet, I can’t help thinking that I need to keep this money for a rainy day when I may have my own problems. And the sad reality is that a lot of the problems in this modern world stem from the lack of money.

Anyway I digress, the point is that I don’t trust people yet I will show compassion to them if I see them in trouble. I won’t give as readily to a stranger as I would to a friend. But whoever it is, I have to be convinced that they are in genuine distress. Either that or the help is something small so I’ll just do it.

Ultimately, I only answer to God. I can keep a lot with me or give it all away but it doesn’t matter one bit once I die. I can’t take anything with me once I’m dead.

Hello again.

I’ve finished touching up the report I mentioned earlier so I decided to do the only fun thing I can do without getting caught. So here’s another blog just 3 hours after I wrote my previous one. (and if you look real closely, you’ll notice my spelling should have improved thanks to me finally finding the Microsoft word programme)

As you know I have a lot of aunties in the factory. One of them looks too young to be called auntie but too old to be called “miss” (xiao jie). At best, I would say she’s 35 because I know she has a daughter or something. (I saw one of those childish kindergarten portraits glued to her desk.

It would seem like I am stalking her so before anyone screams “pervert!” I must clarify that I don’t really have much choice but to look at her and her desk. After all, she sat next to us for 2 days. For 2 days, we were assigned to help her with assembly work. Assembly work is really easy. It’s just like LEGO, except that screws are occasionally needed. I simply take 1 plastic part and snap it on to another plastic part. If that doesn’t sound like LEGO to you, I can only say you must have had a deprived childhood

So anyway back to this auntie that seems to have caught my attention. I just find her interesting because she’s the only auntie who seems to be quite erm… hiao? Haha…furthermore, she reminds me of those girls in NUS who are always surrounded by men. Ok for an auntie she looks quite pretty actually (stress: for an auntie…) but I think looks are not the real reason men seem to flock to her. Maybe you would think I am exgaggerating with the word “flock” but if you saw her at the canteen you would see I’m not. In the canteen, all the factory aunties sit together but she sits with the male workers. Granted, she works in a very separate and secluded part of the line so she probably doesn’t know the other aunties well. However, that part of the line doesn’t have any men either. So, all things being equal, you would expect her to sit with the aunties and not the uncles right?

I can’t say she’s flirtatious because that is too presumptious. However, being educated in NUS where just having lunch at the canteen alone with a girl can start wild rumours, it amazes me how this auntie can attract men to her and, more surprisingly, how she probably prefers to sit with the men anyway.

Of course, I do salute her for standing up to her own beliefs. Obviously, she couldn’t care less about what others think and that deserves respect.

Actually, what interest me is not trying to guess whether she’s flirtatious or just plain attractive. I’ve already taken it for granted that she’s just more comfortable with men and men just enjoy being with her. There’s nothing scandalous about that (as long as it stays that way of course and doesn’t progress to anything more intimate). What I’m really interested about is “why?”

Why do some girls just seem to attract guys from all over? They are like some walking men magnet. Wherever they go, however difficult it is to meet men, these females just seem to attract men. It’s almost as if these girls were like the sun and the men need to gravitate around her just to feel warmth and sustenance. And based on this new auntie observation, it appears that once a girl becomes a magnet, she remains a magnet even after marriage.

In fact, I wonder… do such girls learn to become the centre of men’s attention or do they just exude some kind of aura that make some men feel totally at ease with them? Does this natural gravitation towards such girls stem from some sexual desire? Or is it more innocent? Maybe the guys just enjoy talking to her?

But why a girl? Shouldn’t people prefer to hang out with people of the same sex? If you like to hang out with the opposite sex, then what do you do with your spouse or girlfriend?

Actually, I think it is possible to enjoy hanging out with the opposite sex and also be in a relationship. However, the partner in your relationship must either trust you a lot, understand you deeply or she’s just like you. Yet, it feels strange to me that I could call girl A my girlfriend when I spend the same amount of time with her as I do with girls B, C, D, E…So I guess maybe just 1 close friend of the opposite sex is the limit once you get into a relationship. So, Thank God I only have 1 close friend (knew her since jc but with whom I couldn’t be with not that it’s her fault)

Anyway, being a guy who is often seen with girls, I can sort of understand why some girls just seem to be surrounded by guys. After all, guys usually hang out with other guys just like what girls do. So if you know 1 member of the opposite sex you would have to know his friends. In short, you know 1 guy and you end up knowing 5 guys. At least I think that’s the case. To be honest I don’t really have a guy clique. I hang out with guys from church, school, army, etc but I wouldn’t say any of them are close enough to be considered a clique. Girls are different though. They make it pretty clear when a girl is considered a clique member or just a plain friend. And the only girls I know who do not have cliques are those who are themselves always hanging out with guys. So it really does seem like I have something in common with these girls.

So maybe it’s more like some “vicious cycle” not that it’s necessarily something bad. What I mean is that girls who always hang out with guys probably were not taught that it’s better to hang out with the same sex, that as long as you’re having good clean fun the gender of the friend isn’t important. So once a girl meets 1 guy, she’ll meet his guy friends and in turn their friends. This only reinforces the idea that hanging out with the opposite sex is no big deal. After all, she won’t see the guys complaining. And after a while, she hangs out with them so much that hanging out with girls then seems weird because they’re so used to guys’ ways of talking and their interests.

Those girls, mind you, are not tomboys. They still love to shop and look pretty. What I mean is that she’s probably more used to listening to guys chat about soccer than girls gossip about some tv actress even if both are of interest to her.

Being told that hanging out with the opposite gender is fine is rare in itself, which could explain why such girls are hard to find.

Another thing I wanted to blog about was the term “lao chio”. It’s supposed to describe an auntie that still looks pretty. The auntie I was blogging about is not really pretty enough to fall into lao chio category. I think Christina lim does though.. =P

But I was thinking.. let’s say for argument’s sake that ivy lee was 40 but still as pretty as she is now. I am using her as an example because she’s already had 2 babies and she still looks super hot. (In fact, I think she looked hot only after she gave birth.)

Anyway, if ivy lee looked this good at 40, what do we call her? Do we say she’s “super lao chio”? But that makes it sound like she’s super old. Probably not much of a compliment. “lao super chio” sounds better I think. But I think no matter what we do, the word “lao chio” itself already sounds bad because of the word “lao”. Unless the woman is 80, she won’t like it if you called her “lao” no matter how chio she is.

So I think to me, I’ll just say she’s hot. =)
Ivy lee I mean

intern hopes and woes..

just finished writing my report so decided to take a break and finally update my blog. yes i know it has been a long time since i last blogged. i think that the last time i blogged, dinosaurs still existed...
well, other than the fact that i have to wake up at 545am every morning, life at PHILIPS has been good. I am supposed to write a log book of sorts to write on what i have done. so i guess i could kill 2 birds with 1 stone by blogging about it as well. the downside is that some parts may bore you... cos i know it's bored me...
some of the work here is mundane...for example, while doing data entry, i actually fell asleep at my computer...that's how repititive my work was... lesson learnt: never ask an intern to data entry when i am still getting used to waking up before the sun rises...
but i can't blame my company for that. after all, it is not their fault. they can't expect me to go and design a product for them from the start. i've got to slowly ease myself into the complexities of product design. in the meantime, this "easing" process is making me fall asleep.
but i just realised one thing. blogging makes me look busy.. haha... here i am typing furiously at my keyboard and all my seniors are giving me that look of approval like as if i'm doing alot of work. they probably thought someone just shot me an arrow and this young chap started work on it straight away like the diligent man he is... boy are they mistaken or what...
that doesn't mean i want to slack here as an intern. the real reason i'm slacking is because i finished my work and also because my supervisor is away on a business trip. thankfully for me (and his colleagues), there's a shortage of staff so i'm given all the work the colleagues either don't want or wouldn't have done if not for the walking target board they can pass the work to. that's my impression anyway.

OFFICIALLY, i've so far..
1. measured, recorded and analysed readings needed for Cp and Cpk analysis.

UNOFFICALLY, that means i've stood for 8 hours along a factory line surrounded by aunties..randomly taking out samples from the line, then measuring the size of the compressed rivets. (if the rivets are uniformly compressed, the machine is working well). each sample has 9 rivets. i measured 50 samples.. so you can calculate how many rivets i measured. (and being the conscientious person that i am, i measured each rivet twice...) so you can imagine how sick i was of rivets after that.. haha..

but still.. i did enjoy learning these new terms called Cp an Cpk.. these terms are readily taught to industrial engineers so the fact that i'm slowly coming on level terms with them can only be a good thing.. it'd benefit me alot if i was not just a mechanical engineer.
then again, i suspect all ME students will learn this eventually either in school or in work.. but learning it before everyone else can't be a bad thing =)i'm looking forward to my first big project here. i really hope that all this analysis and date recording and entry (which any O level student can do to be honest) are just preparing me for that big challenge looming ahead. like i said, my supervisor isn't in so for all i know, he already has a project in mind for me. it's just that he hasn't told me about it.
i like challenges.. at the very least, they can keep me awake!! if i have to do data entry for the whole internship, i think i'll soon be known as "the sleepy one".. people will start theorising that i must be one of those covert "ah bengs" that look innocent on the outsie but actually havoc through the graveyard shift at night.. after all, they would reason, what else could explain me nodding off everytime i key in data.
well i'm certainly wide awake now when just half an hour ago i was struggling to key in the next digit... and i think the reason for the difference is obvious.. i'm using my brain now!!
philips seems like they could do with more engineers to solve their design issues.. and i'm a student dying for a challenge.... so hopefully we'll be the perfect match... if not, i guess i could always blog and look busy again..haha