dinner delivery in the wretched late nights

OT kias. day after day, the office had become our playground - our favourite and homely hangout. (maybe not for the lady in white though)

why

Sometimes i feel angry. but at what and at whom, remains a mystery even to myself.

Suddenly memories of nothing flashes through my mind as if everything i have gone through amounts to nothing and i just don't know why i'm here for. Just to add to my "list of where i have been"? what bullshit. just some stupid thing for people to envy over and out. More like an escape from the tiny island i somethings just want to run away from. from certain people, from friends, from lovers and to lovers. always meeting new people but they never last long because either they don't come back or that i'm just hiding in another corner of the world. Otherwise just worlds apart (hahaa..geddit geddit?)

Maybe i've been overloaded with controversial movies for a past few days. and certain themes of the movie overwhelms me, stronger than religion, stronger than drugs. All thanks to Jiahui's trusty Sony Vaio. muahaha.... just for one thing to all readers, please don't take my words too seriously!

Today's work was good. did like pre-qualifications report... and some point assessment and my team leader had to explain every single to detail to me bit by bit. it sounds like it was terribly terrible work to do. but oh well, i'm always fretting over unnecessary things, it gets in the way. and i always give myself away and my team leader caught me looking worried and laughed it off. well i guess then, it was exactly what i needed to relieve the tension!!!

yea but seems like our colleagues didn't have a good time at the client's place. sigh. i heard he's 30s and he throws his weight around and puts my boss down. should i say that he should really suck some balls or that that's just the reality of the dog-eat-dog world? (hahaha! Chinese Locals love dog meat. HAHA that explains why, i guesss)

Jiahui says: translation is a bitch to do after lunch. I second that. third forth and fifth. but it was pretty fun! hahahahahaha let's just laugh every single damn thing off. Including the mood swings i had yesterday.

For more pictures of me, please refer to Jiahui's blog : www.the-rebel-in-me.blogspot.com

My Team Leader has read my blog

Yay! hahaha.. the title is just to amuse her... but i guess my blog has to be more diplomatic but that doesn't stop me from being honesT~!!

It's Sunday and the thoughts of dragging my ass up to the office IS INDEED DREADFUL. It's Sunday! SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY.

But hey, everything is an experience, including working on Sundays.

I can tell all my frens back home " It's Sunday and i'm working!" instead of the boring-oh-no-you-have-nothing-to-do replies. Hahaha! oops. Anyway, it has been quite a joy being in the office today (OH NO WHAT HAPPENED TO HOBBIT???). Because Adeline came along to amuse us with her Adelism and best of all, she had to entertain us despite being plain idiotic (ok, just me, not jiahui).

Anyway, (my parent's aren't suppose to know) i dyed my hair red and got an airbrush tattoo and look like a hip-hop CMI ah lian for 1 day!!!! I can't do it for the rest of the days because work cannot wear sleeveless... poor Joshie had a tattoo behind her ear... it was too low, and worse, it smudged!!!!! REFUND REFUND!!! So unfair coz mine's still pretty. hahaha!

Spent the whole day calculating rebars... and like 4 hours on it??? then, after that, the project leader said... " 哦,不用这个了" AIYO! Pengzzzz...and i thought it was the essence of the whole structure then she said she don't want le??? I sweared i could have fainted on the spot. Luckily Jiahui helped to do the other part of my work... HENG, THANKS CUTIE OH LITTLE JOSHIE
*Pinches cheeks*.... 有福同享有难同当!!!! FYI: this colleague (project leader) waves good bye like a 招财猫 with a straight face! hahaha! SO CUTE!

anyway, i'm starting to miss the people here already... thinking of having to go back soon makes me really 舍不得....................................................................................

Where's my tinge of perfectionism

Finally completed part of my estimation. probablly, and i hope, enough for my team leader to come up with a decent BQ to show the client.

Then again, there's no such thing as "drafts" when the client is concered.

i took 3 hours just to edit 1 level out of 6, and it's still not perfect.

protocols were non-existent. formats were haywired. and time is as short as a pea dick. pardon me but half of me needed more time, the other half just wanted to completed it asap so that i don't hold everything else back. to be honest, i was stressed and i couldn't get myself to bother about the minor imperfection which were of unacceptable standards. there was a point my whole body when numb and i couldn't think, whether the figures had already been added or that i had to substract them. i couldn't think anymore!!!i

and to made it worse, kept reminding myself what i have set my mind to be the night before - to do my estimation well, don't let my team leader down... but the more i think the more pressure i put on myself... and that feeling really sucked. there were many points in time i just felt i wasn't cut out to be a QS. i should just stick to trying to be a scuba diving instructor.

on the brighter note, i really learnt alot of things! like from all the silly mistakes i made... and to confessed, i commited the worst mistake a QS could have made... i actually misplaced the decimal point... from 23.5 to 2.35... and i cannot thank God enough for realising it in time. and i want to make a special note, on how my team leader' laughter is such a good destresser. i must say, she has been quite patient with me... and that she would be amused at the slightest thing, and it really helps to make me and joshy feel comfortable around... in a faraway land, we are grateful to have her around!!!

Enough of myself, my dearest co-intern's work, aka joshy, is piling up!!! She was so busy today, she had to sit away from me to use a different computer... for the first time... she had to do BQs in chinese... muahaha! but i'm happy! because she claims to be the only idiot who would be happy to have work coming... oh well, joshy, whatever that makes u larky happy! *ps. she makes horrible coffee for herself.

That's it, end of story session... SDE friends - share ur stories on ur blogs please!!!!

all work and no play makes hobbit a boring species.

I suspect my friend in UK is a relative of my dear boss in k.p.k. Both from HK and both are Singaporeans... so if i found out that its the truth, maybe i can go strike a decent conversation with my boss about his... well, relative. how i had to endure his nonsense in UK for 4 months... haha but always nice and kind to let me into his flat to let me use the washing machine for free (read: washing cost 1.40pounds for 1 wash @ my flat).

Anyway weekends was great! Playtime started on Friday, where we went to our "OTHER ENGINEER FRIEND"'s house because he's pretty dexterous with his pots and pans... and whipped a nice meal for us. His name is Richy btw, and married and soon to have kids (right?).

Well, to cut a long story short, we went KTV and it was a pretty and impressive place but i guess it wasn't the best we have seen...

And today, we went to climb up the famous Fragrance Hills 香山... guided by a fellow colleague who's local, her little sister... they made our trip really enjoyable because i think the 2 sisters are quite hilarious when they are together. and the relationship they share with each other is something you'll go awwwwww... because they have the same dad and different moms, but they are just as close and the elder sister always takes care of the other... and my heart always warms up when i hear the lil one go "姐~!"

Well, we climbed up 2136 steps and it boy, i hoped it burned some of the fats i got from 回锅肉 and 肥羊肉... and Jiahui took lots of pictures, like tons i guess...

Anyway, where work is concerned, i'm still NOT done with it after being on it for 4 days. it really sucks when i can't finish it by my intended deadline... not so much on how i should account to my team leader but rather i just don't understand how i could have been so slow and always spotting discrepencies in my work. but jiahui always tell me, we have to make mistakes to learn. i thought it was extremely assuring and i really needed that at that moment.

Jiahui if u r reading this, here are the pros and cons about your work. Pros: your chinese will improve by leaps and bounds, revisit measurements and have all the time in the world to blog. Cons : Eventual death. So, it sounds good right?

Ok, i really don't have the time to post pictures... if u guys want a detailed narrative of our stay in Beijing, be referred to jiahui's blog :

www.the-rebel-in-me.blogspot.com

any tips on how to get rid of those ugly rings below my eyes?

New Day!

Hi guys, just wanna blog one more time... with a few pictures.. to dispel the boring look...



This is my office.. all drawings!


We were in a supermarket... and just fooling around... that's Yanmei, my team leader!

And there's the fako poses... That's Jiahui, my flatmate-cum-co-intern... we came back from a meeting with a terror client...

I love myself...

CAUTION: the pictures below either makes u think i'm siao or that u will laugh your ass off...

Just for entertainment la ok...

喜

怒

哀

乐！

OK! i hope u guys have been happy. Dedicated to all my SDE friends who are having attachments!!!

Work!

today i went for a meeting with my team leader. present were the architects and M&E Engineers, and us, the QS consultants. no names will be mentioned to protect the identity la.. but if u ask me i will tell u...

The client was horrible! we were 10 min late due to the horrible traffic, and the client went like... 每迟到10分钟就要规定罚200元，20 分钟就要罚400元。

WhoA!! what a bad start to the meeting la! my team leader later on went "i hate him! he pissed me off" hahaha... he surely did man...

and he whacked the M&E engineer until i gained sympathy for him instead. At first, he was really blur and honestly, not professional. but then, the client's unreasonable attitute towards him made everyone hate him. Until much later i realised from another Engineer fren in Beijing, that all clients from this paticular developer company are shitheads... well, i might agree, except for 1 lady i particularly liked and she's a singaporean. muahaa...

ya, there actually quite a number of singaporeans, especially so since i'm working on a project that requires collaboration on the Singapore side... Jiahui has finally been given something to do... very very challenging.. guess what it is?

MEASUREMENTS...

that's not the hardest...

IT'S IN CHINESE!!!! All the specifications are in CHINESE!!!

and when she had to ask a colleague for help, we get the explanation in chinese, which actually spiced up our working life. it was funny sometimes, and i suppose frustrating... for a simple instruction made complexed due to communication differences (anybody watched Babel?). Like our colleague would explain 周长，面积等等。。。 然后乘厚度就有了面域。。。ya, and both of us were left with millions of question marks hoovering over our heads...

words like..

施工部署
投标保证金
招标图
防火窗帘
清单= BQ
and 空调 = Air conditioning system...
the waitress is called 服务员
and the taxi drivers are called 师父。（i think its written that way)
卸货区= loading and unloading bay
and 抹灰 = plastering

these are just some of the technical terms that i understand... what's not written above are those that i don't. hahaha.. k la, its not that bad, i'm getting it, really... will blog next time on more chinese vocabulary!

Jiahui's sleeping like a log today, u know why? because she had work to do! hahaha! so i get to use the internet! yay!

ok i still have time... more chinese words!

computer hang = 死机。(haha, we didn't know how to explain that sia...)
碳纤维
钢材
涂刷隔离济

oki, tired for looking out for words that i recognise. ciao people!! blog again when there's much lesser to do!

我是个工程造价生。

Oh well, met 2 new local employees and they are fresh grads so i guess its pretty easy to chat up with them. One is called Zhang Yu Xiu, the other is Wang Yue Er. oh well, better to get more network support than hiding like a hermit in the conrer with my trusty computer.

Been staring at my autocad for the past 3 hours. trying to calculate the areas of the different components... then when i went to check with my team leader, i did extra work!!! Argh! Well, at least i found out early, because i was doing it way too slowly.

Lots of drawings and having to mess with A3 size papers full of meaningless lines. and punching the calculator away... life as a QS is indeed challenging and it makes people hungry all the time. Maybe i should try project management next time. but i guess my frens at pentaocean aint enjoying so much as well. because every morning just before 8am, they have to climb the 90 steps stairs with the extra overhead bridge at chinatown. While for us, is just a 15 minutes walk away from everything, including eateries with cheap, less than S$2, lunch meals.

Anyway, for my sde frens, kpk is really just making us look thru contract documents, editing them and for me, throwing a whole set of drawings and autocad files to measure. i have 16 hours left to my deadline. blog again next time.

ah! first day of work! sorry for not updating, basically i don't have internet in my apartment... so i'm like very discreetly trying to blog as much as i can here! i'ts 915 am now and we have been given 2 corner seats with computers (yay!) for us to do work... if there's any that is...

i've been posted to a team which does Shopping Malls and Retail outlets, Jiahui will be doing Hotels and Mixed development... there's another 2 teams in KPK doing the Olympics convention center and a huge theme park outside Beijing respectively... which we are not allowed to join!! (WHY?) NUS... can u please expand our versatility?

what is PSSCOC in chinese?????

2 more hours

hello guys, here's a last minute post before i depart Singapore to the capital of China. For the first time, i can finally feel my roots.

Before these, i had supper with iris-san in Newton... it seemed rather surreal, that i was there not long ago. Which is true, because she brought me there when i came back from UK, and this time again before i leave. Looks like Newton should be the place before someone goes and subsequently, returns home. kept eating as if i won't taste my favourite oat prawns for 3 months and iris-san had almost the whole plate of gong gong to herself. Thanks babe for the love letter! Rekindled love after so many years. =p wish the car ride lasted longer too...

Oh yea, and also kept meeting up with SDE friends these days... it's like day camps and i had to learn how to reintegrate into an already bonded group. i was afraid it would be difficult. it was at first, but i had to start somewhere, and i can only say i'm glad to have known all these people better because they are pretty friendly too and sherlin's move to organise the bbq was a good one. and i'm glad the person going with me is a fellow singaporean too - we have the same mentality.

Alright la, nothing much... if i were to say on, it's going to be mushy! To my sqdmates... i'll try not to bring keychains back...

Looks like this sem, i gained new friends and i seemed to have neglected some... let this phase be over soon...

2 more days!

Hello! in the midst of packing, and there's so much things to do! not with the packing, but having to settle all the la la zhat zhat things! the library books... the dumb survey... the envelopes... the waxing... on and on...

and i can't find my G2000 blazer, which is getting on my nerves...

before i leave for china, although its only 3 months, still, i will miss everyone! like people who would save msgs like "last night i dreamt i was a cid undercover..so it was super exciting, so i kept sleeping on to carry on the dream. don't laugh".

hahahaha. initially i wanted to meet up with lots of people but come to think of it, there were many reasons / excuse why i didn't.

1. no time (universal excuse)
2. no energy (bad excuse)
3. need to do dissertation (reason not materialized, aka excuse)
4. need to pack (honest reason)
5. not interested to meet up ( links to reason number 2)
6. nothing to talk about ( follow up from reason number 5)
7. not knowing what to talk about (just reason. its definitely just a reason.)
8. i'm getting the sean and hermit's disease ( REAL REASON)
9. i don't have the car ( unfortunate reason)
10. i didn't know u wanted to meet me ( what's your excuse then, may i ask?)

Oh well, i'm not the villain, as always, this time.

end of story session! With all the love in the world, i wish everybody's attachment a smooth sailing one and hope to hear more updates from the respective gossip kings and queens!

My blog is 1 year 1 day old!!!

Hello people!! I'm back from my hiatus! (haha.) The annual travelling season is back again hence my blog has come to life once more.

Following the usual format as i've written on 1 May 2006, i will be blogging here from now onwards, my preparation and slowly into the days where i'll be in China.

I hope history doesn't repeat itself (remember my unfortunate luggage incident?). i've grown smarter and wiser --- pretty much i hope.

Well, i'm supposed to be studying for my last paper and evidently, it seems like my level of motivation has plunged to nothingess ever since ever since. Anyway, will be away from 11 May 07 - 6 Aug 07. Not as long, but will be as exciting! Had travel plans initially but things don't always go the way we want it. just remember: when plan A fails, there will always be plan B! Hakuna Matata!