Christmas Eve

These are the special times
Times we'll remember
These are the precious times
The tender times, we'll hold in our hearts forever
These are the sweetest times
These times together
And through it all one thing will always be true
The special times are the times I share with you
 -"These are the special times" by Christina Aguilera

It actually has been two days since Christmas Eve and I only posting it today. It is because I went home very late on that night and I worked on Christmas, so I didn't have the time to post this. However, the memories of that day is still etched deeply in my mind(Well, coz' it's only two days ago)


Guess where did I went to on Christmas Eve? Universal Studios Singapore(USS). It is AWESOME!! The place is so gorgeously designed and detailed that I felt like I'm actually there in 'Hollywood', 'New York', 'Madagascar', 'Far Far Away', 'The Lost World', 'Ancient Egypt' and a 'Sci-Fi City'!! USS is really cool!! I really liked Far Far Away(the castle in Shrek), coz' the castle looked exactly like in the movie and in the fairy-tales and it obviously did include the inside jokes of Shrek and other fairy-tales! The Sci-Fi City is very awesome too, being one of the mainstay of the entire USS, having the newly-opened Transformers ride which attracted the whole lot of visitors, and that you'll have to wait like 2 straight hours just for the ride alone(it's often VERY crowded, the queue is... VERY long). 


I went there together with three of my friends, and it really has been an entertaining, fulfilling and fun trip to USS. We took almost all the rides available, starting with the Madagascar Crate Adventure which is a slow river ride which is quite interesting for Madagascar fans(although all four of us ain't fans). Followed by a stroll to Far Far Away, where the 'twisted' fairy-tales come alive! We then took the "Enchanted Airways" which is actually a kid-sized roller coaster... And we actually took the Merry-Go-A-Round, OMG. The funny thing about the Merry-Go-A-Round is that a certain someone sat on... Hahas maybe I shouldn't say it here, or else I'll get killed XP


Moving on, we had our lunch at Loui's NY Pizza Parlour. Yes, we apparently ate pizza for lunch. Guess what's the size of the pizza. 20 INCHES. And how many of us? Four. I have to eat two freaking large slices of that pizza. And that's not the worst yet. After that meal, we went to 'Lights, Camera, Action!' to view the special effects made by Steven Spielberg! We were 'blown away' as the sound stage changed into a setting hit by a major hurricane. The flames were intense, the effects were very real and the sound synchronisation made it perfect. Then I realised why I'm so into Steven Spielberg films.


We continued our way to Sci-Fi city and took the 'Accelerator'. It's the spinning cup thing that is on every theme park. Alright, here comes the BIG challenge. We are to then proceed to take the Battlestar Galactica roller-coaster ride. Remember I ate two slices of pizza? And I took the spinning 'Accelerator'? Now you're asking me to take one of the most thrilling roller coaster ride ever? My stomach will become a washing machine(the spinning type). We took the 'Human' ride(the red path) of the roller coaster since it looks "less scarier" than the 'Cylon' ride(the blue path), which includes a corkscrew, a rainbow 360 degree and several spins? And guess what, the four of us sat at the front row of the ride. How unlucky. We are all damn nervous, and my heart is racing...


Whoosh!! Before we knew it, the ride ended. Me and the guy friend(the 4 of us are 2 guys and 2 girls) strode to the 'Cylon' Ride, while the other two girls waited of us. By that time, I'm already feeling nauseous, and I still have to go through yet another roller coaster ride. This time, however, is very different from the first. All the spins, the corkscrew, the cobra roll and a vertical loop. It's very exciting!! If I didn't feel nauseous, I would probably have tried the rides again! After we got off, we called the girls to try the Cylon ride too, which they eventually did.


Next stop: Ancient Egypt. We went to the Ancient Egypt zone and wanted to ride the 'Revenge of the Mummy' indoors ride. That one, I admit, I was too scared to ride in total darkness, so in the end I didn't try that ride(two of my friends did). We didn't really explore The Lost World as the rapids adventure was undergoing some changes so we went back to Far Far Away to catch Shrek 4D Adventure. That is considered my first 4D experience and it was marvellous, really! 


Yes, finally we are lining up for the Transformers 3D ride. Within 40-50 mins, we were in! Oh, I think "awesome" is an understatement for that ride!! It is freaking cool!! The effects, the graphics, the entire interior design all matches for that exciting ride! The only downside is that the ride is too short. But well, it's definitely worth the tickets!!


Nearing the end of our trip to USS, the four of us loitered around to take more pictures. As it's already past seven, the lights were lit, the Christmas Tree were lit and the place looked even more beautiful than ever. Eventually we exited USS, and slowly took our time to savour the gorgeous view and wonderful experience that day. 


The song "These are the special times" played while we continued to take photos just outside of USS, and it really fits the mood and my inner voice. I guess I'm really lucky coz' my aunt won the lucky draw, winning 4 USS tickets, and she gave all to me since she can't make it and the tickets are gonna expire soon. I have to really thank her for the tickets, or else I probably won't get a chance to visit USS anytime soon. I don't know if I'm lucky that it rained(slightly) on that day, but I'm sure am very lucky to have my aunt, and of course my friends who accompanied me to USS. I've never had so much fun on Christmas Eve before, so this is my best Christmas Eve ever! You guys totally made my day. You guys, just by being there with me at USS, is already a very big Christmas present for me. Thanks for everything!

Reputation

"It takes decades to build up a reputation, but it only takes an instant to destroy it."


What's the trending topic in Singapore? We all know it. The breakdown of the MRT transport. It all started on last Thursday. It was at the rush hour in the evening, when the people who are working at the Central Business District, take their usual transport home. There it happened. The MRT train suddenly broke down. The train stopped moving, the lights were dimmed, the built-in air-conditioner stopped working. Basically, the entire train went out of power. And the people who were rushing home were trapped in the train.


It was reported that the air ventilation was really bad that one person almost fainted, then a on-board passenger had no choice but to break the windows to allow air in. For about one hour or so, the commuters were left stranded in the train. Eventually they were gotten out of the train, led out of the underground tunnel to the nearest station. However, the train disruption caused a big part of the North-South line to be sealed. South-bound trains resumed at 9pm while north-bound trains resumed operations at 11:40pm. 


For more than 4 hours, the train services stopped. People had to turn to bus bridging services to get to their destinations. If this isn't bad enough, how about a second breakdown? Or even a third time? And subsequent train delays? The SMRT company even pushed back the train services to start at 11am, instead of the usual 5am+. I think there's no need for me to describe how this will affect the working population of Singapore. Indeed, it is a serious problem.


This problem has plagued us for 5 days already. There are heated debates online, most are angry that this actually happened, while there're others who still kept their cool and continue their support for the SMRT. The SMRT has already apologised to the public for this terrible string of incidents. But really, is an apology enough? Yes, the company may be doing their best to solve the problem and prevent similar cases from happening in the future. They also followed the procedures appropriately, getting bus-bridging services, and doing a thorough check and maintainence. But people out there are still angry and disappointed at what happened. I can't blame them though. 


For 24 years, the MRT trains has served us without fail. But just this once, the situation is so bad, then almost everybody started cursing the company. We were unhappy that the MRT cabins are always so filled up, and people have to squeeze, especially during the rush hours in the morning and the evening. We were unhappy that we have to wait for the second train, the third or even the fourth before we can finally squeeze into the cabin. Every year, they say they will improve, they will get more trains, decrease the train intervals, so as to accommodate the huge numbers of commuters. But still, the situation didn't really change much. 


Perhaps we shouldn't take things for granted, however, are those people really trying their best to improve the train service? Or do they just care about earning money? Well, it's up for debate. I think it's rather amusing, how a reputation just crumbles because of one incident, especially in such a developed country like Singapore.

Redress

Each generation wants new symbols, new people, new names. They want to divorce themselves from their predecessors. - Jim Morrison

I've resigned from my telemarketing job! Yes, I feel so free now. No longer have to mass call strangers all over the country. No longer have to stand the utter rudeness of some people who picked up my calls, no longer have to suffer the mental torture of being rejected over and over again. No longer have to feel the guilt of not hitting the daily target. Whew! Thankfully, I still got a waiter job which I can still earn a small income. Speaking of which, even my friend who originally introduced me into his telemarketing company, resigned due to my influence! But, that's not the main point of this post, or else the title would be "Resign" instead. 

Just yesterday, me and another of my friend, went to play basketball at a nearby park. It's just the two of us, so we just grabbed a ball, and went shooting hoops. As we arrived at the basketball court, I saw a familiar face. I don't recall writing SPECIFICALLY about this incident, but I think I did actually wrote about this very briefly in a post somewhere in this blog. This familiar face turns out to be the guy together with another two "kids"(they don't look anything like teenagers. They may be secondary one students, but they don't behave like one, neither do they look like one), who actually humiliated me and my friends in a basketball match.

If you guys have read all my previous posts, you'll find that there's a lot of similar incidents, and all of that I've experienced, it's always gotta do with basketball. Well, please don't be  biased to this sport coz' all the bad stuff has nothing gotta do with the sport. Basketball is a competitive sport, so is many other sports such as soccer, volleyball etc. The same incidents would have happened in these sports too. 

Anyways, getting back to the topic, lemme give yet another brief description of what happened between me and him. Two of my friends and I were playing basketball, at our half of the same court. They were playing at their other half, and after a while, they came over and 'challenged' us to a match. A 'friendly' match. After a brief discussion, we accepted it. The match starts, and we were losing by a wide margin(note: I wasn't anywhere near playing seriously, just trying to have fun). 

Since my two other friends were not good at the sport, neither do they play basketball often, we obviously were weaker. But the thing is that, the opponents played dirty. They hit my friend's arms and hands, snatching away the ball from him not just once, but several times. Besides that they humiliated us, by trying to set-up all kinds of tricks. I can no longer just stand there and chill after watching my friend getting bullied just because he can't play basketball well. I took charge and took revenge. We didn't even bother to count the score,  I just take the ball and start dropping shots one after another. Eventually we lost(coz' we didn't count the score).

That's rather brief, I think? Anyways, I didn't like them a bit. Neither did my two friends. They were obnoxious. Well, going back to my trip to the basketball court, I saw that guy again. As me and my friend entered the court, we saw this bunch of sec one 'kids' at the court playing basketball. When everybody arrived, I counted 23 of these 'kids' at the court. And 10 basketballs. Me and my friend just went to the other half of the court to shoot hoops, then the guy(that familiar guy) politely asked us to leave, coz' they need the entire court. We sat down and watched them play a full-court match which has 12 people in the court at the same time. After a couple of minutes, they got 5 girls to join into the game. Which means 17 in the court. 17 people, 2 teams, 2 hoops, 1 basketball. Talk about messy. I've never quite seen anything like that since my primary school days. I think even primary school kids nowadays are better at organising stuff than this bunch of people.

Being a spectator, I was laughing all the way. It's just so messy that I have absolutely no idea what's going on. One moment the ball was at this side of the court, and the other moment, it flew straight to the other side. It's just so epic to see them play. Really, it's like watching a bunch of rowdy and playful, lower primary school kids(no offence) play. Here's the catch. I've witnessed these 'kids' spouting vulgarities like nobody's business, witnessed their temper flaring, them committing flagrant and violent fouls, seeing them play so roughly. Trust me, the tension there could explode any time. A fight could have occurred. Looking at how they played, they certainly deserve some redressing.

Looking at them, I was reminded of my younger days, in primary school as well as my lower secondary school days. Was I that bad? Was the people born in my year, as bad as the them? I concluded: No. We weren't that bad then. I am worried about our younger generation. We are teenagers now, almost becoming young adults, but it seems like we are far more mature than the 'kids' I've seen, even at their age. I'm glad, but it sends a shiver down my spine when I think that these 'kids' will become adults, and have to shoulder the burdens of the world. Will they be matured enough by then? Or will they... I don't dare to think of the undesired outcome.

Working Experience

"Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same." - Francesca Reigler


I completed my third day at work as a telemarketer, and my try-out day as a waiter in a cafe. Well, the work as a telemarketer is very mentally draining and stressful. After about 12 hours of mass calling, getting countless "not interested" answers, "busy" answers, and rude replies, I am sick and tired of calling any more strangers. The original target was to get 4 appointments each day (since I'm working 4 hours a day), but after 3 days of calling, I only managed to get only ONE appointment (4 x 3days = 12 appointments which is my target). It made me feel damn guilty. Also it's damn tiring to face rejection all the time. I almost developed a phobia of calling because of this work.


I tried to show a positive attitude in my work and cheer myself up, but it's not that easy. C'mon, if you can't stand working for just 3 days, how can you survive a month? Since I've gotten the waiter job, I might as well quit being a telemarketer and finally put an end to my misery, right? I rather get lower pay, longer working hours but have a nice environment with nice people to work with and able to enjoy myself while working, than to work with higher pay, less working hours, but feeling damn stressed, guilty, getting rejected all the time, mentally draining and bored? (I realise I used a lot of commas here. Poor English T.T)


Speaking of the waiter job, I had my trial together with my friend yesterday night. It was fun, entertaining, simple, and have such nice people to work with. My other primary school friend who has been working there for 2 months, he showed us the ropes yesterday, what we should do and how we should go about doing it. Our boss is also a very friendly and gentle person. Our colleagues - The kitchen chef auntie, the bartender who makes drinks, the other co-worker, they are all very friendly as well, and are willing to teach us. They made us feel at home, and I felt that we all had already met for a long time already. 


Besides carrying out my duties as a waiter, helping out at the counter, and cleaning up as well, there's one more thing about this cafe. It's a special cafe that has a very soothing ambience, and there's a band (not the 'rock' type of band) who perform song requests by customers. It's very entertaining to listen them performing, as well as listening to frequent jokes cracked by the performers which entertained the customers and us. Most of the songs sang are chinese pop songs, and listening to these songs reminded me why I first fell in love with chinese songs and why I'm so keen in learning the chinese language, and I am so proud of having chinese language as my mother tongue. The singers sang really well and it's so refreshing, I think that's why the cafe attracts customers. 


This cafe main customers are couples who came here seeking the lovely and romantic ambience here, having a drink and some snacks, while listening to their own song requests with their loved ones. Someday, I would like to invite my closest friends there and have a meal there, I'm sure it will be a very cool experience. Well, that's what I thought... Until I saw the prices on the menu.


P.S You see the highlighted words? You can also change them to my girlfriend (If I already have one by then :P) and romantic

Interview

Just a short update. Well, I've had my second official interview and finally landed a job today. So starting tomorrow, I'll be working. As expected, the holidays are already slipping away day by day and after a month or so, we are expected to receive our O-Levels results and have to decide on which post-secondary schools to apply for. It may be more than a month away but we all know how fast time flies. As for the interview I've had, it's like an oral exam. I gotta do a role-play and converse with my 'boss', speaking and prompting questions at a speedy pace. Sounds like a piece of cake? Well, looking at how I've performed during the interview, it's nowhere near 'difficult'. I really hope that I'm capable of doing this job, and I better not screw up.