The worse job possible: Finding a Job

Ok ok I know I know it has been a long time since I last updated my blog. To all my valuable readers (I doubt if there is anyone who bother to read my entire entry filled with errors due to my poor English command), I am truly sorry. I had a temporary job a few months ago which runs from eight in the morning to half-past five in the evening on weekdays (not including overtime till eight at night). Due to the high pay rate, I even work on weekends sometimes. And now my polytechnic had started, and the timetable for most of the time is like... nine to five. Minus off the time I spent managing my province in Utopia (all my kingdom mates know that I have no life  =P  ), the amount of free time left to do other things is... so little I don't know how to phrase it.  =P  Ok I guess you all should have noticed this: I changed my blog skin.  =D  The 2 pretty ladies you see up there are Eclair and Lumiere, both from the anime series Kiddy Grade. This anime has quite a number of restricted scenes which is not suitable for small children, and most likely the reason why I like it.  =P  "Borrowed" from my friend's website, I suppose the background suit this picture, and the storyline, perfectly. Oh and I just start using Photoshop without any help from anywhere, so don't blame me from the poor quality of pictures which I cut from screenshots.  =P  Another note: I will probably not continue providing Gundam Seed Destiny screenshots. I am now nowhere near my computer most of the time, and Gundam Seed Destiny is now licensed (which means some company had won the rights to translate this series legally), thus it making it more difficult to find a subtitled version. (I need to know what is going on before I post them) I will, however, still provide screenshots of interesting parts which I like most, and new openings and endings. All my websites updating will come to a halt at the moment since I cannot find time to do it... sorry  >.<

My Job Finding Adventure

My adventure on finding a job is... hell for me. Due to my birth date, I can only start finding temporary jobs on January. You can argue that this time can be used to relax. Yes I did relax, by playing computer games that is. Till now I still cannot believe that I can get tired of games in 2 months; I began making websites instead of playing games in late December. I find making websites boring too since I have no idea what websites to make at that time. Thinking that I will be better off having a job, I began digging for one in the Classified (a section of local papers). Finding a job is not as easy as I though, trust me. Just grab any weekday Classified , flip to the last few pages (which features Recruit) and look at jobs under part-time/ temporary, and general production. 80% of these companies which put up this advertisement only want female workers  >.<  How much better are female workers compared to male ones? Now I really feel like being a female; just imagine that you are protected by law, have loads of privileges, and many more. There's still good news though, the remaining 20% wants either male or female workers, which means I still get a chance. I even got my mother to find me a job, hehe  =P  .  In my first attempt, I went to a company which does lightning for ceremonies like Chinese New Year concert. They required people for data entry. Over the phone, they say they can employ 16 years old student. But they reject me when I reach there, saying that I don't look like 16 years old due to my height. (I think I'm even shorter than the average height of girls in my class)  >.<  In my second attempt for a post in data entry again, that women on the phone told me that they can have male workers, but I know my chances are slim the moment I reach their office at Queenstown: It is a female working environment. Their manager, however, still let me fill up the application form and photocopy my IC (but whatever won't it be good if I can enter?  =P  ). I also didn't get that job in the end though  =(  I also tried going to the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit, something like the Tube in London) stations for interview to become operators or whatever. In my last attempt to go to Ang Mo Kio MRT station to get a job, that guy told me that he had enough people, but that freaking advertisement came out again the next day. I called their office and told them off straight away. The lady who picked up my call told me that she will call me back if there is a new job. Thinking that they will not call back, I went for 2 more attempts, one to become a storekeeper at  John Little sale at Expo (which got rejected), and another to become an helper at a flower shop in Changi, all contracts lasting till the day before the Lunar New Year. At the day which I was offered a job as a helper, that women (whom picked up my call when I lodge a complain last time) called me, saying that a company located at Changi is offering me a job as a storekeeper. I thought for a few hours before I drop the deal as a helper at the flower shop.

The first day which I got my first job is pretty interesting. My agent fetch me early morning at the MRT station. Coming along are four people, a fresh ITE graduate, two middle-aged man (one which left on the very first day), and of course me. We went there, filled up the application form, had a short interview, and we start work immediately. The best part is, we are being paid full day despite the fact that we are late by around 2 hours. I am still a full time gamer yesterday, but I am a full time worker today. Ever had a sudden change of lifestyle like this? Ok whatever, talk about my working conditions now. The working times for weekdays are from eight in the morning to half past five in the evening. There are plenty of overtimes for you to do, but I opt to do till eight at night most of the time on weekdays, and leaving almost no weekends and public holidays behind (Yes I am really someone with no life don't blame me). Pay rates are at forty bucks (In Singapore dollars of course) per day, and an additional $6.80 per hour if I work overtime on weekdays and Saturdays, and $8.90 per hour if I work on Sundays and Public holidays. I suppose most of you knows what a storekeeper do eh? I will first give a brief overview of my store. Our store is basically divided into four main sections: administration, receiving, bin-in and kitting. 4 women were put in charged in the administration (they are called clerks obviously), and they are responsible for entering the data of parts which just arrived, printing the lists of parts the assembly or production side needs, updating and sending it to the assembly or production side what parts do we had for them... in short, they do everything related computer. Trust me if you are only used to playing games with your computer you will die being a clerk  =P  Receiving, what I think is the easiest job, just need to standby near the main gate and wait for the supplier's goods to come. They only need to sign, chop it, and hand the receipt over to the administration, and standby again. What those in bin-in do is to just put all the parts in the correct location, what I considered as the second easiest job. The last one is kitting, the section which I am in. We had to get the new list from the clerks, and get all the parts the list required. the number of items the list wants varies, from as little as only a single part, to more than a thousand different kinds of part sometimes.

Now onto the environment. My workplace is located at Changi North industrial estate; Pretty far from my home for those who know where I exactly live. The company named is called "UMS Semiconductor - Norelco Centerline". Yea, the name sounds funny, because this company had merged 3 times; the first time is when Norelco merge with Centerline, and just last November another merger took place. Norelco Centerline is specialized in making hard disk drive, and sell them to Seagate for whatever. UMS Semiconductor, on the other hand, deals mainly with fabrication parts. How these two merged and work together, I don't know. I don't care as long as I got paid =D. Ok, so both sides get their parts from our store. Our store is currently located at block 23 (I think), and the store is so small newly imported goods has to be placed at the path most of the time, blocking our way. My supervisor (newly appointed, I think around the moment when both companies merged) says that there are more than 20000 parts in the store... scary. Now I will began my complain.  =P  The toilet is located at the front of the building, beside the waiting area. Since our store is right at the back, we will have to walk all the way there just too pee. There is actually a shortcut inside the building, but that placed is being used by the production line, and we cannot even enter without safety goggles and boots. The only way to get there is to go outside the building and walk under the hot sun or heavy rain, depending on the weather. It will be good if they can have something like "step out of store can see toilet" case, like a container-toilet just outside the store.  =P  The next one will be that dog which was put outside the waiting room every weekend. There was once which I was walking near the wall (trying to take shade from the burning sun), and that dog caught me unnoticed. If I didn't step back fast enough I may no longer be able to celebrate father's day anymore. Stupid security guard train the dog to only get people who are nearing the door next time, and not running in the middle of the road and start biting off people... erm... start chasing people.  ;) 

The people working there are generally okay. You will need around four languages, namely English, Chinese, Malay and Dialect, to communicate effectively. Malay is important because the majority of the people there are Malays, and Chinese there prefer to speak Dialect. Chinese is used to communicate people around my age, while English will be needed to talk with my superiors. The topics they talk about during lunch and dinner are mainly is... erm... girls and Geylang (Singapore's red light district). Current affairs are also discussed at times. Since about half of the workers are Malaysians, they also share their life and experience in Malaysia. Some managers there are pretty short-tempered. There was once which I heard that a manager forced people to work overtime till 2am one day; more than half resigned the next day. My agent is also a big liar saying that there is a lot of students waiting for O-level results working here, the actual fact is that there is no more than 10 out of nearly 1000 workers there. Apart from most of those who I know them personally, there are still 2 girls I think working at the assembly side. I don't know their names though, and never talk to them before I think. Whatever. It is pretty good though, to have some girls to look at in our male-majority working environment.  =P

Concentrating on the minor stuff there for a while. There are 2 food courts there, the non air-conditioned one which is just beside my workplace, and an air-conditioned one which is some distance away. I only went to the air-conditioned food court one, and I had made up my mind never to go there anymore. The food there can almost be considered as inedible. (Edit: I changed my mind after my meal there during the last day. It actually improved a lot compared to what I eat last time) The meat there is like a spring, which is able to bounce. The rice there is pretty cold, guess they left it out in the open for too long. They also don't have dishes to suit my taste. There is also free bus service from our company to Ang Mo Kio, Sengkang, and a few more points, which makes my traveling easier than I thought.

Hmm... I think there is nothing more for me to add on. To everyone I know there (sorry if name spelled wrongly): Vheill, Lim, Kai Chong, Chad, John, Taufiq, Sharill, Hafiz, Zainal, Sam, Wai Loon, Daniel, Deena, Kumar, Azman, Zailan, Sunny, Lee, Sim, Irene, Wadina, Nura, Yee Theng, and lastly our supervisor Hong Jun. Chances are that you all will forget who I am when you all happened to read this by chance. If that is so, here a question: Still remember Tang who work in the early months of 2005?

My Second "Judgment day": The O-level results and posting exercise

The GCE O-level results was released on 28th February, which means I have to forget about $50 extra into my pocket that day. One of main problems I faced before I went there is... What to wear? TV footage shows that students from other schools wear school uniforms for the past years when they collect results, which backed up what my parents told me. My friends, however, told me that they will be wearing home clothes. I actually wore home clothes before I enter the lift which will take me to the void deck, but my neighbor stop me in time, saying that we should be wearing school uniform. I quickly went back and change to school uniform before going to school. As expected, most people there were wearing home clothes, and I was called... nerd that day by most of my friends.

My results were... disappointing. *sob* I get 22 points for L1R5, 19 points for ELR2B2 (business), and 16 points for L1R4 and ELR2B2 (rest). Maybe I should explain this system a little. The range of grade are as follow (the number beside the grade means the points awarded): 75 marks or above = A1, 70-74 marks = A2, 65-69 = B3, 60-64 = B4, 55-59 = C5, 50-54 = C6, 45-49 = D7, 40-44 = E8, and you will be considered as fail if you score 39 marks and below. This means that you will get a better chance entering the school or course you want with lower points. For admission into junior colleges or centralized institution, L1R4 or L1R5 were used, and your points cannot be more than 20. L1 means the first language, R means relevant subjects, and the number followed behind means the number of relevant subjects which will be taken into consideration when computing results. You can use either English (for most people and my case) or your Higher Mother Tongue for your first language. You must also include a humanities subject, a mathematics subject, and a science subject for the relevant subjects. If they don't take my only humanities subject (a combination of Geography and social Studies, which I get C6) into consideration, I would have at least be able to enter the lousiest JC around. The other option available is get a diploma through a polytechnic. Polytechnics use ELR2B2 for computing results: EL means English language. R means relevant subjects, and B means your best subjects. A Mathematics subject must be used for the first relevant subject. The second relevant subject must be a humanities subject for business course, a science subject for a science course, or science/technology if you enter a technology course.

As a 16 pointer, my options were "pretty limited". My parents hopes for me to enter a life-science course since it is popular now in Singapore. I, however, think that Mathematics and Physics is the direction I should be heading. The only course I think which fulfill both requirements is Biomedical Engineering. Last year's cut-off point (COP) for Biomedical Engineering is 13 points, while COP for Biotechnology is 13 points, and 17 points for Biomedical Science. Under parents pressure, I put Biotechnology as my first few choices (I put in all poly offering this course, other than the newly open one), and Biomedical Science as my next. Biomedical Engineering thus felled on my 7th and 8th choice. I was given a shocked a few days back when the result for the posting of courses were released: I entered Biomedical Engineering. That makes me thinking if there is any problem with this course which make it raise it COP by 3 or more points. Since I entered a Polytechnic, I need to wait for their letter for further instructions.

Ok, I will began my ranting here. This year is the first year that everyone must submit their choices of Junior college and/or Polytechnics courses online, and by no other means. Those without computers, even those with computer but without internet access, will be in deep trouble. Though the Polytechnics had opened up their internet booth for students without internet access at home to register, I personally think it is not a good idea. By going down to any polytechnic to register, you will be most likely under pressure to make that poly you go to as your first choice. The second issue is regarding the bandwidth of the website. MOE claimed that they had increased the bandwidth and sever capacity up to 5 times, but on the first night of registration, I experienced terrible lag. There may be quite a number of reason for this cause. For the first reason, we Singaporeans are to blame with our Kiasu (greedy) attitude. Everyone is rushing to be the first few submitting their applications at the most convenient time, in this case after dinner time. It is not like being the first to submit will win you any prize or whatever. Though I managed to get in on the first night of registration, I cannot updated my particulars (as they asked me to) that day due to the busy server. The second reason is MOE themselves, and they had apologized for the slow connections. MOE should have expected much much more traffic to their website since the batch they are tackling are the dragon babies (dragon is an auspicious animal in Chinese mythology and thus a lot more people give birth at the year of the dragon), and they have forced everyone to registered online. They should have increase the capacity by 15 times instead of 5 times. The third reason belongs to us, the students. MOE had put up notices on it's website telling people to avoid peak hours like lunch and dinner time, yet people are still trying to register during peak hours and complain non-stop, with one even wrote her frustrations to the papers. Why can't these people follow what I did: Wake up 5am in the morning and send in my application. Just wake up around an hour earlier than you usually do when you go to school, is it really that hard?

Polytechnic: The new hell

Around 3 weeks after the posting exercise I went online to check what I got posted into (you can only check after 3 weeks), and I stared at my monitor in amazement. I got into Biomedical Engineering (BME) in Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) , which have a cut-off point of 13 last year. On the other hand, I failed to get into Biomedical Science, which had 17 cut-off point last year. It was only a few days ago which I realised that the cut-off point for BME had drop to 16 points, while the cut-off point for Biomedical had increase to 10. Biotechnology is even worse, you can only enter with 9 points. That explains why I cannot get into my firsrt few choices, but entered one which I try my luck by putting it.

NP is the only polytechnic which I think requires the students to go down and settle ALL the matriculation stuff there. Other polys had a mixture of online and offline, which I think will be more troublesome. NP is also one of the 2 polytechnic here which requires everyone to acquire a notebook computer (with the exception of people studying nursing, early childhood education, and hotriculture and landscape management). I suppose NP is also the only polytechnic which gives out a single volume of anime during it's orientation. I am so SO unlucky to get cartoon-like anime: Petite Princess Yucie. I heard they even gave G Gundam that day... I want that >.<  There is 1 more orientation, our own division orientation (BME is classified under the division of Electronic and Computer Engineering). What the second orientation bascially do is some ice-breaking, show you around the places you hang around mostly only (they should shown us the way around the whole polytechnic), and play some meaningless games.

The first week in polytechnic is... horrible. My first maths (EnGineering mathematics 1) lesson is already on functions, a topic in A-maths for O-level. Flipping through my EG1 notes and most of what I learn for Additional mathematics during secondary school are in it, and they have to finish it in 15 weeks! Imagine almost all the stuff I took 2 years to learn last time, and relearn it again in 15 weeks without having me mastering it. Not just this subject, my Physiological System covers around 70% of what I learn for Biology during secondary school. These is also subjects like Electrical Technology (which contains all the basics of electricity you need to know), Electronic Practical Skills (mainly on soldering and testing of circuits), and there is even this so-called Introduction to BioMedical Engineering (mainly all the medical instruments and medical terms. More to be discovered later). My polytechnic even have something call sports and wellness (a modified version of Physical Education), and Creative And Thinking Skills. It's already the third week and I have still yet to revise. There's more to come =X

Oh and this is my laptop's wallpaper =P