Company Farewell Outing

Just reach home less than an hour ago. A long day indeed but very fulfilling. Despite being the last working day of the week, I was rather productive and managed to complete a few of my tasks for the day.

One of my colleagues is completing her intern and will be leaving the organization for school. Went for a celebration, oops, a farewell dinner, rather. We went Vivocity right after knocking off, and had dinner at Marche at the rooftop.

Anyway, we were rather fortunate to have arrived earlier because not long later a long queue was forming outside the restaurant. Had Swiss Rosti, and we went on to catch a movie - Invisible Target, also at Vivocity.

The movie was rather interesting. The effects and stunts were smooth and there were plenty of action, though the plot was slightly exaggerated. All in all it was a rather fun day.

Reminiscing NTU???!

Went back NTU right after work to return a programming reference book to Lee Wee Nam library. At the same time, I also cleared my outstanding fines since last semester. Had dinner over there to save some money.

Anyway, work is getting challenging. I'm still trying to figure out how to generate barcodes and incorporate them into my developing systems. Been playing with the barcode scanner for the whole afternoon, scanning everything that was pasted with a barcode.

Tentatively found one tuition "lobang". Had to go Popular read up syllabus since I had been away from non-tertiary schools for a long time. At the same time another colleague of mine is still helping me to source. I am really grateful for all the help rendered.

North Spine from outside LWN library

The famous Quad cafe in SBS building, with much better and more expensive food

Wow, finally got to go exercise later in the evening, after what seemed like a long intermission.....

I'm going broke!!!

Successfully moved into my newly rented Yishun flat around this noon. The moving process was smooth despite me having quite a substantial amount of stuffs. Luckily 2 of my friends turned up and provided assistance.

It was rather fortunate that the weather was fairly good. Received a funny email from Hall 11 office, stating that they will break down my room's lock and I will have to pay for the whole process if I do not return the keys by a specified time tomorrow. Wow, unbelievable indeed such a thing is happening here in NTU.

My wallet is now bleeding dry!! Paid another month's rent, purchased some new merchandise and the moving expenses. I still haven't pay my hand phone bills and my $7 per day fine for overstaying in Hall 11. Soon my account will be inactive.

Took a wrong bus service at Yishun interchange earlier on. Was supposed to take 812 but ended up taking 812E. Didn't realize there were actually 2 different queues, omg. Turned a big circle and returned to the interchange. Luckily the service did not terminate in a remote area.

I think it's time to look for some tuition "lobang"s.... Else definitely will be eating grass.

North, North, North I go

It had been a long day today. Feel sort of glad as I finally managed to settle my residence issue. I'll be moving to Yishun by the end of this weekend. No more "MRT Line is my second home", lolx...

I'm considered quite lucky to be able to find a place of residence in such a short span of time. Had been pro actively seeking agents' help these week, but efforts were futile. Met a property agent who rendered extremely good services today and charges low commission. They even recommended me a low-cost house mover. Anyone wishing to look for property agents here can contact me. However, I had to bear the stamp duty - $25.

My new place of residence is a mansionette not far away from Yishun MRT station. Got a big room to myself and best of all, I have access to the Internet. I also have my own personal bathroom!! Though that means I have to clean it myself. Although Yishun is not exactly central, the location is rather satisfactory in my opinion. Managed to dodge the sky-rocketing rents in areas like Bishan Toa Payoh by a little.

By the way the photo is a view from a corner of my 19th floor office in Tanjong Pagar.

This month my wallet will be burning! One word to sum up the expenses: Colossal!! Ohhh... when will my meager intern pay arrive? I'm going to be eating grass soon....

A New Week Started

The short-lived weekend has just ended and another week has begun. Time really flies.

Anyway, went with a friend to watch Harry Potter - The Order of The Phoenix at Plaza Singapura. Initially I wanted to watch Transformers, but my friend she had already watched it. Arrgs, I think I'll have to give Transformers a miss, sianz! The movie has really long conversations, not much of a thriller! Ate Japanese food for my lunch and dinner combined. Been some time since I had Japanese food.

Me and my yummy dinner at PS - chicken with cheese

Finally decided to purchase my train concession. Had been topping up my ez-Link rather constantly for the past week, so this month's expenses really burnt a deep hole in my pocket. Hopefully this will help alleviate my expenses as I use MRT rather often these days.

By the way, today is His Majesty's 61st Birthday - Selamat Hari Keputeraan Kebawah Duli Ke-61. Most probably there will be grand celebrations in the Sultanate, and I think tomorrow will be a public holiday in Brunei.

It's past midnight. Think I'd better go and sleep. Tomorrow is a long day ahead....

First Week into Attachment Period

Haven't been blogging actively since the last post was published. My IA had commenced since last Monday, and by the time I reached my room, I was extremely tired and it was rather late into the night and I had to wake up early the next morning.

Anyway, the working environment at WelchAllyn was rather pleasant. The company sponsored purchases for reference books and new stationery sets. The only grouses I have are the cold air conditioning and long commuting time from Boon Lay to Tanjong Pagar.

Service 199 really drive me up the wall. Its frequency was rather unpredictable and it rumbled along unhurriedly and happily get itself caught in morning traffic jam. Oh boy I sure am glad the jam had not reached a gridlocked state, but nonetheless it is not far from that level.

Thereafter, the incumbent driver, should I say, inflexible driver, will painstakingly take the longest route with plenty of junctions and traffic lights, giving us a tour of Jurong Point from all directions, when he/she can take a shortcut into the bus interchange. Moreover, there are no bus stops plying that route. Apart from wasting everyone's time and getting me late, I see no benefit of it taking this damn route!

I sure am glad I am gonna move out of hall soon. Boon Lay is really inaccessible in my opinion. Anyway my hall is chasing me out by end of next week, and rental rates has gone through the roof in most "prime" areas. Also, there seemed to be a shortage of rooms available for rent island-wide. I think I am gonna sleep under the MRT line soon if I still could not find any room to rent, haha.

Overspent this week. Had no choice but to splurge on my formal dressings, which I had seriously lacked. G2000 had 50% discount for all members, but sad to say I am not part of this group. Dressing down on Friday, and my Polo Ralph Lauren managed to pass off as a $200 authentic piece.

Been helping my uni friend with programming after work. I actually learned some new things this week, apart from C# and ASP.Net. I could still find time to exercise. Didn't know I could squeeze my time in this way.

Surprisingly none of my friends believe I would return to Brunei after few years, even after reading my previous post. Even got one friend come and challenge me that I won't be returning. Why huh?

A week later....

It has been a week since I returned to Singapore. Frankly speaking, I sort of regret returning here a week earlier than I am supposed to. By right I should have returned here by tomorrow night.

For the first time in 7 years, I badly miss my hometown and country. I have sort of made up my mind to return home in the very near future, but first I need to settle my DBS bank loan.

Second that, I need to save enough money to purchase a new car over there, preferably an SUV. Thank goodness Brunei had signed an FTA with Japan to lower Japanese car import tariffs, and currently for SGD40k or less, it is sufficient to purchase a brand new family car and some SUVs.

Didn't do much for this week. Went YCK Community Center twice for exercising sessions. Time seemed to be passing relatively slowly. Anyway, this Monday my attachment will commence. It's frustrating that my hall room lease will soon expire this month and I have to move pretty soon.

By the way, Brunei and Singapore had launched a new $20 polymer notes to celebrate 40 years of currency interchangability. It was especially hard to find the notes with His Majesty on the front side, as I had only seen it on TV.

Commemorative Notes (Front Side): Brunei Issue (Top), Singapore Issue (Bottom) Pics Courtesy of ranoadidas.com

Commemorative Notes - Both countries share a common design on the reverse side, with only differences in crests

Seemed like there is also a new $1000 note from Brunei. Didn't managed to see it in circulation though. (Note to GHOST : Gathering postponed to July 20th)

New $1000 notes courtesy of polymernotes.org

Back In the Island Republic

Finally I made it into Singapore just before midnight. I feel like dying, what an arduous journey! Really felt like I had a long unlucky day. Pardon for the blur picture on the left.

Hopped across the border from Brunei into Miri, Sarawak around noon. No queues. Shopped around Miri for a while and had a quick lunch before heading to Miri Airport. My luggage was overweight and luckily my mother found someone kind enough to share baggage allowance with me.

Brunei Border Control Post at Sungai Tujuh (border with Sarawak, Malaysia)

A typical Brunei Customs at Sungai Tujoh Control Post

Immigration Control Post, right after the Customs

Immigration Control at the Malaysian (Sarawak) border

ASEAN bridge, costs RM10 to pass through to go to Miri town

After I checked in and entered the departure lounge, an announcement was made that the flight to Johor Bahru would be delayed "due to technical problems". Some other flights were subsequently re-timed, but the flight to Johor Bahru was the worst. From 4pm it was re-timed to 7.15 pm.

My parents had already went off for a shopping spree in Miri town and thus I stayed at the airport for the next 3 and a half hours. Arrived at JB Airport after 9 pm. Jam at JB customs, so 170 bus frequency decreased. No wanting to fight for space with the crowds (as it was Sunday night there were so many returning commuters from JB) and trying not to incur midnight taxi surcharge, I walked across the causeway from Johor to Woodlands Checkpoint. Luckily it was a cool night.

Oh no, I am starting to miss Brunei! Haiz, I think I will work here to serve my bond and bank loan first, then probably when I have saved enough to buy a new car back home I'll return, lolx... I am slowly losing my Sagittarius traits, am I not?!