lightful

I've actually completed my first tutorial of the year and feel good about it. I've not gotten that feeling for a damn damn long time. Did it during work though.. hahaha..

numbers talk

Work has turned around this week. From nothing to do besides nodding off at my desk, till piles of documents for me to verify. The whole steam sterilization qualification project is like 1 mega physics lab, with tons of numbers and data to tabulate and try to make sense out of them. I'm not complaining. It's way better than idling. Time passes way faster this way and I actually feel useful. I get to tell lab analyst what to do!
But one thing I realized from this short 3 weeks. Nothing learned in school is important. All you need is to be a fast learner. I'm pretty sure that none of the engineers in my department actually apply any book knowledge. I'm not saying that this job is dull. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to learn alot. And I discover something new (nothing work related) about my supervisor everyday.

i must learn

Sometimes, I juz find it hard to contain my resentment towards certain people.

my supervisor is great

She wasn't in the mood to work and wanted to take urgent half day leave to slack at home. Instead of leaving me in the office to stone, she asked me to leave with her!

Her reason: Other people will dump work to me seeing that I've nothing to do and that's not in the scope of my attachment.

KEDS

Finally bought myself a pair of KEDS. Micha Barton juz makes it so attractive. She can wear them with almost anything and look good. And since I'm not tall like her, I don't really have the liberty of wearing flats but since the ladies at work are not tall either, it's more important to be comfortable with a little twist instead of boring lab shoes.

I'm a Baxter-ian

Yipee! I've finally received my staff pass. Now I can enter and exit the company like any other staff. It had been a rather boring week at work, mainly reading SOPs (standard operation procedures) and manuals. It doesn't help when my desk is located at a corner which allows me to secretly dose off. hahahaha.. At the same time, I'm kinda getting an idea of my job.

Department: Quality Management (renal)
Job Scope: Steam sterilization qualification, wireless temperature probes calibration, evaluation and testing of rejected products

beauty world cha cha cha

Beauty World Musical was great! The stage props and costumes were surprisingly good. And the lyrics and tunes of some sounds were hilarious. Very localize yet not Hokkienish. Finally a local production with a tinge of Cantonese.

office trival

1. I'm probably the lowest paid in the company. Even the cleaner earns more than me
2. My feet are so pixie that they have to custom-make plant/lab shoes for me
3. A plant operator earns a shocking $638 per month
4. My supervisor is a vegetarian and she used to be an IA student in Baxter
5. Singapore's tallest man (2.07m) works in the same department as me
6. The racial ratio is totally off

Ali and her durian cake

There's supposed to be 2 more invisible candles. Not young anymore. hahaha. Happy Birthday!

yummylicious

You don't need any reason to feast over good food. You juz need to be in the mood for it. hahahahaha

Maroon 5 and Queen in singapore

OMG! Maroon 5 is performing live in Singapore at the indoor stadium on 25 March for 1 night only and I've juz got my tickets. Bloody hell am I excited since this will be my first live pop concert. I can't believe how coincidental this is. Juz this afternoon, I casually asked Nithe if he would pay to attend Maroon 5's concert if they were to come to Singapore and when I was checking sistic for Queen Musical tickets, Maroon 5 popped up! It felt too right.

And I'll be going for Queen Musical on my birthday! I adore Queen and hope this musical will do justice to their songs. I remembered the Abba Musical I attended few years back was fantastic so really looking forward to this. And the great this is that I've managed to get Category 1 tickets ($140) at student price ($50). Queen fans, quickly grab those tickets!

local musicals

After hearing so much about local musicals, I'm finally doing my part to support the local arts scene. Will be catching both Beauty World and Dim Sum Dollies. I guess it will be different from brought in productions. The tickets ain't that expensive afterall.

i love hokkaido

To the land of endless snow, delicious food, impeccable cleanliness and tons of joy.

The food ate there were simply great. We ate renowned delicacies, traditional cuisine, to neighborhood eateries. With unlimited servings of hot pots, sukiyaki, ramen and fresh sashimi, no wonder everyone gained weight. The beauty in their food is more than it's taste but they take into consideration its aesthetics too. With fat evenly distributed, no wonder it melts in your mouth. It's like the only time where I actually enjoy eating fats.
Highlights: Japanese crab, toro sashimi (tuna belly) and kobe beef. Kobe cows drink beer, get massages, and are not allowed to run otherwise their meat won't be soft and tender.

Learning more about the Japanese culture, living the Japanese way (slept on tatamis). We went for onsen (hot springs) almost every night. We will change into our yukatas, strip naked and go for our public bath to scrub ourselves clean before dipping in the onsen. All you can bring in is a small towel which you can use to cover anywhere you wish (face, boobies or down under). It's quite an experience. Nithe loved it so much that he bathed 3-4 times daily! The hotels all provide good quality facial wash, soap, shampoo, treatment, body lotion, moisturizer etc. (Shiseido)
Highlight: Open onsen where the water is 40+ degrees, the surrounding temperature is sub zero, and snow falling gently on our shoulders.

Now to my absolute favorite part of the trip. SNOWBOARDING! The ski resort we went to was fabulous. One of the biggest and best in Hokkaido. Their equipment were top class and slopes piled up with sufficient snow for a comfortable fall. Nithe actually somersault and crashed into the trees alongside the slope. The snow was chest deep and he had to slowly crawl out on fours the army style. hilarious. After some warming up, we decided to attempt a higher, tougher, and steeper slope. OMG it was scary. It was over 700m above sea level. Parts of the slope were so steep that you can't see what's ahead until you are there. It was really a long way down but it was BEAUTIFUL. It's a pity we had so little time there. I'm gonna make sure my next trip will be a purely snowboarding trip and we can hit the slopes morning till night.

Of course a holiday isn't complete without some shopping. Seriously, Singaporeans can't survive without shopping. Every single site we visit, people are sure bound to buy stuffs. Unlike what people say, the stuffs there are not exorbitantly priced. It's more like comparable to Singapore or maybe slightly more expensive. Bought myself a pair of Rock and Republic and a pair of 7 for all mankind. Since Japanese are small sized, they do stock up on size 23 and 24. But for guys shoes, 10.5 is the largest they have. Even though Nithe is a giant, he has really small feet so he managed to buy Nike and Adidas shoes for a real good price. My mummy bought a coach which I'll probably use more than her. hahahah. Factory outlets no longer belong to USA. It has made its way to Japan.



Bought alot of Royce chocolate too! And apparently, Ishiya chocolate is a must buy in Hokkaido. People queue up daily for fresh chocolate and buy them in cartons.



Food on the other hand totally isn't cheap. People buy rockmelons and watermelons which cost over SG$70 to display at home as a symbol of wealth. It's supposedly specially cultivated to have symmetrical prints on its shell. We bought a box of strawberries from a local supermarket which cost SG$18 for 8 pieces.

Like Nithe said, there's nothing you can't do in Japan.

Liquan is

super pissed with herself for losing her less than 2 weeks old phone on a taxi on the way back from Changi Airport.