closure of the week

Sept 12, 2008: it's been almost 2 weeks since my last post and exactly 15 weeks since I started the job, and yeah, I still don't feel like staying more than 13 months in this company. Again and again, I started to think if this is what statisticians around the world may end up doing with only a Bachelor or a Master degree. Suddenly doing a PhD doesn't sound like an option to me anymore, it's a must, for my own sakes. During our last conversation over the phone, my mom asked me if I really get any valuable experience from this job. Sadly, I don't, I really don't. Anyway, "sadly" may not be the best way to express what I actually feel about it; I don't give it a shit, I don't even care if I should actually be getting any experience from this shitty job. What I do care about is: getting the money, reducing the god damn 87k LD and, at the same time, using this whole year to further learn german & spanish before I start my grad degree this time next year. As a matter of fact, the only experience I get from this job -besides experiencing paydays, of course- is to answer this kind of question: "How would you plan to spend time if you were to work so hard doing nothing?". I have to admit that I haven't actually found a good answer for this. All these weeks what I've been doing is simply spending time counting it down, from 10 am to 12 pm, from 1.30 pm to 7pm, which really SUCKS.


Anyway, I'd love to stop complaining but I just remember that there is this very irksome thing I have to bitch about here on my blog or else I may end up spitting on someone's face just to alleviate my anger. So, I left home at 8.40 this morning, thinking that it was good enough to catch the 8.50 bus. Gosh that was wrong. The god damn 188 bus had just passed right in front of my face. I wouldn't be that pissed off if the bus was full of people. Hell no, it was fuckin' empty. I did try to stay calm, telling myself that the 183 would come soon. It did come, it really did, with so many people it didn't even stop. Then came bus after bus, and after 6 or 7 buses I started to feel like going straight back home......arghhhh.....that was like 9.20, and I was still at the bus stop??? god damn it....I was thinking of taking a cab, but...shit, why would I? I'm not gonna spend 8-10 bucks taking a cab just to arrive on time. That wasn't my fault anyway; it was the god damn buses' faults, wasn't it? I ended up joining Ardi taking the bus 52 to Clementi to take 183 from there. Well guess what, 183 just left the time we alighted bus 52. So, to keep the story short, I reached NUS at 10 am (oh well, I could still say "good morning" to people, at least), just moments before it started to rain, very heavily. One of those days, huh??? One of those fuckin' days.


Well, back to my current not-so-well being. These few days I've been very voracious, spending way too much money for food. It's not that I don't know what's wrong, but to get over this problem seems not as easy as I thought it'd be. One good way I can think of right now is...buffet. Again? It hasn't even been a month since my last dimsum buffet, but I guess I really need one right now. Be it next week or the week after, I'm going to do it soon, just to reduce my severely huge appetite. So, should you be interested, just drop me a msg by next week. It's gonna be either sakae sushi or seoul garden this time.


As for my movie reviews, I watched 2 movies last Monday: Make It Happen & My Sassy Girl. The first one, unexpectedly, turned out gr8. It was a good movie and I like the plot way better than the corny My Sassy Girl. I don't know if it was just the Hollywood's version, but if the Korean version was as lame as the remake, I'd consider both total failures. Left on my gotta-watch list for this month are All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, Mamma Mia the Movie, Closing the Ring, My Bestfriend's Girl and Vicky Christina Barcelona.

Hmm...you know what, I guess I have to stop here for now. It's 6.07 pm and I wanna get off soon. So enjoy your weekend guys, but remember, Monday is only 3 days away =p

I wanted to break free, and I did

So today turned out great as it had been planned to be. I spent the morning playing badminton with my housemates, and I guess the last time I played it was like years ago....yeah it's really been ages since the last time I did some exercises, besides the NUS ISCF "Sehat Bersama" thing last week which turned out to be a rather "Nonton Bersama" event in the end.


After a grueling morning, I finally managed to enjoy the Yum Cha dimsum buffet which has been on my mind since months ago. You know, sometimes people are just way too hard to be asked to go out having buffet, but yeah Tricia & I are probably not among them=p. The buffet was ok. I mean it was just ok, the last time I had it with some other friends the food tasted better I guess, or maybe it's because I already had quite a lot of food this morning, including the durian mooncake which I knew shouldn't have been consumed prior to any kind of buffet. But again it wasn't disappointing, we had a lot of great meals, both steamed and fried, and yeah, the dessert was definitely tasty. I always love their mango pudding, which tastes really good, not to mention the very soft texture of the pudding.


Anyway, my Stress-Erholung didn't just stop there (of course it didn't!!). So I and another friend of mine went to see this movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Gosh that was one hell of a movie, it was really really great. We enjoyed it very, very much, and the good part is: we were not the only ones enjoying the show. The whole cinema was enjoying the movie, we laughed together like many, many times. I personally love the scene where Sarah Marshall and Peter were making love together in 2 different rooms, next to each other, the most. There was really something going on, wasn't there? Yeah, such a movie should definitely end with a happy ending, as I expected and demanded=p. So, for those of you who haven't been lucky enough getting a chance to watch it, it's highly recommended guys! It's a must for those of you who in particular enjoy such a drama show with sexual comedy kinda thing.


Anyway, I gotta go sleep, it's 12.52 AM right now and guess what, tomorrow is Thursday, which usually means nothing to me except for the fact that I have to be back at work (again...yeah, again!!!). So, this is it for now.....43 weeks and 2 days to go.....

My relationship with Statistics: a one night stand?

There are times when I feel like giving up, when even a complete assurance that I'll soon be able to leave sg and forget that such a place had ever been part of my life doesn't do much. Today was such a day. Gosh, I really don't have any idea why I have to go through all these. I've been drowning in this super wearisome, pathetic, mundane, crappy, and corny job for almost 3 months, but those 3 months really feel like ages. This week, in particular, has been extremely long for me. I have been trying to be positive, like constantly, telling myself that another 48 weeks won't be that long, that soon enough I won't have to come to sg ever again. But yeah, no such things works for me.


Indeed, I started to have this very important question regarding what I should do for a living in the future. A job like this, like what I've been doing, is definitely a big NO. I'm so not going to be in such a position for the rest of my life. Let us put aside the possibility of me becoming a renowned researcher or university professor, since I'm not even sure if I could really cope with the esoteric real analysis & probability theory in pursuing a PhD. A Master degree in Statistics, on the other hand, would only serve as a mean to get me to a similar sickening scenario, working in an office, being told of what people want me to do, being demanded to finish my work within a very unreasonable deadline.


I'd prolly have to make a huge decision pursuing a graduate degree in another field. The big question is again, what is it that I really want? Languages, yeah I love learning languages. But as far as I'm concerned, I'm only interested in learning new languages superficially, for the sake of being able to communicate with people from different countries, of traveling without needing a tour guide. Sounds cheesy, huh? I can't imagine myself studying literature, working on essays, analyzing phonetics and language acquisitions, etc.
Well then I guess I really have to find out what is best for me, which remains unknown to date. 48 weeks to go, and I hope I'll have gotten the answer by then.

congratulations?!?! you jackass

duh bete bete bete, as usual....td pagi gw untuk kesekian kaliny memulai aktifitas dgn keBTan. Bayangin aje, bgtu gw nyebrang jln, dgn suksesnya 1 bus 188 yg msh kosong lewat dpn muka gw. Trus gw pikir ok lah,abis ini naek 183 aje....tp sial seribu sial, 2 bus 183 yg dtg following the 188 penuh total,ga even brenti....sialan d tu 2 bus emg laknat abis, ga pernah ga penuh.....malesin banget ga seh,gw mo brgkt spagi apapun akhirny ttp nyampe kantor jem9.30....malah ampe NUS jg msh mesti nunggu bus C atau A2 lage....dan kesialan bnr2 numpuk krn si A2 jg sukses ninggalin gw.....arghhhhhh....
sampe di science tentuny gw makin kesel krn tu kantor sial seribu sial letaknya ad di atas gunung, which means gw mesti nanjak lagi.....gimana ga kurus nih badan tiap ari disiksa physically & mentally....kurus + darah tinggi deh gw
anyway, jem3 siang td gw akhirny ke ICA yg ga kalah sialannya....gw gatw org2 dsana tuh goblok tolol idiot apa kegatelan ngerjain orang laen,jelas2 tu PR prosesny konon 3-6 bln.....dan employment pass yg dikasih cuma valid 3 bulan....which means gw kudu bolak balik ngadepin tante2 girang yg super judez disana....sampe hari ini aj ud keitung 3kali gw dtg ksono....
(ganti inggris deh...malu gw indo gw dah ga berbentuk gini,ga jelas mesti taroh koma titik dimane)
and here comes the worst part: so I was waiting there for the EP, sitting nicely having a conversation with Liu Yang who was very unhappy waiting there since 10 am in the morning. We were talking abt how boring my job is, how pathetic it is to be held for even another year in sg, how all jobs statisticians may end up getting are similar and insipid, and so on, when suddenly one of the happy aunty (tante girang.red) called my name, looking if there was someone else called Haskell. The moment I told her that I was the one she had been looking for, she suddenly had this very funny expression and -well, I still can't believe this- she said, "Are you Haskell? Congratulations" *wink wink*. I, hypocritically, said, "Thanks, but may I know what this is regarding?". *tada...jeger lalala* "We are happy to tell you that your PR application has been approved", she replied, still with that funny face. She was prolly expecting me to behave the same way, showing such a stupid fake happiness, full of euphoria. I, on the other hand, being such a huge fan of leave-singapore-asap FC, was of course terrified. I didn't know if I had to feel sorry for her, to laugh, to cry, to smile, to be proud or to puke right at her face. When on earth have I ever expected to be a sg pr?? Had they asked me, I'd be very happy to let them know that it was such a decision Haskell would never ever do, should he not be in such a situation needing a job to "fulfill" the bond and at the same time the only interesting offer (which finally turned out being by no means interesting) he got was from a company requiring all of its employees to be at least a sg pr....haizz...
-I still wanna throw up, btw-
anyway, the good part of today is that I'm home....yayyyy that was like 5.30 pm when I reached home, realizing that even my roommate was not home yet. fyi, he might be the first to reach home everyday, I guess. Yeah, I'm happy to be home early but on the other hand, I have to be at work again tomorrow, which sounds like 14 hours away from now......sigh