3rd Reservist

Just returned from my first 2 days of reservist.


Initially I wasn't sure what the plan for the 2 weeks of reservist would be like, the last 2 reservist I had gone through last year were all low key and we spend most of our time just waiting for things to happen, well, the first 2 days of this reservist was pretty much the same as the last 2 low keys I had done, except with the addition of live rangeon the morning of the next day, which was today.



Majority of us were called up about a few days prior to the start of the reservist by the camp to bring along the necessary equipment required for any range shoot, that includes the helmet and the vest as well as any other toiletries and change of clothes for the mandatory stay-in on the first night. Bringing the vest alone already takes up a considerable amount of space in my bag, so to add a helmet as well was as all the neccessary change of clothes, towel, toiletries and shoes was quite a hindrance.



When I reported to camp yesterday , I was expecting to see familiar faces, ICTs who had done their reservist with me the last 2 times should probably be in the same call up since we had done 2 ICTs together, unfortunately, there were a lot more new faces than old ones, many looked like they were in their late 30s and they had this air about them that just screamed lao jiao. Thankfully, I had one friend who was called up along with me, so we were pretty much stuck with each other due to our disinterest in socializing with anyone.



The first day was pretty much a re-familiarization of how to handle a weapon, a few lectures that no one could sit through without their soul leaving their body and a lot of waiting around for things to happen, as per usual.  During one of the lectures, we were told what we would be doing for the following two weeks and it was exactly what I had thought it would be, guard duty.



The second day was the day of the live shooting and everyone had to wake up at 5 am to draw their weapons, eat their breakfast and head for the bus that would bring us directly to the site. My friend and were able to avoid going for range because as it turns out, we were not properly trained to fire the older rifle, like most of the more senior ICTs, so we were able to exclude ourselves from waking up at that ungodly hour, that also meant that he and I had brought along our vest and helmet for nothing, but bringing the vest and helmet along for nothing is better than waking up at 5 am.



I woke up at around 9 am and pretty much spend the next 3 hours sitting around in the bunk doing absolutely nothing except surf the net on my phone, which got boring really quickly. We were supposed to meet up with the few other ICTs who also didn't go for the shoot at around 10 am, but they were no where to be found despite us waiting at the meet up point for 15 to 20 minutes, so we just went back to the bunk to wait because the weather is a bitch.



When everyone finally returned from the range, we had lunch and then more lectures, followed by some practical lessons on how to search a person, their car as well as what to do when faced with an intruder. The whole time I was just too hot and bothered to really care about anything expect to enter a room with the air-conditioned set to high or take a shower because holy fuck, it was so fucking humid and warm that my uniform was starting to get drenched in sweat despite me not actually being under the Sun.



And then came the time for the ICTs to get their Guard Duty scheduling and it was pretty much everything I had hopped wouldn't happen.


In the past,when I was an active solider, the ICTs were given 3 specific spots to do their guard duties, and these locations were always tucked away in very deep part of the camp where no one will be able to see them, this was so the higher ups and the general public wouldn't actually see them in all their "can't be fucked" glory, like majority of the ICTs have. But now, all that has change, now, the ICTs are now given the worst spots to do their duty, spots that were normally filled by the new batch of active soldiers who don't know that they are being taken advantage of by the older batches.



Having to do guard duty of any sorts for 6 hours at one go is already bad enough, but to have to do it constantly standing up in the sun, wearing a vest and holding a rifle, it just makes the whole experience extremely unpleasant, so to learn that I would be doing exactly that when I return back to camp on Monday, that is like the rotten maraschino cherry on top on a fecal sundae.



I don't have to do it just once like how I normally would as an active solider, oh no, as an ICT, I have to go through one 4 hour shift and two 6 hours shift as a standing sentry. It's really bullshit when I think about it, because the in-charge couldn't be bothered to spread out the duties for everyone evenly, some have to endure the elements while others just get to sit in the air-conditioned room.



This is only the first mount, I will still have another 2 more mounts to complete before the reservist is over and I really can't picture any of the other guys be willing to actually do the sentry duties after doing what they will be doing next Monday. The only things I can hope for now are....


1. I would be paired with an interesting active solider to talk to.

OR

2. The haze gets so bad the higher ups will have no choice but to make us do shorter 3 hours slots instead of 6 hours slots. I personally would prefer multiple 3 hours then a few 6 hours if I had to do sentry, and that was really what was implemented after I left, so I have no idea why now they reverted it back to 6 hours slot because that is extremely long, I really have no idea how I could have lasted that long last time in the past.

OR

3. It rains, like really heavily so the weather would at least be cooling. I have checked the weather forecast and it has predicted rain, so I hope it really does pour.



This are the only 3 possible scenarios that could happen and I really wish at least one of them would. Well I wish No.1 would happen because there's nothing worse than doing duty with another person who isn't interested in talking, I had to endure that once in the past and that six hours was probably the longest and dullest six hours I had to endure.





Had I actually have a real job outside, this would probably feel like a vacation, but right now, being the most useless and overpaid worker in my Dad's company, when people ask me what I am working as, I am always almost too ashamed to answer them.



The last interview I had gone for, not the one that I blogged about,  showed great prospects in terms of career advancement and sounded really promising, the interview had gone quite well and I was told to expect an answer by next week, which is this week, which is about to end soon, I still have no respond from that and that is really quite depressing. The admin lady told me to email her should I not receive any response within the next week,but I have gone through enough interviews to know that when I don't get any respond, it always means I didn't get the job., which I honestly saw coming when I realize how under-experienced I was after having worked for my Dad for almost 2 years and that is why, I have to really start looking for a real job soon before I become way too inexperienced for my pay grade.

Chun Cui He

I was able to get my hands on a few bottle of this Taiwanese drinks a few days ago when Pokemon Go was just released.

This product is known to have a relatively short shelf life but being the greedy little bugger that I was, I decided to go ahead and get 4 bottles, 2 Latte and 2 Milk Tea.


After searching high and low for this bottled drinks for what seemed like forever, actually finding them in the fridge of an inconspicuous 7-11 in the heartlands is like a sign from a higher power to just go crazy with the purchase.



6 was the maximum a single customer allowed to get by 7-11, so as to give others a chance to try the drinks, but whether or not that rule is actually implemented is a mystery to me.  Searching #chuncuihe on Instagram still yields multiple post of people buying this drinks in bulk, shamelessly showing off their greed like it was something to be proud of. I didn't want to become one of those people, so I only bought 4, enough to make the visit to 7-11 worth it, but not enough to actually become a typical kiasu Singaporean.


During the first few days of its' released, I would come across people on Facebook proudly showing off their stash of the drinks, they would post it on the 7-11 Facebook page, or the Supplier's Facebook page, showing off their purchases, and all I could think about when I see those post are what a bunch of selfish assholes. I mean getting 20 bottles to drink for yourself? Really? That's almost 5% of the entire stock gone, how do they even get 20 bottles from the fridge to the counter, make 4 trips back and forth and receive silent judgement from everyone else? I know I would be seriously judging the person if I actually saw them in action.


Anyways, I actually managed to get mine when the cashier was restocking the drinks, so it was just pure luck that I decided to drop by that particular 7-11 when I did. When the cashier saw my gleeful expression as I made my way towards the fridge, she knew what I wanted, she smiled back at me and flashed her huge...



Here's the verdict on the drinks.



I had the Latte first because it was supposedly the better flavor, I read about it online and it was allegedly better than the Milk Tea variant. I mean Chun Cui He is the name of the Latte drink, it's their signature drink, it had to be the first flavor I tried.... and it was such a huge disappointment.



It wasn't as if the coffee was sub-par, I have had sub par bottles of coffee drink before and I could always finish those if I wanted to, this coffee on the other hand was almost bordering on undrinkable. The best way I could describe the taste is like drinking liquid mud grounded with a hint of coffee and milk, it was bitter, it had a burnt aftertaste which oddly reminds me of homemade popcorn. It took me 2 days to finish a single bottle and I still have another unopened one in the fridge.




The Milk Tea was not as horrible as the Latte despite it not being the Signature drink, it tasted like Lipton Tea with Milk, that's essentially what it taste like, so I was able to enjoy it but I will not go out of my way to actually look for them again, it was alright, but I can get much better milk tea at Koi and Gong Cha, plus they were priced at $2.80 per bottle, that's pretty expensive... that's almost the same amount I was cheated off at Awfully Chocolate when I was suppose to get a discount for being a DBS Cardholder but the cashier forgot about it and charged me the regular price for a piece of Super Stacked Chocolate Cake.

First Job Interview Again

I have finally started sending out my resumes again.



Working at my Dad for almost 2 years has been a rather relaxing experience, in terms of job responsibilities, not much is expected from me and that has made me pretty much useless in all my computer software skills. I have improved a little bit, but considering the fact that I am suppose to have 2 years worth of experience as an Interior Designer on my resume, the standard of work at which I am currently churning does is clearly not cutting it.



I've had wanted to look for a proper job for a while now, after being delegated to doing administrative and accounts related errands, my exposure to anything even remotely related to designing has started to dwindle. I've not been doing any interior designing for the past 6 months now, probably even longer. Instead of working under my Dad, I'm now working under him and the accountant who has been shoving me with a lot of different responsibilities an accountant should be handling, like chasing for rental money, writing invoices for the tenants, filling up CPF forms, mailing out cheques to other companies for their services, depositing company cheques, I've essentially become an errand boy for the accountant.




What used to be a small favor I did to lessen the workload for the accountant, who would ask if I was free in the beginning to do those small favors for her, has now become full fledged responsibilities, she has stopped asking me if I am free to do those task for her, now, I have to free myself from any work to do those task for her.



So I've kinda had enough of that and think it's about time to start looking for a real job. I haven't had a real job since 2014 when I was working as a baker.



I've been sending out my resumes to probably 5 interior design firms and furniture store, so far only 2 design firm have gotten back to me, I've reapplied to IKEA again, but I highly doubt they would get back to me, the last time I applied to them, despite the automated email telling me that I would be sure to hear from them within 30 days, I got no response at all, couldn't even check on their website if their HR department saw my resume.



Anyways, I had my first interview today.I had came across the job listing a couple of times on Jobstreet and I found it to be a rather unappealing position. It was looking for designers with at least one year experience, but it wasn't offering a salary that commensurate with the listed experience needed. A quick search on the company's Facebook page showed nothing but works the company has done.



Normally when I visit an Interior Design Firms' Facebook page, I would be able to see pictures of their office, an album of their Grand Opening, maybe a few pictures of the staff having a party or just works of other designers in the company being shown on the Facebook page to assure potential customers that the company had a bunch of top quality designers, well, none of those pictures existed, all the works I saw were done by a single designer and that was it.



Since I had only receive one confirmation for a job interview out of the 4 companies I had applied for, I decided to just try my luck and apply for the position, and lo and behold, I receive a text message on the very same day from the boss, scheduling to do a casual interview with me the following day.



We met at the location as per discussed today, a cafe near his office, and even though he told me it was a casual interview, I still decided to at least wear a buttoned shirt and jeans, the boss on the other hand was casually dressed, in a white t-shirt and a pair of jeans.



The interview lasted for probably over an hour and during it, he was telling me what he expected of me should he choose to hire me, sharing with me about his work ethics and his past work experience. He then tells me he was a one man company, I was the first designer he was interviewing and the position he has listed on Jobstreet would be for the very first employee he has ever employed, as if that wasn't reassuring enough, I later find out that he used to run a restaurant in the past, less than a decade ago, that didn't do so well.



It is one thing to work in a different field to explore your career options, but to actually be a boss of a business in an entirely different industry, to actually invest money in a business and then fail at it, then come to the design industry, it's just feels extremely really fickle minded and unstable. Had he told me he has been working in the design industry consistently for 10 years and only decided to run his own company after gaining the necessary experience and clientele needed from his the firm he worked at previously, I would be more confident in his ability to run a successful company.




What he shared with me about his work ethics also didn't really help boost my confidence in him whatsoever....


"I want to stand out from the rest of the design firm in Singapore, I'm not someone who follows the latest design trend, I like to think creatively and out of the box."


That sounds like something an ambitious and naive individual would say, it's the kind of bullshit I would see on Job listings..



"We are looking for creative individuals who can think out of the box, you must have a flair for design and a keen eye for the latest trend. " - And its a position for a draftsmen, where you are not suppose to think out of the box, you are suppose to follow the instructions of the lead designer, you have to think in the lead designer's box, design as per instructed and the only time your keen eye is needed is to spot if the AutoCAD file is missing any annotations or measurements.



I showed the boss my works and he showed me his, I have seen them before on his Facebook, and I thought they were decent, that is partly why I decided to apply for the position. But when he started to describe how different his work was from other Interior Design firm, that was when I kinda just wanted to roll my eyes, the works were alright, they weren't different, if anything, they felt a bit bare.


He talked about how he was thinking out of the box when he decided to use wall cornices to create a frame on the wall to accent a wall hung TV console

Not his work, but the idea is the same. The framing of the TV Console area using Wall Cornices.
Think out of the box, by creating a box.

I thought that is what most designers would do to achieve that frame.



And then he showed me furniture he had designed himself, which once again were very conventional, designs that were similar to those I had seen on websites like HipVan or FortyTwo, designs that are currently in trend at the moment.



I mean he was really tooting his own horn over nothing, sure the designs were nice, but he made it sounds like it was something so amazing that no one had ever seen before, when in fact, they were all designs I had seen on Pinterest before. In fact, the Interior Design works from the design firm I used to work at are all a lot more beautiful than his.



He continued sharing the experiences he had handling projects with his clients in the past, how they all trusted him as an Interior Designer by giving him full reign of the design of their house, how he would only design things the way he want it to be designed and his clients design opinions mean nothing to him, if they were not please with his design, they could go find someone else.


He would scold his clients if they bought furniture that didn't fit with his design, he even told me his clients were actually scared of him when they bought furniture without consulting him first.



What the fuck?



He is actually scolding paying customers for having an opinion that differs from his, rejecting jobs if they didn't bend to his design will. I can only imagine what would he do to someone who was working for him, who has a different taste in design from him, is he going to start verbally abusing his workers for it, for having a bad taste in design because it isn't the same taste as his?




I will admit, I am not like him, I actually like to follow trends, that is why when I found a 7-11 stocking bottles of Chun Cui He Milk Tea and Latte, I went and bought 4 bottles of it, they were kinda average, totally not worth the hype, the Latte was especially gross, but that's besides the point. I enjoy browsing Pinterest to get inspired by the latest design trends, that's how one grows as a designer, to constantly be inspired by the design of others and it is also what made me legitimately interested in Interior Designing.



Thinking creatively on your own without allowing yourself to be inspired by the latest design trends will only get you so far, and it shows because all his works look very similar to one another and it doesn't help that most of his works are minimalist.




So getting me to start working under him is going to be extremely unlikely. He sounds like a nice guy, but during the interview, there were several qualities about him as a designer that I was very apprehensive about and I have a feeling if I started working for him, on top of a meager pay check, there might be a possibility of getting reprimanded for being a blind sheep and following the latest design trends.