Cheap Atas Meal

Met up a friend for lunch this afternoon and we had an affordable fine dining experience at Cathay.

Concetto by Saveur.

The restaurant wasn't as crowded as I had anticipated when we arrived at 1.30 pm , so we were ushered to our seats relatively quickly. My back was reeking from sweat at this point and I was really self conscious about it, but no one seemed to notice ,or maybe they just kept quiet about it and endured, but it stank, mixed with the deodorant I had sprayed liberally in the morning before I left the house, it was a confusing aroma.


We were presented with the menu and a tick sheet when we are seated. Decided we would go for the 3 Course Lunch Meal since it was only 20 bucks.


Everything was great, but there's a downside to the restaurant, and it's really just a minor issue because it's just this particular waiter who was waiting on us, it seems as though he was new and didn't really know how to do his job as a waiter, not that he was rude, but trying to get his attention was a bit ridiculous because he was standing literally 2 to 3 meters away from us, looking at our general direction, it took my friend 2 to 3 waves to get his attention as the waiter was just scanning the area. I mean even if you are not looking at us directly, your peripheral vision should be able to see something waving at you.



When we finally got his attention, we passed him our tick sheet, he lowered himself to take it and collect the menu, and normally at this point, a waiter would read out your orders to you to make sure he got the orders right, or in this case, we got our own orders right and did not tick the wrong items, this is practiced in Tim Ho Wan, at Hoshino Coffee, really anywhere that has a tick sheet, taking it and repeating our order to us verbally to confirm should really be automatic, but for some reason, my friend ended up being the one who had to literally point out our order on the tick sheet to the waiter and the waiter just stays in his lowered position, holding one end of the order sheet while my friend held the order end, and lets my friend do his job for him. It was so odd.



The first dish came.  I ordered a bowl of salad to aid in my bowel movement and my friend ordered the pasta.

Saveur Pasta. Garden? Salad

This was taken from my friend's phone, so it's from his point of view. 

Turns out there was a promotion going on that day that the waiter failed to inform us (really? it's not that hard to tell us that a promotion that was going to affect us was going on) when we were making our orders. Ordering 2 Three Course Meal  would entitle us to a free Pasta starter, that explains why they are 2 bowls of pasta instead of 1. It was a good thing I ordered the salad, otherwise we would be eating 3 bowls of pasta, and as delicious as the pasta was, 1 bowl really is enough for me.


This was only the starter, not even the main dish and it was quite good. Angel hair Pasta, dried shrimps, the yellowish white thing I assume is some sort of shredded seafood , prawn or fish I'm not really sure, but it was nice, the salad was a nice accidental side to the pasta because the pasta was a little on the drier side.

Duck Confit / Pork Belly?

I got the duck confit and my friend had the pork belly for the mains.  I like how they waited until I had finished the starter before serving the mains instead of just shoving them on our table on their own timing because I really took my time with the pasta.


The duck meat was quite nice, like pulled pork and the skin was a combination of crispy/chewy, it took me a few bites to actually break down the skin before I could swallow, and they served little tangerines on the side that were juicy and sweet. Mash potato was nice and silky, soft and not lumpy, with some mushrooms at the side. I'm not a fan of mushrooms, so it was aight. My friend's soft boiled egg looked really good though.

Creme Brulee

For our final course, we had Creme Brulee, I thought it was Nutella at first because of how brown it looked, turns out it was coffee creme brulee. Made with real coffee and not the paste because I could taste the bitterness of the coffee. I still prefer Vanilla Creme Brulee, or White Chocolate, not a huge fan of coffee.



Overall, it was actually quite a good meal, really enjoyed it, and only $20++, it was a great value for money



After our lunch, we headed to Westgate to meet up with another friend over cakes at Lady M.


I love having meet ups over cakes, I don't think I have ever had a meet up with friends over cake before.


We ordered 2 cakes and 3 cups of Ice Earl Grey tea, the cakes cost about $9 each, a price I'm accustomed to seeing how I've been patronizing their store relatively often. The Eary Grey Tea on the other hand was insane, $6 a cup, literally just Earl Grey Tea in a cup of ice, that's not worth $6, not even close, it was ridiculously expensive, but we got it anyway because that was the least expensive drink on the menu.


In the end, the cost of the cakes and drinks were almost on par with the 3 Course Meal I had at Concetto.


Cake Pop Rant

Prior to meeting my friend, I actually paid a visit to Cold Storage to get some baking supplies for my Cake Pop experiment. White Chocolate Bar, Dark Chocolate Bar and Heavy Cream. My brother had requested I make some cake pops for his friend, so I decided to do a test run to see how the batch would go.


I've only ever made Cake Pop once or twice and that was more than a year ago, it was alright, but it wasn't perfect, I hated making it because I didn't have a microwave and had to melt my chocolates over a double boiler. Fast forward to today, I still don't have a microwave and have to melt my chocolates over a double boiler.




It's just a very tedious process, it's alright for a bakery because they have cake scraps all the time and have access to huge amounts of chocolates and I don't.



I had actually made a batch last night and it went horribly, just making the cake pop dough itself was a disaster because I didn't actually have a proper recipe to follow, the one I followed a year back was from the bakery I worked at. I have completely forgotten the cake to chocolate ratio, and winging it didn't work. Threw the whole batch I made yesterday, that included a packet of Lindt chocolate I had melted down to make the dough.



Decided to use the ingredients I bought today and follow a recipe online, instead of using pure chocolate, I decided to make a ganache, since the problem I had last night was too dry of a cake pop dough. So I made my chocolate gananche, baked my chocolate cake and proceeded to roll the balls, STILL it was too dry and the balls started falling apart when I rolled them. I went on to make a smaller batch of ganache and at first I thought that did the trick, but soon the balls starting to show cracks, decided since they were already round, might as well just freeze them and dip them in chocolate.



So I took my bar of white chocolate, Nestle White Chocolate Bar that was recommended by the Youtuber whose cake pop recipes I was following, and started melting it over the double boiler.

10 fucking dollars.

According to the Youtuber, the chocolate bar supposedly melts smoothly. It didn't, the fucking bar just became a soft lump of chocolate, it didn't became a nice pour able/dipping consistency at all , it had the same consistency as soften butter, how the fuck am I suppose to dip my cake pops in that kind of consistency. Thought since I was already at it, might as well add a bit of vegetable oil to loosen the chocolate up, and it did get softer but before it could fully soften into the proper consistency, I notice the spatula that I had been using to stir the chocolate over the double boiler was missing a chunk of plastic.




I lost my fucking spatula because it fucking melted into the white chocolate mixture, literally a chunk of it disappeared as I was stirring the white chocolate with a little vegetable oil to thin it out. I actually took it out and stared at it for a few seconds in disbelief.


The last time I melted my spatula, it happened because the spatula was non-heat resistant and I was making caramel, which got up to 200 degree Celsius, that was understandable, I was an idiot and should have known better. This on the other hand is just fucking white chocolate melted over a double boiler, it's not even in direct contact with the pot of boiling water and it actually melted into the white chocolate mixture, what the actual fuck.



Had to throw the whole batch of white chocolate away. it's so fucking stupid because I already had a packet of white chocolate that gave me the exact same results, both are compound chocolates, that I tried melting before and failed,  I thought maybe since the Youtuber said the particular brand will melt nicely, it will melt nicely, which was why  I bought it, but in the end I got the same results as the chocolate I already had in the fridge, with an extra ingredient of melted plastic thrown into the mix.


So that Youtuber has lost all credibility to me. Her recipes for cake pops don't work, her recommendations for chocolates doesn't work and because of her, I wasted so much money buying unnecessary bars of chocolate and managed to melt my spatula in the process.


Update: 
Reduced the cake crumbs by half and used the same amount of ganche.
Cake Pop dough worked.

Chocolate was still a fucking bitch, luckily I got my hands on a tub of shortening and managed to thin the chocolate out, but it was still a horrible process. Made 12 Cake Pop, only successfully coated 6, the other half fall off the stick mid dip.


Used Wilton Candy Melts first, that was wayyyy too thick, even with shortening, so this is the last time I will be buying Candy Melts, another product that's a waste of money. Gonna just stick with White Chocolate.


Update 2. 

Didn't take a picture, but managed to make another successful batch which will be given to my brother's friend.  Used white chocolate this time for the coating and it worked, the cake pop dough was a little on the oily side but it was able to keep it's shape.


There isn't any odd shortening taste to the chocolate like the previous batch because none was added. It was able to set relatively well and it taste alright, not amazing but way better than the last few batches.



This is the last time I'm going to take request for cake pops.

RT 8th Session

After 8 RT sessions, I've finally managed to clear my IPPT window for this year, good thing as well because if I had been unable to pass my RT IPPT session, the next one would be cutting really close to my window closing period.


Normally I would have my RT sessions booked on a Sunday morning because I guess no one really likes going to RT on Sundays, Sunday sessions are always relatively empty compared to the first weekday session I had attended 2 months or so back, the camp that's hosting the RT would normally have to reduce the range of exercise activities they normally have to offer on Sundays because there's just not enough people who are interested to play games (orange tag) or do metabolic exercises (blue tag)... the latter obviously needs to be removed because no one likes doing metabolic exercises and there is not enough people during the Sunday sessions who are dumb enough to get tricked into picking that like I was on the first day.



Sadly, no test sessions were available on Sundays, so I had to settle for a Saturday time slot, decided since I wanted to avoid a crowd, I should take the least favorable timing possible, and so I did, at 4.30 pm, I think that timing is bad enough to discourage others from actually booking a session because, well, it's too fucking hot to be doing any physical activities at 4.30 pm.



Place was still crowded as fuck when I got there at 4.30 pm, guess no one shared the same sentiments as I did because it was packed, queues were forming at the counter like I've never seen before during my Sunday sessions. But since I was going for my RT IPPT, that queue that I saw as I was walking in wasn't the one I had to join, that was the queue for regular RT sessions, I was there for my RT IPPT, so it's a different queue, its the queue I have to join after everyone in the regular RT session collects their tags and go off to do their training.




Once I had collected my tag, everyone who was having their RT IPPT session were quickly briefed on the standards we had to achieve for each station, after which we did a few warm ups and were send off to join the queues to start doing our test.


Decided since the Push Up station had an insane number of people waiting, I should go for my Sit Up first because it had fewer people. It was really daunting before it was my turn because the guy that was in front me was not doing the standard sit ups, and it so happens a few seconds after he had started, a training instructor decided to walk by just out of boredom probably and monitor his performance, his comments were mostly....

"No count! cup your ears sir"

"No count!"

"No count!"

Which sucks because the other instructor who was present said nothing and then suddenly, BAM, no count to you sir, and to make things worst for the guy, during the last 10 seconds or so, his leg strap suddenly just came loose and he ended up finishing his sit up session prematurely. Talk about bad luck, luckily when it was my turn, the instructor decided to just go else where after he helped me fix the leg straps.



I was able to do 48 for my turn, which was great, that's 8 more than I had targeted, this meant I could score slightly lesser for my push ups and thank gawd I did.


By the time I was done with my sit up, I was pretty much exhausted from doing 48 in 1 minute, I've never done that many in a minute before, so I was huffing as I dragged myself to the Push Up station. The queue was still really long, and I remember being glad that it was, because the waiting would be able to give me some time to rest and restore my energy, but after the first 5 minutes, all that gladness went away and I just wanted to quickly get this push ups over and done with.


During my wait, I remember seeing this one guy who got really impatient when the instructor kept telling him "no count" because his hips wasn't coming up with his chest, and I could see that he was doing a slight gyrating movement as he was doing the push up, the guy didn't know he was doing as such and started getting really pissy.

Guy : "I am doing the proper push ups!"

Instructor : "Your hips are not coming up the same time as your chest sir."

Guy : "It is! I am doing the proper push ups!"

*instructor proceeds to demonstrate how the guy was doing his push ups*

Guy: "That's not what I am doing!"

*instructor proceeds to demonstrate his mistakes again, at the same time telling him he is doing exactly that.

Guy : "That's not what I did, I am doing a proper push ups."

The tone he was using sounds like the kind of tone a brat would use when he or she wants a toy but the parents say no, and they wouldn't accept no for an answer so they just keep repeating themselves until the parents eventually get it for them or just smack them senseless, I actually thought at one point, one of the instructor would go up to him and just scream at his face and just ask him to fuck off,  sadly I never got to have the satisfaction of seeing him getting reprimanded, he was just send to another instructor, the one who helped me with the leg strap back at the sit up station, to learn the ways of a proper push ups.


I mean if the instructor says no count, accept it and move on, it's not like the instructor was purposely trying to be a dick, he was actually really patient with the guy, who was wasting everyone's time by trying to justify his floor hump as a proper push ups. I mean it's technically considered a push ups, but it's just not the standard we need to achieve, so just shut up and move on.



So my turn finally came after waiting for probably 15 minutes and I started off as the assistant, this was completely unplanned but I actually managed to get myself someone who was on the heavier side as my assistant, which is fucking awesome because that meant his hands are slightly chubbier than a normal person, which means I don't have to go as low as everyone else, or so I thought.



When my assistant went first, I decided I wanted to give him a bit of help and maybe put my fist slightly higher so he wouldn't have to go too low, just give him a little boost and help him a little, since he will be helping me later as well, unbeknownst to him.



The chap couldn't even do one, he gave up right after going half way down and got a no count, so we swapped and I laid on the rubber mat as I waited for everyone to end their turn. My turn finally starts and when prompted to start, I started off slow and steady before increasing the speed a little to gain some momentum, the guys' hand did nothing, I mean he's chubby but he's not insanely obese, so really there wasn't any difference, I was still doing the regular push ups like everyone else, and then I hear the instructor who was overlooking my push ups going...

"Your hips are not coming up, so no count, your hip must come up as well."

I had no idea the whole time I was training for my push ups, my hip wasn't coming up together with my chest. I was in the same exact situation as the other guy, same instructor as well. I quickly readjusted my body and continued, and for a while I did proper ones, albeit in a relatively odd position, I felt like I was pushing my butt way to high to compensate for the lack of hip movement, then the instructor started repeating himself.

"Your hips are not coming up."

"No count, your hip must come up"

At one point I looked at the instructor while I did my push ups to see if he would correct me, it was at that moment I understood what the other guy was feeling, but I didn't have a mini fit right after.


Technically I did 45 push ups, I had 7 no counts, so in the end, my total was 38 push ups, which is 2 push up short off my target, but luckily my sit ups was able to compensate for that. To think I actually train my push ups more regularly than my sit ups.



The last station was 2.4 km run. I have no confidence in this run because I've never really train for it except for the weekly RT sessions I have been attending, that's 1 run every week, that's not enough to actually improve my stamina. The best result I had achieved during the RT session was 15 minutes, just enough to get a decent amount of points to add to my static stations so I could pass.


The last time I did my IPPT  (5 station system) with my friend, I made the mistake of taking the 2.4 km run right after I did my shuttle run, twice, both runs were horrible disasters. I should've joined the next run but I didn't want my friend to end up waiting with me for 15 minutes till I was able to catch my breath, so I decided it would be fine, big mistake because I was exhausted from the first round, and the next 5 were torturous because I didn't actually stop but kept running, it was so stupid because I ended up failing with 13 minutes anyway.


So I was quite hesitant when I headed to the 2.4 km station after my push up station and found out the next group would start in the next 3 to 4 minutes. I thought maybe I should rest first before I actually go and run 6 rounds around the car park, but then after realizing  I had a reunion dinner to attend afterwards,which I was already late for, decided to fuck it and just get it over and done with.



The instructor always say the last round is the  most mind fuck round in the 2.4 km run because that would be when you would have the least energy and be the most tempted to stop, well that's not true in my case.


The first round is alright because I still have energy to run, not as much as I would like to thanks to the push ups, but normally I would be quite comfortable on my first round.


The second round gets a bit harder, but I'm still breathing normally, I can still maintain my facial expressions.


The third round is when the mind fucking starts, I'm running out of energy but I'm not even halfway done, literally estimating the amount of energy I have lost from simply running 3 rounds, and then thinking of the next 3 rounds I have to run with the energy I have left, that always doesn't feel like it's enough. The biggest mind fuck is simply knowing I still have to run another 3 rounds.



The fourth round is when I'm breathing very heavily, on the verge of wheezing, energy is starting to drain and the unfit people who are running along are starting to stop and walk. Temptation is strong in this round. My facial expression look like someone just shoved a cucumber up my ass.



The fifth round is when the positivity starts coming in. After this round, just one more round and I'm done. At this point, I'm blocking out everyone and just staring straight ahead, I'm not trying to synchronize with anyone because synchronizing with them is just going to fuck me over. The cucumber is still being shoved up my ass in terms of my facial expression.



The sixth round is the round where I think I will sprint, I always think I have the energy left to sprint, but I just don't have any. I'm exhausted and I'm sure if I stopped now, my vision will just turn white. But this is the last round, and it's the best round to be honest, there's no mind fuck here, I'm just done.



Shockingly, I was able to get a 12.50 minute timing for my 2.4 km, 10 seconds faster than the last time I went for a proper IPPT and slightly over 2 minutes faster than my last RT run.

Total points I scored  >  72 Points

That's a pass with incentive, I'm not sure if I will actually get the incentive, it's written on the paper that "Payment will be made thru you bank a/c" but I'm not sure. It would be great if I do get the incentive, I can get a microwave with the $200 so I no longer have to melt my chocolates with a double boiler.

So Hurrah to clearing my RT window just a month shy away from getting charged. I have to admit, I actually enjoy the RT sessions.



On to things I've baked.

Lemon Butter Cake as per requested by my Mum.

I don't like making butter cake because I always get this dense almost gelatinous layer at the bottom of the cake, which not only doesn't taste good, but is just ugly as fuck.  The cake is also not standing straight because something fucked up on the inside. It is still a butter cake, but it's an ugly butter cake, a recipe I won't be replicating any time soon, or ever again.

A second cake was given to the neighbor because they gave us free eggs, not too shabby of a deal except for the part where the cake is a bit shit. So much good butter wasted.

Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I was able to tweak the existing vanilla cake recipe I had with a Cupcake Jemma banana cake recipe, added a few personal touches and viola, a moist and fluffy banana cake that's very sweet from the over ripe bananas that I kept and had to make sure the maid wouldn't throw away, she threw away a few once, I was not pleased with her actions.

The second cake was given away to my Aunt because I made too much.

S'mores Brownies baked for my Sister's friend.

Biscuit base, chocolate brownie, torched vanilla meringue. What's missing is a drizzling of chocolate. It's not as sweet as I like it to be, but my sister's friend found it to be just right. Singaporeans and their inability to enjoy sweet stuff. 

I bake for my Mum and Sister's friends more than I bake for my own. What a great way to try and start an online baking business, I'm an idiot. Now I've deactivated the Instagram page because it's just starting to get a bit embarrassing.

Remedial Training Again

Had my second RT session on Sunday and this time, I knew what color band I wanted, even went a bit early so it wouldn't go "out of stock", it didn't go out of stock and I was too early. turns out reporting "at least 15 minutes early" for an ICT in the order isn't so much an order, just a suggestion.



When I reached the camp, the earlier session had just finished and the last few guys from that session were just making their way out, most looking relatively dry but some looked like they would stink if enough time were given for their sweat to dry, an assumption I reached when I saw that their t-shirt collars were a shade darker than the rest of their clothes.




I wasn't the frist to reach the camp, there were a few other guys just sitting around, but luckily for me, the moment I reached was the moment the counter opened up for registration, so I just joined the queue, had my temperature taken and registered myself, this time knowing what color tag I wanted.




Got my red tag, placed my bag in the lockers, made sure to remember the locker number and set my passcode. I actually took the same locker as I did the last time I went for my RT, my bag probably felt right at home, snuggled up in that same locker it was stuck in 5 days prior.





Waited at the waiting area for about 5 to 10 minutes and my colour tag was called. I was actually quite shock when I realized there were only 5 of us who took the red colour tag, I thought it would be a popular choice but apparently, people were more interested in training up their static stations than in their running. So the five of us followed the instructor into the 2.4km station and we waited as more started coming in, I think by the time we hit around 10 people, the instructor was more than ready to begin and we started doing our warm-ups.



When we completed our warm-up, people were still coming in, so much for me coming early to get a red tag, and I'm sure those guys who came in after the warm up didn't "report at least 15 minutes earlier", they probably reported 15 minutes later.



We did a total of 4 rounds of 400 m in the first part of the exercise, which was surprisingly not too physically demanding for me, the usual blacking out did not happen, it always happens when I start running after taking a very long hiatus from running, and I wasn't catching my breath dramatically when I completed the first 1.6 km, it was exhausting for sure, but I was still able to maintain my expression and not look like I'm hyperventilating.




And then we were asked to run another 3 rounds, or so I thought. I started off at a comfortable pace for the second part of the run, making sure to maintain my speed during the first round so I would have enough energy for the second round and then just burst for the final round. As I was completing my first round, I realize those who were running in front of me exiting off the running track after the first run,which was extremely confusing. Turns out we only had to do 1 round, take a 5 minute break, and then do the 2nd round, followed by another 5 minute break before we do the final round.



I started at the back of the group for the 2nd round and was told by the instructor to...

"Use your long legs to run."

So I double-checked with him if we only had to run a single round, and when he gave me a nod, I sprint the remaining distance. It was very satisfying to overtake almost everyone, but at that same time, I felt like an asshole who's trying to show off , which was horrible, and I really had nothing to show off for because by the time we had to do the final round, I was all out of energy and was back to my normal running speed, the instructor from earlier told me to give it my all and I gave it my all.... during my second round. It's so stupid, I should have sprinted at the last round instead of showing off at the wrong timing, what an idiot.



When we were done with the running portion, there was an upper body strength training, it was very similar to my first RT experience, without the medicine ball and kettlebell weights, but with the added exhaustion from the combined 2.4km run. Push Ups and Crunches were done in an attempt by the training instructor to give us a well rounded body exercise, which was very different from the last instructor who just wanted everything to be done quickly and efficiently.



Compared to the run, the upper body strength training was relatively simple and after 10 minutes of repeated push ups and crunches, we did our cool down and went our desperate ways. I made sure to take a quick shower before leaving because I was drenched in sweat, it's been a while since I've gotten so sweaty so it was a nice feeling.



When I left the camp and was walking towards the bus stop, I actually saw my bus arriving at the stop and normally, if I am walking towards the bus and facing the bus driver, I would make a run for it, if the driver isn't an asshole, he would wait for me, but I was so exhausted from the running I just didn't feel like running after it, even though it was probably just 20 to 30 meters in front of me.




It's ridiculous how lazy I was at that time because the next bus would only arrive in 18 minutes. I did not wait 18 whole minutes for the next bus and took another one instead, only to realize it turns the wrong way 3 stops later. What would have been a quick 15 to 20 minutes ride home had I just decided to make a run for the first bus ended up taking me close to an hour.




As of right now, my legs are still sore, in a good way, my stomach is sore, in a good way as well, except when I have to sneeze, that's when it hurts, and I am going to take that soreness as a valid reason to let my muscles recuperate and take my next RT session next Sunday instead of booking one of the weekdays slot.



I'm just actually enjoying my remedial training oddly enough because it gives me a valid reason to actually go and exercise, not that I would be okay with squeezing in 20 sessions within the next 3 months before my window closes, but it feels good to not be living life like a complete couch potato.

Job Interview and Remedial Training

Had a job interview today at Samsung and that was quite an experience. Not to say it was bad like my last few job interview experiences, thus me working at my Dad, but it wasn't very good.



I arrived at the Samsung business building on time but reached the office a little late because of some wrong turns and a very disinterested security guard who was taking forever to verify every visitor's pass. If I could describe his movements, it would be akin to that of a sloth, really really slow, no sense of urgency, he looked like he couldn't be fuck about anything, but he wasn't rude, which was an odd combination with the perpetual look of depression on his face he seemed to be born with.



I was about 5 minutes late when I finally reached the correct Samsung office, because there are multiple offices belonging to Samsung scattered throughout the building, it's all very confusing, and was greeted by my recruiter, who talked me though very briefly what I questions I should expect and what questions I should ask as he leads me to the meeting room and leaves me there.



And left me there he did, I was waiting in the meeting room for quite a while, an hour to be precise, he would call and check up on me every now and then to apologize on behalf of the interviewer who was stuck in a meeting and try to keep me updated about the situation.



Finally the interviewer arrives and by the time he came in and introduced himself to me, panting from running to the meeting room and apologizing for being so late, all the nerves I had an hour ago had already dissipated and was replace by this growling from my stomach, which was extremely awkward.



I did a quick introduction of myself and showed him my meager portfolio, it wasn't very impressive because most of my works were in my laptop, which I had brought along but was too lazy to take out and put on display for him to see. After an hour of wait, I just really didn't feel like doing anything, not out of annoyance but just from sheer laziness, not that it really mattered because he still went ahead and ask me legitimate "do you want the job" questions to gauge how interested I was in the position.



He went on to describe the position to me, what the responsibilities are and what kind of work environment Samsung would be like. I have to admit, after learning what the job really is about, I was very underwhelmed, it was a very specific job scope that focuses on a single range of product, the flat screen display sets.


To liaise with clients and come up with space planning ideas on where to install the flat screen displays in their existing offices or shops or where ever they needed the display sets to be, that's it. There's no actual space planning of where the furniture should be placed, what colors should the walls be, the flow of the space, none of that, just where is the best place to install the flat screen displays in a commercial space, that's it.



But to offset that underwhelming job scope, there's an overwhelming sense of responsibility that comes with it. Turns out in Samsung, there's only one such position, that means all related projects will be handled by that one designer, there won't be a second designer to balance out the workload should ION Orchard decide they want to install 400 flat screen display sets all across the shopping mall and Takashimaya decide they want to hang 500 flat screen display sets on the ceiling at the same time. One designer handling all the projects sounds a bit much, it just reminds me of the days working in the restaurant where I quickly overwhelmed by orders because I was the only pastry cook or back at the bakery when I had to handle all the baking on my own.




When I realized what I was about to get myself into, I became really unsure of the position. I was very happy when Samsung suddenly sent me an email out of the blue asking me to head down to their office for a job interview, and even now I think that working in Samsung would be a great opportunity, but the main thing I am worried about is the job scope and the scale of responsibility.



Before the interview ended, I was asked by the interviewer if I was willing to learn, to which I replied I was, but when asked if I was interested in the position, I actually told him I had to think about it first because it was not at all what I had expected it to be. I relayed the exact same message to the recruiter after the interviewer completed the interview and I think I have basically just kick myself off their list of potential candidate. I'm sure I'm just one of the many dozen other candidates they invited for the interview and I'm probably the only one who had to "think about it", so unless Samsung likes their interviewees to play hard to get, I'm pretty sure I won't be invited for a second round interview with their hiring director, although that would be a pleasant surprise.



There were moments of awkward silences in between the interview that I quickly filled with redundant questions lest my stomach started to growl,that was both embarrassing and stressful at the same time.

Decided to take-away French Onion Soup from Soup Spoon and this weird Chinese Rice Dumpling thing for lunch at the nearby shopping mall and made my way home thereafter via the bus with the shorter route, it was so much faster.

------------------

Another thing I did today was going for my first Remedial Training.


Decided since I had an interview in the morning, I might as well take a day off from work and try and clear up this burden as quickly as I could.


There isn't really much information online about how RTs are planned or what actually happens during RT, I've gone for RTs in the past during my BMT days, but I'm an ICT now and I was pretty sure the system would be very different now, especially so with the new revised stations, and since I couldn't get any info about it online,  I had to find it out first hand.



Turns out the way RT is organised quite similar to IPT, another type training ICTs can go for should they opt not to take their IPPT because take also fail. IPT is similar to RT except one only has to go for 10 sessions to clear their window for the year rather than 20 sessions of RT. I was too lazy during my IPPT window to do that, so now I have to pay the consequences with 20 RTs.



I reached the camp pretty much on time, got through security check and went straight to join the queue to register myself, I have gone to Maju for my IPPT many months back with a friend before, I was the weaker species and he managed to pass his, that's why I'm going through this ordeal alone, but I roughly knew how the registration would go and where I had to go, what I didn't know though was how the RT sessions was going to work.



When it was my turn to register, I passed the counter person my NRIC, he proceeds to scan it into the system and then ask me....

"Which colour tag?"

Being my first time going through this brand new ICT RT, I didn't really understood what he was asking, and he doesn't even bother to explain to me what he meant, so he just passes me a tag from color that still had the most available and send me on my way.

Before heading out to the area where everyone was waiting, I went to put my bag in the locker, found an opened one and stash all my items in, my wallet, my phone and my bag, set the combination and walked out to wait with everyone else.

After a few minutes of just standing around, I realized I don't actually know what my locker number was, I was such a fucking idiot because I was so busy trying to get the combination right I completely ignored the locker number. I quickly went back to the locker and kinda just stared at the wall of lockers, hoping one of them will click with me, I knew it was in one of the lockers that was at my eye level, but I didn't know which one it was exactly, so I just randomly went up to one and dialed in my combination and lo and behold, I managed to find my locker on the first try, upon finding my locker, I proceeded to closed the locker again and made sure to remember the locker number before heading back out to the waiting area.

I had thought the tags were to categorize us by age because the counter guy had just nonchalantly passed me my tag after looking at my IC, but that wasn't the case because guys who looked my age weren't ALL carrying the same coloured tags as me and older looking guys who were definitely not my age were wearing the same coloured tags as I was.

One by one, the instructors starting calling out the coloured tags and one by one, the waiting area started to clear up. Finally my colour tag was called and we were instructed to head to the equipment room to take a medicine ball and a kettle bell weight.

As I exited the equipemnt shed, I noticed, glued to the the window of the registration counter I was at earlier is a piece of paper with 5 horizontal bars of different colors printed on it, Red, Blue, Yellow, Green and Orange. Upon closer inspection, I quickly realized it was the different training option that were available for us to choose, and the colour tag I had been given was the training type I was avoiding.

I had read about the new IPT system on the internet and I knew of the different training that were being offered for IPT takers, I just didn't know at that time that RT would be the same, but what I knew was that out of all the different training they offered, the one that I definitely didn't want to be in was the metabolic training because I wanted to train on my running, not on my strength and endurance, I don't need those, I'm not a tank trying to absorb hits for my team mates in an MMO, I'm just a NSMen who wants to clear his IPPT so he doesn't have to go for 20 sessions of RT.



The colours of the tags and their respective training are as follow...

Red - Running (What I wanted and needed)

Blue - Power and Endurance Training (What I didn't want and need at all)

Yellow - Push Up and Sit Ups (Not necessary for me)

Green - Weight Loss (I don't think RT has this option but IPT has and I don't have any weight that needs losing)

Orange - Sports Games (I don't play sports and I don't intend to start anytime soon)

Out of all the tags I could have been given, the guy manages to pass me the one I wanted the least, the blue one.

When I realize what I had just sign myself up for, or what the guy had signed me up for, it was just an immediate rush of sianess.

Before we actually started, the instructor actually told us that the blue tag was the least popular out of all the other tags, and when asked who were the first timers, more than 50% of us raised up our hands because more than 50% of us weren't really aware we had any choice in the matter.

We had to grab a medicine ball and a kettlebell from the equipment room and those items were going to be a part of our tools to help us in the circuit training called "The 300", and all the exercises related to "The 300" were written on the whiteboard by the training instructor.

A total of 10 different exercises ranging from push ups to swinging the kettle bells to bouncing the medicine ball really hard against the floor.

When I first saw "The 300", I thought we had to do each exercise 300 times.  300 push ups, 300 jumping jack with medicine balls, 300 ways to make sure I lose focus, swing the kettle bell between my legs and crush my own testicles in the process. Luckily, that was not the case and we only had to do each exercise 30 times, 

30 reps x 10 exercise = 300

30 push ups was easy, everything else after that was torture. I'm so fucking weak I didn't even manage to complete everything, I just skipped ahead after the first 4 because I actually lost track of all the type of exercise I had to do, the whiteboard with all the exercise written on it was at the far end corner of the training shed and not within my view able distance, so I tried my best to do as much as I could, but after a while, I just couldn't anymore, skipped right to the last exercise, not bothering to do all 30 reps and then just sat down and waited for everyone else to be done. 

By the time I had cooled down and my heart rate was starting to normalise, the session was over. It actually went by relatively quickly. The instructor wanted to get the whole thing over as soon as possible, and he succeeded. 

It really wasn't as bad as I thought, it's nice to have a good sweat once in a while because the only sweats I've been getting later and the ones that really bring out my body odor.  Even though I wasn't really doing much with my leg muscles for that session, for some reason, those muscles are the ones that are getting sore.


I will be having another session on Sunday, this time in the morning and this time, I will know exactly which colour tag to take. My legs are probably going to get extremely sore after that session though.


One session down, 7 more to go and hopefully I can pass the first RT-IPPT so I can finally clear this window and move on the my next one.

The Martian Novel (or Science Textbook)

Having read finish my last ebook, Library of Souls, on the kindle, I went on a search to look for new reads, this time deciding to read novels written by writers who aren't Stephen King or Ransom Riggs.


Did a bit of research and  finally made my purchase.

It sounded like a good book, received raved reviews online, even my sister said she enjoyed it so much she couldn't put the book down, plus, there is now a movie adaptation and I'm a sucker for novels with movie adaptation, but not vice versa because those novels I assume ends up being shit.



Before purchasing any book on my kindle, I always make it a habit read the sample copy before making my decision,


1. To check whether or not it is too complex for me vocabulary wise, because there are authors who enjoy using big words which in turn makes it unenjoyable for me.


2. Does the story make sense, will I be able to get into the story, is the writing any good, does it go into explicit detail of how every single thing looked. I'm alright if the author is trying to describe a character, but when they start talking about the interior finishing of a house or of a town, that's when my mind just switches off because I don't care if the floor is a "smokey oak color that glistens into a light brown ash color under the sunlight" or that the houses that line the streets are "grey and uneven with peeling wall paint and a torn roof", I don't care, just get on with the main story and stop helping me paint a mental image of the environment that I will probably forget 5 pages later.


So I read the first chapter of the ebook sample and there weren't any red flags, the writer wasn't using any over complicated words, there's really not much in depth description of what's everything around him looks like, because he's stuck on Mars, there's really nothing much to describe about the surrounding except that it's a barren land.



But as I started getting further and further into the book, I realized I was tuning out a lot, I couldn't really concentrate on what was actually happening in the story, this happens a lot when the story gets overly descriptive about the appearance of something and my brain just stops trying to paint a mental picture because it just becomes so exhausting, but that wasn't what was happening here, so when that happens, I will re-read the page again to see what I missed out, and that was when I realized why I was tuning out so much, it was because the writer was talking about science, and not in a "Bill Nye the Science Guy" kind of way that's actually fun and interesting,  I felt like I was reading a fucking chemistry textbook, except this one doesn't have any pictures or color to make the boring bearable.




The book is written in a Journal format, so every chapter consist of a few days worth of dairy entry, in which the main character will talk about what problems he faced that day, and come up with ways to tackle the issue, with science. Stuff like taking the Hydrazine from somewhere and mixing with it the Oxygen he gets from separating the Carbon from the Carbon Dioxide he exhales by using the oxygenator, all so he could create water for his plants, because he needed to plant a set number of plants to get enough proteins to last for 4 years on the planet before the next group of astronauts arrive, and the writer made sure to calculate every single fucking number, because as if science isn't boring in school, let's throw in some math as well,  and this goes on and on and on and on and my gawd after a while I just had to close my kindle to rest my brain from all the numbers and chemical element calculation,  and then get back into the story again, only to be slapped with more science and math and it didn't really pick up much from there.



After barely making it into chapter 4 and realize this was going to be all about the science and maths, I went on to Amazon and requested for a refund because I just couldn't take it anymore, what a fucking waste of time, and I read reviews of people online saying it's the "best book they've ever read because it's so scientifically accurate", WHAT? Since when was reading a Chemistry Textbook fun?



Before I deleted the book from my kindle, I actually went online to read up to see if the story actually picks up and gets more interesting, it apparently doesn't, so no point wasting time trying to complete reading the entire book when I couldn't even get through the first 3 to 4 chapters without tuning out and getting frustrated about not knowing what's actually happening afterwards, not that it really matters because I just get bombarded with more science and math afterwards.



I will probably use that refund to get another Stephen King novel. Also left a review on the Amazon website to show my disdain for the book and I got a thumbs down from a random stranger for it, I really didn't say anything too harsh about the book, just truths about why I think the book sucks, valid opinions from one dissatisfied reader to the Amazon Kindle Community.

So right back at you anonymous thumbs downer, because this is the internet, a place where opinions that don't agree with mine are stupid and redundant.

Kindle and Cakes

Some updates on life.

Recently got myself a Kindle Paperwhite from Qoo10 and it has been a great buy, got back into reading thanks to it.

Got it from this Qoo10 Seller called Best Value Asia, and I got my items in perfect condition, except for the screen protector that they missed out. I wrote them a private message alerting them that the screen protector I had ordered and paid for was missing, that was more than a month ago and they still have yet to reply to my message. I don't really care about the screen protector that much because it's only $1.50, what I'm irritated with is the fact that they don't seem to bother replying to customers queries after they have made final payment to them. I decided to just process the payment to them because I got my kindle and was very happy, that was a mistake which I will never make again. But oh well, can't do anything about it now, I'm sure it was an honest mistake, but at least reply to your customers, my gawd, it's like my at-sunrice experience all over again.

Here are some books I've read so far thanks to the Kindle...

1. Hollow City ( A sequel to a book I was very excited to read when I was in the army) 

2. Twisted (It's like watching a forgettable movie, but the ebook was only like $2 or $3, so I decided to get it, it was alright, but it had a forgettable storyline.)

3. The Shining (Supposed to be the scariest horror novel written by Stephen King, my pants weren't soiled though so it really wasn't that scary to me, but it was a nice read, albeit a bit confusing at some points because of the writing style that I wasn't used to.)

4. Doctor Sleep (Sequel to The Shining, this book was published in 2013 and The Shining was published back in 1977. One can only imagine how exciting it must have been for fans of the Shining who read the book back in the 70s, good book as well but I wouldn't call it horror, more like supernatural suspense. Enjoyable read overall.) 

Currently reading...

5. Library of Souls. (Sequel to Hollow City and the final book in the Miss Peregrine's trilogy) 

An Oreo cake I made a few months back. I am not a fan of this flavor. I think because I'm starting to get old, flavours like cookies and cream or chocolate don't really excite me anymore, now I'm all for carrot cakes or toasted almond loafs, boring old people flavor that children shy away from. 

"No chocolate ? Get that abomination away from me!"

Would be what I would imagine a kid with an advanced level of vocabulary would say to an adult if they offered the five year old a carrot cake.

Moving on to cakes made by professional bakeries, Lady M recently opened an outlet in Westgate , finally a shop in the West, and these are the cakes I got from my second visit there...

Marron Crepe or Chestnut Crepe ($9.00 I think)

Good but not as awesome as their Red Velvet Cake, which are sadly not being made available for the next millennium. Their next red velvet will only be available at all outlets in the month of June to August next year. Urggh! 

Banana Mille Feuille ($8.50 I think)

The banana got super brown and mushy by the time I got to it, and this one didn't feel like it was worth the $8.50 because the entire cake was falling apart, I was scrapping this off the cake box to make sure I wasn't letting any go to waste and it was a pathetic sight.

The only outlet that sells the red velvet all year round is the one at One Fullerton and if I do pass by the place, I will definitely pop by and buy maybe 2 slices home to make the trip worth it, for now, I will just settle for their other offerings, as unimpressive as they are compared to their red velvet, when I have a craving for good quality cakes.

Speaking of cakes, I recently went down to Grandstand with my siblings and was contemplating to get a slice of cake from this Russian Cake shop that sells really delicious and moist cake slices, I've gotten a slice before and at that time, it was priced at around $12 a slice, which was quite expensive for a slice considering how they were originally priced at $8 in the beginning when they first started business, which got hiked up to $10 and then $12, why? I have no idea.



So as I was walking through Pasarbella, I walked past that particular cake shop, took a quick glance and spotted the new prices for the cakes, I was already expecting a price increase, so being completely right did not really surprise me.



Since the last time I visited their shop, they have increased the prices of their cake slices by $3, this time, bringing it to a total of $15. That's almost double the price from when they started, for a single slice of cake, that huge increase in price alone was enough to help me make my decision.

It just doesn't make sense that the boss has to constantly raise the prices of her cakes, what's different every few months, what tweaks did she do the recipe to justify the constant $2 to $3 increase in price every 3 to 6 months, is there more and more gold being sifted into the cake flour? Has she finally decided to use good quality chocolate shavings for the garnish, or did she just decide to charge her customers more money simply because she can. Maybe the monthly rental cost has increased, but whatever the reason, knowing that the cake prices is now twice as expensive as it was back then in the beginning when her business first started has completely made me lost any interest I ever had in the shop, even if the cakes are still moist and delicious. 

Haze 2.0

The haze has been getting pretty bad this past few weeks, in fact, this is the first time I've actually gotten sick because of the haze. Was having a dry cough for 2 whole weeks, just continuously coughing non-stop.



The last time the haze was this bad was 2 years ago, right after I ORD from the army, it was bad but I never really got sick. I also remember that was when Indonesia officials started to chastise Singaporeans, calling us childish for complaining so much about the haze, that is wasn't their fault the wind decided to blow the smoke from their country over to our side.


You'd think they would have gotten a bit wiser but no, this time their Vice President decided to share his opinion on the matter of the haze, twice, and not about the haze issue but the negative reaction they've been getting because of it.



The first time in March when he essentially called us ungrateful for complaining about the haze, that we should be grateful for 11 months of clear skies and thank them for it.

Where in his head did he come up with that logic? What the fuck are you talking about?


It just amazes me that someone of his level of intelligence can actually become a Vice President of a country because not so recently, he came up with another statement, this time having this to say to Singapore...

"Singapore, please come if you want to help. Don't just talk," 

Right after Singapore offered it's help but was turned down by The Forestry and Environment Minister, whose reply was as such....

“They offered help, but I told them we’re still trying to handle it ourselves,” 

Not only unapologetic about the haze, but extremely ungrateful about the help that was offered but rejected by one of his ministers, that he apparently was not aware of. And the way he ask us to help is so infuriating, it's like the help we are offering them is some kind of huge favor they are allowing us to us do, it's as if he expects us to go up to his feet, kiss it and say...

"Oh great and wise vice president, we are eternally grateful for you allowing us this amazing opportunity to enter your haze infested country and help clear the haze for you so everyone in SEA affected by the haze can breath normally and not have to wear a face mask or cough every 20 seconds, even though the fault lies completely in your country and we are just the innocent bystanders who got affected by it because we have the unfortunate fate of being being so close to you guys."

That's like a a pest control company going up to a house that has been infested with rats and thanking the owners for allowing them the privilege of cleaning out the house for them for free.

Or walking up to your neighbors house and thanking the sick child, who's been spreading his life threatening disease around the neighborhood, for the last 5 good years your child was able to get growing up before patient zero decided to spread his life threatening disease around and infecting your kid, leaving him with only a month to live.

It doesn't make sense because you don't get to claim credit for something you are not responsible for, like the clear air we had the past 11 months, if anyone should be thanked for that clean air, it should be mother nature for deciding not to shoot down lightning bolts to strike the forest and cause it to catch fire, if we are following the VP's flawed logic that is.