Ambulance Driver MuthaFucker

Whilst driving out to get lunch for the family today at Westgate, I decided to try a different route to reach my destination because driving the same route is boring, I wanted a change of scenery.


So as I was driving, I reached this cross junction where I could either go straight via the old route, or I could make a right turn and go the other route, since I was so bored of the old route for reasons unknown,  I decided go right, and that's where the problem started really.



As I made a right turn, instead of turning into the lane I was suppose to turn to, which is the middle lane, I decided to turn into the right lane, since the car that was next to me prior to the turn was making a U-Turn, I thought there should be enough time and space for my car to enter the right lane without causing any accident.



There was no accident, but what I had in exchange was a very disgruntled driver who kept honking at my car, which startled my sister who was along for the trip. I looked at my rear view mirror upon hearing the angry honks to see what had happened and I see an ambulance with the siren lights turned on. I thought he was alerting me to let him cut my lane because he had an emergency situation, so as I was preparing to slow down and let him overtake me, I then see the ambulance lane change to the middle lane, still honking as he drove past me, and at this point I could see the driver, and he was a very angry Indian man who was glaring at me as he drove past, that would have been fine, I might have gotten a bit upset but I deserve, seeing how I did not stick to my lane, but then what he did next was what really pissed me off.... he decided that giving me the stink eye wasn't a bad enough punishment for cutting his lane, he actually fucking flipped me off as he drove past me.



I was fucking pissed!



Should he honk at me ? Yes, he should because I should have stuck to my lane instead of cutting into his.


Did I know he was there? Obviously not, otherwise I wouldn't have cut into his lane, especially because it's an ambulance with the siren lights on.


Should he have given me the finger? All I did was just cut his lane, and it wasn't as if I had done it on purpose to spite him, I did not curse at him and or tell his mother to go fuck herself, so No! it doesn't warrant a finger.


He finally stops at a red light and as I was still feeling really riled up from that middle finger, I decided to stop my car right fucking next to him. He notices my car and he decides to take a proper look at me, or glare at me, I did not feel any sort of intimidation because the guy is probably well into his late 40s to early 50s, all he looked like to me was an angry old Indian man. What is he going to do? Exit from his vehicle and try to start a fight with me? I knew he wasn't going to get physical so I returned the favor and glared right back at him.



I was talking smack about him to my sister, and I made sure he knew I was talking smack about him because I was staring at him as I was doing so... he then proceeds to inch his ambulance forward a little and try to read my number plate, which is fucking stupid because what is he going to do with my number plate, go to a police station to report me for cutting his lane?

Fuck off. And he did, the moment the light turn green, he sped off, to save the poor soul who probably lost his life because the ambulance took too long to reach. Ain't nobody got time to get physical when there's a life at stack.

That being said, the ambulance isn't a big one, so the accident he's probably driving towards might probably be as severe as a paper cut. 

"Ah I cut my finger accidentally with this piece of paper!"

"Not to worry, Muthu is here to save the day with my small ass ambulance!"

"It's fine Muthu, I just need a plaster."

"Muthu will go get plaster from the closest Watsons. Muthu away!"

*drives sorry ass ambulance to nearby Watsons and gets cheap ass plasters because Muthu ain't about the rich lifestyle*

"Sorry Muthu is late, Muthu got lane cut by some Chinese on the road just now. Chinese learn lesson because Muthu give him middle finger. No one messes with Muthu and gets away with it."

"Its fine Muthu, I got a plaster at home. It's all patched up. You can go home now."

"Muthu has failed! Muthu will commit seppuku!"

....but Muthu was unable to commit seppuku because Muthu couldn't afford a Tanto and PaperCut patient didn't want to offer her kitchen knife because she didn't want to clean human innards off the floor of her living room.

Bad Customer Service Rant

I had decided that since today was such a hot day, I would take a drive down to Holland Village to get a cold drink from Boost and then head to Plain Vanilla Bakery to get some cupcakes since I was going to be there. 

The moment I saw Boost, I was actually really happy that there wasn't any customers, that meant minimal waiting time for my drinks, so as I walked up to the shop, I notice there were 2 girls who were on shift, a Malay girl, who was fiddling with her phone whilst stuffing chips into her mouth and a Eurasian girl, who was busying preparing a few orders , for who I'm not sure because there was literally no other customer except me, maybe she was making for customers who would be returning shortly, maybe she was experimenting with new flavors, but either way, I was sure she was not going to be the one serving me since she was legitimately busy.

At this point, I assumed the girl who was stuffing chips into her mouth would stop what she was doing and greet me, I mean even if she wasn't looking at my direction, her peripheral vision should be able to see me standing at the counter, so I just stood there and waited for maybe 5 seconds under the assumption that she would actually start doing her job, because if a person stands at the counter for more than 5 seconds without moving, they are probably there to actually buy something and not admire the menu. She doesn't seem to be aware that I was there or just didn't really care because she continued doing whatever the fuck she was doing, playing with her phone and stuffing chips into her mouth. I had to call out to her 3 times before she finally responded. 

When she finally walks over, I greeted her and she smiled for as long as it takes for a person to say Hi, literally half a second and that friendly face morphed into this unfriendly "fuck you for interrupting my chip stuffing ritual" look, like she suddenly realize she had just seen the person who ran her fucking dog over, me being the one who ran her imaginary dog over.

For the next few seconds when she was taking my order, her tone was just plain rude and condescending, when she asked if I wanted Original size, she sounded as if she was really telling me...

"Of course you want Original, pfft! I would roll my eyes if I could, but I can't because I need this job to be able to satiate my need for my potato chips. One day I will open my own potato chip factory and just make potato chips for myself forever"

And really, for the entire process of making the drink itself, I wouldn't expect her to look friendly, there's a level to how ridiculously friendly I want the service personnel to be and the requirement to look like she's enjoying her job as she's preparing my drink is not necessary, but she didn't look happy.

When she finally completes the order, I thought she would at least smile when she hands me my drinks, but NOPE! She passes it to me with that same exact look on her face. The "why the fuck am I serving this person when I can be so much more" look. So I just took my drink and went to withdraw money from the nearby ATM, feeling quite unhappy with the service I had received. 

When I looked back at the store again as I was queuing up at the ATM, she had apparently forgone her "Chip Stuffing Ritual to look as close to a hamster as possible" and was instead busy talking to the Eurasian girl, probably gossiping about the new Potato Chips Cold Storage would be selling and giving the Eurasian girl tips on how to really stuff as much potato chips in your mouth without damaging it, which would be ironic seeing how her mouth has obviously been damaged, that why she couldn't even smile for more than half a second. 

Then I got Plain Vanilla Cupcakes and well, I have nothing to complain about their service. It was alright, compared to the Boost chick, it was more than alright.


* I went back to Boost a few days later and got another drink, this time the server was different, she was not as unpleasant, but honestly, when you want your customers to "go to the left" so they don't obstruct the queue after they made their order, maybe don't say it in a commanding tone. I felt like I was a recruit back in BMT being ordered by my sergeant to keep right or he will ask me to knock it down.


Lesson learnt, being a polite customer to any Boost employee in the future is unnecessary. Unless they are able to greet me like a proper server should, I'm just going to remain generally unfriendly and unapproachable.


"I want my juice, so make me my fucking juice." *throws $10 bills in her face* "Boost me up! Bitch! And don't you go throwing your nose shit into the blender because I'm watching you."

Meet Up

Had a farewell get together yesterday with a friend from the bakery and I have to admit, prior to the meet up, I was really contemplating to find an excuse and just back out from the meet up.





The initial plan was to just meet up with her and another colleague, a small gathering where only those who were comfortable with each other were invited, that meant my sous chef wasn't invited because every meet up that includes him always just ends up being uncomfortably awkward, us struggling to find topics to get rid of the awkward silences, it's really quite torturous and in the past I never really said anything to my friend because they are friends and I always thought maybe I'm the one overthinking things, but after the last encounter with my Sous Chef in Phoon Huat, with him avoiding me after he has obviously seen me, I realize the feelings I had towards him were mutual, and that is that even though we don't dislike each other, if given a choice, we would rather not hang out with each other.




About 2 days before the meet up, I was quite happy with the arrangements, I thought, finally, this might be the meet up that won't end up with everyone sitting awkwardly, my friend won't have to constantly struggle to find new topics to talk about and I won't be constantly dreaming of this meet up to be over and done with so I can go home and tell myself I'm never meeting them as a group again. But all that happy thoughts changed when my friend decided to ask me if it was alright to invite some other colleagues of hers over, they worked at the bakery too but they were the service crew, so I've never met them before.





Seeing how she was struggling to meet up with all her friends before going for her almost year long trip overseas, I begrudgingly agreed with her arrangements, she was grateful to my agreement but I was not really excited about the meet up anymore.





For the past 2 days after the change of plans, I was seriously contemplating whether to go for the meet up or not, because the four of them are quite close and I would be the odd one out, if the 3 weeks working in the Interior Design firm has taught me anything, it's that trying to fit into a clique of close female friends always almost never works, there would always be inside jokes and topics only they can understand and discuss in explicit boring details,  so naturally, being turned off by that potential prospect of feeling like the odd one out, it's like most of the meet ups I have ever had with my Secondary School clique, oh the memories, so I was cooking up excuses in my head that would allow me to not show up, excuses that would probably work like...





"Oh my Dad is overseas so I might not be able to join you guys, I have to stay in the office to make sure everything is alright." - Bullshit, except the part about my Dad being overseas, everything else is lies. I'm really not that important that my absence would cause the company to suddenly lose traction and fall off the rails of success.




"Sorry, I'm think I might be falling sick."  - Because I had constipation for 2 days. It's fine now but I did spend the last few days just squeezing nothing out in the toilet.



On the day itself, I finally decided, fuck it, I'm just going to go for the meet up, she's going to be overseas for almost a year, the least I could do as a friend is to show up for her farewell get together. I know her and she's not someone who would just let someone she invited on a gathering she planned to feel left out, so even if her friends don't talk to me, I knew she would make an effort to try and make me feel involve.




We met in Bugis Station and I was finally able to take the new Downtown Line. It's awesome how now it just takes me 20 minutes to reach Bugis when in the past, it would take almost an hour. I managed to reach the place 15 minutes early, so I went to Kinokuniya to looks at some books and see if there are any interesting reads I can get for my kindle, that and also because Kinokuniya is nice and empty, better than waiting at the control station, especially crowded because it's peak hour.



After about 15 to 20 minutes of looking at the same bunch of books, I finally got a call from my friend who informed me to meet her at the control station. I made my way over, not feeling very excited about the potential awkwardness that would ensue between me and her friends. We exchanged awkward hellos with each other when I saw them and really for the next 10 minutes, I was just talking to my friends while hers were talking to each other, all four of us headed to the bus stop and met up with another one and then made our way to the cafe for our dinner.



I really wanted to try and start a conversation with one of them initially and I was very close to going up to her and asking...

"So are you studying now? Which school?"

I didn't know how old she was, all I heard from my friend was that she was slightly older than her, so I  assumed she might probably be my age. 25 to 26 years old, an age where being a university student is still plausible. In the end, I didn't initiate conversation with her and just continued conversations with my friend while the 3 other girls catch up with each other. At one point, one of the 3 girls came up to my friend and started talking to her, I planted myself in the middle of them, so even though I wasn't technically part of the conversation, I still felt like I was, it's a lot better than trailing behind, my permanent position when I go for meet ups with my Secondary School friends and that is why I no longer meet up with them.

When we finally reached the place, it was packed, my friends had made reservations but that didn't really mean anything, because no seats were available except for the ones outside, and we weren't interested, my back was already drenched in sweat and probably in the midst of emitting my signature body odor, the last thing I wanted to do was sit outside  and sweat even more, so we told the waitress we would rather dine inside, we had to wait, but the waitress assured us that it wouldn't be long because the diners who were occupying the 5 seated table were about to leave soon. 

We looked at the menu for a few minutes and scanned at the different items they offered, deciding what would be best, 5 minutes later, I was the only one left scanning the menu while the 4 girls started talking amongst themselves. 10 minutes later, the waitress comes over and asks us...

"Would you all like to dine outside instead because the diners inside just ordered desserts so they will take a while."

And we were ushered to the outside table, the table wasn't stable and the chairs felt like they would give in and collapse at any moment. I had to put my bag on my lap because it was a stool without a back rest, my bag probably reeked, so I didn't want to put in on the spare chair that was at the other end and put the girls through the unpleasant smell of my back(bag) sweat. 

I ordered a salad and all the girls ordered a burger, its like reversal of roles but not really because this is Singapore, and very rarely does anyone in Singapore eat like a basic white girl, except me I guess, with my salad for dinner and my Starbucks literally right next to me as I am typing out this post.

Iced Chestnut White Chocolate Truffle. Not bad, very sweet so it completely overpowers the coffee taste, which is always great because the last thing this bitter individual needs is bitter coffee. The barista actually asked me if I wanted whipped cream and I said yes, only to realize it's actually fucking gross to have whipped cream on a Iced Coffee drink, luckily he forgot to add the whipped cream in the end. His very mild incompetence worked in my favor. 

I digress...

The girls were all surprised when they realized I ordered a plate of salad, and really, that became the ice breaker because I started to take part in their conversations and actually had a good time,  they laughed at my jokes (comments really that was meant to be humorous because I don't just start a conversation by telling a Knock! Knock! joke) and really, anyone who laughs at my jokes, I instantly like them, that probably explains why I really disliked my Interior Design firm colleagues, it's like they don't understand sarcasm, it just flies right past their heads, that's how you know someone is really fucking stupid. When I jokingly said I wanted to give up on building a chair that I was having some difficulty with, one of em cunts actually took that literally and saw me as "someone who gives up easily" when she was preaching to me a few days later, her fucking words, even though I did complete building the chair prior to her giving me her take on my personality and characteristics.

They talked about their time at the bakery, about the head chef, talked about my friends trip and everyone there was able to keep the conversation flowing, which meant there wasn't too much awkward silences to make it uncomfortable. At one point, one of the girls started asking us how old we were, she was the girl I was actually planning to start a conversation with earlier, and thank gawd I didn't because I find out during dinner that she wasn't in her mid 20s, she was already in her early 30s, when my friend said she was a little older, I wasn't expecting a 6 to 7 year age difference, so that was quite a shock. 

After dinner, we made our way through Haji Lane, they talked while I listen, barely able to really hear much because of all the loud music going on at the stretch of bars, and when we finally made our way out of Haji Lane, we headed back to Bugis for Boost. I got the drink called Mint Condition, which I'm never ordering again because I ended up having more salads from the greens that weren't completely pulverized into juice during the blending process, it was unpleasant sucking up chunks of greens with every sip and the taste of celery was so strong it just made the whole "oh I ordered this green stuff cos it's good for bowel movement" excuse not worth it at all. 

When we were finally done, it was time to head home. The goodbye I have to admit was awkward, 2 of the girls were still trying to finish their boost, so they ended up furiously drinking their drink next to a bin at the escalator while my friend, her friend and I waited at the control station, we chatted a bit and my friend turns to me and ask if this meeting was awkward, I replied honestly and told her it wasn't, because it honestly when better than I thought it would, the 2 girls joined us once they were done with their boost and then for some reason, everyone just stopped talking, it was probably like 5 seconds but it felt like 30 seconds, seeing how awkward the silence was getting, with everyone just looking at each other and hoping someone would start talking soon, I just pointed at the direction I was going and told everyone I was leaving, we exchanged goodbyes and I went back home via the Downtown Line. 

It was a pleasant meet up, a lot better than the meet ups I had that included my sous chef that was always marred by awkward silences.

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.