First Job Interview Again

I have finally started sending out my resumes again.



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



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




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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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




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


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


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



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



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


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

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

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



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



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



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


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



What the fuck?



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




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



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




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

EAT!

It seems as though my posts lately always centers around experiences with twats, be it in the form of a F&b sales assistant or a disgruntled ambulance driver.


Today's post won't be any different.



There was no dinner at home today, so my sister and I decided to head over to the nearby mall to get our dinner. There were a few options to choose from but I wanted to have noodles for dinner, so we did and went to a noodle shop called EAT. The outlet we visited today had quite a few PRC workers, so conversations we had were all in mandarin.


I headed up to the counter when we reached the shop and the conversation between the guy at the counter and I went like this (translated to English)...


Counter Guy : What can I get for you?


Me : Ummmm...


*I look over to my sister who was still busy deciding on what she wanted and upon realizing I was waiting for her, she urges me to order first*


Me : Can I have a Fishball Bee Hoon & Fishball Kuay Teow. Takeaway!


*counter guy proceeds to enter my order into the machine and then goes*


Counter Guy: Eating here or takeaway?


Me : Takeaway. -never hurts to repeat myself I guess-


*Counter guy repeats what I just said, "Takeaway",  and looks up from the machine, waiting for my sister to make her order.*


Sister : I will have Laksa.


*Counter guy keys in order, ask the type of noodle she wants and then tells the cooks our orders*


Counter Guy : Would you like anything else? Drinks?


*we shake our head*


Counter Guy : Fried fritters?


*we shake our head again, paid up and headed to the side to wait for our orders to be prepared*


At this point, my sister notices the cooks were preparing 3 dishes that were similar to our order, but instead of being prepared in a takeaway container, they were served in a bowl and left on the counter, worried that the 3 bowls of noodles might be ours, she asks me if I had told the guy I wanted to takeaway and not dine-in. I told her I did and assumed the 3 bowls probably belonged to another group of customer.


About a minute later, one of the cook looks at the untouched bowls of noodles on the counter and goes...


Cook : Come and collect your noodles!


....just shouting it across the whole shop, I still thought that the order belonged to someone else, so I didn't respond, my sister was a bit worried and asked me again if I was sure I told the guy I wanted to takeaway, I responded I was sure. The counter guy then notices my sister and I standing at the corner and looks at us for a while before looking at the bowls of noodles, and then back at us again...


Counter Guy : You guys wanted to takeaway?


Sister and I : Yes. We ordered takeaway


Counter Guy : So you want to takeaway?


Sister : Yes! *firm tone*



And then the fucker decided to just stare at us, literally glaring at the both of us for probably 2 seconds in just pure annoyance mixed with a bit of disbelief. When he finally snapped back to reality, he demands an additional 60 cents from us for the takeaway fee and proceeds to grab each bowl of noodle to dump them into the takeaway container, making sure to glare at us again after he was done with each bowl.


I just looked at him, a bit taken aback that he was giving so much attitude. I mean it's not my fault the dude's so fucking incompetent at taking orders, he even repeated the word "takeaway" when I told him I wanted to "takeaway".

Me: “打包！”

Him: “打包。”

对，我要打fucking包，你这可蠢货。

I chose not to argue, and just half smiled at him because I really didn't want to argue in mandarin with a PRC, because that's just asking for trouble. My Chinese is pretty horrible as it is, and if I wanted to argue in English, I would rather insult him in front of his face without him understanding a word of what I said rather than have him scream...

"Fruck you! Fruck you!

...at me. This is a very trivial case of bad customer service and I'm sure there are many worst ones out there, but that glare he gave us when he realize HE fucked up made me want to take the bowl of Laksa and throw it at his face.

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.