Interviewees wanted

Exhausted. Am too exhausted every night to blog.

I'm still looking for people who own personal insurance (e.g hospitalization, investment) from AIA, Great Eastern, Prudential, NTUC and Aviva, to interview. Questions will be asked about their experience of owning insurance, interaction with agent/company, etc. So if you've either bought a personal insurance in the last 3 years or have made a claim in the last 3 years and don't mind being interviewed, please contact me. There's a 5-min screener (to see if you're eligible for the main interview) and a main interview which is about 45 minutes, varying for different individuals.

I think my phone bill is going to explode from all the sourcing of interviewees already.

No more crush

I forgot to say, my crush is no longer my crush because I stopped sitting on him. Haha. Ok, I just woke up one day and realized I don't like that guy anymore.

This is the only time life and emotions are so simple.

Transformation

It seemed so easy, some pieces of music. But when I look at the score, it's like "Wah! What the heck is this?!"

Seeing black dots on paper transformed into intangible, lyrical form - it is all very amazing to me.

Mama's Wedding

Another play by Action Theatre, named Mama's Wedding. Here's the excerpt from Action Theatre's blog:

MAMA'S WEDDING tells a hilarious story of what happens to three sisters when their mother decide to remarry at the age of 56!

Big sister Ruth, who has not spoken to her own mother in years, has to decide whether to go back to Penang to attend the wedding. The other two sisters Emily and Betty scheme and plan on how to convince Ruth to return so "Mama has one more person to attack"!

In the process, secrets are spilled, relatives are hit and memories are stirred. Funny, naughty and highly entertaining, MAMA'S WEDDING will show you how not to 'kena' from your mother, what to do before kissing a man's chest and why we all need second chances in life, love and family. It's a must-see comedy of the year!

There is even a free opening act of Sarong Party Boy by Claude Giradi, where an 'ang moh' searches for the perfect woman in Singapore. Ok, I frankly don't know what the opening act is about but it sounds interesting!

Date: 3 - 13 July 2008
Time: 8pm daily (except Monday) and 3pm for Saturdays and Sundays
Prices: $30 (Matinees), $35 (Tue-Thu, Sun 8pm) and $40 (Fri & Sat 8pm)
Venue: The Room Upstairs, 42 Waterloo Street

It is literally "the room upstairs".

Tickets can be bought through SISTIC.

Random

Had work till 6pm followed by a meeting at school till 9pm. Surviving on 6 hours of sleep or lesser per day is horrible.

I need to find time to read the newspapers. All the news I'm getting are from the snippets of conversations I can catch while my colleagues are chatting amongst themselves about something they heard on the radio or something they read on the papers. Starting to feel very stupid.

I love that when I return from lunch, I don't smell of canteen food. The company provides free food at its staff canteen so MZ, Shi Hui and I eat there during lunch then pop over to the mall next door to walk around.

I watched the baby hamsters drink water just now. They are the most adorable things! Their paws get wet after drinking water and then they walk around, leaving marks on toilet rolls in the tank.

Random note

I feel like I'm experiencing a permanent blogger's block. Oddly no desire to blog as well.

Am recently very busy. Regular work hours until 6pm after which I'm thinking of how to get more interviewees for the surveying part-time job. Sometimes I am compelled to watch anime just to relax and end up fixated on the screen for a couple of hours. Actually all I need is more sleep. Good night.

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I'm not sure where I'm heading in life. At times I wonder if it is because I have not been trying hard enough. I think it must be so.

Dread

Today I went to submit my particulars to the company I'd be working in the next month. 10 minutes into sitting in a meeting room and exchanging greetings with the HR lady, and I had this terrifying sensation of being trapped, of having sold my body and soul to this company for a month. I started feeling scared. I could imagine myself sitting at my desk, poring over piles of documents, matching the right ones together, staring at the computer screen typing in some figures and worst of all, returning to the office smelling like a food court.

It wasn't like the people were very bad. In fact, they sounded very nice. It was merely the thought of working in an office with regular hours, claustrophobic space, sitting at the desk for hours. It was the routine which scared me. As well as answering phone calls. A phone ring could send me into a frenzy from the fear of not knowing what to do. (How odd. Regularity and irregularity - they both scare me. Ah, the underlying reason is in the next sentence.) And the realization that this fear of not knowing what to do still exist, even though I thought I had long banished it to the depths of some black hole somewhere, just instills yet more fear and disappointment.

In short, I dread work before work starts. Not good.

Quote

Olivia, to me,

Eh, my yahoo mail is oliviaxxxxx@yahoo.com.sg then what is my password?

Baby hamster died

One of our baby hamsters died.

It was trapped between two flaps of cardboard on the inside of the pizza boxes and was literally flattened to death. We didn't even know until this morning when brother opened the box and saw a furry head sticking out. I believe it struggled to death because the head wasn't squashed, just the body flattened. Perhaps the windpipe broke or the bones or something. We're suspecting it was because Olivia pushed down the cover of the box very hard yesterday and the baby didn't have enough time to react to it.

I wonder if the mother was trying to pull it out or something. Brother said when the body was being cleared, the mother was sniffing at the spot.

=(

Cheque from Nuffnang; random

Today my mother dumped a letter on my table.

I have received my cheque from Nuffnang! I was surprised because it took about a month and I was expected way longer than that. Anyway it comes in a nice envelope and opened (way too) easily. Was tempted to lick the seal again after smelling it. Don't ask why I was smelling it.

Today saw me splurging unexpectedly on a $14.40 taxi fare for which I now deeply regret. Well, at least this cheque can help me pay it off.

Can I blog more like, uh, tomorrow, instead? I know I've been absent from here for a really long time but right now I am nursing the heartache from having finished watching Nodame Cantabile (and the after effects of having my mind soaked in romance from the show. Like, when will I ever find some one?!).

So yar, ok, thanks, good night, see you.

Finished watching

AH! I finally finished watching Nodame Cantabile! All anime, live adaptation and special episodes! So sweet! Made me shed tears so many times that I lost count. Sigh, I miss the show already...

Nodame Cantabile

1 episode was all it took to get me hooked on the anime series Nodame Cantabile. I finished 25 episodes in 2 days and felt extremely guilty after that for spending so much time on the computer.

Nodame Cantabile revolves around classical music, orchestras, performances and how students strive in their passion for music. At the end of the anime, I found an ache in my chest similar to the sadness we feel when a drama serial ends and we have to say goodbye to the characters we have grown so familiar to. The anime was so close to home for me that it brought back memories. There were times I could identify with it and times I wished I could.

Have you ever heard a really inspiring musician play? Although I've seen a couple of famous musicians play, the only one musician who left an impact on me is not famous. While watching the anime, I remembered her watching her play and how it had really touched me. Haha, I don't know if my mind was playing tricks on me, but her performance gave me goosebumps in a good way, something I've never really experienced before. That was the one and only time, the one and only performance to have moved me in that way. It might seem surprising if I told you she is probably my age and studying in NUS, playing in the Orchestra, as a violinist.

I wonder now if it was because I have had bare minimum contact with violins, which would explain why I was so astounded by that one performance.

In any case, I like that image I have in my mind of that evening I listened to her play on stage. Clear. Exciting. Moving.

Frustrated

I am frustrated over this surveying job. So complicated. Feels like they haven't briefed us on everything.

Random

Going to take a bath and then will be off for a performance at Raffles City. A bit apprehensive and nervous, especially since it has been a week since I last touched the bells. Need to revise the scores on the way there.

Chemical Party

Got this video via chillycraps' blog:



One heck of a party (and advertisement)! Certainly puts chemistry into perspective.

In charge

I don't like being in charge of other people. I think I suck at being in charge of others. I'm better at being assistant to the head or something.

Ok, no matter. It's going to happen anyway. Tomorrow's recruitment for more members for the photography competition.

At least my crush's there! Just seeing his name gives me goosebumps and seeing him tomorrow might make my heart race. -_-'''
Am I the only one insane enough to openly declare I have a crush and give so many clues as to who he is? Fun!

Reason for a job

I. MUST. FIND. A. JOB.

ANY JOB.

Because Mama's Wedding is calling out to me. It looks fantastic!

Headache

Last night after meeting I had a headache which was on the edge of a migraine. I went to bed and woke up in the middle of the night with that headache stillt here so I fell asleep first on my forehead and then on the side of my head which ached. Miraculously, it went away.

I should watch lesser anime. Headache now again.

Pre-officially-Year 4, Honours student, thoughts

Year 4 - Honours year.

For so long I've looked at the matriculation numbers of the other Year 4s before me, on the computer screens in NUS's computer labs, wondering if one day I'd be one of those matriculation numbers whom other students would look at and think "this is a Honours student's matriculation number".

For some reason, I feel really proud, though my results aren't anything to boast of. I started University full of hopes and completely naive. I've learned quite a bit in the 3 years here, things I know I'd need in order to further develop myself in the future. I've allowed myself to go through things I never thought I'd ever experience, things I would never be able to imagine. I know I still have a long way to go. However, I suspect Yan Wei will say I'm still that Stephanie who is still as easily mind-fucked. *shakes fist at Yan Wei*

I think I might cry when I log into CORS to bid for modules and see "Year 4" there (if it's written there), and it's not even my convocation ceremony!

I feel like I've waited so long to get to Honours year. Finally, I'm here. One final year. I don't want to let myself down.

Am I busy or not?

I don't know if I'm busy or not. I seem to be very free in the morning and afternoon, then I'll start getting busy in the evenings. My mother told me not to waste time and go get a job. I cannot stand not doing anything. In a way, I am a slight workaholic.

However, I am involved in preparation of NUS SAVE's Green Carnival, which at the moment is still very much in the discussion phase, as a member of the publicity committee. At the same time, I have been very much trusted to be the in-charge of the photography competition for this Green Carnival as well, although I have joined all but 1 week 3 days ago. Fortunately there will be guidance. I can't say I am unhappy at being tasked with it because it just allows me to have a taste of how it is all like, although knowing my organizing skills, I am very much apprehensive. In any case, I'll take it one step at a time and do my best. Give me your support ok!

Then there is handbells, with practices on Saturday and some shows on either weekday nights or weekends. And there's Singbellz Fest coming up and I'm in charge of ticketing, which should be alright.

At the same time I have taken up this job which allows me to perform it at my own free time, a kind of surveying job for a market research company. Done something like this before so should be alright.

There's also another random 4 days job somewhere in 3rd week of June.

But for now, I am without a day job, haven't had a single internship, money going out more than coming in and, to put it very simply in arzhou's words, I am feeling very useless. I am increasingly feeling like my degree is for naught and that I cannot apply what I have learned. I have not had a single job which allows me to apply what I have learned. The thing is sometimes I don't even remember what I have learned!

Was also rejected for the Research Assistant job which I was really very keen on. Really do not know for what reason I was rejected because I thought my chances of getting it were pretty high. Maybe they thought I'd be too busy since I'd be in Year 4, or I simply answered the interview questions badly. It is a little ironic because I was first invited to apply for the position, but then I understand there are other candidates. Oh well, it was a good morale booster.