I haven't been blogging since i came to Korea.. iamshitfong asked me abt it. the main reason is that im lazy..and weather's so good that i want to stay in bed in the morning and lie in bed early at nite..i've been doing 8 hrs sleep on average here.. so it's good. Im actually at the airport now.. waiting to fly home. im glad to be home. I miss my LCD tv..

the weather's great.. it's been a long time since 2002 when i could wear my sweater and scarf. Since i bought it at Gap in the US in 2002, i nvr got a chance to wear them and i love them a lot.

*ok.. a security guard just came and stood beside me, where im sitting and farted!!! what the?!?!@ I think it's all the kimchi, my colleague says kimchi makes u fart...bloody koreans*

I arrived in seoul in the early morning of Monday.. deciding between the S$160 taxi ride and S$26 bus ride... decided to save some $ for the money..gosh, things are expensive in Seoul.. met up with my colleague then we flew to Busan..

In some divine mixup and all, we checked into the wrong hotel that the client has booked. pretty embarrassing considering what we do but well... *shrug*. We decided to stay put cos we were bushed from all that flying and traveling. we told the client we wanted to do more market research. we decided to have an authentic Korean dinner. went to a smallish roadside restaurant..the owner loaded up with food and lotsa veggie.. i had some (my mum would be proud of me). the meal cost a whopping S$250!!! just for 2 guys.. *sweat*

Work starts today.. here're some pics I took. Busan is the 2nd most populous city in South Korea and the 4th busiest port in the world.. it's the city in the 2002 Asian Games and 2004 APEC meeting. <---- i actually dont know why i said that .. i guess it makes this blog a little more intellectual..

funny restaurant in the middle of nowhere..



the sea..apparently, on a clear day, u can see japan. it is in this bay that the Chinese and Koreans, for the one and only time in history, joined forces to attack japan.. they formed a huge amada of ships in this bay and was going to attack when Cyclone Kamikaze came and wiped it out. The attack failed and the Japanese liked the word "Kamikaze" .. "Ghost Wind" i think it's called. Of cos the purveyors of sushi also used kamikaze on american ships as well.

more pics of the sea..





we'd have stayed here if we had more money..great view also..











here's a view of the hotel from the beach..



if i cant stay here, i'll have a meal here..muhahahah.. the meal cost S$70..








i asked the waitress how long it takes to get to the airport.. she looked at me quizzedly and said she go and check. When she came back, i asked her again, she said 5 minutes. "dumbass, it's at least an hour, " i thought.

Five minutes later, she returned with this..APPLEs in 5 minutes!!



i took more pics since they put in so much effort. they must think i'm crazy, taking pics of the apple.



more interesting hotels..nice on the outside, but damn ugly on the inside..





at night, i was eating happily when suddenly the live music started, so near to me.. gosh he sounds horrible, sounded elvis and roy orbison songs.. i took a pic of him also, just so i can blog him.. he thought i liked him and smiled at me some more.. dumbass



we had lunch with the city officials.. they expressed their disdain for japan and their distortion of history. they also said there's no such thing as the sea of Japan, only sea of korea. then they told us Korea has lots and lots of apartment blocks and lots and lots of churches and lots and lots of motels. They said men slept in the apartments from Mon to Thurs, motels on Fri and Sat, then went to church on Sun. haha.. a land use joke... funny.

Interview with the Penguin..

Among the numerous things i did this week was to interview some newbies.. haha.. my boss asked me to join in for fun and also since they were from my sch. DAMMMMMN fun man.. haha.. interviewed 3 of them.. all totally cannot make it.. one gal was so nervous that she mis-said my company name.. and then my boss asked this qn which i told him to ask then she suddenly crumbled...could feel the shaking in her voice.. haha.. funny.. one of them quite pretty really but she came in a tee shirt n jeans and totally didnt know wat was the position she was applying for.. her interview lasted all of 12 minutes.. when i sent her to the lift, she asked me " u wana slack right? that's why send me to the lift?"

i was speechless... wanted to ask her to diam n get into the bloody lift..

On a totally separate note, PRC has this irritating habit of speaking in chinese.. i mean i totally understand why but i still irritates me.. on Friday, i passed her some documents and then she asked me wat they were. I told her and asked her if she knew wat they were..

"知道。。那不就是XXX (in chinese)嘛"

I said " so u know wat they are?"

She said duno...

SO WAT GOOD IS IT TO KNOW WHAT IS IT IN CHINESE WHEN U DUNO WHAT THEY ARE FOR!?!?!!

i asked her that actually.. and she looked pissed.. muhahahaha.. i dun care..

........................................................................

I was arranging for some meetings in Korea..quite a few meetings with limited time so i had to arrange them in the proper order of travelling by road.. In one of the rare koreans i spoke to whose english was very good, i asked " if ur office on the north or south side". (Seoul has a huge river running in the middle of it.. dividing it into the north n south side). After asking the question, i realised that it might have sounded like i was asking if their office was in North or South Korea. She thought for a looooong time before saying south.. then i asked again " is ur office on the north or south side of the river?". She then said north.. oops.. i guess she really thought i meant North or South Korea.

*sweat*

DVD Time

As usual, when im heading for a trip, a relatively long one this time, i kinda like to do something before i go..but seems like my frens aint free for mahjong this sat.. oh well.. probably spend my weekend with my dvds and tv..not too bad also.. hmmm..

and i think my tung lok voucher cannot liao.. im very sad... cant even find 3 other ple to go WHACK! bleah..

in any case, in the continuing saga of PRC, i was told to bring her along for some meetings.. she asked me what to wear... i looked at wat she was wearing that day.. bad bad bad.. i mean, im usually not one who criticises ple on their dressing cos not many ple actually dresses better than me.. so i dont usually abt other ple but today was really bad.. she was wearing a semi-translucent top which u can see underneath and a 3/4 denin bottom and sneaker-like shoes.. more like deck-shoes.. like guy loafers like tat.. and it was a monday.. not dress down friday.. i gently told her to wear something more formal for tmr.

Tmr came and she wore a sleeveless top n white denin skirt.. ooooook la.. not very very appropriate la but passable then gay#1 called me to his office n told me he wanted to ask her to go hm n change.. i tot it was very bad la.. so i kinda convinced him no need..

Then she decided to only bring 5 namecards.. half the ple we met didnt get her card..

then she started her FLIRT with the ple as they showed us ard the places... i couldnt take it at all man.. i cant!!!!!! im too lazy to say how she flirted..

am i evil? i dont know.. i tried to be nice liao.. but but but.. how come she like that??

Long Time Since..

I bought a TV today..

nothing was really wrong with my previous tv.. except that it's a 14" tv.. although it's a flatscreen sony one.. (i totally love it), i think it's kinda small esp since i changed the layout of my rm..anyway, my mum and sis also said it's small n my mum actually endorsed my purchase.. that's very rare ... so after a loooong thought, i decided to get it..as i was too lazy to lug it back from raffles city and too cheap to take a cab, i asked the guy if his marine parade br has or not.. i told him i wanted to go hm n get the car n he said he could deliver to my hse for FREE!! ok lor.. SOLD!

here's a step by step geeky review..

Still in box..



funny looking remote..



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screw it.. too lazy to take pics... here's the finished product with my dvd on..



and very coincidentally, my dad went to a trade fair today and won himself a 1GB black iPod nano... gave to my sis.. kio dio..

a day where the tech factor in my house increases a notch or two.

Seoul Searching

I found out i might be going korea next week while i was in KL.. but i didnt think much of it cos the client has been asking us to come since December.. but cos he hasnt given the requisite upfront payment, we didnt go.. Cornball doesnt fly till u show me the money!!

Anyway, my colleague and I didnt feel too excited to go, even though we have both nvr gone to korea before.. (plus it's winter gg on to spring now) but just simply too much work.. with my jkt report and kl reports due rather soon.. so we were secretly hoping the client might forget abt us and not pay..

BUT i read on the newspapers today.. Yes.. very coincidentally today cos i hardly read newspapers in the morning.. that the client has just signed with this big big company, along with the gahmen of South Korea for this mega big project.. check out the news in today's Straits Times..SIANZ.. means it's konfirmed.

I might go over to seoul one day earlier and stay one day later to check Seoul out.. with Busan in between..

*well, actually im mainly going Busan.. but the title would read better as "Seoul Searching, rather than Busan Searching or Busan Anything.."

More KL Pics

Here're some pics of KLCC...actually just one pic..there's only so many pics i can take of it..



Actually I only stayed in KL for one night.. the other night was spent in this suburban area called Subang Jaya.. the hotel actually upgraded me to a suite... which was HUGE! but very ugly..the cable tv was blur, the tv remote's markings all gone, there was a dank smell.. that's why i didnt have mood to take pics..

*talking abt taking pics.. i think some of u think i take pics of rooms just to show u all... haha... nah im not that altruistic.. the first thing i do when i enter a room, even before unpacking and all, i'm expected to take a pic of it.. and so i just post them here sometimes.*

oh well, subang jaya is a very boring town with only 2 shopping malls..and Sunway Lagoon.. here're some pics of Sunway Lagoon..











Huge huge place..5 hotels here... 1,234 rooms.. went to check out a couple of rooms.. opulent rooms mostly.. they have themed rooms as well. lovers' theme and even a dumb ass cowboy theme.. or so i thought.

my colleague (Gay #1) and I went into the cowboy theme room and here's wat we saw..



The first thing that came to mind immediately was..

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN!!!!!!

muhahhhahah.. so funny.. esp since he was gay..

Subang Jaya also boasts of having the LONGEST shopping mall in the world..at least that's what the locals told me.. i was pretty tired but i decided to take a look..but actually the main reason is that i wanted to see if they have Dunkin' Donuts there or not..

The longest shopping mall in the world turned out to be the world's-most-boring-mall that-is-long.. super duper boring.. plus it's only 3 storeys high..i ended up buying shampoo and hair spray..



I walked the entire length of it and found no Donuts... so i decided to get some Baskin Robbins.. thought i'd try one more time n asked the lady.. " Any Dunkin Donuts nearby"

"Yes.. next door building.."

!!!!

i went over next door.. after a half hr search.. i found them.. the love of my life..

Kuala Lumpur

20 years since i've been to KL and though things have improved somewhat, it still isnt a city i'd come again if i had a choice.

Nothing much to buy, food is supposedly good but i like the food in Singapore anyway, service is bad, the ple are rude (I thought singaporeans were rude at the MRT but gosh...)

by the first day i was here, i already tried the KL Express, the train, the LRT and the taxi. I thought the train design was kinda silly... the door was like half the size of the S'pore MRT.. which is still ok if everyone didnt want to squeeze in at the same time that ple were coming out.. and ple were standing near the door.. which was very very narrow.. its design is like those real trains u know.. with carriages one.. which means the part near the door was damn cramped to start with...

im too lazy to say much.. will jus add the pics..

here's my rm..









i went the midvalley megamall.. huge mall.. very crowded.

then i went to KLCC.. even bigger!! took some pics..







i was pleasently surprised to find the Mandarin Oriental beside KLCC.. supposed to check it out tmr cos my boss said it's the best performing hotel in kl.. but since im here.. and im hungry..

i went to the chinese restaurant and found that EVERYONE was ordering peking duck..





i also wanted to order but even half a duck is too much for one person..

so it's jus fried rice for moi..not nice to eat at all.. fried rice cost RM21 and the bloody honeydew juice cost RM17.. siao bo?

Looking for Foodies

I think im on a roll here...blogging and blogging..

I think im jus procrastinating from doing work la.. sianz..

In any case, I have this voucher for a very nice dim sum place in Raffles Place.. Teahouse.. very nice, quite ex really.. But but but.. not when i have this voucher..

here's the menu..



and here's the voucher..4 persons and 1 person free.. which means it'd be 3/4 of the price.. S$28+++ quite cheap la.. cos the last time i went i ate S$50 for 2 persons.. and i wasnt even full... i like the fact that i can use it on weekends and dinner some more.. partly cos raffles place is a ghost town on weekend nights.



the downer is that it's expiring soon.. so my fans.. go form a party of 3 and we'll go.. before 31 March.

iPod Remote

After a long wait by iPod fans worldwide, Apple has finally decided to release a AM/FM tuner after Steve Jobs once famously said that iPod users have no time to listen to the radio..

The iPod remote... oh what the heck, here're the pics..

The remote is presented in a inflattering box..



Opening the box was a big pain in the ass... i wonder why do these ple do it this way... *shake head*



the object of many desires.. the iPod lemote



Close up shot..nice silver clip



an extra pair of earphones which no bona fide audiophile would use anyway..



Now to test the set..

but hey, i realised i left my iPod in the office... muhahhahahahahah... end of review then...

Celebrations

To celebrate my review, I decided to go to find my tailor.. muahahaha.. he's my source of solace and comfort.. though it's been 5 months since ive seen him which also means 5 months since i have a new shirt..

I wished him happy chinese new year and he intro-ed me to some new fabrics... I made 2 shirts ..

then i went to the IT Show.. didnt have anything to buy la.. but since i got nothing to do on a friday night, i thought i'd go and soak in the geeky atmosphere...

i ended up getting an iPod remote.. i promised xhlim i'll give a review... those geeky geeky review that starts from the time you open the box etc...

PERFORMANCE REVIEW

the big REVIEW was done yesterday.. it's always over-hyped in my mind.. when im staying late at work, i'll feely shitty and then tell myself that ill tell my boss this this this in the next review... but when it actually comes, my boss will be all smiley and laughs and he disarms me. Im sure some will know that it's easier to disarm North Korea of its nuclear arsenal than Cornball.

but well.. i tried to pysch myself up for this all week but when it came i feel flat..didnt really manage to raise the issues i wanted to. but instead, by sheer coincidence, he raised them himself.. and when he's the one who raised it, he gains the upper hand n then overwhelm me with "shock and awe". that's how Bush did SAddaM in.. "SHOCK AND AWE"...i think my boss did it using "SHIOK and AWWWWWWWWWW"

since im still having writer's block, here're the results

Technical knowledge - Achieve Performance Targets
Quality of Output - Achieve Performance Targets
Productivity - Exceeds Performance Targets
Initiative - Clearly and consistently exceeds targets with results above and beyond expections..(ding ding ding.. level up!!)
Time Management - Achieve Performance Targets
Teamwork - Clearly and consistently exceeds targets with results above and beyond expections..(ding ding ding.. level up!!)
Client Management - Achieve Performance Targets
Responsibility (Judgement, Honesty and Reliability) - Exceeds Performance Targets
Group Contribution - Exceeds Performance Targets
Leadership - Exceeds Performance Targets
Administration - Achieve Performance Targets

in the three reviews i've had, i nvr had anything bad said abt me before.. which after a while, it's not really fun. REALLY! like every year's the same old thing..

But this time he decided to do something different.. he made us write comments abt every other colleague and then gave us the comments written abt ourselves anonymously of cos..

I got these..

Things Cornball shld Continue Doing:
eager to help
interest in job
analytical
excellant knowledge in IT systems
eager to learn
IT-assistance
helpful nature
team player
a team player
helpful
maintain interest in job

i had a huge laugh when i read it.. "eager to help"?? "team player"? gosh...i think i act too well in the office liaoz... i how evil can? IT-assistance?? yeah sure, if it means yelling and screaming at Bittorrent users.. muhahahah

this is the interesting bit

Things Cornball shld do less of:

xenophobic
irrational behaviour due to work related stress
longwinded

i had an even bigger laugh when i read it. my boss laughed too.. he said he knew how the first one stemmed from, saying " if not being xenophobic means getting dead drunk till 2am when u r overseas and smoking, then forget it". so he told me to ignore the comment..

for the second one, he told me to take it easy and ive been working too hard. ask me to try to take leave again, knowing full well that he was the one who cancelled it twice, for christmas and CNY... his exact word were " just try la.. try to apply and see how, maybe this time u can actually take it and dont have to cancel".. DUH.. i told him he made taking leave like lucky draw like that.

he said he didnt think the third one was true. I said i think it's true la.. and i knew who write that.. hahaha.. must be that intern.. wanted to explain everything nice nice and cover all bases. then kenna like that. next time i'll jus be succinct liao.. TMD. i took the opportunity to tell him that he's longwinded too.. hahahahahhah

he ended by saying that ill be promoted by June 2006, marking my 2nd yr here. he did say that 2 promotions in 2 years is very gd liao... n he said this year got BONUS!!! YAY!!!! but he cant tell me the amt yet till the books are closed.. dammit...

Bitter sweet feeling.. things are promised but not exactly tangible yet...

Sleepless at Anson

Saturday morning and Im in the office. Seems like a long time since ive worked on a saturday in the office. I cant really remember when was the last time though.. pretty weird.. maybe ever since i've gotten the laptop then i've nvr worked on Saturday liaoz... which was probably in Oct or Sept..

I went to the IT Show yesterday so i didnt want to lug my lappie home, along with my notes and my air tix and my ties and watever.. so Im here this morning. Blogging at the same time cos im stuck at my work. Writer's block.. so now i come here for some writer's blog. muhahahahah..

I feel like going out today. wanted to go for dinner and a movie. I asked 2 ple yesterday abt gg out today..both not free.. ok lor... it's actually rare that i ask ple out cos usually i like to shop alone..or either that im too lazy to dress up on a weekend to go out..unless it's for mahjong of cos. for some reason, I like to go out before i go on a trip and it's no difference this time. It probably stems with a need to "feel" more of singapore before i head off to some unknown and very possibly less clean city. alas, I guess i'll feel more of my rm today then.

Food Woes

I deliberated between ordering room service or going downstairs to the restaurant for dinner last night. the restaurant was supposed to be the best italian restaurant in Jakarta. Jo told me room service is no fun.. hmm.. true.. anyway i was hungry..

I dont if it's really the best italian resturant in JKT but it sure is ex.. not wanting to blow the expenses or increase my cholestrol level with the oh-so-yummy-sounding-lobster ravioli, i opted for this.. trio Pasta.. which means three kind of pasta.



Served on a triangular plate, i was kinda disappointed it's so small.. sianz... three small piles of pasta for S$25.. bleah..but to their credit, it's perhaps the most delicious pasta i've had.. the green thingy on the bottom left is FILLED with wild mushrooms!! yummy..

as with all italian meals, they serve some bread.. pretty weird bread.. inside got thing one.. looks disgusting..*shudder* white white stuff.. looks like maggots really..



I didnt finish the bread so i ordered some grissinis...



I didnt order dessert cos 1) i felt fat.. 2)they are expensive!

If anyone's complaining that im not travelling enough, i'll be flying to KL on sunday. decided to go on sunday morning so that i can go walk walk ard KL on sunday before starting work on Monday. it's been abt 20 years since i last went KL...

*Yawn*

After a bloody 3 hour delay by bloody Garuda.. %^@&^$*^$ i finally reached Jakarta.. *yawn* reached at 1am and did work till 3am.. im tired...

Aftermath

I re-read the previous entry and thought it was rather pointless.. but so are lots of other posts in this blog.

I was tired by the time I got home at 11pm last night but I saw some nice comments in my previous posts and i thought i shld update my dearest fans... but alas Blogspot was down last night.

I tried to force my boss into an answer on whether the review will be on by telling him I was going for a movie and would probably be leaving early.. He said how abt next week cos he didnt wana rush through it. Ok lor.. next week then.. I was planning to leave at 530 for my movie.. but then my newbie colleague had some problems with his report and I was supposed to supervise this one.. dammit..

And so... 2.5 hours later... I missed my movie and my dinner.. got pulled to the cocktail that i didnt wana go but my entire office wanted to(entire office got invited)

I was bored by the first 10 mins i was there.. major yawn.. drank a few customary drinks like 2 x baileys 1 x tomatoe juice, 1 x pineapple juice and 2 x mouthfuls of beer (20 years since i tasted beer, i still don like it). Then why order beer, some may ask? Well, this guy from a rival firm ordered for me and handed to me.. I took 2 mouths and dumped it when he wasnt looking..

sure there were a few pretty gals but they were talking too fast for me on a friay night. Things got better towards the end when a few of my colleagues, including my boss, somehow gravitated towards each other and started to bitch about work.. that was pretty funny cos it just seemed different to bitch abt ur other colleagues when u have a glass of very nice pineapple juice in ur hand..

Our bitching session was rudely interrupted by this young female intern in Ritz carlton Singapore who came and told us how beautiful and how good service her hotel was..she absolutely didnt know who she was talking to.. here was 3 ple (my boss and my manager and me) who has seen more hotels than she can count.. muhahahahahha... she just went on and on and we jus gave polite smiles and occasional "wow"s.

And so I reached home at 11pm..had a cold dinner which mummy prepared for me and went to bed.. so much for friday night.

and cos i was asleep by 1230.. i missed the sms from jen at 230am asking me "so where are you?" im sorry i didnt reply..

Friday

It's Friday today.

It's actually Friday morning when I'm typing this now.

Friday morning always brings a sense of promise. A promise of liberation from the drudgery of the working week. It's also a promise to oneself that you'll do something different tonight, rather than just simply work alte and go home and surf the internet like the previous 4 days. In some companies which has a "Dress Down Friday" policy, there seem to be an implicit notion that not much gets down after 3pm on Friday.

Aaah.. the pleasures of Friday. Sometimes you wish that Fridays came more often. But at the back of your mind, you know the magic would be very much lost if Fridays came every other day.

I think I'll be having my review today. I wonder how much bonus, if any, i'll get. I dont know if i'll get a raise. I do hope my promised promotion in June could come early. I told some ple that i might just quit if this year's review wasnt too satisfactory. Naybe I shld start taking those headhunters seriously. I was once offered this job to be based in Shanghai. Quite cool job really.. scouuring the underbelly of Chine, scouring development deals.. I told my sis that i rejected it cos i wanted to stay close to home and jus be around. She said wat's the use, i cause more trouble when im home. that was pretty hurting and so, when the next job that requires me to go overseas, i'll go.

Fridays also mean I get invited to cocktails that dont fall on other days of the week. I think where i go tonight would greatly depend on the outcome of my review. Well, msn me tonight and find out where i am.

:)