Slogging @ Sony

I'm employed at Sony. Sony precision to be exact. Located at Tuas ave 9, it takes me 2.5 hours from home to office. Theorectically speaking, I spend almost a quarter of a day travelling. It's tiring for me and I'm still getting used to it. My body takes the toil from the long hours of travelling.

Monday (19 jun 06) was my first day at work. Basically, I'm attached to the Production Engineering Dept where I get to work on the design of Robokids. Robokids is just a fanciful name for industrial robots. Nothing has been eventful at work and I spent the first 3 days practicing Solidworks CAD software by myself. I didn't even get a chance for an orientation tour. No introduction to the colleagues, hence i had to go around chatting up with the people around me. One thing which i realised about Sony is that the environment is dead quiet. Nobody really speaks in office. As far as I can recall, I heard less than 20 sentences from the engineers around me during office hours. I guess the company culture is as such, everyone stares into the 21 inch LCD Sony monitors doing the Computer Aided Drawings for the robokid parts. As expected, the entire department consists mainly of guys. The only ladies I see around are the 40/50 year old aunties. Just "great".

My boss is extremely enthusiastic in his work, a tad too much for the engineers under him it seems. Although he tries to motivate the engineers to go the extra mile in doing things, it seems that everyone seems so sad at work. Everything looks zombified at work. Although the situation seems quite negative, the people and environment, I guess I can work this to my advantage. Since almosteveryone has the dreaded "I don't want to die at work" aura, it's easier for me to excel. Less competition. So much the better. I think the boss treats me well and teaches me whenver he is free. Let's see how the situation progresses. He has promised to put me under a new division that requires frequent oversesas travelling. I want to make somehting out of this Sony experience.

Although the welfare is terrible (horrendous) as compared to Motorola and the Japanese work culture is "Working overtime 7 days a week is oh so very normal" , I think I should still give in more effort despite the surplus of negative feedback. Attitude is what makes a person stand out. Thing's are not boring, it just haven't got exciting yet. Turbocharging should fix the situation. For things around me to change, I must be the first to change. Things will turn out for the better. Working OT 7 days a week isn't that bad at all.

Right?

Orange Ole!

The Orange army is back with a shout! First blood has been drawn by Arjen Robben over Serbia and Montenegro for yesterday's match. Resistance is futile against the Orange Army of Holland. Forget about messing around with the Orange revolution. Vibrance on the outside, lethal on the inside. Don't bother messing around.

Fun tip: Do you S&M is the only team without a country in the world cup? The country disbanded into 2 countries; Serbia; Montenegro respectively.

World of Friends at Monty's Bar

The World Cup is here at last! After watching Germany and Costa Rica fighting it out with a record opening score of 4-2 to Germany's favour. Many had expected the preceding matches to explode with excitement.

Getting in sync with the world cup, I was down at Monty's bar with a group of friends to catch England vs Paraguay which many expected to be one hell of a match. England, being favourites in this tie were expected to lash out the fury as potential world champions at Paraguay's expense. Prior to the match, Zhijian, Ka Weng, Caveman and myself were down at Cafe Cartel located at Plaza Singpaura for a sumptous dinner. It is always great to meet up with friends, especially after graduation. Most of us discussed with vigour on our "expert analysis" on the match preview. It was not surprising as many of us had "invested" in the match hoping to have some financial returns.

Approximately at 8pm, we headed down to Raffles MRT to meet up with Kok Teong who was already there waiting for us. Boat Quay was a stone's throw away and we headed to my favourite hangout pub aka Monty's Bar. Although there is no happy hour and such, I love that place. This pub has quite a number of native British expats who hang out there to show their support to their home country. Surprisingly, underdog fans can be found there too. There was this time during the Liverpool vs West Ham FA Cup final that KW and myself found ourselves outnumbered by WEST HAM supporters singing GOD SAVE THE QUEEN. Haha. What a surprise. Of course, another reason why Monty's Bar has become my favourite hangout place are the cute waitresses. Special mention has to be given to this attractive gal, Yvonne. Always cheery, sweet and very service orientated. She took orders with an extra smile and specially with politeness. It's rare to find hot chicks with a nice attitude nowdays. Had a short chat with her despite her hectic workload. Realised that she has been working there for quite some time and she's here on a part time basis. I guess the pay must be cool to work in a pub. Fun and always exciting. Just 30 minutes before the match kick off, Kelvyn joined us at the pub where we hung out happily catching up and soaking in the atmosphere.

When the match kicked off, I got to chat up with some British and Indian expats who were there watching the match too. Ain't it great to chat up with people who came from half the world away. Soccer matches isn't just about the andreline rush, it's always about meeting new friends and chilling out with current ones. Interesting events occur once in the while. A beer glass got shatterd while cheering the bottles and glasses. KW suffered minor cuts as a result of the accident from the collision of my Stella Artios beer bottle in the midst of the excitement which drew quite a few surprised faces in the pub. Heh. Sorry bro, never expected the glass to shatter so easily from a slight knock from the bottle. Despite high expectations, the England vs Paraguay match was a drab with the result in England's favour courtesy of an early Paraguay's own goal. Although the match ended 1-0 with all the fellow "investors" losing some financial assests, I will say it's part and parcel of having fun. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. What matters most is still treasuring friends company and sharing bonding sessions. No wonder Carlsberg has this quote on "World of friends" during boozing sessions.

Here are the standings as of 11 June 4:44 PM (GMT +8).

Bring in the goals !!!! Check out the highlights of the Germany vs Costa Rica thriller below. Ole... Ole Ole Ole...

FIFA World Cup 06

Thoroughout the course of human history, spanning over multiple centuries, there have been prediction of doomsday or the end of the world whenever a major event occurs. Academics worldwide have observed that scenarios of people filled the "Passioned with obsession syndrome" (PWOS). Weary males (read: Boyfriends) and neglected females (read: Girlfriends) over the widely loved FIFA World Cup has sparked an increase in the number of reported cases of people "infected" with the PWOS.

June 2006, Planet Earth. There have been reports of sightings that certain genres of humans have started to show the above mentioned symptons. Global experts have gathered at an emergency meeting at an undisclosed boardroom to tackle this upcoming pandemonium. Despite there disagreements on many issues, reliable sources have indicated that world leaders have decided that Singapore will be used as a case study to further analyse any discerning trends.

The FIFA World Cup.The Beautiful Game competition that comes once every 4 years. This time round, the mega scale world event will be held in Germany with the footballing elites nations will congregate for the sacred trophy and honour of being the next world champion. Passionate fan groups worldwide have already begun their preparation to worship their footballing gods. There is no doubt the world cup is not just a soccer tournament. It is the competition that binds people from all nations regardless of nationality and race. Political and national differences have been put aside to celebrate the union of the human race. Pride and passion converge, giving people not just pure sportertainment but also a time to bond people with a common dream. Afterall, it's a world of friends to be made during the month of June. Soccer fanatics will indulge in a celebration of world class soccer matches. Not surprisingly, the guys have devoted all their tender loving care (TLC) to their new love in their lives (aka the spanking brand new 42" plasma high definition television set). Never mind the girls, this is what the true breed testorone filled guys really yearn for. Check out the pics before the launch of the world cup with will commence on 10 June 2006 midnight (Singapore time) with Germany playing host to Coasta Rica. The world is waiting for the super sporting spectacle.

This is the game where legends are born.

Ladies need not feel left out. As you can see, some ladies are embracing it as well as the guys. Heidi Klum certainly has no trouble with playing her ball. (Even though it's hand ball)

Still NO? Why you so fussy? For the ladies who cannot seem to fall in love with the World Cup, here are some tips which MAY capture occasional glimpes from the guys while the soccer matches are in progress.

Tip 1: Look fantabulous while bringing the booze


Tip 2: Gather your hot gal friends to watch soccer with the guys

Tip 3: Dress in your guy's favourite team colours

Tip 4: Shock him (temporarily) with your

new hair colour during half time.

If all else fails, the ladies can always fall back on the....

Guys may/ may not notice your absence, so make good use of the time to do your shopping. One item which may catch your fancy during the shopping trip is this sexy little black shoe....

The shoes are not nice meh? No no... they are actually sassy sexy strappy shoes from the latest Charles and Keith collection. Your lady eyes must be playing tricks on you. Heh heh.

What the heck. Let the games begin!

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

I'm playing around with flickr, trying to host my pics in high resolution using their service. Let's see if it works out well. You may see an exodus of photos if this fun trial turns out successful. (",)

Graduation

I've graduated from university!! Results were out on 5 July with lots of my friends sending in sms that the examination results were Hurray! At least i managed to salvage a honours degree, which I consider quite an acheivement for someone who only managed to get a hold of tertiary education only during my third year. The convocation ceremony is on 27 July 2006 (Thurs). Do let me know in advance if you are free to attend (or if you are taking leave from work)! We can take photos together! Almost 2 decades of education and this is what I have been waiting for. It feeeeels gooooooooooooooooooood. Heh Heh.

I had a good 3 weeks vacation break and I'm still looking for my dream job. I'm now officially in the Manpower Board statistic of being unemployed! Time to rock on. This is where life really begins. :)