What a week

This is a terrible wk. It just gets worse and worse from Mon to Fri.

1. Got bullied during work by a fellow engi. Sigh..made me do double work. But i smart la, i play ta-chi and push back to him. Work makes me angry sometimes, but i try to treat it like part and parcel, just think of tactics to counter la.

2. Feel that the world is really biased, even ur close family can be biased towards u (not my parents la, they are the best in the world). Maybe life is really just no fair, not everyone is equal. I never grumble what ppl have and i dun, coz these kinda things cannot compare. But a person's feelings towards another is just so different. For example, a couple has more than 1 child, they will def be biased against them. They will not treat each child equally, be it love or money. The bigger the family, the worse the problem. Since young, I have seen too much of these kinda things, so im not too appalled. But what i cannot tahan is: when u really treat a family member with so much sincerity, that person still dun understand and put it on mind! Somemore still can say horrible things back. This i cannot tahan.

Sometimes i feel so sorry for my parents. They really bore the brunt of these *** things. I feel its so unfair to them. I am thankful i have parents who love me a lot.

Dad and Mom > I promise u, as long as i m around, alive and breathing. I SHALL NOT let anyone suan, niao, scold both of u. I do not care who the other party is, as long as they speak ill of my parents, I wont hesitate to show them color.

I know my brother, like Edwin, will say i m too rash la blah blah. But i dun care also. Can come and shoot me, but if aim my parents, I will retaliate back, no matter WHO U R.

Weekend arrives

Another week zoomed past w/o me realizing! Haha! TGIF! It has been the most busy wk of my life, coz I had lotsa meetings with suppliers, boss etc, and it has always been fruitful and enjoyable. I treat these as learning sessions and I am accumulating my knowledge.

Read in the papers that people are coming to Sg to set up water research, coupled with NRF's injection of funds into water and wastewater research. It has been my dream to attend international conferences and mingle with 'water ppl', feel that it will enhance my knowledge and enable me to know more ppl. But I have to take 1 step at a time, and now the 1st step is to gain more insight into the practical aspects of ww treatment, like purchasing equipment, talking to suppliers, doing business with them (bargaining of prices and build working r/s), drawing P&IDs etc. All these things, I never learnt in uni before! I was only taught the theoretical part, but never the practical part. So I m giving myself 2-3 yrs to learn, then I will do postgrad and hopefully venture either into the research/conference path or to do my own ww treatment! Haha!

To all my frens out there, who are also working, learning, striving hard: Lets all jiayou tgt! Gambate ne!!!

PS: I still love shopping, travelling and relaxing though. Frens, let meet up!!

A phrase that i like

During a sauna and spa session last evening, I was reading an article when I came across a phrase to share coz i like it very much.

"Beautiful people are not always happy, but happy people are always beautiful."

TGIF

It has been a fairly peaceful wk, coz the co is busy with an impt tender so no one has time to take notice of non-tender ppl. Haha..hence I have time to read newspapers, websites, blogs, listen to Jay etc. Shld have brought along a book too. I just bought a novel recently, its..i dunno also..coz i haven flip a single page. My colleague lend me some shows, my aunt lend me a HK drama. This wkend is gonna be interesting, filled with shows, books, music, and my usual bout of nail art and masks. Women are vain, but Papa and Mama always say I m the vainest liao! Woah~~ and i m proud to be one! :P

Anyway, it has been a gd wk for me, except to hear that my admin lady is leaving us end Sept. Very sad coz she was working with me for my 1st proj and has been a great help in typing contracts, docs for me. Whenever a doc is called for, I will be so busy and after writing some contents i need, i ll pass to her to type, standardized etc. If i need any info, i just put a note and she will find and enter for me. Very nice! Once i had to change some docs and mess up the format, she kindly told me to leave it, make the changes i want and she will re-format for me nicely. Really kind of her! Moreover she was extremely bz with other submissions, yet she helped me. But she's leaving and i pray hard that the new admin will be able to work with me and understand my instructions. :)

Another guy left us yesterday to join sales. Ppl come and leave frequently, it makes me sad but also happy for them, coz they found another job, another aim and path to walk. Ppl's ideals and thots change over time, at diff points in life, one may want diff things, hence we shld always ask ourselves, "What do we want to do? What do we want in life?"

I wanna learn the ropes, basics and skills. Then i can do a 2nd degree and go into mgmt, this is wat i wanted all along. I prefer to do conferences, meetings and exchange of ideas, but i tink i ll stick in the wastewater field, coz its something that i like. To stay in this field, i must get used to paperwork and endless emails. Kinda boring eh? But my manager and boss are nice, they teach me how to do business with suppliers and squeeze more money/earn money for co. Haha, thanks!

Up to now, colleagues have been asking me, "Got bf?" Hahahahaha..my standard answer > Nope, its time to enjoy life now, not to get bothered by more problems. My life is simple, work, eat, sleep, watch tv, plus do spa, facials, hair, tution, read books, travel, gatherings, endless lunches and dinners with dear frens and family. I find it enriching and i truely enjoy! Yah..a lot of ppl will disagree with me, like i m wasting my time, life and money. At our age, we shld be working doubly hard to earn money, carve a future. But to me, family most impt. I wanna spend plenty of time with them, esp parents and Granny, coz they matter most to me. Of coz, with money so still need to work. Well, at least i m enjoying my life. Everyday is and should be a happy day for us! :)

Frens! Work hard, strive hard but take a minute, pause and ask urself: What is it that i really want in life? Do i enjoy my life? Life is short, why do something u dun like or force urself to work like a dog w/o a moment to savour life?

A day to remember

Today is a day to remember, a point in time when I will always remember wat i was doing on this day 5 years ago. The day when World Trade Centres fell and a group of ppl declared war on the rest of the world.

I can and will always remember when I was 10 yrs old and my parents with Granny brought me to New York City. We went up the Empire State, visited the Statue of Liberty and took pictures of the two Towers. It becomes a precious photo to us now, coz the Towers no longer stand. As i read from an article on CNN, this day becomes a point in our generation, when each and every one of us will be able to recall the exact moment, what we were doing at the moment the Towers fell. I can still remember the pictures of the Towers falling, just like Lego blocks. Life is so fragile and so easily gone, at that one moment, thousands of lives were lost, and thousands of families were destroyed.

Perhaps it is because Daddy was born in US, hence our family has a strong feeling towards US. Or perhaps it is because we feel for the human race and thousands of lost lives. Whenever I recall the day, the moment, or even the reports and articles, I will be deeply moved and to be frank, with tears in my eyes. Every one of us, regardless of race or religion, should keep this day in memory, and give our prayers to the dead.

Today is the day when I am thankful that I m alive, happy and fortunate to be living in this part of the world, where there is minimal chaos. Call me a pampered and sheltered gal, but I indeed feel blessed and loved.

Remember those who have left us, treasure those who are with us.

Once a yr :)

Once a yr (approx la), music lovers will be looking forward to an album > which is representative of Chinese music and brings us new emotions always. Jay Chou's album -- Still Fantasy, is out in stores today and I m gonna collect mine after work! This is great!

After a gruelling wk at work, this is the first thing I look forward! Followed by the endless treats by parents and all the events lined up for this wkend!But first...Jay's album! I heard his main song two wks ago, and I have been dying to listen to the whole album. Still Fantasy, a follow up of his most successful album (Fantasy) which was the bestseller for many months then (a few yrs back).

Let me get hold of the album and post my review later :P

PS: This represents a personal view of mine, coz I understnad everyone has diff taste for music :)

Stand u for yourself

Dear frens, stand up for urself. I learn a few things in office (after 8wks):

1. When ur boss asks u to change, pls say yes and try to think thru.
2. When ur colleagues (same rank and position) ask u to change, pls ask why. Do not follow blindly, unless they have more than 5 yrs of experience.
3. After the official office hours, we can wrap up the work and leave. Work is never ending.

I am nice and pleasant, willing to learn things. But to those ppl: I m no pushover, do not bully me coz I m new and do not know a lot of things. U were once a newbie urself, do u enjoy getting bullied?

Frens, must stand up for urself at the right time, in front of the right ppl. But to bosses, pls be humble, soft spoken and smiley.

Tell me why

Today, I have a lot of sentiments, so i m gonna share with u :)

My fellow process engi (coz i m in charge of project engi for this proj) told me that my valve list, equipment list and instrument list all CMI (these are the works of a process engi, but I gonna help out in both process and project, so i did them). So i ask him why. He said they just look weird weird. I told him i followed his template to draft out, and why is there a prob? I just wanna know why and I m sure there is rm for improvement (I NEVER insist mine is right). He didnt wanna tell me the prob, so i persist. Then he reluctantly told me.

This brings me back to last Thurs, he read my equipment comparison (which is the work of a project engi and he, a process engi, knows very little), and said its wrong again. My proj manager has read and told me its fine, but he said its not. So i asked him what is the correct way? He said he dunno also. Fine, so i said Ms ** has read and did not say anything, so i dun see the need to change, unless u can gimme a sample of the 'correct' version. Later on, i ask Ms ** (proj manager) and she said its ok wat, if ** said its wrong, ask him to get u the correct one.

I m perfectly fine with ppl rejecting my work and changing it, coz i m new and i may not do things the right way. But u have to tell me why, so i can learn and improve next time. Do not just change my work or simply tell me 'innocently' : it looks weird. < This is a dumb answer which i do not accept. And when i do not accept, i make sure i state my point (and displeasure) right in their faces (except to big boss la) :P

From a friend

One day a fren told me > her boss asked her, "What is management to u?"

So wat is management to u? To manage things and tackle problems? To learn how to run a business?

Boss's answer, "To get things done through ppl."

Fully agree. I nv see my boss typing a doc, browsing thru files, reading tonnes of papers. He will sit in his rm, call ppl in, and have discussions with them. Things are done in the blink of an eye :P

Thinkers and followers

Now I know why there is a difference between managers and engineers.

They think and handle matters differently.

Managers think of ways to tackle the problem quickly. Engineers are mere followers of the ways.