Honda CR-Z

Early this month was the launching of Honda CR-Z. Honda claimed it is the world first sporty hybrid.

It is special because it is a coupe, and that means 2 doors and most probably 2 seater. The car is awesome but when you realized that you can only share with one person at a time, it is kind of "owh... that's too bad."

Look at the interior! Breathtaking!

Well the back seats are either for hobbits or kids. Maybe for people with no legs too. How considerate. (Zzzz... It's a coupe lah... Don't you understand?)

Engine integrated with electric motor, IMA(Integrated Motor Assist). It is called so because the engine is always working. When you accelerates the electric motor assist, and when you decelerates it charges the battery. Less fuel for more power. An unique type of "hybrid". Since it bears the name "hybrid", it only sells at RM 115k in Malaysia.

Currently we only have 6 speeds manual in Malaysia, CVT comes later. With 6 speeds you do feel quite sporty, but you would a bit upset when you realized the 0-100km/h is 10 seconds. (Yes! You probably able to outrace CR-Z with a Gen-2.)

Jason Barlow said it is a different kind of car, for a different kind of road trip. It is a coupe so forget about the back seats.

Creating Great Memories

After watching 'You are the Apple of My Eye', can't help but recalled all the memories during my school days. They were so nostalgic and beautiful!

I realized that the beauty of life is life itself. You have to live in it and create great memories. Do awesome things! Do beautiful things! What kind of things is awesome and beautiful? Well you got to figure it out yourself. 

One day i'm going to dump my job and become a person i truly wanna become. Perhaps will go to a foreign land, if possible maybe i will get some odd jobs. Stay there for as long as possible, meet new people, and start creating great memories!

Does it sounds childish? Maybe... but what's so great about being a mature, predictable, dull person? I think i have done that enough. Should try to become silly and immature aka childish.

If we could possibly choose to stop growing up, would you want to?

US Visa

"Hello how are you?"
"Say again?"

"How are you?"
"Yeah i'm fine."

"Why are you going to the US?"
"I'm an employee of Antara Koh.... .... I'm there to witness the testing."

"Do you have any relatives there?"
"Nope."

"How long would you stay in the US?"
"3 days."

"Your Visa is approved. This is the collection card to pick up your passport at your selected distribution office. Enjoy your trip to the US."

"So it's done?"
"Yeah."

"Thanks!"

The interview took me less than 2 minutes (maybe because i have the invitation letter from the US manufacturer) but the queue took me 2 hours!

The application itself is a lengthy and tedious process. Pay up the application fees at Standard Charted Bank, filling up the online application form, schedule the interview, get ready the US Visa format photos, attend the interview at the US embassy, and finally collect the Visa.

And here it is!

I was never informed of the validity of the Visa but i was granted 10 years! I thought it would be like perhaps a month? That is so cool!

This is not about Steve Jobs

The passing of Steve Jobs was a phenomenon although some people have deemed his contribution was overrated. There were other people with much greater inventions but never seemed to be appreciated as much as Steve Jobs does. He was good in earning our money and yet everybody respect him.

I do like one of its quotes though, which states;

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

Live your everyday like it is the last day of your life. Do what you think that even if today was the last day you would ever live in this world and you would still do whatever you have planned to do today.

I realized i have failed in this respect. I still doing the same freaking thing i do everyday which wasn't really where my passion truly lies. Is it because i don't get to choose? Or just simply because i was afraid? Sometimes i think i have lost my direction in life. I was so tuned to work to the degree where i think i have forgotten my passion for other things in life. I don't feel the desire to do other things that much anymore. In fact, i don't know what i wanted to do exactly. I think i am losing it.

Where is my courage? I thought i was brave.

煎熬    李佳薇

Superb Vocal from 李佳薇

An August not to forget

The month of August 2011 is going to end in about 40 minutes time. Hope that i can finish this post before September come.

August was a happening month. I moved to Pasir Gudang at 10th of August. A day after i enjoyed a day off at 9th of August, National Day of Singapore. Settling down at this very industrialised town is okay. The first few days was awful. No transport, no internet, etc...

Things get better after that, company given me one old, rusted Iswara but who cares, as long as its wheels are rolling. Few days after that i registered Celcom broadband 3.5mbps speed with 6GB for monthly usage. Pretty smooth and hustle free. Nice. I can claim from the company as well because it is for work purposes too.

Ever since i came to Pasir Gudang, i went back to Singapore every weekends. Partly due to there is no entertainment around Pasir Gudang. Plus the fact that i'm not really familiar with Johor roads, is better to go back to some where i can take public transports to wherever i want to go and meet my friends.

This month is also special because LGM came down to NTU for the final round of FYSK-17. Although we didn't win but it was fun and it was great to be able to meet them and listen to them playing again.

This month going to end really nicely. With the last few days of the month being holidays, and the fact that i enjoyed off days and celebrated the National Day for both Singapore and Malaysia together at this month makes it even special.

LitleGras life is always the best! Wish this could last forever and ever.

Work... Again.

Well... more than a month has gone since i back to the main office. I can totally feel i am a site people. Being limited to work around walls does not feel great at all. It stresses me out for nothing.

Anyway, i know i am gonna off to Pasir Gudang very soon. The project has to kick off eventually. It is a very tight-scheduled one though. Feel so tension being given such a responsibility. Although i know this is my chance to shine and get noticed. Only if i managed to complete the project in time of course.

Just in case you didn't see me in the next CNY, i might be still working, struggling to get things done. It so happens that the handover date is a day before the first day of CNY! Why if the project couldn't finish in time?
lalalala.....

现在的我

After a year working in Singapore, i will be backed to Malaysia again. Not for good but at least for 6 months, which is the period of the new project i am going to involve in.

The site is located in Pasir Gudang, not sure how is it though, never been there. Judging from my current scope of work, i can say i have move forward in my career. I have been learning new things on a on-going basis. It is quite satisfying, knowing i am on the right track.

However, sometimes, i still miss my life being a student, or rather i should say the life when i indulged myself in the sea of music, playing in a band, drumming. Such a great life it is.

I am thinking whether i should stop working for a year or two, then just join some band and play music. You know i can't really let go of the paycheck i am receiving every fortnightly, but then again what is the money for when you can't do something you want to do. For whom for what we want to be rich?

Having able to buy stuffs that you want, be it a car, a house, a branded watch or other any other expensive stuffs, does not really help in making you happy and contended for life. It is always a temporary effect, where you only enjoyed for a brief moment when your materialistic-ism being fulfilled. After the hormones disappeared, your happiness also vanished.

I need a reason for me to continue working on my career goals. Please give me one.



王力宏 - 需要人陪

I started working exactly a year ago today

 Today is May 17th! It is a public holiday in Singapore, Vesak Day. Well, today is also the day where i started working after completing my studies a year ago. A welcomed coincidence isn't it?

Generally i find myself love to work in marine environment. It offers some kind of thrill out of the routine boredom from time to time. What kind of thrill am i talking about? It is the thrill of unforeseen circumstances.

Myself about a year ago!

You know in construction line, schedule is of utmost importance. Basically a major determinant of whether a construction firm going to grasp a profit from a particular project. And for most of the construction projects on land, in my opinion, are quite predictable. However, it is not so in the marine construction.

Why do i said so? One of the factors that influence schedule are tidal change. The level of permanent structure is not going to change regardless of the tide. Therefore sometimes, for a particular work, there is only 3 to 4 workable hours in a day as the seawater level rises or falls. Hence, planning is an everyday job because tide levels are different in each and every hour everyday. Of course there are works that do not depend on tide levels, this is where the other hours in a day are used for.

Piling Barge

My company specializes in marine foundation works. Our works are highly dependent on machineries, as most of the machineries are huge. To name a few, piling barge, crane barge, material barge, jack-up barge, drilling machine, anchor boat et cetera. When there are so many plants and machineries around, breakdown of machineries is inevitable. This is the second factor that influence the schedule, in fact, a lot.

Many construction companies overlooked the importance of workers, thinking they could be replaced with another one anytime, causing their welfare poorly taken care of.  Perhaps it is because they are afford to lose their workers, but it is not so in my company, workers are rather important. Due to the fact that we got so many kinds of machinery, we need operators/workers to operate them. Project managers or engineers are not going to operate them, hence workers and their respective supervisors know best. They are in fact real skillful personnel, an important assets to the company. Some of the operators and supervisors actually earning a salary higher than engineers, and maybe project manager too.

DTH Hammer

Tackling the unforeseen circumstances, analyses the problems, thinking of a solution, planning the works, are everyday chores. I was very helpless at first, but now i started to get the hang of it. Under the guidance of my manager and fellow colleagues, operators and even workers. I am feeling quite good doing my job everyday. 

914.4mm OD Steel Pipe Piles with length from 32m to 45m

In my company, everyone has different expertise to offer, and i try to learn from everyone of them. I looking forward to gain an all round knowledge, and become a complete, highly capable personnel for the company. In return, hopefully, fulfilled my ambition and satisfaction in life by gaining a highly rewarding career.

Myself being melodramatic

We all used to be a student. We have friends around us that we usually hangout together with. Whenever you feel bored or something you can instantly grab your phone and send a text message or just call them out for something.

As time goes by, we grow older and we graduated and started working. We have less time for each other because we need to cope with the work stress and physical tiredness resulted from our job. Perhaps we could see each other during the weekends, if we feel like wanted to.

And then another stage come in, now is the time to settle down, it is almost time to start a family. At this moment you will meet your friends less and less. Most of the time you will be hanging out with your another half, life partner. When both of your partner and you also working, it is only logical to spend time together during weekends.

How about friends? Yeah we still hangout some time, just not as often, way less often. Can't help but feel pathetic having to write this post. Feelings struck when i tried to get some friends for lunch and i couldn't find any. Sorry about that.

p/s: i will still going out to meet a friend later in the evening. The situation is not as bad as you think but, i just wanted to depict the feelings i have right now.

Stress out

You know some time i do think my PM treat me not bad. But somehow or rather i easily feel annoyed by whatever he asked me to do. 

I mean for a boss to ask his man to work, give him a task, is perfectly normal. Sometimes we even heard about some unreasonable boss giving unreasonable workload plus bad treatment. Well, i don't really get this kind of treatment but i wonder why i got so fed up with everything he did. Even though it is just a very small issue.

I practically not afraid of him. Maybe don't have respect either. I don't know.

I threw my anger to him today, electronically. I mean, using email. Think i shouldn't have done that but i just can't resist myself.

Perhaps it is because no matter what kind of situations we are in, we still manage to find some bad stuff in it and complain. Just like in Singapore while everything looks pretty good already but you will still find lots of people complaining about stuffs, although it is much better than Malaysia already.

Perhaps we just won't get enough of everything we have had. We always want to be better, and in one way it make us suffer.

What is my problem?

I think most probably people who read my blog posts will probably realized that most of my posts revolves around my thoughts. Thoughts that are few could be able to understand, i guess.

At first i thought it is because i think too much, but after recently i thought to myself perhaps the problem could be also addressed as "obsessive". I realized i do obsess with a lot of things.

So is it being obsessive a problem? It sounds like it does. However, if you look at it positively, one could also say it is "passion", isn't it? When i obsess with playing drum i become good at it. But when it comes to relationships, i think obsessive could only lead to the bad side, negative. 

It is simple and make sense. Who likes to be obsessed by somebody else? It sounds like a stalker or a sex maniac. "Mutual" is the word for relationships. Okay now the problem is, how to control my "passion" for it? How to make it "mutual", so to speak?

"Actually i do like you but not very intensely." Like that? Or act like i don't really care when i really do? Is that the way? With all these being said, am i really have to learn to distract my thoughts with other stuffs? When all i really want to do is to think about her? How could i ended up driven her away? I do feel when i don't care as much, my feelings for relationships around me is better. When i really care about it, i will feel i have not done enough, and i will put myself in a difficult situation, making myself feel bad when things did not happen the way i wanted it to be.

Now don't ask or try to guess who is the "her". There's is no specific her because the scenario mentioned above does not happened for one time only. I don't know whether this is the true problem or not, but yet i got no better explanation to all that have happened. Perhaps you could give me an answer for that matter.

Perhaps the moment when i am thinking and blogging about this, it is already a problem itself, because usually ordinary man would not have such a thinking in the first place. They are steady and cool with almost everything, exaggeratedly.

Is that a problem? What is my problem?

Work

Just a few months ago i was complaining on how my working life sucks. Anyway, things get better now. 

I have not working for more than 5 Sundays consecutively.

I have not staying back until 10pm for more than 4 weeks.

My colleagues started to take leaves. From leaves that last for few days to 3 months. Even my PM is taking a week leave.

Company revised staffs' salary and i was one of them. It is pretty handsome too.

I think maybe the previous complaints of mine are heard. Perhaps this is just temporary but i really hope it is not. Once in a while if required to work until 10pm or mid night if there's casting that is alright. But please don't make me stay because i need to standby for don't know what the hell unexpected circumstances or situation that most probably wouldn't happen.

Good Life

You know in this world no one can take care of your feelings. People don't really care about what they did to others and they don't consider how the other person thinks. 

Alright i know it sound harsh. They may consider but at the end of the day. Their own feelings are the most important things. They will take care of their own feelings even though it includes hurting you.

So you must stand up and protect your own! Why let them ruining your days? We wake up in the morning every single day thinking about life. We want a good one of course. So then we must take care of our own feelings.

If making other feels good and you feel goods too then that's win-win. If you being nice and your are hurt instead. What for being nice?

If hurting them makes you feel good, go ahead and screw them!!

64.97m above sea level

Henderson Waves was where it is. 64.97m is not the highest point, but it is the point where i stopped at. It is not high, so going down is easy. I have stopped looking for the truth and i'm on my way down. The scariness has gone. Apparently it wasn't that important after all.

The Fear!

I am scare! I can't calm myself down. I'm like watching an endless scary ghost movie.

I have discovered things that i shouldn't know. These things are so dramatic that it is unbelievable. And i have yet to discover all, which makes it even more scary! I don't know what is the truth exactly. The truth, however, is kind of predictable, but i am too scare to accept it being a truth.

I don't know what i should do. My heart pumping fast when i think of it. I feel a deep sense of fear. Fear that i have never felt before in my entire life. It keeps coming. I'm drowning inside it.

There are only so much i can tell. This is because as in somehow a silence promise has been made when i talked to the story teller. The story teller did not really ask or threaten me to keep it as secret, but i just know that i could not tell.

The story teller is like no other story tellers. She just present the tip of the ice berg for you. She then without doing anything, capable of manipulate your thoughts to discover more things. She will only tell when you ask. I have thought of not asking but i could not let go of the truth. I wonder why i want to know a truth that will scare the hell out of me?!

I feel sick. I feel nausea. I feel hot and suddenly i feel cold. Am i really sick or a ghost has got on me?

Pre-Holiday shoutout!

Well... Holiday officially started! I'm still in Singapore though. Bus depart tonight at 9pm.

You know i thought i was quite committed to my job already. Willing to work like no day or night for my company. I really thought i'm doing good enough. But as time passed by, apparently it wasn't enough. When you willing to commit more, the more they going to give. It will never stops. 

My superior actually expects me to do more. I mean WTH? You want more? I'm a human you know. I need rest and i need time for my own activity. Wonder why the culture of my company is like that. Why there isn't anything about Work Life Balance? A company can't strive if it provides its employees more time at home? I don't feel i rewarded fairly. It makes me less motivated. I mean who is going to appreciate your efforts? Who sees it? What is the point of working damn f'ing hard?

I really love spending time listening to music, watching Youtube videos and stuffs. Be it a music videos, a cover, or a review or know-how. It makes my day pleasant. Song heals man!! Listen to Tyler Ward. He's Great!