Bits of Life at Pengerang

Yosshhh!! 2 more days and it will be a full 3 months of working in Pengerang! Bosses, please acknowledge my efforts and give me a handsome pay raise! Hahaha...

I met some new friends, local Chinese I am referring to. They are... hmmm... interesting. Their lives are simple and full with laughters, stupid jokes! There is even a place now, a restaurant actually, that gives me feelings of warmth and peace. I think I wanted to be there because I like that atmosphere, the food was quite nice though.

My bosses are Japanese, speak fluent Japanese (Of course) but poor English. Their English, or you may call Japlish, are really quite hilarious to listen to. Example, Reto(red) Colour, Speedboato(Speedboat), Ando(and), Ma(anyhow), Pleasu(please), and the list goes on... maybe you are not laughing, wait till you listen to their accents. Am listening to their conversations with each other day to day... just like I used to watch Japanese drama, which I still do now, and it is just damn funny trying to pretend not understand what they were saying. haha... After years of watching Japanese dramas and also the Japanese classes that I have attended during university years, can't help but to understand some of their conversations. (Gome! Ma, I still respect my bosses!) Hahaha...

Okay, now is the month of Ramadhan, Malay colleagues are fasting, workers too. The canteen become quiet, no long queues, just nice. I am liking it. Meanwhile I still hate the fact that I have to fight for nice car park spot every morning, because people still drive while Ramadhan right? Lolz... Lame!

Let you feel my work place, this is what I see everyday.

Signing off...

CR-Z: The Paint & Coating

The first thing you need to do on your car when you first got it, is to protect its paint. The factory paint is probably the best and it would be your wish to maintain the way it is.

The picture above was taken when my car was about 1 week old. Look at the gloss. Awesome right? Okay I admit I did increase the contrast slightly. Haha...

On the day this picture was taken, I sent her for coating. Hoping her beauty could last forever.

Optimum Coating was where I sent her! The result has been amazing so far. In case you decided to opt for Optimum Coating do tell that you know them through me, HockSiang. :D

2 Weeks on The Job

2 weeks have gone and I wouldn't say it was a hard one. The work itself really feels kind of easy to get the hang of it. Now I can really tell what's the difference in productivity between someone who is totally new and someone with experience.

Everything was kind of expected so far. In fact a lot of flashes came back to mind and remind me what is the next step to take and the precautions for potential problems. Construction site always have problems, and solving problems is really what engineers like me have to do. The upside is I can get my job done pretty effectively. The downside is people start to depend on you and harbour high expectations from you.

I'm not genius or different in anyway while compare to others. I just know slightly more than others in terms of marine construction. I would say luck brought me here, to where I am today. I have never planned myself that way. I just followed what was given to me, and I kind of made my way here. I still doubt about my choice of career though. Despite all the upside my job gave me, the downside will always be there and I not sure that is really what I wanted.

Anyway, for the time being, I will just continue to do what I have always been doing, to have great faith in my abilities and to do what I am paid to do.

New Chapter in Life: New Job New Beginning

Well, instead of further study like I mentioned in my Preview of 2012, I changed job. The 23 of April 2012 was the last day of service to my company. 

It was my first company since graduation and I have learned lots to grow to a more mature engineer compare to 2 years ago. I joined this company on 17 May 2010 and gosh time passed so fast. I have since involved in 3 projects which exposed me to the fundamental of marine construction. The experience was awesome! Many thanks to colleagues whom had guide me throughout my time in this company.

About 3 months ago a new opportunity arose and I took it. As a result I will be starting my new job at 2nd of May. I will be working in Malaysia and this involve giving up my employment pass. It had certainly served me well for this past 2 years, enabled me to access Singapore easily. For the record, my passports only got stamped once by Singapore Immigration.

However, working in Malaysia also means a different kind of lifestyle. Not exactly new to me but this time it is more reassuring that I will be staying here far more longer. Hence I have bought my first ever car in my life! More about my car in future posts! ^.^

By the way, for the record as well, I have never bought any laptop in my life until one month ago. I've been using my company laptop LIKE A BOSS all this while haha! I'm changing company and of course the laptop has to go back to the HR, which it already did.

HP Envy 14 Spectre with HP X7000 Wifi Mouse and Beats by Dr. Dre! Also starring are my HTC Desire HD, Nokia Xpress Music 5130, and Samsung Monte.

Yes I did use 3 phones and in fact I have 4 phone numbers! Call me crazy but I really found them handy as I always moving around between JB and Singapore, and also to segregate my calls between personal and work. Don't be surprise if you only have one of my 4 numbers, because no body have all my 4 phone numbers. Mostly got one or two, three is very few! However I'm likely to reduce it to 2 or 3 starting next month.

I pray my new chapter in life will be better than ever if not awesome. 

Ritsu Tainaka 1/8 Figure by Alter

After about a month i back from Japan, i finally unwrapped Ritsu and assembled it from pieces.

I also put it into a proper display case, but i had removed it for taking the below shots!

The level of details in this figure is just amazing! Never regret bringing her back all the way from Akihabara Tokyo Japan. Hope to bring in Mio next time if possible and eventually the entire K-On! band! Haha! ^.^

Singapore vs Tokyo - MRT vs Trains, Subway, & Shinkansen

I have been living in Singapore for about 2 years. The impression i have for Singapore MRT is pretty good. You know, convenient, timing accurate, not like the one in Kuala Lumpur. It was hopeless. Now the Sungai Buloh-Kajang MRT are being constructed. Hopefully it would be run in a first class manner.

I went to Tokyo about 3 weeks ago. Then i get to experience the public transport system over there. It was great, even when compare to the Singapore's. In Tokyo they don't really call it MRT. They are Trains and Subway, run by dozen of companies. Singapore MRTs were run by two, SMRT & SBS. Now we don't compare on the quantity of companies or number of lines.

Tokyo Subway Route Map

Singapore MRT Map 2012

First thing, speed. MRT of Singapore, in average travel at about 50-60km/h, with occasional stops in between stations, for no reason whatsoever. Maybe the one in front is late moving out from the station. I mean, SMRT or SBS should have had done it better. Whereas Tokyo, even the slowest train easily travels at about 100km/h with no stop in between stations. In fact they have rapid line which bypass low traffic stations so that you could get to your destination faster. Of course you can only do so if you are alighting at stations which the rapid line does stops. What about the Shinkansen aka bullet train? Well, you can tell by its name.

The distance between stations, as far as i have seen, there is none closer than 2km. In Singapore however, it stops like every 1km or less. The travel time/km is much higher than Tokyo's. Of course when you have stations further away from each other you need to walk further or take buses to reach there. But that is the whole point of having buses to compliment the entire transportation system right? Why having buses while you have trains stopping every 1km? It is a waste of resources.

To make travel using bus better preferred, the time table shown in the bus stations shall be deadly accurate. Thus it allows people to estimate accurately the time they need to travel from one destination to another. Less time is spent waiting at the bus station as well, because you know that the bus will reach at exactly 3.15pm, and not plus minus 5 mins of 3.15pm. Buses in Tokyo never move out from its station earlier than the time shown in each stations. Of course the estimated time to travel from one stations to another is highly accurate too.

I wrote about Singapore MRT when i first came to Singapore. That was nearly 2 years ago. The Circle Line was not complete back then. Now it travels through Pasir Panjang and terminating at Harbour Front.

Amid recent constant breakdowns of Singapore MRT, there are a lot the management of SMRT needs to be done to resolve it. Before the name of Singapore MRT got worse.

Tokyo Love

 I came back from Japan about 12 days ago. What else i'm going to talk about if not Japan right?

Tokyo was where i went. A really... really awesome place! Everything just feels better!

The way people dress, the way people talk, the way people eat, the way people behave, etc, it was just awesome! The trains, the food, the architecture, etc, Tokyo was really an eye-opener to me.

Shibuya Scramble Crossing

Shinjuku

Tokyo Tower

Yokohama

Asakusa, background was Tokyo Sky Tree scheduled to open at 22nd May 2012

Meiji Shrine

Sensoji

Some of the stuffs you can't really depict from photos alone. You got to have videos. I have made one with my D7000 as well. Not recorded in the highest quality possible, which was quite sad cause i should have had. Never mind, i am all aspired to take better quality videos next time around.

Across Tokyo feat. Takashi Sorimachi's Forever

How's Life?

A week after i back to Singapore, feels like nothing changed.

The first day i cleaned my room for like 6 hours. I can still remember i was super tired but feel damn comfy sleeping in my bed.

The first day at work was okay. Had some meetings, had a lunch with big boss, which by the way was my first time.

Just wanna say... be cheerful and everything will turn out just fine!

The Tokyo Sky Tree

I'm going there very soon. ^.^

The US Trip Vol. 4

During the 3 days i was there, we went 2 museums. So i think you'll know what to expect. Lolz...

Following photos were from WWI Museum at Liberty Memorial.

From Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art followed.

Museums are actually quite nice if you take your time to understand the exhibits. Some will kept you thinking even after you have left the building.

I was quite surprise i was allowed to take photos in both of the Museum i have visited. Come to think of it, i realised it was a very long time ago since i last visited a museum. It was Muzium Negara i guess? Haha...

The US Trip Vol. 3

Actually this was a business trip. I think i should at least show you some work related photos. To prove that i'm not there just for the fun. :D

Pentair Water Kansas City

Our limo arriving at Pentair Water.

We were there for Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) of 2 nos of 4 stages vertical turbine seawater pump. These pumps eventually will form part of the fire fighting system of the jetty that my company are constructing now.

On the left is the pump while on the right is the test pit that the pump has been fixed on.

The tests were done and the results were acceptable. Hence, the pumps were ready for assembling and shipment to Malaysia by air freight.

In the middle was John, the Hydraulic Analyst. He got 30 over years of experience. Survived through 4 different ownerships in the same company.

Myself, Azizat, Chris, and Richard. Chris was the guy who coordinate our FAT. He is a Professional Engineer and also the International Application Engineering Manager of Pentair Water, brilliant guy.

Coming up next Vol. 4. ^.^

The US Trip Vol. 2

Kansas City is a city which occupies two different states, namely Missouri and Kansas. The Kansas and Missouri river separate the city into Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri.

Missouri River

Some of the Kansas City attractions are The Plaza, Union Station, Liberty Memorial featuring the World War I Museum, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, etc.

Liberty Memorial

The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art

The Union Station

Kansas City View from Liberty Memorial

Kansas City Downtown

Kansas City also has a nickname called the City of Fountains. I don't even bother to take any more photos on fountains after a few shots. 

A young woman working on her drawing of the fountain.

The weather of Kansas City during my stay there was nice. There is no snow whatsoever though the locals said they have had one of the highest snow depth last year. I thought i could have observe snow for the first time in my life.

Azizat and myself having lunch in the Rozzelle Court Restaurant.

Stay tuned for Vol. 3. ^.^

The US Trip Vol. 1

I will keep this post short. I am still sorting out the photos. ^.^

My Desire HD main screen

The flights arranged by company actually require me to board a few connecting flights. 

Departure to Kansas City from Singapore, via Tokyo and then San Francisco.

Departure to Singapore from Kansas City, via San Francisco and then Hong Kong.

I arrived at Changi Airport two minutes before the check-in counter closed and was lectured by the counter lady. Lolz... Luckily i still made it!

Hence, i need four different clocks to advise me on the time of my connecting flights. I certainly don't want to miss any of them. Lessons learned.

Getting Insured

Today i met up with a friend whom is an insurance agent. I was to get to know the insurance policies that are offered by the insurance company.

Well, it turned out quite fruitful and efficient. I called my brother and sister immediately after i was done talking to my friend. They very willingly accepted my proposal to get both my parents insured. We agreed to share the premiums and also the beneficiaries, which are the three of us as well obviously.

First payment is made and the forms are signed after my friend and myself explained to my parents the benefits of getting insured. My parents doubted the necessity of the policies but i believe it is a right choice.

At least today i have achieved a big step in ensuring part of the future of both my parents and among my siblings are taken care of. Medical bills can be quite a bitch!

Amid this CNY mood that are fading as i will be heading back to work soon, i wish everybody a Happy Chinese New Year! ^.^

Favourite picture for this year CNY Celebration!

Japan Visa

There's no interview like the US Visa.

However you need a saving account, or fixed deposit, etc showing a figure more than RM 10k.

You would also need your company certification letter indicating your position, length of service, salary etc, and some other documents to prove your are earning a healthy income and you are not actually going there to steal jobs. Haha..

Also, unless you are travelling to Japan for work purposes, you would probably need to prepare a letter stating your purpose of visit and guarantee of expenses.

Not forgetting a confirmed flight itinerary as well. Meaning to say you can't submit your Visa application unless you have bought your air ticket. Lolz...

And here it is!

My face is freaking dark! WTH?! Never mind. ^.^

Preview of 2012

Hi Everybody! I know it's a little bit late but i will assure you the following stories will not be a waste of time. :)

People usually talks about what happened last year when they stepped into new year i.e. best bits of 2011. However i'm going to skip that and do the opposite. Here's the preview of the year 2012 for me.

1. Moving back to Singapore

Yes. I will be back to Singapore for my third project in Keppel Tuas Shipyard early February. It's a very challenging project and i am quite delighted that i will be a part of it. I've been learning and it's been tough for me thus far. My new year resolution for work is that i must be humble and be willing to take advice. 

2. Going to the US

I have had quite an unusual experience obtaining the US Visa. In short, i will be at Kansas City for Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) for my current project. Out of the 6 days, 2.5 days i will be in planes or airports. 1 day for FAT and 1.5 days free and easy. All are with co-workers of course. It is my first time there and it is work related but it certainly won't be the last since i'm having a 10 years multiple entry Visa. ^.^

3. Going to Japan

My Japan Visa is currently being processed. Like the US one but slightly easier, without interview, and it is free of charge as well. This trip however is not work related. I am going there alone for 7 days. I have a friend there who may able to bring me around. Well... going there anyway with or without anyone. Flights are confirmed. 

4. Buying a house

It is a new condominium located in Subang Jaya expected to complete end of 2014. Down-payment paid, loan approved, and going to sign S&P soon. The entire process is more tedious than i thought it would be. This house most probably is not for own stay. Maybe will sell maybe will rent out. Will see...

5. Just bought a 10-24mm Nikkor DX lens

I bought it for a week but yet to explore its greatness. This lens is a must considering the events that are going to happen this year. Not to mention the oversea trips i'm going to have, i actually have few friends going to tie the knot this year. Do expect some wedding related photos coming up later this year in my Facebook profile, or maybe here blogger. I think i will get a flash soon for proper wedding shoots. :P

6. Considering taking MBA

It is close to 2 years since i graduated from USM. The working life is not exactly broadening my perspective for life. I have not seen enough and i am hunger for more unique experiences. This is still at a very beginning stage, still not sure where to pursue MBA. Most probably i will take it full time and hence money is another issue i need to consider seriously. 

Some of you may have stopped reading the above and jumped to this photo. If you did please tick the "lolzz" below. Then i will know how exactly boring my writing is. Please comment as well if you think i look funny. Hahaha...

Is it a waste of time? Lolz...