It has been a week that I've join the new organisation. My new workplace is relatively quiet when compared to my previous office at DTTB as we are most in our own cubicles. But when compared to my previous office in CMPB (before we shifted over to DTT B), both are as quiet.
Vanessa has been very nice to give me an "unofficial" orientation, just like the usual that I used to give to the new officers in my old workplace. Other than meeting new colleagues and co-workers, I've been also had an orientation around the building - I must say that they have really good facilities! OTO massage chair and Wii at the staff lounge... Gym... Library... But the problem is, how to find time to enjoy the facilities?
Vanessa's portfolio has been
divided into two so that the new officers can focus on their area and I
am glad that I've been tasked with the Youth portfolio - YAH! (Pun intended!) Other than attending meetings, both Vanessa and I were busy with the Hnading and Taking Over of duties. I hope I can get into full action as soon as possible and to at least come out with a few long term plans for the projects under my care.
Now, I really miss the coffee and vegetarian food from DTT A. The food at our canteen is rather expensive and too healthy for my liking. The food from the hawker centre is not as good either! Guess I'll have to make do with them...
This is the first time that I ever travel up north by car! Driving to Malacca can be quite scary as the only map we had was not too helpful. The street signs are not very visible and I had to use the GPS to find out the name of the street that we were at!
I was told to try the Chicken Rice Balls and the Satay Lok Lok (Satay Celup) by my sister. The famous Hoe Kee Chicken Rice Ball tasted alright to me and is nothing fantastic, but I think the Capitol Satay Celup tasted really good!
Locating these makan (eating) places proved to be a huge challenge to us - I am really glad that I brought my N82 there. Driving around in Malacca is not advised as you will likely to spend more time hunting for a car park lot.
When my sister was there a few years back, she told me that the same pot of satay sauce on the table is being used throughout the day at Capitol. But this time round when we were there, we could see that they will change the pot of satay sauce for every new group of diners. Whether if it could be just a visual replacement, i.e the pot of satay sauce goes into the kitchen and comes out again for another group of diners, I don't really care :)
Hoe Kee @ 4, Jalan Hang Jebat
Capitol Satay Celup @ 41, Lorong Bukit Cina
[More pictures that were taken during the trip have been uploaded online.]
Driving back from Malacca was pretty scary too. I personally think Malaysian drivers are pretty friendly on the North South Highway. Whenever they see us approaching from the back, they will move to the left lane to allow us to over take them. However, when Singaporean Cars approach us from the back, they will high beam their headlights at us! Not that we want to be a road hog, but we have to maintain a safety distance from the car in front and the vehicles in front of us were simply not moving fast either - There was a heavy downpour during our way back!
Anyway, I enjoyed this trip pretty much and I look forward to go Malacca again! This time round I will travel by coach. :)
This is the first time that I am visitng Seafood Paradise for dinner. I thought it is really amazing to see so much crowd on a Saturday evening as it is located in an industrial area.
Among all the dishes that we had today, my personal favourite is the Wasabi Prawns! The crabs tasted quite good, though I had better. The lime juice tasted really nice too. The total bill came to about $170 and we thought it is really reasonable to fill 5 persons' stomach to the max!
Verdict? Recommended and it is definitely value for $!
This questionnaire is going to appear on the HPB intranet... Thought I have just addressed Kel's point on gadgets... hee hee
Time really flies. I have finally mark the end of my career in Nexus. I must say that it has been a good 4 years, even though there were some ups and downs. I've learnt how to present my thoughts through the guidance of my bosses in the Research Branch and how to manage events and outreach programmes during my early days in the Programmes Branch.
This is going to be a really long list of people who I would like to thank, not in order of merit/preference!
- COL Tan Wee Ngee, COL Gavin, LTC Gregory, Gek Hong, Sherlene & Eunice - Thank you for giving me opportunities to prove myself. If not, I might be still an admin clerk.
- Judith & Bina - Thank you for all the guidance that you have given me on how to present my thoughts. I think I am able to speak more confidently now.
- JT - Thank you for being there for me during my darkest days here. Talking to you always make me feel better!
- Oi Lan and JM - Thank you for taking good care of me during my stay here.
- Kel & AL - Discussing NE and New Media with you guys is one of the few things that I really enjoyed. Hope we can continue to do this often!
- Charlene, Shan, Cat, Violet, Hui Yi, CY, Sharon, Gerry, Thomas, Stacey, Ben, Yanwei, Kim & Nick - Without you guys, life in the office would have been really boring. Thank you for all the talk cock sessions and tolerating my nonsense! :P
I will treasure all these friendships and I hope we can continue to be friends even after I leave the organisation. Do jio me along if there are any gatherings! :)
The offer was really tempting. Not to mention that I do not even need to join the crazy crowd at PC Show. I couldn't help but to buy it. I got this big apple which cannot be eaten.
This is new toy laptop, the MBA aka Macbook Air. Weighs only 1.3kg and I can run XP on it as well! I can really feel the weight difference when compared to my 1.8kg Sony VAIO. The battery life is about 3.5 hrs, nothing near to 5 hrs as per Steve Job's claim. The processing speed is decent, nothing like my Kohjinsha and N810 which hangs even with the simpliest task that I do - Web Browsing.
Ahhh.... am falling in love with OS X.
I'll be away for Malacca from 15 to 16 Jun 08 with my NS buddies! The last trip we had was in 2004, just after we finished our NS.
Looking forward, I only have 1.5 working days to go but my table is not empty yet. Boo. Oi Lan and Michelle treated me last Thursday and the next farewell lunch (the final one?) will be on 17th. No pictures cos we are not allowed to bring image capturing devices into MINDEF/SAF Camps.
5 more days to be liberated from days of no camera phones! :)
Yes, I have 5 more working days in Nexus before I move on to HPB, and I have been attending more meetings than I usually. Currently, I still have 1 project on hand and 1 presentation which I'll need to give my inputs. All these came after my resignation.
4 years in this organisation, with a tour of 2 different departments, has been an eye opener for me. I've learnt through the guidance of good mentors/superiors who have taught me how to present my thoughts logically and gave me a lot of opportunities to prove myself operationally. Without them, I guess I will only be exposed to pure administrative work.
There are 3 milestone projects that I am really proud of during my stay in the organisation.
1. N.E.mation! - The idea for this project was originated from me during an internal meeting. The national education animation competition for students is now in its third season and will be calling for entries soon. Due to the organisation hierarchy, I wasn't the person implementing the project. Please pardon me for the boring season 2 website as I had given my recommendations to make the website more interactive and engaging, but they were "conveniently forgotten" by my ex-boss.
2. Publicity for in-house compilation of NE stories - I actually did a spoof of a Campbell soup can in the form of a D.I.Y. stationary holder and have been quite well received. The holders have successfully "invaded" the desks of many of our officers and our big boss is rather pleased with this unique marketing strategy.
3. The portal for National Education Practitioners - Conceptualised by AL and me, this portal will be in beta launch sometime in November 08. With the use of new media technologies, NE practitioners will be able to share materials and ideas, call for collaborations, interact online and be updated with NE efforts by NE champions.
Even though I am leaving the organisation really soon, I will still be proud of being a Singaporean. :)
Just got to know from Vanessa that I will be taking over a lot of her projects and I have approximately 4.5 working days to learn from her. Now, I kinda regretted encashing my vacation leaves, instead of going for a long break to recharge myself before starting on the new job! Serve me right!
For those who are not in the gahmen blogging scene, Vanessa is one of the most prominent and influential gahmen bloggers around, other than Ivan and Walter Lim. Damn, I can feel the heat coming. Wish me good luck! (and Mr Lim has already done so!)
Recent Comments
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Ah Seng said:
Eh, email + the big G = Gmail :) read more
on Moving on... (Final) Thank you everyone... -
Kelvin said:
MY careless mistake was not ending the quote marks. Sigh. read more
on Spotlight On You Questionaire - Victor TAN -
Kelvin said:
I was trying to figure out who the big G was... I'm guessing it's G**y?Creative meh?? I didn't think so... read more
on Moving on... (Final) Thank you everyone... -
Ah Seng said:
Damn! Careless mistake! Not sure if I still have the time to amend... hahaha! read more
on Spotlight On You Questionaire - Victor TAN
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