Weekly update no. 3
MondayIt was the first day of Ramadhan and I was finally out of my LB (Licensing Branch) "prison"! AND...I finally got to tag along for an inspection!!!I followed the East Team (I'm from the West Team by the way), even though I'm not from there, but my Group Head wanted me to follow them because he could tell that I was anxious to go out. Anyway, we went to a shipyard at Jurong.The company is called Cosco and it was China-owned. It is a shipyard, but they were only building ship modules and the inspection was actually a follow-up inspection.It was definitely an experience because for one, it was my first inspection, and secondly, there were so many things to look out for. There were little things that I missed that the experienced inspectors saw. And there are many things to look out for. All of these will take some getting used to. But I want to memorise all these things quickly because I've seriously no experience at all, whereas Jai, who's had construction experience, could point out some mistakes that even the experienced inspectors overlooked. The competition is on man!The Group Head of the East Team is really fierce. I call her the Dragon Lady. I've also given some nicknames to the other Group Heads because their personality is definitely unique. The North Team's GH is Mr Gan Chiong because he's always in a rush at whatever he does, even walking and talking. The South Team's GH is the Joker in Disguise, because if you were to judge him based on your first impression, you'd think that he's a blur and awkward man, but once you get to know him, he can make you laugh your ass off, seriously. My team's GH is the Smiling Inspector, because I always see him smiling. In fact, I got the nickname Smiling Inspector from the Joker in Disguise because he was telling us, during our in-house training programme, that he ever had an inspector who just came onto site with a smiling face and just snapped pictures without telling the occupier whether or not there was any offences. Poor man, he thought that his site didn't have any problems. But in the end, he was slapped with a $10,000 fine! Obviously, the way the "Smilin Inspector" handled things was wrong. But I'm not saying that my GH is like that!Anyway, the East Team's GH, aka Dragon Lady, only becomes the Dragon Lady when she goes out for inspections. At the office, she has a great sense of humour. I could tell that the management staff of Cosco respected her, if they weren't intimidated by her...haha! They did improve on their safety from the previous inspection, but they still needed to improve further. All in all, I learned A LOT!But we came back late. We reached the office at 6pm. So, by the time I prayed and got my stuff ready, it was a little after 6.30. I then quickly bought a meal from Mac to break my fast. What was more, I missed the bus. I did try to wait for the next bus, but it was so slow, so in the end, I took a cab, which costed me $12. Sigh...I reached class at 7.30, but I wasn't the latest one! Since I didn't have time to buy my coffee, I was feeling sleepy when it was only 9pm! Luckily, the lecturer let us off at 9.45 because he is a Muslim, and he knows that some of us had to get up very early the next day. And luckily, my parents fetched me because I think I would've just collapse in the train.Tuesday
I went out for an inspection again, in the morning. And it was with a senior inspector. He brought me to 2 general factories. 1 was doing metal works and the other was making pipe fittings. They had minor mistakes, like expired extinguishers and no proper housekeeping, so the inspector didn't give any fines out. I think he just issued them with notices of non-compliance (NNC). I was told that you won't find much trouble from GFs. It was a little unexciting, but I did learn some things.WednesdayWell, nothing happened today, I mean as far as me going out for inspections. I don't even remember what I did in the office until it was time for me to head for class.ThursdayMy GH told me that one of the staff at the LB was hospitalised. So, when he told me to go down there to help them out, I didn't hesitate to do so. I didn't know who was hospitalised, but I was so afraid that it might be one of the ladies, because I've grown quite close to them.Fortunately, it wasn't any of the ladies. It was actually one of the male staff who's just came back from his leave. I think he was sick before he came back for work already.FridayIn the morning, my team had a meeting. I think this meeting will be held monthly. My GH went through all that's passed and all that's to come. I was very surprised that the "Bloody Idiot", whom I've made the mistake of introducing myself to on my first day, could actually talk! He even laughed!!! His name is Kelvin by the way. My perspective of him made a whole 180-degree turn after that day.I was expecting to go out for inspection today. However, my GH had other ideas. He still wanted me to go help the LB. I seriously don't mind helping them, but I don't want to compromise my chance of going out for an inspection. Remember my personal quest? So, I wasn't really in a happy mood that day. But the company there made me feel better.Later on in the day, a man came down to the LB. He looked to familiar but I wasn't sure who he was exactly. And then, it hit me; it could be the Director for Occuptional Safety and Health (DOSH)! To confirm, I asked one of the ladies and she said yes. I heard that, in my mind, I just went, "Oh SHIT!" because when the DOSH and me happened to look at each other, I didn't show any recognition whatsoever, let alone greet him!!! Now he's gonna think why this new girl doesn't know how to greet her boss. MAN!!!SaturdayAs usual, went to Mendaki in the morning and then rushed to my organ class. Forgot what I did for the rest of the day.But at night, I discovered that my period had come. I already knew that it was coming because I had been having cramps off and on for the past few days.SundayRemember I told you girls that my period can sometimes give me severe cramps? Well, it happened again on this day.I could already sense, before it became severe, that it was going to be severe. So, I quickly took the pink-coloured panadol. Well, suffice to say, it didn't do shit. Panadol doesn't work once when I'm having one of these severe cramps.It got so painful that I was feeling nauseous. And I did end up vomitting. Luckily, I only vomitted once, unlike the few times before, because I haven't had anything to eat yet.I definitely don't want to feel this way again, but I know that it'll happen again, eventually. Sigh...Well, don't worry, week 4 is not as depressing, so tune in again by the end of the week!
Saturday, September 06, 2008
10:01 PM
Weekly update no. 2
I'm really sorry for not updating last week. But I've seriously been busy the whole week. I was out the whole day everyday, even on Saturday and Sunday, so I was really tired and didn't have any mood to update by the time evening came.Anyway, from Monday till Friday, I was still helping the Licensing Branch out. They were and still are very overloaded with backlots. I didn't really enjoy doing something that is not part of my job description, but the people there are very talkative and friendly. A new inspector by the name of Jai Prakash came on board on Monday, but he introduced himself as "Jay". I guess he wanted to sound "cool". He's had construction experience (a few months) so that's one of the main reasons he was hired. He's very quiet and a bit anti-social. I mean he doesn't talk to me unless I talk to him. But he knows how to talk to those "above" him. It pisses me off because it makes me feel as though I'm not good enough for him to talk to. Well, I'll just have to prove to him that I'm a better inspector than him. Experience be damned!I think it was around Wednesday that the head of the Licensing Branch asked me if I was willing to work there for another 3 months. When I heard that, I was like "Are you kidding me?" It's already good enough that I'm helping you out for a few days, but 3 whole months? I have another job if you must know. Anyway, I turned him down, obviously, and said that I applied for the post of an Inspector, and not that. But then, he asked me again whether I would be willing, if he cleared it with the HOD. At that point, I was thinking, Are you that desperate? And again, I turned him down, saying that I have to start with my actual job sometime. He gave up after that.Then, on Friday, while I was still stuck at the Licensing Branch, Jai was asked to come along for a shipyard inspection. I was there when he was told that, and at that time, I was actually very pissed off. I came earlier, and yet, he gets to go for an inspection while I was stuck at the LB? Totally unacceptable! One main thing that gave him the chance to go for an inspection first was that he was assigned to a different team. So that team just happened to have a team inspection. MAN!!!Whenever I complained to the other inspectors that I haven't been out for an inspection yet, they all that "That's good!" Apparently, the workload is killing them. But they don't know that I have a personal quest to prove to Jai and the snobbish Specialist (the one I mentioned in the prev post) that I'm not someone to be looked down upon.On Saturday, I had Mendaki in the morning, and after that, I had to rush to my organ class at Yamaha and then after that, I had to rush again because my parents were picking me to go to my cousin's 21st birthday party. It was held at her condo's clubhouse, which was dismal because it was so small but when the time came for the cake, the atmosphere got pretty emotional. I mean nobody bawled or anything, but I could sense the significance of the moment. She was turning 21 and that is the pivotal time of your life. I've been through it, so I know how important it must be for her. And secretly, I wish my parents had done something for me on my 21st birthday. But enough of that, what's done is done. It was just too bad that we were going through a depressing time when my birthday came along. On Sunday, I had Pergas (my religious class) in the morning and after that, I rushed off to meet my friends at Takashimaya. We haven't seen each other in a month and Jojo since our convocation. And yeah, it really surprised me, and I think all of us, that Jojo could spare some of her time with us. And since it was the last day before puasa, I wanted to have a "final" hangout with my girlfriends. Anyway, I actually wanted to eat at the KFC at Taka, but it was so damned packed that we had to change the venue. So, we ended up eating at KFC at Cineleisure. I just had a craving for chicken =D. We didn't wander around after that because there was a dance competition there. It was organized by 98.7 and the prize of competition was to get the opportunity to be the opening act of Avril's concert.We saw some good ones, and plenty of crappy ones. There were even 11-year-old girls who "danced"! Note the word "danced". You get the idea? But in the end, the group which we thought was the best, did win, so we were quite happy with it. By the way, Jojo sprained her ankle, but she still came to meet us. Thanks girl! I know you had to walk a lot, but I really appreciated you coming :)Okay, I'll put up the next update tomorrow. I PROMISE!P.S.: Kel! I want those pics!!!
This is me
BORN: 7 July 1987
AGE: Do the math
LIKES: Cats...like duh...my blog url??? And SUPERNATURAL!!!!
DISLIKES: Hypocrites
These are just the basic things about me...if u wanna know more, just ask me.