The Precious Moments on Earth

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Sunday, September 07, 2008

10:57 PM

Weekly update no. 3

Monday

It 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.

Wednesday

Well, 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.

Thursday

My 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.

Friday

In 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!!!

Saturday

As 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.

Sunday

Remember 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!