11 Sep 2019
Been working for a surveyor for a month now, as a trainee or assistant. lowest lifeform in the firm, but I think because of my age and my background, my colleagues strangely treat me with some kind of deference that I never asked for and tried to end without directly asking them to stop.
Somehow I can see why land surveying doesn't warrant a degree in the field, and is lumped into engineering in Singapore universities. Someday I may just take up either engineering (again) or get out to study hydrographic survey.
Dunno.
Everyone says this is a tough job, but I don't feel that it's particularly difficult, as long as I get the opportunity to drink some ice water from my flask regularly. Yes I do admit the signs of heat injury come up pretty quickly sometimes, like slight dizziness and nausea, but they can be easily dealt with with my ice water. All I need is my good 24-hour Stanley 1L flask filled with ice everyday, and another 2L of water, and it's all good. The flask is always on me, while the water is usually nearby, so that I can keep pouring water in to get ice water - the ice inside wouldn't melt without the relatively warm water due to the awesome insulation.
Maybe it's because I have good motivation for taking up the job. I just like how even if I don't go through the notoriously challenging course to become a certified surveyor, I can still work as a draftsman. Either option works even if I want to migrate, because these skills are needed everywhere.
What kind of madman puts coffee grounds into instant coffee that isn't micro-ground? Whoever is in charge of this crappy brand named "Top" does. Every cup of this coffee ends with a whole layer of sediment that needs to be rinsed away and doesn't really improve the taste of the coffee.
What a madman!
18 Sep 2019
Got her honeymoon flight refunded. There are enough miles there for just 3 economy return fares to Munich. That's surprisingly low given how the original flight involved two flights of 11-13 hours EACH WAY. Munich is also about 11 - 13 hours from Singapore. Given that each biz class flight is about 3-5 times the price of economy, I should have been looking at 6 economy return trips at least, but I guess South America really is just that cheap to fly to for the distance the plane needs to cover.
Turns out it's true that South America is really cheap to fly to in terms of miles vs distance covered by flights. The miles from the refund can almost cover 3 economy return flights to Santiago, Chile, and maybe it can actually cover 3 trips if I look far enough ahead.
19 Sep 2019
But do I want to go to South America to snowboard?
The snow may be good in Chile but, chances are, the slopes are a domestic flight away from Santiago, so after 35-45 hours of flying to reach the capital, I still have to get another flight, and for such an arrangement, I would prefer to stay in a hotel for at least 24 hours as a buffer in case anything happens between here and South America.
Not to mention, the domestic flight can turn out to be really long and strangely expensive, like they are in Argentina. Chile is... not exactly a big country, more like it's really long.
Frankly speaking, on the map, Chile looks exactly like the kind of place Hongkongers would spend millions of USD on to get a home - it's pretty much a stretch of mountains right at the coast, so a home can easily be on the lower slopes of a mountain and still see the ocean, just like many of the most expensive homes in Hong Kong.
Anyway, snowboard. No, despite how cool it would be to take advantage of my miles like this, it makes little sense to go that far to snowboard, especially with my current career switch. I am just not that free anymore; I can no longer just throw 3 days out of the window by doing nothing but move from one place to another.
Despite the lesser value, in a way, it is a more sensible decision to visit Europe, perhaps back to Mittersill if I can find someone to go with, or to Canada.
Just not sure if I can handle life without vacations all the way from Feb 2020 till Feb 2021.
Genting has been tempting me with stretches of 5 entire nights FREE, and even in a Deluxe room (as compared to the free Standard rooms they used to give me), for October this year, but every time my finger is about to hit that "Confirm" button, I think of how much money I am willing to burn in the casino, and it all stops.
I don't even want to spare a thousand SGD there, the bare minimum to have any level of fun.
Whatever money I have left after all the non-refundable shyt from this fiasco of a wedding, it is for the Antarctica trip. Any add-on during the cruise has to cost obscene amounts of money and, the way things are looking so far from my observation, it will be worth the fortune it costs.
21 Sep 2019
A friend wanted to intro his lady friend working in private banking to me upon hearing about my marriage problem.
I had to explain my current career to him and despite his weak assurance that she doesn't mind, I don't know if that will happen at all. In any case, it won't happen till I return in Feb.
This was something of a hit to my ego because it's something I don't like to think about, just like a number of other things. Fortunately, my subconscious mind seems great at compartmentalization, but it still made me think of myself as a whole from the outside, what people can see.
I run a dying business that doesn't make much anymore, spends 5.5 days a week as a trainee surveyor learning the ropes from scratch at the age of 34 for $600 a month, take home pay. My marriage is being dismantled, and I am overweight. However, my next trip is to Antarctica via Silversea, and I gave the second passenger slot to my cousin for free.
That last point feels like a major plot twist.
23 Sep 2019
Reservist today. Hair's not cut cos when I found my usual barber closed for a week, I decided to just let the camp's pseudo-qualified barber do the job. Also can't find my cap, unit insignia and etc so I feel rather unprepared.
Don't think I'll be needing the cap much though since it's just a few days in camp and then off we go to whichever place we are guarding.
05 Oct 2014
Typed some stuff yesterday but somehow my Firefox browser started at this Edit screen with an error about saving, so I reloaded assuming everything should have been saved yesterday.
The last save it reloaded at was for 23 Sep 2019.
In any case, I'll just summarize the main point - I respect the police who shot the teen, however repugnant the deed may sound. Every angle the videos showed made him look like an excellent policeman because he made a split-second decision and went for the best option available.
Some questions that the other protestors asked, like why he was using live rounds, were either pointless or should be asked of his superiors. The people above him decided what he should be armed with, and at point blank, it didn't matter what the bullet was made of. Heck, it could have been a blank and the teen would still have been injured - just be glad he didn't use the SHOTGUN in his other hand.
Burger King coffee is different from instant, but is just as bad. I see why they say MCD coffee is decent. Even when you add quite a bit of sweetened creamer, it's still bitter and definitely tastes burnt.
Turns out they left quite a bit of sediment in the cup - a teaspoon by my estimate.
13 Oct 2019
Came back from ICT with a clearer mind and spoke to my boss about his work. Now I understand better the issues he faces regarding manpower - it is hard to hire locals even if you pay a fair salary in terms of their qualifications for the fieldwork. And if you're thinking about how crane operators get paid far more than what their paper qualifications deserve - surveyors don't operate ridiculously expensive equipment like they do. Surveying equipment can be very expensive but they're still orders of magnitude cheaper.
There is simply no way around hiring via illegal means to handle the larger jobs, and for smaller firms to train up a foreign worker to qualify for more unskilled workers makes no sense since the bigger companies would just poach them. To make matters worse, it is a commonly held opinion within the construction industry that foreign companies use their political connections to get ignored by the authorities for their rather obvious use of these hiring practices.
In short, there is no reason for me to try to go into any of these labour-intensive industries in Singapore - there is no fair playing field for the smaller guys. It is now my opinion that all industries that require lots of skilled and semi-skilled labour are either struggling or are resorting to illegal hiring methods.
So that leaves me another option that isn't as lucrative - drawing. Unfortunately, almost nobody teaches how to process raw survey data and make a drawing out of it.
4th Nov 2019
Stopped working for him after strong hints telling me to move on. Time to look elsewhere.
Been browsing through various online dating apps. Not sure what I'm looking for given that I shouldn't be dating anyone at the moment - I don't do casual stuff, and it wouldn't be fair to whoever it is if it is serious.
Anyway, OKCupid is crap. Tinder is better, more international, but also crap. Currently, it looks like CMB and Tantan are the most active ones.
CMB limits your daily options to about 30 IIRC, but they seem to be mostly active and have some level of depth, though a lot of them are way out of my league.
Tantan is far more varied in terms of intellect and careers, but seems to feature ladies mostly from here, Malaysia, Indonesia and China. A surprising number of girls who work in those Thai bar/flower joints are in there too, though still a minority. Oh, and a lot of girls who are probably models or expensive freelancers (you know what I mean). Like they really hot due to obvious surgical enhancements, display no level of depth in their photos or profiles, and their photos are usually taken in really expensive-looking places.
And weird people trying to sell stuff. Like yesterday, I just reported a girl who seemed unusually keen on meeting up for a meal, but turned out to be selling homemade cookies. Despite being told that she could do it in DineInn, she persisted , so I reported her for advertisement at first, then since she was unfazed by my polite rejection, there was no alternative but to unmatch her using "harassment" as the reason. She was banned almost immediately.
Ultimately, Tantan has the most eye candies, but CMB offers the best results if you're looking for something serious. Or at least, it does in my case.
Unfortunately, I'm in the mental state where I both want and don't want it, so here I am in limbo, talking to them, being very open with my situation, and those who could accept my marital status have been open to the idea of simply talking as friends.
Oh not to forget, after browsing Tantan for a while, there are some things I need to get off my chest.
Firstly, being nice (as far as you and your friends know) is not enough. Not only do you not objectively know that you're nice, effectively rendering such an opinion invalid as far as potential partners are concerned, being nice just merely the foundation. It is like graduating from high school - congratulations, you can read now, but it's still tough to get a job.
Second, those selfies of your pretty face tell us nothing but that you're hot. So, what kind of relationship are you looking for? Why do you say you're looking for something serious, but all you show is your pretty face? Why do you think nobody is talking to you and you're still single at 32?
By the way, I had to unmatch two of those because at one point I was just swiping right on everyone who's verified and they ended up liking me back. One waited for me to start, and her profile was so thoroughly unimpressive I simply said, "Hi," to which she replied with "hi" so I unmatched her.
The other one got unmatched straight away.
Anyway all these doesn't mean I'm some kind of pro at it. Obviously I haven't had much success either or I wouldn't be on these for long.
5th Nov 2019
I somewhat suspect it's a minor case of a slipped disk now. Or could be my mattress, but my back isn't recovering as quickly as before. Well, the health screening review is later, and they had taken an X ray of my torso back then, so something might be mentioned about my spine. Or I'll ask.
If it is, I'll try to visit a polyclinic for the public subsidies. The possible need for surgery is going to be a real killer on my already diminished budget.
6th Nov 2019
Doctor's review didn't mention anything about my spine. I do have a mildly faster heartbeat rate so that's something to consider in the future if other symptoms arise.
And my bad cholesterol is mildly above the healthy level so I have to cut down on fried food and, most easily and definitely, palm oil aka vegetable oil.
I'll just have to use my pressure cooker more, and eat out less. Every manufacturer and probably affordable food options out there use palm oil because it simply makes a lot more economic sense than any other oil.
In that case, I need some kind of food that's meaty, with strong flavours, not spicy and comes in small pieces. This may force me to fry food occasionally, using the soy bean oil I have. Not going to be pleasant, frying food at home. Sometimes I wish I have an outdoor kitchen, or can cook at the stairs outside.
Technically the latter is possible because with the portable induction cooker, I can just bring a foldable table outside, put the cooker on top, and fry some food, but I don't know how my neighbours will react, and it can be dangerous if someone trips over the electric cable leading into my home from the cooker.
Probably the best news of all was there was no sign of diabetes, but there was a little bit of white blood cell in my urine, so it could be due to an urinary tract infection, though it makes no sense because I've never felt any pain in that area.
So, I've only just hit 34 and the signs are on the horizon. So glad I'm covered by so much insurance, though personal accident isn't among them. Basically, as explained by my agent, I get covered only if hospitalization is involved, which I feel is good enough - my wallet should be able to handle anything that doesn't keep me in the ward overnight.
Like the stuff one of my staff is going through, falling and smashing her facial bones and teeth, oh yes I'm definitely covered if I were in her shoes because that sort of thing always needs hospitalization, so I wouldn't have to worry about what she's annoyed about now - replacing her loose teeth at S$4k each. She's got like 5-6 of them that are painful when she bites with them, but it costs too much to do anything.
The next time I talk to her, I'll recommend personal accident.
Why can't we drink coffee from a wine glass? One for red wines would be suitable since you would be able to smell the aroma better.
