About holidays

Amazingly, holidays are already coming to an end (at least to me, it is). When nearing December, I feel a great reluctance to greet the new year. 

It is ending,

I feel sad.

It's waving me goodbye

Even though I'm pulling it back.

A new year ahead of me makes me uncertain and unsure about what to expect. I have mostly been the kind who does not dare to tread on new territory; it all seems so scary. Furthermore, a new year brings about the greatest tragedy that can ever happen to a student: the end of holidays and the start of school! D:

Looking back on my holidays, it has all been a complete BLUR. Seriously. I wonder where all the time went, so Huiyi and I decided to do a little recapping of our own.

1. Studying for HCL O-levels / Workout
2. Guitar CCA and camp
3. Class chalets
4. Work
5. Work
6. Work... (you get the hint)
7. Dinner with friends

So, basically, work just took up a huge chunk of my time. Before the holidays, I use to think that work would be something for me to DO, but I have just realised that it wasn't something that I actually DID DID. Get the idea? Work is just work.. but it wasn't going to be like a 'highlight' or 'event' in my list of holiday activities when I look back at it, which made me realise that work was just A COMPLETE WASTE OF MY TIME. Yep, I got the monetary gains, but my days of working felt like a 'blank'?? It didn't feel worthwhile for me to use my holidays to work - especially since I did say that I was going to enjoy the holidays after all the major exams. 

Hmmm... so if I ever work again, it must be with friends. At least that will be memory/bonding session for me hahaha. 

Anyway, met up with Yunyi and Huiyi yesterday to practise guitar, with a lot of slacking done in between of course. 

I've finally watching Breaking Dawn. Thought it was awkward at times in its execution, but overall, a major improvement compared to previous films AKA more interesting.

Hmm, I wanna go bake and workout with my Purple Buds!!! But some are working and busy, HAIZ.

Also, I have just watched the film Across the Universe, which is a musical featuring songs from the Beatles. OMG, I never knew that The Beatles' songs were SO FREAKING GOOD AWESOME AMAZING ADDICTIVE. Currently, my favourite is Hey Jude :D However, I like the film version's of the songs rather than the original, hahah.

This is the part in the film with Hey Jude :))

Going off overseas tmrw (not exactly a very far place hahaha). Shall tell you where when I return :D

Okay, starting to feel a little hungry... XD

Work experience

So after my chalets, I went to work.

I worked at Metro City Square Mall from 12pm to 9pm, hence explaining my lack of blog posts (which is due to my laziness as well I admit).

The first day of work was HORRIBLE. It was a Saturday. I showed up in black pant, covered dark blue shoes and a black tee with prints. Turns out I needed an all black attire, with no prints, no nothing. Haiz. So I went to buy 2 black shirts, of which one was bought for me for free because apparently this problem did not just occur once, so it was kinda a punishment for the person ic.

I was a promoter for toys - the company I shall not mention. Anyway, there were so many kids!!! My job was to let the kids play the toys, hope that they don't break them, and hopefully, get their parents to buy the toys.

So this is the thing: KIDS ARE MONSTERS. Well, some are.

Some of them would snatch for the toys!!! Very annoying. Some would not follow instructions, and do things which would probably accelerate the process towards which my samples would get spoilt. Very irritating. Some would get excited and start shouting. Very noisy.

Because of my location, weekdays were boring while weekends were terrible. There were too little people during weekdays, and too many during weekends. The difference in contrast is too huge!!!

But then again, some kids are actually pretty decent and cute. These situations usually happen when there is only one or two kids around the table. It gets easier to control them too. Some kids are adorable too :) Their huge eyes and small statute. Hahahah. Sounding like a pedo here.

So, when I first started working there, I was lost. When customers asked me stuff, I didn't know how to reply. I would then just rush off to find an associate; when I can't find one, I panic. Somehow, it seemed really important to fulfill the needs of the customers once I was put into my job. It was part of my job, and yet it wasn't at the same time. I was just a promoter, but since I was working at Metro, I needed to follow the basic code of conduct in Metro since I was 'representing' them as well.

Another sad fact of my work was I wasn't close to anyone. I was all alone. So lunches (if taken outside) and dinners were by myself. I did enjoy the loneliness sometimes though, after being surrounded by so many kids especially.

Another part of the job which I hate was the fact that we had to stand the whole day!!! Just standing, and in my case, waiting for people to come along. There was this day when I felt abit tired and sick. That whole day was torturous because I had to stand even though I just felt like collapsing and sleeping. The thought 'I wanna go home' kept ringing in my head.

AND, I HAD TO WORK ON SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS. WHAT A BUMMER.

I did gain experience though. I finally knew what it was like being a promoter. If ever I work as a promoter again, I want to promote products for adults. At least they behave more civilised at times than kids. Haha.

I also did packing and stocking of items, which was very tired. It is pretty amazing because now I know how do products actually get into the shelves. Oh, and we had to stick the price tags on by ourselves, which is surprising because I always thought they went though some machine which would stick them on, LOL.

I learned how to deal with customers a little better. And I learnt that it's important to pick things up fast. Like for example, when a customer wants to open the shelf for some Tomica cars, I used to find and ask my colleagues to open it. If I can't find the colleague, it would be quite bad because the customer has to wait for me to find him/her, then wait for him/her to open it. In the end, I found out where to find the keys, and just opened the lock on the shelf by myself, which is way easier and better because it's faster, and I don't worry about not being able to find someone else to do it. Relying on oneself is always better.

I also realised that eating by myself is not such a scary thing. Partially because city square mall had way less people. But still, eating alone always seemed terrifying to me. Somehow, we all get the image that it screams 'loner'. But when I was forced to eat along, it started being okay and normal for me.

Yep, yesterday was kind of my 'last' day of work. Zixin came to visit me, and we ate dinner together :) A break from eating alone! I would be officially working my last days of work on the 17th and 18th (which are weekdays phew!!).

As of now, I shall not be working anymore. I have quite a lot I wanna do. I need to watch Breaking Dawn and buy my Christmas gift! :DD Korean dramas toooo!! Alice in Cheongdam-dong is GOOODDDDD. Go watch it! Shall go out for dinners with people more often. I went out for dinner with Huiyi and Dion on my off day. We initially planned to watch a movie, but there were no more seats/ good timing. So we resorted to just eating HAHAH.

The next time I look for work, it must be either with friends, or be an admin/office hours job. Tuition's not bad too hahhaha!

Class chalets

Yep, chaletS.

I had two class chalets last month, the first with my 2K class (Kellyxians!!). The second with my 4K class.

Before the 2K class chalet, I had my guitar cca, rendering me completely exhausted when I was at the chalet. We barbecued, mainly because of my protests at not having a BBQ haha. In the end, we ended up with too little food because I was scared that we would end up with too much food like the last bbq we had. So we ended up ordering pizza too.

We then played bucket, where everyone would answer a question anonymously and then the answers would be revealed to everyone. Pretty interesting game especially if there were controversial questions haha. Afterwards, a few of them went night cycling. I kinda regretted not going, but if I were to make a choice again given those circumstances, I guess I would still stay behind, because I was so freaking tired. I felt like dozing halfway through the bucket game. Which is to say, I wasn't in the 'high' mood needed for night cycling.

The next day, we basically lazed around in the chalet. In the late evening, we decided to play captain's ball by the beach. It was a pretty fun game! :) One of the few recent times where we all played a sports game together. Oh! And there was this cat which kind of got attached to us. So when we were playing volleyball, the ball went out and I wanted to pick it. When I got the ball, the cat pounced on my leg LOL. I bet it was planning on pouncing on the ball because that's what it did the next time round. But it really surprised me!!

Then we TRIED playing sardines, which failed TERRIBLY. Grace Nicoleg and I were probably the only ones actively searching for Weirong LOL. We saw a beautiful scenery and near-sunset though :)

Afterwards, I left the chalet with Nicoleg Grace And Jinheok (who had a sore throat) :) Sad that I couldn't stay for the second night!!

~

Okay, now for the 4K chalet. I merely went for the planned BBQ on the first night, but it rained so we ate out instead. Anyway, when I first went into the chalet, my expectations were totally not met, and in fact, they were failed very badly. This is the reason why: 2K's SAF seaview Resort was FREAKING AWESOME. Whoever that's planning to go there, you won't be disappointed, but will be pleasantly surprised instead. They have 2 floors. The living room has a huge tv, with a sofa. The kitchen provides everything!! Knives, utensils, tongs, even chopping board!! And they look clean. They even provide charcoal and fire starters!! AMAZINGGG. There are 2 toilets - which are freaking huge too!! Almost has big as a room lol.

Meanwhile, the 4k chalet was just.... frankly, it looked dismal the first time I saw it. I just went, "this is it??" Even Yohanes agreed. Anyway, we went for dinner at Downtown East in the end. We at Different Taste, really great (second time eating there). The portions were small though -.-

On the second day, I went there after guitar. The place looked better. The sunlight streaming in helped, A LOT. It made the place look livelier and bigger I guess. We had bbq!!! Which went better than the 2k one :)))

So, some of us were planning to go night cycling. I was a bit hesitant and very unsure. I mean, it's further from here to marina barrage than from saf seaview to marina barrage. And the 2k ppl took 6 hours the other time!! Eventually, I decided to go. I mean, I don't wanna regret again. So, we went to check out all the bicycle kiosks nearby.... and they were closed. Such an apt ending, because we took really long to decide if we wanna go (as usual). And by the time we set off for the kiosk, it was 9pm. But still, I think the walk to and fro the park was okay. Because I had people to talk to, and my group actually sat in the middle of some rocky floor in the shape of a circle at pasir ris park and talked a little. So yep, it was actually okay. We went night walking instead of night cycling LOL.

At night, we played a drinking game (with soft drinks). Pretty fun. Heard quite a lot of interesting stuff :) And I made everyone talk backwards, while joelle made everyone talk in alliteration. Not sure which was worse hahah.

The next day, I went bowling with Shernaine and Zixin, while Huiyi Randy Sheryl and Louis played bridge. Quite a good game, and I ended up with the highest scores hahahah. Afterwards, went home with Huiyi, while dragging my insanely huge guitar along.

~

Overall, the 2 chalets have been nice. In fact, they were better than I anticipated, for many reasons. I thought 2K chalet would feel awkward, given the span of time which we haven't met up. It did feel awkward at times, but it was pretty much okay.
I thought 4k chalet would just be... eventless?? hahah. Somehow, that was the feeling I got from 4K (case in example the night cycling). But I still got some fond memories and nice things that I did there, so it wasn't too bad.

Yep, the chalets of 2012 have both ended on a nice note, of which I am very happy about!! :DDD