Action: Looks at Recruit Saturday to look for positions
Result: No jobs that I can apply to! Either (a) not qualified (b) not BIG enough bank (c) local bank (d) Public sector positions
Plan A (i)- Comb all job agencies in International Plaza
Result: Was slammed by two agencies for expecting too high a starting pay for a fresh graduate with no prior experience. Luckily, managed to find a one-woman agency who specialises in getting banking jobs
Plan A (ii) - Apply directly at the bank's website online - a little hard to get a position since it's a cold call, but since I do not want to apply for most jobs in the papers, I had better look at alternatives
Result: Went for one interview at JPMorgan recommended by the agency - but failed
Plan B - Went for a second interview at JPMorgan 3 weeks later for another position - success!
Objective: It's a temporary position (aka pay is terrible) but heck, it's JPMorgan. Let me get in first and see if I can get a permanent position somehow - Foot in the Door strategy
Plan C - Started work. Feels extremely demoralised by pay. Further demoralised in the realisation that no headcount exists in my department. Free Pokka Green Tea in the pantry cannot allievate my pain. Applies aggressively on the available positions posted in the internal database. Applies on external websites as well
Result: No luck on the database. Realises that applying internally may not be as easy as thought. Shortlisted for two different positions with Bloomberg. Both never made it past the 1st round
Plan D - Job agency helps me. Sends me for another permanent position interview at JPMorgan
Result: Shortlisted for 2nd round. Department boss speaks to me on the same day of interview. She has fought for a headcount and wants me to know she is interested to convert me - Wah!
Plan E - Rejects 2nd round to wait for my permanent position in current department. Decided that current department is closer to my interests
Result: Still waiting for news after 1 month. Feels very stupid and realises that I may have made a mistake rejecting the 2nd round because I may have become a permanent staff by now
Plan F - Tries for other positions. No harm trying since I really would not know how long I have to wait
Result - Job agency helps again. Sends me for oil trading company interview. Shortlisted for 2nd round. Spent the whole weekend learning all about oil and its trends. Failed 2nd round - Extremely demoralised. I had really wanted this position because I could have progressed to be an oil trader
Plan G - Boss tells me that headcount is finally approved by Global Manager!
Result: Waiting now for my last stage approval. Hopefully to be converted permanent by mid-November latest
“God created everything?” the Professor asked.
“Yes sir”, the student replied.
The Professor answered, “If God created everything, then God created evil since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who we are then God is evil.”
The student became quiet before such an answer. The Professor was quite pleased with himself and boasted to the students that he had proven once more that faith in God was a myth.
Another student raised his hand and said, “Can I ask you a question Professor?”
“Of course”, replied the Professor.
The student stood up and asked, “Professor, does cold exist?”
“What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?” the students snickered at the young man’s question.
The young man replied, “In fact Sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (- 460 degrees F) is the total absence of heat; all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat.
The student continued. “Professor, does darkness exist?”
The Professor responded, “Of course it does.”
The student replied, “Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact we can use Newton’s prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn’t this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present.”
Finally the young man asked the Professor. “Sir, does evil exist?”
Now uncertain, the Professor responded, “Of course as I have already said. We see it every day. It is in the daily example of man’s inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.”
To which this the student replied, “Evil does not exist Sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is not like faith, or love that exist just as does light and heat. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God’s love present in his heart. It’s like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.”
The Professor sat down.
The young man’s name –– Albert Einstein
In both emotional and spiritual ways, it's easy to see just how fortunate you'd be in your adult life. In addition, since Scorpio rules the inevitable, you own the propensity for timing necessary events with an eye toward doing what must be done as soon as it must be done-one of the most valuable assets anyone can have.
This is very true - I always felt that I had a good sixth sense.
The astrology of your birth time shows both your tendency to give and to accept-but most of all, the incidence of the "eleventh-hour" intervention of fate. In all situations, then, you're likely optimistic, believing that the Universe will provide-and the high side of this unswerving optimism is that it will always be with you, even in seemingly 'no-win" situations. In a nutshell, it will likely always be safe for you to trust fate. In fact, your trust in the future will usually lead you to a safe harbor and the genuine knowledge that what is given out is received and given back tenfold-as they say. As such, you are likely one of the most genuinely generous people in your peer group or circle, lacking nothing when it comes to faith in others. Just be sure you're as cautious as you are fair-minded. Not everyone is as reputable and full of integrity as you are.
This paragraph is very accurate - especially the part on "eleventh-hour" intervention of fate. My luck never fails me at critical moments. My friend is asking me for TOTO numbers at 5pm tomorrow to test this "eleventh-hour" hypothesis.
Your best bet for a long-term relationship is probably with one of the two other fire signs, Leos or Aries, but the air signs, Libra, Gemini, and Aquarius, will also prove worthy partners or enduring friends.
Your gift is your ability to make friends easily-and those friendships will last forever. Your challenge is to never let your guard down when your intuition speaks up.
So next time I tell you my intuition is speaking, please listen up!
Try this at: http://www.tigerbeer.us/horoscope/
Naturally there was a big uproar from the Chinese community. So the Pope made a deal. He would have a religious debate with a member of the Chinese community. If the Chinese win, they could stay. If the Pope wins, the Chinese would leave. The Chinese realized that they had no other choice. So they picked a middle-aged man named Ah Peh to represent them. Ah Peh asked for one condition to be added to the debate. "To make it more interesting", he said, "neither side would be allowed to talk". The Pope agreed.
The day of the great debate came.
Ah Peh and the Pope sat opposite each other for a full minute. Then the Pope raised his hand and showed three fingers. Ah Peh looked back at him and raised one finger.
The Pope waved his fingers in a circle around his head. Ah Peh pointed to the ground at where he sat.
The Pope pulled out a loaf and a glass of wine. Ah Peh pull out an apple.
The Pope stood up and said: "I give up. This man is too good. The Chinese can stay."
An hour later, the cardinals were all around The Pope asking him what had happened.
The Pope said, "first I held up three fingers to represent the holy trinity. He responded by holding up one finger to remind me that there was still one God common to both our religions."
"Then I waved my finger around me to show him that God was all around us. He responded by pointing to the ground and showing that God was also right here with us."
"I pulled out the wine and loaf to show that God absolves all sin. He showed me an apple to remind us of the original sin. He had an answer for everything. What could I do?"
Meanwhile, the Chinese community had crowded around Ah Peh.
"What happened?" they asked.
"Well," said Ah Peh, "First he indicated to me that all Chinese had 3 days to get out of here. I replied to him f*@k off and not one of us was leaving."
"Then he pointed that this whole city would be cleared of Chinese. I showed him that we are staying right here."
"Yes, and then???" asked the crowd.
"I don't know", said Ah Peh, "He took out his lunch, and I took out mine."
I'm currently in the midst of reloading all the pictures in my blog entries because all the links I had with imageshack had been broken. This is quite a painful and slow process though because I have to upload pictures to Flickr and then manually click "Add Image" in the blog entry to add the URL link. To make things worse, the "Add Image" screen takes forever to load up. As of today, I have only completed March and two entries for April. Think it will take me forever to complete reloading the pictures.
When I was loading the images, I realised that I have never uploaded any of my graduation pictures. This is because I did not take any graduation pictures on convocation day itself using my digital camera (only took pictures with my family's film camera) and relied on my friends' digital cameras. This is not because I forgot my camera - I even bought fresh batteries the night before and brought my camera along - I saw no need to use mine since it's mostly group pictures and it is really a waste of resources and time making the photographer take two pictures with the same people but with different cameras. Decided it was much more efficient to use my friends' cameras for the pictures and then to download them myself later on. The same applied when a group of us went to Esplanade and Chijmes to take outdoor pictures. Since I'm now in the mood of doing all these picture administrative stuff, I decided to download the graduation pictures from my friends' cameras.
Came across this picture which was taken on that outing to Chijmes and Esplanade. When this picture was taken, I had already been walking about in my gown for about 3h, lugging my graduation gown bag (ok, I had no lugging because Alex helped me with mine as part of a deal we made) and my legs were hurting from all that walking in my heels. So when we finally had a chance to sit down in front of the Esplanade Library - this was how I looked.
Unfortunately, my friends do not agree and now I'm the official Ah Lian in the group.
Which brings me to the point why I posted this picture:
Disclaimer: I do not always sit with my legs wide apart. I only do that when I'm wearing pants. Most importantly, I have absolutely nothing against Ah Lians. My Ah Lian and Ah Beng friends can vouch for me.