新年快乐! and my thank yous
aheheh.. it's a new lunar year! 新年快乐! it's the time to binge on yummy 年糕, kueh baluh and other stuff.. yummm~was supposed to blog about my job search adventure during the long cny break. but the lure of new year goodies and my bed proved too strong and hence the rather delayed posting. so here goes..
* * * WARNING* * *
this' a long post. i've added some headings to facilitate your reading. do skip through the post at will. you might wanna go ahead to the thank yous (at the bottom i think) and see if i'd mentioned you in the thank yous
how it all began..
after nua-ing forever, i decided i had to buck up and get an internship. it's something i've been telling anyone and everyone forever. for a year and a half actually. and with the passing of my 25th birthday, i realised it's time i put things into action. for heaven's sake, i don't even have a bloody life insurance lah. and hence the reduced blogging activity and ahem.. incommunicado-ness on IM for the past one month.
below's a breakdown of the happenings in the past one month.
week 01 - this was the week where i forced myself to conjure out my portfolio. once and for all. actually only got to print the wretched thing on 16jan coz i couldn't make it down to the printing shop in time on 14jan.
week02 - the week i spent doing up me resume and cover letter. great torture it was. the surfing i did to find out how to write a bleedy resume and cover letter. and then to discover i might need to do thank you letters. tmd.. on fri 20jan, i finally cold-called ten firms to ask if i could email them my resume and stuff. in the end, i managed to arrange for four interviews in all.
week 03 - interview week. had two interviews on tue (24jan), one on wed (25jan) and one on thu (26jan).
summary of me interviews
interview 01 - rather informative chat with the interviewer. but think he thought i was asking for too high a salary. didn't get back to me after the interview.
interview 02 - again, quite a nice chat with the interviewers. one of them seemed rather impressed with some of my stuff. surprised me there. the most hopeful interviews. got an offer from them the next day by phone.
interview 03 - the firm most recommended by my peers, by those who h a v e worked there before and those who h a v e n ' t. thought i sounded a little desperate to work for them. generally didn't think the interview went as well as I02. so was rather surprised when they called me while i was on my way home to offer me an internship.
interview 04 - heh.. i was late for the interview. it was the only interview that was in the morning mah. and partly coz i had somewhat decided to accept firm 03's offer. just wanted to go for this interview coz i was too lazy to cancel it and i thought it would be a good experience. considering that i was late, and that my circumstances are somewhat.. unimpressive (bumming around for 1 1/2 years in totally unrelated fields) i was really thrown off guard when the interviewer offered me the internship on the spot with the highest remuneration rate among all the firms who had decided to offer me a job.
there's some kind of pattern. from I02 onwards, the interviews went from good to not so good. my luck with the buses went from good to not good (that's why i was late for my last interview. actually i had to take a cab for I03. couldn't catch a cab for I04 coz it was rush hour. there weren't any empty cabs on the road). and strangely enough the replies from the firms got faster.
in the end i decided to accept firm 03's offer coz
- good references from peers
- their works looked promising
- firm 02 had too little people. 不够人气
- good references from peers
and so i was greatly traumatized as i was k-ing at the karaoke by myself.
my first solo karaoke session
oh yah. 26jan. the day when i went to the karaoke all by myself. a first for me. kinda refreshing experience. i got to hog the mic the entire time. mwaharhar~ think i enjoyed it quite a bit.
anyway, i was worrying and k-ing like crazy. but eventually, firm 03 got back to me to tell me i'm in. whoopah! (erm. got this from chandler - friends? chandler thinks whips go whoopah! instead of swish! it's so damn amusing that i kinda got a little addicted to it_)
and today was my first day at work.
first day at work
good news is, i was on time. yes, i managed to get in before nine. but am terribly sleepy now coz i didn't go to bed early enough last night.
spent the morning doing nothing really coz i wasn't assigned anything. and i couldn't do much. i have no internet access. only 3 terminals have internet acces. so i can't access cowboybar. i can't blog. i can't email. i can't read blogs. i can only access a very limited number of projects the firm is working on or has worked on.
spent the afternoon sending files to plot. basically was shuttling between my seat and the plotter.
oh, met the big boss for the first time. chatted a little while. he scares me a little. afterall he i s the big boss. however, i think he's not t o o scary.
generally the workplace seemed rather.. amiable. think the proportion of male to female is a little off. the lady sitting next to me was telling me that she finds it a little.. slightly undesirable coz the high percentage of females tend to make the environment a little gossipy sometimes.
then i sat in on two discussions and found out a little more about the project that i'm helping on. it's some interior design/aki project in TW.
as we had to wait for the architect?associate? (for the first discussion) and the big boss (for the second discussion) i ended up going home two hours after the official working hours. if i'm not wrong, think the first discussion only began half an hour before the day was supposed to end.
am terribly sleepy now. yawn
yup, that was my first day. first day and i had to stay late. to think i was contemplating about popping down to the topshop sale. sigh. but then again, i wasn't doing anything in the morning. believe i'll be at the scanner tomorrow scanning stuff and photoshopping. please don't let me screw up. how?? my photoshopping skills are rather koyak.. argh. but let's let tomorrow sort itself out.
thank yous
got to thank a lot of people. like all my friends who would nag me a little when they know that i'm bumming my life away. but most of the time they just let me bum my life away, it's kinda good coz i'm a little numb towards external pressure anyway. it's not very good coz i just stagnated since no one really nagged at me. would like to thank some people specifically:
- Y - for the free air ticket to the US of A. it really opened my world. i fell in love with a city and learnt new things about life and myself. also for hosting me, for lending me the money to go niagara falls and MI, for the harry potter, for the j.crew top, the target skirt, for all the yummilicious dinners and a lot more.
- X - for hosting me in boston. guess seeing you working hard at your phd was inspiring for me. and thanks for getting me addicted to ahem.. shopping. and the really pretty bracelet you got me from UO!
- HX - for hosting me and showing me around a place with erm.. nothing much to see. well, it's interesting to see how you guys settled in and tried to cook.
- ZF - for not 追究 ing regarding my 放 ing 飞机. "P and of course for your call on my birthday. really miss talking rubbish with you on the phone.
- JQ - for helping me proof my resume and my cover letters. and of course for the karaoke sessions. and not forgetting the shoe-shopping trip.
- YX - for remembering my birthday and treating me to karaoke. and for shoe-shopping with me.
- JL - for remembering my birthday and giving me a most lovely present (muji vouchers!). and for shoe-shopping with me (yah lah. i went on f o u r shoe shopping trips. i most cmi) and for ikea-ing with me.
- YY - for remembering my birthday, for the lunch and for the present. and for meeting up with me after eons of missing each other. the trip to chinatown was.. fun i guess. a tad crowded for me. and my necklace broke! tmd. i haven't even worn it once lah. the problem with having a messy dressing table.
- TJ - for going to sentosa with me on 大年初二. horrible crowd but at least we got a l e e t l e tanned. was really nice meeting up with you. would love to meet up again but i really wonder with me new job.
- S - for emailing me on my birthday. congrats on your job too! i'll reply your letter asap. ahem. when i'm not feeling too sleepy lah..
- my brother - for proofing my resume. for pointing out how i need a job coz i'm too well-versed with the tv schedule. for just being there and amusing me. oh! and for having friends who enjoy my culinary experiments. my latest choc fruit cake was well received by his friends but not by our relatives. philistines. "P
- KM - for remembering to meet up with me while she's back in SG. woman! it's so nice to have you around. you're damn entertaining lah.
- JN - for calling out of the blue. i thought you had disappeared in outer space. it was really nice talking to you. thanks for sharing your bizarre dreams. i pray your cousin won't meet with any trouble such that she has to call me. but if she needs recommendations for where to shop.. where to eat.. feel free to call lah.
i'll probably never express my thankfulness to her, and she'll probably never see this. a little pointless but they do say it's the thought that counts.
though i do think it had rather pleased her that i'd managed to get myself employed before cny. yes, i noticed how she "subtly" mentioned to my aunt about my employment. and how she managed to update Y before i did.
i do think this internship is going to be hard work. i must try to keep at it. and hopefully manage to negotiate a better pay after this month. but being employed i s doing some good to my self-esteem and i believe it's doing wonders for my mom.
ah well, if there's anyone else i'd missed out, gomen! sleep deprived brain at work here.
last of all
who's got a UOB card? go shopping at topshop with me leh. sheesh. i'm thinking about cashing in on my paycheck even before the first week of my first month is over. [piak forehead]
posted by who? at 22:58 |
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