Bits and Pieces

Ok, now, let's review what happened to me for the past couple of weeks...

Busily working on a project for my new employer. Yeah, the work has begun, even before I commence work mid next month. I am not complaining, it's good to have something in between to keep my toes up. I still get to have some rest before I start work.

The New Boss is nice, appreciates what we do, is encouraging and is consultative. Initially, I had thought that he was cold, but turns out, he is a warm person. He sets us at ease when we contribute our ideas. Not domineering. Ok, I know what you are thinking. Ditch that thought. He is married :D

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As the current one. I can't believe it has already started, the accusations. The first one happened while I was on leave from Friday - Monday. My name was used as not being responsible on a certain job. And all he could do was to use me as an item to show off his "responsibility". Which is to just put the blame on me and do nothing about the project involved, waiting for me to come back to resolve it.

The second one happened today. He walked to me and asked me about the changes of a brochure job. He stared eyeball to eyeball at me, and insisted that I have the changes that the client has requested. I had to defend myself; he has taken all the related items related to the project, I kept nothing, I haven't even seen the revised cover that they have done (my client told me she has seen it, I didn't tell her that I wasn't shown it, not that it matters now) and even showed him what I have got. He insisted. I insisted. My colleagues rolled their eyes. He returned to his desk, "Oh, I have it here." With no apologies.

Nah, it didn't really bother me. Afterall, I have only a few days more with the company. It was easy to brush this incident aside. He has showed the whole world who he is by his behaviour, and the fault does not lie with me. I smiled to my colleagues, who then commented that I am now in ROD mode. Indeed I am.

It's just too easy to forgive a fool.

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Oh, I was at a bridal shower last Sat, and heard funny things about the couple the following day. Reminds me that a marriage is not as simple as just signing the papers and saying I do. I have many couple friends whom I often wonder: How did they get together? Opposites positively attract, I feel.

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A CEO from +the 4th company that I went for interview last month+ wrote me an email on Monday. She had intended to arrange for a second interview with me after my first meeting with her. Unfortunately, I didn't get that email (I probably deleted it 'cos I thought it's spam. Yeah :S) Anyway, that interview came after I've accepted the offer from my next company. They were very very nice people. And they are a good agency to work in. In fact, I had a feeling that they like me already, during the interview.

Anyway, her email wrote to say that they were very near to discuss a job offer with me. I felt bad and good at the same time. Bad for turning down nice people who write to me almost 3 weeks after I turn them down; Good because the job interviews have affirmed what I believe I have in the industry.

Naturally, I had to reply and thank her for her note. They are too nice to ignore. Who knows what will happen in the future.

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Social activities are beginning to make their way into my diary.

I want to declare early this year that this time is +"The Most Wonderful Time of The Year!"+

:D

Tired!

I am feeling very tired physically tired as I type this.

've been working on a project till 2am for the past few nights.

Tired.

I look forward to the weekend.

The Local Commuter

Just writing about some things I saw while commuting on the train tonight.

The trains on North-East line were pretty empty when I went in from Hougang. As the train commences it's journey, my observation began too.

Hmm... The advertisement lightbox in the tunnel are not lit up. "Save cost. More so now that Buangkok station is losing money..."

It was relatively quiet. So rested my eyes and told myself to be ready for the crowd from Farrer Park on Little India stations. "There will be alot of those those foreign workers coming on board in those stations, " I thought to myself.

Well, surprise. There merely a handful of them who came in. Maybe it's because I was in one of the last few cabins.

A group of young Indians sat opposite me. They do not look like local Indians, as they are fairer. "Hmmm. The very rich ones and the blue-collar works are now thronging our shores. Similar to the Chinese who came in as well. THIS is the new group of people who would probably have a part in shaping the countries' future. They are, in some sense, migrants and pioneers. They will tell their children of their migrant stories in years to come."

This thought was verified when some Chinese-looking men took over the seats of the Indian young men when they left the train.

All goes well thereafter.

At the exchange station, I wasn't surprise to see throngs of Indian and Sri Lankan workers making a switch of train routes. They carry with them food and necessities bought from Mustafa Centre, or most probably bought from their shopping trip in Little India. There were hardly any locals in sight. "Maybe that's why most of us prefer to stay at home on weekends."

I think the sight of the army of migrant workers goes to show two things:

1) The property developments in Singapore are pretty well planned. They are so near the MRT stations that the workers, who are part of the development, can easily commute from town to their "homes" on their day offs. How's that for working in a foreign country as a labourer? The colourful town is not too far away from their work location.

2) There are more Indians in Singapore than you think.

3) (Another something that slipped my mind. Oh well.)

So yep. There you go.

Disclaimer:
I have nothing against foreign workers, in fact, I am thankful to them for taking up the dirty jobs that we Singaporeans dissed. Those people who speculate in properties should thank them even more. If not for these people, will these investors make money so quickly?

The above is generally an observation, it is not mean to discriminate, nor to propagate racial supremacy.

Randoms

Remember the lady I wrote about, who is now into this +internet marketing+ thingy?

I logged in to Facebook today, and was checking a friend's profile. The lady left a video on her Superwall. And guess what she left on her wall?

Another fresh video promoting the free time she enjoyed while she does her internet business.

I thought that was a turn-off. It really is.

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Just watched the 4th season of Grey's Anatomy from somewhere :) Love it still. Don't know what to expect from the upcoming episodes though. Hope it's as good as it was. Looks like it.

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I've been quite busy recently, in fact too busy to fret over my singlehood.

It dawned on me sometime last week, that, hey, I am doing fine as a single person. And I think the new job would help very much to stave away that need.

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I wonder.

If more men are liking men, and women are turning into partners instead of girlfriends... What does that leave the rest of us?

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I will be having a slew of events coming up for the next two weeks. Get-togethers, practices for a wedding, bridal shower, la dee dah. Oh, and of course, leaving the old job and going to the new one :D

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I think I've been unloading a lil too much lately, so I've decided to remove my name from my profile.

Haiz... I have succumbed to secrecy in the end.

A Short October Story IV

Ok, there is no more story. Here are just some updates to the things that have happened since.

(If you are new to this "series", please proceed to +A Short October Story+, and move up from there.)

The boss was surprised to hear that I am leaving the company, but her comment "So that means you are not happy here?" was not the kind of response I expect from an employer upon receiving her staff's resignation letter. I said "No..." and before I could continue, "You are leaving, that means you are not happy here, right?" I had to fill up the spaces in between as she looked at me, expecting to force the truth out of me. So I said, "Well, it's a new company, and there are new opportunities there..." She replied, "Ok, since you have made up your mind."

Things are back to normal in the office since then. Today, I received news that my final day with the company will be the 2nd day next month. I guess I had miscalculated my timing... May request to start at the new company early, but... We'll see.

So there you have it, short, quick resignation process.

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By the way, I never realise that the iPod comes with inbuilt games :D Saw a teenage girl playing Solitaire while standing next to her on the train. Not that I am a big fan of electronic games... I guess having that feature doesn't hurt :)

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Meantime, I am thanking God for the many little blessings that He has provided every single day. Makes me even more sure that He will see me through the next phase of my adventure with him.

Repulsion

I've always thought that I am someone whom no one has problems getting along with. So it was pretty surprising for me to be actually repelled by another person today.

When I reach the worship hall in the morning, I saw one of the girls who does bible study with our cell on Friday nights sitting with another lady from her cell. Since the others have not arrived yet, I went to their row to sit with her.

As I got closer to them, the other lady 1) notice my coming, 2) told my friend something, 3) stood up, 4) took her bag and 5) moved to a seat much further away from us. I saw it from the corner of my eye and noted the gesture. My friend was taken by surprised by the lady's action, and kept looking at the direction that she headed to.

It was an awkward situation. I didn't want to make it more uncomfortable for my friend, so I pretended nothing happen, and didn't say anything to her. Fortunately, the worship started, and the awkwardness slipped away.

As I worship, I told God, I didn't do anything to her, it is unfortunate that she responded in that manner to me. However, for the same reason, I do not think I should blame myself for "scaring" her off. She made a choice, she behaved in that manner, so she will be responsible for what she did.

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I have always thought that lady didn't like me when I was first introduced to them. Her cell leader was the one who gave me +a tap on the shoulder+, and I had joined them for lunch at a nearby hawker centre thereafter. Her body language has already indicated to me that she doesn't welcome me to join them, and she left quickly after finishing her lunch, while the rest of us stayed around.

Subsequently, whenever I see her before or after the worship service, I would try to give her a smile. But she would give me a stare and pretend that I am transparent. So, I told myself, "OOokayy... I guess somebody doesn't like me..."

Since then, I concluded that she is probably offended by my intrusion to her small, cosy group. Maybe she thinks I am a threat for taking away all her friends.

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Semonr learnt today: Let those who boast, boast in the Lord.

And, let those who sensed that they are unwelcome be sensitive not to let it happen again.

Various

A church friend has gone into a partnership with some of his friends and opened a little joint selling chilled soba.



If you are in Tanjoing Pagar, going towards Amara Hotel or Tanjong Pagar Plaza, do pop by their shop at Icon Village and check out their offerings. It's chilled Japanese soba with a variety of ingredients to choose from. Soba is a healthy food, and I thought the portion that they sold is just nice for a not-so-hungry stomach, though some may not agree.

Website: www.shakemee.com

Heh... I am not linking them because I don't want him to discover my blog. Hiak hiak hiak...

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I have never been quite bothered with this internet thing called "Site feeds" or "Web feeds". Curious, but doesn't know how it work. I thought I had better learn the science of it before my new employer start to ask me things about it...

So I am now a subscriber of Bloglines. I've downloaded a little application from their website to sit on my taskbar. So nowadays, when my computer is turned on, I am notified on the updates of blogs/websites with topics/theme that interest me. Which is pretty handy actually... The blogs are pretty precise in their delivery of information, and it will really help me get quick information of the trends and things happening around the world.

So far, I am pretty pleased with my selection of feeds. Very helpful indeed.

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Lifted this from a website that I followed from one of the blog feeds

“Quit your complaining. It’s not the world’s fault that you wanted to be an artist. It’s not the world’s job to enjoy the films you make, and it’s certainly not the world’s obligation to pay for your dreams. Nobody wants to hear it. Steal a camera if you have to, but stop whining and get back to work.”

+full write-up here+

The statement says it all. I don't have to elaborate.

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To be honest, I am a scared of the things to come.

I mean, my future employer seemed to expect A LOT from me. Or for that matter, the entire team, the entirely new team.

What if I don't perform as what he has expected? What if I flopped? What if he thinks I am not as good as the way I present myself during the interview? What if I cannot generate results as he hope I could? What if I am daydreaming when I cannot follow a concept? What if I wasn't paying attention to the details of the clients? WHAT IFS?!?!?

I guess all these feelings linger within me because all this while, no employer of mine has ever told me that they know my strengths and hopes that I can excel in them. In fact, they hardly notice my other talents. None of them ever instilled in me the confidence that I can rise up and step up. The current ones kept complaining that I did not step up; how can I do so when I am always suppressed right after I am given an opportunity to take charge? To them, I am just an employee, sucking out their resources. That's it.

The pressure than is to work for what is expected of me, to be the person that can add value to the company.

I am scared, I am afraid my confidence will betray me in my new job. I am afraid that I cannot rise to the occasion.

Still am.

A Short October Story III

Maria has decided.

The new flat will be my new home, she concluded. The owner of the flat was late in his reply, as he was away in another state. He left her a voice message yesterday and told her that he has decided to let out his flat to her. The flat is bare, and she would have to get all the furnitures herself so that it will look like a proper home. That means, a lot of work and time.

The flat owned by the middle-age couple was snugly and warm. They had made the place so homely that Maria felt it'd be easy to settle in. Everything has been arranged such that she does not need to put in too much work. It was an as-is unit. Unfortunately, she has agreed the new flat owner that she will take his unit, prior to visit the middle-age couple.

She was pretty confused on the day of decision actually. She thought she was being nasty by visiting the owner when she has already promised another. She felt guilty for wasting their time. It's the first time she has done such a thing, and she didn't feel quite right doing it. It was as if she has committed a grievous sin.

Now that a few days has passed since agreeing to taking the new flat and visiting snuggly apartment, her worries that the nice couple may insist that she stay with them seemed to poof away in a cloud. It's probably the reply from the new flat owner that gave her the assurance that it was a right choice she made. And she reckoned, since the second choice couple can only promise her a place next Monday, she shouldn't have too much difficulty telling them that she has accepted another offer. Or so, she hopes.

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Now, the next thing that Maria has to worry about is leaving the old apartment. It's been almost 3 years. Some habits will take a while to kick, like getting breakfast from her favourite cafe from friendly Old Chen would be a thing of the past. Or things like having to wait for the lift, and occasionally meeting the cute guy who works next door.

She hasn't spoken to her aunt about her departure. She hoped she could to let her know when on Monday. Maria wonders when would it be a good time to let her know. Morning, afternoon, or before the her uncle comes home? And how will her reaction be?

But Maria is not going to retreat. She has made a decision, and she knows it's for the better. For herself. For better or worse. She has to move on to a the new place where the opportunities seemed to be in the same vibrant colours as the walls leading to the new flat.

Though the owner, who lives nearby, has said that he will pop by and check to see if she need anything, Maria will have to start from scratch. There will be difficulty in adjustments, because she will be living entirely on her own in the new flat, unlike what she is used to, living under her aunt's roof. It's a bare apartment, with just a simple kitchen and curtains for the windows. But it will be up to Maria to transform this spartan place into something comfortable to live in.

There'll be a lot of changes, she told herself. But I will make it happen. I will do it, whatever it takes, I will make it a better place to live in.

Her mobile phone rang. The owner Wayne was on the other line, giving her a warm welcome to the new apartment. He told her that he has left her some flyers from the furniture shops and locksmiths in her mailbox, in case she doesn't know whom she could go to. He also told her that she might want to start painting the walls first, or maybe do some preparation work before she move in.

This will be a new beginning, Maria grinned to herself as she got off the phone with Wayne. God, please give me the wisdom, the courage and the boldness to take up the challenges ahead. Amen.


image from inmagine.com

A Short October Story II

Maria went to the other shoe shop anyway, even though she told the shop assistant at the Giselle's that she will buy those snow boots for her holiday in Chicago. It will be winter by the time she take off, and she needed good boots to weather the winter. The ones she saw at Giselle's were just the one she had in mind.

The other shoe shop is Estella. They gave her a call a couple of days ago to inform her that the boots that she wanted to see are available in store and invited her to their shop to have a look at their boots. She had left her name and number with them during a visit sometime back, hoping to see if there are more choices out there other than the pair she saw at Giselle's.

She had told the shop owner at Giselle's that she will be getting the boots from them. However, having promised the friendly sales person over the phone at Estella's that she will drop by, she decided she should visit them anyway. Afterall, it doesn't hurt to see what's available in the market, right?

When she left Estella's later, she realised she had a difficult choice to make, even though she had promised the owner at Giselle's.

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The sales person at Estella's was a friendly man, and he even introduced Maria to the owner of the shop. Both parties had a great time discussing shoe designs, and the people who wear them, whether the shoes look good on them. They seemed to be pretty taken in to Maria, as she shares with them her personal experiences at buying shoes. Shoes that seemed to fit at the shop but refused expand when she brought them home, even though the shop told her that they will; Shoes that were beautiful to look at but gave her calluses and blisters. They in turn, shared with her their share of shoes and clients, both good and bad; Maria felt that they seemed to like her. A LOT.

Before she left their shop, she was given a tour around their shop, introduced to everyone, down to the delivery man. Maria bit her lip and silently wondered, "Oh dear, they are such nice people, I feel so guilty that I have actually came in expecting nothing from them. They are probably expecting that I will buy those snow boots!"

As the boots are not available for sale yet, they informed her that they will let her know when they arrive, most probably next Monday, she was hinted that she would most probably be the first customer to get them. Maria bit her lip again, "Gee, I am beginning to like them already! I feel so bad to have to turn down their offer if they get me my boots!" She was seen to the door, and she bit her adieu.

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On the way home, her mind raced in different directions. "I've given myself a big headache!" Maria realised that she has to make a choice between the two shops. Giselle's boots look trendy and it's definitely a design very new in the market. Estella's boots were the classic black, but feels sturdy and reliable. She has given her indication to Giselle's that she will take their boots; she is willing and ready to be one of the first to try them out. However, Estella's boots look appealing to her too. And they have the same waterproof material that could give her a good walk in the Chicago winter.

She has never felt so torn in choices when buying things. It's a tough decision.

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When she reached home, she checked her voice messages to see if Giselle's has left any messages to inform her that she can collect her boots. Nope, no messages from them, even though she gave them her answer before the cut off time. She reckoned that they probably have some issues at the date of collection for the boots;"It might be too long for them, I guess," Maria thought. "If that is so, then maybe I would have sometime to wait for the boots at Estella's!"

Even though that thought brought some relief, Maria is aware that the decision making isn't going to be easy.

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She went out to have dinner with her friends and told them about her shoe shopping trip. None of them could offer her a good answer. She really wished they could gave her a definite answer so that she need not think further.

She came back home later that night, and the voice machine was the first thing she check after turning on the lights. Hmmm, no messages from the shop owner at Giselle's. Maybe he's too busy to call me, she thought. Hmmm... Or maybe he wasn't too happy that I would take that long to get the boots from him.

Oh well, I'd just to check again tomorrow then. "Que Sera, Sera, whatever will be, will be. The future's not us to see, que sera, sera..." Maria hummed along to the famous old tune that was now playing on the classics radio station.

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When the light in her room had escaped into the night, Maria took a few moments to close her eyes and shared with her Maker her adventure today. Minutes later, there was silence as the moonlight shone into the girl's room, a girl who had a unforgettable shopping experience in a single week.


image from inmagine.com

A Short October Story

Maria couldn't believe her eyes. That name she has been communicating to on email, the same one that she put a face to a few days ago at a job interview. He has written to her, with a subject header that stirred up all the excitement in her.

"I am pleased to..." At those 4 words, her excitement rolled at an even higher speed. The smile that only appeared when she has pretty cupcakes to delight her day came up. Her eyes sparkled and turned to tell her colleague, "They want me!"

He has requested that she should let him know of her interest and next available date by 3pm the next day. "3pm... Okay... No, not okay..." There is another job interview awaiting her tomorrow at 3.30pm.

She wrote back to him and asked him if he could give her more time to consider the application. He replied, hoping that she could let him know the next day as the company is accountable to other applicants too. She was left with no choice but to respond that she understands the situation and will let him know tomorrow.

She wonders what can she do.

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Maria was pretty positive about her performance at the interview. Well, she had been in two interviews in the past one month, but her late night written application after the 1st interview probably didn't sit well with the managing director. She turned down the offer by the second company. She has been in too many jobs to realise that going into anything that comes her way is not going to give her a better deal of the transaction.

She had a list of things to look out in the next prospective employer; afterall, she IS looking for a career and not a job this time. Maria felt that she should be focused on a company that match her list of expectations, instead of settling for whatever comes first, for that happened to her in her previous job search, and those were what she would consider as "career mistakes".

In fact, it was after her meeting with this company that gave her the boldness to turn down the offer of the second interviewer. The director of this company listed down the potential career advancements of the position, and the vision he has for the company. It was the kind of organisation that Maria wanted to be in.

She was expecting that his email would come late Tuesday so that she could gauge her choices. His prompt response was a surprise, though pleasant, it was a tough decision to make. 3pm is half an hour before her 4th interview, which might end up offering a even better remuneration package . What should she do?

She is really troubled. What is she suppose to do?

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Stay tuned.



image from inmagine.com

Antidote

It's been a flurry of events for the past few days. I guess that's the Singaporean life. If you are busy, you are really busy. If you are not busy, you just wonder how life seemed to be on a standstill.

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It's been a flurry of events for the past few days. I guess that's the Singaporean life. If you are busy, you are really busy. If you are not busy, you just wonder how life seemed to be on a standstill, if you have been forgotten.

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I've gone for another job interview yesterday. The interviewer was so keen to employ me that she was even ready to prepare an appointment letter for me to sign the same day.

However, after some thought about the company and my career prospects, Even though in the long run, I may not be able to find a job as quickly as I should, I have decided to turn down the offer when I reply to her next Monday. I have made up my mind to move up the career ladder, and there are certain criteria that I have listed down for the next best thing. I cannot divert from that focus and settle for second best just because I was offered the job. The mistakes in the past left marks in my past and I am not willing to repeat those mistakes again. No more horizontal job switches; my career need to move onwards and upwards.

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The other good news is, I will be going for another job interview tomorrow! :D No details as yet, but it's with a bigger establishment. So hopefully, when we meet, I get to know more and make a clear decision.

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I had a wonderful time attending 2 gatherings last night. Dinner with my translation class mats, and catching up with close friends after.

As usual, with my classmates, we had non-stop laughter, and lots of quality Mandarin conversation. It's amazing that we can still connect so well, even though we only meet once a while, last night's occasion being that one of the classmates is back from China from a short visit. We exchange news (one has turn to full-time translation; another went for an interview with the position recommended by the school and came back with "interesting" reports, another went to watch the NC16 version of Lust*Caution, which brought up the topic of discussion of whether the English translation of the movie title did justice to the original Chinese title...).

Lots and lots of fun. I love this group :D

Next, I head down to Clarke Quay to catchup with friends. The majority of our conversation surrounds the people in our workplaces. It was a good session of letting out of our frustrations, and cheering with margaritas :) After that, our topics moved to the old Chinese tv serials that are currently being repeated on tv. We reminiscence the good old days of innocence, shows dubbed in Mandarin, the quality of the shows, as well as the theme songs of the series.

Lots and lots of fun.

It's nice to hang out with people who can "hannor, hannor" with you when you mention something, and have almost every one of your sentences completed by someone who totally knows what u mean.

Finally, I've taken an antidote to relieve my almostGonnaBurst temper/mood that has been going on for the past couple of weeks.

Life In General

You know how hot Facebook is when your conservative brother-in-law added you as his friend.

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The same guy sms-ed me this morning and told me to read the papers today, saying that with my skills, I can get additional income. Turned out that it was a write-up about the growing demands for translation courses.

But not the growing appreciation of translators in Singapore.

In my experience, most Singaporeans (clients) still think that their second language Chinese is better than the original Chinese. When my senior (in my translation course, our company engage him on ad hoc basis) translated their English text, it came back with red marks all over. They have re-written the text in broken Chinese. And some were even infuriated that the translation "didn't make any sense" because they themselves do not know the proper phrases, and assumed their used-to-death versions are correct.

Sometimes, I was even horrified by the "in-house" English to Chinese translation done by some local corporations and organisations. I confess, even I commit the same mistakes too.

A wrongly translated script, title, product, or brand could make a laughing stock out of a corporation or organisation. We have seen countless examples in English to Chinese context on the net, so I need not mention any. The famous one being the promotional material by Singapore Tourism Promotion Board. The English name for Hungry Ghost Festival in Singapore was translated as the "Hungarian Ghost Festival" by a (supposedly) Chinese translator who has no knowledge of local culture.

But well, not all Singaporeans think it is important to have a good translation. Like what the article mentioned, it's a misconception that most thought being bilingual means being able to translate from one language to another. Hence, translators have a hard time getting projects from local companies, apart from the fact that local SMEs are "cat until the juice come out" (Niao Ka Choot Chap - a hokkien saying describing that a person is so stingy that you can juice it out of him).

Nonetheless, this is a good option that I could take if I want to move on in my career. In fact, I was very close to writing in to apply for a translator job with an organisation when the email came in from my school. But I cannot bring myself to imagine that I may crossover to translate punter's guides, even though the chances are slim (they are looking for financial reports translators). So I saved the email instead of sending it out.

Meantime, there has been no replies with the resumes I've been sending. The MD from the interview I went has not come back to me, I reckoned I better start looking and sending again.

Meantime, the job search continues.