Tuesday, February 23, 2010  

[Over the edge...]

I've been thinking about changing my job, on and off, for a while. The pay is good, the benefits are good, it's easy to take leave, the company is supportive of ICT, and my boss allows me to leave early for IPT.

But the job can be retarded at times. Some days, it feels like all I'm doing is copy-and-pasting. It's really more complicated than that, sure, but it still feels retarded. And even though I have voiced my preference regarding the type of work I'm given to both my DD and SM, nothing seems to be happening. If they can't take care of me, then I'm going to have to take care of myself.

This job would be perfect for someone who didn't really care what he did for a living, as long as the pay is good and the job was manageable. I thought I was "someone". I might be wrong.

I received news today regarding the departed manager's replacement. Everything I heard about her so far hasn't been good. It seems that she couldn't get along with the people wherever she went, so she has had experience in several departments. And she never stayed long anywhere.

Would this be the thing that would finally push me over the edge? I don't know. Maybe it's time to start looking for real. I'm working on something else right now, and if I'm successful, it would be another reason to leave.

Whatever it is, I would still need to stick it out for a while. I'm definitely not leaving until I get my PB. I deserve that, considering the shit I went through.

^^^ by Locksley @ 8:38 PM. 0 comments.
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Sunday, February 21, 2010  

[Yo-yo...]

I watch stand-up comedy from time to time. It's obvious that some of the jokes take a lot of effort to write and deliver, and I'm really amazed at how they manage to see and bring to life the humour they saw in everyday events.

On the other hand, some jokes just write themselves.

I was outside yesterday and saw the Everton-Man United match playing at McDonald's in Toa Payoh. I decided to watch the match there for a bit. After about 10 minutes, this guy appeared.


Fashion sense. This guy doesn't have any. His hair was a complete mess and frankly, I would not step out of my house if my hair looked like that. I know, because when my hair gets really long, it looks a little like that too.

He's wearing an old round-necked t-shirt which he tucked into his pants. You NEVER tuck your t-shirts into your pants. It's really weird. T-shirts and pants are not supposed to go together in the first place. Then there's his pants. High-waisted pants? Really? What is this? The 1960s? And to complete the look, he was wearing sandals with socks which is something that can never be justified.


So Mr Fashion stands right next to the door to watch the match. What kind of idiot stands right next to the door? When he had to move because someone needed to exit, he actually got annoyed and cursed the guy who was leaving. Seriously? I think all of us should be cursing you for blocking the door.


Most of the people watching the match all bought something to eat or drink. Mr Fashion asked for a cup of ice water. Twice. And spilled most of one cup while holding it. Sideways. WTF. And everytime Man United missed a goal-scoring chance, he muttered, "Shit!" So it's the same everytime. Everyone went, "Ohh!" which is followed by a softer, "Shit!"

Then the truly epic happened.


He took out a yo-yo from his pocket and started playing with it. A yo-yo. A god-damned motherfucking yo-yo. With lights and sound and everything. This guy should be somewhere around my age. And he's playing with a yo-yo!? And he brought it out with him, kept it in his pocket and everything. And as if he needs to make sure everyone can see him in his moment of nerdiness, he picked a yo-yo that had lights and made sounds.

Truly epic.





Thanks.

^^^ by Locksley @ 11:27 AM. 2 comments.
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Wednesday, February 17, 2010  

[More about Singtel Stadium...]

I tried Singtel Stadium again shortly after my previous post. This time, the Mlian-Man United match is up, so I proceeded to purchase the match. After entering my credit card details and waiting forever, this is what I got:


What the hell!? Definitely not what you'd want to see after sending your credit card details over. If not for the SMS that Citibank sends me everytime my card is used, I wouldn't have known if the transaction was successful or not.

After that, I went to look for the match I purchased:


There was nothing. This is what I meant earlier when I mentioned that the flash components loaded but the data did not. The same thing happened when I went to look at my transaction history:


I like the idea of watching the matches online this way, where we only pay for the matches we are interested in. The concept, in itself, gets full-marks from me. But Singtel's execution needs to improved, drastically.

The match was delivered via flash video. There were supposed to be two options, 512kbps or 1Mbps. I didn't see these options. But I believe the one I watched was the 1Mbps version. The question is, since most of the traffic should be local, why can't they offer higher quality settings than that? The video was delivered in SD format, which may be due to the signal origin, but I think Singtel should work to deliver the matches in HD.

The flash video player itself was also a letdown. There was one very big flaw with it. While it was helpful to know where you are as you are scrolling through the video, there was no indication of where you were in the video as you are playing it. What's the point of letting us know where we are scrolling to where we don't even know where we were?

Singtel needs to get its act together. There are issues with their mioTV, their Internet service (which I've experienced for ages, but it seems that it was only recently discovered by other users and there was a huge hoo-ha about it on the local forums when one of the customer service officers seemed to suggest that the user who called through was lying about the problems he was experiencing), and their online delivery of Champions League matches. The concept is good, but they really, really need to work on the execution.

^^^ by Locksley @ 12:57 PM. 0 comments.
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[Singtel Stadium...]

Since I'm on leave today, I thought that I would catch the Champions League match between AC Milan and Manchester United last night. It would be the first time I've ever tried using their online platform to watch a football match.

I tried over three hours to buy the ticket but was unable to do so. The website was either unresponsive or the flash components loaded but the content did not. Finally, I got a HTTP error message that said that the site was beyond its capacity.

So I gave up. I was pretty beat as it is anyway. I figured I would watch the match in the morning when I got up, and it would be cheaper too. According to the site, replay matches would be uploaded and be ready by 7am.

It's now 10:22am as I type this. Only one Champions League match is up and running, and it's not Manchester United's match. And they put a picture of Man United players celebrating right smack in the middle of the site when it first loads. At least, I think they are Man United players. I saw it for a second and immediately shifted my eyes elsewhere so as to not get spoiled.

There has been nothing but criticisms for their mioTV service. Looks like their "Singtel Stadium" isn't any better.

Epic fail.

^^^ by Locksley @ 10:19 AM. 0 comments.
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Sunday, February 14, 2010  

[Let's cuddle...]

Indian men are very touchy with each other. And when I say Indian men, I mean men who are actually from India, not the local, Singaporean Indians. I learnt about it from one of Russell Peters' comedy routines, which to be honest, I thought was a bunch of BS until I saw it myself at a shopping centre. Two Indian men, probably construction workers, holding each others' hands and walking along merrily. I thought it was creepy.

Today on the MRT, I saw this pair of Indian men standing chest to chest, and one of them rested his chin on the other's shoulder as he made a phone call. Shoulder-man playfully (I'm not shitting you) pushed him away.


Upon doing so, White-T-Shirt ran over (again, I'm not shitting you) and proceeded to put his arms around the waist of Shoulder-man in a loving embrace.

I know this is how they behave, but truth be told, I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing it.

^^^ by Locksley @ 7:55 PM. 1 comments.
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Wednesday, February 10, 2010  

[I'm not making this up...]

On our staff profile page at work, we are able to add some words about ourselves. Whenever someone I don't know contacts me, more often than not, I will take a look at their profile page to learn a little more about them.

Some profiles are short. Some are long. Some write a lot but said nothing. Some write something for the sake of writing something. Some make you go....What the hell?

One of the profiles I read today said that she "had picked up the skill of web". What the hell does that mean? Is she Spider-man? What she meant to say, was that she has learnt how to design webpages.

Another guy had this to say, "I have three lovely daughters, and a good wife. I have nothing to look forwards."

I guess life didn't out the way he thought it would.

^^^ by Locksley @ 8:54 PM. 0 comments.
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[Superman or Harry Potter?]

Father was changing bedsheets this morning.

Father: Do you want the new Superman or Harry Potter sheets?
Me: I'm 28.
Father: You still need bedsheets, right?
Me: Yeah. Superman. Thanks.

^^^ by Locksley @ 6:52 AM. 0 comments.
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Tuesday, February 09, 2010  

[Get some real friends...]

I did my NS in a unit, with people who were enlisted direct to the unit. Better known as "mono-intake". These are people with usually-complicated backgrounds, and for some of them, the lights are on but nobody's home. People whom I would otherwise not associate with.

One of them added me on Facebook. I don't think of him as a "friend". I don't think much of him at all, to be honest. He wore SAF running shoes, old slacks, and a "Once a Saint, Always a Saint" t-shirt to an officer's wedding at Sentosa, when the dress code was formal. The best part was he never went to SAJC. In fact, he never went to JC and probably never will. A "Where Every Student Thrives" t-shirt might have been more appropriate.

I added him as a friend. More out of pity than anything. And now that I've added him, he's started suggesting I add other "friends" as well.

How pathetic can you be? We're not "friends" to begin with. I added you out of pity, and now you've taken it one step further to suggest that I add other people whom I see only once a year at ICT and whom I've never spoken more than five words to?

Get a fuckin' life. You need one.




I thought I've outgrown my allergy to shellfish. I was wrong.

Had a new type of allergy attack just now. I now know what some people meant when they say their throat is "closing up". Not a nice feeling. And to be honest, I was pretty freaked out.

I think I really should go see a specialist soon. Just to figure everything out.

^^^ by Locksley @ 9:07 PM. 0 comments.
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Monday, February 08, 2010  

[They remembered...]

^^^ by Locksley @ 10:07 PM. 2 comments.
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Sunday, February 07, 2010  

[No time...]

I've noticed something. My to-do list is getting longer, and I have no time to attend to the things on the list. I've been putting some of them off for a while now and now I realise that some of them are overdue.

At least I can cross out one big item from the list tonight. Getting it done...Reminds me of why I decided not to stay in the IT field anymore. Phew...

^^^ by Locksley @ 8:06 PM. 0 comments.
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