First day of work

And I was late! Haha. Took a cab there and was on time.

I predicted there to be also tons of overseas visitors and there really were a lot!

This quite famous among the high-end society bakery, called Bakerzin (pronounced as Baker's in) uses Koma's equipment and are one of the clients, and so they supplied us with pastries. Like tartlets and the like. They're in the same hall as us, actually just a short walk down the isle.

Their pastries, those tartlets and mini-cakes (I couldn't catch the actual term for those) taste heavenly. Damm nice! And my managers are very nice, we could take and eat what we wanted and need not ask them. There were also Filipino engineers. So in all there were three from Holland, and two engineers from the Philippines, and three local ladies. Except for one of those managers, the rest of the foreigners are from the office in Dubai.

This is the lounge I was taking care of
This is the actual exhibit just on the other side of my lounge, with Koma's products
Ah this is a mini chocolate or mocha cake. The top has got gold leaf deco somemore. At first I thought this pastry will have those normal cake texture, but in fact it's super soft and fluffy!

Work was fine la, I was just rather pressurised because I was afraid that I'd be interrupting them when I asked them what drink they'd like. And there was this manager, he is the son of the owner of Koma, he is quite a stern person and not as chatty and friendly as the other two managers. Sometimes it is hard to gauge whether he is unhappy with you or whether he is always like that.

I also could get to taste food that I hardly will buy or find..and the food was really good. I hopped around Hall 5 and 6 (Koma is in Hall 6) during my hour-long break and the samples were my lunch. There weren't a lot of samples la, but they were searchable. And of course, I always take photos. I always forget about things and events in my life, how small or big they are. So hope one day I can just flash back and look at what I did. And of course, to share photos with you guys. If you are interested. Pardon the 2 megapixel camera. I didn't bring my Olympus camera so had to depend on my phone.

This is an Italian company behind the Koma exhibit
I like this cake! The way the strawberries are coated is quite special
Look at the gelato ice-cream! Tempted me throughout the days I was working there
Some sesame bun from BreadTalk
Some croissant from this company which manufactures ovens. So they baked this croissant as samples which tasted good
Bakerzin's pastries!!! They already look good themselves. This bakery is French-influenced so its pastries are all cold type one..
Look at the cakes!!! T_T

This company sells chocolate as well as the mould for chocolates
The tray on the right shows those chocolates with the print on top. It's from this paper thingy, edible of course
Choc on the mould






This other sesame bun. Also got from the BreadTalk booth
Ice sculpture contest. I didn't have the time to see the end-products

Ah...feast your eyes!
横行霸道 This is a crab (-_-") Well obviously you can see. It's carved from...suspectedly pumpkin
寿翁磐桃 Can you see the face of the Chinese deity? Damm pro! It's like an expression caught on watermelon
All these four melons even nicer lo...
Look at the rose! Damm nice! Even the colour variation also very nice, from red to white and all the petals and leaves and everything. Love this
Another pro one
Birds. From turnip, I suspect
Cup corn! Another sample I got. It's very nice, the corn is crunchy and juicy and the saltiness is just right
I quite support this, it's convenient and the food-makers can just keep their products in here and consumers can just grab it and pay and eat. Easy to carry. Otherwise, I don't quite like the idea of using plastic
This is some display competition. It's Baked Snow Fish. But the whole point is the decoration that's most important
Ah I like this one. The big fat octopus tentacle and the huge prawn. This already made me want to eat them. It's called some Tapes Variation or what couldn't catch it
This Roasted Monkfish looked delicious

Ah there are actually very thin slices of cucumber on the prawns. Very intricate



Lobster! They're making me hungry again




I'm rather attracted to the colours of the dispenser. But of course, that's the point. Those drinks aren't drinkable, they're selling the drink dispenser
This is those cup that you put the dough in and bake those sort...it's made of plastic, rather stiff plastic and there are many cute designs
Ah this plate contains the pastries that Bakerzin supplied us with. There's scallop, smoked salmon (I like this!!), and beef
Lemon tartlet
Strawberry cheesecake. Mini cake

After work I needed to go to RE at Ngee Ann City to collect my contract, and on my way to the MRT station, there was a super long queue at the taxi stand. What I took was actually at the loop and it extends much longer down.


There were two other Filippinos from Koma, they are the engineers. They were smart enough to take the MRT to Tanah Merah and hail a cab from there to their hotel.

And actually, in the morning, NUS Faculty of Science called to ask me to go for an interview tomorrow at 1655. But I end work later than 1730 and asked if they could postpone my interview. I was rather scared actually, because it's my first day at work and actually I have to be there everyday lo. Felt quite unlucky because I've been slacking for three weeks with no calls and on the day I start work again I was required to go for this interview. Meaning I have to rush to NUS. And after some hassles and a lot of missed calls and consulting the agent and my managers, I was allowed to leave early tomorrow for the interview and my managers were very fine with it. Heng. And I didn't really have time for mental preparation of this interview.

Signed May 2, 2006. Tuesday. 0013 hrs.

Packed day

Foresight: I'll have a busy week.

And I did.

Woke up in the morning and my mum came to me and said that she collected the photos that we took in Melbourne last December. Yea, we finally went to develop the photos, but I wasn't there when they were choosing the photos and I was rather pissed with the pictures they developed and those that they didn't.

And there were over 240 photos, and they were all jumbled up and not in order. So I had to look at the photos and decide when the photos were taken and slot into the album accordingly. I took the whole afternoon, until about 3 pm to complete the whole thing. Wasn't that happy to help them do la, since I'm not the develop photos type and it took up my time when I can blog and post photos of the past two days.

The job agent from Recruit Express called and told me about this job as exhibition assistant at the Singapore Expo (see I'm going there again) and I agreed lo. The pay is only $6, but since for a few days only, I didn't mind. She confirmed everything with me at 4 pm and told me I have to be at the Expo for this interview at 5 pm. Crazy. It was raining heavily also, so I took a cab down. And I got put make-up, heng ah. Haha.

Went there and waited for like, half an hour for the girl from this agency Flex Integrated to bring me to meet the people I'm going to work for, the company's Koma, from Holland.

Flex Integrated is a company where it helps other organisations to set up exhibition and buy whatever is needed. So it helped Koma buy some cutlery from Ikea and get the drinks and rent those furniture all that.

Koma is a company from Holland which manufactures cooling and freezing systems for bakeries, hotels, food industries and the like. No domestic fridges involved. Then they're going to open an office in Singapore by end December, and to get more clients from this exhibition.

The whole Expo thing is called Food and Hotel Asia 2006 and it spans from Hall 1 to 6. The halls are connected and it's a huge event, with companies all over the world coming to set up booths to advertise themselves.

After the interview, my managers who are from Holland, introduced me to their products and I had a so-called brief training. There were two other girls already. And they explained to me why they got me at the last minute, because it's like the lounge I'm going to work at was an accident. It was actually walled-up and used as a meeting room, and so it'll block the view of the Koma exhibit from the visitors and my managers weren't too happy about it. So it's either they get their exhibit at a cheaper price or do something about it. And so they got that 'plot of land' and of course needed someone to look after that place. That's how I got there.

And they asked if I have any business suits those sort of thing, because I have to wear formal. (-_-") The best I have are only button front blouses and pants.

So I went home first to put my stuff and have dinner and go to Tampines Mall to find a suitable jacket, at least.

When I reached home I saw my dad rearranging the photos that I painstakingly tidied up in the afternoon. Pissed. Had dinner then went out to meet Yi Xin le.

Searched around the whole Tampines Mall and Century Square, went into almost all the department stalls possible. Either too expensive, not my size (I'm very big yea) or don't have the colour that I want. And finally saw one nice looking dark-brown one at this C.O.A.X. in CS which cost only $24 instead of the $120+ you find at Mango or Esprit, or the $150+ at G2000.

So happily went home with my jacket and got ready for work the next morning.

Signed May 1, 2006. Monday. 0017 hrs.

J Party

Jing Yi had five tickets to this party by J. J. Lin 林俊杰 who wanted to celebrate the sales of his album I think. It was like a very short and mini concert. Got some photos to share. It was at Hall 8 at the Singapore Expo. Went with Yi Xin, Shi Hui, Shun Wei and Joan.

Before we went for the concert YX and I went to Sembawang CD shop at Century Square to get JJ's latest album and we paid $22.90. Well, in the end they were selling the same CD on the spot for $22 and it cums with a free poster. Not that I need it though. But it was cheaper. We got the CD because Jing Yi said may have autograph session. In the end there wasn't. Never mind la, the album is not bad, just that I feel that all the songs in it are too short. It's about 42 minutes plus for 11 songs.

The whole hall. That's the emcee, FM 933 DJ Ling Zhi on the stage
No A-Do didn't come, it was just one of those MVs they were playing to entertain the audience before JJ came onstage
This guy was from the audience and he was selected to come up to sing or something. And later said something like he doesn't have looks and so on but he can sing. The fact is...ok la

The opening dance. Made up of student groups
Breakdance

That's JJ
I think his hairstyle is making his face look smaller complemented with a large head
He has a lot of dancing and body to flaunt this time round
Pardon the unglam armpit hair






To the left of the stage
Pyrotechnic to mark the end of a song
His buddy, Ang Jun Yang, also came. Jun Yang's album is coming out in May if I'm not wrong, and JJ sort of produced it

Chat

Brotherly hug
This is Lin Yu Zhong if I didn't get his name wrongly. He writes songs, and shares the same room as JJ in Taiwan





A lot of dancing
He drew this on the spot


I thought he looked a bit like an uncle in this snapshot





Shun Wei, Yi Xin, Joan
Siew Hoon and I

SH, me and SW
SW, YX and Joan

After the show JJ will only sign tickets for his June 24 (a day after my birthday) concert. So no autograph session for albums in the end. Can't expect him to sign for everyone though. Haha.

The five of us went to eat roti john at one of the stalls outside Hall 5.

And never did I expect myself to turn up at the Expo for the following week.

Signed April 30, 2006. Sunday. 2221 hrs.