Small roundup.

Now that June is coming to an end, I think it’s time I do a bit of round-up on my life here so far:

Januuary 2005:
– Arrived in Shanghai (in the freezing cold, may I add)
– Enjoyed walking around Shanghai
– Started work

February 2005:
– Went to Hangzhou during Chinese New Year
– Worked my lights out for my company’s project 51jiaolian.com
– My first lesson at Fudan University

March 2005:
– Getting that heavy fine for overstaying (and the bargaining in the process)
– Met the CEO of NUS Enterprise
– Went to Oriental Pearl Tower
– Distributed flyers for the first time in my life
– Went for my first ever networking session
– Went to Wuxi
– Mini-crisis at the office

April 2005:
– Met Prof Teo and Jupe in Shanghai
– Did my first community service here in Shanghai
– Went Nanhui to see flowers
– My first confidence crisis since coming to Shanghai
– My first business trip to Hong Kong
– PSP!!!
– Organised my first ever SHEN event: NUS-NTU-NP-FUSSA Night
– Attended the NTU-GIP dinner
– Watched 《雷雨》with Zihui
– Gotten my own domain http://www.kubicwave.com
– Took the direct train from Shanghai to Beijing
– Went to Shijiazhuang and saw my aunt and her family

May 2005:
– Took a domestic flight in China for the first time from Beijing to Hohhot
– Went to Inner Mongolia and Shanxi during the Mayday holidays
– Reformatted my laptop for the first time in 3 years
– Fell in love with a wrong person, conjured up enough guts and still failed again
– Went for my second business trip, this time to Kunshan
– Had my second confidence crisis
– Almost stupidly ended a friendship
– Went for a hair colouring job
– My first and second rides on the MagLev
– Met the very interesting people from MS
– Met Rena in Shanghai
– My third business trip: accompanying the MS people to Hangzhou
– Met Prof Kau for a discussion on the Startup Business Case
– Elected Min Chuan to become the next SHEN president
– Applied for my Shanghai Library membership card
– Met with some big-shots in the financial industry

June 2005:
– Went to Hangzhou for the third time to see the CICAF
– Took a wrong train
– Went for a dim sum buffet, as recommended by Edwin – thanks matey!
– My fourth business trip to Hangzhou (and my fourth trip to Hangzhou overall)
– Walked home from Xintiandi
– Saw sunrise at the Bund
– Took my first exam at Fudan University
– Completed the SHEN website in time for D&D
– Completed the D&D video in time for… erm… D&D
– D&D
– Had my third confidence crisis
– My fifth business trip: this time to Beijing
– Witnessing the flag lowering ceremony at Tian’anmen Square
– Witnessing the scorching weather in Beijing – 38 degrees!
– Farewell dinner for NCS2
– Company outing to Hangzhou (and my fifth trip there overall)
– Finally getting over her (and with it being a very calm process – I was just telling myself “I don’t love her anymore”)

From what you can see, it’s safe to say that actually my life here is getting more and more eventful as the time goes, so I guess I’m actually really having a good time here in Shanghai. Of course there are a lot of ups and downs, but that’s all part and parcel of a leading a life on my own. Sometimes I think I tend to be too childish and temperamental, and in the process making people unhappy with me. And then there are times that I’m too naive, thinking that people will treat me nicely as long as I do to them. And then there are times I really thought that I’ve had enough of everything, but it turns out to be just one of those random tests that the almighty one is doing on me. And then there are times when I thought I’ve found the one, but it turns out to be just one of the many. Life is full of unknowns and it’s all about how we handle them. I’m sure I haven’t been handling it well enough, that’s why I have those confidence crises that I had. But life is a constant learning process – I guess I won’t learn as much if I try to evade from all these. I can’t be just enjoying the ups, but I must learn to handle the downs. I will need to try to make everyone happy, but I know sometimes I have to make myself happy. I know I’m not going to do myself justice if I were to say that I hate it here in Shanghai, because in actual fact I really love this place. All these talk about me missing home probably comes when I’m really having mental struggles, and to be honest, if given a choice, I would still have come to Shanghai. From now on, I’d just have to focus on things that are ahead of me. It’s safe to say that people like my boss is giving me a lot of chances to do big things, and I simply can’t disappoint her with all these irresponsible personal thoughts.

Sometimes it just feels so good to be able to look back on the past, straighten my thoughts and move on with life. I’ve got half a year left here in Shanghai. It would be over before I know it, so before I do, I’m going to live my life to the maximum here. I’ll enjoy whatever there is to enjoy, play to the fullest, work to my best abilities, and I want to be able to say that “I have a helluva time in Shanghai” when I eventually board the plane to return to Singapore in December.

To all my friends here in Shanghai: I would probably need all your support. It matters not what kind of disagreements we may have in the past, but as long as we are all willing to help one another in this foreign land, I shall be eternally grateful. There are times that perhaps I’m not the best person to work or hang around with, that I seek your understanding. If you feel that I deserve a bashing, please by all means do.

And please help me God.

Hangzhou (for the fifth time).

The company outing to Hangzhou was good. It was a nice weekend getaway from Shanghai. I mean, I have pretty much fallen in love with Hangzhou and it is about the only place that I won’t think I’m in a hurry to dislike yet.

Reached Hangzhou on Sunday morning and checked into the hotel. The hotel room seemed decent enough, and after a quick rest we went to the Yellow Dragon Cave to check the place out. The scenery was really great, just that it was a bit too hot for everyone’s liking – apparently the temperature hit 37 degrees yesterday afternoon. Well in any case there was this Temple of the God of Romance and I went with the rest of the guys and drew two lucky lots, one for relationship and one for career. The one for relationship apparently was a good one, as the lot said that “the one” for me has apparently appeared and this girl would be someone that would be with me no matter what happens – now that was really comforting to hear, though I have yet to figure who she is. As for the career one, it was kinda accurate as well, as the lot said that I may meet with a lot of hypocrites in my work and sometimes they may backstab me without me knowing, so I cannot be too outstanding in my work such that these people would have a reason to attack me. I think that’s damn true.

After the Yellow Dragon Cave we went to the Xixi Wetland National Park, but due to the sky high entrance fee and the scorching sun, we decided to take a u-turn and went back to the hotel. What followed was a three-hour nap for me. It’s a waste to be sleeping on a Sunday in Hangzhou, but then the weather was just too hot and I was just way too tired. After the nap, the whole lot of us went to meet our boss for dinner. Went to Nanshan Road after dinner for a bit of clubbing with our boss and I had quite a bit to drink. Quite an interesting day.

Then today basically was kinda a working day for me, as I accompanied my boss to meet a few business people. Talked to quite a few of them and realised a lot of things also – it’s safe to assume that one of those bosses has already taken me as a friend – and I think with a bit of luck I would be going back to Hangzhou for more business in the future. That works for me just fine.

Back to reality here in Shanghai, and to be honest, I’m beginning to miss Hangzhou. It’s really a good place to go to when I want to get out of all the trashy things that I’m experiencing here in Shanghai. Sometimes it’s stress from work, sometimes it’s stress from dealing with people, then I have to endure with seeing people that I’d rather not see, etc etc. It’s good to be away from Shanghai.

The entrance to the Yellow Dragon Cave.

View of the Yellow Dragon Cave.

The Temple of the God of Romance.

The view inside the Cave.

The Xixi Wetland National Park – it’s not on my recommended Hangzhou destination.

The view of the Park from the outside. Considering that it’s new, I think that’s about what we are going to see inside.

So who is “the one” for me? If you know who she is, or if you think you are the one, please drop an email to the usual email address.

Initial D.

All the past memories with Initial D just came rushing back to me after I watched the movie today.

Spent the morning (and part of the afternoon) working on my term paper and got it completed in 2 hours. Then went out for dinner with some of the NUS people who are on a visit to China. Those are not the highlights of the day. In fact my whole night lit up when I stepped into the cinema to watch Initial D the movie. It was just oh so brilliant. Easily one of the best movie I’ve watched so far.

After the movie all my past memories about Initial D suddenly became very vivid. I remembered when I was in year 1, there was this period when I was really down and demoralised, I found solace in Initial D Arcade Stage. I was basically playing a lot of the game, in an effort to try to forget all the difficult things that I was dealt with. Then the release of Initial D Arcade Stage Version 2 was the period in which I went absolutely crazy with the game. I remember during that period basically my mind was all about Initial D and nothing else. Not my school work, not any girls in school, nothing. It was just Initial D. I would rush to the arcade near my home to spend a few hours there playing the game, chatting with friends about the game, etc etc. Then weekends would be spent around Singapore trying to compete against other players. In the process I made even more friends and I must say it was one of the most enjoyable period of my life.

Since coming Shanghai, things haven’t really been positive for me in a lot of ways. I had lots of ups and downs and I find that actually I can’t really manage a lot of things well. Managing friendships, managing relationships… sometimes it’s just too difficult. I used to be very naive and think that as long as I’m nice to people, people will actually appreciate me. But it has turned out not to be the case. I realised that sometimes people take me for granted, sometimes people just don’t even realise I care for them and really want the best for them. And then there will be some people who are just so blind to everything I feel like giving up. I mean, I’ve always been someone high on self-confidence, but the happenings in Shanghai so far has done nothing except to deal me blow after blow. I mean, I’m mentally strong to an extent, but no matter how mentally strong I am there is always going to be a threshold to whatever I can take. Sometimes I wish people can be true to one another, but when I realise that even the people whom I think I can trust are lying to me, I just wished that I’ve never come Shanghai at all. That’s not to say everyone is lying to me, but at least I know back home in Singapore I do have some friends who can be very honest to me and vice versa. Is it that everyone is putting a mask on or something?

I really miss the period when I was crazy about Initial D. At least I had less worries and troubles. Dealing with people sometimes is just too tiring. I’d rather be dealing with the hairpin curves on the Akina downhill track.

Friday.

Today’s work was good. Applied the finishing touches to our project in Beijing and now all we can do is hope that everything’s going to turn out fine from there.

It was Lily’s birthday today so the whole lot of us went to have lunch together, and subsequently our boss joined us and we ended up having our staff meeting in the restaurant! Subsequently when we went back to office we had a small celebration for Lily and again everyone was having a nice time relaxing and chatted with our boss. Sometimes I really think my boss is just extraordinary – she seems to have that kind of character to make her so different from other people. I’m way glad that I made the correct decision in joining my company for the internship.

Subsequently went to the farewell and appreciation dinner organised by NOC. It was another great evening out as I got to see Gabriel, our NOC Shanghai manager, getting relatively high for the evening. The whole lot of us also had a nice time chatting with my boss, who was more than happy sharing her experiences in Shanghai with us and telling us a lot of interesting facts.

Everyone at my place would be out tomorrow morning, so I’ll have the whole house to myself! It’s great cos I can really do some work on my own – or should I go to the library instead?

Shanghai.

Yesterday was quite a scary day for me in Beijing.

1. The temperature hit 38 degrees. The feeling of feeling hot but not perspiring was scary – I thought I was having a heat stroke or something.

2. Apparently all the vehicles came out onto the Beijing streets yesterday. My taxi ride from North Donghuashi Street to 3rd West Ring Road North took 45 minutes and cost 50 RMB. I’ve never ever taken a cab in Shanghai that took so long and was so expensive, but I got it in Beijing. Worse still, the cab from 3rd West Ring Road North to the train station was stuck in such a massive jam in Xidan that the two of us got fed up and took the subway instead.

But all in all, the two days in Beijing were well-spent. We managed to get what we aim to do done, talked to some nice people, and basically had a nice time there. Of course we could have done without the hot weather, but then again it’s kind of a good training before Shanghai gets that hot.

Because of the nature of our visit to Beijing, I didn’t manage to take that many pictures. Here’s a couple of them:

Taken at East Chongwenmen Street at approximately 7.20pm.

Taken at Tian’anmen at approximately 7.45pm.

Wangfujing – Beijing’s equivalent to Nanjing Road. But then again, Nanjing Road is so much brighter than Wangfujing. Well, considering the massive difference between Shanghai and Beijing, this is about just right.

Pretty tired from the train ride last night. The strange thing was that I slept from 10.30 all the way to 8 this morning. The hard-bed sleeper wasn’t really that bad, in fact it was much better than what I expected. Considering that it was almost 200 RMB cheaper than the direct train with the soft-bed, this is a viable option for me to go Beijing in the future.

Off to sleep. See you guys around.

Beijing.

Reached Beijing early in the morning and our first task was to get to the hotel. Managed to do so after walking around aimlessly, and did some preparation work before taking a nap.

Went out and started work at about 2.15 in the afternoon and was kinda glad that we got today’s job done. Now we’ll just have to wait and see if everything is going to turn out just as alright as today.

Came back to the hotel and changed into casual wear before going out to Tiananmen. Was there to witness the flag lowering ceremony and felt kinda impressed by it. Then we moved over to Wangfujing for a bit of walkabout and dinner. Tha amazing thing over at this part of China is that it gets dark pretty late in summer. I mean, the sky was still bright at 8pm! Dinner was roast Peking Duck and I must say both me and Lee Tong had a pretty decent dinner at a reasonable price, so I’m not complaining.

Came back to hotel in preparation for tomorrow’s work. The weather forecast says that the highest temperature tomorrow could reach 38 degrees Celcius. Well, it was 35 today and I already felt that it’s unbearable (according to the hotel staffs the weather bureau has a tendency to report the highest temperature at 3 degrees lower than the actual, so it could well have been 38 today), so whatever’s going to happen to me tomorrow remains to be seen. Probably have to drink more water or something.

With a bit of luck we can be on our way back to Shanghai tomorrow evening, but it looks like we’re going to leave Beijing only on Wednesday. We’ll see how things are going to turn out.

And yup, Yvonne, I bought you another set of pins. I can’t remember if you already have a set like that, but nonetheless look forward to it, ya?

Saturday.

This world is forcing me to be rebellious.

This world is just so unfair sometimes.

This world is making me hate a lot of things.

This world is pushing me to the verge of breakdown.

Does this world even know? Does this world even bother?

Friday.

Made the arrangements for the Beijing trip. To be honest, this is the first time that I don’t feel keen about going out of Shanghai. Well, perhaps the magnitude and the difficulty in the trip are really the reasons that are putting me off as far as the trip is concerned. I don’t think I can manage the task that I need to be doing once I reach there. May God help me.

Came back home and applied the finishing touches to the SHEN website and basically I can say that it’s complete, so perhaps it’s just down to some fine-tuning then everything should be OK.

I should start to pull myself out of it before getting into it again. Well I guess my role is complete already, I can call it a day.

As much as I don’t really feel keen about going on this Beijing trip, I’m still looking forward to getting out of Shanghai for a short while. Life is going to be packed for me after I come back from Beijing.

Off to sleep.

Xiao Long Bao.

Went to Chenghuangmiao in the evening and had the famous Nanxiang Xiao Long Bao for dinner. Wasn’t impressed is my verdict.

Basically today has been very low key. Everything seemed fine, so I’m not complaining.

Oh I bought a cap which is reminscene of the Cultural Revolution. I think I’m wearing it to the D&D this Saturday.

I have the last bits of the SHEN website to work on… hopefully I can get it done by tomorrow without having to sacrifice my sleep.

And then I still need to make the arrangements for my Beijing trip.

Muscle Strain.

Things haven’t been good today. Work was fine actually – just that there are some issues going around that I have no idea on how to resolve. It’s getting a bit on my nerves, but I’m sure with my wisdom and intelligence I can get it sorted out somehow.

Came back straight after work and have been working non-stop on the SHEN website. With a deadline looming and a president to please, I have no choice but to churn it out. The price to pay is that I’ve got a terrible muscle strain stretching from my neck to my back. To make matters worse now my left arm is also quite weak… signs of me getting old. But thank God for Yvonne who gave me a good massage to soothe things a little. Thanks a lot – it’s always nice to know when I need a massage someone is available.

I think I’ll start do a bit of contemplating and pondering about life, meaning that I’ll go sleep now.