Diablo.

Met the Diablo people for a dinner gathering at Donald’s restaurant in the evening and I must say that it was one of the most pleasant gatherings I’ve ever had since coming back. It’s quite amazing that the lot of us are still so close after 5 years. It shows that if some friends are really meant for keeps, you will always find time for them no matter what. It was really great to be able to see most of them, and I hope our friendship will last for a long long time to go.

Would be hanging around at Union Camp tomorrow, and in case you haven’t realised, I’ll be returning to Hong Kong on Sunday instead!

Monday.

I decided that I’ll forfeit my return ticket on Cathay Pacific and instead I bought a one-way ticket on Jetstar so that I can return to Singapore on Sunday instead of Wednesday. I don’t think my boss is particularly impressed with me for that, but I’m doing all these because I want to hang around in Singapore longer to meet all of you whom I haven’t got time to meet for the past few days. So now that I have a few more days here, you lot know what to do la hor…

The past few days have been busy for me. After Commencement on Friday, I spent Saturday, Sunday and today meeting friends. And I’ll spend the next few days meeting other friends. Boy, it sure is a busy schedule for me. Generally when I meet my friends, the topics are always similar – how crappy my job can be at times, how I have to change my mentality to adapt to the mentalities of the kids in school, etc. All these talks, however, prompted me to think more about my time in Hong Kong. To be honest, and I think I’ve said it before, this teaching job is really not my ideal or dream job. And i know I probably won’t stay in this job for too long. But the problem is that I’m not getting other job offers at this point of time (maybe I haven’t been trying hard enough yet). So inevitably I’ll start thinking about my options. Is returning to Singapore an option? I would think it could well be. Is staying in Hong Kong to try to slug it out an option? I think it is as well. Is moving to another country an option? That is another choice worth considering. So at this point of time, I’m hoping to be in a place where the best prospects are. I think it’s only human nature that I think that way. What I’m getting in Hong Kong right now is disillusion because things have not happened in the way I hoped for, and I’m in a job that offers very little in prospects. Since I want to be in a job that’s perhaps more exciting than this current one, it’s natural for me to want to try something else. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.

Thank God I’m going to have 2 more years to consider where I want to be – I think I’ll decide where I want to be after I’m done with my Masters. For all I know, I might be offered a good job with good pay during these 2 years.

Slightly confused, but I’m not worried yet. At least I know the chances for me getting offered for an extension in my current job is quite high.

Commencement 2007.

Happy Commencement!

Commencement.

Commencement was great. It was a lot of chatting, a lot of laughing and a lot of photo-taking. Now I’m just waiting to consolidate all the pictures before putting them up all at one shot.

I was real nervous before going up to the stage to collect my degree scroll (actually it was just an empty cylindrical box) from Prof Shih, the NUS President. I was constantly worrying about mis-stepping or kicking my right leg with my left, etc etc. In the end when I got it from Prof Shih, I had a sigh or relief – to an extent I think I forgot to smile at the camera (or worse still I don’t know if I have even looked at the camera in the first place). But it was still great.

Then I hung around in school until the evening sessions where more of my friends were attending. It was wonderful to be able to see all of them in great shape and that, and I went mad taking pictures again. Considering that I wouldn’t be going to places like the Esplanade and all to be taking pictures, I have to make sure I take enough today. Another great thing – I met Sunita, my long-lost shifu at Accenture today in the afternoon! She was apparently graduating with a Masters degree, and it was wonderful to see her after such a long time.

A few more busy days ahead meeting people. But I’m still not used to being in Singapore!

And yes, the photos at Commencement will be up soon!

Singapore.

It’s kinda surreal after landing back in Singapore – I find that it takes quite a bit of effort for me to settle in. It’s almost like, I can’t get used to the place at all! For one – where are the people?!

Went to school in the afternoon to have a bit of chit chat with the folks at Computing Club and NOC, and subsequently collected my graduation gown from Michael who collected on my behalf. The feeling of being a graduate finally kicks in!

Tomorrow will finally be my big day – my Commencement ceremony! I do feel a bit excited about it, considering that it’s the destination of all my years of studies so far (if everything goes right I’ll attend another graduation ceremony at City University in 2 years’ time). But at the same time I’m also feeling slightly worried because I’m so scared that I’ll mess things up tomorrow and make a laughing stock of myself!

Looking forward to a good Commencement ceremony tomorrow.

Airport.

I’m sitting in front of the Burger King in the Departure Lounge of the Hong Kong International Airport – apparently this Burger King is one of the four available ones in Hong Kong, and out of these 4, 3 of them are inside the airport. Talk about popular fast food chains!

Just now when I was passing customs, the custom officer requested me to take out my mobile phones from my bag. So out came all three of my phones – much to the surprise of the bloke waiting behind me.

My flight is scheduled to leave in about 45 minutes’ time, so maybe I’ll just move over to the shops and get something for you folks back home in Singapore, and then I’ll go over to the departure gate. Hope the flight would be fun.

Moving.

I have shifted office – more like I’m finally seated at the seat that I was supposed to be sitting right from day one. The colleagues in this room took some time to clear up the free seat for me – boy they sure took a long time!

Would be flying back to Singapore tomorrow, and to be honest, I’m not in any particular mood for work today. Basically I’m just looking around, lazing around, chatting with my colleagues and waiting for time to pass. What to do, it’s the school holidays after all.

If I have my way, I’ll try to get four IT certifications by the end of this year: CompTIA Security+ (should be taking in 2 weeks), MCTS in .NET Framework 2.0 Web Applications, MCTS in .NET Framework 2.0 Windows Applications and the SCJP. It looks like I’ll have an enriching time preparing for all those exams. It might seem a bit ambitious, but I think these certifications will be useful in the long run.

6 more hours to holidays!

Long Weekend.

Had a long weekend break for the HKSAR Establishment Anniversary, and it’s a good 3-day break as I didn’t really do much except playing on my Wii and get a bit of rest. Considering that I’ve spent the entire week on my computer security course, it’s a good break in more ways than one.

As for this week, I’ll only have to go to work for 2 days, and then I’ll be flying back to Singapore on Thursday. Even though this holiday back home is a short one, I think there’s still a lot of things to look forward to. I’m sure there will be a lot of eating and chatting and meeting up, and I definitely hope that my few days in Singapore will be jam-packed, otherwise it won’t be worth the while to be back!

Back to work tomorrow, and I think I’ll spend the time in school tomorrow trying to learn more about SVG. To be honest, these few weeks in school have been enriching in some sense. Because of the fact that I don’t have to conduct lessons or prepare for class, I have quite a bit of free time, and I used this free time to try to learn new things. I definitely think learning new things is a fun thing. I mean, I’ve picked up new things like C#, re-learned things like Java… I really think learning is a joy!

Would be going to the bank and City University to sort out my Masters course, and when everything is done, I’ll begin to look forward to being a student again! Though this time it’s going to be much tougher for me as I have to juggle both work and studies, but I think I’ll manage! Bless me!