PR Revoked ; then Renewed

Obviously I didn't listen to BeerBrat's community service regarding renewing my PR ...here . Procrastination.

My re-entry permit expired one day before I was to leave for Bangkok. And I didn't know until I was casually flipping through the pages of my passport on the way to the Airport. I was famous to blunder on small matters that people don't think it will happen to them, like the time i forgot my passport at the immigration checkpoint.

Anyways, I panicked. my flight is 2 hours away and the rest of flights were all fully booked. And I can't wait for tomorrow. So I tried calling a few friends including the Beer Kaki, but none of them is unsure what are the consequences. HEnce I approach the Immigration.

So, this is what will happen.

1. Your PR will be revoked once you exit Singapore without a valid re-entry permit. PR-ship does not expired but re-entry permit does.

2. Upon arrival back in Singapore, you are considered a visitor which you have the number of days stays limited accordance to your citizenship. Malaysian have 14 days.

3. You may re-apply for your PR ship back but its subject to approval case to case basis, and you have to bring all the relevant documents as stated by BeerBrat's post.

4. A $50 sgd fine will be imposed upon approval.

5. You are required to fill in a form to indicate you understand the above conditions.

Knowing my consequences, I still exit the country and got my PR and re-entry permit renewed when I got back. It just takes a little bit longer than BeerBrat's experience. They need to get some officer to review my case before they approve. I heard some are required to attend a interview. Guess I am just lucky.

So to my PR friends, remember to renew your Re-Entry Permit, not everyone is as lucky as me hor...

Another friendly community service brought to you by AhSiang.

Next...How to retrieve a check-in luggage in the Airport ?

S.H.I.T.

Interestingly, one of my frequent blogs, I came across this post bout SHIT.

read on..

Manure... A True Story

Manure: In the 16th and 17th centuries, everything had to be transported by ship and it was also before commercial fertilizer's invention, so large shipments of manure were common.

It was shipped dry, because in dry form it weighed a lot less than when wet, but once eater (at sea) hit it, not only did it became heavier but the process of fermentation began again, of which a by product is methane gas. As the stuff was stored below decks in bundles, you can see what could (and did) happen.

Methane began to build up below decks and the first time someone came below at night with a lantern, BOOOOM! Several ships were destroyed in this manner before it was determined just what was happening!

After that, the bundle of manure were always stamped with the term "Ship High In Transport" on them, which meant for the sailors to stow it high enough off the lower decks so that any water that came into the hold would not touch this volatile cargo and start the production of methane.

Thus evolved the term "S.H.I.T", (Ship High In Transport) which has come down through the centuries and is in use to this very day. You probably did not know the true history of this word.

Seriously I'm trying to hold back my tears....

Just watch it...

e.g , i.e

Ever wonder what E.g. and I.e. stand for?

It trickles my curiosity bone, so I googled it up.

e.g. = exempli gratia ( Latin , ya..see the italic..they always use italic for Latin)

i.e. = id est ( also Latin)

..my curiosity expands..

B.C. is before Christ....A.D. ? its anno domino means the Year of the Lord. B.C.E. ( Before Common Era ) and C.E. ( Common Era ) meant the same respectively.

And...anymore..yes..

a.m. means ante meridien (before noon) and p.m. means post meridien ( after noon )

feeling satisfaction to know what has been abbrevating out daily usage of words.

Remember the Name

Kinda like this song, and find that its really true.


This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill
Fifteen percent concentrated power of will
Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain
And a hundred percent reason to remember the name!

Who wants the MP3, let me know. Enjoy the video.

Dad's Fashion

Was watching a late night show , and Jerry Seinfeld was on it and he shared a joke.

Ever wonder why most fathers' attire are always so old fashion. They may be fashionable during their time or happening, but once they reach fatherhood, somehow the fashion stops there. So they clothed themselves the same style when you or your brother were borned. Quite true , ain it.

I just love how Seinfeld see's things.

Pooh...

Some crude jokes. read with caution.

Whats Pooh's wife called ?




Pooh bo


Then...


Whats Pooh's little kid called?



Pooh bo kia..

Good Samaritan

I was on the way to work two days ago. The journey requires me to take the train then the bus. and then I have to cross the road to get to my office which is on the other side.

Alas, I was down on my luck that day, as it was raining. I got to get into office real soon because I have a teleconference.

I decided to dash across once the green man starts to light. A lady, in her 30s, walk to my side , and offer me to walk alongside with her with her umbrella.

I was surprised. Never did it occur to me such nice gesture, esspecially during rush hours. Sheepishly I told her, its ok, and I am going to dash for it.

However, she insisted, telling me its raining quite heavily. Alas, I took her offer and alongside as I cross the road, I was shield by the rain.

I felt happy that there is such kind gesture. A stranger that you do not know offering help.

NEvertheless, it turns out she is working in another building, and I thank her after that and dash off into the rain again into another shelter. I was a little wet but still glad.

I hope whoever she is, she is gonna be blessed many times more.

This kind of incident reminds me another contrast picture of Hong Kong where people rudely shoving agressively through with their umbrellas during rainy season.

Elevator 2

Miss JB Die Hard respond to my Elevator post, do you notice that people keep staring at the LED display that changes everytime it ascend or descend at the level you are at.

What do you do when you enter a elevator ?

A. Look at the people around you.

it will be rude. but I will if there is chio bu.

B. Look at the elevator walls (usually mirrors) and adjust whatever you are wearing.

I notice this in CBDs, and in Hong Kong. gosh, people are so vain.

C. Look at the LED display.

Usually happens here, like its like who gets out first of the elevator gets a price.

D. Start sharing your personal stories to your friend with so many uninvited eavesdropper.

Occasionally I encounter this as well.

However, What would you do if you FART silently in the elevator ? Are the the first one to pinch your nose and shake head?

Wacky

At a kopitiam, my colleague and I were packing breakfast for our trip to the factory later and he asked

Colleague : Whats the heaviest mee on earth ?

I knew its the chian pian kind of questions, so I started thinking ridiculuosly....and in front of me was a noodle stall with the answer.

Myself : Wanton Mee...( One Tonne Mee)

both of us start laughing ...then he asked me again

Colleague : Who is the strongest person on earth ?

This time, I can't answer and i give up.

Colleague : neh...the lady who cooks the wan ton noodle lor

@@#$#@!@#@!$#!%%^&*($@.

Why does people bluff themselves ?

I was on the train heading to the meet up place for work.

The appointment is 8am which they leave on time. So I was like two train stops away, and I stole a glance at a guy's watch. Its 8:05am. I was shocked, because I thought I was early. I boarded a train stop away at 7:45am.

I checked the time on my phone...gosh...phew...its only 7:50am.

I have know a few people who do that. Thats " adjusting their time ahead by 5 to 10 minutes". They claim they can "shock"/bluff themselves to be on-time or earlier. And people are still late, especially here in Malaysia and Singapore, that applies to yours truly as well. :). Worse still, its a domino effect.

Why do people bluff themselves ? Didn't they are aware that they already adjust the time ahead? Or did they adjust the time and then just magically delete off that part of memory in their brain.

Standing Ovation for Pirates

Got the review from my friend, Mango. Pirates is awesome. I can't wait to watch it tomorrow.

And ya...do stay till the end of credits, those who are Orlando Bloom's fans.

Elevator

I was waiting for the elevator to descend to the ground floor, when a young man came by and waited beside me. The elevator was pretty slow, and sometimes I think its retarded, as it seems to assign you the elevator thats the furthest from your level.

Have you noticed, a lot of people likes to press the same buttons multiple times in quick repetitive motions, as if the faster you press and press, the lift will comes down faster.

Wouldn't it be cool to have such a elevator. What if the elevator's speeds depends on the speed you press the button repetitively.

My observation tells me, this is influenced by movies, when you see someone on a chase, keeps pressing the elevator buttons repetitively. It does shows that you are rushing.

I'm a hubber

I am very much amused by StarHub's ad.



tat da di da..tat da di daaa...

Do you know ?

Malaysia ranks 17th in Country current account balance.

Singapore ranks 10th.

United states ranks last.

What a irony !!!

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2187rank.html

Of course , this does not take into account how much we borrowed from World Bank.

Rant

Busy.

Went to Bangkok.

Came back.

Busy.

This is life...

I remember Windows 95 slogan " What you want to do today ?" ..

I wish life is as easy as clicking the Start button.

Learning Mother Language

Been busy with work and life and neglected to update my life journal.

I have gained a 1 kg. Damn..its so hard to lose weight, and in a flash, it comes back.

Something new I googled and discovered this amazing podcast web to learn MANDARIN. Its one of my rsolutions.

http://chinesepod.com/

Its podcast of a Shanghainese and A Canadian learning Mandarin. Its interesting and fun, although its not actually Singaporean Mandarin, its a good start.

Hopefully it help on my learning journey of my MAMA's language.

Qing Ming Rants..

I'm back in hometown a couple of days for Qing Ming. Qing Ming is essentially a "tomb sweeping" day. Its usually on the April 5th of our calendar. And the period to do this its +/- 10 days of that.

Qing Ming a Chinese festival to honour and pay respect to our ancestors. Burning of incense, joss sticks, paper money ( it looks really real) is a normal sight of this festivies. Richer families will go a more elaborate way by burning paper 'anything' i.e. cars, stereo set, home theater system, servants. Its a belief when these are burn in the vicinity of the tomb, the ancestors will receive it in heaven.

Before the burning starts, everything has to be clean hence the name tomb sweeping. It used to be a family affaird where every takes part and clean it. However, nowadays you can engage cleaner to clean it before you arrive whom are the locals nearby chancing on this opportunity to make a extra buck. Current price is 25 ringgit. We did just that. I'm just not born for manual labour. :)

Well, as a believer in the Christian faith, you are not supposed to hold the joss sticks or burn incense. However I beg to differ, as I think Its ok. I helped to burn some paper money and other gold colored paper. I viewed this as a form of respect and as an honour to do this. I don't believe my faith will be swayed by this, and if this act sways other's faith, well..their faith is just not strong enough. All in all, its a personal stand in this.

What I notice is lesser and lesser young people nowadays does it esspecially those that have to carry out in the 'ulu' (remote) areas where its infested with mosquitoes and scorching sun rays. I wonder when will be the day, when there is a cyber Qing Ming where we remember the dead in cyber space. They already have cyber cemetry for pets.

Being an Engineer

Why am I what today ? Engineer is what i am today.

Was it my ambition since young to be an engineer. Engineer, Computer Engineers, Electrical Engineer and all sort of engineering were considered a professional and glamourous career when I was a much younger age. Those days, engineers takes 6-7 years to earn their degree.

Intrigued by Macgyver and all things sci-fi, when the teacher ask what is your ambition, "Cita-cita saya adalah menjadi jurutera" which means I want to be an engineer. The rest is history, you have to do well to be stream into science stream, and then pursue a engineering degree thereafter.

Then you realised, the perils of life hits you. Bills, insurances, bills, loan repayments, healthcare, food, a roof, etc. It seems, the engineering degree will land you a reasonable starting salary and then thats it. It tortoise from there. As cost of living increases, your salary crawls.

What's wrong with engineering ? What happens to the prestige and the glamour held by it ? In the government effort to churn out more engineers, the degree course now takes only 4 -5 years. And furthermore, its very exam oriented, means who cares about whether you know how to use the Ohms law, all you need is to know how to answer the question.

I am rethinking whether to pursue ahead on the technical path, it seems vague and bleak to me. Not many companies in Singapore/ Malaysia really encourage innovation and invention because of the cost factor. We are still trying to keep cost low in competition with the much more developed countries, thats why our engineers are still relatively cheap.

I would certainly advise my future generation to re-consider properly if he/she wishes to pursue a career in engineering.

NightCrawler

Its 2:49am...my body is tired...my mind says i should sleep...but I'm wide awake...typing this.

WAs watching Blood Diamond just now. Maybe that cause me to be wide awake now.

I need to get some shut eye...I need to sleep...sandman...please..

Does counting sheep/goat/lambs help ? 1 ...2...3...4...darn...

I need alcohol...ZZzzzzz