Samsung Galaxy Note 3

Yay! Finally, it's my turn to change phone after about 3 years with iPhone. This is my first phone from Samsung and I'm glad I got their flagship model, but not my first Android phone.

三星最新旗艦手機——Galaxy Note 3 (갤럭시노트 3)

 

 充電中……

The reason for change is I wanted to jump to Android for more customization and personalization options. But perhaps a bigger reason is that iOS file system could support 9999 photos at any one time. It means that after IMG_9999, it will reset back to IMG_0001 and overwrite the previous photo with IMG_0001. So I wanted to switch to Samsung's file system where this problem is eliminated as date and time is used instead and enjoy the beauty of the big screen. ^^

SingTel really mixed up with my iPhone 5S order liao. Wanted to sign the gold iPhone 5S and sell it off then buy Note 3. Very pissed but nothing I can do to resolve the issue. 何時才能把這台iPhone 5S脫手呢？Happened that today free, I went down to Red White mobile to get the white Note 3 @ $870. Quite a good deal IMO. Previous phone was a black iPhone 4S, so wanted to change to white - it got me hestitated for a while as I was keen to go for the black, but I guess white is easier to go with various casing.

A big windy rain obstructed me from going from Plaza Sing to Cathay. Had to hang around at Plaza Sing for a while, before I sheltered myself over to Cathay.

*心情好所以把雨傘借給一對情侶，男生最後淋雨跑向Plaza Sing。奇怪明知道最近天天下午都會下雨，怎麼不帶傘？

The handphone shop was rather deserted - in fact Cathay was deserted. Rain could be a factor. Good for shopping lo - love weekday shopping!!! After paying for the phone, started to inspect the phone so that it doesn't have any defect. The phone looks high quality with a sturdy built - I kinda suspected this phone was made in Vietnam. The charger design was similar to the Nokia ones, where the Earth plug could be retracted back to the Live and Neutral plugs to save space. But the white colour on the extendable part is different from the main charger! OMG, this is flagship phone leh, the charger looks cheap though...

After I left the shop, went to Adix shop at Burlington Square to get a screen protector and casing. I missed the shop and actually went to The Bencoolen. Only to realise the shops there are selling 中式乾糧、衣服、腳部按摩/洗臉店, then I know I went to the wrong place liao. T.T

The screen protector I got was from Clasy and is made of glass. Now I don't know if this brand is from Korea, I do notice that most glass screen protector are manufactured in Korea. So I take it as Korean made lo. The quality is very good but also thick as well, but it doesn't affect the usage in any way. For the casing, I got the Momax transparent colored one for $10 lol.

The result? Lol...

 美到…… 實際外觀美過照片的說

Then went to Sim Lim to get the SanDisk 64GB memory card for $58.80. WX wanted me to help him get the Samsung 32GB card as he found out that Suntec CEE was selling at a higher price. But to his disappointment out of stock at $30.50 shop so he went back to CEE to buy his card for $32.50. We decided to meet at City Hall platform later on to train home.

*Pepero no more offer le :( Got to live with the remaining stock I have lol~ ok la, stay healthy!

The first thing I notice about Note 3 is the enormous size and weight of the battery. I can say the battery takes up > 50% of the phone's weight. Nonetheless the 3200mAh battery is good to last one day of heavy usage ba. The display was gorgeous, but still not very accurate in displaying colours, particularly the blues. Everything was snappy on the phone, except when the phone needs access to the memory card - of course this can be forgiven...

Apps wise, have to give credit for Apple's tight control of the whole iOS system. Given the same app, the iOS version is better designed than the Android one most of the time. For example, the mousehunt app looks horrible on Android but is ok on the iOS. And I can't turn off FaceBook message notification on Android! This is possible on the iPhone though.

Now I'm trying to get used to the two storage locations. A bit of settings to be tweaked here and there and I should be good to go into Android world!

28/10/2013 Interview at Micron, new lift + 29-30/10/2013 Attended funeral

*早上接到壞消息，看來是要有最壞的打算了……

This is my 9th interview. Job position applied was product engineer. The test was rather easy except for the programming part, I really can't write a full C language program to do the sort - the interviewer was quite surprised that I used the 'bubble' sorting method to solve the problem. Of course it's not very efficient la. Overall, the interview was ok. Hoping to get into this company though.

Strange that K Ng quitted his job, barely after 3 months wor. Don't know what was the real reason neh? Haven't find a chance to ask those reservist mate out.

Thunderstorm after the interview, luckily I only need to cover myself up for a short distance before being sheltered all the way to MRT station. Overall, the company location isn't so bad, the only thing is that it lies on NEL, so I need to change train at Outram. Heng, rain wasn't big at Jurong area. Took the new lift home.

First thing I noticed that the lift looked very dark, they should do away with the dark wood interior and change into something bright coloured. Aiyo, this is not some atas lift wor. Another thing is that the lift moves very fast now, compared to the old one. Wind blower is also more powerful, quite breezy inside lol... But I feel the button appearance can be improved, the contrast of the red LED and the engraving on the buttons results in not very obvious and clear cut wordings to lift users.

Next 2 days, attended funeral of a relative. Kept this portion short as I don't want to blog so much about it. Met other relatives of course and chatted a bit here and there, 畢竟很久都沒看到他們了。自從在上個拜五入院的消息傳出之後，眾人都震驚了，因為沒有人料到這樣的事情會發生，如今我還是很訝異。之前去她家看她還好好的。人生真的世事無常，要把握現有的，不要等失去了才來後悔，到時都太遲了。

Now job hunt is getting on my nerves. 每天都開始煩起來了。人家說讀engineering什麼工都能做，我覺得我是很多工都不能做……難過考試的說，考試再怎麼難都沒有找第一份工這麼難。我也解釋不出為什麼還找不到工。But the fact that now employers will ask why so late still finding job really tells me something, but they shouldn't discriminate mah. 如果每個公司都這樣的話，我不是真的不用做工了？到時候怎麼樣打算，我真的不知道。

Master's Sun 주군의 태양

*媽媽接到壞消息，很讓人擔心……

Finished this Korean drama a couple of days ago. It's an all-new horror romance story which previously isn't seen in Korean dramas. After a big accident, the female lead (Tae Gong-shil) gained ability to be able to see spirits and was living in fear/depression/sad etc. Very accidentally also, she discovered that by touching male lead aka some big company CEO (Joo Joong-won), she could make the spirits nearby disappear. So, she took advantage of this and tried to get close to the CEO. 一段拖拖拉拉的愛情故事就這樣開始了……

Initially I freaked out when the ghost spirits appear right on the screen, even at 1st episode. Somemore I watched the very first episode around 1-2am. 嚇死我了~ Towards the end, I wasn't even that scared liao - 麻木了... The story is written such that almost every episode will have a special theme whereas a particular ghost would appear just only for that episode and a task was given to Gong-shil to solve. Along the way, somehow it got CEO dragged into the whole matter. This was how the romance between the couple got developed. Lol...

Ok la, the story is pretty interesting and refreshing. But I would think that Hundred Years of Inheritance would be more heart-touching. Towards the end, I not even sure if CEO and Tae Gong-shil really got into a relationship. Marriage? Children? All unknowns.

While I find 女主角 was ok, the 女配角 was quite pretty and she's from Busan?! Now it kinda proven the fact that nicer looking females come from Busan.

Today did nothing, but received calls to go for interviews next week. Evening went to JP (a sudden change in venue to celebrate bro's birthday early from Millenia Walk) to have some Malaysian street hawker food. I think I want to try 咖哩雞麵喔！

Dinner with Yida and Chuan

Supposed to meet Yida and Chuan for a simple dinner at Yuhua Village. Ok I thought this Yuhua Village is at Blk 347, so I took bus 98 to Blk 347. Wasn't realizing anything wrong when it's rather weird that a lot of stores have closed. Until... Yida called and asked me where were I then I 恍然大悟 I mistaken Yuhua Village as Blk 347 when it's Blk 252 instead! T.T

It's heaven and earth difference between the two. Blk 347 is 冷冷清清 while Blk 252 is 超熱鬧, on top of that it was accompanied with pasar malam (talk about pasar malam later). We ordered a BBQ stingray, fried sotong and 蝦仁蛋. Very simple but fulfilling. The BBQ stingray is somewhat different from the normal stingray I had, but not drastic. I felt I could tell the stingray was grilled for longer time as the 烤味稍微重一點.

Talked about anything and everything. Both of them had changed their phone! Yida is holding LG Optimus G while Chuan holds black HTC One. I still find silver HTC One looks nicer, more like MacBook Pro sia haha!

比起電子歌或搖滾樂，寂靜的夜晚是不是更適合聽抒情歌呢？

Interview at MediaTek + dinner with Edwin

*New IPPT system? Replace SBJ with push-up and lengthen 2.4 km run to 3.2 km wor! Still can't pass anyway~

This is the 8th interview. Office was located at one-north and it looked spanking new! Then came two managers to interview me. But because the technical test wasn't mentioned beforehand, therefore I don't know what to prepare for the interview. Subsequently, they asked about some RC circuit, because I think the job has to do with RF kind of thing. Of course some I knew how to answer while some I really forgotten. Frankly speaking, I'm really weak at frequency/zero/pole kind of stuff.

*Lately HH gone crazy(?) on whatsapp, keeping calling people jie/dajie. This craziness occasionally also exposed on FB! 行為完全不行的說…… 而且他在ICA一周做足六天，還不想找份全職工嗎？畢竟兼職工只是臨時辦法罷了

*Finally spent away the remaining $2 on my uni concession ez-link card. I can officially retire this card le, served me well during my uni days~

Met Edwin at West Mall for a simple dinner. A very last minute and inpromptu meetup. *Hope more meetups after I got job pls!* Was a surprise as it's first time I being jio out for dinner by my batch one. *Been a few months, if not a year, since I last visit West Mall. Challenger opened an outlet at West Mall, I wondered which shop had closed down to make way for it.* Both of us had Basil Chicken Aglio from Pastamania, lol...thinking alike ds. The pasta was ok-ok only, somewhat lacking of the fragrance of the aglio. While I explaining my job hunt situation to him, he shared his working experience as a teacher. Finally, got someone who isn't from electronic specialisation can understood my perspective. 大感激！

Next we moved to 香港盛記甜品店, which the outlet was occupied by Mos Burger before. Ordered 芒果西米露 for myself but Edwin also looking at the same thing. LOL, why are we thinking of the same stuff?! Then to my delight, Edwin paid for the desserts, 他請客喔！不知道他最近zomok，心情好像很好醬，又jio人出來吃飯又請客…… Truthfully, I already digging out money to pay for my share liao, but he confirmed to treat me like that. Never mind, next time will be my turn to treat back. *Adding more and more people to my to-treat list, YZ is another one* Edwin seemed interested in going Korea, and wanted me to bring him and whoever-he-jio there, possibility K9 overseas trip(?) That would be something whole new experience and fun I guess, imagine got people like SK following around... I would love to go there once, the question is 'when?'  LOL, Talk about trip photos, I really lazy to upload. Slowly but surely, I will upload everything onto FB one.

芒果西米露

謝啦！

As time still permits, we walked around see see look look how West Mall has changed. Edwin wanted to get a Nalgene bottle, in the end, he bought as per my recommendation lol... On way home, we chatted almost everything even Edwin took MRT the same direction as me till JE. LOL... Little action such as this goes a long way, showing a friendship or any other relationship is worth maintain or not. :)

Interview at Xilinx

*Got rejected by the 2nd company. Aish, sian... Ironically, XIlinx is located very near to its office!

Another job interview thanks to my professor helped to send out my resume. Position was Architecture Model & Verification Engineer. The office is located at Changi Business Park - another long long train journey to and fro! Reached the location some 30 mins earlier. After cooling down, I went in to wait to be escorted.

Surprised to see CY at work while I was being led around by HR. Then a senior engineer came to interview me, don't think he's a manager. Talked mainly about the job scope. Whoa, I guess is mainly programming kind of job lo, similar to the 4th company at Science Park II. Wonder how come I was being considered for this position given that I'm not programming trained. Oh well, have to learn everything regardless which job I got. I don't mind to learn new stuff. Priority now is to get a job! Now have to wait for call for 2nd round interview.

While I was at Expo MRT platform at 4pm, 驚覺 Bay was at Expo earlier on when I was having interview and he was at Airport now, asking people to accompany him jiak dinner. Then he would go home by bus 858 from there. Too bad he asked too late, my dinner probably already cooked by then. Lol...

Joe's Kitchen with WX and PG

Took bus to Alexandra because WX had cravings for 小籠包. Waited 20 mins for 197! WTH, peak hour leh, shouldn't increase the frequency to max 10-15 mins? Should have took 198 instead, coz 4 198s whizzed past me while I waited pathetically at JE lib bus stop.

To WX disappointment, the stall at Alexandra Village Food Centre was closed! 應該是氣到他…… In the end, we changed to Joe Kitchen for dinner. I ordered seafood fried rice ($5.50), very average only, so I didn't take a picture. WX had a plate of pad thai ($5.50) while PG wanted basil chicken rice ($7.90). Shared a small green curry chicken ($6). Satisfying dinner. LOL~

Pad thai

Basil chicken rice

Green curry chicken

*Hope whatsapp can implement multi-window feature, so that I can copy and paste over a few conversation windows easily.

Was bickering about JW, Jerome and JB. WX talked until 要調高起來賣這樣. I'm rather open to new people, so if he want to suggest friends also won't mind lol...

Moved to McDonald's @ Queensway Shopping Mall. Played some SGS games before called it a day. Three of us took bus 197 back to JE. Played with WX's note 3, the feel was good, screen is big. As such, the text were bigger than on iphone, it makes the usage experience very engaging and I would want to use the phone more. Haha, after phraising so much on note 3, I still don't know when I would land my hands on it. :(

20/10/2013 Kbox with sis and cousin

妹突然心血來潮，想在開學前去唱K，就拉了我跟表妹去。

因為要在3點到Lot 1，所以搭德士飛下去，也是我第一次光顧CCK的Kbox

外觀來說，算是比較有誠意的一間分店，因為裝潢會比較有主題一些些，但是告示牌沒有很明顯。廂房對於我們三人組，算大間，不會像烏節路小小間的。所以並沒有很多負面評語。

比較想嘮叨的是價錢，若不是它的會員的話，是很貴很貴的。表妹因為沒有這裡的學生證，所以不能申請成為Kala會員（唱K僅$8），因此需支付全費用，即$31.80！唱三小時真的很貴耶！好才我自己本身是Kala會員，不過由於過期了，所以需要重新延續會員身份，就要給$16，$8應該是其手續費咯。還送多一杯飲料，就還蠻划算一下的！呵呵！

接待員還不錯，看到表妹要還$30多塊，就跟我們說時間不會太限制，可以唱到7點整——意思就是說我們賺到一些些啦！

Check-in之後就被安排在K-9房唱（哇！K-9對我來講意義重大喔！），但我才唱一首歌那個觸屏就jam住在那邊了！不能跳歌又不能選歌，被迫被安排去K-30房唱，這裡浪費10分鐘的說=.=

我偏向超級新的還有林俊傑的歌，表妹就比較偏向梁靜茹、陳奕迅之類的歌手，妹妹就喜歡比較新一點的歌，龔芝怡、房祖名、元若藍等歌手的歌。

之後到Lot 1去吃Ajisen拉麵，最近走budget路線，所以點了一個$7.90的拉麵+10個餃子大家分享吃。吃到很撐很飽，發現我的胃口好像縮小了，很好的事情啊，因為天天在家的關係，一直吃一直吃，肚腩大到不行去，所以胃口縮小希望會瘦下來喔！

最入門的拉麵，$7.90不能投訴什麼了

餃子普普通通，沒有什麼驚奇的地方

解決晚餐後，就在Lot 1逛一下子。講到鄰里購物中心，Lot 1還真的輸Jurong Point多多下，店面少變成沒什麼東西看的。相比之下，JP大很多，人流也多出很多，任何時候都是人山人海的說。唯一能跟JP比的我覺得是Causeway Point……

過後走去看Guardian有Pepero促銷，所以買了8盒Pepero($6)，零食還有一點吃到怕了…… T.T

15/10/2013 Sec Sch classmate gathering: Koh Grill + KBox + Saveur

Met the following ex-classmates to celebrate Sharon's birthday, which falls on 21 Oct, in advance on Hari Raya Haji:

1. James
2. YB
3. Sharon
4. Jesslyn

Was supposed to meet at JE platform at 12 pm, cannot be late coz Koh Grill only allow maximum 10 mins grace period. I was a bit on rush, so I took bus to lakeside after running some errands (threw trash into recycling bin and deposited cheque), still managed to reach on time, earlier by 3 mins. Surprisingly YB was earlier than me! Haha, but Sharon and Jess were a bit slightly late.

The MRT was very crowded and everywhere were foreigners, how pathetic! Doesn't feel I'm in Singapore. I still can vividly remember last time go out was quite a breeze, MRT not as this crowded and mostly locals, not to mention the trains are travelling faster. Need some breathing space!

We reached Koh Grill however wasn't impressed by the service there. Made reservation a few days ago and they could only provide 4 seaters?! We have 5 persons leh, understand if we were just walk-in customers, but having took the trouble to book, at least give 6 seaters la. That aside, we also encountered some difficulty in ordering food. Understand the outlet was very busy during lunch time on a public holiday, but if you don't clear the existing diners, how to make vacancies for the next customers? But anyway, a small rant here...

Food wise, I find the Garlic Chaahan (garlic fried rice) was nice, but the portion was pathetic small. =.= $5 leh, could have a much bigger portion if ordered from tze char stall. I like Shiok!!! Maki, Shiok!!! 2nd Gen Maki and Suriyaki. The salmon was grilled until very nice nice before they were added to the maki itself. 2nd gen was the prawn version one, ok la, it's still very nice! Suriyaki was a soupy dish with pork and onions and some glass noodles... Tasted like a blanded version of the Korean Jjimdak (찜닭). Lol... James had a beef set, so I didn't tasted his one. As for my Katsu Curry Rice, it would have been better if the curry was served warm, mine was cold! As such, the taste couldn't be brought out so immediately liao.

吃飯前拍一張！

蒜頭炒飯，很香很好吃但小份又貴！

我的日式豬扒咖哩飯

咖哩稍微冷了一些

如果是溫溫的咖哩端上來，肯定很好吃的

Suriyaki

賣相普普通通，其實味道還不錯喔

個人頗為喜愛的壽司之一：Shiok!!! Maki

這是第一代壽司，三文魚拿去烤後再淋上特製cheese

烤味好香啊！

美味百分百！

也是我蠻喜歡的壽司：Shiok!!! 2nd Gen Maki

與第一代的差異是這個是有加入炸蝦

烤味就稍微遜色一些些，但還是不錯的 ^^

Sharon wanted to look for perfume, guess once one's start working, he/she is more willing to spend. I'm the opposite, I try not to spend on unecessary stuff haha. Example I decided not to upgrade iPad 2, maybe will wait for 1-2 years later ba. It's still running well though. Anyway, while the girls were looking at perfume, I chatted with James about jobs and careers. Really have a hard time finding a suitable job leh... T.T

Next, we went to scape. Initially the group wanted Play Nation to have some fun with console games, but sadly it was full house. We moved to Kbox instead, but it's more expensive. Karaoke in SG is a luxury activity, a session on weekend afternoon could cost about $30! 貴死人了…… Luckily, it wasn't that expensive - $19 for 3 hour session, just that no drinks/tidbits provided. Gone were the days where we would visit Kbox at JEC or Selegie and sang from 2 pm till 7 pm for only $11! I remembered this price very clearly coz always go there for some singing session.

The room also pathetic, 5 persons squeezing into a small room where the sofa is only one side length and it's struggling to take in 5 buttocks. Not L or U shaped sofa lor... In the end I sat on the stools provided lol. Sang a number of new songs, which the rest totally didn't knew these nice songs exist lol!

難得合照！

我還出糗，感嘆以為王心凌有180公分那麼高！原來Sharon跟James在講羅志祥，真的是雞同鴨講/斷章取義。

After Kbox, the group decided to check out the newly opened Krispy Kreme at Tangs. 打死我都不會在這裡買甜甜圈，一個$2.60的天價真的讓我望而卻步！$2.50已經可以吃一盤雞飯了好不好~

James commented his BTO costed him close to $500k! Wah, half a million for a HDB unit really not cheap. 看來以後開銷還真的要慎重規劃了。

Then we moved to Saveur for dinner. It was a small restaurant serving French cuisine located at ground level of Far East Plaza. The chicken set meal I had was so small until we thought it was a starter dish... But it's also the cheapest among all the main courses we ordered. The rest was ok, tasted good and looked interesting to me la.

Saveur's Pasta

沒記錯的話，價格是$4.90

很小份卻很精緻

精緻到五顏六色的外形

讓你不捨得吃掉它！

Duck main course

 這道超過$10的鴨肉餐

烤鴨肉不會過硬，反而是軟軟的，增加味覺喔！

Seabass main course

中間那塊是魚肉來的

賣相就真的還蠻普通的說

Beef main course

本身不吃牛肉關係，所以沒吃到這道牛肉餐

不過因為賣相好看，所以也拍起來！

Chicken main course

它最便宜，所以是最小份的主食了

我們以為是前菜呢！T.T

但好才味道不錯，所以還是及格！

甜點Brûlée

並不是我吃過最好吃的brûlée

On 334 way home, YB was talking about the insurance she highly recommend me to take up to have basic coverage. 老實說，大學畢業後踏入社會不止找工作那麼簡單，其實有很多工作以外的東西都需要知道。保險是其中一個，其他的包括屋子、結婚生子、公積金、投資(?)。接下來的路是一條很漫長的路要走，一直到退休為止……

Hanzawa Naoki (半沢直樹)

Completed this Japanese drama just very recently, I think Monday or Tuesday. The reason I watch this drama is because it had a high viewership in Japan, in fact, the highest in the Heisei Era (平成時代)! Secondly, it has only 10 episodes, easier for me to catch it.

The story talks about a guy called Hanzawa Naoki (半沢直樹) where he worked and climbed up the corporate ladder of a Japanese bank. But he faced lots of obstacles, could be due to the banking corporate culture in Japan or could be some doings by someone who is up up there in the ranking.

First part of the drama had the setting based in Osaka where Hanzawa Naoki was tasked to recover the 500 million yen from the bankrupt steel company which the bank loaned the amount to. Apparently, the bankrupt was an intentional move and the culprit was someone from the bank!

After about 5 episodes, the setting moved to Tokyo, where Hanzawa Naoki was assigned to try to salvage Iseshima Hotel which lost some 12 billion yen due to investment failure, in order to avoid the bank being pressured to place some 150 billion yen as some safety fund. While Hanzawa Naoki managed to reverse the situation, he found out that the culprit was another person from the bank!

故事高潮迭起，怎麼會錯過呢？

A character which I quite admired was Hanzawa Naoki's wife. She was super supportive of Hanzawa, almost all of the time, despite having some complaints here and there. 真的有妻子典範、賢妻的風範喔！她不是每個老公心目中的理想型老婆嗎？

This drama was planned to occupy the timeslots, rather than being a 大製作 or 重頭劇. The result was very unexpected until TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting System) decided to film its sequel. 我已經迫不及待要追看下去了！

Korean drama now also showing army and dog?

This is definitely very interesting as I came across it on a rather recent Korean drama today because it relates me on too much stuff already.

Actually, this drama doesn't entirely depicts a soldier working with a military working dog. But it gives me an idea how the Korean army K9 unit may look like. What's more even relating to me is the dog appeared in the show - German shepherd!

感覺真的一模一樣咧！

For the 2nd scene, I'm not sure if this really happens in the Korean army. But asking a soldier to put his dog to sleep, 真的會令人很傷感的. Wonder how they manage to control the dog by sleeping on top of the table.

This part is most, if not quite, emotional.

For the last scene, notice that there is a M.W.D. badge on the uniform. My guess is that the badge is to signify that the person is a dog handler/trainer. I began to wonder is it not worthy to put up the badge last time. It is a profession if one thinks thoroughly about it and a special one IMO. Most of us did argue and tried to push for the introduction of the badge last time but failed in the end.

So what happened in the end was that the soldier, being so comfortable working with the dog and the dog was very loyal to him, couldn't accept the fact the dog died before he ORD, so he 想不開 and went AWOL. Then the dog spirit came to stop him from committing suicide.

A very touching story, isn't it?這一類型的劇情，怎樣拍、怎樣描寫、怎樣演，都是感人的。

Interview at Marvell

Went for interview with Marvell at Tai Seng today. Left house slightly before 1 pm, and I was almost late for the interview. While in the panic mode at that point of time, I got off from MacPherson MRT station and took a cab instead. $4.70, 好貴啊！T.T :(

Anyway, luckily I reached the place about 10 mins before 2.30pm, which was the scheduled meeting time. The receiptionist 一眼就看得出我不是新加坡人，因為我的姓名實在是太特別了, lol... The building looked rather deserted tho.

I was led into a room where I did the 45-min test. The HR told me I should finish the test by 3.15pm. However, within 30 mins, I was stopped by the interviewers - suspect they are either PhD or masters grad and they wanted to start the interview proper liao. Of course I was a bit shocked and confused at the same time and didn't complete the test too. Tried my best to do it liao lo. *然後開始覺得奇怪起來了……

One thing for sure, the test was a lot more easier than the first interview I went. At least this one test on basic stuff, that one too advanced liao. Torture...

They started the interview by going through the questions. From there, I was able to extend my answer or to show them what I know, in addition to the answer or part-of-an-answer. One thing I wanted to comment was that I was requested to invert the expression for function Y to Y-bar. Instead of doing the long winded way (put two bars, break the bar, change the AND/OR sign), I straight away wrote down the expression for Y-bar. They were caught somewhat surprise though, but the answer was correct. Thanks to the truth table, I always rely on truth table for any digital electronic stuff problem.

The interview mainly went through the test paper, without much other stuff.

Towards the end, the interviewer only know that I was only informed about the test a day ago, which wasn't enough for me to revise all of the electronic topics. Imagine squeezing 4 years of stuff into one day of refresher course. 這也難怪啦……

Going for Interview at Marvell

Got a call from Marvell to go down for interview. Don't know what's the position until I saw the email. I don't remember sending resume to Marvell except for one which I've done though jobstreet. Even though, if I can still remember, I got rejection letter from them. Therefore, it must be the consequence of my professor helping me sending out my resume.

Really, the effect is totally different from what I'm applying on my own. Now here comes the scary thing, the HR wanted me to go down in the afternoon and there is a short test (again?). Not that I dislike the idea of the test, but only to inform me a few hours before the test + I already grad for a few months liao, most likely have forgotten the stuff I studied, how am I going to take it? No tested topics or test scope given too. If that's the case, I am going to submit blank answer script up lo.

So I requested the interview to be arranged on tomorrow. Meanwhile, I got to dig out the lecture notes and reference books to start revision. T.T

At the same time, I also managed to send out a few resumes out. Really hope they call me up for interview. T.T

*Wondering if HH and JX found a job liao or not. HH working at ICA as temp though, but how long can that last?

Tried out Nongshim kimchi cheese ramen today. The very distinct fragrance of cheese could be distinguished out and the cheese used was something else other than the usual cheese we buy from supermarkets. However, the taste was somewhat blander than say I put cheese on my own to the kimchi ramen.

Then in the late afternoon, Mediatek also contacted me for interview! 教授的力量真的很不一樣，或許我低估他的影響力了…… 這讓我有一點點嚇到。

9/10/2013 Lunch with Bay + Chin Yang's belated birthday

Lunch out with Bay at Swensens @ Clementi Mall as he came down to work at Toh Guan. He wanted to try out the new menu as recommended by bloggers while I went for the more conventional ones. At the same time, Swensens is having a lunch promotion whereby a side dish is served complementary.

Spiced maple chicken waffle ($14.90)

第一次見到有少許獨特的菜餚

味道更是美味喔

Breaded chicken ($15.50)

典型炸雞西餐菜點

沒有可圈可點的地方

Butterfly shrimp （贈送品）

不錯啦這個

Mozzarella cheese stick （贈送品）
別被其名或賣相給騙去

裡面不熱的，很難咬

下次不會點這個了

Spiced maple chicken waffle ($14.90) was a wonderful dish! It fuses both the popular fried chicken and waffle and together with maple syrup, made up this dish in a creative way.

Breaded chicken ($15.50), as conventional as it sounded, tasted conventional too. Nothing extraordinary to comment about.

Butterfly shrimp (complementary) was something I had for the first time at Swensens and they were delicious! The same can't be said to mozzarella cheese stick (also complementary), the cheese wasn't hot (as if I'm biting a piece of rubber), and there wasn't any taste to the stick. Very poorly done. Could have used something more fragrant, but I think the temperature killed it.

Talked about my interview at airport there. The moment after I finished described what happened to him, his first reactions were '低'、'太遠', which were in line to what I thought as well. But anyway, I didn't pass the 2nd round interview, so have to continue looking for more jobs.

After which, went to meet up with the uni clique at Tiong Bahru Plaza. I wasn't the first to reach despite having the jobless status now. LOL~ After meeting Max, we both went to 3rd floor to source for a birthday greeting card for CY, ranting about the interviews at the same time. The world is small - so coincident that we bumped into HY and LF in the same shop!

Next, the girls were thirsty so they bought drinks from Koi. As we waited for them, I continued to rant about interviews. Moi guess Max was tired of my interview experiences ba... Haha...

Then, we moved down to level 1 to look for a birthday cake. Initally, they wanted to buy a small sliced cake from BreadTalk. But Max suggested we should look at Coffee Bean instead coz the name sounds more atas and cheaper(?). In the end, we settled for the Boston Nut Brownie Cake. As there were still time, we began to fill up greeting messages on the card while waiting for the birthday boy to reach Tiong Bahru.

And then, to hinder our plan, the birthday boy reached rather early. We scrambled and in the end I led the birthday boy around level 3 while the rest settled the remaining stuff. LOL~ Then we moved off from Tiong Bahru Plaza to Big Mama Korean Restaurant nearby.

It was a lot of firsts for the 4 of them, 1st time visit Big Mama, 1st time drank Korean Soju, 1st time drank Makgeolli (막걸리), 1st time eating dakgalbi (닭갈비), 1st time eating pancake (파전). 1st time celebrating CY's 21st birthday too. Food wise, this was my first time trying out their grilled pork, tasted nice leh! For the rest, they all gave thumbs up for the food! Haha, 我介紹的準沒錯喔！

Drinks wise, the soju had a more alcoholic taste than the makgeolli which turned out to be our favourite! The taste is exactly the same as what I had in Seoul. Probably next time don't order soju le lo...

For Max and CY who aren't a fan of Korean cuisine, I think this is their first time trying out Korean dishes at an authentic Korean restaurant. For LF and HY, I think this satisfied their cravings for Korean food, 全部一網打盡……

해물파전

海鮮不會太少，酥脆很好吃！

닭갈비

主角登場咯

還未完成……

不過賣相還是不錯的

越看越餓！

忘了這個在韓語叫什麼

總之就是韓式烤豬領 (BBQ pork collar)

很香很好吃

把닭갈비吃剩下20%左右

加飯菜又翻炒過

又是一道很美味的泡菜炒雞肉飯了！

韓式燒酒

還是막걸리好喝^^

Max跟HY

LF跟我

壽星公

一起喝막걸리！Yummmm... senggggg!

After the dinner, we celebrated birthday for CY. The plan was a bit failed coz he came out of the toilet a bit too fast! T.T 氣氛還是不錯的…… 恭喜恭喜CY長大成人了！

因為晚餐過於豐富，所以我們買了一個超迷你蛋糕

給壽星公一個人吃完就好了哈哈！

合照

After which, just when I thought everything was over and was getting ready to go home, Max and HY suddenly had cravings for karaoke. OMG~ They really too high liao. We took 2 taxis to Teo Heng @ NTU Alumni Club. Thanks CY for the taxi fares, knowing I'm real jobless now. 雖然明知道不夠時間唱，但每個人還是有唱到幾首歌啦。

While we were walking out to the main road to hail taxis home, the easties were very lucky that a cab was 'waiting for them'. Actually the taxi didn't wait for them, happen that the taxi wanted to go back to eastern area after some resting at NTU Alumni Club. But me and LF wasn't that bad neither, we got a cab just when we reached the main road. Everybody reached home fast and safe!

This is a ship-shipping ship, shipping shipping ships

LOL...
Tongue twister: how many ships can a ship-shipping ship ships if the ship-shipping ship ship ships?

Sony XBA-3 Balanced Armature (BA) earphones

它壞了！

*My Memorette card reader suddenly spoilt for some unknown reason! Spoilt at the moment I need it most :( Now got to get one ASAP, maybe Daiso?!

XBA-3耳機！

Almost forgot to blog about this. Haha, this is my so-called 3rd IEM hoot - Sony XBA-3 earphones which each channel contains 3 drivers (full range, woofer and tweeter). Bought on 1 Oct, collected on 2 Oct.

Actually I didn't intend to hoot another pair of earphones in near future, but the offer from Treoo shared by WX was just too tempting to resist. Sony produced 4 models of the same XBA series - XBA-1, XBA-2, XBA-3 and XBA-4. Each model has 2 variants, one for the normal (J-type cord) and the other for smartphone (Y-type cord with volume control and mic) and with IP naming.

The offer pricing went like this
XBA-1: $49
XBA-2: $119
XBA-3: $169
XBA-4: $209

The mic version is $10 more expensive. In addition, there's a $5 delivery charge per order. In fact, was considering for quite some time should I buy or not. The main thing that strikes me was not the Sony brand, but the shape of the earphones. Immediately, they looked a lot more comfortable when worn compared to my Ultimate Ears TF-10.

Until the point that I decided to go for the 4-driver XBA-4, I found out that the offer was quite popular until it was sold out. Chatted with the customer service crew only then I realised they were clearing stock for the old XBA series where Sony just introduced the 2nd generation of XBA series earphones. Most likely there won't be new stocks coming in. Ahhh, no wonder the predecessors going for so cheap la...

Then I settled down for XBA-3. WX was faster in deciding so he got the XBA-4IP for himself, so that we could share the delivery cost. I must say something about Treoo: they were fast in processing the orders! The next day morning they actually informed WX that we could collect the earphones! Cash-on-delivery though.

And I was on bus 19 going to Airline Road for interview. That means I have to go out again after I reach home from the interview and lunch with Bay! Anyway, we decided to meet the seller at JE MRT control at 5pm. WX spent the whole afternoon after his class at JE library sleeping - to pass the time, before meeting the seller. LOL~

The wallet of the seller, OMG, so damn thick with all the currency notes. How I wish I could have that also! LOL!

After collected the stuff, we each headed home lor. The packaging was still nicely wrapped, but there was quite a dent on the paper box! Ahhh, but oh well, I'm not going to look at the package box, so it doesn't really matter. Most importantly, the contents inside must be new~

Sony isn't stingy on the contents, there are 2 sets of earbuds , one normal (3 sizes) and one hybrid(4 sizes). The earphones came installed with the 2nd largest sized hybrid earbuds. Also, there is a short manual, a very nice leather carrying case and a cable management tool (for wrapping up the extra cable).

Upon wearing it for the first time, I felt rather uncomfortable, especially the right side. OMG, whose ear holes would be that big?! It was simply too big for my liking, immediately I changed the right side to a small one. Then, it felt much more comfortable, much much more than TF-10.

Sound quality wise, I would say I like TF-10 a bit more, same as JX's comment, after he wore it to try out during the meet up on 3 Oct- due to the soundstage it presents. There is a reason why everybody loves the awkward designed XBA-3. But that's not to say the XBA-3 is lousy, afterall I paid $170+ for it. There is still a difference between it and the single-driver MDR-EX10, for example. Probably, Sony fixed most of the problems in the 2nd generation earphones ba.

Another interesting thing I found from the Internet is that people commented the XBA-3 sounds better than XBA-4 as the 4-drivers are too analytical in sounding until it sounds not as all-rounded as XBA-3. Hohoho, anyway going to enjoy this pair of earphones!

Damage: $171.50

Went Daiso yesterday to look for the card reader. And volia! I found it. $2 only. And the funny thing is that it looked 99% the same as the Memorette one!!! Even the LEDs used are the same, they are red and super bright. Maybe they came out from the same factory. I felt that the build/finish quality of the Memorette a lot better than the Daiso one - the QC almost non-existent and the Japanese can accept such quality meh, I wonder? For some funny reason, the Memorette card reader failed, which I can't figure out also.

外形幾乎一模一樣，品質就差一點的說

Swapped the internal hardware as I liked the Memorette translucent plastic. Then I realised the holes drilled into the electronic board was a bit large until the whole reader + USB port wobbles within the plastic housing. Hence, I used some folded paper strips to hold everything in place. Tsk tsk, as the saying still goes, 一分錢一分貨咯……

More interview and the outcomes

No news from the 2nd company, looks like no hope liao. :(

갸아아아아아악!!!! HH got new job?! Aigogooo...

7/10/2013 2nd round Interview at Airline Road

This company was fast in giving me replies regarding my job application! But frankly speaking, I was only try try out by mass spam sending out resume as this company is really far from Jurong. It almost reaching the end of the other part of SG! As mentioned earlier, I wasn't expecting it to call me up for interview, not even for two times. It has to be this company to call me up to go for 2nd round interview. A little picky haha!

Anyway, this time round, the interview also includes a series of test which all admin officers have to go through. I was told to reach at 10.45am. Perhaps, I wasn't good at estimating the travelling time needed from leaving the house to reach the venue. Was thinking if I reach earlier, I could start and end everything earlier, perferably avoid the evening peak hour. So I notified the HR guy beforehand. He seemed ok with it too. In the end, I reached at the waiting point at 10am, 45 mins earlier. Informed the guy again to escort me to their office.

However, to my horror, I waited for a full 50 mins at the guardroom when this 50 mins could be put to good use there lor. =.= Took the abstract, mathematical and those deduction, inference, analytical tests in the morning. Then I skipped lunch to take the essay writing test and summary writing test. The abstact test was the hardest, while of course the maths one the easiest. Summary question require me to condense the passage into 200 words, instead of 120 in schools. Altogether the tests took me about 4 hours to complete. OMG, I wondered if I was taking 'O' Level exam... =.= I understand perhaps the purpose of the former series of tests. But essay and summary?! The job doesn't need me to write summary what... This is first time I am hearing such things for job interview lor.

Moving on to the face interview, it was conducted by the senior HR manager and VP of engineering unit. It was about the same as the first round, but I found it awkward and appaling when they asked about my NS rank, physical condition and IPPT result. I'm not signing on with SAF/MINDEF nor I'm applying for some physical trainer or teacher or that sort, so the above matter doesn't really matter. In fact, a lot of private companies don't ask about NS, some even don't want to see my NS transcript. I began to wonder why they asked...

Moreover, I have given the impression that more often than not, I would be expected to leave work after 6, i.e. way past the official working hours. The only reason I can think of is that they want to employ someone who do not have to leave work early due to NS committment, i.e. IPPT/IPT/RT.

This shows the inflexibility there. From the moment I reached their premise till the interview, it's quite apparent.

With that in mind, it kinda left a bit of negative impression on me. Moreover, they did not state the pay, I am going to real consider about it. The real deal breaker came in when the HR senior manager asked me if I want to take up the challenge because he did not see the 'passion in me' through out the interview. I was stumbled by the question and didn't really answer to what he wants.

Oh well, it's kinda more or less confirmed I won't be made offered to the job. That's okay, I'd just need to continue finding more jobs. Just then when I was on my way to Pasir Ris MRT, I saw the rejection letter from the 1st company... :( Haiz, have to move on to find more jobs. Met PG halfway through the train ride and we giggled about HH going for ICT. Most important question: the shirt can wear or not?

To sum it up for the day, the interview was as though I went to work. Practically, it took up the whole day from 8am to 6.30pm.

9/10/2013 Lunch with Bay + Chin Yang's belated birthday

I still write this small section even though I don't intend to publish it now. It serves as a reminder I have to write an entry for this date.

10/10/2013 Interview at Science Park II

This is the 4th company I was being interviewed with. The job position was field application engineer, which I don't understand what the 'field' means in this context. But from the description, the job looked ok to me. I felt I could fit into it.

Came across this posting in an email sent out by NTU. As I still on job hunt, so I felt I should try my luck with it. And to my delight, they called me up for an interview. The interview confirmation email stated I will be interviewed by 3 hiring managers and is one-by-one! OMG, like that it would take about 3 hours to finish one interview leh! T.T

I was also quite surprised that they do not require me to bring any original documents down for interview. But just in case, I brought them along.

Reached the venue somewhat 20 minutes earlier. The office building was rather 'empty'. It almost gave me the impression that nobody, except me, was inside the building. In fact, the whole Science Park looked rather 'deserted'. Thanks to the convenience smartphone brings, I was able to catch the bus 183 before Clementi MRT station, just behind 99. Otherwise, I would have missed it by staying on 99 until it reached the Clementi interchange. In that case, only taxi is the solution and I have to spend $$$.

The interview was quite smooth one, it combined some general chit chats ranging from studies, how I handle stress and where I went for my holidays to technical FAQs - ask me to draw diagram what I did for my projects. Hopefully, I got this job through as it's not far from home, though frequency of 183 can be an issue.

Went Clementi to buy a logitech basic mouse and some pepero. My Genius mouse (last time bought from SLS for $9.90) had some clicking problems liao. So a replacement came in! Also priced at $9.90, meaning cheaper?! Hehe! Now the mouse is nicer to click IMO... Hohoho!

Logitech m100r 滑鼠

便宜又好用哈哈！