December 31, 2013

Goodbye 2013

Right.


Another year is about to end.


Many things have happened this year.


Some were good.

Riding a Ferrari sportscar for the first time in my life.

Watch race cars live in action on the streets of KL and nearly going deaf.

The amazing internship at Mercedes-Benz.

Attending my first ever motorshow, indulging in cars and girls alike.

Get up close with a whole generation of Formula 1 race cars.

And of course, spending time with my second family, my second home, the SJBA Youth Section at the many events they've done.

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But with all things good, there were not so good things as well.

Car battery got stolen.

Car window got smashed for an unknown reason.

Discovering my offered job at Mercedes was taken over by another trainee/intern.

Ongoing family struggles.


But well, whats life without some ups and downs. There's bound to be some year in year out.

So with one chapter done, here's to another. One that's filled with more of goods and less of not so goods.



December 9, 2013

Tiring weekend in KL City

Before that, some updates with life after my internship.


If you remember the admin desk job I had during my last 3 weeks, my manager had offered me to continue working there as a full employee temporarily while they looked for a permanent replacement. I took the offer, and after filling in the employee application form (and being confidently told I would be there for at least 3 months), I waited for my manager's call. 

3 weeks with nothing from him I decided to call him. He told me that the HR department still hadnt replied to him, and that I should "look for a temporary job elsewhere". Being confused as to how I went from job-confirmed to look-elsewhere, I sought some advice and concluded that I should try looking for a permanent job instead of waiting for them.

And exactly on that day as well, I was told my brother's car was hit in the side by a blind driver who didnt see his car while reversing. So while my brother's car was being fixed, he borrowed mine for about a week which meant I wouldnt have any transport to go for any interviews if I had started job hunting then. So thats the whole month of November doing absolutely nothing at all.

After our cars were back, I went back to my workplace to return the locker key given to me during internship. When the admin ladies asked why I returned it so late, I told them about my job application predicament. 

That was when I learnt that another university intern had taken my spot. I was told he would be at the company for 6 months like I did, but not how long he would be at the desk. And then I was told how some of the technicians with contracts leave the company at the start of each year when their contracts expire, which means there should be vacancies coming soon.

So should I wait for another month, or keep looking? Hmmh.



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So, on to my weekend in KL.


If you have an Facebook, is a car nut, or both, you would definitely have known  about the three Singaporean Lamborghinis that caught fire on our highway on Friday. I'm not here to blog about that but instead my trips to Majestic Hotel KL, near the old KL train station where the rest of the convoy were staying. They were on a charity drive organised by Lions Club Singapore and the Sin Chew Foundation.


On Saturday early morning i.e 6am I packed up my bunch of stuff and made my way there by bus and KTM. Reached there at 7, then hanged around for about 4 (!!) hours thinking they would depart and not return. Then I found out they would still be staying there until the next morning, so I left and headed over to Pavilion. First stop, Puma. What most of you may not know is that the Puma outlet in Pavilion is the only one in the Klang Valley (there's another in Queensbay Mall Penang) with the Bring Me Back bin, where you can dispose any unwanted clothes of any brand for them to recycle. 

I brought an entire backpack full plus another plastic bag and dumped all my clothes into the bin, happy to have finally relieved my wardrobe from all things unwearable and unfashionable, saving Earth by that tiny little bit and not needing to lug around a heavy bag for the rest of the day. After that it was on to the Pikom PC Fair at the KL Convention Center where I met up with an online friend. We walked around, collected a library of pamphlets, flyers and booklets and declined all the offers from all the determined promoters.

Then we walked back to Pavilion, hung around for a couple of hours, before I left at about 5.30. 

When I boarded the monorail at Imbi station which was spilling over with commuters, I witnessed the aftermath of a pickpocketing incident. A young girl was panicking and asking around when she realised her phone was missing. This same thing happened to a friend of mine when he boarded the KTM during rush hour and realised his brand new (at the time) Nokia X6 was no longer in his pocket. Not only that, it was his reward with his own savings for getting 8A+ and 2As in SPM. Since then we both learned the art of: 

1) Putting all our valuables in our bags, carrying it in front instead of behind, and clutching them

or

2) Keeping our hands in our pockets where our valuables are kept

Reached back at KL Sentral at about 6, waited for the bus for an hour (!!!), and finally returned home at 8. The fatigue of being out walking around the city for more than 12 hours then sank in and I crashed onto my bed, just before my aunt from the UK came over to visit. Went for dinner at Asia Cafe, stuffed myself silly with foooooood, came back, washed up, and off to bed at 12.


Fuh~


SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY. At 8 me and my brother went back to Majestic Hotel hoping to catch the departing convoy. When we arrived I noticed some of the cars were missing. Then I learnt that they had left about an hour before we came. From now on any convoy from Singapore must not be taken lightly in terms of punctuality. I stuck around for 3 hours (!!), eventually disappointed by the low-key departure. Then I went back to Pavilion to meet an old secondary school friend, hanged around for another 4 hours before going back home and reaching at about 6. 

Straight off the bus I went over to my car to run it after being unused for two days, worried the battery had run low. 2 days before I got my car back apparently my brother had trouble starting it, and kept cranking the engine until the battery was completely flat. Until today I still dont believe how he managed to achieve this. It seems to be a bit weaker when starting but even so I still managed to get the car going. *phew* After that I changed my headlamp bulb which blew, most probably because this happened:

Dont worry, I drained the water a few days ago.


So with that, I had spent a total of around 24 hours out in the city. I'm still a little tired now.

I sign out with photos of the convoy at the hotel, which you can view after the jump