My internship at K. Fels

This was my previous workplace. I completed a 12-week internship at the (then famous) Keppel Fels in May-Aug 2008.

I remembered vividly on the first day we were introduced to Max, a high flyer himself and who mentored us during our stint, he described very proudly, "Anyone who has worked at Keppel Fels means your CV is gold-plated." On top of this quote, Max left a deep impression in me and he was a fantastic mentor for any young graduate - despite his busy schedule he really invested time and energy to coach us, walk us on site, and impart valuable guidance such as:

1. One fine evening he texted me and asked for a project update. I texted my reply. Max replied, "Imagine now I am your customer. You need to make your customer feel assured (that his project is progressing well). Try again."  

This was like WOAH!!!! Impactful. 

2. Max was very engaging in the way he spoke. He stood firm, body squared to us, wore a bright smile, made lasting eye contact, tapped our arms when he referenced us. Despite us being only interns/undergraduates, he was a very effective teacher and very successful at making us feel valued.

3. As part of the requirement of our internship programme, we were supposed to prepare a monthly report to our supervisor and he needed to provide his written feedback. And Max penned down impressive feedback for all of us. He described me as "excellent at following up". This phrase struck me the most. For some reason, it really stuck to me till now. I guess it is because I innately disliked leaving issues unresolved and that was the first time someone of authority identified this trait and praised me for it. Max's scribble helped me alot in my career. Almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy, I prided myself for it and in all my jobs I did my best at closing loops and following up with issues until I received a satisfactory reply. 

On top of his written feedback, Max explained that his intention of giving positive appraisal is to 

help us in our future job search and interviews. He added, "I can only do this much for you. The rest, whether you are make it in your job or not, is totally up to you."

WOAH!! Impactful +1.

"Anyone who has worked at Keppel Fels means your CV is gold-plated." - Ok so anyway what Max described of K Fels was that it was such an esteemed employer and workplace that anyone who has worked there would be highly valued and sought after. Indeed, he was right - in 2008-2009, crude oil price was hitting US$75-$120 a barrel and the O&G industry was booming! That was the primary reason why my uni clique and I opted to specialise in O&G in our Mech Engineering Degree. Not many citizens know this but Singapore (in Keppel and Sembcorp) was the world's biggest producer of oil rigs for many years.

Sadly, for the O&G industry as well as the global economy, oil prices plummeted in 2014 and never recovered anywhere near it's peak since. Due to a combination of a few factors such as (i) the emergence of alternative energy, (ii) the pressure for corporations to be green from investors and public and (iii) oversupply from Middle East, it has been widely mentioned (and predicted) that O&G will not perform well again.

Hence, this piece of recent news did not come as a surprise to most: 

https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/shipbuilding/keppel-exit-rigbuilding-focus-energy-transition

This post brings me back to my previous post dated Nov 2008. My 12-week stint at K. Fels was a real eye-opener. To the real working world out there. To the real construction industry. To the real world where social divide, biasness and inequality exists in unspoken and unfair ways. In short, the experience was the consideration factor which led to my decision to turn down a $20,000 scholarship from K. Fels and then a $10,000 from Sembcorp Marine. They weren't easy decisions for an undergraduate in his last year! Firstly it's not a small sum and secondly it left me to search for a job in a then unstable economy.

Looking back, and saying this very thankfully, I haven't regretted this decision any teeny bit!

HDB to condo is an upgrade???

In status and facilities, perhaps; but everything else is a downgrade!

Reasons why:

1) located in an ulu and yet to develop region

2) would anyone be comfortable with what your neighbours can view through your balcony? You can see their living room means they can see equally well. Yes, the nose digging, your kids and the propping of your feet against the wall, all of them.

3) bedrooms and kitchen are typically smaller than hdb. 

And you still believe your standard of living is an "upgrade"? That's what the developers want you to believe, of course! 

If I ever move to a condo I'll be sure not to be compromise my privacy my view my roomy interior!

Can my kids be bilingual?

Losing the battle in my 用心良苦 attempt to have my kids be effectively bilingual!

So we've been investing deliberate efforts since Yx was young, speaking to her in Mandarin as much as we can. It helps that she was under the care of both yeye and nainai who are primarily conversant in mother tongue. Well, not 100% pure Mandarin, as there are times when we mash in a few English words (most of the times nouns and adjectives), but mostly and mainly Mandarin! We even teach her multiplication tables in Mandarin, and borrow 1-2 Mandarin books from the library each time. 

But recently, I observed she's beginning to think and respond in English... I guessed she's been exposed to too much of it at school and on TV (Wiggles, Peppa Pig etc).  Well I have nothing against her English because her spoken English is really very decent for her age! It's just that gradually she's switching from more Mandarin to English... when she's nervous she even speaks with an outlandish Peppa Pig slang it hurts my ears >.<

Discussed this observation with wifey (who has a rather good command of spoken English) who didn't feel it was a big issue - she'd rather Yx be a master in English than speak typical broken Singlish like most Singaporeans do. My counter was that school-goers will be using and hearing English 95% of the time in school any way, furthermore it is easier to pick up English than Mandarin; hence we should practise Mandarin at home... this discussion didn't reach a conclusion yet and it doesn't help that wifey is more comfortable and intuitive in English... =/ So both of them would be exchanging convo in complete English sentences like in an English class. I've observed that Yx would speak/ask/initiate to wifey in English... And beginning to do the same to me.

Really don't want my kids to turn out to be uncomfortable in Mandarin in future. It's been the trend in kids (and teens!) these days. English fi-li-fey-ley but mother tongue is like alien to them, worse, they even admit with arrogance that it is! Reminds me of my experience with Yx's cousin, J who is 5 years+, he speaks English at home and attends Berries:

Me to him: "你吃饭了没有？"

J stared blankly at me, eyes wide open and afraid to blink. He looked right at me like his brain was processing what I said but he doesn't know how to respond; he uttered nothing and only mustered a tiny tiny nod, the look in his eyes reflected that he hoped that's the right answer to my question.

SIGH!

Readers, if you have any tips pls share some guidance!

Netflix shows I watched in 2020

I really, really invested alot of time on Netflix in 2020. Okay, to use "invest" is arguable as it would mean I gained something out of it; I'll rephrase and say that I depended much on Netflix to unwind in 2020. Almost every night, I found myself glued to Netflix on TV. 

In the early part of the year when babywye was still oblivious to her environment, at night I was able to watch shows whilst carrying her to sleep. Later on, as she developed and learnt that TV with its flickering lights and distracting sounds = entertainment, I could no longer do that, so I could only watch after she's fallen asleep and in the cot. Which means I only couched damn late (maybe 11.30pm thereabouts). Which means I also slept damn late. To make matters worse, Netflix shows are so addictive, geez! Episode after episode. Luckily for wfh, I could afford 30-45 mins more sleep the next morning haha...

Minus movies and some series that I watched a few episodes but didn't like (e.g. Suits, Brooklyn 911), here's the series I watched in 2020!

Would take up too much time to give my review for each and every one of them; so I'm gonna categorise them into three groups:

1) DAMN GOOD MUST WATCH!

2) NOT BAD, has a good storyline and rather captivating:

I was really surprised by myself that I finished all 50 episodes, despite the novice dubbing and then budget cast of actors and calefares. But it was really enthralling, the fight scenes and the build up to the climax and twists. It turned out to be one of the most viewed series in HK. 

Queen Gambit

Enthralled and captivated by the lead's acting.

3) Not rubbish, can watch if you've run out of shows:

Vaccinated!

(The typo was on purpose because the vaccination was done at Terminal 4.. geddit?)

Privileged to be amongst the firsts to receive the vaccination (Pfizer) locally. One small jab for man, one giant leap towards normalcy...

(I'll save u the hassle- 1237 did not appear on the 4d results that day lol 😂)