Scouty’s Weblog

3 weeks into my new job in the school as library, am enjoying myself thus far.

Nice library to be in (new and spacious), with a very good library coordinator that lets me run the place with ease, job is more focus, so it will be good to further develop my library skills.

Perhaps the best part about the job is having students around. Fortunately the students there are pretty good and well-behave so not that much problems with them. Of course working with students does come with its perks.

1) You get to be called teacher, even though you are not one.

2) You get to hear some of the latest entertainment news. (last one i heard was one of Wonder Girl member is leaving)

3) You get to make alot of new friends, especially when one of them introduce you as his friend in front of his friends. (Haa.. job satisfaction increased)

4) Students are very appreciative of the little extra favors we do for them.

5) Students are easily ’scared’ to get them to listen, so far had claimed 1 victim of such scare tactics.

6) It’s easy asking them to give you a helping hand in the library. Most of them are very helpful when asked upon.

7) Perhaps the most important factor of the lot. NO POLITICS from the students, they are just too young and innocent to play politics with you.

I guess thats what job satisfaction is all about, enjoying what you do and having fun in the process.

Second day into my new job as the library officer in River Valley High. Had to travel all the way from Ang Mo Kio to Boon Lay. Well… it’s really a journey to the west.

Still remember I have never been keen to travel all the way to the west side to work, however things have changed. Now I am traveling to the west part of Singapore everyday, 5 days a week.

The journey was pretty tedious, as it’s an hour’s ride on the train. Worse case was having to stand all the way from Ang Mo Kio to Jurong East, before I can get a seat at Jurong East station. The return journey home was even worse, have to squeeze into the packed train.

So far the working environment is good, my LC has been pretty easy to get along. I guess she can sense that I am not a noob in this line. So it’s assuring for her and for me. The students there were also pretty friendly, had made a few friends already. Haa… thats the joy of working in schools, always have lots of students to be friends with. Especially for a talkative guy like me.

The only draw-back is that I have to pay for lunch now… Though the variety of food in the school canteen is pretty good, but I guess I am just too used to having free lunch for 2 years. Now having to incur lunch expenses, it’s a bit sad.

Hopefully I can make a difference in the library and to the school. Especially I was asked to come back, so must not disappoint Mr Cheong and my godma.

Saw my blood donor’s card while changing my wallet. So decide to make a trip down to the blood bank to donate my blood, since my last donation was many years back.

Rushed down on Sunday after attending a wedding lunch. Am surprise to see that there’s quite a number of people donating blood on a Sunday. Some came as a whole family with kids in toil. So got myself registered and waited for my turn for the pre-donation check-up, followed by the blood sampling and subsequently the actual donation process.

Really glad to have done another round of donation, I guess that’s what I can do to contribute back to society. Furthermore, the nurses there were very appreciative of what we are doing. So it’s really a great experience.

Am planning to switch to donating my blood palettes next time, as they one is in a higher demand than blood. Though the process is more tedious, as the machine will draw out our blood, extract the palettes and pump the blood back into our body. Well, will see how it goes. Guess it’s always nice to be able to do something to help someone there is in need.

Was talking to my friend and realised that these few phrases keep coming out, to a certain extent they do sound pretty true.

爱人是辛苦的，被爱是幸福的.

爱真的能让一个人做出不理智的决定吗？

爱一个人就是要他/她快乐， 即使自己会辛苦？

Haa.. came to realise the word Love 爱 can be so powerful… Well, I guess that’s what make us humans complicated creature. Cos with love, emotions and feelings, we will have a powerful combination to make affect one’s behavior and reaction to things.

Well… ending off the post with this classic old song I found while watching a classic old film. Very meaningful lyrics.

Had went back to office for some refresher course to update myself on the latest of the system, so as to prepare myself when I go to school come Jan 4.

It’s good to see some of the old colleagues back in office, the warm feeling was nice as it make me felt welcome, even though I had left and now back again. Furthermore, some of the library assistants were having their training there as well and they still remember me, their ex Zone Coordinator. So they start asking if I am back and will I be their ZC again.

Nice to know that I am still remembered after leaving for 2 years. The good things that I had done during my time as ZC was still being remembered by the library assistants. It’s so heart warming.

Am looking forward to the day where I will be posted back to office again and working with the good old friends in office.

Was on leave, supposed to be having training at the new office. However due to some last-minute changes, training was postpone. So spent a few hours in the new office catching up with the colleagues and surf net. Happened that some of the library assistants were back for training and they still remember me. So touched…

Since I had time in the afternoon, decide to pay my empress a visit. So dropped by my uncle’s place to spend the noon away. As usual, empress was happy to see me and chatted with her briefly before she go on to do her stuffs. As usual, the ever caring empress is always worried about if her grandson here has eaten anot, so she made me a cup of coffee when she was making her own. Hee… nice to get pampered by my empress.

Continue to chat with her in the kitchen and as usual, it’s the usual set of issues she brought up. So let her ventilate her issues and again using the soft approach to share with her my views and reassure her to take it easy.

Came to realised one thing, I think as age is catching up with her, she is requiring more attention from us. I can see the challenges faced by my aunts and uncle at home, cos she is with them everyday. While I am only with her once in a while, thus it is easy for me to give her the attention she needs. I can see that she enjoys the kind of gentle and soft approach I always give her, and I believe that is also the kind of attention she is getting from my elder sis. Not too sure if both of us are the one that is ’spoiling market’. But I guess she does need to be assure that we are there to listen to her, even though she may be repeating the same issues over and over again.

I know its easy for me to say, cos I don’t face her everyday. So I guess I have to make it a point to drop by and visit her more often, so as to let her have an outlet to air her issues.

Afterall, she is my empress and by placing her at the top spot of my Ladies Roll of Honor means I have to do more for her eh.

December…. The last month of the year.

Mind is still filled with thoughts over the matter… Don’t foresee any conclusion to the matter yet, cos things just get challenging. Sometimes I wonder if I should laugh at the situation I am putting myself into. As the old hokkien saying, “backside itchy”

Well… I guess there will never be a clear answer to the matter, cos different perspective will bring about different views and ways of handling the matter. Right now, other than airing my thoughts in some private domain to ventilate and hopefully that will help in making the mind less ‘crowded’ with thoughts.

Another good learning journey perhaps…..

As usual, the emotional side of me has been generating tons of thoughts in my head… Thoughts about work, about personal stuffs, about my friends and about my empress.

Work issues had more or less been addressed, decision to move on is firmed and am serving my notice period. The anticipation level of moving over is getting higher as the days draws closer. From the way it looked, things should be more focused and perhaps can once again developed my library skills and improve my standing as a librarian. Over the past few months, am lucky to have made a few good friends at work. Indeed these are good people whom the organisation is lucky to have. I guess these are the folks that I will be missing when I move over to my new place. No more breakfast kaki and the ever ‘crazy’ Encik that keeps feeding me and my ‘kids’ with Chicken Basket.

Personal issues has always been one of the issue that is in my head. This time round, I was really being tested through and through. Trying to analysis a person hasn’t been so challenging, from reading the verbal and non-verbal ques to running through what the person had said and trying to make sense of it all, but yet couldn’t really draw a clear conclusion.Was pretty edgy for a while, as somehow I was a bit lost without being able to ’see’ what the person is thinking. Anyway, things had improved… Managed to get a good feel of things for now. So lets see how things move on, though things are progressing well in a certain way.

As for my friend’s issues… Well, not that I am capable of solving their problems, but just pretty concern about what they are going through now. Especially one of my good “bro”. Shall not dwell too much into this area, as it’s not too nice to be talking about other people’s issues. So lets just see how I can be the listening ear to them, their unofficial counsellor.

Now, the highlight of the issue. My Empress Granny…. Guess age is really catching up, she is starting to get forgetful about stuffs. Had asked me the same question 3 times and repeated something a few times as well. Was pretty disturbed by what is happening, though I recognise that it’s pretty much what will happen for someone her age. But again.. it’s just the bit of denial that it is happening to my Empress Granny.

Oh well…. Such is life I guess. Full of surprises, explore the mysteries and enjoy both the joy and sufferings that life has to bring.

Well… closing another chapter to my working life. A closure to the days with The Force. A bit of nostalgia feeling I must said.

I had entered the Force with pride, since it was one of my dreams to work in the civil sector and particularly with the Force. Furthermore, the feeling of knowing you belong to the Force just give one the sense of pride. This can also be felt by my parents, especially my mum who has been proudly telling relatives and friends that her son is working with the Force.

So the chapter with the Force began in Nov 2007. It was abit of a culture shock for a start, as the style of work was pretty complicated. Battle lines were drawn clearly and identifying who are the friendlies and who are the hostile were necessary. Despite having worked for a few years, I had a bit of a challenge to adjust to such intense working environment initially. Lucky there were good colleagues around to guide me along and also the words given by my Shifu, Mr Cheong.

In some way, the exposure was helpful.. as it does hone my interpersonal skills and it sure was a good learning experience. Kind of make me realised a lot of things as well.

There were good things that I had gained during my time with the Force.

• Had made a very good friend / buddy while attending our induction course together, till date.. we are still in contact, even though she had left the Organisation earlier than me.
• Had many “adopted kids” who are scattered around now…. At last count, I am supposed to be the proud “father” of 4 daughters and 6.5 sons. Seeing them leave and moving on to their next phase of life is kind of like marrying my kids off.
• In difficult times, there are still kind souls around in the work-place who will help you out. These people are really what the Force and Organisation needs.
• Perhaps, one of my biggest gain… That is to gain the status of para-counsellor in the Force. Being trained and appointed as a para-counsellor was one of my happiest moments in the Force.

With all things good, there will be its fair share of bad stuffs as well. Perhaps to sum it up using a few phrases might be more apt.

• What you see may not be what you get, learnt you must, to see things from different angles and sides.
• Smile they may be, but hidden behind the smile is what you cannot see.
• The equation for Give and Take is never equal.
• For every good soul out there, there will be a bad ass out there to spoil things.

I have people telling me that such things are common and it exists everywhere, which I agreed. However I had also came to realised that, there is still a different in the intense level. To quote an example, While Singapore tend to be blanket under constant rain-fall during the year-end monsoon season, but we will not have a situation where the whole island will be flooded, flooding will occur only on certain areas.

It’s just amazing how the chapter for this part of my working life closes. Personally didn’t expect such a closure, but I guess life itself it’s just that unpredictable.. Sometimes what you wish may not really be what you get. Such is the wonders of life.

So I guess it’s just time to move on to the next chapter….