Not a good day today, work-wise. my mentor just got back from a holiday, and having to clear the usual mountain of emails meant that the after-effects of the holiday didn't last long. to make things worse, a foreign office messed up our instructions, causing unnecessary hassle. and as if that wasn't bad enough already, i somehow messed up the forms to be submitted again. filling up these forms is not rocket science or brain surgery (or the combination - rocket surgery), which makes it even more painful when mistakes are still being made. you know what's especially frustrating? i did the forms last week and checked them at least 4 times before submitting them. could it be that i just don't have an eye for detail? my mentor told me that she's frustrated, which i translated to mean that she's almost losing her patience. it sucks, especially since, in her words, this isn't even the hard stuff yet. and she has reservations about trusting me with bigger tasks if i can't deliver the small tasks well.

to be fair, i understand how she feels. i know how it's like to take care of someone blur, or someone who can't get it right after multiple explanations. it's not easy, especially when there are things at stake. research results, for example, though that was in a past life. in this case, it's wasting time and money. money in the event something we submitted incorrectly has to be re-filed, and time spent redoing and rechecking the forms. the worst case is missing a deadline, which thankfully hasn't happened so far. i realize that the fact that this is frustrating me shows that i deem it as important. if a kid from tuition didn't get a concept, i would probably be annoyed for a while, but realize that it's no skin off my nose since their grades don't affect my pay. of course, i'd think differently if the whole class said that i suck, but i have more confidence in my teaching abilities than that.

my mentor also seems to be eager to fix this problem. after all, the goal of her hiring me is to eventually have me take some of her workload, right? to that end, she made a few suggestions, like having me take notes, or finding some way to remember. in that regard, i think i redeemed myself a little, because i just showed her my notebook with pages of notes for the filing procedure for each country, my study into claims, even a pretty timeline! i hope that that shows that i have been trying, just that it's taking a while to sink in. having said that, i still have to find an effective way to get better at this. it's on two fronts: remembering the filing requirements and how to prepare the relevant documentation, and catching typos or formatting errors in the documents before forwarding them to my mentor for approval. it's no excuse; you'd think i could get something as simple as this more easily. let's just aim for small, reachable goals. one set of forms with no errors, and move from there.

-random thought of the day: Mildly discouraged at the setback, but grateful that my mentor is willing to work with me.-

Made a little more headway in gathering information to better plan out my day. given that there are now significant deterrent factors from gymming at genesis (traffic, time, cost), i was looking out for alternatives. i'd previously visited fitness first at bugis junction, but it was some distance away and kind of crowded. so, that wasn't a favoured destination. then, i was made aware of a virgin active branch at duo galleria, which is literally across the road from my office. i'd thought that there would be sleep pods available, but it turned out that only the raffles place and tanjong pagar branches had them. the nice staff people recommended me an alternative, though, which is to make use of their pool/poolside area to sleep during the mornings. i think i have to digress to talk a bit about the entire building for what i'm saying to make sense. the entire building, which i'll just call duo galleria for convenience, is advertised as being/having residences, a hotel, retail outlets, and office space. i'm guessing that the thought process of the designer was to cater to lazy people like me. get out of bed, take the lift down, go to the office lobby, take the lift up, and start work. then head to the F&B places during lunch, work out at the gym after work. in a way, your needs are mostly catered for within that complex. only thing missing is a supermarket, though i wouldn't be surprised if one already exists there and i haven't found it yet.

as a benefit of sharing the venue with a hotel, the gym allows members to use the hotel pool and changing room. it's actually a partnership...each organization lets the other's guests/members use their facilities. the changing room is beyond atas, seriously. for one, it's located on the 25th floor. and though it's not olympic-sized, it's one of those infinity pool deals. the two most immediate drawbacks i see are that (1) the pool's not sheltered, meaning that usage of the pool is weather-dependent, and (2) the pool is some distance from the main gym. while that's not so bad, the first one is a little more significant. on the bright side, amazing changing room, abundance of towels, basically all i need for a workout is a pair of exercise shoes. the gym provides everything else - attire, towels, soap and shampoo for showering, even socks! the biggest draw i see is the people, or lack thereof. i went down last night, and i'd say the gym was 40% full at its busiest in the about-2 hours i was there. no real queues for machines or weights, which is definitely a plus.

i suppose the foremost question on your mind right now is, how much does all this cost? unlimited access to all 6 branches, unlimited classes (not that i'd go), above-average facilities, free fruits, body analysis machine, all for about $218 per month, and the corporate rate gives me 10% discount, so just under $200. now, i've seen a very wide range of gym membership fees, from 4 times cheaper (gymmboxx) to 4 times more expensive (genesis). while this is leaning towards the steep end, it's still what i'd consider affordable at this point for me. at the risk of sounding like i have too much money to spend (i really don't), i need to hit the monthly minimum spend for the one card rebate. if i do go ahead with this plan, what will probably happen to my daily routine is that i'll reach the place at around 6:45am (they only open at 6:30am, so i figure it'll work), go up to the pool to either swim or sleep, then shower and change for work. don't think i'll be ambitious enough to squeeze anything during lunch break due to the tight time, so that's not a consideration. then, go to the gym itself for an evening workout. they open until 10:30pm on weekdays, so unless i'm really swamped with work, i can probably get in an hour or two at night. the best part is, parking's free! well, not really free, since i pay for season parking at my office, but you know what i mean.

my initial thought was to continue to engage the coaches at genesis to help me come up with a training program while i work out at virgin active. definitely having second thoughts, because they do charge for this service, and knowing that their selling points/buzzwords are "personalization" and "all-rounded", i know it won't come cheap. i'm actually beginning to wonder if it wouldn't just be better for me to learn all this myself. in fact, why haven't i looked deeper into this? it's not because of a lack of intelligence for sure. lack of motivation/interest, probably. and the thinking that i can just pay someone to do the work for me. perhaps it might be better if i were to go about this weight loss journey in a more...proactive manner. you know, take full responsibility and all that. definitely worth considering. step 1 would probably to google, or borrow books related to the topic. i'll save that for another day, though. feeling sleepy. still have to talk about the wedding, or maybe i'll combine the singapore and china weddings into one huge post.

-random thought of the day: Stop making stupid errors at work!-

Given my aversion to maths, which should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me beyond a superficial level, what might come as a surprise might be my interest in number-crunching...only for things that are of interest to me. one of those things is, well, interest! i've been comparing the various bonus-interest accounts that are on the market, and even did a little spreadsheet to see which one gives me the most interest upon meeting the various criteria. before i go into detail there, though, i just wanted to mention how accomplished i feel for making a spreadsheet to track my work cases. it even uses conditional formatting to highlight certain cells as deadlines approach. i'm by no means a computer whiz or programmer, which is why i felt that it was something worth celebrating. while it's still not as automated as i'd like (i still have to input the values correctly or risk getting warnings at the wrong dates) it's good enough for my use. right, on with the content!

currently, i have 2 such bonus-interest accounts, UOB one, and OCBC 360. i'm not sure if other countries have this sort of thing, so quick explanation. all bank accounts have a base interest rate, which is usually something lousy like 0.05% per annum. initially, i'd naively thought that 0.05% a year meant the same as 0.05% a month, because percentages don't change, right? now you see why i suck at maths. it turns out that the per-month interest rate is 0.05% / 12, or 0.004%. for perspective, that means for every $100 i have in the bank, i get 5 cents a year, or 0.4 cents a month. that sucks. the bigger banks all have a product (funny how bank accounts are marketed as "products") that allows you to gain bonus interest upon the fulfilment of certain criteria, usually crediting your salary, or spending a certain amount on a bank-issued credit card. UOB's one account requires crediting salary of at least $2000 (after CPF deduction) to the account or 3 debit GIRO transactions, and spending at least $500 on a relevant credit card. OCBC's 360 account has the same exact criteria for salary credit and credit card spend, but they did away with the GIRO thing a while back. they also offer more bonuses, like you get some additional interest if you end the month with a higher average daily balance than the previous month, and if you have insurance and/or investments with the bank. the DBS multiplier account is slightly different. it still requires crediting salary, but it requires that you spend in a certain number of other categories chosen from credit card, housing loan, investment, and insurance. the most immediate upside i can see with the multiplier account is that it offers greater flexibility.

based on what i could realistically accomplish at this point in time, i did a very simple comparison using each bank's interest calculator tools, simulating my savings over a year. for a fair test, i used the same conditions as much as possible: starting balance of $1000, increasing by $1000 per month. for UOB and OCBC, i fulfilled the salary credit and credit card spend components. the simulation for the multiplier account had to be adjusted a little due to the slightly different requirements. for that, i maintained the initial balance and increment, but used a salary credit of $5000 and a credit card spend of $1, just to make up the numbers. i did a second set with a starting balance of $2500 and increasing by $2500 a month, and the results were quite significantly different. based on the figures obtained from the first set of conditions, it seems that the DBS multiplier is the way to go, as it offers the highest interest per year ($104.32) compared to UOB ($101.75) and OCBC ($95.94). the OCBC account seems to really shine when you can increase the balance on your account by a lot, due to the bonus interest for those aspects. the UOB account doesn't seem to be that special, although it has a hidden bonus: the one card, which is one of a few cards compatible with the account, separately gives rebates and bonus cash upon spending a certain amount. for instance, spending $500 per month gives a $50 rebate per quarter. the bonus increases for $1000 and $2000 spent per month. that's also the drawback - bonuses are credited by the quarter, meaning that you have to keep the spending up for 3 consecutive months or else it doesn't count. it's great if you've got high, recurring expenses, but i don't! not yet, anyway. so the strategy is to use my UOB card to satisfy the minimum spend and get the bonus rebate, while having most of my funds in the DBS account to take advantage of the higher interest.

looking at all this stuff, i will probably end up nominating DBS to be my crediting account with the IP firm. and when i feel like i've got enough reserves, maybe i'll do some investments there too, since that's another category that contributes to bonus interest. for now, i just applied for a DBS safra credit card. was facing some problems with the application, and the nice DBS call centre staff told me that it was because my student credit card from all those years ago was still active. who'd have thought? so i cancelled that card (which hasn't been used in a long long time anyway), and got the safra credit card. reason i chose the safra card is because the annual fee is waived as long as i'm a safra member. so, at least for the next 2 years. i don't intend to make any huge purchases with this new card, since my salary credit basically takes care of the minimum transaction amount for the tier i'm at. the next tier is $10000 per month away, so no point trying to chase it now. i'll probably use the card for like small purchases, or as the card that's linked to my phone's NFC functionality for public transport. must say that i was quite impressed with the application process once that minor hiccup was clear - the card got approved instantly! note to self: do the change of crediting account with the learning lab once the multiplier account is set up. i'm also due to cover a 9:00am class this coming sunday; good thing i checked my schedule.

since this post has taken a finance-y turn, i might as well use the opportunity to talk about taxes. more specifically, what i learned about them in this past week. it seems late to only understand it at the ripe old age of 30, but better late then never, right? so here's how it goes: you have an annual income, which is made up of employment income and other sources of income. employment income is easy for salaried employees; just 12 times of the monthly salary, then adding whatever bonuses were given. non-employment income may be from stock dividends, rental, interest, among other things. on the other hand, you also have reliefs, for instance, relief for supporting your parent(s), child(ren), sibling(s), and for donations that you made. subtracting your reliefs from your earned income gives you your final taxable income, which you then look up on the tax brackets. so, if i earned $39900, i would pay a flat rate on the first $30000, then a percentage of the remaining $9900. using actual figures from IRAS, that would be $546.50, made up of a $200 flat rate, and $346.50 for the remaining income. then, there's this thing called a tax rebate, which is only applied to the tax that you're supposed to pay. the tax rebate is half of your total tax, up to a maximum of $200. for my situation specifically, i'm more or less in the middle of two brackets, so my best option is like my cousin said..suck it up and pay. my previous misconception was that tax reliefs and rebates were the same, and were applied to the payable tax only. that's why i thought i could just donate some small amount to charity and wipe my tax bill off completely. should have known that the government would be smarter than that.

the long weekend is almost over, and it's back to the grind tomorrow. i actually don't really consider it to be a grind, because i've experienced grindier stuff while doing lab work. monitoring for deadlines, client correspondence, filling in applications...all these are infinitely better than watching experiments fail. even the difficulty of more technical things like claims drafting and amendments don't seem to compare with failed experiments. well, it's more like a different kind of difficulty. with patent stuff, the boundaries are more clearly defined in the sense that you know how to fix things. there's even a whole series of laws and guidelines written to help you! the difficulty lies in making sure you have all the documents needed for filing, checking and double-checking entries for typos, making sure the numbers match and are correct. for research, the difficulty lies in troubleshooting, which is way more open-ended. when you don't get your desired product, it could be due to any one or more of an impossibly large number of factors. sure, we're able to narrow down the possible factors with experience. the usual sequence of variables i would examine is time, temperature, light/air/moisture, solvent, type/strength of reagent...but even then it's still somewhat uncertain, and the problem is not guaranteed to be solved by adjusting these factors. guess it's good that i'm looking at it from this perspective. as i said before, i could see myself doing this patent thing long-term.

did quite a few things this weekend! got my hair cut, went to the tailor and got some minor issues with my existing shirts fixed, and commissioned 3 more shirts. that should probably be as big as my wardrobe gets for work. i think that tailor-made is the way to go, provided you have the time to wait. after all, the cost is about the same as retail outlets. it may even be cheaper, depending on the options you go for. plus, the customized fit is a huge draw. that's not to say that retail is useless; there are times when you urgently need a shirt, and the only way is to grab one off the shelf. wanted to get shoe glue last night, but the hardware store was closed. lucky that i still have half a tube, which was more than sufficient for the minor patch work that was needed. should consider getting these shoes professionally fixed one day.

one major thing left to do before going back to work tomorrow is to go for my friend's wedding dinner tonight. he's one of the chemistry guys with whom i hang out more often, so i'm happy to be there. in fact, the few of us are going to attend his wedding in china as well. that's scheduled for early june. at the time of booking the flights (march, i believe?), i didn't realize that i'd be gainfully employed by the time of the wedding. the implication is that i'll be taking unpaid leave for the trip, since my probation isn't up. i was just looking at it...i could actually cancel the tickets without refund, go to work for those 3 days, and earn enough in that time to offset the loss incurred from giving the tickets up! but i'm not complaining, nor will i do that. apart from it being a nice holiday, the friendship between the chemistry guys means more to me than the few hundred dollars gained or lost. for now, i've got to meet a carousell buyer (selling my pilot falcon since i don't use it at all) before getting ready to go. i should talk about shaving one day. i realize that as i'm getting older, i'm caring more about things that most people wouldn't give a second thought to. so weird.

-random thought of the day: Don't like market rates for red packets.-

"Celebrated" my one-month "anniversary" in this job this past week. as you can guess from the quotation marks, there wasn't a real celebration involved. the big boss did invite us for drinks this past week, so that was nice. of course it wasn't held for me. it just so happened that the director of the china office was in town...but i'll take whatever excuse is available. after-work drinks is kind of a hidden perk of the job, like, it was never mentioned during the interview. or if it was, i must have forgotten. probably because it's organized only at the MD's discretion. for me, the drinks aren't the main attraction. have to drive home, after all. i see the chance to interact with other team members and people from other departments as more of a draw. everyone seems to be nice enough, but my general feeling is that the environment is not as warm as the learning lab. maybe it's because of the different durations of service - 1 month and a few days vs. over 6 months(!). hard to believe that it's been that long already.

over the past 2 weeks, i've been experimenting with times to leave the house for work. the cheapest alternative is leaving early - typically before 6:40am. if i do this, i'll use the KPE, which although jammed, is still the fastest way. and leaving at that time gives me enough time to beat the ERP, though it also means i reach the office at an ungodly early hour. if i do decide to sleep in a little, the best choice is to go by the small roads (hougang, serangoon, bendemeer, jalan besar, ophir road, beach road). quite annoyingly, there's still ERP after the bendemeer tunnel, but it's like 50 cents compared to $2-$4 on the KPE at the same time. this route works for times after 7:00am to about 7:50am. should i be really lazy or tired, and only leave the house at or after 8:00am, the KPE is still the fastest way to make sure i won't end up late. unfortunately, the downside is that i'll have to eat a $4 ERP. that's most certainly not fun. maybe when i become more senior, i'll ask for adjusted hours. like, start at 7:30am, leave at 4:45pm. not sure how well that will go down, especially when there are filing deadlines, but that's still some ways into the future.

work itself is ok, though i still feel not quite up to speed with the patent aspect of things. interactions with my mentor are ok and quite nice in person, but i definitely get annoyed with myself when she sends emails saying that things weren't done right. oh! did i tell you i moved seats? i'm now sharing an office with a colleague who was a former lecturer in NUS chemistry. i even took his class, as it was a major requirement. didn't do well for it, though. the benefit of the move is that i'm now a room away from my mentor, so seeing her in person is easier. i do prefer the interaction with her in person, actually. overall, i think that there have been fewer mistakes in my work as time goes by, which is probably a win. of course, there's still plenty of room for improvement. though it's only been a month, i've received work varied enough to expose me to almost all stages of patent filing. the only ones i haven't touched are renewals and responding to written opinions, the latter of which i'm in no real hurry to get to. also, in some form of cosmic irony, i'm finding that i have to use the phrase "in response to..." in the course of my work. that phrase REALLY annoyed me because the ex would use it to mess up my strategy when i was stupid enough to want to pick up magic (the card game). the difference between that and now is that my interaction with the client is sequential, like i'll respond to a question, whereas that phrase would often be used to interrupt in magic. there have been a few more trainees that joined the company after me, 1 in the engineering team, and 1 in the bio team so far. the bio team is getting another trainee in the coming week, i think. don't really want to compare between us (because i don't want to know if i indeed end up in last place as far as adapting and learning goes), but still. we learn at different rates, after all. again, i should be more empathetic with kids who try, but are slow at grasping concepts.

that bring me to tuition. turns out i'm still due to take that class. in preparation, i had a talk with my mentor this past week, who gave me some strategies/tips for dealing with the difficult kids and reaffirmed that i'd have support from the teaching team (and her specifically). it does make a difference to know that people have your back. perhaps that's what's missing in my IP firm mentor. i mean, she does teach me stuff and check my work before it goes through, so the support is there. it's just that it wasn't explicitly declared. i guess that's the difference in industries - education vs professional services. no matter. the reason i was given the class is because their current teacher is leaving, and a replacement hasn't been found. so i'm on indefinite cover of that class. let's hope that my mentor is right, and the kids will have a change in attitude when they realize that we're stuck with each other for some time.

a benefit from holding the tuition job (other than the added pay) is that they have corporate perks, which the IP firm doesn't seem to have...odd. one category in particular is gym memberships. given the evening traffic, plus my propensity to stay a little later than necessary to do work, read up on patent law, and/or avoid the traffic, gymming at genesis doesn't seem feasible any more. i'd previously identified fitness first at bugis as a possible alternative, and i've also discovered virgin active, which is just across the road from my office! best part is that there's a corporate discount for learning lab staff there too. and my cousin told me about this magical thing that virgin active gyms offer - sleep pods. so i could theoretically do the leave home early thing, head to virgin active for a nap, shower, go to work, then gym in the evenings. i'll probably still look to genesis for exercise and nutrition advice, including designing a workout plan based on the machines available. which reminds me, have to email the genesis staff soon.

i think that's all i have time to say right now, as i have to go for the turf city thing. thank goodness it's a long weekend; i could really use the rest. i was just thinking that working life is really tiring! like, i don't even know when i fall asleep now. i mean, nobody really knows the exact moment when they fall asleep, but previously, i'd have to actually TRY. like, close my eyes, maybe toss and turn a little, resist the urge to look at my phone. nowadays, it's like i'm on my bed, maybe watching youtube or something, and the next thing i know, my alarm is going off. got to squeeze a fair few things in this 3-day weekend: get a haircut, go to the tailor, glue my work shoes together (consider buying a new pair), meal prep, and attend my friend's wedding on monday. supposed to go down to scary JC friend's shop to consider getting some stuff too, but that's not too urgent. all in all, i think that i'm at a pretty good place in life.

-random thought of the day: How can I make time for social interactions?-

Some ups and downs this week, but i think it ended on a strong note overall. was having a minor internal crisis about interactions with my mentor. i don't know...i think my professor kind of spoiled me/us as far as what to expect from interactions with superiors. he was always accessible, either by dropping in on him in his office when he was on campus, or by email after hours or when he was travelling. beyond that, talking to him was easy. i remember posting how i was immediately more at ease with him on our first conversation than i had been with my previous professor even after 3 years. i should stop to clarify that my mentor isn't bad or evil or anything like that. i think that she is more of a "doer" than a "teacher". what makes it kind of worse is that while i'm adequate in the scientific aspect, i'm lacking in the patent aspect because nothing i ever took in school prepared me for it. the extent that we talked about patents in school was that they afforded protection of your ideas, and that without patents, people could steal the structure of your blockbuster drug and manufacture it themselves. it certainly didn't cover HOW to go about applying for a patent, the different routes for application, the various deadlines attached to each phase, or the costs involved from filing to grant. nevertheless, i suppose that i have to be fair. her job is mainly to work on patents, and not to teach a newbie. and to be really fair, she's been patient enough; i can't really complain. while i'm doing my best, it feels like i'm not learning as fast as she expects. i think if there was one thing i could use, it's a bit more communication throughout the day. let's see how the situation develops, and whether i'll have to bring it up at my first checkpoint in a couple of months in order to tune both our expectations. i did feel kind of accomplished when i caught an impending deadline and reminded her to email the client for further instructions. hopefully that won me some points.

was grateful to have a senior of sorts from lab in the same office, though calling her a senior is kind of a grey area. here's what i mean. we're the same age, so she went into NUS 2 years earlier than i did because guys have NS. she did her honours project under my professor, but i hadn't joined the lab yet. when i joined the lab in 2015, she'd already gone to pursue grad studies in NTU. perhaps calling her a senior lab alumnus would be more accurate. and i guess she's my senior in the office too. she's been in the firm for about a year, and knows more about it than i do, having only just completed my third week. it seems that there's more than meets the eye going on. i wouldn't call it office politics exactly, but apparently gossip tends to spread quite quickly in the office. good to know. i figure that if i remain professional and stay above it, things will be ok. should probably make more friends among the support staff as well. been kind of hanging out with the professional staff more, which may be seen as elitist. truth is that the job scope overlaps more between professional staff than vs professional and support staff, so there's less opportunity to interact with support staff...though i suppose interaction will happen naturally when we have to work together for filing and other things. the other consideration is that i don't warm up to people that quickly...especially in a working environment. you know, keeping professional distance and all that. maybe it's also because i'm still new.

i seem to be recovering from the cold/flu thing. still have a minor cough, but the good news is that my nose is no longer blocked. the grossest thing happened on thursday! *you may want to skip the next few lines if you get grossed out easily* so, i was blowing my nose to unblock it. i don't know how or why, but i managed to produce a handful of sticky, viscous, yellow-green mucus. i'd only been seeing clear mucus for the past few days, so this was quite surprising. more than the appearance, the volume was what really shocked me, because it didn't appear that there could have been so much of it inside me! i described it as "a handful" because it literally covered my entire hand! volume-wise, i think it came up to between 5 and 10mL. to the best of my memory, i have never ever had that experience before, so i hope you'll understand why i was more than a little freaked out. still, it's good to know that the main cause of the nose blockage is now out of my body. if i have my way, i'll recover fully by tomorrow and be ready to hit the gym again on monday.

now that i more or less know the daily routine, i'm trying to find ways to optimize my time. the thing i have to work around is, obviously, work. i've figured out how things go - wake up between 5:30 to 5:50am, shower, pack lunch, take supplements, and be out of the house by 6:30am at the latest. pass the ERP gantry before 6:50am, which will allow me to reach the office building around 7:15am. work starts at 8:30am, so i definitely need to find something to do in that 60 to 90-minute interval. i end work at 5:45pm, sometimes later if my mentor gives me work that requires a bit more time towards the end of the day. i've found out that i should either leave the office at 5:45pm on the dot, or stay until around 6:30 to 7:00pm. too much traffic otherwise, and you know those idiots who will try to change lane at the very last moment, or try to force their way into the queue to enter the expressway? they seem to be out in full force whenever and wherever traffic builds up. so yes. i'd rather stay late in relative comfort than fight with them on the roads. knowing myself, i'm not a very morning person, so i've discounted working out in the mornings. all thing considered, work can take up up to 15 hours on a bad day. the things i have to fit into the remaining time are: sleep, working out, personal unwinding and relaxation time. all that in the remaining 9 hours...seems challenging. sleep takes up between 6 to 7 of those hours already, meaning that i have 2 to 3 hours to play with. of course, i could always wake up later, but that would mean paying ERP and experiencing the full brunt of morning peak-hour traffic. the ideal case would be to move to within walking distance of the office. that way, i can wake up like an hour before work starts and still be on time. but assuming that's not possible at the moment, i have to figure out how best to allocate the remaining hours. probably work out after work, which has the added benefit of letting traffic die down before i hit the road home. going to genesis might be a little unsustainable (not to mention the fees!). good thing i've got a corporate discount at fitness first through the learning lab. downside is that i have to wear shoes. i'll probably give this a little more thought.

think i'll still need a while to adapt to the whole wake up early routine. good news is that i haven't been late for work so far, and i intend to maintain this streak. is this the difference between going through the motions and actually looking forward to something? if so, i must say that it's a really powerful change. what i'm not looking forward to, though, is an upcoming long-term cover in the learning lab. a teacher is leaving, and i've been assigned to take over one of her classes. there's no end-date in sight, which particularly worries me since this class is...uhh...let's just say that we're not each others' favourites. i'll have to deal with it somehow, and the first step was sending an email to enquire about how long the cover is projected to last. maybe a month would still be tolerable? depending on the actual duration given to me, i may or may not highlight this to my mentor. not sure what that will do though. the best case scenario is that they assign that class to someone else, worst case is that i quit. the most likely scenario will probably be me taking that class anyway, perhaps with additional support and resources. i trust that my mentor will come through.

-random thought of the day: Cooking tomorrow!-

Uploaded my photos from taiwan to facebook, so i'm making good on my promise to talk about it on/by labour day. not sure if this post will be finished before labour day ends, but let's do our best.

instead of doing a chronological order thing, i figured that i'd split the post into two major sections - work and play. granted that being the team leader, there was always an element of "work" involved, even during our R&R time. taking responsibility of others isn't easy! i'm happy that the kids were by far and large cooperative, and no major discipline or safety issues occurred. one more successful mission led! still not as experienced as most of the elders (one of whom used to be a professional tour guide), but it takes more exposure. my opportunities to travel will be severely limited, though, with work. but let's get into the post proper.

our purpose for going there was to do something kurash-related, and we were successful in our mission. hopefully, this will help in our push for the SEA games. the athletes who went also got to train with the NTSU judo team, which i think gives them a taste of how elite athletes live and train. it seems that taiwan is very welcoming to foreigners going over to study. or maybe it's just NTSU? i don't know. it did trigger a thought, though - if i had known about NTSU after army, would i have gone over to study judo? realistically, probably not, unless NUS didn't accept me for chemistry. although if that were the case, i would probably have tried NTU as a local last resort. failing that, probably apply for chemistry overseas in a mainly english-speaking country first, then pursue judo if chemistry really completely didn't work out worldwide. i know that if i had done that, i'd basically be condemning myself to never live comfortably in singapore. sports doesn't earn much money here, not as much as it would in other countries, anyway. and given my lack of physical talent, i think that it would be an uphill climb. granted, i could probably get to somewhere halfway decent based on my judo connections, but all in all, chemistry was probably better for me.

while watching the training session, i was also talking to the head coach. we're on friendly terms due to us working together at the asian games last year. based on my interaction with her, and a few other friends from taiwan, i realize that taiwanese women are very outspoken and don't play games, which are qualities that i respect in just about anyone. maybe that's why we get along so well? i've also said it before, and i'll say it again - taiwan is like a chinese japan. they place emphasis on rank and seniority, to the extent that i was introduced to the students there with the title of "老师", or "teacher". it felt really not-right, somehow, because any of these students could trash me in a sparring match. and when i told the coach this, she said that i'd had different life experience, and that a comparison couldn't be done this way. i don't know...it still doesn't feel right to me. perhaps i'm benefitting from this treatment as an outsider. if i did go there to study judo, i'd have to start from the bottom. while i don't have problems with authority or being in an inferior position, i'd probably find it difficult to consider rank and hierarchy to the extent that the students are supposed to. there was one time last year, another taiwanese friend was telling me that she was upset with a student, because the student had unknowingly said something out of line in public, and she saw it as a sign of disrespect. while i agree that respect and decorum are important in asia, i'm not sure i'd be able to be as mindful of it to the extent that it seems to be required in taiwan. thankfully, i can play the "idiot foreigner" card in a pinch, and i trust that our hosts will be nice and forgiving if i should happen to mess up.

one of the benefits of being in a program that mandates physical exercise every day is that you're bound to get fit. as you may know with judo, sometimes the training is intense/vigorous enough that clothes get undone. that's why girls have to wear a t-shirt underneath. not so for the guys. let's just say i caught several eyefuls, which made my soul happy. yes, i am aware that nothing is ever going to happen between me and any of the undergrads there, for very obvious reasons. still, looking is free, right? there was one positive/negative side-effect, though. as mentioned in the previous post, i'm quite jealous of the guys' nice bodies. i know that they've worked hard to look how they do today, but still. everyone only sees what's in front of them, and hardly ever considers the road to getting there. the reason i say that this can be taken as positive or negative is that, well, because it can! a positive application would be channeling these feelings into motivation to work out, with the eventual goal of looking as good as they do. being demotivated and thinking along the line of 'why bother? i'll never look as good as them' is the classic negative route. i don't know...at this point in time, it seems like my journey towards being fitter is fraught with obstacles - new work hours and falling sick being the two major ones at the moment.

moving on to the "play" aspect, the university had an event on the saturday that we were there, meaning that we got a free day. so we decided to head to taipei city to take in the sights. for the record, this is only my second trip to taiwan, and i didn't get to do a whole lot of sightseeing the last time i was there. since we were mainly left to our own devices, we took the train around and settled everything ourselves. maybe it's because i grew up in singapore and got used to the MRT from a young-ish age, but i don't understand why people say that train systems are confusing. i've had no issues with the tokyo metro, shinkansen, osaka loop line, or taiwan's train system. guess i haven't met a system that's truly confusing yet. we took the train from the university (which has its own train station!) to taipei city, and subsequently went to explore ximending. the weather was nice and cool (relative to singapore, anyway), and i didn't feel tired at all. tried some of the local delicacies like braised pork rice and congealed duck's blood soup. i quite liked it! there was lots to see, including a japanese street performer, who performed a great rendition of this song:

森山 直太朗 - さくら (Moriyama Naotaro - Sakura)
僕らは きっと待ってる 君とまた会える日々を
さくら並木の道の上で 手を振り 叫ぶよ
どんなに 苦しい時も 君は笑っているから
挫けそうに なりかけても 頑張れる 気がしたよ

霞みゆく 景色の中に あの日の唄が聴こえる

さくら さくら 今、咲き誇る
刹那に散りゆく 運命と知って
さらば友よ 旅立ちの刻
変わらない その想いを 今

今なら 言えるだろうか 偽りのない 言葉
輝ける 君の未来を 願う 本当の言葉

移りゆく 街はまるで 僕らを 急かすように

さくら さくら ただ舞い落ちる
いつか生まれ変わる 瞬間を信じ
泣くな友よ今 惜別の時
飾らない あの笑顔で さあ

さくら さくら いざ舞い上がれ
永遠にさんざめく光を浴びて
さらば友よまた この場所で会おう
さくら舞い散る道の 上で

Translated
We're most probably waiting for the day where we can meet you again.
On the road that's lined with sakura trees, waving our hands and yelling.
No matter how tough the times are, because you're laughing,
When we're on the verge on seemingly losing hope, we have the feeling (urge?) to persevere.

In the midst of the hazy/misty scenery, we can hear the song from that day.

Sakura, sakura, in full bloom now
Fallen/Scattered in an instant; I know that it's fate.
Farewell, my friend, it's the moment to depart/set off.
With that unchanging feeling, now.

If it's now, we can probably say them? Those words that aren't lies.
I wish that your future can be shining, those are true words.

The moving/changing streets appear to be rushing us.

Sakura, sakura, just fluttering down.
Believing that they'll be reincarnated/reborn sometime.
Don't cry, my friend, it's time to part (regretfully) now.
That plain (literally: undecorated) smiling face, come on.

Sakura, sakura, now soaring in the air
Forever rustling (literally: noisy), bathing in the light
Farewell, my friend, let's meet at this place again.
On the road where the sakura are dancing as they fall.

the translation was done to match the form of the original text as much as possible, but it won't be a 100% match due to sentence structure differences. in japanese, particles mark the role of each term, and their order in the sentence is usually irrelevant. whereas in english, it's the order that dictates who does things, and who things are being done to. for instance, "私が 友達を 打った" and "友達を 私が 打った" both mean "i hit my friend" despite the positions of "i" and "friend" changing in the sentences. i trust you'd see the problem in english - "i hit my friend" and "my friend hit me". it's a sad song, yet has a hopeful undertone (farewell, but let's meet again). kind of sums up my feeling towards taiwan. i'd loved to have stayed longer, but i'm hopeful that i'll be back again in the future.

since i had time, i took a short-ish walk to the LGBT district in taipei. not much LGBT activity going on, since i went there in the late afternoon. my friends from the group told me that it livens up at night. don't know why, but i find taiwanese guys attractive in general. not just the super hot athletes, but like the random guy on the street too. was tempted to download a dating app, just to see if i'd get lucky, but ultimately refrained. it would be unbecoming, after all.

on the way back, we passed through this shopping arcade-type place, and kind of wandered into a military equipment shop which sold pistols and rifles. pretty sure that the firearms had been modified to shoot pellets or paintballs, and could no longer use live ammunition. was kind of cool to see, actually. they sold various knives too, but i didn't want to test the customs laws. besides, those knives were expensive, and i was low on cash.

that about sums up my trip. it was overall a good experience. not sure how to feel about the lack of dating opportunities now. i mean, it takes two hands to clap, right? i've got to put myself out there, and someone's got to be interested. can't demand others' interest if i'm a recluse. at the same time, i think that it's kind of acceptable to be single now, with the desire to do well at work. if you look at it from another angle, though, i'm relatively more free and have regular hours, so dating now would be good as well. probably the most important factor to consider is my readiness to date. my schedule and timing are ok, but i think i'm subconsciously holding myself back due to self-confidence issues. well...let's get over this sickness and head back to the gym soon. i think that's a good first step.

-random thought of the day: First paycheck arrived!-