TGIO.

TGIO (Thank God It's Over). I hope I can scrap through this engine module of mine. It's freaking tough. I am damn worried. I can only pray and listen to Z Chen - 保佑我。

Today, I spent my day with my ex-colleagues from ITE. I went back to visit the manager. He seems to be a changed person or as my ex-colleagues put it, he is having menopause. He is no longer the cheerful and joking manager I once knew. He lost that wide radiant smile and the sense of homour he once had. He was all serious and cautious in the conversation with me. When I told him I went back a couple of times but he wasn't around, he seemed to be bothered about the statement. He added that he was not "not-around" but out of town. Ain't it the same? I wasn't implying that he was skiving when I said he was not around. I just meant he was not at his work station. He seemed troubled and stressed although he tried to conceal it. He always claims he will be leaving the company soon (since I was with them) but he is still around till now. He complained that he should leave the company and not stay behind to earn so much for the company. I can feel that he felt unappreciated for his effort. Well, this is life. How often do superior appreciate your effort? They merely put a word of praise and continue to manipulate you like a pawn in his hand. I can feel for him. My life in the army has proven this point. Unless you are lucky to have a superior who rewards you duly for your effort, else your effort is nothing but a helping force to help the superior gain a higher ground.

He lamented that my 3 ex-colleagues were not anxious about the sales figures and they always make mistake and he has to cover for them. I think being in a managerial post has its own dilemma. On one hand, you need to build a rapport with your subordinates by having a friend-friend relationship and on the other hand you need them to obey whatever you assigned them. That is extremely difficult. They would tend to climb over your head when they become close to you and when you are too fierce, you lose the friend-friend relationship and you are no longer Mr Nice everyone prefers. He always treats his subordinates to nice dinner every now and then, hoping to build the cohesiveness. When I was there, I have had those nice treats from him - A crab feast, with the pincers as big as my fist. Yummy. And then, they thought they were really friends. When he told one of them that she would be going to where and where, she was like complaining about where she was going right in his office, making so much noise. I mean if you have respect and power-distant, you would just silently accepted it whether you like it or not and then go back and grumble at your own cubicle. She was like doing it loudly in his office which I felt was quite disturbing. I would have asked her to shut up if I were sitting at that huge swerving chair he was sitting on. Then being a nasty superior is no good. They would be unhappy everyday and turn over rate is sure to soar. It's just so hard to be a nice yet strict manager whom everyone likes and obeys.

However, I see that the company is expanding. From two small offices, now it has 4 relatively big offices. From just a table which everyone called him a manger to one which has a four sided walls. That is pretty encouraging, I feel. And since it is a subsidary of ITE, I doubt it's going to close shop easily.

I had dinner with them at this Da Chang Jin which serves korean cusine. But seriously, one visit is enough. Not that the food is horrible and not that the place is undesirable, it's just that the variety ain't wide like marina south could offer and the place is freaking oily that I could dance anytime. It's a different experience from marina south is all I could say. Anyway, they are super copycat people who use Da Chang Jin-Jewel in the palace to name the restaurant. I doubt they gain any approval from Da Chang Jin.

It's amazing that I am still awake now as I had bearly 3.5 hrs of sleep yesterday because I was preparing my helpsheet which they like to put it, but i would say it is just a legalised piece of paper for you to cheat during the exam. I copied all those potential answers from past year papers which I think they would be potential answers to the potential questions that would be coming out. And talking about the helpsheet, the lecturer is reallyyyy, I shan't comment but you think for yourself after reading the below. He asked everyone if we want open book or helpsheet and majority wanted helpsheet. He then announced an A3 helpsheet. Yes, A3. Thinking that getting a piece of A3 is difficult and tedious to flip, someone asked if we could use 2 A4 size papers instead. (1 A3 = 2 A4) He giggled like we had asked the sillest question in the century. He replied, "Folks, you can tape the 2 A4 size papers together! It's not a problem!"