COLDPLAY!!

Saturday, 25th February, 2006 at the Toyota Center. Probably the best night EVER in Houston!!! Coldplay were in town and finally, after a 4 month wait (I bought the tix off Ebay back in November), I got to see them LIVE and in the FLESH!! True... it cost me a bomb, and NO WAY am i telling you how much i got it for, but it was WORTH EVERY PENNY!!


"Brilliant use of silhouettes..."

Those of you who listen to Coldplay will know what i mean when i say that all their songs have haunting tunes that creep into your head every day in the car and every night when you listen to 'em before you sleep. But when they are LIVE.... they are pretty much just AWESOME!!!!


"Chris doing a jiggy on stage... as usual..."

With Chris Martin, probably the best frontman EVER, stirring up the crowd with every moment onstage and his ENERGY.. i can't imagine how this guy gets his stamina to jump and dance and run and sing... ALL AT THE SAME TIME!! The sight of Will Champion too.. at his drums... intensely lost in the beat and rhythm that he creates... just makes you feel so amazed at much power this band possesses over everyone!


"Big YELLOW balloons.. guess what song they're playing. :P"


"One Chris on stage was never enough...."

If you've seen their music videos before, you would've noticed that they always have lots of lights in the background and true enough, it was the same with their concert... just that it was 5 times as bright and strong and it truly made for an amazing spectacle!!

I for one, can't believe that I was there to witness them live... poetry in motion is what i'd call it... and for those of you who ever get the chance to see Coldplay live, please please do yourself a favor and don't miss out on it!!


COLDPLAY FOREVA!!!!!

Finally!

Ladies and gentlemen, or as Sharon would put it in Chinese, ge(4) wei(4) guan(1) zhong(4), my BIGGEST investment yet.......


"Toyota Sillycar"


"4D numbers... 927... For Some Luck!"

Yes.. after a 4 month search, i have finally settled on a car. True, it wasn't the colour that i wanted, but it's still a shen car in itself... especially if driven by a shen driver. Look out for more driving stories and pics soon!

Interview

Here is how a typical interview process for a candidate to join the Transfer Pricing Practice in Houston goes:

8:30 – 9:00 am
Recruiter Assistant will greet candidate at the reception and escort him to conference room. Partner will meet Candidate in conference room. At the conclusion of the interview, Candidate will stay in the room.

9:00 – 9:30 am
Principal will meet Candidate in conference room. At the conclusion of the interview, Candidate will stay in the room.

9:30 – 10:00 am
Manager 1 will meet Candidate in conference room. At the conclusion of the interview, Candidate will stay in the room.

10:00 – 10:30 am
Senior Manager 1 will meet Candidate in conference room. At the conclusion of the interview, Candidate will stay in the room.

10:30 – 11:00 am
Senior Manager 2 will meet Candidate in conference room. At the conclusion of the interview, Candidate will stay in the room.

11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Presentation
Transfer Pricing Group will meet Candidate in conference room. Candidate will present. At the conclusion of the presentation, Candidate will stay in the room.

12:00 – 1:30 pm
Lunch
Manager 2 & Staff (Me, me, me!!!) will take Candidate to lunch. At the conclusion of the lunch, please escort Candidate back to conference room.

1:30 – 2:00 pm
Manager 3 will meet Candidate in conference room. At the conclusion of the interview, Candidate will stay in the room

2:00 – 2:30 pm
Recruiter will meet Candidate in conference room. At the conclusion of the interview, Candidate will stay in the room

2:30 – 3:00 pm
Senior 1 will meet Candidate in conference room. At the conclusion of the interview, Candidate will stay in the room

3:00 – 3:30 pm
Partner (Same one lar, where to find so many partner in a department that has only 13 people?!!) will meet with Candidate in conference room for closing. At the conclusion of the interview, Candidate will stay in the room.

3:45 pm
Recruiter Assistant (Also same one lar, u think so many people so free ahh) will escort Candidate to the main lobby. A driver will be waiting outside to depart to the airport.

Wow, ain’t the interview process tedious? Wonder how the candidate will feel having to be interviewed by 10 people (including me!!!). And there is the presentation too! Heard from my colleague this was the same process she went through. Isn’t it amazing the company actually goes to such length to find the right candidate? Each of us will have to complete an evaluation form after the interview with him.

Luckily I did not have to go through the same draggy process. Mine was only 2 meow meow telephone interviews which lasted a mere 20 minutes each. What’s more, most of the time it was the principal who did the talking. All I did was listen and make a few “intelligent” comments now and then. Heng ah, bet I would definitely have failed if I had to go through the above process. Don't think I can take it if I have to impress so many high level personnel who will determine my future in a single day. Now I don't even know what to say when I go out with them for group lunch. No common topic. Superbowl, NFL, MLB, what the hell are they talking about?!!!

Anyway, the candidate will be flying in from Los Angeles next Wednesday just for the interview. Of course I have read through his resume which was sent to me too. Oh my, he is a high achiever expecting to obtain his Ph.D in 3 months' time and had served his internship in various big banks.

Now I am kinda worried. Everyone in the department has at least a Master. This is the minimum requirement to be promoted to a manager. So usually only people with at least an advance degree will be employed. I am sort of an exception and the only one with a meow meow degree. How am I gonna match up to them? How? How? How? I feel so meow meow now…

Home of the Yao

Yay!!! I've finally fulfilled a childhood dream!! For the first time ever, i've attended a live NBA game.... which was my dream as a child (but NOT anymore now of coz... thanks to the dudes up at Old Trafford..)!! All thanks to Sharon's partner (her boss la not me!!), who got free tix to the game and generously gave it to us coz we'd never been to one before.... talk about having good bosses eh? Hehe....

Anyway this was only last Friday... when i finally managed to get off work early and meet up with Sharon in office. From there, we took a mini dinner of leftover pizzas from her department lunch (yea i love to save on almost anything nowadays) and then took a walk 3 blocks down to the famous Toyota Center!!


"Chio or not? I tokking abt the Center...."

It's really a brill place i must say, looking nice and stylish on the outside and when you go in, you will be stunned by the atmosphere all around you. Families wearing Rockets jerseys... cheerleaders all around (woohoo!!)... u'll feel like you're part of the action! The seats we got were pretty close too... considering they were $55 bugs.. i think the ones right at courtside cost a few grand... but no way am i spending that kinda money...... on basketball... aahah


"This CAN'T be Old Trafford..."

I really did like the intro of the players too... where the lights go off and they announce the players one by one.. followed by a mini Tribal dance from the team and then the lights come up and you get the cheerleaders (woohoo again!!) and mascots all over the place! You really have to be there and see it to believe it... way better than live TV...


"Woohoo! Cheerleaders!!"

Just to let you know, The Rockets did win with both T-Mac and Yao playing stunning games. It did make me a bit gian to start playing bball again but then again, i thought about how Wen and i lost a damn Bball game not too long ago to Yiren, Tze Ying and Serene. With that in mind.. i know... Basketball is not for me... wouldn't mind catching the Rockets again though!


"Spot-the-Yao contest..."

What's wrong with the postal service?

This is the land of "What can go wrong will go wrong" (WCGW WGW). This is the phrase that Zhanwen, my friendly neighbor, has coined Houston. It doesn't matter what is the issue. Something, anything, everything, somehow or rather will just go wrong. Let me complain about the postal service here.

First, the relocation package which was supposed to be fedexed to my house was returned to the whatever EY office as undelivered. Fedex u noe!! Apparently they can't find the address.

Then my bank statement for the 2nd month was returned to the bank as undelivered too. Wonder how I received the 1st statement?!!

And I waited in vain for my SSN card for more than 5 weeks despite being issued a letter informing that I should receive it in 2 weeks.

I had to waste one hour queuing again in the SSN office to apply for a duplicate card last week. Mind you, that was the fourth time I have been there. Finally the SSN card came today.

Think that's the end of the issue? Hell, no!! My SSN card landed in Zhanwen's mailbox!! Luckily it found its way to my favorite neighbor's mailbox. If it were to be delivered to a nasty neighbor, bet it would have been thrown away. Imagine the hassle of going to the SSN office again. It doesn't help that the office closes at 4pm and is always crowded.

Last but not least, my paycheck found its way to Zhanwen's mailbox too! Luckily his wife, Celia, was not in need of money when she found the check. Haiz... WCGW WGW! And as Tim would have put it, "WTF?!!!!"

What a masterpiece!

3 February afternoon

Any idea how crazy Ang Mo can get when it comes to celebrating 40th birthdays? Well, last year during my partner’s 40th birthday, the group filled his office with lot of balloons. The whole office was filled to the brim that he had difficulty opening the door and it took him around a week to burst all the balloons. And this year, here’s what we did to our manager’s office on his 40th birthday. Drums rolling……VOILA

It took 13 people, 2 hours, 8 rolls of aluminum foil to complete the feat! Practically every single thing from stationery to furniture is wrapped up in foil. Isn’t it interesting how Ang Mos celebrate birthdays? If we were to do that to any of our colleagues or just to suggest the idea to anyone, think the immediate reaction that we will get is “siao ah, jia ba bo tai ji zou!” Hahahaha…..

The manager hasn’t seen his room yet. Wonder what his reaction will be when he sees the masterpiece on Monday.

Bye Chicago...

26 Jan 2006

It’s Mexican again!! Why can’t I escape from Mexican food even when I am in Chicago? I’m so sick of it! Tacos, burritos, fajitas… I want pure fragrant white rice! Call me china but I grow up with rice as my staple diet. Simply can’t do without it. And Mexican food are so fattening. It doesn’t help that I am growing fatter by the day. Arghhh….

Today is the last day in Chicago and since Timothy asked me to try to be more sociable, I tried to do just that. But it doesn’t pay to be nice when you are faced with a New Yorker. I have always heard about how people in big cities are snobbish, “see people no up” and do not have time for anything, anybody other than themselves. I got the first hand experience today.

This morning, while most of us were comfortably sitting at our desk having breakfast, surfing internet and waiting for the class to start, two New Yorkers came by our table and demanded that my friend, in her own words, “scoot off” so that there will be enough space for the two of them to sit together. NY1 was not happy even after my friend shifted and demanded her to squeeze herself further into a tiny little corner. The problem is that there is obviously only space for just one more person!

Seeing the situation, I suggested that one of them could sit beside me. NY1 actually gave me a ludicrous look as if to imply I am suggesting something stupid and totally ignored me. She continued to ask my friend to move. It was only after a while that she finally decided she will just have to sit beside me as she can’t possibly ask my friend to leave the table, right?

When I introduced myself to her, she gave me a “I have no time for you, don’t waste my time” look. Seeing that she is not very friendly, I decided I have no time for her too and never bothered to talk to her further. So when she did not have a particular email which apparently the whole class has and demanded that someone send it to her, I pretended that I did not hear anything. Luckily I did not bother, she did not thank the person who sent her the email.

During discussion, we had to work in small groups. When my same friend asked which part of the article (softcopy) we were at since we kept scrolling up and down, NY1 said very curtly that we were at this particular point and gave the “why are you so slow” look.

There was another time during lesson, NY1 actually purposely tried to embarrass the instructor. After giving him a hard time, she turned around and looked at the rest of the New Yorkers with a smirk look as if to say “I won”.

The last straw came when she accidentally spilled coffee onto her laptop. My immediate reaction was to offer my only piece of napkin to her. Another Indian sitting in front of her had some napkins too so I asked him to pass them to her. I thought maybe I should also go get some more napkins since she had spilt more than half a cup of coffee on her laptop and table.

Guess what she did? She just dabbed the tissue on her laptop and never bothered to clean it properly. She left not just the stain but coffee on the table. She even left her rubbish (paper plates, cups, soiled napkins) on the table. What’s more, not once did she say thank you when I offered her the tissues. She is simply Horrible + Terrible = Incorrigible!

Heard from my American colleague that this is how New Yorkers behave. They simply don’t have the time to be bothered with anything that is unimportant. Their time is extremely precious. This is definitely not an isolated incident. New Yorkers are really full of themselves and never care about what is happening to the rest of the world. Thought 9/11 would have taught New Yorkers to slow down, think and reflect but apparently they have learned nothing from that attack or at least she hasn’t.

*************************************************

Before coming to the US, I have also heard about horror stories of how passengers could be badly treated at the airport. Well, I wasn’t really that badly treated but what happened was dreadful enough.

At custom of the O’Hare airport in Chicago, I was putting my stuff into the trays provided when the security officer ordered me to take out my computer from the bag and place it in another tray. When I replied that I have already put my computer in the other tray, he repeated what he said. My Vietnamese colleague who was standing behind me saw what happened and tried to help by repeating what I said. The guard was extremely rude and ORDERED my friend to keep quiet. He even gestured by putting his finger on his lips.

After I passed through the sensor, another guard requested to see my passport. He had not seen the passport before and when I said I am from Singapore. He said, “Ah…Singapore is part of China, right?” When I said no, he said, “China is buying fighter planes model….. to invade Singapore, just to let you know.”

Oh my god! Is this how they treat passengers at the airport? I was so pissed off that I just walked off. How ignorant and bad-mannered can these people get?