Issie's Random Musings: The Po-Po Encounters

I'd planned to blog this post a lot earlier than this will be posted (no guarantee I'll actually be able to hang in and finish up this post for today), but work awaits and there's countless fall TV series for me to catch up on (Modern Family, Glee, 2 Broke Girls, New Girl, the list goes on...) so those somehow took priority over the blogging. If only time will freeze... then I could do all the time-wasting stuff (basically consisting of almost everything I do) while everything stays motionless and still... and leave the time when it ticks on for the compulsory things... like work.

Not to say that I hate my new job entirely. I barely think I have any reason to hate it, even. The people there are pretty nice (the ones I have to get in contact with as part of my job responsibilities anyway), but my mind does run amok at times. Perhaps I'm just being pessimistic. But pessimism is good sometimes. Too much optimism spells trouble sometimes too, right? My job responsibilities may feel mundane, but I still enjoy it (on some level), and I don't mind one bit. But maybe something in me seeks something a little more exciting than sitting by the desk facing a giant computer screen and running up and down the next.

Honestly, I've always wanted a computer screen that huge, especially back when I was a full-fledged Windows user and a full-on gamer (think MMORPG games like Maple Story lol). Now? Not so much. I stare too long at the giant screen, and my eyes start to hurt and I have to squint a little. Or perhaps that's just a sign of aging. Still, it's sad either way.

Anyway, the workplace has a strict policy of all employees wearing around their passes with the lanyards around the neck. Entry to almost every single office, building, facility and etcetera in there is hampered by a security device, so you have to use the pass to tap it whenever you wanna enter someplace. One morning (I think it's already been two weeks thereabouts since it happened), after I tapped my pass to get through the barrier from the Reception area, I absentmindedly kept the pass back in my bag, and began my slow, carefully paced walk to my office. And guess what got me? A run-in with the po-po! There aren't usually police standing at that exact spot he was at (seems like there were lots of 'em that day––probably an event), but there he was, standing in the middle of the carpark. I was almost walking past him, and he stopped me and asked for my pass. It's safe to say I was still feeling all sleepy, but deep within the crevices of my heart, it was ringing crazily off the hook. I try to avoid running into the authorities if I can. I like to think of myself as the good kid. The goody-two-shoes. Not so much the teacher's pet, 'cos that's just a stupid title to live up to. I dug the pass out of my bag and showed it to him. But that wasn't enough. Oh hell no. He dug up all of my personal particulars (okay, just my name––last name included––and my IC number). And asked whether I was new here and an intern, to which I meekly replied, "Yes." He also asked for the department I worked at (more about that later...). But he let me go after that, and warned me to wear it at all times from now on. I thanked him at the end of it (which I'm not too thrilled about doing when I think about it now).

When my supervisor returned the next week, on Monday, he asked me whether I had forgotten to wear my pass. And mentioned he had been 'informed' about it. But after that, he just kindly told me not to forget, or it'll get him into trouble. Haha. Still, an embarrassing sitch to run into. Thank God I'd came early and there weren't too many people around when the po-po stopped me for questioning. Wonder what happens to the regular employees who forget to tote around their pass. Hopefully, for the rest of the 19 weeks there, I won't forget to tote it around again!

ONWARDS!

Check out this cool cereal set I bought from the supermarket! It's supposedly imported from Ireland and it only cost me about a buck and a few extra cents!

The milk was just plain gross. Then again, I only like chocolate milk. No idea how I got past my childhood years drinking plain white milk...

Received a card holder and the official lanyard at last!

I'd been collecting a lot of mooncake boxes for my company lately, what with the Mid Autumn Festival (that is finally over, thank goodness!). I told my aunt, uncle and mother about it, and they jokingly commented, "There's still Christmas. There're probably hampers that you have to carry back around that time too." With the ordinary mooncakes, I could take sometime walking to collect and back. But then came the ice cream mooncakes from Swensens! Never really tried mooncakes in their entirety before, but I got to try two types while I was there! Was offered a full mooncake with liqueur chocolate in the center, and a slice of chocolate ice-cream mooncake! They didn't taste as bad as I'd imagined, especially the latter. It was mostly ice-cream.

Ice Cream mooncake from Swensens my supervisor offered!

I started out the first week of internship thinking I'd have no companion for lunch, and was wondering how I'd survive lunch for 5 months on snacks I'd planned to bring to work and the 2-bucks worth of sandwiches from the vending machine. But then came Carmen! She arrived a week later than us for some reason, and I was lucky enough to see her by the Reception when I was checking for packages when I arrived.

The first dish I had in the canteen while eating with my fellow interns!

Another dish I tried (Hong Kong Char Siew Noodles) while eating with Carmen!

The McDonalds' lunch my supervisor kindly paid for me, and upsized too! I rarely upsize my meals at Macky Ds, really. Politely declined a few times, but had no choice but to have to state what I wanted for a meal. Haha. He commented how they occasionally do Mac deliveries for lunch. Not sure if I hope to run into that again.

A pink macaron that I got to eat for two days! A company was doing a beta test of some sort at the canteen and gave away free cupcakes and macarons to permanent staff. The macarons were plain awesome!

Becky arrived to my workplace at the right time to try the macaron too! She actually got to take a photo with Rui En and Pierre Png, the lucky girl!

And... I met her again in the evening after work ended! We spent really long deciding what we wanted for dinner. I died a few times that evening, no thanks to some fickleness. *I kid!* We ended up at Saizeriya Italian Restaurant (I'm sure I've blogged about it before, but it's an average-grade restaurant that offers a variety but taste-wise, nothing exceptional. I've been there many times now, and I usually try something different (I love the idea of eating through the menu!) So this time, I got...

Mushroom and bacon risotto! I honestly expected better risotto (you know, ones that don't taste like rice doused in cream sauce). The bacon was a tad too salty, and the mushrooms were acceptable. Still, I managed to finish it, but I wouldn't order this dish again. Perhaps I'll go back to the Vongole pasta. That one was awesome. Namely because it's filled with clams and uses linguine pasta.

Becky ordered a cheap plate of tomato spaghetti! With way-too-salty bacon in it.

In all fairness, I'm continuing this blog post about a week later than when I originally typed up all that stuff up there. I should start having page/jump breaks in my posts. Otherwise, my blog would be helluva load to scroll through.

My father brought home his camcorder for me at last (I wanted to buy a new camcorder at the last Comex show)! I've always wanted to own a camcorder. And now that I have it... I discovered I've nothing really to do with it. Lest I decide to create my own movies and such. Perhaps I'll be inspired to, only if I have the whole Final Cut Pro software or summat. iMovie doesn't suffice, barely.

It's still in amazing condition! And it was pretty expensive when he got it. There's an option to save it in the memory card or the hard drive of the camcorder! Amazeballs!

See, it's been so long, I don't even remember when I'd gone out for dinner with my cousin anymore! So I probably won't be able to recount that. I think the first set of photos belongs to a Friday, the first Friday of the first week of internship. I remembered how I was complaining to my poor cousin about being all tired about work (when it really was nothing compared to the workload I have now). Anyway, we met up at Bishan for dindinz, and we came upon the treasure: Ambush, famed (not that famous really) for its casual european dining menu. There were even escargots. But I decided to save my money for better, less-casual snails.

Look what my cousin brought to dinner! An Eeyore handbag! It oozes furry cuteness, non? I'm probably heading to buy one of these for myself later this week with my cousin, and I'm stoked!

My cousin, Gloria, posing with her bag. I made her do this. She had zero choice but to comply.

A rather cheap-looking menu resembling a newspaper. The layout is great though, no complaints there!

Batter-fried squid? I don't remember the exact title of this appetizer.

My cousin's pasta with the humongous sausages.

Wait, I guess I did order some snails after all, albeit in a pasta dish. They tasted meh.

For dessert, we headed to saybons for a Nutty Nutella crepe!

Another dinner date with my cousin, this time on a Thursday! I remember, because I'd planned to do some shopping at Oakham Market. By the time we reached Ann Siang Hill and to the front door leading to the basement of OM, I realised the door wouldn't budge. And then I saw a 'Closed' sign. And then my mind flashed back to the time I'd gone there with Becky and we'd gotten in the same predicament (except it was in the day). And I remembered OM's website stating it only opens Friday to Sunday. And I was a day short. Oh well.

The pretty lanterns lit up above the roads along Chinatown, in light of Mid-Autumn Festival! It was a beautiful sight. And it's not even the Christmas season. That's something to be said.

We were hungry and went hunting for dinner. We ended up at a Chinese restaurant. The traditional sorts, with salted, roasted peanuts as appetizers and traditional utensils with traditional Chinese prints. Omg, kill me. I just used the word 'traditional' thrice in a sentence. What has become of me?

My cousin's pissed expression as she waits for the food, as well as at the over-enthusiastic staff.

Braised ee-fu noodles with mushroom, and chicken with dried chilli (no one ate the latter though)!

The noodles were awesome, I gotta admit.

Blew my cash on this unappetizing bowl of mango dessert with sago.

It's my first time entering a Chinese restaurant voluntarily. Rest assured, it's my final time too. It's not that the food was overly lousy or expensive. But... it's just not worth it, if you're not going there for something other than wedding banquets.

On a completely unrelated note...

Two plates of Pop-Tarts I prepared for Becky & I when she came over for some secret mission art session!

And something else that is waaay overdue. I think the exhibition has even ended its run here in Singapore already, in late September! The Harry Potter exhibition! Here are some snaps of the goodies I got from there (I wish I got more, but one shouldn't be excessively greedy...)

A Gryffindor beanie! It fits perfectly over my head. Too the colour doesn't match my Gryffindor scarf I'd bought for USD$90+ online. It's a far cry, in fact. Oh well. Where else would I use a beanie of this shade without looking I'm trying too hard to cosplay as a Harry Potter character? I welcome any ideas.

Does the real Gryffindor beanie (the one they used in the movies anyway) even resemble this colour?

Got a huge Undesirable poster! This would only come in handy after I get to renovate my room. This is worthy of getting its own frame.

The similar one that's sold online!

If I vaguely remember, my mother and I went to a scholarship and top university fair (for US & UK universities anyway––and one German university for some maritime thingy) before we went for the exhibition. Anywhere seems appealing right about now.