Secret War Journal[14 March 2012]
Hi people! I am sorry for the sudden hiatus from the last few weeks as I was sorta 'conscripted' into National Service in Singapore. In case you are not aware, all males in Singapore aged 16 and a half and older are required to serve in the Singapore Armed Forces for 2 years, followed by a few years on 'standby'.
Before I elaborate 'more', let me keep you up to date with what had happened since my hiatus.
End of IDA Internship
As of posting, it is now 14 March 2012. My internship in IDA ended on 1st March 2012. Originally, I was supposed to end my internship on the last day of February but my mentors really require help on a project. As a result, we decided to extend my internship by one more day to the first of March so that I can officially hand over matters to a temporary staff named Mehul who would be helping my mentors until the completion of the project.
The last week of internship was, to me, both tiring and exciting closure to my first internship. For this week, Joan, Wen Rui, and I would be ending this week. Like me, Wen Rui had to extend her internship by one day. Hence, her internship ended with Joan on the last day of February. I would say my last week of internship was not as hectic as that of Wen Rui's but I would say it was a bit tight for me nevertheless. While Wen Rui stayed behind in the office to finish her work, I brought home the laptop to attempt to finish my assigned work. Unfortunately, I was still unable to finish it on Thursday, 1 March 2012. I remembered feeling dread when I was going to inform my mentors that I was unable to complete my task. However, what happened next was rather unexpected. I had always known that my mentors were nice people but I was actually half-expecting to be reprimanded for being inefficient and lack of time management. As you probably had known, my mentors were accepting of the fact that I was unable to complete.
I later found on that day when I asked my mentors for an evaluation of my performance during the internship that they felt that I was too efficient. While in a certain persepective, it is a good thing, being too efficient can lead to potential problems in a team. Furthermore, completing an assignment too fast gives an impression that is it is not done with thought. I know that I did but I agree that it would be difficult for others to believe. Thus, I was advised to spend more time double-checking when I finished to prevent negative impressions imposed upon me. I guess, my mentors are perhaps glad that I was unable to complete a task in time because it would seems that much effort was placed on it. Hahas! XD
--
I realised that I accidentally wrote about some events happened on the last day of internship before talking about other notable events that occurred throughout the internship. I think one of the most memorable event that took place would be my first meal with my mentors. Unlike Johnston and Wen Rui, my mentors were often busy and do not have the opportunity to go to meals with me. I do not really mind as I understand that they are very busy. For most of my internship period, I had lunch with Johnston, Joan, Wen Rui, Chor Hiang, Gladys, Joycelyn and Sherilyn. However, on the second last day of my internship, my mentors decided to conduct a farewell lunch with me. It was also going to be a welcome lunch for Mehul. We settled on a nearby bar named Harry's just downstairs from our office. Our lunch was candid as we finally had the opportunity to dicuss issues not related to work for once. For example, it was only until that day that I realised that Ms Kiranjit is a vegetarian who also eats fish. I think that is rather interesting. Mehul is a vegetarian. He just graduated from SIM with a Mass Communication Degree. He used to be Meridian Junioor college too before he transferred to a polytechnic. On the other hand, Terence is like me, a non-vegetarian. :)
Terence and I ended up ordering the same dish, a dish with cereal-fried chicken with ham stuffing with greens. (My father later commented that I kept ordering chicken but hey! I like chicken! :p) As it turns out, I was fooled by the menu, (not sure if my mentor was too but...), I was served only two bite-sized cereal-fried chicken stuffed with ham and cheese in the middle. The rest of the plate were green in colour. Did I mention I hate vegetables? Alright, I cannot say the bar cheated me but I guess they took the menu literally. Finally, I found out that Ms Kiranjit, Mehul, and I are all left-handers. So cool! I mean, for the first time, out of a sample size of 4, there are 3 who are left-handers! That reminds me of the composition in my junior college class. :D
--
Finally, my last assignment was to hand over my outstanding work for a particular project to Mehul. He is around two to three years older than me so I felt a bit strange when I was briefing him. This was the first time that I actually briefed someone muich older than me for official work and I think the most awkward moment then was when he asked, "can I borrow the pass from you, sir?". I remember being stunned for a moment. Thinking back now, I think it was a nice feeling. I am not sure it was just a natural polite question or out of respect, but I do not care. :p
--
Mehul would be taking over my account until the end of March, I think? So do not be alarmed when I go online with my IDA account (I know Mr Yao was on the day of my A Levels results). Hahas.
--
I would cover more about army (not much actually due to the Official Secrets Acts)
--
"It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets." - Voltaire
Recently, Marcus and I just went to watch the highly anticipated Hunger Games in the cinemas.
