Km soe

Applying SPass, EP or WP in Singapore

By right, applying SPass, EP or WP is nothing to do with me. However, while helping the lady-in-charge applying these passes online, I've got chance to experience the MOM's "EP Online" and "WP Online" web portals. As going online is kinda trendy in government sectors, MOM is encouraging to apply for these passes via online by shortening the processing period like from a month to a week or sometimes a few days. 

One thing to note is that these portal are functioning for only certain period of time, not 24/7.
 
One interesting thing is that they have separated web portals based on pass type: "EP Online" for Employment Pass(EP) and S-Pass and "WP Online" for Work Permit(WP). 

To register for any of those online account, a person must have this thing called "SingPass"Singapore Personal Access. It is easy to apply but it will take 4 working days to get singPass which is sent out by post or else visit to the Counters to get immediate access. After registering the online account, it will need to have "Industrial Classification" and will take 2 working days to get this Industrial Classification approved. Once Industrial Classification is approved, one can proceed to apply for S-pass or EP.

If WP needs to apply, the same procedure goes again.

Another thing is that all those web portals are using SingPass to log in and all log-in page appears the same,so there's no way knowing which portal that we are logging in until we actually get into and look around. 

Another thing I come to notice is that there are a lot of clauses that nobody's aware or maybe never visibly stated, for example: under service industry, companies cannot employ Filipino with WP. There are a lot more interesting clauses that nobody really knows unless a person happens to come across. It is just a finger tip to do the application but risking somebody's future while playing around with unseen clauses, I don't feel good at all. Some conditions are irreversible and once it is done, that person is doomed. 

Well, interesting things in Singapore... 

Brown-eyed Puppy

I spotted this puppy on one fine December night. I almost not noticed as he wasn't stunning in any way.
but.. well, cute is his middle name and what can I say ....
When I happened to look into his brown eyes, my goodness, I forgot to breathe and couldn't just walk away.

He's so friendly and always tries to cheer me up.   Plus never fails to bring a smile on my face.
I wanted to make him of my own but this puppy is so on his own.
In some day, he would come and play. In some day, he would run away.
When he comes around, I would enjoy watching him play and when he is away, I just gotta pray. For the reason of not bearing to see him stressed in collar, I ain't gonna tie him in any way.

Sometimes, I get nervous worrying that he wouldn't make a way back.
Sometimes, I get sad when I don't get what he is trying to say.
Sometimes, I get helpless when I can't figure out how he feels and what's on his mind.

Nobody said it would be easy loving this brown-eyed puppy...

Nobody ever said that it would be that hard ...

Salt Scrub or Soothing the soul

Taking shower is something more than just a part of my daily routine. On a normal day, I gotta to take a shower before I go out so that I won't feel like having a bad day. I need another shower before I go to bed regardless of how late or how cold the weather is. Other than that, I just can't sleep.

Luckily I live at the tropical zone, so weather is not much an issue but the time is. I usually have late showers and get scolded for having such late showers. If there is the shower sound like 1, 2 or 3 am in the morning, that would be me. If somebody occupies the bathroom like ages, that would be me too. Yap, I love long shower and I've got plenty of reasons for it: feel bad, feel down, feel tired, feel wired, feel sad, feel nervous or maybe whenever I feel something unusual. It's kinda crazy, but feeling clean and fresh, that really can help me to feel a bit better. Let the water drops running through the skin, sometimes I feel like literally "reborn". Maybe that is the reason behind I love to walk in the rain. I used to deliberately leave the umbrella so that I would have a valid reason to walk in the rain but lately I found that there is sort of some pain associated with the touch of the rain. I remebered my dad asked me "don't u feel the pain?" a few years back, I thought he must be making this up to stop me. Only now I know that it's part of aging process. Definitely I'm getting old.

This wired weekend makes me to go for an another long shower. This time I happened to use this thing called "Jericho Energizing and Relaxing Salt Scrubs" which has Dead Sea minerals and aromatic oils. My one gets Kiwi-Mango oil. Sound so sweet? I thought so too but it smells really really nice. Salt scrub, basically just salt and the oil. ya.. it's salty and oily but the feel is kinda interesting. The direction says only to rinse with warm water but it was so oily and that made me thinking whether should I follow the direction or just use the soap. After like 5 min, I decided to see how it feels like closely following the direction. Honestly, it's kinda stupid staying under running shower and hoping all oil to be gone. After the towel dry, I found it wasn't really bad. The skin was totally moisturized and don't even need my usual body lotion. Some people might think it's quite slippery if they are not a big fan of body lotion.

It supposes to give energetic effects yet the effects varies from one person to another. I was quite clueless how its effect gonna like. After a hour or so, I felt the heat, so I asked around "is it just me? or the weather?". Unfortunately the weather was quite hot. Later in the evening, I fell asleep like a baby and guess its energetic effect on me might be a few hours of peaceful sleep which is what the best thing ever happened for this weekend.

C String and its marketability

C-String! Nop, I am not talking about the character sequence stored as a one-dimensional character array in computing. Yap, I am talking about the completely new and exciting innovation in lingerie. A few days back, I came across this term C-String. I do a bit of programming, so I do know what String is, but not in this lingerie content.

My first impression was "What the heck!, is it a hair band?" I would never know that this is C-String even if I spot one at the departmental store.

Invisible underwear, I doubt any guy will complain regarding girls wearing lesser and smaller piece. I will not talk about on that side. In fact my focus is more on its marketability side, precisely what the real consumers think about it, especially when it comes to Aisa. I exclude the guys from the consumer base as not many guy are buying lingerie for their other half. Yes, some guys are doing that but it might be only a single digit percentage to the whole consumer body. 

Back	Sides
	Strap	Tie	Strapless
T-back
G-string
V-string
C-string

Interesting to know that there are various type of string thongs in the market (see beside).  The other string types are in the market for quite a while and gain a certain level of acceptance but I don't think majority are a big fun of these string series. G-String girls might be quite excited about it but the buzz is not that huge.

It is specially designed for a perfect tan without a single line on butt. It might also useful for sexy side-revealing dress for the red carpet walk or shoots but C String has the big issue when it comes to every day wear. Most women concern about its possibility to drop when it goes with skirt. Most occasions, it doesn't seem an appropiate wear.

It would probably look perfectly fine on the nice figure but most of the GOD's children doesn't have it. In fact, the huge portion of female population are not satisfacted with their figures. Quite a number of women don't mind to buy a piece and try it out at least once, but none of them consider to keep as part of their lingerie wardrobe. Another factor is the age: of the different age groups, women above 40s or 50s will not even look at it.

When it comes to materials used and price, C String does have issues too. Might be due to its special materials to stay where it is, C String is quite expensive for such as smallest piece of under garment. Not so many will pay around 20+ bucks just for try out.

In Asia content, we can even count the number of people who would go for body tan and wear the most revealing outfits. Plus not so many fashion shows are happening around, though it might useful for catwalk models.Even in western, C-String is not a popular piece, it get worse when it comes to Asia.

Promoting it as a 2-in-1(hair band and underwear) might not be a good idea either.

After all, C-string is the product with a marketabilty defect. Mass exporting nor manufacturing might never work well.

Here's the link to see the C-String in action.

A small fish in a big pond or A big fish in a small pond?

Most people think that they can be either "a small fish in a big pond" or "a big fish in a small pond". Well, I used to think that way too. We usually don't talk about the other two cases " a big fish in a big pond" and "a small fish in a small pond".

Let's start with the best case. "A big fish in a big pond", that sounds too good to be happened, doesn't it? How much percentage of the work force becomes CEOs or top management guys? How many people born with the silver spoon in mouth? How many students can go to top universities like Harvard or MIT? How much percentage of the class can get A+? Let's get real. It ain't not happen just like that.

Doing the right thing at the right time in a right way: success is simple as that. Yes, it indeed is but just not easy to make all those three thing happens together.

I would say either "a small fish in a big pond" or "a big fish in a small pond" is not much difference as they are in-between so so conditions. Each has both strength and weakness. Opportunies and limitations come together. I used to think, at least, expect seeing myself swimming in either one of these conditions. Surprisingly a degree from the well-recognized university ain't just enough to be in even those so-so conditions. Out of an education which worth nearly S$ 40000 and 3 years time, I just get one phrase "Things are subjected to change." Higher Eduction becomes more and more luxurious item and low ROI investment. Maybe we might be seeing more college drop-outs in the near future. It's nothing new and already happening. We shouldn't go for higher education just for a piece of paper  nor a licence to be a employee. It is more like we are paying to let them put into the box and think in a framed way. It's not worth at all in this case.

What makes everybody to dream about swimming in other people's pond? Why not thinking about who makes those ponds? Big or small, it's still the properties of somebody else. There is always a high possiblity of being taken out of it at any given time. If it's all about suriving skill, it is probably  better to be an unqualified employer rather than a qualified employee.   

The current situation makes me live in the worst scenario. I am a new small fish swimming in the small pond yet dreaming about digging my own pond one day. "Small" or "swimming", neither of these words will make me a fish. Yes, I'm still swimming 'cos my past 16 years education gave me only fish mindset and taught how to swim. Nop, I won't stop to find a way to land on the ground and dig my very own pond. It is too soon to say it can't be done. We shall see....

November Rain

Today is 2nd of November and it's raining cats and dogs almost the whole day.

The weather supposes to be kinda dry and cold. Well, this is Singapore,  what I am asking for!

I was gazing at the rain drop, and the moment I heard some raining sound from my play list, a few words were jumping into my thought.

I don't know, November + Rain, it's something which is not supposed to be happened? I still want to think as if it's something not suppose to happen. I suddenly remembered the Guns N' Roses's song "November Rain"

.::♪.::♫.::♪.::nothin' lasts forever ,even cold November rain.::♪.::♫.::♪.::

Maybe I am just caught in a moment. Whatever is happening now won't last long and I would find a way out.