3 Places in 3 Weeks - Fun this ain't
Finally got my laptop back today, more than two weeks after leaving it in Singapore. So where was I for three weeks in June?
Week 1: Unimas
Nothing much here. The same ol' Unimas sights greeted me...until I opened my room door and found the place raided from top to bottom, no doubt by the cleaners. Among the items on the missing list:
- Brand new, two month old table fan
- Giordano jacket
- Half used tube of toothpaste
- 9 leftover sachets of 3-in-1 Milo
- Large bucket
- Almost empty bottle of Dettol shower foam
- Electric boiler (later recovered from the unlocked cleaners' room)
Think these thieves were cheap? Damn right they were! I mean if you're so f***in poor that you can't even afford Milo and toothpaste, tell me. I'd gladly donate entire crates of each to you!
Week 2: Singapore
Checked into the Paramount Hotel on the morning of the 13th to prepare for day 1 of the Singapore Airlines cadet pilot second round interview later that day. And as far as coincidences go, this really was one of the biggest. The fellow applicant I shared a room with turned out to be a Taiping guy through and through. What's more, our homes are apparently within walking distance and he attended the same secondary school as me. Two out of 10 shortlisted applicants from SGI. Shows you what us Georgians can do , eh?
Anyway the first day consisted of a check of our educational certificates and a psychomotor test in the evening, which everyone including yours truly, thought they blew. Truth is, with the results kept secret we'll never know...
Day 2 of the interview was the most taxing. There were group activities in the morning. My guess was they were designed to judge who has leadership and communication skills. I'm not going to go into specifics about what these activities were, but let's say they involved drawing and lego blocks. In the evening was the interview proper, where each individual was faced by a panel of 5 pilots. Only one person from this five was present from the group activity session in the morning (he couldn't be more appropriately named Captain Goh!) and again I came out feeling like I had blew it. Guess I should've done more research on fly-by-wire and glass cockpits. Anyway, there was a short tea party after that, where some light food (and beer!) was served and we took this chance to talk to the aforementioned pilots about their job, etc. Certainly was an honor to meet an A345 captain who had been flying for 30+ years!
To cut a long story short, we called the SIA folks at 11am the day after that (Thursday) and found out that only 4 of us, including me (yipee!) got through and were due for a medical checkup the next day (Friday). It wasn't all fun and celebrations though. The mood around gets really subdued when you realize that others who wanted this just as much as you didn't get through.
And the medical checkup? Well the eye specialist at Mount E wrote that the visual acuity of my right eye was worse that 6/60! I mean what the...?! How can that be? Oh well, just gotta hope for the best I guess.
So how did I find the entire experience? One of the guys who got through, Sam, said it was like a reality show. And I couldn't agree more.
With the guys before they left the hotel
Week 3: UiTM
Now for the hard part - practicing how to stand under the hot sun for an entire day for 4 days before the official ceremony on Saturday. What ceremony you ask? Why it's a cop ceremony. That's right, I'm a cop now!
But I guess was pretty lucky. Due to the interview, I took the previous week off which meant I only had to attend the marching drills for only a week whereas the other guys in the platoon had to endure two whole weeks of it. And I got to shake hands with the IGP too! All in all, a unique and eye opening experience, considering I had only joined because I had wanted to fire a gun and get paid to do it.
Spot the Weiyang - again!
Week 1: Unimas
Nothing much here. The same ol' Unimas sights greeted me...until I opened my room door and found the place raided from top to bottom, no doubt by the cleaners. Among the items on the missing list:
- Brand new, two month old table fan
- Giordano jacket
- Half used tube of toothpaste
- 9 leftover sachets of 3-in-1 Milo
- Large bucket
- Almost empty bottle of Dettol shower foam
- Electric boiler (later recovered from the unlocked cleaners' room)
Think these thieves were cheap? Damn right they were! I mean if you're so f***in poor that you can't even afford Milo and toothpaste, tell me. I'd gladly donate entire crates of each to you!
Week 2: Singapore
Checked into the Paramount Hotel on the morning of the 13th to prepare for day 1 of the Singapore Airlines cadet pilot second round interview later that day. And as far as coincidences go, this really was one of the biggest. The fellow applicant I shared a room with turned out to be a Taiping guy through and through. What's more, our homes are apparently within walking distance and he attended the same secondary school as me. Two out of 10 shortlisted applicants from SGI. Shows you what us Georgians can do , eh?
Anyway the first day consisted of a check of our educational certificates and a psychomotor test in the evening, which everyone including yours truly, thought they blew. Truth is, with the results kept secret we'll never know...
Day 2 of the interview was the most taxing. There were group activities in the morning. My guess was they were designed to judge who has leadership and communication skills. I'm not going to go into specifics about what these activities were, but let's say they involved drawing and lego blocks. In the evening was the interview proper, where each individual was faced by a panel of 5 pilots. Only one person from this five was present from the group activity session in the morning (he couldn't be more appropriately named Captain Goh!) and again I came out feeling like I had blew it. Guess I should've done more research on fly-by-wire and glass cockpits. Anyway, there was a short tea party after that, where some light food (and beer!) was served and we took this chance to talk to the aforementioned pilots about their job, etc. Certainly was an honor to meet an A345 captain who had been flying for 30+ years!
To cut a long story short, we called the SIA folks at 11am the day after that (Thursday) and found out that only 4 of us, including me (yipee!) got through and were due for a medical checkup the next day (Friday). It wasn't all fun and celebrations though. The mood around gets really subdued when you realize that others who wanted this just as much as you didn't get through.
And the medical checkup? Well the eye specialist at Mount E wrote that the visual acuity of my right eye was worse that 6/60! I mean what the...?! How can that be? Oh well, just gotta hope for the best I guess.
So how did I find the entire experience? One of the guys who got through, Sam, said it was like a reality show. And I couldn't agree more.
With the guys before they left the hotelWeek 3: UiTM
Now for the hard part - practicing how to stand under the hot sun for an entire day for 4 days before the official ceremony on Saturday. What ceremony you ask? Why it's a cop ceremony. That's right, I'm a cop now!
But I guess was pretty lucky. Due to the interview, I took the previous week off which meant I only had to attend the marching drills for only a week whereas the other guys in the platoon had to endure two whole weeks of it. And I got to shake hands with the IGP too! All in all, a unique and eye opening experience, considering I had only joined because I had wanted to fire a gun and get paid to do it.
Spot the Weiyang - again!So I'm back in Taiping now, enjoying all the 'wat tan hor' and home cooked food I can before heading back to dear ol' Unimas this coming Monday. Damn sien la when I think of it...
posted by The Weiyang at 11:12 PM
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