Month: August 2006

The tubes have been filled =p

Courtesy of this bandwidth speed test.

51.2 kilobits per second
Communications 51.2 kilobits per second
Storage 6.3 kilobytes per second
1MB file download 2.7 minutes
Subjective rating Slow

Problematic broadband connections since Saturday night. I was unable to surf at all from Saturday night until late Sunday afternoon. And since then the bandwidth seems to have dialup speeds or worse. Welcome to Brunei’s ISP woes.

Anyway starting to help mom out a bit. Just a bit so nothing much to say aside from being a driver. Got my dear’s old bluetooth enabled phone, the Philips Fisio 820, as her dad won a new phone in a lucky draw. So I was trying to use send AT commands to the phone and for some reason I can’t seem to send SMSs via the phone. It just keeps coming up with an error :S Tried with her new Sony Ericsson (SE) phone and it was kind of problematic as well. I can’t even use my Tungsten E2 to send an SMS using the loaded software with the Fisio. Strange… The SE phone didn’t have text mode which I think is being phased out so all that is left is PDU mode. Anyway should be getting a new phone soon hopefully, eyeing the Motorola L2 as it has bluetooth but no camera, just the way I like it but now I’m looking for a phone with bluetooth, no camera, external memory slot and costing around BND$300 =p I guess I can’t be pleased easily can I? =p I think I’ve seen phones that satisfy the 1st 3 attributes but then the cost factor comes in. Especially hesitant for the ‘unemployed’ like me.

Bye for now people. Going to be driver again….

Back home

Yeah I know I came back on Sunday but it’s been kind of a rush back here in a few ways but that should end soon. Honestly came back on Sunday and more or less stoned the rest of the day away. (delta change / delta time) was too high. Felt isolated. Everything I knew so well for the past 4 years (but especially for the past 1 year plus) all disappeared. Didn’t think I would get emotional about it but I guess I couldn’t help it like 45 minutes before flight. Photos available here and here. I guess it didn’t matter that my dear was out of the country when I came back =( It also didn’t help that when I got out of the airport it started raining and so I got a bit drenched while getting my stuff to the car. I was 8.8kg overweight so ended up paying S$53 for the excess baggage ($6 per kg) which isn’t that bad considering it’ll cost slightly cheaper to ship it but then I would have to worry about picking up the goods. This way it comes back with me straight away so it was good. A new chapter has started in my life back here in Brunei where I know God has called me to be in this season of my life. Now something that just popped up before me was should I work for my mom or not. Surprisingly it didn’t even come to my mind when I decided to come back home, I thought it was obvious. Well so I thought. It doesn’t help with people saying that there are IT companies looking for people. Well will pray about it. So I guess that makes the job searching people count to 4 in my cell (yes I still consider it my cell =p). At least I have some ideas in store and I guess time to do it as well =D

Monday I was also kind of lost of what to do. The friend I was supposed to go on an eating spree went to Malaysia for the day and dear dear was still in Malaysia. I don’t remember what I was doing honestly, but I guess I was moving on. Tuesday was the eating spree!!! Sugarbun, Ideal Cafe & Grill, Swensen’s, Satay and some Pizza Hut. To Denise they do have the 3 layered tea in Sugarbun now ;-) Ideal chicken and spagetti is always good to me =P Too bad my chicken didn’t have any skin =( Swensen’s was not on the itenerary but Tuesday was 1/2 price for the Giant Earthquake so how can I refuse? =p We also ordered a “Topless 5” made completely of sticky chewy chocolate!!! Satay was good especially since it’s like 4 sticks for $1 for chicken and beef. They even have weird meat choices like camel, rabbit, ostrich and a few more which I can’t remeber. On the table they had pictures of the meats they had which I found amusing especially that of the rabbit which looks too cute to eat to many. Still on the yet-to-eat-but-I’m-sure-as-heck-going-to-eat list is Jollibee, rojak, Gin Chew peanut buns and Youme black bean paos.

Today I’ve been fixing computers, well actually trying to find out why a computer wasn’t booting up. Ended up to be the power supply. Unluckily/Luckily I tried using the house desktop’s power supply to test to see if that was the problem. And viola! The computer finally booted up properly. The problem came back when I put that power supply (my beloved antec power supply) back into the house desktop. I attached it back and switched it on to check and I see smoke coming out of the CPU!!!! Quickly shutting it down then I found that the power cable for the floppy drive (yes there still is a floppy drive, mainly for my mom) was melted and smelling a ‘great’ smell of molten plastic. So ended up having to buy 2 power supplies.

Well I guess I better enjoy the days in Brunei as I will be living them for a while. To all those back in Singapore, take care and don’t miss me =p

It’s been a long time I guess huh?

Guess I’ve been busy with things like trying to extend my stay in Singapore and having to spend like 10 hours in total doing something in regards to ICA. If anybody wants to renew / apply for a social visit pass go in the morning, trust me it’s worth it. Despite the queue almost wrapping 3/4 around the building it was a quick visit compared to the other visits I had there. Was in and out in just over an hour instead of the usual wait of 2 / 3 hours waiting in the hall.

Been busy attending convocations as well: 4 in total including mine =p. Also been doing some part time work for the past 2 weeks which is pretty interesting and it has flexible hours and I didn’t have to go down to the office in Jurong East for the past 2 weeks. However I have been to the office today as I am typing this as McDonald’s in IMM (how I love free wireless hotspots =P) and I’ll be back there tomorrow due to some hardware testing.

Went to watch 2 fireworks displays, well.. more like 1 and the other 1 I was there for like 2 minutes but I didnt look at the display as I was trying to get through the crowd to chop (reserve) seats at Max Brenner’s Chocolate Bar at the Esplanade. The day before (Friday) we resorted to going to Haagen Dazs for supper while on that Saturday had chocolate for dinner =p Well I guess I should enjoy this while I’m still here which is like 5 more full days.

Anyway I’ll being going back home this Sunday at 0905, should be picking up the ticket tomorrow at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Yes its hard to go but alas there’s a bigger calling to go back home. So for those of you who don’t know the story or the full story here it is…. It all started back before I came to Singapore for my university education. I always thought of studying and working here. So if anybody came to ask me what were my plans after studying I would say I would stay in Singapore. Well that all changed about a year ago. One fine day the thought of going back home after graduation crept into my mind. Sounds a bit strange to get thoughts like that especially since it was a drastic contrast of what I always wanted to do. But I just felt a need to go back and after some processing I feel that God is just telling me to go back for now. I think if I were to stay here I would get too caught up in work and things. That basically happened to me in my final year, in my work that I’m doing. Also I believe that my plans for myself are incomparable with God’s plan for me, whatever that may be. All I know is that I have to go back. Won’t know how long. I could be back in Singapore to work in the future but who knows but God. I shall place my life in His hands as He becomes the light upon my feet guiding me through what lays ahead. Also there seems to be some open doors that I wish to go through that have been opened in the past year of actually letting go of the idea of working in Singapore. Time to leave is soon. Enjoy the time here in Singapore. Enjoy the time with the friends that I’ve made here. Friendships that mean so much. Memories that hopefully never get forgotten. God bless people.