The One About the Translator Interview

I went for another interview at 2 pm today. It’s a translator post with a local newspaper. I had to translate a Chinese news article to English and fill another form (why can’t we print our own and give a copy to every interviewer? it’s the same things anyway). At the end of the interview, I had to translate the same article into BM again! aiii… BM’s rusty…

It’s not entirely translation. The post will have to help out with some administration stuff and then translation. And the working hours is quite strange. Will start work around 1 or 2 pm till perhaps latest 9 pm, depending on how fast you finish the translation work. Will have to spend the earlier part of the working day doing admin work and 5 pm onwards is for the translation.

It sounds okay actually. I’d rather sleep more in the morning. Now to wait for their call. Meanwhile, time to enjoy the present free time 🙂

Oh and there’s no baffling questions this time around, unlike the interview yesterday! Thank goodness. Just some basic questions and the real test of translating. Hehe!

The One About The Baffling Interview Questions

Anyway, I just got back from an interview and I do not like it. I was baffled! I’m not even baffled during my FYP!

Let’s see. Other than the usual stuff and intro, I was baffled by the other questions. But I did find out that it is a sales job. As in you have a fixed salary but u will get incentives if u get more customers and they are selling "premium" drugs/meds so the price is "naturally" higher than the other drugs doing the same thing!

Let’s start with the baffling questions. Let’s say you are selling branded pens like Dunhill. You are trying to convince a businessman to buy a RM500 pen! But he thinks that using a RM1 pen serves the same purpose. Why should he spend 500 on a pen when he can get 500 pens with the same price!?
I agree with the businessman. As in there’s no need to spend so much on a pen but now i have to play the role of the salesman! how the heck do u convince the boss? other than class (to which the interviewer said, "are u implying that i do not have class?"), lifetime warranty & quality, I can’t think of anything else.

Basically it applies for their medicines as well. Apparently, there’s original and generic drugs. Original meaning the company did the R&D and developed the medicine and patented it. But the patent can only last for a certain period. Then another company produces a similar med called the generic med and at a smaller price because they did not have to spend on R&D. So how do you convince doctors to buy your original meds instead of the cheaper one? Both are made of the same substance and have the same side effects, etc. Baffled again!

And then, she gave me this long article on ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION drugs and told me to look over it in 15 minutes before presenting it to her! My goodness, it was full of numbers and names of medicines, etc etc. The sort of stuff you can’t digest in merely 15 minutes. Sigh….

Anyway, I think I screwed it up. But then again, even if she offered it to me, I might not want it. Since there’s a quota to meet and all. And there’s a lot of travelling involved. I’m so not a sales person. I cannot convince people especially when I, myself, am not convinced. Let’s hope my other interview go well tomorrow and that it pays reasonably well…

Sigh… I’m tired. That was the longest interview ever. More than an hour…

The One About Flash Player 10.1 on Android 2.1

I just installed Flash Player 10.1 on my Android 2.1. Get the installation file and instructions here.

One thing’s for sure, I can now play flash games on my phone. I tried the Shockwave.com website before I installed it and I think the games were not loading. After installing, the games worked albeit a little laggy.

Try it out and tell me if you feel any differences.

(Btw, they just announced that Android FroYo 2.2 is available today. I wonder what that means. Can I upgrade my Android firmware then? Not sure how… )

The One With the Doodled Eggs

Look at what we did to the eggs!

Haha! That was last Wednesday, one exact week before! The day eggs stood remember? It was started by my sister, who was so frustrated that she couldn’t make an egg stand. So we started doodling on the tray of eggs! haha

The One About the North Korea Football Team

I saw the following article about the North Korea football team in Facebook so I am not sure how true it is. But if it’s completely true, then it’s very sad.

當面對全場的噓聲，當朝鮮的國歌響起，鄭大世留下的男人的眼淚，不是懼怕與懦弱。鄭大世這一幕令人肅然起敬，放棄了日本和韓國的邀請，從小在日本長大的他依然選擇了回歸朝鮮，因為這才是他的祖國，一個人均收入還不到日本10分之一的國家。

他大聲唱著國歌，任由淚水在面上縱橫。當上半場在拼搶過程中腿部受傷出血後，堅持帶血上場這一幕讓人慨歎，讓人唏噓。全場的噓聲沒了，國歌結束，掌聲四起，獻給的不光是他，還是這只偉大的朝鮮球隊。

1999，上海四國邀請賽，朝鮮隊因沒有免費午餐，靠酒店經理給的糖果充饑，擊敗中國隊後隊員喝著中國隊扔掉的半瓶水慶祝。2006年中國公司贊助給朝鮮隊的球衣，到 2009年還是穿著這些球衣，打進世界盃。

眾所周知朝鮮隊能夠做到這一點太不容易了。1999年中國舉辦的四國邀請賽時，朝鮮隊4-5個球員湊起錢來，才能買得起一聽可樂。就是靠著這一點可樂的激勵，朝鮮隊兩度攻破中國隊的大門。就是在這樣的艱苦條件下，朝鮮隊殺進了世界盃。而許多收入高的驚人的球星，卻並沒有做到。當朝鮮國歌響徹在南非時，朝鮮球員們怎能不百感交集？

就是這樣的一支朝鮮隊，擊敗了富可敵國的阿聯酋、阿拉伯等球隊，殺進世界盃，獲得了和巴西人征戰的機會。在巴西人請來世界頂級運動營養學大師來調整膳食的時候，朝鮮人為了世界盃特別進行加餐，而他們吃的不過是打糕而已！在此基礎上，誰能因為朝鮮隊缺少經驗而輸球，而去嘲諷這支球隊？相反，在此基礎上，人們為朝鮮隊拼到55分鐘才丟球，人們為朝鮮隊最後打進一球而感到震驚。
當國足在酒吧和賓館大肆花錢時，一瓶可樂可能是國足不屑的消費，面對12億的球迷，泱泱大國，豪華的國足潰敗在了 20人的朝鮮球隊面前。一個朝鮮高水準運動員的月薪是人民幣12元，年薪人民幣144元，而這肯能還不及國足豪車的加郵費。

巴西勝利了，但是朝鮮也勝利了，他們拼的值得，讓全世界的人敬佩的球隊，12元沖向世界盃，12萬月薪的國足卻連亞洲都出不去！國足是拿著人民的稅，踢壞國民的眼球！

看看他們的替補，旁邊的巴西隊，全是清一色的阿迪保暖大衣，而朝鮮包括主教練在內的所有場下隊員，在零下的溫度，被凍的瑟瑟發抖，但是他們目光依然堅挺，這就是足球精神，國足面的的巴西，以0進球完敗，穿著和世界一流球隊一樣的裝備，踢著世界8流球隊一樣的足球！
一種永不言敗、永不放棄的精神力量~~~
值得中國人學習。。。敬禮！
這場是我第一次看世界盃的感動，朝鮮國足，你讓人懂得了足球。

 

Okay I’ll make things short and pick the important points:

In 1999, the North Korea team were in China for a match. They couldn’t afford lunches and had to survive on the candies give by the hotel manager to replenish their energy. After they beat China in that match, they celebrated by drinking the water leftover in the half drank bottles thrown away by the Chinese team.

In 2006, a Chinese company sponsored their football kits and they had to wear the same kits till 2009, until they qualified to be in the 2010 World Cup.

In that 1999 China match too, 4 or 5 players had to pitch their money to buy A TIN OF COKE!

When all other teams are having specially designed diets in preparation/during the 2010 World Cup, all the North Koreans had were “打糕”, a type of pastry made from glutinous rice, pounded to paste and steamed and eaten with grounded nuts, sugar, etc.

The players earn about RM6 each month! Imagine! The players who earned RM6 a month are almost on par with players who earn millions each year!

Besides, if you watched the World Cup, you’ve have noticed that it’s mostly cold during the matches especially at night or when it rains. But the North Korean team do not have money to buy thick overalls/jackets. You can see them shivering on the bench along with the coach. (I’m not sure about this. I’ll check it out during their next match).

So you see, it is a shame that they were beaten by Portugal 7-0 last night. They tried so hard to reach the World Cup finals and now they are out of it again. It’s really sad. But they played well during the match with Brazil.

I was really touched by the article above T.T

The One About Toy Story 3 and Father’s Day

I went to watch Toy’s Story 3 this afternoon. It was entertaining and had quite a lot of laughs. Watched it just for the sake of reminiscing the story which I watched years and years ago. The story relates to us somehow since the toys’ owner, Andy, has grown up and is going to college from the first two movies when he was still little. So, it kind of makes sense since obviously it’s not going to be happily ever after.

So, if you are looking for something to watch for laughs, this is okay. BUT do pick a time when there should be lesser kids. It’s annoying when kids make so much noise when you watching a movie. Well, it is Sunday afternoon when parents are free to bring the kids to the movies.

Besides that, it is VERY VERY annoying when the guy sitting next to you in the cinema starts shaking his leg(s), resulting in the entire row shaking along with him too. Was so tempted to turn to my right and tell him to stop it. If it was a kid, I’d glare at him.

Anyway, it was Father’s Day. How did you people spend it?

The night before, we brought our grandparents for dinner at Sharing Planet (I can see your expression!). They rarely/never have western food due to their habits of eating at home or eating chinese cuisine so my mum thought this might be interesting. Amazingly, they seem to like it and no complaints about the price! That is so rare because my grandpa, especially, is really thrifty and do not like to spend money unnecessarily.

Watching the Brazil vs Ivory Coast now. Brazil has already scored once. I’m going to sleep at half time since I’m not that interested in watching anyway. Hopefully, I’ll wake up to an unexpected score *fingers crossed*

The One About Resetting HTC Legend

I experienced some problems with the Friend Stream app/widget on my HTC Legend since yesterday. It stopped updating and says that there’s no updates whatsoever. It was functioning well before that. When I went to the actual app in the list of apps, I had to force close it. Seemed strange so I looked up the problem and turned out that it’s quite common.

First thing you should try is restarting the phone (like most common computer related problems/errors).

If that doesn’t help, go to Settings> Applications> Manage Applications> Friend Stream> Clear data & Clear cache.

Some people recommends removing the accounts you have in Friend Stream such as Twitter and Facebook and re-adding it after. Doesn’t hurt to try.

If all these fails, you’re going to have to reset the phone. Sounds scary eh? Very much. However, there wasn’t any really helpful or detailed step by step tutorial to fix it. A soft reset simply means restarting the phone (like we’ve said in the first step). A hard reset or a factory reset meanings removing everything on your phone to factory settings. Data in SD card will not be lost. Technically, for HTC Legend and Desire, they have built in backup settings.

Make sure yours is active before resetting. (Settings> Privacy> Back up my data> Check “Back up my data”)

We’re not done backing up yet. If you don’t have the Astro File Manager, get it. In the app, go to Menu> Tools> Application Manager/Backup. From there, you can choose the applications you want to backup. Once backup is complete, you can always reinstall the apps you have after reset.

If there’s anything you need to sync using the HTC Sync program to your computer, do it. Also, you might want to remember the arrangement of widgets/shortcuts on the pages of the phone. Otherwise, we’ll go to the important part.

There are several methods to reset your phone. What I did seemed to be the most straightforward one.

Settings> Privacy> Factory data reset> Follow the instructions

Once it’s done, it will be like a brand new phone. Just setup all the usual settings, accounts, etc like you did when you had the phone and allow the backup when prompted. For the apps, you might have to reinstall the Astro File Manager from the Market and you can choose to install the apps from the list you backed up.

And it’s done! It works well and possibly faster now. And it gave me the chance to clear off the useless apps which I never use anyway.

The One About the England vs Algeria Match

Do skip the following post if you do not like football 🙂

I’m watching the England vs Algeria match now as I type. First half has just started. Algeria has a free kick. Please don’t score. And yeap, blocked.

Since the first kickoff of the match, I’ve been kept in an anxious mood. The fact that Algeria did well in the beginning didn’t help. After the previous problem with the goalkeeper during the first group match, I have been fidgety when the ball goes to the goalkeeper. Of course, David James is the goalkeeper for the match. And let’s hope he keeps his form as seen in the first half.

50th minute now. And still no goal.

Anyway, as I was watching, I wondered how people chose which teams to support for different sports. I mean if your own country team isn’t a factor that is.

I support England and South Korea in this World Cup so you can imagine how I felt when the latter was thrashed 4-1 by Argentina yesterday. In the Premier League, I support Manchester United. In F1, it’s the McLaren Mercedes team. What else?

I’ll admit that my choices for football started off rather superficially. I support England and Manchester United because of David Beckham. Yes you heard right. David-overhyped-Beckham. I thought he was quite good looking and so I started watching. But before long, he left Manchester United but I kept supporting the Red Devils anyway till this day. *counts* It’s been around 10 years since I started watching if I am not mistaken and I’ve seen them win many cups and championships and close missed too. Has it been that long? Bet you didn’t know that.

South Korea. Because I love the country, the people, well and obviously the entertainment industry. And I watched them play in the 2006 World Cup and I was impressed.

McLaren Mercedes. I started watching around 10 years ago I guess (it doesn’t seem so long) because the guys in my class in school was obsessed with it and I got curious and started watching one day. I never really stopped I guess. I started by supporting Mika Hakkinen and it went on to the entire team even when he left till the days of Kimi Raikkonen and finally to the current Lewis Hamiton and Jenson Button partnerships.

Oh my. A yellow card for Carragher. Misses next match. Not good for the English defence line.

61st minute. C’mon England. Score a goal and let me feel less anxious/nervous.

Btw, what’s with footballers and lots of tattoos?

70th minute. Few more actions on goal for England. 6 attempts on goal. Let’s hope the 7th will be a goal for their side.

It makes me nervous just to see the green shirts on the England half of the football pitch.

Many have been complaining about the football used. The Jabulani. Yes it has a name. Despite being the most technologically advanced football ever (perfect sphere, bla bla bla… ), many players and coaches alike are complaining about it. And the higher altitude of the playing fields does affect the ball play as most observe that the balls bounce higher and seemed lighter.

75th minute. We have only 15 minutes left! Gah! And oh, it’s 4 am. The newspaper deliveryman just threw our newspaper to our car porch.

Anyway, did I mention my rejection letter? Can’t remember. Anyway, remember my PR job interview at a local hotel? They sent me a rejection letter on Tuesday, saying that the post is filled. Well, usually people don’t send rejection letters do they? So I was misled to believe that it might be good news. Unfortunately not. So more waiting.

79th minute. England dominating possession but somehow they are not in top form. Not doing as well as they should.

83rd minute. Is this match really going to end goalless? Ohh.. Peter Crouch replaces Barry. Let’s hope he makes a difference. I am not asking for much. Just one goal to win please!

86th minute. 4 minutes of normal game time left. While England shouldn’t draw in this match, they must not lose either. A loss would make it almost hopeless to go beyond the group stage.

88th minute. Algeria wasting time by substituting another player. Damn… free kick. David Beckham showing his frustration at the England bench.

3 minutes of added time. Not enough. C’mon. Not much time left. Defoe kicked it wayyyy above the goalpost.

70 seconds to go.

15 seconds to go. Whistle will go any time.

Time for a corner? last chance.

End of match. Damn. Only one point. Poor match indeed.

So now Slovenia leads Group C with 4 points, England & USA 2 points each and Algeria with 1. England will play Slovenia in a few days and USA will play Algeria. England MUST win against Slovenia to boost their points to 5. A draw will only result in 3 points for England and if USA or Algeria wins, they will get 5 or 4 points respectively. So, basically it’s down to the numbers and math next week.

Why is it that the teams I support tend to get so shitty? I’ll stop watching the World Cup if these two teams are out. Time to sleep.

The One About Father’s Day + Birthday

My dad’s birthday is always close to Father’s Day. So with the latter coming this weekends and my dad’s birthday today, we surprised him with a birthday cake and present.

So what present did we get for him? I thought of getting one of the following:

1. Wallet/belt

2. Sunglasses (RayBans or something)

3. Safety shoes (since he works in construction sites)

 

But no. We didn’t get any of those due to various reasons. We got him a pillow.

A pillow you said? Shocked? Surprised?

Haha… the fact that we bought the present last minute doesn’t help. But listen to my reasons.

Firstly, my dad is stingy on himself. He won’t spend on such things or anything for himself. He’d choose the cheapest if any at all. Like pillows, he’d rather use the existing ones rather than spending to get a new one to save money. So, more likely than not, he’s never gonna get one for himself.

But I think that pillows are really important. Good sleep is the basis and foundation of having a good day ahead. If you have a really uncomfortable pillow, you won’t sleep well and you’ll wake up cranky.

Lol… we’ll treat him to dinner when my brother comes back next week. But for the moment, he seems pretty happy with the cake and pillow. Haha…

The One About The Day Eggs Stood Still

Today is the Dumplings’ Festival for the Chinese, which coincides with one of the two equinoxes each year. And every year, I heard this myth that the eggs can stand vertically this time of the year. I never got to try it out so I have no idea.

So, today, I took some eggs out of the fridge and started to balance them on one end. After many many unsuccessful attempts, I was wondering if I am pranked. As in, maybe eggs can’t possibly stand!

But being so patient, I tried and tried again. Until I finally got one to stand! Yay! Obviously I had to take some photos before it falls or something.

Then, I tried to balance more. That’s 3! Took me quite a while too. Never realised that eggs are that unsymmetrical. Or that the eggs have such sharp bottoms.

I tried to balance another one but it ended up knocking the others’ down. So, I gave up. I am only just so patient.

So, ta da! It is true that the eggs can stand. But I’m doubtful that it can only happen today. I will try another day to prove that it is not necessarily true.

Myth proven true and plausible!