Reminiscence of a wonderful 3 months

Time i contributed to this blog LOL apa lah so far u guys merely mentioned about ourselves, better don't indulge in that lest people misconstrue that we are madly in love with ourselves. I’m writing about the recently concluded industrial training. We (Sam, Ivan and I. Colin went MIA as he was enrolled in summer course) underwent the training in Sime Darby Technology Centre (SDTC) since we pretty much had nothing to do during the summer and not doing anything productive for a good 3 months is as good as subjecting oneself to mental torture IMO. Normally, the impression one conceives of upon hearing 'Sime Darby' is that of WOAAAA, HEBAT BETUL, HOU GENG AR, and stuff like that, however......

On the very first day of work, Sam and I decided to carpool since i didn't know how to get there and when i suggested to him about this, if i wasn't mistaken, his first statement was, 'You better don't be late to pick me 'coz Old Klang Road (OKR) is notorious for heavy traffic you know!' LOL. For those-who-don't-know, somehow these 3 bargles (sam, colin and ivan) keep insisting i'm Mr-Forever-Late but i don't mind 'coz they 'memang suka syok sendiri' hahaha no offence yea guys. So thanks to Sam's reminder and my not wanting to be late, we arrived at SDTC so early that the ticket seller was still sleeping soundly, damn LOL. But as usual, Ivan arrived way earlier although his house was so much nearer to the workplace...so typical of Ivan also known as Mr-I'm-Prepared-For-All-Possibilities LOL. Besides us, there were 3 more Monash students who applied for SDTC too namely Suzan (not Susan), Su Ee (not Su Eeeek) and Alexander (NO, not Alexandre the Great). Alex arrived one week later as he applied later than all of us. Also, there was another trainee (Evylyne) who joined us and she hails from Ottago University. Hey Evylyne in case you are reading this you must pardon me ‘coz my first impression of Ottago was that of some god-knows-tribe from some god-forsaken-place who set up their own education institute for the sake of keeping up with time. Blame my geographical incompetency LOL.

Alex, Suzan and I were placed in the same lab, Ivan and Su Ee into another lab while Sam was the lone ranger in yet another lab but all 3 labs were connected and highly accessible by foot. Prior to our arrival, there were other trainees from UCSI and UTAR, all of whom are majoring in either biotechnology or chemistry. Basically, trainees run the labs whereby we do almost A to Z from preparing reagents, buffers, agar, running assays to washing apparatus. Heck I can vividly recall the first few weeks where Muthu, Wan Yee and I had to hand wash almost 320 test tubes where we had to scrub the inside of each tube every single working day…by now I ought to have qualified for the highest status of houseman-ship (nothing to do with the medicine field), damn LOL. Having said that, I must stress that I didn’t mind at all because the lab to which I was assigned only had 2 guys (Muthu and I) while the rest are..you guessed it LOL but that isn’t the real reason just kidding. Speaking bout Muthu and Wan Yee, both of whom were my project partners, Muthu hails from UCSI while Wan Yee is from UTAR. Both had been absolutely fantastic to me; Muthu taught me from A to Z and also kept patiently reminding me lest I make mistakes (which I actually did every single day without fail LOL) and Wan Yee had been a motherly figure to me with her highly sarcastic remarks whenever I make mistakes but yet I felt comfortable talking to her each time, the irony. However, she had been patient with me also while constantly guiding me all the time. Crap, this could only spell disaster; thanks to their generosity which spoilt me, I took their reminders for granted and never bothered to learn from my mistakes but hey I still washed those test tubes ma LOL. Some of you might be seeing stars by now so I better introduce the bunch of Utarians and Ucsians before I go on.

UCSIans from left to right: Lee Tin, Zhen Qin, Muthu, Tian Tian, Melissa, Cammie, Yuan Ni & Yik Lim and Alicia.

UTARians from left to right: Chee Lay, Chia Yen, Kar Chu, Aaron & Sook Theng, Li Ern, May Juin and Wan Yee.

MONASHians from left to right: Suzan, Sam, Su Ee, Ivan, me and Alex

Picture this: u rise at 650am, leave house at 700am, endure the jam outside your house + jam at Jalan Puchong + jam at OKR for a good one and a half hours (maybe that explains why I always arrived late for work), work till 530pm (but I was almost always destined for OT), then go home and endure jam at LDP for at most 15 to 20 minutes. Yup, this pretty much sums up my weekdays and thus explains why I initially loathed the training. But all that would change once I got to know these fellow trainees better.

UCSIans
Lee Tin: Pretty quiet. Does her work meticulously to the extent I initially mistook her as permanent staff of SDTC haha. Polite too. And i’m glad to know that she’s from Johor too, erm Kulai if I ain’t mistaken
Zhen Qin: Rather eccentric and by that I don’t mean you but the work you were assigned to (she can sit still and keep staring at the laptop for hours while resisting the temptation to join her fellow labmates who gossip most of the time haha. But heck she gets crazy with her funny antics at times
Muthu: Aaah, my project partner, also my ‘dad in law’. A walking loudspeaker with highly infectious antics and you definitely livened up the workplace. Your presence transformed SDTC into my second home for as long you were there LOL. Pst: I just discovered the antennae you fixed for me only receives Al Jazeera wavelength lah, and that explains why we almost always never understood each other haha
Tian Tian: Initially I figured her Tian Tian in mandarin means ‘everyday’ so that’s what I called her. Heck no, Tian Tian basically means ‘Sweet or Manis’, and that characterizes her personality too. She indirectly kept me covered as she always prepared sterile-sterile pipette tips, which I used a lot LOL
Melissa: If Zhen Qin is crazy then she is hopelessly mad. Nola joking nia haha. Bubbly personality and came up with the idea of pooling everybody’s friendster and MSN addresses. Good one LOL
Cammie: This girl…haih…this girl…haih. Haha. I took the longest to start speak to her. Maybe she is painfully shy with guys but that’s only a hypothesis haha. Throughout my time there, her vocabulary to me consisted of only 3 cantonese words- CHI SIN, PAT KONG and SEI LA LEI. But I enjoyed talking to you and once I knew you I had the tendency to ‘kacau’ you just to hear you say those 3 canto words hahahaha. And I must admit your presence in our lab certainly spiced things up LOL
Yuan Ni and Yik Lim: One’s a girl. Another’s a boy (Like duh haha). Yuan Ni has lots of thoughtful opinions to spare when it comes to love matters while Yik Lim has awesome opinions when it comes to sex issues (he could be seen watching South Park on laptop during working hours haha). No offence lah and I must say both of you certainly displayed maturity beyond your years
Alicia: HAHAHA. The very first person I would look for to bully whenever I step into the lab. You can hit, whack or swat her but none of these would anger her and she would complain to Yik Lim (supposedly her father) but Yik Lim would just encourage me to bully her more hahaha so farney. Possesses a model’s built and definitely reminded me of one of Charlie’s angels.
Surain: Hmm I can’t say much for I spoke the least to you but from what I observed, he always came to my lab to speak to Yuan Ni…must be matters concerning the heart LOL. A romeo in the making. Maybe you already are

UTARians
Chee Lay: Sometimes she eats slower than I, sometimes it’s the other way round. Truly glad to have met someone who has an identical chewing rate as I. Smooth and fluent when it comes to talking and wears a smile all the time
Chia Yen: Snow White. So white u could never differentiate her from a piece of new A4 paper. Paper gets burnt easily though and I guess that’s why she carries an umbrella all the time haha. Serious when at work but can be farney whenever I speak to her haha
Aaron: Another shy guy. I think he is painfully shy with guys too hahaha. But usually ‘shy guys possess knowledge in abundance’ and he is a paragon of this statement. Helped me and Wan Yee a lot with dilution factors hahaha
Sook Theng: Another nice gal. Somewhat different from the Utarians I know as she speaks English and no mandarin. A shame I did not interact enough with you to be able to tag you with absurd descriptions hahaha
Li Ern: Think sunshine. Think Li Ern. That’s the impression I got whenever I spoke to her. Kinda reminds me of Yuan Ni with her wisdom but also has a bubbly personality; when the bubble ‘pops’, it brings warmth into the lab (erm not increasing the lab’s temperature, just a metaphor)
May Juin: Exudes a sophisticated and confident exterior and has the natural talent of making high-class criticism tinged with sarcasm hahaha. If Muthu is Luther Vandross then she must be Diana Ross
Wan Yee: What can I say more? You had been so great to me; constantly putting me on the receiving end of your highly sarcastic remarks but yet I enjoyed talking to you. You almost don’t sense the slightest hypocrisy when interacting with her, she just speaks her mind out and oh yeah, she is my ‘grandmother’ and that’s why she always kept me in check, lest I said ‘CRAP’ in the middle of an assay; only she will understand that LOL.

Ottagons? Ottagians? Ottains? Haiya Otak-Otak will do lah
Evylyne: Ahaha it’s a surprise that we both know Yea Lee. The world is definitely getting smaller, if not rounder. You have been helpful to me, teaching me how to use, clean and turn off the centrifuge machine. Thus think centrifuge, think Evylyne. Joking. It’s a shame I wasn’t there to see you off in KLIA, my bad, no excuses. Anyway good to know you. And I still think that keychain is not a keychain lah, like some spying device LOL

Monashians
Su Ee: Smart. Hardworking. Performs her job earnestly. Speaks little though and seldom joins in group gossips but somewhat different from her peers in her batch (and I mean it in a good way hahaha)
Alex: Another quiet guy. Helped me a lot when I initially call him ‘lengzai’ but he wisened up to my tactic that it did not work on him after a few weeks. Beneath this shy exterior lurks a joker who speaks (when he does speak on few occasions) meaningful stuff and has the ability to ‘tembak’ you when u least expect it. Dude, speak more and see you in campus!
Suzan: My hypothetical daughter. Also extremely helpful and pleasant. Performs her job with unwavering dedication. Salute. Its always good to know I can have an exemplary daughter (whom I didn’t know until recently) without going through the hard way of parenting
Samuel and Ivan: Awww dudes, what can I say more? Friends for more than 2 years and I’m glad we went through this training together. Really good to have you guys around for your presence enriched my experience both in Monash and SDTC!

Note: There are other trainees from various institutions and some relatively new trainees from UCSI whom I got to know for around a month or so before we left but readers would go to slumberland if I were to mention each and everyone of them, so sorry lah to those I have to miss out (Jo Leen, Yae Sze, Jane, Vino, Sashita, Reisa etc.).

All in all, this industrial training had provided me a wonderful experience which would definitely linger in my mind for a long time. Best of all, I got reacquainted with camaraderie (last experienced in college days) and learnt how it should actually be especially in our current society; no hypocrisy, backstabbing and other awful stuff one can ever conjure, but just enjoying each other’s company and stuff like that.

This industrial training experience had been fantastic simply because of my time with you guys!

-Cheers-

Random pictures

Deeparaya celebration

This is how Sam and I while time away while waiting for lunch break


Xmas celebration. left to right: Me, Alicia, Yuan Ni, Li Ern and Muthu


Er may i introduce to you the 'pig' family


Errr...this is the 'duck' family


BBQ night


This is what happens when the wage is somewhat little LOL