The Ideal Job

When I told her that I was busy doing work, and hence only started to print the cards one hour before I ended work, she replied me with something like "Like that a lot to do ar? I haven't even pass you the accounts part. The previous girl was doing more." Well, I think if she could cope, she wouldn't have left. 

I believe many of you face such grievances at work and some of you probably totally hate your job. So do I. It has only been 3 weeks into my second job and I already feel the shittiness. I'm starting to wonder whether the problem lies with me. Maybe I just can't work. Maybe I'm too pampered. I'm a complain queen who thinks that the grass is always greener on the other side. Yes, I thought I could find a better job when I was in my first one. I went through the interview of my current job thinking that I have found myself a better opportunity. The interviewer and the boss are both friendly and they believed in me. The company is developing itself and the boss seems sincere in wanting to give me this chance to prove my capability. "You look like a person with ambitions, you want to succeed but you don't know what directions you want to go", the boss told me. I thought at that time, that wow, finally somebody understands me. But no, all these are lies. This job is nothing like what I expected.

Why can't I just be in a normal job? But, is there such a thing as a normal job? I am not an ambitious woman. I lived all my life not really having any idea of my career path. I just know that I wanted this ideal normal office job, working just weekdays, having the ability to leave work on time, and to be able to put everything down on the work desk at the end of the day. I wanted a very balanced life whereby I have adequate time for myself and the people around me. I only knew I wanted to be a nice wife who has time to cook and clean for that one love, and a mother who is there for her children as they grow. But I'm not sure whether such a balanced job exist now, in this hectic era which revolves around fast paced technology.

Someone told me that there is no normal job in this world. Every job will have something that you hate and it is how you change your perspectives to make things work out. I now realized that this is very true. Looking back, I sometimes wished that I had studied something that is more specific. I wished I had developed some skills to use photoshop or some other softwares. It would be good to have some know-hows. I need to know what I wish to do in future when I was young. I could have played more sports or even picked up an instrument. Maybe I could pursue a career through a talent I have. At least my job would be more interesting. Yet, I was only studying. Studying hard so I can get a good job next time.

Then, look at me now.  

Daiso Soft Clay

After a lesson with Kin, my interest in clay crafts begins! I saw quite a number of youtube videos on Daiso soft clay and I decided to try it. Omg $2 only and you get a huge chunk. Daiso soft clay is said to be paper clay, and it really is very light. It feels very soft and some moisture can be felt on your hands when you knead the clay.

Togi 71 Korean Restaurant

Boyfriend's birthday dinner.

The location is convenient as it is near Chinatown mrt station. It has a very authentic Korean place ambience. 

The side dishes were okay. The Jajangmyeon is a little too sweet and doesn't smell that appetising. I have only ate Jajangmyeon once, in Korea, and I recalled it tasting less strong. The bibimbap is very wet even though only an adequate amount of chilli paste is added. The seafood pancake is kind of disappointing as compared to the one I had in Korea. It taste less crispy and is more of fishcake rather than pancake texture. The dumpling is okay too but I think you can buy the frozen ones from Ntuc.

Their service is good though. And they offered to mix the bibimbap and jajangmyeon for us. 

This is a rather short and negative post. I was probably expecting more.

Kin's Miniature Workshop

While I was planning what to do on my boyfriend's birthday, I came across this website, Kin's Miniature, whereby one time workshop for clay crafts is available! This sounds really fun for a one time event and a couple-do-it-together activity. I was interested in the self image making at $120 per 2 pax. Kin doesn't provide a phone number so I contacted her through the contact-me form two weeks earlier. Her replies were prompt and I managed to get a timeslot on his actual birthday. To confirm my slot, I transferred the payment to her bank account. 

The place is located at Chinatown, near the mrt station. But we had a difficult time reaching our destination. There isn't a clear sign of where her shop is because it is located within a Canon shop (should be Canon)! I had to call her before I know where it was. Her office is a really small and modest room. And frankly speaking, her work area is really messy! Nothing like a professional haha. 

Before she started, she looked at our outfit and appearance and asked us whether we want our clay image to wear the same colours as we were then. It is a big mistake to agree to my bf clay wearing white, and good thing I changed my clay dress to pink rather than black. She gives us step by step instructions and shows us how to do it. We use air dry clay which would dry naturally without baking. This is good for people who doesn't want another oven to bake polymer clays specifically. We mixed the beige colour oil paint into the resin clay and formed the heads. Using a straw, we poked the shape of the mouths, deeply, as the clay will bounce out once dried. 

The body was already pre-made by Kin, like a long oval shaped beige clay stuck on the toothpick. The shirt and pants are then wrapped around it. (After that I realized that the body clay is made of resin clay which dries harder than the soft clay used for clothing, hence it provides some hard support. Soft clay seems to stick permanent on resin clay, once touched, you won't be able to separate it.) I shouldn't have used white as his top because it is plain looking and it gets dirty easily, which it did. 

One of the fun parts is the attaching of hair to the head. Bf got it worse because female hair is more troublesome. By the way, the pink dress is made from mixing pink soft clay and white soft clay. Somehow, she didn't use paint mixture for this. 

After you stick the hair at the back, you need to attach strand by strand for the front and also pull the side burns down. Because the white top looks plain, I drew on it using a pen. (I don't think we should use a pen because it will smudge when you glaze it. That's why she told us not to varnish the pen parts.) The shoes are blue to add more colours! Haha. The feet look huge for the body. Kin gave us two hearts and I decided to attach it on the bodies to add some colour. She said that every couple's clay doll is unique and that I was the only one who attached the heart on the clay doll itself. 

Look at my currypok hair! So nice! And you can't see the ribbon at the back. It was actually very nice but it become flattened after we knead and press during adjustments. 

Kin's work on display in her workplace. To get colours so realistic, I think it is quite a challenge!

Overall, I think the workshop is great for first-timers, especially because you do not have to commit for more lessons. The self image clay making is challenging enough, let alone the food miniatures. Kin is a really friendly and patient lady too. However, I don't think the workshop is very professionally conducted so this may disappoint you. The space of the room is also quite small but sufficient for two students. The whole learning process is a little alienating because we were both focused on making our own clay. This could have been better if we were learning and making the same item. It was a memorable experience for us nevertheless :).

By the way, you can see our photos on Kin's website too hahaha.