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most likely most people haven't seen it yet since they are stuck at school or work, so here it is. O-LEVELS RESULTS ARE GONNA BE RELEASED ON 24TH!

and I haven't quite decided on which course to go to yet. and I have to submit my 12 (!) choices by 28th! arghhh damn!

and who fancies knowing the school you are posted to by SMS? hmm. and somehow I must pay yet again for something compulsory. $7 dollars for pressing the "submit" button on a website on my computer with my electricity? what the heck?

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Source: http://www.moe.gov.sg/press/2008/pr20080121.htm

21 January 2008

Release of 2007 GCE O-Level Examination Results and
2008 JAE & JPSAE

1. The results of the 2007 Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level (GCE O-Level) Examination will be released on Thursday, 24 January 2008.

2. School candidates may collect their results from their schools at 2:00 pm on 24 January 2008. Private candidates will be informed of their results by post. Private candidates may also access their results through the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board website at http://www.seab.gov.sg from 2:00 pm on 24 January 2008.

3. Students can submit applications to junior colleges (JCs), Millennia Institute (MI), polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) via both the Joint Admissions Exercise (JAE) and the Joint-Polytechnic Special Admissions Exercise (JPSAE) using their GCE O-Level results.

4. This year, students will be able to receive the posting results of their JAE application through an additional channel, via SMS text messaging. Students must provide a local mobile phone number during registration through the JAE Internet System (JAE-IS) to receive the SMS.

A) Joint Admissions Exercise

5. The JAE is conducted annually by the Ministry of Education (MOE) to allow those who had sat for the GCE O-Level Examination to apply for admission to courses offered by the JCs, MI, polytechnics and ITE.

General Information

6. The following groups of applicants are eligible to participate in the JAE:

a. All Singapore Citizens (SCs) or Permanent Residents (PRs) with valid GCE O-Level Examination results.

b. Foreign applicants studying in a government school, government-aided school or independent school in Singapore with valid 2007 GCE O-Level Examination results.

7. The JAE registration period is for 5 calendar days (including Sunday), starting from 3:00 pm on Thursday, 24 January 2008 until 4:00 pm on Monday, 28 January 2008.

8. For more information on the JAE, applicants can refer to:

a. JAE Website at http://www.moe.gov.sg/esp/schadm/jae; or

b. MOE Customer Service Centre at 6872-2220 during office hours.

Registration Process

9. Applicants are to submit their application online through the JAE-IS. The JAE-IS is accessible through the JAE website at http://www.moe.gov.sg/esp/schadm/jae.

a. Eligible applicants who sat for the 2007 GCE O-Level Examination will receive ‘Form A’ on the day of the release of examination results (i.e. 24 January 2008). Form A will list:

i. The applicant’s GCE O-Level Examination results;

ii. The courses which he/she is eligible to apply for under the JAE; and

iii. His/her JAE-PIN (i.e. a personal password for the applicant to access the online internet registration system).

b. Applicants are strongly advised to complete the course application worksheet (provided in both Form A and the JAE information booklet) before submitting the online application on the JAE-IS. Applicants who have completed their worksheet prior to logging on to the JAE-IS should be able to complete their applications on the JAE-IS in less than 15 minutes.

c. Applicants are required to use their NRIC or FIN number, together with the JAE-PIN that is provided in their Form A, to access the JAE-IS. Similar to the 2007 JAE, a SingPass is not required.

d. Applicants must provide a local mobile phone number during registration through JAE-IS if they wish to receive the results of their JAE application through SMS text messaging.

e. For SCs/PRs who did not sit for the 2007 GCE O-Level Examination:

i. They are required to use their NRIC and SingPass to access the JAE-IS.

ii. Alternatively, they may register their applications personally at MOE Customer Service Centre during the JAE registration period. To do this, applicants are required to bring along their original identity card, their GCE O-Level Examination certificate/results slip and their Secondary School report cards.

10. During the registration period for the JAE, all JCs, MI, the polytechnics, ITE and all secondary schools will also make available computing facilities for students to make their applications online.

Application Fees

11. An application fee of $7 will be charged for the first application, and $10 for amendment of choice(s) to the submitted application. Only one amendment is allowed. JAE applicants will not need to make their fee payment online during the JAE period. All JAE application fees will only be collected after the exercise, by the institution (i.e. JC, MI, polytechnic or ITE) that the applicant is eventually enrolled in.

Results of Application

12. The posting results of the JAE application are tentatively scheduled for release on Tuesday, 19 February 2008 through the following modes:

a. Form D (containing the posting results) will be sent to all applicants via mail;

b. JAE IVRS (Interactive Voice Response System) at telephone number 6691-2131;

c. JAE-IS, which is accessible through the JAE website at http://www.moe.gov.sg/esp/schadm/jae; and

d. SMS to mobile phone number provided by applicant during registration.

B) Joint Polytechnic Special Admissions Exercise

13. The JPSAE will be conducted, together with the JAE, from 24 January 2008 to 28 January 2008. A student can apply concurrently to both the JPSAE and JAE. Successful applicants may be offered a course under the JAE and the same or another course under the JPSAE. Students who are offered courses under both JAE and JPSAE can decide to accept one of the two offers and exercise it during the enrolment period set by the polytechnics.

14. The JPSAE complements the existing JAE, by allowing polytechnics to consider applicants based on a broader measure of merits beyond performance in the GCE O-Level Examination. Under the JPSAE, each polytechnic will be able to admit up to 5 per cent of their annual intake of students based on their special talents and aptitude. Each polytechnic will have the discretion to determine its modes of assessing applicants’ talents and achievements, including portfolios and interviews, among others. The polytechnics will set their own respective selection criteria to ensure that only applicants who are able to cope with the rigours of a diploma education are admitted.

15. Details on the JPSAE can be found at http://www.polytechnic.edu.sg/jpsae and on the respective polytechnics’ websites.

the new stephen chow movie CJ7 (长江7号, obvious spoof of the recent spacecraft created in China CJ1) will open in Singapore cinemas on February 7, 2008.

that is the chinese new year and is also my birthday. woohoo. angpows as birthday presents ok.

anyway, the main point of this post is to show you their trailer. thought it was quite funny, both the antics of the kid and the narration.

towards the end the narration reads "the show that proves that even in space, your father can still hear you scream." and that girl (!) just screamed out loud.

oh yeah, that little boy-lookalike is actually a little girl by the name of Xu Jiao.

the singapore version is dubbed in chinese by the way. so no worries for cantonese noobs *thats me* and those who are deficient in the reading of chinese language *not me*

in other news, Ah Long Pte Ltd (老师嫁老大), the latest Jack Neo film, hits the cinemas the same day as my birthday.

finally, the trailer is HD and might take a while to load. you can click on the zoom button on the bottom right corner for a fullscreen view.

as you can see, I am avoiding all the time and brainpower consuming posts till further notice. today, lets talk about my life in its current state. which is really very much dominated by work.

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about

I am a stacker (or merchandiser) at Sheng Siong Supermarket, Jalan Bahar branch. I am on the night shift and is stationed mainly at the cleaning and hygiene products lane (lane 1 and 2) so come look for me there.

dont look for me on fridays since it is my off day.

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background

close friends would know that I had been working since the 2nd this month. at first I am quite reluctant for people to come and visit me since I am supposed to be cashier on night shift, which is gonna be quite helluva busy.

but I am switched to a stacker since they had one too many cashiers. and after experiencing the working condition, I thought it would be better if someone actually went there to talk cock with me.

so please do pop by if you happen to be there, I will welcome you with my outstretched arms with gif-stained palms! (more on that later)

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scope

now what is a stacker? stacker is basically those people you see unloading stocks from their boxes and placing them onto the shelves. in addition, we wheel newly-arrived stocks into the store itself or to the goods area twice daily when the delivery truck comes by and drops the goods.

we also add, remove and/or rearrange items on the shelf to make space for items that more people buy, which would warrant a trip to the goods area and plenty of "excuse me" as you manoeuvre your way in the store with a goods trolley.

that is what I do in the afternoons when the crowd is small and we can still draw stocks from the goods area.

by night, when the crowd is bigger, I will arrange or push the stuff on display forward so they are more obvious to you customers. through this, I mastered the art of making my lane look well-stocked even though it isnt.

then, there are always brainless customers who simply have a problem with carrying things back to where they belong. it becomes our job.

other times at night I end up doing sai gang, like scrubbing the remants of price stickers (used in the era when sheng siong was not using digital wireless price tags yet) off the shelves. it is a dirty job using gif (you know that stupid white suspension for cleaning) with a very fitting dirty cloth.

the scrubbing is a real chore, since some labels were so badly torn off that their marks cannot be removed without using plenty of force or even being unremovable. and you can imagine how I felt doing this at night, when customers are at its peak.

well, at least there is a chiobu promoter to keep me entertained while I scrub like a cow. today's conversation revolved around snow white, seven dwarfs and "seven up". she is 20 over (I am forced to not reveal the exact age) and is attached, so dont let wrong ideas get into your head.

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pay

am I even supposed to discuss this here? lol. anyway, I prefer to think it is above average for such an untechnical job. I work 8 hours a day on a fixed shift for 6 days a week. rest day is a fixed weekday (friday for me). lunch/dinner (depends on your shift) is provided. malaysians put in 10 hours instead with a slight increase in pay.

talking about pay, today is pay day. everyone got their salary, except me. zz. they said it was because I only commenced work on the 2nd. but surely they could have paid me the 200 over dollars for this few days first. but they cant. damn.

it is really irritating to see people taking their pay slips and yet all you get is a scolding. think that guy dislikes me talking to that chiobu promoter. good riddance to him.

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attire

we can wear whatever we want, provided it covers enough skin to prevent abrasions caused by repeated loading and unloading.

the only necessity is the staff pass, which is a laminated card you wear around your neck with a sheng siong lanyard. it reads "temporary staff" with a unique ID.

however, from next week onwards, the cashiers will be wearing some traditional chinese shirt thing. overheard them choosing sizes. dont think we are included. we will just dirty it anyway.

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malaysians, malaysians, malaysians

one thing that would become inherently obvious is that nearly all (in fact all for my branch) of the full time staff are malaysians. their accent when speaking chinese and their flair for cantonese makes it real obvious.

the chio promoter is malaysian. my direct boss, officially an assistant supervisor, is malaysian. my fellow colleague cum full-time stacker is malaysian. even the big bosses, the store managers (there are 3) are malaysian too. heck, the temporary auntie working in the afternoon 12-5 slot is malaysian as well.

the only singaporeans, other than us part-timers, is the auntie on the 6-11 shift, whose name I dont know since everyone (including me) calls her auntie for her seniority (she is over 40). I can guarantee you most other staff dont even come close to her age.

I have nothing against malaysians, in fact they are all quite nice (except one or two really bad examples). just thought that it provides a stark contrast to NTUC FairPrice, who nearly employs all singaporeans.

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meals

after five days, I thought I loved today's most. there is chicken cubes in sauce (my favourite!), veggie (plenty daily, rather bad quality too may I add) and 鱼片 (wow!). it is great considering they are serving us 肉酱 and vegetables just the day before.

I heard complaints about the food being bad. but I had been able to stuff everything down. I was never too picky when it comes to food so I guess it is an advantage here. lol.

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other classified (so far) comments

actually there are some strange rules and quirks that I thought would be fun to share, but perhaps not now since I am still employed there. and I think I quite need this job.

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think I had talked enough about my job. any more and I think I might just lose it. anyway, remember the main reason for this post.

come and visit me dammit.