My last (short) blog post in 2010

Happy new year to all :) May this be a year of many new beginnings. This post is to specially remember sis Mi-en and hubby who will be joined together as husband and wife tomorrow morning. May God's grace be upon their union.

Hope I can blog more this coming year too! Nothing too much to say. But many thoughts to gather.

Last round of CORS

This is the last round of CORS bidding for my module and for the first time, I file for graduation. Somehow ever since my departure from SP/Merck when my industrial attachment ended, I seem to just take these last times by the stride now. My last school-like semester is going to be punctured with job-hunting, accommodation-hunting, poster making and The Presentation. And of course, there's our final year activities in Raffles Hall.

I have one S/U left, and I do badly want to take one more UE. However, looking at my current workload, it would/might be better to dedicate more time to hunt for a job/place to stay instead, or learn something interesting that doesn't need commitment, since even an extra A+ from a UE can't move my honours up anymore.

So bye bye UE. And bye bye CORS. Bidding ends today for me.

And hello 2011. I'd always thought you've never come. For one, your coming means I (finally) end my formal education. And for another, you make me feel old, as you mark the coming of the second 'Rabbit year' that I'm conscious of.

End of IA

My IA ends! And I think either it's my last day or something but I feel so happy! Not because I'm leaving (not so fun being jobless after all), but it's because once you sound the bell that you're leaving, everyone treats the day as if it's your birthday or something. They are all extra nice :)

And so Gail wants to thank:

• Her beloved supervisor for letting her go off from work early, and being incredibly sweet to her throughout the internship, and for every single thought and care for her intern's convenience.
• Her quality director for instantly presenting her with three of his name cards, and added her as a friend on FB with the reminder that she can always contact him if she has questions/need job/anything. And for the goodbye hug he gave.
• Her fun-filled Exp lab & Packg lab chemists for letting her stay in their lab for an hour plus, (and held up their work by talking and listening to them step on each other), played the last table soccer with her (and tried to let her win), for treating her to yogurt and drinks, and for making capsule sorting an enjoyment. And she appreciates the fact that they (or one of them) initially planned to trick her over to play table soccer yesterday too. :p
• Her makan colleagues who purposely asked her to makan for a last time and gave her a goodbye present.
• The very nice Uncle who drives the internal shuttle bus, who wanted to treat her for lunch, but unfortunately her schedule was already filled. Will lunch with him another day though - has taken contact down!
• Her fellow IA students in Merck and SP who sent farewell messages, chocs, and goodbye well-wishes.
• Everyone who wished her goodbye, took pics with her, and liked her card aka bookmarks.
• Everyone who made SP a place to be missed and remembered.

I miss SP already. Though of course, I want to go home for hols too!

Moving on

Another phase of my internship (a.k.a. capsule sorting) is over. I don't really adore capsule sorting that much (but someone has to do it), but at least they were colored. I finished almost all by myself within 4 days - and taking my own sweet time on top of that. I don't feel like leaving the lab I was working with, because it's full of fun young people! (Yes, they call themselves 'aunties' and 'uncles' but actually they are all less than 10 years older than me). The lab I was in is actually a combination of two different labs from different plant sites. Since I was working with packaging, I got to visit an actual packaging lab too, and the chemists there (who were also very nice).

Today when a colleague asked if I would be coming back again tomorrow, I was so sad I had to say no. (Would have to freeze in front of my computer seat instead, as my work in that plant site was over.) That colleague has been through this capsule-sorting process with me, and all through those 4 days I was around, I had talked to her a lot about a multitude of things (basically about life-after-school). I'm going to miss her company a lot. It was very kind of her to bring me around when she was visiting her colleagues in the other plant site for tea break and such, because she knew I was bored.

I guess it's only after these four days working in the Biotech facility that I realized how much I crave company in my workplace. Take my desk for example. It is right beside the door, isolated from all the other seats (but at least I get to say hi to the people walking through the door, and I'm always the first-pass for 'who's seat is where' when unfamiliar people come looking for other colleagues). The only seat near me (behind me) is empty. =.= I only get to talk a little bit through Instant Messaging or when other interns come up to deliver stuff or look for the secretary.

Location apart, I guess I am to blame also for not being naturally chatty and friendly, and taking the initiative to talk to people (it gets rather tiring making forced conversations after a while). I think the main problem is the age-gap, and that most people already formed their social circles too. The thing is, while I can talk well with people one-to-one, in a group I tend to be more quiet, mainly because I feel that it is not nice to interrupt when more senior colleagues are conversing. I guess I need to make a small change to this somehow. It helps to be able to communicate naturally (instead of making small, polite exchanges only), to people not from my generation.

Anyway. I shall miss the free tea during teabreaks, the rather frequent breaks, and the conversation and lightheartedness of the lab. :( What's more the air-con isn't so icy-cold too. But on the bright side, I was really glad to know these people before I ended my internship. It somehow, made the experience more complete, if you know what I mean. :)

Some Quotes To Share

Thanks Hue Wen for sharing via email. Just decided to do some short sharing with my view on some of them.

Sometimes we think we know best. But remember it is our Father in Heaven that looked down on centuries and centuries of men and the way they live. He designed our life and knows in what way it will be best for us. Ultimately life is not for our glory but His.

Hence the need for vigilance, vigilance, vigilance. Only those with oil in their lamps, only whose who are ready will be able enter the Kingdom.

Be not hasty to judge, for there is much about ourselves to be judged about. A reminder to self to control 1) words, and 2) thoughts of judgement towards others.

A place where God often shows His providence and causes man to turn to Him (and those who do will not find His promises empty). However, it would be best if God is not always treated as a last resort for the desperate. Again, reminder to self.

Those who preach/give advice carry such a burden. A reminder to self to live in what is taught to others. A reminder to self also, to be less judgmental towards those in a position to preach - as it is always not easy to live it up.

Always true, even in the darkest and driest of spiritual grounds.

True again - sometimes I think He even disqualifies the qualified so that when He works through them, His glory will shine instead.

In fact, a rough passage is promised. Without molding how is the potter's clay shaped?

There are people who like to question all the time. I just believe that eventually, the answers will come themselves, and we shall be satisfied.

This quote is pretty cute. There are no coincidences.

Yes, and I should be bigger than who I am now.

Or my version of this will be: you know how big a person is when you know who he depends on.

Nothing that cannot be accomplished; even defeats are meant for a purpose.

Be thankful, under all circumstances, for all this is not coincidence, but grace.

Prayer is not just about meeting needs, it's an opening to see how to meet more needs.

Or there will be a resounding crash.

Block 6 Family Photo :)

Miss our Block 6 family loads. We're missing Archi Boy & Archi girl here. :P

Things That Happened in December

Note: View available pics in my Facebook profile. (Not a complete set.)

Swee Yee's birthday celebration

It was a bomb of a birthday celebration with sparklers and surprises. Too bad all my pictures were blurred because of all the smoke we created. Birthday girl was very overwhelmed.

Tangled movie date.

A must-watch. Free tickets thanks to Jon's MNO award :p Funny and sweet enough for a Disney movie, but I have this feeling that it could have gone further. Watched with Boss & Wing Mei too.

Farewell lunch with my supervisor

Was treated for lunch at Jurong Point. Super nice! Also learned not to take anything at all for granted. Every chance you get might be one deprived from someone else when resources are scarce, and it doesn't mean that you're more deserving of it all the time. Be grateful, and make the most of each opportunity, for yourself, and for every person the opportunity was denied of.

Mind Cafe birthday celebrations

Went to celebrate Alex & Piang's birthdays. Free games for girls because it was ladies' nights. Had fun especially when viewing everyone's expressive artwork during Pictionary. Loved to see Alex, Li Wei, Phea and Shu Lin again.

Pill inspection

One of my current projects at work. It's actually sai-kang work, but the people made it so fun. Love the lab chemists in the lab I did this, because they were so inclusive. Played table soccer with them. I'm bad at it, but it was a good bonding session. More people I will miss in SP!

A New Identity

I thought I was going to leave SP soon, but SP left sooner than I did.

This morning when I was taking the internal shuttle bus to Merck (or MSD South), I saw the SP logo and name at the entrance of the Biotech Facility being taken down. The one on Tablet was still intact. On the way back, I noticed that the API Facility which I worked in already had the Merck logo up with its new address at the grand entrance.

SP had officially become part of Merck (in business terms) yesterday. Hence, the entrance logo changes and the address change.

I don't know why but I felt a bit sad when I saw the logos being taken down. SP may not be the best of the best pharmaceutical organizations out there, but it had a wonderful legacy, and it had made its distinct mark and contributions in the industry. On the internet, it had very good reviews from its employees too. Most people who worked there loved its culture. And they gave suggestions for improvement, but ended their comments saying that there's no point for suggestions since there was already new ownership of the organization.

So officially starting from this month, SP is no more. There is only Merck International GmBH. It would be hard to wipe out SP entirely from the buildings though. I looked at the door puller of the DPI entrance and saw that the handles were elegantly shaped 'S and P'. I wonder how they are taking that out. I saw our walls are still colored yellow and red. The corridors and office layout were very much different from that of MSD yet. The people are kind of in between - some using the new green MSD lanyards, while others still keeping their red ones. Everyone works extra hard due to staff shortage for the new combined company, but I still hear the terms 'we', and 'us', versus 'they' and 'them', on and off. There is still much cultural and artifact harmonizing to be done.

In a business module I did last semester, Prof. Kai did mention that people need time to grieve when there is change, and we must give them that time. I'm not sure whether people or they just take merger in their stride as this flux is getting common at this day and age; panicking only when it affects their interests. But having worked half a year in SP, I do feel a lot for its legacy, although I like the Merck legacy as well. Hopefully these two organizations would progress to greater heights after they wed, for the welfare of its stakeholders and the development of the local and international pharmaceutical industry.