Why am I sick again?! Is it due to being caught in the rain for the past two days? I had to go for an interview today then to buy SPF40 sunblock for the trip, but I was feeling so weak that I actually had to postpone the interview to tomorrow. So now I have to go for three interviews tomorrow, before rushing down for the full-dress rehearsal.
Needless to say I missed the rehearsal today. I could hardly do anything the whole day, I was feeling so cold and weak that I could only lie in bed and sleep the whole day. No matter how much water I drink, my mouth remained just as dry, and no matter how much I slept and the two layers of blankets I had on, I remained just as cold and weak. My eyes have been tearing the whole day and my head had been throbbing. I had no appetite to eat anything. What a waste of a nice day! I need to recover now! I have a performance on Friday and going away on Saturday!
I started my first voice lesson with my new teacher yesterday. He is really good! The warm-ups he asked me to do really opened my throat wide and by the time I was done with the warm-ups, there was not much work left to be done since everything was fully opened and I could just sing an aria effortlessly. Wow..... I never experienced a lesson like that before!
My brother wanted to follow in his friend's footsteps by being a ticketing assistant at the airport this vacation. Unfortunately, he called in too late and the vacancies are all filled, so he has to spend the holiday bumming around again, and studying for his 'A' levels next year. Strangely, my mum was so enthusiastic when he said he wanted a vacation job. She never really approved of me having a vacation job until after my GCEs.
Ever since I entered secondary school, I wanted to work every vacation. I thought of working in one of the fast-food chains, or do some waitressing. My mum disapproved and said that no daughter of hers would be allowed to work at any fast food restaurant or be a waitress. What is wrong with those jobs anyway?
So throughout secondary school, the only vacation job I did was to help my dad in his office (when he was headquartered here), or my uncle in the Singapore office of my grand-uncle's company which has the headquarters in Jakarta. However it was no fun working for my dad as nobody wanted to give me work and whatever I volunteered to do was taken away by others just for the status of being the boss's daughter. My dad's former employees tried their best to make me as comfortable as possible, but I was so bored with nothing to do.
After my GCEs, I had a six-month hiatus before tertiary education, so I started working in various places. By day I was an assistant in a library shelving books, collating newspaper articles and reports and recording new books and audio-visual materials, in the afternoon I was working in a child-care centre taking charge of nursery and kindergarten kids, during the weekends I was working in a computer store doing stock-taking, repairs, installing programs, answering phone queries and serving customers, while at the same time giving tuition. I cannot say that I earned that much due to all these odd jobs as compared to a fixed office job, but I love it! It was the experience and exposure that I wanted, not the monetary aspects.
When I started tertiary education, I was working almost every vacation until my final two years when I wanted to really enjoy my holidays. For three vacations, I was temping in two law firms as an office helper, doing everything from serving documents to filing to receptionist duties to drafting correspondences to legal research to taking charge of correspondences and documents to drafting documents to installing programs to setting up internet access to repairing computers and printers to making coffee / tea and even vacuuming. These two jobs lasted two and three months respectively, and I was really exploited with very little pay.
The other vacation job was with the Singapore Academy of Law where I helped to upload all the law reports online and creating an online database for the reports in chronological order. This job lasted for only a week and I was not even paid as it was already stated that this job was on a voluntary basis, but it was an enriching experience. My second ex got me this job since he was chosen by his lecturer to help out, and it was good as we got to work together and be with each other.
Then there was one vacation where I spent one whole long weekend from Thursday to Sunday being involved in the Supreme Court Open House, again on a voluntary basis. But the reward was we volunteers got to have tea with the Chief Justice himself. I had to be a tour guide, a walking map, a direction sign and a traffic controller but it was really fun! I got to know the entire area of the Supreme Court building inside out, although there are probably many changes now since the building has been renovated.
My main vacation job (and part-time job) was still tutoring. There were others, like going back to the childcare centre I used to work in and taking charge of play group kids for about two months, music teaching and door-to-door sales of Christmas cards (more doors slammed in my face instead, which gave me the conclusion that I can never have a career in sales).
I really enjoyed my vacation jobs as I got to learn so much. My parents used to scoff at me for working without pay, but I told them the exposure is more important. Money will come and go but the knowledge and experience gained will stay with me for a long time.
I will definitely encourage my brother (and my future children) to take on vacation jobs, even a few at a time. It is much better than just lazing around at home. At least you are doing something with your time and learning and experiencing something as well. It is a good opportunity to really grow and be more enriched.
Needless to say I missed the rehearsal today. I could hardly do anything the whole day, I was feeling so cold and weak that I could only lie in bed and sleep the whole day. No matter how much water I drink, my mouth remained just as dry, and no matter how much I slept and the two layers of blankets I had on, I remained just as cold and weak. My eyes have been tearing the whole day and my head had been throbbing. I had no appetite to eat anything. What a waste of a nice day! I need to recover now! I have a performance on Friday and going away on Saturday!
I started my first voice lesson with my new teacher yesterday. He is really good! The warm-ups he asked me to do really opened my throat wide and by the time I was done with the warm-ups, there was not much work left to be done since everything was fully opened and I could just sing an aria effortlessly. Wow..... I never experienced a lesson like that before!
My brother wanted to follow in his friend's footsteps by being a ticketing assistant at the airport this vacation. Unfortunately, he called in too late and the vacancies are all filled, so he has to spend the holiday bumming around again, and studying for his 'A' levels next year. Strangely, my mum was so enthusiastic when he said he wanted a vacation job. She never really approved of me having a vacation job until after my GCEs.
Ever since I entered secondary school, I wanted to work every vacation. I thought of working in one of the fast-food chains, or do some waitressing. My mum disapproved and said that no daughter of hers would be allowed to work at any fast food restaurant or be a waitress. What is wrong with those jobs anyway?
So throughout secondary school, the only vacation job I did was to help my dad in his office (when he was headquartered here), or my uncle in the Singapore office of my grand-uncle's company which has the headquarters in Jakarta. However it was no fun working for my dad as nobody wanted to give me work and whatever I volunteered to do was taken away by others just for the status of being the boss's daughter. My dad's former employees tried their best to make me as comfortable as possible, but I was so bored with nothing to do.
After my GCEs, I had a six-month hiatus before tertiary education, so I started working in various places. By day I was an assistant in a library shelving books, collating newspaper articles and reports and recording new books and audio-visual materials, in the afternoon I was working in a child-care centre taking charge of nursery and kindergarten kids, during the weekends I was working in a computer store doing stock-taking, repairs, installing programs, answering phone queries and serving customers, while at the same time giving tuition. I cannot say that I earned that much due to all these odd jobs as compared to a fixed office job, but I love it! It was the experience and exposure that I wanted, not the monetary aspects.
When I started tertiary education, I was working almost every vacation until my final two years when I wanted to really enjoy my holidays. For three vacations, I was temping in two law firms as an office helper, doing everything from serving documents to filing to receptionist duties to drafting correspondences to legal research to taking charge of correspondences and documents to drafting documents to installing programs to setting up internet access to repairing computers and printers to making coffee / tea and even vacuuming. These two jobs lasted two and three months respectively, and I was really exploited with very little pay.
The other vacation job was with the Singapore Academy of Law where I helped to upload all the law reports online and creating an online database for the reports in chronological order. This job lasted for only a week and I was not even paid as it was already stated that this job was on a voluntary basis, but it was an enriching experience. My second ex got me this job since he was chosen by his lecturer to help out, and it was good as we got to work together and be with each other.
Then there was one vacation where I spent one whole long weekend from Thursday to Sunday being involved in the Supreme Court Open House, again on a voluntary basis. But the reward was we volunteers got to have tea with the Chief Justice himself. I had to be a tour guide, a walking map, a direction sign and a traffic controller but it was really fun! I got to know the entire area of the Supreme Court building inside out, although there are probably many changes now since the building has been renovated.
My main vacation job (and part-time job) was still tutoring. There were others, like going back to the childcare centre I used to work in and taking charge of play group kids for about two months, music teaching and door-to-door sales of Christmas cards (more doors slammed in my face instead, which gave me the conclusion that I can never have a career in sales).
I really enjoyed my vacation jobs as I got to learn so much. My parents used to scoff at me for working without pay, but I told them the exposure is more important. Money will come and go but the knowledge and experience gained will stay with me for a long time.
I will definitely encourage my brother (and my future children) to take on vacation jobs, even a few at a time. It is much better than just lazing around at home. At least you are doing something with your time and learning and experiencing something as well. It is a good opportunity to really grow and be more enriched.
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