candies for my faithful readers...

sorry for the delay, and this time i had a problem with blogger, when i clicked preview and then went back to compose mode, i lost couple of lines from the last changes T_T.

because of last time incident, i'll try to make today's journal less lengthy than what i intended to do. what? what do you expect from an amateur writer like me?!? ^^'. do you guys (and gals) ready to find those words that i mentioned yesterday? let the game begins!!! ^^v. *bang*

my social visit pass was going to expire on 27 april, so i decided to extend it a week before it was due and i think tuesday was a good day to visit immigration and checkpoints authority (ica) of singapore <http://www.ica.gov.sg/>. i was planning to arrive early, around 0715, but i went to bed around 0200. i managed, somehow, to wake up at 0545 and decided to get 15 minutes extra time to rest. boy, what a big mistake i made!

the sun shined through my room and piercing my lovely eyes. "argghh!! my beautiful eyes!!!," i said to myself, and then i remembered what i was supposed to do on that day. woke up and got up in shocking condition, "ooh my gawddd! what time is it?", looked at the clock, minus the time by 5 minutes (thanks to my cousin who set the time 5 minutes early. so, how many of you have to do simple math calculation in the morning? math is good, you know? ^^), and concluded it was 0659. took a quick shower and dressed nicely.

i took my cell phone and noticed i got a new message. i checked and it was from my cousin. he tried to wake me up by sending sms. for those who don't know, i have problem to wake up from my sleep, even alarm, including noisy fire alarm, won't wake me up (well, maybe after 15-30 minutes the alarm went off, eventually, i will awake; but, i don't like bothering neighbour with my noisy alarm for that long ^^'). i might wake up if someone annoys me during my beauty sleep, but not guaranteed. based on my previous experiences, i usually ended up by woke up unconsciously to give response to them and went back to sleep. the current effective way for me is by programming my brain when i would like to wake up. my cousin analyzed this phenomenon and concluded that i am a deep sleeper (hey! i thought deep sleeper is only appropriate title for those who are away from this world?!!? someone who lives in graveyard? ^^'). well, enough about that. now, back to my story.

i arrived at ica building around 0750, and the queue line was already way way way back there T_T. when the door was opened at 0800, the line started moving fairly quick, and to my surprise, no one was running. last time i went to ica building on saturday, when the door was opened, everyone was racing against each other to reach their destination first. anyway, i went to the receptionist on 4th floor, and got my queue number: 7041. when i saw this number, i thought i was the 41st person to apply visitor pass, but according to the ticket, there were 22 people in queue, i guess i was the 23rd person in queue. while waiting, i took out all necessary application forms, passport, copy and original degree certificates. i waited for 15-20 minutes until my queue number was called. the following were the conversation that i had with ica officer, they are not 100% precise tho ^^'.

ica officer : "good morning."
doriimaa    : "morning, sir."
ica officer : "what brings you here?"
doriimaa    : "i would like to apply for long term social visit pass."
ica officer : "do you bring the application forms?"
doriimaa    : "yes, i do." (handed in the application forms to ica officer).
ica officer : "do you have your passport with you? original and copy of your highest degree certificate?"
doriimaa    : "yes." (handed in my passport and took out the original and copy of my highest degree certificate).
ica officer : (browsing through my passport and showed disbelief look) "have you ever try to apply this?"
doriimaa    : "yes"
ica officer : "with the same applications? with that degree certificate?"
doriimaa    : "yes"
ica officer : "you cannot lah apply again with the same applications. last time you have been rejected."
doriimaa    : (my mixed emotions: O_o, *meep*, and :O) "i've been rejected? no one told me that i was rejected at that time."
ica officer : "you see, if you are applying for long term social visit pass, and get only one month extension, that means you have been rejected."
doriimaa    : "oh, ok. but i have this now." (handed in my employment pass eligibility (epe) certificate).
ica officer : "what's this? oh, it's an epe. you can apply again now."
ica officer : (stood up from his seat and stopped) "do you have a copy of this?"
doriimaa    : "yes, i have." (handed in the copy of epe).
ica officer : (returned my original epe and started to get busy).
doriimaa    : "you still need these?" (showed my original and copy of highest degree certificate).
ica officer : "no need lah with epe."
doriimaa    : (waited for 3-5 minutes)
ica officer : (handed in the receipt) "come back at 1130 ah?"
doriimaa    : "ok, thank you."

i went to mcdonald at bugis, had my big breakfast meal with icy milo, and i'm lovin' it ^^. i decided to return immediately to ica building and arrived there around 1000. not so long after i arrived, my queue number was called. my long term social visit pass has been approved up to 6 (six) months. also, i got multiple journey visa for singapore until 18 october 2005. wheee..., what a happy day, with an exception i had to pay s$60 fee ^^'.

what did i learn from this experience? i learned that if someone applies long term social visit pass and only get one month extension, they need a balloon. i think singapore goverment is nice enough to give visitors a chance to find a job in one month, even though, they have been rejected.

but personally, in my case, i prefer they told me that i was rejected. i might already employed now in philippine as mobile games developer. for those who don't know, i actually already got job offer in manila to work as mobile games developer, but i decided to try my luck in singapore.

currently i have a plan, if i don't get a job by the end of may, i think i'm going to join the company in manila, if they are still hiring, of course ^^'. well, i haven't asked my dad regarding the company details in manila, but we both think that this is their website, http://www.spooninteractivearts.com/. i hope my dad see this blog and tell me the details since i always keep forgetting to ask him ^^' (or you guys can remind me about this, behold the power of blog! ^^v).

my cousin and i were in doubt if epe will help me to get six month extension, but with the result i got, i guess it is a powerful tool. for more information regarding how to get employment pass eligibility (epe) certificate, please refer to contact singapore website, http://www.contactsingapore.org.sg/. now, i only have to wait if my landed pr application will be approved or not, must wait 3-6 months T_T.

ok, that's all for now. i was planning to write on my wednesday's adventure but i'm too lazy now to write. i will post wednesday and tonight adventures by tomorrow. have a nice day people. ^^