accom voucher

just checked on the internet for the voucher that have ive won to make sure that its not a gimmick. my investigation reveals 2 things;

1) its a site for reservation requests
2) as per the voucher booklet, it did not lists the accomodation

like a good PI, i decided to look deeper into the story. i googled for ATC as this is the membership the vendor hawked to me. volia! asian travel club (the good times are about to begin...) looked up their portfolio of accomodations in bali and phuket. all seems pretty decent from the pictures provided. heck! any resorts will seem decent if most of the accoms you stayed in were YHA & backpackers hostels.

sample accoms:
Casa Del Mar Golf &Dive Resort (Cebu, Phillipines)
Seminyak Suites (Bali, Indonesia)
Royal Bali Beach Clubs Candidasa (Mangiss, Bali, Indonesia)
Radisson Bali Sanur (Bali, Indonesia)
Jimbaran Hills Resort (Bali, Indonesia)

i might just go cebu or bali to dive next yr...so no harm trying to cash in on the voucher. =)

p.s. i think must ask priscella to check out if these accoms are still standing n not insect-infested.

16 sept 05

16 sept 05. an eventful day for me.

- went to macro ocean to beg for a pay advice
- went to fujitsu to sign my appointment letter (haha!!! im finally employed)
- found out that my dad's arowana is on the verge of dying

its usual yellowish silver color was replaced by a ghastly white. Even the iris is turning white, becoming like one of those fishes you saw in the market. Its sluggish when swimming and from what dad told me, it has not been eating well for the past few weeks!!!

dad tried to kill bacteria by adding salt into the water (as suggested by an expert friend) to no avail. About an hour later, our arowana passed away. do fishes have afterlife?? hopefully, in afterlife, it will be happy and free.

dad is upset, he's been dreaming about it dying for the past few nights. maybe i'll make him happier by getting him a lobster. common blue? =)

op monster rears its head...AGAIN

are we the problem or our bosses are the arses? this questioned popped up yesterday during supper with kid and gene.

september is really a difficult time. with psycho murderers who chopped up bodies and killer mozzies who dengued us around, being singaporean is really not something attractive right now. and to top it off, there are the problem with politics, office politics to be exact.

kid is the most recent victim of office politics (previously the monster claimed geno first, me second and joy third). he did all his work sui sui, but still kanna screwed by the superiors. which brings us back to the original question. are we the problem or bosses are just arses?

cracked my brain and listed some arguments below to help you decide. its your call.

pro-bosses
- staff must be more than executioners, they must be solution-providers
- must give the extra mile
- must be sociable and interact
- must be initiative and anticipate what we want

pro-employees
- do sui sui also kanna f'ed
- bosses like to throw personnal insults
- treat us like idiots
- bosses like to dangle carrots


p.s. if the agency called back and give me the job, then sept will be a better month. at least for me. =)

request for response

did what i said i was going to do. wrote to Underwater World Sentosa to complained about the situation with their exhibits. below is the extract of the email that ive sent to feedback address (uwspl@underwaterworld.com.sg):

Dear Sir / Madam,

I am writing to express my concerns with regards to some of your exhibits on display based on my recent visit to Underwater World Singapore (UWS). For being a state-of-the-art leisure and educational attraction, I am appalled by some of the conditions and treatment your marine life which to me, borderlines to the edge of cruelty.

Turtle Pool
I saw an unusual high number of turtles in the Turtle Pool enclosure which I do not believe to be larger than half an Olympic-sized swimming pool. I took a count and was amazed that you have more than 10 turtles living in such a small enclosure. I am very sure that as an organization that is part of turtle conservational programme, UWS would be aware that marine turtles are pelagic since they have to travel between foraging and breeding sites. As such, the Turtle Pool to me is a very unsuitable, overcrowded habitat.

In addition, all marine turtles are endangered species listed in CITES appendix I (www.CITES.org). It is stated on UWS website that some of the green turtles will be returned back to the ocean. I salute this effort, but what about the hawksbills and loggerheads? UWS would do well to prevent extinction of these species by releasing majority of them back to the wild, giving them the chance of flourishing in their natural environment.

Touch Pool
My experience with UWS touch pool was another key reason that prompts me to write this email. I observed that there are a variety of juvenile marine creatures in the touch pool. It does not take an expert to notice that these marine creatures are extremely stressed out. Fishes like nurse sharks and puffers, predator and prey, can be seen huddling in a corner, trying to get out of visitors reach. I even observed one visitor cornering a juvenile butterfly fish so that his companion can have a “touch”. The most appalling fact was that in my 10 plus minutes standing by the side of the touch pool, there was no single staff stationed at the exhibit to prevent visitors from mishandling these marine creatures.

I strongly encouraged that the management of UWS look into removing the touch pool exhibit. What is the point of successfully breeding and/or buying species of marine creatures only to have them die of diseases or stress-related illnesses?

In spite of my experiences, I believed that UWS, with your involvement marine conservation and environmental awareness, will take necessary actions to uphold its commitment. I look forward to hearing from you with regards to possible corrective actions.

Thanks and regards,
Steven Sim