Thursday, May 31, 2007

Of Throat and Anus...

My body has been wrecking havoc lately.

First, there was the sore throat that didn't heal for a fucking 3 months. Can you believe I actually endured the entire Chinese New Year with an excruciating sore throat?!? All the goodies I ate really elevated the severity too, I guess. Yeah, serves me right. And I'm also a firm follower of spicy delights. I remember going to the doctor for sore throat medicines once every 2-3 months during the past year. I guess the most medication I took was antibiotics. Not good. Now the virus causing me sore throats have mutated and evolved into stronger nightmares so I have to take very strong antibiotics - Amoxycillin for the time being. Thus, I'm now gurgling down water like mad, which explains for the even more frequent runs to the toilet (I've always been a urine-prone person haha).

And guess what? I finally had a case of piles (haemorrhoids) last Saturday!!! Yeah I know it's nothing to shout about but I simply feel like doing so!

I think it must have stemmed from my history of having chronic constipation. I often get swollen lumps near my anus and had been bleeding recently (no, the blood wasn't from the lumps, it's from somewhere inside the anus) while pooping. But the lumps were quite small and would retract or subside within a few hours. The blood was bright red, which I found out later on the Internet that it might be rectal bleeding. Rectum is very close to the anus, therefore blood from that area is bright red because bacteria hasn't the time to pollute it. Dark red blood indicates bleeding from the colon or somewhere deeper inside. I normally bleed after I had spicy feasts, I mean really spicy ones, like having them for 3 meals a day. But lately it bleeds even though I've had mostly porridge for dinner! Thus, I'm not without worries! Gonna do a full body checkup soon!

Anyway, the lump this time is really big and the pain is killing me! Previously it only felt itchy. I really hate to admit that I have piles! It's so embarrassing! But later I realized that it's actually quite a common problem in today's fast paced society where people simply don't have time or are just plain lazy to take care of their own bodies (like yours truly). Actually everyone has haemorrhoids, it's just that only a number of us are unlucky enough to have it manifest on our bodies, which is normally set off by constipation. In fact, I know a lot of girls who have constipation.

But thank God I feel a whole lot better after taking the medications, which included pills made from herbal taken twice a day and suppositories once a day. The suppository are to be inserted into the anus. I was thinking,"What the heck?! I'm in pain down there and I gotta ram this tampon-like thingy into it? Gee, I feel so homosexual right now". The nurse was kind enough to advise me to lubricate it with baby oil first if I really have a hard time inserting it (now I REALLY feel homo). Luckily, the suppository slid in easily with no pain at all. PHEW!

Oh, and I also took some painkillers from the doc which DID NOT work at all! The pain was still there whenever I contract the muscles there after I peed or when I'm about to sit down or stand up. The lump has begun to shrink since. Hope it will shrink even faster! Well, at least the pain isn't as severe now. And I'm thankful my piles aren't the really serious ones that require surgical removal or the ones that actually have part of the rectum falling out the body. I certainly hope it won't come to that! So I'm drinking a lot of water, stuffing myself with fruits and veggies and trying to lay off the spice a little.

Okay, I know no one's interested in my bowel movements or piles. Then again, no one is gonna read this anyway. So this piece is just for myself, and probably people out there suffering the same ailments as me.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Emirates Final Interview

I had a mild fever last night. To prevent it from developing into a full-blown inferno, I took again the medicines I got from the doc on Sunday. My colleague says I'm probably too nervous about the interview. Hell, I dunno, I try not to expect too much, so why should I be nervous or excited at all?

I went to sleep quite early this time. At around midnight - after I got all the documents ready and photocopied and did another facial mask to get rid of the fatigue showing on my face.

My final interview appointment was 9.45am. But I was already there at 9am. I tried not to feel anything as Kathryn (another candidate) told me it was supposed to be a casual chat and I shouldn't be nervous.

The girl from the time slot before me was already waiting outside the room when I reached there. Approximately 45 minutes was allotted for each candidate but the actual interview time may be less. I greeted the girl and proceeded to the ladies. When I was back again, the girl had already entered the room.

I waited about 10 minutes before the girl finally came out and informed the interviewer that I had already arrived. I continued waiting as the interviewer did not give me further instructions to enter the room.

It was another 5 minutes' wait before the interviewer, Randa, popped her head out the door and invited me to enter. We greeted each other with a smile and out of the blue, she exclaimed, "Oh, I see something interesting already! Come inside!"

I was a bit surprised but happy that at least we had something else to talk about. As soon as I entered the room, she took hold of the fancy keychain on my bag and commented about how nice it was. The keychain was actually made up of a portion of a faux bold gold necklace my friend bought for me from Hong Kong and a black dangly keychain that I bought at Momoe, Midvalley. I told her I combined the two because the black keychain wasn't quite visible against my dark brown bag, so I added the gold bit because that necklace was very tacky anyway. Well, I didn't explain to her in as much detail as in here but it was close to what I told her. Anyway, the little chitchat really lightened up the situation!

By the way, there was only 1 interviewer this time. I heard some of the girls had 2 interviewers.

The interview began with Randa collecting all the necessary documents from me. Then she quizzed me on my past experiences as a waitress. Did u go the extra mile for customers? What was the situation like? Have you ever helped a customer solved a problem? How? Was there ever a situation where you were working in a team and there were problems that need to be solved? How did you solve it? Were there any negative comments from people about you? How did you handle and overcome it?

You will be asked to give specific examples here. If the interviewer thinks the example is not sufficient, she will ask you to give another one. The key here is to relax and talk normally. Don't let your nervousness affect you and it will be fine.

Right now I can only keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best! But I would have to forget about it for awhile first because I gotta wait 6 long weeks for the result!

Best of lucks to me!

Monday, May 21, 2007

Emirates Interview

I slept at 3am after all the preparations of doing my nails, facial mask and clothes fitting. Then I struggled to crawl out from my bed at 5.30am to take a shower and put on my makeup.

Such was how I prepared for my Emirates interview.

I didn't pin much hopes in it because I knew it was the toughest airline to get into and the pay is also the highest.

Despite leaving my house at approximately 7.15am, I was still nearly late for the 8am appointment because of the infamous traffic jam along Jalan Genting Klang. But thank God at least the line was moving and I made it to Renaissance right on time. There, I met again with Kathryn and Rachel, whom I met during the agent's screening test.

Andrew, the agent from Sass Atlantic, gave each of us our nametags with a number that was written on a piece of sticker we were to attach to our tops. I got a number 4, which I thought was great because it has always been my lucky number and it has been infinitely related to me throughout my life.

The interview began with the 2 interviewers - Angela and Randa, showing us the Emirates corporate videos. The final video was extremely entertaining as it was a music video featuring a number of their cabin crews playing instruments and singing. Gotta say they are really talented. There was rap, R'n'B, sitar, indian song, etc.


First Round - Group Discussion

I think there were about 50 girls at the interview that day. We were divided into 4 groups of 10-12 (estimation because I'm not quite sure). I was in group 1. Two groups go into the interview hall at once and the group discussion was conducted simultaneously but separately. We sat according to numerical order in a circle.

First, we needed to find out 2 things not included in the CV about the girl sitting on our right side. I was to introduce Allen, who likes to eat chocolates and her favourite movie is Lord of the Rings. My introduction was short but there were some girls who elaborated the points into 3-4 things.

Then we proceeded to the discussion. Our topic was "Should mobile phones be given to children and if yes, at what age?". It was the exact same topic as the agent screening test. As we were discussing, Randa went around the circle to observe each of us and scribbled down the remarks on the forms.

After the discussion ended, we had to do the reach test and finally we proceeded to wait outside the hall for the result. We waited for quite a long time - around 15 minutes before Randa came out to put the results on the table. Each of us got a note regardless of the result with our numbers written on the top left hand corner. So when I got mine and it read, "Thank you for your time...", I thought, "Okay, I'm gonna waste my leave again and go home early". But then the next paragraph, it read, "...successful of proceeding...". I couldn't believe my eyes but really thanked God for letting me pass this!

The advice that Andrew gave us really worked. Just help each other out and don't be too aggressive. The most important thing isn't the answer but the way you express yourself. So it doesn't matter whether you give the right answer. Don't be too stubborn with your opinions. My advice on the "find out 2 things about the girl on your right" part is - when they say 2 things then make sure you only say 2, NOT 3 or 4 or 5. Because as Andrew repeated to us during the briefing time and again, they look for people who follow instructions. Most of the girls who got too carried away were eliminated. It's easy to disregard this when you are trying to stand out from the rest. So gotta be careful. There will also be traps like these throughout the interview so just be careful.


Second Round - English Test

The English test was a written test which was fairly easy in comprehension but it's the answers that were the killer! It was very tricky and there often seemed to be more than one answer is suitable for the question. So, really think carefully before you answer!

The final section was the essay but it carries no marks so it's a safe bet to do it at the very end. I think maybe they are only trying to see how you express yourself. The passing mark for this test is 32/40.


Third Round - Group Discussion

This time, we discussed in a smaller group of 6-7 people. The topic this time is more difficult.

Question
Assuming you are the management for a company which has its sales and revenues dropping significantly over the past few months because of excessive workload and its staff morales had also degraded considerably. Organize a 2-day getaway to motivate the staff. Discuss about the destination, budget and the activities to be done there. Take into consideration that 2 of the staff can get quite intoxicated during parties, most staff are married and with children.

Again, bear in mind that the answer is not important. Don't claw at anyone who doesn't agree with you. Instead, acknowledge a good idea from others if you heard one. If you really have to express a different opinion, do it with a moderate tone of voice and don't be too stubborn about your own opinions.

Elimination was after every round.

Finally, came the Psychometric test, of which there will be no elimination thereafter. It consisted of 185 questions to be completed in 40 minutes. Listen to the instructions given by the interviewers carefully as they might be different from the ones in the booklets. There will be no rights or wrongs in this test as it's merely a personality test. But there were a few IQ and Maths questions at the end.

At the end of the day, 35 girls were shorlisted to go to the final interview. It was a huge achievement and even Andrew commented that we must be the best batch from Malaysia ever. Because previously, they never managed to get this many girls shorlisted to the final in Malaysia. The batch who had the interview a day before us had 16 girls go to the final.

Applying for Emirates is really a huge investment of time and money. We had to reshoot all of our pictures in formal attire - 1 full length and 4 passport photos. The requirement is to put on some light makeup, wear skirt suit and court shoes (plain with no decorations whatsoever). They expect nothing to be too fashionable. And we have to place our hands on either side of the body and can't stike up any pose. You might wanna put one of your legs slightly behind the other to avoid looking like a gargoyle. But make sure both legs are fully visible or you're gonna have to reshoot your pictures and send it to them by registered mail and waste your hard-earned money. What I did was took 2 pictures in different pose and let the interviewers choose the better one.

In addition, we also have to submit 2 full length casual photos. These can be pictures you took while you were on vacation so you don't have to retake it again. The interviewer was so nice to even suggest that we could just show them a few of our personal photos for them to choose the best ones.

Aside from that, we have to provide them with 2 business emails (i.e. abc@streamyx.com; abc@hsbc.com) of our employers. Strictly NO public domain emails (i.e. yahoo, hotmail). But I'm gonna give them my colleagues' emails instead. Obviously, I'm not in the position to let my bosses know I'm applying for other jobs and the people who know my work performance better are my colleagues since they've worked with me closely, right?

The final interview will be where they dissect your personality and quiz you on your strengths and weaknesses. Andrew says as long as you can balance out your weaknesses with your strength and it should be alright. Really hope so.

Hope everything will go well for my final interview. I'm trying not to pin too much hopes on this one because in case I don't succeed, at least I won't be so disappointed. Hope for the best, though. Notice how many "hope" I mentioned back there? Geez!!!

Wish me LUCK, people!

Also calling all my GUARDIAN ANGELS!

What can you do with RM1?

The visit to Hospital Kuala Lumpur 2 weeks ago was a pleasant one. Who says government hospitals are inefficient? They have really improved a great deal from the old days.

I was there at about 7.45am and there was already 6-8 rows of patients waiting in line in front of the numbering counters. There were about 6-8 counters there giving out the numbers. We waited until 8pm when the counters opened promptly and I got my number within 10 minutes.

Then I proceeded to the consultation hall consisting 17 consultation rooms. Here, I waited 15-20 minutes. Each room consisted of 2 doctors if I'm not mistaken. got a young female chinese and after I told her all the symptoms and showed her the referral letter, she referred me to the hospital's specialist straightaway.

However, I was in for a long wait at the ENT specialist - about 2 hours. The doctor assured me that there's no foreign matters in my throat but it's a bit red. The nurse gave me a prescription form and I went downstairs to the dispensary to get my medicine. I got a box of Amoxicillin (antiboitic), nasal/oral spray (which looks scarily like asthmatic spray) and a gargle. These medicines all look awfully expensive! But guess what, I got all these - the consultation of 2 doctors and the medicines for a mere RM1!!! What can you do with RM1 nowadays?

I sure ain't complaining about their service at this point. Everything was wrapped up by 11.30am. If I had gone to the private ENT specialist I made an appointment with earlier, it would have cost me RM120 just for cosultation and treatment. Imagine...now I got all that with only RM1!

P/S: My throat feels better already but I got a fever yesterday so it's infected again, DAMN!

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Sore throat...oh go away!

I'm going to the Hospital Kuala Lumpur located next to Bulatan Pahang tomorrow at 7am.

Been having sore throat and throat discomfort for 3 months straight!

Mom's been lamenting that I should lay off the spices, especially kimchi. She even suggested it could be cancer! Gosh, don't scare me ok! But hell, I eat kimchi, like, once every coupla months. And I've restrained myself from eating spicy food for about a month now and a week ago I just broke the fast.

And my throat still feels weird. It isn't painful now but feels like something's blocking the air passages. Nope, haven't got runny nose or phlegm. But shit, I can't even be sure whether or not I have phlegm. Because I can't seem to purge out any. However, it certainly feels like phlegm. Aaaarrrggghhhhh!!!

God bless me it's not anything serious. Hope the appointment to see the government specialist will be soon enough. If not, I might go and see a private specialist.

But damn, how I hate private specialists! They are notorious for conducting blood- (or money-) sucking activities to their patients. Gone are the days when good old docs are compassionate and genuinely care for their patients. Now it's all about money!

Frankly speaking, government hospitals now are a huge improvement from the past so yeah, go check them out. We've paid them all those taxes every year anyway, so why not utilize it to the fullest? Would be dumb not to. All you gotta endure is possibly a few hours' wait and your medical bills are only a coupla RMs, far cry from the blood suckers.

So I'm gonna charge in there the second it opens its door tomorrow.