Who is counted as unemployed?

Persons are classified as unemployed if they do not have a job, have actively looked for work in the prior 4 weeks, and are currently available for work. Actively looking for work may consist of any of the following activities:

Contacting:
An employer directly or having a job interview;
A public or private employment agency;
Friends or relatives;
A school or university employment center;
Sending out resumes or filling out applications;
Placing or answering advertisements;
Checking union or professional registers; or
Some other means of active job search.

So technically, I am NOT unemployed, yet. Echos of ridicule and reprimand greeted me when I spoke of my plans to be gainfully employed by the next CNY. Plus, I don't really know what I really want, nor do I know what's out there, so what's the hurry.

Despite the importance the government maintains on the aspect of non-curricular activities, grades are still the perogative when it comes to employment selection. Anybody that tells you the private sector doesn't really care about grades are either above 45, currently in government agencies, or simply passe and bordering on being irrelevant to the job market. Yeah right. If anybody aspires working in SMCs, that is. Fact is, grades matter more in MNCs more than the GLCs. And all that extra stuff too. In fact, the private sectors want EVERYTHING. So what's a middle-classed honours student like me doing, trying to jump on the job-seeking bandwagon which effectively pushes unqualified people out?

Go travelling! See the world! Not when I don't even get to CHOOSE my travelling partners. Just like how people like to choose their families, friends, schools, careers, etc, etc., I would like to choose my travelling partners too, and sadly, you folks are simply ineligible. You're either too rich, whine, walk too slowly, higher a level personal hygiene, weak stomach, or prolly have already gone to places that I'd want to go to. Of course, it is not helping that I'm not exactly the perfect travel partner either (the perfect travel partner travels with anyone). I'd rather stay in boring old sillypore; fun and stress can go together in the non-masochistic, travelling being an example. And the unpacking! Oh, don't remind me, the obsolete 'O' level texts in my room brings back fond memories of a decade ago.

And so I rest and relax. Isn't there enough wise men out there preaching the 'not having to move out your backyard to find the simplest pleasures in live' philosophy? No doubt, that's where the simplest pressures reside too, but it makes no sense to me in shifting from one pressure to another, or pleasure in a similar sense.

Frogs can survive underwater, and if there's an adequate ecosystem for survival, what's wrong with being in a well?

Labels: FFT (Food for thought), Whine

General Electronics 2006

In the spirit of succint and concise to-the-point reporting (rd: lazy),

I am disappointed.
Not because payandpay won.
Not because of how media coverage has been skewed.
Not because I was having examinations and failed to follow the chain-of-events unfolding
Not because of justification of 'dirty' tactics on accounts that 'politics itself is dirty'.
Not because of the lack of quality competition

But because everyone just loves an underdog. People support their idol NOT because of what their record company labels. It's like seeing your friends rooting for Warner Music over Sony in the chinese music awards when you only listen to english-pop. But that is exactly what is happening to my peers, which is a total turn off. I choose my pop music based on what suits me best, but not how the record companies are run. Everyone is entitled to their own individual differences. However, it is our duties to exercise them with control.

*****

Is mandate the root word of 'mandatory'? Strongly obligated to do the job.

Labels: FFT (Food for thought), Whine