Satisfaction perhaps?

Being in the construction industry in this country isn't a good thing....

(Flashback...) I remember in my uni days, my seniors used to tell me their seniors were like hot cakes coming out of the oven, even before they graduate. Everyone of them would have earned a good prospect job when they step out of the uni, into the real world. Their salary highest among the fresh grads, their benefits similar to higher rank managers of today, and their yearly bonus is beyond what you can imagine. Well, those were the days.....Ever since the economic downturn in 1997, construction industry in this country has never been the same. To be frank, we are the ones first to be hit, and last to recover. But why, I wonder....why am I still in construction after so many years?

I was doing construction since graduation. Some of my peers went into consultation, some went to site, some left for other industries. Consultation is boring, basically u use your brains more, which lead to grey hair at a young age. Site work is worse! You don't look like an old man, but you look like a burnt piece of old junk! Many has mistaken me for a malay / burmese / thai / sabahan / whoever that has a DARK complexion! No one who works at a construction site is fair...except for the Boss. He is fair in the sense of skin complexion, and also when it comes to judgement. That makes him the BOSS!!!

Anyway, when I joined this company in Sept 2006, the shoplot looked like this:

In December, it looked like this:



However, in July, this is how it looks like:

If you ask me, with all this hot sun, low pay, little bonus, lots of travelling, etc, etc...why am I still in the construction industry? Well perhaps, "SATISFACTION" is the key word here. Maybe one day I will be building Super Structures such as the Petronas Twin Towers, Beijing International Airport, Beijing's National Grand Theatre, Beijing's Olympic Stadium, Beijing's National Swimming Centre, Beijing's CCTV, and lots more. Who knows, maybe one day, I will be known to the world, to build one of the "7 Wonders of The Modern World". Maybe one day, I will....

Petronas Twin Towers, Malaysia (MALAYSIA BOLEH!!! Tapi Si Korea & Jepun yg bina... Walau bagaimanapun, RAKYAT MALAYSIA punya duitlah...)

Beijing International Airport

(Designed by Foster & Partners. Airport teminal covers >1 million sq metres, bigger than the Pentagon. Handles 43 million passengers a year)

National Grand Theatre, Beijing

(Architect : Paul Andreu. Located near Tiananmen Square. Made up of 490,485 sq ft glass-titanium. Seems to float above a man-made lake)

Olympic Stadium, Beijing

(Idea taken from Rome's Colliseum. 91,000 seats. Stadium's outer grid resembles a bird's nest)

Central Chinese Television (CCTV), Beijing
(Designed by Rem Koolhaas & Ole Schereen, Engineered by Ole Arup. Centre of gravity lies outside of this building)


National Swimming Centre, Beijing
(Nicknamed the Water Cube. Made from panels of lightweight form of Teflon that transfroms the building into an energy-efficient greenhouse-like environment)