Things Change, sometimes quickly.

Only four days!
What can happen? you ask.

Thursday, (three days ago) I sent my resumé in to the Singapore offices of the two agencies that I have worked with in Adelaide.

Friday (two days ago) I went for another hike.
West coast this time. The plan was to do the Southern Ridges Hike starting from West Coast Park. Well, I definitely started from West Coast Park, and I did get to see another park on the way, one with an M13 light tank, so that was cool, and I also found a concrete bunker from the second world war. But the other parks and the official hiking trail were a complete loss due to the total absence of any signage.

I think that I would have to print out a map and lots of written instructions for this one. Sad, one should be able to follow a trail a bit more easily than this.

Anyhow, along the way I got a call from one of the agencies, they might well have a contract for me. The lady on the phone also suggested that I try for a different type of pass, rather than the entrépass and she promised to send me an email. True to her word there was an email with a link waiting for me when I got back.

When I started thinking about coming to SG all work passes were locked to the one employer. If you wanted to change jobs you had to leave the country, get the next job, then apply to come back. Recognising that this severely hampered the smooth functioning of the business sector Singapore introduced a new pass, a Personalised Employment Pass, which was focussed on the worker, not on the employer. Problem was that it was only available to employees that had already been on an old pass for two years or more, so I could not apply for it. Thus the MOM advised me to apply for the Entrépass.

Well, the guidelines for the PEP have changed, you can apply without having worked in SG so long as you earn lots of money. You can't be surprised at that qualification, can you? Singapores definition of 'lots of money' is $7,000 per month (SGD), so that's no issue. And the PEP lets you be unemployed for periods of up to six months between jobs so long as your annual total income is $30,000. So really I could work for a month, have five months off, work for a month, have five months off - except that I seriously don't think that I could live on $30k, that's not even going to pay the rent. But get this, there's more, the PEP is good for five years, not just two years like all the other passes. How cool is that? And there's more! The paperwork is much easier and there are a lot less requirements for the application in comparison with the Entrépass which is about starting a new business.

This is the perfect vehicle for people, like me, who prefer to contract and hate being tied to one employer.

So I downloaded the new forms, have got most of my info together - I have asked a friend to email me my electronic tax file from last financial year so I can enter the exact annual income and have some proof of that if asked - and have most of the form filled out ready to be lodged on Monday. And hey! There's more! This one is meant to be processed in only two weeks, not six like the other, so I could be working by the start of December - a month earlier.

That will definitely reduce some stress on my financials, because otherwise I was cutting it close with my reserves anticipating that I would have to cover for several months before anything was coming in. And also I had made the decision that I wasn't going home for Xmas if I didn't have a job since that would severely eat into my bank account. But if this (great sounding) contract comes through then it will be no problem and my family will be graced by my presence for the end-of-year festivities.

So, a major amount of potential change in a very short time. A better type of pass in every way that I can measure it, and a totally excellent sounding contract in the pipeline that might be ready to start as soon as the pass is approved.

No surprise that all of this makes me very happy. So happy that I can quite overlook the sad hiking experience.

Back in Adelaide my friend is marrying his Malaysian Chinese fiancée tomorrow!
My niece is departing for college to study veterinarian science.
My sister is starting a new job also tomorrow!

Here Jaz and Iris are still stuck in Malaysia - in the time that Malaysia chooses to take to replace stolen passports for Chinese citizens you could apply for permanent residency in most countries.

I have texted Jaz saying that I would like to visit her - flying to KL with JAL is quite cheap - but to her old number, which I was told was still receiving, but Paul tells me that she has a Malaysian SIM in her phone now, so I need to get a new number, which of course no-one has told me, even though they are all speaking with her. Carelessness? Design? Life putting obstacles in my path to test me? Perhaps I will soon be too busy to be able to play such games. Life will have to deal with that on its own.

Other than that, I went out last night to eat dinner at a vegetarian restaurant in Little India. Didn't really find one, wanted one that was 'veg' only, not 'veg and non-veg', usually I find a couple but for some reason this night no. Did find a small alley with men dressed in womens clothes and wearing make-up who propositioned me...

Probably safer to head the Bencoolen way in future, lots of vegetarian eating to be found. And not much of the other...