Monday 26 February 2007

Place In Time

I've always wondered what it would be like to have everyone from a particular time your life in the past come back together again. Like for me, maybe 4E1 or 03S3A, with everyone back together in the same room, topped off with the same teacher(s) we had. I won't really know what to expect, except to describe any notion of anticipation about the whole situation as 'interesting' probably. If we could get off to any conversation at all without any hint of awkwardness, there'd be opinions we'd share now that we wouldn't have in the past cos time and age brings new insights and there'd be friends where there were enemies cos sometimes, we find that conflicts are really much more blown out of proportion than they should be.

Also, I really think that the friends we make now are very different from the ones we made last time. Back then in secondary school, it was okay to be yourself in all your innocence because you were young and retarded anyway and that kind of made the friendships established those many years ago a whole lot more innocent because the friends you made were real and came naturally, not because you had a false front or you had to know the person due to some obligations. Moving on from those years through JC to the army and, to some extent, the workforce now, you'll find that new friends are there because you have to work with them or that you had to take the bus with them everyday, and half the time you do have a facade put on for some form of impression to give when you first meet a person. Things are a lot more formal now than they were in the past and, of course, your old friends from school will be the only ones entitled to know in full colour the silly things you did, unless you're still unabashedly doing them now, and that really does make a difference as to the levels of emotional attachment between you and your friends.

That said, if, for example, I had known my acquaintance-level colleague now as a secondary school friend rather than as an office colleague, he might have been a close buddy to me, rather than just a mere acquaintance.

Things are really determined by their place in time. I do believe to quite an extent that 'fate', or whatever you might wanna call it, is quite intertwined with many other things we attempt to make happen to determine our destinies for ourselves. You could be the safest person alive but if a car decides to swerve off the road and careen off the kerb into your path, you were just doomed to die. And if you find that you've had all kinds of relationships but not one of them has lasted, the one probably just hasn't arrived yet and there's nothing you can do about it. Same goes for the purpose in life idea. I don't mean to stereotype or judge people but when I was in the army and in charge of my men, there were people who really had both the look and behaviour that simply screams aloud that they're just gonna be workers for the rest of their lives. That's their destiny and you can't force any form of enterprise onto them or get them to be a little more entrepreneurial simply because it's the 'better' thing to be or do. Afterall, some people are happier being off the frontlines of doing 'glorious' stuff, like finding new businesses and companies, and working quietly for their simple keeps.

I've always felt like I was more of a backstage person anyway. My work shines when I'm off the limelight and able to look at things from a step back. I don't aspire for any form of greatness, just as long as I'm happily doing what I like.

My dad's making me go for the special term enrolment, which is really messing me up at this point of time. I'm all prepped to fire back at this bollocks of an idea.




Children in backseats cause accidents. Accidents in backseats cause children.

Today's Listenables:
Saosin - Sleepers

Monday 19 February 2007

I passed my driving test and I'm fucking happy. Period! No more instructor to contend with, no more money wasting, no more dragging my feet down to the driving centre because it's turned into a bloody sian routine where I spend 2hrs of my day to make myself feel turdy the rest of it, and now I can drive the way I want to, within safety limits of course. :)

That's a happy, sweet, sweet valentine's for me. And of course I dedicate it very much to Kee!! (Also cos I hadn't done much for valentines' day for her.. *sheepish)

The big annual reminder of what your relatives look like is here again and while some are genuinely looking forward to the festive reunions of Chinese New Year and others judging their visits by means of RP$ (ang pao currency, i.e. uncle X loses his visiting value after you have received red packet from said uncle), I'm not that excited about it at all and things really went by without a cinch, my family being done with the main body of visiting by 3pm today. Of which I'm pretty glad.

I treat the total sum of my red packets (which, at less than $100, isn't much anyway but I'm not saying that I'm complaining) as an annual bonus that would otherwise have come from my dad anyway; apologies for not being any more interesting about the whole joy of red packet receiving and I'm just gonna boringly deposit the cash into my bank after the 15th day (I'll stick to some degree of tradition about this one, albeit still in a modern context lol). I'd already done away with the festive shopping a month or so ago and that's that.

Doing this meet up of relatives once and for all for the rest of the year does have its silly, pointless joys no doubt, when you talk to uncles, aunties and the more approachable cousins and smart-aleck your way around inconsequential conversations and some of them, especially the uncles and aunties, really give you the look that says, "wow he's really grown up since that little cockster I'd known a decade ago." Because most of them have the impression stuck in their heads anyway that you were only 10 years old just every other 'last year'. Some people also ask why I don't wear spectacles anymore, when they've been asking the same question for the past 4 years.

And every year, it's almost ritualistic that they'll ask Kenny and I to stand side by side to compare heights. And I should prep this list of calling names to revise before meeting up because I can never remember all the ranks of my uncles and aunties and who's who.

Meeting Kee's family up was fun, though I'm still pretty hampered by the language factor between her folks and I but it's okay. It's interesting when your girlfriend's dad is a reknowned chinese artist who's met the likes of the government (I can't remember, president? Or prime minister or some people like that), the Singaporean UN ambassador and others and has his work featured regularly in newspapers and books. And his cooking's really zai.

Kee's sis has a new boyfriend too; name's Douglas and we had drinks and conversation going so it was quite a good meet up.

I'd like to visit friends though. In all honesty, that really holds more meaning to me than the relatives-visiting despite the whole obligatory concept of oh-you-have-to-do-this-cos-you-are-family-and-you-have-to-respect-some-people-and-the-new-year-tradition. I'm sure I might be labelled as a little unfilial or unfeeling towards those of close kin to me, or something along that line to a certain degree by some people but I'm just being frank.

A man gazing at the stars is at the mercy of every puddle on the road.- James!

Today's Listenables:
Hinder - Lips Of An Angel

Sunday 11 February 2007

I was up at 10am to cycle down to AMK for more footy again, and now I'm pretty much officially wasted but satisfied. Wonder how long we're gonna keep this 2-games-per-weekend program up... I'm quite sure it's just the post-ORD high that's resulting in this. Soon people'll be getting jobs over the weekends as well and we'll settle to a more digestable routine I suppose.

Love football. Really do. It gave me so much more than just something to do after school. Saying I've gained friendship, leadership and confidence while at it is just scratching the surface ever so briefly.

Wonder what's coming up over the years for soccer for me? Cos by now I suppose if, at my age of 21, you aren't already playing for some team like Geylang United, the sun has probably set on any soccer potential for you. And then you find that all those times you spent learning those snazzy tricks and perfecting your first touch and shooting accuracy comes to nought; then you tell your grand kids that you played against Khairul Amri and lost 14-0 to him and his team in a secondary school tournament and that's the closest you ever came to anything that mattered.

Anyway, he scored a brilliant goal against Thailand in the 2nd leg of the Tiger Cup finals. Though we were just sitting at a prata shop a thousand kilometres away from Thailand where the game was held, the atmosphere was electric and for just one moment in time we were truly united; the connection from us and the team we were rooting for to represent our national pride and glory was so strong such that our emotions rose and ebbed with the flow of the game, with each battering that Singapore took from another Thailand attack and each counter that Singapore attempted to turn the game in their favour. Truly more than just _____________________ (insert anti-football female cliche here).

Years down the road, maybe I'll be at a field near you with the uncles on an easy evening when work doesn't spill over into the weekend and the wife and kids are occupied with other stuff, lol.
Amongst other relevant things, Newcastle 2-1 Liverpool. Go Toon!




When your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt.

Today's Listenables:
Saosin - It's Far Better To Learn

Sunday 4 February 2007

Fur & Feather

The Fur and Feather Party event at China One was a blast! Damn. It was amazing watching the fruits of your labour take shape in such grandulous form. China One was packed and it was really happening... With dances and a live band and anyone and everyone from everywhere else mingle. There were top CEOs and founders of companies present. There was Maia Lee. There was Fashion TV filming the event live. Calling it a hive of activity would be a gross understatement.

Sheena and Chelsea looked fab in their Sister Love costumes draped with feathers and Alvin, Linda and Dr Wei were clad in full fur coats, complete with rabbit ear muff hats. Killer! I wished I'd taken more photos though. There were free Jack Daniel's flying off the counter and I helped myself to 3 glasses before feeling that one more serving could potentially start making me feel wootzy.

Spent the whole week helping to plan, coordinate, administer and do the necessary marketing for the event, and on friday went around getting the props and recce-ing China One itself and spent the day right through til 9pm in the office, and it's amazing seeing all your work culminating into such a success. It's been pretty happening working at Love Airways so far.
Lotsa people are unclear about what I do, so for the uninitiated, I saw Dr Wei's ad in the classifieds over a month ago when I was still at sea in employment and sent in my resumé. A week or two later Dr Wei invited me down to the 'office', which was a little more than a shophouse out of nowhere, next to Raffles Hotel opposite Bras Basah Complex, a benign alley-way right smack in the heart of the city. It was a real eyebrow-raiser of a place. I can't really describe it. Maybe next time I'll put photos here.

When I first came into the picture, I had to sort out a disastrous database mess left behind by the previous admin tempie. That's been long since settled and buried, and I've been doing everything from setting up Love Airways' and my colleagues' E-mail accounts, content work and calling all kinda big name personalities just to name a few.

Happening.




When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.- Dom Helmer Camara

Today's Listenables:
Junior Senior - Move Your Feet