the cuff link connection

i had a prearranged rendezvous with 2 friends to do a short shopping spree to hunt for an extra pair of cuff link yesterday afternoon as i had gotten some new french cuff shirts recently.  

it was an interesting meet-up, and after dinner 1 of them left.  we went for a drink and engaged in a "interesting" topic.  we had pretty good laughs about a game we conjured up, where we were tantalizing each other in order to fish out the required information.  i think the 2 of us were pretty boisterous in the cafe.  

later into the night, i suggested chilling out at some drinking pubs. my friend, surprisingly complied, despite the fact that he is used to going to bed early.

over our beer pints, we started candid exchanges of opinions on a variety of matters.  perhaps, due to the  alcohol-induced relaxing mood, we, the 2 introverts, started opening up ourselves to each other and chatted till almost 3am! i think both of us had had a good time, though i'm sorry about the location of the pub as it brought back unpleasant memories for my friend.

i had not done anything crazy like this for a long while.  i'm glad for this meet-up tonight, and from our conversations i believed that we shared more sentiments and perspectives in common, or so it seems. though we knew each other for like over 2 years, we were nothing more than just mere acquaintances until recently.

i wonder if such event will ever happen again.  hopefully our serendipitous friendship can take off from here. 

food for thought

while walking home from the mrt station earlier on, again some thoughts crossed my mind.  i was wondering what should i do over the long weekend to commemorate singapore's 45th independence day.

then, i realized i've changed quite a fair bit. to quickly summarize, i am now leading a much more individualistic lifestyle than before.  i no longer actively seek out the company of my friends, being fearful that i am being overly-intrusive into their personal lives and space.

i have even lesser faith in other people.  past disheartening experiences as recent as the last one to two years are still fresh on my mind.  i have been back-stabbed and shortchanged.  i had been made to feel like i am a persona-non-grata in most social gatherings.  i wondered and still wonder if i had done anything inappropriate.

fearful that history may repeat itself, i contemplated a solution, and began observing and talking to people around me. data from my observations, to my amazement, actually supports my understanding of the ever-complicated horoscope signs.

armed with a new ability to quickly profile a person on-the-fly, i have become extremely fastidious in making friends.  no longer will i relegate myself to the position of being subjected to the whims and fancies of others, i decided to be the chooser, or the player.  i learnt to maintain an appropriate distance for most people and manage them.

at the same time, my interests and priorities in life has changed.  in the process of moving on with my life, the sour grapes started rearing their ugly heads, trying to anchor you so that you cannot move ahead in life, just like them.  you are not supposed to upgrade your fashion sense, cultivate your appreciation on the finer things in life, just like them, but just blow money on food, food and more lousy food, just like a glutton.  to (peasant) friends like these, please go and get yourself a life, you loser!

sometimes i really wonder, would life better for me if i just maintain a distance from everyone else?  the social animal within me complains.

truth about management

sadly, many supervisors think that "management" just means bossing people around. few realized that there an art to management. fewer still work to develop that art.

Source: Click here.

At the end of the day, the management is puzzled on why things turn out the way they are.

pesky insurance agent "friend"

i am extremely irritated with a "friend" of mine recently. he has been ringing me ceaselessly for the past one week or so from many different phone numbers except his hand phone to try to get me to buy some insurance from him at different hours of the day.

honestly, i dislike this kind of people. after not keeping in touch for the longest time, the first thing on their mind is to get you to buy insurance from them.

in the case of my friend, it's even more absurd. i shall neither work around your schedule nor go to you at your preferred (inconvenient) meet-up place. on top of that, just because you switch insurance company doesn't mean that my insurance policies switch with you.

bombarding me with calls and sms-es simply won't work. i shall exercise my right to refuse to answer any calls (especially from unknown numbers) or reply any sms-es from this so-called "friend".

great sunday nite out

i had planned to just stay at home over the weekend. however, i got extremely bored and thus came up with an ad-hoc plan to arrange for a quick meet-up with a friend.

we settled on having a sumptuous japanese buffet at himawari, alexander road, away from the crowds within the city. the buffet was extremely great, mouth-watering sashimi sliced to perfection with a generous serving of sukiyaki.

halfway along the meal, another friend joined us. he came pretty late, and we felt kind of bad for making the staff work overtime to serve us.

after the meal, probably because we had not meet for quite a while, we decided not to head home despite the fact that we had to report for work the next morning. we headed to the prata house at upper thomson.

the service at prata house is still as bad. both of my friends are arguing over the efficiency of how the police force operates as well as the legal system. what an interesting topic in the dead of night!!

we parted ways at 3am. i think i am so gonna take mc the next day.

despite initial resentments against this friend when i first know him, as he never fail to rub me the wrong way then, tonight, i realized that both of us can actually click very well. we do share a couple of similarities, and the funny thing is, we had been backing each other up throughout our conversations for the entire night.

i am glad that within these few weeks, i managed to re-connect with 2 friends whom i thought was lost for good. for now, i am contentedly blessed.

the ignorant teacher

sometimes i really cannot stand my japanese language teacher. for your info, i have been dutifully attending japanese language lessons for the past 8 months at bunka language school at orchard. i'm now at intermediate 3 level.

i have never met such a long-winded and ignorant guy before. although some of his comparisons between singapore and japan were valid, the rest of his arguments or comparisons were weak and reflected his lack of knowledge and inquisition about singapore, or any other general matters.

for instance, he glorified the role of teachers in society and belittled all other professions. so funny! i have never find the teaching profession that respectable, and an ignorant teacher like him spouting nonsense only reinforces my impression that teachers live in seclusion, alienated from mainstream society.

for goodness sake, he cannot even match a tie and shirt properly. all he knows about are burberry ties. how pitiful!

anyway, i still enjoy learning the japanese language despite all these =).

2 addictive songs

recently, 2 addictive songs has been repeatedly playing at the back of my mind. the lyrics are very meaningful and brought back both fond and unpleasant memories from the past.

here goes the 2 songs:

the second exodus.

another employee in my workplace has resigned. haiz, this is the second round of exodus this year. first it was the technical department, and now it's the project managers who are quitting en masse.

yet again, i am having mixed sentiments. i feel glad for those who left, as i believe they can better realize their potential elsewhere, be paid their worth and possibly be happier, yet those who left are colleagues who are closer to me and add interesting temperaments to an already dull office landscape further exacerbated by rock-bottom morales.

it is surprising that a simple status update on facebook related to this resignation generated so much positive, encouraging comments whereby some commenter were actually at the point of applauding the manager for boldly stepping out into the light and away from the dark side.

as i was talking to a colleague on msn, i was saying that the temperaments of the current office environment is not beneficial to me. the office is heavily populated by signs that are not compatible with me, and i'm like the sole fire sign around (i'm sagittarius btw). new colleagues that came in are undoubtedly always capricorn, taurus, cancer, probably virgo or pisces. that sucks!!

fire signs don't seemed to last long here. the next compatible signs are air signs: aquarius (i simply cannot stand them!), gemini (none are around) and libra (some are around but i have generational gaps with all of them!).

haiz. when will it be my turn to join the exodus?

broken links, new bonds.

while returning home from an enjoyable night-out at max brenner last night, some thoughts crossed my mind.

i have just been included into a newly-formed clique that i never imagine i'd be a part of, and we actually did click in some peculiar ways haha. am glad to be included.

one of the members is an ex-colleague whom i never bother to maintain contact with for the longest time, and has rejoined the coy recently. despite initial sentiments when we first knew each other like 2 years back, we have now managed to get along pretty well.

as recently discovered, we do have a fair bit of things in common. most unbelievable of all, this ex-ex-colleague of mine almost fits my profile of an ideal friend. coincidentally, this person is a scorpio. looking back at my 20-odd years of life, i can't help but wonder if i really click very well with scorpios. from secondary school till now, all my close friends are almost always scorpios.

anyway at least this proves my ideals are not out of this world. such people do exist, okay?! probably i gotta thank someone who hijacked my msn some time back and laid down the foundations.

on the other hand, certain relationships turned sour or even nasty. had some tiffs and unpleasant experiences recently. although sometimes my reactions tended to further exacerbate the situations, i did my best to contain it.

existing links are broken, and new bonds are forming. well, that's life!

"which bank are you working in?"

during a recent meet-up with some friends, someone asked me, "so which bank are you working in right now?". i immediately smirked.

i have successfully dissociated myself from the typical guy in the i.t. industry=).