Month: April 2009

It is as though our tiny little island has been engulfed by a thick blanket of sleepiness, most I talk to are feeling kind of tired, myself included.  Maybe recession has taken a toll on our energy level, maybe Good Friday is so close yet so far.

“I’m paid as a writer,” all of a sudden I said to Cynthia this morning.  Last night, my very good old friend from Hong Kong suggested that I shall write a book.  Gosh!  And I was toying with the fantasy of making a living out of writing for the entire evening.  Then this morning it hits me, I am paid as a writer.  In the day time, I write business papers, I write business emails, I write business minutes, and if someone was to sell me a $1,000 titanium stylish business keyboard, I would buy one.  I can’t make a living without a keyboard.  And throw in a titanium stylish business mouse too, please.

Beautiful sun, this lunch time.  One lovely colleague – my good friend – invited me to join her.  So I did.  So I followed.  Asia Civilizations Museum we went.  “Why are we going there for lunch?” I asked.  She said there was a corporate talk on strategy.  Haven’t I told you?

Zzzz.

I nearly did, fall asleep, with my empty stomach.  Then came the punch line: It is when companies stray away from the strategy they meet failure.  If you chew onto this piece of wisdom, it makes sense.

Biodegradable plates, cups, and utensils using corn and yam?!  Who would have thought?  After the talk, food was served, and I marveled at the dull brown plate that I was holding.  I took a sniff, it didn’t smell like corn nor yam.  I chewed onto it, it felt like plastic.  Amazing.

The last time Coffee Bean increased the price of the muffins, I stopped ordering them.  This week, I realized that they have changed the menu and increased the price of the coffee.  Fine.  No more Coffee Bean coffee for me then.  I am very price sensitive.  When electricity price went up, I started the habit of powering down all appliances from the mains.  When transport price went up, I started the habit of walking instead of taking a train within the city radius.  When petrol price went up, I …

OK, I still drive.

These days I am curious on the number of days in advance notice you need to give to your boss when you want to take leave.  Back in my days of being a consultant, applying for leave was just a text message away.  I mean, life can be spontaneous right?  If I suddenly want to take leave and drive to Malacca for a dinner, on my birthday, I should be able to, right?  So I turned to my friend in a Spanish Class, asked just that.  He told me that in his shipping business, his leave is planned in a quarterly basis.  OK.  No working in the shipping business for me.

One evening, I had an interesting conversation with Cynthia, on why some people can have relatively good bosses throughout their career while some are quite the opposite.  She pondered for a moment and replied, “Maybe there is something God want that someone to learn [from the tough bosses] but he or she is still not getting it yet?”

If you chew onto this piece of wisdom, it too makes sense.

PS. I seldom write a back-to-back entry on the same series.  But I thought this and my previous one bring out the contrast between my work area and my sister’s.  And the photograph was taken using my Nokia N96 a while ago.

This morning, I entered the lift, a limping man was in front of me; I was wondering if that is permanent.  This morning, I sat down at my work desk, greeted by a leave request that was pending for my approval.  My colleague in his late fifties came by, told me that his brother-in-law passed away last Sunday.  And he needed time off, it’s an emergency.  Certainly, everything OK?  It was a peaceful death, in a sleep, he told me.  One topic led to another, and he shared with me some of the last moments of his loved ones, in the past.  His eyes went moist.  It is always the last moments of everything that we are holding dear to, aren’t we?  Life is fragile, he said.  If we want to say that something to that someone [such as I love you], do so today, I concluded.

One ex-colleague of Cynthia has recently passed away, in his sleep.  Last weekend, she showed me his Facebook page, heartfelt messages pouring in from all corners of the world.  How Internet has changed the way we interact.  Years ago, one World of Warcraft online gamer passed away.  Her guild organized an online funeral, within the game.  Many players turned up, to mourn.  Another opposing fraction too turned up, crashed the funeral, and mass slaughtered the mourners, within the online game.  Some cried for compassion; some said it’s a game.  Some people are just, not nice.  Like that driver who tailgated me, on the highway, high-beamed me while I was at my speed limit, overtaking.  Having cars on my left I had nowhere to go.  I am not going to pick up a speeding ticket just because someone is inches away from my back.  No sir.

This morning, I rethought my priorities in life.  I seldom see my little sister, though we are now living in the same country.  So I picked up my phone, called if she was available for lunch.  I envy her work location (see photo above).  Such serenity, away from the city center.  It was a lovely drive, bright and sunny.  What do brothers and sisters usually talk about?  I don’t know.  I need more practice.  Of course we talked about her honeymoon at New Zealand and my upcoming trip to Spain; and we talked about our parents in Hong Kong.  Yes, they miss us a lot.  My mom would call my sister out-of-nowhere just for a chat.  Then she would immediately call me.  And my mind would wander off halfway through our conversation.  Some movies are thought provoking.  In “Gran Torino”, Clint Eastwood called his son out-of-nowhere, and his son was too busy to talk.  OK, that hits me.  It is time to reprioritize.  My mom told my sister that half a month feels like half a year in Hong Kong.

On my way back, the sky was dark.  A sudden downpour and I thought of the Formula One match during the weekend.  My head was stuffed, still is, and I missed the highway exit.  Life is fragile, time to reprioritize, say what’s in my heart out, today.  I was drenched in rain, even with my golf umbrella, as I walked from the car park to my office.

This afternoon, I returned to my office building, after a lovely lunch with my little sister.  In front of me, the same limping man, walking towards me. And I wondered, is that permanent?