Living It Up

Attended a really really old friend’s wedding last week.  I classify this friend as my "TPJC friend" though that’s not really accurate.  I was in TPJC during the first 3 months of my JC 1st year.  This friend, NSG, was in TJC during the first 3 months.  After the ‘O’ level results were out, I transferred to TJC while NSG transferred to TPJC.  Coincidentally, NSG was placed in the same class as my ex-TPJC classmates and I also got to know his TJC classmates after I went to TJC.  So through these common friends, we became friends too.

I haven’t spoken much to NSG in recent years but I regard him as a very special, old friend.  During our JC years, I used to borrow his scanner to scan photos for my personal homepage.  Years later, when I was in real estate, he also introduced me to his uncle’s company, of which I closed 1 (or 2) deals with the company.  I was touched that he helped made that introduction ‘cos we drifted apart when he was doing his national service and I was in NTU. 

In that sense, I really treasure the people I got to know in TPJC.  I feel that they are less selfish than some of my classmates in TJC and their sincerity makes me trust them completely.  There’s another friend I made during the 3 months in TPJC… though we never met again after we both left TPJC, he knew I was in real estate when I spammed my handphone address book to market my services.  3 years later, though I had left real estate by then, this friend nonetheless contacted me and wanted to buy a flat through me.  I was truly touched.

Anyway, I saw 4 TPJC friends I knew during NSG’s wedding last week and we promptly exchanged handphone numbers and facebook contacts.  Though I haven’t seen them in the last decade, conversation flowed easily and I was totally at ease with them.  It was like I could laugh with all my heart and not have to guard against anything or anyone.  It was great.

Here’s a group photo we took at the end of the dinner.

From left: Me, LL (gal in pink dress - my TPJC friend’s classmate after I left TPJC), HPY (guy in white shirt), NSG, NSG’s wife (I know her from TPJC too!  Haha.  Don’t you lurve her Grecian looking gown?  It’s lovely isn’t it?), Spacer (guy in light blue shirt in back row), Rain (gal in satin blue dress in front row), Ange (she’s my primary school classmate… we went to different sec schools but met again in TPJC) and Eteo (guy in striped shirt).

Spacer and HPY said I look pretty much the same as when I was in JC.  I think they look the same too!  Here’s a pic of HPY and NSG to prove it!

Remarkable huh?  Haha.  Cheerios people!

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It was our company D&D again.  This year, the theme was "Shanghai Fusion" and it was held at The Legends @ Fort Canning.  Here’re some… semi-anonymous photos from it. 

Eon’s Trade Credit Dept with our CEO (in black jacket) and the MD or CEO (not sure) of our M’sian office.

What can I say… the legendary Double Trouble again.  ("Legendary".. get it get it?)

Bubbs & me.

It’s strange taking a photo with your CEO after your team pulls out 3 strands of white hair from his head for the table game… if I don’t get a bonus this year… I know why…

We were staring hard at the 3 strands of hair… making sure we got it well clipped onto the string!

Good employees who stuck to the dress code.

Our CEO is a fortunate man.  Surrounded by beauties… muahahahaha.

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Azure has been busy doing some “dashboard” updates the past 2 days.  I kept asking her what’s a “dashboard” and this was how our conversation ensued:

azure: anyway dashboard is supposed to be a summary of KPIs

azure: in one or 2 slides

azure: but i have 60 slides to update

me: how come u hv 60 slides

me: wow. mkt research folks certainly have very erm… american / soundbite friendly terms

me: heheheheh

me: dashboard

me: to me, that’s the part of the car above my radio

I just thought that was a funny conversation.  Heh.

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Booze Queen showed me the clip on youtube - last lap of the F1 race in Brazil.  I know it’s evil but I was mocking Ferrari when they were celebrating Massa’s win and missed Hamilton’s miraculous overtaking of Glock at the very last turn of the last lap.

Congrats Hammie!!

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     Just found out that I was wrong.  Only 2 other ladies in my office eventually went to the same tailor to get their cheongsams made there.  So the delay by the tailor wasn’t materially due to too many orders from our office (thank goodness J told Auntie Esplanade not to make her cheongsam there ‘cos there were too many orders already).  Booze Queen said my previous post on the issue sounded a little harsh.  I said even if the delay wasn’t a result of too many ladies from my office going to the same tailor, my point on having to safeguard your own interests remains the same and so I’m leaving the post as it is.  Well, like I said at the start of it, this is one of those things where we have to agree to disagree so there. 

     Ok.  I gotta get ready to go to the tailor now.  Popped 2 panadol tablets to control the fever and ate a slice for energy.  Now I gotta get dressed and bring some water with me for my trip.

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Iceman sent this to me.  Thought it was quite funny. 

So who do you think America will vote for?  My dad thinks McCain will win because he feels the white majority will not put a Black guy in office.  (And don’t tell me calling an "African American" a "Black" is derogatory.  It’s only derogatory if you make it to be… if you can call a Caucasian a White, a Chinese a Yellow, I don’t see why you can’t call a African-whatever a Black).

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Argh.  I’m not sure I’m going to recover in time for work tomorrow.  Had a really bad headache in the evening and took a nap till 10:40pm.  No appetite for the beef noodles my dad bought so I’m just eating some raisin bread so I can take my medicine.  I think the fever’s back. 

When I went downstairs to get the raisin bread, I saw this postcard my mom sent me from the UN headquarters from New York.  Heh.  She said she was enjoying herself.  Yeah… with 7 Coach bags… I’m sure she is. 

The postcard reminded me of a song which I’m going to leave with you.

That’s Joshua Kadison’s "Picture Postcards from LA".

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Am home on MC today.  Developed a slight cough after lunch at Sakae Sushi on Monday.  It got worse on Mon night and all the coughing resulted in a sore throat on Tue.  Tried to speak as gently as I could in office yesterday.  Also visited the doc for medicine… but I woke up losing my voice and gaining a fever today.  Sigh.  SMS-ed my boss to let him know I wouldn’t be going into office, took more medicine and went back to bed.  Spent most of the day reformatting my blog entries and chatting with my cousin on MSN. 

I’m quite bored now actually.  Time for more bo liao photos…

This was the mouse at Sakae Sushi.  Cute hor?  Though it’s a bit weird to be jabbing the frog’s eye every time I double-click on an item…

This is the Coach bag my mom’s supposed to help me bring back from the US.

I also asked my mom to help get this Kate Spade bag from the US.  Hope she’s able to find it!   

Excuse me while I go cough up the phlegm in my throat.  Voice disappeared under it again.  Argh.

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    My mom went on a 11-day US/Canada tour with 3 of my aunts.  The tour covered places like like New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Niagara Falls, Toronto, Thousand Island (am I right to assume the salad dressing came from here?  I didn’t know there was a Thousand Island in Canada :P), Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City and Boston.  After the tour ended, the gang of 4 flew over to the West Coast to visit my cousin and his wife.

    I’ve been getting daily updates from my cousin since the gang of 4 arrived on Sunday.  He initially arranged Sunday to be a day of rest for them but once they reached his place, put down their stuff, they asked my cousin’s wife to take them shopping immediately.  My cousin was shocked.  He thought they would be tired after the very rushed 11-day tour but the gang of 4 was raring to go!  He said my mom told him that the 11-day tour was so rushed, they didn’t get to shop at all.  So his conclusion was once they reached the West Coast, they felt really cash rich and couldn’t wait to hit the stores. 

    Mon and Tue were also spent shopping… and after every trip, the car boot would be filled with shopping bags.  Wow.  I have no idea what they bought, but I do know the folks at Coach are going to have a big bonus this year.  Between the 4 of them, they bought 15 Coach bags.  In my cousin’s own words, my mom was the "fiercest".  She bought 7 Coach bags.  My cousin was tickled when my mom defended her purchases saying, "But 2 of the bags are for my friends!".  My 5th and 6th aunts bought 2 bags each, and my 8th aunt bought 4.  Another cousin who didn’t go with them also put in a request for 5 Coach bags.  The cousin based in the US bought them… but none of the gang of 4 dare to carry the bags back now because if they’re worried they will incur GST at the Singapore customs.

    Today marks the last day of shopping at Monterey as the gang of 4, together with my cousin’s wife, will be going on a driving tour of Las Vegas and San Francisco.  Heh.  I told my cousin that the gang of 4’s stamina for shopping is astonishing.  He agrees.  His wife has been like a sheepdog the past 2.5 days, herding the gang of 4 out of malls, etc.  He said he’ll be getting real time intelligence from his wife over the next few days and will update me accordingly.  Heh.

    Damn.  I should’ve bought Coach shares yesterday.  Went up by USD3.29.  I bet you investor confidence was bolstered by the gang of 4!

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     I was in a dilemma whether to attend an old friend’s wedding dinner coming up in Nov.  When he first told me about it, I was quite looking forward to it.  I like attending wedding dinners.  I feel it’s an honour to be invited and I’m always happy that friends (especially those I used to be close to but don’t talk much to anymore) remember me.  The dilemma I faced with attending this old friend’s wedding is that I’m not close to anyone else on his guest list… and I only found this out in church today, after I had agreed to go.  

     I thought about it while driving home from church today… but eventually concluded that when I attend a wedding dinner, it’s ‘cos I’m happy for the bride/groom and the rest of the guests shouldn’t matter - unless my attendance poses a problem in terms of seating arrangement.

     So the matter was settled within mind till my friend came online and asked if I still wanted to attend the dinner since the other 2 people he initially planned to seat me with weren’t going.  I thought about it… and asked if it would be a problem slotting me into a table.  He said it wouldn’t be.  So I thought about it a bit more and later sent him an sms to say "Yes, I’ll be going".

     My friend then replied, "You sure?".  Now this threw me off guard… er, maybe he was being polite and was actually trying to hint that he was having problems seating me?

     I replied saying, "Eh… Your question very odd.  I’m neutral.  I’ll just attend your church wedding then".

     My friend then explained that he just wanted me to feel comfortable and didn’t want me to feel obliged about going.  I told him that I’m not the type to do things out of obligation and am happy to attend an old friend’s wedding - be it church, dinner, or both.  What was more of a concern to me is that I don’t mess up his table arrangement (which I attest, can be a real pain).  

     In the end, I thought about it for another 2 seconds… and sent another sms to say that my final decision would be to attend the church wedding only. 

     My friend’s reply was, "Final decision ah?".  Aiyoh… I tell you… nearly fainted.  Say yes also kena questioned.  Say no also kena questioned.  I replied, "Yes Boss!".  That ended the dilemma. 

     Actually, I very much want to be part of an old friend’s wedding celebrations.  But I don’t want to be a sore thumb in the table arrangements either.  Weddings are difficult enough to plan already without well-meaning guests posing more problems in spite of their good intentions. 

     I hope my own table arrangements will go on smoothly next year!

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MC was all geared up to watch F1 from home!

Sylar was here…

The Apple and Rhubarb pie from Aerin’s.  YUMMLICIOUS!  (And the cause of my tummy overwork)

I’m absolutely convinced my soft toys are alive… I came home and found MC sleeping on my pillow…

That’s all the pics for now. 

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Neon (October 7 at 9:26pm): Hi, are u still at BKK? heard that ppl over here are rioting and sealed off the roads, in order to force the president to step down. Are you ok?

Me (October 15 at 9:56am): oh hello… didn’t see got new msg. hahahaha. most of e protests last week were around parliament house so the other areas were quite ok. thks for asking.

Neon (October 15 at 6:15pm): I see, no wonder yr replies are belated. Would you include me in yr msn list? So no more waiting or belated replies

Me (October 20 at 10:47pm): Sorry. MSN is reserved for good friends only.

Neon (October 21 at 12:27am): Orrrr… A curt reply… No prob.

Neon (October 22 at 4:15pm): Wondering how can one be a gd friend of another when there is barrier to effective communication?

Sheesh.  This guy is persistent.  Partner told me that Neon has been asking him to introduce me to him since Partner’s wedding.  This is despite the fact that Partner told him that I’m attached, and I would never like someone like him.

To be fair, I’ve ever asked myself the question - if I refuse to add someone on MSN/ICQ because that person’s not my friend, how then can that person become my friend?  Does it imply that I’m willing to meet up with that person over coffee?  Or exchange phone numbers?

Well, anyone thinking along those lines is sorely mistakened.  I think genuine friendship just happens.  It’s not something that can be systematically planned or artificially cultivated.  I have friends on MSN whom I haven’t met in person… like Genma.  (He’s a senior from TJC that I’ve known online since IRC days).  But we can talk about a wide range of topics - tech gadgets, current affairs, updates on our relationships and the usual "talk cock sing song" nonsense.  So in a IRC chatroom full of people, we managed to click and over the years, an electronic pen-pal sort of friendship developed.

Thus, I think friendship simply "happens".  A meeting of kindred spirits, in accordance to God’s providence.

Anyway, this is going to be my reply to Neon:

Me: Since u asked, I might as well be honest.  There were 2 reasons why my replies were always delayed.  First was because I don’t check my FB messages very often.  Second was because even after I saw your messages, I didn’t really have anything to say to you.

That’s my diplomatic way of saying - you don’t interest me… not even as a friend.  Bleah.

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Told Partner about yet another of his over friendly friends today.  Partner said, "Neon ah?  Go ahead and suan him.  He’s desperate".  "Huh?  Isn’t he married?  How come still so desperate?", I asked.  Partner then said, "No lah.  Since when is he married?  He’s single lah!".

Oooh.  So I was wrong.  He was trying to be a buaya.  Hehehehe.  Oh well, I sent a short and diplomatic reply on Facebook.  I said, "Sorry, I only add good friends on MSN". 

Now, that’s diplomatic by my standards ok!  My usual retort would’ve been something like, "Sorry, you don’t qualify to be added to my MSN list".  Sigh.  Age has mellowed me. 

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Shared a cab back with Azure after dinner just now.  The driver was pretty okie… till we were about to exit ECP at the Bayshore exit.  I’m not sure who pissed who off but the taxi we were in starting picking up speed, while signaling to move to the left-most land.  There was another taxi in the left-most lane and that bugger refused to slow down to let our cab cut in front of him.  Instead, he sped up to close the gap between him and the car in front of him, thus making sure our cabbie had no room to cut in.  Our taxi driver, refusing to go behind the other cab, persisted and accelerated.  Finally, realising he had no chance to cut in, our driver swung out into the middle lane again, overtook a row of cars, and took a very sharp (virtually horizontal maneuver) cut into the left-most lane again, narrowly missing a big truck in front, and going over the raised white lane markings while just making it in time for the exit.

Tsk tsk.  Both Azure and I kept quiet to observe what he was doing.  I wasn’t very pleased… though the driver was a pretty safe driver except for that incident, I thought that one reckless incident was really uncalled for.  Know what I think is the cause for it?  Pride.  That’s what it is.  Clash of 2 taxi drivers’ titan egos, where neither party agreed to give way to the other.

If drivers were willing to be more humble on the roads, maybe there’ll be less accidents.  *Shakes head*.

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Spent about 2 hours checking out ABBA’s videos on Youtube and spent another 15 minutes reading up on them on Wikipedia. (That was a brief read only!  The entry on them is super long!)  ABBA truly has my admiration.  They are talented singers and songwriters (the guys).  Their rise to fame wasn’t all smooth-sailing but they persevered (good for them, better for us!).  Another thing I admired about them was how even after the failure of the marriages of both couples, they still managed to maintain the group for a number of years.  That must have been really tough.  It’s probably possible to work with an ex-wife/husband after some time has past (since time heals all hurt) but to continue working as closely as they did?  You’ve gotta give them credit for that. 

Perhaps their friendship was strong enough, hence they were able to sustain the group for some time.  Maybe they were professionals in the truest sense of the word, and were able to keep their work and personal lives separate.  Or maybe it was a combination of both factors that kept them going.

I think it’s possible to work with an ex if both parties were friends before getting together.  At least when the relationship is over, both parties can (with the passage of time) revert back to their previous roles as friends quite comfortably.  An interesting twist to the ABBA situation would be, what if the couples somehow "exchanged partners"?  Do you think it would still be possible for them to sustain the group?  Heh.  That would make for a really interesting social experiment huh?  :P  Personally, I think it would be near impossible.  ‘Cos while it’s technically not wrong (since we assume the breakup to have taken place before the next coupling), the trust between the girls and the guys would be broken.  Somehow, getting together with a friend’s ex is just so wrong. 

Anyway, I’m a Super Trouper ABBA fan now.  Hehe.  Thinking of getting a compilation CD of their songs.  :P  For someone who doesn’t listen to English songs, I know a surprising number of ABBA’s songs.  (Indeed, I surprised myself while watching Mamma Mia!).  No guesses what English songs I’ll finally be singing at the next karaoke session…

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