Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Little Tykes' Day Out!
Was dragging myself to work when something caught my eye. Or rather... a sea of orange caught my eye. Straining my eyes a bit more (hey.. it's the morning... I'm usually not fully awake.. god knows how I manage to reach the office with my eyes half shut...), that sea of orange became little people. Ok, ok, it was this group of kindergarten students out on an excursion.
My office area has played host to quite a few school excursions already. Usually consisting of secondary or primary school students, and sometimes the odd bunch of NS men, they usually go around the UOB Plaza area to admire the two main statues there. But this bunch of little tykes caught my eye. They were so excited.. but yet obedient at the same time: they were in twos, either holding their friend's hand, or a teacher's. Most of them had that look of awe in their eyes (like they have never been to raffles place before). Perhaps they were awe struck by the sheer height of the skyscrapers? And looking at them climbing up the stairs, I could imagine that in their little minds, they thought they were climbing a mountain.
Ah, the life! I never had an excursion during my kindergarten days. The only times when I ventured out of the classrooms, was to the McDonalds downstairs, to celebrate some rich kid's birthday (yeah, their parents held parties at Macs... I was pretty envious about it then). That hardly constituted as an excursion. But still, the thought of having burgers, iced cake and balloons made me very happy and excited (I was 5, easily satiated. Now at 25.. it takes a lot more.. ;p)
Can't remember much about my kindergarten days. I know I learnt my first words of Chinese there. I learnt to play the organ. I remember nap times. I also remember having different kinds of food as snacks on different days (Wednesdays was porridge and I loved it! Other days had red bean soup etc.. bleh). There were art and craft lessons... and I remember our class making a caterpillar out of toilet roll cardboard. stringing it together and painting it. And i remembered being bullied.
Yeah.. bullied. By a bunch of females. There were 3 of them and they were all pint sized. I remember one of them being called Michelle, but she wasn't the ring leader (some how, this has led me to psychologically not like other Michelles whom have come into my life). So how was I bullied? Well, everyday, once we reach the kindergarten, we were required to sit in the assembly area in rows, according to our classes. For some reason, I was always the first to reach, so I sat in front. Then, these 3 girls would come, shove me aside and take my place. On other occasions, they would take whatever they can find on me and destroy it. I remember one particular incident where I brought some pieces of drawing block to school. The drawing block sheets were given to me by my aunt the day before and she rolled them up with a rubber band. These three girls took it and tore it all up. They then threw the rubber band to the class next door (ironically where black adder was as well.. same kindergarten). They were mean, no doubt, but I remembered not crying at all. Tears were in my eyes, but they never fell. And when teachers asked if there was anything wrong, I just said everything was fine.
Looking back now, I wonder why I never retaliated, smack them back or something. But I just took it. And technically, I am still being bullied, but in a different context: Work. There are people who are backstabbing me when I haven't done anything to them. Sigh.... try to lie low, arrows still fly... basket...
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Sucky Day
Today was an extremely sucky day.. Not only did i screw up something at work (which I am still desperately trying to cover up.. so gonna get it on Monday)... my good colleague and counterpart in HK told me she resigned.
I was stunned. I mean, I knew that things in HK were not that rosy in recent months, but... i didn't know it was this bad. There have been new recruits, and unfortunately, things have not been the same before. These new staff are of higher post than her, and being new, they all just want to shine. So they propose something and she does the dirty work. This has made her life much more miserable, and i guess she couldn't take it anymore and decided to resign. cos she resigned without a job in hand...
That also means bad news for me. Because while they are trying to find a suitable candidate to replace her, I will be the one doing the work. And very likely I have to help out the new candidate too. Shit.. as if things are not busy enough for me right now after the launch of the new product. As it is, I'm busy to the extent that I cannot breathe... And I so want to just take a day off to relax.. nuah... do nothing....
Next week would mark my 3 years working for the company. Even till this day, it baffles me on how i managed to survive in the company so long. What i initially thought would be a 3 month stint has stretched to 3 years.... And I have literally seen the HK team change totally (well almost totally). In the past 3 years, I have seen... 7 people come and go.. the longest being 2 years and the shortest being 2 months in the company... wow... talk about being senior!
A check with my peers also show that 3 years in the same company is like a shooting star.. few and far in between. Some of them are already in their 5th job, while most of them have already changed 2 to 3 jobs, on average...
It's really time to leave. But unfortunately I am being tied down by personal committments.... I love my working environment (where else can u shower in the office after a gym session, have friends come over to sing song talk cock with u in the meeting room?) and the people i work with generally, but its just the job and the stress that comes with it. How to cope? How to cope?
I was stunned. I mean, I knew that things in HK were not that rosy in recent months, but... i didn't know it was this bad. There have been new recruits, and unfortunately, things have not been the same before. These new staff are of higher post than her, and being new, they all just want to shine. So they propose something and she does the dirty work. This has made her life much more miserable, and i guess she couldn't take it anymore and decided to resign. cos she resigned without a job in hand...
That also means bad news for me. Because while they are trying to find a suitable candidate to replace her, I will be the one doing the work. And very likely I have to help out the new candidate too. Shit.. as if things are not busy enough for me right now after the launch of the new product. As it is, I'm busy to the extent that I cannot breathe... And I so want to just take a day off to relax.. nuah... do nothing....
Next week would mark my 3 years working for the company. Even till this day, it baffles me on how i managed to survive in the company so long. What i initially thought would be a 3 month stint has stretched to 3 years.... And I have literally seen the HK team change totally (well almost totally). In the past 3 years, I have seen... 7 people come and go.. the longest being 2 years and the shortest being 2 months in the company... wow... talk about being senior!
A check with my peers also show that 3 years in the same company is like a shooting star.. few and far in between. Some of them are already in their 5th job, while most of them have already changed 2 to 3 jobs, on average...
It's really time to leave. But unfortunately I am being tied down by personal committments.... I love my working environment (where else can u shower in the office after a gym session, have friends come over to sing song talk cock with u in the meeting room?) and the people i work with generally, but its just the job and the stress that comes with it. How to cope? How to cope?
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
1 Fren.... 2 frens... 3 frens.....
The recent Sunday Times ran a report on these 2 sisters, who between them, had 30,000 friends. Astounding, I know. I was wondering how they actually keep in touch with these people. But apparently, they don't. They are just collecting friends.
That's the lame part. Collecting friends? Since when did friends become toys? As it is, my friendster account has something like 120+ friends. But just how many of them do i keep in touch with? Frankly not a lot. Many are those that I have lost touch with over the years. What's more, as you get older, you really have to make extra effort to keep in touch with your friends. Responsibilities come in, other priorities take centre stage and it is easy for friends to fade away. It gets even harder when one gets attached. the good old days of girls/ guys night out is even more difficult when you have a partner in tow.
I have 3 tiers of friends:
Tier One: those that I am really close to and will do anything for them, even lay down my life
Tier Two: the people that I occasionally keep in touch with
Tier Three: the hi-bye friends. Those that I see in school, acquaintances etc
I do try my best to meet up with them. Those that i am close with, i do organize stuff to do together. Those that I am not so close with, I make extra effort to meet up with them when they organize something.
That's the lame part. Collecting friends? Since when did friends become toys? As it is, my friendster account has something like 120+ friends. But just how many of them do i keep in touch with? Frankly not a lot. Many are those that I have lost touch with over the years. What's more, as you get older, you really have to make extra effort to keep in touch with your friends. Responsibilities come in, other priorities take centre stage and it is easy for friends to fade away. It gets even harder when one gets attached. the good old days of girls/ guys night out is even more difficult when you have a partner in tow.
I have 3 tiers of friends:
Tier One: those that I am really close to and will do anything for them, even lay down my life
Tier Two: the people that I occasionally keep in touch with
Tier Three: the hi-bye friends. Those that I see in school, acquaintances etc
I do try my best to meet up with them. Those that i am close with, i do organize stuff to do together. Those that I am not so close with, I make extra effort to meet up with them when they organize something.
