Monday, August 31, 2009

Operating Mode: 不知"最怕"

Spotted on Today's free publication, <我報>:

人有思想, 卻最怕胡思亂想.
人有朋友, 卻最怕豬朋狗友.
人有緣分, 卻最怕有緣無分.
人有理想, 卻最怕不理也不想.

uncannily familiar... hmm...

uh-oh! think I am in the "不理也不想" mode...

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Sunday, August 23, 2009

The Truce Within

It feels funny seeing someone I once had a liking for, walking past, turn around and wave. I smiled at him in acknowledgement and waved back like an old friend. Come to think about it, we didn’t know each other that well really – only that one dinner one evening almost five years ago…

I can't help, my eyes fixated on him and his girlfriend running in the rain, his hands sheltering her, as I stood alone under the grey shelter of the bus stop. It was a pretty sweet sight from where I was standing. Yet oddly, it must have been quite a contrast they will see if they had looked back. Thank God they didn't. The bus stop usually has more people, and the passageway more crowd at this time…

My heart let out a light sigh. Then uncontrollably, with my head down as they disappeared from sight, I managed to brace a smile at myself. There was a certain indescribable feeling welling within.

Sometimes, I have to think I am quite remarkable in some ways even though the world does not consider me. Well done to myself.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Imbalanced

CCF had Dr D Quek, psychiatrist from TTSH to give a medical talk on anxiety disorder this month. And he said people who have tendencies towards Obsessive Compulsive Behavior (aka perfectionist streak) make perfect workers. But are generally pie-mia (poor life) folks. Yes, that coming from a science person! Totally agree with him...

Won't say i am exactly a perfectionist, but why strive to be on time when the whole department only start appearing after 9am? Notwithstanding, they get to do their own stuff, capitalise on their own self-serving audacities, unabashedly make requests for privileges and (the most unfair thing!) get obliged. Their private lives seem great too.

An apparent fool am I, playing within the rules, trying to be understanding, living life on the edge... and yet finding myself edged out. Yes, the doc also mentioned that people who tend to sit too near the edge of their seats have higher likelihood of getting heart attacks. Really should stop being too hard on myself. Must consciously lean back, love myself more and not be too bothered about other people... perhaps then, life will be better...
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We have a system that increasingly taxes work and subsidizes non-work.
~ Milton Friedman ~

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Thursday, August 13, 2009

Drifting by the Riverside

Got to dine and chill out along Riverside Point at Clarke Quay last evening with some work associates after work. Can't remember the last time I did this. Al fresco dining couldn't get better in Singapore with the balmy weather and accompanying Latin-Spanish flamenco tunes in the background... Although it can never beat that atmosphere at Pier 39 in San Francisco, it was good enough.


It was nice being able to bask in the crowd's hype, and yet be able to be detached from it. It need not matter that I was distracted from the table conversations from time to time (since there were others to keep up the conversation). I was grateful just to have company.

Better still is to be able to place my mind in the clouds and be transported away, whenever I don't feel like engaging. I wondered who's within the towering mall and offices at the other side of the river bank. Is there someone looking out as I gazed up at the full length windows? Will I be a silhouette familiar to someone overlooking from one of those bright openings? Or will I spot any somebody having dinner or working up there?

I guess it would be nicer if the company were people closer to my heart, with more intimate talks. But this wasn't bad as well. Whenever I withdrew a little too far off and too long to hazy muddle-land, I am thankful to E*'s thoughtful little gestures that would break the spell and pull me back to earth's ground....

Somehow, I think the evening had been a pleasure.


Just thinking.. perhaps I need a little more "available company" who would give a buzz anytime for a chill-out session as such... but I guess I am trapped at an age where everyone around just seemed so caught up in their own carousal, it would be too imposing to have me wander into their bubble. The irony of this is that I feel like the lone left-out kid totally lost in the busy world that is spinning by faster than I could turn my head...

Suddenly, I miss being in the presence of people who would sit around in mirth, unwind and enthrall me with stories of the world at large and narrating trivialities like how the idea of shampoo sachets came about... alright, alright, I think i am drifting... again....
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Another Knot

And so another friend got hitched. A little hurt though that I have to find out about it on FB.... to think I have regarded him as a good friend. So sad nobody ever has any regard for my regards...... haiz.. these lousy people...

Well, wish him a blissful union nonetheless.. think he had long been looking forward to this day... Congrats! Congrats, friend~ The very least, he has added another fairy-tale to the record..

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Monday, August 10, 2009

Tweet Tweet

Too empty a long weekend...

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Thursday, August 06, 2009

Men in White & their White Empathy

I have always been mesmerised by guys in white shirts. (eh.. not the ones with see-through material and visible ah-pek singlet lines though..) ... until i fell to my senses Wednesday morning en route to work.

Onto the hard tar ground I fell. Flat. My knees and knuckles scrapped with cuts and lacerations, along with a bruise on the chin. Biting the excruciating pain, and after spraying the open wounds with water lots, I went to see the doctor.

As he examined the cuts and expressed his empathy, he wet the gauze with antiseptic lotion, pressed it hard on the wound and gave it a good rough rub. OMG! *Almost fainted* All the words of empathy and saying that he understood the pain and stuff are but lip service. I actually believed him!

After the job, he tried to engage in an "academic discussion" (quote-and-unquote right from the horse's mouth) with me - to put two stitches over the wound so that the scar will have "caterpillar legs" or leave the open wound to heal on its own and have a scar (as it is).

It sounded like a silly discussion to engage in. I was only interested to know how he can stop the pain and the relentless bleeding. All I was told however, was that there is no magic and to leave the wound open to dry.

These people in white shirts - consultants or doctors alike - just love talking till the earth turns flat, but never giving indications and resolutions proper. Utterly incomprehensible. I should not harbour any hope on them... *bleah*

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