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Ay carumba!
2007-10-22 03:17:00
The thing about the world we live in: too many naysayers and doomsday prophesies, and too much negative energy going around. As soon as I finished that last entry and sat down to enjoy my morning coffee at the club, someone comes up to me and asks if it's true I quit my job and am now on my own."Honestly, what have you got as your resources?", he asked.Honestly, nothing, other than the balls and a dick I have in my pants. That's what you wanted to hear, isn't it? That I really have no leads, no deals at hand, no prior contracts, no database, nada, so necessarily, I'm screwed?Correct me if I'm wrong, I started off with nothing when I first joined the company and brought in the leads. I think at least I have the confidence to say I am enterprising enough to know how to get my own leads and sniff out deals and opportunities. But if what you wanted to hear was a "man, I'm fucked, help me out", I'll humour you.Instead, I gave him a smile and continued to sip my coffee while it wa...

Renovatio.
2007-10-22 02:39:00
Hello world. It's me again, after cleaning out all 150 entries in this blog from three months back.I guess it's like popping a mint into your mouth for that fresh breath-- moving on, moving on, and time to clear out the trash and all that. I figured since I was committed to making a fresh start careerwise, I should clean up traces of stuff that would remind me of the negativities of the last workplace: the politicking and frustrations in that office was so yesterday, and today marks the start of yet another chapter in my little life.Right, enough of poetics already. No point dwelling on what's been said and done, from hereon, I walk my own path to the beat of my own drum. Another life-changing milestone, short of singing "Free Falling" by Tom Petty a la Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire.I always take heart in Kipling's If; it's got to be that one poem I've come across that I relate well to: If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If...

Hip-Horay!
2007-10-21 16:27:00
Springboks have done it and beaten the English 15-6 to win the 2007 Rugby World Cup.It wasn't luck that led me to decide to place my bet that the Springboks would win; it was analysis based on their performance at pre-RWC matches in the Six Nations and such, and the organic team of the Springboks hasn't changed much-- still the same key players for all the matches, that means the overall team statistics remains more or less fixed, and if you worked out the odds mathematically, well, it was going to be the Springboks from the start. And the South Africans' performance in the qualifying matches of the RWC showed the players were consistent in their performance in an RWC that was characterised by upsets: teams like Argentina and Fiji causing quite a few upsets, and favourites Australia and New Zealand crashing out.Unlike betting on the RWC, however, come next week, when it comes down to hello PD the entrepreneur, I would need all my abilities to analyse and rationalise things to hel...

Right...
2007-10-20 12:13:00
I met up with that attractive candidate of mine again for coffee, only this time, it was after work hours. We're moving closer to the tequilas and margaritas dangerously, I see. But thus far, things have been pretty formal with her asking about the job market and such, although we did have some small talk and I would say flirted a little with statements like "what if you and I were not attached..." etc. And yes, I don't deny that her perfume and the peek of cleavage through the top of her low-cut work blouse did stir up some ideas in me. Just barely briefly.She was intrigued by me telling her about scuba diving, and in turn I was fascinated by her travels in the Middle East-- haven't been to that part of the globe, even though I have thought about exploring opportunities in the UAE. But honestly, most of the time, we were talking about her move from a strictly IT background into banking, and she really needed advice.We must have spent a while chatting when I realised the evening ...

Last thoughts for the day...
2007-10-19 09:28:00
GO SPRINGBOKS!!! Go give the English hell!....this also marks the last post from my office PC. :D
More About: Thoughts

PD, the Uncle Agony
2007-10-19 07:44:00
Got this in my email a while ago:Hi PD: Excuse me for writing to you like this, but I have been following your blog for a while and I am intrigued by your lifestyle. You seem like a cool guy who?s smart and probably popular with women, so I?m wondering if you wouldn?t mind giving some advice to a eighteen-year-old guy who?s just about to leave NS and clueless about what to do. I feel like my life so far has been a joke. I grew up with rather low self-esteem, having come from a broken family and living with my grandfather in a pretty ordinary 2-room HDB flat in Ang Mo Kio. If I had come from a well-to-do family, I probably would have been enrolled in those privileged schools?probably you came from one yourself, from looks of it?but instead, I had to go to an average neighbourhood school where, because of my unwillingness to mix around with the more gangster-like boys and my rather soft-spoken nature, I was bullied a lot throughout my school life. It didn?t help that instead...
More About: Uncle

Erm.
2007-10-19 03:15:00
Ok, I succumbed to temptation and took up the offer for a drink. The difference is, it was just afternoon coffee and danishes at a crowded Starbucks joint near our workplace, not tequilas and margaritas at some chill-out pub at the Quay. And I had dinner with La Femme and spent the rest of the evening with her.So that means I'm acquitted of any guilt right?Not if you consider how I indulged in her Lolita Lempika scent when she stood close to me. Not when you consider how my hand and hers lingered a little longer than normal when we shook hands (why are we even shaking hands? we've met before, and it's supposed to be informal!), and not when, as we were standing in the queue and her in front of me, her low hipster pants revealed the peek of a black thong with a flowery pattern at the top.And certainly not when, in the middle of the conversation, her feet "accidentally" brushed against my trouser leg and I felt a tingle, a slight stirring where it shouldn't. And she was looking a...

Your BO, I KO.
2007-10-18 10:00:00
Here's a tip if ever I interview you: make a trip to the toilet, get some deodorant on please.There's nothing more offensive I find than BO, and boy, you will be surprised how some people, even senior management people, can smell bad and not think anything about it.Let's face it: interviews take place in relatively close quarters, and impressions count.I get into the interview room, and if there's a bad smell coming, I really wouldn't feel like sitting down to talk to the candidate. It's happened a few times, but because of professional ethics, I have no choice but to continue with the interviews, and I can't cut short the sessions either, even though I am willing things to move faster so I can bail out ASAP.Gosh, you'd think they'd teach you about personal hygiene and grooming in school, and especially if you've worked in the corporate world for a while, you would have had some sense of corporate and professional image, but no. Some candidates really show up in quirky clo...

Google searches
2007-10-18 04:34:00
Google Inc released some pretty interesting statistics on search terms on the popular search engine.According to the figures:Users in Egypt, India and Turkey were the most frequent "googlers" of the word sex. (hmmm...aren't these the places where belly-dancing's the way to go?)Germany, Mexico and Austria googled Hitler the most, and folks in Chile, Australia and the UK were the highest searchers of Nazi (you fascist bastards!)Chile, Columbia and Mexico also scored highly on the word gay... (ay curumba!)Australians, Americans and Brits were the highest scorers for botoxAnd check this out: car bomb-- Australia, USA and CanadaOk, I'm shelving that Alaskan cruise plan...Read the full report here.
More About: Google

It's just a drink...right?
2007-10-18 02:34:00
I had a candidate-- a rather attractive-looking femme-- asking me if I would like to have a drink with her some time after work today.Well, it's just a drink right? And after all, both she and I are attached to other people, so it wouldn't be all that bad, and besides, it's just about catching up and probably talk more about work stuff.Or is it? I mean, how come I feel so weird about the whole thing, especially given she asked me via SMS, and she had to include the words "boyfriend's out of town."Or am I just being overly-cautious? It's normal for a guy and a girl to meet up and chill out, and it could be she's being nice since I recommended her for a job.Still, it does feel weird. Like where do you draw the line between a professional relationship and personal space? I sometimes blur that line even on the job by meeting people and having informal chats over lunch or coffee and going over their CVs, and I believe in such settings, people let down their guard and you can probab...
More About: Drink

I did my part.
2007-10-17 03:04:00
With regards to the recent fiasco at the office, and egged on by Indy's "do the right thing" taunts (okay, 'encouragements'), I had a talk with the man behind the leashes (a.k.a. The Boss) about what I thought about the whole thing.Frankly, it was none of my business, really, given I've only got like 3 days remaining, and I can either use the 3 days to try not to rock the boat and not to 'burn bridges', like what so many people would say, or I can stir up a lot of shit and wreck havoc. I'm still undecided, and it all depends if some people do rub me up the wrong way or not...LIKE FUCKING DELIBERATELY WALKING PAST TO PEER OVER AND SEE WHAT I AM TYPING ON MY SCREEN. YES, WANKER, I AM TALKING ABOUT YOU. God, I can feel my temper building up already. In a span of 5 minutes, one of the Jack Russells has walked past my desk 3 times, and twice when I look up, I see that pseudo- "I'm-sorry-I-didn't-mean-to-be-looking" look on his face.Okay, I still want to play the part of a nice g...
More About: Part

Women have an edge?
2007-10-17 02:34:00
Whoa. Throw in a female guest blogger who talks about her preferences in men and who's absolutely comfortable being open about her sexuality, and you start seeing jumps in the readership and requests to meet her in person.By all means, if you guys wanna look her up in Bangkok, I'll try hook you up but I think you'd have to send a pic of yourself to impress her. Not to ME-- last thing I want are online perverts and desperate blokes flooding my mailbox with pics of themselves-- worse if those pics are in...erm...compromising poses, shall we say? So here's the deal: send me emails like that, and you will get hell from me, I shit you not.But what is it about people that even these days, they get so fascinated when a woman is openly sexual? It seems that while men would love to meet a woman like that, and women would flog her, both camps would come to an agreement on the conclusion: she's a slut. Men: she's a slut, let's gang-bang her ; women: she's a slut, let's bitch her to de...
More About: Women , Edge

Men and their scents
2007-10-16 02:18:00
[Guest blogging by Kristal]It's strange that PD asked me to do a guest blog entry for him. I don't even keep my own blog, so it feels weird writing on someone else's blog, and being the techy idiot I am, I'm just afraid I end up deleting all his entries! If I do, remember darling, you were the one who asked me to write!"Say something about men" He made it sound like I was a nympho. True, I enjoy sex, I love men, but that doesn't necessarily make me a slut and whore, does it? Sadly, society still thinks bad of women who are openly sexual.My confessions-1. I love the lingering after-tobacco scent of a man, particularly when it's intermixed with his cologne. I don't mean I like men blowing smoke in my face, it's that scent on his clothes after a man has taken a puff on a cigar or cigarette that I find sexy. It's old school macho. Just that I wish the guy would remember to pop some fresh mints in his mouth.2. Some of you may think I am a slut, but I find married or attached men...

1920s
2007-10-15 17:31:00
I seem to have this thing for the fashion and style of the 1920s. There's something about life in the Orient in those days, captured in sephia tone photographs, that seem to have a hold on me. I picture myself in character, with double-breasted suits, polished leather shoes, with a cigar and whiskey seated on a couch and overhead, a wooden ceiling fan turns slowly as I listen to the haunting tunes of that era. Well, not exactly haunting, for if you watched enough movies, it was the time of swing and big bands and dancing halls, and it was a time when the boulevardier style was in-- that devil-may-care attitude to a life that was prosperous and good before the Depression and the 2 World Wars. I could have been some big time tycoon or triad boss-- not that the life of the latter is that envious, but well... and oh, I'll bet La Femme would look like a real Shanghai diva in a qipao...Ok, ok, that was me after we were watching John Woo's Blood Brothers (???) on DVD. Yes, it's some mo...

War fronts.
2007-10-15 02:53:00
So it's going to be England vs. South Africa for the Rugby World Cup finals on 20 Oct: England beat France 14-9 (sacre bleu!) and the Springboks thrashed the Pumas 37-13. Wonder if Mediacorp will broadcast the finals? I miss the days when they had World of Sports (that was a long time ago!) on the local telly. Anyway, back at the office, the storm hasn't passed over the weekend, and things are gonna get ugly in about...well, when people come in and we have our weekly meeting. Should I join in the fray or just keep mum given this is my last week?***My grandma used to say "beware the person who looks at others from the corners of his/her eyes." WHICH is something the two Jack Russells do all the time, only I don't think I need to "beware" of them, I probably need to whip them into shape and put them in their places!Someone wrote to say it wasn't very gracious of me to be degrading two humans into the levels of dogs, and she's right. I'm sorry for maligning man's best friend. Ho...

Bloody wankers.
2007-10-12 17:21:00
I'm just glad come Monday, I've got just one more week left at the office. Some things happened at work today that really put me off the people at work...well, most of them... and I'm really disappointed at the way the Boss handled things. Another staff tendered her resignation. This, after she went for an interview last week and got a job offer. She's also on MC for the next couple of days for a bout of mumps, and the timing of her resignation couldn't have come at a worse timing. Anyway, the initial deal she had with the Boss in the morning was that she'd leave the company in time to join the new company on 5th Nov, and he had given her his verbal blessings. After the Boss announced the news about the staff resigning however, the two Jack Russells at the office-- so called because they do what Jack Russells do best: bark and make helluva lot of noise-- pulled the Boss into the meeting room where they had hatched a plot of sorts (or so I assume), and before you know it, the ...
More About: Bloody

Parting words.
2007-10-12 08:24:00
My mentor was right: once you have had a taste of freedom and independence doing your own thing, you?d never want to go back to being an employee. The spoils and gains you get, tangible and otherwise, from being your own boss is far more enriching and tempting than getting to a specific workplace at a specific time, and getting a paycheck for a specified salary on the 1st of every month. I?ve had a taste of that independence not once, but twice: the first time was when I was still doing my undergraduate studies and worked as a part-time property agent, and that sort of shaped my expectations about the kind of money I wanted to make, or how I wanted to work. The second time was when I left my first job and decided to do my own business. I had been successful, but I had the wrong motivations: make as much money as I can. When your motivation in business is nothing more than making money, you?re doomed for failure. So then I hit a wall, got discouraged, and decided to go back ...
More About: Words

I'll do it my way
2007-10-12 03:40:00
I am going to strike it out on my own armed with just one deal, and a lot of balls. It may seem suicidal to some, but there it is for you.And note to self, I should really be careful to who I share my thoughts with, because there's no telling who they will pass on privileged info to-- even without malicious intentions to begin with. The last thing I want is to be accused of pinching the existing company's contacts and clients, which technically speaking, I can easily do, but will not for obvious reasons.Anyway, I've started the count-down......and erm, isn't it interesting to see how some people are pulling their weight around (fucking fat in real life too!) even though they're not management, nor do they have that kind of calibre to begin with?Could be my imagination too, but I get the feeling people are walking past my space at the office a lot more, as if they want to know what the hell I'm up to. Why? Can't take the heat of the upcoming competition? Little wonder why nobo...

Everybody has secrets.
2007-10-10 15:53:00
Was browsing through the PostSecret blog and discovered some really interesting posts.I actually found this funny:This one's highly morbid and vengeful; which god would actually grant that prayer??This one's really sad:I can so relate to this:Wonder when the PostSecret book's coming out? I thought I saw the first book, PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives at Borders the other evening, and had almost bought the book when I realised I was running late to pick up La Femme from her classes. Think I'll drop by Borders again to see if that, along with the new book, A Lifetime of Secrets , is available.Interesting concept isn't it? I mean, everyone's got secrets, and it helps to be able to rant about it sometimes, even to faceless people you don't know or will never meet. Equally, there is a Machiavellian nature in all of us that makes us actually want to read about other people's secrets, and then you realise: oh gosh, there is at least one secret I can relate...
More About: Everybody

Emotional blackmail
2007-10-10 02:36:00
Don't you just hate it when people pull the emo-blackmail bullshit to try to get you to say yes to things? Like when they really want something out of you, and if you didn't give it to them, they either look at you with that sad pathetic look on their faces or say something like "you disappoint me", and after that, they try to make you feel guilty for rejecting them."You disappoint me"-- those three words are perhaps the most cutting of all that could ever be said. Somehow, even for the most hard-hearted amongst us, hearing someone say that to you could actually bring up pangs of guilt and remorse, even if for a while. We all hate to let people down, and when someone says "you disappoint me", what they're really trying to say is "you fucked up real bad."I hate it when someone tries to pull a stunt like that on me, and if anything, instead of making me change my mind, all that would lead to in me is to get me to become even more defensive of my decisions, and you start to see this...
More About: Blackmail , Lack , Emotional

I need to go...
2007-10-09 04:44:00
Inspired by Indy?s latest post.PD?s Jettison Drills for that quick getaway on really bad blind dates:(1) Pour the glass of red wine on yourself and go ?Oh my goodness! That?s my best shirt!?, make an excuse to go to the toilet then make a quick dash to the door. Helps if your car is parked directly alongside the road too.(2) Carry a tube of Alka Seltzers with you whenever you have to go on a blind date, and as soon as you spot trouble and need to jet off, quickly place one or two tablets in your mouth, and pretend to have epilepsy fits.(3) Signal the restaurant captain to call you on your mobile (prearranged, of course), and say your boss just called and you so need to rush back to the office for that all-important all night conference call. And he/she shouldn?t call because your mobile phone batt just died.(4) Same as (3), just that this time it?s your Mom/Dad/Maid calling to tell you your pet goldfish has gone into cardiac arrest, and you need to go home to attend to it, a...

Intimate baby steps.
2007-10-09 02:00:00
Guys, congratulate yourself each time you get a woman to say "yes" to something when she could potentially have said "no". That's one way of keeping yourself going: she says "yes" to giving you her number, "yes" to the first date, the first touch of her hand, the first kiss, the first everything... and you pat yourself on the back for every little progress.Somehow, women are taught to say "no" a lot. Perhaps we've all been socialised into thinking women shouldn't be "easy", especially this part of the world we call the Far East. Hmmm. Somehow, the words Far East and Oriental seem to conjure up images of nostalgic romance and exotic-ness of Asia, never mind that they are actually racist in nature if you knew your colonial history. I mean, I can almost imagine walking up to some beautiful woman in Europe and going "hi, I'm X, and I'm from the Far East" and making myself sound more mysterious than I really am.Anyway, like I said, somehow Asian women are socialised into thinking th...
More About: Baby , Steps

"The Temple"
2007-10-08 18:00:00
" When I was a King and a Mason,a Master Proven and skilled,I cleared me ground for a Palace,such as a King should build.I decreed and dug down to my levels;presently, under the silt,I came on the wreck of a Palace,such as a King had built.There was no worth in the fashion;there was no wit in the plan;Hither and thither, aimless,the ruined footings ran.Masonry, brute, mishandled,but carven on every stone,"After me cometh a Builder;tell him I, too, have known."Swift to my use in my trenches,where my well-planned groundworks grew,I tumbled his quoins and his ashlars,and cut and rest them anew.Lime I milled of his marbles;burned it, slaked it, and spread;Taking and leaving at pleasurethe gifts of the humble dead.Yet I despised not nor gloried,yet, as we wrenched them apart,I read in the razed foundationthe heart of that Builder's heart.As he has risen and pleaded,so did I understandThe form of the dream he had followedin the face of the thing he had planned.When I was a King and a Mas...
More About: Temple , Temp , The Temple

Ball in!
2007-10-08 11:16:00
South Africa is so gonna win the Rugby World Cup. I can feel it in my bones, almost...notwithstanding the ones that have been mended and re-mended after fractures and such from rugby.What an exciting RWC it's been thus far. This weekend alone, it's vive la France as we bid the All Blacks and the Kapa O Pango haka farewell (incredible match!) and it's "see ya mate" to the Wallabies as well as they crashed out to England that came back from nowhere. Amazing. And now, the Pumas just sent the Scots back to their bonnie shores with a 19-13 victory at Saint-Denis.But the Springboks have got to be the most consistent team thus far, and they seem to be playing stronger with each match. Okay, so they got some jitters halfway when Fiji placed 2 tries in 2 minutes in their quarter-final face-off with the Polynesians at Marseilles, but they came back strong nevertheless to seal their 37-20 victory.England now faces France in an epic semi-final reminiscent of the Hundred Years' War on 13 Oct...
More About: Ball

&^$%.
2007-10-08 02:35:00
Got this in my email:"HiI have one question for you: are you deprived of a normal lifestyle or something? How come you seem to have this innate need to want to go against norms, particularly with your little fiasco of late with work and Christianity?I don't mean this as a skeptic, and let's say I genuinely care for people (coming from my day job as a counselor-- occupational hazard I guess), but you seem to exhibit behavior of someone who isn't exactly settled and happy. Would you like someone to speak to to help clear your mind?V."My reply to that: KNNBCCB, who the hell do you think you are to tell me I am not "settled and happy"?? If I am settled, then that would be worrying, for I'll only rest when I'm dead. Otherwise, there will always be more things to be achieved out there.Damn. You people really know how to cheese me off and rub me up the wrong way in so many ways. And is there a morality blitz of sorts going on here? How come there seem to be so many people who "care" w...

"Brazil"
2007-10-07 05:36:00
Brazil remains one of my favourite movies. Directed by Terry Gilliam (of Monty Python), the 1985 black comedy is a lash out at totalitarianism and bureaucracy, and tells the tale of Sam Lowry, a disillusioned civil servant who has superhero dreams in a dystopian world characterised by an over-reliance on machines (somewhat similar to today's context isn't it?)Gilliam was apparently inspired by the 1939 Brazillian song Aquarela do Brasil (long before they turned it into some ah beng techno song!), and Brazil is most noted for its strong visual imagery, and some screen shots have turned pretty iconic on the Internet. Go catch Brazil if you haven't done so.The "future" of cosmetic surgery:Information Ministry:[images: Google, YouTube]
More About: Brazil

Demolition 101
2007-10-06 16:47:00
The Asia Chambers building opposite my office building (office for another 3 more weeks, at least) is currently being torn down to make way for a new building planned over its land. That's progress in the CBD for you, and it's a reminder of how dynamic this city of ours is, really.I guess most of us in the city, because of our latent need to go about our daily businesses, don't really take the time off to appreciate how changes like these take place-- one moment, people were still working in the building and buying 4D and Toto lottery tickets at the Turf Club outlet at the ground floor of Asia Chambers, the next thing you know, you get excavators hoisted up to the rooftops and starting to tear down concrete and steel.Amazing how fast these guys work: hoisted up by crane in the night, I presume, and then these mechanical arms start breaking through the structures chunk by chunk.That's progress.
More About: Demolition

Friday evening
2007-10-05 18:27:00
Dinner had been a simple but very pleasant affair today with La Femme and I heading out to our usual pasta place. However simple the fare, I can always count on 2 things to make it a lot more interesting: champagne, and La Femme's infectious laughter-- put her on a glass of champagne, and she will start giggling like a school girl. But it's her naughty little twinkle and wise-ass quips that really makes the evenings interesting, and no matter how tired I may be, I never seemed to mind her telling me about her day, however trivial or otherwise.It's been a somewhat hectic week, a culmination of sorts for months of corporate burnout, but since I had made my decision to move on ahead, I've been a lot more at ease with things, and I'm actually feeling a lot lighter on my feet and clearer in my thinking. It's also a nice sign that there is something to work on the moment I decided to spread my own wings for flight.Any way, I'm just glad the weekend's here again. I think I am gonna...
More About: Friday , Evening

Bollywood defies the laws of Physics.
2007-10-05 09:17:00
No offense to fans of Bollywood ...but read the story anyway. Thanks, Evan, for that little email. :D***I think I should put up a minimum standard of English required for people who wish to post comments, judging from the one atrocious one I received in the last post. Can you people at the very least make sure you can write grammatically correct and coherent sentences before the nasty obnoxious bastard in me surfaces? But great for a Friday afternoon laugh, I would say.
More About: Physics , Laws , The Law , Olly

I don't need nobody's permission.
2007-10-05 05:20:00
No, I did not "ask" God if me taking the plunge was the right thing to do, nor did I pray about it. I don't see a need to. It's my life, and I make all decisions, and screw you for telling me what to do.I don't live my life waiting for, or expecting to receive instructions to be delivered from Heaven before I make my moves, be they in the form of visions, dreams, voices in the head (goodness, if I ever had that, I should go see a freaking psychiatrist!), fax, SMS, whatever. If that's how you wanna live YOUR life, go ahead, it's your bloody life, but do not ASSume everyone will live their lives like that, nor does it mean your life is necessarily more "superior" just because you perceive yourself to be "living God's will".Bloody hell. What is it with some people anyway who go around trying to be moral judges and making-- nay, IMPOSING-- their damned values and belief systems on other people? Did I put up a sign anywhere that said I needed your advice? Last time I checked, no, I...
More About: Permission , Nobody , Missi