Friends & Me

Recently I have been heading down to ToaPayoh on Sundays to play street soccer with BoonTeck people. In general, I've known most of them for a few years and its rather depressing to see that there are splits and splinters forming within their close knitted group. Relations between them were like brothers when I first met them.

I realised that there are actually many different personalities and characters within this group. There are people who are self-sacrificing (can organise events but don't expect to gain credit but others don't appreciate), people who only take but don't give, people that blame everyone else but themselves and people who generally don't give a damn about anything.

I admit that I really don't know most of them very well except for a handfull, but I can definitely see the stress and strain recent events had caused.

What is the meaning of FRIEND to me? I think that a friend is someone that can be there for you when you need him/her. Like what the saying goes, "a friend in need is a friend indeed". My best friend once told me that friends are there to make use of each other. In a way, I find it very very true too. But there some bastards out there that only want to make use, but not be made used of. These are the types that really spoils friendship.

As a Chinese saying goes, "at home, depend on family; when out, depend on friends". In my view, of the 5 most important thing in my life: FAMILY, LOVE, FRIENDS, MONEY, CAREER, i think that all are equally important, so people, treasure those friends around you. DO NOT REGRET WHEN THEY ARE GONE.

Career...?

A friend, QiJian, recently asked me, what's my definition of "career"? I was really dumbfounded, because i really had no idea. Then i asked myself the same very question many times, what is a CAREER? The same answer popped up each time. Its just a way to earn money and to live my life comfortably. To me personally, CAREER = WORK + TIME = MONEY. Its just so simple. As i had mentioned earlier, I recently just began my working life and reality slapped me real hard on the face. I spend approximately around 10+ hours a day at work, another 2+ hours for travelling, another 2+ hours for food and smoke, 1+ hour for bathing and grooming (Shaving and such, I bathe twice a day), remaining 7 hour spent on sleeping and other recreational activities. Things just starting to be very routine and my conclusion as in why I am willing to do it, its solely because of the money. That's my one and only conclusion to it...

Work Work... ...

Currently I'm working for Schenker with Apple doing Return Materials Authorisation (RMA) as a Logistic Officer. Work is tough man, I can assure you that working life is very different from NS or school. Everyday I would reach home about 8pm feeling damn tired and sleepy. RMA is a job where I have to keep facing the computer screen all the while. LOL. My work place has a very strong 'YIN' atmosphere, meaning that there are more females than males. My group got 5 people, 4 girls plus me. HAHA. Starting I was rather 'disturbed', but lucky they are really very friendly and helped me fit in. My 'mentor' is a girl named Han Qian, a very lively person that is willing to patiently show me the trades. Jaclyn is a very funny woman who just gave birth to a very cute kid recently. Andrea is someone that can really change the mood in the office with her antics. Shirley might look fierce, but actually she is very helpful. HAHA. So all in all, I guess I'm very lucky to be able to have such colleagues. Tomorrow most probably might have to do OT...Tired, but rewarding in many ways.

Finally... Work!

I am due to start work tomorrow as a RMA Logistics Officer with Schenker (Apple). I am rather excited and scared at the same time, not because of work, but the workplace. I was told that it was a mostly female working environment, hence, I don't know if I can cope with all the PMS-es. HAHAHA. Jokes aside, some people have been asking me, why logistics? I have pondered and wondered myself why i chose logistics too and not continue to further my education in engineering, (I have a diploma in Aerospace Electronics). I believe that engineering is basically a very monotonous job, whereas logistics is a fast-paced and exciting one. Goods come and go daily, meaning that I would be kept busy all the time. Hence, to me, a better working environment. In fact I'm planning to study a degree course in logistics. Ok. Got to go! BYE!

A Dedication to My Parents

Today is my parents' wedding anniversary. They've been together for 29 years, and as their son, I have seen them stick through thick and thin, ups and downs. Take my Dad's failed business venture back in '02 as an example, my Mum stood by him and help him tide over all difficulties. Is this really the power of love?

I remember having a real good childhood. I had more toys than any of my peers, I had more clothes, basically, I had more of everything. My parents toiled to earn more money so as to provide better things for their 3 sons. However, when I was young, I would keep wondering, "why Dad and Mum cannot play with me?"Hence, from young, my brothers and I were taken care of by our Grandmother. This is the reason why I'm so close to her.

To me, my Mum is truly the greatest woman on earth. She is the most self-sacrificing woman that I known in my current 22 years of life. She is the kind of woman that would bottle up all her feelings and anger and just continue to soldier on with her life. Honestly, I never really felt much motherly love when i was young. That's really due to the fact that I was dumb then. My Mum loves all 3 of us. Now, whenever I see how she is taking care of my nephew, Asher, it rather nostalgic, as it reminded me of how my Grandmother took care of me when I was young. I swear to God that I could really feel the exact same feelings exuded by my Grandmother and my Mum, the feeling of maternal love. Thank you Mum, for everything you have done for me.

My Dad is almost like the real-life Homer Simpson, abeit not in terms of being retarded or stupid. My Dad is a joker, he can crack jokes out of nowhere and really bring smiles to everyone. Ask my girlfriend, she would tell you that my Dad is damn funny. He is the classical 'Lao Kock Kock', meaning old yet want to act trendy. HAHAHA. He would spike his hair, listen to MP3, have the latest handphones on the market, etc. Just yesterday I heard him listening to some Hip-Hop music! I almost fell to the floor in laughter. My Dad also likes keeping tabs on my life, he would ask me how is my girlfriend doing, when am I going to do this and that, etc. But I know, he is just simply concerned about me. Thanks Dad.

Parents are like jewels to the family, without them, we wouldn't be here. There is an old chinese proverb, "having an elder person at home is the same as having a priceless treasure." My parents have offered not only financial aid over the years, but also lessons on how to live my life. Hence, you people out there, please treasure your parents, no one lives forever. Don't regret when they are gone... .... ...

Q & A Time

Firstly, let me clarify one thing. I am afraid of rats. LoL. Everyone is telling me the same thing, that they can't believe I am afraid of something so tiny. Well, I am, and I believe everyone has their weakness. I might appear quite fearless in front of you guys, but actually I am scared of little 'Mickey Mouse'.

Secondly, I AM NOT A CHRISTIAN!! I am an pious Buddhist. The reason why I state God is for the general public, as not everyone believe in Buddhism. Its also for better understanding of what I wanted to say.

Thirdly, I do not want to disclose who my friend was, as in the one that went emotional. Its really private and I hope you people can respect his privacy. Not everyone wants their stories to be published.

I've said my piece. For further Questions and Answers, please refer to me in MSN. Thank you.

Mood Swings and PMS

PMS, short for Premenstrual Syndrome, is something that all females have to go through every month. This is the time where they start getting very emotional and stuffs. They would start thinking about stuffs that they wouldn't usually be thinking. They can be happy for one second and angry at the next. So be very wary......



Ok, this post is actually for us males. If you girlfriend is having, or about to have their PMS, its time to prepare for action. Note that it can start as early as two weeks before her menses start.

(P.S. Please try to take note of the previous time she had her menses, so its easier for you to gauge the timing of her next cycle.)


Things Not To Do:

• DO NOT go against her wishes. Try to accommodate her.
• DO NOT make any foul comments about her. (e.g. Looks or Size, etc)
• DO NOT make her jealous.

Do not get me wrong, I'm not saying that you should give in to her all the time. I also understand the fact that they can be very unreasonable during this period of time. What I'm trying to say is that we should be more understanding. I sincerely think that none of them want PMS to happen also. I believe that they would also be very appreciative if you could give some concession to them too. It would be best if you can accompany them more often during this period of time.

Hahaha, lucky for me, my girlfriend has a very mild problem of PMS. Thank God and thank you dear! You are the best girlfriend anyone can ask for. Good luck to all my male pals that have problems with PMS. Hope my post helped you guys to understand and cope better with PMS!

God is FAIR!

Have you ever wondered why your friends have certain things and you don't? Or that they are handsome and pretty but not you? My opinion is that GOD is fair. What you have, they might not. I have a friend, X is his code. He used to lament about things like money, girlfriends and education. He would tell me things like, "Eh bro, you realised that actually I am quite a SAD person? I don't have any of the 5Cs, no girlfriend and I look like shit." Hey bro, compare the pros and the cons man. You might not have all those stuffs, but you have a very loving family. Whose parents will sacrifice themselves like yours? You may not have a girlfriend, but you have friends that truly cares about you and best of all, you are great when it comes to education. You are a bloody honor roll student. God is fair.

Some people resort to using upper hands to get what they want in life. Some people daydream about they need. Some just simple give up completely. Why can't people just be contented with what they have in life? This is one of the seven deadly sins in the bible, GREED. I am not saying that one should not have ambitions. However, having ambitions is one thing, over-ambitious is another thing. Lets' be very realistic, you can't have the best of two worlds. If you really want something, you have to work hard to get it, not wait for it to fall into your arms. If you fall, just pick yourself up and go for it again. Robert de Bruce, the then King of Scotland, failed numberous times to get back Scotland's independence from English, but each time he recover and fight again till the day he succeded.

I am not saying that I am saint. I have my own short-comings too. Whatever I state here is from what I notice from the people around me. But I never lament that to God regarding the things that I don't have. I just simply treasure the things that I have. God is Fair.

Virus!

Everyone around me is falling ill with some flu bug (me included). Now the newest victim is my girlfriend. Everyone, please take care of your health. Drink lots of water and try as much to stay indoors.

If you sneeze or cough please remember to cover your mouth to prevent the further spreading of these screwed up germs.

If you visited a doctor and he/she precribed anti-biotics for you to consume, please finish your dozage if not you will end up like me. My virus mutated and became worse.

There might come a day when we head out on the streets, everyone will be wearing a mask! Hahaha.

Grandfather

My dad came home just now and told me that my Grandfather is in a very bad condition and might go anytime.

Something that I never experienced

Me: "Erm, ok. You tell me for what? In my memory I don't even remember I have a Grandfather."

DAD: "I know lah, but still, he is your grandfather"

Me: "Since when? I only remember him making a lot of empty promises to me when I was young. I have not seen him for more than 12 years."

DAD: "(Sad) Sighs. Ok then."

Neither this too

Call me unfillial, but there reasons for me being so. My grandfather used to be a very rich man. When he was much younger, he worked for the RAF (British Royal Air Force) in the 40s. His parents owned a large plot of land near the District 10 area, roughly near 6th Avenue there. So he naturally inherited the land with his brothers. When they sold the land, they had alot alot of money. But instead of spending it on his wife and his kids, he started fooling around. He did not give a single cent to my family at all. He spent it all on having other women. God knows how many "Aunts and Uncles or Cousins" out there that I do not know?? He practically abandoned my Grandmother to her own devices. What kinda man is he? Thats' why that to this day, my grandmother still bear a grudge against him. I don't blame my dad for being sad. That man is still his father. Anyways, I hope that God has mercy on his soul and let him go in peace so at least my dad will feel better.

Ratatouille

A rat was found in my room on Saturday morning 0350 hours. It was big, fat and ugly. (OBVIOUSLY) I totally freaked out! How could a rat come into my room? People, don't judge me. Even males have their weaknesses. So I locked up my room and just let it 'play' in my room, thats why I had not made any new entries recently. Anyway I stay in a private house, so my room is in the second level. Hence, the rat being able to climb up and into my room. If you stay like maybe 5th story and above, i don't think you will have such a problem. HAHAHA, to think that my girlfriend and I always called rats as Ratatouille. They are not as cute as it seems!



Can you believe that in order to catch a rat, I had to fork out a minimum of $350.00 on a weekend for the pest control guys to come for an inspection? HAHAHA. So i decided to postpone to today, total damage caused by the rat? $200.00. Bloody hell! Just disinfected and cleaned the whole room. I swear that from now on, I will never consume any food in my room at all. Prevention is better than cure.

Friends or Foes

Have you ever wondered if the people around you are actually your friends or just simply pretending to be one? Have you came across a situation when you hoped your friends will come to your aid but none came and actually fooled you to believe that they would? Let me cite an example that actually happened to me during my secondary school days.

During my secondary school life, I was a very bad student. I skipped school, got involved in fights, smoked, etc. I used to think that such things were cool and could gain the respect of my fellow students. I got canned countless times by my dicipline master, vice principal and even the principal himself. In sec 3 alone I got canned about 14 - 16 times, some of them were even done in public. Thinking back, I was really childish, but through all these incidents I really noted who were my real friends.

I had this 'friend' named John, I really treated him like a younger brother. Everyone in school knows us because we were always together. Whenever he got into trouble, I will always be there for him and defend him no matter what. There was once when we were at Parkway Parade when he was confronted by some young punks. We were practically outnumbered 5 to 1. They accused him of staring at one of them. He was so scared that he did not even say a single word. But I stood up and protected him. I even challenged them to a 1-to-1 fight. Thinking back, I was really stupid, as they could all really gang up and just wack the hell out of me, but nevertheless, I felt it was my responsibities as a friend to save his butt. In the end, those young punks just walked away. This was just one of the many incidents that I did for him.

I was really dumb then as there were people like Mingen who asked me to be wary of him, but good advice always fall on deaf ears. It turned out that he was actually using me all the time. I was really devastated by the turn of events. The person that i trusted the most turned out to be the one that betrayed me. I will not state the events that happened as it will trigger back alot of unhappy memories. The one thing that I learned from this event is that friends can only be trusted to a certain extent for at the end of the day, they are just friends. The people that have your back are actually your very own family members. So people, please treat your family better for you never know when is the day that you will actually need them.

Sorry for all the words, just wanted to express my feelings and thoughts as recently I had the time to think back about the past.

Being God..

Have you ever wondered that life is actually like the SIMS? That we are actually like the SIM that is controlled by some other dude playing the game? If you ever have the chance to play the SIMS 3, maybe you can figure out what I'm trying to say?

This game has actually been deemed by many as being anti-christ due to the player being to act like god as you can control the SIMS' every movement, including 'WOOHOO' with your wife or visiting the loo, etc. But I believe there is a more 'Godly" game that I ever played. Its called 'Black and White'. This game YOU ARE REALLY A GOD. You will make people worship you, work for you, you can send meteor showers to destroy your enemies, etc.

So if you like to become GOD, just buy these to games and play. Amitabah.

To be or Not to be

Last night i went out with Friends A and B for dinner and some pool. It appeared so that B was down with some relationship problems and was feeling really down, hence, A and I decided to accompany him after that for some drinks and chit chats.

A and I practically left him alone for an hour for him to clear his thoughts and doubts. But when we approached him again, we realised that actually nothing have been solved. He's just drinking to forget his sorrows. At that point of time, I was rather pissed off, due to the fact that he's like unable to put his trust and faith in his friends. He would bottle up all his feelings and just leave it as that. He just could not bring himself to confide in us. So we just kept pressing him till he finally imploded and decided to tell us what he was thinking. Hence, we advised him and talked to him. But after 4 hours, we again realised that actually what we said has not sank in. He still wants to stick to his own thinking. Of course i will not be saying what were the exact thing that we talked about last night here to protect the identities of those involved.

Hence in conclusion, this is really what i want to say, is that guys, if you really like a girl, please put your heart and soul into doing it. Do not be wishy-washy about it and create tonnes of false illusions for yourself (thinking of future scenarios) when the problem at hand is not solved. believe that there is like a traditional S.O.P. to woo-ing a girl. Please get to know the girl better before you even ask her to be your partner, and most importantly, be more proactive in doing so. You must pursue happiness, not let happiness pursue you (as it will never happen in life). You create your own chances. Don't think that everything will fall to plan and always remember to act accordingly to circumstances.

ok enough of my rumblings.

P.S. Sorry Leslie, for being unable to go celebrate your girl's birthday. Happy Birthday Patricia!

Army Daze

Somehow I sincerely feel that National Service is really important for us guys. During my NS tour, I met and befriended many kind and great people. But, the most important thing is that I have grown more matured. Everyone is telling me the same thing, "Lester, you have changed". I really have to credit NS for it.

1. for taking away my freedom, thus, making me realised that times with loved ones and friends are really important.
2. for paying such a meagre allowance, with just 500++ every month really help me know the value of money more.
3. for givng such poor quality SFI food that I really longed for homecooked food, in the process thinking of my mum and dad, and what they have done for me.

Below I posted some photos that I have taken during NS. I lost alot of them due to my hard disk failure the other time around. So the photos taken in Tekong n Trade Course are all long gone. Not to forget that all photo taking devices are not allowed in camp unless special permission is given.

Survivor Swimming

Exercise Thunderwarrior'09

New Zealand

President Gun Salute

The highlight of my NS life.

My 1st Entry

Its been a long time since I blogged, the last time being back in secondary school day. I created this blog so i share all my stuffs with everyone.

Recently I started thinking back about my secondary school days. I realised that I was damn foolish and stupid then. I thought everything would go according to what i planned but I guess in life, NOTHING GOES TO PLAN! Fortunately, I am glad that all these while, the following people have sticked through thick and thin with me and aided me in one way or another:

Woo Seekhai - my best friend who is always willing to lend me a helping hand.
Leong Mingen - a pal that has always been part of life.
Leslie Lew - my mentor who has guided and helped me alot in various part of my life.
and of course, my girlfriend, Pei-Han for her understanding and love.

Somehow somewhat, people have to grow more mature. If you think that your life is going down spiral, its time that you start thinking about ways to change it. No one is perfect but everyone should strife for perfection.