Happy Chinese Niu Year

Heavily backdated post as i did not have Internet connection when i went back to my hometown.

I sent out SMS wishes to all my friends who are chinese whose contacts are found in my mobile's address book, "Happy Niu Year! May the year of the Ox imbue you and your family with bullish fortune. Warm regards, Lawsh". That was the content for those who did not receive it. Do not be sad if you did not receive it from me, it could be Maxis' fault OR i do not have your updated contact number.

Erm ... You look familiar ...

I know for a fact that im a forgetful person, perhaps not so much for face recognition. I met up with 2 person i have seen/met this week alone. Too bad i can't say the same for their names :p

First person was a someone who was my friend's friend where our common interest back then was Counter Strike (CS), back in the time when cybercafes was the place to hang out almost every weekend for me and my friends. Surprisingly (to me at least), the people whom i consider as smart and intelligent in studies are the best players. This friend here, let's call him YY (his real initials) is a seriously damn good player who can pwn with a poor terrorists weapon of choice, the MP5. IIRC, he is the other one whom i know would choose his avatar in the game to be left handed. I find this very peculiar especially for someone who is right handed in real life. Anyhows, that is their preference and God knows, maybe that is the reason why they are able to play so well. Btw, he asked me to contact him if we got another session wor and he works damn near to Aunty Chee's office for the time being.

Second person was someone whom i worked in the same building with many years ago. Many years ago means 7-8 years. This one however have a simpler explanation i suppose, she is pretty :p I was just a trainee back then and i doubt that i had had the chance to talk to her, let alone wanting to know her. Today, out of pure coincidence that a colleague asked me to join him for lunch with his vendors, i accepted it because i was alone and was just planning to go for McDonalds' Double Prosperity Chicken. She was also surprised when i finally tracked down how i could have known her as it was ages ago.

How i wish i can apply my this uncanny ability to remember a face to better memory of what i really do need to remember. Oh well, i guess i must have more post-it-pads to help out.

MyFM Event @ Lowyat Plaza

Just another weekend which i could not wake up late. As usual, i would wake up to check on my torrents and several online game of which required attention. After doing all that, i went for breakfast.

Received news that a scheduled appointment had to be called off and not content on spending another weekend at home, i remembered that there was an event at Lowyat Plaza. Since i have not done much CNY shopping, i thought i could kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

Woke my sister up and off we went to Bukit Bintang via LRT (it proved a great choice as there was a massive jam at Berjaya Times Square where i planned to park if i were to drive there). The sun was beaming like it was 2 or 3pm when its only 11am.

The event was not a huge one but the crowd was immense, so many people lining up at around 10 booths of which many of the famous celebrities from Astro were present to make the event an enjoyable one for all the fans.

We (my sister and i) managed to get 5-6 bag full of goodies by playing games and also some merely visiting the booths. What was more important for her were the angpao packets (not because they contained money) for my mother's collection. Goodies such as mugs, car sunshades, pens, etc etc etc. ALL my fingers are still quite numb from carrying the loot.

OK OK, this is not like me at all being a reporter of an event. What i really wanted to showcase is the below pic =D~~ This is above all else more important that all the goodies i got :p

Your's truly alongside the beautiful Ngan Mei Yan, DJ for MyFM

Liverpool FC???

Nope, im not gonna talk about Liverpool Football Club as im utterly disgusted with them. The below pic sums it up for its Finance Club :)


Once a DEVIL, always a DEVIL!

Contradictions ...

Why lie when you can 't lie properly? I was told last week that there would be change going on in the company. This change is described as a train moving forward, those who are in line of course will be on board the train and moving in the way which the company have decided. The thing is, its now at the last station, those who feel that they are not aligned with where the train is going will have to alight the train. Those who think they are aligned may have to alighted with assistance. The catch in this change is that the available seats will be halved hence the need to jettison passengers.

The restructuring will require the lesser people to function in more roles, a wider job scope, a supposed more skilled team to be able to serve the customers (internally) much better. However the structures have not be defined to the minute details yet but there is a rough and general structure for what it may be. We will be taking in new bloods to inject new ideas on how to run the business.

IT used to be a powerful part of the company, their staff gets special privileges, higher pay, unquestioned budget etc etc etc. However, due to the old style of management, the staff slacked off and those special abilities are now being questioned. A target of 300M is to be recouped from IT within 3 years.

You do not have to worry as you will not be retrenched, you will merely be reassigned to have new functions under the new structure. You may be under new bosses, volunteer to join another unit which you have interest in, and for those who are not interested in the new structure will be described as natural parting/seperation.

The person who gave the above statements had her hands trembling throughout the whole session. Lies upon lies which she hopes no one would notice.

The contradictions :

1) How do you halve the force without retrenchment/VSS? Do they really expect en masse resignation?

2) Everybody wants to be a boss, every boss would want a good sized team, a good sized team would consist of good, useful and useless staff. The good and useful are not stupid hence they jump at the opportunity to move on to become their own boss, usually in other companies. So what are left is what caused this bloatedness and inefficiency.

3) You want to halve the force but at the same time add more staff? My guess is that, the new managers are here to sign and issue letters to jettison the people unwanted by the real management.

4) Natural seperation/parting, yeah right! Forced departure is more likely, and without VSS, they are gonna save truck loads of money. 100M a year is gonna be tough, so without this VSS they are on their way to recouping it already.

There were a few positions advertised by other companies sent to me via emails from job portals. I was fairly interested in 1 of it, sadly though the application date expired on 31/12/2008 :( now i can't apply for it. What a great way to start the new year huh?

So it seems that job hunting mode if forced to be on. Goodbye to the special privileges which i have not enjoyed enough T_T

Picks from House M.D.

After finishing 4 seasons of House M.D. (just yesterday), i went and look for the OST but found only 2 seasons (1 & 2) OSTs. Some of the more meaningful or more recognized songs which i liked are as below :

A strange song by Amos Lee - Colors.

Yesterday I got lost in the circus
Feeling like such a mess
Now I'm down I'm just hanging on the corner
I can't help but reminisce

When you're gone
All the colors fade
When you're gone
No the years they parade
When you're gone
Colors seem to fade

Your mama called, she said
That you're downstairs crying
Feeling like such a mess
And yeah I hear ya
yeah in the background bawling
What happened to your sweet summer time dress

I know it all
We all got our faults
We get locked in our voids
And make mistakes

When you're gone
All the colors fade
When you're gone
No the years they parade
When you're gone
Colors seem to fade
Colors seem to fade

Another strange in a similar way, Bird York - In the deep

Thought you had
all the answers
to rest your heart upon.
But something happens,
don't see it coming, now
you can't stop yourself.
Now you're out there swimming...
In the deep.
In the deep.

Life keeps tumbling your heart in circles
till you... Let go.
Till you shed your pride, and you climb to heaven,
and you throw yourself off.
Now you're out there spinning...
In the deep.
In the deep.
In the deep.
In the deep.

And now you're out there spinning...
And now you're out there spinning...
In the deep.
In the deep.
In the deep.

In the silence,
all your secrets, will
raise their worried heads.
Well, you can pin yourself back together,
to who you thought you were.
Now you're out there livin'...
In the deep.
In the deep.
In the deep.

In the deep...

Now you're out there spinning...
Now you're out there swimming...
Now you're out there spinning...
In the deep.
In the deep.
In the deep.
In the deep...

The Rolling Stones - You can't always get what you want

I saw her today at a reception
A glass of wine in her hand
I knew she would meet her connection
At her feet was her footloose man

No, you can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
And if you try sometime you find
You get what you need

I saw her today at the reception
A glass of wine in her hand
I knew she was gonna meet her connection
At her feet was her footloose man

You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you might find
You get what you need

Oh yeah, hey hey hey, oh...

And I went down to the demonstration
To get my fair share of abuse
Singing, "We're gonna vent our frustration
If we don't we're gonna blow a 50-amp fuse"
Sing it to me now...

You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you just might find
You get what you need
Oh baby, yeah, yeah!

I went down to the Chelsea drugstore
To get your prescription filled
I was standing in line with Mr. Jimmy
And man, did he look pretty ill
We decided that we would have a soda
My favorite flavor, cherry red
I sung my song to Mr. Jimmy
Yeah, and he said one word to me, and that was "dead"
I said to him

You can't always get what you want, no!
You can't always get what you want (tell ya baby)
You can't always get what you want (no)
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You get what you need
Oh yes! Woo!

You get what you need--yeah, oh baby!
Oh yeah!

I saw her today at the reception
In her glass was a bleeding man
She was practiced at the art of deception
Well I could tell by her blood-stained hands

You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You just might find
You get what you need

You can't always get what you want (no, no baby)
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You just might find
You get what you need, ah yes...

Ryan Adams - Desire

Two hearts fading, like a flower.
And all this waiting, for the power.
For some answer, to this fire.
Sinking slowly. The wateras higher.
Desire

With no secrets. No obsession.
This time I'm speeding with no direction.
Without a reason. What is this fire?
Burning slowly. My one and only.
Desire

You know me. You don't mind waiting.
You just can't show me, but God I'm praying,
That you'll find me, and that you'll see me,
That you run and never tire.
Desire

Recap of 2008

Lame way to do this but its the format that stuck to my head @ 2.30am after i returned from a drinking session with some friends

January
Full of hope in the new year to have a new scope of work and hopefully be involved in a big project.

February
Not a really good CNY, perhaps that is the beginning of my bad luck for the year

March
The project doesn't seem to be doing so well anymore BUT another project arise and more hope arises
Leaked information about promotion candidates whereby yours truly is expected to be one of those to be promoted

April
Officially received promotion letter on April Fool's Day which was backdated to January.
Received retrospective pay increment and dumped all into paying credit card debts.

May
News of a 'higher power ' (aka Management) are taking matters into their own hands for the project which im involved in and is the complete opposite of what was evaluated by the User and Technical Team

June
Closing of the FY for my company and the project is really something which i have no eyes to see anymore.

July
Decision made by Management on the project is firm and there goes my hope, job hunting begins again.
Have to used a stupid system to clock in what i do, i don't even fucking have a project, how am i supposed to record down what i do???

August
Again not a really happy birthday + a bitter goodbye

September
Speculation and sadness about how much would be announced by the Management on bonus payout. Lowest in all my 5 years in the company.

October
Company stock prices halved compared to its prices in January. Sayonara to the remaining options given to me by the company which will expire in June 2009.

November
Several drinking sessions which did its job of whisking away my mind from my miserable life.
Missed several relative's weddings on purpose to not want to explain of my singleness.

December
An array of weddings, 2 of which have already blocked my calender since last year :p Frankly speaking, i wouldn't miss it for the world!
Went to both and it was a BANG! Congratulations and may you have happiness forever together!

Summary :

1) Alcohol does not really KO me, it just FUCKING mess up my body clock. KO-ed to sleep at 2-3am only to wake up at 5-7am and never able to continue sleep.

2) Made many superb friends via online games, went to 1 of their wedding dinner but missed out on being a fun heng dai :(

3) First taste of being 5 digits for credit card debts. It was all down to my own stupidity, very expensive lesson learned.

4) One cannot drink away sadness/loneliness, one cannot afford to buy companionship long enough to get through the night BUT one is very lucky to have many good friends.

5) Least sleep time in a year.

6) Most alcohol consumed in a year ever.