Boy Meets World!

Bad Engrish.....Crass Dismissed!

2004-11-22T21:24:00.000+08:00

Its been a while since I last updated my blog. Felt in the mood for it as I'm listening to some soothing music. I had some fun recently irritating a couple of my friends on MSN with bad engrish.....erm.....I mean english! It all stared when Adeline aka Adelinavalli Muthu told me that some guy on SDU was chatting with her and spoke "bad english". I decided to make fun of her and started messaging her with bad english. I had so much fun I transferred it to 2 of my other friends as well. These 2 didn't take to it so well that they changed their MSN nicknames in my honour....."Darryl is fucking irritating. Get out of my face you non-english speaking idiot!" and "Darryl is irritating nowadays....make it always!". Thanks to Angie Pangie and Suyin! =PP

Anyways, I has so much funs with it that I am tempt to do it agains but no avenues so I remembers my blog. So heres am I writing on my blog in an attempts to tries my hand at bad engrish agains lest I irritates some people again. Anyways, I also don knows whats to write leh. I thinks that it is not easy to comes out with a topic out of nothings. My brains almost cao-ta liao and I still don know whats I am going to tells you leh. Sighs. Ah! I know liao! My friend Adeline, the same one I mentioned just nows, just got a jobs leh. With some blanded company lah. Forgots the names liao. Thinks its some flower company cos the names got bloom one.....ahhh!!! I remember!! Bloomberg!! I next Valentine's day maybe can go there ordered flower from her and maybe can got discounts. Wah! Shioks ah! Quite cools to have friends working in flower company hor?! She says she doing global supports one. So I think the company sends the flowers overseas too leh. Quite power sia!! I damns happy for her leh although she tell me that she give some bimbos answer during interviews. I really agree leh. I think she becoming bimborer and bimborer with time. But whatever it is, I damn happy for her lah! Lagi shiok! Can works in a global flower companies.

OK lah. I wills not irritates anymore peoples who are reading this blog. I hopes that you has a good times reading what I has to written. I also enjoys writing for you to see and reads lah. Until next times, which I don know when yet, I will writes more lah! Hopesfully my engrish will improves more abit by then. Good night.

Diet & Exercise - the things we never knew......

2004-09-18T14:14:00.000+08:00

Q: I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true?
A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that's it...don't waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that's like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster.Want to live longer? Take a nap.

Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?
A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.

Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?
A: Well, if you have a body, and you have body fat, your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc.

Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program?
A: Can't think of a single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No Pain...Good.

Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?
A: You're not listening. Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they're permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you?

Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?
A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.

Q: Is chocolate bad for me?
A: Are you crazy? HELLO ...... Cocoa beans ... another vegetable!!! It's the best feel good food around!

Q: Is swimming good for your figure?
A: If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me.

Q: Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle?
A: Hey! 'Round' is a shape!

Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about
food and diets. Now go have a biscuit...flour is a veggie!

Excluded

2004-08-22T22:17:00.000+08:00

I hadn't intended to blog tonight but I somehow felt compelled to do so.

Well, here I am.....sitting down in front of my computer. I just got back from a gathering with some friends. Friends whom I spent a couple of years together with in my youth. You'd think that it was a fun gathering and it must have been nice to meet up with old friends, right? Well, normally, yes. But somehow, tonight was different. Truth be told, and if I allow myself to be a little candid about my thoughts, I didn't enjoy it. In fact, it was an absolutely torturous 2 hours for me. No! Don't get me wrong.....I don't hate my friends, nor do I think that they're horrible people. Honestly, they're great people....generally...and it was indeed nice to see them after a long while....and I mean LONG WHILE!!

Anyways, to be completely honest, although I do enjoy talking to these friends of mine, I somehow dread hanging out with them these days. I don't know why but I feel so.....excluded! I don't think there's any more appropriate word than the word "EXCLUDED"! You see, it was the five of us back then.....and at tonight's dinner, there were 11 of us. And somehow, I was not included in the "expansion" of this group and I guess I did miss out on a certain phase of the evolvement of this group and perhaps this explains my exclusion. I don't know. I can't pinpoint a reason why I feel excluded but I do. I cannot deny I feel this way. I really didn't wanna go but because it was one of our friend's birthdays, I thought I should show up. And to add to it, my good friend, E, did play a part in trying to get me to turn up! (Cheers to you, E!! I know you'll read this and I'm sorry if some of the comments in this blog are too.....honest!)

I know I shouldn't go public about this but I guess this is about my only forum to express what I feel tonight, without reservation. I felt absolutely horrible. Well, perhaps I should not feel guilty about feeling excluded....and maybe its really no one to blame. It probably is. But it sucked! Sucked big time to know that the 5 of us were such good friends but it has now degenerated.....well, semi-degenerated because I'm probably the only one who feels excluded. I didn't say too much during dinner. I wasn't really paying attention to anything except finishing my dinner so I could go home. Maybe I should have tried but it didn't help that I didn't know half the people at the table and there was this "prissy" gal who always says nasty things to me. I'm sooooo tempted to say "WHATEVER!" and walk off! Maybe I don't know her well enough but frankly, I don't have a good impression of her, and never had since I knew of her existence back in JC. (Sorry, E! Just being honest!) I really was tempted to just walk away from the table.

OK. Sorry for all this grousing but it certainly makes me feel better! I have no one to tell these things too because if I told someone, I'd have to explain the whole context and background and by the time I'm done with that, I think I'd be too tired to go on with my grousing. I know this isn't exactly the most organised entry for a blog but it pretty darn well reflects my thoughts and my current state of mind.....confused & lost!

ARGHHH!!!!!!!

OK! Now you see the ugly side of me.....do you still wanna know me? Sorry, I'm just in one of those moods.....

Adios for now! Hope the next blog will put me in better light!

Going off to enjoy the PM's National Day Message......=P C'mon!! 5 day week for Civil Servants!!! COME ON!! GIVE IT TO ME!!!

Nothing.

2004-08-21T20:22:00.000+08:00

I'm bored. I'm extremely bored.

You see, the problem is that I've begun on my new job and I have to work on alternate saturdays. Today happens to be a Saturday that I don't have to work. Should have been good but it turned out to be a spoiler. Well, here goes it....

1100h wake up
1200h off to SIM for lunch with parents
1300h went to Causeway Point with mum
1700h arrived home
1701h at edge of seat as Li Jia Wei fought to get a medal for SG
1730h end of nailbiting session
1745h decided that I needed a nap
1746h nap
1915h wake up & shower
1930h had dinner - nice striploin steak which we bought......yummy!!
2015h dinner done
2016h watching soccer
2026h writing this blog at exactly this point

So, how do you think I spent my Saturday? Exciting, huh?!? Well, the only saving grace is that I bought 3 pairs of pants to top up my wardrobe. You might think its alot but frankly, if you see me wearing my old pants these days, you'd probably wanna sponsor me in buying a pair of pants. My pants have become way too loose for me....I've gone down from a 44 in February of this year to a size under 40 now!! I'm proud of my achievement!! Aren't you proud of me??

Anyways, what's the point of this whole blog? Well, I spent my whole saturday doing nothing. And hence, the point of this blog........

NOTHING!

Haha....fooled ya!!

DISC Profiles...I'm a PERSUADER!!!

2004-08-20T19:14:00.000+08:00

Ever wondered how accurate those personality profile tests are? Well, I've always have my fair share of doubts about them....in fact, I'm quite a cynic when it comes to these thingies. However, today, in the last minutes of my official work hours, an interesting discussion about the DISC profile sparked off...and it managed to capture my attention to the point that I left work almost an hour later!!

For those of you who don't know, the DISC profile actually measures a person on four dimensions - Domineering, Influencing, Steadiness, Conscientiousness. Based on a persons scoring of the four dimensions, you can roughly size up that person.....and since I took the test during one of my job interviews for MINDEF, the results were revealed to me that I was a PERSUADER....someone who's extremely high on I, above average on D, and almost non-existent in S and C. What does all this mean? Well, read on and see if you agree with the following description of a PERSUADER!
____________________________________________________
PERSUADER

Emotions...
trusts others; is enthusiastic

Goal...
authority and prestige; status symbols

Judges others by......
ability to express themselves; flexibility

Influences others by......
friendly, open manner, verbal skills

Value to the organization......
sells and closes; delegates responsibility; is poised and confident

Overuses......
enthusiasm; selling ability; optimism

Under pressure......
becomes indecisive and is easily persuaded; becomes organized in order to look good

Fears......
fixed environment; complex relationships

Would increase effectiveness through......
challenging assignments; attention to task-oriented service and key details; objective data analysis

General Description......
Persuaders work with people, striving to be friendly while pushing forward their own objectivers. Outgoing and interested in people, Persuaders have the ability to gain the respect and confidence of various types of people. Persuaders can impress their thoughts on others, drawing people to them and retaining them as clients or friends. This ability is particulary helpful when Persuaders sell themselves or their ideas to positions of authority.

The most favourble environment for Persuaders includes working with people, receiving challenging assignments, and experiencing a variety of work activities that require mobility. They seek work assignments that will give them the opportunity to look good. As a result of their naturally positive outlook, Persuaders may be too optimistic about a project's results and others' potential. Persuaders also tend to overestimate their abilty to change the behavior of others.

Although Persuaders desire freedom from routine and regimentation, they need to receive analytical date on a systematic basis. Once alerted to the importance of "little things", Persuaders can use the information to balance their enthusiasm with a realistic assessment of the situation.
_____________________________________________________

Agree with this profile description? Well, I personally think its a dead on!! Hate to admit some of the points but I think its almost like a spot-on tell all about myself!! What do you think?

However, I think that when I did the profile test, I answered in the context of the work environment. Am I the same profile in the social context? That's something only my friends can tell me......so if you're my friend, let me know what you think! ;)

And for those of you who don't know me, how's this for an introduction? Hehe....

Cheers!! Adios for now!!

¡Viva España!

2004-07-23T19:08:00.000+08:00

Hola Amigos!

Yes! For those of you who don´t know already, I´m in Spain. Today is my second day in Spain.......arrived yesterday in midday and am now embarking on my first full fledge day in Spain! It was a tiring flight....not to mention rather traumatic because of the horrible children screaming around me!! And to top it all off, I had to wait 3.5 hours in Ataturk International Airport, where I was so hungry that I let the BK there rip me off for uS$9.50 for a silly Chicken Royale Meal. Hey! Don´t look at me as if I´m a sucker.......if you were as hungry as I was, you´d do the same!

Anyways, apologies for not blogging for such a long time but the past month was just horrendously busy for me, what with trying to settle my new job thingies and thinking about handing over my current job to NOBODY! I think that´s the main problem. I have no one to hand over to and I have to try to put down everything in pure black and white to get it "institutionalised". Oh well...whatever....anyways, I´m now holidaying in Spain before I begin on my new assignment and I´m just so excited to meet up with old friends and familiar faces. For those of you who don´t already guess, YEAP! this is my second trip to Barcelona! I just lurve it here!! I am of course not the typical tourist cos I live with my friend´s family and I live the Spanish lifestyle....

What is the Spanish lifestyle? Well, from a Singaporean´s point of view....its probably shangri-la. I am told not to wake up before eight....preferably say 9 or 10 would be more ideal....then I`m told that breakfast is about 9 or 10, and then lunch at 3....followed by dinner at say, about 9. Gosh! So different from Singapore. And to top it all off, there´s this thing they do here called SIESTA! What it is is basically a short nap after lunch for fear that they might be too tired in the afternoon without a nap. Well, as compared to my typical six-hour a day sleep routine in Singapore, this is almost heaven because, as quoted from my friend "it is not possible to sleep 6 hours a day and live beyond a week". Oh well, whatever.....I just wanna immerse myself totally into the whole Spanish relac jack latino culture! Just keeping my fingers crossed I won´t get totally hooked on it...

Well, its 1316h in the MORNING here....as with the Spanish schedule, the afternoon begins at 3 and the night begins at about 8 or 9.....so, as I was saying, its 1316h in the morning here and I just got back from the city of Barcelona. Followed my friend´s mum to La Boguera, a huge market that sells all sorts of things.....to get there, we had to stroll down the famous La Ramblas, where we saw lots of colourful personalities. Also lots of baskers....you know, the kind that stay there without moving and then when you bother to be conned by them to dump in a coin into their tin can, they move and entertain you to try to reduce the feeling of being "cheated" as much as possible. Have you ever wondered what they´d do if no one put in anything for an extended period of time? ouch!! I wouldn´t have the patience to go through it. Anyway, it was an interesting visit and I cannot wait to experience more. My friend is currently at work now, which kinda explains why I have the time to blog even though I´m supposed to be enjoying myself exploring some part of the city. I have already come once and I think that most of Barcelona city is conquered by me. This time around, I´ll see more outside of the city! Can´t wait!!!

Oh well, I shall try to update my blog as often as possible to remember what goes on durind my short stay here. Keep a lookout for it! As for now, my fingers are tired and I´m getting nervous from trying to find the appropriate keys on the Spanish keyboard to type some words!! It frustrates me cos it can be rather different!

Alright....for now, that´s it! Darryl en España....OUT!!

despair.com :-(

2004-06-19T13:37:00.000+08:00

You know those motivational posters that hang around the walls of some companies to make it seem like everyone is so bloody motivated to move forward? Well, here are some interesting quotes I got off this interesting website that could be used on some of these posters that would add a touch of reality to life....HAHAHA! Cynical me!

DISCOVERY

A company that will go to the ends of the earth for its people will find it can hire them for about 10% the cost of Singaporeans.

DREAMS

Dreams are like rainbows. Only idiots chase them.

NEPOTISM

We promote family values here. Just as much as we promote family members.

POWER

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. But it rocks absolutely, too.

FLATTERY

If you want to get to the top, prepare to kiss alot of the bottom.

GET TO WORK

You aren't being paid to believe in the power of your dreams.

GOALS

Its best to avoid standing in between a competitive jerk and his goals.

INDIFFERENCE

It takes 43 muscles to frown and only 17 to smile, but it doesn't take any to just sit there with a dumb look on your face.

INDIVIDUALITY

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everybody else.

CONSULTING

If you're not part of the solution, there's good money to be made in prolonging the problem.

DEMOTIVATION

Sometimes the best solution to all the morale problems is just to fire all of the unhappy people.

ELITISM

It's lonely at the top. But it's comforting to look down upon everyone at the bottom.

IRRESPONSIBILITY

No single raindrop believes it is to be blamed for the flood.

LONELINESS

If you find yourself struggling with loneliness, you are not alone. And yet you are alone. So very alone.

SACRIFICE

Your role may be thankless, but if you're willing to give it your all, you might just bring success to those who outlast you.

Ok enough for now....but this one's the icing on the cake....

MOTIVATION

If a pretty poster and a cute saying are all it takes to motivate you, you probably have a very easy job. The kind robots will be doing soon.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Darryl, OUT!

PEANUTS!(again!).....and you're no monkey....

2004-06-18T20:06:00.000+08:00

Finally a Friday night.....I think I always look forward to my Fri nights! Its nice cos I don't have to waketh early the next morning and I can just sleep in however late I want, unless of course I have to go back to office for the occasional conduct of a training workshop.....which is one of the best parts of my job scope!

Anyhow, the week has been rather boring....and uneventful! However, today, I went for lunch with a colleague whom I rarely lunched with so I thought I'd take the opportunity to catch up with her! Over lunch, somehow the topic of moving along in our careers took centrestage. So we were chatting along and bitching about some of the silly policies that my company had and how most of us feel not taken care of. Then I realised. My intern was with us and we were bitching as if we were incentivised to do so. Omigosh! Dammit. How could I ruin the seemingly perfect image (emphasis: SEEMINGLY!) of my company for this young, innocent and naive intern who's barely into her second year of studies in university? Guilt overcame me....(don't ask me why!)....

Then I stopped talking. My colleague took my cue. Then I glanced across the table and looked at my intern, trying to find words to regress my guilt and guess what? no words at all. Then she smiled, and opened her mouth to say "Actually, I wonder why you guys still stay in this company? I am only an intern here and only been here for a month but I could tell this company doesn't take care of their people!". Gasp!

I looked at my colleague. She looked back at me.

My intern continued. "Its not as if its not obvious. Any person can tell within 2 weeks what this company is really like." Louder Gasp! Then she turned to me and said, " Frankly, I don't understand why you don't wanna leave?!? I feel this company is paying you peanuts compared to what you are contributing and what you can contribute to this company!"

My head swelled with pride. "Peanuts are for monkeys, and you're no monkey! So leave if you have the chance!" I felt so cheated all of a sudden. It dawned upon me that frankly, I was really not receiving a fair reumeration for my contribution. I never thought of it this way....I don't know why but I just never thought about how fair my remuneration was. I just knew that my salary was not exactly high but I was brainwashed by the age-old compensation policy excuse that my company always uses...."we are low basic, high variable!"....and frankly, I bought into that! And perhaps the seemingly huge amounts of bonus towards the end of the year seem to reinforce this age-old excuse. Then it dawned upon me.....if you took that amount and divided it equally into 12 months, you'd roughly be getting the same amount, or less, than your peers! I'm feeling so screwed all of a sudden. But honestly, I love my work and I truely have a passion for what I am doing. But this low-basic-high-variable thingie was getting out of hand. Oh well, I'm definitely no monkey but frankly, I feel like one for now. I'm still trying to figure out if I'm really one. *scratches head*

Anyway, I went for an interview a couple of weeks back and they said they'd get back to me in 2 weeks and today was like the last day of the 2 week period and frankly, I was giving up hope. Then I got a call from them in the mid-afternoon and when the person on the phone told me who she was and where she was from, my heart kinda sank and I said "so, good news or bad news?". She laughed. Then she said she'd like to invite me down for a job preview!! Was that a job offer? NOPE! But its one step closer to a job offer! Right now, I feel less like a monkey! Suddenly, the thought of me possibly being able to break out of my "cage" gave me renewed hope about myself. I MAY NOT BE SOME MONKEY AFTERALL! *smirk look on face*

So, I'm gonna go for the job preview some time next week and then I should be able to know if I got the job! The tricky part comes when the compensation issue comes in. I surely don't wanna transfer from one zoo to another so I gotta be dealing with it with extreme care! Frankly, if I had to go from one zoo to another, I'd rather stay at the old zoo cos then my big fat bonus will come some time next year and I'd be a happy monkey at least! Anyhows, right now, I'm just excited about the whole thing and I cannot wait for it! Wish me luck! Pray for me!

This weekend is going to be fun. Its gonna be tennis on Saturday. Then tennis on Sunday. And then tennis again on Monday after work. Isn't it so exciting! I'm like totally excited about it! Psyched up! Tennis is such a wonderful game, and it gets even better with each game I play cos I improve quite a bit after each session! Cool huh?! Fast learner here!

Okie dokes! I'm gonna run and chill out while waiting for NIP/TUCK to begin at 11. Darryl, OUT!

Peanuts!

2004-06-11T18:05:00.000+08:00

Right...I'm bored! I'm stuck in the office now waiting for a colleague of mine who seems to be perpetually buried in work! Well, under normal circumstances, I wouldn't be in the office at this time typing away on my blog, much less on other work-related stuff. However, I'm gonna chill out tonight with a coupla friends and I'm waiting for this colleague of mine so we can head down together! Hence, I'm extremely bored now and decided to blog while munching on Farmer Brand groundnuts!

I met up with a friend last night....and its been quite some time since we last met up and had a good chat! It is always nice to meet up with this friend of mine because I think he's probably one of the few people who can really understand me.....plus, he's a good listener! Well, we had dinner and then went to this nice little quaint cafe and plonked ourselves down on a nice little table by the corner and ordered our drinks! Anyway, as usual, we chatted and chatted and time passed....then all of a sudden, he said to me "Darryl! You have NO LIFE!"

Needless to say, I was stunned for a moment and then I realise he said that because I was talking about work and realised that alot of our conversation was about my work, especially when I led the conversation. So then, I decided that I should stop talking about work....sounds great?! Yeah it sure does....then he starts talking.....and he tells me about how he hopes that he will get this done and that done....and I'm like grinning and trying to control my giggles and then he looks at me, seemingly offended at my grin, and griped "Why are you grinning to yourself?" and I said, "Friend, you have NO LIFE!". And we both burst out laughing!

I then realised why I was talking about work with him because he knew some people in my company and he had a context to what I was talking about! I can imagine that if I went out and bitched about the things happening at work to some of my other friends and I'd always have to keep repeating what might seem like a grandmother's story before I get to the bitching part, by which time, the effect would have been lost! And similarly, he tells me about his "work" because I am aware of the context of his situation too and it makes griping or talking about events much more easy on your heart just because you don't have to repeat long stories and at the end of your long story, people might still not understand the point you're trying to make!

Which conveniently brings me to my next question.....does a common domain have to exist before 2 people can become "good" friends? Does it then mean that if I strike up a wonderful friendship with someone and then we move on to our own stations in life, hence un-sharing the common domain, does it then mean we will eventually drift apart? Apparently, my experience thus far have proven this true! Honestly, I'm hoping to be proven wrong one day and perhaps I will never be proven wrong, because it may very well just be the fact of the matter! What then will make a friendship lasting? I'm not trying to be super emotional/soppy here but I'm really wondering, do we change friends everytime we move on in life? Well, to be more exact, will your good friends now be one day not your good friends anymore? I am sure most people would say "hey! that's very possible and that's perfectly fine!". Well and good! My only problem is then, if you know good friends will come and go, why bother then to invest time and energy and emotion into making a friend "good" only to find that he will one day be eventually un-"good"? You get the drift.....and most of you probably say that its because we live in the moment and we should just live every moment for what it is and not think about what comes along in future! Well, good for you if you think like that! I applaud the sacrificial self-giving nature of such people but call me selfish or pathetic or whatever you wish, but I truly wish that I don't change friends when I change stations in life! Yeah sure I can add more friends when I move on in life but to me, friends are like old wine....the older the better! I will continue this another time cos my colleague just called and its time to go.

So, I'm off to chill out tonight....if anyone happens to catch this before the night ends, feel free to join me at NewAsia Bar at the top of the Swissotel Stamford! I'll be there waiting for ya! ;)

Cheers & tataz.....DARRYL, OUT!

The Weekend!

2004-06-06T18:43:00.000+08:00

This weekend has been unlike any other. I am quite satisfied with the way it turned out. I woke up on Saturday with no plans whatsoever and mulling the fact that it'll be another boring weekend! Somehow, along the way, things happened.....a friend called me up for dinner in the evening and we managed to arrange something and before that dinner appointment, another friend called me up to do some blading! Roller-blading isn't exactly the kind of sport I would be seen doing but somehow, with all my gusto, I decided to oblige and surprisingly, it didn't turn out THAT bad. Unfortunately, the pair of extra blades he had were a little too small for me so I couldn't do much because my feet were dying from the tight-fitting pair of blades! No...its not an excuse! I wish I could have learnt more though...it seemed like quite a fun sport! Wait, is it considered a "sport"?

Today was relatively good too....went to church in the morning with a friend I have not seen in ages! It was nice to catch up and an interesting conversation struck up while having breakfast! I'll tell you more later after I told you what I did today! Be patient. In the afternoon, I had a game of tennis.....I am so into this tennis thing that I think some of my friends are dying from my apparent over-enthusiasm for the sport! I just picked it up recently and I think I'm pretty darn good for a beginner who has just played 4 sessions of tennis thus far! Perhaps its the current French Open that is fuelling my enthusiasm for this sport! (Now, TENNIS is definitely a sport!) To top it off, my JC classmates were kind enough to present me with a tennis racket for my recently passed birthday and I feel obliged to try my best to use it well! =P

Anyway, about the interesting conversation with my long lost friend. You know how old friends update each other of their happenings in their life when they meet up without fail? Well, we did just that....and the inevitable question popped up! "So, how's your love life?" Sometimes, it comes in other forms such as "So, are you attached?" or "So, anyone going after you?", etc. Well, I'm sure we all know the variety of ways of putting that age-old question across! I asked...she responded coyly saying..."Well, not really!" and that was like the cue for me to stare at her widely and look eagerly for elaboration, which she of course conveniently looked back down at her half-boiled eggs + coffee to avoid my inquiring stare! Well, me being the interrogative sort, I decided to probe further....I was particularly keen on the "not really" because it puzzled me how can someone be "not really" attached? Its theoretically either a "yes" or a "no", right? Someone correct me if I'm mistaken but I always thought it was pretty clear cut! Like me, I can safely say I'm not attached, albeit not happily unattached! OK...so she gives in to my probing and answers indirectly with a "What is your view on a Christian being with a non-Christian?" (What is with people who answer your question with another mind-boggling question? Its like...HELLO?! Is there some kind of who-makes-the-other-one-go-crazy-faster competition going on here?)

So, what is your view of a Christian being with a non-Christian? Well, I think there are many views out there but in my personal opinion, there isn't really much of a view to it! I told her that. I feel there is not much of a view with regards to this issue. Or is there? In my humble opinion, the Bible states it quite clearly that we should not be unequally yoked with people who are not of the same faith!

"Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communinon has light with darkness?" ~ 2 Cor 6:14 (NKJV)

Well, I'm not here to debate on the rightness or wrongness of what I just said. I think we'll leave that to the professionals. We all are entitled to our own opinions but I believe every disciple of Christ should subscribe to the teachings of the Scripture, and the Scripture is as above.

That aside, I realised that alot of times, the girls I know and wanna get to know better because I see some potential in developing the friendship do seem to be non-Christians! I don't know why but somehow, girls that grab my attention somehow turn out to be non-Christians! Its not that they're pretty or babe-alicious! I am way past pretty/babe-alicious girls! I need more than long hair and a pretty face to get to me! Problem is, I always don't pursue it because of my conviction of the Scripture. It sucks! It always does! And to be completely honest, I struggle with it all the time but I guess I don't have the guts to disobey the teachings. I'm not saying I'm perfect and totally obedient of all teachings in Scripture. I'm probably the most imperfect creature but I guess I fear I might miss out on the intended blessings for me, that which God has planned and purposed for my life. Oh well, I think I'll just leave it as that. I have yet to figure out how to deal with this in my life....and whilst I know that God has it all planned out for me, I've gotta admit that sometimes, I don't know what's going on! Oh well, lest any of you wanna engage in a theological debate with me, it is not my intention and I shall choose not to entertain any one who wishes to engage me in that fasion! Nonetheless, I do not mean to imply, in case people think I am doing so, that couples who are unequally yoked are living out of the perfect will of God. I have no intention of this whatsoever. I'm just thinking out loud....like I said, I have my beliefs and I'm still wondering how to deal with it sometimes because its NOT EASY at all!

Anyhow, the French Open Mens Single is almost through. It seems like a foregone conclusion with Guillermo Coria leading Gaston Gaudio 6-0 6-3 at the moment. Last night's Ladies Single was also a bore! Anastacia Myskina trashed Elena Dementieva 6-1 6-2. How boring though I've gotta say that Russian babes are quite an eyeful! Damn! And I just said that it takes more than long hair and a pretty face to get to me! See! I told you I'm imperfect!

OK. This entry is getting a little too long....gonna run! DARRYL, OUT!

The grass is ALWAYS greener.....

2004-06-04T23:54:00.000+08:00

This entry was created on my previous blog on 4 June 2004, Friday, 12:58pm

OK! Now that I've gotten the short blog out of the way and kept my word, I can resume to my long and tedious blogs!

Well, I'm on medical leave today.....woke up this morning feeling a little under the weather like yesterday and felt absolutely horrible! Got up, sent a message to my boss and colleague to let them know I won't be in today, and gleefully went back to sleep. Then, before I knew it, I was awake again at 0800h! Don't ask me why I didn't sleep in further......I just couldn't! Was getting restless on a friday morning! Silly right?

Anyway, as you probably can tell, I got up, washed up and logged on to my trusty computer to check my mails and do stuff! Tissues still flowed on endlessly for a while and then all of a sudden, like a miracle, my silly nose decides that it has given me enough trouble and I'm more or less tissue-paper independent now! And you know what? I'm BORED! I'm truly BORED!! And the worst part is that my mind if on my work! Damn! I'm such a workaholic! Who else can ask for a better worker like me? Its a pity though that I feel my company doesn't appreciate it! Nonetheless, I have tons of work waiting for me and I am feeling like I wanna get back there and clear up some stuff! Its boring at home! No one's online. No one's free to talk on the phone. I'm feeling lonely and bored! Ah! The life of a slacker! I think I'm just not cut out to be one! Kudos to you all slackers out there!

So now, my dilemma.....go back to work or just stick around at home and rot? I think I'd prefer to go back to work! Sigh.....what's wrong with me? I think that's the very nature of us humans.....we're never satisfied with our current state. The grass is ALWAYS greener on the other side! I should learn to be a little more contented! I'm screaming for a break when I'm at work and now I'm screaming that I'm bored when I'm at home! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME??

Anyway, this is the period where lots of people graduate. I remember fondly last year that at this time, I just started working as an intern in my current company, which of course later I got "talent spotted"(or so I'd like to think!) and got confirmed in a permanent position in another department! I spent a month looking for jobs when I graduated and to be completely honest, I started looking 3 months before but I just wasn't employable enough! I even applied to teach! I truly wanted to be a teacher and it wasn't a backup plan for me! Unfortunately, the education ministry fellas didn't like me and so, I got rejected after the interview. I applied again almost immediately but this time, they didn't even wanna interview me! So, I went off in search of other pastures (notice I didn't say GREENER pastures but OTHER pastures!) and I found this job of mine! Thank God!

Well, alot of my friends are graduating and whilst some have found jobs, some are still trying their hardest to find. I've got friends who are working in various fields ranging from administrative officers to personal financial consultants to bankers to management trainees in huge financial institutions! Well, a handful of my friends have also decided to try the trodden path of mine and applied to become teachers! Not easy I must say....being a teacher is not easy at all....and the interview process is even worse because of the downturn in the economy, those fellas (whom also happen to be working in the public sector!) are pretty much in the power position. Demand is now less than supply and any of you who takes economics will know that the consumer(i.e. the education people!) are in the power position! Well, simplistically, at least! (this is my disclaimer statement to anyone who is crazy about economics comes and dispute my theory!)

Sorry! Today's blog seems to be quite random amblings so I apologize to any of you who have managed to follow thus far! You're probably wondering what the heck is going on? HECK! I myself don't know! I was bored so I came in to blog.....I guess that's all for now before I get any hate mails!

Gonna find a reason to go back to work! Tataz! DARRYL, OUT!

Man Of My Word!

2004-06-04T23:52:00.000+08:00

This entry was created in my previous blog on 4 June 2004, Friday, 12:30pm

As promised in my last blog, this shall be a short blog. Period.

Hehehe.....

Nose like a tap.....GUSH!!

2004-06-04T23:51:00.000+08:00

This entry was created on my previous blog on 3 June 2004, Thursday, 9:31pm

Today was a sick day.....you know, I hate to start my blogs on such a negative note all the time but somehow, its just awful luck that its like the theme of my days thus far since I started this blog! Is this blog jinx-ing me?

Anyway, today, I had a leaky nose! Absolutely horrid! My nose was leaking the whole day long and I think the tissue paper manufacturers must love me to death today! I was using tissue from the tissue box like it was free. And I'm not exxagerating! I literally used up a box in office today! My rubbish bin in my office under my desk is evidence of it! Bah!! I really wish I could remove my nose just for today! You cannot imagine how I hate a runny nose! YUCKS! Fortunately, work was rather uneventful today 'cept that I was to have a meeting with some people from some government ministry about some work-related stuff. I was worried about how I was going to survive in this highly important meeting without picking tissue paper every other minute. Somehow, I survived it......I forgot to bring my tissue box in but I didn't have to bother about my leaky nose! I think my nose likes those visitors! Dammit! If you read my previous previous blog, you'd realise I have inanimate objects (i.e. clocks!) that care for me and my silly nose, which I'm suppose to breathe through gives me the "cold(no puns intended! ) shoulder" and only decides to function normally when other people are watching! BAH!!!

You know what? The meeting with the government ministry people was pretty interesting. And in case you're thinking I'm talking about the content of the meeting, well, I'm not! I thought it was interesting because I had the opportunity to see what goes behind the minds of these workers for the government.

You know how people think that government ministries are typically beauracratic and hierarchical? Well, they're right! I hate to admit it but they're right! They shared with us on how they implemented certain programmes in the government companies and I realised that they really do have the "you-jolly-well-go-do-what-I-say-cos-I'm-the-authority-in-this!" attitude! It sucks! I can imagine if I was someone they try to convince me to buy into using their methodology/tool/concept and I would spit at them once they left the room! YUCKS! And you know what? This sucks because it comes at a point where I just applied for a job with a government ministry, went for the interview and came out feeling pretty good about it and am just waiting for their call to offer me the job! (wow! I talk as if I'm confident they'd offer me the job!! but frankly, I'm not really sure at all!)

To be completely honest, I don't know if I'd like to join the government sector anymore! Well, its interesting and maybe I shouldn't judge all the government companies just by my experience with 2 people but hey! its the same sector and they serve the same "master" so how different can they really be? Hmm.......nonetheless, the ministry I applied to is a pretty big ministry and I'm kinda excited about the prospect of working in such a big organisation too! Especially with regards to the work I do, the bigger the organisation, the more challenging, exciting and fun it is for me! Its a silly dilemma.....a happy problem, to be exact, if I do get the offer! But meanwhile, I shan't count my chickens before they hatch and start to worry about it only when they do actually make the call to offer me the job, or reject my application - in which case, I don't have a happy problem anymore, but just a sad life! HAHA!

Hmm....back to my nose! I visited the doc just now....and she gave me a day off from work tomorrow! I'm wondering if I should just stay home and take advantage of this excuse from work, or should I just be a really model worker and report for work despite the high probability that I'll delight the tissue paper manufacturers again? I think I'll pass on the model worker part and I'm sorry if any tissue paper manufacturers are reading this! I may be a sucker at times but I won't stay a sucker for long! HAHAHAHAHA! Seriously, you don't think I was really weighing my options, do you?

I promised myself to keep my blogs short but somehow, I have not managed to do that. Perhaps I shall make a commitment to make my next blog a short one. OK! I hereby promise that my next blog will be a short one! A really short one. Watch for it!

Meanwhile, I'm gonna scoot around the kitchen and look for some bites! I'm hungry! Yeah I know I'm supposed to be conscious of my weight and diet but I'm hungry. Period. Gonna go.....DARRYL, OUT!

hYpNoTiSeD! @@

2004-06-04T23:49:00.000+08:00

This entry was created on my previous blog on 2 June 2004, Wednesday, 4:54pm

Today is Vesak Day! (For those of you who are not living in my country, Vesak Day is a religious day for the Buddhist followers and the rest of the country gets to "profit" from this religious day as its a public holiday!)

So, what the heck am I doing home on a public holiday? Shouldn't I be out hanging with my friends or chillin' in some coffee places? Well, to be plain honest, I couldn't find anyone to hang out with......you see, I've come to a certain age of my life where most of my friends are happily attached and I'm still very single and very available! But anyways, yeah.....so I'm here hanging with my new blog!

I'm just wondering when I'll ever get lucky with girls? Its like.....I don't know.....my colleagues say that I'm being picky but what's so picky about some guy who just wants a gal whom he can connect with and some gal who can engage me in conversation? Well, beats me! I guess I've not met this person in my life yet, as my friends always tell me! Truth be told, I'm envious of my friends who have a partner.....and I'm just wondering why can't I enjoy that kind of special relationship with a someone in my life too? And the worse thing is, I have good friends before they get attached and I lose good friends as soon as they get happily attached! Well, not all my friends are like that but I'm quite confident to say a good deal of them are like that! Perhaps I will be like them next time but having been on the receiving end of all this, I hope I won't forget about my friends when I do get attached! *keeping fingers crossed* Anyways, those are just silly ramblings and they are just thoughts that come to my mind everytime I feel bored or have nothing to do.........which basically tells you what state of mind I am in now! Haha!

OK! I watched this show called HYPNOTIZED since I was bored stiff at home and in this show, people get hypnotized and get asked to do silly things! Real silly things! I don't know if I should believe that its not a scam but I was definitely wondering, what would it feel like to be hynoptized? And what would I do if I had no knowledge of fear or embarassment? I really don't know?! I'd probably ask to eliminate the feeling of physical exhaustion so I can exercise harder and get myself buffed up faster! I'm not exactly too happy with my progress but I guess its a stark improvement from 2 months back! I could probably also ask that I would find the courage to be upfront about how I feel with the girl I like and not be so worried about reciprocation! Hehe....sorry, I'm leading back to the old topic! Dammit! See what boredom does to me!??

Oh well, as you can probably guess, I'm bored stiff and I don't know what I'm gonna do for the rest of the day! Hmm....hey! Its 5pm! I'm guess I can go for my jog now! Yeah yeah! I guess I'll do just that! Alrightey then, adios and hasta pronto! Today's blog is abit boring but what do you expect? My day was boring....hopefully I can come back with more "exciting" things the next time I blog! Meanwhile, take care and HASTA LUEGO!

Murphy's Law works! AND I HATE IT!

2004-06-04T23:43:00.000+08:00

This entry was created on my previous blog on 1st June 2004, Tuesday, 8:09pm

OK.....now that I'm successfully blogging my life away.....or should I say begining to blog my life away, I'm gonna start bitching about things! Heh....

Well, today has been an absolute horrible day for me. You know what? I think Murphy's Law is totally silly but today, I felt victimised by it.....Damn that Murphy guy! Well, here goes my absolutely horrible day.....bear with me.....or just go if you don't wanna read! Stop bugging me already!

Anyways, here goes....I normally wake up at 0710h for work and today, I somehow woke up at 0655h and sheepishly gazed at my clock on the wall and it read 0655h! Perfect right? WRONG!!! I went back to sleep......Darryl Boy went back to sleep!! Cos it was 15 mins earlier than he should be waking up and he hated the fact that he could not have 15 more minutes of undisrupted sleep! So, I went back to sleep happily assuming my silly alarm will wake me up! So here goes the series of bad events......

1. My alarm clock decides that Darryl needs more sleep and decides not to ring.....perfect! I have such a caring alarm clock!!

2. The clock on my wall decides to stop moving at 0700h and of all times, it had to decide to stop moving today cos it probably decided that I needed more sleep too!

3. I decided that it was finally about time to wake up after what I thought was about 10-15 minutes of shut eye but when I opened my eyes, I was wondering why it was so bright.....and I was like, "OH SHIT! Why the heck is the sun up so early today!" and then I slowly came to the realisation that it was TOO LATE!! DAMN!!

4. I washed up and rushed out of the house without combing my hair....(don't worry, I brushed my teeth!).....and I hit my car and drove to work!

5. On my way to work, all was fine and I was crusing along the highway and then, I decided to switch to my radio instead of listening to my groovy CD and guess what?! Traffic Report! "Slow moving traffic on the PIE heading towards....bus on fire, slow traffic on the PIE near exit 28.......Slow moving traffic on the PIE on the slip road leading into PIE from Clementi Avenue 6....." ARGH!! ENOUGH ALREADY!! One more time I hear SLOW MOVING TRAFFIC and I'll reach my hand through the bloody radio and stangle the silly DJ reading out the traffic updates!! (Don't worry, I know this is logically not possible but I'm just trying to express my frustration! )

6. OK...so the traffic sucks.....on top of that, I get into office and I find out that I have tons of things to do and the worse thing is that my new boss decides to make a mountain out of a molehill! I almost wanted to tell him "I QUIT!!" but I figured that was not the wisest thing to do and I probably wouldn't have dared to do it! Come to think of it, perhaps he is trying to get me to say it! Haha! Well, I shall not take any guesses here.....don't wanna add to my horrible day already!

OK...that's about it.....whatever that went wrong went wrong! I guess it could have been much worse but I'm not gonna be all positive and say that worse things could have taken place so I must thank my lucky stars....but well, at least I know I've got clocks with a personality and who care for me! Its hard to find clocks that actually feel for their owners and care for them like my clocks do! Aren't you guys out there just so jealous of me? HAHAHAHAHAHA! Perhaps I should start a club called Caring Clocks Anonymous! HAHAHAHA!! SILLY ME!!

OK....so that's about my day.....and to top if off, the person who controls the rain in my country decided that it wasn't right to rain until about 6pm and I got deprived of my daily run/swim! DAMMIT! Oh well, at least I can take comfort that I'm exercising my fingers now! Haha.....

OK OK....I think I should stop now before I bitch the night away! Trust me! I can!! Anyway, I'm gonna sign off now......as my dear American Idol host would say......DARRYL, OUT!

This is so exciting! frown

2004-06-04T23:39:00.000+08:00

This entry was created on my previous blog on 29 May 2004, Saturday, 8:23pm

OK! This is my third and final attempt at trying to start a weblog, and it'd better succeed. The last 2 times I tried to start one, it somehow didn't work and my works of art didn't get publish! I spent a good amount of time and effort creating them and I got really frustrated that they didn't get publish! Hmph!

Hopefully tBLOG doesn't disappoint me this time around! I shan't be nasty and mention that blogspot.com was the blog site that I tried to start my last 2 weblogs.....oops! HAHA!!

Anyhow, I shall be a little smarter this time and not spend to much time typing too much in case it doesn't get published and I go to another blogsite and condemn the fellas at tBLOG, whom I hate to do because I have taken a liking to the look and feel of the tBLOG website! Better be nice to me!

OK....feeling kinda aimless about what to write now since I promised myself not to put too much brainwork into this! Hmm.....OK! A little self-introduction should do no harm. At worst, if it doesn't get publish, I'll just take it that I took myself on an ego trip! Haha!

Well, I am MALE...as you can probably tell from the title of the weblog....and I'm 25 years old as of the date of entry of this particular publishing! I have just graduated from the university last year and am proud to say I have made it through one year in the School of Hard Knocks thus far. (For those of you who don't know the School of Hard Knocks, its otherwise better known as LIFE! Haha!) I am working in the Organisation Development field and I love this area of work because it deals with people and I need variety in my life, so working with people and their emotions helps give me that variety that I need to keep me happy! Variety is the spice of life, isn't it? I am currently into this whole fitness thing so I am slowly begining to take a liking to sports and am picking up tennis as my new sport! Otherwise, I mostly do jogging, swimming, badminton and sometimes, I hit the gym.....gosh! I can't believe I actually begin to hit the gym these days! But I kinda hate the gym because it makes me feel as if I'm a hedonist but heck! I admit that I am becoming one now.....the other day, my friend said I'm becoming more and more like a metrosexual! Am I suppose to take that as a compliment or should I assume she was trying to say that I'm becoming more like the male version of a bimbo/airhead! Haha! Whatever, I shall take it as a compliment! Don't like it? Well, DEAL WITH IT!

Alright, I am taking way too much time! My other hobbies include music and reading.....hanging out with my friends....watching movies, shopping and travelling(though I don't quite have the cash to support this hobby most of the time! Any sponsors please feel free to contact me!) Hmm.....guess I shan't prolong your agony any further (assuming you have survived up to this point!) and end my post! Meanwhile, keep a lookout for my next post where I slowly begin to let you in on my life.....

Cheers! See you around soon!

Shifting House!

2004-06-04T23:36:00.000+08:00

OK OK.....I finally succeeded in posting on blogspot and I'm gonna port my blogs from TBlog to BlogSpot because I think there are more features here! Meanwhile, please bear with me for the next couple of blogs, I'm gonna copy paste them over so that readers who read this blogspot page have a sense of continuity of my bitchin'! Haha! Alright.....I'm gonna start shifting house! Bear with me!

Cheers and See ya around soon! DARRYL,OUT!