Lamentations

Saturday, July 30, 2011

I guess I missed out on a lot, lol, in my supposed catch-up post.

Let's see... what else did I miss out on? Well, almost two months back, there was a special combined subzone cellgroup, and one of the highlights was a quiz about the zone, the church, and the Bible. I had no worries whatsoever on the Bible section, but the church and zone questions got me worried because I didn't really know that much about the church and zone. So when I had free time I studied a bit about the zone history, Heng, Keith and some of their backgrounds, and learned a lot about the church and stuff. I wasn't worried about biblical issues because I was that cocky. I mean, uh, confident.

The quiz was actually kind of like a game show. Question on screen, the top scorers of each cellgroup would represent their cellgroup and compete for a cash prize. There was a first segment, and the top 3 (or 4, if tied) would go on to the final segment. For the first segment, I got quite a few questions on the zone and church wrong but when it came to the Bible section, I practically ruled and killed everyone, eventually becoming the top scorer for the first round, after trailing pretty bad due to the questions on the zone and church.

The second round though, had 4 people. The scores from the previous round don't add on. I lost in this section, because of a question I really did not know. I studied a lot on the church and zone, and even for the previous questions I got wrong, I studied for them, but forgot the answer in the moment. For the one question I got wrong in the final round though, I had no idea whatsoever. The question was the age of Pastor Kevin when he began working full time in a church. Ranges were 15-18. I picked 16, and was wrong. The answer was 17. The remaining questions were easy, but due to this one mistake, I didn't get the top prize. One girl who guessed it luckily ended up winning. If final section had been longer, with more Bible questions, I would've undoubtedly reached the top and won. But funny thing was that the final segment was shorter. With much less Bible questions. Zzz. So they gave her the prize, and announced the value, which I previously had no idea about. It was RM500! 500! Like, almost 1/3 of my current paycheck! Aw man, that hurt. That money would've been really useful, and would've made things a lot easier. Aiks. However, she did win anyway, so what can I do? She earned it.

Didn't help that the cellgroup was supporting me really tremendously, and that a lot of people in the subzone thought I would win, as I was the smartest (sorry to brag, but I was). Felt like I let them down in a way. Due to one fluke question on Pastor kevin's age I lost. Sobs! The only solace I have is that I KO'ed everyone when it came to the Bible sections. Ah well... respect to her, once again. She won, I didn't.

Another thing I missed out was attending three birthdays in a row a month back. Aaron's, Wai Kwan's and Fei Yan's. It was really tiring but fun, as I attended each birthday in succession. Aaron held his on Friday night at his house, and I came after work. It was a barbecue/buffet kind of thing, and Symposium attended, as well as a bunch of Aaron's other friends and relatives. After much meat (lol), we began having our drinking games. Symposium plus Aaron's other group of friends. It was pretty fun, and I even got to drive a guy's Celica because he was drunk. Pretty fun to observe the drunkards, and we made a few new friends as well. Pretty cool.

The next day, I went for Wai Kwan's birthday. It was a buffet kinda thing. Lol. She invited her college friends, which was mostly her class, and some of the previous classmates, as well as her high school friends. Kinda interesting as there were three main groups there sitting in their respective tables. High school friends sat in one table, Essenism and the ones closer to us sat with us, and the rest sat among themselves. After the meals, it was basically chatting and chatting. First among the people we were sitting with, but later the high school friends left pretty early, and it was basically TOA people left, combining our groups. Had a great time chatting with everyone there, and catching up with those whom we hadn't seen in a long time. Later on, it was mainly the English speakers left late in the night. Haha... got to know a few key details in some of their lives before everyone left, except for Neal and I. We stayed with Wai Kwan, chilling out for many hours until like 4am, and just chatting about life and all.

Then the last birthday came on Sunday, the day after Wai Kwan's. Feiyan also held it at her house, where I met a lot of people I briefly met the year before at Souled Out, and also got to catch up with a lot of people whom I was closer to. In addition, I met A LOT of new people, and kept in contact with plenty of them. There was a guy who looked like Taylor Lautner (no, seriously... just Asia-fy him) and some hot chick as well. There was also a guy I met who studies in Canada, in England, who was back for the holidays. We exchanged much words and plenty of conversation in our talks about how our respective lives were too. The most interesting person I met though was Evelyn, who everyone called Evie. She was actually the first stranger in the party to come over and introduce herself, within a few minutes of me sitting down. We hit it off from there, and chatted very, very well. We had a drinking session later with games, and I learned a few new games from Ajeet and his drinking group, one which I taught my own drinking group of Symposium. Anyhoo, this got us a bit high, and the conversations came even more easier later on with Evie, and we shared quite a bit with each other. Was a pleasure. Later on only Ajeet's drinking group remained, and we played Spin The Bottle. Yeah. Old-school.

I guess I can say I missed out on Bersih also. At least, in my blog. I think the news covered that well. Seriously, screw the current government. I've lost what remaining shred of respect I had for Najib. I was pretty pleased with Badawi for his entire tenure (plus he slept in meetings, that just made me laugh because I do the same), but geez. The jams surrounding that night were insane with all the roadblocks. That caused an insane jam for the day I was to meet up with Lucas and Angela after work, with Suli being the main organizer. Was good to catch up with my classmates after a while. Sure, I did tutor Lucas in English for his IELTS exam, but to just chat and not have anything work or education related was a pleasant change.

These are the kind of things that helps keep me sane in the working world. Lol.

Chronicled
1:07 PM

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Monday, July 25, 2011

Aye, I'm tired.

Actually, I'm quite tired most of the week. Five day work week, averaging 11 hours of work a day? Yeah, I think that can exhaust anyone easily. But then again, that's the art industry. I asked for it (figuratively... I had no idea it was like this till much later). But yeah, aside from tiredness, working life's affected my life quite a lot now.

For one thing, I actually need to start sleeping earlier now. For my entire life I've more or less slept whenever I wanted to, and it was always late. Whether it be reading books, studying, chatting, calling or what, I always had something to make me sleep late. Even in the torturous time in TOA, I still slept late 'cause of all the freaking assignments and staying up just to use the net for whatever reasons. It could always be solved easily by sleeping in class. Or, if I couldn't, then just last the few hours of class and find a place (usually the library) to sleep. Now that I'm working, and spend 11 hours in the office, I can't sleep in the office. Not to mention the stakes are much higher in the workforce, than in school. So I have to force myself to sleep earlier on weekdays. That's not too difficult, thanks to me being tired all the time. 'Cause although I sleep earlier, I still sleep as late as I can, still chatting, or reading, or whatever. I push the limit, although cautiously and carefully. Rarely do I overdo it.

Either way, working life is fine. I mean I'm doing creative work everyday, so its not stale and boring like some typical office job. However, it does get repetitive doing Photoshop and Illustrator stuff everyday. To kill the monotony I go out till late maybe twice or so during the weekdays to hang out with friends, more often with Symposium. It's pretty good as I get social variety differing from the office guys, and some variation in my activities too. Yeah, so it's basically my typical work week. Work 5 days a week with freaking long hours, and hang out till like 2am or 4am with Symposium, or other friends, twice during the workweek.

Nikke said it well, when we hung out till 6am on Saturday about a month ago. The following was copied from her Facebook status.

Epic chilling balls session with the nearly ideal lepak gang. Hunches and sentiments that we felt all along were affirmed and as for the dilemmas plaguing our little symposium circle, we can only hope for the best. Rest well guys, we shall convene in the near future \o/

Yeah. It's really nice to just hang out, chat and share about everything, including the current problems we're having with some people. And it was very interesting when Nikke brought up the topic of me having a crush on her last time, and both of us discussing it so easily and simply.

Of course, besides my friends and groups outside, working life's also severely affected my church life as well. Due to the crazy hours, I haven't attended even one cellgroup meeting since working. Mostly 'cause my working hours are a bit unpredictable. Sure, it's usually 11 hours, but sometimes it drags 'cause of last-minute given job sheets, or finishing up something. And to get the car from my mom and to drive over to the place, by that time they're either finished, or midway eating their supper. I think the cellgroup's in quite a delicate situation now, 'cause I really felt that the cellgroup was getting to know one another much better in recent months, and we were getting to be a lot more comfortable and united. Considering that a while back I felt that everything was on the surface, the way things are getting better had me pretty pleased. But now I'm unable to attend the cellgroup meeting regularly, which cuts off one day that I can meet and fellowship with the cellgroup.

And not to mention that's changing my weekend services too. Since I've become a Christian, I've only been a member of City Harvest Church Singapore, and City Harvest Church Kuala Lumpur. And since I've been a Christian, I've always attended Saturday services, 'cause that's the day all my cellgroups have been assigned to. Even my friends outside of church knew my Saturday afternoons and evenings were off limits because of church. Anything done on Saturday that wasn't church related had to be in the morning or night. And it's been this way for nearly a decade. Yet now my cellgroup goes to Sunday services every week, even though we're officially assigned to Saturday. For a few months, it even came to the point where I'd attend Saturday service and wonder if the cellgroup was coming on Saturday or Sunday. If they were there on Saturday, I'd fellowship with them. If not, I'd join Issey's cellgroup, and he'd drive me home at night. I've been extremely grateful to Issey for this, and due to his subzone combining their fellowships pretty often, I've met a lot of people in their zone, expanding my friend base and knowing more people in church. And I've made quite a lot of good friends this way.

Sure, it's nice to meet and know more people in church, but this isn't quite the setting I imagined. So in recent weeks I've begun to attend Sunday services. Partly its because Symposium hangs out on Saturdays, and I join them, and we have a great time chilling out till late at night. Like 6am for example. But another reason is because I want to bond with the cellgroup. What's the point of us multiplying and being a cellgroup when we aren't even below the surface as a cellgroup, as a whole? As the cellgroup gets closer, slowly, and bonds, I need to be a part of that. There's really no point of me being in the cellgroup if they all bond but I don't, but am a member of the cellgroup officially. That does nothing for the true relations. Nothing for the unity and bonding (at least, on my part). So I attend Sunday services now, but because of all the hanging out late at night, I tend to oversleep and arrive for service late. I've been late for every single service since I've began working. Sure, it could all be solved by sleeping earlier on Saturday, but then my weekend is spoiled. Saturday is the only full day I can proper rest, relax and not worry about anything the next day. If I'm going to sacrifice that, and lose out on some quality time for hanging out, then my weekend isn't much of a time to unwind then, is it? See what working life does? And because of having little sleep on Saturday night, I'm tired and exhausted on Sunday, making me sleepy for the sermons. I lose out in every way. Sure, I get to fellowship with my cellgroup, and it helps in the unity, but a cellgroup meeting is far more bonding in the long run, and I'm missing out on that. But to at least maintain an effort, I still go for Sunday services.

Also, now on Sundays, a few hours after the services, Daniel Chiam's been organizing basketball sessions for the zone. It's fun, it's fruitful and I meet and catch up with a lot of people I normally wouldn't catch up with very regularly. Providing me with exercise and showing me how bad my skills have become after years of absence, it's great and fun. But I get even more exhausted, and when I reach home, when I sleep soon after, it's not enough to recuperate for the next day. I personally need 12 hours of sleep to feel well rested and satisfied. It's not enough, and it hasn't been since I began working, with the exceptions of waking up late on Saturdays.

So yeah. I knew I'd need to adjust when I began working life. All the nagging, reminders, talks and stuff from tons of people I've known have all told me that working life will be different. I knew that, and I braced myself for that. And now I'm going through it. Took me by surprise? No. Making me have no time for a social life? Nope. Making me really, really tired everyday? Yes, and this is going to go on.

Chronicled
12:51 PM

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Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Geez. It's been a month since I've blogged. I haven't had this kinda lapse in quite some time. Well... blame working life! Either way, it's been a very, very interesting and fun past month.

I guess this'll be more like a catch up post. More detailed posts coming up after this I guess? Assuming I don't die down in my blogging again. Haha.

Three weeks back, I helped Justin act in his video; an assignment of his. Called Contract of the Pentagrams, it's about a guy (played by Redzuan) who kills himself. He gets a second chance by Lucifer to get a second try at life, but he must pass tests by the demons of the 7 deadly sins. He fails, and I'm there to claim his soul. Yeah. I'm Lucifer. LMAO. He said I fit the role. Great, I fit Lucifer! Haha! I had to dress superbly formal and act for the whole afternoon. Anyway, the end result was pretty cool and I liked the short film a lot. Well done.

A few weeks back I also gained a new colleague. Chloe, who's actually a TOA senior of mine. But she joined in 2006, so that's two years before I joined TOA. So there's like no friends in between us or anything. Regardless, she's a good addition to the company. You know why? 'Cause she's the most attractive looking! Lol yeah! There's a lack of females in the company, and well, although they're friendly, there's nothing much to see. So yeah -.-. Chloe is pretty cute so at least there's someone to look at for a difference. Either way, not interested, lol... just aesthetics.

Speaking of work, I had a terrible week two weeks back. I was doing an Annual Report for EIG, and made numerous mistakes in it. That was not an enjoyable time as I had to stay to midnight to fix up certain portions while Tham had to stay back on account of me to help fix the stuff too. So yeah. As if that wasn't bad enough the next day as I was driving off to meet Uncle Winston (a friend of my parents) to meet up on designing his logo, my car tyre suddenly ripped off the hubcap. I was stuck in the Kesas jam when I realized that the road was very bumpy. Later on I realized the bumps were very regular, occurring after a number of wheel rotations. Add to the fact that the steering wheel kept tilting to the right. When I finally was within reach of a gas station, it was bumpy as HELL and extremely loud as I heard metal scrape the ground. When I got off the gas station, this was the result:

Holy crap, right?

I called up Michelle and Aaron as they were the nearest people to me. Aaron brought along his mom too, and we helped put on the spare tyre. I didn't know all the equipment and stuff was in the trunk, located in the same compartment as the spare tyre. So it was quite an experience as Aaron and I got to take off the busted tyre and fix on the new one. We felt MANLY! LOL. But once again, thanks guys, and sorry for the trouble.

I also went for the Magical Musicals at Sunway Lagoon a few weeks back too. The storyline was extremely choppy jumping from here to there very suddenly, but then again, its a musical... a storyline isn't exactly it's strong point. However, the performances were superb! The singing and showmanship was very impressive, and the lighting effects as well (even though the lasers kept flashing in my eyes, but yeah). The dancers were extremely good as well, and there was one cute chick that caught my attention! I enjoyed myself plenty, and apparently it surprised some people 'cause they thought I would only attend metal gigs and stuff, and not things related to pop. Lmao, remember, I listen to all kinds of music -.-. Just that metal is a slightly higher preference.

And to end it off, Sze Ying came back to KL for the weekends a few weeks back. I visited her. I still don't quite know what's the condition of our relationship now. Lol. But I think we had a very good time spent together, just the two of us. Hmmm... like I've said, my love life is very complicated. Lol.

Chronicled
1:31 PM

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