So I was hoping to stay with friends while I’m back in Singapore, but that doesn’t look like it will happen anymore. Unfortunately in my infinite wisdom I neglected to make very many friends with guys while I was on exchange. Apparently my girl friends’ boyfriends don’t really appreciate them offering to have me stay over.
How frustrating. Now this trip will cost an extra $500 or so. Oh well, I already booked the hostel. Now let’s just hope this trip is worth it at the new price point.
I miss:
- Jessie
- Sophie
- Daisy
- Radiah
- Mandy
- Chelsea
- Florence
- Hawker Uncles
- Amanda
- Jenni
- Mark
Maybe this time I will actually get the opportunity to meet some other people with whom I’m now friends (Eugene). See you all soon!
PS: Apparently my company is looking for permanent transfers over there. If the salary is right, I may consider it. Just a heads up.
I watched a movie recently that had an interesting dialogue in it. I Can’t quote the movie verbatim, but here is the gist of it:
- Character 1: I really wish I chad more time to train so that I could be as good as you.
- Character 2: We are all given but 24 hours in a day. You clearly don’t want it that badly, or you would train. Instead you do that which is important to you. We all do.
I think this holds a lot of truth. I really wish that I had time to post on this blog regularly as I have a lot to say, but I just can’t find the time to do so. Others who are equally busy have been prolific blog writers (Amanda) for the better part of two years. So what do I do with my time? Good question.
Thinking about it, I spend the better part of my day working. I log only 8 hours a day, but I am awake at 7:00am, working by 8am, and am not finished lately until after 10pm. I sleep around 12pm, leaving me with 2 hours of unallocated time. This time I typically use to catch up with friends, study, or read. This is atypical though, as I normally have a fairly different schedule. Things have been different recently because I’ve been working in Montreal. I fly out Monday mornings, and fly back to Toronto on Thursday evenings. Effectively, travel time is the largest waste that I have in a given week.
When I am working in Toronto I generally drive the following amounts:
- To work: 1 hour x 5 days
- From work: 1 hour x 5 days
- Errands: 45 minutes x 7 days
- Visit friends: 1 hour each way x 2 days (4 hours)
- Visit girlfriend: 1 hour each way (2 hours)
- TOTAL: 21.25 hours
Incredible. No wonder my car is ~30,000km heavier since I bought it in January.
Filed under: Friends, Love, Random, Thoughts | Tags: Li Shia, Love, Singapore, Updates
Some of you have asked me why I haven’t written anything in a while. I deign to tell you that my internet has not been the most responsive of late while at work, and that my time has been otherwise occupied with one very special lady from Singapore. Further to that, there has really not been much of note that has transpired in my life of late. I have been heading to the office and working as is typical, and I have been completing some fairly good work.
I attended a dinner with some Singaporean friends of mine a couple of weeks ago and it was pretty entertaining. Their surprise at seeing a Canadian speaking in Singlish and with such breadth of knowledge of their country was palpable. I suppose most of that comes from speaking so often with my wonderful girlfriend. Her Singlish is really quite developed and most assuredly entertaining.
I’m still in anticipatory bliss over my impending trip to Singapore this coming February. I’m also very excited for Florence’s trip to Canada on December 19th. I’ve been working longer hours at work, and my project manager (boss) has agreed that I can have all of the time off in December that I want while she is down, so long as everything is completed beforehand. It really is an agreeable arrangement, as he mentioned that he may also take the time off since I will have completed all of our work already.
In any event, I apologize for the lack of updates, and I do hope that things can pick up as life becomes more interesting. For know, know that I am happy with my Li Shia and that all is well with the world. There are certain darker issues intersperced throughout, but those are things that I have to deal with once I am back in Singapore. There is a certain someone that deserves some dire treatment indeed from this French Canadian.
You know, it is always interesting thinking about the different ways that people come into your life, and the significance they may later hold. It really is not a science. I have met people through school or hobbies, and they are not important to me. I have met people on exchange or just randomly, and they are much more important.
I think people just need to take the time out to meet other people and make new friends, and then not be surprised where they might find what they need. 
Filed under: Friends, Love, Thoughts | Tags: Birthday, Cards, Feeling, Friends, Love, Meaning, Thoughts
It was my birthday last Friday. Though I had expected to hear birthday wishes from most people, unfortunately I did not. I may be a little weird, but on my birthday each year, I take not of the people that took the time to wish me a happy birthday. In my small way, I like to think that these are the people that actually care enough about me to leave a little snippet. It is interesting to compare and contrast these people year over year and notice the dissimilarities.
What was really great this year, though, was that I got two fantastic birthday cards! Neither of them came from Canada either, so you can bet that I take them as being worth all that much more. One of them came all the way from Singapore, the other from near Los Angeles. I’m glad that I have people in my life that care about me as much as I do about them. Though both cards were definitely different in terms of message, content, and form, they were still both very meaningful.
Thank you both, you know who you are.
Filed under: Friends, Love, Random, Thoughts | Tags: Age, Also age no big deal one, I, Marry soon ah, So old la, U wan cock ar?
Another day goes by, and I am supposed to feel more wise. I don’t really, but I definitely can take some time to look back on the things that have taken place in the past year, and maybe share some thoughts on how I had thought things would be, versus where they are.
This time last year was GURU week at Ivey, because I was working on the orientation team to help bring in the new HBA students. I think we actually would have been in Grand Bend on the beach right now, tossing around a ball. Then we later went to Gables bar, and I remember leaving early on the first bus, so that I could get home to meet Casey, since she was coming up that weekend.
I think back and my thoughts at that point were that I was going to start HBA2, get a sweet job in consulting and just spend time with my girlfriend. I had thought that within the next year I would be working in downtown Toronto, would have bought a condo, and that Casey and I would still be together. Needless to say, I am VERY glad things did not turn out exactly like that.
The first half of the year went by well, I enjoyed my classes, and got some great grades considering the minimal effort I put into doing my work. I attended a lot of information sessions and interviews with recruiters. I applied to only the best jobs, and I was sure I would get an offer. I didn’t. Then I got a call from my manager back from my summer job, saying that the project was done and the team was having a final gathering at her house. She suggested I come down and say goodbye.
No sooner had I stepped in the door than did two senior Accenture employees come greet me and start asking when I would be working for their company. I played the game nonchalantly, and asked a lot of questions. Most of these were centered around how I could stay in Toronto to work without traveling.
Eventually, through an accelerated interview process, I was offered a job with Accenture. Luckily this happened a few weeks before I left for Singapore. When I was getting ready to leave, I really was torn between my friends, family and girlfriend at home, and adventure in Singapore.
I am 100% positive that I made the right decision. I absolutely loved Singapore, and I think I made some of the best friends I have ever had while on exchange there. I learned a lot about different cultures, and I learned a lot about myself. A side-effect of that was that I actually got out more and met different people, and my then girlfriend really paled in comparison.
For example, there is a girl in Singapore who is really amazing. She’s smart, pretty, has a good job, is financially stable, is really really cute, and she likes to talk to me all the time (she’s also a little older than me, but that isn’t a big deal). Anyway, how could I possibly compare the two? It is like asking a snail to compete in a race against a cheetah. There would be one CLEAR winner (and she just happens to be in Singapore).
In any event, after I had been there and come back, I really can’t wait to head back overseas. I really love Asia. I enjoyed Japan and I enjoyed South Korea, and I enjoyed Singapore. I like the people, I like the culture, and I like the environment. Not to mention the language… U ah!
So all in all, this year has been much better than I had expected, but also widely different. I have some plans for this coming year, but they are a lot more loosely formed because I can’t get solidify anything right now. I know I want to go back to Singapore to visit some people, and I’m planning on going in February. I also know that there is someone that I want to be with, and that hopefully the next year will find us together.
We’ll see how things go, but at 22, I feel good with where I am in life.
I think sometimes people are a little arrogant and full of themselves. I admit that I can be guilty of this on occasion, but this is mostly as barrier that I put forth before I am comfortable with people. As I get to know a person in more depth, this quickly falls away and I am left as a fairly humble and genuine person.
Yet there are some people who have such trouble lowering these walls that they construct around themselves that they must continuously try to demean others in order to make themselves seem superior. Once you realize that someone is doing this, I think the best remedy is to play along with it. Otherwise, you may only get hurt in the end.
Luckily I no longer have a longing for friends. I know that there are people in my life that I care about deeply. Both close and from afar, I know that they will be there for me, just as I will be there for them.
Filed under: Friends, Love, Thoughts | Tags: Friends, kam yau (ky), Relationship, Singapore
I met up with Brian and his girlfriend today for lunch. Though I had met her previously, it was in a club, and the setting wasn’t very conducive to introductions. Today I was actually able to talk to her, and she seems like a really great girl for him. I’m really very happy for him, and I’m sure he will definitely learn a lot in the coming months.
On my drive down to Waterloo, I had the pleasure of being on the phone with another very special person. She was gracious enough to call me from Singapore at 1am, just to keep me company for the hour long drive. What a great girl. 
Another one of my friends had come to me earlier in the week and mentioned that she had something really important to tell me. I immediately guessed that this was about a boy issue, and I was definitely right. At some point it used to bother me when my friends spoke to me about their boy issues, but nowadays, I like it. I think it really reflects how deep our friendship is, that I can give them advice and hopefully help them be successful in their relationships (or pursuits) and care purely from a friendship standpoint.
You know, a lot of people have been asking me recently whether I find *that* girl attractive, or *the girl over there* attractive, or any number of others. Let me be clear on something: Not every Asian girl is attractive to me! That seems like it would imply some sort of fetishism or obsession. Yes, I am attracted primarily to Asian girls. That does not mean that I just lower all of my standards because of that.
I met a great girl recently from Singapore (half Chinese and half Japanese), and she really fits the bill for the type of girl that I am attracted to. Some might not think she is as beautiful as I do, but I’m happy for it. What would the world be like if we were all attracted to the same person? What a lonely place. Luckily, I think she is really great, and very attractive, and hopefully she thinks the same of me. What needs to be understood is that attractiveness is not just the physical beauty of someone, but their overall persona.
So here is to hoping that things can continue on well with the girl in Singapore, as I will be touching down there sometime in Q1 of 2009.
PS: Brian, you’re awesome! Thank you so much for the birthday present!
A friend of mine just pointed out that the word “vagina” in French is actually masculine. You say “un vagin” and not “une vagin”.
Something to think about I suppose.
