Our company’s dinner and dance was held at the Royal Palm events venue at Singapore Flyer. The theme was “Golden Jubilee”. I really didn’t have anything “gold” to wear. I thought wildly. Why not go as Gold Spider-man (IT DOES NOT EXIST GEORGE, HELLO PWEDE BA.)? Or as C3PO? My research brought me to Aladdin, Egyptian princes and mysterious caped characters. My budget brought me to Bugis.

I ended up buying a shirt and a hat with “gold printing” on it. Thanks to the labyrinth that is Bugis Street.

The company DND had a lip-sync contest. Colleagues from marketing and ad sales did the Backstreet Boys. Lovely characterisation. Overall the DND was okay. I didn’t win at the raffle this year! Boo. Read more ›

Independence is a virtue I want to learn how to develop.

Growing up, I needed someone to commute with me on a bus home. I needed companions to watch movies at the cinema with. I needed the company of friends. I enjoyed these things and I felt safe.

But as you grow older, you come to terms with yourself. With added resolve you can tell what you like from what you don’t like. In some cases, the things you like the most are not really exciting to the “company of friends” you have. At first you could feel bad about it. As if only the “company of friends” can validate what makes you happy.

But it doesn’t work that way. Learning to be independent and to embrace your own tastes in life, that takes some courage. It’s okay to walk alone. It’s perfectly fine to watch a movie by yourself. You don’t need to surround yourself with people to help validate who you are and what you love to do. Read more ›

At one point this weekend I thought I was going to die.

The category 1 “cat 1” lightning siren was blaring out mid-way through our Saturday water training. We were exposed over the Kallang Basin. We saw a few strikes of lightning in the distance. I heard a couple “oooohs” and “aaaahhhs” from fellow paddlers as if we were watching fireworks. WTH!

I felt hopeless. I was in an uncontrollable situation. No escape button! I’m one paddler on a boat of about twenty people. It’s difficult to face these situations when you have anxiety. Naisip ko… if I was going to die by a bolt of lightning, at least I die while paddling.

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Weird stuff I did over the weekend? I had to impersonate FPJ during a charades game at the FDS barbecue party. I was a train wreck. I did this strange salute thing (thinking he won the 2004 elections) and I kept pointing at three of my fingers in a desperate, futile attempt to explain F-P-J. It was a disaster.

Other than that, there was a very cute guy from the Japan Dragons. Couldn’t keep my eye off of him. Until he was about 70 meters away from the inter-team barbecue area at the beach. Kampai pa more.

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