A stone's throw away

We all know what rush hour means. The time when everyone travels to CBD to work, pathway leading out of the train station is crowded. Try walking in the reverse direction and you know what i mean. But have anyone ever considered, that Lunch time might be worse? It's the same: A common time where everyone would be walking on the ground. But people are all everywhere, in different directions: There's only a way out of the station, but eateries are everywhere.

With people everywhere, how would you rest during the 1 hour time-slot that is supposed to be "resting time"? Unless you considered eyes off the computer screen as resting, there's not much place for you can to get peace. Except for this place: The river side behind UOB plaza.

What a wonder, as I always wondered, how possible is it that on a side of the building are crowds and traffic all over, but just a stone's throw away; a few steps to the other side facing the river, you get a peaceful view of the river, people strolling and tourists taking photos. Yes, this is part of CBD. What a rapid change in the ambience.... A nice place for white collars to take a breath of natural air, or to enjoy the packaged lunch, while smoking or talking to colleagues. Or for me the temp staff who had enough of artificial lightings. No matter what, it is a nice place to rest. Provided, it doesnt Rain...for god's sake.









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the new way to cut a cake.

Last sat, the few of us gathered for dom's 22nd bday. A simple dinner, few frens put together on a short notice, and present bought with BF's guidance. Still, it was a great time.


Especially the special program after the dinner at marina bay steamboat. Dining there strategically to coincide with the fireworks that night, we managed to get a few glances of the fireworks shot high up the night skies, above the trees. Only if the music could spread over the river to our bay, it would be perfect.


But not in the plan was the jam that proceeded after it. Small road + huge crowds = traffic disaster. To make matters worse, the driver (that is, me) made a wrong turn and we rejoined the queue again. Thus we gave up on our intended destination to cut the cake and decided to do it on the spot -- Yes, the carpark.


Make-shift table from my dad's van's toolbox, candle lighter from the car cigarette lighter (that doesnt work), and ambience from the nearby cars' roar & honks as they stuck in jam. This is the Bday celebration. But the bday's girl happiness and smiles was there, and that was what mattered. If she is happy, then we friends (& her bf) are glad.


Happy 22nd to dom! Good luck in your career and may a smooth sailing life follows!

working now, work then?

That little cushion chair in SGX library, my workplace, had seated me for the past 2 months. Except the times when packing have to be done standing, it had seen the dust and documents with me while i was packing. Man, even i was surprised by the amount we had cleared... and strange enough, fulfilment is found from those pile and pile of boxes.

Thankfully, the main bulk is over, so from time to time, in between the next coming tasks (more packing, i meant) I had some freedom to take a break. Some freedom I emphasised, or rather, not much choices. No computer, let alone Internet. No desk phone, no TV nearby, and certainly no sleeping. So its left with one of the most primitive ways to break: Read.

Yes, it's a library, so for sure there are tons of good stuff to read. Trust me, never have i read so much in my life before in the name of leisure. And now i suppose you would find me a geek if i tell you i do like The Economist..No, me too didnt expect it to be interesting in the first place. Nevertheless now I do know the stable Europe does have possible threats by natural gas; Why america do not stop the use of guns so easily as we perceive; Singapore Pools is actually created to fund the construction of Kallang Stadium and eventually Esplanade; And in 1984 the current SGX building i'm sitting on was, well, part of the sea.

Magazines/Newspaper readings later, I do get tired; and box packings later I do get tired and non-motivated. And this is when the mind goes to hibernation and wanders off. Thoughts set in, questions about future are raised: Yes, i'm working now, it had not been a straight forward process and luck was involved, etc etc...but what about future? What do I want to do, and am I going to do it?

The fact that I'm on a "non-specialised" business course says it all. As quoted from a role in a HK movie we watched last time, he says "....those who took up general business degree are mostly lost people..." And it's true. A wide scope means you have many paths ahead of you to take, but it means too that you are still unsure of the coming path. What do i want to do? Right, after this job, I'm certain it's definately not anything Finance/Bank related... But then what?

Many say, it will be a job to have your hobby as your career. Yup, it's ideal: imagine do what you like everyday and yet yielding income out of it. Great, and my interest is Photography and cars, so that quite a number of lines available too. But is this really the case?

No job is without stress, so under stress would your hobby still be interesting? Would an Engineer still enjoy his work when his ideal Car is totally restricted by safety/environmental legislation, marketeers enforcement supported by customers requests, or simply cost & dateline constraints. Or a car sales executive, would he still enjoy selling when he have to sell something he knew that it's rubbish, or under pressure by the sales targets? Or in the case of the management, where the soul of motoring are all reduced to mere figures of sales, market share and profits, and satisfying stakeholders.
Overdose might just kills the hobby. Anyway for the case of engineer, at this stage of my life it is already more or less certain I cant become one.

Perhaps the ideal case is still to get a totally non-hobby related job and enjoy the hobby at ease on off days/weekends. Then the hobby would still be fresh and interesting when you go for it to relax. Well, in the first place perhaps the job will have to allow energy and time for the hobby. So it's a no-no for a IT support job (you ever see a Network Server downtime during weekdays office hours?) And please, the job certainly got to at least let me be interested to work on it for years in the first place too. So as mentioned, no "deep" financially stuff too.

Minus those, there's still plenty of choices i guess? All shall appear for me to dig more as my graduation month approaches.

Hope to find inspiration from more books now. After I finish packing that new pile over at the water dispenser ....And that pile next to that shelf too?

Pix: a hobby or carrer?