Archive for July, 2007

Things People Say

s t a r m | s t July 11th, 2007

We were having dinner at the Wedding of the Year, when the topic of colleagues and bosses came up. 

BZG [on his colleague who addressed an email to him but sent it to just about everyone else]: … and this part of the email which went ‘If I know my goodwill will cause you more work, I will not goodwill you anymore.

All: Ha ha ha. Goodwill you?!

Ms Ho: Hur hur. Then you should reply, okay you don’t goodwill me, I won’t bestwill you lor.

Ms Ho: You know, for all our [work] emails, they have to end with a smiley face. =)

Me: What?? But it’s not professional, and a company like yours….

Ms Ho: We have to put that! =) There was once I did not put it and I got scolded okay. =)

Dee: That’s still alright. At least you don’t have a boss always sending mass emails ending with ‘Why are you all like that?? I want to commit s******.

All: WhaT?? -___-”

I’m glad my bosses and colleagues are sane people.

Age of Ignorance

s t a r m | s t July 10th, 2007

Got this off Joe. Interesting and hilarious.

Q: Why is the sky blue?

Robert Winston: Oh bugger, I can’t remember now. Um. Oh Jesus. It isn’t really blue actually. It doesn’t actually have a colour at all. It just simply appears blue.

Kirsty Wark: Because it’s a reflection of the oceans on the planet. No idea apart from that. I think the sky is blue because… the rain clouds obscure the blue, and the blue is a reflection… because of the sunshine. Fuck! I don’t know! Why is the sky blue?

Ache

s t a r m | s t July 9th, 2007

Heard this in Iv-bro’s car this evening while on the way to the wedding. Beautiful. Love the tune.

Have I told you I ache.. for you…

Try

s t a r m | s t July 5th, 2007

“You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it’s better to listen to what it has to say. That way, you’ll never have to fear an unanticipated blow.”

The boy continued to listen to his heart as they crossed the desert. He came to understand its dodges and tricks, and to accept it as it was. He lost his fear, and forgot about his need to go back to the oasis, because, one afternoon, his heart told him that it was happy. “Even though I complain sometimes,” it said, “it’s because I’m the heart of a person, and people’s hearts are that way. People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don’t deserve them, or that they’ll be unable to achieve them. We, their hearts, become fearful just thinking of loved ones who go away forever, or of moments that could have been good but weren’t, or of treasures that might have been found but were forever hidden in the sands. Because, when these things happen, we suffer terribly.”

“My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer,” the boy told the alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky.

“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.”

- Paulo Coelho

Deja Vu

s t a r m | s t July 3rd, 2007

today i walked the paths we have treaded
i was alone, and it was difficult

passed by the shop where you got my bracelet
the one which slipped off due to a loose t-clasp

glanced up only to see the white blue board
a place where we’ve lost ourselves in other worlds

then there, we have shared laughter together
stuffing down the calories, tasting the sweet

down the moving escalator monsters
where you once held my hand so dear

a sea of white, you brought me to the linens’
intending to buy me good and restful sleep

crafts and scrape section where i hurriedly purchased my tools
while you obliviously watched the ‘toons from a distance away

the bites and pieces we bought greedily
to satiate our crazy palates

at the fountain where you rested, unable to walk
with me beside you, pained worried and helpless

had cravings for the chinese dish that could fill 3 bowls
our dish, our craving, this time i resisted
(and when i think of longevity and
foreverness now, i want to cry)

(almost too much) the pasta place, a dab of sinfulness
eating at a time when others were working

flee.

every step i take brings me closer to you
every step i take, takes me further from you

ghosts almost with forms, memories of the present
i walked by myself, yet with you; with us

today i ran from the paths we have treaded
i was alone, and there were tears.

Sode No Shirayuki

s t a r m | s t July 2nd, 2007

There are many types of anger.

The childish I-don’t-want-to-friend-you! anger, the loud I’ll-shout-if-I-want-to-and-I-don’t-care-who’s-looking kind, the bitch fit, the show-attitude anger, the strong silent type, the sulky yes-something-is-wrong-but-I-don’t-want-to-say-it-until-you-ask kind, the lethal-icy-chilly-stare-calmly-say-cutting-words-meant-to-slice anger - to name a few.

This evening, mine was the icy one.

After waiting an hour for my turn to send my phone in for a check and problem solving, the service guy merely took one look at the phone, didn’t bother to do anything, and said “ok, we’re going to have to upgrade the software and please note that all your data will be gone.”

What the.

Ok, totally unexpected. Couldn’t he try to do something? Test it? Troubleshoot? Back up the data first? What’s a damn memory card for if not for storing information? Something? Anything? Nothing?

“Oh, we cannot back up. We don’t do that here.” he replied indifferently.

What not here? If it’s not at Nokia, then where else can it be done at, you imbecile.

All contacts, gone. All the pictures, gone. And my 430 messages, gone.

Contacts, I can retrieve again since I’ve backed some of them up. But pictures? The pictures of xtomicers, the pictures of me and him. And my messages. My precious messages. How does one back up messages?? Or maybe there is a way but I’m not aware of it. All that I hold close to my heart - encouraging messages from friends, special ones from special people, and the hundreds from L - all torn away from me, with a flash of the screen. [I don't want anyone commenting shite sayings like 'it's a sign to move on' or 'it's meant to be' or any equivalent, I'm not in the mood for that.]

He started to display some kind of defensive attitude-y attitude, which rankled me even further. *bristle angrily* I don’t like to shout. Only my family, Ichitaka and Iv-bro have seen me raise my voice [significantly] before. But because I didn’t shout / make a scene, the suppressed tempered anger came out another way - cold, chilling, lethal. I said things to the guy. Calmly. With as little sarcasm as possible. As reasonably as I could. But the words slice, they cut, they sting, they pierce. Even I winced at my tone and words after walking away from the place.

Maybe my anger is misdirected and overly extreme, but I don’t think it is without cause.

Thing is.. when I was done, it wasn’t clear who looked closer to tears - me, knowing that a bulk of my [half-tangible] memories will be taken away from me against my will, or the poor guy, having suffered the wrath of my Senbonzakura-like anger.

Blah

s t a r m | s t July 1st, 2007

The phone’s been doing that quite often lately - power-shutting down on me during / after phonecalls.
After replying Rich Monde a moment, the screen gave a big dramatic flash and turned black.
And now I can’t switch it back on anymore.
Great.

Uniquely Singaporean

s t a r m | s t July 1st, 2007

Last night the live band played a haunting introduction to a song.

Me: *trying to figure out the song as the tune sounded familiar*
Singaporean friend: I know this song! It’s.. it’s.. ‘Hotel 81′!
Me: Oya! Urm.. right…..?
[At that moment, I was verbally agreeing with him, but my mind didn't quite agree, thus the weird response.]
Me: *fell silent for a second, puzzling over why my brain refused his words*
Singaporean friend: *turns to Hina and happily told her the title of the song*
Hina: Huh…? No lah! It’s ‘Hotel California’!! Ha ha ha!

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