Bad bosses and employment

Wed, 2 Jan 2013
2 min read
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Last week, on Christmas eve, I posted this status on Facebook:

Do you know how terrible my boss is? In addition to making me work today, he’s not even giving me a half-day off. What a bastard! I hate him! Merry Christmas, everyone!

A not insignificant number people misunderstood this as me bitching immaturely about my boss.

OK people – let’s set this straight: I AM SELF-EMPLOYED; it was a tongue-in-cheek statement that I made for fun.

So don’t take yourselves too seriously, my friends – you’re not important enough for that!

Jokes aside, I want to make a public-service announcement (PSA): the next time you want to contact me for work-related purposes, please go through my agent.

I’m serious about this.

Why?

Two reasons:

  1. In recent months, I’ve come to believe in the paramount importance of an editor for ANYTHING that needs to be done.
  2. [Redacted – ask me in private.]

Hence, I’m appointing Ms Lynn Lee as my agent for any work-related matters.

Please contact her if you have work for me. Similarly, contact her if you have interview questions/media-related enquiries because she is Ms ‘Pau Ka Liau’.

More contact information here at my newly created Contact page.

Happy New Year!

Wed, 2 Jan 2013
3 min read
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Mincemeat tart (with dinosaur motif)
(image via)

Happy New Year everyone!

I didn’t post anything on Mon so you’ll get two posts today! Yes! All 25 of you, my regular readers.

Why?

I had a secret pre-New Year’s resolution (pre-New Year because I made it, like, at the start of Dec, I think): to post an entry each day so that I hone my craft by sharpening the saw.

(Except for weekends and public holidays, of course – I’m pro-work-life balance like that.)

However, I missed Mon’s deadline as I was busy making a set of Cards Against Humanity for a New Year’s Eve party.

(It’s really fun; I played it last Fri at a party and I was all, like: WHERE DO I GET A SET OF MY OWN?

It’s sold out, though, so I had to download a PDF file of the game, buy the card stock, print it out at a printer and cut the cards manually (couldn’t be arsed to use a huge-ass cutter).

It took me the better half of a day – “the perks of being self-employed”, according to Prem Vadiveloo, my new Chindian friend – but I certainly had fun playing the game on New Year’s Eve with my friends.)

New Year’s Eve aside, I want to be introspective and all because it was a briefly popular trend on New Year’s Eve, and you know how good I am at quickly adapting to new technologies.

So where do I start? I’ve to go back about five years, actually.

When I look back to when the previous phase of my life began, I’d say that:

  • 2008 was a year of success for me. I never had so many achievements in life come my way at one go, and I really felt blessed that year.

  • 2009 was a year of tumultuousness, and the year in which the decline began.

  • 2010 was a year of decay. I didn’t know where I was going; I just knew I was going downhill.

  • 2011 was a year of stagnation. I don’t think I progressed very much – I can hardly remember the happy moments of that year.

But 2012 was a year of realisation, renewal and a return to a state of normalcy and happiness.

I quit my job; I embarked on a new career.

I lost weight; I started living healthier again.

I stopped beating myself up; I started believing in myself again.

I reconnected with family and many old friends; I even made a new Chindian friend!

Sadly, I let go of a girl I should’ve stuck with – but I guess that paved the way for many interesting dates.

Most importantly, I’ve found most of the old me once more – and so far, it seems that this is what matters the most for now, in the grand scheme of things.

So on that note, I want to bid goodbye to 2012 in obituary form, because it deserves it.

In Memory of 2012

(1 Jan – 31 Dec 2012)

Thank you, 2012, for all that transpired.

You weren’t particularly brilliant, but you were necessary for me to move on with life.

So this ain’t a fond farewell, but neither is it a good riddance.

Here’s looking to an awesome 2013.

P.S. This is a longer-than-usual post, but it still counts for one post. Stay tuned for the other post and don’t worry – I won’t cheat you of the money you didn’t pay for reading this premium content!

Little Drummer Boy

Thu, 27 Dec 2012
1 min read
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On Christmas Eve, my friend posted this status message on Facebook:

First-World Christmas Eve Problems: Mother is frying rempah to cook curry and I can’t stop sneezing.

My response:

Come, they told me, pah rempah-pah-pah…

I thought it was hilarious so I liked my own comment. You can tell that I’m a very big fan of my own brand of humour.

BONUS:

Some years back, another friend blogged about a very hilarious piece of stand-up comedy by Irene Ang.

I can’t find the original post (I think it’s been taken down) but part of the routine was as follows:

…Irene Ang was the host and she played [Don’t Forget the Lyrics]. She asked what line followed these [lines] in the song “Little Drummer Boy”:

Come they told me
Pa rum pum pum pum
A new born king to see
Pa rum pum pum pum
Our finest gifts we bring
__ ___ ___ ___ ___.