A very touching Farewall Note..

I stumbled on this really touching farewell note. If i must comment, this is probably the most touching one i have read. The deceased, i.e. Mr. Derrick was a pilot and his closest pals posted this very touching obituary in the papers.

As i read the poem, i could visualize his life in a glance and the numerous lives he must have touched. In a way, i thought his personality was similar to mine. Nonetheless, the poem was written in a celebratory tone to celebrate his life and in the last paragraph, his death was decribed as the airplane flight to Heaven. The last ending line was also impactful:"Till we meet, Your buddies".

I wonder when i pass away, how would my buddies write of me.....

Respect in Peace Derrick.

The harvest after the drought.

I still recall in September 2007, i had just tendered my resignation letter for my first job at Synovate, a top-5 market research MNC. The feeling was jubilant. How glad i was to leave my anal female boss ; the verbal insults and the restrictive work environment. I felt really optimistic that given my qualifications, i should be able to secure another job quickly with the next month.

Oh boy! I was so wrong. I entered into a financial drought period of 6 months!!!!!!. (i.e. jobless for 6mths). Here is a quick recap of the names of the companies i have applied: Accenture, AXS,Bloomberg, Changi International Airport, Civil Service College, Consumer Probe (Market Research agency), DSTA, IPOS, OldenDorff(Its a German Shipping company), Stanchart, DBS, UOB, Taylor Nelson Sofre, Finexis, Singapore Airline, Credit Suisse Bank, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of National Development etc.

This 6-month period was living hell for me. It was devatasting. Some jobs offered very low starting pay (i.e. <$2K). Some jobs required long working hours over the weekend. Some interviewers' attitude were really undesirable. Being a fresh grad who resigned from his 1st job in less than 6 months, i was subjected to a lot of criticism and sacarstic remarks from the interviewers.

I still recalled that for this 6 months, i was drawn closer to God. I attended church diligently since i had so much free time. I listened to each service. After each sunday's service, i alway felt so energized and confident that in the following week i will miraculously get a job offer. But nope, it never happened. Week after week, months after months nothing happened. I still went for my interviews. Well, deep down my heart i know that Abba has heard my cries for a good job. But i guess i was always overwhelmed by the fear that i was going to be jobless for a long long time. The fear got so bad that at a point i just cried out loud to the sky and asked, "WHERE ARE YOU!?! ABBA?"

At every job rejection, i will reflect and assure myself that this job must be unsuitable for me or else Abba will not close the door on this job. Of course, when you are jobless for 6 months, it is hard to sustain myself with the same reasoning. Human nature dictates that somehow a person will just grow more and more desperate. At one point in time, i really had this mind to just accept any cheapo job offer that comes along and resign my fate to that pathetic job. But i guess somehow i always have the clarity of mind to turn down these cheapo job offers. Anyway, try imaging that for 6 months in a row, you wake up every morning feeling dejected. Then this thought, "Hey you are going to bum today again.." will overwhelm your mind.

Now as i relflect, i am so ..so.. grateful for my current job. It's at least 10,000 times better than my previous job. The pay is freaking fantastic; at least close to S$1k more than my previous job. Oh i also started to tithe in this 2nd job. Oh Boy, the power of tithing... it's.. overwhelming. I received a substantial salary adjustment, plus annual increment and yeah the special bonus. Amen! My office is also like Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. My colleagues treat me really nice, like a family... Bosses. are superb.. and im given the autonomy in my job to do my best. I believe Abba placed me here.. for a reason. I'm very sure im in the right place...

The bottom line i want to say to you is this: Abba is alway always.. FAITHFUL....the first time you mutter your prayer.. He would have heard it already...

Interesting Observations from the Red-Wedding Bombs.

There will come a time in your life when you suddenly receive a lot of wedding invitations (call it the Red-Wedding Bombs). This phase naturally occurs when say the girls from your school batch have reached a "must-marry-age" or "must-go-lelong-sale-age" (just kidding).

This time has arrived for me too!. There are also a few interesting observations i noticed.

1) All of a sudden, ex-classmates who never bothered to attend any class renuions suddenly start to appear like 3-6mths prior to their wedding date.

2) All of a sudden, ex-classmates whom you have lost contact for a long time start to call you suddenly and strike a very warm phone conversation with you (as if you two were on very good terms since time has begun).

Of course, quite frankly at this juncture, this post is NOT to ridicule my classmates who are or have married. Deep down my heart, i am very happy for them. Because finally, they have grown from little girls to grown up wives. Because finally, they have found someone to pamper and take care of them.

This post is meant as a sound alert to notify you that perhaps it is better not to burn/abandon your bridges prematurely Don't neglect your friends because 1) your time is totally taken up by the other half or 2) you are pissed busy at work. Neglecting your friends like that will actually not be wise because when the big day arrives, you have to scramble like crazy to cosy up all the old friends just to ensure there are indeed people who will turn up and fill up the tables at your wedding.

Oh well, but of course, if you are a bride/groom to be and you read this post, take it with a pinch of salt. Peace.. Peace.. Shalom.. Shalom...