A Good Year
I know that this post has come ages late. It is already almost march but this post is about my new year resolution. The reason for this late post was because I have been unsure of the direction I want to go.
At the start of the year when I have just ORDed from the dreaded army, I was in a lost state. I was sort of waiting for things to happen and maybe move on together with these events. Somehow I managed to find a job working as a course consultant at a private school and even enrolled for my bachelor degree there, which means to say I will be working and studying at the school.
I didn't realize how hard it was going to be. My job doesn't have a fixed salary and most of my income is based on commission. I have on average 2 exams and 1 assignment to prepare every month. I only get around 5 to 6 hours of sleep every night. As if all these aren't enough, I plan to get my driving licence within half a year.
I live in Jurong, work and study at Kallang and will need to fly down to Bukit Batok for driving on nights when I have no classes. By the time I reach home, I am already very much a dead man.
This year is really going to be a very tough year. But I am determined to finish off what I have started. By end of the year, I plan to complete my degree, build up my career path and of course that driving licence.
I'm relishing the challenges that lie ahead. Bring it on, baby!
Happy V-Day
And so it was Valentine yesterday with the girls going home happy with flowers and chocolates and the guys feeling more broke than ever. The happiest people are of course the scheming businessmen who are laughing their way to the bank. A stalk of rose originally sold for $2 can go up to $15 per stalk. Just add in some color paper and laces and you can jack up the price even higher.
The origin of Valentine Day is supposely a very romantic one. It was believed that 14th of Feb was a day to remember St.Valentine, who was apparently killed because of a forbidden love or something like that if I am not wrong. I goggled the words 'origin of valentine' and managed to find what I was looking for. However I couldn't finish reading that article because I was puking most of the time.
While many people were touched by the so-called great love of this gentleman, I wasn't very much amused. Shakespear's great work 'Romeo & Juliet' remained as one of the funniest story in my eyes after so many years.
The version I believed in is this. Long ago, a scheming businessman, in a bid to save his faltering flowers & gift business, suddenly came up with this story about St.Valentine and declared the month of February to be a month of love and romance. Valentine day will be a day whereby the guys will buy gifts for their partners to show their undying love for her.
And of course there was a mad rush for presents buying and this scheming businessman jack up the price by a few times and made a huge huge profit along the way. As a result, his business turned from a failing one to one of the biggest around.
Somehow for years, this practice was carried out even until this day. I wouldn't call this day Valentine Day though, Robert-Head Day would have been more apporiate. When this day approaches, I always can see many stupid heads queuing up to buy gifts and flowers and making reservations at some posh restaurants.
Girls on this day will be grinning from ear to ear with flowers in their hands. Along Orchard Road, it is like a mini flower carnival with each lady competing with each other to see who has the bigger and prettier flower and the bigger the flower, the bigger the Robert-head you boyfriend is.
Many people may not realise this. Valentine Day is a day where the love of the boyfriend is not measured. It was a day to measure the stupidity of the male counterparts. The larger the amount paid, the stupider the boyfriend is. According to the unofficical research and findings, guys who tend to spend a bomb on Valentine Day are not reliable husbands because they don't plan in the long run, all they care is making the girlfriend happy on this day.
I am sure that many have heard of this before. Valentine day is also Friendship Day. This also has a story behind it. Once there was a loser who was tired of seeing these couples exchanging gifts and he declared this day to be Friendship Day also. This will be a day where friends will exchange gifts, not just lovers. This, of course delight the scheming businessman too.
That was a pretty smart move by this loser because from that day on, almost everyone has a gift in the hand and no one can distinguish whether these gifts come from lovers or friends. Personally, this year is one of my best Valentine Daysever as I slept at 10 o'clock and I have not slept that well for a long time already.
So, to all ladies,happy valentine day.To the guys, happy robert-head day. And to the singles, happy riendship day.
Perspective
The schoolboy looked on as the man, who seems to be in his mid-20s boarded the bus. He was in his business shirt and worn a tie smartly, talking on the handphone to a seemingly potential client as he sat opposite the schoolboy. The schoolboy could hear bits and pieces of his conversation, something about prices and quotas.
Their gazes met suddenly and the schoolboy turned away sharply. He had not realized he had been staring at this young man since he boarded the bus. His focus turned to the events that had been happening recently.
The schoolboy could still remember the harsh words from his teacher. It is not the first time he had been warned about his poor academic results. His teacher had warned him repeatly that if his grades continued to be this poor, he might just drop out of school. Even his mother had been equally harsh, always saying how bleak his future will be if this continues.
To the schoolboy, this man is everything he had hoped for in the future. Holding a desk-bound job in an air-con office, wearing smartly at work and talking and negotiating with clients and feeling... important. He knew that this reality is virtually impossible for him. He just has no interest in his studies and had contemplated quitting a couple of times already. Afterall this is not the first time he is repeating his Secondary 3 education. But he knew if he really does quit, there is no way he can compete with the other people in the society in the future.
The schoolboy was so deep in his thoughts that he had not realized that he had reached his stop. He clumsily picked up his books and bag and alighted the bus hurrily.
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The young man watched on in amuse as the schoolboy who seemed to be in his daydream suddenly jerked up and ran out of the bus. That was a little something to smile about after a very bad day at work. He had been talking to this very difficult client of his whom had been trying to cut the price initally agreed. On top of that, his boss has been pressurizing him about his sales target this month. The outside world had been much more difficult than he thought.
Watching the schoolboy brought back a lot of his fond memories of when he was still schooling. Although his results have been far from being exceptional, he still did enough to get into a local polytechnic. He remembered having a lot of fun in his school days, the days where he wouldn't need to worry where his next bowl of rice is coming from. The days where no one will be pushing him for results everyday.
True, studying wasn't exactly fun. But it was much better than being a working adult. In fact he had talked about this very often to his peers. How he hoped he could reverse back time and go back to his school days. How he hoped he can escape from this reality he is in now. It would really be fun if he could just switch with that schoolboy for just a day. These memories of his school days immediately brightened up his day. Perhaps, tomorrow will be a better day.
With a smile on his face, he slowly dozed off as the bus continued its journey into the night.
