I work in an office five days a week, from Monday to Friday. Each of these days, I work for around nine hours. And out of these nine hours, I will be sitting in front of my desk typing for maybe six hours or so. So, in other words, I sit on my chair for a quarter of my office life.

I believe that other white collar workers spend the same, if not more time on their posteriors, underlining the importance of good office chairs. Inter County, a supplier of office furniture, has a wide range of these chairs to choose from. Continue Reading…

Channel News Asia reported today that tropical Singapore was hit by hailstones yesterday! This peculiar phenomenon occurred between 3.15-3.45pm local time.

The report states that the hailstones were the size of 5 cent coins and were seen mainly in Bishan, Toa Payoh and Ang Mo Kio.

Rosie Hoe, a witness to the hailstones in Bishan, said: “We tried to take photographs but it doesn’t show on our cameras. So, they were calling their friends and all to come and see. So, there were actually quite a lot of people here.” Continue Reading…

I started “We prefer the previous one, to be honest. The new cover…”

“WHY ARE WE STILL ON THIS!? MY WORD IS FINAL!!” roared The Tyrant.

The momentary silence following this did nothing to ease the tension. I glanced quickly to my right. Ja and Mare looked non-plussed. They were veterans in the line. They could tell a lousy cover when they saw one. I, on the other hand, was a Beanesque ‘babe in the woods’. I couldn’t care less, but pretend I do to fit in. Fitting in is what I do, for I am Hum Drum Boy.

The Tyrant had a habit of engineering pregnant pauses, or what he thought were. I think he just runs out of ideas. A fine exponent of the deliberate awkward silence myself, I stood unfazed by the soundless assault. Ja was alright as well. Mare, I could tell, was like a water bag with too much hot water in it. Red-faced, a single vein of intense burple extruded from her forehead. She was not pleased. Continue Reading…

Cliche: “Girls, can’t live with them, can’t live without them.” How true.

Most, if not all people, are attuned to thinking that we are the centre of the universe. Well, centre of the universe we might not be, but centre of our own attention we definitely are. In terms of problems, people generally only care about our own, but of course sensitivity dictates that other peoples’ problems also take a place in our capacity for consideration. Many girls, however, do not have this ability hot-wired into their pretty little heads.

Guys, don’t you just hate it when you are talking about your problem and halfway through your rambling, your girl cuts you off and starts off on herself. You know what, I’m not really interested in hearing about someone else’s fantastic life when I’m talking about my own. But, being the gentleman, you let it go because there is no sense in pursuing something so small. No point making a mountain out of a molehill. Continue Reading…

I saw a trailer of a local show a few days back. It was the one with Fann Wong playing some gangster chick and marrying some skinny pock marked sissy. The two minutes or so trailer was quite funny actually, especially the part where the skinny guy was teaching the debt collecting subordinates how to splash paint on doors correctly.

Loan sharks are not just a conjurement of reel fantasy, they really do exist. Of course, I’m not a ‘heartlander’ so I haven’t had any first hand experience with any yet.

FYI: Loan sharks are illegal money lenders. Usually syndicated, they are known to ‘decorate’ the doors of lendees who fail to close their debts with pig heads (I wonder what they do with the rest of the pig) and (red?) paint. Unreasonably high interest rates have also been suggested. Continue Reading…

Tata Motors, an automotive company based in India (for those who don’t know), has recently announced plans to raise a large sum of cash.

I quote:

The Board of Directors of Tata Motors, at its meeting held today, has in principle approved, subject to other approvals as may be required, raising of additional long term resources upto Rs.4,000 crores by issue of appropriate securities in the foreign and/or domestic market in one or more tranches on terms to be decided by the Board/Committee of Directors in due course as also the consequent increase in the Authorised Capital of the Company.

The Company has major growth plans for expanding its position in the domestic and global markets in both the commercial vehicle and passenger vehicle business. This will be achieved by upgrading and enhancing the Company’s product portfolio, expanding manufacturing facilities in India and strategic acquisitions/alliances in India and abroad. Whilst this may require incurrence of expenditure for organic growth over the next 3-4 years, the acquisition opportunities will have to be financed upfront. The said funds are being raised to part-finance overall funding requirements to meet some of the strategic plans.

Note: Rs 4,000 crores = US$1 billion Continue Reading…

I am a survivor.

In the office I work in, I occupy a cubicle in a corner. Next to me is another seat. In my relatively short tenure there, that seat has seen three co-workers come and leave.

The first was already there when I came. He was a man approaching 40. A slightly effeminate male who wore his pants a little too high. He kept to himself but was rumoured to be very outspoken in forums (according to Blondie who used to look at his screen from behind his shoulder). Once his six months of probation was up, he er… upped as well. Continue Reading…

Sab has been shopping for a MacBook for awhile now. The other day, while the IT show was on, we wanted to go down but because Suntec was so bloody crowded, we had no choice but to scrap that idea. So we went down to Funan instead. I think it was a good decision in the end because Funan was having the same promotions as the IT show and also because both me and Sab hate crowds.

Actually she had already decided on getting the MacBook. But we walked around anyway since we were not rushing for time or anything and it was a Saturday. We walked past this shop with some PCs and my girlfriend, the IT geek, pulled me in. The salesman saw us and approached us, mainly because we were the only customers in that tiny shop. Turns out Sab had spotted some Asus PC and wanted a closer look. So, feeling a little sorry for the salesman, I asked him a few questions about price etc. It was pretty cheap. Sab was hooked. Continue Reading…

Bean has decided to follow his dream. More accurately, Bean, a daydream believer (cheer up sleepy jean), has unearthed a path to his dream. When he was in his teens, he developed a love for phototaking and the potential rewards it brings (read: hot models). So as he grew in age so did his interest and now in his mid twenties, it has become something that Bean wants to do for a living.

Bean is currently working in the print media industry. In two weeks, he won’t be anymore. He tendered his resignation yesterday. Starting next month, he begins his new job as a photographer’s assistant.

I’m quite happy for him actually. I know he wanted this really badly and seriously, it is a step in the right direction and a big step at that. He has no qualification, no portfolio, no one to vouch for him, no-one credible anyway. Going around with a professional in the field, he would definitely be able to pick things up as well as meet people that could be useful in future. Continue Reading…

Nicholas Sparks, many people should already know, is a prolific writer of love novels. I myself, have read all of his books, save for one or two of them. The last one that I read was At First Sight, a sequel to True Believer (if memory serves me well).

I thought that I would enjoy it, like I did the rest of his books, and I did at first. The first few chapters read like a typical Nic Sparks novel: good. Then came the tragedy. In the story I mean. Continue Reading…