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It’s been a long time since I do a birthday banner for my closed ones. Now, because of THIS GUY, who tried to frame me through a conversation when I was concentrating on my work, I think I should just store this in my database to prove to him that I DID NOT FORGET HIS BIRTHDAY! *grin*

I knew PK through work. I called him “bro”, he called me “jie”. Our friendship is platonic, much to the disappointment of a few colleagues. But it was really fun at that time in office, taking in all the weird stares and speculations from them. Haha. (And yes, to digress, I do believe in pure guy-girl friendship!)

He always has my back at work - reminding me this that, discussing possible solutions with me and sharing tips/links/articles with me. It always makes me feel that, in order to be on par with him, I need to be well-prepared first. Thus, most of the time, our projects went pretty smooth, and we launched things that we are proud of (except for THAT one project). Through him, I have learnt a lot about work ethics, responsibilities and boundaries.

We shared a lot too. Families, friends, religion, work, interests, principles in life. But most of the times, we do not agree with each other due to our different personalities. Hoho.

He has this heck care attitude towards things that he deems not important, and he doesn’t even want to talk about it. He will just keep quiet and pretend to listen, until you are tired of talking alone and not getting any response.

He is sometimes stubborn. He is always cheeky. He is a total geek. But one thing we have in common is that we are passionate in our work and we love what we are doing, which I think it’s the main thing that binds us together. =)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU BRO! I really do remember your birthday…please believe me…=) And take more photos with me! It’s also very hard to dig photos of you and me.

P/S: He’s unattached and available. *wink*

Hmm…let’s count…I have a lot of “aiya” siblings! 2 elder bros, 1 elder sis and 2 younger bros! I should stop adopting. Hehe.

…and THANKS MUM for bringing me to this world!

I would like to give a big hug to…

…moi family, especially mum who sang the birthday song for me!
…moi cousin, who shares the same birth date as me, although he is 2 years elder than me
…moi dearest Sucker, who planned and spent the whole day with me!
…moi brothers
…moi good hall mates/housemates who failed to give me a surprise (because moi is too smart! Hoho!) - ash, katttey, ww, devil, periwinkle, segnick, Jo, bananaken, Min Sin, shy, KCC, JC, Khai Shin, seijinm and kwa.
…moi ex-colleagues turned friends: Geena, ssrulz19, Jackie, lala, Terence, ZH, Pang, wayner, nicku and YP.
…moi current colleagues for celebrating an earlier birthday for me with little yummy cupcakes! And Lynn, Isaac, Alan, Justin, Joanne, Nadia and Eileen’s gift!
…moi cool friends - chuanz, Venk, Jacob, zac, JJ, Hui Ling, Michelle, Gaik and Piau.

Quoting Jackie, it’s a HAPPY BIRTH WORTHY DAY!

Read this post by Seth Godin, and it reminds me of hall orientation.

During BO (Block Orientation), the freshmen need to introduce themselves to their block seniors. Your name, faculty, where you come from and something interesting about yourself. The seniors will say, “This allows us to know you better, and remember you better. So say something that is REALLY interesting.”

Outsiders (and the newer batches of freshmen) will never understand our feelings (especially mine) at THAT moment. I couldn’t remember how I managed to scrap through. But I guess everyone knows the rules, those who are more popular and outspoken will always get sabotaged (kena sabo in short). *smile*

Thinking back now, the seniors might really mean it then. There are hundreds of freshmen every batch, how can they remember every one of us? Of course they have to pick the special ones to remember. Imagine “I like to play basketball.” versus “I can do break dance.” - which one will you remember more?

So, find your own super power and market yourself well. It will come in handy when you want people to remember you.

Hi, I am MK, and I can MAKE IT. =)
(You know what, I really should thank Prem for creating this name for me. *hehe*)

This morning during my MRT ride to work, an Indian lady fainted and fell right next to me onto the floor. When she fainted, there were only 3 people who acted. One is her son/friend, who tried to pull her up from the floor, calling her name repeatedly. Second is a Chinese lady who was sitting, she got up and gave the seat to the lady. Third is me, who tried to get her up as well from the floor.

The rest of the people… were just staring.

We couldn’t get her up because she was fat. No one offered another pair of helping hands. Even the guys who were standing around us!

Everyone just S.T.A.R.E.D!

Until an uncle who was standing quite far in, squeezed towards us, and helped us to get her to the empty seat.

Honestly, I was quite furious with myself for wanting to help, but not having the strength. But I was even more furious with the people who were just staring!

WHERE IS THE COMPASSION? This is Singapore! A relatively safe country where you don’t need to worry much about people fainting and then stealing your wallet while you are trying to help!

If I was courageous enough to shout “Someone please help!”…

I have done funny, interesting and crazy activities recently. It’s funny how memories flow out from my well-kept treasure box and I can actually relate almost everything I’m doing now with those threads of memories.

Playing mahjong
I played mahjong with my friends regularly on weekends now, and I am getting quite professional at strategising! *wink*

Mahjong always reminds me of dearest maternal grandpa. I would sit next to him during his mahjong sessions. Timid as a mouse, I observed the play quietly because I have learnt from the numerous tappings on my palms that making noise during mahjong sessions is not desired. Occasionally, grandpa would allow me to take the card for him. I would carefully pick from the stack and pass it to him. I felt glad if it’s a card that he would keep, and disappointed when he threw it out.

I also remembered the first time I was allowed to play my own game was with my cousins. Grandma would normally stand behind me and teach me how to play. It’s from her also that I learnt to zip up my mouth as an observer if I choose to see other players’ cards as well. =)

Nah, show you all my almost perfect 十三么. Thanks to sucker who 杠 the and took my chance away! It’s a long story, I could have won the game if my turn was not skipped earlier, but I guess I didn’t have the luck then. *sob sob*

Going Genting with family

We went up to Genting during Chinese New Year. It’s been a long anticipated family trip for ALL of us. The fact that sis and I are working in different countries now (and having different project deadlines) makes it almost impossible for us to plan any family trips. Our recent outings have been always 三缺一 (missing one member). This trip, albeit a short one, I saluted mum for making the frequent calls to us to confirm our leaves. I enjoyed myself - with shopping trips with sis, eating and chatting sessions with family etc.

Genting is the place where we visit quite often because that’s the only place dad can remember the route, beside Cameron Highlands. Hoho. Hence we spent most of our school holiday time at those two places.

When we were young (before the legal age), sis and I used to roam around First World shops and went to Starbucks to read books or just chill out. Now that we have come of age, we followed our parents into the casino for a “leisure stroll”. Both of us were always stopped by the security guards asking us to show our ICs. After a few similar incidents, it has become our family joke. Mum always prides that we have inherited her good genes, and always look younger than our actual age. Hehe. I wish I did too. =P

There are more things I have done, but not putting them here, because I think they deserve a post by themselves. *grin*

While waiting for moi to prepare the posts, feel free to digest these marketing-related links:

• “Slack” by Seth Godin
• “Brands that harnessed the power of meme” from iMedia Connection
• “Why we all benefit from big brands being in social media” from Mashable

Is this a long post?