Farewell seems to be the hardest word!

The other night, at the Karaoke Farewell session for me, we sang "Sorry seems to be the hardest word" - I disagree. I think "farewell" is the hardest word, by far. After handing over all my stuff, I quickly strut off, not wanting to go through emotional farewells... sigh, very afraid of those.

Now I move towards a new beginning and a new life back into System Intergration! The very circle I started from in my IT career... but of course, this company I join is into bigger things, bigger contracts, bigger sales (hopefully **with fingers crossed**).

Received some disturbing news from some ex-colleagues... something about what I didn't do for them... sigh, that's always the case isn't it - EXPECTATIONS.

Sometimes people tell me, its ok that others do not see what you did for them in quietness cause when they finally realise it, it will be double its worth, well yes and no... Why? That's because of the sad feeling you get when you realise people are always focussing on the good things you didn't do (even if you've done it) than the things you did. And sometimes,its even worse when it comes from people whom you've done a lot for... sigh... that's why, I have this philosophy constantly applied in my life - NO EXPECTATIONS.

When you decide to do something for someone, keep expectations out of it. Do not expect anything in return, not even a "Thank You"; then your life will be much happier. If ever there's one that returns and say thank you, well thank God, that's bonus! Which reminds me of the story told in the bible about how Jesus healed ten person and only one returned to thank Him...

On a lighter note, Chinese New Year has started to slowly move away, today being the third day... the last few nights have been very very tiring but enjoyable... I guess its that "once in a year" feeling... Further more, had also some good news here and there which could be too P&C to say here but some friends will know, especially those who went out for steam boat dinner with me. Lets hope this is REAL good news... yes?

I now look forward to starting in my new place (on the 6th) and put things (and people; well some people) behind me. With a prayer in mind, hoping that the new group of people I meet will be more appreciative than some of the ones I knew before...

To all who knew me before, well...

Farewell and lets meet again
When we do, forget the past , the times that went
Lets move ahead together this year
Lets forgive, forget and be once again, FRIENDS!

Remember the good times that we shared
Remember the songs we sung at Karaokes
Hold fast to lessons we learnt together
Lets move on to something much much better

My wish for all who is reading this now
Is that you all will have joy and riches somehow
But be sure to remember the good times that went
Be sure to remember this one dear FRIEND!

Sky

The Year of the Dog - A new beginning

Yuppidy yup... a new beginning is dawning for a lot of the chinese folks and also for me. People around are saying that the year of the dog brings good fortune for these people and that people and blah blah blah.... Fung Sui is especially hot nowadays since things are so bad, you'd rather believe something is true even though it may take a few years to prove it.

Well, tomorrow is the day when my MD allows me to announce that I'd be leaving the company I've been working with for close to 3 years now. I will start at my new place beginning next year (i.e. the year of the dog) - thus the new beginning for me... been quite difficult to cap something like this for the past few weeks since my letter was submitted on 9/1, sigh...

Anyway, to all of yous out there who knows me through business relations, my hand phone number is still the same and if you drop your contact here (thru comments), I will drop an email to you once I have settled into my new place.

Looking back these 3 years, I have had good memories and some not so good ones... but the good ones are worth mentioning - friends I have made, trust relations built, laughs, drinks, long lunches, tea time sessions - will be something I'd definitely miss... and to some of you,..

- Ah Low
Will miss your friendship, sincerity and your frank remarks and occasional "tantrums".

- LorLorLuin
Will miss your "little girl" smiles and "auntie" conversations, and sometimes all roll into one!

- "Tweety"
Will miss your laughs, tears and high pitch (sometimes disturbing) continuos comments

- "Mei Cher"
Will miss the way you answer your phone with "a different voice"

- Ah Lannn
Will miss your handsome smile and the way you get your way around because of that smile!

- YTL
Will miss the way you tell us to put the "ta pau stuff" in the back of the boot and inside a nother box!

- Ah Chen
Will miss your occasional smile and for being my "chinese reader" during our karaoke sessions

and many more... sorry, if I miss out some of you... but I don't want to get into a "teary" situation. Have told your Sports Club President to arrange for me my fairwell and hopefully he will do a good one for me **in anticipation**

As I move on, I have only this to say to all who have worked with me... remember the 3 "R"s all the time, it will take you very far in the corporate world.

1st R - Responsibility
Always remember your responsibility to your work, your team, your boss, your family, your friends and YOURSELF. We set goals and resolution every year but we seldom put effort to do them and hope that it will come around, when it comes around. The truth is, we are not taking responsibility of things we have committed to do. Setting targets is easy but to monitor and to strive to achieve them takes great effort. We cannot afford to give up half way nor take those targets lightly - we need to be responsible!

2nd R - Respect
Respect is two ways. We all want respect from others. What we don't normally realise is that respect is gained and not taken. You want respect, then respect others first. Especially YOUR BOSS! No matter how dissatisfied you are with your boss, give him respect. He is still your boss. No matter how many negative elements you want to complain about him, for God's sake, find one positive element you can tell about him to go with those negative ones.

3rd R - is most important!
Yes, remember RODNEY! Ha ha... remember this "Pak Tau Lo" uncle who plays futsal like a young man, score goals like Van Nistelroy and Rooney add together, sings like Alan Tam, talks like Chau Sing Chi (the actor, not our Boss) and looks like "Choong Wah Ying Hoong"!

Well, too much written today. Hope to have another session later... CNY is coming lor and I wish all of you out there, "Gong Xi Fa Cai"... make lots of money... will definitely come back for more lunches!

Sky

Another tired day....

Yeah, its 7.42pm now and am just about to sign off from the office... being in a company where emails are the main form of communication is really tiring... I should think that you'd probably think I had a tired day running about, but nah, the tiredness actually came about checking through emails for approvals of proposals, followups on forecasts from my sales team, covering and making sure Customer Relations are done properly, HR issues, etc etc...

By now, I guess I should introduce myself... let's just cut it short and say, I am an IT guy. Been around IT for quite a while, about 20 years now... sigh. Yup, started from those days where we'd probably make about 40% profit just selling PCs and printers - now, you'd be thankful if you get about 5%! What a world... Will talk about this probably in one particular post, later...

Really tired, with tonnes of decisions to make... both for the office and for myself.
Made a major decision recently... not the right time to tell now though, maybe later.

But one thing's for sure, I have always had a thing or two for philosophy - and here's mine.

Though the world population grows so very rapidly, our circle of friends are not the same. We do not increase the number of friends around us over night. Friends need time to know and cultivate and its not easy nowadays to find friends who will stand by you no matter what! My favourite question to all my "would be" friends - "Would you think I've killed someone if you see me standing over a dead body with a blood stained knife in my hand?" Their "un-thought through" answer will immediately tell you if he or she is your true friend.

Don't talk about true friends, even mere friends are difficult to come by and always remember, when you find one additional friend, treasure that friend cause it simply means, you have one less enemy. So make friends, lots of 'em, you'd probably end up not having enemies at all!

Finally, if you want to test if your "friends" are friends, bring your friendship through the following "Friendship Equation"... entitled, "A Friend should be Mathematical"

A Friend should be radical
They should love when you're unlovable
Hug you when you're unhuggable
And bear with when you're unbearable.
A Friend should be fanatical
They should cheer when the whole world boos
Dance when you get good news
And cry when you cry too
But most of all
A friend should be mathematical
They should multiply the joy
Divide the sorrow
Subtract the past
And add to tomorrow
Calculate the need deep in your heart
And always be bigger than the sum of all its parts

click the following link to hear a song about Friendship... (you need to right-click, open in new window, in order to hear the song)
http://www.petelansburg115.com/friends.html

Skywalker signing off .....

Opening of a new BLOG!

Never knew I'd actually do this, but I got inspiration from my very old (both in time and age)friends at http://garamnpepper.blogspot.com/

Beautifully written and actually good space to write your thoughts and things you'd probably never put into verbal words... especially for a person like me who'd prefer to write than to talk. Everytime I want to say something, when converted to verbal words, will probably come out 50% less than it should...

Won't say much for now but I guess this is a good start.

What to expect?

Well, you probably would see old songs, poetry, Sci-Fi stuffs posted here cause as the title suggests, I am an avvid fan of Star Wars - Skywalker to be exact!

here's the tribute to the opening of a new blog....

LIVE FOR JESUS

Oh I want to be remembered
As the one who sang his songs for Jesus Christ
Who was willing to lay down his life
And do His will no matter what the price

Well I'm singing for the deaf man
Who can hear about salvation through my songs
And I'm singing for the blind man
Who can see the light in me and come along

LIVE FOR JESUS, THAT'S WHAT MATTERS
AND WHEN OTHER HOUSES CRUMBLE, MINE IS STRONG
LIVE OR JESUS, THAT'S WHAT MATTERS
THAT YOU SEE THE LIGHT IN ME AND COME ALONG

There are times when I am tempted
To turn off this rugged road I travel on
There are times when I say,
"Jesus, can't You find another one to sing your songs"

Well, I know its not that I'm the only one
Who can sing this melody
But He's chosen me to bless me
And to lead me into what is best for me


Skywalker signing off....