Not the same

Me & Trish at the SNM

It could just be another lazy sunday spent talking about life and its inconsistencies, but this might be the last time this year that we could do so, it hit me. She's off to Japan to seek out her destiny (Don't blame me, I didn't influence her) Well, I look forward to conversing with her in Japanese in 1 - 2 years time but this triggered something in me, because somehow I wonder if my destiny is really to spend my life chained to a desk drafting, drafting, even though I am going to earn shitloads upon shitloads of money.

Let's take one thing at a time shall we

Its over

Roughly translated as: "Orange Days: The Unforgettable days of our youth"

4 golden years comes to an end with a stroke of my pen as Maisie says "Time's up". This time, unlike the "O"s, nor the "A"s, we did not shuffle out of the hall giving each other congratulatory slaps on the back, as not everyone could share our joy. The maudlin tinge of unsettlement hits, even as I was gorging on all you can eat pizza with the guys, or playing board games overnight with the other NMPs (non-mugging personnel), this unsettling feeling of, "This is it? What now?" just overstays its due, but yet, I recognize that this should merely be fleeting, that after our orange days, we have already discovered who we want to be in our lives.

And again, we go our separate ways. Separate grad trips, separate firms, separate companies, separare futures. We make our own destinies in life, and it may or may not include the people that we have came to depend upon. I have come to accept that, slowly but surely.

僅かだって明かりが心に灯るなら
大切にしなきゃ　と僕らは誓った
めぐり逢った　すべてのものから送られるサイン
もう　何ひとつ見逃さない
そうやって暮らしてゆこう

どういうわけか、俺の気持ちは英語で述べることができない。もしかしたら、英語で言ったら変な気持ちになるだろうか。皆、輝かしい未来へ幸せに

Summing up the Minister's pay debate

Sylvia Lim's Parliamentary Speech 11th April 2007


Dear Ministers,

It is not that you do not deserve to be paid well, please remember that you are drawing your pay from taxpayer's money, many whom are struggling to live with the GST hike to 7%, which is even higher than even that of Japan. I believe that you are in your post not because of the remuneration, but because of your public spiritedness, of serving the people. However, it will not be possible to continue to lead "by example", to tell the people to accept CPF cuts during tough economic times, when you are drawing such astronomical high pay. As NCMP Sylvia Lim so aptly pointed out, the mean average salary of $4.5k, which is approximately the amount that I will be paid A month working 8am to 11pm every day, would be able to be earned by you, the minister, in a matter of 2 days. I believe that good leaders would work for the people even if the pay was not excellent. I believe that our first generation leaders, Minister Mentor Lee included, who built Singapore when Singapore was still a riotous poverty stricken third world country did so EVEN WITHOUT earning 10, 100, 1000 times more than the average professional lawyer, banker, doctor, because back then, they were truly, public servants.

Regards, and with utmost respect,

Agent Jared
(who has an examination paper tomorrow.)

Help

After this morning's scare (I saw my name on the Aviation Law Exam paper roster) I have been facing the com for like 6 hours I guess, but most of the time its spent sorting out itenary of round-kyushu trip, and just going off random tangents, I read anything and everything non-law related, what about err Film Festival, what some common ailments as well as the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in Wiki an hour ago, and now with Dave coming to the library to stress me with his ICF studying, I think I had better start... I am lagging behind my Team A peeps in terms of topics covered, still at Joint Ventures, damnit, in many parts due to my 12 hour sleep yesterday night trying to sleep off a flu. Doesn't work. Now I have a headache, and its not because I have too little sleep.

PS: I see Meihui and Han's blog posting increasing exponentially as well. SCARY

i wonder

Anyone who can identify with this video after watching it probably understands the Jared right now

また土曜日の夜が来るさ。またひとりで勉強していて、また窓の外へ夜の景色を見ていて、また悲しい曲を聞いていて、「瞳をとじて君を描くよそれだけでもいい。たとえ季節が僕を残して色を変えようとも記憶の中に君を探すよ、それだけでいい。なくしたものを越える強さを君がくれたから君がくれたから」という歌詞で心に悩みごとが多くてさあ。

犠牲を払っても結果が？

On the roof of my PGP block, surveying the port and the black sea ahead as I think:

There is a time and season for everything
A time to live, a time to die
A time to play, a time to focus
A time to reap, a time to sacrifice
A time to hang on, a time to let go

What's important, is not making popular or feel good choices,
rather to be accountable to myself and the people I care about

Lessons in Morbidity

Spotted at UniSIM.

o.m.g.

Our lawyer friend/teammate Shahdy has just offered to take care of us Team A teammates when we go to the Maldives after call break next year, and look where we will be staying:


You have to see it to believe it

I think I won't be able to work on Bank Docs tonight. I'm reeling!

Irrelevance

The most amusing vid i've seen the whole week. I think everyone in law school thinks of me as some Japanophile. They aren't half wrong. ;)

今日の単語は「前向き」。やっとICFの交渉は終わるぞ！ベットに寝っころがって宿題のほかに考えて、考えて、にっぽんの全てを思い出す。関係ない物は一つずつ僕の胸によみがえった。ごま、ジンジャーエール、グレープフルツジュース、新鮮なお刺身、えっ！なぜ全部食べ物なんだい？ハハ。もうすぐね、もうすぐ

Doesn't everything else seem so much more appealing now that work has to be done?

Departures in Exasperation

Aviation Paper 8500 words
Negotiation Written Paper 2500 words
Assessed Negotiations
Journal Annotations & Final Entry 8pages + 3 pages x 4 journals
ICF M&A Financing Exercise
Bank Documentation 2nd Paper 2000 words
ICF Exam: in 10 days. Sheet. I have never been so unprepared before, but yet I am so apathetic



You cannot blame me for wanting to leave. Really.

End of an era

i will miss trainings, even though I never really was very good at it

For those in need of comfort

Things fall apart,
Romance fades,
Friends drift apart
Families are not immortal,
Satisfaction is sought but only temporal
I wonder if there is anything that is forever
And then, I remember Your suffering and sacrifice for me

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort that we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows"
~2 Corinthians 1:3-5

Addictive. Distractions.

I fling myself into the throes of work to keep myself from thinking too much.

「あ」という間に、もうすぐ期末が来るさ。論文みたいなレポートがたくさんあって、もう慣れてきたね。なんでもしょうがないで、なんでもコントロールできないさ。君の代わりに仕事がだんだん生活の大きな部分を占めるようになって、俺は相変わらず文句が言わなくても何だかうれしくない。