Just as I was busy looking for a coin pouch to replace my spoiled one (somehow, the skin started peeling off), my mum offered me one that she had made herself. After I told her the size that I wanted, she did another two and one fitted what I wanted exactly.
Lovelle helped me to book for my staycation as she was able to get a good rate. I wanted to get one room at M hotel but she accidentally booked Studio M hotel. Eventually, she took up the Studio M hotel room and helped me with my M hotel’s stay.
Weitat not only made effort to book the indoor volleyball court at OCBC Arena, he also paid for it without asking us to return him our share. Other than that, he also took the trouble to gather everyone.
My elder brother bought durians for the whole family – he could have just bought it for him and his wife but he was not stingy over sharing food and fruits.
My voluntary group had a gathering till late. Yongsheng was not only the gentleman who took orders for everyone at the dessert shop and tried to get seats at the MacDonald’s, he also tried to send everyone home. I was really amazed over how he took initiatives like a real gentleman.
Spread the Love – June 2015
My ex polytechnic classmate, Thiam Hing, messaged me through Facebook suddenly. Often, old friends who would message me were likely just seeking help but he had something nice to offer to me for free. It was a Gardens by the bay ticket to the two domes. He knew that I loved photography and thus he thought I would want to go there for photography. However, the problem was that the expiry date was very near. He mailed it to my home address but somehow, I did not receive it.
Gilbert, my buddy, as usual, did not fail to do kind things for me and others. He organised the outing to give Wanling a simple belated birthday celebration. He drove us around and had to endure the nasty evening traffic jams due to NDP rehearsal. We even had to make two U-turns due to road blockage. He refused to split the bill for the tea break at a cafe at Dempsey Hill and also sent me home as usual. If I were him, I would be totally drained by the time I reached home.
It was the durian season and since it was also the fasting period for the Muslim, there was large amount of durians being shipped over from Malaysia to Singapore. The quality of durian was great. My elder brother bought some durians home after his work and shared with everyone. He was never selfish with sharing food.
While I was doing interior shoot at my client’s client’s place, the owner Daniel hosted me well. He helped to move away his stuff so that they would not appear inside the photos; of course, I had to leave out the areas that were more occupied and thus there was some restrictions in the angles. Halfway through the shoot, he even offered me some beer. After that, he shared a lot of knowledge and experience with me.
When I did a sexy photoshoot with a foreign model, Nathalie, I made a last-minute attempt to get Lurvelle to join us to save me from the awkwardness. Lurvelle rushed down in cab immediately after she settled her stuff. At first, I was only expecting Lurvelle to accompany us but she offered greater help than that. She helped Nathalie with makeup and then helped to pose her, so that I could turn my head away to avoid seeing private things.
Spread the Love – May 2015
When Gilbert knew about my plan to take Singapore scenery photos for my website, he suggested to start it when he was owning a car. He planned the destinations and routes, did the hard work (driving) and did not even care about petrol fee. During the trip, he was very patient with me taking my time to snap some shots. He also knew about my pathetic income for the previous year and thus even tried hard to treat me to meals.
Weitat organised another dinner gathering even though a few people dropped out last minute. It was normal to “fight over” the bill with the O-Dao uncle and auntie over dinner. However, since Weitat did not consult the few of us (the younger ones) beforehand, he paid for their parts of the bill himself instead of splitting with us.
The Two "Blur" Things I Did Yesterday
It was not the worst day for me yesterday but at least I did not have a very easy afternoon.
The first joke was totally on my outfit although it might not be very obvious – I wore it the wrong way – inside out. It was after I travelled from Tanjong Pagar to Eunos, then to Bedok and finally on the way home, I noticed it. Laziness had actually caused the awkwardness as I had somehow realised it even before leaving the house. The lucky thing was that it was not easily identified as the thread’s colour was similar to the sports singlet’s main colour and that the label at the back was printed on the top itself instead of being attached with additional material. The most obvious thing was the inverted Nike logo at the front, right at the centre. Since none of the people who had been with me for the day had even noticed it, I was sure outsiders would not be staring at me so much to see through my “shame”. Throughout the journey, I kept my back on the doors of the train and tried to block the Nike logo naturally with my hands while using the phone. I got myself mentally prepared that if anyone were to ask about it, I would just reply naturally that the other side of the top was dirtied and thus I flipped the shirt over. I thought the reply was cool.
The final stunning thing I did was after I entered the lift to my house. I actually took the old lift that did not have any recorded announcement for the storeys. Two policemen came in when I was engrossed in texting on my phone. I confirmed they were going to a different storey as me since they pressed the lift button, although I did not really look at the button. When the lift’s door opened, one of them made his way out and the other one stayed put. After pausing for a couple of second, I thought the one next to me was going to another storey and thus I pressed the “close” button to close the doors. Suddenly, the first policeman tried to come in and I was confused. When they asked if I was getting out, I realised it was my storey. To be honest, I was confused by the policeman who went out to “give way” to such a small size person like me and it was not totally caused by my inattentiveness.
The only Woman You Cannot Handle
We all grow stronger over time. We learn to deal with people and stay away from those we feel difficult to talk to. However, there are some people whom we can’t avoid.
Woman: Do you want to eat this?
You: No.
Woman: Do you want to eat this?
You: No, don’t want.
(a while later)
Woman: This is good. Do you want to eat this?
You: No.
(a while later, the food is presented in front of you)
How are you going to react?
Option 1:
You: I don’t want to eat.
Woman: Waste my effort!
(next day, same thing happens again)
Option 2:
You (slightly higher tone): I have already told you I don’t want to eat.
Woman: Don’t want to eat then don’t want to eat lor! Don’t want to eat then say la. Waste my effort! 好心被雷劈！好心没好报！ … blah blah.
(next day)
Entire world, including dogs and cats (individually): What are you so rude?
(one week later, same thing happens again)
Option 3:
(you eat it, regardless of the taste, time of the day and how full you are)
(next day, same thing happens again)
In life, sometimes we really don’t have a good choice when making decision. Not everyone who tries to treat you nice will be doing you good always.
Spread the Love – April 2015
My mum had an advanced birthday celebration for her 60th. My younger brother did most of the preparation work after we went to the cafe for scouting. If it was not for him, I would probably be further stressed.
Needless to say, we had many great friends who were very generous. They not only shared the cost of buying an iPad Mini for my mum, but some also gave her ang bao. I was not very sure exactly who had chipped in for the present though. Although to me, the iPad mini was a waste of money since my mum already had an iPad 2, which had bigger screen. The desire for this new gadget was simply due to peer influence. I did not even have a tablet to present my work to potential clients.
Lurvelle was one of my models who had tried to help me the most. She did help to promote my photography and also recommend clients to me, even though I thought they were not so potential. All the bees were just trying to get in the good book of this hot girl.
Sharon Koh arranged a meet-up with my younger brother and I to give us a treat. We roped in fatmama in order not to leave her home alone on a Friday Evening. Somehow, she insisted she got a good job because of the testimonial we gave her for helping with Smart Tuition. It was very detailed and honest piece, written with “feel”, unlike the usual boring templates. We were actually not so sure about its efficient but I was sure potential good bosses would enjoy reading it. Anyway, since she knew it was my mum’s actual birthday for the next day, she ordered a bouquet and balloon to be delivered to my house on the next day. She was one of the most detailed and kindest lady I had ever met.
Gilbert, my long time best buddy, got his car as demanded by his company since he was doing sales job. He started to arrange outing and also helped me to go through my website.
Spread the Love – March 2015
Yaozhong introduced me an assignment at NUS, which I actually regretted taking up after I realised the schedule was ridiculous. The first shoot was in the early morning and the last shoot was in the late afternoon. The three consecutive days of such two-hour assignments almost tore me apart. Other than having to wake up in the early morning, I was super unproductive in between. Since I had promised the team, it was difficult for me to back out. Of course, both Yaozhong and Daniel hosted me well. Throughout the shoots, Yaozhong accompanied me to help out and also entertained me during the long idling hours. I was very glad to be able to work with my polytechnic day’s best buddy.
Mandy and Sharon organised a photoshoot and roped me in. The Yeo sisters were as nice as previously when we worked with Lynn. Mandy insisted to give me a treat and I failed to reject her during supper.
Spread the Love – February 2015
Weitat had always played a role more than good friend. I tried not to repeat the same type of kindness too often but he was making me feel guilty. On the first day of February 2015, we had our usual Sunday beach volleyball game. Instead of going to nearby places like Vivocity or even Queensway for dinner, we went to Jurong West for Mookata. After that, he sent me home from the West to Central even though he was staying in Clementi. I guessed everyone was already tired after the volleyball game and he was going to be more exhausted since he needed to drive.
On the last day of February, we had a gathering with Mingfa at West Coast Plaza. After that, we went to Sunsetway for desert. Weitat planned to send Jingjie home so that Jingjie could pick his car up to send Gin home to Bukit Gombak and Weitat would send me home after that. On the way, my brain was exploding for I thought I could never repay him for his kindness, although he never expected anything in return. He had no obligation to be so nice. While we were on the way, Gin “saved” me by speaking up for Weitat to just drop both of us at Clementi MRT instead of troubling both Weitat and Jingjie. It was quite overboard to make the two drivers to send us home from their “home” when we were so near the MRT station, which was still in operation.
Although I really hate travelling on the “world class” public transport, I should not have my comfort and convenience at his tiredness. Although the “affordable” and “cheap” public transport fee is ridiculous, I’m sure Weitat’s petrol fee would cost more for the double distance (to and fro). Although Singapore is such a fine country, there are sure body odor on the train. Although Singapore’s education system is known (from mainstream news) to be excellent, probably half of the people (talents) have not gone through the same school system to be gracious inside the train. I really hate taking public transport.
My gang of volleyball friends have endlessly demonstrated kindness. Drivers like Mingfa, Wilson, Tze Khit, Jingkun, Kachua and Weitat have been teaching me how good it would be to send friends home. Of course, Weitat is the extreme of all the car owners as he can make extreme detouring to give me the convenience even when public transport is still in operation. I would like to be nice and be appreciated but having a car is never for poor and average people.
Among all my models, Alessandra Wong was the first to “date” me out. It was a coffee chill up when she was near my place and followed by a street photography session for Thaipusam. If it was not her, I would not have forced myself to get up so early to capture the Thaipusam photos. Besides, I was not the kind of person who would go out alone. That was also the period of time when I kept wondering how many models were really treating me as friend instead of just using me to get them quality photos.
I troubled auntie Chwee Lian again for a photoshoot for Vanessa and Jiamin because we planned to do it at the Skybridge of Pinnacle@Duxton. Therefore, I went to borrow the access cards from her. Eventually, Vanessa was sick and thus the shoot was called off. When I went over to return the three access cards, I rang her up instead of just slipping the cards under the door. It was a good intention to meet her up to thank her personally but she was actually having her nap at around 6 plus in the evening. Needless to say, she did not get pissed off.
During Chinese New Year, My uncle and his wife invited the entire Chan family over for reunion dinner as usual. They were never stingy with all the food, drinks and snacks. The effort to organise and then clean up the mess was the key thing. I was speechless over what they had done.
She's not Interested in having Relationship at the Moment
Whenever someone tells you he or she is not interested in having relationship at the moment, you have to understand that this actually means you are not in his or her league.
Give up.
As lousy as it sounds like a common lie to brush you off, the person is, in fact, trying to sound nice to you while rejecting you. Of course, this excuse is usually used by girls. To give them the benefits of doubt, you can assume that their brains have lied to them instead.
No man is an island and few people will choose to be stay single.
In reality, once a girl has found her eye candy, she will never remember what she has told you – not interested in any relationship. It does not matter when is the last breakup date since duration to heal does not matter at all. In fact, getting into a new relationship is one of the best way to heal.
Most of the time, no matter how decent and sincere you are, and how hard you try, a girl who does not take a fancy in you in the first place will never fall for you months later. Cases of success attempts are rare and you probably should not pin any hope while wasting your time and tears. On the other hand, retaining your dignity may increase the chance for you.
You can be a gem in another person’s eyes. Let the person who truly deserves your love be the fortunate one.
Unsung Heroes
When you boast and degrade others over your contributions, you causally overlook how bits and pieces of shit are being picked up by them.
No one man can do everything while not everyone wants the limelight. Always remember the fact that no one is indispensable. Without you, life may or may not be as good, but it will still go on.
Before you sit back and walk through the past carefully, you never know you may be the cause of several major problems. Nobody is pointing fingers at you because everyone recognizes your effort and good intentions.
The next time when you try to belittle others in your team, open your eyes wide and explore how they have been doing their part to ease your life. Do not play the blaming game because it can hurt much more than what you expect.
This post is dedicated to all the unsung heroes.
03 February 2015