Monday, April 04, 2005 -

Yup....I stole that title from some Hong Kong TVB drama serial...hahaha....well..this is gonna be a nice and reflective post that is less whacky and over-the-top than my normal posts........and will effectively show that besides being completely nonsensical I really do have depth and substance...at least I think so.....well...then again maybe not.....haha

As of Saturday,2nd April.....My three years in Ngee Ann Polytechnic's Business studies course is officially at an end.....three years of studying,hardwork,projects,nonsense,mockery,impersonations,skipping lectures, copying tutorials.....haha....not sure how I feel about it yet....maybe the extent of the changes hasn't really sunk in yet....well....it'll be weird not having to worry about projects, exams,quizes, tests, roadshows or mocking people or impersonating teachers and talking crap on a daily basis with my poly friends anymore....but at the same time I've got a huge load off my shoulders and this is the first time in like a year that I can actually have a good rest.......so its good but it ain't that good or its bad but it ain't that bad....hahahha...whichever...I'm giving myself a headache...haha

So first of all my final exams in Poly is finally over with...no more exams....zero,nadda,zilch,finito.....2 weeks of non-stop extensive studying is no joking matter man....staying at home everyday,11 hours of studying a day for 14 entire days.....its mentally and physically tiring.....takes alot out of me every time without fail........but you know I guess its only fair that I have to work so damn hard because on normal days I skipped one helluva lot of lectures...so I think of it as payback.....hahaha........dammit I wish I was some smart-ass, Straight "A's" whiz kid who can score super high marks with only minimal studying..cos I don't seem to be half as smart as people think I am....I have to do like 4 complete revisions for each subject before I can really remember everything clearly!!!! 4 freaking revisions....hahaha....not only am I not particularly smart I also take a long ass time to absorb ..hahhaa....so I just have to study and study and study until finally something sticks with me....its a hellish and super-meticulous way to study......but it does gets results I guess....

The final four exam papers were a mixed bag man.....International marketing and Buyer's Behaviour were terrible, Retail management was pretty okay and SMM was a freaking God's send...hahahaha.......freaking perfect paper..it's the kind of paper that will reward you if you really did study...excellent..hahaha.....the rest were not that good lar....wah lau...it really effing ticks me off when you studied like hell...some factors still prevent you from doing as well as you want to....like having not enough time to complete your answers or having to answer completely nonsensical questions that we can't answer even answer even if we read and devoured a whole textbook..(yes.. Hi Jonas.....I'm talking about you and your effing BB exam paper!!)....haiz but it's over..........so once again....mixed feelings..hahaha.....I think i ain't gonna do that bad...but ain't gonna do too well either...for certain papers.....yup...this mixed feelings thing is becoming an effing trend for me.....hhhaha

Well...next I would like to give myself a nice albeit delayed Pat on the back because the seeds of my labor has finally bore fruit....ya see during my attachment at F&N Coca-Cola, I was assigned by my manager in charge to design the Planagoram for the entire drinks section of Giant in Bedok, which was then a few months away from opening...and basically what the planogram is, is a visual map of the entire drinks section where I would decide stuff like the product mix on each shelf, the amount of shelf space for each type of drink and the classification of the various product categories for every single shelf in the drinks section based on first hand market research data(in %) on the most popular brand of drinks in the Singapore market.....and this would prove to be a major, time consuming assignment because there are like 3 aisles dedicated to the drinks section and there are like 8 gondolas in each aisle and there are 5 shelves on each gondola...so it was a heckuva lot of work....two almost 3 weeks of my time, I was sent to each of the four major Giant Branches in Turf City, IMM, Parkway and some other obscure place I forgot to take pictures of the drinks section, gondola by gondola, shelf by shelf......took like a total of 90 over picture and then i composited and arranged them in the actual sequential oder that they were arranged in at the Giant Outlets and based on this photographs and the market research data I determined the product mix and shelf space allocation..etc....layed out everything in pencil drawings, got them approved by the manager and did the final layouts in Microsoft excel.......3 weeks of hardwork...but I guess it paid off......I've been to Giant Bedok recently and the drinks section is pretty much the way I designed it.....nice to see the fruits of my labor...so....Well Done Barry!!...yup......haiz... getting mixed feelings again...cos I'm beginning to refer to myself in the third person now....haha......hmmm..Barry scared!!!

Anyways, Now I got to start making plans for what I'm going to do for the holidays and think about What in the world I wanna do after two years in camp.......haiz... I think I,like many of my fellow contemporaries and peers have tunnel vision.....we just focus on the immediate things like passing our exams or who are we gonna date...rather then looking at the big picture like what future goals or directions we wanna pursue.......chiar lat siar....some people have like everything planned out, where they wanna study,what job they want, what country they want to work at or migrate to and what kind of lifestyle they want to pursue,when they want to start a family,etc.......EVERYTHING for like the next 10 years barring unforeseen circumstances......Me?? I got like no immediate goals other than passing my exams and getting my diploma..and watching Sin City...hahhaha...kinda pathetic siar now that I think of it......because without any direction or goal to work towards to...you'll be like a blind person...moving around and trying to find your way in the dark.....now I know how Ray Charles feels......cos like him, I can't see SHIT!!!...hahaha.....gotta try to force myself to think of what I wanna do siar .....or I'm gonna end up like the million of other corporate wage slaves,who lead their mundane lives, eat their stupid packed lunches and do the same reptitive thing over and over again for the rest of their life until they retire or konk off......damn....and I better start soon...My Spider-sense is tingling!!!!

I had a interesting phone conversation with my old sec school buddy, Sakthi Ganapathi ( Try repeating that for another ten times and twice as fast!!..Damn banglas and their tongue-twisting names...)....so anyways he is doing well, he's in the commandos unit and he will be going overseas in abt 6 months time for further studies and basically this guy is like the indian version of me lar...laid-back,chin chai and kind...yes....that's not a typo...KIND..Haha...but the only difference is he has his whole future worked out man.....like to the tiny details.....a snippet of our conversation went something like this:

Sakthi:" Hey chinese.....haven't been seeing you for a while....how are things? Just Wanna meet up with you before my mission to Brunei and going to Australia ."

Me:" Australia?? Why you go Australia...go back India lar Bangla....construction workers don't need a University degree in cementing mixing and brick laying...haha...the army is sending you for your studies on their dime or what?"

Sakthi: " Yar....I am allowed to go for my University studies after the end of this year...but during the holidays for each school term I will have to return to Singapore and serve out my remaining time there....I've already send in my applications and stauff and everything is done."

Me: " Oh ok....how long will you be studying there?"

Sakthi: " I'll be studying there for 2 years, coming back during the holidays to serve out my army term and I'm going to be staying there for the next 2 years after that at least, wanna get an IT related Job, maybe as a website designer or what....and my family might be planning to migrate to Australia to join me once everything is settled down or I might go back to Singapore after 2 years of working experience planning to stay in Singapore and maybe I'll start thinking about settling down by then....what about you bro??"

Me: " me?...well...basically my goals are....(Long,undramatic and clueless pause)..........well...for the short term..I wanna finish watching My Batman Animated DVD boxed set and my Incredibles DVD's special features and my long term golas involve watching ....Sin City, Batman Begins and Star Wars Revenge of the Sith and maybe Fantastic four......and that's about it...have to start making Long term plans and goals again after watching Star wars..hahha"

Sakthi: " * Kanina lar Chinese...you're still the same....talking crap all the way like we did back in sec school..hahah...aye dun joke lar monkey....what you wanna do in the future man?"

**Me:" ........I......I...well.........Aye Tambhi!!...damn lar... I still gotta revise for my exams.....you cutting into my study time lar....I'll catch up with you again....meet up wif you before your trip...good luck dude."

* (Yup your eyes did not deceive you....that Bangla can curse and swear in Hokkien and ...well chinese,malay and tamil too.)

** (Yup....your eyes did not deceive you again...that was me weaseling my way out of the conversation..ahhahah)

Well I think I think its good to have long term goals like him, gives you direction and stuff...on the other hand I also think that time is transient and change is a constant ...so it is better not to think to far ahead since unforeseen circumstances and other situational factors happen on a regular basis and will just knock everything out of whack...for the time being I think I'm just gonna enjoy while I can lar...at least for the next few months....not gonna find work probably because well...I still have a whole freaking lifetime left to work once I get out of university or what in the future....so I'm gonna enjoy myself,indulge myself and pamper myelf for wat precious little time I have left....before i get shaved bald and sent into camp......and no.....it isn't what you think....My parents are not sending me into some jewish concentration camp to be gassed to death for messing up the house up during my study week.....hahha...although I think they were tempted to yesterday when I raided the house for a midnight snack....and ate this can of New Moon "Buddha Jump Over the Wall" soup that they bought for somebody...who apparently wasn't me...hahah

Well...which brings me full circle....Poly life has ended and another stage of life is beginning....exciting new possibilities and uncertain times ahead.....both looking forward and dreading it.....yup..* this is the part where I insert the "I have mixed feelings" line*......but I'm gonna defy your expectations by not doing so...haha....I'm gonna miss the time I spent in poly, its probably gonna be one of the last time we can have such a long term,care-free extended period of constant mockery and impersonations before the working life....

I'm going to miss all the ...mon..err....teachers that I have had the honor to be taught by during this three years....Florence and her wicked witch nails and voice, Alphonsus and his stupid Bowl cut, Sonny and his 90 degrees (Or as dear ol' Sonny would have said nine Jiroh degrees) hand actions and his constant finger smelling, Mr Kay and the way he pronounce "Germaaaaaine", Elaine Cheng and her completely pissed off look everytime felix tells her a cold joke, Ng Lai Soon and his fetish for Mcdonald's Coca-cola, Rosa Koh and her naiveness for believeing that Felix really had a toothache, Lucy Tan and her schizoprenic split personality, Roy for his wonderful comb-over and irish accent, Bernard Randall and his.....his...height, Mr See Khay soh and his unopened eyes, Miss Marie Aria and her rose tatoo and her pronounciation of "Gay Thai", Miss Wong and her crazy mood swings, Koh Poh Tee and her school girl bag and saggy,non-existent....er....nvm,Goh Siao Meng and his stuffed-crust pizza lips, Robert Yow and his cool mouth action, Koh cheng Mum and her black face and Chow Yun Fatt impersonations with her jacket slinged over her shoulders, Ng Mun Kiong and his ridiculous sales calls, Miss Tan and her uncanny resemblance to Miss wong, Gilbert and his constant nipple scratching and crotch-staring( his own!!), Wong Fook Sun for looking like Baloo in Jungle book and his obsession with Mustafa, Miss Ng and her super hyper activeness, Mr Yik and his guidance and his super 360 degrees techno dance hands, Jonas and...er.....he din do shit for anybody....sooo...moving on....

Yeah and I'm also Gonna miss all my Poly friends...but that one is not so bad...cos we still meet up quite regularly for our usual hours long crapping sessions......oh yeah and I'm also gonna miss supporting characters in Ngee ann Ploytechnic like Buck Tooth Man and his.....well...Buck teeth!!, Pong Pong Aunty and her food confiscating ways, Sharpie Brow and here super bushy, muff-like brows, William Hung Lookalike and his well....face and my favorite character to date Ah Yong!!!!....without her the world would be a brighter place....filled with lesser fat jokes and double-chin shaking......I thank her for enriching my life by simply existing......she's brought TONS of Joy to Me,felix,Liang Jie, Huiling, Candy and the rest.... and It is with a HEAVY heart that I bid her goodbye.....may you and Willy finally be Free!!!*

And.......c'mon!...You did'nt really think I would forget about Poop Face did you..........ahhahahaa.......c'mon...I've been talking about that beeyotch from day 1 in my blog....you din really think I will stop now ..did you?? As for her.........err.....damn...let's be nice for once....let's just say that some people you miss and some people you just wanna thank God for being rid of them.......but all religions teach us to be more forgiving, to forgive and forget and so the next time I see her...I will show her a sign of my forgiveness.......what sign you say? Its called The Finger!!!!hahahhaha...

Well that's it for now......but who knows I might update this blog in the future on a more semi-regular basis since I have more free time now.....what can I say.. stranger shit have happened...hahaha...like SY becoming vegetarian...hey wait a minute that did happen!!haha

11:47 PM