Saturday, April 21, 2007 | 9:17 PM

I finished watching Nobuta wo produce last night! Apart from the headiness from watching so much of Kame and Yamapi, there is also this quiet resonance with many of the lessons and themes presented in the drama.

I quite enjoy the show's way of presenting all these to us, through Shuji's many inflections, and the disclosures from its other characters as well.

There is one theme which stood out in the drama throughout my viewing yesterday, probably because of its coincidental timing with the Virginia Tech University massacre.

Which is the imapct of people, whether intentional or not, have on each other.

It is so easy to be willful and be mean to people whom you dont like. Like how Bando can just walk up to Nobuta and pull her hair or just say mean things to her. You don't have to be responsible for that mean act. You can easily explain away the negative impact of your actions by saying that this is just one out of the few hundreds of the human interactions the victim would have throughout the day, so why would it matter.

But haven't we learn, throughout our lives, that the quality of the interaction is just as important as the quanity? Little things, such as poking fun of someone's appearance, whether intentional or not, once a day, adds up. Major quarrels, even if it takes place once throughout two person's friendship, is suffice to change things.

Everyone is a piggy bank, differently shaped and sized. For one negative interaction, you put in a coin in them. Some coins are of bigger values, some not that much. But eventually all the coins add up.

In the case of Nobuta, she was shutting herself from the outside world so as to reduce the numbers of coins trickling in. I wouldn't say that she has a huge capacity of tolerance for negative interactions. If not for Shuji and Akira, who in a way saved her, this piggy bank would most probably have cracked and spilled all the coins, just like the student in Virginia Tech did.

And in his case, this doesnt tell us about the capacity of this student's tolerance for people's negative behaviour towards him. But it does show that all of the coins add up to the extent that he couldnt bear it anymore, and he reacted.

All this brings to mind, how does one measure one's impact on another person? I am not sure if one can actually do that actually. And I am very much underqualified to comment on it anyway.

But I think my interpretation of people as piggy banks is flawed.

If we assume that people are indeed piggy banks, doesnt this mean that you can take a coin out of your own piggy bank, and put it into someone else's?

Maybe it is not flawed.




But maybe we humans are.

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Sunday, April 15, 2007 | 7:50 AM

Went down to NTU on Sat for the test and interview. I was secretly grumbling about the written test that I would have to do as I stuffed my pencil, pens and an eraser grudgingly into my bag earlier in the morning, but to my surprise, it turned out to be a computerized test comprising of 10 MCQs and a passage which you have to do a summary and answer a question on. *embarassed look*

It was a pleasant surprise to see Sharon and Mei See. Sharon was from Sec 4-3 back in Andss while Mei See was the chairman of Sec 4-2. Haha, Sharon came up and said hi first while everyone was waiting to go into the computer lab and it was only in the lab did I spot Mei See =)

So in between waiting for our interviews to start after the test, the three of us hung around and basically swapped stories of our working experiences. (And Sharon, if you ever see this, I just wana thank you properly for your muffin as well. =D ) Coincidentally, her interview time slot was just right after mine, at the same venue. Wheras Mei See's was at the same time as Sharon's but at a separate venue so that basically spared the three of us the agony of seeing each other go into the rooms and to our hell.

Anyway, I am currently in love with Kamenashi Kazuya (from KATTUN) and is hence re-watching Gokusen 2, which is the second season of the show YJ is currently watching. The only people whose roles continued into the second season, on top of Yankumi and her family, was Kuma. I havent watch the first season yet, but omg, Season 2 is loveee! Kame is so absolutely hot!! YJ, you gotta watch Season 2 as well!! Haha, on top of Kame, there is Akanishi Jin from KATTUN as well X) Nobuta wo produce is another great show to watch as well, starring Kame and Yamapi from NEWS!~

Okay, I oughta stop sprouting things like this. *smacks head*

Anyway, I have been feeling this excitement for life. This zest and I suppose, optimism which gives me a natural high. I guess this probably means I have gotten over the state of my results and the soul-sucking working environment I am in.

Goodness, I gotta be kidding myself. Either that or I gotta start watching my sugar intake.

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Thursday, April 12, 2007 | 8:52 AM

What an overwhelming day.

First, the two new male colleagues started work today. But despite these two who interned at the Medical department for 3 mths are way overrated in their sales and service abilities. It is like, you have sales training for 3 mths and you are floundering like a flopped tuna in the showroom? Oh come on, toughen up a bit, Mummy-is-a-big-shot-on-the-Med-dept-and-thats-how-i-got-my-internship boy. At least your friend who tagged along didnt pack the coffeemaker upside down, very much visible in the cheapo plastic bag.

If that shithead still looks bored/disinterested/too high and mighty to attend to the customers/cant get his pathetic head together, I am gona blast his head off in front of the first customer he serevs tomorrow. Fucking A.

And as for tomorrow, a new female (aged 24) colleague (who dresses in hot miniskirts and wears cute hairbands) will be starting work as well. She will be selling solely... breastpumps, (in 2 different sizes and motors), nipplepads, botttlewarmers (with car adapter and comes in 2 different capacities), baby food storage containers, baby humidfiers, whatever you have it for new Mums and babies. Oh my goodness, when the stock for those stuff arrived, branded in embarassingly large sized fonts, none of my male, actually the female colleagues as well, dared venture within 1 metre of the goods.

More interestingly enough, she has no prior sales experience nor knowledge of those products as well. Basically, she is gona start work tomorrow based on whatever she has memorised from the 5 stacks of product brochures she was given and the 3 hrs product refresher course she attended.

Who says work cant be fun?

On a serious note, I received a sms and a letter from NTU today, from its School of Communications and Information. I have a test and interview to attend on Sat and I will have to bring along a portfolio that showcases my other creative abilities eg. art designs or school newsletters articles. Today is a Thursday. And I like bloody doomed or what?

Now excuse me while I take my running start for my sprint towards the wall.

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Friday, April 06, 2007 | 5:45 AM

Just bear with me.

mk is for.. mk

but,

km is for KaMe!!

Okay, I am done. I am sure those who have been witness to my new acts of craziness or mental unstabilty should know what I am talking about. And those who don't, are wisely better off not knowing.

But oh my goodness, he is really cute! And he dances so well, and has a great voice =D Oh, and he looks hot in specs! He is the one main reason why I am currently obsessed with male hairstyles and fashion. Kame, Kame, Kame~

*km smacks mk on the head*

Er-hem. And now for a proper update on what I have been up to for the past few weeks. Basically, I finally submitted my applications for the universities, got pissed off by my customers, met up with Bee for coffee, got pissed off by more customers,dropped by the NY mural painting event, attended an outing with around 13 05s6ayers, became a mis-adventurer, and met up with the majority of the Andss gang today. =)

This sudden burst of social activity made me realise a couple of things about myself.

All along I had this nagging thought at the back of mind that there is a mk somewhere inside me who is very much comfortable with her own company. I have learnt to enjoy taking lone bus rides, to study on my own, to visit libraries by myself. It is like having a lot of freedom to just go ahead and do whatever you like, without having to take anyone else into consideration. I can go get a cup of coffee on the spur if I want to, or just wander into an arcade after work to play Time Crisis, or lop off to the library. Of course this has a lot to do with the ease of travelling to these places and that these activities are sometimes meant to be accomplished by oneself, but on top of that, I suppose there is this certain romanticsm to doing these activities all alone.

This is maybe why, I am very much of a passive socialite. You know, usually, you have to initiate something like a meet up. It is only with certain people that I become the active one. But really, I am not very cut out for this kind of thing. And I know my 9am - 8pm job is not helping either.

And yet when I am around friends, I behave rather differently. Or in the very least, the thoughts inside my head are kinda different. I suppose spending time with other people, and more importantly, people whom I know, and know me as well, is a welcome deviation from spending time with me myself.

These people bring out different parts of me by interaction and I am thankful to know that there are some many different sides of me still existing. I am quite afraid to find out that these sides of me would die upon the graduation from NY.

But actually, many a times, I dont think you lose that camaderie or that ease of banter with your friends, even if you grow up and drift away. You see people meeting up and just carrying on from where they left off in their school years, laughing and chatting, just like yesterday. But I think one to have a certain amount of faith, in that friendship, to be able continue or re-develop the friendship with such ease. And I do want to have this faith in the friendships that I have cultivated.

I think I have a lot to be thankful for this lifetime. I have met a lot of different people, whose character and actions have influenced and shaped me. Whose existence has led to me having a better glimpse of who I am.

Thank you for being my friend.

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