Referencing my last post, the cards have fallen, and they didn't fall the way i wanted. to cut to the chase, the company has decided not to continue on with me, which is a nicer way of saying that they decided to let me go. so, yeah. i must say, i'm impressed that they demonstrated the same efficiency in the exit process as the hiring process. it was all over in...under an hour? i suppose that's deliberate and even specially planned; get everything over and done with with minimal disruption to daily operations.

let's pause to take stock of my emotions. i'd be lying if i said i felt any degree of happiness about this whole thing. it's never a good feeling to be told that you're lacking in some aspect, or that you may not be good enough for the job. i'm still trying to place certain emotions. there's disbelief, resignation, a slight bit of relief, some bitterness. referencing it to the 6 stages of grief, there wasn't much shock or denial. no anger. tried some bargaining, and i think i'm half-and-half in terms of depression and acceptance. like, i'm sad, but not downright depressed/emo about it. of course i've accepted it by now, although like i said earlier, there's still some disbelief. i think it'll take a day or two to fully process everything.

i believe that everything happens for a reason. well, everything that isn't literally life or death; it would be quite hollow to tell yourself that if you'd just got a terminal cancer diagnosis...but touch wood. in the grand scheme of things, this is probably just a setback. there are many other opportunities available, and even within the IP industry, there are still many other companies, or even other tracks. perhaps it might be a good thing - facing setbacks builds resilience, right? and somehow, i did get the feeling that i might have bitten off more than i could chew in diving headfirst into an industry where about 85% is foreign in relation to what i've been doing for the past 9 years.

despite the general depressing tone that today's taken, there are still things to be grateful for. i am grateful for the exposure to the IP industry, and for having been able to get a taste for what it entails. i am grateful for the experience of working under bosses with high expectations, and different styles from my own. it really is a wonderful training ground...if you can survive. i am grateful for supportive colleagues, who made work more fun. i am grateful that things ended cordially, and that new boss was kind throughout the entire process.

as a wise teacher once said (and probably continues to say, even today), life goes on. i do have some plans already regarding a next possible job, but first, i think i'll take the nice HR lady's advice and take a short break. nothing too ridiculous, just maybe until after national day. can use this time to do some chores, run some errands, and catch up on sleep. i will say, though, the one thing i won't miss is the morning rush hour. yes, i know that i'll probably have to face it again eventually, but let me find some positives in this whole thing. should probably start sending out job applications again within the week. at present, i have a potential IP related job in mind. if that doesn't work out, maybe i'll go back to two-day weekends at the learning lab while taking plan get fit way more seriously. i realize that another drawback of genesis (aside from the cost) is that it doesn't open in the afternoon, whereas virgin active does. this should give me more flexibility. of course, there's still plan japan as an alternative. maybe this is a sign that plan japan is something i should pursue? i've been thinking - if i ever get a chance to address a large audience, say at commencement or something, one thing i will say to the audience is "if you are looking for a sign, this is it". maybe it will help someone to make a decision, like to chase their dream...or to commit a crime.

that's about it for now, i guess. i'm also grateful that some of my (now ex-)colleagues texted to check in. the "eviction", if you will, happened during lunchtime, so most people were out. oh! i do feel sad that i won't get to see the other team's principal around any more. i really like interacting with him in general. still not going to reveal the codename, because it's still awkward, especially if i continue in the IP industry. i do regret not getting to say my farewells to him, and some of the colleagues to whom i'm closer. oh well. it's time to rely on my stock phrase (from final fantasy) for depressing occasions - a smile better suits a hero. that's based on the premise that i'm a hero, of course. but then, if i'm not the hero of my own story, who is?

-random thought of the day: Things will work out.-

Emotional responses are the most honest responses to a negative situation. but that's not to say that they're the best responses in those situations. hmm - guess honesty isn't always the best policy. the reason this thought came to mind was because i found myself wanting to respond emotionally to a non-ideal situation recently, but thankfully i caught myself in time and remained level-headed. stupid as it sounds, the issue has to do with raiding in final fantasy again. as you may recall, i was raiding with some members of my previous guild. we didn't really complete the last raid tier, and i'd thought that we'd be raiding again once the new tier came out with the latest expansion. i was told yesterday that the team was full. it's either because some old members came back, or some new guild members expressed interest to raid. maybe both. the sucky thing was, i wasn't given a chance to indicate my interest, or lack thereof. it kind of sucks to know that someone else took your place, especially when they so-called ditched the team when the content got stale. but then again, was it ever really "my" place, or was i just a stand-in? hard to say. my first instinct was to ask why, and to express my dissatisfaction/indignance/anger...but i stopped myself before any of that. what's the point? it's not as if that would make a difference, and it would in fact make matters worse. so i just thanked the person who told me, and told him that i wasn't too surprised. in a way, i did sort of see it coming...the others had levelled and geared up much faster, and were doing some of the endgame content together while i was still progressing through the story. not to mention my lacklustre damage output while raiding with them. well...at the end of the day, it's no big loss. it's just a game, and i'm not really close with anyone from the guild, anyway. i think i've got to try branching out more. got a potential lead from nuswhispers, of all places. not sure how high their expectations will be for raid content, but i figure that there's no harm in asking. from a more objective point of view, i'm also not sure if i can commit to a regular raid group, with fixed raid days and times. given that work has entered the picture, the nights where i feel up to long hours of intense gaming are bound to be less frequent and less regular. perhaps having some flexibility in when i raid is good. plus, having done the "normal mode" versions of the raids, i have a feeling that i might not enjoy this tier all that much. reason is, there are stages where you can die by falling off the arena. seems like the developers are moving towards that trend. not that big of a fan. to their credit, the bosses were designed really well this time, both in looks and mechanics. some of the mechanics are counterintuitive to what we've been doing so far, but i guess that it promotes learning and making new connections in the brain.

commencement's over, and i'm happy that i went. my professor either volunteered or got arrowed to present the PhD candidates. i felt (and still feel) extremely fortunate, because out of the maybe 350 students there, i was only one out of 2 or 3 who was presented by their own supervisor. it was definitely a nice bonus, and that alone made the whole day worth it. i still don't get the parking policy at UCC, though. they reserved the 30 or so lots closest to the stairs for award winners. that's fine, additional privilege. but when the ceremony is about to start, and like 80% of the lots are still empty, why can't the parking wardens just let other guests use those lots? the worst thing was, they blocked off the white (visitor's) lots, but not the red (reserved) lots. and as fearful singaporeans, we would naturally be disinclined to park in the red lots when there are seemingly empty and usable white lots available. in the end, i had to park in a red lot, but only after i got their word that i would not be penalized for doing so. will probably drop the commencement people some feedback, provided that there's an opportunity to do so. you know, with this ceremony, the last of the chemistry guys (another 2 friends and myself) are out of NUS. one of those friends is staying on in his scientific officer role, so that's a little different. seems like it's the end of an era, somehow. not that we were like the cool kids on the block or anything. in fact, i think we were pretty low-profile. but we made great memories while we were there, for sure. come to think of it, i enjoyed my time in NUS. probably more so in undergrad than grad school, but it was still overall positive. if i could change things about my 9.5(!) years in NUS, i think i'd go for: exercise more, start dating sooner, come out to friends earlier, maybe not do grad studies. oh. and not inviting someone for commencement. to be fair, though, i didn't invite that person. i didn't have much of a choice.

i've been doing some reflection on jedi master's advice to me - to confront my traumas and sort them out in order to find strength. i've been examining the traumatic event that i shared with him, and i think there's something that i may need to talk to a professional about. i'm no therapist, but as a scientist, i think i'm capable of deducing cause-effect relationships. i'm seeing that this trauma has led to some issues forming, and i think that i should get them sorted out soon-ish. downside is how expensive counselling is! the market rate seems to be upwards of $150 per hour to hour and a half, which is insane! i don't think even the principals in the firm receive that much for each hour of their work. well...maybe i should start asking for recommendations.

and since the topic of work came up, i'm surviving decent-ishly. these past 3 weeks have been challenging, but fun. to simplify things, let's call my mentor "old boss" and the principal "new boss". in terms of hierarchy, i'm still under old boss, and thus only indirectly under new boss. old boss is still giving me work, but it's routine stuff like filings and exams...things that i have more experience in. new boss is giving me more substantive work, like a drafting case. so far, i've cleared files with new boss once, and spoke to her about thrice. she doesn't give me anxiety, which is nice. i think that she's more patient because she has kids, so the maternal instinct is stronger? that's not to say that people without children are incapable of patience, by the way. old boss doesn't have kids at the moment, and i don't really want to know her plans in that regard. the professional distance has kind of made any social connection between old boss and me impossible, and i'm fine with that. with my mid-probation review coming up next monday, i hope that there will be some good news. i understand that one of the more senior trainees tendered their resignation a while ago, and their last day of work is around end-august? it means that the cases that she's handling now will get distributed to the remaining trainees. while it is tempting to think of this as job security, and to imagine that they would rather keep me on board than spend more time to train someone from scratch, that's a very dangerous thought. i recall talking to the other team's principal a few weeks back at friday drinks. he said that nobody is indispensable, not even himself. so, how should this news affect me, then? short answer: it shouldn't. just do the work i'm assigned to the best of my ability, and let the cards fall where they may.

weekend is here! planning to do as much R&R as i can tomorrow, because i have 3 cover classes on sunday. have to get the marking done during lunch and when the kids are doing work. will be more taxing than usual, but i'll survive.

-random thought of the day: Let's hope next week goes smoothly.-

Just woke up from a...not exactly a nightmare, but a bad dream. In the dream, I was attending the first day of a new term in JC, but the classroom was a classroom from my primary school. The dream took a bad turn when the first two periods were double maths. Funny thing was that my econs teacher was teaching the first period together with a random guy teacher. And, true to form, I didn't do the homework that they were going through in class. I even told my teacher "I didn't expect you to go through it today". There was something about permutations and combinations, which my econs teacher explained using the example of grouping students from different schools into classes in her tuition centre. The guy teacher tried to explain some answer using the commutative property of multiplication, ie. x times y is the same as y times x. Is that the correct term? I don't even know. Quick check on Wikipedia says it's the right term. I'm shocked!

The second period of maths was taken by my regular maths teacher. Apparently, she'd assigned homework too, and I didn't do it either. I remember her saying something like "A-levels are coming soon! You need to work harder!" To which I was thinking 'but I already have a PhD, why am I worrying about A-levels?' So there was some self-awareness in the dream. In fact, I also remember thinking that most of my classmates there already had university degrees, and questioning why we were even attending JC. So, when the teacher asked who was not going to take the exam, I was the first one to opt out. I do remember thinking that it would be nice to have another certification under the new syllabus, but ultimately realized that my grades would be worse than what I'd already got.

There was another funny conversation, where the teacher asked one of my classmates how he thinks he'll do for the exam. My classmate replied "Oh, probably Bishan standard" and further defined that to be an A. I guess it was because he was a raffles boy. Funny thing is I've never used that term, or heard it being used by anyone before.

It's rare that I remember my dreams in such detail, and for such a relatively long time after waking up. Still, it's not very deep content. That will hopefully come tonight. I want to talk about responding to bad news.

Part 2! it's been a while since i've done a two-part post, hasn't it? actually, it's been a while since i've even posted, but you know what i mean. my goal is to finish this post within an hour, then play some final fantasy before having an early night. knowing my propensity to drag out both blogging and final fantasy...we'll see how successful i am later.

going to start with commencement, because it's one of the shorter topics, and links into work later. having been conferred my degree this year, i'm eligible to go for commencement. it'll be my second time attending commencement as a participant in NUS, so there's not much novelty factor. i mean, i've seen it before, right? for the longest time, i was actually in two minds about going, for a number of reasons. first, the other chemistry guys have had their commencements already in previous years, and i'll be the only one from the group going this year. that's still ok, i guess. i mean, my professor will be there, so that's one highlight. i just feel that i don't really have anyone to share this occasion with, and so going seems a bit pointless. i'm sure that if i invited some of the old boys, they'd attend just to show me support, but it feels like imposing on their time. i suppose getting to wear the nice gown with green trim is a perk, and i kind of want to look for a vendor to get my degree etched in metal. the most important reason i can find to not go is actually economical - renting the gown for those 2-ish hours costs like $80 or so, and because the ceremony for chemistry is at 10:00am this year, it means that i'll have to take a full day's leave (unpaid, because probation) to attend it, instead of half-day or even going after work, as some of the other timeslots will allow. i must say, though, i have been quite unsuccessful at finding reasons not to go. first, i was locked out of my NUS account because i couldn't remember the correct password. that made me miss the registration deadline, by the way. so, i called NUS IT care, who reset the password manually for me. then, i called the commencement people, and they told me to just write in and they would register me manually. i didn't write in, because i was still considering whether to go or not. then on the other hand, because i was still considering, i didn't make any solid arrangements to get fitted for the attire. all i did was to give approximate measurements, and set an appointment to go for a fitting. seeing as i hadn't reset my account password at that time, i put that appointment off. thirdly, i didn't ask for leave from the company because it was end-of-month billing, and everyone was busy.

you'd think that with so many things going wrong, it would be impossible for me to actually make plans to attend commencement, right!? that's where you'd be wrong. here's how events unfolded. it was an SMS that kicked things off. i think someone in NUS got worried, and just registered everyone who didn't clearly say that they weren't attending commencement. so i got an SMS notification about my seat, and i took that as a sign that since they were going to let me attend, i might as well go. the next thing i did was to clear leave with the company. i asked the principal in charge of me, and she agreed just like that. with all that settled, i tried to log on to the outfitter's website to order my graduation attire. by then (yesterday), it was too late to do online orders, and the website didn't have an option to let me confirm my order. so, i called the shop itself, and they told me to go down to UCC on the day itself to get fitted. they recommended going early, too. i asked if i could collect the attire at UCC the night before, or even a few days in advance. they told me "no problem". so, the plan is to head down to UCC tomorrow for fitting and rental, since i'll be in office attire anyway. it's amazing. the only possible way i can be unsuccessful in going for commencement is if i just didn't go on the day. it would be a waste, though, considering how amazingly everything has fallen into place with minimal effort on my part.

the other reason i was putting off asking for leave is because things haven't been going smoothly for me at work. my mentor and i had a talk this past monday, and she was quite honest in telling me that she thinks i won't make probation. i mean, she's the one who decides whether i pass or fail, so her opinion definitely counts. she feels that i don't have an eye for detail, and give her work with too many errors. unfortunately, i can't deny that. the only defence i have is that i'm still learning, and the skill set i'm required to pick up here is vastly different from research. i do believe that i can become good at something, given adequate time. my definition of "adequate" differs from my mentor's, that's all. as someone who's part of this story, i cannot objectively say who's right or wrong. i've been told that my mentor has a reputation for being strict in terms of her expectations regarding quality of work. it's actually really good if a trainee can learn and adopt her working style. but for me...i guess my criteria is that things to be generally ok. "generally" definitely isn't good enough for her.

so, what happened is that she told me that i would be receiving files from our principal instead, which i have been doing for the past week. as bad as it is for me to say this next thing, i honestly felt relief upon hearing that. don't get me wrong, my mentor is nice enough, and she has taught me most things that i need to know at my stage of progress in this line of work. without trivializing the situations of people genuinely afflicted with mental conditions, i've realized that i was experiencing a kind of anxiety when i had to review files with my mentor. it got to the point what as she picked up the pen to go over the work, i'd start feeling my heart beat faster and harder in my chest. that's not good, i think. maybe that will help you understand why i felt relief when taking files from a different person. oddly, my mentor still sent me work on thursday and friday. i'd thought that the arrangement meant that she'd no longer assign me anything. well, i don't mind that much. originally, my mid-point review was supposed to be tomorrow, but in light of this development, it got pushed back 2 weeks. not necessarily a bad thing, i think.

i shared this series of events with a few people, both in and out of work. my colleagues just told me to hang in there. i mean, they'd know the situation, seeing as we're doing pretty much the same thing. chemical engineer cousin is actually closer to the "boss/mentor" role in terms of her career, so her advice came from that perspective. she said that this issue could probably be solved by each party making adjustments to accommodate the other. i kind of see how that might work. after all, each principal in the office has a different way of doing things, and different people will disagree on which way is better. but as long as a chosen way achieves the desired result, ie. getting a patent granted, i think it can be considered as valid. given my status in the company, i don't think that i have the bargaining power to ask for my mentor to change her style. but i suppose i could bring it up as feedback.

the old boys with whom i've shared this were appropriately sympathetic. they related some of their life experiences to me, and also told me to just take it as a learning experience and try to improve. that's what i'm trying to do, only thing is i don't know if i'll have enough time to do it. my mentor figure asked if i felt that i was suited for the job, and/or if i could see myself doing this long-term. at this point, just a day shy of being 3 months in, my answer is still "yes". he told me to take things as they come. to be very objective, failing probation won't be the end of the world. it's a setback, at most. it's probably going to sound bad, but i've taken to occasionally browsing the crime pages in the local news. failing probation is nothing compared to getting a jail term, or the death penalty. i suppose that i should be happy that i'm still able to move freely without having people restrict my freedom excessively. i guess all i can do now is just do my best, and see how the cards fall.

instead of talking about final fantasy today, i've decided that i'd rather be playing final fantasy. so i'll save that for a future post. the key message: too much of a good thing isn't good. for now, i'm going to make the most of my remaining free time.

-random thought of the day: Have hope.-

For the first time in about 3 weeks, i had a full day of rest. by "rest", i mean not having any obligations at all, be they work or social. ok, so i did go for the old boys' thing, but that was by choice. apart from that, i just spent yesterday playing final fantasy, and getting a few items crossed off my to-do list. one of those items was supposed to be blogging, but i got a little too caught up in the game's storyline. given the long-ish period of inactivity here, there's naturally quite a few things to update you all about.

actually, most of the activity centred on the last weekend of june. there were like 3 events in those 2 days alone, apart from the usual tuition work. the first event was my niece's birthday party. she's one! so much has happened since her birth. the party itself was nice, smaller in scale than her 100-day celebration. i think it's good. it felt more cozy, and i think the hosts had more time to properly interact with everyone. i was really impressed with/by a toy car that my cousin's father-in-law got for her. i don't mean hot wheels kind of toy car, though. more like a car that's big enough for a child to sit in, and drive. literally drive; it's battery-powered and all. it even has custom license plates, and a USB port to play music from a phone! insane. i do remember having a similar car back as a kid, but i think there was something wrong with the battery connections, because i don't remember being able to drive it, or having driven it in that sense. to give you an idea of how different the times are, my niece's car is powered by rechargeable lithium ion batteries. the car from my childhood required 6 or 12 D-size batteries (i remember we used eveready batteries, the one with the black cat jumping through something). anyway, it was nice to see my cousin and his family again. goodness knows i don't see them enough, especially after starting work. also had a quick chat with my aunt, who i haven't seen in months. definitely was good to catch up. the party ended at about 2:30pm-ish, but i went up to my cousin's place with a few of his friends to hang out for another couple of hours. did i mention that my cousin's best friend is dating my junior from judo in CJC? granted, i'd already left the school when she joined, so i didn't know her at that time. i quite like the couple, they're easygoing and nice to talk to. more on them later.

the next event was pinkdot, in the evening on that same day. i had planned to go back to shower and change clothes first, but staying a little too long at my cousin's place meant that i had to do down direct. no biggie, though. this year is the 11th year of pinkdot, and i think that it's been growing steadily in scale since the inaugural event in 2008. we didn't spend too long down at hong lim park itself; i just went in to meet friends who were already in there, get my headcount counted, and to explore the community booths a little. i also bumped into an old army friend there! pretty sure he's straight, so i was happy that he came down to support the event. then, the friends and i went up to a nearby hotel, where the guys from the online group had booked a room. don't worry, conversation was M18/R21, but physical activities were significantly more safely-rated. i was thinking, there's no denying that pinkdot has noble intentions. it gives visibility to the LGBT community, gives an opportunity for allies to show their support, and goes some way to promoting inclusiveness and awareness. but at the same time, there will be idiots who negate the positive effect. for instance, there was an account of this model/influencer-type straight guy who went down and posted on instagram about how supportive he was. then, shortly after, he posted something which was aimed at shaming another individual there. it's sad. he apologized eventually, but what's even sadder is that some people are still supporting his actions and saying that he didn't need to apologize. i wonder, as with all public apologies, whether he's sorry for his actions, or sorry that he got called out on them. it shows that there's still a lot of progress to be made in singapore. actually, i don't understand why there should be opposition, especially from unrelated parties, as to what two consenting adults do in their personal lives. so far, all the arguments i've heard against equal rights for LGBT people don't hold water in my view. it's against your religion? too bad, i'm not a believer. it may influence your kids? go on, show me how you can "turn" a gay kid straight. a gay kid won't carry on your family line? this one is a whole can of worms which i'll go into in a separate post. it's offensive and against morality? by whose standards? the argument that i'm the most willing to concede so far is that more impressionable LGBT people could be influenced to try drugs, which is a prevalent problem in the community. but i don't think that current measures, not to mention the environment of discrimination, are addressing that issue effectively.

despite how it seems, i'm not a militant activist. i also disagree with pushing too quickly and aggressively for legalization of same-sex marriage. then again, i'm against marriage in general, so take that with a pinch of salt. honestly, all i want is to be treated like anyone else. biggest item on my wishlist is being being able to talk about my (currently hypothetical) partner and not having people recoil when i say "he", or not having to be vague about my partner's gender. ok, maybe the biggest item on my wishlist is actually a partner, but you know what i mean. in a more practical sense, what i mean by "being treated equally" is like, being gay shouldn't be a crutch and it also shouldn't be a ceiling. to elaborate, a person shouldn't be fired purely based on their orientation. at the same time, they shouldn't get extra benefits, or be around just to be the token LGBT friend/employee so that others can brag about how supportive/inclusive they are. true support often goes unnoticed by the public eye, like with my friends and chemical engineer cousin.

you know how people say "if you love someone, every day can be valentine's day"? it may be used as a lame excuse when you forget an anniversary or something, but it's also kind of true. in that spirit, i don't think there has to be one designated day a year for people to be open, accepting, doing the whole "freedom to love" thing. one of my friend's friends posted a comment on facebook, saying that pinkdot was the one day where all gay guys are like, "yeah! freedom to love! be inclusive! hugs all around!"...while the other 364 days are "looking for fit/slim young chinese only. not discriminating, just a preference". that comment made me both laugh and feel sad at the same time. i laughed because of how astute that observation was, and felt sad also because of how true it was. having been on the receiving end of such "preferences", i'd know. but well...the gay dating scene in singapore is toxic, there's no denying that. i wonder how the community can unite for progress of LGBT rights when it's so fragmented internally. borrowing an idea from materials science, having internal weaknesses means that a material is less able to stand external pressure. it's the same for a person, and a community as a whole. i don't think that pinkdot, in its current form, is enough to save the community from itself. maybe i'll find out how one day.

i hadn't intended to stay at the hotel for long, but somehow ended up staying overnight, and only having a 3-hour power nap. honestly, i'm still not quite sure how i survived that sunday, since i had learning lab tuition and a friend's wedding dinner to attend. tuition went ok, i guess. i recently met the new full-time teacher who's going to take over my class from next week onwards. i'm relieved, but i have to remember that there's still the handover process, plus student progress reports which are due in 2+ weeks' time. my friend's wedding dinner was quite nice. he's the architect friend who moved to australia midway through primary school. i'm honestly surprised that we're still in contact; i don't even see some secondary school friends as often as i see him, which is already not often at all - think 3 times in the 21 years since he moved. the dinner was held at the carlton hotel, so that's another place i know how to go to now. was quite a small affair - 11 tables, and only one table for friends. friends of the groom only, too, because the bride isn't singaporean, and doesn't have any singaporean friends.

while i was happy that my friend thought of me and invited me, i was prepared for a little discomfort, because my friend (and his family) is very strongly christian. i'd thought i'd knew what i was going into...no i didn't. the pre-dinner prayer and references to god in the speeches were things that i'd expected, but i was absolutely not prepared for some of the other relatives'...i'd call it "fanaticism", though they might say "worship". you see, there was this one particular relative (uncle, i'm presuming) who may have gotten the venue confused for a church service. when the speaker on stage (be it the bride, groom, father of the groom, emcee) made reference to god and/or blessings received from god, this relative would very loudly proclaim "AMEN!". you know how people say LGBT shoves its presence and ideas down people's throats? when someone says things about shoving a concept/idea down your throat, this is more of what i picture. to be fair, though, i willingly walked into it, so i can't really blame anyone other than myself. another thing which surprised me was something i found out during one of those quiz games that the guests were invited to play. my friend proposed within 3 months of them starting to date! from a logical point of view, this seems risky to me. but hey, it's not my position to say anything, or to pass judgement. as long as they're happy, right? besides, i'm seeing that while the length of a relationship can give some indication to it's chance for success, it's not always thusly correlated. objectively, the couple seem to love each other a lot, and the bride seems nice enough. as the groom's friend, i'm happy for him.

last saturday, i had a simple steamboat dinner with my cousin and the couple i was talking about earlier. my cousin-in-law and niece went back to jakarta that week, though i expect that they're back in singapore now. it was nice, we watched the mummy (2017 version) over dinner, and i realize that i still don't like movies with horror themes, let alone horror movies. still, it was mindless entertainment, and i was more focused on the food, anyway. that was followed by a 2010 movie called the town, which i'd never heard of, and was surprisingly good! it's about a bunch of criminals in boston. surprised that ben affleck not only directed the movie, but also played the lead character. without looking at the credits, i'd thought the lead role was played by ryan renolds. regardless, it's a good movie, and i'd recommend watching it. throughout dinner, i was also talking to the couple. the guy apparently has huge interest in cooking! he was telling me about this chef's knife that he bought in japan, and sharing plans for doing up the kitchen in his new place, which includes a super atas coffee machine. he's actually staying fairly close to my insurance agent friend, so going over to visit won't be an issue. i wonder how we'd do if we set up an eatery together?

on the topic of steamboat, i had fish head steamboat with scary JC friend and her boyfriend at the coffee shop near the kovan tailor. he'd just came back from malaysia a few hours prior, and i think he was feeling tired/out of it. dinner was quieter than usual, which isn't a bad thing. it's good to have friends with whom you can sit in relative silence and not feel awkward, or feel the need to break the silence with inane conversation. they're flying over to the US soon (he has a conference and she's going along because holiday and free hotel room). we're scheduled to meet up again after she gets back in about...2 weeks. that's good, as i may need a shoulder to lean on around that time.

i'm running out of time for this post! although class only starts at 2:00pm for me, i've got to mark last week's work (downside of having late class on my only workday is that i can't finish my marking before they lock up the venue) and submit a few student progress reports for my mentor to approve. besides, based on the length of this post, you might be tired of reading by now. i think that i'll have to do a two-parter, the second part of which should be posted this evening/tonight, after tuition. things to cover then include: IP firm work (including advice from various sources), commencement, maybe a bit on the kovan tailor, some philosophy from final fantasy.

-random thought of the day: Plan for mental health days.-