Sipping my coffee

Sitting at the back seat, putting my guard down,
Thinking of emptiness, not even a frown.
Sipping my coffee, absorbed in my iRiver,
“It’s a great morning,” so blurts the cab driver.

Sitting on the sofa, heaving a sigh of relief,
Thinking of nothing, but maybe the Great Barrier Reef.
Sipping my coffee, absorbed in my iRiver,
“Would you like a scone?” so enquires the waiter.

Been missing the joy of sipping my coffee in a leisurely manner, so I am kind of grateful that I am doing it again… months has passed since I could sit down quietly with my books, gently swirling my freshly brewed cappuccino, and inhaling the fragrant aroma.

The concept is simple:
If you could not press the PAUSE button to do something you like, you have not been leading the life you wanted.

Mission accomplished?

My stint in the CIP (Continuous Improvement Programme) has come to an end:
- finally made breakthroughs in some seemingly chronic mind-boggling issues
- possibly bringing profits to the company
- a record high uptime (>90% uptime) for the machines have been achieved. Sweeet… yeah sure...

OK, my customers are happy & my bosses are happy… so should I be happy that they are happy? Oh fuck, I struggled damn hard with my limited experience and sacrificed my precious personal time, just to bring the machines to where they are now. So do you think I really care about them being happy???

If I were to celebrate in any way, it would be coz I am going back to shift work… which means ample free time to read, to swim, to gym, to watch shows, to hang/chill out etc…

So FUCK all those ppl who had given me hell!
And FUCK all those who had demanded unreasonable requests!

Yeah sure the motto is “Think: Customer, Company, Individual” but you have to draw a damn bloody line between work and death! Sooner or later, they have to realize that there’s only 24 hrs a day, 1 pair of hands on a person, and 1 brain that feels like it has been pummeled with force greater than the tsunami!

Frankly to be fair, all is not as fucktup as I painted it to be. Of course during good times, it is really a joy working:
- you will constantly be learning and thinking, coz new challenges always arise somehow
- you get to work hands-on and know the systems in-depth
- you learn to take initiative on your projects, ie project management
- you are exposed to stupid customers and demanding bosses, ie you will appreciate good ppl more than ever (I like this point)
- you get to work own time own target, ie be late for work and still get away with it :)

With this, all is still good… and I welcome myself back to the world of shift work.

"FUCK YOU, stupid unreasonable customers!"

Injured beyond all hope?

Tell me. Who would request to be taken out of a game just before kickoff? Not many I know would have done that. And yet, for the sake of the team & for my own future, I requested it.

My lower back has been hurting on and off for the past few weeks. Today, I could not even jog on the court. This was when I knew I had to pull out.

During the game when we were trailing by a goal and one of the defenders got injured, my coach looked at me with anticipation and asked, “Can u play?” With a heavy heart, I shook my head. Remember Chin, this is best for the team. You can’t contribute if you can’t run!

The more I saw how the game was going on, the more I wanted to play… but I knew I would collapse on the floor in a painful spasm, if I were to sprint at all.

It hurts me more inside to realize that my injury has come to the point where I could only wait and watch, hoping my teammates would somehow win this game back. This is a fucking sucky feeling…

During the course of the game, I was testing my back with some light jogs. For some weird reason, I could jump and run without much pain, if I controlled the way I move. This was certainly a good sign. Hmmmm

Then in a sudden turn of event, NUS equalized and took the lead. From then on, the game was ours. This time my coach looked at me in the eye again. I knew what he wanted. I nodded my head, and mouthed “Yes.”

And so I was on court! Playing and running around. I was beaming once more.


I vow to all of you, especially my teammates, I will seek professional help and resume my self-physiotherapy. I won’t let you guys down anymore. I don’t want to let myself down again either… light or no light, i will find my way... this is a promise.