A little whisper in the dark

Friends are good, but ......

......when they contact you out of the blue after a long time, you got to figure something's up.

One of my secondary school classmates (it's like over ten years now, come to think of it) began looking me up out of the blue. Prior to this, he's always been the no-show at the occasional classmates gathering that we have every now and then. And the last I heard, he was doing some multi-level marketing job.

So anyway he begins calling me, chatting about how's life and stuff, which is all fine and good. Not wanting to be biased against him and his job, took it in stride and even met up with him for coffee and such. His manner of setting up a date with me was more akin to setting up a business appointment, and that was pretty telling.

He'd passed me a VCD by some millionaire who's probably become a millionaire at least in part by teaching other people how to become millionaires, and charging them a pretty penny to attend. Heh. That only works once. To the guy (Robert something or other), what he says has credit, holds water, but still requires the gifted eye of a successful businessman in order to take the full advantage.

I get it now, you're trying to make me feel the need to be rich, right?

Let's go along with it.

A few weeks later, he calls up asking for the VCD back, and I offered to drop it off in his mailbox since our schedules don't really meet, but he insists on a meetup and that we duly arrange, at my extreme reluctance. Actually more due to impatience at all this beating about the bush.

I'd brought along a friend for a horizon broadening experience, and so we had a casual chat about what was in the CD and stuff like that. Then he says there's always opportunities, its a matter of whether you know how to grasp them.

Patience worn thin, I bluntly stated that I thought that all this beating around the bush really sucks for friends of ten years, and it be better that he stated what he wanted rather than priming me up to be ripe for the multi-level marketing talk that he was trying to get me to go to!

My esteemed companion took a few parting shots before we left. Very good ones too, I hasten to add.

Insurance agents, real estate agents, and now multi-level marketing recruiters. All people to avoid, if you don't want the hassle and discomfort of rejecting a friend's pleas.

Perhaps one should lay ground rules to friends and family who, after a long period of silence, pop up and ask to visit:

If you're visiting to either 1. talk about MLM schemes 2. insurance policies 3. religion,

Don't bother to come. You're not welcome.

posted by Chung Leong @ 2:33 AM 0 comments

I'm feeling philosophical......

posted by Chung Leong @ 1:23 AM 0 comments

Brand New Day

How many of you people out there
Been hurt in some kind of love affair
And how many times do you swear that you'll never love again?

How many lonely, sleepless nights
How many lies, how many fights
And why would you want to put yourself through all that again?

"Love is pain," I hear you say
Love has a cruel and bitter way
Of paying you back for all the faith you ever had in your brain

How could it be that what you need the most
Can leave you feeling just like a ghost?
You never want to feel so sad and lost again

One day you could be looking
Through an old book in rainy weather
You see a picture of her smiling at you
When you were still together
You could be walking down the street
And who should you chance to meet
But that same old smile that you've been thinking of all day

You can turn the clock to zero, honey
I'll sell the stock, we'll spend all the money
We're starting up a brand new day

Turn the clock all the way back
I wonder if she'll take me back
I'm thinking in a brand new way

Turn the clock to zero, sister
You'll never know how much I missed her
Starting up a brand new day

Turn the clock to zero, boss
The river's wide, we'll swim across
Started up a brand new day

It could happen to you - just like it happened to me
There's simply no immunity - there's no guarantee
I say love's such a force - if you find yourself in it
And sometimes no reflection is there

Baby wait a minute, wait a minute
Wait a minute, wait a minute
Wait a minute, wait a minute

Turn the clock to zero, honey
I'll sell the stock, we'll spend all the money
We're starting up a brand new day

Turn the clock to zero, Mac
I'm begging her to take me back
I'm thinking in a brand new way

Turn the clock to zero, boss
The river's wide, we'll swim across
Started up a brand new day

Turn the clock to zero buddy
Don't wanna be no fuddy duddy
Started up a brand new day

I'm the rhythm in your tune
I'm the sun and you're the moon
I'm a bat and you're the cave
You're the beach and I'm the wave
I’m the plow and you’re the land
You're the glove and I'm the hand
I'm the train and you're the station
I'm a flagpole to your nation - yeah

Stand up all you lovers in the world
Stand up and be counted every boy and every girl
Stand up all you lovers in the world
Starting up a brand new day

I'm the present to your future
You're the wound and I’m the suture
You're the magnet to my pole
I'm the devil in your soul
You're the pupil I'm the teacher
You're the church and I'm the preacher
You're the flower I'm the rain
You're the tunnel I'm the train

Stand up all you lovers in the world
Stand up and be counted every boy and every girl
Stand up all you lovers in the world
Starting up a brand new day

You're the crop to my rotation
You're the sum of my equation
I'm the answer to your question
If you follow my suggestion
We can turn this ship around
We'll go up instead of down
You're the pan and I'm the handle
You're the flame and I'm the candle

Stand up all you lovers in the world
Stand up and be counted every boy and every girl
Stand up all you lovers in the world
We're starting up a brand new day

posted by Chung Leong @ 10:13 PM 0 comments

Everyone has a mobile phone nowadays

It just got me thinking. There's a fair number of phones getting misplaced every day; and with the long queues I see of people buying new mobile phones, hey, it sure looks like they can afford it, can't they?

But its pretty much the norm for people who pick up lost mobile phones to keep them. Let's be honest: if you had a $100 model and you chanced upon an abandoned $800 model, wouldn't you be at least a little tempted? Heck, a lot of people would. Few people would turn a gift horse away in the mouth, even if they could afford it themselves.

It brings me back to the poor sap who lost the phone. What would be more important? The phone, or the SIM card and all the contacts in there?

My SIM card dates back to 1999. Perhaps dumb of me not to back it up, but it is precious to me, more so that the phone itself. What would the person who finds the phone do with the card anyway? He'd just throw it away.

I've changed my mobile's greeting message to show my address. And if I ever did lose my phone, I'd be sending an SMS to tell the lucky chap to keep the silly phone and just post the SIM card back to me.

If you're ever lucky enough to find a phone, do the right thing. Both for the owner and yourself.

posted by Chung Leong @ 2:08 AM 0 comments

A sudden hankering for an MP3 player......

and look what dropped into my lap.



Such a lovely thing.

posted by Chung Leong @ 12:17 AM 0 comments

Yes, I'm back......

Its been a while since I've blogged. Over the course of the hiatus, some have asked if I'd stopped blogging. Some simply wondered why I stopped. And probably some have stopped coming. Well, it doesn't really matter, does it? Blogs are about self-expression, but I hadn't been able to trust myself with that lately, nor have I been very inspired.

I'd once gone on an organized cycling trip as a participant; one of the requirements was, no mobile phones, no watches, no speedometers(on the bikes). Though I went along with it and dutifully stripped said equipment, I groused about the impracticality of it all, for these are things I was so used to having. Having been a fairly seasoned rider, the distance, actually no more than 80kms as the crow flies, passed quickly enough without having something to measure off against. It was just me, the bike and the road.

Some may recall "........., as surely as the sun will rise", an entry logged on September 15th, and now that dawn is breaking, the benefit of 20/20 hindsight leads me to think that perhaps sneaking a watch in my pocket to see how many hours I'd have to sit in the jungle was perhaps a bad idea.

Not so long ago, I had my watch, and I counted the seconds off till dawn, but sometime during the night, the watch broke, nothing I could do about that, so I'd tossed it aside. I was sad that I no longer could count down dawn's arrival, but before I knew it, dawn broke.

It didn't mean that I didn't hope for dawn to come, revealing the riches and splendour of the landscape around me, by throwing the watch away. The watch was to mark time, and it bore out that perhaps it was better not to. Dawn would come as it surely would, whether or not I'd kept time.

Just because you can't track time's passage doesn't mean time doesn't pass.

Perhaps the timing would be right in the future. Who knows?

One lives in hope.

posted by Chung Leong @ 3:22 AM 0 comments