108 Days later.... The Return?

Dear Diary,

I am back! Haha… if you formerly frequented this blog before it ended, and are now reading this entry… Hope this entry is a reward. ;-) It has been 108 days ago since I put an end to online blog-writing. This evening is indeed a little special. It is one of those rare evenings I am back for dinner, especially with all the overtime work and those meet-ups with friends these days. Earlier, I went online and checked out some of my former classmates’ blogs. Pretty dead… most of them never updated their blogs for months. Maybe it is all about work secrecy and confidentiality these days. Frankly, I don’t know much about how some of my former university classmates are getting on recently. Ironically, I seem to have increased contact with my church friends and my former college friends these days.

Having an early evening back home seems like a whole load of free time to do something (especially when there is also no World Cup 2006 matches tonight, haha) and I thought I should type something online. Recently, it has occurred to me that my communication standard has deteriorated drastically. Just last evening, I was actually bold enough to type an email to my boss asking her why she left the Christian faith. I did not actually want to type that but somehow after knowing that she was a former Christian, that issue just kept pre-occupying my mind during dinner… so when I returned home last night after work, I typed an email to her. She haven’t replied and I don’t know what she will react either. Hee… As I was typing an email to her last night, it was just 2 short paragraphs but I actually had to discard an initial attempted draft and made numerous amendments. Somehow, I just could not get that “flow” of the language which I once took for granted. Typing personal emails seems a more formidable task now than before. Furthermore, as I consider applying for a particular exam, I better buck up on my writing skills. I am really wondering if blogging a little may help stem my plunging standards.

It has been slightly over 3 months since I got my new job. I must thank God for the great job. I am truly enjoying my work but can’t help a little worried about that “drifting” feeling. Yesterday, there was this former university classmate who asked me over the Internet what I see myself doing in 3 years’ time. “We will see,” I replied, haha… wondering if I will still be in this job. =P In these 3 months, I even got a chance to give a public talk at the World Book Fair 2006 at the Suntec City and it was good exposure indeed! It felt even better that my boss videotaped my talk… hee… The working world really opens a new perspective of life for me. The social circle is understandably and inevitably smaller. Other than the usual pharmacy and store assistants… oh yes, the promoters, the sales representatives and the locum pharmacists who come occasionally to relieve my shifts… I interact only briefly with customers. Nonetheless, each kind of interaction differs from the usual classmate relations I am so used to.

The promoters and store assistants help me with my work, furnish me with gossips, complain to me, ask me to settle disputes… hmmm… can be interesting but obviously, I can suddenly see all the true characters and the backstabbing at times. The sales representatives are nice people who dig out research papers to convince me, giving me tonnes of freebies and meal treats, and answering my questions when I have doubts. Of course, I am one nice pharmacist who sometimes help them meet their sales targets like ordering 50 boxes of Clarinase, 50 boxes of Clarityne, 26 bottles of Clarityne 60ml, 26 bottles of Clarityne 100ml, 10 boxes of Growell 5%, 5 boxes of Growell 3% and 5 boxes of Growell 2% today. That was despite the fact I did not really need to stock up on those stuff since I still have many left, haha… then again, it is the benefit of manning a large pharmacy store because everything sells well and so I can buy as much as I want, hahaha… Then you have a cute Wyeth sale representative who kinda made most of the males stopped in their tracks when she arrived at my pharmacy today. The last time I saw her was when I attended a complimentary hotel dinner at the Sheraton Towers quite a while ago. I suddenly reminded myself to sell more Centrum vitamins, more Robitussin cough mixtures, more Caltrate supplements... hahahaha…

Locum pharmacists whom I meet once or twice a week, are a bundle of joy too. First, when I see them… it means I am going home early! Haha… Secondly, many of them tell me stories of their holidays, hobbies and their full-time jobs (mostly sales jobs). One even asked me to join her for a course in keelboat sailing spanning over 2 weeks. Pretty interesting and nice of her! I declined though, haha… hard to fit into my timetable.

Since my university days, I love to give advice and I guess that is why my job just seems so interesting to me, haha… From “reading” x-rays, BMD charts, laboratory results and medical reports… those customers really think I am some “free-of-charge” doctor ah. Even my pastor rang me up to ask about the promethazine which the doctor prescribed for his 1.5-year-old son after some pharmacist told him it may cause convulsions. I allayed his fears, saying it is a very rare side effect which do not usually occur at therapeutic doses. My stint at KK hospital as a Year-2 university student helps! ;-) There was once a fellow pharmacist who brought his girlfriend to visit me at my pharmacy to discuss about exploring job options, opportunities and strategies, keke… Gave them tonnes of advice…. Haha… Now…. how about this… there was even a sales rep who discussed with me about how to position his products and how to price his new-look product. Apparently, he brought my suggestions up to his marketing committee. I just love solving those mind-challenging problems.

Then again, I dislike those equally “mind-challenging” problems pertaining to sedative antihistamine addicts or those codeine phosphate addicts. I guess I spoke rather fiercely to a couple of them till they are kinda afraid of me. Sigh… I must have lied so many times when I said I didn’t have any codeine preparations. Getting streetwise these days and even rebutting a customer who claimed he broke his bottle of Cough-En syrup when he dropped it. Excuse me… it is a plastic bottle!

Then again, I remember I once spoke to some former colleagues about keeping that “child-likeness” trait. I sure hope I don’t become some unsmiling, pessimistic, unfriendly pharmacist as time goes by! =) Thankfully, weekly church cell meetings are always refreshing, and that 3-Day 2-Night Young-Adult camp a few weeks back, was indeed a God-sent respite indeed! I may just enrol in a guitar course soon, and also hopefully show more discipline in preparing for an upcoming exam which I am still considering whether to sit for or not. Can’t help feeling that there are so many things to do and so many events coming up! Yeah, this coming Monday, I can spend the whole day at fully-sponsored Health Promotion Board (HPB) workshop instead of being in my pharmacy. I am sure it will be a good break since the attire will be casual wear and sport shoes! Whoppee…. A little sick of wearing long-sleeves, neck tie and white coat already… haha… Oh yes, there is this store assistant who will be doing his last day of work tomorrow and I have succeeded in getting him to buy a box of Nicotinell gums today after 1 whole month of persuasion! ;-) Satisfying! Hope he stops smoking!

Ok, hope everyone’s getting on fine too! ;-) Take care for now!

God Bless,

Andrew