Just for the sake of typing...

Dear Diary,

Came back from an evening jog earlier and realised that I had a missed phone call. It turned out that I could go for the Dinner & Dance (D&D) tomorrow evening. I told my “semi-boss” that I would give it a miss because there is really not enough manpower to go around tomorrow. I don’t want to be jeopardising the roster but nevertheless I really appreciate how people seem to be fighting for me to go for an event I am theoretically not eligible. Maybe it is one last reunion with the rest before I leave? It has been slightly over two years working at this my first job. Sigh… now, the finishing line is just less than a fortnight away.

There are occasional thoughts on what lies beyond but I can’t really do much about them. Instead, this period of limbo makes me feel quite helpless. I need objectives to thrive upon! I actually suggested a yahoogroup for all the preceptors and the students attached to our company. Yeah in fact, I suggested lots of stuff… not sure if they will implement them or not, haha… I sure hope my new working environment won’t restrict my “creativity”! ;-) My friends were telling me about how competitive the students are these days. Their students could be upset even if my friends casually spoke about academic results… Mind you, some students are first-class honours’ quality and they can be sad too… why? Because they are not in the dean’s list! *Faint*… Frankly, this is way beyond my understanding and I told my friends that maybe we will never comprehend the world they are in now.

I don’t exactly feel old, you know. Although I am slightly half a decade ahead of these students in the academic chronology, I feel as if they were my juniors. I don’t feel any generation difference. Yet, their relentless academic struggle is evidently different from ours. We did that when we were in the university too but theirs seem more “mental”. It is as if their reputations and self-worth rest precariously on that one single criteria! Like one of my colleagues said, “As students, we compete by grades. As professionals, we compete by salaries…” So the rationale is not to divulge about your grades / salary, and do not attempt to find out about others too! These students will eventually realise that grades count for little in the working world. Even in the traditional grade-oriented public sectors, I see the gradual but certain erosion of the importance of the almighty academic grades. Do your best though… but don’t get too uptight about it.

The newspaper column today, wrote about the increasing trend of later marriages. In 2008, the median marriage age for guys stands at approximately 30 years old. For girls, it stands at 27 years old. So theoretically, I have just about slightly over 2 years to be as normal as the national median. I mean… it is interesting that we can set objectives to change our career, further our education, go for our dream tours… but marriage? It is so out of our control. I don’t actually feel that urgency but my family is telling me that I have better start feeling it! Sigh… yes… I pray I don’t have the gift of celibacy, haha… I remembered I once cheekily told my university clique that come the age of 28 years old, any unmarried girl is a potential target whether she is attached or not, haha… I said that because 28 years old seemed such a long time ahead! Now, it is less than 3 months’ time. My optimal marriage age target has gone from 30 years old to a range of 30 – 32 years old. If I want to attain that, it is almost time I should start feeling the “sparks”, haha… Oh how frustratingly elusive is that feeling! =(

Okay, if you have read till here… you would have guessed that this is a crappy entry. I just typed for the sake of typing because I don’t want to sleep too early and toss around in bed, because there seems to be no one to chat on MSN, because… because I just wanna exercise my fingers? It is so strange that about a decade ago, we would have call up our closer friends on a fixed-line phone if we need to just whine about our single-hood or about our grades. These days, I don’t call people that often anymore. Mostly, just a couple of SMS and oh yes… Whining to a faceless world on the Internet through a blog. Did I ever see such thing coming then? Maybe I should go out there and spend more time interacting with people physically… Destiny may need a push on my part for it to be fulfilled in my life. I am betting on a life with a marriage, haha… noooooo… no to celibacy! ;-P

God Bless,

Andrew