our very first job

shall dedicate this post to all my friends out there who are either busy trying to secure their first job upon graduation, to those who are in the midst of adapting and adjusting from school to work life, and to those who are right at the edge considering of leaving for their second (better) job.

a long friend of mine once told me that our very first job is like our very first lover. the relationship is full of uncertainty, yet we get all excited over it. many questions pop up of no where and yet, we find them even harder to answer than those found in examinations.

one of the very first question, apart from 'what's the pay?', will be 'do i really like the job?'. similarly, 'do the job like me?' will my personalilty or character fit that job! haha, then we dwell on and start to question, do we really know and understand the job, just like you take months or years before you really understand your boy/girl. and before long, you start to wonder, do you really like the job, or you just need one.

its really not easy, just like finding the right boy/girl in our lives. of cos, we can job-hop, play philanderer, changing partner every now and then. the search is hard, especially when most of the time, we don't even know our own needs.

needs - some wants power, some want fame, while others want affliation. so which one do you want? i once read an article, regarding how we make decisions in our lives, hoping to share, and maybe can help you guys in some ways or another through this career crisis, regardless which stage you are in.

in the article, it simply divides our decision making into 4 components, and in different situations, we base our decisions on either 1 or 2 of the components. but yet, subconsciously, we all have 1 pre-dominant component, and is colour coded.

the green people - sensitive to emotions, wants to satisfy everyone's needs, people oriented, will base decision upon everyone's views. slow in decision making as time is spend to make everyone agree. opposite of red.

the red people - task oriented, work with experience and intution, wants things fast, ready to compromise with stuff of less importance. quick in building the big picture, yet neglect the details.

the blue people - logical, work with details, makes comparison, weighing advantages and disadvantages before any actions. good efforts with the tangible component, yet missing out intangible components which are just as valuable. opposite of yellow.

the yellow people - the happy-go-lucky ones that are always fine with everything and anything, believes in murphy's law that anything could happen, so there's no need to think so much, taking things as they come.

hmm, i don't know what colour you are, but probably, knowing what colour type of people suits the job, you can match your colour with it.

my 1st marathon, turned walkathon

disappointment could be the best word to describe the run that i had trained hard for. sadly, probably due to the shift work which disrupt my sleep cycle, somehow, i just can't recover from the TB cough which hit in early November. this had greatly disturbed the last month of my run training. for the entire month, i didn't get to even run at all, obviously, timing of 4.5hrs became a long gone dream.

team Odee Acee Again

nonetheless, i still had fun through out the 42km, less of a marathon, more like a Army 1/2 Marathon cum Newpaper Big Walk, plus jolly good time with old mates of my uni days.


right from the beginning, i was separated from the rest, rather fine for me, i always like to run alone, at my own pace. the start was real bad, due to the cough, i had pulled the back muscle at the region somewhere near my lungs, every breathe that i inhale seems to stretch it, fuck, it really hurt. lucky me, found a gal in white cap and FBT shorts, who jogs at the exact same pace and stride as me, i decide to place my focus on her, to divert away the pain.

happy me, followed her all the way, be it to stop for drinks or to strafe to the left/right to siam away from those doing walkathon. at the drink station of 16km mark, she suddenly back, stared at me, and blurted, 'are you following me?'. i was like so damn... 'haha, ya, was pacing you all the while..' si buai paiseh la! she must have taken me as some pervertic stalker!

at the 18km mark, i was still pressing on, despite the aching calf, and obviously without my white cap pacer (too paiseh to follow her anymore), happened to bump into tung and munir. haha, point of relief that i'm not alone, and yet spells disaster ahead. peer influence is is one of the worst evil, seeing them strolling happily along east coast park, chit-chating bout our good old days, how can i not succumb to such luring temptations! finally, i let my soring muscles to take a rest, walking with them for 500 metres and lauren came running from the back, real slow like a tortoise, but still running. how can pride-ful me lose to this puny girl, and once again, tung and me picked up the pace, dumping munir behind, still with great hope to finish the run without ever stopping again!


haha, ya, i seriously over-estimated the under-trained self. i'm no longer young and fit like i was in NDU days. haha, before long, at the 21km mark, i gave up. 30% for mentally weak and 70% for the throbbing calf which will cramp anytime if i was to push further. 休息是为了走跟长远的路, Newpaper Big Walk began for tung and me.

as discussed, we will walk for 2km, and run all the way to 30km, walk another 2km and finish the entire run. haha, all plans are meant to fail! yep, after 2km, we really did try to run again, which ended rather shortly after 2km! haha, change of plans, we shall walk 1km after every 2km of run! yet again, only at the 26km, every plan failed, it was fate that we are taking part in a walkathon.

happily at the 32km mark, this dark figure, with black calf guard and red shoes walked by on our right, DENIS! wahahaha, that's it for the marathon, time for good catch-up sessions for the old mates on a sunday morning! if munir ever caught up with us, i swear, we would have taken a cab along any road to the end point, with the $60 cash that he carried with.

5hrs passed, at the 35km mark, this bloody distance marker had words, 'Pain is Temporary, Pride is Forever'. wah, cannot take it, i must do something! picked up my lower limbs, wanting to chiong finish the last 5km. seriously, even my toes are aching while walking but my pride says i have to run it! and irritating tung and denis, kept poking me, 'before you think of running the rest of the distance, why don't you try running to that sign board (30m away) first?'. roar! roar! roar! hmpf! what lousy friends i had!


and yes, at 37km mark, i cleared the run without ever stopping again, fuck, my left knee and ankle got damn pain, first time ever that i suffer from knee problem after so many years of running. not that sure if i will ever do another marathon, but i'll never forget this eventful one, cos i'm so gonna make sure that the next one, will have no incidents, but just pure running till the finishing line.