StarHub Dinner & Dance 2005

Up till the last hour before it began, I was still hesitant about whether I should go for my company's D&D.

For the past 2 days, it has been a mental struggle about what I should wear to this event. Beating around the bush regarding my own thoughts didn't help me much, so I decided to e-mail Uncle John & Chai Joo to ask, followed by sharing this 'dilemma' with a few closer colleagues at Da Vinci.

All of them responded that they were just going to dress in whatever is comfortable. It made me wonder why I'm allowing this stress about a once-in-a-year event bother me. I don't suppose Swissotel hotel staff would restrict me from entering, unless I came in slippers & shorts. But even if I did so, I could just bluff them that I'm acting in a part of the program later. Oh well, these are just some of my thoughts... In the end, I decided to just go in my normal working attire - formal shirt & pants.

To be honest, I was feeling quite uncomfortable when I first entered the ballroom reception area. The reception area seemed small, yet the ballroom is quite huge. Afterall, StarHub catered for 194 tables, so it can't be that small a ballroom. Apparently, the lights were pretty dim & it didn't help that my nightblindness isn't exactly really up to the mark. I began wandering around the reception area, while at the same time reflecting on the familiarity of this present situation.

I realised that this seems like a typical networking gathering where business professionals gather to establish their network contacts with those of the same or different profession. I remembered reading about this sort of meeting, where people wonder around talking to as many people as they can, all the while with the intention of establishing business connections & possible prospects. It wasn't easy for me (even though my job requires me to relate with many StarHub staff) because many of my internal customers interact with me via e-mail & phone calls. We seldom meet up, unless there is a cause of a face-to-face discussion meeting. As I walked, my mind was racing... thinking how am I going to go through this night at this event.

Then I met Lawrence Ang Kah Chai (voice product manager). He deals with PSTS, ISDN2 & ISDN30. I could tell that he was trying to start a casual conversation, but it seemed rather awkward, as our styles don't match. He was more of the jovial kind, whereas I speak in a much more serious manner. Not that I purposely intended myself to be this way, but perhaps this is how I've been brought up.

We chatted for awhile, before Lawrence decided to move off to talk to other colleagues. This reminded me of what I learnt in school - that during a networking event, people don't normally spend too long a period of time to relate to another. The purpose of a networking event is to establish as many business contacts as possible, during a short time frame of about 2 hours. Most of such networking events do cost money to attend, so attendees have to make full use of this time.
Next, I ran into Hee Thiam Soon. I tried to strike up a conversation with him, but he didn't seem too interested. A few months back, he used to be quite friendly with me. But that was when he had to work with me about SCV dark fiber applications. Now that he has passed this role over to Edward, he didn't seem too keen to talk to me, even when I meet him at the office 4th floor or at JTC hawker centre. But then again, this could just be my own interpretation or it could also be true. I dunno...

Since Thiam Soon moved away without saying much to me, I turned around to look around. Then I saw my aunty Margaret! For the first few seconds I was stunned... She looked very different in formal attire & make-up! Its very seldom that I see her in such formal attire & whatsmore... with make-up! Wow... she looked professional... & pretty too.

She introduced me to her boss. He was dressed in some old fashioned Huang Fei Hong type of movie dressing. Dunno why, but later I found out that his table participants all had an agreement to dress like this. I seriously dunno what has this type of traditional dressing got to do with the D&D theme titled 'Friday Night Fever'. Hahahaha... all of them looked so ancient!

After a brief catch-up with a few others - Alvin Chua, Raymond Tan, Chee Kiat, etc... Upbeat music began to play from the inside of the ballroom, so everyone began to stroll in.

I sat at our designated table 126 together with Michael Chuang, Chee Kiat, Jean, Ee Wee Kuan, Regina Kwik, Yew Chiong, etc. I can't remember all 11 of us.

The host was a very remarkable entertainer. Can make funny noises, talk several dialects & even sing & dance Chinese, Malay & Indian dances! I was told that he is paid like $3000 for a single 3 hrs of hosting. That's a lot of money!

Overall, the program was successful & I didn't win the top 10 lucky draw prizes (not surprising since I hardly win lucky draws in my life, right from donation charity coupons to company D&D). At about 12:20am, the program ended & Uncle Lawrence gave me a lift home, since he also came to fetch Aunty Margaret. Quite okay lah... for my first company D&D.

A tissue says a thousand words

It was just like any ordinary Sunday in the Youth Room. Feeling tired, trying not to think about Monday, wondering how I should spend these last few hours of the weekend… But interestingly, somebody added some colour into my life that day.

I wasn’t really expecting anything out of this boring Sunday, yet God has His way of speaking to me. In fact, I didn’t learn anything from the sermon that Sunday & in fact started to draw cartoons which made Rebecca laugh. But God is an interesting God. Even when I thought that it was a wasted time at church, God used one of the simplest person & one of the simplest thing to teach me something that day.

Her name is Flora. Flora? Does she look like a flower? Well, not really… but she does smile like one quite often. In fact, I must say that its one of the rarest time that I see a smile like that. An honest & open smile. How many people have that nowadays?

Rebecca motioned me to come sit & chat together with Flora before YM started. So I went over. Somehow it seems to be a little more refreshing watching Flora express herself with words & actions. She’s quite old, I think above 21 years of age, yet she still remains very childlike in nature. Watching her always makes me wonder how un-childlike most of us are nowadays.

During our short chat, suddenly a white coloured Tic-Tac sweet flew at us! I was shocked, but picked it up & threw it away at a dustbin nearby. Ok, so what’s the big deal of all these long-winded sharing? Hahahaha… I’m not at the crux of the story yet… Heh heh heh…

When I walked back to sit down next to them, suddenly Flora took out a tissue paper & gave it to me! I was stunned (more shocked than when the Tic-Tac flew at us). In my mind I was wondering – “Aiyah, its only a small sweet & it didn’t really dirty my fingers… Don’t need to waste tissue paper lah…” But despite that thought, I soon began to realise that its not about the tissue paper, but the heart of the person who gave me this tissue paper.

Flora is a bit slow when it comes to learning & understanding things, unlike most of us who are quicker, yet end up becoming mischievous & playing prangs to tease others, rather than be better friends with them.

But in this aspect, Flora is faster than most of us. Not because she has a lot of tissue paper to spare, or she’s trying to curry-favour someone, or she is just trying to be nice since she’s at church. None of the above. She did that solely because she cared… & most importantly, took that initiative to care, even for someone whom she doesn’t really know.

This reminded me that we don’t need to know someone to feel comfortable about helping someone or just being that person’s friend. We don’t need to think & reflect & consider & draw up some plan listing the pros & cons, before we should act to help someone or just offer something. Why do we need to consider so much? Do good things must feel paiseh? Then do bad things don’t need to be paiseh?

Flora’s act of kindness & generosity added that colour into my life that Sunday. Imagine – it wasn’t the pastor that spoke to me that day, neither was it a fellow CGL or YA… it was the most innocent & bubbly girl in YM – Flora. Her kindness really shone that day. Praise God.

Putting God first... even at work

God is a faithful God. Wherever I go, he will put at least one Christian brother with me. From my BMT bunk mate - Justin, to my camp mate - Sean Teng, to Uncle John at Cuppage, to Raymond Tan at Da Vinci Building. God has never left me without a Christian friend & helping hand. Praises unto Him!

His name is Raymond Tan Seng Choong. If I remember correctly, he should be about 40-41 years old. Married at a relatively late age of 37. No kids (I didn't ask why). Active in church & with a heart for missions.

Recently, I have been toying around with the thought of whether I would survive my probation or whether this is really the job for me. Raymond was kind enough to spend his lunch time talking to me over a meal. In fact, he took it further by carrying on the conversation at one of the meeting rooms after lunch hour. Even when he received calls in between about his work.

Raymond shared one of his testimonies with me. It is about God's faithfulness when we are faithful in what & where he has called us to be. This may not necessarily mean I'll be staying at StarHub for the rest of my working life, but his testimony focuses on God's faithfulness in honoring those who trust in Him.

In his previous job, Raymond was in the manufacturing industry. His job was hectic, involving work on the weekends as well. In fact, everyone was very busy with their work, till coming back to work on the weekends seem normal & worse of all, expected of staff who choose to exhibit that they want to excel in their job.

Raymond is not born into a Christian family. He accepted Christ in the later years of his adolescence. At that point of time, he was in his 20s & actively serving in his church. He knew where his commitments & priority lies, so he made a stand to his boss, that he is not able to work on weekends due to commitments in other areas of his life (i.e. church).

Naturally & expectedly, his boss was unhappy. Everyone else was working on the weekends & here comes this fella who insist on not working on the weekends. I mean, which is more important? Work or other commitments? Most bosses would consider work more important, especially since its their own company. Or at least they are paid to run the company well.

For this choice, Raymond suffered 3 consequences. Firstly, he was blackmarked by his boss. Secondly, the whole company of staff turned against him because of his attitude. Thirdly, he was put on probation status, even after working for 7 years in the company, solely because the boss wants to assess his performance to see whether he is up to the job. Afterall, every!one is working on the weekends to clear their work & this guy refuses to do likewise!

It was a very tough time for Raymond. He was studying a 5 years part-time diploma, had to earn to support his parents & his wife, and at the same time handle all these persecution in the office. Trying to imagine his situation really makes me think that I'm already very blessed in my current job. Despite all this, Raymond still pressed on... even in terms of his serving in church.

God is faithful & He honored Raymond's choice to trust in Him. Despite missing the number of extra working hours which Raymond spent in church, instead of being at work, Raymond continued to do his best on the weekdays & his performance got better. In fact, he was able to cope despite putting in lesser working hours than his fellow colleagues. Nobody could fault him because he did his job well.

One day, the company decided to retrench some of its staff. Many were surprised because the company was making a lot of money, yet it wanted to retrench staff. Somehow Raymond knew that his name was on the list because he has already been blackmarked, since the time he refused to work on the weekends. When the day came when he was called into the office, he was given the 'golden handshake', explained his retrenchment package & had to leave the company.

Raymond was sad because he had put in many years into this company & the management didn't appreciate him (or those retrenchment) one bit. He was worried because at that time, Singapore was in a recession & it was very difficult to find a job. After sending out hundreds of resumes, he decided to take a short 2 weeks overseas holiday with his family.

While he was overseas, he began receiving calls to attend job interviews, but he had no choice but to refuse because he was with his family overseas. Some of the job interviews were jobs that he wanted to do, but had no choice but to reject till he returned to Singapore. How easy would it be to just wallow in self-pity! If I were in that situation, I would have probably grumbled at God, ralling that why He had to do this to me, when I'm overseas with my family. Isn't it a very tough time to get a job? Why did God let this happen?

It must have a very rough time for Raymond. I'm not sure if he was already married at that point of time, but even without being married, the situation was bad enough for him. My Dad himself has gone through the phase of losing his job & having much difficulty finding another due to the lack of relevant skills & his age.

But Raymond continued to trust God. And when he returned from his trip, he suddenly received two job offers! I don't remember him telling me that he went for an interview (I think he should have at least gone for the first interview), but the point is that he was already offered a job when he returned to Singapore! Not just one offer, but two! God is so good that He even gave Raymond a choice of which to accept! Truly amazing... now I know what Raymond meant when he said that it is only when we look back later, that we see how God was working in our lives.

Often, we need to have patience & wait on the Lord for His right & perfect timing. Changing a job may be a possibility, but it may not necessarily mean right now. Of coz, there are times when we are plucked out from where we are, to do something else which God has planned for us. But other than such exceptions, its still about God's timing. In the end, it is our faith that pleases God. And we learn to rely on Him.

Display of testimony that burns within my heart

After 3 months of absence, I have finally returned to Blog. Why? I mean, there’s so much that has happened in these 3 months & tons catch-up! But Rebecca reminded me that that if I didn’t decide to start one day… then I wouldn’t start at all. So here I am, back again...

My main reason for typing today’s Blog is because I was inspired by one person. He is Rebecca’s Dad – Uncle John Seow. This guy has this peculiar ways, but underneath, he still has a heart for people, especially lost souls. What’s amazing is that despite his quiet spirit, he is able to impact the lives of those around.

I was invited to Rebecca’s niece’s 1st year birthday celebration at Aunty Daisy’s house at Pungol. Personally, I don’t really like that location because it seems rather undeveloped & ‘ulu’ (i.e. deserted). Given a choice, I would prefer places like Sengkang, where there are more facilities & heartland atmosphere.

After a short T-Net discussion meeting, Uncle John, Aunty Molly, Rebecca & I took a taxi there from church. It was a hot & sunny mid-afternoon & I was beginning to sweat quite a bit due to the scorching sun. I have also noticed that recently many tree branches have been trimmed off from the surrounding greenery. I don’t understand why the authorities have to do this in the middle of the year, when it’s at its hottest. I mean, isn’t trees supposed to provide shade as well as oxygen? By doing this, they have reduced A LOT of shade & cut back on the amount of oxygen being released into the air…

A short while into the journey, Uncle John began to strike up a conversation with the taxi driver. If I can remember correctly, I think his name is Jeremy. You see, Jeremy was playing slow English oldies on his CD player. Uncle John mistook it as a cassette player & asked, “Is this from a cassette tape?” Jeremy laughed & said that it’s a CD player… & he copied these MP3 songs into a CD to play in his taxi. Jeremy also offered to play other songs, if we weren’t comfortable with oldies. Uncle John replied that it is okay with him, but he wasn’t sure about Rebecca & me. I said that it is okay with me, just that these slow, relaxing oldies would be very soothing when driving at night. Aunty Molly commented that listening to these slow oldies make her feel like the weather is not as hot as it really is.

Out of the blue, Uncle John just said that we came from this church nearby, called Covenant House. Then he continued by asking if Jeremy is a Christian. I was shocked! Wah… you mean Uncle John just suddenly jumped into witnessing to the taxi driver just like that? No warning, just like that ask? Jeremy replied that he’s not a Christian. Uncle John then followed up by asking if he is a Buddhist or free thinker. Thankfully, we were pleasantly surprised that Jeremy began to slowly open to Uncle John.

Jeremy began to think & said he’s more of a Buddhist than free thinker. Thinking back now, it apparently showed that he himself doesn’t know what he believes in. Uncle John began to ask Jeremy if he has ever visited a church before. Jeremy said yes… it was somewhere near Pasir Ris, but can’t remember the name of the church that he visited. We came up with a few names of churches near Pasir Ris, but Jeremy couldn’t remember… until Rebecca mentioned Shalom Bible Presbyterian Church & Jeremy began to nod, indicating some recall.

Uncle John started to share that he used to be a Taoist & pray to Duo3 Pek4 Gong1 (whoever this is, I really don’t know). Then Uncle John shared that later he came to become a Christian, because a friend invited him to church. He also remarked that it is interesting that there are a lot of Christians try to invite people to church, but no non-Christian has ever invited him to a temple. That was an astounding thought that streaked into my mind! Never have I ever thought about this before! Revelation! Thank God!

Uncle John then said, “But you agree that religion is important in a person’s life & work, right?” Jeremy agreed & suddenly launched into this question about what Uncle John thinks about City Harvest Church. Uncle John replied that he doesn’t know much about this church, except that the pastor’s name is Kong Hee & his wife is a singer. Jeremy then said that the church is very glamorous, always spending money to build a nice expensive building, etc.

Seeing the opportunity that Jeremy has opened up, Uncle John began to share more about life & Christianity. Rebecca was thinking quietly to herself & Aunty Molly was silent & listening. For me, I was just amazed at how Uncle John could just strike up such a conversation that led to this current situation!

Uncle John asked if he is married & Jeremy shared that he is married with two children. Sadly, he is divorced. Uncle John asked about the custody of the children & Jeremy shared that they meet up & stay with each parent for a few days each week. At that moment, I felt a sense of sadness overwhelm me, as I reflected on how sad it is, torn between two parents & in such a state of legal custody.

Jeremy began to share that he kept asking himself why must this happen to me & what did he do to deserve this outcome. He said that he loves his children very much & didn’t know why things turned out like that. But he is glad to overcome this obstacle & get on with life. Yet, I didn’t know if he really got over it. Is it through forgetting about it, or by true forgiveness?

Both men continued sharing & at the end of the journey, Uncle John took out a Covenant flyer, wrote his name & contact number on the card & passed it to Jeremy, asking him to come by CPC anytime. Seeing Uncle John use the flyer reminded me of how I used to bring a few of these in my bag, when I was a temp staff under Uncle John. Apparently, I have quite lost the heart for the lost, being so caught up & stressed about work & almost completely forgotten the times when I went visitation with Uncle John.

This experience reminded me of the importance of seizing the opportunity to share with someone whom we meet along the way of our lives. When I messaged Uncle John to share & encourage him, he replied, reminding me that we can make use of any given opportunity to share our faith… that it’s just like breathing. Natural. Uncle John also shared that this may be the only time that we get to speak to this person. That’s why it’s so important.

I still find it very amazing, how Uncle John managed to relate to this taxi driver. I hope to pick up this skill & prayed that God grant me the joy, love & hope within me, so that I can radiate these when I witness to others around me.

Just like what Pastor Andrew shared in the seminar on helping people – He shared that to love others, you must first learn to love yourself. To care for others, you must first learn to care for yourself. Likewise, if we want to bring hope to others, we need to catch a glimpse of this hope from Jesus Himself. That is why I prayed. May God use us for His purposes & that we may bring glory unto Him. Amen.