45 Minutes

Had a chat with my boss just minutes ago.

He asked me, "How are you?"

So, I told him, "Really bad. I've been stuck in this hell hole for the past 5 months and I still have one more to go. I don't have much work to do on some days and I spend my time searching for Stephanie Sun's lyrics. To add it all up, I have this scumbag for a boss, and he happens to be you."

What? Did you expect me to say all that? No, of course not, so my reply was, "Fine."

And then, I added, "I've learnt a lot of things".

He went, "Oh, really?"

Well, you know what is really? What's real is that if I had stuck to what I was supposed to do, and what you wanted me to do, I must as well have been sitting at home and scratching my leg from 9 in the morning all the way till 6 in the evening, and it wouldn't have made a difference. At least, for the latter, I got to do something slightly constructive like scratching my leg.

Some people.

So, with my very PR-ish statement, I would have expected some reciprocatory as a form of courtesy on his part. But, no, a while later he had to go on to ask me, "So, you said just now that you've learnt a lot of things. So, what have you learnt?"

Thankfully, I had my writing to back me up. =))

During our conversation, I projected a view of mine that I've had all along.

I said: "I think that working life is better than studying."

"Oh, really?" He seemed very surprised indeed and did a motion of lifting up his sleeve to look at his watch to signify that he had plenty of time to listen to this very interesting nugget of thought.

When I declined to elaborate further, he said: "Besides the projects and exams that you are mugging for, now, add on mortgage loans, handphone bills, electricity bills, allowance for your parents and kids; all these plus work."

"That's something to think about, isn't it?"

When work/study commitments were out of the way, the conversation took a turn and went for a long walk down pyschology path.

It was so philosophical, in fact, that half the time I had no idea what was sprouting out of his mouth, although it sounded to me like some thoughts of wisdom.

He mentioned that life was always the same around Singapore, it would be good to breathe some foreign air..."It's always the same, take a bus to Bugis, if not take a bus to..."

Plaza Sing immediately popped up in my mind.

"...Plaza Sing, or else Orchard..." Either we have real telepathy or Singapore really has so few mentionable places. I suspect the latter.

He asked, "Have any of your family and friends ever asked you to take bus to go watch the sunset for a change?"

"No." I laughed. "But, I have."

"You see? It's good to do something different."

Er...actually, what I meant was that I've thought about it before and asked a friend, who was unwilling to accompany me because she said, "Watch the sea for what?!! Siao ah!! So boring to watch the sea...I have better things to do with my time. And, besides, I don't have the mood."

So, I didn't get the chance to go watch any sea, much less the sunset.

I would love to go do something different, instead of watching a movie. To me, that's so passe, and I'd rather hit the beach anytime soon. The last time I saw a rainbow in its full glory was when I spent a week on a farm in Australia. Once in a while, I think back to that day when I opened my door and saw the seven striking colours of the rainbow, and I could still smell the scents of the after-rain. It's captured fully in my memory and it will take a while to fade.

If ever.