ORD loh!

ORD = Operational Ready Date. In another words, you go to war when it happens. You're supposed to be ready to fight and preserve the nation.

You ORD from the army,
You ORD from the 'under 21yrs of age' category,
You ORD from the 'be home by 11p.m' curfew,
You ORD from studying.

For many of us in SMU, it's ORD from studies and into the working world. Not that we have not tried working during our Internship period but this is not merely a 10 weeks attachment. Haha, ORD is probably an overused word in my opinion. For the batch of 2003, our time in SMU's over and the many death deadlines on week 13-15 are OVER.

For those going in or are considering going, ALL THE BEST! Enjoy Mr. Tea, Mr. Bean and Mr. lotsofwork. Whoopido! ORD loh. Oh, and please make the best out of the time you have there. Stay alive.


And so, the commencement and the 'grad' dinner are finally over. (Some people will take this golden opportunity to accuse me of being a chao kuan by taking so many goodie bags. I forgive you.)

One can almost imagine the kind of conversations that took place over dinner. Is there only the job and salary to talk about?

I was reading an interesting article and I chanced upon the author's take on money. If you work just for the money sake, you'll soon experience burnt out. For some people, they endure and after a year or two, they drop out. It's interesting because this was directed at youths rather than adults. At some point in our lives, we will be thinking about our future. Be in looking for a life partner, how smart we are and even the job to be in after you graduate. We will spend an estimated 75,ooo hours of our lives working and wo hey yo look, that's not joke man. It's worse than eating wasabe watermelons.

Is it all about money? Please note that I'm not being sour about people receiving high paying jobs. I'm not getting paid very high at the moment but I'm certainly enjoying every bit of my new job! Haha. Met a friend last week and found out that her attitude towards her job was "ok lor, basic pay is below 3K but bonus is good. Can lar." Another friend kept complaining. If I could just attach a mathematical calculated equation to that, it would look something like:

Rate of complaint = X multiplied by daily

Haha, after 2 months, he finally found a new job that pays a lot more. And yes, if you guessed it, you are probably right. In a bank. Nothing wrong with that, but if you're already not satisfied with the salary, then why take on the job in the first place? No wonder more and more companies are employing on a contract basis.

I'm glad I've been given a job where the working environment is healthy and encouragements are pretty much encouraged. Where laughter is a medicine very often used and lame jokes as cold as the air-con. haha, I certainly am glad. On the first day at work, I met a friend and the first thing that came out was (instead of a hi!) "What?! You wear this to work? crap.." Haha, I don't know whether or not to take that as a compliment but I must admit that I would feel more comfortable in my attire than what I saw my friend wearing. No hard feelings but every job has different requirements. You don't expect a swimming coach to wear his suit to the pool. Nor a trainer a formal office attire to scare the students off.

For the first time, I don't mind working beyond the normal office hours on my own accord. Feels great! And if you're in the midst of studying, start praying and see where you'll be landing. It makes a big difference when you start thinking. =] Be as industrious as you can, as diligent as you can and stay salty right where you're planted.

hatever it is, don't find yourself looking back in regret. Gambette.