its like, hmm. u see that stuff on tv all the time, tho a little extreme (gotta exaggerate for media's sake), cos sometimes ppl dun reallie get arrogant and haughty when they get rich. but they still change. mostly its the mindset, the way they view money as a form of convenience that makes them seem different. 

for example, people are alot more reckless when they've money. they tend to do more crazy stuff, without thinking of the consequences, because they CAN PAY FOR ANY DAMAGE. its like, why should i think so much? just do whatever i like lah, anth just pay lo, i have cash, and its not like i cant afford it. attitude problems.

another type of change is like, hmm, have u ever suddenly rmbed a friend's birthday, then because ure too lazy to go make smth for her personally, u resort to buying stuff instead? i have, and i hate it. when i was little, and poor, cos no parent gives a preschool kid money, i'd make presents for my mom on mothers day, and on her birthday. no matter how ugly i drew, how out of shape my handmade flower was, my mother always loved it, because i made it. 

when u make a present for someone, ure giving her part of yourself. your sincerity, your time, your efforts, your heart. but when u simply buy a present for someone, what are u giving her? yes the present, and what else? time needed to look for the present? effort to find the present? oh yes, money, to buy the present? yes perhaps u give the same things in context, but its all so.. mercenary. its all so mechanical, like a conditional exchange, whereby ure using money to buy time, effort and sincerity. whereby ure using money to buy the smile on ur friend's face when she sees the present. its.. just so.. EEW. i think its fine to buy, if what u think your friend reallie needs, or would loves cannot be handmade easily, for example, a camera, or a rare antique. and its okay if u buy a gift for an accquaintance, but if u dunno what to get for ur friend, because u dunno what suits her or dunno what she wants, then i think its better to handmake something, than to buy smth at random, which she probably may not need after all. 

i dunno, when i was in NP, it was tradition to make presents for ma'ams, and sqdmates too, as a result. no matter who made them, because it was always done together as a company, or as a sqd, the presents reallie look great in the end. and they are reallie very creative. last time we created a mountain and a delta out of styrofoam, cos we were from the company delta haha. we used uhu glue to corrode away the styrofoam to make a depression for the delta, representing the river. we also used to bake different kinds of cookies, make our own games to give our ma'ams. we even tried to make our own decorative candles, and glass bottles of ma'ams names suspended in different shades of coloured gel, forming a gradient. from the juniors i received handmade slippers, a macdonalds happy meal box with different homemade food to represent the items inside, like they made a huge cookie to symbolise the burger. i also received a handmade plush toy, sewed and decorated, handmade photo albums, laminated cards and so on. all these gifts are not only time consuming, creative and sincere, they also serve as grounds for learning. team building, new baking tips, new ways of using icecream sticks etc etc. so all along we're used to making presents, and receiving handmade gifts in return. 

i dunno why and when i stopped doing what i did for so long

but from today on, ill make my friends presents, and not buy them, unless reallie necessary.

sqd outing was so funny today!

the original plan: go kbox, then picnic at marina barage. sounds reallie nice right? hahahaha. but then when we planned this we expected the sqd turnout to be... at least half, as pigo said. 

THEN THIS MORNING..

pigo: eh, i think reallie not many ppl coming leh..

mr: hmm?

pigo: u see ah.. (starts counting, who's sick, who's overseas, who MIA..) 

mr: (zones out, replies smses)

pigo: ... then, we're left with only, FOUR PPL!

mr: WHAT!?

so yes, kiewy, ah bi, pigo and i had an outing hahahahaha.

we walked from city hall to central, had lunch at some ramen shop, taught a little boy how to make faces, got the evil eye from his mom, then took a bus to bugis, visited conneh and brought her some christmas cheer, went to kinokuniya at bugis junction to read and wait for yuzhen (finally, 5 ppl!) then walked again, from bugis to... plaza sing! hahahaha. then went to daiso, bought stuff, like food. then went to sit and rot in macdonalds. ate fries and caramel corn, made use of the sms chat thingy. then stoned some more, and went home(okay i went to the airport heh) 

woohoo!

tho its very little ppl. and we didn do much, i still enjoyed myself today! walking and talking and eating is FUNNN. its a 37 thing, eating, hahaha. the thing is, no matter what special trait or common interest the sqd shares, as long as everyone enjoys doing it, it doesn really matter what it is. could be cleaning toilets for all i care. cos its the spirit we share that matters. 

WHEEEEEE........

next sqd outing, we'll make it good!