Monday, November 29, 2004
Twenty Something

The weekend has been pretty interesting for me.Interesting does not equate good but it's interesting nonetheless.Well,first off,I finally have had it with Singtel and have decided that unless they can make some kind of compensation,I will sever my businesses with them...when my contract ends.Right now,I have two contracts with them.One is my broadband plan (and the well-documented troubles I had with them regarding this,which was the inspiration behind the post "World Class Companies) and my mobile plan (which I just signed in Oct).Naturally,Singtel elected to give me problems with my mobile plan,which is why I am prepared to pay the $250 fine and bring my business elsewhere (probably to M1).

I had signed for a corporate Singtel plan (or so I thought) at reduced rates during a roadshow conducted at my workplace by Planet Telecomms.Following the paper procedures as all my colleagues did,I thought that was the end of the episode and I had extended my corporate contract with the company.Lo and behold,when my bill for November came,I found that I wasn't under the corporate plan and had reverted to the full-priced Classic plan (ok,with loyalty discounts but they gave a measly $5 discount.Seriously,Singtel...F#$% off.Pardon my language for I am extremely pissed with them.And anyway,Jubilee managed to secure her corporate plan and I am sure the others did too) and was also being charged with autoroaming subscription charges... why in hell would I need autoroaming?

Anyway,calling the Singtel hotlines yielded the usual responses...billing cannot answer so divert to subscription who cannot answer so divert to corporate plan division...is there anyone in Singtel who actually have the knowledge and authority to answer anything?Or are they all a bunch of muppets who answer calls on autocue?Why not just use machines to answer the calls...they actually might be much more helpful than the Singtel operators I have encountered.

In the end,nobody could answer any of my questions...all they offered was "Please give us a fax number so we can fax ove rthe corporate plan form to you and you can sign up with us."To hell do I need that!Singtel is,of course,more eager to secure my business than to find out how boo-boos like this managed to occur so my queries about how I managed to sign an equipment plan instead of a corporate one (Despite having my staff pass photocopied and signing the exact same forms) fell on deaf ears...or stupid minds.All they could offer me in terms of an explanation was..."I don't know"...well,of course,you don't,but you should at least offer to find out,right?But no.Of course,they didn't care.All they went was...give me a fax number quick so I can trap you with our contarct and suck you dry...

Despite having a fine $250 looming ove rme for breaking the contract,I'd be more than happy to throw the money in Singtel's face and bring my business to some other corporation which might treat its customers with a bit more dignity and common sense.For me,the crux of the matter isn't that I missed the plan anymore but how such mistakes can occur over and over again without the company examining themselves.And how they never learn to say sorry to customers.I'd rather lose money than to be treated shabbily,which Singtel specialises in treating its customers.

I have gotten my 怨气 out of the way now...I was afraid I'd trun into The Grudge if I didn't get this out.So that's the bad thing out of the way.The good thing that happened over the weekend.Spurs won a league match for the first time in...say,a quarter of a year?!I don't know how long it has been but it was a long time...having lost the last six matches in a row.Knowing Spurs though,they'd go on to lose the next seven matches.Wouldn't surprise me one bit.One more surprising thing was Liverpool's victory (well-deserved at that too...even though Nell Mellor had no right to score with the last kick of the game from such a long distance) over Arsenal.The Gunners are in free fall now...good good good.My prediction at the beginning of the season about Jose Moan-rinho's team winning the league is looking to come fruition.The Portuguese moaner might not be a likeable fellow but hats off to him,he is a good coach...a big headed one too.Having said all these,it still does seem that Liverpool needs a striker desperately.They should sign Fernando Morientes while he's still interested.

Spurs coach,Martin Jol,said that he wanted to bring in a flair player ala Chris Waddle or David Ginola during the January transfer window.The prime candidate appears to be Nottm Forest's Eire International Andy Reid,a left-sided winger.Seriously,I don't think he'd be a good buy or that we need him.Swiss Under-18 International Reto Ziegler looks a very good player on the left already.Ok,he's not a natural winger but I have been impressed by him everytime he's played.Good dribbling abilities,a keen eye for a through pass,good crossing technique and very good passing skills...what more do you want?I think it's the right where Spurs do not have options.Rohan Ricketts came in and looked good on the right but I don't know if he's a permanent solution.Simon Davies simply looks too out of sorts right now.Who should Spurs buy?
I like the look of Ajax's Dutch International winger Wesley Sneijder but I am just not too sure if he operates on the right or left.

This post has nothing to do with Jamie Callum's jazz album so if anyone is looking for a review her,sorry to disappoint you.It's just another post about self-indulgent me.I never really thought about this post until I was on the bus today and well,just had a moment's reflection.Mainly because I am a twenty something...one nearing the end of my time as a twenty something and entering the phase of being a thirty something.Wow,one has no idea how time flies...

I remember that when I was in JC,I would always wonder how it feels like to be a twenty something.Supposedly the prime of your life when you are still considered young (before you enter middle-age-hood),developed your own earning power and is independent of you parents.I'd always be looking forward to entering this phase of my life with much anticipation.To know how all these feel like.The years before 20,it seems,is but a precursor but rolling good times.

Yet,when I entered my 20s.Things never seemed to change much.It must be a guy thing.When a guy enters the first year of his 20s,he's still in the army.Since we've already entered the army at 18/19 and is still enlisted in full-time NS,being 20 or even 21 makes no difference at all.You are still in the army.Who cares if you're 21?You are going through the exact same crap that all NS Men go through...that is,until,you ORD from the army.

Yet,what's next?The schools again.After a 2 1/2 haitus from textbooks,instead of working,we are brought back into the world of lectures and tutorials again.How grown up do you feel,carrying textbooks and doing tutorials?Sure,you're an twenty something now...but there's hardly any difference from that of being a JC student...besides the fact that you don't have to wear uniforms.You can play dress-up,play dress down or don't wear clothes and get arrested.You can have all the girlfriends you want and have all the wanton sex in the world without getting nicked for statutory rape.That's about it.You still don't earn your own keep (ok,some do actually.I do know some people who work night shifts while they were studying.So during daytime lecftures and tutorials,these are the same guys who are fast asleep in class.I do admire them for they do.Juggling work and studies is not easy) and your spending is still restricted to how much your parents give you.Seriously,I feel secretly asahmed of myself for still taking money from my parents despite being twenty something.In other countries,I'd have moved out and started supporting myself or even my own family.

NS and university practically occupied half of my twenty something decade.Institutions that don't necessarily make you feel grown up.By the time,I graduated,I was 24/25...it was only then that I started my work career...or whatever you call it.Worklife was something people in their youth looked immensely forward to...simply because it always seems to glamourous.Maybe it's the way TV and movies potrayed working life...but even wearing office clothes seemed pretty cool.It's like,you know,when you are working,you have arrived.You earn your own money.You can have your own credit cards.You are somebody.No.It's doesn't quite turn out that way.

Sure,you earn your own money.But now,you are forced to deal with crappy job scopes,horrible company culture,backstabbing colleagues,office politics and your pay might not even be all that good.Working life simply isn't all that we were looking forward to,it's nowhere as glam as it's cracked up to be.There are so many things about working life that nobody told us about.It wasn't supposed to be so bad.Yet it is.And you're spending the latter part of your twenty something life embarking on a journey atht'd continue to your fifities or sixties.

I'm 27 now.With three more years to go before I leave the twenty something phase and become a three-zero year-old man.My twenties seemed to have passed me by,faster than I thought it would.It started with a blur in the army,continued as a school life in the mids and have rolle don as working adult until now (and forevermore).I never feel like I have changed or indeed anything has changed.How did seven years go by like this?Isn't this supposed to be the goldern age?And I'm sitting down here typing a blog?Who'd have imagined that?Not me when I was in JC.You always have these grandiose dreams about your career,how successful you'd be by the time you hit 3-0.Where am I now?Nowhere near what I hoped I would be.

I feel amazed sometimes that I am 27 now...because I don't feel like it.But when I do,it's sometimes with a tinge of regret.Because so much time has passed me by.Sometimes when I go out with my friends,they'd say things like they wished if they could relive a certain part of their lifes,they'd do something different...pick up something they didn't,love someone they rejected,work harder where they failed...etc.I have never looked back and reminisced much.Because what has transpired,what has happened is over and cannot be brought back to the present.As Robbie Williams said...No regrets,they don't work.Leaving it all behind is a far better option than continually revisiting it.What lies ahead does not have to do (not necessarily anyway) with the past.

Weird,weird,weird.At the end of the day,I almost have no idea what I am trying to say.Is it the idea that time has passed me by faster than I thought...or that life is nowhere near past expectations?Could be both.Or might just be about nothing.