the distinct line between trainees and instructors have been fading at an astonishing rapid rate. somehow, we are more like friends than colleagues. the transition is difficult for me, but i guess i ll have to pick up some skills to deal with that. i aint no natural.
we had late night sarpino s pizza on thursday, a crazy kampung fight, an early bookout for prata breakfast outside our 'beloved' nee soon, and a hell of a time at bottle tree park yet again. this time it wasnt prawns, it was WAR. paint war! haha it was fun, but PAINtFUL. i sustained some battle scars being a hero who charged to the frontline of exchanging fire. the paintball may be small, but it caused some serious bruising. there was blood too. but i guess it was all worth it in the spirit of fun and competiveness.
next up was LAN, just outside our future 'beloved' chong pang. it was amazingly fun, considering i m no LAN fella. it has been a long time since i touched l4d2. and it felt good to be actually one of the better ones at it that day.
after 2 hours, it was food yet again! xiao long bao buffet at crystal jade holland village once more. the good stuff came too slow! i was almost filled by the steamboat by the time our full orders came. but it was a good meal nonetheless. the end of course cohesion was a success overall.
as i was heading home at tampines interchange, i was stopped by one of those surveyors with a pen and stack of papers. being in a good mood and had lots of time to waste, i decided to listen to what she had to say. somehow, the statement made by the famous tangs plaza underpass busker struck me. he said something like this "i hope singaporeans will slow down their pace and listen." of course he was referring to his music, but i thought yea, maybe i should just slow down and see what this people want. i totally understand the sucky feeling of having millions of people zoom past you while you are trying to your job. (FLAG DAY)
so anyway, she was introducing some savings scheme for students and NSFs to save 3% of their monthly income, instead of the usual 0.01% interest when thrown into the bank. she said she would earn $0.50 if i filled the particulars form, and $1 if i followed her to her booth to collect some brochures. ok, so i being a nice soul that day, decided to help out. instead, another guy appeared at the so called 'booth' which was just an empty mcdonald s table and started to display the usual salesman behaviour - build rapport by talking about similar experiences like NS and uni, then display some professional knowledge and persuasive skills.
after trying to retort their scheme by pointing out that 3% is too little, and i could get way higher interests with my assets by other means of investment, he came up with some lame counter that i can put in lesser money with them. then i rebutted with 'what s the point in putting in so little to collect probably just $20 after 1 whole year which i might spend in a single meal??'
their jaws just dropped.
apparently, i wasnt that stupid as i looked. i asked them twice about their company but they kept shunning telling more about it.
but i didnt have enough just yet. i shot back at them with a last question. why are they targeting students and NSFs despite knowing their disposable income is so little? some hardly have $10 to save, and the amount of effort to get the large number of kids to make up for one rich working adult who can contribute so much more is tremendous.
the guy who claims he was from NBS said with an unconvincing smile that the company s aim is to help the target group. i ended the conversation with,"dun kid me, i study economics too, and i know that all commercial companies have the primary objective of making profits." and i stood up, offered a handshake and walked off. the feeling was awesomeeee.
it was obvious that they cant convince the working adults to put their money with this minnow company who might be just starting up and now they are targeting adolescents who can be easily conned into signing 25 year contracts and freezing their assets when they could be used for a better return.
from that moment, i realised the immense importance of education and financial literacy, which i guess might well be my route in future.
yesterday. driving, which went very smoothly. i m pleased with my learning pace. fighting out on the main roads was thrilling but i m glad i managed well.
headed down to 15 minutes Cafe at Lasalle College for dinner with ying, reub, shawn, tong, jer, his gf and friend. it was supposed to be a celebration for his birthday coming up next week. the place was nice but a lil too cold. jackston joined later and met up with ivan for another session of INTENSE l4d2. once again, i returned to become the noob of the group, but didnt play that badly. improving! great time spent, but ended at 1plus only to catch the night owl for an hour s ride home alone.
men - social creatures. how would i thrive without these people around me? really appreciate the company of these wonderful people in my life. even though some people simply love teasing me for apparently no reason at all. hahah. good try dudes, but nope, not true. :)
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