My First Letter from a Law Firm

Yesterday, Dad passed me a letter from the mailbox.

A letter from a law firm. Can't be anything good.

I viciously tore off the envelope to see what the contents entailed. To my shock, I found that M1 has decided to send me a Letter of Demand for the $261 I owe them! Plus the lawyer firm's fees, I now owe them $314!

It is a long story but summarily, I owe M1 (the smallest telecommunications company in the country) my last phone bill which was $61 but they decided to tag an extra $200 for "breaking my contract" after I jumped ship to SingTel following iPhone's release. But, my contract was over two years ago, I argued. They then said they gave me a 50% discount off my regular bills about a year ago, and that constituted an extension of contract. But I wasn't told anything about any extension of contract! It seemed more like a loyalty reward more than anything else.

So, a very peeved me decided not to pay them the $261 till the dispute was resolved.

And hence came the lawyer's letter.

Well done, M1. I will never be your customer ever again. Take the bloody $314 as a parting gift. You could have made more from me in the future but your myopic business sense and Neanderthal customer service is simply legendary in my eyes.

Lastly, thanks - and fuck you back.

Just me, my thoughts and my keyboard

I was just ruminating...

... that exactly a year ago, I was lying in hospital from dengue fever.

Fast forward a year later to present, things are very much different.

I'm not sure about you but I do now think that things happen for a reason, good or bad. Previously when the shit hits the fan, I start to question my spiritual beliefs, why He is not helping, why is He letting it happen, etc.

I now communicate very well with God and I feel totally at peace spiritually. I look forward to Sunday masses now whereas (get ready for this) it used to be a drag sometimes in the past (oops!).

Things are going on well for me in my studies and training but I do wish time can pass faster during the studying!

Back to the dengue fever episode, it made me sit up and look around at the loved ones around me and realisation hits - lightning streaked across the sky, thunder rumbled and my eyes opened - that the one who was not there should not be a loved one anymore.

The Delete button was pressed and with it went all dodgy hopes and any clinging optimism along with it. Fresh water was poured into the then-empty glass.

I did not enjoy being ill and lying on the hospital bed, waiting for time to pass (where in reality it crawled). But I did enjoy the three weeks of medical leave after that. The mornings of leisurely walks to the coffeeshop to have my coffee, toast bread and eggs while catching up on the morning paper. They may not be expensive truffles or equally pretentious earl grey, but they brought out the best experience of that "sick" period. The rest of the morning was usually filled in with DVDs (I remember Click and Gwen Stefani very well) and a nap. And not to forget those mornings of medical reviews at Mount E along Orchard, followed by leisurely shopping walks and lunches with Cheryl who tottered out of her Wheelock Place office before her other colleagues do! Oops!

I do miss the days at my ex-company. The whole days of doing nothing but talking to other colleagues and acting busy (when workload is light, of course). And especially the days of rushing through proposals with the chums and meeting the datelines (and hence avoiding being screwed). The satisfaction of seeing through a successful project and restraining the impulse to retort arrogant management fools.

Ah... those were the days.

Apologies if this post doesn't make sense at all. I will try to blog more often, just give me some time to rediscover my writing touch and blogging prose.

A Very Late Update

After a long hiatus and some pushing by Sam, I finally got down to putting this update down before my procrastinating Dark Side keeps me away from doing it again.

It's been such a long time since I updated the blog. Basically since I left my previous company and joined the new one - about 16 weeks ago. Gosh, it has been so long ago! Yet it felt like only yesterday that I was sitting in my old spacious cubicle and slacking surfing working.

Where I am working now, I got no cubicle, not if you count the 1m by 1m desk that I am using now. I must say the on-job training is wonderful, curriculum well structured and will lead me to professional accreditation. The instructors are experienced and knowledgeable though I do feel that they are erratic sometimes, which puts you off from asking them questions. To them, a question is an insult to their teaching ability and as welcome as a fart in a crowded lift. Nonetheless, the old-school methods used in some of the training exercises are truly amazing.

Oh yes, I do enjoy the flying around very much too :)

In a nutshell, there is not a single minute that I regretted choosing this new job over the last, though I had to take a severe pay cut and being put through the most gruelling training I have ever been on. But I'm savouring every minute of it. I have always wondered what I have always wanted to do and never been able to find an answer, but today I can honestly say that what I am doing now is something that I will want to do for the rest of my career.

I now have a new group of colleagues. Some good, some bad, some neither here nor there, but some are truly detestable. Good friends are hard to find these days, but I am glad to have found a small clique within to hang out with. We help each other out during the training and keep everyone on par with the curriculum so no one gets left behind.

There is also a group of soccer mates to have a game with after our training ends for the day. We play once weekly but so far I have been nearly injured twice so I guess I won't find it a hurry to join them any time soon.

The first phase of the training will end next February. The second phase will take me to Perth, Western Australia for about a year and thereafter to Brisbane for a further couple of months.

I'm looking forward to it!