Daddy, Brother, Lover & Little Boy

I thought I haven't blogged for quite long but my previous entry was on 16th January, so just over a month ago. So, it's not so bad lah.

Anyways, I've been up to my eyebrows with work, and I am frantically looking for part-time help . Somebody who can do some mouse-pushing for me so that I can breathe. I need freelance web designers who are familiar with the basics of HTML, and Flash programmers too. No need to be proficient in ActionScript, just copy and paste some codes. I think. Hehehe..

Aiyah, Imah was asking me just now - "You are working even on weekends? Like that no life sia!". Oh man, I haven't heard that kind of question for quite long now, and it is quite a relief not to hear it. And some people actually assume that my life is work, and work is my life. I'd say to them, if that's really the case, might as well you don't live.

Lots of people don't actually know (or can't think that way) that partly the reason why I made the decision to cease being a 'salaryman' was that I wanted to have more control of my own life, this life I am living in now.

I think the problem with most people is that they have a sort of a difficulty imagining somebody else's life which is different from them, or from most people. What they don't see, or what they don't hear - the automatic response is to assume. And I kinda HATE people who assume. Well, hate is an extreme word lah but I think most people are guilty of it. It's one of those things which doesn't take much brains to achieve, so there you go..

It's just like somebody who will maybe see me around the shopping malls or library during office hours (9 - 6pm) and automatically assume that I am either a student (yeah, some people think I can pass of as a student. Hehehe..) or someone who is unemployed.

Well, this is not so bad lah. I don't really care but sometimes I just wonder if people don't have the capability to open up their minds and think that people who are out at 3pm maybe people like me, who run their own businesses. Everytime I walk anywhere in town during the day, I've never failed to congratulate myself for not being tied down to others' time and rules. It's great to be able to control your life a little bit more.

Of course, on the other hand, for people like me who run their own design-related businesses, the downside is that I have to work according to my various clients' requirements and timelines. Worse, is that sometimes my clients are at the mercy of their clients. True, I can actually not accept some jobs because the deadline is unrealistic but most of the time, I try to accept them because I am just starting out, and I want to start out on a positive note, and help as much clients as I can.

Wow, it's been more than half a year since I left my full-time job, and it's been almost half a month since I've moved in to my new office at Hongkong Street. Time really flies, man. But things are not really settled yet.

I am at another one of those crossroads now. I have to decide to progressively cease to do the actual labour, and start focusing on a direction. Well, if you don't already know - I am my own marketing person, my own administrator, my own art director, my own designer, my own programmer and my own accounts guy.

In between doing the actual drawing on my trusty iMac at the office (my Vista PC at home sucks big time), I have to prepare design proposals, quotations, invoices, budgeting for the office (rental and electricity), reply emails and look to the changes required, do research for the prospective projects that potential clients are asking me to pitch for, learn new software. It doesn't help too that designers like me need all the peace and quiet, to think and internalise the instructions, think of creative ways to solve problems both visually and systems-wise, then finally check for text errors (if any) and stare at the artwork and convince ourselves that this looks just about right. That the client will love it.

At the same time, help my uncle and father start up an import/export business. Find out the rules and regulations, source for materials, settle the registration and everything else.

So, yes Imah. To answer your question, THIS is my life right now. I have made that decision, and I will carry my goals through. Some people just have to learn that everybody's own little worlds are different. They look different, they smell different, they feel different.

And don't worry, I will just have to continue finding ways to juggle all these - my business, my client relations, my personal relationships (girls, family, friends) and of course, my music.

It doesn't help too that my new office at Hongkong Street is so bloody convenient. I can walk to Boat Quay (just across the road) and Clarke Quay (5 minutes walk). So, everytime my friends visit me, we will automatically go to either of these two places for drinks. And some of my clients have offices around Raffles Place too. So, meetings with them will usually be drinks at Boat Quay. Oh man...

I am actually quite enjoying the music - two bands right now in fact. With Charlie, Jostian, Ernest and Mariel, we are practising for a mini concert cum birthday celebration in May, and with Addy and Zakie, we are constantly playing to de-stress and re-live the old days of Mat Rock music and the current Top 40s.

The friendship I have forged with them, the goals we share, the fun we have - is all but enjoyable and I am constantly grateful. It's just that I have to constantly listening to the music, memorise the lyrics, and at the same time keep myself reasonably healthy enough to be able to actually sing and perform the songs well.

So, to each his own ya?

Don't worry k, Imah? Maybe I will just do a photo blog to document all the places I go, all the people I meet, and what we say and do. My father would LOVE something like that, because he LOVES to assume things, for some reason. I suspect he will not be able to sleep properly if he cannot assume anything at least once a day.

Well, that is IF I can find the time to load every picture in, edit and resize them and post them in sequence nicely. Being the perfectionist that I am.

Then I don't have to work and I will not have money liao. Just like my friend Ai Lin said -

"You can just live on air mah.."

Tsk tsk...

Ps. I don't really feel like doing a proper blog entry lah, too exhausted. Last night reached home about 3am, then woke up this afternoon to find that I almost lost my voice, and Addy said that Irah (his wife) need us to perform this Saturday at some company function. So, had to go for a last minute practice session just now, with my voice still raw and not yet fully rested and recovered. Gosh!