and another Gene whom I happened to meet for lunch just a few weeks ago (and whom I can't seem to find a picture of at the moment.. ish).
Just like a lot of my other friends, Gene has now come back to be a very high-flying professional, a lawyer... at one of the best law firms in Malaysia.
As we sat down for lunch at Carls Junior exchanging stories of what we've been up to since graduation, Gene suddenly found the courage to say
"Tim... you're very different now from how you were back at university."
I raised an eyebrow"Huh?? You mean different as in fatter? Yes I know I'm fat now".
And she replied
"No... different as in.. you used to be a very happy person. Now you often look very tensed up and stressed and we can't even have a proper lunch ON A SUNDAY because you keep getting all these phone calls from clients".
I was appalled.. is my work taking over me.. beginning to consume me as a person?
I took it lightly until recently when I was in Bangkok I got into a fight with *ahem* because we spent our last day in Bangkok in the hotel room while I talked business in the hotel room rather than actually going out.
Same fight different day lah."You're on HOLIDAY!!! Why can't you just forget all that now?"
"I have to work lah! How do you think I earn the money to come here in the first place?"
So now that I know that maybe... just maybe it is possible that I've started losing it and becoming very addicted to work but to say that I am very different from who I was a few years ago back at university is..... shocking.
Okay why don't you guys be the judge.
This is how I looked like 5 years ago.
Hahahaha no I'm kidding. That's my friend Joe who went to Cambridge University.Okay.. THIS is how I looked like 5 years ago (on the left).
This is how I looked like 4 years ago (second from the left).
This is how I looked like 3 years ago
This is how I looked like 2 years ago (the one on the right).
This is how I looked like 1 year ago (the one on the left... duh the one on the right of course) :P
And this is how I look like today.
Do I look any less happier?I don't really see why and I can't really see why I should. Sure I tend to work a lot sometimes at the oddest hours but I love my work because I love the people it involves.
I love my colleagues at Nuffnang who are also passionate, full of energy and always happy to crack a joke.
I love some of my clients who pay us money but yet treat me like their closest friends.I love some of the nicest bloggers out there who are ever so supportive of what Nuffnang does.
So what is there not to love about work?
Ming in one of his previous internet ventures had this tagline
"If you ain't fun, you aren't doing it right".
I think maybe... just maybe... we're doing it right.
30 comments:
boss, bend over now and you'll be 'happy'. lol
chill boss... loving ur work is 1 of d best things u can ever get, bt den dere shud still b room for privacy of ur own life dat really has no connection to ur work at all... sumtimes it is important to disconnect from work... imagine later in life when u hav wife n kids, n u r still addictedly attached to ur work rather den ur family.. wudnt dat suck? from wad i c up till nw, u r kinda headed dat way lohh... hehehe... peace...
no worries.. you are doing it right !! keep up the great work !
Echo super gentlemen.
While we hardly talk, I do think you are way too occupied with your work till we don't have time to eat fu zhuk bah kut teh anymore.
ahhahah "ahem" actually told me about the incident. hehe
haha i laughed out REALLY loud when i see the photo of u with the mask.. LOL!!
Your Joe friend didn't pose in Cambridge right? It's in London somewhere, I think. Covent Garden, is it? or Camden Market? If it's Cambridge I'd recognise the building straight away! :p
robb: haha!
super: i'm not sure how i can just disconnect for even a few days. people whether its my clients or team always need to reach me.
chee fei: haha thank u
jason: sniff.. that's true.. i'm sorry jason
ky: and did u side me or *ahem*?
couthie: hahaha!
monica: no that pictures was taken in covent garden :P
OMG, pic frm 3 yrs ago, girl in pink, tht's Emily rite? Ooo, I'm so gonna wanna gonna add u on FB now, ROFL! O_O ... U actually knew 1 of my ex-classmate. I think I mite need to stalk u b4 u stalk me man, LOL JK.
tim, i think you're going for a burnout if you can't learn to let go.
i agree with super gentlemen.
there has to be room for privacy and there has to be room for work.
"If you ain't fun, you aren't doing it right".
This tagline, when you're on holiday and ain't having fun, you ain't doing it right too.
off your phone when u're on holiday..as simple as that..:P
erm... u look happy as always.... :P
by the way... how do u keep urself look alike after so many years??? no changes at all @@''
still very funny n happy la boss..
well...loving your job is great, but if it eats into your personal time especially when you are with *ahem*, then i think it's a strong point for consideration. *ahem* wants to feel important and wanted and needs your attention on her....not on your phone. Women are just wired like tat.
I was once asked to read a book and the title says "Everything You Need To Know About Women!". Low and behold when I turn the pages, it was all blank!! So it's telling me there's absolutely nothing you need to know or understand but just simply love them! Don't ask me why, it's just how God wired men and women so differently.
So take heed boss...you wouldn't spoil what you have with *ahem* now right?
Ha.
since u hav owes emphasize on hw u love ur team n hw dey r so great n stuff, shudnt u b more trusting towards deir capabilities and delegate sum of the workload to dem instead of 'burdening' urself(i noe its no burden cz u love ur job too damn much, hahaz) try to let dem hav a go at it on deir own... i belive ur clients arent dat pushy dat dey demand u to do stuff rite on dat day rite? try answering only really really urgent n important decision making calls nia lohh...
bt all dis is only cuming from a student hu doesnt noe anything bout a business... hehehe... bt no harm trying rite?
stewie you are like the mostly highly strung person i know. understandably so, because you're running your own company and already leading a team of staff at such a young age. plus you are catering to simultaneously the advertising industry and the blogosphere.. respectively two of the most dog-eat-dog and demanding fields there ever was :)
for what it's worth, you and bossming are doing an absolutely fantastic job for two fresh grad n00bs (heehee) and have achieved so much within this one year since nuffnang's birth. i have nothing but the highest respect for you both, especially because you took such a brave move to step away from your family's line of work and do something new and entirely your own.
BUT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD CAN YOU PLEASE TAKE A PROPER HOLIDAY BECAUSE I CAN REMEMBER HOW I USED TO PULL YOUR MANY WHITE HAIRS FOR YOU IN THE OFFICE. I DOWAN *AHEM* TO BE DATING A WHITE-HAIRED STRESSED OUT PERSON!!!!
Dude relax la. Don worry. U wan to be happy now and suffer when ure old mer? LOL.. Of course focuz on career 1st mar. And of cuz Uni life must be happier den working life rite? Well for most case lar. Im skinny now doesnt mean i will be skinny 5 years from now . I don have a gf now doesnt mean i wont have a girl 5 years from now. So chill. XD heheehhehehehehe
I like your 4years ago pic. hiak hiak..
u're doing fine. seriously... so it's not something to worry about
err boss..the pic of you 3 years ago with 2 hot chicks didn't seem too happy as well..the smile so fake..LOL..
i know you are very happy deep down in your heart..
:) there is nothing wrong with loving what you do, but there will be something wrong if you never learn to take a proper holiday! u need to be sent where there is no reception and no internet for a weekend, maybe, just maybe, you'll get that holiday that people say you should get!
Retardedly: hahaha yes that’s Emily! Small world it is :P
Dcyk: Ahh how much longer u think before I burn out?
Fong88: wah like that then what will happen to Nuffnang by the time I come back?
Jolenesiah: hahahaa… ermm… drink lots of water…
Genova: thank u genova :P
Vic: But my work needs my attention toooo!!!
Super: well yeah that’s true.. and they have managed to run the team without me around quite well but there are still some things that I have had to handle
Pinky: thank you very much for your very very kind words pinky. Don’t forget you were once part of the team that brought us to where we are today.
Jacky: hahaha okok dude… thanks :P
Ahlost: why lah… do I look different then?
Slacker: thank u dude :P
Jenkin: hahaha!!!
Muffy: no internet? No mobile phone reception? That happened to me when I was on a cruise last year.. my gosh I nearly jumped into the sea to swim back
eh boss...when a woman loves a man, she will give him HER WORLD, HER EVERYTHING. So i think a couple of uninterrupted hours with *ahem* is not too much to ask for comparing with the whole time you are working la.
think abt it ;-)
don't take things for granted until something happens and it may turn into regrets.
You know, Tim, what Gene and us meant the other day is mostly that you looked stressed out throughout the entire lunch, which we rarely see you do back in the UK. Even if you don't really feel it, you look it.
Still, if you enjoy the work and this whole being in work all the time feels natural to you, then I say go ahead. You're lucky you have a career where you're in control - I say milk it for all it's worth, other 'more important priorities' are just time-wasters.
Wow! I like the time-cross to the past. In 5 years, people will not looked the same. Hm...
I side with *ahem*, such a good *ahem* where to find. Just one day accompany *ahem* and don't think about work cannot meh?
i have nothing to say other than this... KEEP IT UP!! i'm sure many of us who are in Nuffnang DID ENJOY being a Nuffnanger!!! However, if you need a time to really keep yourself out of the real world, feel free to do so man, JUST REMEMBER TO COME BACK!! =)
that is so sweet la tim.. and i dunno why but you look really good in the 4 years ago pic. It's either cause of the country :P or the people :P either way :P
Thank you so much for sharing your story. It's very informative. I love to read it and do hope to read your next story.
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