the life and times of jason phoon

When I was younger, I always wondered why adults were so secretive about their salary. I once asked a man how much he earned from direct marketing, and he refused to disclose the amount. Took me a while but I think I finally figured it out.

Lets say Mr A asks Mr B how much he earns. There’s only 4 outcomes to this:

1. A earns more than B, which makes B sad.
2. B earns more than A, which makes A sad.
3. One of them lies, which makes both sad
4. They both earn the same (however unlikely)

The last one however, brings up other comparisons such as “But I work so much harder!”, “But he’s in IT!”, “But I’m a doctor!”. No matter what happens, one party will end up disastisfied with their current salary. You don’t wanna make someone sad do you ? (unless you’re a jerk)

Any other ideas why its not so nice to talk about salary?

It all started with a wall post on Facebook. Or was it when she added me as a friend ? Or maybe it was when we met through a mutual friend. To be honest, I didn’t really remember her back then (I’m a very forgetful person). I would never have guessed how things turn out later.

So back to the wall post, it was just a simple “hey, how have you been?”. I found out that she’s studying in Brisbane, where I used to be and that was our common topic for a while. It was only after a hundred posts later that we added each other on msn. That’s when the real fun began.

I asked her out on a ‘date’, which was basically a bunch of notes about a few places in Brisbane. It was a ‘virtual’ tour of a few favorite places of mine along with a story about what I did here and there. I liked that she referred to it as a ‘date’ (but I found out later, its just a date, not a date date). She surprised me by printing a photo (a least likely one, I might add) and bringing ‘me’ along for the date. ‘We’ both had a great time.

It was at this time, that I bought a webcam to chat with her. We’ve spoken on webcam everyday since (except for one time, she was sick and slept early). I guess we’re flirting by now, even having another ‘date’. This time, we just had our favorite instant noodles while chatting on webcam. Was such a silly thing, but we had fun anyways. She makes me grin like an idiot, and apparently she grins too. You know, the kind of grin two people have when they’re in …..

So anyways, I’m smilling ear to ear, thinking about her now. I have a few nicknames for her; ‘almond eyes’ , ‘buttcakes’. (Arent you glad that ‘buttcakes’ isn’t the title of this blog post). I guess we haven’t settled down on a nickname yet, be it ‘dear’, ‘baby’, ‘sweetie’ etc. We chat before sleeping, we give each other nicknames, I put her photo as my phone wallpaper. So I ‘confessed’ to her by holding up a piece of paper, written on marker; I LIKE YOU, as if it wasn’t obvious enough.

Sigh, if only she wasn’t 4000 miles and 14 million seconds away.

Hi guys! No comics because I’ve been busy on the webcam.

That’s right folks, I’m abandoning my comic duties, video games and time magazines, to chat with someone 3000 miles away.

Wish she was here, or I was there. Whatever …

I asked a girl out last Saturday. We walked by the river and I brought her to a few of my favorite places.

Oh yeah, that was 3000 miles away.

Got to know a girl recently, and we’ve been talking on msn, phone and facebook. She’s studying in the same place I was 2 years ago and I thought of something interesting. I wrote a ‘tour’ of my life in Brisbane, with a path throughout a few places. Accompanying each location is a short story of what I did in that exact place. Some are happy, some are sad but they’re all nostalgic.

The girl actually printed a photo from my facebook (the one above) and went through the path, while snapping photos. I thought I was creative, coming up with this ‘virtual date’ idea, but she 1-UPed me! She pasted the photos and wrote an accompanying story of her walk. People must think that she’s crazy, taking photos of herself and that printed photo of me everywhere. Well, she’s my kind of crazy anyways.

I talked to her on the phone the night before, and I think she had me at hello.

Wonder what’s next?

… kinda sucks. I think people who say “single life is great!” are only saying that to make themselves feel better. Sure, they say they love the freedom to do whatever they want, flirt with whoever and not commit. Probably fun for a while, but not for a year!

Yes! Its been a WHOLE year since I’ve been with anyone. There had been close encounters here and there, but it didn’t work out one way or another. Am I picky ? Is there something wrong with me? Is there something wrong with women ? (I think the answer is the last one).

About this time last year, I got my heart ripped to shreds by this ex of mine. Oh yeah, we’re good friends now but I don’t understand why she did what she did. I don’t want to know either, but that 7 year old story is over as far as I know. The other day, I tried bringing up old memories just to feel something, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t even feel sad. Does that mean I can’t feel anything anymore? OH NO

Its not like I can complain to my best friend either. She’s even more cynical than me, although I suspect she’s actually really soft inside. Plus, she never approves of any girls I date/interested in, so something I keep it a secret. I don’t know, I don’t approve of hers either, perhaps we’re a bit too over-protective. You see, if she dates someone, that means less time to hang out with me and vice-versa so we’re not entirely unbiased I supposed.

Speaking of that, I’m kinda interested in someone right now. Too early to say, but I’m just trying to get to know her better. My radar is way off and I can’t tell if she’s interested. I don’t even know what to do anymore! I’m rusty!

The less I say about that, the better!

This is 1/3rd of the SD room

I’ve been meaning to blog about work for a while now. The reason I hesitated to do so was because I felt that it was too early to tell if things were going well. I’ve been working a month now and I’m glad to say that work is great!

I develop web applications to support the Enterprise Service Desk (more like a call center) division of CSC (Computer Sciences Corporation). They have about 400 people employed so if you can imagine a huge cubicle farm housing 200 people (during the day and another 200 at night), that’s kinda where I work. They provide support for companies such as Maybank, Rio Tinto, Estee Lauder and BHP.

It took me a while to get used to things. I don’t fit in any hierarchy or any team except I report to the big fish of the SD division himself. Imagine the organization chart, where he has 11 managers under him, team leaders under those 11 and the rest of the 400 people in seperate teams. Now draw a box with my name on it, and draw a line to the boss. (I also sit outside of the SD department).

I’ve never worked in a big company before, so this was a huge difference for me. I think I’m a good position because I don’t have to deal with office politics (since I’m out of the hierarchy) and I can  just concentrate on my work. I report straight to the center manager and the other people are glad to help me if I need something, so it works out for me.

Well, I just completed a project and the boss is glad with my work. He also told me that there are several projects lined up for me and other managers have noticed me as well. Usually I wouldn’t like to hear this, as this would mean more work and probably some overtime. Fortunately, my boss respects my deadlines, never micro-manages, doesn’t expect me to work overtime and doesn’t check on me until the deadlines arrives.

As compared to my previous job, this job is more flexible, better hours (9 to 5ish), better pay and a better environment as well. So in a nutshell, work’s great so far!

Its been a while since I’ve updated my about page. Instead of writing one myself, I’m including a little piece wrote by my best friend Farah on my birthday:

“… Jason has a big heart and is a generous guy, he is easy going, fun to be with and best of all, he doesn’t judge. I’m not sure if he doesn’t judge, of he’s just incapable of judging. But either way, it works well for him and others. I’m sure all of you can agree nobody doesn’t like Jason! He’s Mr Nice Guy! In fact, I’d call him Mr WAY TOO nice guy. He’s the best person to talk cock with, talk shit and at the same time, talk about intellectual stuff and life. I admire his openness to learning and willingnes to stretch himself to grow. In other words, he takes life by the horns and embraces its teachings. For a 26 year old, he is a masters graduate and working in a manegerial position already. He is living up to his age in terms of maturity …. but not the girlfriend and settling down part. So in THAT sense, you’re a 26 year old slacker!

To me, Jason is the bestes friend that I could ever ask for. We have been with each other through good times and bad, laughter and tears. He has never judged me which is something I highly value. I can talk to him about anything and everything and that’s what makes our friendship so special – the fact that we can totally be ourselves with each other and still have each others support and respect. We also keep ourselves in check and give each other feedback that helps us grow. There are not many friends who can have that with each other without maintaining the same level of comfort, but Jason and I haev that that’s what makes our friendship special

Jason, I value your opinions, your company, your kindness, your XBOX … I could go on, but I would like to preserve some of the nice things for future birthday speeches. If everyday I were to write 5 things I’m grateful for, you’d be on that list every day. Thank you for being my best friend, my bro, thank you for existing, thank for you being in my life.

Lets raise your glasses to Jason, to friendship and to many more birthdays, cheers to an awesome guy all around .. “