familiar ground February 26, 2008
Posted by youppe in business, investment, personal.add a comment
Petronas Carigali-operated rig in the Caspian Sea, offshore Turkmenistan. more Turkmenistan pics coming soon…
.
i am back on familiar ground, and extremely busy.
when i arrived at KLIA, i picked up the Sun, and i was dismayed. it was full of BN-crap. there goes the last of the ‘free-est’ mainstream newspaper, bought off by Berjaya Group‘s Vincent Tan some time back. it made me sick. have you make up your mind on who to vote for? if you need any enlightenment, or encouragement, don’t hesitate to text me. owh i’ll show the way!!
talk about being sick, i finally have the chance to visit some friends who got ‘sick’ while i was away. Lin Yun Ling (founder & MD for 27 years) further trimmed down his stake in Gamuda, sending its share price to an all-time low, on fear that he was cashing out. about RM 1 was slashed overnight, cutting its market cap by more than RM 2 billion. ouch, that would make some people very sick, for sure.
errr.. did i say i am extremely busy?
7 hours to go.. February 16, 2008
Posted by youppe in personal.1 comment so far
and my bags are still empty.
i’ll be going to Turkmenistan for a week, from 17/2 to 22/2. Turk-what, you say? well, most people are not familiar with the country, but in the oil industry, Turkmenistan is common. yeah, they’re oil-rich, and gas-richer. Petronas already has a big operation there, as they were granted exploration licenses up to 20 years, if i’m not mistaken. so on-queue, Scomi will also be there (if you know what i mean, ehehe). i’ll be staying in a hotel (don’t remember the name) in the capital city, Ashgabat. one of my schoolmate is there, working for Schlumberger, but he’s actually in Balkanabat, which is like 400km away from the capital (according to him). hopefully we can meet, but it’s a long shot.
after going to the likes of Kemaman, Kerteh & Pasir Gudang, this is my first worktrip out of the country. i am excited, of course. but it’s winter in Turkmenistan, and i’m kinda not a ‘cold’ person (that sounds funny, ahaha). according to our correspondences there (and Yahoo! Weather) the average temperature is -4°C, and it’s snowing. that’s damnnn cold, man!!! i hope i’d be fine, wish me well, won’t you?
my Kuala Lumpur-Bangkok-Ashgabat flight will (hopefully) takeoff at 9am, which is 7 hours from now. i will be back on Friday night, and i hope i could make it in time (without jetlag) to the QUEST Dinner at Tropicana next Saturday. so see you guys in a week, i guess.
i should get back to my bags now.
ROSE OR BLOOD? February 14, 2008
Posted by youppe in personal.8 comments
it’s Valentine’s Day.
yesterday i went to the fortnightly meeting of Shell-Scomi Toastmasters Club that i was forced to join by my boss a member of. the theme of the day was of course – Valentine’s Day – and as you can imagine, there were bound to be some emotional, controversial & awkward moments among the well-mixed crowd (err.. some 20 people or so). but admittedly, there were some good points (as always) being discussed about the topic which really got me thinking. one worthy quote from yesterday was..
“.. in some ways, Valentine’s Day underrates love..”
apart from the controversial events associated to it, why do you need a specific day in a year to ‘show’ your love? what about the rest of the 364 days, did you show your anger, frustration, resentment, irritation, etc? i just don’t get the whole concept. i know, some people say it’s good to have a day in a year to ‘celebrate’ love. but love, in all its glory, is so commercialized on this day so that some people could make profit out of it. the ‘banners’ of love is everywhere, as much as the ‘promotions’ for it. Cinemas, florists, eateries, credit cards, etc.. everyone is taking advantage in the drive to ‘celebrate’ love (not to mention hotels & condom companies, and even safe-sex campaigners will have to do overtime!!).
i always say that beauty is overrated, but love is not. the people that you love, it’s worth celebrating their existence in your life every single day of the year. i believe in love, proudly. i think love is undermined by ‘restricting’ its celebration to a day, when people would take advantage and oversell it, killing its meaning & value (whatever that means). and don’t you think that the other 364 days would just be awkward?
–
–
– (wait for it)
– (wait for it…)
–
but in the midst of all this, i just sent a bouquet of lilies to someone. 😀
WELCOME February 12, 2008
Posted by youppe in general, personal.5 comments
welcome. as fond as i am with my own writings (ehehe) i am not quite sure why i even bother to start a new blog, here at wordpress. though i could be an addictive writer, these days i really couldn’t find the time to indulge myself in blogging, which has become some kind of a guilty pleasure to me. which kinda resulted in the once-in-a-full-moon updates on my previous blog at Friendster.
yeah, maybe because it’s Friendster. real bloggers don’t use Friendster, right? cheesy, ain’t it? ahaha, you must be kidding yourself if you answered right just now. the words are the ones that matter, not the medium. but Friendster is quite cumbersome, i admit to that. i had requests to move to other sites, and i think the timing is right. why?
because my previous blog, aptly named ‘Starcrossed’, is a tome of something. i may not realize it initially, but it is actually just that. it is a compilation (from my point of view) of the chronicle of events unfolding from the day ‘it’ started to the day it ended until today. and unfortunately (for me), it still hasn’t ended. it is an ongoing real-life drama, which i think will have more twists and turns in the future.
‘Starcrossed’ aside, i hope by separating the blogs i could find the time and interest to be more involved, because honestly, i like writing. besides MUSIC, it is my other way of losing myself when i just have to be anywhere but here. (yeah, i’ve been sober and clean for a long time now)
WELCOME.
ps.. check out the links i put in here. they’re certainly worth your time.
LINES IN SAND 