k r i s a n d r o

With the every growing popularity of social media tools in the internet such as blogging, twittering, plurking,  facebook, friendster and WLM, it’s no wonder that people start to use less of other traditional forms of communication like landlines and handphones.

[Image from here]

I remember my first encounter with the internet was back in secondary school when I joined this ECA called ‘Media Resource Club’(MRC). The school purchased about 3 to 4 computers in the library and they are connected to the internet. I was with 2 other friends and we logged on to explore. I distinctly remembered going to Yahoo! and the very first term I search for was,

“Amy Yip”

WAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAAH!!!!!!

Younger generations won’t know who she is but let’s just say that she was pretty popular back in the days for her erm… assets.

=D

Anyway, I soon acquired my own computer and a 56K modem and I was connected! I used mIRC to make all sorts of new friends and stayed connected with them through ICQ. Papers constantly reported the dangers of the internet during those times and I understood them, but I still proceeded to meet people up. Before all this, I was this introverted geek and the internet really opened me up to chatting and meeting new people up.

Fast forward to now and I am still using the internet to meet a whole lot of people I got to know online through popular social sites and tools.

At least for me, the internet has made me more sociable and enabled me to reach out to a bigger pool of people. Whether or not these relationships can be continued and substained in the real world is still too early to tell. With the right mindset and correct approach, I strongly believe that the internet is a great tool for socializing.

I would love to write on all sorts of topics but I can hardly put words together in a proper paragraph in my drug infused state. So I have decided to present this entry in point form!

• I had fever last night.
• It might be due to the sun as I was out meeting customers in the hot weather.
• If it is due to the sun, I think I am bloody weak.
• I need to jog. My stomach is starting to creep over the edge of my shorts like a nicely baked muffin.
• No, you may not eat the muffin.
• It’s been 6 days with the HP Mini and I loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee it!
• I can use it in my room, on the bus, on the mrt and even when I lao sai (have diarrhoea).
• Only gripes about the product so far are the high power consumption rates and the slowwwww windows Vista.
• No, you may not have the HP Mini.
• I have been Plurking a lot lately.
• Plurk is addictive.
• Twitter is dead.
• You may have Twitter.

Having a regular job now means that I am again subjecting myself to the rush hour where Singaporeans and foreigners come together and rear the ugly side of humanity. I am no angel but I think I might be be given an associate membership into the hall of saints when compared to the kinds of people I see on the train.

Without further a due, I present to you Krisandro’s list of MRT Rules.

1. When on the escalator during rush hour, either keep left or you follow the rushing passengers on the right. Don’t stall the fast lane and tempt me to grab your legs and throw you over the side.

2. When SMRT says they are increasing the number of train trips, it doesn’t mean that you can wake up later. And please don’t look at the screens telling you how long the next train is going to arrive if you have high blood pressure.

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3. If you want to get into the train cabin and you do not let the passengers in the train cabin out first, you deserve to be knocked down by a smelly, sweaty, giant man with huge man-boobs.

4. If you do not move to the center of the train, you deserve to be sodomized by a horny blue whale and wear a tag so that we understand your plight that you cannot move around much.

5. If you will not give up your seat to a pregnant lady or a senior citizen, have the courage to at least PRETEND that you are fast asleep. Stop looking at the lady’s stomach and mentally weighing it against your beer belly and deciding who has the heavier load.

6. The vertical poles in the train cabins are for passengers to hold onto with their hands. If you lean on them with your whole body, I might need to separate your left butt cheek from your right to secure a holding spot and I do not have that much Dettol to cleanse my hand afterwards.

7. If you are blasting your choice of music through your phone speakers, please make sure that your taste in music is at least accepted by 70% of the people who are within earshot. If you are not sure how you can figure that out, please purchase a device called “ear-phones”.

8. The fare you pay for travelling on the MRT entailed you to a limited space. If you need space to hold a copy of The Straits Times fully opened in front of you during peak hours, consider buying an EZ-Link card for the newspaper as well.

9. If you fart or burp in a an MRT cabin, have the courtesy to say ‘excuse me’. If you think people will get angry over it, have the habit of laughing like a hyena as soon as you fart. I can assure you that it will be more amusing than anything.

10. Do not scold me if the train is packed and I am poking your butt from behind. The one who you should scold is the one who is poking my butt. Don’t ask me to push back as well because it will seem as though I am reciprocating.

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Someone I am following on twitter also rightly pointed out that,

“Why is it called the RUSH HOUR, when everything SLOWS to a CRAWL?“
(Please claim your twit as I forgot who said it..)

This is quite a surprise for everyone who is following my blog isn’t it? Most people would think that I am still into photography or the real estate or still trying to sandpaper my face to get into SIA as a cabin crew. I first got to know of an opening through Claudia who is much recognized as the Community Manager at Yebber. In fact, she was just asking casually over WLM,

“Do you know anyone who is interested in a sales/marketing position?”

“Erm…. Me?”

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Wahahahahaa. That was the beginning of my interest in the job as I found out more about it and we subsequently set an interview date with the boss of Yebber on the following Thursday. Oh yes, that was the day I met with the talent scout as well.

No moles, no eyebags, no acne scars!

Armed with a functional resume and an OVERLY photoshopped picture, I made my way down to the office. I was pretty early and since I haven’t ate an ounce of food the whole day, I went to the nearby 7-11 to grab myself a stick of fishballs and a roll of popiah. At the foot of the building where Yebber’s office was at, I wanted to sink my teeth into my brunch when I saw a familiar face from afar. Yes, it was Claudia and beside her was non other than my future boss.

So much for brunch…

Up the building we went and into the interview room, filled up the forms and had a nice long conversation with the boss. I always liked job interviews, It’s the chance for me to create a connection with the interviewer(s). All in all, I think he liked they fact that I spent a good deal of time in the Air Force as an air traffic controller in which he was familiar with, due to a family member. He also see that I share similar interest in the web and photography like the rest of the Yebber family. In his words,

“They are all DSLR crazy!”

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One thing probably stumped him and he asked me,

“If you have so much interest in the web and you own a blog, why haven’t you joined Yebber as a member?”

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I can’t really recall what I answered but after thinking about it back home, I think my answer can be used to study why people like me are not joining Yebber.

Halfway through the interview, I noticed that the way he addressed me and the job was as though I had already clinched it and much to my delight, he hired me on the spot. Wooo Hoooo!!!

I look forward to my days in the Yebber team as this job is quite close to the heart of the blogging community and being such, owning a blog is more of a bonus to the company than a crippling factor. But of course I know that from now onwards, anything I say about Yebber will be thought by you guys as COMPLETE SHAMELESS BIASNESS.

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YEBBER ROCKS!!!

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LOL