This is love

First week at work was somewhat long hours and kinda stressful, cos I was seconded to a client for the week, no safety net of anyone more senior to guide/support me. Work was exactly what I wanted to do though and the opportunity is one that doesn't come around too often, so all's good. :)

My cousin got married over the weekend and the Bible passage they chose for this Easter wedding was one that I really concentrated on that Saturday morning:

1 John 4:9-16
9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

13We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

Thanks cousin, for this reminder of love for others.

Hosanna!

Praise is rising, eyes are turning to You, we turn to You
Hope is stirring, hearts are yearning for You, we long for You
Cause when we see You, we find strength to face the day
In Your presence all our fears are washed away, washed away

We sang Hosanna today during worship and Pastor Reuben preached about Palm Sunday. He talked about how the word Hosanna isn't just a praise, it's also crying "Save us!" and how Palm Sunday was really about presenting and remembering Jesus as the perfect sacrifice. The sacrifice so that each and everyone of us would be saved.

Hosanna, Hosanna
You are the God who saves us
Worthy of all our praises
Hosanna, Hosanna
Come have your way among us
We welcome You here, Lord Jesus

His sermon founds its way into my weary heart today. After all that's happened, I can only say Hosanna, Hosanna, Lord Jesus! It is your perfect love Lord, that gives me the comfort and joy in my darkest moments.

Hear the sound of hearts returning to You, we turn to You
In Your Kingdom broken lives are made new, You make us new

Cause when we see You, we find strength to face the day
In Your presence all our fears are washed away, washed away

Father, thank You for your perfect love, that gives me the comfort and joy in my darkest moments. Thank You, that in Your name, broken lives are made new. Thank You that because of Your love, we are saved. As Easter comes again, I can only say... thank You.

Almost 6 months ago, this song touched my heart so much. Today I want to share it with you, my friends, again:

As we come into Your presence we remember every blessing
That You've poured out so freely from above
Lifting gratitude and praises for compassion so amazing
Lord, we've come to give You thanks for all You've done

Because of Your love, we're forgiven
Because of Your love, our hearts are clean
We lift You up with songs of freedom
Forever we're changed because of Your love

Better food than Singapore?

3 days of eating and chilling by the pool/beach, Penang's the ideal place for that, cos really there ain't much else to do unless you like butterflies and British colonial history.

Given how everyone's always raving about Penang food, on the second day, we got a cabbie to take us around to Penang's 'famous' food stalls.

Penang March 08

Ok lah, it looked like local joints since few tourists and many locals. But honestly though, maybe I'm used to Singapore food, but they were faaaaantastically good, which you'd expect given the way everyone raves about Penang food. Ah well, but it was fun to go around eating small portions of everything.

Only You Lord

Now i come right before You
With my hands lifted up
With my heart humbly bowed
At Your work on the cross
...
No one else can satisfy my soul
Can make me feel this way
Only You Lord, only You

I went into last Sunday's worship feeling that my heart and soul were reaching out to God and yearning to worship Him. I know the reasons why everything in the past 2 months happened (getting the job, suffering on the job, quitting the job) and I know a large part of it was related to pride. As we sang this verse on Sunday, all the emotion I had bottled within came out and I released it to God... indeed, I am humbling myself, listening to God's will for my life and for the first time, I feel peace with my career with no loose ends tugging at it.

I truly believe God has taken me on this personal journey over the past year to learn about myself and to learn about His will for me. No regrets, every step of the way. It may seem unconventional or wishy-washy to others, but I know it was a necessary route my Lord and Saviour wanted me to take. I am stronger for it and ready to face a future with Jesus at the centre of it. This realisation and the release of all my emotions and feelings just led to tears flowing...

I want to share this song that we sang with you, even if it's a familiar song. It's words express what my heart is singing right now:

How Could I Live
Hillsong

How could I live without You
How could I survive
Without Your love
Without Your touch
You're the One that heals me
And cleanses my heart
And sets me free

Now i come right before You
With my hands lifted up
With my heart humbly bowed
At Your work on the cross
As You hang there and die
You were paying the price
For my life, For my life

For Your love is higher than the heavens
Deeper than the seas
And all I want is You in my life
No one else can satisfy my soul
Can make me feel this way
Only You Lord, only You

Bye to the Snake Pit

Yesterday I actually got an email confirming Wed 12th last day and Mon 10th last working day. But today things came to an abrupt end and ended with me being escorted to the door. For the first time in my life, I kiiiiinda understood what it feels like to be let go.

Ah well... am not happy with the way they ended it (those around me know that to be understatement of the century), but end of the day, I won't miss that venomous snake pit.

No good will come from me expressing all the things I want to say about this episode, so let me refrain from doing so. Time to move on...

Prodigal Son

Spoke to my former partner in TAS and told him what had been happening. I had actually been keeping in touch with him over the past year, telling him personally whenever I made a move.

I went in with basically 4 things I could have asked but couldn't be certain he would give. Incredibly, he gave them all:

- Position in financial modelling team
- Manager position (a position I would only be at in July if I had stayed since last year)
- Promise of only modelling work and no accounting valuation/litigation support work
- Help with the M&A team's modelling work

It's a really good offer and is almost like the story of the Prodigal Son according to ky. (Except that he's not my father! hahaha)

I truly believe this is a blessing from God after all the learning experiences I have gone through. Will share on that soon...

Conundrum

I wasn't taking any chances this time. Pris and I mapped out all my possible career options at this point and I insisted on putting it into a table to sort out my thoughts. Anyway, do bear with me as I list of these thoughts (hint: jump to the bottom if you get bored).

1) Investment Analyst in asset management firm

Pro
- exposure to asset management industry and learn from portfolio managers
- can progress onto portfolio management

Con
- could be a very very very significant pay cut (start from bottom)
- less flexibility in taking leave and even then must always keep abreast of news
- no guarantee that can move into portfolio management compared to research analyst

2) Research Analyst

Pro
- get to know in depth knowledge about covered industry
- good pay
- could be interesting work
- can progress onto portfolio management

Con
- can likely only get in at an experienced level whereby expectations of skills are high
- cannot be careless (i am)
- less flexibility in taking leave and even then must always keep abreast of news
- hours may not be good
- could be stressful because work is public document and subsequent market movements testify to the accuracy of your opinions
- target price and opinions often conflicted by bank's IB clients (forced to write buy when you believe sell)

3) Corporate M&A

Pro
- M&A related work and get to do modelling
- Better hours, ok pay, work life balance
- More ownership of work as you experience M&A from a different perspective

Con
- appetite/eagerness for M&A transactions not as great
- opportunities rare
- unlikely to take a chance on me because they need stability
- need to handle and lead a M&A transaction which actual experience to date might not be adequate; need to pretend again
- Mandarin requirement might be a strong possibility
- Location might not be in RP
- Less flexibility in taking leave

4) Corporate Project Finance

Pro
- Project finance related work and get to do modelling
- Better hours, ok pay, work life balance
- More ownership of work as you experience project finance from a different perspective
- A lot more contact with modelling work

Con
- can be very stressful as they expect someone who already has requisite experience
- Less flexibility in taking leave
- no time for you to learn, must know asap

5) EY Financial Modelling

Pro
- Comfortable with pace and work there
- get to learn and work at your own pace without expectation gaps
- no need to prove yourself to bosses
- no loss in position vis a vis previous position

Con
- have to endure peoples' curiosity and possible snide comments
- hours may or may not be fantastic
- poor EY culture

I've left out some of the other options (project finance in bank, commercial due diligence in PwC, more routine type work e.g. product control), but you get the idea.

In the end, I had only one conclusion. My best option was to talk to my former partner and see what came out of it. I prayed about it and this seems like the best compromise between what I want in my career and what I can offer.

Let's see...

Next steps

It's a very strange situation to be in. I've hardly gotten to know my colleagues, so though I know they all know, they aren't saying a thing. My senior analyst and VP aren't talking to me or giving me new work, so I literally went through the last 2 days feeling very uncomfortable in office and not a word said. Very strange.

But whatever, if you're gonna insist I stay 2 weeks then sideline me and pay me what used to be my one month salary to do that, ok lor...

Meanwhile... suddenly, with the urge of being a banker/earning that kind of money (as opposed to having it, there's a diff) gone, perspective is so different. while things like investment analyst or research analyst sound 'sexy', the reality is that i do not have a natural interest in stock picking so why put myself in a situation like that.

I need to stay at my next job for 3-5 years, no matter what. After thinking long and hard about what i want, i came to the conclusion that I need these 3 things to make that happen:

1) Project-based job - I can't do the same thing every day, I will surely get bored and leave.
2) Financial modelling related - It's the one thing I know interests and can engross me, the problem-solving aspect of modelling (kinda like when I did programming for A level Computing, as SW and KL can testify)
3) Flexible/quality life - Work/life balance which allows me to do things I wanna outside of work place and flexibility in terms of work hours/lunch hours/periods of leave

Oops... and if it isn't too much to ask, I'd like to be in Raffles Place area. It's funny, but having been in AMK for 5 months, I realised there is a difference if you can meet your friends for lunch every other day vs being 'banished' to the far regions.

Sounds fussy... but I feel it's necessary to know what I want. More news to come...

My director in HK called me this morning, chewed my head off, so pissed and disappointed he was. I can understand that.

In this short time, I have developed tremendous respect for their intellect and abilities. They have never been anything short of brutally honest of the challenge I would face. It is I who let my desire to have this job cloud my judgment.

Office suddenly became an extremely cold place, as if it couldn't get any colder. I feel it's the investment banking culture/lifestyle. It's just business. It was such a strange day, no one talking to me, no one emailing me at all. My senior analyst spoke to me for 5 mins, VP spoke at the end of the day bluntly saying they wanted me to serve out the 2 weeks notice.

Whatever..

My career's in a mess. My body and my psyche are also messed up. Even 3 weeks I already feel out of sync and off balance.

But you know what? No regrets. Not through poly, not through investment banking. Here's why:

1) I no longer harbour any notions of wanting something "better" in my job. I truly truly know the kind of life I want and can be contented with it.

2) The experience has made me truly realise how much pris means to me and the way she supported me has really helped carry me through this (together with the prayers of all my close ones of course). A corner has been turned, a milestone reached and for that alone, this experience has been worth it.

Had dinner with her, mal, vio, eugene last night. For the first time this month, I felt peace and contentment again. Just a simple dinner at a normal hour. I'll never take that for granted again.

Meanwhile... baby Isaac was born yesterday morning! Congrats, Eugene and Dawn. He's sooo big! Pictures to come, I'm sure...

Not again...

Father, I understand now why against all reason, You let me have this job. It so completely goes against serving You, doing all that I want to do for You, but You knew how much I wanted this job and You actually let me have it.

Why? Given the way I am, this was the only way I would ever see that this is not the life I want, this is not the sacrifice I want to make, this is not what is going to make me happy. Others would know before making such a decision, clearly I am not one of others. I had to see for myself, feel for myself and know for myself, once and for all, this is not me.

The past 3 weeks have pushed me to the very edge. This is not merely hating my job. If it were, I'd just deal with it and continue. But it's affecting my health, affecting (quite frankly) my sanity. I am literally at the very edge and I don't have the worldly motivation in me to go on making this sacrifice in the name of ambition.

I told my VP I'm quitting today..

It can't be that bad?

It's been 2 weeks since my last post, but it's really felt like 2 months. When I have shared with others what I am going through, it sounds so horrible it can't possibly be true. But I need to share it here, get it off my chest:

I've done long hours before, but this is getting out of hand. For the past 2 weekends, after working 2-3 am nights every night on average, I had to work till 5am the previous Sat/Sun and 430am this last one. I'm so tired I'm walking/working in a daze, just focusing on my immediate task at hand.

That in itself is still ok, but the bigger problem is the pace. This one is hard to believe. It's such a rush that I barely have enough time to buy back and eat, let alone sit down for a normal lunch of 1 hour and a normal hour. Once this week my first meal was at 1030pm, another at 430pm. My average meal is 15 mins (lunch and dinner) because I simply don't have time to spend like this. I don't dare eat at lunch/dinner hours because the crowd might make it take longer, so my average meal is a quick or dabao one at 2-3pm.

From the moment I get in, I literally hit the keyboard and start working before my bosses get in and start asking for my work. In 3 weeks there, I've barely gotten to speak to my colleagues and know their names, let alone get to know them. Every time I step away from the office and the blackberry flashes red (new email), my blood goes cold wondering what now.

And my team... I essentially work for a senior analyst and a VP, that's our team of 3. Both are very stony faced to me, but speak/joke in their own language to each other. One getting very impatient when talking to me, the other snapping at me when I try to ask him anything. When I offer an opinion, it's put down with a "No, that's not it". You just can't ask questions here, cannot expecting any guidance, even when I have tried on my own to resolve something, I still kena whack after that because I asked. There are 3 levels of contact:

1) Phone rings, to tell me I made mistake here or there
2) Phone rings, "Mark, please come over" - means must show you where and how you made another mistake or did wrong
3) Phone rings, "Let's go into the room to discuss" - means jialat, going to kena whack so dun wanna malu me in front of other colleagues (side note - could that statement be any more Singlish? oops)

After a while, it becomes a "so, what did I do wrong this time?" thing.

Sigh. You know what though? Most people think that this is just the start, "It gets better", "You'll get used to it", "It can't be this bad aaall the time"... best one, when referring to my coping with lifestyle and mistakes, "You just gotta put in more effort".

Win already lor.. Like I said at the start of this post, it's so bad it's hard to believe it's all true and going to remain like this indefinitely.

You know what though? While I will make less mistakes as I go along, the harsh environment I work in (or for?), the hours, the pace, that never ends. Because my directors have meetings EVERY week and EVERY day, and every time they do we have to generate reports and analysis for them to present. So yeah, this ain't gonna end until I make VP in 5-7 years time.

Why does one do this? I admit, it's not about the money per se, but it's kinda related. A part of me, even for a moment, just this once, wanted to feel the 'pride' of being a banker, of earning that kind of money, of having that kind of status. The part of me that was sick of being trodden on as an EY employee, just wanted some worldly respect.

This is not me... this is not the life I want. Yet, I did choose it, didn't I. More on that tomorrow...

Finding new gears

Imagine always shifting up to 4th gear everytime you hit the road, then going at a speed that pushes 4th gear and wishing you had a 5th gear.

That's what it feels like right now. A new pace and speed so fast I never knew, me wishing hoping praying that I can find the gear to match it, otherwise right now it's just vrooooooooooooooom but no gear forthcoming. haha...

Today was particularly bad. Hours I can handle, but somehow I just feel so slow, so inefficient, so lacking in aptitude. Was struggling for so long to do something which I did all the time in EY (tho granted maybe cos I'm expected to do in a quarter the time here).

Ok, I admit it. I'm feeling miserable. But it's largely cos I'm not a fan of getting to know new places, new people and I think right now I don't feel all that confident of my abilities. For the first time in my life, I feel like I'm not performing adequately (let alone outstanding) and could well be let go (2 weeks notice in first 6 mths!).

Anyway, some pictures of the work place:

my little (and still bare) corner - with the hours spent staring at the comp, i'm glad i have a nice big monitor to look at.

far view of office - it really dun look that different from EY

my neighbour on my left, the Bloomberg machine to my right (in the corner) - been using it as a secondary computer since its so near and mine is so slow

Happy CNY!

Technically speaking, I've only had 1 working day so far.. but you just knew it wouldn't be counted that way right?

For the first hour on the first day, CNY eve, I still thought I might get away with it and have a work-free holiday period. Haha, once the senior analyst got in, reality sat in and from that point, I worked at a pace I had not gone at before. Seriously..many have told me that the pace in banks is consistently intense, but only experiencing it today did I even partially appreciate that. Before you knew it, it was 11pm.. I was tired and so not smiling.

Been spending the last few days wondering why in the world I am like that, why I insist on putting myself through this. If it wasn't so tragic, it's almost funny that I am going through the process my dear went through a month ago. The newness of the workplace, the feeling that you cannot make it and might be let go one day, the frustration at why do this to yourself and put yourself through the hours, the desire to just have a nice simple peaceful quiet life with each other..Hai... hope I have the energy to last this man. I am sick and tired of changing jobs all the time.

Yet, I can't deny that underlying that is an excitement about it too, if only I could do my job better. I know I'm being harsh on myself, but the expectation is so high, so much for me to catch up and improve. If I could just do that, the day I finish my first deal I know it'd be amazing.

Okok, enough moping. For all the sob stories, I actually got to do everything I intended to do this CNY anyway (other than reunion dinner). Visited mum's side at popo's lunch first day, visited dad's side at lao ku's lunch 2nd day, even managed to have dinner with the wedding committee plus plus yesterday:

Thanks Angie for taking the photo (and sacrificing your place in it)! Your other photos were amazing, as usual.

Have to go into office for a little while tomorrow evening, but I do get to go to church then ELIM visiting Simon & family. Yay!

Happy new year everybody!

p.s. they ban gmail at office but allow facebook??

A new beginning.. again

It's been a nice break, took the chance to sort out stuff I needed to do before getting busy. Tidied room, updated finances, gave student a walk-through of audit before he starts his internship in EY, met up with friends, booked IPPT date in a month's time... pretty much everything I needed to do.

Almost 4 months ago, I was getting ready to teach my first class. Tonight I find myself about to start a new career in a new place.. and I am really nervous! You'd think that starting a new job for the 4th time in my 4 1/2 year career would not be that bad, but yes I am nervous.

Yet, I am excited about what the future holds for me if I can get past the immediate short term. I know I will be busy, I know I am making many sacrifices, but behind the nervousness, I am really excited!

Meanwhile...fingers crossed that I don't have to work over CNY!

Deferred!

Booked into camp today and managed to defer my ICT! So if NYP agrees to let me take leave this week, I get a breather to prepare for start of job next week.

Not only that, but I got verbal agreement from the CO not to call me up for 6 months because I am on probation.

So no NS till Sept. Now to figure out how to pass IPPT by my birthday...

Lesson learnt

I feel like my previous few posts have been very lengthy, so I'll try to keep this one short.

ELIM met for bible study at 8am in East Coast, bladed for a little while, then went for nice juicy steak at Aston's. Steak yum..chips yum..corn-on-the-cob yuuum...

Must have been very tired though, because for the first time, I actually dozed off in the middle of a jam:

Looks minor, but an accident's an accident. SIGH...

Update 28 Jan Monday:
Other guy's damage came to $1,500. What a rip off! There goes my NCD...

Touched

Today was my last day in NYP. It's funny, only 5 months, yet I grew very attached to my (admittedly still very bare) corner, as well as the 3 wonderful pple I shared the office with. Fact that 4 of us got along so well actually made the office a haven at work.

Still, it had to be the busiest day I had in the 5 months there. Here's a rundown from 8am-

8am - Send out emails to handover work
9am-11am - Classes
11am-12pm - Feedback session to FSRC students
12pm - Class
1pm - Answer exam questions, meet previous round of FSRC students
130pm - Final update of files before emailing out to colleagues
2pm - Type final emails to colleagues and students
230pm - Return laptop
3pm - Rush down to Raffles Place for pre-employment medical
5pm - Rush back to do outprocessing with admin manager.

Up to that point, I had not drunk or eaten anything all day. But then something I didn't expect:

It had been hinted to me that the FSRC students wanted to do something for me before I left, but when I got there, I was so surprised. Both previous rounds of students were there (about 40?) as well as all the supervisors. They had food, sparking grape juice, cake and all. They burned a video message that really touched me, drew a piece of art and signed on it, bought me a pair of bull/bear cufflinks. So touched. In my 5 months there, FSRC had to be the most fun and most enjoyable part of the experience, because it allowed me to do exactly what I went there to do in the first place - to teach them skill sets for the work place, to get them excited about potential jobs in the industry, to aid them in their search for their own career paths.

In that time, I got to know more than 200 students through classes & FSRC and I am very glad that many of them have told me I had an impact. I hope and pray that the impact will be a lasting one, or that I would be able to continue to do that in some way, which is why I gave them an email address to contact me.

I may have chosen my own path, but I am very excited to see them carve out their own paths and I fully intend to continue to help any of them in whatever way I can in the future.

Got it!

It's been hinted and seemingly more and more likely, but I didn't dare believe it yet. Yesterday afternoon though, the first guy who interviewed me (you'll remember it as the one I thought I seriously bombed out) to tell me they were offering me the job! In that moment, all the anxiety, all the hopes, all the wishes, they were freed.

Having thought about why I am doing this for so long, I can only conclude that it is just something I wanted and felt I needed to do. For so many reasons, most of which I accept may not be ideal. Wanting to get real exposure in the industry I have found very interesting to me (as oppose to EY-type exposure), wanting to see how a real MNC works (as opposed to local firm pretending to be MNC), wanting to get the experience of being in a bank. I admit, this is a career-changing opportunity that will give me access to many jobs I never even had a chance to consider in the past.

But I still wanted to try to commit this to God, tho my will was so strong. I asked God to please close this door if You do not want this for me, because I do not have the strength to say no on my own.

Yet..the contract came in today, 1 day before my last day so I don't go jobless and few days before I go to army on Monday so I have a chance to defer. The timing is so incredible I really felt in that moment that the timing was His.

Later in the night, I felt this prompting that reminded me that He had provided and I had been blessed by Him.

Father, I know I have been blessed by You. Maybe in some way You have given me this path because of the year I had and how much I wanted it, maybe You want me to experience it one time jialat jialat and admit to myself how illogical it is to do this for long.

But ultimately I know that whatever blessing comes from You, and I will bless others because I have been blessed by You. I will ask the brothers in cell to keep me accountable, I will not disappear from You, Lord.

I went down to sign the contract today. When lcc saw me after, he said I was seriously beaming. Sure, there's unlikely to be beaming at 3am next time, but for one night, I would scarcely believe that I had gotten the job.

Somewhere in the Middle

Had a quick interview with DB (6th one for those still counting) last Thursday, guy basically treated like a social call, rather than an interview, since he had interviewed me by phone a month back. But he was confusing, on one hand saying they wanted to "take things to the next level" and "offer me a position as analyst", but also qualifying with "these things are never finalised until they are finalised". Then today recruiter called to discuss start date, saying she doesn't want to jump the gun, but it does look like it's in the bag. All I can say is I'll believe when I see it...

I have been trying to put together and share my thoughts, why I have seemingly gone one extreme in life to the other, why I seem to have taken one path, only to completely backtrack and take another. So many thoughts, many of which go to the very core of who I am.

I was driving home last week thinking about this, when I heard this song which I had heard many times. But this time I happened to listen to lyrics more carefully and I realised it summarises what I feel completely. I really am somewhere in the middle. Does that make me lukewarm? I don't think so, I believe it means I recognise my humanity and I am always trying, always seeking my Saviour.

So, at the risk of turning my blog into a Casting Crowns site, I want to share this song with you:

Somewhere In The Middle
Casting Crowns

Somewhere between the hot and the cold
Somewhere between the new and the old
Somewhere between who I am and who I used to be
Somewhere in the middle, You'll find me

Somewhere between the wrong and the right
Somewhere between the darkness and the light
Somewhere between who I was and who You're making me
Somewhere in the middle, You'll find me

Just how close can I get, Lord, to my surrender without losing all control

Fearless warriors in a picket fence, reckless abandon wrapped in common sense
Deep water faith in the shallow end and we are caught in the middle
With eyes wide open to the differences, the God we want and the God who is
But will we trade our dreams for His or are we caught in the middle
Are we caught in the middle

Somewhere between my heart and my hands
Somewhere between my faith and my plans
Somewhere between the safety of the boat and the crashing waves

Somewhere between a whisper and a roar
Somewhere between the altar and the door
Somewhere between contented peace and always wanting more
Somewhere in the middle You'll find me

Just how close can I get, Lord, to my surrender without losing all control

Friendship

It is such a over-used and mis-used word sometimes. Still, God has truly blessed me richly in this regard. Over the years, I have really come to appreciate my close friends, whether they are here in Singapore or overseas. Friends from cell, sailing, sch, church, work, I thank God for them all. :)

Keith flew in last Friday for Michelle's wedding. Together with Ke-Yue, 3 of us met up on Saturday for her wedding. After Keith and I pigged out at chomp chomp on bbq sting-ray, sambal kang kong, chai tau quay, or luat and satay, it was basically a night of ps3 for 3 of us (for one, only after the kids were asleep of course).

Quite a sight - three 28 year olds, a lawyer/father, lecturer and engineer (sounds like the start of a lame joke huh), playing video games like kids. But there was something special about it to me. It was like time had not changed our friendships and for a few hours (quite a few in fact), it was really like 10 years ago, an escape from the stresses, troubles and worries in each of our lives.

I treasure these precious moments. Thank You Lord for friends.