My 6-day Econs course ended on Wed... and the past two days were back to dreary days of eye-straining staring-at-comp-screen-all-day work. Skived somewhat while on course and as such accumulated quite a bit of backlog at work :(

I think these sorta long milestone courses are helpful in providing me a better sense of what sorta stuff goes on in other stat boards and ministries. And I was pretty fortunate that the ppl taking this course were pretty nice and non-cliquish; and I found myself (surprisingly) somewhat comfortable chit-chatting with most of them. It's actually a pretty stark contrast with my workplace - where I find myself being more AS most of the time; and keeping to myself a lot more. I dunno, maybe just fewer ppl my frequency bah and nature of portfolio doesn't require v much interaction and discussion with fellow workers... (I remb when I shared something like this with J and GM they like very shocked like that... maybe I look relatively pleasant but am a strict friend-picker at heart)

Today I ventured for the first time to the nearby Cedele for a wholesome sandwich set of chicken avocado and roasted veg soup. Over lunch, my fav colleague also shared with me her woes and frustrations with work here... Personally, I shared some of them and seriously didn't know how best to comfort her or make her feel less bad. Also had to balance conflicting interests - my self-interest in having her stay in the division and her long-term interest to look for something she might be happier and better off doing... Hai, in the end I also dunno what to say... I genuinely thought she's doing not too bad already... but i am apparently rather unconvincing leh. :(

It's getting harder and harder to resist spending $ in the city area these days. There's like a retail revolution in Singapore and new malls/places keep popping up it's crazy! I briefly walked thru the Raffles City basement last Sat and found myself surrounded by a gazillion new shops/stores. While I appreciate the greater variety of retail outlets/ places to go to/ cafes & restaurants to dine at, also wonder if the inundation of retail choices will make us more and more consumerist/ materialistic... such that we just dun remember to appreciate say, the wonders of nature anymore...