Lobangs, Please!

Sheesh. That's what happens when you don't network enough - you cannot find 'lobangs'.


The lady-boss sat down to chat with me today. We exchanged names and a little of our backgrounds - turns out we have almost similar names. She used to run her own company, got sick of corporate life after 16 years, and decided to run her own cafe. I told her, I'm sick of corporate life too, and would die to run my own dog business too. Do I have to end up waiting 16 years too? I really hope not.

I hope, just as similar as our names are, my dreams will come true one day like hers.

Anyway, I feel bad coming here just to drink kopi-o and surf for free. I expressed sincere gratitude for her providing free wi-fi; she said, "People here (referring to other cafe owners, not me) really stinge, don't they?" So I promised I would come here for dinner the next time.

Oh, and she asked me to bring more friends to her three-week-old cafe. She says the graveyard silence in her cafe at nights is making her depressed. I promised her I would, too.

Sweet. I hope I've made a new friend.


If there's one change I've noticed in myself since my last Portland/Seattle trip, it's that I've become a more open person. I've been talking to strangers I meet at cafes, making friends with people I've never met, making small talk with shopowners and shop assistants, chatting with fellow shoppers.

I've been 'chatted up' unexpectedly by countless people in Portland - homeless on the streets (there's one old man whom I've met for a few days in a row while sitting at the same cafe and who actually remembered my name - I was touched), folks on buses, fellow coffee-drinkers in cafes. Anywhere, everywhere, people have no reservation talking to strangers. I realized I like that.


The appraisal session with boss went well - no fights, at least. We kinda have this love-hate relationship for God-knows-how-long. No talk about bonus, no promise on pay rise for my new job. That made me displeased. I shall work my magic on the new boss, who's coming in on Friday.

He said though, that I have been 'identified' as one of the selective few "high-potential employees" to be "groomed for development". He encouraged me to think and go regional.

Should I? Should I really go away?


I will have to make some decisions some day. Perhaps sooner, perhaps later. I am in no rush now.