The Pleasure of Quarells

The other half buzzed me this morning, furious that I had put her on the "cc" list to a host of thank you notes to people we had met at a function last night. This happened to be a function which she had been invited to on a professional basis and her objections to my notes was the fact that the url of this blog entry is on the signature of my professional email. As enough of my readers can tell you, some of the things I say in blogosphere can be offensive. I think I've offended anyone who can be offended and the poor girl has been at the wrong end of complaints of groups of people I've had a go at recently - namely Caucasian Expats and Singapore Chinese women.

Needless to say, I don't take warnings, especially if they come in the form of advice to adhere to social norms. Celine Dion may have sang "That's the way it is," but I simply cannot accept that most things are worth lying there and accepting things as they are. I don't have the courage to devote my life to a cause of taking down a big power like my online friend Tenzin Tsundue, a Tibetan activist who is more than happy to spend spells in an Indian jail provided he's able to make a point about the atrocities committed by Communist China in Tibet. So since I'm not in an Indian jail, I live my "rebellious" nature on this blog.

One might also ask why I put this url onto my professional email when I have the potential to offend. My standard answer is that for me the professional is also the personal and visa-versa. What I hope is that people who deal with me see my thought process on the issues that I discuss. I do rant on personal issues at times but even then, you get an an idea of how I tick and its often up to you to decide how I can best suit your commercial needs if you think I can.

My friend, Datuk Vinod Shekar once said, "The people who like you will like you and those who don't won't. So don't get caught up sorting out issues - move on."

Having said what I've just said and letting everyone know that we had an argument, I'm exceedingly happy. Her arguments are not without merit and more importantly her motives to call and address issues with me came from a desire to see me succeed. She specifically wanted me as her guest because she wanted me to mix with a crowd that might have valued me and I think she felt sad that I had screwed-up. Knowing this makes me so happy despite the quarrels.

I remember my Dad once told me that there is a difference between women who are ambitious for themselves and women who are ambitious for you. I think I'm realising what he means. I had the PGFNB before who was interested in whether I made money or not because, hey I spent it on her and her needs. The only big "turn-on" she got was when I was "suited up."

This girl by contrast is willing to take me as I am. She actually told me she likes me in "raggy writer" mode rather than "PR Slick" mode. Yet, she's willing to do something that will help "PR Slick" come through because she realises that it pays the bills much better than being "raggy writer."

I don't know if this is "THE" relationship for me, only time will tell. However, I can and want to tell the world that I am actually happy that I woke up next to someone who cares for me and I'm actually involved with someone who makes me happy enough even when we quarrel. As Green Day says, "It's something unpredictable but in the end it's right."