If I were food, these are my seasonings.

Throughout my life (well... for 23 years anyway) I have met a fair amount of people. I got to study in the Philippines, when i was still young and innocent, and Hong Kong, where I have one hair style throughout my 2 years at my first school.

Anyway... for this article, the "spice" in my life would be the people at my first work place.

After finishing all my courses for bachelor degree, it was time for me to venture into the real world, and to see if what i've learnt (or heard) in class would really help me in real life. I applied for a position in an advertising firm. The day of my interview was exhilarating. It wasn't exactly my first time interviewing for a job but I was really hoping I would get into this one. I had high hopes on where this company can take me in the business world. As soon as I met my future boss, I had a feeling I was fooled by the job advertisement. A few minutes into the interview, my boss called a member of his team to come in to answer my questions. This was where it all begins.......

(ps. if you see 'P' infront of a name, it's a symbol for someone who is more senior)

Gig (aka. Gigi) : The first member of the team that I met. She was energetic, cute, and friendly. She knows how to work well and how to please 'the boss'. I only work with her for a few days and later found out that the position that I applied for was to replace her. She found her way out.

P'Kate : She was also new, just started in this team a few days before I arrive. She is very smart about IT, and she has a lot of experience to share. But again, my working with her was short-lived. 2 days after I joined, she left the company in search of a better life.

P'Oil : She joined the company the same day as me. I also remember that I've seen her on the day that I came for the interview. She seems very confident, and composed, very mature compared to me. But after getting to know her, she was not like that at all. She is very funny and friendly and SO much fun to talk to. And i'm not the only one who thinks so, she constantly get phone calls every 5 seconds. No kidding! Very popular lady.

So, with Gig and P'Kate gone, me and P'Oil are left to learn things by ourselves. Whatever we didn't know, we can always consult the many folders that are piled on shelves over our heads on the verge of collapsing. 'The boss' started throwing more and more work at us. This is when we realised... "can't do it anymore!!! need more people!!! >.<"

Nun : Me and her go WAYYYYY back. We were in the same university and in the same club. It wasn't hard to trick her into coming to work with us, she was unemployed at the moment MUAHAHAHAHHAHA. I told her about 'the boss' and how his mannerisms are, well.. not at first, I told her after she came for the interview (which made it harder for her to refuse the job). I like to believe that what I said to her was the reason she decided to join us in the end. I said "Come on! I need your eyes!! If 'the boss' becomes irritating, I need you to stare at him while I argue my point. You don't have to say anything, just stare." et voila! She joined us. Needless to say, with this arrangement we were able to protect P'Oil and fight 'the boss'. As a working pair, we were unseparable, buy one get one free! (after I left the company when my contract ends, she left too... and we were both called back to accept another position afterwards... but that's another story)

Patty : Patty has a grande social life. Her weekend parties include those with all sorts of hi-society people. She was our link to the life under the spotlight. Knowing her had increased me and Nun's circle of friends from 2 to 20. She always have something fun and exciting to do, and her love life is more interesting than prime time soap opera. She worked with us for about a month.

So, in 3 months I've worked with 5 people. The team was supposed to consist of 4 people at a time but as you can tell, that never happened. I left the company after my 3 months contract to try my luck with another company. That didn't work out too well, and I return to the company 5 months afterwards. During the 5 months I've heard that people have come and gone countless times. Nun left the company after I left, but then we returned again (as mentioned before, buy one get one free).

Pat : She is very lady like, very mild mannered. She looks so innocent against evil (aka 'the boss'). I did not realy get to know her. For the few months that I worked with her, we didn't get to talk much. That's because in the first month of my return 'the boss' wasn't at the office much and therefore lead me to sleep at the office most the time. HAHA

Ae (aka. Amy) : Amy is cool. She's a hard worker who knows how to have fun at the same time. When i said 'hard-worker' that means when she is assigned something she has to do it right away, or else she tends to forget about it...haha. Working with her was really fun. She is also lively. There were many times that we had to work really late at the office and everyone would be all blurred and sleepy, but Amy will be the most blurred. And it's so funny to watch her when she's blurred. I'm not mocking her, really, it's very endearing. She left us a few months back. We really missed her laughter.

Woon : Me and her goWAYYYY back too, in fact, even further back than with Nun. We lived in the same dorm in college and hang out almost every night. Woon is gullible, that added with the fact that she looks cute in a chinese sort of way makes her seem overall innocent. But she's not!!! She's a vixen deep down, deep deep down. She didn't stay with us for very long either. She decided that she can't be rooted to earth. She now flies with Emirates, living the dream (of making lots of money).

Pum : Before Pum decided to join our team, she also interviewed for another team at the same company. 'The boss' made a BIG deal about pulling her into our team. We had to do a mini presentation and lured her in, and it worked. But she didn't stay with us for long. She finally realised that she was fooled by the show, like I was fooled by the advertisement. The difference being, she left 1 week after she entered. Unlike me... still stuck here...

Ngee : Ngee is pretty. She was a dream come true for the guys in the creative department. That is why we always send her to deal with the creatives. HAHA. My first impression of her is that she is a party person. Maybe it's because of her make-up and her hair style. But it turns out, she's anything but a party person. She's very attached to her family and is very maternal towards all of us. On her last day at the company, we had a celebratory dinner. We were all envious of her for finally getting a chance to fly away from here.

P'Toy : She came to us from a research agency, which works to our advantage because most of the work we did was research. She is very mature, the most mature from all the people I've met. She is also very tall. When I went to Indonesia with her on a work thing, I bet everyone thought we were mother and daughter. P'Toy also likes to drink. Our trip to Indonesia also include one night stay at the Singapore airport. Since we have free time, we walked around the terminal searching for things to buy. The first place we stop was the liquor stand. There was a new flavour to Absolute Vodka called 'Ruby Red', so we tried it.... and 'Peach' flavour... and 2 more of another vodka brand. We turned the liquor store into our very own mini-bar. It was great fun. She is still with us til this day.

Yam : The newest addition to the team. Yam is very lively and her laughter is very contagious. She could be our lucky star. Since she joined us, 'the boss' had to go to another country almost every week. We are still waiting to see if she really is our lucky star or not.

So that's it. In the time frame of 1 1/2 years (excluding the months that I was away exploring another company), I've worked with 12 people. It's no wonder why people in the other teams don't invite us to parties, they're probably tired of getting to know new people over and over again. At this moment P'Toy, Yam, Nun, and I have to stick together to fight 'the boss' (aka. Crazy Monkey). And one day we will be able to fly away like all those people that circulated into our team.