Time to Say Goodbye

• last friday (25Jul), most of the colleagues from my department were dressed in black for a night of mourning.
• this is my opening post in this latest attempt at blogging, but its going to carry a tinge of sadness, and its about goodbyes. this blog has actually been up for a few weeks now, just that i have been waiting for the "moment" to post my first entry, and last friday presented the perfect occasion for me to write about. the mourning in question was actually a farewell dinner for the department that im currently working at. come 01Aug, the department will be "dismantled" and the 50 staff affected will be re-deployed to other departments within the company.
• most of the 40 people present at the self-organised dinner followed the dresscode of "black-based smart casual". i think i was the who suggested black, the colour associated with mourning. but it was not to be a night where 40 grown-ups cried and cried, it was a night of fun and laughter. some of us took cable car rides before the dinner which was held at mount faber, there were great prizes for the lucky draw, and the programmes and performances lined up by fellow colleagues were great!
• as fun as the night could get, i suppose tears were just inevitable at the end of the night. there were tears from the usual suspects who have been seen shedding tears since the annoucement of our fate on 03Jun2008, and there were also those who seem to have taken the news into their stride but just couldnt hold back anymore on such a night. i belonged to the latter, yes, i cried. its a place i worked with as a student, as an intern, and finally now as a permanent staff. its a place that changed my life in some ways. im going to miss the place.
• as i write this entry, im re-living some of the memories in my mind. to all who have been part of this happy family: goodbye and good luck.