We were wild and young and willing
We still are in some ways
And every now and then
We still have one of those good old days
It makes me proud when I think out loud
About lovers and dreams and songs
How it always kept me going
And the best ones are never gone!
-Keith Sykes, "Those Were the Days"
I don't know why things can't balance themselves out a bit more in life. But at least when I get hit with one truly crummy thing after another in rapid succession like I did a year and a half ago, it's entirely plausible to think when things do finally get better, they'll get a lot better. Such were my thoughts at some point or other this past weekend, when I really didn't get a lot of time to think because I was busy with both work and play.
First, the news I'm sure you were all waiting for. Our product is out, and it's a hit. Well, at least it's a hit with the crowd that's been exposed to it thus far. We introduced it in a promotional event at an electronics store here over the weekend, and without sharing more information than I should on my personal blog, I can say expectations were surpassed. Actually, we didn't just surpass our goals, we destroyed them. It wasn't even close, as I feared it might be right up until about an hour and a half into our promotion, when our first batch of customers appeared. I had planned to keep track of them by hand, simply marking off each person who signed up. That seemed plausible for the aforementioned first hour and a half, when nobody showed up. But once people did start trickling in, that proved impossible as they were just coming in too fast to mark off one by one.
It didn't let up all weekend. By late Saturday I had perfected my "sales" pitch, and by Sunday our paid helper was doing it at least as well as I was, which gave me a chance to breathe a bit. (I put "sales" in quotes because we weren't actually selling anything. Our product is free for consumers. But the more popular it is with consumers, the easier it will be to sell it to companies, which we'll be doing pretty much immediately now that it's out.) It's just the beginning, but what a beginning it was!
On a directly related note, a few of our ads are now officially out. Have a look at my favorite one here...and yes, that is me telling her to look on the back of the refrigerator for the serial number.
Somewhere in the midst of all that, I managed to squeeze in a Saturday night out with an old friend and his wife who were in town on their way to Bali. Monday found me with a well-deserved day off from work because the event had gone so well, so the three of us were free to play tourist (well, it was playing for me at least) all over Singapore. I finally got around to having a Singapore sling at the Raffles Hotel (which I made a point of not doing last time I was there), financed in part by the cash bonus I got for a job well done over the weekend. (They're not cheap!) That event led to what must be the gayest photograph I've ever been a part of, but Pat and I have knocked around enough to be okay with that. I wish I could link to a few of our greatest hits, but I was not so far ahead of the curve to be blogging in 1999. Let's just say Slurpees, Niagara Falls, a certain Dixie Chicks song, various past- and future girlfriends, styrofoam, late nights and a lot of caffiene can really inspire some terrific memories, from DC to Paris and now to Singapore. I'll have to see about posting a copy of that picture here when I get it. But that was merely the most amusing moment of a long day full of such moments. It's remarkable how easy it can be to renew old bonds once they're established. It all ended with the best night's sleep I've had in months, partly because most of the stress from work was gone for a change and partly because I was exhausted from all the walking on Monday and the talking over the weekend. All totally worth it!
Every now and then, I wax excessively poetic about the plight of the expat, and how it can be rough having friends all over the world and so rarely getting to see most of them, while so many of my friends have settled down. The upside of that is that when we do get together, some truly wonderful times usually ensue. They certainly did this time. The fact that it could all happen in an exotic locale thousands of miles from home is just icing on the cake, I suppose, but I do like icing. Thanks for the memories!
