New year, new career goals?

IT was during my year-end vacation that I received the news that an ex-colleague - let's call him A - had passed away on New Year's Eve.

It came as a complete shock - I had not been aware that he was sick. A family man in his early 50s, he was a graphic designer I worked with in my previous workplace.

I last met him during a work event in May, where we caught up briefly over a plate of kueh. He was the same old amiable person I remembered, filling me in on the latest happenings (okay, gossip) in the office.