Ken the 'Tai Ko' and Jin the Jokester

Disclaimer: All characters are figments of our imagination. Character reviews are written in first-person context to make it more personal and interesting. Enjoy!

Continuing the series about the characters of Broken 2008, an original production from Glad Tidings Petaling Jaya!

Ken the Tai Ko

Kenny (Or Ken, as we all call him), Eddie’s business and personal mentor, has always been a personal friend. He was the best man for our wedding, a well-liked, well-respected man, who always got what he wanted through his determination, and of course, his gift of the gab. Perhaps, the best description of Ken can be found in this email written by Eddie some time back.

From: Eddie.Lau@juktmicronics.com
Sent: Friday, July 7, 2006 8:48 PM
To: stephaniechan1976@gmail.com
Subject: Deal going through!

Wow, what a day!! Meetings after meetings. We just finished and now headed to Orchard for some drinks with our partner and customers. Singapore has really changed since we last visited, a few years ago. Its great that Ken brought me along, as I had a long technical discussion with the customers and they seem very impressed with our products and services. Finally, one year of work is paying off and the deal is almost done! Fingers crossed!!

Ken hasn’t really been himself lately; he and Jin are always discussing about the company’s finance, and meeting our bankers after office hours. I know you mean well when you told me to be more hands-on with work finance; but I trust them. I grew up with them! And Ken has always taken care of my career even when I started out. He always bought the team lunch, dinner and took us out and always gave us credit for the achievements. When I brought Jin into our first company, Ken took him in, despite his patchy CV. And when he started this new company, we were the first he thought off. He, running the show; Jin, the finance, and me on the technical. We always joke Ken was the CEO, Jin, the CFO and me, the CTO. Well, one day, maybe can??!? =) We all owe Ken something, u know, so the least I can do is give him my trust in this matter. I think we (Jin and I) look up to him now as a bigger brother, since he knows how to deal with people and is the most business savvy…I saw him work out the deal with our partner, and our customers today and he’s very very good!!

Ok, I gotta run, Ken’s already looking over my shoulder already! Miss you and Timothy and can’t wait to come back on Sunday!

Jin the Jokester

I knew Jin back in high school. He and Eddie went to an all boys school down the road from my all girls school and I suppose, being curious about the opposite sex at that age was inevitable, so somehow, we all became friends. Jin and Eddie were always close, along with another boy named Alex (who has left the country). Even back then, Jin came across as very rude, very boastful and quite annoying. None of us liked him at all, no, but he was always tagging along Alex and Eddie, so what do we do?? However, he is fiercely loyal to his friends and at one time got into a huge fight with some school gangsters to defend Eddie over some misunderstanding. That was either extremely brave, or extremely daft, because he was beaten up quite bad. But from that day, I knew I could count on him to defend his friends to the very end.

One thing about Jin: He is an absolute genius with numbers. He doesn’t like to admit it, but he is very very intelligent. While Eddie works hard and slogs, Jin would just cruise through his maths and accounts exam (while failing the others because they were ‘boring’). It’s so frustrating sometimes, to know that he could be so rich and successful if he wasn’t so lazy! He’s only interested in cars and drinking and girls, and doing the absolute minimal to get by…

He improved a lot after knowing Ken. Like Eddie, Jin really looked up to Ken as his ‘tai ko’ or big brother. He became more polite, less preoccupied with himself. But still clueless when it comes to girls….

A funny episode was when he tried to go after my sister, Sharon. After one evening with him, she came back so angry, I asked her what happened.

“He took me to the race track!”

“After dinner?” I asked, stifling a laugh.

“NO! We ate burger at the side of the road after that and he shared with me a can of Carlsberg! What a cheapskate!!! What a waste of time!!”

And so ends that romance. That’s our Jin.

Watch this SPOT!: March 19, 2008 (Wed)

"Sweet sounds of broken"

Take a listen to the soundtrack!

[tags : easter broken easter drama gtpj glad tidings church event]