I went to the Annual General Meeting of my university alumni association over the weekend. I've been trying to meet more people working in my industry after having had a discussion with one of my senior managers who told me that one of the goals I should set for myself for any year, regardless of whether it's personal or professional, should be to build up my network.

Now I abhor the idea of networking. To me, it smacks of hypocrisy, like you're not really interested in making a friend of the person, but rather, you want to know how that person can be of use to you. I'm starting to moderate my tone a bit, however, in that as long as that's not your main purpose in getting to know people, then fine, then expanding your social circle isn't all that bad. And I acknowledge that knowing people who work in your industry helps a lot. I didn't realise it at the time, but it turned out that my regional boss spoke to a couple of people he knew in my field to find out more about the kind of employee I was before he made the decision to hire me.

So there you have it. I'm turning more and more into a corporate drone.

On the plus side, I got back in touch with an old friend, a friend with the same name as T., and who, in a way, played a part in my getting together with him. Long story short, my friend had asked me to attend the alumni association AGM last year but I ended up working late that night so I SMS'd him that I wouldn't be able to make it but would he want to go out for drinks after. And yes, you guessed it, I accidentally sent it to T. who hadn't heard from me after the first time we met at Zouk. And the rest, as they say, is history.