eTakes

F

2009-07-02T08:34:00.000-07:00

My life is just damn Fxxk-up now. Enough said.

You just cannot trust your bosses!

2009-04-28T08:15:00.000-07:00

I got a new Deputy Chief Executive.

His appearance made many people smile.

It seems like there are too many problems and issues in the organization and he seem to understand and wanted to change...

Has CHANGE COME TO SPRING?

He requested for us to come up with 3 good things to stay and 3 bad things to remove.

I wrote a very long e-mail talking abou the 3 bad things to remove - of which 1 is the amount of processing and paperwork.

He replied me!

Explained about how everyone can look into it and change.

I smiled.

Change has indeed come.

I was WRONG!

During the meetings, he request more things.

He wanted more things in the reports!

He wanted more reports!

He wanted more than reports!

I shook my head and looked at my colleagues.

They shook theirs.

That's life.

Live it.

-fin-

Dinner & Dance 2009 - "Fun" during Downturn...

2009-03-30T07:04:00.000-07:00

More to come......

Beyond Limit?

2009-03-22T06:37:00.000-07:00

I have finally come to a point where I think I may have reached my limit. Weekends, nights - my bosses and clients are still after my time! I enjoy the exposure, the challenges! But I guess when the limit is breached - the factory gets damanged and may face a complete shut-down. I was thinking, "Hey! Look here! Not as if I am being paid Over-time or hourly rate or by comission! How am I working like 80-90 hours a week!"

I tried writing down a list of things to do - I ended up writing 4 pages (of urgent things-to-do-Short term), 2 pages (of major projects I have to complete-Long term) and 5 pages (of Follow-ups and appointments/hosting/networking-Medium term). This is all excluding the continuous flow of phone calls from my desk phone, mobile phone, e-mails and walk-ins (yeah...some of them got fed-up and walked in w/o an appointment with me).

People tell me, "Hey you are burned out, take a break man! Take a one-day leave of something."

I replied,"If I can find one single day when I have no major event/appointment/meeting, I will do it. If only I can....."

Knocked down by a Rubbish Truck?

2009-02-18T06:32:00.000-08:00

I once read about a Rubbish Truck story, whereby a person filled with anger and unhappiness take the opportunity to "dump" all his / her problems and unhappiness to another person to make himself / herself feel better. Morale of the story is: If you live everyday happily and don't dump your woes to others, the world will be a better place - this is a vicious cycle.

I realise this is complete CRAP! The world does not work this way! The more you try to "incinerate" the "Rubbish" yourself and not dump to others, what do you get? Happiness? NO F-ing way! You get...MORE RUBBISH! Yes! As the saying goes, "Nice guys finish last". What happens when you get knocked down by a "Rubbbish Truck"? You get run over by the next!

If you have the mindset that by being nice to others - others will be nice to you? WRONG AGAIN!

Give to others and you will receive? WRONG! People ask for more!

Go all out to help others so others will help you in difficult times? WRONG! People avoid you!

Sometimes (frankly speaking) you look around and you try to convince yourself the world is actually a beautiful place. *TEHHHH~* WRONG ANSWER!

Moral of the story: Stop Avoiding others with your Rubbish Truck and Stop incinerating your own Rubbish! You will end up being treated like a Rubbish Dump.

Goal, not Process-Oriented

2009-02-06T19:39:00.000-08:00

It has not been easy these days. Have been feeling quite down, and feeling worse each day. On top of the pressure and workload I get, I fell sick. Just when I thought it's the best time for me to take a break from the hectic lifestyle, I was wrong. Things are not done, deadlines are not met. Just one day is enough to get me screwed up.

I felt unjust. I was sick on Tue. I went to work. I struggled the whole day and I had to leave earlier to see a doc. I got an MC for the next day. After I went home, I simply had no energy to finish up my work, but I know I need to get it done that day. But, I zonked out immediately after my medicine.

It was already next morning. I rushed to my laptop, send out instructions to my colleague to get he to help me finish up and send out the documents. Me? I dressed up and went for meeting with an an American delegation to meet our local SMEs. I was really worn out after the day of meetings and travelling. I could have gone home to rest. However, I went back to office instead and finish up more things before I went home in the late evening. I felt terrible, but things were done, or so I thought.

The very next day, at 8am (my working hours start from 830 btw), I got a scolding. The issues was the things were not done properly and not according to what we had discussed. I tried to explain, but seemed like the eyes were only on the outcome. I felt dejected. I was sick, I worked hard, I went the extra mile, I did all I could, and because of one little error, which I was not able to monitor, I was penalized. I felt depressed that day, but I had to go through the whole day of meetings with a smile and laughter (Yes, I picked up the art of pseudo-laughter from my networking experiences). Guess what, I had to even stay back and OT until god-knows-when.

When I looked back, I learn lessons. There is a saying, "Tai Shang Shi Fen Zhong, Tai Xia Shi Nian Gong" - 10 minutes on stage requires 10 years of effort. THIS IS NOT TRUE! What everybody sees is only your 10 minutes. If you screw it up, your 10 years of effort is as good as nothing. I love my job. It teaches me lessons in everything, everyday. Meaning of life, meaning of work, meaning of success, meaning of people, meaning of money.

People pay big money to go for self-improvement lessons, I get paid for attending them.

So, why pay to go study, the world's your classroom.

The Dreamcatchers (Channel 8) - 04 Feb @ 9pm

2009-01-20T05:04:00.000-08:00

To further brand the Precision Engineering Industry (the indsutry which I am working ever-hard to develop and grow in Singapore and overseas), we have come up with a TV Drama serial on Channel 8! On a light note, we can sit back and enjoy how love can prosper and how an engineer can achieve great things! (Think twice before engineers like yourself join the finance sector!) On a serious note we aim to achieve a few objectives:

1) Profile the industry - Precision Engineering is the pillar of support for end-manufacturing sectors such as Oil & Gas, Marine, Aerospace, Electronics, Semiconductors, Medical Technology

2) Showcase what engineers can do - Both guys and girls can excel in this field!

3) There so many exsiting programmes and scholarships in the engineering field to tap on, and everybody needs to constantly upgrade and develop themselves to succeed

4) An engineer, specializing in niche areas / skills / capabilities can run their own businesses! Cheers to the entreprenuerial spirit!

5) - extra - Romance can happen anywhere! Even on the engineering / production floor!

Stay tuned! Debut on 04 Feb 2009 @ 9pm! Press Conference on 22 Jan 2009 @ 230pm @ Temasek Polytechnic!

Most importantly, watch out for the TV Commercials in between the episodes!

Giraffe Kor Kor

2009-01-09T18:42:00.000-08:00

During our X-mas celebration in the office. One of my colleagues brought his 3-yr old daughter. Before he was telling us about his daughter (born in France btw) and we were all looking forward to meet her. She was a shy little girl who is really small in size! Her dad say she is the "mini" type.

Initially she was quite shy and she dare not play with the rest of us until after a few rounds of introduction and talking to her, she started to "warm up". It was quite funny when my colleague brought her to talk to us because she cannot remember our names too well, she started giving us nicknames!

She saw me and said I look like a Giraffe because of my long neck (which I did not even realise!). I was known to her as "Giraffe Kor Kor" (Thank goodness not giraffe UNCLE!). Another tall female colleague of mine naturally also also given the nickname of "Giraffe Zeh Zeh". The funniest moment was when she saw another colleague (bigger in size) and she called him "Elephant Kor Kor"! It was the highlight of the day!

During the celebration and performance, her dad played the guitar with her sitting quietly by his side. After which (as with all cute kids), everyone will surround and play with them. That's when she started to be more receptive and played with all of us.

It was a half day and "Elephant Kor Kor", "Giraffe Kor Kor", my colleague and her daughter shared a cab home. On the cab "Elephant Kor Kor", who sat in the front seat, kept "ka jiao-ing" her and I think she was did not enjoyed it very much. Ended up she became quite attached to me. Towards end of the journey, she even slept resting her head on my shoulder.

I thought we all had fun and it was nice to play with kids once in a while but I guess kids usually do not remember such things. I was wrong! Just yesterday, my colleague told me that while they were baking cake at home, his daughter said ,"Wo yao na gei Giraffe Kor Kor chi!"

Wow! Maybe I should consider running some day-care of something!

Meaning of Money in Life

2009-01-09T17:54:00.000-08:00

I took a cab home during last Wednesday at 1030pm. The cab driver, obviously wanting to strike a conversation, casually asked me,"Working so late?"

"Ya. Been like that lately."

"Busy huh?"

"Haha...that's the understatement. Well, It's fortunate now that a person can be still so tied up at his job, and not jobless at home."

"Not necessary. If your work is piling up so much, even with a secured job, you might be suffering more than the jobless guy."

"Wow. Why do you say that?"

"You got to learn some point in time that life is more than just making money and working real hard. There's got to be some form of balance in life."

"Quite true, I mean there's bringing home the bread, and there's tasting and enjoying the bread."

The journey ended up quite interesting because after that the cab driver shared that he was a trader / dealer etc. and driving a cab is just to cover his daily expenses. His "part-time" side-line trading futures earns much more than he does driving a cab.

This also reminds me of another converation with 2 close friends. I was sharing my mistakes in trading and I am learning lessons the hard way. Sometimes it feels like I have been working for free, the money donated to some rich chap who got lucky on the other side of the market.

We were discussing about how I spend my money. Looking at my daily expenses, saving a dollar here and there (sometimes choosing 3 veges instead of 1 meat 2 veges to save 30 cents!) is really peanuts compared to what I am putting in to "learn my lessons".

My friend brought up that a person has to balance his/her life. Frankly speaking, every moment spent is a moment to treasure (sounds like lyrics from a song). Why "suffer" for a long period of time and lose all the prime times to enjoy life at the same time? He quoted the Lehman Bro case: Some of these older folks spend their whole lives saving money and later putting them in "safe" investement vehicles so they may enjoy their lives later on. *poof* and everything is gone in a second. These people then look back and they will see a blank piece of paper. Now that all the paint is gone, there's not going to be any colours in their lives.

Not that I do not agree with my friends or the cab driver, but there are other meaningful things in life than just to enjoy. But I totally agree that it is very important that you like what you are doing. That's the best way to work hard (earn money) and enjoy while doing so.

End of the day, I can say I work like a dog and people cannot say I have no life. That's my life.

Why are you doing this?

2008-11-24T07:50:00.001-08:00

Looking at my computer screen and my calendar and my endless "To-Do List", many thoughts got into my mind. It seem that if I stayed in office the whole day (no meetings or visits), I can never clear the new things that keep popping up! Let alone clearing my backlog. I am wondering how my job scope evolved so much over time. What happened to my "previous" job which requires me to be always on the move, talking to people, helping them....aka "frontline" jobscope? Nowadays it seem like I am always doing administrative work, answering phone calls, collecting data, doing odds and ends for other departments / teams. Is that what I really wanted? Morale is definitely not at its peak.

I just had my appraisal a while back and guess what my boss told me? "You have done a lot, the volume of work you have done is significant, no doubt about that!.....BUT! (here comes the 'but') What you are doing is not quality work. It's a huge amount of quantity work, which you are not recognized nor appreciated by them!" Ok...that's what I get for being diligent, helping others, working OT until even the security guard recognizes me. If I play it smart, choose things to do, things remian undone! And I do not think I will want to be the selfish team-member. Nor do I want to deplete my "clients" opportunities, just because I have no time. Do I need to stoop to a level when I just want to get things done and only things to my benefits?

However, looking back, I have learnt a tremendous amount of things which other places or jobs cannot offer. I also see myself being moulded to appreciate more things at work....in life. Hence, I should not be complaining, really. There is so much more that I need to learn.

There is a reason for everything you have done.

There is an objective for everything you want to do.

Even though I may not know the reasons why I did certain things,

I do know my objectives, I will continue to do what I wanted to do.

THINK BIG!

Think Big?

2008-11-24T07:50:00.000-08:00

Do you get what I am trying to say from this picture?

Germany Trip Photos - PART II !

2008-10-30T07:08:00.000-07:00

Yet another official card exchanging "ceremony".
This pose looks very familiar. (Frankfurt CBD Area)

One of the many castles by the River Rhine.

Railroad to nowhere?

Standalone castle in the middle of the river!

Nice shot taken on the cable lift ride! (Guess what, he's my friend's dad!)

Majestic Structure (Crusaders!) on the mountain top!

Enjoying the "Ice Wine" @ a local restaurant where we got mailto:%22TOK!%22@#%%#!

Darlie Toothpaste!

Some bosses can be so amusing!

A chair in the old life @ "Retirement Home"

Just check out the smile on the faces!

" Woohoo!" ..... Enough said!

The 3 "chou pi jiang".

Me and me boss!

Left: Don't make me look fat in the pic!

Right: Duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh............

Free meal!

When things get serious in a meeting! (Guy on left typing furiously!)

Mercedes Museum!

And you though you only see this in movies? It's everywhere!

5 Young and handsome chaps!

Lewis Hamilton! The indoor version !

Lewis Hamilton II ! The Outskirts version!

After yet another meeting....

Germany Trip Photos - Part 1

2008-10-13T20:39:00.001-07:00

Check out my the first gift I bought for myself in Germany.

This is what happens when you put a group of "beer-high" tao kays together..HUAT ah!

The 2nd gift I bought for myself in Germany.

Look how excited the bosses can be by Cherry Tomatoes!

The cameraman was saying "Instead of cheese..say...SEX!" Everyone smiled brighter than ever!

Inside a 250 year-old authentic restaurant - their roasted ducks are superb!

The lady insisted on a photo with me....cause I am the only single (unmarried) guy there!

1st day in Stuttgart - All shops and malls closed except for this hotdog outlet at the station.

No. This is not the 3rd gift which I bought for myself there.

3Bs - BMW, Beer and Bayern Munich

2008-10-04T02:23:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a while....was really tied up with work.

I am going to experience a mental breakdown soon, with all the list of "things-to-do" in my mind! Take it as a break, or call it more work, I am going to Germany this evening. I will be most happy if I am going to relax and enjoy the weather, but I will be bringing a delegation over to Germany for business matching and industry landscaping purposes. It's going to be exciting and very very tiring - with the agenda starting from 9am everyday until 6pm (travel and meetings and travel and meetings).

Well the good thing is that I may be able to enjoy some German beer and pork knuckles (Balvarian meals - full of MEAT!). The bad thing is that I probably have no time to look around and do some sight seeing / shopping. Nevertheless, it's my first trip to Europe (although only 7 days) and I will see what kind of experience I will be able to bring back.

My colleague just came back from Hamberg, Germany and he had such a fun time - getting scolded by people on the streets! - Because he was wearing a Bayern Munich jacket in Hamberg on a football match day! For me, I will be wearing a GERMANY jacket instead! Hope the people in Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Munich will give me a different type of treatment.

Souvenoirs from Germany? A BMW? Mercedes Benz? Or an Audi?

AirAsia's Founder / CEO

2008-08-30T19:39:00.000-07:00

Thats him!

AirAsia managed to stand alongside its competitors and sponsored Man U!

I had an opportunity to see him - Tony Fernandes, Founder and CEO of AirAsia, live during one of the events organized by SPRING Singapore, i.e. "BlueSky Conference 2008" in July 08. BlueSky Conference is an event to showcase the entrepreneur spirit in the region, focusing on Singapore companies in particular. The community, called ACE - Action Community for Entrepreneurship, co-chaired by Elim Chew (77th Street) and Richard Eu (Eu Yan Sang).

First of all, allow me to share some of my personal experiences. Perhaps by means of media or otherwise, I developed this opinion that among all budget airlines, Jetstar tops the ranks followed by Tiger Airways(because of its parent co, SIA) and then others, which includes AirAsia (way down). After a couple of "trilling" experiences as a passanger onboard Jetstar and Tiger, my impressions of these budget airlines have moulded even further, in a negative way, i.e..

However, during the event itself, my opinion totally changed toward these budget airlines, particularly, AirAsia (because he spoke during the conference). Perhaps now that I better understand the history and how difficult it is to run an airline business, I can appreciate these guys more.

First story I knew about setting up an airline comes from the infamous Richard Branson - the foundation of Virgin and how he went into the Airline business. Now I heard a second - AirAsia. Tony was part of the managers in Virgin Records (duh!), and then Warner Music. He was never a technical guy, but he was a regular in Hollywood, meeting all the rich and famous.

One fine day, when he was still in Warner Music, there were some business mergers going on and he had a chance to talk to the new management. He thought they were nuts and he resigned after a week. Pondering what he should do next, he spotted planes flying at a nearby airport. Immediately he bought a video-cam and started tapping every movement there. He shared with his spouse and friends and they encouraged him to go back India and sell Prata! Tony was actually tied between having to work damn hard (for an airline business - which he had totally no idea how to start!) or he could have a laid-back life (opening a Prata store in India).

He made his decision and assembled a group of ex-colleagues and friends and amassed a couple of millions of dollars (a couple = ard 2) and he started looking around for ideas. He landed in Malaysia (for some reasons) and he wanted to set-up an airline! He managed to talk his way through (he's a marketing and PR guy) to meet up with prime minister then, Dr Mahathir to sell his idea! He was rejected (set up a new biz), but he was allowed to buy over an airline business! Delighted, Tony and gang (not Tony and Guys) went on to search and decided to buy over Air Asia for about 20 mil dollars! With some help from banks and investors etc. AirAsia was formed. Over the past few years, it has rose among the ranks to become one of big names in the budget airline business. This is very impressive, especially, when the business is run by a music guy! (People like to compare him with his ex-boss, Branson)

Tony shared a few key points about starting a business (some of which I think is crap though..haha)

1) No need experience

- look at him - music industry to airline industry

2) No need capital

- armed with 2 mil, he bought a 20 mil company

3) Do what others do not

- the only flight going to Bali after the bombing incident (profits went up); expanding his fleet when times are bad (with rising oil prices etc.).

4) Nothing is impossible

- he could have ended up running a prata business in India, now he is selling prata on board his flights!

He definately left an impression. Enough said.

Read about what he says, when his profits are way down!

http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/080828/1/4in3a.html

Back In Action!

2008-08-19T22:14:00.000-07:00

It has been a very fruitful In-Camp-Training for me this time round. It's also my first "High Key" reservist call-up. Guess what..it took away so much of my time that I felt like I was stranded on no-man's land for 2.5 weeks!

So What did I do thi time round?

1) Vocational training - brushing up my medical skills, poking each other (in the veins), CPR, etc etc

2) 1st week technical trainings / stores / lessons / practices - the usual in-camp, out-field exercises etc etc

3) 7days 6nights exercise! (killer! luckily they scaled it down from 8 days 7 nights!) - It was horrible! So tired and so much waiting time and so much problems! And here are the highlights of the show!

- Day 1 - Move out and dig my own grave (hole in the ground for u to lie in) around midnight
- Day 2 - More digging and touching up and planning my equipment in day and did a coastal mission by boat (at midnight) and walk all the way till dawn
- Day 3 - Attack enemy at dawn and there were a few cases of real casualities, found some "already dug holes" and slp inside them, move out at night and walk till 4am the next day
- Day 4 - Attack enemy at 4am and had a hard time there, set-up my post-battle positions and send out the casualties (until around 5 plus am), I was sooo tired that I concussed in the old building until it was 630am. Sranded at the old HDB estate (vacant) and preparing for next mission, time to do some personal hygiene etc after 5 days, move out to another area for tactical break (rest..as if!)
-Day 5 - Reached the place at 2-3am, and almost slp beside a "thousand-year-old tree" and banana trees! Luckily shifted and slp on a slope instead. Rested and prep for next mission, moved out in the evening, had dinner and moved out to new location.
- Day 6 - Reached new location at 2am and moved all equipment to top of hill to set-up. Too tired and concussed on the "leaf-litter forest floor". Woke up after 5 min due to insects, mosquitoes and other creepers. Thanks to insect repellants etc, I fell aslp at 3plus am. Woke up next day and dig more graves (yup! not just for myself). Set-up defense and waited for enemy to attack us.
- Day 7 - Enemy attacked at 330am and lasted until 530am. Was finally declared dead and went back to slp until 630am. Post battle casualies (20 of them) were treated and managed by me (cos I am the only one left!) and evacuated. Exercise finally ended around 1pm and I covered up 6 graves! Packed up, did some stores and finally on the way back to camp area round 6pm.

It was a horrible 7 days! I had to wear the same uniform throughout! Luckily I found some tiem to brush my teeth during the breaks! Even though I did the same in my NS days, but I was already so adapted to civilized living that I felt disgusted of what we do in the jungles. It's literally eating and shitting at the same place, at the same time!

So glad I am back to the original lifestyle.

Poem about Mkt

2008-07-15T08:38:00.000-07:00

Dow drops over the night,
Morning wake up got a fright!
Look up in the sky so bright,
Look at STI, what a sight!

Busy schedule all week long,
Not enough time to sing a song.
Decisions made...right or wrong,
Nevertheless just move along.

No time to check out stocks,
Don't know which US bank rocks.
Time goes by and read the clocks,
It's time to knock Ben off his socks.

Stop paying up brokage fee.
Work hard in office like a bee.
Who knows what time to really flee,
Guess we have to wait and see.

-eTakes 2008

What's my #1 passion in life?

2008-07-05T22:35:00.000-07:00

A picture says a thousand words...

Someone to Live with

2008-06-26T07:58:00.000-07:00

Quote from radio while I was in a cab:

"Don't spend your life with someone who you cannot live with,
Spend your life with someone who you cannot live without."

Career Paths

2008-06-18T07:26:00.000-07:00

Wow...as the saying goes, "Guang Yin Si Jian, Ri Ye Ru Suo" or rather time flies. Since the moment I stepped into the working world, it's already almost a year! I just received an email asking me to prepare for my 1-year appraisal. It seemed a while ago I had just submitted my 6-months appraisal. However, it's a miracle I am still here! Well, mainly because I enjoyed my job to a certain extend. That's why I am still here in my first job!

Through my (almost) 1 year stay in Spring, I see my colleagues come and go. So far the fastest I had seen is 2 weeks! Horrible!!! Young people nowadays! Every month, I see my colleagues leaving, and this happens only in my department. I guess that's the problem when a staff is given too much freedom and exposure to the outside world. But isn't that what most of us wanted? Independance? Exposure? Wide coverage? How come people's perception changed so much over time? I wonder.

I guess many people have different definitions on what a good, or rather perfect job will be. But one thing is for certain, people are never satisfied! (I am guilty of as well) Give the guy a job, he's happy because he finally finds a job. After a while, he complains of low pay. Give a guy a higher pay job, he complains its not high enough. Give him a relaxed job, he complains is not challenging. Give a guy an exciting job, he complains its too taxing! When will people be contented? Never.

I hear bosses and staff complain about how bad a company or organization can be. But have they actually reflected on themselves? Is it because the job doesn't suit you, or you don't fit into the job? How come my colleagues came and claimed they enjoyed themselves for the first 3 months, but ended up leaving on the 4th? Is it because they enjoyed enough? Or simply they got bored so quickly? Or the "Grass is always greener on the other side"?

Perhaps one must really understand and appreciate the essence of work and what you picture yourself in the future. I guess some can argue that they want to succeed, but not at where they are now. I totally agree, but if you compare the local employment culture with countries like Japan, the greatest difference is in the integrity. A person can join a firm and work there for his entire life, but in Singapore, the highest bidder wins.

However so, I believe everyone has a career goal in mind. To achieve it, some may try a million times, some simply get themselves prepared before making their next move.

Although there are many ways to reach your career goal, choose your paths wisely. Changing your route of advancement too often can get you lost along the way.

Meaningful Song: Blue Bird

2008-06-08T07:02:00.000-07:00

The song is from a Japanese anime. I enjoyed the song and I think the lyrics are quite meaningful when we try to relate it to life, how people dream and start and once they know what they want, they never turn back and goes on to reach their goals...

(translated from Japanese)

You say if you could fly, you'd never come back down
You only have eyes for that blue, blue sky...

You've got yo learn what sadness is

An are just grasping what pain is like

Even feelings I have for you

Must be expressed in words

As you awake from a dream into an unknown world

Spread your wings, and take flight!

You say if you could fly, you'd never come back down
You only have eyes for that blue, blue sky...

You know if you can just make it through,

You'll find what you seek

So keep trying to break free,

To that blue blue sky...

My old poems!

2008-05-30T07:11:00.000-07:00

I was clearing my my PC...and getting rid of old files. I chance upon this chunk of poem which I wrote during my uni days. I read it and it does seemd quite interesting as every passage represents something or someone. Hahaha...life does seem pretty interesting at times.

My friend and I
We go a long long way
All the times he’s there for me
Much more than I can say

I have a friend
Who just don’t care
But when he buys goodies
He will bring and share

I have another friend
Been through highs and lows
Though different paths we took
We share common goals

A friend of mine
He has his own style
When all are together
Our lives are never dull

A friend of mine
I think he does too much
For things he may pursue
And other things of such

Another friend of mine
He never misses a tart
But all he wants to do
Is to keep our friends at heart

A friend of mine
We share a boat
We trade news and
Gossips that float

Another friend
With a fun character
But when things get tied up
My friend starts to blunder

My friends and I
We share ups and downs
Our paths crossed now and then
With many smiles and frowns

Ciaoz

Nightmare!

2008-05-20T01:57:00.000-07:00

Finally a post not about Life...Careers....Success...Money...blah blah...

It's a simple dream or rather nightmare...maybe there are people who can interpret for me? hahaha...here goes...

I was late for an important appointment. It was raining very heavily and there was no cab in sight. I had not choice but to take the MRT. When I went up to the platform, I saw a small crowd gathering near the center of the West-bound track (I suppose I am at some Eastern station). When I walked up, the other left and I saw this small boy crying his heart out...ON THE TRACK! His foot is stuck in the metal track itself. Beside his is a MRT staff who is trying his best to release his foot. Some how, that little boy's parent was standing on the track as well, looking very upset.

I hear a distant sounding of the train and I see the MRT coming towards them! (Reminds me of those Indiana Jones movie!) The biy kept crying and the other two stayed on the track and continued to help! The train was going at high speen towards them but there were no signs of them leaving the boy behind! Finally the train pulled its brakes and it begun to slow down. Luckily it stopped right before it entered the station (i.e. the sheltered platform). I felt relieved and some of the crowd cheered. The two adults stopped and smiled at each other. The kid stopped his crying but tears still roll.

Suddenly I hear the sound of engine again and the train started to move! It sped towards the three and crushed all of them. Blood and "meat" were practically spattered everywhere and all I can do was stare in shock when the train zoomed passed (right in front of) me. What an experience!

Next moment, I am standing at the exact same spot at the train station plaform.

Comic Strip

2008-05-15T22:05:00.000-07:00

Just thought I post this very interesting comic strip I found. See where innovation and creativity can bring you. Sometimes it just takes a little bit of extra time to think and you can achieve optimal results with much lesser overall effort.

Think.

Newton's 1st Law of Motion

2008-05-07T17:42:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I started my complains, about work, about myself, about many things. I fine day I just sat there and look out of the window, then the floor, then the clock. Many things crossed my mind. I recall the people whom I had met in my life, the things they said, the things they do. It was then I realised that our life actually abides by the first law of Newton.

"Every object continues in its state of rest or motion in a straight line, unless compelled by some external force to act otherwise" (Good Grief its still in my mind!).

At rest: If a person is not pro-active or is in such a stage, he just follow through in life. I.e. at a standstill, he could no longer move forward. Or no matter how much he does, he is stuck within the same waveband of life, be it financially or spiritually or otherwise.

Motion in a straight line: Pro-active people will be always setting targets in life, one after another to keep himself moving towards his goals. These people never turn back, they do not give up unnecessarily. Determined, they charge at whichever velocity that was set by them.

In both cases, should we all exist in vaccum (i.e. a perfect society, environment, universe, or whatever you like to call it), we should be able to drive ourselves towards what we want or stay the way we are until the vaccum is gone or our lives end. Sadly, this is not the way things go. We are living creatures on planet Earth. An object will never be able to follow Newton's law. There are so many different external factors in life that can easily move us! Be it from the state of rest, or state of motion.

E.g. A person in his 50s, tired from working for most of his life gets stuck in a daily routine of going to work, earn the bread and bring home the meals. Perhaps one fine day his boss says, "You are fired!" Ah! There goes his current state of constant velocity. What's the next step? Change his velocity? Change his direction? Or remain at rest?

Such a simple illustration is able to set many of our thoughts going. However, I realise if you are able to create such a Pseudo-vaccum which allows a person to continue in its state of motion in (not a straight line definately) towards different objectives, with / without affected by external forces to act otherwise. Once a person is able to adapt to the negative forces and ride on the positive external forces he is to be exposed to, he will be able to continue moving towards his goals. The key thing is to always believe in yourself and keep the internal motion going.

"No external force is great enough to stop you if you move at such a high velocity internally."
- TYT

What Am I Doing? What are they thinking?

2008-04-20T09:23:00.000-07:00

Nowadays, when I wake up I will ask myself,

"What do I wish to achieve today? What will I be doing today? Will what I do take me towards my ultimate goal?"

I guess this feeling comes more often as I begin to feel the pressure and stress people are giving me, or rather I am giving myself? I have to admit work is really getting more interesting and some what meaningful because I am doing a much more significant coverage of supporting the country's economy. I often think of it this way, "I am doing what I can to assist the players in the indsutry I am account managing, to helpthem build their capabilities, business model, opportunities so that one fine day, they will grow to a significant size and brand name that all of us can be proud of."

But I think back, by providing assistance from a governement's point of view is definately not a beautiful sight. A person has to stay neutral, yet try his best to establish good relationships with the private sector (esp in a manufacturing industry). To be able to understand from a company's point of view but yet let them understand regulations have to be there no matter what. People complain and get angry. To calm these people down, make them listen to you, provide sufficient assistance, and understand what an officer is trying to do, and what the government is trying to do is definately NOT an easy task.

Sometimes, I am putting my head on the chopping board to help some of them, but none appreciates or understands. For in their mind, they feel that government should listen to them because they pay taxes! Is that what these so-called entrepreneurs can think about? Why they could not simply open their ears, their mind, and even their hearts to try and understand people around them? In this fast-moving economy, a company can be either in or out. As simple as that. When you get helpful people from government trying to help you understand and assist to the best of their abilities, PLEASE, for goodness sake, listen to them and work with them! I am sure they will not, in the mean time, destroy your whole business by just trying to help.

It gets rather demoralizing now and then, knowing that you skip your lunch, bring work home, work on weekends to help these companies, but yet they take you for granted and critisize you for every single negative thing that happened to them!(Even traffic jams!WTH!) Of course there are friendly and nice people out there who I will be most willing to attend to their immediate problems and provide assistance to the best of my abilities.

Perhaps in Singapore, how often do you write a complain letter more than you write a letter of appreciation? How often do you say thank you and really mean it? How often do you remember the person who served you lousy food than the person whom you thanked for his/her great service? How often do you smile than you frown?

Should I just tell myself, "That's life. Live with it."?

Just an F-ing Story - PArt II

2008-04-02T08:20:00.000-07:00

Today I met up with the same company again. His staff saw me and smiled, "Oh you are here to meet him again?" I smiled and nodded before proceeding to my "doom".

I met up with his brother instead. It was a totally different experience! His brother was polite, understanding and courteous. I felt that it was such a relief from my previous experience! However, I am determined to let his brother KNOW that I shall be the same person (whom he accused of not helping the companies) who is going to work with him on a grant! i.e. GiVE him $$$!

When our discussion came to an end, I brought up,"So where is Mr XX? I believe I need to update him on certain manpower issues which we had 'discussed' about."

He saw me. I smiled and waved. He smiled back. Deep in my heart, I knew he recognized me! And this time round, I am going to see how he is going to treat me! Surprisingly, he was quite friendly this time round. He even took the effort to go through the details and processes! I was quite surprised but nevertheless, I am still quite sore about our little "episode" earlier the previous week. I keep smiling at him and nod, a smile not to acknowledge him, but to see how he is going to react when I work more closely with him on the project!

Halfway throught the discussion he even quarrelled with his partner, with me and his brother in between! What a character! No wonder his staff secretly complains about him as well! I took off before he can even finish as I have another appointment. Before I leave, I purposely brought up the manpower issues whichw e had discussed earlier on, hoping that he will recall back and maybe remind him of how rude he had been!

I left with a smirk and one of the staff even asked me, "Was he the same as last time? Or did he change today?" I smiled, shook my head, and walked off. Song! Let's see how I am going to deal with him in the future! Stay tuned for the next episode of "F-ing Story!"

Just a F-ing Story!!!

2008-03-24T05:03:00.001-07:00

Before I start, I would like to declare this entry as fictional and simply just an expression of my anger and frustration. If any name or words used isin any way considered offensive to anybody, please view it with a light-hearted mood and enjoy the outbreak of fury by Mr Tan. Thanks.

One fine afternoon, I went to visit a company with my colleague, Ms A. I was grateful to the company for being understanding as I had missed a previous appointment with them as I was too tied up at other meetings.

I was greeted warmly by a young lady and an experienced looking veteran. They appear warm and we started off with a nice discussion. They shared with us the company's background, its current and future plans as well as some issues which they faced and needed our assistance. On my side, I introduced where I came from and how we look forward to address the company's manpower issues. We also put it across that our hands are tied as well and although as much as I would love to support the company, I had to be impartial and stick to some of the restrictions set by the above. The two representatives were understanding but they also wished we could put in the extra effort to support them. It seem like a friendly and nice discussion when a "unshaven boosy exp-looking uncle" popped in. Hell begun.

The moment I handed him my namecard and introduced myself. He started his first sentence "I am really pissed off witht he people from XXX (the organization I come from)!"

Naturally, I will smile back and asked him for the reason and hopefully I can try to enlighten him and perhaps "pacify" him as well. "Is there any matter which makes you think in such a way? Perhaps you can share with us your issues and I will try my best to adress them."

He smiled (a FAKE smile i.e.) and started, "The government knows what problem we (the bosses) are facing and they refused to help us! When we wanted manpower, they rejected us based on no reasons at all! How on earth do you expect us to run our business! Especially DEGREE holders and educated people like you who work in the government! Whole day sit tat the table and like it or not REJECT companies' request for no reason! You do no even take the effort to understand what the company is going through! You have not been through what we had and there you are making such decisions! Do you even know what the real problems are in the industry, in Singapore?! I tell you! I am going to talk to PM Lee one of these days and tell him all these issues I am facing! AND I really am pissed off because of the BIAS system you all have! I know of companies who have more than their deserved Foreign Manpower quota and here I am NOT receiving any support from the government! IS that fair!? You tell me! What has XXX been doing and what have you been doing?! Plus, you are working inside, that's why your views are always in line with what the governement is doing! This conversation is making me so heated up I am afraid this meeting will never end. I better make a move first!"

I had 2 replies (An angel and a devil)

ANGEL: (outside)

My face, naturally was turning black but I held my temper and argued back (of course not shouting),

"Firstly, I think you are making unfair statements to me. I AM not biased and I am quite sure my colleagues are not when it comes to Manpower regulations set by the policy makers between two ministries. Because I cannot be biased against any company because even if I wanted to, the regulations prevent me from doing so.

Secondly, helping companies in Manpower is NOT our core competecies nor job scopes of officers like myself. We are coming in to provide additional assistance in this area because we belive companies need our help to grow.

Thirdly, saying that degree holders like myself sit there the whole day and reject request cases based on my own feelings is definately NOT true a single bit. That is a very unfair statement as I have been running around 3 times a day to meet and understand companies and providing them with whichever possible support my organization can provide. Afterwhich I had to balance my paperwork and meetings with all these requests which I can simply choose not to attend to!

Forthly, I am very sure that the companies I had supported were definately not because of bias-ness or personal feeling. I agree with you that sometimes things are unfair in one way or another, but I can assure you that at least I am here to discuss, I am here to help the company in whichever possible ways I can. I am glad you are willing to share all your thoughts with us and I will take note of these points and bring it up in view of finding ways to resolve these issues.

I agree that if I am the boss of a company, I will share part of your frustration, but I will also understand that I need to follow some of the regulations and work in line to help my business grow. Of course, to address these issues, we already have some plans in mind which I hope you ca give us your inputs as well...blah blah blah....Thanks for your inputs and I hope we will be able to solve these problems which many companies are facing."

DEVIL: (inside)

Firstly, it is NON of my F-ing problem that your company is NOT doing well and your poor attitude definately contributed to the running away of your employees! TMD if I am working under you I jolly well be living off the grass by the roadside while you drive your F-ing BIG mercedes Benz 300! And frankly speaking I dun give a damn what problems your company face because you deserved it! IF you want me to be F-ing BIASED and help you while I rejected other companies who did not meet the criterias as well, then F-ING HELL you should move yer company to places like Indonesia and China where all official will LOVE to be BIAS... at a fee of course!

Secondly, I can freaking HECk care your company's request because you are so SMALL and NOT doing well! F-ing buying a big factory with so little turnover! I BET YOU the company will close down if in a few years if you continue with such an attitude! IF not I WILL provide ASSISTANCE to see that that happens! F-ing GY! I have so much things on hand to do and here I am sitting there and letting you pour all your frustration on me, when I can simply spend more time with other people who appreciates my pressence and my HELP!

Thirdly, it's true I am a degree holder! So IS THAT YOUR F-ING PROBLEM I CAN STUDY AND YOU CAN'T!?!?!? so if you had to work your way up the ranks and finally open a SMALL company and rive a Benz...is it my fault?! I studied hard! My parent worked hard to pay for my education...why should u a nobody comment on that!!! I dun owe u a F-inf living for goodness sake! IF NOT FOR THE word "professionalism", I would have shot back at you every single bit, you MORON! Let's see how your customers work with you!

Forthly, YES I AM HERE, but I am here to help. If you are so unreasonable and refuse to listen to what I say and just wanna release your frustration, PLEASE go to Woodbridge, where you used to belong (and he really was admitted there before in 1998)! IF you jus wanna complain...please complain to the wall because no single shit on earth wanna listen to YOU! AND if I am biased, I WILL help every other company except yours!

Resolve issues? SURE! as long your company closes down, the issue is resolved! The world will be peaceful once more! If you aint happy with that, MOVE your F-ING lousy small company to China and see how you are going to DIE there! Manpower? PLENTY! Workers who suck the shit outta you, PLENTY! DO I really care about you? HELL NO! I run programmes and help the industry....BUT not to you and your company! I help millions, NOT YOU! F-ing BASTARD... spoil my F-ing day! I DO UNDERstand your problems, BUT guess WHAT! I AM NOT gg to put in any effort at all! And if you really wanna go talk to PM Lee, please go ahead! I AM VERY SURE he will not entertain a F-ing asshole like you and Don't even think about government amending the regulations just for you! And for you info, I know your customers and if I am evil enough and I had to spread a word about your F-ing attitude, you can just WAIT for the day the orders stop coming in and you gotta sell your crap car and work alongside the workers that you had tortured today!

Please pardon me for the crude usage of vulgarities and bad language. I have to stress once more that the above story is purely fictional and no plants or animals were harmed during the incident itself. I apologize for the entry but I simply had no other way to release my frustration given that I live in a cultured society and I do not wish to be looked upon at teh same level as the "negative figure" mentioned in the story.

Quote of the Day!

2008-03-23T07:58:00.000-07:00

Quote from See Weiling:

"3 words that sum up life: It Goes On!"

- No matter how adverse the situation...how good or how bad or what....life still goes on.

Where's the peace?

2008-03-23T06:18:00.000-07:00

Looking back at 2007, everything around me seems relatively peaceful and well. Studying for the final exams. Graduation. Looking for a job. Planning for the future....so much less concern of the things around me....

Looking around me now in 2008, it seems like you can feel the tension, the excitement, the anticipation everyday! The adrenaline rush seems to flow down everybody's spine as every minute pass by! But why deep down in my heart, my fire is not the least bit ignited?

Everyday in the news you can see things like:

US ression, US dollar weakening, Oil price increasing, Commodity prices fluctuating, Interest rates dropping, Banks falling and global inflation rising....

China Olympics, China growth and inflation, Vietnam growth....

Singapore Youth Olympics, F-1, Integrated Resorts....

Budget 2008, CPF, Property investment regulation adjustments, cooling of the property sector....even escape of the JI leader, MS!

Malaysia elections, Taiwan elections, US elections!

So much more and more!

Even when I am typing this entry, a friend asked me a question:

Why you don't like ice-skating?

I answered: In Singapore skating rinks, I just keep going in circles!

Which is actually quite true in reflecting our lives as well. There are so many things going on in the world and I only know this handful. I just feel that I am so restricted from so many things going on in the world. We jus keep going in circles everyday. Wake up, wash up, travel, work, eat, work, travel, eat, work, sleep. Repeat this cycle 5 times a week and you get 2 new processes before you revert back to the same cycle for another 5 days.

How do you break out of these "routines"in life? Will only a strong passion in life keep someone going strong even in troubled times? Or simply the pleasures brought about by monetary values? Or do we simply acknowledge this as "part of growing old"?

National Precision Engineering Specialist Programme

2008-03-06T05:13:00.000-08:00

My colleague just sent me this link! OMG....I cannot believe that Mr. Miyagi actually commented on the ZoCard of the programme I am running now! Damnz....

Question:

"Why is she throwing water behind her? The National Precision Engineering Programme"

Answer:

"She is actually a marathon runner who is feeling hot, hence she decides to cool herself by pouring water onto herself. Apparently the picture was taken when she had finished pouring on her head and is now trying to cool her back!

By the way the picture is trying to show the water she is wearing and the Heart-rate monitor which she has below her chest area. This picture is trying to show that even medical / fitness devices (e.g Heart-rate monitors and even pace makes)requires Precision Engineering to design and manufacture the fine components and micro systems inside these devices...

The Programme is actually trying to showcase Precision Engineering as the foundation of many new industries which Singapore is trying to embark on: Aerospace, Oil & gas, Medical technology, Automotive, Semiconductors, Solar, etc etc. and attract engineering students to join the Precision Engineering industry.

Hence the caption for this particular ZoCard:

Precision Pulse: Join a new breed of technologists getting our hearts pumping. Precision Engineering - it's not your life you'll redefine."

It is actually the last design of the 4 part series which consists of a Guy with a F1-car, a dancing girl with an mp3, as well as a guy with 2 jet planes flying over him. Have you collected all 4 designs yet?

Faint.....

2008-02-28T04:34:00.000-08:00

How I am feeling right now....

Faint, Linkin Park

I am a little bit of loneliness a little bit of disregard

Handful of complaints but I cant help the fact that everybody can see these scars

I am what I want you to want what I want you to feel
But it's like no matter what I do, I can't convince you, to just believethis is real
So I let go, watching you, turn your back like you always do

Face away and pretend that I'm not

But I'll be here cause you want what I've got

I can't feel the way I did before

Don't turn your back on me

I won't be ignored

Time won't heal this damage anymore

Don't turn your back on me

I won't be ignored

I am a little bit insecure a little unconfident

Cause you don't understand I do what I can but sometimes I don't make sense

I say what you never wanna say but I've never had a doubt

It's like no matter what I do I can't convince you for once just to hear me out

So I let go watching you turn your back like you always do

Face away and pretend that I'm not

But I'll be here 'cause you're all that I've got

Contacts

2008-02-23T09:38:00.000-08:00

Recently life has really been quite interesting for me. I got to meet up with so many interesting people from all walks of life! Sometimes I think back, is salary really that important? Or what's that you see in a job? I used to think I need to find a job that allows me to know more companies. hence I was thinking of doing Sales, or Procurement, or Consultancy.

Recently I realise, my job actually allows me to do much more than that! From companies to associations, from agencies to ministries, from SMEs to MNCs, from local to overseas! It finally dawned to me that once you understand the big picture of networking and relationship building, the boundary is limitless! And if one is able to realise this, anytime, anywhere, whatever situation, friends can be made and relationships can be built regardless of any difference

Key to networking? A great smile, a great story, and a glass of red wine.

Approaching 30!

2008-02-23T08:15:00.000-08:00

The clock has just passed 12 midnight and I am officially 26 years old! My goodness...how time sneaks by so quickly! It seems just moments ago, I was just playing on the swings and catching grasshoppers with my brothers at my old old house, playing 5-stones and taking part in drawing competitions, doing footdrills and push-ups at the hot parade square, running away from Chinese lessons in the afternoons, running around carrying heavy equipment and a rifle in the pitch black jungles, organizing events, mugging for exams, gossiping and laughing over even the smallest incidences, sending in applications and going for numerous interviews, meeting people from all walks of life and seeing how every single person is different from one another.

There are too much memories to be noted, but I always keep them at the back of my mind (In case I have nothing to do and I can start on my fav. pastime - daydreaming). Life is so hectic nowdays that sometimes, I don't even feel that I am breathing at all! I once attended a Yoga session - The Master told all of us that a good way to relax is to clear your mind and concentrate on your breathing...that's when I realise that I really need to find time to just sit down and just breathe.

Let's face it: I am 26 and with a blink of an eye, I shall be 30! 30! It's a scary number. When I was young, 30 is the age when my cousins get married and have their first kid, a stable career, an apartment/house of their own, and a car. Here I am, staying with my parents, just picking up on my first job, broke, and no solid plans in mind.

But as they say "Time and Tide waits for No man!" There's always a chance to catch up! 4 years is a lot of time in my view! Stay Focused, Breathe, Charge!

Cheers to a better future ahead!

Jealous of Others?

2008-01-27T06:40:00.000-08:00

I have always wondered. Is God fair? Is everyone equal? I like to believe so to some extend. However, not all the time. My friends and I often joke about people around us. Some common examples we always hear or see in our everyday lives:

eTakes: "Wow! she's so pretty and rich and always top in class!"
Friends:" It's ok, man. Has you ever seen her with a close group of friends? No? You want to be lonely like her?"

eTakes:"......."

eTakes:"Hey! He's always so lucky! Sporty, Rich, Popular!"

Friends:"It's ok, man. His academic results sux."

eTakes:"......."

eTakes:"OMG! No Joke! This person is so smart! Good Looking! Rich! Leadership! Successful Career!"

Friends:"It's ok. This person is so proud. We don't even like mixing with bashful people."

eTakes:"........"

It seems like there is no one person who is perfect. However, perfection lies in the eyes of the beholder as well. Agree? Any person can be perfect as long another person agrees so.

As mentioned in the previous entry, a person has to keep an open mind and a burning passion if he/she wants to be successful. Hence, although its easy to be marooned by jealousy now and then. One should always make these negative emotions as driving forces to excel beyond that person, instead of giving up and seeing it as an indication of one's inabilities.

Remember, there's always no mountain too high to climb, and no ceiling to how much a person can achieve, for (repeating myself) sky's always the limit!

It's about the Mindset & Actions

2008-01-19T19:29:00.000-08:00

I have recently read a book talking about how to change your current mindset to a different one in order to achieve the results you desire. And to do that, you have to define what is the meaning of getting rich and relating it to success. At first I think its all crap, telling the reader that small things in life will actually mould the way your mind works and how certain perceptions are formed.

I quote " Rich people constantly learn and grow. Poor people think they already know".

It seems many people view it that once they know their books, they are ready to perform and succeed. I agree with that too. But on the other hand, once we develop the mindset that we can have finished learning and ready to perform, our performance would have been restricted by a ceiling (i.e. the level we had learned and that's what we deserved). To remove this hinderance, constant learning and upgrading is the way to go. As I like to say, "Sky's the limit!"

I quote "Rich people associate with positive, successful people. Poor people associate with negative, unsuccessful people."

I quite disagree with the the second statement because that way, we will be neglecting people around us who are seemed less successful or worse, poorer. Does it mean we have to always stick to the rich guys and ignore the poorer ones? But I realise it does not relfect that at all. Everyone has 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. By taking away almost 11 hours of work, 7 hours of sleep, 2 hour of eating and travelling time, we are only left with 4 hours of free time, which may encompass of washing up, preparing for activities, on the phone, waiting for people etc. Leaving us with almost 3 hours a day to engage in other activities or even interact with people.

If you have a choice, would you rather meet a friend who know only to complain about his(/her) work, the little things in his everyday life, complain about everything or saying things that only make you feel just as bad or demoralize you? Or will you rather meet a person whom you can laugh with, discuss about solving problems in life, share thoughts and dreams and think of ways to realise them? I will choose the latter.

It's actually a harsh fact. However, relationships are difficult to build on, and do not take this opportunity to choose your peers. Engage with all people around you, but spend more time with those that will be able to succeed together with you.

Just my two cents worth.

Some memories from Korea

2008-01-03T06:23:00.000-08:00

The world is in my hands!

All geared up for Skiing!

Fake Winter Sonata!

Fake "Bae Yong Jun"

Incheon International Airport

The 3 cute boys: Macus, Maximus, Malcolm! 3Ms

At the Yong Pyong Ski Resort...

What a view up there!

Nature Parks...

Everland Theme Park

Traditional Village with Kimchi Urns

Just set foot on Korea!

Sorry for the messed up sequence.

Quote of the Day

2007-12-27T06:58:00.000-08:00

It is not the strongest of the species that survive nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.

-Charles Darwin

What's a Simple Life mean to you?

2007-12-13T05:52:00.000-08:00

When I look at the word "Simple", a clean white sheet of paper comes to my mind. That's as much simple as I can imagine. However much each of us wants to lead a simple life, we are marooned by senses of happiness, anger, sadness, helplessness, and all sorts of emotions every single day, hour, minute, second....

With age hot on our heels, we see ourselves as a different individual every time we look into the mirror, be it external or internal. As we grow old, our perceptions of life change. What may seem simple in the past may not be so in the next minute.

How about picturing a small wooden cottage on the hill top, surrounded by lush green grass, waving in the wind. A couple sits on a bench outside their house, enjoying the scenic view of the sunrise. Only tunes made by the running water and wind could be heard. Although its much too unrealistic, its actually the life many people look forward to.

Maybe a more realistic screen shot of today's simple life: A stable job that pays well, an apartment or house to stay in, a happy family, a good bunch of friends etc....

I remember during an interview I had some time back, this interviewer told me something which I think is really ridiculous. He said, "The reason I am doing this job is so I can earn just enough money to support my family and give treats to my friends now and then." I was laughing inside! What nativity! But I stopped laughing now that I had worked for about 4 months. I realise what he said is actually true! Day in day out, everyone is rushing to work and rushing home. A night's out meeting friends and chat about everything under the roof really feels good!

As I get to know more people and talk to them, I come to realise each individual has ther own definitions of everything. Hence, one should not jeer or mock at others for what they like to perceive. What's yours for the words "Simple Life"?

"Will a rose by any other name smell just as good?"

My cubicle will still be crowded~!

2007-12-03T04:41:00.000-08:00

Something funny happened recently...my colleagues told me "Hey! Your cubicle will still be crowded!" Apparently I was being compared and it was damn funny when they told me that!

LEGO-Man!

2007-11-15T06:05:00.000-08:00

Some of my colleagues call me LEGO-Man....I always wondered why....but for the fun of it, I created a LEGO version of myself!

My GOAL!

2007-10-30T06:27:00.001-07:00

Yes! I had finally decided on my ultimate goal! It was after a few weeks of brainstorming (at home, on bed, on train, while walking, talking, seeing etc etc) that I realise this may be what I am looking out for and what I aim to accomplish! Somehow I was able to come up with this weird Equation that shall guide me there!

VPA(S3C2-.5M30A)=eTcPL

Makes you wonder what is on my mind?....hahhahahah.... :P

Whats your next Step?

2007-10-17T06:56:00.000-07:00

Recently I hear from some of my friends that they are not enjoying their current job (1st job after grad. btw). It seems pretty common that many choose a wrong first step and they come to realise it only after a period of time. It's perfectly fine as some of the more senior people I met shared the same problem.

What I shared with them is that no matter what you do at any stage in your life, make it worthwhile, make every step you take play a part in crystalizing your final goal. Like I always shared, Success comes with Vision, Passion and Action, with each element playing an equally important role.

Always have a ultimate goal or in mind (be it crystal clear or vague), and if you are confident and very sure of it, plan every step and take each step carefully making sure they all lead you there. If the goal is vague, make sure every step you take takes you in the correct direction such that no steps are wasted and even with some errors, you will end up at the same place, i.e. your goal!

Many motivational books may be expressed in a similar way or so, but keep in mind that it is no easy task to walk the talk. Each individual may have their own theories, goals, principles, directions and strategems, thus it sometimes may not be wise to keep listening to other people's ideas and follow blindly.

Keep your sight fixed on your ultimate goal, know your direction, plan where you are going and make sure every step is not wasted.

E-Jin & Stacy's Wedding Dinner

2007-10-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

"You want me to stay or go away?" the guy asked the girl...and the final answer is obvious...

Check out the Cool people in the pic....

What's On Your Mind?

2007-10-02T06:30:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I last posted. But lately there's been so much going on in my mind. It seems that my whole life has come to a juncture where I really need to look way in front into the future and plan my every single step properly. From things like meeting up with different people to education to money to relationships.

I think it may be common for people to call it "quarter-life crisis". Some came earlier, some later...guess mine is on-going. But lately, I have been trying to redefine my goals in life and to my surprise, I had shifted my directions unknowingly! I used to think that growing up is a slow and hard thing, and I could not recall the last time I really glanced in the mirror and ask myself how old I am now. Apparently time really flies and before I knew it, I was no longer 18 (when I last asked myself that question).

Soon I shall be in my thirties and I still cannot see myself taking a leap towards my goal. There are so many things in life which are still not planned for. People always tell me, " One step at a time".

But if you cannot even decide where you are going, you cannot even take your next step.

It's All About People...

2007-09-16T08:20:00.000-07:00

It dawned to me recently how people around you can affect your feelings. I have been quite busy now that work is really piling up and more problems arise in my life. It's always easy to cope with these things when they are within your control. Those that require other people's actions are a different story altogether.

I sometimes really look forward to meeting up with my friends and family for a good meal, when we can chat and catch up on how everybody's lives have been. Some sessions are good, some are less enjoyable. Maybe the things people talk about and the different styles of comunication result in different outcomes.

The more I talk to people (even during my course of work), the more I learn about the different characters of people. Besides observing similar styles when sharing a common topic, I also observe how wide the gap can be when people wanted to cover different things at a same time.

I do get fed up when people talk about things I do not like to hear, and hence the line " people always hear what they want to hear". This reminds me of the Radio advertisement when the parent only hears the good parts of the tennis coach's comments about his son. I can say almost everyone shares my sentiments.

However there are always people who are so ignorant about what he/she is acting or how others are responding. It's a funny thing because when such people talk, they do not notice the people around him/her are already connecting within themselves and sub-consciously hinting each other that it's time to change a topic.

It's interesting how people communicate with each other and how certain people connect with one another. You can say that some people clique especially well with some but not others. You can always choose those you want to be with all the time, but I believe that end of the day, some things are just part and parcel of life. You can choose to either adapt, or eject.

This maybe what I am looking for...

2007-09-10T04:40:00.000-07:00

A Red HOT or a PURE White Honda Jazz.....Feels good thinking about it!

Well, a cute ger to go along seems cool too! ahahahahha opps! Say Say nia!

All I wanted to say....

2007-09-02T07:46:00.000-07:00

The feeling I have deep down inside is simply.....

English! English! English!

2007-08-27T07:59:00.000-07:00

It's been really a rough ride now. It's pretty okay speaking English to people, but now English is my sole language at work! Seldom do I find opportunities to sneak in a line of Mandrian to some of my less-inclined Chinese colleagues during our conversations. However the environment is encouraging me to build up English as my native language, I still find English not as "qing qie" or "tie xin" a language as Chinese.

I finally tasted bitterness in my work. I received a couple of "comments" from my Head, literally and physically. It seems that my written English standard is not up to his standards! Once in a while he will praise me for my good command of English, but today I got shot twice for my written reports, memos and even minutes! After this, I am quite determined to improve my language, both verbally as well as written. Well, back to the basics...

It's really been a Roller-Coaster Ride!

2007-08-17T08:45:00.000-07:00

It seems that the Stock Market around the world is being over-reacting to thr sub-prime credit problems started by the States, leading to credit problems all around the world. Every morning and every night when you look at the latest Stock updates, you get a shock! The market is so volatile now that one can simply make a pile from it, or went on a Roller-Coaster Ride with it (most ppl). I really think the world is over-reacting to the issue and instead of being upset, I am actually quite angry with what is going on now.

Analysts say one thing today and another the next! It seems that one can simply anticipate what they are going to announce the next day! When the market it down, they come up with all sorts of excuses to explain it and give some recommendations. When it goes up, suddenly all the good comments and BUY calls appear and they act as if they are the ones who predicted it! When the next day the market crashes again, everyone kept quiet. Some may even take this opportunity to announce something ridiculous and if it really happens, it seemed that the person is very good! If not, it will soon be forgotten. To conclude, almost all the Analyst reports in the papers or by the financial institutes are crap! The most reliable news you can trust are only those moves made by the big investors and the fund managers. Afterall, the market is never controlled by the fundamentals, it's by people's emotions.

What will happen next after today's huge drop and rebound? I just strapped myself in for another Roller Coaster Ride for the coming week.

SGD$1.00?

2007-08-09T09:22:00.001-07:00

I have finally come to a stage in life where I am left with a total of SGD 1.00 in total on myself and in my bank account. I suddenly realise a lot of things! How every single dollar, cent means to a person at such a critical moment in time. I looked back and I realise I had led a good life, enjoying 20 dollar meals at times, buying snacks for pleasure, wasting money on things I do not need and buying up stocks whenever I have the cash.

I usually plan my finance very well down to every single cent and dollar. Disaster has finally struck and luckily I am not in any debt. That is such a relief because I rather starve then owe money! That is my principle in life.

Bad side is that I had to find ways to generate money to last me for the rest of the month (not gonna be easy). Good side being myself being able to appreciate money much more than I am now. I shall appreciate every single cent from now on. It's definately a lesson I will not forget in my life!

Bongz! Bongz! Bongz!

2007-08-02T07:54:00.000-07:00

I had finally taken the first step and embarked on my next journey! It's definately not Winter (cold and lonely), not Summer (everybody hyper action and talking and laughing all ard!), not Autumn (people feel down and relaxing in the breeze), but SPRING!

People here are generally nice, even the bosses. However the expectation is extremely high and everyone has to be on top of their toes. When I first stepped into the office, a wave of silence and vacancy greeted me. I was thinking that everybody is busy doing things at their computers! I was wrong! I walked around with my collegue and I barely met half the population there. Reason being that the rest of them are out of office doing stuff! That's when I realise that 1/2 the time, I will not be able to enjoy my luxurious workstation, aka cubicle!

It's the end of my second day and I had not been able to find a moment to take a breather and pack my table, my "equipment" and settle my administration. The moment I stepped into the office I was taken to meet a client. There were 4 organizations in the meeting room which I visited and suddenly I was shaking hands with the CEOs, directors and managers. In my pocket lies a pile of name cards all of a sudden! Wow....

In short I describe myself as a:

1) Accounts Manager

2) Marketer

3) Relationships Manager

4) Analyst

5) Business Consultant

6) Business Developer

7) Accountant

8) Auditor

9) Santa Claus! (Cos I help the gov. give out $$$)

It's a 9-in-1 job!

What's the next Step in my Life?

2007-07-29T09:40:00.000-07:00

Finally graduated and time to move on!

From the 1st of August onwards, I can finally embark on my next phase in life! A next step closer to my goal. I believe I can do it and I will! Success!

"The world is in my hands!" (Must look at the pic when reading this line..woohoo GOT THE FEELING leh!)

Cheers to another start and a new beginning!

Convocation! At Last!

2007-07-29T08:57:00.000-07:00

Family n I (1 Bro cannot make it cos he in camp! Bird)

My Dad and I - Wonder why both of us look so "unhappy"..hahaha maybe jus me!

The "Hunks" from Hall 12.

Group Photo back in Hall 12 - Home away from home? Bleah!

Another one. It kinda hot wearing the gown and taking pics under the sun.

Insights from Job Hunts

2007-07-27T19:50:00.000-07:00

Recently I had a taste of how the working society feels like. I mean how people feel when things start to get mature and everyone is working hard to make things happen, unlike in the past when there are people who always wait for things to happen.

Peer pressure? Circumstances? Interests? These are some factors that can make a person change. For example under pressure during an interview, a person can lose his or her cool and blurt out nonsense, or he/she can stay composed and answer quickly and steadily. A person may felt bad or pressured during an interview, but one can also make himself or herself at ease and enjoy the whole process.

With respect to myself, I learnt a lot about myself from these interviews I had been through. I am very glad I was able to experience so much and improvemyself along the way through these opportunities given to me. And I am sure many will agree with me that they had learnt more in the process. Even with all these experience gained from interviews, we had already learn to communicate well with people whom are our potential colleagues and customers!

However, I believe that there are ups and downs in everything. Some people benefitted from these chances, some did not. In fact there are people who are discouraged from these incidents and they got so tired from interviews that they simply have no drive to carry on. And to really go to that level is definately not desirable.

I believe, that at different stages in life we all lead a different lifstyle and adopt a different mindset. Hence why should one simply change all their objectives because they lost to themselves? That should not be the case, to begin with the end in mind, and to be able to picture what we ultimately want, is the way to go. Do not jump into a job or make a big decision that does not help you achieve that. You are wasting your time here.

But I am surprise at how people can persevere at some things but give up so easily at others. Maybe this relates back to the peer pressure, situation etc etc. I mentioned earlier. Hence I urge if you are one who has dreams and goals to achieve, do not be at the mercy of time and give up just like that (in all that u do, not just a job).

I always use this when I go for interview and it never fails to make the interviewers laugh at me. I tell them, "I believe I want to succeed. And to succeed, I need to have 3 ingredients: Vision, Passion and Action" I may not have the Action now (no exp.), but I have a vision for myself and I have the Passion for what I want to do. If I am given this opportunity, I will have all three ingredients and be able to achieve success." (Copyright)

Well, I may sound like I am bullshitting (hahaha), but thats really how i felt. Good luck to ya all out there! One last work, never embark on something that you dun have passion, you do not know what you are doing or you cannot see your future in it. Enough said.

What The Hell!?!??!?!

2007-07-23T22:17:00.000-07:00

The Bank that scolded me for being Bullshit actually wants me!!!!! They actually called me up and say I was successful for the first interview and wanted to see me again! What The HELL!!!! Will I be bull-shitted again!?!?! Or will a fast track and exciting career wait ahead of me?? OMG....vexed to the max!

SPRING to action?

BANK(investment) in my thoughts?

FLY to the big blue sky?

Or OIL my character to blend to the TRADE?

Look at what I've got!!!

2007-07-22T06:14:00.001-07:00

Treat from HK! Thx Peiling!!! Yum Yum Yum! Songz!

Am I a Bullshitter???

2007-07-16T07:46:00.000-07:00

I just had one of my worst ever interviews! From the moment I stepped in, I was not given a chance to breathe and talk properly. And it does not feel good to have interviewers laughing while you share your ideas and goals. I felt worse when they claim what you have said is BULLSHIT. They opened up my eyes to the cruel working world out there.

Graduation Photos @ City Hall !?!?!

2007-07-05T04:24:00.000-07:00

A Fun and De-stressing day with (Clockwise from me) Xiufu, Yihan, Songsen and Junxiong.

Is there still light? It seems blurrer and blurrer....

2007-07-03T21:05:00.000-07:00

especially after experiencing rejections after rejections.....

Why My Phone Never Ring.......

2007-07-02T06:55:00.000-07:00

Aura is BACK!

2007-06-28T09:15:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I last felt the "aura". Some say it may be cause there is someone, who is carrying a positive aura, hovers around me. Now that the person is gone for sometime, there isn't much of such "aura" around me to contain my previous aura (sounds complex?). With the ongoing happenings around me, pressure, competitiveness, jealousy, anger, frustration, low morale, unhappiness forms the best ingredients to recreate that aura. It's back and I really don't know how to counter it. It seems that having bad aura means to leave a trail behind and spoiling the moods of people whom you come in contact with. Hopefully it will be gone like a summer night's dream.

Some people and things I realise, change drastically with time. I always put in the effort to try to accomodate people around me, but I rarely see people doing the same. Maybe they are putting in effort but I am jus too self-centered to be focusing on them. It's really quite selfish and mean to always express negative views and comments on others. I always believe you never know when someone else is talking behind your back or trying to backstab you.

Explosion!!!!

2007-06-25T19:25:00.000-07:00

There are times when a person really cannot take it anymore and he will just explode! People used to say "Wah! Si Beh Suay!" (Vulgar way of expressing the down on luck in a person) That's what happened to me. Sometimes I really want to express my anger for many things in life! Although people may have told me otherwise but I think it's good to do so once in a while because a longer life span can be achieved if your feelings are more widely expressed. (Hence females live longer than males) I wanted to shout out now:

2 of my favourite companies (Shell and P&G) had cheated my feelings! I went for their interviews in April and guess what? Both of them replied me recently, I asking me to go for their next round of interview and that the position which I had applied for had been filled! Then why the hell give me the good news 3 months back saying I had passed and now they ask me if I wanted to apply for other positions! And the next interview for Shell is in mid-August!!! (duh!)

P&G is worse! They told me I had passed their test and asked me to be patient for the outcome. I even sent an e-mail asking about the status and they assured me that interviews will be scheduled soon. Then? I received an e-mail saying the position had been filled and ask me to reapply another position and I had to start all over again!WTH!

When I was really messed up, my home PC will crash! It had crashed so frequently I never had to reformat a computer more times in 1 week than in all my 25 years! Now I do not even know what's the problem anymore because every now and then a new problem and error pops up!

What was worse is that while all these were happening, there would be other externalities maiing it worse! Things like people telling me weird things that I do not want to hear and would make my day worse! It's a matter of timing...wrong things at wrong time = Explosion!

Grow Till Old, Learn Till Old!

2007-06-19T05:24:00.000-07:00

The chinese saying goes, "Huo dao lao, xue dao lao". It seems yesterday when I was in my kindergarden waiting for the photographer to come and take pictures of us in graduation gowns. I waited n waited and finally the principal announced that he was too busy to come and that this batch of us would not have the chance to take the photos!

I was devastated! It was what I had been looking forward to since the day I stepped into the kindergarden! I was so upset that my parents felt sorry for me. From that moment on, I made a promise to myself: To put on the gown on the next opportunity available!

I finally made it. I am graduating and going to wear the gown soon. It felt good and I decided this will not be the last time I am going to put on a gown. I will work hard to make sure that will happen!

Re-sults vs Re-jection

2007-06-11T20:11:00.001-07:00

Results were out and (it seems) everyone was happy. The next step to take is now to land a job that we like, enjoy and be able to learn, yet come with a good incentive package.

It seems that the market is doing pretty well and paying well too. But it seems employers are looking at people with high calibre. Many of such positions requite excellent acedemic results, but how on earth are there these many peple around for these positions?!?! And does that mean the rest are doomed for the "leftovers"?

To do a estimation, for a 2nd upper and above, it takes about 25% of a cohort. Which means about 1000 peple from each institute. Gathering all the local institutes, it can be estimated to about 5000 people of such calibre around!!! Shocking! It seems more than enough to fill up all these positions!

It doesn't feel good to be rejected though...hahaha...it lowers a person's morale greatly. But as the saying goes, Success can be achieved by overcoming failures. Failures make success sweeter. Many success stories had failures behind them, making them what they are today. Hence a person should really pick himself/herself up failure after failure to achieve the ultimate success! But it really don't feel good after a failure.

My Interview Expsss....

2007-06-07T07:05:00.000-07:00

I went for a couple of interviews up to date and I had quite a few interesting experiences. i decided to rate them according to my feelings toward each experience. :)

Company A

Feelings:

I felt relaxed and the lady was quite good looking (with the help of thick make up of course). I was all out to impress the person and I managed to share my thought with her quite clearly and quite overwhelmingly. She keep nodding her head and I thought that I had made it! It was a good experience and the company seemed quite professional.

Result:

I had a second inteview! The same lady with her manager met me outside of their office. We had a chat about my objectives in life and how I can achieve that should I work hard enough in the company. I felt assured and my talents recognized but end of the day, I decided the company and field is not what I wanted.

Rating: ***

Company B

Feelings:

It was one of my first formal interviews. I had managed to pass their initial tests and I was very happy about being called up by one of my desired companies. I wore a nice tie and wanted to take a bus there. I was in deep shit..literally because after 30 minutes, there was not a single bus in sight and I had this terrible stomachache!! I rushed to a nearby coffeeshop, settled my business and ran back to the busstop. My parents were in Malaysia so there was no "help line". No cabs in sight as well. My shirt was wet with perspire! Just fifteen minutes from my interview time, a bus showed up! I boarded it and prayed the whole journey! (notice I haven come to the interview yet!)

After reaching I apologized but luckily the interviewer was still busy! I went in after the previous person and I started talking. I shared in depth my hostel project experiences and it seemed like the person like what he is hearing! After which I was asked to discuss on the topic " global warming". I "vomitted out all the data from my secondary school geography and he looked at me, puzzled. " Any more?" he asked and kept repeating himself after I finished a point. Finally i gave up and said"No more." He smiled and thanked me for my time.

Results:

I had succeeded! They e-mailed me and asked to wait while they prepare the next round of interview. That was about 2 months ago. Damnz...i wondered if I had been had.

Rating:** (better if I din LS that day!)

Company C

Feelings:

I was called up for a test on a public holiday! I thought it was a weird but I turned up anyway. I waited for about 1 to 2 hours and nobody turned up! I ended up making 2 news friends (who turned up just like me!) and had lunch together!

I was called up again to take to same test. I went and I was the worst dressed! My group had people in suits and ties. I was in a casual shirt and jeans (they stated to dress casually). It was a tough test and I was quite depressed after it, mainly because the rest of the people looked damn confident after that.

Results:

I had passed the test! Yes! They asked me to fill up a form to describe my experiences in life! I did! But no replies to this day. Another 1 to 2 month since. Damnz...dio chee kee...

Ratings:*** ( I really liked the job scope and company, but the cock-up turned me off)

Company D

Feelings:

Nice company. Nice building. Simple and straightforward interview. Interviewer dun sound experienced. neither do I. I sounded weird and unprepared. Things felt weird and I cannot warm up to talk comfortably with the interviewer. Some more, I had met a few people same batch as me, going for their first day of work at the company! i felt lousy. Sianz. After that I took a wrong bus in the wrong direction. Double Sianz.

Results:

Nothing yet. Dun feel good though. Hope for the best.

Ratings: ** (seems like none of my interviews ran smoothly)

Company E

Feelings:

Good locations. The office view is like "WOW"! I had to write an essay in 30 min. Seems impossible and it was! I could not finish it in time and my essay was practically snatched away from me when the time is up! I waited for some time before my interview with the assistant head of the department and their HR executive. While waiting I saw a lot of professionals shaking hands and smiling at each other. From the things they were discussing, I knew these are company "big shots". the environment sure is fast-paced there!

When I went into the room, two pairs of eyes stared at me. I was asked questions like "What is physics, what is science, what is life, what have you achieved, what do you want, are you good enough, are you smart enough?" I tried to answer and but the interviewer kept shooting me with more questions from my words! He looked at my grades and asked me why my O levels and my uni grades are so poor? ( I thought my O level grades were not bad!!!) After further bombardment of questions on economics, globalization, different trades and Singapore's future, we were finally done. it was an experience not to be forgotten.

Results:

Don't seem too positive with all the questions and my lousy answers. But it felt good to have talked to him. Pray for the best.

Ratings:**** (overall experience, definately not on my performance)

Memories from Phuket

2007-06-03T06:02:00.000-07:00

Sunset Patong Beach

The Cliffs

From the sky

To stand out!

2007-05-29T04:13:00.000-07:00

I just realise from an experience that a person can achieve his or her objective by different means of approaches. A positive way or a negative way. However such a topic is another subjective one where different people have different views on a same issue.

An example is how to make yourself significant and stand out from the crowd by being different. Of course the usual way is to impress everyone and be the most out-spoken person in the group. Or one can choose to be the worst in the group! This has been proven by many instances since my secondary school days. When faced with a problem, a person can speak up and say the most ridiculous things and everybody remembers him! When compared to another person who contributes correct answers every time when everyone throws in solutions, the lousy person stands out more as people remembers him more!

People always remember the bad things much better than the good things. Recall the times when a friend has helped you before, how many can you remember? Or when you are asked to recall the worst things your friends had done to you?

I feel that living in such a complex world, it is very difficult to differentiate the good from the bad and the right from the wrong. Hence end of the day, to really stand out from the crowd, just do the "right" things and the "right" moment and your presence can be felt even when not physically there. Thats how successful a person can be at times.

How to face Problems?

2007-05-22T03:50:00.000-07:00

Recently I had encountered yet a number of problems. It seems that problems are everywhere! but why do I see some people with very high tresholds and people who simply cannot endure a single bit of things? I read up a number of books, articles, as well as chatted with friends. It seemed to be the best way to just face the problem calmly, identify and analyze the factors, and attempt to tackle using the most effective way to solve a problem. It has always been taught that it is an act of a coward to turn away from a problem without solving it. But what if there exist such a huge problem that, even after several attempts to analyze and make various apporaches to solve, and still failed? Does the problem lie within the problem solver or the problem? Perhaps another person will be able to solve the same problem easily.

The recent problems come in all shapes and sizes, requiring specific methodologies to solve them. But how will a normal person be able to control his or her emotions that quickly and specific to adapt to the fast changing environment filled with all sorts of problems? Reports has shown more people are suffering from depression and stress due to the fast-paced society we all lived in. But has it occurred to them that they are the very source of all these problems?

Up to this point, everything I had typed seems profound and leading nowhere. That is what I have been feeling right now. Lost and frustrated. I agree with my friend Junxiong who quoted "To hold your anger is like holding a burning charcoal without throwing it out". I totally agree. But to solve this problem, you can either put down the charcoal or you can choose to quickly throw it out.

Sometimes in life, we face many problems of which we are unable to solve. We can always pick ourselves up and try again or we can simply walk away. Even before giving any advice or critisizing the people who gave up at one point in time, put yourselves in their shoes and let all the sadness, depression, disappointment, anger, hopelessness, hate shower upon you. When faced with such problems in your life, will you choose to fight or will you turn you back and walk away. I will choose the latter.

Sights and Sounds of Taipei, Taiwan

2007-05-19T02:07:00.000-07:00

Guardians of the Palace.

Taiwan Tulips?

Hilltop view.

Taipei 101.

Xiao Qiao Liu Shui...

Old Chinese Teahouse?

All puffed up!

Wild Flowers.

Zhong Zhen Ji Nian Tang.

Overlooking the city below.

Memories.....Haiz...

2007-05-10T10:27:00.000-07:00

I was doing some packing in my room and I came across this very old box with a lot of small notes, cards, letters and gifts. As I went through, a lot of memories came back to me. As I picked up one item after another, read through one letter after another, notes, cards.....I felt sad. It's really brings back a lot of moments which I did not treasure in the past. I realise I had not paid attention to a lot of people, spare a thought for them, or put myself in their shoes. I was just plain selfish at times, always thinking only of myself.

I picked up a bundle of letters and drawings, they reminded me of my primary school days when I wrote letters almost every single day to my friends whom I see in school.

Another bundle of letters and cards to a secondary school friend whom I have yet to find a chance to apologize and talk over a couple of misunderstandings.

A package of gifts from my secondary school ECA friends, seniors and juniors.

Cards from my secondary school classmates.

Photos and cards from my JC classmates.

Photos of me and my army friends.

Notes, cards, letters from my closest NTU hall pals.

Gifts, postcards, letters, photos from my hall seniors and committee friends.

Letters, cards and notes from the special someones in my life.

And of course photos, letters and gifts from the special someone.

As I closed the box and stuffed it away, I realised that my life has been more meaningful with all these people around me.

It is you people who made my life so colourful. Thank you.

"Sometimes life can be more than just survival, reaching goals and earning big bucks."

Of Looking at Good and Bad Sides of Things

2007-05-06T08:58:00.000-07:00

A friend made me so angry once. This person told me off for something that himself/herself had been doing all this while and he/she not knowing it. I was so angry I kept complaining to my roomie. He, being a nice guy, listened patiently before explaining that I should tolerate and that that is only looking at the bad side of things. I swallowed my anger and move on.

Another incident when another friend made me so angry by doing things he/she know I super against. Again I got angry. This time I asked another close friend. She told me not to get so burned up over that person because different people have different views and perceptions in life. Try not to look at the negatives but maybe just look at the positives to foget the negatives. I tried. Again i swallowed my anger and moved on.

I realise that as time goes by, things may seem to get better for me, as people dun see or hear my anger any more. They commented it was good and that everybody will be happy in the end. But do any of the people know that the moment of swallowing the anger is not an easy task. It is neither an enjoyable process as well. From a black face to a wide smile is not somehting everyone can do. Sometimes, I had to put up with all these things that I felt myself going to burst soon.

Why do people have to behave in such a way, they know its not right but yet they chose to do so? If a person wants to be rich, he jolly well dun sleep and be lazy everyday. It's not going to take him or her to his or her goals! Why always wait until the results are out then cry or feel sad. Or rather why not prepare beforehand and anticipate the outcome. I really feel tired. But as they say, "That's life!" and you got to accept it. If you defy it, you are either classified as an outcast or a terrorist. "That's life", it makes everybody put on a mask to face their lives everyday. Is that what everybody truely wants? I think it's crap. But what to do? That's life.

Art around NTU at night

2007-04-28T07:25:00.000-07:00

Any familiar sights?

Into the Rat Race

2007-04-28T06:54:00.000-07:00

The final exams are going to be over soon and the next step to embark on a new journey is arriving. I think back of all the lessons I have learnt from the books and previous entries I had made. I am beginning to think that it may seem easy to execute the correct steps and try to get out of the rat race. But unconsciously, I may have taken my first step into it. I look around me and see my friends. Many seem to understand what the rat race is about, but our education seem to undirectly guide us there. All are anxious about applying jobs and waiting replies, but non seem to be trying to make it out on their own.

I am no difference myself. But I believe that if a person is able to keep his/her goals and objectives clear in their minds always, it is still possible to break out and achieve their career goals in life. I will not use the work success as I beleive that many see success differently using their own perception. Hence I pray that things go well and that the people around will be able to achieve their goals and their respective successes in life!

Recollections of the Past

2007-04-21T20:27:00.000-07:00

Looking through my albums
Photos from long ago.
A sudden ache fills my heart
Cos' now it's time to go.

I took a stroll around the grounds
Thoughts filled up my mind.
I finally come to realise that
True friends are hard to find.

At times I just lift my head
And gazed up at each star.
If each star represents a friend
I wondered who they are.

Prof Foo's 5 Fingers Theory

2007-04-17T19:51:00.000-07:00

I saw this when I was going through my Human Resource Management lecturer, Prof Foo's notes. I think it is a pretty interesting model of what he regards as a "Simple Life Strategy". I quite agree with this as I believe that in order to suceed and execute actions efficiently and effectively, i.e. your own life here, all 5 aspects must be balanced properly. With all five fingers working together, problems can be tackled easily. Too much emphasis on just one finger (aspect of life), no real work can be done. Hence focus on all the aspects in your mind, and your thoughts to achieve that balnce in your life.

Those were the days...

2007-04-17T06:12:00.000-07:00

Suddenly I felt very lost. It closing to my last day in NTU. I was happy, I was sad. It was during these four years that tranformed me to what I am today (hahah wonder if its for the good for worse!). Nevertheless, it is a place where I learned a lot about goals, perceptions, people, knowledge, life. This point in time is not just the finaly days in NTU, but may be one of my final brushes with official schooling. (Thinking of MBA though.)

These few days, I have bee in thought about my life that went by, all 25 years of it. It really brings back memories when I chatted with Jean on our young primary school days. I was bullied. I won competitions, but in drawing, "five stones" and "Pepsi Cola 123". I put on weight, I did ONLY 8 situps in 1 minute! I studied, I played, I smiled, I cried. I really miss those days with my friends and classmates. It a pity I lost touch with some of them. Maybe I will try to find them!

This were also the days when I had to pray to the Buddha in Maha Bodhi School and listen to Christian preaching in Anglican High. Even running from lessons and hiding in the HDB flats when some of the teachers chased after us in Tampines JC. Those were the days...

From things like taking part in National Day, taking part in table tennis competitions the first day I joined the club, winning drawing competitions, learning about first-aid, winning National competitions for SJAB, going overseas for Sea Sport expedition, even peeling an orange for an old man in a home! Now, from acting in a "movie", singing on stage, giving a talk, organizing an event, calling a sponsor, taking photographs, moving equipment, helping the needy, leading a group, the list goes on.....

Not forgetting finding my true friends, my enemies (opps! haha), people who share, and people who dun care. Friendships and love stories as well. These will goes down in history. Hopefully one day people will be able to read about them in a book "eTakes' Life". As the Chinese saying goes "Guang Yin Shi Jian, Ri Yue Ru Suo", times flies so quickly without you realising it. I am glad I had lived and enjoyed my life. To all the people who made my life what it is today, Thank You!

Little People Around Us!

2007-04-13T08:46:00.000-07:00

I came across a thread on EDMW, Hardwarezone forum saying "Little People at work!". Ihe title caught my attention and I decided to click and take a look. A link in the thread brought me to a site with some very interesting miniature artwork!

1) Hit by a safety pin!

2) Sunbathing by the water...

These art pieces actually wanted to tell us that being big and tall, we seldom pay attention to much smaller things around us (just like the tiny figurines). Hence maybe we should stop for a moment in our lives and try to identify and give some attention to the "smaller" people around us. For all you might know, they may be the ones who need your attention the most.

"The people who seem small may be those who can really help when it comes to big things in life." - Yide

My Friends & I.....PART II

2007-04-12T07:42:00.000-07:00

Friends are always there who helps you and supports you when you need them. They are also those who gives you that extra little push to help you reach for your Goals. Cheers to all our true friends out there. Thanks.

To my some of my friends....

S eldom give up halfway
O nly does his best
N ever was he selfish
G iving to the rest

P opular with everyone
O nly never his boss
O ften does disgusting stuff
N ever at his loss

D escribes his working life
R eally damn boring
A lways go on skating trips
N ever in the morning

Y es he always does seem
I rritating and bad
D oes offer a listening ear
E ven when you're sad

to be continued....

My Friends & I.....PART 1

2007-04-10T21:28:00.000-07:00

What is friendship?
Words came to my mind. “pals, confide, trust, share, love, together, family, fun, goals, temperamental, lifetime, surface, fake, used, official, close, selfish, evil, karma, etc…”

Many thoughts have crossed my mind when I look at people around me. Friendship is something that can lift you up into the sky, yet it can be something that sinks you deep into the oceans. Through many occasions, I learnt meanings of what friednship is about and who are your friends. A though came to me and I decided to look back into my life....

My friend and I
We go a long long way
All the times he’s there for me
Much more than I can say

I have a friend
Who just don’t care
But when he buys goodies
He will bring and share

I have another friend
Been through highs and lows
Though different paths we took
We share common goals

A friend near me
He has his own style
When all are together
Our lives are never dull

A friend of mine
I think he does too much
For things he may pursue
And other things of such

Another friend of mine
He never misses a tart
But all he wants to do
Is to keep our friends at heart

A friend of mine
We share a boat
We trade news and
Gossips that float

Another friend
With a fun character
But when things get tied up
My friend starts to blunder

My friends and I
We share ups and downs
Our paths crossed now and then
With many smiles and frowns

To be continued…..

How you search for your career?

2007-04-09T09:51:00.000-07:00

I have been reading up and learning about career opportunities from people and materials around me lately (mainly because I am graduating soon and I need to plan my path). Assessment tests, personality tests, resumes, CVs, interviews, researches....bascially that's what is in our minds these days rather than tutorials and examinations!

I pose a question here:

What makes you wanna apply for a particular job?

Company reputation?

Salary?

Industry?

Companionship?

Benefits?

Interests?

Prospects?

Learning experience?

And the list goes on.....

As for me, I still see clouds covering my blue skies. I am still quite lost in finding my career path even at this moment in time. I had a number of ideas and directions, but I ended up keep changing my concepts towards them.

1) Banking industry - try all positions to get into one of the local or global banks or financial institutes to have a head start in the banking and finance industry (suppose to be where the big $ is!) - ended up realizing employees in operations and junior executive positions get stuck in their positions for a longer period of time than I expected. I still have friends who are still on contract basis. Talk about making big money and good prospects!

2) Financial planning and Stockbroking - A Sales job. Interesting and interactive. Work hard and enjoy the fruits of labour! However, people are not as open to such concepts as the person himself or herself! Ended up losing interest and committment and at times, friends.

3) Engineering (quality, technical) - No Way!!!!

4) Consulting - Interactive, good exposure, cover wide range of spcializations, things learnt in school are not wasted! BUT, requires good experiences in the fields!

5) NEW START-UP! - Capital, Contacts, Ideas, Experiences. Need I say more?

When will my clouds be gone and reveal a clear and beautiful sky where I can aim to reach?

Karma vs Bad Comments

2007-04-03T21:49:00.000-07:00

Something that inspires me from HWZ, EDMW forum!

Recently my friend SS mentioned to me something about Karma. We were chatting happily at the canteen and suddenly one of the guys kept quiet and stared in one direction. The rest noticed the change in behavior and all turned and looked in the same direction. A cute girl had just went past. However all turned back and made faces, and laughed when a not-so-pleasant-looking girl appeared behind her. SS then shook his head and cried, "Jia Lat! Confirm dio KARMA!"

This episode led me to think about the issue on critisizing people behind their backs and "dio Karma" or retribution. It has been proven that people are more likely to think on the negative side of things more often than recognizing the good sides. For example, the laughing of the unpleasant-looking girl will last longer than praising the pleasant-looking one. Why is this so? Apparently people prefers a good laugh than a good impression.

But linking KARMA to critisism, there seem to be a direct link: Critisism is directly proportional to KARMA, i.e. the more bad comments you give on others, the more bad KARMA you are going to get. That's why many Chinese still has a saying that goes "Shan you shan bao, er you er bao".

But I believe even if there is no such relationship, one should take note of his/her extend of critisizing as you never know when somebody else is laughing or critisizing you! Hence, I believe that a harmless laugh or comment once in a while can lighten the mood, but overdoing it may seriously lead to some bad karma, i.e. people losing trust in you, not knowing if you had bad-mouthed them behind their backs. Moral of the story is: Do not talk bad behind people's backs, because you never know when somebody may be speaking bad of you behind your back right now. Karma?

What is your Goal?

2007-04-01T07:32:00.000-07:00

Many thoughts have crossed my mind these days. It's all about achieving success. I had a talk with Mr Rix Chan (top ten round table achiever) from Pivotal Group, Great Eastern some time ago. He was featured in a book called "Real People, Real Money", describing how a number of people managed to break out of the rat race and become rich and successful in their careers. I read through the book and I can only spot 3 main catagories of people inside: Financial planners, Real estate agents and Entrepreneurs.

He told me that no matter what people prefers to think, almost everyone shares a common goal, i.e. to be rich (to survive). I quote, "Some people may think that by working hard in a big firm, and gaining experiences and promotions as well as a pay raise along the years can take them to their goals, but I defer so." No matter how hard an employee performs, his/her fate is not decided by somebody else. I totally agree with him.

BUT, when he asked me to join his team, I refused. I explained that even though I, as much as himself, wants to achieve my financial goals, I think it is very crucial to balance our own interests as well. My previous post mentioned about how VISION, ACTION and PASSION can lead to SUCCESS. And even when I had visions and actions, I will not have enough passion for such a path, and sustain long enough to reach my goals. He agreed. Different people may have different goals in their lives, and that even though we all have one goal in common, that goal may be achieved by many means.

I finally concluded that to achieve my own goals, there is more than one way (as mentioned in the book). Everybody has to find their own goals in life and the paths leading them there. Know what you want and plan accordingly. Start now. Take a moment and and look up above you....Sky's the limit.

How do you look at life?

2007-03-28T18:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I received an e-mail from a friend of ours. He wrote about the sad and disappointing things he had experienced with us over these 3 to 4 years. When I read it, I must admit there were mixed feelings. I felt lost, sad, disappointed and angry at the same time. I must admit that I am an impulsive person who will over-react at the smallest things around me. However, after reading the mail for the second time, I developed different thoughts and reactions.

My friend and I had many common goals and shared many common dreams, but I must say we had quite a number of differences as well (leading to small arguements previously).

As time goes by, people change, the environment change, everything around all of us changes. I have seen changes for the worse and for the better. I see friend standing on stage and speaking as president as compared to the time when he was a quiet and shy guy, friends who used to be very cheerful and carefree, now always deep in thought and less outspoken. Things were not what they used to be anymore, BUT that, my friends, is life.

A person's life can be described as exciting, even colourful when there are ups and downs, filled with happiness and sadness, successes and failures.....and so on. Thus I come to realise that it is not a perfect world that we live in. There are bound to be ugly things in our lives which we do not want to face, but it is whether how you want to tackle them or view them using a different perception. (I like to talk about perception, but when people talk to me about their views, I will always prefer to use my own perceptions instead of theirs. This had made many people unhappy.well...that's life!)

I realise that some things that happen are just parts and parcels of life and we have to live with it. The past is what we cannot change, but what we can control is our future. So would you look at life only from your direction of view? Or would you change your perceptions and look at life from all directions?

"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." - Charles Darwin.

Story of the Two Villagers

2007-03-26T00:05:00.000-07:00

The story goes:

In a village, there was a problem with water shortage. The villagers had to walk all the way to a river some distance away to fetch water. Everybody was tired of doing so and they are willing to pay for water. Now, among them were two villagers who wanted to get rich.

The first villager saw the opportunity and quickly got to work. He carried two big pails and ran down to the river. He filled them up with water and walked as fast as he could back to the village. He sold them for a nice profit at practically no cost at all! He knew that if he worked hard everyday, he could make lots of money! He got excited and returned to the river for more. By the end of the day, he had made 10 trips and was exhausted. But when he looked at the money he had earned, he was motivated to work hard the next day.

The other villager, however, could not be seen working at all! He disappeared in the day and came back at night. Everybody though he was lazy and did not do any work.

Two weeks had gone by. The first villager got tired of what he had been doing. He was tired and the routine was getting boring. He thought that he had monopoly of his service and he raised the price of his water bit by bit. Although the villagers were unhappy about it, they had no choice but to put up with him.

At this point in time, the second villager announced to the village that he had build a pipe from the river to a well located in the village! He priced his the water at a much lower cost than the first villager. The villagers switched to the second villager for water.

The first villager saw his business slipping and he quickly lowered his prices! At one point in time, he was earning much lesser than he was earning initially! He tried to work even harder but he got so tired and finally collapsed.

Meanwhile, the other villager was relaxing, talking to peoplem and planning to expand his water supply to the next village.

The first villager is people around us. Working hard everyday just to earn a limited aount of money every month. No matter how hard you work, you will receive the same paycheck or maybe with some performace bonus. After a while, your experience helps you to get a pay raise. But when more able and cheaper alternatives appears, you get kicked out.

The second villager however, plans for his future and invests sufficient time to plan and execute his ideas. He may have lost out in the initial stage , but in the later stage, his pipe system brings in money even when he is not working! Or even when he plans for his next idea. This shows how passive income can help someone achieve his/her goals.

The first villager symbolizes a working person while the second one shows an entrepreneur. So now, which person do you wanna be? The first villager? Or the second?

My Brush with the Press

2007-03-23T11:12:00.000-07:00

I realised I had my face and article published on Lian He Zao Bao ( Singapore Chinese newspaper) when I was 9 years old (in 1991)! To think I achieved one of my goals when I was so much younger then. Hope this motivates everyone and fight for what you want.

What is Success made up of?

2007-03-22T11:04:00.000-07:00

Success does not come when you waork very very hard at something without a direction or a purpose. Hence, to achieve Success, one must have a passion for what they are doing, have a vision in mind of what the objective is, and take action! Most people have two of the three attributes. That is one of the main reasons why they did not succeed in what they want do.

Vision + Action = Short term, unsustainable success.
Vision + Passion = Big dreams that will never come true.
Action + Passion = Day to day work without significant achievements.

Just my 5 cents worth of views!

How to create Wealth?

2007-03-20T03:25:00.000-07:00

Build a lot of passive incomes such as dividends, royalties, rights, commissions, interests.

Which career path to choose?

2007-03-18T11:19:00.000-07:00

Everything you said and done......

2007-03-15T06:15:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I look outside my window and see people talking, laughing, shouting, walking, jogging, eating.....and I think to myself....why people always look like they are enjoying when they are doing things together? What makes them do things together? Some of these, I cannot answer myself.

The way I see it, every single human being is downright selfish! Yes, that includes me. I know that I am a super selfish person and I admit it. But why some people simply refuse to admit and still put on "I am not selfish" look? When I look around me, I am sometimes amazed by the power of human interactions. There is really such a power that is far beyond human imagination or any technology that has ever been achieved, and that is Love.

Love makes people do funny things, neglect themselves, even forget their own identities in the process. I feel puzzled at times, but sometimes I believe its up to a person himself or herself to decide their own fates. I have seen many examples in my 25 years, and I still do not understand why any person is willing to go that far out for somebody else rather than themselves? Maybe that is un-selfishness? Or end of the day, you are simply looking at the returns from there...selfish? You decide.

Lessons from Mount Everest...

2007-03-14T11:53:00.000-07:00

I attended a motivational talk by Mr. David Lim today. He is a mountaineer, a speaker, and a corporate trainer. There are a few things in him that motivated me and make him different from other speakers.

The most comendable one is that he has injured himself so badly from his Everest trip that he has lost the use of his right knee and below! Yet, he never give up his passion for mountaineering and managed to conquer more mountains up to 6600km in height! (compare to Mt Everest of around 8800km) He himself is a very good example of living with passion and embracing changes in his life!

Not to mention when he could not make it to the summit, he cheered on and share the joy when two of his teammates made it there. How many of us will feel the same way when we encounter such a scenario?

Mr David Lim has brought up a few points to go beyond the limits and reach for the "success" our lives:

1) Have a crystal clear, and stretch goals (rehearsed to achieve results)

2) Pay the price to get the goal (must endure the hardship and the downsides)

3) Embrace changes and re-invent (never give up and give in to fact which cannot be undone)

4) Apply the 3 pillars - Passion, Skills and Marketplace

He also has a few quotes which I love to share:

1) What anyone thinks about you is none of your business!

2) No matter how successful you are, there will always be someone with better success and always expect the unexpected.

3) How keen are you on your teammates' success as compared to your own?

4) Fulfillment may not just come from monetary values, but beyond that.

5) Being good gets into the way of being great.

Anyway, donate blood and save lives! Doing a bit of good goes a long way!

Stock Market

2007-03-12T06:46:00.000-07:00

I caught a news on Yahoo! today stating that Greenspan may be wrong in saying that USA has a 1/3 possibility to fall into recession. Using a system developed by Greenspan, which calculates the po0ssibility of recession, USA has a 50% chance!

I am sure the Asian markets will be affected by the news and downside may be expected. Maybe it is time to do some calculations on when to let go of stocks on your hands....hmmmm....

Picture Archives

2007-03-10T07:56:00.000-08:00

Outstanding vs Normal

2007-03-10T07:18:00.000-08:00

After going for the iCON Group Discussion (GD) on last Thursday, I come to realise that it is indeed a very competitive environment we live in. Even in school, we are competing aganst each other every single day - queueing up for food, getting good results, walking on the pavement...etc.

During iCON GD, I was allocated into a group of 6 consisting of two indians, one south-east asian, one chinese and my friend Songsen. I was exhausted from the two quizzes that just passed one and two hours ago respectively and all I look forward is a having a good dinner. My other members do not share the same thoughts as me. Once the discussion start, I can tell that everyone was ready to put on a good show, taking note to keep showing all attributes of a good speaker. One speaker after another spoke well, and I was quite surprised at their pronounciations - all spoke very well. While others are speaking, I was taking down notes so that I can speak up when one person ends his/her views. The chance never come. Everybody was speaking up even when another person have not finished! I think it was very rude to do so, but apparently, that is the only way you fight for a chance to speak up.

I was quite turned off, but I kept my smile. But after the session, I saw participations who even came in wearing suits and ties! I had a talk with Songsen and I realise companies such as M Lynch does that as well, and that if you do not outshine the others, you are out of the game! Somehow, such an act reminds me of my time at Tekong (practically putting on a show for some guys).

In conclusion, I peceive this world as a world of illusions ( I wun say fake), that things are never what they are suppose to be. Thus in order to move on in life, you can either:

1) Really stand out by NOT doing what everybody is trying to do

2) Follow the crowd and not stand out

3) Follow the crowd and try to stand out

4) End your life as there is definitely no way to change the perceptions of all people in this world

(thus the existence of terrorists in this world)

Cheers to more market recovery in the next week! (Still trying to figure out when the property bubble will burst b4 i get rid of all my property stocks)

PHEW!

2007-03-08T04:16:00.000-08:00

Today is a Gggggreat day! (as one of my frens like to say) because my two quizzes had past! It felt like a heavy load had been lifted off. I found one of my previous designs for an event that I helped to organize! Looks quite funny to me though. It's the banner for this event called Kid's World! Anyway cheers to another STi rise! Although I think its still not the time to jump in, unless further positive news from Mr Greenspan can help to justify that!

Dreams

2007-03-06T05:49:00.000-08:00

I decided to write dow some of my most vivid dreams to archive. Maybe when i piece them altogether, I can figure out a pattern and predict some things in the future!

"I was standing in front of a three-storey house with my family. It was an isolated area and all I see around me are very very old and broken down buildings. My family car, a Toyota Altis is parked by the side of the car along with a Mercedes rally car (duhh!). The house has no fence at all and while I ponder around I see very old shophouses along the opposite side of the road. Everything was ghostly...."

Well...thats a start!

Anyway a good news is that one of my drawings has been chosen for the 3.3 magazine, hopefully I get my hands on the next issue to see what they had done to it.

Meanwhile, cheers to a better stock market performace tomorrow! STI rose 54 points today.

Stock Market Movement

2007-03-04T21:25:00.000-08:00

Today is another correction day...with STI falling past the 3000 mark, with a drop of 124 at mid-day. Many good stocks seem like a bargain to buy now, but I prefer to stay put and observe for a rising trend to start again. I don't see a bearish market but rather a HUGE correction from the rocketing of the stock prices previously.

China Entertainment Sports seem like a fun stock to go for now, because it is at its bottom pricing at S$0.005, the smallest division a stock can be priced at. It has nowhere else to go except up!

Links

2007-03-04T04:22:00.000-08:00

Forgotten to add links to my previous blogs:

A Simple Investor - www.simpleinvestor.blogspot.com

A Simple Cartoonist - http://www.simplecartoon.blogspot.com

Cheers to a healthy day ahead....btw Blood Donation Drive in NTU from 13th March 2007...calling out to donors!

A New Start!

2007-03-03T10:16:00.000-08:00

Hiya all! This is going to be my new and only blog! A simple investor and A simple cartoonist is going to close down soon, but I will try my best to export some of the past posts here. The reason for creating a new blog and closing down the other two is so I can post everything here! And that includes investing, drawing and other stuffs about myself and my interests. Maybe this can be regarded as a kind of integration! Hahaha....look forward to designing my own blog template soon after 13th March 2007! Cheers to all!

P/S: Ever wonder why the blog is named this way? :)