Just what was all that big fuss about?

I read this article on Business Times today. Super funny. I especially liked the fifth paragraph. I wrote to Jaime Ee to thank you. She was also the one who wrote this article.

THE AWARE SAGA
Just what was all that big fuss about?

Whatever people hated about the ousted new guard, its stand on women's rights was still the same as Aware's: pro-women

By JAIME EE

FINALLY, it's over. I would say, 'Thank God', but then I wouldn't want to be accused of, you know, trying to start something.

Yet as the old guard of Aware celebrates its triumph, and the ousted new guard slinks off to lick its wounds, one can only step back and ask: What the heck was all that fuss about, really?

For the past three weeks, women were fighting with other women over something that had nothing to do with what Aware was created to do 20 years ago: celebrate women, uphold and protect their rights. After the feminist equivalent of WWE Smackdown at Suntec City on Saturday, I'm not sure what there is to celebrate about being a woman.

Yes, we can raise our collective hands and say, yeah, we made sure those self-righteous newbies can't shove their ideals down our throats. We're a multi-religious society and no one religion has the right to take over a secular organisation to spread its own doctrine.

All well and good but in the highly charged process, did every negative stereotype of women have to be laid bare for all to see and cringe at? That is, that hell hath no fury like a woman (or ex-co) scorned; women are over-emotional, territorial and prone to hissing when angry; no (straight) male in his right mind would intervene in a fight between women; the world's wars would be a lot shorter if all soldiers were female.

What I'd like to know is, apart from proving that women can be as nasty as men when they fight, what exactly did this battle achieve? Did we come away from this saying, 'Yay, this has been a great milestone for women and Singapore?'

Sure, we can all agree that the old guard of Aware well deserved to get their organisation back simply because we like them a lot better, but did the whole country have to get pulled into the fray?

This is not some moral victory for women or society in general. While it was the leadership of a women's group in question here, women's rights were never at risk.

Whatever people hated about the ousted new guard, its stand on women's rights was still the same as Aware's, ie pro-women.

Rather, people see the victory as one against steeplejacking - a term used to describe churches which infiltrate secular organisations. Did we stop some rabid religious group from infiltrating our multi-religious society and planting anti-gay thoughts in our minds?

Ego vs ideology

Are we seriously that impressionable to think that a group of anti-gay lobbyists who hijack a women's group can singlehandedly change our social order?

Somehow, I don't think so. Maybe we should just look at the battle for what it really was: a 20-year-old women's group, well-respected for its work and good intentions, but somewhat long in the tooth and suffering dwindling membership and interest. With just 300-odd members, it had been cruising contentedly in its comfort zone. Suddenly, it gets hijacked by a group which doesn't believe in voicing its concerns about sex education programmes in the normal way, ie, complaining to the relevant authorities.

So what do you get? A struggle between ego (the old guard caught unawares) and ideology (the newbies) that should have stayed internal instead of turning into a national issue. Makes you wish the newcomers had just taken the old guard's advice and started its own group. But being corporate women who know a thing or two about back-door listings, they probably knew it would have been easier to push their agenda as Aware rather than as Women Against Gays.

One of the ousted exco members said that she didn't think the 3,000 women at Saturday's event represented the views of some two million Singaporean women. She was right. There are women who think this went way beyond reason and that the self-righteous label isn't restricted to just the ousted newbies. There are women who think that parents should know what their kids are being taught in school, and if they don't like it, they can jolly well campaign for it to be changed. You don't play Christian Militant Ninjas and mount hostile takeovers.

And there are women who think that with its new lease of life, Aware can go back to what it does best - being for women, and about women.

Love for Sports

I was at a family function yesterday when i found out that my cousin met her husband at the driving range. I couldnt decipher who tried to tackle who but WOW! Driving range!

Just a few days before, T|ny told me she got a boyfriend and she got to know him on a diving trip! WOW!

Shitfong introduced his colleague to me cos she plays badminton and she joined us yesterday. She was super good but i ended up whacking her nose. No luck for me there. :(

At the said family function, my cousin in law gave me a 5 wood cos he said he didnt need it anymore and he promised to give me a Titlelist 60* wedge the next time we meet cos he said hes no longer using it. And i took home a Callaway driver from another cousin. The driver was given to him by my dad almost 10 years ago. I already have a driver but decided it should come back to where it really belongs.

I have always been a huge proponent of "Su lang mai su sey", roughly translated as "Lose people but cannot lose style". And with this news of meeting beaus at driving ranges, badminton courts, sea, etc, im more determined to dress up while sporting.

Wahahahahahaha

Entertaining Again

After five days out of office, I found that I have 14 items on my To-Do list and one voice mail.

It was from the Australian Trade Commission inviting me to a networking event after my boss nominated me for it. So much for hating networking events. Bleah. I hope no one forces me to drink.

Entertaining

I cant remember if i mentioned this anywhere before. I must have, cos i feel strongly.

I hate entertaining and networking.

I dont like standing around in a dark room holding a drink (usually a soft one) and talking about "the market". I do like being invited though. And i'll put it in my calendar. On the odd occasion, I'd enjoy dressing up for it.

Oh wait, who am i kidding? I love to dress up for entertainment.

And when i drive to work, i tell myself that i'll enjoy this one. And i'll think back on that time in October when i went to one and we are on our way to signing a deal.

But inevitably, a few hours before the event, i'll be making all kinds of internal excuses to myself that i dont wanna go anymore.

But tonight, i decided to go cos i promised some people i would go. Plus it's near my office.

My company is relatively unknown in our realm so i was pleasantly surprised that many people i spoke to knew me. It was good to be able to introduce yourself without having to introduce your company history as well.

One odd introduction went like:

Me: Hi, my name is Cornball and im from XXXXX.

Guy: Oh Cornball, did you use to work for XXX?

Me: Ya (suspiciously)

Guy: I used to intern there shortly after you left and heard your name around.

Me: Bad nasty things mostly?

Guy: No. Those were mostly guys you mentored and they said u taught me many things.

Me to myself: Ya right, i taught but they didnt remember. Dumb asses.

Guy: And they were all very surprised you resigned cos it was all so sudden.

He went on telling me abt the nice things said about me, but this isnt the purpose of this post.

I later spent the rest of the evening, literally meeting new people who in some way or another, heard my name or my presence in my company and really spent the bulk of the night talking about my ex-company. It was sooo weird that i made my excuse to head out to answer a call and just left.

And because i'm on leave on Wed and Thurs to capitalise on the long weekend, i bought the fried chicken from Chippies to "celebrate".

I'm going to JB on thursday to play my first ever round of golf. I hope i dont embarrass myself.

Escort

I think ive been spending too much money.

My mum asked me where i have so much money to spend and when she read in the newspapers about this guy who worked as an escort to a rich tai tai to fund his purchases, she asked me if i worked as an escort too.

She even said she's not sure im actually going to work when i leave the house every day.

WTH!

They're Back!

They are back in June!



I didnt manage to go see them last year cos I was travelling and came back on the day of the concert and i didnt wanna rush just to get the tix . And i was pretty disappointed.

I really think I'm going for this one, even if i have to go alone. I'd pay for anyone who'd come with me.

How Embarrassing

I drive pass this every day on my way to work but i never had the chance to stop by the road to take this.

Yesterday I did.

See how proud the School Advisory Committee is of their 2008 PSLE results.

I bet the committee members themselves didnt do too well or as well for their PSLE, cos they cant even spell "committee".



I took this picture on my Bold. It's pretty clear considering i took it from across the road.

Frozen

I couldn’t sleep last night due to several reasons:

1. I took a nap at 6pm after my strenuous badminton.
2. I drank bubble tea at 11pm.
3. I watched the FA Cup semi final which ended in an anti-climax penalty shootout at 2am.

I decided to get off my butt and do some work. I also decided to check my bank accounts to see how much earthly wealth I’ve accumulated. Imagine my shock when I saw this on my DBS bank account.



Then this at on Amex page.



So scary. A lot of things were running through my mind. Did someone hack the impregnable fortress that is my Mac? Or did the government shut down my account cos i was laundering money for a terrorist cell? (Absolutely no idea where that came from) When my DBS account was blank, i thought DBS went bankrupt!! Scared me until my UOB account still had my money. Phew.. Though i had no idea why another bank having my money reassured me about the empty bank, i was nonetheless calmer. I realised i couldnt do anything about it, so i went back to my work and facebooking.

I eventually slept at 4am. Yawn….

Tea Time

I was going to blog about my tea when I bought it but then while walking back and swinging quite vigorously, I spilt some of it. Damn.. lugi some tea.



I have been drinking quite a bit of Kiliney-esque tea of late cos of the pick-me-ups I need from the lack of sleep. Have u ever noticed the people who make the tea/coffee are very similar in the way they do it? They’d line the cups in one line, then very very deliberately pour from a kettle with a long spout into the tiny cups. They are invariably always hunched and shoulders tightened. The amounts of condensed milk, hot water, sugar they put are also very precise. For my cup just now, he actually scooped some condensed milk back from my cup into the can cos he put too much.

I also bought yummy mangoes.

Apocalypse Now

It seems like the Challenger Superstore know something we dont. The last days are upon us.

Filing

My friend tried to file her taxes. I guess she had a hard time cos she put this on her blog

"Filing taxes online this year is like finding a good date in Singapore: hard to get started, getting ditched halfway through the process, and ultimately, an exercise in futility."


Haha.. i should ask her out soon.

Yawn

I didn’t feel like working yesterday so I went to the range at 4pm. Not that hitting balls was a good way to relax, it just offered another option as compared to going home and watching tv.

I had asked Sox to join me but he had JP Morgan run. He’s quite the athlete.

Because it was early (duh!), I could get a bay on the ground floor, which is always more interesting than being three floors up.



After that I went to Tampines 1 to check out the new mall. Nothing spectacular really. Except maybe the Dian Xiao Er, which was still under renovation. Plus there’s a Japanese snack place in B1, which seemed promising but was too crowded.

Another place which was too crowded was Uni Glo. You might have seen many adverts here and there and when I went, there’s such a long queue, it’s absurd man. When I went to Uni Glo in Shanghai, it was dead quiet sia. It’s like an upscale Giordano and Singaporeans and queuing up to buy upscale Giordanos, my goodness. I decided I needed to take a pic of the carnage of good taste.

Gender of Your Brain

I rarely do things like these but i needed a distraction form work today.

http://www.blogthings.com/whatgenderisyourbrainquiz/

Drop a note to let me know what gender are you. Leave a name too cos i dont need to know the gender of anonymous people.

Im 67% female. :(

Your brain leans female
You think with your heart, not your head
Sweet and considerate, you are a giver
But you're tough enough not to let anyone take advantage of you!

Cheer

Here's some cheer in an otherwise highly strung week for me.



I applied for half day on Friday to go to range and take it easy for the rest of the week then suddenly my Chairman wanted me in on a meeting on Friday. Bleah..

Kio Dio

During my trip to Hong Kong/Shanghai two weeks ago, my colleague used my Amex card to book my tickets. For the uninformed, you have to bring that same credit card when you show up at the counter.

But I didn’t bring that card on my trip.

So I had to use another credit card, which was fine.

So they charged the second card and said they’d reimburse the card on my Amex within 14 days.

I checked today and found the reimbursement. As it turns out, I gained S$5 due to the currency fluctuations. Kio dio!

Towels

I don’t think I meet many weird people in my business dealings. The meetings I have are mostly for a specific reason: to make a deal. However, there was one meeting last week which was quite weird. The person I met came with a shopping bag and we discussed some potential deals before he said, “Oh by the way, my wife used to be a swimsuit model and now she designs them.” Then he gave me a catalogue of swimsuits and handed me the shopping bag.

It contained two beach towels. Great! I love towels. Haha..

Tuesdays

I've always said that Tuesdays sucked. Now it's confirmed.

April 8, 2009
Call it the 'Tuesday drag'

LONDON: Forget the Monday Morning Blues - according to a British poll, 11.45 on a Tuesday morning is the most stressful point of the working week.
The Telegraph newspaper cited a survey as saying that most workers take it easy on Mondays, catching up on gossip and not getting much done.
More than 53 per cent of those polled admitted cruising through Monday, with one in 10 ignoring their work while they log onto social networking sites to check out photos of the fun they had over the weekend.

Then on Tuesday morning, the reality of their looming workloads hits them and the stress levels rocket as they finally get down to checking the work-related e-mail they ignored the day before and start planning what is left of the week ahead.
Mr Graham Waters from health supplement manufacturer Bimuno, which polled 3,000 adults, said: 'Coasting through Monday means we're worse off on Tuesday - both in terms of workloads and stress levels.

'Tuesday at 11.45am seems to be the time in the day when the real workload for the week hits employees and stress levels rise.'

Horrible

Monday was supposed to be a happy day but as it turned out, im not one to enjoy many happy days.

My deal is falling apart and I only got home super late. Was feeling all feverish and cold sweaty all day. Then lau-sai-ed 5 times on Monday night.

Then my email was down the entire of tuesday and that super irritated me. Plus the tummy still wasnt feeling too good.

I went home early and was stopped by an oldish woman at my lift. She walked past me and then turned back and called out to me. I actually was so pissed i turned back and semi-yelled "WHAT?" She gave me a whole sob story on how she needed to replace her left eye and she had no medicine to buy eye drops. My heart softened a little and i gave her $10.

My mum said i shouldnt have given and i guess to some extent i agree but... i dont know. I thought at least someone could have a better day than me with my $10 but i hope i didnt get conned. Shit.

Someone tried to borrow money from me some time back. I refused cos i didnt like the idea of lending money to a friend. She has since not talked to me. I love money but it's sad that the lack of money really changes attitudes and behaviour.

Busy Busy

Phew it has been such a busy week with my management here. It culminated with me presenting at both the Exco and Board meetings on Wednesday and Thursday on our development efforts. I was quite jittery cos the year has been quite slow and the Board always intimidates me. But after a three hour presentation, i felt good, my boss thought it was good. So i rewarded myself with a good meal as well as yogurt before flying off to Hong Kong.

WHAM BHAM Thank you Mdm!

After my little outburst this afternoon, the bank called my finance department that they realised that their boss is meeting my tycoon boss next week. And they dont want my boss to ask their boss about this issue. So they can make an exception this time round and open the bank account first and then fill in the forms.

My goodness, that made me happy but sad also that money and fear means so much to some people.

Lunchie

I had lunch at Marina Square food court.. quite a good view..



Had Qiu Lian ban mian. Reminds me of simpler things in life.

Cheer

Some cheer in my otherwise horrid day.



I think my swing sucks. I'm very irritated and disappointed. I hate it when i dont do things well.

BHAM Again...

As mentioned here, almost three months ago, I was tasked to form an overseas entity.

Three months down the road, things arent moving fast enough on the part of my Singapore bank opening a bank account for us in Indonesia. I have never written to the bankers so they are usually handled by my finance dept. So i dropped the bankers a nasty email today.

Dear Mr X

I’m a little perturbed that it has take taken us so long to open a bank account with your bank. This and the fact that while we are in month number three in the process, we seem to be getting new requests for forms to be filled up.

While we appreciate the necessity of numerous forms, we had hoped that, in the spirit of efficiency and expediency, the requests could have come from the onset, since our directors are located in Singapore, US and Dubai.

Thank you for your kind attention in this and we hope the application can be completed soon.

I’m available to talk on the phone anytime if I can assist in any way.

So incompetent it's scary. *shudder*

Clubbed

Here's a picture of my golf clubs.. I like the white bag..



I hope to be able to get off work on time today so that i can go to the range. I'm not making much progress and I'm very irritated.

Dawn

It was 7am when i reached the office this morning. And dawn was breaking. I hope this week is a good week.

Tripping

As mentioned before, my entire management team is here. I just met my CEO that day but i went back on Saturday too after my golf lessons to sit in on the trainings. I saw him again and he was quite surprised to see me. I thought i scored points already until he said, "Hey Cornball, what are you doing here? Shouldnt you be out signing deals?"

Diao.

Since my President is in Asia, he thought it'd be a good idea for me to bring him go see my clients. So we are going to Hong Kong and Shanghai at the end of the week to hopefully move some of my deals!

MOVE!

Bang!

On top on the blackberry scare, which Keeve oddly give so much publicity on his blog and FB, i came super close to being attacked by bird poop yesterday. I was walking and thought i saw something drop in front of me. It was SO close that i already walked pass the spot in which the poop dropped.

Super heng.



And VERY oddly enough, my car was pelted with bird poop this morning. It never happens cos i never park near the trees at my house carpark. It's so weird man.

WOW!

i consider myself a pretty observant guy. I consider myself a lot of nice things but for the sake of this post, observant is the trait.

I had a dinner appointment after work on Friday. I was checking my mail on my BB as i walk to the car. And as I was early, i stood outside the car as i waited for it to warm up.

My office is at the Suntec area. I was at the Sim Lim Square junction traffic light when i realised my BB isnt where i usually leave it (in the compartment between the front seats).

I tried to re-trace my steps. Hey i was still reading mails as i walked to my car mah... i opened the door.. put the phone at the top of the car, stooped to turn on the ignition..

THE LAST TIME I SAW MY PHONE WAS ON TOP OF MY CAR!!!!!!!

SHIT SHIT SHIT!

I have driven up from my basement carpark, went round the suntec fountain, went up the rocher flyover, then down it, overtook someone.. and now im at the traffic light at Sim Lim.

Damn..how to re-trace my steps? there goes my beloved BB. i thought maybe my phone was STILL at the top. So i checked the right mirror to see if it's safe to open my door. Opened my door.

AND THE PHONE WAS STILL THERE!!! Sitting at the top of my car!

I nonchalantly took it down and entered my car.

I could tell the car on my right edged forward to see me more clearly. I pretended like there was nothing.

I simply cannot believe that after all the driving, it was still alive! The leather backing of my fone acted as an anti-slip surface.

Seriously a miracle man. Im so not kidding about this.

Golfing and Goofing

It seemed like a long time since i blogged but it's really just less than one week. Odd... perhaps time has been moving rather slowly.

For some reason i have been getting up at 6am of late. I just cant sleep. And it's not like i sleep early... mostly abt 12plus or 1am. Odd. So im usually in office by 730am and have been able to quite some time even before other people come in.

Our project in Singapore is commencing soon and my entire corporate team from Atlanta has descended upon Singapore for training for the ground staff. My CEO, President, COO, CAO, all the VPs.. the works. I attended the opener today and ended up staying the entire day. Wasted the entire day today but i was BB-ing all day through man. It was crazy. Today was literally the first day i was introduced as Cornball, Assistant Vice President for Business Development.. quite a surreal feeling cos the person came up to me to introduce herself cos she saw my name in the email trails (must be all the BB-ing i do when im locked outside my office)

Another person even asked if she could give me a hug. It's not like i was super popular but i think these overseas educated people are more physical. I just realised that for every proj we commence, i'll immediately have 300 people wanting to know me. I dont care for the hugs.. i just hope for discounts.

Because my project was close to a mega super duper golf sale, i was able to sneak off to buy some irons, putter and a driver and they even threw in a free bag. The stuff i got were marked down more than 50%!!! Even got free towel. I really like nice fluffy towels. It's like i use more than five a week. Cos i play badminton twice a week right? Each time i usually use two towels cos i perspire like a pig. Then golf lesson on sat, use one. Then midweek golf range one more. Gosh that's six! That's excluding any additional range sessions.

It's Friday tmr.. got some work to do before i head down to my project. Im so glad i got a car really. So mobile.

KTV

It has always been my mum's wish to get a KTV set so that she can sing at home.

I've always procrastinated but i decided enough was enough and bought this system on Friday.



I had a sudden meeting on Friday. I was dressed down on Friday in a blue floral shirt, jeans and white Evisu shoes. I decided to go home and change into something more professional looking.

There was once early in my career that i saw this guy come in for a meeting on Friday dressed in a polo tee which was a tad too big for him, untucked, scrappy jeans and casual shoes. He didnt seem to notice that he was so shabbily dressed but i told myself i'd never look that bad in front of a client again.

Shoes

I remember wanting to blog about this some time back but never did.

I think i have a lot of shoes. i have eight pairs of work shoes, two pairs of casual shoes and one pair of basketball shoes, two pairs of soccer boots, one pair of badminton shoes and now of course golf shoes.

I went for my golf lesson at 8:30am then to badminton at 10:30am. My car had my golfing stuff, badminton stuff and tons of change in attire. Phew.. a sporting lifestyle requires so much equipment it's scary. And i havent even bought my full golf clubs. Im glad i got my car.

Digest-ed

I told my boss that i'm picking up golf and he gave me his copy of Golf Digest. Hee hee..kio dio S$6.50.

Sox also offered me his GD but i didnt get to meet him to take it. I hope he doesnt feel slighted.

Bloody Japs

No wonder my mum doesnt eat Japanese food.

Bubbly!

I received a parcel today. I was quite excited cos I love receiving parcels.



The parcel was filled with bubble wrap. Immediately I wanted to bring it home cos my mum loves to squeeze the bubble wrap. That is, I’m not kidding, the main reason why I’m blogging. I’m bringing the bubble wrap home for my mum.



See? I’ve put them all in this taka paperbag, along with the gummies i bought, which im going to bring home.



The contents of the parcel is actually quite nice too. It’s a velvet box of Luxe Guides.



In it there are Luxe Guides on some of my favourite cities, Shanghai, Tokyo, Bangkok, Singapore, Chiang Mai, Phuket (not really). Go google Luxe Guides if you don’t know what they are.

Phew.. What a week

It's 4:30am on Sunday morning and Man U just made little work of Fulham.

I just drank bubble tea before the match and consequently am wide awake. Of course it didnt help that i took a nap from 730 to 1130pm just now. Yawn. It has been a tiring day. Woke up at 7am on Saturday to go for my golf lessons. Then breakfast with my friends. Then i went to the driving range at Marina after that to practice some more. Then i went for two hours of badminton at 2:30pm. By the time i was home at 6pm, my body and hands were aching.

It has been a somewhat draining week at work today. Tiring not so much at work but rather things that happen at the workplace. I'm not trying to be cryptic cos you know i tell you, my intrepid reader, everything. It's just that everything's just quite complicated. And I was just glad that the week was over.

Ive been spending some time at the ranges and sometimes it gives me some time to be alone and think. Most of the time, it gives me aching arms. Golf is such a loner's sport.

Fishing

It's been a quiet week this week.

Left the office at 5:30 on Wednesday to hit some balls at the driving range with my friends. The Marina range is super nearby.

Anyway Sox sent me this.. haha.. quite funny.

Well Said

The soccer season is coming to a crescendo in the next few months with Man U attempting to sweep a historic 5 titles in one season.

With the whatever cup they won in Japan and the Carling Cup they won last night, with seven points from Liverpool and a game at hand and an FA Cup and Champions League best of 16 second round, A. Ferguson says:

"It would be great to think we could do it, but my experience says we could go to Fulham next weekend, there will be a deflected shot off someone's backside and we're out of the FA Cup."

Indeed, a deflected shot on someone's backside would just destroyed things. It always does.

Shoes

I went to do some golf shopping after my first lesson yesterday.

Bought this pair of shoes. Yummy. 50% off. Double yummy.

Golf

Golf lessons start this weekend.

I went ahead to buy a glove and some attire too. Hee hee.. w00t!

Press and Pressing

There was some good press about my company last week.

There were some emails flying around on the good press.

I commented that it was good.

My Chairman replied to say that with this, he "expects to see more deals signed this year".

Gulp.. That means me. :(

Long Weight

Ive been through many customs and immigrations counters obviously and once in a while the customs officer would try to find some resemblance between my passport picture and my face.

Now that picture was taken about 10 years ago during the time i was in the army. Naturally, i was a lot thinner then.

During this trip from Shanghai back to Singapore, the customs dude took a really long time to compare my face and the passport picture, then checked the places i've been to, then see my face again and then held the passport close to my face and looked left looked right then flipped my passport pages then... you get the idea.. i was there for a long time.

I seriously thought i might be called into a room and questioned for using a fake passport. Come on man, everyone puts on weight after NS.

Here's a sneak pic at my passport pic.

Here's my current pic for those who havent seen me for some time.

Financial Advice

Don’t know if Warren Buffet has the time to type these out but there’s some pretty good advice there.

Warren Buffet's Advice for 2009

We begin this New Year with dampened enthusiasm and dented optimism. Our happiness is diluted and our peace is threatened by the financial illness that has infected our families, organizations and nations. Everyone is desperate to find a remedy that will cure their financial illness and help them recover their financial health. They expect the financial experts to provide them with remedies, forgetting the fact that it is these experts who created this financial mess.

Every new year, I adopt a couple of old maxims as my beacons to guide my future. This self-prescribed therapy has ensured that with each passing year, I grow wiser and not older. This year, I invite you to tap into the financial wisdom of our elders along with me, and become financially wiser.

* Hard work: All hard work bring a profit, but mere talk leads only to
poverty.

* Laziness: A sleeping lobster is carried away by the water current.

* Earnings: Never depend on a single source of income. [At least make
your Investments get you second earnings)

* Spending: If you buy things you don't need, you'll soon sell things
you need.

* Savings: Don't save what is left after spending; spend what is
left after saving.

* Borrowings: The borrower becomes the lender's slave.

* Accounting: It's no use carrying an umbrella, if your shoes are
leaking.

* Auditing: Beware of little expenses; A small leak can sink a large
ship.

* Risk-taking: Never test the depth of the river with both feet. [Have an
alternate plan ready]

* Investment: Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

I'm certain that those who have already been practicing these principles remain financially healthy. I'm equally confident that those who resolve to start practicing these principles will quickly regain their financial health.

Let us become wiser and lead a happy, healthy, prosperous and peaceful life.

Bleah

Remember the deal that i had mentioned here?

We lost it. Bleah. The client changed the rules they had set for the submission and we didnt get to the second round.

I was actually quite depressed for a while and i even passed by the project during my time in Shanghai last week.

Bleah.

25 Random Things

I did this 25 Random Things that day cos i was bored on the plane and Krisworld was down for one hour on my way back to Singapore.

1. I was a sickly child when I was young, and by the time I was 7, I had already removed my tonsils and appendix. I was underweight until I was 12 when my mother decided to get appetite enhancing medicine from the family doctor, and I think the medicine is still lurking in my tummy.

2. I love to read and I've completed the entire Hardy Boys, Three Investigators, Charles Dickens, Jeffery Archer, Sidney Sheldon, Michael Cricton before I was 15.

3. I have a blue belt in taekwondo.

4. Im a certified lifeguard since I was 16 but I nearly drowned in the sea when I was 19.

5. I nearly signed on in the navy cos I thought I could swim pretty well but backed out when I heard I was expected to be away from home 3 weeks out of four.

6. Ironically, my first job brought me to 75 cities in 15 countries in three years, including more than 15 times to Bangkok, 10 times to Shanghai, 8 times to Phuket.

7. But I've never been to Europe.

8. I hate travelling cos I have serious motion sickness.

9. I have a compulsion to unpack my luggage after any trip, no matter what time I touch down.

10. I always make my bed before I leave the house cos I like a nicely made bed when I come back.

11. I have a compulsion to check mail. I have shortcut buttons on the mouse in the office and at home to check mail and refresh an internet webpage.

12. I have a grade 2 in Piano practical and Grade 4 in Piano theory. I scored a distinction for my grade 4 exam but passed the grade 2 practical by one point. I used to have three guitars as well. Now down to two.

13. I wear my watch on the right hand even though I'm right handed cos I think people who do that are pretty special. And I've been right so far.

14. I rarely wear the same pair of shoes to work for two consecutive days.

15. I hate it when people buy me meals cos I wont be able to eat whatever I want.

16. I completed my first mini triathlon in 2008. That involved some swimming in the sea as well, which was pretty scary.

17. I have a horrible temper.

18. I once topped the entire level in mathematics in sec 2.

19. I hate injections and once ran all over the clinic and had to be pinned down by three people. I was 9 then.

20. I didn't go to TJC cos I nearly knocked my head on a low stairway and thought it would stunt my growth.

21. My JC1 preliminary exams results read "ABDOO". Rearranged, it read "A BODO"

22. My first contact with snow was in 2002 on the curbside in a small college town in the US. I kicked the snow and slipped and fell on my butt.

23. Ive played badminton since I was 10 and always put the racquet in front of my face to protect myself. I think my head is so oval from being moulded since I was young.

24. My mum once brought me and my sister to watch "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and we were late so we rushed in after hurriedly buying the tickets. It turned out to be "Die Hard". My sister dozed off after a while.

25. I love my blackberry. This entire note was typed on my blackberry on my way from Shanghai to Singapore.

Shattered

I usually park my car in the multi storey car park when I go on trips.

I got back to my car on Saturday and found shards of glass on top of the boot area of my car. I checked to see if they came from my car but phew they didn’t.

Probably came from the higher levels.

Shanghai Nights

Ardent readers might remember that it snowed during the time i was in Atlanta early in 2008. One of the rare times in the city's history really.

It very rarely snows in Shanghai too. And it did last night. Amazing how i bring snow.

Germans

I came across this.. damn funny..

25 Random Things

There's this 25 random things going around FB that is pretty interesting. I contemplated doing it but was just too lazy.

Then an incompetent one from my ex incompetent staff did one and i thought it was quite weird. I've copied it here. It's a female.

1) i dun like fishballs

2) i believe in the existence of ghost

3) i love to travel, to see the world

4) my spelling and grammar sucks

5) i always day dream

6) i always wanted to learn to play the flute

7) i dun know 1 million got how many zeros

8) i have to go toilet and get my business done every morning, otherwise I'll be grouchy for the rest of the day

9) i stupidly waste my precious frequent flyer points to redeem for a Sudoku handheld game console!!

10) i love mahjong

11) i'm stingy

12) i love orchids, sunflowers and gerberas

13) i like to eat and i like to eat a lot

14) i dun take initiative to keep in touch with my friends

15) i dun usually comb my hair

16) i'm short-sighted but i dun wear glasses

17) i dun know how to walk in flip flops

18) i dun know how to differentiate 左 and 右 (I only know left and right)

19) i cry easily (i cried in the presence of my boss once)

20) i like to store/file things as achieve

21) i seldom talk, but if the topic interest me I can really talk alot and not stop

22) i usually take very long to figure out how to use the taps in hotels' bathrooms

23) i record my expense/income in spreadsheet

24) i wan to buy a diamond ring

25) i have a fetish for cuff links

Then the most competent of my ex-incompetent-staff asked me to do also. But i was too lazy so i asked her to do one for me. Here's what she did. Pretty good actually. Which also means she's been reading too much of my blog.


(1) You drive a Mitsubishi Lancer
Cornball is in Shanghai says:
thats so boring
COMPETENCE says:
(2) You play badminton with two different group of ppl
COMPETENCE says:
(3) You have a special cream from your chiropracter which u use for your shoulders
COMPETENCE says:
(4) Your smurf is from New Orleans
COMPETENCE says:
(5) It snowed in Atlanta when u were there
COMPETENCE says:
(6 ) YOu have never been to Europe, yet
COMPETENCE says:
(7) You travelled around the east coast of USA when ur ex was doing exchange in USA
COMPETENCE says:
( 8) Your first work trip to Maldives was with ur boss and he had to leave half way through the trip cuz of a family emergency
COMPETENCE says:
(9) You sold a project twice, but never stayed in that property
COMPETENCE says:
(10) You have however, stayed in the lousier sister property in another city once
COMPETENCE says:
(11) You have a group of close friends, G, A, and you.
Cornball is in Shanghai says:
which one is that
Cornball is in Shanghai says:
9
COMPETENCE says:
G works in Abu Dhabi, A works in Citibank
COMPETENCE says:
XXX
Cornball is in Shanghai says:
i sold it?
Cornball is in Shanghai says:
to who
Cornball is in Shanghai says:
u?
COMPETENCE says:
(12) sorry sold the project
Cornball is in Shanghai says:
that's counted as 12?
COMPETENCE says:
(12) You secretly hate travelling
COMPETENCE says:
(13) You snore
Cornball is in Shanghai says:
u heard me snore?
COMPETENCE says:
No, but u told me
Cornball is in Shanghai says:
oh
COMPETENCE says:
(14) You like the small biscuit with the colour swirl on top
COMPETENCE says:
(15) You also like Pocky
COMPETENCE says:
(16) and Alex's
Cornball is in Shanghai says:
that's cheating
COMPETENCE says:
what?
COMPETENCE says:
(17) You have a Tod's wallet
COMPETENCE says:
(18) You have a gazillion cards, including DBS-Taka, DBS-Altitude, Citi Dividend, Amex Krisflyer, among others
Cornball is in Shanghai says:
i have the Amex Platinum too
COMPETENCE says:
(19) You book ur own flights online, even for work trips
Cornball is in Shanghai says:
new one
Cornball is in Shanghai says:
wat's so fun abt 19
COMPETENCE says:
er, okay, does it come with a Feed at Raffles card?
Cornball is in Shanghai says:
yes
COMPETENCE says:
(19) I am doing 19 again. You bought ur sister a branded bag for her birthday in 2007. I can't rem which brand, but u got it at a sale
COMPETENCE says:
Was it an Aigner?
Cornball is in Shanghai says:
ferragamo
COMPETENCE says:
(20) You wanted to get her a Daimler Speedy cuz your most competent incompetent staff says it's too common
Cornball is in Shanghai says:
daimler?
COMPETENCE says:
(21) IIRC, ur wallet is from Tod's
COMPETENCE says:
LV whatever Speedy
Cornball is in Shanghai says:
u already mentioned my tods wallet at 17
COMPETENCE says:
(21) Your other fav leather goods brand is Braun Buffel
COMPETENCE says:
(22) Your chiropracter is at Park Lane
Cornball is in Shanghai says:
no
COMPETENCE says:
(23) You did ur Lasik at Shinagawa
COMPETENCE says:
(22) again. Your dad drives a company Proton
Cornball is in Shanghai says:
no
COMPETENCE says:
(24) Your sister is a XXX
Cornball is in Shanghai says:
he left that job before i left my ex company
COMPETENCE says:
(22) again. Your mum removed her cataracts in early 2007
COMPETENCE says:
(25) Your last holiday with friends was to BKK in late 08. Stayed in XXX and u went with friends. You bought a t-shirt about the choir
COMPETENCE says:
which has something to do with the choir that was singing at the DnD
Cornball is in Shanghai says:
........
Cornball is in Shanghai says:
u know too much abt me

Away Again

I had blogged in this post that I seem to be away for defining moments so it's times like this when i hate to be travelling.

Especially when this is happening this weekend..

Facebook

Much has been said about the dangers of Facebook.. on putting up too much information about yourself, employers checking your FB account to see what you're really like outside the interview room, being tagged by your friends in some ugly pictures of yourself.

However, what Facebook, through all the pictures you have in all the places you go to, reveal that you have the same lame-ass pose in all your pictures. I've looked at all the pictures of myself and there's just about 3 poses i have in my repertoire. So i've now resolved to do more different poses when i take photographs.

Movies

I love it when my plane has video on demand. That's a no brainer there. I guess many people like it for the same reason I do. Have I ever mentioned that the most competent of my incompetent ex-colleagues can tell if a plane has vid on demand just by seeing the registration number near the tyres of the plane while at the waiting gallery?

I managed to catch two shows on my shanghai flight today. The first show was Cars. Haha. Yes I've watched this one before. But for some reason this time it spoke to me in many ways.. Abt going slower to smell the roses and also that cars should change tyres after going many laps. Well I hope that my hobbies can help me with the smelling of roses part.

The other show I watched was "Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist". I haven't heard of this show before but I chose it solely cos it had Michael Cera in it. Now, Michael Cera is certainly not a looker or the usual A list star but all his shows are greeeat, including Superbad (that's the title of the movie, dumbass), Juno and also Arrested Development. His unassuming demeanor and ellen degeneres haircut just makes the girls want him.

*Oh man.. i had typed the front part of this on the plane and now im in my hotel and they're showing Juno on Starmovies now*

Ok, Juno's over. I just realised that Jason Bateman acted in Arrested Development and Juno with Michael Cera.

Hobbies

I have been thinking of starting a new hobby of late. I had several choices in mind.

1. Cooking
2. Photography
3. Dancing
4. Golf

Decided on golf in the end cos i have a lot more friends playing this so there's more potential for fun there.

W00t! starting my lesson in end Feb.

Army Days

Everytime I post an "It's a Small World" post, something happens after that serves to reinforce the point.

I was walking back to office after lunch yesterday when I bumped into someone familiar. As usual, I wasn't in a mood to make small talk so I just pulled my usual stunt to smile, nod knowingly and walk away (Sox knows this move well). But this bugger comes up to me (damn!) and says hey i know you! For some reason, i remember his name even though it's kinda weird and i remember knowing him from the army.

I remember from the SISPEC course but i couldnt remember him from BMT. So we literally spent half an hour in the middle of the mall talking about who he slept beside and who i slept beside and who are the common platooon mates we knew.

Then i remembered.

I remembered this platoon mate who was gay ("G") and told me he liked this Weird Name ("WN") dude standing in front of me. So i asked WN if he still kept in contact with G and he promptly gave me G's mobile number. I was actually in BMT, SISPEC and Signals with G and we spent many good and tough times together digging trenches, guard duty, confinement (shudder) it was a pity that we lost touch since 1999. Wow.. that's a good ten years ago.

I wonder if i should give him a call.

Sweets!

There's no badminton this Saturday. So in preparation for a weekend of tv and reading, I bought sweets! w00t!

More!

Decided to go for the plunge today and do more lights to my car.

The place i was recommended was super sleazy man. It's at a korner of the car park of Sim Lim Tower, which in itself is a sleazy place.

Hahah.. I'm well lit now. w00t!

Orly?

I don’t consider myself a person with many friends. That’s probably why I only attend 2 or 3 weddings per year.

When my ex-CEO told me he wanted to introduce a relationship manager from a bank to me, I balked at the thought of a blind date right? Then this morning, it struck me. Could it be THAT girl? Nah.. it cant be.. surely the world isn’t that small. Surely not.

So I smsed THAT girl if she had lunch with my ex-CEO recently. She did.

*gulp*

I smsed my ex-CEO to ask if she was the one he wanted to introduce to me. She is.

*bleah*

Another one struck off the nameroll of Possibles and Probables.

Just in case you’re wondering who the girl is. She is this one.

The world is indeed small.

Yet Again

It is one of those weeks again that people are trying to set me up with some ladies.

Today at lunch a friend of mine asked me to go “watch” her play golf on the pretext of wanting to learn more about picking up golf so that I can check out her golf kaki. Haha.. It’s tomorrow so I have 12 hours to decide.

Then just now, my ex-CEO sms-ed me to say he met some bankers and said one of them was single and asked me if I wanted him to set me up on a blind date. Yup. He used the word “blind date”.

I don’t know what to make of all these. Should I be worried that other people are worried for me? Or be touched that they care. Both are not mutually exclusive but that’s just weird.

Feel like picking a new hobby. Golf sounds viable.

Brrrrr

Just found out that it’s 9 degree Celsius in Shanghai today. W00t! Then I can wear my scarf liao. Hardly ever get to wear my scarf. Hee hee..

Treat

Bought this humongous mango last friday to celebrate the friday.

Semblance

I'm very glad that CNY is ending tomorrow.

I really hate CNY. When i was younger, it was about the ang paos like everyone else. Then after a while it got so boring and irritating when my parents have to decide which side to visit first and what time and who's going to be there and "let's go when more people's there" etc. So much so i stopped buying CNY clothes. Now i just dread it with the immense inconvenience it causes me.

Restaurants are closed.

Those that are open only serve set menus.

My sinseh is closed for 2 weeks.

My hairdresser is closed for one week.

No badminton from both set (Colleagues and uni friends) of kakis for 3 weeks!

Various ple in the office are on leave and cant get some work done.

Various other ple (like my lawyers[Indonesia has one day holiday])) on leave so they arent doing the work that i pay them to.

Now that it's the end of CNY, seems like the proper start to the new year. My various simmering travel plans are bubbling now. Supposed to be going to Hainan and then Shanghai. Managed to hive off Hainan to someone else and then so I'm just going to Shanghai. It has been about 4 months since i have travelled. I think it's the longest ever stretch that im in Singapore ever since i started work 5 years ago. WOW.

I realise that there's a usual cycle of feelings when a trip is impending.

First, i'll be excited to get out of the office.

Then, one or two days before departing, I'll begin to think about what i'll miss at home.

I'll then feel sucky the night before departing.

On the first night overseas, I'll be full of anticipation of getting some deals done.

By the third night, i'll be missing home.

So now i plan more frequent but shorter trips, especially since i have badmintons on weekends.

w00t!

Enhancements

Cos i was recently quite bored and was also (still) looking for a celebratory purchase for my promotion (haha), i decided to do some enhancements.

I bought some RAM for my Mac so now it's a blazing with 4GB of DDR2 667mhz. w00t!

Then i also decided to change my headlights as well. So now I have white headlights. So now i prefer to drive at night.

Hee hee..

Revelation

The new season of American Idol is upon us and it's another season where we witness some of the weirdest looking people trying to convince everyone else they can sing. I'm pretty sure that these people dont have friends as well, cos if they do, their friends would tell them not to embarrass themselves on tv.

The new judge Kara is pretty hot too.

Today, as i was lounging in bed after a tiring day of badminton, i caught Jimmy Kimmel and i just had to share what i saw. I managed to find the clip on Youtube. Please do go see it. I hardly, if ever, post any youtube vids. This totally cracked me up.

Lotus

Lotus break, lines connected.

Some bonds are hard to break and sometimes when you hear some news, you feel burdened and you feel heavy.

Quality and Quantity

I noted that my blog is declining in readership. I guess that this is largely due to the lack of quality posts from me.

Should I apologise? I don’t know. Some things are happening but I have just been too lazy to type them out. There are countless saved drafts in my account that only have one or two lines.

It has been a rather busy first three days of work after the nine-day CNY break. Busy is good. I like to be busy and I love to reply mails. That’s why I love my BB so much. Today is the fourth day of work and there’s nothing much to do now. I realise that my working hours are pretty odd. On a usual day, I start from 9:30am to about 4pm. Then start again at 10pm to about 11:30pm. And working days are like Mondays to half day Thursday. After lunch on Thursday to the next Monday, I hardly get any mails.

So I get bored quite easily.

We actually just signed a deal in Bali. Our second deal. W0000t! But this deal wasn’t handled entirely by me so I didn’t talk much about it. But another deal means more money. So w000t! With the new deal in Bali, we had to set up a new company in Indonesia. I was given the task to form it and it’s just hell trying to juggle our in-house lawyers in Singapore, external lawyers in the US and local Indonesian lawyers. Then have to open bank account as well. Have to deal with Singapore banks and the Indonesian banks as well. This is proving tougher than I thought.

I don’t think this is a quality post.

So Long

It was on 2 Feb when I finally got my Adobe Acrobat.

The Bucket List

I just watched the DVD for the Bucket List. As I heard it was pretty depressing, i delayed watching it. But i was quite bored today after my spring cleaning.

There are many cliches but the abrasive Jack "You want the truth? You cant handle the truth" Nicholas and saccharine Morgan Freeman always makes for good viewing.

I'm in the mood for more feel good movies.

Report Card

In my usual habit of doing things according to my own timing, i did spring cleaning for my room today. Cleared all my cds and dvds and put them nicely. Threw out so many old documents. And since I was quite sure i wont be going for an interview soon, I threw out all the copies of my certificates that i made when i first looked for a job in 2004. Even the zeroxed copies looked old. Man, it has been 4.5 years.

I even found my report card from my kindergarten days and something struck me.

Check out what the teacher put under "Conduct". What was "F. Good"? Could it be that four lettered expletive that could be used as a noun, verb, adjective, pronoun? Surely this is a joke!

Bailout Explained

Im so bored but i dont have anything to post. So here goes..

Promotion Re-visited

I was typing the following paragraph the other day for my blog.

"The effects of my promotion hasn’t really sunk in yet as I haven’t really signed the appointment letter so I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that they don’t change their mind halfway. (Unlikely, but who knows right?) Not that I’ve any doubt on my ability but it’s kinda odd to be given a promotion and a pay raise in the middle of a “recession greater than the Great Depression”

The timing couldnt have been better cos my boss came by and i quickly minimised the window. He asked me to do something on Google Earth and then very nonchalently passed me my appointment letter.

w00t! so it's official.

With that HR went into a little mini frenzy getting namecards printed and making announcements. I really think that's all HR does and printing namecards is really what stirs their loins.

I have such a long title.

Assistant Vice President, Business Development, Asia.

In mandarin it's 助理副总裁， 亚洲业务发展

Ps: Country Head for Greater China is implied somewhere in there.

I always thought AVP is such a dumb title cos it just strikes like it's a title they greater to give people more rungs to climb and keep them satisfied. But i'll take what I can. I hope Kit likes it.

I'm so full of myself sometimes that i wonder how come i am always so hungry.

Traditions

Because we refuse to eat at restaurants which only serve their set menus during Chinese New Year, my family is having our reunion dinner at Morton's at the Mandarin Oriental tonight.

Rib eye here i come!

Mimolette

Cyster is back for CNY and Lim Biskit and I met her up for brunch. In the fine tradition of eating at overpriced new places, we ate at Mimolette.

I was quite surprised when i got there cos it's just tucked in such a quiet and tranquil environment that the drive in was ALMOST like a drive into the English countryside.

It's very near Turf City and so there were horses around.

Quite a good way to begin a saturday morning really.

Kitty

I just got to know that my friend was a classmate of Kit Chan in secondary school! Apparently they're quite gam too! They used to sing along in a little group last time too. But of course my friend aint that good a singer la.

She told me that they still keep in contact and Kit Chan's still single. I told her to intro her to me.

Who says I'm too picky? Im even open the retired older women!

Still Amazing

After a year in the company it still never fails to amaze me how long some processes take.

I wanted to get a copy of Adobe Acrobat installed in my computer. So first I have to ask my boss. He agreed so I forwarded the mail to IT. Then IT sends to their head of IT. Then head of IT approves. Then IT proceeds to get some quotation on the prices. Once they get a good quotation, then pass to Purchasing dept executive. Purchasing dept executive gets her Purchasing dept boss to sign off. Purchasing dept executive then goes to buy it from the supplier. I started the process on 6 Jan 09. It’s 23 Jan today and I was just informed that the supplier has no stock until February. And I don’t even know if it’s early or end Feb. Thankfully, Feb is a short month.

The weird thing is I actually just needed the standard edition but IT says that Professional edition is only $200 more, so might as well get Professional! Haha

Carded

I just received an interesting, albeit late, Christmas and New Year card from an architectural firm.

At first I didn’t think much of it cos I guess I had higher expectations of the more artistic group of people that they are.

Then as I read the card, I found out that each of the “windows” of the cards can be opened to reveal a drawing of a building that they have done before.

Pretty cool.. so it has earned a spot on my blog.

The Japanese thingy there is a food guide for restaurants for my family during CNY.

Obsessed

I think I'm getting obsessed these days.

I've washed my car every Saturday for the last twice consecutive weeks. Pretty odd cos prior to these three saturdays, I've only washed my 1.5 year old car twice. I've this new fixation with the windows and the windscreen so I'm like wiping them at the beginning of almost every ride. Next thing I'm going to get is a special windows cleaning solution. Maybe it's cos of my improved vision from my lasik that makes me want to see things so clearly now.

We had a small JC class gathering at shortbin's house last night. I volunteered to bring fatty weng fried rice and hor fun, cos it was near her house and cos I had FW's number so i can order ahead. But i couldnt decide where to buy satay. Should I buy from old airport road? Or blk 85? or ecp food centre? I've tried the latter two and love them both but it's kinda far and out of the way to drive and stupid blk85's a bitch to park and walk. But then i was not sure of the standard of satay at Old Airport Road. So i decided to go in the afternoon after my pedicure in Orchard to test out the satay first. Ordered five sticks. Not nice at all. FAIL. So it was blk 85 at the end.

Was i being too obsessive? I dont think one can be too obsessive in the pursuit for perfection and happiness.

Frenzy

I seem to be on a book buying frenzy. Bought this book at Borders as they were having a 63% discount and i needed a book to read while i did my pedicure.

Endless

As a follow up to the humongous proposal we sent out to the Chinese 2 weeks ago, they emailed me to say that they would like more information. They emailed me on Friday and said the deadline was Monday 5pm. It was relatively easy but I still had to get it translated into Mandarin. So i had to hustle the lawyers to get a portion translated and then for another portion i needed my Germany office's input. Frantic calls between my head office in Atlanta and Germany were made. Bleah. It's Sunday evening now and we are starting to finalise things. Phew.

Monday came early this week.

Promise

I had promised someone that I'd do this post if it happened.

It happened today during my one year review.



I was promoted to AVP today.

I know it's cheesy but yeah...

30

I just celebrated the 30th birthday of a friend and it hit me that I'd be 30 this year. There's no difference between being 29 and 31 but i guess at 30, one evaluates one's achievements.

I have nothing to show for. No house, career also nothing special, all i have is a backside of debts.

I shall strive to do something meaningful this year.

Busy Busy

The first week of January has been a real busy one. This really started from Christmas eve from the Chinese clients who dont celebrate Christmas and "western" new year.

Essentially it's a huge proposal for a major project and quite possibly the largest one we had to put together. Because I'm country head of China, this proposal became my baby. Had to arrange for a conference call with all the heads of marketing, sales, operations, technical services, F&B and my COO in the US. These including my Singapore colleagues. This means i was chairing the call with more than 10 people in it. Ardent readers would remember the horrible conference call i had in March 2008.

Telling all the HODs what to do wasnt difficult cos the Americans are quite open minded to have a junior staff telling what needs to be done in order to meet the client's needs. But the bad news was i needed their parts in 12 hours! Wahahaha.. literally everyone gasped and then my COO overruled me and said impossible to give in 12 hours. The earliest is 36 hours. So i had to hustle my mandarin translators to work within a shorter deadline.

Which was why i was almost working in the US and Singapore time zones this entire week. Yawn..

And in between after my normal working hours i had to go interview some people and I probably interviewed like 30 people last week. It was quite depressing really cos most of the people were jobless and were quite underqualified with the various positions and i found it quite difficult to not shortlist them for the second round. And these are people who had been waiting for 4.5 hours by the time i got to see them. There was a young girl who didnt work for the last 5 years cos she was home to take care of her cancer-stricken mum and now she can come out to work cos her mum has passed away. Man, how can i not put her through to second round?

It was a tough week and i was glad for it to be over.

Meme

I dont think i've ever done a meme before. I dont even know how the term comes about.. "meme". Does it mean all about "me"?

Anyway i copied this from my ex-colleague... the one affectionately known as the "most competent incompetent one"

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Sign a deal.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I kept one resolution. Unlikely to make more. I like to quit while i'm ahead.. like Michael Jordan.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Yes.

5. What countries did you visit?
China (Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Sanya, Haikou, Shanghai x 3, Tianjin, Suzhou), Indonesia (Bali, Jakarta x 2), Thailand (Bangkok x 2), Hong Kong x 2, Vietnam (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City), USA (Alabama, Atlanta)

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
I'd like to question more. I've been keeping quiet a lot more this year trying to learn in my new role. I want to ask more "why"s instead of just listening.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Nothing comes to mind. That's how sucky 2008 was.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Improving my badminton game. Completing the triathlon and subsequently have to tell everyone about it.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not being able to drop shots near the net as often as I'd like

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I've been quite sick this year. I hate it.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Gosh I dont know man. Didnt really buy anything major this year.. oh oh... It'd have to be the Blackberry Bold.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Mine. Cos this is my blog.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Juliet Lee..

14. Where did most of your money go?
Food and clothes

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Signing THAT first deal for my company.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
童话 by Guang Liang (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XaeFcWPGXE)

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Sadder I think.

b) thinner or fatter? Thinner i'd like to think but cant verify cos i dont have a weighing machine.

c) richer or poorer? I have more savings now.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Sleep.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Lying in bed and wondering when i can get to sleep.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Christmas is over... but I spent it reading and watching tv.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Nope. Unless you're referring to the unnatural relationship i have with the Bold

22. How many one-night stands?
No. Don't do them. Or rather no one wants to.

23. What was your favorite TV program?
TAR and TAR Asia, The Unit, Gossip Girl, Prison Break, Lipstick Jungle, The Office and the awesome How I Met Your Mother! w00t!

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Im unwavering in my hate.

25. What was the best book you read?
Any book by Lee Child

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Itunes store.

27. What did you want and get?
More autonomy in my job and to see things happen

28. What did you want and did not get?
That watch.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?
Iron Man

30. What did you do on your birthday?
Ate dim sum, bought a wallet...

31.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Er, more money?

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Decided to go for casual chic and told the tailor accordingly.

33. What kept you sane?
Bubble tea and some nice colleagues at work.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
It was Anna Hathaway for some time, then Blake Lively. Haha..

35. What political issue stirred you the most?
ERP

36. Who did you miss?
My happier self and Kaitlynn.

37. Who was the best new person you met?
Maybe some new colleagues but it's in my predisposition to hate colleagues. I might blog about my colleagues soon.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
Bear in mind what you type in emails.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
"First cut is the deepest" Sheryl Crow

2008 in Review

As mentioned in one of my earlier posts, 2008 was a horrible year.

Victory Solidified

Keeve messaged me the other night rather urgently to say he has something "awesome" to pass to me that night. I asked if it was donuts. He said it wasnt. Unfortunately he got home too late that night to get it from him.

But he managed to get it to me today and waaahla



13 wonders tiles in chocolate... madness man!!

Thanks man... i cant bear to eat them.

New Year's Eve Mahjong

I have said this many times before but it's always worthwhile to say again that there arent many better ways to spend an evening of mahjong with the Dream Team. Although playing mahjong isnt the most happening way to usher in the new year, but what the heck, mahjong's fun!

Of course it helps that i self touched a 13 wonders.



If im in the mood, i'd post an obligatory review of 2008.