In this knowledge-based economy, what you know today will be quickly be phased out tomorrow. There is no such an iron rice-bowl that could guarantee you life-long career. Ermm .. we got to constantly on the move to keep up with the changes. Keeping our position static will make us obsolete. How stressful.  Well, don't get intimidated by changes. Don't over-stressed yourself unnecessarily. Keep an open mind. Continuous learning, that's it.  As one of my lecturer once said, life is not about destination but a journey, manage change and not the other way round! Errm .. deep words.

 

I've this crazy idea in achieving both financial independence and having a life-long career. How about  to create a full-time career in making friends. Yes .. just making friends. To call myself a "Friendships Developer"?? Tapping on today technology with all the internet chats thingie, it gives us the opportunity to widen our social network within a click away. 

 

If I "developed" a million of 'good friends' and asked them for a dollar, I have 'earned' my first million already!!! How many millions would I make in my lifetime with 24/7 friendships building job?? Crazy eh .. of my this little scam.   

 

 

I'll be financial savy by re-investing the $$ to earn more $$. Planning to fill my pockets a quarter full and channel the rest for good cause. Ahhhh .. I'll get best of both worlds.   Not entirely bad idea, isn't it?

 

 

 

---

 

 

Another great article for single ladies out there. This by Janice Wong. A Singaporean columinist. :P

  

---

 

 

After spending more than 2 months in Singapore, mom went back to Malaysia yesterday. Got up super early on sleepy Sunday to send her off. Went for shopping spree with sis at the nearby shopping centre afterward. Tempted to purchase a new pair of specs. But after give much thought, urged myself for "Noooo impulse buying"!! I've 2 old pairs and some contact lenses at home. So, it was more a Want thing than a Need.

 

So, mom is not around. That means no more hot-home-cooked meal after work, no laundry nor cleaning 'service' at home. Hey hey .. I'm not treating my mom as a "maid". Just that, such chores helps her to pass time. She will be bored by doing nothing at Singapore home. End of honeymoon days for us after she gone. heheee .. Anyway, we'll be having a big reunion bash this coming November. My sis is going to sign her "status" off to become Mrs XX and I'm going to have a new bro-in-law!

 

I believe most of us have a standard in keeping our personal hygiene and grooming. Can I boldly assume that ladies championed the guys in this area? There are a popular saying, there is no ugly women except the lazy ones. :) It is a well known fact that women species are super particular in their outer presentations. There is absolutely no concern of $$ as long the beauty products able to make them stunningly gorgeous. Anyway, that is not the point I want to make. I'm talking about personal hygiene and grooming!

 

How many of us really keeping up the troublesome ritual in making ourselves .. ermm .. Clean and Presentable. Of cos, everyone has different degree in measuring cleanliness and presentability. Let's look at part of my general hygiene and grooming regime.

 

1.   Shower at least twice a day, hair must be washed daily, face must be cleansed thoroughly

      twice a day

2.   Teeth must be flossed, brushed twice a day

3.   Body/hand cream must be applied daily

4.   Clothes must be ironed and to change daily

5.   Make-up kept at minimal

6.   Perfume is mandatory (not that I smell bad but like the fresh nice smell especially early

      in the morning)

 

There surely a long list but what I listed here are the most basic ones. In our tropical hot/humid weather, I can't understand why some ppl don't bath in the morning! Smelly body, dirty teeth, sleepy face and oily hair! Err .. usually when I stumble across such person, I'll hold my breath and walk away. :P  I'm sorry if I've to be mean. Blame it to my sensitive nose. hehe

 

You decide if they need a MBA. But, are they actually said that??? haha .. For lighter moment. Pls enjoy.

 

---

 

My parents have been there for me, ever since I was about 7. * David Beckham

I would not be bothered if we lost every game as long as we won the league. * Mark Viduka

We lost because we didn't win. * Ronaldo

If you don't believe you can win, there is no point in getting out of bed at the end of the day.'* Neville Southall

He's put on weight and I've lost it, and vice versa. * Ronnie Whelan

I was watching the Blackburn game on TV on Sunday when it flashed on the screen that George (Ndah) had scored in the first minute at Birmingham. My first reaction was to ring him up. Then I remembered he was out there playing. * Ade Akinbiyi

I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel. * Stuart Pearce

Alex Ferguson is the best manager I've ever had at this level. Well, he's the only manager I've actually had at this level. But he's the best manager I've ever had. * David Beckham

I've had 14 bookings this season - 8 of which were my fault, but 7 of which were disputable. * Paul Gascoigne

I've never wanted to leave. I'm here for the rest of my life, and hopefully after that as well. * Alan Shearer

I'd like to play for an Italian club, like Barcelona. (Italian??!!) * Mark Draper

You've got to believe that you're going to win, and I believe we'll win the World Cup until the final whistle blows and we're knocked out. * Peter Shilton

I faxed a transfer request to the club at the beginning of the week, but let me state that I don't want to leave Leicester. * Stan Collymore

Without being too harsh on David Beckham, he cost us the match. * Ian Wright

I'm as happy as I can be - but I have been happier. * Ugo Ehiogu

Leeds is a great club and it's been my home for years, even though I live in Middlesborough.' * Jonathan Woodgate

I took a whack on my left ankle, but something told me it was my right. * Lee Hendrie

I couldn't settle in Italy - it was like living in a foreign country. * Ian Rush

Germany are a very difficult team to play...they had 11 internationals out there today. * Steve Lomas

I always used to put my right boot on first, and then obviously my right sock. * Barry Venison

I definitely want Brooklyn to be christened, but I don't know into what religion yet. (duh!) * David Beckham

The Brazilians were South American, and the Ukranians will be more European. * Phil Neville

All that remains is for a few dots and commas to be crossed. * Mitchell Thomas

The opening ceremony was good, although I missed it. * Graeme Le Saux

One accusation you can't throw at me is that I've always done my best. * Alan Shearer

I'd rather play in front of a full house than an empty crowd. * Johnny Giles

I was surprised, but I always say nothing surprises me in football. * Les Ferdinand

It was like the ref had a brand new yellow card and wanted to see if it worked. * Richard Rufus

There's no in between - you're either good or bad. We were in between. * Gary Lineker

Sometimes in football you have to score goals. * Thierry Henry

 

I'm living in a flat which commonly referred as pigeon hole in Singapore. I know it is pathetic but space is expensive in Singapore. I think 'pigeon hole' in Singapore is more bigger and spacious than Hong Kong ones. With the limited space we've got, I kept a small pot of green plant just outside my flat, placed next to the door along the common corridor.

 

I bought it 2-3 years ago during Chinese New Year period. As I'm the one who bought it, naturally it would be my job to care for it. When life gets so busy, the poor plant either almost die of drowning or die of drought. I once neglected it and had not water it close to 4 weeks and surprisingly it survived the ordeal! I'm amazed to see how resilient the plant is to such extreme conditions. After a few consistent watering, the plant blooms into more branches. 

 

I reflected upon this plant story. It conserves energy to stay alive for 4 weeks without a drip of water. Later it utilized the water it got to re-plenish, re-energize, re-build and cultivate new branches. Not to restrict it's 'potential' I changed it to bigger pot so it can grow to bigger plant. My mom had just transfer it to another much bigger pot and had feed it with fertilized soils today. The plant is expanding now!

 

What is the lesson we can learn from this plant? It's resilience, buoyancy, adaptability and flexibility in response to external unpredictable conditions. Be it good or bad, it outgrown adversity and opportunity. Well, I vowed to be a very responsible owner since then. I constantly wiped clean its dusty leaves, water it regularly and sometimes, 'chat' with them!   Strange eh .. I've good relationship with my plant now. heheeeee

 

 

What a crazy life I had for the past weeks. I'm glad I scrapped thru it and yippeee .. I've whole Sat and Sun free this week! Not exactly free as I still need to work on the research paper though. At least, I can get a breather. So, no complain.

 

 

Weight check - 50kg. I found it is so difficult achieve my target at 47kg. Guess that I must keep up with the exercise. I should continue my exercise regime. Simply couldn't find the opportunity to do so once classes has started. Life has been soo busy.

 

Nothing much, it's just Friday. As any other jeans day in office but workload is getting heavier every day. Currently, I'm busying planning an international corporate event for one of the company I'm representing. Hundreds of emails jamming my email box daily. I've to 'split' myself up mentally in determining amount of attention and priority given to each work. Pls don't mistaken that I'm someone big in office. I'm not . I merely a small potato there who is overworked and underpaid. Poor me.  Nevertheless, I enjoy the challenge and flexibility I got from my company. As of todate, I'm looking forward my long-term associations with them. I really like their environmental friendly values and their business integrity and ethics.

 

Okay, enough of my craps for the day. I need my beauty sleep. Adios! Cheerios!

 

This article is by Andy Rooney. I'm seems obsessed by this old man nowadays. I haven't try it actually. I think I should to see if the 3 little words works. :) Okay, I'm off to slumber land.  Enjoy the article.

 

---

I suppose some degree of commerce would grind to a halt if telephone solicitors weren't able to call people at home during dinner hour. But that doesn't make it any more pleasant. Now Steve Rubenstein, a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, has proposed "Three Little Words" based on his brief experience in a telemarketing operation that would stop the nuisance for all time. The three little words are "Hold On, Please." Saying this while putting down your phone and walking off instead of hanging up immediately would make each telemarketing call so time- consuming that boiler rooms would grind to a halt. When you eventually hear the phone company's beep-beep-beep tone, you know it's time to go back and hang up your handset, which has efficiently completed its task. This might be one of those articles you'll want to e-mail to your friends. Three little words that eliminate telephone soliciting.

 

When I first read this article, I laughed so hard. I never anticipated such solutions. Gosh .. where is my common sense!  One word, the writer simply BRILLIANT! Enjoy!

 

Problem A : Empty Soap Box

One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese management was the case of the empty soap box , which happened in one of Japan's biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soap box that was empty. Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department.

For some reason, one soap box went through the assembly line empty.

Management asked its engineers to solve the problem. Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soap boxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent whoopee amount to do so.

But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem, did not get into complications of X-rays, etc but instead came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on, and as each soap box passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.

Moral of the story: KISS (Keep It Simple,Stupid) i.e. always look for simple solutions. Devise the simplest possible solution that solves the problem.

---

Problem B : Zero Gravity

When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn't work at zero gravity (Ink won't flow down to the writing surface).In order to solve this problem, it took them one decade and $12 million. They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.

And what did Russians do.......................................??

The Russians used a Pencil!!!


So, learn to focus on solutions not on problems
"If you look at what you do not have in life, you don't have anything"
"If you look at what you have in life, you have everything"

 

Marry me then .. this is what one of my male friend said to me while we were chatting in the yahoo messenger. Needless to say, I was nearly fell off from my chair. He then asked me if I would considering to go out with him seriously. "Err .. I don't know" that was my reply to him.

Later that night, I had deep thought about "getting married" issue. How ready I am for the subject? Would I do a good job? Am I prepared to spend rest of my life with this person and start a family? To follow the typical progression of human life where ppl got married, have family, educating kids and bla bla blaaaa .. Wow .. overwhelming!

Seriously speaking, I've not thought about it. Maybe till now, I don't have any RIGHT candidate as yet. I thought I have met the one but again and again he dissappointed me much.

You know what, my company is hiring and I'm the one who do the first scan of CVs received. While I ran thru the CVs, I saw a lady applicant. She is 31 years old and her marital status is divorcee. It caught my attention, probably because she is 1 year older than me and a divorcee. I wonder what went wrong nowadays in people marriage life?

Those in our parent time stay married for years and generally still going strong. Why marriage life today so shortlived? Is it because our women become so financially/emotionally independent? Or is it just both parties didnt work hard enough for their "sacred" union?

Okay, back to the point. Will I say yes? Let's me put it into my KIV (Keep-in-view) file for now. I'll give a serious thought about it when I finished my studies in May 07. Of cos, if his offer still open and he is still interested. 

 

Now,  we  look at the rate of change in volume in hell. Boyle's Law states that  in  order  for the temperature and pressure in hell to stay the same, the ratio of the mass of souls and volume needs to stay constant.

#1  So,  if hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter  hell, then the temperature and pressure in hell will increase until all hell breaks loose.

#2  Of  course,  if hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls  in  hell,  then  the  temperature and pressure will drop until hell freezes over. So  which  is it?  If we accept the postulate given to me by Trish Bolinski during Freshman year, "that it will be a cold night in hell before I sleep with you" and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having  sexual  relations  with  her,  then  #2 cannot be true, and hell is exothermic.

This paper got the only "A" in the class.

 

I live in a rather densed town in northern part of this little island called Singapore. The 'central', where the MRT and the bus interchange located with various connection of services to other part of Singapore. The 'central' filled with swimming pool, sporting complex, library, supermarkets, banks, shops, eateries etc etc. Basically, a few bus stops from my place, I can get practically everything I need/want at the 'central'.

 

This place is one of the most densely populated district. It sometimes make me quite a headache to see the busy crowds zip-zooming the place. Today, we've got some singing audition for local tv programme. Many hopefuls queued as early as possible for the audition. The event occupied the whole open space atrium at the complex. It caused massive human jam in the place! Fyi, we've wide ranges of talent competitions done in the past which required supporters to call in to vote for their selection. There were Singapore Idol, Project Superstar, Superstar Campus, Super Band, Super Host etc etc ..

 

I'm totally over-whelmed by these 'talent' shows competition in the local media. Everyday, the consumer bombarded with tv ads, snap shot urging you to vote for your fav. Mind you, it cost you S$0.60 cents per call.

 

It may worth the while if its a good quality competitive talent shows. E.g American Idol. The contestants were so competitive. Most of them are equally good in their own ways. But looking what we have here is really sooooo far away! Now, after gone thru seasons of singing and hosting competition, does Singapore has the market for them? Or, are they can be exported out to ride on the entertainment wave to compete with those in HK or Taiwan or internationally? I've my doubts and I'll see.

 

We paid our tv license and I expected something more than such shows flooding the tv screens. Personally, I think the media company has created a statement initially, but now the novelty has certainly worn off. 

 

It looks like many youngster has the idol thing goes into the head. Many turned up for the audition and brace the hot afternoon sun just to have the opportunity to sing in front of judges. It just took a few mins to see if you're in or out. I looked down from 6th floor where my school is, I can't help to ponder, how many of these fellas really got what it takes for the competition they're auditioning for.

 

To end this note, I'll applaud those hopefuls who turned up and being turned down. 3 cheers for their courage. I renounced singing bcos I sounded so bad when I sing. hahahaaa ..  

 

 

 

What a busy week for me. After a long break with lapsed discipline, the 'engine' need some time to warm up. But slowly am on the running track and in flow. I'm all set to do well and excel in it. Hopefully with my possibly right effort will bear reasonable fruits in time to come.

 

I can't write alot these days as brain power has switched to min after I got back from night classes. Too tired to think serious stuff. Hopefully, when I passed the intensive weeks, I'll have more free hour to write serious contemplative material.

 

Okay, I've some juicy gossips here. Not about others but me. I'm not sure why recently, I met weird guys. Aside one from the class, I've another one in the work place. I got a new male colleague from JB, Malaysia. He is now in my company for training. I was just being friendly and chat with him since he is new. Now, he seems sooo interested! He commented my language, my speech and asked many personal questions like how old I am, whether I'm attached or married .. and bla bla blaaa ... OMG! I tried to dodge his questions and he don't give up until I told him I'm 30 ... 3 years his senior!! Duhh .. and yet, he told my lady colleague that he likes me very much??!?!!!   Hrmm .. fyi, I only chatted with him while we were in Mr Office-Married-Guy's car! *sigh*  

 

Wow .. what a life I got here. I didn't know as I got older, the ppl I came across can be so damn complicated. There must be something I can learn from this. Well, look at the positive side of it, it enrich my life. My 'experience' profile seems thicker day by day! Lots of juicy story to tell. hahaaa

 

So my sincere wish to fellow men or women out there, lead life as KISS (Keep-It-Simple-Stupid). Simpler life lead to lesser problems and make your brain/heart a bigger space for bigger things. E.g. to help the less fortunate and bring cheers to others.

 

Okay, enough of my philo talk here. I observed, experienced (from other ppl plight) and understood. So, I possibly knew. Don't mess life unncessarily. If you do mess up your life, no worries. What don't kill you will make your wiser and stronger! With all BEST and RIGHT effort of course.

 

P/s : Err .. I seems wrote alot today!  This could be extra ummphh from the chicken essence I drank frequently nowadays.