My first seminar

I just finished spending my last three working days at SIM attending a course about managing people.

It is quite an interesting experience. For someone who isn't really sociable, I hate the thought of going through 3 days with a group of strangers with nothing to talk about. And it didn't turn out that way.

I got to know quite a fair bit of people from different industries and walks of life. It is very insightful to see things from another person's perspective. Given that these people possess a fair bit of intellect to reach the managerial level that they are, I really enjoy speaking with them. Nothing makes me feel "higher" than talking to smart people. You can learn so much from a single conversation!

That aside, the trainer was excellent and the issues covered in the course really provide one with another perspective in handling certain matters at work.

I had my doubts before the course that what I'm going to learn would be too theoretical and couldn't be applicable in real life. But this made me realize that theory comes from real-life experience.

Hence I'm really pleased that I've learned something useful and has a new shiny certificate to show for it. It's not cheap though so my next one should be quite some time away. In the meanwhile, I would try to apply what I've learned to good effects at my workplace. I think I would open this up to my staff too.

A training peer told me that their company set aside a budget each year per staff for their training purpose. They did it as part of their ISO fulfillment but I think it is an excellent idea. I'm trying to see how this might be possible at my office too.

I learned so much in these 3 days than over the past year taking my accounting diploma. Makes me feel so dumb to waste a year of evenings when all I need are more specialized financial training that SIM also have short seminars on. Damn!

First Birthday Party in 28 years

I just woke up from a birthday party yesterday that was meant for me and Roseleen. It was organized by my co-workers and friends from the company. In retrospect, I don't remember having any major birthday party or celebration. I'm not really a birthday person. I always tell people that birthday just meant you didn't die for another year. What a pessimist I am.

Outside the personal ones that my wife did for me, the most memorable thing I did on my birthday was a gym session which was followed by a North Indian cuisine treat from an ex-colleague from Starhub & a full body medical check-up that involved urine & blood test.

I never looked forward or thought I would enjoy a birthday party but I was proven wrong yesterday. I'm quite sure the waterfall drink that I had played a huge convincing part. The entertainment by the performers at Icon Bar was a catalyst.

But the main ingredient would be the people who were there and made it happen. The opportunity to communicate with my co-workers on a personal level was nice. I should have done so more often before.

A big thank you to everyone who were there and changed my perception towards birthday party after 28 years. ;)

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Reservist review

Finally had some time to do a little bit of update on my deteriorating blog. I think it needs a face-lift, an upgrade. But that will be something for another time. Those kind of stuffs are super time consuming.

My reservist is over but many of us are already told of the next one that is from 21 July - 3 Aug. A whopping 2.5 weeks! 3D2N camping in some forsaken place somemore!

We were supposed to go Thailand for the training but I guess the ousting of the PM some time ago might have made things a bit inappropriate. I was pretty looking forward to that. It would be an interesting experience.

And the reservist I just had, oh man what a huge waste of time. Out of the 5 days, I only spent 20 mins training that I wouldn't even call it training if not for all the bigger time-wasting things we've done. The rest of the time were spent going to canteen breaks, sleeping, playing xbox and just waiting for time to pass. I left SAF for 7 years and efficiency level is still the same. What consistency!

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I flunked!

I went through something that before it happened again recently, I had only experienced when I was in Secondary School.

I flunked my Audit module that I took for last semester.

Which means I need to pay $50 to retake the sub paper.

It was quite appalling for me. I have not failed any paper since post-secondary, from my diploma to advanced diploma to my final 2 years during my degree.

Although I don't feel that sad, it still doesn't feel good knowing that I have one more module to memorize.

And the fact that there is only one set of exam question paper and our trainer was the one who set it rub salts into wound.

I don't really need this diploma but who would mind extra qualifications.

And so I shall go through this for one final time. Pass or fail(again), I just let it be. One can't be master of all trades. Accounts has never been my forte, Audit is even worst. I will just suck it in and continue to be what I'm better at instead.

Reservist from 29th Oct - 2nd Nov

I will be heading into my 2nd reservist since I completed my national service in early 2000. That average out to like one call-up every 3.5 years. At this rate I should complete my NS liability when I'm 49 years old. Wow.. I wonder if I could still fit into my present uniform size by then.

Anyway I'm really looking forward to it. I didn't felt this way during my first reservist. Back then work is my life and I can't stand a day without knowing on-site what has gone about in the operations. Imagine the torture I had when I was on overseas holiday.

But lately my batteries seemed to be running flat. Motivation is near to zero too. I am thinking of taking a short hiatus during the entire Jan next year. Hopefully the lengthly break could revitalize me. Ideally my reservist next week could do the trick.

In any case, my plan to auto pilot the company will continue. If all goes well, finance would be well taken care of by Dec. Payroll and admin is picking the ropes and should settle well. Sales is more or less ready.

I'm not sure what I would do if I totally go behind the scenes permanently but at least I know the company I painstakingly built up would be in safe hands.

Let's sell Johor to Singapore!

Read this on LittleSpeck.com. Funny but make sense too really.

Johor

'Sell it to Singapore!'
A tongue-in-cheek solution from a Malaysian. Fun to read.
The Anti-jihadist.
Oct 24, 2007

Ladies and gentleman, Malaysia is facing a cash crunch.

The oil, lifeblood of the Government's treasury, is running out. Hugely expensive programmes such as NEP and subsidies are politically untouchable, so hence must run in perpetuity.

And of course Malaysia will in the future need more massive Merdeka parades, more shiny new Russian jets to overfly said parades, and more spaceflight participants to consume teh tarik and commit khalwat in orbit. So many expenses and dwindling income. What to do?

Simply put, Malaysia seriously needs a lot of cash...and the little cash-loaded red dot to our south (which need not yet be named) needs real estate and resources.

So my friends, with my tongue placed firmly in cheek, I would like to offer this simple answer for Malaysia's impending financial woes.

Let's sell Johor to Singapore!

That's right, not just the troublesome metropolis of Johor Bahru...the whole state of Johor - lock, stock and barrel.

Quite obviously, it's a mutually beneficial deal. UMNO/BN gets billions in hard currency that they could not obtain otherwise, and hence get the grease that lubricates the wheels of their, ahem, 'unique' brand of government.

Singapore gets desperately needed living space, and also acquires vital resources that it no longer has to buy from its surly neighbours (like sand and drinking water).

Not to mention that those annoying issues like the causeway and the crooked bridge are rendered moot, because Singapore will own both sides of the strait. Both sides win!

Oh sure, the Sultan in JB may have a small objection to the aforementioned deal. Enough cash in his pocket and the usual UMNO-style kickback should settle the matter in the usual way. OK, let's not call it a kickback.

We can call it a small gratuity, with another estate or two in Switzerland thrown in to sweeten the transaction.

Besides,I am quite sure that the Sultan can work out a deal with the pragmatic folks south of the (current) border to look as if he's still in charge whilst the practical bureaucrats of the PAP take care of the less glamourous aspects of running an efficient government.

Moreover, once the relatively non-corrupt Singaporean police show up in Johor Bahru and clean up the place in short order, the folks in JB should quickly grow positively fond of their new landlords.

After all the BN-sanctioned corruption and violence that's plagued the place for decades, who wouldn't be grateful?

Of course, after a half century of watching UMNO governments run Johor into the ground, I wouldn't blame the Singaporeans a whit if they didn't want any part of this proposed transaction.

Compared to their immaculately-kept island, Johor can best be described as a handyman's special, or a 'fixer-upper'.

It would take a ton of work to spruce up the place. But the Singaporeans don't seem too averse to a dint of hard work. After all, the miracle that is today's Singapore certainly didn't build itself, did it?

Alright, it doesn't have to be an outright sale. Perhaps the parties could opt for a long-term lease with an option to buy. Let the potential new owners test-drive their new property, kick the tires, and see how they like it.

After all, the Singaporeans wouldn't want any buyer's remorse, would they?

The Anti-Jihadist

http://pedestrianinfidel.blogspot.com/

Our neighbour's big ego.

Lately our MM Lee gave some remarks about how Singapore (government) might feel if we were to rejoin Malaysia.

"They have got all the resources. If they would just educate the Chinese and Indians, use them and treat them as their citizens, they can equal us and even do better than us and we would be happy to rejoin them," Lee said.

First of all, the thought of that even being mentioned shutters me. The comfort zone that most Singaporeans has taken granted for would be totally distorted. But of course if one thinks deeper, the execution of the merger is way too complex to even be considered more than a passing remark.

More over each country is still doing quite well by itself. The only thing that may pave way for such scenario is if somehow Singapore financial status become like, say Burma. Given the stringent manner governance is conducted, I doubt that would be a reality anytime soon.

And as usual, Malaysian Malays on hearing his remark wasn't particularly pleased. I wouldn't be surprised. If someone were to even criticize my hometown Tampines, I might be annoyed.

This sentence provoked a comment in Utusan Malaysia that the remark is borne out of unease at seeing Malaysia's growing competitiveness, which in some aspects have surpassed Singapore.

With the Singapore dollar still rising, I agree with that to a certain extent. That is if I look at things through a telescope.

They may have resources, land, people. The 3 key things for an economy to work. But if things are that simple, North Korea should be one of the better economy.

Poor security, ever-growing red tapes and blatant discrimination of non-Malays are just tip of the iceberg. Their inefficiencies, unprofessionalism and you always have youth leader of political parties who just shoot off their mouth without thinking. The worst thing is people actually buy that.

Yes, Singapore might be proud. If any other countries has done what we did since the birth of the country, they would too.

I hope their big Malay ego would continue to sustain or even grow bigger. Because with that impeding them to make the right decision for the country, the possibility of a Singapore-Malaysia merger would never happen.

And that's good news.

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$3/$4/$5

I had prawn mee for lunch today. And given that I was pretty hungry, I requested for a mid size portion ($4) to satisfy myself.

When i finally reach my seat with my food, I sense something is amiss. I was thinking to myself did I said I want $4 earlier on. This sure doesn't look $4 to me because one don't get only TWO!! prawns at that price.

My colleagues ordered the same as me. Being ladies they definitely had ordered the $3 and they have same number of prawns as me! What's going on? Where did my additional $1 mysteriously go to? Did the auntie meant a mid-sized bowl for a dollar more?

And the prawns doesn't even taste that nice anymore. Or maybe $4 meant prawns with tangier meat.

Whatever the case is, I felt cheated.

When shopper get conned with an over-priced camera or ridiculously-priced timeshare scheme, they always have CASE to turn to. What about for cases(no pun intended) like mine?

I think this calls for a boycott (and even an online petition!! if I ever learned how to start one). I demand hawker start to itemize what they meant when I upsize. I know what I get at McDonald. Larger fries and a large coke. But hawker food, how the hell would one know if the hawker doesn't state clearly that:

$3 = two prawns
$4 = two prawns
$5 = two prawns + extra soup.

It's obvious consumer misrepresentation(that module in law finally came in useful).

And given that I can't cook to save my life, hawker food is my basic necessity! And when I can afford more, I don't expect to be short-changed!

It's akin to going to Shell station to pump V Power and they still put in 92. WTF!!??

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School Project

Today I did something that I have only done once before. That is to kick someone out of a project group. Despite my lack of patience, I consider myself to be a pretty tolerant man. The myriad of free riders who had done their school project with me would be the best testament.

But you catch me on the wrong foot, my tolerance would quickly evaporate.

Which is what happen today after I notice that the sales for my company is at its worst, compared with the same period over the past few months. And we only added less than $2k after one week of operation! This is despite the fact that we have 3 more sales person and all of them are already operational.

With that, I temperamentally decided not to include a free rider into the business IT project that is due submission today. This guy since lesson 1 did not even bother to understand about the project. He doesn't even have the desire to attend class. My tolerance of him should have expired long ago.

There is another one on my team that I really would want to kick out too. But I reckon I would be over-ruled since she is closer to the balance 2 contributing team members. But then again, I didn't ask. Hmmm...

She is another one that I don't understanding what gave the impulse to pay more than $3k for a diploma course so that you would attend lesson sporadically and even if she comes, it make just the perfect place for her to sms. Yes, her handphone reception work best in a classroom environment.

These are people that need this piece of paper much more than me. They don't get it, they just have a O or N level which we all knows are as valuable as color paper now. But they doesn't give a damn about it. It's just right I return the favour towards them.

On a happier note, I am on my 7th session in my final semester. My last lesson would be on Nov the 4th.

Oh yeah. No more being in the same room with some many stupid & ungrateful dumb-ass. You know how being around a moody person could make one down too? I think the same would apply to stupidity. Kudos to my high immune system

Life is going to be normal again.

I'm so happy I could cry.

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Place of Birth

If you are able to choose your place of birth, where would you want it to be?

For myself, I would rank places like USA, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, Switzerland on top of my list. Most people I reckon would have one or more of them on their listing. And it wouldn't come as a surprise. Competent governance, high quality of living, good security, freedom of expression and many other positive qualities are very important.

Conversely on where you wish you do not want to be born, countries like Iraq, Burma, North Korea may come to mind. The list may even extend to countries that just happen to be next to them.

Given a choice, I'm quite sure any pragmatic local Iraqi, Burmese or North Korean would not want to be where they are right now. Who in their right mind would want to live in fear, repression and threats every single day. They don't have a choice. No one has control over their birth place. And if they happen to be ran by power-hungry dictators who has no qualms in killing thousand so that he could remain rich and in power, luck is not on your side.

Yet these people still need to survive and live while yearning for the kind of life we have taken granted for.

Sadly, not many stood up to help. In the case of Burma, many even choose to profit under such situation. With extensive reasons that plainly means "if we don't do it, someone else would"

Neighboring countries would merely send letters and make speeches, in hope that the high volume of letters and saliva combined could irritate the junta enough to finally give in.

It's time everyone with a conscience take a step back and take off their money spectacles.

Let the people of Burma have what we have too, the pride of their birthplace.

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Crazy Indian Video

Oh man. This just cracks me up. Turn up your speakers.

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Ubersports Arena - Futsal @ East Coast

For all the football enthusiast, there is a new place to satisfy your goal scoring urges.

It's a newly open football arena at East Coast. The concept is pretty similiar to The Cage @ Kallang but anyone who'd played there would know how stuffy it can get.

You won't get that at Ubersports with the higher ceilings and cool breeze from the beach. The only bad thing is the place doesn't have a huge projector to screen football matches. No adrenalin pumping music in the background either.

Nevertheless, my first experience there has been great. The place is new and clean. They can even extend their closing hours if you want them to.

Rain or Shine, your game won't be affected.

Star Search

I was looking through Mediacorp website earlier and came across this. It's the pictures of all the contestant who made it so far into the Star Search contest.

Is it not obvious already who the winner might be this time round? How did I arrive at that? Simple. Looks. Pure looks.

Acting skills, presentation skills, confidence are all something you can learn. There are schools that just teach that and nothing else. But how are you going to change an otherwise ugly front.

You can't. You can only groom it. It's like zhnging your car. You can add the best modifications to it but if it is a proton saga, it will still be a proton saga.

Coming back to the contestant, I would put my money on Tracy Yap to win the women's category and a close fight between Reeve and Desmond.

NATO - No Action Talk Only

But Brossel is more circumspect, believing just because the world is watching, it does not mean the world is acting; "We are witnesses but we are witnesses of something that we cannot stop. We have been witnesses of Bosnia, Burma and Darfur but the international community is useless."

This is the ending paragraph of an article about Myanmar I read on CNN.

Should the world wait and see. Has this been the best tried-and-tested policy since time immemorial? Or could the regional neighbours start to walk the talk. Could countries with vested interest in the country stop thinking about dollars for a few minutes and just think for a sec about how many more human lives are needed to further their returns.

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Game Addict

On 25th Sep at 12pm, I made my way to Suntec City during lunch time.

I was there with my Halo 3 Pre-Order card. For the uninformed, Halo 3 is the third instalment of the Halo game series in which part 2 itself single handedly help Microsoft Xbox game console achieve phenomenal sales record.

The launch event started at 12pm sharp and occupied the entire Suntec tropics atrium. A lot of Xbox 360 stuffs hawkered around but everyone's focus is to get their hand on the game! Many, like me, bought the pre-order card so that they could be the first few to collect the game(plus a goodie bag with a bunch of useless stuffs) and play it.

The queue was so long that it snaked to an exit, all the way outside the air-conditioned building. I was queuing under the blinding sunlight for a good 10 mins before I move back in again.

Standing there was pretty awkward. In my shirt and pants, I feel really out of place between people one generation younger than me. I had even thought of my excuse if somehow there happens to be people from the press interviewing. My answer: it's for my kid.

And if my classmates are reading my blog, yes I skipped class that night so that I could come home and play the game.

Now is day 2 and I think I'm already quite close to the ending. The game didn't turn out as great as I thought. It's always like that. When you yearn and expect something for too long, you are bound to get disappointed.

Still, it is good fun. Kept the utilities company happy that's for sure.

I just hope the game is longer than I thought.

Thought-provoking

Makes you think about that bag you bought not so long ago doesn't it.

How I miss "them" now...

A first look at the picture and I was already quite sure that this is referring to the Bak Chor Mee I had every other day when I was working in Loyang a few years ago.

You just couldn't find any other stalls that also throw in a prawn and a fried wanton.

It was my staple during my year there and I just couldn't get enough of it.

And in between it, I had... their Lor Mee.. Yes, this is like the only stall that I patronize during my employment. The only other stall would be the drink stall.

I had always tell myself to go back and savour the food I so grew to love. The uncle know me so well that without me saying anything, he will make sure I have 3 spoonfuls of vinegar for my Lor Mee. That's the way I like it.

As I was on a 5-day week back then, I didn't knew that they are open on Sat from 6am - 11.30am.

If you wanna look for me around this time this Sat, you know where to find me.

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Things to blog about.

I always admired bloggers like Mr Wang, Kenny Sia and the likes. They seemed to have things to write about everyday. They must be very talkative in real life. Heehee.

For someone like me that is very unachievable. Not much of a speaker(I'm seriously trying hard to reverse that but not to the bimbo kind of standard), it's pretty hard for me to talk about my thoughts in detail.

It wasn't like that in the past when I was still studying for my degree. Writing is second nature. And I feel espcially proud that my writing skills was commended, by an Ang Moh Dr Lecturer no less.

Since my graduation, I haven't had much opportunities to brush up my writing skills. And without topics to focus on, writing with no objective in sight seemed very meaningless to me.

Which is exactly why I just signed up for this programme under Advertlets. They would have specific topics that you could pull off from their website and write about.

Oh yah, and you get paid for doing that but seriously the latter is really more of a bonus. Having a topic to focus on is really what I have always been looking for.

For a start I could only write about Adverlets. Hopefully this will be a good start and from now on, I'll have more interesting things to write about and about my opinions on them.

Facts of Singapore Life

1. Nite - Sleep with
air-con; Day - Bathe with heater on

2. Day - Cannot Wake up; Nite -
Cannot Sleep

3. Translation is needed between Singaporean Chinese and
Mainland Chinese

4. Smell Of rubbish besides letterboxes; Rubbish inside
Letterbox

5. Spore Chinese use different languages other then Chinese to
communicate.

6. Sporean never like to vote, but like to
complain

7. There are quite a number of rich/poor in spore - They have
Car, Credit Card, CPF but no Cash and is liable to lots of loans

9. There
are quite a few high-tech barbaric Singaporeans -they know how to use
state-of-the art equipment, 3g mobile phone and powerful computers but they
dunno how to use a simple dustbin or a toilet

10. Half Sporeans rushed
to buy Hello kitty, but the other half busy killing stray cats

11.
Chewing Gum - Can Chew, Cannot buy?? (Restricted to buying)

12.
Cigarettes - Convenient to buy; not convenient to smoke

13. Private Cars
- Cheaper and Cheaper to buy, harder and harder to Maintain

14. Public
Bus - Half the Crowd squeeze in front section of the Bus, Second section is for
Carrying Ghost

15. Education - Teachers teaching Less but expects
students to learn More

The fourth university... again?

I'm sure most of us are aware that Singapore would like to open the 4th university to accomodate more Singaporeans to pursue their education in Singapore.

SINGAPORE : The Government is looking into setting up a fourth university in Singapore.

During his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong also said the objective is to allow 30 percent of each cohort to get into publicly-funded universities by 2015, compared to 23 percent today.

This is one way to level up society, and provide citizens with a top rate education.

More students are progressing to universities as they do better academically in schools.

15 percent of polytechnic students, for example, now go on to the local universities and many more go overseas.

In fact, estimates are that half of polytechnic students eventually gets a degree.

And Prime Minister Lee said Singapore should expand university places but must ensure that students get a good education and valuable skills.

But did any forgot....

SINGAPORE: Its arrival here was hailed as a tremendous boost for Singapore’s education hub aspirations.

The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is, after all, one of Australia’s top universities.

At full capacity, the local UNSW campus would have spun off $500 million annually for the economy, Singapore authorities had said.

But, barely two months after classes began for its pioneer batch of students, the Australian university — citing bottomline concerns — is heading for a sudden exit. It will close its Singapore campus when the semester ends on June 28.

The shock announcement was made yesterday in separate meetings to staff, students and the media, and a notice was posted on the UNSW Asia website. It cited a lack of demand, leading to insufficient funds for its operations here, as reason for the closure.

The university had anticipated an initial intake of 300 students, but its current enrolment is only 148. And, based on applications for its second intake in August, the university projected that it would achieve just over half of its enrolment target of 480.

Either UNSW is not been completely honest or the government know something that they don't.

To me this is really a case of reinventing the wheel for the sake of it. The money that will go into the fourth university would surely surpass whatever more that UNSW might need back then.

On the other hand, it may just be a very expensive and elaborate plan for this purpose.