Janice Wong's Blog

Decided to check out Janice's blog. It looks like she has put it back except she has kept her promised of not updating it. Having a steady boyfriend change one's habits and perspective. Janice decided to stop blogging at the point in time when she decided to accept P's offer to go to his home. She is a romantic idealist!

Busy day in Bangkok

It is good to visit old friends and customers. I had a good day. We discussed a wide range of topics and share experiences. Of course I am envious of S. She is successful and owns her own business. The key is she is reporting to no one but herself. She set the pace and growth of her company. Trains and develops her staff and team. It is great achievement. To top it off, she is younger than me by more than 10 years. An entreprenuer - my aspiration, my dream.

TGIM

Thank God It is Monday! "Work will only be for the Privileged!" declare one futurist. I am glad to be busy at work. It gives meaning and a sense of self-worth. Business is what one should aspires. Today we worship money or rather the people to makes lots of money. Forbes 40 wealthiest people in Singapore was news the last few days. What about making the work a better place to live? It is impossible to live off the land nowadays. We need money to survive and live. Yet, there are still people who renounce the material world. It will be great if we do not need to worry about money for day-to-day survival.

Thank God It is Monday

TGIM sounds better than TGIF. Work gives meaning to life. One futurist even venture to forecast in far future work will on be for the privileged as machines has taken over all the work need to be done. It is non-stop since early morning. Managed to catch a quick lunch as well as a short exercise before dinner. Will unwind by going to the supermarket for fruits.

Soon will be travelling again. It is about time to clock some air miles:)

Parkway Parade

Parkway Parade is a very busy mall. The tenant mix is good. Lots of F&B. It has MPH. I find that mall with an anchor bookstore is a good mall. The crowd seems to be different than Orchard Road. I start to notice although we are all Singaporean, the crowd seems different than in Serangoon Gardens area. I can't describe the difference. It may be dressing, it may be mannerism. Maybe more caucasians eating like locals. I just can't put a finger into it.

Mars

Mars will be the brightest right now. B1 and B2 were up at the roof garden to look out for Mars. The weather was not cooperative. It is cloudy. We brought our binoculars and telescope. We just see a red dot. We will have to try again tonight.

Goodbye, Hiro

We sent Hiro to the airport at 10:30pm. We met the rest of the 11 exchange students and their counterparts from Xinmin there. Other parents were there as well. It is interesting. I made some small talks and then off to browse at the bookshop. Then to Starbuck for a designer coffee. Meanwhile the students were chattering away making their last minute conversations. The girls were crying when they have to go into the immigration. They are very sentimental. The schoolgirls from Singapore were not as emotional. This is a clear cultural divide. Meanwhile the teachers from Singapore side keep saying "do not cry". I wish I have a better understanding of the Japanese culture.

Bugis Street

We have to bring our student guest out for shopping and decided to go to Bugis Street. Bugis Street is very vibrant at night. There are lots of small stalls. The numbers of stalls have expanded as there are more streets with stalls. It is also a lot cooler. I think there are airconditioning in the walkway. There are also tidbits stalls and drinks stalls at the corners or the start of the streets.

The fruits stalls in Bugis sell fruits at a reasonable price. They are more competitive than the market stalls in the HDB estates.

Our Hainanese chicken is a favourite among the Japanese students. So we had chicken rice for dinner as requested by Hiro, the student living with us.

Feedback is the breakfast of Champions

This is another of Dr. Tan Jing Hee's statement. The story he tells is this. Tiger Woods after his game does not socialise or go for dinner. He will go to bed early and the next morning watch his previous day's game and his competitors' game. Hence, feedback is the breakfast of Champions.

University of New South Wales Assessment

B1 has scored distinction for his English assessment together with a female classmate. Another female classmate scored high distinction. There were a total of 3 in his class who did well for this test. Mum and dad are proud, very proud.

Japanese Exchange Student

B1 participated in Singapore-Japan Exchange program. Today is the arrival of the Japanese students. We were at the airport to welcome all the students. There was a banner and the students warms up to each other after a few shy minutes. We brought our charge to catch lobsters in Lower Pierce Reservoir. After that we have dinner at the Cafe Cartel in Bishan as western was his choice.

Hiro understand English well. This is putting pressure on B1 as he has no Japanese language training at all. We will know how he fare in Japan in November.

Dr. Tan Jing Hee

The lecturer for the Allen Management Leadership course is very interesting and engaging. He uses story telling techniques and have great intellect. He has lots of profound sayings. I am very privileged to attend his class. Dr. Tan is very helpful and supportive. He has lots of interesting stories. It is hard to recall the many profound statements in the last four days.

"The signifer is not the signified."

"You only get what you inspected."

...?? I cannot remember!!

Now I understand why an Australian Sales Rep told me once over a meal, I says things that makes a lot of sense. My response was "for example?". She thinks for a long time and gave me an embarassed smile. "It is so important that I cannot remember." she added.

Teach

I think and believe I am a teacher. Will I be, Can I be, There I will be.

Nasi Lemak

This morning I decided to go earlier so that I can have breakfast in Adam Road Hawker center before going to SIM. I had nasi lemak from the famous stall. Price is a little steep for hawker center but the taste is good. I actually "discover" when I was sleepless from jet lag after a trip to US a couple of years ago. I was up at 4am and was restless and decided to drive around to nowhere. At about 5:30 am I driving near Adam's Road hawker center, I noticed a few taxi parked in the car park. So I assumed some stalls must be open and decide to stop have a look. Actually only the mamak(Indian tea) stall was open. There was activity at the nasi lemak stall. The owner was cooking. So I decided to wait. When the food was ready, he serves it to me. It was good. After that, I decided to go next few mornings to kill time there. This was a couple of years ago and this morning, the owner recognised me. It is like visiting old friend.

By the way, this stall is popular and usually there is a long queue during meal time. It has been featured in the Strait Times. The owner says Sultan of Brunei patronise his stall. He(Sultan) would send someone to buy it when he is in Singapore.

Day 2

We have a good mix of representation from Govt depts, HR, Union Representative and Sales Manager. Participation from the group is good. A CEO of a Private University tend to dominates with his opinions and views. I was a little disruptive myself making wisecracks and jokes. It is hard to sit all day and listens. Two more days to go...sighs

How to Succeed at Leading

Is the course I attended at SIM. Today is day 1. It is Louis Allen Workshop. This course is quite basic and advocate the traditional management techniques. As the instructor Dr. Tan Jing Hee puts it, the test of a classic is its enduring qualities. He also give us some useful tools like the Herrmann Whole Brain Exercise. This course is 4 days, a little longer than the usual 2 or 3 days seminars.

Confucius

I was reading the Complete Plain Words. There is a quote from Confucius that is quite appropriate.

"If language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant; if what is said is not what is meant, the what ought to be done remains undone."

Confucius is a wise man. I like Lao Tzu better. I get kicks out of the paradoxes in Tao Te Ching.

Yoga lesson

My wife has asked me to accompany her to yoga lessons. She has many ways of making me do her bidding! It was week 2 of a beginner class. We are supposed to be on trial lesson to see if we like it. There were 6 women and 2 men. The other man belong to woman in the class. It feels a little awkward to be under-represented in the class. We learn 3 postures - corpse, salutation and lotus. There are also explanation of the benefits of each posture and an introduction to the layers of mind (prelude to meditation next week). The class lasted two hours. As I go through the class, it seems that it may help my backache. So I asked wife to sign up for me as well.

Vivid Dream

I woke up remembering a dream. I dream that a friend S came to visit from Thailand. I was lost on the way to dinner. Finally, we stop for directions. Go down the slope and follow the road. It will bring you to Redhill. I realise S is pushing a bicycle. At the bottom of the slope, at the ground level of a flat, there were lots of baby cockadoos(white parrot with yellow crown). S brought a cage with an adult parrots and 3 young ones. I asks "You bought the parrots?". "$50" she replied. I went to the aviary. One man asks the other "how much?" "$3 for 10 baby cockadoo". Seems to me they are trying to get rid of the cockadoos by selling to me at a low cost. They even lay out all the baby birds for me to choose the strongest among them.

My dream has switch scene, S was putting the cage in her car. She has a young girl with a maid in her car. I woke up marvelling at the fact I can remember my dream. Dreams jumps from one scene to another and they do not seems to connects like a movie.

I remember when I was growing up, there is a male hawker who will interpret his dreams into "chap jee kee" 12 numbers. There are many times where he "strikes!". Maybe I should learn to translate my dream into Toto numbers and "enjoys the freedom" as advertised by Singapore pool.

High Activity Day

We want to beat the crowd to the Library books SALE! Off we go the Suntec City Convention hall. There were plenty of car parks. We took the lift to level 4. No sign of life. Maybe it was the wrong floor. We decided try level 6. It was Computer Games Championship. There were lot of young girls in shiny armour. Their tops was low and skirts were high. The midriff was bare. With their high boots, they were very attractive and sexy. Looks like sex and computer games goes together.

Sorry for the distraction. I forgot. We were there to look at books, not cute young girls. Well, we go to the information booth and asks. Yes, we were at the wrong place. The sales is on at Changi South Convention Center. It is too much bother. So we kill time the Suntec Mall instead. Wife bought a pair of pants at sales price in one of the shop. We adjourned to Centrepoint to pick up B2 at Somerset MRT for his English tuition. Then send B1 for piano lesson.

A Parent's Life in Singapore is sending and picking up kids for tuition on the weekend! After tuition, we go fishing and lobster-catching at lower Pierce Reservoir. B2 caught a "soon hock". B1 caught the largest lobster to-date. He also caught an angel fish and a baby snakehead. B1 is a prolific fisherman! Me? I was busy setting up the bait for B2 and B3.

We finish the day with dinner at the Sembawang Hawker center. There is a cheap and good bakery called Singapura Bakery right beside the hawker center. The breads are freshly baked. There are buns with different fillings - red bean, coconut, prawn paste, kaya, etc. Price is at 50 cents each. It is so traditional and brought waves of nostalgia to my bosom.

A routine day

No school on the day after NDP. We had a routine day. Eat out for lunch at Hougang Mall. The Vietnamese resturant is quite good. It was a busy day at work. I signed up for a leadership course with SIM. Will see how this course can benefit business. Dinner was leftover spagetti and barbeque chicken wings. All 3 boys ate heartily. I am now sold on alfresco dining...

Fireworks!

It is our first time to watch fireworks live. It is spectacular. I must say watching right where it is happening is very different from watching it in TV. The atmosphere, the crowd, the wooos and the ahhhs. It is a tad tiring to stand and wait for a long time. We were at the Kallang River. The place was crowded. Actually crowded may be an understatement. It was standing room only. I am glad to experience this glorious work of NDP Singapore.

Straits Times Columnists

Sumiko Tan was my first favorite for Straits Times columnist. I can identify with the issues she wrote and I thought she express well. As I read more and more issues of Sunday Times, I find that Cheong Suk Wai, Janadas Devan, the Deputy Political Editor - a Teochew girl are quite interesting writers as well. I have weak recall for names. My apologies to the "Teochew girl" with long hair. Of course I love Pau Lin as food is my favorite pastime. I enjoy reading and exploring the food stalls that were featured.

Strait Times has gone a long way. I missed Janice Wong as she is seeking a new career in Marketing. I almost forgot. Sumiko is not the first columnist I followed. Sorry Sumiko! It was Richard Lim. Richard returned to ST recently after a break of a few years. Richard wrote a few times and then request for a different job. He no longer has any article regularly.

Before New York Times launched TimeSelect, I always enjoys reading Maureen Dowd columns. Reading is easy, writing is challenging. I wished I can write well.

Alfresco dinner

We have alfresco dinner this evening. The weather was nice and the moon almost full. This is the best dinner we had on our roof garden. We have live in this house for two years now. We have a nice outdoor table and bbq stove. The challenge is it is troublesome to get the cutleries, plates, food, and cleaning paraphernalia up the four storeys. Although I was busying cooking(outdoor cooking is responsibility of men), I have a chance to sit down and eat with my family. After dinner, we continue to linger and talk. It was quality family time!

Aesop's Fables - The Eagle and the Beetle

I have been thinking about the comment I put in my fellow blogger's entry on July 31st at http://gszeli1.blogspot.com/ and the responses I see. The story I bring to my mind is this story in the Aesop's Fables and I will transcribe from this classic:

Pursued by an eagle, a hare took refuge in the nest of a beetle, whom he begged to save him. The beetle felt compassion for the hare and pleaded with the eagle not to kill the poor creature. In the name of mighty Jupiter, the beetle requested that the eagle respect his intercession and the laws of hospitality even though he was nothing but a tiny insect. However, the eagle became furious and gave the beetle a flap with his wing. In cold blood he seized the hare with his enormous talons and devoured him right on the spot.

When the eagle flew away, the beetle followed him to find out where his nest was. Then he crawled in and rolled hte eagle's eggs out, one by one, breaking them in the process. Grieved and enraged to think that anyone would do such an audacious thing, the eagle built his next nest in a higher place. But there too, the beetle managed to get it and destroyed the eggs as he had done before.

The eagle was now at a loss as to what to do. So he flew up to Jupiter, his lord and king, and placed the third brood of eggs as a sacred deposit in his lap, begging him to guard them for him. However, the beetle made a little ball of dirt and flew up with it to Jupiter and dropped it on his lap. When Jupiter saw the dirt, he stood up right away to shake it off, forgetting the eggs, which were again broken as they rolled off his lap. The beetle now informed Jupiter that he has done this to gain revenge on the eagle, who had not only wronged him but has acted with impiety toward Jove himself. Therefore, when the eagle returned, Jupiter told him that the beetle was the wronged party and that his complaint was not without justification. Nevertheless, Jupiter did not want the race of eagles to be humiliated, so he advised the beetle to arrange a peaceful settlement with him. But the beetle would not agree to this, and Jupiter was compelled to change the eagle's breeding time to another season when there are no beetles to be seen.

No matter how powerful one's position may be, there is nothing that can protect the oppressor in the end from the vengeance of the oppressed.

A Question of Character

This is the title of the book I acquired today together with another titled "Ted Levitt on Marketing". A Question of Character written by Joseph Badaracco. He is a Professor in Leadership in Harvard. This is a discourse on using literature as a guide to understanding leadership. I find this interesting as I am not a reader of literature. My main interest is non-fiction like Business, Management, Leadership, Science, Occult, Self Improvement, New Age or Psychology. Literature is about life and human emotions and relationship. Prof Badaracco talks about using literature to reflect on our current situation or ethical issues. I will develop this myself and see if I can start reading literature to gain further insights. I remembers an article that says liberal arts will be the degree that most CEOs will have. When I read this article that was in Straits Times many years ago, I did not understand what is liberal arts. Even today, I am not sure. So I check my handy Webster dictionary which states the main curriculum of liberal arts are languages, history and philosophy. The article argues that liberal arts teaches human history and trains a person to understand the broad range of human interaction. CEOs deals mainly with human. Except for high tech where tech skills are important, all other businesses will require the CEOs to manage people and people issues.

Ted Levitt is another Harvard Professor. He wrote the marketing classic "Marketing Myopia". In this article, Prof Levitt gives example of business that defines themselves narrowly and were subsequently made obsolete(out of business) by newer different business. In another article, he made a case to differentiate your products. Even commodity product such as sugar or oil can be differentiated. This will increase the profit of your business.

Write Stuff

It is interesting to face the blank page thinking of what to write. Since I am not an interesting writer yet, I will need practice. More practice. Hence I promise to write everyday on this blog. I tried. I do missed a few days here and there. So far so good. My discipline has improved. Starting is difficult, so I was told. Keep going is just as challenging. Yet as the day passes, it becomes a habit. As it become a habit, it actually becomes uncomfortable not to write. The power of habit is tremendous. Hence developing good habit can bring huge power according to Harry Lorraine. The title is "Secrets of Mind Power". I read this book more than 30 years ago. Oops! Now you can guess how young I am!

Hazards of travelling

I woke up early this morning with a headache. I has cold sweats and chills. My body feel weak and it is very uncomfortable. The first thing came to mind is home. Home sweet home. The place of comfort and security. The place where we can go the doctors we know and trust. One of the hazard of travelling is getting sick or in my case, suffering from food poisoning.

The good thing was I managed to recover after two Tyernol. Yes, Tyernol is my favourite anagesic. I always have some in my travelling bag and at home. I will replenish my supply when I go to US.

While the benefits of travelling are many, there are risks. Falling sick, getting food poisoning, getting cheated are some of pitfalls of travelling.

Creeping Weight Increase

My waist line is 36 and scale hit 88kg at night. The difference between weighing in the morning and weighing at night is between 1 to 2 kg. Hence to check for weight change you must always weigh yourself at the same time.

Once upon a time, my waist was 28 and weigh scale could not push past 63kg no matter how much I eat. Today, the reverse is true. It is hard to keep my weight down. I love eat. I am the typical "live to eat" or foodie kind of a guy.

It does not help with me having favorite food in different places I visit. I have to reduce. Will see if I can follow Mr. Brown lead who has reduce his weight significantly.