Matriarch Classmates

My Wife invited her classmates over for our favourite entertainment and my signature cooking - barbeque. She is now busy preparing and marinating the meat, seafood and vegetable. I will be doing the cooking later. I sneak to take break and update this blog. It is a lot of fun to set up everything and get everything ready to receive our guests. We will have curry chicken, bbq chicken, chicken satay, egg plants, green peppers, prawns and cuttlefish. The mainstay is still chicken. We are a chicken fan!

Stress increases Weight?

Recently, work load has been heavy and stressful. My friend SL thinks she indulged in food to relief stress and I believe she is right. I tried to eat less to no avail. Sitting all day in front of computer is the best way to increase waistline and I am no couch potato. Maybe it is time to go for stress management course, it will bring my weight down. I wonder how BT keep trim. He likes Japanese food, it is actually hard to see an overweight Japanese. So it may be his diet. Frankly, I know a rather stocky Jap and I think it is because he loves rice.
I tried to exercise hard today and my weighing scales refused to cooperate and gave me a number higher than yesterday.
I have no time to exercise but have time to eat. Since money can solve the problem, I may consider liposuction.

Edison Chen dethrone Casanova

With 1300 photos of rich and famous women nude and in various compromising positions, Edison Chen will go into history records. He has dethrone Casanova by a huge margin. He bring the term "playboy" to a new height, a level which will be hard to match not to say breach. He did what Tiger Wood has done in golf but in Sexploits.
He admits the photos were taken by him in the press conference and is articulate in his Canadian accent. While he say he is not the role model, I am sure many in the audience around the world especially aspiring actors now have a clear standard who to beat to reach the peak.
While I do not condone his acts or behaviour, I salute to his "achievements". He has in business speak "changed the rules of the game". It is a solid "Blue Ocean".

Edison, "heal your soul". You will get a lifetime achievement award in the far future.

Bogged down by Weight Issue

My friend like me is bogged down by weight issue. Recently, my weight has creep past 88kg. I am fairly concerned and try to exercise as much as I can by walking and swimming. Alas! my calories intake seem to be higher than output. I drank plenty of tea with no sugar to stem my hunger. The biggest contributor to my current dilemma is sitting, sitting. I now sit in front of the computer all day long.

So instead of "Sitting sitting the grass grow green" a zen poetry,
I am "Sitting sitting my stomach is bursting!"

Anyway, my friend SL is kind of in a fix and you can read it in http://gszeli1.multiply.com/journal/item/122/Weight_Gain

Wonderful World

Rising costs and lower price. The world is amazingly wonderful right now. I wish I can increase price like our hawker centre and food court. Inflation is everywhere. People are making more more money and bigger bonus. I wonder how much is real. Maybe Straits Times like to report positive news. Now price of rice has gone up.

Another interesting observation is the winds are very strong nowadays. I wonder if the El Nina effect or it is just fluke or global climate change.

The World will have a dramatic change in 2012 theorize some authors as the Mayan calendars end in the year 2012. Is the world coming to an end?

Service Industry

It is really hard to be a service staff. Paid to serve rather pay to be served. Service is the key touchpoint between the company and the customer. My favourite airline is SQ - the service is good, food is ok, some of the girls are pretty, most destinations out of Singapore and of course the frequent flyer points. I enjoys chatting with the girls and the senior stewards. It helps break the monotony of the flying. I know chatting part of their job because they are always polite and willing to entertain my small talks.

I cannot imagine getting slapped hard just because I am doing my job. I heard from "inside" sources that it was the man who went to the gallery to talk. This add insult to the injury as the recipient of the mega tight SLAP on the face was not the initiator of the chat.

I support the stewardess who sued and get redress for the humiliation and emotional distress. Hopefully, she win big and send a signal out to all the jeolous pots to watch out. Just because you have the money does not mean you can throw your weight around.

The Story of a Tail

There a kitten in the back alley. This kitten was chasing it own tail. Chase, chase, chase and catch, bite and let go and chase and chase again and again. An old worldly cat walked by and look at the small cat and wondering what is happening. After a few minutes, he could stand it no more. He stopped the kitten and asked "What are you doing?" The kitten told the veteran I just visited the Cat Guru... he told me happiness is in my tail. I want happiness. So I am chasing after and catching happiness."

The Veteran "You know what, I visited the Cat Guru when I was about your age too. He also told me the same thing. Happiness is in my tail." "After all these years, I got it figured out..." he continues "if you go about doing your own things, you will find your tail will follow you wherever you go."

I Want to be Edison Chen's Computer

This is what a columnist in Sunday Times want to be in his next life. I would say he is not ambitious enough. What is so good about becoming his computer and see the pics of Edison collecting his trophies of beautiful actresses undressed and performing sexual acts with him. Becoming his computer is just looking or seeing. What is the fun and where is the enjoyment? If this is his dream, it is pathetic. Next life, he should be the Edison Chen. Film and photograph all the gorgeous women exposing their innermost secrets. Enjoy sex conquests and captured them in video. That should be the right dream.
Why be the computer and when you are sick, some one copy your files when fixing you up. It is like getting raped!

Home Style BBQ

It is actually quite simple to barbeque meat. The important step is to clean the meat thoroughly.
Use generous amount of salt and rub all over the meat.
Then rinse off the salt.
Next use alcohol to marinate the meat.
Do not do the typical local style of adding soy sauce and pepper to the meat.
Add dried rosemary to the mixture to give the smoky favour to the meat.
Heat up the bbq stove for 15 mins on high heat.
Put meat on the grill and turnover the meat about two minutes and reduce heat to low after another two minutes.
This will seal the meat juices and lower heat will cook the meat inside without burning the surface of the meat.
When the meat are evenly cooked, remove from the stove.
Serve warm and if unable to finish, keep it in the fridge and you can reheat in a toaster oven or eat the bbq meat cold.

Long Day at Work

Two of my old girls has resigned and moved on to greener pasture and brighter future. They had spent four and five good years with us. I am both sad and happy to see them go. Sad that I am losing good competent staff and happy they are moving onwards and upwards. My current office manager will now have to bear the brunt of the transition and training new staff. This will be a real test for her mettles. She will be going through baptism by fire. Hopefully she will become the stainless steel that look back and know that as wrought iron she was not needlessly tortured.

Rare Find!

I found a hard cover non-fiction book at $3.90 in Popular. It is all wrapped and sealed in shrinkwrap plastic. When I pay at the cashier, the cashier could not believe the price and turn the book over to look at the price tag. Yes! it read $3.90. The title of the book is The Origin of Brands by Al and Laura Ries. Al Ries co-authored the best seller and classic on branding. The title is Positioning. Positioning is still the best book on branding and I will recommend this title to Marketing folks and anyone in business.

Butter Cake - Yummy!

Fresh warm butter cake just out of the oven tasted heavenly. My wife makes the best butter rivalling Polar Cakes and Puffs version. It is so rich, full of flavours and the cake melts in your mouth. I am trying to weight by cutting down and as I chow down the cake, all I could think of is let me start my diet tomorrow.
If she can come up with a few more variety of cakes, I am sure we can start a bake shoppe.

Mum Goes Home

My mother left Singapore today. She had been here for 3 months and missing out of the bitterly cold winter in Toronto. She was a little emotional before entering the secured area. My sisters eyes went red as well seeing how she cried. My younger sister's younger son wrote her a note with many hearts and "Ma Ma" on a tissue and stapled to the note. He is very creative and is very attached to grandma. Mum says Sheldon keep going in and out of her room last night. He could not bare to see Ma Ma leaving.

Ma Ma will go to Hong Kong for 10 days to stay with her youngest sister. Then she will head home to Toronto. Bon Voyage Mum. See you next winter.

Broken Wrist

What a start to the first day of school for the new year! Yesterday, B1 complained about spraining his right wrist while playing basketball. Today, B2 fell during PE and hurt his wrist. He called from school asking me to bring him home. When we get to the school, his wrist has a big swelling and it is the right wrist as well.

His mum took him to KK hospital and they found 1 centimeter crack line. So they put a cast. So his right wrist will be out of action for a few weeks.

Honest Singapore

Every year, Reader's Digest will conduct a survey of the honesty of the different cities in Asia. Singapore always come up in the top few. This morning I personally experience Honest Singapore.

I was enjoying my morning tea and breakfast in a coffee shop at Bishan. I ordered fishball noodles from Million Fishball. The coffee shop is opposite CPF building. It is early Sunday morning and there are not many patrons. I read my favorite newspaper Sunday Times leisurely. The author of "Towkay, Ho Sei Boh?" was featured. Sumiko Tan wrote why she dislike Hillary Clinton. I finished reading and decided time to go. As I was driving back toward AMK Central, I was thinking to myself maybe I should stop by AMK Hub to buy fresh food to cook lunch for my mum. I look for my wallet and it is not in my back pocket. Maybe, it is under the newspapers...I picked them up and look underneath and not there! Sh**! I told myself. I must be dropped it in the coffeeshop. Up in my mind, I begin to panic. I have to call all the credit cards companies to report lost cards, police station to file report for lost IC and driving licence.... I made a 180 degrees U-turn and go back to the coffeeshop. There was a man sitting on my seat and eating noodles. I approached him and ask if he has seen my wallet. He just stares back. Meanwhile the coffee lady who as nearby overheard my question and say "YES!" go to the counter. I hurried to the counter and spoke to the counter ladies. One of them take out my wallet and paused.

She asked "do you have your IC in there?" I said "yes!" She opens my wallet and hesitated as there are many cards. I pointed to her where to take. She looks unsure and seems uncomfortable to touch my wallet. So I took it and take out my driving licence for her to see. She take a look at my handsome picture and agree it looks like my face and gave me a nod. A wave of euphoria sweep into me. My emotions just went from panic and fear to happiness and joy. I check the cash and everything is intact.

I salute you! Singaporeans. I live in a honest city and country.

New Interests

I have discover new sections that interest me in Kinokuniya. How I get to know the new sections is through books I bought in Borders or other bookstores while I was on my trips. After I bought the books, I wonder why I did not see them in Kino and then check out the bookweb. I would find that they are put in different bookshelves from where I usually frequently. My favourite is Business, Leadership, Success, Training, Psychology, Self Help and New Age. Recently, I find the shelves on Brain and Business Communication have a lot of subject matters for me to discover.

I am glad I am broadening my interest somewhat although the subject matters are still related. Peter Drucker recommends that we take a completely different subject. For example, he is a minor expert in Japanese Art and Culture. Learning a totally different subject allow our mind to make connections and apply one sphere of learning to another giving greater insights and making one's learning more impactful.

Peter Drucker is a world renowed Management Expert. He studied economics in University and not business. Philip Kotler also studied economics and mathematics and become a guru in Marketing.

Family Breakfast on Edison Chen

We were having breakfast in Toa Payoh Central Koufu after praying in Shuang Ling Shi. During breakfast, the topic of Edison came up. I told B2 who is good with movie making that he may be able to come up with something like to Edison Chen to be instantly world famous. I say I have no idea who is Edison or Cecilia Chung or Gillian Chung or Bobo Chan before. Now I know them.

My wife violently objects. She told him you need not display your penis to gain fame. My comeback is there are millions of pictures and videos of penises in porn website. Nobody cares. However, my point to B2 is he should be like Steven Spielberg and come up with good movie ideas. Porn was not what I am advocating.

B2 may come up with some creative bionicles movies and be a famous director and movie maker in future. I can retires then and become his business manager.

Interesting Pastime of Edison Chen

Edison Chen is an interesting guy or rather he has interesting interest that caught up with him. He loves film-making and photography. He is artistic in his own way and he is the director as well as the protagonist in the pictures and video. He takes pictures of starlets in their naked glory and his sexual acts with them. The scandalous release into the net came out in the news last week that it overwhelm the bigger news of Chinese New Year Celebration. He is now famous, very very famous.

It is entertaining news. Everyone is so obsessed with the pictures. I tried seaching in Google and cannot find anything except garbage commentaries. While the news papers say that it is in the net and the pictures are downloaded at 10,000 copies a minutes, they do not mention the websites. I guess I am not in the loop or do not spend enough time on the new to get to the pictures.

Technology is wonderful and a great leveller. Now you can be infamous at lightspeed. However, there are still laggards out there like yours truly who are clueless. The younger generation are much better. They know where to go to get the right info. Yes, it is your turn to make the world a better place, young ones...

Family Day

It is the tradition of visiting relatives starting with the most senior. We brought our boys to their maternal grandparents in the morning. I did what a lot of men do when they do visiting... my brother-in-laws do it as well when he come to my place. Maybe it just run in our family. What do you thing I did?

My mum, and two of my sisters came over with their kids for dinner. We had a good gathering. My brother-in-law did his own reading and I prepare dinner. However the woman folks gather together and do a lot of small talks. My nieces are all grown.

Family tradition and family values in Chinese New Year give us a reason to get together for a meal. Old fashion time together improves and renew our ties. Also my boys get to see grandma and maternal grandparents and their aunts and uncles. In today city living and fast pace of life (tuition on the weekends instead of climbing trees or marbles with cousins) it is good our boys have some contact time with their extended family.

May the Year of Rat bring joy, peace and prosperity to all my readers. Happy New Year!

Super Long Queue

It looks like some major is going to happen. Everyone is queuing to pump petrol. I had to send my mum to my sister's home. On the way back, I decided to detour to pump up petrol as I am not sure if the petrol stations will be open tomorrow. The queue was incredibly long. There was a 2nd long queue!! Everyone was queuing up to wash their cars. It cost $6 for this privilege. The car washing companies are making a killing. Looks like a good business opportunity. Hire some foreign worker, get car shampoo and a place with water point, hey presto....

Reunion dinner is a quiet affair for us. My mum came over this morning. She stayed with us the whole day. We had steamboat. At 5:45pm when I was relaxing at the poolside, my wife came over and told me to buy rice as she like our rice container to be full for CNY. This is a tradition. I tried Sheng Siong but it was closed. I heard the Giant's radio ad this morning. "Go to Giant for shopping after reunion dinner, it is open and it will be open tomorrow, carpark is free." So off to Giant. Yes, it really is still open. There are more Malays and Indians. A few Chinese like me are last minute shopper. Thank God for free enterprise.

I was explaining to my son that only in Chinese New Year does everything in Singapore shutdown except for Indian stalls, McDonald's, 7-elevens and hotels. Christmas and New Year, the big malls are closed but all hawker centers are open. This is show the Chinese presence in all the small businesses in Singapore and also show how hard workers they are.

The malls in KL are all opened during Chinese New Year. In this aspect, Malaysians are luckier than us.

Have a Fantastic RAT year.

Mad House

It is a mad house in all supermarkets. Trolleys is impossible to navigate and checkout lines are long and the waiting time seems eternal. Yet, everyone is quite patient and there are lots of people who have wonderful discovery of a short queue. I wish I jump queue. No, I just stick to my line as a typical kiasu Singaporean. Hence extending my checkout time by more than 10 mins, which will be eternity at any other time. This is new year. We are all looking forward to new beginnings, new starts, new outlook, change - positive change, change for the better. Yes, the Rat year will be a good year for everyone.

I wish one and all - Kong Hee Huat Chye.

Will Winning A Million $$ Make Me Happy?

I decided to do this thought experiment. What if I have a million dollars dropped down from the sky i.e. Toto, lottery or some wonderful generous soul who decide to give me the money - no strings attached.

What will I do with the million dollars? Will I quit my job? Work is becoming a drag lately. The bad news keep coming. Costs continue to increase and price is under pressure to come down. Competitors are getting stronger and everyone want a bigger piece of the pie. With the stress should I quit and enjoy the Million Dollar windfall?

How about take the family for a holiday to places they always dream of going? Paris the romantic city, gorgeous Banff Mountains in Alberta, Whistler where skiing season is almost all year round, sun soaked southern Europe, maybe the plain vanilla London. We love to go for a tour where we need not watch our expenses. It will be wonderful to be carefree for a few weeks of our lives.

Another serious consideration is donating the money or rather using the money to do worthy causes and make the world a better place. School Pocket Money Fund is one I support when it was first started. Now, the charity has grown to $4 million a year. Maybe they don't need the million. I just heard that my favorite charity World Vision which we sponsor kids from poor country only 25 cents of the dollars get to the kids. The rest go to "administration".

What about the passion of most men? A nice, sleek, brightly coloured sport car. One that attracts the beautiful and gorgeous women. Hmmm! A Porche, Lamborgini, sigh! I can't think of any other brand. My passion is not fast cars.

Maybe it is better to invest the Million Dollar. Where to invest in is the question! Stocks or Property. It will be nice to have a property that give me regular income. Warren Buffett world's 2nd richest man wealth is through investing in stocks. Maybe I should invest in Berkshire Hathaway.

Looks like my head is filled with so many questions and decisions to be made. Having a Million Dollar increase my stress level.

What will you do if you have a Million Dollar?

Reunion Dinner with my Outlaws

We had our reunion dinner with my in-laws. Since they have daughters who are married, reunion dinner are usually held the weekend before the new year's eve. We usually eat at our parent-in-law's house. This time we had it at Lao Di Fang, Chinese Vegetarian Resturant in Apollo Center.

The 2nd daughter, my wife has 3 sons, her younger sister, the 3rd daughter has two boys and small ye-ye, the youngest daughter has two boys. So it is a little interesting. My in-laws have 5 daughters and 1 son, and they now have 7 grandsons and no granddaughters. Come to think of it, my mother has 7 granddaughters before I break the trend with B1. After that, my younger sister, the baby of our family has two sons. My generation i.e. my brother and sisters as well as my sister-in-laws has either only daughters or sons.

My in-laws are strict vegetarians. They are religious and wonderful folks who does not think twice to help the less fortunate.

After dinner, my family adjorned to Chinatown. It is almost 9 pm. We walk by Lim Chee Guan and there is no queue like what was reported in the news. However my son also notice they have ran out of bak kwa. In the cool night, the crowd makes the place hot literally. It is really impossible to move at a pace faster than a crawl. The festive atmosphere was fun but the crowd was a little overwhelming for me. So we walked only one street which took an hour to cover and decide to come to our home sweet home.

A Walk in the Gardens

I took a walk around our estate and the new contractor for cleaning and landscaping is doing a much better job than the previous contractor. It is good to see the landscaping spruced up for the Chinese New Year. With fertilizers, I am sure the plants will have new growth and look healthy, strong and vibrant.

It also shows the importance of competent help or contractors. The quality difference is clear. It is now a pleasure to walk in the gardens again.

Olivia Lum Cont'd

One of the questions posed to Olivia in the dialogue session is "Olivia, you are so successful and a role model, is there anytime you are depressed?"

Olivia takes up the mike, pause for a few seconds and she smiles "I feel depressed many times!" The audience laugh loudly. "It is lucky we can sleep. So when I feel depressed, I sleeps." My wife who is a "kun queen" in army terminology or sleep queen, look at me triumphantly and feel vindicated.

Right now, I need to take Olivia's prescription. I should go to sleep...

Dialogue Session with Olivia Lum

Olivia Lum is the CEO and founder of Hyflux. The company was called Hydrochem before. The session is organised by NUS Business School. Olivia is an alumni of NUS Science Faculty. Olivia spends 30 mins talking about how she started. Her key driver is "hungry". For her, hungry and want more and better is important for business success. Since young she want to do business. Olivia want to start her own business when she finished her "A" level. She looks at the towkays around and they cannot speak English but can have their own hardware shop. She was convinced by having Bachelor Degree on her name card looks good. So she went for her degree. She was working in Glaxo as a Chemist and decided to leave a cushy job to start her own business. The reason is she work to 10pm every day and she felt it is not possible to do business if she does not spend to time to do research.

Olivia left a $4800/mth highest paid chemist job. She sold her Nissan and . Bayshore Park apartment and with $20,000 started her business. After paying 3 month rental deposit, she is left with $10,000 capital. She bought a motorbike to do sales calls as taking bus will take too long. Singapore was not friendly to startup companies like hers. She venture in Johore and have more business there as her company is "oversea" company. Then she venture into Indonesia. Her business flourish. The first year, she hardly have any salary. The second year, she draws $2000/mth. In the third year, she draws $6000/mth. By 4th year, she is driving her own Mercedes.

She look at China as a big potential market and write a simple business plan which she say will get ZERO marks in the business school. Her 3 Professors in Science Faculty chip in $100,000 each and gather friends and together collected $1,000,000 for the business venture. The first year, she was worried about the money and did not dare to do anything. She says she has lots of missed opportunities. At the end of the year, she call for a partners meeting and told them she will be personally responsible for any losses so that they will not lose their life savings. Then she went to a "spending spree". End of second year, she lost lots of money. However China opens up to foreign investment and foreign factories moved into China. As they say, the rest is history.

Listening to Olivia is an inspiration. She is a driver and risk taker. She is ambitious and business is her life and passion. It is awe-inspiring for me. I would never be like her. While she attained huge success in business, I wonder about her family and personal life. I am glad I have a balanced lifestyle. Training and education is my passion. Will I be able to do great things in this field?

Good Maid, Great Help

It is important to have a good maid who can get things done. This free time for us to do our own work effectively. Likewise in the office, we must have good staff. Good competent and capable staff enhance performance. It takes a lot of training and coaching to help staff gain competency. Investment in increasing and improving capability will give good returns in future. Right now it is taking too much time working and working.

My current maid is very competent and have excellent attitude. She can cook and does all the cleaning without being told. She can communicate well and understand instructions. In short, she is a grrrreat help!

Swimming Lessons

We have trial swimming lessons for B2 and B3 in RI. B2 complains he almost drown as he is not fit and cannot complete the laps required. The kids were swimming laps up and down for an hour. It is incredible just to see them swim. The stamina and speed is they have is the first time for me. The dedication is total. Out of the whole group of maybe fifteen, only three reach standard high enough to represent Singapore. I can now see what it take to be a champion - endless practice with many highly accomplished peers.

Mind Magic

There are two methods of teaching. One is bank account method. You teach the student and like a bank account deposit concepts and problem solving skills. The test will determine how much get deposited and can be withdrawn. The other is the midwife method. You help the student to give birth to ideas on his own. The student read and learn to form ideas on his own. A successful "midwife" will train the student to come up with many ideas and draw his own conclusions.

Is MBA for me?

This is now a $50,000 question with SMU offering EMBA or MBA part-time. I like SMU for innovative advertising and protrayal of new kid on the block in education. SMU takes a different approach and is "fun" in education. Niece P is studying in SMU now and she is working very hard. She is so confident now. My wife has been encouraging me to go back to school. Learning and continuous development is something I advocate strongly. I am mulling over and over this. It is a committment that I worry with a heavy travel schedule. I do enjoy the interaction with the professors and other students.

So should I go for it?

Down and Up

Shares prices are going down and up. Crisis is dangerous opportunity. Two days ago, SGX was at 8.40 and today it is more than 10. Every share is $2 gain. If you buy 10 lots or 10,000 shares, $20,000 gain in two days. Wish I bought the shares. This is how rich get richer because they have the money to buy at an opportunistic time.

A Father's Pride

I received news that B3, the baby of the family is a monitor in his class. He is breaking his two elder brothers record. B1 became a prefect in Primary 5. B2 a prefect in Primary 4. Now B3, a monitor in Primary 1.

It is no news to most. For me, this is great news. My ego swell with pride my boys are in leadership positions in primary school. Hopefully, they grow into leadership positions at work and in society.

Heros

A boy always dream of being a scientist and inventor. He enjoys reading on the life of Thomas Edison who invented the electric light, phonograph and moving pictures. Another hero is a black scientist who live in Alabama, US. He invented more than 100 uses for peanuts and lifted the life of farmers in midwest. His name is George Washington Carver. Jet Propulsion Lab was his employer of choice. JPL is the builder of lunar and Mars explorers. Nikolas Tesla was the genius he admired.

The boy go to school. He has homework, study, and exams. Finally, school is over and he joins the army and become a man. The man look for a job. At work, new priorities. Childhood dreams is forgotten. It is work and night school. Climb the corporate ladder. Climb and climb, he did. Now he wonders what happen to all the dreams he has. What happen to the scientist or inventor?

My House

My house is on every can of Nippon Weatherbond Paint. This is fun and exciting for me. I can brag about it. There is a flaw in my pride. Weatherbond Paint is for outdoor. This mean only contractors, painters and low skilled labourers will the one who will see the picture of my house. Still I enjoy the publicity and feel like a peacock.

My son is featured on the cover of NAFA's brochure. While this is not Straits Times or Parent magazine, it has a feel good factor. My ego has swollen....

Story

Story telling is in vogue. Good stories bring traffic. My blog is boring stuff. Who would want to know about work, more work or family life? One day, a researcher may use my blog for getting insights to everyday life in the 21st century. Warren Buffett is a boring guy too in Wall Street. The difference between Warren Buffett and me is 40 billion US dollars. This makes him a celebrity. I have practised writing for about two years now. It is time for me to start writing toward selling rather than good writing. To read boring stuff is telling my readers to go away. However, I hope my future generations i.e. my boys and their progeny will use this blog to get a window into my perspective and life. Many entries included them. So they should be able to relate.

T3 Changi Airport

There is a huge crowd looking for new excitement. B1 has a huge food court and plenty of resturants. The queues were long. The passenger hall is gigantic. The walk is long. If you are going to board your flight in T3 makes sure you add 15 mins to your regular time. It is a long walk to the immigration checkpoint.

I like the toilet. It is interesting to stare at all the people and people looking back at you with your "cuckoo bird" out. This is my first experience in Singapore. It is common in the toilets in office building in Hong Kong where the glass wall is transparent. At a high level and so far away, I doubt anyone can really see you doing your business. However, the toilet in T3 is at eye level. I wonder if the female toilet has the same feature as the male. Nay! The complaints would have come fast and furious.

There is never a shortcut to Happiness

Americans most celebrated values - Success, Money, Power, Sex. The pursuits of these will give happiness. Fortune, Forbes, Businessweek magazines feature people who has the most billions, the fastest to the billions, lifestyle of the rich and famous, best paid CEOs. Money, money, money it's a rich man's world. We will sell our souls for success.
What is success?
Money, Power, Sex and Respect. When you have the billions, your name appears in the news. You are busy, time is of the essence, no time for family or friends.
Does this lead to Happiness?
Is pleasure same as happiness?
Have money but no time for friends or family. No time to relax or socialize. When am I happy? Browsing in a bookshop, going out as a family, knowing the boys doing well in school, getting respect and recognition at work. Hey, no money mean struggles and unhappiness. I do not want to be poor to be happy. Realistically, I just do not want to worry about day-to-day living. Money is still important. Let's not be hypocritical about money. No money life will be miserable. Obsence money is not necessary. Money for me still buy happiness.

A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words...

My House...

Alvin and the Chipmunks

This is a good movie. I thought it was a cartoon but actually is a regular movie with chipmunks that talks and sings. It is funny and have a strong family values. It is also touching and the song and dance concert was fun. The movie theatre in the Gardens is posh and the seats are big and comfortable. Sound system was incredible. All for a low price of RM20 per seat. Excellent value!

Long Productive Day

We spend the day discussing about work and man! do we have plenty do.

Chilli's

Wholesome American food. Wings on Buffalo is crispy, tangy and spicy. Chicken and Beef faujitas was tasty, a tad dry. The dessert is chocolate moist cake with a warm centre and a scoop of vanilla cover with chocolate sauce. This is finger licking good dinner.

WRONG Again

I was wrong. No rain tonight. Weather like woman is fickle. I think it is better than Shakespeare's "Frailty thy name is woman." Don't call me a sexist. I am just quoting others:)

Magnificent Lightning

The thunderstorm late afternoon has numerous magnificent lightnings. It is awesome powers. It is also scary to be outside. So we hurry home. In less than 10 mins, the road was flooded. Thanks to our government, we have good road and excellent drainage. Ominous dark clouds are hanging around. Rain will pour again....

Held Hostage

By the Brother Grimm show in Channel 5. It is keeping me awake and on the edge of my seat. It is scary and exciting to watch this kind of show in the middle of the night. It is better to watch on DVD during the day. However, night view enhances and heighten the experience.

Fantastic Food at Hong Lim

Hong Lim has so many famous food stalls. The curry mee makes my saliva keep coming out of my mouth. My handkerchief was soaking wet in 10 mins! Hokkiens really know how to make prawn mee. The soup version was yummy because I can see how my wife was savouring every mouthful. MMmmm! It was the Lor Mee that won the day, errr I mean my stomach. I hunger for good Lor Mee and try this stall. It is delicious. The flavours are different from Tiong Bahru market. For $3 a bowl, it is value for money.

Good food at low low prices, Hong Lim! Hong Lim! Hong Lim!

Imagination

Writing stories requires imagination and writing skills. Something sons are better. So I created another blog which links to my sons' blogs. Reading what I have written, I totally agree. It is boring, uninteresting and would put readers to sleep. So I should label my blog as Cure for Insominacs. I just keep my reader who gave me the gift of feedback in suspense by not telling the name of my new blog or my sons' blogs.

Thanks A Million!

I have feedback from a reader and he is giving valuable feedback. He like me to tell stories. I told a story once and the reception was fantastic especially when I pause to take a break. Finally, my good friend Boh Tong asks me to tell the ending. It was good. Let me mull over this and figure out what to do next. I feel a little Warren Buffet (the famed investor). It is the same old same old boring bore in my family or work life.

Anonymous said...
Yawnnnnnn Zzzzzzzz
11:27 AM
BookLover said...
Hey, thanks for the feedback! What can I do to stop your yawnnnn zzzZZZZ!
12:02 PM
Anonymous said...
tell interesting stories other than about your work,family and self.

Still Alive!

The lobsters we caught I mean. This time the survival of the lobsters are much better. One died after jumping about on the ground. According to B3, the lobster ran up the lily leaf and then to the ground. It jump about a few times and ants start eating it up. I think this is a tall story. This afternoon I caught him catching a lobster from the pond and putting it on the ground. I know the truth about the lobster jumping up the leaf and out of the pond.

I also think the pond filter I installed allow the lobsters to survive. Previously, the water in the pond were circulated but the waste from the fishes were not filtered. The lobsters turned red after being in the pond for a few hours and all died in a day or two. The smaller lobsters numbers were reduced as they were probably eaten up by the bigger fishes. I notices the lobsters come out of their hiding place to eat at night. During the day, they hid in the crevices between the rocks. At night, with a torch light, I can see them out in the open.

I am very happy to see the lobsters we caught in the reservoir surviving. This mean my pond has become a micro-ecology.

Work Mania

I have a series of fires at work. Fighting fires take up time. It is both exhausting and exhilarating. I need to figure how to stablise the situation so that I can spent time on thinking and strategize on growing the business. It is start of the year and activities are hot, hot, hot! I have two meetings tomorrow and a big meeting to prepare. Man! Working for money is not easy.

Craving for a Kit Kat

I am not really a chocolate person although I have a sweet tooth. I have been down with flu for more than a week now. I just had a craving for Kit Kat. It is funny as I normally do not feel favours chocolate. My sweet craving of choice is Ah Kun kaya.

Off to Fairprice I go. There are many choice of kit kat nowadays. I still go for the traditional 4-sticks bar type. It tastes so much better than the "international" versions. The 4-sticks bar is made in UK. It is a little more expensive $8 for 5 bars but give so much more value in terms of taste. If you like Kit Kat, don't compromise. 4 is better than 2.

Lobster Fest at Pierce Reservoir

This afternoon we brought the two younger boys to Pierce Reservoir to catch lobsters after dropping the eldest for his tuition. There were plenty of people catching lobsters. Fishing is popular too. Two fishing enthusiasts caught one fairly large fish each. One also caught a turtle which he realise immediately. Between 3 of us, Daddy and the two boys, we caught 4 or 5 large lobsters and plenty of tiny ones. It is a good way to spend the day. We finished with Kentucky Fried Chicken dinner.

Gymnastics

B3 has been pestering us to go for gymnastics class. He had gone for gym classes two or three years ago. We stopped going to Baz gym because the timing sucks. It is at 6:30pm right smack dinner time. After a few months we gave up because we were either late or have to have our dinner late. Our French neighbours' kids can do cartwheel and other stunts which B3 is keen to do too. Finally, we have a trial lesson today in Raffles Institution. I am impressed by the training class for girls. The girls are arching their backs and can do the bridge from standing position to bridge back to standing without any help. They are also flipping and cartwheeling with ease.

B3 is very happy and will register for the class. His gym teacher was a coach for the national gymnastic team already hope B3 can do well and win competition in future so that he can also teach in his primary school.

Judgement

My neighbour, I shall her Joy(not her real name) recommend this book to me. She told her a Perm Sec recommend to her and she finds it good. The author Noel M. Tichy and Warren Bennis are well-known. Tichy work in GE before and lay claim to Teachable Point of View. Bennis is a professor in U of Southern California specialising in leadership.

"How winning leaders make great calls" is the subtitle. The book studies the "great" American CEOs such as Jack Welch, Jeff Immelt, A. G. Lafley(P&G) and Jim McNerney.

Good judgement is a process and not an event. It is NOT just a decision. The "decision" has to be frame and decided on. After that it need execution and adjustment to the changes.

The 3 Critical Domains or Dimension for judgement calls are People, Strategy and Crisis. People is considered the most difficult and also most critical. Sounds a little like motherhood and apple pie to me.

They continue to say exercising good judgement requires Self-Knowledge. Support teams are vital and engaging others leads to success. Similar to Sun Tze's "Know yourself, Know your enemy, A hundred Battles, A hundred Victories."

I must say the book is quite easy to read and the personalities are well-known and published in many books and articles.

Team building in School

I am impressed by the secondary school orientation program. Pei Hwa is a new school and the school engages professional team building organisation to run the program. The facilitators are JC students and they run the programs. They have break the ice sessions, building trust and different games to build teamwork. This is so much better than my time.

The programs in Secondary schools are getting more and more sophisticated. Xinmin use student leaders and the newbies learn the school war cries, cheers and learn to do sketch and have a campfire all in a week.

This is good orientation and induction into the school. I am also glad ragging is no longer allowed in University and Polytechnics under the guise of freshman orientation. The school environment is now friendlier with better ice-breaking to welcome all freshman.

I am glad to see this kind of progress in our school system.

First Day at Work

It is nice to get back to work. I was kind of on half gear during the Christmas holidays. It is good to take vacation and work when I like rather than when I have to. This is not to say I do not enjoy working when I am not on vacation. I do, I do! Enjoy working that is.

First Day in School

B3 is in Primary 1 and B2 in Secondary One. Both schools are close by. Not sure if neighbourhood school is a good idea. My neighbour has a strong opinion that primary school is very important for the child development. Her view is that if you go to the right primary school, then you will be set for life. She went to Ai Tong and she is one of the two in her peer groups of friends and neighbours who finished University. She thinks for a moment and then tell me that the highest level of qualifications her peers who goes to neighbourhood school is "O" level or Secondary 4. Ai Tong today is a popular primary school and is extremely difficult to enter.

It is funny feeling to see my baby now going to proper school. He is growing up. B1 will be sitting for his "O" level this year. Yes, my boys are growing up and up. Hard to describe the mix of joy and anticipation plus worry for their future. Are they going to be ready to face the global changes that is taking place now? Will there be jobs or must they become entreprenuers? I was thinking of my father who drove pirated taxi, trade in groceries and basically doing anything that earn him money for day-to-day living. Jobs are becoming polarised. It is either high paying or minimum wage. There are less and less jobs supporting middle class lifestyle like managers, engineers, foremen or technicians. High paying jobs or professions are doctors, dentists, architects, CEOs, stockbrokers or lawyers are for select few. Millions will be stuck at factory jobs or waiting at the tables or cleaning or general labour.

What will the future be for my boys? Only time will tell...

New Year Resolutions

I never understand the much talked about and publicized new year's resolutions. Why would people make resolutions to break them? How come resolutions are done on the eve of the new year?

I recalled in 1989, my colleagues and I went to Royal Holiday Inn for new year eve's get together. Mei started to talk about her resolutions and how she planned to make easy resolutions so that she will not break them. This dinner was my first exposure to new year's resolutions. Also bring out my ignorance and innocence. I have never make any resolutions before. I read about the great Ben Franklin who is a well respected and rich merchant, scientist and philosopher. Ben will study his own behaviours and pick one he did not like one at a time and work on it until it change. Using this method, he remake himself into a likeable, diplomatic person and achieve greatness.

I have tried to reduce my weight and is unsuccessful. This actually will fall into my "broken resolution" list. I wonder how it is like to resolve to be rich or successful. I prefer to keep my desires simple and few - Buddha's Way. Maybe because I am not as capable as my classmates who because VPs and MDs earning millions in annual remuneration. I am happy with my lot.

For the new year, I resolve not to make any resolutions. Let life be and flow naturally. This will be TAO.

Happy New Year

Happy mean lucky deriving from Old Danish happe, "to chance" according to Janadas Devan on Sunday Times. He goes on the tell on the history of how Jan 1 became a new year(the day Jesus Christ was circumcised!) Christ was born in 25 Dec BC and circumcision is traditionally done on the 8th day after birth.

The thing that come to my mind is the western world is similar to the Chinese rather they may be following the Chinese custom in the sense that Chinese celebrate with Kong Hee Huat Chye (I prefer the Hokkien rather than the Cantonese Kong Hey Fatt Choy). Which translates to Congratulations on becoming Wealthy! Chinese has strong beliefs in luck and wealth and Feng Shui is the art of bending in with nature to enhance wealth.

Today, I wish all my readers be blessed with joy and luck. May health and wealth follow you every step of the way.

Happy New Year!

BBQ lunch and dinner

I am under the attack of germs and is having sore throat, coughs and bone aching all over. My energy level is low. However, I am doing bbq cooking for lunch as well as dinner. It was a fabulous meal. My mum and sisters were here for lunch and we had a neighbour over for dinner. My outdoor cooking skills is now at a level of a master chef (self-praise is an international glory). Everyone had a good time and enjoys the food. I had a great time being the cook although I was feeling weak and coughing a lot.

It is a fantastic day for me and my family. I really enjoys playing host.

Salvation Army

Many people donate their "too good to throw away" stuff to The Salvation Army. We went there at about 5 pm and cars keep coming non-stop. Most cars have one bag. So they come and go fast. We are slow and see many cars as we unload our stuff. This is the consuming world. There are many good stuff being donated - toys, pots, electric kettles, clothing, portasound, badminton rackets and many others stuff in bags which it hard to guess. Salvation Army is killing two birds with one stone. Ridding old consumer products from the wealthy nations and doing deeds in the process.

Flashbacks at Pasir Ris

I had to send my wife and sister-in-law to their aunt's house. I am not the visiting sort. So I decided to go hang out at a coffeeshop to read one of the new books I just acquired from Borders. I walk around the coffee in the Pasir Ris neighbourhood center. Memories and flashback as I pass the coffeeshop, the sight of people eating their meals, the food, the smell, yeah! What was it I remember? Pasir Ris was where my eldest sister lives and we were living with her when we first return from Canada. It was a novel to experience life start early here in Singapore. After getting used to life in Canada and still suffering from jetlag, I was up at dawn and taking a walk around the neighbourhood, the hawkers were getting ready at 5am. In Canada, there is no wet market or coffeeshop. Only plaza and strip malls. No commercial or rather retail activities start before 10am. So my routine was to boil water first thing I wake up to make tea. It is usually cold in the house and nice hot tea will warm me up nicely. Only tv or radio to kill time if the mood to read is not there.

Seeing mostly Chinese and other Singaporeans eating is also a funny feeling after being with mostly Caucasians everywhere. Food is so easily available. All the food we brought back with our shipment of furniture, those we thought we will missed, were forgotten. Yes, I still missed the cookies and muffins. Mmm Muffin was fabulous. Saint Cinnamon was in Singapore for a short spell and was unsuccessful unlike the franchise in Australia and Philippines.

I wonder how it feels to relocate back there again. My older boys may not be able to regain their Canadian accent. B3 is still young and he is at the best age to pick up any accent. Besides the boys language skills, what else is there to offer in Canada? Singapore has been good to us. We really really appreciate and thank God for blessing us.

Pasir Ris will always be the place where I re-integrate back into Singapore the first time back from Canada.

The Paper Chase

Finally, finally! I bought the movie. I went to HMV a couple of years ago to check if they have the TV series The Paper Chase and they do not. However, they have the movie. I did not buy then as I have seen the movie before and I felt the TV series is better. HMV close down the store in Orchard and I kind of regret not purchasing the movie.

Before Christmas, I walk kind of roaming the malls and in the HMV in the underground link between Raffles City and Suntec, I saw a boxset on Miracles on 34th Street. I was tempted but did not buy as we were just passing through. I thought about it and decided I like to get the copy as it as additional commentary on the movie. I find Miracles on 34th Street moving story and enjoys watching it every Christmas. I have the video tape in NTSC or North American standards. I was busy with the home maintenance and repair, kids' activities. Finally, today I managed to go to HMV again but the boxsets are all sold out. Then I found The Paper Chase movie. I decided to buy it so I do not regret not purchasing this movie. I am now watching this movie at 12:44am.

Yes, I am enjoying this movie right now. Students in Harvard Law School, competitive, tough, even ruthless. I like the academic environment. NO! I love the academic world!

Friendly Neighbours

We have new neighbours. Two of them actually. One is just next door to me and the other is diagonally opposite. Johnny moves in only a couple of weeks and he is helping out and finding out better ways of reconfiguring our estate to improve. Today, I visited his place and invited him over. I am very glad to make a new friend. This is one of the best part of living in a kampong. Hurray!

National Treasure - The book of Secrets

B1 is interested in watching movies. Finally, I decided to go and watch National Treasure Part II by Nicholas Cage. We went to Cathay and the movie was screen on the Main Theatre. The storyline is interesting and a couple of new characters were introduced. I like Ben's (Nicholas) mother. It is interesting dialogue and dynamic between the separated or divorce couple. The book of Secrets has a conspiracy theory. Treasure hunt must have bad characters who provide the high speed car chase and narrow escapes. We were keep on the edge. Although my bladder was overflowing due the extra large combo drinks, I was determined to finish the movie without going for a pee break.

I will give this movie a rating of 4 and half popcorns.

Boxing Day

The first time I heard was boxing day was in Canada. The question up in my mind is what is boxing day? Muhammed Ali came to my mind. I thought it is day where boxing match was held or boxing was celebrated as sports in Canada. How wrong was I!

Boxing day sales are held and the malls will be full of people. It is Toronto Star (http://www.thestar.com/) that explains Boxing Day to me. It is the day when all the presents are boxed. Any presents you do not like, you can bring back to the store for exchange. Yes, in Canada, stores will take back your presents and give you back the value in vouchers so that you can buy something else from the store if you do not have the original receipt. It is a good system. The money-back guarantee is widely offerred in most retail stores. If you have the original receipt and the item is in saleable condition, the store usually refund you the money. Some stores even have "No-questions" policy. They will just take back. Others ask why are you returning and record your response for statistic purpose.

I also think about their culture of consume, consume, consume. The buying of presents is a wasteful habits. A lot of people going in debt i.e. using credit card to pay for presents which the recipents may not need or like. At least for most Singaporeans, we usually spend within our means. There is no 13th month bonus and income tax is more than 40% taken at source. You get your pay less what taxes due. Net pay is about half of your gross pay. Beside income tax there is social security and you have to pay health insurance. Then you will need to pay 15% consumption tax in whatever you buy. For services like haircut, the tax is 7%. The after tax income is so low that many are always living from hand to mouth or in debt.

So with such low disposable income, the tradition of giving presents to does not make sense for a immigrant like me. Giving Ang Pow will be a lot better. Anyway, I have grown to love Christmas. It is the time for giving and forgiving. It is also family time and visiting friends. Best part is we get to spend a week at our warm home in the bitter cold winter.

Merry Christmas

It is a glorious day. We woke up late, really late. This is because our boys were up in the middle night checking if Santa left anything for them. My wife woke me up in a panic and told me there is someone inside the house. It was our boys messing with their presents. All is well. So we went back to dreamland.

Since Orchard Road is closed, we decided to go VivoCity for a movie. Guess, what? Every other Singaporean have the same idea. The carpark is chock-a-block with cars parked at non-designated parking lots as long as they are not impeding the traffic flow. The movie theatre queue was long and there were not many seats. So we gave up the idea.

We had lunch at a cafe beside PageOne. Lunch was at half past 3. Guess what, most resturants are full. Yes, people are in a mood to spend, spend and consume. I bet the retailers and F&B outlets owners are doing extremely well. It is a good time for everyone.

Elf - Compliments of OfficeMax & BT

My friend Boh Tong found an interesting program and I decided to make my own as well.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1759669151

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1778450229

Christmas Eve

Party, party and more parties. My neighbours are partying and inviting friends and family to visits. It is festive mood right now. It is alot better than squeezing your way around Orchard Road.

For our family, we have a simple dinner at Max Jack just nearby. We tried the Blue Mountain Burgers, Mad Chicky and Fish N Chips. The Spicy Cheezy Fries was excellent! Maybe it is because we were hungry. The fries were fresh, crispy outside and soft inside. Mmmm, yummy!! The Capuccino which had four stars in the menu was average. Coffee Beans or Starbucks have better capuccinos.

The mood is festive and positive and our neighbour drop by to visit. I really like cluster house concept as it bring back the kampong spirit into city living.

Tonight, I hope Santa Claus will visit and bless our boys with gifts.

Merry Christmas!

Reading Literature?

Kino is giving 20% discount. So this is the best time to acquire books for reading and upgrading skills. The title for this entry is "reading literature?" with a question mark! Why the question? Since I started reading seriously in Primary 4, I read widely. Almost every subject under the sun. Ok, I exaggerated! I read on science and scientists, occult, philosophy, Zen, Buddhism, engineering, astronomy, space exploration, etc, etc. However the books I avoid are under the shelves labelled Literature. I shunned literature because I think it is not reading for pleasure. There are too many serious analysis and thinking about what the author is trying to say or what is he thinking of when he writes the passages. Why can't we just read and enjoy the story? This is why I find literature distasteful. I have avoided literature since I learned my A-B-Cs.

The only subject I failed in my GCE "O" level is literature. I read Hamlet, a tragedy, Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy set in England 100 years ago and poems by Wordsworth. I have never been to England before in school and therefore it is hard to appreciate whatever that was described. Now, more than 30 years after passing out from Secondary School, I am starting on literature again. Why?

I read mostly business and related subjects such as management, leadership, branding, marketing and so on. Business gurus like Peter Drucker recommended that we must also learned other areas as the expertise acquired expand skill level in business. Or Charles Handy mentioned that after spending much time reading all the learned business publications, he realised everything in business politics and leadership is described in War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. Joseph Badaracco, leadership guru in Harvard University uses literature to guide his students who are Senior Executives of Fortune 500 companies to teach leadership program touching on ethics and decision making process.

Our Singapore Government is starting to recognise Liberal Arts Education in US is producing leaders in both business and government and is now supporting scholarship to schools specializing on liberal arts. Liberal arts primary focus is reading literature and related subjects.

As for me, I am also wising up and broadening my reading diet to include literature in an effort to expand my mind and leadership skills. I hope I can increase my effectiveness and improve my earning capability.

Horse Backing Riding

The advertisement by Osim and Panasonic is very tempting. Sit on a simulated horse and work calories off and reduce your weight. I wonder how true and effective the claims are. I am serious considering getting a machine to reduce my weight. Any of my readers who have with this machine, please let me what is your experience. Weight reduction is my primary objective.

Economy is Good

Looks like everyone is spending and spending. Every mall is doing well as reported in our local news. I think it is a paradox. While inflation is hitting us with a vengeance, people are easy with their wallets on consumer products. I am concern on the price hike of day to day living. At the same time, there is a bigger group making frivolous purchase. The rich is getting richer and spending more and buying higher price products like LCD. Meanwhile, a taxi driver who earns $1,500 per month is very happy save $20 per week on groceries for his family of 6.

The money gap is clear and huge. Singapore is beginning to be like US. The socioeconomic levels are getting wider and wider. I wonder if the middle class is diminishing. In US, there are many poor and homeless. Yet, the rich are extremely rich. I find Canada with the high taxes has a huge middle class where everyone not rich but comfortable and very few people are underclass or struggling to survive. Maybe in Canada, they are not out in the streets in huge numbers like US.

As a developed country, I wonder how Singapore can improve our safety net for the down and out and the economically disadvantaged(e.g. cleaners, cashiers in Sheng Siong, low skill and pay workers).

Work while everyone is taking leave

It is work when everyone else is taking vacation. I just realise taking leave today and on Monday, you will get a stretch of 6 days off. It is good for a trip out of the country. The cool weather and periods of rain bring in the festive atmosphere. I was reminded of fall in Canada driving in the rain yesterday. If is nice to be in a protected environment (car then mall) when it is wet outside.

A Good Day

Wake up late as it is public holiday. We have dim sum lunch at Nan Bei Xiao Chi. The food is good. However, I feel hungry again at 3pm. I am always hungry. No wonder I am overweight. I had a meal at 4pm and then dinner at 8.

The boys are nice to each other. It is a pleasure when they are playing and treat each other as friends. This is a nice way to end the day.

YouTube

My youngest is watching YouTube with his friend and neighbour. I did not think too much about it. However, his friend's mum is concerned and told her son that I may not approve of him watching YouTube with B3. I strongly deny this statement. She told me she say "may not" only and not that I have objected.

I find this example interesting. Here is a mum who do not like her son to watch or do something and use me as a way to let her son know not to do. I have no idea what show it is and therefore do not like to make a judgement call.

However, after dinner, B3 told his brothers that he was playing the game in YouTube where he saw the movie on men looking at woman's breast and then look away. My wife threw a fit! She told him and his two brothers this is unhealthy and no boys should be playing this kind of game. I now know why his friend's mum did not watch her boy to watch YouTube.

I think it is time to instill values to the younger generation so that they understand and know what to do. I believe forbidden fruits taste sweetest. With internet and information explosion, it is impossible to police. I will like my sons to have values like honesty, prudence, propriety, work ethics and integrity.

BookFair in Suntec

Popular organised a bookfair in Suntec City. There is a huge selection of Chinese books. English books were by Harris. We tested the Eye exercise machine to help reduce myopia. The machine works. All 3 boys showed improvement after one exercise. However all the boys guess a lot on the post test. It looks like it may work if we use consistently. I am now seriously considering the purchase of this machine. My only concern is it will become a white elephant as the boys will get tired of it after a while and they do not have the discipline of following through unless it is a computer game.

No Future, No Emotions

When liberation happen, the prisoners tasted "freedom". Walking out of the concentration camp with no shouts, no kicking or rifle butts hitting out was something strange for the prisoners. A weird relief from the expectations after living in the camp. There is no feeling of joy or exhilaration. Their emotions are dead. When there is no future, there is no hope and emotions died with them.

Viktor Frankl says there are 2 race of human - decent and indecent. Decent human race no matter what their colour or role is treat another human with kindness. He gave examples of camp guard and commander that the prisoners protect after the Allied forces win the war and the table was turned. He also bring out the example of prisoner who treat other prisoners cruelly.

It is hard to describe the feeling. However, I can say it is hard to fathom what Frankl had gone through and impossible to empathise. I am relief and glad I did not have this kind of experience.

Snow Storm

Toronto had a snow storm on Sunday, Dec 16. You can see how it is like when the snow keep pouring and pouring and pouring.... just click the link below.

http://www.thestar.com/fpLarge/photo/286103

Man's Search for Meaning

Last night, I read this book by Viktor Frankl. It describes the horrors of the death camps in the war. It is a compelling story. I heard of this book many times and finally buying and reading it. I now understand why so many million copies sold. As prisoners, undernourished and hard labour with no medicine, death is a relief and release.

Japanese Bloggers

It seems like Japan has the highest number of bloggers outsurpassing American. Japanese bloggers are polite and write positive things about others. If it is something they do not like, they do not write. In contrast, Americans have self glorification and strong opinions.

I think my blog is tame just like Japanese:) Unlike Japanese, I do complain and write negatively as well.

Wood Table

The computer tables we bought from Ikea as study tables for the boys are worn out. It is also too small. We decided to look for a bigger table. This time we decide to buy solid wood table. Table that will last a lifetime. I am using solid wood table for my home office. It is more than two years old and is very beautiful still. There are some scratches but they are fixable because unlike the veneer which will be permanently damage when scratched, all I need to do is to polish the wood and then apply shellac. The wood surface will look as good as new. The only disadvantage is it take 3 months to get the tables as they need to be made in Burma and then ship to Singapore.

Feng Shui

Wind and Water in Chinese or The Art of Blending in with Nature, Geomancy. I was first exposed to Feng Shui in 1984 when my big boss, VP of Asia Pacific was interview in the corporate TV. He was a young man of 32 and was based in Oxnard in California. He talk about fengshui and how it help in business. For a young man who is so successful, fengshui must have worked. He was born in Shanghai and emigrated to Japan and then to US. He speaks fluent English, Japanese, Mandarin and Shanghainese.

I was working in the factory in Ang Mo Kio Ave 5 and was told that all the doors' positions, height, width and length are specified by the fengshui master he hired. The plant manager table - shape, location and position are "fengshuied". All the managers are specifically sited in their respective offices. I must say the business did well when I was working there.

The factory went from renting the fifth floor in JTC flatted factory to an independent building in Yishun Ave 7. The company was known Gould HB was sold to another company Ohmeda, owned by BOC. Subsequently, Ohmeda was sold to 3 different companies and was broken up. Pharmaceutical went to Baxter, Device was taken by BD and Anesthesia Machine became part of Spacelab.

The VP left the company and start his own business making the same devices as the division sold to BD. This company started when Gould HB was sold to Ohmeda. Fengshui and business acumen works well. The company he started continue to prosper and get funding from Singapore government to do R&D for the hotest device call stents. Stents are used for opening up coronary arteries when they are clogged up with plague.

Today, YC Lu is extremely wealthy as CEO of mainboard listed Biosensors.

Go for Your Dream

What is your dream? Take a step back. Do you have dreams? What is a dream? Webster dictionary define dream to be "wild hope or fancy or ambition". Dream is an ambition, a desired state. We have dreams when we are young. As we grow older, those dreams starts to diminish. New dreams appears. Most childhood dreams disappears and we face the reality of contributing to society.

Many childhood dreams come true. My dream when I was young was to be a scientist inventing new things like Edison. Today, inventors have gone the way of dinosaurs. Research and product development replace the individual inventors. Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Facebook are the new inventions that make the inventors enormously rich. My dream of becoming an inventor is now in the back burner.

Another of my dream is to live oversea. Yes, I did achieve this dream. Living in Canada twice for a total of 7 years. Initially, living oversea was hard. Then making friends and integrating, life become much better. This experience is something I value. I have fond memories of Christmas, barbecues in summer, pick your own apples, indoor swimming in deep winters, different school system, gardening and cutting grass and routine errands in just living. It is really sweet. I would love to go back to live there again.

Coming back to the original question, what is your dream? If you have a dream and fulfill it, life become satisfying. It is something you will feel proud that you accomplish your dream and this strengthen your self-esteem. The road to achieving your dream is pave with rocks and obstacles. Overcoming them builds character and strengths. Go for your dreams.

A Good Day

I spent the morning giving training on new products for our partners today. The session went well. We did demo and tested on competition products as well. Seems like all the products are comparable. There are some minute differences and those differences can be critical. There are 8 attendees and all females except for one. It is always to be the center of attraction in a bevy of beauties.

After training, we adjorned for lunch in Crystal Jade. The food is yummy. My weight today is terrible at 88.5kg. Just one good meal can add half a kilo.

The satisfaction of a job well done is immeasurable.

Grammatical Errors

I always commit to grammatical errors when I write and send too quickly. It is important to read what I have type to reduce this kind of errors. Just look at the comment "Man! This is a long way from 10...lol and btw on Google get 10. I am happy with "1". It is better than "0""

Intead of "btw on Google get 10", I should have written "btw only Google gets 10". A simple remark and I committed two errors. One in omission and the other in breaking a rule. Btw stands for "by the way".

I have a couple of books which I feel is a must for all writers of English. One is The Complete Plains Words and the other is The Element of Style. I also like Painless Grammar. I know a forum writer recommended Martin and Wren's book on Grammar and Sumiko Tan wrote that she actually enjoyed reading a book on Grammar by Swan during her vacation.

I always find books on Grammar dry. Very dry and boring. I always have a hard time completing the book even reading forget about all the practise exercises that typically come together after the explanation and examples.

Shootings and More Shooting

US is notorious for shooting incidents. I wonder when will the country wake up to effective gun control and stopped the murder of innocent victims. Going to school or the malls should not be dangerous or risky. All these senseless killings must be stopped. I think US is the only country in the world that has "death by bullets" when the country is not at war. I wonder what can be done to make gun hard to acquire in US. The lobby is strong and opposition from guns manufacturers fierce.

Is money more important than innocent lives?

This is the question US must face up to one day.

Weighty Issue

I have not been writing about my weight for some time now. Not that I have stopped. I just given up hope for reducing my weight. Right now, my weight at night is around 88kgs. No change from before. Ok, ok, ok! I lied! I was between 86 to 87 kgs. So my weight actually creep up. I am religious in eating fruits. But my problem is still teh-C and teh halia, the calories laden drinks especially when I am not travelling. The consolation is recent show it is better to be fit and fat and thin and unfit. I may be delusional to think I am fit. I love to swim except the increment weather nowaday is not friendly to swimming as there is danger of lightning strike.

Whatever will be will be. The future is not for us to see. Hey, sharera sharera....

Lights Out

It was late and the road was dark. Dizzling rain keep on falling. I am glad to reach the gates of my estate. It looks darker than usual. Press the remote several times and it did not work. The electricity was out. I did not have my cellphone. I am locked out of my own home. Luckily one of the gate opens as there is an emergency system that cause it to unlock when the electricity fails.

I managed to get in with another neighbour. I went out to close the gate and another neighbour just returned home as well. He helps me look for the main switch. We look around and unlock the place. Unfortunately, we did not know how to reset the circuit breaker. I called the managing agent for help. She managed to lock a electrician to come in to help us reset the system. Phew! Now everything is back to normal.

I am glad I contribute positively to our estate.

Rain Rain Go Away

Come again another day.
Rain rain go away.
Little children wants to play.

This is the rhyme that come to mind. It rains non-stop until now with only short spells of breather when rain god decides to take a break. Looking out, the sky is grey and groomy. The dark clouds reminds me of England. The difference is our dark clouds are high up whereas in England, they are low. And with the cold temperature it is really depressing. Here I do not feel depress by the weather. It is just nice to be in a sheltered room looking out.

The SECRET

I was watching an old movie Pretty Woman and it ends with...
"Some dreams come true. Some don't. But keep on dreaming. This is Hollywood..."

The Secret is the law of attraction. Thoughts are things and all you have to think of is what you want to attract. Thinking about it, many dreams come true. Now everyone is seeking Happiness. There is a proliferation of Happiness titles now.

If I think about it. I am quite happy with life. It is wanting what you have and keeping desire for what you don't have to nil. Buddha teaching - desire is the root of all suffering. Nirvana is reached when you have no more desire.

Calm your mind and make it still and it will be like a mirror. Once you attain this state a new world will open up....

Wet, Wet Sunday

It is a lazy Sunday. Rains makes time sleepy. The rain come and go intermittently. Best time to be indoor just like winter in Canada. With the music on, it is heavenly. Yep! Frances Yip singing the old favorites like All kinds of Everything, Love Story in it 24 bits audiophile sound reproduction in Bose sound cube system. Life's Good!

20% Discount in Kinokuniya

For members only. You need to pay $20 for membership fee and enjoys 10% discount for a year. Right now, Kino is giving 20% discount for Christmas and school holidays. The service level is high. The queue time is short even though the queue is long. Kino's management is good at deploying more part-time cashiers. This has improve the purchase experience. It is solid leadership. I wish my company is as responsive to customer's demands.

Christmas!

Christmas cheers and shopping always go together. Orchard Road is all dressed up and bathed in decorative lights. The malls are decorated with giant Christmas Tree - Takashimaya and huge green ribbons spirals - Heeren. Centrepoint seems a little muted, maybe because there is no way to display any finery since the walkway opposite is under contruction.

People are all out in force. Pedestrian traffic come to a crawl due to heavy traffic both ways. Interesting characters start to show up when it get later in the night. My eldest son noticed a lot more pregnant women on the street. I guess rat year will be good for babies. I bet those in the baby business will get a bumper year next year and the year after.

B3, the Noise Maker

"Baby" is his nickname since he is the baby of the family. He is always calling out loud in his whiny, high-pitch voice "DADDEEEEE!" non-stop. His voice knows no boundaries. It can keep going non-stop till my ears hurts and I am totally stressed out. He is totally adorable and is an angel when he is in his normal self.

He loves art and can spend hours working of his drawing or clay sculptures. He is a consummate trouble maker by making a mess everywhere. I am going to miss him very much when he grows up.

Amazing Service by HP

I have a new laptop, a tablet which is the new issue for work. The stylus broke into two and I brought it to HP for service. They dismantle the screen to take out all the broken pieces of the stylus. There is a small circuit board inside. The replacement part was not available. HP delivers! HP call me yesterday to tell me to the stylus is ready. I took the delivery option. I was at Mad Jack for lunch when the delivery guy called and tell me he is at my door steps. I redirected him to come to Mad Jack and he did and gave me the new stylus.

I am totally impressed by HP service. This is going the extra mile. No wonder Dell is in trouble.

Blue Mountain at Mad Jack

Mad Jack is an Australia resturant along Jalan Kayu. This resturant is a semi-self service. You serve the drinks yourself and they serve the food. There is a new item on the menu, Blue Mountain. It is a triple decker i.e. three hamburger meat patties with sliced pineapple, swiss cheese, fried onion and a "special" mad jack sauce. We did not order but our next table did and it is really something. Tallest burger I have ever seen. It looks yummy. Unfortunately, we can only look longingly. The diner, a female looks slim. I doubt very much she can keep this way if she has Blue Mountain on a regular basis.

Velikovsky

Immanuel Velikovsky is a Russian scientist. He has an unique views and perspective of the things he observed and studied. He is brillant and critics were contemptuous his theories. I read about his works when I read books on occult and astrology. Unfortunately his books are out-of-print and only available if you buy through Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com. Both are American and postage will be high.

It will be good to study history of earth to understand what may be coming in future. Velikovsky books would, I believe help in our understanding.

Wondering what happened to Sze Li...

Sze Li is a young graduate who start on her career a couple of years back. She is into jogging into Shape (pun intended). She was the first to visit my blog and drop a comment. I think because of her I keep writing and writing. Along the way, Dan Brown's lawsuit help me to understand writing is a discipline. Writers write every day. It is the same as going to work in the office or factory.

Sze Li wrote long articles and she writes well. She is an engineering graduate who tried her hands in marketing and on food!! My favourite product. Now she is teaching and has less time to blog. However she is onto design and take many photos of interesting works. The link to her blog "Design News" under the caption "Interesting Blogs" on the right of this blog. Sze Li is an idealist and does volunteer work with old folks home.

Pigeon Rescue

Redhill Hawker had a stall that sells only fried tau kwa(beancurd). I remember my father bringing me there for snacks in the afternoon. Amazingly, the stall is still around. One tau kwa now cost 80 centts instead of 30 cents. The chilli is still the same tangy taste. It is nostalgic.

After our meal, we walk around the wet market just to explore a little more of old memories. A mother with two toddlers was feeding pigeons. B3 was clamouring to feed the pigeons and the mother was very nice. She offer some mung beans(green beans) for B3. She also teach him how to feed them so that they will eat from his hands. She noticed one pigeon had its legs tied up and was crippled. She tried to catch it but it flew away and disappeared for some time. She finished her feed and decide to go.

B3 was insistent that I buy some feed for him to feed the pigeons. I thought it is the touristy thing to do. So I bought one dollar worth of mung beans. The pigeons flocks in very quickly once they see food on the floor. This time we managed to catch the injured bird. We borrowed a scissor from the store owner and proceed to cut our the string. It was more challenging than we anticipated. The legs were not only tied together, the strings were all entangled in the toes and had cut in very deep. The blood flow was cut off and one of the toes has turned black. We spent more than half an hour to free the pigeon from the raffia string. Once we managed to cut up all the strings, the legs and toes turn purple and warm as the blood started to flow again. It was a fantastic feeling to rescue an injured bird. I feel that we have acquired good karma even though we have no idea if it was recover or survive.

A Consumate Reader

In line with my moniker, booklover, I like to write about books I am currently reading. I usually have several books on the go. I read before sleeping and in the toilet...yes, right! in the toilet and whenever I am on the plane. Flying allows me to catch up on my reading. However, nowadays new movies compete for my attention. I usually watch the latest movies in the air.

I am still trying to complete The Future of Management by Gary Hamel. Hamel has a "black eye" over his previous book "Leading the Revolution". His quoted how revolutionary, creative and capable Enron was and the tremendous increase in sales and market value of the company Enron. We all know Enron was falsified their financial records and the company is no longer in existence. Leading the Revolution is a good read and very motivational. I remember a colleague in Canada telling me we should start a revolution in the company. We thought the company we work for was risk averse and totally uncreative.

The other book at my bedside is The Art of Possibilities. I read the positive review of this book by Straits Times. This book has interesting perspective and it is a good way for us to look at ourselves and others. The art of possible explore ways to get things done and not take ourself too damned seriously. I like the example of a Taiwanese student. He is 76th of 78 student in his class in Taiwan. In Boston, he is an "A" student. Nothing has change except the label. He prefers to be the "A" student rather than the bottom 3rd. With the change in mindset, he work hard and perform extremely well.

I will save to talk about the other books next time:)