First 4 Chapters

I just finished reading the first 4 chapters of The future of Work is already here. It is pretty depressing. The internet and avatars(electronic you) will mean very little human interactions and loneliness. There will be a new underclass who will be perpetually poor. Americans will get a shock that the good life of going middle class for the average American with blue collar jobs is gone forever.

After the depressing scenarios, the news is supposed to get better. We will be moving from voracious consumption to creative production.

Forecasting Future Gains Respectability

Fortune telling is a dubious art. Then there are psychics who foretell the future and is mostly wrong all the time. The respond is always future is a probability and can be change by humans actions.

Scenario Planning is the commercial version of forecasting future for corporate success. Shell is the company who started and used scenario planning with great success. Today, there is a proliferation of titles on Future. Kinokuniya is displaying more than 20 titles ranging from Future of Physics to Future of Work and Corporation. Today, there are many institutions researching on possibilities and probabilities and companies who specific function is to forecast the future for a fee.

Who says the Future is not for us to see?

A Lazy Sunday

We had a lazy Sunday. After tuition in the morning for B2, mum makes congee for all of us. I went to the hawker center to buy fritters or youtiao which go well with congee. I also had half a Hainese chicken. Lunch was really good. The thing with congee is we get hungry very quickly again.

After lunch, mummy and daddy had a nap. I have no idea what my boys were up to. B2 is probably studying and B3 playing with his toys and B1 talking to his girlfriend. After waking my nap, B3 wanted go to the pool for a bit of fun and invited B1 a couple of times. B1 relented and played with him.

We decided to eat out at Chomp Chomp's Old Hong Kong. The food is quite good. We send B1 to camp after dinner.

Fabulous Food at Hua Ting

We have buffet lunch at Hua Ting whose Master Chef won two awards. The food is the best of the few resturants I have tried. I had eaten dinner in Hua Ting a few times before with colleagues. I liked the food but have to focus on the conversation. With my boys, we just focused on the food. Yes, this is why I have a weight issue. The buffet is not mass produced food lined up in warming trays. We have to order the food and they all come fresh from the kitchen. The bbq duck, roast pork, beef prepared in different ways were so good. Much better than the resturants in KL which I loved.

The service is a little slow but very polite and attentive. Our plates are changed regularly. The meal is not rushed unlike Imperial Treasure. Yes, we are definitely going back to Hua Ting.

Warm Friday

The heat is on, the heat is onnnn! Mercury rising. It is hard to do exercise. I cycled early in the morning and then late at night. Cycling in the dark is nice because it is cool but also a little scary in the PCN. "Wild animals", dark spots and fear of the unknown can caused panic. I am lucky this time with B1 cycling beside me. So with somebody to talk to, it help prevent imagination going wild.

Overwork and underpaid is always the view of an employee. Now it is really eating into the morale as many are stressed out. As the company seek to get out of mediocrity and put for expectation of growth of 500% in 5 years, the heat is on. Just work like hell. By the way, when you delivers please do not expect any difference in what you are paid. The rewards go to the top for squeezing blood from people lower down in the totem pole.

So don't worry, be happy.

Reinvent Your Career!

It is a catchy headline. Actually, it is Success Stories of 5 individual Americans who succeeded after their careers have to switch direction. One is a blockbuster franchisor who was living large and very well with mansion for his home and a super duper gas guzzler hummer for his wheels. Blockbuster is a video rental franchise and business model has change with the video streaming or as Fortune puts it - The DVD has cracked. This gentleman has to sell his house, his cars and other status symbols. He bought 6 Subway franchise and it did not work but he managed to sell them for a small profit. Finally, he went to L.A. and noticed the success of a Yoghurt chain. He filled up an application form to be a franchisee and did not get a reply. So he start up his own Yoghurt chain and right now the number of stores keep increasing. Success!

Another story is on a lawyer who turned to writing and become an author. He was making good income selling 200,000 copies. Then e-book happens(sound familiar?). Once again, the internet forces the change. Now he writes and sell his books through the internet for $2 per copy. He is making progress in his new career.

As I read this, change in our world is happening all the time. We have to adapt.

Possible Punishment

It is the army's way. Army like to make the soldiers feel unsettled and on the edge all the time. B1 is supposed to be booking out today at 8 pm. Until now, we have no news...hold on! SMS just came in. He is on the ferry now. Hurray. He has freedom for a couple of days. I have to go now to pick him up.

Woke Up by Lightning

It is pouring at 5am. The frequent lightning flashes woke me up. So I brush my teeth and dressed up and head off to my regular hawker center for a cup of tea. A consummate reader, I brought along Tuesday's newspaper to read. There are many stalls opened for business. So breakfast at 5am is a cinch if I wanted it. I abstained as my stomach is still asleep and I have to watch my calories intake.

The rained stopped by the time I am finished and I headed back home to write. Writing is a relaxing activity. I get confirmation of my worst fear late afternoon yesterday. Maybe this is why I am up.

Reinvent Your Career! Big, bold and black! on the cover of latest issue of Fortune. I shall flip open the magazine and discover the secrets. Have a good day ahead, my readers.

Glad to be Home!

I am glad to be home. Although it is a short trip, it is quite hectic and energy draining especially dealing with difficult issues. I did not go for my regular teh halia this time. I have to work late tonight and drinking Chinese tea will be better with less cafeine.

Sleeping with my regular tempur pillow tonight hopefully will ease my neck pain and give me restful sleep. Amazingly, this trip I lost weight. My weight was creeping upward anyway. Now I have to discipline myself not to gorge on my usual comfort food.

At the airport, I bought a new book, The Shift. It is on the future of work. I enjoys the forecast on the way we will work in future. I shall write about it as I read this book. Author Lynda Gratton is a Business Professor in London Business School.

So Full

I have been eating non-stop since the last two days. It is a glorious eating and making myself fat. Yes, this is a wonderful stress relief. However, getting fat is not good. High blood pressure, diabetes, a host of many rich man's diseases. Not that I am a rich man, I am just having too much rich food.

The good thing is I am reducing my carbo intake. However, it terrible guilt feeling. Worse of all, I ate more snacks in the room.

There is very little time for window shopping. I am a little sad as window shopping is my favorite pastime. I have very little battery left. So I have to sign off now.

Goodnite...

Art is a piece of Cake

B2 and B3 convinced mum to buy a cake for them to customise for Father's Day. The Icing Room has this novel idea where they sell blank cakes with a set of coloured icing. You can do your own artwork on the cake. There are many stands with rotating platform to help with the icing.

Many other kids are doing the same thing - making cakes for their daddy. George Quek hit the right recipe for Breadtalk. No wonder he is so rich and I am so...soo average. Sigh!

Father's Day Celebration

B1 has confinement and need to return to his camp tonight. His weekend has been cut short and we have a father's day lunch instead. We went to Ah Yat's Seafood resturant. The food is not bad but not fantastic either. Maybe because the set menu is all seafood. I had to order chicken wings and Peking duck to supplement the father's day menu.

After lunch, we adjourned to IKEA to get a stainless steel shelf for our kitchen. Then we returned home to cycle at the PCN. B3 ride on my back on the hybrid bicycle and B1 cycled beside me. B2 was having tuition at that time.

For dinner, we made duck porridge using the leftover of the Peking duck. I debone all the meat and the bones were used to make the porride. After dinner, we pick up Daniel who needed a ride from us to go back to camp. Daniel is sleeping in the same bunk as B1. We drop both of them off in White Sand and return to fix up a shelf for our kitchen.

We had a wonderful family day.

Our New Fridge

The ice tasted horrible. The fridge is also a lot darker as it uses LED lights instead of regular light bulb. I have no idea if our frozen food have turned bad. Right now, we are eating up as much as we can the stuff from the old fridge. Although the size of the Mitsubushi Folia fridge is supposed to be the same size in cubic feet, it seem to have a lot less space than the Maytag. Maybe it is because it is divided into 6 compartments. Our old fridge is just freezer and refrigerator. So with less compartment it has more airspace and easy to put in big items like pots. All the new features need to be tested out. Maybe the old is still better than the new for refrigerators.

Singapore Discovery Center

The Singapore Discovery Center is a place designed to promote the SAF or Singapore Armed Forces. We visited this place or rather we went there to pick up B1. The place is not well frequented and not many visitors. All those who were there had a purpose. To pick up their sons or boyfriends. So it is a white elephant. There is a souvenir shop, a shooter range(same as the arcade) and a museum. It is the most boring tourist attraction.

Final Lap for the Kitchen

The kitchen is getting done up nicely. It is lot of work. The new fridge was delivered this afternoon. Our old fridge is Maytag that we brought back from Canada. It is using 110VAC. We think it is no longer energy efficient and we may be right. The delivery guy says something is wrong with so much water pouring out of the fridge. I am hoping my electricity bills will drop with this new fridge. Space is more limited with the new fridge.

I hook up the induction cooker. Also fix or at least try to fix the leaking plumbing. It was a huge challenge. I think I did better than the plumber who fix up our water filters. Tomorrow, is Friday!

Thank God It's Friday. Weekend is here. Hurray. Oh! by the way, it is Father's Day this Sunday.

Old HongKong

The food in Old Hong Kong resturant is very good. I enjoyed the food but the price is a little on the high side. We had only two dishes with one dessert and just water for drinks and a bowl of rice come to a grand total of 47 bucks! The dessert was crispy sesame paste pancake and it is really crispy and crackles in the mouth burst with flavour. Yummy. I must go back there again.

Eating Out all the Time

I am getting tired of eating out. I am looking forward to the "official" opening of our kitchen. We can have our home-cooked meals. It is also expensive to eat out. Average about $30 for each meal for family of 4. Luckily, B1 is being fed by the government.

The World in 2050 on Investments

Right now, all my stocks are going down in value with the global indices dropping. The author of 2050 bought stocks of pharma companies. Demographic indicators pointing to aging population and therefore demand for drugs will go up. The other investment opportunity is water. Demand for water will continue to go up. However, demand are in the poor countries and the poor. What is needed is small projects to get access to water. What private companies are interested is making money from water in Large projects which mean the poor will continue to have no access to water and the rich continues to waste water.


So water and oil may be the next investments of choice. However, Hyflux and BP is not doing to well either. Sigh!

The World in 2050

I acquired this book from Borders in The Curve. This book is interesting as it is the first time I get the view from a Geographer I always though geography was just for general knowledge. Then an interview on a Geographer who start a successful business based on geography changed my perspective in this subject. The CEO has a unique management style and his company offers geography services to companies. He became wealthy using the knowledge of geography.

The World in 2050 forecast based on the four forces - demography, growing resources needs, globalisation and climate change. There are plenty of scenarios, mostly water level rising and milder winters. Higher temperature means our atmosphere can hold more water. Hence, heavy rainstorms and floods will be a common occurence in future.

Human will have to adapt.

Hippopotamus

Interesting name of a new resturant in Marina Square. Our plan was to go to Changing Appetites right beside Carl's Jr. Burgers. Changing Appetites went OB aka out-of-business and replaced by Hippopotamus. B3 had kid's meal which is a hamburger with fries, a drink and creme brulee for dessert. B2 had a bacon burger which was excellent. I had French onion soup and Mum had just camomile tea. The melted chocolate cake looked very appealing and we tried it. It was very good except the ice cream is too hard. B3 wanted to try the churros. It comes warm with warm chocolate sauce. It was very tasty. I think it is a Spanish theme.

I will go to this resturant again with B1. Actually, I was thinking of my three nieces as well but they do not eat beef. So we will see...

Gratitude

The path to happiness is gratitude according to The Happiness Hypothesis. Everyday, we need to spend a few minutes to feel grateful for all we have and be thankful for the positives events that happens to us. I shall practise this now by logging my thoughts.

I am up in my office and as I write I feel thankful I have a wonderful family, a nice and warm home, I am healthy albeit a little overweight. I enjoys exercise and keeping fit. Have wonderful colleagues in my small cozy team and a job I loved. Our planet is still going on despite Man exploiting it relentlessly.

Life is good on a Sunday morning.

Weight Matters

My weight was okay on Thursday night after returning from KL. This morning, I weighs a kg more. I am eating my heart out. I need to stop eating like a hungry ghost whenever I return home. Missing food at home and stress cause me to eat and eat. I must find my emotional trigger for gluttony.

Maybe I just die happy instead of worrying about my weight all the time. Yet, if I don't, I would have ballooned to a huge tummy like my brother.

Early to Rise

Saturday morning. I woke up early. It is dark, so cycling is not a good idea. So I decided to go to the market and see beside the grocery stalls what else have started to operate their business. Armed with newspapers for the past three days, I go to the market in AMK Ave 10. The coffee stall is opened. I was surprised. So I asked what time do they start. They actually open at 4am. Now I found another place to go if I am sleepless.

A lot of the food stalls are ready and serving food. Business in this market has improved over the years. It must be due to the renewal of the surrounding. New flats which are much higher mean denser living and more people. Construction and factories nearby have increase the number of workers. Everywhere is Singapore is getting more and more crowded.

Reading the past few days papers, the most important issue is still flooding. Orchard Road is flooded again. A picture of the Minister for Water and Resource surveying the damage in Market Place. Cabinet Ministers are visible nowadays whenever there is a photo opportunity. The message is clear. Vote for Opposition and the government will show they are working. This is politics. It may be just dog and pony show. It may be real. Next General Elections I hope more opposition get voted in. This only way the Singapore Government will improve. Otherwise, it is just reading a report in the Parliament rather than MBWA or management by walking about.

Normal Again

It feels so good to be normal again. One week of resturant meals is can be a little too much. I had fishball noodle for breakfast, wanton noodle for lunch, Taiwanese XXXL crispy chicken for snacks, fried kuay teow for tea and finishing up B3's dinner. B3 had sirloin steak in a local western resturant own by a Hainanese chef.

I did not get a chance to eat local food in Malaysia in this trip as I am hosting Americans colleagues. Sunday night - Halal Tony Romas i.e. no ribs:( Monday night - Banana leaf, not bad actually. Tuesday night - Dave's Deli, Italian-style cafe in 1 Utama. Wednesday night - TGIF. Western food is good but servings are large, unhealthy but great taste. It is a love-hate relationship.

I do not get tired of my hawker so far. Only problem is it is high in carbohydrates and sodium. Variety is the spice of living to eat.

Dried Pineapple and Banana

I reached home and head straight to the fridge to try out my latest dried fruits. I have dried them before I leave for KL on Sunday afternoon. Pineapple tasted good. It is nicer when it is cold and juicy, however it is sweeter and the flavor stronger and stimulate a strong flow of saliva. Best of all, this is healthy snacking. So I can snack feeling less guilty as the calories content for the dried fruits are high as well. At least I am getting the fibers and it is fructose rather than corn syrup or sucrose.

It has been a long week. I am looking forward to exercising after eating and sitting on my butt for so many days.

Meeting New Friend and Old Friend

It is just food and more food. I just took a little food from everyone when I ate dinner tonight. It is good to go easy on my food intake. I do not feel guilty and I had a lot of snacks anyway i.e. white coffee gurang manis, rojak and kaya toast plus plenty of nuts!

I managed to meet some old friends in KL this time and met a new friend from Thailand as well. So I had fun and enjoys chatting on family, books and office gossips.

Good Meeting

We had a good meeting today. Everyone in the team did well. Not sure if it is just typical American way who loved to give positive feedback. Sincerity is always hard to gauge. My personal assessment is the everyone did great and help in the positive outcome of our recent performance.

The heat is on with our new target. We are going to perform miracles moving forward.

Office Stories

I am a believer in MBWA or Management by Walking About. I talk to my colleagues whenever I am in town. I learn two of my colleagues had to be hospitalised for stress-related issues. One of them twice. After hearing the stories, my stress issue is relatively minor. Or the other possibility is my ability to cope is better. One of my colleagues suggested it may be my mode of working. It may be possible but I think exercise and plenty of snacks help me cope with stress.

The office team and I had good meals as usual. Lunch was Penang food. I had fried mee sua, chicken lobak, mango salad, fruit rojak and a drink that come with a sng buay. HK suggested Indian food for dinner. We had curry mutton steaks, dry curry mutton, curry chicken, fried chicken, fried pigeon, fried fish, fried cuttlefish with rice and vegetables on a banana leaf. All of us enjoys the food very much. I had mango lassie for drink and also tried their chappati and paper thosai.

Sitting on my butt, eating delicious food with ravenous appetite is recipe for weight gain. I managed to buy my snacks - nuts and preserved guava for the stimulating saliva glands, I have plenty of exercise to do once I returned home. This is a rare time I am out on such a long trip to KL. I have to control my calorie intake before I balloon out of control.

It's a Happening Place

The Curve is incredibly busy place on a Sunday evening. This is the first time I am here on Sunday. My flight was late, so I arrived late for dinner.
I was in a rush after dinner and did not go to the supermarket to get drinks and snacks. It is important to keep me going as I work. Now I am hungry for something. Guess I will need to get some stuff tomorrow. My bad habit which helps increase my weight. It is getting late. I should go to bed for an early breakfast meeting.

The Kate and Will Story

I feel so much better after a good night's sleep. It is pouring. So my newspaper will be late today. Meanwhile on TV's Channel 5, the love story of Kate and William. Their growing up years, what schools Kate go to, their common interests - love of countryside, same charities they go to, same course in University...

Kate's parents started a business in mail order party and was very successful and earned a lot of money. With the money, they put Kate into a private school and start her into a different path in the country where one's social standing is determined by birth.

Kate has a boyfriend in University and so did Will. It was during a charity show that is the watershed for their relationship. Kate wore a see-through dress and was very sexy on the catwalk. Will was like...hmmm! this is my future queen!!

Great Singapore Sales

GSS is on and prices are marked down. We have to buy a baby full month gift and it is great. 20% off in OG. Resturants joined in the sales as well and many deals are for the taking. Of course it make all of us spend more money. It is good for the economy. May not be good for Mother Earth with more consumption.

I am not feeling well. It may be the yam dessert. I suspect the coconut milk that come with it. I have cold sweats and dizzyness. I shall go to bed now. Goodnite....

Life - BBC Earth

This documentary is screened on Octo at 9 tonight. B3 enjoys the show a great deal. He is talking and commenting to me all the time while I work. I have to tell him that daddy is working and needed to concentrate. Tonight programme is on reptiles and amphibians. It is very interesting to see survival techniques of frogs, lizards and the hunters like snakes. The show ends with komodo dragon biting a water buffalo and waiting for three weeks for the buffalo to die. They then stripped the buffalo to the bones in 4 hours. It is horrible sight. "You do not need to see Jurassic Park to know how dinosaurs rule the earth. It is all here." Yucks!

For Bad Service and Miserable Times - Nandos!

Joanne Peh and her boyfriend stormed out of Nandos resturant. Last August, I had similar experience in Nandos, Bugis Junction. I am not a celebrity. So no one bothered. I am surprised Nandos is still around. I hope people get tired of the horrid service Nandos gave to its customers. I do not know why so many people are desperate and put up being treated badly for a piece of chicken.

Yes, I swear never to step into Nandos again. It is the place to go if you want to feel like sh*t and be treated like sh*t. This is the first time I used swear word in my blog. It is so bad that I feel so emotionally charged recalling my experience over the meal.

It will be good riddance when the resturant chain go OB (out-of-business).

The Happiness Hypothesis

I am listening to the audiobook but it seems like I am not registering the content well. Maybe it was the fighter planes making a lot of noise. Maybe my mind is just preoccupied. I only hear the "elephant and the rider". I have no idea what or who is the elephant or who is the rider. I remember cognitive therapy is a successful and went against the prevailing treatment that follows Freudian school of psychotherapy.
So to write more about this book I check out the book in the website. I realised why it did not register with me. It has a list of 10 ancient wisdom on life. I read all about them. So it did not offer me anything new or different. Just selecting what the author felt are the best ways to achieve happiness.
This book is highly recommended. So it is worth having a copy in your personal library.

New Tires

I have to replace my tires as one of them has a screw penetrating through. The threads were worn thin as well. 4 tires cost $440. Alignment cost another $40. Then I add shock absorbers stiffeners for $160. The whole service cost almost $700 after adding GST. I hope the new tires last. It is costly to replace with rubber price keep reaching new high. The odometer now reads 42,000km. The new Dunlop tires are supposed to last 60,000 km. I hope they really do.

Excellent News But...

I am trying to think what have I done. I am busy. Busy but not accomplishing much. The good news I have today is we won new business worth half a million to six hundred thousands US annually. It is good news indeed! Yet, I did not jumped with joy or feel exhilarated.

I enjoys reading and learning. I am a perpetual student. Learning, developing and growing is a value I instill in my team at work.

The Happiness Hypothesis

I borrowed this audiobook from National Library. I am rather unhappy these days and is seeking ways to change my emotional state. I remember a conversation I had with a colleague in Toronto on a ride to a service call. He was very knowledgeable in a lot of the Eastern Philosophy and it surprises me that a white guy know so much about Eastern thoughts. So I asked how come he is so knowledgeable. He told me that he had a lot of unhappy times. So he read a lot of Western Philosophy trying to get answers and then he turns to Eastern Philosophy. He reads to find out why he is unhappy and how to fix his unhappiness.

I read a lot on Tao, Buddhism, Chuang Tzu, meditations, Zen and other esoteric subjects when I was young. Many a times, I wonder why am I born to suffer, study, work and then die. Lao Tzu and Tao De Jing is one of the best that make me feel happy with poems like Sitting, Sitting, the Grass grows Green. Mountains will be mountains and White Clouds will be white clouds.

Today, the Positive Psychology or professors come up with their own recipes for Happiness. I am just on disk 1 of The Happiness Hypothesis. The western way is to do research. The first "proven" way is volunteering. Volunteering is like taking Prozac according to the author. It get rid of depression. Unlike Prozac, the effect stops the moment you stop taking the drug, the effects of volunteering continues even after you have stop all the volunteer work.

Water Pump Replaced

The water pump in my pond finally gave up. It has been pumping 24/7 for almost 7 years. The rotator center was so worn out that it has become a slot rather than a round cylindrical hole. I had bought a pump wrongly before and it cost me $160 from the nursery in Thomson Road. I was a little reluctant to back there to get to be ripoff again. Luckily, my wife reminded me that about the nursery near my home. We went there and the selection was limited to one brand. So I decided to go to the aquarium to see if I can get a large silver arowana for $35. The aquarium has a whole range of pumps! I bought a pump for S$14, really inexpensive and it works when I installed it in my pond. I feel so accomplished to do practical work. The outcome is clear and concrete. Now my water is flowing again and it looks good, the water clears up and my fishes are swimming happily.

The only disappointment is there are no large arowanas. Only small ones and they are priced at $18 instead of $12 before. So I did not buy any.

Working with my hands feels good. I should do more handy work.

Chengmai

Channel News Asia has this program, Yours Truly, Asia. It protrays the different cities of the countries that the CNA journalists are based in. Right now, it is showing Chengmai, the northern city of Thailand. The food looks delicious and fabulous. I am thinking the city is probably cost a lot less to live in. It may be a good place to retire in. If it has good internet, medical facilities, maybe bookshop and safe and with good food couple with low cost of living, it will be a wonderful retirement village. May have to give up lots of modern conveniences and communication. Learning to communicate in Thai is non-negotiable. However, the upside is close to nature and a slow pace of life.

Mmmm. Early retirement, anyone?

Splashing Time

The kids in my neighbourhood are having a wonderful time at pool with the high temperature. They just loved the water and splashing each other and giggling. Running after one another is another game they play and screaming along for additional sound effects. I was taking short snatches of nap and could not sleep anymore after the girls come to the poolside.

It is real joy and fun for them and I am happy to see them enjoying themselves even though my peace was interrupted. I should learn more French so that I can understand what they are saying to each other.

Chiropractor

B1 is limping, his left hip is strained and hurting. So we bring him to the chiropractor. Since we are going, the whole family did our spine adjustments. We are a big customer. Cost of chiropractice treatment is high. Health is priceless, so we just go for it and do not think about cost.

We had lunch at Modesto's. I like the seafood linguine. It is the only seafood dish I truly enjoys as the fresh ingredients and sour tomato sauce makes the seafood tangy, sweet with no fishy taste at all. I simply love it. It is nice to eat with the family as I can order the portion fit for 2 which cost $48. It comes with a complete flower crab.

B1 go to the movie with his girlfriend and B2 and B3 go home. B2 has to prepare for his
'O' level exams tomorrow. B3 pumps up his newly acquired floating bed. Meanwhile, my wife and I go to Sungei Kadut to look at kitchen cabinets.

B3 went to the pool to try out his new toy with his friends once we return home from viewing kitchen cabinets. He had a wonderful time playing with his friends.

Practical Grammar

Grammar is the most boring and dry subject. Yet Practical Grammar is interesting for me. I like it as the author puts it "There are more to life than getting your grammar right." This book is interesting as it start with 35 common grammatical errors and 35 grammatical errors made by advanced English users. It has plenty of useful example and explain the rules clearly. It is the first grammar book I find easy-to-read.

Happiness

I am reading books and watching video on Happiness. Somehow they are not making an impact when I am unhappy. I thought it is really working when I was in a good mood. Knowledge about happiness does not make one happy. It is the flow of good things happening to oneself. Still the books on Happiness continues to hit the bestseller list.

Exercise

I am glad I am exercising regularly. The stress level at work is at an extreme level. During dinner, I realised I may have health issues had I not exercise as much as I have recently. The weather is hot and it is good to sweat profusely. Help in losing weight albeit temporily. Weight regains once I rehydrate myself.

The PCN or park connector network is making progress. In a few months, it should be able to run to Punggol Marina. I talked with the supervisor of the contractor, Shincon. He says the stretch was supposed to be completed last July. Delays happened as contractors for other works has not completed their parts yet. Eventually, the PCN will connect up with Hougang. It mean I can cycle for at least half an hour one way. Then it will be a scenic way to get healthy and wise. The PCN is a fantastic cycling route where it is safe, no need to watch out for cars and no fumes!

Biomimicry

I just started on this book on biomimicry - learning from nature. It is a different take. This field is relatively new. Many physicists and engineers are learning from the natural world. Velcro is seeds that hooks onto clothing, cotton gin is from cat clawing and pulling out canary's feathers, submarines from fish bladders and many more.
I was browsing in Kinokuniya and the title caught my attention. I read the content and there is a section on business. Besides engineering solutions and product development, it also has business ecology. I just started on the book and will write more as I read further.

Grouch

B2 has been grouchy lately. He is temperamental and is rude, sarcastic and hurtful in his response to his parents. Totally disrespectful and hurting me and my wife. He is also nasty to his baby brother, B3 at times. We are at wits' ends. Is this a passing phase? Did his elder brother go through the same phase? Did we have bad karma to have our boy torturing us?

The up and down of having a teenage son can test and stretch our patience. It is also our hearts. I reminisce the time he is such an angel and so adorable. He was a jovial boy and very loving. We felt so wonderful having him in our lives. Now, he is in his terrible teens, it is painful. I hope he grows up and be back to his adorable self again.

The End of the World and Beautiful Weather

The weather is beautiful yesterday and this morning. The TV evangelist in US who predicted there will be a terrible earthquake and life on earth will come to an end is wrong. Well, he is wrong. The end of the world did not happen. The next date is Dec 21, 2012. It is a year and a half away. What is the chance of this date being as uneventful? Too many specific dates have been wrong. The future forecast is a probability and possibility. It is not an exact or precise or scientific. So I wonder why some people like to make a fool of themselves.

BBQ Chicken at AMK Ave 4

B2 has tuition in Eglingtion Square which is off Ang Mo Kio Ave 4, Street 11. There are two coffee shops. Recently, I tried the bbq chicken wings and it is very fragrant and tasty. So we have them for dinner tonight. I also ordered a bbq spring chicken. My boys enjoys meat like me and they like tonight dinner. We also have fried carrot cake and duck and salted veg soup. The chicken wings cost only $1.10 each and spring chicken $7. The meal is quite economical.

The coffeeshop next door has "bak kut teh" or pork ribs soup which is highly recommended. Price is higher and just as satisfying.

Pleasant Surprise

B1 was release today instead of tomorrow. We are glad he is back home. He keep worrying about how dark he look and his sweating is now in beads instead of moist layer. I told him not to worry as his skin has toughen due to suntan. I am quite tan myself. And when I sweat, it is little droplets just like condensation on the outer surface of a glass of ice-water.

I am so tired and sleepy. Work is a little exhausting these days. Goodnite zzzZZZZ

Hope

The change in the new cabinet is radical. Now there is a gimmer of hope that the government will have a little heart. It has been all intellectual and little regards for citizens left behind by the growth in economy. Grievances have been largely ignored in the interest of GDP growth and pro-business policy. Hard-headed Hard Truths is pretty strong medicine dished out by people who have multi-million salaries. I heard of a specific example of MP who give advice that is impractical for a relative. He need help to talk to the bank to stop interest payment for his credit card debts. The MP told him to get a higher paying job. Please note! It is told. He did not lift a finger to help him get a higher job. Dishing out advice rather than doing something. Then the MP continues... go to visit the bank during office hours. The relative responded he is not allowed to leave or take time off in his job. The MP think that the low level job his resident has is like his cabinet job - flexi-hour!

It is really really terrible to get insensitive MP who just give advices rather than help. I hope the change is positive. We shall see. I am skeptical as tigers do not change their stripes.

Some Are Quite Interesting

I asked an ex-colleague if she is still reading my blog. The usual excuse was the immediate reply...I am busy lately. However, she continues...some of my writings is interesting. Being a pessimistic person, my first thought is most of my writings are boring. After brooding over for a couple of minutes, I decided that she is nice to focus on the positive aspect of my blog.

I have been disciplined to make a daily entry unless I am travelling or in a country where blogging is not allowed e.g. China. Attracting a loyal and strong following will be fun and good for ego and maybe help me make more income with Adsense, I find that reading my past entries is a great way to tickle my memories of events and experience. So the blog is as much for myself and hopefully my future generation.

An ex-manager who is a single woman is very private and I always asked the same question every we are out for meals. What is your ideal Mr. Right? She would always refused to talk about her private life. Once, she is in a good mood and less guarded, she says the man must have humour and be able to make her laugh. I enjoys Mr. Brown's blog because it is funny and makes me laugh. I know my blog is not as well visited as it is not funny or interesting. But it is a personal memory bank for my experience and a way for me to leave behind a legacy.

Even this discourse on a remark pass by an ex-colleague is serious and factual. I do not have a funny bone.

Busy as A Bee!

The poor economy in US is killing us in Asia. We are pushed to make up for the poor sales in US. My business is really tiny in the scheme of things although we are growing well at 50% compound annual growth rate. At any rate, we are a big team, so we will continue to put in our best efforts for the company.

So I have lots and lots of work ahead. Just the meetings alone is a full time job. Then we have to execute. So like the airlines industry, we are going to have turbulence.

Productive Reading

I have been reading quite productively last few weeks. I managed to finish three books from cover to cover. Usually, I read multiple books at one time. Thrive is quite interesting as it is about happy places in the world which Singapore is included. The other book is Let Your Creativity Bloom by YKK, a Malaysian author and Friday with Philips in my earlier entry for this blog.

My boys do not seem to have as much love for reading like me. Maybe they are exposed to the new media especially internet where you can get short videos and short articles. So their attention span is short. B1 and B2 have read plenty of novels and B3 like non-fiction books. B3 enjoys books on science, ancient animals and how-to like Tell Me How. They do not gravitate to bookstores or library like me. A psychic once told me I was a librarian in one of my previous lives. I do not know about whether the psychic is real or just giving me some bullxxxx. It does makes sense. Everyone around me can see I am a bookworm.

Time to Book In Again

We spent the day doing the regular family stuff. Lunch at Carnivore, the Brazilian meat resturant. Then mall crawling until late afternoon. We have home cooked dinner and B1 was wishing he does not have to go back to camp. It is a short home break and he has to go back to the screaming and yelling i.e. scolded all the time. Well, this is army life. It is breaking psychological and individual identities and the making you listen and obey without questions or thinking. The good thing is he is in the 9 weeks program instead of 16 weeks. Being physical fit does help. The uniform today is so much easier to maintain. Still the rigour and toughness of being a soldier is hard for a modern city boy. This is national service and my boy is serving his country.

First Book-Out of Camp

B1 like many others recruits book out of their BMT or basic military camp today. He is so dark and happy to see us. I was not sure if it was him in the beginning. There are many girlfriends waiting for their boyfriends and I thought I may be smiling at the wrong army boy who is smiling at his girlfriend.

I only recognised him when he greeted "Daddy!". I gave him a hug and then mummy and his two brothers. He is so happy to see us. The wonder of army confinement. He is in a hurry to come home unlike some who ate at McDonald's. We are very happy to have him back. Mummy set up the washing machine to wash all his dirty laundry. He has only 20 hours before he returns to camp. All the laundry must be washed, dry and pack before he leave for camp tomorrow evening. It is just mad rush to get things done.

We are very happy to have B1 back home.

End of the Weekend

It is the end of the weekend. Tomorrow is a school day and B1 will get his first home coming late tomorrow night. I am at my computer writing my blog. As a country, we are undergoing change. MM and SM resigned after analysis of the voters results. PM will give his answer on Monday whether he accepts their resignation. He need time and watch the reactions of the media to take the next steps.

I look out of my door and it looked normal. Yet, emotionally there must be upheavals in PAP and the opposition parties. Fellow Singaporeans continue their life as usual. In the internet world, there are calls for other cabinet ministers to resign.

Meanwhile, the global economy is undergoing change and is unpredictable. Inflation is getting out of control. It is a challenging times ahead. What will 2012 brings?

Wonder

Sometimes, I wonder the meaning of life. Why are we here? Why do we have to face with so many problems and issues? Why colleagues are jeolous and do things to sabotage another colleague or make things difficult? Why? Why? Why?

When I am in this mood, I become preoccupied and my thoughts just keep spinning and spinning over the same few scenes. I need to learn to meditate like LKY and be mindful and present. Exercise is good but only for short time. Euphoria over and same thoughts surface.

I shall stop now and shower and go out for dinner. Food can be a distraction too.

SMU Tea Session

My wife and I attended the SMU tea session for Law faculty offerees. B1 is unable to attend as the army refused to let him off to attend the talk. Mrs Lee Suet Fern was the guest of honor. She is the Senior Director in Stamford Law. She specialises in Corporate Law and work on mergers and acquisitions. It is challenging and interesting work. The hours are long and sometimes 3 am in the morning and working on contracts. She makes being a lawyer sound fun. She is an awesome speaker, articulate and funny. Her views are sound and reasonable. I learned a lot from her.

Fridays with Philip Lee

I pick up this book on Monday at MPH when I was in KL. It is a series of articles published by Philip Lee in Streats, the now defunct free newspaper. I remember waiting early in the morning at Toa Payoh Central for the arrival of the papers every morning 8 or 9 years ago. It was very popular and I always enjoyed reading it. We were living in Oleander Towers then.

Philip Lee grew up in Penang and lived in England before settling down in Singapore. I enjoyed the articles as it is easy read and interesting. The content is local i.e. Singaporean issues and on wide ranging topics. It brought back memories for me. I finished reading the book in two days. Right now I am working through a Creativity book by YKK, a local Malaysian author. Malaysia does has a lot of talent. Pity many have left for greener pasture out of the country.

Random Thoughts

I have been thinking and reflecting, reflecting and thinking nowadays. I need to brood and brood. I need to go for a holiday and practise meditation to calm my busy mind. Most of my team members are going for holiday next week as Vesak day falls on Tuesday. Taking one day leave, we can have a stretch of 4 days. Enough to go for tour or oversea holiday.

I am in an unpleasant situation where the pressure is intense. No matter how well we do, it is not enough. Demand is excessive and unreasonable. What can I do? What should I do? Should I continue or should I go? What is the world did change in 2012? Will all this matter?

How should I lead my life if it is going to end soon? This question is supposed to help me lead a fulfilling life. I asked this question a hundred times and I still cannot get to the answer. Why? Why do I worry about day-to-day life? Worry about the bills, worry about the boys, worry about everything and nothing. It is not a good state to be in.

How can I achieve "flow" as defined by Mike Cziksenmihalyi? Why my work which was giving me meaning become nightmare? Plenty of questions and more questions. I am still searching for answers.

Short Trip

A quickie trip to KL to meet an important customer and present an award to them. I am very happy to get their support and they have help my team to be successful.

We lunched at Overseas Resturant and the Beijing Duck and Pork Belly char siew is simply fabulous. Overseas Resturant has recently opened a branch in Singapore. The price in Singapore is outrageous compared to KL but it is better than making the trip there to eat.

I am very sad to see George Yeo saying he will leave the political scene during his press conference. He is a good guy. It is unfortunate we lost an intelligent and capable man in the PAP where he can influence the party to more progressive views. If PAP continues her high handed and arrogant ways of neglecting the old and poor, it will be sad. I am sure there will be improvement with the votes swing.

Only in Singapore, you see all the Ah Mahs and Ah Gongs (grandmas and grandpas) clearing dishes and cleaning tables in foodcourts and hawker's centers or collecting empty cans and cardboards to sell for paltry cash to survive. Many visitors were shocked by the sights and some even write to Straits Times. I know PAP government is adverse to welfare society. Homemakers or housewives do not have income and when their husbands die, they will be left penniless and have to survive in an expensive global city.

Heatwave.

This is probably one of the largest mall in Malaysia. I like this mall because the Borders is big and MPH has broader selection too. The ACE hardware stall sells lots of gadgets. Plenty of F&B. Ahh! I am a mall rat.

On the taxi, the cab driver complains it is very hot and he is having a headache due to lack of water. I told him he should have a bottle in the car. He says he finished it. He was about to take a drink when the call come in for him to pick as there is a long queue in the airport. Temperature in KL probably reach record high. The heat reminds me of summer in New Delhi although not as bad. Still it hits hard whenever I step out of airconditioned environment - taxi or mall or hotel. I wonder if it is the proverbial story of frog in water brought slowly to a boil. Is human race slowly boiling itself to extinction? I am sure there will be survivors who can adapt to the new environment. After all, man does live in deserts.

The news report that Green energy business grow by 77% in China. I am glad to see steps are taken to reduce our usage of fossil fuels and carbon footprint. There may be hope for human kind.

One GRC and One SMC

The opposition despite strong showing and great support on the ground won only one GRC or Group Representation Constituency and one SMC or Single Member Constituency - a total of 6 members of parliament. The total share of votes to opposition is 40%, an increase of 6%. Big improvement.

Plenty of experts offered their views. Nicole Seah is the star "mei mei" or little sister. She is mature, articulate and handle the press extremely well. Her ideals on helping the poorer segment of the society is admirable and she has a huge following. In contrast, Tin Pei Ling of ruling did not well in presenting public image.

Best performer is Worker's Party who garner all 6 opposition seats in Parliament. It will be interesting as the next five years unfold. Will Worker's Party be able to continue its momentum? Will it be able to gain another GRC, East Coast perhaps since it won more than 45% votes?

The Night That Determines the FUTURE of Singapore

Election today and tonight the gnashing of teeth for many candidates as the votes get counted. It is really exciting. CNA is live at all the counting centers. Most of Singapore is up watching. For the first time, Singaporeans are engaged in politics. It is also the first many young voters and most get to votes. We used to get walkovers. This is a new dawn for Singapore.

Our government always exhorts that competition is healthy and good. It is quite competitive this time. So it is going to be an interesting night.

An Anonymous Reader Asked

I reproduced the comment below:

Hi. I read that you were living in Canada for 7 years before moving back to Singapore. Do you mind sharing the reason? Is it due to the high income tax in Canada? Many thanks...

My Answer:
I actually lived in Canada twice for a total of 7 years. Immigrating and living in a foreign country is very difficult in the beginning. There are lots of adjustments. Going over there as a student and then finding a job is different. It is nice to live in a country with four seasons and different lifestyle and culture. Canada is a great country and a good place to live and raise kids. It is a little backward relative to Singapore in material things. But family life, friends and lots of recreation more than make up for all the "toys" and designer clothing.

High income tax and consumption tax is one reason to leave. Long and bitter winter is the other commonly cited reason. Another reason is career advancement. The key reason I move back to Singapore is my wife wanted to return home to be closer to her family.

Lions Roared at Yio Chu Kang Stadium

Latest excitement in town - rallies, political rallies. The crowd in YCK Stadium is incredible. We decide to visit the hottest rally in town, The Worker's Party Rally. The enthusiatic crowd was immense. As we walk to the stadium, everyone else was streaming to the stadium as well. It is a night to remember. The Worker's Party is getting lots of support and generate huge following. Saturday is the D-day. May the Force be with you.

The roar is loud, very loud. Now we wait for the action.

The Heat is On

It is hard to think of what to write! My friends told me not to write about work. It is too boring. I always enjoys working but these days, it is just stress and more stress. Turning to the hottest topic the last few days...the election fever and the temp is rising. There are so many humorous pictures and video clips. All very creative! So I wonder how Singaporeans get the reputation of poor creative ability and low innovation drive.

The lighter side of Singapore politics is really fun and enjoyable. Now every 5 years, we get to tickle and laugh at ourselves and the political figures. The staid Singapore let her hair down.

Enlistment

B1 enlisted yesterday. He was in trepidation as he heard stories from his classmates and colleagues on the Basic Military Training experience. I know it is tough and there is a lot of psychological pressures and breaking down of individuality during the training. The training basically tear away your identity and make you obey orders. This is why everyone is made to sleep together in a room, shave their heads and shower is a communal bathroom where you have nothing to hide from your fellow "soldiers".

Aftering suffering together as a group, there will be bonding and the men can operate as a team. Blind obedient is required so that you can order them to kill the "enemy". The tagline for army is "Where boys become MEN". I guess boys don't kill, MEN will to defend their country.

Running Shoes

B2, my middle son need a new pair of running shoes as his old pair have worn out. Queensway Shopping Center is the place for sport shoes. There are so many types of running shoes that it is becoming confusing.

Mum asked him to chose "value" choice. He pick a pair costing $107. I found it looked very reasonable and cool. Then I looked at the brand. It is ASIC with Gel technology. So I think it is good value for an expensive brand. Queensway is the place to get newly obsolete product where price will drop dramatically. Maybe I am wrong. $107 is not that good a deal.

Just Another Day

It is just routine activities for today. I ate Guilinguo or Tortise shell jelly to help soothe my sore throat. My wife who is a Cantonese this is wonder drug. It helps for a short while and the effects wear off.

Dinner was at Yio Chu Kang Stadium so that our boys can experience the election rally. I was too exhausted and leave after the second speaker, Kenneth Jeyaratnam. Kenneth's accent is like JB's. Like father like son.

In the Dead of the Night...

Chomp Chomp is alive and full of young adults roaming about and drinking designer coffee. I was quite tired and sleepy after taking two tablets for sore throat but unable to sleep. My mind is spinning away over work issues. So I decided to get up and go for a spin in my energy saving and environmentally-friendly Prius.

The Indian Muslim roti prata coffee shop is crowded and full. Good thing as I was thinking of drinking my favorite beverage, teh halia. Teh halia would have kept me awake for hours. I roam about people watching and exploring which shops are still open. There are plenty. Finally, I decided to try Cold Storage to see if I can get Lucoade, which is a glucose based drink by SmithKline Beecham. Lucoade helps in rebuilding strength, getting rid of tiredness and recovery from flu. However, the 24 hours Cold Storage does not have any and I settle for Vitamin Jelly instead.

So well past midnight, Chomp Chomp is alive. I noticed a few unsavory characters lurking around as well. Singapore is a safe place and I do not feel threaten at all.

Down with Flu and Cough

I am feeling terrible! Last night I have to go to toilet at least 5 times to clear my phlegm. My throat is in terrible shape and I am coughing incessantly. My body aches and nose is congested causing difficulty in breathing, I feel feverish all the time. It may be "election fever". I feel tired all the time and need to drink plenty of strong tea and coffee to stay alive.

It will be 7 to 10 days before I can become better again.

Election Excitement

Massive traffic jams and gigantic wave of humanity at the Serangoon Stadium where Worker's Party held their rally. It is really carnival atmosphere and lots of cheering. We also drove to Yio Chu Kang Stadium. Traffic flow is quite good but no place to park as well. The crowd a the PAP rally is rather thin even though it is right beside a MRT station.

I wonder if all the excitement of the rallies can translated into votes. If it does, then rallies work! If not, then it is "not in my backyard" mentality of wanting an opposition but not in my ward. Next few days will be exciting time for all candidates except Tanjong Pagar who had a walkover. It is going to be an interesting week....

Cool

Nan Chiau students are running in simmering heat this afternoon at the PCN. They are doing their fitness test. I feel sorry for them to run in adverse conditions. The good thing is PCN is flat and the view is scenic. So there is some relief.

I go to the pool to cool myself down and my neighbours' kids are enjoying themselves playing games in the pool. It is nice to have a swimming pool in this kind of weather.

Tomorrow is the wedding of William and Kate Middleton and the news keep broadcasting the excitement the Brits have. It is a nice distraction from the poor economic situation they are in. I do not really understand why it is such a big deal. Kate does look good just like her mother-in-law, the late Princess Diana.

Night Meetings

I am up nowadays at night for meetings. It is tiresome. So much talking and talking. Such is life in a large bureaucracy. In all meetings, there are always a few people who like to hear themselves. They like to dominate the meetings and wasting everyone's time.

Root Canal

Finally, my root canal job is done. It is stressful and traumatic experience. I am glad it is over for now. I have a 3 months break for getting a crown done to protect the root canal. It is such a long and painful procedure. I am chicken when it come to toothache. The treatment is expensive too. Cost S$800 just for the root canal. It used to cost $500. Now, it is incredibly costly!

It is extremely during the day. The heat is causing headache and dehydration. Like what Lee Kuan Yew says in Hard Truths, we have to adapt. I am thinking it may be a good idea to find a lower cost place like Cameroon Highland or Genting to live in. The weather will be nice and cool. I wonder if there is such place in Thailand. I think Thailand would be safer than Malaysia.

Noise Pollution

There is a racket at the back of my house. Another rattling and vibrating on the right. It is giving me headache and preventing me from concentrating. I wonder how it will be when it is my turn for the roof repair.

Birthday Party

B3 has a young cousin who celebrated his 6th birthday. There were games, magic show and balloon sculpture. The food is just so-so. In fact I had stomache after ingesting the food. The condo he now lives is new. It has a nice swimming pool and gymnasium. Bored, I sneak out and took a walk to the nearby nursery. The price of $68 for a large plastic rectangular pot turns me off. I walk out right away and decided to read a book at the poolside.

The book is How to read Literature like a Professor. It is quite interesting actually. I am still at the beginning and will need some time to finish. It is good to find time to read while attending kids' birthday parties.

Strictly Pancakes

We are eating out tonight. Most resturants are fully booked or not convenient due to lack of parking. B1 suggest we go to Strictly Pancakes. The first alternative was Zichar stall in AMK Industrial Park 1. CTE was moving well, many may have taken advantage of the long weekend and left the country. So we decided to try this Pancakes resturant that is started and run by undergrad in NUS. The carpark on the road is all full and we try Sunshine Plaza and there are plenty of spots.

The Pancakes place is full and we decide to wait for a table. The place is full of students and young adults. It is not really a family resturant. We wander to the mall opposite and ate dinner there instead. A table become available while we were eating and we decided to go there for dessert. We had pancakes, hot chocolate and vanilla milkshake. The meal cost $23.10. Not bad. The young adults have good capability to spend this kind of money.

It is a good experience for us to explore the concept of the resturant.

Headache

I am nursing a headache since I woke up this morning. I am blogging about it because it is unusual for headache to last all day especially after swallowing a couple of Extra-strength Tyernol. Tyernol is my favorite analgesic. I took another two later in the afternoon and still it did not work.

I wonder if it is the weather or feng shui or stress or nose blocked due to allergy. It is hard to get to the root cause. For a person educated in science and engineering, I am superstitious enough to believe in feng shui.

Thank Buddha, tomorrow is holiday.

Busy as a Bee

We are all busy as a bee nowadays. Living in Singapore is indeed work work and more work. My boys are working their butts for in schools. I am trying to keep afloat in the massive increased in my workload and my team's workload. I hope we will stablised in a few months and pressure start to throttle down. Otherwise, we may start burning out.

On the brighter side, the weather is cool due to rain rather than the blazing heat in the previous two days. I cycled with B2 in the PCN in late afternoon and slipped and fell at near the chin-up bar. B2 says now I know how to break my fall. Still I scratched my right leg.

Election is officially ON! I wonder if there will be excitement especially since there are a few quality candidates in the opposition camp. It is going to be an exciting couple of weeks ahead.

Outback Steak House

I had dinner with customers from US at Outback today. I decided to order chicken burger instead of my favourite rib so that I can eat and talk at the same time. We had plenty to discuss focusing mainly on business in Asia. There is a Chinese girl who is a PhD. The American is a big boss from US and the other is Director of ...say Specific Business. We just talk and talk. It is a good exchange of information.

The food was good. I enjoyed the company more than the food. It is nice to discuss work during dinner!

Refrigerators

We are looking around and evaluating refrigerator recently. My current refrigerator is making loud noise a couple days ago. It may be due to poor arrangement of our frozen items in the freezer compartment. The key reason is we think we may be able to save electricity if we get a newer technology and more efficient unit with 4 ticks. We bought our Maytag 10 years ago when we were living in Canada. We are using it until today and it is working fine. It is 110V and I have a 2 KVA transformer that we used to make it work. The difference is here it is 50 cycles rather than 60 cycles in Canada. Hitachi and Mitsubishi has 6 doors fridge that incorporate sunlight LED for keeping vegetable fresh and alive, anti- feature and a special quick freezing compartment for keeping food tasty after freezing. It is not terribly green to buy new appliances especially since I recently acquired a TV. I consider the refrigerator a necessity and my boys have huge appetite. So we need a big size fridge. Maybe I will wait for the price to fall...

Going Out of Business

I went to the nursery in Yishun to get buy window boxes or long containers for our plants. The place is closed. The operating hours have shortened. As we were about to turn out to the main road, Sembawang Road, we saw a big banner 80% discount and everything to go. Intrigued, we turned back and it is true. Real moving out Sale! The boss is an excellent sales person and negotiable. He keeps selling me stuff. I had a pot and a fish for my pond, five bags of black soil and two plastic pot for my tree. Tonight, the questions and answers with Prime Minister I understand why. The foreign levy has increased and the cost is becoming too high. The nursery owner has sent back most of his foreign workers. He is giving up the business. I wonder how many businesses are severely impacted by the increased in foreign levy. It is economic restructuring and small businesses are collapsing. Soon, only big businesses are left and we will be paying more for everything....inflation and more inflation.

Rising to the Challenge

My nieces were coming over to for dinner. I am slicing up Japanese cucumber and getting ready to debone roast duck when my middle niece came up to tell me her sister needs help in parking the car. I went down to the garage without washing my hand thinking I am going to give her verbal instructions. When I saw the car, I realised it is not possible. I have to take over the car as it is only 3 or 4 mm from the pillar. Any small movements to the left would have cause the car to be stucked and the car doors scratched. I have to look out for the front tyres position to make sure I do not make any mistakes. It was incredibly tight position which I have to figure and plan my moves before moving the vehicle. My niece did the right move by asking for help. Otherwise, the consequence may be expensive and she may be grounded from using the car. I am glad that I did not pick up B2 from his tuition. My wife is so smart to volunteer to pick him up while I stay home to prepare dinner. Otherwise, she will be the one sweating bullets!

Disposable Pleasures or Meaning Pursuits

I am watching 007 Casino Royale and wondering what to write for my blog. Then this interesting dialogue between Bond and a most beautiful accountant. The sascastic accountant tell Bond off. He rather treat women as disposable pleasures rather than meanful pursuits. It is interesting and insightful. I am a sucker for action movies and drive my wife blonkers who always wonder why am I always watching car chase, men get their neck snapped or guns blazing and bullets flying all over and the hero hardly ever get hit while all the evil doers are shot and getting killed.

Mindfulness

I need to learn to be mindful. This book is recommended by Daniel Pink in The New Mind. I am mindlessly living my life and doing my work enriching my employer in the process. Mindfulness is the art of conciously observing what we do in every way. I am a creature of habit. Work is stressful and is getting more stressful. Mindfulness will help us deal with stress and presence. Mindlessness is living on automatic mode and acting and reacting to orders and demand of others is a slow and painful death.

Sensitivity to Radiation

It is short and sweet trip to Osaka. I am satisfied as I accomplished my objective for the trip. The plane is half empty going to Osaka and full on my return. So more people leave Japan and fewer are going. The almost daily aftershock of magnitude 6 to 7 is quite scary for Japanese as well. There is heighten sensitivity to the food and water. My host or my colleague will tell me it is "safety water" or the water is safe. When I asked about the bowl of big juicy apples whether they are Japanese, the hotel staff immediately informed me it is safe as the apples are sourced from the south. Sakura flowers is in full bloom in Osaka. It is beautiful to walk along the river. Until in Tokyo last year, there are very few merrymakers. The country is in self-restraint. Now the Prime Minister is saying get on with normal life. I guess if the self-restraint campaign go on, the already weak economy will slow down preventing recovery. Japan, be strong. We are all with you.

Fabulous Meals and Wonderful Friends

I always like Osaka. It is not as crowded as Tokyo. The taste of the food is superior (I am obsessed with food as usual). For lunch, we had kushiyaki which is deep fried with different batter from light yellow batter of tempura. The batter is brown and the dip is a more liquid version of tonkatsu source which is sweet and sour. I also have tokomoyaki which is panfried cabbage pancake. The cabbage is soaked with flour batter and one egg. Different choice of toppings such as prawn, beef or pork can be added. It is take half an hour to cook! Luckily we are no hungry anymore.

Saving the best for last, we had Spanish dinner. My host, T-san gave me his usual warm and welcome. He always spend a lot of time and effort to pick a nice resturant to bring me to. The meal was very interesting and delicious. We have excellent appetitzers, grilled seafood salad, lobster in cream sauce and seafood shellfish rice. Dessert is fried... I have not idea what, maybe cream cheese with ice cream. The finishing touch is something interesting that my host and friend, T-san suggest we photograph it.

T-san requested I put this on my blog and wants you to know Japan will be fine.

Poor Timing to Osaka

The flight to Osaka is 1:50pm and lands at 9:30pm.  It is past lunch time leaving Singapore and then by the time I arrived, it is past 10pm and all the shops are closed.  I also do not know where to eat and have to skip dinner and eat the snack in the mini bar.  Singapore Airlines should have a better schedule.  I took the flight at 11am before.  I know why I always fly to Tokyo first and return via Osaka.

It is quite cold at night.  The cabin crews of SQ is staying in Hilton too.  They arrived the hotel before me even though I left at least 10 mins before they can leave the aircraft.  The privilege of airline crew is travel time is short.  Going pass the immigration is short.  The bad thing is they have to leave the hotel at 7:40 am tomorrow morning.  So I can't quit my day job!  Anyway, I do not have the look to pass the screening interview.

Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going

The dvd on the interview have snippets of the 32hours of interviews with LKY. There is an opinion that LKY has that I am skeptical about. The question is that scholars are in the cabinet does well but can they survive if they are in the private? Singapore practise the mandarin system of China of the past. In ancient China, there is an imperial exams every year. The top scorers are the top scholars and are given a govt job e.g. junior magistrate and are set for life as it is iron rice bowl. They will have income stream from the official position as well as from the public who needed official blessing(in other words, corruption). The journalist did point out the scholars rise quickly in military and civil service, the private sector is different. LKY shrugged his shoulders. He strongly believe those talents can get a job anywhere and do well in life. And that is that! I do not agree with this view. Plenty of "intellectuals" are good with theory and book learning but unable grasp the reality. Mandarins are good in the government and military organisations. The hierarchy and position of power is clear and defined. They are good at talking and giving their point of views. However, when it come to execution, they are ineffectual. I have a neighbour who is in the management committee. He talks well and give very good reasoning. Any task assigned to him does not get done. He is good at coming up with rationale or avoid discussing why the task did not get done such that he always "look good". In my humble opinion, I think not all mandarins can survive anywhere. Some will not be able to get anything done. Thus likely to be fired if they are senior employees or fail if they start their own business.

Election Fever

The news is full of election activities. Suddenly, all the candidates, MPs and potential MPs are reaching out to the people. Once election is over, they all disappears again doing whatever they used to do before. The MPs will have meet-the-people sessions one evening a week and those who did not become MPs will be doing academic discussions among themselves. The ruling party is strong, extremely strong. Even then some candidates may lose and then give up. I remember Mah Bow Tan and Ng Pock Too. Both were introduced as potential cabinet members when introduced. They lost and the 2nd time round only Mah Bow Tan participated and today he is Minister of National Development. Today, with GRCs all hemmed by a cabinet minister, if PAP lost a GRC, a Minister will lose his or her job. Kind of interesting. Job security is dependent on how strong the opposition is.

TGIF

I love Fridays. It is the end of the week and the weekend starts in the evening. When work is busy and stressful, weekend is a wonderful break. Time to spend with the family and do non-work stuff like hanging around, drinking tea, enjoying food and window shopping. In the city, the choices are limited. No mountain to go to, no lake(reservoir not counted), no countryside or farms, just airconditioned shops and malls. Hence key weekend activities are tuitions and piano lessons. And while waiting for the boys, load up on caffeine and calories. I also joined the enthusiats to exercise by cycling in PCN. The pool is noisy with visitors and kids, so I avoid. Enjoys your weekend, readers.

Caught!

The culprits who stole my torchlight and damaged my bike in the process were caught in the act in camera by my neighbour's cctv. They stole footwears from other neighbours as well and was trying to steal my neighbour's bike when our gardener asked him what is he doing. We reported to police and the developer who had the contractors in for repairs. So the two men were lured back, handcuffs and arrested. What a scene! There were so many police cars in the estate and on the road outside. We hope this incident do not occur again.

Blur

Today is just a big BLUR. I am so busy at work and moving from one task to another. I am glad it is time to go to bed. I am doggone tired. I lost my torchlight attached to my bike. Someone have taken it. I am upset my personal items are stolen right at my garage. It is terrible.

Lucky Me!

I managed to "uninstall" my updates yesterday and got my computer back. What a relief! It is not back as it should be but all my office suite is working albeit fonts are not right. At least I can read my messages and files. So I am back in business:)

Hard Truths

I am three quarters through this thick book. It is very insightful and easy to read. The Straits Times editors did a fantastic job. The questions and answers format make it easy to remember a lot of the facts and insights that MM Lee presented. Today, I view the dvd that come with it. With my new LG player and tv, the stunning clarity and clear sound system bring LKY to my home office. I am apathetic when it come to politics, however I learn so much from his views and amazing conclusions from all the inputs he gathered in all the years he lived and worked. The reasoning is extremely solid and well thought out. So I strongly recommends this book. I am wiser after reading it!

No Work Too!

I forgot. This weekend I did not work as well unless trying to get my computer programs to function again is considered work. I did spent a few hours trying to get Microsoft Office programs and Outlook to work to no avail. I should have known better not to upgrade or update my programs since my system is working fine. Unfortunately, being a dutiful employee, I just followed instructions and have to spend several hours in frustration trying to fix my system. To make matter worse, it is month-end and I have plenty of reports to digest and reports to write. I also planned to answer an important email which I am unable to do so now. Can't wait for Monday so that I can get IT help!

No Exercise

Today I am so busy I did not have a chance to exercise. Actually, we want to cycle after dinner but B3's project is not completed and Mummy stopped all of us from going out until we finished it for him. B1 help out and get the marble rolling board done. I was so tired that I fell asleep on the floor in the living room. So after the board is done, I decided not to cycle anymore and B2 who keen to cycle also drop the idea. My weight tonight hit 90kg. Not a good number. I will need to reduce my calories intake. Exercise alone is not working. I also missed my nieces. It has been a while since our last get together. I know they are happy, independent and confident of themselves.

Terrible News to Share

My 2nd sister was operated for growth in her thyroid. Doctors found it is stage 4 cancer. I received sms from my eldest sister on my way home. I visited her today in the hospital. She is in good spirit and I did not realised the seriousness of her condition until I just google in the internet.