Blogging ain't easy

Photo

Sat, 11 May 2013 09:06:48 +0800

Photo

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 19:12:55 +0800

S.E.A. Aquarium

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 20:56:44 +0800

S.E.A. Aquarium

National Day 2012

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 15:19:33 +0800

National Day 2012

Photo

Sat, 14 Jul 2012 16:27:03 +0800

Photo

Sat, 30 Jun 2012 10:11:59 +0800

Cover Photo

Sun, 06 May 2012 00:10:39 +0800

Cover Photo

Photo

Sat, 05 May 2012 23:47:05 +0800

Pilot for 2 hours

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 18:26:24 +0800

Henderson Waves Bridge

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:23:23 +0800

Reena Birthday

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 23:03:58 +0800

Iluma

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:42:40 +0800

Iluma is a shopping centre in the heart of Bugis. Opposite Bugis Junction and within 5 minutes walk from Bugis MRT Station. A connector in the form of an overhead bridge connect it to teenage haven, Bugis Junction. Cinema operator Film Garde is situated at the top floor. Almost all shopping centres with a cinema operator can draw a decent crowd. Furthermore, Shaw at Bugis Junction is currently closed, leaving movie goers in Bugis with only 1 option if they want to watch a movie. The crowd should be bustling right? There is even a koi just minutes away.

But no! The place is like a ghost town the last time I went there hoping to catch a movie. The first floor is vacant. The second floor seem to be clearing. What is happening to it? Bad Feng shui? Restructuring after the new takeover? Renovating? I do not know. However, I do have an idea to turn its fate!

I am a fan of reality Tv. Survivor, Amazing Race, just to name a couple. Actually I’m only a fan of those 2. Okay, I’ve drifted. So yah, reality Tv. If I were the management of Iluma, I will look for Media Corp and pitch an idea and sponsor it. Since there is no crowd, there is nothing to lose. It’s either a success and draw more crowd or it will remain as a ghost town with largely nobody who want to rent the shops.

The reality game show will be: Entrepreneur Challenge!

So how will the game go. There will be a selection period whereby the public can submit proposal on which unit they would like to rent and what business they would like to start. Of course the management will choose according to what they feel will have a decent chance to make it. And shortlist perhaps 10-20 best ideas. Provide 13 weeks rent free (the series will last 13 weeks) to the contestants. The contestants will have 13 weeks to pit themselves against one another. Every week, the outlet with the least percentage profits will be eliminated like amazing race and survivor and will be asked to leave unless they decided to take up the shop and pay rent officially. The winner will get some cash rewards or rental rebate for a year!

To make this more interesting, each contestant will be paired up with a mediacorp star as well as assisted by a relevant consultant to increase the chances of survival in an almost empty mall.

The best part is, during the contest, there will be publicity. After the contest when the show is aired, there will be another round of publicity. And the mall can do this for more and more seasons until the mall be associated with a mall for budding entrepreneur. Cool eh! I want to be the producer of this reality show!

Level 1

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 20:45:45 +0800

I’ve been officially employed for 5 months now. Got to admit that I’m in the “advanced track” since my boss is my dad. It’s a privilege to learn from him. His abundance of experience accumulated over the years in the industry is no fluke. But what’s more important and also is a factor that can determine success or failure is speech.

The way you talk.
The words you use.
The tone you stress.
The punctuation marks.

All of the above need to be customized depending on what message you are trying to convey, who you are talking to or what is your stance on the issue.

I’m a keen observer and I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to listen to upper management of companies communicate. Their conversation are so mesmerizing. At time, it’s as though I can feel their point of view. I suppose that it is a skill that need to be honed over time but yet in a little corner of my heart, I wonder if I can master the skill fully and be as impressive.

You need to be able to digest the conversation at an alarming rate and be able to pull out key points and form your rebuttal statement or a sentence signifying that you agree and comply within a blink of an eye.

My responsiveness is still not there yet. Further more, I agree too readily to almost everything. Something like a “yes-man” Got to change that and have a stand on certain issues. Find out the consequences of yes and the consequences of no and then make a stand. Got to power up to level 2 and not stay stagnant on level 1. Hope to achieve self development. I do feel that I can learn a lot in this business and am blessed that I have such an excellent tutor in my dad! =D

Got to strive harder and level up!

"Excuse me"

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 17:13:55 +0800

The phrase “excuse me” is mainly used when you would like to get in front of another person who is blocking your way.

An event occurred today which led me to think that some children nowadays are either spoiled, ignorant or just plain stupid.

I was walking home from work on the pathway. There was this stretch of pathway that has grass on the left side and an elevated platform about mid thigh height on the right side. I usually walk close to the elevated platform as I walk fast so I normally walk on the right side.

So today was as per normal, I walked past 2 kids who are adjusting themselves on a “skateboard”

You know those kind that look like what green goblin rides in the movie spiderman but theirs is on wheels and not flying la.

So I continued to mind my own business and I heard

Boy: “Excuse me”

Me: /ignore

Boy: “Excuse me”

So here’s some further information. The only way for me to excuse them is for me to stand on the elevated platform and giving them the full pathway to walk. I am only taking up at best 1/3 of the pathway and there is only 4-5m more pathway before the elevated platform ends and I turn right.

So I felt extremely irritated that the boys want me to give them the walkway so they can “skate” past me while I need to stand on the elevated platform.

I retorted: “The pathway is so big, why do you need me to excuse you”

I just felt that perhaps they ALWAYS get their way at home and hence they feel that they could get their way outside too. Get real boys, the outside world is nowhere like your home. You may be pampered like princes at home but only the best get pampered in the real world out there.

Maybe they are afraid that they will fall down. If you not zai then let me walk finish first la, you should not take excuse me for granted. There is no space for me to excuse you so you will not get your freaking way.

Otherwise, he are just plain stupid lor. He thought “excuse me” means “get out of my way even if it means you need to walk on the platform as I make my way through.”

Just get lost seriously. There is nothing that should be taken for granted in life. And saying “Excuse me” does not mean you can have your way, even if you said it twice.

Steve Jobs

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 07:29:40 +0800

I wouldn’t compare Steve Jobs with Thomas Edison. Thomas Edison invented the light bulb and many other stuff. Steve Jobs did not invent a phone, but he revolutionized how people perceive a phone should be. He is an innovator. Arguably one of the best in today’s world.

I believe many of us have heard stories about people who are on their death bed refusing to “go” until all their family members gather and say their last words before they “let go”. I can’t help but compare this to Steve Jobs’ passing. He passed away after iPhone4s is launched. He probably felt that his legacy is in proper hands and thus he departed.

However, could it be that his intent is to launch a whole new iPhone 5 and the product he saw is just an iPhone4s and that angered him so much that he could not take it anymore?

I believe it’s the former.

IPhone 4s though did not change in appearance, but SIRI sounds really amazing. It’s like having a digital personal assistant. Too bad it does not come with the iOS5 update on my iPhone4. I believe this is a marketing gimmick. If SIRI come with iPhone4 update, iPhone4s sales will definitely be affected.

Nevertheless, there are still some features in iOS5 that I get to enjoy!

I believe that iPhone 4 is already a remarkable product. So the little changes is sufficient to keep me hooked onto the phone. I like iMessage. And it is incorporated into the default messages app. It is intelligent as it can differentiate people who are using iOS5 and people who are not. So last night I just keyed in random people names and look at how many of my friends updated to iOS5. I’m just wondering if people who updated to iOS5 but did not get data plan, will they send smses via data and cause their bill to explode?

Furthermore, I like the drop down thingy. It’s like a consolidation of things to do. Definitely useful. to see everything at a glance. And it is complimented by the reminders app. I have mentioned before that I am a pen and paper person who does not want to get burdened by the fail in technology should it happen. However, it is kind of dumb if I were to write “update this file” on every monday in my planner, and that’s where the reminder app comes in handy!

One thing I don’t like is the newsstand app. I dont subscribe to any magazines and hence my newsstand is empty. I usually lump all those apps that I do not use into one folder. But I believe that since newsstand is actually a folder it self, it cannot be put inside another folder. So I have to waste a space for it.

Though some of these features are presently already in Android phones, but I don’t really care. I have a Galaxy Tab but I don’t even know how to sync stuff into it. Hence I rely on a sd card and turned it into a ebook reader.

Maybe Steve Jobs has spoiled me with Apple’s user friendliness.

Typed on my Macbook.

Results

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 13:24:01 +0800

The moment that all UOL students wait for has arrived. It is the day whereby students all over the world find out if they did enough during the semester to secure a good grade to aid their quest for their desired honours class.

I had been awaiting the day for quite some time, hoping for the very best (4A) yet constantly reminding myself to just hope for the bare minimum (3B) so that I at least secure my 2nd Upper degree in order to avoid disappointment. It was a heart stopping moment when I read on forum that the results are out!

Without a moment of hesitation, I open my iPhone safari and just pressed “view” as my details are already stored in the web page due to the excessive checkings I did over the past few days.

And there, the results appeared right in front of me. I didn’t want to view them all at once initially and I told myself to cover the results so that I only see one result at a time. However, it is not meant to be. I couldn’t stop myself from looking at all the results all at the same time. I was on the bus and hence I could not display my emotion.

My hands were trembling from I don’t know what but I was still feeling the jitters even after I know my results.

Would like to congratulate all those who achieved their desired results. For those who did not achieve their desired result, it’s not the end. As I’ve said before, it is not the degree that determine who u are. Graduands are the people who determine how respectable the degree is. How they carry themselves when they work. How do the bosses feedback about them to their business partners. For those who are in year 1 and 2, it’s definitely not the end. UOL format is such that a single year can still change the outcome of your degree, unlike other unis whereby a year could no longer impact on the final outcome.

Strive hard. A lot of people say study harder this coming semester. That is not wrong. However, the more important aspect is to study earlier. Consistency will be rewarded, not just studying hard before exams.

Second word of advise. Choose the modules carefully. If not, you will end up thinking if your classification would have been different had you took a different module in a different year. Ask your seniors for their feedback. Don’t have to take all of them seriously, but if 5/5 tell you that if you are a business student, don’t take cf in your second year, listen to them. They have been through it or they have friends who’ve gone through it.

Lastly, for those who are aiming for a second upper degree, I highly recommend that you start aiming higher for a first class.

For those who are aiming for a first class, aim for 7-9 distinctions.

For those who are aiming for 70 marks, aim for 90 marks.

We always tend to fall short of our own expectations. So it is important that we aim higher so that we have something to fall back on.

Reading

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 16:18:40 +0800

While studying for exams in Starbucks joints, I observe people who drink coffee there. Partly is because I want to venture into the cafe business in the future should I accumulate sufficient money and am able to pour some out to start a new business. However, what I noticed was that there are many people who purchase a cup of coffee and just settle down on a sofa and open their book and start reading.

The most famous person who “worked” in a cafe is none other than J K Rowling, author of Harry Potter.

I used to think that these people got nothing better to do? Spending time in a cafe reading is definitely not one of the things I had in mind before. It just felt like a waste of time. There are better things to do out there, I used to think.

But now, I’m so envious of them! They could find time to just chill and read a book. How long has it been since I sat down and read a story book? And now, I barely have time for myself to do my own stuff, much less read a book! I actually love reading. Not story book but non fiction stuff. It’s a world out there waiting for us to explore and what’s better than to acquire knowledge from books!

If I have superpower, I would like to have the ability to manipulate time.

Chapter [working]

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 23:00:03 +0800

It’s June! A brand new month and a new chapter if my life has just began! I’ve started working full time! So I shall convince myself that work is awesome!

Reasons being: Work is different from studies. Once after working hours, you are free to do your personal stuff without guilt. A student have concerns as the opportunity cost of watching drama for 1 hour is 1 hour of study time! You don’t get that when u are working! Rest means rest!

While working you earn money! And this reason is self explanatory. There’re many stuffs that money can’t buy, but money can really bring about much happiness to you and people around you!

Time passes faster while working! haha! Lame point really! Time passes even faster while watching dramas and playing! But still, compared to stoning with no goals in life, working will make things speed up!

With work comes satisfaction! Go figure out this yourself! Took some time for me to figure this out while im studying! And no, it’s not as simple as you think!

And there! New chapter of life!

Work hard and huat ah!

WP Rally at kallang Massive crowd!

Mon, 02 May 2011 20:37:57 +0800

WP Rally at kallang Massive crowd!

Just a little more

Sun, 01 May 2011 09:56:57 +0800

It’s the time of the year where students from UOL are tested for what they have learnt and revised over the past 8 months. It’s like A levels all over again for the past 2 years. There’s not going to be time to infuse more knowledge at this point of time, so with reference to my older post, it’s time to work with what I’ve learnt and hope that it is sufficient to obtain what I so dearly ~~want~~ need.

With just a few more days to go before my education career grinds to a halt, I shall give this final battle my last bit of energy and PLEASE, come out whatever I learnt!!!!

PRESS ON AND IT WILL BE OVER SHORTLY!!

GOOD LUCK AND ALL THE BEST MY FELLOW FRIENDS!!