Outstanding Weekend by Unleashing the Power Within

I just had the most unbelievable experience at Tony Robbins' 4-day Unleash Power Within Seminar. Personally, I thought that having go through Millionaire Mind Intensive last November, I "had enough motivation" and I KNOW how to make sure I do what I set out to do.

It wasn't just another motivational seminar. WE DON'T NEED MOTIVATION. Everything's already inside us. He just helps to dig deeper into our soul and find our "motive for action". Intellectually, this seminar, I gained some new ideas and ability to rationalize my behavior. However, change don't happen from rationalization. It happens from action which comes from strong emtions. There are 2 exceptional activities that brought about strong emotions......

1. The Firewalk

Psycho your brain till you distract it from pain. Psycho your body to protect you from the fire. Physically walk on the fire!!! .... HOT FOOT!

2. The Dickens Process

Peering into the future living my life with my limiting belief (5, 10, 20 years from now.. somewhat like having a Ghost of X'mas Future visiting you). I went through somewhat a similar process in Millionaire Mind.. I thought that back then I had already gained a breakthrough .... Going through the process this time was HORRIFYING.... the pain..... was unbearable. My fingers went numb. I was wobbling left and right. My pelvic muscles went numb.

..... when the pain was at its most extreme............ POOF!!! I'm back! It didn't happen. I'm still here in September 2009! I CAN CHANGE! YES!!!

I'm so THANKFUL that I'm alive. I'm so THANKFUL that I have ALL THAT I NEED WITHIN ME NOW to CREATE a BETTER FUTURE.

Love & Gratitude

CY: The INFJ

I've taken 3 tests in facebook recently relating to the MBTI personality tests. 2 of which concluded I'm an INFJ while one an INFP. Being someone who likes to read more about my possible characteristics, I went to search for more information. The more I read, the more I agree that I'm an INFJ.

Introverted and yet complexly extraverted feeling. (http://www.personalitypage.com/INFJ.html)

Some of the characteristics which I highly agree (http://www.infj.org/public/infjness.html):

- Value personal integrity (being true to myself)

- Easier to express deepest feelings and sentiments non-verbally or in writing

- Sometimes looked upon as naive, due to idealism

- Rarely gets into conflicts (but when erupt, can be very bitter)

- Keen interest in paranormal/psychic experiences (think "The Secret" and Law of Attraction)

- Loves personality tests and other self-improvement tools (HIGHLY AGREE!)

- Sometimes seen by others as cold and hard on the outside (not caring enough?)

- love quotes/quotations and are often "philosophers" or "theologists" (very true, I frequently copy-paste quotes)

More readings (http://www.geocities.com/lifexplore/infj.htm)

- They can be very much involved in the world of people, as well as quiet, imaginative, and in their own world (seems like a Gemini trait?)

- INFJs have a strong love of learning

- Reading holds a particular fascination for them because it allows them to have quiet reflection time and engages their imagination

- They are quiet and orderly, reflective and thoughtful, and sincerely want to please their teachers and learn the right thing (teacher's pet... hehehe...)

- INFJs tend to be devoted to what they believe in and seek work where their needs, values, and ideals can be deeply engaged (wah... this one right on target)

- One would do well not to underestimate the amount of perseverance, energy, and time INFJs give to their priorities. What they do, they do with an almost religious intensity (I love this! Extremely stubborn once target is set.... Illogical sometimes due to high belief in intuition)

- Leisure-time pursuits for INFJs are often solitary or involve the company of others who are particularly important to them

- INFJs are hard to get to know. They have an unusually rich inner life, but they are reserved and tend not to share their reactions except with those they trust

- They prefer and enjoy agreeing with others, and find conflict disagreeable and destructive (hypocrite? unavoidable.. now I know why my "StrengthsFinder" profile has "Harmony" in Top 5)

Being INFJ, now I know why I like to write alot about my thoughts and myself. Writing is my way of communicating... Anyway, this blog post is just a rough insight into why I behave in certain ways. I just noticed that the INFJ traits corresponds well with my Top 5 strengths especially Harmony, Responsibility and Learner.

June Quotes

"When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps." ~ Confucius.

"When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal." ~ Napoleon Hill

"Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. And it will leave you unfulfilled" ~ Barack Obama

"Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently" ~ Henry Ford

"He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not remains a fool forever" ~ Andy Dingley

The 5 S of Our Lives

I attended a talk by Dr. Andrew Goh (an NTU prof) on a topic very dear to me - "What do you want out of your life?".

I love it when he simplified how people would answer the following question:-
"How's Life?"

There are basically 5 possible answers (or in any other form but within the same context of the 5). They're the 5 S. Starting at the lowest level...

5. Struggling
We live our life struggling through our daily activities, earning.. well... not enough to feed ourselves and family. Plenty of hardships. People from all levels can be in this stage including managers who earn well over $10k/month. E.g. Earn $10k, spend $11k or maybe working in an environment that blocks one's growth... This answer is quite common.

4. Surviving
This is the MOST common answer I hear among friends. I had a wide grin hearing this answer as it was something I could relate to. In financial terms, this could mean you just earn enough to cover your financial burden (guess that's why this answer is very common among fresh grads - earning their starting pay but have to pay off loans, etc... leaving them with 0 balance every month.)

3. Stabilising
Well, I haven't heard anyone use this term specifically... Too formal. I guess it's relative would be "Ok lor", "Good", "Fine". This one also quite common to hear. This is a stage of our lives where things are abit more stable. No need to worry too much about finances as you have extra coming in but at the same time, there are unknown events that can still tear you down to S4 or S5 (e.g. retrenchment).

2. Succeeding
Again, don't hear anyone use this before... Something similar? Probably... I have not really interviewed a succeeding person. Hmmm... was around some succeeding people but... hmmm... I'm at a loss for words. This is quite interesting. There's definitely a meaning behind this for myself. Anyway, succeeding is a good stage, alot of those that I met in this stage look quite happy. However, not all are. In terms of financial independence, most of them have it. Tony Robbins mentioned that we humans have 6 basic needs, the first 4 needs can be easily be satisfied by superficial things including drinking, smoking, etc (that's why we have heard stories of some rich people cheating on their wife? It's just that something is empty inside...). One may be financially free but can still be empty... which is why the final S...

1. SIGNIFICANCE
Leaving a positive legacy/mark in other people's life....... be it your family, friends, strangers, etc. Doing work where your full potential is utilised. I am unable to fully describe this but personally, it is something that I feel deep inside my heart. I used to think I should chase money, interestingly, after seeking the masters who have "been there, done that", I realised it isn't right. The more I chase it, the more elusive it is. Instead, focus on the fundamentals - leading a significant life will naturally bring money... the more significant, the more income. At the moment, this is just a theory/plan that I strongly agree.


"You can get anything you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want." ~ Zig Ziglar

"There is no shortcut to any place worth going" ~ Anonymous

My Top 5 Signature Themes

Last week, I was introduced to this book - "Now, Discover Your Strengths" by Marcus Buckingham. It talks about how most of us live our lives focusing on fixing our weaknesses. Alot of times, we take our strengths for granted. Well, no point for me going into too much detail about this, you can check this out in his website or the book.

Anyway, the great part about the book was a unique ID key that allows you access to create an account to take the StrengthsFinder profile quiz. And, below is my "simple" certificate. Read simple description of each here.

From the top 5 themes, I realised something very profound. As I continue to read the book (quite fast to finish - about 3 days), I could relate to each of the 5 themes and understood why I did what I did...... It all made sense.

Restorative - I take alot of pleasure in fixing problems (technical, personal, relationships). The more complicated it is, if I can fix it - I feel satisfaction. Otherwise, definitely will feel defeated, spend hours thinking through the problem, patterns and how to solve it. Some obvious examples for myself are my eagerness to help friends fix their computer related problems, spending hours playing Sudoku (those super hard ones), Weiqi, etc. I remember my time at my previous IT job, spending time overnight at the Data Centre trying to fix a system down issue, couldn't fix it, felt frustrated (due to pressure from upstairs? maybe not... looking back I think it was more of myself)

Learner - I didn't really notice this until recently which explains my increased frequency to library. However, learning not necessarily means reading. I learn various skills. When I was young, I enjoy learning notes in the school band, learnt abit of drumming. I picked up cooking. I picked up Weiqi, Salsa, Mahjong, Chinese Chess, IT technologies. My learner theme comes into play as I write this blog as I feel so passionately that I need to share what I learn to confirm my learning. Also, I can see how my Restorative theme and my Learner theme pair up when I play Chinese Chess (although I got thrashed heavily in Viwawa, I kept pressing on... because I want to learn ... and restore). I think my housemates can verify this. They are very much surprised at why I spend so much time playing over and over, losing over and over.. until I finally manage to win abit more consistently.

Harmony - Ah... ok. This one - I am generally nice person :) ... I think the term - Agree to Disagree Agreeably comes into play here? Maybe abit to specific but more of ... as long as general environment friendly and happy, good. A good example is when I play online games (where kids these days generally are so rude, you'd fear for the next generation), I tend to keep quiet and ignore nasty comments than talk back. At the back of my head, I was thinking - it doesn't affect me, why bother.. they can be as rude as they want to be if it makes them happy.

Context - This is an interesting one. This is very true - I feel alot more connected to a person if I get to understand their past. Mixing this with my Restorative nature, I have made use of this strength before in rationalizing why people do what they do. I do love finding more about history' e.g. why Adolf Hitler came to power and yet this mad-man was a son who loves his mother so much. It intrigues me.

Responsibility - Honesty & Loyalty eh. Hmmm... This particular theme, I do feel I have it but sometimes I question it. I thought that probably Positivity would be higher on this list. However, since I wrote my initial comments as such, it could probably mean I have not fully utilised this particular strength. However, I do have a recent example of something I did for my client. I went out of my way, got into some trouble for the sake of my client to ensure that I have acted responsibly in his best interest.

There's alot of things going through my mind after finding out this. As one of my strongest theme is Context, I'm looking back at all the events happening to me and using my learner and restorative strength, I'm rationalizing and determining how I came to be what I am today. Anyway, shouldn't dwell too much on where I'm weak. I'm actually very excited now I know my strengths...... Today is only like Day 1 where I try to notice how my strengths come into play during my daily activity (possibly my learner strength energize me here, ie. applying what I learnt).

Power of the Dream

The lyrics of this song is quite powerful. It changed my life 9 years ago....

I was introduced to it in year 2000. 2000-2001 was an amazing period in my life where I experienced transformational change. A time when I believed "If It Is To Be, It Is Up To Me". A time where impossible means "I M Possible". I have to thank my teacher/mentor Mr. Nyiau for guiding me through those 2 years. (Only recently, I realized alot of techniques he taught us for free - today I'd have to pay few thousand dollars to attend and learn it from "gurus")

Over the past 9 years, alot of things has happened and I was definitely lost somewhere. I've also forgotten about this song and how it transformed me...... I'm glad I found this song again recently - it reminded me of how I personally experienced "Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve".

"I BELIEVE"

I Miss Salsa

Recently, I've been taking up Latin Cha Cha lessons at the nearby Community Centre (CC). Despite having some basic salsa lessons before, I found this dance quite complicated. The steps are still confusing to me. Also, taking lessons at CC is a totally different experience from what I had at JJSalsaRengue where the crowd was much younger and lots more fun.

Anyway, the lessons have revived my interest to wanna go for salsa again. I wonder if my previous salsa kakis are still dancing.... *planning a trip down to Union Square* XD

Blog Revival

"If nothing happens, nothing will ever happen - if you want to change your life, change it today"

I read the above quote in the intro of Peter Tan's book - The legacy of Peter Tan Organization. It struck me. I had intended to revive this blog in January 2009 as part of my 2009 "Resolution". Seems like I'm 2 months late. Nonetheless, ACTION still beats inaction.

Probably one of the most difficult things about writing a blog post is a proper topic. I used to blog mainly about life happenings - treating this blog as an open diary to let people know what I've been up to. Over the past 1 year, sometimes inspirations on blog topics flash into my head as I was on my way to/from work or even when I'm shopping or watched a great movie... some how never got to translate my thoughts into words. I found myself having difficulty structuring my thoughts and tend to lead my readers without any direction..... I gave up very often and saved many posts as drafts.

Now that I've started with this first post in more than 1 year, I'll commit to update this blog at least once a month.

14 days to the end of March.... end of Q1 2009.

Post X'mas Blog Update

Hey hey, it's been a while since I've last posted something on this blog - don't know whether it is because I've been busy or can't seem to find the inspiration to blog.

Since no inspiration to write, so... I shall post some PICTURES!

  

Thwas a fine evening. Although it turned out somewhat different from how I had planned it to be earlier BUT nontheless I think everyone seemed happy. I think only "sad" part was that we had bread, some tuna mayo, canned curry chicken and fried luncheon (looncheon.. lol) meat for dinner (was supposed to go out for makan abuthen ah... scary huge crowds in the shopping malls makes going to Mustafa to buy groceries like a walk in the park). This led to the comment from KY and SL that it was their first "bread-only" meal. Hahaha... luckily they never fainted in the middle of the night nor did they rush to cook the maggi noodles (or did they? hmmm...) in the middle of the night.

After Christmas, soon it'll be a New Year again. - 2008 - can't wait for it to come.... Cheers~! :-)

World MBA Fair

I went to the QS World MBA fair held at Grand Copthorne Waterfront earlier today. The overall experience of going to the fair was good.

I get to see variety of schools AND people who have clear goals and ambitions of what they plan to do with their career. The questions that these people ask to the representatives from the various schools are... interesting. Although my intention to attend this event was more to kapo brochures from the schools that I am keen with and cabut, these passionate people drew my interest to some schools that were not in my initial list. Due to these questions, some of the school reps sold their school's strengths well (maybe I have been tricked by marketing gimmicks. Anyway....). Roughly quote one - "You come in. We repackage you into where you want to be. We are the key to Asia Pacific especially into China".

But of course, after awhile it gets boring with the usual obvious Number 1 question that keeps popping up at every counter -> "Tell me more about your courses specialise in Finance. Which top banks recruit from your school?" (It's all about the money... lalalalala....) I don't deny that I am also very much tempted by the prospect of high paying I-banking jobs but..... is it really something that I desire.......

Anyway, shall not bore you all with all the details - let's say, I was enlightened. Need to do some soul-searching.............

 

(On a side note, there was one particular school that has a booth there but there's no representative. However, that did not deter a huge crowd of prospective candidates flocking to the table and grabbing whatever that was placed on the table. Everyone was fighting with each other trying to pen their names onto the white sheet of paper so that they can be informed of more information. I was thinking... wah... this school SI BEH DAO.... hidung tinggi sia........ abuthen I also squeezed my name onto that piece of paper. Hahaha.... Wharton, thy name is dao. =P)

Microsoft and I

After not blogging for quite some time, I am back again.... posting techie stuff. The reason for this is because my life is currently revolving around Microsoft. I'm thinking "MICROSOFT RULES THE WORLD" (if you think that's exaggerated, then ... let's put it as Microsoft rules my life for now). Work and play with Microsoft products like Word, Live Messenger, Sharepoint Server, etc... When Microsoft says to install critical patches, I would have no choice but to do so. Otherwise, my comp can go die because someone has found some ways to manipulate loopholes in the Microsoft product. I HATE Microsoft for the fact that I had to work OT on Saturday night from 7pm to Sunday 6am trying to install something that is so trivial to them. Maybe I have myself to blame for not understanding the whole picture better (work relationships / benefits, etc which I shall not elaborate here)

Nonetheless, I'm very much impressed by the Microsoft Premier Support Technical Account Manager. It is because of him I gained confidence in Microsoft. Although I'm not satisfied with their products but with him support, I can feel assured that the system will run fine. The only thing that's not nice about him is that whenever he looks over at my pc, he snarls whenver I use google (which his complain is that for every search you make, google earns 14c - use Live Search instead - MS gets 7c), gmail (Live mail is the way to go). Today he introduced this new WindowsLive thingy. I have just finished installing it and giving it a testdrive. So far, I am ..... stunned by the level of improvement Microsoft has made over the past 2 years. ABSOLUTELY SHOCKING. People may argue Microsoft monopolise the market, give low grade products but since working on Sharepoint 2007, Office 2007, MS EasyAssist (the ultimate system problem pWnage tool) and now WindowsLive.... they have a reason to "monopolise" - they cannibalise their own products and introduce new and better ones before their competitors are able to catch up. It's not wonder they hold such huge market shares much to the ire of other software companies.

Anyway, am just testing out this Windows Live Writer for blogging. So far, it's been smooth and I like the way how this tool feels.... For some of you who don't know, Windows Live Messenger 8.5 is out - install it together with WindowsLive - Great Interface. Now, what I need next is maybe an XBox 360 to complete my Microsoft experience. :P

Some thoughts

Another 2 months have passed with me not blogging a post. Have I been busy? Maybe. Actually over the past 2 weeks, I have now grown fearful of server installations especially Microsoft patches. I could not have imagined how difficult it was to get a the system's applications to run after patch installations. I mean, everyone who has a Windows XP pc knows that installing means clicking next, next, next, finish and maybe restart if asked to. It isn't that much different for a server except that due to the complexity of servers and the customisations that have been done on them, there are some unknown compatibility issues of standard patches with different systems. However, the horror of doing all these installations is not because it causes the system to fail. System failing isn't a big deal in technical terms BUT with a bunch of managers whose only concern is that their system is restored A.S.A.P, it just spells trouble. Fortunately I was able to resolve them "in time".

Anyway, I want to rant out the details here but guess I shan't. Blogging too much about work is a bad idea. I can't say that my current situation is good but I don't think I am totally beaten yet. It is an 'interesting' experience to be Project Lead and given a preview of more to come. The main thing right now I feel is that I'm still a n00b in this. With the added responsibility, my old ways of working isn't effective anymore. My colleague once quoted - "Writing emails is like a game of chess". I felt that quote was quite true. Every email that you write, you have to anticipate how your receiver will respond to it and prepare for the next move... until 'Checkmate!'.

Tomorrow is another day. I'll just have to make it a GREAT one.

Wonderful Sunday~

Woah~ I had neglected my blog for another week. The past 2 weeks I had been quite busy rushing to deliver my project items. Software Engineers/Programmers have work cycles - about 3 or 4 phases where at the delivery phase of the project - it's working like a 'cow' ensuring that the project is completed on time. Thank goodness that is over...

Last Sunday I went to "Burn the Floor - Floor Play". It was a GREAT dance show with amazing colorful costumes. One of my favourite 'scene' was the formal ballroom dancing part where the pair were gazing at each other from afar then running to embrace each other then start twirling and twirling - 'waltzing'. The scene was so.... fairy tale like.. nice :-) Overall, I liked it alot. Makes me wanna go dancing again... I've not been to salsa @ Union Square for quite some time now. I REALLY REALLY WANNA DANCE.... but.... but... for now... I need to regain some confidence in my dancing. Haven't danced for quite some time and also feeling intimidated these days by girls who are demanding 'higher grade dance leading'. aih~ CY needs a boost of confidence - needs to learn new tricks and chain the moves into combos that will stun them. Hahaha =P

Today woke up early at 9am for swimming at the nearby Civil Servants Club swimming pool. (Hurray for my housemate who has civil servants priviledges) This morning hor... I was searching frantically for my swimming trunks but wasn't able to locate it in the end. I wondered if I had left it at my old place. So, I had a quick trip to Mustafa and got myself one (oh wonderful Mustafa - 24/7 convenience - everything under one roof - but then hor.. this is like my 4th or 5th time coming here despite staying at Farrer Park for about 4months now.) Anyway, I am quite pleased with myself today that I am able to swim (at least once) the length of the pool without needing to stop at the side - and of course, the final 50m dash back where I was able to keep top speed for..... but after swimming for 3/4 of the distance, I had to abort the race and grab hold of the sides because I was out of breath. That costed me 2 cans of drink.... hai~ Oh well, either way I still wanna go swimming!

Am feeling greedy, wanna do so many things.. =P

The reason to be awake early in the morning...

... is to enjoy a good breakfast. I took this shot at Plaza Singapura's Toast Box. Had their Set A menu with Peanut Butter thick toast. Quite interesting, never had 'thick toast' before. The peanut butter abit too sticky on dry bread - I was having a hard time trying to eat it.

One of my housemate has just realised today that I 'travel' around for breakfast. LOL. But I think most of my housemates assume I start work at abt 830am or maybe earlier - which ..... to their surprise, isn't (Officially at 9am). Although I wake up at about the same time as they do and leave sometimes earlier - I go around hunting for food at Novena, Pek Kio or Dhoby Ghaut (haven't gone any further though , maybe I should try it out some time). A hungry man is an angry man after all - GRRROWL!! =P

Anyway, this is one of the things that I enjoy in life. =)

My Weekend Post

This weekend is relatively uneventful for me. Did my laundry on both Saturday and today. Yesterday afternoon went out to Vivocity - donut hunting. Recently there seems to be a donut fever going on in Singapore. Franchise donuts stores are sprouting all over the city-state rapidly. It started with the donut shop at Raffles City Shopping Center at City Hall MRT.

It is weird that being in Singapore for 5 years now, I have NOT seen a donut store (other than the neighbourhood bakeries or 7-11) before now. In addition, each of these newly opened donut stores attracts long queues - either because their oven is too slow or number of people deprived of donuts is overwhelming. This is especially evident at Raffles City SC where the queue extends across several shops and 'breaks' in between walk-paths - it's scary I tell you. Will try it out one day, either during this Donut Craze period...... or after the craze has died off (like how bubble tea and roti-boy/mama/papa craze has died - till now I don't even know which roti was the original coffee bread... the worst thing is that ..... they are nowhere to be found now.)

On a side note, recently my friends have been receiving these scam phonecalls supposedly from a HK company announcing that they have won a lucky draw. The people involved in this scam is especially organized and unbelievably convincing as what Kenny Sia blogged in this post. So do take care when receiving these suspicious calls.

Happy 42nd Birthday S'pore!

It was a good holiday today. Am feeling very tired after the exhausting queueing at JB customs today. There were so many "Malaysia aliens" were trying to visit the country from Singapore. Being an alien to Malaysia myself, I was also forced into the queue. Crawled with the crowd for more than 1 hour. I could feel my lower back extremely strained - been standing 'straight' for too long. It was a great relieve as I exit the Malaysian customs. I hope the Malaysian authorities can do something about this bottleneck. Passing through Singapore customs is a breeze but on entry into JB, the whole situation changes - I think us non-Malaysians have to avoid entering Malaysia through JB during S'pore public holidays.

Had a GREAT meal at Secret Recipe - Irish Lamb Stew (somehow the mash potato sucks but overall, it's still the award winning stew from Secret Recipe - highly recommended), Frosty Lemon Tea and the all-popular SR Marble Cheese Cake for desert. Ah.... life is good. After lunch, it was already 4pm or so... and everything just went downhill for me. I could feel my energy level drop all the way after walking awhile (less than an hour?). By the time it was 530pm, I beh tahan liaw - feel like sleeping. If there's a comfy bed, I could easily drop and sleep on the spot - so came back to S'pore. Coming back to Singapore was a smoother journey - there was no queue at the JB customs - only queue at the bus stop. However, since I was taking the Singapore-Johor Express (SJE) bus, the queue was "acceptable" as compared with the SBS/SMRT buses which are always packed to the brim such that the interior is so dark (due to people squeezing in body-to-body), you can't see anything inside. Am so glad to be back in 'orderly' Singapore. I think that after being here for 5years now, I feel very spoilt by Singapore's "orderliness".

Anyway - reached Bugis Queen's St bus station at 730pm - took a cab back home to Farrer Park and went to an adjacent block (which has a good view of the city) to catch the NDP fireworks. This year's fireworks is amazing - there were 2 sets! Here some pictures of the fireworks I took:

View of the city from an adjacent block

(29th floor balcony)

Fireworks 1 (smoke formed)

Fireworks 2 (smoke covered most of the fireworks... sad) :(

Amazing weekend at JB

Yesterday went to JB with most of the PGP gang (former PGP? or somewhat PGP outing... hahaha.. maybe should change the group naming to something like - NEL gang or Serangoon-kias) for karaoke session at Neway, City Square. It was a great session with food, friends and of course, lots of FUN! It's unbelievable what RM50 can get you in Neway. The staff were friendly and the level of service they provide is also amazing. It was great value for money. They didn't have additional charges for some of the requests we made especially for the birthday cake. We had planned to celebrate Chai^2's b'day during the session.

It was to be a surprise for him but I think he did suspect something since from experience, it is somewhat expected. Anyway, back to about the service - JH and I went out to the counter to ask if we could buy a cake from outside and leave it with them. The staffs were more than happy to oblige. So, we quickly went down to Basement 1 where SECRET RECIPE is located and took our time to choose the cake. We chose the classic cheesecake and requested the SR staff to write a message - "Happy B'day to chai^2". Well, the message was very 'cincai-ly' written but I suppose we can ask for too much since it was like an impromptu request. The packing of this cake hor.... I wish I had taken a photo of it. I super suaku leh - it was a very nice red box with the knife attached with a ribbon. The box is then placed inside a high quality red bag? Anyway, I'd give it 100% for packing. It feels exclusive - unfortunately the rest of the gang only get to see & eat the cake. Oh well, I wondered if anyone knew it was SR cheesecake? hmmm.... the cheesecream was super thick - sinful sia...

Going back to the story - we brought the cake to the counter at Neway and gave instructions to bring in the cake at 830pm - which none of us knew how they are going to do it. At 830pm, we were shocked when the music selected on screen stopped and changed to a Birthday song. Although I knew it was 830pm I thought someone had spoilt our plan for the celebration - as in selected the b'day song before the cake came.... and it was then .. the door opened with one of the Neway staff holding the cake with a candle lighted. It even caught me by surprise... after that, they brought in a bottle of sparkling juice complimentary for b'day boy. Amazing...

After the whole event was over, I felt satisfied... somewhat made me feeling good today - I didn't have my PMBS today. It has been quite awhile since the last time we had such a large group outing and where everyone gets to interact rather than stare at computer screens shouting "Go back - Go back - You N00bcakes!"

Happy B'day Chai^2 SL.

Weekend almost here...

.... and I am still alive. Surprisingly my prediction of a 70hour week last Sunday never came true. Something just doesn't feel right although I DON'T ENJOY working looong hours but it just seems weird. Anyway, it is good that my working hour remains as it is. I like the freedom and minimal supervision that I am having at the moment due to my "merits" gained in the previous phase... and some other issues which I am not allowed to discuss here.

Testing out lights at Marina bay (very nice blue setting)

This week has been quite interesting for me so far. On Monday, I went out for dinner with my former TCS-SG-India gang (only 2 of us left... sad...) and a former colleague who is leaving for India on Tuesday. We went to have crabs at the famous Mellben Seafood stall at Ang Mo Kio (Think this was the one that chai^2 was introducing to the rest of us previously). I'm not a big fan of crabs (as my family members would know) but the crabs here were quite good tasting. We ordered 2 types - the usual chilli crab? and the creamy butter crab. Both the crabs were humungous and ... the creamy butter crab was delicious. Even my that Indian friend who supposedly only likes spicy food is amazed by its taste. It was a very filling dinner and I had to clear the final HUGE pincer that was left on the plate. I'll post that photo once I get it. It's huge I tell you... scarily huge....

ps. Although I posted about this good crab meal, I'm still not that big fan of crabs (and prawns). Hahaha.. I don't hate it, it's just that I don't have a special craving for it. I crave for sushi more.. hahaha.. (As my parents or most of my friends might comment - hai~ CY don't know how to appreciate good seafood -> coz "too si1 wen2?" =P)

Another week has passed

People usually mention about Monday blues. Over the past 2years that I have been working, I don't think I have ever truly experienced a "Monday Blues". What I have experienced is an irritating PMBS (Pre-Monday Blues Syndrome). Sunday is unbelievably irritating when I don't have things to do. I don't really remember having this feeling last year - but then, it might've been due to my Sunday evenings were always filled with Salsa lessons. Aih~ Once Monday comes, I'll feel a lot better because I get back into the "groove". I enjoy weekdays because I seem to be most energetic ..... well, at least in the mornings. After work, I feel totally burnt out. The more I "need" to use my brain concentrate at work, the more burned out I would feel after work. I feel I need a change of environment.

Newspapers have been reporting good rewards and compensations for work in the finance industry. I am quite tempted to join this industry... But then hor, the other day I went to a leading bank to open an account, I notice something that is not right. This particular bank has quite a number of beautiful front-desk ladies. (Another good reason to join them no? :P) Although they were beautiful, one look at their face, you would be so turned off - unhappy, stressed. Where's the "smile" that people can expect from them? =/ Looking around, I found more "unhappy" faces. From this I can tell that I should avoid working for this bank as far as possible. I have heard rumours about them before but rarely paid any attention. Oh well, but then I do also believe that wherever you work, there is bound to be some "blocks" or unsatisfaction. It's just that I'm feeling very much unsatisfied with my scope of work. Ah... my project is ending next month. I foresee 70hrs work week coming up as what happened to me back in Mar/Apr this year.

Interesting quote of the day:
The amount of sleep required by the average person is about 5 minutes more.

Some pics I took with my handphone over the past year

S'pore Primary School Kids with a High-tech Fujitsu Tablet (*envious*)

There was a guy with a shotgun hunting crows at Tanjong Pagar

Thiruvanmiyur?? No - Queenstown mrt station due to someone committing suicide by jumping on train tracks a few stops away

Haze in Oct 2006 (Jurong East Interchange facing IBP)

Stole a shot of Esplanade Theatre (The usher saw me and warned me not to take any pictures... so... shhhh.... :P)

CY Chai, "Minister for the Slacking" giving his speech (this one wasn't taken using Handphone... but ... uploaded here anyway.. haha)