Professional Vs Monetary Goals

There's an interesting debate on air FM83.8, choosing between professional goals and monetary goals. Which one is more important? One says monetary is important because we work because of money, while the other says if we do not have professional goals, it will be meaningless in life to move on. Its a chicken and the egg debate again :p

Let me share an incident with you:
My sister's friend was previously working in a building industry (Its a very stressful job). So she changed to a banking industry. It’s a 9-5pm job and is highly paid. For the first 3 months, it was wonderful because she can go back on time and no stress. After 1 year later, she's feel a bit bored with a job but still alright for her. After 2 years later, she felt lifeless in the job. Unfortunately, she could not go back to the building industry anymore. So, she's stuck with her high paid and yet monotonous job now.

For my 2cents worth of thoughts, I agreed that professional goal is more important than monetary. When you have passion in your work, there’s something to look forward everyday. You will not mind whether you are working, 8 or even 12 long hours. You will still feel energize, doing something that you really passion about.. When people know you are good, they will keep coming back to you. And of course, your monetary will be rewarded too..

So don’t keep thinking "I want a high paid job", rather think what do u want to achieve and working towards that goal in your life.

Porfolio Interview

It's time for me to recharge! Had Porfolio Interviews with the 2 ARTs School that i had in mind.

1ST Interview
Went to the first interview was so intimidating. 3 experienced lecturers were bombard me with questions.. And one lecturers were saying my work is too commercialise. (C'mon we are in commericalise world, must deliver something that your clients or the target audiences like, rite?)

Cant remember the exact qns they ask, but i find their qns are quite redundant haha

Qn: if you were accepted by the school, will you able to do something different from what you have been doing all the while?
Ans: I come here to learn new things, new concepts and hope that the school is able to inspires me. Of course i will want to do something different that i did in the past. And also to push my skills to another level.

Qn: If we give you a 8000 words disseration to write. Could you write and how well do you think you can write?
Ans:(Thinking to myself again: How am i suppose to know if i write well?) Well, I wont know as i never write reports or disseration before...

and all lecturers just keep quiet... !@#$%%

Qn: Well, you got yourself a diploma in multimedia. Why you did not continue to get a degree in multimedia?
Ans: I start work as a web designer. I have slowly build my passion in doing web and print media and non of my portfolios are from multimedia. So i feel that its inappropriate to continue my multmedia studies.

(Guess what the lecturer says? Lecturer A says "I think you should try and apply for multimedia degree." Have i not explain myself clearly? or they have not been listening...)

Qn: What do think about "Contemporary Arts" today?
Ans: (Thinking to myself: Is this a must ask qn) I feel that art is very subjective and these days, designs are recycled or reproduced. To create new concepts and ideas, you will have to experiments and reseach, at the same time meeting your clients tight deadline.

Good ideas are hard, great ideas are even harder.


2ND Interview
The 2nd interview was short and sweet. The 2 lecturers actually listen to what i want to say and response accordingly. At least i felt comfortable with them during the interview. I showed them my work and they did not have much issue with that.

After listen to what i say, they recommend me to consider a 2 year degree instead of one year. Reason is, the extra one year allow me to develop my thinkin skills and not to rush through it just to get a degree. Although its 2 year degree programme, i have no big issues with that as i could always work freelance at the same time, to stay in touch with the industry.

Have been thinking and thinking all over again.. but after these 2 interviews.. Yes! I have decided which school i want to go..

Wedding Dinner

Attended a friend's wedding dinner. Nothing much to talk about actually except.. last night photo session, whereby the groom and the bride have to go round every table to take photos, it was quite a hipcup.

First, the photo session was almost completed and somehow they realised that missed out our table.. never mind, then when we about to take the photo, the banquet just went out of light. It took 5-10 mins or so to get the light back.. and when i was just standing beside my friend (bridegroom), his wife suddenly asked him to swap places. She says would be better if she stands next to me.. why does she means better? I really don’t know.. and our photo is finally taken!

This reminds me of "sex and the city", i remembered that’s one part it says something like why married woman can never allow her hubby to be good friends with single woman.. is it because they are so conscious and worried that their hubbys or bfs will be snatch or stray? They should have much more faith in their the other half right? if its so easily snatch, then it will never be theirs in the first place..

Every relationship needs commitments, chemistry and understanding. If one of them fails, the relationship will simply just fall apart, even there's no 3rd party..

Hunk on my blog

Have become 2 days fan of bryan wong, whos the finalist from Mediacrop's "Star Idol". I hardly watch star idol, only watch it when im at home on wed nite. I heard he was back in the competition, after he gets out from one of the rounds. And now, hes one of the last two finalist that is vying for the Star Idol title!

I never know who he really is until yesterday i was asked to do his posters, banners, publicity in the website and make t-shirts. Have to write supportive text like "You are our star idol", "We are behind You" haha! Really done a fair bit in his publicity hehe.. Mediacorp just give us his hunkie photo.. beach boy look.. wow must admit that hes really a hunk!

First time doing designs for an idol(although he's not my idol), it's really fun experience but also a very tiring one.. have been OT for 2days because of him!

Ohh no.. gonna missed this final star idol show on sunday cos i got to attend my friend's wedding! Too bad.. Friends over rulez Hunk yah..

20 years of friendship

Everytime when people says "Wow, You knew each other since primary school?" yah yah yah.. to many people its amazing to have a friendship for so long.

19, 20, or 21 Years of Friendship huh?! Two of us cannot even count the years right ourselves, let alone other people.. always have this problem counting it right, even after so many years later, that we are giving up counting!

So how did we achieve it? I guess we just simply put ourselves in each other life. Sharing our happiness and sadness together.. tolerate each other bad habits and learning each other good habits.. sometimes taking each other for granted and before we know it.. its 20 years!!! Time really flies.. (yes i know its such a cliche statement haha...)

20 years of friendship is never enough! I wished to continue this friendship for life. This year, going back to the old school, makes us bring back some of the good, old memories. Lets us celebrate such a meaningful year together, shall we?

Walking down memory lane

Walking along the pathway of sidewalk, as the wind blew onto my face, i could feel that breeze and the rustling of the leaves on the trees seems to welcome me back to the old school :)

My friends and I were so excited as we set our first foot on the school's concrete. It has been so many years since we went back. Everything is so new and fresh. It's like going back to a new playground. There are so many new things in the school. New building extension, new chapel, extended field etc. of cos there are familiar places like the roof garden, having mirrors and wind chimes around the school and sisters bridge!

Everything seems to reduced in size and length!
Walk from pri block to sec block, seems much faster.
The railling in the spectators stand seems so much lower.
The classroom seems smaller then it used to be..

Many places have been renovated and improved. However, i felt that the school has lost some "X" factors from these changes. The classrooms no longer have plants deco in the balcony and teacher room has partitions, there were some chalk scribbling on the walls, metal railing on some of the staircases. Somehow i feel that it makes the school a "colder" place to study in.

The school still retains a fountain "Ying Shui Si Yuan". It means when u are happy, never forget how your happiness come from.

"We must never forget our root and we must love one another" - That's what my principal always says.

I will never forget how my teachers have taught me with all their hearts esp. my Pri 2 Chinese teacher. She has taught me how to appreciate mandarin which i have a strong Chinese foundation background now. I felt guilty for not being appreciative for what they have taught. Of cos, there’s no way to revert the past. I could only make myself a more useful and a better person.

My friends and I were so enthusiastic this whole trip, we were chatting nonstop. Discussing about what naughty things we have done in the past and the school myths that were passed down from batches by batches.

I really enjoyed myself on Saturday. Despite i was sick and tired, i felt that it was very fulfilling and fruitful trip and these good memories will always stay in my heart.

Donate or not?

Feeling:

Yesterday, I was sick. Had a bad sore throat so went to see my doctor. After the consultation, I walked to the nearby hawker to take my "brunch" (Breakfast cum Lunch).

While waiting for my food, a 40+ year old man came over and asked me to buy some donations coupons. Some of his coupons looked worn and crumble. As there are too many donations fraud cases going around, i do not wish to become another victim. He said that he got license to sell these tickets. I shook my head and despite im having a bad sore throat, i still told him nicely that I did not want to buy any of his coupons.

He’s quite persistent to ask me to buy. But I still turned him down flatly. He got no choice and took back the coupons and to my horror, this old man said: "Only 2 Dollar what.. What so big deal of buying two dollar coupon? Don’t buy, don’t buy lah."

I was shocked by his words. Yes, its no big deal of buying 2 dollar donation coupons. It’s way how he behaved. He was doing charity work. Shouldn’t he be humble or should not force anyone else to buy or even making such remarks. He should try to make the public understand that he or the charity organisation are truly and genuinely wants to give the donation to the needy.

I always believe that charity should always come from the sincere heart and not do it with any special motive.

PS. I cant find the Charity Organisation logo on the coupon and he did not show me his proper identification too.

Magic Numbers

What does it takes to become a millionaire? What is your magic number?

“It doesn't matter whether you earn ten thousand dollars a year or a million dollars a year as long as you've done the best you can. The essence of life is growth. It is doing the best you possibly can. Here's what is interesting: humans are the only life form that will do less than they possibly can. Humans are the only life form that will settle for less. All other life forms except human beings strive to their maximum capacity.” Jim Rohn, the world's leading motivational speaker, philosopher and entrepreneur.

In November 2005, MSN Money published a poll about how much it took to consider yourself rich, and 11,459 people responded. Here are the results:

3% $100,000
8% $500,000
19% $1,000,000
19% $2,000,000
25% $5,000,000
26% more than $5,000,000

More than half of the respondents thought it takes at least $5,000,000 to be rich. Some one ever said that if you ever get $5,000 in the bank you would be rich.

Jim Rohn says we should earn all we can (and give away all we can). How much are you going for, and what are you doing to get it? And, the big question, why?

It’s Not Really “How Much?” But “What For?”

A book on my “must read” list is “The Number: A Completely Different Way To Think About The Rest Of Your Life” by Lee Eisenberg. I came across it at www.corecharacter.com. It has many great philosophy and interesting articles.

The idea behind the book is that our financial planning should produce a magic number – a dollar amount that would make us “feel financially secure and not worry about running out of money.” But, Eisenberg says, that’s “only half of the story.” Before determining a dollar amount, we need to know why we want it.

“It’s not really ‘how much?’ but ‘what for?’" Eisenberg says. “And if you can’t ask the two questions at the same time, first ask ‘what for?’ Then worry about finding how you need to get there.”

Perhaps that principle applies equally to all aspects of what we do, every goal we have, and not just money. “What do I need and what do I need it for?”

I want to be rich!

Theres a young man who has been complaining why he cant be rich and always blamed god for not helping him to become a rich man.

One day he was at the beach. As usual, hes complaining again. An old man heard him and tells him:"Young Man, i can make you rich within a short time but you need to give something precious from you".

This young man was thinking "This old man has nothing precious to take away from me" Of course this young man has agreed readily.

The old man starts to say: "If i give you $50,000, in exchange for your fingers, would you want?" the young man shake his head.

The old man continues to say: "If i give you $100,000, in exchange for your leg, would you want?" the young man shake his head even harder.

This time the old man says: "If i give you $1,000,000, in exchange for the other side of your legs and arms, would you want?" the young man shake his head profusely.

So the old man says "With such a gift of healthy hands and legs, You have already gained more than $100,000. If you willing to work hard. You will succeed."

With the old man words, this young man has truely understand that complaining and self-pity will not solved any problems. Only strive to work hard will lead to success!

They say there are five ways to become rich:
1. Work hard
2. Get lucky
3. Inherit it
4. Marry into it
5. Illegal activities (hey you still gotta work hard and to make sure the police do not catch you)

I'll try to stick with #1 but I'm making no guarantees.

I felt that some of us may tend to envy rich people. Dont envy them as they might have gone through lots of hardships before getting rich. If you havent succeed, you havent try hard enough..

Here's my work philosophy. Be Sensitive, Diligent and Flexible.

Sensitive - Sensitive to the market and demand
Diligent - Diligent in your work. Meet deadlines and willing to give an extra mile.
Flexible - Flexible to change yourself to suit the environment

So dont give up!

Interview Tips

Was at Career Fair 2006, i attended this interesting Seminar "Interview - Different Jobs and Different Preparation" by Mr Colin Koh who is from Singapore Professional Centre.

He quoted many interview tips.. Here are what i have digest and let me share them with you.
1) Verbal Skills - Most employers are looking for most talented employee. Therefore you need to be creative during the interview. Try not answer them with "most commonly used answers". As they might have listen too many times from the other interviewees.

2) Enthusiasm - Show the interviewer your "energy" or your passion towards your job, and you are sincere and keen about this job and what you could have contribute to the company. But do not be too carried away.

3) Be Prepared - Do your homework. Do some research on what this company does and its background.

4) Body Language - Constantly check your own sitting posture and the body language will tell your interviewer whether how confident are you.

5) Never talk about salary, incentives, benefits unless they have confirm you.

Most employers would have know what are your skills set as you would have written "black and white" in your resume. Interviews are meant for interviewer to test whether you are really suitable for the job and how comfortable they are with you when you talk to them.

So just be prepared, be natural and your dream jobs will come natural along the way. Good Luck!

Gal or Guy?

I love making myself beautiful but i hate to remove makeups
I love dishwashing but hates to cook
I love mopping but hates vacum the floor
I love to think a lot of things at one time but i cant multitasking
I love to do coding but hates to understand them initially
I love to choose but hates hassle
I love shopping but will be focus on what i want to buy
I love listening to other people comments but hates to talk
I love traveling but bad at reading maps
I love sci-fic / action movies more than romance movies

Start to ponder, am i a gal or a guy?

Friends Forever?

Everyone always tells their friends, they'll be "Friends Forever," but how often does that last? You might be best friends one year, pretty good friends then next, don't talk often the next year, and don't want to talk the year after that!

This morning, my best friend share a friendship quote with me.
"A Just Friend will think their friendship has ended after a big fight.
A Best Friend will think they are still friends after a big fight."

This quote is so true! How many times have we have quarrel with our best friends over some trivial things or misunderstandings (might be due to 3rd party's badmouth). We could be stop talking for a week, or worse, not talking after that! So are we "Just Friends" or "Best Friends" when we claim to be in the past? I can't help but feeling friendships are so fragile these days.

Friends Just Comes In and Out of our Life. Some would just Pop By and say HI, some would stay for a period while others would choose to remain in our life. So, I just wanted to say, I do cherish every friendship that comes along in my life. Even though they might be a "Pop By" friend, "Just friends" that stay in for awhile, or "Best Friends" that stay close with me for a lifetime.

New Look, New Directions

Last week someone is complaining that im still using Bae Yong Jun's face (the hottest and most popular korean actor in 2002-2004) face in my blog after so many years... Okay Okay i change.

Got up early in the morning. First thing on my mind is change my blog template and design. Login to blogger site and realised how much blogger has improved its capabilites and features. Newbies can blog directly without having to know any of the coding. I must say its much more user-friendly, compared to 2002 when i first started by blogging. I have to learn coding before i can blog cos i want to custom-made my blog. It can be quite frustrating if i cant understand the coding at all! Okay some companies do change and improve with times.

Wanted to design something personal. Something which tells my identity. After much brainstorming, decide to draw a southpark caricature of myself. If you notice, I have a pair of angel wings on my back as well as a pair of devil's horn on my head. It means that i can be an angel as well as a devil as and when i want to. Im NOT a god. Im just a human being who has feelings and making mistakes intentionally or unintentionally. I will spread my wings to those who needs my help. I will use my devil horns to attack those who is trying to harm me.

With this new look, hope will improve in my writing skills and inspires me with new directions in life :)

Blog template problem

I was upset that i cant get my new design template up on the blog just now. As it is the new template and layout, all my old postings got haywired under the new template. I think something got to do with the rows and columns of the table.

Have been spending a day to come out with this template. i refuse to give up just like that. After few trial and errors, i have decided not to republished the entire blog. Just published the new posting only. So that the rest of the old postings will remains the old look.

Any better suggestions on how to import old postings into new template?

My FIRST Slide Phone

Holding on carefully with my left hand as I use my thumb to slide up the sleek and lightweight Samsung D500. The feeling is fantastic! A phone that has it all. This is my first slide phone. Always wanted to get a slide phone but the price of the slide phone is always way too expensive.

My first slide phone, which i had in mind, was Nokia 8850. Its much more slim and sleek, which it was in real matt metal. Even til now I still think that it has the most beautiful design phone over these years. No any other phone can match it. But of course every phone comes with a price. It cost around $800 when it first came out and have never drop lower than $600. Sad to say, it was out of my spending budget!

Yap, no special or extra features. It doesn’t has the latest technology like color graphics or animations, 1.3 mega pixel camera, mp3 player, bluetooth, WAP, 3G etc. What it has was the infrared but it was a very simple and yet a stable phone and stable enough to make calls and sms. And of course, it won’t even getting phone viruses! Although the market has no longer sells it, but it has left a deep impression on me.

It’s quite disheartened to see how unstable or awful appearance Nokia phones are nowadays. How ironic when it was considered the leading mobile technology in the past. Would really appreciate that NOKIA would really come out something nice and good if it still want to keep itself as the top notch leader in the mobile industry.

Is their Service Good or Bad?

"Ding Dong!" Here comes the *hub delivery man just delivered my NEW Samsung D500 which i have been waiting for! My eyes were fixed onto my new phone, and almost completely ignored the delivery man who were standing at my doorstep. Ah Ha... With such Extra Value-Added Good Services should be compliment.

On the other hand, I faced a few bad experiences with *hub customer service. Just getting this phone, getting a new service line and retaining my old no. Seems so HARD!

Not to mention the name, I shall call the officer who settle my account, Ms Service. At first, i just wanted to get a new line. Ms Service suggested that i should get a new phone too cos the phone will be much more cheaper when getting a new line. As my Samsung E600 charger has spolit (luckily i have spare charger) . i decided to go for Samsung D500, since its a relatively considered a good phone.

According to her, there were no stocks in D500. So i asked her about few other phones. To my surprised, all the other phones which i asked, were all out of stock as well. I asked her when will the stock arrived? She said that she cant tell. So I challenged her by asking "Since all popular are out of stock then how *hub run the business for these few days?" She's simply tongue-tighted. Ok fine. I shall wait.

The next hour, Ms Service called me and tell me that the stock just came in (How "efficient" yah) and asked me fax my application immediately. I told her that im rushing some work at the moment and ask her if i could send half an hr later. She says she will knock off at 8, should be alright. I faxed my application at 7. I told her if she didnt receive my fax, CALL ME. Apparently, she didnt call me so i assume that she has received my fax.

The next day, i called her and asked if she has receive my fax. She told me she did not receive my fax and i asked her why didnt she call me. She explained that she knocked off at 7. But i clearly remembered that she says she will knocked off at 8! Ok nevermind... The bad issue is that she told me that she couldnt get her manager to approve my application. So she cant proceed and I will need to wait for the next batch to come in. This might take about few weeks or even months, according to her. Which i refused to wait! In the first place, she should have called me when she didnt receive my fax! I told her nicely that no matter what she have to settle this for me. Finally she managed to find her manager and get it settled for this case.

The next saga is I wanted my old no to be retained. So i called Ms Service again. She told me as my HP application has sent out. It will be slower for her to do the no rentention for me. She asked me to call another dept to do the no rentention. I called the department and that department says that they do not handle corporate no rentention and transfer me to another department. Before i know it, my issue is passed back to Ms Service.

This time i got pissed off. Is that the way how customer care service treat their customers? Asking them to go round and round in circles. Is that my problem on how their business run or how messy are their procedures? To be frank, most customers dont not sympathy what kind of problem your company faced at your backend side. Customers just want to get the things done or get what they want.

So, Ms Service called me the next day and told me that she will hand everything and settled ALL for me. This sage is finally CASE CLOSED.

6th Toastmaster Meeting

Yap, went to my 6th toastmaster meeting at SP last night. It was pleasant experience to listen and learn from new members. Nope, not doing any project at all. I was appointed to be the ah-counter for the night. The main role is to take note of words and sounds used as a "pause filler" by anyone who speaks during the meeting. Words like "and", "well", "but", "so", "you know" and sounds like "ah", "um", "er" are inappropriate interjections.

Its always a different experience in every month's meeting. Meeting and networking with new people. Learning Word of the day eg. "Contemporary", learning how member handles their table topics to talk non-stop for 1-2mins. Its really a challenging. I have done a couple of times but i would say its not easy task. It actually stimulates your mind. You have to learn how to make your mind think faster than you normally do. To say something that is constructive and entertaining.

After listening to good speakers sharing their life experiences last night. I am more determined, motivated and looking forward to make my 3rd project speech at my 7th toastmaster meeting next month!

Change for the Better

From 19 Jun 2005 til 22 Feb 2006, A lot of things have happened to me. Still at the same old co but my perception in life has changed slowly. Thanks to a bunch of good colleagues around me. Their cheerfulness, their straightforwardness and they dare to point and talk about their own views freely. I seems to have learn slowly from them. I need not have to be scared or even worrying that i might say wrong things at any time. Changing to be more open-mind and speak up my own views and giving suggestions when needed.

Im excited this new change in me. I was afraid to do this and that in the past. I have not really transformed myself yet.. but theres a little voice inside me is shouting, "hey u need to change!" And i know i have to do it.

I went to sign up SP toastmaster club. The meetings were very enjoyable. Everytime i went there i felt that i learn new things, new perspectives, how others faced problem and yet moving on.. I learnt to handle and coping my own problems. How to have positive thinking. It is indeed an interesting learning ground. Im now still a larva who is waiting to transform into a beautiful butterfly.

I know its not easy to transform and it takes time. Im really ready to let the society transform me. To make me a better person, flexible in thinking and to help others who are trying to overcome the problems in their life.

Will update this blog regularly so that i can keep track on my own "personal growth".