Thursday, April 29, 2010

Cowboys

When has the term "Cowboys" take on a different meaning? When I was with Thailand with my wife, I learnt of the place called 'Soi Cowboys' which is really a seedy place in Thailand. Some tourists visit Thailand mainly to catch these seedy places of interests in Thailand.

Just some days ago, I read of the news that there exist a group of "Cowboys' in Bali. As I did not know the term then, I thought that these are real cowboys, those you see on Western movies,
big muscular guys wearing a jungle hat and riding on horses, always doing some heroic acts and saving damsels in distress.

It shocked me to read that these Indonesian Cowboys are infact muscular gigolos! The news reported that some ladies actually flock to the beaches of Bali for these cowboys.

With this era, the image of Cowboys has since been tarnished!

World Cup Soccer 2010 to be shown LIVE on Singapore TV

The dust over the screening of all the 64 soccer matches of the World Cup 2010 has finally settled. Singaporeans will be able to view these matches live on Singapore TV on paid channels while Mediacorp will show selected matches of the Soccer tournament!

It is a great news for football fans to view these not-to-be-missed soccer matches which occur every 4 years! I am truly excited and the momentum of World Cup Soccer manaic will begin now with World Cup kicking off on 11 June! I am not a fan of English Premier League or other major soccer leagues, neither am I a fan of Manchester United Football or Chelsea Football but I truly want to catch some great matches of World Cup 2010!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Housing Agents

From today onwards, I will share with you my interesting take on some of the occupations in Singapore. Let me start off today with the work of a Housing agent as Housing property news from resale HDB flat to overpriced private properties in Singapore is the rage these days!

Mr Li is a housing agent or you can also call him a property agent. He is busy every day of his working hours, day
and night, receeing new flats or resale flats with potential buyers.

Mr Li was a Army platoon commander while serving his National Service. He drew parrallels between what he is doing now as a career with his National Service Stint: " Back in National Service, I was busy leading a team, storming jungles and receeing for enemies. Now, everyday, I am busy leading a group of buyers, storming new flat, new property launces and new condominiums and receeing for the features of the new flat that are a plus to the buyers!"


Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Of Goals setting, Time Management and Financial Management

goals, time management, goal setting, financial management, health management

All of us are very different from one another, in terms of character, appearance, mindset, qualifications, and wealth among other attributes. But what is common to all of us is the fact that each of us has only 24 hours a day.

I view 24 hours a day very limited
as I have quite a number of goals to achieve. With time as a premium, I treat each and every hour of my life very importantly and aim to maximize and optimize every second of my life towards my goals.

I have quite a number of commitments in life! However I am faced with a very limited amount of time which is 24 hours a day of which more than half are spent in work, commuting and sleep on every weekday, freeing only slightly more hours for my own disposal come weekends.

With this fact in mind, I have learnt the importance of prioritization. Steven Covey summed it all in essence: “First thing First” that means to do the most important things or work hard to achieve the things that matter to you the most FIRST!

When you prioritize, some things will get first in your priority while others less important will be relegated to the backburner. Prioritization involves weeding out unproductive things that hamper your goal towards success. There is a host of unproductive things that each of us does everyday and I am also guilty of doing some of these. Hence I have made up my mind long time ago to stop or give up engaging in activities that drains one of his or her precious time, time which could be better spent in doing activities towards one’s goals.

I believe success is inextricably linked to time management. If you set up some time endeavoring, trying, doing things that lead to your goals, you and I will achieve success one day!

Beside managing time, another part of our lives that needs our considered and judicious management will be that of our own personal finances.

When we are young, we do not care about our own finances, it is often when we are working that we start to find that expenditures soon become more than what we save. I have experienced it myself but this is not to say that I am a spendthrift. I am a saver but in life and especially in a high-paced society with such a high cost of living in Singapore, money will always be not enough. We need quite a substantial amount of money for marriage, for bringing up of our children, for the education of our children from kindergarten to university as well as for our own retirement needs.

On this note, many have resorted to investing, passive income and other methods of earning an income to supplement their basic taking-homes. The rationale is to make money work harder for you.

In a nutshell, time management and financial management are paramount in our lives. Underpinning these priorities is the need to stay healthy and hence we will need to find time to exercise and stay fit for life!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Buy Jewellery



Buying jewellery seems to reside in the domains of ladies per se, and it seems to be that only woman knows all about jewellery, however that is not always true. Guys like me do certainly acquire a fair knowledge of jewellery when we start to look around for the engagement ring to propose to our wife and wedding band for marital bliss .

It can be really a daunting task for a man without any knowledge of jewellery to start the search for the jewellery, culminating in the final purchase!

First of all, one has to learn the jewellery parlance: from the clarity, cut of the diamond on the engagement ring to the colour of the diamond as well as how the number of carats of the diamond is measured.

Next, one will need to sound out to his partner what is the type of engagement wedding ring she is interested. These will require questions like asking what colour of the diamond, what is the number of carats, what is the cut (VVSI or VVSII, for example) and most importantly the size of the wedding ring which is suitable for your significant other (else the engagement ring may not fit!)

Then it will be heading down to the jewellery shops at the shopping centres or in the heartland malls. In Singapore, there are hundreds of jewellery shops from Aspial Jewellery, Lee Hwa Jewellery, to GoldHeart Jewellery, TianPo Jewellery among many others. The guy will usually flit from one shop to another, asking the service officer at these shops to produce all the rings which meet the 'buying specifications' and then comparing prices to decide whether the ring to be purchased will meet the ultimate budget of the guy.

Coming back to my very own experience, it is really a meaningful thing to go looking for a great wedding engagement ring for my Dear! It was also a very fun and enriching experience as I get to know about the nuts and bolts of jewellery. For example, I was shocked to learn that a diamond of fewer carats on a ring could cost less than one with more carats and the difference is due to the fact that the former diamond is cut and sphered more professionally!

Diamonds has always be marvelled upon by man since time immemorial. This Perfect stone does really symbolizes Perfect Love and the strength and beauty of the diamond is always being seized upon by jewellery shops as a symbol of the everlasting eternity of love and this thinking has since been ingrained into the DNA of all of us!

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Chat

Chatting is part and parcel of life. Chatting is informal and is usually done with your family, boss, friends and colleagues. Chatting is part of our daily conversation and presentation to others and it is hence important that in chatting, we observe good chatting ethnics.

Unlike official business presentation, when we chat and communicate casually, we are giving others a deeper insight of us. In chatting with colleagues, bosses or friends, we are often relaxed but in this relaxed mood, we should always be discerning and not to speak more than what should be.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Double Helix Bridge

The Marina Bay Double Helix bridge will be opening this Saturday 24 Apr 2010! This opening will be marked by a fanfare of celebrations with dances, performances and fireworks!

Unlike what I have thought previously, the Double Helix bridge is not a vehicular bridge. It is a pedestrian bridge which
links one part of the Marina Bay area to the integrated resorts.

With the opening of the Integrated Resorts in just a few weeks time, the whole of Marina Bay will be transformed into Singapore's latest crowning jewel. What will be in the pipeline will be the completion of the new downtown, the Singapore's second financial district at Marina Bay as well as the Marina Bay Botanic Gardens!

With these developments, together with the Marina Barrage, the newly opened Circle Line as well as the existing developments at Marina Bay such as the Esplanade and the Flyer, the splendid Marina Bay is indeed an area that is not to be missed by all visitors to Singapore!

The whole of Marina Bay is really a great place for sightseeing and visit for tourists and for me a Singaporean, Marina Bay is a great place to relax after a hard day of work!

Kudos to the authorities for its meticulous planning to create a wonderful living place out of our limited land! Who would imagine that Singapore will have a universal studio right here on our doorstep at Sentosa?

There was a suggestion in the newspapers yesterday in which a reader wrote suggesting that Pulau Ubin be turned into a retirement village. Pulau Ubin with its lush vegetation and mostly untamed environment could be recreated to become an ideal idyllic place to retire, he argued. Well, I think the writer's suggestion is quite good just that such a 'retirement village' should be implemented in a controlled manner else the influx of Senior Singaporeans will blight the natural charms of Pulau Ubin... and we will soon lost the last frontier of rural Singapore.
Please read this post for my and my Dear visit there!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Fruits, Vegetables and Exercises

I know all of us are encouraged to consume 2 servings of fruits and vegetables, as so advised by the Health Promotion Board for better Health. I also know that we are strongly encouraged to exercise 2 to 3 times per week for healthier bodies. I know these facts but like many, putting them into practice can be really a challenge.

With the busy hectic lifestyles we lead, in the office, we would normally just gobble down all the MSG-laden noodles and rice and snack up on unhealthy snacks hurrily. There are definitely some fruits for sale at the many cafes, coffeeshops but I do not consume them; the reason being that these cut fruits are often sold at such a mark-up from the prices sold at the markets and secondly have being cut and exposed to the surroundings for hours, how much of the original vitamin content can be retained?

I have brought some fruits before to the office. However, it is rather challenging to eat them in the office when it is always so busy at work. In the past, I tend to gnaw on apples with the skin on, as health experts have told us that the skin contains great nutrients for health. However with the increased use of pesticides, it is now a tad dangerous to be eating apples this way, lock, stock and barrel. If you bring a shaver to shave off the skin, you will be eating away some time from work just to do that and it can be hardly excusable if you have a hectic work schedule.

To embrace healthy living, we need to exercise. However with the many hours committed at work, we come back home, tired and still have to deal with our own personal affairs, as a result, many become couch potatoes the moment they return home...staying glued to the TV.

It really takes discipline to find time to eat that two fruits and two servings of vegetables a day and exercise for at least 20 min for a minimum of 3 times per week. I am still faring okay.. having some exercises here and there, popping a muli-vitamin (as a substitute for fruits).....

Monday, April 19, 2010

Computer

Computers are a boon to humans. But sometimes, I wonder whether it would be a good idea to revert back to the past when there are no computers and internet.

Facing the computer for more than 8 hours every working day is certainly no joke. Coming home, like many others, I would
still switch on the computer and the internet and clear my arrays of emails, check for the latest news and happenings on my favorite blogs as well as engaging in my favorite activity of blogging.

I think the eye is the most utlized organ for modern man. We strain our eyes looking at the computer for so many hours a day, yet we do not usually care about our eyes and on the converse, coming to the realization that our myopia is getting more and more severe each day.

Nowadays, I try to keep a healthy balance of my time with computers. Putting in less hourers online, one can then revert back to real time tacile relationships and interaction with our family and friends. Social networking in this era is really a misnomer. Social networking is actually meeting people and interacting with them.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Latest Singapore News

Dear Readers,

I have a good piece of news for all of you!

To better serve readers of my blog, I have
included the latest Singapore news right here on this blog on my sidebar!

So with effect from now, you can not only log in to Singapore Short Stories, but you can also catch the latest Singapore news right here on this blog!

Cheers,

Singapore Short Stories

Singapore MRT Stories: The Circle Line Journey

My family and I were among the first commuters to experience the Circle Line commute on its opening day yesterday. We commenced our Circle Line journey at Paya Lebar MRT station towards Dhoby Ghaut. The ride was smooth, though at certain stations, the duration for the train doors to close was a tad long, however, it was not a problem at all.

The ride was similar to the North-East line MRT ride as the rides on both lines were wholly underground. Enroute, we were treated to the spectacular designs of some platforms.

Our destination was not Dhoby Ghaut but Dakota MRT station, which was just one station away from Paya Lebar MRT station. Our purpose to Dhoby Ghaut was to experience the Circle Line ride (for a bit longer time) and I am sure many Singaporeans were just like us, with a slew of them lugging their cameras, ready to zap any interesting finds of the Circle Line on the opening day.

As the train stopped at Nicoll Highway station, I was struck with a poignant feeling and so was a mother of two sitting right in front of me. She shared exactly the same feeling as me as she recounted the tragedy of the Nicoll Highway collapse right at this station on 20 Apr 2004 to her two young girls: On that fateful day, a tunnel under construction at this station gave way and collapsed. A courageous foreman, Heng Yeow Peow, who was working in the area could have escaped unscathed, however he went back to the collapsed area to rescue more workers under his watch and became buried forever in the construction site! His heroic feat became a legend for Singaporeans and whenever there is a mention of Nicoll Highway station, Singaporeans will remember the Nicoll Highway tragedy, Mr Heng Yeow Peow and his heroic deeds.

It was reported in the newpapers today that Mr Heng’s surviving wife specially took a ride and visited Nicoll Highway station yesterday. Not that she wanted to visit, the acute pain of losing her husband still lingered in her hearts till today. Any mention of Nicoll Highway brings tears to her. It was with great courage that she visited Nicoll Highway station just to take a look so that she could relay to her husband the success of the station which he has helped to overseas, as it was reported. She has also expressed her wish that the relevant authorities could set up a memorial statue in memory of Mr Heng Yeow Peow. I supported Mrs Heng’s proposal. The Nicoll Highway incident will always be remembered by Singaporeans and a memorial statue or plaque to commemorate Mr Heng will be appreciated.

Finally, we arrived at Dakota MRT station. And for Singaporean who are food connoisseurs, you would have known where my family and I were headed for! That is right: Old Airport Road Hawker Centre! We had a feast there at this incredibly clean and spacious award winning hawker centre. We dined in to our hearts’ content the famous Rojak, the Char Kway Teow, sugarcane juice, desserts and more! Now with Dakota MRT station, Singaporeans have closer proximity to best food, the art and historical belt as well as the shopping districts in the city!

I am starting with a new label called the Singapore MRT stories and stay tuned as I shared with you more on what happens in our MRT trains everyday, right here on Singapore Short Stories!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Circle Line Opens

The 11-kilometre portion of the Circle Line (CCL) , comprising 11 stations - Dhoby Ghaut, Bras Basah, Esplanade, Promenade, Nicoll Highway, Stadium, Mountbatten, Dakota, Paya Lebar, MacPherson and Tai Seng has been opend around 5.37 am today!

With this opening of the CCL, commuters will save time commuting from the Eastern part of Singapore to the Northern and Southern Singapore.

So if you are free today, you may want to hop onto the CCL train at Paya Lebar MRT interchange or Dhoby Ghaut Interchange and explore this newly opened branch of line!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Nirvana

What comes to your mind when you heard the word 'Nirvana'? Immediately, a scene of calm, peace and serenity will come to you as Nirvana in Buddhism means the highest state of enlightment, which is the place for one who has cultivated his mind, body and soul to the highest realm. Thus Nirvana is obviously the place Buddist and followers of Buddhism would want to be.

In the Straits Times today, spread out on a large lavish sheet of the newspapers is an advertisement seeking interested buyers to invest in a 'property' of Nirvana. Wow! A place in Nirvana, who does not want a place in it even if one is to spend a few thousands dollars! Wait.. I consolidate my thoughts... to enter into Nirvana, one first have to transcend his or her present life form and I took a closer look at the advertisement: the advertisement is calling for those interested to buy a lot in Nirvana Memorial Garden Pte Ltd, a posh and luxurious columbarium!

Wow, it seems that it is not enough to be embroiled in the competition in Singapore to acquire a property for one's present life: flats, resales flat, condominiums, now is there going to be competition and investment for an afterlife property?

If you have been to Mandai Crematorium, you would be marvelled at the state-of-the art technology, well air-conditioned and squeakly clean environment there. The crematorium is almost like Changi Airport to bade (a final) farewell to your loved ones and friends

I had bade farewell to both my parental and maternal grandfather at the Mandai Crematorium. As the coffins containing their shrunken bodies were loaded and moved along with the conveyor belt, it seemed to all of us, their families, friends and relatives watching at the scene at an open-glass mini-auditorium above, luggages on the conveyor belt, entering into a check-in counter.....only then, that my grandfathers's destination was heaven and not an overseas destination.

As the coffins started to enter into the furnace, we watched the strong blaze of the merciless fire devouring the coffins hungrily. Hysterical cries soon flooded the mini-authorium as we bade a forever goodbye to our dear grandfathers!

Life is short, live life to the fullest. Ignore those who have sinned for the laws of Karma will catch up with them one day.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Tours

Today is a physically and mentally exhaustive day for me. Coming back home to rest is really a heaven, though I may have little time to relax before hitting the bed. Anyway, memories of my lovely Hong Kong tour with my wife came flashing back to my mind! That was a year ago and it was our maiden overseas tour together and it was definitely very sweet and romantic as we explored almost the whole of Hong Kong within 5 days and 4 nights, covering so many places of interest in Hong Kong that really made our tour of Hong Kong a very comprehensive one.

From the moment we arrived
in Hong Kong, our tour of Hong Kong was a non-stop packed action with the visiting of places of interest, natural parks, shopping centres, delicacies tasting and amusement parks all packed tightly together. No doubt, we had so much fun but admittedly it was also tiring! We slept only a few hours each day, waking up early to start off to explore Hong Kong with its ‘tisums’ (Cantonese cakes and breakfast food), followed by a rash of train rides and bus journeys to our various places of interest!

Even till today, we were proud to discover Hong Kong with our self-made itinery. Actually for a country such as Hong Kong, one does not need a guided tour or a tour guide. At the very most when you book a hotel with your travel agent, you can just arrange for the hotel pickup from airport vice versa and let the rest of the sightseeing be carried out by yourself, just as what we did!

Last year, my wife and I also visited the lovely Hokkaido island of Japan and we had also a whale of our time there! It was a guided tour of the lovely natural island, but we spent a large bulk of our time there traveling in the coaches to tranverse from one part of the island to another. And with the tour being guided, to a certain extent, the fun and memories is a bit discounted as compared with a tour you chalked up with your loved ones. This is why when memories of my free and easy Hong Kong tour with my wife are always more poignant than our guide Hokkaido tours!

To read of our Hong Kong tour, please visit this
link.

To read of our Hokkaido tour, please visit this
link.

Now I know why memories of Hong Kong came flooding back to me. I am tired, to a certain extent, tired of the rat race here……. I need a BREAK! Anyway it has been quite sometime since I explore the many places of interest in Singapore (as you can see from my blog that there have been a reduction in such outing posting). It is timely that I become a visitor to revisit my very own Singapore!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Star Awards 2010

The annual Star Awards 2010 organized by Mediacorp Singapore will be held this Sunday. This annual event gives recognition to top artistes who have performed well over the last one year with its many prizes for grabs including Best Actor/Actress, most popular male/female artistes among others. So what has the awards to do with me? Absolutely no relationship at all. I will just watch and enjoy the show but on watching,you will discover that the Star Awards is just like a microcosm of the daily realities of our real world!

If you are a regular fan of local TV, you will be surprised why some veteran artistes with good acting skills do not win any awards at all before, in their lives! Good actor like Zhu Ho Ren whose acting skills are outstanding did not even win a prize before which is rather surprising. Rather, we have young male artiste like Elvin Ng, Dai Yang Tian entering into Showbiz and clinching or sweeping these coveted prizes easily, much to the ire of some critics who lambasted the duo for their lacklustre performances.

In real life, the reality is the same. We have President scholars, Scholars and non-scholars in the civil service and some other scholars in the private sector . We also have employees who are bosses' favorites and some whose employers just cannot stand them despites them producing good results! The world is just like that, if you are a 'Farmer', you may not reap what you sow, or only reap what you sow after decades!

Looking at the crop of the male artistes who are nominated for the Best male actor, my analogy will be like this: Brandon Wong is like the farmer, Dai Tian Yang is like the new President Scholar, Elvin Ng is like the new government overseas scholar, Tay Ping Hui is like the old government local scholar (though he has no luck since entering showbiz in 1997, he still is quite popular and one of the leading men in Mediacorp). The last actor, Chen Hanwei is also like a local scholar (he is one of the finalists in Star Search 1988) and is a successful one since he has won a number of Best Actor Award before!

Just a disclaimer, my analogy of scholar to the five nominees are based on their career path, nothing bad to say on the governmnet. And for the Best actress, my bet will either be Hong Huifang who is analgous to a farmer or Jeanette Aw (analgous to a overseas scholar).

Of Mice and Men



This is a post that I wish I do not want to post but enough seems to be enough!

These days, actually it was since quite a number of months ago, I have been noticing mouses, or should I say rats, making their presence felt in my neighbourhood. Often when I spotted them, it is not only during the nights but also during the days and they are often seem surrying from one drain hole to another, oblivious of the stares of other Singaporeans looking at them, often in disbelief.

The disbelief stems from the fact that one does not expect mouses or should I say rats to be found in a supposedly (nearing) first world country like Singapore! The presence of such rodents just speak volume on how much Singapore still has to go when it comes to getting rid of its streets free of rodents and pests.

I have never seen so many rats or mouses before in Singapore when I was young. I only know of that a rat is much bigger than a mouse from the tons of science textbooks during my primary school days which every student would need to gobble up. But now seeing so many rodents around in my estate, I am quite appalled and even before I try to put my theory into practice by trying to see how big the rodent is.. to determine whether it is a mouse or a rat, the creature just vanishes! These rats are so big that even the many cats nearby prefer not to do their due dilligence, turn a blind eye and not catch these creatures. Anyway, these stray cats in Singapore, particularly in my estate are a fortunate lot, being fed by cat lovers till they become like little lions (without a lion heart) and being so fearful of their evergreen nemesis now!

And just this afternoon, I see cockroaches, so many of them scurrying around my estate thus it is not just of mice and men, it is of cockroaches and men or of ants and men (so many red ants in the grasses these days)!

So what has gone wrong? Just some months ago, media spotlight is on rodent infestation during the height of the Geylang Serai rojak poisioning. And then now is silent, but there are still many rats around.

A holistic measure should be in place by the town council, working hand in hand with the relevant authorities to contain the situation. Just plain pest control is not necesary, one must really tackle the root of the problem, eradicate the source of these pests so as to reduce their numbers.

If these rodents, ants or cockroaches are not eliminated, it will just be sometime before the next wave of pest-related endemic comes into the fore! Anyway having said that, to contain this problem, the onus is on us: we should be more responsible in handling our food, disposing them properly into the litter bins and not having these waste food being found lying around in our estates!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Sadness

Initially I have decided to write a good blog post tonight however my mood changed 180 degree or should I say 360 degrees after learning of a bad news that dealt quite a heavy blow on me.

I became sad and depressed once again. Euphoria gave way to gloom for some ten of minutes before I decided to fight back all obstacles back towards Sucess.

There are many stories and inspirational quotes I have read about Success: how one's path to Success is paved with obstacles and stones. Yup, currently Success has been eluding me for years though I have tried my very best to achieve it and mind you, I am diligent, hardworking and tenacious to achieve my goals. But Success is always so far ahead of me.

Every time, when I am nearing my goal, every time when I sensed a beacon of hope while drifting in the choppy seas, the strong waves came at me, hobbling my progress, and sending me hundreds of metres back to where I have advanced!

Success .... where are you? I have been working hard, trying to achieve my objectives but each time I fail once and again. How many times must I fail to achieve my goals?

Do I need to fail like Albert Einstein who invented the light bulb only after 9,999 attempts? Time and tide waits for no man, I do not want to grow to an old age before I finally savour Success.

Each time I tried, each time, I failed, I rest assured that I will come back to strike towards my goals once again. Though I fail countless of times for many times, I always tell myself that every effort I gave of myself is the best effort of me and even if I failed, I consoled myself by saying that I have done my Best!

"There are no failures in the world, only feedbacks." I have heard of this mantra spoken many times by inspirational speakers and definitely it is true: every failure we experience teach us how to be better the next time.

Businessmen are not always successful, they achieve success after some failures. Whenever you see a startup, you will not see the other 9 startups that have failed and whose owners have given up.

Life is as such. Though I may be a poor Singaporean and considered a "lesser mortal" (as quoted by some high ranking elites in the news media), my mantra is "NEVER GIVE UP!". Every day, coming to office, being a "lesser mortal" and earning "peanuts salary", I am always on the receiving end of others who flaunt their wealth openly in front of me, these are people who earn easily hundreds of thousands of dollars every month and I despise them for being arrogant and for earning such amounts of dollars without doing anything significant and being there high up on the organization ladder for reasons they think others do not know.

I may be a "lesser mortal" in Singapore standards, in a society where there are 67,000 millionaires with a net liquidity asset of US $1 million (excluding property) but I have my pride, I have my dignity. Every task I do, I will do to my very Best, irregardless what those high-earning assholes think and play with me, no matter how lowly-paid I am as compared to the thousands of dollars they earn per day.

No matter how I try, how when I fail, I will always come up and try, no matter how people try to discourage me, flaunting their wealth and discourage me.

I do not care those who now achieve success through easy means, through deception, through unmoral means. I will climb up and achieve my goals through my own moral means, no matter how many years it will take, no matter how much effort I will expend on my endeavours ... for I AM A FIGHTER, I am a CHALLENGER!

When the Sun rises again the next morning, when all those stupid rich asnd useless bastards still laze in their beds, I will be up and coming, tying my shoelaces and getting to run my marathon of life! I am a CHALLENGER!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Singapore Blog Awards 2010

The annual Singapore Blog Awards is back again !

Organized by OMY, the annual Blog awards showcase the Best Singapore Blogs in many categories.

Visit this webpage for more details of the award.

If you think my blog deserves to win, I will be more than Happy to have you nominate me too :)

Singapore Short Stories

Singapore Short Stories is currently undergoing a revamp of this website to better serve our readers.
With a growing readership base everyday, Singapore Short Stories is poised to capture the Best essence of the experience of living in Singapore and would like all readers to contribute your own life stories, or your encounters, big or small from living here on this lovely little red dot to be reflected right here on this Singapore No.1 blog on Singapore living.

Do Send all your stories to singaporeshortstories@gmail.com and I look forward to your kind support! Many Thanks!

At the same time, Singapore Short Stories has expanded its offerings to readers through partnering and instituting with the following blog partners to better serve all readers. Do give these blogs your fullest support too. These blogs are in no order of priority:

1) Singapore Hair Loss Support Group for all of you who are suffering from Hair Loss

2) Singapore Games for all of you who want a little fun out of life
3) Raffles Review : a blog which talks about sex, cars and topics of myriad interests
4) World Holiday Blog: a blog you need to check out before you plan for your next overseas tour!
5) Be a Millionaire: learn how to get out of the rat race towards FINANCIAL FREEDOM!
6) Singapore Investments: learn how to MAXIMISE returns from your investments!

7) Find a House in Singapore: Buy, sell your flat and learn ALL about the housing scence in Singapore!
As you can see SINGAPORE SHORT STORIES is a 8 in 1 blog about Living in Singapore!


Friday, April 09, 2010

11.5 million to 11.75 million annual salary

It was reported in today's Zaobao that Keppel Corporation CEO, Mr Choo Chiau Beng earns a yearly remuneration of $11.5 million to $11.75 million Singapore dollars in year 2009!
Wow, that is really a large sum of money! If my lifetime, I dun even know whether I can have a liquid asset excluding of property of Singapore $1 million! Mr Choo's salary in year 2009 is really shocking and astronomical!
I always thought the salaries of our President and Prime Minister in the leagues of $3 to 4 millions is already very high. Ministers in Singapore earn between $1 million to $2 million annually while top civil servants also earn an annual income closing to $1 million dollars which in my opinion are really good salaries too!
Everyone wants to be a millionaire and want to learn to be a millionaire. The road to earning lots of monies is not an easy one unless you strike out to be an entrepreneur and a profit making one! People I know of take the route of investing to generate some good profits.

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Starting salaries of graduates

Looking at yesterday's report of the starting salaries of graduates, I feel a sense of envy as compared with them, I am earning so low!
According to the Ministry of Education's Graduate Employment Survey (GES) 2009, most university graduates managed to clinch a full-time permanent job within 6 months of leaving school, its seem they did not feel the brunt of the bleak economic conditions the world witnessed last year.
Now for their starting salaries:
median pay for graduates from a majority of programmes at Singapore's three publicly funded universities: at least $2,500
Median pay for graduates from business, accountancy, economics and arts in each of the three universities: $2,300 and $3,200.

Median pay for National University of Singapore graduates from its Business School's bachelor of business administration honours programme: $3,000
Singapore Management University's economics graduates median income:$3,000while those awarded cum laude and above earned a median salary of $3,200. Those under its accountancy and business management classes were paid a median $2,500 and $2,800, respectively.

Over at Nanyang Technological University, accountancy and business graduates saw a median pay of $2,400 and $2,700.

Saturday, April 03, 2010

Circle Line Open House




Hi Readers, I am real terribly sorry if you have read my earlier post on Egyptian mummies and turned up yesterday at Good Friday to look at the Egyptian mummies exhibition at the National Museum for free yesterday: either you pay the full fees of $15 or you walk off just like what my Dear and I did!

But come tomorrow, in conjunction with Circle Line Open House, there will be free entry to the National Museum of Singapore, Singapore Art Museum, Peranakan Museum and Singapore Philatelic Museum in celebration of the opening of the Circle Line! And there will be free entry to the Mummy exhibition tomorrow as well: http://yesterday.sg/2010/04/circle-line-open-house/

Tomorrow, will be the last day of the Mummy exhibition before they head back to their place of origin so if you want to catch them for free, tomorrow is the last chance!

From 1130 am to 6pm tomorow, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) is giving the public a sneak peek of the new Circle Line (CCL) stations from Dhoby Ghaut to Bartley
This is about two weeks before the MRT line opens for passenger service on April 17.

As you can see from the map, the CCL from Dhoby Ghaut to Bartley is 11-kilometre long, comprising 11 stations - Dhoby Ghaut, Bras Basah, Esplanade, Promenade, Nicoll Highway, Stadium, Mountbatten, Dakota, Paya Lebar, MacPherson and Tai Seng.

Members of the public can hop on the train at any of the 10 stations from Bras Basah to Tai Seng for free and enter/exit at any station along this line. There will also be lots of games and plenty of prizes to be won!

Thursday, April 01, 2010

Egyptian mummies

Tomorrow is Good Friday and if you are feeling bored, you may want to head down to the National Museum open house to see the Egyptian mummies for the last time before they head home on Sunday!

Tomorrow is also the open house for other museums: so you may want to consider going to these places as well.

Also, Istana is having its open house tomorrow too and on Sunday, some museums are also having free entry admission in celebration of an event related to the opening of the MRT Circle Line!

With such a rich array of exciting places and events coming up, your long weekends will never be bored!

If you are bored, just continue to read my blog archives! It will take you at least 5 days to complete reading!

Kite flying at Marina Barrage



Last Saturday, my Dear and I made our way to Marina Barrage for our maiden kite flying activity at the scenic place. We were quite surprised that the free shuttle bus headed towards the destination was packed full of commuters, with a majority of them being youths. Many of them were carrying a host of snacks and drinks, seemingly ready for a fun day at the barrage. After a 5-minute ride, we reached our destination and proceeded straight to the rooftop for our kite-flying session!

The view from the rooftop was breathtaking and the winds were as reputedly strong! Luckily I wore a cap else my hair would have been blown topsy-turvy by the winds!
On the field were scattered gatherings of families, friends and lovers, who were there on the fields in their picnic maps. Similarly, I spreaded out the picnic mat which I had brought and after putting our bags on the map, my Dear and I were ready for action!

It has been tens of years since I last flew a kite! At the beginning, it was hard, as we tried to hit the rhythm of putting up our kite. After a few attempts facilitated by the strong wind, we managed to get our kite going up in the sky!

As our kite flew higher and higher, we released more and more of the kite string so that it would ascend high up in the skies, joining the slew of its other counterparts who were already there! Soon the 30 metres of string were fully unleashed and we saw our little kite high up in the sky. Looking at the kite, it was as though both of us were also flying!

Alas, not all was well! Due to the dozens of kites competing for airspace, our kite string was cut by that of a ‘stronger competitor’! We watched helplessly at our poor kite descending down rapidly and vanishing amongst the trees some hundred metres away from us! Later, we realized that such string cutting is quite prevalent in Marina Barrage due to the dozens of kite in the skies: there were many broken kites in the vegetation and tree branches outside Marina Barrage.

Nevertheless, my Dear and I bought a stronger kite at the first storey of Marina Barrage and chose a less-crowded spot to fly our kite. We managed to control our kite better this time round and took caution to rein in our kite a little bit more the moment its speed slackened and started descending a little as we did not want to pull the kite string for our kite if it were to drop few tens of metres below the roof into the thick woodlands! That occurred once but I managed to mount over the rooftop and retrieved our kite fast!

If you are feeling bored, you can try to fly a kite, something which you may do before in your childhood days! You will find pleasure in simple joys and learn some valuable lessons of life from such a stint!

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