SINGAPORE SHORT STORIES

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!

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 !

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!"

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,...

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 ri...

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.

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 real...