lundi, décembre 31, 2012

2012

2012: the year of the renovation and the wedding.

needless to say, this was a very busy year for me. most of my weekends in the first three-quarters of the year were spent on conducting market surveys for household items, coordinating my renovation, and chasing bo-chup contractors. and then there was the wedding too. more countless evenings of prop making, dance rehearsals and table arranging. heh. then there was work too. 2012 had turned out to be quite a good year for me professionally. i have spent about a year+ at my new job and have grown into my appointment after some struggles initially. indeed, i have expanded my horizons and learnt a lot this year. went to the states too, for my first overseas conference. to cap it all off, i also managed to obtain my ippt gold again! unfortunately, things were pretty dismal again on the automotive front, as i got into yet another accident. phroar! why do singaporean drivers love to jam brake so much? for sports, i was glad to have won the uphill run in oct; this means that i am concurrently holding on to both uphill run and x-country titles. =)


2013 will be a transitional year, as i take some time off to consolidate the past 28 years of my life, and figure out what i would like the next 28 years to be like.


dimanche, décembre 02, 2012

jeudi, octobre 18, 2012

D-8

i always get the flutters before an important race; the shorter/ intense the race, the worse the feeling.

anyhow, it had been quite fun getting to this stage. all the morning hill intervals, sharing of running techniques and morning breakfasts. great to know that some of us in camp do actually love running.

on the other hand, there is also the persistent silence from the select few and race attire procurement process that puts its leopard tank counterpart to shame.

oh wells, time to just forget everything and focus on that 15 minutes tomorrow.

up the hill, down the slope.
up the slope, down the hill.
any sweat?
no sweat chicken feed haha all the way!!! 

=)

dimanche, octobre 14, 2012

life

is what happens when you are busy planning away.

mardi, octobre 09, 2012

minefield

been walking into minefields lately.

not sure why, but i think i have very bad synthesis, persuasion and communication skills, and am also very bad at reading body languages. in sum, i am quite the bumbling bull in a china shop when it comes to meetings or project reviews.

i mean, just this evening, i came out of a meeting with my boss, and both of us had different interpretations of what the chairman wanted! to set the record straight, although i wasn't that too far off the mark, but when it comes to urgent project demands, misreading a "should do" from a "must do" could lead to disastrous results!

damn.. i seriously need to get a WLR soon. =\

jeudi, septembre 27, 2012

le Pothaus

IT IS DONE!!! =D

lundi, septembre 10, 2012

favourites

i have a favourite car, its the volvo v50.
i have a favourite type of beer too: IPA.
for brands, my favourites would be casual-preppy labels such as nike, a&f and lacoste.

given the number of products and brands in the world, it is inevitable that all of us will have our preferences and favourites. amongst people, it is the same thing. have you ever felt supremely comfortable with this particular group or person? have you ever heard of the term bff?

but that's only one side of the story. newton third law states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. so for every blue eyed boy, there is also the sway kia who kena anything and everything just because he is nobody's child.

sometimes i do feel like i'm the latter. but that drives me on to work harder and faster to prove myself. afterall, life wouldn't be that interesting if it were so smooth sailing right? =)

lundi, septembre 03, 2012

when september ends II

as usual, i just feel like singing that green day song, "wake me up, when september ends.." because somehow, september has never been a good month for me.

have been so swarmed at work recently!!! guess i got more than what i bargained for.. *dang* (>_<)"

anyhow, it seems like the pothaus should be done by mid-sep, so i guess we should be moving in by october!!! *hooray* remember to wake me up when september ends!!! =)

dimanche, août 26, 2012

ndr2012

lots of quotable quotes in this year's rally:

1. "... we are a small island, but we cannot afford be small minded."
2. "... do not be a one-eyed dragon..."
3. "we may be very conscious of our shortcomings, but others have a high regard for what we have achieved." *excuses!!!*
4. "...individually, the memories are life's experiences, but collectively, they are about the soul of the nation..." *so why the rapid pace of industralisation?*
5. "...3 words: hope, heart, home."

in any case, i thought that it was quite a well-delivered speech; one that i enjoyed listening to at least, for the past few years. there was much more reference to what had been happening on the ground, instead of pursuing the government's own agenda, and as a result, it seemed like there was not one segment of society that was left out by PM lee in his speech.

now if you would excuse me, i need to go and stand up for singapore.. =D

mercredi, août 22, 2012

reno woes

sorry for the lack of updates, but we have been busy for the past few weeks navigating the home renovation and décor landscape in singapore - everything just seems so nice yet so expensive at the same time!

indeed, projet pothaus has been a project like no other project that i have handled before. whereas my other projects involve of sums running into the millions, projet pothaus is the first project that i have done involving my own hard-earned money. and therein lies the fundamental conflict of wanting everything in the fastest time at the lowest cost.

performance, schedule, cost. as they say, you can only choose 2 out of 3.

if it is good and fast, it will not be cheap.
if it is good and cheap, then production will take some time.
if it is fast and cheap, quality will definitely be dubious.

can't wait for all of this to be over. don't get me wrong; the process is somewhat enjoyable seeing your concepts or designs being turned into reality, but renovation is really stressful, especially if you have a full time job yet want to be as hands-on as possible during the renovation process like me. of course, seeing your slowly depleting bank account is not exactly most encouraging either.

oh wells, at least we'll be done soon!!! after about 4 months of hacking, painting, drilling, puttying, cabling, fixing and screwing (not me), its about time, isn't it? =)

lundi, août 20, 2012

in the zone


where i aim to be at every night. =)

mercredi, août 01, 2012

london 2012

with the already bursting-at-the-seams competition calendar for almost every sport, are the olympics even relevant today?

samedi, juillet 21, 2012

倒霉

argh another series of unfortunate events. seems like i can only choose 2 out of 3 at any one time: personal life, work and sports.

if my personal life and work is doing well, then my tennis would suck, or i would get some running injury.
if all is fine for my personal life and i'm hitting like nadal, then work would be terrible.
if work and sports are fantastic, well you get the idea.

any tips on how to improve my luck? *grahz*

samedi, juin 30, 2012

powerfull

my commando friend has the 48 laws of power pinned on his cubicle in office.

of all the laws, he has #26 highlighted; ostensibly so as he is afterall, a commando first and a staff officer second. but i guess as good soldiers, we have to be mindful that we do not leave traces of our existence lest we attract attention. and if we do, our hands had better be clean by then. heh.

my personal favourite is:
22.  use the surrender tactic: transform weakness into power.
 sometimes you do not need to win by force - the heart is sometimes more powerful than the head!

for your convenience, the rest of the 48 laws are reproduced here for reference. i'm still in the midst of reading the book and trying to distil all the lessons that i can learn from it, and more importantly, learn how i can apply them to everyday life. *evil grin*
  1. Never outshine the master.
  2. Never put too much trust in friends; learn how to use enemies.
  3. Conceal your intentions.
  4. Always say less than necessary.
  5. So much depends on reputation. Guard it with your life.
  6. Court attention at all costs.
  7. Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit.
  8. Make other people come to you; use bait if necessary.
  9. Win through your actions, never through argument.
  10. Infection: avoid the unhappy and unlucky.
  11. Learn to keep people dependent on you.
  12. Use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victim.
  13. When asking for help, appeal to people's self-interests, never to their mercy or gratitude.
  14. Pose as a friend, work as a spy.
  15. Crush your enemy totally.
  16. Use absence to increase respect and honor.
  17. Keep others in suspended terror: cultivate an air of unpredictability.
  18. Do not build fortresses to protect yourself. Isolation is dangerous.
  19. Know who you're dealing with; do not offend the wrong person.
  20. Do not commit to anyone.
  21. Play a sucker to catch a sucker: play dumber than your mark.
  22. Use the surrender tactic: transform weakness into power.
  23. Concentrate your forces.
  24. Play the perfect courtier.
  25. Re-create yourself.
  26. Keep your hands clean.
  27. Play on people's need to believe to create a cultlike following.
  28. Enter action with boldness.
  29. Plan all the way to the end.
  30. Make your accomplishments seem effortless.
  31. Control the options: get others to play with the cards you deal.
  32. Play to people's fantasies.
  33. Discover each man's thumbscrew.
  34. Be royal in your fashion: act like a king to be treated like one.
  35. Master the art of timing.
  36. Disdain things you cannot have: Ignoring them is the best revenge.
  37. Create compelling spectacles.
  38. Think as you like but behave like others.
  39. Stir up waters to catch fish.
  40. Despise the free lunch.
  41. Avoid stepping into a great man's shoes.
  42. Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter.
  43. Work on the hearts and minds of others.
  44. Disarm and infuriate with the mirror effect.
  45. Preach the need for change, but never reform too much at once.
  46. Never appear perfect.
  47. Do not go past the mark you aimed for; in victory, learn when to stop.
  48. Assume formlessness.

mardi, juin 26, 2012

epiphany II

its just a job.

jeudi, juin 21, 2012

invisible | skylar grey

i take these pills to make me thin
i dye my hair, and cut my skin
i tried everything, to make them see me
but all they see, is someone that's not me

even when i'm walking on a wire
even when i set myself on fire
why do i always feel invisible, invisible
everyday i try to look my best
even though inside i'm such a mess
why do i always feel invisible, invisible

here inside, my quiet heart
you cannot hear, my cries for help
i tried everything, to make them see me
but every one, see's what i can't be

lundi, juin 18, 2012

sit! roll over! play dead! good dog!


mostdays i feel fine. somedays i feel as though i'm zipping down mont ventoux. on raredays i feel as though i've just won the french open. nowadays, i just feel like giving up.

its amazing how effective the pixelated camouflage is. put it on and tah-dah - one can be almost transparent, even in an urban terrain such as an office!

honestly, i'm quite tired and sickened by all these in/out-groups. i'd rather you be very honest with me and tell it to my face that you do not want to work with me, rather than give me those very condescending comments from time to time; i know very well my own capabilities, thank you very much.

and yes, "thanks" too, for saving the day once again, 'cos no one can do it quite like the way you can!

mercredi, juin 13, 2012

epiphany I

being singaporean means that we are all free to make the same choice.

mardi, juin 12, 2012

PR, PR, where art thou?

excluding the 2 weeks break, renovation has been proceeding along pretty smoothly so far.

in terms of what has been the minor stumbles, i guess its been the case of the unknown unknowns. basically me and the girl are total noobs are home makeover: we do not even know what we do not know, and having an ID who is more than happy to accommodate my sometimes over-imposing requests, means that we frequently run into cost overruns, which obviously is a serious problem, and we find ourselves having to also frequently temper our wants and look more into our needs.

case in point, we were out shopping for sanitary wares last week and we had to go shopping twice, just because we didn't know that there were toiletbowl+sink packages in the first place! needless to say, we went for individual items that caught our eyes (and butt feel), and that translated to a rather hefty bill the first time. luckily, sense prevailed, and we went for the cheaper but packaged route after we were briefed on the economics of homeware shopping.

luckily too, that i am quite familiar with the project management process (occupational hazard), and i was able to manage my ID quite well thus far. by the way, if you want to know, projet pothaus is already CO-ed now. however, i have yet to get my LSMP nor PMP endorsed. luckily there's no need for a Logs Annex cos projet pothaus is less than S$15M in cost. =P

anyway, what i realised so far is that there are very little singaporeans in the entire ID/ renovation industry. let see my experience thus far:

ID: malaysian
ID husband: malaysian
construction workers: bangladeshi/ chinese
electrician: malaysian
electrical workers: chinese/ malay (not sure singaporean or malaysian malay)
laminate flooring salesperson: singaporean
cement screeder: chinese
window contractor: malaysian
sanitary wares salesperson: malaysian
blinds contractor: malaysian

not sure if this is representative of the entire industry, but what happened to our FT/FW to citizen/PR quotas? point to ponder: in our zeal to rapidly modernise and grow our labour force, have we applied the same stringent standards to the outsiders as we have to our own people?

[disclaimer: this is just a point for ponder; the people whom i've dealt with so far are as good as they can be, to the point that i am afraid that singaporeans can no longer compete with them. but is that reason enough for us to stop developing our indigenous workforce, or is that just taking the easy way out?]

lundi, juin 11, 2012

the day that time stood still


recently, i've been passing by silat estate a lot more frequently as it is a shortcut between my parents' place and the pothaus.

sila--wat? you may ask: its a quiet and quaint 4-storey kampong just opposite the old KTM station in tanjong pagar. i suspect just like its taller brothers just opposite kampong bahru road, it used to house the KTM railway workers.

i used to have a primary school friend who stayed here, and on occasion we would come to his house to play sega games. he was quite a rich kid (although i never found out why he stayed in such a relatively run-down estate), and i remember sitting on a swing chair in the flat's rather large balcony. in primary 6, this was the same place where we would spend afternoons listening to boyband songs, and later on go on to practice and win at our primary school's talentime competition (if you must know, we sang i can love you like that by all-4-one). eventually we lost contact after we went on to separate secondary schools.

so i've been walking by this shortcut for the past few month since renovations for the pothaus started. and i observed more and more rubbish being collected at the rubbish dump (the red-brick building in the photo). huge pieces of furniture, tvs, discarded clothing, what-have-you, were slowly but surely piling up. then i realised that the occupants of silat estate were being relocated - probably to the newer hdb flats that had TOPed recently at kim tian.

last saturday, i passed by silat estate again after a 2 week absence, and i could tell that most people had already vacated their premises. judging by the mountain of sofas stacked up by the refuse collection centre, i guess that the cleaners had also given up on maintaining the estate - just waiting for the dump trucks and construction vehicles to flatten and clean out the entire place.

then i saw it - one singular household that still had its clothing hung out to dry; just like any other day, as though it had not one care in the world.

of course, i am sure that in the next few weeks when i pass by again, the occupants would have moved out already, but i just can't help but feel that one part of my childhood is already gone.

mercredi, juin 06, 2012

party in the USA


so other than south america and antarctica, i have now been to the other 5 continents.

recently, i had the chance to go to the states for a conference, so i took the opportunity to explore the west coast since my conference was in california. to be exact, i visited LV, the grand canyon, SF and LA (in that order).

frankly, other than some attractions like the aforementioned grand canyon and perhaps hollywood and alcatraz, i didn't find the US too interesting. perhaps i am not your regular tourist, having been to arguably more interesting places like the sahara, mongolia and north korea, but i guess the US has no novelty for me as a singaporean.

if i wanted to shop - i would have gone to orchard.
if i wanted to eat burgers - i would have gone to any local shopping mall.
if i wanted to experience american culture - i would have just watched family guy or the simpsons.

compared to europe, american culture is relatively young and probably not as interesting. true that they have some great people and great monuments/ parks/ buildings, but they just don't cut it for me. call me unappreciative, but that's what living 26 years in a congested-urban and west-idolising environment does to you.

oh well, the only consolation is that now i've been-there-done-that. any suggestion on what next to better satisfy my wanderlust? =)

lundi, juin 04, 2012

hey..

i'm back - and right back to work as well! =(

in other news, its only 3 more days to beerfest! =)

mardi, mai 08, 2012

what for?

sadly, this seems to be the government-endorsed singaporean life cycle template, less the retire at 65 part of course. 

lundi, mai 07, 2012

a house is not a home

facebook has made it so easy to share thoughts and articles (and reach out to a wider audience at the same time) that i fear that the end might be coming soon for blogs.

over the past few weeks, i had shared quite a number of articles on facebook. those were mostly social commentaries about singaporean life, and how difficult life is getting in singapore. i must admit that i am already much better off than most of my peers or singaporeans, but i always get a sense of foreboding doom whenever i read the newspapers. yes, it might not happen to me now, but looking at things, it will not be long before my cohort belongs to the "past" of singapore.

i think that the thing about singapore is that the government tries too hard to be open to the world. in our quest to attract foreign investment, we have almost forgotten who we are, where we came from, and where are we heading to. in our haste, what happened to this place that we call home? what happened to the swiss-class standard of living that we were supposed to attain? if the government can always beat their chests and loudly proclaim that the singaporean brand is so strong, why are they so afraid that foreign companies will close shop and shift elsewhere if we increase the wages of our low wage workers? i opine that if we are really 真材实料, then investments will continue to pour in because people recognise our value, not that we are cheaper, better and faster than our neighbours. 

---

talking about transformation, projet pothaus is coming along nicely. less than a week, and the apartment is a shell of its former self. walls have been hacked, built-in wardrobes removed and existing wires ripped out. now it is a skeleton, waiting to be zhng-ed into a proper liveable habitat. doubt much can be done in the next two weeks when i'm away, but well sometimes fast is slow and slow is fast! =)


mardi, mai 01, 2012

it has begun!

hulk no happy.. hulk smash!!!

vendredi, avril 20, 2012

handover


 can't really believe that i'm officially a property owner now in singapore.

may hdb resale prices continue to rise!!! *HUAT AH!!!*

jeudi, avril 05, 2012

someone like you

so i was going to forward some emails when i accidentally clicked on the "flagged" tab on my gmail browser and whoops, what do i see?

a whole lot of ancient emails dating all the way back to 2004, when i first registered my gmail account.

it was very interesting to read all the tiny condensed emails of the happenings that had occurred in my life. it was no doubt enlightening as well, as this time i had the benefit of hindsight to help me understand better the context and consequences of some of the emails that i had received or drafted at that time.

but were those emails written by my past self? really? no, i would never write those things down. in any case, i'm not who i used to be now; i've grown up and no longer resemble the jeremy kang who sent that email in 2006.

are we the sum of our parts? when do we become distinct from our past, or are we the product from our past experiences? to quote murakami, the past increases and the future recedes indeed.

lundi, avril 02, 2012

reno blues

if you're wondering what i've been up to, well only ONE thing: renovation.

the magazines all make it look so easy: buy a house, engage an ID, decide on a decor, go to quirky shops to buy furniture, put it all together and ta-da: your dream home is created!

-_-"

perhaps the above only happens to the rich folks. for the more average peasants like me, it means operating within a fixed budget and that also means that weekends have to be burnt, wholesalers all over the island have to be visited, quotes have to be compared, and compromises have to be made, all in the name of getting the most bang out of my pretty limited buck.

so for the past weekends over the past two months, the girl and i have been going from north, south, east to west on the search and research for moderately affordable furnishings and appliances for our soon-to-be humble industrial scandinavian loft. we're already settled on our ID, have sort of an idea of where to get what and at how much, and hopefully in a few months, this:

can soon be transformed to this:

doesn't the reindeer decal look oh-so-lovely?! i love horns!!!

but first, there's more research, and shopping (oh-my-poor-wallet) to be done! stay tuned for the progress of projet pothaus!

jeudi, mars 15, 2012

fuzzy yellow balls

man, don't you just feel like hitting those balls? =)

mercredi, février 29, 2012

this i promise you


roses are red
violets are blue
sugar is sweet
and so are you!

vendredi, février 24, 2012

scissors paper stone


i really prefer chee ko par.