Reflections

i am quite determined to write this entry somehow... i think it is really time for me to do some reflection on myself and it is really time for me to rethink on the fact that i really need some serious growing up to do...

26 turning 27 years old this year ... alot of unhappy things been bogging me for eversince the start of the year 2010... somehow many things i do really affect alot on the feeling of others... count that i am blessed to have these wonderful people around me but yet i somehow take them for granted... gosh i feel that i am so selfish... damnit...

i think i have tasted abit of setback on each and every action and decision i have made of them... in my mind i always have this wonderful plan and idea which i always paint such a nice picture with... and ended up i destroy it myself with my very own 'smart' plan...

good friend which i fell out with due to some serious brainless decision due to a certain miscommunication or should i say... my 'senile' moment... and some coincidental fate... i guess i have to give in to it ...

another case of friendship, trust and honesty... due to a certain reason a secret has been kept so long... and when i felt right to let it known... i received a note of which i truly think that i should seriously think before my actions... but somehow ... it jus seems to be very had to say it in words... or rather i dunno how i should do it..

guess sometimes letting it go with the flow may not work as well as what i think it would be...  

argh... think karma is setting in on me..

bless me

Lego Camera! i wanT !

Here’s something for all you Lego afficionados out there – the iconic children’s toy maker has just announced a line of digital cameras. Unfortunately, they are not made out of actual Lego bricks and specs haven’t been revealed yet, but judging by the estimated price range of USD19 – USD60, we’re not expecting much. However, we guess that the large number of adult Lego collectors as well as quite a few 80s babies will want to pick one up just for the sheer kitsch factor alone. The cams are scheduled for release around summer time.

Collectable Lego sets and merchandise is available at Brickboy Toys, 3rd Floor, The Gardens, Mid Valley, Kuala Lumpur, T +603 2287 7119; and Brickboy Brothers, 1st Floor, Sunway Pyramid Old Wing, Subang; also, look out for LegoLand park to open in 2013 at Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

CNY 2010 - Lee Family (Ah Ma's 89 Bday)

Longevity Bun - its huge!!

My Ah Ma and my Nephew

WAAAA!!!!

Yum...

The Star of the night

My Ah Ma and Cousin June

My Aunt and my Cousin Choon

Lou Shang.... Yu Sheng - for prosperity and everything good :)

HUAT AH!!

MORE HUAT!!

Mouse Berry tart - Not very nice though

Sushi and Cold Dish

Chocolate Strawberry - ermm

Suan Pan Zi - fried Yam Dough

My Fave - CHOC ECLAIR!!

3 Layered Pork

the fantastic buffet set

Ah Ma + Children + Spouse

Ah Ma + GrandChildren + Spouse

Ah Ma and My Family

My Grand Uncle :) (i think he looks like Lee Kuan Yew)

My Mom after the whole day of helping :) she is really hungry

5 Tips for Tiger Growth

Xin nian kuai le. Gong xi fa cai. Nian nian you yu. And happy new lunar year.
While in the midst of the 15 days of Chinese New Year celebrations for this new year of the Golden Tiger, it's perhaps a good time to check in on your January 1st New Year's resolutions.
My guess: in the first 7 weeks of 2010, you've already abandoned some or all of these. Why?

First: resolve to check in more frequently. Plan, execute, review, repeat.
Second: work with a group or someone who can hold you more accountable.
Third: increase your discipline to increase your results. Identify causes of failures, decide to shift your thinking and behaviour, and then act to achieve a clearly-defined purpose.

If you didn't make any resolutions or you'd like to add some, here are 5 Tips to make this Tiger year a grrreat one for growth.

GrowthTip 1: Talking Tiger Hidden Learning
If you're always the expert, you're not listening and you might not be learning. Go and listen to a variety of specialists that can give you new insights and help you further grow and develop. Yes that means going to events, network, listen, apply.

GrowthTip 2: Tiger Learns From an Ambush
The collective for tigers is: an ambush of tigers. Bring your tigers together and bring in a specialist speaker. Then evaluate your common Goal, your Execution Timing, your location strengths and your willingness to Act On Opportunity. Procrastination almost always costs money. Example: booking an air ticket; if you leave it to the last minute, it'll cost you a fortune.

GrowthTip 3: Tiger Collaborates for Big Wins
Make this a year for effective collaboration. That means working together for mutual benefit and ROI. You with your strength, me with mine. If you want to fly somewhere, you collaborate with flying specialists as well as others who share a similar need and can share the cost. Similarly if you want to increase productivity and results, then you bring in productivity and results specialists
GrowthTip 4: Tiger is Watchful and Restful
Tigers keenly observe what is going on. And they are well rested to ensure performance. Sleep well this year. Sleeping 8 hours a night increases productivity by 25%. If you sleep 6 hours a night, you might have 2 extra hours awake (or 8.33% of a day), but if your productivity is 25% less then that's a bad return on investment. Sleep on it. You can't be an EffectiveLeader if you're not healthy.

GrowthTip 5: Tiger seeks Courage through Faith
Tigers stand for courage and action. Be swift with your action this year. Make decisions often. Be courageous. Have faith in your purpose and your ability to succeed. it's amazing to watch people finally identify why they haven't been more Victorious. Often it comes down to their relationships with themselves, each other and, importantly, with their purpose. Have faith in your purpose.

Have a fantastic year of the Golden Tiger. Seek Victory, Listen, Learn, Collaborate, Rest, and Be Courageous.

Wonder if it is a good year for me?

Had many random events that befall me eversince the start of 2010.... well... i dunno how to explain.. but it seems like the year is not starting very well for me..

to add to the dismay, yesterday, my Coy's Laptop died on me... ahh how great... managed to recover most of the files though... but i lost 5 months worth of outlook emails... gosh!!! how am i able to retrieve them... spent most of my last day of public holiday finding solutions... now very frustrated.... is that a sign?

i have lotsa important emails... alot of contacts... alot of impt impt matters to follow up... :(

anyway, any kind IT experts can offer me a good, free and no frill solution to retrieve my od outlook.pst file from my formatted Hard disk?

really appreciate if anyone can step up to help... :)

back from bangkok!!! more post coming up!

McControversial - Di Mana Babi? - lucky charm not lucky at all...

Recently, our favourite fast food restaurant, McDonald, launched a very cutesy range of collectibles for their fans and also for avid collectors like me. Yup, the DORAEMON Lucky Charms.

How this promotion works is at such that you can buy the Doraemon plush with any purchase... yes, even jus buy the applepie at $1, you can get these lucky charms at $2 each... (you can buy as many pieces you like, no limitation)... and of course, for collectors like me, we will try to collect them all... but the catch is that, they only release 3 designs per week, so it will take a full 4 weeks to complete the collection. (please note, McDonald is not responsible for the increase in your weight during the course of collecting this series) :p

a closer look at the lucky charms

the concept of the charms is a representation of each of the Chinese Zodiac Signs (namely, Rat, Bull, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Chicken, Dog, Boar) however, to my dismay was that, they removed Boar from the series and replaced it with the HEART... i was disheartened, GET IT?! prolly because i am born in the year of Boar myself and they dont have that Zodiac sign! argh... gave me second thought to get it as my collection. but what the hell!

There have been alot of discussion on this issue online, in publication and even in blog.. (yes including mine)

the main thing is that, McDonald, apparently is trying to protect the Malay locals' interest by removing the pig and being a Halal Restaurant Chain it is even more of a reason to not make the Boar in the complete Zodiac collection. SO some 'clever' Marketing guy in McDonald decided to remove the Boar and replaced it with the Heart... such that hoping they will not offend the Malay locals... and then giving Heart to appease them... well not bad an idea though since Valentine's Day is round the corner..

this is the Boar version - go poll to bring it on sale @ www.mcdonalds.com.sg/doraemon

below is an article taken off from Straits Times that McDonald realised this decision of theirs (the replacement) not only it did not make the situation better, it made it to the hot topic of discussion in 2010

WE'RE SORRY AND WE'RE GRATEFUL (abit contradicting rite?) 

We could never have anticipated how passionate Singapore is about our Doraemon lucky charms. A happy community is important to us, and it was never our intention to offend anyone.

Therefore we are grateful for your feedback. This, we believe, is the backbone of McDonald's™ relationship with you. You tell us, we listen.

We are doing our best to make things right. And as you have requested, we will bring in the Doraemon 'pig' lucky charm to complete your collection in mid-April owing to production schedule.

Just a small favour: Please indicate* below your interest to purchase Doraemon 'pig' lucky charm at $2 each (all nett proceeds will go to the Ronald McDonald Children's Charity™). We really want to make sure there are enough stocks to meet your needs.


Thank you for your understanding and continued support of McDonald's™.

* Do note this poll is for McDonald's™ to gather an indicative order quantity and is not an order reservation

COMEON MAN!!? want to appease the situation but yet not willing to spend to make the same number of quantity as per the other Zodiac Signs..
 
Anyway, though with this polling decision, i am still not agreeable to the initial dumb decision to think too much about the Boar.. in the first place right, if they want to have this promotion on the zodiac signs, they should have thought about it even before they launch. why now? i guess the thought process could have been more thorough..

oh ya, i happened to get my hand on this pic of the other Doraemon set in other region of the world... WTF rite... it looks bloody much more nicer than the Singapore version.... talking about Uniquely Singapore.

BACK TO SCHOOL!!

Finally!!!! after many coaxing and encourements... i have decided to pick up the 'sword' i have left in my cupboard for 5 years and head on to a 'battle' with the textbooks and notes....

yeah... i have decided to jump course ... i was a grad in Electronic Telecomm Engr in Ngee Ann Poly... but now i am more or less firmed in my selection of my degree course of study... i will be taking Double Major in Hospitality, Tourism Marketing Management in May... Murdoch Uni at Kaplan Campus..

however, prior to that i'll need to take 6 bridging modules...

can you imagine.. 6 x 20hrs of gruelling crash course for the span of 3 mths.... each paper with an exam..

gosh... okok i am studying for my first paper as i am typing this.. off to my books...

wish me luck

Heart Wrenching New Year - paying my last respect... Good Bye Xue Yao

i went to Xue Yao's wake today... i got a msg from Bernard Sim, he represented Ying to come down to pay the last respect... Ying is in Shanghai for work.... i promised Ying too that i will give her a call when i reached so that i can put her on speaker phone and that her words can reach Xue Yao even from a distance... everything was ok until i walked towards the coffin... i quickly dial Ying's number and put her on speaker... i too couldnt control my emotional self... i broke down... i teared and the feeling was heart wrenching... i lost another brother...

Brother, as i am reading your Facebook i came across your message

Initially I have no hopes, no fears & nothing to lose.. Now I got my hopes, my fears & too much to lose..!! Whu does not wish to have hopes..=) Everybody hopes for somthing..

you left us too early... and i am sure there are people out there to help you accomplish your hopes and dreams...

my condolences to the Tan's... life still have to go on... please stay strong and i am sure he will watch over all of us from above.. keeping us safe...

i am starting to miss your laughter... your jokes... even right now as i am writing this... the image of you lingers in my mind... take care.. my lil brother... our path will cross again next time i promised.. i will drink with you.

2009 - A Year of Sadness

to think having recession is bad enough for everyone... i have closed ones taken away from me...

got this tragic news today... another of my 'brother' passed away... yes again... after Augustine... now is Xue Yao...

i am trying not to get too emotional today.. but i couldnt, a tear still rolled down my cheek...

life is too fragile to be taking too lightly on it... we are not tough afterall... everything can just be taken away from you blatantly...

images of me working with Xue Yue on days when the Management have to be in the shops... the jokes we shared and the life goals.. you spoke to me about... your studies... your work... your unhappiness... everything are flashing back to me as i am typing this..

i will pay you my last respect o you my lil. brother...

a tribute to my 2 brothers.. May you find peace in the other world... look after all of us from above... you will be missed...

 Cheerful Small nice & friendly aka the Haley J Osment lookalike

Tan Xue Yao - March 3rd 1988 - January 2nd 2010 (age 21)
NUMPremium (账柜)

 

Rock.In.Peace 

Augustine T. - Aug 18th 1988 - Nov 15th 2009 (age 21).
NFF (flipflops Rocker)

on a side note... Hadi... please GET WELL SOON!!! I STILL WANT TO SEE YOU AND JOKE WITH YOU!!!