What do you say?

sloth says:
swee...wad the hell did u do with ur blog
sloth says:
its super gay
honest. its saddening to know that my friend of 10 years is gay and has shit taste

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I say: What's wrong with it? I just want everyone to be happy... I thought of using this for a week, but I didnt expect to get such a strong objection that early. Haha.

What say you?

Time for a laugh (if you are a football fan)

Warning: What you are about to see is not for the faint-hearted football fan.
If you are a Spurs fan, I would advise you to leave this page right away.

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Anyway, I thought I better post this before Spurs play their next game. Read on and you will get what I mean.

Compilation of Spurs jokes:

I met this really kinky girl last night. 'Humiliate me,' she said ... So I bought her a Tottenham shirt

Haringey council has blocked Tottenham's plans to build a new ground on Northumberland Park. A town hall source said: 'We don't mind having a funfair there once a year, but a circus every fortnight is a bit much.'

'I was playing Scrabble and had enough letters to make 'Tottenham Hotspur Football Club'. I was gutted when I found out it was only worth two points.'Tesco are releasing new Oxo cubes in Spurs colours. Customers are told to look out for laughing stocks.

A young boy goes to social services and tells them he has nowhere to live. 'What about your parents?' asks the social worker. 'No, they beat me,' says the boy. 'What about your grandparents?' says the social worker. 'No, they beat me even harder!' says the boy. 'Well ... where do you want to stay then?' replies the social worker. 'Tottenham,' says the boy. 'They don't beat anyone.

What do a toothpick and Tottenham have in common? They both have two points

Juande Ramos, shortly after another training session, comments to the head groundsman at White Hart Lane how impressive the pitch is looking. 'It ought to,' replies the groundsman. 'We put 70 million quid's worth of manure on it every week.'

What does a Spurs fan do after he sees his team win? Turns off the Xbox

After leaving San Siro, Jose Mourinho was asked if he was going to help Spurs get out of their slump. He turned around and said, 'No way, I ain't that special'.

Apparently the entire Tottenham squad have been busy honing their skills playing the computer game Championship Manager. Sadly it seems Juande misunderstood and thinks they want to play for a Championship manager.

Contrary to what you may think, Spurs are the strongest team in the league at the moment. Sure, aren't they holding everyone else up?

A man was found dead floating in the Thames, wearing a blond wig, full make-up, bra, knickers, suspenders and a Spurs shirt. Before informing the next of kin the police removed the Spurs shirt to save the family embarrassment.

What would an improved version of Spurs be called? Newcastle United.

Did you hear that Juande Ramos was clocked doing 169mph on the M1 coming back from Stoke? Apparently he was just so desperate for three points.

Is it just me or are Spurs the team to beat this season? Everyone's at it.

When a groggy Vedran Corluka regained consciousness in the ambulance leaving the Britannia Stadium on Sunday he asked medical staff who he was. On being told he played football for Tottenham Hotspur he lapsed into a coma.

The Numbers game

Spent the past week preparing for my paper yesterday morning, and I'm glad its finally over. I think Math has never been my strength (except than in Primary school). Give me business terminology any day over the technical and headache-inducing numbers and graphs.

Add to the fact that I've not touched differentiation, integration, and quadratic functions since sec school, you can imagine my agony when studying for this module. Sure, this is kind of like a fundamental course only, but it took me some time to reconcile all the concepts.

Anyway, its over now and ironically, I'm feeling pretty confident about the module. Hope my confidence is not misplaced though!

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Talking about work, because of the obscurity of the nature of my work, it's hard for others to understand what I am doing, or am I even doing anything at all. It's not like I have to care about what they think, but sometimes I do try to explain to them that I am actually spending a lot of my time working, NOT slacking.

Sometimes, I have to realign my mindset and convince myself that the only one who I need to convince is me and me alone. I really should be past thinking about the opinions of external parties and just keep working.

I've now got a nice week bar distraction before the next school term starts again. Let's see what I can come up with.

Cheerios. :)

Time Management or Self Management?

If you are disorganized, out of order, easily distracted, and feel like you need to manage your time life much better, I recommend you take the next 30 mins and watch this video.

Wake Up Productive - Time Management

I did, and I would like to think it was pretty useful. To quote something from The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People:

“Time Management” is actually a misnomer, time passes without regard to what we do. We can never manage it. The only thing we can manage is ourself. But the challenge is not to manage time, but to manage ourselves, hence Self Management.

I know most of you would probably be too busy to check out the video, so being the ever Mr Nice (I have to live up to my name), I shall attempt to sum it up for you.

The video touches on the distractions that you and I are most likely to face or have faced day in, day out. And surprise surprise, one of the biggest distractions mentioned in the video is Multi-tasking.


Multi-tasking? Isn't that supposed to improve efficiency and show everyone just how well your brain can function and do different tasks simultaneously? Of course, a certain extent of multi-tasking is definitely essential, but probably not excessively. Turns out that multi-tasking actually lowers your IQ more than smoking marijuana. Well, not that I truly believe that, but it does make some sense. When you multi-task, you are not doing two things at once, but just switching back and forth.

Ahhh, some vindication for the fact that someone once commented I can't multitask. Phew.
So, focus on just one thing at one time. It is that much more efficient.

Other distractions mentioned in the video include:

• Email
• Handphone
• Facebook or (insert-latest-fad-here)

Stay on one path.
Don't do too many things at one time.
Start a project, finish it, then move on to the next.
Most people give up way too early, usually at the first indication of failure.
Do whatever it takes, however long it takes, till you see the first signs of success.

The video then went on to talk about the techniques to improve focus, and efficiency.
One tip that I find especially useful is "Clean Focus".

Work in focus blocks of uninterrupted time, with a minimum of two hours. During that period, do not allow yourself to be distracted. Sit down, start working, and continue working. Even before this video, I personally find that I'm most productive when I get started on work and block myself out from any external distraction. I'm guessing it should work for you too.

There are other stuff, but I'm not gonna bore you with that. Watch it if you are interested, or you could ask me and I can have the summary sent to you.

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Meanwhile, this is what I use for my online persona.
Looks great, no?
Yes yes the name, I'm not that creative so I decided to go for the name that QY gave me. I think that's how I will look say 30 years down the road!

The Economics of Relationships

Amidst all the negative financial gloom around the entire world, I reckon it's apt to talk about something refreshing, aside from all the shares jaw-dropping headlines in the papers almost everyday.

So, I'm going to talk about the economics of relationships.

Economics, basically refers to the supply and demand of goods in the market, and the positive relationship between demand and supply, i.e. the higher the demand, the higher the supply. (I apologize for the substandard definition if it irks any of you economists out there.)


So, how does economics play its part in the matter that has created so many blockbuster movies and songs ever since the start of civilization? Because many have commented that my posts are too long and boring, I shall try to limit my entry to a minimum by only focusing on one side of the equation.

When it comes to the economics of relationships, demand equates to how guys are sought after by ladies, while supply refers to how many of such guys that are available in the market.

Of course, like any other good in the market, guys come in varying sizes and quality. They range from tall to short, obese to anorexic, rags to riches, dashing to geeky, chubby to sunken (yes I just had to include this), outgoing to reserved, talkative to quiet, blah blah blah... And because of the difference that comes with each and every guy, that is what constitutes the demand for each genre.

Actually, I had wanted to title this post as "All men are bad", and also in relation to my previous blog entry. Lately, I've had many conversations with people around me and they all seem to have a common denominator in them, and which brings me to the first genre.

Genre 1 - Bad Men (High demand, Subjective supply)

Sometimes, you can't explain logic when it comes to love. If not, how else can you explain that ladies are attracted to the bad men? I met up with my friend today and he must be one of the nicest guys around. But, as nice as he is, the karma does not translate to success in his relationship. I felt so compelled to tell him that infamous but cliched phrase,

男人不坏，女人不爱 (When the men aren't bad, the women ain't gonna like)

And I heard another heart-wrenching story from my mum just now in the evening about a woman who is not having the happiest of marriages. Her husband is probably the biggest jerk around that you can find. He contributes a big fat zero to the household income, and spends his whole time playing golf. He does not even give a single cent to his parents, and the wife does all that. Yet, she persists on and I suspect she still loves her husband very much too.

Love is blind, and the definition doesn't get better with that.

So my point is, times have changed. Bad men are the ones in demand now. In strict economic terms, it's almost like a monopoly, and I forsee it becoming monopolistic in time to come.

Good men are passe, and my advice to you good guys out there who would like to get attached: Be bad, or be left on the shelves.


Disclaimer: Despite the author's disappointing realization that the degree of nice-ness and luck in love could possibly be related inversely, this post does not waver the author's belief of being Mr Nice at all.

I think...

..being incessantly good gets you nowhere.

Thought of the moment

Fail to plan, plan to fail.

An unexplained phenomenon

Some things just cannot be explained in words.

I know its hard to understand, especially among the ladies.. That's why we are from Mars, and not Venus.

It's like shopping - the men just don't get it...

: )

Thanks everyone for your concern, I'm fine. =)

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On a lighter note, I just received my first cheque from ClickBank today.


It's a great feeling to open up your mail and you see your first cheque sitting pretty in an envelope. If only all that was profit... I think I'm suffering from a bout of analysis paralysis. Been reading up too much and having so much information that I delayed putting them into practical work. To quote my previous entry, “Knowledge is of no value, unless you put it into practice.”
I'm sure many of us are guilty of that, and I'm not gonna make any excuses either.

Time to get my hands dirty and start working on it! At least, I enjoy my current work.

I have been pretty caught up lately to get down to any productive work. Been shuffling between home, going to the wake and a bit of revision here and there.

Welcome distractions come in the form of City Plaza - The ultimate haven for women's shopping, Coffee Bean, supper, mahjong, Hull's amazing climb up the table...

A Touch of Death

I was awakened this morning by my mum with news that my Ah Gong had passed away. It was shocking, but not too unexpected. Our whole family had gone down to visit him at the nursing home yesterday and he showed signs that were out of the norm. He had been unconscious for all the time since he was admitted to the nursing home, but yesterday, it felt like he was trying to say something.

He had deep breaths and my mum said he was sighing and groaning in pain. Maybe it was fated that our whole family had gone down yesterday and at least saw him for the last time.

Somehow, after the visit, I had been thinking about this. When death nears, it seems like people around have this psychic ability to sense it.

Do cherish your grandparents when they are around. I've seen mine all depart. You get to choose your friends, and almost every other thing in the world, but when it comes to family, you only have just those few.

Anyway, I'm fine.

www.meat.org

The Web Site the Meat Industry Doesn't Want You to See
www.meat.org

A Touch of Fate

I just came back from lunch with my mum, and it must have been one of the most meaningful lunches I have had in a while.

We were looking for seats and there were not any around. In the end, we had to share a table with an old lady. And it was precisely this old lady who made this lunch so memorable.

Dressed in a floral top, you would be forgiven for thinking she is just like the typical 50 - 60 year old auntie you see in the coffeeshop. With a bowl of kway chap in front of her, it just about completed the initial, insignificant impression.

But once she spoke, you could sense something different about her. Her language, and level of wit was not something you would witness from any ordinary old folk. She asked if I'm studying or working and proceeded to say that she's currently lecturing in NUS, and sometimes crossing over to SIM, if the need arises.

She went on to say that she was headhunted, and was sort of affiliated with our Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong. She holds 4 degrees, and only moved over from Canada in Aug 08.

You could see how friendly she was as she knew almost everyone in the coffeeshop, from the drinks auntie to the wanton mee owner. Considering that she stays in Pasir Panjang and this is a coffeeshop located in Bedok, and the fact she has been here for less than 2 months, I think it's pretty remarkable. I felt compelled to tell her that even though I've stayed her for all my life, she knows all these people better than I do.

The last time she came to Singapore was more than 10 years back, and one particular change she had observed was our culture.

"Singaporeans are hostile, and unfriendly."

To which I find myself smiling and nodding in agreement. Actually, I think we are adverse to novelty, i.e. strangers.

Since young, our parents have never failed to drill the idea into us that we are not to talk and be friendly to strangers. And being the ever obedient children that we are, we followed the teaching even till today. So, maybe we can be forgiven for our hostility towards strangers. After all, it's almost innate!

But in all seriousness (I'm not really a fan of The Joker), we do have some way to go before becoming a gracious society. I remember SM Lee Kuan Yew once said he would not live to see a gracious Singapore. When I first read that, I think I flashed the same wide grin as what I did just now at the coffeeshop. Haha.

She went on to talk about respect for the elderly, and the lack of it from young people nowadays. And the next thing she commented was very true as well.

这里的老人家可以分为三种：

１）等天亮
２）等儿孙回家
３）等死

For the benefit of the Chinese illiterate readers -
Old people here can be classified into 3 categories - waiting for daybreak, waiting for children and grandchildren, and waiting for death.

Of course that does not apply to every old person, but it's just general speak. Personally, I think it's the general mindset of old people in our society and how they are perceived by the rest of us. Add to the fact that we are a rapidly ageing population, I sure hope that public perception changes and more importantly, the role that greying members have to play. She quoted Japan as an example.

When she was there, old couples were holding hands and distributing newspapers in the park. It's a well known fact that Japan has an ageing population and I think the scenario quoted above did not happen by chance. I'm sure it took education and much time to bring about such an environment, and I hope our society will embrace that sooner than later.

And then, she revealed that she actually came from one of the wealthiest families in Hongkong. Home is at Happy Valley, one of Hong Kong's highest class residential areas. Her grandfather is a friend of Li Ka Shing, and she could have jolly well chose not to work her entire life. Even though she comes from a good background, she did not come across as arrogrant at all. She was humble throughout the conversation and if anything, was very amiable.

One last thing that she had brought up was that of education. Study what you like, and study for the knowledge. A degree is the basic minimum nowadays, and we should never stop learning. Get a degree, go out to get a job, then get a Master's.

And finally, two quotes for you to chew on:

"Information is NOT knowledge."
“Knowledge is of no value, unless you put it into practice.”