A Mind of My Own

Robert Kyosaki is a businessman to learn from. After publishing his famous Rich Dad Poor Dad, he went on to publish other books and eventually came out with Cash Flow board game that depicts real life situations. The famous Rat Race is a cycle that everyone who has gone through and currently going through will know. The line between work and home are sometimes blurred when one is to be on 24-hour standby. I have friends who are stuck in the rut, as they call it.

The money is often used for expenses that we dare not calculate because if we do, we might just lose hope that there is life besides working hard for survival. I met up with a friend recently who is doing a lot of things and in his words, survival. After talking to so many people about how life is going, there is something in common that we have. We just want to be able to go to places without worrying about the money later.

We work only because we want the best in life for ourselves or family. It’s pure and simple. While some may have used the other methods of getting a lot of money, the majority is still copying from the people who want to be successful yet not there. Someone asked why we used to copy from homework from those As students when we were studying but not copy from those who are successful in life.

In my life at work, I have gone through situations that anyone who is working will encounter. That’s when I know that life in the corporate world isn’t permanent despite what the job states. We may be skeptical of certain things. However, in order to make the right decisions, we often have to analyse and find out what is being presented. Even if the opportunity is missed, someone else will take it up.

A favourite story that I found is shown below.

What God gives us may not be glamourous but if it can get me out of the situation and let me find myself in a place without limits, I will do it.

If anything that will capture the headlines, it’s the sex lives of performing artistes. Either it’s Edison Chen or Jack Neo. Else, Marcus Chen’s (陈健并), the Chinese characters may be wrong, divorce. Apparently, artistes have to play a role in telling everyone why they marry or divorce or have an affair. Or multiple partners and maybe the fetish of filming everything being done.

Let’s not forget that Gary guy who blogs or rather shows off his abs using homemade videos to the rest of the world and his females who were bedded by him, including his cousin. And then, there is this guy who decides that it’s a jolly good time to spread highly false news about someone’s health using a blog.

I thought Singapore is a rather conservative country. Anything about sex is rather hush hush. Perhaps time has changed to the point whereby if the question of sexual orientation isn’t on ourselves, the press will have a really good field day just questioning the same questions to the same people.

I still remember the tired headlines of NKF and its gold tap. There’s also this news about Ren Ci’s scandal of abused funds. Meanwhile, I wonder if the rest of the world is laughing their heads off.

It’s never easy to find shoes that fit. It’s easier to find shoes that bite and give you blisters. I needed to buy new shoes as my old ones are falling apart literally. One had the inner sole slipping, one had the straps totally loosened, one had the leather or whatever the material was coming out in bits and pieces. The other simply bit me half the time I wore them.

Hence, I tried about 5 to 7 pairs in the shoe shop and finally decided on 2 pairs. both slip on that would be presentable for formal purposes like workplace. Pretty shoes but I now have at least 4 blisters despite waxing the edges and stomping on the shoes.

Apparently, I should have started slow; which meant that I needed to come out of the house earlier and season the shoes before I walked at my usual pace. I won’t have any seasoned shoes for the week as I had to throw away the ones that can’t be worn and the house really looked like a shoe store or garang guni’s place depending on the viewpoint.

Maybe I should have bitten the shoes before wearing them to work.

We all have a role to play in helping our earth. If each one of us do a small part in helping to maintain our climate’s temperature, it will lead to a stability. Simple tasks like switching off the electronic devices and turning off all the taps when not in use are just some of the things we can do.

What I would like to see is that more solar powered panels; even powered by the lights, will be put to more usages besides street lamps. I particularly love the idea of solar powered lunch box that will keep lunch warm.

As each day passes by, the temperature seems to have risen to the point whereby the fan’s speed has to be increased to feel cooler. While efforts have been put in to reduce the energy being used, old habits die hard.

In order to put in new good habits, we should be persistant in using the new habits for 30 days consecutively. That way, we will be able to help ourselves too. I’m currently using biodegradable washing detergent and other stuff that are more friendly to our planet. I may be just a person among the billions of people on earth but I do what I can for our earth. There is only one earth.

This post was written for Blog Action Day. Have you done your part?

I was attempting to change the auto-top up amount of my EZLink card. The CEPAS card that was issued to me a few months back. However, I was told to call a number and ask them how to do it. I thought it’s just a simple process of waiting to re-apply after deactivating the GIRO for it?

If you would like to change the auto top up amount, please deactivate the facility by presenting your NRIC / Passport and ez-link card at any TransitLink Ticket Office. Please wait for at least 7 working days for the status of your ez-link card to be updated before reapplying for the facility again.

The above is extracted from the website. Nowhere in the paragraph did it state that I had to call the customer service to ask them how to deactivate it since I can’t possibly do it on my end. If anyone has any shorter or easier process, do let me know.

In addition, I find it strange that the Customer Service is unable to refund the amount if I were to request it for the Citibank SMRT credit card. I had to re-queue at the Passenger Service to do that. All I could do was to terminate GIRO at the Customer Service and then proceed to Passenger Service to get my refund.

I can’t even do a refund transfer at the Passenger Service since they don’t have it. After getting my refund I had to requeue at the Customer Service again. This meant that I had to queue 3 times and I thought Singapore is a very efficient society?

In the end, my adventure to get a refund took me about 55 minutes, that was due to a kind lady redirecting the rest who just wanted to replace their old cards with the new card. By the way, I had to top up my CEPAS at the self-service machine that took me 2 minutes as no one was using it.

In order to have some sort of convenience, I hope that in future, there is a real efficient way of doing things that have been electronified.

Life is wonderful and magical. I used to look for my happiness for a long time when it was just whether I choose to be happy or not. For each incident that happens, I pause and think if I should be upset about the way things didn’t turn out well.

There is truth to the saying that “There’s a silver lining in every cloud.” Once I understood by reading Attitude is Everything, some of the things I never understood, came into place. Whatever that happens, it is for a reason. It may sound cliche but the real reason will come into play when it is time for it to be revealed to you.

Choosing to be happy is a habit. It can be done within 21 to 30 days when you stop to feel happy. After a while, it comes as a second nature to feel happy. Disclaimer: May not apply to funerals since it is a sober ocassion.

For me to arrive at the stage where I choose to be happy, I had to go through a lot of positive habit additions. I didn’t get rid of the bad habits. I had to learn how to use the good habits in order to reduce using the bad habits.

I apply this habit daily. In addition, I am thankful to be alive and be able to work towards my goals. I am thankful that I’m living in a safe place. I am thankful that each day, I have hopes to be fulfilled. I am thankful that I have enough to eat. I am thankful that I have a family to go home to. I am thankful that I have a doting DD.

What is happiness to you?

It’s September and time does fly when you don’t notice it at all. Ever notice that between the age of 0 to 20 years, time seems to go so slowly as if it’s crawling?

From 20 to 40 years, the years just seem to disappear into a bottomless pit. Needless to say, from the 40th year of your life, time feels like the Road Runner zooming past with just its trail of wind on your face.

I have been hit with a few obstacles and overcame some of them. While some left me with a bitter taste, I have been learning to let go of them as they are the real stumbling blocks that won’t let me move forward if I were to keep them in my heart.

The year is coming to a close and it had been a great year since I made some changes in my life. My dreams are coming true and I will be able to fulfill my life long dream soon. All I have to do is to move forward, adapt and hold on to my dreams tightly.

DD coming into my life has been a wonderful change since it feels pretty awesome to have someone hugging you tightly for a reason called “Just because”.

I have made new friends and enjoying myself each day with hopes and achieving some improvements to myself daily. The years ahead will be even more wonderful.

Having seen the preview of Up by Pixar, DD and I were anticipating for it since the GPS dropped out of the sky by Russell. However, I didn’t expect the unbelievably cute clouds making babies of both animals and humans to be carried out by their storks to the respective homes. It was called Partly Cloudy as a short film just before Up was to be shown.

I love the poor cloud who was tasked with making the other kinds of animals from shark to porcupines to rams. He was really happy with his creations but when his stork arrived, the poor stork was abused by the babies’ natural instincts. Despite the abuse, the stork still loved his cloud and it showcased the strong friendship bonds between the two of them.

Up is about this old man who finally decided to take an adventure in his house literally. I just want to put a disclaimer, helium filled balloons can’t really carry a house no matter how many of them are tied to the chimney. What really touched was the meaning behind this whole adventure. We should grab hold of every chance that we have in life as we may not get a second chance again.

This movie may make the adults who understand the meaning behind the scenes cry while making the kids confused as to why their parents were wailing their hearts out. After watching this movie, I demand that someone create a real collar that allows the dogs to be able to talk.

It has been shown in dramas that the human mind and will is able to overcome anything; even the ones that seem impossible. Dramas are what we usually believe that it’s just dramatised and nothing is to be fully believed. However, Readers Digest often portrays people who have overcome odds to become what they are now. Such as the mother whose daughter died in a mysterious accident while on vacation with her husband. She was determined to find out the true cause of her daughter’s death as the sucide note that turned up felt unlike her character.

Sometimes, a man who was proclaimed to be unable to walk for life starts walking again. Doctors are often stumped by such recoveries as the injuries have deemed the person an invalid. Our minds are strong enough as long as we feed enough reasons and the end result that we want to have, we will achieve anything.

It may be unbelievable but with enough will from within ourselves, we can overcome the odds. Discovery Channel once showcased a guy who was desperate to save his friends and wife trapped under a yacht that overturned after being hit by a wave. Despite the lungs screaming for oxygen, he persevered enough to get to them and handed them the extended rope that he had hastened to make in order to get to them in the dark waters.

It’s amazing how we much we can accomplish once we put our minds to it. Even achieving an “A” for any exam becomes possible once we put our minds to it when we study for it and go out of our ways to understand any part of the subject that we don’t understand.

Whenever I watch drama series whereby this female or male lead was in coma, the other lead often gave long speeches on how much they love each other and the one in coma often struggle with the inner soul on carryin on living. When they finally wake up, it’s like a miracle. A miracle that doctors often never predicted.

Our human will is the miracle. Something that we have a strong conviction to in order to achieve anything that we put our minds to.

It might have been Father’s day on 22nd June 2009 but it was a great Sunday for me since I was spending time with other people instead of with my father. I have never celebrated Father’s Day with my father before since he doesn’t believe in wasting money on celebrations. Since that’s the case, every day is Father’s Day. It doesn’t need to have just once a year.

It was my first time doing a live demonstration with total strangers yet I was feeling extremely excited about showing them the benefits for their health and homes. If I were to have done it 5 years ago, I would have stuttered madly and looking for means to shorten the time with them as much as possible.

By the time the event ended, I had learned so much more about the stuff I was supposed to be presenting when others came in to help out when I was alone at the counter. I’m so thankful to all of them who have helped to add on or answer the questions that I haven’t learned yet.

I have enjoyed myself at this event and look forward to more presentations.