A Mind of My Own

With the slowdown of the economy and everyone is tightening their belts, garang guni men are picky. The rag and bones business hasn’t gone out of the windows yet. It’s quite lucrative at times and does help to supplement the income.

My mother tried to get the attention of the collector only to have him say, “My boss will come later.” That was 10am. I went out at 11am for my hair appointment and returned home at 4.30pm. The stack of newspapers were still outside our door.

Apparently, this particular collector prefers handphones, old TV and other valuable stuff. I know where to trade in my handphones for cash. I know I can look around and trade in my old TV for cash. I know I can just go to the Cash Converter shop that is just near my place to sell for cash. Why the heck would I just pass to you, the garang guni man for an amount that isn’t worth it?

You think you are clever? Don’t try to be clever for this case. People have stolen our fire riser metal lock before. They are clever too but the authorities had to spend more money to replace with better locks. Do you know where our taxpayers’ money all go to?

The money have to go into building a better nation. That’s why our transport and everything is going up despite paying our taxes. That is also why being a rag and bones collector, you should stop being picky. Because I ain’t gonna let ye pocket that $100 for yourself when I can sell my handphone for a higher price.

I have been freed from the routine job. Perhaps I have reached my ends of the what one might call the boredom of routine job. It hadn’t been that routine but I needed a change of scope that I craved for. I wanted to do something else but there just wasn’t any slot for me at the time.

I was in my first job for 4 years. Hanging on because I was still studying for a degree that isn’t recognised in the end. I had the chance to shift my scope there. I had a chance to expand my knowledge at my second job. There I was so focused in that I got so wounded up due to the demands there. There wasn’t any change of job scope that was possible as there were more talents in the HQ.

After all these years, I am realising that I am looking for an ideal job. My criteria is:

• Allowing me to work from any time as long as I can produce results.
• Allowing me to work from anywhere.
• Paying me enough for my bills and insurance and enough to save up for retirement.

Perhaps what I need isn’t a job. All I need is to have a few roles or skills to juggle with so that I won’t be looking around every 18 months.

Since my last day at work was on a Thursday, I had an event to attend on Friday, the bag competition. On Saturday, I stayed at home scheduling my posts for my blogs. Sunday, I went out. Monday, I stayed at home to source for more money making schemes and I went to watch Hellboy 2 with DD on Tuesday.

Today, I will pick up the cosmetics from Pure Luxe from HY. I have activities on Friday and Saturday although I’m wondering if I have any activities on Thursday.

I have been thinking about the bags I have just bought. I think I would like to sell the black bag. It looks so odd when I hold it. The photo was taken by me, the background has been photoshopped out.

I have many affairs with agents for years. Not something to be proud of, but I have had good and bad ones. The good ones have been matching up pretty fine. The bad ones just couldn’t match no matter what. One even pushed me to attend an interview I already knew it wasn’t going to work out. I wonder how she did it.

Image via Wikipedia

The ones that I have had good matches are:

• Thomas J
• Robert Walters
• People Search
• The one in Maxwell Road (Can’t recall the name as it was more than 7 years ago)

The bad matches, I won’t want to write down the names as I could just be the unlucky one who has met the wrong agent. This time round, I hope I have a good match. Despite my attempts to avoid joining certain companies, I have now come a full circle if this interview works out well. I just hope the boss and peers are kind enough.

If it wasn’t that I needed the money, I would have said that I won’t be going for it. However, this is a critical period for me, thus my affair with agents have to continue.

There have been too many things going on. I’m quite confused as to where I should be starting. It’s hazy and yet I have so many things to do. Such as finding ways to earn money without resorting to working in an office. Unfortunately, Singapore isn’t really a good place to start. Or any other country for that matter.

Image via Wikipedia

I still need a day job. Unless I can work 4 hours a week. It will be a dream come true. I haven’t gotten over Latte’s demise yet. It is a traumatic experience if you witness your beloved pet grasping his last breath in front of you despite all the efforts to save him. It was really unfortunate that Latte died as a virgin.

I haven’t been sleeping well since. Some of you may scoff at the idea of losing sleep over some guinea pig. However, any pet owner will be upset at the lost of their pets because they have been spending time bonding together and gotten to love each other. Imagine living together with your Labrador for 15 years. It passed away due to sickness or old age. You have been walking around the neighbourhood every day and the loss has changed the routine. How does that feel?

I have been thinking about life. It’s so short that I just want to spend more time with my family rather than spending so much time at work earning more money but it’s useless when you can’t be there when your family needs you.

I have been thinking of starting my own business but it isn’t going to be easy since I have absolutely no idea where to begin. I do know there is someone who wishes to help. That’s so sweet. At this moment, I would like to think about the business type and strategies before jumping into the bandwagon.

What the future holds I’m not sure. I just want to be sure about something and yet afraid to do it. It’s my first step towards something. I have tried to work towards another goal, getting a writing job but unfortunately, been rejected twice. It isn’t as much as some who may have been rejected 10 times.

I find that in Singapore, if you want to work towards your dreams, it isn’t that easy. Various factors include:

• Your own flat.
• You lack the reputation such as being featured in magazines for photography, writing, etc.
• Your own car.
• You have been doing what you hope will help you but unfortunately, your face needs to be plastered all over the net and your name must be found all over the net before anyone will want to feature you.

I will be facing the unknown and I think I may have to plaster my name all over the net and write my name all over the net so that the idea that I have in mind will take off. I don’t know how long it’ll take but I hope that it’ll pay off well.

Life here has been good. I can walk home after 7pm without much worries except for that time when I saw that flasher. That memory wasn’t good because that wanker hasn’t been caught and I don’t know why the police never did call me for a photo fit. Oh wait, Mas Salamat was/is more important than some penis attention. Sorry.

While I have some complains about the public transport, I will not say that I don’t love my country. I just love my country only. However, life has become stressful in some ways because if you are not promoted at work, you are screwed when you reached your 30s for a woman and 40s for a man. It isn’t written but it’s all in the mindset.

The future is scary because I know what I don’t want. However, I don’t know what I want. My elimination list is rather long at this moment and I hope that by the time I have eliminated 70%, I know what I want.

Donations. Something that is being done most of the time during crisis. The Myanmar’s encounter with Cyclone Nargis brought about an influx of requests for donations. Such is the time to request for money. What I can’t understand is why don’t they ever accept blankets, tents, clothes, food and other non-monetary stuff at such urgent times.

[via Flickr]

Isn’t that what the citizens need most at this time? They need food and water to be delivered as the water supply is not portable at this stage. Will money always solve it? Or it’s easier to transfer money as opposed to the manpower to manage the stuff that has been donated?

I have clothes that I don’t wear any more. Will they want or they prefer their clothes? Without blankets, won’t the people feel cold at night? Without tents for temporary lodging, will they feel cold when the wind is blowing, will they feel hot when the sun is shining down on them?

Money is easy to transfer but where is the money going to? Can it be used at the moment for buying medical stuff? Can it build the road faster? Will the money really be used to help the people instead of going into the pockets of those who should be helping the people?

After the NKF fiasco, one does wonder if the donations are really being used for the reasons that were supposedly stated. When I saw the way they dumped boxes of water and food from a helicopter without any parachutes to prevent the boxes from being smashed into smiterins, I wonder if China is truly giving the necessity such that the people feel that they are truly looked after.

I’m no longer sure if I’m donating to the right causes despite what the signboard says. I’m not that heartless but if proven that the donations are not going for the causes that is being stated, why should I donate to those who have too much authority over the money and used them for other purposes?

I have always supported donations to charities. Not those using tin cans or flat bags telling kids they need some sort of community points in order to get to that polytechnic or junior college that they want to join.

They are legitimate but they don’t help me in telling the IRAS that I have done my donations in my name except I only get a sticker instead of telling them I have donated. Anyway, I digress. Violent Acres is holding a donation contest for 6 weeks.

The main reason is against child abuse, second, let’s wish him/her happy birthday. The charity’s name is West Valley Child Crisis Center. The amount can be any amount but if anyone gives US$0.01, that’s just plain insulting. Don’t donate in this case.

The target amount is US$10, 000. I think I can start contacting some charities if they have Paypal or I just set up one and send to their respective address to reduce my stress.

In life we need to get loans for expensive stuff such as buying cars and a flat. Everyone knows that you can’t possibly use all your money in the bank to pay off the car and flat. You need some sort of loan to pay off so that you are not financially strapped down paying the debts. Cash Advance may just provide you the necessary money.

You don’t need to have any credit checks unlike banks where they love to know your financial details such as income and CPF amount. Applying for one is easy, you don’t even have to leave your home.

Money is often an issue in the family. You want to hold a wedding dinner, you need money. You want to attend the university to pursue that coveted degree, you need money. You want to attend the F1 race, you need money. In fact, everything needs money.

My theory is just theory and should not be taken as the gospel truth.

1. Someone from up there is bound to find the tips that can help save money for the poor, middle and low income groups and file a new policy.
2. With the new policy, you won’t be able to get tax relief as the number of non-taxable ways will be reduced.
3. The new policy will also include more tax in addition to service tax, GST. They will name the new tax as “ATM” (Always Tax More).
4. Free tips means the one giving out free tips doesn’t get regconised.
5. The rich groups also practise these tips.
6. Everyone will be using these tips.
7. You have to fight with everyone because they are also using coupons, vouchers, etc.
8. And finally, there’s no such thing as free lunch, dinner or breakfast for that matter. Even hotel stays include the ‘free’ breakfast in the price itself.

Anyone else can provide more to include in the list?

I’ve had my share of searching for my web host until I settled on Dreamhost. With Bluehost, Host Gator, and many other choices out there, I was in a maze. With so many features and services provided by the hosts, I was totally lost. How to find the best web hosting company?

First, I had to check out the software that I wanted to use, Wordpress, what else? Next, the requirements for using it; MySQL, PHP and FTP. In addition, I like my site to be up 99.99% of the time. There’s always a down time for the servers to be maintained. Customer support is also an important factor. Finally, I needed to estimate my budget and the amount I was willing to pay.

After looking at feedback from forums and blogs, I chose what I felt was the best web hosting company. This sort of research took me some time as I wanted to be sure that the money spent was worth.