31/01/05

Hmm I felt that i regained some of my energy back. Few days back, i was like sooooo lazy. Can't hold myself up properly, felt like dragging myself. I think my body behaves like the economic cycle haha. After slacking through the weekends, I can feeel energy... slightly.

I just feel so excited with the coming westwind's concert. I can't wait to perform for the audience. This is going to sound like one of the best concerts ever. Hopefully. I won't sell tickets of the concert isn't good, so if i sell, means i value this concert.


Time never stops
Day and night, each day passes.
Past is always being created

Life goes on
Good or Bad, each phase changes
Memories are always created

Whenever memories from the past appear,
It never stops drawing tears.
Even if the heart faces despair,
We would still have to bear.

Even if the sun seems to be shining happily,
it cannot hide the fury heat.
When the heat is gone eventually,
what is left is a dark abyss.

Never forgotten.

Ahhh i got nothing better to do. Thankz ah. Its bad i know, haha i don't have the linguistic skills ok. I've got quiz tomorrow. I go watch my anime then study liao haha.

Oh i remember someone giving me a leaflet regarding an activity for V day. I laughed at the leaflet.... not for me. Oh ya, and people asking me to buy flowers for vday, wasting their sms. Not for me.

Sigh, when everyone is happy outside and you don't need to make people happy anymore, then you would eventually lose the ability to make yourself happy. How true?

Slice of Life

Get Organised

Some people thrive in chaotic conditions. You know, the ones who seem to be able to retrieve the document they need from the piles and heaps on their desks. For the rest of us though, working or living in a cluttered, disorganized environment can be very stressful.

Are you overwhelmed by your office? Paralysed by paper? Is your desk a disaster area? Are you doing anything about the situation? Spring cleaning once or twice a year doesn't count.

Clutter causes a life full of stress, frustration, and chaos, not to mention precious wasted time. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal reported that the average executive loses "six weeks per year" retrieving misplaced information from messy desks and files. The cost in lost productivity and salaries is enormous. Many small businesses spend more time dealing with piles of papers than growing the business.

By taking firm action to get organized, you will experience less stress and frustration, have more time in your life, gain control over your day, experience increased job satisfaction, and be a happier person.

Very often the biggest challenge to get organized is simply finding somewhere to start. When you are totally overwhelmed by clutter, even this first step can be daunting.

Here are some ideas for you to start with:

First, decide that you are going to do whatever it takes to bring more order and flow into your life. Be committed. You can start small - ease yourself into it! Organise just one thing a day, or one thing a week. For example, this week, you could organise your computer files and next week, you could sort out a small drawer. You will start to see results from clearing just one small area. Remember that it takes 21 days to get into a new habit, so make sure that you take small, but consistent actions each day.

Next, block off a specific date and time to start organising your life. This is an appointment you cannot cancel and it will at least get you started. If you are feeling particularly brave, a more drastic way to start would be to purge. Grab a large trash bag, walk through your office or home and just be totally ruthless. Throw out everything you don't use, or give it away. By doing this, you can free up a load of space very quickly!

Happy organising!

30/01/05

I'm a good boy today. But I didn't do any school work today. Chinese new yr is coming, so i cleaned up my room a bit. Well, I did one corner of my room while my mum did the rest haha, I'm so bad. Anyway its neat and tidy now. At least for the new year.

Went for band prac but was late. Anyway they haven't even started when i reached there, so considered early? haha. We ran through the whole repertoire for next week's concert. I think its gonna be a fantastic concert. But the concert is really a very very tiring one. All the high notes and amazing fingering works will definitely make me expend all my energy. Well, I hope all those coming to support would enjoy the concert :). Special thankz to all who bought tickets from me.

Hmm i haven't mention that my dog just had a hair cut haha. Wanna see how she look? Just go to my yahoo photo website. If you don't know where to find it, too bad. haha

I'm just so tired now that i just feel like sleeping. Thats all i want to do.

29/01/05

Ah did work again, that doesn't need any mention right? I've cleared all my tutorials for next week. I gonna focus my study for my quiz next week. Its always worthwhile to plan things ahead eh.

My face has been pretty straight for the hold day. Wonder if you guys have tried not saying a word and not having any facial expression for a day? I couldn't move my face muscles really well haha. Have been black face the whole day.

I did work until 5pm, and I went to watch my disciple's band concert. The vocal singer impressed me again. Last concert was Prince of Egypt, this time was Wizard of Oz: Somewhere Over the Rainbow. These kind of singers should go for singapore idol haha.

To my disciple: when i said you girls were out of tune, i didn't mean the eupho section, I mean the whole band was not very in tune. There are some sound sticking out when they were playing, eg clarinets. As usual, the mood of those songs were there because Andy Sim is good conductor. Its just the fundamentals thats lacking. And your band recycled song from last concert ah. Your signature songs is it?

Somehow, I feel kinda out of place in that concert hall.... generation gap. All the people around me were young people. I'm just kinda old. And theres this few guys behind me keep talking awa. Can't they just keep their mouth shut while watch the concert. Irritating people. But to compliment them, i feel that singaporean musicians are getting better in listening for out of tune sounds haha.

And one more think to say to ya, disciple: you need to smile more on the stage. Play and enjoy, not stress and play. At least this time you played that solo by yourself. Well done there. Oh ya, the last piece was well played for eupho. The counter melody isn't easy right? Euphos sounded well, and I'm impressed by your flexibility in the notes. Must have been practicing alot right?

Come for my concert and hear my solo. haha hope i don't break down

28/01/05

A few days ago, I started picking up super mario again. Its really a very fun game, and it suddenly left an urge to play that game in me. Haha, I couldn't get rid of that gaming side of me haha.

I think i've accomplished alot of work today even though I was affected by the drowsy effect of the flu medicine. For one moment I thought my body was immune to the drowsiness haha. Well, one way to keep yourself awake after taking a medicine is to engage in very busy stuffs. Total alertness, no doubt.

Microsoft excel is really a useful software to solve difficult financial statement problems. Just key in everything and change the formulas and you get a new adjusted financial statement in just half an hr. Then key in the formulas for the ratios and all just "poof" out like magic. hahaa first time complimenting IT from me.

Hmm i wonder why i didn't receive the Slice of life for today. I heard it over the radio. Its about anger. hmm
yup i need to control my anger haha. But my red face just couldn't hide itself when i'm angry.

hmm talking about group thingy, i somehow come to this notion that i might not be a good team member, cuz i would engage in "Group think". Last time, i kept on thinking that i want to become the "devil's advocate" during group meetings, but i couldn't shake of the cultural norm of comformity. And when dissonance occur, i'll construct self statements to remove that dissonance. argh... too much sociology. Like what my teacher said, "Knowledge is power, and power corrupts. So, does knowledge always = good?"

Knowing too much is baaaaaaaad. haha

Theres something i wanted to type but i just can't remember. Maybe i'm just too tired. Another day. if i remember

27/01/05

Well, now then i realise that i have forgotten to post yesterday. Sigh, have been really down with work so this blogging thingy has just slip my mind. Now I'm in school waiting for a lecture at 1630. Its a long wait but i've completed 2 short tutorials so its a good thing. I'm just bored. Real bored, so i come here to type what i've forgotten to do yesterday.

Yesterday I had a project meeting. It seems like i am a type of person who is really bad with group work. I couldn't communicate well with my group mates, and ideas shared were just easily swept away. I got this instinct to stick to my own ideas and i believe that my ideas are good. I know its a bad thing because there can always be something to learn from my friends. But, the organization part is really not there.

I shouldn't complaint much eh. As sociologists have proven, men are weaker in verbal capabilities as compared to women. Most of the time i'll just let my group mates do what they want to do with my part of the essay. Trying to defend my ideas seems to be futile. I might also be viewed as being to aggresive on my ideas.

Now, in the IT lab, surrounding me are all the people doing the essay. Its good that my group has already finish the bulk of it, but truly speaking, i am not having high hopes on it. I don't know whether to be aggressive or just be passive. Thats just an inability of managing group differences in my part. How can I learn? How can i improve? It seems like I couldn't work well with new group members, and I have this preference to be with those who i work with previously.

Slice of life

Perfectionism

Like many other societies, ours is one driven by the pursuit of the highest standards. We were taught to always be the best, the one who gets the medal, the one with the best grades, the one who gets the most value for money at the buffet table.

This struggle towards perfection is not entirely unjustified; after all, we all should strive to become the best that we can be. Some of us actually thrive on constantly trying to be perfect. However, there is a difference between trying to be your best and attempting to live up to expectations which are excessively high or overly rigid.

Perfectionistic behaviour isn't helpful when it makes you aim for standards you can't possibly meet, and causes you to become depressed and anxious when you don't meet them. Perfectionistic inclinations are only positive when you're able to re-adjust your standards when you realise that they are impossible to reach.

If excessively high goals are making you inconsolably frustrated and miserable, then maybe it's time you rethink your concept of perfection. We all need to know when it's time to go for it and when to kick back a little and stop beating ourselves up over what we failed to achieve.

How do you know if your perfectionist tendencies are beginning to cause you unnecessary strife and misery?

Martin M. Antony, co-author of the book "When Perfect Isn't Good Enough", suggests asking the people around you. He goes on to say that perfectionism can mean a lot of different things. It can be a detail-oriented, compulsive way of being, where everything has to be in order and no one is allowed to be more than a couple of minutes late for an appointment.

People may also set unattainable standards for themselves - like trying to be the perfect parent, a superstar at work, a fantastic friend or the ideal partner, or attempting to attain the perfect physique.

You know it's starting to become a problem when you realise that there are certain aspects of your life from which you demand absolute perfection - anything less makes you unhappy and unfulfilled. It could be a relationship perhaps, or how your colleagues perceive you. And that feeling of dissatisfaction is very intense and is beginning to adversely impact other aspects of your life.

Let go of that anxiety and relax a little. Very often, these benchmarks hardly do any damage if they aren't reached. Don't let the pursuit of perfection affect your happiness and ability to maintain fulfilling relationships with the people around you.

Ahhhh this article is for me!! hee

26/01/05

Hmm remember that I planned my morning? There was one mistake there. I have forgotten to put in a time for LUNCh! But luckily I had 15 minutes left before lesson starts when I reached school. So me and my friend, M, went to the canteen for lunch. As usual, I was late again. Somehow I have gotten used to being late for lessons. Is it a good thing or bad? Good- I wasn't so uptight as compared to last time. Bad- it might become a habit.

My nose wasn't listening to my command today. Blocked, running, sneezing, you name it, I have it. I couldn't stand it, so I went to the doc in the school for some medicine. I couldn't have time to see the doc actually because of a meeting, so I went straight to the counter to purchase some flu medicine. To my surprise, its quite easy to buy a medicine. Just describe the pill and thats it. Those were the days where you have to waste time waiting for the doc. And.... NTU clinic's waiting time is really amazing.

My mind is just sooooo full. Ahhhhhh. nothing. Sigh, tonight i can finally sleep nicely because of the medicine. Flu medicine does improve quality of sleep eh? heee. It does for me.

Today's Slice of life is just soooo meaningful.

Slice of Life

The Old Man and His Shoe

One day an old man boarded a bus. As he was going up the steps, one of his shoes slipped off. The door closed and the bus moved off so he was unable to retrieve it. The old man calmly took off his other shoe and threw it out of the window.

A young man on the bus saw what happened, and could not help going up to the old man and asking, "I noticed what you did, sir. Why did you throw out your other shoe?"

The old man promptly replied, "So that whoever finds them will be able to use them."

The old man in the story understood a fundamental philosophy for life - do not hold on to something simply for the sake of possessing it or because you do not wish others to have it.

We lose things all the time. The loss may seem to us grievous and unjust initially, but loss only happens so that positive changes can occur in our lives. We should not always assume that losing something is bad, because if things do not shift, we'll never become better people or experience better things. That's not to say of course that we only lose "bad" things; it simply means that in order for us to mature emotionally and spiritually, and for us to contribute to the world, the interchange between loss and gain is necessary.

Like the old man in the story, we have to learn to let go. The world had decided that it was time for the old man to lose his shoe. Maybe this happened to add momentum to a series of events leading to a better pair of shoes for the old man. Maybe the search for another pair of shoes would lead the old man to a great benefactor. Maybe the world decided that someone else needed the shoes more.

Whatever the reason, we can't avoid losing things. The old man understood this. One of his shoes had gone out of his reach. The remaining shoe would not have been much help to him, but it would be a cherished gift to a homeless person desperately in need of protection from the ground.

Hoarding possessions does nothing to make us or the world better. We all have to decide constantly if some things or people have run their course in our lives or would be better off with others. We then have to muster the courage to give them away.

25/01/05

Those were the days where i can enjoy the taste of food and munch to my hearts contend before i put them into my stomach. The ulcer is damn terrible. For those who don't know that i have an ulcer, might think that the food are so terrible. My face looked like sour plum while chewing, and i would go ouch eek ahh wuuu. damn that thing.

I've started worrying about the essay thats due next week. If its an individual project, i won't be so worried about it because i can do whatever I want with that essay. The structure and content would be to my discretion. But this is a group written assignment. Everything that I wanna suggest must go through my grp members. Sometimes, i hate this kind of work. Worst of all, when my grp members write out a draft and send it to me.... its just not to my style.... perhaps i'm just too picky but its a pain thinking that I have to rewrite them right? Or perhaps find my grp mate and suggest for better way of writting. How much time is wasted here? Tonnnnnes of them. And I don't have much time for things.... get it done leave it aside.

Now I have to worry for the delay and lag for the work.

Thursday, My tax tutorial group has a presentation to do for one question. Busy. 2 Weeks later, my IT group has to conduct a seminar to the whole class. Tell me where is the time? That is why when a tutor asked the class what things does one demand or want if theres no restriction. My answer to that was time, and the teacher gave me a face. "Time to do what?" I couldn't give an answer because there are too many things to do.

Tomorrow morning, I have to prepare a structure for the main part of the essay that i was talking about. How i wish i could tell my friend that I will handle those big parts. Worst still, another friend (my grp has 3 person including me) wants us to meet for a discussion on the things that has been written, mainly my part. That friend told me some things need to be changed. Argh. Next tuesday date due. 10% marks.... how much time am i gonna put in? I don't know. Law of diminishing marginal returns. I've always based my time allocation on that theory. Sux.

Worst of all, I've going down again. Down with what? Flu lah duh. SOrry not in a very good mood. People say I'm good with interpersonal skills, but hahaa under the table, I complain alot. I'm also a human, what can I do? But most of the time, i'm quite regretful to what I've said, so.... forget what I say today. Thats all

Schedule for tomorrow. 0730 wake up, breakfast till 0800, essay structure planning till 1000, go out for school at 1030, reach school at 1230 for lesson, go home at 1430, reach home at 1630, dinner and work till sleep. Who has this kind of boring life? Join my club, the nerd club. haha!!!!!

Slice of Life

The Most Important Question to Ask On a First Date

For a single person these days, there is no lack of advice and information on how to find that perfect mate. In fact, there's an overload - the do's, the don'ts, the proper grooming, how to act when this happens, what to say when your date asks you that? it can all be rather overwhelming and purpose-defeating. Because when you're so engrossed in delivering a perfect performance, you stop being authentic and natural. And at the end of the day, nobody wants to be with a faker.

So the best advice for a first date is probably to keep it simple and real. Stop taxing your mind with the 10 Most Important Questions to Ask on a First Date or step-by-step guides on How to Impress Her in Ten Minutes. There is however one question that's crucial for you to ask, not your date, but yourself.

We're always so focused outward - we're so worried about how we come across to the other person that we forget about the most important person of all - ourselves! So here's the question you should always ask yourself on a first date - "What exactly am I feeling with this person?"

Am I comfortable? Can I be myself around him or her? What exactly am I attracted to? What am I turned off by? Am I anxious? And if I'm anxious, am I more, or less, anxious than I usually feel? Are you feeling safe? Excited? Is something telling you that you're less than happy here? Pay particular attention to uncomfortable, unpleasant, or unwanted feelings or sensations. They may be the most valuable of all. Also, allow for the fact that you may be feeling more than one thing.

This is called "Making I-Contact", and it's much more important than any "eye contact" you may make during your date! The reason? Feelings are information! It's funny, but the answer to the question "Who is this person I'm sitting across from?!" can best be found on your side of the table! Knowing what you feel, positive and/or negative, towards someone will take you a long way towards knowing how - and whether - to proceed with this person.

Hmmm. Surprisingly, thats what I do sometimes. Questioning myself.

24/01/05

I didn't say that I was so tired yesterday right? Its because I went for a slow jog. It has been 2 mths since i jogged. I slept throughout my bus ride to school today.

That bloody tongue ulcer is really bad. I don't even feel like talking. When I start talking, I need to talk like without a tongue and slur all the words. I don't even feel like eating... argh.

Its really nice that another 2 person agreed to come for westwind concert yesterday, while another one pending. This morning, I managed to ask my 2 buddies and one agreed and the other one has to ask his girlfriend hee. Its really a blessing to have those good friends.

I'm starting to panick for my busy schedules coming up in a week's time. I always tell people I am a busy guy, and I am really one. I have to do work everytime when I am free or else i'll be behind. Projects and meetings are oil to fire. haha but i know what you are wondering. How can I still type blogs? Well, Squeeze myself for time haha cuz these are memoriable stuffs.

for the coming 2 weeks, I need to study for a tax quiz, an accounting in class test, 2 written essays, make time for band practice, teach band, go for meetings, and 4 hrs of bus travel everyday, 1 hr of online game, tutorials for 5 modules, and countless hrs of worrying for projects and essays.

Whats my forte? Perserverence and determination with disregard for life. No life (in the definition of normal mankind). Talent is what i don't have. Ah why am i repeating this again. Maybe this is a form of self motivation.

Where is my life? Life has taken a different meaning. Will it change one day? Definitely. If things goes on like this, a perfect agent, I would be.

23/01/05

Hey today's band prac is one of the best ever. I finally gained some confidence in westwind haha.

This morning, westwind went to play for a ministerial visit in bukit batok. Well the minister was Dr Vivian Balakrishnan. Kinda fun playing outdoor, because westwind sounded soooo big. haha

Anyway, the "stand up for singapore" we played has 3 different grps playing. 1 is a malay grp, then 2 is chinese ochestra, then 3 is us a symphonic band. Interesting yeah.

Today, i chatted with a good friend, J. This friend told me that he is going to retire from the music scene soon. He is going overseas to study.......... cooking. I didn't know theres degree in cooking!! omg thats amazing. He is going to be a big chef!!

Anyway, I got an ulcer on my tongue!! I cannot do double tongue. whenever i try Tu Ku(ouch) Tu Ku(ouch). Faint.

The concert is going to be a good one!!!!.... It must be, or else i will be letting my professor down!!

I can't remember what i want to say more, soooo nites

22/01/05

This day, I found out that I cannot just sit and do nothing. Its really bad, things are just getting sooo soooo bad. I found out....... I found OUT..... I FOUND OUT.... i'm growing fat. Ahhhhhhhhhhh!! That jeans was suppose to be a loose fit..... but then again..... I couldn't even take a full breathe to blow my euphonium. OMG.

Well thats the big complaint i have today. Erm my morning start with work again as usually. When would I have fun during school term? Anyway, I did 3 Income statements and 3 Statements of changes in equity. I still have the vague idea about notes disclosure. Brain dead. haha

Its just so late now, i might as well end here. Tomorrow I have to reach bukit batok cc by 7.45am!! Westwind is going to perform for a minister tomorrow. Argh sooooo early.

3 more weeks to concert!! who wants to come???? Its a good concert!!. 6th Feb, Fri, 5pm VCH. We work so hard, so please watch us.

21/01/05

Holiday eh? Not for me. My butt was stucked onto my chair at my study desk. Come to think of it, I didn't accomplish much today, but I spent about 10 hrs doing work, with breaks in between of course. It is only during this semester that i discovered that financial statement analysis can be quite a hellish thing to do.

I was doing my tutorial for this financial statement analysis module, and I took 2 hrs just to do 1 question. Its about adjusting the a operating lease to a capital lease. When I was about to finish, I was so happy because doing it was really a tough process..... but.... I found out I used the wrong discounting rate when calculating the present value of future cash outflow. Darn!! All the numbers are wrong. So, I went back and calculate everything again!! Luckily I was calculating using Microsoft excel. That saved me half the time. Then all the ratios was recalculated. I've discovered that it is always advisable to do long calculations using excel.

Hmm i think thats all I did today, work and work. Like slave. Even if I can't get first class honours, I must get first class honest. haha. I think most people are bored by this joke because I always use it.

I just feel so lost touch with everything else other than school work. I need a life..... to be alive haha, it sounds poetic eh? I'm too bored now haha cuz i preparing to sleep. Watch anime first!! tata

20/01/05

I don't know whats wrong with my life today haha. First, I've been chasing buses. Second, I wanted to print notes in the Main library but it wasn't opened at 0820hrs, so I had to walked so fast to another place to print my notes. I was late for my lecture but the lecturer started late haha. Then I attended a tutorial that makes my head bomb again. What could it be other than Tax?

I need to type my essay now, so I'll end here. One more thing, typing blog does improve your ability to type things more fluently haha, so everyone should type.

Slice of Life

Secrets of Sound Sleep

A single good night's sleep can rejuvenate your mind, body, and soul. Here's how you can get one tonight.

A regular exercise routine will help you fall asleep faster and wake up feeling more refreshed, but experts don't recommend vigorous exercise fewer than three hours before bedtime. Instead, schedule your workout five to six hours before lights out. Exercise causes your core body temperature to rise, and natural sleepiness will set in when your body temperature drops again.

Find another place for stressful activities. Pay your bills in your study or dining table, not in your bedroom, and definitely not in your bed. Your bed should be your sanctuary.

Now you probably know this one - avoid nicotine and alcohol before bed. Nicotine is a potent stimulant, and the metabolism of alcohol has an alerting effect. Skip the afternoon latte, too. The stimulating effect of caffeine can remain for as long as 12 hours. Keep in mind that many teas and carbonated drinks contain high levels of caffeine as well.

Restrict your water intake just before bed and during the night. Midnight trips to the bathroom can cut into your sleep, particularly if you have a hard time dozing off again. Six hours of continuous sleep often result in a more rested feeling than eight hours of on-again, off-again snoozing.

Check to see if any of your prescription or over-the-counter medications may be interfering with your sleep. Some diet pills, birth control pills, anti-depressants, and blood pressure medications can have a rousing effect. Sleeping pills, while tempting, are not the answer. They quickly lose their effectiveness and can be addictive.

At night, create a nest for yourself. Eliminate clutter, maintain a comfortable sleeping temperature, and keep the room dark. Nightlights and bright moonlight can interfere with quality sleep.

Practice aromatherapy. Lavender oil or a lavender sachet on your bedside table may help you feel sleepy and more relaxed.

Stock your bedside table with easy reads that are both empowering and relaxing. Keep a notebook and a pen near your bed, as well, to jot down any late night worries. The act of recording your anxieties will help clear them from your head so you can relax into slumber. Sweet dreams!

... hey nice sleeping techniques hee.

19/01/05

Ahhhhhh i was suppose to be in bed by now. When I laid on my bed, i realised that I have forgotten to type my blog, so i jumped out of bed. Was considering to skip today's blog but i realise that if i skip one, then i'll skip more. Its a chain effect.

The first thing i did in the morning was to go to see my doc. But something stranged happened. Before I took a bus from the interchange, I went to the toilet. (Girls might want to skip this paragraph, read this at your own risk) So, when you want to do small business, you can just go to the urinal right? Theres this middle age guy at about 40 plus, "migrated" from one urinal to the one beside me. I wondered what happened. He started looking at me. OMG, I was stunned there. Seeing the situation is a bit wierd, i don't know what to do. After a while of thought, guess what.... I adopted his actions and turned my head to look at him. He seemed shock. I even smiled at him!! He didn't dare to turn his head back, but still... kept trying to turn slightly towards me. Haha. Come to think of it, I've been in Central band, and I've gotten used to this kind of thing (not that these things happen inside). I keep laughing at the incident after that. Am I more sick than that guy? Anyway, I adopted the if-you-can't-beat-them-join-them mentality. What would you do if you are faced with this situation? Spray at him?

I was suppose to join a group of friends for lunch but because of the visit to my doc, I couldn't make it in time. My apologies really, especially when I found out that this friend didn't meet the other friends in the end.

So i went school after the doc visit. Its time that i start to keep myself away from embarrassing myself during class discussions. Just doesn't feel good in this kind of environment where everyone seems very hostile towards people asking "dumb" questions. Not that I ask "dumb" questions, I just tried to contribute my thinking. What an ass. Not me....

I heard something from radio today. Image is a very important thing, everywhere!! It can be used as a basis for promotions in the corporate world. Like what was said, you can have all the qualifications you have during young age, but when you reach the middle age, everyone's qualification is the same. What makes you different would be from the way you carry yourself. It would be form over substance then. Also said in the radio, girls have much more advantage because they can do many things to "decorate" themselves. For guys, only shoe, pants, belt, shirt, and hair.

They then concentrated alot on hairstyle. They talked about the different kind of hairstyle, and gave different terms for it. They have also liked the hairstyles to the type of work suitable for them. During work time, your boss might look at your image and determine whether you can handle big things or not. Of course image alone cannot be a determining factor, they would ask questions or look at your performance to confirm their thinking, which has already derived from your image.

I guess what was reported coincides with what my proposition was about looks being very important in guys. When girls say that they don't consider looks as one of the big factors, they would still assess guys unknowingly. I don't deny that the norm for guys are to assess girls on looks as well, but the point is that, don't just say that guys always look at looks, girls do too. Then how? Guys like me would be very very sad haha.

Slice of Life

"A Thousand Marbles

As we go about our daily activities of going to work, rushing through meals, fetching the kids from school, attending meetings, buying the groceries and so on, death is probably the furthest thought from our minds.

Isn't it strange that we spend so little, if any, of our waking hours contemplating the one thing that can prevent us from ever waking up again?

Human beings are specialists at taking things for granted. For many of us, the miracle of waking up at the start of each day is often rendered mundane, even distressing, by the thought of having to drag our sleepyheads to work.

But will we still allow the marvel of each drawn breath to elude us if we were conscious of the fact that our next breath could be the last?

If there's one thing that diminishes as surely as the waning rays of the evening sun, it's our time left on earth. It is a consistent and perpetual contraction that has no hope of replenishment.

Aside from work, how are we using the time given to us? How much value do we try to gain from it? How much of the little time we have left do we devote to the happiness of our loved ones? Because as surely as our days are numbered, so are theirs.

A man once figured out that given his age and the average life span of a human being, he had only about a thousand Saturdays left. So he decided to fill up a clear plastic container with a thousand marbles to represent his remaining weekends. Every Saturday, he would take out one marble and throw it away.

This gave him a tangible visual representation of the amount of leisure time he had left to devote to his loved ones and family. It was a great reminder to live and love to the fullest with what little time he had left.

When he had emptied the container of marbles, he figured that if he made it to the following weekend, he would have been given a little extra time. Now, we could all use a little extra time.

And we will feel all the more keenly the significance of how we use that time because it's a bonus. We didn't deserve it. We didn't work for it. We couldn't have done anything to get it if it didn't happen. But it did. And therefore, we have to spend it meaningfully, intentionally, lovingly and magnificently.

How many marbles have you got left? "

My marbles... I don't know.... haha being too pest.

18/01/05

Lecture for one hr at 0930. After that went to teach band, then came home for dinner and did work until now. I just feel so down for all my work. Yesterday was doing full accounts, today was for taxation. I really hate the idea of project discovery for education pedagogy. As what some educationalist argues, only good foundation of theories can lead to higher order of thinking. Now I'm thinking all haywire for all my work.

How i wish, just provide me for all the facts and I'll do those tutorial questions with ease. Darn.

I really can't type this with all those academic problems in mind. I'll just go and watch my anime, and hope it cools me down.

I wonder who out there has the same frequency with me now.

slice of life

"Discover Your Talents How do you figure out what you were meant to do? How do you know what you're really good at?

Most of us don't know. People are quick to point out our weaknesses and most of us in childhood and onwards were pushed toward shoring up our weaknesses rather than identifying our strengths and working on them. This neglect of our strengths makes us believe that they either aren't there or are too mediocre to mention.

Do you do something well, but because it comes so easily to you, you write it off as something everyone can do and no big deal? This happens all too often with talents. Talents are innate, and just because it comes naturally to you doesn't mean it does to everyone else.

Think about what you liked to do as a child. Reading? Writing? Teaching? Acting? Helping others? These are clues. Ask your parents what drove them nuts about you when you were little. What couldn't you help doing? Taking things apart, maybe? Or banging on things? What about an obsession with colouring things?

Think about what you like to do when you have a choice. What do you do in your spare time? Do other people tend to remark that it's a worthless hobby? Something that will not earn a decent living? Well, things of ways to make it your living! There is no skill that can't be put to good use.

What would you do even if you weren't paid to do it? You may already be doing it for free. One way to try out a talent is to do volunteer work where you get to use a new skill and see how it feels.

What activity do you 'get lost in'. You start doing it - like working on your car, or talking with someone about a pet topic - and four hours later when you come to, you realise you've missed your lunch and your 2 o'clock appointment. What absorbs you fully?

Take notice of what you learn quickly. You may be given an assignment at work and almost instantly excel at it. That's a sign that it's pulling on an innate talent.

Spending some time investigating your natural talents can pay off handsomely in the long run."

Hmm whats my innate ability..... being too pessimistic. Strength? Hmm too hardworking perhaps. Well, music is for me. Computer games are for me too. Making friends and socialising?... might not be for me.... or have i changed? I don't know.

17/01/05

Hey is depression coming back? I hope not. Feeling a bit depressed after my IT tutorial. Maybe I was just a bit toooooo demanding on myself. Well, my group of 3, was asked to present our answers for a tutorial question. Somehow, after hearing what the teacher was talking about, I asked myself why didn't I thought of those answers in the first place. To add on to the agony, the teacher didn't seemed appreciative that we presented the answers, and had implied implicitly that our answers were not good. Damn depressing.

I getting a very very bad habit here. When I'm doing my school work, I'll start pulling my hair from time to time. I'm afraid that I might turn bald before I graduate. Faint. I was preparing a full sets of accounts for a tutorial question and I found myself hating this process. What a difficult thing to do.

Remember that I said that I made a new friend few days ago. I shouldn't have. Now my system is a bit unstable again. Argh... FOrmat disk muahhaa.

I must psycho myself," work work work and work!" Dissonance can be quite unbearable.

I need to exercise soon too, i'm getting fat. I can feel it haha.

After all these while of changing my image, I have concluded the confirmation of the importance of looks for any living thing. This is a sad fact. Even lions look at looks. Faint. I'm a leo, do I look at looks? I'm still asking this question for myself. Need another implicit experiment for myself again.

Slice of Life

"Growing Old With Love and Confidence

Does growing old scare you? Do you have a vision of homes for the elderly and worry that you might end up there, alone and helpless? Do you fear loss of control and being dependent on your children?

Those are all very "natural" questions most of us ask ourselves as we enter our middle age period. Maybe you're acquainted with nursing homes filled with people who are just like you think you will be. Maybe you are listening to others talk about their aches and pains and how it only gets worse.

But old age is not all about wasting away. Think about elderly folk you've encountered who are healthy and active, who look good and feel good. How can you also work towards a meaningful and vibrant old age?

If you're going to make your older years happy and fruitful ones, then you'd better start now. The average life expectancy of Singaporeans is 82. No matter what you thought in the past, chances are you're going to be around for a long time. So why not take control now so your coming years will be worth growing into?

Remember this: You grow into what you are thinking now. The more you imagine that your old age is doomed to be sickly and pointless, the less you're going to care about how to prevent it. As a result, you spend less time investing in relationships, tend to spend whatever you have, and are less inclined to save.

So get rid of that notion of elderly people wasting away in nursing homes. There are plenty of very productive older people out there living, being, making their dreams come true. They aren't saying "I wish I had died the minute I turned old".

Instead, think about the kind of person you want to grow into. How would you like to spend your final years?

Cultivate a skill that will a source of joy, and even better, also a source of income, as you grow older. Invest in your friendships. Your friends are likely to be the only ones who will grow old with you, and be able to relate to you and share memories with you in your later years. Invest in a savings plan. If you're averse to saving, just think of it as a monthly donation to charity - your charity. After all, you're going to need that money after retirement. Stay active and healthy. Take the time and effort to invest in a healthy diet and a fitness regime. It's amazing how these little things add up to create a happier and healthier old age. And cultivate a spirit of learning. The heart that continues to be curious will never grow old."

As for me, I think I'll be a free agent when I get old. I haven't picture any other things for now because my future has since turned blank since 15 months ago.

16/01/05

"Hey hey", this was how a friend msg me when i am about to type this blog. First, there are things that I wanted to type during my previous blog but i kept forgetting them. Well, i think i could add them on this blog.

2 days ago, i went to orchard to meet someone to buy something right? Well, I waited at a staircase for quite while and something happened. While i was reading my notes, screams of young girls could be heard upstairs. I wonder what happen. I couldn't be bothered by those screamings. Its not those scream that calls for help. Its those scream that was for idols.

So I heard," Talfic (i don't know the spelling)!!" So thats it. Our singapore idol came to the CD Rama and Sembawang. Noisy haha.

Yesterday, I went to watch a concert right? I was bitten by a mosquito. I wonder if its the one I saw during a concert few months ago. Haha this is just so memorable that I want to type it here.

Today, Band practice. What a rojiak. Westwind + chinese ochestra + a malay group, playing Stand Up for Singapore. We were rehearsing for a performance thats going to be held next week. We're going to play for a minister. I can't remember who is it.

Less than 1 mth for the concert. I'm quite worried actually... quite worried, not for myself.

Today, Singapore won the tiger cup after beating Indonesia on aggregate of 5-1. Amazing. Lets just hope they can proceed to world class competition soon.

School days for me next week. I just wonder if my determination of making myself busy has been weaken by my recent encounters. Let the wind bring me towards my destination.

15/01/05

Went for tax remedial class this morning. A tiring bus ride. I didn't do anything on the bus, so I just slept throughout the journey. The class was a boring one. Maybe its because of the tutor. Somehow, the class just doesn't connect with the tutor.

After the class, I went to Jurong Point to have lunch with my friend, W. After that, its straight home.

I did some school work at home, and went out again. I went for NTU's band concert.

Before that, I meet with my buddy S and Z, and they introduced me to another friend CP. Well, that friend is kind of interesting one. Chatty and friendly. Its worthwhile to know this friend.

Anyway, the concert was an enjoyable one. In the beginning, I thought the band is still the same, but no... they have improved once again. People always asked me why I don't want to join the band since I'm studying in NTU. The answer I gave was that the band's style didn't suit me. Now... I had another answer. I'm not fit to play in such a good band.

They will be going for World Music Competition this coming July, and many friends have asked me to play with them. But,.... now my answer is as clear as water..... I don't deserve to play with them.

The pieces that caught my attention was Pirates of the Carribean and Praise Jeruselum. They are of Cd quality. The balance, articulation, the form and mood, all near perfection. This has created a confusion inside me regarding the concept of balancing the sound of a band. It seems like the conductor has done alot in the sound of the band. Is the British style better compared to American style? I believe theres no answer to this.

Praise Jeruselum, a dynamic piece, was well portrayed by the band. I could really feel it..... I felt it, as though I'm experience something. During the last section of the piece, the intense emotions seemed to flow from the music into my heart. I felt something that i couldn't describe. My mind flow with the music at that point in time. Its intensity and mood pumped my blood and andrenaline rushed throughout my body. It has been such a long time since I felt something like that towards band music. When the whole piece has ended, I have the urge to give them a standing ovation, but I didn't because the cultural environment stopped me. In the end, I gave them the longest and loudest applause that I would give to a band. My greatest appreciation for the band was what I have given.

This gave me a warning thought. It seemed like the Praise Jeruselum Westwind played that time, wasn't as good as what was played by NTU today (sorry to say that). The precision and emotions were the greatest forte of the NTU band. I'm just worried, and I can't do anything. I could only continue to believe in my conductor, Cpt Philip Tng. I hope for the best and I'll do my best.

One final thought, a good band might have star players, but bands with star players doesn't mean its a good band. I'll like to be in the former band rather than the latter. Would all star players please wake up their mind? Including me.

14/01/05

Ahhhhh i just finished my tutorials. I pushed myself to the limit ya. Complete tutorials for 2 modules. I'm getting crazy with work haha.

Went school today as usual. Tiring day because in total, I attended 6 hrs of lesson. Well, the equity securities class is fun. Being one of the two accounting students there, we might just surprise the business students.

After school, I have to go to town to meet someone. I went to yahoo auction to bid for something and so i need to collect it today. I was meeting him at 7pm but I reached there at 5pm. Seeing that I have sooo much time, I sat down at a staircase just outside the Orchard Mrt control station, and guess what.... I did my tutorial there!! What a geezmo. I bet those taking the escalators up are looking at me as a freak. "whats that guy doing there, doesn't he have a home to do his work?"

Well, after i looked through a few papers, it was 6pm. Ah one more hr to do. So i took a walk towards the direction of Taka. Halfway through, I came to the fish tank at Wisma. Haha, I felt like I'm seeing my old friends again. Hey i saw one new member to the fish family. Its blue, long, medium size, cute (fits the old definition :ugly but adorable), and naughty as well! I saw it chasing other fishes haha. But of course I know its just playing.

I don't know where i'm walking but I'm just walking. 6.45pm, I proceeded back to the meeting place. Well, i waited and waited. Then i saw someone meeting people and passing things to them for exchange of money. Hmm i wonder if its him. Yes! Its him, argh made me wait so long.

To my surprise, I found out that the things he auctioned are actually imported from other countries. Wow business minded people. Ahhhh but i suddenly thought of my taxation class. This is definitely considered a trade income under Section 10 (1)(a) of the Singapore Taxation Act. Haha but I believe he won't report it. Well, people can be innovative on their business.

I suddenly had one thought today. Remember about the Perfect agent I talked about yesterday? Somehow I had this thought in mind that I would like to be a perfect agent. That has hell lots of implications, but i think its useless to say it here because my thinking might change in the future haha. Well time to sleep. Tata

13/01/05

In school from 0830 to 1830. Worst than work? haha. The highlight of today.... I made myself a fool again during lesson. Well, heres what happened.

(only for accountants) During my taxation class, there is this question that asked about the basis of accounting policy used for taxation in Singapore. So my answer," CASH ACCOUNTING!!" *class was silent, 5 secs passed* Teacher said," accrual accounting isn't it?"

Omg, I miss interpretted the question, damn. I thought its asking about the accounting basis for our tax authority. Faint. However, I seem to have found out more about myself. I think I am more daring to make mistakes now, as I view them as a learning opportunity. Well, I viewed it that way since long time but it was till now that I am soooo daring to speak out, even with dumb answers.

haha Its just sooo good being myself eh. Don't care about how other people think. When you want to speak, just speak. When you don't feel like it, then don't do it. And, I think its always a little good not to always think about others because other may not appreciate it. Haha as what the Political model of behavior says about the Perfect Agent. Could I be one of them? I'm slowly showing attitude- nose high, eyes blur, mouth big, talk without thinking.

The world out there is a dangerous place, if you don't protect yourself, you might hurt yourself, or hurt by others. There is always a need for balance between thinking for yourself and thinking for others. Either side of the spectrum is no good. The perfect situation is of course the Win-Win situation, but how many times can you achieve that? Trade offs and compromise would have to be made in different situations so as to deal with things in the best way it can be. Human is complicated, where no one thing or model can explain the behaviors. One phrase you can use if you are troubled by people," If you can't beat them, Join them".

Another day.

12/01/05

My head is throbbing!! I can't stand it. Someone is playing drum in my head. Must be the result of doing my taxation tutorial in the morning. It goes "thump thump" "thump thump". I can't even walk straight and look up. I hate the big sun too.

I met my FYP grp to discuss on topics for our project. Seems like we have came up with a number of topics and specific project titles. Now we are just shooting our arrow out and see which tutor would get hit haha. I was having that headache while i'm meeting, so I'm sorry for being not my happy self.

To my classmates today too, I was not being myself because of that tireness and headache. I just feel that I'm being dragged home rather than walk home.

I've been listening to the soundtrack from "stairway to heaven" I think i listened to it 3 times today. Haha i'm getting crazy over the songs. Did i tell people that occasionally i'll relate songs to people. That means, some songs would let me think of a person. Perhaps different songs for different people. Well, I haven't got anyone for the theme song in "stairway to heaven".

Oh ya, my journey home was not a lonely one because i met a jc friend, and this friend took bus with me. My friend alighted after me. Well, time pass fast when you have someone to chat with you eh. Hmm theory of relativity haha. What crap i'm starting haha. Hmm the theory states that the feeling of the duration of time taken while an activity is going on may change when circumstances of that same activity change. Well, this definition is from me, not from the scientist. Anyway, a well known scientist came up with it, but i forgotten the name.

I think now is my time to relax. I just finished another tutorial. I seemed to have gotten into the momentum of this sem. I'll just worry for my exams now. But first, watch my vcd before i start thinking. Lalaa

Slice of Life

Resolving Relationship Conflicts

What blocks you from resolving conflicts with your partner? A lasting and rewarding relationship has to be open and honest. And to keep it that way, you have to be able to air grievances with your partner. Burying issues, and avoiding conflict and disagreements, do not have a place in a healthy relationship. You might as well accept the fact that you WILL get on each other's nerves. You will disagree from time to time. Learn how to argue in a constructive manner to resolve the issue at hand and not tear each other apart personally.

Here are some recommended steps for resolving conflict.

First of all, agree to reach a solution. Many of us either choose to attack our partner or run away from the argument, neither of which helps. Always remember that you and your partner are in the same team - both of you want what's best for the relationship. Sometimes, in the heat of argument, we forget that.

Also, explore your feelings. Why are you so upset? Examine your reaction to the event and see if you are responding to the present situation or reliving a past hurtful event. See if this issue is really about you and your partner or you and someone from your past.

Next, identify what you want. Speak up. See what you and your partner can work out for a mutually satisfying resolution. Your partner cannot give you want you want if you don't have the courage to ask for it. Remember, you are in love with each other. You want to feel good, your partner wants to feel good, and you both have the same wish for each other. Keep that in mind as you express your desires.

And choose mutual action. A relationship is a partnership, a joint effort. If one person ends up being responsible for making the union work on every level, resentment will build up. Work out fair resolutions.

11/01/05

Hey, a song just went into my favourites chart... guess what it is? Its Xiang2 Ni3 from Stairway to Heaven. I don't know if anyone could feel what I feel just by listening to that song. Its an overflow of emotions haha. But, its not emotions thats looking to the past, its looking forward... FInally!

I only had a lecture from 0930 to 1030 today. Then I had to take a train down to the school to teach band. I look like an uncle with a big file and a big bag. Oh ya, I bought another Anime, a full set hee. I think all the vcds i have now can last me through this semester, hee great.

TOday I came up with a thought of writing something in Chinese, but too bad my comp can't. Its something regarding my thinking. Its just a wierd thinking. I think its pretty private for myself. I shall keep it in myself.

Works killing as usual. One thing, I look like a total nerd. Oh ya!! I have sent a letter together with my concert tickets to my favourite professor. I hope he's coming hee. One big accomplishment that I have made.

I'm getting ill soon... I can feel it.... its coming.... ahhhhhhhhhh haha. Must be all the taxation thingy in my head.

Slice of Life

Building Self Esteem and Confidence

Building self esteem and confidence is a process that involves making changes. And making changes requires time and energy. So the first step towards a healthier sense of self-worth is to improve your energy level.

To do this, make sure that you have a nourishing diet, sleep well, exercise regularly, and make time to relax, enjoy yourself and be with the people you love. Develop a kind of structure or schedule so that these things are built into your daily life. No matter how busy you are, make time for them.

Building self esteem and confidence hinges on breaking old habits and developing new, productive ones. A key habit that needs to be shattered is persistent negative thinking. For some of us, these thoughts are so interwoven into the fabric of our minds that we assume that they are normal - but they are not! Learn how to acknowledge and deal with your inner critic.

Also, stop playing The Blame Game. Stop judging yourself and other people in your life for what has happened to you in the past. Blame serves no purpose other than to breed bitterness and resentment. This wastes a lot of time and energy that you could use in more productive ways. Besides, people do what they think is best at the time, the same way you do. And we all make mistakes.

So learn to forgive yourself and others for past mistakes. Learn how to reconcile, resolve and accept what has happened in the past and know that it has made you a stronger person. Acknowledge your fears and find out what's really behind them. Many of your fears are likely to be groundless; it is the thinking, attitudes and beliefs that cause much of the unnecessary fear. Fear is often a disguise for your lack of belief in yourself and your judgements.

Once you've started making these changes to build your self-esteem, commit to them! Even if you manage to use just one of the examples I've suggested, it will begin to make a difference to your level of self esteem. Know that you have value, regardless of what has happened before.

10/01/05

Ah now is 30 mins before I sleep. I can safely sleep at my usual time hee. I have finally found another reason to type blogs. The reason is..... that i can practice my typing skills. I find that my typing speed is getting faster and faster. I could also structure my thoughts in English better and faster now. Even though some sentences are just simply broken in nature, but this serves as an avenue to practice English haha.

I like my AA201 class. The tutorial class is just amazingly active. All the questions and comments came back and forth. I have never seen students participated so actively in class. I have already developed a thinking based on this phenomenum. The facilitator (teacher) seems to be a critical determinant for active class participation. If one uses formal and strict language in delivering the course materials, students get intimidated with the level of language they need to use. Another factor is the type of response the teacher gives when a student gives a wrong answer. From my AC213 class today, the teacher is just simply ..... i can't find a word. Well, he is not as receptive to wrong answers as compared to my AA201 class tutor. Hmm conclusion... a teacher should have a little cuteness in them so as to encourage participation haha.

This week I'll be very busy because I do not have time to do my school work on sat and sundays because they are all full of things. Things.... refers not to leisure encounters, but work. Work... refers not to those that gives monetary compensation, but just something other than leisure encounters. Sat, a make up lecture in the morning, by the time i got home, its already 2pm. At night will be a concert performance by ntu symphonic band. On sunday, Westwinds required us to be there the whole day because of some performance for a minister in a GRC. OMG this week is bad. This means that I'll have to work double hard during weekdays again. Sigh.... as usual.

Yesterday, my mum brewed some tonic soup for the whole family. I drank quite alot.... and guess what. I'm full of energy and was sooooo hyper today. During the lessons, I kept wanting to participate. My mouth just has the urge to open and communicate with the teacher. I wonder how others think about me now. And... in the AC213 class, I kept on giving stupid answers. Practically, everyone laughed whenever I say something. Example, "why would a company invest heavily in knowledge work systems (KWS)". My answer was," Because Knowledge is Power!!" Dumb. Another example," what information systems does a company use to connect themselves with their suppliers?" My answer," The Intranet!!" The teacher then gave me a face and said,"ehhh try again." With less than half a second, i came up with another answer "extranet?" *everyone laughed* Why they laugh? Simple.... If its not intranet, then its extranet. in and ex, just soooo close. Ahhhh well, if you don't understand what i'm talking about then its ok. Its for me to remember it.

Slice of Life

Free Your Mind

Many years ago there was a young man living in Korea, who felt that his life was quite empty. So he shaved his head and went up into the mountains to live the life of a monk. He studied diligently for a number of years, but still felt that he did not really understand how to be free.

The young man had heard of certain Zen masters living in China so he gathered his meager belongings and started a long and arduous journey across arid plains.

Every day he would walk for many hours, and would stop only after finding a patch of land that had a source of water. Finding water was not a simple task in such dry lands. There were many times he had to walk until late in the evening before finding a suitable location in which to rest and be refreshed.

One day was particularly hot, and the monk walked on endlessly, unable to find an oasis. When he did finally find a shaded area he collapsed on the ground and slept for several hours. He woke up some time after midnight and he was tremendously thirsty. He crawled around on his hands and knees in the darkness, and ran across a roughly made cup that must have been left by a previous traveler. The custom of leaving a cup with some water in it, for the next traveler to drink from was quite common. He drank the meager amount of water in the cup and he felt very blessed and very at peace with the world. He lay down again and slept quite comfortably.

The next day, upon waking up, he saw what the night before, he had taken to be the roughly made cup. It was the shattered skull of a baby wolf. The skull was caked with dried blood, and numerous insects were floating on the surface of the small quantity of filthy rain water still left at the bottom.

The monk saw all of this and immediately started to vomit. He had a great wave of nausea, and as the fluid poured forth from his mouth, it was as if his mind was being cleansed. He immediately felt a deep sense of understanding. Last night, since he couldn't see he assumed that he had found a cup which had been left by a fellow traveler. The water tasted delicious. This morning, upon seeing the skull, the thought of what he had done the night before made him sick to his stomach. He understood that it was his thinking, and not the water, that made him feel ill. It was his thinking that created good and bad, right and wrong, delicious and foul tasting. With no thinking there was no suffering.

How about you? Is there some situation in your life where it's your thinking that makes for the suffering and not the actual circumstances you are embroiled in? If this is so, it's a great opportunity for you to cleanse your mind and be free.

9/01/05

I just finished doing my powerpoint slides for a short presentation tomorrow. Its sooooooooo late now! 11.30pm to be exact. I can't sleep after 10.30pm or else i'll have black eyes tomorrow. Darn. I'll make this short.

This morning, I did my tutorials and I find that I'm just overly hardworking doing the tutorials. Spent 5 hrs just doing the readings and tutorials. What an inefficient ass i am.

Then I went for Band practice after that. I was slightly late because I left house at only 2.30pm. I was suppose to reach bukit batok by 3.30pm. Luckily they haven't start the practice when i reached there. I just feel so weak today that I don't feel like putting any effort in playing. In the end, I just focused on my fingerings (technique on euphonium). This coming concert is really going to be a difficult one.

After I reach home, its work again! Can you imagine it? I going to turn into a nerd sooooooon. Save me! ahhhhhhhh. *Thump!*

8/01/05

A tiring day. I think i'm starting to get black eyes. I woke up at 6am this morning, and went to NYJC (the college i went to) to visit the band. I'm an alumni there. To my surprise, their sound is soooo good. Its really enjoyable playing there today. I said before i hate loud bands, so if i like them, that means they are not tooo loud.

I attended their sectionals which was conducted by David Wong, SSO Bass Trombonist. Ahhhh I learnt something from him today again. Its always fruitful to sit in his lessons, the knowledge he imparts will let you think about how to improve yourself.

Heres what I learnt today. The concept of breathing in and blowing for musicians. No one ever thinks about how he inhale or exhale air but its important for us musicians to know what muscles are at work when doing those actions. The only muscles that we make use of to draw air into our body are around the rib cage. If you try to relax that set of muscles totally, you won't be able to draw any air into your body.

The other thing about breathing in is that... we always tell our musicians to breath into the diaphram but do we use any strength around the diaphram to draw in air? The answer is NO! If you use any muscles around the diaphram area, this will affect the space the air occupies there.... its smaller. So... what to do? When breathing in... relax the muscles in the diaphram area totally, will ensure maximum inflating of that part using air.

In short for breathing in, its to relax the lower part of the body. I've combined what i heard from David with what I've read before. To make air move from one place to another, there has to be 2 areas of different pressure level. Air moves from a high pressure already to a low pressure area. For the human body, we are being pressured by the air around us. And to make air flow into our body, we have to make our body a low pressure medium. To do that, our muscles will do the work to make "spaces" in our body so that the air outside flows in. That is the duty of the muscles around the rib cage as stated above. This is also in line with the thinking of relaxing the diaphram muscles. Low pressure area in the diaphram area will allow air to go there.

Thats for breathing in. Next is blowing out. When we are fully filled with air, the only muscles we use to control a constant flow of air out of our body is through the muscles near our diaphram area. Using the pressure theory, by exerting some force area our diaphram, we create a high pressure area inside there and forces air to flow out.

In short for blowing, its a total relaxation of the upper part of the body and exerts pressure on the lower part of the body.

Next, I've learnt something about buzzing (vibrations in the lips for making sound in the instrument) too. The first theory I heard from David was that the only thing that determines the pitch you play in the instrument is the lips. Lip is made up of flesh and blood. It can be stretched or compressed. By exerting pressure around the lips area, we can make different pitches when we blow enough air to make it vibrate. How much is enough? Its really very little if you actually blow correctly. However, buzzing without the mouthpiece is a difficult thing because the mouthpiece creates a support for buzzing (another complicated concept).

Going back to pitching. Since we can pitch a straight sound using a certain amount of air + a certain amount of pressure around the lips, we need to do something when we need to play louder, or when doing an accent. What we usually do is that we would add more air into vibrating the lips. This does not change the pitch of the vibration if air is the only variable. However, this adds on pressure on the lips to keep its shape. Recall that changing a shape in the lips will cause a change in pitch.... plus the sound will be quite out of tune too. So... what David was saying was that, if you increase air to play a louder note, you will need to maintain the aperture of the lips in order to make a nice cresendo. This will also reduce the tiredness in the lips.

Combining breathing, blowing and pitching, this will enable many players to make better sound. Regarding articulation, I haven't learn anything from him yet. When I do, I'll just post here haha as a record for my memory. THe issues for articulation is Tongue and tongue and more tongue haha. THe position of tongue, function as well, and muscles in tongue too.

Why am I giving a Bio posting today? hahaa I don't know.

After NYJC band practice, the alumni members, including me, went to Orchard for a walk. We went to this arcade to play some video games. As usual, I play my favourite shooting game, Giga Wings. Then is time crisis 2. Died at stage 3 haha damn difficult.

Then Dinner at B1 of cineleisure with a friend S and R. Oh talking about the friend R, he might seem sooo old but I find him an interesting guy with lots of lame jokes and animated facial expressions. He is one talented percussionist. Diploma in Percussion... don't play play.

Then I have to rush to the MRT station to buy a concert ticket from my disciple. Don't know what to say sia. haha. Make my hair messy because the wind was big when i walked very fast and I went into the rain also. But its good that this disciple came to orchard to pass me the ticket. Save me the trouble of going back to Toa Payoh haha. Jia you for concert bah. Sigh, going concert alone again haha. Compensate me la haha.

7/01/05

A school day again. I seem to have recovered from the culture shock of being in yr 2. "project discovery" as what my lecturers always say. Anyway, 2 lectures today. I am good haha cuz i managed to keep my eyes opened from the beginning to the end of the lectures.

hmm suddenly I'm out of things to type. What a bad sign. I think I just forgotten what I wanted to say because I just finished one set of my tutorial questions. Hmm one thing i remember. I was on my way back on the bus, and I heard this group of boys chatting about some soccer game they are going to play tomorrow.

"Hey this guy very good right? He can spin very fast" , one said

"Haha, ya .... He can SPIN.....?" "Hahahaha" , all laughed.

"yup, all the leaves will fall when he spin past", the first guy continued

I tried to contain myself when i heard that. I really want to laugh it out loud but I better not. Its really interesting when a group of sec school boys talk. Thats innovation in the english language haha. I continued reading my notes after that.

So I got home late again! And did my work until now.... 1145pm. How late can that be??? Its very late!! I usually sleep at 10.30pm

Tomorrow I have band practices, morning in nyjc, night at westwind. A nice day tomorrow. No work!!! stay away from me!

6/01/05

I'm outside of home for 12 hours because of school. 4th day of school and I've starting to face intense workload from my courses. Read Read read and more reading. My smiles are starting to drift away from my face. I really got no idea what some articles are saying, especially for one of the Accounting modules. What thing reliable then trade off with relevance. Sigh

The style of learning has changed as well. No longer the Lecture-provide-theory then tutorial-do-work sort. Its now read-your-own-and-figure-out-yourself for the theories, and seminar-for-intense-discussion-on-tutorial-question style. Say... the difficulty of studying in University gets higher as you get to year 2 eh.

I had a lecture at 0830 this morning and then ended at 1030. Then I found out that my 1330 class has been cancelled because the tutor was on medical leave. In the end, I have to grow spider webs in school until 1630 for my last lesson of the day. Its ended at 1830. I took off when the sky was dark and reached home when the sky was dark too. No wonder my face is black. :)

I printed a whole lot of things that might have gone up to a hundred odd pages. And, after I have printed them, I asked myself," why didn't I print double side?" Darn.

I promise myself that this sem...... I'm going to work 1.5 times more than last sem, or else I think I couldn't catch up. Why not 2 times? Because its not realistic haha. I would still wanna say this one more time,"I'm not talented in studying, so I have to put in extra effort to keep up with the rest." This mentality is what I've learnt from an anime character..... Lee from Naruto. Yeah!

Slice of Life

Making Major DecisionsWe make many decisions daily. The majority of those decisions we make with very little effort or time. You could call them instinctive choices. Most of them are about minor things - like what to have for lunch, what tie to wear, or how to respond to a colleague's remark.

It's the major decisions that usually give us stress - like whether to accept a promotion and work in another country, whether to marry someone, or whether to have another child. These decisions are life-changing. And most of us struggle with them, fearing that a wrong choice may lead to much regret.

So how do we minimise the odds of making a so-called "wrong" choice?

Have faith in your abilities. The choices we make are to a great extent dependent on how much we believe we can achieve. If you have a limited vision of your success, your mind can only access options that correspond with that narrow view. So always believe that you can do better.

Be sure that you are making the decision for You, in accordance with your own desires, values, and beliefs. Don't make choices based on what you think other people want. Trying to reach someone else's goal or measure yourself against someone else's yardstick will only lead to frustration. This is unless of course when it concerns someone you love deeply? then, the decision might have to be based on what's best for that person.

Much distress comes from believing that your present condition is a direct result of a folly in the past and that your situation will never improve. But life is like an adventure race - until you reach the end, you can never be sure where your next decision will lead you. And you can never be sure how things will turn out. Life reveals itself step-by-step. The book doesn't end here.

And have the courage to implement your decision. Very often, the choices we make don't lead to the desired outcomes because we lacked the gumption to run with them wholeheartedly. For example, we could've married someone only to give up on the relationship at the first hint of trouble. Not understanding, of course, that the marriage could have worked out very well, if only we had the determination to refine and develop it. So have faith in your choices and live without regret.

5/01/05

What a normal day. Wake up, eat, do work, go school, lunch, class, go home. How short can a blog be? haha this short perhaps. I would still wanna try to extend this.

I wanna complain about the amount of school work we have during the first week. Its just unbearable. Tonnes of readings, and I really mean tonnes. I've been reading things on my bus ride to and fro the school. Thats about 3 hr bus reading everyday. Then at home, I read somemore. I think my sunshineness is going down.

The first day of school was soooo energetic, then the 2nd day a little tired. Today, I nearly can't keep my eyes open for the only seminar. I wonder what will happen to me tomorrow haha. I'm just finding trouble for myself because I took an extra module that is not necessary at all! Call me dumb or whatever. I challenge myself haha. Anyway, more free time doesn't mean that I have more time for others. More free time would just make me soooo lazy. And..... I am really very free! haha.

Somehow, I'm starting to feel the freedom deriving from solitude haha, what a paradox.

4/01/05

1 hr lecture today. Ahhhhh Travel 2 hours to school just for that. Read an article throughout the bus ride, and donno what the hell its talking about. Can't be bothered also.

Wow, after the first lecture, I think I might have a hard time dealing with that module. Its kinda difficult. One step by one step perhaps.

I have so much things to do after the lecture. First, I meet a friend, D, to return some notes to me. Next, me and my friend, W, went to the book shop to buy the last text book I needed for this sem. Then, we went to the staff office to find the person in charged of time tabling, and settled my friend's timetable. Then, we went to the canteen 3 for lunch. Suddenly I remembered i have to settle my school fees at the admin block on top of a mountain!! And we climb and climb and climb. Ahhhh tired.

In the end, the person in the admin block asked me to settle the things in any CPF building. "Didn't the CPF people ask my parents to let me ake the form to the school?" No choice have to settle another day because I have to go teach band next.

I was quite late! So, I msged my teacher about it and told him i'll be late. GUess whats the reply.... He called me and told me theres no practice today. Sigh... another last minute information. Worst still, I was on the MRT when he called me. But I was cool haha, I wonder why again. So, I took the time and went to Bishan to settle my school fees. And I did it!! ITs time I settle my own things haha. Grow up WQ!

I went back home, after a short walk in Junction 8, feeling contented. I didn't wear specs and guess what.... I was having a headache after the shopping. Darn haha. Root of the cause. So i rested for a while at home before beginning on my work.... school work!! Can you imagine? 1st week of school. SPent a whole lot of time on work. Time to rest eh. Another day perhaps. One thing..... someone keep appearing on my mind.... darn... thats a dangerous sign haha.

Slice of Life

Enhancing Interpersonal Relationships

Today, an effective and surprisingly simple way to improve your relationships with people, especially colleagues and casual acquaintances - people who don't seem important to you now, but whose help could really come in handy one day.

Before I tell you, ask yourself this - Has anyone ever remembered something about you that entirely caught you off guard? Perhaps it was your birthday, or a little-known personal fact like your favourite dish? But, not only did they remember, but they conveyed their interest in you by asking you about it! Some might even go further, actually getting you a birthday present, or buying that dish for you. Didn't that make you feel special?

It's a common experience, and often times an overlooked way to build rapport and we all know how important rapport is when persuading your people. All it takes is a little bit of effort and smart listening.

Did they mention their favorite football team? Their siblings? Their children? If so, remember the context, date and place, then write the information down before you forget. This information might come handy some day!

You might begin by asking someone a general question, like "What are you doing this weekend?" Remember the answer. Remember the details and follow-up with them. If they tell you a specific date, time, or event, remember it, then ask later! Whether it be a birthday, meeting, sporting event, or any other personal event. Think of it like a personal event list. It'll keep you on top of things.

One day, when you need their help with accomplishing your goals, they'll be much more likely to help since you've already built a great foundation. The next time you call a friend, business contact, or acquaintance, pull out your notes beforehand and refresh your memory. They'll be glowing if you say happy birthday or inquire about their child's graduation. You'll be surprised at all the positive remarks that will be flowing out of their mouths!

Each day, find out a little more about your people, your family, and your friends. One day they might indirectly mention how much they love a certain chocolate bar, or a favorite dish. They don't usually expect you to remember, but strive to remember. Writing them down is especially helpful. Then, some time later, buy them their favourite chocolate bar or their favourite dish and they'll be so delighted you remembered. All of a sudden you've built a strong connection and have yet another person who'll be willing to help you on your road to success.

3/01/05

School starts today. I wonder why my spirits was sooooo high today. I guess my friends would have realised that I behave a bit differently compared to last sem. Somehow, I feel brighter about everything, even problems. I will write more about the problems we faced today just in a moment.

I went to school, into the IT lab to print my notes for the week. It was a different feeling haha. Maybe it was the "Air" around me. Having "Air" is good eh? After printing all my notes, I went for my first class of the week for AA201 (module code).

I met my friends just outside the seminar room, where the lesson should be held. We walked in and we saw...... an empty class with the tutor standing in the middle. We thought the rest haven't come yet, so we went in. When we were about to take out seats, the silence was broken.

"Do you know that the class is being closed down?" she said.

"Huh!!" I went, with my mouth opened and eyes enlarged (wierd way to describe eh)

And the conversation went on and on about why that class was closed down. We were forced to join another class but.... thats a big problem. We planned out timetable in such a way that its the best arrangement we can have. To change a class will require us to make very big changes to our timetable, which is what we do not want. In the end, we have to find the relevent authority to discuss about this issue. Nothing has been solved yet. This story is to be continued tomorrow.

I felt that I was cool in handling that situation. During my old self, I might just have burst out with red face and angry voice haha. I feel kinda good facing difficult and troubling situations in this attitude. Wow its a new heart I'm with. Smile at all the troubles. :) One phrase," I'm feeling good" for no good reason haha. Maybe I've enjoyed my holidays, thats why. Its always good to do things with a happy mind.

I also bought all my text books that are required for all my modules, except one. So, i looked like an uncle with all the big and small plastic bags, walking around. What an ugly sight. I thought I have to carry those heavy stuffs back home, but luckily I met a friend who is really kind to offer me a lift back to somewhere near my home. I'm really blessed. I am gratified too. My hands might break if I have to take public bus back. THankz alot, P!

Ahhhh then I got home, settling all my stacks of paper that I printed today. Its sooo much. Argh, so much readings to do even for the first week of school. Terrible eh. But somehow I feel that the tutorials have much less work now. Face it with a smile eh heee.

Thats it for today :)

2/01/05

A totally normal day today.

I woke up and had breakfast with my parents in a coffeeshop near my house. It was raining throughout the whole day, and I'm really freezing. My body can't take the coldness. I would still wanna believe that the world is still warm.

I then went home to play gradius 5. I still like the excitement with playing it. Bullets all over, and test my dodging skill. Yes i Completed it again. My final game of the holiday.

Then I went for band prac. Haven't been touching eupho for 1 mth. Somehow I feel that I pitch a bit differently again. Haha its for the good. Somehow after you stop playing for a while, you will find that you changed something, and its for the better. One thing about the concert thats coming. I think its going to be a loud one again.

Details of concert: 6th Feb, 5pm, at VCH. Please come, my friends.

I don't know if i'm going to post tomorrow. I'll see how eh.

1/1/05

Opening of a new year. Doesn't feel any different from usual. Whats my new year resolution? I don't know. I've lost my direction since the October before the last one. I'll go wherever the wind blows, I'll do whatever is required of me. Am I going to turn myself into a Corporate bastard? It seems like I am walking towards that path. Beware of the new Ling. muahahaa

I woke up this morning, feeling great because my sleep was undisturbed by the nasty platoon of mosquitos. I guess mosquitos have New Year Holiday too eh! hee. I played Ace Combat 5 after I have taken my breakfast. I completed it the second time. This time, I played the hardest level, Aces. Its just soooo challenging haha. It was about 4pm when i completed it.

After that, I went out. I took off towards Parkway Parade, and walked to East Coast Park. I prepared my camera, hoping to get some great shots on the beach. But the sky was sooooo grey. Anyway I took some shots and will be posting them on my yahoo photos. If you didn't get the website the previous time, its http://photos.yahoo.com/ling_weiqiang

When I sense that the sky might pour any moment, I walked back to Parkway parade. I walked from the ground floor up then back down again. I was doing a blind window shopping. haha Why blind? Because I don't know what I was looking at.

I intend to jog after I have finished blogging. Its only 8.20pm now. I don't think I will have any chance to jog when school reopens. I just hope I don't get fat during the sem. You know... Stress = Eat more + less exercise = Grow fat.

I have one last day of holiday tomorrow. But the afternoon is occupied by Band Practice in Westwind. Ahhh 3 week didn't see my wife (euphonium), I wonder how is she. I better clean her cobwebs tomorrow. Hee

Happy New Year everyone!!.