Argonaut Aura

slightly surprised and thankful to the SPI folks (wayne, val, julian, michael + wybe n his gf) who got me my first birthday cake of this year at a mini celebration at garage!

sometimes wonder how does one feel celebrating birthdays every year. as a kid, birthdays were a lot of fun. as a teenager, birthdays were costly affairs.. somehow, ur peers seem to have larger and larger birthday parties (esp the poolside ones).. i also pulled one off at my 21st birthday, but it prolly is the last time i’ll do that.. my 22nd one in the states was memorable too.. then as you get older, birthdays come with a different meaning. not that there is a feeling of dread but just that it doesn’t have to be a big fanfare.. quiet birthdays with wine + a few good frens usu does the trick. =P

birthday is the day in your year of life that you’re happy just being remembered. it’s very sweet to receive little thoughts, birthday cards, e-cards or even m-cards… it’s also very sweet to receive hand-made cards and little gifts that tell you that pple actually cares about you. i guess it’s difficult for pple to know exactly what’s a great birthday pressie (unless you tell them what you want but it kills the surprise factor). but ultimately, it doesn’t really matter that much. gifts are just different means of expression of your thoughts and wishes for them. so it can come in any form, a hug, a video, an email, a note…. =) but keep the element of surprise and do little good things for pple not just on their birthdays! that will definitely light up anyone’s day and yours too!

Spread the love around. World Peace!

Sometimes, i prolly am too hard on myself. too strict. thinking back the past few days of 2008, i was faced with a period of stress, fear, loss, despair, doubts and gloom… all of these might have accumulated within.. but now, it is time to clear myself of all the negativities and live it up. there is so much awaiting for us all… the wonder of the future is that you never know what it brings.. though every step you take today may or may not lead to this vision of yours. but sometimes, it is meant to be.

even though there were some negative stuff that passed to my ears but i dun buy rumours and will still allow pple the benefit of the doubt. perhaps that is why i often allowed myself to be hurt. but i’ll rather trust and get hurt than to distrust and create suspicion.. as we grow older and the world gets more complex and possibly darker, one’s intentions might become unclear.. however, i still choose to perceive pple in positive light, as much as i can. will like to apologise if my sudden surges of emotions might have been conveyed otherwise either in my writing or otherwise.. i don’t mean any harm to anyone (this i can swear by). sometimes i am just too quick to react, too hasty to experience.. but i still believe in the good of people.. and despite the naysayers or negativity i sense, i will brush them away…

perhaps blogging is to me what religion is to others.. a place where i seek clarity of mind.. in either case, my parents have never taught me how to give up and i have always believed that life is beautiful. And so i should hold on to this thought, this belief about the goodness of people.. =) life is beautiful!

Glad that i have good people around me to count on, nice pple in this world that makes it all worthwhile. thank you so much! i have also cleared my head and opened my heart to a new financial year ahead, another new year of my life with the mark of +1 to my age.. (here it comes again!) Just like Corrinne May’s ‘Beautiful Seed‘, ‘dreams are what we make them to be.. let freedom ring.. we shall overcome… there is hope in every heartbeat.. tiny as it seems’. really love this album. very upbeat and uplifting.. as corrinne may always is~

Cheers to our beautiful life!

All along, i knew that the odds are extremely high agst me before going in for the elections. however, i still decided to go for a try since all along, i have been very passionate abt sports and want to do my part for it.. somehow, the results of such elections are already predetermined.. everyone knows who’s gonna win and pple are just there to watch the ’show’. it’s like entering a competition you know that you will be losing but you can’t just walk out and give up like that right? sigh.. this ‘election’ reflected to me how many pple have already given up hope though..

It’s not the US presidential elections so it is really no big deal but somehow, i can’t help my emotions from bugging me as it’s clear that i entered it with a big disadvantage (in any case, i dislike popularity contests and cliques). so i prepared a speech till the wee hours last night but in the end, never quite got down to vocalise it in totality. Perhaps it would have been better for me not to prepare speeches.. cos i personally dun really need one in most of my presentations. Perhaps i have been fooled all along, perhaps i should have stepped out of this game of theirs.. but i openly communicated my stand, was very upfront about it and stick to it. i can at least move on from here without regrets. ended up being elected as part of the exco and not sports sec or asst. when the predetermined sports sec stated his ‘preference’, i allowed the voters to decide for themselves. respect the decision and only time will tell if the choice was right. still prefer solid work to be reflective of a person’s capability. we shall see. in any case, though i am not ‘destined’ this time round to serve the sports community, i will still do what i can as an exco. very grateful to those who has showed up to support me and for those who believed in me. it gave me strength to persevere on to continue to do my best (don’t think i’ll ever quit!). it tells me that there are still pple who reward credit where it is due. After all, these are philosophies i adhere to. so here is my speech i prepared. most of the ideas i have shared with the sports sec and asst earlier on. hopefully they can bring abt the necessary change effectively. it is not in my realms to supersede their duties but i will do what i can as part of the exco to serve the community. Please at least inform me if you are intending to make use of the contents below ok?

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Good afternoon. Let me begin by thanking each of you for being here today. Today, we are faced with a tough decision. This decision will determine how the sports scene will be like in the next year as well as whether we will win the revenue games in 2010.

The fact that you are here meant that you believed in what IRRC can be. This is a belief I share and I will like to do my part to realize it.

Let me start by sharing with you how I came to be here. I have always been a sports fanatic. I love sports and actively engaged myself in a wide range of them, from skydiving to snowboarding, swimming and even scrabble. Most of which I picked up with my persistence without any formal training. This persistence in pursuing my passion for sports is also the reason I stand here despite the odds. I lived in a sports hall back in school, one that has consistently been the sports champion. Sport is a key part of my life then and it still is today.

In the past year, I have been actively engaged in the organization and participation of almost all IRRC sports activities. I was seeking out talents as the inter functional group rep, observing at the sidelines, cheering at the bench and working at the backstage. Usually everywhere except the competitive grounds itself. Not being in the centre-stage of attention allowed me to acutely pick out issues and areas where I want to make a difference to. My background role also enriched me with the necessary skills to implement the ideas I have. My past leadership experiences put me in good stead to assume the role of sports sec. With my passion and dedication, I offer to serve you to my best ability.

There are three ideas I have in mind that will rejuvenate the sports scene in IRAS and reassert our sporting lead. They are centered on making sports accessible, building our sporting capabilities and talent grooming.

Sports should be fun and accessible to everyone. I will like to introduce new and fun sports to IRAS, such as dance sports, hiking or even scrabble so as to encourage people to pick them up along the way. Sports, social and community involvement can also come together to produce interesting sparks and meaningful events. Sports is for everyone and you should not be excluded even if you are not a competitive sports person, like me.

With interest from the introductory and beginner sessions, we can build up on our existing sporting capabilities while discovering new ones. My second idea is to set up a good management system for IRAS sports players. This meant that sporting development plans can be realized as well as facilitation of proper preparation for competitive games. This allows IRAS players to foster teamwork, work on winning strategies with dedicated focus on the sport itself.

The third idea is on grooming and cultivation of sporting talents. This involves discovering the talents in you through talent search and putting in place proper training to realize your potential.

All these ideas will come to nothing without your support. I stand here before you, asking you to believe not just in my ability to deliver them to you but also for you to believe in your ability to make this shared vision of ours come true. The credit goes to you for rationally selecting the best candidate that fits the job of a sports sec. Thank you.

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Perhaps it was an attempt to ‘beat the mighty system’. Perhaps it was plain foolishness. But i am still glad that i mustered the courage to stay true to myself. It’s a learning experience anyhow! =) Gambattae!

it has been a very short-lived weekend with much fun. Headed up to KL with some SG bloggers to celebrate nuffnang’s first bdae. have to say that i am impressed at how things are managed. usu when i go for paid stuff, u dun expect fantastic planning etc. of cos, there is a couple of delays here and there on the bus ends etc, but it was still pretty acceptable esp with everyone on a pretty much hol mood. the event was pretty well planned out too. very interesting.

Really liked the bed from tunes hotel too. very comfy. Air Asia’s founder tony fernandes is truly cool. hopefully the tunes hotel concept comes into singapore. though the cost of $50+ to $80+ singles/double room vs a hotel that has a slight price differential, without tv might not provide enough savings to attract pple to take it up. however, i still believe it has a sizable target grp. the issue is with how tunes can position itself out of the budget hotel range. in any case, i like it. no frills approach is good cos u keep operating cost of hotel low. also in line with air asia strategy. so opening tunes hotel at the key plane hubs will be great. SG is also one itself. the hotel needs to be positioned to be accessible to the airport (without much traffic) and the city centre since no other entertainment is expected from the hotel. the hotel works with a lot of advertising. there’s a mac advertisement on top of my bed but it is still all right, not to the extent of being too intrusive or irritating. great stuff. Good concept.

It was really nice to get to know the SG bloggers from this trip. Nikky boi is as usual the bus entertainer, so much so that some pple wanting peace moved to the other bus. The visit to Bar Club at Asian Heritage Row was not too bad and reminded me of US clubs again, similar songs selection + hired dancers as blue sky in San Jose, as julian claims (thanks to esther and her frens for introducing us to the place). bloggers are interesting personalities. putting all of them together makes an explosive combination. also, there is no unfamiliarity since pple know pple thru their blogs. so it felt like a family of frens outing. cool! also, many camera shooting too. of cos, for the blogs. in either case, was good to connect the comiq + other guys i brought along with the community. it will be good if the SPI (social playground island) idea kicked off virtually or offline. why not revolutionise the dating scene further in SG? perhaps can sell it off to hitchoo etc too. the bunch of us crafted the idea on the ride home.

On the way out from tuas also put me in a chain of events that allowed me to make some new foreign friends. thanks to the nice bus driver. maybe quality companies do have better service staff or perhaps they picked the right people. the original drivers that ferry us from KL were nice too and they did their best to get us back asap. which was very nice of them. =) special thanks to ming, benjamin and the nuffnang team for pulling this whole trip off. great stuff and lotsa great work behind. with a macbook, wii, iphone and cameras up for grabs, no wonder pple can be so fanatic! great stuff. these guys are amazing. they do know how to keep their stakeholders, bloggers, happy!

Hope to catch up with this bunch of pple soon again. =) thanks for making my weekend a memorable one and for relieving me from some of the work stress etc. am rejuvenated and ready to face up to the challenges ahead (just like valerie’s theory on how socialising can be a stress buster). it was the company that made the trip fun. couldn’t quite stop laughing or fall asleep on the ride home. monthly weekends getaways are great to rejuvenate and also to catch up with different groups of frens~ Hasta luego!

it’s been a tough day.. and many tough decisions were called upon me. all along, i have thought that if you are really passionate about something, you should be upfront about it and go for it. but today, i was questioned about this passion of mine. the abrupt notification of entry of a candidate and the realisation that support from a significant group has been rallied for the candidate had put this passion of mine to test. All along, i was only concerned about going for what i truly am passionate about regardless of the competition. this is what i told the candidate too. but never did i expect that a small election of a post is made so complicated and potentially snowballed into other issues.

For the past year since i joined my company, i have been actively engaged in sports. This stems from personal interest and passion for sports with no hidden intention that some people might have misunderstood of me. I have been supporting sporting activities as well as most other activities to my best ability all these days not out of obligation but pure interest. my sincerity was not appreciated and worst of all, misinterpreted.  this was truly upsetting and had made me reconsidered whether i should still pursue my passion to serve in this context.

Being endowed to be the functional group rep stemmed from the notice that i am pretty involved in sports (since i am a regular gym person back in my attachment days and thereafter). i actually felt that it was a good match as it is indeed aligned with my interest and passion. i also tried my best to do what i can to gather people from CENSVC to go for sports events, design posters and paste it on every floor all by myself just to encourage pple to take part in CI day.. i cheered hard and played hard wherever i can, hoping that we can secure the CIR trophy and Rev Games trophies. i am not exceptionally talented nor have i been athletically groomed but i work hard to do my best for the team (even if it is a bench job, unpleasant task or backstage work). Some pple have seen the lengths i go to, most pple wld not have known.

i am a very frank and open person who believes that nothing needs to be hidden (which is why i blog), perhaps too much for my own good. but i am true to myself and believes in open and sincere communication. this is possibly why i was pretty shaken by the onset of events and had thought about stepping out of the way. Thankfully, there were people who believed in me and made me rethink again. I will very much not want anybody to be in an uncompromising position but to give up before i try is not being fair and true to myself. Even though the odds might be against me (a cumulation of snowballed issues) and i was on the verge of giving it all up, this little voice from my heart had made me questioned myself to this hour and made me come to a decision to stick with whatever odds i face; go for the seat and face up to the results however it may turn out. it is going to be really tough for me. It is not easy to stand in front of two hundred over people next tues to convey my sincerity, passion and ideas i have. In fact, i have been up front to share my ideas with all the running candidates and committee. i have always been very clear to air my ideas and gather feedback esp since i believe in a democratic and open system. I really hope to have the opportunity to be in a position to facilitate the well-being of everyone.

All i ask for now is for people to vote rationally (not out of blind influence) for the best person for the job. I respect the decision of the voters. May the best person be elected. =)

found this online.. though i bet that it’s gonna show up as something very similar with any other dates.. so can u trust what it says then?

i’m starting to think that the facebook horoscope might be based on the status u write too.. somehow, it seemed to be linked. or perhaps not.. in either case, horoscopes should still be taken with a pinch of salt.. or chilli pepper~

Thanks to estee,  we’re going up with the nuffnang peeps to KL next weekend. =) There’s gonna be a nuffnang pyjamas party and it sure sounds like fun. heard that traffic conditions to get us across and back from the causeway is not too good. hopefully it’ll be ok on sat morning. eitherway, it’s still a good chance to take a break outta singapore. it’s high time to kickstart some travel plans for the year. can’t stand being trapped on island for too long.. there’s some work stuff that are bringing some of my colleagues outta little isle but not too sure when am i gonna be involved in one.. the last was to pahang which was fun but i’m still keen to get jet-setting on official business. =) wonder when that’s gonna take place~

Living with a teenager teaches you some things. amazing how the virtual games have influenced the real life by creating a new vocabulary list:

‘Hey, GG. let’s go for another round?’

GG- acronym of Good Game (often used with a negative connotation as a remark)

‘Of course, this one is imba!’

Imba - Short form for ‘imbalance’ (mostly used with a positive connotation to show that one is so good that it creates an ‘imbalance’)

so these are only 2 terms i caught which are possibly propogated by the chinese high people (from what i hear). Slangsite.com has a pretty comprehensive list of slangs (including GG but not imba). again, talk about generation gaps. Colloquial language might be a rising trend or possibly a fad, but either way, it demonstrates how our lives and exposure in this world fighting for your attention has infected us.

I was reading times magazine and came across an interesting article in the Feb 08 issue on World Economic Forum. This brought to mind my experience attending the World Business Forum 2006. I recalled probably being the youngest in the crowd. At that time, there is no such thing as youtube where you can get such contents online, unlike World Economic Forum 2008. Check out rice and bill gates speeches especially. very interesting and inspiring. though rice is still rather consumed with propagating US in her speech. perhaps US is viewed as the leader as it is willing to step in to fill this role. Though increasingly, there are doubts cast over our big brother (perhaps due to criticisms over Bush administration propagated through media) and whether the Anglo-Saxon world is still relevant in the new century (with the rise of Asia dominance in the world economy). Is democracy for everybody? Is diplomacy based on permanent interest? I’m not sure if rice’s speech is objectively answering these questions though her viewpoints are clear.

Bill speaks about socially conscious entrepreneurs and propagates the concept of doing well by doing good, what he termed as ‘creative capitalism’. Corporate social responsibility will be increasingly the focus in a world plagued by global warming, global food shortages, rising energy (esp gas) prices etc. And perhaps, the next big company will be one who can clearly address social issues while making a profit, what we term as social entrepreneurs.

The Future of Global Governance is also another interesting discussion albeit long one on govt 2.0 - a ‘citizen-centric’ approach to foster greater collaboration and innovation to address future global challenges.  This is also in-lined with an article on economist that speaks about how most government fails to utilise e services to connect with citizens. 

Michael Porter also speaks in an interview about ‘competitiveness’. something he has clearly shaped and defined in economics text which was a huge part of my study and focus back in school. The five forces model is drilled well.

An interesting phenomenon is the growth of sovereign wealth funds (mentioned briefly) which utilises investment funds derived from public income and managed by government appointees, who had injected some $70billion into US finance houses. The call by IMF for Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Norway to look into their fund management code of conduct also raises awareness and concern. Will the powers of the market falls into their hands or perhaps their wield on the market will grow? 5% of offshore assets totaling $7 trillion are held by private banking centres in Singapore, one of the largest share in Asia, followed by 4% in Hong Kong. This figure definitely raise some eyebrows especially with ‘tax havens / heavens’ topping the charts; 27% in Switzerland, 14% in Channel islands, 13% in Caribbean area as well as Luxembourg. Again, the Liechtenstein issue did come into play. As singapore moves towards being a wealth management centre, will it tighten its banking secrecy belt further? Will tax policies be just a tool to be tweaked to achieve this goal? With easy access to being a permanent resident in SG (as long as you have millions at your disposal), how will it shape the future Singapore economy?

This year’s WEF is centred on ‘The Power of Collaborative Innovation’. The theme seems to be an extension of ‘wisdom of the crowds’. Zander has an inspiring closing delivery that touches on radiating possibilities (I’m still looking for the video though) .

My experience at world business forum 06 was great though i wished that a younger audience will be more sought for. After all, there is great potential in instilling such hope and inspiration to the young business leaders as they will be key in pioneering the next change efforts. The live experience do provides a greater kick of the realism that you can be a part of a greater thing in this world. =)

in the last 12 hrs, it felt as if a world has passed by. a close friend got married and my eldest uncle on my mum’s side passed away. my mum’s side of the family has been plagued with many health issues since CNY. i recalled the pain looking at my uncle lying in bed, somewhat conscious but not able to fully open his eyes or to communicate. i feel the pain in my grandma’s heart, the stress on my mum and the sense of helplessness.. praying for a miracle and for all in the family to heal from the various health issues. my uncle is a good man who works hard for his family, a genuinely good person who deserves more than what he was put through. the encounter of losing my youngest uncle a few years back refreshed and the pain penetrates again.

it’s a very worrisome and stressful period. my eyes had been red the whole time for the past few weeks already. breakouts are a clear indication of my stress levels. my heart has been held by a string which was brutally snapped apart, leaving my heart to plummet and crash into pieces.

are miracles for real? if so, why did it not realise when you needed it most? is life ever gonna be fair? will the good always triumph?

i used to think that being a doctor is a revered job as you can restore the health of the ill. However, the possibility of seeing a life taken away right before your eyes is awfully upsetting and terrifying. it is true that your health is your wealth. All of us needs to be vigilant and safeguard it dearly. May good health and peace restores.