It’s 5.07pm. My lesson is at 6.30pm. I know it’s early, but I happen to have nothing much to do around Orchard, so I’m sitting inside one of the empty classrooms using the wireless@sg that they have. I have been quite “productive” for the past few days, spending most of my time working on the new site, as well as continuing to read up on books regarding finance.

I just have a little bit more to go before all the links in the site will work, and then I can just continue to add information to make the site rich in content. My holidays does indeed seem fruitful. By the end of the holidays, I hope to be more knowledgeable than most of my peers in investments and insurance.

There is a quote that I saw yesterday which I liked very much. It goes like this:

The best time to plant your tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is now.

So if there’s anything you want to do, do it now. Don’t wait because the next best time is now.

It isn’t everyday that you hear stories like this. A young girl that got cancer, and needs the funds to go for treatment. The amount is jaw dropping. A whole USD$350,000. That’s a huge sum of money. It is about half a million dollars. Tell me, whoever has that much cash stored to meet up with this sort of crisis?

Now I’m sure you all know that I’ve been learning about insurance for the past few months. And after learning and thinking about my ownself, I have only thought about getting $200,000 for such critical illnesses. And I’m sure that most Singaporeans who have the standard mentality that insurance is a scam, or that agents are cheaters will have less than that amount. It is almost definite that when such an event happens, very few people in Singapore would be covered enough to absorb such fees.

Hence what I am trying to say that this is a very big sum of money, above what I would expect to pay if I had critical illnesses myself. I am really stunned by the amount. Nobody would be able to cope with such fees unless you happen to be rich already. Furthermore, it seems that USD$350,000 is only a deposit. The horrors!

Anyway, I think that we could all afford to not spend a little money this month, and help to contribute to the fund raising. You can donate money or you can help in other means. For the homepage: click.

Sometimes when one gives, one receives more. Let’s start today.

I had a long awaited outing with my JC friends today. Some of them had been thinking about going for the New York New York challenge, which involves finishing up an 8 inch burger surrounded by large sized fries. If you manage to finish the challenge, the dish is free. It costs $32.90 if my memory did not fail me. We had been postponing this outing for ages because some friends are busy with their own stuff, and it was really very hard to get all of them to commit to a single timing.

Thankfully we did manage to settle on a timing just a few days before, and so after “work” today at noon, I went down to City Hall to meet them. We settled down in New York New York, and I had a prime location. I was facing the traffic flow out of the restaurant, and I can see who walked past. Needless to say the scenery was pleasant.

The New York New York challenge came with conditions, though. There was a time limit of 1 hour, and nobody is allowed to help eat (DUH). But if one manages to finish the challenge, an extra free drink of his choice is thrown in.

Jiahao decided to take up the challenge whilst Dominic and I opted for a normal main course. Zong Yao and Waikit decided to wait and see how large the portions are before they commit themselves. When Jiahao’s large dish appeared, it looked very sick. Sick as in it’s HUGE. In the end the both of them decided not to take the challenge, and changed their dish to a meat platter for 2.

Even Jiahao, who is the biggest and fastest eater in our clique, didn’t finish the meal within the time stipulated. In fact, we left a huge wad of fries there when we left. The fries had became stale after the long duration, and the whole dish was so oily that Jiahao grew sick of eating it. Therefore our challenge had failed.

It was fun though, and enjoyable. It was good to meet up with them after so long, even though we talk everyday on MSN.

I’ve just finished watching this very nice JDrama, which I categorise to my favourites list for it’s good and unique plot. It’s along the lines of Code Blue and Nodame, which are very good dramas which only come out rarely. Most JDramas entertain, but they don’t hit the favourites list because their plot isn’t that strong. But Love Shuffle is totally different from what I’ve seen so far.

Four different people, who live on the same floor but never met, happened to meet in the lift and it got stuck. They made friends after introducing each other, and the first episode was on leading the main character nicknamed Usatan to the concept of Love Shuffle. Basically, each of the four, Usatan, Aiai, O chan and Kikurin have to bring a partner each into the game so it’ll be 4 guys and 4 girls. The idea is simple, like it’s name. Basically they shuffle partners every week, so everyone will get one week of time with 4 people from the opposite sex. So at the 4th week, they shuffle back to their original partners.

It is not necessary that the couples be attached. Usatan brought in Mei, who is his fiance. They have been having some problems so Mei was the only who wanted to join, though Usatan didn’t. Aiai brought in her boyfriend. O chan brought a friend and Kikurin brought his mentally disturbed patient.

What follows is 8 weeks of shuffling around. Yes, the Love Shuffle is conducted for 2 rounds since there wasn’t a clear conclusion after the first. Through the different experiences that they have, each and everyone began to learn more about themselves and what makes them attractive to the other person, and in the end they find out whether their original choice was the right one. The ending was that everyone shuffled after learning who they are more attracted to.

What I find enjoyable in the show was how they experienced different things and grew to know themselves more. And the process of coming to terms that you fell for a new person who’s more suited for you. I find the love between O chan and the mentally disturbed patient very touching.

In short, it’s a great drama to watch if you haven’t done so.

I chanced upon a young man today at the MRT station. He was walking with this limp on his leg. His feet was in an awkward position, which to me seemed to be in great pain. Yet he walked on steadily like a normal commuter, and there I was slightly irritated with my shoes for cutting into my left ankle.

Sometimes we fail to realize that in life, there’s always someone who’s less better off than us. They have their own sets of problems to face, and some have problems that, when inflicted on us, render us feeling lost and vulnerable. Yet they continue to face life and walk on the path that they were meant to walk.

Sometimes when we feel down or demoralized, just remember that there have been others which walked the same path as us and endured it through, and some emerged stronger. Whether we walk out of it depends on how much we can endure, and if all else fails, just simply remember that there are others less fortunate than us. Be happy and grateful, and live our life properly.

I’m starting to feel that we should all adopt open mindsets. Question what the previous generations have taught us. Are they correct? Or are they mere biased? Or is it that with the generations, things change, and our mentality towards certain issues must change? For if we remain on the spot, how are we ever to progress?

Entrepreneurs challenge the norms. Ask questions. Find holes and plug them. Go via the unconventional way, the way where no one has gone, and bring change. Then, life becomes better.

I realized I changed a lot as the years went by. I read more books and gained a whole lot of new perspective. Back in the older days your elders tell you never to touch stocks. They speak of people who burnt their fingers playing on the stock markets. But this is not true. I eventually learnt that as long as you gain the knowledge to analyse stocks such that you do not speculate, and have a long term investment horizon, the risks of holding stocks decrease over the years.

Another thing is that we were brought up in an environment that we have this subconscious believe that we cannot earn our friends money. In a way when you offer to do something special, people expect you to do it for free, and if you take a little bit of commission for your effort in helping make everyone’s lives easier, they then rate you and relegate you to a lower ranking. But I ask WHY? Why must this be so. This is stifling entrepreneurship. Making it hard to develop ideas and carry them out because society rates you differently. Yet, most of the time we start by going to our friends for support.

So sometimes I keep hitting these walls that were built and deserved to be demolished, yet we feel powerless to demolish because all of our friends are like that. But once we jump over the wall, we find our other friends who have already jumped, and they have also progressed on with their lives. So take some time to question those beliefs that you have, and see if they still apply to the current generation. Talk more with people, because different ideas may come in, and may the better idealogy win.

I’ve just completed my first ICT of 740 GDS today and I must say that ICT is not slack at all! ICT for Guards is a very sick thing even though there were some periods of time we were waiting for things to happen outfield. Just on Thursday alone, we went out at 7.30am and reached camp on Friday 1am!

The men had more rest time in between activities, and they can lie on their bed and sleep for periods of time but I have been going for meetings and taking instructions and doing a lot of things. But overall it was not really that physically draining. However, who goes for an 8km combat march in the first ICT?

All along we heard stories of how the ICT is a very slack event. People playing cards in the bunk etc. But it’s totally not like that especially for commanders.

The 8km combat march is the most physically draining affair. After about 2 and a half years of not doing army related stuff, I was plunged into full battle order and we walked for 1+ hours just for 1 km. I seriously do not believe that it was 8km. It may be 8km on map distance, but the physical distance you walk up slope and down slope just means we walk longer. Plus for the first 4 km we were walking near fast march pace.

Overall I’ve learnt that we all were seriously unfit, but the reason why we could all continue on without dropping out is because we’ve been conditioned not to. Lennard, who from the day I knew him wanted to OOC from GCC and fall out from ICT, didn’t OOC and didn’t fall out. The 84 cmdrs, KH, Jasper and Kwa also walked on with their 84 guns and manpacks and completed the whole march.

The company ended up being the best in every segment possible, but we weren’t rewarded with anything from our superiors at B HQ. In fact, the B HQ didn’t seem to understand the men at all, and I think they all should try a section commander stint to get to understand what the men and specialists want in reality. Despite all the nonsense from HQ, I think we all will come back again even though we said we wouldn’t want to. This is because of the deep friendships we have forged over the years, and will continue to forge. A relationship that isn’t just about being acquainted with other people, but about knowing that they will walk the distance with you, complaining together, but still walking, and supporting you along the way. Knowing that they truly care and will want the best for you. Knowing that you will want the best for them.

It’s the little things that says so much. How my previous section took lunch for me even though I am no longer their sect comd but their Plt Sgt. How we just laugh at simple things. How we will just go the extra mile to take the 100plus for our men even though we are already very shag out. How among the ba long long-ness we all managed to survive well. How that when someone’s feet swelled, he still continued to walk and kept on going. About my section 2ic who stills calls me sgt kenneth during civilian days, and how he actually bought a can of 100 plus for me and his section when we were out for training. How we did not care that there’s no distinction between specs and men when we sit down during field training. How a very special group of people just took the bedsheets down without me needing to assign duties.

I have changed my opinion about many people during the ICT. I was very impressed with my group of specialists, my co-ps and the section commanders and my MG cmdr. We’re all different, but we make a great team. I think I learnt a lot this ICT, and I’m glad I was there.

I think this is the first time I actually felt pissed off on my birthday. Even during NS, I wasn’t angry. During NS first year, I was running SOC and I failed, but I was ok with it. During the 2nd year, when the clock struck 12, the whole company sang a song for me. So I have never actually had to feel this emotion – anger – before on my birthday, which, to most people, should be a special day of happiness and enjoyment.

My family and I went to the new Safra at Jurong. There’s a newly opened Jack’s Place there and I was craving for nice steak for a very long time. But they actually showed me how a new team is actually inefficient. I wonder if Jack’s Place is a franchise, so the team would definitely be new, instead of a company by itself where they can assign people to different outlets.

The soup came, which was very fast and good. But after the soup we waited 30minutes and the steak didn’t come. My dad asked for the steaks, the waiter went in and didn’t come out to notify us of anything. And then, the soup came, again.

Which is wtf. The waitress was a PRC so her english was really bad. But she managed to get what we meant when we just said it came 30 minutes ago. The waitress went to ask her colleague and asked us if we just ordered. That’s seriously stupid. How the hell did the order get mixed up until it seemed we just ordered?

We got the manager to check on the steaks and it finally came, and that was when I exploded. My family ordered 1 Jacks special steak medium, 3 garlic steak, 2 medium well and 1 well done. What came was 3 garlic steak, 2 medium well and 1 medium and 1 Jacks special steak well done. I couldn’t stand it anymore because it’s already 40+ minutes and this sort of nonsense can still come. So I told them what it was supposed to be and I think they understood my mood. It totally killed my birthday mood and I wasn’t happy even when the correct order came.

The saving grace for the day was when the manager came and asked us about our steaks and apologized for the delay.

But then, another stupid incident came up. Some guy came and asked if he could serve the coffee or tea. Coffee or tea is normally served when we get a set meal. Initially I thought he wanted to give us complimentary coffee for their mistakes. He actually didn’t know we didn’t order a set. I was like “WTF” in my head. Normally you don’t ask about coffee or tea when we didn’t order.

And then, whilst I was drinking my warm water from the cup, the waitress took the plate that’s below the cup. I was having the “HUH” look and then she put it back, realizing her mistake.

I won’t want to go back to Safra’s Jack’s Place anymore. The whole place actually managed to spoil my mood, and dinner was MY HIGHLIGHT of the day. It was the only place I went to today, and they spoilt it. Well done, Jack’s Place.

I turn 23 today. It’s just another day in the calendar, nothing really special, just a day where one celebrates being older. As I turn a year older, things change. I’m moving on to the 3rd year in university, a new window for IPPT, and a whole new experience.

I’m actually writing this on the 6th, so I could use wordpress and time it to load exactly when the clock strikes 12.

As I turn older, I find myself relooking at the things in my life; the priorities, the friendship, the feelings about things; my ambition, my studies e.t.c. So much has changed, and so much will change.

The friends you hold dear to your heart, some will stay in your life and make a difference, some will just leave. Some, just seemed to disappear and fade into the surroundings silently, like a disappearing ghost. You make an effort to treat everyone similarly, fairly, but in reality, people will always treat everyone differently. Yet that is only fair, or is it not? I don’t know, and I shouldn’t care. After all, I did my best in trying to be fair. As the chinese saying goes (by wk..thanks anyway its in hanyu pinyin cause I can’t save chinese words) ning tian xia ren fu wo, mo wo fu xian xia ren.

I wonder for the one wish I get to make during my birthday, what wish will I make? Last year my uni clique went to watch meteorites and we saw one faint one. I remembered making a wish for my studies and it came true. The chances of seeing a meteorite in the near future seems to be zero since nobody wants to do it again, so there’s no free wish. Haha.

Just a few days ago, I told Jiahao what I probably will wish, but I’m not too sure if I’ll wish that now. It seems like it’s not really high on the priority list.

Updates: I went to enjoy a nice can of Sapporo Beer, and I was watching the Korean version of Hana Yori Dango. It kinda cheered me up a bit. I think I know what I want already.

I hope that I will be more clear about what I want in this coming new year before I turn 24, and I can change myself and be happier most of the time. I shall enjoy my journey as a 23 year old and see what life brings me.

Been having a little discussion online about the Law of Equivalent Exchange. Sounds familiar? It’s from Full Metal Alchemist. It actually just simply means that when you want to get something, you have to exchange something of an equivalent value. Obviously it doesn’t restrict itself to money, but many other things as well.

Whilst the law is proper, it doesn’t hold true in all cases, even though we consider different value systems, and leading to different prices for the same item that differs from person to person.

Or put it simply, we can say the more you give, the more you can take, although we know perfectly well that in this world we live in, there are people trying to take advantage of you, and hence we put up a barrier, which was a concept brought up by a friend. We hide behind a shell, seeing how other people react to what we give, and whether they give something that’s of an equivalent value as perceived by us. If he gives more, good, if he gives less, then we’ll be wary and not lower the barrier. As such some people remain as acquaintances, while others move on to become good friends, best friends, and even girlfriends/boyfriends and subsequently husband/wife.

Recently I was struggling with myself about such exchanges. You put in plenty of effort, working on a friendship, and you develop expectations. As a good friend of mine put it, the lesser the expectations, the better it is. With high expectations, it’s like a high risk for disappointment.

Sometimes you expect everyone to be treated the same way in a group of friends. But things are not meant to be. Even within a group, there will be better friends and closer friends. No matter how hard one works, sometimes you’re just not up there. As such, just expect nothing and life will be happier.

I’ll be doing the law of equivalent exchange with people who deserve it, not people who don’t.