小娘惹

小娘惹今天播完了，不知大家有何感想。我觉得这部戏拍的还可以，不过我是从中间才开始看的，没看到欧萱扮演的菊香是怎样的一个角色。我觉得剧情还算紧凑，有吸引到我追看结局，虽然有些地方不是很合理，但整体来说以新传媒的水准而言还算中规中矩，不过不失吧。可惜的是选了欧萱扮演小娘惹总觉得不太合适，因为她肤色略嫌白皙，眼睛也不是很大，一眼望去还是像华族女子多过像娘惹，所以我觉得这点比较欠说服力，我觉得她演技还算OK吧，她外型也满秀气，只是她的咬字令人感觉不是很自然，像是在背稿，生硬了些。如果她能改进这点会更好。
据New Paper on Sunday报导，新传媒的宣传主任Paul Chan说等了好几年才终于等到一个阿姐出现，而这位阿姐就是欧萱。我觉得似乎牵强了点，不知会有多少人认同他的说法呢？

First day at work in 2009

We had a mini-Christmas party on 24th December during lunch time, and I was shocked to see our big boss wearing a Santa red cap, haha.
After 2 super long weekends for the past two weeks (I took leaves on 26 Dec and 2 Jan), I came back to office today. So you can imagine my mood now. Anyway, it's time to get fresh and start my "engine" and hope this year will be another challenging and fulfilling year ahead!

Story of Shandy Sim

I spent the whole afternoon today reading through all the entries in late Miss Shandy Sim's blog after a report in the New Paper on Sunday.

Her story was truly inspiring. She started her blog soon after the shock discovery of her diagnosis but what followed was her display of courage and positive thinking in her battle against cancer. Her mood was always upbeat as she wrote her blog with such humour that nobody would guess she's actually a Stage 3 cancer patient undergoing so many grueling chemos and RTs.

Live life to the fullest and stay positive no matter what lies ahead of you. Don't take things for granted and live everyday as though it is your last day.

May she rest in peace.

Scorpio Outlook of Romance for 2009

I am a "half-believer" of horoscopes, i.e. I tend to agree with some of the things about my zodiac but disagree with the others. I happen to find this article on Yahoo! website about the "romantic outlook" this year for my horoscope.

The article is so well-written and full of positive statements that I would rather believe that it is true! I like this part: "Your instincts are powerful in developing intimacy, and will help you create a healing, passionate and spiritual relationship. The completeness of being in love is a major focus for you this year, and your desire to articulate your feelings will bring your relationship to a higher level of understanding and personal fulfillment."

Heaven knows I have yet to find that partner to start a "healing, passionate and spiritual relationship"! :P Fellow financial-guru Mike asked why I did not include "finding a lover" in my New Year Resolutions. I think part of the reason is due to my age. Statistics from the government shows that the likelihood for people over the age of 35 to get hitched are significantly reduced. I would attribute this to the reduction in hormones for people over 35, haha. Jokes aside, I think it all boils down to the reasons for marriage in this modern age.

The fact is as days go by, the urge to find a lover gets lower and lower. I am a traditional guy. I believe to marry a person, you must be fully dedicated and willing to take care of her with all your heart, and be prepared to make all kinds of sacrifices along the way. I take marraige as a sacred word and serious committment. Though I am nearing my forties, I do not yet have the courage and mentality to start such a long-lasting relationship. Am I taking marriage too seriously for my own good?

Money No Enough

Today I came across an article Not Perfect, But It's Home on Weekend TODAY, which has been delivered to my house FOC for many years. An interesting read as the author tries to compare the lifestyles between Singapore and Australia, in particular the perceptions of money and how different the Aussies deal with money matters compared to our countrymen.

I agree with the author that we Asians are more obsessed with money than the Aussies. It is little wonder that "Money No Enough 2" by Jack Neo won the top box office (among all Asian films) in Singapore last year. Our parents all expect us to study hard so that we can become doctors, lawyers, engineers, accountants etc and make more money when we grow up. Having more money naturally lead to more comfortable and happier lives, as we were told. More often than not we tend to judge the social status of a person by his wealth rather than his heart. Even the government indirectly promotes the importance of money by benchmarking our top civil servants' pay to a basket of top earners in the six professionals in the private sector. We hear them saying things like "You need top money to draw top talent and curb corruption." and "You pay peanuts, you get monkeys", etc etc.

However, as the recent Global Financial Crisis shows, money is never enough, for those top-salary drawing bankers, more money paid to them may work in the opposite direction and blind them into making wrong decisions (i.e. creation of toxic assets). They are still human beings afterall and they still succumb to the power of greed. Human greed inevitably creates a bubble and then a crisis ensues.

In the distant future, will money ever become history? As we know, many wealthy people are actually not happy. They have no purpose in life and all they have left in this world is their money. A happy life does not have to be materialistic. In our usual pursuit of wealth, we must not forget that many simple things in life actually cost nothing. I hope to lead a simple life that is free from money woes, i.e. to achieve financial freedom as early as possible.

New Year Resolutions (Continued)

Just realised that I've missed something that I had wanted to do in my last post, so here it goes:
7. Read all books that I have bought but have not finished reading:
(i) Your Best Life by Domonique Bertolucc
(ii) Why Men Never Remember & Women Never Forget by Dr Marianne J. Legato
(iii) Secrets of eBay Millionaires by Stuart Tan and Benjamin Marc Wee
(iv) Trend Following by Michael W. Covel
(v) The Complete Turtle Trader by Michael W. Covel
(vi) Adam's Khoo's "Crazy Offer" package:
- Secrets Of Self-Made Millionaires wealth creation course (12 CDs)
- Patterns of Excellence neuro-linguistic programming course (10 CDs)
- Paving The Way To The Top success development course (6 CDs)
- Secrets of Building Multi-million Dollar Business (ebook)

8. Learn more about Windows programming
9. Learn more about Adobe Photoshop

New Year Resolutions of 2009

1. To pass JLPT1 exam which will be scheduled on 6 December 2009.
2. Continue jogging regimen to keep fit. Target is to accumulate an annual mileage of at least 500km.
3. Continue to watch budget closely. Target is to save at least 80% of annual income.
4. Donate blood at least three times this year.
5. Learn to program on the PSP.
6. Learn more about Internet Marketing.