Flying away in 10 days

I'm typing here from Changi Airport.
Be on vacation for 10 days with Wifey and my in-laws.

To a place where there's good food, good scenery, and yummy yum yum chicks.

And it's also the first time I'm meeting a blogger friend.

Till then, stay cool, drink lots of water, and be happy, everyone!
Cheers! ^_^

Are you an animal lover?

Do you love animals?


I do, especially chicken and pork - they taste good!

Ok, jokes aside.

I have a colleague, she's in her 40s, married and have no kids. But she has this doggie which she was strongly attached to. Just like how parents will tend to talk more about their kids, my colleague also give reference to her doggie as if it was her own child.

Lately, she was on urgent leave for a few days. Her doggie died. I presumed it's due to some body malfunction. And now that she's back to work, I think it affected her quite a fair bit. She looked pale, and from her eyes, you can see she cried a great deal recently.

As I was walking by her cubicle just now, I saw her staring blankly at the pic of her beloved doggie. My heart sank. I wished she will recover soon.

For a while, I was reminded why I can never be a owner of pets. I'm way too self-centered and practical to hold an additional responsibility and attachment to a pet of my own. And plus, I never liked clearing up people's sh*t (pun intended).

Do you keep pets of your own, and do you get REALLY emotional over their welfare?

Happy 101 Award

Wenny dropped me a little surprise 2 weeks. Knowing how inactive I am recently on the blogosphere, she also dropped me a little reminder. =p



I'm now the proud recipient of The Happy 101 award, but I will have to
(A) write a post to thank the person who gave me the award (Thank you much much, Wenny!)
(B) add the award to the sidebar
(C) name 10 things that make me happy
(D) pass this award to other bloggers who make me happy.

As for the 10 things that make me happy.
(1) Wifey. Is that considered a "thing"? She's also my confidante, my mistress and my personal secretary. Yes, I have an affair with my secretary, you can either sue me or envy me.

(2) The moon. I started falling in love with the moon during my undergraduate days, when I used to take a long walk to the bus stop every night after school. It's my alluring secret companion, my personal guardian who doesn't talk, but takes my mind off the lecture notes.

(3) Chocolate and raisins. They are the little rewards that I give myself when I deserve it. And it happens often. I'm so damn grateful to myself.

(4) Seeing people smile. It's damn contagious. And if people don't smile, you infect them!

(5) Blogging. It's an addiction that pays off intellectually, unlike gambling and gaming. A shoutout to my fellow bloggers out there.

(6) Dancing. It makes me feel alive. And I love to perform.

(7) My grandma. She's in her 90s. But always smiling and concerned about the people around her. I'm happy to see her smile, and I LOVE to make her laugh.

(8) Exploring new places for holidays. I like to see people, places and cultures.

(9) Drinking tea and catching up with buddies. It's easy to get lost in your own world when you are married/attached. Some Guy's night out to find back some "ME time" every now and then is always refreshing.

(10) Acts of kindness. I smile when people give up seats on the train and buses. In a practical society like Singapore where people rush in trains just to get seats, acts of kindness cannot be taken for granted. And I smile bigger when I see babes in miniskirts with a heart of gold. Good lookers can be kind-hearted after all ,other than myself.

I shall not forward this award to anyone, ONLY because it's not my style to do so, though I can easily list a long list of blogs which I follow, that makes me happy when I read. So if I have to nominate to satisfy the last criteria, can I nominate back Wenny?

Shingo T the Poacher

I interact alot with people, and I'm always constantly on the lookout for good people.

It could be a cleaner, the security guard, the coffee lady, the bus driver, the guy who sold me jewellery or anyone. Whenever I get impressed with a person's work attitude, I will tell myself that "This is the guy I will poach to work for my own company". And in cases when i'm extremely impressed, I get their namecard, just in case I might call them with a little proposition years down the road.

And nope, I have not yet set up any company. I preach alot about why we should step out of the comfort zone, but in the end, I'm this scary cat who talks alot but have no concrete action. I could come up with 101 reasons why I am still stuck helping people make money, but deep down, I know these are not reasons, these are my self-made excuses.

Anyway, pardon the digress.

Richard Branson is one who hires based on a person's aptitude, and I think that's so smart. Paper qualifications are over-rated. Unless you are getting IT guys, laboratory scientists or accountants, where paper qualifications correlates with how often the guy will produce results, it's better to get someone who has that aptitude, the X-factor.

A top-earning salesman related to me his story about a potential customer, a study mama from China, who would not buy a single product from him, not because his products aren't good, but because she's not buying into him. How do you trust the words of a person you only knew for a few minutes? So this top-earning salesman went the extra step out for her, teaching her how to secure her kids into her choice school over the next few days. It's something out of his jobscope, but it got her to buy into him as a friend. Soon, she started becoming his regular customer, and gave lots of referrals. Woot! $_$

Soft skills like charisma, interaction, EQ, mindset and motivation are skills I lookout for in my potential employees. It's important not to produce disgruntled employees, because low morale is infectious, and happy workers produce better results. I need to ensure that my own company doesn't fall apart when I go on a vacation with Wifey to Milan on a shopping spree.

Recently, Wifey got the chance to know most of my colleagues. And I singled out two particular colleagues who have that "it" factor that I'm looking for. Not everyone may agree with my choice, because one of my choice has some "personality problem". But I see why she has that "problem", and I am confident of turning turning it round to make her a great asset.

Be on your best behavior, kids, especially if you are dealing with clients or strangers.

The stranger who you impressed today, might be the guy who will poach you tomorrow.

And I might just be that poacher.
*winks*

And been poached will certainly give you a better deal than aimlessly hunting for your own job.

About the Author: Shingo T gives extra poaching points to people in miniskirts compare to those in business trousers.

Random Notes 45

(1) Work's getting busy again for me these few weeks. Will be asking my boss to get someone to lighten my load. Hope that help comes soon.

(2) Wifey was reading through Nino's blog, and she said this "he's quite sweet to his girl. any pics of them both?"

Nino, you there? =p

(3) I found this hilarious quote on the Net, and used it as my Skype signature.
Friendship is like peeing on yourself: everyone can see it, but only you get the warm feeling that it brings.

And my colleague who saw it, replied me
Break-up is like shitting in your pants: not everyone knows, but they can smell something is wrong.

(4) Today is April Fool's Day, the day in which I read local newspaper articles with a pinch of salt, as they tend to insert some untrue news in it.

Anyone has any April Fool Day experience to share?