I think I want to write a book.

I often boast to Julynn that I think I want to write a book. But I often am not sure what exactly do I want to write. In fact, in the first place, why do I want to write a book? Is it, an avenue which I can earn money, something to leave a piece of me in this world before I leave, or just satisfying the curiousity of how writing a book will be.

As I was showering, by the way, inspirations often happen when I shower, I started thinking of what type of books I would write. The following are what I thought, in no order of preference:

1. Fantasy Novel, one with dragons, elves, dwarves and the normally weaker, but stronger willed humans.

2. Inspirational Piece / Biography, based on my experience growing up, things I have learnt and encountered.

3. Singaporean Hospitality, this would take some time to do, probably till I'm 40 years old or so. My take on the industry and the type of people we are. I don't even mind if it becomes a reading textbook for universities or something!

So yeah, those are the aspirations at the moment. I can't say I'm leaning on to anyone of them, it depends on the mood. In fact, I think I should write a book called "I think I want to write a book" TM, just in case someone steals the idea, and just write the journey of how writing a book is. Crazy I know but oh well, what the hell right. Suggestions please everyone. Thank you!

At the moment, I'm a little hungry, kind of on a diet at the moment, not eating too much cause I wanna reduce the belly fat, so mainly eating healthily. More fruits though not more vegetables. As most of you should know, I hate VEGETABLES! Mum used to forced me to eat it, and I couldn't swallow it, it made me feel like vomitting and I would stop eating dinner. I think from then on, they decided to let me be. Apart from having a round belly, I turned alright. :)

Come to think of it, Sunday morning, Julynn and I headed to the Yishun Mac at Sembawang Road (with a drive thru) and saw this boy eating 1 big breakfast AND 1 fillet o fish. In the defense of the kid, I think the portions are getting smaller, and it was a Sunday! Everyone deserves a good treat like that. I wonder if he added on a Milo Ice.

Crap, now I'm really hungry. There is baked beans and luncheon meat and nissin cup noodles at home. Gosh! Which should I go? Do I need to count the calories? By the way I had a bowl of honey stars and milk (low fat) this morning, does that count? Ok I'm just running these thoughts cause I'm a little hungry.

Since I mentioned my belly a couple of times already, let me talk a little about it. I've always had a belly for like the longest time, and when I went to the army, I was pretty sure and rather hopeful that I would lose it. But nope, even NS was not able to trim my belly, see how tough it is! I guess its alot of reasons, the food that I eat, the beer that I have drank and the fact that I hate sit ups and core exercises. Yuck! So this time, I want to at least get one layer off, (you know when you sit down your belly folds and you have layers). One's going off. Why you ask me?

A multitude of reasons. Firstly, I can't jump standing broad jump for nuts, always fail, and I want to get a Gold cause its $400!!! Secondly, my suit looks really bad cause its fitting and my belly area bloats! Lastly, I just always wanted to at least have a firm looking core, I'm not even asking to see any abs!

And I think I have written abit too much for this post, everyone will feel tired reading it. So till the next time. Miss you everyone! Sorry that I can't meet all of you much cause of work, so please forgive me! Ciaos!!! XOXO

Quick Update

Hello Hello, its a Sunday todae (Aussie accent style), good dae everyone! It wasn't a good saturday for me cause I was bed ridden for the whole day, down with high fever, throat infection, flu, running nose and headache. Damn...

Anyway, been watching lots of TV recently, or at least just Saturday, the new channel OKTO is really quite good! I mean I watch alot of cartoon, deep down I am still such a sucker for cartoons. However, apart from that, in the evening, there are quite a couple of good programmes on.

Oh, and I had a short video cam session with Hairul, Ziyang, Yenwei & Shan the other day. Hairul exclaimed that my face become rounder! Hmmph! Anyway, being sick now, I can't eat much so hopefully I'll lose some weight. :)

So yeah, quick update for this week, nothing else interesting happened this week, so take care everyone! See you UQ People soon, I really miss you all! (Then again, maybe I just miss Brisbane, HAHAHA)

Exams, Party, Road Trip, Finding Work, Work, Home.

Again, sorry everyone, as mentioned above, in two months, many things has been rolling on for me. Gone are my carefree days in Brisbane, let me just retrace my steps to the exam period and we'll move on from there.

The Exams. Basically, I had three exams and I was done by the first week of the exam period. The subsequent days after the exams were about partying and packing up before Julynn came to Brissy. The exams were fairly alright, just for 1 subject that I did not do as well I wanted to, but its alright! I passed! :)

Packing was upsetting, packing the room consisted off clearing half of the wardrobe, half of the shelf, half of the toilet, half of the table and pretty much everything else. That's because Hairul still has a semester to go, so the remaining half has to be left behind. After packing, everything felt half empty/full, it was like something whole has been split apart or has gone missing. I guess that's how Hairul and I feel when we saw the room in its state, it is inevitable that it has to happened and that when I leave Australia and he coming back to Brisbane with a half empty room, we both will have to replace the piece missing to move on. The thought of it was really sad.

Partying at Mitre is of course a hardcore affair with music, booze, laughs and mahjong! The last party was more like something to say goodbye to everyone, cause when Julynn comes to visits, its about the same as me leaving them as we would be heading for our road trip. It was a happy and slightly emotional evening but I was still able to hold my tears back so whatever it was, I was happy that I had a proper ending to the partying at Mitre.

Julynn arrived in Brisbane and that evening we spent time with the gang going to Moreton Bay for dinner. The sunday after was the start of our Roadtrip, we headed towards, Byron Bay, Coffs Harbour, Nelson Bay and Sydney in the next four days and spent the following 6 days in Sydney itself (a little bit too long I thought, lol). Headed back to Brisbane and did the normal shopping at Harbour Town and went to all the places I could go to eat as it would be the last time for me eating them, Sigh. Oh ya, that's when I bought my Fender Guitar also, Hah! And we headed back to Singapore on Sunday, 12th of July 2009.

In the efforts of finding work, I had two interviews lined up and got a call on monday with another one lined up. So three in total. I went for all three and decided to return to my former work place at GCW as a management trainee, starting on the 3rd of August. Taking up this position therefore leads me to an important point for me and the existence of this blog. This is the first and last mention of my work on this blog, this is to maintain a professional outlook of myself in the industry. There is the possiblity of my blog becoming a private blog, but till then, we will see about it.

Being finally back to watch Singapore TV and especially during the national day week, I hear the song This is Home, by the new Singapore Idol contestants. It has reminded me that I have come back home and I am glad. The times in Australia was an important time for me, and though it is sad that I have to close one chapter of my life, I am reopening a chapter that I left when I entered the army.

My niece's one year old birthday also sparked the start of my life back in Singapore, to spend more time with my family. She's brought the family together, a Godsent, last week, my Dad, Mum, my sister and I were in the swimming pool playing with our little princess Izzy. And gosh, I can't remember the last time the family was in the pool at the same time. Hahaha.

So yes, that was a summary of my busy 2 months, I have started working so that means no more playing for me. Take care everyone, lots of love. Oh yes, the last paragraph is to thank everyone in my University of Queensland Chapter of my life, Love you guys:

In no particular order: Hairul, Anthony, Deborah, Yeow Kheong, Kimberly, Ziyang, Yongsheng, Yenwei, Xiaoying, Bernard, Michelle Zee, Shijia, Julian, Darryl, Yueying, Michelle Choon, Samantha Lee, Shan Chew, Jennifer, Xiaohui, Yin Shan, Althea, Estee, Karin, Avril, Bryan, Russell, Shijian, Amy, Nanting, Louis, Elicia, Melissa Tan, Huimin, Sophie, David, Jacqueline, Katherine, Karenina, Melissa Quek, Yu Jun, Amanda, Rachel, Victoria, Belle, Crystal, Jasmine, Shannen and Samantha Low, Charles, Alastair, Jono, Chris, Siew Wern, Xin Kei, John-Michael, Clement, Kenneth, Melissa Heng, Debbie, Sheryl, Eliza and many many more that if I didn't mention you, is not that I don't love you, its just too many to remember.

1 more month to SG, and Brisbane's freaking cold!!!

Yeah it's true, its bloody cold here in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The sunshine state. It's really not suppose to be cold here but bloody hell, everyone is freezing our butts off. Hairul and I are still continuing with our no heater for as long as we hold out. I'm wearing a t-shirt, long sleeve t-shirt, jumper, track pants, two socks and my fingers are cold from typing. Well, then again, it is an experience to be overseas and enjoy (or suffer) the cold weather.

So one more month to my final return to Singapore. The darkside clouds the future. Or more like the economic downturn. Hahaha... I'm not too worried lah just so you guys know, I know God will take care of me, so yeah. And I'm coming back to the hotel industry, so exciting! I can't wait to be back in the hotel meeting people and making sure guests enjoy their stay in Singapore.

And exams are around the corner, 8 days from now, I will be a free man with no exams to study for. Hehehe... As usual, motivation is hard to come by so I hope it comes in time in order for me to do well for my subjects. Just another short post, no interesting stories that I've come across at the moment, but good things need to wait one.

*Oh, I think the fact that Blogging allows me to fulfill a part of me that wants to be a columnist, maybe someday when I can crap more interesting stuff on a daily basis, I might be able to do it! Cheers everyone and happy weekends!*

Defeat & the feeling of losing

Unfortunately, my team and I didn't come out tops, we were second. It was a close fight, too close, and on the line, you might as well say we lost by a coin toss. But there were many underlying factors then I'm not going to mention. In fact I'm going to write about the feeling of losing.

There are a number of ocassions when I felt this way, so here it goes:

1. During Secondary 3, my NCC Specialist Course, I wasn't the top 10 trainee, was 11th!
2. During Secondary 4, didn't get my Master Seargent Rank in NCC.
3. During my internship, I got 3/5 for my performance as an intern in the front office department.
4. During Basic Military Training, didn't get my platoon best though I worked my ass off.
5. During OCS, the fact that my commanders couldn't see past the wayang people.
6. During University, didn't win the Hotel Technology Competition Award.

However, as time passed by, I've overcome those disappointments with other accomplishments.

1. I became a NCC unit drill instructor, or Staff Seargent.
2. Though I was not a Master Seargent, I receive an outstanding commendation for my service NCC.
3. I was the Singapore Receptionist of the Year 2005.
4. I got a Gold for my IPPT in OCS.
5. I was well respected by my peers and they saw me as a leader very differently from my commanders.
6. Who knows? But based on the trends, it seems like something good is going to happen.

So yeah, I'm disappointed at the momemnt, but will be fine tomorrow! Just need to spend some time with my good friends Jack Daniels and Coca Cola. It's gonna be a great night...

Nervous, Nervous, but still managable, thanks be to God.

Hi everyone,

this will be a quick post. Tomorrow, Tuesday, 9th June 2009. I will be having a competition, it's the Holiday Inn Virtuoso Competition, an event created by the Holiday Inn, Brisbane and the University of Queensland. The top three teams of this course (subject) will be fighting for the first prize.

As most of you know, I'm not much of the achiever to want to be the first in anything or excel in school results. However, I've never wanted to win anything this badly before. So obviously I am really nervous cause alot is at stake. Pride. Actually, the only thing at stake is pride. Hahaha... Pride, seriously, I hate that word. Pride on oneself is the downfall of men. Another post for another time.

Anyway, I just prayed to God, and read the Bible, book of Job in particular. Gave me a clearer mind and ease my nervousness. Wish me luck everyone. Ciaoz!

Optimist Versus Pessimist, who are you?

"What do you think?"

Good day everyone, my apologies for taking so long to write a new posting on my blog. Had a huge ass assignment that was due on Tuesday and it took Anthony, Michelle and I a whole lot of sleepless nights to churn out a damn 18,000 word report. So it's Thursday night at 9.25pm and here I've sidetracked from doing a 1000 word case analysis assignment that is due tomorrow at 4pm. You must be wondering why I sidetracked. Well, its mainly because I just had an msn conversation with Michelle about Tuesday's assignment and tomorrow's one as well.

Hmmm, obviously, it's bothering me that's why I'm writing a post (not always the case but often a reason to blog). Remember seeing the glass half full or half empty picture? Well, I know I am mostly a half full person, I have my half empty times, but mostly half full. I enjoy being a optimist because I think life is too damn tough to be feeling upset about anything. I have friends whom flock on both sides, and sometimes it can be quite difficult being an optimist around pessimists. It feels like the darkness is trying to consume the light, one could be a big large roaring fire when there are other fires around, but feel like a candle in the wind amongst the dark world which tries to dims you when you are alone.

"It's easier when there are more around"

Perhaps I'm feeling a little bit tired and upset about being a dim light at the moment. Like the small tea light that you put on the table and you switch off all the lights and it tries to survive. Yet the poetry in it is that one can't help but enjoy the small warmth and glow of the tea light. How does that tea light feel? Using up its wax (as fuel) and trying to stay as bright for as long as it can, until it dies out.

"Couldn't find a nice one, so I headed out to the balcony and took one"

Obviously at this juncture, I have fallen a little into my pessimist side and it sucks. A little bit "moody moody" as Xiaoying likes to put it. She will often just ask me to head to sleep so that I don't rub it off on others. Sometimes I wonder what I am in this world, what am I suppose to do. Get good grades, land a job with insane loads of money, get married, have a couple of children, drive a big car, own a really big house, have a dog, take care of my children, grow old, die.

"He is such a miser! But deep down we love him cause he has a heart of gold"

Gosh, that's not me as everyone knows. I have to say that I was never really born into a house where I had a silver spoon to my mouth and everything I wanted I get. Whatever I wanted, "I" had to go get on my own. I was comfortable and never really needed anything important, I was just contented with what life gave me. Perhaps because of that then, that it seems I am well off, that money is not important to me.

Wealth, finance and money. Seems I've drifted off a bit, perhaps a subject I can touch on at another time. To tell you the truth everyone, right now, I feel alone and sad, it seems that I am alone, no one to share my optimism and join my fire. I feel like the tea light alone, sitting there in the darkness. Is there a thing as being too big of an optimist is a bad thing? Is dreaming too big or being positive a bad thing?


A couple of months ago, a friend of my left work, and before she left, she told everyone she was going to do something big (you know who you are). Most of her friends, from what I heard, told her she was crazy and was thinking too big and that there was no way she will succeed. Spits. Ian spits. She's your friend, can't you guys give her some encouragement! (I am gonna be blast for this but what the hell). When she told me about her plans, I did thought she was crazy as well, but I told her, if she dared to dream, she would have my support. Optimism is white and Pessimism is black. Or is it the other way around?

"It may be those who do most, dream most." - Stephen Leacock

For my friends who are reading this, don't worry, Ian is just "emoing" now and will be fine tomorrow when he wakes up. Now I'm just taking the opportunity to write down stuff when I'm sad. To let you see another side of me. The dimming optimist perhaps. Kudos and God Bless.