New Year 2010

Our first stop for this year's New Year's eve celebration was at Marche.

Unfortunately many outlets of Marche have been shut down due to poor business but I can tell you that the business at Vivocity is definitely booming and roaring.

But but but !!! I don't like Marche at all to be honest with you.

First of all, we had to wait damn long before we got a seat, then the table is so freaking low that it was extremely hard to eat the food comfortable. I had to bend down and eat it in an uncomfortable position. Totally sucks I swear, we can't even eat properly. Do they really think only kids patron Marche? Why do they make the tables so low in the first place?

Then, the variety was pathetic, food selections were weak and it was pricey and the portions were small too.

And, the place was so squeezy that we have to give way if we see another person approaching, I'm not lying or exaggerating. It is that narrow.

Then again, I must give them the credit for the food presentation. It was gorgeous, definitely suitable for picture taking sessions. There were much colours and the food looks delicious but does not taste delicious apparently.

So I guess the hype is abit over the board considering that the food were mediocre and that the place is so squeezy with lousy tables. How am I suppose to dine there again ?

Perhaps, with lower supply comes high demand, now that there are only a few outlets, people are rushing in! So I conclude that the number of outlets does not commensurate to the equivalent rise in profits.

Waiting for the last person to arrive, Fu Qi. He's perpetually late but this time round he wasn't too late. Only 1 hour 15 minutes late!!?!??!!?

Still waiting ~ ~

Dada. Spot the last guest arrival !!! Look at Chee Siong. Simply delirious with joy

I was betting with him how long more will Fu Qi take to arrive. I bet 2 minutes and he betted 20 minutes. In the end he lost and he was supposed to treat me a meal but he did not.

LIAR !!!

Then, we embarked on a precarious expedition up Mount Faber.

Me and my ludicrous idea of going to Mount Faber. The path was pretty precipitous and thank god no one fell or I will definitely be castigated !

But the next few pictures proved that it actually turned out to be a great idea to at Mount Faber for the New Year!

Spectacular scenery of the houses and the incandescent city !

Albeit tired and exhausted, we continue to move up the hill.

And then we saw this magnificent tree lighted up by bulbs and spotlights. The trees were blue in colour as shown below.

The first thought that came into my mind was that, "Are we in Pandora?"

It's really gorgeous I must say, the breeze and the scenery up here!

Then we chanced upon the Jewel box.

The Jewel Box is undeniably Singapore’s iconic hilltop destination. With its new extension of a pioneering green architectural structure encased in an eight three-storey high glue laminated timber arches made of Hiba wood and renamed venues, be ready to discover sparkling “Gems” at The Jewel Box. Created through a technique called ‘glue lamination’, never before done in Singapore, it also has a huge glass-encased Angsana tree piercing through the roof creating a singular ‘tree-in-a-vase’ effect.

Apparently it is brobdingnagian I must say. There were a plethora of people out there at the entrance and there was simply no way we can possibly squeeze our way in. Hence, we decided to continue moving up as we strive towards the peak.

The culmination point. Mount Faber Peak.

We heaved a huge relief after we saw this concrete slab with the word "Faber" encarved on it.

Finally, after 30 minutes of climbing, we finally reach the Peak and the view is gorgeous.

We can practically see the whole of Singapore from that Peak man. Nothing was obstructing us and our view penetrated throughout the city.

People were playing a fool up at the peak. Some were playing sparklers while others were taking pictures and some were busy BBQ-ing. Seriously, why are there people BBQ-ing at Mount Faber? They had better be glad that there weren't any police officers patrolling.

Initially our plan was to play with the sparklers at the Peak but the only people playing with sparklers were a bunch of kids of age ranging from 5 to 10. So we thought that it might not be very appropriate to embarass ourselves in front of everyone so we pulverized the idea basically.

But, we did not waste a single minute up there, we enjoyed the scenery as we try to drink in the magnificent sight and we also took a myriad of pictures.

Check this out!

Before you guys continue to scroll down. I will like to say that the above picture is actually supposed to the last for the day because we sensed harbingers from the dark sky above us and droplets of water trickling down.

So the girls and some of the guys concluded that we should head down before the imminent thunderstorm hit us.

At that point in time, inside me I was feeling chagrined and dissapointed because we spent so much time climbing up Mount Faber. It will be such a pity to go down so quickly without even seeing the fireworks!

However, due to Chin Keong's persistence, I have decided to give him my support and in the end all of us stayed. Cheers to that!

Whose finger is that behind my head?

It was god-damn windy I swear. Our hair were flying all over the place.

2 Guys came in to join us!

Do you guys find that this picture is actually awkward? It is !

See Brandon on the extreme left? Don't you guys think it's weird that there is a gap in between? In actual fact, they wanted to capture the girl in the gap sitting down on the concrete slab.

Total phidophile!

I thought this picture is nonsensically funny! Check out the twists behind. Somebody is trying to steal the shot!

These 2 are going to ORD in January this year. OMG THIS YEAR!?!?!? Wow 2010 is here already? So surreal!

More pictures

On a side note, as we were walking down Mount Faber, one of my friends' slippers gave way and he had much difficulty walking down. And if you think that was a bad start to the year. There's actually more.

As we sent this girl home, he dropped his iPhone and that left scars on it. We were flabbergasted and we chose to remain silent because deep inside we know he's filled with intense hate and anger.

Unhappy stuff aside !

Cheers to 2010. I wish you all a Happy New Year and may all your seeds of labour blossom into fruits of success this year !

Ciaos !

Credits -flickr, -wikimedia, -iphonefaq

1 January 2010

First and foremost, thank you to all that have been following closely to this blog.

I will reveal the overall poll results for the year 2009 at the end of the post.

Welcome to the year of 2010 !

There will be a myriad of changes coming your way this 2010 on my blog.

Let's begin to take a dive into the changes that I'm going to make to this blog then shall we ?

You will be able to read about stuff that's beneath the surface now.

For instance, about the cookouts and gatherings.

Evolutions of relationships will be updated on this blog, that includes friendships.

Inextricable, nonplus gossips and drama will be blogged about too.

The one with the red specs gossip alot!

When I'm having trouble and facing difficulties, I will rant a little about it here.

I forsee that it will be an arduous journey ahead coupled with many acrimonious debates at Nanyang Technological University, Faculty of Business next year, so stay tuned!

I will continue to scrutinize the various happenings and news all around me, on a local scale, national scale and of course on the international scale.

When I soar into the sky, I will congratulate myself and update about my incandescent results here!

My flying experiences will be pinned down here.

The various fighting between friends will be gossiped here as well!

Here it goes.

80% thinks the length of the posts are alright.

17% thinks it's too long.

72% thinks the content and image are refreshing and informative.

27% thinks the content and image are NOT refreshing and information. (I'm pretty sad to hear this because I really try to source for prominent pictures that are colourful and I try my best to make the posts interesting)

31% prefer me to blog about business news and entertainment news.

68% prefer me to blog about my personal life

All I have to say is that 2010 will be an enticing year that I looked forward to fervently. After I become Operationally Ready on 8 February 2010, all hell will break loose.

So, sit tight and hold onto to your seat as I will bring you on a ride of your lifetime, to the land of HORROR, HUMOUR, FUN and EMOTIONS !!!!!

Credits -NationalGeographic

Gold Rebounce

Gold for December delivery rose $5.30, or 0.5%, to end at $1,125.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.


The dollar and commodities prices have had a strong inverse relation in recent trading, with a stronger dollar pushing down gold and oil prices in the past few days.

Now that the gold has fallen by about $100, it is time to buy again guys. Invest when others are afraid, that is the most palpable rule of Warren Buffett.

When people sell because gold prices plummeted, it is a hint for you to buy like no one's business.

Gold being a commodity will be a precious long-lasting investment to hold on to, it is touted as one of the best investment in the commodity market.

Credit -marketwatch, -goldpricetrend

A.G. Lafley

A.G. Lafley will be leaving the executive board altogether in January 2010 because he can see that Robert Mcdonald is dealing with all the key strategies and core plans well, in fact better than expected.

A.G. Lafley is one of the best CEO is the entire world. He has revolutionize P&G, translating it into a company full of innovations when it was once thought as merely a cheap commodity store. It has made a plethora of audacious business deals along with an absolute focus on the consumers.

A 79 billion dollars company, P&G offers consumer goods, ranging from beauty care, healthcare to health and well-being. Definitely a lucrative market but at the same time, there are a myriad of competitors all over the place. Having to stay at the top of the game is definitely more arduous than anyone can possibly imagine.

But, A.G. Lafley has made that happen and he has successfully make known the brand P&G internationally. That seriously requires a hell-load of marketing efforts and sustainability to keep the brand alive. The fact that it is not only known but recognised and acknowledged as a key brand that satisfies consumers consistently is definitely commendable.

All these marketing, innovations, sustainability, recognition and revenues are all credited to A.G. Lafley, the legendary CEO that the world is lucky to have.

All the best to you A.G. Lafley, may your legacy live on forever!




Credits -cnn, -hamilton

Avatar Evaluation Part 3/3

The last interesting point I noted was when Jake had to tame this king of all flying beasts, known as the Toruk. Jake remembers that Neytiri told him that only five na'vi had ever tamed the Toruk, an immense and powerful flying beast.

His strategy was rather intriguing. He mentioned that he should tame it by attacking it from the top because he believes that nothing will attack it so why will it look up?



This palpably reminds me of the top management executives in the corporate company. At times, the top management becomes so complacent and sordid because they think that they are among the highest ranking executives in the entire company. They continue to lower their defense and extend their vulnerability as compared to their past positions. This is because they know that everyone will acquiesce to authority at the end of the day and they can simply fire those recalcitrant. That is so typical when someone climbs up to the highest positions.

However, what they do not realize is that each and everyone of the employee is actually blessed with an insurmountable amount of authority that is not clear to them. When the employees discover their Achilles’ Heel, they can simply attack it and the top management executives will easily go down because of their indolent demeanor. When they start to slack off, it will be flagrant to their subordinates and it won’t be long before they step down from their positions.

Point being, never be blinded by power and fame. No matter how high you are up the corporate ladder, always remember to look back at the hard work you put in before you got to where you are now. Never forget the people who lifted you. As the old adage goes, “they can make you and similarly, they can break you as well.”

Credits -nocookie, -kogtraveler, -meetschmitt

Avatar Evaluation Part 2/3

There was this part in the movie whereby Jake has to find his own flying beast at their nest. There is only one flying beast out there that will resonate with Jake and the salient distinguishing factor is that the chosen flying beast will actually try to kill Jake while the others will simply fly away from Jake.

I thought this an intriguing point. Your compatible mate is actually the one that will try to kill you. But, if you can successfully connect with it, it will obey you and be extremely loyal to you too.



This somehow reminds me of our very own breakthrough opportunities in business. At the end of the day, if we want to receive many encomiums over our spectacular performance, we have to step out of our comfort zone and start taking precarious moves; moves that allow us to stand out as winning individuals, to blow everyone away.

Although the stepping out of our comfort zone is not necessarily life and death, it actually makes a life-changing difference. If you succeed, you will gain eternal glory but if you falter, you will suffer deep setbacks and criticisms from people around.



The question is, how willing are we to take such risks? Not very willing isn’t it? On hindsight, how often have you executed the change that you promise yourself? Does it ultimately lead to procrastination and eventually to obscurity? That’s probably because we all know that the gargantuan opportunity might seem enticing but it will also break us if we fail. The fear of failure is something that we must overcome in life in order to shine our own path through.


Credits -photobucket, -theage

Avatar Evaluation Part 1/3

Recently, I have just caught the movie *Avatar 3D in the theatre. I must say that it is an ineffable masterpiece. So many thoughts are constantly running through my mind as I walk through the movie with James Cameron.

As I’m pretty infatuated with the topic of Business, I will discuss this movie from my point of view; based on my own interpretation of it in the context of the corporate world.


As you guys would have already read the synopsis, Avatar is actually a hybrid created by humans to allow humans of matching genes to enter the body of the Avatar via neurons and sensory nervous systems control.

Jake, the ex-marine was tasked to take on the tough job of infiltration after his brother died after years of training for the world, Pandora. Now, it is all up to Jake to take over what his brother has left behind in order to assist the Colonel by providing him with Intelligent information about the Na’vi people.

While Jake is escorting Augustine and biologist Norm Spellman (Joel David Moore) in their avatar forms, the group is attacked by a large predator. Jake becomes separated from the others and tries to survive Pandora's dangerous wildlife, before he is rescued by Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña), a female na'vi. Jake is taken back to Hometree, which Neytiri's clan, the Omaticaya, inhabit and they decide to teach Jake their ways.


Bearing in mind that this is a huge move made by the Na’vis considering that they are misanthropic in the first place.

Jake had to learn their language, sign languages and movement style. He had to understand the demeanor of the creatures living in Pandora, for instance, never to look into the eyes of the flying beast. He had to learn to ride the huge dinosaurs by communicating with them using his heart, soul and feelings.


Their thoughts and heart must resonate with one another before he can gain full control of the beasts.

In this context, I believe that it is similar to the corporate world. Whenever you enter a new company, they each have their own Sui Generis way of life. The way they handle productions, creativity, marketing, and sales are different from one another. To understand how they actually operates the tools that are provided to them, you have to first observe and learn. Afterwhich, it is time for the nonplus practical lessons when you actually try to sell the products or even design the products yourself. But, in order to make sure that what you design is coherent with the system of the company, you must have understood exactly the corporate culture first.


As the characters in the movie say, “See the forest from her eyes. It isn’t about what you see or hear. Learn fast or die.”

You will have to look at the company from the perspectives of those who have been working with the company for a long period of time. It is definitely more than what you see or hear. You must experience it for yourself. On the ostensible front, it might seem all too generic and simplified but that’s simply because the professionals are already so adroit in the manipulation of the systems.

They can wrench the system around swiftly without having any trouble at all. Conversely, when you try, you will encounter many perplexing problems that will put you at an impasse at times. Ultimately, you will have to pick up the ropes by yourself. Assimilate what they taught you and then emulate it as far as possible, concomitant with your own strengths and aptitude.


Only then will you bring the company, a new source of inspiration that is aligned with their corporate culture. Otherwise, you will actually be going against what the company is trying to achieve and by doing so, you are not understanding the culture per se at all.

Credits -wikipedia, -dvice, -moviecarpet, -christophersmark, -reelmovienews, -usversusthem, -nasa