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2011-05-10T08:25:00.000-07:00

Throughout the entire 2-hour tennis class just now, someone at the nearby park was playing the flute... It reminded me of how you would play the flute right in front of me, and how I would sing to the melody you were playing. And I'm reminded once again, how much I miss you right now.

2011-01-20T07:07:00.000-08:00

You finally responded. Sigh I wish we could really be friends... some day. Maybe 10 years can help heal our pain?

2010-11-19T07:22:00.000-08:00

I made the right choice today. =)

It was a lowly weighted online test, and many people had the answers to it. But I did not fail on the test of morals and did the test to the best of my knowledge without relying on anyone's answers. It's the first time I failed a test, but I know I did not fail the test of morals.

2010-02-12T11:29:00.001-08:00

Sometimes we lose some, we gain some. Sometimes we gain some, we lose some. Some times we gain some, we then gain more. Sometimes as we lose, we lose even more. Sometimes we know we can gain, but we choose not to. Sometimes we know we will lose, but we tell ourselves not to. Sometimes we know we can gain, but we give it up for somebody else. Sometimes we know we will lose, and we do nothing but just lose.

Sometimes we know in life, we fight for loss. Sometimes we know in life, we win to lose. Sometimes we know in life, we lose to win to lose. But, do we really know?

Life is for nothing but a purpose. We must be created for a reason. We search for the reason. We fight not for a loss, but nothing but a win. We will win. We must win. We shall.

2009-11-13T10:01:00.000-08:00

i looked at my accounting quiz paper and sighed. a big one. if only i did not make the silly mistakes of 1) not closing my accounts, 2) misinterpreting the year-end date and 3) writing extra lovely zeros.

boo hoo hoo.

2009-11-13T09:52:00.000-08:00

yea, relatively. relatively excited. my orientation package is in, and my flight to hong kong is made. yea, relatively excited. =)))))))))))))))))))))

2009-10-15T05:11:00.001-07:00

life is not about being above average. one should try to be doing his best, and once one has grown his wings, he starts flapping them to help the less privileged. i am a really lazy person, when it comes to realising my dreams. i like to help, and i know it's really wrong to judge the people you help. i am guilty of thinking things like, "he will only look for me when he needs help. let's ignore him". ok "let's" in this case refers to me. hahaha

alright. just some random thoughts.

2009-10-08T20:11:00.000-07:00

i remember when i was in secondary two, my form teacher (and one of my favourite teachers) told us during PCCG (a pastoral care class or something) that we ought never to cheat. she told us, if you have of any reason not prepared for any test or exams paper, then just be prepared to fail it. if you cheat, then you would have failed a bigger test of integrity in life. her words are still kept with me in my heart. as such, i would rather score zero for a test than to cheat for a pass. i wonder where is she now.

anyway, as i am doing my research for my project this morning, i was googling for ris low's videos and she gave me a lot of inspirations. ris low is our ex-Miss Singapore, by the way. not because she's not a Miss anymore, but because she pulled out voluntarily for 1) she received way too much criticisms for her style of spoken english, and 2) she was involved in some credit card fraud scandal. the organisers justified their choice by arguing the ris low speaks the average level of english singaporeans speak. i wonder, why wouldn't they pick somebody with blemish on the face, since i think most singaporeans female have that on the face too (because of our beautiful equatorial weather).

i thought one day the organiser could come down to NBS and take a good look, because there are plenty of girls of miss singapore quality in the school! hmmph.

2009-09-18T04:39:00.000-07:00

goodbye orange toothbrush... say hello to the new blue ones...

2009-09-15T08:37:00.001-07:00

Have you ever watched how an old man live during the last days of his life?

I have. I saw how my grandfather show signs of death, till the very last days. But I could only watch helplessly as I could not act against nature. On the day my grandfather was cremated, my father told me to smile. He said so because firstly, one day we will meet him in heaven and this is just a temporary departure. Secondly, we have all done our best to build the beautiful last days of his life. Thirdly, Ah Gong might not leave in peace if he saw us with misty eyes.

The same is felt now. I am watching a relationship, day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year, deteriorate and nearing its death. I can only do so with no helping hand, as simply, I can't fight against what was planned, no matter how much I wish the relationship could have strengthened after it has gone through so much. But I can't smile over it. I have not done my best.

Stop blaming. Start working.

2009-09-13T01:18:00.001-07:00

You know, Qun Bao, sometimes I am just so proud of you! =)

2009-09-12T02:38:00.000-07:00

I just want to remind myself... life is simply too short for hatred. life is too short for prolonged unhappiness. life is too short for someone to keep holding back... and perhaps... life is too short for promises. life is too short for looking back...

life is short... so make it a fulfilling one, Qun Bao.

2009-08-30T07:09:00.001-07:00

Sometimes it just takes a phonecall to warm a person's heart.

2009-08-25T02:12:00.000-07:00

Mommy said, "Congrats, Keep it up", Andy said, "You must be smiling your way home now", Bernie said, "Congrats! I told you so!" and Loong Ee said, "Great! Remember our treat!".

I say, it's a thing of the past and the challenges ahead have become greater. Time to work harder!

Oh ya, I got into the Dean's list! =D

2009-08-23T08:05:00.000-07:00

i'm feeling sooooo stressed up! once again, i'm questioning my choice into accountancy. grrrrrr. i guess i can't go into sleep tonight already.

2009-08-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

=)

I have made so many important decisions lately. I'm honestly hoping things will turn up well, and that my stubbornness will help me in succeeding in them!

I will be commencing on my very own research project soon! So get ready to be surveyed! And I'm aiming big for this project. I want my research report to be published in an established journal!

Anyway, I tried to study today. As always, I ended up watching the telly more than studying. Grr! Time's running up for so many things. I feel like I'm a candle being lighted up on both ends. And it's only week 2!! My table is looking worse than a crime scene now. Haiyo...

2009-08-16T00:10:00.000-07:00

I just can't help feeling really sour and sorry for those countless ones who had sacrificed their lives to Typhoon Morakot. My parents have for the past few days spent at least a couple of hours each watching live news from Taiwan. Many lost their lives. But more are trapped. And even more can't stop wailing each day about their losses of their loved ones and hometowns.

If I were to be at a place to be hit by a disaster of such scale, I guess I would have chosen to die if I were to lose the most important people of my life. I would lose the power and courage to live on if I have to live on alone without my parents. Though my mother had reminded that one day they would leave me.

2009-08-01T08:13:00.000-07:00

I've more or less recovered from my diarrhoea, now that I've stopped going to the loo for the runs. However the charcoal tablets the doc had given me have taken effect and my by-product now look like charcoal pieces themselves. I stayed home today hoping to better nurse my body... but by 7pm I started questioning myself why I am staying at home. Sigh.

2009-07-28T07:45:00.001-07:00

We got out of our car, and tried to look around for the famous Big Buddha after suspecting that we had gotten up the wrong mountain judging from the overly rocky terrain. The Big Buddha could be seen meditating at the peak of a mountain, as long as one is at the South of Phuket. The Buddha seems to be looking after the area that was devastated by the tsunamis on Boxing Day 2004.

And so, we drove down the wrong mountain, hoping to get to the area before sun set. We found beauty on our road to the Big Buddha. It was a place that was disinfected of the commercialisation of Phuket city. The locals were locals. They could only mumble simple English and would not leave you alone to enjoy the breath-taking views of the city.

The sun set into the furthest end of the Andaman sea it felt as though she was undressing her beautiful gown. The sun rays could be seen reflecting from the sea to the clouds. It was just so lovely.

2009-07-19T08:02:00.000-07:00

I've lost sleep for five nights consecutively. Maybe last night should not be counted in because it was intentional that I did not sleep. Hmmm is it because of the heat or the countless thoughts?

Maybe things will get better when school starts because schoolwork never fails to make me feel very, very drowsy at night. Haha! But... no! This semester is going to be quite a difficult one for me since I am going to take up five core modules. I had three cores the first semester, four during the second, and now five! I have to make new friends all over again because all my previous classmates have all been scattered everywhere in different classes and seminars. Rumour says that the school wants us to make us increase networking this way. Which well.. is true in some way, but we all know this will just help us have more hi-bye friends.

This holiday I did not forget what I did in school! I got to repeat concepts of contract formation under Singapore law to Seet, gain first-hand experience on the problems of a partnership, as well as seeing the difficulties in working in a diverse team (it's really not easy communicating with someone of a different nationality!).

Hahaha! =)

2009-07-03T17:22:00.000-07:00

I left Sydney to make a transit for my international flight back to Singapore via Melbourne, with a heavy heart. It was rather saddening to know that I would have to leave such a beautiful city and other gorgeous suburbs. I guess I have gotten used to the cool days and chilly nights, and am greatly appreciating the weather. Above all, I left my best friend Sarah, who became my flat mate for the past 10 nights, not knowing when I would get to meet her again. At least now I know she has great friends with her, who would take good care of her and make her life more colourful.

Holidays are beautiful like the sunrise I saw at Bondi beach just now. Despite the unforgiving low temperature, surfers, runners and dog-walkers continued their summer activities in winter.

I hope I could return to Sydney soon! My plane's taking off in one and a half hours and I guess I will be off to do some shopping. =)

2009-06-18T02:38:00.000-07:00

一个最常到我家的客人

她的名字叫肥婶。她住在我家的隔壁。她其实一点也不胖，只是矮了一点。她是一个贪小便宜的人，是一个名副其实的新加坡阿嫂。她曾经因为家里少了一些盐就到我们家里拿了一大汤匙的盐回家。不是那种普通的汤匙，而是那种拿来盛饭的汤匙。当她家里只有肥婶一个人的时候，她就会到我们家里吃免费的午餐或晚餐。虽然大家都不满意肥婶的所作所为，但是我和我的家人都会带着笑脸地欢迎肥婶到我们家里来。

肥婶也是个很会放屁的人，几乎每天都会放至少一百次屁。我可不是在开玩笑，这可是个事实。这不是她的缺点。她的缺点可是当她每次在我家放屁的时候，都不曾说过一句，"对不起"。

肥婶的另一个缺点是她说话很大声，从来没有为邻居着想。我家住在十一楼，听五楼的张伯伯说，只要肥婶和我打个招呼，张伯伯就会听得一清二楚。不只这样，肥婶说话也常常乱喷口水。幸亏肥婶不是什么国会议员，要不然，新加坡可要淹水了。

肥婶很爱开玩笑，可是呢，她开的玩笑一点儿都不好笑。当肥婶在我们家说完了一个不好笑的笑话后，她都会像疯了似的，为自己的‘笑话’而‘啼笑皆非’。虽然她笑得很恶心，但她笑得廷可爱的。就因为这样，她把我们闹得很开心。

虽然肥婶有很多缺点，她其实也有很多别人没有的优点。其中，就是她在华文能力方面还算不错。当我有几个字不会写的时候，若她在我家吃饭的话，我就可以向她请教了。

有一次，肥婶来我们家借洗碗剂时，我正在切水果。可是呢，因为经验不足，最后切的不是苹果，而是我的食指。当时只有我一个人在家，肥婶一听到我的喊叫声，又看到我的鲜血，立刻就说要带我到医院。我对肥婶说，"肥婶，这也只是一个小伤口罢了，没什么大不了，擦擦药水，放个胶布就行了。"但是，肥婶就是坚持要带我去看大夫。我也拿她没办法，最后，还是去看医生了。

看了医生后，医生告诉我，"小弟弟，你可有一个好母亲，要好好对待你妈妈哦!" 我们听了后，都不约而同地面对面，笑了一笑。

在回家的路上，肥婶说了很多话。其中，她说，"群宝，你可把肥婶给急坏了，差一点就快要得心脏病和你说拜拜了!"。这让我感到非常感动，也让我看透了肥婶对我的关心。

虽然肥婶还是以前的肥婶，还是天天到我们家借东西，她永远都是我们的客人。古人说的好，"远亲不如近邻"。肥婶，谢谢您，我们的家会永远开着门，随时欢迎您来我们家做客人。

I wrote this in Sec 3! I was tidying up my little storage place at a corner of my room when I chanced upon my Chinese composition book. I was laughing really badly and I'm sure my Chinese teacher then had a good laugh too. He told me not to write about farts in my compositions next time. And yeap, I stopped writing about farts and along the way I got to improve my writing skill. I even represented YJ in an inter-college essay-writing composition once! Haha!

2009-06-13T21:54:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! How are you doing? The weather's going rather crazy lately, so do consume more water! It's been over a month and I am detecting cobwebs at this little part of the Internet. I'm also sensing that not many people are reading this space anymore.

I'm doing great over here. Over the past week I finished Mr Subhas Anandan's biography - The Best I Could. If you don't find the name familiar, perhaps the picture will:

Yup, that's him. Many crown him Singapore's top criminal lawyer. I can't agree on that because I don't really know of many other criminal lawyers in Singapore. That means I won't disagree either! But one thing for sure, he is Singapore's most famous criminal lawyer. Whenever I look at his cases over the newspapers, it would perennially strike a question in me that why he would be picking up such hopeless cases. Such cases include his defences for Ah Took (Huang Na case), Anthony Ler (the one who plotted death for his wife) and or the case of One-eyed Dragon. I ever thought that he must have been a vicious and sadistic person wanting those guilty of heinous acts to be vindicated.

Nonetheless, as I followed up about him mostly through interviews done by the media, I began to understand his choices. Through the book, I even got to understand him as a person better. Thereotically, he did not write the book. He read out what he wanted to say to his wife, whom would in turn pen down what he said. I thought that was one of the key things why I was so absorbed into the book and managed to finish reading the book in three days. The way the book was written makes it as though Mr Anandan is telling his stories, sitting right in front of you.

If you get your hands into one of the copies, which are selling like hot cakes, don't expect a book of detective stories or one with bizarre legal concepts. Instead, it's more of "Chicken Soup" like to me. Mr Anadan tells tales of loyalty, intelligence, tenacity, mixing all with a perfect dosage of humour. However, I felt that the book could have focused more on the landmark cases, or those which are widely publicised by the media. After all, that was what I expected more of.

Still, the book is an insightful one that is highly inspirational. I once wanted to be someone well-versed in criminal law, be a Public Prosecutor whom would make sure those guilty are rightfully punished. The book is now with my Mommy. The last book I recommended for her, An Uncommon Beauty, was eons ago when she was still half a housewife.

Talking about which, I've been invited to pursue a Second Major! It was a rather difficult decision for me and I had decided not to pursue my Second Major in the most lucrative field or where I had got A+ for the modules in. Eventually, passion took precedence for me. I have chosen to pursue my Second Major in Business Law (which I was rather disappointed that I did not get a plus eventually...). I guess I should not cease my zest for the law.

Anyway do catch the horror movie, Drag me to Hell. I will say it is the best horror movie I watched in my life. Or more accurately, I would say it's the best experience I had while watching a horror movie. Watching it close to midnight at Vivocity last night, where the sound effects the theatre offered were perfect, made the experience even better. I love the plot. The actors had all displayed superior acting skills. The choice of actors in the cast was also perfect. However, as an advocator of the stories-should-have-happy-endings ideology, I did not like the ending. =(

Oh ya, guess where I will be going to! I aim to visit The Rock, Hillsong, the Three Sisters and the rainforests around them at Blue Mountains. I will also be realising my dream by driving down the Great Ocean Road to admire the 12 Apostles before they further collapse in the future. No prizes for guess the right answer! ;)

2009-05-19T06:29:00.000-07:00

hi all! my schedules have been rather packed lately, squeezing in all available slots for tuitions and meet-ups after work. oh yeap, i'm back into relief teaching, since the week after exams. few of the teachers quickly booked me for the position once knowing i've finished my exams. haha! really glad to be back at the primary school, and perhaps the happiest thing is when all my ex-students running up to me shouting my name jubilantly. i'm also helping my parents out with their latest business at nee soon camp, which happens to be the one my eldest brother is a captain at. really glad to be putting all my marketing concepts into good use to help my parents. ;)

i realised i'm a very naggy teacher today, which is a bad thing given my age. i like to keep repeating myself so that my students really understand what i want them to know. i don't really want to be like many other teachers in school, whom terrorise students by shouting at them to make sure messages get across their heads. i admit i'm guilty of doing it to one of my ex-tutees, because ultimately one of the fastest ways to get students to remember things is to frighten them and touch their nerve systems. especially so, when they are recalcitrant and need to correct their behaviours.

a student from the top primary six came up to me yesterday, and poured out to me that she was upset she did not do well in her exams. i asked her how she did and she replied that she had only got 73 for her math paper, which probably is insufficient since she wants to get into an elite secondary school. i told her she did well and by working harder, she would be able to realise her dreams. however, what she told me thereafter shocked me. she told me a group of friends, who were less academically inclined than her, had ignored her since she last topped her exams the last semester. i thought for a while, and then asked her, "do you have any real friends whom you would like to be with?" she gave a positive answer. i then replied her, "if so, you don't need that group of friends. ignore them because they are jealous of you." she was happy with my advice and went back to her table and started chatting with a friend behind her.

i was also reminded of a show i chanced upon on discovery channel. it was about a group of american foreigners visiting a small town, of which i assume is in UK judging from the strong british accent the speakers had. the group of foreigners met up with a family, and they followed them doing things the villagers do. the first meal they had was at this restaurant, serving horse meat. the restaurants serves horse meats like steaks, asking customers how cooked they want it to be and what sauce they preferred on their meal. it was the foreigners' first attempt at consuming horse meat, and they showing repellant signs that they were strongly against eating horse meat (though they were fans of beef instead). they started criticising how cruel it is to eat horse meat, though they eventually managed to swallow the first mouth quickly.

the villagers looked gracious, but started to defend their eating habits. they argued saying horses were only killed when they reached a certain age, and that they had eaten for horse meat for a lifetime.

throughout the meal, the producers made a juxtaposition of the event with scenes of experts discussing about the human behaviours of these people. i have to agree with them, that it is very easy to criticise a person or community's behaviour or habits just because it is different from what we do differently. as such, people are bound to feel offended and upset with the criticisms that which are uncalled for. a take away i had from the ten minutes i spent on discovery channel is constant reminders to myself to think twice before i make comments about a person's lifestyle. i guess it is okay to show interests (which i always do! i'm a very kaypo person) but not so when you show an expression or make a comment that you disagree with it.

also, when someone makes a criticism about your life or anything else about you, he or she probably may not mean harm in that instance, so forgive him or her! recently, a friend came to my room and saw a plaque i got from the army, made a comment about it being useless. i was upset for a while because he/she had not seen the effort and perspirations behind the award, and it was totally not justified for him/her to make such an unfair comment. but still, i decided to forgive him/her and continued with my mahjong game five seconds later. ;)

anyway remember to catch the finale tomorrow night! i think everyone knows who has a very remote chance of losing the american idol title, but still i think it gonna be a really exciting show.

2009-04-21T10:53:00.000-07:00

I am watching 火蝴蝶 now and my goodness!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's really so drama mama! I am so addicted to it now. Ah... I really feel like staying up till morning to finish the whole series. Ah.. Hongkees are so drama. =D

2009-04-21T04:36:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, I am back! =)

All my papers for the core modules are finally over, and I am still grinning about it! So many things have happened this year and I must really say most of them are worth celebrating for! Already I have events coming up, starting tomorrow at Wala Wala (of which I can't attend because of one more elective paper to go, and all I need is a pass grade).

Anyway, when Angie, my FM professor (she insisted we call her by her name) announced that we could leave the examination hall today, she also impliedly rang the congratulatory big bell saying we're all done with year 1.

Year 1 has really taught me a lot. It was a rather humbling experience for me because university life isn't as simple as it is. Three out of four of my core modules (Accounting, Financial Management which is more popularly known as FM, and Business Law) were taken by my other friends from other fields as electives and they all found them torturous (maybe not the right word)... Somehow, I got to agree! They are not fun and life in NBS is not really a bed of roses or carnations or lilies or... (goes on chanting)

I learnt to know that Accountants are really busy all-rounders, and being a Jack of all trades is probably insufficient if you want to survive in the field... you probably got to be a Master of all of them too.

Firstly, you have to understand all your accounting concepts and law binding those concepts. Then, you need to learn how to manage a database (which is not as easy as it sounds!) by firstly drawing Entity Relationship Diagrams provided you already know what happens in a Central Processing Unit cycle. Subsequently, you must learn how to advise Tom, your colleague, whether the company's supplier owes him a duty of care, breached that duty of care, and the damages Tom suffered are not too remote, in order to sue him under the Law of Tort (that is one chapter for us while law students learn it in one module).

Then, accountants have to help their fellow boss find which investment yields the company the highest return, and which way of financing (borrow from bank or issue stocks???) will be optimal for the company. An accountant is not an accountant if he does not know how to resolve organisational problems, such as when a diverse team fails to deliver performance or when Tom's subordinate, Tim, is showing signs of low motivation and poor organisational commitment. Of course, you would need to think, breathe, and sleep marketing concepts, and understand how to market your products well... and by the way you need to know how to sharpen your communication skills when presenting your ideas to the top management.

That's all for accountants? No! They need to design regression models to find out which variables are costing a project its failure, after conducting T-tests, F-tests, and blah blah-tests.

Phew! So I've highlighted one or two stuff from the modules I have taken in sem 1. That's one or two chapters each... What an information overload on my brain. I've heard of two people who switched to Medicine and Law respectively after Sem 1 at NBS... and surprisingly they found those courses easier!! My goodness!!!!

I'm grateful I kind of like what I'm studying! My favourite modules have been Orgasnisational Behaviour and Design, Business Law and Accounting! Wherever I go I'm just always reminded of legal concepts... for example when I was at Pizza Hut the other day with Andy, Loong Ee and Bernie, I was talking about how legally binding contracts are formed. And of course, how a nod of the head in one industry probably constitutes an agreement of a contract while not so in another~ But of course the rest of them were just baffled by what I said.. but well, it's good to know all these to shield youself in the commercial world. And I gotta say I had the best law and accounting tutors whom I greatly appreciate. I gotta miss them!

Alright gotta go accompany my mommy watch the telly. Take care guys and good luck if you have any more papers to go! =)

2009-01-11T00:26:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone!

Really thank you for having been very supportive of my blog, and of course, of my life.

I am okay! So don't get worried about me... I'm always there; a mere phone call's away. I am just going away for a while... "I" referring to my public cyber presence. I guess I will need some time alone.

On New Year's Day, I found out that I am an unhappy person. I realised that in many areas, I aim for perfection. I want many things to be the way they are, but well... rarely do things turn out that way. Even if it is just a speck of dust tainting that little dream... it just seems to affect me badly. Like I am still affected by the grammar mistake for a case report I submitted in my past semester. Sigh.

Over the holidays, I met up with someone I really loved in the past. I was disappointed that some feelings were still there. This disappointment has really grown in magnitude over the past few days. But... is it really the disappointment that's causing it?

Now, I am having difficulties going back to the books. I have a tutorial class tomorrow at 8.30! Ahh...

2009-01-01T08:11:00.001-08:00

empty.