Recently, there’s an incident where a blogger (aka Sexy Fragrance Prince) was arrested for racist comments which he posted on his blog some time ago. I mean, we all sterotype against one another and that mentality, though cursed by some, will always be useful in our daily lives. For example, one might prefer to wait for the next lift instead of joining the big and hairy man with a scar across his face and tattoos sprayed all over his arms and back. And when we see those sexy mamas in Geylang after having supper, we won’t be thinking, "whose wife / girlfriend is that?" but discussing about their nationalities and potential income instead. And when a dark-skinned shabbily-dressed Indian-looking man pops into the library in Boon Lay, won’t the thought of the occupation construction worker comes into mind? And then, we might spend the next few minutes thinking "What is he doing in a library?".

Bad thoughts? Perhaps, but they form the way we think and perceive our environment; there’s nothing right or wrong about them. What’s wrong though, is how we expose those thoughts to the public, be it friends, relatives or mere acquaintances. To say it in the appropriate manner, politely and with absolute understanding of the matter, requires not only great skills but a fitting biologically natural background as well.

Take a look at Ridzwan.com. I need say no more.

..in the Global Peace Index 2008.

I guess that when our main worries consist of items like higher ERP charges, taxi fares, rice and the precious minutes wasted on waiting for the next train, we are pretty peaceful alright. At least, we won’t get killed for marrying somebody staying in the opposite block.

Bought three books from Borders for the long period of free time I am having before I actually start work; the few main pull factors for the purchase being the ’3 for 2′ promotion and the fact that I have already finished reading my currrent lot of literary treasures.

In no particular order, the books are:

1. Making Globalization Work
2. The Undercover Economist
3. The Shock Doctrine

It’s kinda funny that when I took the course International Economics, I have used the same book Making Globalization Work in my group’s project and found it terribly boring and academic. But as I am a quarter-way through the book again, I simply just can’t stop reading it! Guess it’s different when I want to read it, rather than have to read it.

The Shock Doctrine is written by Naomi Klein, the same author of No Logo, which was a very good read many years back. Beware though for I have bought the book mistakenly thinking that it was a book on marketing tactics. It was a pleasant surprise though when it turned out to be about the ‘evilness’ in today’s corporations and their actions. And The Undercover Economist, well… I bought it simply because I had finished Fooled by Randomness and Freakonomics.

Three books.. and I’m still seriously bored. One can’t possibly just sit and read the entire day (although I did do that sometimes). One can’t keep going out and spending money one doesn’t have as well. Maybe I should just do some ten-years-series assessment books since I have never done them before in my life. Is there one for the subject of Life?

The Singapore economy:

He wishes optimistically for a ‘V’. Some people hope for no ‘U’. The worst senario is an ‘L’. To our surprise, he declared the existence of a ‘W’.

A Singaporean’s love life:

He wishes optimistically for a virgin. Some people hope for no underageds. The worst senario is a lesbian. To our surprise, he declared the existence of a woman.

Over the last week, I have confirmed my job acceptance and finally begun my slack life, and it was great! Starting off with a day of relaxation at my house with Stella, Serene, Zhuang and ZQ where we suntanned (or at least, tried to), jacuzzied, and furo bath (in some heated pool in excess of 40 degrees!). Watched 3 horror movies and yup, they were indeed horrible. Apologies to ZQ for not taking up his advice on renting Warlords instead. I think he’d have understood why; he has a bad record of alternatives selections.

Stella and I also had some nice clubbing moments at Zouk with Mitch, Raymond and friends, a fruitful tennis outing at Janice’s place, a movie day at home with Raymond, a poker night with Ronald and Natasha, and a (very very) good meal with Jason, Caline and Asthee. All in all, an incredibly therapeutic week.

This lifestyle cannot last though; I am entirely out of dough. Work needs to start as soon as possible and as I await L.E.K.’s confirmation on my starting date, I’ll have to eat lesser, go out lesser, buy lesser and sleep more. More zero-dollar home "outings" please, my friends?

Remember 2 entries back, I was talking about interviews and job offers, both good and bad sides of it; well, that period of my life has officially come to an end. The job and company that I really wanted, called me in acceptance of my application: I am now an associate in L.E.K. Consulting.

What consulting, some of you may ask. The name L.E.K. must have been really unfamiliar to most of you but in fact, I applied way before they listed themselves on SMU Ontrac. Probably the biggest boutique yet global consulting firm around,  L.E.K. is specialized in economic consulting alongside the usual management and financial work and getting the offer is my "escape" from technology which has haunted me since I was 17 years old. Size wise, L.E.K. Consulting may be no BCG, Bain or Mckinsey but the small international outfit of only 700 has impressed me with their work culture, client list and the potential opportunities to shine. 

I’m really looking forward to work and hoping that I can deliver what I promised. Meanwhile, I am keeping all my friends who are seeking careers or already paving their career paths in my prayers. Lastly, thanks to those who have encouraged me and supported me along the way. I feel really lucky and uncertain whether if I really deserve it, but will do my best in order not to let anyone down.

Thank you, God.

Thank you, Stella.

Thank you, family and relatives.

Thank you, friends.

Thank you, L.E.K.

Well… two days have passed since I last made an entry and what a eventful couple of days it has been: three interviews and three phone calls that had given me an absolute dose of "hot tea or ice tea sir?" experiences.

First the interview (1) at Acc***ture was terrifying. Mr. Lim, if you are reading this, let me now admit to you that I was incredibly intimidated. Although I thought that I was confident enough, you destroyed any optimism I had. I’m not saying that you are not a nice person; I’m just saying that it was a tough interview and because I couldn’t get any positive reaction from you, it seems like everything that I said was rubbish. I was so relieved when you said it was over.

The second interview (2) that day was at S**tchi & S**tchi, a major global advertising firm. It was the most screwed up conversation I ever had. To June and David who were nice enough to invite me over for a discussion, I’m sorry that I did not live up to expectations. I simply wasn’t prepared enough. The past 2 months, I have been preparing cases, doing mathematics and verbal tests, practising my replies to standard interview questions from business leaders… but it was of zero benefit when I was asked the "oh-my-god-it’s-such-a-easy-one" question of "What was your favorite advert and why?" I can’t believe that I even screwed that one up. So, thank you for the opportunity; I really appreciated it and I guess I simply wasn’t good enough.

And then I got a call (1) from Acc***ture on the same day where the HR-in-charge (whom I was acquainted with for about 2 months) told me that the company is offering me the role of an analyst in their SAP group, a role that Zhiqin is currently engaged in. It was one of the most stressful news I can receive, albeit being good news. I had to indicate my acceptance of employment within 5 days, which is next Wednesday. What should I do???

What about L.*.K. Consulting, the company which I really wanted to join, my first priority and career choice? It was more than 2 weeks since they last interviewed me and there was still no news. However, I could do nothing as it was way past office hours and I still had to prepare for the next day’s interview at General El**tric.

So my third interview (3) was at GE as a candidate for its FM programme, a prestigious worldwide programme that grooms its talents into future financial leaders in the company and industry. Was I a finance major? No, but I do have interest in the area. So what happened? Well, the case discussion went well; the interview didn’t. I made a huge mistake by being honest and telling them why I did not return to the bank where I did my Final Year Project with for a permanent position. It was a horrifying career-destroying statement. And when I move on to the stage where we had to do an accounting test, I couldn’t do it. Everyone was delighted at how easy it was; well, it wasn’t easy to me. I guess I learnt two things today. One, the programme is not a finance programme but an accounting one. Two, I sucked at accounting. Hopefully, they would be looking at a FIT of a combination of perseverance, passion, personality and technical abilities. I pray hard that they would. I’m not too sure that I personally would hire someone who couldn’t even balance a simple Balance Sheet accurately though.

So there’s just two more calls (2) that I have not described yet and one is the call I made to L.*.K. Consulting after the interview at GE today. I asked Guna, the recruiting coordinator, about my application and indicated that I had another offer but would turn it down instantly if they would take me. And he said, "In your interviews, we have some positive feedback about you, so give me until Monday to look through all the candidates before we give you an answer".

The other call was made to me by Price*****houseCoopers where I submitted an application for the position of an Associate for the International Assignment Services. I’m not really sure what the job scope entails but I’ll keep the opportunity, just in case. I think it’s quite obvious how badly I want to move away from doing technology work, even though it could be the highest paying offer I will receive.

Sigh… Man, I hope Monday would be a good day for me. L.*.K., rescue me please!

I’ve been getting tons of rejections for the job applications that I have sent out since January. It wasn’t a nice experience at all. From large famous companies to smaller unknown ones, rejections were rampantly being received through my email client. My heart and mind were filled with anger, shame and jealousy. Patience, a virtue I thought I possess, was reaching its limits. It was then that I decided to seek professional help, from God.

I have never stopped believing but prayers and praises were activities that did not happen regularly. Thus, I asked, and it was given. Now, I have completed rounds of interviews with Accenture, BAT, L.E.K. and am going for a meeting with Saatchi & Saatchi on Thursday and General Electric on Friday. Although no offers are on the table as yet, I am already satisfied with the opportunities given.

Thank you Lord. You have once again displayed to me your miracles, as you did in the past. Hopefully, I can now do my part and transform these chances into reality.

SMU students are rich. This statement is not without reasons. First, I know that not all SMU students are rich. There are people we know who consider themselves needy and there are people we know who envy the rich. My statement that says SMU students are rich is a encompassing statement that generalizes the perception that people have of SMU students and the word people would naturally include SMU students themselves, i.e. me.

We are who people think we are. It doesn’t matter if you think of good things all the time, help old ladies cross the roads and donate thousands of dollars to charities every year. If someone spoke to you and had the impression that you sucked, you sucked. So what made me make the statement that SMU students sucked? I mean, rich.

What is the definition of rich? Obviously one would think of monetary possessions. The poetic ones would declare "Happiness!" while the pessimists would probably murmur something along the lines of "as long as we don’t die the next minute, we..". To me, richness definitely has something to do with money; not its volume but the way we behave towards it. Therefore, a rich SMU student will be able to buy coffee at TCC every other day, see a $20 bill at Ice Cold Beer as simply chilling time and take the taxi home from school whenever they want to.

And I hereby declare that SMU students are rich because this morning, I saw (or heard) a girl who dropped a coin outside the Pick & Bite outlet in school. She looked at it, bent a little and walked off to buy her coffee. Although it was probably only 20 cents that she dropped, the way she neglected it struck me hard. Alternative costing theories infer that the effort to lower your body and pick it up off the floor was worth more than the amount dropped. How much is that effort worth to you, if I may ask?

Can I say that SMU students are rich just because one girl refused to pick up dropped coins off the floor? Yes. Is it undeniably true? Probably not. Did I pick it up the floor then? No. But do I consider myself rich? Not at all. In fact, I deny the statement that SMU students are rich and disagree with myself. And if I do not like people who make sweeping statements about me, I guess that in this case, I have to hate myself.

Definitely at the top of the list of The best places I’ve visited in my life; Marrakech of Morroco is an incredibly rustic and different experience. Although exceedingly infused by the hordes of tourists, it still remains the most beautiful place I’ve been in, especially of the desert trip. Stella and I spent a night under the stars (where we could actually SEE the milky way with our naked eyes), ate and danced with normads and rode on butt-destroying camels for hours. I have to say this one more time, Marrakech is simply breathtaking.

Click on photo to access "Barca ~ A trip to Marrakech"

I travelled to Amsterdam: the land of weed, mushrooms and prostitutes. And guess what? I went alone. Stella was in Singapore that weekend for her sister’s wedding and I had absolutely nothing to do and so I decided that Amsterdam it is! But alas, what a bad decision. It was a trip filled with rain and clouds, shitty roommates who snored like a train and weed that smelt disgusting after getting hit with it continously for a couple of days. But nonetheless, I met up with Cake and Andrew who made it so much bearable. The Anne Frank museum made it worthwhile too.

Click on photo to access "Barca ~ A trip to Amsterdam"

Bilbao ranks as one of the most beautiful cities I’ve been to and it’s in Spain too! After the installation of the Guggenheim museum, Bilbao has gone through an evolution from an industrial city to one that is constantly pumped with the energy and inspiration of arts, beauty and colors. A friend said this to us while we were bringing him around Barcelona, "Why is everything of the same colors?". Bilbao is the exact opposite; a refreshing bundle of shades and hues that always brings out our happier innerselves.

Click on photo to access "Barca ~ A trip to Bilbao"

This is where I spent $110 SGD for entrance tickets to SPACE, an incredible club. Ibiza, an island of party, alcohol and craziness where I became majorly burnt and where beautiful sights persist the wildest of my imaginations. I simply can’t say more.

Click on photo to access "Barca ~ A trip to Ibiza"

I have tried to organize my photos. As a hobbyist in photography, I needed a place to store my serious pictures and at the same time, I also shoot enough fun and simple pictures to need a place for my daily photos. This is my solution and it will be permanent from now on. The links are displayed on the right side of my blog.

My Fotofolio

 
My Dailies