Here's My Story

I've been thinking hard how to provide 'feedback' about the unease (a gross understatement) my colleagues we feel about our big boss a.k.a. the empress, especially what happened here and here . In fact, I'm not even sure there's anyone higher than her who can intervene as technically she is considered equal to other big bosses. Then a glimmer of hope appears...and please let it eventually brightens the future. Ok, a little background: our department here in Singapore have both internal and external clients. Internal clients are our fellow colleagues in other departments, who need our expertise in certain areas. One area is to provide our opinion on the reasonableness of work performed by their own external clients. This matters because our colleagues are signing off certain forms/certificates that include, among other things, work done by their external clients. Over the years, there were discussions, at times squabbles, about how this should be done but I ca...

On Sunday, Derek, Nick, Lloyd and I made our maiden journey to a fish spa, specifically at Kenko Marina Square. Lloyd and I had vouchers that were just enough to get each of us 30 mins of fish spa. Unlike normal massage, one cannot book in advance and so we just turned up. Fortunately, there was plenty of space. At the entrance, we were asked to wash our legs after spraying some disinfectant on them and then to use their slippers. Our bags were kept in lockers. Inside, there was a rectangle pool in the middle and a drain-like kind of pool against the wall facing outside. We just automatically gravitated towars the middle pool, which later we learned has the smaller fish (but not much smaller actually). The feeling is truly unexpected. We couldn't stop giggling for the first 5 minutes or so. It was very ticklish! In fact, Derek kept wriggling about (so guys, we know how to "handle" Derek next time, ok? ;) ) for a while. Later, after getting used to it, it felt like t...

A friend is considering taking up insurance, which is great as I strongly encouraged him to do so when he's young. It should be used as protection. He wouldn't want all his savings go to, say, hospitalisation, right? He did ask me a few things about insurance e.g. what he should get first, which company etc. Among many things I've advised him not to take up investment-linked policies because of a few reasons: investment risk is transferred from insurer to policyholders; better to separate investment and protection as it's cheaper doing it that way. He seems to understand. Today I met up with him for dinner Him: Oh yah, I decided to get policies from XXX company. Me: What you're getting? Him: The basic one and the hospitalisation plan. Me: What basic one? Him: The whole life one lah. Me: But XXX only have investment-linked plan leh for that. Him: Yah, that's the one. Me: But didn't I tell you about how bad investment-linked plan is? Him: Yah I k...

On Saturday, before watching Up (an animated movie), my friends and I were having dinner at Plaza Singapura's Kopitiam foodcourt. One of the main topics we discussed was insurance. A friend commented that it is such a morbid topic and that insurance agent always talks about death and living. Well, that's the nature of insurance. To protect oneself from unfortunate events (e.g. on dying prematurely or living beyond expectation) that one cannot guarantee will not happen. We watched Up at Cathay after dinner. It is much better than expected, even though I went in with much expectation in the first place due to good review all around. It's basically about a man who shares his adventurous wife's dream to live in Paradise Fall in South America. They set about saving money to achieve their dream but alas, they have to use their savings to pay for a few things, of which among them are hospitalisation bill and cost of repairing their house after a tree collapse on it due to wi...

In My Hand , originally uploaded by williamnyk . It is precisely because life is not fair that we shouldn't make it any more unfair. - Me

I've been having this persistent sorethroat since last week of May. Though it's not painful when I swallow, it is still sore and dry. Problem with me is that this could be caused by your typical bacteria acid reflux post-nasal drip I have been given medicine to treat all 3 but it's still there. Hence, I was referred to a ENT specialist. The GP suspects it's caused by post-nasal drip and said all the specialist can do is to confirm it i.e. there is nothing else to do but to live with it. My eyes nearly bulged out. If that's true, I'll seek a second opinion, especially from the doctor near where I live, who is very competent but unfortunately his clinic is not in the panel clinic list. Anyway, I saw the specialist last week and he did a scope through the nose. Confirmed there's nothing there causing post-nasal drip. Confirmed throat reddish: So conclusion: acid reflux. He suspects it's due to my light supper but I pointed out that it consists on...

For about 8 years or so, I have been investing in unit trust funds. Made some mistakes along the way but due to my prudent nature, they were not fatal but, instead, provided valuable lessons to me. During the last few days of July, I made my first foray into investment in shares. At this point, I'm not looking to trade shares but I'm buying shares as long term investment (naturally with regular review to ascertain my view of the companies have not changed). I'll be splitting my future investment between unit trust funds and shares. As a start, I search for shares that provide consistently good dividends, especially from companies that are dominant in their respective industry. I was fortunate that 2 ex-colleagues pointed me to Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) as they fit into my search criteria. As a result, I now own shares in 8 REITs, Comfort Delgro and SBS Transit. Please help by taking SBS buses, Comfort/Citycab taxis, shop at Plaza Singapura, Bugis Junction, T...

I doubt anyone knows or remembers that I have a diary. No, not this blog but an actual traditional diary. I have stopped actively write in it ever since I started work. There were a few huge gaps, with the longest one being 3.5 years! I started writing in it in November 1991 and was quite active until early 2000 when I started working. Since then, there have been sporadic entries, with the latest one written down on Sunday a few days ago. I took the opportunity to randomly read some past entries. Wow, it made me realise I have forgotten many things. So many happy incidents, so many sad incidents, all blown away from my mind. It's good I wrote these down as there are important markers in my life. So nearly 18 years on, things have changed dramatically. In fact, I can't even point to one thing that hasn't changed. Scary. Yet changes can be for the better. Let's hope there are more of these in future. I should make an effort to write in the diary more often. Precio...

This is just too cute!