Pursuance of Your Lifestyle

The 10 years of rental lifestyle has come to halt. What happens next is a little different & seemingly interesting. Two different paths ahead: to relocate my personal effects to other countries & to settle into our new home.

The relocation carries personal items and some ornaments. The settling-in focuses more on household items. While the ornaments carries along past fond memories, the household items establish a core home feel at our new home.

At this juncture, I see our new home as base of belongings, the ornaments & photos as memories, and my new venture to fulfill my earnings to new experiences.

Throughout the moving, we find ourselves in constant decision making, to decide what items to stay and what to leave behind, through familiarity in memories. There, I find fittings with the right items. My next natural sense is to perfect myself with the items. Eventually, be LEAN on the them while allowing the ventures to more new experiences. This stronger sense of self leads me to pursue my quality of life. It is more to individual, and less about the materialistic side.

That sense of self is the pursuance of lifestyle.

Managing people, starts from managing yourself.

If you could manage your emo wisely, you would always have wisdom to know the rights from wrong. Clear emotion, clear wisdom.

If you could always hold on to few fundamentals, you are always ready to guide. Fundamentals guide.

If you could always learn from the past, discipline the learning, you master. Mastery makes management easier.

Things should be Simpler

I just hope things can be simpler, with not so much unnecessary conditions to think of.

People always resist change. Normal people do. To that, effort always brought up to resist the changes. To sail smoothly through, it takes much consideration. However, limited capability could handle the only simple ones. If unnecessary conditions always build on it, the changes would strain people more. Very uncomfortable.

I just hope it wont strain the relationship too much.

Continuing challenges in day & night are testing me. I need luck.

Indonesia

This is Pekan Baru. An A4 sheet could capture the map of it. Simple.

This city surprised me in its cleaniness, not on par to singapore but well maintained. However, taking a closer look, the main streets are clean, but not in areas beyond that.

Referencing to their official website, cleaniness goes top in the list. Much effort & resources would have been poured in. But, the impact is probably limited.

Going beyond, the traffic is chaotic as it could be. Motorcycles are everywhere. Riders are without helmet. There is almost no traffic rules.

Due to oil discovery, the city has seen good development throughout the years. It claims to be the highest income/capita city. But, apparent lack of planning, still not bringing the best out of its resources. The greatest asset - people, are not well equipped with english, to bridge themselves to the world.

The planning, not just on traffic/roads, but also on education - could only add more weight to the already smart & hardworking people.

The contrast to Singapore could only tell how much has Singapore government done for its nation.

ONe theory, One WorLd

Sometimes, I believe - ONe TheoRy, just oNe - and it ruLes the World.

Let's see..

In business, you start a small one; you cultivate it through hardwork; it grows; you reinvest; its capacity grows; you reinvest to a point; you sell a very high profit.

In career, you start fresh; you cultivate through hardwork; your experience grows; you furthered learning; your experience broadens; you re-learn to a point; you jump to another ship with much higher compensation.

THere is a lot you can interfere.
1. You need to work hard; that results must value-add to your portfolio; and the market values it.
2. You will reach a point - to realign your value & market value (not too early not too late)
3. To be BIG, you need to know what the market wants. Throw your vision far!
4. None the less, think like businessman even though you are employed; because your employer is in the business world.

Life is to appreciate the beauty of one universe. Journey of knowing it, is itself a joy too.

Move - on

culture is so dynamic that.. people only look forward and seldom look back. sometimes, in life, what we gain is not bout the big bright future, but what we had in the past - friends, family & loved ones.

everyday, i work out best of myself - just to welcome a brighter tomorrow. however, busyness occupied me - till i seldom have time to treasure the people around me until they are leaving. now, i realize - mere future is not everything. but, it is the past that counts, that shapes me into who i am today.

shall we allow ourselves a moment of silent everyday - just to treasure what we ARE having? so that we care for ourselves and people around us MORE.

2010...

china redistributing development focal. broader economic benefit, from coastal to inland. cool-off escalation. continue strong aggregate GDP growth. clear blue-print. private investors follow suit rhythmatically.

america balance trade. not just a spending nation. highly productive (quality) manufacturing main driver. welcome china companies to pump in investment. create jobs.

international banks should share clearer info on currency flow. allow developed & developing countries to manage currency together.

2010 sees uphill task, however, already identify obstacles. it needs concentrated political wills in sailing world economy through turbulence.

optimum outcome is more balanced economy growth between US & china.
risk is both countries go into economy turmoil - China property buble burst; US economy could not pick up with no external demand

Year 2009...

To the year of 2009... it is year of happenings of major life events.

first its the proposal, then house hunting, meet-ups with a new family member, and ROM.. and an exciting yet unforgettable australia trip.

My proposal & our ROM went great. I simply enjoy this change in life. And, the meet-ups with my sister hubby was very interesting too. All these enrich my life greatly.

However, house hunting has not been smooth. The decision to slow down the speed of getting a house, cost me around anywhere from $50-$70k. It is a pain in the butt. Till now, we are yet to settle on anything, while the end of lease is looming.

Pray hard, that situation would turn favour, to the hardworking middle-class who works hard to earn a simple living.

NTU Alumni Night

After a long time, going back to NTU attending NTU alumni night gave different experience.

One most notable is - there are more PRCs students around now. Being late to the event, I only have myself punished for not knowing the "buffet culture". since uni years, queueing for free stuff has been part of uni culture. ever since when, it turned sour, where people being selfish, by loading their plate with tons of food, and cutting queue shamelessly. To picture it vividly, we had only one last dish - cauly-flower (the less attractive dish to our PRCs friends) to fill up stomach, by using a bowl - there wasn't a plate left! And, this was just 15mins after the event started. Hungry ghost festival har?

With the unpleased stomach, we then went for the main highlight - Alumni Night. I was happy to find comfortable seats in the auditorium (as majority of the hungry ghosts left after ravaging the buffet). Our dear NTU pres, Dr Su, gave a opening speech, with a standard template that you can google it from the internet. The stage backdrop painted 3 big words - bond, share, unity. However, I felt that his speech did not vibrate these messages out - rather focusing so much on the statistic over NTU achievement. Has ranking becoming the only focus for tertiary education?

Except for the founding history in 1960s, the existing NTU has changed so much - and I do not see the linkage back with its cultural roots. The identity now is so weak, and further weakened by huge imports of different background students, though academically excellent. While forcefully holding on to long-lost roots, it sets main focus on improving ranking - which help little in setting clear sense of identity. The conflicting goals would lead the university to no-where.

NTU should make bolder move - in improving university quality and not just on academic ranking.

Planning

the essentials of planning

1. logical sequence of things being done
2. most common-sense way of doing things
3. considerations over needs of others
4. and.. taking care of the mother earth.

Buffeteology

The very fundamental of it - buy stock like making your own business.

And, how business usually succeed?

1. you do business in the blue-sea, where you find constant favourable market space
2. you do business with a competitive edge, where your product always sells
3. you do business with sound fiscal, strengthening foundation through storm and wind

Blood Diamond

A very long movie - 140mins, yet capturing the attention for every moment. To that, I recognize that screenplay is no less important than director. Bravo for the great storyline.

Quote of the Day..

Think Big and Not Missing Small. Big picture + Small details = Best Art-work.

Para 4

The mind just dont work near to reality steps. It likes to venture far, as far as it can, to see the light on the other end. When looked back, these thoughts may seem forming, but never connecting to a single line. Perhaps, thoughts arent never in a line. This is always perplexing, and... disturbing.

Every since of knowing, every cell is keen to strike into the - ONE law of nature - where it can hold firmly. Partly, my brain - as simple as our ancestor primate - could not handle complex theory. As such, it is always in a quest to simplify things, rather, to simplify the world around it.

At least, one simple thing known, things happen in sequential manner. It just take some simple effort of the brain to put the sequence right. However, people - PEOPLE, don't go that way. It makes the world much more complecate. And, the little brain doesnt like it. Perhaps, brain doesnt handle HUMAN portion. It is something else (EQ, X-factor, watever u call it) - that does the job? That would free up brain work for the right task. Come to think about it, there is some sense here. Some people are good with others, while some would need to put in more effort.

Those are derailed. I was with something else. It is about having every aspects (singing, sports, speaking, metal-working, etc) to boil down to fundamental principle. I deeply believe - there exist such principle - that holds for everything under the sun. To shallow knowledge, I only recognize by its effect (not knowing what it is). It is to enliven some THING. A good singer, will bring the song to life. Good sportsmen run, jump, swim.. beautifully. President captivates audiences heart through speeches. A real machinist machines to the best (form, function, ergonomics, etc). It is ... to present something in a form that it should be.

Forming a raw idea seconds ago - i.e. to be as closed to the THING as possible. Close - by having your wholeself with it. My reason is - we are the utmost genuine thing in the world. Genuinity brings things to fundamentally perfect form.

Perfectionism through genuine effort to show things in its form.

Going through Pain

How much Pain can do?

It can teach a person a lot of things.
It can make the person learned by heart.
It can grow a person into matured.

Bear the pain. Bear the fruit.

The Pain

Pain arises when you feel you are not in the right position.
Pain arises when you feel you are not utilizing your strength.
Pain arises when you feel you are unable to act on your environment.

Revolutionary Road

Know what you've got,
Know what you need,
Know what you can do without,
- there is inventory control.

World Port Ranking 2007

All way back to history, the economic development of a place is very much linked to how busy its port is. Needless to say, the top 5 (by TEO throughput) is always buzzed with trade activities. And, all these top 5 ports fall within Asia. If trade activity says about globalization, Asia would be more connected to the world. Due to geographical location, Singapore & HongKong could still lead the tables as trade between US & China only see an uptrend in future.

World Gold Holdings

As per recent increase in gold holdings by China, this snap-shot shows 2008 Sep gold distribution. At ancient time, gold represents power in most of the kingdoms. In this modern world, gold still carries a lot of weight against forex. A study shows that, while currency depreciates across time, gold has gone against that tide. Therefore, it is a critical necessity for country that needs stable growth, to be sheltered from financial crisis due to currency depreciation.

One interesting thing here is - the US & European countries have tremendously higher gold % in reserves, compared to Asian countries. Yet, their total financial reserves is far much lesser than Asia counterparts. That says three things: (1)huge gold % contributes to economy stability (2)huge financial reserves is not a necessary requirement for developed economy (3)Asian countries are funding the economy of West.

Turn spending into investing

Just to pen down thoughts, before memory can hold..

Under chapter of Economic Productivity of Households, it emphasizes on few important points:-

• invest for a good location home
• forget about fast depreciating auto-mobile, clothing, etc
• health conscious & exercise
• invest for long term (medical stock)..

The bottom of it, spend a penny only on those value-appreciating stuff.

At this moment of life, when small wealth accumulates from mundane working life-style, I am like many others, concerning over the longer term financial wealth. It involves decision over buying of home, the choice of lifestyle, investment path going forward and so on. The insights of the article could indeed give us a good direction for the next 10 years or so. =)