Nice vs kind

Every once in a while, come along people who inspire you.

Some of them inspire you to be great because they're great. Some people inspire you to be a poet because they're the lowest scum on this earth.

And lately, I'm surrounded by the 2nd type of people. More precisely, the self-proclaimed "nice people".

I can't get over people who self-proclaim they're nice. I have so many bad news for them:

1. Perhaps you're too dumb to realise that YOU're the one who's been irritating the people around you. Irritating people with your stupidity and self-entitlement.
2. Your grammar and spelling are so bad, you're irritating ME.
3. I don't think you really understand what 'nice' means: 

Please don't be proud of being nice.
'Nice' is not a character, 'nice' is a mask you put on to make other people like you.
A lot of nice people are just fake-ass trying to please everyone around them. So don't be proud if people say you're nice. And be ashamed to call yourself nice.

If you want to be better, please be KIND. Being kind is something inherent (if you're too dumb to understand the word, please Google it. If you don't know how to Google it, please go jump into the sea), something that you are, with or without other people looking.

And even then, even when you've managed to be a kind person, please don't go around telling people what a kind person you are.

Because that's just looking for attention. 

Don't be a narcissist.

A journey of a thousand miles..

Asking my boyfriend any my brother "What do you think if I move to Australia to work?": The difference.

Me:  "What do you think if I move to Australia to work?"
Bf: *shrug* "Ok."

Me: "What do you think if I move to Australia to work?"
Bro: "What's the job? Who told you? Are you sure? What did your bf say? Have you thought it through? Don't you think this is selfish?" *two hours later* "The economy is... The tax in Australia is..." *two more hours later* "You have to know what you want in life. Is this really what you want? If not, then what is it that your really want." *goes on to other irrelevant topics for a few hours more*

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the difference between an optimistic realist and pessimistic idealist.

An optimistic realist sees the world like a little child. Just enjoy what you're doing and life will shape itself around you. No need to worry. Worries only brings unhappiness, and unhappiness brings bad luck.

While a pessimistic idealist is the total opposite --perhaps like a bitter old man. Everything that will go wrong in life, will go wrong. It is life's personal mission to make each individual's life miserable.

I'm not saying that one is better than the other. Any extreme is not good. What we can do is learn from both and find our own balance.

But right now, my journey of a thousand miles is stuck on the first step.

Do you believe in sixth sense?

I don't know how's bread toaster in everyone else's home, but my toaster is the kind that has open top. I was on my way home after buying some bread, and I thought, "I really should put some lid on my toaster; it's so gross with the dust and all."

True enough, when I reached my place, put the bread in the toaster and press on... the thing I fear more that cockroach and death -a baby gecko- jumped out at me. Well, it TRIED to jump out. But he's unlucky, and I'm unlucky. So now there's a small half-toasted gecko in my toaster.

(So, sixth sense is no good when it's too late.)

For anyone who wants a free toaster, you're welcome to contact me.

Forex

One of my best friends has been encouraging me (and a few others) to take up Forex trading. When we show reluctance, he gave us an inspiring 'speech'. I was so touched I decided to share it with everyone.

Anyway just to tell you guys why I started trading, I have a few goals.
Financial freedom, for one. I don't want to keep relying on the mercy of a company to earn money. Why trading? Because it's a solitary effort. You don't get burdened by politics or interaction with people or any external factors that usually hinders people in their career/business. You deal with money, not service or business. Other than initial capital, the only other thing you need to master is yourself. Nothing else. So it's very attractive to me.

Other goals of mine would be to be able to teach it to others. This world is a cruel world, where you need to excel academically in order to have an easier life. What about people who are too late? Or people who are handicapped? Trading resets all that to an equal standing ground whereby it does not matter who you are or what is your qualification. As long as you are determined, your account will speak for it. If I can teach this life skill to others and they can earn through trading, I consider it a good thing. It's sorta a second chance for everyone, at least that's how I view it. No matter if you went to prison before, or your grades were horrible, as long as you persevere, trading won't discriminate you.
Now you all know what drives me to learn this trading bizniz haha..

A book and its cover

My Hush Puppies luggage has this glitch ever since I bought it last year: the handle sometimes won't go down all the way. It's stuck at medium height at random times, and so it's frustrating when I have to put the luggage in baggage or car trunk.
I've been meaning to bring it to the service centre, but as with most adults, I always loss my time doing I-have-no-idea-what.

Finally today my boredom reached its peak and I decided to drop by Hush Puppies main agent near Tai Seng MRT.
The complete address is:

Lohmun Leather Products Pte Ltd
153 Kampomg Ampat #03-04,
Jun Jie Industrial Building, S368326
Telp: 6282 8255

There's no easy way to reach there (except by taxi or personal vehicle, of course), I had to walk 15 minutes from MRT station. Even when I reached the building, I had to go through turns and trucks to reach the service centre.

But once I reached the building, everyone there was so helpful, it's almost comical. The security saw me dragging my luggage and immediately said, "Straight, to the left, take lift, 3rd floor." As I was walking to the lift, another person standing there said, "3rd floor number 4." When I reached 3rd floor, the lift opened up to another person and he said "Your left, to the corner." As if somebody knew I was coming and made the whole script for me. Just to piss-off my atheist readers, I would say it was God who planned the whole thing for me.

The service centre turned out to be not so much a centre, just a workshop. I expected to fill some forms, show my receipt etc etc. But I was only greeted by a technician with this stern looks about him. He merely said, "what happened?" I explained to him and he took my luggage, give it a few spins and a few drops of oil. And just like that the glitch is solved! Literally 5 minutes. He works so fast it's like watching an F1 technician at work.

Apparently there is nothing broken, the handle just needs some oil. I feel so embarrassed. I think it happens a lot to ignorant buyers. The technician merely said, "anything else?" while checking for other parts of the luggage. Amazed, I said "that is all". He then taught me how to do the oiling to my luggage and sent me off my way. I wasn't charged a single cent for all these. Such a nice guy! I want to take a moment to praise Hush Puppies customer service *slow clap*

Moral of the day:
Don't judge a book by its cover. It's not only talking about judging people from his looks, but also about addressing a problem. A problem might looks life-ending but the solution could be so simple. Or on the contrary, it may looks easy, but there might be invisible impacts to other aspects in your life.

The secret is, be honest to yourself. Like Steve Jobs said, your intuition somehow already know what's going on. Most of the time, it's our mind that wants a dramatic existence and  makes things worse than it really is.
In Syrio Forrell's words, see with your eyes. See things and people as they are. Is this an obnoxious person or just a nice person who's having a bad day? Is there really no solution to this problem or uncle Google can help you solve it? Don't let your feelings or memories or worries add cloudy filters to them. Otherwise, you'll end up wasting time and energy like I did.

Interview with a banshee

I guess if you go to enough job interviews, you're bound to meet some strange people.

I went to my hundredth interview today (nah..not really; I've stopped counting after 80). Going to an interview is scary enough, yes? Trying to scram all the information on the company and great answers into your head. Well, imagine coming to an interview not knowing anything about the company cos you can't find any information in Google, and not knowing even who send you the email (whether it's a he or she) as the person did not even have the courtesy to tell you his/her name.

Actually, I did find some things about the company that can't help me with the interview: an abandoned website, a website on a free platform, another useless website, a blog entry saying how horrible the company is, and an MOM article mentioning salary payment problem. WHOA.. should I still go to the interview? Do I really want to join this company?

Well, I'm desperate and it doesn't feel right refusing a job interview invitation. Besides, the company has great location in International Plaza, Tanjong Pagar. On level 24, no less. So to International Plaza level 24 I went this morning.

I arrived 9.55 am, 5 minutes earlier that asked. But 10 seconds before me, there's another guy just stepped into the office. I saw the guy rang the bell and stepped into the office before I realise it's the same office I need to get into. So I reached the door as it was closing. I had to ring the bell again. The secretary (let's just call her the secretary) asked me to sit down and went to tell the boss. As I sat down, I heard the boss scolded the secretary "DID YOU OPEN THE DOOR?" That's when I figured the boss is a female.
Secretary: *assumed nod here*
Boss: "THEN WHY DID THE DOORBELL KEEP RINGING?"
*secretary explaining the situation*
Boss: "I CAN'T HEAR YOU WHEN YOU MUMBLING LIKE THAT".

There are a few things that are wrong here. First, I can hear the secretary talking from the seating area near the front door (like 5-6 m away from the boss' office) and the boss can't? Second, do you have to scold your employee 10 am in a Monday morning? Third, the boss scheduled another meeting at the same time as my interview timing? I don't appreciate that.

What I appreciate even less? The guy was allowed to meet her first. Probably he's bringing business while I'm only bringing a potential employee *sarcasm sign*. And so I wasted about 30-40 minutes waiting for my turn.

When I finally met the boss, she did not so much introduce herself nor offer a handshake nor ask me to sit down. Just went to the questions straight away. All the while I was answering, she's doing something with her phone and PC. Ok, multitasking busy businesswoman, I get it. But the total turn-off was when I asked her "May I know how many team members in this office?" She's looking at me as if she doesn't understand the question. So I said, "Um, employees?" Then she snapped me, "What does it have to do with anything?!" What does it have to do with anything? Well, let's see, I want to know about the company I will work for; how many colleagues I will work with. MOM will want to know if the company has enough quota for SPass. So what does it have to do with anything? Nothing, just everything.
I was so shocked I managed only to say, "Well, I'm curious about your company." She cut me off again, "Well, I'm curious about YOU, so tell me about YOURSELF." GREAT human relations.

The interview lasted literally 5 minutes with the boss implying she doesn't have any other questions until I send her my portfolio (articles I wrote).

While I was walking out of the office, I remember I don't even know her name. So as the secretary approached me, I ask her whether there is any namecard I can have. The secretary went back to her office, asking the same thing.. and she just looked at her secretary with this killing look. I was stepping inside the office again, to answer for anything myself, but the secretary turn around and said "Sorry, so sorry.." along with a gesture escorting me outside. Then I said "None, then?" but she just keeps saying "Sorry, sorry." Wth?

Funnily, I feel better about myself after I talk to her. I am a better person than her, after all. At least I have basic human interaction skills, and I try my best at any time to make people good about themselves.

I wonder why these kind of people can have their own company? How? Well, assuming it's her company. I can't know, I don't have her namecard.

I don't usually mention names in my blog to protect both the guilty or the innocent. But in the spirit to protect all the innocent job-seekers out there, please take note (if you haven't figured it out from the links yet) the company is
Formula 1 Furniche Pte Ltd
If working for a female with strong personalities suits you, you can send your resume to wsheraton@gmail.com.

Update:

I promise the boss that I will send her my portfolio. So I did along with an email telling her that I'm not interested in joining the company anymore. I still tried to be as polite as possible:

I got the name of the boss "Ms. Shalini K. Sharma"  after further searching old files in Google. Then this is what I got. I assume I wasn't communicating with the boss, then, as the email was signed as 'Jim':

I was so upset I sent her back:

I should've just addressed "Dear Jim/Sharlini/whoever the hell this is". If they replied with anymore rudeness, I swear I'm suing someone.

The Irony of Fate

It's all began when me and my bf talked about movie industry. Then we talk about movie industry in our countries. Then we decided to show each other's the best movie from our country.
This too, in a way, our irony of fate. When you're together with someone from a different culture, sooner or latter you will have that kind of cultural exchange, belief me. And it's fun --you get to see things you otherwise won't ever see.

But since he doesn't think that there's many good movies from where he was born in, he showed me a movie from the culture he spent most of his time instead. He showed me a 1975 made in Soviet Union (yup, way before the Russia Federation formed) called The Irony of Fate (or Enjoy Your Bath!).

At first I was skeptical. What do you expect from a movie made 40 years ago, in a language you don't understand? I was also told that the movie is 3 hours long! I gave it a shot anyway. Mainly because I already tortured him with an Indonesian movie, Ada Apa dengan Cinta.

The movie was in two parts, and by the middle of the first half, I was hooked! The main guy in the movie is not handsome, but is pleasant to look at. The main actress is very elegant, and they both have such chemistry on screen. I wonder if either of them still act today.. The movie itself is slow without being boring, and funny, without much exaggeration that is commonly found in modern movies. Whatever happen to easygoing movies, that just tells life as it is? (Michael Bay, I'm looking at you).
And I certainly love Russian language. I never knew that "Attention! Attention!" in Russian sounds so cute!

I really recommend people to watch this. Slip back to an era where movies is about heartwarming stories.
For those of you who are curious, with all the wonder of YouTube, the movie is available there.

Early Christmas present

I'll be good for the rest of the year, cos I've got my Christmas gift.

I'll study hard for Econs n BuStrat, cos I've got my prize :D

Soooo... after much complications, struggles, trials and tribulations... I'm going to Vietnam! *jengjeng* Or to be precise, Hanoi. Starting from 18th this month, all the way till 28th. Yep, going to spend Christmas over there ^^

It's the first time I bought an airplane ticket myself.

The first time I bought an airplane ticket online myself.

The first time I buy anything online myself.

The first time I'm going to fly alone.

The first time I'm going to an Indochina country.

(The first time I spend Christmas in a country that doesn't not celebrate Christmas).

Quoting one of my friends fave quote, "Yay, me!"

But hold one, one more -or rather, two- obstacle to tackle first. Exams (>_<) The first one is my weakness, Econs.

But anyway, the subject will come handy in the future. So, gotta love it, understand it, be familiar with it.

Must survive this. WILL survive this. I already got my prize.

Fine, fine.. no worries..

I just realized something: yeah, my last so-many posts in this blog are so depressing.
Even almost all posts in my other blog.
It does amazes me that it takes quite a while and quite a few people to nudge me for me to realize that my blog depresses people.

I need to make clarification: NO, my life is not bad. It's everything I want it to be at this point of time.
It just that every time something good and fun and exciting happens, I don't have time to write them in my blog. But when something annoying happens, all I want to do is rant it away.

And other reason why I don't want to tell all the good stuffs I'm enjoying, is because I don't want to come across as a brag.

And surely I don't want to exhibit all the good and great and sweet things my boyfriend did for and to me --I don't want to make my ex-suitors jealous (knock knock Mr. Felix S).

Talking about Mr. Sun, here is my reply for your comment:
-Isn't the right grammar should be 'I should've taken..'?
-I was just bothered by CERTAIN girls around me who fall into the bitchy gold-digger category. I feel pity for their boyfriends, and at the same time praying hard that I'm not subconsciously is one of them.
-You're right, I am confuse. Sorry to confuse you. Any enlightenment?

That should be all for now. Any dissatisfaction.. call my lawyer.

A new blessing!

Today, my new baby sister is born. And when I said 'baby', I really mean it [take a look at the pictures!], she has just born. My and my father waited in the hospital for hours. At first, I wanted to go to the labour room, you know, to watch the process. But the doctor won't let me [rrgghh!], I didn't know why..

New born Celine taking a shower.

Picture 1 ~ Picture 2 ~ Picture 3

I'm soo broken hearted...

Would you date this girl? Oh I know you just would...

HOT, isn't she?
But, sorry guys, she's taken.. by Kian Egan of Westlife *sob-sob*. Her name is Jodi Albert, she's an Irish actress, acted on Hollyoaks. Notice how he held her hand in this interview *sob harder*: