Time for consolidating your gains

A look at the Channelnews Asia feature on the 1997 Asian crisis reminded me of what is happening now: the huge boom. I am definitely not an economist and there is no evidence whatsoever, but well i can only say what comes after a climax is a decline. So maybe it is time to consolidate your gains if you have stocks out there. No one knows what will happen next.

Well consolidating your gains can refer to appreciating what you have. In the less monetary terms: the relationships, love, and family. Well i am glad of the many new friends i made since i came back, indulge in reminiscing the past with good old friends.

Family: well they are always there for me, and i definitely havent done enough for them. It is never enough. We owe our parents too much. They are the ones i am willing to sacrifice for.

Oh yar and photos of the Settlers Cafe with the juniors are up on my Flickr

The start of my holidays proper.

This blog has not been updated for quite some time, no spice, no interesting stuff.. As we can see, Kerf's life has been stagnant. Monotony has ruled in his mundane working life. As such, he has planned his escape from the retail world. The broad and amazingly interesting world of Retail, for the sake of his rest and relax he needs for his holiday.

The Retail world: you never know what it really is till you experienced it. The cut throat competitions among some people, the nice colleagues, the stress of having to meet targets, the sense of disablement when you see the amount of old stock you have to finish pulling out and new stock to put in the miniscule storeroom, all part of the many facets of the retail world.

Some ask me, what have I learnt during this job? Well communication is something i observed very well. The multiple hits and misses during the pitching of sales has taught me how to observe people in such minute detail (a slight twitch of the eyebrow) and at the same time the big picture (body language). People react so differently, some hide their inner thoughts that affect their actions and speech so well that it's scary. You can assess how much people are actually interested in buying stuff u sell. Well some are so subtle that it is almost instinctive to pick up and i therefore have no idea how to explain them.

I met many interesting people along the way. There are the hot babes that i click so well with, and are filthy rich and about 2-3 years older, to the blardy irritating pest of this world non-stop-complainers that i have to say sorry to for something i have not done. You learn a huge chunk. From discussing about the casinos springing up soon, to the 5 million shares my customer bought and which stocks to buy. Met many lawyers, and huge huge numbers of bankers and investors that talk by the millions on the phone. The gays, the lesbians, the hot mommas, the couple that changed together in 1 fitting room...

Well for those who i have not met since i came back, i promise to try meeting u after i end my job. So dun be surprised if i go knocking on ur door in the mth of Feb. And think i will make a few cakes along the way, so some of you will be lucky to have cake in ur mouth with the honour of kerf visiting you. wahaha

So i got a new camera

Yes i got it at last. And a tat too soon, as someone offered me a deal $21 cheaper. damn...

Well took quite many fotos recently, on my way to work, to events like the Aussie Med students gathering at Marriot Hotel organised by Sing Health.

Realised that i got loads and loads to learn still for composing pictures. A quote from the book MJ bought me for my bdae (yes MJ i am reading it at last): "What makes a picture good is what happens before the shutter is pressed (composing the picture), not wat happens during or after."

I am quiting my job on 31st January. Need to start writing my resignation letter. Loved working there, the staff there is so nice. GO TO RAOUL @ HITACHI TOWERS! lol Kamal, Linda, Karin, had loads and still having lots of fun with them. Hope my pay comes through this time. Or i think some legal action can be taken. Wahaha.

Got my air ticket liao. Flying on 22 FEB. 11+pm SQ

Life without time for myself

It's been real real tiring. Life without internet or something above 56kbps is real irritating. i busted my internet quota of a miserly 250mb on my broadband and am now relegated to using 56kbps. That is if i hae time or energy to come online in the first place.

Work has been well... mundane. though i get to learn how to communicate and appease disturbing or disturbed customers. There was this one that came in when we werent that busy and spent 1 hr talking to me. It was a guy. Some of my friends think he was there to pick me up... maybe he was disturbed... When i am done with work i squeeze some time after work which is 8pm to hang with some friends, to the disappointment of my family that expects me to stay home. There was salsa every wed that i had to rush to without having dinner. Now there is going to union square Friday nights to salsa with the bunch that i learnt with. It was nice to see Rong yao and his friends that day. And the nights that i spent practicing salsa with Xinyi and her friends.

I need to get the number of potong pasir cc soon. i always end up gg there for archery when they are not open and end up going back home... Hanged out with my JC classmates at last yesterday at Surf & Turf. Then went for bowling at Marina Square. And after not touching the bowls for a year or more, i conclude that i should stay away from it for probably the rest of my life. I cant bowl for nuts and i broke my thumb nail so badly it bled terribly.

Spending this New Year's eve home with family, trying to tap into other's wireless to get a better internet conection...

A thought about parenting: Many of our parents were in huge families and they didnt get enough atterntion or concern from their parents. There was also not really that much money to get around the 5 to 10 siblings. So as a result, they probably swore to take care of their kids well and make sure they had enough money to provide for them, and not to get too many children as it will reduce the amount on each child. So that is why most of our parents have a maximum of 2 children (also due to the rising costs of bringing up a child), and also that they probably show us so much concern that we feel it's a bit too much some times. Well that only applies to some of us... They still love us.

About Sunrises

Apparently the immense expense of free time i had on my trip to Penang has triggered much fodder for the 'prolific' blog of mine (thanx again Dinesh) lol. For those who have experienced kerfern's relatively random train of thought: the following should be of no surprise fow fleeting my attention span is for each topic.

I realise that i needed to get a tan, so i went to get it. and i am a bit red from it too. Then one night while i was about to drift into sweet slumber, a flash of thought so quick, an inspiration, a glimpse of what i have yet to realise in my life! Oh it's nothing much actually, just that i have taken realatively many photos but i havent gottem a proper sunrise through my camera's ccd, though i have a few sunsets. So i vouch that one of the first few photos i am going to take with my soon to arrive Fz50 will be a sunrise. Anyone got lobang for a good location for a sunrise must tell me. Anyone interested in joining me to take also contact me (preferably hot looking, female, and can drive, and HAS a car to drive ;p)

Then i realised that most people i noe at Monash Medicine are first or only borns! here's the tally (got no time to cover all)
first/only borns:

1. me
2. jasmine
3. MJ
4. Rebecca
5. Kel
6. Josh
7. Ling
8. Kary
9. Xin Yi
10. Melanie i tink
11. Melissa (she has a brother and has migrated to the following list) (thanx becky for reminding me)
12. Jonathans, yes all 3 of them
13. Ethan
14. and think still got others, those i left out are not intetional, i'm in a hurry yar

Those not that i squeezed my head and extracted that are not:

1. John Lee weichern
2. Jeff
3. ... And my brain power diminishes to zilch

NOW ever wonder why plastic surgeons are called plastic surgeons? do they actually use plastics or polymers all the time to stitch people up? That was another question i had while lying on my bed with a poolside view in Penang. So i checked it up and the reason for the naming is: The word "plastic" derives from the Greek plastikos meaning to mold or to shape; its use here is not connected with the synthetic polymer material known as plastic. Well shihui said, dont all surgeons mold anyway? i suppose we do.

Happy Birthday to Stephie

Yes it was a fantastic party. Got to meet up with many classmates for the first time since i came back. Too bad some didnt make it. Loved hs lil cousin Kevin, apparently we hit it off quite nicely, got to know him quite well.

My meagre number of photos i took at the party are up on my Flickr. No thanks to my half charged battery and my incapability to get my new caera over the weekend.

For those who are still not sure what was the gift we gave Steph:














Looking forward to seeing more classmates who were missing in action last night. On both 20th ant 30th Dec. Though many will be away soon.

1. Mel is away for exchange in Australia till 10th Jan
2. Pema going France for a semster, leaving on 1 Jan, for a sem. France tt's like how cool!
3. Steph leaving for US, leaving on 29th Dec i think, for a sem
4. Aik Heng also going to US but dunno when.
5. Shihui gg for hols till January
6. JR and El gg off too
7. Yiting the cheenapok at China, cheenaing

And I will be off fo rPenang tmr. But will be back on Saturday. So hoping i can get my camera today. They ran out of stock on Saturday. Cathay photo raised their price so i am not buying from them. So i am now getting from 'Shop-Right Electronics' at Orchard Towers.

Half marathon post mortem

I am suffering. My quadriceps are aching from the run. Now my feet are aching from standing the whole day. Well no pain no gain, feel kinda satisfied i finished the Standard Charted Half Marathon in 2hrs 29min 32 sec according to my running chip

for those who ram, this is the link to the timings analysis page: http://www.runpix.name/sin06/ge.php
Those who want to see my details my bib is 11415

Archery. It has been 6 years since i shot my last arrow. And my coach still says my from is still there, just that i need a longer bow, i have grown. And well, my upper limb extensors are still aching from 3 hrs of archery on Saturday. Spent like $40 on new equipment, not even upgrading my bow limbs to a longer one yet.

Got a new part timer at my store wa ha ha can tekan! but i being the nice guy that i am, treated her properly. teach her the ropes of being a good part timer. Experiences on the job.
Definition of the epitome of retail therapy: A guy of age mid 30s enters store. He asks what we have. The things that i point at are the things he buy. I had to stop him from buying extra stuff, i have a conscience... In the end he spent $800 but thanx to our promotion vouchers, he paid $120 less. Now that is retail therapy. lol the guy said it himself. Girls go beat that.

Work work work.

Well today is my first day at work. Retail at Raoul Hitachi towers. Standing is a norm i suppose. Steep learning curve. But think i should make it. But i end up too tired to run 10 km everynight which was wat i set out to do in the first place. Well my weekends are off! but guess what they are for: Archery. And maybea bit of a swim. i need a tan!

Pledge my loyalty to archery by suscribing to Potong Pasir CC's arcehry club, only $18 a year membership. Good now got time and place to shoot on weekends. First have to get a new bow string, my old one is a bit frayed. Maybe i'll bring my bow to Australia if i get enough kick out of it agian. Good to see Kim Chow and my coach Mr Lee again. The Marist archery club which i helped setup seems to be doing quite well. Think there is a Marist that went for SEA games.

Tai Chi. Many say it's an old man sport. But i noe other wise. Been learning that ewvery morning at 0630. So shagged. The amount i sweat from 1 hr tai chi is equivalent to running 10km. Go offline at midnight, then wake at 0630, then work from 11 to 8 pm. Late dinner. Go online for a while. and the cycle repeats.

Salsa. Hope i dun step too many feet this Wednesday. Later become serial foot stepper. No one cares if you have 2 left feet, as long as they dun go any wear near the top of their toes. Dance, maybe i actually will get happy feet.

Airticket. A reminder to people heading back to Australia. Book your tickets soon. They are going out quite fast.

Love and life. Miss Ho my first draft should be out soon i hope. Too tired to think. ;p

Cheese cake: The combined power of specialised equipment (not like the anyhow concocted euipment back in australia), my mum and my skill, i announce the successful baking of not 1 but 2 cheesecake. i conclude that my recipe always has extra for another cake. It was for my Dad's birthday! will post some pictures soon.

Camera: for those who also interested in the Panasonic FZ-50. The price is about $850 before GST: including a 512 mb card and the standard pack and 1 yr warranty.
There is a shop at Sim Lim that sells at $650 but only camera, no card, no warranty. How dodgey is that?!

Nice one...

Many thanx to Jeff for setting up THE Monash meddies blog. Hope it will stay alive and provide good sharing of information and ideas!! Go look http://monashmed2010.wordpress.com/

Well i went for my interview at Raoul, the manager said that i will have to wait for the HR department to get back to me. Once again i have to cross my fingers, getting a lil tired of doing that... Thanks to JOHAN for the intro to the job. And thios is a declaration that if i get the job i will give u a good treat. Met John coincidentally at Suntec, well Singapore is small..

Had a bout of Gastroenteritis (food poisoning), well that puts my training for tai chi and running on halt for a while. And so my own food marathon is on halt too... sigh

Sadly, i have to start doing housework again. Starting with the floors... Soon it will al come, windows (i have got too many windows, just a lil short of a glass house), curtains, the aircon, then the toilets, the garden. Well wat to do, no maid and also i am the only child and my parents arent that young anymore.

Should attempt to finish up the notes that i didnt have time to make during exams. before work starts.

So now i'm back...

Back, and the humidity is killing me slowly. Realise that i dunno what to do for the whole period till i go back. I am going back after chinese new year.

Maybe i can get a job, shoot some arrows after a 5yr hiatus from archery. Wonder if my coach still remembers me. Maybe get a attachment to a chinese physician who is my family friend for a bit of accpuncture. Definitely meet friends that i missed so much.

Hopefully, i can convince my parents to let me buy my current favourite camera

Hope section:
i hope that the landlords of my new found house in Oz with Jasmine is not a scam.
i hope that Kary's life will work out.
i hope that i will study what i did not have time to study for my exam
i hope next year i will not end up like this year where i almost not know everything towards the end of the year
i hope that i can get back my AUD$120 from excess baggage
i hope that i can get my Panasonic Fz50
i hope that my hopes and dreams come true

A Touchy issue

It's approaching th end of my trip to Melbourne this year. And i am flying back on 16th night. Houses are a bitch to find. Really proves that u will have to give some to take some.

Gossips afloat. Clear my name? for what. Maybe i dont have any real friends.

Depression: what you feel when u get hurt by someone you really care about. Affects sleep, appetite, speed of thought, speed and enthusiasm of speech.

Sometimes you think that you have the right to be angry at me for the smallest thing in the world. Probably, because i will accept you for the way you are, probably you think it will teach me a lesson. But it totally hurts, and it totally traumatises me, even though you may actually get fun from it. And i somehow wish this can never happen again, whether to severe the friendship, not speak to you when you are around so that i do not say anything wrong, or to just give up.. Words can sound harsh, but actions shatter hearts.

Why are you doing this to me my dear friend. I am disheartened, does our friendship mean nothing to you more than a game to make me depressed.

Caustic humour: a skewed form of humour that uses people around you as a stepping stone to lift yourself up as a clown. The upside: real quick and effective. Downside: considering that it uses people around you and that you insult them, you start losing them if they cant take a joke.

Untitled

For once, i do not have a title. as this post is quite random and has no particular will to inform or to educate.

WEll the paper was over so long ago, jsut got too lazy to write a post. The paper went better than expected as i did not study well. Got lucky as they did not ask stuff i did not study. Except for the histology questions.

Been looking for houses. Should be deciding which one soon. OSCEs on WEd. More practice tomorrow at Josh's house.

I feel real lousy when i get people angry.