August 2008

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Love is in the air…

August 28, 2008 in Miscellaneous by somethingboutrenes | 2 comments

A young chap, aged 14, who I thought was still a little boy. My baby brother.

His favourite pastime was and is playing soccer, training for his NCC, playing with his PSP and playing some fighting or car racing game on his laptop.

This evening, I caught him reading a book. Titled. P.S I love you.

0_o

I can’t describe that look I had on my face, neither can my sister decipher it. She asked, “Eh are you surprised or amazed?”

No. I’m shocked.

Armed with my questioning skills and funneling technique that I learnt in my marketing classes. I started interrogating him.

Me: Wah…you reading this ah…

Bro: Ah… (Ignoring me)

Me: Why you reading this ah??

Bro: My friend said it’s nice. (Patronizing answers)

Me: Oooooo. Who is your friend ah? P.S I love you. Wah….so romantic….

Bro: I don’t know my friend’s name. (Wth. What a stupid lie!)

Me: (Not giving up) Ohhhhh. Girlfriend ah. Girlfriend is it??

Bro: I where got girlfriend …no no no girlfriend la. (Starting to panic)

Me: Oh. Then your friend recommended you such a nice book, you don’t know her name.

Bro: Aiya…friend la friend la.

Me: Friend only ma. Then say la say….

Bro: Estra …

Sis: Wah. Her name sounds like extra.

Me: Ooooo. Estra estra. Interesting…

Love is in the air~~

6 cm, Royal Points and CP

August 26, 2008 in Rants and Opinions by somethingboutrenes | No comments

If you have noticed, it has been a while since I last written any post. Here are some activities that kept me busy.

(1) Project 6 cm. A pile of 6 cm thick journals and literatures from my thesis advisor bundled with 2 weeks deadline on the 8th September 2008 to finish reading them and come out with the hypothesis. 0.5 cm is all that I’ve accomplished.

(2) Earning royal points to gain access to her majesty’s list of favorite slaves for future career advancements. That includes attending talks (1-2 royal points), networking sessions (2-3 royal points), workshops (2-3 royal points) and anything that she deemed important.

(3) Curriculum Practicum which involves running around the island.

Can you feel my excitement? Y..e…a…h…!….

The Investment Model to Relationship Commitment

August 18, 2008 in Rants and Opinions by somethingboutrenes | 4 comments

In today’s level 4000 marketing theory and research class. Our Prof introduced to us a model that explains the level of commitment in a relationship.

The Investment Model to Relationship Commitment

There are 4 main factors which affect one’s commitment level in a relationship, namely:-

(1) Opportunity Cost: The availability of next best alternative in the social market

(2) Sunk Cost / Investment size: The amount invested in relationship. It can be monetary (1st week/ month /year Anniversary celebration) or non-monetary (time, effort and emotions etc)

(3) Rewards / Gains: The amount of rewards gained from the relationship. It can also be monetary (That little blue box, allowance etc) or non-monetary (security, support, partner’s looks etc)

(4) Cost: The cost in maintaining the current relationship. Similarly, it can also be monetary (That VS present, meals, movie tickets) or non-monetary (time, freedom etc)

So do think about it because it does make a lot of sense and go evaluate your relationship. Hah.

Chronicles of my Hong Kong trip

August 17, 2008 in Travel by somethingboutrenes | No comments

Here are some pictures of my Hong Kong trip. I am sure that there are a lot more interesting pictures but my traveling buddy is way too busy with his life to send me the rest. Lol. Probably for him, life = love and lust? Lol. Serene. Please focus. Leave the bitching to some other day and try to focus on my interesting Hong Kong trip.

My host, Summer, is simply amazing! Daniel and she treated us as thought we are some diplomat visiting Hong Kong. Ok, I’ve exaggerated a little over here but yeah. They treated us like VIP!!

How to host your friends as though they are VIPs:-

Step 1:
Once we got off our plane, they gave us an Octopus Card each (equivalent of our Ezlink card) with cash loaded in there.

Wow Factor: wow!

Step 2:
Then they handed us a mobile phone with a local SIM card in there. This phone was mainly catered to us to stay connected with our families (It was primarily used to call Jeremiah’s “family”. Ok, Serene, stop bitching! Lol) and friends in Singapore and/or to call/sms our host in Hong Kong.

Wow Factor: Wow!!

Step 3:
Then they booked a cab for us to send us to their place.

Wow Factor: WOW!!

Step 4:
That’s not it! They paid for most of our meals and cab fares around Hong Kong.

Wow Factor: WOW WOW WOW. I was almost speechless and fainted on the spot.

Their hospitality was simply amazing and it was greatly appreciated! Thank you Daniel and Summer!

 

This picture depicts a scenario:

Me: Happily eating my food. In Singapore, most people eat their food on a plate instead of the usual bowl, at least that’s the case for me. So what I did was, used the plate and loaded a lot of food on it and started eating.

Him: Hmmm…..eh….why is it that the plate we use… there’s a dented circle on the surface?

Me: Is it?? (I knew something was wrong but I pretended as though nothing was wrong so that I won’t look like a klutz.)

Him: OMG! We are using a saucer as a plate!

Me: (Gulped) Er, that means they don’t wash it since it’s a saucer?? -_-

Him: LOL. I need to capture this moment. Let me take a picture of the initiator of using a saucer as a plate.

Wth. He also didn’t realized it lo.

 

My traveling partner is also very good at capturing my super un-glam moment as you can probably tell from the last picture. Here’s more to support my statement.

 

Overall, it was a fun trip! Great companion, great host, great food and nice city. It could have been better without the typhoon. 

August 16, 2008 in Quotes & Quotables by somethingboutrenes | No comments

I quoted this from someone from Today newspaper to my friend. Sort of trying to motivate him.

“Maybe the hump is put in front of you because to emerge triumphant at the end of the quest is just not meant to be easy.”

But he replied.

I think the hump should be replaced and the quote should go like this…

“Maybe the muthaf@%$ing mountain is put in front of you because to emerge triumphant at the end of the quest is just not meant to be easy.”

LOL.

Guaranteed Silver Medal.

August 15, 2008 in Rants and Opinions by somethingboutrenes | No comments

The winners

Most of you guys would have already heard! Singapore is guaranteed an Olympic Silver medal! Woooohooo! Our first medal since 1960 in Rome for the weightlifting category!

I was very tempted to just tell everyone that “Hey Singapore won a silver medal in Olympic! Yeah!”

But we all know that we are facing the China team on Sunday for the gold medal so there is a chance. The ball is round… Maybe, just maybe.

But deep down in there, I was thinking, “China versus China rejects” or “China A team versus China B team”. [Slap myself.]

Be positive. Think positive. These foreign talents are real talents. If not for them, I guess I won’t have been so happy writing this post anyway!

I was overjoyed and began messaging my family and friends to share this great news!

I realized that other than me and my personal ESPN (Val!) for today’s match most of my friends were indifferent. Hmph.

Here are some of the responses I’ve got…
“Wow~ Really? I thought we were on the losing end! Haha.”
“Fighting for gold? But we are up against China right! Yeah. So it’s silver for sure.”
“Yeah. I know already.”
“Ya. I heard about it.”

I realized Asians are generally more reserved when expressing their happiness? I almost wanted to shout “We won!” when I was waiting for a bus at the bus stop!

Women can't buy cucumbers…

August 14, 2008 in Rants and Opinions by somethingboutrenes | No comments

It was on the news today…

Al Qaeda is losing support in Iraq because of a brutal crackdown on activities it regards as un-Islamic – including women buying cucumbers….

They include a ban on women buying suggestively shaped vegetables….

They regarded the cucumber as male and tomato as female. Women were not allowed to buy cucumbers, only men.

What is the world becoming. Women were not allowed to buy cucumbers but…

“I saw them slaugter a nine-year-old boy like a sheep because his family didn’t pledge allegiance to them.”

but… killing of innocent civilians was allowed? URGH.

Don't work. Play instead.

August 14, 2008 in Quotes & Quotables by somethingboutrenes | 2 comments

A litigation lawyer at one of Singapore’s top law firms was invited to give a speech at a convocation ceremony this year. [Name not provided.]

Do not waste the vast majority of your life doing something you hate so that you can spend the small remainder sliver of your life in modest comfort. You may never reach that end anyway.

Resist the temptation to get a job. Instead, play. Find something you enjoy doing. Do it. Over and over again. You will become good at it for two reasons: you like it, and you do it often.

Find that pursuit that will energise you, consume you, become an obsession. Each day, you must rise with a restless enthusiasm. If you don’t, you are working.

Friendship with me is like…

August 12, 2008 in Myself and I by somethingboutrenes | No comments

Abstracted from www.serene-tan.com.

August 12, 2008 in Miscellaneous by somethingboutrenes | No comments

I’ve got a genius friend. His GMAT score is in the 98 percentile. That means that he’s in the top 2 %. I’m totally proud to be his friend! Going to send my kids to the university that he will be lecturing in! hahaha.

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