SUCCESSFUL LIVING

"Successful Living" What really does it mean? I dont know.

Why such a heavy-weight term cross my way!!!Ummm...I guess I have read too much about the who & who of Steel Magnets and the sort of who and who is sitting on the multi-billions vaults and how they spent lavishly on their sons & daughters' weddings. Chartering Bill Clinton, Naomi in and out of town with their private jets.

And this afternoon, watching the travelogues on cables is also one of the points. The host going around the globe showcasing the exotic locations and suites room that cost my few months pay. I remember what I was thinking at that time. " Who the hell on earth would be staying those extravagant, luxurious rooms" And I count my fingers. Umm... as if I were the only one that could not afford..then I was wishing and dreaming till I am thinking of what to write here.

Not trouble myself enough, I googled "Fashion & Style". I skipped past all things Italian and big names. I clicked on DIESEL thinking it could be within my reach and it's not as difficult to pronounce as Italian. Oh my!!! Then there I was bombarded with creative ads campaigns and tag. And they even have a guide for successful living! Well before we go deep into what really "Successful Living" is, let's take a look at their beautiful Ads..I dont know for the rest of you, but for me the more I look at those Ads the more I know I am no talent to be a creative soul and giving up my hidden passion to work in that field..

Can anyone tell me what is your take on "Successful Living"?

Is that the kind of life the rich and the famous are leading? Bill Gates and alike?
Being handsome, sexy, famous? Like Brad Pitt?
Having a well paid job, living in a condo, zipping around town in Top-Down machine?
Or just having a fit and healthy bods dressing like commoners and having a beautiful girl friend will do to fit the bill?
Or do I need to possess all of these to have a successful living?
I know this question is kind of shallow and out of sense but I just cant think of anything else. " HELP"




Umm.. tonight I am gotta try hard to fall asleep and need someone to pull me out of bed like in the photo below..

Company D&D, & MY NIGHT OUT

Yesterday's our company D&D(Supposingly, Dinner and Dance). Food is nothing extraordinary though Beer and soft drinks were free flow. Engaging MC made us moving, shouting and we did had great night.
[A Malaysian Band Belting out Jazz & Blues' Songs, I would like to catch their performances again in future]
[This is the first course of dishes and the waiters & waiteresses performing a syncronizing act with a tune before serving us, COOL MOVES]
[Jane's sweet and glamorous]



[The Band Members mingled with the crowds]



[Paul's giving his best performance to win us points but was not good enough for the judge]


After games, lucky draws it's almost 1 am and MC announced it's dancing time. But the ambience was not conducive to move anyone to the dance floor.We came out to reception and chatted for a few minutes and parted our way. As planned, I waited for a friend to come pick me up for a midnight show and after that went for drinking for a while.
[While waiting for my buddy, I walked around Suntec and spotted few cool watering holes here.After movie, I ended up drinking here]

My god! I am getting fatter day by day. I truely believe now that age and fat come together for a man. The intensity of my workout doesn't mean anything to the speed of the fat growing. I know I neglect my diet and junk foods, soft drinks are all that I eat these day. Oh no.. gotta be strict to myself a bit harder.

JOKE OF THE DAY! MARRIAGE PROBLEM

A young man and his wife were having marriage problems and decided to end their union after a very short time together.
After a brief attempt to reconcile, the couple went to court seeking a divorce.
The judge asks the young husband, "What has brought you to the point that you feel you are not able to keep this marriage together?"
The husband answers, "Your Honour, in the six weeks I have been married, we have been unable to agree on a single thing."
His wife says, "Seven weeks."
(Source: Maxim,UK Online)

Personal Note: Well, after reading the above joke and recalling those ADS(roses & chocolates for Valentine) in recent days, I got a second thought whether to post this jokes or not. Why? Ya..the valentine day's just around the corner and dont you think that I should post something lovey dovey!
Well! guys take it as a joke. Dont let it dampen your mood to celebrate V-DAY with your sweetest ones. Buy present for your guy, ladies and guys, roses for your ladies.
For those who are ocean apart, a call would sweeten your relationship and a card or an e-card would do wonders.
[William Shakespeare:Love sought is good, but giv'n unsought is better.]

FAREWELL DINNER TO APOLLO & SIM

I dont know whether I should rename my blog "DINING TABLE". Time and again, most of the photos are all about eating. Well, can't be help. To bid someone close goodbye and to have a memorable time together for the last time, eating and talking is the best thing I guess. Indeed, we had a good time together last night.

Sim is not from our Department but being a friendly and nice chap with ever-smiling face, he's close to a whole bunch of us.

Apollo,an architect by training is my CAD Operator.He who supported me and is a great help for the past one year is now leaving us to pursue his career as an architect. SO this blog is a tribute to 2 of you and on behalf of our team, we will sure miss you guys.

After much brainstorming, we chose the most convenient place for all of us nearby. "Sakura" @ Downtown East. It's a buffet and $24 per head. It's a good deal for a good meal, really. Comparable to some hotels' buffet or I would say even better in terms of variety with its tag.

Apollo & Ko San Wynn, 2 of our dedicated CAD Operators cum assistant designers posting for my blog while waiting for the rest to come.
Seeing that I am taking a shot at Apollo and Wynn, the older chaps also did not want to be left out. So here, we go....stairsway to Heaven..oops sorry.. to Sakura.





My Fav. of the night..why? they told me it's a booster.. haha...was really it.
Tempting Right! But I didn't really touch it as it's so beautiful to look at.

Well, look at us! We had joy, we had fun. It's a farewell dinner. Sim, Apollo! All the best and we will keep in touch. The weather was good and the rain was falling. Sure did I had a sound sleep.

VISA & MYANMAR PASSPORT

Do you know how many countries a Myanmar Passport Holder can visit without entry visa? I thought none until I read a report by a Zurich based firm Henley & Partners AG and which claimed to be the 1st global ranking showing international freedom of travel.

Umm... not as bad as we fare ahead of Afganistan, rank 195 with its citizen allowed travel to 12 countries without visa and Iran, 14 countries. So guess what! we could visit 15 countries( no idea which countries are)..

Denmark, Finland and US top the list with 130 countries, visa free entry and followed by Germany, Ireland & Sweden which their citizens could enter 129 countries without a visa.

Singapore fares far better than its ASEAN counterparts with 122 countries, rank 22. Amazing! Not because I am living and working down here and I said "Amazing". A City State, a small dot on the world map has come this far in international arena, I am really proud of its mighty. It puts all its larger counterparts to shame not just in this VISA power but many other aspects.

Well to conclude, Malaysia (22nd), Brunei (37th), Philippines (125th) and Indonesia (137th).

And I dont know whether it's related to this travel restriction, when I visited a friend's house warming ceremony last Sunday I overheard many of our classmates became Singapore Citizens. I wonder!

(Quote : Today, Feb 9, 2006)

EURO & MYANMAR

This topic's not in my interests ' list nor never it's my cuppa. But just to register a trading currency swtich and its formal declaration from Myanmar Ministry of Finance and Revenue.

The report went on saying that besides EURO, Japan Yen and Singapore Dollars could be used if the trading partners agree.

From my personal point of view, we could expect Chinese Yuan on the list soon giving the fact, how the relationship between the two countries bloomed over the years.

BOARDROOM 3- STRATEGIES TO STAY EMPLOYED

Life long employment is a thing of the past. Job market is very volatile. In the past, we used to think public sector is very secured and a safe nest for long term employment. But no more. We are very aware that most of the Singapore preferred employers(public sectors) are shifting and practicing towards contract based employment terms. 2 years. 3 years. Fixed Term. Renewable. Very common in jobs classified these days. It's rather bothering. Last year I was surprised to see a close associate from a Public Department flipping classified during our lunch break. " Hey! Thinking of quitting and joining public sector like us? I asked him and told him to give up the idea. I shared with him how tough to stay afloat and the stress that we were having in order to please the bosses. The hard works that we put in Vs the recognition, the appreciation that we got...Well..I sat him down and shared the insight of private sectors' employee life. And if you happened to work in family run SME's ..God Bless You.( not all are bad but generally speaking...)

After doing SWOT (Strength, weakness, Opportunities & Threat) analysis with me and a frank discussion he confided that he was on a 3 years contract.
" Sean..You may think that we public servant are very prized to be one and very secured" "Now my contract is expiring in 5 months time but there is no talk that my contract would be renewed" And he went on saying he was in a dilemma as to whether to look for jobs or just wait and see. Apparently he tried to apply for some jobs in order to reduce his fear factors. Frighten he was. " I applied no less than 15 jobs in 3 months but the response was so negative" Well today he is happily working for a local MNC on permanent terms. What I want to say here is... the fear of being a term contracted worker.

Nowadays, Big Coporations are leading the way in terms of cost cutting, streamlining, restructuring or reengineering to stay competitive. Whatever the big and fabulous jargon,the bottom line cost is cuttin here, cost cutting there.So wages are being repackaged. Less AWS. Less Benefits and I think the worst is still to come.

I dont really know what the real reasons of creating contract employment are but my personal guess is that it's part of a strategy in maintaining the operating overhead LOW or rather from going up over the years. A contracted worker is paid a fixed package and no incremental. So if he or she is good, the contract can be renew with a minimum impact on costs. So even the workeks stay on for 10 years it doesn't matter much.

Well well...Guys be positive and we just do what we could do...Right! So here you go..Employers have their strategies to be competitive. So do we

The Strategies to stay employed..Add value to yourself.add value to your organization.

- Go extra mile for a customer or keep in touch with your customers as a way of building and maintaining relationships.
- Develop more ideas for saving money for the company.
- Stop problems before it turns out into catastrophe.
- Anticipate the needs of your boss.
- Teach someone a new skill.
- Volunteer for Leadership Opportunities.
- Develop and enhance your reputation for reliability.
- Seek new skills and learning opportunities.
- Be adaptable and embrace change.
- Make your boss look good by helping him accomplish his/her performance objectives.

Guys... Not difficult to do right. So look out for opportunities and be flexible. Add value to yourself and you will be a happy one..

All The Best

Boardroom 2 - Are you at the right place? Take a wake-up Test

This is Boardroom series and as i said before this is gonna be something corporate. Something about career and sort of.

And it's just coincident that Chinese New Year's just over. Some people had got their expected big fat bonus.Some got less than what they expected.And it's the time that those waiting to make a move to new organizations, throwing in resignation letter. So basically this is the most happening and hopeful time for job hoppers or rather those seeking greener turfs.

So I have here with me something I want to share that I come across from an article, by Denise Wright,a certified coach and personal development speaker. Ask yourself " Are you stuck in a rut?" And see what you should do? stay put or go for a new high?

- You're bored.
- You feel undervalued or underappreciated at work?
- You're working longer and longer hours at the expense of everyone at home?
- Something is wrong but you're not sure what it is.
- You rather be doing something else, but you're not sure what that is.
- You finf yourself procastinating at work.
- You're spending more times daydreaming about your ideal job rahter than working the one you currently have.
- You constantly feel tired at work.
- You feel grumpy at work all day and when you go home you feels at if you accomplished nothing.
- You comtemplate calling in sick or finding some other excuses not to be in the office almost on a daily basis.
- You'd like to work for yourself, but "security" keeps you where you are.

His advice to anyone in this position is to decide if the pain of staying in this current position is greater than the pain of venturing into the unknown alternative. "If you have a fairly cushy job with a good pay and you're bored, the environment may not be the right one fpr change", he advises.

But the biggest goal, whatever your case, is to live what he calls, "a life of alignment," "Happiness, money, satisfaction tend to fall into place when you live a life of alignment." He says.

A key test he uses to help people decide if they are in the right place for them is the wake-up test. Ask yourself.Are you excited when you wake up every morning to go to work? If not, it's time for a change. He observes " who knows, if you leave your security to do something you like, you could actually end uo making more money".

Guys! what do you think? Quite true and his talks really make me pondered for awhile. I did a wake-up test for myself and the result is, I have to stay where I am. I have a lot more to pick up from the current place and according to my career ambition.

THE REASON NOT TO STAY BACK LATE AT WORK

After chanced upon the following mail message in my mail box, I packed up and came home. Haha... not really because of this message.Just that today is 1st day at work after a few days break and felt too tired as last night couldn't fall asleep. Tossing and turning around and it's time to get up and go to work.

A friend came to look at the spare room that I have.He's joining us and want to see what else he needs to get before moving in. After that we went to the nearby coffee shop and had my dinner. And as usual, a beer or two. Sorry Nyi Lay Maung Zaw, I happened to drink again but just a little bit. Not that I dont heed your advice ok!I know you mean well and appreciate it much for your kind advice.

As my gtalk(Google Talk) logged on automatically, I glanced through and found Thiha's there. We talked for few words and he diasppeared. I dont know I got the feeling that he's avoiding me. He said because the connection's bad and he's busy studying. Half way through the conversation and suddenly he's offline. I just wish I am wrong and that his reasons are true.

That's one reason I dont like to use msn or yahoo messengers. And I didn't use it after a trial. Being connected with friends all the time is good but there's also a flipside of it.I think it's kind of serious if it's not handled well.

Nowadays, whether you are at home or at work we have the habits of switching on our PCs. We can see our friends from those messengers and vice versa. We are aware of their presence and likewise. But at that moment, if they sent you Instant Message(IM) and happened that you were busy with your work, you couldn't hit them back " Hello" they would think otherwise. Worse still, if they're not in a good mood and wanna vent their frustration.Or rather you wanna do so. You felt negelected and he /she did not want to talk to you. Or negatively think that they are having a good time chatting with someone else. I personally have to explain it few times. So that's why I dont use anything program like Yahoo or MSN messenger and ICQ that enable IM to avoid losing friends unnecessarily. I dont want my privacy and my right being intruded all the time and neither I want to do it to my friends'.

And you may asked why I used google talk(Gtalk)? Just recently I found out there's a myanmar chatroom that I could chat with my fellow people. I did and I found new friends. And that Myanmar Chatroom, I guess, was hosted by miserable server. Unstable and sometimes impossible for you to log in. You may be booted out thousand times and hence gtalk is the only source(I said the only source)that I could get in touch with my dear new friends.

So dear little brothers and sisters (some of you, I may have told you), let just be frank with each other. We may see each other on that little window. But that doesn't mean you have to talk to me. If I see you, I will come say " Hello" and if I can't talk to you at that time I will just greet you "hello" and tell you that I am busy or whatever ok! and just ignore me if you are not free to hit back with "hello". I will understand that you are busy.Need not to log off.

And I think Gtalk is a very good. Make use of it and put a "Custom Message" there. Nyi Aung Zaw well done. It should be that way. you go "Can't chat now, busy" . Short and sharp.