Paul's Fulfilling Life

Tomorrow marks the start of my self-styled revision program for the 3 ACCA papers that I will be taking. Paper 3.2 - Advanced Taxation - 7 Jun 2006 Paper 2.6 - Audit & Internal Review - 13 Jun 2006 Paper 2.4 - Financial Management & Control - 14 Jun 2006 I should be clocking 10 hour days daily with breaks and some scheduled meetings with friends in between. I hope that my efforts will not go to waste. Please don't blame me for going MIA. I will try to come in here if I have things to blog during my breaks & meetings.

Today was the day of the fire drill at my office building. It also marked the last day of my job as I will be stepping back into student life for the next 14 days. Quite a few things happened in the office today. Thanks to this drill. I just got to see how much lazier can my colleagues be when it comes to a chance NOT FOR THEM TO DO WORK. The receptionist can say because of the fire drill, I can choose not to answer any incoming office phone calls. The senior can hide behind the pantry with the manager and other colleagues, chit-chatting and having their tea break. The senior told off a client for trying to send in a set of accounts for audit without notice. Is she trying to chase away the client? It is one of our major clients and we have only served him for about 3 years. I was hoping that my LB or B was around to hear what she said to the client. I think the client must be pissed, even though she can be blur. Having the fire drill is not an excuse not for you guys not to work, as...

I was glad that the IRAS "My Tax Portal" system was up and running yesterday. I tried to efile one of the ECI for my clients. Although it was slow and some of the process redundant (that's what I feel, perhaps the NCS personnel who developed the software may want to look into this), it was alright to me. However, my boss feels that the need to go and approve the ECI after I have e-filed is a stupid double step. I think IRAS has their reasons for doing this. He was so fed up with the slowness of the system and the process that he asked me to efile all my clients' ECI using the paper forms from immediate effect. This means additional work for me without pay increment. All my effort which I have taken to co-operate with IRAS to ensure that our client lists were in order were down the drain, thanks to my boss. As he is the boss, I guess I just have to follow his instructions, but I know for sure is that IRAS may start to ban paper forms in order to encourage people to e-f...

I was quite surprised when LB asked me this question today? Why are you cutting open a ream of paper like that? I was following the centre of the wrapping of the Double A Paper as a guide to cut it. If I just anyhow tear off the wrapping, the wrapping may just stick onto the paper. Isn't she aware of such a thing?

I haven't been getting enough rest for the past two weeks. I think the exam stress is coming to me & starting to make me nervous. Had ended the Financial Management class at 6pm for the past two days, 1 hr later than the original schedule. This particular lecturer is good, just that he keep "suan" people by saying the topics are easy. I do not think so. In fact all ACCA papers have its hard parts. I think in Level 2, Financial Mgt & Audit & Internal Review are the most difficuit. After some advice & constant debate, I decided that I should be looking at the notes & question papers from past years. This lecturer has asked us to try the past 4 papers for Paper 2.4. Will do that as part of my revision. Was hoping to catch XMen 3 for relaxation, but seems like my friends are too busy with their stuff as well. Hopefully I can clear this big hurdle.

Before heading off to bed last night, mum was trying to brainwash me not to spend too much time on the Net, and study more. She was comparing my results with those of my friends & my cousin. I just feel that different people have different absorportion power, different methods of studying and different family circumstances. She was still complaining that why I did not start during my NS time, this ACCA course that I was taking. I told her my officers did not allow me to have time off to be released from camp early. I shan't go into history here, as it will make my blood boil as well. My current job started off well for the 1st year. I must say it was the honeymoon period, but not everyday was rosy but it was manageable. Coming into the 3rd year now, it seems like colleagues and bosses try to find faults, create problems for me. The fact that it is getting more & more obivious and unbearable by the day. I can't say anything much as I am the youngest there and I am not th...

Had attended to a client that was supposed to meet my boss. This guy was going to be the cause of my overtime later today. This guy was supposed to attend to a court session tomorrow and my boss had promised him that his company accounts will be ready by today, the end of his 4 week deadline. I tried to answer to his questions, after my colleague had asked me to help him. It turned out that he only wanted to see my boss and how was the status of his accounts. My boss said that the accounts was ready and asked me to do the tax computation by tonight. It came to me as a surprise as it was already 5pm. This meant that my plan to do my revision had backfired again. It looks as if like I can only start on 1 Jun, my official 2 week leave. I was so tired after the work ended at 7pm that I called a cab home. I was lucky to get a Mercedes cab to pick me up. I nearly ended up with not enough money for dinner. Thanks to the faulty ATM machine outside my office building. Fortunately, the cab that...

This message is for my fellow blogger friend, Aidah. A nice gal whom I knew recently through Darling. Although you did not know since when or how you become his No. 2, I feel that you should just drop out of this relationship. Forbidden fruit may taste delicious but it is still after all a forbidden fruit which you should not try. No matter what, we should not break up another person's happiness, just to make ourselves happy. The person may claim that he loves only you, but he is not able to promise you anything. He could be enjoying this moment, The Best of Both Worlds but I don't think he can enjoy it for long. No matter what, he will get found out. Once that happen, U will be in trouble as well, especially you are a Malay. I am sure that your mum will be upset if she knows this. Maybe your dad as well. He might just wake up from his peaceful sleep, and keep appear in your dreams to ask you to leave this guy. There are definitely better guys around the world, not just Sin...

I heard from my colleague, Q that bananas actually is a fruit that prevents cancer. I have my doubts in that, as I feel that the fruit itself is sweet & high in sugar content. Therefore, how can it be a cancer preventing agent? She also said that the calories for one banana is about half a bowl of rice. I asked her which radio program did she get those info from? She said that she got the info from Dongfang Billy, the Taiwanese Love 972FM DJ. I think this guy is talking rubbish. This could be the reason why he gotten cancer the last round. I think if he carries on spouting this kind of info over the airwaves, I think Mediacorp should take him off the airwaves, for fear that his info brings more harm than good to people. My crazy colleague is still listening to the rubbish advice, getting a bunch of bananas everday after lunch to share with us. Oh my god, hope she wakes up before she gets fatter & diabetic.

Last night, before I touched down to bed after another gruelling 7.5 hrs of revision class for the Audit class, mum was touching on some of the topics that she wrote in her letter. The ones about religion & generation gap. I told her even if I want to do things my way, I would be stopped by her, therefore nowadays I don't usually seek her advice when it comes to issues which I feel that I will be able to handle by myself. I am going 27 this year, not 7. About the religion, I told her I am badly scarred by the gal who rejected me some years back because of different religion beliefs. I personally believe that one should not take religion too seriously, otherwise, you will find yourself too immersed in it. Therefore, I told her to stop bugging me about going to those religious meetings that she was having once a month, as I am not interested, and I do not like people to come and bug me to join them for their meetings now & then. The guy who kept asking me to join the Buddhist...

I went to watch this movie after the 7.5 hour lecture of the Financial Management Paper with the scarcastic but knowledgable lecturer. The story is about the often raw relationship between David (Eric Balfour) and Leila (Lauren Lee Smith), two emotionally damaged young people living in Toronto. Each feels trapped in a bleak life, and attempts to find some kind of escape with the other. The story seems like a headless tale heading nowhere at first, but it was until David's dad passed away in his sleep & Lelia's parents filed for a divorce, the couple finally knew that what they wanted was not just sex but love and companionship. I would give this movie a 2.5 out of 5 rating. I am thinking of catching X-Men next Saturday after my class with the lecturer that I just mentioned, as he always jam a lot of things together. My brain is still processing what he went through in class today. Sianz, tomorrow Audit class. How long more can Paul go on? Yvonne was saying that I am having...

Just had a heated argument with mum over my study methods for my 3 papers. She is asking me to try out the method that my friend & cousin prescribed, which was to study from the exam questions and practise doing them straightaway, without going through the theory or how the answer is derived. I was thinking with my heart and mind about how this could work. Certainly not for a tax paper as there are laws & statutes involved and there are certain formats which needs to be followed. I also felt that theory papers need substance, as a result, the notes is a required ingredient to sucess. For the tax paper, I am only worried about these topics which I don't get to do it in my daily work. They are:- Inward & Outward Investments GST Settlements, Trust & Estate Duty Area Rep, & Non-Ordinarily Resident She was also complaining that I was not spending enough time on my books tonight. I was thinking, I was only back close to 8pm from work & there she is complaining tha...

Happy Brithday to you, Rebecca, May what you wish for come true for you & stay happy, cheerful & chatty always!!!! From: Paul

Sometime back, I wrote about a net friend of mine being pregrant suddenly. She just married to the baby's dad last month. However, since then, problems have cropped up, and she is comptemplating to annul the marriage. I advised her to think about the consequences like:- How she was going to support the baby if she was going to divorce him? Does she mind the stares from people that she is a single parent? From what I hear from her about her husband, it seems like her husband is still behaves like a swinging bachelor, asking for gals' phone number right in front of her. He could tell the gal that he is single. I think this guy is only marrying my friend out of responsibility & not love. If that's the case, why did he want to “先上车后补票" . As I asked my friend, did he even call or sms to ask if she had her meals? She said "no". I guess these are some of the issues that caused her to think about annulment. I hope the guy can show more concern to my friend & ...

After hearing what my mum & client told me, I decided to knock off early to prepare for my exams. I decided to do & try out and glad that I managed to cover 1 topic. Mum wrote me a letter on Mother's Day. I am reading it as well as typing this. I find it funny why she did that, and the points that she state in her letter, I wonder if I should fall off my chair, to laugh or to cry. Here is a summary of the points that she wrote. The letter is too long and its in Chinese, My failing of my Paper 2.4. My son is so stupid, just that he is not hardworking enough. It is not easy for me to juggle my job and study considering the work load of about 260 clients and I did try my best to study. In fact, I attended revision classes and I must say it helps. You have asked me to carry on working & studying as you said you are finding it hard to support the family with dad. I am doing what you say & you are giving me additional pressure. Why? Problems at work. I should start a diar...

I got this interesting suggestion from Yishan for preparing my upcoming exam yesterday over MSN. She was saying that since I do not have much time to prepare for my exams, I should just dive in & do the past years exam papers striaghtaway. Her reasons was :- The lecture notes are for information only. The more important thing is to get a feel of the papers, boost your morale & confidence. This is the best way to counter the busy work schedule & lack of time. I think I should try using the method, see how it goes? Anyway I taught the accounting diploma boy using his exam papers as well.

I had a long day starting from 9am today and it just ended not too long ago at 11.45pm. First thing when I woke up in the morning, I discovered that my hp was not charged. There I discovered that the switch was off. I think it was mum who off the switch as she was complaining the other day that the utilities bill had gone up by about $25 and started to off the main switches of my brother's laptop & our hp charger. I was quite tired last nite, therefore did not notice that the charger was off. Mum was to deny when I got home that she did not do it! My brother was saying that my mum was senile. Can't help but agree more. Was out to the bus stop to wait for the bus to the MRT station. Waited close to 20 mins, there was no bus in sight. I decided to take a cab there instead as this was the 1st revision lecture of the audit paper, and there was bound to be notes to be given out. After 7 hours of lecture at Starhub Centre, went to Suntec City to meet up with Yvonne. Yishan & ...

Tom Cruise, the most exciting and successful star in the world, returns to one of his signature roles, Secret Agent Ethan Hunt, in "Mission: Impossible III." In this pulse-racing, mind-bending action thriller, Hunt confronts the toughest villain he's ever faced - Owen Davian (Academy Award® winner Philip Seymour Hoffman), an international weapons and information provider with no remorse and no conscience. The film is co-written and directed by J.J. Abrams, who brings his unique blend of action, character, comedy, and drama to the franchise. The millions of loyal viewers of Abrams's landmark creations, the television series "Lost" and "Alias," know what to expect: an enthralling, intricate story with an unexpected and arresting payoff that satisfies on every level. I went to watch this show with Wendy & Richard at Cineleisure Orchard. Firstly, I will like to thank Wendy for the movie treat. The show was not bad, just that the ending was bad, as ...

P Perverse A Astonishing U Unnatural L Luscious Name / Username: Name Acronym Generator From Go-Quiz.com

The University of Blogging Presents to Paul An Honorary Bachelor of Cutting Majoring in Psychotic Ranting Signed Dr. GoQuiz.com ? Username: Blogging Degree From Go-Quiz.com

I was asked to change the dinner location by Caifeng @ Suntec City on 13 May as she had a tight budget. Since my office is not far from Suntec, It was quite easy to come up with the places that fit her budget. However, it seems that the "aeroplane flyer" seemed to have go against the place which I suggested. The AF claims that the place that I suggested, Olio Dome was over the budget. Olio Dome, a place where the ambience is good & condusive for long catch-up chats is expensive only if you take a full course dinner, which Richard, Jason & I had for last week. If a person with small appitete, I think she will be filled after having the main course & a simple drink. Yvonne was also not really happy with the AF, but not to stir up trouble, we decided that we will wait on the day itself before making a decision. P.S.: I am thinking that she may fly the plane again on Saturday. Let's just sit back & watch. Anyway if not for Caifeng and Yvonne, I don't think...

My mum was suggesting to me to let her have a look at my ACCA Paper 2.4, Financial Management & Control Paper last night. I know that she is trying to help. I am not looking down on her LCCI qualifications, but there has been loads of changes to the accounting sector in recent times and I am taking a professional qualification. Should I let her have a look at my papers? I think she will understand why it is so tough to handle now if she looks at them. I have told her about my intention to take a break too. What do you guys think?

Since Elaine and Wendy were talking about food in their blogs, I feel that I should come up with my favourite food & places as well for you guys to know me better. Mutton Soup located @ #01-73 Beach Road Hawker Centre. Yong Tau Foo @ B1-44 Beach Road Hawker Centre Ah Balling @ #01-75 Beach Road Hawker Centre Beef Noodles located at Level 1 Beach Road Hawker Centre Char Kway Teow at Level 1 Beach Road Hawker Centre Olio Dome @ Suntec City. They serve great pasta, soup & cakes. NYDC @ Suntec City. They served great baked rice & cakes The Rice Table @ Suntec City. They served good Indonesian food in small portion Soya Beancurd @ Plaza Parkroyal Hotel, Si Chuan Dou Hua Resturant. The 豆花 is not sweet, would not get diabetic. Plaza Parkroyal Coffee Terrence @ Plaza Parkroyal Hotel. Their buffet is at the high end price, but it is very good. 国俯, a steamboat resturant @ Far East Square. The food & sauce is very good. Sakae Sushi for Chawanbushim soft shell crabs, sashimi, sal...

It was a refreshing exprience for me having to be able to vote for the first time yesterday. I was lucky to be asked to go Rosyth School to vote, since it is located just next to my house. I went after having lunch with my brother. The security was tight but as I went to vote without a bag, there was no security check by the security officer. After showing my identity card to the polling officer & security officer, I was given my ballot slip after they checked my particulars against the electoral register. I indicated my choice at a special zone, before depositing my ballot paper into the ballot box. The whole process took about 7 minutes. A few interesting points to note about what I observed at the polling centre. The ballot paper had indicated the opposition party in my GRC in the first box and the PAP in the second box. If the people did not read carefully, they would have crossed or ticked the wrong box. The ballot box is not like the one showcased on TV. It is not a metal box...

I actually wanted to complete my pile of accounts for processing as quickly as possible as I will be taking my usual study break for next month. I wonder if I can actually take so long, as my lady boss has been nagging away. Thanks to her, for keeping the files away, I can't stay behind & clear my work. Met up with Rich, Jason and my brother after work at Suntec City for dinner. Jason had suggested dinner at the Rice Table Resturant, unfortunately, the tables were fully booked, so in the end, we decided on Olio Dome instead. I specially requested for the sofa seat that I had sat with Joey last month when I had dinner with her. The waitress was surprisingly friendly towards me & the guys were teasing me, and asking me to get her handphone number, but I dare not do it. I also managed to get hold of the name card of the resturant,. It was then I discovered that they have shifted their operations from Wheelock Place to Suntec. I think I will bring Krys & Rebecca to try the ...

Election is just 2 days away. I have more or less make a decision on who I would like to vote for as my MP . This election was like the usual, where there was a star in each election. Since it will be my 1st time to vote, I was hoping to attend to some political parties' rallies, but just watching the star's name been mentioned for about half of the campaign period, really put me off. It was lucky that these events have no impact on the decision that I have made, as I have made up my mind when the electoral boundaries were released.

Jason, Richard & I were supposed to catch Mission Impossible 3 this Friday with someone, however, due to some miscommunication between me & that person, that person decided to cancel the movie. Fortunately Wendy, our new blogger friend should be accepting Richard & my invitation to watch the movie on Vesak Day. It happened that both me & Richard were inviting her to watch the same movie, at the same cinema. Trust my friendship with Richard is really like close buddies, as we think on the same wavelength on this. What more to come from this from this fruitful friendship?

I will be joining my poly gal friends for dinner at this place at Suntec City Convention Centre. This place is the one that replaced the Congress Resturant. Yvonne & I must be thinking on the same wavelength, because both of us said this place together at the same time as we were on the phone. :) Having the same wavelength as the birthday gal for this month, not bad. Haha. The rest of the gals that will be joining me will be Yishan, Caifeng & Peifen. Hope the food lives up to its billing.

I just got back from the lunch. The lunch was a simple fare buffet lunch. There was still much mee goreng left after we left the centre. Perhaps the manager was expecting most of the volunteers to pop by for the lunch. I didn't get the chance to see Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, MP for the area. I think she should be busy with her campaign trail for the General Election on Saturday. Anyway it was a good time catching up with them. It just came to my mind that I forgot to ask the manager when I be getting the award. I also received some advices about my job hunt. The person feels that I should stay on & not to put my expectations so high as there are also people like me who have not been receiving salary increments for a few years. I wonder how I should react about this. My family is starting to push some financial problems to me when they know that I am only earning this much after CPF deduction. I wonder how long I can hang on. Together with the study stress that I am facing from my mum ...

I will be attending the Thanksgiving lunch for the IRAS e-filing volunteer excercise later with my brother. The lunch is organised by the e-club that I provided the service, Serangoon North e-club. I could be seeing the Member of Parliament for the area, Mrs Lim Hwee Hua as well. I always look forward to meet the people from the volunteer group, as they always have interesting things to share, & makes me forget my troubles. Will be putting up the pics later, stay tuned.