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Showing posts from February, 2009

Queens English: Do You Speak It Or Write It?

I was quite disturbed by what my boss said during the Chinese New Year period to me and my colleague about my command of the English language. It is affecting me quite a bit and it has also influenced my decision partly to take a break from my studies to focus on my job for the time being. The fear of losing my job has always been on my mind since the end of last year. This is especially so after my boss said this to me. I am not saying that my command of English is really good as I have taken my 'O Levels twice. At the first attempt, my grade was E8, while on my 2nd attempt, I only just managed to pass the paper with a grade of C6. In my 6 years in working in this line of work, this was the 1st time my letter writing has been belittled till its like a piece of worthless paper. It has affected my mood to blog as well, as I feel that I should not show my lousy English for my blog readers to read. I was asked to draft a letter by my manager today. She was surprised that I have no

That's What Friends Are For

  This song is dedicated to all my new and old friends out there. I just want to say that I value your friendship and I am glad to have all of you as my friends. Thanks for standing by me when I am in need.

Air Ticket to Taiwan For Sale

My long time net friend, Nicole, has a air ticket to Taiwan for sale. Here are the details. Dear ALL, Won this at air ticket during my Company Dinner & Dance in Nov 08, so selling it away as I don’t have planned to go Taiwan at the moment. (I nearly forgot bout it). This ticket is suitable for those whom are going Taiwan for business trip/attachment or those whom are going back to their hometown in Taiwan (for foreigners). Description and terms & conditions as below: Description: One (EVA Air) Economy Class Return Air Ticket (Singapore-Taiwan(TPE)-Singapore) Selling: at SGD 500 - 600 (negotiable) EVA Air is selling more than SGD 500++ to 600++(even now they have promotion but with added fuel & tax) Interested party please contact her thru her facebook under Nicole Ooi Thanks Terms & Conditions are as follows: 1) the ticket does not have any cash value and cannot be refunded. The ticket will not be re-issued or replaced if l

Special Offer From Reader Digest

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I got this email from my facebook friend, Jasmine, which I thought it is really good to share with my readers here. Hi Paul, This is the special Reader's Digest promotion my company is currently having. Please help me forward to as many of your colleagues or friends as you can. If can get the HR person to disseminate even better! It's a very good offer, I can vouch for that because I will be taking it up as well :) Warmest Regards Jasmine Lee If you are interested, please support my friend. I can let you have her email contact privately.

Back To Normal Weekend

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It has been about a month since I last stepped into Tampines Soka Centre, since I have been quite busy over the past month over my job, CNY & my mum. The decor of the prayer room has been changed. The carpets of the prayer room had been removed and footwear has been allowed in the prayer room. The altar has been raised by a slab, which I thought it was good as sometimes when people pray, they just accidentally bang on the altar, causing a loud sound, which can be disturbing. Some chairs have removed to allow for more walking space for people. After that, we went to visit my grandma. It has been a month since I last saw her. She looks much better now, but still wheelchair bound. It seems to be a permanent fixture already. Hope she gets well soon.

Mini KTV Session With Facebook friends

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Jonathan, Angela, I , Shu Ting, Jane & Tracy decided to meet up for a mini singing session at Party World @International Building last night to sing our stress away last night. I must say it was a fun session as most of them sung very well. Maybe it was because there wasn't so many people around in a big group. I hope all of them enjoyed themselves.

IRAS Efile Volunteer Excercise 2009

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My brother and I have received an email from IRAS with regards to be an e-file volunteer for the Year 2009.   Hi, Thank you for helping out as an e-Filing volunteer in our Volunteer e-Filing Service (VES) project 2008 last year. We are pleased to inform you that the volunteering details and sign-up is now available on our website, http://www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/page03.aspx?id=6338 Hoping to hear from you soon! Thanks & Regards Rena SOON Yang Lin Assistant Corporate Communications Officer | Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore   We have decided to sign up for the excercise once again, as we feel that it is always good to help people who are in need of help. So if you feel that you wish to help out too, please do sign at http://www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/page03.aspx?id=6338 . My brother and I will see you at The Serangoon CC if you guys are coming for help to efile your income tax on the weekends from 28 March 2009 to 12 April 2009 from 2pm to 6

Recent Updates About Me

I haven't been able to blog as much as I want to due to the following:- My peak period has started. My clients have already received their income tax return forms from IRAS since 29 Jan. It looks like IRAS is issuing tax return forms early, with the hope that taxpayers file their returns early, so that their coffers will be filled faster. Haha!!! My job may not be as safe as it looks after my colleague was shamed due to doing something that is part of our job, but our client shot our back from behind. Maybe our English is not that good, and we are not aware of the depth of the relationship between the bosses as we are only employees of the company. I know some of you are wondering how I did for my Dec ACCA paper. I am sad to say I have failed again. Thanks to the few of my friends who sent me sms of consolation on hearing my results. I was hoping for the best before going on this break to concentrate on my job as I have this fear of losing my job due to certain matters

Scarred By Love

    I wish to dedicate this blog post to one of my  friends who was badly scarred by love recently. This post also goes out to those people who were rejected by their special someone yesterday. Rejection of love is not the end of the world. Let's look forward to a better tomorrow!!!!

Changi Chalet With Facebook Friends

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I was invited by 3 of my facebook friends, Rain, Jas & Irene to go to Changi Chalet to join our group of friends for a 3 days 2 nite stay. I decided to join them as I knew that I would be quite stressed with my work as the personal tax forms have started to flow in and it would be officially the start of my peak period. I need this break to keep my mind away from the busy workload that I am facing. I must say I made the right decision as I faced some problems at work this week, but I managed to solve it with my boss & manager. My co-worker was not so lucky, but I hope she will not make a rash decision to quit the job. I was chaffeured to the chalet by YC, who was going for the event too. Although he stayed near to the chalet, he specially came to pick me up on Fri & sent me home today. I really appreciate his gesture. Sometimes it makes me feel that a nice person like him deserves something better in life. I am grateful to Jas & Rain for preparing the food for our 2

3rd Facebook Tag - Yes/ No Tag

I am tagged by my facebook friend, Kitty for this. Now, here's what you're supposed to do... And please do not spoil the Fun. Copy and paste this into your notes , delete my answers and type in your answers tag a few people Then see what happens. Kissed any one of your facebook friends? yes Been arrested? no Kissed someone you didn't like? no Slept in until 5 PM? no Fallen asleep at work/school? no Held a snake? no Ran a red light? no Been suspended from school? no Totaled your car/motorbike in an accident? no Been fired from a job? no Sang karaoke? yes Done something you told yourself you wouldn't? Yes Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? yes Caught a snowflake on your tongue? no Kissed in the rain? no Sang in the shower? Yes Sat on a rooftop? no Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes? no Broken a bone? yes Shaved your head? yes Blacked out from drinking? no Played a

Tagged On Facebook Again!!! The P Tag

I am tagged on Facebook by my KTV Group friend, Candice for this. So here it goes. Rules: It's harder than it looks! Copy to your own note, erase my answers, enter yours, and tag twenty people. Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real...nothing made up! If the person before you had the same first initial, you must use different answers. You cannot use any word twice and you can't use your name for the boy/girl name question. 1. What is your name: Paul 2. A four Letter Word: Pass 3. A boy's Name: Patrick 4. A girl's Name: Patricia 5. An occupation: Postman 6. A color: Purple 7. Something you'll wear: Purse 9. A food:Peach 10. Something found in the bathroom: Pebbles 11. A place: Pub 12. A reason for being late: Police 13. Something you'd shout: Pass 14. A movie title: Passengers 15. Something you drink: Peach Tea 16. A musical group: Play 17. An animal: Cat! P

Indecent Proposal

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I was quite surprised to come across an article about a female teacher having consensual sex with a 15 year old student today. Apparently it was the student who intitated the relationship, according to the paper. It brings me to some questions?   Is being a teacher a stressful job? This was what was said in mitigation through her lawyer that she was stressed. To me, every job is a stressful job. It is whether how you look at it. If you look at it positively, you will be happy and overcome the stress. Doesn't she know that she has to draw the line in the relationship between student and teacher? We are still in an Asian society, where such topics are considered as taboo. Why the student want to do it with her? I guess he will definitely tell his friends about the escapade he had. Some students treat this as a story or topic and share it with their friends. This not only happens to the young, but also to people around us nowadays. I feel that the world is changin

Obstacles In Having A Relationship In Singapore

The time of the year is approaching us once again this coming weekend. What day is it? The answer is Valentine's Day. I am glad that I won't be all alone as I will be joining my friends for a planned event for the weekend. It will be a good destresser for the workload that I be having for the past two weeks and divert my thoughts away from the upcoming release of my ACCA results on 16 Feb 2009. I had caught up with some of my single friends recently in one way or another. They were sharing with me about their views about having a relationship in Singapore which I thought will be good to share it here. Please note that the situations mentioned below are just some examples to illisturate the points mentioned. No names are mentioned to protect the identities. Please do not let your imagination run wild. Merger of SDU & SDS The merger was to try to enable the members of the 2 government linked organisations which specialised in matchmaking to pool their resources together

Dedicated To Nicole

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New Place for KTV

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I was invited by my new friend, Kay, whom I known through our Singing @ K Group last month to her office, the Environment Building for a singing session at their recreation club. There were 5 of us (JJ, Hubert , Yanling, Kay & myself) in this big room, meant for about 20 people. I guess it was due to everyone was still busy as it is still within the 15 day CNY period. I must say that their sound system is very good, comparable to the one that I always sing at Partyworld International Building. The songs are pretty up to date as well. I would like to thank Kay for organising the session which I felt was quite value for money at about half the price that Partyworld charges for per head. The drinks, although is mineral water is also quite cheap at $1 per bottle. Maybe this venue can be taken into consideration for the group gatherings the next round.

Love Matters

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I finally had the chance to catch this movie after missing out on the first day of CNY with my Facebook friends. It was a good stress reliver for the week as this week was very busy for me as I had to cover for my manager as she is on leave, and work was flowing in non-stop for the week. It has been a long while since I had to do 6 tax provisions at one go. But at this time of unprecedented crisis, I am definitely thankful that I am still holding on to a job. This movie is about:- "Love Matters" is a movie revolving around three main protagonists - 52-year-old Tan Bo Seng, his 17-year-old teenage son Benny and 36-year-old Jeremy, Bo Seng's 'adopted' brother - and their accidental journey in seeking and keeping love and happiness. Bo Seng (Henry Thia) who leads a routine life attempts to revive the passion with his wife Jia Li (Yeo Yann Yann). Jeremy (Jack Lim) lives a colourful life; with "Never to commit" as his motto for love. Benny (Alex Leo

Company Annual Dinner

Yesterday, I attended my company annual dinner. It was the 1st time that I have joined my colleagues for a company function. I must say I enjoyed myself, not because of the food, because I didn't have the chance to eat very much as my table had a greedy colleague who only knew only how to eat, drink water and gossip about people. I just wonder if someone could teach her some table manners? The sight of her finishing the whole plate of peanuts on her own without thinking of others makes me cringe. However, my bosses surprised me when they told me in the afternoon that there was a ktv set at the function room and they expected me to sing. When I was at the venue, I was a little scared to sing in front of about 50 people, but the sight of that colleague mentioned above, made me ate little and I wanted to avoid her, therefore I just started at her urging. Was asked to sing the video below, but didn't do it too well at first. I was asked to

Tagged On Facebook

I was tagged by Maggie & CK on Facebook. My first time doing a tag on Facebook. Shall do this on my blog and copy and paste to a Facebook note. Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you (or rather its just for fun:-) haha I am an avid blogger. I have been blogging since 2004. My blog address is www.paul1979.blogspot.com . I have appeared in newspaper articles twice before when I was in Secondary school I value my friends a lot. I value my family a lot, especially my mum. I hope to achieve my ACCA as soon as possible. I know its tough but it is hard for me to give up, having being in the mill for 5 years already. I have stayed in Brunei before. I enjoy KTV. I like music. I hate noisy enviorment, like discos. I had 2

The Nightmare Is Over

I received a call from the company that cheated me today, which is 2 months , with several phone calls & an e-mail to CASE that my cheque refund was ready for collection. I went to collect it alone this round, as I felt that I had the backing of CASE, which had helped me a lot in this epsiode. Not forgeting some of my Facebook friends, Jas, Rain, Jonathan Teo, Lawerence YX, Jonathan Lim, Johnie, Paul, Jean and of course, my long time blog friends, Wai Ling and Shionge for their support during the course of this nightmare. Let's hope the cheque is cleared by the bank in 2 working days time by my bank, before I can finally sleep well.

CNY Gathering At My House

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  My mum had asked me to invite the friends to my place that I had knew from the various facebook groups that I have joined since mid of last year. I am glad that most of my group members and the administrators of the Libraboys Group (Paul) & Singapore Facebook Singles (Michelle) were able to make it. I had tried to ask a few of my long time friends along. The unfortunate thing was only Huiyu was able to make it.   I would like to thank my mum for preparing the food, which was very nice, according to my guests. My mum had prepared fried bee hoon, fried noodles, ba kut teh, vegetables, rice and fish. My mum felt that it was more cost effective and healthy to prepare on her own rather than to order a buffet or pizza hut and waste food. I am impressed that she was able to whip up such a hearty meal for my guests that left them craving for more on the budget which I had given her and there was no wastage of food.   I also would like to thank all the people who took t