Paul's Fulfilling Life

Recently, some of you may have noticed that there are new signs at your bus stops. I feel that the new signs are slightly better as the font size are bigger, making it easier for people, especially those with bad eyesight to see better. But I thought that the short working trips of some of the bus services should be shown on the bus stop sign as well, instead of being shown as part of the information display. Just a point to highlight to any LTA or SBS Transit officer who may happen to swing by my blog, the bus stop sign at SLF Complex at Thomson Road, one of the services that serve that bus stop is stated wrongly. Service 56 does not serve that bus stop. The correct bus service should be Service 54. So far, the error has not been discovered for three days, since the sign has been put up. If any tourists or people who are waiting for Service 56, they will be surprised not to see the bus at the bus stop, but instead see Service 54. For information, both bus services starts from ...

My handphone had been hanging on me for the past few days, so I decided to head down the Samsung Service Centre to do a software upgrade. At the same time, I wanted to send my coat to the drycleaner. Went back to my old workplace, but sadly, the drycleaner that I used to frequent is no longer around at that building. Anyway, since it was nearing lunch time, I decided to head to the Army Market, aka Golden Mile Hawker Centre to have my lunch. The Yong Tau Foo stall uncle was surprised to see me as it has been close to 2 years since he last saw me. After the meal, I headed down to PS to get my handphone software done. It was a long 3 hour wait. During this time, I was busy viewing X’mas cards at Cards N Such, reading books at Times Bookshop and window shopping at Best Denki & Carrefour. Got my phone back at 5.30pm, and headed down to Hougang Mall as I remembered that there was a dry cleaning shop at Hougang Mall. I am glad that my memory has served me well. But the cost was sli...

  Here are the photos from yesterday’s movie outing with Qiqi. The first 3 photos were self taken at the cinema before the show started, while the next three was taken at Coffee Bean. Have to thank Qiqi for the photos.

This movie date was fixed 2 days before. Luckily, my friend, Qiqi was ok with the last minute arrangement, as she wanted to catch the show as well. Met up with her at Junction 8. I went to collect the tickets first, before having our lunch at Ajisen, then we caught the movie. We thought that the movie was great, although some parts were a little draggy. After the movie, we had a walk in Junction 8 before settling down at Coffee Bean for a chat, then moving about again, and having our dinner at MOS Burger. I certainly enjoyed my date today. I hope Qiqi did too. I thought the soundtrack was great and I managed to find on Youtube, so here it is.

I am actually in the midst of trying to plan for a mini gathering for my young colleagues as I feel that it will defintely improve communication between ourselves and it will defintely improve workflow. After 2 rounds of message passing, and an sms later, only 2 guy colleagues responded that they would be joining me for the dinner cum KTV. I am actually not surprised by the response though, as this is the first time that I am doing such a thing and on a personal capacity as well as my boss does not believe that such activities will improve communication between colleagues. My manager and my mum were in support that I am taking such a step to organise such activities for my colleagues, and they felt that it is good that I am using my birthday as a starting point to start it. I certainly hope for more responses coming in 3 weeks.

These 2 days had been rather eventful for me.  Here’s why. A colleague of mine had forced her way out through the lift and in her haste, nearly shoved me out of the lift, causing me to lose my balance nearly. I decided to tell my manager and other colleagues about what she did. Apparently, my colleagues are not surprised. Joined my cousins and their Taiwanese friends at $10 Club KTV.This was my first time to this KTV and 1st time singing with them. I enjoyed myself. Got my birthday present today for myself. The Man U jacket that I wanted at a 40% discount. Finally can send my coat to the cleaners for a wash.

My parents took the opportunity to have a dig at me when they were watching 企鹅爸爸today as Ann Kok’s character was going for her open university class after her employer had encouraged her to upgrade herself to take on the job as Deputy Editor. I saw it coming. They were going to nag about me not taking my ACCA again. Anyway, I know that my parents are concerned. My manager is as well and I appreciate it as well. But since my parents have not attempted a professional qualification before, they would have not know how tough it is for me to come to this stage within 4 years. I had previously set high targets for myself, thinking that I would clear the papers in 3 years, but one of the papers in the Stage 2, which I retook 5 rounds before passing it, made me change my mind about clearing within that time frame. It made me realise one thing at that time too, I was not having a life for myself, and my boss didn’t appreciate my qualification when I attained the certificate. My pay was stuck ...

My whole family and my aunties and fellow cousins were invited by my first uncle （大舅）to the coffeeshop near our place to celebrate his birthday and 3 of my cousins’ birthdays whose birthdays are all in November. Time flies, 2 of my cousins, Huiqing & Huijie are in university, while Huimin is already working at a reputable bank. It is always good to have these gatherings every now and then, otherwise we will only be meeting over during Chinese New Year. 2 of Huimin’s friends, who came from Taiwan, was rather impressed by how my uncle could gather most of us on short notice. We were split into 2 tables, where the youngsters were on the same table, while our parents were on the other table, the Elders Group table. There was something interesting that happened today too. My young cousin wore the Manchester United away kit that he bought from Thailand, while I wore the Man U white polo t-shirt that I bought recently. One relative was commenting that we really are 曼联(Man U’s name i...

Today, Jonathan, Lynn, Lance and myself were invited to Andrina’s house for a mini ktv session. We had a few surprises as we were introduced to some songs that may not be found in K Box or Partyworld. Was introduced by Lynn that Sandy Lam does this Jay song too. I feel that she does it better than Jay. Another song introduced by Lynn I guessed these songs really brought back many memories for all of us.

I was rather angry today. It took my boss to cool me down. A colleague of mine had computed the interest on director’s loan based on the data that I downloaded from the MAS website, but did not use the interest rate that I have given to her to apportion to 365 days or 12 months and just lump the interest rate into the formula to compute the interest for a short term loan. As an auditor, why is it that you are not aware that interest rate is computed on a yearly basis? The reason why I gave you the rate is that I am not sure when the director owe the company money. How dare you tell your audit partner that Paul gave me the rates, I just pluck in the figures? Why your error become my problem, when I am not the auditor? Why should I get scolded by the audit partner? Like what PCK say, please use your brain.

My boss has decided to commute part of my current year leave entitlement to pay as she figured that I may not be able to clear half of my entitlement this year, due to I am currently covering for my senior now, and my manager will be going on 2 weeks leave next month. This also means that I will be celebrating my birthday at work once again this year. The 3rd straight year that I am doing so. At first she wanted me to convert my entire entitlement into leave pay, which I felt uncomfortable with as I am hoping to restart my ACCA or tax degree or psychology course. I was glad that my request to retain part of my current year’s was granted by my boss. I guess I can understand where she was coming from. She wants us to go on holiday to enjoy ourselves by taking a break, but yet she cannot grant me since I have to cover for my senior and manager, and so she decided to pay me. She is also afraid that her son may change the company policy again. Let’s hope no more “special” stuffs come ou...

I was invited to my 3 months JC Course classmate, Jasmin for her wedding dinner which was held at Goodwood Park Hotel last night. Although it was very near my office, I had to take a cab there as it was raining heavily. I was one of the early ones to have arrived, because the rain didn’t allow me to window shop. Jasmin was certainly very happy to see me as we haven’t met for quite a while, close to 10 years, since I last met her at Ngee Ann. She was saying thanks for respnding to her “summon”, despite not meeting up for a while. I am glad to meet up with another of my classmate, Christopher as well. We were seated at the front table, so we got a chance to view the proceedings nicely. The food and service staff were great. I hereby wish the couple a happy & blissful marriage.

I am invited to one of my 3 months JC course classmate wedding dinner tomorrow. I have told her that I I would be early as the place for the dinner is within walking distance of my office. Just want to wish the couple, Jasmin & Gar Lun have a happy and blissful marriage!!!! This piece by Kenny G is dedicated to them.

I heard 2 young kids with the age ranging about 4 to 6 years old singing this song on the bus on my way home today. I thought it was cute to hear these young kids singing this song that is definitely out of their age range. And the best part is they have done it well.

I managed to get the EPL subscription done just now, with very attractive discounts given to me by Singtel when the Singtel sales person came to my house and promote the Mio Home Plan. It pays to be with the market leader as I was given:- Rental waiver for my 2 residential lines worth about $240 per year 20% off my handphone line and my brother’s handphone line Free Caller ID for one of my handphone line Free handset upgrade yearly An upgrade from 8MB plan to 10MB internet plan A suite of Mio Chinese TV channels worth $19.90 A suite of Sports Channels, inclsive of EPL, Champions League & Europa League This seems a very good deal as I get all this for about 50% of the price that what I am currently paying for all these now, after including everything. This means I will get to enjoy more sports and programmes from China, Taiwan & Korea at a lower cost.

I finally found someone to join me for this concert. Thanks Grace, my long-time net friend who is flying home from Austraila to join me for this. I can’t wait for it!!!

  I went to catch this movie after my weekly prayer session. I must say this movie is worth the ticket price. The movie is about:- Over the decades, many have prophesised that the world will end when the ancient Mayan calendar ceases on 21 December 2012. But before that occurs, the human race is bound to face natural disasters such as massive volcano eruptions, typhoons and other natural calamities. An academic researcher opens a portal into a parallel universe and makes contact with his double in order to prevent an apocalypse predicted by the ancient Mayans. I thought the show is good, although it went out of proportion in one of the scenes. I leave it for you to watch if you haven’t watch it. It talks about the world coming to an end, and what people do to get themselves saved. There are some touching moments as well. It will teach you the importance of having a family. I would give the movie 4.5/5

There were a few surprises that I had at work and over at my phone. As some of you know that this month will be my busy month as the filing deadline for filing of corporate tax returns is 30 November 2009, which is about 16 days away. Yet, my young boss took in many new clients whose financial year is in the financial year 2008 recently, and their financial statements, be it unaudited or audited were done by other CPA firms. This meant that we had to ask the clients to do the schedules for us since there was a directive from him that we need to ask client to do the schedules after the “Notes to the financial statements” fiasco not too long ago. The worst part was that the client did not know how to do the accounting schedules needed for tax purposes, and just threw the cash book to us and expected to work on the schedules using that. I wonder if the client knows the meaning of accounting schedules. Had received 2 smses from 2 friends I have not heard for quite a while. I guess bein...

Jonathan, Paul, David & Andrina   Our finger food David cutting his birthday cake from us Pics courtesy from Jas   Jas, Jonathan, Andrina and I were called upon by the birthday boy, my ex classmate, David to join him at K Suites @ Ilumia yesterday. I thought that the system is pretty cool as it is a touch screen song selection screen. Although the room is a little small, there is blanket to keep you warm and slippers to make you feel at home. We were impressed by the service rendered. David’s cake was cleared of the paper box and lighted with the candles. It is defintely better than the one at Liang Court Partyworld. Good service comes with a price. The 5 of us paid about $30 each for 2 hrs of singing, which became about 3 hrs actually. The $30 is actually inclusive of the KOD charges, food & drinks. If you will like a relaxing time and don’t mind the cost, I recommend there for you to sing.

The group had the usual KTV session at a new, but hotly requested location at Partyworld Liang Court yesterday for the 1st time, but I guess this will be the last time that we will be organising a ktv event at the Partyworld branch as the service of the branch really sucks. Here’s why. Jas had to wait for half an hour for her drink, and the waiter actually had forgotten about the order when she asked again. One of the wireless microphones in my room was faulty, no sound came out. I had to wait for half an hour to get a replacement microphone after calling for service staff. I received feedback from Rachel and Andrina that the microphones at the room were faulty too. Keith’s room had ordered a glass of beer. He was told by the waiter that the 2 glasses of drinks that he was entitled to can be changed to 1 glass of beer, yet when it was time to settle the bill, the beer was included as a chargeable item. The number of people in the 4 rooms was stated to be 24 pax in the ...

I was surprised to see a  secondary schoolmate, who managed to recognise me after 15 years today when I was on my way to the bus stop today. And through him, I managed to find out the whereabouts of my other 2 schoolmates.

I met up with my former ACCA mates , Elaine, Tammy & Peggy yesterday evening. We were actually supposed to meet up last week, but due to unforeseen circumstances, the meeting was postponed till yesterday. I was asked to choose a restaurant at Wheelock Place. I decided to choose Big O cafe after scouring around Level 2 of Wheelock Place. I am glad that the ladies enjoyed the food and the ambience of the restaurant. Apparently, they kept talking about the pictures of the dogs that was on the walls and their expriences of having dogs as pets. Besides that, we chatted about Elaine’s post wedding dinner thoughts and her upcoming honeymoon to Japan next week. Besides that, a new job for my other 2 friends, Tammy & Peggy. As their friend, I am happy for them. I would like to thank Elaine for buying us dinner and sending me home in her new car. I know she has a poor sense of direction and her GPS system is a little problematic, but I really appreciate her effort. Till we meet a...

I decided to take matters into my own hands by drafting a note to the cleaners, in Chinese & English stating that the area underneath my table needs to be cleaned. At the same time, I also highlighted this matter to the cleaners’ supervisor when I caught him at the lift lobby. He told me that if the cleaners had not done their job, please let him know again. The note, which I pasted on my dustbin did the trick. The area was clean when I was back in office the next day.

I got a shock on Monday when a friend of mine called me and said that she was in hospital. I went to visit her today. She certainly looks bad. I just hope that she will get well soon.

The store of old files was finally cleared on Monday, but my mood was fiery as there was someone in a senior post in my office can just sit on her seat and blow the trumpet & ignored what I asked her to help me tell the office cleaner to do. Please help me to tell the cleaner to vaccum the area under my table. I guess it is a simple request, but yet as one of the managing partners of the firm, you can’t even pass the message to the cleaners. You just tell the cleaner to hurry up, just because you want to be home early to avoid the Orchard Road jam on a Friday night. Where is your sense of responsibility? You are one of the partners of the firm. I am sure if you are of a sound mind, you would want to have a clean office to work in. Don’t blame the China cleaners for not doing the job, or our office is too big, anyhow do can already. Nobody will see and look into our office lah!!! You, as a partner of the firm are not playing a part. If I am like you, I can choose not to clear the ...

I finally had the opportunity to catch the web broadcast of the radio drama last weekend, after being unable to catch it on YES 933 as I will usually be working and I don’t have the habit of listening to night programmes of the station. I feel that the story is not bad. It is pretty touching. It made me catch the entire radio drama of 20 epsiodes in a day!!!

If you guys have been reading my blog recently, you would know that the auditors of my company have not been producing enough financial statements for tax provisions purposes. As a result, my boss has asked me to help to clear the store of files for the companies that has been struck off the register. Clearing the files meant that I had to take out the papers from the files and tear them into pieces for those papers that are printed on both sides and sort out those that are only printed on one side to be used as recycled paper. Clearing the store means that the files are usually quite torn and old, as a result, The staplets will be hard to take out. The files can be dusty. The papers can be stuck together and it can be hard to take out the papers for recycling & re-using  purposes as it can be difficuit to tell if both sides are printed. I was a little pissed off when my secretarial dept colleague said that I did not sort out the papers for recycling properl...