Paul's Fulfilling Life

Today was the day of the ktv session of the group that I am an event organiser. Although I was only in charge of the liaison work for this round, my phone was filled with smses from people who wanted to join the event, but only had my number, but not Jonathan’s number. This session had a few differences from the previous ones. For the 1st time in our 2 years in organising, it rained. For the 1st time, we had opened a room later just to cater to the latecomers. The room ended later as well. I would like to thank Andrew of Partyworld International Building for making this possible.   I was in the same room as Estella, Cindy, Chin Long, John & Rachel. I was asked to duet this song with Estella. This was only the 3rd time I sang this song today. I hope I can do better. I know she is a little disappointed that I nearly spoiled the feel of the song. I tried out this song for the 1st time, after seeing my friend posting this song on Facebook yesterday. I guess ...

Picture from Man U website I was thinking about whether I should get this jersey since my mum had been complaining that my wardrobe was starting to look a little like a soccer jersey cupboard. But I really liked the design and my friend, Yani had already reserved for me and had given me a good discounted price, so I got it. Thanks Yani for assisting me in getting it

Today marked the 1st time that IRAS made my blood boil with their service in about my 6.5 years of working in the tax professional industry. This made me write a long complaint email, which my boss and manager thought that it was very well written and allowed me to send it out without any amendments. The email achieved its desired impact as the Quality Service Division Manager called me within half an hour with a reply that she will carry out a thorough review of the process. I am sorry that I am not able to share the details of what actually happened and the contents of the letter that I wrote as it has some confidential information about my client. I do hope that IRAS does some refinements to their administrative procedures soon.

Picture courtesy from East Ocean Teochew Restaurant website I felt that I should show my appreciation to my bosses, who agreed to certify my application to SATP. Therefore with my mum’s blessings, I decided to give them 2 boxes of mooncakes as appreciation. I had to thank my mum for helping me carry the 4 boxes of mooncakes (2 of which for my colleagues). I certainly do not want my colleagues to have the feeling that I am being stingy and like to “curry favour” my boss. My boss had asked me why I had given her the mooncakes. I just told her that she has treated me well, & I should thank her for that. I was surprised that she gave me a box of mooncake in return. I guess she was just following the Chinese tradition of “礼尚往来。

This was the question I was tempted to ask my young boss who kept pressing me about the status for one of our client’s tax matters. Apparently, the company has applied to be struck off to ACRA, but IRAS has not finalised its tax matters, therefore the striking off was held back. He had been bugging me before his parents (who were in Japan for holiday) on a daily basis. It is very frustrating to be chased upon something not within my control, especially with stuff involving dealing with government bodies. I was rather fed up with all the chasing that I decided to let his mum know about what happened when she stepped into office on Wednesday. I was enlightened by the fact that a company need not seek tax clearance when they apply for strike off nowadays. Finally, my ears can have peace from all the chasing. 

Today was a day where I had to try some places and some things for the 1st time. Met up with my fellow volunteer friend, Wendy to pass her the course brochures she had asked me to get for her. I met her at Nebo Cafe at AMK Hub. This was my 1st time stepping into this game cafe. Since I had lunch before that, I ordered calamari, lime soda float & blueberry sundae, while Wendy had a main course as she didn’t had her lunch. Poor gal, she has only about 9 days with her company, yet she is still being asked to go beyond official working hours. I hope with the brochures on hand, she would be able to make a good choice on what she wishes to take in 2 years time. I was asked by my dad to join him for this concert at The Esplanade in the evening. This also marks the 1st time that I was trying out the Circle Line. However, the station was still about 15 minutes walk away from Esplanade Concert Hall. The performance, by choir groups from Singapore, Malaysia & China was rathe...

Most of you do know that I have been working in a CPA firm as a tax personnel for quite a while. As a result, trying my best to claim deduction for certain expenses, which of my viewpoint may be deductible as the expenses are for trade purposes, but IRAS may not allow it, as they are of the viewpoint that the expenses are not part of the nature of the business. Recently, a relatively new audit senior and new audit partner have left me stumped about how they treated a bad debt. They just treated the bad debt expense as an allowable expense, without consulting us what are the tax implications. The audit senior had the cheek to say that the new audit partner had said that the debts that are not collected within the stipulated should be written off. I was thinking if the new accounting standards are making life hard for us as tax personnel

前天，我刚接到我的老舅母的死讯。我感到非常意外。因为，我还记得在新年时到她家拜年，想不到她就这样，因为跌倒中风，经过几天的抢救后，还是无效，就这样先走了。 人生短短几十年。我们应该好好珍惜我们身边的每个人，去达成我们的梦想，不要一直在等，因为时间匆匆流逝，从不等人。我们应该想做就做！！！ 老舅母，请你安息！！！

I had decided to give my bosses, colleagues, ex bosses & ex colleagues mooncakes as a token of appreciation for helping me with my application to the SIATP by certifying my application & assisting me by writing my testimonials . Picture taken from East Ocean Teochew Restaurant The application is currently in process. I was told that the application process takes about 2 months to complete. Hope these people who have received the mooncakes from me liked them. Although it has set me back a little, but this is just my way to express my thanks.

My bosses and I have applied to be part of this organisation recently. My manager and supervisor had been asked by my boss to join the organisation as well. I was wondering why my boss had done this. I got to know from my co-worker that my young boss was trying to hire one of his friends to join us in the tax department. His mum was against the idea, as she was afraid that the new person may overstep us, so decided against it. Now I know why my bosses asked us to join the organisation already.

I was invited to the Yamaha Grand Piano Fair by my Foodie Club friend, Dorothy, who is a piano teacher and was performing as part of a new piano launch. I was asked to be the photographer, together with James. I felt that it was a good performance after all, although there were some hiccups between. After that it was dinner at Charly. The food was great and filling. Thanks James for organising it for us. It was great to catch up with the Foodie Club & Piano Teachers Club members

I think I must have covered the length of Singapore today as it was a packed schedule on a hot Saturday. I was asked by my mum to accompany her to visit my grandma & to Tampines Soka Centre for a praying session. This was something that I have not done for the past 1.5 months as I have been quite busy. It was great to see grandma in good spirits today. I was disturbed by what she asked me during our conversation. How much did I earn per month? Do I have a girlfriend? I think I have the answer for the 1st question, but I don’t think I would want to post it here as some of my relatives do read my blog. As for the second question, it was easy to answer. A simple no & the anticipated barrage of questions came, but I was glad I was able to answer them. Mum and I left the old folks’ home as a relative had angered us with what she said. Again, I shall not post what she said, for the same reason as mentioned above and I don’t want to grow old faster, by getting angry ...

Pic courtesy of Emi Cakes I was invited to Andrina’s house for a KTV session with Jonathan Teo, Jonathan Ya, Jas, Alex & Lance. At first, she didn’t wish to let anyone of us know that it was her birthday today, but I guess since everyone of us in the group has Facebook, so they are bound to know.   I kicked off this song that I got to know from Wong, a member from my ktv group. First time trying this song. I think I can do better. Jonathan Ya did this song. This song brought back some memories and tears for me as it was my deceased NS buddy, Jason  favourite song in Cantonese.   This song can’t be found in any KTV in Singapore, but I heard it at Andrina’s  house today. I think its a meaningful song.   The birthday gal did this song & I thought it was very well done. :-) I did this duet with Jas. My first time doing this song, but I think I could not catch the tune. :( After the marathon session, I went for dinner with...

Recently, I had two friends who had been trying to look for a job. One of them is seeking greener pastures, while the other had been jobless for quite a while. Both of them share a common thought. They had asked me to help them to fine tune their resume for them. I was cracking my head hard enough to help the both of them, even though I had known both of them for only a short time. I liked one of the resumes that I was asked to review. It was very impressive, even though this friend of mine was younger than me. I only had to fine tune a little, whereas the other, was rather wordy & had too many jobs. If you were me, whose resume would you choose?

I had only received Elaine’s sms that she had given birth a baby boy, Gylan when I got off the bus at Far East Plaza this morning. Apparently Baby Gylan arrived in this world late last night. Since it was too short of a notice for me to order a hamper, since she could not confirm her ward number and bed number as the hospital, she was in, Thomson Medical Centre was packed with expectant mums. She was housed in the Day Surgery Centre. It was not until the early afternoon then she was able to confirm her ward & bed number. I tried to get Tammy & Peggy to join me but they had prior appointments. They asked me to send my regards to her and get for her something. It was hard to get something within a short notice. Eventually I got her a hamper. as shown in the photo above from the hamper shop located at the ground level of the hospital. I must compliment the shopkeeper. Her service was excellent. On seeing that I may have difficulty carrying the hamper up, she offered to send...

I finally received the anticipated testimonial from my ex-employer finally yesterday. With that, I was finally able to proceed with my application to the Singapore Institute of Accredited Tax Professionals. I was a little surprised that good words were written for my testimonial, as I didn’t enjoy the good rapport with my colleagues as much as now. Mum was saying I should always learn to think that people has a good heart, instead of having doubts about people’s intentions & thoughts. I told her it is very hard for me to trust people again, after being many people betrayed my trust, and took me for granted at times. Let’s hope my application will be successful.

I met up with my IRAS VES Volunteer friend, Wendy for lunch today. The meet up was hastily arranged by her as she had sought my advice on her plans to hunt for a job. Apparently, she met by some problems with her work and the problems have escalated to a stage that she has decided that her work place is no longer suitable for her to stay on. I shall not elaborate further, as I don’t think it will be right for me to share it here, due to she is still working in the company and I am just worried that someone from her company may just read this post. At her request, we had lunch at Junction 8 Pastamania for lunch before she asked me if I was interested to catch this movie. I was alright with it. The movie was quite okay, although it did not meet our expectations, but it was quite funny. After the movie, we went to the photocopy shop to get her educational certificates and ECA certificates photocopied. The shopkeeper made a mess of all her certificates that we have to spend about 2...

I needed to get my testimonial from my ex-employer for my application to the Singapore Institute of Accredited Tax Professionals. I have decided to join the organisation after my bosses decided to certify my application to the organisation. They have also asked me to adopt a more relaxed approach towards ACCA since I do not really need it as taxation is my interest and also my bread and butter. This was also the advice given by my friends, who knew that I was really struggling with the last 4 Professional Stage Papers. I was a little frustrated that the testimonial never came despite me leaving 2 messages with my ex-colleagues. On the 3rd time, I decided to call my ex-colleague, Q to ask her to remind my ex-bosses again. To my surprise, she said she was aware that I have requested for the testimonial, as my 2 other colleagues had broadcasted that I needed it for some form of job application. This is a white lie in order for me to get my testimonial. The next day, my ex-colleague call...