Paul's Fulfilling Life

We are approaching the end of 2012 in two days time. As usual, during this time of the year, I would do my yearly review in this blog of mine. I am doing it early again this year as my ex colleague, Roy would be helping me to do some maintenance work on my PC on 31 Dec, therefore I would not have my PC with me for a few days. Typing this entry on a notebook computer would be a tiring process. The Year 2012 was a tiring year for me, but rewarding in terms of my work, volunteer work, grassroots work, but not so for friendship & family & BGR. Work This year was a tiring year for me at work as for the first time in my tenure at my company, I was so busy that I had to bring home my work on weekends to clear them since September, in order to meet the end November Form C deadline. It was not helped by the fact that one of the trusted “foreign talent” colleague resigned and my boss had entrusted me with the responsibility to hire someone to come in to replace her. Two of my frien...

The movie with Angela, Wendy & Xiuling, was an extension of my birthday celebration, which Angela was unable to make it when Xiuling & Wendy did my advance birthday celebration on 1 Dec. This was my second time that I went into the movie late, thanks to Xiuling & Angela who was rather late for the movie. I decided to play the Santa Claus with the ladies after the movie. Angela & Wendy were particularly apologetic that they did not prepare any gifts for us, and mentioned to me & Xiuling that they were be getting souvenirs for us when they are back from their holidays to Taiwan & Thailand respectively. The movie was a good laugh but I felt that the princess was singled out for some bad treatment, just like what I felt when I was the subject of bad treatment during my NS days. This was what Xiuling gave me as part of the Christmas gift exchange.   Thanks to my dear sis for the Famous Amos cookies. =) Today’s outing with the ladies allowed me to di...

The celebration was planned about a week before the birthday gal’s birthday, but in the end, the place that we wanted to go was shot down as the birthday gal was sick. In the end, Cynthia & I asked her to decide between Swensens & other places at Nex. In the end, Swensens was chosen by the birthday gal. I decided to play Santa Claus in the festive mood of giving and sharing, since it was still within the 12 days of Christmas and Cynthia & I decided among ourselves that we would buy the Chui Harn a birthday cake as our birthday gift for her, since we thought she would have everything that she wanted already. The gals decided to follow suit and do a belated Christmas gift exchange instead. My gift for the ladies was Ferraro Rocher Chocolates, while the ladies gave me these:-   Vacuum Mug from Cynthia IPhone Dock from Chui Harn – Since I am not an IPhone user, I will use the dock as a name card holder instead. =) Our birthday cake surprise for Chui Harn, Th...

I have actually invited April and her daughter, Faith to my birthday ktv on 15 Dec 2012, but it was unfortunate they were not able to make it, so I decided to meet April up for dinner on 21  Dec  as a form of catch up and her feedback on her joint birthday celebration that Jonathan & I did for her & Ah Liang in Nov. I certainly did not expect a belated birthday present from her and her chatty nature that made the dinner a long but enjoyable one. As there were some sensitive issues with regards to her personal life shared with me during the nearly 4.5 hours dinner, I am afraid that I am not able to share it here in respect of our friendship & privacy. I would like to thank her for her present which I believe that it is useful for me in my future organisation of the KTV events.

I would like to thank all my friends & colleagues for the birthday wishes on Facebook & Whatsapp. I feel so loved. =)   Not forgetting the birthday whatsapp messages from Jessie, Yvonne, Grace, Jonathan, Evelyn, Cynthia, Jazlyn, Chairman Lawerence, Shu Fang, Wendy, Jue Liang, Shareen. I really appreciate the gifts that I received this year, especially the cake done by Andrina for me and Alex. Some interesting gifts that I received this year include Man U t-shirt that is only available in HK. Thanks to Cynthia for helping me to get this, despite knowing me in such a short time. A tie from Sharon, I thought she wants to tie me down. Let’s hope her boyfriend is not jealous by this !!! A bottle of red wine from Allan A wallet, a coin pouch, a name card holder from Evelyn, Yong Jie, Ann, Raymond, Jonathan, Liang , Estella, Liang , Alex & Mandy. This also marks the 1st time that I had taken an entourage just to get my present for myse...

I was not surprised when my friend whatsapp me that the train had broken down during the evening rush hour again today. I guessed it was not a problem for me as I have stopped relying on the train service 5 years ago. The only MRT line that I usually take is the NEL as it is usually less crowded. I guess my knowledge of the bus routes come in handy, especially now, where the bus fare & train fare is calculated by distance. I remembered posting some time ago about the bus service routes that I know on my blog from both SBS Transit & SMRT buses. Here is a repost of them & an addition of some new routes or revision of routes. 7 – Bedok to Clementi 16 - Bukit Merah Int to Bedok 24 - Ang Mo Kio Int to Changi Airport (loop) 25 - Ang Mo Kio Int to Bedok Int 53 - Bishan Int to Changi Airport (loop) 54 – Bishan to New Bridge Rd 70 - Yio Chu Kang Ter to Shenton Way Ter (Day Service) 70M -Yio Chu Kang Ter to Marina Centre (loop) (Nite Service) 73 - A...

I was not surprised about the big hoo ha about the illegal strike that the group of SMRT China bus drivers caused in the past week. A few friends & taxi drivers asked for my opinion about this issue. Here is my few cents worth on the issue. I am of the view that both parties are at fault about this. Let’s dissect the issue into the drivers & the company, SMRT. The Drivers The drivers should not compared their remuneration package with their Malaysian counterparts as the Malaysian drivers are hired on a permanent basis and are not provided with lodging benefits. The Malaysian drivers do have workers’ transport provided for them, which is the same as the PRC drivers. But according to my SBS Transit bus drivers’ friends, the workers’ transport for both SMRT & SBS Transit will pick them up from the JB customs at 3.45am, and that is the only trip that the workers’ transport would make. If the driver miss it, they would have to find an alternative way to Singapore to...

It was supposed to be a birthday celebration with 4 ladies from my IRAS Volunteer friends and Grassroots Leaders friends, but Angela & Kerlyn are having their exams so it ended up with a simple celebration with me, Xiuling & Wendy. Dinner was at Jack’s Place at Nex at the suggestion of the birthday gal. The Oreo cheesecake was at the request of the birthday gal, which I got it at Four Leaves. I felt that the standard of service at the Jack’s Place at Nex needs to be improved as we had to call for our cake to be served at least twice. When Wendy had to call the service staff for the 3rd time, we were already rushing the movie and had to rush through the cake cutting until we forgotten about taking photos of the cake cutting. The standard of the desert has also dropped. It makes me wonder if I want to try Jack’s Place next time. After the dinner, it was time for movie. Since there was no “Cold War” showing at Nex, we decided to catch the animated film, Rise of The Gua...

I know I should not talk about work here, but I am just glad that my stressful period is finally over. In the end, our tax team did not manage to meet the deadline. According to my supervisor & manager, this was the 1st time in the company history that we guys have failed to meet the deadline. There are various reasons as to why we are not able to meet the deadline, but I can only say one, as the rest can only be discussed between my work mates. I would feel that the tax cases are getting more complex and time consuming due to the new Productivity & Innovation Credit measures announced in 2011. Like what my supervisor said in Mandarin, 期待明天会更好！！！