Paul's Fulfilling Life

  It has been a while since I last blogged. Time flies as we are approaching a new year in 8 days. Work The initial job change did not turn out well and I decided to end the work relations with that employer, which gave me a lot of stress. It took me about a month and 11 job interviews after Chinese New Year to clinch this current post which I did not expect to have turned out well. My friends and family members felt this job was a form of promotion for me. Interestingly, one of my bosses was differently abled just like me and did not mind having me, another differently abled member in his team. It is also fortunate that the various departments can work hand in hand together, and most of the time, we have lunch or potluck in the office together. I would like to thank them for accepting me into the team. Working here has been fun so far despite its challenges. GUM I decided to use this acronym to describe my singing group, Singing @ K, and the community tax e-filing program ...

  It has been a while since I last blogged as I had been a little busy with my work. I am glad that my team of colleagues have been helpful in helping me to settle into the company well for the past 7 months. I certainly hope it stays this way as I hope to remain in this role for a while unless circumstances change drastically. I had the opportunity to enjoy a concert after missing out on Jacky Cheung and A-Mei concerts. I would like to thank my poly mate, Yvonne for the company at Kit Chan’s concert, which I enjoyed very much. At least, buying the concert tickets was a breeze as compared to the 2 stars mentioned above. Till the next blog post.

 It has been a while since I last blogged. Since then, I am settling well into my role, although there were some incomings and outgoings, which are common in any workplace.   I managed to catch a last glimpse of Yishun Orto before it closed on 30 June. I would like Leonard, Wendy & Michael, as without them performing at the Happiest Hour Bar & Bistro, I guess I would never go to this place, as I had not so fond memories of a nearby place during my NS days.   I did not manage to get A* Mei or Jacky Cheung concert tickets this round. It could be a sign for me to build up my savings again after an unstable 3 years on the job front. I hope to stay on this job for a while despite its lack of transport amenities and lack of shelters for rain as it is not often that you can have great teams of colleagues and bosses with whom you can get along well. I guess having a boss who is differently abled helps me to settle in well as colleagues tend to be more understandin...

 It has been a while since I last blogged. I am glad to share that I have obtained confirmation for my new job. Time flies when you are given the opportunity and the team members are very helpful at work and your boss practises what he preaches on work-life balance. I am still learning in my role as a tax supervisor. I am certainly doing okay regarding the technical aspects of the work and slowly learning the ropes of supervising and managing people. This is an art to learn, which I am overcoming daily. This job enables me to exercise as well as I need to walk about 10 to 15 into the office and out of the office every day and do at least two bus rides switch per day. Going for lunch is a 10 minutes’ walk to the canteen and back to the office. This meant that I can easily hit the 5000 steps target on the HPB app per day. Some of my friends wondered why I took up the job opportunity as working in an industrial estate was definitely tough for me with the lack of disabled-friendl...

  Seeing a friend of mine sharing about his career and volunteer journey prompted me to share mine, as I mark my 20th year in the tax industry this year. I believe most of you should have heard it. This is for the benefit of my new friends whom have walked into my life recently. After serving my NS at Sembawang Air Base as a clerk in 2003 (some of you may be wondering, how come I need to serve NS with my physical disability), job hunt was tough as the economy was affected by SARS and prospective employers were apprehensive about hiring me due to my disability, despite having a Diploma in Accountancy from one of the local polytechnics. I landed on my first job as a tax assistant in March 2003 in an international accounting firm. Although it did not work out well in the end (I left after 6 months), I am thankful to my former tax manager for giving me the good grounding and willingness to impart her knowledge to me during my stay there. This made me liking taxation even more. The next...

  Work It has been a while since I last blogged. I feel glad to say all has been going well on my job front. I am enjoying my new role as a tax supervisor in the firm. It has been great to have supportive bosses and colleagues. It is back to enjoy going to work everyday, although it means transferring 3 buses on my trip to work and vice versa, although the distance seems short on the map, it still takes about 45 minutes to get to work. My favourite route to work will be taking Service 76 from my place to Tai Seng MRT, switching to Service 62 and switching to Service 8, 90 or 151 to get to office. My knowledge of bus routes is helping me a lot in getting me to choose this route. Although it is the shortest, Service 76, is notorious for its long waiting times, so I usually end up taking Service 25, 55 or 132 and switch to Service 62 at Blk 709 or Blk 1 at Hougang Ave 2 or Hougang Ave 3. I tried switching to Service 151 once, but was stuck in a jam at Old Airport Road. This role h...

  It has been a while since I last blogged. I am close to 1.5 months into my new role and really enjoying it. This year, I continued with my service to the community, which is helping the self-employed or people who had issues filing their taxes. I would like to thank the various organisations for supporting me for this project, such as NVPC, NTUC, my friends, Lancaster & Veronica for supporting me with the necessary resources needed for the project. It has been great to have assisted about 90 pax to e-file the taxes of these people with my team of volunteers. Some of you may have known that I was sick for about 2 weeks during the course of this exercise and suggested that I should do lesser sessions from next year. I thought it was a good suggestion as it has always been a challenge to look for volunteers, especially a number of volunteers could not make it at the last minute. Let’s keep this positive vibes going as we head into April. I would like to take the opportunity ...

  It has been a while since I last blogged. The past few months have been rather stressed for me as I underwent an unsuccessful job change, that led me to throw in the towel after 2 months into the job. My mum was wondering if I was the one who is not able to adapt to the new tech in the new working environment.  Most of the colleagues were nice to me in this work place, except that for one, this person had issues to buy food for me when I asked for it. Not that I minded about she not buying food for me, cause if you can't buy for me, the most is that I sit close to the stall that I wish to patronise for the day, get the stallholder to carry the food for me and enjoy the food. The working environment looks okay initially, but as time went by, as you try to get used to the new place, you keep seeing colleagues leaving 1 by 1, including a colleague who was undergoing chemo treatment. In my 2 months there, I have seen 4 colleagues left. This sent an alert to me to check with my c...

  It has been a while since I last blogged. I have thought that a summary of the year has to be done up, like what I have done in the past few years, but settling into my new job was tough. Although I thought I have done alright as in the first month, there was not much complaint from my clients about the way I go about doing my work. I certainly did not expect all to change in my second month after a client complained about the quality of my work to my boss and I got a nasty whacking from her and my work was heavily scrutinized. The remarks that she made, although it was made closed doors were pretty nasty. It made me lose my confidence and it became a drag to go to work, but I must say this team of colleagues have been nice to work with, despite the short time working with them. They have been helping me with my food orders and asking me along for lunch most of the time, not minding that I was differently abled. I always believe that if I am not appreciated here, I would be appre...

  It has been a while since I last blogged, and almost a month since I threw in the towel. I have been recalled back to office for about 2 weeks. Some of my friends and even family members have expressed surprise that I have made the decision, after seemingly able to able to cope with the workload and able to work well with my colleagues. A few of my friends were doubting if I were making the wrong decision on this job change as they felt that my current boss has treated me well in my 1 year plus stint here. I guess this article best describes what I have been going through at the later part of my stint here. https://www.straitstimes.com/business/invest/when-workers-are-put-on-quiet-firing At the initial stage, I could feel that my confidence was slowly coming back. Little did I expect that the other colleague from the associate firm of mine, asked to work from home as he was relocating to Australia. I certainly did not expect his sudden departure, coming so close at towards th...

  It has been a while since I last blogged. I always believe that there are some things that happen for a reason. This COVID-19 pandemic has certainly taught me the need to be nimble and it is really a test of my mental strength and my capability. I have to admit that I may have made some mistakes along the way during this pandemic. However, it is only right to pick up the pieces and move on gingerly at first, before gaining confidence to move steadfastly forward. I believe that I have handled myself well, save for the mistakes that I have made. I am still paying for the mistakes that I have made in the past year. I intend to let this be a good reminder not to commit such mistakes again. I pray hard to have a good end to the year 2022 with a reset of life.

 It has been a while since I last blogged as had been busy with work. I was asked to take on more load by my boss. Not that I am against it, but at least it helped in regaining of my confidence which had been badly damaged in the past year by the multiple changes in my jobs. I hope it stays this way. Volunteer Tax Filing I was glad that the event went well, despite the demand was not as good as anticipated. I was glad that the SG Cares Portal was able to contribute a good number of volunteers for the project. I am thankful for my friend for providing his office space and staff for this project, not forgetting the assistance of several organisations and various important persons in supporting the project despite the high number of COVID-19 cases during that time. I am glad to hear that several volunteers have expressed an interest to continue volunteering for the programme if I decide to continue next year. KTV events Finally after 2 years of waiting, I was glad to resume ktv sessio...

  March has been a month filled with nice surprises, with a slight blip so far. I was surprised to have receive a WhatsApp message from Lingzhi, Capital 958FM DJ last Friday after my dinner with my friends, while on my way home on the bus. She had wanted to a radio interview cum Facebook Live with me on the personal tax filing season. It has been 3 years since I last did a radio interview with her on the same topic. I was surprised that she still kept my number. As I was on the bus, I could not talk on the phone with her, therefore I had to message her in Mandarin. It has been a while since I used hanyu pinyin on my handphone to type my messages in Mandarin. When I got home, I decided to give her a call to find out more details on the interview. After chatting with her for about half an hour, the interview was confirmed. It was a fun experience doing a live radio interview and Facebook Live for the first time. You can catch the interview on this link. Radio Interview Next...

Friends who know me would know that this month and next month would usually be my busy month as I would be involved in tax filing for those people who need the service to save them the hassle of queuing at IRAS to efile their taxes. I have been doing this since 2005, since my 1 st stint with my current company, as I feel that we should not forget what we have learnt in school. We will tend to forget what we have learnt if we do not use it often. Since IRAS stopped the filing exercise at the community centres in 2016, I have been planning this program on my own. I am fortunate that this year, a friend of mine stepped forward with an offer to let my team of volunteers use his office to assist people to efile their taxes. I am also thankful for the Giving.sg portal for helping me to form up my team of volunteers. It has not been easy forming up this team, let alone 3 teams as the recent surge in COVID-19 cases have put fear that they may be infected with COVID-19 if they are not ...

  It has been a while since I last blogged. During the period that I was down with COVID-19, I was unfortunately scammed. I shall not go into details as it was carelessness on my part and I was under medication due to my recovery from COVID-19. This incident has made me to trust people less nowadays and not to install or click on any download for unknown apps into your phone. It has been 6 months since I have been on this job. I can feel that my confidence coming back. Although it has not been really smooth, at least, I enjoyed the trust of my boss and the flexibility of working from home two days per week. My take is to take a wait and see approach before making my next move. I certainly do not want to fall back to the dark days of without a job for an extended period of time. During my CNY break, I took the opportunity to start planning for my yearly CSR program, assisting the needy self-employed persons to file their taxes. I am thankful to my friend, Jason for helping me ou...

  I am documenting down my brush with COVID-19 so that friends will not be caught by surprise if one were to catch the illness. My parents were the first in the family to be diagnosed with COVID-19 on last Friday and Saturday respectively. Both of them were eligible for the Home Care Recovery Programme as they had their primary doses and were boosted. My brother and I had received our health risk warning on Sunday. As mum was concerned that they may spread the illness to us, she requested to be cared for in a dedicated facility. I must say the execution of the MOH protocol is confusing as 1.        My mum was the only one to have a healthcare buddy caring for her needs. 2.        The trip to the dedicated facility was delayed by almost a day. We were left frustrated by the wait. 3.        ART is now the primary test and not PCR test. 4.        The TraceT...

  I had started the community tax e-filing project in 2016, after IRAS ceased the volunteer e-filing exercise quite abruptly. Armed with some support from friends and various organisations, I have managed to help quite a number of people from all walks of life with this service. I have been helping C, a self-employed person, with her personal tax matters since 2019. She had a chat with me just now, seeking advice on whether she should continue her business as the doctor found a brain tumor in her last July. She shared that she felt lost and not sure what to do. Having been through a down period of about 6 months last year, I told her she should continue with her trade wherever possible, as being active will keep her away from having negative thoughts. She also shared that she intended to do some deliveries to keep fit. I was glad that I was able to provide advice to her, having been through a rough patch myself last year. I am glad to have provided her with sound advice. Litt...

  It has been a while since I last blogged. I must say that it is indeed an unexpected year of twist and turns. Work I would have expected myself to be in the job that I have held for quite a while to go on, given the uncertainties brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, but sadly, as the Chinese saying goes, 天下没有不散的宴席 , I had to go after I was placed on no pay leave in February, just before Chinese New Year. Little did I expect that it would be a time of instability for me as I have tried my best to fit into 3 organisations within a short span of 6 months but it did not work out. I am just glad that I managed to find my mojo back in mid-August when my first boss took me back after an interview with them. It has been a great 4 and a ½ months so far.   After going through so much job changes in a year, it really changed my perspective and outlook of life. The 3 unsuccessful jobs caused my confidence to be at an all-time low. One of the jobs caused me to go into a near m...

  Today is World Mental Health Day. If you asked me two years ago, if I would have thought that I would face a mental drain this year, I would say no. But like what the title of a James Bond movie, “Never Say Never Again”, it taught me that mental health is equally important as physical health. Like what a long time ICQ/Blogger recruitment consultant friend shared with me before I started this job recently, “Take a break before you start, do not rush into it.” I am glad I took the advice and am thankful for having an understanding boss, who took me in when I was at the lowest point of my career and gave me the free hand to manage the work portfolio, thus helping me regain my confidence and faith in myself. To this, I am really thankful to my colleagues, who made me feel welcome and really assisted me when I needed it. Some of you may wonder how I managed to overcome this dark 6 months of my life. It is fortunate that I have kept my singing lessons active and my ktv interest group...

  It has been a while since I last blogged. I am glad to share that I am coping well with my current job after many false starts this year. It has been a difficult journey in the past 6 months, but I am glad to say that I am seeing light at the end of this tunnel. I must say my confidence level was at its lowest, especially at the last job that did not work out. I would like to thank my boss for giving me the opportunity to work with him again. I am happy to see that he has expanded with a new portfolio, which I am helping to manage the tax matters of the clients in this portfolio. I used to hear people say people working in corporate services firm should not stay beyond 3 years. In all of my working career, I have outlived this mantra and stayed beyond the 3 years cycle. I stayed more than 4 cycles for one of them.   You may have thought why I did not wish to move. For me, moving forward to a new career is not easy. Prospective employers will try to lower the remunerati...