Individually, I sincerely wish you all a very happy prosperous Year of the Dragon. Keep smiling and stay healthy!

May good luck be with you in all your endeavours, be it academic studies or business! ^_^

For singles like myself, well, good luck in search of a girlfriend or boyfriend. Hehe. 

祝福各位：身体健康、学业进步、财源广进、事事如意！

我们大家一起龙年行大运！恭喜发财！发啊！

As someone who has had taken the examination in 1997, I often emphasize this: “No doubt academic excellence is important, exam results are not everything in life. They don’t mean anything. It is not the end of the world if you don’t score well. If you buck up later, anything is possible – in terms of life achievements, you might even surpass that best student in school.”

That nasty feeling of failure can be very overwhelming, crushing one’s self-confidence. I knew it because it happened to me. I repeated once. It  took me 2 years to overcome that feeling when I was in ITE Bishan.

It is about strong will-power, I guess. You just have to pick yourself up, know your strength areas, keep on chanting to yourself, saying “I will not give up…I can do better than others the next time round.” Yes, for those who don’t score well, PLEASE DON’T GIVE UP. Reflect and learn from your mistakes, and start working on your weak areas. It is okay to take a longer time to reach your destination. Keep going. Don’t stop there. Ignore what naysayers said. Think positive.

As long as one is hungry for success, stay humble, help others as he/she perseveres, yes, he or she may not be the best performing student now during schooling years but that individual whom you perceived to be “stupid”, “lousy” or “failure for life” could become the next BIG boss or public figure some 20 years later. Nothing is absolute!

Look at Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. Need I say more?

Standing from the perspective of a former ITE graduate, I am particularly concerned or worried about top performing students becoming snobbish and too elitist in their mindset and the way how they handle people or matters. I hope my worries are unfound.

Pardon me for saying this – To me, “elitism” is a dirty word.

Nevertheless, to students who score outstanding results, this is what I would like to say: “Congratulations. You have had worked hard to deserve such good results. But never ever look down or pre-judge someone who may not have scored very good academic results like yourself. For you may not know what he or she may become in future.”

Anything is possible in this world.
Many people among us could be hidden diamonds or late-bloomers..

Our mass media should highlight more inspiring stories of latebloomers who has beaten all odds to become who they want to be.

(P.S: By the way, I’ve obtained a diploma in Mass Communications, despite my hearing handicap. I am eligible to go for further studies anytime, to improve my social mobility. Yes, university education.)

Need to buck up more when new year comes. Due to fact that I’ve just recovered from surgery, I am at home for a quiet countdown. Will be providing further updates on my 2nd cochlear implant surgery in my next few blog entries.

For now, I am definitely looking ahead to fresh challenges in the coming year. I know at the end of the year, I shall emerge a much better person than what I am now.

I wish everyone happiness, success, good health and think positively always!

Happy New Year!

岁末来临之际，此时此刻，突然想起12年前 － 2000年6月27号服兵役2nd Singapore Infantry Regiment (2SIR)， Bravo Coy Platoon 4的那班朋友。你们现在好吗？

那短短2个月经历成长的大大小小事情和遇见的人，12年后的今天，我难以忘记。I miss you guys!

LATEST!

Here’s a video snippet of the Marina Bay Singapore Countdown 2012 at midnight, December 31st. The beautiful fireworks display against the backdrop of Marina Bay Sands, was choreographed to the theme ‘Celebration of Life’, a specially commissioned musical score composed by Singapore Cultural Medallion winner, aka musician and composer – Mr Iskander Ismail, with additional vocals by soprano Khor Ai Ming and the CHIJ Primary (Toa Payoh) School children’s choir.

It lasted 8 minutes.

Enjoy!

Hongkong Countdown 2012 Fireworks @ Victoria Harbour

Taiwan Countdown 2012 Fireworks @ Taipei 101 Building

London Countdown 2012 Fireworks @ London Eye ferris wheel, River Thames, Central London

In other words, it means it is the device manufacturer’s liability, making me go through the whole process again.

Hence why should I be the one to pay for the surgical cost in this bill? 

Communicated this with the staff at Pre-Admission Counselling & Evaluation (PACE) Department at Tan Tock Seng Hospital this morning. Did the usual stuff – blood pressure, body weigh, ECG, blood test and doing a questionnaire.

Shall inform my medical social worker Mr Yeo Chee Wei again, who helped me secured the initial $50k support from hospital medifund for the previous operation on 20th April 2011.

LATEST!

Fixed an appointment with my audiologist, seeing him at the hospital on Tuesday morning (13th December 2011), to mainly discuss the above matter. Let’s see how it goes.

Flag-down fares will also go up by 20 cents across its ComfortDelGro’s fleet of 15,600 cabs, while distance fares will be increased by 2 cents. Advance booking fees will also be increased by $8 to encourage more drivers to accept such bookings. The S$3 city area surcharge, which is currently in effect between 5pm and midnight from Monday to Saturday, will be extended to included Sundays and Public Holidays as well.

Peak period surcharge, meanwhile, will be reduced from the current 35%  to 25% of the metered fare. It will, however, be extended to Sundays and Public Holidays.

Booking fees will also come down from the current S$3.50 during peak periods and S$2.50 at all other times, to S$3.30 during peak periods and S$2.30 at all other times.

The last taxi fare revision exercise was conducted in December 2007, and ComfortDelgro says it is revising its taxi fare structure “to better match supply with the ever-growing demand for taxi services in Singapore”. ComfortDelGro operates some 15,600 taxis of the 26,700 taxis on the roads here.

Well, I believe upon hearing this news, some Singaporeans would be turned off from taking taxis to taking other public transport modes such as bus or MRT train, thus likely resulting in less business for their taxi-drivers who are earning a livelihood, of which it may also translate into a negative public image, in the sense that even less Singaporeans would want to become taxi-drivers (because people may now perceive that all ComfortDelgro cabbies are bloodsuckers for money), and the problem exists?

Will ComfortDelgro Pte Ltd’s latest action create a consequence such that other taxi companies would follow suit to also raise their taxi fares? Is ComfortDelgro taking advantage of the needy unfit or immobile elderly Singaporeans today who may have no choice but to take taxis to hospitals/medical institutions? Lastly and most importantly, do the earning profits go into the pockets of taxi-drivers or the cashier tills of ComfortDelgro?

SMRT, you now better buck up. Please don’t add more public transport issues to us Singaporeans by creating more train problems. @_@”

LATEST!

It is “regrettable news” that we now hear that SMRT Taxis, the 3rd largest taxi operator company with 3,000 taxis plying on Singapore roads, is following suit, decides to revise its taxi fares as well.

This was announced on Monday 12 December 2011.

Another copycat - SMRT is raising its flag-down rates by 20 cents and 70 cents, and distance-based charges for its basic cabs by 2 cents per kilometre. Like ComfortDelGro, they also extends the peak hour surcharge to Sundays and public holidays, its operating hours on weekdays and reduced the premium from 35 to 25% of their metered fare. Also reduces its call-booking fees for basic taxis and scraps its public holiday surcharge.

“Our drivers need a more substantial level of income, not just lower costs or rental rates, in order to cope with the increasing cost of living and higher diesel prices, and continue their businesses. SMRT Taxis has to keep pace with the fare revision by other taxi operators, so that our 4,000-plus drivers will not feel deprived of a better income opportunity, and also to maintain our fleet growth.”  

– A media statement issued by SMRT

Crap. I personally feel that this may create persistence in attitude among some of the taxi-drivers we see today. These taxi drivers become picky in choosing customers in the sense that they ignore some potential ones on the roadsides (even if the taxi is available for hire), choose to flock to areas where they can pick up “rich customers who can fatten their take-home pay”.

Although it is nothing wrong for the hungry appetite for more earnings (yes…living costs in Singapore are going up), but shouldn’t Singapore cabbies treat all customers EQUAL? Customers may flag down a taxi for travelling a short distance of below 5 or 10 kilometres, but wait a minute, isn’t that decent earnings too?!?!

Ugly cabbies. Ugly taxi companies. (-_-”)

Nevertheless in my own opinion, Singapore taxi companies should always bear in mind that they are to provide affordable and accessible public transport service to all Singaporeans, be them able-bodied, disabled or the needy sick who are immobile. 

There are other MORE important things than being held accountable for profits to their stakeholders who may be too obsessed with money.

Do check out this commentary article posted on Todayonline - http://www.todayonline.com/Commentary/EDC111207-0000027/Higher-fares,-but-no-better-service?

Just like many others in USA, Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom, Australia, Hongkong and Taiwan, Singaporeans are now welcome and invited to gather their family members or friends to do this 10km morning walk at Marina Bay to show support for these kids.

For enquiries, email – singapore@chinaconcern.org

I saw him twice late last week, due to a fault in my cochlear implant device. ”Implant disconnected from coil. Reconnect to resolve”.

Melissa, from the manufacturer company came down to see me, with her equipment to do troubleshooting.

The remote assistant is working. The battery is okay. All components of the processor device is working

Guess what?

I was told yesterday that the internal implant electrode part of the cochlear implant device (inside head) is faulty. It shall be replaced with a brand-new implant model via general surgery again. The replacement is free of charge. As for the surgical cost, it should likely be able to be, again, covered by the $50k medifund support which I’ve gotten.

What a bumpy road to regain hearing. I have to endure another 15 days of hellish pain in my head.

According to my audiologist and ENT specialist doctor, such occurrences are not common but it do happens.

I said it is hellish pain. Why? It is especially so for the first 3/4 days after the surgery. Once the full anesthesic effect wears off, you will know how unbearable the PAIN is in the head (especially the operated side). That is when you will start crying for strength and endurance. Yes, I do get painkiller pills. Mild ones and strong ones.

If I ever have a son or daugher who have to go through what I am going through now, enduring such pain, crying for Papa to relieve his/her pain. Awwww…it will be so heart-breaking. I can now fully feel how parents of cochlear implant kids feel.

I need strength. I am stepping into fire again.

Operation date – Wednesday 21 December. 10.45am.

Is this another test of endurance by Heaven??? 

Had a 1-hour+ friendly chat with a German senior audiologist named Felix, of whom works in one of Europe’s leading hearing care companies, at Novena Square. I am surprised that they offer a very wide range of hearing aid products, of more than 15 brands (including Siemens Medical Instruments which I am currently using). Wow.

After performing a free hearing test on a customer, they customise specific needs of the customer according to his/her lifestyle patterns and budget range, by conducting a questionaire which may take about 20 – 30 minutes. Thereafter, a variety of hearing aids (of different brands) are selectively handpicked by the audiologist, specially for the customer. And guess what? The customer gets to pick one hearing aid of his/her choice, and take it home to try for a certain time period, without any obligation, to help make an informed decision as in which hearing-aid device the customer wants to purchase.

According to Felix, they have this belief that the potential customer, young or old, has the right to make a well-informed decision, need to understand at first hand how hearing aids work and to find a right fit before he/she decides to buy one. Hence with that rationale in mind, they allow customers to bring one hearing aid home to try, without feeling obliged to buy it. Customers have a choice to buy or not to buy hearing aid(s) offered to them.

Oh, I like that!

I might consider patronising this new hearing care centre.

For more details, do check out their website – www.kind.sg

For me, I just started to use Iphone 4 few months ago. Well, I am just an ordinary someone who distantly respects him as an individual, visionary and game changer. Steve was born a regular person just like any of us, not given anything more or less in terms of his life. At the end of the day, it was the way how he led his life that made it very different from most of us else.

In this blog entry, I hereby share the following 11 reflective life lessons written by a Singaporean motivation coach, Ms Celestine Chua on the above subject title. I resonate with the contents which she has written. I start to think about how I can apply these lessons to myself. And that includes you, my blog reader as well!

1. Life is what we make it most out of it.

Here is a quick run down of Steve Jobs’ background if you are not familiar with him:

• He was born out of wedlock, to graduate student parents who later decided to give him up for adoption.
• He was adopted and raised in a working class family. His foster father fixed cars to earn a living.
• His biological parents wanted a girl actually, not a boy.
• He dropped out of college, after only 1 semester. His highest qualification was high school.
• While he was attending Reed (his college), he would be “sleeping on the floor in friends’ rooms, returning Coke bottles for food money, and getting weekly free meals at the local Hare Krishna temple”.
• In 1985, he was fired very publicly, from the very company he founded (Apple), after losing a power struggle with the board of directors. (He would then later return as CEO (in 1997) after Apple bought over NeXT, the company Steve founded after leaving Apple.)
• In 2003, he discovered he had cancerous tumor in his pancreas. He then engaged in a long battle with cancer for the next 8 years, till his demise last Wednesday.

Most people might have thought that Steve probably had a privileged life, had a silver spoon in his mouth, and had his path to success laid out before him.

No, it wasn’t.

While he was not necessarily dealt with the best cards, it didn’t matter a single bit. Rather than complain or let himself be paralyzed by the situations, Steve made the best out of what he was given –then went to create the kind of life what he wanted, eventually becoming the CEO of one of the most valued companies in the world, a billionaire many times over, and being one of the most respected people in the world today.

Thinking mode: When life gives me a curveball, what should I do with it? Am I going to (a) sit and whine about it (b) make the best out of it or (c) throw the curveball back at life and create my home run?

Most people do (a) – these people are usually the whiners. Some people do (b) – okay, these people generally do good, but that’s about it. Few people would do (c) – these are the real true winners.

Thinking mode: We always have a choice as in how we want to live our lives. I may be hearing-impaired, perhaps I should not victimize myself because no matter how bad things may seem at the current moment, I should pause and think — there are hundreds to thousands of people out there who are far worse off than me. I should count my blessings and contribute in whatever way I could.

Happiness is not just going for what I want, but it is also about enjoying what I have now and enjoy doing.

So I think…if I can rise above what I am given, that is when I will start to soar high in life.

2. Dream big – Yes, we should go dream very big dreams.

10 years ago, Before Apple’s rise, Microsoft was the undisputed giant in the world of personal computers. Before iPod, mp3 players were known only as mp3 players. Before iTunes, it seemed almost unthinkable for anyone to pay for music online, when music piracy was so rampant. Remember Kazzaa?

Before iPhone, Nokia was the long-time market leader for mobile handsets. Before iPad, there wasn’t really a need for tablet computers – PCs and laptops seemed to do the job just fine.

In each situation, no one would have ever thought things would change so dramatically today.

So each time, with exceeding results, with each product release, Steve Jobs revolutionized the industry and created a new movement – from personal computing, to mp3 players, to music distribution, to mobile phones, to tablet computers.

Thinking mode: How can these happen? They happen because Steve allowed himself the freedom to dream big – to see beyond what was in the present, think outside the box, and to go where no one had ventured before. (Singapore students, can you think creative???)

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” – Apple’s Think Different commercial.

Do you know the concept and the rationale behind the terms mentioned?

Many Singaporeans today have little knowledge about social entrepreneurship.  In fact according to a survey done between February and March last year by the Social Enterprise Association (SEA) here in Singapore, it tells that the overall awareness of social enterprises among the survey respondents was a low 13%.

The survey also found from face-t0-face interviews that a sizeable chunk of 2,000 respondents nationwide had misconceptions about social enterprises. For example: as much as 45% of the survey respondents had this mistaken idea that social enterprises run businesses to raise funds. No no no.

And 18% of the survey respondents thought that profit-making was an objective of doing such businesses. Arghh. This is very wrong!! There are also other misconceptions such as social enteprises exist mainly to drum up publicity for commercial companies, and to encourage its employees to do community work. Erm…Not true.

As such, SEA has decided to do something about it by doing a campaign with the Ministry of Community Development, Youth & Sports (MCYS) to raise public awareness about businesses which support social causes they believe in.

What is a social enterprise?

It is a legal entity that operates in a market environment to generate revenue – not to collect donations – while also meeting a social or environmental need. It needs to have a declared social mission, for profit or for non-profit. For example: a western food restaurant which hires ex-convicts and delinquent youths to do kitchen work and food preparation.

Thank heavens, there seem to be a good level of awareness among 3/4 of the survey respondents.  7 in 10 respondents said they would be keen to patronise social enterprises if they were told of the causes they support. About 1 in 5 had patronised social enterprises before; and another 55% said they had not done so but willing to do so in the next six months.

SEA’s campaign is mainly focusing on the aspect of public education because going by the survey findings, quite a number of respondents (about 60%) said they would not buy anything from such businesses because they were unsure of what these were.

Come on, social enterprise is about helping people! I am thinking of starting one too, to help the hearing-impaired community in Singapore.

There is a current number of 68 social enterprises  being listed in SEA’s web directory.

You can check it out at its website -> http://www.seassociation.sg.

LATEST! (5 October)

This is something revolutionary. For independent workers who wish to get office space, working on your stuff without home distractions or prying eyes from the boss, and yet enjoy talking to other industry people at the same time.  I think this is especially good for social entrepreneur wannabees who have some available money to spare!

I am thinking of going for this…hmmm…because I feel that this may be “cheaper” than if one is to go for renting those full posh office suites located at Suntec City office towers.

Check out this website -> http://cowork.sg.