Yeah I know, I said before that I’m not interested in taking up a short-term contract job but I guess being broke during the festive season isn’t exactly fun. Moreover there’s the possibility of converting this contract to a permanent one when it expires in March. I just hope I do well enough to warrant a conversion. Of course, there are other factors to consider but I shall not delve too much into it here.

Besides landing myself a job, I also turned one year older in November. Older but certainly not wiser. This year hasn’t been a great year for me at all. I’m not sure if things will pick up in 2012 and honestly, I dare not hold my hopes too high. I just want to be happy. That’s all.

There are so many things to update but I haven’t got the time to do it. Hopefully I’ll find the time and discipline to do it over this weekend. Weekends are so precious to me now and I really miss the days when I could stay up till the wee hours to read or watch TV.

I guess it’s just too bad that money doesn’t fall from the sky.

Isn’t it nice to live a few days without having to face reality? Just like what I did in Taiwan. No need to think about my pathetic life in Singapore. Just enjoy and have fun. Quite obviously I had a great time in Taiwan. Thanks to the girls for making the trip so memorable and enjoyable. I can’t wait to go on another trip with you girls even though I know it’s difficult to plan another one in the near future. I also can’t wait to return to Taiwan. I have this belief that it’s a waste of time and money to visit a country more than once since there are so many other countries waiting for me to explore. However, I realised this doesn’t apply to Taiwan. The country’s amazing. So many things to see and do and no matter how long you stay, it doesn’t feel long enough. I wish I can visit Taiwan again. Cheap shopping, nice food and great people. What’s not to like?

Just for the record, I took more than 1,000 pictures in Taiwan. I know, I’m crazy like that. I shoot anything and everything. I promise I’ll do a trip report as soon as I can, once I sort out the pictures.

Before my trip, I also managed to complete a task for my Day Zero Project. After procrastinating for almost one year, I finally had my pair of jeans and two pairs of office pants altered to the desired length.

Back from the seamstress…

I don’t know about you but don’t you find it difficult to shop for a pair of jeans/pants that actually fit nicely? Ever since I began shopping for my own clothes fifteen (or so) years ago, I hardly ever come across a pair of pants that fit me perfectly, length-wise. They’re mostly too long for me. Now that I’ve discovered the existence of a seamstress who operates a stall in my neighbourhood, ugly fold-in leg cuffs will be a thing of the past. Hooray.

More research on Taiwan.

I think I’ve mentioned this many times before – I’m not a planner by nature. I enjoy doing it only if whatever that I’m planning is meant for myself. In that way I only need to be accountable for myself if things screw up. Makes sense? I guess that’s why I know I can’t survive in a project management role and that explains why I rejected a recent job offer.

Back to the trip, this will be my second visit to Taiwan and I’m looking forward to it. I enjoyed myself immensely when I was there about three years ago and this time we’ll also be travelling to Nantou for our homestay experience on top of our stay in Taipei. I’ll be back in Singapore on the 26th and hopefully I’ll have plenty of interesting stories and experiences to share.

It’s been so many years since I last travelled with the girls and we’ve talked about going on a trip together for the longest time. It’s really good to be able to do it with them again. So here we go, time to let our hair down and have a fantastic trip!

My new look on Twitter.

That means I’ve completed another task for my Day Zero Project. I realised it really isn’t that easy to accomplish all the tasks. As I review my list, I already see a few that are quite impossible to achieve within the next few years. Mainly because those tasks need a certain amount of money and/or level of commitment to achieve. Nevertheless, I’ll try to complete as many tasks as I possibly can.

Ultimately that’s what the project is all about, isn’t it? To make people stick to their plans and see them come to fruition. It would be perfect if I can do that.

It’s amazing how time flies even when one is busy doing nothing.

Sometimes I’d get the urge to try some baking. Yesterday was one of those days. I’ve always wanted to try making a bread and use the box of dry yeast I bought ages ago. It was originally meant for my mum but I found out she’s also a procrastinator herself. So anyway, my initial plan was to make doughnut balls but I decided to bake a bread as well since I already had the ingredients. Not to mention baking a bread is also one of the tasks in my Day Zero Project to-do-list.

I was too lazy to search for a proper recipe so I followed the one printed on the box of the dry yeast, which happened to be for brioche bread. Here are some pictures of my first bread-making experiment.

The dough was punched out (with gusto) and put aside to rest and rise.



Poof! The brioche dough doubled in size fifteen minutes later.



Hot from the oven.



Sliced and ready to be eaten.

In case you’re wondering what happened to my doughnut balls, they failed spectacularly.

The energy at the front of the stage was awesome and the experience was so different from watching the concert from afar. It made all the sweat, stuffiness, humidity and sticky bodies of other fellow concert-goers well worth it. Although I have to say I was rather pissed at one particular fat guy who planted himself next to me and sprayed his sweat all over my face at one point. Yes, squishing in the mosh pit isn’t for the faint of heart.

Nevertheless, I had a blast at the concert and here are some pictures and videos I took for your viewing pleasure. Pardon the shaky videos as it was a major challenge for me to hold the camera above my head for more than a minute at one go. You wouldn’t believe the aches and pains I acquired at various parts of the body right after the concert. Perhaps 31-year-olds really aren’t suited for such strenuous activities afterall.

It’s tad small but yes, it’s Linkin Park performing on stage alright.



Chester belting out one of their hits, with Phoenix at the back.



Another picture of Chester and Phoenix, this time with Mike at the keyboards.



Chester and Mike in shades – the epitome of awesomeness.



A shot of Mr Hahn, Brad and Mike. Brad has nice skinny legs, doesn’t he?



Throughout the gig I was trying to get a decent shot of Rob (behind the drums). This was one of the best. Pathetic, I know.



Here’s another one of Rob before he was shrouded in smoke.



 
A short footage of LP performing Lying from You. The band was awesome and so were the fans.



 
The crowd (including a deep-voiced guy) having a blast singing In the End with Mike surfing into the crowd. Everyone just surged forward to go near him, myself included. So near yet so far. Real exciting.



 
Their last song with Rob’s solo at the drums. More awesomeness. I’m not going to start swooning, I’m not going to start swooning…

In any case, I’m so psyched to see LP perform again. Can’t wait.

 
The 2011 F1 Singapore Grand Prix 3-day passes – My first F1 experience

Speaking of silly things, I really had fun hanging out with Ling and May over the past two evenings at the Singapore Grand Prix event. There were the Korean acts which left all three of us bewildered on the first night and the supposed-to-be-Shakira-but-turned-out-to-be-Shaggy performance last night. That was such a surreal experience. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d see Shaggy aka Mr Boombastic perform live. For starters, I didn’t know he had so many hits. Anyway, after this F1 experience, I’m so glad that I have the girls to do these “silly” things with. Even though they didn’t know who the acts were, they were still game enough to attend the events. I don’t know, it just makes me feel so lucky to have them as my childhood friends.

Here’s to an awesome Linkin Park performance – the perfect way to end my first F1 weekend.

Those who know me well would know that I’m not a goal-oriented person at all. I make new year resolutions but I never fulfill them. To sum it up, I suck at setting goals and achieving them. Because of that, I often feel that I’m wasting my life away doing and achieving nothing. I hope that by starting this list, I’d be able to motivate myself and actually complete the 101 tasks, no matter how trivial they may be.

I actually started drafting my list back in January but as you can see, it took me more than eight months to finalise it. It took me ages to come up with 101 tasks so trust me, it’s really not as easy as it seems. After I finally came up with 101 tasks, I had to fine-tune the list to make sure every task is realistic and feasible. Now I’m pleased to say I’m satisfied with my list and I’m ready to start my project. You can view my complete list here.

From today onwards, I’ll track my progress and update as and when I complete a task. If you’re interested (or nosy) enough, feel free to look through my list anytime. You should try it too. It’s a brilliant way to motivate yourself to achieve your personal goals.

I’ve been unemployed for four months now, although my CV reflects a longer period of inactivity due to the omission of my ill-fated stint at the three-lettered company. Up till now I still don’t know what possessed me to accept that damned job. Anyway my point is, I don’t know what I’ve been busy with. Time seems to just fly by when you’re doing nothing. Well, let’s see. I actually started on a new design for Devilishly Red but the project was abandoned after I was done with the graphics. No surprise there since I’m not an expert in coding.

I’m supposed to research and plan the itinerary for my upcoming trip to Taiwan with the girls but I’ve been too occupied combing through the various job sites to look for a job. Let me tell you, job hunting can be such a pain in the ass. I truly hope I’ll be able to stop doing it soon. Sorry girls, let me settle down first and I’ll try to continue with the research. On the job front, I’ve attended countless interviews, received a few job offers and turned all of them down. I don’t know if I’m being picky but there’s nothing wrong in choosing the job that I think is suitable for me, right? I know there’s no such thing as the Perfect Job but if the job scope/manager/environment is not ideal, I seriously don’t think it’s a good idea to take on the job. Once bitten, twice shy I guess. Sometimes I wonder if I’m being overly cautious because of my previous bad experiences. Now I’ve learned to ask questions on the management style, team dynamics within the department and culture of the company. It doesn’t hurt to be too careful I guess.

Here’s a question for all of you – If given a chance to change your profession, what would your dream job be? Think about it and share your views.

I think I’d like to be a movie critic. Or a video games tester. How cool is that?

I have cast my vote. Who will emerge as the winner? Let us all hold our breath, cross our fingers and await the results.

This election is so exciting, isn’t it?