Peranakan DudePeranakan DudeWired rants of a Singapore-born professional consultant, writer and philosopher Articles
I don't need nobody's permission.
2007-10-05 05:20:00 No, I did not "ask" God if me taking the plunge was the right thing to do, nor did I pray about it. I don't see a need to. It's my life, and I make all decisions, and screw you for telling me what to do.I don't live my life waiting for, or expecting to receive instructions to be delivered from Heaven before I make my moves, be they in the form of visions, dreams, voices in the head (goodness, if I ever had that, I should go see a freaking psychiatrist!), fax, SMS, whatever. If that's how you wanna live YOUR life, go ahead, it's your bloody life, but do not ASSume everyone will live their lives like that, nor does it mean your life is necessarily more "superior" just because you perceive yourself to be "living God's will".Bloody hell. What is it with some people anyway who go around trying to be moral judges and making-- nay, IMPOSING-- their damned values and belief systems on other people? Did I put up a sign anywhere that said I needed your advice? Last time I checked, no, I... More About: Permission , Nobody , Missi
Political and economic regression
2007-10-05 02:56:00 "When bullets start flying, politics and all that shit goes out of the window."- Black Hawk DownThe situation in Myanmar is certainly getting worrying by the day, what with protests and the government crackdowns turning violent. The footages on TV are beginning to look like Saigon in the 1960s...monks taking to the streets amongst crowds of protesters, the only difference is that we haven't seen monks self-torching themselves in protest yet (maybe that's not the "in" thing any more).It would be easy to say the affairs of another country should be best settled by the very people who govern the country, but that would be myopic, if not destructive, in a world that is getting increasingly interconnected and interdependent on the day.Critics would say the real motivations behind world leaders pressurising the junta in Myanmar would be economic and capitalist in nature: companies are starting to move into Yangon and the larger Indo-China region, and obviously there is an economic stake... More About: Political , Economic , Regression , Politic
Call me Irresponsible...
2007-10-04 17:36:00 Call me irresponsible - call me unreliable Throw in undependable too Do my foolish alibis bore you Well I'm not too clever - I just adore you Call me unpredictable - tell me I'm impractical Rainbows I'm inclined to pursue Call me irresponsible - yes I'm unreliable But it's undeniably true - I'm irresponsibly mad for you- Frank "I DID IT MY WAY" Sinatra.*Sinatra's supposedly a D-I personality too! :D More About: Call , Call Me Irresponsible
Walk this way.
2007-10-04 16:57:00 " If you can keep your head when all about youAre losing theirs and blaming it on you,If you can trust yourself when all men doubt youBut make allowance for their doubting too,If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,Or being hated, don't give way to hating,And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;If you can meet with Triumph and DisasterAnd treat those two impostors just the same;If you can bear to hear the truth you've spokenTwisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winningsAnd risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,And lose, and start again at your beginningsAnd never breath a word about your loss;If you can force your heart and nerve and sinewTo serve your turn long after they are gone,And... More About: Walk
Base jumping.
2007-10-04 08:34:00 Base jumping. That's what it felt like after I spoke to the Boss this morning and told him I wanted to explore my own blue ocean. He didn't ask many questions, neither did he try very hard to ask me to stay, but I suspect he already had an inkling of what's to come.As a matter of fact, I get a feeling he already knew long before. My personality profile certainly says it all, with me having an ENTJ disposition and all. Combine that with my DISC profile of a high D-I, what this means is that I am a very dynamic (as in forward thinking and quick to react) person who values independence and autonomy in decision making above all other factors at work.Anyway, I base-jumped, and since I'm airborne already, there's no more turning back.Hmm, did I pack my parachute right?*** More About: Base , Jumping
WTH.
2007-10-04 03:14:00 Conversation with this dude who just came in from the States (someone I have met a couple of times, actually). And this will go into PD's upcoming (like in another 7 years) book, Things Not to SayHim: ... I should go get myself a clone.Me: Oh, like Mini-Me, as in Dr. Evil from Austin Powers?Him: Mini-Me (chuckles), yeah!Me: Ha-ha.Him: Then again, I'm better off getting a dog.Me: Hmmm, you're right. I mean, imagine a dog humping your girlfriend's leg, and Mini-Me doing it. The dog's a better choice...Him: (laughs)...and we went on to talk about other things, like what he was planning to do in Singapore etc.WTH. One moment he was laughing with me, the next moment after I've left the party, he goes and badmouths me for supposedly insulting me and the "love of his life" to my buddies. What did I say??And he says the next time he sees me, he wants to take my head out. I say, go ahead and try, buster.Remind me that the next time I meet an arty-farty unemployed budding musician, I'l...
My little Dilbert moment....
2007-10-03 14:01:00 How nice if I could say that everyday. More About: Moment , Dilbert , Litt
Tagged...
2007-10-02 18:05:00 I got tagged by a Brainy Bimbo, so I guess it's my turn to do a little cyber-catching.Bobo's question: You woke up in an alley robbed of all your clothing and stuff. Yes you're absolutely naked and famished. But the thief had a sliver of conscience and left a tiny bit of money for you. You enter the only shop you see and you found that your money can only buy you one of the following...1) a top which can only cover your torso2) an underwear3) 3 Krispy Kreme Donuts4) a pair of heels5) 100 ml of black paintWhich would you buy?PD's answer: (3) 3 Krispy Kreme Donuts. Well, I am hungry!! So long as it's not freezing cold till I get frostbite on my jewels, I'm ok with the nudity. :POk, so now it's my turn...First the Instructions: I'll tag you a question which you'll answer on your blog, and then you create your own question and tag it on to someone else. Simple enough?PD's teaser: Some guys will eat really gross stuff, some fellas will fight their own siblings-- what would you ... More About: Tagged
Couple songs.
2007-10-02 16:54:00 Almost every couple I know has a special "couple song".We had dinner at one of our favourite restaurants today, and I overheard the following conversation between this elderly couple seated at the table behind ours:Elderly lady: Ooh, remember this song, George?Elderly gent: Yes I do. It's our song...And you hear strains of Try to Remember in the background.Incidentally, Try to Remember happens to be my parents' "couple song"-- apparently Dad proposed to Mom while serenading her with that song (he used to play in a band, how cool is Dad...), and till this day, on their wedding anniversary, without fail, the Roy Orbison CD would be in the player (Dad doesn't sing any more, he croaks) and the familiar lines I've heard since my childhood would be heard once more, and without fail, Mom would shed a tear or two, albeit happy tears.Try to remember the kind of septemberWhen life was slow and oh so mellowTry to remember the kind of septemberWhen grass was green and grain so yellowTry to ... More About: Songs , Couple
Why I don't make it to Santa's list.
2007-10-01 19:17:00 I know it's still three months to go before Christmas, but I'm trying to see if I can still make it to Santa's good books this year and hopefully get a nice present (a Porsche Carrera would be nice... just wondering how Rudolf and gang will haul a shiny red one up my doorstep)Yes, I have been a bad boy, little wonder Santa's not been paying me visits for a long, long time. We were just sitting at the balcony watching silly people taking dips at the swimming pool at 10pm at night-- the pool lights were off, save for the dim underwater ones that barely illuminated anything, and there were no lifeguards on duty, so if anything happened to the swimmers (not skinny-dipping I hope), it's their own funerals, really. Anyway, we were sitting at the balcony like I said, my fair lady and I, sipping some infusion tea (she restricted my intake of coffee, that... ...woman...), when she suddenly asked me to name some of the most outrageous things I've done thus far. "Outrageous", meaning thi... More About: List , Make
Wise sayings of Confused-cius
2007-10-01 14:35:00 Friend of mine sent me an email to cheer me up. Thanks ZN!****Confucius, he say:Man who put rooster in freezer get stiff cock.Man who go to bed with sex on brain wake up with solution in hand.Baby conceived in automatic car become shiftless bastard.Woman who goes to man's apartment for snack, gets titbit.Never raise hands to angry child, it leave groin exposed.Man who fart in church sit in own pew.War not determine who right, war determine who left.Man who have hands in pocket, not crazy, just feeling nutsMan who walk through airport door sideways is going to Bangkok.Man with hole in pocket feel cocky all day.He who stands on toilets is high on potMan who have last laugh, not get joke.Man who eat many prunes get good run for money.It take many nails to build crib but one screw to fill it.Man who fishes in other man's well often catches crabs.Wife who put husband in doghouse soon find him in cathouse.Grease monkey who go to bed without bathing wake up oily in the morning.Man who ea... More About: Wise
Blank.
2007-10-01 11:25:00 The state of my mind as the clock ticks to 5.30pm on a Monday: blank.I'm really drawing a blank, and I know I have been going on and on and on about this for the longest time already, but I just can't find the motivation to keep going at where I am. Take away the title, take away the "glamour" that comes associated with that title that follows my name on my business card, take away the silk tie and "business look"-- strip me to the raw, and all I want to do really, is to be able to go home and surround myself with what I value most. And who I value most.I value my independence most. I cherish my own personal time, and I definitely cherish spending my time with La Femme, especially. I don't like to be bounded or tied down by things that don't bear any significant meaning, and honestly, all this bullshit about running around and climbing the corporate ladder etc, it's all just that. Bullshit.True, while I was in school, and preparing for graduation from university, there was this... More About: Blank
Another Monday, another week.
2007-10-01 02:04:00 So the weekend's come and gone, and it felt like I haven't had a break at all since I was working through Saturday as well. 48 hours of a weekend just isn't enough, I think. Why can't we have 72 hours of weekends?Anyway, all that could change if all goes according to plans. I shan't dwell on details until things are firmed up, and I will talk more about it if-- when-- things get in motion. Of course, those of you with a strong need for stability and compliance will say I am going to make yet another high-risk maneuver, but what the heck. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.For now, back to that work-desk, back to slogging my ass off for someone else's interests.How sad.******Thought for the week: you snooze, you lose. It's the law of the jungle out there. More About: Week , Monday
What's your problem?
2007-09-30 17:29:00 Today, another friend got married. Well I'm happy for the groom and the bride (mutual friend of mine and La Femme), and congratulations to both of them, I wish them all the best in a blissfully wedded life.But while I'm happy for our friend, I don't like weddings very much, especially Chinese wedding dinners-- and this case, it had been a Chinese wedding lunch.See, while I have nothing against marriage as an institution-- in fact, I would say everyone should try getting married at least once in their lives -- it's the whole deal of sitting down at a table with a bunch of people you don't know that really gets to me. I mean, if the table had been filled with colleagues or ex-colleagues, you wouldn't have much of a problem. The problem comes when you're placed at a table with a group of people who happen to be colleagues with one another and you're part of the "out" group, or worse, in our case, the only out group.Of course, you could say La Femme and myself could have made th... More About: Problem
Papa don't preach.
2007-09-29 11:15:00 I think it was La Femme who told me that at some point in every girl's life, she'd be wishing she could be Madonna. Even Robbie Williams is wishing he could be a Madonna, so why wouldn't women? :DI'm not a big fan of Madonna, but I do admire the woman, and her music has survived the 1980s, the 1990s, and it seems like she'll continue to make waves in the 2000s-- that woman is simply amazing, and she just gets better with age.Was it any surprise then, that when we did the Marketing Management module on my MBA program and we were exploring the success stories of some of the biggest brands on planet earth, including the likes of FedEx, Coca Cola, and Real Madrid FC, brand Madonna came up as well?Hers is a story of pure marketing genius. If you thought Madonna was just an entertainer who makes a name for herself through her deeply provocative, raunchy and highly sexual acts, think again: the woman's a shrewd marketeer who knows how to create a brand, not just a career, in the ent... More About: Papa
Screw Trump and Kiyosaki
2007-09-28 18:36:00 Premise 1: Forget degrees, don?t work for people, start a business right away and get rich. Premise 2: Invest in real estate, use foreclosures and mortgage loans averaging to your advantage, collect rent, and when the price is right, sell and get rich. Bah Hamburg. Thank you, Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki, but here in this side of the world, your get-rich formula won?t work very well I?m afraid. Especially when you consider for the price of a 3-room HDB flat in Singapore, you can get a pretty decent landed property in the States where both gurus hail from, you know that strategy is flawed. But what do you expect from someone who wears a toupee and insists it's natural hair, and a Hawaiian surfer dude who claims to have invented velcro wallets?With regards to the first premise about the "forget degrees" and such, explain to me why both Trump and Kiyosaki have MBAs then, with the former getting one from Wharton Business School? Why bother getting that piece of paper then?I?m ... More About: Screw
PD takes on JH Kim TKD
2007-09-28 16:27:00 With all its power breaking and spinning kicks, taekwondo can be pretty impressive to look at. Question is, would it be as effective in terms of real fighting techniques?When you watch World Taekwondo Federation (WTF... hahah, what a term!) fight bouts at, say the Olympics, you'd notice that the competitors are wearing protective head and body pads. The idea, apparently, is because WTF-style taekwondo is what we'd call "sport" taekwondo-- the emphasis is on scoring points, rather than full knockouts to win the bouts-- and thus competitors don protective gear to minimise damage done to one another.Having trained under the more "traditional" form of taekwondo, that of the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF), and more recently training under full-contact Kyokushinkai-style karate, I've been more exposed to full-contact forms of both martial arts, meaning when it comes to competitions, it's a case of trying to knock down your opponents to win the bouts. It's painful, it someti...
New e-marketplace?
2007-09-28 07:21:00 Was checking out online job-search portals just now and realised that ST701.com has moved beyond jobs to become a complete e-marketplace provider. Just wondering if there is an overload of e-marketplaces-- just a couple of months back, Mocca.com was launched, and then of course there's good ol' Ebay...When you think about it, essentially they're all offering more or less the same thing: a space on the WWW for people to buy and sell things. Overcrowded e-marketspaces?But back to online job search portals. I tap on to sites like Monster.com and JobsDB.com from time to time (I normally don't do so, nor do I advertise in the papers unless they're really obscure positions; most of my headhunts are done from networks and referrals and coldcalling because I believe you get the really good candidates that way), and I can't help but notice that there are a lot of crappy CVs going around. I mean, don't these people read the JDs at all? Why is it that I am getting NTC-certified technici... More About: Marketplace
Screw the adverts.
2007-09-28 05:35:00 That's right: the adverts can kiss my ass goodbye. Bloody things take up space, take too long to load and slow down the loading of the entire page, and it's not like I am depending on them for money to feed me, so why bother?Not unless they're for a cause, or if someone paid me a lot of money to put them up, the ads are off. Read feeds instead. :D***** More About: Screw , Adverts , Vert
Back to what I do best.
2007-09-28 02:15:00 A candidate I met up with shared a very thought-provoking insight: your job should be part of your lifestyle, not dictate it.I thought it was meaningful because it seemed that most of us, because we're so caught up in the rat race either trying to make ends meet or getting ahead of the pack while we're still young, become so embroiled in what we do that our jobs become a means to an end. At that point, work no longer becomes meaningful nor enjoyable, because you've traded what you value most in terms of lifestyle for remuneration packages and titles and such.See, what I do best is I'm a headhunter.I like this definition from Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary:Head-hunter Head-hunter Head"-hunt`er, n. A member of any tribe or race of savages who have the custom of decapitating human beings and preserving their heads as trophies. The Dyaks of Borneo are the most noted head-hunters.I've moved between industries, taken on various functions, some with fanciful glamourous sou... More About: Back
Absolut Stupidity.
2007-09-27 09:09:00 I just have to bitch about this one:Morning in the office-- guy working on his computer gets pissed off because the "server was down" and starts hurling abuses, someone else working on her computer heard the rants and went "yeah har, server down issit? How come everything so slow??"And after all that f***ings and such, we all realised the damned server wasn't switched on in the first place. Whose fault? The guy who ranted in the first place, because he was the first guy in the office, and there was this SOP about first person in turning on the server.What a genius. What finesse. Technology 1, human bird-brain, nil.*****Absolut Stupidity , Part Deux:Same dude later in the day gets pissed off with some customer, and in his usual loose-cannon mouth style starts f***ing the clients-- after he puts down the phone on them, of course. Don't think he has the balls to actually say all that he was so explicitly expressing behind their backs and out of earshot. Then he goes over to the Boss'...
Downpour in the morning.
2007-09-27 03:06:00 It felt like I was driving a boat, not a car, as I made my way to work this morning. It was pouring on the East side, and along the ECP, even if you slowed down, your car would inevitably be making big splashes as it passed over puddles and smaller pools of water. The spray that tailed behind vehicles made it look like we were all on speedboats, and the 'smart' systems on my car, with ABS and what-not, really made the car feel heavy on the steering as it veered along the slippery roads.But nevertheless, I love it when it rains in the morning. The unfortunate thing is, of course, that I had to get to the office instead of lounging on my comfy bed. *sigh*******Pssst. I am on the lookout for independent business and professional services consultants, or those with expertise and aspiring to be one. Not going to reveal what I wanna do here, but if you are one and interested to find out what I'm up to, drop me an email.It's a lifestyle I could really love to get used to. More About: Morning , In The Morning
2007 Chrysler Crossfire
2007-09-26 05:11:00 Forget family-oriented sedans and MPVs, I love performance machines when it comes to cars. In fact, I'd love anything that's sleek, shiny, flashy, stylish and fast.Take the 2007 Chrysler Crossfire for instance.At SGD$185,000, a 3,198cc V6 engine, and a 0-100kph speed of 6.5 sec, this babe is a sure head-turner. I'm picturing myself at the wheel of one right now-- especially the roadster version. Eat your hearts out, you WRX worshippers!The necessities:Engine: 3,198 cc V6 SOHC 18 ValvesMax power: 214 Bhp / 5700 rpmTorque: 310 Nm / 3000 rpm0-100kph: 6.5 secTop speed: 252kphTransmission: 6-gear manual (sorry baby, you can't drive this one!)Fuel consumption: 11.2 litre/100km (8.9 km/litre) (ok, so he's a guzzler, but which performance engine isn't??)There's only one itsy-bitsy glitch in terms of desig...
One of those things...
2007-09-26 04:59:00 Decision to ponder over: set up my own practice?The perks:1. Flexibility: in terms of the way I work, deciding how hard I wanna work etc2. Ownership: I reap what I make3. Mobility: can go find my own deals anywhere, even in a different region.4. Niche: being small and independent means I can find my own blue oceans easily; also, I can market myself as being extremely focused on my clients and undercut the competition.The downsides:1. Reputation: still raw, and definitely need a name to "back me up"2. Own costs.3. Risk of failure (actually, the least of my concerns)The premises:1. I hate working for people, especially when they make the bulk of the executive decisions.2. I can rely on my brains, intuition and drive to innovate, problem-solve and figure my way through things (tried, proven, endorsed).3. What I have in mind is relatively easy and low-cost to set up: I can basically work from home.Hmmm. Advice, anyone?One of the things I am trying to reconcile is why the fuck should I s... More About: Things
Ode to Lichtenstein, or the stuff that dreams are made of.
2007-09-25 17:01:00 I'm not really an artsy sort of person, but I am particularly impressed by 2 artists: Andy Warhol, and Roy Licht enstein. There's something about pop art that appeals to me, though I'm not exactly ready to turn my pad into some postmodernist expression of modern living.Drowning Girl***I can see the whole room***One of my dreams (apart from getting a hot-rod Aston Martin DB9 and a Lazzara 84 yacht) is having my own private collection of Warhol and Lichtenstein pieces to adorn the walls of my abode or even office. And if you asked me what sort of interior design I'd like to go along with the art pieces, I have to admit I'm no expert, and probably some people would think it's a terrible combination, but I tend to favour minimalist designs-- think concrete walls (grey or white, it doesn't matter), but whether it's an apartment or office, there's only two extravagances I want to go along with it: (1) it has to be a penthouse suite; (2) it must have its own infinity pool.Remember ... More About: Dreams , Stuff , Made , Stein
Bye bye Pleo.
2007-09-25 10:33:00 Okay, got a reply from those guys at Ugobe, and it's bye bye to that Pleo opportunity. Seems like the Taiwanese guy has got exclusive distributorship for the whole of Asia (what an asshole! But a smart one, nonetheless), so if I wanted to bring Pleo into the region, it would have to be on a wholesaler or retailer basis, which means I would have lost out on the margins.Oh well, move on to the next opportunity then. But anyone of you guys still keen on Pleo, go contact that Taiwanese guy if you don't mind a narrower margin.*gloom*******You Are a Natural EntrepreneurYou're creative, driven, and full of great ideas.You could be the next Richard Branson, Warren Buffet, or Oprah.Keep with your dreams, even if people don't understand or respect them.Someday you'll have too much money to care what they think!Are You a Natural Entrepreneur?
I would like to ask...
2007-09-24 17:13:00 Was running through some candidates' resumes today, I couldn't help but stop to ask a very simple question: is it fair if you had worked your ass off for your organisation or the industry in general for 15-20 years and ended up getting an annual salary of just SGD$80-100k?Let's do a little math here:a. Assume you leave school after university and draw a starting pay of SGD$30,000 a year let's say (based on today's positive job market terms; and a salary of $30k a year isn't too far fetched for an Honours grad).b. Assuming you worked for 15 years, and your current pay is $80k a year, that's a total increase of $50,000 over 15 years, or $3,333.33 a year. So far, so good.c. Break that down further, however, and you realise on average, your pay increases by $277.78 per month, and because you work 22 days on average per month; that further breaks down to an increase of just $12.62 per day.d. Let's say you are one of those lucky fellas who start work at 9am and leave on the dot at...
Remembering Mamah.
2007-09-24 14:33:00 I must have been all of eight years old when my paternal grandmother passed on. My memory of her is limited to the following: a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, grey hair tied up in a bun, kebaya dresses and a rattan walking cane. I can?t remember how she sounded like, and neither could I recall having a proper conversation with her, other than going ?Mamah (all the grandkids addressed her as ?Mamah?), I want a new toy?? or ?Mamah, I want a candy?? I do recall, however, that she used to speak a weird mixture of Baba Malay, English and Hokkien, and I really didn?t know how to communicate with her, since Dad and Mom only conversed with me either solely in English, or Mandarin. I did remember how there?d always be a new toy or candy waiting for me each time we visited her. And oh, until she couldn?t walk properly after a stroke (I think), she used to cook those sinfully tasty Peranakan dishes the whole family loved: satay ayam, rendang, ayam buah kaluak (my Dad?s favourite) and my ... More About: Remembering , Erin
Whoopidoo.
More articles from this author:2007-09-24 08:08:00 I don't know if it's a career suicide move, but I have decided on a drastic action. Going to keep you in suspense for a while, because until things are firmed up in the next couple of months, I am not going to run the risk of getting my plans exposed...afterall, the Internet is open domain, you see, and I am beginning to suspect certain individuals have been snooping around PD.com a lot, and they're people who can't wait to do me in, careerwise.Anyway, it's really a case of I've had it. And desperation calls for drastic actions sometimes.******[image: Google] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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