WORLD NEWS 2007

Not much of 2007 is left. Beside looking at how I made it for 2007, let's look into the news of the world also. They may look like other people's business but it may indirectly affect us in some other way.

Singapore

GST, the famous Goods and Service Tax has raised from 5% to 7% since July 2007. For your information, the GST is not going to stop increasing. The target 10%. It will occur in the coming years.

Despite the increase in GST, sales of daily necessities have not gone down. It actually showed a growth in consumer buying for the year. Main reason would attribute to the bigger bonus that many Singaporeans will get in the coming year.

Property prices have also seen a boom. It had raised by 22.6% in the first 3 quarters and it is believed to max out at 30%.

Hikes in transportation fees and fare was driven to a new high. Fees for ERP have been raised. More new gates were setup and the operation hours have extended. These have set private vehicles owners if they should continue driving. The latest hike in fares for public transport will the ones by the taxis. Apart from the raised flagged down fee, the metered fare is now jumping at the rate of 20 cents instead of the 10 cents it used to be.

CPF drawn down is raised from 62 to 65. Those aged 57 and below as of Dec 31 will be affected.

The news that shook the whole world will be the one create by SINGAPORE AIRLINES (SIA). Its flown in the world's biggest airplane on Oct 17 to the uncompleted Changi Terminal 3 as the world looks on. All highlights were on Singapore on that day. The maiden flight for the A380 was on 25 Oct from Singapore to Sydney, with one of its seat auctioned off for more than S$150000.

Myanmar

The overnight price hikes for fuels have seen thousands defy military junta by staging protest in the city of Yangon. The protest were led by monks. Students and young also joined in the protest forming a ' human wall ' protecting the monks as they become the target of the military. The anti-government demonstrations saw death at more then 31.

Thailand

We have heard many about the legendary rule of Thaksin in Thailand. It was reported that he would face charges on corruptions and frauds if he were to return to Thailand. Despite these, people still supported him and his allies in the People's Power Party showed the result by winning the election. Now living in exile, he still owns a home and Manchester City Football Club in Britain.

The 24th SEA Games were held in Thailand. With the host emerging Champion in Gold medals (183) tally. Malaysia positioned second with 68 gold, Vietnam in third with 64 gold medals. The fourth and fifth place goes to Indonesia(56) and Singapore(43) respectively.

China

China reputation as exporter have suffered in the year of 2007. Goods that was made in China were recalled. Toys, the biggest export of China, were mostly affected. It was said to contain hazard materials and there were design problems.

With the Olympics 2008 coming up, the property prices in China are going up also. Though the property market is on the rise, it has not put much earnings to the income of the Chinese. The rise in interest rates have outgrow the rise of rental rates living some in the 'red' after collecting rents.

US

The subprime mortgage financial crisis of 2007, which started in the US with a sharp rise in home foreclosures, has now become a global financial crisis. The foreclosures caused several major subprime mortgage lenders to shut down or file for bankruptcy, leading to panicked selling in stock markets around the world.

The Merill Lynch which saw a more than US$7b write down as reported in CNBC.com after the subprime mortgage crisis have received a $5B fund from the Singapore Company Temasek Holdings.

Its a long long time since we last saw Berkshire Hathaway in actions. Owner, Warren Buffett, has stretch his arms and reached into his pockets to 'buy' into 2 company and setup 1 in just 1 week. The 2 buys will be the Marmon Holdings and NGR the reinsurance unit of Dutch bank ING. Berkshire Hathaway Assurance Corp started business on guaranteeing the repayment of bonds issued by governments for pay for things like schools and sewage projects.

Review of 2007

There are only days left before the 'stop button' for 2007 will be pushed. The start of the 2008 will then begin simultaneously. MOre or less most people will be done with 2007 and are preparing for 2008. Let's see what will happened in the coming year bah.

Looking back at 2007, there was mixed results for me. There were the good and there were the bad.

In career wise, I went from the 'high' to lowly position, still '包山包海' but more relaxed. It was from the 'high' that i realized its not worth working long hrs and sacrifices time for money, even time for entertainment, rest. I was also looked down and the 'experienced' does not think i will make it coz i am 'young' as compared. In time they were proven wrong and all was muted in the end.

On being tired of the management and to give myself an excuse to quit after the expiry of a pact with one in high position, and to come out of the hectic life, I went on to register myself in a course after listening to some 'sound' advise. It was not hard to decide what course I want. the hard thing was to get the rite one to be in. Nearly took me nearly 4 months to look for the course.

MOved my lodging in the year. Though it was months already, still i am very blur about the surrounding. There are still lack of daily necessities also and i am still trying to get it.

I also went from the so called financially highly paid to lowly paid labor. It was a struggle for me. Adjustments was done and now nearly everything fixed.

Along the way I picked out many new frenz and met long lost frenz also. Old or young, they are my most valuables. From them I learned a lot of things, advises, they even give me a sense of belonging. Thanks Everyone.

That sum up the 2007. Look forward to 2008.

Nearing the END

Coming to the end of the week i hope everyone have enjoyed yourselves. Still the same same for me lah. i didn't really do much coz the sky's raining most of the time. Created a few new dishes but only one is good enough to be up for photo.

The highly prized POTATO SALAD

hehe i got good comments for that!!!!

Had a mahjong session on Wed. The battles of the gambling Kings n Queens!!!!! Long Long time since dunnno when liao. We become so obsessed that it stretches overnite. Xiao Qiang is reacting in a funny way. he kept counting his chips and reminding himself that he had lost at least 2 hrs of OT Lol....

The year's coming to an end. Not much of an achievement for me. In fact i found myself in the typical employee league. PAycheck to paycheck. Then spending everything by the end of the month :P.. but i don spent it anyhow lah...

Result is Finally OUt!!!! i did as expected. 1 Pass 2 Credits. So shld get better ones next time.

i think the last upcoming event for the yr will be the X'mas BBQ next week.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD

had an early day today. wake up at 0530 to go work. there is a mission waiting to be completed. we have to prepare breakfast for 60 kids camping overnite there. First time i prepare breakfast for so many kids leh.

went over to KKH after everything done. Discharge day for the newborn on 14 DEc 2007. Nothing much to do while waiting for the documents to be done. Finished the whole damn newpaper and tour the building.

realised that KKH looks good on the outside but inside it is like shit leh. very confusing then somemore got hidden corners. The environment 'feels dark' also. maybe i got too used to NUH liao. still feel NUH better when compared although KKH building is the 'newer one'.

after parting with the parents of the newborn went over to bugis. very crowded loh. give up the idea to walk around. 197ed back to Jurong.

i am not in my best lately. feels tired. my calf's giving me a lot of problems and the nose still bleeds ocassionally.

HAH!! I Got the Affinity with these 2 babies
DECEMBER and JULY 2007

"Time and Tide wait for no man." - Old English Proverb

Rainy days.... i don really like it. Spoil all the mood to do anything but still work have to continue.

The year's ending and many functions are coming up. The orders' getting more and more at Chevrons. Running up and down the whole club house to get things done.

Bizy bizy but it may be a blessing for me. it temp gets me off from thinking about some bothering things lately.

Went NUH on Tue to look for the new counselor. HE look LIke A BLOODY SNOB. i am wondering if i can work with him in future. tok to him for a few mins. ya really short one becoz it does not even last 10 mins. Was going Hm after but the sky start to rain. So wait at lobby and felt aslp. By the time i wake it was about 7pm liao hahaha. i think i have a habit of slping at the lobby liao.

I think i still have not lost my touch

Merry X'mas everyone.....

" Your failure to look at the situations have made you going off the tracks. You panic, become anxious and keep thinking of the unnecessary. You have lose your compose self. Most of all you have lost direction now. Pick out your direction. Regain yourself and get going. No one's going to wait for you. " - for @h MIng

To make a mistake is natural. To make the same mistake again is character - Anon

i realized its about a wk since i last blog. think that i don have much to say during the wk bah. not much happened during the days also. it was the usual loh. everthing assoicated with work so if i say too much then i think everyone will be bored.

X'mas coming and i think everyone's gearing up for it. walked from bugis to orchard after lesson on friday to have a look. the nice nice lightings are up and going. MOst decorated X junction will be the one in between the HEEREN and CIneleisure. The prize for the most gorgeous award shld go to PAragon. They got the most decoration and attractive up along the route outside their mall. the rest don seem to have many changes. there are some interesting setup outside TAka so shld go have a look don miss it. and the Orchard is packed loh. the ppl dunno come from where one leh. there is no freedom to do the normal leisure walk i used to do loh. i don get to take pics also loh.



Sat went to nite safari. hehe its once upon a time since i last went there. almost cannot make it coz get last min call to work. nothing much to see but i enjoyed it. refreshing trip. took only a few pics coz too dark for my limited camera on the phone.

" Its up to you now. The game is already ON for if you like it or not. Your choice now is the decision to continue with it or get out of it. You might not get any chance if you continue with it. If you get out of it that will definitely be the end of it. Stop ALL the DAY DREAMING already and start to think about it @h MIng. There is no definite answer to you now. You juzt got find it on your own."

' Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought. ' - Albert Szent-Gyorgyi von Nagyrapolt.

SOme update from over the weekend.

Went over to Vivo on Sat to get the Starhub box changed. haha it's more than a month since it was not workable liao. A bit of weird becoz no question was asked and it was like 'Oh you want it change so OK '.

MSI vs TOSHIBA

Repaired a laptop over the Sat nite. took me a whole nite becoz of some unrecognized driver. So i had to download it one by one over the net. hard thing to do but i had to do the favor. Security update for Win XP is a total chaos. UPdating all at once takes Forever....there was like no end to it.

Dinner over at Holland V with Ernee and Jelene on SUn. went over to a restaurant for a break. ermm.... i don remember the name liao. We were a bit on the serious side for the day. Talking about what we are going to do for the coming months. We also touched on why we want to get a degree for. The answer we have differ greatly from each other.

SOme of the things we ordered

it was a case of using the degree to find a decent work, to make life more comfortable for Jelene. For Ernee it's about fulfilling a dream. My case will be really to get to learn about the things i don get from social life. i don believe in getting work with a degree or even a cert anymore. what we had studied is only a guide and it's not going to get applied often in actual fact.

' Life comes and goes. The circle of people gets bigger as you grows. They entered your life and exits just as fast. Many were mere acquaintances. There were only few whom are really the friends. '