Today is a 'family day' in my company, and everyone gets to go back earlier at 4pm. And below is me getting out from work early on a beautiful Friday afternoon, eating my favorite waffle, chilling and writing my blog. This morning, I woke up to the news that I have been officially promoted to 'uncle' as my new niece is born. Can't wait to meet her later!
She is really beautiful
For the whole of this year, I haven't received any invitation to baby showers. And within one week, I received 2. One from a good friend and the other from my cousin. Great chance to meeting up with everyone. But an even happier event is coming anytime soon as we are expecting the arrival of my niece within the next 1 week! She will be the first baby in my family and although my parents are acting cool about it, I know everyone is filled with excitement.
On a side note, I've been really careful with my diet but still yet to recover from my cough.
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I am always injured, but rarely sick. And when I'm sick, it always takes a long time for me to recover. I don't remember taking even one day of sick leave in 2016, and I have probably only taken one day so far in 2017. The past 2 days are one of those days when I am down with flu...
Well, my long awaited 'Food blog' is up! Took awhile to plan and to put it up. Do check it out.
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My lower back has been giving me some problems and the discomfort has forced me to wake up 5am on this beautiful Saturday morning... Don't think I've ever blogged this early before.
I was at the movies the past weekend and watched 'Kingsman: The Golden Cycle'. It was the 2nd Kingsman movie and I have watched the first one when I was out in 2014 as well. I would describe it as a modern 'James Bond' movie except that there are a team of secret agents working together. Though it was entertaining, I felt the story and plots in the first one were much better. I am not a movie critic, so I will not be going into the details. Watching movies is one of my many (and ever-growing list of) hobbies and I probably watch on average about once per month. During the time when I am in the cinema watching movies, it forces me to relax and not do anything else other than watching the movie. I do not have plan to start a movie review blog, but I will probably start compiling a list of movies I've watched in the year.
'Focus and investing yourself into something you're passionate about will always yield better results than scattering around and spreading yourself thin" - Casey Neistat
As we are moving into the final quarter of 2017, I figure it's time to revisit the goals I've set for myself this year. To be realistic, I need to focus the balance 3 months to make a final push to achieve an important goal before the closing of this year.
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"To be happy you must: Let go of what's gone, be grateful for what remains, and look forward to what is coming next"
It has been awhile since I bought something for myself. Problem with me is, I have everything I need. Even when I get a pay raise, bonus, or just me wanting to buy something for myself to celebrate an occasion, I have a hard time thinking what to buy. Of course, wasting money on buying unnecessary things is out of the question. So, me buying things for myself is usually very coincidental, and today is one of those rare occasions. Long story short, bought myself a G-Shock 35th Anniversary Mudmaster watch and a Manchester United Soccer jersey. Totally damaged on this unplanned shopping day, S$607... After doing a quick count, surprised myself that this is the 8th G-shock watch I bought.
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Btw, I bought this because this team is my favorite team, the jersey is nice (IMO), and this play has the same name as me!
"If you invest time in doing something, you will definitely get a return from it." - Loliciano Mistrim.
I've been reading a book about how a person's life changed after he acquired the skill of becoming a RPG game character. (This is probably where this blog post gets really nerdy.) In the story, the main character faces many decisions on how he should level up his skills. He eventually decided to invest all his skillpoints in improving his 'intelligence' and became an outstanding 'Mage'. Well, isn't this the same in real life? In an RPG game, when you work hard and level up your character, your stats increase. In real life, although it may not be as obvious, if you work hard, you will be rewarded. In real life, we see many cases when a person is very specialize in a particular skillset, chances are he will command a higher salary as compared to those with very general skillset spread across many different areas.
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"You will never get better if you're not willing to put in the time" - Jay Williams, ex-Chicago Bulls
I always strive to find ways to maximise my time. And today, I was really determined to do just that. I wake up earlier than I usually do on a Sunday and went for an exercise. In the afternoon, I decided to explore a place which I had never been to in Singapore, the 'Flower Dome' and 'Cloud Forrest' in Gardens-by-the-bay. Me being a Singaporean, naturally doesn't make it a point to visit tourist attraction in Singapore, as I always have the mentality that 'I can always visit them anytime I want, they will always be there anyway'. So, there are actually many tourist places which I have not been to. I'm not a 'flower' guy, so 'Flower Dome' is just fine to me, but 'Cloud Forrest' is pretty interesting. After that, there was about an hour before the start of Singapore F1 race, so I went for another round of exercise (basketball). All in all, today is a satisfying day. Only problem now, I may have pushed my leg too much and feeling the strain on my knee again. Will need to rest it up over the next few days. I really really hope my knee will fully recover soon. So far, the recover has always been a 'work in progress'.
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'Cloud forrest' in Gardens by the Bay
Something which I had today as well. Been awhile since I last eat this, does bring back some memories.
I have never been a big fan of spending too much time watching dramas and I had probably only watched 3 korean dramas before this. But somehow this particular drama, 'Doctors', succeed in drawing my attention after watching for just 5 mins. 2 biggest problem of watching Korean dramas; once you start, u can't stop and it will make you really really want to fall in love again...
My past weekend was a fulfilling one. On Saturday, visited my buddy in the hospital as his baby was born on the past Thursday. He was still behaving like a kid himself when I first knew him about 10 years ago. And now, he had his baby and I'm really happy for him. On Sunday, my 3 beloved nephews came over and I asked them to help out with a video homework of mine. I was tasked to record a video of a CEO conversation for work and asked my nephews to help role-played as CEO in the video. Had so much fun throughout. Video as below and it wasn't the main content of the video that matters to me, it was the bloopers at the end that's really brings back memories.
Other than this, my week has been filled with work and volunteering. Hope to find something to excite myself soon.
Since I've taken up 'a particular project' at work, I lost count of how many late night and weekend escalations I have had over the past few weeks. Not to mention, afew sleepless nights worrying as well. This project is so confidential, that I need sign some documents to swear not to disclose the details. From the looks of things, it's still a long way before it gets completed...
On a lighter note, I managed to spend some quality time with ex-colleagues, my beloved nephews, and my family over the past long weekend. With work stress level at a new high, it definitely makes you treasure the quality time you have with your buddies and your family.
Ex-colleagues gathering
Cute and adorable nephew (latest addition)
It has been a whole month since I last posted. I am definitely guilty of not posting more. To start of with, I visited my physio therapist today and was told to continue my 'no sports for now' routine. As much as I do not like this, I know it myself. My knee is still weak and I'll just need to be patient and continue with more strengthening exercises. I've really been attracting injury for the whole of this year.
Last week is probably my most eventfully week for this month. Went on a business trip to Thailand (Bangkok) where our whole regional team had a bunch of technical and soft skill training. Our team also did half a day of charity work where we went to a school to paint walls, provide food and interact with the children. Definitely had lots of fun doing charity.
I flew back on Friday night and on early Saturday was the Emergency Preparedness Day event which I have volunteered as well. That is a community event organized by the police force to create awareness to the community on emergency events like terrorist, fire, first aid, etc. I am the event videographer for that day and below is the video I created. This is probably the biggest event co-organized by our grassroot this year and really glad the event turned out to be a successful one.
Just saw the statistic analysis from my YouTube channel and noticed I have hit 5 thousand views on 26th July. Ok, so this may be a small number for many people. I had started my first official Youtube video on 2nd Dec 2016, purely for the fun and learning experience of making my first movie, not having any expectations. Today, after 7 months and 24 days, with my humble 6th YouTube videos, I've hit the 5k views milestone. Will be interested to see how long will it take me to hit 10k.
It has been a dark 2 weeks for me. Nothing related to work, but it's a situation in my life which I had never been able to handle well, and it has come back to haunt me. A part of me is hoping that I never need to handle this again. Another part of me knows that I need this pain to grow and I am getting better at handling it each time.
On a lighter note, I have also recently been playing quite abit of mobile games on my iPhone. "Lineage 2", "Sudoku" and "Coin Master". I have never been big on gaming but it is a good way to shift your thoughts away and connect with your FB friends.
MMORPG. Now on mobile phones!
Connecting with your FB friend. Even those whom you have not contact for years!
This drawing by Evangeline accurately describes my life recently. Almost on a daily basis, I am being bombarded with escalations and issues at work. Usually, my work has its highs and lows, but recently, the stress level has been consistently high.
Btw, if you do not know Evangeline, she is a very talented Singapore comic writer who owns Evacomics. http://www.eva.sg/
Couple of days back, I was approached by a producer of an advertising company who expressed her interest in purchasing a part of my video which I had uploaded on my youtube channel. This is the actual correspondence, "Hi, Marcus. I am a Producer with 'xxx' company. We're a local production house that specializes in TV commercials. I am writing to you as I came across your youtube page and had a look at your drone footage of Gardens By the Bay. We're currently working on a Singapore Tourism Board campaign and the footage would be a great addition to the edit we already have in place. I have shared it with the director and he feels it's perfect. We would like to buy a portion of the footage for use in this commercial..."
Apparently, they would like to buy a part of my video to be included in a TV commercial. Of course, I was thrilled with excitement. Long story long, I did a few checks on the legitimacy of this company, clarified afew queries with them on this deal. By the second day, I met up with the folks and closed the deal. My youtube video in an international commercial... I still can't believe it... Can't say it's a dream come true, cos I don't even dare to dream of this...
Just uploaded the vlog of my stay in the Canopi resort. It was a short 3D2N stay but a very relaxing and enjoyable one. It's my 5th video uploaded this for this year and I just noticed I had consistently been uploading every month from Feb to Jun. Seriously, I don't think I'll have any content to create or upload for July tho.
Was playing basketball over the last 2 days and injured my knee again! I've injured my knee cartilage this time and my knee has been my biggest problem so far this year. Just when I just gotten the green light from my physiotherapist to go ahead doing sports, I immediately injured again on the 2nd day. Just saw my physiotherapist again and will be needing another few weeks for the knee to be better this time. Feeling really helpless and frustrated.
My physiotherapist taping up my kneel
I am not a Christian, and using one hand would be more than enough to count the number of times I've been to a church. Today is the wedding of my cousin and it's my first time attending a church wedding. An eye opener for me and happy that I've got the chance to catch up with afew of my relatives.
As the title indicates, I've pasted my 3x years young birthday over the past week, and it was a really eventful one. My mum and I have our birthday on the same day, and blowing candles and making wishes together on the same birthday cake is always special for me.
Spend the weekend at a resort call 'The Canopi' in Bintan. The concept is really special as the whole resort was build using tents and there was a huge lagoon with many water sports activities. It was a short 3 days but a really enjoyable one.
I saw a rainbow and what was probably the most beautiful sunset I've seen in Singapore as I was cycling during the past Sunday evening.
I also received my new iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard this week. I had been using the Gen1 iPad mini for years and had been eagerly waiting for this new iPad release for replacement.
Last but not least, I went for my first ever 'nerve conduction' test 2 days ago. I had been having numbness on one of my leg for awhile and was referred by a specialist doctor for the test. All the forums and people writing about their experience online have been pretty scary, but my actually experience is actually not too bad. The test is to run through some electric current on the part of your body that you are experiencing numbness to generate statistics for a report. I would describe the 'pain' more like getting hit with rubber band during the test.
Can't remember when was the last time my week was this eventful...
Birthday cake sponsored by my sister-in-law
The 'tent' which I was staying in 'The Canopi'
An unedited image of the actually sunset that I saw
Me getting the 'nerve conduction' test
