The Unbalanced Libra..

Apparently, K happens to be one of the principal benefactors of the Foundation .. = )




The 2 invited CEOs were Stanley Tan, Chairman of the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Center, and Howie Lau, General Manager & Executive Director of Lenovo Asia. There was an interesting contrast in the discussion, given that one is a business man in the IT industry, whereas the other has never used the internet before.. = ) Plus, the moderator used to be my professor in year one.. although i can't remember what module she taught me!


The turnout was pretty poor. I think it's due to the fact that the talk started at 630pm, and not many people can knock off work and rushed to Clementi by 630pm. We sat right in the middle of the auditorium. There was this guy sitting in front of me who totally pissed me off. He was reading his newspaper even though the people on stage had started speaking. I was on the verge of throwing my handbag at his head. So rude! Then i looked around and observed that a few others had their laptops open and typing away while the speakers were talking. I wonder why they even bother to come at all if they are not interested to listen. It's interesting how reading newspapers and using laptops while somebody on stage is talking are considered equally rude, but one just seems to "look" more rude than the other.

I thought Stanley was quite gay.. the way he sat and crossed his legs, the way he spoke. At one point, he even mentioned that Howie looked cute.. OMG.. = ) But i must say he is very good at what he does. He mentioned something that i totally agree with. He said that many people , mostly idealists, are always advocating that businesses should have more social responsibility, that businesses who make a lot of money should donate some to charity to help the poor. What these people fail to realize, is that the greatest act of philantrophy /charity is to help create a booming economy. Because that is sustainable, and long term. And it is precisely because of these big businesses making money that we are able to have a sustainable economy. It is precisely when these businesses are making money that they are able to employ people and lift the country out of poverty! Simply giving $1 million to charity will not solve poverty because it is not sustainable. How true!!

There was free buffet after the talk, but K and I didn't consume any. Instead, we headed to Bugis Junction to pay our M1 bill using credit card (to clock points!). Apparently, the whole Valentine's Day vibe had invaded the shopping mall, cause there were soft toys, flowers and all that lovey dovey stuff being displayed at the stalls.. It's quite sad to see love being commercialized like that.. Although i do love receiving gifts!! = )



We drove top down on the way home.. I couldn't help staring at the full moon, and take some pictures of it. My pictures of course, does no justice to just how beautiful and bright the moon was..

I woke up to the yelling of the rag and bone man this morning.. Got dressed and hurried out of my house in search of my savior.. As luck had it, he was on the 5th floor. I managed to sell off all the paper and magazines that i had stacked up in my study room and store room for a grand total of $1.50. Words cannot describe how happy i was to have finally gotten rid of all these bags and bags of paper, which was a total eye sore to me! So many a time had i wanted to just throw them all away during my Chinese New Year spring cleaning.

I had lunch with my administrative supervisor today. Told her about my New Zealand work holiday plans, and then requested for 1 year unpaid leave. She was very encouraging, telling me that it's a good opportunity to explore while i am still young. Nonetheless, she will still need to talk to the AP Zone Sales manager about this (cause she "owns" my career and i am an AP resource), and also to HR. She also advised that i should not state the "work" part as the reason for my unpaid leave during my application to HR. Not surprisingly, most of my benefits of an employee will be suspended during my one year unpaid leave.

We continued to talk further into our lunch, about life, about various seminars and life-changing talks we had both attended. Apparently, we both share an interest in attending talks given by established people, to learn from these people who have made it in life, who have been there and done that. She shared with me about this marketing seminar she attended on the globalization of marketing. How this man who worked for Laurel-Palmolive had to market Laurel sanitary pads in Japan and in Singapore.. How he was tremendously successful in Japan but not in Singapore. He realized he had to try the product he is selling before he can find out the cause of its failure. So he, a grown man wore sanitary pads for the sake of his job (and passion!). And he realized that the pads made for Japanese women (who sits with their legs closed) were not suitable for Singaporean women, who like to sit with their legs crossed, thereby causing leakage. And so he changed the product design to tailor to the target audience needs, and thereafter began to see results. Interesting story.

K and I went to watch the 13 Academy Awards winning film: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". I love this show. It has a very thought-provoking plot of how a man is born in his 80s but in a baby's form, and then starts to age backwards physically as he get older mentally. It is so ironic how much similarities one can find between a human being who is just born, and one about to die. We just use different terms to describe them. Firstly, both have no recollection of the world around them, or their loved ones. Just that the baby is said to be "unaware" because he just came into the world and hence naive, and the dying person is said to have "forgotten" their past and "losing" their memory due to dementia. And both don't have much mobility. A baby cannot walk and talk properly because they haven't "learnt" how. Whereas an old dying person cannot walk and talk properly because they are "losing" the ability to do so.

I know this sounds cliche, but Brad Pitt still looks drop dead gorgeous. I love the part where he was in bed with his childhood love, whom he had met when he was in his 70s (physically) and she in her teens. The girl asked him: "Would you still love me when i have wrinkles?" And he replied: " Would you still love me when i have acne?"

I just visited the movie website, and saw another thought provoking phrase in their thriller: "Life is learnt backwards, by living forward." How true. Some people may think that I am a curious case too. Doing all these things that most wouldn't do. K says sometimes it can be tiring explaining to people who simply cannot comprehend why we do certain things that we do. Especially those who, when told about my plans to go New Zealand, would react almost immediately and say: "Are you crazy?" I just hope i don't become one of them. Ever.