September 29th, 2012 "Short Weekend.."

Night Out @ Holland Village

So just gonna write a quick update of what's been going on this week before I book in. Well I booked in back to camp on Tuesday morning, this whole week was very slack back in camp, but I did train up back on my physical fitness. On Wednesday night, we had nights out, went to get ice cream with the signals platoon, then went to play some Counter Strike with the guys. After about an hour I was starting to feel sick and bored and the sudden urge of going for a run came, so I booked in changed to my PT attire, and went for a 5km by myself and followed by some push ups, crunches & pull ups. I'm really gonna try to bulk up, and shape by my body. Hopefully by the time I finish army, I can have a solid body. Meanwhile just trying to maintain my IPPT Gold since there's a IPPT test coming up in 3 weeks. This weekend is quite short due to guard duty. The whole battalion is at outfield and us the scouts are still in camp since we just came back from combat survival training. So therefore my weekend is burn, but did manage to grab some beer with my boys Kelvin and Ray last night at Holland Village.

So I finally upgraded to a iPhone 4 when people are upgrading to iPhone 5. Sin upgraded his iPhone 4 to iPhone 5, so I just bought his phone from him and sold my iPhone 3GS and Blackberry 9780. Gonna start taking lots of pictures hopefully since I finally have a camera! Well upcoming Tuesday is my ATP live firing shoot, bad news is that I got selected as SAW gunner. I'm not really confident using the SAW, still much prefer the SAR 21. Well what can I do just suck thump and pray hard that I can get the marksman badge and most importantly the free $200 from the government! Haha. Pray for me people! :) Today is also a very special day, it's Apple's 20th birthday. In a way, I wish that I could celebrate with her, light a candle in cupcake for her and give her a present but she have her own things to do and I need to book in for guard duty. Even though we're not together anymore but I still wanna wish her a very big Happy Birthday to her! Hopefully she will have a happy life ahead of her, and tonight she enjoy her night, just hope that she dont get too drunk and will get home safely. Well got to go! Need to book in now! CIAO :)

Ice Cream :) (Nights Out)

Random Post: Asia Is Going To Take Over The World Soon

China is a world super Factory country, they are king of the world already. If you want your kids to succeed in life you must ask them to learn mandarin. Their infrastructure are excellent, their factory are all super professional, logistics are superb. I am convinced that they are number one in the world in terms of economic powers. Everyone in China are all very hardworking, their domestic consumption are enormous, and saving rates are super high. Their tourist arrival is world number one, can u imagine how much tourism earns in China？ You cant find a country like China in the world. Can you imagine the amount of remittances being send from overseas into China from night club girls, teachers, maid, masseur, businessmen and etc they are all people from China. The money that they send back to their hometown translates into new wealth. With new wealth their family will buy new houses, air condition, fridge, furniture, cars & etc for their homes. It is this domestic consumption that keeps their factory alive, they have been poor for hundreds of years, their will power to be rich is strong because they have tasted how hard life is to be poor, so they strive there selves to become the best entrepreneur. The domestic housing market is still very strong due to urbanization, China can only gets better in production due to improved infrastructures, it makes delivery time super efficient. Best part is our Chinese culture of high saving rates & with all the 90's kids are all over the world now, we are slowly taking over. Simply put, the Chinese are on a global shopping spree. State-sponsored Chinese corporations are busy buying up commodities across Africa, North America, the Middle East, South America basically anywhere they can in a concerted strategy to seize control of resources before the rest of the world wakes up to the looming crisis. They’re striking deals with what she calls the "axis of the unloved" - developing countries rich in commodities but poor in political and economic capital - in return for much needed investment, employment and infrastructures. Extravagant shoppers, the Chinese are happy to pay over the odds, treating their trading partners not as poverty-ridden charity cases nor political pariahs but valued commercial equals. "There is this obsession with China being a culprit,"  "Even now, people will still say: 'Oh, the reason why the United States economy is not doing well is because the Chinese are manipulating the exchange rate,’ or, ’The Chinese have human-rights issues,’ and, ’The Chinese don’t do democracy, and the Chinese cheat.’ You know, it’s always about the Chinese, and no one actually takes a step back and thinks: ’Gosh, actually, it’s our fault that productivity is declining. It’s got nothing to do with the Chinese.” I think it’s fundamentally fantastic, it's fantastic as in something really tremendous. They bought a mountain in Peru - half the height of Mount Everest - they bought the mineral rights there. In Canada they’ve done a laptops-for-pork deal. They’re importing beef from Brazil and in return they’ll build roads and railways. It’s just an amazing display of discipline, and a systematic approach - it’s unparalleled. I don’t know any other country that does it in this way." The West complains that the Chinese are paying too much for commodities, instead of wondering whether China might in fact have grasped their true value. And the West has the nerve, to accuse China of no-colonialism, failing to understand that "the rest of the world actually thinks what China is doing is pretty damn clever". It was the West that got rich by invading and plundering the rest of the world, where as China is engaging with it on respectful, peaceful, generous terms. The hypocrisy of Western criticism is, she says, quite breathtaking. The West accuses the Chinese government of meddling in free-market capitalism, clean forgetting that US farm subsidy programs and Europe’s Common Agricultural Policy have condemned Africa’s farmers to poverty. The US is perfectly happy to take China’s money - more than US$1 trillion worth of government bonds - yet expects the emerging markets to say: "No, we don’t want Chinese money because there’s an issue of human rights." "What the Chinese are trying to do - move a billion people out of poverty - is just an unheard-of thing in history. The fact that they have moved 300 million in 30 years is unheard of. It took Britain 156 years to double its per capital income. It took America 57 years, Germany 65 years. It's taken the Chinese 12½ years." The rise of china will benefit a lot of neighboring country especially a city with Chinese & with such great connectivity Kota Kinabalu to Shenzhen daily flight is only 3 hours & Kota Kinabalu to Guangzhou & coming soon Kota Kinabalu to Shanghai. Especially since Kota Kinabalu, Sabah Malaysia is a very ethnic Chinese city as everywhere u go, lots of people here speak Cantonese & mandarin. This is one thing that most mainland visitor realize & that is why a lot of them are surprised & like Sabah, Malaysia so much. The rising wealth & growing appetite for consumption in Asia led by China & India will provide consumer companies with exponential growth. Even if there is a financial crisis & global downturn, the rise of middle class consumer in Asia will prove unstoppable. When they wake up they still want to buy a new pair of jeans, buy a ticket to travel & still want to buy a better bag or watch. It is exactly like US few decades ago, except this time it is the Chinese & Indian that will define the global economy for the next few decades. This 2 economies will lead consumer consumption in a major way & will fuel the world growth like a huge Tsunami. That is why you see Louis Vuitton, Moet, Henessy and LVMH is in a shopping spree in Asia, taking over consumer brand like Charles & Keith shoe maker, Sincere Watch, Trendy International China fashion &
Heng De Li watch retailer listed in Hkse. LVMH  will continue with its merger & acquisition in asia consumer company. LVMH will raise US$
1 billion in 2013 thru private equity backed by LVMH for that purpose. This millennium belongs to Asia, not the US nor Europe. Even Jim Rogers the commodity guru are bullish on Asia consumer consumption & air travel. Next to watch will be Indonesia & Vietnam, even Paddini are franchising with FJ Benjamin a Singapore listed company that operate in Indonesia for 3 decades to expand into Indonesia to tap its few hundred million consumer. A brand like Paddini makes a net profit of RM80 million a year selling only apparels fashion & that is only on msia market. Company that hv regional presence like Parkson will continue to rake in few hundred million profit year after year as backed by their china & Vietnam operation. That is why you see share price of counter like Air Asia continue to rise from 90cents to 3.60 in the stock market. Consumer stocks such as British American Tobacco, F&N, Guiness Anchor Berhad, Nestle, Dutch Lady, Asia Pacific Breweries, all continue to do very well. Even Prada chooses HKSE to list instead of listing it in NYSE. That is why you see Dutch brewer Heineken trying to acquire F&N Singapore in a bid to control Asia liquor industry as F&N control more than 40 brands in 15 Asia. F&N owns the likes of Tiger, Bintang, & etc. Asia is King now all dollars & talent are rushing into Asia's pacific, be it US sovereign funds, UK sovereign fund, they all want a piece of this pie. Asia have the youngest age professionals in the whole world, means many many more years of consumer spending to go.

Kumar Modi Indian founder of Spice Global With a revenue of USD$2B
Sudir Gupta Indian forbes listed net worth USD$320M
Richard Chandler a New Zealand listed by Forbes worth USD$3B
Nathan Tinkler Australian coal miner listed by Forbes worth USD$800M
Zhong Shen Jian China net worth USD$1B

All these tycoons have one thing in common, they choose to become Singaporean Permanent Resident to live & work in Singapore. It is not just the funds that are going to Singapore, it is about the caliber of people that migrated to Singapore that position it as a Global Society. It has the highest percentage of millionaires household at 17% & is world top richest country with GDP per capita of USD$56K , followed by Norway USD$51k, US at USD$45.5k, Hong Kong USD$45k & Switzerland USD$42k. Even though if you don't have the paper qualification, it's recommended that you ead more books on investment & business. Read books like Robert Kiyosaki Rich Dad Poor Dad, or any motivational books. Asia is king now, the 1800 belongs to Britain, 1900 belongs to America, 2000 belongs to China. The 17 nations in the Euro Zone, which share the Euro, are going through an unprecedented crisis. They are plagued by negative GDP growth – Spain, Italy, Cyprus, the Netherlands, and Portugal have persistently been in recessions; high unemployment – the Euro zone unemployment rate stands at 11.3%, the highest ever level, with Spain and Greece having almost a quarter of their labor force unemployed; stagnating consumer spending; and low market confidence and an ocean of uncertainties. A large number of nations in the Euro zone are facing severe financial difficulties. Ireland, Portugal, Greece and Italy have government debts exceeding 100% of GDP. Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Greece have been bailed out. France has lost its prized AAA credit rating, while Portuguese, Cyprus and Greek bonds are rated as junk, with Spain and Italy close to junk bond status. As a direct consequence, Greek bond yields are at astronomical levels, while those of Spain and Italy are bordering on levels that are unsustainable in the long term. Time and time again, as Euro zone summits and meetings of finance ministers have come and gone, the North and South remain in deadlock. The markets occasionally find a glimmer of hope in their words and promises, only to be disappointed with vague and directionless policies that are too slow and too small in impact to have any good chance towards decisively solving the crisis. All this is happening while the situation worsens, with investors losing confidence and capital flows out of the peripheral nations increasing, while in European cities demonstrations and public anger abound. European continent has been divided throughout the centuries, constantly plagued by world wars and regional conflicts. In fact, for most parts of the last 500 odd years, Europe was engaged in one form of war or another, all of which were created by the Europeans themselves, unlike Asia for example, where most of the conflicts were imposed upon them by the aggressive and imperialist European powers. This conflict-torn history is due to the fact that the nations that make up Europe were different in many aspects and could not agree on numerous fundamental issues. The difficulties faced in achieving further integration were a result of these differences. Competing imperial powers, countries such as France, Spain, Portugal, Great Britain and Germany were at one point in time or another, a global superpower and were very often fighting against one another as each country competes to conquer and exploit more colonies. Nations that have once achieved superpower status develop a strong sense of national pride. They are not accustomed to giving up sovereignty or obeying the orders of other nations. French and German pride is evident during multilateral conferences, where their diplomats insist on speaking their own languages and conversing with the aid of the translator, as opposed to using a common language. All the above differences, throughout the centuries, have led to disagreements and conflicts between the European nations. Furthermore, although some countries are relatively young, most have formed nationalistic sentiments. This results in thoughts such as “I am German/French/British, why should I spend my money helping the Greeks/Italians/Portuguese?” Efforts toward “Europeanising” the continent have evidently failed, or possibly, too little effort has been devoted towards such causes. As a result, the “We are all Europeans, and therefore we should help each other out in times of trouble” is lacking. Such words have certainly been repeated countless times by European leaders. However, their actions suggest otherwise. There are of course, naturally, the economic consequences of a country exiting the Euro, and in the extreme case, a break-up of the Euro zone. A break-up of the Euro zone would mean the end of the Euro as a common currency, and thus, that all countries return to their former currencies. Such a drastic outcome would cause a fall in confidence of consumers, businesses, and investors, domestic and foreign alike. The fall in consumer and business confidence would greatly reduce the amount of consumption and investment in the economy as these two groups hoard cash amid uncertainty of future economic conditions. Foreign investors would flee from the Euro zone, causing mass capital flight, and in the process lead to bank runs, a free fall in currency values, stock markets, and real estate prices of the respective economies. This would cause the crisis to spill over to the real economy as households experience losses on their assets. Further, trade and investment would be severely disrupted. A paper prepared by ING estimates that economies in the Euro zone, even core fiscally healthy euro zone economies such as Germany and Finland, would immediately plunge into severe recessions, and the cumulative fall in GDP of the Euro zone in the first two years would be more than 12%. As the European leaders are facing obstacles towards further integration, and at the same time are not keen on the idea of a break up, their indecisiveness in making a decision and inability to come to a consensus no longer remains a mystery. The Euro zone is stuck in limbo between the two extremities of the solutions that are on offer, while the economic situation deteriorates day by day. Timothy Ash, writing in Foreign Affairs aptly described the situation this way : “The trajectory of those who were, say, 15 years old in 1945 went from war to peace, poverty to prosperity, fear to hope. The Trajectory of those who were 15 in 2003, especially in the parts of the continent now suffering the most, has arched in the opposite direction: from prosperity to unemployment, convergence of national experiences to divergence, hope to fear.” Housing prices fell in 15 of the 22 European countries year on year.

Ireland-16.85%
Spain -13.18%
Greece -11.92%
Portugal-10.95%
Netherlands-10.12%
Poland-8.19%
Cyprus-7.68%
Slovak- 5.61%
Sweden-4.18%
Bulgaria-3.87%
UK - 3.42%
Lithuania-3.07%
Romania- 2.71%

Housing prices that rises are:
Germany +5.24%
Switzerland+4.86%
Estonia+2.83%
Turkey+2.57%
Latvia +2.5%
Iceland +1.72%

With the fall of euro zone a lot of liquidity money will find its way to emerging Asia. We in Asia will all profit from these. My conclusion on the future of Europe was interesting, “Without some new driving forces, without a positive mobilization.. the EU, while probably surviving as an origami palace of treaties and institutions, will gradually decline in efficacy and real significance, like the Holy Roman Empire of Yore.”

I believe in the 5 F's of life:
1.Family
2.Fitness
3.Freedom
4.Financial Freedom
5.Faith

If you can practice this u will be very successful, remember success are not measured by wealth, we must have a very balance life, within Family & Health. Family and helath are the two upmost important elements in life then followed by the Freedom of speech, freedom to travel, freedom of religion & etc. Only once you arrive at wealth which is when you reach your financial freedom then lastly faith your religion.

September 26th, 2012 "Summary of 3 Key Things.."

This 3 weeks has been one of the more interesting weeks, lots have happened, lots of things in my mind definitely, well mainly there's 3 things to focus on firstly its about me and Apple. As this 3 weeks past and I told myself to move on. Well I must say I tried. I told myself to not think too much about it and just go on with my life but I have to admit I miss her. Every once in a while I will still read her twitter, facebook or blog to see if there is anything about me. From the looks of it at the moment, it seems like she's moved on. Looks like she met someone new. Deep down inside it hurts me deeply but I can't do anything but just wish nothing but the best for her. Supposedly we agreed on a clean break but now I feel that we are still in a huge mess. I still don't know what exactly happened between us, what's she thinking. Still so many unanswered questions. We agreed on not being strangers but we are like completely strangers now, she said she needed time and I gave it to her. She says she feels suffocated, so I let her do her own thing. I don't even know why am I still thinking so much about us. It's like I went against the world for her. I really want to know what our one year together meant to her? Was it love or was it just a test/game? How could something that was going so good just ended like this? Does she still love me or have feelings for me? .. So many questions in my mind, but meanwhile I can't do anything about it just let fate do its thing. If we are really meant to be then she will be back to me overtime. Meanwhile I'm just trying not to think too much about it and do my thing, just wish nothing but the best for her, hope that she will take care of herself, and hopefully the new guy will treat her right and make her happy since I couldn't do the job right.

Second this I wanna focus on is about Clara, I know I didn't say much about what's on my mind between us on the other posts but let's just say I started to had feelings for her definitely but just too bad she had to move to UK otherwise we could of have chance to be together. With Clara its sort of different, I feel like she understands me quite well even though she just met me for 3 weeks but she knows what I'm thinking at times. Like I told her, I don't want to get my hopes up and disappoint ourselves so we will let fate decide on this and just see how things go in the future, anything can happen really. She's going to be in UK for 3 years, but in less then 1 year time I'll be going back to U. I just hope that we can remain this friendship for now, and maybe when she comes back for holiday next time we can pick it up from there. She also told me straight forward that she can see I still stressed about my ex right now, she doesn't want to be flirting with a guy that's still not over his ex. I totally understand her, cause the last thing I want is to make her feel that I was using her to get over my ex. I really need to find an answer to my all my unanswered questions and either close the chapter or continue our story with apple before it drags any further. In these 3 weeks I really felt a connection with Clara, actually start to have feelings for her, but the fact that its true that I'm still not over Apple and its very unfair for her at the moment. We will just have to see how things go in the future and what happens in the future. Meanwhile she's still being a very awesome friend, listening to my problems and making me smile awkwardly at my phone everyday :)

The third thing I wanna touch on is Family. This weekend made me realized how important family was, it made me really think about my family. I realized my grandfather passing actually brought the family much closer, it was the first time I could sit down with my father and tell him how I feel and how much I love them and he did the same and opened up to me. I can see with my own eyes the way my father looks at my grandfather in the casket, even though he didn't cry but I can see the pain in his eyes. I realized how much my parents loves me deep inside, my mom's friend Cecilia told me stories of how my mom would take care of me by herself when she was a young girl, the real story between my biological father and my mother. All the shit my parents have went through just for me. I love my parents so much. My parents might not be the best at expressing their love and care for me but I know deep down inside both of them are always worried for me, care for me. My mom told me to faster finish army, come home to US and we can be a family once again. She told me the reason why she wants to open a restaurant is so we can bond as a family working together, its not about the money, its about the happiness as a family. Words can't describe how much I love my family, I finally realized the importance of a home, a family. I can't wait til I'm back in US and finally be a good son to my parents, they really deserve it. I have done nothing to make them happy in the past, its time I do something right.

September 24th, 2012 " Family Comes First.. "

I just came back to Singapore today. This week my grandfather in KL passed away on the 19th of September. After 12 years of pain he went through, with a stroke, half of his body paralyzed, his arms and legs amputated, couldn't talk, bed ridden for 12 years he finally moved on to a better place and found peace at last. My only regret is that my recent trip to KL couple of months ago, I never went to visit him and now he is gone. I first heard the news on Wednesday the 19th when I was still in camp, I booked out that night and catch the first bus to KL the next morning. After a 5 hour bus ride, I finally reached KL and my aunt Angie came to pick me up then we went to his wake. The whole family was there just missing my father. We waited until around 6pm then started the ceremony, after the ceremony chatted with the family a bit then went to my cousin's friend house to get some rest that night. The next morning my father reached KL finally after a long flight from Denver to KL. We went back to the wake, and burn all the things to my grandfather at night since the next afternoon we are sending him off. On Saturday morning, we went back to the wake, see my grandfather one last time and say our last goodbyes, then we send him off to the cremation house. After everything was done we went to meet my mom's friend Cecilia and Vivian with my dad. We went to the Pavillion and grab some coffee and catch up since the last time I saw them I was still a very young boy, my mom's friend Cecilia was there with my mom before I was born helping my mother out, living with her, watching me grow when I was still a baby. After some coffee, we decided to meet later at night for some drinks then me and my father when to grab dinner with the family. After dinner we went back to change and headed out to meet Cecilia. Little did I know I had a very interesting night ahead of me, we went to this VIP nightclub in KL called De Lux. Its my first time going to a "Night Club" I always thought it just a very big KTV but this its different, every room is like a different club, with dance floor, sofa, bar, dj booths, pool table, toilet and such! My mom's friend Cecilia husband is quite well to do, some millionaire in Sabah Malaysia, he can spend easily $50k to $80k a night. There was basically free flow of Cordon Blue, Champagne, Wine and everything, your glass is never empty. That night I met lots of big shots around the world, I met the owner of one of biggest Hotel and Casino in Macau, people from Jakarta, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Korea, Hong Kong all the big businessman around the world. That night it really opened my eyes, somethings you don't see every night. As the night goes on we all drank more and more including my dad and Goh (Cecilia's husband). Goh was trying to teach me more about business, about how US is gonna be fucked, and how Asia will take over very soon, and my dad doesn't agree with him and scared that Goh is gonna turn me from bad to worst, cause if I follow Goh's footsteps, I will be rich, but I won't be happy, I wouldn't have a stable family, every night in night clubs with clients and such. Then my dad straight forward told him that he's just a young boy and haven't grew up yet which really pissed Goh off. Then the rest of the night I was trying to make sure they didn't fight, they actually been friends for 15+ over years already, I guess we all just had a little too much to drink that night. That night was actually the first time I sat down with my dad, told him everything in my mind with Cecilia and Goh. Sometimes alcohol is the answer, haha sad to say. Sometimes we all need to be drunk in order to talk, cause when me and my dad is sober we would never ever talk but when we drink we can go on talking, hugging and crying about each other. Haha. After that very interesting night, my mom called when we got home then we chat for a bit when I was still tipsy, then I told my mom how much I fucked up, I miss them and stuff and told them how much I love them, as I put my arms around my dad's shoulders and cried together. One of the most epic night in my life seriously. I fucking love my parents! The next morning, I had to wake my dad up because we had to go collect my grandfather cremation, when I woke him up, my dad asks how did he even end up on bed last night, he told me he couldn't remember most of the stuff that happened last night -.-' After breakfast, then we drove to pick my grandfather's crematorium and place it on the funeral home. After that I went to Petaling Street to get some shopping done, then grab dinner with my father before we fly off the next day. We woke up early in the morning the next day, went to the bus terminal, gave me a hug and told me he will see me next month, then ride the train to the airport as I went to grab breakfast then ride a coach back to Singapore.

September 16th, 2012 "Never Easy Saying Goodbye.."

HOHOHO. Another eventful weekend, and a bit sad towards the end though. This was the last weekend I can get to know Clara before she flies off. On Friday the 14th, me and Sin went to Boat Quay with Cassy and Clara to drink, before that we went to some italian restaurant for dinner in Boat Quay then went to The Straits for some beer and wings! .. Chit chatted there for a while until Sin's cousin came then we went to Planet Paradise for Round 2. Towards the end of the night, I started to get a bit emotional, started to think about stuff, particularly about Apple, but Cassy and Clara drank a bit too much so I took care of em for a while since Kelvin had to talk to Yvonne since they're having their problems. It was getting late and Cassy went home since she was too tired and Clara didn't wanna go home yet cause she drink a little too much and scared if she go home, her brother will scold her (sounds like somebody right?) So we went to grab a early breakfast at McDonalds and accompany her til the morning and went home. The next day we went to Zirca this time with me, Yong Qin, Yi Liang, Riduan, Clara, Cassy, Enni and Shu Kiat for Spread Love 2nd Anniversary. That night was awesome! Great crowd, great group, great DJ! .. After Zirca on Saturday we all went home to sleep since we had plans to make cheesecake the following morning, but due to Cassy over sleeping we just went to Jurong Point for desert then went to the Ice Rink at Jcube with Kelvin, Karen and Clara :) After ice skating, Clara had to go for her farewell dinner so me, Sin and Karen got some dinner at Thai Express. After dinner went home and change and prepare to book in then went to Clara's house with Cassy and Karen in Bedok since she is flying off the next morning. Basically we just spend the whole night camwhoring polaroids, who knew taking pictures could be so fun! Seriously some epic moments that night, then I went it was time to book in I walked to camp since her house was literally right across from my camp! Haha. Really had lots of fun these past 2 weekends, too many hilarious moments and stories to share! Imma miss this girl definitely! Hopefully she will do well in UK and I wish nothing but the best for her :)