Celebrating a Special Occasion

Attended Doraemon's Baptism yesterday at 7 Holland Hill Park yesterday... was late by about 30min and rushing like crazy becos of these...

Hehe... was so kan cheong when Doraemon messaged me and asked me what happened and am I coming... shootz manz... and then I got lost with all the blocks and couldn't locate #02-01... thankfully... alls well ends well... and I managed to grab a couple of good pictures... to see the pictures, click on this www.sthuifen.shutterfly.com

Here's a sample:

After that, we went to Alexandra Market for Sting Ray, Cuttlefish & Kang Kong in Satay Sauce, Oyster Omelette and Satay! Yumz Yumz!

Third Friday @ Body Contours

Hmnn... Feeling kind of tired and sort of helpless... Marketing is sort of like a waiting games at some times... after you pass the proactive stage of hunting down the possible connections, partners and avenues to do stuff... You make the approach and... you WAIT... anything from three days to a week...

And then you got to submit your stuff to Management and wait for approval and most importantly... budget to be released... In the midst of all this waiting... you sit down and finetune your proposals and yes... trawl the net and magazines for more ideas and more inspirations... and make more approaches... just so that you got more stuff to... yes WAIT for again...

Hmnn... perhaps I am just one impatient soul... actually it's not I think... I know it's proven and my friends know I am blardy impatient as well...

I so dislike the feeling of waiting and feeling helpless... yet you can't keep bugging other people like you are some desparado right? What kind of professional image am I portraying then... but yes we wait, we wait and we wait...

Then when an email response does come through... you are keeping your fingers crossed to hope it's not a rejection...

To be a wee bit more positive... It's through rejections that we finetune our approach... our speech... our conversational skills and yes... we think of ways and means how to reduce the rejection level...

How? Dating gives us a good analogy... boy A sees girl A... not well-groomed enough... dud...no interest...

Boy A sees Girl B... nice, pretty, well-dressed and well-groomed - Okie, might have a match there...

Therefore it's the same here... we got to keep elevating ourselves to reach the levels of the partners we wish to prospect... not so much as to be something we are not...

But say for example.... Girl B and Girl A are one and the same... difference is, Make-Up, Dressing, Deportment, Speech and the rest is history (of cos this is a fairly biased and not that accurate analogy - but I think it works well for the corporate theory)

Your partners judge you by your website, your company name, your logo, your correspondence, your associations, your public profile and of cos... the voice that comes through to them on the phone... confident? Shaky? Focus? Blur Cock?

Thus it is so important for a company to have the right people... people who can represent the company correctly and professionally... that's where training comes into play... a good company must invest in the training (continuous) not just one-time and hope for a miracle...

So that's all the rambling in my head and the update in the workplace...

A picture of my doggie

Name: Buddy
Breed: Maltese (but weird that his built seems to be larger than regular Malteses...maybe he's just fat)
Age: 5 years old
Birthday: 23 July 2006
Attitude: Mostly lazy and nonchalent and ya greedy... occasionally affectionate
Favorite Person: My Mum (Cos she feeds him like a king)

Most memorable incident: Almost got ran over by a bus when he ran off the leash after getting bitten by a stupid tiny terrier... (that was when he was a couple of months old), and I was chasing after him across the road frantically waving and screaming at cars and an oncoming bus to STOP!!! Help!! Stoopid Stoopid Terrier! Pui!

The furore about Xiaxue's entries in STOMP

Have been a little stuck in my brains the past few days... just Saturday... I was trying to write something basically just some to update my blog...but was so stuck, I actually fell asleep after two sentences... imagine that! My brain juices must be evaporating...

Well I suppose writing is a bit like that sometimes...there are days when you have diarrhoea and there are days when it is just full-blown constipation *Shakes Head*

Being a little bored...I decided to check in our my 'favorite' blogger Xiaxue... the last few times i checked in...it was still the entry on Jolin Tsai and how she thinks she was a princess in her previous reincarnation... romantic thought :)

Thankfully, there was a new entry today and it was one of her signature *Fuck Fuck Fuck* entries... this time it was 'F the STOMP readers' for writing in to the STOMP editorial team and trying to get them to censor her words...

To be totally honest... I did think that STOMP should exercise a teeny whiny bit of editorial control as ultimately it is a public portal and especially so since STOMP IS an extension of SPH. There's no need for perfect English I'd say and a few sprinklings of the 'F' word probably harms no one, just like adding the vital spices to a dish...

Blogging is quite unlike news reporting in the sense that news writing is all about facts and the writer has got to be very impartial and detached from the subject matter... blogging is a different thing... bloggers usually blog about stuff or news that they feel passionate enough for... with passion comes expressiveness and a certain lack of control over personal emotions...

It may not be that we are all that upset about what we are blogging about but simply allowing ourselves to exaggerate our emotions of the moment... just like wailing and crying our eyes out while watching a soap opera... it's all about letting go and letting your emotions run a full circle.

At any rate... blogging is about freedom of expression... no one gets paid to blog or read so what an individual choose to do or write or comment is purely up to the person's discretion... so readers can criticize but the blogger can still continue to blog in whatever ways he or she wants... of cos unless MICA decides to issue a warning or like Mr. Brown... have his column removed from Today...but what the heck... he still have his own airspace on his own blog at any rate!

Officially One-Week Old

Hmnn I wonder if this calls for a celebration haha :) I survived my first week at Body Contours! Actually... it's not like I had a hard time also lah, I would say all in all...it was a pretty fulfilling and satisfying week...

Basically it was just plenty of emails and phone calls informing contacts of my move to the new company and brainstorming on possible stuff that we could do together (incidentally the stuff has got to be fun to do of course ;P)

I've got a nice little corner near the back of the office and the best part is that it's near to the printers, fax machine, photocopier and of course yippee! The pantry area hehe...

Great location! One of the first few things that I did was...ahem to dress up My Space... ok, it's not like I did anything fantastic like placing flowers or painting the wall red or yellow, just pasted my pictures on every centimeter of available space :)

I actually thought it was a great idea till I got worried that people might draw cat faces or even pig faces on them... decided to be boring, crossed over to Funan and bought 2 motivation posters to keep me on my toes!

The first one says 'Perseverance - The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge BUT rather a lack of WILL'.

The second one is a A-Z list of stuff to remember in Achieving Your Dreams...

A- Avoid Negativity
B - Believe in Yourself
C - Consider things from all perspectives
D - Don't Give Up
E - Enjoy what Life brings Today cos Tomorrow is not an Absolute
F - Family and Friends are your real crowns of success
G - Give more than what you think you can (in terms of work, love and affection - $$$ erm maybe when I'm more well off hehe)
H - Hang on to your dreams
I - Ignore those who discourage you
J - Just Do It (Wonder if they paid copyrights to Nike?)
K - Keep on Trying. Things can only get better
L - Love yourself
M - Make your dreams Happen
N - Never act against your conscience
O - Open your Eyes
P - Practice puts the P in Professional
Q - Quitters never win and Winners never Quit
R - Read, Study and Continue Learning
S - Stop Procrastinating
T - Take Control of Your Destiny
U - Understand Yourself
V - Visualize Success
W - Want it More than Anything
X - Xccelerate Your Efforts (Opps... looks like X got too tough)
Y - You are unique and likewise so is your method of success
Z - Zero in on your target

Ta-Dah...all the motivation I need to get started... :)

1st Day of Work at Body Contours!

Just this morning I woke up feeling very reluctant...yes reluctant cos it was going to be my first day of work at Body Contours as a Marketing Executive :/

As I got prep, and ready to step out of the house...all the way to the train station and in the train...my mind was contemplating all the possibilities that could occur throughout the day...

Would my colleagues be nice or mean? I mean Spa industry...sure got a whole bunch of girls right...and urmm... what does girls equate to?
B-I-T-C-H-I-N-E-S-S rite?

Well or maybe wrong...anyway... I'm suppose I can't be the only person on earth suffering from nervousness on the first day of work with a new company right?... call it the butterflies in your stomach or knotted stomach...all that was in my brain was that I was going into unknown territory where all I knew and was familiar with is not there...

Would I be able to cope? Would my new colleagues like me? Would I be able to deliver results? Would I become a laughing stock onto myself...all of a sudden... I kinda regretted leaving my old workplace where though
Shit still occur... at least you knew where the toilet paper was and you knew you had colleagues who would clean it up with you...

With all these thoughts revolving in my head... I made my way to Body Contours @ 30 Hill Street...

Well by the time lunch happened (btw lunch is catered in for all staff on a daily basis) I had kind of realized that I had been over-reacting and people really weren't as frightening as you would imagine them to be when you yourself was in a state of nervousness...

Thankfully...everyone was pretty friendly if shy and hey geez...that's when I recalled that we were all human beings... all with a little bit of built-in shyness or modesty as you might call it :)

Well I got my pc fixed up and I was lucky enough to get a new pc with 120gb of memory or hard-disk space or watever... the only thing I'm lacking now is my own telephone...which brings me to my grouse that we don't have DID, but rather a general line for everyone :( I much prefer a DID system but oh well... one can't ask for too much right...

Guess the task on hand now is to whip myself into action and start thinking about joint promotions and business partners to approach :) Wish me luck!

If any one reading this happen to have any ideas or suggestions for joint marketing promotions... do drop me a liner at sharontan@bodycontours.com.sg Thanks for reading this!

Movie Review on Superman Returns

I know this is starting to sound like I am damn free and constantly bunking out at the cinemas... but that's only cos it's my week off before I start my new job on Monday :)

Btw thanks to Meow King for supporting my blog and for the well wishes for my new job!

Okie going back to the movie review... I need to admit to one thing... urmnn I kinda fell asleep during the first 20 - 30 minutes of the film :( Not sure if the following review is considered a spoiler but just in case... don't say I didn't give warning from the onslaught (",)

Was sort of confused in the first part of the movie as it switched between Superman falling from the sky as an adult and then going back to when he was a kid and a teenager. Sort of daft of me... but I almost thought that Superman was suffering from a bout of 'fan lao huan tong' i.e. growing young backwards ;p

I'm not sure if the rest of you who have caught the film might agree... but I thought the on-screen chemistry between Superman (Brandon Routh) and Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) wasn't exactly that sizzling... bs in the first part of the show Lois was mostly acting neurotic and agitated towards Superman and Clark Kent (strange since she was aparently clueless that they are both one and the same) - and oh yeah... if she was so in love with Superman that they apparently had a cute kid together...how is it that she can't recognize Clark just coz he was wearing glasses??!! - Too amazing

Most parts of the movie had me almost exclaiming outloud that it was too exaggerated...but to be fair...I'll attribute it to the fact that I haven't watched any Superman movies before this one...so maybe I'm the kuku one haha

The storyline proceeds with Superman returning to Earth after a voyage to his home planet to dunno do wat lah, then of cos he comes back and saves the day (or a few days) - same stunts like stopping a plane crash, and stuff from dropping on pple's heads... Of cos his return reignites the passion and anger in Lois after his sudden disappearance... All this time, Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) the villain of the movie who has a fetish for many wigs... (cos he is bald) is plotting for the death and downfall of the hero with the red underwear.

So he goes and steal some Kypto-something (anyway it's the only stuff that can injure the steelman and even kill him), the psycho also steals another crystal from Superman's home planet... a pretty colorless crystal that when you dump into water will grow and grow and grow... thus he forms his devilish plan to 'grow' his own land and to kill Superman in the process...

Don't think it's much of a surprise to anyone that 'good triumphs over evil' and SM saves the day! Of cos in the process he is injured and came close to death... but the kiss of Lois and his son jolts him back to stainless steel good health!

Other characters to look out for in this movie:

- Richard White (Lois's fiance - since SM left): his role as a quiet, understanding and supportive partner is commendable, especially when he is aware of Lois's soft spot for SM - think his onscreen chemistry with Bosworth is much better too)
- 'The Kid' ermm cos he was so absolutely adorable that I didn't note his name (damn and he was one of the highlights of the show as well, vulnerable innocence and all)
- The bimbo sidekick of Lex, Kitty Kowaiski (Parker Posey) who finally shows her mettle at the closing part of the show.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10 (several fantastic scene shots by talented director Bryan Singer) the other 3.5 pts deducted for the extremely predictable storyline

For more stuff on Superman Returns, visit http://supermanreturns.warnerbros.com/