Where have I been?

I slipped.

I was recently overwhelmed by changes in my life. Work has been busy was a very convenient excuse I had for myself. I stopped visiting the gym, I didn't watch my diet, I didn't follow any of my plans of routine, I slept late, and I was procrastinating. My health took a hit. For a good 3 weeks I was having headache, bodyaches, and fever on and off. Again, convenient excuse for myself, I was feeling stressed. I slipped into a vicious cycle of pain, discomfort, procrastination, and doing things that ain't important just to tell myself that I deserve all these time to relax. The only thing that I was keeping up with was work, because money don't fall from the sky.

I was doing things that I shouldn't be spending that much time on but I did it anyway to make myself feel a little better. I took every little win I can. I should be writing more on these blog because this was what I used to enjoy doing. I wouldn't call myself a writer because I was never good at it as a kid. I still remember why I start this blog years ago. Because I wanted to improve my writing and also to pen down some of my thoughts and crazy ideas. I planned it so that at that point, my unborn unconceived children can read it in the future to me when I'm all grey and lost my memories. Yes, just like in The Notebook.

But I got distracted. I never really admitted that I am a blogger back in the days until I actually won a blog award some years ago. The term blogger always gave me a bad taste in the mouth especially those I've seen, heard, met in Singapore especially. More often than not these guys can't write, do not have any special skill or insights to share and neither do they have really interesting stories nor good images. I was jaded by the industry. What started most people like myself to write was nothing more than an online diary where we just go on about ranting about our lives. Things eventually took a turn no thanks to marketeers. Ironically, I am one of them. Inevitably, and as much as I hated it, that was where the industry was shifting to. Using bloggers to promote products. I can't deny the fact that this platform has made and broke many individual but this is what evolution is all about. Things change and we have to keep up with times. Sadly, many has hopped onto the bandwagon for fame, money, or even as pathetic as for the sake of scoring some freebies. And by now, the term blogger is already passe, the more current term is probably influencer. To be honest, I feel even more uncomfortable with this term. It's like a makebelieve term to make yourself feel good and tbh, that's not me man, all I ever wanted was to write and share. My intention was never to be someone famous.

Why am I telling you this? Because what started as a personal diary for myself was affected as well. I started to write things that I think people are interested to read, I started writing articles with keywords that make my content more searchable. I was affected by the fact that some better written blogs doesn't get as much attention as compared to some asswipes out there who simply write for the sake of commercial purposes. I'm not apologetic about my French here. I contemplate on what type of content I should write. I want to share more about my personal life but yet on the other hand I thought it's not as good a story. I was caught in a funk. I stopped myself from writing every time I feel like I should write something,

I read it somewhere before,

"Do what you love, and you’ll never work another day in your life." 

but when I was a teenager, a comic book store owner too told me something when I told him that it's so cool that he is following his dream of selling comics,

"Never make your hobby a job, because very soon you will be left with no hobbies." 

Like I said, I was never a good writer growing up, and my grammar ain't exactly the best. I love art but I never thought I would go into photography. I probably made a mistake making this "talent" and "hobby" of mine into a job. I'm not regretting for sure, I still love my job but I can't say the same for my hobby. I'm so obsessed with the crafts that I can no longer just snap anything random and upload or just write anything silly to publish. I would tell myself that it's not good enough a piece or something along the lines that 'would these work actually hurt my professional image?"

So what inspired me to write this post?

Californication.

I was browsing through Netflix and I saw this show. I watched a few episodes and I was inspired. Not by the fact that there are lots of naked attractive ladies in the show but by the fact that it talks about a washed out writer who was trying to fix his life. I mean comparing what I'm going through to what he went through, I'm not even close.

What put me into writing again was the fact that he too ended up writing a blog and his narrative was rather personal and yet at the same time interesting to read. He reminded me that a blog is a continuous narrative of someone's life and thoughts. Not just about what good food is available out there or reporting a trending topic. Of course, that was in 2007 because that was when the show was made. Things change and sadly blogs ain't just that no more.

For those who are not aware, I manage unscrambled.sg. I spend most of my writing mojo reporting and writing stories on that site. Disclaimer – I love writing for unscrambled. I love that the platform allows me to write stories that ain't as personal for my own site, but it's just that I just do not have the focus to write anything on my blog thereafter. I'm so used to writing stories of others that I lost the ability to write my own, not until I stumble upon Californication.

I guess that's serendipity for me.

It's about time for me to be back here and start writing my own stories again.

Good news is that I feel so much better and feel like I'm back in a better place after my short 3-day trip in Genting. I must say I am very impressed with the newly renovated place. To be honest, I've no idea how "newly" renovated it is since the last I visited was actually almost a good 5 years ago.

In case you didn't really like this post, here's Red Hot Chili Peppers' Californication.

Read More

5 Zainal Sapari memes that might change your life

Many wouldn't find it surprising if I told you guys that I'm not exactly the best student in class. I mean I don't think I'm bad but I'm not exactly one of those that pays attention, do my home work, and erm, cut my hair regularly. The last part might comes as a surprise since my hair is hardly an inch long now but not to forget I grew up in an era where this is what we call handsome.

erm, wrong image.

Ya, this. 

See! Handsome right? I mean, don't try to imagine how I look with this hairstyle if you still want whatever meal you just had before reading this. This was the coolest hairstyle back then, but of course not everyone agrees, especially not my Disciplinary Master, Mr. Zainal Sapari who is now the NTUC Assistant Secretary-General (ASG), Director, Care; Share Department, Director, U Care Department and MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC. I know, that's a mouthful and it reminds me of Daenerys from Game Of Thrones.

My Unscrambled.sg work brings me to places all the time. This time right, it brought me to Mr.Zainal's NTUC office where we are supposed to do an interview piece about his work. So yeah, I got to meet him for tea, but like he mentioned in a cheeky manner, there was no tea. All we had was water. You know lah, fight the diabetes war. LOL.

Although 20 years has passed, he is exactly like how I remembered him. Warm, humorous, and no holds barred despite being in politics. This sure didn't apply to the Mr. Zainal I know. Maybe a few pounds more but he is always ready to share some of his wisdom. 

Actually this is not the 1st time I bumped into him after school days. We were at the same event some years ago where he was the guest-of-honour and I was representing my company as a partner with AREU Tour Guide Chapter. 

Although I was never really his student back in school days, here's 5 things I learnt from him during this short session. Because pranks are what students do best to their teachers, so here's 5 memes I made instead.

1. Zainal Snow - You Know Nothing

Mr. Zainal dedicated his life to teaching, it was his first career and he was not shy to admit that he did not know much about how politics worked before he got into the game. In fact he didn't even know what he was walking into when PAP first invited him for tea. He thought it was nothing more than a simple dialogue over tea with some school principals to discuss education matters (he was a principal of Mayflower Primary School then). Thinking that he wouldn’t be missed since it’s a group setting, he had declined the meeting due to prior engagements. Little did he know that he was actually invited by the ruling party for that kinda tea sessions, LOL! 

He also shared with us that the best way to become an MP is to just do what you do well, and not try too hard to be one. It sounded a lot like those mafia movies where they will drop you with this famous quote, 

"You don't find us. We will find YOU." 

Lesson Learnt: It's okay to admit that you do not know something, we are only human. What's important is the hunger to learn and the passion to do what one believes in.

2. Zainal Sapari, father of 6 (no dragons), and breaker of chains. 

I know this is another Game Of Thrones reference which you might not be too familiar with if you are not a fan but come on, everyone watches GOT right? Besides the fact that they both have very long titles, they also have many things in common. One of the main reasons why he entered into MOE at that time was he believe that as a teacher he can help students using education and help them break out of poverty. 

Mr.Zainal himself came from a low income family where his dad worked 3 jobs which included being a cleaner, security guard and “grass-cutter”and his mum was a helper to an expat family. 

It was through education that Zainal became who he is today and he wishes he can do the same for everyone. He also quoted that famous starfish story where he believe that he will do what he can with what he have to touch lives even if it is just one at a time. 

He might have left MOE for years now but it is still the same for him today as he has the responsibility as an ASG at NTUC. He champions for a better life for low wage workers and his efforts as a labour MP sure affects many and breaks many's chains. 

Lesson Learnt: We might not have dragons or special power but everyone has abilities of their own. We can make an impact in everyone's life no matter how big or small.

3. YOLO!

He might be a politician now and my very strict and fierce DM some 20 years ago but Mr. Zainal was once young as well. He told us stories of his early life where he believe that when we face challenges, all we have to do is to "just do it!" So I taught him a new word YOLO! and explained to him what it meant. He replied me candidly - YES, YOLO! 

Lesson Learnt: No matter how big or small the challenge is, just YOLO!

4. Live life with no Ragrets. 

He does not have that tattoo of course. But when we asked him about him his thoughts about leaving his comfort zone and domain of expertise in MOE for some 20 years and joining the Labour Movement,, he told us with a straight face that he has no regrets at all. It's a challenge but he is enjoying what he does everyday. To him it's not just a job, it's about touching lives and helping to improve everyone's standard of living. 

Lesson Learnt: He didn't say this but I feel that being a politician is never easy. There are times that some things shouldn’t be said politically (thus the term politically correct) and there may be times that you can be irresponsibly quoted by the media. It's really not easy being in politics considering the amount of heat one can get on social media these days. You do your best and live life with no ragrets. That's the ballsy Mr. Zainal I know.

5. Let God Decide. 

Although I did my home work of reading his Wikipedia page before meeting him and knew that he did religious studies in his university days, this reply came as a surprise to me when we asked him about him having any plans for his children to be in politics. A simple yet impactful answer. Mr.Zainal is a man of God. He was also sharing with us about his relationship with God and how he seeks knowledge from his religion from time to time. 

Lesson Learnt: There are things in life we can't control and it's better to let Thor do it. I mean God do it. It's strange how I spent my school life running away from him but this session with him was so enjoyable I hardly wanted to leave. 

It sounds a bit strange to say this now but he really is an interesting man to chat with. Not exactly because of our erm history, but I think that he is a man that I would like to work along with. Wise yet unconventional, it's not exactly something one can balance easily.

Read More

A-Better-Home @ North East

Growing up in a middle-lower income family where my father was the sole breadwinner with my

mum doing some part-time jobs on and off, I feel that even with this little money we had, we had a

pretty decent life. We had a nice flat to live in and proper food on the table every day and that made

me believe that it is the same everywhere else in Singapore. I was naive enough to believe that

there were NO poverty in Singapore. I mean if I compare with places like Africa or even some of the

slumps I saw on Hong Kong TV dramas, Singapore really looks pretty decent right?

You know what they said about ignorance is bliss? I guess they are pretty right this time. A good 20 -

30 years has passed and I have gotten more in touch with what is happening in Singapore. As

much as I thought there is no poverty in Singapore, I'm actually seeing it in Singapore NOW! Just

look at the situation of a house I visited recently with the North East Community Development

Council. I mean this is not the first time I am seeing such situations considering that I've always been

in touch with community services projects back in the days when I was part of Lions Club Singapore

as well as doing my part during my school days. Despite not being my first time, I can't say I am not

 surprised at the situation. Can you imagine staying at such a place?

The place was so old and rundown that many youngsters might not even have seen as a power switch before.

A strong sense of nostalgia isn't it.

While I'm standing in the house soaking myself up in sense of nostalgia and feeling all poignant,

channeling my inner Lang Leav to write a poem, it hits me that this place is actually someone's

house where they eat and sleep in everyday.

I can't help but to feel how fortunate we are and at the same time a sense of shame because all we

are "suffering" from everyday are our typical first world problems such as internet too slow or went

and queued for hours but failed to get that limited edition shoes that we always wanted while there

are people out there that do not even have food on the table or living in a house where most people

wouldn't bear staying in. Because you know, no aircon. LOL. #firstworldproblemmuchright

Don’t' say I exaggerate hor, just see for yourself.

So thanks to the good people at North East CDC, they have launched a new program - A-Better-

Home @ North East. Yeah, it's the same good people that I've covered a few other stories for

recently which includes Heart Baker as well as Get Healthy. As you can see, there are a lot of things

happening in Singapore and there are many good people who are willing to do their part for others. I

mean I might be getting my hands dirty but the war journalist is just as important as anyone in the

war right? Okay lah, or at least I choose to believe so.

A-Better-Home @ North East is an inaugural pilot programme by the North East CDC to improve our

less privileged residents’ living environment. A group of contractors will provide pro bono services in

repairing and replacing broken fixtures such as damaged doors, dislodged tiles, faulty electrical

wiring; as well as carrying out painting works.

North East CDC has teamed up with 7 Contractors to provide pro bono and/or subsidised repairs for

these less privileged residents. These socially-conscious contractors have donated $350,000 in

services to assist 300 under-privileged households. This pilot collaboration would run till March

2019. The initiative complements North East CDC’s existing Home Needs programs such as Project

Refresh where volunteers helped less-privileged residents to spruce up their homes.

The scheme has made homes safer for seniors such as 76-year-old stroke

patient Mr. Tan and his Wife. The couple has to put up with a leaked toilet system and

the paint on their walls were peeling. Mr. Tan, who has difficulties walking and

speaking, relies on his wife, 69-year-old Mdm Lee, to take care of him. They recently welcomed

Chinese New Year with a rejuvenated home as the contractors had fix their toilet leakage and

repaint their home.

Mayor of North East District, Mr. Desmond Choo is excited that different

stakeholders are coming together readily to tackle community problems. He said,

“While national programs such as Home Improvement Program (HIP) tackles essential

repairs, there are residual and exceptional needs that can be tackled by the

community. Through this collaboration, we can create safer and better homes for less-

privileged residents and strengthen community self-help and resilience.”

I know such effort of helping one at a time might not change the whole country overnight but like the

starfish story  we help who we can with what we have even if it's one at a time.

Read More

Removal of Acne Scars with Fractional Laser at Lux Medical Singapore

Familiar picture? This was also featured on the other article where I talked about my nose

thread. Truth is this was also a picture to show my skin before started going through

fractional laser treatment with Lux Medical Singapore. As you can see, I've some acne

scars as well as really enlarged pores.

Long story short, men being men I'm actually very lazy when it comes to caring for my skin.

I know I've talked about different products and stuff before but nothing seems to follow

through for me. It's not them obviously, it's really me.

As much as I always joke about how strange it is for a 30ish years old married and not-so

handsome man to 靠脸吃饭 but I am actually very ill-disciplined when it comes to

maintaining my skin. I find it especially hard when it comes to traveling. I've like 10,000

things and equipment in my luggage and bringing like 4-5 bottles of facial product just

doesn't work all the time and I can be away from Singapore for 2 weeks on certain months.

Of course, prevention is always better than cure but the annoying thing would be when you
can't even find cure.

I did my treatment for 3 months from August to November and I missed the whole
December till February because I was traveling, working, and celebrating Chinese New
Year.

I was also supposed to share about this with you guys because I feel that the fractional
laser by Dr. Kellyn was really good but PS4 work got the better of me and I was too
lazy to write about it.

As much as I dislike Chinese New Year, visiting the relatives was inevitable. The good thing
out of this CNY was that everyone was asking about my skin. Fine, not everyone but quite
a few relatives and friends actually noticed. EVEN MY CLIENT WAS ASKING ME WHY MY
FACE LOOK SO SMOOTH NOW!

This picture was taken on the first day of CNY. Can tell the difference right? Okay, maybe

this was a little too small to see the details.

This was taken using my iPhone. No edit, no meitu, no filter, and also #NoMakeup.
Nothing. Can you see my pores? Please ignore my messy eyebrows, haven't really
go get it done as well because erm.. lazy. And also because Browhaus increased
their price a little way too much. Stingy lor. LOL.

Point to note, this is me giving it minimum care and not visiting Dr. for almost 2 months. I

would say that I am very satisfied with the result. I mean the ROI is when people actually

noticed and ask about it right?

So what is Fractional Laser?

Fractional laser treatment is a non-invasive treatment that uses a device to deliver a laser

beam divided into thousands of microscopic treatment zones that target a fraction of the

skin at a time. This is analogous to a photographic image being enhanced or altered pixel

by pixel. Fractional laser treatment has bridged the gap between the ablative and non-

ablative laser techniques used to treat sun-damaged and aging skin.

Whilst ablative laser treatments work mainly on the epidermis (surface skin cells) and non-

ablative treatments work solely on dermal collagen (mid-layer of skin) only, fractional laser

treatment works at both the epidermal and dermal layers of the skin.

The downtime for fractional laser is really minimum although doctor did warn me about not

exercising for a few days as well as make sure I stay away from the sun. I mean no prize

for getting it right but I really ain't exactly one of those who follow rules closely. :x

And in case you are wondering, nope, it is not painful at all. In fact it is a very quick

process. I am given how big my face is probably compared to you guys, it didn't even take

me more than 15mins to complete the session. (Not taking into consideration of time taken

for the numbing cream to kick in.)

For the benefit of those who have been asking me, especially my client whom I know is
reading this, details as follows.

More Details

Address: 2 Handy Road, #02-09 The Cathay, 229233

Hours:     Mon - Fri 10:30AM–8PM

              Sat - Sun 10:30AM-4PM

Phone:     6815 9922

Website

Read More

7D6N All Taiwan Tour with Chan Brothers

It’s strange how I’ve never visited Taiwan for the longest time although it has always been on my to-go list since I was a teen.

You know all those popular Taiwanese love dramas back in the early 2000s? And not forgetting all the variety

shows that always feature all the great food. Guess what? I ended up visiting this country 3 times this year.

Although I visited the country 3 times but I must say that every experience is definitely different.

I’ve always been a free and easy traveller but I must say I was very impressed with the

experience I had with Chan Brothers Travel on a 7D6N package tour this time round!

You know how I always talk about my ‘fake (Instagram) life’ where we will travel around to take pictures?

Of all my trips that I went to shoot in different countries, the trip with Chan Brothers Travel

definitely takes the cake.

Taking the high speed rail for the very first time!

Hitting Ten Drum Cultural Village (Pun intended).

It’s hussle-free

Can you imagine traveling to a farm on your own without a tour guide? Or transport?

To be honest, I’ve no idea how to travel from Taipei to Jiufen on my own. But based on Google Maps… *_*

Everything was so well- planned and hassle-free with Chan Brothers. Conventionally on a shoot-trip,

we would have to plan where to go, how to get from place to place, how many things to bring, and

where to find a place for break and food. This trip? All we did was shoot, get on board the bus,

listen to our tour guide’s jokes, get off at the next stop and continue shooting.

For comparison stake, we can hit like 5-6 great locations in a day with Chan Brothers

but the most we can do on our own free and easy  is probably 2-3 scenes.

That’s how much easier and faster it is! Talk about inefficiency on our part LOL.

That Tour Guide Experience

THIS GUY IS DAMN FUNNY! I’m not a big fan of tour guides to be honest. I find them annoying.

Like they are always talking about themselves or they just bring us to places we don’t want to go.

But not this guy. Not only is he really funny and energetic, he is really attentive.

Despite seeing us for only a week (and probably never again), he puts in a lot of

effort to getting to know us better and for us to be comfortable,

well-fed and well taken care of the entire trip!

Acting cool but actually having fun at Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village. Funny story,

I thought that it was really a village based on the itinerary but

I was surprised to find out it’s actually a theme park!

WE ARE FAMILY

Family photo

I swear I was enjoying myself. I just have no idea why I look so serious trying to follow the beat.

Everyone in the tour group was so friendly. We get to meet people from all walks of life.

To be honest we felt a bit out of place at the start because like I mentioned,

I’m not really very familiar with tour groups and on top of that #GirlBoss and

I were taking pictures NONSTOP, I think we looked like aliens to them at the start.

Many of the tour members were very curious about us taking videos and pictures continuously

and came to talk to us. After understanding that we were creating content,

not only did they not shy away from the camera or got annoyed, they were actually

very helpful and accomodating. They made sure that we had enough pictures before

they started eating (You know, the whole Instagram life thing. LOL) and also went out of

their way to make sure that we have fun and interesting footages.

Although it was only 7 days, we became pretty close and we even exchanged contact numbers!

The experience is really something I’ve never encountered before.

FREE-AND-EASY DAY

Free and easy also means more food for me. LOL

I’m not gonna lie that there will be some places during the tour that you wish you

could spend a little more time shopping at but given that you are on the tour with other families,

some giving and taking is required. Luckily for us, this tour by Chan Brothers got us covered.

On top of the fully guided tour, we were actually given a free and easy day for us to explore

the city on our own. Some of us chose to hit back one of those places that we went previously

but didn’t have enough time while others took the chance to explore new parts of the city.

Will I go on tour with Chan Brothers again?

Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum

Yes! This experience with Chan Brothers Travel has totally changed my perspective of tour groups.

I’ve had some other experiences previously which left a rather bad taste in my mouth but

Chan Brothers Travel totally changed it for me.To be honest, their tour packages might not be

the cheapest in the market when you compare purely based on the price tag but I’m telling you,

the value you get out of it in terms of food, itinerary and experience explains it all!

I’m totally thinking about planning a trip with my family to Hokkaido, I heard that’s one of the

hottest tour packages for Chan Brothers as well!

You can find out more about the different Chan Brothers Taiwan tour packages, travel tips and

special airfare promos at www.chanbrotherstaiwan.com!

Below is a short video we did for this trip. I think it sums up all the fun we had! I actually watched

this video so many times because everytime I watch it I feel like I’m back in Taiwan again. HAHA.

Read More