Do Good, Do Well, Do More, Do Together.

Me and my mentees monkeying around on HATCH demo day.

Life has been good to me. I've been busy. The good kind of busy. I've been talking a lot. (Not like you guys don't already know.)

What I have been preaching the most these days is this 1 word - Ikigai.

What is ikigai? (It is not a Japanese dish. please.)

If you can read venn diagram, this is IKIGAI.



Image: Toronto Star

Being able to reach the stage of Ikigai is not easy but yet at the same time not impossible.

There are people who obtain Ikigai by picking up multiple roles. Meaning to say that on top of their day job, they will probably have a hobby, volunteer somewhere, perform in public, or maybe have an extra part time job. I think, I believe, I hope, I guess, if I'm not wrong, I am at this stage of my life now. I mean I have a lot less time for myself or just to do silly things but I am happy.



I got involved with this group of youths from HATCH. Who are they?

From their Facebook page:

Hatch is a training and job-matching enterprise aimed at empowering the next generation of youth and companies. We believe that young people from all walks of life have immense potential and can be properly nurtured to enter high growth careers.

I was mentoring 2 of the youths and at the same time friends to many of them. I might not be a trained career mentor or life coach per se but I've a rule that I work with and it works for me.

"Build relationships 1st." 

They will share with you their problems and accept your suggestions once trust is built. That is what friends do. You don't go in and start the session by asking them what problems they have and immediately try to solve their problems for them. As a mentor, I am not a GP. I am not there to just give them medicine and the MC that they want. While the program might be over for now, the relationship stays.

Many people like to ask me why am I so kaypo. How do I find so much time and energy to do all these things that "doesn't matter" (their words, not mine.) I guess doing good is a hobby for me? Like some people likes to go and get a massage, or read a book, or watch a tv program as a form of hobby and feel good. I guess helping others make me feel good? So if you wish to, you too can say that me doing good is really more of a selfish act too since 1 of the objectives is to make myself feel good. I'm not putting anyone down (I am a huge fan of NetFlix) but 80 hours in front of tv only benefits you but 80 hours helping people can mean a lot to others.


From top left to bottom right. Some of my activities in August.

1. My friend Melissa invited me to help out at sunlove home. Actually it was really nothing much. We were there to give out some food as well as interact with some of the residence. It was like for just 2 hours. They were so happy to see us!

2. That's one of my new best friend Cassh. Being friend with him is like sleeping with the devil. You will have the best time with him drinking and clubbing but you will feel guilty when you end your night puking your way home. This picture has almost nothing to do with this article. I just put in there because I want to show you guys that I do have other activities besides working and doing good. LOL.

3. My 1st selfie with our PM LHL. Although it was a work event but it is one that I volunteered to help. (Kaypo again lor.) It is our MS50 ReUnion exhibition launch. A bit shy to ask PM Lee for a proper selfie lah.

4. This last picture is a picture of me and my co-host Pam. In this case, we were both volunteered to be the host for our National Day Observance Ceremony. Fine, we were selected to help. I am glad I said yes though. We took some hours out of work for rehearsal and all but it was so fun! #NoRagrets And if you look closely you can see quite a few ministers and MP in that picture. Always wanted to do this selfie thing with all these people behind me! Bucket List checked!

So I wrote this post halfway since August, but I did not have the time to complete it. And now we are already heading into October. LOL. #productivity

Since I'm at the topic of doing good, I would also like to give a shout out to Maybank's #inspiregoodsg campaign. Nope, this is not a sponsored post. I'm just sharing it because I thought it is a pretty interesting campaign. Like you know, they are obviously a bank and we don't usually associate doing good with banks. LOL. #truestory

So what is this about?

From their official website -

#InspireGoodSG is a social initiative powered by Maybank Singapore
to inspire a wave of good deeds across the country.

As good deeds shouldn’t go unnoticed, we want to
recognise and reward those with a small token of appreciation.
You can choose to redeem your reward or donate it to a charity.

How to join the #InspireGoodSG initiative?

Visit MSpace at Maybank, Orchard to collect your #InspireGoodSG card!

Address: MSpace at Maybank, 321 Orchard Road #01-01/02, Orchard Shopping Centre, Singapore 238866

Date: 27 September 2019 (Friday) to 18 October 2019 (Friday)

Time: 11am to 7pm, Monday to Sunday (Closed on Public Holidays)
1. Pass the #InspireGoodSG card to another person who has done good
2. The recipient scans the QR code on the card
3. Recipient redeems a S$5 reward or donates it to a charity
IT IS THAT SIMPLE! Tell your friends about it and let's scan more and donate more without actually using your own money! HAHAHA..

They also have this livefeed thing which I thought it is pretty cool!



Check out their site for more information - http://www.inspiregood.sg/

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Time Travel Weekend.

Durian Party

Life works in a strange way. Not too sure about how it works for you guys but very often I feel that my life works in full circles. To quote The Oracle from the movie, "The Matrix", (The amount of "the" in one sentence is too damn high.)

"Everything that has a beginning has an end."

I used to visit some of the block parties around my neighbourhood with my mum when I was a kid. Not because I especially like to socialize and meet new people at a young age but maybe more of just accompanying my mum. My mum is very sociable within the community and she always get such invitation. Not to mention the tickets are really cheap and affordable. I used to ask myself how does this "RC" guys earn money when their tickets are so cheap. Of course now I know that they are heavily subsidised for the residents.

So I started the weekend by visiting one of such events with my colleague. In fact I was crashing one of my colleagues' event. Fine, is it weird that I call him a colleague when he is actually also the MP of my mum's GRC? But technically his office is just less than 30 steps from my desk, so....

Technicality aside, Desmond Choo (DC) and I have kinda a strange relationship. Nope, don't worry, we ain't dating. I really don't think I am his type. So DC was 1 of the 1st few MPs that I started working with when I first got in touched with NTUC years ago. To be exact, it was 2 years ago. And then I realised he is the MP that took over Mah Bow Tan and became my mum's MP. To make things even stranger, our kids used to be in the same swimming lesson. Yes, life is strange.



As usual, I digress. So while our good friend Miss Yeo was munching down her durians and mangosteens like a glutton, I got hit by this wave of nostalgia. The party reminded me of myself some good 20+ years ago being at such parties with my mum, sharing a table with some 7-8 other strangers talking, making friends, talking to the MP, and having my fingers crossed hoping to win some lucky draw prizes. I mean the activities and setting reminded me of the whole thing, not because Miss Yeo felt like my mum of course. LOL.

"I can't imagine being an MP." I said.

"I can't imagine YOU being an MP either." She said.  LOL. #BEECH.

I mean the fact about my caliber aside (FML), I cannot imagine the amount of work/time/commitment they need to put in. Can you imagine when everyone was spending time at home with their family on the weekends or weekday nights, the MPs and the ministers are actually out and running about telling people about who to find if they need help with find jobs, with their CPF, with their HDB units, where and when to find him at his MPS, and etc etc.

And besides being an MP, they have their own day job, (In DC's case, like me, he works at NTUC and that is his full time job.) they are also someone's father/mother, son/daughter, hubby/wife. And to make things worse, very often they just get slam by people online right? And I don't even think it is nice of them to visit like siam diu or any nightspots to chill like a normal person.

I mean it is not that they are not allowed to (I think?), but I would imagine if they get spotted at such places, netizen might just go crazy and say shit like, YOU SEE!!! TAKE SO MUCH PAY AND COME HERE DRINK BEER ONLY!. LOL.

OEI!!! MP OR NOT OR WHAT, THEY ARE ONLY HUMAN LAH!!!

I guess it is the kind of satisfaction that one cannot really explain. Like how my friends always ask me why I do voluntary work with some students and youth when I'm already so busy working most of the time. I guess it is the kind of calling in oneself. You got to have it to know it.

NetFlix and Chill

I spent a lot of my rest time in front of the TV. NetFlix and chill is currently the most therapeutic activity for me. Besides watching some of the newer shows, I love how NetFlix will air some classics from time to time. Last weekend's watch was actually this Tim Burton's classic, Edward Scissors hands.  Seth was watching with me and he could not quite wrap his head around this.

"Papa, why are the scissors stuck on his hands?" 

Regardless how old this show is, it is still one of those shows that are so strange but yet an instant classic. I do hope no one is crazy enough to remake it anytime soon. At least not when I am still alive. Please. Thanks. 

Fast And Furious 

Thanks to Carfeels... I picked up my camera once again to shoot some stuff. This is probably one of my favourite pictures from the set. The good people from carfeels no longer just service vehicles but also selling some of these very exclusive Mercedes Benz. Check them out if you are a fan!

This picture looks like some wallpaper right? #professional

Theme Park

Last but not least, of course it has to be family time! We got our USS card some time ago but we were not too confident with Seth being on roller coasters. We have been taking the same old family rides. However, we finally got enough courage to put Seth (It is funny how we got the courage and not him. LOL) on a roller coaster and he actually enjoyed himself! I was so worried that he might start to cry in the middle of the ride but I guess my concern was not necessary after all.

Well I guess that's the weekend for me. How was your weekend?

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Quick and Dirty July Updates - I got a new tattoo!

I know July is hardly over but I just wish to pen down some thoughts so far. And also to show off my new tattoo!

Nope. The image about is not my new tatt! HAHA. That's actually a rubber stamp from the rubber stamp station at the ReUnion exhibition which I shared previously. The rubber stamp was meant for notebooks and tote bag but me being me... I thought it blended in really well with my real tatts. 



This is my real tatt! The millennium falcon! It is probably my favourite movie rides of all time! Followed by DMC DeLorean from Back to the Future and of course the Pussy Wagon from Kill Bill. LOL.

I got this ink for myself as a birthday present!

YES! JULY IS MY BIRTHDAY MONTH!!!!


One of those random pictures taken at one of my parties. I know. I'm 35 this year and birthday shouldn't be a big deal but I guess I'm a lucky man. My friends still make effort to catch up with me for celebrations and it has been going on since late June. You have no clue how much weight I've been putting on just from the food and drinks. Besides my birthday I also started writing again. I haven't been writing much for the last few months. I've no idea why either. So recently I contributed two different articles for two different sites and you can read them from the link below. Will My job Still Be Around in 5 Years Time?THE “STRAWBERRY GENERATION” MIGHT BE BETTER THAN WE THOUGHT.Hopefully I can find my mojo back and write more. Besides that, my life is mostly about work. I haven't been playing much basketball or video games as well. And also shooting. I think I'm quite done with Instagram at the same time. I feel the shift of content once again. In summary - Memes are the in thing and travel pictures are already on the way out. (or already out.) No, I do not have studies on that to show but you read it here 1st. (I think.) Anyway, HAPPY JULY EVERYONE!(August.. I shall get back in shape in August. I think.)  

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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.

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Woah, we're halfway there!!

More than half a year since my visit to LA!

It has been a while since I actually sat down in front of my computer and blog about myself, like just quick updates. I know that sounds truly narcissistic but hey, that's what a blog used to about right? Me writing about myself and telling you what I ate yesterday.





Anyway, much has happened in my life in the last 6 months and I shall give you guys a quick update.

1. Welcome back to Agency Lyfe 

My partner, #GirlBoss and I at Taipei


Things are soaring thanks to kind clients. Flying becomes part of the job. #blessed #basicbitchhashtag


And shooting food for clients has become daily life.

For those of you who follow me on Instagram or Facebook would have seen my announcement that I'm back. Together with #girlboss aka @floraisbelle with a content creation/ social media agency started by us. Our website is still under development but we are quite blessed with opportunities already knocking on our door. Thanks for the love and keep 'em coming!


Best press release ever by Michael Jordan.

2. #Girlboss got bun 

This was taken before she got preggers, of course.


Pregnant but still got it.

Fine, this ain't exactly an update about myself but this is a big challenge for me. It means constant toilet breaks for her during office hours, in between meetings, and even during events. I had such a hard time trying to cover up for her before she announced it to the world. On top of that, she's very a little paranoid about cleanliness of food, what's good for babies, etc etc and every meal was a challenge for me us. Time flies and her baby is already on the way! Congrats to #Girlboss!

Best thing about this partner is that we are both such workaholics. We are always talking about work and stuff. In fact she has promised that she won't be taking maternity leave. Such commitment but I hope I don't get into trouble with MOM or the LM. LOL.

3. Taipei-Bangkok-Hong Kong-Bangkok-Kuala Lumpur-Sarawak-Bangkok-Munich (soon) 

Despite breaking my ankle in December, I managed to start traveling again from February. It's fun no doubt but tiring at the same time. It's funny how I hated traveling so much growing up and it's now such a big part of my life thanks to work. My love for photography really makes traveling a lot more enjoyable! Truth is, I'm stilling missing New York and Los Angeles. Hopefully we can plan another trip for this year end or latest early next year.

4. I finally got my sleeve tattoo

I got my New York skyline tattoo last year in New York itself and it's just not enough. I always wanted a sleeve and I finally got it. I'm one step closer to looking like Beckham and Justin Bieber, no? Considering that the tattoo I got was from the same studio as Justin Bieber - we are practically twins now right? (And yes, he is coming to Singapore! BABY BABY BABY OH~~) And now the 2nd question is should I get the other arm done up as well? Should I? Should I?

5. I launched my own book

Not exactly a book per se but a comic book. Thanks to my partner-in-crime Dan, I'm now a published author who has his name on Amazon and all around the world! If you haven't gotten a copy, do check out any major bookstore in Singapore. If you can't find one it means that the bookstore ain't major enough lah!

It has been a crazy first half of the year and I hope the year just gets better! Hope it has been a good year for you so far as well! See you in December! I don't mean it like you come back here only in December. You must come back and read more often. I'm saying it like I will doing another review at the end of the year! HAHA.

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Catching Up, Catching Em.

I haven't given up on life nor my blog, just that I have been really distracted with this new Pokemon Sun and Moon game. If you guys have been following this space of mine for a while, you would know that I go through game addiction phases in my life (Yeah, I spent almost 300hrs on the previous Pokemon Omega Ruby and I think I spent 300hrs alone on my Barbarian on Diablo 3 and I heard that Necromancer is making a come back! Oh and of course, NBA2kEveryyear on PS4. Okay I digress). I'm not a big gamer like someone who represents Singapore at major tournaments or gaming event but I enjoy gaming on and off and that explains the state of this space - unkept and not updated. LOL. 

Just a quick update in case you guys miss me. (Miss me or not, reading or not, I'm saying it anyway! :p) 

I'm sleeping a lot more these days and I've no idea why. I used to be the number one advocate of "Sleep is for the weak" but I guess my reservist took the best out of me. Don't get me wrong, I love my reservist. Spent 10 days with the guys catching up and doing silly things. How nice isn't it? And interesting discovery during reservist, I actually managed to do pull ups? I know it's already out of IPPT test but I actually managed to do two with my number four on? AMAZING! I wonder if it was the Yoga that I'm going these days or the combat ration I've been eating. Okay, I guess it's the yoga. 

Morning lines. #namaste #namastayinbed

A photo posted by Smith Leong (@smithankyou) on Nov 29, 2016 at 4:38pm PST

And yes, I've been doing Yoga. I've been getting a lot of comments (that it's funny) on me practising Yoga which I actually wanna do a blog post properly to answer them but erm.. you know.. Pokemon. LOL. But I think Yoga is a really good mix to my exercise. It's very good conditioning from the weights as well as basketball games that I try my best to attend these days. (I know, I'm slacking off a lot I know)

The son just turned 10 months old and the wife is all excited planning his birthday and I'm like erm... He doesn't remember anything? He doesn't even care what theme it is? But well, we have decided on the pokemon theme. Erm.. Because I like it? LOL. He has been trying to walk around with support. Not a big fan of crawling around apparently. Oh, he recently learnt how to call papa and guess who ain't too happy about it? The wife was soooo jealous? But hey, it's not about who he calls first right? It's not a competition of who is the most popular parent here. But the wife is competitive like this I guess. LOL. 

A random pic of him but he's too cute! Falling asleep after a long day. 

And yes, NBA season is back and it's crazy! (I know nobody cares about my NBA talks so you can skip this paragraph if you wish.) Actually nothing much, I'm just surprise that Lakers are doing better than they should be. The Wizards and Knicks which should be doing better aint doing better and erm, GSW is being GSW. The super team and super villain of the league currently. 

Fantastic beast was pretty good in terms of story. I can see where this is going, opening up the whole new can of worm universe but I'm not too big a fan of this single show itself. I mean I understand this is the 1st of the few movies which explains that this is like nothing more than an intro where it's like setting some ground rules and stuff thus I feel that the whole shows lacks of certain depth. I can't wait to see more of Johnny Deep! 

Trips! Yes. I know I should blog about my Phuket trip already as I've gotten quite a bit of questions about my trip, what I did where I stay etc but erm.. Yaaaaa.. I will get onto it soon. We're planning our trips for Jan and Feb already! Exciting times!!! All I want now is to travel and shoot. LOL. And also eat. (fatboymode) 

Meanwhile, I'm heading back to Pokemon. Bye! Okay fine, I should head to complete my Phuket post instead. :p 

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Hello Bangkok, It's me.

Hello Bangkok,

Taken during last trip at BKK!

How have you been? It has been awhile since we last met and I hope you are doing fine. A lot has happened since we last met and I can't wait to be in you again. (okay. that sounded a bit wrong.)

I blogged about you and 75 mentioned that they love to visit you as a place for holiday while 123 mentioned that bkk is like erm.. too boring and mainstream already. I am sorry to hear that but I will try my best to do you well justice this time round. 

Anyway, the reason why I am writing is because I will very highly likely be visiting you again but this time is for work lah. And since we parted I've also level up my photography skill a little and I promise I will take some nicer shots of you and attract more people to visit you. I will try my best to pimp you! Or maybe I should just upload more pictures of Gunrata and that gives people reason to click this blog and visit Bangkok already. 

SO HANDSOME! 

We did a  shoot recently for HotelQuickly and the Thai Restaurant near the hotel got me thinking of you. Don't you think the pictures look and felt a lot like you (Bangkok)? 

Because of my new found part-time job love of photography, I am very much lusting for the Sony camera that everyone in the team is using! 

That's the camera. Hello, focus on the camera, not my chio bu bauss.

And to fund my new camera I am also selling my Canon kit on Carousell. I mean I do not see a point keeping two sets of cameras. So good bye Canon! Old one don't go, new one cannot come. Loosely translated from the popular Chinese saying and also that's what my wife told me about managing my bank account. 

(Talking about photography, I mean there is no way anyone could have missed this online "saga" but just in case you did. - Wedding Photography Gone Wrong? Okay lah, I digress a bit.)

How is this photo editing? Bo leh? 

You might be asking me, why the hell do I need my own camera since I am already sharing my kit with the team but I also want to have my own so I can shoot my son at home. Yup, in case you haven't been following my IG or Facebook, (OIE!) I now have a son who was like a tiny little sperm inside my wife when we last visited you. 

You know you are pretty lucky? I actually rejected two other sponsored trips to visit you. Because of lil Seth, I am trying to manage my frequency of being out of town. I feel so bad to the two sponsors but I think I feel worst for leaving little Seth and wife "alone" at home. I actually really miss Philippines as well but I also cancelled my March's PH trip lor. 

Until next time. I shall now go back to playing my Pocket MapleStory.(I don't believe I actually admitted to playing Pocket Maple. I don't even dare to take it out and play on the train! haha. Guilty pleasure, please don't judge.) Actually most of the time it is just auto combating while I'm doing my work. LOL. Ok, I shall get back to work. BYE! 

XOXO,

Smith

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Final Lap.

2015 is almost coming to an end. This seems to happen every year, the sudden realisation that the year is coming to an end and it's about time to look back at the year and wonder how much I've achieved or lost. (or how many romantic comedy/chic flicks I've watched. I'm sure there's a very big girl inside me and no, I'm not talking about my breakfast)

November is like the month that I've worked really hard. Not just because I had to but because I want to, because I do not want to look back at 2015 and say I did nothing. (Which is not true because I do crazy things to top my own list annually. I always top my productivity or try to top it nearing to year end. Very typical school kid style of studying because exams are around the corner which I am not very good at. My academic result really one of those biggest regrets I've in life? My O levels L1R5 like fking 32 points? I told a friend recently and I think he fell off his chair, rolled two rounds around the soccer field and then died. But okay lah, we are still friends. I'm not so petty lah. *flips hair*)

So I spent my November trying to be a better person for myself as well as my unborn-child who is on the way in another 70 days time or so.

I had a very good holiday, I travelled twice in the month and you know what they say about you gaining more from traveling over books right? But only thing I gained during the trips was weight. I am sure they make some mistake somewhere with that quote. (And yes, I know I said I worked very hard but it's kinda like a work trip so I was really working very hard on the trips. I really worked hard lah!)

Benedict Cumberbatch does not like my vlog either. He told me the other day and I took this using snapcat. And oh, I'm finally using snapchat but I still can't figure it all out yet. Like seriously what is it for again???

I continued to do my push-ups(which btw I've canned my stupid pushup vlog cause nobody watches it and it really suck!), I started running (not from people. not this time. :p) again, I cut my 5km timing to 31mins (Best timing so far, still slow. I've always run around 35-34 region),

I continued my healthy eating habit (after the trips and besides my occasional cheats with chocolate.) and I lost another 2kg within the month, after losing 8kg the last month.  #YAY And i think i'm moving faster not just running but also in my basketball game.

I changed my blog's layout which erm, 1 person voted it's lame and 7 person voted okay lor, nobody reads my blog. Nobody read still got votes leh.

I started working on Ben Ben Diaries - The book. Yes, you hear it here 1st. I am going to be a published author, how fking crazy is that with all my grammar mistakes right? But this is a really interesting learning journey. We've never imagined publishing a book together when we first started and here we are in talks with publisher and all now. #StartedFromTheBottomNowWeAreAbitAbove

So part of my effort of becoming a better person is to read. I got my hands on the kindle(I still don't believe I did). I hate to read as a kid and it didn't change much over the years and that probably explained my bad fundamental in my language. I think reading is something I wish my son would love and enjoy so it will be easier for him. Reading is very tough for me cause I don't really find joy in it and I read so so so slowly. Like i really want to know the information and story but reading just takes up too much time. sigh. I really wish I could like speed read and people would be impressed and say "OMG YOU ARE SO FAST!" #ThatsNotWhatSheSaid

Besides reading, I've also been spending some time on my camera trying to take better pictures which I think I'm beginning to show some improvement? (I hope).  Very soon I will be like a professional photographer that goes shooting for events to get exposure and portfolio. (sure bro)

And November being my brother's anniversary was never easy to begin with but I doubt that's the reason I'm so busy.

Finally, Kobe announced his retirement. (Which of course has nothing to do with me and November but I'm just bringing this up anyway.)

So that's November. What's up for December and 2016? Exciting days await!

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Sight and Sound...

I know I just came back from my reservist and I have a few other posts that I really wanna talk about but I really have got no time! Backlog of work and what not and now I'm going Beijing until Sunday!!

From http://traveleadvice.blogspot.sg/

I have been spending so much time meeting interior designers and shopping for furnitures. I'm so so so tired. I want to blog about my experience of this and I too want to blog about my ICT experience but I am all burnt out! 

Since I have no time to talk about anything interesting, you guys can read some of the articles that I've stumble upon from the past few days. 

The stark difference between attending a PR event as a blogger and a non-blogger by Daphne Maia.

I'm an Asian woman and I refuse to ever date an Asian Man by Jenny An

R.I.P Michael Clarke Duncan by Bruna Nessif 

Samsung pays Apple $1 Billion in 30 Trucks full of 5 cents coins.. 

My latest addiction... RUNNING MAN! 

And this good news and...

Mr.Smith,BOOMZ and OUT!

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