Well...Decided that its time to blow some dust off this blog. So many things have happened, so many new insights, new responsibilities which have been taken on but finished the job, and left me hungering for more. So many new thoughts entering my head.

Why does it hurt to look back? Maybe its better to not look back, and look to the future.

Where is this going?

8th May 2010 - Official close of a chapter of life and a totally new beginning of a new one.

New place, new beginning, new friends, new acquantainces, new life, new pursue of knowledge, new happiness.

This rings very true:

The reason why you are feeling that you are leading a meaningless unfulfilling life, is because you haven’t thought about your goals in life. What do you want to achieve before you die? What do you want to be remembered as? Everyday you do your job but it is not challenging your brain and it is repetitive and mundane and this is why you are feeling bored, because if you do something you are passionate about you can see where it leads to the future, then you are having fun everyday.

I’m sorry that you missed out on having all the ‘fun’ – movies, friends, parties, travel, but that was for uni days. And that’s over. Now that you’re working there is no more time for such fun, such superficial fun. Meaningless fun. Now is the time to now live in the past and wishful thinking and iron out your life.

I want to do it, I do. I will. 

I'm allergic to people.

HUGE CROWDS of people.

Huge crowds or boring, uninspired, fugly people.

....

My eczema always flares up in the train when i go to work / come back after work.

Hehehehe.

Saw a bird sleeping on a bush just beside a lighted pedestrian walkway and actually used a leaf to cover the face! So cute and so stupid. Stupid bird. And only kang and me stopped to admire how stupid it was and took pics of it. When i feel like it i'll upload it lol. stupid bird. then took pics it woke up then it just stood on the bush and stared back like wtf are u staring at me get a life i want to sleep.

lol. stupid bird.


And nobody even stopped to look at it. unobservant people.

Remember when I swore May last year that it was the end of studying for me and I will never ever study again or take exams again and I had enough of studying since I had been studying for like 21 years non stop!

Well, I take it back. I always eat my words nowadays I find, heh.

I may have forgotten how horrible my uni study life was, the stress and gila madness assessments, because I am actually going to sign up for a dip in retail management course covering everything from operations to supply chain to marketing to advertising to human resource to buying to merchandising to international retailing to retailing and the economy! And I'm quite excited about this because frankly I am really quite fed up with being a noob and not understanding things when the business analysts finance ppl start using their terms. I so wish to join them in their discussions, to provide some opinions and insights, to crawl out of this stupid shell, instead of having to mingle with people who are perfectly contented with their lives and have no aim to go higher and all the topics to talk about are kids, what they bought, what they ate, what is best to eat to keep slim, for some general health, I am really going to fall asleep if I continue like this.

So yes here's for continuous learning towards topics that I am interested in good riddance science degree at least you trained my brain up to rmb stuff. Stuff that i can barely rmb now unless you give me an article and i'll say hey i knew this. Yeah something like that. Bah.

Enough.

Went to some female magazine 50th Anniversary glass set up outside wisma atria today, and was greeted with the most unexpected service:-

You know when you push a door into an exclusive magazine studio set up, you really want to buy a mag, and the sales is already in your hand when a customer sendiri goes and push open the door to go in. So i approach the counter where 2 girls are sitting, and ask whats the ongoing promotion.

"Oh you just buy a mag and get to choose u want this or this, but actually the new issue is coming out in a few days time so you might as well wait."

Awesome man actually rejecting a sale o.O

Interesting how I've been bumping into people randomly these few days:

@MOF bugis - actually bumped into ex-colleagues from AZ. Glad to be out of there, and finally not be the girl from the office who wants to mix with sales ppl. Heh. Good riddance.

@Cityhall - bumped into Myrna, an old NUS friend. That was good, almost couldnt recognize her from the dressing up haha.

@Chinatown near office - bumped into Pui Ee, what a surprise :D havent seen the girl in ages since NTU days. :)

Haha. 4 yrs here and wherever i walk i have never bumped into anyone I know, until now.

An example of Excellent Top Management :) Taken from WSJ news

By ELLEN BYRON

Estée Lauder Cos. CEO Fabrizio Freda, only the second nonfamily member to lead the company since its founding in 1946, would like to change the way department stores sell cosmetics.Mr. Freda wants to woo customers who are still hesitant to splurge on upscale cosmetics. To make shopping less intimidating, some beauty counters now display prices, loosening a taboo. He is also designing counters to cater to varied shopping preferences.Since arriving as president from Procter & Gamble Co. two years ago—he added the CEO title in July—the Italian-born Mr. Freda has also been working with the Lauder family, most of whom hold management positions, to remake the company.Estée Lauder's inefficient operations have long pressured profits, its reliance on U.S. department stores has hampered sales growth, and its management structure has encouraged fierce rivalry among executives. The recession also curbed shoppers' appetite for high-end cosmetics just as mass-market brands were increasing product launches and marketing.To cut costs, Mr. Freda forced brands to share consumer research and other back-office functions and cut ad and sampling spending. He also announced plans to cut 2,000 jobs.The company's new frugality has started to boost the bottom line, with profit in its most recent quarter up 62%, to $256.2 million, and sales up 11%.

In an interview, Mr. Freda explained how he's trying to shake up the beauty business.

Excerpts:

WSJ: What happened when some of your beauty counters started posting prices?Mr. Freda: It allowed the consumer to make up her mind without having to ask the price. This takes embarrassment away. Surprisingly, most consumers said, "I didn't know it was so affordable."We have an opportunity to better explain the value that we provide. For example, when a consumer buys a mass-market foundation, they have two to three times more chance of [selecting the wrong shade]. We get it right the first time.

WSJ: U.S. department stores have been a drag on Estée Lauder's results for years. How do you fix that?Mr. Freda: We are cooperating with U.S. department stores to get energy and [shopper] traffic back to the cosmetics floor. We can improve the level of service and education we give.We know that 45% of women entering the store want only to replenish a cosmetic and not have a full trial experience. Some women, particularly younger women, like to play with products without being disturbed by a consultant. Other women want full service. We are working to be sure we can serve consumers the way they want to be served.

Credit for both: Estee Lauder

At Bloomingdale's new Clinique counter in New York, you can have full service from a consultant, analysis from a computer or browse on your own. A corner called Clinique Express provides product replenishment. So far the counter is doing well.

WSJ: You've cut a lot of costs. Where are you investing?Mr. Freda: We're putting more emphasis on global product development. The biggest opportunities are skin care and makeup. In geographic terms, we're focusing on Asia in general and China in particular. We are cooperating with department stores around the globe to accelerate growth.

WSJ: You are investing more in consumer research. Why?Mr. Freda: We don't want to just do the products that consumers want. We want to be inspired by consumer desires and surprise them with products and services that they don't expect.

WSJ: So you want to offer consumers what they don't know they want?Mr. Freda: Correct. If you shop in a mass-market retailer, you're going to buy toilet paper, detergents and you can buy cosmetics. But this experience for the majority of women around the globe is not pleasant. When you buy cosmetics in a beautiful department store, your shopping experience is a moment of indulgence. We're trying to build our strategy to be sure this is well understood by consumers.

WSJ: Are upscale beauty consumers spending again?Mr. Freda: In the U.S. and Europe, consumers moved away from the idea of luxury being an element of status. Will they come back to where they started in 2006 or 2007? I don't think so. But I believe the elements of quality, value sensitivity and attention to their full experience will stay for a long time.Consumers in developing markets like China, Russia and Brazil, they're back full speed. They spend time at our counters—in this moment much more so than in developed markets.Our MAC brand is particularly successful in emerging markets where mothers don't teach daughters how to do makeup. The bigger the cultural differences between generations, the more the service provided by our makeup artists has value.

WSJ: Some surmise that your cost cutting would make Estée Lauder an attractive acquisition. Do you see advantages in being part of a bigger company?Mr. Freda: No. We see ourselves as an acquisitive company in the long term.

WSJ: How do you work with the Lauder family?Mr. Freda: Each one of them in a different way has been coaching me. [Executive Chairman and former CEO] William Lauder has been helping me understand all the opportunities and issues we have much faster than what I could've learned on my own. The right balance between consumer understanding and creativity is a strategic direction that emerged from a dialogue between me and my team and the family.

WSJ: Have any books influenced your leadership style?Mr. Freda: "The Prince" by Machiavelli. The book is much more positive than what history says about it.What we learn reading this book is the difficulty of change. Machiavelli explains [that] when you need to change something, you have as enemies all the people who were happy in the previous status. You look for supporters in the people who want to change but don't know how their life would be after change.

Up till some award before the oscars, I have never heard of the movie 'The Hurt Locker'. Was it even screening in Malaysia? Or Singapore?

Now its the winner of Best Picture and Best Director? Not James Cameron with Avatar?

How can! Wtf. 11 million budget vs. 210 million bucks. Some normal effects vs a totally new technology to film 3D. And the winner wasnt the highest grossing movie surpassing Titanic! One more point, Zoe Saldana should have been nominated as Best Actress!

I'm not convinced.

There MUST be something more to life than this.

But somehow I cant pinpoint where, or what it is.

Hmms.

Is this how life will be till you die?

How unproductive and meaningless. Hmms.

Sooo.. its been pretty long since I really updated :)

I've been working at a new place for 2 weeks+ now! :) Love it very much what a big difference when there is an efficient management around! :) You actually SEE things being done, you SEE people interacting, you SEE ideas being thrown around, you GET big lunches, welcome lunches, you GET free stuff, nice colleagues, what is more to ask :) You also get a nice job which actually keeps you busy hahaha.

Love it. Love you job. Love you company :)

Drooling over -

http://www.dorothyperkins.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?beginIndex=80&viewAllFlag=false&catalogId=20552&storeId=12552&categoryId=155424&parent_category_rn=49448&productId=1459963&langId=-1

and / or

http://www.dorothyperkins.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?beginIndex=220&viewAllFlag=false&catalogId=20552&storeId=12552&categoryId=155424&parent_category_rn=49448&productId=1460495&langId=-1

Would anyone be such a dear to buy for me? Dont see it in the stores where I am :( Even if see it still have to wait for price reduction :(

Haha :)

From the step that seemed impossible to land on....I landed on it head on :)

Now to stay true to myself.

If you don't love, you will never treasure

If you don't try, you will never know

If you don't struggle, you will never learn

If you don't learn, you will never live


When will you ever love, try, struggle and learn?

I did. :)

Leona Lewis - Happy

someone once told me
that you have to choose
what you win or lose
you cant have everything
dont you take chances
you might feel the pain
dont you love in vain
cause love wont set you free
i could stand by the side
and watch this life pass me by
so unhappy but safe as could be

so what if it hurts me
so what if i break down
so what if this world just throws me off the edge
my feet run out of ground
i gotta find my place
i wanna hear my sound
dont care about other pain infront of me
cause im just trying to be happy, yea
just wanna be happy, yea

holding on tightly
just cant let it go
just trying to play my role
slowly diasappear, oooh
well all these days
they feel like theyre the same
just different faces, different names
get me outta here
well i can stand by the side
and watch this life pass me by
pass me by

so any turns that i cant see
ill count a stranger on this road
but don’t say victim
dont say anythng

so what if it hurts me
so what if i break down
so what if this world just throws me off the edge
my feet run out of ground
i gotta find my place
i wanna hear my sound
dont care about all the pain infront of me
cause im just tryna be happy
just wanna be happy

One step away from the first step to do something that I really like.

I will stretch my legs damn far like elastic rubber band to make sure that I will firmly land on the first step.