Girls like diamonds. A lot. I first learnt this when my dad got my mom some diamond earrings. She was happy then and also when my dad got her the exact same pair when she proceeded to lose the first one. Lovely.

Of course, I don’t have the spending ability that my dad has. So I’m always looking for a bargain. Zirconia, to me looks exactly like a diamond. Then again, I can in no way be considered an expert in diamonds.

Girls, on the other hand, seem to have this innate ability to tell diamond from zirconia. I don’t know why, maybe their retinas are naturally more receptive to the refraction index of zirconia or they have a zirconia detector wired into their heads. Continue Reading…

Lunch had always been a brief haven from the sombre confines of the office. Not today it wasn’t. I felt like a lost warrior wandering the sparse Sahara and finding an oasis, only to find the water is not cold enough for my liking.

I realised it when I turned back from the stall. A hundred faces confronted me, yet I focused on just the one. The Tyrant. How did he find us? Aware that my motionless state might prove conspicuous, I put my right foot out. Following this, my left.

Lunch was a drab affair, which wasn’t negative considering the circumstances. Mare’s face conveyed her desire to empty her hot bowl of Laksa on the head of her nemesis. Sadly, she didn’t. Then came the time to leave. Continue Reading…

I’ll be travelling to Germany later this month to attend a fair. Normally, it should be spring by the time I arrive in Frankfurt, but the weather this year has been nothing short of freakish.

In Singapore just last week or so, there were hailstones. Small ones they might be but hailstones in a tropical climate is unusual to say the least. In Amsterdam a few weeks ago, it was snowing. In Cologne, also recently, the temperature was recorded was a sub zero one.

I like cold weather but not the kind where there’s a chance of you turning into a popsicle. The last time I encountered this kind of weather, I was stuck in a hotel room with an ancient heater that only had a one metre diameter influence. I was cold and I was sick and even under three layers of clothes and two blankets I was miserable. Continue Reading…

Glamour recently conducted a survey on sex and love and compiled a list of the top 10 orgasmic positions for women. Here are the results:

Ten: Spooning
This is with the girl lying sideways and the guy contouring his body to his partner’s from behind her.

Nine: Modern Missionary
This is with the girl on top but lying down so that the couple are face to face and toe to toe.

Eight: Rear Entry, Standing
Both are on their feet with the guy entering from behind. Simple in theory, not so simple to execute.

Seven: Rear Entry, On All Fours
Doggie style. Many guys like this one. Continue Reading…

Now that it is April, many undergrads in the local universities who are in the final year of their course of study have already begun looking around for possible job opportunities. Based on personal estimation, I would say that around 70-80 percent of such students would already have an idea of which line they are going into.

I remember when I was at that period. Enrolled and entombed in a course that I had exactly zero interest in, I knew I wouldn’t be happy if I carried on and worked in the field that I was currently studying for. Not so sure what I wanted to do with my life, I applied for all kinds of jobs, covering many sectors.

I went for several interviews for IT positions, finance positions, human resource positions etc and I found that despite having very different work demands, the interviewers were all looking for the same qualities in the candidates. Continue Reading…

I was talking to my colleague over lunch today and he was lamenting how he was stuck in the job. I asked him why he couldn’t just leave since he mentioned that he had dreams of starting his own business. He cited a lack of funds and confidence.

Well, maybe he can fix one of those problems with StartUp Loans. They offer easy process as well as fast funding. Even for those people who already have a business but have reached a plateau because of financial limitations, they can consider Start-Up Loans too.

Even Bean is pursuing his dream. Of course loans are meant to be paid back and you can expect to be slogging your ass off to return the Start Up Loans that you have borrowed. But all dreams are worth it right?

A mainstay in any lifestyle magazine is the horoscope section. I don’t really know why this is. I mean, most of them provide ambiguous predictions like ‘money and finances dominate for most of August’. Duh-uh! Money dominates for most of January up to December. August just happens to fall in between.

I figure that it shouldn’t be too difficult to write some horoscopes of my own. Therefore, I will be doing a horoscope segment starting… this post. Aries people, if my predictions turn out to be true, I appreciate any form of monetary contribution or you can just click on my ads. Continue Reading…

Just how much can you make from blogging? I’m not talking about famous people who make appearances and attend events. I’m talking about earning cash from ads and reviews. Well, on the main page of PayPerPost, there is a standings chart showing the top money earners of the day, the month and of all time.

Naturally, as I scrolled down that page and the chart came into view, my eyes inadvertently gravitated towards it. Twenty thousand US dollars!!! Mein Gott! That is just crazy! That is what some university graduates in Singapore earn a year.

This month’s top earner has already racked up in excess of $300. And that is in four days. So four days $300, 30 days… $2000? Two thousand dollars a month times 12 months is $20,000 plus a year. I wonder if this is taxable… Continue Reading…

Now that the editor of my neighbouring magazine has left the company, I’ve been roped in to help out that publication in addition to my own. I’ve heard horror stories about that one and have seen it myself. The clients are really demanding and many of them don’t bother with tact. At all.

In my magazine, the editor is like God. He decides which article to use, who to be nice to, who not to be nice to, etc. Ad placement, the job of the sales managers and editorial assistants, also can be vetoed by the editor. So it’s a good seat to be in.

But this other magazine, the editor is a constant victim of abuse. Words like disgrace and embarrassment are commonly used by disgruntled clients. One time, the now ex-editor went to an exhibition carrying a yellow sling bag. Nothing wrong right? Continue Reading…

I had lunch at the restaurant on the 60th floor of UOB Plaza on Sunday. Some Chinese place with a lunch buffet. This was not the first time I have gone to a Chinese style buffet so I had a means of comparison in terms of food, service, and overall satisfaction.

As usual, my friends ordered the ‘most expensive things’. (No price tags were attached to the dishes but I am referring to the dishes that by tradition, command the highest prices.) So we had a few rounds of Shark’s Fin Soup (I rarely eat this because my dad’s against the whole de-finning of sharks and throwing them back into the sea to die thing), several Soon Hocks (expensive fish that usually comes fried), some Red Tilapia (not as expensive but still has some measure of costliness), and lots of prawns and scallops and other stuff. Continue Reading…