Great year of concerts and KPop! 2011 is the year that I got myself back into KPop on a more intensive basis (fuelled in part by the global Hallyu wave that has extended to KPop as well) ….. Youtube aside, got down to spazzing over the weekly music shows and even the year end gayo daejuns / music festivals / awards ceremonies (MAMA held in Singapore on 29 Nov 2011, SBS ..KBS ..MBC Gayo Daejuns respectively) ……

Will start off with Concerts 1st since its a shorter round-up ……

Attended 2 concerts this year, make that 3 if the Singapore e-Awards 2011 were to be included as well. Am very happy that I got to see Jacky Cheung live (childhood dream of mine but couldn’t afford when I was schooling, while I missed the 2007 World Tour) … as well as my 1st ever KPop act – 2PM live. In the earlier stages of Hallyu wave (around 2006 to 2007), I recall that both SE7EN and Rain were the it men of the day, and 4 years on, I finally got to experience SE7EN’s live performance in a most unexpected way – via the E Awards in April. A bit ‘sad’ though that SE7EN has fallen greatly from his peak no thanks to his unsuccessful US venture and bad management decisions that go hand in hand.

Let the pictures do the talking …….

e-Awards show @ Singapore Indoor Stadium. Nice combination of pink and blue lights. Don’t have much photos of the show as Cat bought tickets right on top the gallery.

Opening of Jacky’s World Tour Singapore stop. I went for the 1st night i.e. 27th August. Got better seats i.e. higher category as this was a concert that I always wanted to watch! To sum it up, it was a fantastic 3 hour worthful of power vocals and great showsmanship – together with a interesting program (no guests) and great sound and lightning effects. Audience reaction was slightly ‘cold’ though until the last part where he started singing his classic cantonese hits from the 90s. More pictures below ……..

Very surreal shot. One of my favourite photos!

Touching end to 如果爱. This is one of the best songs of the concert in a very understated, sweet and no-frills way.

Another of my favourite segment – tribute to Lydia Sum

End of concert galore with fireworks and dancers! Most of the photos are in my FB so am not going to do wholesale recap here

Got to experience KPop live in person after giving those various KPop combined concerts a miss in the earlier part of the year (yes, including KMW after talking so much about wanting to see Big Bang live) as I deem them to be over-priced and not worth shelling out the cash for ….. 2PM’s Hands Up Asia Tour Singapore Concert was definitely not the cheapeast gig around as well – but at least it is 2 hours of 2PM solely (and not having to share spotlight with other artises) although I thought it was supposed to be 3 hours??

Unfortunately, only have a few pictures and zero videos of the concert as being slightly stingy, only got a terrace seat (still can see the boys but terrible angle for videos and photos) so just enjoyed the concert amongst the hoardes of screaming fangirls which left me almost going deaf (no kidding!) by the time the concert ended at 9+ (a bit too early IMO as mentioned earlier, I was expecting a 3 hour show) …… Noted that its a standard for most KPop concerts to have a T-stage (same applies for MAMA 2011 too!) – thus less seats and more expensive tickets (as compared to Jacky Cheung’s concert which had almost 9K seats) ….. Standard 3 mosh pit areas surrounding the T-stage for fangirls to get up close to their oppas ….. About the concert itself, vocals were great! Contary to the criticsm levelled on 6theory, the boys are actually more than capable of holding their vocals live while simultaneously dancing at the same time (can’t detect any lip syncing but heard some off pitches ocasionally) …… Most important take-away, as agreed with JT, both the performance and crowd gave a different type of energy (the ‘hot’ type) as opposed to most of the concerts we have been too, heh! So very appropriate that the show kicked off with ‘Hot’ (from Hands Up album) ….. while we ‘put our hands up’ …… hee

That’s all for part 1 now ……….

Haha this Page x of 366 is a hot twitter trending topic now, and a pretty ingenious way of saying today is the 4th Jan …..

4 days into 2012 so far, decided to blog while on the MRT to see how far I’m getting on into 2012 ….

From where I last left off, attended a wedding on the 2nd and pretty much the entire afternoon was gone and even had to take a nap right into dinner time (the hot afternoon sun makes me sleepy + had less than 6 hours sleep the night before) ….. Was supposed to kick start work with a lunch appointment but think may have slipped client’s mind and so we rescheduled it to Friday – which I was secretly relieved as I don’t feel work ready at all and sort of contemplated postponing it on Mon evening actually …..

Used this downtime to get one 2011 backlog out of the way and yes …. headed to the gym for my 1st workout of year 2012 – finally my 1st workout after 2 weeks+ of physical inactivity after forgetting to slot in spin classes and not making it to the swimming pool for a swim …… So its one down the list!

Pretty slow week it seems, apart from clearing the backlog carried over from year 2011 (my bad!), decided to use this week to some serious planning, write my new year resolutions (havent got down to doing that yet!) and clear off some packing (only 3 weeks left to CNY). Decided that will start a checklist of things to do to transition and be totally prepared for 2012.

Checklist:

(Note:  Will tick it off as and when and add on more items as it comes to mind)

1. 1st workout of 2012 – Done

2. Haircut / Hair Trim For New Year / CNY – Appt Booked

3. Hair Spa Treatment Before CNY – Appt Booked

4. Register For Sundown Marathon (Half Marathon) – Done

5.  Finish Clearing Storeroom By This Weekend

6.  Clear Up Wabrobe

7.  1-2 New Sets of Clothes For CNY

8.  Shoe Shopping For Work – looking out for 1 pair of heels specifically

9.  Get My Creative MP3 Player Repaired

10.  Back-Up & Restructure My Computer System Again + Create 1 New Log In For Work (by CNY time)

11.  Sort Out Personal Finances & Write My Financial Plan For Year 2012

12.  Write My Year 2012 New Year Resolutions Using The Whole Person Concept As A Model (by this weekend)

13.  Year 2012 Business & Activity Plan, Update Pipeline & Revise Goals (by this weekend)

14.  Clear Up Work Desk & Filing (hope to start this 3rd week Jan, if not after CNY)

15.  Training Plan For Sundown Marathon (start serious training after CNY)

16.  Start Blogging My Year 2011 Round Up Entries After This Entry (by this weekend)

To briefly recap the 2nd long weekend to the end of 2011 (keep thinking today is Monday although it is actually a Sunday ) …… Friday was the last ‘official’ work day of the day where I tried to go in office to clear work somewhat ‘unsuccessfully’ + had mini year end party – lets just say some stuff soured the afternoon and did not end the work day as ideally as I would’ve liked + a ‘shocking’ phone call from a provider while watching KBS Gayo Daejun …… A pretty ‘low’ week after all the busy-ness of the previous week before Christmas if you ask me ……

Skipped the movie outing with the girls on Thurs and ended up spazzing to all the Gayo Daejuns over the long weekend (starting Thursday evening actually with SBS) …. Did some last min shopping @ Jurong Point on last day of 2011 (didn’t get much stuff as there isn’t that much things to buy @ Jurong Point but needed to go Post Office so ended up there in the 1st place) …. If not majority of the long weekend was gym-less yet again as I spent sleeping in + lazing around + doing a bit of packing and throwing here and there (not as productive and focused as the Boxing Day throwing session though :S) ……

Rather than lumping everything into one long entry ….. have decided to break up my 2011 round up series into different entries (based on categories) as I move along with my new year resolutions and my 2012 work plan …… Need to sleep earlier tonight as have a wedding to attend tomorrow morning. That’s all for now!

Decided to start off with the bookshelf in bro’s room as I think it has been about 2 years since I cleared that out (most of the time I focus on the storeroom & living room area where my stuff are scattered all over) …..Let the pictures do the talking

The shelf in its originality (took the pic last night/this morning, heh) ……

After sleeping in (recurring theme through the extended holiday weekend ) till 12-plus … lunch (home cooked curry fishhead ) … some TV-ing and random surfing, I finally got started working on the shelf at around 4 ……

The shelf being cleared out …..

As I wiped the insides and clear it off dust (accumulated over time) …. decided to take some pics and have some effects from some of the camera apps from my iPhone …… Sidenote – As with the above picture + the following ones, went with WoW Camera app for consistency ….

** Old diaries from year 2005 .. 2006 .. 2008. Was contemplating throwing them away when I looked through it last night but decided to keep it as a record of my past work and for nostaglic reasons.

** Old Music CDs kept in CD folder …. my 1st ever VCD drama – With Love (bought from a NUS bazaar when JDrama was invading our shores in early 2000s) …. And a ziplock bag of all my running medals ……..

** Various financial magazines accumulated over the years. Briefly looked through them and there’s actually a lot of useful articles that is still relevant in 2011/2012 landscape – topics relating to productivity, financial planning, investments etc.

Consolidated all the above pictures into one via Multi-lens app (introduced by TL … very cool app!) ………

Had some fun exploring Leme Leme app as well. Always saw people doing this pane effect but I have never realised that I can do so as well by changing the lens under Camera Settings …. till today that is

** I used to ‘invest’ in FSM magazine for investment related information and articles back in the days when I was with C ….. now at P, we get so many free magazines (as part of corporate sponsorship) but the irony is – too many things to read

Realised there was also a stack of iFAST magazines in storeroom so took them out to consolidate …… and found out I actually have duplicate copies of the same issue (could be leftovers from seminar events etc.) …. So its time to prune!

**  Used the regular leme leme single lens effect …….

Of course not forgetting to take a picture of my 2nd Full Marathon (Stand Chart) finisher’s medal!

Had a coffee post clearing and now finishing up the blog in the comfort of my room!

Briefly on the marathon 1st, was not able to acheive a sub-7 hour timing due to various reasons (insufficient training .. extreme heat & humidity .. poor distance markers) and ended up doing similar/slightly worst than last year – which is somewhat below my expectations …… Post run recovery was a drag this year. I had less foot blisters but the abrasion was pretty bad this time round (a sign of lack of fitness resulting in body ‘wear and tear’?) – that I wasn’t able to recover sufficiently to go back to office by Tuesday …… so that is one down!

Not going into details here on the run but having rested and calmed down over the past couple of days …. 1st and foremost, I am grateful that I still finished the entire race without being swept up by the lorry. Despite the cursing & swearing during the last quarter of the marathon, I think I might actually attempt another full next year – the goal of a sub 7 hour timing is something I would like to breakthrough …… For next year, I am looking at improving my 10k and 21km timings for the better half of the year – that’s one tangible year 2011 resolution down!

Post recovery was tougher this year as compared to last year …… as mentioned above, the body abrasions were more painful and I was still struggling to walk even on Tuesday morning, and so took another day off work. 2 days off work and PD Day (@ Singpost Centre in Paya Lebar) means that more than 1/2 the work week is gone and there is major catch-up to do   …… Was back to office on Thursday, only to be welcomed with a malicious spyware titled ‘Vista Anti-Spyware 2012′ – which went into havoc the very moment I powered on my laptop on the office table …… Talk about an ‘ominous’ return back to work, sigh …… And proceeded to spend a good part of the afternoon figuring out a way to get rid of the spyware (which I managed to do so after referring to here) and more scannings before finally able to resolve the issue before Zzzz ……..

Hence doing my documents back-up before heading into office …. What a way to start and end the week! On a happier note, over the break I have started on a new drama series post Secret Garden – 我可能不會愛你 (Taiwanese Drama currently showing in Taiwan and on Starhub Ch825) ……

After I have updated my blog yesterday, mentioned person has the audacity to send me 3 LONG SMS-es (capitalized letters mean that its really long) …… All I have to say is if a person has to resort to long SMSes to prove his/her point rather than thrasing it out in person – it says more about that person and his/her personality and handling of conflicts. To sum it up, when dealing with such difficult people, there is no need to reply in a equally tit for tat manner (if anything it only serves to tell others you are egoistic, get easily defensive and easily provoked) …. I simply kept my cool and replied in 3 sentences! Ha!

Onto happier stuff … in a couple of hours time, I’ll be getting ready to run my 2nd marathon. In the meantime, just resting and bumming around, going online and not doing anything much as need to sleep early and get up at 2am to get ready to take the MRT at 3am to reach the start point at Orchard. Going to check out some kpop videos on YouTube now. Ta da!

Had a tension headachne yesterday (after trip to MBS to collect race pack) and could not get much work done. The tension headachne clouded my judgement to such a extent that I ended up leaving my farecard and office pass in the office (Could not go back office to take while OTW to Bugis as I locked myself out. But thank god for the extra facecard in my handphone pouch) ……

And having to deal with a unreasonable client really sets a negative tone to whatever intentions to make Friday a good one. Have complained enough to E & C over whatsapp …… but whatever it is, it is very despicable to tell me the request is ‘very urgent’ where in actual fact the redemption is ‘not that urgent’ because market ain’t going to crash, it is more like you play the ‘urgent’ card just to get what you want, which is not very nice behaviour. In this situation, as it so happened that I have already have commitments over weekend and Monday – hence the earliest I could see client is Tuesday – and client is unhappy because adviser cannot see him/her NOW!

Thinking about it, if not for the fact that I have computer issues (windows hang & 1st system restore not working) + having left my pass in the office + having originally commited to a Saturday appointment (which most likely will not happen now, but that’s another story), maybe there is a good chance for me to catch the client today! But the logical side of the brain tells me not to – why is that so?

* I always work on an appointment basis with 1 day notice. I know some people think advisers should be at their immediate beck & call but IMO, 1 day notice is reasonable as its sufficient time for me to prepare the necessary before meeting. For the record, I do not necessarily demand client has to come to my office, I can travel if necessary so obviously 1 day notice is reasonable right ……

* As much as client is a friend, as this is business and involves somebody’s hard-earned money, it must be treated with strictest care and confidence. The same standards should apply whether is it friends who are clients and/or clients who are referred and/or clients who are originally cold prospects. Just because the client happens to be your friend/relative doesn’t mean that you should always comprimise your rules and guidelines as a professional. Because if you make too many exceptions, I end up short-changing other people who have also placed their trust and faith in my work as well.

* Usually experience tells me by giving in to someone’s stunt once, that someone will assume that it is OK to do it a second time, third time etc. As much as it is very tempting to give in at the 1st time, I know fully well that if you allow yourself to give in once, this person will keep pulling the same stunt over and over again and it becomes a vicious black-hole. This itself is a concern to me.

* In a client-adviser financial advisory relationship, it all fundamentally boils down to trust and confidence. When dealing with money matters, it is a lot more about managing soft facts and expectations rather than cold hard figures and projections. Client insisted that as a client, he/she has the last call to give instruction to adviser to do what he/she wants. While I do not necessarily dis-agree, however as it is people’s money and emotions that we are talking about, as advisers, we want the best for our clients – but wanting the best for them does not mean we have to be order takers (which in certain situations is not necessarily in client’s real best interest).

* As a add-on to the above, the same client quoted me an example where K did the right thing by redeeming the portfolio in June and he/she regrets not doing the same. Personally, I feel it is not a very fair statement because K’s circumstances and goals were very different from that of said person. Secondly, my main concern is that said person is reactive to market news (apparently he/she heard something over CNN and so needs to sell everything like now). End of the day, the newspaper/financial news is NOT your financial adviser! Many of you may do well to take note of this as well. In fact, I find that said person acts like a hyprocrite for he/she gives a different set of advice to the people around him/her.

* Also I have managed expectations many times by telling said person that it is always better to go for online transactions for speed and convience. But this person refuses to use the online portal because he/she doesn’t like it (and not because he/she is computer illiterate). If client had given in by doing a online redemption – I am very assured to be able to deliver the request confidently and quickly without all these backlash. In that sense, this nonsence is a result of personal choice and calling. (But of course, if I do have a client who is IT-illiterate, I have no issue in going back to see the client, just to clarify).

To think this idiot, together with the botched system restore + having to rush back to office to pick up my pass – stressed me up so much that I did not bring my wallet out & I ended up borrowing $$ from J in order to have lunch at 330pm!

In any case, I have decided not to pander to his/her demands (if said person was nicer to me, I would’ve relented a bit to consider seeing her on Monday irregardless of my post marathon recovery. See what happens when you piss people off,they don’t wanna help you). Of course, I did not leave him/her in the lurch lah – told him/her to go to provider direct as it is in fact faster than going through me (where the form still has to go through my head office before reaching provider). Of course, if circumstances allowed me a free Saturday – the appt would have been made already and I won’t be writing this blog entry (of all things, a negative blog to end my blogging hiatus). C says since I have politely excused myself, and in addition, I also typed a SMS apology stating that ‘I am sorry for not being able to meet his/her expectation and have made him/her unhappy’ …… just let the client cool down for now!

In short, after dealing with people like this, one thing that I can confirm is that it is not only it is important to uphold professional ethics and principles,  also Wendy suffers no fools!

Ironically since my last entry was on reading, I have been suffering from a lack of reading aka reader’s block as well, oh well ……

Anyway since I was reading Daniel’s Food Diary while blog/internet surfing earlier in the afternoon, have decided that the best way to break this round of blogger’s block is by doing a food-related entry/review next ….. since there are lots of food pics in my blog ….. hehe …… stay tuned!

Twitter server seems to be down for the past 1 hour or so …. Hence, time for another entry whilst MRT-ing into Bugis.

Had a busy end to last week with work and stomach cramps on Sunday (time of the month) …. This week seems much quieter in comparison, except for the fact that it’s my birthday weekend!

Will be attending a motivational seminar – LEAP seminar by Stuart Tan over the weekend …… Fingers crossed will be good. Was intending to do a sunday champagne brunch with the girls (great promotion from Seafood Market) but realised that with seminar this weekend and New Balance REAL Run the following weekend, no time for it at all! Hence will be a quiet weekend of celebrations …….

Below is one of the ‘sunset’ theme photos that I had taken on my bali trip 2 years ago. As I have already posted my 2 favourite pictures of the trip in an earlier entry (co-incidentally also taken at sunset time), this time round, I will post one that was taken before our seafood dinner at Jinbaran Bay.