risk management

The older we get, the more we see risk as something that might have a direct effect on us. In our twenties we take extraordinary risks with our lives, our careers, and our finances. Nothing will happen to us. In our thirties, we take fewer financial risks but we still think we are physically bulletproof. By the time we reach our forties (if we haven't taken too big a physical risk and been killed) most of us have a mortgage and our career had become very important, so we take fewer financial and job risks.

media relations
richard stanton

cubic

i.go.blog

what's that slab of wall called? the name simply escaped me. i wonder if the materials are still available today.

the speed of things are going pretty slow on this front. work's been busy. school's starting soon. it's going to be a year of many Cs.

courage. change. commitment. 

c

down

²³ Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. ²⁴ For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. ²⁵ For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?


<sup>i've probably read these verses a hundred times (no, not really, i'm just trying to illustrate the depth of my delusion) and each time, like most times when i read scripture, i just glazed over the words quickly. since, you know, i've read them a hundred times. i was late for church this morning. thanks in no small part to myself, of course, because i just couldn't get into the habit of resting early on saturday nights. i got up and lied down again as i waited for the water heater to heat up the water. so that's how i was late (it's the same story for the work week). anyway, as i was waiting for the bus, luke 9:23 came to my mind. incidentally, sep 23rd is the date my bro and his wife got married. i can't remember if they chose the date because of the scripture verse. 

and guess what was the message at church?

something 'bad' happened on monday. it's school. i think i'm going to fail a module for the first time in these 4 years. it's like history repeating itself. i never really recovered from that low point so many years back. i used to be quite good at my studies. then something happened (it should be because something happened, but i still don't know what that something was) and i just never got back to my former glory. fast forward to now, after having returned to God, i thought such things won't happen again. i did once forget to hand in an assignment... but this time it's really going to dent my records. i was angry with God. just so typical of a childish coward that's me. i was really mad that with or without him i seemed to be set up for failures. 

i've moved on from that for now, surprisingly quickly, might i say. i'd like to get really depressed... i am right now, to be honest, because it's exam season and i'm again face to face with the same fears. each year for 4 years, it's been the same. i've prayed for him to reveal to me what it was that brought me down. just like i've prayed some same prayers many times over. (at this point, there's a whole bunch of other things to say.. i don't know where to slot in what i really planned to talk about when i started this post). anyway, i did continue to talk with God, after an initial avoidance period. i was brutally honest with him, letting my mouth fly, lashing untruths at him. i demanded that he come down and talk to me. i just felt i needed to see and touch him so that i could finally be more faithful, so that all these shit would stop. 

he did. not once but three times, or more. knowing myself, i'd forget again in a matter of hours, minutes, seconds. even now, today, after coming back from church with the revelation fresh in my head, i'm still not victorious, not even after finally understanding what it means to deny myself and to abide in him. my prayer today was that he help me to remember what happened. 

i didn't forget. but why's it that i'm still in the same place again? i'm afraid i'm going to stop praying and then i'd backslide again. i can't and i don't want to if i can help it. i just wish he would make me vanish. this is no way to live.</sup> 

the writing on the wall

via motilo's email

this wall would be perfect for the room where the clothes and shoes and bags would be housed, eh?

some updates about the house. knowing me, i was really doing nothing but looking at magazines and websites for inspiration. as always, when confronted with too many options (just an excuse), how does one decide? i can only tell you what i don't want. it's a start, but i was getting nowhere. i have a couple of contacts i could call to get things going, but i did nothing. my mother's friend's been offering to help. i'd like to reveal more but my info's limited, so long story short, i actually got as far as having a rough plan drawn up and more details should be ready in two weeks. my initial plan was to move in latest by middle of next year. this is really the worst case scenario. but now, with the help given me in this manner, i just might be able to move in by dec 2012 or jan 2013.  

in other news, i've been feeling this way again. and there'll be some changes at the office again, which means the same opportunity then would be presented again. only this time i have to make a different kind of decision. i've been putting it off but i have to do something about it soon. i can't quit my job, i need the income and especially since i have a new commitment now. i must finish school soon. before i lose more steam. what bugs me majorly is also what i want to do after graduation. i'll get to that later. i have to solve the more pressing issue first. 

i guess you can see why i was giving myself so much time to move to the new place. i hate being like this but i'm just so... fearful... i shouldn't be living life as if i still have a lifetime left to finish accomplishing the things i'd like to do before i'm taken away from this world. 

shh

who's who

"Anyone who has a pet understands who owns whom," says Wolford, who is owned by two Jack Russell terriers.

Diane Brady and Christopher Palmeri
The Pet Economy
BusinessWeek 

social

so facebook's bought instagram. and pinterest is supposed to be up and coming (click on the the link below to read that people are also spending lotsa time on that site, which kinda says lots, ya?)    

how come only some photo-sharing sites worked up to such frenzy?

we'll see.   

i didn't know MySpace is still in the game.

高难度

been highly stressed over school assignments. a few factors causing my misery. of course school's gonna get harder. what did i expect?  

process

via

my plight's not quite the same. resignation would've come before the putting off, and i'd have crashed before sending in my work -- fact, this is the part where nothing happens. 

cry.   

rudymentary

"One of my goals in building Metromix was to move the newspaper away from its inefficient way of putting listings in the paper which is Rudy gets a press release and opens up a file. And types in the information and next week he gets a press release, opens it up, deletes last week's, and types in another one. Awful. So we built a database for Metromix of events so that Rudy can now get the press release, type in a whole year's worth of events, and it's fielded. So every week we just do a dump from the database to create the nine zone listing for the newspaper which is localized. We've decreased the error rate in them from 12 per page to 3 per page, typos and so on. Because it's all databased, it's only typed once. Huge deal. Huge deal."

Owen Youngman
in The Chicagotribune.com: Creating a Newspaper for the New Economy (A)
by Professor Nina Ziv 

statement

Bally

Bally shoes set you apart. They are the perfect shoe to complement your lifestyle. Bally shoes project an image of European style and elegance that ensures one is not just dressed, but well dressed.

Bostonian

Bostonian shoes are for those successful individuals who are well traveled, on the "go" and want a stylish dress shoe that can keep up with their variety of needs and activities. With Bostonian, you know you will always be well dressed whatever the situation.

Source: "Thinking on Your Feet, the Johnston & Murphy Guerilla Marketing Competition"

via Strategic Management by John A. Pearce II and Richard B. Robinson, 12th edition

#idontgettwitter

"I heard Twitter was a stupid place where people just talked about what they wanted to have for lunch and I said that is where I belong!"  

"Can Twitter do anything?

Can Twitter wipe my ass?!

No!

But people can!"

- extracted from here

currently working on a final assignment and it's gotta do with Twitter. if you noticed, i recently jumped onto the Tumblr wagon. i have things to say about that space but i'll just talk about Twitter. why Twitter and not Tumblr? you see, the weird thing was that i've got a few new followers on Twitter, rather than on Tumblr. and i was hardly ever on Twitter. and i hadn't been able to log on at all and i never got to finding out why.

it's all those integration tools that had helped to 'create' my presence on Twitter. so indeed it's the platform to self-promote even if that's the least of my intention, except of course, if i want to reach out to more people to sell my things. if you ask me, i do think it's amazing, but i also find it really scary. yes, no doubt i can block the fella if i suspect something fishy. honestly, though, i think most of the time it's just small businesses who added me based on what i'd blogged. i wonder if i'd get more followers if i posted more sexy or sensual pictures on Tumblr. i think it's highly likely. there's much nudity over there. not the vulgar type, nothing too unusual from what're already posted by some fashion magazines.

anyway, i just might stop Tumblring one day. just like how i imagine i'd just pull out from the other social media sites one day right out of the blue. 

p/s: just got another new follower, lol. this time it's a lingerie seller from Santa Monica. note to self: remember to untick the "Send to Twitter" box the next time i post pictures of white negligee.   

When Wallpaper Strikes Back

Using pictures of people in this way is a form of wallpaper video. But it's worst than other forms of wallpaper because instead of using generic pictures to illustrate a story, we're using specific pictures. There's no such thing as a "generic" person. Every face has attached to it a real person with a real name and a real address and real rights, who's real likely to hire a real good lawyer to hit you real hard with a real ugly lawsuit. If there's a recognizable face in your video, then that video is specific, not generic-- and some might construe your story to be about that individual. So if you're using a "crowd shot" to illustrate a story about something negative or embarrassing such as STDs, and Ethel Icetea recognizes herself in your video, she isn't going to be happy. If she gets a call from her neighbors kidding her about it, she's going to be less happy. You might then get a call from the law firm of Ketchum and Cheatham that will negatively affect your happiness.

Broadcast News Handbook, Third Edition
Television News Story Forms--The VO

C. A. Tuggle and Forrest Carr

闪亮夺目

missed the bling?

do not wear dress or skirt if you want people to see your underwear

black on black again

the shoes were the stars today. three colleagues commented on them; one loved them (we're both shoes people). wearing a top given by the guru. it's like a batwing top, with fins. i never imagined i'd wear something like that but thanks to her i learnt not to trust my own judgement so much anymore. haha. the jacket's also from her. i thought it's longer but i do like it even though it can look aunty-ish if not paired well. the pants were new from gmarket. they're like harem pants.

i had one of those motherofheadches last night. really hellish.

gotta run. another assignment due soon. so i may have to miss the public garden flea. i almost wanted to participate as a seller... wow, looks like i really should've done it. they did quite a bit of publicity, this one...     

cannot-study type

十十f十 

"Natalie never once asked for an extension or to be excused from her responsibilities". If she was scheduled to appear on the David Letterman show, for example, she would finish her paper early."

- Dr Abigail Baird

me: first read the above from the today paper. more related quotes from the article can be found online.

十十f十

How to maximise your stay at XXXXXX:

• Good students will read up the course materials before coming for class.
• Better students will read up and then ask questions of the instructors.
• Excellent students will read beyond the course materials and contribute to the discussion in class.

me: just read the above from a document attached for orientation students for a certain faculty at my university.

十十f十 

no prizes for guessing whether i'm the can-study type.
my friend said i am this type. i'm totally not.
i'm totally the Buay-Tak-Cek type.

"undetermined"

The fourth most worthless word in television is the word "undetermined" in connection with a bank robbery or other theft. One, it's not conversational. When was the last time you turned to someone and said, "The robber got away with an undetermined amount of cash"?

Two, it's not factual--or at least, it's not always factual--and it leaves the viewer with a false assumption that the amount of money missing will be determined later. Guess what, folks. Often they know exactly how much money the bandit got away with, for the simple reason that he probably has a "bait bag" with a dye bomb inside it and a well-known amount of bait cash. If they don't know, they'll find out very quickly. But believe this: They might never tell you how much cash the bandit got. There's a good reason for this: Revealing the amount of cash the bandit took is the worst form of advertising for the bank. The bandit might have escaped with a nice wad of cash. If the bank reveals the amount, it's essentially throwing out a challenge for other robbers to try to match or surpass the previous robber's haul.

Forrest Carr

Deadly Copy Sins and How to Avoid Them
Broadcast News Handbook, Third Edition

oh happy day!

last coupla posts took place in jul. been busy so i had to backdate some posts.
i had a most sweet birthday. it's mostly been sweet these past years, actually.
i'm trying not to read too deep into things. but i think i just must give all glory to my lord.  
我真的不再一样了。

circa 2008?

i wore this dress with a pair of mock-croc lauren pumps yesterday. shoulda known better i might be crippled from the height. but the shoes weren't much higher heeled than these. that's cos i stood on them for about 5 hours. why torture myself? cos it's my birthday and i was trying to look my best for an important work.  

etsy

that's only half the truth, lah. 5 more months of such stress.
but to be honest, i don't mind going through that than go thru stress from school.
but. we know it's all just about the attitude. it's always been and it'll always be that.

here i come, august.

ambulatory

see how i've ruined my bag, ha ha. 

the shorts were from a local blogshop, only cos they're on sale. the other items were expensive. no more of these, i just can't afford it.

the top's from ASOS, my very first order, ever, from that site. i liked the colour and shape so much that i got it in UK10. i think their items are expensive as well. i haven't seen my bill for the rate conversion. 98 quids for a pair of boots, two shirts and a pair of bottoms. but i'm pleased with most of them. i'm tempted to get more stuff...

but did you know that i'll be heading to korea next month? seoul exciting!!  

surface for air

wearing max tan

really close to giving it all up. why's it still so hard, i just don't

understand.

add to it the fact that i know why i must kill my new do soon. how is it that guys needn't have to consider their hairstyles? it's mostly short anyway. why should the hairstyle affect the overall image so drastically?

what if going shorter doesn't improve things? there's no more hair to lose when that happens, you know... i really dislike being insecure over my appearance. is the outside really indicative of the inside? surely not, cos i don't feel lesser of the fears that're already inside me when i still had my long locks. i'm just busier now cos i have to rack my head over what i shouldn't wear with the current do.

let's play