Roach phobia. Having to say that, I overcome all my fears and do a research on cockroaches. Why this topic? I went out with my secondary school friends last Friday night. This topic came up when my girlfriend saw a cockroach. And I realised that my this guy friend told us he don't really dare to kill one. Great discovery! So I wonder is it true that nowadays guys don't dare to kill one. Of course, I am not saying just find one to kill for no reason but is just when this creepy crawlers that come to your way.

I never want to understand cockroach. To me, they are my nightmare. I will scream like hell when I see one and especially those flying ones. Cockroaches have been existed for 280 million years and there are more than 4,500 described species of cockroaches. They can survive ten minutes in a vacuum, levels of radiation that would kill a human in one second, prolonged submersion in water, being at ground zero of an M60 cherry bomb - though shoe heels bearing down, as well as being inside active microwave ovens, will kill them. A cockroach can live without a head for a week, after which lack of water intake will cause it to die. Not because it's lack of head but lack of water. A cockroach can go for a month without food, though only a week, as I said, without water.

A female cockroach can gain enough sperm from a single mating to reproduce over her entire life span, up to one year. A single female cockroach that had mated just that once can have 90,000 offspring within three months. How horrifying?!!

So much of their facts and history background. Not only I had search on their facts but also I saw an interesting archive forum on "who's afraid of roches aka XIAO QIANG?" And there quite a number of guys who don't like to kill it and will scream with us. Oops, I don't mean all guys. There are exception. The interesting is there is a music band calls cockroach, a company calls cockroach, a movie character, Sylar who acquired the cockroach's abilities and a even a cartoon called "Oggy and the cockroaches". it is about a fat cat Oggy, who tried ways and means to get rid of her "sworn enemy", the cockroaches. frankly speaking, the cartoon made the cockroaches look "cute " instead of scary. Of course, that's just part of it which I find, suppose there should be even more people who use this cockroach name.

But what is the reason we don't dare to kill them. I don't really want to go into details of its dying process. Disgusting, of course. My parents are always the ones who kill them for me. How come the older generation don't really afraid that much as we do? I believe part of the reason is that we never really lived in those kampong days where flying ants, flies and other creepy crawlers as well as creatures around. I remember those days my dad even killed a python before. To them, is normal if they see a cockroach. To us, it is horrifying if we see one or we hate to see one. We are too used to living in a clean and green environment. We don't even really see rats nowadays. Well, I guess it's become normal that both sexes afraid of them. Despite it is a pest, we should learn it's formidable way of surviving, "never give up. "

I went to search on this 90/10 principle after hearing this on air. As I posted earlier on, it was written by the author Stephen Covey. Interesting. I absolutely agree that this principle can change our life.

It is very true that 10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by how you react. We often blame things on others when it happened and most of the words that came out from our mouth were hurting. The fact is when things happened, it is unavoidable, it is not reversible and start all over again. That is why 10% is what we can not control and other 90% is what we can do to change it by controlling our reaction.

This imply that how calm you are and how well you can cope in a crisis. When a person is calm, he/she can think clearly and reacts according to the situation and solve the problem. Whether in a relationship, friendship, working environment, you can improve your situation and change it. A lot of times, we blamed a person when incident happened. We blamed everyone except ourselves. When manager or superior scolded us, we would find reasons or excuses to say "hey, is not my fault!/you did not tell me what to do!" This is how we make things worse. If we will to able to say "I'm sorry. I overlook this problem. I will not make the mistake again." Well, we might be still hearing some angry words flying in the air but at least it will a bad impression of each party, reprimanding. Same apply to couple as well. When a couple quarrel, hurting words then to come out. In the end, it might end up a divorce.

Of course, it is easy to say than done. And most of them when we are angry, we forget the principle, we forget forgiving, we forget everything. Maybe we should be more relax, don't bother sometimes and have a 'don't worry, be happy' attitude. Anyway, it happened, so? Why punish others for the mistake make? Late for work, never mind. Broke a glass, buy a new one. When in a fight, be quiet and listen. In the end, situation will not be that worse as what we think. Anyway we have nothing to lose cause what had happened, had happened.

Author: Stephen Covey

Discover the 90/10 Principle: It will change your life. The 90/10 principle is incredible! Very few know and apply this principle. The Result? Millions of people are suffering undeserved stress, trials, problems, and heartache. They never seem to be a success in life. Bad days follow bad days. Terrible things seem to be constantly happening. Theirs is constant stress, lack of joy, and broken relationships. Worry consumes time, anger ruins friendships and life seems dreary and is not enjoyed to the fullest. Friends are lost. Life is a bore and often seems cruel. Does this describe you? If so, do not be discouraged. You can be different! Understand and apply the 90/10 principle. It will change your life!

What is this principle? 10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by how you react. What does this mean? We really have no control over 10% of what happens to us. We cannot stop the car from breaking down. The plane may be late arriving, which throws our whole schedule off. A driver may cut us off in traffic. We have no control over this 10%. The other 90% is different. You determine the other 90%! How? By your reaction. You cannot control a red light, but you can control your reaction. Don’t let people fool you; You can control how you react!

Let’s use an example. You’re eating breakfast with your family. Your daughter knocks over a cup of coffee onto your business shirt. You have no control over what just happened. What happens next will be determined by how you react. You curse. You harshly scold your daughter for knocking the coffee cup over. She breaks down in tears. After scolding her, you turn to your spouse and criticize them for placing the cup too close to the edge of the table. A short verbal battle follows. You storm upstairs and change your shirt. Back downstairs you find your daughter has been too busy crying to finish breakfast and get ready for school. She misses the bus. Your spouse must leave immediately for work. You rush to the car and drive your daughter to school. Because you are late, you drive 40 miles an hour in a 30 mph speed zone.

After a 15-minute delay and throwing $60 (traffic fine) away, you arrive at school. Your daughter runs to the building without saying good-bye. After arriving at the office 20 minutes late, you find you forgot your briefcase. Your day has started terrible. As it continues, it seems to get worse and worse. You look forward to going home. When you arrive home, you find a small wedge in your relationship with your spouse and daughter. Why? Because of how you reacted in the morning.

Why did you have a bad day?

A) Did the coffee cause it?

B) Did your daughter cause it?

C) Did the Policeman cause it?

D) Did you cause it?

The answer is D. You had no control over what happened with the coffee. How you reacted in those 5 seconds is what caused your bad day.

Here is what could have and should have happened. Coffee splashes over you. Your daughter is about to cry. You gently say, “It’s OK honey, you just need to be more careful next time.” Grabbing a towel you rush upstairs. After grabbing a new shirt and your briefcase. You come back down in time to look through the window and see your child getting on the bus. She turns and waves. You and your spouse kiss before you both go to work. You arrive 5 minutes early and cheerfully greet the staff. Your boss comments on how good of a day you are having. Notice the difference. Two different scenarios. Both started the same. Both ended different. Why? Because of how you Reacted. You really do not have any control over 10% of what happens. The other 90% is determined by your reaction.

Here are some ways to apply the 90/10 principle. If someone says something negative about you, do not be a sponge. Let the attack roll off like water on glass. You do not have to let the negative comment affect you! React properly and it will not ruin your day. A wrong reaction could result in losing a friend, being fired, getting stressed out, etc.

How do you react if someone cuts you off in traffic? Do you lose your temper? Pound the steering wheel? (A friend of mine had the steering wheel fall off!) Do you curse? Does your blood pressure skyrocket? Do you try and bump them? Who Cares if you arrive ten seconds later at work? Why let the cars ruin your drive. Remember the 90-10 principle, and do not worry about it!

You are told you lost your job. Why lose sleep or get irritated? It will work out. Use your “worrying” time and energy into finding another job.

The plane is late. It is going to mangle your schedule for the day. Why take out your frustration on the flight attendant? She has no control over what is going on. Use your time to study, get to know the other passenger, etc. Why get stressed out? It will just make things worse.

Now you know the 90-10 principle. Apply it and you will be amazed at the results.

Ever since I stopped working, my reading habit came back. I read and I write. I think it is better than bottle it up in my mind. Gratitude... When is the last time you said you are grateful to someone? My last job.. How about you? Being grateful is one of the key to success. I used to being grateful but life getting more and more stressful, I forget about it. Maybe it's time to really think about the people around us. Friends, family, colleagues, subordinates, teachers and the list just goes on. We should be grateful to everyone and even your foes. Without everyone in our life chapter, we will never be who we are now.

When too many problems in life, we tend to complain and grumble. Maybe change our mindset, be thankful to all these problems, it made us grown up and learnt from mistakes. When we are grateful to our parents, we will be filial to them; grateful our job, we do our best; grateful to our friends, we appreciate and cherish them.

A short story of Nelson Mandela. He is one of the great political leaders of our time. He began a twenty-seven year stay in prison in 1962 for his opposition to apartheid. Most of his confinement was spent during hard labor at the notorious Robben Island maximum-security prison and released in February 1990. "I stand here before you not as a prophet but as a humble servant of you, the people. Your tireless and heroic sacrifices have made it possible for me to be here today. I therefore place my life in your hands." On his release from prison, 11 February 1990. He expressed no bitterness towards his tormentors. Nobody knew that , in 1994 he was elected as South Africa's first black president. 'We can neither heal nor build,' said Mandela in his opening speech to parliament, 'with the victims of past injustices forgiving and the beneficiaries merely content in gratitude.' In the Robben Island, tormentors had trained him for his discipline and tolerance, and continued fighting. If he haven't been to Robben Island, he would not what he is now. Gratitude.

Another story.. I read this book on "The richest man in town." The story about cashier at Wal-mart. His name is Marty, an affable-looking man in his seventies. To every customer that came to his line, he was genuine. He listened to everyone in the line. When every customer left, he gave a firm handshake. He loved his job. Everyone came in Wal-mart, had been touched by his simple gesture. No one was a stranger in his line, merely a friend waiting. Just a simple gratitude, he touches everyone in a small town of Tracy, Minesota. You don't have to say out loud you are grateful, it could be just a smile, a handshake or even a hug. It is not just gratitude, it is the key to success. Marty just did a simple thing and he had taught us, 'thankful to your job, relationships matter most in life, no matter who you are, try to do a little more and it is you that you happy.'

Gratitude: thankful to friends when they are there for you; when you feel love and happiness, thankful to the pain you experience,; it's your tears that made you stronger, grateful to your tears; when you success, grateful to your failure. Even when is your last breathe, thanks god for your life. Grateful to what we have, inner peace is what we gain, experience happiness is what we have and unknow surprises are waiting for us.

At my current age, I tried to recall how many jobs I had actually worked before. Waitress, customer service, hp lab researcher, part time retail sales executive, graphic designer and last but not least a project coordinator... Wow! that is quite a list. After all these years of job searching, is it what I am looking for? I am in a lost. I can't see my future in any jobs which I can think of. Pessimistic? I really don't know. I worked for money and not for passion. The thing is when I see money, I am not happy. It is so contradicting.

I asked around some of my friends "do you work for passion or money?" Some said passion and some said money. There were few that have both, passion and money. You can be practical at the same time passionate for your job. If you really know what you are looking for, you are happy with it; when comes to salary if it is attractive, it becomes a bonus. This is what my teacher friends told me. They found satisfaction, passion and happy with the amount they were getting. Finding a job is just like finding a good relationship. People always say " love or bread?" If you can have both, great. If you can't, you must choose either one.

When passion comes in, it is not so much of the amount you are getting but love and passion of the job that you desire. It is tough. Just like artist don't really earn much cause they work for passion. My friend, Shavy, worked for passion. We knew each other through stage acting camp before we went to different schools. He still followed his heart while I lost mine. I had forgotten I used to have a passion for stage performance too.

We know that Singapore has a high standard of living. When replied "money", okay... It is practical which I would not deny at all. It is the fact. In Asia country, it is important of able to support a family. Family becomes the most important reason to be practical. To be responsible, to support and have a stable, comfortable life. Lastly, it's the value of life each and everyone of us is looking at of how we value ourselves, what we want to achieve.

In the end, it is about choices. The choice of choosing whether to go for passion or money? In part of you, you might want to follow your heart. But when comes to reality, it is really not so much of follow your heart anymore. Family, diapers, loans, bills, etc... they are the one that do the talking. It is about money.

I came across this forum with the title "Quiting without a job." Hey, that is what I did. I thought I was the only one who was so impulsive and just left this company. I was wrong, totally wrong. Now not so much of struggling without a job but more on surviving with my saving. It is very true that in Singapore, or rather in this world "No money, no talk." One of this cotter (we called our members "cotter" in this cozycot forum) mentioned there were 5 major things that couldn't do without money 1) study 2) getting married 3) get sick 4) have children 5) die. It is so true.

It depends on which came first and what is your priority. Everywhere in this world is talking about money. Maybe to certain sense, there were few things that we don't talk about money like a true friendship.... relationship... family? Maybe not. It is really true that without money you won't be able to study, getting married, get sick, have any children or even when you died. The moment you step out of the house, you need to spend. Even in a relationship, we are still talking about money.

Well, the thing is how it really matter of being able to adjust the standard of living. Really, most of the time, we are reluctant to give up our usual standard of living to a simpler one. In reality, will you choose a job that is $2k while your friends are earning $4k or a job that is $4k while your friends earning $2k? A matter of fact, maybe the first choice would be a better one. It is just the mindset that is confusing us.

But something that I slowly realised is that the more you earn, the more you lost. Maybe you can earn $10k, but what you lost is your time spent with your loved ones, family and even friends. Trying to balance money and life is not easy especially when there is a commitment and spending becomes a habit. Well, after leaving a job making me feel that there are a lot more than just wanting to earn money or rather finding the meaning of living. Maybe 'No money, no talk" is just how this world works but how you can survive in it is another matter.

In a shopping list, it is easy to find a list of favourites that women loves. Diamonds, shoes, flowers, bags...And LV is one of the brands which women would never missed. Well, I am not one of them. But why LV? What I don't really understand is what is so special about this brand that women saved to just buy one Lv bag or even their imitation? I had done some research, trying to find out more about LV. Louis Vuitton was found way back in 1854. It's all started off for its quality trunks (large luggage box with hinged lid), lightweight, airtight and the ability to stack for ease with voyages. In 1888, "L. Vuitton trademark" was introduced in response to the continuing of imitation.

Vuitton family actively supported Nazi Germany (for the financial benefit of the company) during the Vichy regime (the government of France from July 1940 to August 1944). Since then, the look of the leather was utilized in everything from small purses and wallets to larger pieces of luggage. In 1978, it opened the first stores in Tokyo and Osaka. In 1983, in its presence in Asia with the opening of a store in Taipei and Seoul in 1984. Until now, the varies from luxury leather goods to fashion accessories and jewelery. It is still the same as in made by hand, the craftsmanship, the quality and of course worth for squandering.

Apart from the history background, i had found this website:

www.customerthink.com/blog/louis_vuitton_effective_experience stating that LV creates positive emotions and memories to target customers; and, at the same time, it delivers target brand values which I totally agree as well. Louis Vuitton really does an excellent job is branding, advertising and celebrity events to create their luxurious and exclusive image, and the actual experience with store outlook and interior decoration, product and prestige feeling are synchronized with customer expectations and echoed through Louis Vuitton’s brand values.

I would say women feel they were exclusive, classy and rich when they had a one with them. It just made me wonder was it just for self satisfaction to own one; a brand loyalty customer or as what Louis Vuitton’s chief executive Yves Carcelles once said: "the essence of a luxury good is its exclusivity, i.e. not everyone can afford it, only a small group of people can enjoy it, and Louis Vuitton pushes exclusivity to the extreme."

Sometimes I really wonder is it true in this modern society, people tend to become too 'don't bother' or just simply afraid that might end up getting trouble. As usual, Sunday is always a family day for me. Nothing special at all, but... something happened today and my this little brain started to have plenty of thoughts again.

After purchasing our daily groceries, I was standing outside one of this supermarket waiting for my parents. There was this guy who walked passed me. All of a sudden, I heard a loud "Thud!" behind me. I turned around and saw this guy on the floor and shivering. Blood dripping out of his mouth. I saw this symptom before. It's epilepsy. How did I know? Way back when I was in Secondary two, my father had this attack too. It was actually a nervous disorder with convulsions and often loss of consciousness.

Okay, back to the story, it was so sudden. My immediate action was to shout out "it was fit!" and called the ambulance. I could not do anything at that point of time but I guess, calling ambulance was the only best solution that I could do. And... there is one thing I just really couldn't understand for the whole of 10 minutes or so, no one is calling for ambulance?!! Were we just onlookers? Or were we just simply don't care or don't bother?

20 minutes later, he regained his conscious. One retail guy told him that ambulance was on the way. Not long after, security guard came down, called for ambulance again and tried to keep the crowd in an orderly manner. In between that 20 minutes intervals, there were still some people who were still concern and tried to help.. I did not stay till the ambulance came... I left with my family hoping that that guy is okay. Maybe at that situation, is not everyone can help. Or is it at that point of time, everyone is just waiting for someone to take that first step out?

In this real life, how often we actually fail? We fail in examinations, driving test, did not perform well in our job. Even when during when we are small, we learn to walk in the process of falling down. Are all these consider failure or a route to success? Sometimes, I wonder if there is no any failure in life what would happen? Will the person be too confident, never understand what is the meaning of failure?

The fact is alot of times we don't want to admit failure or rather say can't see failure to success. Mary couldn't really adapt to her new working environment and ended up fired by her boss. She kept complaining it was all of others' fault except her. Deep inside her, she know it was her fault all along, but she could not face the fact. I mean how many of us are just like Mary. When comes to relationship, family problems or even friendship, is it really just we do not really see where our fault lies when we fail? Or we are just too confident that lead to failure...

From the past, Thomas Alva Edison had fail a thousand of times before he really invented light bulb till this digital age, Bill Gates started off playing with the computers in his Lakeside Prep school. He and his friends wasted no time in exploring the new machine and soon started causing problems. They caused the system to crash several times and broke the security system. They even got banned for several weeks after changing into the file that recorded how much computer time they were using and altered it. From all these failures, to what he is now, is the co-founder and Chairman of Microsoft, and founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Forbes magazine has ranked him as the richest person in the world for twelve consecutive years.

Alot of success stories comes failure to success... and from success to failure and from failure, they find the route to success again. Maybe sometimes we are too blind to the outcome and forget to see in dept of what is really happening. When there is a failure, there is a reason behind it. When we find the reason, we are a step nearly to the success. So whether is success to failure or success to failure, maybe the story is how we are going to write it and not how we are being blindfold to it.

I had just read a book on Women Success Guide. It is about branding. I was wondering do we really need branding? Can we change to someone unique or someone who you really dream to become? Maybe in Singapore here, to certain people "self branding" is not that important, but to some, yes. I remembered my previous company my female colleagues are 'Wow'! They really know how to brand themselves. Intelligent, successful women. Me? I am still in the process of learning but... I wondering if it is really difficult.

What is branding? I flipped through the dictionary to find the actual meaning. It means an identity, the characteristic which means when we apply to us... It is a identity, just like our name of how your friends call us. The characteristic of how you project yourself in front to others. In some cases, I really feel that branding is very important just like when we are going for an interview. We always need to give the best image to others. We can never be like an celebrity or whoever I think of. I am just myself. But, we can change to be different or at least change to be better? not worse...

Well, I had never watched any series of Sex and The City but I had heard that many who had chased the series would definitely go for this movie. Well, it is ending of Sex and The City. The story still goes around Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker and her three dear friends Samantha (Kim Cattrall), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) four years after the series ended as they continue their lives in Manhattan. Along with original characters such as Mr. Big (Chris Noth), Magda (Lynn Cohen) and Steve Brady (David Eignerberg), Academy Award Winner Jennifer Hudson joins the cast as Carrie's (Sarah Jessica Parker) new assistant. I could say it is quite a good movie. This movie is not just about "sex in the city" or rather about the friendship, relationship, forgiveness, learning through mistakes.

Carrie is a dream girl which i guess most of the modern girls whom desire to be. I would definitely love to be her. Freedom, love, fashion and surrounded with her best friends. She is always so intelligent and of course, do make mistake. In this last episode, the four of them learn what is the meaning of love and how to cherish what they have. I just find it is a real story that could be happening in this realistic world. When things just happen too smooth, we would wonder or fear that all these good things will suddenly goes away in just a "pop". When things happened, we tend to look at the mistake and forget about people's good and forgive them. In real life, we tend to forget to understand others and too self center. We sometimes also love ourselves too much and forget to love others.

It maybe a simple story that tells the life of these 4 ladies in Manhattan but I really find that there are same things that are always happening around us. Sometimes we are too blind and forget to see our own mistakes and tends to fear too much. Watch this movie and you will know what I said. I am now watching backwards on the series. Hahahaha!