jojo ♥

Monday, July 26

Passion Profit Secrets

So we all have something we are passionate about. It could be your love of books and tomes, or the punk rock that no one else seems to understand like you can. Perhaps it’s your absolute dedication to all things in the fashion and beauty world, or your natural flair and zeal for art.

Yet instead of working on these passions, you continue to toil at jobs you do not enjoy as much – to support yourself and your passion.

If you find yourself in that position, why not consider monetizing your passion?

Instead of working at the photocopier and paper shredder all day, and zipping home to play your guitar to an empty room (and face the wrath of your Mom who’s trying to watch the latest Channel 8 drama) – find a way to make your passion your job.

How?

Well, I’m no expert but Thad Bong sure is! And for the benefits of those wanting to quit that photocopying job and working on your passions, he has planned the Passion Profit Secrets 2010 for you.

For this special event, Thad has invited 10 Top Passionpreneur Experts to share their profit strategies with you. The line up includes:

* Paul Evans, serial entrepreneur and philanthropist
* Deb Ingino, 50 Most Influential Women In Business award winner
* Carrie Wilkerson, President of the Association of Work At Home Women
* Snowden Mcfall, past National Women In Business Advocate of the Year
* Bob Burg, International Best Selling Co-Author of The Go-Giver

Passion Profits Secrets 2010 will be held from 2 – 6 August, and will give you an in-depth coverage of all the success practices of this gathering of the Who’s Who of the Passionpreneur scene.

And if you have not figured it out, Passionpreneur is an entrepreneur who have create a business that monetizes his or her passion.

If you want to monetize your passion, this online event is perfect for you. To obtain a free access pass, visit the Official Event Site and register your details.

Related Links: on FreshGrads!, Thad's website

Labels: writings

14:32

Friday, July 23

Que sera, sera

When I was just a little girl
I ask my mother, what will I be?
Will I be pretty, will I be rich?
Here's what she said to me.

Que sera, sera
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours, to see
Que sera, sera
What will be, will be

08:52

Wednesday, July 21

Friends are like that

I love that even though we haven't talked forever, when we do, it's like we never stopped.

22:24

Tuesday, July 20

I was busy embracing my Chinese roots and watching a great 超級偶像 - that's Taiwan Super Idol to you - on MioTV - and trust me, it's really good! It's more professional and has better singers than our local music competitions on telly - when I heard this song: 我們都寂寞.

Just in case you don't speak Mandarin, that's 'We're all lonely'.

And it really speaks to me, because I feel, the truth is that we're all lonely.

The song paints a bleak picture of getting off work in the city, with people and cabs rushing by, your friends too busy and you unloved. You don't want to go home, and end up meeting someone and getting married. It's an emotionless marriage, and you reflect: it's sad to be unloved, yet being in love is not a big deal. You hate yourself, you don't really know what you want... isn't that lonely?

Here's a clip:

The thing about 超級偶像 is that the contestants are really made to practice really hard and do different genres of music, so that they really get better. My only grouse is that most can't sing English right. But there you go, I still prefer them.

Here's my favourite cutie, mock-cute-dancing to Gee:

Yes, he's Korean. Cute eh!

09:39

Saturday, July 17

Solar

British author Ian McEwan is said to favour working with stark opposites – he cast science against art, pits the greedy self-satisfying bums with the heroes of the world and sets technology against nature – and it shows in this latest work.

The highly descriptive story revolves around protagonist Michael Beard, his jaunty yet lamenting thoughts and his unimpressed views of the world.

Beard is a hero in physics, a champion for green energy and he is ready to save the world from self-destruction. His work in his youth simplified Einstein’s revolutionary 1905 paper, won him a Nobel Prize and paved the way for green discoveries and gold-backed research.

Ironically (or not), it is this very brains and the Nobel Prize that led to his continuing self-satisfying and unmotivated lifestyle. Beard rakes through food and women aplenty, living very much for the moment and basking in the past glories of his youth’s research – always sure that the moment will come when he will naturally shed this lifestyle for “innocent Eden”. It’s just around the next corner, he tells himself – even as he ages, grows fatter, carrying “the equivalent of a combat infantryman’s full pack”.

McEwan successfully draws parallels between Beard, and the world and its people. It almost appears as if McEwan is mocking the world – like Beard, we bask in our discovery of coal and oil, unmotivated to move forward; we meet for talks that had no effects, just like Beard did in the Artic summit; and like Beard, the world is getting sicker, fatter and non-committed.

Instead of being insulted though, I tutted at Beard’s lifestyle and found it hard to sympathize with this unlikeable main character (‘protagonist’ seems unfitting). Even so, I lament his misfortune.

The most enjoyable read of the book spanning 9 years of Beard’s life – which makes me wonder why McEwan puts us through it at all – is Part 2, where Beard met his match. A recognized figure in Physics, he dates a common woman working hard on her business; he’s a non-committed mess living in the past, she’s a warm, loving woman hoping for a child. Their fight over her pregnancy flits between her obvious excitement and his despair, as he struggles to get back the familiar warmth of food, sex and sleep before fleeing (once again).

At first glance, Solar may appear dreary from the viewpoint of a self-satisfying fat man. Like in Atonement though, McEwan’s brilliant use of a single incident that will eventually shape Beard’s years is just that – brilliant.

Related Links:on FreshGrads!

Labels: writings

09:00

Monday, July 12

Snide Comments, Smirks and Sarcasm

There are times when I simply cannot resist making snide remarks to people and while I’m sorry for being mean, I don’t regret it. Not always, or as much as I should anyway.

Perhaps it has got to do with the friends I keep; because when I hang out with them, our conversation is at times completely ruled by snide comments, smirks and sarcasm. It’s either be evil or be bullied.

In any case, sometimes it can get very extreme – and on a day when I’m already annoyed, it becomes irksome.

Case 1:

Old acquaintance whom I haven’t talked to in ages texted me: “Hi! Listen, how do I start a conversation with someone I haven’t talked to in a long while?”

Me: “Uh, you text.”

Case 2:

And then there’s the smart aleck: “sophisticated picture of yours there, you love the art of photography? A girl in a pink dress with her pet cat, seems to be she is veering at the stripe zebras.”

Me: “Huh?”

Smart Aleck: “I mean your display picture.”

Me: (wow, my dp is really small on the screen) “Oh. It’s a doll.”

Smart Aleck: “but that picture of yours is like photography to me, like it tells a story – the dull grey background of the wall speaks a thousand word for the picture. That is what struck me, creates a sombre feeling to the photo”

I could only stare at my screen and completely ignore this old acquaintance. Perhaps this is why we lost contact – we could not converse. On a better day, it would have been funny. On a bad day, I couldn’t waste to rehash to my friends for some good old ‘ohmygod, are you serious’ and eye-rolling.

18:38

Friday, July 9

Not a chronic workaholic

I'm strangely happy at the idea of teaching again. It would be some fun to meet a kid weekly and dish out English help. (They mentioned E Maths and Combined Science - Physics and I completely freaked out!)

I wonder if I'm truly happy, or if I'm happy for the extra income. I know, it's not the best thing to admit but... I'm not above that, not just yet.

Hui Jing will probably call me a workaholic again.

13:49

Wednesday, July 7

Dull Days and Chirpy Change
(bad title? heh)

I'm beginning to find my days quite dull. The same old, same old, and more of the same old thing... and I wonder why is it.

And then I realize: perhaps it's a result of high expectations, because seriously, how many graduates land a SGD 10,000 per month job, live a lavish lifestyle of long spa sessions and shopping trips?

I digress.

But my theory stands: it is, in all probability, my high expectations that made me resent my lack of long spa sessions and expensive shopping trips.

In fact, I find myself scrimping more than I ever did in my entire schooling career. All in an effort to be right and responsible and all the other hateful R words.

The uncanny similarity cast me as quite the unlikely (and unsuccessful) heroine of a badly written chic lit book. You know the type, big dreams, small reality, tries to be nice, sadly unaccomplished, rather animated (talks to self)...and saved by a really cute and surprisingly rich successful career man.

But note I say unsuccessful heroine, because I'm never going to meet a kind Luke Brandon (top 5 richest man in Britain!) or Jane Austen's manly Mr. Darcy to put me in said long spa sessions and expensive shopping trips lifestyle, or whatever is Mr. Darcy's equivalent.

And no, I don't mean to accuse Sophie Kinsella's and Jane Austen's work as 'badly written chic lit books'. I just simply cannot remember the titles, authors and forgettable characters of said books.

I know I digress an awful lot, so if you forgot what I'm explaining and what I'm going on about...well, god help you, and me.

In any case, as I was saying: my theory is that I got to lower my expectations. There is no point wishing for Luke Brandon and Mr. Darcy (aha!) to materialize and come save this flailing heroine; instead I should simply be less expectant and more chirpy.

After all, how did the heroine survive pre-Luke Brandon/Mr. Darcy? Why, to be chirpy, weepy, brave and strong!

11:13

Tuesday, July 6

Maxi Dresses are huge, huge and huge.

And not just in the amount of cloth worn or the skin it covers. Trendsetters like Nicole Richie, Eva Longoria and Paris Hilton have all been seen to be rocking this long summer favourite.

So what a blessing it is that it’s summer all day long in balmy (yes, I imagined rather wistfully) Singapore – save for that Wednesday’s flood.

I had thought that maxi dresses were going to be a passing trend, especially with the amount of skin teenage girls like baring these days. Just trawl through the blogshops in Singapore and or go through the malls to see stores selling sheer tops, very short dresses and sky-high heels like hotcakes.

So imagine my surprise when I see maxi dresses on the racks! My surprise was rather short-lived when I realized exactly how maxi these dresses were. My mom asked, “How are you going to wear these?”

I pointed at the mermaid hem of a particular piece and told her that’s the point where I’m supposed to snip off.

But in all seriousness, I think we need some education on getting the right maxi dresses – since we’re being handed maxi dresses made for giants.

1. Length

Yes, despite my grouse on the terrifying length of maxi dresses, this is my point number one. Maxi dresses are only maxi dresses if they are long. Point in question, how long?

Well, I say that maxi dresses should fall below your ankles and your shoes should peep out with every step. Avoid dresses that show your ankles, or dresses that look like you’re being a walking broom.

Another good length is mid-calf, if you really prefer to show off your gams.

2. Shape, or Drape

This is very important if you have no desire to look like you’re wearing a curtain – especially true for some prints. It’s really heartbreaking to be told that you’re wearing a household item print; I nearly hated a friend who told me my new purchase looked like a tablecloth. (and no, it wasn’t red and it wasn’t checkered).

An ideal maxi dress should cling to your body in a nice way while being comfortable. We’re not looking at slinky pieces or potato sacks, but pretty summer pieces. So you have to try, try and try!

Piece of advice: I really was kidding when I said balmy Singapore, I meant sweltering Singapore. As such, try to shop for lighter materials that are more comfy in this humidity.

3. It’s all about the details

Maxi dresses are usually one single block colour, tie-dyed or a print. This can be monotonous, so dress up your dress with details. It could be a belt, a boho hair tie, chunky bracelets. Plaits will look very good, while a safer messy chignon and shades would look like you just threw the look together.

Keep your make up simple, grab a denim cropped jacket for the air conditioned places and always wear open toed shoes.

Finally, a casual bag and you’re really to go!

I know, pictures would be so much better. Unfortunately, I rather not steal pictures off the web which you can easily google for; and I haven't any of my own because I'm still looking for my elusive maxi dress. Go figure.

Labels: writings

15:41

Thursday, July 1

I found my... Soul Mate.

Would it be very drama if I tell you, on 1 July 2010, I have found my soul mate?
Because I have! And we are really really happy, in a bittersweet kind of way.

Yanny: feels like i missing out so much, man, i've always wanted to like i dunno, really study, art-art.

Jojo: i totally get you

Yanny: yeah :( sucks huh, jojo.

Jojo: i want to live the rugged student life like, small dingy apartment up a rickety stairs, dangerous student-populated town, going to school

Yanny: like going OUT there and really experiencing what life is

Jojo: have parties, make friends! you do art, i do uh small businesses, then come back to living in a civilized place when i'm like 25. that would be awesome!

Yanny: yeah totally lor. sigh. instead of being stuck in this stupid little island with only people, people, and more people! i'd rather be somewhere in NYC, and being paid for to install artwork in an old house...

Jojo: but among people you have me, krado, xinyi, piaoxue, nicole and many more awesome (:

Yanny: yeah one thing i can never quite leave are my friends here

Jojo: hahah OHOHOHOH! i've always wanted to be able to do this: abandon everything, buy old houses, fix them up with friends…

Yanny: revamp the insides right?

Jojo: and sell them!

Yanny: YEAH JOJO

Jojo: then buy new ones!

Yanny: exactly!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOD. T---T

Jojo: you're my soulmate! too bad we're both girls

Yanny: *hugs* LOL *drama moment*

Jojo: hahhhahhaha *wiggles eyebrows*

Yanny: yah lor why cant u be a mannn LOL : ( be a man, jojo! WAHAHA

Jojo: *ignores* I want to tear stuff down and paint new drama walls

Yanny: HAHAHAHAA yeahhh!

Jojo: buy stuff and like plant gardens… ahhhh! me hearts you

Yanny: gardens!!!!!!!!!!!! ahhhhhh : (((((

Jojo: you can experiment with your moss stuff, i can experiment with fabrics for sofas and curtains

Yanny: YAH LOR aint THAT AWESOME?!!?!

Jojo: ah bugger, why are we two in sg again?

Yanny: yeah lor we shld be overseas doing old house revamping + interior design

We only need a sponsor.

17:12