Salaries in Singapore

Ever wonder how much others are earning? Salary is always a point of interest for many, yet it is always a sensitive topic to discuss. Recently I was directed to this website about salaries in Singapore - http://www.salary.sg/.

It is eye-opening. The statistics are readily available, how much each profession earns is listed. However, those numbers may dash the hopes of many youngsters. Life is actually not that rosy. Professionals, managers may not earn as much as you would like them to. The median salary of a professional between 35-40 years old is only a mere S$4200! Consider an ordinary Singaporean man who graduates at the age of 25, by age 35, he has worked for 10 full years. The managers fare a bit better. For the same age group, the median salary is ~S$6000. It is considered as 'high' income, but still far from a luxury life.

Moral of the story? Strike out on your own, be your own boss :)

Self-glorification & "security issues"

We had our quarterly departmental meeting today. As usual, some self-glorifications from a certain faction of the department was rampant. During the teabreak, I "congratulated" the actual person who handled that situation, and we both ended up mocking each other and had a good laugh. I can hardly imagine some people can actually come out with such shameless self-praising speech. Mmmh, maybe it is not true. Don't you think the local PAPeRs are a good example?

Then a director again brought up the "security issue" to limit our access between workstations and PCs. The sole purpose? Of course to make people's life more difficult lah! What else?! If our life is too easy, then how can we feel his presence? his power? his great "responsibilities"? "Security" has always been used as the perfect excuse to make life harder and harder. This kind of A-hole can only survive in Singapore. He would have been told to f*** off if he dares to do it in Europe. Too bad, we are in Asia, and must respect the Asian culture. Being an Asian myself, when did our culture become A-hole culture?

Traveling "Business Class"

Well, I traveled "Business Class"! When I boarded the flight from Milan to Amsterdam, the lady happily told me "Now we travel business class!". I was like "Er? Business class? From Milan to Amsterdam? That 1 hour 30 mins flight? On a Fokker 100 Jet?" What kind of difference can you expect between a "business class" and an "economic class" for such a small plane?

As it turned out, indeed there were some differences. Economy class had only a crappy sandwich for lunch, while we got a crappy meal :) We also have a little bit more of leg room. You can stretch your legs all the way, isn't it good?

So there was my very 1st time traveling "business class". I couldn't help laughing when I typed this. It is more like a joke than real :D

A 10 Dollar Watch and the Experiences It Brings

I bought a S$10.00 watch at Suntec city before I left for my trip to Italy. I was just hoping it would not give me any trouble, and if anything happens to it, I don't care. Things are always unexpected, this watch actually brought me some interesting experiences.

As I mentioned before, a border guard at the Swiss-Italian border town Chiasso noticed my watch during his normal inspection when I traveled from Switzerland back to Italy. So coincidentally that he has a very similar watch! He was thrilled! Walked up to me, put his hand side by side with mine and compared our watches, then he exclaimed, "the same, we have the same watch!" And he told other guards as well. It just surprised me. I didn't expect a similarly designed watch would appear here in Switzerland!

Then today, when I took the Metro home, an American guy noticed my watch, too. He asked me where I bought it, and said he liked it very much. Then we started a conversation. His name is Patterson, a missionary from Arizona. He has lived in Italy for one year, so he can speak pretty good Italian. There is one more year to go before he returns to the states. A very cheerful young chap. He also showed me some of the leaflets he had on hand and the website address of their church, which is mormon.org.

Maybe he just used the watch as a starter to strike out a conversation with me, but hey, he really brightened my day. I was quite upset as today is my last working day here in Italy and everybody has gone for holiday. Milan now is like a ghost town with few people around. Sitting in the train alone, that was kind of lonely. It was so nice to have someone to talk to, especially in a language that you can understand.

Thank you, my dear watch, for the experiences you brought me.

Any Website that showcases GOOD Chinese Food?

Does anyone know of any website that showcases GOOD Chinese food? One of my Italian colleagues asked me about the Chinese food. He had had Chinese food for a few occasions in Chinese restaurants in Italy, but the food was so terrible that he felt like trashing it straight away to the rubbish bin! He also commented that the Chinese food was very oily! I must agree that Chinese food in western countries tend to taste terrible. I only had Chinese food once in LA, and I can still remember how bad the food tasted! That is the reason why for my two-month stay in Italy, I had never stepped into a Chinese restaurant before. ;P So now I am looking for a website to show my colleague what true Chinese food looks like, especially the good ones. I can't let the bad taste 'overseas' Chinese food tarnish the reputation of the real Chinese cuisine, can I? Any one? Any website?

Studio Lighting Demostration by Ken Henderson

An 8-part series of Ken Henderson's studio lighting demostration.

Part I:


Part II:


Part III:


Part IV:


Part V:


Part VI:


Part VII:


Part VIII:

YouTube - A Treasure Mountain

Internet is one big treasure mountain with gold awaiting for the savvy gold-digger to discover. Among this gold mine, YouTube is a gold mine within a gold mine.

Some may just dismiss YouTube as a trash bin where people having nothing to do upload their nonsense to create more internet garbage. However, as I find out, it is far from the truth. Very much to the contrary, YouTube has just as much infomration as the internet in general provides.

People share videos from how to do Photoshop tricks, to Chinese Kongfu, to swimming instructions. Better than the old internet where you can see words & maybe some still pictures, you are now shown the steps in motion.

Just to show you some examples:

1. Photoshop tutorials


2. Tai Chi


3. How to Swim (in Chinese)


YouTube's address, is of course, YouTube.com

Santa Cristina - An Affordable Italian Wine

When it comes to wine, Italy is a heaven for any wine lover. There are many many different varieties, and the price is no much more expensive than water. One of my colleagues, Fabio R's father, actually has a vineyard and a small brewery. They have their own family wine. Another colleague, Paolo C., who is from Venice, told me that his parents trained them with wine since young. He grew up with wine. Thanks to his good taste in wine, I drank LOTS of good wine for my last trip to Milan.

Michele B. recommended me an affordable wine - Santa Cristina. It is a red wine from Tuscany. The moment you open the bottle, the fragrance immediately tempts your taste buds. The wine is clear, with no visible sediments. Take a sip, very smooth. Most importantly, it does not have the bitter after taste. Instead, it is sweet, not too sweet, just nice, perfect.

For a 750ml bottle 2005 Santa Cristina, guess what is the price? Between 4.50 - 4.79 euros from the local supermarkets! This wine is an excellent choice to go with your red meat dishes. Give it a try when you are in Italy next time. You will not regret :) My personal guarantee.