Thomas Chua Chee Siong - one year on

Remember the name? Thomas Chua Chee Siong? I blogged about him about a year back after hearing him speak at our organisation's seminar.
At the seminar, what I remembered most was how he shared openly on the accident that resulted from the drinking binge, the family support he needed and the emotional roller-coaster that he had to go through. 


It was inspiring to see how he coped with the misfortune and how he now has a positive outlook on life.
Why am I blogging about him again? As I was looking at some old entries, I read about my previous entry and it stirred my emotions again. Hence, I decided to do a little search on how he has been since. (because I'm too shy to make friends with people and he doesn't know me personally haha...)


And he has done well since...


As one of the invited speakers at an event held in Resorts World Sentosa (Jun 2010) Happiness, Resilience and Optimism - skills for thriving in challenging times. Among the speakers was a #1 New York Times bestselling author.
Tickets for the full event was selling at $2,899!!!

http://www.simply-happy.com/newsite/speakers.html


Looking (or peeping) at his Facebook photos, he seems to be quite a regular speaker at conferences and seminars of insurance companies now.
Happy that all is well with him, even though I do not know him at all.


Maybe the next book I read should be his: Beyond the Fall by Thomas Chua Chee Siong 

Beyong the Fall - Thomas Chua Chee Siong

Looks like I am a long way off being cured of my disease and addiction.


--Ginseng Tonic Maker-- Everybody falls, it is the getting up that matters!

Wild Honey Breakfast - Review + Conversation of the Day

If you have not heard yet, Wifey and I have been attending marriage classes.

One of the "homework" is always for us to have a date at least once a week.

So over the weekend, we decided to head to Wild Honey for breakfast on Sunday for some "us-time". It is located at Meritus Mandrin Hotel.

It starts at 8am on weekends. Even though we were there by 10am, we still had to wait about half an hour for a table! So be there early if you want to check it out.

Here are some of the pics

English Breakfast at Wild Honey

That's my breakfast. Very value-for-money.

European Breakfast at Wild Honey

That's wifey's breakfast.. Super Yummy!!

The bill came up to about $60+++. Not that expensive for the quality and quantity of food and the ambiance and decor of the place but NOT cheap either. Don't think I will frequent the place despite the fact that I enjoyed it. 

Wifey, probably knowing what's on my mind and loving the place had this to say....

Wifey: Baby, nice right?.. We should come back again.. once in a while..

Me: Nice.. but quite ex... ya coming back once in a while quite ok...

Wifey: Ok.. Let's come back NEXT WEEKEND!!

Me: I thought you just said once in a while??!!!

Wifey: 

Ya.... 

Once in a while...

That's why next week...

'cause next week...

is NEXT MONTH already!!! 

*Faintz*

Have you heard it yet?

If you have not heard it yet.. Which I highly doubt it with all my "advertisements"..
My article was published in The Straits Times =)
Read more about it. It was published on 23 July 2010 titled Whose money is it anyway? about selecting a Financial Consultant in Singapore.

I know I'm bordering on spamming with my "advertisements" but hey.. getting published in Straits Times doesn't happen often for everyday folks like me.. So bear with me haha...

If you have any chance for writing opportunities, eg, school magazines, trade magazines, association magazines.. anything at all.. Let me know! I'd love to do it... Falling increasingly in love with writing.. =)

--Ginseng Tonic Maker-- Write Write Write...

This is the reason why you need friends in life!

A good friend in office just upgraded and got his car. Which was the reason why I considered upgrading my car as well. 
While taking a look at his car, it reminded me of an incident shortly after I got my car.


A reminder of why you need friends in life!


My car has this “Sp” sign at the boot. Till now I have no idea what it stands for.
Anyway, as an excited first-time owner, I was thinking of adding some personalized touches to the car. 
So I thought of playing around with the “Sp” initials and adding alphabets to it to make it “unique”.


Some options crossed my mind then..
Sports? Special? GaSp? Spectacular? Spiderman? etc
Then remembering, how you can leave vowels out of words and people can still read and complete the words, I came out with another list.
Spreme = Supreme?, Sper = Super?


Then I thought I came up with a word that I would love and since my car is red…

SUPERMAN!!

So taking out the “U” since it is a “Sp” sign.. It will be S*perman which seems quite easy to understand as well..


So as I was having supper with a buddy I shared with him my brilliant idea!




Me: “I’m thinking of adding some personal touches to my car. I’m thinking of adding the word SUPERMAN to the car.”


Him: “How do you intend to do that?”


Me: “You see the Sp word behind? You know how people can still read and complete the words sometimes when you take out the vowels? I’m thinking of adding alphabets to it S*perman …”


Him: Siao (crazy)!!!... 


Me: “Why? Isn’t it a brilliant idea?”


Him: Superman?? With the “U” missing.. I think it will most probably read like 

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SPERM MAN!

SPERMAN


He had a point.. which explains why my car is exactly like it is when I first drove it.


And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why we need to have friends in life!


You do not want to be a superhero of Sperm!!!


--Ginseng Tonic Maker—Ginseng for vitality!

Marketing Message gone wrong?

Was at Dawson having dinner with Wifey and friends. 

After dinner at the level 2 foodcourt which had direct access from the carpark, we decided to check out the place as we have not been there before.

There is this cozy café corner Plutus Patisserie at level 1. 

Wifey and friends decided to check it out. 

It is a café which serves dinner as well as pastries and ice-cream. 

Most of the stuff are made by them. 

As Wifey and friends were queuing up to pay for some cookies, I overheard a staff talking to an aunty at the ice-cream counter.

Staff: "Hi Mdm, would you like to try our ice-cream?"

Aunty: “Where are your ice-cream from?”

Staff (happily with a tinge of pride): “We make our own ice-cream.”

Quite impressive and interested to try "home-made" ice-cream, right? 

To which the aunty replied....

Aunty (curtly): “Oh.. so NO brand one lah..”

I almost fainted!..

Well at least in the end.. She bought a scoop. 

--Ginseng Tonic Maker-- Home grown ginseng?

A lesson from the book Letters to Sam - A grandfather's lessons on love, loss, and the gifts of life

Obviously I have not overcome my addiction.

This is my latest read, Letters to Sam - A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the gifts of Life by Daniel Gottlieb. Bought this book at the Hong Kong airport with the balance of my money from the Family Trip earlier this year.

Belongs to the class of my favourite reads, Life's Lessons in a book. The book is written in the form of letters to his grandson Sam who has the condition PDD - Pervasive Developmental Disorder (somewhat in the category of autism). The writer himself is a quadriplegic due to an accident.

Many lessons that we can all learn from. Would like to share one about Healing our wounds and pains for anybody who may be going through a rough patch right now. 

All pain is about longing for yesterday - whatever we had before or whatever used to be. (which may not even be better than now)

Sometimes if you try too hard to fix pain, it only takes longer to heal.

You can't force it or will it as healing takes place in its own way and in its own time.

When in pain, always remember the timeless truth - Time heals all wounds!

--Ginseng Tonic Maker-- Nourish your soul..

Made my wifey cried...

The world is full of love

Love and War - Married Life 101

Wifey and I attended our first marriage lesson last Friday. Before you get a shock and wonder what is wrong in such a short period of time. Well, there isn’t anything amiss. We are not attending the lessons because we are having problems; we are just hoping that attending it can help us avoid most of the problems that is common among married couples.

I was invited by a “big sister” in office to attend these lessons which were organized by her church. The lessons were meant for married couples or even couples who were going to be married. Although I am not a Christian, I readily agreed. Luckily Wifey feels that it is important too. 

I mean, people learnt how to count in school, learnt about science in school, shouldn’t we attend lessons on marriage which is one of the most important things in life?

It is one of those read, watch short video and discuss formats. The material that we will be using for the next few weeks is Love & War: Finding the marriage you've dreamed of by John and Staci Eldredge

The key points that stuck in my head after the session?

 Love is making a choice to stay together. You need to fight and work at keeping your marriage. The key is that whatever obstacles or difficulties which may arise, remember that Love is making a choice to stay together when it seems much easier to give up and run away.

I would like to share with all couples The MOST important point that was highlighted by the pastor.

“The secret to a happy marriage requires 

love, 

patience, 

understanding, 

communication… 

and 

lots of lingerie.”

                                                                                  

I’m kidding. The pastor DID NOT say that!

But he should! Hahaha...

That was said by Singer-songwriter Robin Thicke that I read in the papers. 

Do you know who he is? I don’t. 

Think he’s in the wrong career, he should be a philosopher!

--Ginseng Tonic Maker—Bliss…

I think I have a Disease

I think I may be sick. I have not seen any psychologist or doctor yet, or gone for any medical screenings or check-ups but I have a feeling that all is not well. It is embarrassing to say this but my Wifey was the one who highlighted to me that it could be a problem. 

• She just could not take it anymore. 
• She felt I was over-doing it and she got tired of it. 
• I kept wanting more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more….. you get the point..
• Even when my Wifey asked me to stop, I cannot control myself. 
• When my wife is out, I love to lock myself in a room so I can get the satisfaction I need.
• There is the uncontrollable urge to want more.  
• It doesn’t matter if I got it yesterday, I would still want it today. 
• There is the over-indulgence. Sometimes even before I am done, I would be thinking about the next one. 
• Lately, I think it has gone deviant. I know it is not very good. But the thought of multiple-at-once keep crossing my mind. If I do not do that, how do I keep up with the pace?!
• Sometimes, I think I hear voices. They keep calling out to me and trying to seduce me. They keep asking to be mine and they keep wanting my business. They try to make me part with my money for the fleeting pleasure. I have promised my Wifey that I will not do it anymore and I will not succumb to temptation.

Yes.. Ladies and Gentlemen… 
I am sure you guys can tell... with all the signs and symptom...

I am an addict.

It is not uncommon to have addiction.. Even Tiger Woods has it!
Some people get addicted to alcohol.. some to gambling…
Me?.. I am also little more special…


To overcome it, I know that I first have to acknowledge it and announce it to the whole world so I can get help.

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Hi everybody, my name is Ben and I am a recovering Bookaholic.

The confessions of a Bookaholic. I buy and read way too many books.

I will teach you to be rich

The greatness guide

--Ginseng Tonic Maker—Don’t get the wrong idea!

Upgrading my Car? - Conversation of the Day

Had buffet dinner this evening.. Thanks to my boss who treated the whole agency.. Which explains why the only weight loss program so far that I can successfully proclaimed was blogged about previously on My Weight Loss Secret Revealed.
Well.. If I find any other program that works.. I will definitely share it here..


Anyway... Getting further from my topic already..


The conversation went like this..


Senior colleague: "Ben.. A client of mine wants to sell his BMW 3 Series. He bought it quite recently not knowing that the company is posting him overseas. Will you be interested?"


Me: "Don't think so, not really into cars. Especially with the mortgage payments coming up."


Senior colleague: "Thought maybe you are thinking of upgrading your car."


Me: "Ya.. I'm thinking of upgrading my car to something bigger actually...

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BUS

--Ginseng Tonic Maker-- Money Savings for more ginseng!

Life can be Cruel...

Usually my blog entries are very light-hearted..
I'm always glad when I have people telling me that they enjoyed reading my blog and had a really good laugh for some of them...


Today.. it's slightly different...
Can't help but blog about this that I read..
You should have read about this by now..


Widow of deceased bridegroom found dead


Remember the bridegroom who was found dead at Hilton Hotel on the night of his wedding dinner?
How terrible it must have been for the lady..
From the happiest day in her life to the worst...


Cannot imagine the pain she must have gone through..
But I do not think taking your own life solves anything..
People you leave behind goes through the pain all over again..


Once in a while, articles like this remind me that we should all learn to take things easy...
And there's definitely more to life than just materialistic pursuits...


Live life!


--Ginseng Tonic Maker-- Get high on life!

My Favorites So Far...

Half the year is gone!!.. My goodness...
Time Flies...
Looking back.. These are my personal Top 5 favorite entries for the year so far...
Those that are not already on the Readers' Favourites list on the top left of the blog..

Happily After.. Or Hell Forever?

Family Vacation - Hong Kong

Diamonds for You?

Secret Admirer in Office

Married Life 101 - How to understand women? (Conversation of the Day)

--Ginseng Tonic Maker-- Time needs to slow down!...

My Weight Loss Secret Revealed - How to lose weight in an instant!

Weight Loss! - If you have been reading my blog, you will know that the weight issue is something that I am seriously taking note of.

I have even announced my commitment to the cause in my previous blog entry.

I have begun my exercising regime and have been exercising more regularly.

I try to take note of my diet as well. (TRY!)

Now I want to reveal to you 

My Weight Loss Secrets - How to lose weight in an instant!

How anybody can also get the same results with minimal effort.

In typical Weight Management advertisements that you see often..

Here is the "Before" picture...

Before

Phuket Bungy Jump

Pictures from my Phuket Trip. Read about my Phuket Blog Entries if you missed them.

So are you ready for my "After" picture and my weight management Secrets to be exposed?

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My "After" Picture

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 After

Pulau Redang Trip

Tone your body in 30 Days!

Not too bad eh?

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Except that this picture was taken 10years ago!!

Well.. I guess that makes it the secret revealed..

Swap the Before and After pics!

*Now I know.. Maybe the Picture taken before my Bungy Jump was not so much because of the fear of the jump...

It's more likely due to...

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--Ginseng Tonic Maker-- Can Ginseng help in losing weight?