10 honest facts about me

I have gotten tagged by MKL to write a similar "10 honest facts about me" post. Not that I bother to comply, but I thought it will be a really good chance for me to show off a little about my achievements, and what makes me unique.

(1) I have a first class honours in Mathematics from a Singapore university. This is something I'm very proud of, but it was achieved at the expense of a social life in university. My 4 years was about studying and gaming. I wished I had played more then.

(2) I used to be very bad at keeping secrets, despite the assurance I give people. I still am, but I'm trying hard to get some credibility.

(3) I laugh alot, but I am no emotional guy. Sometimes I think my self-centered and practical nature has consumed any humanity left in me. There are times when I wished I could cry, but the tears just don't flow out.

(4) Despite being an old man uncle, I love soft toys. Buying soft toys for Wifey kills 2 bird in 1 stones. She like the gift, and I get to hug it too.

(5) I have an elder sister. She used to beat me alot when we were younger. Well, for the sake of "not letting her win", I slowly learnt not to scream and cry when she pinched me painfully. And that explains my strong tolerance for pain. Growing up, she has matured and is now the best elder sister anyone can have. It's funny, isn't it?

(6) I have a memorable childhood, as my parents are out working for survival, and I had the keys to the house. Skipping tuition classes, begging people for money, stealing, fighting, shoplifting, I have done them all. I was once even inches away from pushing someone to death for running away with my specs. Looking back, I was only inches from being permanently astray. Growing up, I learnt my mistakes and became a better man. When you have been through what's bad, you REALLY appreciate what's good.

(7) I hate people who whine, unless if you are my friend. (I forgive friends for everything) Whining is one of the most non-value adding activity, a total time waster. Solve the problem if you have the guts, or just keep your damn mouth shut.
*no offense intended*

(8) I love raisins, they make me REALLY happy. And that's why Wifey likes to bake me cookies with tons of raisins. If you do me any wrong, please offer raisins to me. Cash is also a suggested alternative.

(9) I prefer Pepsi over Coca Cola. But seriously, I am cutting down alot on carbonated drinks (Coke = 8 teaspoons of sugar, or is it 8 TABLEspoons). If you don't exercise, then you had better watch your diet especially if you are a uncle.

(10) I have not consumed a single sweet for close to 15 years. When I was young, I never brush my teeth with toothpaste (no idea why). My dad told me one day I will regret, and I did. I woke up one day, FINALLY realising that my teeth was yellow, and THAT is really ugly. As a self-punishment, and to remind myself that frequent brushing with toothpaste is important, I swear NEVER to consume any sweets again in my life. And I will continue to stand by what I say. After all, most sweets are non-value adding too.

Okie, that's all folks. I won't be tagging anyone, but I'm sure some of you know you wanna share your 10 honest facts with me and your fans.

Leave me a note if you have written anything, so I can be kaypoh (nosey) and read it.

Setting new year resolutions

Picture stolen from here.

Some time back, there was a survey done on a graduating batch of students from a particular prestigious university (Harvard? Oxford?) In it, the students were asked whether they set goals for themselves. And it was statistically proven that those who set goals for themselves ended up being better achievers in their careers.

Somehow, the Law of Attraction comes to mind. When you remember your goal for the year, your actions will change subconsciously in a way you will move yourself towards it.

No one wants to remain stagnant, and that's why we have new year resolutions. If there's a problem that bothers you 5 years ago, and it still bothers you, then you should jolly well work on it.

Putting it bluntly, should any of us die tomorrow, we die with no regrets.

For those who have a discipline issue working on your resolutions, here's 5 suggestions.

(1) Write it down and paste it in a conspicuous corner of your bedroom, so that you are reminded of your resolution should u happen to see it.

(2) Share your resolution with someone you know. It could be your best friend, your mum or post it on your blog. This way, there's someone who will give you ad hoc reminders when you appear to be on the wrong direction.

(3) Set the last day of every quarter to periodically review your progress. Don't make it an annual appraisal exercise.

(4) Don't over-set the number of targets. It's not the quantity, but the quality. Better to set 2-3 targets and fulfill them, then to set 20 targets and fail them all. Remember, targets are not meant to stress you out, they are to meant to motivate you.

(5) Dangle carrots or give yourself the stick should you fail to hit the target. I made myself abstain from meat for 1 month as a punishment. It might be easy for some, but it ain't easy for me.

Cheers to a great year 2010.
And may we all be better people 1 year from now.

Note: This post is specially dedicated to Roxy. Set goals and upgrade yourself when you are still young. When you reach Uncle Shingo T's age, you will have better memories to look back to. ^_^

About the Author: Shingo T wants to be a Malaysian who knows how to speak basic conversational Malay. And that will happen in end 2010.

Earning a million dollars (Part 1)

First of all, I do not have a million dollars (at least not now), unless you convert my money to Indonesia rupiah. =p

But still, I have always been inspired by people who have made it big. In particular, I like stories of Internet millionaires. The Internet reaches out to a wide customers audience, and more importantly, it's CHEAP.

Below are 2 popular success stories that some of you may have read of.

Kyle MacDonald started his "business" with a website and a red paper clip. And he asked the world to trade his red paper clip for something. Well, he first traded it with a pencil in the shape of a fish. And then subsequently traded the pencil for a doorknob. And then the trades became more and more valuable (he even exchanged for a BBQ pit at some point). 14 trades later (and 1 year later), he finally traded for a house. Happily ever after.

Link: One red paper clip

And then there's Alex Tew (who's just 21 years old), who has nothing more than a simple webpage, and sells a million pixels (a pixel is just one small dot) from that website online. Well, this guy sold each pixel for US$1 each, so selling all the pixels will give him US$1 million. Because the idea is original, advertisers and bloggers bought the pixels like hotcakes, and soon the man is laughing all the way to the bank.

Even famous Singaporean blogger Xiaxue (I'm not a fan of her actually) has adopted a modified version of the scheme, with decent success.

Link: The Million Dollar homepage

As year 2010 comes your way, have you started to utilise the best weapon in your arsenry - the brain?

Start the new year with a goal in mind.

Sacrifice some of your leisure time, watch less TV, and cut down on non-value adding stuffs like gaming and lazing around.

Try to go home on the dot after work. That's not to say you don't work hard, but you gotta work smart during your official hours and skip the non-essentials. There's plenty of things you can do with your free time at night.

Start dreaming up some crazy ideas. You will be amazed at how the world love those "infeasible" ideas of yours.

Be glad that the world (and your mum) is sceptical about new ideas. That's why new ideas are still new. Don't judge your own ideas and reject them.

Don't fear what people fear. Embrace it.

Note: In Part 2, I shall share the story of how a Singaporean made a million dollars with S$1. And why most people will find it hard to duplicate his success.

About the Author: Shingo T says there's nothing to fear but fear itself and Wifey.

Haute Mess Award

Cup of Ice has been started more than 3 years ago, but despite the wonderful content that I write, I have not been able to win any awards for myself. Thus being the egoistic guy that I am, I have thought of creating fictitious awards for myself. After all, I send Christmas cards to myself every year.

Ok, crap aside. =p

Nina from ballerina's close to obsession has given me my first ever award.



The Haute Mess Award.

Tracing back to the original source of the award, it was created by Niki B, to commemorate her 100th post in her blog.

More details can be found here.

Quoting from Nina's blog on the reason why she's passing the award to me, "even if yours is not a fashion blogsite, you truly make everyone's day with your lovely (and humorous) insights about life"

Thank you, Nina. That was an excellent complement to begin my day. ^_^

The pre-conditions of this award is to list 7 things I'm grateful for, and to pass it to 7 people.

I will list the former, but I'm sorry that I won't be able to pass the awards on due to some beliefs of my own. Pardon me for being unsporting.

7 things I'm grateful for (in no order of importance)

(1) Wifey. For being the great and irreplacable wife that you are, and for tolerating a unromantic hubby who is full of flaws.

(2) Bloggers of blogs that I frequent. I see the world through your eyes. And reading your updated entries make me happy. ^_^

(3) Readers of Cup of Ice. Thanks for commenting, and not being turned off by my ego. The reason why I keep my Inbox open is to read your comments.

(4) The company I work for, because one should always be grateful to the company who feeds you. That being said, I am still one who believes that one should love the job and never the company, because you won't know when the company will stop loving you.

(5) Malaysia and Singapore. Malaysia is my natural mother, while Singapore is my adopted mother. Despite spending 95% of my life in Singapore, I still feel very rooted to Malaysia. I attribute my down-to-earth character to Malaysia, and my practicality to Singapore. And these 2 attributes define what I am today.

(6) My parents and Wifey's parents. Without the former, there's no me. Without the latter, there's no her.

(7) Myself. The toughest babysitting job in my world is to take charge of myself.

Thanks again, Nina! I will put the award in the side panel for some time, partly because I did not fulfill the entire condition of forwarding this award to a few more people, and because website loading time is always my concern.

About the Author: Shingo T will be creating a "Handsome blogger, but with a little tummy and receding hairline" award, and is looking for nominees.

Year 2009 in review

Alot of bloggers have started rounding off what they have done and not done in year 2009.

Below are some of the main things that happened on my side.

(1) 2009 is the year I gave up my 20-year old gaming addiction, and got to know WrathOfNino, who gave me a great link to a site where fellow recovering gaming addicts shared how their life has been ruined by gaming.

After a few months of hiatus from gaming, I have gone back to do some minor gaming at the encouragement of Wifey, who's still very much a gamer at heart. But this time round, I know I am much better at setting my priorities correct. And spending much much lesser hours at gaming.

I'm a better man.

(2) 2009 marked the year when I first visit Japan. It is the most memorable travel visit I have been to, maybe even more than Europe. The culture there is so different, it really gave me a different insight to human behaviour.

Japn taught me that Man are like monkeys. Have the government set rules, and slowly the rules will inbreed a culture, and slowly their behaviour will change to become a social norm. While Singaporeans may not like the idea of littering being a public offense, but their mindset slowly changed and they got used to it. I don't even litter when I go overseas now, it just feels funny.

(3) 2009 continues to be a mind-opening year for me. In line with my mindset to remain open to ALL kinds of investments and talks, I have attended tons of talks. In the process, I have made new friends, and also rekindled friendships.

Not all talks are meant to cheat your money. I have recently been to a one hour talk where they not just gave me free buffett, but also a S$100 Marina Square voucher with no terms and conditions (other than a 1-year expiry date). And I paid nothing.

Quoting Stuart Chase, an American engineer and economist, this is a VERY true statement.

For those who believe, no proof is necessary.
For those who don't believe, no proof is possible.

(4) 2009 has also been a year which contains the most depressing period of my life. Do me a favour not to ask me what it is, thanks. Even my colleagues were concerned during a period of time when I couldn't smile. I'm glad it's over. But I'm glad it happened too, in a way.

What doesn't kill you should make you stronger.
If it doesn't, you fail at life.

Sorry if it offended anyone, but it's how I was brought up. Nothing will break me.

I make mistakes, I cry, I get over with it.
But I hardly regret, because I can't turn the clock back.

(5) 2009 is the year I started taking those Ba Wang anti-hairfall shampoo. It's pretty embarrassing to admit that my hairline is starting to recede a little. But I'm never one to hide problems, I work on them!

If there's one thing good about being married, it's that I worry less about my outward appearance, and spend more time building on my character.

Alot of people will not agree with my next statement.
Why be single when you can be married?

(6) 2009 is the year when Cup of Ice getting more exposure. Thanks to everyone of you here. Have taken the chance to get to know so many new friends. I shall not give names (for fear of missing anyone important out), but you know who you are.

(7) 2009 is the year I first dreamt about a blogger. In fact, it was just last night. I dreamt that I met with HappySurfer and some other bloggers. And HappySurfer turns out to be a guy (gosh!) in real-life. And she also owns the same cafe where we all met.

Isn't it funny how dreams can be so random?
Gosh, I need to get a life and blog less.

(8) 2009 is the year I started a few health targets for myself. Jan 2009 was the year I had a meat-free month, as a penalty I self-inflict on myself for failing a particular target I set for myself a few years before.

A debt may get mouldy but it never decays.

I have also implemented the "1 good meal a day" target. And also the "no more than 2 sugared drinks a day" target. It's seriously tough to implement such targets for myself in a food paradise country like Singapore, but I'm proud to say they have been STRICTLY followed.

Tough doesn't mean you don't do it.
It just mean you should prove you are tougher than tough.

As Uncle Shingo T grows older, he has to be mindful of his own body. My mouth is willing, but my body is weak. Because of that, my will has to be strong, I can no longer be tempted to consume as and what pleases me.

I need to take care of myself. Failing which, I will be a liability to my Wifey, my family and my finances.

You may not remember what you ate last Friday, but your body remembers them FOREVER.

Looking ahead, I have some rough targets in mind for year 2010. Maybe I will list some of them here. As you know, one way I make sure targets are realised is by telling the WHOLE WORLD about it. Anyway, one lesson I learnt when setting targets, never set too many targets a year. Be focused, set a few but make sure you work on them.

Then you can be tougher than tough, like me.

Random Notes 42

(1) If God kills a bunny everytime you buy a pirated disc, will you still go ahead?

(2) I still have Part 2 and Part 3 waiting to be written about my insight on Network Marketing. There are tons of misconceptions that I wanna clear. I'm not trying to get people into this industry, because this is NOT an easy way to get rich. I'm still wondering if I should write them.

(3) For those of you wondering how I look like in real-life, MKL has revealed a photo of me in his blog that looks something like this (the guy on the right shoving snow).

Thanks for the surprise picture, it did made me chuckle.

(4) While the rest of Europe and the US are freezing cold, I'm craving for snow too, just like Manju.
*Shoutout to Manju*

(5) Wifey and I got a Christmas tree this year, it's something that Wifey always wanted in her very own home. And so we got a 6 inch foot white Christmas tree. I got to admit it's very nice after decoration, despite my earlier protest that the tree will be taking up space in the storeroom for 11 months a year.

(6) Wifey has left 7 presents under the same Christmas tree, all addressed to me, from Santa Claus. Day after day, she's asking me why Santa Claus never bought anything for her. Gosh, 7 presents. Where's "Santa Claus" gonna find so many presents for her?

(7) Most rich people have something in common. They fail much more often than those who are not willing to take risks. And that's why they get the kind of rewards that you and I will never get.

(8) Ever heard about the REAL story of a Singaporean who made millions using $1? No no, it's not me. I'll share the story with you someday.

(9) Well, if all you want for Christmas are your 2 front tooth, go look for Toothfairy. Ya, go spam her blog for your front tooth.

Ok, I'm kidding for the last one.

Money and Us

Is it true that opposites attract?

Well, my Wifey's hobby is to spend money.
And my hobby is to make them.

It's interesting how the 2 of us never have big quarrels when it comes to money.

I'm sure you have heard of the popular gals saying.
"My hubby's money is my money. And my money is still my money."

Being the male chauvinist pig (MCP) that I am, there is no way I will hand the purse to my Wifey. Thus I hold the responsibilities of what to do with our combined savings.

My personal MCP philosophy has always been this.
"Man take charge of the BIG things, and the woman take care of the small things."

Actually, it's not that Wifey can't do big things. But rather, she id not interested to spend time doing finance and investment-related research. She rather do research on our next travel itinery, baking cakes and cookies, and surfing forum for things to shop. And those, are the smaller things in life.

I liked it when she ask me for permission to buy pricey purchases. It makes me feel very in control of our finances. I'm rational enough to determine what are needs and what are wants, which is important because Wifey think everything is a "need". Sigh.

Sometimes I reject her planned purchases, and she starts sulking for the rest of the day. It's a pretty smart tactical move on her end, because sometimes I let her have it her way just to stop her from sulking.

But then, there are also cases when I insist on not buying certain stuffs for her.

Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.

A few years ago, when I started playing the stock market, I made a little money. Being a noob, I started playing bigger and made all the noobish stocks mistakes. And I lost money amounting to 5-digit figures. And I had problem sleeping for 3 nights. I told Wifey of the amount that I lost, expecting her to nag or scold me, like most people's wifes. And her reply? She just said "ok", as if the money meant nothing to her.

In her view, she doesn't care about finances. She leaves me to manage it. It made me very relieved, and blessed to have such a Wifey who doesn't add oil to fire. That really helped me to direct effort to analyse how I should have played stocks differently. A year later, I recovered every single dollar that I lost, and started making some money.

Should Wifey have quarrelled with me over my losses, I might have just gave up on stocks and never made back what I lost.

Behind every successful man, there is a supportive Wifey.

Thank you for trusting me, Wifey.
Love you much much.