Results are out!

I had been real busy lately, working, playing, slacking. Everything combined. Working most of the time of course. Sales have not been too good these 2 weeks. Sold only that pathetic few sets in a week, cannot even make up to 20000 sales figure. Now that the GSS had started and the World Cup nearing, hopefully sales will pick up within these 2 weeks. 3 more days to month end, I had failed up hit my sales target of 150000, to date its lingering around 80000, fell short of so much, there goes my extra 0.3% incentive if I hit target, damn! And another thing is hopefully I do not get the sack because last month's sales hit 120000, with me taking over it fell a detrimental amount. I went for company's monthly meeting on wed, set the sales target for June at 100000, I WILL MAKE IT NEXT MONTH!! All for the MONETARY BENEFITS!!! 0.3% of 100k is 300bucks!!! 300 damn bucks on top of my regular commission and other incentives. I WILL MAKE SURE IT GOES INTO MY POCKET!!

Last weekend, I went for a motivational success seminar. A 2 day affair which really opened up my mind to many things, changed my perception, and I really enjoyed the seminar. Money well spent so I felt.

I am currently reading the book "How to win friends and influence people" by Dale Carnegie. It is a very good book that I longed wanted to read, recommended by many Profs and friends also. This book was first published in 1936 and till today, it is still an International Bestseller. Dale's influence over people substained for a good 70years. I will write more on the book when I've more time. It is a good read definitely. There are a few other books that I want to get my hands on, I will get ZL to get them at the MDIS bookstore at a discounted price.

Dale Carnegie and Associates conduct many courses for people all over the world, ranges from sales to mangagment courses. The have it in SG too! I'm going to find out where and what is the price like. The other day I was helping a Client carry a 32" TV to his car, then I saw this file in his boot that reads "Dale Carnegie Training Course". So I told him I am reading this book and ask him where he attend the course, but he said his company sends him so he is not too sure of the contacts and stuff, but he told me its damn good!

Staying in this sales job had been a great experience. Today I met a Director of a company, and I 've known of a few CEOs, lawyers, companies top notches ever since. The feel and experience talking to these people are really different and invaluable. Many of them are my customers and I've their card, so building up my network with successful people, will lay the foundation for my future success. But of course there are also those "Ah Mao Ah Gou" whom are also the minority who likes to waste my time to make them feel important but will buy nothing. These are the people that I use as practice to strengthen my closing skill.

Went to dear's classmate's place for steamboat dinner on thurs. Class gathering for their click of girls. Interesting and friendly people. Its always good to make new friends. I heard that Pearlyn is waiting for me to SUAN her, lolx, not to worry, her chance will come, got to queue up, I will SUAN the most SUANABLE person around 1st. lolx.

Hmm..I think the title of this post is RESULTS..Well, results were released yesterday. Again, crap results, but better than last semester at least. It follows:

Abn Psyc B-
Bio Psyc B-
Philo B-
Theatre Studies B+
Marketing A-

Both my Psyc modules got B-, call myself a psychology Major, what a shame! Competition is really stiff. I did not expect an A for MKT, quite surprised, there are 1000 people taking this module from all over the school so I thought competition would be stiff too. My Cap for this semester is 3.5, last semester was 3.4, so overall it went up by 0.05, to 3.45. Still fell short of 3.5 for 2nd lower, moreover my target is 4.0 for 2nd upper. Damn!!!! WORK HARDER NEXT SEM!!!!!!! To get 3 B- is really disgusting! If only...excuses...No more excuses for me!!! Can only say I did not put in enough effort!! Because Massive Action=Massive Results!!! My only consolation for now: At least I got an A on my transcript. BUT not to worry, there are many more As to come!!!!!

[假如我不能，我就一定要，假如我一定要，我就一定能！！]
[我是最棒的！！]

PALLADINE LCD and Plasma TVs

Well, doing a little advertisment here. Its advertised on Straitstimes this weekend also.

PROMOTION @ Suntec Carrefour!!!

PALLADINE 37" LCD TV going at $1999!!!
PALLADINE 42" Plasma TV going at $1999!!!
PALLADINE 32" LCD TV going at $1488!!!
and more....

All Palladine Products are Made in Korea, comes with 2years warranty onsite.
Call me or visit me at Carrefour Suntec for more details!!

Work

Last thursday went clubbing with Sabrina, Winnie and Jacky at Double O. We ordered 5 jugs in all and I think towards the end, Sabrina was kinda thristy so she drank the entire jug of Volka Coke and thats when she went crazy after which. lolx.. We headed to the coffeeshop for supper and...Sabrina told the lady selling Bak Kut teh she doesnt eat Beef!! Muahaha! Bak Kut Teh Store selling Beef!!!! And of course, all the "i'm not drank" and "i can still walk straight" were thrown in as a package as well.

Started working on Friday at Carrefour PS, back to selling LCDs and Plasmas. Was at PS for 2 days, sales was pretty bad. Only sold 4 sets in 2 days. Was transferred over to Carrefour Suntec yesterday. Sales was equally bad, only 2 sets sold on a Sunday. Today was much better. 4sets today. Could have made it 5, but the last deal for a 42" plasma did not close because the customer's credit card exceeded credit limit. Everything was settled till the point of making payment, it did not pull through. Well..hopefully he will be back.

My company's pay structure changed. It used to be low basic and high commission, now it is high basic, lower commission. I guess this pay system is not that good for me, cuz I can sell more and earn more than of current. But well, as long as there is money, keeps me occupied for the next 3 months and I can learn more out of this job anything is okie with me.

The reason why I like being in the sales line is there is alot of exposure to many people. Everyday you will be meeting different people, answering different qns, using different techniques to handle difficult people especially. The most fulfilling part of it other than closing deals of course, is to make those difficult customer suck thumb without making them angry through reasoning and persuaion. lolx!..hmm..sounds familiar?! PH1101E Reason and Persuasion. hahaz..

The bad point about this job is you got to stand 8hrs/day. I stood 12hrs on Sun, because shit do happens sometimes. I feel it is still alot better than some admin job, where you sit 8hr/day, looking into the damn screen, typing out what others have written, letting your brain corrode away, without using it much. I bet neurogenesis will never occur in such situations! Synapses will degenerate and die off and after a period of time, you become stupid! And not forgetting the meagre pay you are drawing at $5-6 bucks/hr.

My basic currently is a low $1100/mth. I started work end of the 1st week of May. My target for this 3 weeks will be $1800 take home at least! I will make it!!!

Success

This entry to dedicated to people who are feeling down and at a lost of what to do and attempts to offer motivation and encouragment. The stories below are taken from the book, "Living with Passion" by Peter Hirsch.

Here is a story.
A young boy was af?icted with a condition that caused him to wear braces on his legs. This was a pretty serious handicap for a youngster, especially for this boy who loved and lived for football.
One Sunday, this young guy got the thrill of a lifetime when he went to see the Cleveland Browns play football. His hero was number 32, the great running back Jimmy Brown, who at the time held just about every record possible for a fullback in pro football.
Now the great Mr. Brown had a pretty full dose of his own importance; that is to say, he was well known for his arrogance. And even though this little kid had waited for ages near the locker room after the game just to get a glimpse of his hero, when number 32 finally appeared, he curtly brushed right past the boy. The youngster called after him, 'Mr. Brown, Mr. Brown - You're the greatest football player of all time!' At that, Brown stopped and returned to autograph the kid's outstretched program. 'And,' the youngster excitedly continued, as he beamed up gratefully at the great football star, 'some day, I'm going to break every one of your records!'
The great Jimmy Brown looked at the youngster with all the metalwork round his legs, laughed, shook his head, and walked away.
But that was a little boy with the big purpose - and a big name to match: Orenthal James Simpson. He grew up to be known to the world as O.J. Simpson, who did, indeed, break every one of Jimmy Brown's records.

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.-- Elaeanor Roosevelt
What you believe yourself to be, you are.-- Claude M. Bristol
O.J Simpson believe in himself and did not feel inferior after being laughed at. Like what I always feel, if you do not care how others look at you, you will not even care what you are doing will bring you embarassment.

Another story.
A very wealthy businessman once began a speech by saying, 'It's true that I am successful, probably the most successful person in this room. Would you like to know why? It is because I have failed more times than anyone here.'
Check out this impressive track record of another famous success story:
… Fired from his job in '32.
… Defeated for legislature in '32.
… Declared bankruptcy in '33.
… Elected to legislature in '34.
… Sweetheart died in '35.
… Had a nervous breakdown in '36.
… Defeated for Speaker in '38.
… Defeated in nomination for Congress in '43.
… Elected to Congress in '46.
… Lost bid for renomination in '48.
… Rejected for Land Officer in '49.
… Defeated for Senate in '54.
… Defeated for nomination for Vice President in '56.
… Defeated for Senate a second time in '58.
. . . And in 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States of America.

Story #3.
Thomas Edison had a dream of making a working electric incandescent light bulb. Yet time after time after time, his experiments failed. After about the hundredth time, one of his frustrated young associates said to him, 'Can't you see that this isn't destined to work, that you're not going to succeed? You've failed one hundred times already!'
Edison replied, 'I have not failed at all, I have successfully determined one hundred ways that it will not work; therefore, I'm one hundred ways closer to the one way it will work.'
Failure and success are just another of those things we make up. To Edison's assistant, the great inventor had failed a hundred times. But to Edison, himself, he succeeded a hundred times in learning what not to do.

The difference between sucess and failure is marginal, the fear of failure is what denies success. When you had failed enough, it will get to a point where you cannot stand it anymore and you will start succeeding, "backward motivation" they call it. Maybe after falling once, and maybe that one time is enough to let us wake up our bloody idea, to look at things we once took for granted for, be it people, academics or anything at all, bring out and take away the smartasses in us, in becoming a better person.

Story #4.
There's a wonderful story of the three bricklayers at a new building site. A visitor walks over to the first bricklayer and asks, 'What are you doing?' The first worker looks up from his bricks and says, 'What does it look like I'm doing? I'm laying bricks, you idiot!'
The man walks over to the second worker and asks again, 'What are you doing?' The bricklayer looks over at him, slightly annoyed, and replies, 'Can't you see, I'm building a wall.'
Finally, he approaches the third bricklayer and asks for the third time, 'What are you doing?' The third bricklayer sits back, looks up at him and says, 'I'm building a hospital for sick kids, so they can come here for help and get cured.'

Attitude is pertinent to success. Positive attitude. I had always believed in this. Enough said.

Story #5.
A doctor once had a patient, a 13-year-old girl, who needed blood to live. The doctor walked over to the girl's younger brother, who was sitting in the visitor's room, and asked, 'Davy, I need your blood to save your sister; will you help us?'
The little boy gulped, but said, 'Yes,' without hesitation. Davy would do anything to help save his sister's life.
The doctor laid Davy down on a table and started removing blood from one of Davy's veins, and transfusing the blood directly into his sister. The family and the doctor prayed as they watched the girl in silence. Miraculously, in a half hour she was over the crisis. She would live. They were all elated, including Davy.
Then, through a teary eye, her brother Davy asked, 'Doctor, when do I die?'
Davy thought that he was giving all of his blood to his sister.
Davy thought that he had agreed to die for his sister.

This story really touches me when I was reading it. Davy is willing to save his sister thinking that by doing so he will die. Courage. The courage to do what the others dare not do, had not done before, and are not willing to do.

Story #6.
Ask yourself:
'Will my children [and if you don't have kids, use your spouse, your parents] ever starve to death?'
Take this question seriously; what's your answer?
The truth is, you have no proof for making that statement.
The truth is, you really don't know what's going to happen tomorrow - or two, or 200 tomorrows from now. How could you possibly control the future? You can't. There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that your kids (spouse, parents) will not starve - yet you will state with total certainty that it will never happen to them.
How can you do that?
You can do that because you are committed to it. That's all. There is no more to say.
That is commitment at its clearest and most compelling. It has nothing to do with how a thing will or will not be accomplished.

Commitment is simply, powerfully and without question, what you say will be done. The how of it all doesn't matter - at all - to the making of the commitment itself. Commitment has nothing to do with how. Commitment is what will happen - no matter what.

Story #7.
Henry Peterson had a dream of being the very first person in his family ever to graduate from college. He applied and was accepted to Georgetown University.
Henry had another dream. He wanted to play college football. He never considered going pro; he just wanted to play for his college team. He tried out for the team and made it.
For four years, Henry sat on the bench.
One week before the final game of the season in his senior year, tragedy struck Henry's family. His father died. Henry was torn. If he went home, he let the team down; if he stayed and played, he failed his family.
He asked his coach for advice. The coach told him, 'Go home, Henry. Your family needs you more than the team does.' So Henry went home.
About an hour before the big game, who should show up in the locker room but Henry, suited up and ready to play! The coach, seeing him there, blew his top - 'Henry,' he shouted, 'I thought I told you to go home!'
'Coach,' Henry replied quietly, 'I need a favor.'
'What?!' replied the upset coach. After a moment, he cooled off and told Henry, 'Anything, Henry. What do you want?'
'Coach, I need to start the game today.'
'What!' said the coach, with some anger returning. 'Well, not anything, Henry... Look, you've sat on the bench for four years. I can't start you - '
'Coach,' Henry repeated firmly, 'just this once - please?'
'All right,' the coach relented, 'but the first time you compromise the team effort I'll take you out, Henry. It's nothing personal. The game is just bigger than you or me.'
So Henry started - and he was awesome.
He blocked. He faked. He carried the ball play after play after play, gained over 100 yards rushing and scored two touchdowns on the way to helping his team win a resounding victory.
At the end of the game, the coach ran up, gave Henry a bear hug and screamed, 'Henry, Henry, why didn't you tell me you could play like that?'
'Did you ever meet my dad?' Henry asked in return.
'No, son,' the coach said, 'I never had the pleasure.'
'Did you ever see my dad and me walking around the field for hours and hours, talking, arm in arm?'
'No, son,' the coach said and asked, 'What's your point, Henry?'
'Coach,' said Henry, looking at the older man with tears in his eyes, 'my dad was blind. Today was the first game he was ever able to see me play.'
Henry fulfilled his dream of being the first in his family to graduate from college - and, he went on to build a very successful business career, as well. Henry points to that day and that football game as his shining moment, as the day his life changed for the better - forever. When asked 'Why?' Henry says:'Because that was the day I realized it was my choice to be a bench-warmer or a player.'

In life, its all about CHOICE and not chance. Make a CHOICE rather leaving things to chance. You choose to be happy or unhappy. You choose to be suceessful or unsuccessful. You choose to define your own meaning of success. Nothing is left to chance. You are what you choose and believe to be.

Kelong Kelong..

Back from the trip from the kelong. It is a kelong off shore in the middle of the sea in Johor, Pengerang. The bumboat trip took 45min from Changi Ferry Terminal. That place is stipulated right behind Pulau Tekong, the land of joy for all Recruits. It was an enjoyable time, away from the buzz and chaotic city life. The food is good, every meal consisted of seafood. That aside, its really a good time away from hecticness of the exams.

Its the elections period. As most would know, we are not allowed to blog political stuff during this period under the Singapore's elections advertising regulations. So I'm not going to hypothesize the extend of my freedom of opinion and expression. Anyway, MrBrown has an interesting podcast on his blog which is "apolitical". Check here for the "persistently non-political podcast". To better comprehend the underlying content of the podcast, one needs to be upkept about the ongoing elections. Amusing. CCTV is now the talk in town if you knew what happened. Lolx.

Recently, following the Brokeback stint in which the Director won himself an Oscar, our local brokeback version had emerged from the local blogging scene, and it is gaining substaintial attention from the masses, better than election rallies i guess. Check it out if you are still living in your own world. Anyway, I think they are probably too young to comprehend that they might be brushing the asses against the law less penentration. Opps!

Two sections of the Singapore Penal Code criminalise homosexual acts:
Section 377 (Unnatural Offences): "Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine. Penetration is sufficient to constitute the carnal intercourse necessary to the offence in this section."
Section 377A (Outrages on Decency): "Any male person who, in public or private, commits, or abets the commission by any male person, of any act of gross indecency with another male person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years."

Oral sex is only permissible if it is followed by penile-vaginal intercourse. Meaning Oral sex in the homosexual community is still against the law. The strange thing is there are no law enacted for homosexual acts between 2 females. Why discrimminate the males? Also under the Indecent Advertisements Act, the Undesirable Publications Act, Sections 292 and 293 of the Penal Code), they are applied stringently in the case of homosexual materials. In 1992, the Censorship Review Committee of the Ministry of Information and the Arts called for a relaxation for heterosexual materials, but argued that "in the light of the sensitivity of homosexuality as an issue, materials encouraging homosexuality should continue to be disallowed ". Visual representation of homosexual acts is banned, and so are materials that portray homosexuality as a legitimate and acceptable lifestyle. In 1997, the Singapore Broadcasting Authority Act published a Internet code of practice ensuring that "nothing is included in any broadcasting service which is against public interest or order, national harmony or which offends against good taste or decency"

Alright, looking at the above chunks of laws, I wouldnt need to do any research and analysis to prove that my hypothesis on the limit of freedom of expression. Maybe these guys would chance upon this piece of information pertinent to them and stop their blog shit.

They probably forgot we are in a "1st World country" run and govern by a "1st World" party. Thats what our MM Lee said to the press so it cannot be wrong. I hoped.