Some define insanity as doing the same things over and over again and expecting a different result. Kinda like me and my weighing scales. Its become a habit to step on them and weigh myself each time I walk into the kitchen, even though I did it 5 minutes before. o_O

its 31st May today. another 23 days before we go skiing! Woops. I mean snowboarding. Skiing is more wusses ^_^ Can't wait. I wonder if I can find work b4 then. Tho's aunt is helping me look for work as well. She passed my resume to her cousin who works for Kaz Group in Melbourne. Pretty big group I suppose. Deals in Australia and SEA I believe. Does the same kind of work as Accenture. She can't do much for me since I'm in Sydney, but passed on my details to the Sydney HR Manager... so something might still come out of it. Says I should wait for roughly a week before ringing up and ask.

In the meantime, I really don't feel like sifting through the jobs at Seek anymore. Kinda sick of it. Not that I've been doing much of it. I've just been watching movies at home (I've gone through Kill Bill 1, Zatoichi, Pink Panther so far) and reading alot. I'm even doing some speed reading programme thing. I don't know how that works though, its a program I got off the net. Its okay so far. The speed at which I can scan material is definitely a lot quicker. But then I can't commit the stuff I read to memory, which kinda defeats the purpose if I'm reading reference material or studying. We'll see how that works out once I finish the programme.

its been quite fun keeping an eye on the stockmarket. i'm able to understand reports and the crap they write about in the financials a bit better now. I've only made a single trade so far, and that hasn't really moved since I bought it. Well... its a paper loss of $50 so far, but I'm expecting the company to do better soon. Their US expansion plans seems to be going pretty well, and they are on target with their forecasts so far.

apart from that, I've just been observing a few other stocks that I've picked out. the prices on some of them has been dropping, and I actually want it to keep dropping ^_^ so that I can pick them up cheaper. hehehe.

so yes, I'm actually still enjoying my time off work. Its not that boring lately cuz I have plenty of stuff to read, and I can keep observing the market prices on my computer. I have a couple of job applications on my file; stuff that I've applied for but haven't followed up. I'm not particularly motivated to follow through as well. I suppose I'll get to it later in the afternoon. It wouldn't take more than a half hour or so, but still a pain to do.

I remember what Anthony Robbins wrote in his book (which I'm currently reading through as well). He had like a 100 phone calls that he had to make, but wasn't really looking forward to them initially. He took his phone & laptop, and then worked from his jacuzzi. Damn slack. I wanna do that too. Wouldn't mind packing up my stuff and then parking myself in a quiet little cafe and then make my calls from there. But then the phone bill would positively kill me... so its not a real option at the moment.

the weekend seemed semi productive. Thos got himself the pet rats on Saturday. 2 females about 7 weeks old. Both are white with brown patches, very cute. I don't have any pictures cuz they've been hiding inside their house. I took them out to play earlier this morning. They'll come and sniff my hand and gnaw on my fingers, but won't climb on me yet. Plenty of time for them to get used to me though.

On Saturday night, Shihan held his 50th birthday party. Dammn alot of ppl. I don't think I've seen so many people at a house party before. Got his relatives, friends and students as well, so his house was pretty packed. They even had their own DJ o_O I felt a little out of place, since I don't really know anyone there apart from Shinan and a couple of faces. But overall it was a decent night. They had a speech thing going so we learnt a bit more about Shihan's history.

Sunday..ermmm. What happened on Sunday? Oh yeah. Lunch with Tho's relatives and then watched X-men 3. I thought it was pretty decent. I don't feel like any movie had the WOW! factor in a while. I've been going to movies with minimal expectations. I suppose thats good in a way. You don't get disappointed by the movie. Like the Da Vinci Code. Ppl and reviews all said it was pretty crap. I didn't think it was that bad. A tad too lengthy perhaps, but could have been worse. Apparently the movie didn't explain much and it had plot holes n stuff. Honestly I didn't really catch any. I could follow the movie fine. Maybe its cuz I've read the book and just filled in the blanks automatically. Oh well.

u guys remember the show Minority Report? Tom Cruise had a monitor/screen of some sort which he could manipulate with his hands. Very cool. What about it? A part of that technology is out now. My cousin told me about it. She did some design work for a company in KL that was either selling these screens, or using it as a demo. Can't remember which.

I'm too lazy to figure out how to link the video on my blog, so you can watch it here.

The idea is that its a multi touch screen. Current, or should I say standard touch screens can only accept one input at a time. But with this screen, you can manipulate items at a whole new level. Watch the video, and you'll get what I mean. Very, very nice...and very expensive too.

Its not quite Minority Report level yet, but stil a very cool technology. And one that I believe will kick off once it becomes cheaper to manufacture. Another idea off the movie is a huge ass touch screen, like this one:

at the Chicago O'Hare Airport

Thats basically a huge ass touch screen. Its not a multi touch like the one in the video, but its only a matter of time before they decide to combine both. I wouldn't think its that hard to do, just a lot more expensive. Except for the problem its not very practical, since with a screen that big, you can't reach the top bit. Even more so if u'r a hobbit like person ^_^

i feel so stoned now. i played Heroes until 3 in the morning, and after that couldn't sleep until like 5 or so because of my stupid hives/rash/allergies/whatever-it-is. i think i need to swap my antihists for a different brand. its not that effective anymore.

to top it off, i got a phone call in regards to one of the jobs I applied for yesterday. just a short phone interview with the recruiter, don't know if I'll make it in the short list of candidates. its for the position of purchasing officer for IT products (and I left Favco because I didn't want to do purchasing o_O). Don't know how much the pay is, but the best thing about it is that its in Rosebery! I think it might be Corporate Express, since thats the only big company I know of in the area that might need a purchasing guy specifically for IT products.

Oooo..and I executed my first trade on the share market yesterday! And my portfolio is already down $50 :p I think I need to increase the amount of shares I buy though. I bought 5000 @ $0.41. Don't know if thats worth the brokerage fee. Oh well. Thats still $2000 worth of shares, so I guess I should go by the value of the shares.

woohoo! i lost weight! I'm 82kg now. Lets hope its the type of weight loss that stays off :) The scale is pretty crap though, but I guess you can't argue if its only $9.74 Have to calibrate it each time you step on it. Dunno why it always goes out of whack. Quite annoying.

my money problems has been fixed. the bank transfer thing. managed to cancel it in time, and the funds are already back in my account :) The only other problem is that the amount keeps going down regularly o_O Need a job soon...

I've applied to about 5 jobs so far (today) Got another 4-5 more to work through. Damn sien man. Maybe putting in a standard cover letter isn't that good an idea. But fuck it la..worry about it later. I think I shuold apply for an average of 5 jobs each day. Should be easier to keep track off. I've put together a spreadsheet to keep track of my applications as well. Hehehe. Its nice to be organised :)

omfg. i just transferred $6000 to Optus by accident. hopefully the bank cancel it before it gets cleared. if they don't, its gonna be damn bitchy to get my money back. not to mention I might have to pay for the mistake too. ugh.

i wanted to transfer the 6K to my eTrade. the account setup finally completed. taking bloody ages, and i think the information letter got lost. it will be bitchy if the customer service gave me the wrong account number to transfer my money to o_O I will not be a happy punter then...

I totally wasted the whole of yesterday. I started playing Heroes of Might & Magic 5, and its bloody addictive. I think i played it for like 10 hours plus yesterday. Its like I went back to the WoW days. At least I'm disclipined enough not to do it today... or at least not till I get some stuff out of the way. I need to apply for a couple more jobs, and also follow up on some applications that I sent out last Friday (which ain't looking too good so far)

fine day its shaping out to be...aihs.

i bought myself a new set of weighing scales (is that correct english?) today and I'm offcially 84kg. I want to get myself down to at least 80kg, or somewhere between 75-80. My ideal weight seems to be around that mark. So I guess I'm gonna go back to my 1st phase SB diet for another 2 weeks. I'll try to follow it to the tee this time, see if it really makes a big difference.

But first, I must finish my Balconi Mix Max bars...

yums

which is an ownage chocolate coated cake like biscuit. kinda like those korean/japanese snacks. except that this is Italian! and seems slightly cheaper

we watched the Davinci Code earlier. It wasn't too bad. I felt a little bored in the later part of the movie, but it wasn't as crap as what reviews made of it. Or maybe a movie is a lot better if you go in expecting it to be crap. It wasn't a badly made movie, just feels a little long winded at times. But then again, theres worse movies out there. Like Elektra...which is absolutely takes the cake for one of the worst movies I've ever watched.

*yawn*

its been really hard to wake up recently. becoming quite a slacker i suppose. 3 weeks unemployed and counting. the longer i stay this way, the more I feel like going back to university to study. aihs. its not horribly expensive apparenlty. For UNSW, its $337 per postgrad unit for a local student (which I am now... I think). For a Masters of Information Systems, its 48 credits. So total is only $16176, which is cheaper than the stupid Software Engineering degree I have from Melbourne U.

Dunno la. So annoying, I don't really want to go back uni to study. Feels like its a waste of time, but if I don't improve on my skills, I can't bloody find a job. Maybe I should do what Edmund did and do a SAP course. I think it costs even more than the degree. Or maybe a MBA program. Hmmm... it all involves time and money.

Becoming a day trader is out of the question. I'll probably lose all my money in the market. My own business... very tempting. But I need more capital than what I have. So my available choices:

1) lower my standards and get any job I can get my hands on;
2) take up some technical courses and/or certification;
3) go back to uni;
4) start my own business
5) bum until i run out of money, then go back kl and live off my parents

at the moment, option 4 and 5 looks very tempting. what to do..what to do?

i'm trying to persuade thos to buy some pet rats. He ditched work yesterday and we went to Eastgardens in the afternoon. Saw some really nice rats there. All sorts of colours. Golden brown, white with brown patches, white with black patches. They are just like miniature dogs ^_^

so lovable!

since thos is probably gonna stay in australia, he doesn't have an excuse not to get rats anymore (we looked at them before). Much less fuss than a dog, and more entertaining than fishes. And you get to put them in a ball and watch them roll around!

a roll-about ball

ok, so thats a ferret but the toy is for rats too :p

c'mon thos! buy the rats today. Thursday is late night shopping. quick! before they are sold out :)

i was so happy about finding a beanie I liked that I forgot to check the condition it was in. Some of the weaving is out of place already, and it pills pretty easily. I can imagine it going cacat fast. Sigh... wondering if I should return it. Don't think they have a similar one in the store.

I've been working on a business plan for the past few days. Have an idea in my head, but having trouble fleshing it out and stumped at obtaining market information. I've been browsing the net and came across this. It describes 'tips' on running a restaurant. The part in regards to food menus is quite amusing, and has some truth to it too. My favourite is "An orgy of wild berries raped by a topping of King Island Cream." ^_^

And yeah, I'm thinking of a F&B business. I might do it, I might not. I think its a good idea but I'm still in the resaerch stage.

shopping list

beanie, check

yay! i think my weight is back to pre-christmas days. still fat, but not as fat :p
roughly 2 weeks of South Beach dieting paid off, although my efforts were probably nullified by yesterday's meal.

jeremy's aunt held a small mother's day bbq thing. quite a fair bit of food. got fried chicken, roasted potatoes, pasta salad, steak and pork chops. Mmmmmm... the pork chops was bloody nice. The fat just melts in your mouth. Heheheh. Smoking the meats really does make them tastier.

Its starting to get a lot cooler lately. Theres even snowfall up in Falls Creek already (apparently, i read it in the news yesterday, but it doesn't look like much snow on the website's cam). I'm super really looking forward to snowboarding again this year. And so is Thos. I just pray that I don't fuck up my ankle even more. Its still no different from last year. It fucked up abit after a few light games of badminton last Friday. I should be getting more worried about it, but still slacking.

Snow gear is damn ex though, especially since it won't get used as much. At most 1-2 weeks in a year o_O And thats already pushing it considering my income (more accurately, the lack of it) I might get myself another pair of gloves. A proper one this time. The stitchings on the cheapos I bought last year split after only 2 days of boarding. Should have brought it back for a return. Aihs. But they aren't that great of a fit anyway. Last minute purchases.

So anyway, my shopping list is a new pair of gloves, a beanie, thermals and proper socks. Thats already like $200, if I get the slightly better stuff. Jacket and pants... no need to say la. I'd reckon around $700. What an expensive hobby. But then again, I forked out $800 for Kendo gear that I don't use anymore o_O Don't know when I will pick that up again. Come to think of it...my ankle and knee problems originated from there. Ish....

i was doing a google on 'chinese tea pouring etiquette' and stumbled upon something that I thought was amusing for some odd reason

"Putting food in other people's bowls even if they don't want it is NOT RUDE.
You are actually demonstrating your good nature by serving others instead of yourself. Usually, there is one person at the table who is an obvious target for any leftover food."

the part about there being a target for leftover food just amused somehow. one of my oddities i suppose. anyway, I was just wondering what is proper when pouring tea for other ppl during a meal. Is it okay to take the other person's cup and pour tea in it? Or endeavour to pour the tea when the cup is on the table. Can't figure it out or find any references in it.

I know you shouldn't do it when you pour wine at a table (as a waiter) but i'm not too sure when it comes to chinese etiquette. i figure its something interesting to know. I try not to pick up ppl's glasses when pouring drinks, and don't quite like it when ppl hold out their glass while i pour (just in case I spill it over their hands). Fatty tends to pick up glasses and pour irrespective on distance, since his hand trembles like he has Parkinson's or something.

Anyone know whats appropriate ?

another uneventful day. i followed up on a couple of my job applications today. i finally received feedback on the phone interview i had. didn't get the job, but they said I sounded friendly and well spoken, although I seem to lack the technical skills they are looking for. sadness. tell me something i don't know. if i want a career, i really think i should study part time or something. aihs. really have to figure out what I want.

at least my interview skills aren't that bad, although i find that I kinda botch up when leaving msges on ppl's voice mail if i'm not prepared. have to work on that. i should be sleeping soon, starting to get hungry again. i've been having a piece of chicken breast for a meal lately. part of the South Beach diet. Chicken breast actually isn't too bad. I rub in lots of herbs and some salt, and I douse it in tomato sauce (which I really shouldn't...) Quite tasty.

ugh...writing about that just made me pretty hungry. aihs. must resist! i only lost ermmm probably 2-3 kgs over the past 1 1/2 weeks. can't tell for sure. the scale we have at home lies. not particularly accurate, and too small for my feet too.

diet diet diet...

another day, but no dollar to go with it. i'm not spending much, but it does kinda suck not having income. I've been slack in looking for work too. Haven't really applied for anything or going to interviews.

...

after i wrote that sentence, i went on Seek an applied for a few jobs. blogging is quite useful, made me feel guilty about not doing anything. heh. i'll make another post later la. getting hungry now. need to scrounge up something to eat. oh, i'm back on my South Beach diet, about 1 1/2 weeks although I haven't been that strict on it. I still eat some of the banned foods, although not much la. Except for yesterday... couldn't resist a fresh sausage bun from one the bakeries in Chinatown. with cheese too! MMmmmmm...

seeing as how i'm unemployed at the moment, i have plenty of time to blog and do what-nots. a bit too much time in fact. the whole of sunday was just spent stoning around the house like a living zombie. quite sien. today seems about the same thing. i'm waiting for the PDS for the Merrill Lynch & Perpetual funds to arrive. I can download it off the net, which I already did, but I'm tired of reading stuff of the computer. Its rather annoying, especially since theres so much stuff to read. But then... if I can't find work, I might have learn trading to put food on my table or put myself in the gutter o_O

Jobwise, I don't think I'm being considered for the position that I had the interview for. Haven't received any feedback in regards to it. I sent the recruiter and email earlier this morn, but I'll call her tomorrow. Don't feel like ringing up today. Skimming through the jobs on Seek isn't exactly fun as well. So many jobs out there... but nothing that seems suitable or me, unless I start downgrading myself. See how it goes la. I honestly can't picture myself working for another organisation for more than 2 years, and that seems to be the timeframe for a person to build yourself from scratch. Bah... got to do some thinking.

i had a phone interview today. for a support engineer (i.e. fancy word for help desk) job at Kronos. i don't think it went all that well. i could give satisfactory answers to maybe 50% of the questions. seems to be a fair bit of technical skills that i don't have. aihs. oh well. i'll find out more on monday. if i do get considered... then i'd have to travel all the way to Pymble for a follow up interview, and thats pretty far. I'd say maybe 1 1/2 hours worth of travel by public transport. I reckon it would take 1/2 hour by car anyway, cuz of traffic and shit. Aihs... why can't i find work in a convenient location?

Its already May, and I was just looking at the photos I have up on Friendster. Theres the ones I had when I went skiing last year, and fucked up my ankle then. And its still fucked up now, and I still haven't been to the doctor to follow up on it. hmmmm... i'll make sure i go next week. i can go grocery shopping in campsie too. kill 2 birds with 1 stone. not a bad idea.

my first day of unemployment! third if you count the weekend la. I met up with a recruitment agency earlier this morning. Introduced by Tho's auntie. She doesn't specialise in IT, but she gave me pointers on my resume and says there might be an odd position here and there in the coming weeks.

She did tell me to ring up in regards for a job that I applied over the weekend. It was a good thing. I was thinking of calling up tomorrow, but she said it wouldn't hurt to just call even to ask if they have received my application. Anyway, I did call up and I'm not qualified enough for the job. The consultant did offer me more advice in regards to my resume though (I didn't put much focus on my technical skills), so its still good. Gonna have to update my resume, and send it back to her. Aihss... resume writing is such a pain. Especially since it feels like I'm lacking in updated skills.

I'm gonna such watch some anime now... been working on it for the past hour. Lazy to think already.