Hmmm... I'm forced to take a lunch break at work now. Apparently its illegal to not have a lunch break o_O Sheesh.... what a pain. Now I lose 2 1/2 hours off my weekly pay. Although I could work until 5:30 to make up for that...but can't really be stuffed. Ugh... so annoying

The only good news for today is that my share portfolio is actually displaying a profit! I'm still holding on to almost 1K worth of paper loss from the 1st 2 shares I bought, but everything else I bought after that is well enough to wipe that loss off. Its not a spectacular gain, but a decent result if I consider that the shares I bought using my investment framework are all profitable (for the moment at least, the market is a fickle bitch...)

Same goes for my ASX game portfolio. Not a spectacular result, but its been on the positive since day 1. The leader in the game already made $64K from $50K capital, and I'm far from even making it into the top 100, which is at least $58K. Fatty's theory of having to daytrade like a fuc*wit to achieve those results are way off. The previous newsletter displayed the trading history of the game leaders, and the top guy (or gal) has only made 35 trades over a 2 month period. Thats a fair bit of trading, but not at the level Fatty hints at. The next leader only has 5 trades. So yeah... you don't have to daytrade to win. Ah well... good thing I don't take his advice when it comes to the market. Not that I take any of his advice seriously nowadays...

N.B My 1st 2 trades were done before I determined my trading rules, which is why I said the shares I bought using my framework are all profitable

The problem with applying for work is that more often than not, you can't get an immediate reply. I don't know about other lines of work, but its quite pissy if I'm gunning for higher level IT work. Higher level meaning a role that doesn't involve being a 'PC lou' or 1st Level Tech Support(still a 'PC lou', but chained to phone instead).

Theres been a number of openings for junior IT consultancy work. Apparently, the IT talent in Australia is drying up. There are more companies willing to train graduates up. Both good and bad news to me. Its great there more opportunities for me to get into consultancy. The downside is I'm no spring chicken considering I'm not exactly a graduate anymore. Bah. Just do whatever I can I suppose...

My fingers still feel a bit cacat. Having to do data entry during the day, and coming home to work on the computer isn't exactly contributing to the health of my digits. And blogging about it doesn't help either. What a vicious circle. I think I'll stop now.

Feverish...

I think I caught something from when I went to the doctor yesterday. Woke in the middle of the night shivering, even though its not that cold out. Whole body feels weak and sore as well. Definitely the onset of a fever. Bah...

I took off from work earlier today. Partly cuz I was feeling like crap, and also because I have an interview later at 3.30. Semi-interview...for a semi-job. Going to speak with another recruiter in regards to a part time position as a Helpdesk Analyst. I might not get the job, because the recruiter already mentioned that I probably don't have enough experience, but still worth a shot.

I can't even play WoW in the meantime because servers are down. Arrgghhh! And I can't just go to sleep because of the interview. What a crap day...

something wrong with the picture

I finally got off my ass and went to see the doctor regarding my knee today. Primarily because I've been feeling and looking pretty fat lately. What with my zero exercise for the past 6 months, and my staple diet of a continental breakfast in the morning and pizza at night.

So yeah, I went to see the doc after work, telling him that I want to do kickboxing and stuff again because I want to get some exercise. And after that, I walked into KFC to buy a 2-piece+chips & a pack of wicked wings for dinner. Hmmmmmm.....

Anyway, doc says really can't tell if theres anything else wrong with my knee. I check on fine on the surface, but it will take a MRI to really tell if theres more damage inside. Basically a wait and see approach. He told me I can basically sports and stuff, and if it hurts then he will send me to an orthopedist to get an assessment. Apparently an MRI isn't really covered under Medicare. So I'm going to start swimming again! Soon...

Another blog

I just made another blog for all my geeky stuff. For all my development and random technology stuff. I've really been slack since I haven't done real programming stuff for so long, and each time I restart, theres a learning curve I have to go through. So I figured instead of googling each time I need to find out how to reinstall and configure my apache server, PHP and what not, I can just check my own blog. Who knows, it might even be more popular than this one.

I called the blog Embrace Your Geek. Rather cliche, and not totally accurate either, since it should be embrace your inner geek. That would make the url too long, so stuff that. And its still empty for the moment. Not sure when I'll start writing.

But anyway, what I'll do there is probably put some tutorials and tips on how to set up a web development environment and maybe short reviews on tools and stuff. Maybe even a PHP/mySQL programming article. Theres plenty of that already on the internet, but doing something myself would probably help me learn more. I'm also planning to start writing a share portfolio manager. Start small at first, and maybe I can build it up later on. Theres a couple of those already but it'll be good practice as well.

Lets see if I'll follow through with this, might be too much nonsense to do.

Superpowers: what would you do?

If I had a choice between seeing the future, or being able to travel back in time, time travelling would win hands down. Why? Simply because you just rewind when things don't turn out the way you want. And you can technically 'see' the future as well. Want to win the Lotto? Just find out what the winning numbers are, and then rewind your back in time to buy the ticket. How sweet is that!?

If I could go back in time, maybe I might decide to pay more attention in during university. Or do more related work so that I'm not in so much shit career-wise now. But then again, I could just go back a few years with what I know about the share prices now and become a billionaire trading stocks. Although the easiest way to become filthy rich is just to win the lottery.

Kinda like the movie Groundhog Day, which I think I may blogged about previously. Its still one of my favourite movies in terms on concept. Of course, reliving the same day might get pretty dull after the while. But if its a span of 1-2 years, probably wouldn't be so bad. You can do a lot within that time, and if things don't work out, you just kill yourself and start over. Just like in a game. Sweet.

Ermm.. better get back to work.

as expected, I didn't get the job. Good feedback from interview but not enough industry experience for the job. I already had a feeling about that when I did the interview, but was hoping I could still make it. Aihs, back to the drawing board. I think its already been 6 months since I became semi-unemployed, I don't consider data entry real work, even though I've been doing that for about 2 months. I think its time to reassess my options again. Zzzz... damn annoying

I know what I want, and roughly where I want to end up career-wise. The 2 choices would be a business analyst, or a ERP consultant. Actually get into those fields? Well...6 months and counting should suffice as an answer. I've been thinking that I wouldn't mind getting run over by a car and just dying then and there. Obviously, dying after getting hit by the car is the important. Not becoming a vegetable, semi or otherwise. Incidently, that almost occured a few days back. Almost got run down by some dumb shit when I was using the zebra crossing. I already looked both ways before crossing, and he had more than enough distance to stop. Instead of slowing down, he just sped past when I was halfway across the street. Tiu.

Beary Funny series

A series of CG clips made by a korean mob called RG Studios. Youtube rocks! Not going to bother label them cuz I'm at work right now.

the stats for my blog are back up. numbers still looking as sad as ever. the chart looks like the prices of my shares, not going anywhere. sadness. oh well. i'm doing this for my own benefit anyway. just upgraded it to blogger beta, not that theres much of a difference. the templates are still the same, but I switched to another one anyway. felt like a different look. Also got rid of the tag board with all the stupid ringtone stuff spamming it, so if anyone wants to leave a message, just put a comment on the post.

I had my interview on thursday, so its just a waiting game for now. The position wasn't as high level as I initially thought, at the core, I'll still be a support monkey, except that it will be more specialised. It will still be good if I get it, the pay and conditions are fairly decent, and its a proper start to a career in IT. Other than that, I'm still doing the data entry job. I think I've been there for 2 months, or more . wow, 2006 is zipping me buy. I've technically spent more than 1/2 a year not doing anything.

I went in to the dojo this morning to speak with shihan about the website I was suppose to knock up for him. Haven't been able to work on it lately, busy with prepping for the interview as well as grinding in Disgaea 2. Hopefully I can come up with something decent. Might as Kelynn or my cousin to help. I'm quite total loss when it comes to the graphic design parts. Which is the main reason I abandon most of my web projects. I do most of the backend stuff: database design, general layout, functions and what not. But I get stuck when I have to make it 'pretty'.

Anyhoo. Nacho Libre is the program for tonight! Been looking forward to it. Lucha!!

I didn't mentioned that I scored an interview for an very good position. The role is an IT Support Analyst. Its an actual analyst position, not those helpdesk or lvl 1 tech support crap ppl call analysts nowadays... I would be working with actual systems design and the like. Or at least thats what the job descriptions says. Its a permanent role, but I'll be working on a particular project thats under development. So I think I'll be doing a little of everything involved in a software project. Requirements analysis, design and maybe even some coding & testing. Sounds perfect.

I think I match the qualifications and experience they require, but I have an inkling they are looking for a person that is more senior. The recruit did mention that they are looking for a recent graduate with about 1-2 years work experience, and its a role where they want to train someone up to be a technical BA. I was asked to bring in my academic transcript (oh no!!) so I guess thats true.

Hopefully I can overcome that during the interview. I've been doing research on everything that I could possibly need, and even went through some of my uni material. Just do my best at the interview and hopefully everything will fall in place. Interview will be on Thursday, so I have a fair bit of time to prepare. Oh, and the position pays $60K+ too :)

its such gawd-awful slow day. must be the weather. i think there was a thunderstorm early in the morning. very gloomy outside right now. The perfect weather for sleeping in, except that I'm at work right now. Sigh...

They (the company) just installed a phone on my desk, which means I might have to take orders over the phone soon. Ugh. They aren't paying me enough to bother with that. I'm suppose to do data entry, not customer service. Cis.

Theres this old dude working here that kinda annoys me. Probably about 40+. Just started out in customer service. Nothing against old people, but just observing him gets on my nerves. Slow, and in my opinion, probably stupid as well. An example would be photocopying a few hundred pages of a document that was supposed to be faxed out, and then going "Now, how did that happen? I'm prety sure blah blah blah..." Ugh. Even though its the copier and fax are the same machine, the interface is totally different. He only made that mistake because either A) He is dumb or B) He wasn't paying attention. I'd go for a combination of both, since he has already done it twice, and probably the 3rd time as well even though he said it wasn't him. Ordinarily I wouldn't pay much attention, but the problem is that he talks to himself and always complaints about why this doesn't work, what this customer wants, blah blah blah.

Aihs. Thats enough for a rant of the day. Back to work now.

It feels like I've been sorta busy the past few days. Updated my resume, and started to actively apply for jobs again. Its been really slow for me since I've been temping. On one hand, I have some income to supplement my living expenses. But on the other hand, it feels like a waste of time when I can stay at home and follow up on my job applications, stocks and readings.

But its been 4 months (or more?) since I've left a permanent job. Having more time doesn't necessarily mean I can find a job quicker. Aihs. I've been considering doing some of the SAP courses. I kinda know which stream I want to do, but not sure if its viable. All up, its going to be about RM50K to complete 2 streams (roughly 2 months I think). And even after investing that money, might not even get a job. So stupid... but I really need to do something to improve my job prospects, even if its just on paper.

At any rate, January next year is probably my limit. If I can't find proper work by then, I'll head back home to do the courses and get some work experience. Considering the recent issues in my family, it would be good to spend more time with my mom, and maybe even work with my dad. Thos has the right idea as well... spend as much time as possible with them while they are still well and healthy. Although in my case, its probably spend as much time as I can take. I'm not exactly a family person.

Thats it for today... time to sleep.

2.30am but I'm still not sleeping yet. I'm taking the day off from work. Just felt like taking a break from it so that I can get some other work done. I was supposed to work on the website for shihan over the weekend, but spent it going out and watching anime.

spent the whole of last night watching Honey & Clover as well, although I did manage to get a little work done. I actually want to sleep, but allergies stopping me. I seem to have something that antihistamines don't help with. My feet are damn itchy now. Seems pretty red and swollen too. The veins on my feet seems to have popped up as well. Looks quite gross and interesting at the same time. Quite fun to press down on the veins and have it pop back up.

I'm gonna watch another episode of anime before trying to go back to sleep la. Feel really tired.

the thought of marriage rarely ever crosses my mind, but I just know that when I do, I want a website ^_^

It's confirmed that I'll always be a geek...

I think I'm feeling a little depressed today. Not having any real work to do is kinda getting to me I suppose. Both having nothing much to do during the day, as well as feeling the effects of a decreasing bank balance.

No mood to blog anymore. I just dug up some old anime to watch. Can't be stuffed thinking about real life anymore. Although going through some of my CDs made me a little upset. I seem to be missing a some stuff. Can't find the anime I wanted to watch despite digging through everything. Aihs. Not my day.

Plus I think I'm going to be getting my allergies pretty soon. I can feel my hands getting prickly already. Ughh....

Its a bank holiday today, not that it concerns me since I'm not working anyway. But at least it makes me feel less guilty that I don't have work today. I got a call from one of my temp agency earlier. Asked if I'm interested in a position up in St. Leonards. Its some publishing & development company. Seems to deal in 3G. I think my job is to liase between the IT and another department. A semi business analyst role. Wonder if I'm actually up to it... since I don't know jack about 3G technology. Actually, I don't think its that difficult of a role, since its only paying $25/hour. Just have to talk to people and write up reports. I asked her to send in my CV anyway, theres a 1/4 chance of me getting the role since she only has 3 candidates at the moment. Its only for a month, so it should be okay I guess.

As for the other role I'm waiting on, no significant news yet. The client was away for the past week, which was why the process was taking so long. I might get some news this week. I just hope they don't mind waiting. Well... if I get this temp job, I wouldn't mind if the whole recruitment processs takes a little longer. At least then I can finish up the temp position, if I get it. Don't really like the idea of leaving halfway through an assignment.

Well...anime for the rest of the day. ^_^

saturday. nothing much to do as usual. the weather is pretty gloomy as well, so just feel like sleeping. just gonna wait for my laundry to be done and then i'll just nap. had lunch with sweefong today. shes gone back home to kl already. aihs. another year has passed by seemingly fast. i'm already 25, but i still kinda feel like I belong in uni. I suppose the work, or lack of it, that I've been doing doesn't make me feel like I've matured much.

I haven't heard regarding that role I've been hankering after yet. Supposed to get some news on Thursday, but nada. Hopefully there'll be some news next week. Good or bad, at the very least I can just move on. Oh, I've also quit the temp job I was doing. I could have probably stayed on another week or so, but I decided that I had enough. I really can't stand brainless work for too long... So I better hear something from the recruiter soon, or start in another contracting position.

Apart from that, the manager from FFC called me up on Friday. Asked what I was up to and if I was interested in going back...for the 3rd time :) Seems like he has another project lined up and wants me to work on it or something. No details yet, but I'll talk to him after I get news from the consultancy role that I want. Ah well, I'd rather not go back if I don't have to. Its not a bad place to work, just far and well... I really should move on. Maybe I can demand more pay again. Hahahah. Although this time around, there won't be a car for me, since they've already sold off their unnecessary vehicles.

Time will tell.

i wanna get to sleep, but my rash is keeping me up. don't even know if i can call it a rash. i guess it falls under that definition. my hands and wrist are reddish, and have bumps on them. Looks kinda like a whole bunch of mosquito bites converging on one area. i still have no idea what causes it. it only seems to happen at night, and i don't think its food that causes it, if not i should be experiencing it during the day as well *touch wood* Plus, its not like I have any special diet. I eat the same crap most of the time.

Usually i take my antihists, and it goes away in about 1/2 an hour... but it doesn't seem to be working tonight. Arrrgh. Add to the fact that my fingers are sore from the data entry work I did today. My finger, to be more accurate. I can type properly i.e. make use of all my fingers, & without looking at the keyboard as well. But thats kind of useless when you are keying in stuff off faxes & order forms with text that you have to bloody squint to look at. Add in a crappy GUI to the order program, and you get a sore finger because its simply easier and a lot faster to type with one hand/finger.

The other thing that annoys me is that some people can be soooooooo damn slow in keying in stuff. I get to see almost everyone in the customer service team (where I'm working) cuz I'm sitting where the previous boss used to sit ^_^ I have my own corner, and noone can see my screen while I MSN, read the news, look at my stocks, etc etc. But even with all my bludging, I still work hell lot faster than the other temps there. Gawd... can't believe it man. I can finish keying 2-3 orders, while chatting on MSN, and surfing the net in between orders, and the other temp still haven't finished with their first one. And I know this because I can watch them work at the same time.

Initially I didn't surf the net at all... but then I'd run out of stuff to do by midday since I chew through my work pretty fast. The stuff is piss easy for me to do... so its not saying much. With all the in between bludging I do, theres enough work for me to do till about 4ish 5.

Orites... all that complaining seems to have gotten rid of my rash. Gonna go to sleep now. Oh, and I still haven't heard back in regards to that job. Aihs...

here wishing that I get that job. After a behavioural assessment, and an aptitude test which took me about 6 hours plus to mull over. I'd better get something. It'd would be my ideal job too. More on it if I get it... no point blogging too much about it if its gonna become spilt milk.

dead bored now. don't feel like playing games, and don't have any anime to watch. When I have nothing to do... my life really feels dreary. I don't like the weekends as much anymore. Especially since theres no sharemarket pricing to watch over the weekend. Aihs..

been a week since my last post. i actually want to get on with playing Titan Quest (a Diablo-esqu game), so its just a short updated. I'm still temping at the same place. Its a pharmaceuticals company btw. They extended me till end of the week. Still doing the same things though. Processing credits & orders, and lots of filing. Their filing system is absolutely horrendous, or more accurately, the lack of it. And I was thinking that things couldn't be much worse than my previous company. They were actually pretty organised compared to this mob.

Today's work was slightly different. I was put in the marketing dept to help out for a while. Mostly sending stuff out to reps & clients. I was packing football memorabilia as well! They had a World Cup promotion going on previously, and winners get the $150 Addidas Teamgeist ball, a Socceroos jersey, and a soccer magazine. Pretty neat. Felt like taking one of the balls home ^_^

I've got an interview lined up tomorrow as well, for a proper job this time. Wish me luck. More on that in a later post.

its a nice change having actual work to do. Data entry is pretty damn simple for me :) I cleared out the entire credit backlog in one day. Am I efficient or what? Well... being IT-savvy enough to think of creating macros to automate half the work helps ^_^ I did the work in half the time... although I did twice the amount of work, so doesn't make much of a difference in the end.

2nd day... nothing for me to do but filing docs in the morning. And booking couriers for credit returns. Mind numbing job... can't imagine having to do this everyday. But I really love the fact that the place is so damn near. Its only 2 streets away! Takes about 10 mins walk to reach there! Never worked so close to home before. Bloody convenient. I can come back home and have lunch! That is...if I had any food at home. Almost totally out of food at home. I think I only have a can of tuna left, and a 1/4 pack of spaghetti.

I've actually been having trouble sleeping lately. I've been getting pretty vivid nightmares the past week or so, and I woke up in the middle of the night paralyzed as well. Couldn't move or make a noise. I tried to force myself to scream, but nothing came. Managed to croak after a couple of seconds. Bloody freaked me out, especially since Thos told me about his 'experiences' a couple days ago. Aihs.

Anyway, theres nothing supernatural about the episode. Supposedly a case of stress or sleep depravation. Your body enters a state of paralysis when you enter REM sleep i.e. when you dream. Sleep paralysis occurs when your brain is awakened, but your body is still in the paralysis state. Wiki knows it all! :)

Time to sleep! Tomorrow is another exciting day...

interview this morning, start work tomorrow morning. its nice when things are so simple. Finally got a temp job, although its only for a week. Pay is pretty standard. About $18 or so for data entry work. But best thing about is that its about 10-15 minutes down the street. Get to save on transport fare. Sweet!

The bad thing? I still have to continue searching for jobs and sending in applications. A bloody pain. I just put in 5 applications. I don't know if its actually a lack of jobs or what. Some ppl seem to be saying that IT has lots of jobs now, but really doesn't seem that way to me. Maybe on the upper echolon of the spectrum... but kinda hard to find something for a person who isn't a total noobcake, nor an expert, namely me.

Oh well. At least, this data entry role is good enough for the moment. Its short enough so I can still keep a lookout on proper jobs. And gives me a little money towards paying bills. My shares are getting killed by the recent downturn in the market. And the only share that I own that isn't in the red can't be sold (i.e. no buyers). E*trade has a nifty feature that lets you see the current bids in the market. If I'm not wrong, it shows you the current buyers/sellers for up to 10 price points. Its only for orders that are sitting in the system (not sure if its just E*trades, or the actual market). But its an indicator of the prices you can use to get in or out of the market.

I don't mind the downturn that much since it'll turn up eventually. But it seems like each time I make a purchase... the entire market turns down o_O Same thing happened the last time. I'm still sitting on a $600 paper loss on that one. Aihs... my bad though. It went past my stop, which would have limited it to less than $300 but I couldn't bear selling. Now twice that amount is gone. Sigh... expensive mistake. I can have like 80 plates of siu yuk fan with that money... :'(

no real reason to post except to put up a pic taken with my phone. its not too bad, kinda what I expected.

my bookshelf

the full sized image is quite grainy, but that might be cuz of the lack of light in the shot. Other than that, it looks like a typical phone camera image. Incidently the graininess (real word :p) of the image is kinda similar to what I see out my left eye. Lazy eye and all to those who don't know.

I recently reorganised my books as well, which is why the shelf is particularly neat. I've got my computer related books on the top shelf. The bottom shelf has 3 types of books. Leftmost is fiction books, which is only the translated copies of Romance of the 3 Kingdoms & Da Vinci Code (the staple of every modern bookshelf!). Middle portion has motivational/personal improvement books like Awaken the Giant Within (which is actually Thos'), and rightmost are my investment & business related books.

The shelf usually has stacks of coins and other assorted junk as well. But I've been doing some spring cleaning since I'm so free during the day. I sorted out the coins and bagged them. Plan to deposit in the bank when I remember to do it. I currently have $40 in 10 & 5c coins. I think I had about $120 when I initially started sorting them, but I've cleared them out cuz I've been using them to buy lunch & when I order pizza.

I kinda wish I have more books. A shelf looks nice if its filled with books :) I've still got 2 more books that I haven't read. The ones lying flat on the bottom shelf. I'm thinking of ordering another book online directly from the author. Save about 60% off the RRP which is a pretty good deal. Even the air freight is heaps cheaper than Amazon.

Oooo..Thos rented DVD. Off to watch it now.

been sleeping in the past couple of days. i think i'm getting more than 10 hours sleep on average now. not that I really want to, but i feel really crap in the mornings. Not having anything real to do is one of the factors, but lately its been more my hayfever. I've been getting a runny nose & sore eyes in the morning. I'm taking Telfast for that, but its not that effective nowadays. Maybe I need to rotate among the different types of antihistamines on a daily basis.

I have 24 job applications on my list, 3/4 of that probably no good already. I really don't like cold calling recruiters in regards to a job. I don't know what to say. Its worse if they are the non-responsive kind of people too. Sigh. I guess I still need more practice. I don't mind actual interviews so much, its a lot easier to talk about yourself rather than ask questions about a job. I mean, there really isn't too much I need to know about a position. Most of the time, the job ad already answers any enquiries I have. I'm not a damn moron and I know how to read, but somehow I feel that u'r still expected to have questions. Aihs.

I want to get a job and not go through this crap ever again.

been up since 5am this morning. its almost 8 now, wondering if i should go back to sleep. having a bout of hayfever now and the antihistamines doesn't seem to be kicking in. damn annoying. i just ate my breakfast as well. leftover pork chop & rice from last night :) kinda heavy for breakkie, but theres nothing else left. Gonna have to go do some groceries today.

I still don't have anyone calling me up for a job interview. Sigh. I applied for another 7 positions yesterday. Theres one that looks really good. Sounds like the kind of work that I want, but can't find any information about it. Theres no name or contact details. Theres a company name, but googling it doesn't turn up a website. So dodgy. The position seems pretty similar to that job offer I blew, but with better pay! Heres hoping!

oh! Theres actually another position that sounds good. Same type of thing. Business analysis & support. Would be cool if I get that too. $30-40/hour and based in the CBD. Absolutely perfect. At least this ad is more professional. See how it all goes la. Hope someone will give me a ring on my new phone :)

loving it!

feel bloody exhausted this morning for some odd reason. its not like i slept particularly late. I finally signed up at a job recruitment agency. Hopefully I can get a temp job soon. Went to the office yesterday and spent about an 1 1/2 hours doing some word & excel tests & some data entry. I got pretty good scores which was expected :) Doing the Excel test was more tricky, had to make some educated guesses on a number of questions, but still got most of them correct in the end.

I've been working on my share investment/trading plan in the past couple of days. I've completed a plan that I'm gonna try follow through. Finaly making use of my of $900 piece of charting software. I used it to backtest my plan, and it seems to be ok for a number of shares. Although I really need to test it for a longer period. Only problem is I can't get the data to advance a day at a time, so being able to see price data ahead of the date I'm backtrading is probably affecting my decisions.

p.s. just decide to re-read the manual, and figured out to advance the chart a day at a time now ^_^

5am. asthma getting worse. stomach cramps from my voltaren and a dripping nose. Not a good false start to the day.

6am. still awake. watching Cannes Lions ads. and YouTube. This is a very smart ad imo. shall try to go back to sleep now. 3 more hours before I need to wake up.

sigh. the days have been so demotivating. I'm getting rejection notices left, right and center. I'm just not getting anywhere. The only thing I find fun now is learning market related stuff and finalising my trading/investing plan. I've managed to stop checking prices every 5-10 minutes which is a good thing. That seems a bit too obsessive considering I'm not a day trader.

Unfortunately my living expenses are slowly eating into the capital I've allocated for my investments. Maybe I should go on my indomie diet again. Its about 30c a pack. 5 packs a day, thats $1.50. Multiply by that by a month, and its only $45 for a month's worth of food! Compare that with my budget for $450 for food expenditures. Thats a savings of a 1000%!! How wicked is that ^_^ Although the drawback is I'll probably shave more than 10% off my lifespan among other health problems. Aihs.

Anyway, I think I've worked out a decent budget for myself. I'll need $1400 for day to day living. That covers rent, bills, transport, food and some misc monthly expenses. Another $450 allocated for optional expenses such as leisure, clothes, toys etc. So thats $1850 in total. I intend to put 10% of my income towards long-term savings & another 10% towards investment purposes. This means I'll need a take home pay of $2350 to accommodate my budget. That'll give me a $30 surplus as well. Considering that I should be taxed at 30%, I'll need a salary of roughly $3350 before tax, which is a $40K base salary.

Sighh... now I miss the time when I was getting a $50K+ package before being jobless. I guess it kinda evens out to me having a lower paying job throughout the year. OK, its past lunchtime already. Need to start making calls to job givers. Maybe I should go into recruitment, just so that I can mass email rejection notices to other jobseekers. Hmmmmm. Interesting thought.

its been a decent weekend, albeit rather expensive. Went to Kobe Jones for dinner. Its a pretty nice modern japanese restaurant. Pricey, but the food was decent, and looks impressive. The moving scenery was pretty good too ^_^ The dinner was for fatty's birthday gift, split between Thos & me. Hmmm.. Kinda unfair. I didn't get anything for my birthday, except for a twisted knee. Considering the events of this & last year, it might appear that my birthday isn't exactly a lucky event for me. Oh well.

I have to start saving money already, at least until I get a job. I've been spending too much since I stopped working. About $7K for the past 3 months. Its not too bad I guess. I've had some abnormal expenses in the past months. Theres the snow holiday which is about $700+, my investment related book & software which is slightly over a grand, and the medical related items about $200. I probably spend a little more on food since I've been eating out a lot. If I stay home, I usually go Johnny's for lunch, or just buy takeaway from the cafe downstairs. Its becoming quite routine.

I've done my usual slew of job hunthing this morning. I've started looking for data entry positions just to line my pocket already. I really need to resume work this month. A 3 month gap on my resume really doesn't look good. Ah well, wish me the best.

this week seems to have gone by so fast. its already Friday, and it sorta feels like we just got back from Thredbo. I guess sleeping a lot does help the time go by faster :)

I went for my xray & ultrasound yesterday. what a waste of money. aihs. I should have gone to the clinic that does bulk billing (i.e. don't need to pay anything), which was the one I was suppose to go to. Instead, I opted to go to the one in the city, which ended up costing me about $100 extra. I really don't get the medicare claim system. A bit fucked up imo. Go to a clinic that bulk bills and you don't pay anything, go to a clinic that doesnt, and you fork out extra money for it. Aihs.

Anyway, the imaging didn't turn out much. I have a medial collateral ligament injury. Apparently one of the better ligaments to stuff up. The doc didn't say it was torn or anything. Its just swelled up pretty badly. Should take about a month to get better. I didn't get tested for cartilage damage, cuz that will take an MRI to detect, but it doesn't seem to be the case. It doesn't really hurt unless i move the knee in a funny angle or try to straighten it, so i guess the damage isn't too bad. I'm still limping around though. Kinda hard to walk if one of your legs can' straighten up.

Apart from doing my checkups and stuff, I've been searching for work as well. Getting quite demotivated. I've applied for a couple on Seek, and also googled for some consultancies that I may be interested in working for. Haven't heard from any of them though. Sigh... I think I'll just apply to do some data entry for a month or so. I should think about earning some money, instead of getting a job I want.

when your luck is down, its really down. aihs. the job offer i had from Acctek was rescinded. Salary negotiations didn't go that well, rather it didn't happen at all. The boss figured he wouldn't be able to offer me a salary that I would be happy with, so thats that.

Now I have to start looking for a job again. Guess I'm gonna be spending more than a 1/4 year being unemployed. This sucks... I'm starting to get depressed.

omg. i'm in fuckin agony now. twisted my knee really bad yesterday. came off a skilift, my board caught in the snow, and my knee went *pop* after it crashed into the ground and my leg went in an unnatural direction. worst pain i ever felt at that instant. it subsided after a minute or so but that felt like an eternity. The lady with the ski patrol was saying its a common injury in the sport, and the popping sound isn't a good sign. Might even need reconstructive surgery. I guess it didn't really sink in at that point in time. I didn't really feel anything about it. I was just "oh, ok!". They strapped me in to a sled and I got a ride down to the medical center. That was pretty cool :) I wanted Thos to snap a picture, but I think he was pretty freaked out.

Anyway, the doc said it wasn't so bad. I could move my leg reasonably freely when he diagnosed me, so nothing was broken. Most likely a tear of the meniscus cartilage. Can't tell at that moment anyway. Its pretty bad now though. Its swelled up a fair bit, and I can't straighten my leg at all. I need to get an xray done, and get the doc to prescribe me some stronger medicine. But don't know how man. The medical centre I go to is pretty far from here, and I can barely shuffle around the house. Plus I need to return the rental gear as well. Not a promising day...

To top it off, my whole body is absolutely buggered. I feel bruised and sore all over. My neck is the worst off though. If I'm lying down, I can't get up unless I use my hands to support my head. Or roll myself up. But I can't roll now cuz of my knee. Tried that this morning when I woke up. Fuckin hell... knee hurt so much I cried out. I'm cringing just thinking about it.

Kla. Have to shuffle back to the kitchen. I'm using a pack of mixed vegetables to ice my knee. Starting to melt already. Gonna put it back in the freezer.

Got another 3 hours to kill b4 I set off for Thredbo. And then its a 5-6 hour bus ride. The one aspect of the trip I ain't exactly looking forward to. I wanna get out of the house as soon as I can. Mainly cuz the smoke detector is driving me nuts. Its giving a very audible beep every 30 seconds or so. Soooooo damn annoying.

I went to see the chinese doc this morn as well. My ankle is still acting up. I did manage to go for a short job the other day. It didn't really get sore apart from occasional spikes of pain. I can't figure it out... it some particular angle that brings that pain. But when I was at the doc, couldn't replicate it. Theres no locations on my ankle that is particular sore. I dunno, maybe its just mine and the doc's definition of soreness. Not understanding mandarin that well doesn't exactly help. It didn't hurt when the doc massaged certain areas, but then he applied pressure at certain points. Good gawd... it bloody hurts. Don't know if its part of the treatment...but my ankle does feel better after the whole thing. Problem seems to be still there though, but I'm just gonna wait and see la. Gonna start going for regular jogs or something to see if it becomse worse.

Thats it. Wish me luck up on the slopse. I don't need to injure another joint. The only leg joint I have left thats in good working condition is my right ankle. I wanna try keep it that way at the very least...

5 minutes after I blog about not receiving a call regarding a job, I get a call offering me the position. Cool! The base salary is quite sad, but overall I might be able to earn $60K over. That depends on the hours I can charge out to clients. So it depends on how much business the company has.

I'm trying to negotiate the pay now. $35K base salary seems just too little. If all goes well, I'll probably start beginning of July, which would make it what? 3 months of unemployment? Or was it 2? I lost track of time already. Hope for the best. I'll still take the job even if I can't get the improvement on the salary. Thinking about it, its really a good opportunity. Its a really small company, so I don't have to work from the bottom of the food chain to become a consultant. I can start visiting clients once I feel I'm up to speed on my knowledge. 1 year is more than enough time for me to become an expert in the applications I'll be supporting. I might even be able to play a part in expanding the company! How cool will that be?!

Putting the job aside...We'r going to Thredbo tomorrow!!!! Woohoo! Picking up the gear today. Can't wait to see what kind of boards we get to use. Hope its something cool ^_^ Apart from that, have to start planning for our NZ trip already. Need to go down city and get some quotes later. Maybe I'll go visit the chinese doc if I remember later. And also check out some medical insurance stuff. Hmmm... quite a number of errands to do now that I think about it.

Ah well. Lunch comes first. I'm gonna go have a mushroom mozzarella melt. Won't have much chance to eat that during the week once I start working.

exactly a year ago, a blazing inferno started in my bed and almost took my foot off :) Okla..slight exaggeration, but if you wake up to the smells of burning upholstery and with flames dancing a meter away from your face, I reckon I can classify it as a blazing inferno :p

I didn't do much today. I got lots of loot in the mail, none of which are birthday presents unfortunately :p I received the stock charting software I ordered, so I spent some time reading & setting it up. I also got a new sim card! I'm going for a prepaid service, iSim. Its purported pretty good. Its owned by Optus anway, so you can't really go wrong service-wise. And the greatest thing about it? Absolutely the best rates in Australia as far as I know. 39c per minute, per second billing. NO flagfall. Thats zero, nil, nein flagfall. And 19c sms as well. Theres obviously no fancy stuff like wap, mms (not sure about this), and other frills, but honestly... all that stuff is nothing more than gimmicks. I'm transferring my old number over, so just hope it doesn't stuff up or anything.

I also finally received the application form for another stockbroker that I wanted to use. Each trade is about $10 cheapr...but I am soooo not impressed with them. Being budget is one thing...being unprofessional is a different matter. I requested their forms about what? 2-3 weeks ago, and I only just got it. Not only are the disclosure statements and application forms an in-house hack job. Its very sloppy as well. I don't mind photocopied booklets, but if theres streaks and black marks strewn over every single page, it ain't something I would want to show a potential client. It doesn't exactly generate confidence in their services. Terrible. Its no wonder they only have about 1% market share as a discount broker.

I didn't receive a call in regards to the job. Never a good sign. Guess I have to ring him up tomorrow morning. On another note, I'm gonna be getting a SE w810i phone. A gift from my mum n sis. I should get it when Andy comes back in about 2 weeks. Can't wait... Finally! A new phone.

its my birthday today! woop dee do :p I should be more excited that I'm 25 now (should I?), but every day this week is being overshadowed by the fact that we'r finally going up to Thredbo this weekend. Just can't wait for it to come. Shouldn't get so hyped up... I don't want to get disappointed.

My interview yesterday went pretty well. Scott (the boss) seems pretty ok with having me on board, but he still has to go through some other candidates. I should find out by Wednesday. Its a small establishment la. Just him, an older lady and I think he is hiring 2 more ppl (including my position). Its an entry level (in other words, low pay) Customer Support Consultant. Jobwise... its pretty ideal to what I want. I provide application support, travel to sites and fix problems and maybe even source out new contracts eventually. Not a lot of companies uses a junior for this type of position.

The problem? The place is pretty far. It'll take between 1 to 1 1/2 hours to get there. Thats still closer than my previous company though. I don't know the pay details yet, but he wouldn't be able to pay my $45K p.a base salary like Favco. And with Favco... I get away with more than that cuz my transport expenses were taken care of. It'll cost me $2K+ annually to get to work, excluding the time wasted on travel. So if the pay for this job is less than $40K... I really don't know. If its possible for me to bring my take home pay up to $50K+ by sourcing new contracts and stuff then thats ok la. I don't mind being paid for performance.

Other than the distance, the pay, and the fact that there are no chiqs at the company... its a pretty good opportunity for me. I should be able to learn a lot by working at this place. In 1-2 years, I should be able to become a proper consultant. At any rate, I'll just mull over it when I get the call tomorrow.

I can't wake up in the mornings, and I can't sleep at night. Just what the kuku is wrong with me. Aihs. Plus my ankle is acting up again. Cold nights are not good for me. I think I might go to the chinese doc again later in the day. Probably need to manipulate my joints again. I really want to get my ankle fixed... perhaps I should go for an MRI. Wonder how much that would set me back.

I guess I should take up private medical insurance. If only for the extra benefits. You can claim up to $350 for stuff like physiotherapy or chiro. Even acupuncture is included. Don't know how much the cover is though. Probably more than $350 a year. I've just cancelled my death & tpd (total & permanent disability) insurance from my superannuation. Eating up my superannuation for no good reason. The $1/week account maintenance fees are bad enough. I don't even know how much interest the super will be able to earn.

I don't believe in all this compulsory savings crap. Its not my problem if some people aren't smart enough to manage their money for retirement. I'd rather employers pay me the extra 8% superannuation contribution or so directly to me. I'll decide what to do with my own money, thank you very much. At any rate, I don't think the money an average worker gets from superannuation is enough in the first place. Some people still have to scrimp and save, or come out of retirement to survive. Those that don't have to... don't rely on superannuation in the 1st place.

Weeeee. I'm going on a spending spree. Having a credit card of your own can really let someone throw caution to the wind. I just placed an order for a sharemarket charting software. Thats $695. Ouch... I bought some books off Amazon last night as well. About $100 in total. The books come in about $20 cheaper than buying locally. Only thing is that I'd have to wait for 2 weeks or so. They've already shipped 2 of the books though. I hope they come in good condition, but so far its been excellent. The books I've gotten off Amazon so far doesn't have any crease, dogears or dubious stains.

We rented our boarding gear yesterday. $139 for the lot. Board, boots, parka, pants and a carry bag. We haven't actually seen the boards cuz they haven't been prepped, but the rest of the stuff are all new. We'r picking them up next Thursday, so I'll get to take some happy shots of it :)

I'm at a loss this weekend. I don't know what to do. Especially after having spent so much money. I already mentioned I have sort of an interview on Monday right? Hopefully I'll luck out and he already has an open position for me. Or maybe I'll work for minimum wage and pour coffee and stuff just to get my foot in the door. Hmmm. I think I'm too uppity for my own good. That kind of work feels so degrading... Ok la... I did work as a waiter/bartender/glassie, but thats different from being an office gopher.

Ah well. I feel like a mushroom mozzarella melt today. Gonna go pick up a magazine, and lame at the local cafe for a bit.

I haven't been looking for jobs this week. Getting sick of it. I'm meeting up with the boss of a consultancy company that I met from when I was at Favco. He knows about what I've done so far and was interested in my resume. He didn't have anything suitable for me back then la. His company does have a support position open, but he said that its too low level for me. Anyway, I forwarded him an updated copy of my resume, and he asked me to drop by on Monday for a chat. I'm not expecting much, but its better than nothing. I haven't even been for a single interview in the past month despite my applications.

Not gonna do much today. I ran out of market related books to read. Theres another one I want to pick up, but Kino doesn't have the paperback copy. And Amazon is actually cheaper even after factoring in the delivery cost. Haihs. I reckon Aussie bookstores really make a killing... Theres barely any price competition. Most books sell for the same price at Dymocks as they do at Kino. Only difference is when theres a Sale on or membership benefits.

I'm reading the book Jacq bought for me. The Rules of Work by Richard Templar. Its one of those tips to succeed at work books. Dress smart, have a firm handshake, etc etc. Makes for an interesting read. Oh! I've also re-discovered internet radio yesterday! :) I used to listen to them when working in the computer labs in uni. Its a good change from the mp3s I have on my drive. I've been sitting in front of my com so much, I'm starting to get sick of the music I play.

Oooo... gonna go look at boarding stuff today though! We might rent our stuff from a store in the city instead of up in Thredbo. Might have better stuff to choose from. I've still got stuff to buy though. I decided that I probably won't get new gloves yet. No current designs that I like. But I still nede to get thermals.

Blearrghh. Been having absolutely horrible mornings. Firstly its bloody difficult to get out of bed. I think my entire body can make that knuckle popping sound when I move. Is that normal? Secondly... I've been waking up with a congested nose the past few days. Its so damn annoying. And I can't even blow my nose to clear it...its just clogged up. It becomes ok after a few hours, but at the moment its bothering the heck out of me.

I'm sick of applying for work already. It just serves only to annoy me. Not only am I underqualified the positions I want...I'm also overqualified for them o_O what the fook man... Haihs. Like fatts put it. A noob > Kiangs. Sadness...

Isn't the 1st time actually. An application I did earlier on said the same thing. They only wanted recent graduates. Either that or they needed citizenship. I don't mind being rejected because I don't have enough technical knowledge... cuz thats partly true. But to be cut from a tech support position when I'm more knowledgeable than them is ridiculous. I know that for a fact because I used to deal with that department when I was working. They provided the Australian support for the accounting package I was implementing at the company. Bloody morons I tell you. They coudln't answer most of my questions satisfactorily. Alwez have to go back to the developers in South Africa.

I can still remember some 'solutions' they provided me. One was in regards to a button that didn't do what it was suppose to. I think it was meant to import a file or something, but it doesn't respond. The solution? Keep clicking on it till it works... o_O Another was an error message that keeps popping up when you start the program. Solution? Keep reinstalling the program until the message goes away... o_O

Very elegant...

p.s. to cut them some slack, the solutions do in fact work, which in all honesty is what businesses want. it doesn't have to be perfect or even efficient, just as long as it works. I really dislike this attitude though, although I've been prone to it on several occasions as well. Thats life I guess...

its been 1 1/2 months since i've been voluntarily unemployed. I'm kinda in a paradox. Time passes by so slowly...and yet so quickly at the same time. You can also say that I have so much friggin time on my hand since I'm not working, but I feel that I have no time as well because I'm not working. Aihs. What a muddle.

I wish I can just take off and travel around the world. Technically... I can certainly pay for it now. Although that doesn't mean I can afford it. Such a pain. I wonder when I'll be able to travel to Japan and the South Americas. Europe would be nice as well. They have such impressive architecture. Like the Sagrada Familia in Catalonia

from wiki

Coordinates are 41°24′13″N, 2°10′28″E if you want to check it out on Google Earth ^_ I'm not an architecture fan, but I still appreciate the beauty and effort that is poured into this structure. Seeing these kind of buildings are among my list of things to do before I croak. The Machu Picchu in Peru is another place I want to see with my own eyes. My friends who've been there (and SA in general) absolutely loved it. Incidently, Google Earth has Machu Picchu as well, but you can't see nuts since theres no lights in that area.

courtesy of wiki

Honestly speaking though, its not like you need super a lot of money to see all of this. Its a huge amount if you want to sleep in 5 star hotels, snack on beluga caviar and wash it down with foie gras. Round the world trips on statravel starts from $1500 to $3000. I guess it kinda depends though. One of my friends travelled around Europe and spent $20K. She did spend a whole month there... but it still seems like a pretty hefty amount. Ah well. No point thinking about that now since I don't even have a job to fund any escapades. At least I still have my ski trip next week, and New Zealand in September.

i just spent the most part of the long weekend playing Wild Arms 4. Feeling so stoned now... spent a bit too much time holding on to the joypad. I managed to complete the game, so its out of the way now :) I seem to finish an average of 1 game per week. I finished playing Rise of Legends last week as well. Or was that the week before? Can't remember...my timing is screwed up.

Andy's off to Spain for his brother's wedding. So cool. I need to decide on what phone I really want b4 he gets back. Mom n sis gonna chip in to get a new mobile phone for me. Initially I wanted the SE 810i, but after thinking about it. I probably wouldn't use the music feature much. So its kinda moot getting it. The K800 is a better choice. Its music capabilities probably aren't as good, but its a Cybershot! 3.2 mpx camera as well. Pretty darn good.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be out yet. No idea when as well. I saw a post on gsmarena.com that mentiones 26th June, but you really can't put much faith into what those random comments say. Aihs... I'm at a loss. Not that its a super big deal... can always get my mom to courier it over, but dunno how much that would cost. Oh... and just fyi, the phone is much cheaper back home (the 810i). It retails for about $700+ here, but its only rm1450 according to my mom. ZZzzz.. how how how?? Can't make up my mind. Dunno how much the k800 will be also in the first place. Probably not going to be worth buying it especially since if its so new.

Meh...I'll mull over it while munching on my Coles Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies.

i wanna go to bed, but i'm feeling too full! Aihs. Went to a nice spanish restaurant for dinner. One of the waitresses had really big ermm...assets :) Oh. The food was good too. Ate a bit too much in fact. Its kinda expensive though. The tapas are like $10 each serving...and its not much more than a single dish when you go yumcha. We (me, thos, andy) ordered 4 different types of tapas: tortila, mushroom, chorizo sausage & chicken wings. They sound a lot exotic on the menu obviously :p ermm.. A chicken & seafood paella (risotto in a wok?), which I think didn't have any chicken in it. And dessert too. So yeah...feeling quite fat at the moment.

I have to go to work tomorrow too. Arrrrghhhh! I'm so use to bludging at home now. Too used to sleeping late and not having any early morning commitments. Oh well. I guess I do need the money after a month of not working. Somehow... it seems like I'm spending a fair bit even though I'm not working. And thats not counting my losses in the market so far. I keep those expenses separate from my records.

Oh...its actually only $1,580.38. Not $2,180.38 like I originally thought :) Had to pay rent twice last month. Thats not too bad since the $1500 is inclusive of my ski trip. But haven't factored in lift passes and rental. That would fall under this month. Exactly 2 more weeks before Thredbo!!! Woohoo!

So so soooo tired this morning. Its been getting more difficult to get out of bed. I usually attribute that to my diet. Don't know if its psychological or not, but when I go through the South Beach or Atkins diet... I seem to feel more refreshed in the mornings. Now wake up, stone in bed for about 5 minutes deciding if I should go back to sleep or get up. When I do get up, I sit on my chair in front of the com for another 5 minutes deciding if getting out of bed was the right choice. Aihs... I wonder if its cuz I don't have to wake up to get to work.

Jez like this morning. I wake up at 8.30, take my multi vits, and then crawl back into bed :) I would probably still be sleeping if my ex-workplace didn't call me up. They having problems doing some setup for the accounting software, so called me up for help. Maybe I should get myself an ABN and start charging them for $150/hour for every 5 minute block. Thats what the consultants do. Hmmm.... So far I've received an average of 2 calls a week since I've left work.

I'm going back to work tmr to fix things up. It shouldn't take me long. I think I know whats the problem. Should be able to fix it in a few minutes...and then I can charge them for 4 hours worth of work :) Kekekek. Sweet deal huh? I backcharge my travel time :)

My trades are a losing proposition at the moment. Its all still unrealised losses, but with the the US markets are performing, it doesn't bode well. I'm not exiting till the share prices hit my stop, but if they do... I will lose up to $500. Sounds like a small amount, but thats more than a weeks expenditure for me. Oh well. Live and learn.

I really need to think ahead more and not let my emotions get involved when trying to trade. Thinking "Oh man... if I don't pull this trade, I'm gonna miss out!" is probably among one of the worst things you can do to yourself as a trader. And I always just realise my mistake AFTER the trade goes through... sheesh.

Just like the day before... I placed an order of about $4K plus for some shares which I figure are going to breakout (basically prices going up). I put the order in about midnight after reading up just a little bit about it. BUTTT, prices dropped instead o_O 2 things I could have done to prevent that. 1st was to look at the US market, which I believe was the pressure behind the recent downturn in the Aussie market. At the time I placed the order, the US market was already in a pretty bad decline. If I had known that, I would have 2nd thoughts since the stock I bought is essentially a US company too. Mistake #1.

Mistake #2. I didn't want to miss the rally...so I placed the order the night before instead of waiting for the market to open and observing the prices. I was too eager and ended up becoming one of the punters who gets raped by the markets. What I should have done is be patient, and wait for a point in which I can enter the market confidently. Prices go up, but they always come down too. I shouldn't have been so anxious to jump in at the start.

What ticks me off is that the stuff I just wrote...is also mentioned in the books that I've been reading to a certain extent. It just shows how noobish I am in trading. A lesson well learnt indeed. I won't be making the same mistakes twice. Oh. I've decided that I won't disclose or discuss the actual stocks that I buy. A reflection on my purchases in general is ok. Its basically to prevent me from developing an ego regarding my purchases.

I like this:

God loves everybody, but I think what he does with fat people is stick them on a skewer and roasts them over hell.

From Awaken the Giant Within by Anthony Robbins.

With that said, I'm slightly less than 81kgs today :p Then again, I haven't had lunch...so my real weight is probably around 82kgs.

the trouble with knowing how to fix computers...is that ppl tend to call you up to troubleshoot their computer. Aihs. not referring to you jacq :p I left work last month, but I still get calls occasionally in regards to the stuff that I've set up. I really charge them for the advice. I got a wake up call this morning from the ex-production manager as well cuz he couldn't log in his computer o_O Haihs...

I don't mind it so much... but its bothersome when I was enjoying sleeping in. Its a cold morning after all. Its been raining the whole morning, and I think I caught a cold as well. My nose is leaking almost as much as the tap in the kitchen, which I really need to get fixed. The dripping is bloody annoying me, applies to both the tap n my nose.

I love the fact that its starting to get cold. Its a nice feeling to go out and be able to blow mist when u breathe :) And you get to wear jackets and scarves too! I still got a leather jacket that I haven't worn out. Can't wait to be able to use it. On the other hand... it sucks when you get out of a hot shower and into the cold. Or when my nose is constantly runny. Or that you can't go out without wrapping yourself up, which kinda contradicts what I said earlier :p Its a love/hate relationship. Sydney isn't too bad though. Doesn't get as cold as Melbourne, so its been bearable.

And best thing about winter... snow!!! I'll be hitting the slopes in just 3 more weekends! I'm soooo looking forward to it. I hope it snows when I'm there. I still haven't seen it snow... feel so jakun. Aihs.

K then... off to job hunt.

ZZzzz... its been a damn quiet weekend. Thos is in NZ, so no kaki at home. Can't be stuffed going out as well since theres nothing to do. And since it was a weekend, I didn't have the inclination to do anything productive. Thats kinda bad, I spend my unemployed weekdays laming around, and then I spend the weekends laming around even more. Must stop this pattern (watch me do the same thing next week!)

I think I ate a lot this weekend, even though I didn't go out and my larder is almost bare. I think I made some pasta on Friday night, and had it for lunch the next day too. Made a baked beans omelette, toppped with baked beans for dinner. Ended up ordering a large pizza with garlic bread and drink 2 hours later cuz I wasn't satisfied. Left half a pizza for lunch today, and then I made pasta for dinner again.

Hmmm. Doesn't really sound like a lot now that I wrote it out. Just sounds like a really sad diet o_O I think I better go grocery shopping tomorrow... I've been reflecting on some stuff that Jacq mentioned when she returned my call on Friday, but don't feel like writing too long a post. Maybe tmr if I remember.

p.s. Chun Li and Cammy have been more active over the weekend. I didn't take them out to play, but just stick my hand in the cage and muck around a bit. Quite nice to let them crawl all over your hand and sniff/gnaw your fingers ^_^ Oh..those are the names of the rats in case I haven't mentioned them.

I've got nothing planned today. Except for reading the book I got yesterday. Kinokuniya seems to be kinda lousy when it comes to investment books. Makes me kinda regret paying $15 to join the membership. They didn't have the book I wanted as well, would have take 2 weeks to order it in. And thats from a local distributor as well. Thats a really really crappy lead time. I might as well order it from Amazon. Sheesh.

I got the book from Dymocks in the end. $76.95, sigh. If I could have bought from Kino, it would have been 10% off. Its really bugging me... I hate buying stuff when I could have gotten it cheaper somewhere else. I would have gotten another book as well, but then Kino didn't even have it. And its a bloody classic investment book too. "The Warren Buffett Way" by Robert Hagstrom. I think anyone whos serious in the sharemarket would have read this book, and they don't bloody have it! So dissappointing. Made me pay $7.695 extra for a book. Ish!!

And to top it off, I didn't have to buy a new book to read after all! Jacq ordered one from Amazon for me. Supposedly an early birthday present :p (which is the 20th June!! In case anyone has forgotten. Thats 18 days away ^_^) Thanks again for the book babes! *muaks*

Just another 3 weeks before we hit the slopes! Nice!! I'm still excited about it. Still gotta buy some stuff. I didn't get my thermals yet, and I MIGHT buy a new pair of gloves. Gonna be about $100+ for that. Aihs...truly an expensive sport. Probably will go get them the next weekend. Thos left of NZ today. His fight is on Sunday, so hopefully he won't come back too battered. ^_^ Who knows... he might even win all his fights. He is aiming to win his first fight though, since he might not have enough gas to win his 2nd fight and beyond. Ah well, all the best to him. Its all good to me as long as he doesn't break any limbs.

81kg today! Woohoo. Its nice to weigh yourself early in the morning after taking a leak :) Makes you feel good about yourself. Heheheh

I'm off for an appointment in the city today. With soem business consultants, for lack of a better term. Its a small business advisory service. I wanted to find out what kind of services they can offer me, and maybe if they can help me find out some stuff in regards to my business idea.

After that, I might try to looking for the Billabong hoodie that I really want a 2nd time. The store clerk might have made a mistake when he couldn't find the size. Then I've got a book that I want to get, and after that I'll probably lame at Gloria Jeans or a while with a cappucino and a cookies 'n' cream cheesecake :) Mmmmm... sounds like a nice day so far. A bit tired of being cooped up at home during the week. Its been ok though, I'm occupied during the day with reading and just checking on the stockmarket.

A book that I'd fully recommend to anyone when starting out in the market is "The Aggressive Investor", by Colin Nicholson. Its based on the Aussie market, but his model can be applied to any investor. Its a great starting point if you don't know how to write an investment plan. Apparently its not that suitable if you don't have around $50K to invest in. It might still work out if you have enough capital, but you'd just have to take on higher risks, and the brokerage fees will eat into your portfolio as well. Even so, I'd still recommend the book to those without the recommended to start with.

Colin recommends "Come into my Trading Room", by Alexander Elder for those without the recommended starting capital. Incidently, this is the book I'm going to buy today. Not because I'm a lemming and want to buy it because he recommended it. It was already my intention to pick up this book after finishing with Aggressive Investor. So its a bonus that Colin recommended it as well.

I'm off then. Don't want to miss my bus.

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.

omg... my blog is being spammed

i would like to go to sleep, but i'm too effing full o_O OD'ed myself on a roast chicken for dinner. Curse woolies and their $4.98 roast chicken! Should have stopped myself from finishing it when I was full... but I just felt like I had to keep going. Must not let myself be defeated by a mere cooked fowl. Although at this stage, I think I've lost the battle. Feeling both uncomfortable and guilty too... aihs

back to south beach from tomorrow onwards! have to restock groceries with the proper foods now. hmmmm. but i just bough meat pies and crap earlier! how how how. aihs. our freezer really crammed full of junk. especially with fatty still crashing at our place. its always stocked with pies, frozen fish and ice cream. what a wonderful diet we have o_O

diet aside, i'll be unemployed in 2 days!!! woohoo! its kinda exciting and yet stressful at the same time. don't know whats going to happen, or where i'll end up. it does put my property plans in the backburner, since i'm won't get a loan since i'm unemployed now (incidently, i just get preapproved for a $240,000 loan). but i'm gonna move into sharemarket investments for the time being. learning the basics at the moment. http://www.asx.com.au has great resources for those interested. i'm pretty sure the material they have is applicable in any market.

time to try to sleep. need to wake up early tomorrow. bringing the car for its service. about damn time too. the car couldn't start this morning. battery went flat. this always has to happen when i'm using the company cars. haihs.

i got a car from the company again! using the magna at the moment. woo hoo. although i honestly don't mind taking public transport to work. cuz i'm damn slack... not even bothered to wake up earlier so that i can show up on work on time. since the car broke down, i've been rocking up to work at about 9.30 - 10 in the morning. aihs. where can i find another job like this?

speaking of work, i still haven't completed my resume. its sorta done... but i think i should tweak it a bit more. haven't really put a lot of thought into it. but it just feels like such a waste of time to work on something that might not even be useful in the first place. i did manage to get interviews for jobs with my old resume... although not as much as i would like to think. can't remember anymore.

oh. jacq was asking why i had to look for work. thought i explained in a previous post, or maybe not. basically, my contract at the company ends on the 30th April. and i'm not renewing it because i feel that i should move on la. That, and the fact that the car I was provided broke down, and was sold off for a grand total of $150! if u'r thinking $150 is really cheap, think again. The car was valued at ~$500. but to repair it would cost at least $3-400, if not more. so $150 is actually pretty decent.

anyway. i'll still be going back to the company from time to time. couple of items that still need to be done in regards to the new accounting system. but other than that. theres zilch for me to do. so yeah, time to move on.

its good friday! which means its a public holiday here. woo hoo! hurrah for long weekends... even though we don't really have anything planned. should probably try to catch up on some investment stuff over this week. been slacking since I came back from perth.

i think i'm rather fickle... starting to think about shares again. i'm still interested in property though, but at this point, its gonna be hard for me to get a loan since i'm gonna be unemployed at the end of this month. i need to start investing soon though, before I lose steam and just say fuck it all. aihs.

waiting for thos to get ready now. getting really hungry. gonna go KFC for lunch. i haven't had KFC in a while, maybe 2 months or so? can't remember when i stopped eating KFC at work. not that it makes much of a difference to my diet. my lunch usually consists of half a roasted chicken anyway. and thats equivalent to 3 pieces of KFC chicken, only without the deep fried skin. and here i am rubbing my tummy...which seems to be getting rounder by the day o_O

aihs. today just ain't my day. wasted 4 hours of my life because my car broke down on the M5 highway. right in front of the toll too. called NRMA for a service. took 1/2 hour to come. 2 seconds to say he can't work on the car because its on the freeway o_O another 1/2 hour for the tow truck to come and tow the car to a 'safe location' so that the service guy can work on it.

45 minutes for the service guy to get back to me. 1 minute to tell me that the car won't start because the timing belt broke o_O. 1/2 hour for the tow truck to bring the car back to office. 2 hours to get back home. Hmmmm.. thats less than 4 hours.

aihs... i want better luck!