Preparing for CNY Year of the Ox

Oranges symbolise Luck and the chocolates and sweets symbolise Plenty,Hong Bao is of course Money in Abundance



The Pussy Willow is a favourite amongst Chinese families with its long branches and cat furry like 'leaves'

I am half-Chinese (the other half is Indian), and my wife is Chinese, I have had the happy experiences of the Nong Li Xin Nian and recall the vivid memories of first receiving the much cherised Hong Bao (red packets containing money) from young,right through my teeange years and as a young adult.Now as a middle-aged person with family and children, my impressions of the Chinese New Year and its traditions take on new meanings as time goes by. Most important is the concept of the respect for elders and filial peity, and the congregating of close family members near and far for the Reunion Dinner.

People are known to fly half the world over just to meet with their parents,siblings and their spouses especially during Chinese New Year. Also, millions of migrant Chinese workers go back to their hometowns weeks before the New Year from the big cities leaving the citites virtual 'ghost towns'.

It is safe to say that most youngsters and teenagers would think of themselves as "citizens of the world" and basically cultureless. As we grow and mature, we realise that we belong to certain heritages and the observance of these time honoured practices by 'our' people is what we call 'customs'. I am guilty of ignorance of many of the meanings of the Chinese customs and traditions but I do my part when it comes to fixing or decorating the house, and the deliveryboy errands like purchasing the Pussy Willow plants, flowerpots and some food dishes like "ClayPot" (Pan Chai) from the local restaurant.

Each year,my family has a Reunion Dinner at my House with my parents (my Mum is the eldest daughter), my younger Brother's family,my Aunt (2nd sister) and her daughter (my cousin). Each New Year's Day we will celebrate at my house (I am the elder son of the Eldest Sister) with about 50 people attending with all their families.

Above are some of the decorations in anticipation of the Year of the Ox.

The Importance of Being Enthusiastic

Several days ago, I went on a short overseas trip to Kuala Lumpur for work. As is common with me, I normally like to browse at the duty free (no GST) shops which are beyond the customs chek-in at Changi airport Terminal 2 as they normally have the latest fashion and accessories on sale and this time of year is when most boutique outlets have the year-end or pre-Chinese New Year Sales.

I made a beeline for the Raoul menswear shop at T2, I was dressed to meet customers in KL so was in the full business getup,longsleeve shirt,tie,business pants,the works. Raoul has one of the more fashionable mens ready to wear range of clothing in Singapore, and their prices are mid range, the higher end being Hugo Boss, Armani and Zegna. Why I stress this is that I was not dressed like some foreign worker or even a casual tourist.Being a regular customer of Raoul in their downtown shops at Paragon as well as Raffles City, I was aware that the year -end Sales of 40 to 70 percent applies to the Changi T2 shop too.

As I approached the shop, I noticed that the signage for the Sales was not displayed but another Sale sign was displayed for Singapore Airlines travellers, display your SQ boarding pass and you automatically get a 15% discount.

The SINGAPOREAN salesman manning the shop was busy chatting on the phone, he was obviously talking to his girlfriend, or sweetheart when I entered, as his expression displayed it.I went to the business shirts area intent on picking up a nice shirt or 2 at a good price. After about 5 minutes, of further yakking on his part, he noticed I wanted some clarification so he put down the phone and looked at me, rather haughtily and said " Yes ?".

It seemed that I was "invading" into his private space and was providing to be a nuisance to his morning talk-cock session. I asked him several questions which I knew the answers just to check what I already knew, the items with the Red stickers would be marked down 40% and Yellow stickers were 30% markdowns. He answered just to the point,not elaborating and for all intents and purposes 'doing his job'

The perception I got was that he was just "doing his job" - giving the customer the basic information requested and nothing more. No selling techniques of promoting the various designs, whether they were this seasons or last seasons, cutting,shirt size, not even coaxing me to try on a shirt,nothing. The notion of an over-pushy salesman would definately NOT apply to him. Anyway, most over-pushy salespeople, can be overcome by a "No, thanks, I'm just browsing" and they would back off.

I decided NOT to buy based on 2 criteria :

a) I did not want to lug the extra shirt or two and would buy after my trip when I
touched down. The shirts were of full cotton fabric,stylish and 'slim fit'.

b) I was not sold to ; - that is the saddest and most off-putting part. So I did
not give him the pleasure or the opportunity of making a business transaction
from me.

Fast Forward to the Next Day, when I returned from my 2 day trip.Upon touching down, I made my way to the same shop and decided to buy the shirt(s) as I needed some for the CNY.

Upon entering the shop, this CHINESE (foreign) went straight up to me and said,

" Good evening sir, can I help you, are you looking for anything specific?"

Immediately, I felt elevated, I was THE CUSTOMER. This Sales person went to describe the Sales items on the racks, the latest designs, the cutting and material used plus the additional special offer for SQ flyers would get (15% discount, if one presented the boarding pass). Always with a smile on his face and ever ready to serve me.He obviously was very enthusiastic about his job and it showed.

While trying on the shirt, he enquired about its fitting and if I was satisfied, would pack in a new shirt and even told me the discounted price to gauge whether I was comfortable with it. I was so pleased that I almost wanted to buy 2 shirts on impulse (what with the Sales going on) but resisted after convincing myself to exercise restraint,"times are bad".

PEOPLE LIKE TO BE SOLD TO (FACT)

So, especially in these difficult economic times,everyone is fighting tooth and nail for survival, particularly the retail industry.If you were the boss of these 2 sales people, the SINGAPOREAN and the CHINESE, and you had to decide that there was only room for 1 job, because of cost cutting,just think :

a) who would sell more and thus ensuring the survival or even the eventual expansion of the business ?

The answer is obvious,the nationality is stated in this story to emphasise that to my fellow Singaporeans, these are exceptional and potentially very dificcult and trying times,and they call for exceptional performances and services to meet up to the challenge. Business owners like myself are not obliged to keep staff because they are Singaporean, they may be 'just doing their jobs' but THAT IS NOT ENOUGH. However,what is additionally required is :

a) good work attitude and earnestness
b) hunger for securing business and with an eye on lowering costs

Who has demonstrated these above 2 criteria ?

This is the IMPORTANCE OF BEING ENTHUSIASTIC

Chinese New Year 2009

The Year of the Ox is shaping up to be a challenging one, what with the very uncertain economic times currently upon us. Nonetheless, based on my visits to various places such as Tiong Bahru Market,(pictures above)Thomson Road Flower Shops as well as the bustling Orchard Road Department Stores, everyone seems to be out in force with the purpose of buying new clothing,shoes, flowering plants, haircuts and perms,anything to get 'rid of the old and in with the new'.

There is no truth (at least from what I am seeing) that people seem to be only windowshopping.Everywhere there are sales aplenty in Takashima, Paragon,Raffles City and elsewhere and this should be one of the best times of the year for all retailers. However,the busyness of shopping centers is no accurate reflection of the economy as a whole as Singapore's population of 5 Million,has about 1 to 1.5 Million with disposable income, and these cannot translate into any serious GDP growth.If we were one third the size of China , say 400 Million, then it would definately stimulate growth.

Anyway,lets just enjoy the Chinese New Year and welcome the Year of the Ox and the challenges that it will bring.

My first 5km in 6 weeks ; Oh the exhilaration !

Today marks the first milestone in my 'comeback' as a runner and possibly marathoner. I laced up my shoes,at 6.15pm and tried (as I had been trying for at least the past 2 weeks, after taking an enforced 4 week break) again to make a decent run at a decent pace. I had beforehand loosened my hamstring muscles by using the rubber trainer and did a full set of hamstring to quad stretches for 10 minutes.

My orthopaedic doctor, Dr. Khong, had advised me to run with my heel hitting the ground first,rolling into midsole and toe-off. This is to minimise the impact and increase the area which your foot and hence leg strikes the floor and thus lower the pressure and force upwards to the knee and hips. This is many running coaches viewpoint,an inefficient way of runing as the heelstrike to toe-off method ,takes up more total time per stride compared to using the midsole bounce method.

My first 100m was the hardest, as the muscles were still stiff after a day at the office and I actually experienced some pain after 400 m upslope. I was running with the normal forward pronation method (landing on midesole) so I stopped and walked and changed to the heelstrike method which looked a bit funny at first, that is your foot extends out like walking and your body is erect and slightly bent.

I urged myself on at a slow pace and off I went, and then something magical happened, the muscles loosened and my running became more relaxed and though I was running heel hitting the ground first, I was actually running at a slow but decent pace.There was minimal pain,which became diminished as I ran as I was aware how to land my left foot heel first.

Motivated by this, I continued and focussed on running as naturally as possible. The pain was almost negligible and VOILA I was pronating normally with my midsole hitting the ground first. I was running normally again !

So after my first historic run after a major injury today 12th January 2009,I clocked in a time of 34 minutes for 5 km, way slower than my normal times of 26 -27 minutes. My will to run is overpowering pain and setbacks. I sincerely hope I can run the distances I used to run before. Time will tell.

Are you a Tourist or Activist in Your Life ?

Over lunch with a couple of friends last week,I put this question to them. "Are you a tourist in your life?". Literally meaning, are you just passing by and taking in the sights,going with the flow, not taking any risks and hoping that your job pays you enough for retirement, and just keep to the tried and tested route of getting a degree,working for a big company,settling down,some politiking to keep your job safe,eventually play golf and so on and so on.Its like a conducted tour for millions of people around the world of their lives !

Conversely, an Activist HAS to take a stand on issues affecting the world around him,in the global,political,social,community,family and business arenas.
Sadly, a great majority of people are tourists who would rather sit back and complain and bitch about everything and anything and not do an iota about it. "Coffeshop chatter".Don't forget, "Talk is cheap".

When my Karate instructor,Mr.KF Chia questioned in his blog, "what is the meaning of life ?", I think to me, it means what I can contribute to the people around me that I love, like and have interactions with. It probably means how much I can "impact upon" the people around me who matter the most. Whether I can change the way the system in Singapore works is up to me to :

a)take a atand and voice up my concerns
b)band together like minded poeple for the common cause
c)be an evangelist to propose my cause strongly. (Practise what you preach)

"It is never about money" but at the same time, money is an integral part of everyone's life. So the accumulation of acceptable wealth is a key ingredient in making my life meaningful.After accumulating some wealth, I feel compelled to give back to the people around me and "impact" positively my family, friends, colleagues and acquaintences.This can be in the form of monetary donations (the easist), or my time and expertise (people say I am a great BS artist with some experience!)or even coaching people to run - which I have been doing so for the last 3 years, in a small way.

So be an Activist in your Life. A Hands On Father (for example), a Life Coach, a Fitness Instructor or if you are gifted in managing people (like my friend Roland Teo), a People Developer. That is the greatest contribution each and everyone of us has a responsibility to ourselves and our loved ones.

2009 for Business - Excellent,Good, Bad or Awful

Happy New Year 2009! As I paused to reflect on one more year passing and the hope of a better year (and tomorrow !) even though many economists and analysts say this is the 'die die' year where new business and orders will be hard to come by, funds will be difficult to raise and banks will be loath to lend to SMEs such as my company, I couldn't help but look at the 'big picture' of the situation from my small company owner perspective.I have happily noted that the Governments for BOTH Singapore and Malaysia are pushing out tenders at a fast rate (under GeBiz for Singapore) and through the Malaysian newspapapers. They are NOT standing and staring like some deer stuck on the highway ready to be knocked down by oncoming vehicles.Some things to highlight on the positive :

Government Contracts

SIRIM, MIMOS, S'pore Polytechnic, SERIS and NUS are coming out 'fast and furious'. This is mainly to 'pump prime' the economy and stimulate business and cashflow from Government to the SMEs.

Government of S'pore 

has been pushing the banks for more leeway in lending SMEs facilities like SME or Micro loans.

Early Government Budget Presentation

in anticipation of the uncertain economic times expected

These are all things to be cheered about, cashflow, orders and hopefully lower taxes are all the ingredients for small companies to survive the Financial Tsunami
of the Century.Coupled with supportive principals from Germany to China and a motivated team of good people,I am very optimistic that we should be able to ride the huge wave in our small cruiser as compared to many companies as large as ocean liners who would be too slow to maneauvre as quickly.

So I will stick my neck out and say that 2009 should be somewhere between
Good to Excellent for my small business from my standpoint.

Here's to 2009 with much anticipation !

When Life hands you Lemons, make Lemonade

This is a phrase I learnt from my son, Andrew. This is from one of his cartoon shows, Ed Edd and Eddy, I think. The idea is that 'don't dwell on the negative for too long' and 'make the best of the situation'.Last week, I had my MRI done on my leg and while there is some early osteoarthritis setting in,it is not something which will set me back and sit in my armchair and moan and groan. I have decided to make the best of the situation and while it hurts to run even 5km due to a tear in my knee ligaments,I have decided to take up cycling and swimming,and hopefully my knee ligaments will heal. This will then ultimately lead me to a triathlon some time down the road. All those that think I'm nuts you're entitled to your opinions but as my Karate instructor, Mr. Chia wrote in his blog, he is happy with the path he took with his life and so am I.

I'm thankful for all that I have experienced in my running (4 full marathons and 10 half marathons) and pursuing one's passion is extremely satisfying, for me at least.

Life is also too short to be too cautious. There are many people out there with the "what if I fail/crash/fall/embarass ??". What then ? On the other side,"What if I don't and I get to enjoy :

a) the endorphine rushes after each long run or swim
b) leaner, toner and healthier body
c) the better self esteem
d) the less visits to the GP for minor coughs,colds,headaches and irritable bowels

So now, for the new challenge in 2009. I want to swim, cycle and run and hopefully, go for a Triathalon.

Anybody Game ?

Carpe Diem