Asia - Our Time is NOW

                                    Ecstasy for Japan ; having just won the 2011 Women's World Cup

                                               Captain Homare Sawa and teamates celebrating

        2011 has been THE Coming Out Year for Asia. Since the Western Financial Crisis, from 2008 - 2010, Asia has been relatively unscathed. You do not hear of any Asian countries needing IMF or World Bank money, neither do you hear of Asian countries defaulting on their payments from foreign lenders. Asia has indeed been going from strength to strength since the last Asian Financial Crisis,with many countries putting into place tough austerity measures on borrowings, settling debts, bankrupting unprofitable state owned Government linked companies and, increased their saving as well as boosting their banking infrastructure, financial safety nets and spending to keep their economies growing steadily, to ensure that the current generation of middle class Asians are able to hand over some substantial wealth to their next generation. Most importantly, Asia has been the centre for low corporate taxes, personal income taxes and Asian values, such as reliance on family and NOT on Government welfare.

       On the sporting scene, Asia has been growing from strength, with Asian women leading the way these past few years. Names are hard to remember, but give them enough time and repeat victories, and the names of the winners below in their sports once reserved for typically Western atheletes will be etched in our memories forever :

Golf
So Young Kyu (Korea)   USGA 2011 champion
2nd and 3rd placing were also from Korea

Football
Japan women's team World Champions 2011
Homare Sawa captain

Aye Sameshima  ]

Kanna Maruyama }  Both Fukushima nuclear plant employees in 2011

Tennis
Li Na (China) French Open Champion 2011

Boxing
Manny Pacquiao (Philippines) Middleweight champion for almost 10 years unbeaten.

Badminton
Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia) - all England Champion

Squash
Nicol David (Malaysia) - World Champion

Table Tennis
Singapore Women's Team 2010 World Champion

       I wish to encourage my fellow Asians to think deeply. Our womenfolk have shown us the way, that through sheer willpower, positive self belief, excellent team strategy and teamwork and a HIGHER SENSE OF PURPOSE, smaller built Asians CAN and WILL continue to beat their more established Western counterparts in economic development, sports and even leading edge creative entertainment at least for the forseeable future. Granted, we work together with our brethren from the Western countries for the last 20 years, and worked for their organisations 30 - 40 years before that. Now there is a PARADIGM SHIFT. The epicentre of business and commerce will quickly shift to China and India in the next 3 - 5 years and there is nothing the Western companies can do but 'jump on the bandwagon'
going EAST.

     My Dad's generation, people used to look up to the 'Orang Puteh' like they were some superior beings. Some poorly educated and ignorant people in certain parts of Asia still do. QUITE DUMB I must say. Old perceptions die hard, but newer generations of Asians will have an enlightened confidence knowing that they are living in a 'happening place'.

Its  high time people Asian people realise that they are the leading economic,sporting and even cultural power now and for the next 50 years or longer.

      Its time to LOOK EAST. ASIA has arrived.

The Lazy Song

Really cute song by Bruno Mars and his companions. This is talent. Some may call it smut, but everybody needs a nice laugh now and again.  

I admit it ; I like Lady Gaga. Great songs, horrible music videos and bizarre dressing. A true diva

With a song about Hair, and how a girl defines herself by her hair. I think, we have hit rock bottom in terms of lyrics. Listen to the chorus "I am my hair,I am my hair".

You could use this for a toilet training video or even a Fun Pack Song for NDP ! Just make sure you pay the royalties to use the tune !

New challenge - to set up a business in Thailand 2011

                                                Outside Government House, Bangkok in 2008

    The year 2011 is challenging to me personally, as firstly my beloved mother passed away on 8th January. Things were going quite well, but as it is with life, you are never fully in control of every aspect, and her passing, although smooth, was a big shock to me.

      However, as the year got on, business seemed relatively stable, and now, in mid year it is the time for me to seize or create the opportunity to set up something new, not in Singapore, but to bite the bullet and set up something in Thailand. What will this bring ? Will there be setbacks ? Will the company be able to move forward and grow from strength to strength ? 

      Thailand is a land of contrasts. A very welcoming people, divisive politicking, and a minefield for business investors. The appearence of any so-called 'easy money' is just a mirage. Don't be fooled by any get rich quick scheme here or anywhere else in the world.

       If it sounds or seems too good to be true, IT PROBABLY IS.  
 

An insult to our Intelligence - Treat spectators like kiddies !

    This is an embarrasingly horrible remake of the Lady Gaga song, where you have the songspirators all dressed in red and white and promoting the Fun Pack for the upcoming 2011 National Day parade to be held at the Floating Platform. Talk about bad taste, first you copy the Lady Gaga song who's got no class in the first place and second you didn't get proper authorisation to air the song in public. (ie. did not pay royalties to use the tune).  Thirdly, the lyrics would be better used in a kindergarten toilet training video.

    It goes to show how unoriginal some of our so called 'creative talents' are.

Army Half Marathon anyone ?

Cool looking pewter Finisher Medal to be won after you finish

    In my run-up to the 2 major marathons at the end of this year, I have been 'invited' by my running 'khaki', to try the North Face 100 whereby each party runs 50K for a total of 100 K, and all in the Macritchie forest trails. While this may sound worse than a typical marathon, I think that the forest canopy and trails are actually better cushioning than the hard road tar or concrete surface of a road race.

   So, to add to the list of 'to dos' the rest of this year, I plan to run the Army Half Marathon 21K and the North Face 100 and probably take the Treadmill Race off the list. I am at the tipping point time, whereby if I don't aim to do the things I so want to do, age and creaky bones will determine that I can't do them anymore, so :

   "Seize the Day for the days of glory and  youth will come to pass". Lets enjoy the time we have. 

Here's to marathons # 6 and 7

There comes a stage in life, when I want to take a stab at improving myself, be it, in the physical fitness  department or in the mental  ability department. So, for the next half year, I have decided to set myself 4 targets, 3 physically and 1 mentally challenging goals.

1. and 2. To run in the SC Singapore (4th Dec 2011) and Penang (20th Nov.2011) marathons
3. To participate in the annual treadmill race at my Club with intention to be in top 3
4. To complete 360 sudoku games correctly for 1 year.

This is done during my free time, so lets see how it will actualise or not.