The Value of Money

A few days ago, my boss was talking about the value of money which kept me thinking. Value of money not in Economic terms, but people’s perspective towards the value of money. Especially when we try to put a price in our relationships, be it towards partner, family, friends or mentor.

For example, when buying a birthday gift to a close friend. We often get too focused on the price of the gift rather than the value of the gift. We weigh the value by keeping to the budget on the price of the gift that particular friend had bought for us previously, instead of weighing the value on the friendship and focusing on the effort in searching for a gift which that friend will like, even if may cost a little more.

On the other hand, I am guilty that at times, I tend to spend more on others (going party with friends) and try to “save” by giving lesser to our love ones taking for granted that they will understand. Initially I thought it is “saving money”, however it’s wrong. The thing is, we can spend a little lesser on restaurants/cafes/beers/cabs to spend a little more on others who are worth to make them a bit happier.

The value of money is to make sure the money that we spent is worth something, which is investment. How many times we will buy meals/gifts for their mentor(someone who have helped or guided us) to show appreciation and gratitude? Honestly, sometimes we spend too much money and time with people who doesn't even help us to be a better person or you might even question if they will still be there 3 years down the road.

Yes, spending money on your bosses might get you more opportunity. However, the thin line is between trying to curry favour and showing gratitude. That is a grey line. It is our attitude that defines which side we are on.

Saving all our money wouldn’t help us to gain more money. It is just like, you have more food because you starve yourself. At the end of the day, you have more food but poorer health or even die. Quite a stupid example but you get what I'm talking about. haha.

I need to learn how to invest my money. I don’t mean by literally investing all my money in buying stocks, property or insurance. These are just one of it to invest to get more monetary returns.

Some money are meant to be spent. Investing a little money to show gratitude to our love ones who are always there to support us. Investing money to show gratitude to our mentors who spend their time and effort to give us knowledge, skills and opportunities. Not telling you to spend all your money blindly but being less calculative towards love ones.

In addition, I need to invest in myself more. Spending money to learn new or improve skillsets, read more books, buy more clothes to dress with confidence, sign-up for gym membership to keep fit, spending more time with the right people. These will help to add values in me in order to earn more income, opportunities and better relationships in the future.

My boss said,  小钱不出，大钱怎么会进来 and I believe in this.

I want to list this down, so I can always look back and remind myself. Hopefully, someone can find meaning in this post and share with me how they feel. :) 

It's the 25th Birthday

Yes, it's my 25th birthday. I don't really want to mention about the age. 3 years ago, I started this brand new blog with the same topic, birthday. Looking back at the entry, it's kind of funny. 

3 years back, I wished for the following,

1. "My dad and I will stay healthy and well. Sickness is really a horrible thing. Also, I hope to get good results for my final exams. This will be my last year in UOL and I hope I'll stop procrastinate and give my one last best shot."
   
   
   Well, at least my dad and I are still alive. I've got quite a decent results and graduated successfully from University. Not too bad, my wish did came true.
   
   
   
   
2. "Please bless my dad to win a big Toto or 4D. I wish for a rich life where I can go for plastic surgery, drive a sexy sports car, have endless shopping and oversea trips. Plastic surgery is the main thing I wanna do! I have already done my research and ready to fly to Korea for the operation, now i'm only lack of money!! Okay, maybe winning a fortune is too unrealistic. At least bless me to get a good job after I graduated so that I can save for my operation and dream car!"
   
   
   I did manage to get a decent job however I still have not save a single cent for plastic surgery yet. Pretty amazing that even after 3 years, this is still something that I really wanted to do in my life. Super strong desire! And of course, I did not win a fortune, neither did my dad. But once in awhile, he would win abit of lottery and share abit of his winnings with me which is not bad afterall. haha!

This year's birthday was rather simple. Firstly, a celebration with my secondary school buddies who also stayed and waited till 12AM to wish me a happy birthday. Special thanks to Sok Min for getting the birthday hairband and made me wear it throughout.

This bunch of old buddies, like me, we are not those kind of romantic people who will do exaggerating or surprise stuffs. We are more practical people and the present they got for me is practical as well. A red packet. hahaha! I'm not complaining, it is something that I really need! Gonna use it either for facials or to buy a new phone. I really appreciate their companionship all these years despite me being such a boring friend to hang out with. hahaha. 

On the actual day, my colleagues from the admin and sales team celebrated my birthday in the office.

The admin team

My colleagues said I looked scary in the picture because the way I hold the knife is like I'm going to murder someone. LOL.

The sales team

Knowing that I'm a fan of Charles & Keith, they got me a bag!

Had dinner with my dad on the actual day. We ate zi char and we ordered like 3 dishes(chilli fish head, mixed vegetables and roasted chicken) which was like the portion for 4-5pax. People who walked past our table kept looking with amazement. Last time we used to eat 4 dishes but now I insist on just ordering 3 because the portion is too exaggerating. I wouldn't want people to see us as pigs. 

Dinner session with another group of the sales team. Great catch up with them!

On Friday, dinner with the whole admin team. 

My HR manager bought me a Paris Hilton perfume. <3

The admin team bought me a Baby G watch and I requested for it since they didn't know what to buy. haha. I aimed the watch since long time ago and initially I planned to buy it for myself as a birthday gift.

Though I showed my colleagues the picture of the design I wanted, they decided to be funny and bought me another design because they finds it ugly and cannot understand how could my taste be so weird. In the end I still went to exchange to the design I wanted. hahahaha.

It's not that the design they chose was ugly, it's quite nice too. More feminine and simple design but it is just so not me. I couldn't find the design that they bought for me through google but it does have the design I wanted.

So Cool Right?!

For those who feels the same way as me, I would say we have great taste. haha. 

Kim Taeyeon wears it with style! Will you still say it looks ugly now?

At first I wanted to pose a similar picture with the watch but I think it people might report my blog for being too disturbing for the eyes. hahaha

Lastly, this year's birthday wish is to get a clear and nice skin in 2015!!! Pimples have been torturing me for years and I'm going to get it all cleared. Let's see if it will come true when I blog about my birthday again next year.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

The Prince Who Turns into a Frog

Remember this show? Recently, just when I was looking for some dramas to watch, this show came across my mind. It used to be one of my top favorite dramas in the secondary school days. I used to be so crazy over this show. Be it the people, the songs and my friends even bought me the frog piggy bank for my birthday! Probably I'm more crazy over Ming Dao back then. Which girl didn't, right? hahahaha.

After 6 years, watching this show again, I would say, a classic will always be a classic! Brings back lots of memories. I felt like a secondary school student once again. LOL.

What I've Been Up to Recently

First and foremost, the previous post I mentioned about changing my Chinese name. Yes, I've seen the Fengshui master. He suggested that I'll change my name from Hui Jing to Yi Hui (衣惠) which will help me to have better luck in people relations. Be it love or career wise. The name was also said to be better for me in the next couple of years. 

The master didn't really said much about my name as he said my name's rating is 75% which is pretty good. Some of my colleagues had 0% rating. hahaha. Most of the leaders and above colleagues seeked advise through the session and they said the master was really accurate. He could spot on their character without them saying a word.

There is a 90% chance that I will be changing my name and I'll get my deed poll done by next month. Still thinking if I should add a christian name in my IC. 

Secondly, I'm never a fan of actresses from China. However recently, this chinese actress, Liu Shishi from Scarlet Heart(步步驚情) really caught my attention. I think she acted pretty well and she looked super gorgeous in olden dynasty costumes than modern look. That explains why she is involved in so many dynasty-genre of dramas. Funny thing is I only love the characters that she portrayed in the dramas rather than her real-life character. haha. I can't wait for her upcoming dramas which will only be aired next year!

To prevent myself from watching too much dynasty-related dramas, I would pull myself back to modern days by watching some variety shows from Taiwan. I found this variety show called, "爱哟我的妈" whereby celebrities would share their paranormal encounters. I know right, watching this kind of shows during the 7th month. Sometimes I would really feel scared while watching during the night but I think this has became my bed time story. Ok, I sounded really sick here. haha.

I thing I hate about watching dramas is the emptiness that one would feel after having a few days of sleepless nights and once you have finished watching the drama, you doesn't know what else to do. The only good thing was that, at least now I don't OT so often anymore. lols.

Shall stop here for tonight. Will update soon, I hope so.

Changing Chinese Name?

Wow, its been almost a year since my last post. Alot of things happened during the past 1 year. Good and bad. Always wanted to post something here but couldn't think of a good content to write. My current job requires me to write reports every week, hence I don't really have the mood to "write" more here. 

Recently, a few of my friends came across my blog. Leo was one of them, he commented that my blog is quite professional and he read it for hours. It is not easy for someone so fidgety like him to sit still and read something for so long, I should be proud of it. hahaha. Really motivates me to start typing again. Thanks Leo! Read through my blog, I realized all my posts were either about eating good food or partying. I really miss those days! This really gives me a good thought about having a work life balance. 

Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I have been consistent and keeps on writing. Probably I am already earning some money every month just from blogging. People seldom blog nowadays, maybe I can get new opportunity from here by blogging more. What I have learnt during my 1 and a half years of working in my current company, it thought me to have positive thinking. haha

**In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.**

Of course, writing down my thoughts is priority, using it to earn money is secondary. Ok, now I sounded fake after what I have written above. haha

Back to my title, my boss have been getting advice from a famous Taiwanese fengshui master. Heard that he is very accurate and also giving advice to many Taiwanese celebrities. Months of advance booking is required to fix appointment with the master. My boss has invited him to our office tomorrow and I've decided to see him to change my name because life hasn't been smooth for me so far. If I don't do it now, probably I'll have to fly all the way to Taiwan to see him the next time.

I know it's all superstitious stuff, I am just very curious about what he has got to say about me just by reading my name and date of birth. Each consultation is freaking $250! But if it changes life for the better, why not? Also, I don't like my name since young. So yes, gonna do it for the fun, curiosity and the hope of having a better life.

It is going through the legalities of changing name giving me the headache. Other than this, I am quite excited!! Ok, got to sleep now. I will update on this tomorrow!   :)