I started this blog with my first post on 13 Dec 2019.
Long before that, I had the idea.
But I did not get started partly because I was not sure that I could continuously have things to write about, and partly because I was lazy, until the offer retraction.
That was the trigger.
On one hand, I felt I needed to write things down for my emotional wellbeing. My brain was filled with confusion. I could not think straight.
On the other hand, I felt scared. I was not sure how to secure an income going forward.
Even though I never put much expectation to it, but at the back of my mind, I guess I had the little hope that maybe I could turn this into a source of income.
I also thought about opportunities as taxi driver, cleaner, and courier.
But once I started, this blog quickly became part of my life.
At the very beginning, I struggled to find topics to write about.
But very quickly, I developed the habit to note down the topics that came to me while reading, working, watching movies, walking, playing games etc etc
And I almost never had to look for topics to write about again. Typically, I just picked one from my topic pool.
If I had more time, I would pick one that would require more content. Otherwise, I would pick a quick one.
Many times, I did not need to go to the topic pool. The topic would just come to me when the time came to write the entries.
That felt good, like the traffic lights turned green the moment I reached the crossings.
Having said that, there were definitely times when I was struggling to meet deadlines of work and found it challenging to find time for this blog.
In times like this, promises helped.
From the very beginning of this blog, I made a serious promise to my readers and myself on regular updates.
I was not sure about the right frequency then, but it had to be regular and predictable.
In the beginning, the posts were less regular, but roughly one per week.
And since beginning of this year, I have stuck to three posts a week, on afternoons/evenings of Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, so that you can read them on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Without this promise, I would have skipped many entries.
SGD150 does not make any difference to me. And from my interactions with some of you, it should not matter to any of you either.
If we talk about the ROI, I am not even sure whether this amount is enough to cover the electricity cost incurred for creating these entries over the past 20 months.
But my biggest gain is that I now have you, who are willing to spend the time to read my entries.
I even interacted with some of you outside of this blog, via email and voice chats.
I could see that some of you had similar problems and worries. And I was really happy that I could provide some more details of my experiences for your reference.
These interactions gave me the most sense of achievement.
Almost total strangers (I still do not know who you are) are willing to read my words and then willing to share a bit about their lives and willing to listen to my experiences.
Going forward, I totally plan to continue this blog with the current cadence.
And through the statistics Google provided, I learned a little bit about you, my readers, as a whole also.
It seems that posts related to Money and Career are most popular, especially Money, especially those that said I was “burned” in my investments…
Haha…
While I will try to write more about those topics, I think this blog will continue being mainly about my experiences, not only on investments and career.
And for sure, I do not want to be more “burned”…Haha!
Thank you guys for staying with me. I hope you continue staying with me.
If the battery tech could evolve enough to allow one full-day charge for two phones in one single power bank, we probably do not need power banks any more.
Because with battery tech that powerful, our phone battery alone would be able to satisfy our daily needs.
If you think this is a post advocating for healthy corporate culture, you are in for a treat! A relaxing one.
While my work continues allows me some free time and my portfolio continues burning, I continue spending a lot of time in gaming.
This time around, I really enjoyed Gujian 3, an ARPG based on ancient Chinese legends.
Just to be clear, while this game can pretty much represent the highest level of Chinese made single player games in 2018 when the game was release, it is still not quite on par with the 3A games out there in many aspects.
What struck me, however, is the “familiar” feeling brought by the background setting of the game.
From Internet
The story is based on ancient Chinese legends.
As someone with Chinese education and background, I have no problem understanding the concepts and the famous characters.
The settings are so familiar that the story progression feels so smooth.
As a result, the story becomes attractive to a point that I start digging for more details about the story.
Less than two hours into the game, I could not helping searching the “Journal” for more details about “Soul Nourishing Ground” (“养魂地”).
This is absolutely the first time that I have taken the initiative to search for the “Journal” of a game. Typically, I just ignore them entirely as they do not affect the game play.
From Internet
As the game progresses, I start to see even more familiar things.
In the private space where a “Home” is built, I even see the cooktop that is still being used in my hometown, not exactly the same but the similarity is unconcealable.
Not to mention the weapons, armor and fighting mechanisms. They mimic closely what is described in the KungFu novels and movies.
From Internet
These “familiar” feelings just make me feel more connected to the game and the characters in the game.
I have to say cultural similarity is another source of satisfaction.
From Internet
Culture does matter to a person’s identify.
We get the exposure while growing up and the culture ends up engraving into our head.
Therefore, it is almost impossible to take another culture as native.
In other words, we cannot choose.
If life is an RPG, our birth place and early experiences largely determine where our primary playground will be.
We can try to build another character in another place and culture, but it is destined to be in the “Brutal” difficulty.
First, we have to unplug ourselves from the environment we grow up in and plug ourselves into the new system. This means we have to endure and adapt without the support of family and friends.
That is exactly why first generation of migrants almost always have tough lives.
Second, most likely we will end up outside of the mainstream.
America is an exception. The migrants dominated the natives with superior war skills and cold blood. But can you imagine a president of Asia origin in the next decade?
From Internet
But that does not mean we cannot have a good life, depending how we define “good”.
From the perspective of Materialists, it is entirely possible.
Even some slaves enjoyed their lives.
And during the financial crisis, slaves did have better lives thanks to their masters, while the workers in the north could not find jobs and starve and freeze to death.
It also depends on what era we live in. In flourishing times, dogs live better than man.
If you are like me, we all love to say we are the certain type of person or not the certain type of person, like we can just define ourselves and change our circumstances.
But we cannot.
First of all, we are all multi-faceted. We probably do not have accurate assessment of ourselves.
Secondly, we don’t have much control. We are just passengers in the ship of Fate.
As a result, the only thing we get by “defining ourselves” is excuses to limit ourselves.
And this type of excuses work particularly well on our mind.
For example, “I am not the greedy type of person” is the perfect excuse to avoid trying everything, while one still can, to achieve the goals, with peace of mind.
For example, “I am the hard-working type of person” is the perfect excuse to allow someone to keep making wasteful attempts, while he could enjoy the relaxing time and re-charge for what is to come, again with peace of mind.
Of course, doing the opposite will totally ruin your peace of mind.
Maybe we should just liberate ourselves, go with the flow and make sure we get the most out of the current situation.
If Fate allows you to draw an ok salary but only requires 20% of your time, just slow down and enjoy it.
Spend more time on families you love and hobbies you enjoy. Who is going to judge which way of spending time or wasting time is better or worse?
Do not keep telling yourself “I am not the slacking type of person” and feel guilty. Otherwise, you will ruin your chance to relax and enjoy yourself and at the same time, accomplish nothing or even be worse off.
And also, consider that you might not get another chance.
If Fate requests you to commit almost all your time to accomplish something extraordinary, then go full speed ahead.
Bravely put your talent into good use with all your heart and change the world for the better. Who can say a life with great impact is not a good one?
Do not keep telling yourself “I am the relaxing type of person” and long for free time. Otherwise, you will waste your talent and the opportunity and at the same time, wont feel relaxed and satisfied.
And again, consider that you might not get another chance.
While it is human nature to think the grass is greener on the other side, spending too much time longing for the other type of life to enjoy the life you have currently could be one of the worst ways to live your life.
Accept that we are only passenger in the ship of Fate.
During the break, apart from playing games, I also watched the Olympic games.
This time around, I was not as concerned as who won the game or the medal counts.
Simply, I could enjoy the game more.
Badminton is my favorite spots to follow.
After watching the Olympic games, I could not help watching again those “Legendary Battles” between Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei.
From Internet
It could be a never-ending debate which of the two is better.
But it is no doubt that they both stand on the submit of the field.
The new guys just aren’t enough to fill their shoes.
I repeated hear the comments that Lee always made more mistakes when playing Lin Dan.
While there is no doubt that Lin Dan has better mental strength to carry him through the whole game, there is always that slight feeling that Lin Dan won most of the encounters with a bit luck on his side.
It is probably totally understandable to have that feeling for someone who only treats badminton as a hobby.
For anyone who really understands the game, they would know that this is completely non-sense.
From Internet
The mistakes Lee made were forced mistakes. Lin played so skillfully and patiently that he put Lee slowly into the position to make mistakes.
This is so clear in so many games.
In some games, there was even clear turning points.
Before the point, the score would be really close and no one is clearly on the top.
The point usually came with a fantastic or even impossible rally, during which Lee deployed multiple of his killing tricks with excellent execution, but Lin Dan managed to deliver flawless defense and finally nailed the point.
After the point, we could see clearly Lee got frustrated or even lost confidence and that was when mistakes started to appear, several in a row sometimes.
To Amateurs, it feels like Lee just “Gave” the victory to Lin.
In reality, every move was planned, behind which is unmatched talent and countless efforts.
If that can be called “Luck”, then they make their own luck.
From Internet
There is an unbridgeable gap between Amateurs and Experts.
Amateurs may not recognize Experts, but Experts recognize Amateurs at the first sight.
Amateurs might be able to enjoy the game, but they will never really understand the essence.
But it is not realistic to be experts for everything.
So pick our field/fields to be Expert in.
And enjoy whatever fields we are interested in as Amateurs.
Just remember to be humble and not to forget our Amateurs status.
Hope everyone had a good long weekend and a nice break.
I did a lot of gaming.
Well, if you have decided to “Lie Down Flat”, you got to do something to pass the time.
And I realized a change of perspective could matter a lot.
From Internet
1.The “Little Mule” was too bright
In “Cyberpunk 2077”, I immediately liked the “Little Mule” when I saw it. So I paid the hefty price to get it, only to find that it was not drivable.
When I got into the car, it became so bright that I could not see anything, apart from the strong light.
Clearly, this was one of the bugs that the game had not fixed yet.
After some attempts to fix it or just endure it, I was forced to switch to third person view.
Then, to my total surprise, I realized that was how it should should been.
2.A change of perspective changes a lot
I have always been a first-person view guy.
I am crazy about it to a point that I would consciously avoid third-person view games, no matter how good they are, like Gears of War, GTA (before V) etc.
But after the “forced change”, I really liked it.
You can have a comparison on below two screenshot.
From internet
First person view is great.
It is beautiful and sets players in the driver’s seat, which is in a way what the game is about, bringing virtual experience to players in a way that is as “real” as possible.
But it does come with restricted view and limits the ability for players to drive very fast without missing the turn, which is also “real” by the way.
From Internet
However, with the third-person view, the driving immediately becomes much more enjoyable.
Players have much more situational awareness while driving.
And they can enjoy the view.
Most importantly, it gives the feeling of “Freedom” and “hot blood”.
Players can completely ignore the “GPS” and drive freely in the desert, flying over the mountains and across the terrain.
What‘s more, the sound is more exciting too. Players can hear the sound of tires grinding the sands, instead of just the “Mmmmm…” in the cockpit.
Overall, I think third-person view is just better for players to experience the speed, control and excitement of driving.
At least, I do not think I will ever go back to first-person view for driving.
From Internet
In the end
We should not limit ourselves.
Life is about experiences.
Keep an open mind and try different perspectives.
Then we are almost guaranteed of a more fulfilled life.
1.Make sure you have the personal touch and be authentic
You can find tons of standard answers to all the common questions in interviews. Giving those answers minimizes your risk.
But they are boring and prevent the interviewers from knowing who you really are.
If they cannot get a good read on you, they will drop you.
So read those standard answers and use them as reference. But always add your personal touch.
One candidate really convinced me by giving a short example of what he did after each point he made about himself. That is the personal touch.
Anyone can say that they are responsible and a good team player. But what did you do to prove to me that you are?
There was another candidate who was clearly highly skilled in interviews. She gave all the standard answers. The interview went so smoothly that I could not even remember anything about her when we had to summarize our opinion two days later.
