Of Sprained Shoulders And Torn Tissues

as i jumped and grabbed another rebound in the sweltering afternoon sun all i remembered was hearing this unearthly sound of paper slowly tearing.

'cept there was no paper anywhere in sight. instead the sound came from inside of my right shoulder. wah xianz. even jinde heard that strange sound. it's times like this that you know you're not the only one who knows things're bad. tore some fibres in there. what a stinkin' bitch.

clutched my right arm tight tight and groaned loud loud.

anyway told parents and they fetched me from tjc to eas*shor* hospital cuz there my company insurance reimburses. but the doctor was seriously crap lah. where got everything also so simple just use icepack and numb it? and guess what medicine she prescribed? painkillers. fuck. sure wasn't solving my problem she.

then got shipped to fortune centre in town to see pa's regular chinese medicine sinseh. this was a different story. used funny devices to suck out bad air and stuff and lo and behold, my arm was okie liaoz! still painful but could lift it up liaoz! happy!

now my right shoulder's all plastered up with chinese medicinal plaster. hope tomorrow will be ok liaoz.

bummer.

TPB 04/05

TPB 04/05 

this is my posse picture!

just came back from playing soccer with my mates from training. damn tired. its been 6 weeks since i started. now we're down to the final two weeks and i've really learned so much from this place. the people i've met and the friendships i've forged have been extremely valuable. the experiences i've had and the things i've seen i will take with me down this challenging path that is my career.

i can't help but reflect with a tinge of sadness that my 2 mth training course is finally coming to its final stages. next week we're learning the systems and working on some selling techniques and that would be it. the gist of the course has been long and arduous, the cmfas exams especially. but i'm glad most of us have gotten that outta the way and most of us are finally qualified to sell.

the past week has been very interesting. learned all about the different insurance policies that we will be selling and comparing them to products in the market. while the first 4 weeks we were just drilled on how insurance, home loans and investments worked in general, the next two weeks have been more of an intense cramming of products that we will be selling. and i must admit that we've indeed got good products that we ourselves are confident of selling.

the whole lot of us have really come a long way since we met on day one. this picture is of us celebrating esther's birthday(she's holding that white shirt). its the one picture i have where the most of us are in, so its the best picture i've got of our class.

most of us came in with little sales experience and some were fresh grads outta uni. which is why we're on the trainee course which is so much more comprehensive. it just means that they take our tiny inexperienced hands and walk every step of the way with us. a good move indeed.

now we're all talking investments, insurance and argueing about our different perceptions and thoughts on the different products we have and whatever's available in the market and why whichever is better.

take today's talk by nelson raj of axa about term insurance and hospital cash. after the last 3 intensive days of insurance training we had our minds set on whole life policies and endowments being the way to go. then in comes this feminine young chap who takes our ideas and mindsets and throws it out the window! i must say i was really impressed by the way he totally dissed the idea that whole life policies arn't the way to go. now i'm thinking that he has a good point. though i still don't agree with some of his ideals, i still thought today's session was refreshing and provided a fresh angle to the insurance plans i'm gonna buy for myself and recommend to other people.

sometimes you can find a whole new world just by looking at the other side of the coin.

then the different talks by all the fund house managers have also swayed my thinking that unit trusts are crap. i used to think they were definite losing money instruments. but after you learn of how they work and look at their specific functions and objectives, they end up being the healthier choice of a host of investment vehicles. which is a very good thing. in fact i'm looking to invest in them as well.

at the end of the day, i realised that a host of banking products, namely the insurance and investments, are there to help the public in general grow their wealth. but yet many are afraid or averse to them because they have the mindset that the bank is out to scam their money only.

well me the insider says that, it is true that banks aim to earn money from the very products they sell(else how are they gonna survive just merely keeping your money and paying you interest for your deposits?), but the bank always makes sure that while they earn, their customers must also earn(albeit less than what the banks would earn). but at the end of the day, everyone's gonna be happy watching their money grow. else the bank's not gonna have much of a reputation left if what it sells always ends up wasting customers money.

alot of inspiring stuff i've seen and learnt in my time here and so muc i'd like to share, but there's still an awfully long way to go before i reach my first million(haha) and i'm kinda tired writing so much. still, its a start, and a good one at that. hopefully 5 years on, you people will have seen me make something of myself.

come carpe diem, baby.

All Cleared!!!

so happpppppppppiiiiieeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

cleared HI today.

bloody happy.

dunno how i'm gonna celebrate.

whhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!

Another One Down, Final Paper Left

whooooot!

passed m8! whoo! happy.

last paper on tuesday. gotta piah for that.

been posted to mount elizabeth branch. sounds not too bad. best of luck to me!!!

branch observation tomorrow.

oh and from the words of my dearest, i'm a cash cow! moo moo moo!!!

Sept 11 Remembered

Me, at the site of the New York World Trade Centre on sept 11th 2004  

was reading yesterday's papers about sept 11th being remembered. kinda made me think of that tragic event.

remembered i was having scrabble training when the news broke back in 2001. was one of the late night trainings we had. after i heard the news i still wasn't very shocked until i went up to my room later that night and watched the endless updates on channel news asia. was really tragic.

in the summer of 2003, coincidence would actually play a part in me encountering this tragic event again. this time i was already nearing the 4th month of my travels in the usa with campusa, where i had worked as a camp counselor in colorado(those who've followed my blog would know), and i was with joe, my trustee companion, road-tripping the northwestern u s of a in our tiny chevrolet.

we had planned our visit to long island, new york to meet up with a couple of joe's frens, stacy et al, who would put us up for a short period. we were subsequently chased out of our quarters and had to sleep in our car(again!), but thats another story.

so on the night of sept 10th we actually decided to drive down to manhattan to looksee, obviously not knowing the significance of the date. its about an hour's drive from long island, so it wasn't to tough a drive but by the time we drove over the brooklyn bridge it was almost midnight liaoz(dun ask why we started off so late).

so we were just driving around the city of manhattan amongst its horrid traffic conditions and wondering why the hell there were traffic jams in the city at 1am? then we saw people celebrating, and fire engines driving around blaring their horns. and STILL we didn't realise what was going on.

it was only when we drove to the site of the twin towers, that we realised that it was already sept 11th. and on that very site, two extremely strong bright blue lights shot through the sky and illuminated the night light. it was a fascinating atmosphere, with throngs of people crowding the site, and our car having to battle the traffic.

as if an omen of commemoration, these bright lights that soared into infinity attracted thousands and thousands of birds that flew in circles around these lights and created a magical effect of confetti that defied gravity. in fact we didn't even realise they were birds till someone told us.

so that explained the crowds. and even on our way home(to long island) we could still see the blue lights from miles and miles away.

anyhow, thats what that picture above represents. me, stopping along the road to take a picture with the two giant beams behind me. abit blur(lousy camera) but very significant nonetheless. its a sombre feeling to be standing on the grounds where thousands perished so innocently a couple of years ago.

let those who perished rest in peace.

Untitled

Untitled
- Simple Plan

I open my eyes
I try to see but I’m blinded by the white light
I can’t remember how
I can’t remember why
I’m lying here tonight

And I can’t stand the pain
And I can’t make it go away
No I can’t stand the pain

How could this happen to me
I made my mistakes
I’ve got no where to run
The night goes on
As I’m fading away
I’m sick of this life
I just wanna scream
How could this happen to me

Everybody’s screaming
I try to make a sound but no one hears me
I’m slipping off the edge
I’m hanging by a thread
I wanna start this over again

So I try to hold onto a time when nothing mattered
And I can’t explain what happened
And I can’t erase the things that I’ve done
No I can’t

How could this happen to me
I made my mistakes
I’ve got no where to run
The night goes on
As I’m fading away
I’m sick of this life
I just wanna scream
How could this happen to me

I made my mistakes
I’ve got no where to run
The night goes on
As I’m fading away
I’m sick of this life
I just wanna scream
How could this happen to me

-------------------------------------------------------

funny such a simple song evokes the emotions that alot of us want to scream out so loud. i'm sure everyone's got their own untitled moment. a moment when this song screams all that they want to scream.

this is my moment.

can't retake HI this thursday or even friday as i would've liked to. wanted to get it over with as soon as possible so i can focus on the rest of the training schedule. earliest is week after next, and i've booked my slot for tuesday week after. fucking hell. now i got to restudy everything again, and then still gotta get past M8 next week. the only good thing is i have passed M5 that is on thursday, so i get the whole thursday off(its off-in-lieu make up for the previous saturday).

feel like crap to be hampered with this failure when others have passed it. sure, others may have failed other papers that i have passed but the feeling downright sucks man. it always sucks to lag behind.

Failed HI. Xianz.

wah lan. just failed my HI paper.

fuck.

hate failing.

KNNBCCB!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One Down, Two To Go

passed m9 paper today. i dun think it was very easy. quite alot of people failed. hope they all passed the next time. next up is HI and m8 liaoz. all the best to myself!