Signing off 2008 and Welcoming 2009

Christmas came and went. Celebrated a lazy Christmas with a few friends, went shopping for working clothes on Boxing Day and spent the other days lazing around at home watching dramas, reading, surfing net and massive doses of sleeping. Yea, I slept two sessions of 12 hours each uninterrupted.

Basically I was being as lazy as I can.

Went back to office today to work and it was productive. I guess it must have been the silence, no interrupting phonecalls and emails and just peace. I remembered the days in uni when I could absorb my studies by studying in a quiet and empty corner of a library. Perhaps..ahem.. I need my own office to be productive. I wish.

Hit the driving range after work, had a light 50s and walked away satisfied with a series of good bashes.

2009 will roll in quickly. Just 2 days away. I would imagine 2009 will be particularly hectic
year, professional and personally, but without such challenges how will one improve? Bring it on! I am anticipating the coming new year as a measure of time to allow me to restart afresh and hopefully improve myself as better person for time to come.

A lazy day pondering what to do...

I've been looking forward to this xmas break since Easter as this is the only other time of the year I can take days off. Suddenly I find myself with nothing to do. Work? I've have alot to do but nah... I need a break. Friends are busy spending time with their love ones, family or out of town.

Today is a sunny, quiet and beautiful Sunday. So I thought maybe I should spend some time writing some words here since I've nothing to do besides work.

I like festive seasons because they make me jolly and of course, they are usually holidays. But the seasons also highlight the disctinction between those who have someone special in their life and/or with family and those who don't. And there are people who don't look forward to festive seasons because they will be alone.

This is my first Christmas Eve that I will be spending without much funfare. In the past it was either clubbing or house session with friends. This year many prefer to spend with their partners or family. Possibly a sign that we are getting older and doing things older people do.

Some have suggested that I need to find a girlfriend but that's easier said than done. I reckon it would be nice to spend time with a partner during times like this. But to get a girlfriend just so that I won't be lonely? No, thanks and I am fine with it.

The pile of books, mags and papers can be my girlfriends. Not to mention the movies and dramas =)

HUH?

I came across this defination while reading a Trust Deed this morning and can't help but to shout it out here.

What the hell is this?

"Perpetuity Period" means the period ending the earlier of -

a) the day which is 79 years after the Date of Execution; and

b) the day which is 20 years after the death of the last survivor of the lineal descendants of his late Majesty King George VI living at the date of execution.

or such longer period (if any) as may be allowed under the law applicable to the Deed.

What happens if the Royal Family changes or in the event Australia turns Republican? Will the Trust Deed be deemed invalid?

My answer would be that this particular Deed will need an amendment (and possibly override the original governing rules) if the above happens. Lawyers...you gotta beware of what they write at times....

I can survive an economic depression!

You Are 67% Likely to Survive Another Great Depression

Even though you may not be expecting the worst, you're the type of person who prepares for the worst. You live a relatively modest life. You don't overspend, and you aren't very materialistic. You are also quite self sufficient and independent. You have many useful skills. You can take care of yourself and those you love... which is crucial to surviving another Great Depression.

Could You Survive Another Great Depression?

I am Austin

You Are Austin

A little bit country, a little bit rock and roll. You're totally weird and very proud of it. Artistic and freaky, you still seem to fit in... in your own strange way. Famous Austin residents: Lance Armstrong, Sandra Bullock, Andy Roddick

What American City Are You?

The Burst of Energy

She really amazes me every morning as I do my dailyTwitter check. Based on the time she posts her regular cheerful morning burst of greeting to everyone on her Twitter list, she must wake up really early to be able to do her exercise which she calls it "trimming of female fat" and then fire her first round of Twittering. Yet despite the exercise and early morning get up she still has so much energy on the go.

Not to mention her updates later in the day which are on the similar wavelenght.

I wish I've as much energy as this young cheerful English girl who is a Melbourne-based social networking consultant. I reckon if I have half of her energy I would be able to do substatntial quality and productive tasks that would likely to leave me satisfied at the end of the day instead of thinking of all the To-Dos that I should do tomorrow while chilling out infront of the computer because I am physically exhausted after a long day. Most of the time I do my work at home is because of the deadlines and performance appraisals. Duh....

There are several outstanding projects and housekeeping work that involve quite a bit of pen , paper and brain pushing but I wonder when will I start pushing. And I hate the administrative paperworks. But I've no doubt if I have those burst of energy like that English girl I wouldn't be pushing but Karate my way through....

I want the energyyyyy.......

Who has the Green Bull?

Took the other path

I didn't really care when I first got into my current job more than a year ago when I was asked which professional qualifications, CPA or CA, do I prefer? CPA was the answer because I'd to give an answer and the reason I gave was that I was more exposed to the CPA program through the many promotions on TV and mini roadshows.

I thought who cares whether one is a CA or CPA, they are all the same. Don't tell me that they each have a better way of doing debits and credits.

More than a year later I'd already completed two CPA subjects but I am not continuing the program next year as I've decided and enrolled into the CA program. It took about two months to formalise this decision after realising that by taking this path, albeith more expensive and apparently harder, would likely to bear me some positive fruits in the future.

During the two months, the intensity of realisation of the standing of CPA and CA in the employment market was pretty overwhelming, especially in the public practice field where CA is usually the first preferred choice. Although I know that some public firms do take in CPAs but they do it discretely. Almost all of the reputable firms call themselves chartered firms and always emphasis the support they provide for CA program and their preference for CAs.

I was pretty shocked when I found out that 100% of the listed companies are audited by chartered firms only.

I wouldn't really care if want to be in the commercial field which is dominated by CPAs but I guess I've found my passion in public practice, building my own fees and the different variety of jobs available, and that's how I formulated the decision to take the CA program mainly to capitalise on the Institute's reputation in the country and overseas.

Another attractive benefit I was drawn into is the mutual recognition of the CA program by the top accounting bodies in the world without having to do a conversion course if I want to practice overseas.

In other words I took this path solely to benefit myself as much as possible. I certainly do not want to be overlooked if I wanted to be headhunted just because I am 'perceived' to be a second tier quality accountant.

I've a huge respect for CPAs and my previous manager and supervisor are both CPAs and I had a great time working with them. All my floor staff colleagues are CPAs or doing the CPA program. I kept quiet about my switching except for the management and my former manager as I do not want my colleagues to feel that I am becoming a snob for abandoning the CPA program halfway.

But I understand that I will have to tell them all eventually, when I find the right time but this plan was shelved today when a partner, a CA, asked about my switching infront of my colleagues quite loudly. He asked why did I switch? I was pretty dumbfounded as I didn't want to offend my CPA colleagues and so I gave vague answers. My colleagues kept quiet and pretended nothing happened.

No matter what, I've made the decision and will not turn back. It will be a rough and tough journey ahead but I am determined to pull it through and sacrifice if I've to because I see this as a worthwhile quality investment.

A rollover or a restart?

In less than a month we will leave 2008 behind forever and start a brand new year of 2009. Traditionally for many people a new year means a new start, a restart, reborn or reboot or whatever is your term for starting a new. It is just convenient to have this mark of time to start everything a new with a new period.

In doing so we often see new year's resolutions being drawn up as a guide but yet many fail to follow what they have set and before mid-year hits - what resolutions? Old habits die hard and at the end of the day we are still very much the same person ex-material sense. So in the end it wasn't much of a restart but a rollover with some minor tweakings.

In less than a month will be in 2009 but I bet the world wouldn't be greeting it with much enthusiam and optimism as economic experts have pronouced 2009 will bear the real brunts of the global financial fallout. Life is full of challenges and 2009 will just be another passage of time with a higher level of challenges that we have to overcome.

It can't be denied that the economic challenges were created by excessive capitalism on-the-run and now we are tasting the bitter medicine of which time is the best antidote to resolve the problems. But how long we need to go through the pain will largely depend on our resolve to defeat the problems together.

In short we can avoid the extension of a recession if we can just make one simple new year resolution in 2009 - stay optimistic and each of us spend a little on our indulgence to help kickstart or continue to oil the economic gears if you and I want a better economic future.