Queen Amidala fights Palpatine in the board room.

You have witnessed yet another "shooting star wars" episode unfold in the board room. This time, Queen Amidala fires first at Palpatine, Skywalker backs her up, like he was employed solely for that reason. Palpatine pulls out his killer statistics and fights back. Yoda finally steps in with his wise words, "Guys, let's look at what finance got to say." Silence restored, yet nothing gets done. During lunch, Skywalker actually goes up to Palpatine saying, "Did you watch last night's match? Wah lau, Man U ah..." Somehow, the earlier shooting session was erased from their brain. Peace restored(looks like). THE END.

As any budding young white collar, you must have wondered, "Why these idiots act like that?" The marvel here is that they don't just act upon something, they really act "acting upon something". "Do you really need to wear a mask to get on top?" was the common question here.

I was reading a biography on Confucius and realized that he at his time, which was 551 B.C.E., he too felt that the world was corrupted and full of selfish scheming people. The great Chinese philosopher of all times, he too wondered if people has to be scheming in order to survive. So who are we to have figured it out? My point is like it or not, things are gonna stay like this till God knows when. May I suggest my solution: wear your breathable mask and start learning how to dodge flying daggers. In short, "black & white" and "cc" are your best friends.

Be different.

Stand out from the crowd in your work place. Be daring and unconventional. Be different, but thinking.

The irony here is that people nowadays no longer fancy winning triumph over difficult times. They don't have time to listen to their all inspiring stories. They like mindless cheap thrills like Paris Hilton or bitchy fights that makes them feel smarter themselves. Foolish.

No Paris Hilton for me when it comes to career, unless you really got some substance to flaunt your stuff after a foolish public display. But to a certain degree, I do agree with being unconventional to leave a mark, even if it means that you need to bring the message across loudly. And as I was writing this, a phrase from the book "Marley & Me" pops up, guess it's worth sharing. Here goes: "He was the undisciplined, recalcitrant, non conformist, politically incorrect free spirit I had always wanted to be, had I been brave enough, and I took vicarious joy in his unbridled value. "

Think about it, what turns Marley into a winning novel then to a movie? It's that unusual hyperactive spirit in it and the wonderful lessons that it has taught its owners. Something so different that the publishers and movie makers believe that there is monetary value attached to it.

I guess we can do a little Marley trick in our career yeah? A little different from the rest, in a sensible way, of course. So start searching on what you want for your own branding and start reading to broaden your horizon to gain that perspective. I'm not saying that it's a sure thing, but different perspective means no harm right, you never know if it will make you one day.

CongratuIations, I got a new job. Now what?

Finally, I have accomplished the goal of all job seekers. I got a job. But like any hungry young 25 years old, I reckon that I should be looking at how the walk in my career path be like.

I chanced upon this career book that talks about building a branding for yourself in the course of your career. Say when I mention the name "Richard Brandson", you would associate him with the words, "daring, unconventional"; or when I mention the name "Lee Kuan Yew", you would associate him with the words, "intellectual, strategist". So what should be the adjectives of yours?

Perhaps we are all too young to have a distinct branding that revolves ourselves. My point is we should be looking deep within us to unearth what talents and interest we have got and start to plan on how we should develop those talents and interest, and work real damn hard and turns it into something that spells you, uniquely you. Store all those ammunition and when its time to shine, SHINE ON.

Call me paranoid, but at present times, who knows if we would be hit by the next recession or maybe at our 40s. Like it or not, chances of us getting hit by a retrenchment is too high to miss.

Gonna do something right? Think about it.

Celebration Dinner with Dixie

God . Dixie. Bf . Celebrating for my new job .

Celebration Breakfast with Dixie

I headed down to Coffee Bean for a celebration breakfast after signing the employment letter. I actually ordered the most expensive breakfast. Haha. No less for the winning mama!

Mum, Dad, I got the job!

"If the height of my jump indicates the level of happiness I am feeling, I guess I will hit the moon. "

FINALLY. After 6 months of ups and downs, I finally accepted a job offer. It was not my dream job that I was dying to have, but it did offer a fair amount of exposure within the realms of marketing. The managers seem just and looks like know their stuff, *fingers crossed* coz' they are ladies.

Having gone through for what seemed like forever, I have finally come to the end of the tunnel!
I have always imagined that I would enter into a "bouncy" mode when the day finally comes; but no, it wasn't like that. There was no "yeah", no "top of the world" feeling; in fact, I was like "You sure this is the right one for me?".

But the message sank in a little later, "Damn, I got a pretty good offer. I'm onto a new chapter. No more dragging my feet to work and bye to all you suckers at my current firm!" And suddenly, I swear it was really suddenly, there was this near-supernatural burst of adrenaline. BANG! The long lost grin was back! It was like the song, "I'm walking on sunshine wooohoooo,"
I bet I must have been grinning all along on my train ride while text messaging my friends on the uplifting news. It was a moment of triumph. The light has finally won the darkness.Perhaps it was the long grueling job search that made the moment all the more worth celebrating. Dixie is finally moving ahead!!!

P.S. To all out there, hang in there. I know you must have heard it from everyone else, but true enough, the triumph day will come. Keep sending those resumes.

We should never lose it.

I chanced upon the book "Marley & Me" in the library, and since I needed some "mindless reading", it was a good solution.

The story goes on about how an average family brought up a hyperactive eccentric dog that would create a "murder scene" in split seconds when left alone. It was a heart warming story and I ended up crying in a cafe, subtly, but long enough for others to notice.
Sucker. Its like my tear duct has this uncontrollable mind of its own.

Anyway, here's what I inspired me in the book that we should never let lose it.

"Marley taught me about living each day with unbridled exuberance & joy, about seizing the moment and following your heart. He taught me to appreciate the simple things--- a walk in the woods, a fresh snowfall, a nap in a shaft of winter sunlight. And as he grew older and achy, he taught me about optimism in the face of adversity. Mostly he taught me about friendship & selflessness and above all else, unwavering loyalty."

Sunset or Dawn? Fruitless or Fruitful?

Since this blog is about encouraging all the job hunters out there. I reckon some “self-help” books would help.

About 2.5 years ago, I had my first job hunt experience. And during one of my darkest job hunting moments back then, I happen to come across the self help book “What color is your parachute?” I made myself visit the library every morning to read at the study area, taking down notes whenever it inspires me.

Today, I’m on my second job hunt spree again and till today the “Flea Trainer” concept fr the book still lingers in my mind. Actually, that was the only thing from the book that lingers still.

Flea Trainer.

Fleas are known to be the best jumper in the world. They can jump 220 times their own body length and 150 times their own body height. They are longest and highest jumper among animals compared to body size.

If you place them in a bottle with a lid on, the fleas will jump and hit the lid. If you remove the lid within a day or two, the flea will jump & get itself out of the jar without any difficulty. But the interesting thing happens when you remove the lid a few weeks later, you will realized that the fleas were only able to jump to the lid level. This is “conditioning”. The fleas by now think that all attempts to jump higher than the lid level is fruitless, hence they start practicing to jump just high enough before reaching the lid.

So to all out there, get your act together. There is no point in being a flea. We must all be a flea trainer. Training the fleas to get out even after the “conditioning” effect, after all, the temporary lid can really be removed.

Rest & Recharge, fellas.

Special thanks to Tze Ming for the great photos. Super cool!

Take a breather fellas. 加油!

Tired. The constant sending of resumes, the hopeful-turned-hopeless interviews, the constant rejections we faced. Take a breather, fellas.

加油! I don't know about you, but I find this simple, yet over-used phrase interesting. Just 2 chinese characters and it translates the encouraging message "Endure & keep striving, you can do it!" As effective as it should be, I kinda felt that it really didn't mean much to a person who lives with the constant"rejection in my face" over a period of time.

You know the term "conditioning" ? It spells that a constant practice soon loses its real meaning and turns into a meaningless habit. Throughout my job search, this phrase "加油!" appears in most of my inbox messages from my loving friends. Now, I don't mean to be a "meanie", I appreciate their love, but the conditioning effect really did its trick on me.

And so, I went on to check on the origins of the phrase.

Here is a translation of the real story, according to the all-knowing international network of computers.

Liu2 Bo2 Wen1 (刘伯温) (1311-1375) was a famous Ming Dynasty general. But he always regretted that he did not live in the same era as the cleverest and most famous general of all time, Zhu1 Ge3 Liang4 (诸葛亮) (181-234). Since Zhuge Liang was long dead, there was no way for Liu Bowen to try and match wits with him. One day Liu and his army came upon a plum tree forest. His mouth was dry and he spat on the ground, but when the spit hit the ground, it made a sharp "splat" sound. Perplexed, he ordered his men to cut the grass and brush around the spot to see what was there that would make such a noise. To his surprise, he found a stone monument that read: "Liu Bowen spat here." To his even further surprise, the monument was signed by Zhuge Kongming, the courtesy name of Zhuge Liang.

He was impressed that Zhuge Liang would be that clever as to predict that Liu would spit there one day, but he was still not convinced that Zhuge Liang was smarter than he, so he kept going into the forest. Before long, he came upon a tomb. Taking a closer look, he discovered that it was none other than the grave of Zhuge Liang. He thought to himself, "Not bad, Zhuge Liang. You predicted that I would spit here on this day, but I bet you couldn't predict that I would find your tomb."So Liu had his men open up the tomb, and he walked in by himself. He looked around and finally found Zhuge's sarcophagus. Next to it was a small oil lamp, that was flickering, just on the verge of running out of oil. Liu thought: "Hmph. Everyone says how clever and awesome you were, but here you are today, with your altar lamp about to extinguish itself."But then he noticed next to the lamp was a piece of parchment, so he looked at it more closely.

On the paper was written: "Old Liu, Old Liu, 加油 , 加油." At this, he was dumbfounded, and immediately kowtowed before the sarcophagus three times. He then swept the tomb, out of newfound respect for Zhuge Liang. Henceforth the phrase "加油" has been used to encourage people.

Finally Meet Dixie.

Meet Dixie.
I love her for the fact that she wears the exact same stuff I put on during the blissful age of 18~ 20. Dixie reminds me of the inner child within me- something I strongly feel that we should all preserve it at all cost... something all so precious and fragile...
So the idea of the "Dixie Project" is that Dixie goes everywhere with me, and whenever I see something that triggers a thought, I capture the moment along with Dixie. And hopefully, I can get to observe the world around Dixie or ME a little better.

Take a step back. Now observe.

Anyone who has gone through the job search process would have gone through the usual rejections. There would be times when you felt that the whole sky is falling upon you, questions like "What don't they ever call me up when I suited their job description perfectly?" surface up all the time. We all know how sucky this can be...

Hence, I decided to start my dixie project, which explains my blog's name.

So I got this doll, Dixie to represent me, while the real me gets behind the camera and take snap shots of Dixie's life. The whole idea is to step out from the real me and really take a look at my life like a third party. Hopefully, this will provide new perspectives to how I look at my job search.

Afterall, I always believe that we shouldn't be focusing so much on ourselves. So take a step fellas... observe and open your eyes.

My weak heart cries out.

Nice.

I love its wicked sense of humor! Simple yet effective.
Design is intelligence made visible. – Alina Wheeler

Cold harsh reality

Sometimes it does feel like this. I know.

I'm not gonna pretend that job search is easy or cook up some uplifting words that hypes so much on "waiting for the right one". This ugly truth is job search really sucks. So many atimes, we wait for that phone call which we thought we truly deserve. Days roll into weeks then to months... not a pretty picture; and I'll be truthful that I hv had my fair share of disappointments.

But my dear friends, let the self pity days be over and lets face the music. Now, I am no career coach and this blog is not about "setting your career goals straight", this blog is about giving encouragement to people going through a job search.

Something I reckon which might be useful:

A website called http://www.linkup.com/ - another helpful tool for job searching today. Many employers are still hiring, but they don't post on the main job boards (which is where most of these other aggregate sites search) because they are getting inundated with resumes from tons of people that are not qualified. However, the company is still required to post the job--so they may just post it on their own company website. This website is a search engine that looks at company websites only. It's free and can be very helpful.

Haven't try it. But I am targetting to do so today along with my resume sending regime. Love life.

Great Fashion Website Finds

Check this out, its pretty cool. http://www.polyvore.com/

Job Hunting - Seems like sunset forever

Walk with me on this. Its just like another mundane day, you are at your work desk which you know you so should'nt be in. Sipping on the cheap coffee that your office pantry provides, wondering: "Why am I wasting my time here?" You mouth unknowingly pouts ... as you check those evil emails. An all so familiar setting.

The truth is most of us go through this everyday, and as we work ourselves around the dull tasks, we start to wonder: "Where is that dream job I have been dreaming of since school days?" I admit I'm one of them, in fact, I'm in this job search for 6 months already.

Sure enough there were job offers, but deep down, I knew I had to give a shot at fulfilling my dream- working as a marketing person in the FMCG market. Perhaps it's this stubbornness that keeps me going in this long dreadful process. Others have commented on the unpractical idealistic approach I have taken for this job search. I bet you will hv a fair share of it too.

My point is this - Have you ever asked a 5 year old what would they prefer if they hv to save for 1 week to get a candy or save up for 3 weeks to get a toy of their choice? Most would tell you the latter. We were kids once, were'nt we?

"It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer. ~Albert Einstein"

And as an old fashion cliché: Love life.

Things that really inspire me

Visual art made practical and of cos, overly priced- FASHION.

I love Holly Becker, all things just ooze a simplistic charm all so unirresistible.

" A Pure bliss just looking at her blog" http://decor8blog.com/

Its More than "Once Upon a Time"

Warm Greetings fr Dixie!

The real deal is: I am never out to please anyone, looking like a cutey bunny, living in an all so wonderful world where butterflies and chocolate fill the streets. In fact, I hv experienced some set backs in my life which I know it would'nt really matter few years down the road.

But honey, when life gets you, it gets you face down. You and I know how things can really get you cracking up. But somehow I give thanks that I was given the strength to stand back up again and take things in my own hands. So no more whining, no more stamping on your feet!

I hope to capture this rough period I'm undergoing through a coupled of photo shoots and my " journey" entries and tell those souls out there through this blog that you are not alone in the rain. People do care.

And as an old fashion cliché: Love life.