Living in interesting times

In most of the classes I'd attended, lecturers always give the quote above. Looks like the market has only bought a one way ticket - south. Walking back would be a slow process.

Stock market aside, been getting quite a lot of wedding invitations lately. As they said, that'll be an indicator that we'd reached a certain age. Sorry to those whom weddings I couldn't attend.

Meanwhile, I'll be busy mugging for my exam. Time passed really fast when you're studying and working at the same time.

Missed oppotunity

There are times when we should hope instead of fearing.

For example, this very time I missed the oppotunity to buy AMD's share at an oversold position. Knowing that nothing changed much fundamentally, it provides a good oppotunity for me to cover back my losses incurred during AMD stock purchase last year.

Since the day I decided to buy AMD but failed to (due to fear of incurring more losses and greed of wanting to make a bigger spread), it had made a big jump of whopping 50%.

Anyway, I'm thankful at least now I learnt up more about RSI,MACD and Bollinger's band during this time.

Where have I been?

Trying to revive the blog. :D So these are what I'd been doing so far for past 1 month.

1.Been busy attending class.
2.Went back to hometown.
3. Doing assignments.
4. Learning up more technical indicators like Bollinger's band, RSI, MACD and candle chart readings.

Need to start mugging soon. Final exam is around the corner. :(

K9 Web Protection

If you need any filtering software for kids or yourself while you're surfing the net, my buddy recommended this.

k9webprotection

Prevention is better than cure. There are many 'predators' out there that you want to flee from. Talking about predators, I just had a weird dream of killing crocodiles earlier this week.

Back to the software. After the installation, when the program ask for admin password, ask someone to key in (and remember it) if it's for yourself. Double protection.

After you'd installed it, you might find it slightly slower when you surf. The speed will be back to normal when you surf the same site the second time. So be patient with it.

Hope it serves you well, and most importantly, it's free. :)

Fallen

Been feeling unproductive lately. Too lazy to do anything. And ya, I didn't even send out any resumes to any companies. Somehow this slothfulness really stings and cause paralysis in 2-3 weeks of my time. Felt very duo4 luo4 (liken in a fallen state).

Looking inside, I know there's some areas that I had to overcome.

As I walk through the route to the company this morning (looks like I'm getting revelations each day as I passed this particular place, uh?), I was prompted with the parable of the prodigal son.

A rebellious son, in his own rebelliousness, left the family, seeking pleasures and 'freedom' from discipline and authority. So often we viewed freedom as having our own ways ended up with a bed of roses, the reality is the bed is, yes, made of roses but it comes together with all the thorns. Now imagine sleeping on it. (Footnote)

Later part in the parable, the son had no where to go, and last resort, he thought of turning back to his father, hopefully to be accepted as a servant in his father's house. He felt shame in himself, not worthy enough, unwanted; and with all the stuffs he did last time to his father(asking for his part of inheritance is like asking for his father's death), he thought it's the best position he deserved. He was surprised to be shown grace and abundant mercy by his father.

Likewise, so often, we shower ourselves with guilt and self inflicting punishment when we fall, feeling unworthy to get back to our Heavenly Father. Truth is, when we repent and turn away from our old ways, we're shown abundant grace, abundant mercy; accepted back as a family member.

Footnote:

Romans 6: 15-23

Slaves to Righteousness

15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

19I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. 20When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in^[b] Christ Jesus our Lord.

Speak Life

Was reading a book of testimony titled :Message from God. It was about Mom writing a real incident about her family meeting an accident, and her eldest son got badly injured - coma, brain damage etc. He went to heaven but was sent by God back to the world to share his testimony around the world. He was miraculously healed stages by stages and the mom wrote down all her experiences with the family and with God in this book.

This part of the book stuck with me the most for the time being. When the mom was praying and ready to let him (Aldo) go to the Lord, suddenly she saw the vision of her boy saying :"Speak life unto me Mom. Speak Life." And God breathe life into him.

How often we always speak of condemnation and things that are not good. Especially as chinese, somehow we always say : "Si liao. /Die lor." We don't realize our tongues actually bear fruits.

Speak good things. Speak life. Speak blessings. Just when you wake up quote Psalms 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Well, go and read the book, it's definitely a great encouragement for us to live life for Him alone. I can pass you the book if you're not out of reach in physical distance. :) Or visit http://www.godmessage.org/

Home sweet home

Had been a while since I get back to my hometown. Too bad it's not durian season yet.

Looking forward to enjoy the family fellowship this weekend before my class starts.

Anxious

Been anxious about my studies and my career. So many what-ifs running around in my head. If only I could just shoot down each one of them.

His words has always been an encouragement, though at times I tend to forget and start playing chase with the what-ifs. Planting His words down in my heart, and here's some to share with you.

Phils 4
4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Matt 7
7"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

9"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Read it over, perhaps what I should do is really to ask(for a job), seek (for a job) and knock on the door of the employers. :)

Thank you, God - Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit.

Thoughts

Just some thoughts while walking to company this morning.

Adam and Eve sinned because of fruit of tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God commanded them not to eat it but they did. Sin came in. The act of disobedient itself separated man and God.

Eating the fruit may look innocent if one separate the command of God and the act itself. Likewise, a lot of acts these days maybe seemed innocent/sinless/no harm, but God has called us and commanded us to obey His words.

Stick to the highest order God has commanded us. Which reminds me of what I learnt in one of the seminar.


Generations or their mindset tend to deviate further and further away from God's standard. (ex: divorce) Always bring God's standard in, so we won't deviate from the truth.

Greener pasture

Finally made a decision to look for greener pasture elsewhere.

Signs are popping up. :)

Extraordinary

Loaning this picture from wifey, without permission. :P

Fuh, it's been an exciting week in Thailand.

All the sunshine and sandy beaches, all the traveling and luggage loading/unloading, all the sports and fun events -- all in Trinity Extraordinary Tri-annual Church Camp.

Been blessed with promises by God that life will be extraordinary as His children. All these while life is kinda mundane - with goals to earn more $$, with a fixed schedule of work, with constant worry about succeeding in life etc - what else is more boring than those.

Gonna start enjoying and living through an extraordinary life, a life with His presence and purpose. :)

Drink - Part 2

Written a post about drinking.

Had a good discussion with cell leader yesterday.

So the 3 points check are as below:

1. Does it glorify God?
2. Will it stumble my fellow brothers?
3. Does it advance the Kingdom of God?

The second point is of what I'm concerned on this drinking issue. If my actions may cause others to stumble, then I rather not do it.

Mocktail, anyone? :D

Sky

Sky, why sky for the title of the blog?

Coz I'm the author, See Kwan Yong.

What about to infinity and beyond?

Just a catchy quote from Toy Story. If you remember Buzz...the toy who thought he could fly but he can't and finally could, artificially.

Drink

Felt kinda weird today after a glass of beer yesterday.

So shall not drink beer anymore.

Red wine, anyone? :D

Blessed

Felt blessed as our cell leader wrote me and Rachel a short note each, encouraging us.

This is part of it. Hope it encourages you too. :)

Never again will I confess 'I can't', for
" I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me ." (Phil 4:13)

Never again will I confess lack, for
" My God shall supply all of my need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (Phil 4:19)

Never again will I confess weakness, for
"The Lord is the strength of my life." (Psalms 27:1)

Never again will I confess defeat, for
" God always causeth me to triump in Christ Jesus." (2nd Cor 2:14)

Never again will I confess worries and frustration, for
" I am casting all my care upon Him who careth for me." (1st Peter 5:7)

Never again will I confess condemnation, for
" There is now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1)

Dreams

Do you keep it to yourself or tell others?

When you tell others, others might poke fun at you for it.

When you don't tell others, it feels a bit selfish.

Oh ya, I'm talking about life's dreams, not that one you make when you're sleeping. :P

Agriculture

This suddenly cross my mind again.

Suddenly felt like going back to lead a small town life, doing agricultural stuffs for a living.

Things I can think of that I can do:

1. Rare cattles

2. Build fish farms

3. Do bird farms

4. Plant oil palm/grass for cattles

Emmm... I must be missing Malaysia/Malacca/Segamat.

Stocks - Experiment on Titan

I'll start a new tag on stocks since I foresee that I'll be writing more columns about them.

Reading a technical analysis book now by John. L. Person. There are quite some examples of candle charts, explaining what they indicate and stuffs like that.

Ok. Let me apply what I learnt on the spot.

Stumbled upon cari's chinese forum and found some discussion about Titan. So it'll make a good candidate then.

Plucked this out from TheStar.


3 months candle charts with volume indication (hope Nexus is ok with this since it's a personal blog)

After trying my best to furnish it with some candle chart indicators.


1. (not so clear)Hammer/Hanging man - indicator of a reversal. (but notice the next day it still tries to go up but got drag back down?)
2. bullish engulfing pattern - black follow by white with white opening at lower than previous low.
3. reaching previous resistance and forming a clear hammer - reversal and 'boh lat' to break resistance
4. gravestone - suppose to indicate a reversal (since it's also confirmed by a new low start on the next trading day) but somehow the next next day the trend is upward. How to explain leh?

Just started with some new learn kung fu, so it's not accurate. Do not take all these as an indication to buy/sell since it's the author's own opinion (I wrote as if thousands of people are reading my blog :P)

Just for some simulation, I'll go for a buy tomorrow @ 1.38 based on the strong uptrend and it broke the previous resistance. It should be forming a '3 white soldiers' tomorrow.

Let's review this tomorrow again.

***
Reviewed on 22 May 2008

And voila.... my prediction is wrong. Titan closed at 1.32. If I'd gone in @ 1.38 @RM2k, I'll be losing a few meals there. :P ( approximately RM100 including transaction fees)




And I have no idea what trend is this. Anyway, I remembered there's this technical analysis expert that says: if there's a gap in candle chart when price move up and down, it'll tend to cover up the gap. So the gap is 1.30-1.31, let's review again to see whether the trend will cover this gap or not. :)

***
26/5/2008

Price for Titan as of today is 1.31. One step closer to the gap.

By the way, for technical analysis to be more convincing, the trading have to be substantial also. And looking at Titan, the volume is somewhat small.

I'll choose another stock to do my TA on. Maybe Equine?

*****
28/5/2008


Looks like the gap is already close. Will it form a reverse neck and shoulder?

Anyway I'll try to do a fundamental analysis on it sometime this week. Maybe there's an external factor that made the share price drop?

Interesting stuffs about Malaysia...

NATIONAL EXCUSE FOR HAIR LOSS:
Maggi Mee.

NATIONAL EXCUSE FOR BEING LATE:
Traffic Jam.

NATIONAL CONDOM:
None. Most Malaysians still feel embarrassed buying condoms.

So they rush into a 7-11, hurriedly grab the nearest pack,

any pack, pay and leave before the cashier can even blink an eye.

NATIONAL FRUIT FOR INDUCING MENSTRUATION:
Pineapple

NATIONAL APHRODISIAC DRINK:
Stout. Many swear by it.

But after a few pints they start

swearing at everything.. .

NATIONAL FAKE ILLNESS FOR GETTING MC (MEN):
Food Poisoning.

NATIONAL FAKE ILLNESS FOR GETTING MC (WOMEN):
Menstrual Pain

NATIONAL EXCUSES GIVEN BY WOMEN WHEN REFUSING SEX:
Headache, kids not asleep, maid not asleep, mother-in-law around, early
appointment, period, haven't removed make-up, haven't had a shower, no water
supply, going to watch 'Desperate Housewives', depressed, no mood, etc...

NATIONAL EXCUSES GIVEN BY MEN WHEN REFUSING SEX:
None. Malaysian men never refuse sex. (oh ya??)

NATIONAL CURE FOR HEADACHES :
Panadol. The 'cure for all'. If it fails we have another secret weapon;
Tiger Balm.

NATIONAL CURE FOR DIZZINESS:

Minyak Angin Cap Kapak.

NATIONAL CAUSE OF DIZZINESS (FOR YUPPIES):
Happy Hours.

NATIONAL INSTANT CURE FOR DIZZINESS (FOR YUPPIES):
The sight of a police roadblock.

NATIONAL RUBBISH DUMP:
Anywhere. As long as it is not your house.

NATIONAL MOST MIS-PRONOUNCED NAME:
Carrefour. Sometimes even pronounced as Carry 4!

On second thought, why bother pronouncing stupid French brands like Peugeot, Renault or Citroen correctly. I think it sounds better,when the local mechanics say 'Pew Jeot'. When I was in school, Milo was always 'MeeLo', now that I'm sophisticated, I say 'My Lo'. So don't be embarassed saying 'Carry 4' when the ! Mat Sallehs shamelessly pronounce orang utan as 'rangootan'.

NATIONAL ROADSIDE DISTRACTION:
The Bra-less Tourist. See how heads turn and traffic slows down when a bra-less Mat Salleh backpacker goes 'bouncing' about on the streets.
haha...

Memorizing scriptures

I remember telling my cell leader and some members during a small discussion that we will start to memorize some scriptures.

So I'm trying to start off with memorizing one/two verse at a week.



Isaiah 40: 30-31 (NKJV)
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
31 But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

A lot of times in our daily life, we just start off solving our daily problems on our own strength. Most often when we realized the problem is too big for us to handle alone, then we would get panic, appear lost and even despair. Out of desperation, we cry out to God for help.

What about some reversal of sequence? We wait on the LORD for a word for direction, drawing our daily necessary strength from Him, waiting on Him for His Spirit to speak to us. Then we start our day, and when problems arises we know that He's there to help us through the situation.

Focus

I seemed to get distracted very easily.

What I need to develop is a laser-like focus to make an impact to the things I'm doing.



I'll be focusing on my SMU's Masters in Applied Finance course and to get my CFA certification.
While reading on finance related books to boost my knowledge in finance as well. I'll also have to choose some particular area of finance to focus on.

So forgive me if I do bring my finance books around, I don't meant to gave an impression as one below.

Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core

This is a game post.

Finished this game 2 days ago. Was a good game, story was a kinda short. Super long missions which somehow made you feel the game is long enough.

The game developer likes to leave some questions mark here and there for the story line, and you can't believe there are forums arguing debating on who likes who, who more powerful among the characters and so on.

I still remember playing FF7 10 years go after I finished my SPM. Was a great game at that time. Wonder if 10 years later they'll come out with FF7: xxx. I guess I'll be too old for games then. Another thought, I might be still gaming at that age. :D

Till then...


From left : Cloud, Zack, Aerith and Sephiroth

Yay, it's Friday.

Some jokes someone posted in forum. Just to share...

SOCIALISM: You have 2 cows, so you give one to your neighbour.

COMMUNISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both and gives you some milk.

FASCISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both and sells you some milk.

NAZISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both and shoots you.

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM / WALL-STREET JOURNALISM: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. You sell them and retire rich on the income.

MALAYSIAN BUMIPUTRAISM: You have two cows, the State takes one and gives it to your bumiputra neighbour. From the milk you sell from the
remaining cow you buy a bull and mulitply your herd. The State take 30 per cent of your herd as it grows and give them to your bumiputra neigbour.
Your bumiputra neighbour has a kenduri each time they receive a cow.

UMNOPUTRAISM : The State takes 30 per cent of your herd and parks them in Switzerland in the name of some UMNO official or close relatives, friends and sons-in-law. (UMNO)

MALAYSIAN GOVERNMENT LINKED OR BUMIPUTRA CORPORATION : You have two cows. You employ mainly bumiputras to milk them. But both cows have been sent to the kenduri, so the State gives you more cows and write off the losses of the first two. After several kenduris later, you invite an American or German Corporation to turnaround the losses. The Japanese have however already taken their two original cows back home to Japan .

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.Later, you hire a consultant to
analyse why the cow has dropped dead.

ENRON VENTURE CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows. The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company. The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more. Sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States, leaving you with nine cows. No balance sheet provided with the
release. The public buys your bull.

A FRENCH CORPORATION: You have two cows. You go on strike, organise a riot, and block the roads, because you want three cows.

A JAPANESE CORPORATION: You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the
milk. You then create a clever cow cartoon image called ‘Cowkimon’ and market it worldwide.

A GERMAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows, but you don’t know where they are. You decide to have lunch.

A RUSSIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You count them and learn you have five cows. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. You count them again and learn you have 2 cows. You stop counting cows because you’re sobering up and open another bottle of vodka.

A SWISS CORPORATION: You have 5,000 cows. None of them belong to you. You charge the owners for storing them.

A CHINA CORPORATION: You have two cows. You have 300 people milking them. You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity, and arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.

AN INDIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You worship them.

A BRITISH CORPORATION: You have two cows. Both are mad.

IRAQI CORPORATION: Everyone thinks you have lots of cows. You tell them that you have none. No-one believes you, so they bomb you and invade your country. You still have no cows, but at least now you are part of a Democracy….

IRISH CORPORATION: You have two cows…or is it three? What matters? Aren’t you well off to have even one?

Back to Malacca

Woo hoo... can't wait to get back to Malacca. :)

Looking forward

So often in life we tend to look backwards and thought we had done good enough.

Staying in the past is dangerous; though part of it may serve as a history lesson to remind us from committing the same mistakes over again, another part of it might resulting us thinking of the 'good old days' and made us despair.

Look what I found when I googled for 'good old days'

Bing told me: What MMU? I'd almost forgotten all about it.

I was complaining to Bing about the standard and reputation of the university that might have made me fail in my application to NTU and NUS. When I went for SMU's interview for Masters program, the director did asked me: So how's this MMU? From that type of question, you can roughly guess how reputable MMU is, especially when it comes out from the mouth of academician.

Perhaps it was my GMAT scores. As far as I'm concern, I'm quite satisfied with it. Took 2 weeks to prepare for it seriously, and I got 660/800. The part that I did not do well was the verbal part (English sentence correction etc.)

Whatever it is, I thank God for being admitted into SMU's MAF. It doesn't matter much to me now on what's the reason of not being accepted into NUS and NTU's MFE.

Looking forward matters. I'm looking forward and will be focusing on walking the path that had been decided for me.

Thanks Bing, for the unintended inspiration. ;)

Happy birthday

...to this blog...

Talking about birth, my ex-colleague/current colleague/future ex-colleague is going to give birth soon. Her blog.

Decided to write something since my wife is a frequent blogger, just want to catch up with her in blogging. Though that might be a futile attempt.

I'm now working in Singapore, and the truth is, I'm quite happy in Singapore itself (provided I don't think much about where should I land myself in in the future) Things are pretty organize and comfortable here(yes Mdm. Lee, except for the limited space of room we're staying in). You can see pretty much that I'm enjoying life by gaining much weight during my one year stay here(looking at how the gluttons eat the amount of food posting in my wife's blog).

Maybe I should change the blog name to JasonEats.blogspot.com instead. :D