Sunday, August 27, 2006

Fashion

One thing about this new industry I’m going into, I’ll have to be soliciting business owners to let me take photos of their places to publish. People are naturally suspicious. They’ve got to be convinced somehow that what I’m doing is a good thing. What the hell? I’m giving free publicity here and they need convincing?

OK…..convincing……..hmm so how should I do it? It all starts with fashion! I know most of you are thinking what the….? What happened to talking up a good sales pitch, highlighting what this publicity can do, and it’s in their best interest to let me do what I want? Those are all great points, but first come fashion. *smile*

Let me illustrate from the owner’s perspective. If I saw someone walk into my business with jeans, a casual shirt, and sandals. Then proceed to give me a speech about the need to take photos, I’d probably tell them to get out. I’ve got no time for pranks.



OK, I admit, if it was Jessica Alba, I wouldn’t care what she was wearing. She could be muddy and dirty and I’d still listen to her. But in all seriousness, jeans and casual shirts don’t project a very business-like image.

So, what kind of attire should I get? Hmm…for a fashion makeover, I looked at a movie called Alfie. For those men that have not watched it, shaaaaame on you. It is the essential “modern man movie.” There are lots of hot girls, lots of fashion, and lots of educational insights.



I also looked on the internet about ways to dress. The internet is fabulous. People put up exactly how to dress step by step. They show you what matches with what, how to mix up patterns, what is in season, collars that go with facial structure, etc. Fantastic!

Granted Penang is not exactly New York, knowing how to dress goes a long way in standing out. For instance in Penang, most sales people dress reasonably well, but they don’t really stand out. Knowing how to dress means mix and matching to stand out from the crowd even when most of them are well dressed. And it’s easily doable because most men don’t really take the time to find out how to do these things. I know I didn’t for the longest time.

For ladies, It’s a bit tougher as ladies are more fashion sensitive than guys. But take a look around and a lot of girls don’t know how to dress either.

So, back to the topic, People tend to take well-dressed people seriously. It’s great to dress well, but better to know how to dress. Then standing out is easy. Now I can pitch the speech about letting me do what I want at their place. Of course if Jessica Alba was doing it for me, I wouldn’t care what she dressed like.



So......anyone for a Tiger beer?

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Resigning

Last week, I’ve had a pretty big emergency and was unable to do any writing. Hence, I would like to state for the record that this blog will be updated regularly at least twice per week. I’ll do my best to stick to it.

Anyways, I’ve had to do some thinking, and realized that I wanted this blog to be a mix of entertainment with things going on in my own life. So if you are still interested, keep reading *smile*.

On to the next subject…..Resigning.

Imaginary person at company HR: So Leon, you are resigning?

Me: Yeah I’ve come to the point where me and the company have to go different directions. It’s a bit difficult, but I've got to move on.

Imaginary person at company HR: But why? I thought you were happy?

Me: Oh nothing is terribly wrong. I am looking to pursue my own interests with another job.

Imaginary person at company HR: What? Another job? So you were busy looking for another company? Go away we don’t need you. How could you leave us? Didn’t you ever think of us? Why why why……….sobbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb.

Me: Errrr………. (me inching towards the door) Hey! Isn’t that Siti Nurhaliza and Datuk K over there?

Imaginary person at company HR: ………Huh? Where?


That’s the last they saw of me…….ducking out of the room.

I’ve got to open up with a bit of humor as saying goodbyes is never fun.

By now it’s pretty clear that I’m resigning from my current job.

So what will I do? Well I was a test engineer at an electronics manufacturing company. Now I’ll be doing something tourism/media related. Interesting? Haha….I didn’t think so. Once in a while I’ll stick a serious post on here.

I’ve got to point out that one of the sad things about resigning is that I’ll be leaving some old friends behind. It’s a bit painful.

On the flip side, I probably won’t miss the politics, hassles of the job, and some of the managers. Also, I won’t be traveling as much which is something I look forward to.

Let me end by saying ‘resigning….it’s nothing new’. Everyone at some time in their life has resigned from their job. Although for me and others I’m sure, the first long term job resignation is tough. One day, I’ll reminisce back to this blog entry. I’ll be able to say this is one of the major decisions in my life. And it will definitely be exciting where the next few years will take me.

One more thing………..check out the cartoon below……



That’s resigning with style!

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

I’m pretty new and curious about the blog world. What do people blog about? Sometimes people will blog about personal feelings. Maybe they’ll blog about food. Perhaps they might blog about things going on in life around them.

Although blogs generally are written like an article, I’ve always found the most interesting blogs with pictures. Sure the topic and writing matters, but pictures somehow give that extra dimension.

Lets face it, we live in a world of TV and visual spectacles. We like to go see events. We like to go see movies. We like to go see hot girls.


We like to go see good-looking guys…….. such as myself (I can see people rolling their eyes).

Ok ok…. Brad Pitt will do.



Also, we like to see cute animals.



Our brains are laaaazy….Reading a blog without pictures is like reading a book. We have to translate the book to images in our brain. And who wants to bother with thinking?

We’re reading someone’s blog! All we want to do is be kaepo about his or her life! Screw thinking!

Ok, let me confess the purpose of this writing. Basically I’m trying to not sound so conceited when I had this urge to do some camwhoring and post it on my blog.

Professional camwhorers, please bear with me.


Thursday, August 10, 2006

Kaypo-ness

One thing that amazes me about Malaysians is their “kaypo-ness.” For those that don’t know, it means to be a busybody. And yes I also admit to being one of them.

We’ve all seen it before. For example, an accident on ONE side of the road causes BOTH sides to jam up.



Next exhibit is a popular Penang website Kaypocorner.


At first blush, it defies logic that a site as Kaypocorner could be so successful. No one likes to be called “Kaypo.” Then I realize yes, Malaysians probably want to know everything about their sister’s friend’s classmate. Even if it is likely we’ll never meet them in a million years.

Ah, but usually these sites are quite small. Kaypocorner is considered relatively small. Surely this is not representative of the nation? Now let me introduce you to a site which really shows “Malaysia boleh” on being kaypo.



Yes, our very own Star Newspaper. Giving credit where it’s due, the majority of The Star Online has lots of articles and does not really emphasize much on “kaypo” subjects. In the print version, these articles are usually reserved a small section on the newspaper page. Ah, but Malaysians lurvve these subjects. If it’s there they will find it.

The following is the top 10 list of articles most viewed on The Star Online website.



Yes…..where there is a will, there is a way!




Monday, August 07, 2006

Into Blog Space and Beyond!

That’s right folks, this is my first blog entry. I am fresh meat to the world of blogs. As I sit here I can’t help but think. Why haven’t I started one sooner? Am I too lazy? Am I too cool? Am I too afraid to expose myself?



Ok, ok, I won't scare anyone like that…..All those are excuses. In the end for me, it takes a shift in thinking. The lightbulb in the head. One sudden "Ah hah" moment. One of those things that only happens after procrastinating for such a long time.

So without further suspense, here is my fantastic "Ah hah moment", my "lightbulb in the head."




5 minutes later.........................




>.<

So onwards! And welcome to Life’s Like That. A journey into the unknown.