Christmas Trolley Money

Today was a good day, found $0.10 at the slope to her house while we were heading to church for midnight mass.
Went to Queen of Peace at Tanjong Katong for midnight mass. The pageant was okay, choir performing the pageant could have been better some of them were really off key and the solos were terrible... The main choir was good but there was also this really low male voice that peaked out from time to time and kinda ruined the songs...

After mass, we went to a kopitiam near her brother's house for drinks, once there I immediately saw a trolley with the lock still in place and was wondering if there was a dollar inside. She decided that since we were there to push the trolley back to the supermarket that it came from. Turns out the supermarket was a distance away but I guess it was a nice stroll with her except the trolley was awfully noisy from being pushed along the road. The trolley did indeed contain a dollar, so I guess that goes to her count because even though I spotted the trolley, she pushed it back.

Nice Christmas Eve so far more Christmas Goodness later!

Started with $30.19

Ended with $31.29
$1.00 From her
$0.10 From him

Merry Christmas to All!

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Voyage Di La Vie and Update on Step 10

She found $0.10 on Wednesday while coming out of the MRT station.
I found $0.10 this evening while out with her family at Resorts World Sentosa, it was when we exited the super candy store - "Candylicious", it was just there on the carpet at the entrance. So lucky me to find it and not anyone else :)
She complained that every time she manages to find anything I will just up the ante and find even more. What to do? Its a mini competition right? :P

Went there to watch RWS' resident show "Voyage Di La Vie". Wasn't too sure what to expect from the show at first but it turned out to be a really good show!

The music is good, the acts are good, the set and props are fantastic!
The acrobats were great,they were so mesmerising to watch that throughout the show I was just smiling away in awe!
The contortionist is amazing, that young boy can really bend in ways that the human body just isn't meant to!
The magicians are amazing, they are a really funny act and well magic is just magical!
And at the closing the trapeze artists were just swinging and twirling right above our heads!
I loved it, the show far exceeded my expectations of a circus show and was really engaging to behold.

I would recommend everyone to take the time and watch the show because in such a small theater, you just get completely immersed in the show unlike overseas where the theaters are so big that you can hardly see the performers' faces clearly.
At RWS the theater is nice and cozy that any seat can really give you a great view of the show.

Started with $29.99

Ended with $30.19
$0.10 From her
$0.10 From him

Wishing all of you out there Happy Holidays!

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Ho Ho Ho and an Apple Ipad

Gave in over the weekend and bought an Apple Ipad. But not for myself so I guess its alright right?
Anyway gave it to her as her Christmas present and put some comic books and apps that she wanted to read into it. Hope she likes it.
I'm not really an Apple person, so the thought of parting $$ to Apple really gives me the goosebumps. But well I got it second hand and the person that I got it from won it from a lucky draw.
So in this case I think I'm safe from the heebie jeebies. :P

Got to admit the Ipad looks great, but the lack of the ability to customise anything really is the pinnacle of control by Apple. Which is mainly why I'd always support the other platforms like Windows or Google's Android.

Apply culture just isn't my cup of tea.

Anyway, to all that are reading this little journal of mine.

Merry Christmas and A very Happy New Year, may 2011 be at least 50% better than the shitstorm of 2010.

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Visit to my gold mine again - Borders Bookstore

I love visiting Borders!

This time while shopping for Christmas presents with her in Borders Parkway Parade I went around looking and found a total of $1.10!

Started with $28.89

Ended with $29.99
$1.10 From him

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Step Update / Toami-Gyo Fishing Season Revisited / Voucher values revised

Found a Dollar today at the arcade today, it was in the coin return slot and no one had noticed it was there, this time we went to the "big league" arcades at east coast park to try our hands at the Toami-gyo/Fishing Season machines there. Didn't get to use the 3 tokens we found earlier because they were from another place.

Its was amazing watching the "pros" there because there was this Uncle that kept killing the sharks that came out; each shark is worth 100 coins; to the point that we got to see a special shark that transformed into a gold shark after it was killed the 1st time. Sadly I doubt he managed to recoup his investment because the boss shark he killed was only worth 500 coins, the other "pro" couple that was there too had won 1000 coins off the boss shark earlier.

Its more expensive than the normal kiddie arcade because each shot costs $0.20! That's double the amount! They do have a promotion where you get an extra 150 coins if you change $50 and another 500 coins if you change $100, which would bring down the cost of each shot to around $0.10. But I guess because the prizes that you can exchange are better, the likes of Sony Playstation 3, Apple's Iphone4, asus eee PC, basically the good stuff.

O well spent like $60 there with her.... but ended with nothing, sigh.... anyway while we were there some other lucky and persistent folks got their hands on an Apple Iphone4 and what looks like an Iphone4 but I suspect is not... mainly because the box it was in was one of those China knock-offs...

She was tempted by the Iphone 4s that were there in the machines for the winning and thus tried her hand at it with $3, which needless to say ended with nothing in return. Its a variation of the those "ufo" claw machines but instead of catching the item, you have to position the pressure sensitive probe to poke at the many holes that hold the prizes. So if you manage to get the probe through a hole, you'll be able to push the prize down and win it.

I've been keeping logs of how much we've spent so far for the whole arcade thing and its right now at $212! I can't believe that at my age, I'm still spending that kind of money playing games at the arcades...

And I am going to change the value of the vouchers that I got and any future vouchers I receive for the surveys to a value of 1.5:1.0

This would ensure that I am not paying exactly for the vouchers that I am buying from the fund but at a discounted rate. This is partially to reward myself for slogging at those surveys and to ensure that I do not get disgruntled with the fact that I'm just putting money into the fund by buying the vouchers outright.

So I shall revise the amount I have now in the fund.

Started with revised amount of $27.89

Ended with $28.89
$1.00 From him

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Bintan Nice and Sunny / Step 10 Update

Found $0.02 today in the office.

Bintan was good but spending quality time with her is great.

Sadly we went during the monsoon season so all sea sports were closed, we only managed to get a bit of body boarding done and the rest of the time was spent either by the pool or just walking up and down the beach looking for clams and crabs. O and we also had a nice round of archery shooting at the range.

The weather was great clear skies and all, only on the last night did it start to drizzle a little but I guess it cooled the night even further which was nice when we were having our dinner by the beach.

We stayed in a Deluxe Sea View Room, but the only sea we saw from our room was the horizon where the sky met the sea. There was only 1 side of the East Wing which had a real clear view of the sea, so all the other "Deluxe Sea View Rooms" paid more for the view of Trees!

The other draw back about Bintan was the price of the food! We should have brought our own supply of noodles or something because hell was it expensive.

We choose to stay at Bintan Lagoon Resort which we heard good things about but the 3 restaurants there had horrible food and the buffet spread was ridiculous for the price...

The Italian restaurant Orzo was a joke, the food was bad and the portions small, the only nice thing was the service which is the only reason I tipped!

The restaurant by the beach was called 3DSR for some reason and was their Signature restaurant, the western selection was small and sad but luckily I ordered a plate of kailan that was delicious and worth the price compared to the other dishes available...

Overall I enjoyed myself at Bintan, just doing simple things and being with her. She can't wait for our next holiday trip but that would have to be later on because of her going back to study and my work.

Gonna be Christmas soon then a new year, only wish is for everything in the world to be better. The financial situation around the world, the level of hostility going on in the middle east and the korean peninsula, I really hope that 2011 will be at least 50% better than 2010 then it will be a great year.

Started with $37.87

Ended with $37.89
$0.02 From him

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Received Vouchers - Step 8 & 9 Complete!

Got the $30 vouchers in the mail today, guess I'm jumping ahead in the steps from this :)

More $ to come! Hope it comes in SGD.. else would lose a bit from the exchange and the cost to deposit a foreign cheque...

Started with $7.87

Ended Step 8 & 9 with $37.87
Time taken to Complete Steps - 16 Days
$30.00 From him


Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Well Deserved Break

Finally gonna take a short break away from Singapore. Heading to Bintan for the next few days! Hope the weather holds... please don't rain! Clear Skies! Clear Skies!

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

New Addition To Our Herd

! Pearlie just gave birth at 4.40am to a mosaic! Hope everything is well and its healthy! can't wait to see him properly in the morning.

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Crappy few days....

Dang has it been bad or has it been bad... kinda crashed my car today, dinged the right front tyre into the guardrail along the expressway.... worst of all I know its my own fault... too tired from cleaning my room the whole day... sigh....

Never really found anything too so that's a bummer...

Hope tomorrow will be better with Walking with Dinosaurs.

Sigh
Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Redemption Day

Seems today is a good day as any to redeem my points for a few of the survey sites because well... the first one I kinda claimed by accident so theres SGD30 in vouchers coming my way, the second is because I'm afraid that the points might expire because I've been at this site for awhile, so another USD100 coming as well.

She and I both found $0.01 in the last 2 days to that's another $0.02 into the fund.

I guess I'll only add the amount only after I receive the cheque and vouchers.

Started with $7.85

Ended with $7.87
$0.01 From her
$0.01 From him

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Lucky Day! Step 7 Complete! Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, and Dinner at Shangri-La's The Line

Wow I guess the day after my birthday was luckier than the day itself, just this morning when she went to jog with her friend at Bedok stadium she found a $1 coin as she was on her 3rd lap on the outer track!

After which I met up with her to go catch a movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, at Tampines Mall because I had free GV Movie Money from my company.

While there, because there was time to spare we went ahead to the arcade and found our current favorite game, "Fishing Season" (a Toami Gyo clone). This time we both played and she is really into it now, before she just used to watch me but now is more willing to part with the $$ to play a game. She had a better day than I did and got like 100 e-Tickets cashed out when we had to leave for the movie.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 was long but expected, running at 146 minutes. The movie was good but a little slow at the few intervals when the rag tag trio were alone escaping the snatchers. Overall thou it was good, filled with fight scenes, chases and even the odd "hot under the collar" scene with Hermaine and Harry kissing. The ending was of course left on a more intense mood with The Dark Lord desecrating Dumbledore's grave, so can't wait for the last movie next year.

After the movie with the credits rolling and people getting up to leave the cinema, I heard the all too sweet sound of coin/coins dropping directly in front of me! And to my surprise the couple in front of me just up-ed and left without looking back so I just peered over the seats and there it was! Another $1 coin!

So after the movie we headed back home to change and left for dinner. She had booked us a wonderful buffet spread at The Line at Shangri-la. Heard great things about the food there so was eager to try it. The fare was plentiful and good, seafood was fresh and the desserts delicious according to her, I was too stuffed at the end that I even struggled to finish my single scope of passion fruit sorbet. Service was good as they cleared any empty plates within a minute of spotting them and filled our glasses fairly quickly. The overall experience there would have been perfect if not for my own gluttony... stuffed myself so much that I had to relieve myself a little by up chucking after we left the restaurant.

Overall the day was nicely spent with her and we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Thank you dear for 2 days of awesome fun!

Started with $5.85

Ended Step with $7.85
Time Taken to Complete Step - 14 Days
$1 from her and $1 from me

Into Step 8 Now!

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Birthday

Happy Birthday to me!!

Off to Universal Studios later!!!

M$Penguin

Rants - Insomnia , Aokigahara Forest , Gang Violence

Been having bouts of insomnia these few weeks, not sure what is causing them but in the end I just can't fall asleep... tried readjusting my body clock by staying up straight for 2 days then crashing for something like a 16 hr stretch... but that didn't help at all, got up and stayed up for the next 36 hours again... Not too sure why this is happening again, I've experienced this before but there was always a reason why it happened, usually when I'm troubled by something. But this time it kinda feels different. Its the end of the fiscal year for me and I've cleared my requirements so I'm pretty sure its not work. I've not had any fights of late with anyone, so its not relationships. So what is it? Maybe its due to me feeling lost lately? Been having this feeling of emptiness for some reason, like nothing is behind me, like theres something missing or theres no reason for waking up in the morning? Gotta look for something to occupy my mind.

Anyway I've been whiling this extra time awake by watching videos and researching on things that have peaked my interest.

Being like this kinda reminds me of a, independent movie I watched a few years back called 'Cashback', in which the protaganist is also suffering from insomnia and instead of wasting his time staying awake, he cashes in by taking part time jobs at the local 24 hour supermarket, thus the title, but he also has this special power of stopping time and uses this power for some really whimsical deeds, like stripping the shoppers at the supermarket and drawing them nude. I guess the thoughts of the young can't really stray far from sex right?

Anyway of the many videos and clips I've been watching, one really stood out. Its a documentary about the Aokigahara forest at the foot of Mt Fuji in Japan. It has become widely known as the 'Suicide Forest' because of the extremely high number of people that head there to end their lives, which is partially due to a book that labels the forest as "the perfect place to die".

The documentary itself follows a forest guard that trawls the forest looking for the unfortunates that have decided to end their lives and succeeded. He walks the paths less traveled and looks for signs that someone had once been through the area so that he can retrieve the bodies that they've left behind.

It also touches on why the number of suicides in Japan is on the rise and how the locals feel about their forest being such a draw to suicide seekers. One local commented that the Japanese now are like 'economic creatures' that derive personal value from money, so when one is out of a job and has no money, they feel they have no further value in this world and decide to end it.

Watching this documentary at the witching hour that I did really sent chills down my spine.
It also comes on the heels of a young Japanese male that streamed his suicide live over the internet which caused quite a stir in the online community.

Lately there has also been plenty of news on youngsters in my country as young as 17, hacking and slashing each other with knives and choppers because of so called 'gang related' activities or because they didn't like how they were stared at.

Is the value of life really non-existent to them?
Has society come to a point, where our personal value and self-worth is so linked to how much money one can earn that failure and the loss of a job can lead one to suicide? where because someone looks at you the wrong way it ends up in a slashing?

And to boot, now that North Korea has a new leader he's trying to prove his metal by striking out at the South and showing that he is not afraid to use force. Kinda reminds me of George W.

War for the sake of pride, fighting because of a stare and suicide because of money.

Is it worth it?

M$Penguin

Memories

Found this drawing that a friend of mine drew 2 years ago to represent our group. O does it brings back memories....

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Sigh... As good as gambling..

Well it seems our fishing season / Toami Gyo dream is no more... After spending an additional $50 on the game, we have concluded that our chances are really better if we were to gamble it off at our local casinos, Resort World Sentosa or Marina Bay Sands... even after the $100 entry levy...

The odds are really not in the player's favor and I can understand why they made it so... But we were seduced by the one time success and now have paid for it, luckily it can be considered entertainment and an activity that we do together so not entirely wasted.
Just no more dreams of winning big from playing these games...

O well, back to the drawing boards for us, need to search for more sustainable growth models. So far the comic is still sitting there on my ebay listing.. so nothing that is really done for the sake of increasing the fund through business has succeeded but not to be dismayed as it seems our luck for finding loose money is still there to support us through the next few steps!

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Trolley Money!

Yay! We found our first dollar from supermarket trolleys!

Was driving up the multi-storey car park with her on our way to having dinner when we drove past a trolley just parked there at the side of the car park, I asked her to get out to check if there was a dollar inside, she was skeptical at first but once I got closer she got out and saw that the lock was still in.

So she got out and wheeled the trolley back to the trolley bay which was only like 10 metres away and retrieved the dollar.

She was so happy that she got it and even commented that it was such a shiny dollar coin too. Well since she did the work of wheeling the trolley back to the bay, it shall be counted under her share.

Wonder why someone would just leave a trolley with the dollar still in it when the trolley bay was so nearby.

Guess they were in a hurry or something but hey we're grateful for you trolley abandoners!

Started with $4.85

Ended with $5.85
$1.00 From her

Wish me Luck

M$Penguin

Rants - Lawyer Shows

Not sure what is it with lawyer shows but I love them. From the time Boston Legal aired to now with stuff like The Defenders, The Whole Truth and Outlaw. Not sure what is it with them but I just love them!

Maybe its because lawyers are just normal people with the right wit and a little talent here and there, so it makes us feel like 'hey, we could do that' and when they spin their tales at the opening or closing for a jury hearing, well its like listening to a great story teller trying to get your attention to certain points in his story and make you feel more sympathetic towards either the plaintiff or the defence.

But what I find most intriguing is how they are able to interpret what is written into what is relevant that truly makes a great lawyer at least for the TV. I am lucky to not need any legal assistance as yet so I am not in no position to comment on what is happening in real life, but I do know that practicing law is not as glamorous as TV would put it because well, mundane life has no place for flashy lawyers but only the hard working corporate lawyers out there brokering deals between companies, drawing up paper work for making things easier for the rest of us when we need either loans, insurance or to help the grieving settle estates.

I salute the hard working hidden lawyers out there that whom without our daily lives would be chaotic to say the least.

And to TV stations for commissioning such wonderfully entertaining shows to tickle the boredom of our systems whenever we turn on the TV to unwind.

Been sick the past 2 days, even though it was a public holiday on Wednesday, so have been catching up on TV Shows... Hate being sick, especially when it renders me totally useless with a fever and a cough that doesn't go away..

My friends often laugh when they hear me complain that I have, as I put it "a delicate throat". Its true, every time I eat something fried or crispy like potato chips or fried chicken, the next day my throat gets all sore and I cough to no end, my breathing is laboured and I feel like I'm getting an asthma attack when I don't even have asthma! Just wish that my throat doesn't just sucker punch me like that all the time...

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Arcade Game Fishing Season / Toami Gyo

Did the most unthinkable today, went to the arcade with her to play 'Fishing Season', considering that it was my 2nd visit to the arcade to play this game, I did pretty well.

We have those 1 for 1 vouchers so I changed $5 to get another $5 worth. Managed to only use $3.60 for the entire 2 hours that we were there and managed to get slightly over 500 tickets to redeem for stuff, I actually got a lot more like 700 tickets because I got to the bonus stage with the shark that is worth 500 but because I didn't cash out when I was at my peak, I dropped back to 500, so I essentially wasted my shark...

I'll be able to get my hands on another 1 for 1 voucher so I'll most probably try to sharpen my skills for what is the big leagues of this arcade game.

Right now the tickets that I got can only be exchanged for simple toys like coin-banks, board games and other small stuff, the big leagues are the arcades that you can redeem stuff like Apple iPods, iPads, even the iPhone 4, Sony's PlayStation 3, Nitendo's Wii etc, the High End Stuff.

And those 3 tokens that she found on Sunday are for those Big League Arcades.

Well I guess this will be counted as putting work into the endeavour so I'll see what I can get with those 3 tokens. Won't be using the fund to buy tokens because well to be honest this is kinda like gambling, with stuff instead of money but if I'm able to grow the 3 tokens then it'll be counted.

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Enjoying The Night Out And Finding Stuff

Been kinda great the past few days with everything going so well with the endeavour and all.

Today we went to see the musical A Little Night Music which was not a bad stage performance with wonderful actors and actresses, whose voices are extraordinary. They've done a great job with the script but there were the lows in the performance when the fillers took the stage... at one point I almost fell asleep during the solos...

After the show we went walking around the arcade to look at the new arcade game "Fishing Season" in which you are suppose to shoot a whole swarm of fish ranging from small fish that you can kill with 1 shot or a whale shark which needs like 100 shots to kill. The game is kinda like a fruit machine for the younger generation as you get a point that you can redeem for a token if you choose to withdraw the points accumulated, as each token costs 10 cents. It costs a point to shoot once and if you hit a small fish you get a point, if you hit bigger fish and kill them you get from between 2-100 points.

We spent well over an hour there just looking at people playing the game and we got to see a couple get to the bonus stage in which you get a chance to kill a shark worth 500 points! It was really interesting and I may just try my hand at this game the next time we're free.

While there she found 3 tokens so I suppose its worth $0.30? O well, will be chalking them up under the Limbo section for now.

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Another Lucky Day!

Wow looks like lady luck is really giving me a nice great smile lately!

Found another $0.95 in total today. 10 cents while shopping for my mom's birthday present with my partner, yes I know my mom's birthday was yesterday but my partner wasn't able to get her a present yet so we went shopping.

It was just there under the rack of clothes on the outside of the rack. I was really happy because I've passed the $4 mark! And needless to say, she was none too happy because her share is slowly shrinking!

:P

Then while walking past the bank's row of Automatic Teller Machines, Cash Deposit Machines and Coin Deposit Machines, I saw at the corner of my eyes that there were coins left in the return slot of the Coin Deposit Machine and Wala! a 50 cent, an old 20 cent, a 10 cent and a 5 cent coin.

The queue at the ATMs must have been surprised that I found money in there as I was just walking by while they were just standing in line waiting.

Opportunity comes to those who look for it, and that was in ways part of this endeavour in the first place.

:)

Started with $3.90

Ended with $4.85
$0.95 From him

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Step 6 Clear!

Wow last night was a really lucky night! I was out with my partner and friends and while we were walking around Borders Bookstore at Wheelock Place, I found a total of $1.30!!!

First a 20 cent coin in plain sight beside a stack of books, then a Dollar coin tucked under a bookshelf near the cashier and a 10 cent coin just in the middle of the walkway. My friends were nice and supportive of me looking for money on floor and one of my best bros even tried dropping coins to mess with me, he is such a clown sometimes but he knows I love him so he gets away with it...

Borders is really my GOLDMINE!!! I've not found so much at 1 location so far, I shall try my luck and visit other Bookstores too! I suppose why I was able to find so much was because Borders Bookstore is fully carpeted so people don't realise that they've dropped coins.

:D

After stating that this blog is now split through the amount that my partner and I find, the competitiveness in her is in high gear and she was really rilled up with my find as it meant that I pulled the gap further between us. She was so close to overtaking me....

:P

So yeah! Into Step 7!

Onward to Glory!

Started with $2.60
Found $1.30 at Borders Bookstore at Wheelock Place
Ended Step with $3.90
Time Taken to Complete Step - 18 Days

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Dad and Mom's Birthday

Today is my dad's 62nd and tomorrow is my mom's 58th birthday and I got them this diabetic friendly chocolate fudge cake from Delcie's Desserts which is a specialty shop for sugar free and vegan cakes, it was really difficult looking for places to get diabetic friendly cakes so thank goodness I was able to find them. It was my first time ordering a diabetic friendly cake so not sure how it would taste like, and how expensive it was.

My parents were pretty surprised that the cake that small was so heavy(1kg) but they soon found out why after they sank their teeth into it.
The chocolate fudge was nice and thick but I guess due to the ingredients used, being unprocessed food, was a little on the oat-ty side. I mean it was delicious and all, just that you could smell the oatmeal, which in my opinion is kinda taking away the pleasure of just biting into the thick chocolate goodness.

I'm fairly certain that my dad has not had chocolate cake in a long long time due to his diabetes so this was a treat as he actually took a second helping of cake! My mom on the other hand wasn't very impressed, even though she also developed diabetes last year, her taste buds I suppose still isn't used to having less sugar in cakes.

But my main concern was for my dad, so the $85 was well spent. Expensive but worth it for his birthday.

O and when I picked my parents up from the train station, my mom told me she found $15 while entering the station in town, 3 $5 notes lying together, some poor dude must have dropped them while taking his EZ-Link card out from his pocket or something.

She thought they was leaves at first until she took a closer look and luckily she did because after noticing the money, she saw that a man further away noticed them too and rushed towards her to get them, but as my mom was closer so she just picked them up and the man stopped in his tracks, with disappointment clearly on his face and walked back to his friend.

I'm sure that it wasn't his money or else he would have approached my mom and said something. I guess I'm not the only person looking out for stray cash. But hey who could blame him, it was $15!

I guess people do get luckier on their birthday.

Wish me Luck and Happy Birthday Dad & Mom!
M$Penguin

Fine Fine Fine

Zzzz got the letter from the traffic police last night for my parking ticket that i got on the 31st of October... really hate losing money like that especially when its $70!!!! What an expensive dinner that turned out to be.. Guess my gig $$ just went to the government...
zzzzz

Wish me Luck

More work coming in

Wow its really amazing how fast word of mouth spreads, now I've got another project to complete for my on-and-off gig.

Weet~! here comes another $75! Not bad for an open-sourced based conversion software, some time and a little internet know-how.

If only the projects came in more often, this could really be a great business venture. But sadly the projects are not as prolific in nature as a business would need it to be, so it shall remain a nice side income.

Credit has to be given to my partner for asking for my help a year ago to extract the clips and now for helping spread the word of my services.

Happy :)

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Walking with Dinosaurs

Finally made up my mind to catch Walking with Dinosaurs and I can't wait!!!

Saw the trailers and commercials for it and caught the latest episode of CSI featuring it and IT LOOKS AWESOME!!!

I want a picture with the Raptors and the T-Rex! bwahahha its gonna be so cool!

Can't wait for next month! Gonna be watching it on the 8th so will be posting pictures if I can :)

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Complaining Works!

Haha it seems that lady luck has really kept her eye out for me once I started complaining about the lack of her favor.

I've gotten another request at my on and off gig and that's another 50 bucks! Happy is the person that gets easy good paying work!

:)

But still the task of building up the fund is coming along slowly but surely.

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

How Wonderful the Favor of Lady Luck

Its amusing how when I was just lamenting about the lack of favor from Lady Luck that she decided to grant my endeavor a smile.

My partner found a dollar this afternoon! The minute she picked it up she messaged to say how lucky she was and proceeded to describe to me blow by blow the events that lead to her finding it.

She was rushing out of the house and up the hill when she stepped on something and it went 'cling', she then curiously looked back to survey the area and found a weathered round shape which is thought was only some washer but after a careful look it turned out to be a dollar! She quickly picked the hot piece of metal up and dashed off.

She gave me the coin when we met and showed me where she found it when I sent her home, it was beside a row of parked cars that she found it which I guess is not surprising but what luck!

Now she jokes about how much she's contributed to the endeavor and how she'd one day find more money than I do and this blog would have to change its name due to the hostile take-over.

Its a possibility, but hey isn't competition more fun? So in the spirit of competition, I'll be adding a His and Her count at the Progress Tracker so she'll be able to see how much she has contributed to the endeavor.

Hope I find my next coin soon!

:)

Anyway the cheque for my on and off gig came in the mail yesterday, glad to have an easy gig like that. Hope more opportunities come my way in the future.

Started with $1.60

Ended with $2.60
$1.00 From her

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

The Dry Spell Cometh

There really hasn't been any luck for me recently, no findings, no sale of the comic.. even no surveys to do.. which I find really annoying!

Will probably need divine help if this dry spell persists...



Fortuna - Roman Goddess of Luck

Will really need lots of it... O let me catch a glimpse of you O Goddess of Luck...

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Stagnant

*Sigh*
Its been over a week since my last find.. at the office no less.. no loose change has been forth-coming my way and when the opportunity struck for the dollar.. my laziness took over...

What is wrong with me?

Work has been slow, this endeavor has been slow, the only thing that isn't slowing down is the stupid pain in my lower back...

Saw the specialist yesterday with no clear answer, just a suspicion that it might be a spinal disc herniation because a confirmation would need a MRI and it just doesn't justify the cost. Anyway nothing can be done but rest, so just gotta take the pain killers and anti-inflammatory meds... hope it goes away soon, wanna get back to practicing karate.

wish me luck
M$Penguin

Laziness killed a dollar

Missed out an opportunity to get a dollar on friday and it was all because of myself... During an errand run getting a birthday present for my partner's friend, saw this trolley that was left on the 2nd floor of the multi-storey carpark.

We have these shopping trolleys in Singapore that have a lock that is released at the supermarket when you insert a dollar coin and the dollar coin is returned if you return the trolley back to the supermarket, there are mainly 2 kinds of locks, 1 in which the dollar is partially exposed and you can see it, the other which the dollar is put into a tray slot of sorts and is completely hidden when the lock is released. There seems to be a way that people can free the dollar that is exposed, so many supermarket operators have chosen to go with the hidden dollar mechanism instead. But due to the mechanism hiding the dollar, it is uncertain if someone has used a substitute for the dollar or not. The trolley I saw used the hidden dollar mechanism.

Curious to see if the dollar was still in the lock, I took a look after parking on the 4th floor and the trolley's mechanism was locked, uncertain if there was a dollar inside and I was kinda in a hurry to get the present as it was late and the shops were closing, I just left it and proceeded with my errand.

On my return to the carpark, the trolley was still there but I was tired after lugging the present all the way from the shopping center a distance away from the carpark so I abandoned the thought of pushing the trolley back to get the dollar within.. I felt really useless after driving off and my mind kept thinking back to the dollar that I could have added to the fund just for another 5 minutes work to push the trolley back to the supermarket.

I have made up my mind now that since I am unable to return cans or bottles here, I shall return those trolleys when ever I spot them! A dollar a piece is good money, the trouble is only finding them.

Still pissed at myself that I let my laziness lose me a dollar... Bah!

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

New Toy! Zenithink zt-180

Hahaha *grin*

I got my Android Tablet! Found someone who didn't like the interface of the Zenithink zt-180 on my local tech forum and took it off him cheap! I saved like over half the price compared to a brand new 1 and his was kinda brand new. Happy that I got such a good deal and was spot on my budget for it.

It was also kinda like a secret spy deal, the seller sms-ed me at 2am just now and I met up with him at 2.30am, checked that it was ok and deal done! Super fast transaction! haha can't wait to play around with it properly.

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Google Android Tablet Search

Been looking around for a decent Android Tablet to play with for my birthday.. but the search seems to be getting harder, read through loads of reviews of the newer tablets like the Malata Zpad (which looks awesome by the way but is ridiculously expensive) and the Samsung Galaxy Tab (a bit small for my liking and too expensive as well).

But what really keeps catching my eye is the Zenithink ZT-180 10" tablet. It may be of an older OS - the Android 2.1 and doesn't have 3G connectivity but I'm just searching for something to play around with and it suits my budget more. Not really willing to dump my current HTC HD for an Android right now due to massive amount of data I have on my HTC HD, and the cost of actually getting an Android phone...

The one that I would like to upgrade to right now if I wanted to spend that kind of money; the HTC Desire HD; which even with my upgrade package on my phone line I'd still have to fork out another $500+ for the phone, is not really that practical for me because I still like my older HTC HD! Yes I know its a 2 year old phone but I still love it!

So I really see no purpose at all for converting like my close friends have to Android or the iPhone for that matter.. Not when everything still works great on my HTC HD.

I'm kinda what you might call a "if it ain't broken don't fix it" person. And come on.. with that kind of money I'd rather just get a nice big Tablet to play with.

So, back to my search for my Tablet... Looked through my local tech forum and found a few people that are actually bringing in the ZT-180 from china, but are selling them at a mark up of at least $80 each! That's a 30% mark up and that's just from calculating the manufacturer's price for shipping 1 tablet all the way here with DHL courier service. I'm pretty sure he's making at least 50% for each of the tablets that he sells and that is really a rip off.

Luckily a close friend of mine just happened to have to rush off to china for a week, so I happily assigned him the task of looking for a Tablet with the same specifications as the ZT-180 and shoe-string budget to find me the cheapest one available.

But alas, an update from him this afternoon proved my task a little too tough... It turns out the city he is in ;Da Lian; isn't really famous for cheap electronics and the cheapest e-book reader he could find there costs a whopping $300! Well I guess the Chinese do eat their own in that sense... (I'm not being racist.. I'm Chinese too).

So I guess its back to searching the forums for someone who doesn't like the ZT-180 they got and is willing to let it go cheap.. and I mean REALLY CHEAP! :P

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Step 5 Complete!

After the excitement of Carvivor, my group has decided to split the prize which is the price of the Motorola Charm Smartphone that was given to every team for the event.

But since one of our team members really wanted a new phone and he was the one that was playing with it the entire time, he offered to buy it off us.

And since a bird in hand is better than two in a bush, we decided to just sell it to him for a low low low price of $200.... and split the cash within the 3 of us.But because I paid for breakfast and then lunch for him... I'll have to deduct that from the $200 first. So in the end each of us will get $64.

So with that "sale" its $64 for me and since I decided to go for this event partially for this endeavor, I shall treat it as a task completed and add the money to the fund.

But since it is kinda a trade completed and not money found, as in Rule 8 of my rules - (No leapfrogging through trade), I shall only be cleared to Step 6!

Well it took a while but the journey was great! Goodbye Step 5 and Hello Step 6!

Can't wait for my next find and trade!

Started with $0.86
Traded Motorola Charm Smartphone for $192 split amongst 3 of us at $64 took $0.74 for Step and $63.26 for Profit!
Ended Step with $1.60
Time Taken to Complete Step - 26 Days
Profit Taken $63.26

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Power98 Carvivor Rally 2010!!!

Wow!!!
Carvivor was really fun! Heading to 5 locations to do challenges was really exciting and the challenges weren't too hard. As it was a fastest time wins event, every station we went to we just tried out best to clear them as fast as possible.

Reached Safra Tampines at 7.40 after picking up the rest of my group and proceeded to register for the event. While we were lining up, I noticed a lady holding up a sign "Lack 1", apparently one of their members could not make it at the last minute and they were left stranded looking for a forth. After waiting in line for a good 30 minutes we registered and was given a Motorola Charm smartphone to bring along to help unravel the clues that were given at each station.

The phone was quite interesting as it has a full qwerty keyboard and touch screen, loaded with Google's Andriod 2.1 OS it was nifty to use and the camera was great, the images were rather sharp considering it was only a 3 Mega-Pixel Camera. Being pre-packed with a broadband enabled sim card, my friend quickly took charge of the Charm and started messing around with it. After the briefing we were ready to set off with our first clue in hand to our awaiting stations.

The 5 stations were situated all around Singapore with 2 in the east (1 at the Road Safety Park at East Coast Park, 1 at Tampines Safra our flag off point), 1 in the west (West Coast Park Carpark 3), 1 at the Singapore Flyer and lastly at some ulu factory showroom in woodlands.

The Challenges were really interesting, at our first station we had to kick the chatek above our knee height 10 times each(the fastest team we were told completed this in 21 seconds!).

At our second station back at Tampines Safra, we each had to dribble a soccer ball round a bunch of cones and score from a certain distance on the pitch. It was a rather simple challenge but our soccer skills were not up to par so we took a little longer than expected to complete this station.

At our third station in the west we had to form a human wheel-barrel and fill a bottle with water using a small cup hung around my friends' neck. We ended up walking away with muddied clothes and a scraped knee at this station but it was fun!

At our fourth station we navigated our way down to the Singapore Flyer where we had to tie 80 rubber bands together to make a skipping rope and skip for 15 times. We really lost time here as to tie 80 rubber bands into a rope really took time, we ended up utilizing the full 5 minutes allocated for this station and our time was thus recorded as 5 minutes.(heard at the end that the fastest group completed this station under 2 1/2 minutes!)

And lastly as we arrived at the ulu warehouse in Woodlands, it started to rain so we were directed to head to the 4th floor of the warehouse where we had to fold and throw paper aeroplanes through a tyre. We were lucky, due to the rain this station was moved indoors or else we would also have to battle the wind as we threw our paper aeroplanes! Some of the earlier groups were not as lucky and had a hard time aiming the planes through the tyre.
This I found was one of the better challenges we completed because we were able to strategies and work out a design for the planes and the order at which we were going to execute the challenge.

Throughout the challenges we clocked a total time of 969 Seconds. I thought it was not bad seeing it was our 1st Carvivor Rally and we finished under 1000 Seconds.

Surprisingly the entire challenge portion of the event only took us till 2pm to complete and we had plenty of time to have our lunch and make our way back to Safra Tampines to de-register and return the smartphone. But to our surprise we were allow to keep the phone! So this was already a $470 prize that group got just for attending the event! We were also handed goodie bags which contained vouchers for discounts at some of the sponsors' retail outlets and some snacks.

We were treated after to a performance by our home grown A Cappella Vocal Band 'Tone' and rock band 'Monochrome' while we waited for the lucky draw to begin. Sadly we weren't lucky enough for the draw but were still entertained by the performances.

At the end of the day we truly enjoyed ourselves and are looking forward to next year's Power98 Carvivor Rally!

Wish us Luck for next year!
M$Penguin

Update on Step 5

Been really a rather dry week, was only able to find 4 cents at the office.

The roadshow proved to be dry as well but it was good for my agents as they managed to gain a few leads to follow up with in the following weeks.

Still need to clear my dollar hump, my comic book listing has yet to yield anything and is starting to look bleak... but i shall persevere! Rome wasn't built in a day! I Will Prevail!

Started with $0.82

Ended with $0.86
$0.04 From him

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Electronics & Sports Expo Roadshow

Gonna be heading to the Electronics & Sports Expo later for a Roadshow by my company. Would be more psyched if my agents were more willing to participate in the event and are enthusiastic about it...

What is the meaning of trying to make sales if they're not even willing to take the first step to approach people, I mean they are not fresh agents, they have at least been doing this for over 5 years but are still dragging their feet and not doing what needs to be done.

Sigh... Sometimes I wonder, why are they still making themselves mediocre when they all have the means to be good if not great.

Anyway there will be many opportunities for coin searching as there is expected to be a big crowd for the event.

Gotta get myself over the Dollar Hump again!

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Cloud City

It seems that my little island nation has become a cloud city of sorts.. everywhere you look its like you're in the clouds... Mind you its because of the stupid haze that our 'friendly' neighbour has kindly blown our way. I can only imagine how bad it is further up north, must be like freaking cloud locked or something...

Right now the PSI, which is the index that our kind weather station uses to measure the pollution in our air, is over the 100 mark. Which is bad enough that you can't see to the top of a typical skyscraper. Its bad enough that you can smell smoke when you take a deep breath..

Not too sure when our dear government is issue a warning about heading out..

Hope the weather clears with a big rain or something...

No new finds lately so
Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Perspective on life as a business

Been doing a lot of personal accounting for the past few years, mainly due to my car which I wanted to calculate the fuel consumption and amount spent on it.

Over the years, I've been increasingly adding to the number of accounts that i have been keeping. So right now there's one for my car, one for my portfolios, one for my monthly cash-flow and one for my poker winnings/losses.

I find that the more I think about this endeavor, the more intricate and detailed my accounts were and I find myself doing it more religiously than before. Especially for my cash-flow and portfolios.

It would seem that as technology improves, from keeping them on a little booklet for my car, I went to my pda, then my smartphone and now I find myself tallying everything up and keeping an eternal record of my accounts by cloud computing like on google docs.

Its also really easy to access them nowadays due to the convenience of Internet connections through your iphones, andriods and your now windows mobile 7.

Keeping a detailed record of my income and expenditure is really like keeping an account book for a business.

So in a way the perspective would be, why not run your life like a business?

If you can sort out what and where the gains and the losses of your life are, then you can really begin to save up a lot just by avoiding or minimizing the losses and increasing the gains.

It ends up giving yourself a very different look and understanding of what and how you've been doing and where you actually spend your time. Then you can review and see in which areas you can improve or should improve, like spending less money on the daily indulgence of a $7 cup of starbucks to maybe once or twice a week? Just the little act of cutting back on a cup of coffee can save you over $100 a year.

And mind you I am not trying to tell you not to live your life but to enjoy yourself better with the resources that you have now.

Bet you could find something better to do with that $100 than just improving your coffee experience every morning now can you? And that's just from cutting down from a cup of $7 coffee to maybe a $5 cup. Will the experience of that cup of coffee really be that different? Now with that $100 saved, you could instead at the end of the year, buy your partner something nice or take him/her to a nice dinner. All that for basically nothing but changing your habits a little.

The more detailed an account you keep, the more information you'll be able to gleam for yourself every month or every other month when you can take a step back and basically tally up your life.

This form of sorting of detailed info is probably the basis for what is now known as Forensic Accounting.

So if you want to, maybe for a laugh, in the next month or so just keep a detailed record of what and where you're doing. Then at the end of the month just look through them and be amazed at how exactly you've spent your time.

Who knows where this insight into yourself might take you?

Have fun and Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

On and Off Gig

Had the opportunity to earn some extra cash by extracting videos for a local company, the money is not bad but the work involved is really time consuming. I guess that is why i'm being paid... To add to that the conversion of file types to suit their system is really difficult, gotta search for the right converter that has the right codec.

The source is also another issue, they used to just have the link embedded in the source page but now they have taken an additional step of embedding it in a .xml file to even further hide things. Sometimes I wonder why they are so guarding of things when their main source of business is advertising and not selling media.
O well its an extra income source even if it is just once a year...

The last time i did this for them was exactly a year ago, it seems that around this time there is a need for such services. And from what I heard there is only 1 other person that is doing this media extraction for cheap, so I suppose I'm giving him competition. At least he won't be a monopoly in this area. Capitalism Rulez!

Don't think I'll be adding this amount to the fund as it is something that I would have gotten before embarking on this endeavor.

I guess it is slightly different from the Surveys and Moola.com because it is due to this endeavor that I will be putting more effort into doing those things so it is a direct correlation?

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Interesting Lecture 01

Stumbled upon this lecture by Marshall Brain a while back and decided to post a link to it here.(will also be placing an easier to find link under the resources for later re-reading.)

It really gives the primed student a great angle to look at how they would like to be placed in society, as a productive member of society? Or as an entrepreneur?

I'm not saying that entrepreneurs are not productive, its just that the 80 percent that try usually end up back where they started either a little richer in experience or money but mostly experience.

But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't, because without the effort of even trying how are we to know that we will be successful in anything? To quote Woody Allen "Eighty percent of success is showing up." So why not put in the effort to do so?

As an agency manager, it is hard to convince people to come for the first interview or to attend a recruitment seminar. But as one of my industry's long time speakers Dr Andrew Goh will always say at the start of the seminar: "Congratulations You Have Made It! There Are Probably Three Others Who Are Still On Their Way Here."

This shows the point of just showing up and being there is part of the formula of success, because if there is no cause, there will be no effect.

I've read and heard plenty of lectures on the web and through books. Some good, some awesome. Shall strive to share them and to keep for posterity on this blog so as to remind myself in times of great lows, how to scale the heights once again.

I may not be a graduate of any college but I will learn as a student through the University of the Web.

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Carvivor Rally 2010

Great!!!! Got a call back from my local radio station(Power98) about a contest that I registered for.

We got in!

And the grand prize is $10,000 cash! Contest requires a group of 4 in a car to drive around our little island to 5 different locations and doing challenges. Fastest total time wins!

Can't wait!!! Excited. Got to win! Then I'll put my share into this endeavor! but then.... just realised... if I put it into this endeavor, I can only put in to complete my current step! So I guess its money for a well deserved holiday then :) Holiday Money!!!

Hopefully we can beat the other teams and emerge the victors! I want to WIN!!!
:P

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Online Surveys / Down a Step and Up a Step

I've been doing online surveys now for over 2 years and it has really given me a little booster here and there in terms of shopping vouchers and gifts, so far I've gotten around $40 worth of shopping vouchers and small gifts like a candy bar(yes they actually sent me a candy bar as a welcome gift) and a baseball cap.

But unknowingly, I have accumulated over 1,600 points for 1 of my survey sites over the past 2 years doing a survey here and a survey there. With 1,000 points amounting to US$50 I guess if i put a little more effort into doing those surveys I just might be able to get more out of it!
So this being another one of my free resources I think it should be added to this endeavor even though I started doing online surveys 2 years ago. As I have yet to cash it out I shall wait till I have received and cashed the cheque before adding to the total, but to help me keep track and keep me motivated it will be added to the Limbo section of my fund.

With that I have decided to drop myself down to Step 4 and back up to Step 5 again due to the comic book that I bought previously for $0.50 and the $0.37 that I've found since.
I shall keep all un-cashed items under the Limbo section and focus on bringing them into my Actual amount. This will take me back a bit but i believe it is the right thing to do. We should not be "counting our chickens before they hatch".

Started with $1.32

Ended with $0.82
$0.37 From him

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Moola.com

Started an account on Moola.com awhile back before I found out about the Steps. Was as intrigued by the concept of doubling a penny 30 times to over 10 million as I am when I found out about the Step program.

The only thing was, for the moola.com thing to work:
A) You have to be extremely lucky &
B) Someone else will have to lose a few million in the process for you to gain your 10 million.
So with that in mind I decided that it was a ridiculous idea to purely double a million through moola.

Because as stated out in the report, most people can't stick with the program! and to add to the difficulty, someone else would have to lose half a million for you to reach your million! Just Ask Yourself "Would You Risk That Kind Of MONEY?"

But anyway since i started the account before i started this blog I've decided to add whatever amount I can muster from playing those games to this endeavor. But only after cashing it out and receiving the cheque. As it is right now, the site does not allow for foreign players to cash out so i shall slowly wait for either them to release an international version or a friend who's in the states at the time that I can cash out to lend me their address. haha *evil grin* In the mean time I shall slowly amass my moola there as well, one penny at a time. If you wish to join please do so from my link as they have a referral program as well.

Wish me Luck
(for moola.com I really need it)
M$Penguin

AdBrite Accepts! Boo to Ad-No-Sense!!

*grin*

As you might have noticed, I've started to monetize this blog and after much searching finally found a good Advertiser that lets you choose the ads you want and customize them to fit your page.

Looked at a few other advertisers but most needed the blogger to "mention" certain services or links that they will send u in an Assignment Email(which i find is horrible, because we blog what we want to blog about not take direction from advertisers right?) that's why decided to stick to the simple Banner Ads format of AdBrite. Which was actually stumbled upon by accident while I was registering for the Black Label Ads until I found a HUGE poster of a man holding his penis on the side of my blog that I realised that they did "Adult" ONLY Ads.... I just thought "Adult" meant adult focused like stocks or products for men/women but not porn... so quickly cleared their Ads and went for AdBrite instead for that more family oriented ad.

Anyway as i said before its not for the money(thou it won't do any harm to have a little more) but for the exposure and understanding of how online ads work and how much they can actually make.

Please don't feel obliged to click on any banner ad unless it really catches your eye as I do not endorse anything that is shown myself.

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Intereting Posts and Motivation

Been reading a lot more lately after starting this blog, I guess it must be the want and desire to know more of what others who are heading for the same goal as myself are doing and how they go about achieving what they've set out to do. And along the way I happen to pick up a few gems of knowledge for myself to share here.

Over at Marelisa's Blog she has an article about this book by Pink(not the singer I'm assuming) on the 'Adventures of Johnny Bunko' which is essentially a manga style book for people who are searching for the right career and it gives advice about what to look for. There are 6 points highlighted by the book that you should internalise before starting on your career hunt.

I like points 3 , 4 & 6.

Point 3 - It's Not About You.

I like the quote by Seth Goldin: “I will sell by helping others get what they want, by identifying needs and filling them.” Its really true because "People won't care until they know how much you care". I've been taught these principles in some other form and they ring very true in the sales and service sector. We really need to see our jobs as one that is of a caring nature and not one just purely done for the sake of money to be truly happy. Luckily I can say that I am very happy with my job.

Point 4 - Persistence Trumps Talent.

Why I like it so much? Because it sums up my industry to the T. In my line of work, you have to be extremely persistent. I am in the Insurance business(O the horror! Quick Run!). See what I mean? In my line of work I face rejection every day and from everyone, and I really mean everyone. Even the person who ends up signing a plan with me has rejected me at least 5 times throughout my presentation. Being a manager, I've trained and seen plenty of fresh faces that come in and out of the industry.

And why i like point 4 is that it is so true, I've seen plenty with talent beyond words. People that can charm a bird down a tree. But yet fail within a year of joining the industry. The truly successful people in my industry are not people like them but rather the hardworking and persistent people that never calls it quits due to a bad call, that never gets discouraged because a prospect they felt had potential canceled their appointment. These persistent people are the real successes of my industry.

Point 6 - Leave An Imprint.

I believe this is probably the hardest point to digest but yet the most important. Finding ones purpose in life i believe is one of the hardest things to do let alone plan for. But in the book it challenges the reader to find your true motivation by asking yourself:"What is my sentence?" and sites examples like:
“She invented a device that made people’s lives easier.” and “He taught two generations of kids how to read.”

It stems from Clare Boothe Luce, one of the first women to serve in the U.S. Congress, who went one day in the early 1960′s to visit President Kennedy. She told him this: “A great man is a sentence.” Abraham Lincoln’s sentence was the following: “He preserved the Union and freed the slaves.” Franklin Roosevelt’s sentence was the following: “He lifted us out of a great depression and helped us win a world war.”

Luce was worried that Kennedy was trying to do too many things, and that his sentence risked becoming a muddled paragraph.

We should strive to do as much as we can in this lifetime but what exactly do we wish to be remembered by?

I, alas is still searching for my question. Maybe someday I will be able to proclaim that I made a million dollars through this endeavor, and that might be something worthy to be remembered by.

Anyway motivation is important in anything we do and we can't get motivated but inspired to take action. So may this post inspire and thus motivate anyone reading to do their best in what they have chosen to pursue and....

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Update on Step 5

My dry spell is really over! Found $0.12 lying around my office in pennies. Must keep looking! Keep my dry spell at bay!

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Dry Spell Over!!!!

O Finally!!!!! My dry spell is finally over, last minute decision to pick my partner up after work for a little walkie walkie and dinner.

While walking around a department store we were playing around the Novelties section with the new coin banks, these are the battery operated types that have a dog eating from a bowl and the electronic safe kinds then when i entered the code for the electronic safe and low and behold a nickel was inside! Then she looked in the doggy coin bank and found $0.20!!! So now we are a quarter up!

Lucky Lucky!

So now its time to aim for the next step!

Started with $0.45

Ended with $0.70
$0.05 From him
$0.20 From her

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Update on Step 5

Still trying to get over the dollar hump... seems that it is either people are more careful about dropping money or i really have no luck in finding them these past 2 weeks... still unable to find anything.

But on a brighter note, found some really cheap comic books for sale and rummaged through the lot to search for untapped gems. Managed to find a few gems in near mint condition including titles like 'The Mighty Thor' , 'Batman - Shadow of the Bat' , 'The Punisher War Journal' and a few other "if-ies". Anyway here is a picture of the title that i choose to put up for sale first.The Mighty Thor - Odin Awake #449 published in 1992

Each comic book cost $0.50 so I am only able to buy 1 using the fund.
Bought a total of 15 comic books because they were on further offer at 5 for $2, but it shall be put under my own personal stash for now. I will then slowly buy them from myself using the fund and for a profit, haha.
Anyway, searched for some other free online action sites and managed to find a few, will start posting the one comic book up for sale within a week as per my own Rule #5 and see how things go. Feeling excited to be able to get something going while still in the less-than-a-dollar phase.

Will be writing the purchase up as a deduction first as I really have no idea how long the comic will be stuck in limbo and if so it will just be in my itinerary.(hopefully not).
Anyway not sure if this will drop me down to step 4 due to the cost of the comic but i shall just keep myself at step 5, with the comic listed as in my itinerary with its cost price listed.

Started with $0.95
Used $0.50 to purchase comic book
Ended with $0.45

Wish Me Luck
M$Penguin

Ad-No-Sense Again + other stuff

O bugger.. guess this blog just can't seem to make those Ad-No-Sense people happy... and i wonder why they are all situated in the Netherlands... every time i request to resubmit the blog for Ad-No-Sense approval I'll see an audience member from the Netherlands.. so I guess in the Netherlands, my blog is unacceptable.

Still can't figure out why this blog is not accepted. They just keep referring to the T&C of Ad-No-Sense

Guess i really have no luck in getting this thing up with an Ad.. but like i said before 'its not for the money, but for the experience of how to earn it through Ads'.

=_=

so no Advertising for this site for now, it shall remain a journal of my journey.

O and sadly... still haven't crossed the First Dollar Hump... its getting that much better when I finally clear it :) got to stay positive right? And I'm not even talking about clearing the step yet.

Wish Me Luck
M$Penguin

p.s Found out that a private poker room got raided last night in the area where i used to frequent, hope its not my friend's room... would really suck if it was.
But o well, if he chooses to flaunt the law he'll have to live with the consequences when it catches up to him.

Why a Million?

Why double to a million? Why a million?
Read an article in my local papers a few months back about how a few girls got together and started their blog-shop selling clothes and fashion accessories and cleared over a million in profits a year after just 3 years. With the girls still in high school and having over a million in profits, 2 of them decided to quit school to focus on the business.
After a little calculating, it seems that they must have sold at least 3,000 articles of clothes per month at a profit of just $5 profit per article. And without the cost of having a brick and mortar store for overheads. One can clearly see why they stuck with this model of sales. They also spread their website far and wide by sharing mailing lists with other blog-shops.
Envy is the worst thing to hold onto when trying to start your own business, so I'll steer clear away and move instead towards admiration.
Admiration towards the way they used every resource available to them and look for the cheapest way to get the job done and done well. It is no easy feat to clear the million mark in a business, just ask any business start-up, staying solvent and having cash-flow is nothing to snuff at.
So back to the question, why a million?
Its the true mark that you've made it in business and i intend to hit that mark with this endeavor.

Wish Me Luck
M$Penguin

Hurdle or Hump?

Not sure what is it that is keeping me from clearing this hurdle.. Is this the Dollar hump?
I'm wondering why its taking so long so find another nickel... I mean I've been looking and looking and looking but nothing.. I feel like that I'm worst off then when I started looking for coins. I mean I've been looking everywhere.. in vending machines, around car-parks, around grocery stores and even looking wide eyed when i spot a stray trolley around the parking lot hoping there will be a nice dollar stuck in its return box but alas... zip....
But what to do.. I should just carry on and look right?
Push through! Push through!
Hopefully I can find the next coin soon to bump me over this hump..
Been ill lately as well so would be nice to find a nice shiny coin to brighten up my day.

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Reasons

Told some of my friends that i was starting this endeavor, i supposed there was a reason why in the report it says at the end not to tell anyone about it.....

What drove me to write this sort-of-lengthy entry is a show by abc called My Generation. It is a faux documentary that is supposed to look back into the 10 years since graduation of a group of teenagers of a certain high school. After watching the first 2 episodes of the show, it really got me thinking of the past and how my dreams and ambitions have turned out.

As in the show i graduated high school in 2000, making me an ideal subject to look back into the last 10 years and see how everything has unfolded. So let's see....

Back in 2000 i wanted to start a business with a friend, was given $500 capital by my mom as she thought it might be a good idea for me to learn how to do business.

Had the business plan all done up, products sourced but then the marketing and sales were not done and we didn't agree upon a lot of things, soon the other guy's enthusiasm dropped. So it fizzled and i was left with the inventory.

Managed to sell a few pieces myself after that and was given the opportunity to take on the distribution for a certain brand for the region but I was ill prepared, I was scared of failure and scared of the task at such a scale that I gave up the opportunity and well.. now I see the brand flourishing in the many years since.Who knows? if I had taken on the project, the brand would probably have failed.So lucky them???

I wasn't mature enough, lacked experience and was just plain naive. I see that now.

As for my education, I naturally thought that i would be getting my diploma in engineering. But that didn't happen, i dropped out of polytechnic late in my second year.Was not able to understand one of the essential modules, so i was out..

Looking back, if i had chosen a nearer polytechnic I would have felt more willing to head to school and not skip it.. or maybe its just an excuse that I'm giving myself now. So with that, I have pissed away 2 years just cause of dropping out from school.

Then there was my National Service, well... nothing to moan about here, really enjoyed my time serving the nation in I dare say one of the best run medical centers in the 3 services. So add another Two and a half years to the time line.

After which I joined my financial institution, till now has been around 5 years. No regrets with this career. Can't really have any, everything you want you can just go out and get if you work hard enough.

So there it is, my 10 years since high school.

My dream of being a millionaire at 25 has failed, but in the ashes of failure one will learn and rise again like a phoenix.

Why I started this endeavor?

To test myself. To Challenge myself. To set my goals out in writing.

As a wise man once said 'If you just think it, it will only be a dream. But if you write it down, it will be a goal.'

And to me goals are achievable. I've learnt to set SMART goals in management so I'll apply it:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timely

And so a goal of earning a million dollars with this plan is achievable, as it breaks up the goal of a million into the steps to be S.M.A.R as for the T, I suppose it's up to each of us to set a time frame. For me it will be in the next 10 years. So in 2020 i shall be a millionaire purely from this endeavor.

No new find these few days but i shall persevere and keep looking!

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Hot hot day with added dash of bad...

Added the dime my partner found to the fund, too hot a day to do anything much today... weather is horrible and my dad's netbook just became a brick.... gonna have to head down to acer to get it fixed.. wonder how much it'll cost.. warranty over.. sianz...

Started with $0.85

Ended with $0.95
$0.10 From her

Eyes on the ground

wish me luck
M$Penguin

Another Pair of Eyes

Lucky to have an understanding partner that is helping me on this endeavor, she found a dime in the transit top-up machine at the Mass Rail Transit system today and she's pledged it to my fund.

:) at least I'm not alone in this.

Will add the dime when i see her this weekend and collect the actual dime from her.

On a side note, my dad is going through a temporary blindness in his left eye right now, doctors say it may take roughly 6 months for the blood clot to dissepate and have his vision back.. He can't drive right now so I have to drive him and my mom around.. But he got pissed this evening and tried to go off on his own after a spat with my mom, had to stop him from doing the insane thing of driving off so had to grab the keys from the ignition.. sometimes i wonder why they do such childish things.... feel like i have to look after 2 really old kids when they start arguing.

Anyway... All Eyes On the Ground now for Step 5!

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Step 4 Complete!

Yay! Went around my camp's vending machine again to see if i had missed anything and there it was, an old greyed out dime! So that completes my step 4 now on to step 5!

Started with $0.75
Ended Step with $0.85
Time Taken to Complete Step - 3 Days

The Fund is still small so i guess its all eyes on the ground.

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Update on Step 4

Found a dime today outside one of the bunks of the active personnel, guess must have fallen out of their washings. O well it seems that the dime has been out for a long long time, looks well heated and aged, guess if i never picked it up it might have just gone on becoming part of the background outside.. You never really know when you'll find something, do you?

I suppose the phrase 'Opportunity will only be found if you are searching for it' is not only true but surprisingly simple to activate. We just need a little nudge in the right direction for us to truly open our minds to the world of opportunity.

Now back to the story of this dime, when i picked it up my friend looked at me and said 'why you pick the coin?' Is it me? or has the world really come to a point that if u see a dime on the floor you ignore it?

That kinda threw me aback because I ended up telling him why i was doing it instead of rebutting him with a why not? Seriously, does the value of the coin really matter for you to just pick it up? Is this what they mean by 'the younger generation now a days does not value money'?? I can already hear the voice of an old man in my voice repeating this phrase...

Must make it a point not to defend why i pick coins and just stare back at the person and asking him why not. Must help open the minds of others to the world of Opportunity, I am starting to feel a lot better about this endeavor, to really show that you can make, if not a million, a lot of money just by having the right mindset from the very beginning.

Started with $0.65
Ended with $0.75

only a nickel more to complete this step!

Wish me luck
M$Penguin

Slowing Moving Forward

Given up on getting Ad-no-sense to approve my blog for any advertising...seriously what regulation did i no comply with.. retards..

Anyway found $0.05 beside the camp's vending machine, guess when someone found $0.05 in their pocket and seeing that they can't use it in the machine, they just dropped it.

O well the younger generation and their idea of $ isn't what it used to be. People used to treasure every cent they could find or had in their pocket but i guess without these people dropping or dumping coins there won't be people like me looking around for them. haha so i guess lucky me :)

Started with $0.60
Ended with $0.65

still gotta keep my eyes on the ground to be on the money!

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

To Ad-here or not to Ad-here

Not to sure what google's criteria are.. read through the entire regulations and from what i understand.. i am not violating anything......

But heck, gonna remove the doubler's resources tab. So for those that need to search for stuff regarding doubling, well just use the site that's declined my Ad-no-sense applications....

I'm treating this as an exercise to find out exactly what would I need to do before being accepted as 'Approved' worthy... Might come in handy when I start another more focus orientated blog...

wish me luck
M$Penguin

Google Ad-no-sense

For some reason, even after removing the link to the report (because it was one of those things google refers to as an incentive click type) adsense still declined my application... Guess i won't be able to use that to add to this endavor but hey, that wasn't the point to begin with.. just wonder what about this blog is so offencive to google ad-no-sense that they declined it...

So we can't share our personal journeys of doubling with the world??

I mean all we are trying to do here(at least for me) is to share and maybe inspire others to do the same, have a goal to double their money, to put it down in a form of a blog as a declaration of intent, and share the ideas and experiences that come along the way.

Don't see what's so bad about that... and i have in no way asked anyone to do things that are of 'clicking incentives' or in anyway bad, so i really cannot understand. Why?

TELL ME GOOGLE WHY????

GRRRR!!!!! ROARW!!!!

And I'm actually not bothered by the fact that I'm not earning anything from the Ad-no-sense program but more of the fact that why are they declining this blog?

pissed off
M$Penguin

Step 3 Complete!

Been looking for ages for my next coin, finally found it +1 at camp doing my reservist, probably one of my fellow comrades who dropped it but i guess it wouldn't have mattered. So got 2 $0.20 coins now that brings up my total to $0.60!!

Began with $0.20
Ended Step with $0.60
Time taken to complete Step - 8 Days

time to keep my eyes on the ground and on the prize!

wish me luck
M$Penguin

O how slow is the Grind

*Sigh*

Its been 4 days since i last found anything... guess it is kinda tough trying to find money in a place where money is the main motivation for people.. so any stray cash on the floor will be quickly and swiftly picked by any passer-by with a keen eye.

Never the less i shall persevere and keep my eyes on the ground!

Been thinking of trying my hand at investing actively in unit trusts offered by my company, will see how my transfers work out before i embark on a separate account to really start actively investing.

The thing with unit trusts is the time at which they execute your order.. not too sure how that works and in what order, will scrutinize the system for the next 2 week of my paid 'government sanctioned holiday'.

wish me luck
M$Penguin

Feeling Lucky

Read about an article on how you can improve your luck and be luckier than most. Turns out being lucky is just being able to spot opportunities better or faster than the other guy around you. Its also a state of mind in the sense that it is more about feeling lucky than actually being lucky.

Having a positive outlook on life and the situations that you are in can be the big deciding factor of success or failure. Being positive also helps you appreciate where you are at right now more than regretting where you could have been.

Be open and positive about life, you never know how bad others have it until you realise how good you are living it.

wish me luck
M$Penguin

Step 1 - My First Find!

Step 1&2 Cleared.
Found a $0.20 coin while buying breakfast/lunch at the coffee-shop near the clinic i went to this morning.

Hate being sick, been having a very bad cough that wouldn't go away even after a round of anti-biotics for a week... so tired of not being able to sleep properly at night. Hopefully this round of meds will be better.

Feeling lucky.Glad that my country's coin denominations are not as small as a cent,so i don't have to start at $0.01 like my other counter-parts, i mean we do have them just that they have been slowly removed from circulation by the authorities. So that just leaves the 5 cents, 10 cents, 20cents, 50 cents and dollar coins.

Can't wait for my next find!

Began with $0.00
Ended Step with $0.20
(Green is my favourite colour, And Green is the colour of Money!)
Time Taken to Complete Steps 1 & 2 - 1 Day


wish me luck
M$Penguin

Brambles about recycling

I live in Singapore. For some reason unknown to myself.. recycling isn't really a cash incentivized system here.

After having read a few of the other doublers out there doing their bid to help clean the environment and earn some coin for their effort it just dawned on me that well... Singapore doesn't have a place where u can just return bottles or cans for a few cents... all of the recycling bins are just placed out there for people to "have a conscience" and be eco-friendly.

And to be honest i have seen those bins being dumped into regular trash collectors with ordinary junk.. so the fundamental question here is if those bins are just a conscience reliever for our souls? Or are they really meant to save our planet?

I firmly believe in capitalism and it seems that if there was a place for ordinary citizens to gather their recyclables and head to, in exchange for some money. I'm pretty sure that there will be alot more people recycling than dumping stuff. I get it that there might not be as many people who will be bothered to do so but it will certainly give rise to another industry where professional recyclers go from house to house to collect the recyclables and give u a small sum of money for them.

For those living in Singapore: Yes.. i know there are karang-guni men out there, but i'm talking about a standardised market where a certain commodity commands a certain value. I mean right now how likely are you to throw away your newspapers rather than save them for recycling because the old foot high pile of newspapers you were thinking of selling to the karang-guni man was just being quoted as worth $0.50, and so deters your future effort to gather and store them? Or how about plastic and glass bottles? Have you ever tried selling them to your local karang-guni?

If other first world countries can have a thriving industry from recycling, I just don't see why not here too? Especially when there are now ways to turn plastics back into oil, those empty PET bottles have just become a huge portable oil field for the world!

M$Penguin

Link to the Report

Heres the link to the report that started it all for all the doublers out there.
And there really seems to be a strong community of them doing this system.
And if you feel that the link is a scam, just leave a comment and i'll email u the pdf file myself.

edit- decided to remove the link as it apparently is in conflict with google adsense criteria..
so for those who want the pdf just leave a comment and i'll email it over

re-edit- Stupid Ad-no-sense will not approve this blog, so i say __ u anyway here's the link to the report in support of Xinfinitum

M$Penguin

The 25 Steps

Steps

Step 1 - $0.10
Step 2 - $0.20
Step 3 - $0.40
Step 4 - $0.80
Step 5 - $1.60
Step 6 - $3.20
Step 7 - $6.40
Step 8 - $12.80
Step 9 - $25.60
Step 10 -$51.20
Step 11 - $102.40
Step 12 - $204.80
Step 13 - $409.60
Step 14 - $819.20
Step 15 - $1,638.40
Step 16 - $3,276.80
Step 17 - $6,553.60
Step 18 - $13,107.20
Step 19 - $26,214.40
Step 20 - $52,428.80
Step 21 - $104,857.60
Step 22 - $209,715.20
Step 23 - $419,430.40
Step 24 -$838,860.80
Step 25 - $1,677,721.60 - Goal


M$Penguin

The Beginning

Decided to embark on this double your way to a million deal. Did you know it only takes 28 times of doubling from a cent to a million dollars?

This being Singapore, its hard to come by $0.01 so i'm gonna up the ante a bit by starting from a dime or $0.10, this will there in reduce the number of times needed to double your money to 25 and give a nicer number to work towards.

There are a set of rules set out by the creator of this system and I'm guessing that there is a greater reason for certain rules so like it says in the report, "If you don't want to follow the rules don't play the game" so I'm sticking with them. Hopefully they'll give greater meaning to the "game", but also gonna be adding a few of my own restrictions on them as it seems to more interesting if you leave out the labour bit and head straight for trading.

So here begins my attempt at it.

First thing is to set the ground rules of this endeavor for myself, this is kinda like the rules set out in the report but just for my benefit.

1) No outside money is to be put into this. (no personal contributions or money earned from work is to be included, the first dime must be found, this is after all an endeavor to get a million from nothing.)

2) The collected funds are to be separated and only used for the sole purpose of achieving the goal of a million dollars ( no dipping into the honey pot).

3) Each step must be logged in detail as to when and how the funds were achieved.

4) No Funds are to be put at risk like gambling or stock market speculation(putting money into blue chips for the sake of gaining dividends is allowed).

5) Buying items for re-sale can be done but the item must be put up for sale within a week of receiving it(this is to prevent stagnating at a certain level and to prevent hording of items to sell).

6) All funds must be earned legally and with honour , no stealing or cheating.

7) No asking for money(begging) or trading cash for cash(unless foreign currency or antique coins). Seen somewhere that some people would ask to exchange a dime for a quarter or a penny for a dime but in my view that is just cheating someone. Yes you can do that and claim that its an "experiment" but in the end of the day is kinda like cheating someone out of their half. So no trading cash for more cash.

8) No leapfrogging through trade, found money can be added into the fund and leapfrog you to the next level but not money earned through trade(this is one of the fundamental rules stated in the free report). The excess from that level will be taken as 'profit' and be spent on yourself.

I guess that's it for now so.. here we go.

Wish me luck
M$Penguin