Two days ago we celebrated our 20 weeks together, our 5 months anniversary.

We’ve grown even closer and more loving than ever, if only we’re become even stickier to each other.

And that’s a shame (in a way) because I’ve now found work and have less time to spend with her as much as I want to…

And in case you’re wondering, no. We still have not met.

We will be meeting on my birthday which is aptly termed the Day Of Destiny, and in case you haven’t noticed there’s a little counter on the middle of my right toolbar. It currently says 2 months, 2 weeks and 6 days…

That’s around 81 days in case you’re wondering.
Take that away from 223 days and we’ve known each other for 142 days now.

I don’t know what else to update to my friends and readers here, she’s become so much of a part of my life now after all. We talk to each other over the phone everyday, Whats App each other when we’re free and are deeply in love with each other.

Perhaps that sums it up in one sentence eh?

In any case, all is going on well in my life now and I hope it’s going on well for you too..~

Live well, and life to the fullest~

Aaron Peng

Hi all,

If you’re a regular visitor to my blog, you’ll realize that the number of entries have been dropping quite significantly.

I’ve been pretty busy meeting friends and gaming (Persona 3 Portable has replaced Final Fantasy 13) among others.

All these you should already know, but you probably don’t know the amount of time I spend talking to my wifey, and the 2 very bad quarrels we had the past 3 weeks.

Without going into too much details, I hope that we’ve grown a lot closer and stronger as a result of our quarrels… for a fact though I know that we’ve both learnt a lot more about being in a relationship than being alone..~

What most of you do not know however, is that I’ve just joined a start-up company with my friend. My partners and I are intending to open a one-stop Japan portal which should be out in mid-october.

We’ve talked a lot, and realised that there’s really a lot of stuff to do to say the least.

It’s all very overwhelming at times when I think about, but this is a perfect chance for me to use all the skills I learnt through my various events I attended as a blogger, as well as my PR skills and what little I know about social media.

How often do you get a chance to do what you like, and also what you’re good at?

You can tell I’m really excited by this, so my friends and colleagues, if I’m spending less time with you- its not because I want to, but because I need to start focusing on my work.

Forgive me for not being as updated as I would like to be in your lives, but know that you all still mean a lot to me and we can still stay in touch, just less so.

I’m still trying to get all my affairs in order, charting everything into 1 hour blocks, actually waking up early, etc~ But it’ll take some time for me to get used to it, and until then I may still be a bit zombified or slow so forgive me if I make any mistakes..~

I’m sure this will be a good experience for me in every sense.

So wish me an abundance of luck, boundless energy and creativity, and the willpower to never give up.

And I hope that you too, will grow in wisdom and strength together with me.

Aaron Peng

Remember Project Reach anyone?

This is the feature from Today, This is the photoshoot we had for the article at SPH, This is the 93.8 interview, while Part One and Two of Project Reach held in the NVPC (National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre) can be found here and here.

To give a short recap, Project Reach is where students work directly with a Not for Profit organization (NFP)- To develop a communications plan for them, and if the client likes it enough, maybe even carry it to execution.

This year, they have decided to make it even bigger by introducing the Project Reach Causathon. Inspired by US President Obama’s successful use of social media during his election campaign, 85 students will be relying on the use of social media such as Twitter and Facebook to win over donors’ support for the causes they are championing.

All donations will be done via GIVE.sg and in case you’ve never heard of them, it’s a one stop portal where people can donate simply by browsing among the various causes and charities available in their site.

Personally I think it’s a very good idea. Built just last year in October, it has really facilitated the collection of funds online (not to mention saving them various expenses as well) as they are no longer required to pay the toll to move ahead in this digital age.

I was invited by my beloved lecturer Ms Piya Chee on wednesday 7th of July back to the SMa campus, where they officially launched the Project Reach Causathon by having a Starbucks coffee and tea promotion - each for just $2. And all of it goes to charity too! How often can you drink Starbucks coffee cheaply for a good cause after all?

Throngs of people having their caffeine shots~

The reason I was invited however, was not just to drink coffee. The student groups were there and pitching to the bloggers, telling them what it was all about and how they would go around promoting their cause.

As I walked in just a bit late, I decided to talk to the groups individually, and was able to hear from 4 of the student groups.

From what I hear, most of the groups were only allocated their NFPs a few days ago, so I wasn’t really expecting too much.

However, I was really impressed with the first group I interacted with- The Agency. They were representing Sanctuary House and what made them stand out from the rest of the group was how prepared they were. I was able to grab a professional looking folder with their agency name splashed on the front. On the inside were various press releases (in both English and Mandarin), bio-data of all 4 group members, and even their core values.

Even their projects are interesting. Project Baby Love believes that all babies deserve love regardless of race, religion or blood ties, and that all Singaporeans have a part to play in protecting the weakest, most unassuming and vulnerable segment of society- babies in need of medical and foster care.

How they intend to champion for their cause is through this project Bloggers in Big Shoes where well, bloggers in clown shoes will be facing SAF football club in a football game for charity. The event will take place at Fico Sports Hub (Opposite WestWood secondary school) on 25th July at 1030am so if you’re in the area and interested, feel free to attend.

More can be found in their website here.

I then spoke to GleeTime PR, who’s championing for Humanitarian Organization for Migrant Economics (HOME). While there are many organizations here that helps migrant workers, HOME is the only one who has a physical shelter house in Kallang where they can be housed in.

GleeTime PR with the bloggers (why does he look so stressed..?):

Mimosa Consulting were representing Asian Women Welfare Association (AWWA) which actually extends their help to the elderly, chidren and even males. Their previous Board of Directors were all women, which could explain the name of the NFP.

PRO consultancy is the one representing Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) which believes in a cruelty free tourism, and they’re targeting at illegal wildlife trade for this project.

That’s me with Michelle from PRO consultancy~

All their strategies to achieve their target from $500 to $800 for the duration of the Causathon are actually quite similar- but maybe that’s because they’ve only just started.

All 3 groups (other than The Agency) will have a video to spearhead their cause, from simple educational videos to heart-string tugging ones, and they’ll all be using Facebook, twitter and blogs to spread their messages.

What I realised however, was that most people (including organizations) don’t really have a plan. Everyone thinks that Social Media is simply about starting groups and posting messages in Facebook, but do people really read them? How do you encourage and get more participants? People are passive after all, and most of them (myself included) will usually not click on a link advocating for a cause without good reason.

Hence I shared with the groups a few ideas on how they can get more people to be responsive- one of them was to personally message everyone in their Facebook chat who happens to be online. And also the use of ‘give me feedback’. These two strategies combined will encourage people to pay more attention to the link that you’re giving them, and to the video itself as well.

For the use of twitter, having a # (hash-tag) will allow you to track how effective your message is, and how many people have been re-tweeting your messages for example.

The bloggers as a whole also shared with them some other strategies like working with related forums- The group working with Acres can work with pet related forums and so on.

Two groups (Top fund-raiser and most creative fund-raiser) will also be honoured at the Project Reach Conference on the 29th July 2010, where they will be presenting their pitches to their respective organizations.

Personally I believe that this conference is a win-win situation for both NFPs and students, as they will both learn more about how to be more effective in reaching out and raising funds through this project.

Here’s a video of Project Reach being featured in the Channel 8 news. It’s in Mandarin of course, but enjoy..~

Last but not least, do spare a thought for the less fortunate. A couple of dollars probably means nothing to you, a cup of bubble tea at most, but every $1 or $2 that you donate will add up to help the needy, be it babies, children with special needs, defenseless animals and so on.

Go to GIVE.sg now and do your bit for the society! It’s better to give than to receive, and every little bit counts! See you there!

Hi all…

If you have realized, the amount of entries in my blog the past month has dwindled significantly.

Truth be told I’ve been busy with loads of things, some part time last minute work like being a games coordinator for Sony on the day and day before the beginning of World cup 2010 (outside Wisma) for example, some data-entry work, going for interviews as and when, trying to squeeze in swimming at least once or twice a week, and more importantly and frequently- meeting friends to catch up.

Well I say catch up, but usually its about me telling my amazingly unbelievable love story to my friends, and/or listening to their troubles and giving them advice about life as and when its needed.

I really enjoy meeting my old friends again and catching up with them, but somehow I didn’t expect it to be so draining… Sometimes I have up to 3 appointments a day and its crazy, though it’s also really fun and there’s no other way I would rather spend my time on. Oh wait, I did just borrow a PS3 from a friend and I’m currently hooked on Final Fantasy 13… yes that’s been taking up my time as well.

I love to inspire people, and I love it when friends walk away from our conversations deep in thought, or deeply inspired or motivated to do more in their lives and be happy. For me, there’s no better time spent then by brightening up someone’s day- making them laugh, making them feel good, and letting them takeaway some life lessons that I’ve gone through.

Yet time after time I find out that a month or two later, sometimes even after just a week, they sink back to their normal selves, or go all depressed or emotional again.

While I know that it’s not easy to change someone’s lifestyle or mindset (for the better especially), it’s really quite depressing or disappointing for me to see my dear friends revert back to the way they are before we met for that few hours.

Sometimes I even feel like the few hours that we spent was a complete waste of time.

And then I tell myself that even if they feel that for that few hours, there is hope and that it’s actually possible to start a new life, it’s worth it.

Even if they don’t start their new life immediately, that seed of possibility is planted. Maybe not now, maybe not even 5 years from now, but one day they’ll know that it can be done and that deep down it’s possible- simply because I have done it.

And also there are times when I fear friends may have misinterpreted my words.

Take example one of my friends (who shall remain un-named). I told him (and a few other guy friends) to act more confidently so that girls will be more attracted to them (among many other stuff of course), and he starts acting all proud and mighty.

I don’t know what he’s trying to prove, or what exactly he’s proud of, but I’m hoping that he can realize that his friends around him (including me) is not welcoming this new change, and he’s starting to alienate us all.

I’ll let him know soon if he starts to get out of hand, but truly, there is so much in life to learn…

I want to share my life lessons and experiences with everyone so that they can learn from me and not make the same mistakes- but of course it’s never that easy.

At the same time when I’m sharing, I’m also learning. How best to inspire, how I can do it more effectively and efficiently, and how I can make it last longer for example.

I like what I’m doing but can I somehow make money from this?
I’m still without a job after all and my finances are draining away….

Hmm, food for thought. Let me know if you can think of a way to work things out for me.

I’ll be thinking too of course, on my side.

Heh, this turned out to be quite a long update…
Til we meet again then all~

Take care, and never stop growing and improving!
Aaron Peng

Today marks the 16 weeks since we met in Audition.

Alot has happened since we met, too much to say actually…

It feels like we’ve been together for much longer than 4 months, and I think I know why.

Assuming that a normal couple meets once a week and chat on the phone for a while every day, they’re going to spend about 10-12 hours together a week. That adds up to around 50 hours a month.

Up to date we’ve spent close to 500-600 hours together by now. 500/50 is 10, and 600/50 is 12. In couple terms, that would mean we have been together for some 10 – 12 months by now.

So if anyone asks me if its too soon that I want to marry her…
I’ll say no, because we’ve been together for long enough.

And more importantly…
I have found the one that fits everything I’m looking for.
And I know there will never be another like my wifey…

All the emotions I’ve been through in the past 4 months had made me more alive than the past 25+ years combined…

All the laughter, tears, and other emotions that I’ve experienced pales in comparison to the time we have shared together…

And since last week, when I finally realised how much she means to me and how much I can’t lose her..

Suffice to say my life would be very very different without her in it.
And I don’t think I’ll like how that turns out.

There are lots more to say, but I don’t want to bore any of you with all the details.

I hope that one day you too will find what I did…
Aaron

You need money to survive and to feed your family. But it’s a harsh world out in the streets. What do you do? How do you do it?

Legal jobs that pay you from $2 to $8 per job that’s draining and tiring? Requirements include anything from education to being injury free- one of the many risks of working.

Or would you try something illegal and risk the chance of being caught? Or even the risk of being infected with HIV? All it takes is once after all.

Everything’s nice and dandy when you have money. But what happens when sickness and injuries set in, preventing you from working or being crowded out by other families who too needs work?

When you have a starving family to feed and prostitution is the only option, do you take it so that you can live another day? Or do you die hungry and broke and let your family suffer with you?

What I mentioned above were just some of the questions the 1,000+ participants (consisting of various secondary and tertiary students) had to answer as they go about the grounds of ACS Barker for the 30 Hour Famine Camp held for the 3rd year running.

Each of them are given an ID card, which marks their energy level, whether they suffer from any permanent of temporary injuries or sicknesses, and their role in the family. Here’s a picture of it.

Front:

Back:

Among the various jobs and things I’ve seen, there are some interesting ones that stand out.

Street baskers- after being blindfolded, they need to dance and sing for a paltry amount of money.

Rubbish scavenging - $6. All you have to do is to complete a jigsaw puzzle.

No they’re not playing with paper!

Almost there… Almost there!

Labourers - $8. Carry cartons and walk two-three rounds around the tennis court.~

Keep it up guys! Just one more round!

Fishing – You get 10 minutes to fish the rubbish bags up to the second level with your markshift fishing rods. Each bag nets you $2 - $8 depending on the difficulty.

Those aren’t trash! They’re money!

Hard at work.

Farming - This is interesting. You need to form a decent picture for the Faci to say you pass..~

This one has just barely finished sifting out the beans from a bag…

Overheard: “Nope, not good enough. You have a long way to go!”

Education – Being an accountant, artist or others requires you to complete tasks in the classroom. For example to make money from being an accountant, you need to answer at least 6 out of 12 questions correctly (which will net you $2),
you get the maximum if you get 10 correct.

Preparing to start the ‘test’ or job..~

This is the handicraft class~

This picture is here because she smiled at me. So I’m biased!
(Actually I just want to show you the long queue for people trying to get into the accounting job- really!)

Each activity requires energy, and drinking milo replenishes that.
It’s a very good system don’t you think?

Prostitution requires each girl to get 3 guys. And what do you know, one out of the three gets kiss marks on their necks, which they later realize is HIV. You can see many girls just getting the guys there, and leaving them after getting the money from their head ‘pimp’.

It’s an easy job, and the picture just speaks for itself…~

Razor TV reporter trying it out for herself..~

And the illegal jobs I’ve seen are drug traffickers. Apparently I hear that one of them got $130 from that! But don’t get caught though… speaking of which, what does happen when they get caught? Hmm.. completely slipped my mind and didn’t ask that. Heh.

Vaccination – It costs $6 per person to get vaccinated against certain diseases, and surprisingly hospitals can’t help with permanent injuries. If you get one you’re pretty much screwed.

Injuries can be anywhere- from your eyes, to your hands, to your legs.. and all of them prevents you from working normally.

This participant here has an arm injury..~

Queuing up for vaccination shots at one of the various hospital counters..~

And not all participants could find work too. Some of them needed to build their own house for shelter- made of cardboard (I think they broke a world record in the process). Look at some of the pictures… Pretty impressive huh?
Well they had to do it within 2 hours. And apparently there’s a risk of being caught too when you’re out in the streets, hence some family members are just hiding.

They made these….

And these…

From these…

Which was eventually reduced to these… Shoddy construction anyone?

Tear it down! Major disaster happening!

There are three phases to this day. Phase 1 allows people with HIV to work and the facilitators (faci) are generally quite nice. People with HIV get full blown AIDS (they have to wear a sign on their neck) and are not able to work in Phase 2- the faci’s are also a lot meaner to them.

Omg they have AIDS! (Why does he still look so happy though? Weirrrd..)

Phase 3 is where the fun begins. A major disaster happens and their shelters are all destroyed! Even worse, 1/3 of the population has been wiped out and they need to be carried to a burial ground to be burnt.
6 guys to carry one guy, 6 girls to carry one girl.

Preparing for the evacuation…

They look like they’re suntanning though..

And after some time… it has finally begun…~

Wait, isn’t it 6 guys or 6 girls to the similar sex? Oops.

Shiok ar! Slowly please let me enjoy~

Are you tickling me or carrying me..??

Lost Season 1- The Singapore edition.

We can move her if all of us just grab a body part!

Lets just say that in the end it turned out really messy and I’ve seen quite a lot of miraculous ‘resurrections’ and one person carrying another to say the least..~ Still, I hope that all the participants learnt something from this disaster- namely everyone needs to help each other be it stranger or not. Things get really messy if all you do is look for your loved one…~

Below are some random pictures that I took..~

Being a facilitator is no easy task too!

Faci looking for his lost families..~

Milo cups waiting for the participants after their disaster. They’re being spolit I tell you!

Briefing during phases..~

Official poster for the 30 Hour Famine Camp organized by WorldVision. Dreams- make them real!

And that’s the end of this long post. If you’re a participant, I hope this has helped refresh your memory of the event, and if you’re not- maybe you can join one next year.

It’s really a lot of fun and I can see how much they have enjoyed themselves from making new friends to doing things they would normally never do.

The rest of the pictures can be found here. Feel free to tag anyone in the pictures if you see yourself or your friends there..~

Here’s Aaron Peng, signing off

There are many things I learnt from this single event that happened yesterday which lasted for some 16 hours that I would like to share- hopefully you can and will learn from what happened to me and prevent it from happening in your own relationship.

16 hours may seem like a short time to most people, after all it’s barely less than a day.

Yet these 16 hours has let me experience emotions I thought I never have to face- sadness, disappointment, fear of losing everything, stupidity, fatigue and so much more.

I laid around in bed from 3 to 6+am, trying to think of how and why things happened the way it did, and on hindsight all the signs were there.

Which begs the question- how stupid am I not to have noticed?

I’ve been living on autopilot the past few weeks, saying everything that’s on my mind before thinking. While that hasn’t been a big problem so far (or so I thought),

I ended up hurting the person I love more than life itself over and over again…
What’s worse is that I didn’t even see it. Had I did, I would never have let things get so far, and let it cumulate into what happened this morning.

I said things I should’ve have for some 15 minutes, and all the past hurts surfaced to end up in a massive explosion of emotions…~

I hope the same will not happen to you, do read through and see if some of these factors are familiar to you.

What I learnt-

1) Never to speak without thinking.
This is important. As humans, we have the ability to think and we often end up not using this ability that has been given to us.

Children speak what’s on their minds and its okay because they’re none the wiser- they don’t really know how to discern between right and wrong.

Yet for adults who have gone through so many experiences and with a much more (supposedly) mature brain, we’re supposed to do much better than children.
So always think before you speak. Especially if it’s things you’re not sure would harm the other person when it comes out of your mouth.

2) Read and identify the signs.
Read and identify signs of things that could be going wrong in your relationship. Words like ‘hurt’, ‘sad’, ‘disappointed’, ‘angry’ and other negative words are usually clear signs that something is wrong or going to be.

Don’t just ignore it when it happens (unless it occurs on a daily basis in which the urgency is even more apparent) and DO something. These things can fester and grow out of proportion very fast and usually erupts without you knowing or noticing.

3) Don’t take things for granted.
Somehow along the way, things seemed to plateau and I took the fact that she loves me and would do anything for me into granted. Not in the way that you think, but in a certain perspective that’s exactly what it means.

Instead, be grateful everyday that you have someone who loves you, and to love in return. It’s a lot easier to be alone yes, but without anyone to share the joys and tears with, things just don’t seem as important… to me anyways…

There are more things of course, but if you can truly takeaway the meaning of these 3 factors… I’m sure you’ll be a lot better off in the relationship…

One last thing, a relationship is more than just about you. Always spare a thought about the other party too..~

Until next time… and to more happy posts ahead…~