The Fighting Temptations

I just watched this movie called ‘The Fighting Temptations’, starring Cuba Gooding Jr and Beyonce. I cannot say much about the acting, but the music really brings on the groove. It talks about how down and out people being rejected by mainstream people; they still want to be accepted despite their imperfection. The music is amazing!

I always have a love for musical theater and movie. This must be one of the top feel good movies around. The song ‘He still loves me’ really speaks of an amazing God that understands our failures and is very willing to accept and love us. It strike a chord in me, my path have been an unorthodox one - Prodigal son.

An idea struck me while I am watching this movie, let us do this song in church. Why not?



“Seems like I always fall short of being worthy
Cuz I ain't good enough, but he still loves me (Yeah)
I ain't no superstar, spotlight ain't shinin' on me (No, No, No, No, No)
Cuz I ain't good enough,(no) but he still loves me
(Loves Me!)”



An excellent performance by Christian rapper T-Bone


I am posting all my favour scenes from the movie.

Second interview - lessons from the past

I am going for an interview this coming wednesday. Thanks to one of my friends Edwin Lee, who has so kindly helped to set up a meeting with the development manager for the a position in his company. This is only my second interview after I graduate. My first with Philips medical was a disaster, 'you have to build a rapport with your interviewer', I did that alright, so much so I ended up trying to interview the person instead. Wrong move Ben.

Hopefully this time around, I will give the person a good impression me. I feel more pressure this time around. I do not want to embarrass Edwin who has kindly recommended me. 'Why did you introduce such a fruit cake to our company!' yells the development manager. Fingers crossed.

Things I will try not to do this time around:

1. Try to take control of the situation by interviewing my interviewer
2. Be too aggressive by asking questions like 'why do you think I should work here'
3. Be overly pro-active, empty vessels makes the most noise

One consolation, despite committing these sins, I was still short-listed for the next around of interview, unfortunately, I was never called up again. Sigh. Hopefully, with many prayers, I can finally put 'employed' in my credit card application.

An introduction to a depressing job hunt!!!

The original ideal for this blog is to create an online profile, or rather to act as an online personal name card so that my prospective employer can type ‘Benjamin Cheong’ in google and voilà, you can see my profile online. Being a poor student, I thought it would be a good idea to utilize all the free service available to help me achieve this. Of course there is a progressive plan, this blog will also include some of the my personal views, involvement and highlight some of my achievements I have done so far.

I have been trying to look for a job for the past two months and it has slowly taken a toll on me. Nevertheless, I choose to remain positive and hope for the best. The last time I took my IQ (intelligence quotient), it was 140; I believe I am within the top 1% of everyone that has taken the same test at least that is what the test results showed. Is there a correlation between IQ and career achievements? Some researchers claim that "in economic terms it appears that the IQ score measures something with decreasing marginal value. It is important to have enough of it, but having lots and lots does not buy you that much." Wherever that means, but it definitely takes more then IQ to get a high paying job. That means there are a lot of skills needed to be successful. I have been actively trying to be as all-rounded as possible, and hopefully, my talents will be discovered one day.

Bobbin Head Point

Long overdue photo, 'Bobbin Head Point'. I gave so many copies away that this is the only one I got left. Things have changed so much during this period. The 'good old days', but bear in mind the best is yet to come.

Little Thots

Sorry about the MIA, my money making scheme from my blog came to a sudden halt when my account was suspend. Well, after lamenting for about 2 months, I think it is time to move on. Life is not only about money, it is also doing the things that you enjoy in life. What is money when it cannot buy your happiness? I know what you are going to say next. Shhiiiii….

Believe it a not, I actually hope people do not read this entry of my blog. I have been thinking about love after a long while. Been out of love four times, some relationships did not work out well, for some, I must admit I am total at fault. If ‘you’ are reading this, I need to apologise to you. Here goes… my luck at poetry.

I have been a fool
A fool I never thought I was
That is why I was fool
I made choices when I was not ready
A fool that thought fast is good
A fool that was never man enough to admit
The flaws that was so clearly visible
To everyone except for me
What can I say but
I have been a fool

Sometimes, I wish I could move on, but I have so much baggage to carry I do not think I have enough hands for it. I have to learn to let go of certain things, lighten myself and carry on in the journey of life. I wish I could run, not with baggage of the past, but running with the partner of my future. I pray that I will not be a fool again.

What color is the Sun?

Did a little renovation on my blog, I think green still suits me the most. During the monthly review, one of the viewers expressed that pink might be a little too feminine for a guy. There you go, green. For those that did not watch ‘Meet the parents’, green is the preferred color of geniuses. Read the signs the blog is radiating gently, it is green, so the creator is a... Of course, humility is an attribute of a great man, too shy to type the word genius on the blank. I know, I can be a little shameless at times.

"In morning, I feel the breeze, the sun watches over me. Sound of water, the crashing sea, is it only me? That feels alive; it is all ahead of me. ‘Cause it feels so right. Just open your eyes and see, that the life is beautiful to me. So beautiful to me.

Life can take you anywhere, you don’t know where it will lead you. You will know you are not alone, just open your eyes and see, that the life is beautiful to me. So beautiful to me.

Life is beautiful, remember, the sun is smiling down on you. Take a deep breathe everyday, and say to yourself, what a great day it would be today. Your troubles will not disappear, but at least, you will have the courage to meet it."

I am still at my university way after 12am. This is what keeps me going. So if you are in the situation that you are discouraged. You have to know you are not alone. Just open your eyes and see. That life is beautiful. So beautiful.

Financial Terrorism in Australia

Just submitted my Permanent Residency application, no surprise, it cost me a bomb. Most of my contemporaries has submitted theirs weeks ago. However, better late then never. Tick off my agenda list. AUD$1,990 for the application. Australia is really prospering in the most unusual ways, through university education (grossly expensive international student college fees) and migration fees.

For those do not know, Australia has been strong supporter of the Humanitarian Program (for refugees and others in humanitarian need) with more than 660,000 humanitary aid currently. However, even refugees nowadays have to think twice before coming over to Australia for refuge. Need to pay AUD$1,990 for immigration admin fees. Need to take English exams. Need to have internet to apply – everything is online now. In addition, a full body check-up, the fee cost another bomb. You will also need a credit card too for internet transactions. I call this the financial terrorism, fighting requires alot of financial ammunition. Talk about fighting fire with fire. These will definitely deter most warring refugees. Sorry people, if you been rowing your boat to oceanic, row some more, Australia is too expensive for you, maybe you can try New Zealand.

Anyway, to set the record straight, I am going to use the next two months to slay the pillow belly, terminate the oil spill and do some moobs exclusion. (Read the entry ‘Oil Spill’)

A) 100 push ups a day
B) 50 sit ups a day
C) 2 km run a day
D) No more ice cream (Sob…), (Negotiable)

Before you exit,

A gentle reminder: Let the finger do the clicking….

What is your Symbolism?

Today, my lecturer came into class with a nice business suit, neatly combed hair, and started the class by tell us the importance of symbolisms. Symbolism? Davinci Code? What does it got to do with what I have to study? Apparently, he is talking about how people sees us everyday - Symbolisms. Using himself as an example, with a business suit with nice cufflinks, people usually listens to you five minutes more than other speakers before deciding to ignore you. That is true. I will not give the person a second look if he came in with T-shirt and shorts.

This got me thinking. What sort of symbolism do I give people? I recently ask a friend of mine, how does smoking and taking weed feels like. The initial respond the person gave, ‘Oh, haven’t you tried?’. Well, smoking not really, the closes I came to it was sitting among Reuben, Clara and Davina while they were smoking together. It almost killed me. I have enough smoke in my lungs to exhale for the whole of next week. It is a fair question asked by the person, I suppose. Who has not tried smoking in this day and age? I should refer to other events to better assess what sort of impression I give people.

I helped my friend to shift place yesterday. Of course, I must have given him good impression of me. Well done! Taking a stretch after many trips up and down from his house to the van to desperately trying fill it up, I noticed a lady looking towards my direction. I must have looked suave to conjure such attention. Good symbolism. I return the glare, just incase I know the person. Our eyes met, trying to recognize the face, I might know her. It was less the five seconds. She ran… Running across me for about ten meters and looked back to make sure I had not ran after her. I looked at the opened van door. Do I look like a rapist, waiting to drag her into the van? Well done!!! Well done!!! I reckon it must be the pillow belly. Time to change my symbolism.

Oil Spill

Had coffee with some friends in my university today. I realized that I bear the stomach of a three months – pregnant woman. Major crisis. Suck it in. Emphasize my voluptuous moobs – a feminine asset that looks horrible on man. Ops I forgot, one more procedure tag the oil spill into the pants.... It must be the Mardi Gras. What happened to my imaginary six pacs?

When rubber meets the road, what can you do with a wash board abs that you cannot with a pillow belly? For one, it is definately more comfortable on the hands. Right.......

Big Ego equate No Brain

This morning I accompanied a representative of an international singer from Singapore to scout for a possible distributor in Sydney. We met at 9am and soon realized that it was too early to talk to anyone. We decide to eat. Well, I am a 27 years old gentleman, and as a host, I thought I should treat this person for breakfast. However, there was a problem, I am a poor student. Breakfast for $10 each!!!! That would actually be the budget for a few days.

Thinking that I am very smart, I might at least pay for myself. Unfortunately, he rushed for the check “I will settle this”, he said. Feeling extremely uncomfortable with the idea, I FOUGHT for the change, STUFFED my share of $10 into it, and return it back to him with a SATISFIED SMILE on my face.

He twitched an eyebrow, and forced a smile. I swear it seems like eternity as he counted his money again as he forced another smile. I feel like an ostrich, burying my head. I can almost read his mind, "STUDENTS...........". What a fool I am.

So un-slick.

Well, I could have handled it in 2 ways.

1. Smile and say ‘thank you for breakfast’.
(Gracefully accepting gratitude of the person)

2. I could force myself to be generous at the expense of myself.
(Painfully generous but showed attributes of a good host)

I choose 3. Embarrass myself
(Especially with my stupid grin)

I am pretty sure he wouldn’t stay hungry for the rest of the day if he had treated me. Probably it is just part of his overseas allowance given by his company.

So un-glam.

Talk about social etiquettes.

My only consolation, my name could be on the credits in the new album.

But, I seriously doubt it.

Six - Sigma

“Anthropology is a study of culture in different social………”, this is the first lesson for the year. I look at the heavily Chinese accented lecturer, here we go again, almost monotonous presentation that reminds me so much of my undergraduate days. I did not know my eyelids could be that heavy. Trying to make sense out of what she is trying to say. Everyone else seems not to have that problem. My mind was brought back to reality when the class was given a Quiz, to my amusement I got the highest mark in the course group. That was not so bad after all I guess. Since I am that good, I will withdraw from this class and enroll into something that I can learn more from. This attitude has cost my mom to vomit blood after every semester when she see my results. It is all about learning something new right? No!!!!!! Says my mom. With hugs and kisses, bye lecturer.

It is hard work creating a popular blog. I was smacked left – right – center. Talk about all in the days' work; it is definitely bad for self-esteem. Ego battered. At least I got some compliment, thanks Ernest http://seismic.blogspot.com . Thanks to msn, the highway for criticism, people has no problems getting to you. Thank God for my enormous self-worth. I am still alive.

Lesson 1: KISS – Keep It Short Stupid
Lesson 2: Use publicly understandable English
Lesson 3: Keep the photos of books and the chocolates to myself
Lesson 4: Talk about your half a dozen children, like Karen Cheng
Lesson 5: I need photoshop *wink*
For viewers like you, Lesson 6: "Let the finger do the clicking"

Million Dollar Day Dream

The million-dollar dream. Have you ever dream of quitting your work, with enough money in your bank account to do whatever you like? Sleep in every day, go shopping in Melbourne and then catch the evening flight back to Sydney? Buy the limited edition Jager LeCoultre Master Geographic in Titanium (for those that do not know it is a wristwatch) at a stroke of a pen not even feeling the pinch.

I did a simple calculation, for an average of 15% return in investment on million dollars investments. That will allow you to spend 150,000 a year without digging into your savings. Considering I have a beautiful wife with her flamboyant spending and half a dozens of bambinos with their college education, that leaves us with only enough money for a normal lifestyle. A million dollars is no longer a benchmark of wealth like the 60s.

There are 793 billionaires in our world now. Since last year an additional 102 richies joined their ranks. Being a billionaire might just be the new benchmark for wealth now. What does it take to be among them? Since the launch of the blog yesterday, I have an amazing 73 visits and a grand total $1.31 of earnings. If the blog kept its performance, I would need only 34-thousand life times. A rather encouraging result.

However, I will not give up the billion-dollar dream. Like what the saying goes, if you aim for the stars, you will at least land on top of the Sydney opera house. Prestige is for those who work towards it. So let the finger do the clicking.

Twenty-something Life

Today is the launch of my very own blog. I think it is no secret that most visited blogs earn money. There are blogs reaching over 1 MILLION visits a day. Seriously, for the launch today, if I can get over 30 people, I will be extremely happy.

It is not easy to create a popular blog. Political blogs have been known to dethrone politicians; fashion blog - start trends and environmentalist counterpart - creates awareness in our world. With an information explosion on the internet, what makes a blog stand out? Advertisers and large dot.com company understood that the ability to captivate people’s imagination has open doors in the net. Flickr, Youtube and our very own blogspot just to name a few has been successful and thriving.

During the pre-launched conference today, someone cried out, ‘So boring, no pictures, too wordy’. I do not blame that person, the answer is in the entry “Why can’t I stop studying”. Bear with me, change is on the way. Your support will help to make this experience a so much more wonderful. The sooner I reach my target, the sooner I have photos. Your support contributes a lot to the quality of this blog. Remember, let your fingers do more exercise.

Tag line: Let your finger do the clicking.

Milky dark Chocolate

Free wireless internet services, 24 hours studying facilities and discounts around the city. That is what my new university offers. Finally, gone are the days of searching for a place for late nights or (more often) last minute studying. Just a simple tap of my uni-card and voilà!!! The close doors open. Amazing impressive for a uni that I thought very little of. Hopefully the education can be equalled to their perks. Their (or rather my) career centre is unbelievable, a wall full of job adverts waiting for potential applicants. What can I say? Forget about the hassle I went through going to their student centres every other day, I am beginning to be think that all these are worthwhile. Hopefully new opportunity awaits. I told a friend today, if everything goes according to plan, I will graduate after one and the half years, if not? I will only take one year. He gave me a curious look. I am thinking of converting my full-time masters course into part-time immediately after I find a job. With God smiling down on me, I believe everything will go just nicely. One semester full-time and two semesters part-time with a good job in my pocket.

Unbelievably, I was offered a job almost immediately after reaching home. $500 dollars a month with training on running a business. How can I refuse such a offer? Yes, with finding a wife and ability to support half a dozen children in mind, this might not be very attractive. However for a student, any offer is good a offer.. At least for now, things are looking positive. Forest Gump, “Mama said, life is like a box of chocolate, you will never know what it has installed for you”. Lets see, what does my box contain.

Why can't I stop studying?

Being excited about my new blog, I can imagine photos, lots of creative photos to add a personal touch to it. Starting a blog is easy, apparently you can select from a range of designs. For now the only thing personal about the layout is….. well, at least it is something I have chosen myself. That is a good start. Looked through some blogs to get an idea of how to be successfully in my blogging career, Photoshop is extremely important. It is visually less ecstatic without it. The first aim of my blog is to raise enough money from ads to buy myself an ORIGINAL Photoshop to do up my photos.

Just received my letter of completion from my university, The University of Sydney, the long awaited certificate and I finally got myself enrolled into my new Masters course. Yes, I just can’t stop studying. Not that I am particularly good at cramping, but it is something I have done for over 15 years, seems like I missed it more that I realised. One more year, who knows I might just go all the way, after I get my Permanent Residency (PR) and finish my Masters, PhD (also known as Permanent head Damage) might be my next educational goal. However, getting a PhD is just like coming out with iPhone, they might be both a stroke of genius but they do not guarantee to make money. I am no Britney and that means I can’t sell my hair a million dollars in ebay. I probably need some money to find myself a good wife and support half a dozen of children. That means I better get out of uni soon and start putting money into my bank account.

Well, good planning is the key to success, so first thing first, raise enough money to get myself my very own Adobe Photoshop.

Introduction - So what is Candid Expression?

Having just recently graduated from university, I thought I should start my blogging life/career. Well, blogging has really been fast becoming a popular hobby to most. For some, it will be a time of relieving some stress from life, for others it is more like forming a community that sort of make the world somewhat smaller. We are used to live in a multi-layered society. Blogging can probably create that impression that we can be as honest as we want. The truth is, we are probably hiding behind a webpage, creating that illusion that the world is more transparent, right behind your blog. Interestingly, I am trying to be as candid as I can be, difficult standard but I will try... Walk with me in this journey, and I will be your next best friend before you even meet me. Before I go, please support this blog, your encouragement is my support, throw me feedbacks it will be treated with high regard no matter how lousy it is. However, there is no guarantee there will be changes. Cheers


Candid == a : marked by honest sincere expression b : indicating or suggesting sincere honesty and absence of deception c : diposed to criticize severely : blunt