Day 37. Be brave and be different.

"If you going to look at what people are going to say, you'll never do anything..." - Mr Nathan

"I think fear is somthing you impose on yourself - if you were taught to fear (venturing into the unknown), you will." - Elisha Tan, CEO of Learnemy

Sometimes we are so affected by what people think of us and would say of us that we decided not to venture into something unknown or different from the norm. From young, I was under the illusion that by studying hard and getting good enough grades, I would eventually end up with a good job or at least should have no problem looking for one. When all my friends decided to take the JC route, I follow suit even though I knew that I wanted to give Media studies a try. 

Having graduated from a local university, indeed job search hasn't been difficult. What's more difficult is about finding the right fit. Once, I quit my first job without securing another just because I wanted to embark on a self-reflection trip to find out what I want out of life. With a backpack, and some help, I left for Cambodia. Reflection proved to be an easy word to say. Even after the trip, I wasn't as much enlightened as I was prior to the trip. Not thoroughly thinking about it (in the past few years) has apparently granted permission to that part of my brain to go on infinite days of holiday.

Having graduated and worked for 3 years now, I still feel somewhat unaccomplished. As my interaction with the world increases, I feel increasingly limited - in terms of my knowledge, skills and experience. Every now and then, I would pose the question to people I met, "why do you do what you are doing now?" Often, it's about making ends meet, and that job fulfillment isn't as important as earning enough money to spend on what you enjoy. Is it? Earlier, I had a conversation with a taxi driver, and his story was rather thought-provoking - he left a well-paid position in a big company to enjoy doing something he likes, but with time to spare for himself and his family. I imagine a taxi driver with a grad degree - doesn't sounds quite appealing does it? 

Indeed, to be in a career that you love, you have to take risks and ignore what others think of you. This is a lesson that will take some time for me to digest, and perhaps a while to internalise.

Heavy story aside, Aiks and I went to try Tim Ho Wan at Plaza Sing today! It was a totally random and impromptu attempt, especially upon seeing that the queue was shorter than usual. Having said that, it still took us a good 1 hour to get our foot inside the restaurant.

Having heard of the super long queue time, we actually run a stop watch to see how long it takes for us to enter the restaurant. Technically, it was a 49 mins wait. 

 What we do best when we are bored, self-entertainment. I look so different here!

 Finally! One step closer to the food.

I was rather surprised to see the rather limited variety offered on the menu, but that also explains why the food were of a certain (controlled) quality. Having only 2 of us, we ordered a total of six dishes (though we really wanted to try more!):

1. Pork Dumpling with Shrimp “Siew Mai” ($5)

2. Steam Egg Cake ($3.80) 

3. Prawn Dumpling ($5.50)

4. Vermicelli Roll with Shrimps ($5.50)

5. Beancurd Skin Roll with Pork and Shrimp ($4)

6. Baked Bun with BBQ Pork ($4.50)

The Siew Mai was really juicy, the best that I have ever tried thus far.

I had a bite, and had the next and it never stopped. The steamed egg cake was so fluffyyyyy I can die! Have it when its piping hot.

Though there's a generous number of shrimps (about 3) inside each dumplings, I would say the prawn dumplings were pretty normal. Value-for-money?

This tasted pretty normal too.

I don't really like this dish. If you were to order, I rather you wait for the temperature to cool down before eating it, I feel that it's more fragrant when eaten cooled.

True to its reputation, this legendary baked bun with BBQ pork was really yummy. It came last, and by then I was pretty full but I decided to have my deserving half portion anyways!

It was, overall, a pretty good experience. I would say it's baked bun with BBQ pork and the steam Egg cake are to die for - cause you probably can't find better ones elsewhere. But for a one-hour long queue, I probably need to have it bad enough before I would put myself through this process again.

Tim Ho Wan

68 Orchard Road, #01-29A Plaza Singapura
Singapore 238839

Mon - Thurs: 1000 - 2200 hours
Fri - Sun & PH: 0900 - 2200 hours

Day 30. My birthday was yesterday

Home-baked with love from Aikky and Mommy!

It's interesting how birthdays seem to be a big thing in the past - anticipating what presents I will get, what should I wear just so I look so stunningly gorgeous even for a day and who will be the first to post the a birthday greeting onto my Friendster, or the now more popular Facebook wall. 

Years passed, the cycle repeats. As if struck by a sudden realisation, I realised these are rather superficial self-fulfilling materials that I no longer crave. What I wish for, instead, is just a simple meet up or wishes from my few besties (who will always remember my birthdays) and time spent with my loved ones. And so, my fb account no longer has my birthday indicated, nor did my office colleagues knew about it.

Surprisingly though, yesterday was liberating. 

Having said that, a dinner with my beloved bf is definitely a must. And so he chose Momoya, a Jap restaurant near Simpang bedok. It was one of shophouses, tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the city life. Quiet and cosy and at first glance, quite pack. At $32++ for a Japanese buffet, it was indeed value-for-money, and I have to say that it's got one of the better service that I had encountered. Entering the place, I had high expectations and was rather thrilled with the spread on the buffet menu.

Right photo taken by my irritating bf, when I was asking him for something, I look so unflattering here! :(

We ordered quite a couple of dishes - salmon sashimi, ebi tempura, chawanmushi, yuzu salad, grilled mushroom, wasabi mayo maki with soft shell crab, grilled mackerel, grilled salmon with butter sauce, unagi with egg, fried tofu and so on.

I'm not a salad person, and this doesn't look appetising that all. Needless to say, I didn't order this.

HAHA! What kind of look is that?

(L to R) Amaebi, Sake, Spider Wasabi Mayo Maki,  Unagi Tamago Toji, Grilled Chicken Wings, Unaku Chiizu Maki

In sum, I have to say the food wasn't that fantastic, and in fact, a little disappointing. The only few dishes that were nice was perhaps the maki and the chawanmushi. I'm glad that we gave it a try though, cause it was rather inaccessible without a car, but I don't foresee going back to the place any time soon. If you are going for value and variety, this is perhaps the place to go.

Momya Japanese Restaurant 

Picardy Gardens, 16 Jalan Pari Burong

Mon - Sun: 11:30 - 14:30; 18:00 - 22:00

Day 25. Time, Effort, Belief.

Making some good progress with the development of our fashion online store. Interesting ideas are starting to form, but which requires time for actual execution. Given that the three of us are all working full-time nor are we are not active on the web or fashion experts, things appear to be a little tougher than I initially thought it would be.

While I remain confident of the future for De-Stylez, I can't help but be pessimistic at times. And this negative energy sometimes translates into frequent checks if my partners find that they have gotten into a big "shit" with me, and that I would understand if they choose to back out from the partnership. 

Turn out? Think too much. 

I am grateful for their time, effort and belief that the business would (eventually) succeed.

A day ago, I coincidentally met one of my entrepreneurial friend. He's still on his business and when asked how is it going ("has it stabilised"). His reply was "not yet, it takes about five years, and now we are only into the third". Such patience and belief that things will turn out well - a lesson learnt. 

On another occasion is about my encounter with this store - BeansTalk. Once every month on a Sunday, I would go for my facial. And after that I would make my way to this store near Toa Payoh Hub NTUC, and can't help but to get myself a cup or two of their signature item. At $2 and without the sight of a queue, why not? Often, while waiting for my order to be ready, I would think to myself, "what a waste, such great product that gets unnoticed (either because of lack of traffic and/or publicity)". But today, for the first time, I had to queue for it. This.meant.something.

Indeed, starting up is hard. But if your product is good, your time and effort will eventually get paid off. You just have to be persistent and maintain that strong belief that you had when you first started out.

While I am typing this post, I am happily eating my cup of BeansTalk (less sugar!) >_-

BeansTalk

520 Lorong 6 Toa Payoh #01-520 Singapore 310520

(near Toa Payoh Hub NTUC/Mr Bean area)

11:00 am – 10:00 pm

Photo Credit (Right Photo): thefoodexpository

Day 21 - I'm a survivor

 Eating at Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu King

Hanging out with friends after work and on weekends are the reason why my calendar is always filled up. I like social activity, especially when there are endless topics that peppered the environment with laughter and sometimes even mindless topics

Today, we gathered and something my bestie told me stir up the reflective soul in me. Ever since I started my online fashion business (De-Stylez), I have been in a pensive mode more often than usual, spacing out frequently - a trait commonly observed by my boss.

The conversation was about how we are all producers of our life, and things we do eventually becomes a reflection of an event or a series of events that happened to us in the past.

She told of this story about a woman who was the 9th child in the family. As the youngest, she rarely gets as much attention from the parents as you hope you would. She wedded and eventually an ended up with a divorce. She had to move out of her house and ended up living with her parents.

Do you see a catch here? Think deeper.

While not (yet) able to piece my own story together, I reflect and see how things are connecting.

Need for Rewards - When I was young, we were awarded with real cash money (redeemable through yearly trips to Toys'R'us) if we performed well in school. I excelled and was rewarded and this continues, in my subsequent studies - scholarship and ranking, and in my career - recognition and income. Though I am always above the average, somehow I will never get to the top. I never aim for prestigious school nor work hard to get to number 1 - this I couldn't quite figure out. Other times, I gave up too easily knowing that I will the slightest possibility of failing.

Arts & Design - While I never gotten into a designing school, I do have an eye for all things beautiful and in proportion. My brain is telling me it has got to do with a drawing of Flounder that I completed with the help of my dad. It was the most impressionable drawing, and which I was amazed with the end results and became proud of. Eventually it was pinned up onto the wall for everyone to admire.

Entrepreneurship - perhaps entrepreneurship is a reflection of wanting to be just like my dad. He used to bring us (when we were young) to his office every weekend, and I am always amazed by all the machineries inside and how it all belonged to us, at least for the weekend. I especially like to sit on his chair, swinging round and round and round. Starting my business now, I am confident yet sometimes I wonder if this is founded based on some unfounded confidence. Will I succeed? I really hope it will but at the same time, I am prepared that it may not take off.

The above may seems random, but maybe I will slowly see how things take shape when I reflect years later. If I could know my destiny, wouldn't life be so much simpler? But living in this world, we are not only alive, but we are a survivor. Believe in your capability, for you have come and survived this far.

Day 19.

Today marks the 19th day after we officially launch De-Stylez.

While the feedback has generally been positive, mostly from colleagues and friends, but one thing hasn't quite gained any momentum - sales. An irony. Dive deep and bits and pieces of information starts to reveal:-

1. Lack of an impressionable name
2. Lack of a unique selling point 
3. Lack of marketing and awareness
4. Uncertain about product quality

Thought I would just defend myself here, in a space nobody (yet) knows.

1. Lack of an impressionable name 

De-Stylez to me is a big idea. It's a promise to help people find their style through De-constructing their (current) style to find their true style, or finding the (de) style that belongs to them. We are more than a blogshop, more than an online shop, but seeks to play an important role in every girls' life.

And hence, that is how I go about designing our logo. At first glance, it's a DS. Looking deeper reveals a swan-like picture - you get the meaning. Such beautiful idea, I refuse to follow the majority. Stubborn? Perhaps.

 

2. Lack of a unique selling point 

3. Lack of marketing and awareness

Lack of a USP? Lack of Marketing. Indeed. Being an entrepreneur isn't easy, less to say a noob with no contacts, budgetary constraint, saturated market with established players. But we are working on it. I'm glad that we have a dedicated team, and most importantly people who trust and believe in me. I am sure our effort will (one day) pay off and soon, the sun will emerge (smiling) from behind the clouds. 

4. Uncertain about product quality

What is considered a good product with good quality? Non-sheer, thick materials - really? Items are deliberately design in a certain way. While poor quality items definitely fits into this description 99% of the time, but does good quality items not have this? Lace, sheer are all part of what makes an item interesting and unique, strong indoor lights is often not truly reflective of what a pair of bare eyes see.

Being a buyer, I am a consumer myself. If an item is unique but made with sheer materials, a trade-off has to take place. Price versus design versus quality = Value - and this is what we sell. 

This may come across as a defensive post. But I would like to use it as a platform to say out what's on my mind. Perhaps a few years later, I will look back and read and laugh at my foolishness. But, what's more important than defending your own 'baby'?