It's Been A Long While.

I Know I Have Been Away From My Blog For A Long While. Writing A Posts Is Not Easy As It Is Rather Brain Draining For Me And I Guess I Needed A Long Break From That. But I'm Back, At Least For Now.

~~~ JOB ~~~

Have Been Working As A Relief Teacher For The Past Two Months And It's One Of The Few Things That Happened In My Life That I'm Really Thankful For. From This, I Have Found My Love For Kids, I Never Really Like Kids Nor Do I Hate Them. It's Just, I Was Never Able To Click Well With Them.. Or Maybe There Wasn't Any Opportunity For Me To Do So.

But Teaching Primary School Kids? How Could I Possibly Find So Much Joy In Something As Simple Yet Complex At The Same Time. Yea. The Subjects Are Easy Because They Are The Basics To Education In Life. Oh, BUT TEACHING KIDS Is NO EASY JOB. Or Maybe I Should Rephrase That: Teaching Is One Thing But How Many Are Actually Paying Attention To You? Kids Have Really Short Attention Span And Getting Them To Pay Attention Is Not An Easy Feat For Starters. And Yet It's One Of The Challenges That I Really Enjoy. And Of Course, All The Little Things That Happens Along The Way. They Reminded Me Of My Childhood.

Let Me Share With You Some Of The Cute Things That Happened Along The Way That Made Me Smile. While Going Through The Answers To The Assignment That I Have Tasked Them To Do, Each Time They Get It Correct, They Will All Shout 'Yay' As A Whole Class. Complaining To The Teacher (Me) 'My Friend Pinch Me'. Trying To Escape Doing Homework By Saying 'My Hand Pain' Or 'My Leg Pain' And Bla Bla Bla...

However, Kids Nowadays Are Known As The Strawberry Generation Because Most Are Rather Pampered And Spoilt. Just Like How Back In Our Days As Kids, Our Parents Thinks We Are Way More Fortunate Than Them As In Our Generation, We Had Computers. We Had Phones. While Back Then, They Were Playing In The Field, Catching Spiders Or Even Guppies From The Drain On A Rainy Day. I Was Still Independent Compared To Most Others (I Started Taking Public Transport Independently When I Was In Primary 1),

Indeed, I Was Much More Fortunate Than My Parents As I Did Not Face The Hardship They Face Back Then. And Talking About The Current Strawberry Generation, Most Of The Parents Are More Well To Do And They Drive Posh Cars. Their Kids Are Being Pampered And It's Down To The Teacher's Responsibility To Not Only Fulfill Their Roles As An Educator But Also As A Disciplinarian. And It Is No Easy Task. Parents And Teachers Should Hold Shared Responsibilities When It Comes To Guiding The Children. This Is Because Parents Have Full Control Over Their Kids, Something Which A Teacher Lacks Of. I Think This Is Something Parents Of The Current Generation Should Take Notice Of And I Cannot Emphasize This More.

No Doubt, Technology Is Ever Changing And Advancing Whereby Even Education These Days Are Taught Through The Means Of Laptops And Even Tablets. Social Media, Games, Video Surfing Are All Distractions. Let's Not Forget That We Are Living In Reality, Not A Virtual World. Things That Happen IN REAL LIFE Should Matter More Than Things That Happens Virtually.

~~~ AGM/EGM ~~~

I Have Always Been Interested In Investments Since I Was 13 As I Started Getting Exposures Through Reading Of Newspapers And Partly Because My Dad Was An Active Trader Back Then. I Have Found Interest In How The Stock Markets Moves And What Are All The Factors That Affects The Movements Of Different Financial Markets Around The World. Last Month, I Had The Chance To Attend The AGM Of 4 Companies: Keppel Corporation, Venture Corporation, Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation As Well As Cambridge Industrial Trust And An EGM: Magnus Energy, As My Parents Own Shares In These Companies.

This Was My First Time Attending These Meetings And They Actually Gave Me A Better Insight On The Overall Performance Of The Companies, Especially When I Did Not Did Any Research Prior Or Read Up On The Annual Reports.

For Keppel, It Was Good To Know That The Directors And The Company Acknowledges That Producing And Focusing On Building Oil Rigs Is No Longer Profitable As Oil Prices Are Near Historical Lows. They Are Now Focusing On Property And Has Recently Acquired The Remaining Stake In Keppel Land To 99.7% (What They Described As 'Low Hanging Fruits') And Have Expanded To Overseas Market In China, Having A Stake In Tianjin Eco City.

For Venture, Definitely One Of The Better Performing Tech Stocks In The Market Right Now, Among The Few Which Is Still Making A Profit In The Current Economy. Dividends Has Been Consistent For The Past Few Years As Company Continue To Grows And Expand.

For OCBC, Their Recent Acquisition Of Barclay's Wealth Management Was A Good Move As Their Customer Base Has Been Expanded And They Will Most Likely Profit In The Long Run. Previous Acquisition Of Wing Hang Bank Is Also Starting To Show Results As There Was A Growth Of 8%, Up From 7% The Previous Year.

For Cambridge, Their Distribution Per Unit (DPU) Has Generally Increased And Their They Have Healthy Occupancy Rates As The Company Is Involved In The Rental Of Industrial Properties And Office Spaces.

The Most Unique And Cool One Was Actually The EGM For Magnus Energy Whereby It Was Called For By Shareholders Who Hold Substantial Holdings In The Company To Vote Out The Independent Directors. It Was Rather Exciting As The Atmosphere Was Very Tense, With Some Shareholders Throwing Questions To The Board Of Directors As There Were Some Things That Weren't Full Disclosed In The Company Reports And The Company Performance Had Been Poor. The Price Of The Share Has Plummeted From Over $0.40 2 Years Ago To Less Then $0.01 Due To The Issue Of Convertible Notes As An Option To Raise Funds For The Company As Well As The Fall In Oil Prices Which Caused Their Drilling Projects To Be Delayed.

Overall, Definitely A Great Experience.