G.I.O Gold Investment

Learnt of this new gold investment opportunity from a friend. I was curious about it and brought some information booklets back.

According to the booklet, Gold Institution Organisation (G.I.O) is registered in Panama in 1997 as a financial institution specialising in wealth preservation strategies. It is a "leading retailer of precious metal internationally".

There are 3 types of gold investments - paper gold, actual gold and gold future. G.I.O Gold is a fusion of the benefits of both paper gold and actual gold investments by reducing the risk of paper gold investment and increasing the returns of actual gold investment.

G.I.O Gold works this way. An investor would first purchase gold from the company. He will then deposit the gold with G.I.O Gold and receive dividends triweekly. The dividends are paid in the form of gold and the grammage is a percentage of your initial investment. The returns is 12% a month. For example, a 250g gold investment would fetch a 30g/month return. Each investment lasts for 12 months.

The investor can sell his accumulated gold for cash or redeem them as gold nuggets (admin charges applicable). The gold is 99.9 gold. At the end of 12 months, the returns are the original investment and the dividends.

Of course every investment would have its risk. As gold price increases, your investment returns increase as well. When gold price drops, you might just want to hold your gold as gold and not sell them away. However, since the investor owns the gold himself, he can choose when to sell it for a higher return.

Reference:
http://www.gio-holdings.com/
http://www.talkgold.com/forum/r233890-.html

Eunos CC YEC Year End Dinner & Launch of Website

7 December 2008
Eunos CC MPH

The big day for Eunos CC YEC is finally here, after working hard from dawns to dusks. Even on the eve of the year end dinner, some of us were at MacDonald's fine-tuning all our videos and presentations. We adjourned to rest at about 6 am.

Hock Rong was first to arrive at Eunos CC to arrange the backdrop arrangement, slightly before noon. While walking towards the CC, I met Anthony who was removing the standing displays. He would later plant them in front of the CC, which I thought was a splendid idea.

I commenced my work on the presentation of the launch of website. I would say that this presentation is the best powerpoint presentation I have ever done. In the room, Hock Rong was working on his chairman speech. Ming Choo handled the plant arrangements and suffered from an allergic reaction which made her face itch. Later, Wei Kiat came in to boost morale and Chee Lee worked on the lucky draw presentation. Rahayu took day off from work and came early to help.

Time flies. At about 5pm, I tested my video in the hall. As the music blasted, everyone seemed to stop what they are doing and stared at the screen. The video just makes my heart dance.

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Aini, from Bedok North Secondary School Service Learning Club, was assigned to help in managing the slides, ensuring that the slides tally with the event. Most importantly, she would be controlling the slides for the website launch. To say she did well was an understatement. It was beyond fanatastic!

Dashed back home for a change of clothes. Jialing's mother prepared orchids for us to pin onto our clothes. That really made us feel different and gave Eunos YEC members a sense of identity.

I was heartened by support from my family and friends. First to arrive was James who volunteered to help. Lovebirds Wee Keat and Hwee Peng came shortly after. Then came SSG Koh and his pregnant wife, with SSG Chris. Jian Hao, who is always supportive of Eunos YEC events, came with the couple, Andrew and Janice. Thanks to all who came!

During the dinner, Mystifying Imran (featured in Channel Suria) performed magic tricks which awed and surprised the audience. SSG Koh was "volunteered" up on stage to assist in one of the tricks:

Mayor Zainul Abidin Rasheed was ushered in by the percussion band, Voodoo. When the video prepared by Ming Choo was played, I was still reading my script. I turned over to look at the screen and saw the preparation phase. Felt teary in the eye for a moment as emotions gush out.

Mayor Zainul launched our website and I gave a short presentation on the highlights of our website. Thanks to Lin Qiang for videoing it. He later won the first prize for lucky draw.

After the event, some of us gathered at the coffeeshop to chill. When everyone adjourned, Hock Rong and I went for night cycling to Bedok jetty. We got stuck in the rain and quickly cycled to the Mac in the rain. As we were drenched, we decided not to enter the restaurant first. Then I remarked that "We deserve a Mega Mac!" and we started acting and recording the "advertisement" in Hock Rong's phone.

At one point, the area outside the Mac flooded to ankle level. When the flood subsided, we decided to head back irregardless of the rain. It was chilling as we cycled back and when we finally reached, I felt so unbelievable that we survived.

Also read: Eunos CC YEC Year End Dinner & Launch of Website Preparation

Aljunied GRC Dialogue

5 December 2008
Eunos CC Theatrette

Reached in time for the Aljunied GRC Dialogue Session with Grassroots Leaders, thanks to Mr Ong's transport.

The speaker, Victor Lye, gave a clear introduction of the global economic predicament that we are currently facing. In explaining the credit crisis, he compared credit as the blood of the body. More importantly, he talked about the PAP Town Councils' investments, which was of much concern to the audience.

The 5 MPs of Aljunied GRC were present. They include Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo, Mayor Zainul Abidin Rasheed, Senior Minister of State Lim Hwee Hua, Mdm Cynthia Phua and Mr Yeo Guat Kwang.

Grassroots leaders were concerned about the economic assistance provided for businesses and fellow Singaporeans. Some also raised the issue about the DBS High Bank Notes saga.

Sashimi Buffet & Prawning at Pasir Ris

5 December 2008

Took a break from work and had a day out with Mr Ong. It has been a long time since I saw him and was excited about his updates.

We headed to Nihon Mura Japanese restaurant outlet at Downtown East. The buffet package was fantastic, offering more choices than Sakae Sushi. The sashimi meals are fresh as well. Mr Ong ordered all the different raw fishes which I initally was very reluctant to try. But the freshness tempted me and they taste superb!

Interestingly, when Mr Ong requested for some lemons, the waiter gave us this...

After filling our stomachs, we headed to Pasir Ris prawning farm. Mr Ong took out his prawning kit from his car boot and we rented a rod. He has his own hooks and fishing line.

There's only another family doing prawning besides us. We attracted some attention when Mr Ong caught 2 prawns within the first 10 minutes.

13 isn't really an unlucky number after all

Mr Ong is more than a teacher. He has provided guidance in my life even after graduation from Temasek JC. And with his coaching, I managed to finally detect the sensitive movements of the bait by prawns. Today I caught my first prawn!

Unfortunately, we have to end the session early as I am attending the dialogue for grassroots leaders by Aljunied GRC MPs.

Starbucks Free Coffee Day

4 December 2008

Every year in December, Starbucks Coffee will distribute free coffee for a certain period of time in a day to raise funds for charity. This year, it was in support of The Salvation Army. There is no specified amount of donation and you are free to order any drinks.

Decided to visit Rahayu at the Marina Square outlet. There was a long queue that greeted us as we walked towards Starbucks. The following photo shows the long queue and Hock Rong posing.

Surprisingly, the waiting was less than 15 minutes. I'm impressed with the efficiency of the staff and enjoyed my default Starbucks drink -- Chocolate Chips Frappucino. Ever since god-knows-when, I have been persuading people to snap moments into memories. Hock Rong proudly used his new 8.1 megapixel Sony Ericsson phone to capture our group photo.

I missed the big Elmo which was already removed when we walked past the atrium of the mall. Anyway, Ming Choo snapped me and Rahayu as we walked along Sesame Street.

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I thought the idea of giving free coffee and raising funds for charity is a good example of corporate social responsibility. Many companies do charity, no doubt. But the way they carry such activities matter.

Recently, KFC has been advertising that with every set of Christmas Buddy Meal sold, it would donate $0.10. Ya, I didn't place the decimal at the wrong place. 10 cents! Buddy Meal?

I would call this gesture as "donation-washing", explicitly using charity as a face to drive in more business. Firstly, 10 cents is less than 1% of the selling price of the set meal. It is so little that advertising for the set meal could cost more than what they donate. Secondly, why only donate when Christmas Buddy Meal sets are sold? Outright and blatant advertising.

StarBucks has done more than just 2 hours of fund-raising. It has encouraged the spirit of giving...

A+ for Forensic Science Report

The results for Forensic Science report has been out since Wednesday but only had time to check it out today. Was thrilled to find that I scored an A+ for the report! I had not touched Science since my Junior College days, so I felt weird writing the report. It was fundamentally different from writing a Political Science essay.

I think my studies had improved over the last semester. Ironically, the more time I devoted into volunteering in Grassroots, the greater the drive for me to study.

Anyway, saw this interesting advertisement by Prudential in bus interchanges.


Saw this SingPass contest in a Community Club... What's so strange about it. Read it at http://youmustbecrazyman.blogspot.com

Eunos Tree Planting Day 2008

30 November 2008
Eunos Zone 5

Right after Eunos Appreciation Nite, Eunos Grassroots Leaders gathered in the Sunday morning to plant trees. I only slept for 2 hours before embracing the flora. I remember learning about the significance of Tree Planting Day but am not so certain about it, so I did some Googling and found this:

"The idea of setting aside a day to plant trees originated in the United States. In the 1800s, concern grew about rapid deforestation of the United States. It was Julius Sterling Morton, editor of the Nebraska City News, who persuaded his state to make 10 April 1872 a tree-planting holiday called "Arbor Day". The practice gradually spread to other states and today, most states in the United States observe Arbor Day on the last Friday in April.

In his book From Third World to First, Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew wrote about the drive to make Singapore a tropical garden city. He described the campaign as one of the ways to achieve First World standards in Singapore. For instance, greenery raised morale and made people proud. It also showed effort put into maintenance and impressed foreign VIPs. Tree Planting Day was one of the events used to support the tropical garden city initiative. SM Lee also mentioned that Tree Planting Day was set at the beginning of the rainy season in November to minimise watering."*

Mayor Zainul arrived early and after greeting everyone, the Eunos CCC Tree was planted. Mayor was joined by children in the watering of plants. He then unveiled the plaque.

Zone by zone, trees were planted. There were fruit trees such as starfruit trees. We couldn't really figure out the Zone 3 tree:

Thanks to Alex for helping me take the photos from my phone.

After planting all the trees, we adjourned to refreshments. When the event ended, I rushed home to get my much needed 2-hour sleep before waking up to attend my Toastmasters meeting.

Went to NUS Central Library to borrow a book. The reference section closed while I walked towards it and I was lucky that the librarian allowed me in. Counting down to my last paper... Hurray!

* Quoted from http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_565_2004-12-29.html