I thought my middle name Charlin will be unique forever

Before I named myself Charlin back in 2008, I made sure to google the name first and no one was using this name. It is supposed to be unique as there is a reason how my middle is spelt. Char - Char Si Lang (吵死人 in hokkien) and Lin comes from my chinese name. I wrote a blogpost for this in 2008. The meaning of my name - Charlin aligned with my formal name - Shirley. It was elegant and creative. 

I cleaned up my blog shortly after I went to work in SI company, my first job after graduating in Polytechnic in 2017. Hence the first blog post in this blog became 2012, the same year I officially started - SHIRLEY CHARLIN. 

I set my blog and a few social media profiles to private for six years due to clauses in my permanent employment contract regarding our personal social media accounts. We need to show the HR if we have public social media account and required to close it if higher management did not approve it. There were sharing from former employees that uncivilized/ no-progression people working in the company have too little work during official working hours so they will go out to invade your privacy. They are usually the ones who had been in the company longer than their reporting supervisor. The reporting supervisor will listen to whatever make-up stories of you from anything does not matter if it is true or they had witness it. The fear of invasion of privacy from uncivilized individuals in the workplace who had too much time on their hands fueled my decision.

Fast forward 15 years, I have came to realise that my middle name is no longer unique, even in Singapore. The first indication of this shift came when I stumbled upon a LinkedIn profile belonging to another individual with the same spelling of Charlin, coincidentally with the surname Lee—a high-ranking employee at A* Star. Her profile is impressive. It was a surreal moment, imagining a scenario where our paths might cross professionally. If I became her colleague or research student? Will Charlin One be me or her?

So funny.

After seeing my name on LinkedIn profile, I went to search social media account handle with just "Charlin" as the keyword. Oh my, there are three Charlins now. If there are more after this post, it only means I still have readers and my blogposts are still interesting.

I really love my middle name, and so I decided to register it in legal papers. However, even this endeavor proved to be challenging, as I discovered that the name Charlin had already been claimed by a company named Charlin Holdings, which emerged during the Covid pandemic. Thanks for helping me to save thousands of dollars. Still, I really want my name back.

I thought my middle name Charlin will be unique forever, but nope. 😐

Yours Sincerely, 

Shirley Charlin 李

Youtube talk show: RICH BOSS VS WORKER

Sharing a Malaysian Talk Show I have just watched from YouTube. The open debate started with a question :"Should worker be paid for overtime?" 

This topic is a serious matter, as we all need to pay our bills. The participants in this talk show voiced their own opinions in a very balanced conclusion. Team Boss agreed that employees should work overtime because they get to pick up practical skills when they are really working. They should be open to this and not only ask about overtime pay.

Both parties did mention how the company knows if the employee is actually working for the company when they are doing overtime.

This is a good counter-debate question, as I have witnessed my peers in the first corporate job I worked for using company resources for their own benefit—passive income (not referring to stock investment). It was obvious during COVID that there are some who do drop-shipping but use their company laptop. Printing their own using company resources For no reason, and I did not ask, they would "share with me out of kindness" and complain to me that they are not paid enough when the company earns so much.

I really do not need to know, and I will not be surprised that they are reading my blog to know where I am working now. Don't you find yourself rude?

They can just be shareholders and buy a portion of the company's stock to pay back. Life can be simple and less political if you are not happy with your work and the salary; you just need to find a new one! The difference in the amount of salary your employer has to pay in your employer's CFP the older the employer.

Imagine if you are an employer. Don't you want to earn more?

The second question was "You can only be rich if you are a boss".

It is not true; there are many companies out there that have closed down. Are you sure the directors will know that one day their company will close? Nope, until they try.

With the rise of marketing and social media, there are a lot of online marketing freelancers with registered companies. How many are just passive-income partnerships? You would not know because you need their services. Maybe? 

All you need to do is try.

There are employees who are much better than their bosses. I believe you agree with me.

Lastly, "The economy is influenced by the environment". The wealthy should pay more taxes. Yes, this is to balance the economic flow between high and low incomes. The host spoke about why the lucky ones need to help others.

At my last company, there were people who thought they needed to pay more taxes because they owned more than one property. Hello! ARE YOU SHOWING OFF!? The more you earn, the more tax you will "donate" back to the community. In return, you are helping one kid or more get out of poverty because their parents can't. This is just to balance out the poor and rich.

Why can't their parents get themselves out of poverty? They are just simple-minded workmen who only think about easy money, and they just want their kids to do the same: get a job faster and then take care of them. Work is all that is required; no advanced education is required. Their next generation will do the same. Their children are their wealth. They have plans to do nothing for their children but expect them to take care of their retirement.

The old-fashioned mindset apparently still exists in my environment. The hard truth assumption is: " How you behave yourself outside is how you behave at home." If this assumption is so true, then whoever said this to you, especially if she or he is your boss, This is not the company you will want to stay with.

Thank you for reading my 30-cent thoughts.

Yours Sincerely, 

Shirley Charlin 李

Updated my grammar because my reader friends cannot stand them.

#OffTheInternet Chap 10: Review of Limitless by Jim Kwik Part 4/4 - Creating a habit

So in Chap 9, I had shared that it is really bad to go without sleep or less than your supposedly night night time. Yep, I know you are using your baby voice when you read night night. Don't deny. 

As promised today, I will share how you will start to create a habit. When I attended my first Adam Khoo's workshop in secondary school, I learnt that if we repeatedly perform an action for 21 days straight, we will perfect that one action and created a habit. 

So try the following summary, and modify to fit in your schedule and for yourself. 

Creating a habit 101 starter pack Create a morning routine Starting with a nice breakfast Focus Practice on concentration Calming your busy mind Study (Lifelong Learner) 4 level of competence How to study better Active focus With visual Associate each pointers Keep your emotion away. All the negative thoughts. Creation

As for myself, I have already checked the first point which is a great improvement. Now is your turn.

Yours Sincerely,
Shirley Charlin 李

#OffTheInternet Chap 9: Review of Limitless by Jim Kwik Part 3/4 - NO SLEEP?

Sleep is very important. Typically we need as little as 6 hours of sleep, regardless of what occupation are you currently excel in. 

The negative impact of NO SLEEP Harder it becomes to maintain a sense of reality Compromises all of your cognitive skills, your focus, your memory, and your overall brain health You cannot focus.

Personally, for me, it is hair fall. Appearance is what is pulling me away from making a comeback, and of course, the employment contract, which many of us do not take seriously until a mishap hits us hard or because the peers are sloobish at work. Your purpose of being in the company is just for paychecks. 

All I know is I am taking every single milliseconds of my life seriously. Living like today is my last day. 

According to Harvard Medical School, there are both short-term and long-term effects if we go without ample sleep. 

Which can also lead to poor health, according to study from Harvard Med, people with poor sleep are at greater risk for a number of diseases and health problems. Let me virtual read for you so that you do not need to read and not understand well - There is a linkage with Sleep and Chronic Disease. The lesser you sleep or if you sleep more than 9 hours can have link with hypertension, diabetes and obesity. The focus point of this research type is called cross-sectional epidemiological studies. 

Interesting? I am just pick up one section of the research as I have ever witness a senior of mine in secondary school who was sent to the A&E and almost need to repeat her study year because of Hypertension. 

Let us start a great habit by first, create a new habit routine for ourselves so that every day can be a fruitful day. I will blog more about create a habit in the next chapter. Before that happens, we can first start by not using our smart phones before bed time. :)

LOL, I hope you guys could read this post when this blog is back to public.

Yours Sincerely,
Shirley Charlin 李

#OffTheInternet Chap 8: Review of Limitless by Jim Kwik Part 2/4 - Limitless Model

Limitless Model

- Mindset Mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person's responses to and interpretations of situations. - Beliefs Believe in yourself and convinced. You have already excel and what you are going to continue to achieve today and into the future. - 7  Lies of learning (my favourite pointer) Intelligence is fixed We only use 10% of our brains Mistakes are failures The criticism of other people matters Genius is born? Knowledge is power Learning new things is very difficult

This chapter places emphasis on the Seven Lies of Learning. My take is that people around you can torture you into thinking that you "have a broken brain," but this is not your destiny. Would they even tell their own flesh and blood that they have a broken brain? No!

They would only have the guts to tell others' children that they are "stupid". They cannot be what they inspire to be; they are too boastful. Awful people seem to find it a pleasure to insult the weak or young. Feeding them negativity.

What are they trying to gain from here? Some form of achievements? 

If I were you, I would not bother them. They have no class and are pathetic. 

Back to the main topic, the limitless model guided me to change my mindset (as Kwik mentions at the very beginning of the chapter). You can start by changing your mindset to one that says, You can do what you want! There is a superhero in you.

Here I am sharing the screenshot from his book, DO NOT FORGET!

Yours Sincerely,
Shirley Charlin 李

#OffTheInternet Chap 7: Review of Limitless by Jim Kwik Part 1/4 - The Forgetting Curve

I have been trying to create a reading habit with my intern at work. Each day we will have a 25 minutes to ourselves just to read. I may be born and raised in a country with English as a national language, but my English is the worst subject that is always fluctuating at the boarder line. 

My last read was Limitless by Jim Kwik. This book recommendation was from a online friend. It is proven to help me with my life choices I had made and motivated me to be better and have a CAN DO attitude.

Jim Kwik shared a lot of his life experiences of growing up with learning difficulties at the beginning of this book and been called "The Boy with a Broken Head". How his friend's father navigated him in the right direction and gave him books to improve himself. Yep, his friend's father role came into the picture is very Rich Dad, Poor Dad. 

This one person has molded Kwik to a motivator, cognitive learning brain researcher and bestselling author up to date. We all need to meet that one person (probably your friend's father) to make a great impact in our lives. As per reading, that one action is to read. Creating one good habit is to read, and this is one of the key pointers in Kwik's book.

Reading is a form of learning, how can we remember and apply what is relevant. I was introduced to the forgetting curve. This curve shows how information is lost over time when there is no attempt to retain it. Kwik shared the strategy on how he remembers stuff and I had jotted down notes and summaries on how to combat the forgetting curve - 

Combat The Forgetting Curve

Step 1: How to remember stuffs Take 5 every 25 mins That is one Pomodoro Step 2: Use the FASTER method Forget Act State Teach Enter Review Thinking is a process of reasoning through something, during which we ask and answer questions. Step 3: ASK QUESTIONS What is your dominant questions? How can I use this? Why must I use this? When will I use this?

I hope it will help anyone who has a goldfish memory like me.

Yours Sincerely,
Shirley Charlin 李

#OffTheInternet Chap 6: A lot of topics but i cannot remember any. Now my post is random rants.

The procrastination of me to set this blog back public has just got approved for an extension. There have been many fruitful topics coming to my mind to write about. Of course, ChatGPT is not used.

 

The layback of myself is, I cannot remember a single topic at all when I finally have the time for blogging.  Oh, my, it is only the second month of the year. The month when our government had the press to release the news that we will no longer need to wear masks anymore.

When I first heard of this news, I was like, "Okay, now everyone can see how pretty I look!" Hahaha, you must be thinking that I will be afraid of my appearance. No way. The two-word phrase "no confidence" has never appeared in my vocabulary.

My blog may still be private, I still hope to wish all the singles and attached a Happy Valentines' Day!

//

    How are you going to spend your day?

//

I am going to spend 45 mins on work whilst I am supposed to enjoy my annual leave which is part of my employee's benefits. This type of work imbalance has been going on since 2020 when I am reallocated to this project. What can I do for myself? 

I have been thinking for a period of time, what can I do for myself? It has been unhealthy and I am getting more and more less happy.

Okay, now this post is random rants. 

Yours Sincerely, 

Shirley Charlin 李

#OffTheInternet Chap 5: Speeding into 2023

>> Blog post created on the 24th day of the Year 2023.

In the year 2022, there will be some computer shopping, and it is somewhat related to my second interest, which is technology. All the computer peripherals and storage for cables and wires—I seriously cannot wait to have a smart home. And the question here is: a condo or a HDB flat?

I really enjoyed my stay at one of ASCOT's loft (service) apartments facing the giant-tech building. It has a really great view of the skyline and a quiet environment, with a short walk to the nearest train station. not a shopping district, but who really does physical shopping nowadays, right? A wish to live in Districts 09–11 may mean I need to have a monthly salary of close to S$9K at the very least to pay the mortgage and live humbly. Looking at my last payslip, I am not even close to a third of it. Savings to pay for housing is a no-no. At one point in time, when I started to eat into my savings for mandatory items, I almost wanted to be a Lalamove walker. It will go against my employee contract. That is another no-no.

Speaking of which, there is something I must do for myself this year so that I can get a nice place I really want for myself, where I only need to make plans once and can live very comfortably. The floor plan must include a loft where I can sleep, dress, and use the bathroom. I have a great-sized room where I can work from home or do my computer stuff.

If there is a balcony, I hope to have a door leading towards a swimming pool to myself. lol It sounds like I could like to live in London.

Hmmm...

Just check my pockets and wallet; it's only $2.

Anyway, the extended monitor I had has been down for almost two days. I am looking for a new one and have made a list of what I need and can do without since I am still looking for a new laptop for myself. My laptop, which I purchased in September 2017, is suddenly dysfunctional on and off. It is a really good-priced Acer Aspire VX 15 laptop. It is still working strong when it comes to gaming. 

Anyway I had spotted the following desktop when I was looking for the extended monitor - Acer Aspire Z24-890

Acer Aspire Z24-890 (i999MR165122T) NEW AIO Desktop with 9th Gen intel i9-9900T processor

- 9th Gen Intel Core i9-9700T Processor 

- Windows 10 Home

- 23.8 Inch FHD IPS Anti-Glare Borderless Screen with 10-Point Multi-Touch

- NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5 RAM)

- 16GB DDR4 RAM, 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD + 2TB HDD

- DVD Writer

- Integrated Wireless LAN & Bluetooth®

- Integrated 2.0 MP Full HD high-sense webcam with stereo microphones

- Built-in stereo speakers with Dolby Audio™ Premium

- -5°- 25° tilt angle

- 3 years On-site Local Singapore warranty 

Front/Side I/O connectors

Card reader: Yes

Rear I/O connectors

HDMI port(s): 2 (in/out)

LAN port(s): 1

Audio jack(s): 1

USB 2.0 port(s): 1

USB 3.1 Gen 1 port(s): 1

USB 3.1 Gen 2 port(s): 2

USB Type-C port(s): USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10 Gbps): 1

What’s in the box:

1 x Acer Aspire Z24-890(i999MR165122T)AIO Desktop

1 x 3 Years McAfee Internet Security(Physical Card)

1 x Acer Wireless Keyboard and Mouse

The question here - A desktop or a new laptop? I need to bring to school though. I am still surviving my part time school.

Let the checklist for 2023 begin with looking for desktop monitor first!

Yours Sincerely, 

Shirley Charlin 李