Endoh’s Dungeon

My buddy sent me these… are these what she makes her husband put on for her? LOL! Hmmm….

Save the BEST for the last…

MY FAVOURITE!!!

I brought KiKi out for his walk earlier and it ended up a little special today. I realised I haven’t taken a real good look at him for a long time. As a puppy at 2 months old, he was what everyone described as fat and lazy. It is no surprise because all he did was eat and sleep.

He came into this world on Jurong Islands, and his entire family was almost cleansed out by the authorities. It must have been a stressful 2 months, fearing of being caught. After being left out as the only unwanted puppy in the litter, he stayed on in my family. The adoption drive was a success for every other puppy, but KiKi. I was supposed to foster him until we found a potential home. Miraculously, from a foster family, we became his owner for good. Nobody wants him, and so we did. Of course, I had the last laugh at the end of the day. KiKi grew up to be the most handsome among the litter. Fat and lazy they said, but now he’s fit and sturdy.

He’s always that sweet little thing, and always playful in his early years. Just like any other puppies, he get into alot of mischiefs. At one point, my ex-wife and I bought a children play-kit from Ikea for him. It’s a canvas tunnel, meant for kids to climb through. It became his favourite hobby to run through the tunnel. I can’t remember when it started but he began bringing things we gave him into the tunnel. Things like rawhide, treats, tennis balls… the tunnel became his storeroom. (He hates the cane! So he brought that in and hid it in there too. *laughs* )

I never fail to talk to KiKi. It sounds a little crazy but when I had problems trying to relate certain issues to humans, he naturally became my “listener”. All the while, KiKi is always super hyper when I relate my problems to him. Each time I start pouring my sorrows to him, he began tugging the gentle leader, urging me to just forget about all the problems and keep walking. I assume that’s his way of cheering me up, and telling me “never stop moving”.

I said it was special today, indeed. He’s no longer the KiKi I used to know, or rather, I have failed to observe that KiKi has grown. Not just in size I meant.

Instead of the previous hyper reactions, I am facing a much more solemn KiKi, I realised. Has he grown? Has he matured?

He no longer tugs at the gentle leader if I were to sit down and start talking. He no longer nudge me on my leg to urge me to continue walking. Nowadays, he looks right into my eyes when I began my whiny speech. Otherwise, he would rest his head on my laps, but with his eyes still staring up towards me. I don’t know how I can describe this, it’s like… he is really listening this time. It seems as though he has learnt to sit down and listen to what I have to say instead of just pushing me on.

I was seated there, looking at him earlier on. That was when it struck me that he has been doing this for quite some time. I can’t actually believe that I didn’t see this change in him all these while. It’s like how we were once boys, grew up to be teenagers and finally become the men we are now. He seems to have evolve into a total man. No more hyper reactions, no more funny mischiefs but in replacement, a much more serious and attentive listener.

KiKi is quite unlike other dogs I have kept. My mum always says he has humane eyes and I can’t agree more. Sometimes, I wish he could speak like a human and share with me what’s going through his mind whenever I confide in him. He’s like a gf whom I can trust, that my insecurities will never go open in public. He’s like a bf in some other times, that he protects me and will be there for me when I get into trouble. In fact, he was the bugger who was tugging my shorts when I fainted at home due to exhaustion a couple of years back. BTW, it’s my mum who called for the ambulance and not him. Don’t be ridiculous with me… LOL!

It’s hard not to think about what’s going to happen if KiKi crosses the rainbow bridge in future. I think I will be very very devastated for a long time. The thought of it is enough to scare me. When that happens, I think the only consolation I can offer to myself is… he has joined Max over the other side and these two brothers have re-unite again. I still miss Max though, even though his ashes are seated right in my room. He’s also another sweet dog with a totally different character.

I hope Max’s having fun with other dogs over there.

Oh ya, do you believe until this day, KiKi still looks around for Max? He still sniffs all the spot Max used to sleep, and everytime we mention the name “Max”, KiKi would brighten up suddenly with all his ears and eyes perked up. The brotherhood between dogs are just so amazing, compared to humans.

Cool Insider wrote about PR Academy Conference which shows a shocking finding with regards to where marketers are spending their time and precious funds in. What shocked me beyond shocks was how events were missing from the entire list. It’s a tell-tale sign of how local conservative marketers still regarded events as unconventional when the rest of the globe is fast adopting marketing events as one of their key development. This phenomenon is explainable.

First of all, the cost of running an event in Singapore is still rocket high. When a marketer forks out a budget to participate in/host an event, the first and foremost expectation is brand awareness and realistic increase in business. It is absolutely useless to create brand awareness without significant increase in business, although this is highly unlikely to happen once awareness is attained. Many events companies are still lacking in this area of translating direct interaction with target audiences into sales and profits.

It is a fact that many events companies rely on third party suppliers to support their operations. (What we normally know as out-sourcing…) Technically, out-sourcing works only when the levels of support do not exceed 3 levels; namely Client - Marketer/Event Planner - Suppliers. In most cases where they exceed these 3 levels, the marking up of prices eventually contributed to the high cost of running an event here. It is little wonder why marketers are still unwilling to adopt events as one of their important marketing tools locally - especially when these doesn’t translate into additional business.

Secondly, most events companies go as far as mere party planners in the record book. They may be able to chunk out a whole load of booths every now and then, but how do these booths relate to the branding image and product? (Even though I find most booths boring…) Does this mean creativity and marketing cannot live in existence together? Absolutely not, of course. Lacking in marketing knowledge, these events companies can do nothing more than just providing creative booth designs. What we want to achieve here, is attaining marketing objectives through creativity. Not just fanciful fittings alone.

Conclusively, marketers are spending more money on marked-up event services than on professional marketing consultancy.

Now, compare these associations or bureau, and tell me what are the differences?
Exhibition & Event Association of Australasia
National Outdoor Events Outdoor Association (United Kingdom)
International Association of Exhibitions & Events
Singapore Exhibition & Convention Bureau
Singapore Economic Development Board

If you haven’t realise the differences, then just allow me to highlight that we still do not have a convincing association to guide and nurture local events companies in what their responsibilities are and how they should function to reinforce client’s marketing plans. The specific information and guidance provided from oversea associations has benefitted me more than our local departments. From the events expert, to the events industry. Can our smaller events companies here be blamed for being “lost out at sea” when balancing creativity and marketing relevance?

Another fatal mistake many events companies commit, is engaging the wrong people on the ground. This extend out to both wrong marketing ambassadors which eventually led to wrong audiences. How does this came about?

You can have a few good looking individuals as your brand ambassadors, but do they have the correct marketing techniques to segment and engage the right potential customers? Many companies failed in their participation of events mainly because they were let down majorly in the department of interaction. To be participating in an event, one of the key criteria to success is “direct interaction with the target audiences”. Sales pitching to the wrong people is a complete waste of time and effort. Needless to say, marketers are plain wasting their time and funds in such situations. When it comes to buying decisions, sexy little chicks with short skirts exposing g-strings play little effect on the eventual outcome. It attracts attention to your booth, but it doesn’t necessary attracts buying customers. That’s what I am driving at…

With all these critical areas not covered, it is only a case of natural death for many events, organisers and marketers.

I just hate it when most of my friends are putting up either in the West or East. In fact, 70% of my friends are living in the East and meeting up with them has become such a chore. I am putting up in the Northern region and JB is only a swim away, hence going down to town and any other parts of Singapore is forever a dreadful journey. Be it driving a car in the past or taking public transport now… it seriously makes no difference.

Maybe I should just save up enough and rent an apartment in the Eastern coast, I bet that will sound very convenient for everyone else other than my own parents. Friends, it’s not that I don’t wish to catch up but the journey to everywhere else is really horrendous. (It’s different in New York or London where I’ve stayed because cars are dirt cheap there.)

How did I end up in North? Here’s the unbelievable story…

Once upon a time, I was living in West and one day, the old Jurong Police Division called up and summoned my mum to the police station on the charge of assaulting someone’s child at the market. It was a short while later that we realised the complainant was a resident in the same block as us, but on the other end of another storey. We were not acquainted with this neighbour, and it puzzled all of us why my mum was being targetted in this incident.

Along with the accusation was also how my mum used “black magic” and placed tailsman in her letterbox. My mum may be a buddhist, but I don’t think my mum would actually resort to these stuff. Not least to mention, I was having a high fever that day and weren’t in school. The only logical explanation we had, my mum was at home taking care of me. My MC dated on the same day of the alleged attack didn’t convinced the Inspector who was handling the case, despite calling up Rulang Primary School to verify my MC and absence from school.

It was not until my auntie was outraged by the way the Inspector “hammered” my mum and placed my mum under immerse psychological pressure, she brought her lawyer down and threatened the Inspector right back in the face. (The lawyer happened to be an ex-public prosecutor.) There I was, as a primary school kid, watching the commotion and not knowing what to do.

Why was my dad not mentioned anywhere in the picture? Good question. My dad was too afraid to speak up against people beyond our gates. My dad doesn’t womanize, he’s not an alcoholic and he’s not a compulsive gambler too. However, one thing I hate about him absolutely is his failure to protect his family in times of need. It had to be my mum’s good friend of 40 years to stand up for my mum, and not the “man of the family”. His authority is well established in the family, but once out of the gates, he’s as tiny as a mouse.

The case was promptly dropped after my auntie and her lawyer’s intervention. Within a month, my dad has secured the sales of our apartment and moved to where I am right now. School was gone, classmates were gone, childhood friends vanished etc. His reason? “Let’s just move and stay out of trouble…”

You’d know something? Even as a mere kid I questioned myself, if I did nothing wrong, why should I run? Why should I be afraid that this individual will give me more problems? Does running solve anything? So having moved to a new place and someone else give us problems, what are we going to do? Sell our house and run again? As a kid, I already know this is completely absurb. My dad did set an example, but an example I should never follow. This incident taught me even more, there’s nothing to be afraid of when I have done nothing wrong and I will protect my woman and family at all costs.

Today, I still retort him the same exact manner I retorted him 15 years ago. Don’t scream at me, rake up your guts and scream at those whom have done you injustice. Nobody out there whom have done you injustice, gives a damn about your ego and authority in the family.

Now that most of my friends have relocated to the East, and here I am still stuck in the North… it can be rather frustrating. I can’t possibly expect a whole truck-load of friends to come to the North specially for me.

Hmmmmmmm… do you Easterners still have a little corner to spare me? Hahaha… Not forgetting, East seems to house a whole lot more pretty girls. ROFLMAO!