This parcel containing my combined order of Mint-In-Box (MIB) San Diego Comic Convention (SDCC) 2008 ponies arrived this week from the USA!  I had teamed up with a couple of other local My Little Pony collectors 2 weeks ago to order these exclusive ponies directly from Hasbro’s website.  The ponies sold out quickly within 24-hours of being offered on the website, as US pony collectors rushed in to buy them for themselves and overseas collectors who sought their help.

At that time, Hasbro’s online toy store had a special offer of free shipping within the USA, and we managed to seek the help of an American collector to secure our SDCC ponies.  We had also considered using vPost to ship in the ponies to Singapore but my pony collector pals and I decided that ordering through our American friend would be faster.  Nevertheless, one day we could use vPost’s service to test out its delivery speed and efficiency.  Currently, vPost is the only other shipping solution to resolve the issue of overseas online sellers not willing to ship to Singapore.

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If you had been using Google search during this Olympics period, you would have noticed that the Google logo picture is of a different animal playing a different Olympics sport each day.  The selected animals are based on the 12 Chinese zodiac animals. 

I like these Google Olympic logos very much and I had been collecting them since day 1 of the Beijing 2008 Olympics.  In my previous post, I have shown the first 6 in my collection.  The following are the next 6 logos I collected:

Dragon and Mouse playing Basketball

Tiger playing Badminton

Horse and Snake playing Soccer

Dog and Snake Rowing

Dragon playing Table Tennis

Snake Swimming

More Google Olympics logos to follow in the coming posts, come back and view them!

If you had been using Google search during this Olympics period, you would have noticed that the Google logo picture is of a different animal playing a different Olympics sport each day.  The selected animals are based on the 12 Chinese zodiac animals. 

I like these Google Olympic logos very much and I had been collecting them since day 1 of the Beijing 2008 Olympics.  Here are 6 of them:

Beijing 2008 Olympics Opening Ceremony

Sheep Cycling

Mouse / Rat Weightlifting

Pig Diving

Cow (not Ox because the latter is actually a neutered bull) performing Rhythmic Gymnastics

Monkey performing Rings Gymnastics

More Google Olympics logos to follow in the coming posts, come back and view them!

Focus on the positive, on the possible and the big picture!

Despite our breakthrough results at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, there are Singaporeans who keep harping on our table tennis team being not Singapore-born.  I wonder why they prefer to focus on the negative and missed out the fact that we are already in the finals?  At the end of the day, our country’s flag will be raised at the medals ceremony.

Foreign-born athletes is a trend now

By the way, many other countries have also sent foreign-born athletes to represent them at these Olympics and those foreign-born athletes have won medals too.  If the critics are still sore about this Singapore-born issue, then they should stop using mere words to express their opinions but put in real actions to represent Singapore themselves at these world level sports.  After all, “talk is cheap”, haha…

Negativity “kills” your life, and “sucks” your soul

I find that many people are pessimistic by nature.  They naturally see the negative more ‘clearly’ than the sometimes more obvious ‘positive’.  It has something to do with their mindset.  It takes a lot of neuro-linguistic programming to reset the mind to think positive and strive for excellence.  Very often people have to hit rock bottom in their lives to change their negative mindset and become determined to succeed.  Of course some continued to languish in self-pity and never really got out of that “pit”.

Our Olympic dream is possible

Think of it this way, our table tennis team had already achieved what many believed to be “impossible”.  Many SIngaporeans grew up singing classic national songs like “Count On Me Singapore” and “We Are Singapore”.  The lyrics are written to empower us for success.  Singapore had accomplished what was thought to be “impossible” for such a small nation over the past decades. 

We are ready to achieve much more.  Give us time and we will have our very own Singapore-born Olympic champions standing on the podiums to receive medals in the coming Olympics (and I hope these Singapore-born atheletes come from the families of Singapore-born Singaporeans who are so particular of the athletes’ lineage).  We have to believe it to achieve it.

Taking a break for the Olympics

Today I shall take a ‘break’ from toys and blog about the Olympics again, as this has been my dominant thoughts since the Beijing 2008 Olympics began a week ago.  I won’t been able to think much about toy collecting until after the Olympics end on 24 August 2008, and after all the excitement has settled.  We have already gone through the first week of sports events and for many sports, the finals had been played and their medals awarded. 

Our Singapore Olympic thoughts

Yesterday, Singapore celebrated when our table tennis team finally advanced into the finals after a hard fought match against the equally determined South Korean team.  I managed to catch the last game on TV and overall it was a very long-drawn 3 1/2 hours thrilling match.  We drew 2-2 and had to play all the way to the decisive 5th game of the 5th match (I think this is how it went, I’m not a table tennis expert here) to secure our hard-earned victory!

I was so happy with our team’s fantastic results, and I observed how relieved our team members were as they leaped for joy and hugged each other as if it was the finals.  Our country has waited 48 years for an Olympic medal, since we got a silver medal in 1960 from weightlifting.  At this Beijing 2008 Olympics, we have finally secured our first medal since our country’s independence in 1965!

Onward Singapore!

This table tennis finals at the Olympics is one of the greatest National Day present Singapore has received and this moment will be well remembered in the years to come.  Our Team Singapore has done us proud, and so have the other members of the team who did not secure any medals.  Their victorious day will come, they must continue to keep that vision in mind.

To be continued tomorrow…

Unenlightened people get “surprised” easily

Usually I do not like to rant when I can help it, but it has come to a point where I really need to post about this thorn that has been in my side for months.  While I am happy that visitors come by to read my blog, I am terribly, terribly, terribly (plus infinite ‘terribly’) SICK of hearing of the same old thing when I do get to meet some of these blog visitors in person. 

First they find it “surprising” that someone can blog about toys.  Second, they are even more ”astonished” that I run a website selling toys.  They will tend to ask me if I can make money out of it.  To me, my priority is to downsize and re-home some of my collections, and those of other toy collectors if they consign their items at my website. 

Being brainwashed by “money-making” seminars

What I find more disturbing is that many of the people who I am referring to tend to be those who had attended those various recent years courses and seminars.  You know those kind of super popular, hyped-up topics like personal mastery, wealth creation, wealth management, internet marketing, and trading (stocks and derivatives like options).  After going through those kind of seminars, many of them get so ‘brainwashed’ by their trainers that they develop stereotyped views that you can only make your millions from those few methods that had been taught only.

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Previously, I touched on 5 innovative ways to display your toy collections.  Today we talk about the 5 worst ways to display your collectible toys and I am sure many collectors have done at least one of the following:

1) In direct sunlight.  Many toys are prone to color fading after being exposed to direct sunlight for prolonged periods of time.  For example, the neon pink hair color of My Little Pony toys fade easily to near-white or white after being in the sunlight for a little while.  Hence in general, refrain from displaying your toys near the windows or in your car.

2) Within reach of young children or pets (like dogs and cats that chew on them).  Ironically, they can be two of the most ‘destructive forces’ against your precious collections.  However there are ways to handle them and it’s also about compromise.  You can read more about the ’solutions’ of this point in one of my earliest posts here.

3) Hanging toys above your bed for obvious reasons.  Although I suggested that you could consider hanging aerial-designed toys from the ceiling, common sense is still required to ensure ’safety’ to both your toys as well as to you and the occupants of your home.  You definitely do not want to suspend toys that are deemed too heavy, and you need to use good quality string or fishing line wire to secure them well.

4) In the way of your daily use items.  Some of us like to display our collectible toys on the table, shelves and such where we need to use in our daily activities.  It can be frustrating when your toys are placed on the book shelves ‘outside’ your books or on the study table where they get in your way when we use the table.  You end up constantly having to shift those toys away just to accomplish your tasks and then put the toys back to where they were ‘blocking’ you.  Usually this happens when the toys are do not have a proper ‘home’ to reside in.

5) On your office desk, unless the image fits in with your work culture.  Many non-toy collector people have very stereotyped perceptions about toys being for kids only.  I find such people very sad, as to be stereotyped in their views simply implies that their minds have not been opened to the vast world out there.  A lot of people don’t even know that blogging can be a career in this internet age.  Hence while it is all right to display not more than 3 mini figurines at your work desk, the best is not to display any toys at all, unless your company is in the toys, comics, creative industry etc, where it is a norm.  If not, some colleagues and bosses can have very unkind and unenlightened opinions about you.

To end the post, I have added a bonus no-no when it comes to displaying your toys: that is do not allow your toys display and storage to encroach the personal space of your spouse, family, roommates, colleagues who live and work with you.  It is not just a matter of respect for others, it is also about not letting your hobby become a source of friction with people around you.  Remember, others may not share your passion for toys so you need to accept that and prevent situations that may cause ‘conflicts’ with others.

There you have it, hope that you have enjoyed reading this post as much I did when writing it.  Be back again soon for more such postings!

I’m still being gripped by the current Olympics fever and I have never enjoyed it so much as now.  I even follow the Olympics coverage in my local newspapers every day.  In the past or rather on usual days, I don’t even look at sports news.

It’s exciting and interesting to observe how the best athletes of various sports and countries come together to vie for the much coveted medals at such a top level competition!  For many non-sports people, they might not think much of the Olympics, which is the ultimate level for athletes in the world of sports. 

Top athletes are amongst the most empowered people in the world, as they need to push their mental states and physical bodies to the limits in order to excel in their respective sports.  Most non-competitive and non-sports people do not really comprehend and appreciate the reasons why athletes go into competitive sports, much less empathize with them on the enormous pressure and sacrifices needed in to order to stand on the podiums to receive the medals.

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As the whole world knows (unless you have cooped yourself in a cave or some remote place on earth), we are now the first week of the Beijing 2008 Olympics.  I rarely watch sports on TV except for the occasional equestrian events that are telecast on my sports cable channels.  However I find myself caught in the current Olympic fever as I plonked myself in front of the TV each evening since the weekend to watch the various sports on TV. 

Thanks to my cable TV subscription, I have up to 6 special Olympics channels to choose from, plus 2 more from my normal local TV network.  I get so engrossed in the Olympics fever that I have not been thinking much about my toy collecting hobby all week.  So far I have watched gymnastics (my favourite), equestrian (my second favourite), archery, volleyball, weightlifting, judo, swimming, badminton, synchronized diving, basketball, handball and cycling. 

There are many more sports to come.  Suddenly I find myself being ‘educated’ in many different sports in just 1 week!  Previously, I didn’t even care how the scoring system works for basketball and archery but now I know.  Even archery can be exciting to watch when the competing sides match each other’s scores so closely with every shot of their arrows.  Eventually, the gold medal was won by a mere 2 points difference,  what a competition!

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