Have you ever thought that education should be free? Are you interested in constantly upgrading yourself and acquiring knowledge but you put it aside because courses are expensive?

Well, if you are, congratulations! You're just like me. :) Oh, and I have just the solution for you.

Some of you might have plenty of courses in your country which you have free access to, but for us in Singapore, it's not that easy. Money rules here and if you ain't got money, you ain't got nothing here. And you'll live a really sorry life.

But here is a link that my father-in-law shared with me. He is very active and constantly on the lookout for learning new things, and he motivates me to do the same. If he was in Singapore, he would definitely be nominated for and win the award for Active Ageing.

So he came across this site called FutureLearn, where you can take online courses from top Universities and cultural institutions FOR FREE. There are 44 partner Universities from the UK, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. There are 13 categories of courses available and they will all be taught online.

Categories:

You even get certificates when you complete these courses. All you need to do is just sign up at their website, and join the courses that interest you.

I've already signed up for mine and I'm so excited to start it.

* All visuals are screenshots taken from the FutureLearn website. No copyright infringement intended. 

The New Year has just started and it has brought me a good reason to cheer. Hearing a good news at the beginning of the new year gives us renewed hope for the upcoming year, and that's exactly what it did for me.

I've been a full time freelancer for about one and a half years now and I have to admit, though there were some setbacks because I'm a newbie, I did enjoy the perks it came with.

A few months back, in July 2013, I started working freelance with the national news agency. I learned a lot from writing for them, and I have been chronicling the lessons learnt in my other blog. They were happy with my work and I was getting a decent pay for each story I submitted. 

Somewhere around November 2013, the Editor asked me if I would like to take on the post of a journalist with them.

So I went for the written test in Novemeber and I passed it. Then I went for the interview in December...

And I just got news of it...

I have officially been appointed as a journalist at Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and I'll be starting work later this month.

As much as I enjoy working freelance, I just couldn't let the opportunity pass when the Editor asked me if I would be interested to try out for a full-time position.

So I jumped at the opportunity. What did I have to lose anyway? If I got it, I'd be a full time journalist; if I didn't get it, well, I still enjoyed being a freelancer :)

And here I am now, starting work again after a year and a half. 

The New Year seems to bring a lot of opportunities. I hope the good luck will last throughout the year. I sure would like to wish all of you plenty of happiness, success and good health for the year ahead. Stay happy and stay positive, work smart and allow time for play everyday and we should all have a great year ahead.

Cheers...