Lazy mood ...

It’s been a long Sunday, been at class from 0900 to 1700 … quite tired, and then went out for dinner with some friends. Just feel lazy to work tomorrow ... guess it's a long year & coming to an end

Looking back, 2005 has been a long toil & in a few more days, it’ll be nothing but a distant memory. Let me start compiling my memoirs …

Sow the seeds of greatness, water the drops of inspiration

It sure feels good to reminisce about the wonderful thoughts of the past ...

Yesterday morning, one just opened itself. I was a chair for a national conference in Romania for AIESEC 30 months ago ... and that seemed like a distant memory, as I was a strapling of myself today. What I remembered was a powerful learning experience of working with another culture, with 300 future leaders and at that time, I did wonder what roads of destiny would they fulfill. Not that I expected too much, but I guess any facilitator of youth conferences would hope that someone will get inspired, step up and continue or even take further what we started.

Back to my story ... Didy is one of those who participated during NPS, and though I did not know her, she managed to find me through my MSN messenger. She's the one who keeps our communication alive, by dropping me messages every now and then, but it's been a while, say a year since I last chatted with her.

Apart from her picture on MSN (she's definitely more stunning & beautiful now), it's amazing that she has followed an international path of learning, by taking up leadership in another country, similar to what I did back then. Deep down, I felt quite proud that she has taken a path less travelled and just shared that it's a path that opens many unknown opportunities in life.

But what made it best was that she thanked me for the work I done as a chair back then because it was the presence of so many of my team then who showed & convinced many of her peers that opportunities & dreams are realized only when we pursue them with ultimate self belief & dogged determination. I never really thought or believed that my work can change lives (it was only hypothetically then, but hard to buy as a corporate guy like myself .nowadays)

And I think the thought, and the 2 words of gratitude really made my day, to know that I watered upon the seeds of greatness, needing that little drops of inspiration to start it all. It warmed me to know that people do remember you, people take further what you started and that more than 30 people around the globe, from those 300 have taken their steps to chase their dreams, just because some people back then sprinkled the dusts of hope.

Just happy to be reminded that I have the power to change, the ability to make a difference ...

Thought for today ...

Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.

Napoleon Bonaparte

I like this one; it plumps a provoking & disturbing thought that religion could be nothing but a political innuendo for the affluent. It keeps the poor contented with the little they have.

And, these words from Nappy are just in sync with my thoughts that religion (noble for it was meant to be) is still in the end, subject to personal interpretation of the (so-called) heads. The questions we should all ask is that, who are they to interpret religion and what makes their interpretation correct? I find it disturbing for people to ask others to give their hearts, souls and dreams to ‘god’ during mass congregations, where there’s an ounce of possibility that the motive of the person leading it could be selfishly concealed or lacking foresight of it’s blundering direction.

And the beauty of it all is that the well meaning people following it, often have no questions and follow willingly without questioning the sanctity of the decisions, words and direction, in the name of god. And I find it hard to follow someone in religion when this disturbing thought lies in my head. While I do think that people should have a spiritual element to complete themselves, there’s a thin line between believing in god and blindly following others.

But therein, lies the wisdom of this statement, where it keeps the poor from murdering the rich, in other words, keeping others content. As they say, if the whole world was born to lead, it is indeed led to diasater.

Do I like trainings? Errr ...

2 days ago, my company organized a 3-hour training by some Don Power from Australia, about Executive Power … mostly about how to deal effectively with people and utilizing personality traits to guide the thought process. Unfortunately, this was done on the production floor, which was too public for my taste.

To be honest, I felt the training too restraining & elementary for my taste, it’s a little too touchy feely like stuff in AIESEC and I also did trainings with similar content for others before, so I spent quite a bit of time fidgeting & dozing off due to the boredom. Oh, how I wished I could just do something more worthwhile … like perhaps make some calls or process my e-mails or just do reading. But, PCs are not to be touched & phones unplugged. Sigh.

This was one of the days when I wished I had my own room, able to hide away & do my relevant stuff.

There's going to be a huge training again in a few weeks for two whole days. The last one I attended, I spent most of it sleeping outside on the couch, and I am a bad delegate (even during AIESEC times), where I am argumentative (the sessions were too slow for my speed anyway) ... too bored (fidgeting, doodling & falling asleep when the speaker presents) and in attack mode (any bozo that spouts preachy stuff or ask dumb questions will get a double does of my sarcastic sentiments).

Yes, I organize conferences and conduct trainings. And I expect full participation from my delegates. Yet, I don't when it's my turn to be a participant. The irony & contradiction.

Inferiority complex

This is what every normal human has. The question is always where and how much do you suffer from it. Some people have a power complex in work, but suffer inferiority in their love department. Others vice versa.

Take my friend D. He’s the same age as me, but he’s not someone absolutely career driven & money crazy like me, he’s instead Mr. Nice-Compliant-Guy with the happening hairstyle and boyish charm, the average Joe. D’s quite good with the ladies, but he’s not so obsessed with chasing money or career, and he hates sales. Now, I am the absolute opposite, as Mr. Gung-Ho & Materialistic career man, purely driven by success and not afraid to go into sales and fighting for what I want in work.

And today, he again tries to convince me that I can change … I can go for some girl, so he rhapsodizes about how to listen to a girl, give her the TOTAL attention (& service), how to go for her hand … etc. And he nicely summed it up as, man … you CAN, you just got to get hold of your guts and just do it.

Me, on the other hand, just listened, shook my head and laughed wistfully. First, for the fact that it’s ironic he cannot change himself to be more career-driven & fight for what he deserves, which is something I always advocate to him. 2ndly, for the fact that I just didn’t meet someone that I like so much, I would go the extra mile. Perhaps also that I did like someone, but just lazy to go the extra mile, hence as wise men say, no pain, no gain. Hahaha. Or is he simply right that I have no balls to spill my heart out? Sigh. I cannot even deny it.

God is fair, for every gift he bestowed upon you, he also gave something less and more to others. Or could be, his plans for me is to be more than a normal married guy?

Anyway, thanks for your worry D, here’s a drink to you. And to superiorty & inferiority complexes.

No things are certain. Some things are uncertain.

The only thing constant in this world is change. With change, there is no such thing as a sure fire outcome. That’s the beauty of life, the endless possibilities resulting from uncertainty, the very small iota that something powerful, maybe magical is inside every probability.

And why do I bring this up? Someone just simply reminded me that we should prepare for all possibilities, from the worst all the way to the best case scenarios; the miracles and the disasters. We’ll never know what will happen tomorrow.

And it’s also strange that for people who always say never, somehow the ‘never’ always comes to haunt them back, forcing them to swallow the words & pride that created the former.

Anyway, uncertainty is the best of all certainties. So, while life goes on, just remember … never say never.

Darker & sinister

Harry Potter flirts with the dark side ...

The most awaited movies for the final quarter of this year would be Harry Potter (Goblet of Fire) and Narnia (The Witch, Wardrobe & the Lion … I think so).

So, in the hype & anticipation … I also lined up like the rest of the ‘happening’ folk and decided to watch the oh-most-read Harry over Sunday evening, rushing from my class to the cinema and buying a last gasp ticket at the 3^rd row from the front. Actually, I don’t mind things like this once in a while, especially when I am watching the movie alone (it’s harder to convince others to watch at such distance).

The movie was excellent and as I thought, it’s always better (& easier) to watch the movie without reading the book, for one, the books are horrendously thick (especially for this one & I hate books more than 100 pages thick) and the other would be of course that readers have a different expectation & interpretation of what the movie should be (I know cause I read the LOTR … miraculously though & that’s another story altogether, with lots of speed reading, skipping pages & reversing).

Ah, yes … almost forgot about the movie … well … I think the movie is quite different from the previous 3 instalments; first of all, with the cast growing older (lost the cuteness of early teens … with exception of Watson, the actress for Hermione, who’s a great looking chick) … portraying the coming of age, with teen angst (yeah, everyone talked about it in all HP book reviews) … elements of teenage crush, jealousy and (yes) death.

This also brings the return of HP’s nemesis (missing from the 3^rd instalment) with an open ended conclusion that he’s gonna be around (ok, I don’t read stuff like the order of the phoenix and the recent one, so I am an ignoramus)

My thoughts? If you are a HP fan, watch it for the effects; cut some slack for missing out parts cause no way you can fit the bulky book into a bite-sized movie buff palate. If you are not, it’s worth your watch because it’s full of effects; it’s a good movie for kids with all the magical elements and pomp. If not, at least watch for Watson cause since the previous movie, she has blossomed into a beautiful young lady. And also Katie Keung as Cho Chang cause I don't see a lot of Asians in HP until this one (also with 2 Indian twins, the Patels). For ladies, you can watch out for this guy, who acted as Diggory who’s ok (if you are into younger guys, hehehe).

Now, just sit back … and wait for Narnia … which is going to be better? Will be close …

Parenthood? hmmm ....

My good 'twin', Ling (a friend with same birthday) just wrote an interesting blog about parenthood, something about one of her friends who have just become a mother.

We've all heard about the notion that ladies settle down earlier in life than guys, guys are scared of commitment (subsequently fatherhood) and guys getting freaked out of this. But is it?

And what should parenthood be? Is it as simple as giving up a carefree lifestyle? A kid sandwiched between the personal time of a couple? The growing up phase, with the scary thought of teenage management? The cost & sacrifices of raising a kid?

That's the challenge every normal human goes through. Hold on, a challenge or a mission with great satisfaction as it's reward? Herein, lies the separation between great and normal parents. And I think parenthood is much more than raising the kid to be an independent adult ... can I say that successful parenthood is about not just raising a person, but much more in moulding the person to be someone of substance & more importantly, capable of taking the mission further in continuing this with more people. Sounds corny? But I guess this much is true ...

I know if my friends read this, they will smile cause I am not a kid friendly person; in fact most kids are damn scared of me at 1st impression, where receiving my ice-cold stare of death, they will just become quiet and in some cases, also cried. Yes, that's me.

However, I can imagine that at some point of my life, I would like to take upon the challenge (& if you may term it); a life project of parenthood.

On the othe hand, I better stop terming my thoughts & ideas in corporate language, must be scaring off plenty of nice ladies ... oh please don't misinterpret me .... HEHEHE.

The new flying superhero ... time!

Fuck! Today's already Thursday and the week just flew past me. Sigh. Some dumb flying trick again ... sigh.

What have I really achieved anyway? Or should it be how much more I need to achieve? HAHAHA.

And what the hell am I here writing when I have tons to do? I guess I am human, need an avenue to let it out, deflate those pent up feelings and vetn my frustration.

Pressure's high, a lot to do, even though I have done a lot of stuff already this week. Now, tomorrow's Friday, the gateway to the weekend (& into MBA classes, sigh) ... just need to pull through this marathon to my last exams on 10th December. Then I am done. Until then ....

Times of essence

"Time is the only true commodity we have and it is our choice how we use it.

You can use the time you have to make money or you can use time to spend it on building relationships.

And for those you tell us that you can balance both, it is a white lie.


For anybody who wants to disagree! Look deep within yourself as to how many times we have sacrificed one for the other"


These are words from my former master & good friend; AHD. Quite interesting thoughts, debated countlessly through the ages of humankind as the basis for any personal revolution. At some point, someone has to ask this, regardless of creed, race, place or time. The questions are when, how, what and who?

I asked this many times to myself during my (much more carefree) university days. Personally, I think it is important to set some short term & long term plans, then deciding which fit comes in. In my plans, I knew that my 1st years after leaving university would be on learning, & leading a relationship centred life, so I joined an NGO, went around, tried learning many things in many places. Now, I have moved on to a side more centred on money (for now).

The point is, too much ideals without money will be wishful thinking and if not that, then for sure un-independent way & direction for life, where our next path will depend on a compromise of wills with our benefactor.

However, we all know the story about the poor rich kid, who has all the moo-lah, but unfortunately, without the means to enjoy it meaningfully, like ideas for it, friends & family to savour it and the pleasure of enjoying something rare, that it becomes a wonderful escape.

The best laugh at this moment is, be damned if you do, be damned if you don't. This however is offset if it all has a good mix & contributes to a larger purpose & picture. So, I guess there's no harm going in extreme when it's for a larger cause.

However, however extreme, there should be some minimal time in between to enjoy the simple pleasures of life; it's an open contract with god & it can be taken from us anytime.

It is because that we wake up each day to make complex decisions each day, that we are not born to be insects or animals, but humans with potential to realize greater purpose. But do we?

Is time running out?

Barely breathing ...

Oh, what a day ....

Man. I didn't have a slow moment today, right as the office clocked into gear, people just didn't stop asking me for one thing or another.

0830 ... some urget mails, doing a new assignment brief

0930 ... brief not completed, ha to rush off for meeting

1100 ... meeting extended unecessarily, feeling choked after sitting in that non-ventilating room (quite woozy dizzy), then rushed into another series of mails & completing the brief

1300 ... lunch break (finally!)

1400 ... Conference call with Korea ... interrupted twice (a call & the office's GM dropped by)


1500 ... off to see GM, then hack off a few mails ... a few calls with India

1600 ... another meeting (again)

1645 ... more calls with India (thank goodness the monster event starts tomorrow)

1730 ... still stuck with calls

1830 ... went home, too tired ... was too tired to sing, to think ... just wanted to be home.

Ahhh .... nice way to end the day, finished off my movie from last night ... lords of dogtown, cool movie on skaters! Now, to finish off my ass-ign-ments.

Grrrrrr!!!!!! More work!!!

Love dysfunctionally

I got many friends, and different as they are, they unfortunately share a homogenuous concern, my continued unattached status. Here's my chat with B aka Ms. Socialite & Disco Princess, ultimately, master matchmaker ... (I'm her only failed product)

Is it true?

What?

Heard you liked someone recently.

I did. Then just broke my heart all over again.

When was that?
Itu 3 months ago la.

Oops! Quite a while then. So how now cassanova?

Casa-my-ass. Nothing la. Going out with some old friends.

That's a start.

Nah, not expecting much. This year's been bad in love, just can't wait to get it over. Will never find anyone for me. Might as well just flirt around for the rest of my life.

You always say that. Ever considered yourself as picky?

Erm, OK. Kind of. Fair enough.

Right. You are the goal getter of our gang, you show us the way for many things, but this is something you cannot grasp. Come on, you just have to take risks, get hurt, then try all over again.

Here we go again ... sigh.

No, think of someone you like, ask her out, go for some nice dinner, have a good time.

Uh-huh.

Good, then do it again.

Can't just do this with anyone I fancy. What if I don't even know if I fancied her?

There you go again, overanalyzing simple things. Chill man! And don't take rejections too personally. You have never been scared of owning up to mistakes in work & friends, so why love?

Don't know la.

Hahaha, let's work something out for the weekend, I arrange, u come, ok?

Hahaha, another one of your blind dates?

What are friends for? But be nicer, less direct, less sarcasm, no swearing & most of all, be more sensitive ... come on la, you going out with ladies, not jock parties.

OK. Anything but myself, right? Should I also do some ballroom dancing too? Top it with bar-top strip?

There u go again, but I know u, u can be charming ... IF you want to.

ok, if there's chemistry ... hehehe. Chill out. I'll be sporting. No disco joints pls, thk u.

Only the cool

1 hooray & multiple sighs

End of another sub chapter ...

This week was a chapter by itself. But until last night, my mission is finally closed with the last speaker coming in and that's it. I have done something I can be proud of, something not done everyday and I can take that experience with me. HOORAY!

Bu the week is also about a failure, the 3rd person under me to leave, leaving me with my original 2 ladies, V & D. It seems like I have a REAL problem of hiring my 3rd producer to make it the ultimate trio ... this one, sigh, is problematic like the previous 2 who left, not talking, not asking, no iniiative ... what is wrong with fresh graduates of today??? Freaking dumb, that's what I must say. Or lack of drive? lack of initiaive? lack of career sense? They think that a job's no big deal, hey want easy job, they cannot take feedback ... SIGH! Even the CVs look pathetic. Sigh (again!). But perhaps the real problem is that I am a lousy manager? SIGH!

So now ... next week's focus will be on other things ... getting into the old groove and focus on other things. Need to finish some datelines before my COO comes in 2 weeks. Sigh.

Exams ... in early Dec. Sigh. Lazy to think about it. F*cking shit. Lazy of me.

Better get back to my books ... this weekend's a study weekend I guess. SIGH.

Rescue mission ... SUCCESS!!!

I am a conference producer, actually, senior conference producer. If you didn't know what that's about, I basically research market based on projects, then create conference agendas & invite people to speak. That's the main role, the rest is all about driving sales from the created conferences.

ok, formalities over.

Now, the real cruix of the story is ... someone created a faux conference, with 70% of the names plastered on the programme have never heard about our conference, let alone invited to speak under our banner.

Fine. Then, the conference was 3 weeks away & with a 1 week holiday in between. Bascially, 1 to 2 weeks realistically to get people on board. Oh, how many do I need? 25-28 people. Bravo. The usual producer takes 20 working days to do something like that. I have ... 8?

So, kicked into full gear, brought out all my artillery and began hunting ... not easy, disheartening but finally with help ... kicked into gear ... and today, I am 1 more speaker away from completing my miracle. The achievement? A miracle ... crazy but achieved.

Now, just need to pull off a little more to complete the jigsaw ...

Ironically, this project was initially supposed to come to me, but was 'taken' away to give to someone else. In the end, the person screwed up and it came back rolling to me. Hahaha.

Not as the producer, but as the HERO. But there's more ahead. Enjoy this moment, get ready for the next one.

Ambers of raging fire ...

I know some people who are now on fire, but the most recent & most hate is the one below. This person was absolutely pissed off, better stay away for the next few days to save my head ...

[as quoted from HT's blog ...]

Beyond disappointment

Words cannot describe my disappointment. Can you imagine that someone that you have been supporting all this time, sudenly does a turn on you, not only trying to deny you what you deserve, but also to backstab you by making uncalled for remarks about you?

I thought this person was already dishonourable by doing the same to a few others before, but knowing that this was done to me, had me boiling further & concluded that this person had no more honour and was willing to sacrifice or knock off anyone that stands in it's best interest. Always hurst most when you are hit, huh?

This person has become an 'it', because this person has no human rationale, instead thinking like an animal, focusing on self survival & greed, no longer understanding team work or social interdependence; everyone else is it's toy or pawn in the game. Life is a game for this person & the sole purpose is not to enjoy the game but to win it at all costs, including lives & paths of others which are not this animal's concern.

I hope that others I know will never cross path with this abomination of humankind. This is one person the world would be better off without.

Casualties of war ...

Gajah berperang, pelanduk mati di tengah

As the parable above describes, the casualties of war between elephants would be the mousedeer.

How true is this? I found that very true, least from my experiences. Companies today have become more lean and to this effect, many departments are closely interdependent on each other's progress and working together to minimize resource wastage.

Ideally, this is the model for competitive times, but this only hold true when people cooperate or remain professional, which in my definition, means do not bring in the personal dimension; feelings, people or factors. Unfortunate (but true), to err is human and otherwise is professional.

But in the theory of management, to err between 2 people is fine, however that becomes a hassle, burden and even hazardous, when the downlines of the 2 people suffer as subsequence to this abominable squabble. This defeats the business sense and bring down the cooperation and objective of remaining lean within organizations.

It's like a room full of gold, with 2 leaders & 8 other followers. Assume the leaders are 3 times larger than the followers (& assume the followers have no allegiances). If the 2 leaders start fighting between each other to grab as much gold as possible, the followers will be trampled immediately, unless they shadow the movement of a leader, which will protect them from calamity, which I name as follower-ship. But, if you are in the way of another leader and if your leader does not defend you, you will be trampled upon anyway.

I guess this is something people cannot escape from work, as we are merciless (if unlucky) to be under tyrants, yobs or spineless idiots. Your survival depends entirely on avioding being trampled upon, being blamed, and mostly, undefended by your boss (which defeats the purpose of management ownership, unless you have acted like an idiot, which no boss should shoulder). Of course you are lucky if you end up in a decent company, nice, mature & caring boss. If.

Rest my case.

Review - Rules of work

If there's a good book to recommend for people entering the working world (or just need some reminders & sharpening), this would be it! ... from Richard Templar

To summarize what the book is about, here's the main topics:
1: Walk your talk
2: Know that you're being judged at all times
3: Have a plan
4: If you can't say anything nice — shut up
5: Look after yourself
6: Blend in
7: Act one step ahead
8: Cultivate diplomacy
9: Know the system — and milk it
10: Handle the opposition

The book is simple and has a thoughtful approach to work, which for sure if followed, will give a peace of mind for anyone seeking a straight principled career. The advice is sound, and tasteful appoach to personal development.

If you like this book by Richard Templar, you might also like his second, Rules of Management. The former comes in black and RoM comes in banner red. Enjoy!

Urban Cook - Ayam masak merah

Return of the Urban Cook

I started cooking in Slovakia, and I thought it was a fluke shot (though I did try very hard to match my mum's standards). But seemed like I did well since my Malaysian friends & also mum who visited me, gave the thumbs up for my improvisations. Starting to put online some of the old recipes I sent to others ... in the coming weeks (once I find them in my CDs)

Someone asked me on how I cooked my ayam masak merah back in Europe, so I put in my advice & thought it would be cool to blog it, but be warned that there will be localization since in Malaysia we can find the missing spices not available in Slovakia :)

The Ingredients
> 5-7 chicken drumsticks (or 4 thighs)
> 2 onions, finely chopped
> 3 potatoes, cut into half wedges
> 3 tomatoes, quartered (alternatively a can of diced tomatoes)
> 1 small can tomato paste / Puree or a bottle of tomato sauce
> 150ml santan (alternatively evaporated milk for lower fat)
> a piece cinnamon stick
> 2 cloves of garlic
> 1 star spice
> cooking oil (add per personal preference or minimum to oil the pan)

Ground spices (A):
> 5 shallots
> 6 red chillies (or more)
> minced ginger
> a pinch of kunyit

Seasoning (B):
# 1 tsp salt or to taste
# 1 tbsp sugar or to taste (not required if using tomato sauce)

How?
Marinade chicke with kunyit poweder & salt, and if you have some tomato sauce, even better. Fry chicken until cooked. Leave aside as we proceed to the sauce. Also fry the potato wedges to cbe cooked (cut into dices to enable it to cook better).

Heat oil in pan to be hot, then fry the onions, with garlic, chilli, cinnamon stick & star spice.

Then, add the tomato paste, tomatoes, santan & water (go according to how thick you prefer the sauce to be). Cook until this starts to boil, hen add the chicken. Let it simmer, drop the heat until the gravy is to your liking.

Serving
If you know how to make bryani rice, that's great, but if you don't it can be just as nice if you add some raisins & pepper when cooking your rice, a simpler version but just as nice

Alternative references:
Amy Beh
GoodBites

Why not be different?

A different path? We are all born with the potential ...

I have been out of touch with my ex secondary school mates for a long time & recently an old friend (we used to be quite good friends) called up and asked to meet up when I was in Camerons. It was a good surprise as he went off to Australia and I went into seclusion with my AIESEC stuff since 1998, so didn't know what happened to him & vice versa.

So, from my recent mamak session with other SMSJ people, he found out that I am still alive & back in Subang.

It was a interesting thought to meet up someone whom I spent quite a lot of form 5 doing study group & hanging out, in fact I should thank him for helping me get my great results (although I took another path of anti-academic since university)

So, KK anyway rebranded himself as Donny Chung (foo-la-weh) which I had some trouble digesting (it's easier for him to accept Jason as people in school know it's my 2nd name after Kah Keong).

So ... in comparison with the rest ... I found out that many are married, partnered, engaged or somewhat un-available. They have also mostly engaged themselves in typical jobs like engineers (largest group), accounts & finance (2nd largest), doctors & dentists, and IT. So typical. Even KK (or rather, Donny) is already happily attached to a partner & with his electrical engineering papers. Meaning? Everyone has taken a typical path in life (as predicted or suggested by our teachers) and will be married with kids by 30 (which some have overachieved by 25).

Me? Bummed around trying many different jobs, had my fun with projects in Europe, now with an events company & thinking of my next big paycheck & trip overeas ... is hardly anything near what I heard they were doing. And yes, started my MBA late (some of the guys in school already got it). But what can I say, I earned it all by myself, I am not rich like them, my parents cannot afford to send me overseas ... not like those others who go to UK, Australia (whatever) ... have an international experience using parents' money. In fact, while hey enjoyed post form 5 holidays, I was alreay slogging to earn my first thousand, so it was the start of a different path.

Come December 17th, I will attend the school reunion (can you believe I left SMSJ for 10 years already? feel so old), and I think I will be quite 'alone' in chasing the big bucks, thinking of doing big things and not going for the 'usual' package in life.

Looking back, I always thought that I would also take one of the paths above. My niggling yearn to do something extraordinary only exploded when I was limited by what I had & knew that to achieve an international experience & to be more successful, I cannot take the usual path; it had to be something different. As they say, you never know what the future holds.

Just thinking of how & when to be part of my own enterprise, chasing my own dreams, knowing that my only barrier to it all is ... myself.

Life is short & I don't want to waste it achieving what ordinary do, when I am blessed with the potential for more.

See you at the finishing line!

MCs - Return of the angels & devils

Time out with the MCs ...

I enjoy the outings with my bunch of former AIESEC MC (acronym for national committee team); they are: Unca Lim, the Fongs (KF & SF), the Tohs (ML & MP), Jarod, Joe, PL & the lost girls (Lisa, CS & Irma, who are ot or occassionally present) ... plus extended members ... NY (aunti Lim) & Kit (unca MP)

This time, we had a night out at Duta Vista, courtesy of SF's parents (as Jarod said, God bless them a thousand times over). Quite great to be there, as we were there sometime ago in 2001 for one of our AIESEC time outs.

Dinner was in a rather obscure part of SS2 (chow-yang), which I had no idea ... so me & the Lims dropped by HQ to follow ML to the location. But the food was great, especially the Patin fish .... fresh & yummy :)

So, after some la-di-da-di-da & detours, we touched down at DV ... and with little time wasted, we kicked off quickly to serve & voila, we started off with some excellent photos of Jarod in China (actually & mainly, Shanghai) ... then the Fongs & ML in Thailand. Aaaaahh ... after watching all that, just felt more itch to take a trip soon ... so here I am strengthening my resolve for a trip soon ... but a lot depends on my work ... just hopefully will not be so stuck where I am now.

We gave a 2nd chance at playing the Devils & Angels game and it turned out to be quite different as we did not have the lethal combination of Joe & PL ... actually we missed out more of PL's whining; the game had a more subdued feel with passive reaction from the players

After the games ... my sleepiness started to drift in .. so at 1pm, I just surrendered, & got KO-ed. Found out this morning they chatted until 4am ... which was quite amazing (don't know how working people manage it) ... and turned out they have some interesting development updates (not for missing in action people such as myself). Luckily, I had my associate Jarod to fill me details in breakfast.

This morning's conversations were quite light ... mainly around matchmaking Jarod ... which he started off by asking the Fongs if they can recommend their younger sisters to him. HAHAHAH. Typical Jarod. Then next target was PL (but just think she's not right for him). There was also a shortlived topic of matchmaking me, which ended when I said there's no one visibly prominent in my life. Not yet anyway.

So, after some penguin watching & short chat, we headed for home. Time for a short rest before heading for JE's wedding.

Lazy Raya ...

It's great to have an entire week off ... can go watch movie each day & laze around, write blogs & enjoy life, though I did procrastinate on my MBA assignments ... which means I have to fully kick arse soon ....

But as people say ... holidays meant to relax right? Come December, it's gonna be a tough time with 3 exams ... just have to pull through, but it's org. dev., HRM and marketing. Just have to pull through .... yeaaaarrrggghhhhh!!!!

Tonight's a party at Duta Vista with the old MC gang ... so there's gonna be some alcohol (again) & stories after a log lay-off ... the outing is compliments of SF & KP ... hooooorays!

To succeed ...

To laugh often and much;

To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;

To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;

To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;

To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.

This is to have succeeded.

Ralph Waldo Emerson 

2nd CV photo

Here's the 2nd one, I like this better ...  

New CV photo

I have been using the same old photo for my CVs since 2003, and that was an old one showing my baldy top, so today, I took my tux and got my bro (who was in town) to take the shots for me. So, I thought of doing it 1st at 1-Utama, but in the end did it at Sunway Hotel, which was not too bad. Here's the 1st one ... 

Camerons - Insight to the future

Just my pose of 'looking into the future' 

Holiday in Cameron Highlands

Just back from my holiday in Cameron Highlands. It was great to get away from KL and to have great cool weather with lots of green all around.

I last visited the place more than 10 years ago when I was a mere punk who got tricked into attending a church camp (which almost brainwashed me into the religion, but that's another story altogether). So, memories run deep and I can still remember the slow moving town, which unfortunately is a developing place with lots of tractors, trucks & other stuff trawling around the place creating mud, grime and lots of cars buzzing around congested roads. Progress, sigh!

But the vege's quite fresh and delectable, so it's quite good to sink my teeth into the juicy & healthy meals.

What spoilt the holiay was that it rained & rained & rained the entire day that we could not go out, only managed the chinese temple & butterfy farm before the downpour began.

So? spent most of the time in the apartment playing cards & watching Astro (quite a treat since my family does not subscribe to it).

Ironically, when we were departing this morning, the sun shone ever so brightly that for the 1st time up there, I actually felt hot. So, kind of felt that mother nature robbed me of my field day.


Still, it was a good break. Gonna enjoy the rest for the rest of the week.