Life's Remains....

I have been in a melancholy mood. I have been unmotivated, wishing that I don't have to go to work. Although, I try to be the type of parent that is practical and always encouraged my children to be independent and self-sufficient, I guess I've always wanted to be there for them. Now, there is this realization that my eldest daughter, doesn't need me anymore.  Sending her to college last Sunday, it suddenly occurred to me that she will, from now on, be spending more time away from us. This is what has put me in a pensive mood. And, in a couple of years, my eldest son will leave us and then my other daughter, then finally, my youngest son. I look back at the last 17 years of raising her, I wish I had been a better parent. I wish I was had shown more patience and compassion rather than anger and edginess. I wish I had shown more composure than agitation. Maybe, that is why I find it hard to let go. I have this feeling that I haven't done enough, that I must hang on ...

Trust your friends, but do not rely on them - I find that the only person in the world you can rely on is, yourself. Maybe somewhere along the way you bump into an endangered species of people who are really sincere in helping you, but I have difficulties in naming people who are totally selfless.... Set a goal and draw out a path - if you want to be a Pilot or a Doctor or an Engineer.... set your goal and map out your route. Follow that route. Everything else is just distractions. You can't please everybody, so don't bother. Everybody thinks he/she is an expert - everybody likes to give advice. Their intentions are good but, always weigh what is said against your your set goals and the map to that goal..... Listen to as many opinions as you can... but remember they are just that... opinions not fact.... Take everything with a pinch of salt.... There's no such thing as "I have no choice" - life is full of choices. Even if it's between life or death... When...

“You are the same today that you are going to be in five years from now except for two things: the people with whom you associate and the books you read.” Charles Jones. I remember the first time I read this quote, emblazoned high on one wall of a training room.  It was an orientation session for new agents.... unit trust agents. I quit my job a couple of months earlier, after reading Robert T. Kiyosaki's book Rich Dad Poor Dad, and the thing that got stuck in my brain from that book is that you are at risk when you are employed. You are at the mercy of the business owner... your employer. He can choose to retain you or get rid of you as he pleases. He may just decide to fire you because he doesn't like the way you look at him.... The business owner, as I understood from the book, is less at risk as he is the master of his own destiny. His is in charge of the business and therefore, the success or failure is his own doing or undoing.  So I quit my job, and explored ev...

In 1974, during recess, after spending my 20 sens at the canteen, I went to play football with my friends. We never use real football, but the fruit from trees that grew all over the school compound, which made the grounds of my primary school, Sekolah Ismail, Muar, a cool shady place. The older boys, those in standards (they them "year" now) 5 and 6 goes for interval (now known as "recess") after we the younger boys in standards 1,2, and 3 have finished ours. But, we are not to play in the vicinity of the older boys classrooms. But, as fate has it, one of my friends had accidentally kicked the fruit a little too hard and it rolled the the basketball court that we used as our playing pitch. Chasing the little green fruit...I didn't realize that I have encroached the into forbidden area. Luckily, I the prefects were in a good mood and ignored me. After I caught up with the fruit, I turned to see where I was, and realized I had a clear view of a standard 5 c...