Life's Remains....

A wise man once said, goals that are not written down are just wishes. So, since the world did not end last week, I have decided today, after spending all my year-end bonus in Singapore, to write down all my wishes and hopefully, it will turn to goals (terrible pun not intended). Looking down the rather short list, I noted that this list (except for one particular item) is a worldly list. And, a selfish one at that. Nothing about feeding the poor or striving for world peace or saving the whales or fighting the jihad in Palestine. It's all about me. And, I suppose it does say something about me.... I am a worldly, somewhat materialistic person. I traced back my life and I saw that I was not a worldly and materialistic person until maybe 10 years ago. That's when, after reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, I realised that life has been making all the decisions for me. That's how I end up to be what I am, where I am now. Not that I am doing badly, and every t...

This coming Friday, on December 21, 2012, the planet Nibiru, last seen only by the ancient Sumerians a few thousand years ago, will come around and pass so near our earth that it will shift the poles and cause a cataclysm, wiping all living things on our planet. According to Nancy Lieder, this phenomenon was first predicted to happen in 2003, but when nothing happened then, she postponed it to 2012. Ms Lieder claimed that she was abducted by aliens when she was young and later released so that she can warn all of us of the impending end of the world. Something is going to happen on December 21, some people insists, because that is the last day on the Mayan Calendar. The Mayan Calendar it seems is as accurate as the atomic clock, marking exactly the celestial events for the last 5,000 years. Some say that a meteor will fall to earth and we will then go the way of the dinosaurs. Or.... a huge solar flare occurs, engulfing and annihilating all planets in its path, earth...

During a cigarette break, a colleague and I starred out at the city skyline. "What if somebody gave you five million. What would you do with it?" suddenly he asked. I looked at him but he continued to gaze at the jagged horizon. "I don't know. Maybe I'll buy some properties, rent them out....." I said. "That's it, isn't it... " he suddenly turned to me, excited. "That's what I told this stupid friend of mine, just take the money and buy real-estate and earn passive income.... What a jerk.." he trailed off. "Your friend has five million?" I asked. "No..... but, his girlfriend was willing to give it to him, and he refused..." "Why? What's wrong with the guy?" "He's married... happily married.. but this girl at his workplace, the daughter of the bloody filthy rich boss, is crazy for him. She's willing to be his 2nd wife... But, this idiot friend of mine, he refused. I...

The 10 Commandments of Financial Success (or why I am not Tony Fernandez) Be honest with all people ( OK. I can do that…. ) Practice self-discipline ( Fail – Only do things when I feel like it ) Get along with people ( Fail – only those I can stand which are not many ) Find a supportive spouse/partner ( ??? – you mean find another one? Hehehehe… ) Work harder than your peers ( Fail – Come on laa… my peers already do all the work, I relax laa…Too many cooks spoil the broth....  Work smart, doh… ) Love your chosen career/business ( Fail – chosen? No work, no pay, no eat, no astro, …. No choice. ) Develop strong leadership qualities ( Fail – see 3 above. Humans do not deserve my attention… too, emotional.) Be a competitor ( Fail – I Malay laaa… where got competitiveness one ) Get (and stay) organized ( O shoot…. I am supposed to be in a meeting half an hour ago !!... Where’s my pen, my note book… didn’t they give me some notes to read before going into the meeting?? ...

I went to Singapore, for a convention last week.  My colleagues and I got there a day earlier and we went to visit the Universal Studios theme park, on Sentosa Island. Apart from the 15 to 50 minutes wait to get on a less than a minute ride, I love it and I plan to start saving to bring my family in the future. I especially like the roller coasters. The Transformer ride is the most awesome. Yes, "awesome" was the only word I can describe the experience, but having said the word in my mind, I refrain myself from using that word when describing the ride to other people. Thanks to my colleague, I was brought down to earth, when he asked me in a incredulous manner, "why?" when I told him that I wanted to go on the Battlestar Galactica Roller Coaster. It caused me to hesitate. I walked around the area for quite a bit, looking at the duelling roller coasters (the ride actually consists of two separate tracks, one for humans, one for cylons). After a while, I decided...

I have a friend.. a very young friend. So young, that I am old enough to be his father, if I got married at 18. Anyway, he is still single and his parents are worried. As parents do... especially in this day and age, not only are we parents worried that our daughters may become spinsters, but we also so worried that our sons maybe gay. My friend's auntie is trying to match-make him with a cousin and according to my young friend, she seems ok. He asks for opinions and wondered if any of us (older friends) have ever experienced falling in love after marriage. I believe, everybody falls in or out of love after marriage. Because, whatever happens before marriage is mostly fantasy.... unless of course, the couple have lived together for many years and have many children and, only then decide to get married, like Brad and Angelina. We do not tolerate that in Islam, so as far as we are concerned, marriage is the time a woman and a man really start to get to know each other.  ...

The most grueling test I have to face during my EMBA program was the Viva. After the Q & A session, we were asked to leave the room as the examiners and our adviser elaborated on our performance a-la that cooking program "CHOPPED" (which I like very much, BTW). When our adviser, the ever cool and relaxed Prof. Dr. Ismail, appeared from the room, he shook our hands, said that our study will be extended, maybe by the Institute of Zakat Study (IKAZ) but asked why we did not put in the problem statement. I said we did, but it's my fault that I did not emphasize it in our presentation. The Q&A itself went smoothly, as we answered all the questions, but the examiners were not satisfied with our conclusion, and asked us to revisit it. Our literature reviews needed to be "enhanced" despite our earlier statement that there isn't much earlier study directly related to our research.  The petite Prof. Sa'adiah seems to understand this, but our other exam...

I saw a rerun of Everybody Loves Raymond last weekend. In that one, Ray found out that he's shrunk by a quarter inch. Thereafter, mid-life crisis sets in and he started to list out things to do before he dies. ( http://www.tubeplus.me/movie/912046/Everybody_Loves_Raymond/season_2/episode_22/Six_Feet_Under/%22 ) . But, I am not talking about living your dreams, or about dying, what really got stuck in my mind was what Debra (Ray's wife) said towards the end of that episode. She said that having a proper mid-life crisis is not to start planning for your death, but by going into denial, "like a normal person". I am a normal person. Last year, I had a niggling pain in the joint of my right big toe. I went to a doctor and he said it's probably gout. I said, it can't be. He said, ok lets do  a blood test. And, sure enough, my uric acid was very high, and I guess the symptom fits. Then, there isn't any more attacks. I still buy a Big Mac one a week, but wh...

I think I have a dream job. The work environment is laid back, relaxed.... once in awhile we get a project to do but, if we don't achieve the target, we get a mild tongue lashing from a very nice considerate boss. My boss will approve my leave without even looking at why I'm going on leave or for how long. So much so he may come looking for me to ask me something and then realized I am on leave. And, he'd apologize for disturbing me. Not surprising we have staff who's been here almost all their lives. Mostly women, they started working here after they finish secondary school at 18, got married (some to co workers, some to customers), have children, the children grew up and got married and have children of their own.... This is their lives, they know no other employers and they do not care to know.  Ironically, not many of them encourage their children to work here. Maybe on part time basis, while waiting for their SPM results. This is a utopia.... a shangri-la o...

Yesterday, my son told me that he wants to pursue a career in the arts. No, not an artist or actor or a dancer, but a script and/or screenplay writer. I knew about this for a long time because he's been asking me about it a few times. And, I must admit, while I try not to sound discouraging, my answers were carefully chosen to make him reconsider the option. I guess I want him to be an engineer or a doctor. I was happy when he said he's taking engineering drawing at school but later I found that he did that because he didn't think he qualified to take biology. He spends his time reading Japanese Manga and his favorite Astro Chanel is 715 - Animax. He spends a a lot of time discussing with his friend, Imran (who's a Manga artist in the making) about a Manga comic book based on their friends at school. Before exams, he'd study for an hour or so, then he retires to bed carrying my laptop to read the online Manga before going to bed. At the Career Day exhibition at ...

Feng Shui wise, I am in for a turbulent year. The coming Chinese new year is the year of the Water Dragon and me being a wood dragon born in the month of the water dog on the day of the horse in the hour of the rat, will have terrible luck next year. In fact, I did a whole life cycle forecast and it seems that my luck will only change when the stars are in my favor when I am 120 years old..... I can't wait. This is the my 4th cycle of the zodiac. For the uninitiated, the Chinese Zodiac has twelve animals in it. They are Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog & Pig (source: wikipedia.... where else). Ok, enough of that. I actually have a lot of hope for this year. I need to have this year to be a good year. According to this website I was using to assess my luck (using a fake name) I have to find a good Chinese name for myself to change my luck. I was thinking Alan Tam, or Donnie Yen... Or Jackie Chan. I'll give it a good thought. W...

End of week one in the new year. This will be a challenging year, with Afiq, Ija and Aiman sitting for their major school exams, and I will be in my final semester for my MBA course (God willing). I planned to write this earlier, to look back on the year that's passed.... Which I do not often do since I have decided, somewhere in my life that I will live only in the present. There's too many regrets in my past. But I decided to do this because Dr. Paul Jambunathan, clinical psychologist on Lite FM said we should, and also to reflect on how each incident affected us. Ok... 2011 negatives. I can think of only one devastating incident.... the passing of Kak Esah, my beloved sister, on 14 November. How this affects me? Sad of course. But, death puts us in a dilemma of sorts. You want those you love to always be around... at the same time we know for every beginning there must be an end. That's the will of Allah. As for Kak Esah, I believe she's had a wonderful fulfi...