Life's Remains....

1) Don't get into debt for things you can live without - Every time you want to spend money on a thing you cannot pay cash for, ask yourself this important question: Can I still breathe, eat, drink and have sex if I don't buy this thing? If the answer is YES, then don't take a loan to have it. Remember this: CREDIT CARDS are EVIL - they lull you in thinking you can afford something you don't need. 2) Don't get a job - getting a job means you put yourself in a false sense of security. You think all you have to do in life is breathe, eat, drink and have sex, then you poke your ATM card in the ATM machine and voila!! You have money to continue to breathe, eat, drink and have sex for another month. Create jobs and encourage your staff to be entrepreneurs. Don't just be a consumer. Be the supplier. 3) Don't worry about the future - you can't do anything about the future. In this age of the internet, things change faster than they did 20 years...

I am trying to live up to the old adage of being "older but wiser". I observe the annoying behaviors of our forefathers and make a mental list of things I shouldn't do when I grow up. But, of late, I found myself doing one of those things on the list.... and was embarrassed by it. I have become presumptuous. It is a natural thing, I suppose; having lived for half a century on this earth that I tend to not look beyond the first familiar signs, and assumed that the sequence of events that follow will be as I have observed happened innumerous times throughout my life. Maybe, it's just laziness that comes with the dwindling vigor in my advanced age. I read a sentence in an email, or rather I looked at it, and immediately took action, or asked a question only to be told that, the proper action to be taken or the answer to my question is there, if only I had bothered to read thoroughly. On Monday, I received a proposal from our legal department on a new addition to our ...

I was once labelled a hypocrite by my neighbor... but he said it in Malay/Arabic, making it sound really bad... He called me a Munafiq. I was angered of course, at first, but then, upon reflection, he may have a case. It all started a few thousand years ago when God created man, and gave him this instinct to become communal. And, being human, even in the smallest of societies, there would be differences in opinion, creating a divide between those who would become loyal followers to one side or another. Although, God has made the universe colorful, our minds (or, perhaps, more appropriately, our hearts) want to see only black or white, good or bad, innocent or guilty.... man or woman (that topic will be for another day). There are less than 200 houses in my neighborhood. And, I for one, feel that we do not belong here. But, here we are, and as much as I like to not be partisan to one side or another, I cannot help but feel aggrieved by those who are reluctant to contribute their t...

I hate Performance Appraisals and Bonus Payment season. Because I hate dealing with humans. Humans have a tendency to think that they are better than others, even when others perceive them as useless. Every year, during this time, someone will come to see me and ask why his/her rating is low when they "have done their work". I will then have to tell them, "We need more from you." They will say, "Then tell me what to do!" Sigh.... I have been reading this book by a gay Israeli atheist professor who theorises that there will not be the end of the world, but humans will be extinct (just like the Neanderthals and Homo Erectus) and replaced by another species he calls Home Deus. Sounds like stuff of science fiction, but his arguments are quite compelling. Anyway, right now, I wish he were right. I wish that humans would reflect on themselves first and ask the question, "Why am I the only one complaining?", before charging into my room and ac...

Sometimes you want to say something to someone, but you stop yourself, because you don't want to hurt that person's feeling. But, most of the time when this happens, everyone will agree, that the person that hurt the most is you. It's not easy to draw the line, to make a check list of whether you should just tell that person off, or you just keep things to yourself. Although, from my own experience those who speak their minds, usually are the less stressful people. I was not brought up to be confrontational, thus, all my life, I let the more outspoken people have their way. I have successfully convinced and trained myself to accept things as they are, and told myself time and again, that it doesn't matter if that person got their way, I will just get on with mine. But it really doesn't work that way. Everything that happened or you let happen will one day come back and bite you. So you can't be lazy. If you are lazy today, you will probably end up having...

I have decided a long time ago that I will live a stress free life. After almost two decades in the construction business, my current job which I held since 2006, has been a dream. Although, just the bean counter, as one Australian Engineer called me, my stint in the construction industry had me stretched both ways, by the demands of payments by the subcontractors and suppliers, and begging for payments from clients and employers. Since 2006, I have further evolved to become even more stress intolerant. So much so, that when my current employer is now asking for attendance for our annual dinner, I had the inclination to tick the "not attending" box. My excuse, it will be on a Saturday night, and I am to dress up in the prevailing theme and I will have leave the comfort of my home in Shah Alam and drive all the way into the very heart of Kuala Lumpur... Like I have been doing, almost daily, for the last decade. My perfect weekend will be waking up for the dawn prayer, ...

Here we are at the end of another year. I have lived long enough to no longer expect the so-called new year brings new hope. New year's day is a holiday celebrated by everyone on earth no matter what race or religion they are. Perhaps, for that few minutes or seconds before and after 12 midnight, we, or at least the majority of the citizens of earth, are one. Then, at 8 am on 2 January, we get down to doing the same thing we did before we go on our year end holidays. For a fleeting moment we live in a fantasy, living the life we dream of and still earn a decent salary, before, the work week start again, schools are opened, and we are at the top of the ride again, spiraling down into the abyss we call life. That is, until we retire. For some, retirement seems like paradise. After the long hard life that, the promise of days of doing things because you want to, not because you have to, is the highest level of living on this earth to be achieved. Then, after a while we find out, t...