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...