An incoherent musing~

Fate is a strange thing indeed . One moment , you will be outraged over the place that fate throws you into , somewhere that the you in the past would obviously despise and even cursed incessantly should you even put one foot inside it , yet another moment you would discover that the place fate puts you in is actually not bad after all. , and slowly ,  you would realize that the destiny is right all along , that the one who pulls the string of fate high above have already knew it beforehand that this place, the very place that you once detest , is the best place for you.

The paragraph above somehow describes the situation I am in right now. I used to detest public universities , public local universities to be more precise. The reason? No particular reasons actually. If there was any, it was probably due to my immature , naïve conjecture that all public universities in Malaysia especially are filled with racial sentiments , prejudices and not so bright people. Oh boy , how wrong I was . But hey, you can’t put all the blame on me. For a 17 year old guy , right after SPM , with most of my peers at that that time choosing to go either private universities or going abroad for studies ( mind you , they are an awful rich lots ) , and with all the mass media keep publishing bad news about public universities , coupled with rumors and gossips from relatives , it’s inevitable that my perception about our local universities would be shaped that way.

In a way, studying in  English Educated school is a double-edged sword . Sure, I mean , I am very grateful for my mediocre proficiency in English now, but on the other hand , most of us, eng-ed students ,if not all are incapable of speaking mandarin ( which is a shame really ,considering its importance in the world and that it’s the representation of our Chinese roots ) . Second of all , is that most of the eng-ed students came from a middle or upper income families . ( This is not really a generalized stereotype for all eng-ed students but a mere opinion that I observed from my school ) . This happens to be the case in my school.

So yeah, whenever the topic of graduation and the future comes up , I will be hearing my peers thinking of going abroad , for instance UK , Australia and etc , or some opting to stay here , preferring to go to colleges first before pursuing their tertiary education in private universities .So, there I was , always the guy with a few other , not so fortunate people that came from more frugal background will be raising the idea of going to local universities. And every time , almost immediately the richer peers would glare at us , their face making the expression of fear and horror, as if we have just mentioned apocalypse . Subsequently, we will be bombarded with various horror stories that only happen in local universities , for example , how we would be robbed of our possessions and tortured with incompetent lecturers , being subjected to the tyranny of the inept , staying in uncomfortable , dirty hostel , and for our female counterparts , facing sexual discrimination , harassment ,and even getting raped in the worst case scenario.

Hence, after hearing relentless complains and bad rumors regarding public universities , I actually succumbed to their stories and complained aggressively about going into public universities . In fact , I nearly fought with my parents to get into college . But as fate would have it , due to financial constraints and other factors , I eventually relented and get into this public university , University of Malaya ( UM ) ,after which I found out most of the fears and initial trepidation I had was unfounded , though the part about not so comfortable hostel was quite true, but I did get used to it anyway *chuckles *.

University , or rather should I say , public local university is a very strange place . It is a place where we discover a lot of things . In here , I learnt and discovered a lot , having able to see the world using another perspective . Initially , it was quite difficult to adept because the people here ( the Chinese here anyway ) are used to speaking Mandarin , and having studied in English Educated school for my entire schooling life , the transition was rather abrupt and sudden . I am still struggling to adept now . Though , I reckon I would make more friends ( and maybe even getting the chicks to dig me more xD ) if I had learn Mandarin . But alas, some things aren’t meant to be , so .. I will just have to let it be ;D . Oh, and that rumor about public local universities not having bright students ? Total bullshit . I have met some of the brightest people in UM , some of them having insanely high IQ , while some others possesses intelligence in other areas . In fact , I am quite amazed by their ability . I have seen some people excelling in sports , logical and rational thinking , while some others have superior leadership and managerial skills , with some even possessing very sharp business acumen. Heck , I even have a coursemate that is already earning big bucks every month even when he’s studying , and the best is , he have no plans to work after graduation ! Cool huh ?

In a nutshell , I may have plans to go somewhere else and study other things , but fate knows better I guess . Yes , perhaps if I chose to go elsewhere to pursue my tertiary education , life might have been easier on me , or maybe even more difficult. Either way , I am quite satisfied for my current life , and really grateful for living under a roof right now . It is indeed a blessing when I heard of plights from my other peers in other local universities .

That aside, this week have been quite a productive week . Last Thursday , I attended a business talk and met YB Tony Pua , the former CEO of Cyber Village ,a pioneer in e-commerce and DAP strong man .Also present was  Winnie Loo, CEO of A Cut Above . Today , me and my friends went to Tune Talks Sdn Bhd in Petaling Jaya for a site visit for our course assignment . Surprisingly , the receptionist at the company gave us a very warm reception even though we went there without prior notice . Even more shocking is the fact that they grant us an impromptu interview, when we did not even make a proper appointment ( well , in actual fact , we did , sadly we got rejected due to lack of time , according to their ceo ) Surprise Surprise… But this was a good surprise. It was really unexpected that they showed such politeness and courtesy to an unknown strangers , especially to a bunch of young students like us. It really amazed me .

This week’s many business related events have set me thinking. In fact , the idea of starting my own business have been playing in my mind for quite some time now. However, there are a few setbacks and problems. The major one being my laziness and tendency to procrastinate. Secondly , capital is needed to start a business and being undergraduate students that are still studying , I don’t have that capital ( though later I would soon realize there are ways to start a business that require less or no capital at all ). Last but not least , is lack of capable and competent partners. You see, business is never a solo work, and when you are starting a business , especially at this age, it is essential to find partner(s) who have the same vision as you in order to avoid complications and at least have a few other brains to help u tackle arising problems.

Well , the first and second problem isn’t really much of a problem , but the real problem is the third one. Often in society , there are too many people who don’t share the visions and aspirations to think big , go out there and realize it . Most people are felt satisfied following the norm , which is to just study hard , work hard , be a good employee , and continue churning money for the their boss. Now, what they don’t realize is that the higher they rise on the pay hierarchy , the more work they have to do , and in the end , they will be trapped in a vicious cycle. I believe this is what they called the middle income trap. Hence, study hard and working hard concept is no good. In order to break through this vicious cycle , one must learn to earn money the smart way , one of which is to earn passive incomes .

Passive income means to let money serve you , work for you , instead of your working for money. One way to achieve passive income is to start your own business. I digressed . Either way , this post’s main focus is neither about passive income nor business ,and I am certainly not the most appropriate man to expound these principles hence I shall stop here. Nevertheless , the main problem here is , so far , I have only found a few friends only who I believe have the vision and ideas to make it big , though they seem to be too busy with their respective activities lately . Oh well, everyone have their own commitments anyway. My only wish now is to be able to find some capable , competent partners who have the same thinking and visions as me , and together, hopefully we will be able to achieve something big ;)

Honestly though , I don’t know what’s stopping us. The knowledge is there , the tools are provided , the only thing left is to make the first step , yet it seems to take an eternity for some people to make that step. When you realize it , it will be too late already. The current me can only pray and wish for the best. That aside , I am still wishing for love, peace and happiness ;) To a better tomorrow yeah!!!