Never Ending Dream

Remember the time when you watched how cool the man wearing his red underwear on the outside , with his equally silly red cape on the back ( ok , it was probably cool back then when we were still young ) , beating the crap out of bad villians and saving the world numerous time in that small idiot box , and you suddenly thought " Wow , how cool , I wanted to be like that too in the future ! " . Remember ? No ? Well , neither do I . 

Perhaps some of you have had the chance to watch Superman cartoons during your childhood , but for me , instead of cartoons , my childhood were filled with Japanese animes , lots and lots of animes , Dragonball , Digimon , Pokemon ,  Doraemon and etc ( Otaku alert ) . So yeah , with that much anime influence , all the aspirations that I had during my early childhood was pretty much impossible to become reality ( Think doing a kamehameha , i.e manifesting your spiritual ki into some bursts of energy that can destroy the earth , or be like Doraemon , taking some random gadgets that will just help solve your life's problem ) How convenient huh ? 

I digressed . Anyway , the point is , in your childhood or at any given point of time , there must be someone that you look up to , whom you aspires to emulate and be like him / her . It may be some fictional characters from tv , or some real life people like some cool musicians , life-saving policemen , or etc . You get the idea . 

But , along the way , all of those dreams , those ambitions ,aspirations got lost as we "grow up " and be more " realistic " . People tell you " Musicians don't earn alot " , " Policemen survive by getting bribery " ," Get real , be a doctor / engineer " and all sorts of things that puts you down , and distorts your ideal dream . To a certain extent , that is true , but it doesn't apply to everything and everyone . Everyone's life is different . Each and every one of us has their own life journey and all of us walks on different path , that connects us to the same end : Death . 

It's a stark contradiction . All of us started off with the light of hope , the beginning of all , the wonders of the possibilities the future holds , yet in the end , no matter how rich , famous , successful or not , all of us will still end up dead . Sadly , not many are aware of such realizations , and in the face of their fleeting life , they procrastinated , delayed the very important dreams that their heart desire , and finally ended up with regrets and remorse . Why ? 

As you grow up , a lot of people will start telling you things that they never experienced before , things like " it cannot be done " , "there's no future in that " , either because they failed at their ventures , or they simply followed the mainstream advice that they were given when they were young . Unfortunately , many actually allowed other people's word to shake their own convictions and belief . So , they abandoned their dreams , followed what other people told them .

Study day long and night . Memorizing cold hard facts and figures , regurgitating them during examinations , and forgetting them afterwards . The vicious cycle continues until you graduate and get a single piece of paper that seems to be able summarize your years of education . Get a decent job . Got stuck in the rat race . Work day long and night at a 9-5 job , most of the time having the need to work overtime . Felt that it's worthwhile when you get your pay check , splurge it all on expensive materialistic pleasures ( designer clothes , handbags , etc ) . Go back to work again . 

It's terrifying to envision that kind of life . Could you even call it life when it felt so lifeless ? I shudder every time I thought of such life . But yet every year , there are still lots of people who got stuck in the same vicious cycle . Only a few privileged ones are able to escape this trap by having the courage of pursuing their dreams , passionately chasing them with everything they had . And more often than not , these are the people who ended up being successful . 

You hear successful people who said they wake up fueled with energy to go to "work" everyday , in line with the cliched " Love your job , and you will never be working a single day in your life again " . But it's true . Just find the one thing that your heart really desires the most , and chase it with everything you have , persevering till the end and most likely , you will end up enjoying your life more than anyone else. 

But then again , as with all the other complicated decisions in life , we need to be realistic when it comes to these kind of thing . What about the money ? Can I really do it ? What if I failed ? These common questions and an onslaught of other questions will likely fill your mind when you want to make the decision . Well , this is normal and in fact you should rightfully try to answer those questions before proceeding further . 

Common sense dictates that we need to at least have some back up plan should we fail . For the money , you could either collect a bulk of money or any form of financial safety net first before proceeding with your dreams . As for the skills , if you had any plan in the first place , you should probably start enhancing or empowering your skills to match those skill sets needed to realize your dream right ? So there you have it , assuming that you have accomplished all of the above , you're ready to go !

However , most people often fails in achieving all of them , or even any of them , and thus gave up on pursuing their dreams . To this , I say , better to fail trying than to die regretting . I have heard this advice from many successful entrepreneurs : " Start young , because , even if you fail , you still have plenty of chances to start over again . When you are an adult , there will be more responsibilities that you need to carry that prevents you from trying to pursue your dream .  " .

True enough , the path of realizing our dreams is far and tough , and we will probably trip a lot in that journey . So , if we are gonna trip anyway , might as well trip earlier ? 

Finally , there are always time when reasons and rationale fails , yet you feel very strongly to do it . This is when your gut feeling comes into handy . One of my personal motto is to believe in my instinct whenever I have hard time making a decision . So far , it has proved to be more successful and brought me more delighting experiences than painful ones . And if my personal experience doesn't convince you , feel free to search around for countless successful people who have attributed instinct as their key to success . 

The thing is , there are times when you just have to trust your gut feeling and take a plunge into it , no matter what the risk is . When you feel very strongly / passionate for a cause ( think something like a cause worth dying for ? something that you advocate ) , you will definitely be able to pull all the stops to make it work ! And that's when you can realize your dream .

If you have managed to read until here , congratulations . Sorry for the lengthy post , with many irrelevant rants scrambled everywhere in the post . Funny enough , one of my lecturer for entrepreneurship emphasized on being succinct and brief in writing , and specifically pointed out bloggers as one of the worst example of doing that , as bloggers always tend to write everything in their mind , filling it with irrelevant musings that is unrelated to the main points . I concur , but that's what make blogging so interesting I guess , because it portrays the writing style of the blogger and also the anecdotes and subtle writing nuances that separates them from other writers / bloggers.

By writing this post, I hope to inspire some people to do something about their life because , like it or not , most probably when we graduate ( students of my batch ) , majority of us will end up in the situation I mentioned earlier . Also , there are definitely times when you feel like pursuing things that seems totally different , contradictory even to what you are studying now . ( example an engineering student wants to be a musician ? ) . 

There are many facades to a person . For me , I think sometimes when I get fired up by some motivational speech by entrepreneur , I feel very deeply to want to become entrepreneurs : that's my business side . When I watch some really talented people performing in youtube , I would yearn to one day be a musician , dancer or even performing artists , no matter how musically untalented I am : that's my artistic side . But there can only be one dream , no many how many facades you have , filter them out and look for that one thing that you really wanted to do .  Pursue your dream . Don't let detractors and haters to prevent you from realizing your dreams .  YOUR ambition , YOUR aspiration , YOUR life .


***
Inspirations for this post comes from 2 sources : 

1) To The Moon soundtrack - "Everything's Alright " by Laura Shigihara
Amazing game , with its beautiful story , coupled with this emotion stirring song , it seems to be the perfect testament that in this materialistic era where money seems to connote pleasure , we can still derive great pleasure from artistic pursuits such as this .

2) http://whatshihsaid.com/2013/02/26/ang-lee-a-never-ending-dream/
Mr Ang Lee , the successful director of Life of Pi , with his speech on his Oscar award . Perfectly captures the importance of dream and the difficulties that one has to go through to achieve them . A must read for people looking for inspirations . Truly goes to show what people can achieve just by relentlessly chasing their dream .

Responsible Blogging 2013

*This post is inspired by the Responsible Blogging 2013 Campaign*

Hey there good people in the web ! If you are reading this post right now , you are most likely to be either a non-blogging netizen , or a blogger ! Now , if you're the latter , know this , you hold the power to change the world ( the world of blogosphere that is ~ )

In this world of blogs , you , the bloggers are the people with authorities , akin to the
government in countries , you make rules and regulations of your own blog , post stuffs that may influence people's life as well as providing people with news , entertainments and other posts that matters , to them . In other words , you are very important . What you posts may make or break a person in the most extreme case . Now, for you , the non-blogging netizens , you too are very important , as you all are the foundation of our world . Because , honestly , what would a country be without its citizens ? Similarly , we bloggers continue to exist simply because there are people reading our contents , and we appreciate that . You , netizens are the power that keep us in check , that make sure we don't go overboard with our postings , and ultimately , the primary motivation that inspires us to continue blogging .

Having said that , whether you are a blogger or non-blogger , I would strongly URGE you to check out this Responsible Blogging 2013 Campaign . Now , for the uninitiated , this Responsible Blogging 2013 is a campaign calling upon the entire online community in Malaysia to rally for and support an ethical climate in the blogosphere for everyone's mutual benefit . Basically , it advocates bloggers to blog with conscience , to post stuffs that are not causing any harm and does not infringe any moral or legal regulations in any way. The thing is , there have been too many news recently that points to bloggers getting reprimanded or arrested by the authorities for purportedly blogging about " sensitive issues that may harm racial harmony " and etc . This has caused a massive damage to the reputations of bloggers . Nowadays , many bloggers are perceived to have an ulterior motive or are wrongly accused as "cyber troopers" for political parties and etc .

This is totally absurd . Bloggers are some of the nicest , funniest and intelligent people around ( most of them ಠ◡ಠ ) . If you just just take time t o check out famous blogs like kennysia.com , timothytiah.com and etc ( just look at the blogs in the My Blog List , I assure you each and every of them are worth your time ! ) , you would understand what I mean . We are the voice of the community , using blogs to channel our frustrations , rants , musings and etc while at the same time providing news and other forms of entertainments for everyone . 

Still reading ? Good , now that you are aware of how great you are as a blogger , you will have to understand that with great power , comes great responsibility ( ah.. a timeless quote by Uncle Sam in the Spiderman movie ) . To make it easier for you , the campaign has introduced the " 9 Pillars of responsible blogging " to help you get started . 

They are :
1) Avoid Shortcut
- Copy pasting other people's contents and claim them as your own ( a.k.a PLAGIARISM ) is  
  unethical . What pride is there in publishing other people's contents as your own ? 
  Building a credible blog with readerships isn't an easy task , but that doesn't mean you  
  should take shortcuts . The sweet taste of success can only be savoured when you put in 
  enough hard works .   
2) Do Check The Verification of Your Information
- If you don't , when someone points out that your information is false or not credible ,  
  you might be seen as lying to your readers , betraying their trusts . Worst case scenario ,  
  you may be sued and brought to court for posting defametory posts ( in extreme cases )
3) Do Regard Your Reader's Opinions
- Like I mentioned earlier , in the same way as customers are the king , in blogosphere ,  
  you readers are the kings / queens . Without your readership , we simply do not exist .
  Therefore , it would be wise to consider your readers' opinions when posting something.
4) Do Be Aware of The Country's Copyright Law
- This one is serious issue . We have seen countless bloggers being arrested for allegedly  
   infringing the country's law . You don't want to be another one of them right ? 
5) Get Rewarded/Paid Ethically
- Sure , rewards are nice and all , but rewards through illegal or unethical means aren't   
  nice at all . As your readership grows and your blog gets more famous , you may be asked  
  to post something that promotes a certain individual / organization while bashing others   
  ,and you may get paid for them . Don't do it ! As these kind of rewards are unethical and  
  may damage your conscience .
6) Don't Forget to Give Credits
- Give credits where they are due . Simple enough .
7) Do Know That You Are Answerable for Your Blog
- As you are the author of your blog , do remember that you hold responsibility over what  
  you posted . There have been many cases of celebrities and artists who posted their 
  strong opinions regarding a particular issue many years ago, only to find these posts 
  haunting them back now .
8) Be Transparent With Sponsored Post
- Let your readers know if you are being sponsored to write a post . You don't want your  
  post to sound too advertorial and devoid of your original blogging style all of a sudden 
  without informing your readers first . If you did not do that , your readers may be 
  perplexed and end up leaving your blogs for good for fear that your posts do not interest 
  them any more .
9) Do Write a Disclaimer
- This is the counter-measure for point no 7 . If you have incorporated some strong 
  opinions regarding a particular issue , do write a disclaimer that those opinions are yours 
  and solely yours alone so as not to involve your company or other people linked to you in 
  the process.

So , there you have it folks ! The summary of what Responsible Blogging 2013 campaign is all about . This campaign is graciously sponsored by Crowdpot , the platform for brands and businesses to engage with bloggers .


 and Ninetology Marketing Sdn Bhd , the up and coming mobile device technology company  who aims to provide a affordable yet functional smartphones for everyone . 

For more information , please click on the logo below or go to http://responsibleblogging.my/ now ! Join us now , for a better tomorrow , for everyone in the blogosphere ! Do your part for our world , and it doesn't help that there are rewards for you in the process ヾ(●⌒∇⌒●)ﾉ !

Happy , Merry Christmas ~

Howdy ! Hello there , good readers from all over the world :D , How are you doing today ? It’s Christmas eve !!!! Which means that most of you are out there , counting down for Christmas , or celebrating it one way or another either with friends , family or your beloved ones , right ? Aww .. Christmas , the season of forgiving , sharing , caring and giving . Anxious children waiting to unwrap the gifts under the mistletoes , equally anxious parents who hopes their children could sleep early so they could disguise themselves as a fat man with funny, white beard , and a potbelly to surprise their child , people attending Christmas Mass , strangers becoming friends , couples forgiving each other and being reunited . That’s what Christmas is really all about right ?

Unfortunately , yours truly never did get to experience any of those . Even now , as the clock hits 12 midnight , indicating the start of Christmas , there are people shouting and started celebrating already , yet I am here updating this nondescript blog . However , it does not necessarily mean that it’s a bad thing . In fact, I am loving it . I am loving the  feeling of having the freedom to do whatever I want in this space ( my room ) . The truth is , for the past few days , life have been moving on quite a fast pace . The past 2 days seems to have gone by in a blur. And now  , finally I have a bit of breathing room .

I like breathing space / room . I like the luxury of having time by my side , to have the freedom to ponder and wonder endlessly about the whatever nonsensical thoughts I have in my mind , to reflect on the past and also to think about the future . Therefore , for me , I would say that freedom of time is the ultimate luxury in the world . Not money , not the other materialistic things that can provide conveniences , not even fame and glory . The ultimate luxury is without a doubt , freedom . In retrospect , I have been very lucky to be blessed with freedom of choice in most of my life . Being born in a middle-income family , materialistic things that could provide luxury are but a distant dream . Growing up , I have always yearned for those “luxuries” that other more privileged kids have . Branded gadgets , better mattresses , air-con , and a whole lot more of gadgets which I used to view as the ultimate luxuries money can buy .

However , as I grow older and wise up a little , I start to be more appreciative of the power of freedom . I still remember the marvelous feeling of thrill and euphoria I had when I slept at my own room for the first time . As the night falls  and  the only door that leads to my room closes, the faint moonlights sneaks in through the translucent blue curtain and  the subtle sound of the rotating Panasonic fan breaks the stillness of the room , emphasizing that me and only me alone exists in this room . I love the thought of that . At night , I would always imagine that this whole room is my territory , my area , my entire world , and I am the king and ruler of this world .

It is at these kind of moments that I truly cherish the power of solitude . Usually , the word solitude is associated with a negative connotation , i.e life of solitude = life without friends , forever alone , etc  , however for me , I believe that when you’re alone , that’s when you’re able to concentrate and bring out your biggest potential . I do not know about the rest , but I am pretty sure I thrive in a quiet environment , working by myself , devoid of any external disturbances . When I am alone , I tend to be able to think about things I normally not able to think of and able to produce more efficient and effective work . Perhaps that explains why introverts are so successful ? Speaking about introverts , one book that is definitely worth checking out is this :  “ Quiet “  by Susan Cain as she explores in great details about the power of introverts .

But I digressed . Recently , I have reflected on a lot of things . These few days reflection had me re-examining my principle of friendship , and discovering my own weakness . About the latter , I find myself not walking my own talk . You see, I have been a great advocate of change . I look down on complacency and advocates change whenever it’s possible as I felt that change and subsequently continuous improvement is the key to greater success . Yet , in recent days , I have not been changing much . I had a goal in mind 2 years ago , a road map of change so to speak , so that I could continuously challenge myself in various grounds and improve as much as possible . However , the progress of that plan is not quite as well as it should have been . In fact , it seems to have reached a plateau and becoming stagnant , which is very depressing . Being a guy who dreams big and talking big about importance of changes and self-improvement all the time , not doing the action is kinda counter-productive and saddening .

Next , recent events have also forced me to re-examine my friendships . I consider myself a very complicated person , as I am both extrovert and introvert at the same time . When I am being extrovert , I mixed around a lot , and thus have joined a few different cliques . But the problem is , with so many different cliques , each of them are special in their own way and all of them are friends with varying degree of closeness , I find it hard sometimes to find the time to entertain them . Perhaps “entertain” would not be best word to describe it , as when you’re with friends , you are supposed to be having fun and enjoying it right ?

Example of cliques

That’s what I thought too . Don’t be mistaken . I LOVE hanging out with friends and talking about everything under the sun in a kopitiam or café all day long . That’s life . However , the thing is , once you have a lot of cliques of friends , you will need to catch up with them on a different day or time , as more often than not , the cliques don’t mix . * e.g perhaps you have a clique of friends who loves shopping , and another clique of friends who love outdoor activity , they don’t really mix right ? * To make matters worst , money and time are limited resources , and I can’t really be spending time with different kind of cliques every single day . That , coupled with the fact that sometimes. the introvert part of myself just want to enjoy being in my cosy little home whole day . Thus , this brings us to a hard dilemma of prioritizing who to go out with .

Of course , the obvious solution being just hang out and connect with your closest best gang of friends and ignore the rest , allocating the rest of the time for yourself . And that’s what I have been doing for quite some time . Yet , there are times when you thought of this particular clique of friends and go “ oh , it’s been a long time since I last catch up with them “ , and then the question of whether of not you should initiate the gathering or hang out arises . I strongly believe friends , true friends especially are the best assets one could have . 

Some people view friends as networks that they could potentially exploit in the future as some of them may turn out to be politicians , leaders or even some influential figures that are forces to be reckoned with . And they may think that by getting close to them now , they would be able to take advantage of these connections that they have build up now . However , friends are friends , they are not “networks “ which are treated as benefits or liabilities according to what they can provide . True , some friends may be able to offer help in specific aspects in the future , and I have no qualms about people thinking of exploiting friends this way , however to rate friends according to what they can provide in the future is just despicable .

True friends are value over their loyalty and bonds that have survived the test of time . They are the people who know you well enough to be able to talk comfortably about your idiosyncrasies and patterns. They are the people whom you share your troubles , problems and secrets . They are the people who will be there for you , when the rest of the world left .

That being said , I am still having dilemma whenever I got an invitation to go out , because a part of me , really wants to just stay home for a few months and concentrate on making progresses . But then again , it’s all my choice right ? And once again I am grateful for this freedom to choose . * Friendship post inspired by this article in the star titled "Recipe for leadership" *

In a bid not to end this post in a solemn note , I shall wish you readers ( if there are any ) a Happy , Merry Christmas ! May you be able to celebrate this eventful events with your beloved ones with joy , happiness and love ~ But , if in the event of you failing to find anyone to celebrate it with , hey , no sweats , you can still celebrate it alone :D  . Cherish the moment of solitude and remember , you are not alone in celebrating it alone . Cheers !!! Merry Christmas peeps ~

Farewell , and a New Beginning :)

In a blink of an eye , the seemingly endless 2 months passed by . I still remembered the start of my 2 months semester break just like it was yesterday. The post-exam relief , the excitement to go back home , the anticipation of all those wonderful things that I am going to do , and the thought of fun and happiness of meeting up with old friends . I am happy to say that in these 2 months , I accomplished a few of those goals I set beforehand . Not to say that I didn't waste any of my precious time , but at least I did something , an improvement from my previous break I guess . Somewhere in between , time seems to stand still , there are times where I have no mood to do anything at all , and at that moment , time really does seems to pass by so slowly that it seems stationary . Yet , there are times where when we were really enjoying life , time  passed by so fast that we could barely feel it.

And now, it's the time for departure , to say farewell to this beloved home again , leaving behind these all those comfort and convenience and trading them with suffering and self-dependence all over again :) . It's amazing how when we are in comfortable environment , we don't seem to appreciate them at all . Only when those comfort and stuff we took for granted are taken away , do we started realized how much we are depending on them . And when it's time to say bye bye , no matter how much we wanted the time to stay still , it still relentlessly marched on , leaving you with a cruel reality of a few precious days left to spend it or waste it.

It is these few precious days that always got me into self-reflection mode. I tend to get a little bit nostalgic when it comes to time for leaving . I like reflecting on the past . Some may say it's a sign of weakness , an indication that I have yet to let go of my past , still being chained by the burdens and errors of the past , but I disagree . I feel the only way we can get hints about our future , and to better ready ourselves for it , is only by learning from the past.

In retrospect , I think I used to appreciate less , and took too much things for granted , kept on blaming fate and asking questions which have no real answer like why me ? . In summary , too much cravings and too little gratitude . I am still guilty for that offence , though in recent years , I have learnt the importance of giving thanks for all those little things that we are blessed with , things that other people may be craving for , even something trivial and common like being able to choose your food for breakfast . I only realized how important it is when I was deprived of an ability to choose , simply because there's no other choices at all .

Now , I am becoming more aware of the power of gratitude and therefore , I give thanks , for having a roof over me when I sleep , for able to drive out and choose from a variety of food , for being in the company of my precious families and friends , and the most important of all , for still being alive ;) . For most young adults , I believe the thought of death is the furthest thought away from their to-think-list in their brain , primarily because at this age , most of us still thinks we are invincible , backed by the power of youth , thinking that we will stay young forever having the immunity over diseases and etc . However , the truth is far from that . The fact is , death is inevitable and it may happen anytime , anywhere . Already there are myriads of problems and troubles surrounding teenagers , and the news of younger people dying now seems to be increasingly common , which is rather scary . 

Therefore , I give thanks , simply for being alive . Also , another aspect of my life that I am very grateful of is the fact that I have a bunch of good friends . A band of mutual friends that consists of a big , fat, self-proclaimed vegetarian that always had an excuse to skip our gathering , a chikopek ( pervert in local slang ) play girl that will go nuts at a mere sighting of  a woman , a guy with lion-ish hair and personality having an anger management issue , a troubled kid with perplexing mindset  and a few other game addicts each with their own sets of imperfections . I myself , am not spared from these imperfection , I am that short guy with little to no sense of direction at all, coupled with myriads of troubles.  Yet , despite these imperfections , or rather should I said , due to these imperfections , we managed to stay together as a band of friends that have consistent gatherings and meet ups for more than 8 years already I guess . And I am proud of that fact . None of us are perfect , yet because of that , we became perfect as a whole . Each and everyone of us is an oddball , but yet again , aren't we all the same ?

Tonight , we had our so called " last farewell gathering " as everyone sets to go their separate ways , each into their own routes again . I must say , it was unexpectedly fabulous . Nevertheless , I am confident we shall meet up again soon and enlighten each other with their own life stories , and that time , I am sure each and everyone of them are gonna turn out to be spectacular .  I used to think gathering , meet ups and talking for too long are nothing but troublesome and unproductive stuff to do . I still think it is , but well nothing beats the great feeling of catching up with old friends and exchanging stories on our life journeys , even if I am considered wasting my time doing it . As the great John Lenon once said , " Time you enjoyed wasting , was not wasted " . Cheers for an awesome group of friends .

In a few more days , I will be leaving to KL , turning a new chapter for my life again , returning as a 2nd year student , and hence abandoning the junior title . It is the time for us , the ones being guided by our seniors last time to replace our seniors role and give guidance this time , to new batch of juniors . It's gonna be a new beginning . New semester , new lecturers , and new plans for the future !

Plans for the future always seems to give us hope , no matter how dark and depressing our life is now . Hope , somehow has its own way of cheering us up even in our darkest hours , giving us excitement and anticipation of something wonderful that could happen . Call it false hope , or even a lie to ourselves , but I am always excited whenever there's an activity in a not too distant future being planned out and organized in such an ideal fashion where we assume nothing could ever goes wrong .

With that being said , here's to all my friends that are leaving to start their 2nd year undergraduates life , all the best and take care . May life be good to each and everyone of us and may we be blessed with peace , happiness and love . As cliches as this may sound , although Here's to an awesome new beginning ! YEE HAAA !!!! Life's awesome ! :)

A little thought

It's the semester break now . Every morning I woke up with a smile on the face , realizing that I have the freedom to do almost anything , unhindered by any restrictions of studying responsibilities or other commitments . Every day is like a Saturday / Sunday , in the way that most working people get to enjoy their lazy weekends relaxing , I get to enjoy the same feeling of relaxation , stress-free life everyday , well almost everyday.. for some times family duty calls and I have to be a driver for my bratty , irresponsible younger sister. Ah , and who could forget the indispensable , occasional hang out with friends , sometimes a little too many to reconnect and mend those broken bonds , to catch up and have fun . Nevertheless , save for those times , I could say that I am totally in control of my life and for that I am eternally grateful .


So , as always , on a lazy Friday morning , I have the privilege to wake up late , unobstructed by any calls for driving duty or any other commitments . Then , after finished accomplishing the mundane daily routine of bathing and eating breakfast ( brunch in my case ) , I switched on my computer for my daily dosage of entertainment ( comprising of Facebook , some web surfing and a lot of youtubing ) . Now, I have to clear up one point . Contrary to popular belief , Internet is quite a productive tool for teenagers like us . No, it is not a dangerous, evil-inducing , porn-infested , mind-twisting tool as feared by many of the parents and adults.


Despite all the bad rumours circulating around and being notoriously famous for a dangerous tool for teenagers and kids , the fears of using Internet are unfounded . In fact, one can learn a lot from the web . Being a powerhouse of information and knowledge , one can virtually learn anything , acquiring any information or knowledge on any specific or general topic instantly and best of all , at no cost whatsoever !

Anyhow , I digressed . As the blog title suggests , my inspiration to blog today came from a few youtube videos , 2 of them to be specific . One of them is this video , depicting the lyric ( pin yin , chinese characters and the translation ) of a song called 超人不会飞 ( Superman Can't Fly ) by acclaimed  pop star, Jay Chou . I am sure most of you would know this famous name that needs no explanation , but what I want to highlight here is the lyric of the song , that depicts his 10 years career as singer-songwriter , constantly being chased by paparazzi , judged by countless other people, strangers included on every single action that he takes. The lyric of the song basically reflects what he thinks on all his achievements so far . So, if you care and have some time to spare, do study the lyrics and ponder about it :) .


So many people waste their time on the wrong thing such as gossiping , judging people , making presumptions , allegations and accusations , even before they really know someone . Why ? What has this world become ? A world where people focuses more on people's bad points and weakness instead of their strength and good points , where a single wrongdoing and bad action would be ingrained in people's brain forever , while their countless other good deeds and action would be forgotten instantly , where too much time,energy and effort are being spent popularizing , discussing and glorifying every action of the rich and famous , while the good deeds and actions of the commoners who did so much more are left untold , being swept away by the relentless march of time , remaining as unsung heroes.

Another video is about this CNN interview with another International superstar, Wang Lee Hom . Again, I believe people like him needs little or no introduction at all . Wang Lee Hom is one of my idol . I seriously admire people like him , the perfectionist that truly has the passion for music ,and given his good looks and musical talent , he still works equally hard, if not harder than the rest to compose and sing his song with heart and soul , something that's undeniably impressive and worth noticing . One of my personal truth is that people who makes good music are good people , and I strongly believe in this . This is because , anyone that has passion in doing whatever they are doing are definitely good people , much more so if the person in question is spreading goodwill and inspiring countless others to do the same.


Also, it struck me a little while ago , that life is naturally unfair . Some people are better and more talented at something else , while some people aren't . Some people are more well off , came from a better family background and etc, while some people are just struggling to even survive. However, if there's one thing that's fair in this world, it is that every single one of us in this world are given the same amount of time a day , 24 hours. And it is up to us , how we want to spend it . We can either waste it away doing some nonsensical , unproductive stuff , or spending it in a manner that will get you one step closer to your dream !  

Take some time to ponder about it :) And while you're at it , you can spare some time to watch this talented Sungha Jung . Cheers ! 

Jogging

At first it was a gentle, warm breeze that slowly caresses my cheek . Then , the nature ,as if conspiring against me , the warm breeze turned into a gust of wind , stopping me from going any further . Nevertheless , I persevered , with my heart palpitating at a above average pace and legs moving more and more swiftly . As I approaches the destination ,my mind slowly turning blank , leaving behind only one thought : Faster . The synapses traveled from my brain to each and every body part of mine . An adrenaline rush radiated within my body , and I ran, with a speed much faster than I thought I could possibly capable of , and it finally happened . Sweats dripping down from my cheek , and leaking out from virtually every sweat pore in my body , then a feeling of liberation and relief filled me . TOUCHDOWN! 10 laps , finally being completed at last !

***

Jogging , according to Wikipedia , is a form of trotting or running at a slow or leisurely pace. The main intention is to increase physical fitness with less stress on the body than from faster running. 


But for me however , the definition of jogging extends far beyond that . Jogging , is an  exhausting , tiring , stamina-sapping yet fun and liberating physical activity that provides an unique experience to every individual person .

On the way to the park behind my house.

Only recently , did I try taking up this sport after hearing about its health benefits ,which includes burning fats , strengthening bones and muscles , improves sleep and countless others. In fact, it's so popular that almost every single fitness enthusiast would recommend incorporating jogging into your fitness regimen.

The beautiful park , complete with its jogging track

So, being someone who is always eager to try new things and get out from my comfort zone, I tried it out. Not surprisingly , I got hooked to it immediately . Every single time I went jogging , it provides the same liberating experience and every jog is different and unique. It helps that there's a nice park , complete with jogging tracks and background scenery to compliment the experience.


I have the say , when you jog at a consistently slow pace , your mind will start filtering out all your worries and stresses , leaving behind a crystal clear mind , and an ability to think better and focuses on more higher priorities in life. It also helps you to focus and concentrates better .When you raised up a gear and decided to go for a faster , brisk pace , that's when your mind will completely blanked out , allowing you to focus completely on .


Better yet , jogging is like a journey to re-discover yourself and allows you to forget about the trivialities in life , to do a little self reflection and soul searching . Even now , I am still perplexed as to why people don't like jogging . It is easily one of the best physical exercise that doesn't demands much and offers a lot of health benefits all packaged in an  convenient ,easily accessible . ( Well you just have to need yourself and an area to jog in ) If you haven't try it yet , grab your running shoes ( or even barefoot if you prefer ) and start jogging/running now ! 

My starting point and also my final destination : the yellow hump

The sign reads " Caution , slow down " . The first time I saw it , I  laughed as  it would be funny if this sign was a practical joke intended for joggers/runners that ran too fast .

On the side note , time does flies doesn't it ? In a nick of time , it's already the first of July . 2 months of break seems very short now with the way time moves . Nevertheless , this is the cruel reality of life . The fact is all of us are given the equal 24 hours a day , and no matter how we choose to spend it , time will march on relentlessly . So , why not choose to spend it in a more productive way ? Here's for a better future ! Cheers people . Until next post :)

Life Long Learning

Ah.. finally , a small breathing space , a space all for myself , a moment where I will be able to enjoy in my peaceful, tranquil and majestic hometown ,Penang . Finally , a well-deserved small break after all those hard works and efforts spent facing book this semester ( oh well , not really that much hard works anyway lol ,more like facebooking all the time ,and I am actually playing truant , skipping an entire week of class before my actual study break ,but meh, who cares ! )

Home sweet home indeed ~ People say , the heart will yearn for something familiar if you haven’t see it for a while . Why, so true indeed . It referring to my beloved hometown in this case.

I have always felt at ease in home , not because of the conveniences here ( washing machine , soft bed , air conditioner when needed , usable internet and best of all ,unlimited food ftw ! ) , but because of the freedom and flexibility it offers. though the convenience does serve as an added bonus ! And at home , I will have more opportunities to do whatever I wanted to do most and learn whatever I wanted to learn . You see, I am never a fans of textbook-based approach . In fact , I abhorred it. I hate the fact that since young , when we are still the innocent and naïve little sponge who could have absorbed everything easily , we have been drilled with the concept of textbook-based approach .

I can’t speak for other countries , but as for my own country , I can affirm you for sure , that having being subjected to arduous , long hours of digesting facts and figures , then regurgitating them during examinations , and subsequently forgetting them after examination , our education system is not one that I would put my children through . I think it is rather retarded that we should adhere to such rigid education system which , in my opinion , limits our creativity and opportunities to explore other subjects .Take for example , if a student who’s really talented in arts and drawing but not so inclined towards memorizing and studying facts, let’s name him John , be subjected to such education system , spending close to 12 years on learning stuff which may not necessarily be of importance to his future , wouldn’t it be a complete waste of time ? Besides, wouldn’t it stifle and limit his potential ? Wouldn’t it be better if John uses perhaps half of that time memorizing facts to hone and enhance his artistic skills ?

In countries like US , the education system is so much more efficient and effective . For instance , after their A level ( our pre-university equivalence ) , the students there are free to take and explore whatever subject they like in a gap year, before continuing their tertiary education .Now, that’s practical education .

All in all , I believed in life long education instead of a short term one. In today’s society , most people perceive “learning”  in very narrow terms: it’s what we do in school, and once we’ve got our college degree, the learning phase is over – it’s time to work.

Of course, things aren’t really that black and white:we carry on learning after we’ve left school, and not just in our careers but in every aspect of our lives. And learning often doesn’t equate to taking qualifications or passing exams. Approached the right way, learning isn’t a process of ticking boxes on a curriculum or course outline – it’s about exploration, growth and enrichment.

Learning should be a life long journey , something that one should continue doing till the last breath . True education should be an endless pursuit of pragmatic and practical knowledge , no matter in what field or aspect . Great leaders are often people with substance possessing wealth of knowledge .Steve jobs once said “ Stay hungry , stay foolish “ . Once a man stops learning , that’s when he stops living .

Recently , I was hooked to musical instruments and only now starting to venture into this fascinating world of music . And let me tell you , the joy and epiphany of learning something new , is simply fantastic ! As I slowly indulge in this journey of learning , the thrilling sense of acquiring yet another fascinating piece of knowledge from an endless treasure troves excites me and gives an adrenaline rush that’s unlike any activity . Remember that feeling when you encountered a difficult math problems that had you thinking for hours, maybe even days? Frustrating right ? How about the feeling after you solved it eventually ? That euphoria moment , that’s the feeling you will have when you learnt something new.

So, people , what are you waiting for ? Start learning and pick up new skills now !

Entrepreneurship, Why Now?

Inthis past few weeks ,I have been engagedwith the idea of entrepreneurship and starting my own business with the passion , vigor and energy more than Iever had in my past 20 years of living . The reason ? Well , for starters , inthis past few weeks ( 3 weeks to be exact ) , I have been attending businesstalks and entrepreneurship workshop conducted by renowned and successfulbusinessman , most noticeably , speakers like YB Tony Pua, former CEO of CyberVillage ,a pioneer in e-commerce , Ms Winnie Loo , CEO of A Cut Above , MrMichael Tan , CEO of myparttimejob.com and recently Mr Jonathan Quek,CEO ofTrue North Asia and Ms Candice Lee, Sales Director of Capital Asia Group.

I havealways been interested the idea of doing business from early age. You see, Ialways thought that working in a 9-5 job , collecting money every month isretarded . I mean , sure , there are lot of high flying employees out there whoare earning 5 figure salaries , living an exciting life , but unfortunately also, in this cruel , realistic world , there are too many people , stuck in themiddle income trap , often just stuck being an employee who works for the rich, deprived of knowledge to excel and achieving their true potential .

Thus , being an employee and working forothers have always had a bad impression in my heart and mind. Though , if I hadto work , I would definitely prefer working for people who have truecapabilities and knowledge , whereby I can learn and gain something ,andworking with people who are fun , friendly and downright crazy.( something likein nuffnang and Capital Asia,I believe) ,instead of being under tyrannyof the inept ( which ,unfortunately happened to a lot of employees in Malaysia).I am always drawn to unconventional work cultures that promote work hard andplay hard. Do you know that in Nuffnang’s office, there’s a place called Nuffie’sZone, whereby people can just sit down and rest on the plush sofa ,relaxinguntil they are ready to work again? Oh and they have a PS3 in their office too.Now, that’s what I called awesome work culture !

Butof course, if possible , I would love to start my own business and making a jobout of things I love doing best . Idigressed . Today, I had the honor to listen to the speech by Mr Jonathan Quekand Ms Candice Lee , both of whom have had a lot of ups and downs in their life,and very inspirational visionaries that strives for big goals ( and arecurrently in the progress of completing them ) .

MrJonathan Quek is the CEO of True North Asia ,a consultancy company aimed topromote youth intelligence and provides alternative investment consultancy ,while Ms Candice Lee is his partner and also the Sales Director of Capital AsiaGroup , a real estate consultancy group .

Asthey shared with us about their core values , what they do , the obstacles theyfaced when they first started , everybody’s eye lit up . Their enthusiasm was infectious , their passion was evident ,and the atmosphere was electrifying . Mere words alone would not do justice tothem . Their stories are simply inspirational and motivational.

Hereare some excerpts from the their talk . “ Imagine a plane , with fourpropellers , flying from K.L to Hawaii. Now , Hawaii is your destination .Doing business is a lot like flying this plane. In order to fly the plane , youmust have four propellers which are a metaphor for the Marketing department ,Human Resource department , Operation department and Finance department. Andyou must always set your destination right first . So, the destination is yourWHAT , the plane is your HOW and thefirst reason that got you flying that plane in the first place is your WHY. Ifyou have a very strong WHY , then you would know WHAT you want and the HOWwould eventually come :.

“

“There’s this one game in Miri where theyoungsters would spend playing .In Miri, there are a lot of monkeys , andmonkeys love peanuts. So ,the youngsters would take a lot of peanuts , lay themon the ground to form a trail , leading to a coconut contraption ( where theyput more peanuts into that coconut ). When a monkey follows the trail ofpeanuts , eating them along the way , eventually it will find the coconutfilled with the peanuts inside , and put its’ hand inside to pick up thosepeanuts. But , because the size of the opening in the coconut is quite small ,just barely big enough for the monkey’s hand , when the monkey grab a lot ofpeanuts , it won’t be able to take its’ hand out . So, the monkey will betrapped , and when it’s trapped , it will scream for help and eventually thevillagers would heard of the scream would come and catch it. Well , you see, alot of people are like the monkeys , they chase after things that they want ,often being too greedy and don’t want to let go . If the monkey just let gosome of the peanuts , it can always return and get more peanuts next time , butbecause of its greed and foolishness , the monkey got trapped. “

“Life’snot how fast your start but how well you end the race “

Theabove paragraph with quotations are excerpts from Mr Jonathan’s talk , notdirect transcript of it , but mere interpretation from my own memories. Anotherinteresting point worth mentioning from their talk is that they actually had instantnoodles for almost 6 months back when they are near bankruptcy.

MsCandice’s talk was also filled with fiery passion and enthusiasm , as shetalked about how had a complete turn over of her life . She shared with us hervery amusing history back when she was 20 years old , and told us that the twomain obstacles holding people back from doing the things they want to do are lackof emotional security and lack of strength of character. I guess one of themain highlights of her talk is when she talked about having the right plan forlife and she had a very detailed plan , in her own words “ to build a hotel ofmy own ,with the profits being used to set up an orphanage , in which we willtrain and provide financial education to the youths in that orphanage ,empowering and grooming them . When they grow up , they will be given sharesfor the hotel and be the ones managing and continue to grow it further . “

WhenI heard that , it truly sent chills down my spine , in a good way of course. Itwas so remarkable to see someone so young having such detailed plans , down tothe nitty-gritty details planned out for her future . After that , sheexpounded the concept of personality profiling , in which people’s personalityin general can be divided to 4 elements , namely fire, water, wind and earth.

Firetype of people are generally bold and courageous ,and are often adventurousrisk takers . While they may be the people who dare to be different and leads ,the flaw of a fire type person is that they are egoistic , proud and sometimeseven too full of themselves.

Watertype of people are generally obedient people who are great listeners, beingemotionally sensitive and very adept to changes , though their flaws would bethe slow pace that they work in , and lack of motivation and little interest inmost things. They would be the best people to consult when you break down andneed a shoulder to lean on and cry.

Windtype of people are typically influential , outgoing extroverts . They arenatural sales man that are very socially active and optimistic people. However,their flaw lies in their lack of discipline , attention-seeker and they oftenhave short-lived enthusiasm .

Earthtype of people are analytical people who often have deep thoughts &reflection , driven by laws and principles . They are usually quite reservedand trustworthy . Nevertheless ,they might occasionally have self-pity and theycan be quite judgmental sometimes, and easily falling into mental stress.

Somehow,I felt like I possesses characteristics from all of the elements above , thoughit’s more like a mix of several characteristics from each element . However, I findthis personality profiling very interesting , in the sense that this is whatpeople should be learning. If you read around my blog , you would have noticedthat I advocate the thinking of 3 rd perspective , that each and everyone of usis unique and should respect other people’s opinion even if they contradictours.

Ina nutshell , I guess I have really did acquire something from the talk afterall .People should have big dreams , dare to be different and ultimately make adifference in people’s life. Listening to their motivating talks , I reallyhope I would be able to make it big in the future ,meeting more people likethem and learning from them .

Yousee , I always believed in lifelong learning rather than just school ,textbook-based approach . I find it paradoxical that the formal educationsystem that is supposed to be empowering us , ironically did the opposite ,which is to limit people’s freedom of thinking flexibly and creatively .Learning is an endless process . I believe when one stop continue learning andimproving themselves , that is the time they die. Oh well, more on that nexttime. For now, I am just grateful I had the chance to listen to their wonderfultalks and meeting some right people in my life now. I suppose maybe,just maybe, this is destiny’s intervention too ? Be sure to check out their websites and blogsif you have the time ;D ! OH, by the way , the last tips that MsCandice shared with us was her business philosophy which was P.H.D ,whichstands for…….*drum rolls* Pain ( able to endure pain and work hard) , Hungerfor knowledge , and Dreams for which you should be fighting for , doingeverything to achieve them. That’s all for now , tata!