Earth Rocking!!!

Thank God we are saved from doom caused by the 8.7 richter scale earthquake early this morning. I wasnt the many lcuky ones that felt the tremors but i dont think so i want to. Its quite disturbing that an earthquake that happened about 330miles from home can actually shake up KL. I am worried that if these things happen more often , our high rise buildings would be structually stable. This is because our buildings are not quake proof in design and the soil in Klang Vally is not so solid if any serious quakes were to happen. In a nutshell, we are all sitting ducks for major catastrophe to happen. Oh well, it can happen and it might not but these thoughts are substantial enough for someone to voice out and hopefully something can be done to save our individual asses if it happens in the future. We are quite screwed as we live in apartments and condos so if you are planning to book that fancy apartment in Bandar Utama think twice and if already own a fancy condo at Mont Kiara, God Bless you!!!.Peace and lets pray that the World is spared from more disasters.

Thinking out of the box: Superheroes style

I am inspired to write about creative thinking in this post today after i received my monthly newsletter from The Actors Studio and there is this article from Mark Beau regarding "superheroes" in his hometown of Penang. Who are these "superheroes" you may ask? They are no other than the "orang gila" patroling the streets near you. These people are "superheroes" because they do things we'd never do and we mere "orang biasa" wont understand them. But if you take a minute to observe them and their antics, you will be suprised on how the heck they can think of doing what they are doing. In creative thinking, we all are keen to come out with something new but it is hard to be "super different" because all of us are confined to our logic and decency. By oberserving TrafikMan and his fellow "superheroes" perhaps we can unlock the constraints of convention and think from a very different view. For artistic purpose only larr, dun go be a superhero yourself.

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An Easter reflection

Am i worthy of His love? is a question that most of us will ask some point or another in our lives. Why a sinner like me and you is loved by God and He is willing to forgive us for our sins. Its love thats why. Love for His children propelled Him to do what He has did for us. I have been enduring alot of hardship these days but whenever i think of what He has gone through for us, i felt ashamed that i cant even have patience and the faith in God that all will be well in the end. His story has inspired faith in my heart to love instead of hate and be patient instead of haste. It says it all and let us all reflect on ourselves this Easter and pray that we continue to receive His grace and unending love so we can share it with the world.

"When others we will not forgive,

God's blessings are denied;

We must forsake our stubbornness

And banish sinful pride."

Ground that is filled with roots of bitterness needs to be plowed by the grace of God.

Wrong display of leadership

Earlier this morning i witness a classic example of a weak leadership. Imagine your team being run down by the manager at 7am in front of new staffs. Not so motivational huh? the results are clear, attrition is high and despite the steps taken by the VP nothing mcuh seems to work and i guess its just too late for anything to be done to reverse the damage inflicted to the crew.

As a manager, we expect to see encouragement, we want to see guidance and examples, we need to see compassion and fairness and also we have to see a captain of the ship. If these qualities are missing, then expect mutiny or abandonment as loyalty is as good as dead. I have heard stories but none beats witnessing it yourself a humilation to people working around and with you. I may be an observer but i do have my principles and it has tested my patience. Its gonna be a bloody battle for all of us but i'm afraid the captain just steered his ship into the cluthes of doom.

P.S : I'm just venting out a censored and edited version of the article. The full article may not be suitable for Malaysians of all ages as we all cant think and need to be guided properly by the censors of the esthablishment. Up yours censorship board!

Afternoons & Coffeespoons

Waking up at 5.15 am in the morning is something i'm not used to do. Its hard to wake up in the morning but its even harder to stay awake after 1pm. Working in this shift has made me a coffee addict again after reducing my doses for the past year. I think i took like 3 cups of strong black coffee in the afternoon today and if it keeps up i might just end up with shivering hands one day. I'm gonna go cold turkey tomorrow and see how things go. At this point of time , i am sleeping awake and its just a matter of time before i shut downnn......zzzzzzzz.

A rough ride monday with a foggy tuesday ahead

Its been a tough day and i foresee a tough week ahead....all i got to say is :

"If some darker lot be good,

Lord, teach us to endure

The sorrow, pain, or solitude

That makes the spirit pure."

To you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake. —Philippians 1:29

No trial would cause us to despair if we knew God's reason for allowing it.

A day at the Malaysian F1 Grand Prix 2005

Sunday, March 20 is an incident filled day on and off the track and it all happened during the race day. This year i was fortunate that i managed to get my hands on a Grandstand ticket worth RM700 for only RM150. This means after 3 years of watching the races from the sidelines of the Hillstand, i get to sit down properly under the shade. Sepang circuit today was happening and is crawling with people all over ( not forgetting the hot chicks around) and it was great to be there on a fine Sunday morning. At first, it looks like its a good day but it didnt and it became a nightmare for a good friend of mine.
The day turned into a gloomy one when the very car that my friend drove us to the circuit was stolen right at the carpark of the circuit. To make things worse, the car that was stolen is a 19 year old Nissan Sunny. Amazing huh, an old car parked beside a Satria and a Waja got stolen. Damn, I think the car thief is a stoopid one. With all the expensive cars available at your expense why must it be my transport home.Goddam it! i felt pity for my friend as he lost his working shoes in the car as well as a few racquets, a few can of beers (13 cans to be exact) and also brand new Ferrari cap and a Montoya Mclaren cap worth Rm 350. Its a sad day indeed and the thought that somewhere out there exists such dumb people that steals a Nissan Sunny instead of another Mercedes belonging to a rich guy that can afford a few Mercedes's anyway. All said and done, the only thing i can do is to pray that the cops can find his stolen car and that justice be done to the thief ( not the law but hopefully he dies a slow and painful death someday).
I may be a pissed man today but i can only imagine how my friend is feeling right now. Lets all pray for a good ending to this incident.

Phd at 24?

I did some catching up with my friends last nite. I met up with friends from high scool that i havent met for a very long time, some for years. Its good to be catching up with everybody and it seems that everyone is doing fine in their lives, most working and there is one that is doing his PHD now. Wow or what, at my age he is already doing his Phd and by a few years time he will have the title Dr in front of his name. These days people are getting smarter and they are achieving things young. Is it a good thing or a bad thing? I dun know but at least there will be a negative effect of burnout for some people ( like Owen in Liverpool last time). It will be subjective and the debate will stretch far but for now I'm proud that at least some friend of mine is doing the country and the society some good ( hope so ) by getting his doctorate researching on Fuel Cells ( holy crap i have no idea what it means). As for me , the time will come....one day.

Flip the coin!!

To leave or not to leave, that is the question i'm asking myself everyday. I have a job that pays quite okay for my lifestyle but the problem with it is I'm not learning anything at all. At my age and with my intellectual capabilities, i should be working my brain cells out on a job that has a steep learning curve and hopefully emerge a professional one day. Time is ticking now and i dont think i can wait anymore. But what can i do? apply and keep praying one of it succeeds. I believ i can and i can only hope and pray that I can see the way. Patience is indeed a virtue in situation like this and mine is running thin. My mantra ..

"When men closes a door, God will open another"

Faith and patience shall reward me...i hope.

Fatman Begins

Damn man, i need to lose my kilos and i need to do it quick. Since CNY, i havent been getting any decent workout as i have lost my previleged use of a gym and i need to source for alternatives. Why this fuss you must be saying? well, its like this, just now after work me and some homies went and do our cholestrol testing at South City Plaza ( the National Heart Foundation is having a roadshow there till Sunday) for just 10 bucks ( the nurses there are kinda cute too) and the test results shows that i need to work hard to keep my levels at where they are. Well, i needed a new motivation and i got it now ...to stay alive when i'm like Keith Richards' age!!

A night at the movies: Sepet

After a weekend watching OScar winning movies and all, I decided to taste some local flavour watching our locally produced movie , Sepet. What the $@#% ? you may think , but trust me this is one local movie you must not miss as it brings a fresh air to otherwise stale air of local movie industry. The movie may not have a big budget but what it have is a good script. Even though the movie deals with a love story (whats new ?) between a chinese ah beng VCD seller and some cool Malay girl, the focus of the movie is the script that the actors follow. No fake Cerekarama dialog here but the realistic mixture of Malay, Chinese and English that all of are guilty of speaking everyday. Watching the movie is enjoyable with the two new actors in the lead roles shining through their debut ( the suppoting actors are great as well). Despite the poor post production due to low budget , the movie is one movie that the country has been long waiting for, a movie that doesnt have fake dialogs that only we can see or hear on TV, a movie that has a multiracial cast and also enjoyable to watch. Its a small step, but small steps lead to bigger steps and hopefully one day, we can have a movie as good as what Hong Kong and Thailand produces. Wanna know more, go catch Sepet today!!

Making sense of consumerism

Hmm....are we living in good times? people dont seem to think so but judging by throngs of people at the malls, i guess we are doing quite well economically. But how long will the self fuelled expenditure last for the country?. Currently we have a high rate of liquidity in the market and therefore the interest rates are low and government are encouraging people to spend their disposable income instead of saving up. Its a double edged sword as with current depreciating US dollar and also rising prices of crude oil, the reversal of spending trends might spur a higher rate of inlfation than the 2.7 percent at present. Are our savings enough for our rainy days ? I dont think so unless we repeg the ringgit to a higher rate against the dollar or refloat it totally. The temptations of buying and also the low rates of credit and loans are prying our hard earned ringgit away from our hands to the hands of merchants and also contributing to the overall economy. Is there something we can do about it? Well, if you can spare 30 percent of your nett income for savings and try to keep your debt to below 30 percent of your income than you are on track for a better rainy day. I think i need to get a better instrument than mutual funds if i were to grow my funds. Anyways, i think i'll keep on spending my disposable income before the costs escalate and i cant afford them anymore. What a Sunday rambling ehh?

A weekend at the movies: Million Dollar Baby

Looks like before i could visit my friendly neighbourhood pirate, i went and watch this movie at the cinema at MidValley and boy its a good movie. First impression of the movie was that its just another master and student training to win ala Rocky and Karate-Kid but noo...this movie is not another Hollywood glamourization of sports but more like a movie that has it feets firmly at the ground, more reality than glitz and more emotions than blood. It feels like one of those good B-grade movies that you catch on Hallmark channel except the A-list actors in the movie( totally devoid of effects, you wonder if its shot on a buidget). I cant tell you much here cause it might spoil your viewing but do be warned, its a movie without the conventional ending for story. A good watch and deservingly movie of the year. Nuff said and go watch it a cinema near you.

Work: Fade to Black

Work it seems, will fade away
Drifting further every day
Getting lost within myself
Nothing matters no one else
I have lost the will to work
Simply nothing more to give
There is nothing more for me
Need the end to set me free
Things are not what they used to be
Missing one inside of me
Deathly lost, this can't be real
Cannot stand this hell I feel
Emptiness is filling me
To the point of agony
Growing darkness taking dawn
No one but me can save myself,
Now I can't think, think why I should even try
Yesterday seems as though it never existed
Joblessness greets me warm,
now I will just say good-bye
- my take of Fade to Black by Metallica

Chronicles

I was just browsing through my MMU yearbooks and thinking to myself that alot of things and events have occured since those days in university. Three years have gone since i came to MMU and in that short period of time, i have learned my lessons and also observe changes around me.If i were to put my story into words in detail, i might as well start a manga series revolving me and my life. But the point is i realised i have had better days in the past than now. Life was much simpler 3 years ago but along the way things have to happen. A friend has to leave this earth to be with the Lord and remind us that life is fragile. We may enjoy our lives now but it come to an end anytime. Better days of old, where there was less animosity around the air. Now the air of animosity corrupts the bond of fellowship that once was forged. Forgotten now are the days where single minded fun ruled the day, the smell of Marlboro Lights that evaded the room with the background music of System of a Down. Things are different now, time changes everything even the fibres of the universe. People have changed as well, some became good some were lost to the dark side. I wont know where i stand but people around me do. I guess the winds of change blows hard and like fallen leaves, the old will be forgotten and the new will take over. I guess life goes on and the memories of the past will remind me of who i am and who i was if i ever were to be tempted by the dark side.

Boston rain melody

The title of this post is actually a song by Steve Vai that describes the beauty and the majesty of a storm or a heavy rain. It has been raining since Staurday and it is indeed a blessing from above that we get some respite from the heat and enjoy some rain.Its wet but i dont care coz i'm having a good time. Its things like this that reminds me no matter what we can do, there are some things which is out of our control and we are at mercy of. The searing heat is one, when it gets so hot we would do anything for rain to fall but is there anything we can do? Only hope and pray right? We are indeed at the mercy of the mighty power above us, but despite all our failures He still loves us. Funny how the rain can inspire such thoughts and also brings out the beauty in life. We may be facing some draughts in our life, but the rain we are waiting for is just a prayer away. Be blessed.