My New Year's Resolutions

From reflections to the resolutions of the new year. My resolutions for 2008 is pretty simple and its the 3 below:

1) Sign up with a new gym as my old one in Kajang is just too far and too tiring to go after work. I am now considering either California Fitness in Sunway Pyramid or the Fitness First next to Subang Parade. Both are fairly near my workplace in Shah Alam so its between the two. My problem now is adjusting my monthly Operational Expenditure to include this new fixed cost for 2008.

2) After signing up with a gym, go back to my original weight of 80kgs.

3) Rebuild my cardio endurance

I seriously hope to achieve all this by Euro 2008 so thats a 6 months targeted completion date rather a year. The balance 6 months is a buffer just in case i needed more time. Now, the resolutions dont sound too hard to achieve eh?

Reflections: A year end review of my 2007

2007 has come and gone. Just like that, a year has whizz past again and its not suprising to hear many people saying "Huh?, one year already ar?" thanks to the "living-on-the-fast-lane" lifestyle we live by these days. So, after one year what can i say about 2007 other than its been a real good time if i really take a moment to stop and reflect on it. Below are the main highlights of my 2007:

1) Career
The first 3 quarters of the year have been tremendously stressful for me as the "project" reaches its critical moments. That coupled with political changes in the company and with a lot of uncertainty, i really felt like leaving the company and seek other opportunities elsewhere. But after a long struggle, my mentor bailed me out from the ailing IT subsidiary "Forte Tech Solutions" back to the parent company "Pharmaniaga Berhad". (The IT subsidiary i worked at in Cyberjaya for is no longer 100 percent owned by Pharmaniaga as it was sold to UEM Group earlier this year) So it was goodbye Business Development and hello Corporate Development.

Thinking about it now, i think i made the right choice of standing my ground and holding on to my mentor's promised bailed out. My current portfolio is so much challenging and provides ample opportunity to grow myself professionally. The downside of this of course i am no longer in Cyberjaya (my home for the past 6 years), i no longer get to enjoy the company of my ex-comrades at Forte Tech who themselves left for better opportunities and sacrificing my longer sleep time. But i am now being presented the biggest platform to shine and it all depends on me to make it work. My pay now maybe peanuts but i still deeply believe in job satisfaction before the money concept. Afterall, my new experience at Pharmaniaga may be the stepping stone to bigger things yet to come.

2) Performing Arts
2007 has been excellent and expensive too. Starting from the "Phantom of the Opera" the musical, countless theatre pieces at KLPAC to the "Megadeth & Black Sabbath" rock concerts down south in Singapore. I think i've made more trips to Singapore this year than to my kampung back in Kedah. Of course the expensive trips are more than compensated with the priceless views and also the break from the normal routine of either KL or PJ hangouts. Another highlight was that together with Joe, Terry and Kelvin we made a short movie titled "Going Mobile" which was submitted to the BMW Shorts Competition. It was an experience to behold and trust me when i say art movies are easy to make compared to those explosive Michael Bay/Jerry Bruckheimer/Michael Mann/(insert your favorite action movie director) productions. Making a short movie made me appreciate the summer action movies more because its just amazing how they shoot the action sequences and also the super fast editting that make Will Smith look good in Bad Boys. Now if only i have more money than i can make my dream of shooting a scene in Prague a reality...

3) Friends who got hitched
This year also marked many of my friends calendar as the year they got married. I cant believe that i've entered the age zone where people start to get married. What happened to the endless partying days guys? Hehe, anyway congratulations again to Cathlyn, Natalie, Hockage, Rajaie, Brandon and Jean on their weddings. Hahaha, looks like now i can attack their homes for Ang Pau next CNY.

4) Relationships
Aaah, last but not least the topic that everyone bitches about. Now i've always never been good at relationships and so far, it has been nothing but disappointments and heartaches. But the last time i went through any of this shit was way back in 2004 and after telling myself to stay away from this kind of things, it all gave way in August. After 3 years steering clear from trouble, trouble found me at my doorstep and its another emo roller coaster ride. But this time although the duration of it was shorter and we didnt end up together, i've learnt more about myself and also life in those short months compared to all the relationships i've been through in the past. The few things learnt:

a) Shit happens
b) All romantic pursuits end up in tears and heartache except the so-called "The One"

c) There is always a better chick that will catch your attention in the future after the current pursuit fails. Afterall strangers are just friends you've yet to know.

d) Just go with the flow and dont hold back with the feelings. If you dont tell, you'll never get to tell. I'm glad that i did this time around.

e) From time to time, you'll meet someone that will impart important lessons for you to learn so
dont worry too much about finding that someone cause they will surely come to your doorstep and wreck your day. Its just a matter of time.

That being said and done, i'm gonna steer clear from getting involved with any chicks in 2008 as i've grown sick and tired of all the emotional stress and tension. Like Uncle Bob likes to sing "No woman No cry".

Well, 2007 may have been the year of James Bond but 2008 is gonna be my year! Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas!

The happiest time of the year is back again! yes, its Christmas time and no matter how sad and down you feel there's always a hymn or song that will get your spirits up again (mine is Angels We Have Heard on High). I know of many complaints that Christmas is now a commercialized event but if not for commercialization we might not even get the "feeling" in Malaysia at all (benefits of commercialization justified then). This year it was a good Christmas as i get to enjoy the good company of friends on parties and capping it off with the Midnite Service at the church is just great. What other better way than to remember Christmas's "Love, Peace and Hope" message than to spend it with family and friends. Now only if the nice feeling can continue well off into the new year...

Party till you get high....fever.

Cough..cough. Its been a whirlwind weekend starting from my last minute trip to Jakarta to conduct a meeting with our Indonesian subsidiary to catching the superb Christmas musical "From Heaven's Throne" on Saturday at Agape Seremban (Joeboy's church). On Sunday, all my systems decided to crash and i was down with high fever (still having it at the point of writing). To make things worse, i cant take MC on Monday because i have an all important training to attend and my brain was only functioning at 35% normalcy. But i guess willpower triumphed in the end because i managed to drag my ass of the bed and to work. You know its bad when you still have to go to work no matter how sick you are but its a real tragedy when you have worked for the past 2 years and have not utilized a single MC. Darn...

Angel of Mercy

Been listening to OneRepublic's songs lately. Found this particular song titled "Mercy" quite interesting. The words says it all...

Angel of mercy, how did you find me?
Where did you read my story?
Pulled from the papers, desperate and hurting
Seeking a momentary fix

All I wanted to say, all I wanted to do
Is fall apart now
All I wanted to feel, I wanted to love
It's all my fault now
A tragedy I fear

Angel of mercy, how did you find me?
How did you pick me up again?
Angel of mercy, how did you move me?
Why am I on my feet again?

I see you
Woah woah woah
I feel you
Woah woah woah

Before just the daylight
Came and I stand by
Waiting to catch the quickest plane
To fly me to nowhere
It's better than somewhere
That's where I've been and nothings changed

All I wanted to say. all I wanted to do
Is fall apart now
All I wanted to feel, I wanted to love
It's all my fault now
A tragedy I chose

Angel of mercy, how did you find me?
How did you pick me up again?
Angel of mercy, how did you move me?
Why am I on my feet again?

I see you
Woah woah woah
I feel you
Woah woah woah

I'm so lost in you
A tragedy, it seemed to be over now(x 2)

Angel of mercy, how did you find me?
How did you pick me up again?
Angel of mercy, how did you move me?
Why am I on my feet again?

I see you
Woah woah woah
I feel you
Woah woah woah (x 2)

Today & 28 days later

I wonder what will happen in 28 days time?.....

Thoughts on the modern gentleman

Gentleman, in modern culture the title has become to mean just about everyone, often used just as a polite form to address someone, in order not to offend. However it always seems to imply a certain degree of refinement in behavior and manners. The defining values have changed and keep changing as the society changes. For me the title has become to mean something pure, the ideal balance of zeitgeist and beauty of tradition.

How would you define a gentleman today? as opposed of the classic definition of "A gentleman is one, who without any title, bears a coat of arms, or whose ancestors have been freemen" . To what degree do you think it is something that should be manifested through someones style and taste, ones sartorial choices?

How important would conservative thinking and style be to a gentleman. Is it something that is inherited in his base values or would you consider it rather a restriction of appreciation for eccentricity?

For i believe eccentricity is something vital and personal, a kind of spark that seems to be apparent in many a noted gentleman of the past.

For me the definition of a modern gentleman will be best described by the beautiful quote by John Walter Wayland:

"The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of propriety, and whose self-control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity; who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another; who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power, or boast of his own possessions or achievements; who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy; whose deed follows his word; who thinks of the rights and feelings of others, rather than his own; and who appears well in any company, a man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe."


If that is not enough to ponder, digest the words below and understand the appeal of it to the definition of being a modern gentleman.

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

--Rudyard Kipling