SF's Blog

I have moved !

2013-10-07T01:31:00.001+08:00

7th of October , 2013 marks a very eventful day of my life . For this is the day where I finally got rid of my inner procrastination demon , to actually stand up and take actions . After a few days of confining myself to my room , being anti-social and spending most of my time coding away , I have finally successfully completed one of my proudest masterpiece : Readvolutions.com . The idea of having a new website , with a proper domain and intuitive design have been in my mind for quite some time .Yet , my mind kept playing tricks on me , giving me thousands of excuses to procrastinate . Lack of skills , lack of time , etc etc . Some of it were true , while some are mere imaginary obstacles that I could overcome had I put in a bit more effort .

After much prodding and encouragement by a few friends , I finally mustered enough courage and self-discipline to revamp my website , this time with a proper domain name to which I can proudly call my own website . It was exhilarating , and the whole experience still felt surreal for me . The fact that I , the lazy , procrastinating pig managed to put together a custom designed website in less than a week , totally blew my mind away .

I never thought it was possible . I still think the same way . When i launched the website live today , all I could feel was the apprehension and fear of something not working properly . But at last , it was done . It is finally out in the wild now and you may check it out at www.readvolutions.com . I am extremely proud of this website as this is the first time I put in that much effort into making some personal dream of mine happening . I would no longer be updating this blog . All my new updates can be found in the new website . So , if you have some free time to spare , and feel like visiting it , please feel free to do so . I would greatly appreciate your visits ! ;D

Lastly , for all the readers that have stayed with me throughout this few years . Whether you're a close friend of mine , a hi-bye friend that just happens to want to know more about my life , a blog-hopping stranger who stumbles upon this blog randomly , or even a spammer , THANK YOU , for dropping by .

It has been an amazing ride , and I look forward to continuing this ride with you guys in the new website . See you there ;' )

Regards,

Sau Fei

Simple , Little Things

2013-08-04T21:09:00.003+08:00

" What is value of money ,if it cannot provide you the freedom it promised ? " - Tim Ferris

I am reminded of the quote above when I was reflecting while I was walking just now . I like walking , or rather strolling . Walking takes my minds off many things . And when we are doing it slow , the many racing thoughts in our mind slowed down too , and suddenly , everything became crystal clear .

This week has been a haphazard week . As always , my emotions are riding on that same , ol' rollercoaster again , from the improbable high to the desperate low . Work-wise , more or less I am slowly , but surely adapting to the workloads while struggling to find the right point for the work-life balance ( or as one of my friend puts it , work-life harmony ,simply because the word " balance " connotes some sort of scale , an equality between the two . More often than not , the scale is skewed , hence there can be no balance , only harmony )

This week saw me getting my first salary , spending most of it on my precious tool of refuge ( a Takamine ED10C-ns acoustic guitar ) , and saving the rest after deducting other miscellaneous expenditures . It was my first time spending so much on something that I felt blurs the line of asset and liability ( it could be either one depending on how you utilize it ) , so naturally I was a bit scared and fearful of the consequences .

And it so happens that , the Lobang King ( people with most ways or ideas to get /do something ) among my friend have some ideas to earn money , Big Money . So, I followed along with his ideas . Initially , we won some cash ,but humans being humans , "some" cash was never enough , so we gambled away ( literally ) those cash in hope of getting more ,which ended up in utter disappointment . Oh well , at least there's one less thing in my never-try-before list .

I digressed . So now that we're back to square one , what else is there to do ? Another question that has been bugging me is about the meaning of life . Right now , it seems that I am doing the same thing over and over again . Work - Rest - Work again . It's not necessarily a bad thing as the job itself is quite engaging and I got myself some nice balance / harmony between work and life . Yet , I can't help but feel that something is missing . This is my internship , which is supposed to give me a gist of what "real , working world" would be like . And already I can't wait to graduate and lay the pressure of "not having a degree" off my chest . Early-Life crisis much .

In hope of getting some pressures off , I went to exercise . Exercise is one of those great things that could never do wrong to your body . In fact , I am still perplexed until today that why don't people do exercise . There are almost infinite rewards to be reaped and near to zero cons of exercising . Unless you are diagnosed with some severe ,anti-exercise medical conditions , a normal person literally have no excuse to NOT do exercise . And No , laziness is not an excuse .

Either way , after exercising , I took a slow stroll back to my home . Continuing from the first paragraph of this post , as I was reflecting about the value of money , and listening to the beautiful songs from my playlist , wonderful things started happening . Pacing my steps based on the song's beat , my steps became shorter and slower . Winds started blowing , and the warmth from the sunlight was affectionately tender . The gentle breeze caresses my cheek , and the sufficiently warm rays of light hit my skin , slowly transforming the dull white color into a brown tan . It was the most wonderful moment of my life . These kind of simple pleasures , of knowing that you're alive , you're capable of listening to beautiful music , the closest thing ever to magic , you're capable of feeling the warmth of the sun light , indicating you've your sense of touch , and you're still walking on your own two feet .

Appreciation of nature is a powerful ,therapeutic thing . As cheesy as it may be , we should really take times off whatever busy schedules that we have to appreciate the little things in life . This magical experience made me think twice about my goals in life . Is money really everything there is to this world ? No , it is mere means to achieve my goals . But then again , what is my true goal(s) then ?

I probably won't find the answer to that question anytime soon , but I am sure I will be able to find it someday . And I guess , paying attention more to those simple , little pleasures of life , relax a bit and thinking slow sometimes will definitely help point me towards the right direction ;) .

And to dear readers , I wish you all a happy week ahead :) Let tomorrow's Monday not be Monday Blues , but rather A Happy Monday , Bubbly Monday , or Chocolate Marshmallow Monday even ? Just Not Blue . Also , do take some time off , to be more attentive towards the little things that happen in life . Watch them happen , Appreciate them . Wonderful things may happen ;)

“Slow Dance:
Have you ever watched kids, On a merry-go-round? Or listened to the rain, Slapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight? Or gazed at the sun into the fading night? You better slow down. Don't dance too fast. Time is short. The music won't last. Do you run through each day, On the fly? When you ask: How are you? Do you hear the reply? When the day is done, do you lie in your bed, With the next hundred chores, Running through your head? You'd better slow down, Don't dance too fast. Time is short, The music won't last. Ever told your child we'll do it tomorrow? And in your haste, Not see his sorrow? Ever lost touch, Let a good friendship die, Cause you never had time, To call and say Hi? You'd better slow down. Don't dance so fast. Time is short. The music won't last. When you run so fast to get somewhere, You miss half the fun of getting there. When you worry and hurry through your day, It is like an unopened gift thrown away. Life is not a race. Do take it slower. Hear the music, Before the song is over.”
― Timothy Ferriss, The 4-Hour Workweek

Internship @ PiktoChart

2013-06-30T17:19:00.002+08:00

It's been a while . Things have gotten pretty hectic lately . After the memorable semester spent at National University of Singapore , finally it's time for my dreaded internship . I use the term "dreaded" loosely here because from the stories my seniors and other friends that have went through internship been telling me , apparently their perception about internship can swing both sides . One side is about how as an intern , you will be able to learn a lot of stuff , but as exchange , in the first few weeks , you will be having shitloads of works , hardship and indescribable amount of stress . In other words , you will be exploited as slave , yet you if you endured that period of hardship , the rewards will be tremendous . On another hand , there are people who finished their internship period learning practically nothing , getting treated more as an office boy , doing miscellaneous stuff .

Well , for my part , I would definitely prefer to be somewhere in between . Learning a lot of stuff , while still having some freedom of time to do my own stuffs . Fortunately , this is exactly what my internship offers . For the uninitiated , I have had the pleasure of doing my interns at a high-growth startup company called PiktoChart . Basically , it's a company that develops software that help ordinary people ( like you and me ) to create infographics easily . The company's motto basically sums it up nicely : " We make information beautiful " . If you still don't get what an infographic is , well here's a nice little infographic that tells you what infographic is :

Nicely presented huh ? Moving right along . So , what's so good ( and not so good maybe ? ) about the company that I am interning now ?

Well , first of all , it features a flat hierarchy of organization ( which is really RARE in the organizations nowadays , almost non-existent in multinational companies ) . Everyone is treated equally ( almost ) , and the boss will even have lunch with the employees together . But of course , basic manners and respect towards your seniors are expected , as well as the fundamental rules and regulations .

My workplace . Ubuntu = Developer's best friend .

There are many good points about this company . For example , colleagues are friendly and awesome . The boss , and co-boss are friendly and surprisingly cool . ( Trust me , you will never expect that kind of boss ) . For those who are used to strict regulations , formal attires and silent workplace , you will need some time to adjust to it . Because this is not your regular workplace .

Why , the first day of work , I was told that the attire is casual , and so I wore a T shirt with jeans and covered shoes . It came as an absolute surprise when I walked in , as I saw some of my colleagues wearing T shirts with short pants and slippers . How freaking cool is that ?

ze osem massage chair !

Oh yeah , in here we have lots of entertainments as well to help you de-stress . Our meeting room is filled with bean bags and have x-box 360 , wii and if I am not mistaken , I saw a ps2 lying around somewhere waiting to be set up . If that doesn't impress you , we have a massage chair as well , lest you desire some massages to loosen up your tensions and stress . There are also coffee powders and lots of other beverages to quench your thirst , all courtesy of the company ( A really nice gesture there ) . All work and no play make Jack a dull boy . Well, Jack would love to work here for sure .

The company culture here is quite quirky , in a good way . Employees will randomly take the balls lying around in the office and throw it to the basketball hoop that are attached to the wall , just for the heck of it . It kinda reminds me of Googleplex in some way ,which is a really good thing , because this mean that this company is definitely heading down the right path .

In a environment where creativity and innovation are much needed , a fun and less stressful environment will definitely help much more than the standard , rigid , tightly regulated environment in the older , big companies .

Tired ? Lethargic ? Get yourself energized with a sip of coffee / tea

As Peter Drucker , the father of Organization Management once said " They are not employees , they are people " . And from what I can see so far , there are no employees in the company , only a bunch of friendly people in a close-knitted community that serves a common goal - for the betterment of company .

Nevertheless , the first week of work is indeed quite challenging , as it should be . I have had the pleasure of knowing some great people and learning new stuff . Now , my only hope is to adept to it quickly and hopefully be able to learn things faster enough to be able to contribute and help my colleagues . Obviously , as with many things in life , the first time you are venturing into something new , things are never quite like a bed of roses , but if there are anything close to it , I would say that my experience so far would definitely fit the bill .

The Mario decoration made up entirely by post-it notes + the basketball hoop !

Cheers to a better tomorrow @PiktoChart ( The " Google " of Penang ) ;)

Another Beginning .

2013-05-19T00:49:00.002+08:00

" To my dearest TF scholars , please do not be sad that you are leaving , as this is not a farewell , but rather just a short separation that will only make our bonds stronger when we meet again " , said the little angel of our TF family on her speech . This was followed by a lot other inspiring and touching speeches , but that quote of hers especially , was etched deeply into my mind , stirring powerful emotions that almost bring me to tears .

Then it struck me , it was the end of my exchange semester . It was time to part with the people whom I have called family for the past few months , to part with the futuristic looking campuses , and the fascinating urban metropolis in Singapore which I have grown familiar with .

Our last event ended at 3 pm , however , then the day seems to pass by in a blur . I remember vaguely about taking countless pictures , seeing lots of tears , making promises to meet again soon , rushing back to pack my stuffs and get ready to leave at 7 pm . My bus was scheduled to depart at 10 pm , and the journey to the bus terminal was supposed to take only 1 hour , but I chose to depart earlier for fear of missing the bus and because I do not know exactly where the bus terminal is .

Some of my friends accompanied me on the way to the bus stop to send me off , and I am very grateful for that ( Thanks Boon Siong , Elin , Dan and Victor ! ) . The plan was to take a 196 smrt bus to the Lavender MRT , then to walk to the Golden Miles Bus Terminal . When we arrived at the bus stop , the 196 has already arrived . However , I chose to skip this bus and wait for another 196 bus because I felt bad leaving them so abruptly when they had taken the time to send me off . And it turns out to be the right choice .

Apparently , the second bus driver was a Malaysian as well , and after engaging in a conversation , he told me that his bus will pass by Golden Miles as well , and I don't have to change to MRT and to walk a longer distance to reach there . What a blessing in disguise . Also , there's another uncle in the bus that helps with my luggage and keeping me fascinated ( and humbled as well ) by his stories . Then , it struck me . How incredibly blessed I am to be surrounded by good people .

By the time I got to the bus terminal , I was 1 hour earlier ( like what you mentioned , Boon Siong , I went way too early haha :P ) . Yet , I was grateful , for I have more time to reflect and ponder upon what has transpired over this semester . I took a bus that will take 10 hours long back home . Some of you might ask why ? When it's so much more convenient and less time-consuming by flight . Aside from being more cost-effective , I loved taking bus back home because it gives me a lot of time to reflect about my entire experience and pen them into thoughts . Besides , 10 hours passes by a lot faster when you know you are riding a bus back home . I relished looking at the clock , when every hour past means that I am closer to home .

Looking back , it has been a long journey indeed . But as one of our talented TF scholar( Muthest ) puts it " it seems just like yesterday that we just touched down on Singapore , looking for our hostel and trying to settle in " . But one check at the calender reminds us of the reality , that 4.5 months has just whizzed by . Time do seem to fly when we were having fun .

It was a mixed bundle of emotions recalling the memories I had in Singapore . Before I came to Singapore , one of the most distinctive rumors that I have heard are that Singaporeans are very kiasu ( scared to lose ) and kiasi ( scared to die ) . Well well , it turns out to be the furthest thing away from truth . Singaporeans are some of the friendliest people around , provided that you talk to them . Show them some love, and they will most likely reciprocate with much more love . Eventhough it's takes just a ride across the Causeway , it felt like completely brand new world once you're in Singapore . A lot of comparison has been made between Malaysia and Singapore , about how similar both countries are ,but after I have experienced it for myself , I would disagree .

There are a lot of stuffs that are distinctively Singaporean in a way that Malaysia could never hope to imitate or rival ( as of now ) . Such as the perfectly streamlined system of public transportation , a remarkably organized way of arranging the buildings , a decent civil service system , and of course , the high presence of foreigners . Due to the last factor , if one wants to have some International exposure , don't bother going far . Singapore is just fine for you . A case in point , during this exchange semester , I have made friends with Canadians , Thais , Filipinos , Bruneian , Australian , and etc . It's amazing how these people can co-exist together , creating a unique cultural melting pot , that's truly International .

Also , due to this TF LeaRN programme that I am in , not only did I have the opportunity to travel and explore every nook and cranny of Singapore , this programme have also enabled me to bond closer with friends from around the South East Asia region , or as how the Director of the this program aptly said " Enables you to forge closer ties with the future leaders of ASEAN " .

This programme also includes some mandatory community services , which enabled me and my fellow scholars to get down and interact with the community grassroots leaders and learn hands on about how to provider support to maintain a sustainable community services . Oh , and it also taught me that most Singapore community services , will give you a lot of goodie bags if you participate in it ( Most of them containing dri-fit T shirts too , so don't worry about having less clothes in Singapore , just join some community services ! )

I digressed . But apart from all the picturesque scenery , the luxurious , super nice facilities and amenities in my campus , above all of them , one thing that stood out in my memories , is the kindness and hospitality shown by fellow Singaporeans . It is the one thing that will struck me most if I were asked to talk about my Singaporean experience . I hereby express my sincerest gratitude to you all , Singaporeans or not , who have provided me with a jolly fun ride in this Lion City .

Also , to my TF Scholars , it's been such an honor meeting you guys ! Let's gather back in 5 years and make new memories ( as Victor proposed ) . To all of you who I have the pleasure of meeting and befriends of in Singapore , know this , it is truly a blessing knowing you guys . I will definitely be back again soon , and when I do , if time and space allows it , let's meet up and catch up :) Time may pass , and our memories may fade , but the bond we forged will last forever and ever . Thank You for everything , Singapore .

Never Ending Dream

2013-03-06T01:07:00.002+08:00

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 .

When in Doubt, Trust your instinct .

2013-02-28T01:02:00.001+08:00

I love doing random , impulsive things . Really , I do . When you do an impulsive stuff , the adrenaline surge that comes from those sudden decisions are unbelievably exciting . In my life so far , in all the times I did something random and impulsive ( no matter how stupid , selfish and devoid of rational or logical thoughts ) most of the time , I never regret doing them . In fact , more often than not , they turned out to be very fulfilling experiences in the end . Today's journey doesn't disappoint either .

***

I woke up to at 9.00 am to a clear , blue sky , without any idea or plans for today at all . The stark contrast between the crystal clear sky and the humid, cooling atmosphere forces me to choose between waking up to reality , or shut the curtain and continue indulging in my sweet dreams , accompanied by the cool weathers . In the end , the glaring sunlight won me over . I had too much sleep already anyway .

Though it seems like another nice day ( it finally stopped raining ! ) , my heart was still troubled with some annoying problems . The root of this problem started two days before this . Two days ago , I went to a Leadership / Service Workshop at National Community Leadership Institute ( NACLI ) as a part of the program organized by my Temasek Foundation (TF LeaRN) scholarship , that was responsible for making my exchange to Singapore possible .

While it was a nice experience being in a 2 days / 1 night workshop , there are some inconveniences that we have to live with , the major one being difficulties to wi-fi access . However , at that time , I thought that it wasn't a major problem as what harm can 2 days without Internet connection do right ? Wrong ! Dead Wrong !

Life have a strange way of trolling people . When I was with my internet connection 24/7 and having the luxury of checking e-mails and keeping in touch with others most of the time , nothing important that requires internet happened . Right when I did not have that connection for just a night , a very important e-mail came .

The truth is , for the past few weeks , I have been eyeing for the internship position at Microsoft Malaysia / Singapore and thus have applied for them both . Although I did not have the opportunity to work with the Singapore branch , I was still waiting for answers from the Malaysia counterpart . They did not reply me for the past few weeks , until the day that I did not have my Internet connection .

Long story cut short , apparently , I was lucky enough to be selected for an assessment event in KL , but UNFORTUNATELY , I was also unlucky enough to miss that event because I was unable to read that email until when I came back from the workshop and have access to internet . By then , it's already too late , as it was like around 1 hour left till the event in KL , and I am still in my hostel here in NUS .

Ray of hope

However , it seems that fate has another thing in store for me . As I always believe , if anyone really wanted something very badly , somehow , the universe will conspire to grant him/her their wish . And indeed , there seems to be some glimpse of hope left for me . As one of my seniors were working for Microsoft already , I consulted him and he told me that there's a same assessment event going on today ( 27/2/2013 ) . However , I have to bear in mind that I wasn't invited for this event , so I need to confirm with the authorities concerned .

So , I tried various ways of contacting the people in charge ( spamming by emails , calls , messages ) , but to no avail as none of my attempts were responded . Finally , the day of judgement came , today !

Question :
What will you do if you have no confirmation , invitation or any form of acknowledgement whatsoever but you just know that there's this important assessment interview that will be going on this particular venue , and you know that if somehow you got the job , your life will change , forever ?

***

At this point , I was still being very hesitant . I checked up on the net and consulted my friends who are studying in Johor ( THANKS ZHAO WEI ! ) and found out that a bus ride to Johor from Singapore would only take 1 hour ( factoring a moderate traffic condition ) . But , obviously , it wouldn't be only 1 hour if I take into account the travel time needed to go from my campus to the bus interchange station and hundred other complications that might occur .

First of all , being the realist I was , I have to consider the worst case scenario and weigh in the pros and cons . Given the bad reputation of safety and other negative images that Malaysia have been portraying , it is a bit intimidating even for locals like me to go there alone . What if I got robbed in the journey to or fro there ? What if I lost my passport ? What if I cannot find the way there ? And the thousand what ifs fears continue to cloud my mind .

Nevertheless , all of those are mere possibilities . Though ,I was still safe and sound after coming back from there , but at that time , possibilities made it hard to make a decision . So , I was sitting in front of laptop , still waiting for a reply from the person in charge or any signs or indications from higher authorities in the universe to give me . It was quickly approaching 12 noon . Decisions have to be made . And then the sign arrived . I told one of my friend ( THANKS BOON SIONG :D ) about my case , and he said something of this line : " Ai yo , you only live once ma , why so scared ? Try la , no harm ! "

This , coupled with the "gao bin pui" ( Thick face or shameless in hokkien ) and YOLO advice by my other friend , I mustered the courage to act and Hola , I decided to go there ,without ever being there before , not knowing how to go there ( I just have some instructions from then net and my friend ) , not knowing where exactly is the place located ( Johor is a really big state in Malaysia , and the place I am going to isn't exactly the easiest place to find ) , and the biggest question of all , not even knowing whether or not the people there will allow me to go in for turning up uninvited .

***

The whole journey turned out to be one of the best , most liberating journey I ever had in my life . Not only was I accepted for the assessment interview event , I had the pleasure of meeting a few great people along the journey . On the way from Singapore to Johor , I met a good , middle-aged working man who was more than willing to guide me to into Johor , since he was coincidentally going back to Johor too . When you put two Malaysians together , chances are , you will most likely get an interesting conversation regarding the political bickerings and the effectiveness of the government ( more like condemning all the mistakes and irresponsible actions of the government and discussion about how bleak the future of Malaysians will be in the future ) . I had fun hearing perspectives from someone who have moved on to the greener pasture at the other side . According to him , almost 20% of the Malaysia workforce are working in Singapore , and obviously , the number is not gonna decrease any time soon .

Being in a foreign place without knowing any people nearby is scary , much more so if you're alone . Usually , being the stingy guy that I am , I wouldn't even bother with the taxis . This coupled with the really bad haggling reputation of Malaysian taxi drivers , I have decided earlier not to take any cab . However , with the lack of time and inability to discern directions in a foreign place being the problem , I have no choice but to turn to the taxi drivers ( the one with vouchers , where I only have to pay a fixed , flat rate , so it will be safer ) . It was quite an expensive ride , but I guess it was worth it in the end , since the place I was supposed to go to ( University Technology Malaysia ) , is really huge ( I later found out that it's the 2nd largest local university in Malaysia ) and I would definitely die walking or getting lost should I try to walk and find the place .

Taking the taxi there made me realize that some of the taxi drivers will actually go for an extra mile for you , granted that you speak to them in local dialect ( The taxi driver was so happy when I spoke to him in BM and he continued to talk to me the entire 30 minutes about his life, when we reached the university , he went the extra mile to fetch me to the particular venue instead of only leaving me at the main gate , which is what he can do , given that the destination only specifies the University and not the faculty inside the university ) . However , the same could not be said for their attitudes towards foreigners . I saw first hand , how some of the taxi drivers try to coerce the foreigners into hiring two taxis because of their big luggage bags .

Finally in the end , I managed to get to that particular venue and successfully participated in the assessment event . Along the way , some kind souls volunteered to guide me to the venue in fear of me getting lost in that awful big campus . And it turns out that RM 30 taxi fare was worth it too , as I end up hitchhiking back on the interviewer's car ( Talk about how shameless one can get ! But ya , I was really desperate and the interviewers are freaking awesome ! ) .

The super cool intern team of Microsoft MACH , POWER TEAM :D

The kind soul ( riding the motor ) who was willing to guide me to the particular venue even though he could just offer me directions . Thank God for Good people !

I guess I have to say that , I am really LUCKY after all . Somehow , I made it back safe and sound . I went to somewhere completely foreign to me , not knowing what to expect , alone and somehow I ended up coming back with a very fantastic experience ! I guess the lesson here is to believe in your instinct when reasoning fails :) Obviously , doing something without putting any thoughts in it is stupid . However , sometimes , even with all the calculations and reasoning justifying some action , they can only take you so far . Often , the best results often come with the course of action that came from your natural instincts . Therefore , I would say , hone your instincts , and trust them , for they can take you to unimaginably , exciting places . Don't always be bounded by rules and regulations , confined within an imaginary box of logical and rationality , there are always alternatives to something , as the proverbial think out of the box suggests .

May all of you have the courage and opportunity to do something impulsive , and hopefully they turned out to be great too :) All the best , people ! :)

* Thank Lord for Good People ! To all the kind souls today that helped me , may all of you be blessed with abundant bundle of joy , happiness and prosperity ! Keep on doing those random act of kindness , you guys rocks ! *

Microsoft's USB Hub Gift :D

Level 5000 Monster Master Module

2013-02-21T16:37:00.002+08:00

The freshness of the morning breeze , the gentle light of the sun , it's a new morning , a new beginning once again . I had a nice surprise when I found out that Chinese Fried Rice + Hash brown are being served from the Asian Corner of the Dining Hall this morning , a usual deviation from the normal noodles + veges set . A few hours later , after attending an awesome philosophy lecture and having a fantastic meal of Katsu Curry Chicken Rice + Honey Lemon Tea for lunch , it seems like the most wonderful day of my life . Everything is perfect.

Heaven in disguise .

However , things weren't like that for the past few days . In retrospect , the past few days have been an emotional roller coaster trip to hell back and forth for quite some time . " Dude, you are abusing the term emotional roller coaster ! You're using it way too muchh, SF ! " , you whined . Yes , I admit that , but I just can't help it . My life is really full of those roller coaster trips . Nothing just seems to stay still . Anyway , back to the story . Past few days have seen me burning midnight oils ( the Singaporeans call it mugging here ) , studying things way past my normal level of comprehension , struggling to understand things that are very complicated and abstract .

Why , you might ask ? It wasn't the noble reason of wanting to learn more , attaining knowledge and etc . Neither was it because I am competitive and adapting to the 'kiasu' ( not willing to lose to others ) spirit much practiced in Singapore . And obviously it wasn't for the purpose of killing time ( studying would only be high in my priority list if I am having insomnia and trying to find a way to sleep ) . SO WHY in hell am I doing it ? The reason is simple . For the sole purpose of solving one damn assignment .

And it's no normal assignment I assure you , for even after nights of mugging and consulting Dr Google , I STILL HAVE NO IDEA about how to even start doing it at all ! And desperate times calls for desperate needs . This is when networking ( people networking ) comes in handy . I had to reach out with some masters students in my faculty here to ask for help . But it was awkward. Super awkward . Imagine going to someone you never talked to before and weren't close to at all and say " Help please ? " . Of course , the actual situation wasn't as dramatic as this but well , close enough I guess.

And that's when I realized it . After looking at the assignment question , he started scratching his head and with a puzzled look , inquired me " Hmm.. aren't you an undergrad ? " , to which I said yes . After that it hit me . He told me that this module I am taking , CS5321 to be precise , is a module that are meant for masters or phd students . I was stunned , stoned even . Apparently , the first number on the left ( 5 in this case ) indicates the level of difficulty of the module , and this is a level 5000 module , which are taken only by masters and phd students . Subsequently , I inquired further and consulted with other local students , and all of them said the same thing : Level 5000 modules have like 90% failing rates , even for masters and phd students . Their responses upon learning that I am taking it ? " Extremely Insane " , " Crazy la you " , " Suicide case " , " CONFIRM FAIL WAN LA " and of course , the ever so popular " LOL " . Yes folks , it's crazy , a level 5000 mod , with an extremely high failing rate , difficult even for masters and phd students , and I , me , a mere undergrad is challenging it and hoping to get at least B ( for the sake of maintaining the scholarship ) . Nuts.

I was offered a few advice from various people. But most of them fall in between these two categories , I could either " Challenge the status quo and be the genius who scores " or " Drop the module and get another one " . I chose the latter . In a way , I am running away from this and I am not afraid of admitting it . I know that if I chose to stay and challenge it . I might actually be one of those rare genius and succeed , subsequently being much more wiser and stronger after this episode . But I know myself well enough to know that I would be put under tremendous stress and pressure , with only a slight chance of succeeding . I hated that . I have never been the studious type and I believe that there's a limit in pushing yourself to be what you are not . I trust that should I continue to challenge it , inevitably I would fail and end up falling deeper into the pit of darkness and embarrassment . Thus , I ran . And it turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made.

***
The first thing I did immediately was to check for a new module to enroll in , because there's a minimum of 3 modules that I need to take , and if I were to drop the module , I would only have 2 modules left. And it wasn't an easy decision . Since this is already week 6 , enrolling in a new module now would mean that I have already skipped 5 weeks of lecture and need to catch up . But I thought , what the heck , it's much better than having a guaranteed fail right ? I remember there was this module called Introduction to Philosophy that caught my attention last time , recommended by a friend.

So , I chose that module. Nevertheless , it wasn't so easy once more . It's not like if I wanted this module , I could easily add it , no . Seeing that it's already week 6 , I need to find the lecturer in charge , have him/her endorse my enrollment and pass it to the departments concerned. Now , at this point of time , I was frankly , quite desperate , nervous , and scared altogether . The fear of failing and having to pay back the scholarship was slowly swallowing me up whole . So , I did the craziest thing ever.

Now , usually when it comes to formal application like this , the standard textbook procedure calls for a proper appointment with the lecturers concerned through email , and then consultation with department heads , then only handing in of the applications to the Registrar's Office . However , as I mentioned , I was quite desperate , so I skipped all the proper procedures and just went straight to the lecturer's office after looking up his office address .

It was so exhilarating ! Bloods are rushing to my head , my heart skipping a beat or two , and adrenaline are no doubt , pumping . As I knocked on the door of the lecturer's office , knowing nothing about him at all , thousand thoughts raced through my mind . What if he thinks I am rude ? What if he rejects me ? What ifs .. There are so many what ifs . The only emotions that I had at that point of time were trepidation and anxiety of not knowing what to expect .

Suddenly , a light baritone voice replied " Yes ? Who's there ? " . I replied with a slight quiver in my voice " Prof.. Prof Michael Pelczar ? Can I come in ? " . " Yes " comes the stern and confident reply . And there he was , an unassuming and confident looking figure , a middle-aged man sitting comfortably on his chair staring at me with a piercing glance . I was still very nervous and with whatever courage I could muster , blurted out my predicament in a stuttered manner , with a lot of urms and ehh in between the pauses . It was miracle he managed to understand me .

One of the coolest , steadiest lecturer in NUS !

After the entire awkward situation , he let out a hearty laugh and told me that it's okay , he will endorse my application and do something about the past lectures that I missed . It was so amazingly surreal . Normally , you would expect a lecturer , a PHD Doctorate holder , a person at that stature to be more .. how should I put it , formality conscious ? more suspicious or even doubtful and not endorse something so easily . But he , he just laughs it off and say something that goes along this line " Sounds like you are having quite a lot of trouble there . This is a bit of an awkward situation but alright , I will endorse this application first and we will see what we can do with the past few lessons that you missed " . If angels do exist , he must be one of them in disguise .

At that point , I kept on repeating in my mind these words " Thank Lord for Good people ! " . And with that , I am officially enrolled in his lecture of Intro of Philosophy , which is an amazingly thought-provoking course in its own right , coupled with this exuberant and charismatic lecturer , there was no doubt in my mind that I made the correct choice !

The heaviness and stress of studying something that you are not that passionate on , complicated beyond your level being replaced by inquisitiveness and eagerness to learn something new that you are interested is. That experience is priceless . Also ,this whole episode has just strongly reinforced my belief that if you truly wants something very badly , somehow , someway , the universe will conspire to help you achieve it , GRANTED that you actually go out and reach for it of course ! :D . Nevertheless , it was still just a new beginning and there are bounds to be more obstacles and challenges ( as well as more emotional roller coasters I guess ) that will be present in the near future as well . But for now , I am just glad and grateful I survived this episode . Hopefully , it can only get better from now on . Wish me luck , peeps !

Of Steve Jobs , Amway and Seniors

2013-02-04T16:13:00.004+08:00

These past few days have been another huge emotional roller-coaster ride for me . I expected that much . The initial high of reaching a new foreign country with a lot of expectations , led by outburst of tears due to the realization that my life is never gonna be the same again after this ( I will not be able to stay with my same roommate , living in the same hostel with other friends and attend classes with my present coursemates ) , subsequently followed by the mundane routines after finally settling in . It has been one hell of a ride out of my comfort zone , that's for sure .

But then again , isn't that what I asked for at the first place ?

***
In the recent days , after finally settling in NUS , another train of thoughts began to arrive .
Great , now I am in most prestigious university in Singapore , now what ?

I always believed that if you want something so badly , the universe will conspire to make it happen . And of course there's a quote that tells you to be careful of what you wish for . This is the best case in point that proves my belief . I used to think that if given a few months of solitary life , with me fixing my own schedules and timetable for at least 3 months or so , catering the schedule to my whimsical demands to be as productive as possible ( Think back of the old school timetable that every hour is filled with a subject , e.g 10 am to 12 am : Maths , and so forth , replace those subjects with the things that you want to learn ) , and adhering to that strict schedule , I could achieve ANYTHING . So , I asked for that freedom of time and space . And I got exactly what I wanted .

Well , not really that perfect . The fact is , I still need to allocate time for my studies , which isn't too bad because I was partly still interested in the subjects I am taking . Nevertheless , besides my schooling days and having the need to complete tutorials , assignments and studying for exam , I still have a lot of time left , I reckon . So what do I did with those freedom of space and time ?

First of all , readings . A lot of readings . I am not really a studious type by nature , but I am really interested in non-fiction books , especially biography books about successful person or books that offer personal and practical insights that will help in my self-improvement journey . On that note , I would like to highlight that the Central Library in NUS is such a amazing treasure trove of knowledge . They have all the most fantastic books that you won't expect to find in conventional Library . Case in point : Steve Job's autobiography by Walter Isaacson ! I literally wanted to scream when I saw it in the library . Immediately , I borrowed it without hesitation and found out that even us , the exchange students are allowed to borrowed up to a maximum of 20 books , and we can literally borrow them forever ( provided that we keep renewing them and no one reserved the books ) .

The whole experience was fantastic , and this book was a good read for sure . Turning into such books for my entertainment , I found great joy in partially living Jobs life through Isaacson's narrative . After reading it , a lot of thoughts raced through my mind . While I enjoyed the charismatic salesman side of him and also his infectious passion in getting things done , his way , I am not really a fan of his fastidious personality , especially when it concerns an trivial matter such as the colours of machines in his factory . Jobs' reality distortion field especially is a very noteworthy ability that is a recurrent theme that contributed to his stellar achievements . And then there's his binary mentality where everyone is either a hero , or a bozo ( US slang for someone stupid . or in Steve's word , piece of shit ) .

In reading this book , there are times where I would really feel he's a jerk , and there are times where I would unceremoniously be blown away by what he did .However , after finishing this book , no matter how much you read about his misdeeds and his jerkish attitude , there's no way anyone can deny that Steve Job has indeed leaved a lasting legacy and in his own words , has " put a dent in the universe" . It's an amazing journey and I am deeply touched by his life story . I can't help but to ponder and draw comparisons between our lives . He achieved his first millions around my age , and has been able to live out his dreams and stay true to it throughout his entire life . What am I doing ? or a more abstract question would be , what are we doing with our lives ?

This leads us to the second thing that I have been doing of late : day dreaming . It's in most people's nature to day dream , to ponder and wonder about everything under the sun when given the time and space to do so . I happened to be one of those people . With the newly acquired freedom of time ( only 2 schooling days per week ) and space ( each of us live in a single room in our hostel ) , the more imaginative and creative side of me took over whenever possible and I indulged in my dreams , ambitions and all sorts of imagination possible. Reading books like the above mentioned ones just served to intensify and flourishes those thoughts . I would be thinking of how to leave my own mark in this world , how I would be able create my own reality distortion field, and many more silly and too embarrassing things to be mentioned in this blog .

But I relishes every second , every moment spent in this solitary confine in between four corners of the room . The solitary moments spent here gave me ample time to reflect , to learn , and ultimately improve myself to reach a greater height . In the previous posts , I have posted before about the power of introvert . And I strongly believe that only when an introvert's alone , he is at the peak of his creativity and learning capability . Yet, sometimes I would be itching to use those extra time to go out and work , earn some money and hopefully learn something .

This brings us to my first foray into business in Singapore ( sort of ) . I was introduced to this business by one of my good seniors back in my home university . He was telling me about this great business opportunity and he has a partner in Singapore that is eager to meet me to explain about this business . I asked him is it multi-level marketing (mlm) ? To be more specific , I asked if it was Amway . He did not reply me but merely hinted that it was a nice opportunity . Oh well , when facts and figures failed , I guess you just have to rely on trust . Trust I did . Being the opportunist that I am , and tempted by the prospect of earning some part time income ( in singapore dollar , no less ) , I went for it.

And it turned out to be Amway , or more specifically Amway Global . The moment that supposedly very successful businesswoman started dishing out the standard operating procedure (sop) , I knew it straight away that it was a mlm . For the uninitiated , the sop of mlm basically goes something like this :
1) They ask you about your dream , coaxing you to think about the prospect of having your
dreams fulfilled , without trading your precious time for money
2) They tell you the "reality" of the working environment now , harsh ,retrenchment , insecurity ,
etc
3) They tell you to imagine how their mlm can help you , by introducing you the concept of
passive income , buying from your own stores.. and etc.

Or something similar . You see , the less adept mlm salesman sells products , while the more capable , adroit ones sell dreams . More often than not , the salesman that sells dreams and knows how to manipulate the mindset of the customers are the one that are successful.

Even I was nearly coaxed into their trap . But then again , I wouldn't say that mlm is a scam too . In fact , I myself have been a mlm marketer , an Amway distributor in the past . I was first introduced about this mlm concept back in 2010 by a distant friend . Eversince then , I knew it wouldn't work for me , not at this age at least .

You see , in order to succeed in a multi-level marketing business , which works like a pyramid scheme , you have to achieve either one of these 2 things :
1) Be on top of the pyramid , i.e be one of the early pioneers
2) Get a lot of downlines that will continuously fund your income.

No matter how much they sugarcoat and disguise the mlm as a "beautiful" business , and telling people that they are doing a "noble" job to educate people to buy from their own stores ( amway case ) , the reality is this : This is a business , and a business's core function is to be profitable . There could never be a win-win situation , where everyone profits and the company itself is hemorrhaging money . No , this is a business . So , this being the case , what are the sources of revenues for mlm then ? In the case of Amway , their main source of revenues are the weekly seminars , meetings , and monthly gathering of all hardcore pro-Amway supporters in a luxurious venue , showcasing all the already successful pioneers .

In fact , I was really shocked by the cult-like status that Amway have gained with their brainwashed zombies lookalike supporters when I first attend an Amway meeting . An even more surprising fact is that there are highly educated people such as doctors , lawyers and other trained professionals supporting this business . I can only conclude two things based on this observation , people who are doing Amway are either one of these two types :

1) Naive , young people who have been brainwashed to genuinely believe that MLM type of
business is the best business to "help" liberate others and themselves from their suffering
and dependency of money .
2) Realistic business people who have no concerns for their conscience or guilt feelings
whatsoever who are willing to preach the wrong things and coax them into joining the
business and continuously "maintain" them to fund their living .

Don't get me wrong . I am not condemning the mlm or saying that it's a scam or anything . It's a real , legal business alright , and one that can return a handsome profit if being done correctly too . However , I would just like to point out the fact that a business is a business , and mlm is a business of coaxing people into paying for your living . No doubt some Amway products are nice and of great quality . If you're a great fan of its products , it's perfectly fine to buy them and use them for your own sake . However , it is when someone started selling this idea to others and coax them into taking money out to buy those audio cds , books , attending seminars , meetings and etc , all that under the false pretext of "helping them" , that is when things get ugly . Personally , I find it disgusting and sickening . The true nature of this business is after all getting people below you ( downlines ) to pay for your lifestyle . Otherwise , how will the money come about ?

The "motivational" cds , books , seminars , meetings and other miscellaneous events are merely clever marketing gimmicks which are meant to take the money out of your pocket and put it into theirs. Personally , I feel that if you truly wanted advice and motivations , you can just find them in the web , or go confide with a close friend or so . You don't really have to waste money attending talks to "empower" you temporarily . Oh well , but that's my opinion anyway.

In one of the lectures that I have attended lately , my lecturer pointed out a very important point in doing business , that is , we have to understand that everybody have different operating ranges . For example , one person who is ideal for managing small start-up companies may not be ideal in being the CEO of a multi national company . Similarly , someone who is already born to be self-motivated might not understand why people needs to attend talks to be motivated .

On a separate note , there are some silver linings behind the cloud . If it wasn't for this business proposal , I wouldn't possibly be meeting a direct senior of mine ( senior who already graduated from the same university who took the same course as me last time ) who are working in Singapore now . And this meeting would be the trigger of a chain of events that will lead to me having a kick start of fulfilling one of my dream of interning in a multinational company here .

Dang , I love good people . I love great seniors . Ultimately , I love how life seems to already have a good plan for me , just waiting for me to really set my mind on it and shows me the road that I am supposed to walk on . In a way , I am crafting my own future , by passionately wishing for what I want . That being said , I am loving every single moment of my life now , and I have no doubts that it would only be better . For now , I can only keep on waiting and wishing that my dreams and ambitions will be fulfilled , and the universe will do the rest , I guess ?

Here's to a brighter , better future . Oh yeah , to all of you beloved readers , Happy Chinese New Year in advance ! Gong Xi Fa Cai , Hong Pao Na lai * give me your red packets ! hehe * ! Here's a fancy video to brighten your day :) Thank Lord for good people . :)

My NUS journey

2013-01-20T21:30:00.001+08:00

I woke up early to the sound of the pouring rain . It was 7 am in the morning , and I was supposed to have breakfast provided by the compulsory meal plan here . The night before , after I have come to terms with my home sickness , I have decided to wake up early today and have the breakfast . But , it was raining . So , I did what most average people in their right mind would do : Go back to sleep .

***

The next time I woke up , it's already 12 pm . It's amazing how fast time could pass by when you sleep . It's almost like a time-travelling tool , to the future . Just one nap and bang , 5 hours gone , just like that ! I raised the curtain up the window and looked outside .

The view from my window.

The view across my window is yet another condominium-like hostel , complete with balcony that was filled with a barbell set , a coffee table and other miscellaneous equipment . This wasn't the standard of living you would expect an university student would have , though my friends told me that it might be a professor's house or a married couple's apartment .Such is the luxury of accommodation that they offer here. Of course , the price does not come cheap . I am staying in a single bedroom apartment that costs around $500 per month .. in that respect , one can only imagine what would the cost of the apartment , fully furnished , and come equipped with balcony would be . * $hudder$*

Since it was a weekend , and I haven't officially started my schooling term yet , I decided to explore nus by walking around the campus .The love of walking and exploring new places was ingrained in me since young . Since walking is the most ancient means of transportation from one place to another , and also since it's the most cost effective one ( i.e FREE ) , I love it . It would be the best way to explore and get to know every nook and cranny of NUS. Though , life seems to always has a way of messing up with my schedules , and this time it did it by raining , again . Still I was obstinately persistent . So, I went out , with an umbrella and still by walking .

Inevitably , the atmosphere was anything but comfortable , walking on a rainy day on a muddy road , where splashes of waters bouncing off the floor would hit your leg as you walk . In retrospect , it was my fault because I was wearing a short pants with a slipper rather than long pants and covered shoes . Oh well ...

***
Anyhow , here's a summary of what I have found out in NUS after a 2 days of exploring it.

First thing's first . Singapore is a super modern country . Seriously , the technology that the normal people are using here is way more advanced in Malaysia . However, I got no complaints for that because it made my life a whole lot easier and convenient .

Tap the room card to the little sensor device below the door knob to open your doors . It's time to throw away your keys people !

From top to bottom : Room Card , Student Card , Bus Card

Case in point : Access to nearly every facilities here is granted by using a card . Here , I don't even have to bring any keys out because the cards act as key to everything . You want to borrow a book in library ? Use the card . Want to get some food in the dining hall , use the card . Want to go in your room ? Use the card . In fact , this room door key replacement concept is so abstract to me that I have no idea how to go in my room the first time !

Next, the lighting system in my residential colleges uses a smart motion sensor to detect any movements of people. It will only light up if there are people nearby , otherwise it will always be switched off . Cool huh ?

Also , they have a vending machine for nearly everything that you could think of . Even electricity !

The Central Library .

Photo credit to Soon Vin

Equipped with nice , soft-tone lighting and state of the art facilities . This library in NUS here looks and feels comfortable . They provide a lot of books here ( obviously , duh ! ) as well as study rooms and computers with internet access . Kind of the same with the one in my home university , except that it just looks so much nicer and modern .

Photo Credit to Soon Vin.

I was amazed that even a non- graduating exchange student like me could borrow up to 20 books . And there's quite great amount of fictions , academics and non-fictions book which can never be found in my home university library I guess . I borrowed Steve Job's biography by Walter Isaacson ! :D

One of the convenient tool here is this Library Book Drop point . You can find this book drop point available in many place strategically placed around the campus as to ease the return of a borrowed library book . All you have to do is just place the books that you wanted to return to the nearest Book Drop point near you and that's it ! You don't have to purposely go to the Central Library every time to return books . Convenient huh ?

Food

Another thing I notice here is it will be hard to find any traditional hawker centers ( imagine sitting nearby a tree , in an open air environment, without the comfort of air-cond , replaced instead by only the breeze of natural wind , waiting for your hot steaming meals to be served by the waiter ) . In Singapore, they are increasingly being replaced by food courts, which are indoor, air conditioned versions of hawker centres located in shopping malls and other commercial venues. In NUS , you don't have to worry about food as there are many choices of food ranging from Western, Chinese , Indian, Japanese , Vietnamese , Korean , Japanese and many more type of cuisines .

My Hostel's Dining Hall .

I was lucky that the Residential College that I stayed in provide a compulsory meal plan that gives me the choice of meal between Western , Chinese , Muslim and Indian cuisines . Oh , these set meals also come with free flow of mango juices , coffee , milo or just plain water too ! :D And did I mention that the meals are quite nutritionally balanced too ? They provide the caloric values and other nutritional information of the meal for those who are more health conscious . Amazing .

In the case that you get tired of eating the normal food over and over again , and you happen to have a bit more spending power , go ahead and indulge in Starbucks , Sakae Sushi , and many more restaurants and cafes which are conveniently located IN my residential college . Seriously , they are all just a stone's throw away from where I stay . Sometimes , it made me wonder if I am really in an university campus or a mall .

Transportation
The transport system in NUS is infinitely more efficient than that of my home universities . The bus comes on time and at a commendable frequency of every 10 minutes during schooling days . There's a MRT station inside NUS too so you could get outside through the MRT . ( MRT connects to nearly every places in Singapore ) . Then , there's still buses and taxi . Even if everything else fails , there's always your reliable legs to depend on :)

*PS Thank you very much , Sheng Di for being my tour guide in nus , and for accompanying me despite the rain . ( P.s never knew you read my blog too lol . Hope you see this ! Haha ) Having a presence of a familiar Malaysian friend certainly did ease my home sickness more :) *

That's all for now folks , there will be more to come in the future , hopefully ! :)

The Night before & The Night After

2013-01-19T12:41:00.001+08:00

*This post will be a series of short posts mashed together as I wrote each individual posts in different time and place . Enjoy :) *

17/1/2013 - 10.00 pm

Ah.. it's finally here. This is it . The time , to move on to another chapter of my life . Every time I am going to somewhere far away or going back to my hometown , the night before it , I will usually be feeling nostalgic and start blogging . Tonight is no different , save the fact that I am going somewhere that is further away from anywhere I have ever been before ( excluding where I went during my childhood time , because I don't have the slightest memory of it ) . Yes , tonight , or rather , a few more hours later, I will be in Singapore , the Lion City .

I was fortunate enough to receive an exchange offer to go study at National University of Singapore ( NUS ) for a semester . It was a totally unexpected offer , as I have only applied for an exchange to Australia . Nevertheless , it was a good surprise and I would gladly take any opportunities that was given to me without any hesitation , simply because ,I wanted to go overseas .

When I was given the offer , I thought long and hard . Do I really wanted to go ? What if the people there don't like me ? What if I have difficulties adapting there.. What if? There's so much what ifs questions that clouded my mind . But I knew I had to go , because I am growing too comfortable and in a way, complacent in UM .Complacency is disastrous . Here in UM for 1 and a half year , I am already quite well adapted to the environment and people , and have been quite comfortable in it . Do not get me wrong , UM , or rather KK7 , my hostel is great ! In fact , one of the best hostels in UM , with its nice people and bonding going on there . Yet , deep inside my heart , I feel a need to go out of my comfort zone , to keep on exploring more of the world and improving myself in every way possible . And NUS provides just the right avenue for me to do so . So , I took the offer.

As I am writing this , I felt a great sense of urgency to bid everyone farewell , especially to my amazing roommate , who have been such a great companion to me for the past 1 and a half year . Yet , as my time and resources are limited , I can only do so much in these final few hours . I wrote a farewell letter to my roommate .

While writing that letter , a strong sense of nostalgia and poignant memories started flooding my mind . This past 1 and a half year have been nothing short of amazing . I have joined a lot of activities , met a lot of people and new friends . I have laughed , cried , experienced joy and happiness , also depression and sadness . And believe me when I say , the onslaught of emotions that came in , could reduce any toughest , baddest , most heartless guy in this world to mere tears easily . I was not spared .

Roommate

***
17/1/2013 - 4.00 am

Photo credit to my exchange mate , Vin .

I have finally arrived at KL LCCT Airport . This will be the first time I am going to ride the air plane , with conscious memories in it ( I rode one last time , but I was too small to remember it ) . Here's how my journey is supposed to go : my college in university of Malaya => KL Central => Feeder Bus to LCCT Airport => Air Asia to Singapore => Changi Airport => MRT to Bueno Vista => Bus no 95 to NUS . So , now me and my 2 other exchange mates are waiting for the plane.

As we are waiting , I reminisce back about the incidents that happened a few hours ago .
I was so overwhelmed by the kindness and love I received when I was going out from the hostel . I met with a bunch of juniors and seniors who so coincidentally , happens to be there right when I am going to depart for what may possibly be the longest , toughest semester thus far . And they did a farewell celebration for me ( sort of ) , right there and then . I have some of the sweetest juniors and best , caring seniors in the world ! The events that happened these past few days have totally touched my heart , and further reaffirming two of my belief :

1) Good people are everywhere . Even in the darkest , most dangerous place of the world , filled with all the criminals and evil doers, there are good people . You just have to look deep inside :)
2) Good people makes the world a better place . Their actions touched your heart , and you in turn , must touch other people's heart with your actions , subsequently creating a chain reaction that makes EVERYBODY Happy and good :D

Thank Lord for Good People .

***
18/1/2013 - 10.00 pm

The first day in Singapore pass by just like a blur . Having a nearly one day sleep - deprivation , I was sleepy and lethargic as hell . Heck , I nearly slept when texting on the bus . That's how sleepy I was . Nevertheless , there are tons of things that must be done , on that very day itself , so we did it . Creating a bank account , buying various necessities , household items , and settling our registration in NUS , meeting new exchange mates and etc. It was one heck of a day .

Now that I finally have the time to sit down and reflect on it . The realization has finally set in . I am in NUS , Singapore now . This feeling is so surreal . Only yesterday , or perhaps should I say a few hours ago , I was there in my old , rustic hostel with floors without tiles , surrounded by familiar people that will greet me with a smiles in their faces , cracking stupid jokes and just being plain silly . Now , I am writing this in a condominium - lookalike hostel , their floors covered with nice looking tiles , and my window facing a nice view of... another hotel / condominium lookalike hostel , in a unfamiliar environment with complete strangers .

Ironically , even though Singapore is just realistically an hour of plane flight away from Penang , it felt like I am million miles away from home now.

I miss speaking Mandarin .
I miss seeing familiar people .
I miss having dinner in a close round table .
I miss having conversation that does not make sense with people I know .

Ah.. I miss home ;'( .

My sleeping place in Cinnamon College , NUS

How to root Ninetology Black Pearl 2 i940 ( Android ICS 4.0 )

2013-01-16T19:23:00.003+08:00

Hello all , after a few frustrated efforts to root this phone , I've finally discovered the way to properly root ( can be restored ) it. It involves only 3 simple steps .

1) Download and install Google USB drive from here ( http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/MOBILES/Google/Google-USB-Driver-Revision4.shtml )
[IMPORTANT : Follow the instructions found here : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1830108 to install the USB drive. ]
2) Download Root_with_Restore_by_Bin4ry_v18 from this link (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1886460).
3) Run the files in the folder and follow the instructions !

And that's it folks ! Rooting complete ! All credit goes to Bin4ry and the person in the forum that posted the solution . I am just the middleman linking all of these posts together for easier reference :D . Happy Rooting ! ^^

Review of Ninetology Black Pearl 2 i940

2013-01-10T19:36:00.000+08:00

With the likes of Samsung Galaxy S3 , Iphone 5 ,Sony Xperia Z dominating the much saturated smartphone markets now , the Ninetology Black Pearl 2 i940 seems to be unlikely underdog . In fact , if you ask people , most probably 9/10 of those people have never heard of this Ninetology brand of smartphone before . However , emphasizing on their affordable price tag and good value of money , this smartphone company from Sabah , Malaysia is slowly making its mark in the market.

Recently , thanks to the RM 200 rebate for smartphones by the government ( Pakej Komunikasi Belia ) and also RM 100 rebate by the manufacturer , I manage to get this beautiful , curvaceous Ninetology Black Pearl 2 i940 for a cool price tag of only RM 299 ( RRP : RM 599 ) . Today , I will be doing a review of this phone . Details of how and where I get this phone is at the end of the review.

Screenshot taken from my phone.

Build
The Black Pearl 2 have a 4in display screen that nearly rivals that S3’s 4.8in display . The size of the phone is in between iPhone 5 and S3 . Measuring a dimension of 127mm x 65.5mm x 9.9mm , one can hold it comfortably in one hand with ease .

Screen
With a resolution of 800 x 480 ( WXGA ) , obviously it cannot compete with the likes of Super AMOLED HD display of S3 , but then again , it is not so bad as unbearable , in fact , in my humble opinion , it processes the graphic quite well . Running on a Dual-core 1Ghz processor , its IPS Capacitive Screen detects motion quite well too . There’s no laggy or jerky delayed feeling when I was scrolling and browsing web .

Features

This is where Black Pearl 2 stands out , frankly , a lot of phones with that range of price tag ( RM500-800 ) are lacking in features , but not this phone . Black Pearl 2 uses the latest version of Android , 4.04 ( Ice Cream Sandwich ) , which makes it capable of a lot of customization and handling a lot of applications . The latest OS doesn’t just offer yet another tempting-sounding treat to get our mouths watering. It’s a whole new interface which is redesigned throughout in contrast to previous iterations which have felt like layer after layer glued on top of the previous code.

Screenshot from my phone's home screen.

As mentioned earlier , BP 2 runs on a 1GHz MT6577 Dual Core Cortex-A9 Processor + 512MB RAM , which makes it perfectly capable of handling multi-tasking and takes on whatever tasks that Android 4.04 can handle . Personally , I have tried playing music on the background while surfing graphic-intensive websites at the same time and it handles them perfectly well . In their official youtube channel , they have tested visually demanding game , Dead Trigger on the BP 2 , and the end result is quite fine , as you can see from the video below .

Although they officially market it as a 5MP camera, in their camera settings , it is shown that they can take up to 8MP quality pictures . Additionally , it also comes with a face detection , auto focus and LED flash features. . It supports video recording , MP4/3GP/AVI/MPEG video format as well as MP3/MIDI/AMR/WAV/AAC audio format.

As far as their connectivity goes , it supports WCDMA 900/2,100MHz radios , Wi-Fi , and Bluetooth .

Now ,despite all the good stuffs that I have mentioned above , BP2 is not without imperfection . For one thing , its resolution pales in comparison of most smartphones with 4in display .If you just put it side by side with let’s say Samsung S plus , the difference is prominent .Next , its battery life is quite short . In my personal experience , with just LINE messenger app and wi-fi running , it lasted me for just 2 hours or less . Even without any application that requires Internet connection , a fully charged battery lasted only 4 hours by just playing around with the applications . Of course , I could be wrong as I haven’t fully explored the applications and ways to save battery life , but as it is , without any tinkering or modification being done , its battery life is satisfactory at best .

Also , its GPS seems to be abit lacking in finding locations efficiently . With all the settings ticked ( including utilizing Google's location service , GPS satellites , using assisted GPS and Location & Google Search ) , it still fail to detect my location even after 30 minutes .
What a shame . I hope the developers will be doing something about this .

Conclusion

All in all , Ninetology Black Pearl 2 i940 is a great phone considering its value of money . ( Seriously , RM 299 for a 4in display smartphone thats runs on a 1Ghz dual core processor with the latest Android ? Where else can you get such a deal ? )

Pros

- Affordable price tag

- Great Value of money ( even without the rebates, RM599 is still a good price for its features )

- Feature packed

- Runs the latest Android

- Handles multi-tasking smoothly

Cons

- Short Battery Life

- Mediocre resolution
- GPS seems to be taking forever to find my location

I got my Black Pearl 2 at Lot A23-24, Ground Floor ( MTECH ) in Prangin Mall , Penang island . The RRP for this phone is RM 599 , however with manufacturer’s RM 100 rebate and also the RM 200 rebate from the government ( Apply at skmm.gov.my , print the receipt and show it to certified dealer to get the rebate ) . Furthermore , if you buy it now , you will be entitled to receive a complementary Digi Smart Plan prepaid sim card worth RM 25 ( bundled together with the phone , the plan have 300 MB free internet , minutes of free voice call and free mms ) . Thanks to that , I am now a proud owner of a Malaysian brand smartphone . I dare say that in the entire campus , only a few have smartphones made by this local company .

sample of pics taken using BP2 's camera.

Second picture taken under 8MP setting.

The sad thing is , our local brands have always been stereotypically referred to as the more inferior products , as opposed to the more overpriced , yet offers much or less the same functionalities products sold by the more “branded” foreign companies . It is true that some of the products sold by local companies are slightly defective and inferior , however , just because of these few bad apples , we shouldn’t stereotype the rest and avoid them . I would urge you all , fellow Malaysians especially , to give this brand a try , and even if it doesn’t work out in the end ( touch woo ) , hey it’s just RM 299 . If you can afford to spend thousands of ringgits on a perfectly overpriced foreign brand , I am sure spending an extra RM 299 to get a new smartphone won’t hurt right ?

* Note that this message is intended for those people who are wealthy enough to spend a lot on overpriced foreign brands , and never tried a local product before , yet scorns those people who can only afford these affordable local brand . Personally , I think RM 299 is quite a big sum already , but it is a good value of money and I definitely needed a smartphone so I bought it ! :D *

That's all for now , will update if there's any other relevant information ! Thanks for reading :)

*UPDATE*
I went to the their service center in 4th Floor, Low Yat Plaza and updated my firmware to version 16 . Now, the Talk Time is improved to around 17 hours , which is roughly equivalent to that of an average smartphone . So far, I am quite satisfied with its battery performance . Note that if you are interested in having a better performance , you can actually root it and personally customize the cpu processing speed and etc ( deleting useless system apps ) . I will post about how to root it in the next post . Stay Tuned ! :

Their service center

Responsible Blogging 2013

2012-12-28T20:58:00.000+08:00

*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 ~

2012-12-25T02:03:00.001+08:00

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 ~

Big Bad Wolf

2012-12-10T21:12:00.001+08:00

As much as I loved boasting about my hometown’s attractions and specialties , about how it’s much better than Kuala Lumpur , or anywhere else in this world for that matter , there’s one thing I can’t deny , that is the fact that Kuala Lumpur is a much more happening place than Penang . Not to say that there’s not much events and activities in the Pearl of Orient , there are events , but it just pales in comparisons with KL’s events .

For the uninitiated , KL is the most happening state in Malaysia , all the coolest people and parties , biggest and most important events , yup , more often than not , all of the above mentioned activities are bound to be held in KL . KL is the heart of the country , where all the happenings , happen ( pun intended ) , and akin to the city that never sleeps , KL people literally have insomnia all year round , what’s with the clubs and never-ending night life . Seriously , if you’re crazy about night life , KL is the place ~

So , in a way , I am grateful that I am studying in KL , because thanks to that , I am able to go to the BIGGEST , BADDEST , MOST HEAVILY-DISCOUNTED English Book Sales ever in the WORLD . Situated in Mines International Exhibition & Convention Centre, just 1 hour away from my university by public transportation , it holds the record of being the BIGGEST English book fair in the world by offering an astounding three million titles of books up for grabs , priced at 75% to 95% lower than their retail prices.

My exploits from the fair .

Side View of this gorgeous baby :D

Thanks to that I am able to go to this book haven and gained some great books :D

That’s all for now . Enjoy the pictures .

A real life Lamborghini on display

Cutest Book Title ever

Here’s a random question of the day :What differentiates a businessman and entrepreneur?

Of Failure , Learning and Re-Discovering

2012-12-09T20:49:00.002+08:00

It has been a while . Lately , I have been on a competition frenzy mode , propelled by my recent “achievements” in the Samsung AppStar Contest . For those of you that may or may not know , in the last few weeks , I have participated in a contest called Samsung AppStar Contest , which is basically a contest that allows you to win up to RM 24 000 grand prize simply by presenting an idea for application . Me and my teammates have spent significantly large portion of our time , dedicating ourselves to prepare and trained relentlessly for this . In 29/11/2012 , finally , it was the day . I never have been more nervous in my life . It was the first major competition that I participated in voluntarily and prepared for relentlessly , and naturally , I have high confidences and expectations .

After the end of the presentations , I was still in high spirit , convinced that our team did our best and that presentation was sufficiently mesmerizing enough to earn us a place in top 3 placing . As we were the 5^thout of 12 groups to present , we were relieved of our stress and anxiety early and are able to watch other teams present their ideas , still having to face their fear of anxiety and trepidation . Finally , every group finished presenting . Upon watching other’s presentation , we , or rather I was convinced that our team did well enough to at least secure a place in top 3 . Slowly but surely , the confidence slowly turned into an uncalled-for arrogance , and my mind started wandering off into the not too distant future , thinking about how I would spend that big lump sum of money by treating my friends , my families , and keeping a bit for myself . You see , when arrogance takes over your head , your mind wanders easily . As my mind wandered further and further , it suddenly went blank , when I thought of what to do after I spent those money .

***

BLANK . Nothing at all . The abrupt stop of that train of thoughts jolted me back to reality . My heart suddenly feels empty , devoid of emotions . After I spent those money , then what ? You see , in retrospect , I am not a particularly long-term motivated person . I am the type that are easily motivated by short-term gains , as the direct implication of my short term attention span , and also for the fact that humans in general , always prefer instant gratification rather than a long-term , more sustainable gratification . As such , I never really tried my hardest and put in 100% of my effort or go beyond that most of the time , the closest I ever get to 100% of effort could probably be during major examinations period .

However, even then , I am pretty sure I did not manage to put in all of my effort and dedicate and commit myself solely for that very purpose . But this time is different . For the past few days , weeks in fact , all I could think of in my mind was the Samsung AppStar Contest ,the reason , mostly due to the fact that there’s financial gain to be made from this contest , and it’s huge sum of money ! Nevertheless , I cannot deny that in these past few weeks , I almost committed all of my time and effort into this sole purpose of winning the contest , as I am motivated to do it for myself , not being forced or coerced by anyone else , but on voluntary basis .

And that fact alone brought a big sense of relief , because during that period , it gave me a meaning to my life . No longer am I memorizing facts and figures simply to pass a stupid subject that I felt have no relevance at all to my life in the future , neither am I attending some lecture classes just to fulfill my 80% attendance rule to sit for the final exam . I am finally doing something for myself . That fact alone brought immense joy to me , coupled with the sense of thrill and excitement whenever I think about winning the contest . Ultimately , it’s not the money , nor is it the fame that comes with the contest that is important , it is the bittersweet taste of victory , knowing that you have put in your effort and carving a path to success by your very own hands is the best gratification anyone can ever have in life .

But after this contest , I would have none of those anymore , I would probably have to return to the dull , mundane , repetitive task of a normal undergraduates , much like anybody else . And that , brought grief and sadness to my heart .

***

“ and the winner is TEAM X~ “ announced the emcee of the night . I was shocked ! All those fantasies about spending the money , and finally the money did not come to us .And that’s how the much anticipated finale of Samsung AppStar ended . We did not win any placing , only the most favourite award that was given to app that got the most amount of Facebook Votes. I guess expectations does not really equate reality sometimes .

A few days after the incident , I am still having trouble to cope with the failure and having no more meaning in my life . I have lost that excitement of waking up everyday having something to look forward for and thinking about the same thing before going to sleep everynight . It took a few more days of social isolation and some trips alone to far away places to be able to move on .

There was this one particular trip of going to Cheras Leisure Mall ( I am currently studying near Petaling Jaya ) that’s worth reminiscing . I am a rather big fan of branded earphones . Being an audiophile , good earphones are one of those things that I am willing to burn my wallet for . A few days ago , I discovered a good deal about MEElectronic A151 earphone ( retailing for around rm 200+ ) in lowyat.net . Upon seeing the deal , I quickly became excited and messaged the dealer for his best price and also the method of transaction . Most dealers in lowyat would prefer cash-on-delivery ( COD ) method of transaction , which means the dealer and customer will have to meet up in an agreed upon places and exchange the cash for the products. As the dealer lived near Cheras and has agreed to give better prices should I come to him , I decided to do just that .

MEElectronics A151

Although I have never been to Cheras before in my entire life , and had no experience nor knowledge about how to go there , I said okay . And the adventure begins . There’s just something magical about the unknowns . When you said yes to something unknown , you get the thrills and excitement of exploring somewhere you’ve never been to before . It might be end up to be a bad choice and sure there are a lot of risks but hey , at least you tried right ? I would have totally regretted it had I not made that trip . There’s this quote that goes something like this “ Try to fail is better than fail to try “ . So , tried I did . Relying on only some directions instructions from the net and friends , I embarked on the journey , alone , with the risks that I might get lost there , get robbed , and get cheated and etc ( since KL isn’t exactly famous for peace and security ) .

Along the trip , a few unexpected things happened . One of my friend happened to be living near Cheras and was coincidently going back on that day itself . I was lucky to hitch a ride to there . However , I was still on my own on the journey back . I had this philosophy that if you really wanted something very badly , somehow , the universe will conspire to help you achieve them , by creating some roads of opportunities to walk on . Whether or not you take those opportunities is an entirely different story . So , all in all , somehow, everything went well , I got my product and I went back alone safely . It might be a simple story , but the period of solitary had taught me a lot . Maybe it’s just me , but whenever I went to for a trip alone , I always felt more at ease and discover more things about myself and my surroundings .

Anyhow , after getting that earphone , I was excited and came back to my senses . The old wound of regret still aches sometimes , but I have moved on to focus more on other stuff , like joining more competitions and exposing myself more to the world . I strongly believe that university is a place for you to earn holistic education , and to do that , one must always expose him/herself to variety of activities and events , not just to commit themselves to academics .That being said , in a way I am grateful for the opportunity to join that many contests , either by chance or by choice . Recently , someone said this to me “ If you’re going to success , you’re gonna fail first . This is the harsh , cruel reality , if you wanna go down this path ( entrepreneurship ) , you are bound to fail at your first try . So , why not fail earlier ? Learn to enjoy your failures , only then can you enjoy your successes “ . ;)

Thank You Maybank2u !

2012-12-01T20:15:00.000+08:00

*Note * This is a blog post for Maybank2u Contest* If you're interested in checking out more , please click on this link .

I have a confession to make . Maybank was my first time . First time , in the sense that it was the first bank that I had dealt with for the purpose of doing my banking services . At that time , the only reason why I opened a banking account was to store the money that I have accumulated from the "Ang Pows" ( Red Packets ) given to me by my relatives during Chinese New Year . I remember how excited I was when I got my banking account book and subsequently my atm card ! In retrospect, at the age of 16 ,owning an atm card was trendy and cool , apart from the fact that it makes you feel like a grown up , capable of handling your own money . I was feeling euphoric and thrilled when I withdraw money from the atm machine for the first time . That was my first brush with MayBank .

However , the excitement dies down soon , as the hassle of physically going to the bank , and dealing with the sometimes long and frustration waiting time , lining up in a queue , slowly took its toll . At that time , since computers and Internet technologies were making waves and gaining popularity , I remember daydreaming about the idea of doing those banking services online instead , at the comfort and convenience of my own room . A few years later , never in my wildest dream would I thought that my simple wish have now became a reality .

Honestly , I was not a very loyal customer to Maybank at first . I have other bank accounts such as Public Bank , Hong Leong Bank and etc . Being someone who loves to explores , I actually tried and tested banking in other banks . Nevertheless , when Maybank introduces Maybank2u , it all changed . As mentioned before , I loved experimenting and trying something new , so when Maybank2u was introduced , I was thrilled and tested it as soon as possible .

I am student in an university in KL , and being a student without any means of transportation to get around in KL could only mean one thing : inconvenience .Even the nearest banks in my area are not within walking distance . Therefore , I am really thankful for Maybank for introducing Maybank2u .After experimenting with numerous online banking services ,in my personal opinion, I dare say with confidence now that Maybank2u is the BEST online banking service ever ! After trying Maybank2u , i instantly became a loyal fans of Maybank and have never turned back since . Now , if there are anything that requires banking services , I use Maybank2u.

The Maybank2u experience was and still is fantastic and amazing so far ! A single log-in into Maybank2u website is all it takes for me to be able to check my account balance , make online transactions , settle my bills , top up my phone credits , dabble with online stocks and do many more banking services that are available in physical banks . Moreover , I can access them via my phone , which is all the more reason to use Maybank2u !!! What never fails to amaze me is that even with their almost perfect services , they still strive to improve themselves and make upgrades and improvements from time to time . Additionally , all those transactions and services I have done with Maybank2u are done securely ( Maybank have a feature called TAC which will send you an authentication code to your validated phone number , so that you can double authenticate your identity before making a transaction . I really love this feature !!! ) What's more my privacy is ensured and I trust that all my contact information and personal details are safe with Maybank .

If there's ever a need to rate and comment on Maybank2u services , without a doubt , I will rate it 5-Stars and congratulating them on providing a World Class Service to their customers . Thank you for making my dream come true Maybank2u . Please do continue to deliver these kind of quality , value-added services to your customers . We will never stop supporting you , as you have supported us all these times ! ; )

Connections

2012-11-10T01:35:00.002+08:00

The night before the departure back to my hometown always gives me a surreal feeling . For me , it is usually the time when I have ample time to do my reflection. This is particularly true when you are at the room alone , devoid of any interference and obstructions , the night before the long awaited day of departure . Maybe it’s just me , but whenever I am about to depart for a long journey ( 5 hours bus ride is quite long for me ) , I would always try to find time to do some self-reflection on what’s happening in my life recently . I like reflections .It helps in reminding me of the experiences , the ups and downs and the little things that I ought to be grateful of that I had the privilege to experience in the recent days.

Tomorrow is finally the start of mid semester break , which means , it’s time to go back to hometown again : ) , which also means..tonight , is reflection time !

***

My team made it into the Samsung Appstar contest top 12 finalists ! This fact made us eligible to participate in the boot camp for the finalists , which is to prepare us for the finals . I am absolutely grateful for this opportunity , as it have allowed me to meet few of the most awesome people ( CEOs in fact ) up to date . I have high respects for friendly, down to earth CEOs that are humble yet successful , and the CEO for MYC company , Mr Jason Ko , happens to be one . The boot camp was very entertaining and informative at the same time and I am honored to be able to be a part of this awesome event . Now that the bootcamp is over , it’s time to put in our all to hopefully win this competitive contest . Wish me luck ! I will be needing it !

Camwhoring with the cool MYC CEO , Mr Jason Ko. Bromance yo!

Oh , apart from the Samsung App , I have the honor to participate in the National Programming Competition AMCP – blablabla al khawarizmi too last Sunday . It was the first time I have participated in any programming contest . Frankly , I don’t have much confidence in my logical and rational thinking skills . Being someone who is quite self-conscious about his own abilities and skills , I know my capabilities and limitations well . I can probably think logically and rationally for some short span of time , but beyond some simple logics and calculations , my brain will just stop thinking and get stuck . Yet , I chose to give it a try , simply because , I believe when opportunities presented itself , one should just take it , no matter the consequences . The end result doesn’t matter , what matters is the experience . Bearing that in mind , I said yes when I was asked to join it , eventhough I was perfectly sure that my standards aren’t on par with the rest of the team yet.

Now , there are good news and bad news from the competition . The good news is , it’s a team event , and I have some really smart teammates ( a senior from my faculty and another senior taking Actuarial Science ) . And with their powerful machine-like brains , we managed to solve 2 out of 10 questions to bag the 4^th placing . ( Top 5 among 100 + teams , not bad for a first-timer huh ? ) .That was the good news . Now, the bad news is that , the prize for the 3^rd placing is RM 1000 , BUT the prize for us , who got the 4^th placing is .. well a pen drive O_O . Sad to say , it was partly my fault that we managed only the 4^th placing . I tried to solve a question for 2 hours , and I was quite close to solving it ( in fact , I solved it the day after the competition is over , apparently just missing a single command in my program ) , but oh well , reality sucks . I did not manage to solve it within the time limit of the competition . If only I did solve it , we would probably be bagging the 3^rd placing. Cruel , harsh reality . Haiz. But well, I did gained a valuable experience , coupled with a pen drive and a T shirt ! Aha , not so bad afterall. Gratitude Gratitude…

This is the pendrive that each of us won .

***

That’s all for the recent happenings in my life. Now , moving on to a more serious issue . As I was reflecting , a question started to pop up in my mind . The number of “ friends “ I have in facebook seems to be increasing in a rather astonishing rate lately . Maybe it’s because it’s a new semester , which means a new batch of juniors will come in , and when we get to know them , a friend request is usually expected next . So yeah, lately I have been getting quite a few friend requests from people , ( just because we are all connected in the same college community , not because I am popular or anything , just clarifying , lest I sound arrogant or prideful ) . You see , in my hostel , there’s something called Chinese community club ( as well as Malay community club and Indian Community club , nothing racist , just a culture based club to help foster relationship and celebrate our unique racial and cultural diversities )

Since our college is rather small ,almost all of us , residents there who stayed there know each other . However , knowing each other does not mean we are close to each other . Even some people that I don’t usually talk to in real life adds me in Facebook and lately it gets me thinking . Is there even a point in having that many friends in Facebook , If we are only hi-bye friends , or worse yet , if we don’t even talk in real life .So , really , in recent days , I have been more conscious and careful when accepting or adding friends in Facebook. Yet a dilemma arises whenever I wanted to decline friend requests , because even though we are not close , we might still meet in real life , and it would be quite rude and , at the risk of sounding arrogant , for us to just ignore their friend requests . I mean , it would be unpleasant and outright awkward if they ask us questions like “ Hey , I added you in Facebook a few days ago, why don’t you accept my request ? “ right ?

Hence , threading carefully between the line of proper social etiquette and own comfort zone , I have to think twice before choosing to add , accept or delete friend requests in Facebook . In actual fact , if we just stop and think for a moment , the so called “ friends “ that we made now in secondary school or even university life now , are just temporary connections . Take for example , my college juniors . Perhaps we do meet now and then , and have some interactions because we live in the same college hostel and participate in same activities , but what happens next when we graduated and walk our own path ? Will our paths cross and we meet as regularly as we do now ? That would be unlikely to happen , and after a few years , we may just be strangers again . Yet , all my recent activities and events are conveniently accessible and put on a full display to every “friends” in Facebook , and I am definitely not comfortable that he/she can have access to those information . And then there are some friends that I used to talk to in the past , yet in the recent years , he/she had such bizarre change that I could barely recognize them anymore . The point is , I dislike having fake “friends” that I don’t usually talk to in Facebook , which is why I totally abhorred the idea of some people having a thousand friends ( even to the extend of creating another account because their current account has reached the limit of friends , seriously ? 5000 friends , is that even possible ? Even celebrities don’t have that much friends ) and bragging them as if their so called “ friends “ in Facebook are symbol of their popularity and fame .

Nevertheless , in the unlikely event that if in the near future , you meet the same people who you don’t talk to last time , and this time you are required to work with them closely , it would be bad to finally accept their request or re-adding them again after deleting them right ? Ah.. I can’t even begin to imagine the embarrassment .

Anyhow , as I mentioned before , most of these “friends” in Facebook are just temporary connections , however ,it is up to all of us to decide which one of these connections can evolve into permanent connections . I have this personal rule that if I can chat with these “friends” in Facebook in real life at any given time comfortably , even after a long separation time , these are the people that I really wanted to befriend forever , and these are the people I truly grateful for and would be willing to do anything I can to help them should they require my assistance . Of course , the converse of this is true as well. If I don’t feel comfortable talking to them , and I don’t think I can mix well with them , I probably won’t add them / accept their requests .But oh well , these decision varies depending on the situation and the circumstances .

As I always like to point out , life is very unpredictable and we need to always be flexible in handling life’s difficult challenges . That being said , I am still thankful that amidst all these hi-bye ,awkward “friends “ that I have , some of them actually turned out to be quite nice , and it is these true , permanent friends that I cherish and treasure , and I am forever grateful for their presence and existence . To those who are my facebook friends and seeing this , Thank You for visiting ! and no worries , if you are still in my Facebook Friend list , I assure you , you are important to me , one way or another.. ahaha , THANK YOU , I love you guys X) .

Fate's Funny Plan

2012-10-20T00:36:00.002+08:00

“ You can’t connect the dots looking forward , you can only connect them looking backwards “ I finally realized the true significance of this powerful quote today . If you never try , you will never know what you are capable of .

If you never ask , the answer is always no. Today was an unexpectedly interesting day Everything that happened today was sudden and totally unplanned , yet it’s this kind of experience that I am very grateful of .

The day started with a good vibe , with the hope and expectation that today will be a good day as it is the day where I will be going back to home for the first time after more than a month , probably the longest record of me being away from home yet . Nothing big , but for me , that’s something that I can be proud of .

However , the good vibe and expectations quickly went down the drain when a bad news get to me . You see , me and my friends ( 2 friends to be exact ) had participated in a contest called “Samsung AppStar “ ,which requires us to just submit ideas for an application . We were fortunate enough to make it into top 40 finalists and were called for an audition to present our ideas . Today is the day for our presentation .

Initially , we were supposed to present at 12 afternoon and my plan was to present at 12 , finishing it by 1 , and then go back to Penang by sitting the 4 pm bus . Everything was meticulously planned and prepared already , but more often than not , things doesn’t usually goes the way I planned smoothly . In fact , reality has a funny way of screwing everything up instantly and have another plan of its own. Today is the perfect example of just that .

So , we were supposed to be there by 10 , dressed in formal attire , started discussing about our game plan and etc. However , at 10 , one of my teammate , the only one with car who is supposed to fetch us go were still asleep . Fine then , as the presentation time was 12 pm , we still had 2 hours to go , so we waited and waited .

Sadly , things do not go our way and due to some unforeseen circumstances , I ended up just going for the presentation with just my one teammate by taxi . Upon our arrival there , we were hit with another tragic news that would utterly destroy my plan , that is we will be the 7^th group to present and the presentation will only start at 2 pm . Every presentation should last roughly around 10 – 15 minutes , which means that by the time we finish presenting , it will be around 3 + and definitely I will miss my 4 pm bus as I need to go back hostel to pack my stuff first.

With that in mind , me and my friend were about to give up , and so we went to have our lunch before going back . Nevertheless , I felt like it will be a complete waste of time and effort , after coming so far and went back empty handed , without even a chance to present . Therefore , we went and talked to the receptionist and asked if we can present earlier .

Thankfully , the receptionist was very sweet and understanding , and after talking to her boss , we were allowed to present first , even before the actual presentation time . At that time , there’s only one thing in my mind , that is the quote “ if you never ask , the answer will always be no “ .

We ended up presenting to 3 fabulous judges , Miss Lee Yvonne , Miss World Malaysia 2012 .and two other awesome CEOs , Mr Collin Hew and Mr Jason ( Mr Jason's the coolest judge ever ! ). The presentation went smoothly and by the time we finished presenting , it’s already 2.30 pm . However , the problem was far from over . It started raining , and the rain grew heavier all of a sudden . My heart sunk to the bottom instantly . The amount of uncertainties in my minds started increasing , and all the pessimistic “what if “ questions started to fill my minds too.

However , if there’s one lesson that I learnt through experience , it is this : When in doubt , keep going forward . Trust your instincts and take the risk to keep going forward , confident that somehow , things will end up being fine , even if you do not know what is going to happen .

With that in mind , I took the decision to go back today , not knowing whether or not I will make it in time for the 4 pm bus ( as the next bus after that is 8 pm , and I do not have transport to go back my home if I reach Penang at 12 ) . I could have took the safer alternative , to go back tomorrow . However, that would defeat the purpose of going back as then I would have fewer days to spend at home .

Finally , everything ended up fine . I was never a stout believer of destiny and fate before , but now , I am starting to believe in it a bit , It might sound a bit clichéd , but as the old saying goes , “ when there’s a will , there’s a way “. If you really wanted something very badly, the environment , people or even the universe around you will conspire to help you to achieve it somehow .

At last , I made it to the 4 pm bus and am currently heading back to my beloved hometown . The whole experience is very surreal , yet it feels like fate already knew what was in store for me . Sometimes I feel very blessed and gratified that I am able to be who I am today . I am thankful for every experiences that I went through , no matter how good or bad they are . I guess it’s just destiny’s way of guiding me to the predetermined path I am supposed to walk , by presenting me all the obstacles and challenges that came my way . I am truly grateful

Now , I guess there’s only one way for me to go , that is continue moving forward . Come what may , I know one day I will make it to the top , finally be able to achieve the sweet taste of success and happiness . For now , guess I will just have to enjoy the process ; ) .

Choice

2012-09-22T01:07:00.000+08:00

It’s been a while : ) . It has been more than a week since I last moved back to university hostel . New room , new semester , new syllabus , yet same old roommate . I am grateful . This has gotta be one of the greatest blessing , having a better, bigger room , coupled with its better ventilation and extra space , yet still having the familiarity of an old roommate . Finally , I can say , I am more or less have already settled in .

Ahh, but today’s post isn’t about my new room , new semester , or even the new chapter of my uni life , it is about a more general topic . Yes , as the title indicates , choice . * Dang I am feeling philosophical *

After a few conversations with my friends ( forced conversation albeit ) , it made me wanted to blog about this important topic . Alright here’s how it started . I have quite a plenty of time starting Friday every week since I don’t have class on Friday , and weekends are of course , free . And as of now , my roommate is always busy from day till morning so he’s seldom in the room .

That would mean that I am very free , with plenty of time and space to do whatever I want , whenever I want it in those specific time duration ( Friday to Sunday to be exact ) . So ,today , the once in a blue moon feeling of studying actually came to me . So,at 8am I started to study . ( YES , study , you did not misread that . )

Unfortunately the mood faded away in less than an hour and I resorted to facebook to cure my boredom and hopefully reengage my mood to study . ( ok, that’s just an excuse to facebook ) . So , as I was mundanely browsing the faceBook , A friend of mine started a conversation with me online , saying that he was at the edge of breaking down because life’s too hard , his schedule is hectic , bla bla yada yada .

The thing is , everyone’s life is hard and hectic at one point of life . and yet people don’t realize that their life is like that because they chose it . Here’s an awesome quote from Bill Gates “ It’s not your fault if you’re born poor , but it’s definitely is your mistake if you die poor “ .See the power of choice ? Every decision you made , will affect your life in one way or another .

Once a choice is made , stick with it , because , there’s simply no point crying over spilled milk . Regret will only burdens you down with guilty , sadness and ultimately depression . In retrospect , I myself have been on the verge of breaking down several times , heck I broke down quite a number of times too . I ran away from some troubles , I persevered through some other ones . And if there’s any lesson at all to be learnt from all those past experiences , it will be to remember that you yourself made all those choice . Nobody forced you .

When you’re down with depression and wanted to give up on something , remember why you held on so long in the first place . Similarly , remember why you made that choice in the first place ,and you are bound to find the strength to continue down that road that you chose .

Oh well, I guess that’s all. This is a terrible post , yet I can’t help to publish it , simply because I wanted an update in this blog . But hey , it’s my choice , and there’s no point regretting it right ? Haha ! Remember , YOUR CHOICE , YOUR RESPONSIBILITY!

P.S * Look forward for some exciting post in the near future .......

hopefully ! *

Farewell , and a New Beginning :)

2012-09-07T01:37:00.000+08:00

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

2012-07-13T14:54:00.001+08:00

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

2012-07-01T21:41:00.000+08:00

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 :)

End of First Year.

2012-07-01T19:56:00.000+08:00

The sweltering oven-like temperature at night , occasional invasion of monkeys and flies , and not forgotten the pungent smell of the toilet . That would be roughly how a year spent in my hostel sounds like . Amidst all that , however we finally lived through that hellish year . And what made all these possible ? I would have to say it’s the roommates.

I am eternally grateful for my roommate this year. You see, since this is our first year , we are not given much choice on who or where we stay . You simply accepted what you were offered . In retrospect , none of us would never expect to made it through this semester . I certainly didn’t expect it. I remember the moment I got the news that I have been accepted to University of Malaya, I screamed. I literally screamed with excitement and joy . The atmosphere was electrifying .However , when the excitement dies down, comes trepidation and sense of anxiety . Then it turned into a brooding atmosphere. Those who are close enough to me would know that I am a deep thinker , or in a less flattering term , worrywart . I mean, I can really think , sometimes a little too much about every single trivial and important things . At that time , I was contemplating the worst case scenario , I am unfamiliar with KL ,heck I never even been there before , I have to stay with 2 other roommates ? What the heck , and it will only be a small room . Dang.

Then the day of departure came . At that time , I was unfortunately having eye disease and can barely open my left eye . When I went into my room , I saw a big , tall guy with his entire family . And oh boy , the room was freakishly small . We introduced ourselves and made some small talks . Then , we were relieved , for we thought it would only be the two of us , as it’s already 10 + am at that time when we are supposed to check in an hour earlier. To our surprise , our third roommate came , 2 hours later , alone , with only one luggage bag and laptop bag accompanying him .Well , still being sick at that time and with my lousy command of Mandarin , I barely spoke much to them in that orientation week.

However, that was then . How ironic it is , over time , we found out more about each other , and apparently we are quite matched in personalities and attitude . I have to say in the entire college , both of my roommates are among the craziest , funniest and friendly bunch . Even in universities , people form their own cliques , separate from them and form new ones. There are so much dramas even in just a mere first year. But I am glad , I survived them , and learnt some hard lessons along the way. Nevertheless ,I have the emphasized that during the ups and downs in this year , my roommates have never , ever been the cause of the bad times , and that they have always been there for me ( sometimes ) .Therefore , I am grateful , I must have done something good in the past life to be blessed with such luck .

Sadly, all good things must come to an end. It came early for this good thing . Merely a year , and we have already adjusted well to each other , yet the separation has to come . I wondered how would it be had we stayed together for 2 more years?

In just a blink of an eye , our 1st year as undergraduates junior have already ended ,and the long awaited 2 months break have arrived . Come the second year first semester , we will be given the right to choose our own roommates . I wished to stay together with these two roommates again , but the choice is not mine alone . Oh well , all good things will come to an end. But know this , eventhough you may not see this , but my memories spent with the two of you roommates will be etched forever in my brain , and I can only wish for all the best for both of you in the future ;) .

Now, with the end of my first year , I have a 2 months break to tinker with my life however I want it, and I am hoping to use it productively . Having survived this tumultuous first year , I can only pray and hope for the best for my second year and ahead. Hopefully , everything will be okay and the ride will be a smooth one. But hey , that’s the stuff I should be doing when I am about to enter second year .

For now, it’s time for the well-deserved HOLIDAY!!! Cheers people ;)

SFI

2012-06-30T16:11:00.007+08:00

In my previous post , I was talking about financial freedom , and how I wished to attain it. However , mere talks wouldn't cut it , and vision without action are mere fantasies . I am currently having 2 months break now and I was hoping I could attain some supplementary income before going back to my studies .

There is but a problem . I am quite a lazy guy , and procrastination happens to be my best friend , the fact that I get bored easily over conventional , mundane 9-5 office job doesn't help either . As mentioned in the Entrepreneurship : Why Now ? post , I intended to start a business sooner or later . Nevertheless , I lack the capital and experience to do so .

That being the case , I am slowly running out of options to earn money steadily and achieve financial freedom . As I am getting more and more desperate and frustrated with my inability to earn sustainable income , a god-sent gift appeared before me ( To be exact , it showed up in my google search result when I searched for ways of earning money online ) .

It hit me that there are ways to start a business even without any capital , and one of them would be SFI . For the uninitiated ," SFI (Strong Future International) Marketing Group was launched in 1998. Starting with just one product, sold only in the United States, SFI has now grown to more than 51000 products and services (and growing daily) sold in more than 190 countries around the world.

SFI was created to allow anyone with a computer and Internet access the opportunity to tap into the worldwide e-commerce revolution. Anyone of legal age in his or her country can become an SFI affiliate for free by filling out an online registration form. There is no obligation or purchase requirements of any kind.

Once registered, affiliates are provided with professional Websites for marketing SFI's products on the Internet. SFI also provides all necessary sale support services, such as customer service, payment processing, and product shipment – all at no cost to the affiliate. For each sale generated, SFI pays the referring affiliate a commission. Additional commissions can be earned by building and leading affiliate groups. " , paraphrased from the original description from About SFI page.

If you still don't get it , let me just rephrase it and make a shorter summary . it's a god-sent gift to enable people without capitals to start up their own business ! It's basically an e-commerce business where you earn money by several methods , either by advertising or recruiting people ( kinda like multi-level marketing (mlm) , but not purely mlm ) , but I assure you , you can earn money even if you don't invest any of your own money in it.

But don't take my word for it , take a look at it yourself here . Be skeptical , make researches , and use your own judgement before deciding it's the real deal or not . After all , in this modernized age of globalization , there are plenty of scams and quick get-rich scheme that aims on taking your money .However , I would like to point out that should you find the truth that it's working , do not hesitate in joining .

Many people often shy away from opportunities as they do not wish to move out from their comfort zone , and this inaction of theirs resulted in a lot of lost opportunities . Please , I implore you , if you are capable of grabbing this opportunity , do it , and do it quick ! I have taken my first step , have you ?

Here's in hope that I would be able to grow my SFI business smoothly and ensure a sustainable income being generated monthly so that I will be one step closer to my financial freedom and provide for my family.

Two links that are worth checking out regarding SFI :

SFI home page

Triple Clicks store - an online store owned by SFI , akin to eBay, except that it's so much better in so many aspects .