About Me

I have done a lot of things in my life and have also worked in many different jobs to make a living and to experience life. This blog is just some of my musings, sometimes funny, sometimes inspirational, sometimes sad, sometimes angry, sometimes simple but all the time, it's just me.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

It's who I am



I really enjoyed the movie Secretariat. It's about a champion horse that was never considered a winner but won the Triple Crown and his margin of victory in the Belmont some 37 years ago still has not been beaten.

I really enjoyed the theme song from the movie as well. Really resonates with me. It is who you are. And it is who I am. It's who I am.

It's not the price
It's not the game
It's not the score
It's not the fame
Whatever road looks way too far
It's not what you have
It's who you are

It's not how fast
It's not how far
It's not of cheers
It's who you are

In darkest night
You make your sun
You choose your race
And then you run

It's never the glory
It's never the score
It's not about seeing about who's less and who's more
Cuz when you find out how fast and how far
You'll know it's not how much you have
It's who you are

You lose the moon
Then be a star
It's not too soon
Be who you are
Whatever road looks way too far
It's not what you have
It's who you are

It's never the glory
It's never the score
It's not seeing about seeing
Who's less and who's more
Cuz when you find out how fast and how far
You'll know it's not how much you have
It's who you are

When you have found
How fast you can run
Then you have found
Your place in the sun,
It won't be just you that you'll find
Has made the run and the climb
It's everyone

It's never the glory
It's never the score
It's not seeing about seeing
Who's less and who's more
Cuz when you find out how fast and how far
you'll know it's not how much you have
It's who you are
It's who you are

Learning to bend and not to break
Living to give more than you take
Dying to live
Living to try
Feet on the ground
Dreams in the sky

It's never how much you have
It's who you are

Take care and be well.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Animals and Plants on Facebook


Saw this posting in a friend's Facebook profile and considering my furry boy has a Facebook, I thought it was awfully funny. If animals have Facebook, these are most likely to be their Status Updates. I added on some to what was already there ... so feel free to add more.

Cockroach : Managed to skip from some one’s foot step. Man, I lead a dangerous lifestyle.

Cow : Huh! They are touching my breast again..what they think I am? Bitch!

Mosquito : I am HIV positive this is all due to wrong sucking!

Chicken : If tomorrow I am not updating my status, means I am being served at KFC. Love you...all.

Octopus : I have just refilled my ink cartridge..hooray!

Octopus: WTF, now they are touching my breast to squeeze my ink out!!!

Cow : Friends, don’t go out, hari raya korban holiday is coming.

Pig writes a comment on Cow’s status : “Luckily I am haram” 4 likes.

Cow replies : "Don’t you remember that after hari raya korban is the Chinese new year."

Cat: I'm just going to lay around and see if I care.

Cat: lick lick lick "What you looking at? Jealous is it?

Dog: wagging tail My master's here, my master's here, hooray.

Cicak/Gecko: Tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk

Cicak writes comment on another Cicak's wall who drowned in Bangkok floods: Tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk

Birds: Ooh ooh ooh look at that shiny car, I'm gonna mark it with my shit.

Fish in Aquarium: You looking at me? You, you looking at me? Oh what the heck, nothing I can do about it anyways.

Fish is a restaurant aquarium: Owh no, here comes the net again, goodbye world, love always.

Bangsar Rat: Today was a great day, I had some chicken, some roti canai, some thosai, some fish curry, some mutton bones and for dessert, I raided the TMC garbage bins for some durians.

Ants: Ooh ooh, i got no time for Facebook updates, gotta run around aimlessly looking for food, just following orders. Bye.

Trees in Bangsar: Owh no, here comes that dog again, going to pee all over me and shit on my legs. Sheesh.

Trees in Bangsar: Oh no, here comes DBKL, going to bloody chop me down again.

Flowers in my garden: Owh no, here come the birds, always sucking on me? What do I get in return? Oh yeah, off-spring.

Flowers in my garden: Now the bees sucking on me. I must just be a sucker for these animals!!!

I enjoyed this and could probably think of a lot more, but time for me to work. So think of some and post comments.

Take care and be well.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Motivation

I am not lazy but like the poster says, sometimes I just don't care.

There is so many things to be done and so many things you want to do, but sometimes motivating yourself is not as easy as preaching motivation to others.

And sometimes, after trying to do something, you just loose the motivation and then you just don't care anymore.

Life is easy, it is living that is sometimes challenging.

Yesterday and even today, my day was spent praying, working, meditating, watching television, watching movies and eating.

Seems sometimes a waste of a day, like being lazy. But honestly, I just did not care to do anything else.

Perhaps if you read this, do share with me how you truly motivate yourself to do something.

Take care and be well.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Secure your seatbelts! It's a wild ride but get out while you still can.

When I did poorly in SPM, I thought there goes my career and hopes of a degree. I wanted to join some vocational/technical school and learn how to be a plumber, electrician or a mechanic. But everyone insisted that I should still pursue my degree which I did. Then I came back and everyone said I should find a job, which I did.

And since then, in the last 20 years, I have been in this rat race. The rat race burrows you deeper and deeper that after about 5 years, it becomes nearly impossible to get out, so imagine trying to get out of the rat race after 20 years. Not impossible, but almost impossible.

I reckon if I was a plumber or electrician or mechanic, I could have been worst off or I could have been better. It's all a choice but at least I could have done something with my hands.

So, when I hear a friend wanting to get out of the rat race and taking steps to do so, I admire their resolve and I wish them success and happiness and I pray for God to show them the way. It takes courage to do so and my hats off to them.

It is scary for them for sure but the cause of doing it and the guidance they have will pull them through this.

Unlike some others who cannot see that they truly have it all but lead a life which even I pity.

You will see a bunch of books addressing humans insecurities especially people like us who are mostly in the Rat Race.

Who moved my cheese?

Does it really matter? Why does it matter where your cheese is? How about trying to eat something else for once?

All the book does is to ask you to remain in the rat race, but think differently. That is utter crap and bullocks. 

Some managers are known to mass-distribute copies of the book to employees, some of whom see this as an insult, or an attempt to characterize dissent as not "moving with the cheese". In the corporate environment, management has been known to distribute this book to employees during times of "structural re-organization," or during cost-cutting measures, in an attempt to portray unfavorable or unfair changes in an optimistic or opportunistic way.

There is all the books by Robert Kiyosaki. Rich Dad Poor Dad blah blah blah. Does it teach you anything? How much can you really use? He even has this game called Cashflow 101 which was sent to me. I played it a few times and came out a millionaire, only because it is a glamorised Monopoly. It's a game, real life does not work that way.

John T. Reed, an outspoken critic of Robert Kiyosaki, says, "Rich Dad, Poor Dad contains much wrong advice, much bad advice, some dangerous advice, and virtually no good advice."

He also states, "Rich Dad, Poor Dad is one of the dumbest financial advice books I have ever read. It contains many factual errors and numerous extremely unlikely accounts of events that supposedly occurred."

Slate reviewer Rob Walker called the book full of nonsense, and said that Kiyosaki's claims were often vague, the narrative "fablelike", and that much of the book was "self help boilerplate", noting the predictable common features of such books were present in Rich Dad, Poor Dad. He also criticizes Kiyosaki's conclusions about Americans, American culture, and Kiyosaki's methods.

As for Cashflow 101, there are two stages to the game. In the first, "the rat race", the player aims to raise his or her character's passive income level to where it exceeds the character's expenses. The winner is determined in the second stage, "the fast track". To win, a player must get his or her character to buy their "dream" or accumulate an additional $50,000 in monthly cash flow.


Then there is Fish! A remarkable way to boost morale and improve results. Talks about Play (having fun while working), making people's day, being there for co-workers and choosing your attitude.

Maybe works great for fish mongers in Seattle?  In a video on YouTube, "Pike Place Hates FISH! Philosophy", a Pike Place Market employee informs his interviewer that the FISH! philosophy does not represent Pike Place.

"The guys that work here don't actually like the FISH! videos."

The employee states that they "put on a show" for the maker of the FISH! video for three days, and implies it's not possible to work all year round in such a way.

Some employees find these techniques ridiculous and demeaning. They contend that the idea of 'choosing your attitude' is naive and can be alienating for those with mental health problems such as depression, for whom a negative attitude is an affliction rather than a straightforward choice.

Let's try it in a multi-national company, it should boost morale. Right? Easy enough?

To grasp just how presumptuous Fish! really is, just try a thought experiment: imagine management’s reaction if the circumstances were reversed. Imagine the bosses’ reaction if you and your coworkers matter-of-factly announced that, henceforth, you would be working at a slower pace for the same amount of money, or that you would be receiving a higher hourly wage. Imagine telling the boss "you can’t do anything about these changes, but you can choose to have a good attitude about them!" My guess is your boss would demonstrate in short order that he does have control over events, and that it’s not his attitude that has to be adjusted. That’s because, while you may be powerless, your bosses most certainly are not.

I am certain my friends who are taking steps to get out of the rat race are doing so without having read any of the books above or playing any of the games above. They are doing it because they decided collectively to do so because of an inner desire and purpose to do so.

So, if you want to get out of the rat race, you make that decision. Sit down, think about what it entails for you, what steps you need to take to do so, how your lifestyle needs to change etc etc.

The books above will help you absolutely 0%.

As for me, after 20 years in the rat race, I need to to really reevaluate my life and been doing so lately. Not happy? Take action and do something about it and I have started.

Take care and be well.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Crazy veggies

I recently did not have time to go to the wet market or Tesco to buy my produce, so, I instead went to Village Grocer which forms part of Bangsar Village.

Broccoli was RM26/kg. I have seen it either in Tesco or the Wet Market for between  RM15-19/kg.

Australian Celery was RM17/kg when the American ones in the market or Tesco go for RM6-7/kg.

Kailan was RM15/kg.

Local Pumpkin was RM6/kg when it is RM3/kg in Tesco.

Anyway, the point I am getting at is that there are many options.

Things have got really expensive everywhere and I am not saying Tesco or the Wet Markets are the best option for everything.

Many people tell me going to the night market is cheaper but I have found that for some fruits the night markets are not that cheap either.

Some months back, I went to Kepong wet market but while things there are somewhat cheaper, it is hard to get too, hard to park and hard to find for an outsider.

How about Selayang Wet Market - to be honest, I have not been there in ages, years but I reckon it is reasonably priced.

So, my haunts are either Tesco, Taman Tun wet market or in a rare ocassion Village Grocer or Cold Storage. I cannot find any chicken breast that is clean enough apart from village grocer, so I bite the bullet and pay the slightly higher price. In Tesco, the meat and chicken and fish section is just too unsightly and messy.

Anyways, recently, wifey read an article in the Star about organic vegetables. We normally have been avoiding them because of the expense but every now and then, she would buy some from this place in Centerpoint in Bandar Utama.

The article said that this place called the Little Green Planet delivered organic vegetables to you home once a week for a monthly commitment of RM160. Which means a weeks supply of  vegetables for RM40 a week.

For vegetarians like us, it is not enough for a weeks supply, but definitely quite reasonably priced for RM40. The picture above is what is delivered this week. You have the option for choosing Chinese style vegetables, Western style or a combination (which is what we chose).

For people who eat meat, fish, poultry - the supply is more than sufficient for the whole week for a family of 2-3. They have another larger package for RM60 or RM70 for family of 5.

The link of the Little Green Planet is provided above for you to check it out.

The vegetables provided last week were tasty and the free range chicken eggs were also very nice.

I am not really trying to give a marketing write-up for them but just letting you readers know that there are options available out there, not just in my hometown, but in your towns and cities.

We do not have to keep going to the Village Grocers that charge the price of Beverly Hills. We all have the options.

And perhaps, this has opened my eyes to eating organic - not because it is healthier or because of the environment - but because in this economy, price does matter.

Take care and be well.