Angels & Demons is coming!!!

I can't wait till tomorrow to post this entry. I'm soooo excited!!

Yea!!! This is my most anticipated movie of all time. I've first read the book in 2006, and became hook to other Dan Brown's work ever since.

This book has sparked my lifetime interest in questioning science versus religion. Why do we have to choose either one of them... Science do not undermine the existence of God, but rather reinforce it...

For those who sick and tired of our local movies, think again before you spend your hard earned money to watch Bohsia (what on earth are they thinking, tak releven langsung!! ).

It's time to get our brain and soul challenged. Shall we?

Malaysia release date: May 14, 2009

Who can tell?

Looking ahead on how gloomy the future might be, I'm thankful to have read the following. To those frantic frens, let's just stop & stare...

Many years ago a wise peasant lived in China.

He had a son who was the gleam in his eyes and a white stallion which was his favorite belonging.

One day his horse escaped from his grounds and disappeared.

The villagers came to him one by one and said: “You are such an unlucky man. It is so bad about the horse.”

The peasant responded: “Who knows. Maybe it’s bad, maybe it’s good.”

The next day the stallion returned followed by 12 wild horses.

The neighbors visited him again and congratulated him for his luck.

He just said: “Who knows. Maybe it’s good, maybe it’s bad.”

As it happens, the next day his son was attempting to break in one of the wild horses when he fell down and broke his leg.

Once more everyone came with their condolences: “It’s terrible.”

Again he replied: “Who knows. Maybe it’s bad, maybe it’s good.”

A few days passed and his poor son was limping around the village with his broken leg, when the emperor’s army entered the village announcing that a war was starting and they conscripted all the young men of the village.

However, they left the peasant’s son since he had a broken leg.

Once more, everyone was so jealous of the peasant.

They talked about his sheer luck.

He just muttered: “Who knows. Maybe it’s good, maybe it’s bad..”

Averages & Friends

"You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with." ~ Jim Rohn

Tony Robbins likes to share Jim Rohn's adage that you are the average of the five people with whom you spend the most time. Think about that. And make a list, please.

Name of Person #1. ______________________

Name of Person #2. ______________________

Name of Person #3. ______________________

Name of Person #4. ______________________

Name of Person #5. ______________________

OK. Now, next to each person, make an arrow. Up if they inspire you and make you a better person. Down if they bring you down.

Lesson is frighteningly simple: You want people who bring you up. Not down.

My question for you: Do you need to alter your Top 5?

Remember: We are the average of the five people with whom we spend the most time.

Choose wisely!

Credit to: Brian Johnson of Philosopher Notes.

Give me a break, will you?

Negative people. They’re like human black holes which suddenly appear out of nowhere and suck the life out of me. It is always about how bad things are, they just complain and never actually do anything about what's upsetting them. I've tried very hard to stay positive and remain strong. However, there were times their negativity ends up just completely draining me, making me feel exhausted and depressed.

As the wisdom saying goes – ‘You’re the average of 5 person that you spend most of your time with’. I believe it’s time again to reflect these 5 people, and I guess there’s no better time to make myself heard than now.

If you happened to be a whiner, spending 90% of your time whining about how bad your job & relationship, how unfair life's treated you, feel frustrated, feel trapped or lack of self-esteem, I’m begging you – pleeeaase, give me a break! I’m no longer interested to know fine little details on the same old problems. Period.

The road less travelled...

Is this our definition of living a normal life?

"Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for - in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it" - Ellen Goodman (The Boston Globe)

I believe it's still not too late to opt for the road less travelled. As the beautiful poem goes:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood,and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference...

Robert Frost

Are you ready to retire Young & Rich?

Has this ever crossed your mind? Your response? Look no further, the answer is right staring within you. Logically speaking? Well, let’s give this test a go shall we, How long will my retirement savings last? Say you want to retire at 40, and you’re projected to live until 70. To make more mathematical sense:

Expected number of years of retirement = 70 - 40 = 30 years!!!

Now, are you happy with your result?

Let’s face bigger questions:

1) Is our savings & KWSP sufficient ? (NB/ this calculation not even consider medical expenses at that age –especially if we do not own any medical insurance. But even if we do, do we know how much is our country inflation rate for medical expenses?)

2) Is our investment vehicle doing good enough? What investment vehicle to use so that our money will not be swiped away (in value sense) by inflation?

3) Are we satisfied with the recommended withdrawal amount (say it is monthly basis withdrawal)?. Should the value proposed lower than our expected monthly expenses (after inflation is being factored in of coz!!), are we willing to lower our standard of living?

I cringe every time I hear people say ‘bestnye kalau aku menang sejuta, kaya aku, takyah keje dah sampai bile-bile’. Can a windfall really change people’s lives? EPF officials have been quoted saying that people who withdraw their savings in a lump sum upon reaching the age of 55, tend to spend their savings off in 3 years!.

Redefining competition...

Is competition a bad thing? As far as 'orang kita' mindsets are concerned, sadly, the answer is always yes. Most of us are forced/molded to believe that we should not even position ourselves to the war of competition. To play it safe all the time. And even when the situation forces us to fight in a fair ground, we choose to do it with many exceptions… For arguments’ sake, let’s observe the following scenarios:

1) Why is the imported cars cost more here in Malaysia than other countries in the world?. It’s for the sole reason that gomen is protecting our national car, shameful Proton. If only we are paying Honda City / Toyota Vios at their actual market price, would you (those in the right mind) even giving Proton WAJA a second look? As a result, consumers who bought ‘outside’ cars were deliberately punished to pay more!!

2) Look at the UiTM 10% non-bumi issue, and how the political morons make it look like we should be in a war of protecting ‘orang kita’ rights. Why can’t the student be taught to face the real competitive world? No wonder majority of them failed to fit the job market. They will not go far with this closed-minded attitude. Stop blaming who’s dominating the market, but ask ourselves what does it takes to be in the ‘game’? Read no further if you already set your mind to settle as gomen servant.

3) Ever listened to XFresh FM? ‘Kami tak hot, kami cool’? They claimed to air 100% Malaysian music. They are the perfect example of a bunch of people who doesn’t welcome competition. What’s wrong with Indonesian song? How come the industry welcome English songs (we have Hitz, Mix, Fly –which mostly played international songs and they’ve never been labeled as not being patriotic) Oh.. now I got it… It’s because they have no direct influence to ‘orang kita’ rice bowl. Music is universal. You don’t label music as you label people!!

I learn my lesson well by watching Beijing Olympic games. To win is not to make the least of the opponents, not to make you feel more superior than other people, but to be better than you used to be!!

*signing-off*