StevBlogs

Where are you right now? Not in your location, but where are you right now in your life. Are you heading towards your dreams? What actually really motivates you? Are you contented or is contentment really a poor man’s shirt?

Mind
Do you still crank up your brain juices? Are you mentally-prepared & ready to grow each & every day? How are you keeping yourself mentally-stimulated & awake?

Body
With mind of course comes the body. Physically are you in good shape? Do you take care of your well-being? Getting enough rest, exercise, vitamins & smelling enough roses?

Wealth
For although we all know by know that money comes way behind many other things & is not even the top 3 things in our life, money remains an enabler. Wealth remains a means towards fulfillment by giving us a valuable trade off into peace of mind, health, time & many other things.

Spiritual Wealth
Are you wealthy in every sense? Like the mind & body, wealth comes in both the greenbacks & also the unseen inner wealth. Call it inner peace, meditation, quiet time, prayer, etc - We all do need to find our own spiritual beings within ourselves.

People
For we are all social beings & all the wealth in the world has no meaning without family & friends to share it with. Do you have partner in life? Are you treating your partner right? Are you truly keeping in touch & connecting with the many people around you each day?

Time
And like many things, there of course are limitations. Time itself can be either a great key to freedom or a locked cage confining us. How are you spending your time in the various 5 key areas above? Is there a good balance between all the key areas & also within each of these areas itself?

Question
How would you define fulfillment?

A rather whimsical (imho) post, spurred by a question from a couple of close friends while waiting to take a ride on a ferry (which itself was whimsical to do).

Like
Is it when you find that you enjoy the person’s company? When there is much in common be it activities or things in life in general? When you genuinely admire parts of a person’s character? Does liking someone possibly bring forth the possibility… of something more?

Like VS Love
If like can be realized, then when does it become love? Or proclaimed as such? How does one describe the feeling. Or is it really a verb that one just decides upon? In those veins of thought, can you categorize love? Differentiate love?

Love & Beyond
Would seem to be looking beyond the everyday things which once appeared cute that get annoying really fast. That moves beyond boredom & jealousy into… something more. Comfortable but yet not boring. Moving at different speeds. Yet requiring time, attention & frequent deposits (and withdrawals). A matter of heart & yet very much the mind as well - often at the same time.

How would you differentiate like VS love? And is love a matter of mind or of the heart?

Reading opens minds. Hopefully for the better.

The Debate
Both can be said to be without morals. One meaning that one is the anti of morality. While the other implies the “without-ness” of morality & can include innocence. And what one told you that being amoral was actually not wrong? That we actually should be amoral? That we must make decisions with our heads & hearts without being constrained.

Constrained by what others think of us. Constrained by what we have been taught by our elders & teachers is correct. Constrained of being laughed at by others or being taken as a fool. Constrained by being misunderstood. Constrained to avoid appearing impolite or even rude - especially so in a public or business setting.

Yet if being amoral allows us to do what we should without caring what the world thinks. And if our intentions & objectives are good, doesn’t that also mean that being amoral is the best way to pierce through & accomplish things without being shackled by prejudice, culture or other human beings?

Offering the Other Cheek
Have we all grown up believing that those who offer the other cheek are either virtuous or completely stupid? Two ends of the extremes? One side believing that we are pious & just then when slapped we offer the other. And the other side believing that it’s all an eye for an eye & only idiots would do that?

What if that it’s rather the reason or result that matters most? That sometimes offering the other cheek is the right to do to make a statement that of compliance & love. While sometimes we should beat the crap out of the person violently to ensure the person never ever strikes another person again.

The End Result
Is it worth being consciously amoral to achieve the desired end results? How do you control between being detachedly amoral compared to knowing when you are being wickedly evil? Will amorality be the pitch black shining gleaming light that scythes at the shroud of foolish nonsense clearing the way for many great things? Or will amorality be but a tool of evil immorality that deceives & eats away at us?

Have you ever though how does your inner self really looks like?

This post was written after the past few days of starting to write a post but not feeling any desire to write more than a line or two.

In the world we live in
Where politics remains a circus
Where people put their feet in their mouth
Where nonsense & stupidity prevails
Where news is a warped form of entertainment

A world where barrels cause inflation
(Donkey Kong would be sad)
Where human want for profit > all

A time of tragedy, suffering & pain
Where some question the end of the world
Where lies, brainwashing & cults seem… common

Yet

A time where arts flourish
Where great leaders rise above & beyond

A time when people start to reflect
When loved ones are given more importance

A time when more go for passion
When a job is more than merely earning benjamins euros

A time for inner peace amidst turmoil
When we look beyond the next crisis

Maybe this is the actual new face of globalized civilization

Postnote: It felt good to write this. Somehow.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it ws the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way.” ~ A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

From Where We Came
A bit of background - I come from a post-independence background. My only experiences about the May13 riots from 1969 are from stories from my late grandmother who lived in Kampung Melayu which was actually one of the safest places to be in Penang at that time. I grew up accepting that privileges would be accorded as per the constitution to ensure that all the citizens would be able to grow together in term of education, finance, etc.

Misunderstandings
A lot of misunderstanding arises from a possibly innocuous term as New Economic Policy (NEP) (Off-topic: Did you know that the old NEP actually ended in 1990?). A policy definitely is needed as we need to ensure that all levels of society is able to function. Problems definitely arise when gaps between various groups are too big (e.g. ultra-rich VS below-poverty-line; most with Masters education VS primary school drop-outs). Thus where & what is going wrong?

Implementation
Would believe that most have come to agree that it’s a matter of implementation. Policies & processes do not work if not enforced. Thus public enemy #1 would have to be corruption (Hong Kong’s ICAC comes to mind of most as well - not only for their glamor but from their actual proven methodology ).

Next would be to focus on execution & implementation:-
- For those who spend too much time in the media - focus more on actual action & implementation. Not for the accolades, but for the role of shaping the world in things both big & small.
- For those who focus only on action - you need to communicate & inform on your accomplishments. How can we support & work together to achieve if we don’t know what we are trying to achieve? How do you know that you are doing the right thing if you don’t ask?
- For all who are our elected leaders - we need both the vision to plan & the action to implement. “Vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is simply passing the time. Action with Vision is making a positive difference.”

Progress
Some citizens are leaving Malaysia for perceived greener pastures (SG, UK, Aus, US, NZ, etc). We have our own advantages be it from natural resources to fertile land for agriculture to intelligent creative inspiring people. Thus we need to focus on our strengths & advantages given to us. Stop bickering & in-fighting among ourselves. If there is a necessity to ‘fight’, would it not be more worthwhile & important to fight on the world stage where we are competing against all the other 194 countries in the world?

Disclaimer
- With the disclaimer being a necessity considering freedom of speech is there (but with the definition of freedom of speech not clearly defined)
- I am not-affiliated to any political party whatsoever. My interests remain fully in my fellow men, my country & myself - and this post is made with that intention of frank open honest discussion.
- Views are purely of my own & while all care has been made to ensure the correctness of information, it is by no means guaranteed. Also most of the information is spoken in general terms & may be subject to own interpretation.

Question
What are we doing well? What could we do better? What is your vision for Malaysia 5 years from today (May 2013)?

“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done”

Sipping on ginseng coffee on an idyllic Sunday. Taking mother out for Cantonese food in the evening with the family. A little bit of prep-work for the coming WW20. Reading the Sunday papers. Writing a post or two online. Visiting a few blog friends (who have been oft-neglected due to work :P). It’s a good Sunday.

On a Friday Night
“You F*cking idiot! You think that’s an excuse. IDDDDIIIOOOOTT! F*CKING MORON!”

These were the words that greeted my & my companion on stepping out of a sundry store where we stepped in for 5mins to buy a couple of beers & some chips. We recognized the wizened old man with the white beard & pale ‘ang moh’ skin from earlier walking out of the same store. Caught our attention as he was telling something of his wife being sick with something.

The Rant & the Reaction
I realized to my chagrin that I had actually parked my car in front of the entrance to a small car park at the Hillside in Penang. Smiling apologetically, I apologized & explained that it was my fault & that I truly did not know that I was blocking an entrance/exit point. Did not help that the area was poorly lit & that I wasn’t from the area.

Still the old man ranted on. I raised my hand in apologies to the Chinese chap with his family in the SUV behind me.

Casting a last glance at the old man, I decided to get into my car & drive off.

Why?
My colleague asked that she was curious why didn’t I respond. In fact she wanted to tell the old man that we had apologized & that it was an honest mistake - if only to avoid me from blowing up & giving the old man a piece of my mind.

I pondered on that for a moment.

I knew that I was in the wrong. Yet I knew that the old man was asking for trouble & being on the verge of public harassment. Still possible given the fact that he had significantly more white hair or lack of hair (Asian upbringing of respecting elders?) & the glimpse of conversation from earlier that his wife was sick - that probably held me back.

If the situation had occurred another day or time, I would have probably wanted to actually walk over to the Chinese chap in the SUV to apologize. And then tell the old man firmly but politely restating that I had apologized, it was an error & that if he continues - I will take action deemed appropriate to avoid this verbal harassment.

Maybe life, work & dealing with all sorts of people has helped me to grow up a little bit in a way.

Question
Have you been in a similar sort of situation before? How did you respond? Or what would you do if you were in my shoes?

Work remains busy yet fulfilling despite the interesting yet not totally unexpected challenges. This either means cynicism is catching up or that having a picture… a vision of the end really helps In other random news, had recently finished watching Proposal Daisakusen & started playing Kingdom of Loathing

Time
Something that we are each given 24hrs of - 7 days a week - 52 weeks a year. And how we spend this time translates into basically, our lives as we know it. As we all know of the amazing ability of time to speed up when we’re having fun & to slow down when we’re working or not having fun, the years continues to speed by. Thus we all have the freedom of choice on how we spend our time on our interests & loves.

Conscience
Which in turn leads to conscience. By merely spending time as a member of human society, what we do, does have an effect on people around us. Depending on your world lense, some may applaud your actions, others may be indifferent & others will outright dislike you with a passion. Still, the bottom line remains that our own perception of ourselves, in other words ‘our conscience’ remains the key. Look back from the past, learn from other’s lessons, dream for the future, go out & get things done while keeping your conscience intact! =)

Retirement
An interesting POV & topic arose of late with a relative celebrating his retirement (with his favorite draft of stout & then again while catching up with a teacher-turned-politician talking about life, the recent political hype to turn to blogs. Somehow the topic of retirement came up with his thoughts being that on average, we spend some ~20 years of life studying. And if we factor in the average life expectancy of being 70 (minus 10 for illness, breaking down parts, etc ;)) - we only have about 20 good years of life left. So how will you spend these 20 years? Will all 20 be spent working? Accumulating wealth? How much would you ’spend’ while sacrificing health?

Question
What is the best age for retirement & how would you spend the years upon reaching retirement?

1. A shoutout to Asia Weekly - All the News and Views from Asia for being entertaining, intellectual & relevant. 2. If you are interested in a career in Asia Weekly as the Malaysian northern region agent (re: sales & market development) do contact Mirror Me of Reflections . Related sales experience and/or experience in the publishing industry is a plus.

The Multitasking Myth Dispelled
And then it came to be known that the average normal human being cannot actually multitask effectively with more than 2 low-level brain processes or 1 high-level brain process. Imagine it as a quad-core processor. If all your processors are focused fully on solving the one problem from different angles, the problem is solved faster. What more if the processes can share the same relevant info with one another. Compare that to 4 different processors doing 4 different things at the same time… Attending a meeting while replying emails & answering phone calls while jamming buttons on your blackberry is really (very) not productive…

K.I.S.S
Keep It Simple Stupid! Why beat around the bush or go around the world? Especially in communicating?! Make your point & keep it short & simple. Everything in life can work better with the KISS principle. Got email? Use your options - 1) Delete it 2) Reply immediately 3) Keep it in a specific location for archiving. The important thing is to not give up hope. Just simplify things, know your priorities, write down your list of tasks & get going!

One Thing at a Time
Time, experience & much money has proven & shown that it is almost always best practice to focus on a single thing at a time. Splitting up one’s high level focus too much would result in people being confused with the direction & vision. By all means, make a list. Discuss, brainstorm, debate, talk, whateveryouwannacallit. Know your priority, and get cracking!

Question
What is your most immediate focus in work and/or life?

3 4 5 UNCOUNTABLE TIMES UNSUBSCRIBING! C*nt! Let me unsubscribe!!
I don’t want to join the fangroup of Jacky Wang (who the ???? is that). I know fBook is kicking your ass but all you’re doing is making us feel like lodging a privacy complaint/deleting our friendster accounts

Note: The ‘C*nt’ above very obviously stands for ‘Cant’ as in the short for cannot
(e.g. We cant unsubscribe from Friendster as it’s spam sender is possessed by a demon)

PS. Some site cleanup in progress. Do you have StevBlogs on your blogroll? Drop me a comment here so I (most likely if I like reading your site) can return the blink. Thanks! ~stev

To Meich & the Chat page
Disclaimer: This page is to celebrate commemorate appease avoid kinki spam *insert whatever you like here* Meich (writer of underage male pron fluff) reaching 100 reasons for kat-tun love on the chat page (which has 600+ comments…)

The picture already says wayyy too much on the state of Meich’s mental health